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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:45:02 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:45:02 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/14659-0.txt b/14659-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b61d36f --- /dev/null +++ b/14659-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10658 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14659 *** + + MUSLIN + + By + + GEORGE MOORE + + + + _Originally published under the title of 'A Drama in Muslin,' 1886._ + + _New Edition, September, 1915._ + + + + + +PREFACE + + +My excuse for modifying the title of this book is, that _A Drama in +Muslin_ has long seemed to me to be the vulgar one among the titles of +my many books. But to change the title of a book that has been in +circulation, however precarious, for more than thirty years, is not +permissible, and that is why I rejected the many titles that rose up in +my mind while correcting the proofs of this new edition. In _Neophytes_, +_Débutantes_, and _The Baiting of Mrs. Barton_, readers would have +divined a new story, but the dropping out of the unimportant word +'drama' will not deceive the most casual follower of literature. The +single word 'muslin' is enough. _Mousseline_ would be more euphonious, a +fuller, richer word; and _Bal Blanc_, besides being more picturesque, +would convey my meaning; but a shade of meaning is not sufficient +justification for the use of French titles or words, for they lessen the +taste of our language; we don't get the smack, and Milord's epigrams +poisoned my memory of _A Drama in Muslin_. But they cannot be omitted +without much re-writing, I said, and remembering my oath never to +attempt the re-writing of an old book again, I fell back on the +exclusion of _A Drama in Muslin_ as the only way out of the dilemma. A +wavering resolution was precipitated by recollection of some disgraceful +pages, but a moment after I was thinking that the omission of the book +would create a hiatus. _A Drama in Muslin_, I reflected, is a link +between two styles; and a book that has achieved any notoriety cannot be +omitted from a collected edition, so my publishers said, and they harped +on this string, until one day I flung myself out of their office and +rattled down the stairs muttering, 'What a smell of shop!' But in the +Strand near the Cecil Inn, the thought glided into my mind that the +pages that seemed so disgraceful in memory might not seem so in print, +'and the only way to find out if this be so,' the temptation continued, +'will be to ask the next policeman the way to Charing Cross Road.' +Another saw me over a dangerous crossing (London is the best policed +city in Europe), a third recommended a shop 'over yonder: you've just +passed it by, sir.' 'Thank you, thank you,' I cried back, and no sooner +was I on the other side than, overcome by shyness, as always in these +stores of dusty literature, I asked for the _Drama in Muslin_, +pronouncing the title so timidly that the bookseller guessed me at once +to be the author, and began telling of the books that were doing well in +first editions. 'If I had any I wanted to get rid of?' he mentioned +several he would be glad to buy. Whereupon in turn I grew confidential +and confided to him my present dilemma, failing, however, to dissuade +him from his opinion that _A Drama in Muslin_ ought to be included. 'Any +corrections you make in the new edition will keep up the price of the +old,' he added as he wrapped up the brown paper parcel. 'You will like +the book better than you think for.' 'Thank you, thank you,' I cried +after me, and hopped into a taxi, unsuspicious that I carried a +delightful evening under my arm. A comedy novel, written with +sprightliness and wit, I said, as I turned to the twentieth page, and it +needs hardly any editing. A mere re-tying of a few bows that the +effluxion of time has untied, or were never tied by the author, who, if +I remember right, used to be less careful of his literary appearance +than his prefacer, neglecting to examine his sentences, and to scan them +as often as one might expect from an admirer, not to say disciple, of +Walter Pater. + +An engaging young man rose out of the pages of his book, one that Walter +Pater would admire (did admire), one that life, I added, seems to have +affected through his senses violently, and who was (may we say +therefore) a little over anxious to possess himself of a vocabulary +which would suffer him to tell all he saw, heard, smelt and touched. + +Upon this sudden sympathy the book, of which I had read but twenty +pages, dropped on my knees, and I sat engulfed in a reverie of the +charming article I should have written about this book if it had come to +me for review. 'But it couldn't have come to me,' I reflected, 'for +myself and the young man that wrote it were not contemporaries.' It +would be true, however, to say that our lives overlapped; but when did +the author of the _Drama in Muslin_ disappear from literature? His next +book was _Confession of a Young Man_. It was followed by _Spring Days_; +he must have died in the last pages of that story, for we find no trace +of him in _Esther Waters_! And my thoughts, dropping away from the books +he had written, began to take pleasure in the ridiculous appearance that +the author of _A Drama in Muslin_ presented in the mirrors of Dublin +Castle as he tripped down the staircases in parly morning. And a smile +played round my lips as I recalled his lank yellow hair (often standing +on end), his sloping shoulders and his female hands--a strange +appearance which a certain vivacity of mind sometimes rendered engaging. + +He was writing at that time _A Mummer's Wife_ in his bedroom at the +Shelbourne Hotel, and I thought how different were the two visions, _A +Mummer's Wife_ and _A Drama in Muslin_ and how the choice of these two +subjects revealed him to me. 'It was life that interested him rather +than the envelope' I said. 'He sought Alice Barton's heart as eagerly as +Kate Ede's;' and my heart went out to the three policemen to whose +assiduities I owed this pleasant evening, all alone with my cat and my +immediate ancestor; and as I sat looking into the fire I fell to +wondering how it was that the critics of the 'eighties could have been +blind enough to dub him an imitator of Zola. 'A soul searcher, if ever +there was one,' I continued, 'whose desire to write well is apparent on +every page, a headlong, eager, uncertain style (a young hound yelping at +every trace of scent), but if we look beneath the style we catch sight +of the young man's true self, a real interest in religious questions and +a hatred as lively as Ibsen's of the social conventions that drive women +into the marriage market. It seems strange,' I said, abandoning myself +to recollection, 'that the critics of the 'eighties failed to notice +that the theme of _A Drama in Muslin_ is the same as that of the _Doll's +House_; the very title should have pointed this put to them.' But they +were not interested in themes; but in morality, and how they might crush +a play which, if it were uncrushed by them, would succeed in undermining +the foundations of society--their favourite phrase at the time, it +entered into every article written about the _Doll's House_--and, +looking upon themselves as the saviours of society, these +master-builders kept on staying and propping the damaged construction +till at length they were joined by some dramatists and story-tellers who +feared with them for the 'foundations of society,' and these latter set +themselves the task of devising new endings that would be likely to +catch the popular taste and so mitigate the evil, the substitution of an +educational motive for a carnal one. For Nora does not leave her husband +for a lover, but to educate herself. The critics were used to lovers, +and what we are used to is bearable, but a woman who leaves her husband +and her children for school-books is unbearable, and much more immoral +than the usual little wanton. So the critics thought in the 'eighties, +and they thought truly, if it be true that morality and custom are +interchangeable terms. The critics were right in a way; everybody is +right in a way, for nothing is wholly right and nothing wholly wrong, a +truth often served up by philosophers; but the public has ever eschewed +it, and perhaps our argument will be better appreciated if we dilute +this truth a little, saying instead that it is the telling that makes a +story true or false, and that the dramatic critics of the 'eighties were +not altogether as wrong as Mr. Archer imagined them to be, but failed to +express themselves. + +The public is without power of expression, and it felt that it was being +fooled for some purpose not very apparent and perhaps anarchical. Nor is +a sudden revelation very convincing in modern times. In the space of +three minutes, Nora, who has been her husband's sensual toy, and has +taken pleasure in being that, and only that, leaves her husband and her +children, as has been said, for school-books. A more arbitrary piece of +stage craft was never devised; but it was not the stage craft the +critics were accustomed to, and the admirers of Ibsen did not dare to +admit that he had devised Nora to cry aloud that a woman is more than a +domestic animal. It would have been fatal for an apostle or even a +disciple to admit the obvious fact that Ibsen was a dramatist of moral +ideas rather than of sensuous emotions; and there was nobody in the +'eighties to explain the redemption of Ibsen by his dialogue, the +strongest and most condensed ever written, yet coming off the reel like +silk. A wonderful thread, that never tangles in his hands. Ibsen is a +magical weaver, and so closely does he weave that we are drawn along in +the net like fishes. + +But it is with the subject of the _Doll's House_ rather than with the +art with which it is woven that we are concerned here. The subject of _A +Drama in Muslin_ is the same as that of _A Doll's House_, and for this +choice of subject I take pride in my forerunner. It was a fine thing for +a young man of thirty to choose the subject instinctively that Ibsen had +chosen a few years before; it is a feather in his cap surely; and I +remember with pleasure that he was half through his story when Dr. +Aveling read him the first translation of _A Doll's House_, a poor +thing, done by a woman, that withheld him from any appreciation of the +play. The fact that he was writing the same subject from an entirely +different point of view prejudiced him against Ibsen; and the making of +a woman first in a sensual and afterward transferring her into an +educational mould with a view to obtaining an instrument to thunder out +a given theme could not be else than abhorrent to one whose art, however +callow, was at least objective. In the _Doll's House_ Ibsen had +renounced all objectivity. It does not seem to me that further apologies +are necessary for my predecessor's remark to Dr. Aveling after the +reading that he was engaged in moulding a woman in one of Nature's +moulds. 'A puritan,' he said, 'I am writing of, but not a sexless +puritan, and if women cannot win their freedom without leaving their sex +behind they had better remain slaves, for a slave with his sex is better +than a free eunuch;' and he discoursed on the book he was writing, +convinced that Alice Barton represented her sex better than the +archetypal hieratic and clouded figure of Nora which Ibsen had dreamed +so piously, allowing, he said, memories of Egyptian sculpture to mingle +with his dreams. + +My ancestor could not have understood the _Doll's House_ while he was +writing _A Drama in Muslin_, not even in Mr. Archer's translation; he +was too absorbed in his craft at that time, in observing and remembering +life, to be interested in moral ideas. And his portrait of Alice Barton +gives me much the same kind of pleasure as a good drawing. She keeps her +place in the story, moving through it with quiet dignity, commanding our +sympathy and respect always, and for her failure to excite our wonder +like Nora we may say that the author's design was a comedy, and that in +comedy the people are not and perhaps should not be above life size. But +why apologize for what needs no apology? Alice Barton is a creature of +conventions and prejudices, not her mother's but her own; so far she had +freed herself, and it may well be that none obtains a wider liberty. She +leaves her home with the dispensary doctor, who has bought a small +practice in Notting Hill, and the end seems a fulfilment of the +beginning. The author conducts her to the door of womanhood, and there +he leaves her with the joys and troubles, no doubt, of her new estate; +but with these he apparently does not consider himself to be concerned, +though he seems to have meditated at this time a sort of small _comédie +humaine_--small, for he must have known that he could not withstand the +strain of Balzac's shifts of fourteen hours. We are glad he was able to +conquer the temptation to imitate, yet we cannot forego a regret that he +did not turn to Violet Scully that was and look into the married life of +the Marchioness of Kilcamey--her grey intense eyes shining through a +grey veil, and her delightful thinness--her epicene bosom and long +thighs are the outward signs of a temper, constant perhaps, but not +narrow. He would have been able to discover an intrigue of an engaging +kind in her, and the thinking out of the predestined male would have +been as agreeable a task as falls to the lot of a man of letters. And +being a young man he would begin by considering the long series of +poets, painters and musicians, he had read of in Balzac's novels, but as +none of these would be within the harmony of Violet's perverse humour, +he would turn to life, and presently a vague shaggy shape would emerge +from the back of his mind, but it would refuse to condense into any +recognizable face; which is as well, perhaps, else I might be tempted to +pick up this forgotten flower, though I am fain to write no more long +stories. + +But though we regret that the author of _Muslin_ did not gather this +Violet for his literary buttonhole, let no one suggest that the old man +should return to his Springtime to do what the young man left undone. +Our gathering-time is over, and we are henceforth prefacers. _The Brook +Cherith_ is our last. Some may hear this decision with sorrow, but we +have written eighteen books, which is at least ten too many, and none +shall persuade us to pick up the burden of another long story. We swear +it and close our ears to our admirers, and to escape them we plunge into +consideration of Violet's soul and her aptitudes, saying, and saying +well, that if polygamy thrives with Mohammedanism in the East, polyandry +has settled down in the West with Christianity, and that since Nora +slammed the door the practice of acquiring a share in a woman's life, +rather than insisting on the whole of it, has caught such firm root in +our civilization that it is no exaggeration to say that every married +woman to-day will admit she could manage two men better than her husband +could manage two wives. If we inquire still further, we submit, and +confidently, that every woman--saint or harlot, it matters not +which--would confess she would prefer to live with two men rather than +share her husband with another woman. All women are of one mind on this +subject; it is the one thing on which they all agree irrespective of +creed or class, so these remarks barely concern them; but should male +eyes fall on this page, and if in the pride of his heart he should cry +out, 'This is not so,' I would have him make application to his wife or +sister, and if he possess neither he may discover the truth in his own +mind. Let him ask himself if it could be otherwise, since our usage and +wont is that a woman shall prepare for the reception of visitors by +adorning her rooms with flowers and dressing herself in fine linen and +silk attire, and be to all men alike as they come and go. She must cover +all with winning glances, and beguile all with seductive eyes and foot, +and talk about love, though, perhaps she would prefer to think of one +who is far away. Men do not live under such restraint. A man may reserve +all his thoughts for his mistress, but the moment he leaves, his +mistress must begin to cajole the new-comer, however indifferent he may +be to her. The habit of her life is to cajole, to please, to inspire, if +possible, and if she be not a born coquette she becomes one, and takes +pleasure in her art, devoting her body and mind to it, reading only +books about love and lovers, singing songs of love, and seeking always +new scents and colours and modes of fascination. If lovers are away and +none calls, she abandons herself to dreams, and her imagination +furnishes quickly a new romance. Somebody she has half-forgotten rises +up in her memory, and she thinks that she could like him if he were to +come into her drawing-room now. It would be happiness indeed to walk +forward into his arms and to call her soul into her eyes; or, if a +letter were to come from him asking her to dinner, she would accept it; +and, lying back among her silken cushions, she thinks she could spend +many hours in his company without weariness. She creates his rooms and +his person and his conversation, and when he is exhausted a new intrigue +rises up in her mind, and then another and another. Some drop away and +remain for ever unfulfilled, while others 'come into their own,' as the +saying is. + +If this be a true analysis of a woman's life--and who will say it is +not?--the dreams of the Marchioness of Kilcarney would begin in her +easy-chair about the second spring after her marriage, the shaggy shape +that haunts the back of my mind would hear her dreams, and the wooing +that began with the daffodils would continue always, for she is a woman +that could keep a lover till the end of time. At her death husband and +lover would visit her grave together and talk of her perfections in the +winter evenings. But if Violet did not die another vagrant male would +steal through the ilex-trees, a hunter in pursuit of game, or else it +might be a fisher, seated among the rocks waiting, for tunny-fish. +Either might take Violet's fancy. The author of _Muslin_ seems to have +entertained a thought of some such pastoral frolic in the Shelbourne +Hotel--the opposition of husband and lover to the newcomer, Harding, +whom it had occurred to Mrs. Barton to invite to Brookfield, and whom +she would have invited had it not been for her great matrimonial +projects; my forerunner, who was an artist, saw that any deflection of +Mrs. Barton's thoughts would jeopardize his composition, and he allowed +Mrs. Barton to remain a chaperon. He was right in this, but Violet +should have been the impulse and nucleus of a new story. . . . I began to +think suddenly of the blight that would fall on the twain if Violet's +lover were to die, and to figure them sitting in the evenings meditating +on the admirable qualities of the deceased till in their loneliness he +would come to seem to them as a being more than human, touching almost +on the Divine. Their ears would retain the sound of his voice, and the +familiar furniture would provoke remembrances of him. Ashamed of their +weakness, their eyes would seek the chair he used to sit in: it is away +in a far corner, lest a casual visitor should draw it forward and defile +it with his presence--a thing that happened once (the unhappy twain +remember how they lacked moral courage to beg him to choose another +chair). The table, laid for two, was too painful to behold, and they +never enjoyed a meal, hardly could they eat, till at last it was decided +that his place should be laid for him as if he had gone away on a +journey, and might appear in the doorway and sit down with them and +share the repast as of yore--a pretty deception the folly of which they +were alive to (a little) but would not willingly be without. + +His room, too, awaits him, and his clothes have not been destroyed or +given to the poor, but he folded by charitable hands in the drawers +kept safe from moth with orris-root and lavender. His hat hangs on its +accustomed peg in the hall, and they think of it among many other +things. At last the silence of these lonely meditations is broken by +sudden recollections--for dinner the cook had sent up a boiled chicken +instead of roast, and he had looked upon boiled chicken as a vulgar +insularism always. Nor were there bananas on the table. Bananas were an +acquired taste with them, they had learned to eat the fruit for love of +their friend, and since he has gone they have not eaten the chicken +roast nor the fruit, and it seems to them that they should have eaten of +these things in memory of him. In the Spring they come upon his +pruning-knife, and discourse sadly on the changes he would have advised. +Spring opens into summer, and when summer drops into the autumn +Kilcarney's black passes into grey; he appears one morning in a violet +tie, and the tie, picked out of a drawer with indifferent hand, causes +Violet to doubt her husband's constancy. It was soon after this +thoughtless act that he began, for the thousandth time, to remind her +that the world might be searched in its dimmest corners and no friend +again found like the one they had lost. . . . The reflection had become +part of their habitual thought, and, feeling a little trite and +commonplace, Violet listened, or half-listened, engulfed in retrospect. + +'I met in Merrion Square,' and she mentioned a name, 'and do you know +whom he seemed to be very like?' The colour died out of Kilcarney's +cheek and he could but murmur, 'Oh, Violet!' and colouring at being +caught up on what might be looked upon as a mental infidelity, she +answered, 'of course, none is like him . . . I wish you would not seek to +misunderstand me.' + +The matter passed off, but next evening she sat looking at her husband, +her thoughts suspended for so long that he began to fear, wrongly +however, that she was about to put forward some accusation, to twit him +perchance on his lack of loyalty to his dead friend. He had not eaten a +banana for dinner, though he had intended to eat one. 'Of course, we +shall never find anyone like him,' she said--'not if we were to search +all the corners of the world. That is so, we're both agreed on that +point, but I've been thinking which of all our friends and acquaintances +would least unworthily fill his place in our lives.' 'Violet! Violet!' +'If you persist in misunderstanding me,' she answered, 'I have no more +to say,' whereupon the Marquis tried to persuade the Marchioness out of +the morose silence that had fallen upon them, and failing to move her he +raised the question that had divided them. 'If you mean, Violet, that +our racing friend would be a poor shift for our dead friend, meaning +thereby that nobody in Dublin is comparable'--'could I have meant +anything else, you old dear?' she replied; and the ice having been +broken, the twain plunged at once into the waters of recollection, and +coming upon a current they were borne onward, swiftly and more swiftly, +till at length a decision had to be come to--they would invite their +racing friend. + +It was on the Marquis's lips to say a word or two in disparagement of +the invited guest, but on second thoughts it seemed to him that he had +better refrain; the Marchioness, too, was about to plead, she did not +know exactly what, but she thought she would like to reassure the +Marquis. . . . On second thoughts she decided too that it would be better +(perhaps) to refrain. Well, to escape from the toils of an interesting +story (for I'm no longer a story-teller but a prefacer) I will say that +three nights later Sir Hugh took the Marchioness in to dinner; he sat in +his predecessor's chair, knowing nothing of him, thereby startling his +hosts, who, however, soon recovered their presence of mind. After dinner +the Marquis said, 'Now, Sir Hugh, I hope you will excuse me if I go +upstairs. I am taking the racing calendar with me, you see.' + +My forerunner, the author of _Muslin_, should have written the story +sketched here with a failing hand, his young wit would have allowed him +to tell how the marriage that had wilted sadly after the death of Uncle +Toby now renewed its youth, opening its leaves to the light again, +shaking itself in the gay breezes floating by. He would have been able +in this story to present three exemplars of the domestic virtues, +telling how they went away to the seaside together, and returned +together to their castle among tall trees in October compelling the +admiration of the entire countryside. He would have shown us the +Marchioness entertaining visitors while the two men talked by the +fireplace, delighting in each other's company, and he would not have +forgotten to put them before us in their afternoon walks, sharing +between them Violet's knick-knacks, her wraps, her scarf, her fan, her +parasol, her cushion. His last chapter would probably be in a ball-room, +husband and lover standing by the door watching the Marchioness swinging +round the room on the arm of a young subaltern. 'Other women are younger +than she, Kilcarney, but who is as graceful? Have you ever seen a woman +hold herself like Violet?' One of the daughters (for there have been +children by this second, or shall we say by this third, marriage) comes +up breathless after the dance. 'Darling Uncle Hughie, won't you take me +for an ice?' and he gives her his arm affectionately, but as they pass +away to the buffet Sir Hugh hears Kilcarney speaking of Lily as his +daughter. Sir Hugh's face clouds suddenly, but he remembers that, after +all, Kilcarney is a guardian of his wife's honour. A very ingenious +story, no doubt, and if, as the young man's ascendant--the critics of +1915 are pleased to speak of me as ascendant from the author of +_Muslin_--I may be permitted to remark upon it, I would urge the very +grave improbability that three people ever lived contemporaneously who +were wise enough to prefer, and so consistently, happiness to the +conventions. + +There are still May Gould and Olive to consider, but this preface has +been prolonged unduly, and it may be well to leave the reader to imagine +a future for these girls, and to decide the interests that will fill +Mrs. Barton's life when Lord Dungory's relations with this world have +ceased. + +G.M. + + + + + +MUSLIN + + + +I + + +The convent was situated on a hilltop, and through the green garden the +white dresses of the schoolgirls fluttered like the snowy plumage of a +hundred doves. Obeying a sudden impulse, a flock of little ones would +race through a deluge of leaf-entangled rays towards a pet companion +standing at the end of a gravel-walk examining the flower she has just +picked, the sunlight glancing along her little white legs proudly and +charmingly advanced. The elder girls in their longer skirts were more +dignified, but when they caught sight of a favourite sister, they too +ran forward, and then retreated timidly, as if afraid of committing an +indiscretion. + +It was prize-day in the Convent of the Holy Child, and since early +morning all had been busy preparing for the arrival of the Bishop. His +throne had been set at one end of the school-hall, and at the other the +carpenters had erected a stage for the performance of _King Cophetua_, a +musical sketch written by Miss Alice Barton for the occasion. + +Alice Barton was what is commonly known as a plain girl. At home, during +the holidays, she often heard that the dressmaker could not fit her; but +though her shoulders were narrow and prim, her arms long and almost +awkward, there was a character about the figure that commanded +attention. Alice was now turned twenty; she was the eldest, the +best-beloved, and the cleverest girl in the school. It was not, +therefore, on account of any backwardness in her education that she had +been kept so long out of society, but because Mrs. Barton thought that, +as her two girls were so different in appearance, it would be well for +them to come out together. Against this decision Alice said nothing, +and, like a tall arum lily, she had grown in the convent from girl to +womanhood. To her the little children ran to be comforted; and to walk +with her in the garden was considered an honour and a pleasure that even +the Reverend Mother was glad to participate in. + +Lady Cecilia Cullen sat next to Alice, and her high shoulders and long +face and pathetic eyes drew attention to her shoulders--they were a +little wry, the right seemingly higher than the left. Her eyes were on +Alice, and it was plain that she wished the other girls away, and that +her nature was delicate, sensitive, obscure, if not a little queer. At +home her elder sisters complained that an ordinary look or gesture often +shocked her, and so deeply that she would remain for hours sitting apart +refusing all consolation; and it was true that a spot on the tablecloth +or presence of one repellent to her was sufficient to extinguish a +delight or an appetite. + +Violet Scully occupied the other end of the garden bench. She was very +thin, but withal elegantly made. Her face was neat and delicate, and it +was set with light blue eyes; and when she was not changing her place +restlessly, or looking round as if she fancied someone was approaching, +when she was still (which was seldom), a rigidity of feature and an +almost complete want of bosom gave her the appearance of a convalescent +boy. + +If May Gould, who stood at the back, her hand leaning affectionately on +Alice's shoulder, had been three inches taller, she would have been +classed a fine figure, but her features were too massive for her height. +Her hair was not of an inherited red. It was the shade of red that is +only seen in the children of dark-haired parents. In great coils it +rolled over the dimpled cream of her neck, and with the exception of +Alice, May was the cleverest girl in the school. For public inspection +she made large water-coloured drawings of Swiss scenery; for private +view, pen-and-ink sketches of officers sitting in conservatories with +young ladies. The former were admired by the nuns, the latter occasioned +some discussion among a select few. + +Violet Scully and May Gould would appeal to different imaginations. + +Olive, Alice's sister, was more beautiful than either, but there was +danger that her corn-coloured hair, wound round a small shapely head, +might fail to excite more than polite admiration. Her nose was finely +chiselled, but it was high and aquiline, and though her eyes were well +drawn and coloured, they lacked personal passion and conviction; but no +flower could show more delicate tints than her face--rose tints fading +into cream, cream rising into rose. Her ear was curved like a shell, her +mouth was faint and weak as a rose, and her moods alternated between +sudden discontent and sudden gaiety. + +'I don't see, Alice, why you couldn't have made King Cophetua marry the +Princess. Whoever heard of a King marrying a beggar-maid? Besides, I +hear that lots of people are going to be present, and to be jilted +before them all isn't very nice. I am sure mamma wouldn't like it.' + +'But you are not jilted, my dear Olive. You don't like the King, and you +show your nobleness of mind by refusing him.' + +'I don't see that. Whoever refused a King?' + +'Well, what do you want?' exclaimed May. 'I never saw anyone so selfish +in all my life; you wouldn't be satisfied unless you played the whole +piece by yourself.' + +Olive would probably have made a petulant and passionate reply, but at +that moment visitors were coming up the drive. + +'It's papa,' cried Olive. + +'And he is with mamma,' said Violet; and she tripped after Olive. + +Mr. Barton, a tall, handsome man, seemed possessed of all the beauty of +a cameo, and Olive had inherited his high aquiline nose and the moulding +of his romantic forehead; and his colour, too. He wore a flowing beard, +and his hair and beard were the colour of pale _cafe-au-lait_. Giving a +hand to each daughter, he said: + +'Here is learning and here is beauty. Could a father desire more? And +you, Violet, and you, May, are about to break into womanhood. I used to +kiss you in old times, but I suppose you are too big now. How +strange--how strange! There you are, a row of brunettes and blondes, who +before many days are over will be charming the hearts of all the young +men in Galway. I suppose it was in talking of such things that you spent +the morning?' + +'Our young charges have been, I assure you, very busy all the morning. +We are not as idle as you think, Mr. Barton,' said the nun in a tone of +voice that showed that she thought Mr. Barton's remark ill-considered. +'We have been arranging the stage for the representation of a little +play that your daughter Alice composed.' + +'Oh yes, I know; she wrote to me about it. _King Cophetua_ is the name, +isn't it? I am very curious indeed, for I have set Tennyson's ballad to +music myself. I sing it to the guitar, and if life were not so hurried I +should have sent it to you. However--however, we are all going home +to-morrow. I have promised to take charge of Cecilia, and Mrs. Scully is +going to look after May.' + +'Oh, how nice! Oh, how jolly that will be!' Olive cried; and, catching +Violet by the hands, she romped with her for glee. + +But the nun, taking advantage of this break in the conversation, said: + +'Come, now, young ladies, it is after two o'clock; we shall never be +ready in time if you don't make haste--and it won't do to keep the +Bishop waiting.' Like a hen gathering her chickens, the Sister hurried +away with Violet, Olive, and May. + +'How happy they seem in this beautiful retreat!' said Mrs. Scully, +drawing her black lace shawl about her grey-silk shoulders. 'How little +they know of the troubles of the world! I am afraid it would be hard to +persuade them to leave their convent if they knew the trials that await +them.' + +'We cannot escape our trials,' a priest said, who had just joined the +group; 'they are given to us that we may overcome them.' + +'I suppose so, indeed,' said Mrs. Scully; and, trying to find +consolation in the remark, she sighed. Another priest, as if fearing +further religious shop from his fellow-worker, informed Mr. Barton, in a +cheerful tone of voice, that he had heard he was a great painter. + +'I don't know--I don't know,' replied Mr. Barton; 'painting is, after +all, only dreaming. I should like to be put at the head of an army, but +when I am seized with an idea I have to rush to put it down.' + +Finding no appropriate answer to these somewhat erratic remarks, the +priest joined in a discussion that had been started concerning the +action taken by the Church during the present agrarian agitation. Mr. +Barton, who was weary of the subject, stepped aside, and, sitting on one +of the terrace benches between Cecilia and Alice, he feasted his eyes on +the colour-changes that came over the sea, and in long-drawn-out and +disconnected phrases explained his views on nature and art until the +bell was rung for the children to assemble in the school-hall. + + + + +II + + +It was a large room with six windows; these had been covered over with +red cloth, and the wall opposite was decorated with plates, flowers, and +wreaths woven out of branches of ilex and holly. + +Chairs for the visitors had been arranged in a semicircle around the +Bishop's throne--a great square chair approached by steps, and rendered +still more imposing by the canopy, whose voluminous folds fell on either +side like those of a corpulent woman's dress. Opposite was the stage. +The footlights were turned down, but the blue mountains and brown +palm-trees of the drop-curtain, painted by one of the nuns, loomed +through the red obscurity of the room. Benches had been set along the +walls. Between them a strip of carpet, worked with roses and lilies, +down which the girls advanced when called to receive their prizes, +stretched its blue and slender length. + +'His Grace is coming!' a nun cried, running in, and instantly the +babbling of voices ceased, and four girls hastened to the pianos placed +on either side of the stage, two left-hands struck a series of chords in +the bass, the treble notes replied, and, to the gallant measure of a +French polka, a stately prelate entered, smiling benediction as he +advanced, the soft clapping of feminine palms drowning, for a moment, +the slangy strains of the polka. + +When the Bishop was seated on his high throne, the back of which +extended some feet above his head, and as soon as the crowd of visitors +had been accommodated with chairs around him, a nun made her way through +the room, seeking anxiously among the girls. She carried in her hand a +basket filled with programmes, all rolled and neatly tied with pieces of +different coloured ribbon. These she distributed to the ten tiniest +little children she could find, and, advancing five from either side, +they formed in a line and curtsied to the Bishop. One little dot, whose +hair hung about her head like a golden mist, nearly lost her balance; +she was, however, saved from falling by a companion, and then, like a +group of kittens, they tripped down the strip of blue carpet and handed +the programmes to the guests, who leaned forward as if anxious to touch +their hands, to stroke their shining hair. + +The play was now ready to begin, and Alice felt she was going from hot +to cold, for when the announcement printed on the programme, that she +was the author of the comedy of _King Cophetua_ had been read, all eyes +were fixed upon her; the Bishop, after eyeing her intently, bent towards +the Reverend Mother and whispered to her. Cecilia clasped Alice's hand +and said: 'You must not be afraid, dear; I know it will be all right.' + +And the little play was as charming as it was guileless. The old legend +had been arranged--as might have been expected from a schoolgirl--simply +and unaffectedly. The scene opened in a room in the palace of the King, +and when a chorus, supposed to be sung by the townspeople, was over, a +Minister entered hurriedly. The little children uttered a cry of +delight; they did not recognize their companion in her strange disguise. +A large wig, with brown curls hanging over the shoulders, almost hid the +face, that had been made to look quite aged by a few clever touches of +the pencil about the eyes and mouth. She was dressed in a long garment, +something between an ulster and a dressing-gown. It fell just below her +knees, for it had been decided by the Reverend Mother that it were +better that there should be a slight display of ankles than the least +suspicion of trousers. The subject was a delicate one, and for some +weeks past a look of alarm had not left the face of the nun in charge of +the wardrobe. But these considerations only amused the girls, and now, +delighted at the novelty of her garments, the Minister strutted about +the stage complaining of the temper of the Dowager Queen. 'Who could +help it if the King wouldn't marry? Who could make him leave his poetry +and music for a pretty face if he didn't care to do so? He had already +refused blue eyes, black eyes, brown eyes. However, the new Princess was +a very beautiful person, and ought, all things considered, to be +accepted by the King. She must be passing through the city at the +moment.' + +On this the Queen entered. The first words she spoke were inaudible, +but, gathering courage, she trailed her white satin, with its large +brocaded pattern, in true queenly fashion, and questioned the Minister +as to his opinion of the looks of the new Princess. But she gave no +point to her words. The scene was, fortunately, a short one, and no +sooner had they disappeared than a young man entered. He held a lute in +his left hand, and with his right he twanged the strings idly. He was +King Cophetua, and many times during rehearsal Alice had warned May that +her reading of the character was not right; but May did not seem able to +accommodate herself to the author's view of the character, and, after a +few minutes, fell back into her old swagger; and now, excited by the +presence of an audience, by the footlights, by the long coat under which +she knew her large, well-shaped legs could be seen, she forgot her +promises, and strolled about like a man, as she had seen young Scully +saunter about the stable-yard at home. She looked, no doubt, very +handsome, and, conscious of the fact, she addressed her speeches to a +group of young men, who, for no ostensible reason except to get as far +away as possible from the Bishop, had crowded into the left-hand corner +of the hall. + +And so great was May's misreading of the character, that Alice could +hardly realize that she was listening to her own play. Instead of +speaking the sentence, 'My dear mother, I could not marry anyone I did +not love; besides, am I not already wedded to music and poetry?' slowly, +dreamily, May emphasized the words so jauntily, that they seemed to be +poetic equivalents for wine and tobacco. There was no doubt that things +were going too far; the Reverend Mother frowned, and shifted her +position in her chair uneasily; the Bishop crossed his legs and took +snuff methodically. + +But at this moment the attention of the audience was diverted by the +entrance of the Princess. May's misbehaviour was forgotten, and a murmur +of admiration rose through the red twilight. Dressed in a tight-fitting +gown of pale blue, opening in front, and finishing in a train held up by +the smallest child in the school, Olive moved across the stage like a +beautiful bird. Taking a wreath of white roses from her hair, she +presented them to the King. He had then to kiss her hand, and lead her +to a chair. In the scene that followed, Alice had striven to be +intensely pathetic. She had intended that the King, by a series of +kindly put questions, should gradually win the Princess's confidence, +and induce her to tell the truth--that her affections had already been +won by a knight at her father's Court; that she could love none other. + +KING. But if this knight did not exist; if you had never seen him, you +would, I suppose, have accepted my hand? + +PRINCESS. You will not be offended if I tell you the truth? + +KING. No; my word on it. + +PRINCESS. I could never have listened to your love. + +KING (_rising hastily_). Am I then so ugly, so horrible, so vile, that +even if your heart were not engaged elsewhere you could not have +listened to me? + +PRINCESS. You are neither horrible nor vile, King Cophetua; but again +promise me secrecy, and I will tell you the whole truth. + +KING. I promise. + +PRINCESS. You are loved by a maiden far more beautiful than I; she is +dying of love for your sake! She has suffered much for her love; she is +suffering still. + +KING. Who is this maiden? + +PRINCESS. Ah! She is but a beggar-maid; she lives on charity, the songs +she sings, and the flowers she sells in the streets. And now she is +poorer than ever, for your royal mother has caused her to be driven out +of the city. + + +Here the King weeps--he is supposed to be deeply touched by the +Princess's account of the wrongs done to the beggar-maid--and it is +finally arranged between him and the Princess that they shall pretend to +have come to some violent misunderstanding, and that, in their war of +words, they shall insult each other's parents so grossly that all +possibilities of a marriage will be for ever at an end. Throwing aside a +chair so as to bring the Queen within ear-shot, the King declares that +his royal neighbour is an old dunce, and that there is not enough money +in his treasury to pay the Court boot-maker; the Princess retaliates by +saying that the royal mother of the crowned head she is addressing is an +old cat, who paints her face and beats her maids-of-honour. + +The play that up to this point had been considered a little tedious now +engaged the attention of the audience, and when the Queen entered she +was greeted with roars of laughter. The applause was deafening. Olive +played her part better than had been expected, and all the white frocks +trembled with excitement. The youths in the left-hand corner craned +their heads forward so as not to lose a syllable of what was coming; the +Bishop recrossed his legs in a manner that betokened his entire +satisfaction; and, delighted, the mammas and papas whispered together. +But the faces of the nuns betrayed the anxiety they felt. Inquiring +glances passed beneath the black hoods; all the sleek faces grew alive +and alarmed. May was now alone on the stage, and there was no saying +what indiscretion she might not be guilty of. + +The Reverend Mother, however, had anticipated the danger of the scene, +and had sent round word to the nun in charge of the back of the stage to +tell Miss Gould that she was to set the crown straight on her head, and +to take her hands out of her pockets. The effect of receiving such +instructions from the wings was that May forgot one-half her words, and +spoke the other half so incorrectly that the passage Alice had counted +on so much--'At last, thank Heaven, that tiresome trouble is over, and I +am free to return to music and poetry'--was rendered into nonsense, and +the attention of the audience lost. Nor were matters set straight until +a high soprano voice was heard singing: + + 'Buy, buy, who will buy roses of me? + Roses to weave in your hair. + A penny, only a penny for three, + Roses a queen might wear! + Roses! I gathered them far away + In gardens, white and red. + Roses! Make presents of roses to-day + And help me to earn my bread.' + +The King divined that this must be the ballad-singer--the beggar-maid +who loved him, who, by some secret emissaries of the Queen, had been +driven away from the city, homeless and outcast; and, snatching his lute +from the wall, he sang a few plaintive verses in response. The strain +was instantly taken up, and then, on the current of a plain religious +melody, the two voices were united, and, as two perfumes, they seemed to +blend and become one. + +Alice would have preferred something less ethereal, for the exigencies +of the situation demanded that the King should get out of the window and +claim the hand of the beggar-maid in the public street. But the nun who +had composed the music could not be brought to see this, and, after a +comic scene between the Queen and the Chancellor, the King, followed by +his Court and suite, entered, leading the beggar-maid by the hand. In a +short speech he told how her sweetness, her devotion, and, above all, +her beautiful voice, had won his heart, and that he intended to make her +his Queen. A back cloth went up, and it disclosed a double throne, and +as the young bride ascended the steps to take her place by the side of +her royal husband, a joyful chorus was sung, in which allusion was made +to a long reign and happy days. + +Everyone was enchanted but Alice, who had wished to show how a man, in +the trouble and bitterness of life, must yearn for the consoling +sympathy of a woman, and how he may find the dove his heart is sighing +for in the lowliest bracken; and, having found her, and having +recognized that she is the one, he should place her in his bosom, +confident that her plumes are as fair and immaculate as those that +glitter in the sunlight about the steps and terraces of the palace. +Instead of this, she had seen a King who seemed to regard life as a +sensual gratification; and a beggar-maid, who looked upon her lover, not +timidly, as a new-born flower upon the sun, but as a clever huckstress +at a customer who had bought her goods at her valuing. But the audience +did not see below the surface, and, in answer to clapping of hands and +cries of _Encore_, the curtain was raised once more, and King Cophetua, +seated on his throne by the side of his beggar-maid, was shown to them +again. + +The excitement did not begin to calm until the _tableaux vivants_ were +ready. For, notwithstanding the worldliness of the day, it was thought +that Heaven should not be forgotten. The convent being that of the Holy +Child, something illustrative of the birth of Christ naturally suggested +itself. No more touching or edifying subject than that of the +Annunciation could be found. Violet's thin, elegant face seemed +representative of an intelligent virginity, and in a long, white dress +she knelt at the _prie-dieu._ Olive, with a pair of wings obtained from +the local theatre, and her hair, blonde as an August harvesting, lying +along her back, took the part of the Angel. She wore a star on her +forehead, and after an interval that allowed the company to recover +their composure, and the carpenter to prepare the stage, the curtain was +again raised. This time the scene was a stable. At the back, in the +right-hand corner, there was a manger to which was attached a stuffed +donkey; Violet sat on a low stool and held the new-born Divinity in her +arms; May, who for the part of Joseph had been permitted to wear a false +beard, held a staff, and tried to assume the facial expression of a man +who had just been blessed with a son. In the foreground knelt the three +wise men from the East; with outstretched hands they held forth their +offerings of frankincense and myrrh. The picture of the world's +Redemption was depicted with such taste that a murmur of pious +admiration sighed throughout the hall. + +Soon after a distribution of prizes began, and when the different awards +had been distributed, and the Bishop had made a speech, there was +benediction in the convent-church. + + + + +III + + +'And to think,' said Alice, 'that this is the very last evening we shall +ever pass here!' + +'I don't see why you should be so very sorry for that,' replied May; 'I +should have thought that you must have had enough of the place. Why, you +have been here nearly ten years! I never would have consented to remain +so long as that.' + +'I didn't mind; we have been very happy here, and to say good-bye, and +for ever, to friends we have known so long, and who have been so good to +us, seems very sad--at least, it does to me.' + +'It is all very well for you,' said Olive; 'I dare say you have been +happy here, you have always been the petted and spoilt child of the +school. Nothing was ever too good for Alice; no matter who was wrong or +what was done, Alice was sure to be right.' + +'I never knew anyone so unreasonable,' said Cecilia. 'You grumble at +everything, and you are always dying of jealousy of your sister.' + +'That's not true, and you haven't much to talk of; after beating your +brains out you only just got the prize for composition. Besides, if you +like the convent as much as I dare say you do, although you aren't a +Catholic, you had better stop here with my sister.' + +'Oh, Olive! how can you speak to Cecilia in that horrid way? I am +ashamed of you.' + +'So you are going to turn against me, Alice; but that's your way. I +shan't stay here.' + +The retreating figure of the young girl stood out in beautiful +distinctness in the pale light; behind her the soft evening swept the +sea, effacing with azure the brown sails of the fishing-boats; in front +of her the dresses of the girls flitted white through the sombre green +of the garden. + +'I am sorry,' said Cecilia, 'you spoke to her. She is put out because +she didn't get a prize, and Sister Agnes told her that she nearly spoilt +the play by the stupid way she played the Princess.' + +'She will find that that temper of hers will stand in her way if she +doesn't learn to control it,' Violet said; 'but, now she is gone, tell +me, Alice, how do you think she played her part? As far as I can judge +she didn't seem to put any life into it. You meant the Princess to be a +sharp, cunning woman of the world, didn't you?' + +'No, not exactly; but I agree with you that Olive didn't put life into +it.' + +'Well, anyhow, the play was a great success, and you got, dear Alice, +the handsomest prize that has ever been given in the school.' + +'And how do you think I did the King? Did I make him look like a man? I +tried to walk just as Fred Scully does when he goes down to the +stables.' + +'You did the part very well, May; but I think I should like him to have +been more sentimental.' + +'I don't think men are sentimental--at least, not as you think they are. +I tried to copy Fred Scully.' + +'My part was a mere nothing. You must write me a something, Alice, one +of these days--a coquettish girl, you know, who could twist a man round +her fingers. A lot of _bavardage_ in it.' + +'I suppose you'll never be able to speak English again, now you've got +the prize for French conversation.' + +'Sour grapes! You would like to have got it yourself. I worked hard for +it. I was determined to get it, for ma says it is of great advantage in +society for a girl to speak French well.' + +'Jealous! I should like to know why I should be jealous. Of what? I got +all I tried for. Besides, the truth about your French prize is that you +may consider yourself very fortunate, for if' (she mentioned the name of +one of her schoolfellows) 'hadn't been so shy and timid, you'd have come +off second best.' + +The rudeness of this retort drew a sharp answer from Violet; and then, +in turn, but more often simultaneously, the girls discussed the justice +of the distribution. The names of an infinite number of girls were +mentioned; but when, in the babbling flow of convent-gossip, a favourite +nun was spoken of, one of the chatterers would sigh, and for a moment be +silent. + +The violet waters of the bay had darkened, and, like the separating +banners of a homeward-moving procession, the colours of the sky went +east and west. The girdle of rubies had melted, had become the pale red +lining of a falling mantle; the large spaces of gold grew dim; orange +and yellow streamers blended; lilac and blue pennons faded to deep +greys; dark hoods and dark veils were drawn closer; purple was gathered +like garments about the loins; the night fell, and the sky, now +decorated with a crescent moon and a few stars, was filled with +stillness and adoration. The day's death was exquisite, even human; and +as she gazed on the beautiful corpse lowered amid the fumes of a +thousand censers into an under-world, even Violet's egotism began to +dream. + +'The evening is lovely. I am glad; it is the last we shall pass here,' +said the girl pensively, 'and all good-byes are sad.' + +'Yes, we have been happy,' said May, 'and I too am sorry to leave; but +then we couldn't spend our lives here. There are plenty of things to be +done at home; and I suppose we shall all get married one of these days? +And there will be balls and parties before we get married. I don't think +that I'd care to get married all at once. Would you, Violet?' + +'I don't know. Perhaps not, unless it was to someone very grand indeed.' + +'Oh, would you do that? I don't think I could marry a man unless I loved +him,' said May. + +'Yes, but you might love someone who was very grand as well as someone +who wasn't.' + +'That's true enough; but then--' and May stopped, striving to readjust +her ideas, which Violet's remark had suddenly disarranged. After a pause +she said: + +'But does your mother intend to bring you to Dublin for the season? Are +you going to be presented this year?' + +'I hope so. Mamma said I should be, last vacation.' + +'I shall take good care that I am. The best part of the hunting will be +over, and I wouldn't miss the Castle balls for anything. Do you like +officers?' + +The crudity of the question startled Alice, and it was with difficulty +she answered she didn't know--that she had not thought about the matter. + +May and Violet continued the conversation; and over the lingering waste +of yellow, all that remained to tell where the sun had set, the night +fell like a heavy, blinding dust, sadly and regretfully, as the last +handful of earth thrown upon a young girl's grave. + + + + +IV + + +In the tiny cornfields the reapers rose from their work to watch the +carriage. Mr. Barton commented on the disturbed state of the country. +Olive asked if Mr. Parnell was good-looking. A railway-bridge was passed +and a pine-wood aglow with the sunset, and a footman stepped down from +the box to open a swinging iron gate. + +This was Brookfield. Sheep grazed on the lawn, at the end of which, +beneath some chestnut-trees, was the house. It had been built by the +late Mr. Barton out of a farmhouse, but the present man, having +travelled in Italy and been attracted by the picturesque, had built a +verandah; and for the same reason had insisted on calling his daughter +Olive. + +'Oh there, mamma!' cried Olive, looking out of the carriage window; and +the two girls watched their mother, a pretty woman of forty, coming +across the greensward to meet them. + +She moved over the greensward in a skirt that seemed a little too +long--a black silk skirt trimmed with jet. As she came forward her +daughters noticed that their mother dyed her hair in places where it +might be suspected of turning grey. It was parted in the middle and she +wore it drawn back over her ears and slightly puffed on either side in +accordance with the fashion that had come in with the Empress Eugenie. +Even in a photograph she was like a last-century beauty sketched by +Romney in pastel--brown, languid, almond-shaped eyes, a thin figure a +little bent. Even in youth it had probably resembled Alice's rather than +Olive's, but neither had inherited her mother's hands--the most +beautiful hands ever seen--and while they trifled with the newly bought +_foulards_ a warbling voice inquired if Olive was sure she was not +tired. + +'Five hours in the train! And you, Alice? You must be starving, my dear, +and I'm afraid the saffron buns are cold. Milord brought us over such a +large packet to-day. We must have some heated up. They won't be a +minute.' + +'Oh, mamma, I assure you I am not in the least hungry!' cried Olive. + +'_La beauté n'a jamais faim, elle se nourrit d'elle même,'_ replied Lord +Dungory, who had just returned from the pleasure-ground whither he had +gone for a little walk with Arthur. + +'You will find Milord the same as ever--_toujours galant_; always +thinking of _la beauté, et les femmes_.' + +Lord Dungory was the kind of man that is often seen with the Mrs. Barton +type of woman. An elderly beau verging on the sixties, who, like Mrs. +Barton, suggested a period. His period was very early Victorian, but he +no longer wore a silk hat in the country. A high silk hat in Galway +would have called attention to his age, so the difficulty of costume was +ingeniously compromised by a tall felt, a cross between a pot and a +chimney-pot. For collars, a balance had been struck between the +jaw-scrapers of old time and the nearest modern equivalent; and in the +tying of the large cravat there was a reminiscence, but nothing more, of +the past generation. + +He had modelled himself, consciously or unconsciously, on Lord +Palmerston, and in the course of conversation one gathered that he was +on terms of intimacy with the chiefs of the Liberal party, such as Lord +Granville and Lord Hartington, and if the listener was credited with any +erudition, allusion was made to the most celebrated artists and authors, +and to their works. There was a celebrated Boucher in Dungory Castle, +which Milord, it was hinted, had bought for some very small sum many +years ago on the Continent; there was also a cabinet by Buhl and a +statue supposed to be a Jean Gougon, and the proofs of their +authenticity were sometimes spoken of after a set dinner-party. His +speech was urbane, and, on all questions of taste, Lord Dungory's +opinion was eagerly sought for. He gave a tone to the ideas put forward +in the surrounding country houses, and it was through him that Mr. +Barton held the title of a genius born out of due time. If Arthur, he +said, had lived two centuries ago, when the gift of imagination was +considered indispensable in the artist, he would have achieved high +distinction. His subjects--_The Bridal of Triermain_ and _Julius Cæsar +overturning the Altars of the Druids_--would have been envied, perhaps +stolen, by the Venetian painters. And this tribute to Arthur's genius, +so generously expressed, enabled him to maintain the amenities of his +life at Brookfield. He never forgot to knock at Arthur's studio-door, +and the moment his eyes fell on a new composition, he spoke of it with +respect; and he never failed to allude to it at lunch. He lunched at +Brookfield every day. At half-past one his carriage was at the door. In +the afternoons he went out to drive with Mrs. Barton or sat in the +drawing-room with her. Four times in the week he remained to dinner, and +did not return home until close on midnight. + +Whether he ever made any return to Mrs. Barton for her hospitalities, +and, if so, in what form he repaid his obligations to her, was, when +friends drew together, a favourite topic of conversation in the county +of Galway. It had been remarked that the Bartons never dined at Dungory +Castle except on state occasions; and it was well-known that the Ladies +Cullen hated Mrs. Barton with a hatred as venomous as the poison hid in +the fangs of adders. + +But Lord Dungory knew how to charm his tame snakes. For fortune they had +but five thousand pounds each, and, although freedom and a London +lodging were often dreamed of, the flesh-pots of Dungory Castle +continued to be purchased at the price of smiles and civil words +exchanged with Mrs. Barton. Besides, as they grew old and ugly, the +Ladies Cullen had developed an inordinate passion for the conversion of +souls. They had started a school of their own in opposition to the +National school, which was under the direction of the priest, and to +persuade the peasants to read the Bible and to eat bacon on Friday, were +good works that could not be undertaken without funds; and these were +obtained, it was said, by the visits of the Ladies Cullen to Brookfield. + +Mrs. Gould declared she could estimate to a fraction the prosperity of +Protestantism in the parish by the bows these ladies exchanged with Mrs. +Barton when their carriages crossed on the roads. + +'Here are the saffron buns at last, my dear children;' and Mrs. Barton +pressed them upon her girls, saying that Milord had brought them from +Dungory Castle especially for them. 'Take a bottom piece, Olive, and +Alice, you really must. . . Well, if you won't eat, tell Milord about your +play of King Cophetua and the beggar-maid. Arthur, tell me, how did you +like the play, and how did the nuns like it? To think of my daughter, so +prim and demure, writing a play, and on such a subject.' + +'But, mamma, what is there odd in the subject? We all know the old +ballad.' + +'Yes, we all know the ballad,' Arthur answered; 'I sing stanzas of it to +the guitar myself.' He began to chant to himself, and Mrs. Barton +listened, her face slanted in the pose of the picture of Lady Hamilton; +and Milord rejoiced in the interlude, for it gave him opportunity to +meditate. Anna (Mrs. Barton) seemed to him more charming and attractive +than he had ever seen her, as she sat in the quiet shadow of the +verandah: beyond the verandah, behind her, the autumn sunshine fell +across the shelving meadows. A quiet harmony reigned over Brookfield. +The rooks came flapping home through the sunlight, and when Arthur had +ceased humming Mrs. Barton said: + +'And now, my dear children, if you have finished your tea, come, and I +will show you your room.' + +She did not leave the verandah, however, without paying a pretty +compliment to Milord, one that set him thinking how miserable his life +would have been with his three disagreeable daughters if he had not +fallen in with this enchantment. He remembered that it had lasted for +nearly twenty years, and it was as potent as ever. In what did it +consist, he asked himself. He sometimes thought her laughter too +abundant, sometimes it verged on merriment. He did not like to think of +Anna as a merry woman; he preferred to think that wherever she went she +brought happiness with her. He had known her sad, but never melancholy, +for she was never without a smile even when she was melancholy. + +Awakening from his reverie he drew his chair closer to Arthur's, and, +with a certain parade of interest, asked him if he had been to the +Academy. + +'Did you see anything, Arthur, that in design approached your picture of +_Julius Cæsar Overturning the Altars of the Druids_?' + +'There were some beautiful bits of painting there,' replied Arthur, +whose modesty forbade him to answer the question directly. 'I saw some +lovely landscapes, and there were some babies' frocks,' he added +satirically. 'In one of these pictures I saw a rattle painted to +perfection.' + +'Ah, yes, yes! You don't like the pettiness of family feeling dragged +into art; but if you only condescend to take a little more notice of the +craft--the craft is, after all--' + +'I am carried along too rapidly by my feelings. I feel that I must get +my idea on canvas. But when I was in London I saw such a lovely +woman--one of the most exquisite creatures possible to imagine! Oh, so +sweet, and so feminine! I have it all in my head. I shall do something +like her to-morrow.' + +Here he began to sketch with his stick in the dust, and from his face it +might be judged he was satisfied with the invisible result. At last he +said: + +'You needn't say anything about it, but she sent me some songs, with +accompaniments written for the guitar. You shall hear some of the songs +to-night. . . . Ah, there is the dinner-bell!' + +Olive was placed next to Milord, and the compliments paid to her by the +old courtier delighted her. She pretended to understand when he said: +'_La femme est comme une ombre: si vous la suives, elle vous fuit; si +vous fuyez, elle vous poursuit_.' A little later the champagne she had +drunk set her laughing hysterically, and she begged him to translate (he +had just whispered to her mother, '_L'amour est la conscience du plaisir +donné et reçu, la certitude de donner et de recevoir_'); and he would +have complied with her request, but Mrs. Barton forbade him. Alice, who +had understood, found herself obliged to say that she had not +understood, which little fib begot a little annoyance in her against her +mother; and Milord, as if he thought that he had been guilty of a slight +indiscretion, said, addressing himself to both girls: '_Gardez bien vos +illusions, mon enfant, car les illusions sont le miroir de l'amour.'_ + +'Ah! _mais il ne faut pas couvrir trop l'abîme avec des fleurs_,' said +Mrs. Barton, as a sailor from his point of vantage might cry, 'Rocks +ahead!' + +Arthur only joined occasionally in the conversation; he gazed long and +ardently on his daughter, and then sketched with his thumb-nail on the +cloth, and when they arose from the table, Mrs. Barton said: + +'Now, now, I am not going to allow you gentlemen to spend any more time +over your wine. This is our first evening together; come into the +drawing-room with us, and we shall have some music.' + +Like most men of an unevenly balanced mind, Arthur loved an eccentric +costume, and soon after he appeared in a long-tasselled cap and a +strangely coloured smoking jacket; he wore a pair of high-heeled +brocaded slippers, and, twanging a guitar, hummed to himself +plaintively. Then, when he thought he had been sufficiently admired, he +sang _A che la morte, Il Balen_, and several other Italian airs, in +which frequent allusion was made to the inconstancy of woman's and the +truth of man's affection. At every pause in the music these sentiments +were laughingly contested by Mrs. Barton. She appealed to Milord. He +never had had anything to complain of. Was it not well known that the +poor woman had been only too true to him? Finally, it was arranged there +should be a little dancing. + +As Mrs. Barton said, it was of great importance to know if Olive knew +the right step, and who could put her up to all the latest fashions as +well as Milord? The old gentleman replied in French, and settled his +waistcoat, fearing the garment was doing him an injustice. + +'But who is to play?' asked the poetical-looking Arthur, who, on the +highest point of the sofa, hummed and tuned his guitar after true +troubadour fashion. + +'Alice will play us a waltz,' said Mrs. Barton winningly. + +'Oh yes, Alice dear, play us a waltz,' cried Olive. + +'You know how stupid I am; I can't play a note without my music, and it +is all locked up in my trunk upstairs.' + +'It won't take you a minute to get it out,' said Mrs. Barton; and +moving, as if she were on wheels, towards her daughter, she whispered: +'Do as I tell you--run upstairs at once and get your music.' + +She looked questioningly at her mother and hesitated. But Mrs. Barton +had a way of compelling obedience, and the girl went upstairs, to return +soon after with a roll of music. At the best of times she had little +love of the art, but now, sick with disappointment, and weary from a +long railway journey, to spell through the rhythm of the _My Queen +Waltz_ and the jangle of _L'Esprit Français_ was to her an odious and, +when the object of it was considered, an abominable duty to perform. She +had to keep her whole attention fixed on the page before her, but when +she raised her eyes the picture she saw engraved itself on her mind. It +was a long time before she could forget Olive's blond, cameo-like +profile seen leaning over the old beau's fat shoulder. Mrs. Barton +laughed and laughed again, declaring the while that it was _la grâce et +la beauté réunies._ Mr. Barton shouted and twanged in measure, the +excitement gaining on him until he rushed at his wife, and, seizing her +round the waist, whirled her and whirled her, holding his guitar above +her head. At last they bumped against Milord, and shot the old man and +his burden on to the nearest sofa. Then Alice, who thought her mission +at the piano was over, rose to go, but Mrs. Barton ordered her to resume +her seat, and the dancing was continued till the carriage came up the +gravel sweep to fetch Milord away. This was generally about half-past +eleven, and as he muffled himself up in overcoats, the girls were told +to cram his pockets with cigarettes and bon-bons. + +'Bedad, I think it is revolvers and policemen you ought to be givin' me, +not swatemates,' he said, affecting a brogue. + +'Oh yes, is it not dreadful?' exclaimed Mrs. Barton. 'I don't know what +we shall do if the Government don't put down the Land League; we shall +all be shot in our beds some night. Did you hear of that murder the +other day?' + +'And it is said there will be no rents collected this year,' said Mr. +Barton, as he tightened one of the strings of his guitar. + +'Oh, do cease that noise!' said Mrs. Barton. 'And tell me, Lord Dungory, +will the Government refuse us soldiers and police to put the people +out?' + +'If we go to the Castle, we shall want more money to buy dresses,' said +Olive. + +'_La mer a toujours son écume pour habiller ses déesses,'_ replied +Milord; and he got into his carriage amid pearly peals of laughter from +Mrs. Barton, intermingled with a few high notes from Olive, who had +already taken to mimicking her mother. + + + + +V + + +Mr. Barton, or Arthur, as he was usually called, always returned to his +studio immediately after breakfast, and, as Mrs. Barton had domestic +duties to attend to, the girls were left to themselves to appreciate +their return home from school and look forward to their entry into the +life of the world. + +The two girls descended the stairs with their summer hats and sunshades, +and Alice stopped at the door of the schoolroom. It was here that, only +a few years ago, she had interceded with the dear old governess, and +aided Olive to master the difficulties against which the light brain +could not contend singly--the hardships of striving to recall the number +of continents the world possesses, the impossibility of learning to say +definitely if seven times four made twenty-eight or thirty. + +At the end of the passage under the stairs the children used to play for +hours, building strange houses out of boxes of bricks, or dressing dolls +in fantastic costumes. Olive had forgotten, but Alice remembered, and +her thoughts wandered through the land of toys. The box of bricks had +come from an aunt that was now dead; the big doll mother had brought +from Dublin when she went to see the oculist about her eyes; and then +there were other toys that suggested nothing, and whose history was +entirely forgotten. But the clock that stood in the passage was well +remembered, and Alice thought how this old-fashioned timepiece used to +be the regulator and confidant of all their joys and hopes. She saw +herself again listening, amid her sums, for the welcome voice that would +call her away; she saw herself again examining its grave face and +striving to calculate, with childish eagerness, if she would have time +to build another Tower of Babel or put another tack in the doll's frock +before the ruthless iron tongue struck the fatal hour. + +'Olive, is it possible you don't remember how we used to listen to the +dear old clock when we were children?' + +'You are a funny girl, Alice; you remember everything. Fancy thinking of +that old clock! I hated it, for it brought me to lessons when it struck +eleven.' + +'Yes, but it brought you out to play when it struck twelve. See! the +hands are just on the hour; let us wait to hear it strike.' + +The girls listened vainly for a sound; and Alice felt as if she had been +apprised of the loss of a tried friend when one of the servants told +them the clock had been broken some years ago. + +The kitchen windows looked on a street made by a line of buildings +parallel with the house. These were the stables and outhouses, and they +formed one of the walls of the garden that lay behind, sheltered on the +north side by a thin curtain of beeches, filled every evening with noisy +rooks; and, coming round to the front of the house, the girls lingered +beneath the chestnut-trees, and in the rosary, where a little fountain +played when visitors were present, and then stood leaning over the +wooden paling that defended the pleasure-ground from the cows that +grazed in the generous expanse of grass extending up to the trees of the +Lawler domain. Brookfield was therefore without pretensions--it could +hardly be called 'a place'--but, manifolded in dreams past and present, +it extended indefinitely before Alice's eyes, and, absorbed by the sad +sweetness of retrospection, she lingered while Olive ran through the +rosary from the stables and back again, calling to her sister, making +the sunlight ring with her light laughter. She refrained, therefore, +from reminding her that it was here they used to play with Nell, the old +setter, and that it was there they gave bread to the blind beggar; Olive +had no heart for these things, and when she admired the sleek +carriage-horses that had lately been bought to take them to balls and +tennis-parties, Alice thought of the old brown mare that used to take +them for such delightful drives. + +Suddenly Mrs. Barton's voice was heard calling. Milord had arrived: they +were to go into the garden and pick a few flowers to make a buttonhole +for him. Olive darted off at once to execute the commission, and soon +returned with a rose set round with stephanotis. The old lord, seated in +the dining-room, in an arm-chair which Mrs. Barton had drawn up to the +window so that he might enjoy the air, sipped his sherry, and Alice, as +she entered the room, heard him say: + +'_Quand on aime on est toujours bien portant_.' + +She stopped abruptly, and Mrs. Barton, who already suspected her of +secret criticism, whispered, as she glided across the room: + +'Now, my dear girl, go and talk to Milord and make yourself agreeable.' + +The girl felt she was incapable of this, and it pained her to listen to +her sister's facile hilarity, and her mother's coaxing observations. +Milord did not, however, neglect her; he made suitable remarks +concerning her school successes, and asked appropriate questions anent +her little play of _King Cophetua_. But whatever interest the subject +possessed was found in the fact that Olive had taken the part of the +Princess; and, re-arranging the story a little, Mrs. Barton declared, +with a shower of little laughs, and many waves of the white hands, that +'my lady there had refused a King; a nice beginning, indeed, and a +pleasant future for her chaperon.' + +The few books the house possessed lay on the drawing-room table, or were +piled, in dusty confusion, in the bookcase in Mr. Barton's studio; and, +thinking of them, Alice determined she would pay her father a visit in +his studio. + +At her knock he ceased singing _Il Balen_, and cried, 'Come in!' + +'I beg your pardon, papa; I'm afraid I am interrupting you.' + +'Not at all--not at all, I assure you; come in. I will have a cigarette; +there is nothing like reconsidering one's work through the smoke of a +cigarette. The most beautiful pictures I have ever seen I have seen in +the smoke of a cigarette; nothing can beat those, particularly if you +are lying back looking up at a dirty ceiling.' + +War and women were the two poles of Arthur's mind. _Cain shielding his +Wife from Wild Beasts_ had often been painted, numberless _Bridals of +Triermain_; and as for the _Rape of the Sabines_, it seemed as if it +could never be sufficiently accomplished. Opposite the door was a huge +design representing Samson and Delilah; opposite the fireplace, _Julius +Caesar overturning the Altars of the Druids_ occupied nearly the entire +wall. Nymphs and tigers were scattered in between; canvases were also +propped against almost every piece of furniture. + +At last Alice's eyes were suddenly caught by a picture representing +three women bathing. It was a very rough sketch, but, before she had +time to examine it, Arthur turned it against the wall. Why he hid two +pictures from her she could not help wondering. It could not be for +propriety's sake, for there were nudities on every side of her. + +Then, lying upon the sofa, he explained how So-and-so had told him, when +he was a boy in London, that no one since Michael Angelo had been able +to design as he could; how he had modelled a colossal statue of Lucifer +before he was sixteen, how he had painted a picture of the Battle of +Arbela, forty feet by twenty, before he was eighteen; but that was of no +use, the world nowadays only cared for execution, and he could not wait +until he had got the bit of ribbon in Delilah's hair to look exactly +like silk. + +Alice listened to her father babbling, her heart and her mind at +variance. A want of knowledge of painting might blind her to the effects +of his pictures (there was in them all a certain crude merit of design), +but it was impossible not to see that they were lacking in something, in +what she could not say, having no knowledge of painting. Nor was she +sure that her father believed in his pictures, though he had just +declared they had all the beauties of Raphael and other beauties +besides. He had a trick of never appearing to thoroughly believe in them +and in himself. She listened interested and amused, not knowing how to +take him. She had been away at school for nearly ten years, coming home +for rare holidays, and was, therefore, without any real knowledge of her +parents. She understood her father even less than her mother; but she +was certain that if he were not a great genius he might have been one, +and she resolved to find out Lord Dungory's opinions on her father. But +the opportunity for five minutes quiet chat behind her mother's back did +not present itself. As soon as he arrived her mother sent her out of the +room on some pretext more or less valid, and at the end of the week the +gowns that had been ordered in Dublin arrived: ecstasy consumed the +house, and she heard him say that he would give a great dinner-party to +show them off. + + + + +VI + + +Arthur, who rarely dined out, handed the ladies into the carriage. + +Mrs. Barton was beautifully dressed in black satin; Olive was lost in a +mass of tulle; Alice wore a black silk trimmed with passementerie and +red ribbons. Behind the Clare mountains the pale transitory colours of +the hour faded, and the women, their bodies and their thoughts swayed +together by the motion of the vehicle, listened to the irritating +barking of the cottage-dog. Surlily a peasant, returning from his work, +his frieze coat swung over one shoulder, stepped aside. A bare-legged +woman, surrounded by her half-naked children, leaving the potato she was +peeling in front of her door, gazed, like her husband, after the rolling +vision of elegance that went by her, and her obtuse brain probably +summed up the implacable decrees of Destiny in the phrase: + +'Shure there misht be a gathering at the big house this evening.' + +'But tell me, mamma,' said Olive, after a long silence, 'how much +champagne ought I to drink at dinner? You know, it is a long time since +I have tasted it. Indeed, I don't remember that I ever did taste it.' + +Mrs. Barton laughed softly: + +'Well, my dear, I don't think that two glasses could do you any harm; +but I would not advise you to drink any more.' + +'And what shall I say to the man who takes me down to dinner? Shall I +have to begin the conversation, or will he?' + +'He will be sure to say something; you need not trouble yourself about +that. I think we shall meet some nice men to-night. Captain Hibbert will +be there. He is very handsome and well-connected. I hope he will take +you down. Then there will be the Honourable Mr. Burke. He is a nice +little man, but there's not much in him, and he hasn't a penny. His +brother is Lord Kilcarney, a confirmed bachelor. Then there will be Mr. +Adair; he is very well off. He has at least four thousand a year in the +country; but it would seem that he doesn't care for women. He is very +clever; he writes pamphlets. He used to sympathize with the Land League, +but the outrages went against his conscience. You never know what he +really does think. He admires Gladstone, and Gladstone says he can't do +without him.' + +They had now passed the lodge-gates, and were driving through the park. +Herds of fallow deer moved away, but the broad bluff forms of the red +deer gazed steadfastly as lions from the crest of a hill. + +'Did you ever meet Lady Dungory, mamma?' asked Alice. 'Is she dead?' + +'No, dear, she is not dead; but it would be better, perhaps, if she +were. She behaved very badly. Lord Dungory had to get a separation. No +one ever speaks of her now. Mind, you are warned!' + +At this moment the carriage stopped before a modern house, built between +two massive Irish towers entirely covered with huge ivy. + +'I am afraid we are a little late,' said Mrs. Barton to the servant, as +he relieved them of their _sorties de bal_. + +'Eight o'clock has just struck, ma'am.' + +'The two old things will make faces at us, I know,' murmured Mrs. +Barton, as she ascended the steps. + +On either side there were cases of stuffed birds; a fox lay in wait for +a pheasant on the right; an otter devoured a trout on the left. These +attested the sporting tastes of a former generation. The white marble +statues of nymphs sleeping in the shadows of the different landings and +the Oriental draperies with which each cabinet was hung suggested the +dilettantism of the present owner. + +Mrs. Barton walked on in front; the girls drew together like birds. They +were amazed at the stateliness of the library, and they marvelled at the +richness of the chandeliers and the curiously assorted pictures. The +company was assembled in a small room at the end of the suite. + +Two tall, bony, high-nosed women advanced and shook hands menacingly +with Mrs. Barton. They were dressed alike in beautiful gowns of +gold-brown plush. + +With a cutting stare and a few cold conventional words, they welcomed +Olive and Alice home to the country again. Lord Dungory whispered +something to Mrs. Barton. Olive passed across the room; the black coats +gave way, and, as a white rose in a blood-coloured glass, her shoulders +rose out of the red tulle. Captain Hibbert twisted his brown-gold +moustache, and, with the critical gaze of the connoisseur, examined the +undulating lines of the arms, the delicate waist, and the sloping hips: +her skirts seemed to fall before his looks. + +Immediately after, the roaring of a gong was heard, and the form of the +stately butler was seen approaching. Lord Dungory and Lady Jane +exchanged looks. The former offered his arm to Mrs. Gould; the latter, +her finger on her lips, in a movement expressive of profound meditation, +said: + +'Mr. Ryan, will you take down Mrs. Barton; Mr. Scully, will you take +Miss Olive Barton; Mr. Adair, will you take Miss Gould; Mr. Lynch, will +you take Miss Alice Barton; Mr. Burke, will you take my sister?' Then, +smiling at the thought that she had checkmated her father, who had +ordered that Olive Barton should go down with Captain Hibbert, she took +Captain Hibbert's arm, and followed the dinner-party. About the marble +statues and stuffed birds on the staircase flowed a murmur of +amiability, and, during a pause, skirts were settled amid the chairs, +which the powdered footmen drew back ceremoniously to make way for the +guests to pass. + +A copy of Murillo's _Madonna presenting the Divine Child to St. Joseph_ +hung over the fireplace; between the windows another Madonna stood on a +half-moon, and when Lord Dungory said, 'For what we are going to +receive, the Lord make us truly thankful,' these pictures helped the +company to realize a suitable, although momentary emotion. + +Turtle soup was handed round. The soft steaming fragrance mixed with the +fresh perfume of the roses that bloomed in a silver vase beneath the +light of the red-shaded wax candles. A tree covered with azaleas spread +notes of delicate colour over the gold screen that hid the door by which +the servants came and went. + +'Oh, Lady Sarah,' exclaimed Mrs. Gould, 'I do not know how you have such +beautiful flowers--and in this wretched climate!' + +'Yes, it is very trying; but then we have a great deal of glass.' + +'Which do you prefer, roses or azaleas?' asked Mrs. Barton. + +'_Les roses sont les fleurs en corsage, mais les azalées sont les fleurs +en peignoir_.' + +Lady Sarah and Lady Jane, who had both overheard the remark, levelled +indignant glances at their father, scornful looks at Mrs. Barton, and, +to avoid further amatory allusions, Lady Sarah said: + +'I do not think we shall soon have bread, much less flowers, to place on +our tables, if the Government do not step in and put down the revolution +that is going on in this country.' + +Everyone, except the young girls, looked questioningly at each other, +and the mutuality of their interests on this point became at once +apparent. + +'Ah, Lord Dungory! do you think we shall be able to collect our rents +this year? What reduction do you intend to give?' + +Lord Dungory, who had no intention of showing his hand, said: + +'The Land League has, I believe, advised the people to pay no more than +Griffith's valuation. I do not know if your lands are let very much +above it?' + +'If you have not seen the _Evening Mail_ you have probably not heard of +the last terrible outrage,' said Captain Hibbert; and, amid a profound +silence, he continued: 'I do not know if anybody here is acquainted with +a Mr. Macnamara; he lives in Meath.' + +'Oh! you don't say anything has happened to him? I knew his cousin,' +exclaimed Mrs. Gould. + +Captain Hibbert looked round with his bland, good-looking stare, and, as +no nearer relative appeared to be present, he resumed his story: + +'He was, it seems, sitting smoking after dinner, when suddenly two shots +were fired through the windows.' + +At this moment a champagne-cork slipped through the butler's fingers and +went off with a bang. + +'Oh, goodness me! what's that?' exclaimed Mrs. Gould; and, to pass off +their own fears, everyone was glad to laugh at the old lady. It was not +until Captain Hibbert told that Mr. Macnamara had been so severely +wounded that his life was despaired of, that the chewing faces became +grave again. + +'And I hear that Macnamara had the foinest harses in Mathe,' said Mr. +Ryan; 'I very nearly sold him one last year at the harse show.' + +Mr. Ryan was the laughing-stock of the country, and a list of the +grotesque sayings he was supposed, on different occasions, to have been +guilty of, was constantly in progress of development. He lived with his +cousin, Mr. Lynch, and, in conjunction, they farmed large tracts of +land. Mr. Ryan was short and thick; Mr. Lynch was taller and larger, and +a pair of mutton-chop whiskers made his bloated face look bigger still. +On either side of the white tablecloth their dirty hands fumbled at +their shirt-studs, that constantly threatened to fall through the worn +buttonholes. They were, nevertheless, received everywhere, and Pathre, +as Mr. Ryan was called by his friends, was permitted the licences that +are usually granted to the buffoon. + +'Arrah!' he said, 'I wouldn't moind the lague being hard on them who +lives out of the counthry, spendin' their cash on liquor and theatres in +London; but what can they have agin us who stops at home, mindin' our +properties and riding our harses?' + +This criticism of justice, as administered by the league, did not, +however, seem to meet with the entire approval of those present. Mr. +Adair looked grave; he evidently thought it was based on a superficial +notion of political economy. Mr. Burke, a very young man with a tiny red +moustache and a curious habit of wriggling his long weak neck, feeling +his amusements were being unfairly attacked, broke the silence he had +till then preserved, and said: + +'I haven't an acre of land in the world, but if my brother chooses to +live in London, I don't see why he should be deprived of his rents. For +my part, I like the Gaiety Theatre, and so does my brother. Have you +seen the _Forty Thieves_, Lady Jane? Capital piece--I saw it twenty +times.' + +'I think what Pathre, me cousin, means to say,' said Mr. Lynch, +declining the venison the servant offered him, 'is that there are many +in the country who don't deserve much consideration. I am alluding to +those who acquired their property in the land courts, and the +Cromwellians, and the--I mean the rack-renters.' + +The sudden remembrance that Lord Dungory dated from the time of James so +upset Mr. Lynch that he called back the servant and accepted the +venison, which he failed, however, to eat. + +'I do not see,' said Lord Dungory, with the air of a man whose words are +conclusive, 'why we should go back to the time of Cromwell to discuss +the rights of property rather than to that of the early Kings of +Ireland. If there is to be a returning, why not at once put in a claim +on the part of the Irish Elk? No! there must be some finality in human +affairs.' And on this phrase the conversation came to a pause. + +But if the opinions of those present were not in accord concerning the +rights of property, their tastes in conversation certainly differed as +widely. Olive's white face twitched from time to time with nervous +annoyance. Alice looked up in a sort of mild despair as she strove to +answer Mr. Lynch's questions; May had fallen into a state of morose +lassitude. If Mr. Adair would only cease to explain to her how +successfully he had employed concrete in the construction of his +farm-buildings! She felt that if he started again on the saw-mill she +must faint, and Olive's senses, too, were swimming, but just as she +thought she was going off Captain Hibbert looked so admiringly at her +that she recovered herself; and at the same time Mr. Scully succeeded in +making May understand that he would infinitely prefer to be near her +than Lady Sarah. In return for this expression of feeling the young lady +determined to risk a remark across the table; but she was cut short by +Mrs. Gould, who pithily summed up the political situation in the words: + +'The way I look at it is like this: Will the Government help us to get +our rents, or will it not? Mr. Forster's Act does not seem to be able to +do that. There's May there who has been talking all the morning of +Castle seasons, and London seasons, and I don't know what; really I +don't see how it is to be done if the Land League--' + +'And Mr. Parnell's a gentleman, too. I wonder how he can ally himself +with such blackguards,' gently insinuated Mrs. Barton, who saw a husband +lost in the politician. + +But the difficulty the Government find themselves in is that the Land +League is apparently a legal organization,' said Lord Dungory in the +midst of a profound silence. + +'A society legal, that exists and holds its power through an organized +system of outrage! Mind you, as I have always said, the landlords have +brought all their misfortunes upon themselves; they have often behaved +disgracefully--but I would, nevertheless, put down the outrages; yes, I +would put down the outrages, and at any cost.' + +'And what would yer do?' asked Mr. Ryan. 'De yer know that the herds are +being coerced now? we'd get on well enough were it not for that.' + +'In the beginning of this year Mr. Forster asked Parliament for special +powers. How has he used those powers? Without trial, five hundred people +have been thrown into prison, and each fresh arrest is answered by a +fresh outrage; and when the warrant is issued, and I suppose it will be +issued sooner or later, for the arrest of Mr. Parnell, I should not be +surprised to hear of a general strike being made against rent. The +consequences of such an event will be terrific; but let these +consequences, I say, rest on Mr. Forster's head. I shall have no word of +pity for him. His government is a disgrace to Liberalism, and I fear he +has done much to prejudice our ideal in the eyes of the world.' + +Lord Dungory and Lady Jane exchanged smiles; and poor crotchety Mr. +Adair leaned forward his large, bald brow, obscured by many obscure +ideals. After a pause he continued: + +'But I was speaking of Flanders. From the time of Charles the Fifth the +most severe laws were enacted to put down the outrages, but there was an +undercurrent of sympathy with the outrage-monger which kept the system +alive until 1840. Then the Government took the matter in hand, and +treated outrage-mongering as what it is--an act of war; and quartered +troops on the inhabitants and stamped the disease out in a few years. Of +course I could not, and would not, advocate the employment of such +drastic measures in Ireland; but I would put down the outrages with a +firm hand, and I would render them impossible in the future by the +creation of peasant-proprietors.' + +Then, amid the juicy odours of cut pineapple, and the tepid flavours of +Burgundy, Mr. Adair warmed to his subject, and proceeded to explain that +absolute property did not exist in land in Ireland before 1600, and, +illustrating his arguments with quotations from Arthur Young, he spoke +of the plantation of Ulster, the leases of the eighteenth century, the +Protestants in the North, the employment of labour; until, at last, +inebriated with theory, he asked the company what was the end of +government? + +This was too much, and, seeing the weary faces about him, Lord Dungory +determined to change the subject of conversation: + +'The end of government?' he said; 'I am afraid that you would get many +different answers to that question. Ask these young ladies; they will +tell you, probably, that it is to have _des beaux amants et des joyeuses +amours_, and I am not sure that they are not right.' + +Mrs. Barton's coaxing laugh was heard, and then reference was made to +the detachment of the Connaught Rangers stationed at Galway, and the +possibility of their giving a dance was eagerly discussed. Mr. Ryan had +a word to say anent the hunting prospect, and, when May Gould declared +she was going to ride straight and not miss a meet, she completed the +conquest of Mr. Scully, and encouraging glances were exchanged between +them until Lady Sarah looked inquiringly round the table--then she +pushed back her chair. All rose, and a moment after, through the +twilight of the drawing-room, colour and nudity were scattered in +picturesque confusion. + +Every mind was occupied by one thought--how the pleasure of the +dinner-party had been spoiled by that horrible Land League discussion. +All wondered who had introduced the subject, and the blame was fixed +upon Mr. Adair. Mrs. Gould, in her homely way, came to the point at +once: + +'People say he is so clever, but I am sure I can't see it. He has spent +a fortune in building farmyards in concrete, and his saw-mill, I hear, +costs him twenty pounds a month dead loss, and he is always writing +letters to the papers. I never can think much of a man who writes to the +papers.' + +'A most superior man,' said Lady Sarah, who, notwithstanding her +thirty-five years, had not entirely given up hope. 'He took honours at +Trinity.' + +Then Mr. Burke and Lord Kilcarney were spoken of, and some new anecdotes +were told of Mr. Ryan. The famous one--how he had asked a lady to show +him her docket at the Galway ball, when she told him that she was +engaged for all the dances--excited, as it never failed to do, a good +deal of laughter. Mrs. Barton did not, however, join in the +conversation. She knew, if she did, that the Ladies Cullen would be as +rude as the absence of Milord, and the fact that she was a guest in +their house would allow them to be. Mrs. Barton's mind was now occupied +with one thought, and, leaning back in her chair, she yielded herself +entirely to it. Although the dinner-party had been spoiled by Mr. +Adair's uncontrollable desire to impart information, she had, +nevertheless, noticed that Captain Hibbert had been very much struck +with Olive's beauty. She was aware that her daughter was a beautiful +girl, but whether men would want to marry her Mrs. Barton did not know. +Captain Hibbert's conduct would help her to arrive at a decision. She +certainly dreamed of a title for Olive. Lord Kilcarney was, alas! not to +be thought of. Ah! if Mr. Burke were only Lord Kilcarney! But he was +not. However, Captain Hibbert would be a fairly good match. He was of +excellent family, had two thousand a year, and a place in the country +and in England too. But why snatch up the very first fish that came by? +There was no saying whom they would meet at the Castle. Still, to +encourage a flirtation could be no harm. If they met anything better, it +could be broken off; if they did not, it would be a very nice match +indeed. Besides, there was no denying that Olive was a little too +_naïve_ in her manner. Captain Hibbert's society would brush that off, +and Olive would go up to the Castle with the reputation of having made a +conquest. + +Such were Mrs. Barton's thoughts as she sat, her hands laid like china +ornaments on her lap; her feet were tucked under the black-pleated +skirt, and she sometimes raised her Greuze-like eyes and looked at her +daughter. + +The girls were grouped around a small table, on which stood a +feather-shaded lamp. In clear voices and clear laughs they were talking +of each other's dresses. May had just stood up to show off her skirt. +She was a superb specimen of a fat girl, and in a glow of orange ribbons +and red hair she commanded admiration. + +'And to think she is going to waste her time with that dissipated young +man, Mr. Scully!' thought Mrs. Barton. Then Olive stood up. She was all +rose, and when, laughing, with a delicious movement of the arms, she +hitched back her bustle, she lost her original air, and looked as might +have done the Fornarina when not sitting in immortality. It was the +battle of blonde tints: Olive with primroses and corn, May with a +cadmium yellow and red gold. + +'And now, Alice, get up and let's see you!' she cried, catching hold of +her sister's arm. + +Still resisting, Alice rose to her feet, and May, who was full of good +nature, made some judicious observations. + +'And how different we all look from what we did at the convent! Do you +remember our white frocks?' + +Alice's face lit up with a sudden remembrance, and she said: + +'But why, Lady Sarah, haven't we seen Cecilia? I've been thinking of her +during dinner. I hope she is not ill?' + +'Oh, dear me, no! But poor Cecilia does not care to come down when there +is company.' + +'But can I not see her?' + +'Oh, certainly! You will find her in her room. But you do not know the +way; I will ring for my maid, she will show you.' + +At this moment men's voices were heard on the staircase. The ladies all +looked up, the light defining the corner of a forehead, the outline of a +nose and chin, bathing a neck in warm shadow, modelling a shoulder with +grey tints, sending a thousand rays flashing through the diamonds on the +bosom, touching the finger-rings, and lastly dying away amid the folds +of the dresses that trailed on the soft carpet. Mr. Ryan, walking with +his habitual roll and his hands in his pockets, entered. His tie was +under his left ear. Mr. Lynch, haunted by the idea that he had not made +himself agreeable to Alice during dinner, sat down beside her. Mr. +Scully made a rush for May. Tall, handsome Captain Hibbert, with his air +of conventional high style, quitted Lord Dungory, and asked Olive what +they had been saying since they left the dining-room. Mr. Burke tried to +join in the conversation, but Mr. Ryan, thinking it would be as well not +to let the occasion slip of speaking of a certain 'bay harse who'd jump +anythin',' took him confidentially by the sleeve. + +'Now, look here, will yer,' he began. The rest of his remarks were lost +in the hum of the conversation, and by well-bred transitions +observations were made on the dancing and hunting prospects of the +season. Mr. Adair took no interest in such subjects, and to everyone's +relief he remained silent. May and Fred Scully had withdrawn to a corner +of the room where they could talk more at their ease; Captain Hibbert +was conscious of nothing but Olive and her laughter, which rippled and +tinkled through an odour of coffee. + +Little by little she was gaining the attention of the room. Mr. Adair +ceased to listen to Lord Dungory, who was explaining why Leonardo da +Vinci was a greater painter than Titian. Mr. Lynch left off talking to +Alice; the little blonde honourable looked sillier and sillier as his +admiration grew upon him. Mrs. Barton, to hide her emotion, engaged in +an ardent discussion concerning the rearing of calves with Mrs. Gould. +Lady Sarah bit her lip, and, unable to endure her enemy's triumph any +longer, she said in her most mellifluous tone: + +'Won't you sing us something, Captain Hibbert?' + +'Well, really, Lady Sarah, I should be very glad, but I don't think, you +know--I am not sure I could manage without my music.' + +'I shall be very glad to accompany you. I think I know _In the +Gloaming_, and I have heard you sing that.' + +Olive, at a sign from her mother, entreated, and when the gallant +Captain rolled from under the brown-gold moustache the phrase, 'Oh, my +darling!' all strove not to look at her, and when he dropped his voice +to a whisper, and sang of his aching heart, a feeling prevailed that all +were guilty of an indiscretion in listening to such an intimate avowal. +Then he sang two songs more, equally filled with reference to tears, +blighted love, and the possibility of meeting in other years, and Olive +hung down her head, overcome by the fine sentiments which she felt were +addressed to her. + +Meanwhile Alice became aware that her sister was the object of all eyes +and thoughts; that she was gaining the triumph that men are agreed may +be desired by women without impropriety. Alice was a healthy-bodied +girl; her blood flowed as warm as in her sister. The men about her did +not correspond with her ideal, but this scarcely rendered the fact that +they neglected her less bitter. She asked Lady Sarah again if she might +go upstairs and see Cecilia. + +She found the little cripple leaning over the banisters listening to the +sound of voices. + +'Oh, my dear! Is it you? I expected you to come to see me when you left +the gentlemen in the dining-room.' + +'I couldn't come before, dear,' said Alice, kissing her friend. 'Just as +I was asking Lady Sarah the way to your room, we heard them coming.' + +'And how did you like the party? Which of the men did you think the +nicest?' + +'I did not care for any of them; and oh, that odious Mr. Lynch!' + +Cecilia's eyes flashed with a momentary gleam of satisfaction, and spoke +of a little excursion--a walk to the Brennans, who lived two miles +distant--that she had been planning for the last few days. + + + + +VII + + +The girls had given each other rendezvous at the gate of Dungory Castle. +Lover was never more anxious to meet mistress than this little deformed +girl to see her friend; and Alice could see her walking hurriedly up and +down the gravel-sweep in front of the massive grey-stone lodge. + +'She will see me next time she turns,' thought Alice; and immediately +after Cecilia uttered a joyful cry and ran forward. + +'Oh, so it is you, Alice! I am so glad! I thought you were going to +disappoint me.' + +'And why, dear, did you think I was going to disappoint you?' said +Alice, stooping to kiss the wan, wistful face. + +'I don't know--I can't say--but I fancied something would happen;' and +the great brown eyes began to melt with tears of delight. 'I had, you +know, set my heart on this walk with you.' + +'I am sure the pleasure is as much mine as yours; and now, whither lies +our way?' + +'Through the deer-park, through the oakwood, across the fields into the +highroad, and then you are at the gate,' + +'Won't that be too far for you?' + +'Oh, not at all! It is not more than a mile and a half; but for you, you +had to come another mile and a half. It is fully that from here to +Brookfield. But tell me, dear,' said Cecilia, clinging to her friend's +arm, 'why have you not been over to see me before? It is not kind of +you; we have been home from school now over a fortnight, and, except on +the night of the dinner-party, I haven't seen you once.' + +'I was coming over to see you last week, dear; but, to tell you the +truth, mamma prevented me. I cannot think why, but somehow she does not +seem to care that I should go to Dungory Castle. But for the matter of +that, why did you not come to see me? I've been expecting you every +day.' + +'I couldn't come either. My sisters advised me--I mean, insisted on my +stopping at home.' + +'And why?' + +'I really can't say,' replied Cecilia. + +And now Alice knew that the Ladies Cullen hated Mrs. Barton for her +intimacy with Lord Dungory. She longed to talk the matter out, but dared +not; while Cecilia regretted she had spoken; for, with the quickness of +the deformed, she knew that Alice had divined the truth of the family +feud. + +The sun fell like lead upon the short grass of the deer-park and the +frizzled heads of the hawthorns. On the right the green masses of the +oakwood shut in the view, and the stately red deer, lolling their high +necks, marched away through the hillocks, as if offended at their +solitude being disturbed. One poor crippled hind walked with a wretched +sidling movement, and Alice hoped Cecilia would not notice it, lest it +should remind her of her own misfortune. + +'I am sure,' she said, 'we never knew finer weather than this in +England. I don't think there could be finer weather, and still they say +the tenants are worse off than ever; that no rent at all, at least +nothing above Griffith's valuation, will be paid.' + +'Do they speak much of Griffith's valuation at Dungory Castle?' + +'Oh! they never cease, and--and--I don't know whether I ought to say, +but it won't matter with you, I suppose?--mind, you must not breathe a +word of this at Brookfield--the fact is my sisters' school--you know +they have a school, and go in for trying to convert the people--well, +this has got papa into a great deal of trouble. The Bishop has sent down +another priest--I think they call it a mission--and we are going to be +preached against, and papa received a threatening letter this morning. +He is going, I believe, to apply for police.' + +'And is this on account of the proselytizing?' + +'Oh! no, not entirely; he has refused to give his tenants Griffith's +valuation; but it makes one very unpopular to be denounced by the +priest. I assure you, papa is very angry. He told Sarah and Jane this +morning at breakfast that he'd have no more of it; that they had no +right to go into the poor people's houses and pull the children from +under the beds, and ask why they were not at school; that he didn't care +of what religion they were as long as they paid the rent; and that he +wasn't going to have his life endangered for such nonsense. There was an +awful row at home this morning. For my own part, I must say I sympathize +with papa. Besides the school, Sarah has, you know, a shop, where she +sells bacon, sugar, and tea at cost price, and it is well-known that +those who send their children to the school will never be asked to pay +their bills. She wanted me to come and help to weigh out the meal, Jane +being confined to her room with a sick headache, but I got out of it. I +would not, if I could, convert those poor people. You know, I often +fancy--I mean fear--I often sympathize too much with your creed. It was +only at service last Sunday I was thinking of it; our religion seems so +cold, so cheerless compared to yours. You remember the convent-church at +St. Leonard's--the incense, the vestments, the white-veiled +congregation--oh, how beautiful it was; we shall never be so happy +again!' + +'Yes, indeed; and how cross we used to think those dear nuns. You +remember Sister Mary, how she used to lecture Violet for getting up to +look out of the windows. What used she to say? 'Do you want, miss, to be +taken for a housemaid or scullery-maid, staring at people in that way as +they pass?'' + +'Yes, yes; that's exactly how she used to speak,' exclaimed Cecilia, +laughing. And, as the girls advanced through the oakwood, they helped +each other through the briers and over the trunks of fallen trees, +talking, the while, of their past life, which now seemed to them but one +long, sweet joy. A reference to how May Gould used to gallop the pony +round and round the field at the back of the convent was interrupted by +the terrifying sound of a cock-pheasant getting up from some bracken +under their very feet; and, amid the scurrying of rabbits in couples and +half-dozens, modest allusion was made to the girls who had been expelled +in '75. Absorbed in the sweetness of the past, the girls mused, until +they emerged from the shade of the woods into the glare and dust of the +highroad. Then came a view of rocky country, with harvesters working in +tiny fields, and then the great blue background of the Clare Mountains +was suddenly unfolded. A line and a bunch of trees indicated the Brennan +domain. The gate-lodge was in ruins, and the weed-grown avenue was +covered with cow-dung. + +'Which of the girls do you like best?' said Alice, who wished to cease +thinking of the poverty in which the spinsters lived. + +'Emily, I think; she doesn't say much, but she is more sensible than the +other two. Gladys wearies me with her absurd affectations; Zoe is well +enough, but what names!' + +'Yes, Emily has certainly the best of the names,' Alice replied, +laughing. + +'Are the Miss Brennans at home?' said Cecilia, when the maid opened the +hall-door. + +'Yes, miss--I mean your ladyship--will you walk in?' + +'You'll see, they'll keep us waiting a good half-hour while they put on +their best frocks,' said Cecilia, as she sat down in a faded arm-chair +in the middle of the room. A piano was rolled close against the wall, +the two rosewood cabinets were symmetrically placed on either side of +the farther window; from brass rods the thick, green curtains hung in +stiff folds, and, since the hanging of some water-colours, done by Zoe +before leaving school, no alterations, except the removal of the linen +covers from the furniture when visitors were expected, had been made in +the arrangement of the room. + +The Brennan family consisted of three girls--Gladys, Zoe, and Emily. +Thirty-three, thirty-one, and thirty were their respective ages. Their +father and mother, dead some ten or a dozen years, had left them joint +proprietors of a small property that gossip had magnified to three +thousand. They were known as the heiresses of Kinvarra; snub noses and +blue eyes betrayed their Celtic blood; and every year they went to spend +a month at the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin, returning home with quite a +little trousseau. Gladys and Zoe always dressed alike, from the bow +round the neck to the bow on the little shoe that they so artlessly with +drew when in the presence of _gentlemen_. Gladys' formula for receiving +visitors never varied: + +'Oh, how do you do--it is really too kind of you to give yourself all +this trouble to come and see us.' + +Immediately after Zoe put out her hand. Her manner was more jocose: + +'How d'ye do? We are, I am sure, delighted to see you. Will you have a +cup of tea? I know you will.' + +Emily, being considered too shy and silent, did not often come down to +receive company. On her devolved the entire management of the house and +servants; the two elder sisters killed time in the way they thought +would give least offence to their neighbours. + +Being all St. Leonard's girls, the conversation immediately turned on +convent-life. 'Was Madam this there? Had Madam that left?' Garden +chapel, school, hall, dormitory, refectory were visited; every nun was +passed in review, and, in the lightness and gaiety of the memories +invoked, even these maiden ladies flushed and looked fresh again, the +conversation came to a pause, and then allusion was made to the +disturbed state of the country, and to a gentleman who, it was reported, +was going to be married. But, as Alice did not know the person whose +antecedents were being called into question, she took an early +opportunity of asking Gladys if she cared for riding? 'No, they never +went to ride now: they used to, but they came in so fatigued that they +could not talk to Emily; so they had given up riding.' Did they care for +driving? 'Yes, pretty well; but there was no place to drive to except +into Gort, and as people had been unjust enough to say that they were +always to be seen in Gort, they had given up driving--unless, of course, +they went to call on friends.' Then tea was brought in; and, apropos of +a casual reference to conventual buttered toast, the five girls talked, +until nearly six o'clock, of their girlhood--of things that would never +have any further influence in their lives, of happiness they would never +experience again. At last Alice and Cecilia pleaded that they must be +going home. + +As they walked across the fields the girls only spoke occasionally. +Alice strove to see clear, but her thoughts were clouded, scattered, +diffused. Force herself as she would, still no conclusion seemed +possible; all was vague and contradictory. She had talked to these +Brennans, seen how they lived, could guess what their past was, what +their future must be. In that neat little house their uneventful life +dribbled away in maiden idleness; neither hope nor despair broke the +triviality of their days--and yet, was it their fault? No; for what +could they do if no one would marry them?--a woman could do nothing +without a husband. + +There is a reason for the existence of a pack-horse, but none for that +of an unmarried woman. She can achieve nothing--she has no duty but, by +blotting herself out, to shield herself from the attacks of +ever-slandering friends. Alice had looked forward to a husband and a +home as the certain accomplishment of years; now she saw that a woman, +independently of her own will, may remain single. + +'I wonder,' she said, forgetting for the moment she was speaking to +Cecilia, 'I wonder none of those Brennans married; you can't call them +ugly girls, and they have some money. How dreadfully lonely they must be +living there by themselves!' + +'I think they are far happier as they are,' said Cecilia, and her brown +eyes set in liquid blue looked strangely at Alice as she helped her over +the low wall. The girls walked in silence through the stillness of the +silver firs, their thoughts as sharp as the needles that scratched the +pale sky. + +'It may seem odd of me to say so--of course I would not say this to +anyone but you--but I assure you, even if I were as tall as you are, +dear, nothing would induce me to marry. I never took the slightest +pleasure in any man's conversation. Do you? But I know you do,' she +said, breaking off suddenly--'I know you like men; I feel you do. Don't +you?' + +'Well, since you put it so plainly, I confess I should like to know nice +men. I don't care for those I have met hitherto, particularly those I +saw at dinner the other night; but I believe there are nice men in the +world.' + +'Oh! no there aren't.' + +'Well, Cecilia, I don't see how you can speak so positively as that; you +have seen, as yet, very little of the world.' + +'Ah, yes, but I know it; I can guess it all, I know it instinctively, +and I hate it.' + +'There is nothing else, so we must make the best of it.' + +'But there is something else--there is God, and the love of beautiful +things. I spent all day yesterday playing Bach's Passion Music, and the +hours passed like a dream until my sisters came in from walking and +began to talk about marriage and men. It made me feel sick--it was +horrible; and it is such things that make me hate life--and I do hate +it; it is the way we are brought back to earth, and forced to realize +how vile and degraded we are. Society seems to me no better than a +pigsty; but in the beautiful convent--that we shall, alas! never see +again--it was not so. There, at least, life was pure--yes, and +beautiful. Do you not remember that beautiful white church with all its +white pillars and statues, and the dark-robed nuns, and the white-veiled +girls, their veils falling from their bent heads? They often seemed to +me like angels. I am sure that Heaven must be very much like that--pure, +desireless, contemplative.' + +Amazed, Alice looked at her friend questioningly, for she had never +heard her speak like this before. But Cecilia did not see her; the +prominent eyes of the mystic were veiled with strange glamour, and, with +divine _gourmandise_, she savoured the ineffable sweetness of the +vision, and, after a long silence, she said: + +'I often wonder, Alice, how you can think as you do; and, strange to +say, no one suspects you are an unbeliever; you're so good in all except +that one point.' + +'But surely, dear, it isn't a merit to believe; it is hardly a thing +that we can call into existence.' + +'You should pray for faith.' + +'I don't see how I can pray if I haven't faith.' + +'You're too clever; but I would ask you, Alice--you never told me--did +you never believe in God, I mean when you were a little child?' + +'I suppose I must have, but, as well as I can remember, it was only in a +very half-hearted way. I could never quite bring myself to credit that +there was a Being far away, sitting behind a cloud, who kept his eye on +all the different worlds, and looked after them just as a stationmaster +looks after the arrival and departure of trains from some great +terminus.' + +'Alice! how can you talk so? Aren't you afraid that something awful +might happen to you for talking of the Creator of all things in that +way?' + +'Why should I be afraid, and why should that Being, if he exists, be +angry with me for my sincerity? If he be all-powerful, it rests with +himself to make me believe.' + +They had now accomplished the greater part of their journey, and, a +little tired, had sat down to rest on a portion of a tree left by the +woodcutters. Gold rays slanted through the glades, enveloping and +rounding off the tall smooth trunks that rose branchless to a height of +thirty, even forty, feet; and the pink clouds, seen through the arching +dome of green, were vague as the picture on some dim cathedral-roof. + +'In places like these, I wonder you don't feel God's presence.' + +'On the contrary, the charm of nature is broken when we introduce a +ruling official.' + +'Alice! how can you--you who are so good--speak in that way?' At that +moment a dead leaf rustled through the silence--'And do you think that +we shall die like that leaf? That, like it, we shall become a part of +the earth and be forgotten as utterly?' + +'I am afraid I do. That dead, fluttering thing was once a bud; it lived +the summer-life of a leaf; now it will decay through the winter, and +perhaps the next, until it finally becomes part of the earth. Everything +in nature I see pursuing the same course; why should I imagine myself an +exception to the general rule?' + +'What, then, is the meaning of life?' + +'That I'm afraid we shall never learn from listening to the rustling of +leaves.' + +The short sharp cry of a bird broke the mild calm of the woods, and +Alice said: + +'Perhaps the same thought that troubles us is troubling that bird.' + +The girls walked on in silence, and when they came to the end of the +path and their parting was inevitable, there was something of the +passion of the lover in Cecilia's voice: 'Promise me you will come to +see me soon again. You'll not leave me so long; you will write; I shall +not be able to live if I don't hear from you.' + +The sound of hooves was heard, and a pair of cream-coloured ponies, with +a florid woman driving determinedly, came sweeping round the corner. + +'What a strange person!' said Alice, watching the blue veil and the +brightly dyed hair. + +'Don't you know who she is?' said Cecilia; 'that is your neighbour, Mrs. +Lawler.' + +'Oh! is it really? I have been so long at school that I know nobody--I +have been anxious to see her. Why, I wonder, do people speak of her so +mysteriously?' + +'You must have heard that she isn't visited?' + +'Well, yes; but I didn't quite understand. Your father was saying +something the other day about Mr. Lawler's shooting-parties; then mamma +looked at him; he laughed and spoke of "_les colombes de Cythère."_ I +intended to ask mamma what he meant, but somehow I forgot.' + +'She was one of those women that walk about the streets by night.' + +'Oh! really!' said Alice; and the conversation came to a sudden pause. +They had never spoken upon such a subject before, and the presence of +the deformed girl rendered it a doubly painful one. In her +embarrassment, Alice said: + +'Then I wonder Mr. Lawler married her. Was it his fault that--' + +'Oh! I don't think so,' Cecilia replied, scornfully: 'but what does it +matter?--she was quite good enough for him.' + +At every moment a new Cecilia was revealing herself, the existence of +whom Alice had not even suspected in the old; and as she hurried home +she wondered if the minds of the other girls were the same as they were +at school. Olive? She could see but little change in her sister; and May +she had scarcely spoken to since they left school; Violet she hadn't met +since they parted at Athenry for their different homes. But Cecilia--She +entered the house still thinking of her, and heard Olive telling her +mother that Captain Hibbert had admired her new hat. + +'He told me that I'd be the handsomest girl at the Drawing-Room.' + +'And what did you say, dear?' + +'I asked him how he knew. Was that right?' + +'Quite right; and what did he say then?' + +'He said, because he had never seen anybody so handsome, and as he had +seen everybody in London, he supposed--I forget the exact words, but +they were very nice; I am sure he admired my new hat; but you--you +haven't told me how you liked it. Do you think I should wear it down on +my eyes, or a bit back?' + +'I think it very becoming as it is; but tell me more about Captain +Hibbert.' + +'He told me he was coming to meet us at Mass. You know he is a Roman +Catholic?' + +'I know he is, dear, and am very glad.' + +'If he weren't, he wouldn't be able to meet us at Mass.' + + + + +VIII + + +According to old-established custom, on the arrival of his family Arthur +had turned his nudities to the wall, and now sitting, one leg tucked +under him, on the sofa, throwing back from time to time his long blond +locks, he hummed an Italian air. + +'How tired you look, Alice dear! Will you have a cup of tea? It will +freshen you up; you have been walking yourself to death.' + +'Thanks, mamma, I will have a cup of tea; Cecilia and I went to see the +Brennans.' + +'And are any of them going to be married yet?' said Olive. + +'I really don't know; I didn't ask them.' + +'Well, they ought to be doing something with themselves; they have been +trying it on long enough. They have been going up to the Shelbourne for +the last ten years. Did they show you the dresses they brought down this +season? They haven't worn them yet--they keep them wrapped up in silver +paper.' + +'And how did you hear all that?' she asked. + +'Oh, one hears everything! I don't live with my nose buried in a book +like you. That was all very well in the convent.' + +'But what have I done that you should speak to me in that way?' + +'Now, Alice dear,' said Mrs. Barton coaxingly, 'don't get angry. I +assure you Olive means nothing.' + +'No, indeed, I didn't!' Olive exclaimed, and she forced her sister back +into the chair. + +Arthur's attention had been too deeply absorbed in the serenade in _Don +Pasquale_ to give heed to the feminine bickering with which his studio +was ringing, until he was startled suddenly from his musical dreaming by +an angry exclamation from his wife. + +The picture of the bathers, which Alice had seen begun, had been only +partially turned to the wall, and, after examining it for a few moments, +Mrs. Barton got up and turned the picture round. The two naked creatures +who were taking a dip in the quiet, sunlit pool were Olive and Mrs. +Barton; and so grotesque were the likenesses that Alice could not +refrain from laughing. + +'This is monstrous! This is disgraceful, sir! How often have I forbidden +you to paint my face on any of your shameless pictures? And your +daughter, too--and just as she is coming out! Do you want to ruin us? I +should like to know what anyone would think if--' And, unable to +complete her sentence, either mentally or aloud, Mrs. Barton wheeled the +easel, on which a large picture stood, into the full light of the +window. + +If Arthur had wounded the susceptibilities of his family before, he had +outraged them now. The great woman, who had gathered to her bosom one of +the doves her naked son, Cupid, had shot out of the trees with his bow +and arrow, was Olive. The white face and its high nose, beautiful as a +head by Canova is beautiful; the corn-like tresses, piled on the top of +the absurdly small head, were, beyond mistaking, Olive. Mrs. Barton +stammered for words; Olive burst into tears. + +'Oh, papa! how could you disgrace me in that way? Oh, I am disgraced! +There's no use in my going to the Drawing-Room now.' + +'My dear, my dear, I assure you I can change it with a flick of the +brush. Admiration carried away by idea. I promise you I'll change it.' + +'Come away. Olive--come away!' said Mrs. Barton, casting a look of +burning indignation at her husband. 'If you cry like that, Olive, you +won't be fit to be looked at, and Captain Hibbert is coming here +to-night.' + +When they had left the room Arthur looked inquiringly at Alice. + +'This is very disagreeable,' he said; 'I really didn't think the +likeness was so marked as all that; I assure you I didn't. I must do +something to alter it--I might change the colour of the hair; but no, I +can't do that, the entire scheme of colour depends upon that. It is a +great pity, for it is one of my best things; the features I might alter, +and yet it is very hard to do so, without losing the character. I wonder +if I were to make the nose straighter. Alice, dear, would you mind +turning your head this way?' + +'Oh! no, no, no, papa dear! You aren't going to put my face upon it!' +And she ran from the room smothered with laughter. + +When this little quarrel was over and done, and Olive had ceased to +consider herself a disgraced girl, the allusion that had been made to +Mass as a means of meeting Captain Hibbert remained like a sting in +Alice's memory. It surprised her at all sorts of odd moments, and often +forced her, under many different impulses of mind, to reconsider the +religious problem more passionately and intensely than she had ever done +before. She asked herself if she had ever believed? Perhaps in very +early youth, in a sort of vague, half-hearted way, she had taken for +granted the usual traditional ideas of heaven and hell, but even then, +she remembered, she used to wonder how it was that time was found for +everything else but God. If He existed, it seemed to her that monks and +nuns, or puritans of the sternest type, were alone in the right. And yet +she couldn't quite feel that they were right. She had always been +intensely conscious of the grotesque contrast between a creed like that +of the Christian, and having dancing and French lessons, and going to +garden-parties--yes, and making wreaths and decorations for churches at +Christmas-time. If one only believed, and had but a shilling, surely the +only logical way of spending it was to give it to the poor, or a +missionary--and yet nobody seemed to think so. Priests and bishops did +not do so, she herself did not want to do so; still, so long as Alice +believed, she was unable to get rid of the idea. Teachers might say what +they pleased, but the creed they taught spoke for itself, and prescribed +an impossible ideal--an unsatisfactory ideal which aspired to no more +than saving oneself after all. + +Lies and all kinds of subterfuge were strictly against her character. +But it was impossible for her to do or say anything when by so doing she +knew she might cause suffering or give pain to anyone, even an enemy; +and this defect in her character forced her to live up to what she +deemed a lie. She had longed to tell the truth and thereby be saved the +mummery of attending at Mass; but when she realized the consternation, +the agony of mind, it would cause the nuns she loved, she held back the +word. But since she had left the convent she had begun to feel that her +life must correspond to her ideas and she had determined to speak to her +mother on this (for her) all-important subject--the conformity of her +outer life to her inner life. The power to prevail upon herself to do +what she thought wrong merely because she did not wish to wound other +people's feelings was dying in her. Sooner or later she would have to +break away; and as the hour approached when they should go to Mass to +meet Captain Hibbert, the desire to be allowed to stay away became +almost irresistible; and at the last moment it was only a foolish fear +that such a declaration might interfere with her sister's prospects that +stayed the words as they rose to her lips. She picked up her gloves, and +a moment after found herself in the brougham--packed into it, watching +the expressionless church-going faces of her family. + +From afar the clanging of a high-swinging bell was heard, and the harsh +reverberations, travelling over the rocky town-lands, summoned the +cottagers to God. The peasants stepped aside to let the carriage pass. +Peasants and landlords were going to worship in the same chapel, but it +would seem from the proclamations pasted on the gate-posts that the +house of prayer had gone over into the possession of the tenantry. + +'Now, Arthur--do you hear?--you mustn't look at those horrid papers!' +Mrs. Barton whispered to her husband. 'We must pretend not to see them. +I wonder how Father Shannon can allow such a thing, making the house of +God into--into I don't know what, for the purpose of preaching robbery +and murder. Just look at the country-people--how sour and wicked they +look! Don't they, Alice?' + +'Goodness me!' said Olive, 'who in the world can those people be in our +pew?' + +Mrs. Barton trembled a little. Had the peasants seized the religious +possessions of their oppressors? Dismissing the suspicion, she examined +the backs indicated by Olive. + +'Why, my dear, it is the Goulds; what can have brought them all this +way?' + +The expected boredom of the service was forgotten, and Olive shook hands +warmly with Mrs. Gould and May. + +'Why, you must have driven fifteen miles; where are your horses?' + +'We took the liberty of sending the carriage on to Brookfield, and we +are coming on to lunch with you--that is to say, if you will let us?' +cried May. + +'Of course, of course; but how nice of you!' + +'Oh! we have such news; but it was courageous of us to come all this +way. Have you seen those terrible proclamations?' + +'Indeed we have. Just fancy a priest allowing his chapel to be turned +into a political--political what shall I call it?' + +'Bear-garden,' suggested May. + +'And Father Shannon is going to take the chair at the meeting; he +wouldn't get his dues if he didn't.' + +'Hush, hush! they may hear you; but you were saying something about +news.' + +'Oh! don't ask me,' said Mrs. Gould; 'that's May's affair--such work!' + +'Say quickly! what is it, May?' + +'Look here, girls, I can't explain everything now; but we are going to +give a ball--that is to say, all the young girls are going to subscribe. +It will only cost us about three pounds apiece--that is to say, if we +can get forty subscribers; we have got twenty already, and we hope you +will join us. It is going to be called the Spinsters' Ball. But there is +such a lot to be done: the supper to be got together, the decorations of +the room--splendid room, the old schoolhouse, you know. We are going to +ask you to let us take Alice away with us.' + +The conversation was here interrupted by the appearance of the priest, a +large fat man, whose new, thick-soled boots creaked as he ascended the +steps of the altar. He was preceded by two boys dressed in white and +black surplices, who rang little brass bells furiously; a great +trampling of feet was heard, and the peasants came into the church, +coughing and grunting with monotonous, animal-like voices; and the +sour odour of cabin-smoked frieze arose--it was almost visible in the +great beams of light that poured through the eastern windows; whiffs +of unclean leather, mingled with a smell of a sick child; and Olive +and May, exchanging looks of disgust, drew forth cambric +pocket-handkerchiefs, and in unison the perfumes of white rose and eau +d'opoponax evaporated softly. + +Just behind Alice a man groaned and cleared his throat with loud +guffaws; she listened to hear the saliva fall: it splashed on the +earthen floor. Farther away a circle of dried and yellowing faces +bespoke centuries of damp cabins; they moaned and sighed, a prey to the +gross superstition of the moment. One man, bent double, beat a ragged +shirt with a clenched fist; the women of forty, with cloaks drawn over +their foreheads and trailing on the ground in long black folds, crouched +until only the lean, hard-worked hands that held the rosary were seen +over the bench-rail. + +The sermon came in the middle of Mass, and was a violent denunciation of +the Ladies Cullen, who, it was stated, had pursued one poor boy until he +took refuge in an empty house, the door of which he was fortunately +enabled to fasten against them; they had sent a sick woman blankets, in +which they had not neglected to enclose some tracts; amateur +shopkeeping, winter clothing, wood, turf, presents of meal, wine, and +potatoes were all vigorously attacked as the wiles of the Evil One to +lead the faithful from the true Church. + + + + +IX + + +As they returned from church, a horseman was seen riding rapidly towards +them. It was Captain Hibbert. The movement of his shoulders, as he +reined in his mettlesome bay, was picturesque, and he was coaxingly and +gushingly upbraided for neglect of his religious duties. + +During lunch, curiosity rendered May and Mrs. Gould nearly speechless; +but their carriage had not turned into the highroad, on its way home, +when the latter melted into a shower of laudatory words and phrases: + +'What a charming man Captain Hibbert is! No wonder you young ladies like +the military. He is so good-looking--and such good manners. Don't you +think so, Alice dear?' + +'I think the Captain a very handsome man--indeed, I believe that there +are not two opinions on the subject.' + +'And Olive--I do not remember that I ever saw a more beautiful girl. +Such hair! and her figure so sylph-like! I do not know what the young +ladies will do--she will cut everybody out at the Castle!' + +'I don't know about that,' said May jauntily; 'what one man will turn +his nose up at, another will go wild after.' + +Mrs. Gould did not answer; but her lips twitched, and Alice guessed she +was annoyed that May could not express herself less emphatically. In a +few moments the conversation was continued: + +'At any rate, Captain Hibbert seems to think there is no one like Olive; +and they'd make a handsome couple. What do you think, Alice? Is there +any chance of there being a match?' + +'I really can't tell you, Mrs. Gould. Olive, as you say, is a very +beautiful girl, and I suppose Captain Hibbert admires her; but I don't +think that either has, up to the present, thought of the matter more +seriously.' + +'You must admit, Alice, that he seems a bit gone on her,' said May, with +a direct determination to annoy her mother. + +'May, dear, you shouldn't talk in that slangy way; you never used to; +you have picked it up from Mr. Scully. Do you know Mr. Scully, Alice? +Violet's brother.' + +'Yes, I met him the night we dined at Lord Dungory's.' + +'Oh, of course you did. Well, I admit I don't like him; but May does. +They go out training horses together. I don't mind that; but I wish she +wouldn't imitate his way of talking. He has been a very wild young man.' + +'Now, mother dear, I wish you would leave off abusing Fred. I have +repeatedly told you that I don't like it.' + +The acerbity of this remark was softened by May's manner, and, throwing +her arms on her mother's shoulders, she commenced to coax and cajole +her. + +The Goulds were of an excellent county family. They had for certainly +three generations lived in comfortable idleness, watching from their big +square house the different collections of hamlets toiling and moiling, +and paying their rents every gale day. It was said that some ancestor, +whose portrait still existed, had gone to India and come back with the +money that had purchased the greater part of the property. But, be this +as it may, in Galway three generations of landlordism are considered +sufficient repentance for shopkeeping in Gort, not to speak of Calcutta. +Since then the family history had been stainless. Father and son had in +turn put their horses out to grass in April, had begun to train them +again in August, had boasted at the Dublin horse-show of having been out +cub-hunting, had ridden and drunk hard from the age of twenty to +seventy. But, by dying at fifty-five, the late squire had deviated +slightly from the regular line, and the son and heir being only twelve, +a pause had come in the hereditary life of the Goulds. In the interim, +however, May had apparently resolved to keep up the traditions so far as +her sex was supposed to allow her. + +They lived in one of those box-like mansions, so many of which were +built in Ireland under the Georges. On either side trees had been +planted, and they stretched to the right and left like the wings of a +theatre. In front there was a green lawn; at the back a sloppy +stableyard. The latter was May's especial delight, and when Mr. Scully +was with them, it seemed impossible to induce her to leave it. He +frequently rode over to Beechgrove, and towards the end of the afternoon +it became easy to persuade him to stay to dinner. And, as the night +darkened and the rain began to fall, the inhospitality of turning him +out was insisted on by May, and Mrs. Gould sent up word that a room was +to be prepared for him. Next morning he sent home for a change of +things, and thus it was not infrequent for him to protract his visit to +the extent of three or four days. + +His great friend, Mrs. Manly--a lady who had jumped five feet, four +months before the birth of her sixth child--had said that his was a +'wasted life,' and the phrase, summing up what most people thought of +him, gained currency, and was now generally used whenever his conduct +was criticized or impeached. After having been in London, where he spent +some years in certain vague employments, and having contracted as much +debt as his creditors would permit, and more than his father would pay, +he had gone through the Bankruptcy Court, and returned home to drag +through life wearily, through days and weeks so appallingly idle, that +he often feared to get out of bed in the morning. At first his father +had tried to make use of him in his agency business, and it was +principally owing to Mr. Fred's bullying and insolent manners that Mr. +Scully was now unable to leave his house unless accompanied by police. + +Fred was about thirty years of age. His legs were long, his hands were +bony, and 'stableyard' was written in capital letters on his face. He +carried a _Sportsman_ under his arm, a penny and a half-crown jingled in +his pocket; and as he walked he lashed the trousers and boot, whose +elegance was an echo of the old Regent Street days, with an ash-plant. + +Such was the physiology of this being, and from it the psychology is +easy to surmise: a complete powerlessness to understand that there was +anything in life worth seeking except pleasure--and pleasure to Fred +meant horses and women. Of earthly honour the greatest was to be well +known in an English hunting country; and he was not averse to speaking +of certain ladies of title, with whom he had been on intimate terms, and +with whom, it was said, he corresponded. On occasions he would read or +recite poems, cut from the pages of the Society Journals, to his lady +friends. + +May, however, saw nothing but the outside. The already peeling-off +varnish of a few years of London life satisfied her. Given a certain +versatility in turning a complimentary phrase, the abundant ease with +which he explained his tastes, which, although few, were pronounced, add +to these the remnant of fashion that still lingered in his +wardrobe--scarfs from the Burlington Arcade, scent from Bond Street, +cracked patent-leather shoes and mended silk stockings--and it will be +understood how May built something that did duty for an ideal out of +this broken-down swell. + +She was a girl of violent blood, and, excited by the air of the +hunting-field, she followed Fred's lead fearlessly; to feel the life of +the horse throbbing underneath her passioned and fevered her flesh until +her mental exaltation reached the rushing of delirium. Then his evening +manners fascinated her, and, as he leaned back smoking in the +dining-room arm-chair, his patent-leather shoes propped up against the +mantelpiece, he showed her glimpses of a wider world than she knew +of--and the girl's eyes softened as she listened to his accounts of the +great life he had led, the county-houses he had visited, and the +legendary runs he had held his own in. She sympathized with him when he +explained how hardly fate had dealt with him in not giving him £5,000 a +year, to be spent in London and Northamptonshire. + +He cursed Ireland as the most hideous hole under the sun; he frightened +Mrs. Gould by reiterated assurances that the Land League would leave +them all beggars; and, having established this point, he proceeded to +develop his plan for buying young horses, training them, and disposing +of them in the English market. Eventually he dismissed his audience by +taking up the newspaper and falling asleep with the stump of a +burned-out cigarette between his lips. After breakfast he was seen +slouching through the laurels on his way to the stables. From the +kitchen and the larder--where the girls were immersed in calculations +anent the number of hams, tongues, and sirloins of beef that would be +required--he could be seen passing; and as May stood on no ceremony with +Alice, whistling to her dogs, and sticking both hands into the pockets +of her blue dress, she rushed after him, the mud of the yard oozing +through the loose, broken boots which she insisted on wearing. Behind +the stables there was a small field that had lately been converted into +an exercise-ground, and there the two would stand for hours, watching a +couple of goat-like colts, mounted by country lads--still in corduroy +and hobnails--walking round and round. + +Mrs. Gould was clearly troubled by this very plain conduct. Once or +twice she allowed a word of regret to escape her, and Alice could see +that she lived in awe of her daughter. And May, there was no doubt, was +a little lawless when Fred was about her skirts; but when he was gone +she returned to her old, glad, affectionate ways and to her work. + +The girls delighted in each other's society, and the arrangements for +their ball were henceforth a continual occupation. The number of letters +that had to be written was endless. Sitting at either end of the table +in the drawing-room, their pens scratched and their tongues rattled +together; and, penetrated with the intimacy of home, all kinds of +stories were told, and the whole country was passed in review. + +'And do you know,' said May, raising her eyes from the letter she was +writing, 'when this affair was first started mamma was afraid to go in +for it; she said we'd find it hard to hunt up fifty spinsters in +Galway.' + +'I said fifty who would subscribe--a very different thing indeed.' + +'Oh no, you didn't, mamma; you said there weren't fifty spinsters in +Galway--a jolly lucky thing it would be if there weren't; wouldn't it, +Alice?' + +Alice was busy trying to disentangle a difficult sentence. Her startled +face made May laugh. + +'It isn't cheering, is it?' + +'I didn't hear what you were saying,' she answered, a little vexed at +being misunderstood. 'But fifty, surely, is a great number. Are there so +many unmarried women in Galway?' + +'I should think there are,' replied May, as if glorying in the fact. +'Who are there down your side of the country? Let's count. To begin +with, there are the Brennans--there are three of them, and all three are +out of the running, distanced.' + +'Now, May, how can you talk like that?' said Mrs. Gould, and she pulled +up her skirt so that she could roast her fat thick legs more comfortably +before the fire. There being no man present, she undid a button or two +of her dress. + +'You said so yourself the other day, mother.' + +'No, I didn't, May, and I wish you wouldn't vex me. What I say I stand +by, and I merely wondered why girls with good fortunes like the Brennans +didn't get married.' + +'You said the fact was there was no one to marry.' + +'May, I will not allow you to contradict me!' exclaimed Mrs. Gould; and +she grew purple to the roots of her white hair. 'I said the Brennans +looked too high, that they wanted gentlemen, eldest sons of county +families; but if they'd been content to marry in their own position of +life they would have been married long ago.' + +'Well, mother dear, there's no use being angry about it; let the thing +pass. You know the Brennans, Alice; they are neighbours of yours.' + +'Yes, Cecilia and I walked over to see them the other day; we had tea +with them.' + +'Their great hunting-ground is the Shelbourne Hotel--they take it in +turns, a couple of them go up every six months.' + +'How can you say such things, May? I will not suffer it.' + +'I say it! I know nothing about it. I've only just come back from school; +it is you who tell me these things when we are sitting here alone of an +evening.' + +Mrs. Gould's face again became purple, and she protested vehemently: 'I +shall leave the room, May. I will not suffer it one moment longer. I +can't think how it is you dare speak to me in that way; and, what is +worse, attribute to me such ill-natured remarks.' + +'Now, mother dear, don't bother, perhaps I did exaggerate. I am very +sorry. But, there's a dear, sit down, and we won't say any more about +it.' + +'You do annoy one, May, and I believe you do it on purpose. And you know +exactly what will be disagreeable to say, and you say it,' replied Mrs. +Gould; and she raised her skirt so as to let the heat of the fire into +her petticoats. + +'Thank God that's over,' May whispered to Alice; 'but what were we +talking about?' + +'I think you were making out a list of the Galway spinsters,' said +Alice, who could not help feeling a little amused, though she was sorry +for Mrs. Gould. + +'So we were,' cried May; 'we were speaking of the Brennans. Do you know +their friends the Duffys? There are five of them. That's a nice little +covey of love-birds; I don't think they would fly away if they saw a +sportsman coming into the field.' + +'I never heard a girl talk like that,' murmured Mrs. Gould, without +raising her face from the fire, 'that wasn't punished for it. Perhaps, +my lady, you will find it hard enough to suit yourself. Wait until you +have done two or three Castle seasons. We'll see how you'll speak then.' + +Without paying any attention to these maternal forebodings, May +continued: + +'Then there are Lord Rosshill's seven daughters; they are all maidens, +and are likely to remain so.' + +'Are they all unmarried?' asked Alice. + +'Of course they are!' exclaimed Mrs. Gould; 'how could they be anything +else? Didn't they all want to marry people in their father's position? +And that wasn't possible. There're seven Honourable Miss Gores, and one +Lord Rosshill--so they all remained in single blessedness.' + +'Who's making ill-natured remarks now?' exclaimed May triumphantly. + +'I am not making ill-natured remarks; I am only saying what's true. My +advice to young girls is that they should be glad to have those who will +take them. If they can't make a good marriage let them make a bad +marriage; for, believe me, it is far better to be minding your own +children than your sister's or your brother's children. And I can assure +you, in these days of competition, it is no easy matter to get settled.' + +'It is the same now as ever it was, and there are plenty of nice young +men. It doesn't prove, because a whole lot of old sticks of things can't +get married, that I shan't.' + +'I didn't say you wouldn't get married, May; I am sure that any man +would be only too glad to have you; but what I say is that these grand +matches that girls dream of aren't possible nowadays. Nice young men! I +dare say; and plenty of them, I know them; young scamps without a +shilling, who amuse themselves with a girl until they are tired of her, +and then, off they go. Now, then, let's count up the good matches that +are going in the county--' + +At this moment the servant was heard at the door bringing in the tea. + +'Oh! bother!' exclaimed Mrs. Gould, settling her dress hurriedly. The +interval was full of secret irritation; and the three women watched the +methodical butler place the urn on the table, turn up the lamp that was +burning low, and bring chairs forward from the farthest corners. + +'On your side of the county,' said Mrs. Gould, as soon as the door was +closed, 'there is our brace of baronets, as they are called. But poor +Sir Richard--I am afraid he is a bad case--and yet he never took to +drink until he was five-and-thirty; and as for Sir Charles--of course +there are great advantages, he has a very fine property; but still many +girls might--and I can quite understand their not liking to marry him.' + +'Why, Mrs. Gould, what is wrong with him?' Alice asked innocently. + +'Don't you know?' said May, winking. 'Haven't you heard? But I forgot, +he isn't your side of the county. He's married already; at least, so +they say.' + +'It is very sad, very sad, indeed,' murmured Mrs. Gould; 'he'd have been +a great match.' + +'And to whom is he married?' said Alice, whose curiosity was awakened by +the air of mystery with which the baronet was surrounded. + +'Well, he's not exactly married,' replied May, laughing; 'but he has a +large family.' + +'May, I will not allow it; it is very wrong of you, indeed, to talk like +that--' + +'Now, mother dear, don't get into a passion; where's the harm? The whole +country knows it; Violet was talking of it to me only the other day. +There isn't a man within a mile of us, so we needn't be on our P's and +Q's.' + +'And who is the mother of all these children?' Alice asked. + +'A country-woman with whom he lives,' said May. 'Just fancy marrying a +man with a little dirty crowd of illegitimate children running about the +stable-yard!' + +'The usual thing in such cases is to emigrate them,' said Mrs. Gould +philosophically; and she again distended herself before the fire. + +'Emigrate them!' cried May; 'if he emigrated them to the moon, I +wouldn't marry such a man; would you, Alice?' + +'I certainly wouldn't like to,' and her sense of humour being now +tickled by the conversation, she added slyly: 'but you were counting up +the good matches in the county.' + +'Ah! so we were,' said the old lady. 'Well, there is Mr. Adair. I am +sure no girl would wish for a better husband.' + +'Oh, the old frump! why he must be forty if he's a day. You remember, +Alice, it was he who took me down to dinner at Lord Dungory's. And he +talked all the time of his pamphlet on the Amalgamation of the Unions, +which was then in the hands of the printer; and the other in which he +had pulled Mr. Parnell's ears, _Ireland under the Land League_, and the +series of letters he was thinking of contributing to the _Irish Times_ +on high-farming _versus_ peasant proprietors. Just fancy, Alice, living +with such a man as that!' + +'Well, I don't know what you girls think,' said Mrs. Gould, whose +opinions were moods of mind rather than convictions, 'but I assure you +he passes for being the cleverest man in the county; and it is said that +Gladstone is only waiting to give him a chance. But as you like; he +won't do, so let him pass. Then there is Mr. Ryan, he ought to be well +off; he farms thousands of acres.' + +'One might as well marry a herdsman at once. Did you ever hear what he +once said to a lady at a ball; you know, about the docket?' + +Alice said that she had heard the story, and the conversation turned on +Mr. Lynch. Mrs. Gould admitted that he was the worser of the two. + +'He smells so dreadfully of whiskey,' said Alice timidly. + +'Ah! you see she is coming out of her shell at last,' exclaimed May. 'I +saw you weren't having a very good time of it when he took you down to +dinner at Dungory Castle. I wonder they were asked. Fred told me that he +had never heard of their having been there before.' + +'It is very difficult to make up a number sometimes,' suggested Mrs. +Gould; 'but they are certainly very coarse. I hear, when Mr. Ryan and +Mr. Lynch go to fairs, that they sleep with their herdsman, and in Mayo +there is a bachelor's house where they have fine times--whiskey-drinking +and dancing until three o'clock in the morning.' + +'And where do the ladies come from, May?' asked Alice, for she now +looked on the girl as an inexhaustible fund of information. + +'Plenty of ladies in the village,' replied Mrs. Gould, rubbing her shins +complacently; 'that's what I used to hear of in my day, and I believe +the custom isn't even yet quite extinct.' + +'And are there no other beaux in the county? Does that exhaust the +list?' + +'Oh! no; but there's something against them all. There are a few +landlords who live away, and of whom nobody knows anything. Then there +are some boys at school; but they are too young; there is Mr. Reed, the +dispensary doctor. Mr. Burke has only two hundred a year; but if his +brother were to die he would be the Marquis of Kilcarney. He'd be a +great match then, in point of position; but I hear the estates are +terribly encumbered.' + +'Has the present Marquis no children?' said Alice. + +'He's not married,' said Mrs. Gould; 'he's a confirmed old bachelor. +Just fancy, there's twenty years between the brothers. I remember, in +old times, the present Marquis used to be the great beau at the Castle. +I don't believe there was a girl in Dublin who didn't have a try at him. +Then who else is there? I suppose I daren't mention the name of Mr. Fred +Scully, or May will fly at me.' + +'No, mother dear, I won't fly at you; but what is the use of abusing +Fred?--we have known him all our lives. If he has spent his money he has +done no worse than a hundred other young men. I know I can't marry him, +and I am not in love with him; but I must amuse myself with something. I +can't sit here all day listening to you lamenting over the Land League; +and, after a certain number of hours, conjecturing whether Mickey Moran +will or will not pay his rent becomes monotonous.' + +'Now don't vex me, May; for I won't stand it,' said Mrs. Gould, getting +angry. 'When you ask me for a new dress you don't think of what you are +saying now. It was only the other day you were speaking to me of +refurnishing this room. I should like to know how that's to be done if +there was no one to look after Mickey Moran's rent?' + +The girls looked round the large, dull room. Emaciated forms of narrow, +antique sofas were seen dimly in the musty-smelling twilight. Screens +worked in red and green wools stood in the vicinity of the fireplace, +the walls were lined with black pictures, and the floor, hidden in dark +shadow and sunken in places, conveyed an instant idea of damp and +mildew. + +'I think that something ought to be done,' said May. 'Just look at these +limp curtains! Did you ever see anything so dreary? Are they brown, or +red, or chocolate?' + +'They satisfied your betters,' said Mrs. Gould, as she lighted her +bedroom candle. 'Goodness me!' she added, glancing at the gilt clock +that stood on the high, stucco, white-painted chimney-piece, amid a +profusion of jingling glass candelabra, 'it is really half-past twelve +o'clock!' + +'Gracious me! there's another evening wasted; we must really try and be +more industrious. It is too late to do anything further to-night,' said +May. 'Come on, Alice, it is time to go to bed.' + + + + +X + + +During the whole of the next week, until the very night of the ball, the +girls hadn't a moment they could call their own. It was impossible to +say how time went. There were so many things to think of--to remind each +other of. Nobody knew what they had done last, or what they should do +next. The principle on which the ball had been arranged was this: the +forty-five spinsters who had agreed to bear the expense, which it was +guaranteed would not exceed £3 10s. apiece, were supplied each with five +tickets to be distributed among their friends. To save money, the supper +had been provided by the Goulds and Manlys, and day after day the rich +smells of roast beef and the salt vapours of boiling hams trailed along +the passages, and ascended through the banisters of the staircases in +Beech Grove and Manly Park. Fifty chickens had been killed; presents of +woodcock and snipe were received from all sides; salmon had arrived from +Galway; cases of champagne from Dublin. As a wit said, 'Circe has +prepared a banquet and is calling us in.' + +After much hesitation, a grammar-school, built by an enterprising +landlord for an inappreciative population that had declined to support +it, was selected as the most suitable location for the festivities. It +lay about a mile from the town, and this was in itself an advantage. To +the decoration of the rooms May and Fred diligently applied themselves. +Away they went every morning, the carriage filled with yards of red +cloth, branches of evergreen, oak and holly, flags and Chinese lanterns. +You see them: Fred mounted on a high ladder, May and the maid striving +to hand him a long garland which is to be hung between the windows. You +see them leaning over the counter of a hardware shop, explaining how +oblong and semicircular pieces of tin are to be provided with places for +candles (the illumination of the room had remained an unsolved problem +until ingenious Fred had hit upon this plan); you see them running up +the narrow staircases, losing themselves in the twisty passages, calling +for the housekeeper; you see them trying to decide which is the +gentlemen's cloakroom, which the ladies', and wondering if they will be +able to hire enough furniture in the town to arrange a sitting-room for +the chaperons. + +As May said, 'We shall have them hanging about our heels the whole +evening if we don't try to make them comfortable.' + +At last the evening of the ball arrived, and, as the clocks were +striking eight, dressed and ready to start, Alice knocked at May's door. + +'What! dressed already?' said May, as she leaned towards the glass, +illuminated on either side with wax candles, and looked into the +whiteness of her bosom. She wore a costume of Prussian-blue velvet and +silk; the bodice (entirely of velvet) was pointed back and front, and a +berthe of moresque lace softened the contrast between it and the cream +tints of the skin. These and the flame-coloured hair were the spirits of +the shadowy bedchamber; whereas Alice, in her white corded-silk, her +clear candid eyes, was the truer Madonna whose ancient and inferior +prototype stood on her bracket in a forgotten corner. + +'Oh! how nice you look!' exclaimed May; 'I don't think I ever saw anyone +look so pure.' + +Alice smiled; and, interpreting the smile, May said: + +'I am afraid you don't think so much of me.' + +'I am sure, May, you look very nice indeed, and just as you would like +to look.' + +To May's excitable mind it was not difficult to suggest a new train of +thought, and she immediately proceeded to explain why she had chosen her +present dress. + +'I knew that you, and Olive, and Violet, and Lord knows how many others +would be in white, and, as we shall all have to wear white at the +Drawing-Room, I thought I'd appear in this. But isn't the whole thing +delightful? I am engaged already for several dances, and I have been +practising the step all day with Fred.' Then, singing to herself, she +waltzed in front of the glass at the immediate risk of falling into the +bath: + + '"Five-and-forty spinsters baked in a pie! + When the pie was opened the maids began to sing, + Wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the King!" + +'Oh, dear, there's my garter coming down!' and, dropping on to the sofa, +the girl hitched up the treacherous article of dress. 'And tell me what +you think of my legs,' she said, advancing a pair of stately calves. +'Violet says they are too large.' + +'They seem to me to be all right; but, May dear, you haven't got a +petticoat on.' + +'You can't wear petticoats with these tight dresses; one can't move +one's legs as it is.' + +'But don't you think you'll feel cold--catch cold?' + +'Not a bit of it; no danger of cold when you have shammy-leather +drawers.' + +Then, overcome by her exuberant feelings, May began to sing: +'Five-and-forty spinsters baked in a pie,' etc. 'Five-and-forty,' she +said, breaking off, 'have subscribed. I wonder how many will be married +by this time next year? You know, I shouldn't care to be married all at +once; I'd want to see the world a bit first. Even if I liked a man, I +shouldn't care to marry him now; time enough in about three years' time, +when one is beginning to get tired of flirtations and parties. I have +often wondered what it must be like. Just fancy waking up and seeing a +man's face on the pillow, or for--' + +'No, no, May; I will not; you must not. I will not listen to these +improper conversations!' + +'Now, don't get angry, there's a dear, nice girl; you're worse than +Violet, 'pon my word you are; but we must be off. It is a good +half-hour's drive, and we shall want to be there before nine. The people +will begin to come in about that time.' + +Mrs. Gould was asleep in the drawing-room, and, as they awoke her, the +sound of wheels was heard on the gravel outside. The girls hopped into +the carriage. Mrs. Gould pulled herself in, and, blotted out in a far +corner, thought vaguely of asking May not to dance more than three times +with Fred Scully; May chattered to Alice or looked impatiently through +the misted windows for the familiar signs; the shadow of a tree on the +sky, or the obscure outline of a farm-building that would tell how near +they were to their destination. Suddenly the carriage turned to the +right, and entered a sort of crescent. There were hedges on both sides, +through which vague forms were seen scrambling, but May humorously +explained that as no very unpopular landlord was going to be present, it +was not thought that an attempt would be made to blow up the building; +and, conscious of the beautiful night which hung like a blue mysterious +flower above them, they passed through a narrow doorway draped with +red-striped canvas. + +'Now, mother, what do you think of the decorations? Do say a word of +praise.' + +'I've always said, May, that you have excellent taste.' + +The school-hall and refectory had been transformed into ball and supper +rooms, and the narrow passages intervening were hung with red cloth and +green garlands of oak and holly. On crossing threads Chinese lanterns +were wafted luminously. + +'What taste Fred has!' said May, pointing to the huge arrangement that +covered the end wall. 'And haven't my tin candelabra turned out a +success? There will be no grease, and the room couldn't be better +lighted.' + +'But look!' said Alice, 'look at all those poor people staring in at the +window. Isn't it dreadful that they, in the dark and cold, should be +watching us dancing in our beautiful dresses, and in our warm bright +room?' + +'You don't want to ask them in, do you?' + +'Of course not, but it seems very sinister; doesn't it seem so to you?' + +'I don't know what you mean by its being sinister; but sinister or not +sinister, it couldn't be helped; for if we had nailed up every window we +should have simply died of heat.' + +'I hope you won't think of opening the windows too soon,' said Mrs. +Gould. 'You must think of us poor chaperons, who will be sitting still +all night.' + +Then, in the gaping silence, the three ladies listened to the melancholy +harper and the lachrymose fiddlers who, on the _estrade_ in the far +corner, sat tuning their instruments. At last the people began to come +in. The first were a few stray blackcoats, then feminine voices were +heard in the passages, and necks and arms, green toilettes and white +satin shoes, were seen passing and taking seats. Two Miss Duffys, the +fattest of the four, were with their famous sister Bertha. Bertha was +rarely seen in Galway; she lived with an aunt in Dublin, where her +terrible tongue was dreaded by the _débutantes_ at the Castle. In a +yellow dress as loud and as hard as her voice, she stood explaining that +she had come down expressly for the ball. Opposite, the Honourable Miss +Gores made a group of five; and a few men who preferred consideration to +amusement made their way towards them. The Brennans--Gladys and Zoe--as +soon as they saw Alice, asked after Lord Dungory; and all the girls were +anxious to see Violet, who they feared would seem thin in a low dress. + +Hers was the charm of an infinite fragility. The bosom, whose curves +were so faint that they were epicene, was set in a bodice of white +_broché_, joining a skirt of white satin, with an overskirt of tulle, +and the only touch of colour was a bunch of pink and white azaleas worn +on the left shoulder. And how irresistibly suggestive of an Indian +carved ivory were the wee foot, the thin arm, the slender cheek! + +'How sweet you look, Violet,' said Alice, with frank admiration in her +eyes. + +'Thanks for saying so; 'tisn't often we girls pay each other +compliments. But you, you do look ever so nice in that white silk. It +becomes you perfectly.' And then, her thoughts straying suddenly from +Alice's dress, she said: + +'Do you see Mr. Burke over there? If his brother died he would be a +marquis. Do you know him?' + +'Yes; I met him at dinner at Dungory Castle.' + +'Well, introduce him to me if you get a chance.' + +'I am afraid you will find him stupid.' + +'Oh, that doesn't matter; 'tis good form to be seen dancing with an +Honourable. Do you know many men in the room?' + +Alice admitted she knew no one, and, lapsing into silence, the girls +scanned the ranks for possible partners. Poor Sir Richard, already very +drunk, his necktie twisted under his right ear, was vainly attempting to +say something to those whom he knew, or fancied he knew. Sir Charles, +forgetful of the family at home, was flirting with a young girl whose +mother was probably formulating the details of a new emigration scheme. +Dirty Mr. Ryan, his hands thrust deep into the pockets of his baggy +trousers, whispered words of counsel to Mr. Lynch: a rumour had gone +abroad that Captain Hibbert was going to hunt that season in Galway, and +would want a couple of horses. Mr. Adair was making grotesque attempts +to talk to a lady of dancing. On every side voices were heard speaking +of the distances they had achieved: some had driven twenty, some thirty +miles. + +Already the first notes of the waltz had been shrieked out by the +cornet, and Mr. Fred Scully, with May's red tresses on his shoulder, was +about to start, when Mrs. Barton and Olive entered. Olive, in white +silk, so tightly drawn back that every line of her supple thighs, and +every plumpness of her superb haunches was seen; and the double garland +of geraniums that encircled the tulle veiling seemed like flowers of +blood scattered on virgin snow. Her beauty imposed admiration; and, +murmuring assent, the dancers involuntarily drew into lines, and this +pale, uncoloured loveliness, her high nose seen, and her silly laugh +heard, by the side of her sharp, brown-eyed mother, passed down the +room. Lord Dungory and Lord Rosshill advanced to meet them; a moment +after Captain Hibbert and Mr. Burke came up to ask for dances; a waltz +was promised to each. A circling crowd of black-coats instantly absorbed +the triumphant picture; the violinist scraped, and the harper twanged +intermittently; a band of fox-hunters arrived; girls had been chosen, +and in the small space of floor that remained the white skirts and red +tail coats passed and repassed, borne along Strauss's indomitable +rhythms. + +An hour passed: perspiration had begun to loosen the work of +curling-tongs; dust had thickened the voices, but the joy of exercise +was in every head and limb. A couple would rush off for a cup of tea, or +an ice, and then, pale and breathless, return to the fray. Mrs. Manly +was the gayest. Pushing her children out of her skirts, she called upon +May: + +'Now then, May, have you a partner? We are going to have a real romp--we +are going to have Kitchen Lancers. I'll undertake to see everybody +through them.' + +A select few, by signs, winks, and natural instinct, were drawn towards +this convivial circle; but, notwithstanding all her efforts to make +herself understood, Mrs. Manly was sadly hampered by the presence of a +tub-like old lady who, with a small boy, was seeking a _vis-à -vis._ + +'My dear May, we can't have her here, we are going to romp; anyone can +see that. Tell her we are going to dance Kitchen Lancers.' + +But the old lady could not be made to understand, and it was with +difficulty that she was disentangled from the sixteen. At that moment +the appearance of a waiter with a telegram caused the dancers to pause. +Mr. Burke's name was whispered in front of the messenger; but he who, +until that evening, had been Mr. Burke, was now the Marquis of +Kilearney. The smiling mouth drooped to an expression of fear as he tore +open the envelope. One glance was enough; he looked about the room like +one dazed. Then, as his eyes fell upon the vague faces seen looking +through the wet November pane, he muttered: 'Oh! you brutes, you brutes! +so you have shot my brother!' + +Unchecked, the harper twanged and the fiddler scraped out the tune of +their Lancers. Few really knew what had happened, and the newly-made +marquis had to fight his way through women who, in skin-tight dresses, +danced with wantoning movements of the hips, and threw themselves into +the arms of men, to be, in true kitchen-fashion, whirled round and round +with prodigious violence. + +Nevertheless, Lord Dungory and Lord Rosshill could not conceal their +annoyance; both felt keenly that they had compromised themselves by +remaining in the room after the news of so dreadful a catastrophe. But, +as Mrs. Barton was anxious that her daughter's success should not be +interfered with, nothing could be done but to express sympathy in +appropriate words. Nobody, Lord Dungory declared, could regret the +dastardly outrage that had been committed more than he. He had known +Lord Kilcarney many years, and he had always found him a man whom no one +could fail to esteem. The earldom was one of the oldest in Ireland, but +the marquisate did not go back farther than the last few years. +Beaconsfield had given him a step in the peerage; no one knew why. A +very curious man--most retiring--hated society. Then Lord Rosshill +related an anecdote concerning an enormous water-jump that he and Lord +Kilcarney had taken together; and he also spoke of the late Marquis's +aversion to matrimony, and hinted that he had once refused a match which +would have relieved the estates of all debt. But he could not be +persuaded; indeed, he had never been known to pay any woman the +slightest attention. + +'It is to be hoped the present Marquis won't prove so difficult to +please,' said Mrs. Gould. The remark was an unfortunate one, and the +chaperons present resented this violation of their secret thoughts. Mrs. +Barton and Mrs. Scully suddenly withdrew their eyes, which till then had +been gently following their daughters through the figures of the dance, +and, forgetting what they foresaw would be the cause of future enmity, +united in condemning Mrs. Gould. Obeying a glance of the Lady Hamilton +eyes, Lord Dungory said: + +'_On cherche l'amour dans les boudoirs, non pas dans les cimetières, +madame_.' Then he added (but this time only for the private ear of Mrs. +Barton), '_La mer ne rend pas ses morts, mais la tombe nous donne +souvent les écussons_.' + +'Ha! ha! ha!' laughed Mrs. Barton, '_ce Milord, il trouve l'esprit +partout_;' and her light coaxing laugh dissipated this moment of +ball-room gloom. + +And Alice? Although conscious of her deficiency in the _trois temps_, +determined not to give in without an effort, she had suffered May to +introduce her to a couple of officers; but to execute the step she knew +theoretically, or to talk to her partner when he had dragged her, +breathless, out of the bumping dances, she found to be difficult, so +ignorant was she of hunting and of London theatres, and having read only +one book of Ouida's, it would be vain for her to hope to interest her +partner in literature. The other girls seemed more at home with their +partners, and while she walked with hers, wondering what she should say +next, she noticed behind screens, under staircases, at the end of dark +passages, girls whom she had known at St. Leonards incapable of +learning, or even understanding the simplest lessons, suddenly +transformed as if by magic into bright, clever, agreeable girls--capable +of fulfilling that only duty which falls to the lot of women: of amusing +men. But she could not do this, and must, therefore, resign herself to +an aimless life of idleness, and be content in a few years to take a +place amid the Miss Brennans, the Ladies Cullen, the Miss Duffys, the +Honourable Miss Gores, those whom she saw sitting round the walls +'waiting to be asked,' as did the women in the old Babylonian Temple. + +Such was her criticism of life as she sat wearily answering Mrs. Gould's +tiresome questions, not daring to approach her mother, who was laughing +with Olive, Captain Hibbert, and Lord Dungory. Waltz after waltz had +been played, and her ears reeked with their crying strain. One or two +men had asked her 'if they might have the pleasure'; but she was +determined to try dancing no more, and had refused them. At last, at the +earnest request of Mrs. Gould, she had allowed Dr. Reed to take her in +to supper. He was an earnest-eyed, stout, commonplace man, and looked +some years over thirty. Alice, however, found she could talk to him +better than with her other partners, and when they left the clattering +supper-room, where plates were being broken and champagne was being +drunk by the gallon, sitting on the stairs, he talked to her till voices +were heard calling for his services. A dancer had been thrown and had +broken his leg. Alice saw something carried towards her, and, rushing +towards May, whom she saw in the doorway, she asked for an explanation. + +'Oh, nothing, nothing! he slipped down--has broken or sprained his +ankle--that's all. Why aren't you dancing? Greatest fun in the +world--just beginning to get noisy--and we are going it. Come on, Fred; +come on!' + +To the rowdy tune of the _Posthorn Polka_ the different couples were +dashing to and fro--all a little drunk with emotion and champagne; and, +as if fascinated, Alice's eyes followed the shoulders of a tall, +florid-faced man. Doing the _deux temps_, he traversed the room in two +or three prodigious jumps. His partner, a tiny creature, looked a +crushed bird within the circle of his terrible arm. Like a collier +labouring in a heavy sea, a county doctor lurched from side to side, +overpowered by the fattest of the Miss Duffys. A thin, trim youth, with +bright eyes glancing hither and thither, executed a complex step, and +glided with surprising dexterity in and out, and through this rushing +mad mass of light toilettes and flying coat-tails. Marks, too, of +conflict were visible. Mr. Ryan had lost some portion of his garment in +an obscure misunderstanding in the supper-room. All Mr. Lynch's studs +had gone, and his shirt was in a precarious state; drunken Sir Richard +had not been carried out of the room before strewing the floor with his +necktie and fragments of his gloves. But these details were forgotten in +the excitement. The harper twanged still more violently at his strings, +the fiddler rasped out the agonizing tune more screechingly than ever; +and as the delirium of the dance fevered this horde of well-bred people +the desire to exercise, their animal force grew irresistible, and they +charged, intent on each other's overthrow. In the onset, the vast +shoulders and the _deux temps_ were especially successful. One couple +had gone down splendidly before him, another had fallen over the +prostrate ones; and in a moment, in positions more or less recumbent, +eight people were on the floor. Fears were expressed for the tight +dresses, and Violet had shown more of her thin ankles than was +desirable; but the climax was not reached until a young man, whose +unsteady legs forbade him this part of the fun, established himself in a +safe corner, and commenced to push the people over as they passed him. +This was the signal for the flight of the chaperons. + +'Now come along, Miss Barton,' cried Mrs. Barton, catching sight of +Alice; 'and will you, Lord Dungory, look after Olive?' + +Lord Rosshill collected the five Honourable Miss Gores, the Miss +Brennans drew around Mrs. Scully, who, without taking the least notice +of them, steered her way. + +And so ended, at least so far as they were concerned, the ball given +by the spinsters of the county of Galway. But the real end? On this +subject much curiosity was evinced. + +The secret was kept for a time, but eventually the story leaked out +that, overcome by the recollections of still pleasanter evenings spent +under the hospitable roof of the Mayo bachelor, Mr. Ryan, Mr. Lynch and +Sir Charles had brought in the maid-servants, and that, with jigs for +waltzes, and whiskey for champagne, the gaiety had not been allowed to +die until the day was well begun. Bit by bit and fragment by fragment +the story was pieced together, and, in the secrecy of their bedrooms, +with little smothered fits of laughter, the young ladies told each other +how Sir Charles had danced with the big housemaid, how every time he did +the cross-over he had slapped her on the belly; and then, with more +laughter, they related how she had said: 'Now don't, Sir Charles, I +forbid you to take such liberties.' And it also became part of the story +that, when they were tired of even such pleasures as these, the +gentlemen had gone upstairs to where the poor man with the broken leg +was lying, and had, with whiskey and song, relieved his sufferings until +the Galway train rolled into Ballinasloe. + + + + +XI + + +'Goodness me! Alice; how can you remain up here all alone, and by that +smouldering fire? Why don't you come downstairs? Papa says he is quite +satisfied with the first part of the tune, but the second won't come +right; and, as mamma had a lot to say to Lord Dungory, I and Captain +Hibbert sat out in the passage together. He told me he liked the way I +arrange my hair. Do tell me, dear, if you think it suits me?' + +'Very well, indeed; but what else did Captain Hibbert say to you?' + +'Well, I'll tell you something,' replied Olive, suddenly turning from +the glass. 'But first promise not to tell anyone. I don't know what I +should do if you did. You promise?' + +'Yes, I promise.' + +'If you look as serious as that I shall never be able to tell you. It is +very wicked, I know, but I couldn't help myself. He put his arm round my +waist and kissed me. Now don't scold, I won't be scolded,' the girl +said, as she watched the cloud gathering on her sister's face. 'Oh! you +don't know how angry I was. I cried, I assure you I did, and I told him +he had disgraced me. I couldn't say more than that, could I, now? and he +promised never to do it again. It was the first time a man ever kissed +me--I was awfully ashamed. No one ever attempted to kiss you, I suppose; +nor can I fancy their trying, for your cross face would soon frighten +them; but I can't look serious.' + +'And did he ask you to marry him?' + +'Oh! of course, but I haven't told mamma, for she is always talking to +me about Lord Kilcarney--the little marquis, as she calls him; but I +couldn't have him. Just fancy giving up dear Edward! I assure you I +believe he would kill himself if I did. He has often told me I am the +only thing worth living for.' + +Alice looked at her beautiful sister questioningly, her good sense +telling her that, if Olive was not intended for him, it was wrong to +allow her to continue her flirtation. But for the moment the +consideration of her own misfortunes absorbed her. Was there nothing in +life for a girl but marriage, and was marriage no more than a sensual +gratification; did a man seek nothing but a beautiful body that he could +kiss and enjoy? Did a man's desires never turn to mating with one who +could sympathize with his hopes, comfort him in his fears, and united by +that most profound and penetrating of all unions--that of the soul--be +collaborator in life's work? 'Could no man love as she did?' She was +ready to allow that marriage owned a material as well as a spiritual +aspect, and that neither could be overlooked. Some, therefore, though +their souls were as beautiful as the day, were, from purely physical +causes, incapacitated from entering into the marriage state. Cecilia was +such a one. + +'Now what are you thinking about, Alice?' + +'I do not know, nothing in particular; one doesn't know always of what +one is thinking! Tell me what they are saying downstairs.' + +'But I have told you; that Captain Hibbert preferred my hair like this, +and I asked you if you thought he was right, but you hardly looked.' + +'Yes, I did, Olive; I think the fashion suits you.' + +'You won't tell anybody that I told you he kissed me? Oh, I had +forgotten about Lord Rosshill; he has been fired at. Lord Dungory +returned from Dublin, and he brought the evening paper with him. It is +full of bad news.' + +'What news?' Alice asked, with a view to escaping from wearying +questions; and Olive told her a bailiff's house had been broken into by +an armed gang. 'They dragged him out of his bed and shot him in the legs +before his own door. And an attempt has been made to blow up a +landlord's house with dynamite. And in Queen's County shots have been +fired through a dining-room window--now, what else? I am telling you a +lot; I don't often remember what is in the paper. No end of hayricks +were burnt last week, and some cattle have had their tails cut off, and +a great many people have been beaten. Lord Dungory says he doesn't know +how it will all end unless the Government bring in a Coercion Act. What +do you think, Alice?' + +Alice dropped some formal remarks, and Olive hoped that the state of the +country would not affect the Castle's season. She didn't know which of +the St. Leonard girls would be married first. She asked Alice to guess. +Alice said she couldn't guess, and fell to thinking that nobody would +ever want to marry her. It was as if some instinct had told her, and she +could not drive the word 'celibacy' out of her ears. It seemed to her +that she was _fichue à jamais_, as that odious Lord Dungory would say. +She did not remember that she had ever been so unhappy before, and it +seemed to her that she would always be unhappy, _fichue à jamais_. + +But to her surprise she awoke in a more cheerful mood, and when she came +down to breakfast Mr. Barton raised his head from the newspaper and +asked her if she had heard that Lord Rosshill had been fired at. + +'Yes, father. Olive told me so overnight;' and the conversation turned +on her headache, and then on the state of Ireland. + +Mrs. Barton asked if this last outrage would prove sufficient to force +the Government to pass a new Coercion Bill. + +'I wish they would put me at the head of an army,' Mr. Barton said, +whose thoughts had gone back to his picture--_Julius Caesar overturning +the Altars of the Druids_. + +'Papa would look fine leading the landlords against the tenants dressed +in Julius Caesar's big red cloak!' cried Mrs. Barton, turning back as +she glided out of the room, already deep in consideration of what Milord +would like to eat for luncheon and the gown she would wear that +afternoon. Mr. Barton threw the newspaper aside and returned to his +studio; and in the girls' room Olive and Barnes, the bland, soft smiling +maid, began their morning gossip. Whatever subject was started it +generally wound round to Captain Hibbert. Alice had wearied of his name, +but this morning she pricked up her ears. She was surprised to hear her +sister say she had forbidden him ever to visit the Lawlers. At that +moment the dull sound of distant firing broke the stillness of the snow. + +'I took good care to make Captain Hibbert promise not to go to this +shooting-party the last time I saw him.' + +'And what harm was there in his going to this shooting-party?' said +Alice. + +'What harm? I suppose, miss, you have heard what kind of woman Mrs. +Lawler is? Ask Barnes,' + +'You shouldn't talk in this way, Olive. We know well enough that Mrs. +Lawler was not a lady before she married; but nothing can be said +against her since.' + +'Oh! can't there, indeed? You never heard the story about her and her +steward? Ask Barnes.' + +'Oh! don't miss; you shouldn't really!' said the maid. 'What will Miss +Alice think?' + +'Never mind what she thinks; you tell her about the steward and all the +officers from Gort.' + +And then Mrs. Lawler's flirtations were talked of until the bell rang +for lunch. Milord and Mrs. Barton had just passed into the dining-room, +and Alice noticed that his eyes often wandered in the direction of the +policemen walking up and down the terrace. He returned more frequently +than was necessary to the attempt made on Lord Rosshill's life, and it +was a long time before Mrs. Barton could persuade him to drop a French +epigram. At last, in answer to her allusions to knights of old and _la +galanterie_, the old lord could only say: '_L'amour est comme +l'hirondelle; quand l'heure sonne, en dépit du danger, tous les deux +partent pour les rivages célestes._' A pretty conceit; but Milord was +not _en veine_ that morning. The Land League had thrown its shadow over +him, and it mattered little how joyously a conversation might begin, too +soon a reference was made to Griffith's valuation, or the possibility of +a new Coercion Act. + +In the course of the afternoon, however, much to the astonishment of +Milord and Mrs. Barton in the drawing-room and the young ladies who were +sitting upstairs doing a little needlework, a large family carriage, +hung with grey trappings and drawn by two powerful bay horses, drove up +to the hall-door. + +A gorgeous footman opened the door, and, with a momentary display of +exquisite ankle, a slim young girl stepped out. + +'I wonder,' said Mrs. Barton, 'that Mrs. Scully condescends to come out +with anything less than four horses and outriders.' + +'_Elle veut acheter la distinction comme elle vendait du jambon--à +faux poids_,' said Lord Dungory. + +'Yes, indeed; and to think that the woman we now receive as an equal +once sold bacon and eggs behind a counter in Galway!' + +'No, it was not she; it was her mother.' + +'Well, she was hanging on to her mother's apron-strings at the time. You +may depend upon it, this visit is not for nothing; something's in the +wind.' + +A moment after, looking more large and stately than ever, Mrs. Scully +sailed into the room. Mrs. Barton was delighted to see her. It was so +good of her to come, and in such weather as this; and, after having +refused lunch and referred to the snow and the horses' feet, Mrs. Scully +consented to lay aside her muff and boa. The young ladies withdrew, when +the conversation turned on the state of the county and Lord Rosshill's +fortunate escape. As they ascended the stairs they stopped to listen to +Mr. Barton, who was singing _A che la morte_. + +'The Land League doesn't seem to affect Mr. Barton's spirits,' said +Violet. 'What a beautiful voice he has!' + +'Yes, and nobody designs pictures like papa; but he wouldn't study when +he was young, and he says he hasn't time now on account of--' + +'Now, Alice, for goodness' sake don't begin. I am sick of that Land +League. From morning till night it is nothing but coercion and +Griffith's valuation.' + +Violet and Alice laughed at Olive's petulance, and, opening a door, the +latter said: + +'This is our room, and it is the only one in the house where tenants, +land, and rent are never spoken of.' + +'That's something to know,' said Violet. 'I agree with Olive. If things +are bad, talking of them won't make them any better.' + +Barnes rose from her seat. + +'Now don't go, Barnes. Violet, this is Barnes, our maid.' + +There was about Barnes a false air of homeliness; but in a few moments +it became apparent that her life had been spent amid muslins, +confidences, and illicit conversations. Now, with motherly care she +removed a tulle skirt from the table, and Violet, with quick, nervous +glances, examined the room. In the middle of the floor stood the large +work-table, covered with a red cloth. There was a stand with shelves, +filled on one side with railway novels, on the other with worsted work, +cardboard-boxes, and rags of all kinds. A canary-cage stood on the top, +and the conversation was frequently interrupted by the piercing trilling +of the little yellow bird. + +'You're very comfortable. I should like to come and work here with you. +I am sick of Fred's perpetual talk about horses; and if he isn't talking +of them his conversation is so improper that I can't listen to it.' + +'Why, what does he say?' said Olive, glancing at Barnes, who smiled +benignly in the background. + +'Oh, I couldn't repeat what he says! it's too dreadful. I have to fly +from him. But he's always at the Goulds' now; he and May are having a +great "case".' + +'Oh yes, I know!' said Olive; 'they never left each other at our ball. +Don't you remember?' + +'Of course I do. And what a jolly ball that was! I never amused myself +so much in my life. If the balls at the Castle are as good, they will +do. But wasn't it sad, you know, about poor Lord Kilcarney receiving the +news of his brother's murder just at that moment? I can see him now, +rushing out of the room.' + +Violet's manner did not betoken in the least that she thought it sad, +and after a pause she said: + +'But you haven't shown me your dresses. I loved the one you wore at the +ball.' + +'Yes, yes: I must show you my cream-coloured dinner-dress, and my ruby +dress, too. You haven't seen that either,' cried Olive. 'Come along, +Barnes, come along.' + +'But I see you use your bedroom, too, as a sitting-room?' she said, as +she glanced at the illustrations in a volume of Dickens and threw down a +volume of Shelley's poetry. + +'Oh, that's this lady, here!' cried Olive. 'She says she cannot read in +our room on account of my chattering, so she comes in here to continue +her schooling. I should've thought that she had had enough of it; and +she makes the place in such a mess with bits of paper. Barnes is always +tidying up after her.' + +Alice laughed constrainedly, and taking the cream-coloured dress out of +the maid's hands, Olive explained why it suited her. Violet had much to +say concerning the pink trimming, and the maid referred to her late +mistress's wardrobes. The ruby dress, however, drew forth many little +cries of admiration. Then an argument was started concerning the colour +of hair, and, before the glass with hairpins and lithe movements of the +back and loins, the girls explained their favourite coiffures. + +'But, Alice, you haven't opened your lips, and you haven't shown me your +dresses.' + +'Barnes will show you my dinner-frocks, but I don't think as much about +what I wear as Olive does.' + +Violet quickly understood, but, with clever dissimulation, she examined +and praised the black silk trimmed with red ribbons. 'She's angry +because we didn't look at her dresses first,' Olive interjected; and +Violet came to Alice's rescue with a question: 'Had they heard lately of +Lord Kilcarney?' Olive protested that she would sooner die than accept +such a little red-haired thing as that for a husband, and Violet laughed +delightedly. + +'Anyway, you haven't those faults to find with a certain officer, now +stationed at Gort, who, if report speaks truly, is constantly seen +riding towards Brookfield.' + +'Well, what harm is there in that?' said Olive, for she did not feel +quite sure in her mind if she should resent or accept the gracious +insinuation. + +'None whatever; I only wish such luck were mine. What with the weather, +and papa's difficulties with his herdsmen and his tenants, we haven't +seen a soul for the last month. I wish a handsome young officer would +come galloping up our avenue some day.' + +Deceived, Olive abandoned herself to the plausive charm of Violet's +manner, and at different times she spoke of her flirtation, and told +many little incidents concerning it--what he had said to her, how she +had answered him, and how, the last time they had met, he had expressed +his sorrow at being unable to call to see her until the end of the week. + +'He is shooting to-day at the Lawlers',' said Violet. + +'That I'm sure he's not,' said Olive, with a triumphant toss of her fair +head; 'for I forbade him to go there.' + +Violet smiled, and Olive insisted on an explanation being given. + +'Well,' exclaimed the girl, more bluntly than she had yet spoken, +'because as we were coming here we saw him walking along one of the +covers. There were a lot of gentlemen, and, just fancy, that dreadful +woman, Mrs. Lawler, was with them, marching along, just like a man, and +a gun under her arm.' + +'I don't believe you; you only say that to annoy me,' cried Olive, +trembling with passion. + +'I am not in the habit of telling lies, and don't know why you should +think I care to annoy you,' Violet replied, a little too definitely; +and, unable to control her feelings any longer, Olive walked out of the +room. Barnes folded up and put away the dresses, and Alice sought for +words that would attenuate the unpleasantness of the scene. But Violet +was the quicker with her tongue, and she poured out her excuses. 'I am +so sorry,' she said, 'but how could I know that she objected to Captain +Hibbert's shooting at the Lawlers', or that he had promised her not to +go there? I am very sorry, indeed.' + +'Oh I it doesn't matter,' said Alice hesitatingly. 'You know how +excitable Olive is. I don't think she cares more about Captain Hibbert +than anyone else; she was only a little piqued, you know--the surprise, +and she particularly dislikes the Lawlers. Of course, it is very +unpleasant for us to live so near without being able to visit them.' + +'Yes, I understand. I am very sorry. Do you know where she is gone? I +shouldn't like to go away without seeing her.' + +'I am afraid she has shut herself up in her room. Next time you meet, +she'll have forgotten all about it.' + +Elated, but at the same time a little vexed, Violet followed Alice down +to the drawing-room. + +'My dear child, what a time you have been! I thought you were never +coming downstairs again,' said Mrs. Scully. 'Now, my dear Mrs. Barton, +we really must. We shall meet again, if not before, at the Castle.' + +Then stout mother and thin daughter took their leave; but the large +carriage, with its sumptuous grey trappings, had not reached the crest +of the hill when, swiftly unlocking her door, Olive rushed to Barnes for +sympathy. + +'Oh the spiteful little cat!' she exclaimed. 'I know why she said that; +she's jealous of me. You heard her say she hadn't a lover. I don't +believe she saw Edward at all, but she wanted to annoy me. Don't you +think so, Barnes?' + +'I'm sure she wanted to annoy you, miss. I could see it in her eyes. She +has dreadful eyes--those cold, grey, glittering things. I could never +trust them. And she hasn't a bit on her bones. I don't know if you +noticed, miss, that when you were counting your petticoats she was +ashamed of her legs? There isn't a bit on them; and I saw her look at +yours, miss.' + +'Did you really? She's like a rail; and as spiteful as she's lean. At +school nothing made her so angry as when anyone else was praised; and +you may be sure that jealousy brought her here. She heard how Captain +Hibbert admired me, and so came on purpose to annoy me.' + +'You may be sure it was that, miss,' said Barnes, as she bustled about, +shutting and opening a variety of cardboard boxes. + +For a moment the quarrel looked as if it were going to end here; but in +Olive's brain thoughts leaped as quickly back as forward, and she +startled Barnes by declaring wildly that, if Edward had broken his +promise to her, she would never speak to him again. + +'I don't believe that Violet would have dared to say that she saw him if +it weren't true.' + +'Well, miss, a shooting-party's but a shooting-party, and there was a +temptation, you know. A gentleman who is fond of sport--' + +'Yes; but it isn't for the shooting he is gone. 'Tis for Mrs. Lawler. I +know it is.' + +'Not it, miss. Always admitting that he is there, how could he think of +Mrs. Lawler when he's always thinking of you? And, besides, out in the +snow, too. Now, I wouldn't say anything if the weather was fine--like we +had last June--and they giving each other meetings out in the park--' + +'But what did you tell me about the steward, and how Mrs. Lawler fell in +love with all the young men who come to her house? And what did the +housemaid tell you of the walking about the passages at night and into +each other's rooms? Oh, I must know if he's there!' + +'I'll find out in the morning, miss. The coachman is sure to know who +was at the shooting-party.' + +'In the morning! It will be too late then! I must know this evening!' +exclaimed Olive, as she walked about the room, her light brain now flown +with jealousy and suspicion. 'I'll write him a letter,' she said +suddenly, 'and you must get someone to take it over.' + +'But there's nobody about. Why, it is nearly seven o'clock,' said +Barnes, who had begun to realize the disagreeableness and danger of the +adventure she was being rapidly drawn into. + +'If you can't, I shall go myself,' cried Olive, as she seized some paper +and a pencil belonging to Alice, and sat down to write a note: + + +'DEAR CAPTAIN HIBBERT, +'If you have broken your promise to me about not going to the Lawlers' +I shall never be able to forgive you!' (Then, as through her perturbed +mind the thought gleamed that this was perhaps a little definite, she +added): 'Anyhow, I wish to see you. Come at once, and explain that what +I have heard about you is not true. I cannot believe it. + 'Yours ever and anxiously, + 'OLIVE BARTON.' + + +'Now somebody must take this over at once to the Lawlers.' + +'But, miss, really at this hour of night, too, I don't know of anyone to +send! Just think, miss, what would your ma say?' + +'I don't care what mamma says. It would kill me to wait till morning! +Somebody must go. Why can't you go yourself? It isn't more than half a +mile across the fields. You won't refuse me, will you? Put on your hat, +and go at once.' + +'And what will the Lawlers say when they hear of it, miss? and I am sure +that if Mrs. Barton ever hears of it she will--' + +'No, no, she won't! for I could not do without you, Barnes. You have +only to ask if Captain Hibbert is there, and, if he is there, send the +letter up, and wait for an answer. Now, there's a dear! now do go at +once. If you don't, I shall go mad! Now, say you will go, or give me the +letter. Yes, give it to me, and I'll go myself. Yes, I prefer to go +myself.' + + + + +XII + + +The result of this missive was that next morning the servants whispered +that someone had been about the house on the preceding evening. Olive +and Barnes sat talking for hours; and one day, unable to keep her +counsel any longer, Olive told her sister what had happened. The letter +that Barnes had taken across the field for her had, she declared, +frightened Edward out of his senses; he had come rushing through the +snow, and had spoken with her for full five minutes under her window. He +loved her to distraction; and the next day she had received a long +letter, full of references to his colonel, explaining how entirely +against his will and desire he had been forced to accept the invitation +to go and shoot at the Lawlers'. Alice listened quietly; as if she +doubted whether Captain Hibbert would have died of consumption or +heartache if Olive had acted otherwise, and then advised her sister +quietly; and, convinced that her duty was to tell her mother everything, +she waited for an occasion to speak. Mr. Barton was passing down the +passage to his studio, Olive was racing upstairs to Barnes, Mrs. Barton +had her hand on the drawing-room door; and she looked round surprised +when she saw that her daughter was following her. + +'I want to speak to you, mamma.' + +'Come in, dear.' + +Alice shut the door behind her. + +'How bare and untidy the room looks at this season of the year; really +you and Olive ought to go into the conservatory and see if you can't get +some geraniums.' + +'Yes, mamma, I will presently; but it was about Olive that I wanted to +speak,' said Alice, in a strained and anxious way. + +'What a bore that girl is with her serious face,' thought Mrs. Barton; +but she laughed coaxingly, and said: + +'And what has my grave-faced daughter to say--the learned keeper of the +family's wisdom?' + +Even more than Olive's--for they were less sincere--Mrs. Barton's +trivialities jarred, and Alice's ideas had already begun to slip from +her, and feeling keenly the inadequacy of her words, she said: + +'Well, mamma, I wanted to ask you if Olive is going to marry Captain +Hibbert?' + +It was now for Mrs. Barton to look embarrassed. + +'Well, really, I don't know; nothing is arranged--I never thought about +the matter. What could have made you think she was going to marry +Captain Hibbert? In my opinion they aren't at all suited to each other. +Why do you ask me?' + +'Because I have heard you speak of Lord Kilcarney as a man you would +like Olive to marry, and, if this be so, I thought I had better tell you +about Captain Hibbert. I think she is very much in love with him.' + +'Oh! nonsense; it is only to kill time. A girl must amuse herself +somehow.' + +It was on Alice's lips to ask her mother if she thought such conduct +quite right, but, checking herself, she said: + +'I am afraid people are talking about it, and that surely is not +desirable.' + +'But why do you come telling me these stories?' she said. + +'Why, mamma, because I thought it right to do so.' + +The word 'right' was unpleasant; but, recovering her temper, which for +years before had never failed her, Mrs. Barton returned to her sweet +little flattering manners. + +'Of course, of course, my dear girl; but you do not understand me. What +I mean to say is, Have you any definite reason for supposing that Olive +is in love with Captain Hibbert, and that people are talking about it?' + +'I think so, mamma,' said the girl, deceived by this expression of +goodwill. 'You remember when the Scullys came here? Well, Violet was up +in our room, and we were showing her our dresses; the conversation +somehow turned on Captain Hibbert, and when Violet said that she had +seen him that day, as they came along in the carriage, shooting with the +Lawlers, Olive burst out crying and rushed out of the room. It was very +awkward. Violet said she was very sorry and all that, but--' + +'Yes, yes, dear; but why was Olive angry at hearing that Captain Hibbert +went out shooting with the Lawlers?' + +'Because, it appears, she had previously forbidden him to go there, you +know, on account of Mrs. Lawler.' + +'And what happened then?' + +'Well, that's the worst of it. I don't mean to say it was all Olive's +fault; I think she must have lost her head a little, for she sent Barnes +over that evening to the Lawlers' with a note, telling Captain Hibbert +that he must come at once and explain. It was eleven o'clock at night, +and they had a long talk through the window.' + +Mrs. Barton did not speak for some moments. The peat-fire was falling +into masses of white ash, and she thought vaguely of putting on some +more turf; then her attention was caught by the withering ferns in the +flower-glasses, then by the soaking pasture-lands, then by the spiky +branches of the chestnut-trees swinging against the grey, dead sky. + +'But tell me, Alice,' she said at last, 'for of course it is important +that I should know--do you think that Olive is really in love with +Captain Hibbert?' + +'She told me, as we were going to bed the other night, mamma, that she +never could care for anyone else; and--and' + +'And what, dear?' + +'I don't like to betray my sister's confidence,' Alice answered, 'but +I'm sure I had better tell you all: she told me that he had kissed her +many times, and no later than yesterday, in the conservatory.' + +'Indeed! you did very well to let me know of this,' said Mrs. Barton, +becoming as earnestly inclined as her daughter Alice. 'I am sorry that +Olive was so foolish; I must speak to her about it. This must not occur +again. I think that if you were to tell her to come down here--' + +'Oh no, mamma; Olive would know at once that I had been speaking about +her affairs; you must promise me to make only an indirect use of what I +have told you.' + +'Of course--of course, my dear Alice; no one shall ever know what has +passed between us. You can depend upon me. I will not speak to Olive +till I get a favourable opportunity. And now I have to go and see after +the servants. Are you going upstairs?' + +On Alice, tense with the importance of the explanation, this dismissal +fell not a little chillingly; but she was glad that she had been able to +induce her mother to consider the matter seriously. + +A few minutes passed dreamily, almost unconsciously; Mrs. Barton threw +two sods of turf on the fire, and resumed her thinking. Her first +feeling of resentment against her eldest daughter had vanished; and she +now thought solely of the difficulty she was in, and how she could best +extricate herself from it. 'So Olive was foolish enough to allow Captain +Hibbert to kiss her in the conservatory!' Mrs. Barton murmured to +herself. The morality of the question interested her profoundly. She had +never allowed anyone to kiss her before she was married; and she was +full of pity and presentiment for the future of a young girl who could +thus compromise herself. But in Olive's love for Captain Hibbert Mrs. +Barton was concerned only so far as it affected the labour and time that +would have to be expended in persuading her to cease to care for him. +That this was the right thing to do Mrs. Barton did not for a moment +doubt. Her daughter was a beautiful girl, would probably be the belle of +the season; therefore to allow her, at nineteen, to marry a +thousand-a-year captain would be, Mrs. Barton thought, to prove herself +incapable, if not criminal, in the performance of the most important +duty of her life. Mrs. Barton trembled when she thought of the sending +of the letter: if the story were to get wind in Dublin, it might wreck +her hopes of the marquis. Therefore, to tell Barnes to leave the house +would be fatal. Things must be managed gently, very gently. Olive must +be talked to, how far her heart was engaged in the matter must be found +out, and she must be made to see the folly, the madness of risking her +chance of winning a coronet for the sake of a beggarly thousand-a-year +captain. And, good heavens! the chaperons: what would they say of her, +Mrs. Barton, were such a thing to occur? Mrs. Barton turned from the +thought in horror; and then, out of the soul of the old coquette arose, +full-fledged, the chaperon, the satellite whose light and glory is +dependent on that of the fixed star around which she revolves. + +At this moment Olive, her hands filled with ferns, bounced into the +room. + +'Oh! here you are, mamma! Alice told me you wanted a few ferns and +flowers to brighten up the room.' + +'I hope you haven't got your feet wet, my dear; if you have, you had +better go up at once and change.' + +Olive was now more than ever like her father. Her shoulders had grown +wider, and the blonde head and scarlet lips had gained a summer +brilliance and beauty. + +'No, I am not wet,' she said, looking down at her boots; 'it isn't +raining; but if it were Alice would send me out all the same.' + +'Where is she now?' + +'Up in her room reading, I suppose; she never stirs out of it. I thought +when we came home from school the last time that we would be better +friends; but, do you know what I think: Alice is a bit sulky. What do +you think, mamma?' + +To talk of Alice, to suggest that she was a little jealous, to explain +the difficulty of the position she occupied, to commiserate and lavish +much pity upon her was, no doubt, a fascinating subject of conversation, +it had burned in the brains of mother and daughter for many months; but, +too wise to compromise herself with her children, Mrs. Barton resisted +the temptation to gratify a vindictiveness that rankled in her heart. +She said: + +'Alice has not yet found her _beau cavalier_; we shall see when we are +at the Castle if she will remain faithful to her books. I am afraid that +Miss Alice will then prefer some gay, dashing young officer to her +_Marmion_ and her _Lara_.' + +'I should think so, indeed. She says that the only man she cares to +speak to in the county is Dr. Reed, that little frumpy fellow with his +medicines. I can't understand her. I couldn't care for anyone but an +officer.' + +This was the chance Mrs. Barton required, and she instantly availed +herself of it. 'The red-coat fever!' she exclaimed, waving her hands. +'There is no one like officers _pour faire passer le temps_' + +'Yes, ma!' cried Olive, proud of having understood so much French; +'doesn't time pass quickly with them?' + +'It flies, my dear, and they fly away, and then we take up with another. +They are all nice; their profession makes them that.' + +'But some are nicer than others; for instance, I am sure they are not +all as handsome as Captain Hibbert.' + +'Oh! indeed they are,' said Mrs. Barton, laughing; 'wait until we get to +Dublin; you have no idea what charming men we shall meet there. We shall +find a lord or an earl, or perhaps a marquis, who will give a coroneted +carriage to my beautiful girl to drive in.' + +Olive tossed her head, and her mother looked at her admiringly, and +there was love in the sweet brown deceit of the melting eyes; a hard, +worldly affection, but a much warmer one than any Mrs. Barton could feel +for Alice, in whom she saw nothing but failure, and in the end spiritual +spinsterhood. After a pause she said: + +'What a splendid match Lord Kilcarney would be, and where would he find +a girl like my Olive to do the honours of his house?' + +'Oh! mamma, I never could marry him!' + +'And why not, my dear girl?' + +'I don't know, he's a silly little fool; besides, I like Captain +Hibbert.' + +'Yes, you like Captain Hibbert, so do I; but a girl like you could not +throw herself away on a thousand-a-year captain in the army.' + +'And why not, mamma?' said Olive, who had already begun to whimper; +'Captain Hibbert loves me, I know, very dearly, and I like him; he is of +very good family, and he has enough to support me.' + +The moment was a supreme one, and Mrs. Barton hesitated to strike and +bring the matter to a head. Would it be better, she asked herself, to +let things go by and use her influence for the future in one direction? +After a brief pause she decided on the former course. She said: + +'My dear child, neither your father nor myself could ever consent to see +you throw yourself away on Captain Hibbert. I am afraid you have seen +too much of him, and have been led away into caring for him. But take my +word for it, a girl's love is only _à fleur de peau_. When you have been +to a few of the Castle balls you'll soon forget all about him. Remember, +you are not twenty yet; it would be madness.' + +'Oh! mamma, I didn't think you were so cruel!' exclaimed Olive, and she +rushed out of the room. + +Mrs. Barton made no reply, but her resolve was rapidly gaining strength +in her mind: Olive's flirtation was to be brought at once to a close. +Captain Hibbert she would admit no more, and the girl was in turn to be +wheedled and coerced. + +Nor did Mrs. Barton for a moment doubt that she would succeed; she had +never tasted failure; and she stayed only a moment to regret, for she +was too much a woman of the world to waste time in considering her +mistakes. The needs of the moment were ever present to her, and she now +devoted herself entirely to the task of consoling her daughter. Barnes, +too, was well instructed, and henceforth she spoke only of the earls, +dukes, lords, and princes who were waiting for Olive at the Castle. + +In the afternoon Mrs. Barton called Olive into the drawing-room, where +woman was represented as a triumphant creature walking over the heads +and hearts of men. '_Le génie de la femme est la beauté_,' declared +Milord, and again: '_Le coeur de l'homme ne peut servir que de piédestal +pour l'idole.'_ + +'Oh! Milord, Milord!' said Mrs. Barton. 'So in worshipping us you are +idolaters. I'm ashamed of you.' + +'Pardon, pardon, madame: _Devant un amour faux on est idolâtre, mais à +l'autel d'un vrai, on est chrétien_.' + +And in such lugubrious gaiety the girl grieved. Captain Hibbert had been +refused admission; he had written, but his letters had been intercepted; +and holding them in her hand Mrs. Barton explained she could not consent +to such a marriage, and continued to dazzle the girl with visions of the +honours that awaited the future Marchioness of Kilcarney. 'An engaged +girl is not noticed at the Castle. You don't know what nice men you'll +meet there; have your fun out first,' were the arguments most frequently +put forward; and, in the excitement of breaking off Olive's engagement, +even the Land League was forgotten. Olive hesitated, but at length +allowed herself to be persuaded to at least try to captivate the marquis +before she honoured the captain with her hand. No sooner said than done. +Mrs. Barton lost not a moment in writing to Captain Hibbert, asking him +to come and see them the following day, if possible, between eleven and +twelve. She wanted to speak to him on a matter which had lately come to +her knowledge, and which had occasioned her a good deal of surprise. + + + + +XIII + + +Mr. Barton could think of nothing but the muscles of the strained back +of a dying Briton and a Roman soldier who cut the cords that bound the +white captive to the sacrificial oak; but it would be no use returning +to the studio until these infernal tenants were settled with, and he +loitered about the drawing-room windows looking pale, picturesque, and +lymphatic. His lack of interest in his property irritated Mrs. Barton. +'Darling, you must try to get them to take twenty per cent.' At times +she strove to prompt the arguments that should be used to induce the +tenants to accept the proffered abatement, but she could not detach her +thoughts from the terrible interview she was about to go through with +Captain Hibbert. She expected him to be violent; he would insist on +seeing Olive, and she watched wearily the rain dripping from the wooden +edges of the verandah. The last patches of snow melted, and at last a +car was seen approaching, closely followed by another bearing four +policemen. + +'Here's your agent,' exclaimed Mrs. Barton hurriedly. 'Don't bring him +in here; go out and meet him, and when you see Captain Hibbert welcome +him as cordially as you can. But don't speak to him of Olive, and don't +give him time to speak to you; say you are engaged. I don't want Mr. +Scully to know anything about this break-off. It is most unfortunate you +didn't tell me you were going to meet your tenants to-day. However, it +is too late now.' + +'Very well, my dear, very well,' said Mr. Barton, trying to find his +hat. 'I would, I assure you, give twenty pounds to be out of the whole +thing. I can't argue with those fellows about their rents. I think the +Government ought to let us fight it out. I should be very glad to take +the command of a flying column of landlords, and make a dash into +Connemara. I have always thought my military genius more allied to that +of Napoleon than to that of Wellington.' + +It was always difficult to say how far Mr. Barton believed in the +extravagant remarks he was in the habit of giving utterance to. He +seemed to be aware of their absurdity, without, however, relinquishing +all belief in their truth. And now, as he picked his way across the wet +stones, his pale hair blown about in the wind, he presented a strange +contrast with the short-set man who had just jumped down from the car, +his thick legs encased in gaiters, and a long ulster about them. + +'Howd' yer do, Barton?' he exclaimed. 'D'yer know that I think things +are gitting worse instid of bither. There's been another bailiff shot in +Mayo, and we've had a process-server nearly beaten to death down our +side of the counthry. Gad! I was out with the Sub-Sheriff and fifty +police thrying to serve notices on Lord Rosshill's estate, and we had to +come back as we wint. Such blawing of horns you niver heard in yer life. +The howle counthry was up, and they with a trench cut across the road as +wide as a canal.' + +'Well, what do you think we had better do with these fellows? Do you +think they will take the twenty per cent.?' + +''Tis impossible to say. Gad! the Lague is gittin' stronger ivery day, +Barton. But they ought to take it; twenty per cent. will bring it very +nearly to Griffith's.' + +'But if they don't take it?' + +'Well, I don't know what we will do, for notices it is impossible to +serve. Gad! I'll never forgit how we were pelted the other day--such +firing of stones, such blawing of horns! I think you'll have to give +them the thirty; but we'll thry them at twinty-foive.' + +'And if they won't take it--?' + +'What! the thirty? They'll take that and jumping, you needn't fear. Here +they come.' + +Turning, the two men watched the twenty or thirty peasants who, with +heads set against the gusts, advanced steadily up the avenue, making way +for a horseman; and from the drawing-room window Mrs. Barton recognized +the square-set shoulders of Captain Hibbert. After shaking hands and +speaking a few words with Mr. Barton, he trotted round to the stables; +and when he walked back and entered the house, in all the clean-cut +elegance of military boots and trousers, the peasants lifted their hats, +and the interview began. + +'Now, boys,' said Mr. Barton, who thought that a little familiarity +would not be inappropriate, 'I've asked you to meet me so that we might +come to some agreement about the rents. We've known each other a long +time, and my family has been on this estate I don't know for how many +generations. Therefore--why, of course, I should be very sorry if we had +any falling out. I don't know much about farming, but I hear everyone +say that this has been a capital year, and . . . I think I cannot do better +than to make you again the same offer as I made you before--that is to +say, of twenty per cent, abatement all round; that will bring your rents +down to Griffith's valuation.' + +Mr. Barton had intended to be very impressive, but, feeling that words +were betraying him, he stopped short, and waited anxiously to hear what +answer the peasant who had stepped forward would make. The old man began +by removing a battered tall-hat, out of which fell a red handkerchief. +The handkerchief was quickly thrown back into the crown, and, at an +intimation from Mr. Barton, hat and handkerchief were replaced upon the +white head. He then commenced: + +'Now, yer honour, the rints is too high; we cannot pay the present rint, +at least without a reduction. I have been a tinent on the property, and +my fathers before me, for the past fifty years. And it was in +forty-three that the rints was ruz--in the time of your father, the Lord +have mercy on his soul!--but he had an agent who was a hard man, and he +ruz the rints, and since then we have been in poverty, livin' on yaller +mail and praties, and praties that is watery; there is no diet in them, +yer honour. And if yer honour will come down and walk the lands yerself, +yer wi' see I am spaking the truth. We ask nothing better than yer should +walk the lands yerself. There is two acres of my land, yer honour, +flooded for three months of the year, and for that land I am paying +twenty-five shillings an acre. I have my receipts, paid down to the last +gale-day.' + +And, still speaking, the old man fumbled in his pockets and produced a +large pile of papers, which he strove to push into Mr. Barton's hand, +alluding all the while to the losses he had sustained. Two pigs had died +on him, and he had lost a fine mare and foal. His loquacity was, +however, cut short by a sturdy, middle-aged peasant standing next him. + +'And I, too, yer honour, am payin' five-and-twenty shillin's for the +same flooded land. Yer honour can come down any day and see it. It is +not worth, to me, more than fifteen shillings an acre at the bare +outside. But it could be drained, for there is a fall into the marin +stream betwixt your honour's property and the Miss Brennans'. It +wouldn't cost more than forty pound, and the Miss Brennans will pay half +if yer honour will pay the other.' + +Mr. Barton listened patiently to those peasant-like digressions, while +Mrs. Barton listened patiently to the Captain's fervid declarations of +love. He had begun by telling her of the anguish it had caused him to +have been denied, and three times running, admittance to Brookfield. One +whole night he had lain awake wondering what he had done to offend them. +Mrs. Barton could imagine how he had suffered, for she, he ventured to +say, must have long since guessed what were his feelings for her +daughter. + +'We were very sorry to have been out, and it is so unusual that we +should be,' said Mrs. Barton, leaning forward her face insinuatingly. +'But you were speaking of Olive. We say here that there is no one like +_le beau capitaine_, no one so handsome, no one so nice, no one so +gallant, and--and--' here Mrs. Barton laughed merrily, for she thought +the bitterness of life might be so cunningly wrapped up in sweet +compliments that both could be taken together, like sugared-medicine--in +one child-like gulp. 'There is, of course, no one I should prefer to _le +beau capitaine_--there is no one to whom I would confide my Olive more +willingly; but, then, one must look to other things; one cannot live +entirely on love, even if it be the love of a _beau capitaine_.' + +Nevertheless, the man's face darkened. The eyebrows contracted, the +straight white nose seemed to grow straighter, and he twirled his +moustache angrily. + +'I am aware, my dear Mrs. Barton, that I cannot give your daughter the +position I should like to, but I am not as poor as you seem to imagine. +Independent of my pay I have a thousand a year; Miss Barton has, if I be +not mistaken, some money of her own; and, as I shall get my majority +within the next five years, I may say that we shall begin life upon +something more than fifteen hundred a year.' + +'It is true that I have led you to believe that Olive has money, but +Irish money can be no longer counted upon. Were Mr. Barton to create a +charge on his property, how would it be possible for him to guarantee +the payment of the interest in such times as the present? We are living +on the brink of a precipice. We do not know what is, and what is not, +our own. The Land League is ruining us, and the Government will not put +it down; this year the tenants may pay at twenty per cent. reduction, +but next year they may refuse to pay at all. Look out there: you see +they are making their own terms with Mr. Barton.' + +'I should be delighted to give you thirty per cent. if I could afford +it,' said Mr. Barton, as soon as the question of reduction, that had +been lost sight of in schemes for draining, and discussion concerning +bad seasons, had been re-established; 'but you must remember that I have +to pay charges, and my creditors won't wait any more than yours will. If +you refuse to pay your rents and I get sold out, you will have another +landlord here; you'll ruin me, but you won't do yourselves any good. You +will have some Englishman here who will make you pay your rents.' + +'An Englishman here!' exclaimed a peasant. 'Arrah! he'll go back quicker +than he came.' + +'Maybe he wouldn't go back at all,' cried another, chuckling. 'We'd make +an Oirishman of him for ever.' + +'Begad, we'd make him wear the grane in raal earnest, and, a foine scraw +it would be,' said a third. + +The witticism was greeted with a roar of laughter, and upon this +expression of a somewhat verdant patriotism the dispute concerning the +reduction was resumed. + +'Give us the land all round at the Government valuation,' said a man in +the middle of the group. + +'Why, you are only fifteen per cent. above the valuation,' cried Mr. +Scully. + +For a moment this seemed to create a difference of opinion among the +peasants; but the League had drawn them too firmly together to be thus +easily divided. They talked amongst themselves in Irish. Then the old +man said: + +'We can't take less than thirty, yer honour. The Lague wouldn't let us.' + +'I can't give you more than twenty.' + +'Thin let us come on home, thin; no use us wasting our toime here,' +cried a sturdy peasant, who, although he had spoken but seldom, seemed +to exercise an authority over the others. With one accord they followed +him; but, rushing forward, Mr. Scully seized him by the arm, saying: + +'Now then, boys, come back, come back; he'll settle with you right +enough if you'll listen to reason.' + +From the drawing-room window Mrs. Barton watched the conflict. On one +side she saw her daughter's beautiful white face becoming the prize of a +penniless officer; on the other she saw the pretty furniture, the +luxurious idleness, the very silk dress on her back, being torn from +them, and distributed among a crowd of Irish-speaking, pig-keeping +peasants. She could see that some new and important point was being +argued; and it was with a wrench she detached her thoughts from the +pantomime that was being enacted within her view, and, turning to +Captain Hibbert, said: + +'You see--you see what is happening. We are--that is to say, we may +be--ruined at any moment by this wicked agitation. As I have said +before, there is no one I should like so much as yourself; but, in the +face of such a future, how could I consent to give you my +daughter?--that is to say, I could not unless you could settle at least +a thousand a year upon her. She has been brought up in every luxury.' + +'That may be, Mrs. Barton. I hope to give her quite as comfortable a +home as any she has been accustomed to. But a thousand a year is +impossible. I haven't got it. But I can settle five hundred on her, and +there's many a peeress of the realm who hasn't that. Of course five +hundred a year is very little. No one feels it more than I. For had I +the riches of the world, I should not consider them sufficient to create +a place worthy of Olive's beauty. But love must be allowed to count for +something, and I think--yes, I can safely say--she will never find--' + +'Yes, I know--I am sure; but it cannot be.' + +'Then you mean to say that you will sacrifice your daughter's happiness +for the sake of a little wretched pride?' + +'Why press the matter further? Why cannot we remain friends?' + +'Friends! Yes, I hope we shall remain friends; but I will never consent +to give up Olive. She loves me. I know she does. My life is bound up in +hers. No, I'll never consent to give her up, and I know she won't give +me up.' + +'Olive has laughed and flirted with you, but it was only _pour passer le +temps_; and I may as well tell you that you are mistaken when you think +that she loves you.' + +'Olive does love me. I know she does; and I'll not believe she does +not--at least, until she tells me so. I consider I am engaged to her; +and I must beg of you, Mrs. Barton, to allow me to see her and hear from +her own lips what she has to say on this matter.' + +With the eyes of one about to tempt fortune adventurously, like one +about to play a bold card for a high stake, Mrs. Barton looked on the +tall, handsome man before her; and, impersonal as were her feelings, she +could not but admire, for the space of one swift thought, the pale +aristocratic face now alive with passion. Could she depend upon Olive to +say no to him? The impression of the moment was that no girl would. +Nevertheless, she must risk the interview, and gliding towards the door, +she called; and then, as a cloud that grows bright in the sudden +sunshine, the man's face glowed with delight at the name, and a moment +after, white and drooping like a cut flower, the girl entered. Captain +Hibbert made a movement as if he were going to rush forward to meet her. +She looked as if she would have opened her arms to receive him, but Mrs. +Barton's words fell between them like a sword. + +'Olive,' she said, 'I hear you are engaged to Captain Hibbert! Is it +true?' + +Startled in the drift of her emotions, and believing her confidence had +been betrayed, the girl's first impulse was to deny the impeachment. No +absolute promise of marriage had she given him, and she said: + +'No, mamma, I am not engaged. Did Edward--I mean Captain Hibbert--say I +was engaged to him? I am sure--' + +'Didn't you tell me, Olive, that you loved me better than anyone else? +Didn't you even say you could never love anyone else? If I had thought +that--' + +'I knew my daughter would not have engaged herself to you, Captain +Hibbert, without telling me of it. As I have told you before, we all +like you very much, but this marriage is impossible; and I will never +consent, at least for the present, to an engagement between you.' + +'Olive, have you nothing to say? I will not give you up unless you tell +me yourself that I must do so.' + +'Oh, mamma, what shall I do?' said Olive, bursting into a passionate +flood of tears. + +'Say what I told you to say,' whispered Mrs. Barton. + +'You see, Edward, that mamma won't consent, at least not for the +present, to our engagement.' + +This was enough for Mrs. Barton's purpose, and, soothing her daughter +with many words, she led her to the door. Then, confronting Captain +Hibbert, she said: + +'There is never any use in forcing on these violent scenes. As I have +told you, there is no one I should prefer to yourself. We always say +here that there is no one like _le beau capitaine_; but, in the face of +these bad times, how can I give you my daughter? And you soldiers forget +so quickly. In a year's time you'll have forgotten all about Olive.' + +'That isn't true; I shall never forget her. I cannot forget her; but I +will consent to wait if you will consent to our being engaged.' + +'No, Captain Hibbert, I think it is better not. I do not approve of +those long engagements.' + +'Then you'll forget what has passed between us, and let us be the same +friends as we were before?' + +'I hope we shall always remain friends; but I do not think, for my +daughter's peace of mind, it would be advisable for us to see as much of +each other as we have hitherto done. And I hope you will promise me not +to communicate with my Olive in any way.' + +'Why should I enter into promises with you, Mrs. Barton, when you +decline to enter into any with me?' + +Mrs. Barton did not look as if she intended to answer this question. The +conversation had fallen, and her thoughts had gone back to the tenants +and the reduction that Mr. Scully was now persuading them to accept. He +talked apart, first with one, then with another. His square bluff figure +in a long coarse ulster stood out in strong relief against the green +grass and the evergreens. + +'Thin it is decided yer pay at twinty-foive per cint.,' said Mr. Scully. + +'Then, Captain Hibbert,' said Mrs. Barton a little sternly, 'I am very +sorry indeed, that we can't agree; but, after what has passed between us +to-day, I do not think you will be justified in again trying to see my +daughter.' + +'Begad, sor, they were all aginst me for agraying to take the +twinty-foive,' whispered the well-to-do tenant who was talking to the +agent. + +'I fail to understand,' said Captain Hibbert haughtily, 'that Miss Barton +said anything that would lead me to suppose that she wished me to give +her up. However, I do not see that anything would be gained by +discussing this matter further. Good-morning, Mrs. Barton.' + +'Good-morning, Captain Hibbert;' and Mrs. Barton smiled winningly as she +rang the bell for the servant to show him out. When she returned to the +window the tenants were following Mr. Scully into the rent-office, and, +with a feeling of real satisfaction she murmured to herself: + +'Well, after all, nothing ever turns out as badly as we expect it.' + + + + +XIV + + +But, although Mrs. Barton had bidden the captain away, Olive's sorrowful +looks haunted the house. + +A white weary profile was seen on the staircase, a sigh was heard when +she left the room; and when, after hours of absence, she was sought for, +she was found lying at full length, crying upon her bed. + +'My dear, it distresses me to see you in this state. You really must get +up; I cannot allow it. There's nothing that spoils one's good looks like +unhappiness. Instead of being the belle of the season, you'll be a +complete wreck. I must insist on your getting up, and trying to interest +yourself in something.' + +'Oh! mamma, don't, don't! I wish I were dead; I am sick of everything!' + +'Sick of everything?' said Mrs. Barton, laughing. 'Why, my dear child, +you have tasted nothing yet. Wait until we get to the Castle; you'll see +what a lot of Captain Hibberts there will be after this pretty face; +that's to say if you don't spoil it in the meantime with fretting.' + +'But, mamma,' she said, 'how can I help thinking of him?--there's +nothing to do here, one never hears of anything but that horrid Land +League--whether the Government will or will not help the landlords, +whether Paddy So-and-so will or will not pay his rent. I am sick of it. +Milord comes to see you, and Alice likes reading-books, and papa has his +painting; but I have nothing since you sent Captain Hibbert away.' + +'Yes, yes, my beautiful Olive flower, it is a little dull for you at +present, and to think that this wicked agitation should have begun the +very season you were coming out! Who could have foreseen such a thing? +But come, my pet, I cannot allow you to ruin your beautiful complexion +with foolish tears; you must get up; unfortunately I can't have you in +the drawing-room, I have to talk business with Milord, but you can go +out for a walk with Alice--it isn't raining to-day.' + +'Oh! no; I couldn't go out to walk with Alice, it would bore me to +death. She never talks about anything that interests me.' + +Vanished the sweet pastel-like expression of Mrs. Barton's features, +lost in a foreseeing of the trouble this plain girl would be. Partners +would have to be found, and to have her dragging after her all through +the Castle season would be intolerable. And all these airs of virtue, +and injured innocence, how insupportable they were! Alice, as far as +Mrs. Barton could see, was fit for nothing. Even now, instead of helping +to console her sister, and win her thoughts away from Captain Hibbert, +she shut herself up to read books. Such a taste for reading and moping +she had never seen in a girl before--_voilà un type de vieille fille_. +Whom did she take after? Certainly not after her mother, nor yet her +father. But what was the good of thinking of the tiresome girl? There +were plenty of other things far more important to consider, and the +first thing of all was--how to make Olive forget Captain Hibbert? On +this point Mrs. Barton was not quite satisfied with the manner in which +she had played her part. Olive's engagement had been broken off by too +violent means, and nothing was more against her nature than (to use her +own expression) _brusquer les choses_. Early in life Mrs. Barton +discovered that she could amuse men, and since then she had devoted +herself assiduously to the cultivation of this talent, and the divorce +between herself and her own sex was from the first complete. She not +only did not seek to please, but she made no attempt to conceal her +aversion from the society of women, and her preference for those forms +of entertainment where they were found in fewest numbers. Balls were, +therefore, never much to her taste; at the dinner-table she was freer, +but it was on the racecourse that she reigned supreme. From the box-seat +of a drag the white hands were waved, the cajoling laugh was set going; +and fashionably-dressed men, with race-glasses about their shoulders, +came crowding and climbing about her like bees about their queen. Mrs. +Barton had passed from flirtation to flirtation without a violent word. +With a wave of her hands she had called the man she wanted; with a wave +of her hands, and a tinkle of the bell-like laugh, she had dismissed +him. As nothing had cost her a sigh, nothing had been denied her. But +now all was going wrong. Olive was crying and losing her good looks. Mr. +Barton had received a threatening letter, and, in consequence, had for a +week past been unable to tune his guitar; poor Lord Dungory was being +bored to death by policemen and proselytizing daughters. Everything was +going wrong. This phrase recurred in Mrs. Barton's thoughts as she +reviewed the situation, her head leaned in the pose of the most +plaintive of the pastels that Lord Dungory had commissioned his +favourite artist to execute in imitation of the Lady Hamilton portraits. +And now, his finger on his lip, like harlequin glancing after columbine, +the old gentleman, who had entered on tiptoe, exclaimed: + + '"_Avez vous vu, dans Barcelone + Une Andalouse au sein bruni? + Pâle comme un beau soir d' Automne; + C'est ma maîtresse, ma lionne! + La Marquesa d' Amalëqui_."' + +Instantly the silver laugh was set a-tinkling, and, with delightful +gestures, Milord was led captive to the sofa. + +'_C'est l'aurore qui vient pour dissiper les brumes du matin_,' Mrs. +Barton declared as she settled her skirts over her ankles. + + '"_Qu'elle est superbe en son désordre + Quand elle tombe. . . ."' + +'Hush, hush!' exclaimed Mrs. Barton, bursting with laughter; and, +placing her hand (which was instantly fervently kissed) upon Milord's +mouth, she said: 'I will hear no more of that wicked poetry.' + +'What! hear no more of the divine Alfred de Musset?' Milord answered, as +if a little discouraged. + +'Hush, hush!' + +Alice entered, having come from her room to fetch a book, but seeing the +couple on the sofa she tried to retreat, adding to her embarrassment and +to theirs by some ill-expressed excuses. + +'Don't run away like that,' said Mrs. Barton; 'don't behave like a +charity-school girl. Come in. I think you know Lord Dungory.' + +'Oh! this is the studious one,' said Milord, as he took Alice +affectionately with both hands, and drew her towards him. 'Now look at +this fair brow; I am sure there is poetry here. I was just speaking to +your mother about Alfred de Musset. He is not quite proper, it is true, +for you girls; but oh, what passion! He is the poet of passion. I +suppose you love Byron?' + +'Yes; but not so much as Shelley and Keats,' said Alice +enthusiastically, forgetting for the moment her aversion to the speaker +in the allusion to her favourite pursuit. + +'The study of Shelley is the fashion of the day. You know, I suppose, +the little piece entitled _Love's Philosophy_--"_The fountains mingle +with the river; the river with the ocean_." You know "_Nothing in the +world is single: all things, by a law divine, in one another's being +mingle. Why not I with thine?"'_ + +'Oh yes, and the _Sensitive Plant_. Is it not lovely?' + +'There is your book, my dear; you must run away now. I have to talk with +Milord about important business.' + +Milord looked disappointed at being thus interrupted in his quotations; +but he allowed himself to be led back to the sofa. 'I beg your pardon +for a moment,' said Mrs. Barton, whom a sudden thought had struck, and +she followed her daughter out of the room. + +'Instead of wasting your time reading all this love-poetry, Alice, it +would be much better if you would devote a little of your time to your +sister; she is left all alone, and you know I don't care that she should +be always in Barnes' society.' + +'But what am I to do, mamma? I have often asked Olive to come out with +me, but she says I don't amuse her.' + +'I want you to win her thoughts away from Captain Hibbert,' said Mrs. +Barton; 'she is grieving her heart out and will be a wreck before we go +to Dublin. Tell her you heard at Dungory Castle that he was flirting +with other girls, that he is not worth thinking about, and that the +Marquis is in love with her.' + +'But that would be scarcely the truth, mamma,' Alice replied +hesitatingly. + +Mrs. Barton gave her daughter one quick look, bit her lips, and, without +another word, returned to Milord. Everything was decidedly going wrong; +and to be annoyed by that gawk of a girl in a time like the present was +unbearable. But Mrs. Barton never allowed her temper to master her, and +in two minutes all memory of Alice had passed out of her mind, and she +was talking business with Lord Dungory. Many important questions had to +be decided. It was known that mortgages, jointures, legacies, and debts +of all kinds had reduced the Marquis's income to a minimum, and that he +stood in urgent need of a little ready money. It was known that his +relations looked to an heiress to rehabilitate the family fortune. Mrs. +Barton hoped to dazzle him with Olive's beauty, but it was +characteristic of her to wish to bait the hook on every side, and she +hoped that a little gilding of it would silence the chorus of scorn and +dissent that she knew would be raised against her when once her plans +became known. Four thousand pounds might be raised on the Brookfield +property, but, if this sum could be multiplied by five, Mrs. Barton felt +she would be going into the matrimonial market armed to the teeth, and +prepared to meet all comers. And, seeking the solution of this problem, +Milord and Mrs. Barton sat on the sofa, drawn up close together, their +knees touching; he, although gracious and urbane as was his wont, seemed +more than usually thoughtful. She, although as charmful and cajoling as +ever, in the pauses of the conversation allowed an expression of anxiety +to cloud her bright face. Fifteen thousand pounds requires a good deal +of accounting for, but, after many arguments had been advanced on either +side, it was decided that she had made, within the last seven years, +many successful investments. She had commenced by winning five hundred +pounds at racing, and this money had been put into Mexican railways. The +speculation had proved an excellent one, and then, with a few airy and +casual references to Hudson Bay, Grand Trunks, and shares in steamboats, +it was thought the creation of Olive's fortune could be satisfactorily +explained to a not too exacting society. + +Three or four days after, Mrs. Barton surprised the young ladies by +visiting them in the sitting-room. Barnes was working at the machine, +Olive stood drumming her fingers idly against the window-pane. + +'Just fancy seeing you, mamma! I was looking out for Milord; he is a +little late to-day, is he not?' said Olive. + +'I do not expect him to-day--he is suffering from a bad cold; this +weather is dreadfully trying. But how snug you are in your little room; +and Alice is absolutely doing needlework.' + +'I wonder what I am doing wrong now,' thought the girl. + +Barnes left the room. Mrs. Barton threw some turf upon the fire, and she +looked round. Her eyes rested on the cardboard boxes--on the bodice left +upon the work-table--on the book that Alice had laid aside, and she +spoke of these things, evidently striving to interest herself in the +girl's occupation. At length she said: + +'If the weather clears up I think we might all go for a drive; there is +really no danger. The Land League never has women fired at. We might go +and see the Brennans. What do you think, Olive?' + +'I don't care to go off there to see a pack of women,' the girl replied, +still drumming her fingers on the window-pane. + +'Now, Olive, don't answer so crossly, but come and sit down here by me;' +and, to make room for her, Mrs. Barton moved nearer to Alice. 'So my +beautiful Olive doesn't care for a pack of women,' said Mrs. +Barton--'Olive does not like a pack of women; she would prefer a +handsome young lord, or a duke, or an earl.' + +Olive turned up her lips contemptuously, for she guessed her mother's +meaning. + +'What curious lives those girls do lead, cooped up there by themselves, +with their little periodical trip up to the Shelbourne Hotel. Of course +the two young ones never could have done much; they never open their +lips, but Gladys is a nice girl in her way, and she has some money of +her own, I wonder she wasn't picked up.' + +'I should like to know who would care for her?' + +'She had a very good chance once; but she wouldn't say yes, and she +wouldn't say no, and she kept him hanging after her until at last off he +went and married someone else. A Mr. Blake, I think.' + +'Yes, that was his name; and why wouldn't she marry him?' + +'Well, I don't know--folly, I suppose. He was, of course, not so young +as Harry Renley, but he had two thousand a year, and he would have made +her an excellent husband; kept a carriage for her, and a house in +London: whereas you see she has remained Miss Brennan, goes up every +year to the Shelbourne Hotel to buy dresses, and gets older and more +withered every day.' + +'I know they lead a stupid life down here, but mightn't they go abroad +and travel?' asked Alice; 'they are no longer so very young.' + +'A woman can do nothing until she is married,' Mrs. Barton answered +decisively. + +'But some husbands treat their wives infamously; isn't no husband better +than a bad husband?' + +'I don't think so,' returned Mrs. Barton, and she glanced sharply at her +daughter. 'I would sooner have the worst husband in the world than no +husband.' Then settling herself like a pleader who has come to the +incisive point of his argument, she continued: 'A woman is absolutely +nothing without a husband; if she doesn't wish to pass for a failure she +must get a husband, and upon this all her ideas should be set. I have +always found that in this life we can only hope to succeed in what we +undertake by keeping our minds fixed on it and never letting it out of +sight until it is attained. Keep on trying, that is my advice to all +young ladies: try to make yourselves agreeable, try to learn how to +amuse men. Flatter them; that is the great secret; nineteen out of +twenty will believe you, and the one that doesn't can't but think it +delightful. Don't waste your time thinking of your books, your painting, +your accomplishments; if you were Jane Austens, George Eliots, and Rosa +Bonheurs, it would be of no use if you weren't married. A husband is +better than talent, better even than fortune--without a husband a woman +is nothing; with a husband she may rise to any height. Marriage gives a +girl liberty, gives her admiration, gives her success; a woman's whole +position depends upon it. And while we are on the subject it is as well +to have one's say, and I speak for you both. You, Alice, are too much +inclined to shrink into the background and waste your time with books; +and you too, Olive, are behaving very foolishly, wasting your time and +your complexion over a silly girlish flirtation.' + +'There's no use talking about that. You have forbidden him the house; +you can't do any more.' + +'No, Olive, all I did was to insist that he should not come running +after you until you had had time to consider the sacrifices you were +making for him. I have no one's interest in the world, my dear girl, but +your interests. Officers are all very well to laugh, talk, and flirt +with--_pour passer le temps_--but I couldn't allow you to throw yourself +away on the first man you meet. You will meet hundreds of others quite +as handsome and as nice at the Castle.' + +'I never could care for anyone else.' + +'Wait until you have seen the others. Besides, what do you want? to be +engaged to him? And I should like to know what is the use of my taking +an engaged girl up to the Castle? No one would look at you.' + +Olive raised her eyes in astonishment; she had not considered the +question from this point of view, and the suggestion that, if engaged, +she might as well stop at home, for no one would look at her, filled her +with alarm. + +'Whereas,' said Mrs. Barton, who saw that her words had the intended +effect, 'if you were free you would be the season's beauty; nothing +would be thought of but you; you would have lords, and earls, and +marquesses dancing attendance on you, begging you to dance with them; +you would be spoken of in the papers, described as the new beauty, and +what not, and then if you were free--' Here Mrs. Barton heaved a deep +sigh, and, letting her white hand fall over the arm of her chair, she +seemed to abandon herself to the unsearchable decrees of destiny. + +'Well, what then, mamma?' asked Olive excitedly. 'I am free, am I not?' + +'Then you could outstrip the other girls, and go away with the great +prize. They are all watching him; he will go to one of you for certain. +I hear that Mrs. Scully--that great, fat, common creature, who sold +bacon in a shop in Galway--is thinking of him for her daughter. Of +course, if you like to see Violet become a marchioness, right under your +nose, you can do so.' + +'But what do you want me to do?' exclaimed the coronet-dazzled girl. + +'Merely to think no more of Captain Hibbert. But I didn't tell you;--he +was very impertinent to me when I last saw him. He said he would flirt +with you, as long as you would flirt with him, and that he didn't see +why you shouldn't amuse yourself. That's what I want to warn you +against--losing your chance of being a marchioness to help an idle young +officer to while away his time. If I were you, I would tell him, when I +next saw him, that he must not think about it any more. You can put it +all down to me; say that I would never hear of it; say that you couldn't +think of disobeying me, but that you hope you will always remain +friends. You see, that's the advantage of having a mother;--poor mamma +has to bear everything.' + +Olive made no direct answer, but she laughed nervously, and in a manner +that betokened assent; and, having so far won her way, Mrs. Barton +determined to conclude. But she could not invite Captain Hibbert to the +house! The better plan would be to meet on neutral ground. A +luncheon-party at Dungory Castle instantly suggested itself; and three +days after, as they drove through the park, Mrs. Barton explained to +Olive, for the last time, how she should act if she wished to become the +Marchioness of Kilcarney. + +'Shake hands with him just as if nothing had happened, but don't enter +into conversation; and after lunch I shall arrange that we all go out +for a walk on the terrace. You will then pair off with him, Alice; Olive +will join you. Something will be sure to occur that will give her an +opportunity of saying that he must think no more about her--that I would +never consent.' + +'Oh! mamma, it is very hard, for I can never forget him.' + +'Now, my dear girl, for goodness' sake don't work yourself up into a +state of mind, or we may as well go back to Brookfield. What I tell you +to do is right; and if you see nobody at the Castle that you like +better--well, then it will be time enough. I want you to be, at least, +the beauty of one season.' + +This argument again turned the scales. Olive laughed, but her laugh was +full of the nervous excitement from which she suffered. + +'I shan't know what to say,' she exclaimed, tossing her head, 'so I hope +you will help me out of my difficulty, Alice.' + +'I wish I could be left out of it altogether,' said the girl, who was +sitting with her back to the horses. 'It seems to me that I am being put +into a very false position!' + +'Put into a false position!' said Mrs. Barton. 'I'll hear no more of +this! If you won't do as you are told, you had better go back to St. +Leonards--such wicked jealousy!' + +'Oh, mamma!' said Alice, wounded to the quick, 'how can you be so +unjust? + +And her eyes filled with tears, for since she had left school she had +experienced only a sense of retreating within herself, but so long as +she was allowed to live within herself she was satisfied. But this +refuge was no longer available. She must take part in the scuffle; and +she couldn't. But whither to go? There seemed to be no escape from the +world into which she had been thrust, and for no purpose but to suffer. +But the others didn't suffer. Why wasn't she like them? + +'I am sorry, Alice dear, for having spoken so crossly; but I am sorely +tried. I really am more to be pitied than blamed; and if you knew all, +you would, I know, be the first to try to help me out of my +difficulties, instead of striving to increase them.' 'I would do +anything to help you,' exclaimed Alice, deceived by the accent of sorrow +with which Mrs. Barton knew how to invest her words. + +'I am sure you would, if you knew how much depends--But dry your eyes, +my dear, for goodness' sake dry them. Here we are at the door. I only +want you to be with Olive when she tells Captain Hibbert that she +cannot--and, now mind, Olive, you tell him plainly that he must not +consider himself engaged to you.' + +In the ceremonious drawing-room, patched with fragments of Indian +drapery, Lady Jane and Lady Sarah sat angularly and as far from their +guests as possible, for they suspected that their house was being made +use of as a battle-ground by Mrs. Barton, and were determined to resent +the impertinence as far as lay in their power. But Milord continued to +speak of indifferent things with urbanity and courtly gestures; and as +they descended the staircase, he explained the beauty of his marble +statues and his stuffed birds. + +'But, Lady Jane, where is Cecilia? I hope she is not unwell?' + +'Oh no; Cecilia is quite well, thank you. But she never comes down when +there is company--she is so very sensitive. But that reminds me. She +told me to tell you that she is dying to see you. You will find her +waiting for you in her room when we have finished lunch.' + +'Cecilia is not the only person to be thought of,' said Milord. 'I will +not allow Alice to hide herself away upstairs for the rest of the +afternoon. I hear, Alice, you are a great admirer of Tennyson's +_Idylls_. I have just received a new edition of his poems, with +illustrations by Doré: charming artist, full of poetry, fancy, +sweetness, imagination. Do you admire Doré, Captain Hibbert?' + +The Captain declared that he admired Doré far more than the old masters, +a point of taste that Milord ventured to question; and until they rose +from table he spoke of his collection of Arundel prints with grace and +erudition. Then they all went out to walk on the terrace. But as their +feet echoed in the silence of the hall, Cecilia, in a voice tremulous +with expectancy, was heard speaking: + +'Alice, come upstairs; I am waiting for you.' + +Alice made a movement as if to comply, but, stepping under the +banisters, Lord Dungory said: + +'Alice cannot come now, she is going out to walk with us, dear. She will +see you afterwards.' + +'Oh! let me go to her,' Alice cried. + +'There will be plenty of time to see her later on,' whispered Mrs. +Barton. 'Remember what you promised me; 'and she pointed to Captain +Hibbert, who was standing on the steps of the house, his wide decorative +shoulders defined against a piece of grey sky. + +In despair at her own helplessness, and with a feeling of loathing so +strong that it seemed like physical sickness, Alice went forward and +entered into conversation with Captain Hibbert. Lord Dungory, Mrs. +Barton, and Olive walked together; Lady Jane and Lady Sarah followed at +a little distance. In this order the party proceeded down the avenue as +far as the first gate; then they returned by a side-walk leading through +the laurels, and stood in a line facing the wind-worn tennis-ground, +with its black, flowerless beds, and bleak vases of alabaster and stone. +From time to time remarks anent the Land League were made; but all knew +that a drama even as important as that of rent was being enacted. Olive +had joined her sister, and the girls moved forward on either side of the +handsome Captain; and, as a couple of shepherds directing the movements +of their flock, Lord Dungory and Mrs. Barton stood watching. Suddenly +her eyes met Lady Jane's. The glance exchanged was tempered in the hate +of years; it was vindictive, cruel, terrible; it shone as menacingly as +if the women had drawn daggers from their skirts, and Jane, obeying a +sudden impulse, broke away from her sister, and called to Captain +Hibbert. Fortunately he did not hear her, and, before she could speak +again, Lord Dungory said: + +'Jane, now, Jane, I beg of you--' + +Mrs. Barton smiled a sweet smile of reply, and whispered to herself: + +'Do that again, my lady, and you won't have a penny to spend this year.' + +'And now, dear, tell me, I want to hear all about it,' said Mrs. Barton, +as the carriage left the steps of Dungory Castle. 'What did he say?' + +'Oh! mamma, mamma, I am afraid I have broken his heart,' replied Olive +dolorously. + +'It doesn't do a girl any harm even if it does leak out that she jilted +a man; it makes the others more eager after her. But tell me, dear, I +hope there was no misunderstanding; did you really tell him that it was +no use, that he must think of you no more?' + +'Mamma dear, don't make me go over it again, I can't, I can't; Alice +heard all I said--she'll tell you,' + +'No, no, don't appeal to me; it's no affair of mine,' exclaimed the girl +more impetuously than she had intended. + +'I am surprised at you, Alice; you shouldn't give way to temper like +that. Come, tell me at once what happened.' + +The thin, grey, moral eyes of the daughter and the brown, soft, merry +eyes of the mother exchanged a long deep gaze of inquiry, and then Alice +burst into an uncontrollable fit of tears. She trembled from too much +grief, and could not answer; and when she heard her mother say to Olive, +'Now that the coast is clear, we can go in heart and soul for the +marquess,' she shuddered inwardly and wished she might stay at home in +Galway and be spared the disgrace of the marriage-market. + + + + +XV + + +It rained incessantly. Sheets of water, blown by winds that had +travelled the Atlantic, deluged the county; grey mists trailed mournful +and shapeless along the edges of the domain woods, over the ridges of +the tenants' holdings. 'Never more shall we be driven forth to die in +the bogs and ditches,' was the cry that rang through the mist; and, +guarded by policemen, in their stately houses, the landlords listened, +waiting for the sword of a new coercion to fall and release them from +their bondage. The meeting of Parliament in the spring would bring them +this; in the meantime, all who could, fled, resolving not to return till +the law restored the power that the Land League had so rudely shaken. +Some went to England, others to France. Mr. Barton accepted two hundred +pounds from his wife and proceeded to study gargoyles and pictures in +Bruges; and, striving to forget the murders and rumours of murders that +filled the papers, the girls and their mammas talked of beaux, partners, +and trains, in spite of the irritating presence of the Land League +agitators who stood on the platforms of the different stations. The +train was full of girls. Besides the Bartons, there were the Brennans: +Gladys and Zoe--Emily remained at home to look after the place. Three of +the Miss Duffys were coming to the Drawing-Room, and four of the +Honourable Miss Gores; the Goulds and Scullys made one party, and to +avoid Mrs. Barton, the Ladies Cullen had pleaded important duties. They +were to follow in a day or so. + +Lord Dungory's advice to Mrs. Barton was to take a house, and he warned +her against spending the whole season in an hotel, but apparently +without avail, for when the train stopped a laughing voice was heard: +'Milord, _vous n'êtes qu'un vilain misanthrope_; we shall be very +comfortable at the Shelbourne; we shall meet all the people in Dublin +there, and we can have private rooms to give dinner-parties.' + +Hearing this, Alice congratulated herself, for in an hotel she would be +freer than she would be in a house let for the season. She would hear +something, and see a little over the horizon of her family in an hotel. +She had spent a week in the Shelbourne on her way home from school, and +remembered the little winter-garden on the first landing, and the +fountain splashing amid ferns and stone frogs. The ladies' drawing-room +she knew was on the right, and when she had taken off her hat and +jacket, leaving her mother and sister talking of Mrs. Symond and Lord +Kilcarney, she went there hoping to find some of the people whom she had +met there before. + +The usually skirt-filled ottoman stood vacantly gaping, the little +chairs seemed lonely about the hearthrug, even the sofa where the +invalid ladies sat was unoccupied, and the perforated blinds gave the +crowds that passed up and down the street a shadow-like appearance. The +prospect was not inspiriting, but not knowing what else to do, Alice sat +down by the fire, and fell to thinking who the man might be that sat +reading on the other side of the fireplace. He didn't seem as if he knew +much about horses, and as he read intently, she could watch him +unobserved. At last their eyes met, and when Alice turned away her face +she felt that he was looking at her, and, perhaps getting nervous under +his examination, she made a movement to stir the fire. + +'Will you allow me?' he said, rising from his chair. 'I beg your pardon, +but, if you will allow me, I will arrange the fire.' + +Alice let him have the poker, and when he had knocked in the coal-crust +and put on some fresh fuel, he said: + +'If it weren't for me I don't know what would become of this fire. I +believe the old porter goes to sleep and forgets all about it. Now and +again he wakes up and makes a deal of fuss with a shovel and a broom.' + +'I really can't say, we only came up from Galway to-day.' + +'Then you don't know the famous Shelbourne Hotel! All the events of life +are accomplished here. People live here, and die here, and flirt here, +and, I was going to say, marry here--but hitherto the Shelbourne +marriages have resulted in break-offs--and we quarrel here; the friends +of to-day are enemies to-morrow, and then they sit at different ends of +the room. Life in the Shelbourne is a thing in itself, and a thing to be +studied.' + +Alice laughed again, and again she continued her conversation. + +'I really know nothing of the Shelbourne. I was only here once before, +and then only for a few days last summer, when I came home from school.' + +'And now you are here for the Drawing-Room?' + +'Yes; but how did you guess that?' + +'The natural course of events: a young lady leaves school, she spends +four or five months at home, and then she is taken to the +Lord-Lieutenant's Drawing-Room.' + +She liked him none the better for what he had said, and began to wonder +how she might bring the conversation to a close. But when he spoke again +she forgot her intentions, and allowed his voice to charm her. + +'I think you told me,' he said, 'that you came up from Galway to-day; may +I ask you from what side of the county?' + +Another piece of impertinence. Why should he question her? And yet she +answered him. + +'We live near Gort--do you know Gort?' + +'Oh yes, I have been travelling for the last two months in Ireland. I +spent nearly a fortnight in Galway. Lord Dungory lives near Gort. Do you +know him?' + +'Very well indeed. He is our nearest neighbour; we see him nearly every +day. Do you know him?' + +'Yes, a little. I have met him in London. If I had not been so pressed +for time I should have called upon him when I was in Galway. I passed +his place going to a land meeting--oh, you need not be alarmed, I am not +a Land League organizer, or else I should not have thought of calling at +Dungory Castle. What a pretty drive it is to Gort.' + +'Then, do you know a place on the left-hand side of the road, about a +mile and a half from Dungory Castle?' + +'You mean Brookfield?' + +'Yes; that is our place.' + +'Then you are Miss Barton?' + +'Yes, I am Miss Barton; do you know father or mother?' + +'No, no; but I have heard the name in Galway. I was spending a few days +with one of your neighbours.' + +'Oh, really!' said Alice, a little embarrassed; for she knew it must +have been with the Lawlers that he had been staying. At the end of a +long silence she said: + +'I am afraid you have chosen a rather unfortunate time for visiting +Ireland. All these terrible outrages, murders, refusals to pay rent; I +wonder you have not been frightened away.' + +'As I do not possess a foot of land--I believe I should say "not land +enough to sod a lark"--my claim to collect rent would rest on even a +slighter basis than that of the landlords; and as, with the charming +inconsistency of your race, you have taken to killing each other instead +of slaughtering the hated Saxon, I really feel safer in Ireland than +elsewhere. I suppose,' he said, 'you do a great deal of novel-reading in +the country?' + +'Oh yes,' she answered, with almost an accent of voluptuousness in her +voice; 'I spent the winter reading.' + +'Because there was no hunting?' replied Harding, with a smile full of +cynical weariness. + +'No, I assure you, no; I do not think I should have gone out hunting +even if it hadn't been stopped,' said Alice hastily; for it vexed her +not a little to see that she was considered incapable of loving a book +for its own sake. + +'And what do you read?' + +The tone of indifference with which the question was put was not lost +upon Alice, but she was too much interested in the conversation to pay +heed to it. She said: + +'I read nearly all Byron, Shelley, Keats, Tennyson, and Browning--I +think I like him better than all the poets! Do you know the scene at St. +Praxed's?' + +'Yes, of course; it is very fine. But I don't know that I ever cared +much for Browning. Not only the verse, but the whole mind of the man is +uncouth--yes, uncouth _is_ the word I want. He is the Carlyle of Poetry. +Have you ever read Carlyle?' + +'Oh yes, I have read his _French Revolution_ and his _Life of Schiller_, +but that's all. I only came home from school last summer, and at school +we never read anything. I couldn't get many new books down in Galway. +There were, of course, Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot in the library, +but that was all. I once got a beautiful book from Dungory Castle. I +wonder if you ever read it? It is called _Madame Gervaisais_. From the +descriptions of Rome it almost seems to me that I have been there.' + +'I know the book, but I didn't know a Catholic girl could admire +it--and you are a Catholic, I presume?' + +'I was brought up a Catholic.' + +'It is one thing to be brought up a Catholic, and another to avoid +doubting.' + +'There can surely be no harm in doubting?' + +'Not the least; but toward which side are you? Have you fallen into the +soft feather-bed of agnosticism, or the thorny ditch of belief?' + +'Why do you say "the soft feather-bed of agnosticism"?' + +'It must be a relief to be redeemed from belief in hell; and perhaps +there is no other redemption.' + +'And do you never doubt?' she said. + +'No, I can't say I am given much to doubting, nor do I think the subject +is any longer worthy of thought. The world's mind, after much anxiety, +arrives at a conclusion, and what sages cannot determine in one age, a +child is certain about in the next. Thomas Aquinas was harassed with +doubts regarding the possibility of old women flying through the air on +broomsticks; nowadays were a man thus afflicted he would be surely a fit +subject for Hanwell. The world has lived through Christianity, as it has +through a score of other things. But I am afraid I shock you?' + +'No, I don't think you do; only I never heard anyone speak in that way +before--that is all.' + +Here the conversation came to a pause, and soon after the presence of +some ladies rendered its revival impossible. Their evening gowns +suggested the dinner-hour, and reminded Alice that she had to prepare +herself for the meal. + +All the Galway people, excepting the Honourable Misses Gore and the +Scullys--who had taken houses in town for the season--dined at _table +d'hote._ The Miss Duffys were, with the famous Bertha, the terror of the +_débutantes._ The Brennans and the Goulds sat at the same table. May, +thinking of Fred, who had promised to come during the evening, leaned +back in her chair, looking unutterably bored. Under a window Sir Richard +and Sir Charles were immersed in wine and discussion. In earnest tones +the latter deprecated the folly of indulging in country love; the +former, his hand on the champagne bottle, hiccoughed, 'Mu--ch better +come up--up Dub--lin, yer know, my boy. But look, look here; I know such +a nice'--a glance round, to make sure that no lady was within earshot; +and the conversation lapsed into a still more confidential whisper. + +Mr. Ryan and Mr. Lynch ate their dinner in sullen silence, and at the +other end of the long table Mr. Adair--whom it was now confidently +stated Mr. Gladstone could not possibly get on without--talked to Mr. +Harding; and when the few dried oranges and tough grapes that +constituted dessert had been tasted, the ladies got up, and in twos and +threes retired to the ladies' sitting-room. They were followed by Lord +Dungory, Mr. Adair, and Mr. Harding: the other gentlemen--the baronets +and Messrs. Ryan and Lynch--preferring smoke and drink to chatter and +oblique glances in the direction of ankle-concealing skirts, went up to +the billiardroom. And the skirts, what an importance they took in the +great sitting-room full of easy-chairs and Swiss scenery: châlets, +lakes, cascades, and chamois, painted on the light-coloured walls. The +big ottoman was swollen with bustled skirts; the little low seats around +the fire disappeared under skirts; skirts were tucked away to hide the +slippered feet, skirts were laid out along the sofas to show the +elegance of the cut. Then woolwork and circulating novels were produced, +and the conversation turned on marriage. Bertha being the only Dublin +girl present, all were anxious to hear her speak; after a few +introductory remarks, she began: + +'Oh! so you have all come up to the Castle and are going to be +presented. Well, you'll find the rooms very grand, and the suppers very +good, and if you know a lot of people--particularly the officers +quartered here--you will find the Castle balls very amusing. The best +way is to come to town a month before the Drawing-Room, and give a ball; +and in that way you get to know all the men. If you haven't done that, I +am afraid you won't get many partners. Even if you do get introduced, +they'll only ask you to dance, and you'll never see them again. Dublin +is like a racecourse, men come and speak to you and pass on. 'Tis +pleasant enough if you know people, but as for marriages, there aren't +any. I assure you I know lots of girls--and very pretty girls, too--who +have been going out these six or seven seasons, and who have not been +able to pull it off.' + +'And the worst of it is,' said a girl, 'every year we are growing more +and more numerous, and the men seem to be getting fewer. Nowadays a man +won't look at you unless you have at least two thousand a year.' + +Mrs. Barton, who did not wish her daughters to be discouraged from the +first, settled her skirts with a movement of disdain. Mrs. Gould +pathetically declared she did not believe love to be dead in the world +yet, and maintained her opinion that a nice girl could always marry. But +Bertha was not easily silenced, and, being perfectly conversant with her +subject, she disposed of Dublin's claims as a marriage-mart, and she +continued to comment on the disappointments of girls until the +appearance of Lord Dungory and Mr. Harding brought the conversation to a +sudden close. + +'_Une causerie de femme! que dites-vous?--je le suis--l'amour +n'existe plus, et l'âme de l'homme est plus près des sens que l'âme de +la femme_,' said Milord. Everyone laughed; and, with a charming movement +of her skirts, Mrs. Barton made room for him to sit beside her. + +Harding withdrew to the other end of the room to resume his reading, and +Alice did not dare to hope that he would lay aside his book and come to +talk to her. If he did, her mother would ask her to introduce him to +her, and she would have to enter into explanations that he and she had +merely exchanged a few words before dinner. + +She withstood the conversation of the charmed circle as long as she +could, and then boldly crossed the room for a newspaper. Harding rose to +help her to find one, and they talked together till Milord took him away +to the billiard-room. + +May, who had been vainly expecting Fred the whole evening, said: + +'Well, Alice, I hope you have had a nice flirtation?' + +'And did you notice, May, how she left us to look for a newspaper. Our +Alice is fond of reading, but it was not of reading she was thinking +this evening. She kept him all to herself at the other end of the room.' +Mrs. Barton laughed merrily, and Alice began to understand that her +mother was approving her flirtation. That is the name that her mother +would give her talk with Mr. Harding. + + + + +XVI + + +During the Dublin Season it is found convenient to give teas: the young +ladies have to be introduced to the men they will meet after at the +Castle. These gatherings take place at five o'clock in the afternoon; +and as Mrs. Barton started from the Shelbourne Hotel for Lady Georgina +Stapleton's, she fell to thinking that a woman is never really +vulnerable until she is bringing out her daughters. Till then the usual +shafts directed against her virtue fall harmlessly on either side, but +now they glance from the marriage buckler and strike the daughter in +full heart. In the ball-room, as in the forest, the female is most +easily assailed when guarding her young, and nowhere in the whole animal +kingdom is this fact so well exemplified as in Dublin Castle. + +Lady Georgina lived in Harcourt Street, and it was on her way thither +that something like a regret rose up in Mrs. Barton that she had (she +was forced to confess it) aroused the enmity of women, and persistently. + +Lady Georgina Stapleton was Lord Dungory's eldest sister. She, too, +hated Mrs. Barton; but, being poor (Milord used to call himself the +milch-cow), she found herself, like the Ladies Cullen, occasionally +obliged to smile upon and extend a welcoming hand to the family enemy; +and when Mrs. Barton came to Dublin for the Castle Season, a little +pressure was put upon Lady Georgina to obtain invitations from the +Chamberlain; the ladies exchanged visits, and there the matter ended, as +Mrs. Barton and her daughter passed through Stephen's Green, and she +remembered that she had never taken the trouble to conceal her dislike +of the house in Harcourt Street, and some of the hard things she had +said when standing on the box-seat of a drag at Punchestown Races had +travelled back and had found a lasting resting-place in Lady Georgina's +wrathful memory. + +'This is considered to be the most artistic house in Dublin,' said Mrs. +Barton, as the servant showed them upstairs. + +'How lovely the camellias look,' said Olive. + +'And now, Alice, mind, none of your Liberalism in this house, or you +will ruin your sister's chances.' + +Lady Georgina wore a wig, or her hair was arranged so as to look like +one. Fifty years had rubbed away much of her youthful ugliness; and, in +the delicate twilight of her rooms, her aristocratic bearing might be +mistaken for good looks. + +Lady Georgina was a celebrated needlewoman, and she was now begging Lord +Kilcarney to assist her at a charity bazaar. Few people had yet arrived; +and when Harding was announced, Mrs. Barton whispered: + +'Here's your friend, Alice; don't miss your chance.' + +Then every moment bevies of girls came in and were accommodated with +seats, and if possible with young men. Teacups were sent down to be +washed, and the young men were passed from group to group. The young +ladies smiled and looked delightful, and spoke of dancing and tennis +until, replying to an imperative glance from their chaperons, from time +to time they rose to leave; but, obeying a look of supplication from +their hostess, the young men remained. + +Lord Kilcarney had been hunted desperately around screens and over every +ottoman in the room; and Lady Georgina had proved her goodwill in +proportion to the amount of assistance she had lent to her friends in +the chase. Long ago he had been forced away from Olive. Mrs. Barton +endured with stoical indifference the scowls of her hostess; but at +length, compelled to recognize that none of the accidents attendant on +the handing of teacups or the moving of chairs would bring him back, she +rose to take her leave. The little Marquis was on his feet in a moment, +and, shaking hands with her effusively, he promised to call to see them +at the Shelbourne. A glance went round; and of Mrs. Barton's triumph +there could be no doubt. + +'But to-day's success is often a prelude to to-morrow's defeat,' was Lady +Georgina's comment, and Mrs. Barton and her daughters were discussed as +they walked across the green to their hotel. Nor was Lady Georgina +altogether a false prophet, for next day Mrs. Barton found the Marquis's +cards on her table. 'I'm sorry we missed him,' she said, 'but we haven't +a minute;' and, calling on her daughters to follow, she dashed again +into the whirl of a day that would not end for many hours, though it had +begun twelve hours ago--a day of haste and anticipation it had been, +filled with cries of 'Mamma,' telegrams, letters, and injunctions not to +forget this and that--a day whose skirts trailed in sneers and +criticisms, a hypocritical and deceitful day, a day of intrigue, a day +in which the post-box was the chief factor--a great day withal. + +But above this day, and above all other days, was the day that took them +spellbound to the foot of a narrow staircase, a humble flight seemingly, +but leading to a temple of tightly-stretched floorcloth, tall wardrobes, +and groups and lines of lay figures in eternally ladylike attitudes. + +'Oh! how do you do, Mrs. Barton? We have been expecting you for the last +two or three days. I will run upstairs and tell Mrs. Symond that you are +here; she will be so glad to see you.' + +'That is Miss Cooper!' explained Mrs. Barton. 'Everyone knows her; she +has been with Mrs. Symond many years. And, as for dear Mrs. Symond, +there is no one like her. She knows the truth about everybody. Here she +comes,' and Mrs. Barton rushed forward and embraced a thin woman with +long features. + +'And how do you do, dear Mrs. Barton, and how well you are looking, and +the young ladies? I see Miss Olive has improved since she was in +Dublin.' (In an audible whisper.) 'Everyone is talking about her. There +is no doubt but that she'll be the belle of the season.' (In a still +audible, but lower tone of voice.) 'But tell me, is it true that--' + +'Now, now, now!' said Mrs. Barton, drowning her words in cascades of +silvery laughter, 'I know nothing of what you're saying; ha! ha! ha! no, +no--I assure you. I will not--' + +Then, as soon as the ladies had recovered their composure, a few +questions were asked about her Excellency, the prospects of the Castle +season, and the fashions of the year. + +'And now tell me,' said Mrs. Barton, 'what pretty things have you that +would make up nicely for trains?' + +'Trains, Mrs. Barton? We have some sweet things that would make up +beautifully for trains. Miss Cooper, will you kindly fetch over that +case of silks that we had over yesterday from Paris?' + +'The young ladies must be, of course, in white; for Miss Olive I should +like, I think, snowdrops; for you, Mrs. Barton, I am uncertain which of +two designs I shall recommend. Now, this is a perfectly regal material.' + +With words of compliment and solicitation, the black-dressed assistant +displayed the armouries of Venus--armouries filled with the deep blue of +midnight, with the faint tints of dawn, with strange flowers and birds, +with moths, and moons, and stars. Lengths of white silk clear as the +notes of violins playing in a minor key; white poplin falling into folds +statuesque as the bass of a fugue by Bach; yards of ruby velvet, rich as +an air from Verdi played on the piano; tender green velvet, pastoral as +hautboys heard beneath trees in a fair Arcadian vale; blue turquoise +faille fanciful as the tinkling of a guitar twanged by a Watteau +shepherd; gold brocade, sumptuous as organ tones swelling through the +jewelled twilight of a nave; scarves and trains of midnight-blue +profound as the harmonic snoring of a bassoon; golden daffodils violent +as the sound of a cornet; bouquets of pink roses and daisies, charmful +and pure as the notes of a flute; white faille, soft draperies of tulle, +garlands of white lilac, sprays of white heather, delicate and resonant +as the treble voices of children singing carols in dewy English woods; +berthas, flounces, plumes, stomachers, lappets, veils, frivolous as the +strains of a German waltz played on Liddell's band. + +An hour passed, but the difficulty of deciding if Olive's dress should +be composed of silk or Irish poplin was very great, for, determined that +all should be humiliated, Mrs. Barton laid her plans amid designs for +night and morning; birds fluttering through leafy trees, birds drowsing +on bending boughs, and butterflies folding their wings. At a critical +moment, however, an assistant announced that Mrs. Scully was waiting. +The ladies started; desperate effort was made; rosy clouds and veils of +silver tissue were spoken of; but nothing could be settled, and on the +staircase the ladies had to squeeze into a corner to allow Violet and +Mrs. Scully to pass. + +'How do you do, Olive? How do you do, Alice? and you, Mrs. Barton, how +do you do? And what are you going to wear? Have you decided on your +dress?' + +'Oh! That is a secret that could be told to no one; oh, not for worlds!' +said Mrs. Barton. + +'I'm sure it will be very beautiful,' replied Mrs. Scully, with just a +reminiscence of the politeness of the Galway grocery business in her +voice. + +'I hear you have taken a house in Fitzwilliam Square for the season?' +said Mrs. Barton. + +'Yes, we are very comfortable; you must come and see us. You are at the +Shelbourne, I believe?' + +'Come to tea with us,' cried Violet. 'We are always at home about five.' + +'We shall be delighted,' returned Mrs. Barton. + +Mrs. Scully's acquaintance with Mrs. Symond was of the slightest; but, +knowing that claims to fashion in Dublin are judged by the intimacy you +affect with the dressmaker, she shook her warmly by the hand, and +addressed her as dear Mrs. Symond. To the Christian name of Helen none +less than a Countess dare to aspire. + +'And how well you are looking, dear Mrs. Symond; and when are you going +to take your daughters to the Castle?' + +'Oh, not for some time yet; my eldest is only sixteen.' + +Mrs. Symonds had three daughters to bring out, and she hoped when her +feet were set on the redoubtable ways of Cork Hill, her fashionable +customers would extend to her a cordial helping hand. Mrs. Symonds' was +one of the myriad little schemes with which Dublin is honeycombed, and +although she received Mrs. Scully's familiarities somewhat coldly, she +kept her eyes fixed upon Violet. The insidious thinness of the girl's +figure, and her gay, winsome look interested her, and, as if speaking to +herself, she said: + +'You will want something very sweet; something quite pure and lovely for +Miss Scully?' + +Mother and daughter were instantly all attention, and Mrs. Symond +continued: + +'Let me see, I have some Surat silk that would make up sweetly. Miss +Cooper, will you have the kindness to fetch those rolls of Surat silk we +received yesterday from Paris?' + +Then, beautiful as a flower harvesting, the hues and harmonies of earth, +ocean, and sky fell before the ravished eyes. The white Surat silk, +chaste, beautiful, delicious as that presentiment of shared happiness +which fills a young girl's mind when her fancy awakens in the soft +spring sunlight; the white faille with tulle and garlands of white +lilac, delicate and only as sensuous as the first meetings of +sweethearts, when the may is white in the air and the lilac is in bloom +on the lawn; trains of blue sapphire broché looped with blue ostrich +feathers, seductive and artificial as a boudoir plunged in a dream of +Ess. bouquet; dove-coloured velvet trains adorned with tulips and tied +with bows of brown and pink--temperate as the love that endures when the +fiery day of passion has gone down; bodices and trains of daffodil silk, +embroidered with shaded maple-leaves, impure as lamp-lit and +patchouli-scented couches; trains of white velouture festooned with +tulle; trails of snowdrops, icy as lips that have been bought, and cold +as a life that lives in a name. + +The beautiful silks hissed as they came through the hands of the +assistants, cat-like the velvet footfalls of the velvet fell; it was a +witches' Sabbath, and out of this terrible caldron each was to draw her +share of the world's gifts. Smiling and genial, Mrs. Symond stirred the +ingredients with a yard measure; the girls came trembling, doubting, +hesitating; and the anxious mothers saw what remained of their +jeopardized fortunes sliding in a thin golden stream into the flaming +furnace that the demon of Cork Hill blew with unintermittent breath. + +Secrets, what secrets were held on the subject of the presentation +dresses! The obscure Hill was bound with a white frill of anticipation. +Olive's fame had gone forth. She was admitted to be the new Venus, and +Lord Kilcarney was spoken of as likely to yield to her the coveted +coronet. Would he marry her without so much as looking at another girl? +was the question on every lip, and in the jealousy thus created the +appraisers of Violet's beauty grew bolder. Her thinness was condoned, +and her refinement insisted upon. Nor were May Gould and her chances +overlooked by the gossips of Merrion Square. Her flirtation with Fred +Scully was already a topic of conversation. + +Alice knew she was spoken of pityingly, but she hungered little after +the praise of the Dubliners, and preferred to stay at home and talk to +Harding in the ladies' drawing-room rather than follow her mother and +sister in their wild hunt after Lord Kilcarney. Through the afternoon +teas of Merrion Square and Stephen's Green the chase went merrily. + + + + +XVII + + +On the night of the Drawing-Room, February 20, 1882, the rain rushed +along the streets; wind, too, had risen, and, threatening to tear every +window from its sash, it careered in great gusts. Sky there was none, +nor sight of anything save when the lightning revealed the outline of +the housetops. The rattling and the crashing of the thunder was +fearsome, and often, behind their closely drawn curtains, the girls +trembled, and, covering their faces with their hands, forgot the article +of clothing they were in search of. In their rooms all was warm and +snug, and gay with firelight and silk; the chaperons had whispered that +warm baths were advisable, and along the passages the ladies'-maids +passed hurriedly, carrying cans of hot water, sponges, and +drying-sheets. + +Alice and Olive slept in two rooms on the third floor, on either side of +their mother; May and Mrs. Gould were on the fourth, and next to May was +Fred Scully, who, under the pretext of the impossibility of his agreeing +with his mother concerning the use of a latch-key, had lately moved into +the hotel. May was deeply concerned in Fred's grievance, and, discussing +it, or the new Shelbourne scandal--the loves of the large lady and the +little man at the other end of the corridor--they lingered about each +other's bedroom-doors. Alice could now hear them talking as they +descended the staircase together; then a burst of smothered laughter, +and May came in to see her. + +'Oh, how nice you look!' + +'If you don't "mash" Mr. Harding to-night, he'll be a tough one indeed. +Did I tell you I was talking to him yesterday in the ladies' +drawing-room? He is very enticing, but I can't quite make him out: I +think he despises us all; all but you; about you he said all kinds of +nice things--that you were so clever, and nice, and amusing. And tell +me, dear,' said May, in her warm, affectionate way, 'do you really like +him--you know what I mean?' + +May's eyes and voice were so full of significance that to pretend to +misunderstand was impossible. + +'I like Mr. Harding well enough. It is very pleasant to have him to talk +to. I am sure I don't want to run down my own sex--there are plenty +only too anxious to do that--but I am afraid that there is not a girl in +Dublin who thinks of anything except how she is to get married.' + +'I don't know about that,' said May, a little offended. 'I suppose if +you think of a man at all, you think of how he likes you.' + +The defiant tone in which these words were spoken was surprising; and, +for a moment, Alice stood staring blankly at this superb cream-fleshed +girl, superb in her dress of cream faille, her sensual beauty poetized +by the long veils which hung like gossamer-webs from the coils of her +copper-gleaming hair. + +'I am afraid, May,' she said, 'that you think a great deal too much of +such things. I don't say anything against Mr. Scully, but I think it +right to tell you that he is considered a very dangerous young man; and +I am sure it does a girl no good to be seen with him. It was he who . . .' + +'Now I'll not hear you abuse Fred,' cried May. 'We are great friends; I +like you better than any other girl, and if you value our friendship, +you'll not speak to me again like this. I wouldn't put up with it, no, +not from my own mother.' + +The girl moved towards the door hastily, but Alice laid her hand on her +arm, saying: + +'You mustn't be angry, May; perhaps you're right; I shouldn't meddle in +things that don't concern me; but then we have been so long friends that +I couldn't help--' + +'I know, I know,' the girl answered, overcome as it were by an +atmosphere. 'You were speaking only for my good; but if you're friends +with a person, you can't stand by and hear them abused. I know people +speak badly of Fred; but then people are so jealous--and they are all +jealous of Fred.' + +The girls examined each other's dresses, and at the end of a long +silence May said: + +'What an extraordinary thing this Drawing-Room is when one comes to +think of it. Just fancy going to all this expense to be kissed by the +Lord-Lieutenant--a man one never saw before. Will you feel ashamed when +he kisses you?' + +'Well, I don't know that I have thought much about it,' said Alice, +laughing. 'I suppose it doesn't matter, it is only a ceremony, not a +real kiss.' + +At this moment Mrs. Barton's voice was heard calling: 'Now, Alice, +Alice, where are you? We are waiting for you! Make haste, for goodness' +sake; we are very late as it is.' + +The trail of a sachet-scented petticoat could be detected on this length +of Brussels carpet, the acrid vulgarity of eau de Cologne hung like a +curtain before an open door, a vision of white silk gleamed for a moment +as it fled from room to room: men in a strange garb--black velvet and +steel buttons--hurried away, tripping over their swords, furtively +ashamed of their stockinged calves. On the first landing, about the +winter-garden, a crowd of German waiters, housemaids, billiard-players +with cigars in their teeth and cues in their hands, had collected; +underneath, in the hall, the barmaids, and old ladies, wrapped up in +rugs and shawls to save them from the draughts, were criticizing the +dresses. Olive's name was on every lip, and to see her all were +breathless with expectation; her matrimonial prospects were discussed, +and Lord Kilcarney was openly spoken of. 'Ah! here she is! there she +is!' was whispered. The head-porter, wild with excitement, shouted for +Mrs. Barton's carriage; three under-porters distended huge umbrellas; +the door was opened, an immense wind tore through the hall, sending the +old ladies flying back to their sitting-room, and the Bartons, holding +their hair and their trains, rushed across the wet pavement and took +refuge in the brougham. + +'Did one ever see such weather?' said Mrs. Barton. 'I hope your hair +isn't ruffled, Olive?' + +'No, mamma, I think it is all right.' + +Reassured, Mrs. Barton continued: 'I don't think there ever was a +country so hateful as Ireland. What with rain and Land League. I wonder +why we live here! Did you notice the time, Alice, as we left the hotel?' + +'Yes, mamma; it was twenty-five minutes to ten.' + +'Oh! we are very late; we shan't be there before ten. The thing to do is +to get there about half-past nine; the Drawing-Room doesn't begin before +eleven; but if you can get into the first lot you can stand at the +entrance of Patrick's Hall. I see, Alice, your friend Harding is going +to the Drawing-Room. Now, if you do what I tell you, you won't miss him; +for it does look so bad to see a girl alone, just as if she was unable +to get a man.' + +While Mrs. Barton continued to advise her girls, the carriage rolled +rapidly along Stephen's Green. It had now turned into Grafton Street; +and on the steep, rain-flooded asphalte, they narrowly escaped an +accident. The coachman, however, steadied his horses, and soon the long +colonnades of the Bank of Ireland were seen on the left. From this point +they were no longer alone, and except when a crash of thunder drowned +every other sound, the rattling of wheels was heard behind and in front +of them. Carriages came from every side: the night was alive with +flashing lamps; a glimpse of white fur or silk, the red breast of a +uniform, the gold of an epaulette, were seen, and thinking of the block +that would take place on the quays, the coachmen whipped up their +horses; but soon the ordering voices of the mantled and mounted +policemen were heard, and the carriages came to a full stop. + +'We are very late; hundreds will pass before us,' said Mrs. Barton +despairingly, as she watched the lines of silk-laden carriages that +seemed to be passing them by. But it was difficult to make sure of +anything; and fearful of soiling their gloves, they refrained from +touching the breath-misted windows. + +Despite the weather the streets were lined with vagrants, patriots, +waifs, idlers of all sorts and kinds. Plenty of girls of sixteen and +eighteen came out to see the 'finery.' Poor little things in battered +bonnets and draggled skirts, who would dream upon ten shillings a week; +a drunken mother striving to hush a child that cries beneath a dripping +shawl; a harlot embittered by feelings of commercial resentment; troops +of labourers; hang-dog faces, thin coats, torn shirts; Irish-Americans, +sinister faced, and broad-brimmed. Never were poverty and wealth brought +into plainer proximity. In the broad glare of the carriage lights the +shape of every feature, even the colour of the eyes, every glance, every +detail of dress, every stain of misery were revealed to the silken +exquisites who, a little frightened, strove to hide themselves within +the scented shadows of their broughams; and in like manner the bloom on +every aristocratic cheek, the glitter of every diamond, the richness of +every plume, were visible to the wondering eyes of those who stood +without in the wet and the cold. + +'I wish they wouldn't stare so,' said Mrs. Barton; 'one would think they +were a lot of hungry children looking into a sweetmeat shop. The police +ought really to prevent it.' + +'And how wicked those men in the big hats look,' said Olive; 'I'm sure +they would rob us if they only dared.' + +At last the order came that the carriages were to move on, and they +rolled on, now blocked under the black rain-dripping archway of the +Castle yard, now delayed as they laboriously made the tour of the +quadrangle. Olive doubted if her turn would ever come; but, by slow +degrees, each carriage discharged its cargo of silk, and at last Mrs. +Barton and her daughters found themselves in the vestibule, taking +numbers for their wraps at the cloak-rooms placed on either side of the +stairway. + +The slender figures ascending to tiny naked shoulders, presented a +piquant contrast with the huge, black Assyrian, bull-like policemen, who +guarded the passage, and reduced, by contrast, to almost doll-like +proportions the white creatures who went up the great stairway. Overhead +an artificial plant, some twenty feet wide, spread a decorative +greenness; the walls were lined with rifles, and at regular intervals, +in lieu of pictures, were set stars made out of swords. There were also +three suits of plate armour, and the grinning of the helmets of old-time +contrasted with the bearskin-shrouded faces of the red guardsmen. And +through all this military display the white ware tripped past powdered +and purple-coated footmen, splendid in the splendour of pink calves and +salmon-coloured breeches. + +As the white mass of silk pushed along the white-painted corridor, the +sense of ceremony that had till then oppressed it, evaporated in the +fumes of the blazing gas, and something like a battle began in the blue +drawing-room. Heat and fatigue soon put an end to all coquetting between +the sexes. The beautiful silks were hidden by the crowd; only the +shoulders remained, and, to appease their terrible ennui, the men gazed +down the backs of the women's dresses. Shoulders were there, of all +tints and shapes. Indeed, it was like a vast rosary, alive with white, +pink, and cream-coloured flowers; of Maréchal Niels, Souvenir de +Malmaisons, Mademoiselle Eugène Verdiers, Aimée Vibert Scandens. Sweetly +turned, adolescent shoulders, blush-white, smooth and even as the petals +of a Marquise Mortemarle; the strong, commonly turned shoulders, +abundant and free as the fresh rosy pink of the Anna Alinuff; the +drooping white shoulders, full of falling contours as a pale Madame +Lacharme; the chlorotic shoulders, deadly white, of the almost greenish +shade that is found in a Princess Clementine; the pert, the dainty +little shoulders, filled with warm pink shadows, pretty and compact as +Countess Cécile de Chabrillant; the large heavy shoulders full of vulgar +madder tints, coarse, strawberry-colour, enormous as a Paul Neron; +clustering white shoulders, grouped like the blossoms of an Aimée Vibert +Scandens, and, just in front of me, under my eyes, the flowery, the +voluptuous, the statuesque shoulders of a tall blonde woman of thirty, +whose flesh is full of the exquisite peach-like tones of a Mademoiselle +Eugène Verdier, blooming in all its pride of summer loveliness. + +To make way for this enormous crowd, the Louis XV. sofas and arm-chairs +had been pushed against the walls, and an hour passed wearily, in all +its natural impudence, in this beautiful drawing-room, the brain aching +with dusty odour of poudre de riz, and the many acidities of evaporating +perfume; the sugary sweetness of the blondes, the salt flavours of the +brunettes, and this allegro movement of odours was interrupted suddenly +by the garlicky andante, deep as the pedal notes of an organ, that the +perspiring armpits of a fat chaperon exhaled slowly. + +At last there was a move forwards, and a sigh of relief, a grunt of +satisfaction, broke from the oppressed creatures; but a line of +guardsmen was pressing from behind, and the women were thrown hither and +thither into the arms and on to the backs of soldiers, police officers, +county inspectors, and Castle underlings. Now a lady turns pale, and +whispers to her husband that she is going to faint; now a young girl's +petticoats have become entangled in the moving mass of legs! She cries +aloud for help; her brother expostulates with those around. He is +scarcely heeded. And the struggle grows still more violent when it +becomes evident that the guardsmen are about to bring down the bar; and, +begging a florid-faced attorney to unloose his sword, which had become +entangled in her dress, Mrs. Barton called on her daughter, and, +slipping under the raised arms, they found themselves suddenly in a +square, sombre room, full of a rich, brown twilight. In one corner there +was a bureau, where an attendant served out blank cards; in another the +white plumes nodded against the red glare that came from the +throne-room, whence Liddell's band was heard playing waltz tunes, and +the stentorian tones of the Chamberlain's voice called the ladies' +names. + +'Have you got your cards?' said Mrs. Barton. + +'I have got mine,' said Olive. + +'And I have got mine,' said Alice. + +'Well, you know what to do? You give your card to the aide-de-camp, he +passes it on and spreads out your train, and you walk right up to His +Excellency; he kisses you on both cheeks, you curtsy, and, at the far +door, two aides-de-camp pick up your train and place it on your arm.' + +The girls continued to advance, experiencing the while the nerve +atrophy, the systolic emotion of communicants, who, when the bell rings, +approach the altar-rails to receive God within their mouths. + +The massive, the low-hanging, the opulently twisted gold candelabra, the +smooth lustre of the marble columns are evocative of the persuasive +grandeur of a cathedral; and, deep in the darkness of the pen, a vast +congregation of peeresses and judges watch the ceremony in devout +collectiveness. How symmetrical is the place! A red, a well-trimmed +bouquet of guardsmen has been set in the middle of the Turkey carpet; +around the throne a semicircle of red coats has been drawn, and above it +flow the veils, the tulle, the skirts of the ladies-of-honour--they seem +like white clouds dreaming on a bank of scarlet poppies--and the long +sad legs, clad in maroon-coloured breeches, is the Lord-Lieutenant, the +teeth and the diamonds on his right is Her Excellency. And now a +lingering survival of the terrible Droit de Seigneur--diminished and +attenuated, but still circulating through our modern years--this +ceremony, a pale ghost of its former self, is performed; and, having +received a kiss on either cheek, the _débutantes_ are free to seek their +bridal beds in Patrick's Hall. + +'Miss Olive Barton, presented by Mrs. Barton!' shouted the Chamberlain. + +Olive abandoned her train to the aides-de-camp; she saw their bent +backs, felt their nimble fingers exhibiting this dress whereon Mrs. +Barton and Mrs. Symond had for days been expending all the poetry of +their natures. What white wonder, what manifold marvel of art! Dress of +snow satin, skirt quite plain in front. Bodice and train of white +poplin; the latter wrought with patterns representing night and morning: +a morning made of silver leaves with silver birds fluttering through +leafy trees, butterflies sporting among them, and over all a sunrise +worked in gold and silver thread; then on the left side the same sun +sank amid rosy clouds, and there butterflies slept with folded wing, and +there birds roosted on bending boughs; veils of silver tissue softened +the edges of the train, silver stars gleamed in the corn-coloured hair, +the long hands, gloved with white undressed kid, carried a silver fan; +she was adorably beautiful and adorably pale, and she floated through +the red glare, along the scarlet line, to the weary-looking man in +maroon breeches, like some wonderful white bird of downy plumage. He +kissed her on both cheeks; and she passed away to the farther door, +where her train was caught up and handed to her by two aides-de-camp. He +had seemed to salute her with deference and warmth; his kiss was more +than ceremonial, and eager looks passed between the ladies-of-honour +standing on the estrade; the great bouquet of red-coats placed in the +middle of the floor, animated by one desire, turned its sixteen heads to +gaze after the wonderful vision of blonde beauty that had come--that had +gone. Mrs. Barton experienced an instant thrill of triumph, and advanced +into the throne. + +In the composition of her dress she had given range to her somewhat +florid taste. The front was brocade, laid upon a ground of grey-pink, +shot with orange, and the effect was such as is seen when the sun hangs +behind a lowering grey cloud, tinged with pink. On this were wonderful +soft-coloured flowers, yellow melting into pink, green fading to +madder-like tints. The bodice and the train were of gold-brown velvet +that matched the gold-brown of the hair. Mrs. Barton was transformed +from the usual Romney portrait to one by Sir Peter Lely; and when she +made her curtsy, Her Excellency's face contracted, and the +ladies-of-honour whispered: 'The harm she does her daughters . . . I +wonder . . .' + +'Miss Violet Scully, presented by Mrs. Scully,' shouted the Chamberlain. + +Now there was an admixture of curiosity in the admiration accorded to +Violet. Hers was not the plain appealing of Olive's Greek statue-like +beauty; it was rather the hectic erethism of painters and sculptors in a +period preceding the apogee of an art. She was a statuette in biscuit +after a design by Andrea Mantegna. But the traces of this exquisite +atavism were now almost concealed in the supreme modernity of her +attire. From the tiny waist trailed yards of white faille, trimmed with +tulle ruchings, frecked as a meadow with faintly-tinted daisies; the +hips were engarlanded with daisies, and the flowers melted and bloomed +amid snows of faille and tulle. + +The Lord-Lieutenant leaned forward to kiss her, but at that moment of +his kiss the thunder crashed so loudly that he withdrew from her, and so +abruptly that Her Excellency looked surprised. The incident passed, +however, almost unperceived. So loud was the thunder, everybody was +thinking of dynamite, and it was some time before even the voluptuous +strains of Liddell's band could calm their inquietude. Nevertheless the +Chamberlain continued to shout: + +'Lady Sarah Cullen, Lady Jane Cullen, Mrs. Scully, presented by Lady +Sarah Cullen.' + +Then came a batch of people whom no one knew, and in the front of these +the aides-de-camp allowed Alice to pass on to His Excellency. She was +prettily dressed, dragging after her a train of white faille trimmed +with sprays of white heather and tulle, the petticoat being beautifully +arranged with folded draperies of crêpe de Chine. + +A number of ladies had collected in the farther ante-room, and, in +lines, they stood watching the effluent tide of satin and silk +discharging its volume into the spaces of Patrick's Hall. + + + + +XVIII + + +'I wish Alice would make haste, and not keep us waiting. I suppose she +has got behind a crowd. Here are the Scullys; let's hide, they don't +know a creature, and will hang on us.' + +Olive and Mrs. Barton tried to slip out of sight, but they were too +late; and a moment after, looking immense in a train and bodice of Lyons +velvet, Mrs. Scully came up and accosted them. + +'And how do you do, Mrs. Barton?' she said, with a desperate effort to +make herself agreeable; + +'I must congratulate you. Everyone is admiring your dress; I assure you +your train looked perfectly regal.' + +'I am glad you like it,' replied Mrs. Barton; 'but what do you think of +Olive? Do you like her dress?' + +'Oh, Olive has no need of my praises. If I were not afraid of making her +too vain I would tell her that all Dublin is talking of her. Indeed, I +heard a gentleman say--a gentleman who, I believe, writes for the +papers--that she will be in the _World_ or _Truth_ next week as the +belle of the season. None of the other young ladies will have a chance +with her.' + +'Oh, I don't know about that,' exclaimed Mrs. Barton, laughing merrily; +'haven't you got your Violet?--whom, by the way, you have transformed +into a beautiful daisy. It will be, perhaps, not the Rose nor the Olive +that will carry off the prize, but the daisy.' + +Violet glanced sharply at Mrs. Barton, and there was hate in the glance; +for, although her mother did not, she understood well what was meant by +the allusion to the daisy, the humblest of the earth's flowers. + +The appearance, however, of Lord Kilcarney brought the conversation to a +close; and, not knowing how to address him, Olive laughed beautifully +from behind her silver fan. They entered Patrick's Hall, where Lord +Dungory, Lord Rosshill, and others were waiting to receive Mrs. Barton, +who sought for a prominent seat, and dealing out pearly laughs and +winsome compliments to her court, she watched Olive, who, according to +orders, had taken Lord Kilcarney to sit on the highest of the series of +benches that lined one side of the room, which she did, and for a moment +Mrs. Barton felt as if she held Dublin under her satin shoe. Alice was +her only trouble. What would she do with this gawk of a girl? But soon +even this difficulty was solved, for Harding came up and asked her if he +might take her to get an ice. + +'How absurd we looked dressed up in this way,' said Harding; 'look at +that attorney and the court sword. It would be just as logical to stick +a quill pen behind the ear of a fat pig.' + +'Well, the sword--I confess I don't see much meaning in that; but the +rest of the dress is well enough. I don't see why one style of dress +should be more absurd than another, unless it is because it isn't the +fashion.' + +'Yes, but that is just the reason; just fancy dressing oneself up in the +costume of a bygone time.' + +'And is everything that isn't the fashion ridiculous?' + +'Ah, there, I fancy, you have the best of the argument. Waiter, a +strawberry ice. But did you say you would have strawberry?' + +'I don't think I did, for I prefer lemon.' + +The centre of the ceiling was filled with an oval picture representing +St. Patrick receiving Pagans into the true faith. The walls were white +painted, the panels were gold-listed. There were pillars at both ends of +the room, and in a top gallery, behind a curtain of evergreen plants, +Liddell's orchestra continued to pour an uninterrupted flood of waltz +melody upon the sea of satin, silk, poplin, and velvet that surged +around the buffet, angrily demanding cream ices, champagne, and +claret-cup. Every moment the crowd grew denser, and the red coats of the +Guards and the black corded jackets of the Rifles stained like spots of +ink and blood the pallor of the background. A few young men looked +elegant and shapely in the velvet and stockings of Court dress. One of +these was Fred Scully. He was with May, who, the moment she caught sight +of Alice, made frantic efforts to reach her. + +'My dear, did anyone ever look so nice! You are as sweet--well, a little +sweeter--than you generally are! How do you do, Mr. Harding? And tell +me, Alice, what do you think of my dress?' + +May was in cream faille with ruchings of tulle. A beautiful piece of +white lilac nestled upon her right breast. + +'You are very nice, May, and I think the white sets off your hair to +advantage.' + +'Well, good-bye dear, Fred and I are going into the next room; one is so +pushed about here, but there are nice large velvet sofas there where one +can sit and talk. I advise you to come.' + +In the reposing shadows of rich velvet and sombre hangings women leaned +over the sofas, talking to men in uniform, while two strange-looking +creatures, in long garments, walked up and down the room--Dons from +Trinity, who argued with Mr. Adair earnestly. + +'He is one of the lights of your county, is he not?' said Harding, +indicating Mr. Adair. + +'Oh, yes,' replied Alice, 'he took honours and a gold medal at Trinity +College.' + +'I know he did, and a capacity for passing competitive examinations is +the best proof of a man's incapacity for everything else.' + +'Do you know him?' + +'Yes, a little. He wears his University laurels at forty, builds parish +schools, and frightens his neighbours with the liberality of his +opinions and the rectitude of his life.' + +'But have you seen his pamphlets on the amalgamation of the poor +houses?' said Alice, astonished at the slight consideration afforded to +the rural genius. + +'I have heard of them. It appears he is going in for politics; but his +politics will be on a par with his saw-mill, and his farmyard in +concrete. Mr. Adair is a well-known person. Every county in England, +Ireland, and Scotland, possesses and is proud of its Mr. Adair.' + +Alice wondered for some moments in silence; and when suddenly her +thoughts detached themselves, she said: 'We didn't see you in the +ladies' drawing-room.' + +'I was very busy all the morning. I had two articles to write for one of +my papers and some books to review.' + +'How nice it must be to have a duty to perform every day; to have always +an occupation to which you can turn with pleasure.' + +'I don't know that I look upon my ink-bottle as an eternal haven of +bliss. Still, I would sooner contribute articles to daily and weekly +papers than sit in the Kildare Street Club, drinking glasses of sherry. +Having nothing to do must be a terrible occupation, and one difficult to +fulfil with dignity and honour. But,' he added, as if a sudden thought +had struck him, 'you must have a great deal of time on your hands; why +don't you write a novel?' + +'Everybody can't write novels.' + +'Oh yes, they can.' + +'Is that the reason why you advise me to write one? + +'Not exactly. Did you ever try to write a story?' + +'No, not since I was at school. I used to write stories there, and read +them to the girls, and . . .' + +'And what?' + +'Oh, nothing; it seems so absurd of me to talk to you about such things; +you will only laugh at me just as you did at Mr. Adair.' + +'No, I assure you, I am very loyal to my friends.' + +'Friends!' + +'I should have thought that friendship was a question of sympathy, and +not one of time: but I will withdraw the word.' + +'Oh, no, I didn't mean that--I am sure I am very glad . . .' + +'Very well, then, we will be friends; and now tell me what you were +going to say.' + +'I have forgotten--what was I saying?' + +'You were telling me about something you had written at school.' + +'Oh, yes, I remember. I did a little play for the girls to act just +before we left.' + +'What was it about--what was it called?' + +'It was not original--it was an adaptation of Tennyson's ballad of King +Cophetua. You know Miss Gould--she played the King; and Miss Scully, she +played the beggar-maid. But, of course, the whole thing was very +childish.' + +At this moment a figure in knee-breeches and flesh-coloured stockings +was seen waving a wand at the far end of the room. He was the usher +clearing the way for the viceregal procession. + +The first to appear were the A.D.C.'s. They were followed by the Medical +Department, by the Private Secretary, the Military Private Secretary, +the Assistant Under Secretaries, by the Gentlemen in Waiting, the Master +of the Horse, the Dean of the Chapel Royal, the Chamberlain, the +Gentleman Usher, the Comptroller, the State Steward, walking with a +wand, like a doge in an opera bouffe; then came another secretary, and +another band of the underlings who flock about this mock court. And then +came a heavy-built, red-bearded man, who carried, as one might a baby, a +huge gilt sword in his fat hands. He was followed by their Excellencies. +The long, maroon-coloured breeches preserved their usual +disconsolateness, the teeth and diamonds retained their splendour, and +the train--many yards of azure blue richest Duchesse satin, embroidered +with large bouquets of silver lily of the valley, and trimmed with +plumes of azure blue ostrich feathers, and bunches of silver coral--was +upheld by two tiny children who tottered beneath its enormous weight. +Then another batch of A.D.C.'s-in-Waiting, the ladies of the viceregal +family: their Excellencies' guests and the ladies in attendance--placed +according to their personal precedence--brought up the rear of the +procession. + +'Doesn't real, actual life sometimes appear to you, Miss Barton, more +distorted and unreal than a dream? I know it does to me. The spectacle +we have just witnessed was a part of the ages that believed in the +godhead of Christ and the divine right of Kings; but it seems to me +strange that such barbarities should be permitted to loiter.' + +'But what has Christianity to do with the procession that has just +passed?' + +'Were it not for faith, do you think a mock court would be allowed to +promenade in that ludicrous fashion?' + +'I'm not sure it is faith that enables them to reverence the sword of +State. Is it not rather that love of ceremonial inherent in us all--more +or less?' + +'Perhaps you are right.' + +The conversation drifted back to literature; they talked for ten +minutes, and then Alice suggested that it was time she should return to +Mrs. Barton. Patrick's Hall was still crowded, and champagne corks +exploded through the babbling of the voices. The squadron of distressed +damsels had not deserted their favourite corner, and they waited about +the pillars like cabs on a stand. At this hour a middle-aged married +doctor would be welcomed; all were desirous of being seen, if only for a +moment, on the arm of a man. Mrs. Barton's triumph was Cæsarean. More +than half-a-dozen old lords and one young man listened to her bewitching +laugh, and were fed on the brown flashing gold of her eyes. Milord and +Rosshill had been pushed aside; and, apart, each sought to convince the +other that he was going to leave town by the evening mail. Well in view +of everyone, Olive had spent an hour with Lord Kilcarney. He had just +brought her back to Mrs. Barton. At a little distance the poor Scullys +stood waiting. They knew no one, even the Bartons had given them a very +cold shoulder. Mrs. Gould, in an old black velvet dress, wondered why +all the nice girls did not get married, and from time to time she +plaintively questioned the passers-by if they had seen May. Violet's +sharp face had grown sharper. She knew she could do something if she +only got a chance. But would she get a chance? The Ladies Cullen, their +plank-like shoulders bound in grey frisé velvet and steel, were talking +to her. Suddenly Lady Sarah bowed to Lord Kilcarney, and the bow said, +'Come hither!' Leaving Olive he approached. A moment after he was +introduced to Violet. Her thin face lit up as if from a light within; a +grey cloud dimmed the light of Mrs. Barton's golden eyes, and when she +saw _Him_ in the vestibule helping the Scullys on with their wraps, she +shuddered as if struck with a blast of icy wind. + + + + +XIX + + + 'DUNGORY CASTLE, GORT, + 'Co. GALWAY. + +'MY DEAREST ALICE, +'I was so delighted to hear from you; it was very good of you to write +to me. I was deeply interested in your description of the Dublin +festivities, and must try and tell you all the news. + +'Everybody here is talking of Olive and Lord Kilcarney. It is said that +he proposed to her at the Drawing-Room. Is this true? I hope so, for she +seems to have set her heart on the match. But she is a great deal too +nice for him. They say that when he is in London he does nothing but go +about from bar-room to bar-room drinking brandies and sodas. It is also +said that he used to spend much of his time with actresses. I hope these +stories are false, but I cannot help thinking. . . . Well, we have often +talked over these things, and you know what my opinions of men are. I +hope I am not doing wrong in speaking like this; but a piece of news has +reached me that forces my thoughts back into the old ways--ways that I +know you have often reproved me for letting my mind wander in. In a +word, darling Alice, I hear that you are very much taken up with a Mr. +Harding, a writer, or painter, or something of that sort. Now, will you +promise to write and tell me if this be true? I would sooner know the +worst at once--hear that you love him madly, passionately, as I believe +some women love men. But you, who are so nice, so good, so beautiful, +you could not love a man thus. I cannot think you could--I will not +think you do. I have been crying all the morning, crying bitterly; +horrible thoughts have forced themselves on my mind. I have seen (but it +was not true though it seemed so clear; visions are not always true) +this man kissing you! Oh! Alice, let me warn you, let me beg of you to +think well before you abandon yourself to a man's power, to a man's +love. + +'But you, Alice; you who are so noble, so pure, so lofty-minded, you +would not soil yourself by giving way to such a sentiment. Write! you +will write, and tell me that what I saw in vision was a lie, an +abominable lie! Nay, you do not love Mr. Harding. You will not marry +him; surely you will not. Oh! to be left here alone, never to see you +again--I could not bear it, I should die. You will not leave me to die, +Alice dear, you will not; write and tell me you will not. And what +grieves me doubly is that it must seem to you, dear, that I am only +thinking of myself. I am not; I think of you, I wish to save you from +what must be a life of misery and, worse still, of degradation; for +every man is a degradation when he approaches a woman. I know you +couldn't bear up against this; you are too refined, too pure--I can +sympathize with you. I know, poor little cripple though I be, the +horrors of married life. I know what men are--you smile your own kind, +sweet smile; I see it as I write; but you are wrong: I know nothing of +men in particular, but I know what the sex is--I know nothing of +individuals, but I know what life is. The very fact of being forced to +live apart has helped me to realize how horrible life is, and how the +passions of men make it vile and abominable. All their tender little +words and attentions are but lust in disguise. I hate them! I could +whip, I could beat, I would torture them; and when I had done my worst I +should not have done enough to punish them for the wrongs they have done +to my sex. + +'I know, Alice dear, I am writing violently, that I am letting my temper +get the better of me, and this is very wrong; you have often told me it +is very wrong; but I cannot help it, my darling, when I think of the +danger you are in. I cannot tell you how, but I do know you are in +danger; something, some instinct has put me in communication with you: +there are moments when I see you, yes, see you sitting by that man--I +see you now:--the scene is a long blue drawing-room all aglow with gold +mirrors and wax candles--he is sitting by you, I see you smiling upon +him--my blood boils, Alice--I fear I am going mad; my head drops on the +table, and I strive to shut out the odious sight, but I cannot, I +cannot, I cannot. . . . + +'I am calmer now: you will forgive me, Alice dear? I know I am wrong to +write to you in this way, but there are moments when I realize things +with such horrible vividness that I am, as it were, maddened with pain. +Sometimes I awake in the night, and then I see life in all its hideous +nakedness, revealed, as it were, by a sudden flash of lightning. Oh, it +is terrible to think we are thus. Good-bye, dear, I know you will +forgive me, and I hope you will write at once, and will not leave me in +suspense: that is the worst torture. With love to our friends Olive, +May, and Violet, believe me, darling Alice, + 'Yours affectionately, + 'CECILIA CULLEN.' + + +She read steadily, word by word, and then let the letter fall. + +Her vision was not precise, but there were flashes of sun in it, and her +thoughts loomed and floated away. She thought of herself, of Harding, of +their first meeting. The first time she had seen him he was sitting in +the same place and in the same chair as she was sitting in now. She +remembered the first words that had been spoken: the scene was as clear +to her as if it were etched upon her brain; and as she mused she thought +of the importance of that event. Harding was to her what a mountain is +to the level plain. From him she now looked forward and back. 'So people +say that I am in love with him! well, supposing I were, I do not know +that I should feel ashamed of myself.' + +The reflection was an agreeable one, and in it her thoughts floated away +like red-sailed barges into the white mists that veil with dreamy +enchantment the wharves and the walls of an ancient town. What did she +know of him? Nothing! He was to her as much, but no more, than the +author of a book in which she was deeply interested: with this +difference:--she could hear him reply to her questions; but his answers +were only like other books, and revealed nothing of his personality. She +would have liked to have known the individual man surrounded with his +individual hopes and sufferings, but of these she knew nothing. They had +talked of all things, but it seemed to her that of the real man she had +never had a glimpse. Never did he unbend, never did he lift the mask he +wore. He was interesting, but very unhuman, and he paraded his ideas and +his sneers as the lay figures did the mail-armour on the castle +stairway. She did not know if he were a good or a bad man; she fancied +he was not very good, and then she grew angry with herself for +suspecting him. But honest or dishonest, she was sure he could love no +one; and she strove to recall his face. She could remember nothing but +the cold merciless eyes--eyes that were like the palest blue porcelain: +'But how ungrateful I am,' thought the girl, and she checked the bitter +flow of reproaches that rose in her mind. + +Two old ladies sat on the sofa under the window, their white hair and +white caps coming out very white upon the grey Irish day; and around the +ottoman the young ladies, Gladys and Zoe Brennan, one of the Miss +Duffys, and the girl in red, yawned over circulating novels, longing +that a man might come in--not with hope that he would interest them, but +because they were accustomed to think of all time as wasted that was not +spent in talking to a man. + +Nor were they awakened from their languid hopes until Olive came rushing +into the room with a large envelope in her hand. + +'Oh, I see,' she said, 'you have got a letter from Cecilia. What does +she say? I got one this morning from Barnes;' and, bending her head, +Olive whispered in Alice's ear: 'She says that everyone is talking in +Galway of when I shall be a marchioness!' + +'Is that the letter?' asked Alice innocently. + +'No, you silly, this is a Castle invitation.' + +The Brennans and the girl in red looked up. + +'Ah, is it for to-night or to-morrow?' said the latter. + +'For to-morrow.' + +'Now, I wonder if there will be one for me. Is it to dinner or to the +dance?' + +'To dinner.' + +'Ah, really . . . yes, very lucky.' Her eyes fell, and her look was +expressive of her deep disappointment. A dance--yes, but a dinner and a +dance! Then she continued: 'Ah, the Castle treats us all very badly. I +am glad sometimes when I hear the Land League abusing it. We come up +here, and spend all our money on dresses, and we get nothing for it +except two State balls, and it is no compliment to ask us to them--they +are obliged to. But what do you think of my little coat? It is this that +keeps me warm,' and Miss O'Reilly held out her sealskin for the company +to feel the texture. For the last three weeks she had not failed, on all +occasions, to call attention to this garment--'Signor Parisina had said +it was lovely.' Here she sighed--Signor Parisina had left the hotel. +'And I have a new dress coming home--it is all red--a cardinal silk--you +know nothing but red suits me!' + +'Is the hall-porter distributing the invitations?' asked Gladys Brennan. +'Did he give you yours?' + +'No, ours was, of course, directed to mamma; I found it in her room.' + +'Then perhaps--' Zoe did not finish the sentence, and both sisters +rolled up their worsted-work preparatory to going upstairs. + +In Dublin, during six weeks of the year, the arrival of these large +official envelopes is watched with eagerness. These envelopes are the +balm of Gilead; and the Land League and the hopelessness of matchmaking +are merged and lost for a moment in an exquisite thrill of triumph or +despair. An invitation to the Castle means much. The greyheaded official +who takes you down to dinner may bore you, and, at the dance, you may +find yourself without a partner; but the delight of asking your friends +if you may expect to meet them on such a night, of telling them +afterwards of your successes, are the joys of Dublin. And, armed with +their invitation, the Bartons scored heavily over the Scullys and the +Goulds, who were only asked to the dance. + +'And what will the dinner be like, mamma?' asked Olive. + +'It will be very grand. Lord Cowper does things in very good style +indeed; and our names will be given in the papers. But I don't think it +will amuse you, dear. All the officials have to be asked--judges, +police-officers, etc. You will probably go down with some old fellow of +sixty: but that can't be helped. At the dance, after, we'll see the +Marquis.' + +'I told you, mamma, didn't I, that Barnes wrote that everybody in Galway +said he was in love with me, and had proposed?' + +'You did, dear; and it does no harm for the report to have got about, +for if a thing gets very much spoken of, it forces a man to come to the +point. You will wear your red tulle. I don't know that you look better +in anything else.' + +Whatever Mrs. Barton's faults may have been, she did her duty, as she +conceived it, by her daughter; and during the long dinner, through the +leaves of the flowering-plants, she watched her Olive anxiously. A +hundred and twenty people were present. Mothers and eligible daughters, +judges, lords, police-officers, earls, poor-law inspectors, countesses, +and Castle officials. Around the great white-painted, gold-listed walls +the table, in the form of a horseshoe, was spread. In the soothing light +of the shaded lamps the white glitter of the piled-up silver danced over +the talking faces, and descended in silvery waves into the bosoms of the +women. Salmon and purple-coloured liveries passed quickly; and in the +fragrance of soup and the flavours of sherry, in the lascivious pleasing +of the waltz tunes that Liddell's band poured from a top gallery, the +goodly company of time-servers, panders, and others forgot their fears +of the Land League and the doom that was now waxing to fulness. + +To the girls the dinner seemed interminable, but at the 'private dance' +afterwards those who were known in official circles, or were fortunate +enough to meet their friends, amused themselves. It took place in the +Throne-Room. As the guests arrived they scanned each other narrowly. +People who had known each other from childhood upwards, as they met on +the landing, affected a look of surprise: 'Oh, so you are here? I wonder +how you got your invitation? Well, I suppose you are better than I took +you to be!' Acquaintances saluted each other more cordially than was +their wont: he or she who had dined at the Castle took his or her place +at once among the _élite;_ he or she who had come to dance was +henceforth considered worthy of a bow in Grafton Street. For Dublin is a +city without a conviction, without an opinion. Things are right and +wrong according to the dictum of the nearest official. If it be not +absolutely ill-bred to say you think this, or are inclined to take such +or such a view, it is certainly more advisable to say that the +Attorney-General thinks so, or that on one occasion you heard the State +Steward, the Chamberlain, or any other equally distinguished underling, +express this or that opinion. Castle tape is worn in time of mourning +and in the time of feasting. Every gig-man in the Kildare Street wears +it in his buttonhole, and the ladies of Merrion Square are found to be +gartered with it. + +Mrs. Barton's first thought was to get Olive partners. Milord and Lord +Rosshill were sent hither and thither, and with such good result that +the whole evening the beauty was beset with A.D.C.'s. But the Marquis +had danced three times with Violet Scully, and Mrs. Barton vented her +anger on poor Alice. The girl knew no one, nor was there time to +introduce her to men. She was consequently sent off with Milord to see +where the Marquis was hiding; and she was commissioned to tell her +sister to answer thus when Lord Kilcarney asked for another dance: 'I am +engaged, _cher marquis_, but for you, of course, I shall have to throw +some poor fellow over.' Mrs. Barton did not know how to play a waiting +game. Her tactics were always to grapple with the enemy. She was a +Hannibal: she risked all to gain all. Mrs. Scully, on the contrary, +watched the combat from afar--as Moltke did the German lines when they +advanced upon Paris. + +The Bartons were not invited to the next private dance, which was +annoying, and after long conjecturing as to the enemy that had served +them this trick, they resigned themselves to the inevitable, and began +to look forward to the State ball given on the following Monday. + +As they mounted the stairway Mrs. Barton said: + +'You know we turn to the left this time and enter Patrick's Hall by this +end; the other entrance is blocked up by the daïs--only the three and +four season girls stand about the pillars. There they are drawn up in +battle array.' + +'I declare Olive Barton is here!' whispered the redoubtable Bertha; +'this doesn't look as if the beaux were coming forward in their +hundreds. It is said that Lord Kilcarney has given her up for Violet +Scully.' + +'I'm not a bit surprised,' said the girl in red; 'and, now I think of +it, all the beauties come to the same end. I'll just give her a couple +more Castle seasons. It is that that will pull the fine feathers out of +her.' + +St. Patrick's Hall was now a huge democratic crush. All the little sharp +glances of the 'private dances,' 'What, you here!' were dispensed with +as useless, for all were within their rights in being at the ball. They +pushed, laughed, danced. They met as they would have met in Rotten Row, +and they took their amusement with the impartiality of pleasure-seekers +jigging and drinking in a marketplace on fair-day. On either side of the +Hall there were ascending benches; these were filled with chaperons and +_débutantes_, and over their heads the white-painted, gold-listed walls +were hung with garlands of evergreen oak interwoven with the celebrated +silver shields, the property of the Cowper family, and in front of the +curtains hanging about the daïs, the maroon legs of His Excellency, and +the teeth and diamonds of Her Excellency, were seen passing to and fro, +and up and down to the music of oblivion that Liddell dispensed with a +flowing arm. + +'Now aren't the Castle balls very nice?' said Bertha; 'and how are you +amusing yourself?' + +'Oh, very much indeed,' replied the poor _débutante_ who had not even a +brother to take her for a walk down the room or to the buffet for an +ice. + +'And is it true, Bertha,' asks the fierce aunt--'you know all the +news--that Mr. Jones has been transferred to another ship and has gone +off to the Cape?' + +'Yes, yes,' replied the girl; 'a nice end to her beau; and after +dinnering him up the whole summer, too.' + +Alice shuddered. What were they but snowflakes born to shine for a +moment and then to fade, to die, to disappear, to become part of the +black, the foul-smelling slough of mud below? The drama in muslin was +again unfolded, and she could read each act; and there was a 'curtain' +at the end of each. The first was made of young, hopeful faces, the +second of arid solicitation, the third of the bitter, malignant tongues +of Bertha Duffy and her friend. She had begun to experience the worst +horrors of a Castle ball. She was sick of pity for those around her, and +her lofty spirit resented the insult that was being offered to her sex. + +'Have you been long here, Miss Barton?' She looked up. Harding was by +her! 'I have been looking out for you, but the crowd is so great that it +is hard to find anyone.' + +'I think we arrived about a quarter to eleven,' Alice answered. + +Then, after a pause, Harding said: 'Will you give me this waltz?' She +assented, and, as they made their way through the dancers, he added: +'But I believe you do not care about dancing. If you'd prefer it, we +might go for a walk down the room. Perhaps you'd like an ice? This is +the way to the buffet.' + +But Alice and Harding did not stop long there; they were glad to leave +the heat of gas, the odour of sauces, the effervescence of the wine, the +detonations of champagne, the tumult of laughter, the racing of plates, +the heaving of bosoms, the glittering of bodices, for the peace and the +pale blue refinement of the long blue drawing-room. How much of our +sentiments and thoughts do we gather from our surroundings; and the +shining blue of the turquoise-coloured curtains, the pale dead-blue of +the Louis XV. furniture, and the exquisite fragility of the glass +chandeliers, the gold mirrors rutilant with the light of some hundreds +of tall wax candles, were illustrative of the light dreams and delicate +lassitude that filled the souls of the women as they lay back whispering +to their partners, the crinolettes lifting the skirts over the edges of +the sofas. Here the conversation seems serious, there it is smiling, and +broken by the passing and repassing of a fan. + +'Only four days more of Dublin,' said Harding; 'I have settled, or +rather the fates have settled, that I am to leave next Saturday.' + +'And where are you going? to London?' + +'Yes, to London. I am sorry I am leaving so soon; but it can't be +helped. I have met many nice people here--some of whom I shall not be +able to forget.' + +'You speak as if it were necessary to forget them--it is surely always +better to remember.' + +'I shall remember you.' + +'Do you think you will?' + +At this moment only one thing in the world seemed to be of much real +importance--that the man now sitting by her side should not be taken +away from her. To know that he existed, though far from her, would be +almost enough--a sort of beacon-light--a light she might never reach to, +but which would guide her . . . whither? + +In no century have men been loved so implicitly by women as in the +nineteenth; nor could this be otherwise, for putting aside the fact that +the natural wants of love have become a nervous erethism in the struggle +that a surplus population of more than two million women has created, +there are psychological reasons that to-day more than ever impel women to +shrink from the intellectual monotony of their sex, and to view with +increasing admiration the male mind; for as the gates of the harem are +being broken down, and the gloom of the female mind clears, it becomes +certain that woman brings a loftier reverence to the shrine of man than +she has done in any past age, seeing, as she now does, in him the +incarnation of the freedom of which she is vaguely conscious and which +she is perceptibly acquiring. So sets the main current that is bearing +civilization along; but beneath the great feminine tide there is an +undercurrent of hatred and revolt. This is particularly observable in +the leaders of the movement; women who in the tumult of their +aspirations, and their passionate yearnings towards the new ideal, and +the memory of the abasement their sex have been in the past, and are +still being in the present, subjected to, forget the laws of life, and +with virulent virtue and protest condemn love--that is to say, love in +the sense of sexual intercourse--and proclaim a higher mission for woman +than to be the mother of men: and an adjuvant, unless corrected by +sanative qualities of a high order, is, of course, found in any physical +defect. But as the corporeal and incorporeal hereditaments of Alice +Barton and Lady Cecilia Cullen were examined fully in the beginning of +this chapter, it is only necessary to here indicate the order of +ideas--the moral atmosphere of the time--to understand the efflorescence +of the two minds, and to realize how curiously representative they are +of this last quarter of the nineteenth century. + +And it was necessary to make that survey of psychical cause and effect +to appreciate the sentiments that actuated Alice in her relationship +with Harding. She loved him, but more through the imagination than the +heart. She knew he was deceiving her, but to her he meant so much that +she had not the force of will to cast him off, and abandoned herself to +the intellectual sensualism of his society. It was this, and nothing +more. What her love might have been it is not necessary to analyze; in +the present circumstances, it was completely merged in the knowledge +that he was to her, light, freedom, and instruction, and that when he +left, darkness and ignorance would again close in upon her. They had not +spoken for some moments. With a cruelty that was peculiar to him, he +waited for her to break the silence. + +'I am sorry you are going away; I am afraid we shall never meet again.' + +'Oh yes, we shall,' he replied: 'you'll get married one of these days +and come to live in London.' + +'Why should I go to live in London?' + +'There are Frenchmen born in England, Englishmen born in France. Heine +was a Frenchman born in Germany--and you are a Kensingtonian. I see +nothing Irish in you. Oh, you are very Kensington, and therefore you +will--I do not know when or how, but assuredly as a stream goes to the +river and the river to the sea, you will drift to your native +place--Kensington. But do you know that I have left the hotel? There +were too many people about to do much work, so I took rooms in +Molesworth Street--there I can write and read undisturbed. You might +come and see me.' + +'I should like to very much, but I don't think I could ask mother to +come with me; she is so very busy just now.' + +'Well, don't ask your mother to come; you won't be afraid to come +alone?' + +'I am afraid I could not do that.' + +'Why not? No one will ever know anything about it.' + +'Very possibly, but I don't think it would be a proper thing to do--I +don't think it would be a _right_ thing to do.' + +'Right! I thought we had ceased to believe in heaven and hell.' + +'Yes; but does that change anything? There are surely duties that we owe +to our people, to our families. The present ordering of things may be +unjust, but, as long as it exists, had we not better live in accordance +with it?' + +'A very sensible answer, and I suppose you are right.' + +Alice looked at him in astonishment, but she was shaken too intensely in +all her feelings to see that he was perfectly sincere, that his answer +was that of a man who saw and felt through his intelligence, and not his +conscience. + +The conversation had come to a pause, and the silence was broken +suddenly by whispered words, and the abundant laughter that was +seemingly used to hide the emotions that oppressed the speakers. Finally +they sat down quite close to, but hidden from, Alice and Harding by a +screen, and through the paper even their breathing was audible. All the +dancers were gone; there was scarcely a white skirt or black coat in the +pale blueness of the room. Evidently the lovers thought they were well +out of reach of eavesdroppers. Alice felt this, but before she could +rise to go Fred Scully had said-- + +'Now, May, I hope you won't refuse to let me come and see you in your +room to-night. It would be too cruel if you did. I'll steal along the +passage; no one will hear, no one will ever know, and I'll be so very +good. I promise you I will.' + +'Oh, Fred, I'm afraid I can't trust you; it would be so very wicked.' + +'Nothing is wicked when we really love; besides, I only want to talk to +you.' + +'You can talk to me here.' + +'Yes, but it isn't the same thing; anyone can talk to you here. I want +to show you a little poem I cut out of a newspaper to-day for you. I'll +steal along the passage--no one will ever know.' + +'You'll promise to be very good, and you won't stop more than five +minutes.' + +The words were spoken in low, soft tones, exquisitely expressive of the +overthrow of reason and the merging of all the senses in the sweet +abandonment of passion. + +Alice sat unable to move, till at last, awakening with a pained look in +her grey eyes, she touched Harding's hand with hers, and, laying her +finger on her lips, she arose. Their footfalls made no sound on the +deep, soft carpet. + +'This is very terrible,' she murmured, half to herself. + +Harding had too much tact to answer; and, taking advantage of the +appearance of Violet Scully, who came walking gaily down the room on the +Marquis's arm, he said: + +'Your friend Miss Scully seems to be in high spirits.' + +Violet exchanged smiles with Alice as she passed. The smile was one of +triumph. She had waltzed three times with the Marquis, and was now going +to sit out a set of quadrilles. + +'What a beautiful waltz the _Blue Danube_ is!' she said, leading her +admirer to where the blue fans were numerous. Upon the glistening piano +stood a pot filled with white azaleas; and, in the pauses of the +conversation, one heard the glass of the chandeliers tinkling gently to +the vibration of the music. + +'It is a beautiful waltz when I am dancing it with you.' + +'I am sure you say that to every girl you dance with.' + +'No, I shouldn't know how to say so to anyone but you,' said the little +man humbly; and so instinct were the words with truth that the girl, in +the violence of her emotion, fancied her heart had ceased to beat. + +'But you haven't known me a fortnight,' she answered involuntarily. + +'But that doesn't matter; the moment I saw you, I--I--liked you. It is +so easy to know the people we--like; we know it at once--at least I do.' + +She was more self-possessed than he, but the words 'Am I--am I going to +be a marchioness?' throbbed like a burning bullet sunk into the very +centre of her forehead. And to maintain her mental equipoise she was +forced, though by doing so she felt she was jeopardizing her chances, to +coquette with him. After a long silence she said: + +'Oh, do you think we know at first sight the people we like? Do you +believe in first impressions?' + +'My first and last impressions of you are always the same. All I know is +that when you are present all things are bright, beautiful, and +cheering, and when you are away I don't much care what happens. Now, +these Castle balls used to bore me to death last year; I used to go into +a back room and fall asleep. But this year I am as lively as a kitten--I +think I could go on for ever, and the Castle seems to me the most +glorious place on earth. I used to hate it; I was as bad as Parnell, but +not for the same reasons, of course. Now I am only afraid he will have +his way, and they'll shut the whole place up. Anyhow, even if they do, I +shall always look back upon this season as a very happy time.' + +'But you do not really think that Parnell will be allowed to have his +way?' said Violet inadvertently. + +'I don't know; I don't take much interest in politics, but I believe +things are going to the bad. Dublin, they say, is undermined with secret +societies, and the murder that was committed the other day in Sackville +Street was the punishment they inflict on those whom they suspect of +being informers, even remotely.' + +'But don't you think the Government will soon be obliged to step in and +put an end to all this kind of thing?' + +'I don't know; I'm afraid they'll do nothing until we landlords are all +ruined.' + +Violet's thin face contracted. She had introduced a subject that might +prevent him from ever proposing to her. She knew how heavily the +Kilcarney estates were mortgaged; and, even now, as she rightly +conjectured, the poor little man was inwardly trembling at the folly it +had been on his lips to speak. Three of his immediate ancestors had +married penniless girls, and it was well known that another love-match +would precipitate the property over that precipice known to every Irish +landowner--the Encumbered Estates Court. But those dainty temples, so +finely shaded with light brown tresses, that delicately moulded +head--delicate as an Indian carven ivory, dispelled all thoughts of his +property, and he forgot his duty to marry an heiress. Violet meanwhile, +prompted by her instinct, said the right words: + +'But things never turn out as well or as badly as we expect them to.' + +This facile philosophy went like wine to the little Marquis's head, and +he longed to throw himself at the feet of his goddess and thank her for +the balm she had poured upon him. The gloom of approaching ruin +disappeared, and he saw nothing in the world but a white tulle skirt, a +thin foot, a thin bosom, and a pair of bright grey eyes. Vaguely he +sought for equivalent words, but loud-talking dancers passed into the +room, and, abashed by their stares, the Marquis broke off a flowering +branch and said, stammering the while incoherently: + +'Will you keep this in memory of this evening?' + +Violet thrust the flowers into her bosom, and was about to thank him, +when an A.D.C. came up and claimed her for the dance. She told him he +was mistaken, that she was engaged; and, taking Lord Kilcarney's arm, +they made their way in silence back to the ball-room. Violet was +satisfied; she felt now very sure of her Marquis, and, as they +approached Mrs. Scully, a quick glance said that things were going as +satisfactorily as could be desired. Not daring to trust herself to the +gossip of the chaperons, this excellent lady sat apart, maintaining the +solitary dignity to which the Galway counter had accustomed her. She +received the Marquis with the same smile as she used to bestow on her +best customers, and they talked for a few minutes of the different +aspects of the ball-room, of their friends, of things that did not +interest them. Then Violet said winsomely, affecting an accent of +command that enchanted him: + +'Now I want you to go and dance with someone else; let me see--what do +you say to Olive Barton? If you don't, I shall be in her mother's black +books for the rest of my life. Now go. We shall be at home to-morrow; +you might come in for tea;' and, suffocated with secret joy, Lord +Kilcarney made his way across the room to Mrs. Barton, who foolishly +cancelled a couple of Olive's engagements, and sent her off to dance +with him, whereas wise Violet sat by her mother, refusing all her +partners; but, when _God Save the Queen_ was played, she accepted Lord +Kilcarney's arm, and they pressed forward to see the Lord-Lieutenant and +Her Excellency pass down the room. + +Violet's eyes feasted on the bowing black coats and light toilettes, +and, leaning on her escutcheon, she dreamed vividly of the following +year when she would take her place amid all these noble people, and, as +high as they, stand a peeress on the daïs. + + + + +XX + + +'So you couldn't manage to keep him after all, my lady? When did he +leave the hotel?' + +'Mr. Harding left Dublin last Monday week.' + +Alice wondered if her mother hated her; if she didn't, it was difficult +to account for her cruel words. And this was the girl's grief, and she +feared that hatred would beget hatred, and that she would learn to hate +her mother. But Mrs. Barton was a loving and affectionate mother, who +would sacrifice herself for one child almost as readily for the other. +In each of us there are traits that the chances of life have never +revealed; and though she would have sat by the bedside, even if Alice +were stricken with typhoid fever, Mrs. Barton recoiled spitefully like a +cat before the stern rectitudes of a nature so dissimilar from her own. +She had fashioned Olive, who was now but a pale copy of her mother +according to her guise: all the affectations had been faithfully +reproduced, but the charm of the original had evaporated like a perfume. +It would be rash to say that Mrs. Barton did not see that the weapons +which had proved so deadly in her hands were ineffectual in her +daughter's; but twenty years of elegant harlotry had blunted her finer +perceptions, and now the grossest means of pushing Olive and the Marquis +morally and physically into each other's arms seemed to her the best. +Alice was to her but a plain girl, whose misfortune was that she had +ever been born. This idea had grown up with Mrs. Barton, and fifteen +years ago she had seen in the child's face the spinster of fifty. But +since the appearance of Harding, and the manifest interest he had shown +in her daughter, Mrs. Barton's convictions that Alice would never be +able to find a husband had been somewhat shaken, and she had almost +concluded that it would be as well--for there was no knowing what men's +tastes were--to give her a chance. Nor was the dawning fancy dispelled +by the fact that Harding had not proposed, and the cutting words she had +addressed to the girl were the result of the nervous irritation caused +by the marked attention the Marquis was paying Violet Scully. + +For, like Alice, Mrs. Barton never lived long in a fool's paradise, and +she now saw that the battle was going against her, and would most +assuredly be lost unless a determined effort was made. So she delayed +not a moment in owning to herself that she had committed a mistake in +going to the Shelbourne Hotel. Had she taken a house in Mount Street or +Fitzwilliam Place, she could have had all the best men from the barracks +continually at her house. But at the hotel she was helpless; there were +too many people about, too many beasts of women criticizing her conduct. +Mrs. Barton had given two dinner-parties in a private room hired for the +occasion; but these dinners could scarcely be called successful. On one +occasion they had seven men to dinner, and as some half-dozen more +turned in in the evening, it became necessary to send down to the +ladies' drawing-room for partners. Bertha Duffy and the girl in red of +course responded to the call, but they had rendered everything odious by +continuous vulgarity and brogue. Then other mistakes had been made. A +charity costume ball had been advertised. It was to be held in the +Rotunda. An imposing list of names headed the prospectus, and it was +confidently stated that all the lady patronesses would attend. Mrs. +Barton fell into the trap, and, to her dismay, found herself and her +girls in the company of the rag, tag, and bobtail of Catholic Dublin: +Bohemian girls fabricated out of bed-curtains, negro minstrels that an +application of grease and burnt cork had brought into a filthy +existence. And from the single gallery that encircled this tomb-like +building the small tradespeople looked down upon the multicoloured crowd +that strove to dance through the mud that a late Land League meeting had +left upon the floor; and all the while grey dust fell steadily into the +dancers' eyes and into the sloppy tea distributed at counters placed +here and there like coffee-stands in the public street. + +'I never felt so low in my life,' said the lady who always brought back +an A.D.C. from the Castle, and the phrase was cited afterwards as being +admirably descriptive of the festival. + +When it became known that the Bartons had been present at this ball, +that the beauty had been seen dancing with the young Catholic nobodies, +their names were struck off the lists, and they were asked to no more +private dances at the Castle. Lord Dungory was sent to interview the +Chamberlain, but that official could promise nothing. Mrs. Barton's hand +was therefore forced. It was obligatory upon her to have some place +where she could entertain officers; the Shelbourne did not lend itself +to that purpose. She hired a house in Mount Street, and one that +possessed a polished floor admirably suited to dancing. + +Then she threw off the mask, and pirate-like, regardless of the laws of +chaperons, resolved to carry on the war as she thought proper. She'd +have done once and for ever with those beasts of women who abused and +criticized her. Henceforth she would shut her door against them all, and +it would only be open to men--young men for her daughters, elderly men +for herself. At four o'clock in the afternoon the entertainment began. +Light refreshments, consisting of tea, claret, biscuits, and cigarettes, +were laid out in the dining-room. Having partaken, the company, +consisting of three colonels and some half-dozen subalterns, went +upstairs to the drawing-room. And in recognition of her flirtation with +Harding, a young man replaced Alice at the piano, and for half-a-crown +an hour supplied the necessary music. + +Round and round the girls went, passing in turn out of the arms of an +old into those of a young man, and back again. If they stayed their feet +for a moment, Mrs. Barton glided across the floor, and, with insinuating +gestures and intonations of voice, would beg of them to continue. She +declared that it was _la grâce et la beauté_, etc. The merriment did not +cease until half-past six. Some of the company then left, and some few +were detained for dinner. A new pianist and fresh officers arrived about +nine o'clock, and dancing was continued until one or two in the morning. +To yawning subalterns the house in Mount Street seemed at first like a +little paradise. The incessant dancing was considered fatiguing, but +there were interludes in which claret was drunk, cigarettes smoked, and +loose conversation permitted in the dining-room. + +Then the dinners! Mrs. Barton's dinners are worthy of special study. Her +circle of acquaintances being limited, the same guests were generally +found at her table. Lord Dungory always sat next to her. He displayed +his old-fashioned shirt-front, his cravat, his studs, his urbanity, his +French epigram. Lord Rosshill sat opposite him; he was thin, melancholy, +aristocratic, silent, and boring. There was a captain who, since he had +left the army, had grown to the image of a butler, and an ashen-tinted +young man who wore his arm in a sling; and an old man, who looked like a +dirty and worn-out broom, and who put his arm round the backs of the +chairs. These and three A.D.C.'s made up the party. There was very +little talking, and what there was was generally confined to asking the +young ladies if they had been to the Castle, and if they liked dancing. + +The Marquis was a constant, although an unwilling guest at all these +entertainments. He would fain have refused Mrs. Barton's hospitalities, +but so pressing was she that this seemed impossible. There were times +when he started at the postman's knock as at the sound of a Land +Leaguer's rifle. Too frequently his worst fears were realized. '_Mon +cher Marquis_, it will give us much pleasure if you will dine with us +to-morrow night at half-past seven.' 'Dear Mrs. Barton, I regret +extremely that I am engaged for to-morrow night.' An hour later, '_Mon +cher Marquis_, I am very sorry you cannot come to-morrow night, but +Thursday will suit us equally well.' What was to be done? A second +excuse would result only in a proposal to fix a day next week; better +accept and get it over. He must do this or send a rude message to the +effect that he was engaged for every day he intended to dine out that +season, and he lacked the moral courage to write such a letter. Mrs. +Barton's formula for receiving the Marquis never varied. If he arrived +early he found Olive waiting to receive him in the drawing-room. She was +always prepared with a buttonhole, which she insisted on arranging and +pinning into his coat. Then allusion was made to the forget-me-nots that +the bouquet was sure to contain; and laughing vacantly--for laughter +with Olive took the place of conversation--she fled through the rooms, +encouraging him to pursue her. During dinner attempts were made to +exchange a few words, but without much success. Nor was it until Olive +pelted him with flowers, and he replied by destroying another bouquet +and applying it to the same purpose, that much progress was made towards +intimacy. But this little scene was exceptional, and on all other +occasions Lord Kilcarney maintained an attitude of reserve. + +Mrs. Barton was at her wits' end. Three days ago she had met him walking +in Grafton Street with Violet; yesterday she had caught sight of him +driving towards Fitzwilliam Place in a four-wheeler. She had fortunately +a visit to pay in that neighbourhood, and was rewarded by seeing the +Marquis's cab draw up before the Scullys' door. The mere fact that he +should use a cab instead of an outside car was a point to consider, but +when she noticed that one of the blinds was partially drawn down, her +heart sank. Nor did the secret of this suspicious visit long remain her +exclusive property. As if revealed by those mysteriously subtle oral and +visual faculties observed in savage tribes, by which they divine the +approach of their enemies or their prey, two days had not elapsed before +the tongue of every chaperon was tipped with the story of the +four-wheeler and the half-drawn blind, but it was a distinctly +latter-day instinct that had led these ladies to speak of there having +been luggage piled upon the roof of this celebrated cab. Henceforth eye, +ear, and nostril were open, and in the quivering ardour of the chase +they scattered through the covers of Cork Hill and Merrion Square, +passing from one to the other, by means of sharp yelps and barkings, +every indication of the trail that came across their way. Sometimes +hearkening to a voice they had confidence in, they rallied at a single +point, and then an old bitch, her nose in the air, her capstrings +hanging lugubriously on either side of her weatherbeaten cheeks, would +utter a deep and prolonged baying; a little farther on the scent was +recovered, and, with sterns wagging and bristles erect, they hunted the +quarry vigorously. Every moment he was expected to break--fear was even +expressed that he might end by being chopped. + +The Shelbourne Hotel was a favourite meet, and in the ladies' +drawing-room each fresh piece of news was torn with avidity. The +consumption of notepaper was extraordinary. Two, three, four, and even +five sheets of paper were often filled with what these scavengeresses +could rake out of the gutters of gossip. 'Ah! me arm aches, and the +sleeve of me little coat is wore; I am so eager to write it all off to +me ant, that I am too impatient to wait to take it off,' was the verbal +form in which the girl in red explained her feelings on the subject. +Bertha Duffy declared she would write no more; that she was ruining +herself in stamps. Nor were the pens of the Brennans silent; and looking +over their shoulders, on which the mantles of spinsterhood were fast +descending, one read: 'I hear they danced at the Castle three times +together last night . . . a friend of mine saw them sitting in Merrion +Square the whole of one afternoon. . . . They say that if he marries her, +that he'll be ruined. . . . The estates are terribly encumbered . . . his +family are in despair about it. . . . Violet is a very nice girl, but we +all know her mother sold bacon behind a counter in Galway. . . . He never +looks at Olive Barton now; this is a sad end to her beau, and after +feeding him up the whole season. . . . He dined there three times a week: +Mrs. Barton took the house on purpose to entertain him. . . . It is said +that she offered him twenty thousand pounds if he'd marry her +daughter. . . . The money that woman spends is immense, and no one knows +whence it comes.' + +In these matrimonial excitements the amatories of the lady who brought +the A.D.C. home from the Castle passed unheeded. The critical gaze of +her friends was sorely distracted, and even the night porter forgot to +report the visits of her young gentlemen. May, too, profited largely by +the present ferment of curiosity; and, unobserved, she kept her trysts +with Fred Scully at the corners of this and that street, and in the +hotel they passed furtively down this passage and up that pair of +stairs; when disturbed they hid behind the doors. + +Mrs. Gould lived in ignorance of all this chambering folly, spending her +time either writing letters or gossiping about Lord Kilcarney in the +drawing-room. And when she picked up a fragment of fresh news she lost +not a moment, but put on her bonnet and carried it over to Mount Street. +So assiduous was she in this self-imposed duty, that Mrs. Barton was +obliged at last to close her door against this obtrusive visitor. + +But one day, after a moment of intense reflection, Mrs. Barton concluded +that she was losing the battle--that now, in the eleventh hour, it could +only be snatched out of defeat by a bold and determined effort. She sat +down and penned one of her admirable invitations to dinner. An hour +later a note feebly pleaded a 'previous engagement.' Undaunted, she sat +down again and wrote: 'Tomorrow will suit us equally well.' The Marquis +yielded; and Lord Dungory was ordered, when he found himself alone with +him in the dining-room, to lose no opportunity of insisting upon the +imminent ruin of all Irish landlords. He was especially enjoined to say +that, whatever chance of escape there was for the owners of unencumbered +properties, the doom of those who had mortgages to pay had been sounded. +Milord executed his task with consummate ability; and when the _grand +parti_ entered the drawing-room, his thoughts were racked with horrible +forebodings. The domain woods, the pride of centuries, he saw plundered +and cut down; lawns, pleasure-grounds, and gardens distributed among +peasants, and he, a miserable outcast, starving in a Belgian +boarding-house. Mrs. Barton's eyes brightened at the distressed +expression of his face. Olive brought in the buttonhole and went to the +piano; Milord engaged Alice's attention; and the Marquis was led into +the adjoining room. + +'The season is now drawing to its close,' Mrs. Barton said; 'we shall be +soon returning to Galway. We shall be separating. I know Olive likes +you, but if there is no--if it is not to be, I should like to tell her +not to think about it any more.' + +The Marquis felt the earth gliding. What could have tempted the woman to +speak like this to him? What answer was he to make her? He struggled +with words and thoughts that gave way, as he strove to formulate a +sentence, like water beneath the arms of one drowning. + +'Oh, really, Mrs. Barton,' he said, stammering, speaking like one in a +dream, 'you take me by surprise. I did not expect this; you certainly +are too kind. In proposing this marriage to me, you do me an honour I +did not anticipate, but you know it is difficult offhand, for I am bound +to say . . . at least I am not prepared to say that I am in love with your +daughter. . . . She is, of course, very beautiful, and no one admires her +more than I, but--' + +'Olive will have twenty thousand pounds paid down on her wedding-day; +not promised, you know, but paid down; and in the present times I think +this is more than most girls can say. Most Irish properties are +embarrassed, mortgaged,' she continued, risking everything to gain +everything, 'and twenty thousand pounds would be a material help to most +men. At my death she will have more; I--' + +'Oh, Mrs. Barton, do not let us speak of that!' cried the little man. + +'And why not? Does it prove that because we are practical, we do not +care for a person? I quite understand that it would be impossible for +you to marry without money, and that Olive will have twenty thousand +paid down on her wedding-day will not prevent you from being very fond +of her. On the contrary, I should think--' + +'Twenty thousand pounds is, of course, a great deal of money,' said the +little man, shrinking, terror-stricken, from a suddenly protruding +glimpse of the future with which Milord had previously poisoned his +mind. + +'Yes, indeed it is, and in these times,' urged Mrs. Barton. + +The weak grey eyes were cast down, abashed by the daring determination +of the brown. + +'Of course Olive is a beautiful girl,' he said. + +'And she is so fond of you, and so full of affection. . . .' + +The situation was now tense with fear, anxiety, apprehension; and with +resolute fingers Mrs. Barton tightened the chord until the required note +vibrated within the moral consciousness. The poor Marquis felt his +strength ebbing away; he was powerless as one lying in the hot chamber +of a Turkish bath. Would no one come to help him? The implacable melody +of _Dream Faces_, which Olive hammered out on the piano, agonized him. +If she would stop for one moment he would find the words to tell her +mother that he loved Violet Scully and would marry none other. But bang, +bang, bang the left hand pounded the bass into his stunned ears, and the +eyes that he feared were fixed upon him. He gasped for words, he felt +like a drunkard who clutches the air as he reels over a precipice, and +the shades of his ancestors seemed to crowd menacingly around him. He +strove against his fears until a thin face with luminous eyes shone +through the drifting wrack like a stars. + +'But we have seen so little of each other,' he said at last; 'Miss +Barton is a great beauty, I know, and nobody appreciates her beauty more +than I, but I am not what you call in love with her.' + +He deplored the feebleness of his words, and Mrs. Barton swooped upon +him again. + +'You do not love her because, as you say, you have seen very little of +each other. We are going down to Brookfield to-morrow. We shall be very +glad if you will come with us, and in the country you will have an +opportunity of judging, of knowing her: and she is such an affectionate +little thing.' + +Affrighted, the Marquis sought again for words, and he glanced at his +torturer timidly, like the hare on the ever-nearing hounds. Why did she +pursue him, he asked, in this terrible way? Had she gone mad? What was +he to say? He had not the courage to answer no to her face. Besides, if +Violet would not have him, he might as well save the family estates. If +Violet refused him! Then he didn't care what became of him! He sought, +and he struggled for words, for words that would save him; and, in this +hour of deep tribulation, words came and they saved him. + +'I have a great deal of business to attend to to-morrow. I am--that is +to say, my solicitor is, raising for me a large sum of money at four per +cent. On one large mortgage I am paying six per cent., therefore if I +can get the money at four I shall be by some hundreds of pounds a richer +man than I am at present. At the end of the week this matter will be +settled. I will write to you and say when I shall be able to accept your +invitation.' + +Mrs. Barton would have preferred to have brought the matter at once to a +conclusion, but in the hesitation that ensued, the Marquis, unable to +withstand the strain set upon his feelings any longer, moved away from +her. And in the next room, to save himself from further persecution, he +engaged at once in conversation with Alice. Ten minutes after he said +good-night. To get out of the light into the dark, to feel the cool wind +upon his cheek, oh! what a relief! 'What could have persuaded that woman +to speak to me as she did? She must be mad.' He walked on as if in a +dream, the guineas she had promised him chinking dubiously through his +brain. Then stopping suddenly, overcome by nerve-excitement, he threw +his arms in the air: his features twitched convulsively. The spasm +passed; and, unconscious of all save the thoughts that held and tore +him--their palpitating prey--he walked onwards. . . . Black ruin on one +side, and oh! what sweet white vision of happiness on the other! Why was +he thus tortured--why was he thus torn on the rack of such a terrible +discussion? He stopped again, and his weak neck swayed plaintively. +Then, in the sullen calm that followed, the thought crossed his mind: If +he only knew. . . . She might refuse him; if so, he did not care what +became of him, and he would accept the other willingly. But would she +refuse him? That he must know at once. If she did refuse, he would, at +all events, escape the black looks of his relations, and in the +cowardice of the thought the weary spirit was healed, assuaged, as tired +limbs might be in a bath of cool, clear water. Why lose a moment? It was +only half-past ten--an 'outside' would take him in less than two minutes +to Fitzwilliam Place. Yes, he would go. + +And as the car clattered he feasted on the white thin face and the grey +allurements of her eyes. But if she weren't at home. + +He was shown upstairs. Mother and daughter were alone, talking over the +fire in the drawing-room. Nothing could be more propitious, but his +fears returned to him, and when he strove to explain the lateness of his +visit his face had again grown suddenly haggard and worn. Violet +exchanged glances, and said in looks, if not in words: 'It is clear they +have been hunting him pretty closely to-day.' + +'I must apologize,' he said, 'for calling on you at such an hour; I +really did not think it was so late, but the fact is I was rather +anxious to see. . . .' + +'But won't you sit down, Lord Kilcarney?' said Violet. 'I assure you we +never go to bed before twelve, and sometimes we sit up here until +one--don't we, mamma?' + +Mrs. Scully smiled jocosely, and the Marquis sat down. In an instant his +fate was decided. Overcome by the girl's frail sweetness, by the +pellucid gaiety of her grey eyes, he surrendered; and his name and +fortune fluttered into her lap, helplessly as a blown leaf. He said: + +'I came to see you to-night . . . I took the liberty of calling on you at +this late hour, because things had occurred that . . . well, I mean . . . +you must have observed that I was attached to you. I don't know if you +guessed it, but the fact is that I never cared for anyone as I do for +you, and I felt I could bear with uncertainty no longer, and that I must +come to-night, and ask you if you will have me.' + +Violet raised her eyes. + +'Say yes,' murmured the Marquis, and it seemed to him that in the words +life had fallen from his lips. + +'Yes,' was the answer, and he clasped the thin hand she extended to him. + +'Ah, how happy you have made me, I never thought such honours were in +store for me,' exclaimed Mrs. Scully. The discipline of years was lost +in a moment; and, reverting to her long-buried self, she clasped the +Marquis to her agitated bosom. Violet looked annoyed, ashamed; and Mrs. +Scully, whom excitement had stripped of all her grand manners, said: + +'And now, me dear children, I'll leave you to yerselves.' + +The lovers sat side by side. Violet thought of the great love she had +inspired, and the Marquis of the long years of happiness that +would--that must now be his, of the frail grace that as a bland odour +seemed to float about his beloved. And now that she was his, he would +have her know that his love of her rose out of his deepest sense of +soul; but words were weak: he seemed to be tongue-tied. + +'Where did you dine to-night?' she said suddenly. + +'With the Bartons.' + +He told her everything--of the proposal and the invitation to +Brookfield. + +'And are you going down to Galway to stay with them?' + +'Of course not. How can you ask such a question?' + +'And why not--why shouldn't you go? I wish you would,' she added; and +the light in her grey eyes was malign. + +'You're joking? You surely don't mean what you say. I thought you said +you loved me.' + +'Yes, my dear Harry, that is the very reason. We love each other, +therefore I know I can trust you.' + +He pressed the hand--the silken skin, the palm delicately moist--in +recognition of her kind words. + +'I wouldn't go for anything in the world. I hate those people. 'Pon my +word, I don't think anything would tempt me to spend a week with them in +the country.' + +'Yes; I could.' + +The Marquis laughed. 'Yes, you could--you could tempt me to do anything. +But why should you want me to go and spend a week with them in Galway?' + +'Because, dear, they were rude to me; because,' she added, casting down +her eyes--'because they tried to buy you from me. That is why I should +like to humiliate them.' + +The enchantment of the Marquis was completed, and he said: + +'What, a whole week away from you! a whole week with Mrs. Barton! I +could not endure it.' + +'What, not for my sake?' + +'Anything for your sake, darling.' He clasped her in his arms, and then +they lapsed into silence that to him was even sweeter than the kiss she +had given him. Love's deepest delight is the ineffable consciousness of +our own weakness. We drink the sweetened cup in its entirety when, +having ceased to will, we abandon ourselves with the lethal languors of +the swimmer to the vague depths of dreams. And it was past midnight when +the Marquis left Fitzwilliam Place. The ladies accompanied him +downstairs; their hands helped him to his hat and coat, and then the +lock slipped back sharply, and in the gloom, broken in one spot by the +low-burning gas, the women wondered. + +'Oh, mamma, mamma, mamma! I am so happy!' the girl exclaimed, and, +weeping passionately, she threw herself for rest upon Mrs. Scully's +arms. + +'Yes, my child; you have been very good, you have made me very happy. +You'll be a marchioness. Who would have thought I'd have lived to see +all this honour when I served in the little shop at Galway!' + +At the mention of the shop Violet recovered her composure, and mother +and daughter listened to the receding footfalls. + +'I wonder if he is happy,' Violet murmured; 'as happy as I am. For I do +like him. He is a good sort.' + +'Your happiness is a different happiness,' Mrs. Scully answered. + +Like a flowering tree, a luxuriant joy bloomed in the Marquis's heart; +in its shade and fragrance his thoughts lay supinely; and, a prey to +many floating and fanciful imaginings, he walked onwards through the +darkness. In the lowering skies he saw the fair face that had led him to +the verge on which he now stood. + +'Was anybody as happy as he? And what did his happiness mean?' he asked +himself. + +Shades flitted across yellow window-panes, and he remembered he had +received an invitation for this very ball. + +Cats slunk through the area railings; policemen moved from their hiding +corners; a lover passed on with his dreams. + + + + +XXI + + +Mrs. Barton rarely took anyone into her confidence, and her plan for the +capture of the Marquis was locked within her breast. Not to her husband, +nor yet to Milord, did she think of going for advice. Her special +experience of life had taught her to trust none, to be self-reliant, and +never to give up hope. For as she often said, it is the last effort that +wins the battle. Mrs. Barton's knowledge of the world, when it came to +be analyzed, was only that of the courtesan--skin deep. + +Two days after she received a note from the Marquis, saying he would be +glad to spend a week with them at Brookfield. She read it quietly, +slipped it into the pocket of the black silk that covered the unseen +feet, and glided out of the room. Every detail was clear to her. They +must leave Dublin to-morrow morning; they need not trouble about calling +on a pack of women, but they would have all their men friends to dinner. + +Mr. Barton, when he was informed of these sudden determinations, was in +the act of rehearsing a song he was to sing the following day at a +concert. + +'But, my dear,' he said, tightening one of the strings; 'the public will +be awfully disappointed.' + +'Yes, my dear, yes; I am very sorry, but I have my reasons--serious +reasons; and in this world we must only do what's right.' + +'Then in the next world we shall be able to do everything that's wrong,' +said Mr. Barton; and he threw back his blond locks with troubadour-like +waves of his lymphatic hand. 'I shall like the next world better than +this,' he added, and his wife and daughter laughed; for papa was +supposed to be very naughty. + +'Olive, dear--' + +'Oh, mamma, I wish you wouldn't call me Olive. I shall change my name. +Captain Talbot was chaffing me about it yesterday. Everybody chaffs me +about it.' + +'Never mind, my dear; it makes a subject of conversation. But I was +going to tell you that we shall have to start for Brookfield to-morrow.' + +'Go to Brookfield! I couldn't possibly leave Dublin yet a while; what +would all my young men do--they'd die of broken hearts!' + +'It won't matter much if they do; there aren't a dozen worth two +thousand a year each.' + +'No? You are joking, mamma. And the Marquis?' + +'That's a secret, dear.' + +'Then you don't think he'll propose to me after all; and I gave up +Edward--Captain Hibbert.' + +'I thought you had forgotten that horrid man's name. I didn't say, dear, +that the Marquis wouldn't propose to you--of course he will. But we must +leave Dublin to-morrow--I have serious reasons.' + +'Oh, mamma, I didn't think you were so cruel, to go back to that hateful +place, where everybody talks of rents, and that odious Land League.' + +'Now, I will not allow my darling to cry like that,' exclaimed Mrs. +Barton, and she threw her arms round the girl's shoulders. 'I didn't say +that there wouldn't be a man within seven miles. On the contrary, there +will be one very charming man indeed.' + +'What do you mean, mamma?' + +'That's a secret--that's a secret.' + +Alice was told that she had better come home early that afternoon, so +that she might have plenty of time to pack her own things and help her +sister with hers; and it seemed to her unbelievable that she was at last +leaving that hateful little varnished floor, complimenting old beaux and +young A.D.C.'s. + +But if to nobody else, she must say good-bye to May. She had hardly seen +her since the night of the State ball--the night she had given Fred +Scully permission to see her in her room. She found her in the ladies' +drawing-room. + +'How do you do, May?' + +'Oh, how do you do, Alice? I am so glad to see you. What a dreadful +day!' + +'Yes, isn't it? Don't you find it very depressing?' + +'I should think I did. I'm feeling rather out of sorts. Do you ever feel +out of sorts? you know, when everything seems as if it were reflected in +a darkened glass? There are times when we girls are nervous and weak, +and ready to quarrel with anyone. I don't know what I wish for now; I +think I should like to go back to the country.' + +'We are going back to-morrow morning.' + +'You don't say so; and how's that? There are plenty of balls and +afternoon dances. What does Olive say to going home?' + +'She doesn't mind. You know mamma always said she would return +immediately after the Castle balls.' + +'And now that it is all over, tell me what you think of the Castle. Did +it come up to your expectations?' + +'I don't know that I think much about the matter. I am not so fond of +dancing as you are.' + +'Oh, goodness me, goodness me, how ill I do feel,' said May, as she +started and yawned in a way that betokened the nervous lassitude she was +suffering from. + +'Perhaps you had better see the doctor,' said Alice significantly. + +'I'm worried. Fred hasn't been as nice lately as he used to be.' + +'What has he done?' + +'Last night he promised to meet me in the Square, and he wrote to say he +couldn't come, that he was forced to go and see an important customer +about some horses.' + +'Perhaps he had.' + +'I dare say he had, but what of that? It does not make it any less +disagreeable for me to be disappointed.' + +'How cross you are, May! I came out on purpose to talk to you on this +very subject. I hope you won't be angry, but I think it is my duty to +tell you that people are beginning to talk about you.' + +'And what do they say?' + +'Well, they say many unpleasant things; you know how ill-natured people +are.' + +'Yes, but what do they say?' + +'They say you are desperately in love with Fred Scully.' + +'Supposing I were; is there any very great harm in that?' + +'I only want to put you on your guard, May dear; and since I have come +here for the purpose of speaking out, I had better do so, however +unpleasant it may be; and I must say that you often forget yourself when +he is in the room, and by your whole manner betray your feelings. You +look at him--' + +'You needn't talk. Now that Harding has left town, these moral +reflections come very easy to you!' + +Alice blushed a little; she trembled, and pursuing her advantage, May +said: + +'Oh, yes; I have watched you in the Castle sitting out dances; and when +girls like you butter! 'Pon my word, it was painful to look at you.' + +'Mr. Harding and I talked merely of books and pictures.' + +'If you come here to insinuate that Fred and I are in the habit of +indulging in improper conversation. . . . I didn't expect this from you. I +shan't stop another moment. I shan't speak to you again.' + +Picking up her novel, and deaf to all explanations, May walked haughtily +out of the room. Alice would have given much to help; and, her heart +filled with gentle disappointment, she returned home. The evening was +spent in packing; and next morning at dawn, looking tired, their eyes +still heavy with sleep, the Bartons breakfasted for the last time in +Mount Street. + +At the Broadstone they met Lord Dungory. Then, their feet and knees +cosily wrapped up in furs, with copies of the _Freeman's Journal_ lying +on the top, they deplored the ineffectiveness of Mr. Forster's Coercion +Act. Eight hundred people were in prison, and still the red shadow of +murder pointed across the land. Milord read from the newspaper: + +'A dastardly outrage was committed last night in the neighbourhood of +Mullingar. A woman named Mary ---- had some differences with her sister +Bridget ----. One day, after some angry words, it appears that she left +the house, and seeing a man working in a potato-field, she asked him if +he could do anything to help her. He scratched his head, and, after a +moment's reflection, he said he was going to meet a "party," and he +would see what could be done. On the following day he suggested that +Bridget might be removed for the sum of one pound. Mary ---- could not, +however, procure more than fifteen shillings, and a bargain was struck. +On the night arranged for the assassination Mary wished to leave the +house, not caring to see her sister shot in her presence, but Pat +declared that her absence would excite suspicion. In the words of one of +the murderers, the deed was accomplished "nately and without unnecessary +fuss."' + +'I wonder,' said Mrs. Barton, 'what those wretches will have to do +before the Government will consent to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act, and +place the country in the hands of the military. Do they never think of +how wickedly they are behaving, and of how God will punish them when +they die? Do they never think of their immortal souls?' + +'_L'âme du paysan se vautre dans la boue comme la mienne se plaît dans +la soie_.' + +'_Dans la soie! dans la soie! oh, ce Milord, ce Milord!'_ + +'_Oui, madame_,' he added, lowering his voice, '_dans le blanc paradis +de votre corsage_.' + +Three days after life at Brookfield had resumed its ordinary course. +Once breakfast was over, Arthur retired to the consideration of the +pectoral muscles of the ancient Briton, Milord drank his glass of sherry +at half-past one, and Mrs. Barton devoted herself to the double task of +amusing him and encouraging Olive with visions of future fame. Alice was +therefore left definitely to herself, and without hindrance or comment +was allowed to set up her writing-table, and spend as much time as she +pleased in her bedroom. + +Several sheets of foolscap paper covered with large open handwriting lay +upon the table. Upon the first page, with a line ruled beneath it, stood +the title: 'The Diary of a Plain Girl--Notes and Sensations.' She had +just laid aside her pen and was waiting for Cecilia. + +'Oh, Alice darling, how are you? I am delighted--I am so delighted to +see you. Let me kiss you, let me see you; I have been longing for you +for weeks--for months.' + +Alice bent her face down, and then, holding each other's hands, the +girls stood looking through a deep and expressive silence into each +other's eyes. + +'I wish, Alice, I could tell you how glad I am to have you back: it +seems like heaven to see you again. You look so nice, so true, so sweet, +so perfect. There never was anyone so perfect as you, Alice.' + +'Cecilia dear, you shouldn't talk to me like that; it is absurd. Indeed, +I don't think it is quite right.' + +'Not quite right,' replied the cripple sadly; 'what do you mean? Why is +it wrong--why should it be wrong for me to love you?' + +'I don't mean to say that it is wrong; you misunderstand me; +but--but--well, I don't know how to explain myself, but--' + +'I know, I know, I know,' said Cecilia, and her nervous sensitivity +revealed thoughts in Alice's mind--thoughts of which Alice herself was +not distinctly conscious, just as a photograph exposes irregularities in +the texture of a leaf that the naked eye would not perceive. + +'If Harding were to speak to you so, you wouldn't think it wrong.' + +Alice's face flushed a little, and she said, with a certain resoluteness +in her voice, 'Cecilia, I wish you wouldn't talk to me in this way. You +give me great pain.' + +'I am sorry if I do, but I can't help it. I am jealous of the words that +are spoken to you, of the air you breathe, of the ground you walk upon. +How, then, can I help hating that man?' + +'I do not wish to argue this point with you, Cecilia, nor am I sure that +I understand it. There is no one I like better than you, dear, but that +we should be jealous of each other is absurd.' + +'For you perhaps, but not for me.' Cecilia looked at Alice +reproachfully, and at the end of a long and morose silence she said: + +'You received the long letter I wrote to you about him?' + +'Yes, Cecilia, and I answered it. It seems to me very foolish to +pronounce condemnatory opinion on the whole world; and particularly for +you who have seen so little of it.' + +'That doesn't matter. People are blinded by their passions; but when +these have worn themselves out, they see the truth in all its horrible +nakedness. One of these days you'll tell me that I am right. You have +been a good deal in the world lately; tell me if you have found it +beautiful. You didn't believe me when I told you that men were vile and +abominable; you said there were good men in the world, that you were +sure of it. Have you found them? Was Mr. Harding so very perfect?' + +Alice coloured again; she hesitated, and in the silence Cecilia again +divined her friend's thoughts. + +'A very poor ideal indeed, it seems to me that you set yourself--to make +the best of this wretched world.' + +'I cannot understand what good can come of craving after the +unattainable,' said Alice, looking earnestly out of her grey sharp eyes. + +'True beauty lies only in the unattainable,' said Cecilia, lifting her +eyes with that curious movement of the eyeball by which painters +represent faith and mysticism. + +At the end of a long silence, Alice said: + +'But you'll have some tea, will you not, Cecilia?' + +'Yes; but don't let us go downstairs.' + +'We'll have it up here; Barnes will bring it up.' + +'Oh, that will be so nice.' + +The girls drew closer to the fire, and in its uniting warmth they looked +into the ardent face of their friendship, talking, at first, conscious +of the appropriateness of their conversation; but soon forgetful of the +more serious themes they had been discussing, questions were asked and +answered, and comments passed, upon the presentations, the dresses, the +crowds, upon all their acquaintances. + +'It is given out, Alice dear, that Lord Kilcarney is coming down to stay +at Brookfield. Is it true?' + +'I have heard nothing of it. Whom did you hear it from?' + +'Well, the Duffys wrote it to my sisters. The Duffys, you know, have all +the Dublin news.' + +'What dreadful gossips they are! And the wonderful part of it is that +they often tell you that things have happened long before they do +happen.' + +'Yes; I have noticed that. They anticipate the news.' + +The girls laughed lightly, and Cecilia continued: + +'But tell me, which do you think he admires most, Olive or Violet? The +rumour goes that he pays Violet great attentions. The family is, of +course, wild about it. She hasn't a penny piece, and Olive, they say, +has a good deal of money.' + +'I don't know.' + +'You must show me the dress you wore. You described it beautifully in +your letter. You must have looked very sweet. Did everybody say so?' + +'I am not sure that they did. Men, you know, do not always admire what +women do.' + +'I should think not. Men only admire beastliness.' + +'Cecilia dear, you shouldn't talk like that; it isn't nice.' + +Cecilia looked at Alice wistfully, and she said: + +'But tell me about the presentations. I suppose there were an immense +number of people present?' + +'Yes, and particularly _débutantes_; there were a great number presented +this year. It was considered a large Drawing-Room.' + +'And how are you presented? I've heard my sister speak about it, but I +never quite understood.' + +At that moment Barnes brought in the tea. She set it on a little table +used for the purpose. + +'There is a letter for you, miss, on the tray,' she said as she left the +room; 'it came by the afternoon post.' + +Without answering, Alice continued to pour out the tea, but when she +handed Cecilia her cup, she said, surprised at the dull, sullen stare +fixed upon her: + +'What is the matter? Why do you look at me like that?' + +'That letter, I am sure, is from Harding; it is a man's handwriting.' + +She had been expecting that letter for days. + +'Oh! give it me,' she said impulsively. + +'There it is; I wouldn't touch it. I knew you liked that man; but I +didn't expect to find you corresponding with him. It is shameful; it +isn't worthy of you. You might have left such things to May Gould.' + +'Cecilia, you have no right to speak to me in that way; you are +presuming too much on our friendship.' + +'Oh, yes, yes; but before you met him I could not presume too much upon +our friendship.' + +'If you want to know why I wrote to Mr. Harding, I'll tell you.' + +'It was you who wrote to him, then?' + +'Yes, I wrote to him.' + +'Oh, yes, yes, yes; I see it all now,' cried Cecilia, and she walked +wildly to and fro, her eye tinged with a strange glare. 'Yes, I see it +all. This room, that was once a girl's room, is now Harding's room. He +is the atmosphere of the place. I was conscious of it when I entered, +but now it is visible to me--that manuscript, that writing-table, that +letter. Oh yes, it is Harding, all is Harding!' + +'Cecilia, Cecilia, think, I beg of you, of what you are saying.' + +But when Alice approached and strove to raise her from the pillow upon +which she had thrown herself, she started up and savagely confronted +her. + +'Don't touch me, don't touch me!' she cried. 'I cannot bear it. What are +you to me, what am I to you? It is not with me you would care to be, but +with _him_. It is not my kiss of friendship that would console you, but +his kiss of passion that would charm you. . . . Go to him, and leave me to +die.' + +'Was this insanity?' And then, forgetful of the abuse that was being +showered upon her, Alice said: + +'Cecilia dear, listen; I'll forgive the language you have used toward +me, for I know you do not know what you are saying. You must be ill . . . +you cannot be in your right senses to-day, or you would not speak like +that.' + +'You would soothe me, but you little dream of the poison you are +dropping on my wounds. You never understood, you are too far removed +from me in thought and feeling ever to understand--no, your spirituality +is only a delusion; you are no better at heart than May Gould. It is the +same thing: one seeks a husband, another gratifies herself with a lover. +It is the same thing--where's the difference? It is animal passion all +the same. And that letter is full of it--it must be--I am sure it is.' + +'You are very insulting, Cecilia. Where have you thrown my letter?' + +The letter had fallen beneath the table. Alice made a movement towards +it, but, overcome by mad rage, Cecilia caught it up and threw it into +the fire. Alice rescued her letter, and then, her face full of stern +indignation, she said: + +'I think, Cecilia, you had better leave my room, and before you come to +see me again, I shall expect to receive a written apology for the +outrageous way you have behaved.' + +In a few days came a humble and penitent letter; Cecilia returned, her +eyes full of tears, and begged to be forgiven; the girls resumed their +friendship, but both were conscious that it was neither so bright nor so +communicative as in the olden days. + + + + +XXII + + +'Something has happened to my learned daughter,' said Mr. Barton, and he +continued his thumb-nail sketch on the tablecloth. 'What is it?' he +added indolently. + +Alice passed the cheque and the memorandum across the table. 'Three +pounds for three articles contributed to the ---- during the month of +April.' + +'You don't mean to say, Alice, you got three pounds for your writing?' +said Mrs. Barton. + +'Yes, mother, I have, and I hope to make ten pounds next month. Mr. +Harding says he can get me lots of work.' + +'So my lady then, with all her shy ways, knows how to make use of a man +as well as any of us.' + +Mrs. Barton did not willingly wound. She saw life from the point of view +of making use of men, that was all; and when Alice walked out of the +room, Mrs. Barton felt sorry for what she had said, and she would have +gone to comfort her daughter if Olive had not, at that moment, stood in +imminent need of comfort. + +'I suppose,' she said pettishly, 'the letter you received this morning +is from the Marquis, to say he won't be here next Tuesday?' + +It was. For as the day fixed for his arrival at Brookfield approached, +he would write to apologize, and to beg that he might be allowed to +postpone his visit to Monday week or Wednesday fortnight. Mrs. Barton +replied that they would be very glad to see him when he found it +convenient to come and see them. She did not inquire into the reason of +his rudeness, she was determined to fight the battle out to the end, and +she did not dare to think that he was being prompted by that beast of a +girl, Violet Scully. + +'He writes a very nice letter indeed. He says he has a very bad cold, +and doesn't like to show himself at Brookfield with a red nose, but +that, unless he dies in the meantime, he will be with us on the +twentieth of the month, and will--if we'll have him--stop three weeks +with us.' + +'I knew the letter was a put-off. I don't believe he admires me at all, +the little beast; and I know I shall never be a marchioness. You made me +treat poor Edward shamefully, and for no purpose, after all.' + +'Now, Olive, you mustn't speak like that. Go upstairs and ask Barnes if +she has heard anything lately?' + +'Oh, I'm sick of Barnes; what has she heard?' + +'She is a great friend of Lady Georgina's maid, who knows the Burkes +intimately, particularly Lady Emily's maid, and Barnes got a letter from +her friend the other day, saying that Lady Emily was delighted at the +idea of her brother marrying you, dear, and that he thinks of nobody +else, speaks of nobody else. Run up and speak to her about it.' + +As we have seen, Mrs. Barton had drugged Olive's light brain with +visions of victories, with dancing, dresses, admiration; but now, in the +tiring void of country days, memories of Edward's love and devotion were +certain to arise. He made, however, no attempt to renew his courtship. +At Gort, within three miles, he remained silent, immovable as one of the +Clare mountains. Sometimes his brown-gold moustache and square shoulders +were caught sight of as he rode rapidly along the roads. He had once +been seen sitting with Mrs. Lawler behind the famous cream-coloured +ponies; and to allude to his disgraceful conduct without wounding +Olive's vanity was an art that Mrs. Barton practised daily; and to keep +the girl in spirits she induced Sir Charles, who it was reported was +about to emigrate his family to the wilds of Maratoga, to come and stay +with them. If a rumour were to reach the Marquis's ears, it might help +to bring him to the point. In any case Sir Charles's attentions to Olive +would keep her in humour until the great day arrived. + +Well convinced that this was her last throw, Mrs. Barton resolved to +smear the hook well with the three famous baits she was accustomed to +angle with. They were--dinners, flattery, and dancing. Accordingly, an +order was given to the Dublin fishmonger to send them fish daily for the +next three weeks, and to the pastrycook for a French cook. The store of +flattery kept on the premises being illimitable, she did not trouble +about that, but devoted herself to the solution of the problem of how +she should obtain a constant and unfailing supply of music. Once she +thought of sending up to Dublin for a professional pianist, but was +obliged to abandon the idea on account of the impossibility of devising +suitable employment for him during the morning hours. A tune or two +might not come in amiss after lunch, but to have him hanging about the +shrubberies all the morning would be intolerable. She might ask a couple +of the Brennans or the Duffys to stay with them, but they would be in +the way, and occupy the Marquis's time, and go tell-taling all over the +country; no, that wouldn't do either. Alice's playing was wretched. It +was a wonderful thing that a girl like her would not make some effort to +amuse men--would not do something. Once Olive was married, she (Mrs. +Barton) would try to patch up something for this gawk of a girl--marry +her to Sir Charles; excellent match it would be, too--get all the +children emigrated first: and if he would not have her, there was Sir +Richard. It was said that he was quite reformed--had given up drink. But +there was no use thinking of that: for the present she would have to put +up with the girl's music, which was wretched. + +Olive fell in with her mother's plans, and she angled industriously for +Lord Kilcarney. She did not fail to say in or out of season, '_Il n'y a +personne comme notre cher Marquis_,' and as the turbot and fruit, that +had arrived by the afternoon train from Dublin, were discussed, Milord +did not cease to make the most appropriate remarks. Referring to the +bouquet that she had pinned into the Marquis's buttonhole, he said: + +'_Il y a des amants partout où il y a des oiseaux et des roses_.' And +again: '_Les regardes des amoureux sont la lumière comme le baiser est +la vie du monde_.' + +After dinner no time was lost, although the Marquis pleaded fatigue, in +settling Alice at the piano, and dancing began in sober earnest. After +each waltz Olive conducted him to the dining-room; she helped him +liberally to wine, and when she held a match to his cigarette their +fingers touched. But to find occupation for the long morning hours of +her young couple was a grave trouble to Mrs. Barton. She was determined +to make every moment of the little Marquis's stay in Galway moments of +sunshine; but mental no more than atmospheric sunshine is to be had by +the willing, and the poor little fellow seemed to pine in his Galway +cage like a moulting canary. He submitted to all the efforts made in his +behalf, but his submission was that of a victim. After breakfast he +always attempted to escape, and if he succeeded in eluding Mrs. Barton, +he would remain for hours hidden in the laurels, enwrapped in summer +meditations, the nature of which it was impossible even to conjecture. +In the afternoon he spoke of the burden of his correspondence, and when +the inevitable dancing was spoken of, he often excused himself on the +ground of having a long letter to finish. If it were impossible for her +to learn the contents of these letters, Mrs. Barton ardently desired to +know to whom they were addressed. Daily she volunteered to send special +messengers to the post on his account; the footman, the coachman, and +pony-chaise, were in turn rejected by him. + +'Thank you, Mrs. Barton, thank you, but I should like to avail myself of +the chance of a constitutional.' + +'_La santé de notre petit Marquis avant tout_,' she would exclaim, with +much silvery laughter and all the habitual movements of the white hands. +'But what do you say: I am sure the young ladies would like a walk, +too?' + +With a view to picturesque effect Mrs. Barton's thoughts had long been +centred on a picnic. They were now within a few days of the first of +May, and there was enough sunshine in the air to justify an excursion to +Kinvarra Castle. It is about four miles distant, at the end of a long +narrow bay. + +Mrs. Barton applied herself diligently to the task of organization. +Having heard from Dublin of the hoax that was being played on their +enemy, the Ladies Cullen consented to join the party, and they brought +with them one of the Honourable Miss Gores. The Duffys and Brennans +numbered their full strength, including even the famous Bertha, who was +staying with her sisters on a visit. The Goulds excused themselves on +account of the distance and the disturbed state of the country. Mrs. +Barton found, therefore, much difficulty in maintaining the noted +characteristic of her parties. Sir Richard and Sir Charles had agreed to +come; Mr. Adair, Mr. Ryan, and Mr. Lynch were also present. They drove +up on outside cars, and were all attended by a bodyguard of policemen. + +And very soon everybody fell to babbling of the history of the Castle, +which nobody knew: Ireland has had few chroniclers. Lord Dungory pointed +out that in the seventeenth century people lived in Ireland +naked--speaking Latin habitually--without furniture or tapestries or +paintings or baths. The Castle suggested a military movement to Mr. +Barton. + +'If things get any worse, we might all retire into this castle. The +ladies will stand on the battlements, and I will undertake to hold the +place for ever against those village ruffians.' + +'I do not think there will be any necessity for that,' replied Mr. Adair +sententiously. 'I think that these last terrible outrages have awakened +the Government to a sense of their responsibility. I have reason to +believe that immediate steps will be taken to crush this infamous +conspiracy.' + +Lord Dungory interposed with a neat epigram, and Mr. Adair fell to +telling how he would crush the Land League out of existence if the +Government would place him in supreme power for the space of one month. + +'That is all I would ask: one month to restore this island to peace and +prosperity. I have always been a Liberal, but I confess that I entirely +fail to understand the action the Government are taking in the present +crisis.' + +As Lord Dungory was about to reply that he did not believe that the +peasants could continue to resist the Government indefinitely, the +police-sergeant in charge of the picnic-party approached, his face +overcast. + +'We've just received bad news from Dublin, my lord. The worst. Lord +Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke were murdered this evening in the +Phoenix Park. It is unfortunately true, sir; I've the telegram with me.' +And he handed the yellow envelope to Lord Dungory, who, after glancing +at it, handed it on to Mr. Adair. + +The appearance of the police in conversation with Lord Dungory and Mr. +Adair was a sign for the assembling of the rest of the company, and it +was under the walls of old Kinvarra Castle that the picnic-party heard +the awful news. + +Then, in turn, each ejaculated a few words. + +Mrs. Barton said: 'It is dreadful to think there are such wicked people +in the world.' + +Mr. Adair said: 'There can be no doubt but that we have arrived at the +crisis; Europe will ring with the echoes of the crime.' + +Olive said: 'I think they ought to hang Mr. Parnell; I believe it was he +who drove the car.' + +Mr. Barton said: 'The landlords and Land-Leaguers will have to do what I +say; they will have to fight it out. Now, at their head, I believe by a +series of rapid marches--' + +'Arthur, Arthur, I beg of you,' exclaimed Mrs. Barton. + +'We shall all have to emigrate,' Sir Charles murmured reflectively. + +'The law is in abeyance,' said Mr. Lynch. + +'Precisely,' replied Milord; 'and as I once said to Lord Granville, +"_Les moeurs sont les hommes, mais la loi est la raison du pays_."' + +Mr. Adair looked up; he seemed about to contest the truth of this +aphorism, but he relapsed into his consideration of Mr. Gladstone's +political integrity. The conversation had fallen, but at the end of a +long silence Mr. Ryan said: + +'Begorra, I am very glad they were murthered.' + +All drew back instinctively. This was too horrible, and doubt of Mr. +Ryan's sanity was expressed on every face. + +At last Mr. Adair said, conscious that he was expressing the feelings of +the entire company: 'What do you mean, sir? Have you gone mad? Do you +not know that this is no fitting time for buffoonery?' + +'Will ye hear me cousin out?' said Mr. Lynch. + +'Begorra, I'm glad they were murthered,' continued Mr. Ryan; 'for if +they hadn't been we'd have been--there's the long and the short of it. I +know the counthry well, and I know that in six months more, without a +proper Coercion Act, we'd have been burned in our beds.' + +The unanswerableness of Mr. Ryan's words, and the implacable certainty +which forced itself into every heart, that he spoke but the truth, did +not, however, make the company less inclined to oppose the utilitarian +view he took of the tragedy. + +Unfinished phrases . . . 'Disgraceful' . . . 'Shocking' . . . +'Inconceivable' . . . 'That anyone should say such a thing' . . . were +passed round, and a disposition was shown to boycott Mr. Ryan. + +Mr. Adair spoke of not sitting in the room where such opinions were +expressed, but Milord was seen whispering to him, 'We're not in a room, +Adair, we're out of doors;' and Mrs. Barton, always anxious to calm +troubled lives, suggested that 'people did not mean all they said.' Mr. +Ryan, however, maintained through it all an attitude of stolid +indifference, the indifference of a man who knows that all must come +back sooner or later to his views. + +And presently, although the sting remained, the memory of the wasp that +had stung seemed to be lost. Milord and Mr. Adair engaged in a long and +learned discussion concerning the principles of Liberalism, in the +course of which many allusions were made to the new Coercion Bill, +which, it was now agreed, Mr. Gladstone would, in a few days, lay before +Parliament. The provisions of this Bill were debated. Milord spoke of an +Act that had been in force consequent on the Fenian rising in '69. Mr. +Adair was of opinion that the importance of a new Coercion Act could not +be over-estimated; Mr. Barton declared in favour of a military +expedition--a rapid dash into the heart of Connemara. But the +conversation languished, and in the ever-lengthening silences all found +their thoughts reverting to the idea brutally expressed by Mr. Ryan: +_Yes, they were glad; for if Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke had +not been assassinated, every landowner in the country would have been +murdered._ + +There was no dancing that evening; and as the night advanced the danger +of the long drive home increased in intensity in the minds of Messrs. +Lynch and Ryan. They sat on either side of Mr. Adair, and it was finally +arranged that they should join their police-forces, and spend the night +at his place. Sir Charles was sleeping at Brookfield; Milord had four +policemen with him; and as all would have to pass his gate, he did not +anticipate that even the Land League would venture to attack thirteen +armed men. Mr. Barton, who saw the picturesque in everything, declared, +when he came back, that they looked like a caravan starting for a +pilgrimage across the desert. After a few further remarks, the ladies +rose to retire; but when Mrs. Barton gave her hand to Lord Kilcarney, he +said, his voice trembling a little: + +'I'm afraid I must leave you to-morrow, Mrs. Barton. I shall have to run +over to London to vote in the House of Lords. . .' + +Mrs. Barton led the poor little man into the farther corner of the room, +and making a place for him by her side, she said: + +'Of course we are very sorry you are leaving--we should like you to stop +a little longer with us. Is it impossible for you. . . ?' + +'I am afraid so, Mrs. Barton; it is very kind of you, but--' + +'It is a great pity,' she answered; 'but before we part I should like to +know if you have come to any conclusion about what I spoke to you of in +Dublin. If it is not to be, I should like to know, that I might tell the +girl, so that she might not think anything more about--' + +'What am I to say, what am I to do?' thought the Marquis. 'Oh! why does +this woman worry me? How can I tell her that I wouldn't marry her +daughter for tens of thousands of pounds?' 'I think, Mrs. Barton--I +mean, I think you will agree with me that until affairs in Ireland grow +more settled, it would be impossible for anyone to enter into any +engagements whatever. We are all on the brink of ruin.' + +'But twenty thousand pounds would settle a great deal.' + +The little Marquis was conscious of annihilation, and he sought to +escape Mrs. Barton as he might a piece of falling rock. With a desperate +effort he said: + +'Yes, Mrs. Barton--yes, I agree with you, twenty thousand pounds is a +great deal of money; but I think we had better wait until the Lords have +passed the new Coercion Bill--say nothing more about this--leave it an +open question.' + +And on this eminently unsatisfactory answer the matter ended; even Mrs. +Barton saw she could not, at least for the present, continue to press +it. Still she did not give up hope. 'Try on to the end; we never know +that it is not the last little effort that will win the game,' was the +aphorism with which she consoled her daughter, and induced her to write +to Lord Kilcarney. And almost daily he received from her flowers, +supposed to be emblematical of the feeling she entertained for him; and +for these Alice was sometimes ordered to compose verses and suitable +mottoes. + + + + +XXIII + + +But Lord Kilcarney's replies to these letters seldom consisted of more +than a few well-chosen words, and he often allowed a week, and sometimes +a fortnight, to elapse before answering at all. Olive--too vain and +silly to understand the indifference with which she was treated--whined +and fretted less than might have been expected. She spent a great deal +of her time with Barnes, who fed her with scandal and flattery. But a +storm was about to break, and in August it was known, without any +possibility of a doubt, that the Marquis was engaged to Violet Scully, +and that their marriage was settled for the autumn. + +And this marriage, and the passing of the Bill for the Prevention of +Crime, were the two interests present in the mind of Irish landlordism +during the summer of '82. Immediately the former event was publicly +announced, every girl in Dublin ran to her writing desk to confirm to +her friends and relatives the truth of the news which for the last two +months she had so resolutely anticipated. The famous Bertha, the terror +of the _débutantes_, rushed to Brookfield, but she did not get there +before the Brennans, and the result was a meeting of these families of +girls in Mrs. Barton's drawing-room. Gladys was, however, the person +chosen by God and herself to speak the wonderful words: + +'Of course you have heard the news, Mrs. Barton?' + +'No,' replied Mrs. Barton, a little nervously; 'what is it?' + +'Oh yes, what is it?' exclaimed Olive. 'Anyone going to be married?' + +'Yes. Can you guess?' + +'No; tell me quick . . . no, do tell me. Are you going to be married?' + +Had Olive been suddenly dowered with the wit of Congreve she could not +have contrived an answer that would have shielded her better from the +dart that Gladys was preparing to hurl. The girl winced; and divining +the truth in a moment of inspiration, Mrs. Barton said: + +'Ah! I know; Lord Kilcarney is engaged to Violet Scully.' + +The situation was almost saved, and would have been had Olive not been +present. She glanced at her mother in astonishment; and Gladys, fearing +utter defeat, hurled her dart recklessly. + +'Yes,' she exclaimed, 'and their marriage is fixed for this autumn.' + +'I don't believe a word of it. . . . You only say so because you think it +will annoy me.' + +'My dear Olive, how can it annoy you? You know very well you refused +him,' said Mrs. Barton, risking the danger of contradiction. 'Gladys is +only telling us the news.' + +'News, indeed; a pack of lies. I know her well; and all because--because +she didn't succeed in hooking the man she was after in the Shelbourne +last year. I'm not going to listen to her lies, if you are;' and on +these words Olive flaunted passionately out of the room. + +'So very sorry, really,' exclaimed Zoe. 'We really didn't know . . . +indeed we didn't. We couldn't have known that--that there was any reason +why dear Olive wouldn't like to hear that Lord Kilcarney was engaged to +Violet.' + +'Not at all, not at all. I assure you that whatever question there may +once have been, I give you my word, was broken off a long time ago; they +did not suit each other at all,' said Mrs. Barton. Now that she was +relieved of the presence of her young, the mother fought admirably. But +in a few minutes the enemy was reinforced by the arrival of the Hon. +Miss Gores. + +'Oh, how do you do? I am so glad to see you,' said Mrs. Barton, the +moment they entered the room. 'Have you heard the news? all is +definitely settled between the little Marquis and Violet. We were all +talking of it; I am so glad for her sake. Of course it is very grand to +be a marchioness, but I'm afraid she'll find her coronet a poor +substitute for her dinner. You know what a state the property is in. She +has married a beggar. The great thing after all, nowadays, is money.' + +It would have been better perhaps not to have spoken of Lord Kilcarney's +mortgages, but the Marquis's money embarrassments were the weak point in +Violet's marriage, but it would not be natural (supposing that Olive had +herself refused Lord Kilcarney) for her not to speak of them. So she +prattled on gaily for nearly an hour, playing her part admirably, +extricating herself from a difficult position and casting some +doubt--only a little, it is true, but a little was a gain on the story +that Olive had been rejected. + +As soon as her visitors left the room, and she went to the window to +watch the carriages drive away and to consider how she might console her +daughter--persuade her, perhaps, that everything had happened for the +best. + +'Oh, mamma,' she said, rushing into the room, 'this is terrible; what +shall we do--what shall we do?' + +'What's terrible, my beautiful darling?' + +Olive looked through her languor and tears, and she answered petulantly: + +'Oh, you know very well I'm disgraced; he's going to marry Violet, and I +shall not be a marchioness after all.' + +'If my beautiful darling likes she can be a duchess,' replied Mrs. +Barton with a silvery laugh. + +'I don't understand, mamma.' + +'I mean that we aren't entirely dependent on that wretched little +Marquis with his encumbered property; if he were fool enough to let +himself be entrapped by that designing little beast, Violet Scully, so +much the worse for him; we shall get someone far grander than he. It is +never wise for a girl to settle herself off the first season she comes +out.' + +'It is all very well to say that now, but you made me break off with +dear Edward, who was ever so nice, and loved me dearly.' + +Mrs. Barton winced, but she answered almost immediately: + +'My dear, we shall get someone a great deal grander than that wretched +Marquis. There will be a whole crowd of English dukes and earls at the +Castle next year; men who haven't a mortgage on their property, and who +will all fight for the hand of my beautiful Olive. Mr. Harding, Alice's +friend, will put your portrait into one of the Society papers as the +Galway beauty, and then next year you may be her Grace.' + +'And how will they do my portrait, mamma?' + +'I think you look best, darling, with your hair done up on the top of +your head, in the French fashion.' + +'Oh! do you think so? You don't like the way I have it done in now?' +said the girl; and, laughing, she ran to the glass to admire herself. +'Barnes said I looked sweet this morning;' and five minutes after she +was tossing her head nervously, declaring she was miserable, and often +she burst out crying for no assignable cause. Mrs. Barton consoled and +flattered gaily; but the sweet placid countenance was sometimes a little +troubled. As the girls left the breakfast-room one morning she said, as +if asking their advice: + +'I have just received an invitation from Dungory Castle; they are giving +a tennis-party, and they want us to go to lunch.' + +'Oh! mamma, I don't want to go,' cried Olive. + +'And why, my dear?' + +'Oh! because everybody knows about the Marquis, and I couldn't bear +their sneers; those Brennans and the Duffys are sure to be there.' + +'Bertha's in Dublin,' said Mrs. Barton, in an intonation of voice a +little too expressive of relief. + +'Gladys is just as bad; and then there's that horrid Zoe. Oh! I couldn't +bear it.' + +'It will look as if we were avoiding them; they will only talk the more. +I always think it is best to put a bold face on everything.' + +'I couldn't, I couldn't. I'm broken-hearted, that's what I am. I have +nothing to do or to think of.' + +There could be little doubt that the Ladies Cullen had got up the +tennis-party so that they might have an opportunity of sneering at her, +but Milord would keep them in check (it might be as well to tell him to +threaten to put down the school if they did not keep a guard on their +tongues), and if Olive would only put a bold face on it and captivate +Sir Charles, this very disagreeable business might blow over. Further +than this Mrs. Barton's thoughts did not travel, but they were clear and +precise thoughts, and with much subtlety and insinuative force she +applied herself to the task of overcoming her daughter's weakness and +strengthening her in this overthrow of vanity and self-love. But to the +tennis-party they must go. Milord, too, was of opinion that they could +not absent themselves, and he had doubtless been able to arrive at a +very clear understanding with Lady Sarah and Lady Jane concerning the +future of Protestantism in the parish, for on the day of the +tennis-party no allusion was made to Lord Kilcarney's visit to +Brookfield; certain references to his marriage were, of course, +inevitable, but it was only necessary to question Mr. Adair on his views +concerning the new Coercion Act to secure for Mrs. Barton an almost +complete immunity from feminine sarcasm. + +'I do not deny,' said Mr. Adair, 'that the Crimes Bill will restore +tranquillity, but I confess that I can regard no Government as +satisfactory that can only govern by the sword.' + +These sentiments being but only very partially appreciated by the rest +of the company, the conversation came to an awkward pause, and Lady Jane +said as she left the room: + +'I do not know a more able man on a county board than Mr. Adair. He took +honours at Trinity, and if he hasn't done as much since as we expected, +it is because he is too honourable, too conscientious, to ally himself +to any particular party.' + +'That was always the way with Lord Dungory,' suggested Mrs. Gould. + +Lady Jane bit her lip, and continued, without taking notice of the +interruption: + +'Now, I hope Mr. Adair will not write a pamphlet, or express himself too +openly concerning the Crimes Act. The question of the day is the +organization of the Land Act, and I hear that Mr. Gladstone says it will +be impossible to get on without Mr. Adair's assistance.' + +'Every six months,' said Mrs. Gould, 'it is given out that Gladstone +cannot go on without him; but somehow Gladstone does manage to get on +without him, and then we never hear any more about it.' + +Lady Jane looked angry; and all wondered at Mrs. Gould's want of tact, +but at that moment the footman announced Messrs. Ryan and Lynch, and +Alice asked if she might go up to see Cecilia. More visitors arrived; +the Brennans, the Duffys, the five Honourable Miss Gores, and the +company adjourned to the tennis ground. Mr. Lynch was anxious to have +May for a partner, but she refused him somewhat pettishly, declaring at +the same time that she had given up tennis, and would never touch a +racquet again. Her continuous silence and dejected appearance created +some surprise, and her cheeks flushed with passion when her mother said +she didn't know what had come over May lately. Then obeying an impulse, +May rose to her feet, and leaving the tennis players she walked across +the pleasure grounds. Dungory Castle was surrounded by heavy woods and +overtopping clumps of trees. As the house was neared, these were filled +in with high laurel hedges and masses of rhododendron, and an opening in +the branches of some large beech-trees revealed a blue and beautiful +aspect of the Clare mountains. + +'I wonder what May is angry about?' Cecilia said to Alice as they +watched the tennis playing from their window; 'suppose those horrid men +are annoying her.' + +'I never saw her refuse to play tennis before,' Alice replied demurely. +And ten minutes after, some subtle desire of which she was not very +conscious led her through the shrubberies towards the place where she +already expected to find May. And dreaming of reconciliation, of a +renewal of friendship, Alice walked through the green summer of the +leaves, listening to the infinite twittering of the birds, and startled +by the wood-pigeons that from time to time rose boisterously out of the +high branches. On a garden bench, leaning forward, her hands rested on +her knees, May sat swinging her parasol from side to side, playing with +the fallen leaves. When she looked up, the sunlight fell full upon her +face, and Alice saw that she was crying. But affecting not to see the +tears, she said, speaking rapidly: + +'Oh, May dear, I have been looking for you. The last time we--' + +But interrupted here by a choking sob, she found herself forced to say: + +'My dear May, what is the matter? Can I do anything for you?' + +'Oh, no, no; only leave me; don't question me. I don't want anyone's +help.' + +The ungraciousness of the words was lost in the accent of grief with +which they were spoken. + +'I assure you I don't wish to be inquisitive,' Alice replied +sorrowfully, 'nor do I come to annoy you with good advice, but the last +time we met we didn't part good friends. . . . I was merely anxious to +assure you that I bore no ill-feeling, but, of course, if you--' + +'Oh no, no,' cried May; reaching and catching at Alice's arm she pulled +her down into the seat beside her; 'I am awfully sorry for my rudeness +to you--to you who are so good--so good. Oh, Alice dear, you will +forgive me, will you not?' and sobbing very helplessly, she threw +herself into her friend's arms. + +'Oh, of course I forgive you,' cried Alice, deeply affected. 'I had no +right to lecture you in the way I did; but I meant it for the best, +indeed I did.' + +'I know you did, but I lost my temper. Ah, if you knew how sorely I was +tried you would forgive me.' + +'I do forgive you, May dear; but tell me, cannot I help you now? You +know that you can confide in me, and I will do any thing in my power to +help you.' + +'No one can help me now,' said the girl sullenly. + +Alice did not speak at once, but at the end of a long silence she said: + +'Does Fred Scully love you no more?' + +'I do not know whether he does or not; nor does it matter much. He's not +in Ireland. He's far away by this time.' + +'Where is he?' + +'He's gone to Australia. He wrote to me about two months ago to say that +all had been decided in a few hours, and that he was to sail next +morning. He's gone out with some racehorses, and expects to win a lot of +money. He'll be back again in a year.' + +'A year isn't long to wait; you'll see him when he comes back.' + +'I don't think I should care to see him again. Oh, you were right, +Alice, to warn me against him. I was foolish not to listen to you, but +it was too late even then.' + +Alice trembled; she had already guessed the truth, but hoping when she +knew all hope was vain, she said: + +'You had better tell me, May; you know I am to be trusted.' + +'Can't you guess it?' + +The conversation fell, and the girls sat staring into the depths of the +wood. Involuntarily their eyes followed a small bird that ran up branch +after branch of a beech-tree, pecking as it went. It seemed like a toy +mouse, so quick and unvarying were its movements. At last May said, and +very dolorously: + +'Alice, I thought you were kinder; haven't you a word of pity? Why tell +you, why ask me to tell you? Oh! what a fool I was!' + +'Oh! no, no, May, you did right to tell me. I am more sorry for you than +words can express, and I didn't speak because I was trying to think of +some way of helping you.' + +'Oh! there's no--no way of helping me, dear. There's nothing for me to +do but to die.' And now giving way utterly, the girl buried her face in +her hands and sobbed until it seemed that she would choke in thick +grief. + +'Oh! May, May dear, you mustn't cry like that: if anyone were to come +by, what would they think?' + +'What does it matter? Everyone will know sooner or later--I wish I were +dead--dead and out of sight for ever of this miserable world.' + +'No, May,' said Alice, thinking instinctively of the child, 'you mustn't +die. Your trial is a terrible one, but people before now have got over +worse. I am trying to think what can be done.' + +Then May raised her weeping face, and there was a light of hope in her +eyes. She clasped Alice's hand. Neither spoke. The little brown bird +pursued his way up and down the branches of the beech; beyond it lay the +sky, and the girls, tense with little sufferings, yearned into this +vision of beautiful peace. + +At last Alice said: 'Did you tell Mr. Scully of the trouble? Does he +know--' + +'He was away, and I didn't like to write it to him; his departure for +Australia took me quite by surprise.' + +'Have you told your mother?' + +'Oh no, I'd rather die than tell her; I couldn't tell her. You know what +she is.' + +'I think she ought to be told; she would take you abroad.' + +'Oh no, Alice dear; it would never do to tell mamma. You know what she +is, you know how she talks, she would never leave off abusing the +Scullys; and then, I don't know how, but somehow everybody would get to +know about it. But find it out they will, sooner or later; it is only a +question of time.' + +'No, no, May, they shall know nothing of this--at least, not if I can +help it.' + +'But you can't help it.' + +'There is one thing quite certain; you must go away. You cannot stop in +Galway.' + +'It is all very well talking like that, but where can I go to? A girl +cannot move a yard away from home without people wanting to know where +she has gone.' + +Alice's eyes filled with tears. + +'You might go up to Dublin,' she said, 'and live in lodgings.' + +'And what excuse should I give to mother?' said May, who in her despair +had not courage to deny the possibility of the plan. + +'You needn't tell her where you are,' replied Alice; and then she +hesitated, feeling keenly conscious of the deception she was practising. +But her unswerving common sense coming, after a moment's reflection, to +her aid, she said: 'You might say that you were going to live in the +convent. Go to the Mother Superior, tell her of your need, beg of her, +persuade her to receive and forward your letters; and in that way, it +seems to me that no one need be the wiser of what is going to happen.' + +The last words were spoken slowly, as if with a sense of shame at being +forced to speak thus. May raised her face, now aflame with hope and joy. + +'I wonder if it is possible to--' A moment after the light died out of +her face, and she said: + +'But how shall I live? Who will support me? I cannot ask mother for +money without awakening suspicion.' + +'I think, May, I shall be able to give you almost all the money you +want,' replied Alice in a hesitating and slightly embarrassed manner. + +'You, Alice?' + +'But I haven't told you; I have been writing a good deal lately for +newspapers, and have made nearly twenty pounds. That will be all you +will want for the present, and I shall be able, I hope, to make +sufficient to keep you supplied.' + +'I don't think that anyone was ever as good as you, Alice. You make me +feel ashamed of myself.' + +'I am doing only what anyone else would do if they were called upon. But +we have been sitting here a long time now, and before we go back to the +tennis-ground we had better arrange what is to be done. When do you +propose leaving?' + +'I had better leave at once. It is seven months ago now--no one suspects +as yet.' + +'Well, then, when would you like me to send you the money? You can have +it at once if you like.' + +'Oh, thanks, dear; mother will give me enough to last me a little while, +and I will write to you from Dublin. You are sure no one sees your +letters at Brookfield?' + +'Quite sure; there's not the slightest danger.' She did not question the +advice she had given, and she felt sure that the Reverend Mother, if a +proper appeal were made to her common sense, would consent to conceal +the girl's fault. Two months would not be long passing, but the expenses +of this time would be heavy, and she, Alice, would have to meet them +all. She trembled lest she might fail to do so, and she tried to reckon +them up. It would be impossible to get rooms under a pound a week, and +to live, no matter how cheaply, would cost at least two pounds; three +pounds a week, four threes are twelve! The twenty pounds would scarcely +carry her over a month, she would not be well for at least two; and then +there was the doctor, the nurse, the flannels for the baby. Alice tried +to calculate, thinking plainly and honestly. If a repulsive detail rose +suddenly up in her mind, she did not shrink, nor was she surprised to +find herself thinking of such things; she did so as a matter of course, +keeping her thoughts fixed on the one object of doing her duty towards +her friend. And how to do this was the problem that presented itself +unceasingly for solution. She felt that somehow she would have to earn +twenty pounds within the next month. Out of the _Lady's Paper_, in which +'Notes and Sensations of a Plain Girl at Dublin Castle,' was still +running, she could not hope to make more than thirty shillings a week; a +magazine had lately accepted a ten-page story worth, she fancied, about +five pounds, but when they would print it and pay her was impossible to +say. She could write the editor an imploring letter, asking him to +advance her the money. But even then there was another nine pounds to +make up. And to do this seemed to her an impossibility. She could not +ask her father or mother; she would only do so if the worst came to the +worst. She would write paragraphs, articles, short stories, and would +send them to every editor in London. One out of three might turn up +trumps. + + + 'GARDNER STREET, + 'MOUNTJOY SQUARE. +'DARLING ALICE, +'I have been in Dublin now more than a week. I did not write to you +before because I wished to write to tell you that I had done all you +told me to do. The first thing I did was to go to the convent. Would you +believe it, the new Rev. Mother is Sister Mary who we knew so well at +St. Leonards! She has been transferred to the branch convent in Dublin; +she was delighted to see me, but the sight of her dear face awoke so +many memories, so many old associations, that I burst out crying, and it +seemed to me impossible that I should ever be able to find courage to +tell her the truth. None will ever know what it cost me to speak the +words. They came to me all of a sudden, and I told her everything. I +thought she would reproach me and speak bitterly, but she only said, "My +poor child, I am sorry you hadn't strength to resist temptation; your +trial is a dreadful one." She was very, very kind. Her face lighted up +when I spoke of you, and she said: "Sweet girl; she was always an angel; +one of these days she will come back to us. She is too good for the +world." Then I insisted that it was your idea that I should seek help +from the convent, but she said that it was my duty to go to my mother +and tell her the whole truth. Oh, my darling Alice, I cannot tell you +what a terrible time I went through. We were talking for at least two +hours, and it was only with immense difficulty that I at last succeeded +in making her understand what kind of person poor mamma is, and how +hopeless it would be to expect her to keep any secret, even if her +daughter's honour was in question. I told her how she would run about, +talking in her mild unmeaning way of "poor May and that shameful Mr. +Scully;" and, at last, the Rev. Mother, as you prophesied she would, saw +the matter in its proper light, and she has consented to receive all my +letters, and if mother writes, to give her to understand that I am safe +within the convent walls. It is very good of her, for I know the awful +risk she is wilfully incurring so as to help me out of my trouble. + +'The house I am staying in is nice enough, and the landlady seems a kind +woman. The name I go by is Mrs. Brandon (you will not forget to direct +your letters so), and I said that my husband was an officer, and had +gone out to join his regiment in India. I have a comfortable bedroom on +the third floor. There are two windows, and they look out on the street. +The time seems as if it would never pass; the twelve hours of the day +seem like twelve centuries. I have not even a book to read, and I never +go out for fear of being seen. In the evening I put on a thick veil and +go for a walk in the back streets. But I cannot go out before nine; it +is not dark till then, and I cannot stop out later than ten on account +of the men who speak to you. My coloured hair makes me look fast, and I +am so afraid of meeting someone I know, that this short hour is as full +of misery as those that preceded it. Every passer-by seems to know me, +to recognize me, and I cannot help imagining that he or she will be +telling my unfortunate story half an hour after in the pitiless +drawing-rooms of Merrion Square. Oh, Alice darling, you are the only +friend I have in the world. If it were not for you, I believe I should +drown myself in the Liffey. No girl was ever so miserable as I. I cannot +tell you how I feel, and you cannot imagine how forlorn it all is; and I +am so ill. I am always hungry, and always sick, and always longing. Oh, +these longings; you may think they are nothing, but they are dreadful. +You remember how active I used to be, how I used to run about the +tennis-court; now I can scarcely crawl. And the strange sickening +fancies: I see things in the shops that tempt me, sometimes it is a dry +biscuit, sometimes a basket of strawberries; but whatever it is, I stand +and look at it, long for it, until weary of longing and standing with a +sort of weight weighing me down, and my stays all rucking up to my neck, +I crawl home. There I am all alone; and I sit in the dark, on a wretched +hard chair by the window; and I cry; and I watch the summer night and +all the golden stars, and I cannot say what I think of during all these +long and lonely hours; I only know that I cannot find energy to go to +bed. And I never sleep a whole night through; the cramp comes on so +terribly that I jump up screaming. Oh, Alice, how I hate _him!_ When I +think of it all I see how selfish men are; they never think of us--they +only think of themselves. You would scarcely know me if you saw me now; +all my complexion--you know what a pretty complexion it was--is all red +and mottled. When you saw me a fortnight ago I was all right: it is +extraordinary what a change has come about. I think it was the journey +and the excitement; there would be no concealing the truth now. It is +lucky I left Galway when I did. + +'Mother gave me five pounds on leaving home. My ticket cost nearly +thirty shillings, a pound went in cabs and hotel expenses, and my +breakfasts brought my bill up yesterday to two pounds--I cannot think +how, for I only pay sixteen shillings for my room--and when it was paid +I had only a few shillings left. Will you, therefore, send the money you +promised, if possible, by return of post? + 'Always affectionately yours, + 'MAY GOULD.' + + +The tears started to Alice's eyes as she read the letter. She did not +consider if May might have spared her the physical details with which +her letter abounded; she did not stay to think of the cause, of the +result; for the moment she was numb to ideas and sensations that were +not those of humble human pity for humble human suffering: like the +waters of a new baptism, pity made her pure and whole, and the false +shame of an ancient world fell from her. Leaning her head on her strong, +well-shaped hand, she set to arranging her little plans for her friend's +help--plans that were charming for their simplicity, their sweet +homeliness. The letter she had just read had come by the afternoon post, +and if she were to send May the money she wrote for that evening, it +would be necessary to go into Gort to register the letter. Gort was two +miles away; and if she asked for the carriage her mother might propose +that the letters should be sent in by a special messenger. This of +course was impossible, and Alice, for the first time in her life found +herself obliged to tell a deliberate lie. For a moment her conscience +stood at bay, but she accepted the inevitable and told her mother that +she had some MSS. to register, and did not care to entrust them to other +hands. It was a consolation to know that eighteen pounds were safely +despatched, but she was bitterly unhappy, and the fear that money might +be wanting in the last and most terrible hours bound her to her desk as +with a chain; and when her tired and exhausted brain ceased to formulate +phrases, the picture of the lonely room, the night walks, and the +suffering of the jaded girl, stared her in the face with a terrible +distinctness. Her only moments of gladness were when the post brought a +cheque from London. Sometimes they were for a pound, sometimes for +fifteen shillings. Once she received five pounds ten--it was for her +story. On the 10th of September she received the following letter: + + +'DARLING ALICE, +'Thanks a thousand times for your last letter, and the money enclosed. +It came in the nick of time, for I was run almost to my last penny. I +did not write before, because I didn't feel in the humour to do +anything. Thank goodness! I'm not sick any more, though I don't know +that it isn't counterbalanced by the dreadful faintness and the constant +movement. Isn't it awful to sit here day after day, watching myself, and +knowing the only relief I shall get will be after such terrible pain? I +woke up last night crying with the terror of it. Cervassi says there are +cases on record of painless confinements, and in my best moods I think +mine is to be one of them. I know it is wrong to write all these things +to a good girl like you, but I think talking about it is part of the +complaint, and poor sinner me has no one to talk to. Do you remember my +old black cashmere? I've been altering it till there's hardly a bit of +the original body left; but now the skirt is adding to my troubles by +getting shorter and shorter in front. It is now quite six inches off the +ground, and instead of fastening it I have to pin the placket-hole, and +then it falls nearly right. . . . Only three weeks longer, and then. . . +But there, I won't look forward, because I know I am going to die, and +all the accounting for it, and everything else, will be on your +shoulders. Good-bye, dear; I shan't write again, at least not till +afterwards. And if there is an afterward, I shall never be able to thank +you properly; but still I think it will be a weight off you. Is it so, +dear? Do you wish I were dead? I know you don't. It was unkind to write +that last line; I will scratch it out. You will not be angry, dear. I am +too wretched to know what I am writing, and I want to lie down. + 'Always affectionately yours, + 'MAY GOULD.' + + +Outside the air was limpid with sunlight, and the newly mown meadow was +golden in the light of evening. The autumn-coloured foliage of the +chestnuts lay mysteriously rich and still, harmonizing in measured tones +with the ruddy tints of the dim September sunset. The country dozed as +if satiated with summer love. Heavy scents were abroad--the pungent +odours of the aftermath. A high baritone voice broke the languid +silence, and, in embroidered smoking-jacket and cap, Mr. Barton twanged +his guitar. Milord had been thrown down amid the hay; and Mrs. Barton +and Olive were showering it upon him. The old gentleman's legs were in +the air. + +Crushing the letter, Alice's hands fell on the table; she burst into +tears. But work was more vital than tears; and, taking up her pen, she +continued her story--penny journal fiction of true love and unending +happiness in the end. A month later she received this note: + + +'DEAREST, +'Just a line in pencil--I mustn't sit up--to tell you it is all over, +and all I said was "Thank God, thank God!" over and over again, as each +pain went. It is such a relief; but I mustn't write much. It is such a +funny screwed-up-looking baby, and I don't feel any of those maternal +sentiments that you read about--at least not yet. And it always cries +just when I am longing to go to sleep. Thank you again and again for all +you have done for me and been to me. I feel awfully weak. + 'Always affectionately yours, + 'MAY GOULD.' + + + + +XXIV + + +Then Alice heard that the baby was dead, and that a little money would +be required to bury it. Another effort was made, the money was sent; and +the calm of the succeeding weeks was only disturbed by an uneasy desire +to see May back in Galway, and hear her say that her terrible secret was +over and done with for ever. One day she was startled by a quick +trampling of feet in the corridor, and May rushed into the room. She +threw herself into Alice's arms and kissed her with effusion, with +tears. The girls looked at each other long and nervously. One was pale +and over-worn, her spare figure was buttoned into a faded dress, and her +hair was rolled into a plain knot. The other was superb with health, and +her face was full of rose-bloom. She was handsomely dressed in green +velvet, and her copper hair flamed and flashed beneath a small bonnet +with mauve strings. + +'Oh, Alice, how tired and pale you look! You have been working too hard, +and all for me! How can I thank you? I shall never be able to thank +you--I cannot find words to tell you how grateful I am--but I am +grateful, Alice, indeed I am.' + +'I am sure you are, dear. I did my best for you, it is true; and thank +heaven I succeeded, and no one knows--I do not think that anyone even +suspects.' + +'No, not a soul. We managed it very well, didn't we? And the Reverend +Mother behaved splendidly--she just took the view that you said she +would. She saw that no good would come of telling mamma about me when I +made her understand that if a word were said my misfortune would be +belled all over the country in double-quick time. But, Alice dear, I had +a terrible time of it, two months waiting in that little lodging, afraid +to go out for fear someone would recognize me; it was awful. And often I +hadn't enough to eat, for when you are in that state you can't eat +everything, and I was afraid to spend any money. You did your best to +keep me supplied, dear, good guardian angel that you are.' Then the +impulsive girl flung herself on Alice's shoulders, and kissed her. 'But +there were times when I was hard up--oh, much more hard up than you +thought I was, for I didn't tell you everything; if I had, you would +have worried yourself into your grave. Oh, I had a frightful time of it! +If one is married one is petted and consoled and encouraged; but alone +in a lodging--oh, it was frightful.' + +'And what about the poor baby?' said Alice. + +'The poor little thing died, as I wrote you, about ten days after it was +born. I nursed it, and I was sorry for it. I really was; but of course +. . . well, it seems a hard thing to say, but I don't know what I should +have done with it if it had lived. Life isn't so happy, is it, even +under the best of circumstances?' + +The conversation came to a sudden close. At last the nervous silence +that intervened was broken by May: + +'We were speaking about money. I will repay you all I owe you some day, +Alice dear. I will save up all the money I can get out of mother. She is +such a dear old thing, but I cannot understand her. Not a penny did she +send me for the first six weeks, and then she sent me £25; and it was +lucky she did, for the doctor's bill was something tremendous. And I +bought this dress and bonnet with what was left . . . I ought to have +repaid you first thing, but I forgot it until I had ordered the dress.' + +'I assure you it does not matter, May; I shall never take the money from +you. If I did, it would take away all the pleasure I have had in serving +you.' + +'Oh, but I will insist, Alice dear; I could not think of such a thing. +But there's no use in discussing that point until I get the money. . . . +Tell me, what do you think of my bonnet?' + +'I think it very nice indeed, and I never saw you looking better.' + +And thus ended May Gould's Dublin adventure. It was scarcely spoken of +again, and when they met at a ball given by the officers stationed in +Galway, Alice was astonished to find that she experienced no antipathy +whatever towards this rich-blooded young person. 'My dear guardian +angel, come and sit with me in this corner; I'd sooner talk to you than +anyone--we won't go down yet a while--we'll make the men wait;' and when +she put her arms round Alice's waist and told her the last news of +Violet and her Marquis, Alice abandoned herself to the caress and heard +that thirty years ago the late Marquis had entered a grocer's shop in +Galway to buy a pound of tea for an importuning beggar: 'And what do you +think, my dear?--It was Mrs. Scully who served it out to him; and do you +know what they are saying?--that it is all your fault that Olive did not +marry Kilcarney.' + +'My fault?' + +'Your fault, because you gave the part of the beggar-maid to Violet, and +if Olive had played the beggar-maid and hadn't married Kilcarney, the +fault would have been laid at your door just the same.' + +The pale cheeks of Lord Rosshill's seven daughters waxed a hectic red; +the Ladies Cullen grew more angular, and smiled and cawed more cruelly; +Mrs. Barton, the Brennans, and Duffys cackled more warmly and +continuously; and Bertha, the terror of the _débutantes_, beat the big +drum more furiously than ever. The postscripts to her letters were +particularly terrible: 'And to think that the grocer's daughter should +come in for all this honour. It is she who will turn up her nose at us +at the Castle next year.' 'Ah, had I known what was going to happen it +is I who would have pulled the fine feathers out of her.' Day after day, +week after week, the agony was protracted, until every heart grew weary +of the strain put upon it and sighed for relief. But it was impossible +to leave off thinking and talking; and the various accounts of +orange-blossoms and the bridesmaids that in an incessant postal stream +were poured during the month of January into Galway seemed to provoke +rather than abate the marriage fever. The subject was inexhaustible, and +little else was spoken of until it was time to pack up trunks and +prepare for the Castle season. The bride, it was stated, would be +present at the second Drawing-Room in March. + +Nevertheless Alice noticed that the gladness of last year was gone out +of their hearts; none expected much, and all remembered a little of the +disappointments they had suffered. A little of the book had been read; +the lines of white girls standing about the pillars in Patrick's Hall, +the empty waltz tunes and the long hours passed with their chaperons +were terrible souvenirs to pause upon. Still they must fight on to the +last; there is no going back--there is nothing for them to go back to. +There is no hope in life for them but the vague hope of a husband. So +they keep on to the last, becoming gradually more spiteful and puerile, +their ideas of life and things growing gradually narrower, until, in +their thirty-fifth or fortieth year, they fall into the autumn heaps, to +lie there forgotten, or to be blown hither or thither by every wind that +blows. + +Two of Lord Rosshill's daughters had determined to try their luck again, +and a third was undecided; the Ladies Cullen said that they had their +school to attend to and could not leave Galway; poverty compelled the +Brennans and Duffys to remain at home. Alice would willingly have done +the same, but, tempted by the thin chance that she might meet with +Harding, she yielded to her mother's persuasions. Harding did not return +to Dublin, and her second season was more barren of incident than the +first. The same absence of conviction, the same noisy gossiping and +inability to see over the horizon of Merrion Square, the same servile +adoration of officialism, the same meanness committed to secure an +invitation to the Castle, the same sing-song waltz tunes, the same +miserable, mocking, melancholy, muslin hours were endured by the same +white martyrs. + +And if the Castle remained unchanged, Mount Street lost nothing of its +original aspect. Experience had apparently taught Mrs. Barton nothing; +she knew but one set of tricks--if they failed she repeated them: she +was guided by the indubitableness of instinct rather than by the more +wandering light that is reason. Mr. Barton, who it was feared might talk +of painting, and so distract the attention from more serious matters, +was left in Galway, and amid eight or nine men collected here, there, +and everywhere out of the hotels and barrack-rooms, the three ladies sat +down to dinner. + +Mrs. Barton, who could have talked to twenty men, and have kept them +amused, was severely handicapped by the presence of her daughters. +Olive, at the best of times, could do little more than laugh; and as +Alice never had anything to say to the people she met at her mother's +house, the silences that hung over the Mount Street dinner-table were +funereal in intensity and length. From time to time questions were asked +relating to the Castle, the weather, and the theatre. + +Therefore, beyond the fact that neither Lord Kilcarney nor Mr. Harding +was present, the girls passed their second season in the same manner as +their first. _Les deux pièces de résistance_ at Mount Street were a +dissipated young English lord and a gouty old Irish distiller, and Mrs. +Barton was making every effort to secure one of these. A pianist was +ordered to attend regularly at four o'clock. And now if Alice was +relieved of the duty of spelling through the doleful strains of 'Dream +Faces,' she was forced to go round and round with the distiller until an +extra glass of port forced the old gentleman to beg mercy of Mrs. +Barton. At one o'clock in the morning the young lord used to enter the +Kildare Street Club weary. But not much way was made with either, and +when one returned to London and the other to a sick-bed, Olive abandoned +herself to a series of flirtations. At the Castle she danced with all +who asked her, and she sat out dances in the darkest corners of the most +distant rooms with every officer stationed in Dublin. Mrs. Barton never +refused an invitation to any dance, no matter how low, and in all the +obscure 'afternoons' in Mount Street and Pembroke Street Olive's blonde +cameo-like face was seen laughing with every official of Cork Hill and +the gig-men of Kildare Street. + +In May the Bartons went abroad, and Olive flirted with foreign +titles--French Counts, Spanish Dukes, Russian Princes, Swedish noblemen +of all kinds, and a goodly number of English refugees with +irreproachable neckties and a taste for baccarat. In the balmy gardens +of Ostend and Boulogne, jubilant with June and the overture of +Masaniello, Milord and Mrs. Barton walked in front, talking and laughing +gracefully. Olive chose him who flattered her the most outrageously; and +Alice strove hard to talk to the least objectionable of the men she was +brought in contact with. Amid these specious talkers there were a few +who reminded her of Mr. Harding, and she hoped later on to be able to +turn her present experiences to account. There was, of course, much +dining at cafés and dining at the casinos, and evening walks along the +dark shore. Alice often feared for her sister, but the girl's vanity and +lightheadedness were her safeguards, and she returned to Galway only a +little wearied by the long chase after amusement. + +The soft Irish summer is pleasant after the glare of foreign towns, and +the country, the rickety stone walls and the herds of cattle, the deep +curved lines of the plantations of the domain lands, the long streaks of +brown bog, the flashing tarns of bog-water, and the ruined cottage, lay +dozing in beautiful silvery haze. There was much charm for Alice in +these familiar signs; and, although she did not approve of--although she +would not care ever to meet them again--the people she had met at Ostend +and Dieppe had interested her. She had picked up ideas and had received +impressions, and with these germinating in her, a time of quiet, a time +for reading and thinking, came as a welcome change after the noise of +casinos and the glitter of fireworks. The liberty she had enjoyed, the +sense it had brought with it that she was neither a doll nor a victim, +had rendered her singularly happy. The plot of a new story was singing +in her head, the characters flitted before her eyes, and to think of +them or to tell Cecilia of them was a pleasure sufficient for all her +daily desire. Olive, too, was glad. The sunlight has gone into her +blood, and she romps with her mother and Milord amid the hay, or, +stretched at length, she listens to the green air of the lawn, her +dreams ripple like water along a vessel's side, the white wake of the +past in bubble behind her; and when the life of the landscape is burnt +out, and the day in dying seems to have left its soul behind, she stands +watching, her thoughts curdling gently, the elliptical flight of the +swallows through the gloom, and the flutter of the bats upon the dead +sky. + +But the thoughtless brain, fed for many weeks upon noise and glitter, +soon began to miss its accustomed stimulants, and Mrs. Barton was quick +to comprehend sudden twitchings of the face and abrupt movements of the +limbs. And, keenly alive to what was passing in her daughter's mind, she +insisted on Olive's accompanying her to the tennis-parties with which +the county teemed. Sir Charles, Mr. Adair, and even poor Sir Richard +were put forward as the most eligible of men. + +'It is impossible to say when the big fish will be caught; it is often +the last try that brings him to land,' murmured Mrs. Barton. But Olive +had lost courage, and could fix her thoughts on no one. And, often when +they returned home, she would retire to her room to have a good cry. + +'Leave me alone, Alice; oh, go away. Don't tease me, don't tease me! I +only want to be left alone.' + +'But listen, dear; can I do anything for you?' + +'You! no, no, indeed you can't. I only want to be left alone. I am so +miserable, so unhappy; I wish I were dead!' + +'Dead?' + +'Yes, dead; what's the use of living when I know that I shall be an old +maid? We shall all be old maids. What's the use of being pretty, either, +when Violet, though she be but a bag of bones, has got the Marquis? I +have been out two seasons now, and nothing has come of all the trying. +And yet I was the belle of the season, wasn't I, Alice?' And now, +looking more than ever like a cameo Niobe, Olive stared at her sister +piteously. 'Oh yes, Alice, I know I shall be an old maid; and isn't it +dreadful, and I the belle of the season? It makes me so unhappy. No one +ever heard of the belle (and I was the belle not of one, but of two +seasons) remaining an old maid. I can understand a lot of ugly things +not getting married, but I--' + +Alice smiled, and half ironically she asked herself if Olive really +suffered. No heart-pang was reflected in those blue mindless eyes; there +was no heart to wound: only a little foolish vanity had been bruised. + +'And to think,' cried this whimpering beauty, when Alice had seen her +successfully through a flood of hysterical tears, 'that I was silly +enough to give up dear Edward. I am punished for it now, indeed I am; +and it was very wicked of me--it was a great sin. I broke his heart. But +you know, Alice dear, that it was all mamma's fault; she urged me on; +and you know how I refused, how I resisted her. Didn't I resist--tell +me. You know, and why won't you say that I did resist?' + +'You did, indeed, Olive; but you must not distress yourself, or you will +make yourself ill.' + +'Yes, perhaps you are right, there's nothing makes one look so ugly as +crying, and if I lost my looks and met Edward he might not care for me. +He'd be disappointed, I mean--but I haven't lost my looks; I am just as +pretty as I was when I came out first. Am I not, Alice?' + +'Indeed you are, dear.' + +'You don't think I have gone off a bit--now do tell me? and I want to +ask you what you think of my hair in a fringe; Papa says it isn't +classical, but that's nonsense. I wish I knew how Edward would like me +to wear it.' + +'But you mustn't think of him, Olive dear; you know mother would never +hear of it.' + +'I can't help thinking of him. . . . And now I will tell you something, +Alice, if you promise me on your word of honour not to scold me, and, +above all, not to tell mamma.' + +'I promise.' + +'Well, the other day I was walking at the end of the lawn feeling so +very miserable. You don't know how miserable I feel; you are never +miserable, for you think of nothing but your books. Well (mind, you have +given me your word not to tell anyone), I saw Captain Hibbert riding +along the road, and when he saw me he stopped his horse and kissed his +hand to me.' + +'And what did you do?' + +'I don't know what I did. He called me, and then I saw Milord coming +along the road, and fled but, oh, isn't it cruel of mamma to have +forbidden Edward to come and see us? and he loving me as much as ever.' + +This was not the moment to advise her sister against clandestine +meetings with Captain Hibbert; she was sobbing violently, and Alice had +to assure her again and again that no one who had been the belle of the +season had ever remained an old maid. But Alice (having well in mind the +fate that had befallen May Gould) grew not a little alarmed when, in the +course of next week, she suddenly noticed that Olive was in the habit of +going out for long walks alone, and that she invariably returned in a +state of high spirits, all the languor and weariness seeming to have +fallen from her. + +Alice once thought of following her sister. She watched her open the +wicket and walk across the meadows towards the Lawler domain. There was +a bypath there leading to the highroad, but the delicacy of their +position in relation to the owners prevented the Bartons from ever +making use of it. Nor did Alice fail to notice that about the same time, +Barnes, on the pretence of arranging the room for the evening, would +strive to drive her from her writing-table, and beds were made and +unmade, dresses were taken out of the wardrobe, and importuning +conversations were begun. But, taking no heed of the officious maid, +Alice, her thoughts tense with anxiety, sat at her window watching the +slender figure of the girl growing dim in the dying light. Once she did +not return until it was quite dark, and, reproaching herself for having +remained so long silent, Alice walked across the pleasure-grounds to +meet her. + +'What, you here?' cried Olive, surprised at finding her sister waiting +for her at the wicket. She was out of breath; she had evidently been +running. + +'Yes, Olive, I was anxious to speak to you--you must know that it is +very wrong to meet Captain Hibbert--and in the secrecy of a wood!' + +'Who told you I had been to meet Captain Hibbert? I suppose you have +been following me!' + +'No, Olive, I haven't, and you have no right to accuse me of such +meanness. I have not been following you, but I cannot help putting two +and two together. You told me something of this once before, and since +then you have scarcely missed an evening.' + +'Well, I don't see any harm in meeting Edward; he is going to marry me.' + +'Going to marry you?' + +'Yes, going to marry me; is there anything so very extraordinary in +that? Mamma had no right to break off the match, and I am not going to +remain an old maid.' + +'And have you told mother about this?' + +'No, where's the use, since she won't hear of it?' + +'And are you going to run away with Captain Hibbert?' + +'Run away with him!' exclaimed Olive, laughing strangely. 'No, of course +I am not.' + +'And how are you to marry him if you don't tell mother?' + +'I shall tell her when the time comes to tell her. And now, Alice dear, +you will promise not to betray me, won't you? You will not speak about +this to anyone, you promise me? If you did, I know I should go mad or +kill myself.' + +'But when will you tell mother of your resolution to marry Captain +Hibbert?' + +'Tell her? I'll tell her to-morrow if you like; that is to say, if you +will give me your word of honour not to speak to her about my meeting +Edward in the Lawler Wood.' + +Afterwards Alice often wondered at her dullness in not guessing the +truth. But at the time it did not occur to her that Olive might have +made arrangements to elope with Captain Hibbert; and, on the +understanding that all was to be explained on the following day, she +promised to keep her sister's secret. + + + + +XXV + + +Lord Dungory dined at Brookfield that evening. He noticed that Olive was +nervous and restless, and he reminded her of what a French poet had said +on the subject of beauty. But she only turned her fair head impatiently, +and a little later on when her mother spoke to her she burst into tears. +Nor was she as easily consoled as usual, and she did not become calm +until Mrs. Barton suggested that her dear child was ill, and that she +would go upstairs and put her to bed. Then, looking a little alarmed, +Olive declared she was quite well, but she passionately begged to be +left alone. As they left the dining-room she attempted to slip away; +Alice made a movement as if to follow her, but Mrs. Barton said: + +'Leave her to herself, Alice; she would rather be left alone. She has +overstrained her nerves, that is all.' + +Olive heard these words with a singular satisfaction, and as she +ascended the stairs from the first landing, her heart beat less +violently. On the threshold of her room she paused to listen for the +drawing-room door to shut. Through the silent house the lock sounded +sharply. + +'I hope none of them will come upstairs bothering after me,' the girl +murmured to herself. 'If they do I shall go mad;' and standing in the +middle of the floor she looked round the room vacantly, unable to +collect her thoughts. The wardrobe was on her right, and, seeing herself +in the glass, she wondered if she were looking well. Her eyes wandered +from her face to her shoulders, and thence to her feet. Going over to +the toilette-table she sought amid her boots, and, having selected a +strong pair, she began to button them. Her back was turned to the door, +and at the slightest sound she started. Once or twice the stairs +creaked, and she felt something would occur to stop her. Her heart was +beating so violently that she thought she was going to be ill; and she +almost burst out crying because she could not make up her mind if she +should put on a hat and travelling-shawl, or run down to the wood as she +was, to meet the Captain. 'He will surely,' she thought, 'have something +in the carriage to put around me, but he may bring the dog-cart, and it +looks very cold. But if Alice or mamma saw me coming downstairs with a +shawl on, they'd suspect something, and I shouldn't be able to get away. +I wonder what time it is? I promised to meet Edward at nine; he'll of +course wait for me, but what time is it? We dined at half-past seven; we +were an hour at dinner, half-past eight, and I have been ten minutes +here. It must be nearly nine now, and it will take me ten minutes to get +to the corner of the road. The house is quiet now.' + +Olive ran down a few steps, but at that moment heavy footsteps and a +jingling of glasses announced that the butler was carrying glasses from +the dining-room to the pantry. 'When will he cease, when will he cease; +will he hang about that passage all night?' the girl asked herself +tremblingly; and so cruel, so poignant had her suspense become, that had +it been prolonged much further her overwrought nerves would have given +way, and she would have lapsed into a fit of hysterics. But the +tray-full of glasses she had heard jingling were now being washed, and +the irritative butler did not stir forth again. This was Olive's +opportunity. From the proximity of the drawing-room to the hall-door it +was impossible for her to open it without being heard; the kitchen-door +was equally, even more, dangerous, and she could hear the servants +stirring in the passages; there was no safe way of getting out of the +house unseen, except through the dining-room. + +The candles were lighted, the crumbs were still on the tablecloth; +passing behind the red curtain she unlocked the French window, and she +shivered in the keen wind that was blowing. + +It was almost as bright as day. A September moon rose red, and in a +broken and fragmentary way the various aspects of the journey that lay +before her were anticipated: as she ran across the garden swards she saw +the post-horses galloping in front of her; as her nervous fingers strove +to unfasten the wicket, she thought of the railway-carriage; and as she +passed under the great dark trunks of the chestnut-trees she dreamed of +Edward's arm that would soon be cast protectingly around her, and his +face; softer than the leafy shadows above her, would be leaned upon her, +and his eyes filled with a brighter light than the moon's would look +down into hers. + +The white meadow that she crossed so swiftly gleamed like the sea, and +the cows loomed through the greyness like peaceful apparitions. But the +dark wood with its sepulchral fir-tops and mysteriously spreading +beech-trees was full of formless terror, and once the girl screamed as +the birds flew with an awful sound through the dark undergrowth. A +gloomy wood by night has terrors for the bravest, and it was only the +certainty that she was leaving girl-life--chaperons, waltz-tunes, and +bitter sneering, for ever--that gave courage to proceed. A bit of +moss-grown wall, a singularly shaped holly-bush, a white stone, took +fantastic and supernatural appearances, and once she stopped, paralyzed +with fear, before the grotesque shadow that a dead tree threw over an +unexpected glade. A strange bird rose from the bare branches, and at +that moment her dress was caught by a bramble, and, when her shriek tore +the dark stillness, a hundred wings flew through the pallor of the +waning moon. + +At the end of this glade there was a paling and a stile that Olive would +have to cross, and she could now hear, as she ran forward, the needles +of the silver firs rustling with a pricking sound in the wind. The heavy +branches stretched from either side, and Olive thought when she had +passed this dernful alley she would have nothing more to fear; and she +ran on blindly until she almost fell in the arms of someone whom she +instantly believed to be Edward. + +'Oh! Edward, Edward, I am nearly dead with fright!' she exclaimed. + +'I am not Edward,' a woman answered. Olive started a step backwards; she +would have fainted, but at the moment the words were spoken Mrs. +Lawler's face was revealed in a beam of weak light that fell through a +vista in the branches. + +'Who are you? Let me pass.' + +'Who am I? You know well enough; we haven't been neighbours for fifteen +years without knowing each other by sight. So you are going to run away +with Captain Hibbert!' + +'Oh, Mrs. Lawler, let me pass. I am in a great hurry, I cannot wait; and +you won't say anything about meeting me in the wood, will you?' + +'Let you pass, indeed; and what do you think I came here for? Oh, I know +all about it--all about the corner of the road, and the carriage and +post-horses! a very nice little plan and very nicely arranged, but I'm +afraid it won't come off--at least, not to-night.' + +'Oh, won't it, and why?' cried Olive, clasping her hands. 'Then it was +Edward who sent you to meet me, to tell me that--that--What has +happened?' + +'Sent me to tell you! Whom do you take me for? Is it for a--well, a nice +piece of cheek! I carry your messages? Well, I never!' + +'Then what did you come here for--how did you know? . . .' + +'How did I know? That's my business. What did I come here for? What do +you think? Why, to prevent you from going off with Teddy.' + +'With Teddy!' + +'Yes, with Teddy. Do you think no one calls him Teddy but yourself?' + +Then Olive understood, and, with her teeth clenched she said, 'No, it +isn't true; it is a lie; I will not believe it. Let me pass. What +business have you to detain me?--what right have you to speak to me? We +don't know you; no one knows you: you are a bad woman whom no one will +know.' + +'A bad woman! I like that--and from you. And what do you want to be, why +are you running away from home? Why, to be what I was. We're all alike, +the same blood runs in our veins, and when the devil is in us we must +have sweethearts, get them how we may: the airs and graces come on +after; they are only so much trimming.' + +'How dare you insult me, you bad woman? Let me pass; I don't know what +you mean.' + +'Oh yes, you do. You think Teddy will take you off to Paris, and spoon +you and take you out; but he won't, at least not to-night. I shan't give +him up so easily as you think for, my lady.' + +'Give him up! What is he to you? How dare you speak so of my future +husband? Captain Hibbert only loves me, he has often told me so.' + +'Loves nobody but you! I suppose you think that he never kissed, or +spooned, or took anyone on his knee but you. Well, I suppose at twenty +we'd believe anything a man told us; and we always think we are getting +the first of it when we are only getting someone else's leavings. But it +isn't for chicks of girls like you that a man cares, it isn't to you a +man comes for the love he wants; your kisses are very skim milk indeed, +and it is we who teach them the words of love that they murmur +afterwards in your ears.' + +The women looked at each other in silence, and both heard the needles +shaken through the darkness above them. Mrs. Lawler stood by the stile, +her hand was laid on the paling. At last Olive said: + +'Let me pass. I will not listen to you any longer; nor do I believe a +word you have said. We all know what you are; you are a bad woman whom +no one will visit. Let me pass!' and pushing passionately forward she +attempted to cross the stile. Then Mrs. Lawler took her by the shoulder +and threw her roughly back. She fell to the ground heavily. + +'Now you had better get up and go home,' said Mrs. Lawler, and she +approached the prostrate girl. 'I didn't mean to hurt you; but you +shan't elope with Teddy if I can prevent it. Why don't you get up?' + +'Oh! my leg, my leg; you have broken my leg!' + +'Let me help you up.' + +'Don't touch me,' said Olive, attempting to rise; but the moment she put +her right foot to the ground she shrieked with pain, and fell again. + +'Well, if you are going to take it in that way, you may remain where you +are, and I can't go and ring them up at Brookfield. I don't think there +will be much eloping done to-night, so farewell.' + + + + +XXVI + + +About ten o'clock on the night of Olive's elopement, Alice knocked +tremblingly at her mother's door. + +'Mother,' she said, 'Olive is not in her room, nor yet in the house; I +have looked for her everywhere.' + +'She is downstairs with her father in the studio,' said Mrs. Barton; +and, signing to her daughter to be silent, she led her out of hearing of +Barnes, who was folding and putting some dresses away in the wardrobe. + +'I have been down to the studio,' Alice replied in a whisper. + +'Then I am afraid she has run away with Captain Hibbert. But we shall +gain nothing by sending men out with lanterns and making a fuss; by this +time she is well on her way to Dublin. She might have done better than +Captain Hibbert, but she might also have done worse. She will write to +us in a few days to tell us that she is married, and to beg of us to +forgive her.' + +And that night Mrs. Barton slept even more happily, with her mind more +completely at rest, than usual; whereas Alice, fevered with doubt and +apprehension, lay awake. At seven o'clock she was at her window, +watching the grey morning splinter into sunlight over the quiet fields. +Through the mist the gamekeeper came, and another man, carrying a woman +between them, and the suspicion that her sister might have been killed +in an agrarian outrage gripped her heart like an iron hand. She ran +downstairs, and, rushing across the gravel, opened the wicket-gate. +Olive was moaning with pain, but her moans were a sweet reassurance in +Alice's ears, and without attempting to understand the man's story of +how Miss Olive had sprained her ankle in crossing the stile in their +wood, and how he had found her as he was going his rounds, she gave the +man five shillings, thanked him, and sent him away. Barnes and the +butler then carried Olive upstairs, and in the midst of much confusion +Mr. Barton rode down the avenue in quest of Dr. Reed--galloped down the +avenue, his pale hair blowing in the breeze. + +'I wish you had come straight to me,' said Mrs. Barton to Alice, as soon +as Barnes had left the room. 'We'd have got her upstairs between us, and +then we might have told any story we liked about her illness.' + +'But the Lawlers' gamekeeper would know all about it.' + +'Ah, yes, that's true. I never heard of anything so unfortunate in my +life. An elopement is never very respectable, but an elopement that does +not succeed, when the girl comes home again, is just as bad as--I cannot +think how Olive could have managed to meet Captain Hibbert and arrange +all this business, without my finding it out. I feel sure she must have +had the assistance of a third party. I feel certain that all this is +Barnes's doing. I am beginning to hate that woman, with her perpetual +smile, but it won't do to send her away now; we must wait.' And on these +words Mrs. Barton approached the bed. + +Shaken with sudden fits of shivering, and her teeth chattering, Olive +lay staring blindly at her mother and sister. Her eyes were expressive +at once of fear and pain. + +'And now, my own darling, will you tell me how all this happened?' + +'Oh, not now, mother--not now . . . I don't know; I couldn't help it. . . . +You mustn't scold me, I feel too ill to bear it.' + +'I am not thinking of scolding you, dearest, and you need not tell me +anything you do not like. . . . I know you were going to run away with +Captain Hibbert, and met with an accident crossing the stile in the +Lawler Wood.' + +'Oh, yes, yes; I met that horrid woman, Mrs. Lawler; she knew all about +it, and was waiting for me at the stile. She said lots of dreadful +things to me . . . I don't remember what; that she had more right to +Edward than I--' + +'Never mind, dear; don't agitate yourself thinking of what she said.' + +'And then, as I tried to pass her, she pushed me and I fell, and hurt my +ankle so badly that I could not get up; and she taunted me, and she said +she could not help me home because we were not on visiting terms. And I +lay in that dreadful wood all night. But I can't speak any more, I feel +too ill; and I never wish to see Edward again. . . . The pain of my ankle +is something terrible.' + +Mrs. Barton looked at Alice expressively, and she whispered in her ear: + +'This is all Barnes's doing, but we cannot send her away. . . . We must put +a bold face on it, and brave it out.' + +Dr. Reed was announced. + +'Oh, how do you do, doctor? . . . It is so good of you to come at once. +. . . We were afraid Mr. Barton would not find you at home. I am afraid +that Olive has sprained her foot badly. Last night she went out for a +walk rather late in the evening, and, in endeavouring to cross a stile, +she slipped and hurt herself so badly that she was unable to return +home, and lay exposed for several hours to the heavy night dews. I am +afraid she has caught a severe cold. . . . She has been shivering.' + +'Can I see her foot?' + +'Certainly. Olive, dear, will you allow Dr. Reed to see your ankle?' + +'Oh, take care, mamma; you are hurting me!' shrieked the girl, as Mrs. +Barton removed the bedclothes. At this moment a knock was heard at the +door. + +'Who on earth is this?' cried Mrs. Barton. 'Alice, will you go and see? +Say that I am engaged, and can attend to nothing now.' + +When Alice returned to the bedside she drew her mother imperatively +towards the window. 'Captain Hibbert is waiting in the drawing-room. He +says he must see you.' + +At the mention of Captain Hibbert's name Mrs. Barton's admirably +governed temper showed signs of yielding: her face contracted and she +bit her lips. + +'You must go down and see him. Tell him that Olive is very ill and that +the doctor is with her. And mind you, you must not answer any questions. +Say that I cannot see him, but that I am greatly surprised at his +forcing his way into my house after what has passed between us; that I +hope he will never intrude himself upon us again; that I cannot have my +daughter's life endangered, and that, if he insists on persecuting us, I +shall have to write to his Colonel.' + +'Do you not think that father would be the person to make such +explanations?' + +'You know your father could not be trusted to talk sensibly for five +minutes--at least,' she said, correcting herself, 'on anything that did +not concern painting or singing. . . . But,' she continued, following her +daughter to the door, 'on second thoughts I do not think it would be +advisible to bring matters to a crisis. . . . I do not know how this affair +will affect Olive's chances, and if he is anxious to marry her I do not +see why he should not; . . . she may not be able to get any better. So you +had better, I think, put him off--pretend that we are very angry, and +get him to promise not to try to see or to write to Olive until, let us +say, the end of the year. It will only make him more keen on her.' + +When Alice opened the drawing-room door Captain Hibbert rushed forward; +his soft eyes were bright with excitement, and his tall figure was +thrown into a beautiful pose when he stopped. + +'Oh, I beg your pardon. Miss Barton. I had expected your sister.' + +'My sister is very ill in bed, and the doctor is with her.' + +'Ill in bed!' + +'Yes, she sprained her ankle last night in attempting to cross the stile +in the wood at the end of our lawn.' + +'Oh, that was the reason . . . then . . . Can I see your sister for a few +minutes?' + +'It is quite impossible; and my mother desires me to say that she is +very much surprised that you should come here. . . . We know all about your +attempt to induce Olive to leave her home.' + +'Then she has told you? But if you knew how I love her, you would not +blame me. What else could I do? Your mother would not let me see her, +and she was very unhappy at home; you did not know this, but I did, and +if luck hadn't been against me--Ah! but what's the use in talking of +luck; luck was against me, or she would have been my wife now. And what +a little thing suffices to blight a man's happiness in life; what a +little, oh, what a little!' he said, speaking in a voice full of +bitterness; and he buried his face in his hands. + +Alice's eyes as she looked at him were expressive of her thoughts--they +beamed at once with pity and admiration. He was but the ordinary +handsome young man that in England nature seems to reproduce in +everlasting stereotype. Long graceful legs, clad in tight-fitting +trousers, slender hips rising architecturally to square wide shoulders, +a thin strong neck and a tiny head--yes, a head so small that an artist +would at once mark off eight on his sheet of double elephant. And now he +lay over the back of a chair weeping like a child; in the intensity of +his grief he was no longer commonplace; and as Alice looked at this +superb animal thrown back in a superb abandonment of pose, her heart +filled with the natural pity that the female feels always for the male +in distress, and the impulse within her was to put her arms about him +and console him; and then she understood her sister's passion for him, +and her mind formulated it thus: 'How handsome he is! Any girl would +like a man like that.' And as Alice surrendered herself to those +sensuous, or rather romantic feelings, her nature quickened to a sense +of pleasure, and she grew gentler with him, and was glad to listen while +he sobbed out his sorrows to her. + +'Oh, why,' he exclaimed, 'did she fall over that thrice-accursed stile! +In five minutes more we would have been in each other's arms, and for +ever. I had a couple of the best post-horses in Gort; they'd have taken +us to Athenry in a couple of hours, and then--Oh! what luck, what +luck!' + +'But do you not know that Olive met Mrs. Lawler in the wood, and that it +was she who--' + +'What do you say? You don't mean to tell me that it was Mrs. Lawler who +prevented Olive from meeting me? Oh, what beasts, what devils women +are,' he said; 'and the worst of it is that one cannot be even with +them, and they know it. If you only knew,' he said, turning almost +fiercely upon Alice, 'how I loved your sister, you would pity me; but I +suppose it is all over now. Is she very ill?' + +'We don't know yet. She has sprained her ankle very badly, and is +shivering terribly; she was lying out all night in the wet wood.' + +He did not answer at once. He walked once or twice up and down the room, +and then he said, taking Alice's hand in his, 'Will you be a friend to +me, Miss Barton?' He could get no further, for tears were rolling down +his cheeks. + +Alice looked at him tenderly; she was much touched by the manifestation +of his love, and at the end of a long silence she said: + +'Now, Captain Hibbert, I want you to listen to me. Don't cry any more, +but listen.' + +'I dare say I look a great fool.' + +'No, indeed you do not,' she answered; and then in kindly worded phrases +she told him that, at least for the present, he must not attempt to +correspond with Olive. 'Give me your word of honour that you will +neither write nor speak to her for, let us say, six months, and I will +promise to be your friend.' + +'I will do anything you ask me to do, but will you in return promise to +write and tell me how she is getting on, and if she is in any danger?' + +'I think I can promise to do that; I will write and tell you how Olive +is in a few days. Now we must say good-bye; and you will not forget your +promise to me, as I shall not forget mine to you.' + +When Alice went upstairs, Dr. Reed and Mrs. Barton were talking on the +landing. + +'And what do you think, doctor?' asked the anxious mother. + +'It is impossible to say. She has evidently received a severe nervous +shock, and this and the exposure to which she was subjected may develop +into something serious. You will give her that Dover's powder to-night, +and you will see that she has absolute quiet and rest. Have you got a +reliable nurse?' + +'Yes, the young ladies have a maid; I think Barnes can be trusted to +carry out your orders, doctor.' + +'Oh, mamma, I hope you will allow me to nurse my sister; I should not +like to leave her in charge of a servant.' + +'I am afraid you are not strong enough, dear.' + +'Oh, yes, I am; am I not strong enough, doctor?' + +Dr. Reed looked for a moment steadily at Alice. 'Your sister will,' he +said, 'require a good deal of looking after. But if you will not overdo +it, I think you seem quite strong enough to nurse her. But you must not +sit up at night with her too regularly; you must share the labour with +someone.' + +'She will do that with me,' said Mrs. Barton, speaking more kindly, +Alice thought, than she had ever heard her speak before. + +Then a wailing voice was heard calling to Alice. + +'Go in and see what she wants, dear, but you will not encourage her to +talk much; the doctor does not wish it.' + +The room did not look the same to Alice as it had ever looked before. +Her eyes fell on the Persian rugs laid between the two white beds and +the tall glass in the wardrobe where Olive wasted half-an-hour every +evening, examining her beauty. Would she ever do so again? Now a broken +reflection of feverish eyes and blonde hair was what remained. The white +curtains of the chimneypiece had been drawn aside, a bright fire was +burning, and Barnes was removing a foot-pan of hot water. + +'Sit down here by me, Alice; I want to talk to you.' + +'The doctor has forbidden you to talk, dear; he says you must have +perfect rest and quiet.' + +'I must talk a little to you; if I didn't I should go mad.' + +'Well, what is it, dear?' + +'I will tell you presently,' said the sick girl, glancing at Barnes. + +'You can tidy up the room afterwards, Barnes; Miss Olive wants to talk +to me now.' + +'Oh, Alice, tell me,' cried the girl, when the servant had left the +room, 'I don't want to ask mamma--she won't tell me the exact truth; but +you will. Tell me what the doctor said. . . . Did he say I was going to +die?' + +'Going to die? Olive, who ever heard of such a thing? You really must +not give way to such fancies.' + +'Well, tell me what he said.' + +'He said that you had received a severe nervous shock, that you had been +subjected to several hours' exposure, that you must take great care of +yourself, and, above all, have perfect rest and quiet, and not excite +yourself, and not talk.' + +'Is that all he said? Then he cannot know how ill I feel; perhaps I +ought to see another doctor. But I don't believe anyone could do me much +good. Oh, I feel wretchedly ill, and somehow I seem to know I am going +to die! It would be very horrible to die; but young girls no older than +I have died--have been cut off in the beginning of their life. And we +have seen nothing of life, only a few balls and parties. It would be +terrible to die so soon. When Violet carried off the Marquis I felt so +bitterly ashamed that I thought I would have liked to die; but not +now--now I know that Edward loves me I would not care to die; it would +be terrible to die before I was married. Wouldn't it, Alice? . . . But you +don't answer me; did you never think about death?' + +Then, as the thin wailing voice sank into her ears, Alice started from +her dreams, and she strove to submit her attention to her sister. + +'Yes, dear, of course I have. Death is, no doubt, a very terrible thing, +but we can do no good by thinking of it.' + +'Oh yes, we should, Alice, for this is not the only world--there is +another and a better one; and, as mamma says, and as religion says, we +are only here to try and get a good place in it. You are surprised to +hear me speak like this; you think I never think of anything but the +colour of a bonnet-string, but I do.' + +'I am sure you do, Olive; I never doubted it; but I wish you would now +do what the doctor orders, and refrain from talking and exciting +yourself, and try and get well. You may then think of death and other +gloomy things as much as you like.' + +'You don't understand, Alice; one can't think of death, then--one has so +much else to think of; one is so taken up with other ideas. It is only +when one is ill that one really begins to see what life is. You have +never been ill, and you don't know how terribly near death seems to have +come--very near. Perhaps I ought to see the priest; it would be just as +well, just in case I should die. Don't you think so?' + +'I don't think there is any more danger of your dying now than there was +a month ago, dear, and I am sure you can have nothing on your mind that +demands immediate confession,' she said, her voice trembling a little. + +'Oh yes, I have, Alice, and a very great deal; I have been very wicked.' + +'Very wicked!' + +'Well, I know you aren't pious, Alice, and perhaps you don't believe +there is harm in such things, but I do; and I know it was very wrong, +and perhaps a mortal sin, to try to run away with Edward. But I loved +him so very dearly, and I was so tired of staying at home and being +taken out to parties. And when you are in love with a man you forget +everything. At least I did; and when he asked to kiss me I couldn't +refuse. You won't tell anyone, Alice dear, that I told you this.' Alice +shook her head, and Olive continued, in spite of all that the doctor had +said: + +'But you don't know how lonely I feel at home; you never feel lonely, I +dare say, for you only think of your books and papers, and don't realize +what a disgrace it would be if I didn't marry, and after all the trouble +that mamma has taken. But I don't know what will become of me now. I'm +going to be dreadfully ill, and when I get well I shall be pretty no +longer; I am sure I am looking wretchedly. I must see myself--fetch the +glass, Alice, Alice.' + +Olive lay whining and calling for her sister, and when Dr. Reed came he +ordered several inches of the pale silky hair to be cut away and a cold +lotion to be applied to the forehead, and some sliced lemons were given +to her to suck. + +The clear blue eyes were dull, the breathing quick, the skin dry and +hot; and on the following day four leeches had to be applied to her +ankle. They relieved her somewhat, and, when she had taken her draught, +she sank to sleep. But as the night grew denser, Alice was suddenly +awakened by someone speaking wildly in her ear: 'Take me away, dear! I +am sick of home; I want to get away from all these spiteful girls. I +know they are laughing at me because Violet cut me out with the Marquis. +We shall be married, shan't we, the moment we arrive in Dublin? It's +horrible to be married at the registrar's, but it's better than not +being married at all. But do you think they will catch us up? It would +be dreadful to be taken back home, I couldn't bear it. Oh, do drive on; +we don't seem to be moving. You see that strange tree on the right, we +haven't passed it yet; I don't think we ever shall. Whip up that bay +horse; don't you see he is turning round, wants to go back? I am sure +that this isn't the road; that man at the corner told you a lie. I know +he was mocking at us--I saw it in his eye. . . . Look, look, Edward! Oh, +look--it is papa, or Lord Dungory, I can't tell which, he won't lift his +cloak.' And then the vision would fade, and she would fancy herself in +the wood, arguing once again with Mrs. Lawler. 'No, what you say isn't +true; he never loved you. How could he? You are an old woman. Let me +pass--let me pass. Why do you speak to me? We don't visit, we never did +visit you. No; it was not at our house you met Edward. You were on the +streets; and Edward shall not, he could not, think of running away with +you--will you, darling? Oh, help me, help me out of this dreadful wood. +I want to go home, but I can't walk. That terrible bird is still +watching me, and I dare not pass that tree till you drive it away.' + +The two beds, with their white curtains and brass crowns, showed through +the pale obscurity, broken only by the red-glowing basin where a +night-light burnt, and the long tongues of flame that the blazing peat +scattered from time to time across the darkened ceiling. The solitude of +the sleeping house grew momentarily more intense in Alice's brain, and +she trembled as she strove to soothe her sister, and covered the hot +feverish arms over with the bedclothes. + +'What sort of night has Olive had?' Mrs. Barton asked when she came in +about eight. + +'Not a very quiet one; I am afraid she's a little delirious.' + +'Dr. Reed promised to be here early. How do you feel, dear?' Mrs. Barton +asked, leaning over the bed. + +'Oh, very ill; I can scarcely breathe, and I have such a pain in my +side.' + +'Your lips look very sore, dear; do they hurt you?'--Olive only moaned +dismally--and, looking anxiously at her elder daughter, she said: + +'And you, too, Alice, are not looking well. You are tired, and mustn't +sit up another night with your sister. To-night I'll take your place.' + +'Oh, mother, no! I assure you it is a pleasure to me to nurse Olive. I +am very well indeed; do not think about me.' + +'Indeed, I will think about you, and you must do as I tell you. I'll +look after Olive, and you must try and get a good night's rest We will +take it in turns to nurse her. And now come down to breakfast. Barnes, +you'll not think of leaving Miss Olive until we come back; and, if any +change occurs, ring for me immediately.' + +When Dr. Reed arrived, Alice was again sitting by the bedside. + +'And how is our patient to-day?' + +'I cannot say she is any better; she has a distressing cough, and last +night I am afraid she was a little delirious.' + +'Ah, you say the cough is distressing?' + +'I am afraid I must call it distressing; is that a very bad sign?' + +'Probably there is not much wrong, but it would be better to ascertain +the condition of the patient, and then we may be able to do something to +relieve her.' + +The doctor drew a stethoscope from his pocket, and they lifted the +patient into a sitting position. + +'I should like to examine her chest;' and his fingers moved to unfasten +her night-gown. + +'Don't expose me,' she murmured feebly. + +'Now, Olive dear, remember it is only the doctor; let him examine you.' + +Olive's eyes were a dull filmy blue, the lips were covered with sores, +and there was a redness over the cheekbones--not the hectic flush of +phthisis, but a dusky redness. And the patient was so weak that during +the stethoscopic examination her head fell from side to side as she was +moved, and when the doctor pressed her right side her moans were +pregnant with pain. + +'Now let me see the tongue. Dry and parched.' + +'Shall I die, doctor?' the girl asked feebly and plaintively as she sank +amidst the pillows. + +'Die! no, not if you take care of yourself and do what you are told.' + +'But tell me, Dr. Reed,' Alice asked. 'You can tell me the truth.' + +'She'll get well if she takes care of herself. It is impossible to say. +No one can predict the turn pneumonia will take.' + +'Pneumonia! What is that?' + +'Congestion of the lungs, or rather an advanced stage of it. It is more +common in men than in women, and it is the consequence of long exposure +to wet and cold.' + +'Is it very dangerous?' + +'Very; and now let me tell you that it is all-important that the +temperature of the room should not be allowed to vary. I attended a case +of it some three or four miles from here, but the damp of the cabin was +so great that it was impossible to combat the disease. The cottage, or +rather hovel, was built on the edge of a soft spongy bog, and so wet was +it that the woman had to sweep the water every morning from the floor, +where it collected in great pools. I am now going to visit an evicted +family, who are living in a partially roofed shed fenced up by the +roadside. The father is down with fever, and lies shivering, with +nothing to drink but cold water. His wife told me that last week it +rained so heavily that she had to get up three times in the night to +wring the sheets out.' + +'And why were they evicted?' + +'Oh, that is a long story; but it is a singularly characteristic one. In +the first place, he was an idle fellow; he got into difficulties and +owed his landlord three years' rent. Then he got into bad hands, and was +prevented from coming to terms with his landlord. There was a lot of +jobbing going on between the priest and the village grocer, and finally +it was arranged that the latter should pay off the existing debt if the +landlord could be forced into letting him the farm at a "fair rent," +that is to say, thirty per cent reduction on the old rent. In +recognition of his protecting influence, the priest was to take a third +of the farm off the grocer's hands, and the two were then to conjointly +rack-rent poor Murphy for the remaining third portion, which he would be +allowed to retain for a third of the original rent; but the National +League heard of their little tricks, and now the farm is boycotted, and +Murphy is dying in the ditch for the good of his _counthry_.' + +'I thought boycotting was ended, that the League had lost all power.' + +'It has and it hasn't. Sometimes a man takes a farm and keeps it in +defiance of his neighbours; sometimes they hunt him out of it. It is +hard to come to a conclusion, for when in one district you hear of rents +being paid and boycotted farms letting freely, in another, only a few +miles away, the landlords are giving reductions, and there are farms +lying waste that no one dare look at. In my opinion the fire is only +smouldering, and when the Coercion Act expires the old organization will +rise up as strong and as triumphant as before. This is a time of respite +for both parties.' + +The conversation then came to a sudden pause. Alice felt it would be out +of place for her to speak her sympathies for the Nationalistic cause, +and she knew it would be unfair to lead the doctor to express his. So at +the end of a long silence, during which each divined the other's +thoughts, she said: + +'I suppose you see a great deal of the poor and the miseries they +endure?' + +'I have had good opportunities of studying them. Before I came here I +spent ten years in the poorest district in Donegal. I am sure there +wasn't a gentleman's house within fifteen miles of me.' + +'And didn't you feel very lonely?' + +'Yes, I did, but one gets so used to solitude that to return to the +world, after having lived long in the atmosphere of one's own thoughts, +is painful. The repugnance that grows on those who live alone to hearing +their fellow-creatures express their ideas is very remarkable. It must +be felt to be understood; and I have often wondered how it was that I +never met it in a novel.' + +'It would be very difficult to write. Do you ever read fiction?' + +'Yes, and enjoy it. In my little home amid the northern bogs, I used to +look forward when I had finished writing, to reading a story.' + +'What were you writing?' + +'A book.' + +'A book!' exclaimed Alice, looking suddenly pleased and astonished. + +'Yes, but not a work of fiction--I am afraid I am too prosaic an +individual for that--a medical work.' + +'And have you finished your book?' + +'Yes, it is finished, and I am glad to say it is in the hands of a +London publisher. We have not yet agreed about the price, but I hope and +believe that, directly and indirectly, it will lead to putting me into a +small London practice.' + +'And then you will leave us?' + +'I am afraid so. There are many friends I shall miss--that I shall be +very sorry to leave, but--' + +'Oh, of course it would not do to miss such a chance.' + +They fell to discussing the patient, and when the doctor left, Alice +proceeded to carry out his instructions concerning the patient, and, +these being done, she sat down by the bedside and continued her thoughts +of him with a sense of pleasure. She remembered that she had always +liked him. Yes, it was a liking that dated as far back as the spinsters' +ball at Ballinasloe. He was the only man there in whom she had taken the +slightest interest. They were sitting together on the stairs when that +poor fellow was thrown down and had his leg broken. She remembered how +she had enjoyed meeting him at tennis-parties, and how often she had +walked away with him from the players through the shrubberies; and above +all she could not forget--it was a long sweet souvenir--the beautiful +afternoon she had spent with him, sitting on the rock, the day of the +picnic at Kinvarra Castle. She had forgotten, or rather she had never +noticed, that he was a short, thick-set, middle-aged man, that he wore +mutton-chop whiskers, and that his lips were overhung by a long dark +moustache. His manners were those of an unpolished and somewhat +commonplace man. But while she thought of his grey eyes her heart was +thrilled with gladness, and as she dreamed of his lonely life of labour +and his ultimate hopes of success, all her old sorrows and fears seemed +to have evaporated. Then suddenly and with the unexpectedness of an +apparition the question presented itself: Did she like him better than +Harding? Alice shrank from the unpleasantness of the thought, and did +not force herself to answer it, but busied herself with attending to her +sister's wants. + +While the dawn of Alice's happiness, Olive lay suffering in all the dire +humility of the flesh. Hourly her breathing grew shorter and more +hurried, her cough more frequent, and the expectoration that accompanied +it darker and thicker in colour. The beautiful eyes were now turgid and +dull, the lids hung heavily over a line of filmy blue, and a thick scaly +layer of bloody tenacious mucus persistently accumulated and covered the +tiny and once almost jewel-like teeth. For three or four days these +symptoms knew no abatement; and it was over this prostrated body, +weakened and humiliated by illness, that Alice and Dr. Reed read love in +each other's eyes, and it was about this poor flesh that their hands +were joined as they lifted Olive out of the recumbent position she had +slipped into, and built up the bowed-in pillows. And as it had once been +all Olive in Brookfield, it was now all Alice; the veil seemed suddenly +to have slipped from all eyes, and the exceeding worth of this plain +girl was at last recognized. Mrs. Barton's presence at the bedside did +not soothe the sufferer; she grew restless and demanded her sister. And +the illness continued, her life in the balance till the eighth day. It +was then that she took a turn for the better; the doctor pronounced her +out of danger, and two days after she lay watching Alice and Dr. Reed +talking in the window. 'Were they talking about her?' she asked herself. +She did not think they were. It seemed to her that each was interested +in the other. 'Laying plans,' the sick girl said to herself, 'for +themselves.' At these words her senses dimmed, and when she awoke she +had some difficulty in remembering what she had seen. + + + + +XXVII + + +'Ah, _ce cher Milord, comme il est beau, comme il est parfait!_' +exclaimed Mrs. Barton, as she led him to his chair and poured out his +glass of sherry. + +But there was a gloom on his face which laughter and compliments failed +for a moment to dissipate--at last he said: + +'Ah, Mrs. Barton, Mrs. Barton! if I hadn't this little retreat to take +refuge in, to hide myself in, during some hours of the day, I should not +be able to bear up--Brookfield has prolonged my life for--' + +'I cannot allow such sad thoughts as these,' said Mrs. Barton laughing, +and waving her white hands. 'Who has been teasing _notre cher_ Milord? +What have dreadful Lady Jane and terrible Lady Sarah been doing to him?' + +'I shall never forget this morning, no, not if I lived to a thousand,' +the old gentleman murmured plaintively. 'Oh, the scenes--the scenes I +have been through! Cecilia, as I told you yesterday, has been filling +the house with rosaries and holywater-fonts; Jane and Sarah have been +breaking these, and the result has been tears and upbraidings. Last +night at dinner I don't really know what they didn't say to each other; +and then the two elder ones fell upon me and declared that it was all my +fault, that I ought never to have sent my daughter to a Catholic +convent. I was obliged to shut myself up in the study and lock the door. +Then this morning, when I thought it was all over, it began again worse +than ever; and then in the middle of it all, when Jane asked Cecilia how +many Gods there were in the roll of bread she was eating if the priest +were to bless it--if a Papist wasn't one who couldn't worship God till +somebody had turned Him into a biscuit--a most injudicious observation, +I said so at the time, and I must apologize to you, my dear Mrs. Barton, +for repeating it, but I am really so upset that I scarcely know what I +am saying. Well, Jane had no sooner spoken than Cecilia overthrew the +teacups and said she wasn't going to stay in the house to hear her +religion insulted, and without another word she walked down to the +parish priest and was baptized a Catholic; nor is that all. She returned +with a scapular round her neck, a rosary about her waist, and a Pope's +medal in her hand. I really thought Jane and Sarah would have fainted; +indeed I am sure they would have fainted if Cecilia hadn't declared that +she was going to pack up her things and return at once to St. Leonards +and become a nun. Such an announcement as this was, of course, far +beyond fainting, and . . . but no, I will not attempt to describe it, but +I can assure you I was very anxious to get out of the house.' + +'Cecilia going to be a nun; oh, I am so glad!' exclaimed Olive. 'It is +far the best thing she could do, for she couldn't hope to be married.' + +'Olive, Olive!' said Mrs. Barton, 'you shouldn't speak so openly. We +should always consider the religious prejudices of others. Of course, as +Catholics we must be glad to hear of anyone joining the true Church, but +we should remember that Milord is going to lose his daughter.' + +'I assure you, my dear Mrs. Barton, I have no prejudices. I look upon +all religions as equally good and equally bad, but to be forced to live +in a perpetual discussion in which teacups are broken, concerning +scapulars, bacon and meal shops, and a school which, putting aside the +question of expense, makes me hated in the neighbourhood, I regard as +intolerable; and when I go home this evening, I shall tell Jane that the +school must be put down or carried on in a less aggressive way. I assure +you I have no wish to convert the people; they are paying their rents +very well now, and I think it absurd to upset them; and the fact of +having received Cecilia into the Church might incline the priest very +much towards us.' + +'And Cecilia will be so happy in that beautiful convent!' suggested Mrs. +Barton. + +'_C'est le génie du Catholicisme de nous débarrasser des filles +laides._' + +And upon this expression of goodwill towards the Church of Rome +Cecilia's future life was discussed with much amiability. Mrs. Barton +said she would make a sweet little nun; Olive declared that she would +certainly go to St. Leonard's to see her 'professed'; and Milord's +description of Lady Sarah's and Lady Jane's ill-humour was considered +very amusing, and just as he was about to recount some new incident--one +that had escaped his memory till then--the door opened and the servant +announced Dr. Reed. + +'Now, what can he want? Olive is quite well. He looks at her tongue and +feels her pulse. How do you do, Dr. Reed? Here is your patient, whom you +will find in the best health and spirits.' + +As he was about to reply, Alice came into the room, and she tried to +carry on the conversation naturally. But the silence of Mrs. Barton and +Milord made this difficult; Dr. Reed was not a ready talker, and this +morning his replies were more than ever awkward and constrained. At last +it dawned on Alice that he wanted to speak to her alone; and in answer +to a remark he had made concerning the fever dens in Gort she said: + +'I wanted to ask you a question or two about typhoid fever, Dr. Reed; +one of my heroines is going to die of it, and I should like to avoid +medical impossibilities. May I show you the passage?' + +'Certainly, Miss Barton; I shall be delighted to help you--if I can.' + +As soon as Alice left the room to fetch her manuscript the doctor +hurriedly bade his patient, Milord, and Mrs. Barton, good-bye. + +'Aren't you going to wait to see Alice?' Mrs. Barton asked. + +'I have to speak to the boy in charge of my car; I shall see Miss Barton +as she comes downstairs.' + +Mrs. Barton looked as if she thought this arrangement not a little +singular, but she said nothing; and when Alice came running downstairs +with a roll of MSS. in her hand, she attempted to explain her difficulty +to the doctor. He made a feeble attempt to listen to the passage she +read aloud to him; and when their eyes met across the paper she saw he +was going to propose to her. + +'Will you walk down the drive with me? and we will talk of that as we go +along.' + +Her hat was on the hall-table; she took it up, and in silence walked +with him out on the gravel. + +'Will I put the harse up, sor?' cried the boy from the outside car. + +'No; follow me down the avenue.' + +It was a wild autumn evening, full of wind and leaves. The great green +pasture-lands, soaked and soddened with rain, rolled their monotonous +green turf to the verge of the blown beech-trees, about which the rooks +drifted in picturesque confusion. Now they soared like hawks, or on +straightened wings were carried down a furious gust across the +tumultuous waves of upheaved yellow, and past the rift of cold crimson +that is tossed like a banner through the shadows of evening. + +'I came here to tell you that I am going away; that I am leaving Ireland +for ever. I've bought the practice I spoke to you of in Notting Hill.' + +'Oh, I am so glad!' + +'Thank you! But there is another and more important matter on which I +should like to speak to you. For a long time back I had resolved to +leave Ireland a sad or an entirely happy man. Which shall it be? You are +the only woman I ever loved--will you be my wife?' + +'Yes, I will.' + +'I was afraid to ask you before. But,' he added, sighing, 'I shan't be +able to give you a home like the one you are leaving. We shall have to +be very economical; we shall not have more than three hundred a year to +live upon. Will you be satisfied with that?' + +'I hope, indeed--I am sure we shall get on very well. You forget that I +can do something to keep myself,' she added, smiling. 'I have two or +three orders.' + +She passed her arm through Dr. Reed's; and as he unfolded his plans to +her, he held her hand warmly and affectionately in his: and as the +twilight drifted it was wrapped like a veil about them. The rooks in +great flitting flocks passed over their heads, the tempestuous crimson +of the sky had been hurled further away, and only the form of the grey +horse, that the boy had allowed to graze, stood out distinctly in the +gloom that descended upon the earth. + + + + +XXVIII + + +On the very first opportunity she could find Alice told her mother that +Dr. Reed had proposed to her, and that she had accepted him. Mrs. Barton +said it was disgraceful, and that she would never hear of such a +marriage; and when the doctor called next day she acquainted him with +her views on the subject. She told him he had very improperly taken +advantage of his position to make love to her daughter; she really +didn't know how he could ever have arrived at the conclusion that a +match was possible, and that for the future his visits must cease at +Brookfield. And when Alice heard what had passed between Dr. Reed and +her mother she wrote, assuring him that her feelings towards him would +remain uninfluenced by anything that anyone might say. All the same, it +might be as well, having regard for what had happened, that the marriage +should take place with the least possible delay. + +She took this letter down to the post-office herself, and when she +returned she entered the drawing-room and told Mrs. Barton what she had +done. + +'I wish you had shown me the letter before you sent it. There is nothing +we need advice about so much as a letter.' + +'Yes, mother,' replied Alice, deceived by the gentleness of Mrs. +Barton's manner; 'but we seemed to hold such widely different views on +this matter that there did not seem to be any use in discussing it.' + +'Mother and daughter should never hold different views; my children's +interests are my interests--what interests have I now but theirs?' + +'Oh, mother! Then you will consent to this marriage?' + +Mrs. Barton's face always changed expression before a direct question. +'My dear, I would consent to anything that would make you happy; but it +seems to me impossible that you could be happy with Dr. Reed. I wonder +how you could like him. You do not know--I mean, you do not realize what +the intimacies of married life are. They are often hard to put up with, +no matter who the man may be, but with one who is not a gentleman--' + +'But, mother, Dr. Reed seems to me to be in every way a gentleman. Who +is there more gentlemanly in the country? I am sure that from every +point of view he is preferable to Mr. Adair or Sir Charles, or Sir +Richard or Mr. Ryan, or his cousin, Mr. Lynch.' + +'My darling child, I would sooner see you laid in your coffin than +married to either Mr. Ryan or Mr. Lynch; but that is not the question. +It is, whether you had not better wait for a few years before you throw +yourself away on such a man as Dr. Reed. I know that you have been +greatly tried; nothing is so trying to a girl as to come out with her +sister who is the belle of the season, and I must say you have shown a +great deal of pluck; and perhaps I haven't been considerate enough. But +I, too, have had my disappointments--Olive's affairs did not, as you +know, turn out as well as I had expected, and to see you now marry one +who is so much beneath us!' + +'Mother, dear, he is not beneath us. There is no one who has earned his +career but Dr. Reed; he owes nothing to anyone; he has done it all by +his own exertions; and now he has bought a London practice.' + +'Then you do not love him; it is only for the sake of settling yourself +in life that you are marrying him?' + +'I respect Dr. Reed more than any man living; I bear for him a most +sincere affection, and I hope to make him a good wife.' + +'You don't love him as you did Mr. Harding? If you will only wait you +may get him. The tenants are paying their rents very well, and I am +thinking of going to London in the spring.' + +The girl winced at the mention of Harding, but she looked into her +mother's soft appealing brown eyes; and, reading clearer than she had +ever read before all the adorable falseness that lay therein, she +answered: + +'I do not want to marry Mr. Harding; I am engaged to Dr. Reed, and I do +not intend to give him up.' + +This answer was given so firmly that Mrs. Barton lost her temper for a +moment, and she said: + +'And do you really know what this Dr. Reed originally was? Lord Dungory +is dining here to-night; he knows all about Dr. Reed's antecedents, and +I am sure he will be horrified when he hears that you are thinking of +marrying him.' + +'I cannot recognize Lord Dungory's right to advise me on any course I +may choose to take, and I hope he will have the good taste to refrain +from speaking to me of my marriage.' + +'What do you mean? How dare you speak to me like that, you impertinent +girl!' + +'I am not impertinent, mother, and I hope I shall never be impertinent +to you; but I am now in my twenty-fifth year, and if I am ever to judge +for myself, I must do so now.' + +Alice was curiously surprised by her own words; it seemed to her that it +was some strange woman, and not herself--not the old self with whom she +was intimately acquainted--who was speaking. Life is full of these +epoch-marking moments. We have all at some given time experienced the +sensation of finding ourselves either stronger or weaker than we had +ever before known ourselves to be; Alice now for the first time felt +that she was speaking and acting in her own individual right; and the +knowledge as it thrilled through her consciousness was almost a physical +pleasure. But notwithstanding the certitude that never left her of the +propriety of her conduct, and the equally ever-present sentiment of the +happiness that awaited her, she suffered much during the next ten days, +and she was frequently in tears. Cecilia had started for St. Leonards +without coming to wish her good-bye, and the cruel sneers, insinuations +of all kinds against her and against Dr. Reed, which Mrs. Barton never +missed an occasion of using, wounded the girl so deeply, that it was +only at the rarest intervals that she left her room--when she walked to +the post with a letter, when the luncheon or dinner bell rang. Why she +should be thus persecuted, Alice was unable to determine; and why her +family did not hail with delight this chance of getting rid of a plain +girl, whose prospects were limited, was difficult to say; nor could the +girl arrive at any notion of the pleasure or profit it might be to +anyone that she should waste her life amid chaperons and gossip, instead +of taking her part in the world's work. And yet this seemed to be her +mother's idea. She did not hesitate to threaten that she would neither +attend herself, nor allow Mr. Barton to attend the ceremony. Alice might +meet Dr. Reed at the corner of the road, and be married as best she +could. Alice appealed to her father against this decision, but she soon +had to renounce the hope of obtaining any definite answer. He had been +previously told that if he attempted any interference, his supply of +paints, brushes, canvases, and guitar-strings would be cut off, and, as +he was at present deeply engaged on a new picture of _Julius Cæsar +overturning the Altars of the Druids_, he hesitated before the +alternatives offered to him. He spoke with much affection; he regretted +that Alice could not see her way to marrying somebody whom her mother +could approve! He explained the difficulties of his position, and the +necessity of his turning something out--seeing what he really could do +before the close of the year. Alice was disappointed, and bitterly, but +she bore her disappointment bravely, and she wrote to Dr. Reed, telling +him what had occurred, and proposing to meet him on a certain day at the +Parish Church, where Father Shannon would marry them; and, that if he +refused, they would proceed to Dublin, and be married at the Registry +Office. In a way Alice would have preferred this latter course, but her +good sense warned her against the uselessness of offering any too +violent opposition to the opinions of the world. And so it was arranged; +and sad, weary, and wretched, Alice lingered through the last few days +of the life that had always been to her one of humiliation, and which +now towards its close had quieted to one of intense pain. + +The Brennans had promised to meet her in the chapel, and one day, as she +was sitting by her window, she saw May in all the glory of her copper +hair, drive a tandem up to the door. This girl threw the reins to the +groom, and rushed to her friend. + +'And how do you do, Alice, and how well you are looking, and how pleased +I am to see you. I would have come before, only my leader was coughing +and I couldn't take him out. Oh, I was so wild; it is always like that; +nothing is so disappointing as horses; whenever you especially require +them they are laid up, and you can't imagine the difficulty I had to get +him along; I must really get another leader; he was trying to turn round +the whole way--if it hadn't been for the whip. I took blood out of him +three times running. But I know you don't care anything about horses, +and I want to hear about this marriage. I am so glad, so pleased, but +tell me, do you like him? He seems a very nice sort of man, you know, a +man that would make a woman happy. . . . I am sure you will be happy with +him, but it is dreadful to think we are going to lose you. I shall, I +know, be running over to London on purpose to see you; but tell me, what +I want to know is, do you like him? Would you believe it, I never once +suspected there was anything between you?' + +'Yes, my dear May,' Alice replied smiling, 'I do like Edward Reed; nor +do I think that I should ever like any other man half as much: I have +perfect confidence in him, and where there is not confidence there +cannot be love. He has bought a small practice in Notting Hill, which +with care and industry he hopes may be worked up into a substantial +business. We shall be very poor at first, but we shall be able to make +both ends meet.' + +'I can see it all; a little suburban semi-detached house, with green +Venetian blinds, a small mahogany sideboard, and a clean capped +maid-servant; and in the drawing-room you won't have a piano--you don't +care for music, but you'll have some basket chairs, and small bookcases, +and a tea-table with tea-cakes at five--oh, won't you look quiet and +grave at that tea-table. But tell me, it is all over the county that +Mrs. Barton won't hear of this marriage, and that she won't allow your +father to go to the chapel to give you away. It is a shame, and for the +life of me I can't see what parents have to do with our marriages, do +you?' + +Without waiting for an answer, May continued the conversation, and with +vehemence she passed from one subject to another utterly disconnected +without a transitional word of explanation. She explained how tiresome +it was to sit at home of an evening listening to Mrs. Gould bemoaning +the state of the country; she spoke of her terrier, and this led up to a +critical examination of the good looks of several of the officers +stationed at Gort; then she alluded to the last meet of the hounds, and +she described the big wall she and Mrs. Manly had jumped together; a new +hat and an old skirt that she had lately done up came in for a passing +remark, and, with an abundance of laughter, May gave an account of a +luncheon-party at Lord Rosshill's; and, apparently verbatim, she told +what each of the five Honourable Miss Gores had said about the marriage. +Then growing suddenly serious, she said: + +'It is all very well to laugh, but, when one comes to think of it, it is +very sad indeed to see seven human lives wasting away, a whole family of +girls eating their hearts out in despair, having nothing to do but to +pop about from one tennis-party to another, and chatter to each other or +their chaperons of this girl and that who does not seem to be getting +married. You are very lucky indeed, Alice--luckier than you think you +are, and you are quite right to stick out and do the best you can for +yourself in spite of what your people say. It is all very well for them +to talk, but they don't know what we suffer: we are not all made alike, +and the wants of one are not the wants of another. I dare say you never +thought much about that sort of thing; but as I say, we are not all made +alike. Every woman, or nearly every one, wants a husband and a home, and +it is only natural she should, and if she doesn't get them the +temptations she has to go through are something frightful, and if we +make the slightest slip the whole world is down upon us. I can talk to +you, Alice, because you know what I have gone through. You have been a +very good friend to me--had it not been for you I don't know what would +have become of me. You didn't reproach me, you were kind and had pity +for me; you are a sensible person, and I dare say you understood that I +wasn't entirely to blame. And I wasn't entirely to blame; the +circumstances we girls live under are not just--no, they are not just. +We are told that we must marry a man with at least a thousand a year, or +remain spinsters; well, I should like to know where the men are who have +a thousand a year, and some of us can't remain spinsters. Oh! you are +very lucky indeed to have found a husband, and to be going away to a +home of your own. I wish I were as lucky as you, Alice, indeed I do, for +then there would be no excuse, and I could be a good woman. You won't +hate me too much, will you, Alice? I have made a lot of good +resolutions, and they shall be kept some day.' + +'Some day! You don't mean that you are again--' + +'No; but I've a lover. It is dreadfully sinful, and if I died I should +go straight to hell. I know all that. I wish I were going to be married, +like you! For then one is out of temptation. Haven't you a kind word for +me? Won't you kiss me and tell me you don't despise me?' + +'Of course I'll kiss you, May; and I am sure that one of these days you +will--' + +Alice could say no more; and the girls kissed and cried in each other's +arms, and the group was a sad allegory of poor humanity's triumph, and +poor humanity's more than piteous failures. At last they went +downstairs, and in the hall May showed Alice the beautiful +wedding-present she had bought her, and the girl did not say that she +had sold her hunter to buy it. + + + + +XXIX + + +At Brookfield on the morning of December 3, '84, the rain fell +persistently in the midst of a profound silence. The trees stood stark +in the grey air as if petrified; there was not wind enough to waft the +falling leaf; it fell straight as if shotted. + +Not a living thing was to be seen except the wet sheep, nor did anything +stir either within or without till an outside car, one seat overturned +to save the cushions from the wet, came careering up the avenue. There +was a shaggy horse and a wild-looking driver in a long, shaggy frieze +ulster. Even now, at the last moment, Alice expected the drawing-room +door to open and her mother to come rushing out to wish her good-bye. +But Mrs. Barton remained implacable, and after laying one more kiss on +her sister's pale cheek, Alice, in a passionate flood of tears, was +driven away. + +In streaming mackintoshes, and leaning on dripping umbrellas, she found +her husband, and Gladys and Zoe Brennan, waiting for her in the porch of +the church. + +'Did you ever see such weather?' said Zoe. + +'Isn't it dreadful!' said Gladys. + +'It was good of you to come,' said Alice. + +'It was indeed!' said the bridegroom. + +'What nonsense!' said Zoe. 'We were only too pleased; and if to-day be +wet, to-morrow and the next and the next will be sunshine. + +And thanking Zoe inwardly for this most appropriate remark, the party +ascended the church toward the altar-rails, where Father Shannon was +awaiting them. Large, pompous, and arrogant, he stood on his +altar-steps, and his hands were crossed over his portly stomach. On +either side of him the plaster angels bowed their heads and folded their +wings. Above him the great chancel window, with its panes of green and +yellow glass, jarred in an unutterable clash of colour; and the great +white stare of the chalky walls, and the earthen floor with its tub of +holy water, and the German prints absurdly representing the suffering of +Christ, bespoke the primitive belief, the coarse superstition, of which +the place was an immediate symbol. Alice and the doctor looked at each +other and smiled, but their thoughts were too firmly fixed on the actual +problem of their united lives to wander far in the most hidden ways of +the old world's psychical extravagances. What did it matter to them what +absurd usages the place they were in was put to?--they, at least, were +only making use of it as they might of any other public office--the +police-station, where inquiries are made concerning parcels left in +cabs; the Commissioner before whom an affidavit is made. And it served +its purpose as well as any of the others did theirs. The priest joined +their hands, Edward put the ring on Alice's finger, and the usual +prayers did no harm if they did no good; and having signed their names +in the register and bid good-bye to the Miss Brennans, they got into the +carriage, man and wife, their feet set for ever upon one path, their +interests and delights melted to one interest and one delight, their +separate troubles merged into one trouble that might or might not be +made lighter by the sharing; and penetrated by such thoughts they leaned +back on the blue cushions of the carriage, happy, and yet a little +frightened. + +Rather than pass three hours waiting for a train at the little station +of Ardrahan, it had been arranged to spend the time driving to Athenry; +and, as the carriage rolled through the deliquefying country, the eyes +of the man and the woman rested half fondly, half regretfully, and +wholly pitifully, on all the familiar signs and the wild landmarks which +during so many years had grown into and become part of the texture of +their habitual thought; on things of which they would now have to wholly +divest themselves, and remember only as the background of their younger +lives. Through the streaming glass they could see the strip of bog; and +the half-naked woman, her soaked petticoat clinging about her red legs, +piling the wet peat into the baskets thrown across the meagre back of a +starveling ass. And farther on there were low-lying, swampy fields, and +between them and the roadside a few miserable poplars with cabins sunk +below the dung-heaps, and the meagre potato-plots lying about them; and +then, as these are passed, there are green enclosures full of fattening +kine, and here and there a dismantled cottage, one wall still black with +the chimney's smoke, uttering to those who know the country a tale of +eviction. Beyond these, beautiful plantations sweep along the crests of +the hills, the pillars of a Georgian house showing at the end of a +vista. The carriage turned up a narrow road, and our travellers came +upon a dozen policemen grouped round a roadside cottage, out of which +the furniture had just been thrown. The family had taken shelter from +the rain under a hawthorn-tree, and the agents were consulting with +their bailiffs if it would not be as well to throw down the walls of the +cottage. + +'If we don't,' one of the men said, 'they will be back again as soon as +our backs are turned, and our work will have to be begun all over +again.' + +'Shocking,' Alice said, 'that an eviction scene should be our last +glimpse of Ireland. Let us pay the rent for them, Edward,' and as she +spoke the words the thought passed through her mind that her almsgiving +was only another form of selfishness. She wished her departure to be +associated with an act of kindness. She would have withdrawn her +request, but Edward's hand was in his pocket and he was asking the agent +how much the rent was. Five years' rent was owing--more than the +travellers had in their purses. + +'It is well that we cannot assist them to remain here,' said Edward. +'Circumstances are different, and they will harden; none is of use here. +Of what use--' + +'You believe, then, that this misery will last for ever?' + +'Nothing lasts in Ireland but the priests. And now let us forget +Ireland, as many have done before us.' + + * * * * * + +Two years and a half have passed away, and the suburban home predicted +by May, when she came to bid Alice a last good-bye, arises before the +reader in all its yellow paint and homely vulgarity. In this suburb we +find the ten-roomed house with all its special characteristics--a +dining-room window looking upon a commodious area with dust and coal +holes. The drawing-room has two windows, and the slender balcony is +generally set with flower-boxes. Above that come the two windows of the +best bedroom belonging to Mr. and Mrs., and above that again the windows +of two small rooms, respectively inhabited by the eldest son and +daughter; and these are topped by the mock-Elizabethan gable which +enframes the tiny window of a servant's room. Each house has a pair of +trim stone pillars, the crude green of the Venetian blinds jars the +cultured eye, and even the tender green of the foliage in the crescent +seems as cheap and as common as if it had been bought--as everything +else is in Ashbourne Crescent--at the Stores. But how much does this +crescent of shrubs mean to the neighbourhood? Is it not there that the +old ladies take their pugs for their constitutional walks, and is it not +there that the young ladies play tennis with their gentleman +acquaintances when they come home from the City on a Saturday afternoon? + +In Ashbourne Crescent there is neither Dissent nor Radicalism, but +general aversion to all considerations which might disturb belief in all +the routine of existence, in all its temporal and spiritual aspects, as +it had come amongst them. The fathers and the brothers go to the City +every day at nine, the young ladies play tennis, read novels, and beg to +be taken to dances at the Kensington Town Hall. On Sunday the air is +alive with the clanging of bells, and in orderly procession every family +proceeds to church, the fathers in all the gravity of umbrellas and +prayer-books, the matrons in silk mantles and clumsy ready-made elastic +sides; the girls in all the gaiety of their summer dresses with lively +bustles bobbing, the young men in frock-coats which show off their broad +shoulders--from time to time they pull their tawny moustaches. Each +house keeps a cook and housemaid, and on Sunday afternoons, when the +skies are flushed with sunset and the outlines of this human warren grow +harshly distinct--black lines upon pale red--these are seen walking +arm-in-arm away towards a distant park with their young men. + +Ashbourne Crescent, with its bright brass knockers, its white-capped +maid-servant, and spotless oilcloths, will pass away before some great +tide of revolution that is now gathering strength far away, deep down +and out of sight in the heart of the nation, is probable enough; but for +the moment it is, in all its cheapness and vulgarity, more than anything +else representative, though the length and breadth of the land be +searched, of the genius of Empire that has been glorious through the +long tale that nine hundred years have to tell. Ashbourne Crescent may +possibly soon be replaced by something better, but at present it +commands our admiration, for it is, more than all else, typical England. +Neither ideas nor much lucidity will be found there, but much belief in +the wisdom shown in the present ordering of things, and much plain sense +and much honesty of purpose. Certainly, if your quest be for hectic +emotion and passionate impulses, you would do well to turn your steps +aside; you will not find them in Ashbourne Crescent. There life flows +monotonously, perhaps sometimes even a little moodily, but it is built +upon a basis of honest materialism--that materialism without which the +world cannot live. And No. 31 differs a little from the rest of the +houses. The paint on its walls is fresher, and there are no flowers on +its balcony: the hall-door has three bells instead of the usual two, and +there is a brass plate with 'Dr. Reed' engraved upon it. The cook is +talking through the area-railings to the butcher-boy; a smart +parlourmaid opens the door, and we see that the interior is as orderly, +commonplace, and clean as we might expect at every house in the +crescent. The floorcloths are irreproachable, the marble-painted walls +are unadorned with a single picture. On the right is the dining-room, a +mahogany table bought for five pounds in the Tottenham Court Road, a +dozen chairs to match, a sideboard and a small table; green-painted +walls decorated with two engravings, one of Frith's 'Railway Station,' +the other of Guido's 'Fortune.' Further down the passage leading to the +kitchen-stairs there is a second room: this is the Doctor's +consulting-room. A small bookcase filled with serious-looking volumes, a +mahogany escritoire strewn with papers, letters, memoranda of all sorts. +The floor is covered with a bright Brussels carpet; there are two +leather armchairs, and a portrait of an admiral hangs over the +fireplace. + +Let us go upstairs. How bright and clean are the high marble-painted +walls! and on the first landing there is a large cheaply coloured +window. The drawing-room is a double room, not divided by curtains but +by stiff folding-doors. The furniture is in red, and the heavy curtains +that drape the windows fall from gilt cornices. In the middle of the +floor there is a settee (probably a reminiscence of the Shelbourne +Hotel); and on either side of the fireplace there are sofas, and about +the hearthrug many arm-chairs to match with the rest. Above the +chimneypiece there is a gilt oval mirror, worth ten pounds. The second +room is Alice's study; it is there she writes her novels. A table in +black wood with a pile of MSS. neatly fastened together stands in one +corner; there is a bookcase just behind; its shelves are furnished with +imaginative literature, such as Shelley's poems, Wordsworth's poems, +Keats' poems. There are also handsome editions of Tennyson and Browning, +presents from Dr. Reed to his wife. You see a little higher up the shelf +a thin volume, Swinburne's _Atalanta in Calydon_, and next to it is +Walter Pater's _Renaissance_--studies in art and poetry. There are also +many volumes in yellow covers, evidently French novels. + +The character of the house is therefore essentially provincial, and +shows that its occupants have not always lived amid the complex +influences of London life--viz., is not even suburban. Nevertheless, +here and there traces of new artistic impulses are seen. On the +mantelpiece in the larger room there are two large blue vases; on a +small table stands a pot in yellow porcelain, evidently from Morris's; +and on the walls there are engravings from Burne Jones. Every Thursday +afternoon numbers of ladies, all of whom write novels, assemble here to +drink tea and talk of their work. + +It is now eleven o'clock in the morning. Alice enters her drawing-room. +You see her: a tall, spare woman with kind eyes, who carries her arms +stiffly. She has just finished her housekeeping, she puts down her +basket of keys, and with all the beautiful movement of the young mother +she takes up the crawling mass of white frock, kisses her son and +settles his blue sash. And when she has talked to him for a few minutes +she rings the bell for nurse; then she sits down to write. As usual, her +pen runs on without a perceptible pause. Words come to her easily, but +she has not finished the opening paragraph of the article she is writing +when the sound of rapid footsteps attracts her attention, and Olive +bursts into the room. + +'Oh, Alice, how do you do? I couldn't stop at home any longer, I am sick +of it.' + +'Couldn't stop at home any longer, Olive; what do you mean?' + +'If you won't take me in, say so, and I'll go.' + +'My dear Olive, I shall be delighted to have you with me; but why can't +you stop at home any longer--surely there is no harm in my asking?' + +'Oh, I don't know; don't ask me; I am so miserable at home; I can't tell +you how unhappy I am. I know I shall never be married, and the perpetual +trying to make up matches is sickening. Mamma will insist on riches, +position, and all that sort of thing--those kind of men don't want to +get married--I am sick of going out; I won't go out any more. We never +missed a tennis-party last year; we used to go sometimes ten miles to +them, so eager was mamma after Captain Gibbon, and it did not come off; +and then the whole country laughs.' + +'And who is Captain Gibbon? I never heard of him before.' + +'No, you don't know him: he was not in Galway in your time.' + +'And Captain Hibbert! Have you heard from him since he went out to +India?' + +'Yes, once; he wrote to me to say that he hoped to see me when he came +home.' + +'And when will that be?' + +'Oh, I don't know; when people go out to India one never expects to see +them again.' + +Seeing how sore the wound was, Alice did not attempt to probe it, but +strove rather to lead Olive's thoughts away from it, and gradually the +sisters lapsed into talking of their acquaintances and friends, and of +how life had dealt with them. + +'And May, what is she doing?' + +'She met with a bad accident, and has not been out hunting lately. She +was riding a pounding match with Mrs. Manly across country: May's horse +came to grief at a big wall, and broke several of her ribs. They say she +has given up riding--now she does nothing but paint. You remember how +well she used to paint at school.' + +'And the Brennans?' + +'Oh, they go up to the Shelbourne every year, but none of them are +married; and I am afraid that they must be very hard up, for their land +is very highly let, and the tenants are paying no rent at all +now--Ireland is worse than ever; we shall all be ruined, and they say +Home Rule is certain. But I am sick of the subject.' + +Then the Duffys, the Honourable Miss Gores, and the many other families +of unmarried girls--the poor muslin martyrs, whose sufferings were the +theme of this book, were again passed in review; their failures +sometimes jeeringly alluded to by Olive, but always listened to +pityingly by Alice--and, talking thus of their past life, the sisters +leant over the spring fire that burnt out in the grate. At the end of a +long silence Alice said: + +'Well, dear, I hope you have come to live with us, or at any rate to pay +us a long visit.' + + + + + + THE END + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Muslin, by George Moore + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14659 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a3279f --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #14659 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14659) diff --git a/old/14659-8.txt b/old/14659-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fc5cca8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14659-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11047 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Muslin, by George Moore + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Muslin + +Author: George Moore + +Release Date: January 10, 2005 [EBook #14659] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MUSLIN *** + + + + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + MUSLIN + + By + + GEORGE MOORE + + + + _Originally published under the title of 'A Drama in Muslin,' 1886._ + + _New Edition, September, 1915._ + + + + + +PREFACE + + +My excuse for modifying the title of this book is, that _A Drama in +Muslin_ has long seemed to me to be the vulgar one among the titles of +my many books. But to change the title of a book that has been in +circulation, however precarious, for more than thirty years, is not +permissible, and that is why I rejected the many titles that rose up in +my mind while correcting the proofs of this new edition. In _Neophytes_, +_Débutantes_, and _The Baiting of Mrs. Barton_, readers would have +divined a new story, but the dropping out of the unimportant word +'drama' will not deceive the most casual follower of literature. The +single word 'muslin' is enough. _Mousseline_ would be more euphonious, a +fuller, richer word; and _Bal Blanc_, besides being more picturesque, +would convey my meaning; but a shade of meaning is not sufficient +justification for the use of French titles or words, for they lessen the +taste of our language; we don't get the smack, and Milord's epigrams +poisoned my memory of _A Drama in Muslin_. But they cannot be omitted +without much re-writing, I said, and remembering my oath never to +attempt the re-writing of an old book again, I fell back on the +exclusion of _A Drama in Muslin_ as the only way out of the dilemma. A +wavering resolution was precipitated by recollection of some disgraceful +pages, but a moment after I was thinking that the omission of the book +would create a hiatus. _A Drama in Muslin_, I reflected, is a link +between two styles; and a book that has achieved any notoriety cannot be +omitted from a collected edition, so my publishers said, and they harped +on this string, until one day I flung myself out of their office and +rattled down the stairs muttering, 'What a smell of shop!' But in the +Strand near the Cecil Inn, the thought glided into my mind that the +pages that seemed so disgraceful in memory might not seem so in print, +'and the only way to find out if this be so,' the temptation continued, +'will be to ask the next policeman the way to Charing Cross Road.' +Another saw me over a dangerous crossing (London is the best policed +city in Europe), a third recommended a shop 'over yonder: you've just +passed it by, sir.' 'Thank you, thank you,' I cried back, and no sooner +was I on the other side than, overcome by shyness, as always in these +stores of dusty literature, I asked for the _Drama in Muslin_, +pronouncing the title so timidly that the bookseller guessed me at once +to be the author, and began telling of the books that were doing well in +first editions. 'If I had any I wanted to get rid of?' he mentioned +several he would be glad to buy. Whereupon in turn I grew confidential +and confided to him my present dilemma, failing, however, to dissuade +him from his opinion that _A Drama in Muslin_ ought to be included. 'Any +corrections you make in the new edition will keep up the price of the +old,' he added as he wrapped up the brown paper parcel. 'You will like +the book better than you think for.' 'Thank you, thank you,' I cried +after me, and hopped into a taxi, unsuspicious that I carried a +delightful evening under my arm. A comedy novel, written with +sprightliness and wit, I said, as I turned to the twentieth page, and it +needs hardly any editing. A mere re-tying of a few bows that the +effluxion of time has untied, or were never tied by the author, who, if +I remember right, used to be less careful of his literary appearance +than his prefacer, neglecting to examine his sentences, and to scan them +as often as one might expect from an admirer, not to say disciple, of +Walter Pater. + +An engaging young man rose out of the pages of his book, one that Walter +Pater would admire (did admire), one that life, I added, seems to have +affected through his senses violently, and who was (may we say +therefore) a little over anxious to possess himself of a vocabulary +which would suffer him to tell all he saw, heard, smelt and touched. + +Upon this sudden sympathy the book, of which I had read but twenty +pages, dropped on my knees, and I sat engulfed in a reverie of the +charming article I should have written about this book if it had come to +me for review. 'But it couldn't have come to me,' I reflected, 'for +myself and the young man that wrote it were not contemporaries.' It +would be true, however, to say that our lives overlapped; but when did +the author of the _Drama in Muslin_ disappear from literature? His next +book was _Confession of a Young Man_. It was followed by _Spring Days_; +he must have died in the last pages of that story, for we find no trace +of him in _Esther Waters_! And my thoughts, dropping away from the books +he had written, began to take pleasure in the ridiculous appearance that +the author of _A Drama in Muslin_ presented in the mirrors of Dublin +Castle as he tripped down the staircases in parly morning. And a smile +played round my lips as I recalled his lank yellow hair (often standing +on end), his sloping shoulders and his female hands--a strange +appearance which a certain vivacity of mind sometimes rendered engaging. + +He was writing at that time _A Mummer's Wife_ in his bedroom at the +Shelbourne Hotel, and I thought how different were the two visions, _A +Mummer's Wife_ and _A Drama in Muslin_ and how the choice of these two +subjects revealed him to me. 'It was life that interested him rather +than the envelope' I said. 'He sought Alice Barton's heart as eagerly as +Kate Ede's;' and my heart went out to the three policemen to whose +assiduities I owed this pleasant evening, all alone with my cat and my +immediate ancestor; and as I sat looking into the fire I fell to +wondering how it was that the critics of the 'eighties could have been +blind enough to dub him an imitator of Zola. 'A soul searcher, if ever +there was one,' I continued, 'whose desire to write well is apparent on +every page, a headlong, eager, uncertain style (a young hound yelping at +every trace of scent), but if we look beneath the style we catch sight +of the young man's true self, a real interest in religious questions and +a hatred as lively as Ibsen's of the social conventions that drive women +into the marriage market. It seems strange,' I said, abandoning myself +to recollection, 'that the critics of the 'eighties failed to notice +that the theme of _A Drama in Muslin_ is the same as that of the _Doll's +House_; the very title should have pointed this put to them.' But they +were not interested in themes; but in morality, and how they might crush +a play which, if it were uncrushed by them, would succeed in undermining +the foundations of society--their favourite phrase at the time, it +entered into every article written about the _Doll's House_--and, +looking upon themselves as the saviours of society, these +master-builders kept on staying and propping the damaged construction +till at length they were joined by some dramatists and story-tellers who +feared with them for the 'foundations of society,' and these latter set +themselves the task of devising new endings that would be likely to +catch the popular taste and so mitigate the evil, the substitution of an +educational motive for a carnal one. For Nora does not leave her husband +for a lover, but to educate herself. The critics were used to lovers, +and what we are used to is bearable, but a woman who leaves her husband +and her children for school-books is unbearable, and much more immoral +than the usual little wanton. So the critics thought in the 'eighties, +and they thought truly, if it be true that morality and custom are +interchangeable terms. The critics were right in a way; everybody is +right in a way, for nothing is wholly right and nothing wholly wrong, a +truth often served up by philosophers; but the public has ever eschewed +it, and perhaps our argument will be better appreciated if we dilute +this truth a little, saying instead that it is the telling that makes a +story true or false, and that the dramatic critics of the 'eighties were +not altogether as wrong as Mr. Archer imagined them to be, but failed to +express themselves. + +The public is without power of expression, and it felt that it was being +fooled for some purpose not very apparent and perhaps anarchical. Nor is +a sudden revelation very convincing in modern times. In the space of +three minutes, Nora, who has been her husband's sensual toy, and has +taken pleasure in being that, and only that, leaves her husband and her +children, as has been said, for school-books. A more arbitrary piece of +stage craft was never devised; but it was not the stage craft the +critics were accustomed to, and the admirers of Ibsen did not dare to +admit that he had devised Nora to cry aloud that a woman is more than a +domestic animal. It would have been fatal for an apostle or even a +disciple to admit the obvious fact that Ibsen was a dramatist of moral +ideas rather than of sensuous emotions; and there was nobody in the +'eighties to explain the redemption of Ibsen by his dialogue, the +strongest and most condensed ever written, yet coming off the reel like +silk. A wonderful thread, that never tangles in his hands. Ibsen is a +magical weaver, and so closely does he weave that we are drawn along in +the net like fishes. + +But it is with the subject of the _Doll's House_ rather than with the +art with which it is woven that we are concerned here. The subject of _A +Drama in Muslin_ is the same as that of _A Doll's House_, and for this +choice of subject I take pride in my forerunner. It was a fine thing for +a young man of thirty to choose the subject instinctively that Ibsen had +chosen a few years before; it is a feather in his cap surely; and I +remember with pleasure that he was half through his story when Dr. +Aveling read him the first translation of _A Doll's House_, a poor +thing, done by a woman, that withheld him from any appreciation of the +play. The fact that he was writing the same subject from an entirely +different point of view prejudiced him against Ibsen; and the making of +a woman first in a sensual and afterward transferring her into an +educational mould with a view to obtaining an instrument to thunder out +a given theme could not be else than abhorrent to one whose art, however +callow, was at least objective. In the _Doll's House_ Ibsen had +renounced all objectivity. It does not seem to me that further apologies +are necessary for my predecessor's remark to Dr. Aveling after the +reading that he was engaged in moulding a woman in one of Nature's +moulds. 'A puritan,' he said, 'I am writing of, but not a sexless +puritan, and if women cannot win their freedom without leaving their sex +behind they had better remain slaves, for a slave with his sex is better +than a free eunuch;' and he discoursed on the book he was writing, +convinced that Alice Barton represented her sex better than the +archetypal hieratic and clouded figure of Nora which Ibsen had dreamed +so piously, allowing, he said, memories of Egyptian sculpture to mingle +with his dreams. + +My ancestor could not have understood the _Doll's House_ while he was +writing _A Drama in Muslin_, not even in Mr. Archer's translation; he +was too absorbed in his craft at that time, in observing and remembering +life, to be interested in moral ideas. And his portrait of Alice Barton +gives me much the same kind of pleasure as a good drawing. She keeps her +place in the story, moving through it with quiet dignity, commanding our +sympathy and respect always, and for her failure to excite our wonder +like Nora we may say that the author's design was a comedy, and that in +comedy the people are not and perhaps should not be above life size. But +why apologize for what needs no apology? Alice Barton is a creature of +conventions and prejudices, not her mother's but her own; so far she had +freed herself, and it may well be that none obtains a wider liberty. She +leaves her home with the dispensary doctor, who has bought a small +practice in Notting Hill, and the end seems a fulfilment of the +beginning. The author conducts her to the door of womanhood, and there +he leaves her with the joys and troubles, no doubt, of her new estate; +but with these he apparently does not consider himself to be concerned, +though he seems to have meditated at this time a sort of small _comédie +humaine_--small, for he must have known that he could not withstand the +strain of Balzac's shifts of fourteen hours. We are glad he was able to +conquer the temptation to imitate, yet we cannot forego a regret that he +did not turn to Violet Scully that was and look into the married life of +the Marchioness of Kilcamey--her grey intense eyes shining through a +grey veil, and her delightful thinness--her epicene bosom and long +thighs are the outward signs of a temper, constant perhaps, but not +narrow. He would have been able to discover an intrigue of an engaging +kind in her, and the thinking out of the predestined male would have +been as agreeable a task as falls to the lot of a man of letters. And +being a young man he would begin by considering the long series of +poets, painters and musicians, he had read of in Balzac's novels, but as +none of these would be within the harmony of Violet's perverse humour, +he would turn to life, and presently a vague shaggy shape would emerge +from the back of his mind, but it would refuse to condense into any +recognizable face; which is as well, perhaps, else I might be tempted to +pick up this forgotten flower, though I am fain to write no more long +stories. + +But though we regret that the author of _Muslin_ did not gather this +Violet for his literary buttonhole, let no one suggest that the old man +should return to his Springtime to do what the young man left undone. +Our gathering-time is over, and we are henceforth prefacers. _The Brook +Cherith_ is our last. Some may hear this decision with sorrow, but we +have written eighteen books, which is at least ten too many, and none +shall persuade us to pick up the burden of another long story. We swear +it and close our ears to our admirers, and to escape them we plunge into +consideration of Violet's soul and her aptitudes, saying, and saying +well, that if polygamy thrives with Mohammedanism in the East, polyandry +has settled down in the West with Christianity, and that since Nora +slammed the door the practice of acquiring a share in a woman's life, +rather than insisting on the whole of it, has caught such firm root in +our civilization that it is no exaggeration to say that every married +woman to-day will admit she could manage two men better than her husband +could manage two wives. If we inquire still further, we submit, and +confidently, that every woman--saint or harlot, it matters not +which--would confess she would prefer to live with two men rather than +share her husband with another woman. All women are of one mind on this +subject; it is the one thing on which they all agree irrespective of +creed or class, so these remarks barely concern them; but should male +eyes fall on this page, and if in the pride of his heart he should cry +out, 'This is not so,' I would have him make application to his wife or +sister, and if he possess neither he may discover the truth in his own +mind. Let him ask himself if it could be otherwise, since our usage and +wont is that a woman shall prepare for the reception of visitors by +adorning her rooms with flowers and dressing herself in fine linen and +silk attire, and be to all men alike as they come and go. She must cover +all with winning glances, and beguile all with seductive eyes and foot, +and talk about love, though, perhaps she would prefer to think of one +who is far away. Men do not live under such restraint. A man may reserve +all his thoughts for his mistress, but the moment he leaves, his +mistress must begin to cajole the new-comer, however indifferent he may +be to her. The habit of her life is to cajole, to please, to inspire, if +possible, and if she be not a born coquette she becomes one, and takes +pleasure in her art, devoting her body and mind to it, reading only +books about love and lovers, singing songs of love, and seeking always +new scents and colours and modes of fascination. If lovers are away and +none calls, she abandons herself to dreams, and her imagination +furnishes quickly a new romance. Somebody she has half-forgotten rises +up in her memory, and she thinks that she could like him if he were to +come into her drawing-room now. It would be happiness indeed to walk +forward into his arms and to call her soul into her eyes; or, if a +letter were to come from him asking her to dinner, she would accept it; +and, lying back among her silken cushions, she thinks she could spend +many hours in his company without weariness. She creates his rooms and +his person and his conversation, and when he is exhausted a new intrigue +rises up in her mind, and then another and another. Some drop away and +remain for ever unfulfilled, while others 'come into their own,' as the +saying is. + +If this be a true analysis of a woman's life--and who will say it is +not?--the dreams of the Marchioness of Kilcarney would begin in her +easy-chair about the second spring after her marriage, the shaggy shape +that haunts the back of my mind would hear her dreams, and the wooing +that began with the daffodils would continue always, for she is a woman +that could keep a lover till the end of time. At her death husband and +lover would visit her grave together and talk of her perfections in the +winter evenings. But if Violet did not die another vagrant male would +steal through the ilex-trees, a hunter in pursuit of game, or else it +might be a fisher, seated among the rocks waiting, for tunny-fish. +Either might take Violet's fancy. The author of _Muslin_ seems to have +entertained a thought of some such pastoral frolic in the Shelbourne +Hotel--the opposition of husband and lover to the newcomer, Harding, +whom it had occurred to Mrs. Barton to invite to Brookfield, and whom +she would have invited had it not been for her great matrimonial +projects; my forerunner, who was an artist, saw that any deflection of +Mrs. Barton's thoughts would jeopardize his composition, and he allowed +Mrs. Barton to remain a chaperon. He was right in this, but Violet +should have been the impulse and nucleus of a new story. . . . I began to +think suddenly of the blight that would fall on the twain if Violet's +lover were to die, and to figure them sitting in the evenings meditating +on the admirable qualities of the deceased till in their loneliness he +would come to seem to them as a being more than human, touching almost +on the Divine. Their ears would retain the sound of his voice, and the +familiar furniture would provoke remembrances of him. Ashamed of their +weakness, their eyes would seek the chair he used to sit in: it is away +in a far corner, lest a casual visitor should draw it forward and defile +it with his presence--a thing that happened once (the unhappy twain +remember how they lacked moral courage to beg him to choose another +chair). The table, laid for two, was too painful to behold, and they +never enjoyed a meal, hardly could they eat, till at last it was decided +that his place should be laid for him as if he had gone away on a +journey, and might appear in the doorway and sit down with them and +share the repast as of yore--a pretty deception the folly of which they +were alive to (a little) but would not willingly be without. + +His room, too, awaits him, and his clothes have not been destroyed or +given to the poor, but he folded by charitable hands in the drawers +kept safe from moth with orris-root and lavender. His hat hangs on its +accustomed peg in the hall, and they think of it among many other +things. At last the silence of these lonely meditations is broken by +sudden recollections--for dinner the cook had sent up a boiled chicken +instead of roast, and he had looked upon boiled chicken as a vulgar +insularism always. Nor were there bananas on the table. Bananas were an +acquired taste with them, they had learned to eat the fruit for love of +their friend, and since he has gone they have not eaten the chicken +roast nor the fruit, and it seems to them that they should have eaten of +these things in memory of him. In the Spring they come upon his +pruning-knife, and discourse sadly on the changes he would have advised. +Spring opens into summer, and when summer drops into the autumn +Kilcarney's black passes into grey; he appears one morning in a violet +tie, and the tie, picked out of a drawer with indifferent hand, causes +Violet to doubt her husband's constancy. It was soon after this +thoughtless act that he began, for the thousandth time, to remind her +that the world might be searched in its dimmest corners and no friend +again found like the one they had lost. . . . The reflection had become +part of their habitual thought, and, feeling a little trite and +commonplace, Violet listened, or half-listened, engulfed in retrospect. + +'I met in Merrion Square,' and she mentioned a name, 'and do you know +whom he seemed to be very like?' The colour died out of Kilcarney's +cheek and he could but murmur, 'Oh, Violet!' and colouring at being +caught up on what might be looked upon as a mental infidelity, she +answered, 'of course, none is like him . . . I wish you would not seek to +misunderstand me.' + +The matter passed off, but next evening she sat looking at her husband, +her thoughts suspended for so long that he began to fear, wrongly +however, that she was about to put forward some accusation, to twit him +perchance on his lack of loyalty to his dead friend. He had not eaten a +banana for dinner, though he had intended to eat one. 'Of course, we +shall never find anyone like him,' she said--'not if we were to search +all the corners of the world. That is so, we're both agreed on that +point, but I've been thinking which of all our friends and acquaintances +would least unworthily fill his place in our lives.' 'Violet! Violet!' +'If you persist in misunderstanding me,' she answered, 'I have no more +to say,' whereupon the Marquis tried to persuade the Marchioness out of +the morose silence that had fallen upon them, and failing to move her he +raised the question that had divided them. 'If you mean, Violet, that +our racing friend would be a poor shift for our dead friend, meaning +thereby that nobody in Dublin is comparable'--'could I have meant +anything else, you old dear?' she replied; and the ice having been +broken, the twain plunged at once into the waters of recollection, and +coming upon a current they were borne onward, swiftly and more swiftly, +till at length a decision had to be come to--they would invite their +racing friend. + +It was on the Marquis's lips to say a word or two in disparagement of +the invited guest, but on second thoughts it seemed to him that he had +better refrain; the Marchioness, too, was about to plead, she did not +know exactly what, but she thought she would like to reassure the +Marquis. . . . On second thoughts she decided too that it would be better +(perhaps) to refrain. Well, to escape from the toils of an interesting +story (for I'm no longer a story-teller but a prefacer) I will say that +three nights later Sir Hugh took the Marchioness in to dinner; he sat in +his predecessor's chair, knowing nothing of him, thereby startling his +hosts, who, however, soon recovered their presence of mind. After dinner +the Marquis said, 'Now, Sir Hugh, I hope you will excuse me if I go +upstairs. I am taking the racing calendar with me, you see.' + +My forerunner, the author of _Muslin_, should have written the story +sketched here with a failing hand, his young wit would have allowed him +to tell how the marriage that had wilted sadly after the death of Uncle +Toby now renewed its youth, opening its leaves to the light again, +shaking itself in the gay breezes floating by. He would have been able +in this story to present three exemplars of the domestic virtues, +telling how they went away to the seaside together, and returned +together to their castle among tall trees in October compelling the +admiration of the entire countryside. He would have shown us the +Marchioness entertaining visitors while the two men talked by the +fireplace, delighting in each other's company, and he would not have +forgotten to put them before us in their afternoon walks, sharing +between them Violet's knick-knacks, her wraps, her scarf, her fan, her +parasol, her cushion. His last chapter would probably be in a ball-room, +husband and lover standing by the door watching the Marchioness swinging +round the room on the arm of a young subaltern. 'Other women are younger +than she, Kilcarney, but who is as graceful? Have you ever seen a woman +hold herself like Violet?' One of the daughters (for there have been +children by this second, or shall we say by this third, marriage) comes +up breathless after the dance. 'Darling Uncle Hughie, won't you take me +for an ice?' and he gives her his arm affectionately, but as they pass +away to the buffet Sir Hugh hears Kilcarney speaking of Lily as his +daughter. Sir Hugh's face clouds suddenly, but he remembers that, after +all, Kilcarney is a guardian of his wife's honour. A very ingenious +story, no doubt, and if, as the young man's ascendant--the critics of +1915 are pleased to speak of me as ascendant from the author of +_Muslin_--I may be permitted to remark upon it, I would urge the very +grave improbability that three people ever lived contemporaneously who +were wise enough to prefer, and so consistently, happiness to the +conventions. + +There are still May Gould and Olive to consider, but this preface has +been prolonged unduly, and it may be well to leave the reader to imagine +a future for these girls, and to decide the interests that will fill +Mrs. Barton's life when Lord Dungory's relations with this world have +ceased. + +G.M. + + + + + +MUSLIN + + + +I + + +The convent was situated on a hilltop, and through the green garden the +white dresses of the schoolgirls fluttered like the snowy plumage of a +hundred doves. Obeying a sudden impulse, a flock of little ones would +race through a deluge of leaf-entangled rays towards a pet companion +standing at the end of a gravel-walk examining the flower she has just +picked, the sunlight glancing along her little white legs proudly and +charmingly advanced. The elder girls in their longer skirts were more +dignified, but when they caught sight of a favourite sister, they too +ran forward, and then retreated timidly, as if afraid of committing an +indiscretion. + +It was prize-day in the Convent of the Holy Child, and since early +morning all had been busy preparing for the arrival of the Bishop. His +throne had been set at one end of the school-hall, and at the other the +carpenters had erected a stage for the performance of _King Cophetua_, a +musical sketch written by Miss Alice Barton for the occasion. + +Alice Barton was what is commonly known as a plain girl. At home, during +the holidays, she often heard that the dressmaker could not fit her; but +though her shoulders were narrow and prim, her arms long and almost +awkward, there was a character about the figure that commanded +attention. Alice was now turned twenty; she was the eldest, the +best-beloved, and the cleverest girl in the school. It was not, +therefore, on account of any backwardness in her education that she had +been kept so long out of society, but because Mrs. Barton thought that, +as her two girls were so different in appearance, it would be well for +them to come out together. Against this decision Alice said nothing, +and, like a tall arum lily, she had grown in the convent from girl to +womanhood. To her the little children ran to be comforted; and to walk +with her in the garden was considered an honour and a pleasure that even +the Reverend Mother was glad to participate in. + +Lady Cecilia Cullen sat next to Alice, and her high shoulders and long +face and pathetic eyes drew attention to her shoulders--they were a +little wry, the right seemingly higher than the left. Her eyes were on +Alice, and it was plain that she wished the other girls away, and that +her nature was delicate, sensitive, obscure, if not a little queer. At +home her elder sisters complained that an ordinary look or gesture often +shocked her, and so deeply that she would remain for hours sitting apart +refusing all consolation; and it was true that a spot on the tablecloth +or presence of one repellent to her was sufficient to extinguish a +delight or an appetite. + +Violet Scully occupied the other end of the garden bench. She was very +thin, but withal elegantly made. Her face was neat and delicate, and it +was set with light blue eyes; and when she was not changing her place +restlessly, or looking round as if she fancied someone was approaching, +when she was still (which was seldom), a rigidity of feature and an +almost complete want of bosom gave her the appearance of a convalescent +boy. + +If May Gould, who stood at the back, her hand leaning affectionately on +Alice's shoulder, had been three inches taller, she would have been +classed a fine figure, but her features were too massive for her height. +Her hair was not of an inherited red. It was the shade of red that is +only seen in the children of dark-haired parents. In great coils it +rolled over the dimpled cream of her neck, and with the exception of +Alice, May was the cleverest girl in the school. For public inspection +she made large water-coloured drawings of Swiss scenery; for private +view, pen-and-ink sketches of officers sitting in conservatories with +young ladies. The former were admired by the nuns, the latter occasioned +some discussion among a select few. + +Violet Scully and May Gould would appeal to different imaginations. + +Olive, Alice's sister, was more beautiful than either, but there was +danger that her corn-coloured hair, wound round a small shapely head, +might fail to excite more than polite admiration. Her nose was finely +chiselled, but it was high and aquiline, and though her eyes were well +drawn and coloured, they lacked personal passion and conviction; but no +flower could show more delicate tints than her face--rose tints fading +into cream, cream rising into rose. Her ear was curved like a shell, her +mouth was faint and weak as a rose, and her moods alternated between +sudden discontent and sudden gaiety. + +'I don't see, Alice, why you couldn't have made King Cophetua marry the +Princess. Whoever heard of a King marrying a beggar-maid? Besides, I +hear that lots of people are going to be present, and to be jilted +before them all isn't very nice. I am sure mamma wouldn't like it.' + +'But you are not jilted, my dear Olive. You don't like the King, and you +show your nobleness of mind by refusing him.' + +'I don't see that. Whoever refused a King?' + +'Well, what do you want?' exclaimed May. 'I never saw anyone so selfish +in all my life; you wouldn't be satisfied unless you played the whole +piece by yourself.' + +Olive would probably have made a petulant and passionate reply, but at +that moment visitors were coming up the drive. + +'It's papa,' cried Olive. + +'And he is with mamma,' said Violet; and she tripped after Olive. + +Mr. Barton, a tall, handsome man, seemed possessed of all the beauty of +a cameo, and Olive had inherited his high aquiline nose and the moulding +of his romantic forehead; and his colour, too. He wore a flowing beard, +and his hair and beard were the colour of pale _cafe-au-lait_. Giving a +hand to each daughter, he said: + +'Here is learning and here is beauty. Could a father desire more? And +you, Violet, and you, May, are about to break into womanhood. I used to +kiss you in old times, but I suppose you are too big now. How +strange--how strange! There you are, a row of brunettes and blondes, who +before many days are over will be charming the hearts of all the young +men in Galway. I suppose it was in talking of such things that you spent +the morning?' + +'Our young charges have been, I assure you, very busy all the morning. +We are not as idle as you think, Mr. Barton,' said the nun in a tone of +voice that showed that she thought Mr. Barton's remark ill-considered. +'We have been arranging the stage for the representation of a little +play that your daughter Alice composed.' + +'Oh yes, I know; she wrote to me about it. _King Cophetua_ is the name, +isn't it? I am very curious indeed, for I have set Tennyson's ballad to +music myself. I sing it to the guitar, and if life were not so hurried I +should have sent it to you. However--however, we are all going home +to-morrow. I have promised to take charge of Cecilia, and Mrs. Scully is +going to look after May.' + +'Oh, how nice! Oh, how jolly that will be!' Olive cried; and, catching +Violet by the hands, she romped with her for glee. + +But the nun, taking advantage of this break in the conversation, said: + +'Come, now, young ladies, it is after two o'clock; we shall never be +ready in time if you don't make haste--and it won't do to keep the +Bishop waiting.' Like a hen gathering her chickens, the Sister hurried +away with Violet, Olive, and May. + +'How happy they seem in this beautiful retreat!' said Mrs. Scully, +drawing her black lace shawl about her grey-silk shoulders. 'How little +they know of the troubles of the world! I am afraid it would be hard to +persuade them to leave their convent if they knew the trials that await +them.' + +'We cannot escape our trials,' a priest said, who had just joined the +group; 'they are given to us that we may overcome them.' + +'I suppose so, indeed,' said Mrs. Scully; and, trying to find +consolation in the remark, she sighed. Another priest, as if fearing +further religious shop from his fellow-worker, informed Mr. Barton, in a +cheerful tone of voice, that he had heard he was a great painter. + +'I don't know--I don't know,' replied Mr. Barton; 'painting is, after +all, only dreaming. I should like to be put at the head of an army, but +when I am seized with an idea I have to rush to put it down.' + +Finding no appropriate answer to these somewhat erratic remarks, the +priest joined in a discussion that had been started concerning the +action taken by the Church during the present agrarian agitation. Mr. +Barton, who was weary of the subject, stepped aside, and, sitting on one +of the terrace benches between Cecilia and Alice, he feasted his eyes on +the colour-changes that came over the sea, and in long-drawn-out and +disconnected phrases explained his views on nature and art until the +bell was rung for the children to assemble in the school-hall. + + + + +II + + +It was a large room with six windows; these had been covered over with +red cloth, and the wall opposite was decorated with plates, flowers, and +wreaths woven out of branches of ilex and holly. + +Chairs for the visitors had been arranged in a semicircle around the +Bishop's throne--a great square chair approached by steps, and rendered +still more imposing by the canopy, whose voluminous folds fell on either +side like those of a corpulent woman's dress. Opposite was the stage. +The footlights were turned down, but the blue mountains and brown +palm-trees of the drop-curtain, painted by one of the nuns, loomed +through the red obscurity of the room. Benches had been set along the +walls. Between them a strip of carpet, worked with roses and lilies, +down which the girls advanced when called to receive their prizes, +stretched its blue and slender length. + +'His Grace is coming!' a nun cried, running in, and instantly the +babbling of voices ceased, and four girls hastened to the pianos placed +on either side of the stage, two left-hands struck a series of chords in +the bass, the treble notes replied, and, to the gallant measure of a +French polka, a stately prelate entered, smiling benediction as he +advanced, the soft clapping of feminine palms drowning, for a moment, +the slangy strains of the polka. + +When the Bishop was seated on his high throne, the back of which +extended some feet above his head, and as soon as the crowd of visitors +had been accommodated with chairs around him, a nun made her way through +the room, seeking anxiously among the girls. She carried in her hand a +basket filled with programmes, all rolled and neatly tied with pieces of +different coloured ribbon. These she distributed to the ten tiniest +little children she could find, and, advancing five from either side, +they formed in a line and curtsied to the Bishop. One little dot, whose +hair hung about her head like a golden mist, nearly lost her balance; +she was, however, saved from falling by a companion, and then, like a +group of kittens, they tripped down the strip of blue carpet and handed +the programmes to the guests, who leaned forward as if anxious to touch +their hands, to stroke their shining hair. + +The play was now ready to begin, and Alice felt she was going from hot +to cold, for when the announcement printed on the programme, that she +was the author of the comedy of _King Cophetua_ had been read, all eyes +were fixed upon her; the Bishop, after eyeing her intently, bent towards +the Reverend Mother and whispered to her. Cecilia clasped Alice's hand +and said: 'You must not be afraid, dear; I know it will be all right.' + +And the little play was as charming as it was guileless. The old legend +had been arranged--as might have been expected from a schoolgirl--simply +and unaffectedly. The scene opened in a room in the palace of the King, +and when a chorus, supposed to be sung by the townspeople, was over, a +Minister entered hurriedly. The little children uttered a cry of +delight; they did not recognize their companion in her strange disguise. +A large wig, with brown curls hanging over the shoulders, almost hid the +face, that had been made to look quite aged by a few clever touches of +the pencil about the eyes and mouth. She was dressed in a long garment, +something between an ulster and a dressing-gown. It fell just below her +knees, for it had been decided by the Reverend Mother that it were +better that there should be a slight display of ankles than the least +suspicion of trousers. The subject was a delicate one, and for some +weeks past a look of alarm had not left the face of the nun in charge of +the wardrobe. But these considerations only amused the girls, and now, +delighted at the novelty of her garments, the Minister strutted about +the stage complaining of the temper of the Dowager Queen. 'Who could +help it if the King wouldn't marry? Who could make him leave his poetry +and music for a pretty face if he didn't care to do so? He had already +refused blue eyes, black eyes, brown eyes. However, the new Princess was +a very beautiful person, and ought, all things considered, to be +accepted by the King. She must be passing through the city at the +moment.' + +On this the Queen entered. The first words she spoke were inaudible, +but, gathering courage, she trailed her white satin, with its large +brocaded pattern, in true queenly fashion, and questioned the Minister +as to his opinion of the looks of the new Princess. But she gave no +point to her words. The scene was, fortunately, a short one, and no +sooner had they disappeared than a young man entered. He held a lute in +his left hand, and with his right he twanged the strings idly. He was +King Cophetua, and many times during rehearsal Alice had warned May that +her reading of the character was not right; but May did not seem able to +accommodate herself to the author's view of the character, and, after a +few minutes, fell back into her old swagger; and now, excited by the +presence of an audience, by the footlights, by the long coat under which +she knew her large, well-shaped legs could be seen, she forgot her +promises, and strolled about like a man, as she had seen young Scully +saunter about the stable-yard at home. She looked, no doubt, very +handsome, and, conscious of the fact, she addressed her speeches to a +group of young men, who, for no ostensible reason except to get as far +away as possible from the Bishop, had crowded into the left-hand corner +of the hall. + +And so great was May's misreading of the character, that Alice could +hardly realize that she was listening to her own play. Instead of +speaking the sentence, 'My dear mother, I could not marry anyone I did +not love; besides, am I not already wedded to music and poetry?' slowly, +dreamily, May emphasized the words so jauntily, that they seemed to be +poetic equivalents for wine and tobacco. There was no doubt that things +were going too far; the Reverend Mother frowned, and shifted her +position in her chair uneasily; the Bishop crossed his legs and took +snuff methodically. + +But at this moment the attention of the audience was diverted by the +entrance of the Princess. May's misbehaviour was forgotten, and a murmur +of admiration rose through the red twilight. Dressed in a tight-fitting +gown of pale blue, opening in front, and finishing in a train held up by +the smallest child in the school, Olive moved across the stage like a +beautiful bird. Taking a wreath of white roses from her hair, she +presented them to the King. He had then to kiss her hand, and lead her +to a chair. In the scene that followed, Alice had striven to be +intensely pathetic. She had intended that the King, by a series of +kindly put questions, should gradually win the Princess's confidence, +and induce her to tell the truth--that her affections had already been +won by a knight at her father's Court; that she could love none other. + +KING. But if this knight did not exist; if you had never seen him, you +would, I suppose, have accepted my hand? + +PRINCESS. You will not be offended if I tell you the truth? + +KING. No; my word on it. + +PRINCESS. I could never have listened to your love. + +KING (_rising hastily_). Am I then so ugly, so horrible, so vile, that +even if your heart were not engaged elsewhere you could not have +listened to me? + +PRINCESS. You are neither horrible nor vile, King Cophetua; but again +promise me secrecy, and I will tell you the whole truth. + +KING. I promise. + +PRINCESS. You are loved by a maiden far more beautiful than I; she is +dying of love for your sake! She has suffered much for her love; she is +suffering still. + +KING. Who is this maiden? + +PRINCESS. Ah! She is but a beggar-maid; she lives on charity, the songs +she sings, and the flowers she sells in the streets. And now she is +poorer than ever, for your royal mother has caused her to be driven out +of the city. + + +Here the King weeps--he is supposed to be deeply touched by the +Princess's account of the wrongs done to the beggar-maid--and it is +finally arranged between him and the Princess that they shall pretend to +have come to some violent misunderstanding, and that, in their war of +words, they shall insult each other's parents so grossly that all +possibilities of a marriage will be for ever at an end. Throwing aside a +chair so as to bring the Queen within ear-shot, the King declares that +his royal neighbour is an old dunce, and that there is not enough money +in his treasury to pay the Court boot-maker; the Princess retaliates by +saying that the royal mother of the crowned head she is addressing is an +old cat, who paints her face and beats her maids-of-honour. + +The play that up to this point had been considered a little tedious now +engaged the attention of the audience, and when the Queen entered she +was greeted with roars of laughter. The applause was deafening. Olive +played her part better than had been expected, and all the white frocks +trembled with excitement. The youths in the left-hand corner craned +their heads forward so as not to lose a syllable of what was coming; the +Bishop recrossed his legs in a manner that betokened his entire +satisfaction; and, delighted, the mammas and papas whispered together. +But the faces of the nuns betrayed the anxiety they felt. Inquiring +glances passed beneath the black hoods; all the sleek faces grew alive +and alarmed. May was now alone on the stage, and there was no saying +what indiscretion she might not be guilty of. + +The Reverend Mother, however, had anticipated the danger of the scene, +and had sent round word to the nun in charge of the back of the stage to +tell Miss Gould that she was to set the crown straight on her head, and +to take her hands out of her pockets. The effect of receiving such +instructions from the wings was that May forgot one-half her words, and +spoke the other half so incorrectly that the passage Alice had counted +on so much--'At last, thank Heaven, that tiresome trouble is over, and I +am free to return to music and poetry'--was rendered into nonsense, and +the attention of the audience lost. Nor were matters set straight until +a high soprano voice was heard singing: + + 'Buy, buy, who will buy roses of me? + Roses to weave in your hair. + A penny, only a penny for three, + Roses a queen might wear! + Roses! I gathered them far away + In gardens, white and red. + Roses! Make presents of roses to-day + And help me to earn my bread.' + +The King divined that this must be the ballad-singer--the beggar-maid +who loved him, who, by some secret emissaries of the Queen, had been +driven away from the city, homeless and outcast; and, snatching his lute +from the wall, he sang a few plaintive verses in response. The strain +was instantly taken up, and then, on the current of a plain religious +melody, the two voices were united, and, as two perfumes, they seemed to +blend and become one. + +Alice would have preferred something less ethereal, for the exigencies +of the situation demanded that the King should get out of the window and +claim the hand of the beggar-maid in the public street. But the nun who +had composed the music could not be brought to see this, and, after a +comic scene between the Queen and the Chancellor, the King, followed by +his Court and suite, entered, leading the beggar-maid by the hand. In a +short speech he told how her sweetness, her devotion, and, above all, +her beautiful voice, had won his heart, and that he intended to make her +his Queen. A back cloth went up, and it disclosed a double throne, and +as the young bride ascended the steps to take her place by the side of +her royal husband, a joyful chorus was sung, in which allusion was made +to a long reign and happy days. + +Everyone was enchanted but Alice, who had wished to show how a man, in +the trouble and bitterness of life, must yearn for the consoling +sympathy of a woman, and how he may find the dove his heart is sighing +for in the lowliest bracken; and, having found her, and having +recognized that she is the one, he should place her in his bosom, +confident that her plumes are as fair and immaculate as those that +glitter in the sunlight about the steps and terraces of the palace. +Instead of this, she had seen a King who seemed to regard life as a +sensual gratification; and a beggar-maid, who looked upon her lover, not +timidly, as a new-born flower upon the sun, but as a clever huckstress +at a customer who had bought her goods at her valuing. But the audience +did not see below the surface, and, in answer to clapping of hands and +cries of _Encore_, the curtain was raised once more, and King Cophetua, +seated on his throne by the side of his beggar-maid, was shown to them +again. + +The excitement did not begin to calm until the _tableaux vivants_ were +ready. For, notwithstanding the worldliness of the day, it was thought +that Heaven should not be forgotten. The convent being that of the Holy +Child, something illustrative of the birth of Christ naturally suggested +itself. No more touching or edifying subject than that of the +Annunciation could be found. Violet's thin, elegant face seemed +representative of an intelligent virginity, and in a long, white dress +she knelt at the _prie-dieu._ Olive, with a pair of wings obtained from +the local theatre, and her hair, blonde as an August harvesting, lying +along her back, took the part of the Angel. She wore a star on her +forehead, and after an interval that allowed the company to recover +their composure, and the carpenter to prepare the stage, the curtain was +again raised. This time the scene was a stable. At the back, in the +right-hand corner, there was a manger to which was attached a stuffed +donkey; Violet sat on a low stool and held the new-born Divinity in her +arms; May, who for the part of Joseph had been permitted to wear a false +beard, held a staff, and tried to assume the facial expression of a man +who had just been blessed with a son. In the foreground knelt the three +wise men from the East; with outstretched hands they held forth their +offerings of frankincense and myrrh. The picture of the world's +Redemption was depicted with such taste that a murmur of pious +admiration sighed throughout the hall. + +Soon after a distribution of prizes began, and when the different awards +had been distributed, and the Bishop had made a speech, there was +benediction in the convent-church. + + + + +III + + +'And to think,' said Alice, 'that this is the very last evening we shall +ever pass here!' + +'I don't see why you should be so very sorry for that,' replied May; 'I +should have thought that you must have had enough of the place. Why, you +have been here nearly ten years! I never would have consented to remain +so long as that.' + +'I didn't mind; we have been very happy here, and to say good-bye, and +for ever, to friends we have known so long, and who have been so good to +us, seems very sad--at least, it does to me.' + +'It is all very well for you,' said Olive; 'I dare say you have been +happy here, you have always been the petted and spoilt child of the +school. Nothing was ever too good for Alice; no matter who was wrong or +what was done, Alice was sure to be right.' + +'I never knew anyone so unreasonable,' said Cecilia. 'You grumble at +everything, and you are always dying of jealousy of your sister.' + +'That's not true, and you haven't much to talk of; after beating your +brains out you only just got the prize for composition. Besides, if you +like the convent as much as I dare say you do, although you aren't a +Catholic, you had better stop here with my sister.' + +'Oh, Olive! how can you speak to Cecilia in that horrid way? I am +ashamed of you.' + +'So you are going to turn against me, Alice; but that's your way. I +shan't stay here.' + +The retreating figure of the young girl stood out in beautiful +distinctness in the pale light; behind her the soft evening swept the +sea, effacing with azure the brown sails of the fishing-boats; in front +of her the dresses of the girls flitted white through the sombre green +of the garden. + +'I am sorry,' said Cecilia, 'you spoke to her. She is put out because +she didn't get a prize, and Sister Agnes told her that she nearly spoilt +the play by the stupid way she played the Princess.' + +'She will find that that temper of hers will stand in her way if she +doesn't learn to control it,' Violet said; 'but, now she is gone, tell +me, Alice, how do you think she played her part? As far as I can judge +she didn't seem to put any life into it. You meant the Princess to be a +sharp, cunning woman of the world, didn't you?' + +'No, not exactly; but I agree with you that Olive didn't put life into +it.' + +'Well, anyhow, the play was a great success, and you got, dear Alice, +the handsomest prize that has ever been given in the school.' + +'And how do you think I did the King? Did I make him look like a man? I +tried to walk just as Fred Scully does when he goes down to the +stables.' + +'You did the part very well, May; but I think I should like him to have +been more sentimental.' + +'I don't think men are sentimental--at least, not as you think they are. +I tried to copy Fred Scully.' + +'My part was a mere nothing. You must write me a something, Alice, one +of these days--a coquettish girl, you know, who could twist a man round +her fingers. A lot of _bavardage_ in it.' + +'I suppose you'll never be able to speak English again, now you've got +the prize for French conversation.' + +'Sour grapes! You would like to have got it yourself. I worked hard for +it. I was determined to get it, for ma says it is of great advantage in +society for a girl to speak French well.' + +'Jealous! I should like to know why I should be jealous. Of what? I got +all I tried for. Besides, the truth about your French prize is that you +may consider yourself very fortunate, for if' (she mentioned the name of +one of her schoolfellows) 'hadn't been so shy and timid, you'd have come +off second best.' + +The rudeness of this retort drew a sharp answer from Violet; and then, +in turn, but more often simultaneously, the girls discussed the justice +of the distribution. The names of an infinite number of girls were +mentioned; but when, in the babbling flow of convent-gossip, a favourite +nun was spoken of, one of the chatterers would sigh, and for a moment be +silent. + +The violet waters of the bay had darkened, and, like the separating +banners of a homeward-moving procession, the colours of the sky went +east and west. The girdle of rubies had melted, had become the pale red +lining of a falling mantle; the large spaces of gold grew dim; orange +and yellow streamers blended; lilac and blue pennons faded to deep +greys; dark hoods and dark veils were drawn closer; purple was gathered +like garments about the loins; the night fell, and the sky, now +decorated with a crescent moon and a few stars, was filled with +stillness and adoration. The day's death was exquisite, even human; and +as she gazed on the beautiful corpse lowered amid the fumes of a +thousand censers into an under-world, even Violet's egotism began to +dream. + +'The evening is lovely. I am glad; it is the last we shall pass here,' +said the girl pensively, 'and all good-byes are sad.' + +'Yes, we have been happy,' said May, 'and I too am sorry to leave; but +then we couldn't spend our lives here. There are plenty of things to be +done at home; and I suppose we shall all get married one of these days? +And there will be balls and parties before we get married. I don't think +that I'd care to get married all at once. Would you, Violet?' + +'I don't know. Perhaps not, unless it was to someone very grand indeed.' + +'Oh, would you do that? I don't think I could marry a man unless I loved +him,' said May. + +'Yes, but you might love someone who was very grand as well as someone +who wasn't.' + +'That's true enough; but then--' and May stopped, striving to readjust +her ideas, which Violet's remark had suddenly disarranged. After a pause +she said: + +'But does your mother intend to bring you to Dublin for the season? Are +you going to be presented this year?' + +'I hope so. Mamma said I should be, last vacation.' + +'I shall take good care that I am. The best part of the hunting will be +over, and I wouldn't miss the Castle balls for anything. Do you like +officers?' + +The crudity of the question startled Alice, and it was with difficulty +she answered she didn't know--that she had not thought about the matter. + +May and Violet continued the conversation; and over the lingering waste +of yellow, all that remained to tell where the sun had set, the night +fell like a heavy, blinding dust, sadly and regretfully, as the last +handful of earth thrown upon a young girl's grave. + + + + +IV + + +In the tiny cornfields the reapers rose from their work to watch the +carriage. Mr. Barton commented on the disturbed state of the country. +Olive asked if Mr. Parnell was good-looking. A railway-bridge was passed +and a pine-wood aglow with the sunset, and a footman stepped down from +the box to open a swinging iron gate. + +This was Brookfield. Sheep grazed on the lawn, at the end of which, +beneath some chestnut-trees, was the house. It had been built by the +late Mr. Barton out of a farmhouse, but the present man, having +travelled in Italy and been attracted by the picturesque, had built a +verandah; and for the same reason had insisted on calling his daughter +Olive. + +'Oh there, mamma!' cried Olive, looking out of the carriage window; and +the two girls watched their mother, a pretty woman of forty, coming +across the greensward to meet them. + +She moved over the greensward in a skirt that seemed a little too +long--a black silk skirt trimmed with jet. As she came forward her +daughters noticed that their mother dyed her hair in places where it +might be suspected of turning grey. It was parted in the middle and she +wore it drawn back over her ears and slightly puffed on either side in +accordance with the fashion that had come in with the Empress Eugenie. +Even in a photograph she was like a last-century beauty sketched by +Romney in pastel--brown, languid, almond-shaped eyes, a thin figure a +little bent. Even in youth it had probably resembled Alice's rather than +Olive's, but neither had inherited her mother's hands--the most +beautiful hands ever seen--and while they trifled with the newly bought +_foulards_ a warbling voice inquired if Olive was sure she was not +tired. + +'Five hours in the train! And you, Alice? You must be starving, my dear, +and I'm afraid the saffron buns are cold. Milord brought us over such a +large packet to-day. We must have some heated up. They won't be a +minute.' + +'Oh, mamma, I assure you I am not in the least hungry!' cried Olive. + +'_La beauté n'a jamais faim, elle se nourrit d'elle même,'_ replied Lord +Dungory, who had just returned from the pleasure-ground whither he had +gone for a little walk with Arthur. + +'You will find Milord the same as ever--_toujours galant_; always +thinking of _la beauté, et les femmes_.' + +Lord Dungory was the kind of man that is often seen with the Mrs. Barton +type of woman. An elderly beau verging on the sixties, who, like Mrs. +Barton, suggested a period. His period was very early Victorian, but he +no longer wore a silk hat in the country. A high silk hat in Galway +would have called attention to his age, so the difficulty of costume was +ingeniously compromised by a tall felt, a cross between a pot and a +chimney-pot. For collars, a balance had been struck between the +jaw-scrapers of old time and the nearest modern equivalent; and in the +tying of the large cravat there was a reminiscence, but nothing more, of +the past generation. + +He had modelled himself, consciously or unconsciously, on Lord +Palmerston, and in the course of conversation one gathered that he was +on terms of intimacy with the chiefs of the Liberal party, such as Lord +Granville and Lord Hartington, and if the listener was credited with any +erudition, allusion was made to the most celebrated artists and authors, +and to their works. There was a celebrated Boucher in Dungory Castle, +which Milord, it was hinted, had bought for some very small sum many +years ago on the Continent; there was also a cabinet by Buhl and a +statue supposed to be a Jean Gougon, and the proofs of their +authenticity were sometimes spoken of after a set dinner-party. His +speech was urbane, and, on all questions of taste, Lord Dungory's +opinion was eagerly sought for. He gave a tone to the ideas put forward +in the surrounding country houses, and it was through him that Mr. +Barton held the title of a genius born out of due time. If Arthur, he +said, had lived two centuries ago, when the gift of imagination was +considered indispensable in the artist, he would have achieved high +distinction. His subjects--_The Bridal of Triermain_ and _Julius Cæsar +overturning the Altars of the Druids_--would have been envied, perhaps +stolen, by the Venetian painters. And this tribute to Arthur's genius, +so generously expressed, enabled him to maintain the amenities of his +life at Brookfield. He never forgot to knock at Arthur's studio-door, +and the moment his eyes fell on a new composition, he spoke of it with +respect; and he never failed to allude to it at lunch. He lunched at +Brookfield every day. At half-past one his carriage was at the door. In +the afternoons he went out to drive with Mrs. Barton or sat in the +drawing-room with her. Four times in the week he remained to dinner, and +did not return home until close on midnight. + +Whether he ever made any return to Mrs. Barton for her hospitalities, +and, if so, in what form he repaid his obligations to her, was, when +friends drew together, a favourite topic of conversation in the county +of Galway. It had been remarked that the Bartons never dined at Dungory +Castle except on state occasions; and it was well-known that the Ladies +Cullen hated Mrs. Barton with a hatred as venomous as the poison hid in +the fangs of adders. + +But Lord Dungory knew how to charm his tame snakes. For fortune they had +but five thousand pounds each, and, although freedom and a London +lodging were often dreamed of, the flesh-pots of Dungory Castle +continued to be purchased at the price of smiles and civil words +exchanged with Mrs. Barton. Besides, as they grew old and ugly, the +Ladies Cullen had developed an inordinate passion for the conversion of +souls. They had started a school of their own in opposition to the +National school, which was under the direction of the priest, and to +persuade the peasants to read the Bible and to eat bacon on Friday, were +good works that could not be undertaken without funds; and these were +obtained, it was said, by the visits of the Ladies Cullen to Brookfield. + +Mrs. Gould declared she could estimate to a fraction the prosperity of +Protestantism in the parish by the bows these ladies exchanged with Mrs. +Barton when their carriages crossed on the roads. + +'Here are the saffron buns at last, my dear children;' and Mrs. Barton +pressed them upon her girls, saying that Milord had brought them from +Dungory Castle especially for them. 'Take a bottom piece, Olive, and +Alice, you really must. . . Well, if you won't eat, tell Milord about your +play of King Cophetua and the beggar-maid. Arthur, tell me, how did you +like the play, and how did the nuns like it? To think of my daughter, so +prim and demure, writing a play, and on such a subject.' + +'But, mamma, what is there odd in the subject? We all know the old +ballad.' + +'Yes, we all know the ballad,' Arthur answered; 'I sing stanzas of it to +the guitar myself.' He began to chant to himself, and Mrs. Barton +listened, her face slanted in the pose of the picture of Lady Hamilton; +and Milord rejoiced in the interlude, for it gave him opportunity to +meditate. Anna (Mrs. Barton) seemed to him more charming and attractive +than he had ever seen her, as she sat in the quiet shadow of the +verandah: beyond the verandah, behind her, the autumn sunshine fell +across the shelving meadows. A quiet harmony reigned over Brookfield. +The rooks came flapping home through the sunlight, and when Arthur had +ceased humming Mrs. Barton said: + +'And now, my dear children, if you have finished your tea, come, and I +will show you your room.' + +She did not leave the verandah, however, without paying a pretty +compliment to Milord, one that set him thinking how miserable his life +would have been with his three disagreeable daughters if he had not +fallen in with this enchantment. He remembered that it had lasted for +nearly twenty years, and it was as potent as ever. In what did it +consist, he asked himself. He sometimes thought her laughter too +abundant, sometimes it verged on merriment. He did not like to think of +Anna as a merry woman; he preferred to think that wherever she went she +brought happiness with her. He had known her sad, but never melancholy, +for she was never without a smile even when she was melancholy. + +Awakening from his reverie he drew his chair closer to Arthur's, and, +with a certain parade of interest, asked him if he had been to the +Academy. + +'Did you see anything, Arthur, that in design approached your picture of +_Julius Cæsar Overturning the Altars of the Druids_?' + +'There were some beautiful bits of painting there,' replied Arthur, +whose modesty forbade him to answer the question directly. 'I saw some +lovely landscapes, and there were some babies' frocks,' he added +satirically. 'In one of these pictures I saw a rattle painted to +perfection.' + +'Ah, yes, yes! You don't like the pettiness of family feeling dragged +into art; but if you only condescend to take a little more notice of the +craft--the craft is, after all--' + +'I am carried along too rapidly by my feelings. I feel that I must get +my idea on canvas. But when I was in London I saw such a lovely +woman--one of the most exquisite creatures possible to imagine! Oh, so +sweet, and so feminine! I have it all in my head. I shall do something +like her to-morrow.' + +Here he began to sketch with his stick in the dust, and from his face it +might be judged he was satisfied with the invisible result. At last he +said: + +'You needn't say anything about it, but she sent me some songs, with +accompaniments written for the guitar. You shall hear some of the songs +to-night. . . . Ah, there is the dinner-bell!' + +Olive was placed next to Milord, and the compliments paid to her by the +old courtier delighted her. She pretended to understand when he said: +'_La femme est comme une ombre: si vous la suives, elle vous fuit; si +vous fuyez, elle vous poursuit_.' A little later the champagne she had +drunk set her laughing hysterically, and she begged him to translate (he +had just whispered to her mother, '_L'amour est la conscience du plaisir +donné et reçu, la certitude de donner et de recevoir_'); and he would +have complied with her request, but Mrs. Barton forbade him. Alice, who +had understood, found herself obliged to say that she had not +understood, which little fib begot a little annoyance in her against her +mother; and Milord, as if he thought that he had been guilty of a slight +indiscretion, said, addressing himself to both girls: '_Gardez bien vos +illusions, mon enfant, car les illusions sont le miroir de l'amour.'_ + +'Ah! _mais il ne faut pas couvrir trop l'abîme avec des fleurs_,' said +Mrs. Barton, as a sailor from his point of vantage might cry, 'Rocks +ahead!' + +Arthur only joined occasionally in the conversation; he gazed long and +ardently on his daughter, and then sketched with his thumb-nail on the +cloth, and when they arose from the table, Mrs. Barton said: + +'Now, now, I am not going to allow you gentlemen to spend any more time +over your wine. This is our first evening together; come into the +drawing-room with us, and we shall have some music.' + +Like most men of an unevenly balanced mind, Arthur loved an eccentric +costume, and soon after he appeared in a long-tasselled cap and a +strangely coloured smoking jacket; he wore a pair of high-heeled +brocaded slippers, and, twanging a guitar, hummed to himself +plaintively. Then, when he thought he had been sufficiently admired, he +sang _A che la morte, Il Balen_, and several other Italian airs, in +which frequent allusion was made to the inconstancy of woman's and the +truth of man's affection. At every pause in the music these sentiments +were laughingly contested by Mrs. Barton. She appealed to Milord. He +never had had anything to complain of. Was it not well known that the +poor woman had been only too true to him? Finally, it was arranged there +should be a little dancing. + +As Mrs. Barton said, it was of great importance to know if Olive knew +the right step, and who could put her up to all the latest fashions as +well as Milord? The old gentleman replied in French, and settled his +waistcoat, fearing the garment was doing him an injustice. + +'But who is to play?' asked the poetical-looking Arthur, who, on the +highest point of the sofa, hummed and tuned his guitar after true +troubadour fashion. + +'Alice will play us a waltz,' said Mrs. Barton winningly. + +'Oh yes, Alice dear, play us a waltz,' cried Olive. + +'You know how stupid I am; I can't play a note without my music, and it +is all locked up in my trunk upstairs.' + +'It won't take you a minute to get it out,' said Mrs. Barton; and +moving, as if she were on wheels, towards her daughter, she whispered: +'Do as I tell you--run upstairs at once and get your music.' + +She looked questioningly at her mother and hesitated. But Mrs. Barton +had a way of compelling obedience, and the girl went upstairs, to return +soon after with a roll of music. At the best of times she had little +love of the art, but now, sick with disappointment, and weary from a +long railway journey, to spell through the rhythm of the _My Queen +Waltz_ and the jangle of _L'Esprit Français_ was to her an odious and, +when the object of it was considered, an abominable duty to perform. She +had to keep her whole attention fixed on the page before her, but when +she raised her eyes the picture she saw engraved itself on her mind. It +was a long time before she could forget Olive's blond, cameo-like +profile seen leaning over the old beau's fat shoulder. Mrs. Barton +laughed and laughed again, declaring the while that it was _la grâce et +la beauté réunies._ Mr. Barton shouted and twanged in measure, the +excitement gaining on him until he rushed at his wife, and, seizing her +round the waist, whirled her and whirled her, holding his guitar above +her head. At last they bumped against Milord, and shot the old man and +his burden on to the nearest sofa. Then Alice, who thought her mission +at the piano was over, rose to go, but Mrs. Barton ordered her to resume +her seat, and the dancing was continued till the carriage came up the +gravel sweep to fetch Milord away. This was generally about half-past +eleven, and as he muffled himself up in overcoats, the girls were told +to cram his pockets with cigarettes and bon-bons. + +'Bedad, I think it is revolvers and policemen you ought to be givin' me, +not swatemates,' he said, affecting a brogue. + +'Oh yes, is it not dreadful?' exclaimed Mrs. Barton. 'I don't know what +we shall do if the Government don't put down the Land League; we shall +all be shot in our beds some night. Did you hear of that murder the +other day?' + +'And it is said there will be no rents collected this year,' said Mr. +Barton, as he tightened one of the strings of his guitar. + +'Oh, do cease that noise!' said Mrs. Barton. 'And tell me, Lord Dungory, +will the Government refuse us soldiers and police to put the people +out?' + +'If we go to the Castle, we shall want more money to buy dresses,' said +Olive. + +'_La mer a toujours son écume pour habiller ses déesses,'_ replied +Milord; and he got into his carriage amid pearly peals of laughter from +Mrs. Barton, intermingled with a few high notes from Olive, who had +already taken to mimicking her mother. + + + + +V + + +Mr. Barton, or Arthur, as he was usually called, always returned to his +studio immediately after breakfast, and, as Mrs. Barton had domestic +duties to attend to, the girls were left to themselves to appreciate +their return home from school and look forward to their entry into the +life of the world. + +The two girls descended the stairs with their summer hats and sunshades, +and Alice stopped at the door of the schoolroom. It was here that, only +a few years ago, she had interceded with the dear old governess, and +aided Olive to master the difficulties against which the light brain +could not contend singly--the hardships of striving to recall the number +of continents the world possesses, the impossibility of learning to say +definitely if seven times four made twenty-eight or thirty. + +At the end of the passage under the stairs the children used to play for +hours, building strange houses out of boxes of bricks, or dressing dolls +in fantastic costumes. Olive had forgotten, but Alice remembered, and +her thoughts wandered through the land of toys. The box of bricks had +come from an aunt that was now dead; the big doll mother had brought +from Dublin when she went to see the oculist about her eyes; and then +there were other toys that suggested nothing, and whose history was +entirely forgotten. But the clock that stood in the passage was well +remembered, and Alice thought how this old-fashioned timepiece used to +be the regulator and confidant of all their joys and hopes. She saw +herself again listening, amid her sums, for the welcome voice that would +call her away; she saw herself again examining its grave face and +striving to calculate, with childish eagerness, if she would have time +to build another Tower of Babel or put another tack in the doll's frock +before the ruthless iron tongue struck the fatal hour. + +'Olive, is it possible you don't remember how we used to listen to the +dear old clock when we were children?' + +'You are a funny girl, Alice; you remember everything. Fancy thinking of +that old clock! I hated it, for it brought me to lessons when it struck +eleven.' + +'Yes, but it brought you out to play when it struck twelve. See! the +hands are just on the hour; let us wait to hear it strike.' + +The girls listened vainly for a sound; and Alice felt as if she had been +apprised of the loss of a tried friend when one of the servants told +them the clock had been broken some years ago. + +The kitchen windows looked on a street made by a line of buildings +parallel with the house. These were the stables and outhouses, and they +formed one of the walls of the garden that lay behind, sheltered on the +north side by a thin curtain of beeches, filled every evening with noisy +rooks; and, coming round to the front of the house, the girls lingered +beneath the chestnut-trees, and in the rosary, where a little fountain +played when visitors were present, and then stood leaning over the +wooden paling that defended the pleasure-ground from the cows that +grazed in the generous expanse of grass extending up to the trees of the +Lawler domain. Brookfield was therefore without pretensions--it could +hardly be called 'a place'--but, manifolded in dreams past and present, +it extended indefinitely before Alice's eyes, and, absorbed by the sad +sweetness of retrospection, she lingered while Olive ran through the +rosary from the stables and back again, calling to her sister, making +the sunlight ring with her light laughter. She refrained, therefore, +from reminding her that it was here they used to play with Nell, the old +setter, and that it was there they gave bread to the blind beggar; Olive +had no heart for these things, and when she admired the sleek +carriage-horses that had lately been bought to take them to balls and +tennis-parties, Alice thought of the old brown mare that used to take +them for such delightful drives. + +Suddenly Mrs. Barton's voice was heard calling. Milord had arrived: they +were to go into the garden and pick a few flowers to make a buttonhole +for him. Olive darted off at once to execute the commission, and soon +returned with a rose set round with stephanotis. The old lord, seated in +the dining-room, in an arm-chair which Mrs. Barton had drawn up to the +window so that he might enjoy the air, sipped his sherry, and Alice, as +she entered the room, heard him say: + +'_Quand on aime on est toujours bien portant_.' + +She stopped abruptly, and Mrs. Barton, who already suspected her of +secret criticism, whispered, as she glided across the room: + +'Now, my dear girl, go and talk to Milord and make yourself agreeable.' + +The girl felt she was incapable of this, and it pained her to listen to +her sister's facile hilarity, and her mother's coaxing observations. +Milord did not, however, neglect her; he made suitable remarks +concerning her school successes, and asked appropriate questions anent +her little play of _King Cophetua_. But whatever interest the subject +possessed was found in the fact that Olive had taken the part of the +Princess; and, re-arranging the story a little, Mrs. Barton declared, +with a shower of little laughs, and many waves of the white hands, that +'my lady there had refused a King; a nice beginning, indeed, and a +pleasant future for her chaperon.' + +The few books the house possessed lay on the drawing-room table, or were +piled, in dusty confusion, in the bookcase in Mr. Barton's studio; and, +thinking of them, Alice determined she would pay her father a visit in +his studio. + +At her knock he ceased singing _Il Balen_, and cried, 'Come in!' + +'I beg your pardon, papa; I'm afraid I am interrupting you.' + +'Not at all--not at all, I assure you; come in. I will have a cigarette; +there is nothing like reconsidering one's work through the smoke of a +cigarette. The most beautiful pictures I have ever seen I have seen in +the smoke of a cigarette; nothing can beat those, particularly if you +are lying back looking up at a dirty ceiling.' + +War and women were the two poles of Arthur's mind. _Cain shielding his +Wife from Wild Beasts_ had often been painted, numberless _Bridals of +Triermain_; and as for the _Rape of the Sabines_, it seemed as if it +could never be sufficiently accomplished. Opposite the door was a huge +design representing Samson and Delilah; opposite the fireplace, _Julius +Caesar overturning the Altars of the Druids_ occupied nearly the entire +wall. Nymphs and tigers were scattered in between; canvases were also +propped against almost every piece of furniture. + +At last Alice's eyes were suddenly caught by a picture representing +three women bathing. It was a very rough sketch, but, before she had +time to examine it, Arthur turned it against the wall. Why he hid two +pictures from her she could not help wondering. It could not be for +propriety's sake, for there were nudities on every side of her. + +Then, lying upon the sofa, he explained how So-and-so had told him, when +he was a boy in London, that no one since Michael Angelo had been able +to design as he could; how he had modelled a colossal statue of Lucifer +before he was sixteen, how he had painted a picture of the Battle of +Arbela, forty feet by twenty, before he was eighteen; but that was of no +use, the world nowadays only cared for execution, and he could not wait +until he had got the bit of ribbon in Delilah's hair to look exactly +like silk. + +Alice listened to her father babbling, her heart and her mind at +variance. A want of knowledge of painting might blind her to the effects +of his pictures (there was in them all a certain crude merit of design), +but it was impossible not to see that they were lacking in something, in +what she could not say, having no knowledge of painting. Nor was she +sure that her father believed in his pictures, though he had just +declared they had all the beauties of Raphael and other beauties +besides. He had a trick of never appearing to thoroughly believe in them +and in himself. She listened interested and amused, not knowing how to +take him. She had been away at school for nearly ten years, coming home +for rare holidays, and was, therefore, without any real knowledge of her +parents. She understood her father even less than her mother; but she +was certain that if he were not a great genius he might have been one, +and she resolved to find out Lord Dungory's opinions on her father. But +the opportunity for five minutes quiet chat behind her mother's back did +not present itself. As soon as he arrived her mother sent her out of the +room on some pretext more or less valid, and at the end of the week the +gowns that had been ordered in Dublin arrived: ecstasy consumed the +house, and she heard him say that he would give a great dinner-party to +show them off. + + + + +VI + + +Arthur, who rarely dined out, handed the ladies into the carriage. + +Mrs. Barton was beautifully dressed in black satin; Olive was lost in a +mass of tulle; Alice wore a black silk trimmed with passementerie and +red ribbons. Behind the Clare mountains the pale transitory colours of +the hour faded, and the women, their bodies and their thoughts swayed +together by the motion of the vehicle, listened to the irritating +barking of the cottage-dog. Surlily a peasant, returning from his work, +his frieze coat swung over one shoulder, stepped aside. A bare-legged +woman, surrounded by her half-naked children, leaving the potato she was +peeling in front of her door, gazed, like her husband, after the rolling +vision of elegance that went by her, and her obtuse brain probably +summed up the implacable decrees of Destiny in the phrase: + +'Shure there misht be a gathering at the big house this evening.' + +'But tell me, mamma,' said Olive, after a long silence, 'how much +champagne ought I to drink at dinner? You know, it is a long time since +I have tasted it. Indeed, I don't remember that I ever did taste it.' + +Mrs. Barton laughed softly: + +'Well, my dear, I don't think that two glasses could do you any harm; +but I would not advise you to drink any more.' + +'And what shall I say to the man who takes me down to dinner? Shall I +have to begin the conversation, or will he?' + +'He will be sure to say something; you need not trouble yourself about +that. I think we shall meet some nice men to-night. Captain Hibbert will +be there. He is very handsome and well-connected. I hope he will take +you down. Then there will be the Honourable Mr. Burke. He is a nice +little man, but there's not much in him, and he hasn't a penny. His +brother is Lord Kilcarney, a confirmed bachelor. Then there will be Mr. +Adair; he is very well off. He has at least four thousand a year in the +country; but it would seem that he doesn't care for women. He is very +clever; he writes pamphlets. He used to sympathize with the Land League, +but the outrages went against his conscience. You never know what he +really does think. He admires Gladstone, and Gladstone says he can't do +without him.' + +They had now passed the lodge-gates, and were driving through the park. +Herds of fallow deer moved away, but the broad bluff forms of the red +deer gazed steadfastly as lions from the crest of a hill. + +'Did you ever meet Lady Dungory, mamma?' asked Alice. 'Is she dead?' + +'No, dear, she is not dead; but it would be better, perhaps, if she +were. She behaved very badly. Lord Dungory had to get a separation. No +one ever speaks of her now. Mind, you are warned!' + +At this moment the carriage stopped before a modern house, built between +two massive Irish towers entirely covered with huge ivy. + +'I am afraid we are a little late,' said Mrs. Barton to the servant, as +he relieved them of their _sorties de bal_. + +'Eight o'clock has just struck, ma'am.' + +'The two old things will make faces at us, I know,' murmured Mrs. +Barton, as she ascended the steps. + +On either side there were cases of stuffed birds; a fox lay in wait for +a pheasant on the right; an otter devoured a trout on the left. These +attested the sporting tastes of a former generation. The white marble +statues of nymphs sleeping in the shadows of the different landings and +the Oriental draperies with which each cabinet was hung suggested the +dilettantism of the present owner. + +Mrs. Barton walked on in front; the girls drew together like birds. They +were amazed at the stateliness of the library, and they marvelled at the +richness of the chandeliers and the curiously assorted pictures. The +company was assembled in a small room at the end of the suite. + +Two tall, bony, high-nosed women advanced and shook hands menacingly +with Mrs. Barton. They were dressed alike in beautiful gowns of +gold-brown plush. + +With a cutting stare and a few cold conventional words, they welcomed +Olive and Alice home to the country again. Lord Dungory whispered +something to Mrs. Barton. Olive passed across the room; the black coats +gave way, and, as a white rose in a blood-coloured glass, her shoulders +rose out of the red tulle. Captain Hibbert twisted his brown-gold +moustache, and, with the critical gaze of the connoisseur, examined the +undulating lines of the arms, the delicate waist, and the sloping hips: +her skirts seemed to fall before his looks. + +Immediately after, the roaring of a gong was heard, and the form of the +stately butler was seen approaching. Lord Dungory and Lady Jane +exchanged looks. The former offered his arm to Mrs. Gould; the latter, +her finger on her lips, in a movement expressive of profound meditation, +said: + +'Mr. Ryan, will you take down Mrs. Barton; Mr. Scully, will you take +Miss Olive Barton; Mr. Adair, will you take Miss Gould; Mr. Lynch, will +you take Miss Alice Barton; Mr. Burke, will you take my sister?' Then, +smiling at the thought that she had checkmated her father, who had +ordered that Olive Barton should go down with Captain Hibbert, she took +Captain Hibbert's arm, and followed the dinner-party. About the marble +statues and stuffed birds on the staircase flowed a murmur of +amiability, and, during a pause, skirts were settled amid the chairs, +which the powdered footmen drew back ceremoniously to make way for the +guests to pass. + +A copy of Murillo's _Madonna presenting the Divine Child to St. Joseph_ +hung over the fireplace; between the windows another Madonna stood on a +half-moon, and when Lord Dungory said, 'For what we are going to +receive, the Lord make us truly thankful,' these pictures helped the +company to realize a suitable, although momentary emotion. + +Turtle soup was handed round. The soft steaming fragrance mixed with the +fresh perfume of the roses that bloomed in a silver vase beneath the +light of the red-shaded wax candles. A tree covered with azaleas spread +notes of delicate colour over the gold screen that hid the door by which +the servants came and went. + +'Oh, Lady Sarah,' exclaimed Mrs. Gould, 'I do not know how you have such +beautiful flowers--and in this wretched climate!' + +'Yes, it is very trying; but then we have a great deal of glass.' + +'Which do you prefer, roses or azaleas?' asked Mrs. Barton. + +'_Les roses sont les fleurs en corsage, mais les azalées sont les fleurs +en peignoir_.' + +Lady Sarah and Lady Jane, who had both overheard the remark, levelled +indignant glances at their father, scornful looks at Mrs. Barton, and, +to avoid further amatory allusions, Lady Sarah said: + +'I do not think we shall soon have bread, much less flowers, to place on +our tables, if the Government do not step in and put down the revolution +that is going on in this country.' + +Everyone, except the young girls, looked questioningly at each other, +and the mutuality of their interests on this point became at once +apparent. + +'Ah, Lord Dungory! do you think we shall be able to collect our rents +this year? What reduction do you intend to give?' + +Lord Dungory, who had no intention of showing his hand, said: + +'The Land League has, I believe, advised the people to pay no more than +Griffith's valuation. I do not know if your lands are let very much +above it?' + +'If you have not seen the _Evening Mail_ you have probably not heard of +the last terrible outrage,' said Captain Hibbert; and, amid a profound +silence, he continued: 'I do not know if anybody here is acquainted with +a Mr. Macnamara; he lives in Meath.' + +'Oh! you don't say anything has happened to him? I knew his cousin,' +exclaimed Mrs. Gould. + +Captain Hibbert looked round with his bland, good-looking stare, and, as +no nearer relative appeared to be present, he resumed his story: + +'He was, it seems, sitting smoking after dinner, when suddenly two shots +were fired through the windows.' + +At this moment a champagne-cork slipped through the butler's fingers and +went off with a bang. + +'Oh, goodness me! what's that?' exclaimed Mrs. Gould; and, to pass off +their own fears, everyone was glad to laugh at the old lady. It was not +until Captain Hibbert told that Mr. Macnamara had been so severely +wounded that his life was despaired of, that the chewing faces became +grave again. + +'And I hear that Macnamara had the foinest harses in Mathe,' said Mr. +Ryan; 'I very nearly sold him one last year at the harse show.' + +Mr. Ryan was the laughing-stock of the country, and a list of the +grotesque sayings he was supposed, on different occasions, to have been +guilty of, was constantly in progress of development. He lived with his +cousin, Mr. Lynch, and, in conjunction, they farmed large tracts of +land. Mr. Ryan was short and thick; Mr. Lynch was taller and larger, and +a pair of mutton-chop whiskers made his bloated face look bigger still. +On either side of the white tablecloth their dirty hands fumbled at +their shirt-studs, that constantly threatened to fall through the worn +buttonholes. They were, nevertheless, received everywhere, and Pathre, +as Mr. Ryan was called by his friends, was permitted the licences that +are usually granted to the buffoon. + +'Arrah!' he said, 'I wouldn't moind the lague being hard on them who +lives out of the counthry, spendin' their cash on liquor and theatres in +London; but what can they have agin us who stops at home, mindin' our +properties and riding our harses?' + +This criticism of justice, as administered by the league, did not, +however, seem to meet with the entire approval of those present. Mr. +Adair looked grave; he evidently thought it was based on a superficial +notion of political economy. Mr. Burke, a very young man with a tiny red +moustache and a curious habit of wriggling his long weak neck, feeling +his amusements were being unfairly attacked, broke the silence he had +till then preserved, and said: + +'I haven't an acre of land in the world, but if my brother chooses to +live in London, I don't see why he should be deprived of his rents. For +my part, I like the Gaiety Theatre, and so does my brother. Have you +seen the _Forty Thieves_, Lady Jane? Capital piece--I saw it twenty +times.' + +'I think what Pathre, me cousin, means to say,' said Mr. Lynch, +declining the venison the servant offered him, 'is that there are many +in the country who don't deserve much consideration. I am alluding to +those who acquired their property in the land courts, and the +Cromwellians, and the--I mean the rack-renters.' + +The sudden remembrance that Lord Dungory dated from the time of James so +upset Mr. Lynch that he called back the servant and accepted the +venison, which he failed, however, to eat. + +'I do not see,' said Lord Dungory, with the air of a man whose words are +conclusive, 'why we should go back to the time of Cromwell to discuss +the rights of property rather than to that of the early Kings of +Ireland. If there is to be a returning, why not at once put in a claim +on the part of the Irish Elk? No! there must be some finality in human +affairs.' And on this phrase the conversation came to a pause. + +But if the opinions of those present were not in accord concerning the +rights of property, their tastes in conversation certainly differed as +widely. Olive's white face twitched from time to time with nervous +annoyance. Alice looked up in a sort of mild despair as she strove to +answer Mr. Lynch's questions; May had fallen into a state of morose +lassitude. If Mr. Adair would only cease to explain to her how +successfully he had employed concrete in the construction of his +farm-buildings! She felt that if he started again on the saw-mill she +must faint, and Olive's senses, too, were swimming, but just as she +thought she was going off Captain Hibbert looked so admiringly at her +that she recovered herself; and at the same time Mr. Scully succeeded in +making May understand that he would infinitely prefer to be near her +than Lady Sarah. In return for this expression of feeling the young lady +determined to risk a remark across the table; but she was cut short by +Mrs. Gould, who pithily summed up the political situation in the words: + +'The way I look at it is like this: Will the Government help us to get +our rents, or will it not? Mr. Forster's Act does not seem to be able to +do that. There's May there who has been talking all the morning of +Castle seasons, and London seasons, and I don't know what; really I +don't see how it is to be done if the Land League--' + +'And Mr. Parnell's a gentleman, too. I wonder how he can ally himself +with such blackguards,' gently insinuated Mrs. Barton, who saw a husband +lost in the politician. + +But the difficulty the Government find themselves in is that the Land +League is apparently a legal organization,' said Lord Dungory in the +midst of a profound silence. + +'A society legal, that exists and holds its power through an organized +system of outrage! Mind you, as I have always said, the landlords have +brought all their misfortunes upon themselves; they have often behaved +disgracefully--but I would, nevertheless, put down the outrages; yes, I +would put down the outrages, and at any cost.' + +'And what would yer do?' asked Mr. Ryan. 'De yer know that the herds are +being coerced now? we'd get on well enough were it not for that.' + +'In the beginning of this year Mr. Forster asked Parliament for special +powers. How has he used those powers? Without trial, five hundred people +have been thrown into prison, and each fresh arrest is answered by a +fresh outrage; and when the warrant is issued, and I suppose it will be +issued sooner or later, for the arrest of Mr. Parnell, I should not be +surprised to hear of a general strike being made against rent. The +consequences of such an event will be terrific; but let these +consequences, I say, rest on Mr. Forster's head. I shall have no word of +pity for him. His government is a disgrace to Liberalism, and I fear he +has done much to prejudice our ideal in the eyes of the world.' + +Lord Dungory and Lady Jane exchanged smiles; and poor crotchety Mr. +Adair leaned forward his large, bald brow, obscured by many obscure +ideals. After a pause he continued: + +'But I was speaking of Flanders. From the time of Charles the Fifth the +most severe laws were enacted to put down the outrages, but there was an +undercurrent of sympathy with the outrage-monger which kept the system +alive until 1840. Then the Government took the matter in hand, and +treated outrage-mongering as what it is--an act of war; and quartered +troops on the inhabitants and stamped the disease out in a few years. Of +course I could not, and would not, advocate the employment of such +drastic measures in Ireland; but I would put down the outrages with a +firm hand, and I would render them impossible in the future by the +creation of peasant-proprietors.' + +Then, amid the juicy odours of cut pineapple, and the tepid flavours of +Burgundy, Mr. Adair warmed to his subject, and proceeded to explain that +absolute property did not exist in land in Ireland before 1600, and, +illustrating his arguments with quotations from Arthur Young, he spoke +of the plantation of Ulster, the leases of the eighteenth century, the +Protestants in the North, the employment of labour; until, at last, +inebriated with theory, he asked the company what was the end of +government? + +This was too much, and, seeing the weary faces about him, Lord Dungory +determined to change the subject of conversation: + +'The end of government?' he said; 'I am afraid that you would get many +different answers to that question. Ask these young ladies; they will +tell you, probably, that it is to have _des beaux amants et des joyeuses +amours_, and I am not sure that they are not right.' + +Mrs. Barton's coaxing laugh was heard, and then reference was made to +the detachment of the Connaught Rangers stationed at Galway, and the +possibility of their giving a dance was eagerly discussed. Mr. Ryan had +a word to say anent the hunting prospect, and, when May Gould declared +she was going to ride straight and not miss a meet, she completed the +conquest of Mr. Scully, and encouraging glances were exchanged between +them until Lady Sarah looked inquiringly round the table--then she +pushed back her chair. All rose, and a moment after, through the +twilight of the drawing-room, colour and nudity were scattered in +picturesque confusion. + +Every mind was occupied by one thought--how the pleasure of the +dinner-party had been spoiled by that horrible Land League discussion. +All wondered who had introduced the subject, and the blame was fixed +upon Mr. Adair. Mrs. Gould, in her homely way, came to the point at +once: + +'People say he is so clever, but I am sure I can't see it. He has spent +a fortune in building farmyards in concrete, and his saw-mill, I hear, +costs him twenty pounds a month dead loss, and he is always writing +letters to the papers. I never can think much of a man who writes to the +papers.' + +'A most superior man,' said Lady Sarah, who, notwithstanding her +thirty-five years, had not entirely given up hope. 'He took honours at +Trinity.' + +Then Mr. Burke and Lord Kilcarney were spoken of, and some new anecdotes +were told of Mr. Ryan. The famous one--how he had asked a lady to show +him her docket at the Galway ball, when she told him that she was +engaged for all the dances--excited, as it never failed to do, a good +deal of laughter. Mrs. Barton did not, however, join in the +conversation. She knew, if she did, that the Ladies Cullen would be as +rude as the absence of Milord, and the fact that she was a guest in +their house would allow them to be. Mrs. Barton's mind was now occupied +with one thought, and, leaning back in her chair, she yielded herself +entirely to it. Although the dinner-party had been spoiled by Mr. +Adair's uncontrollable desire to impart information, she had, +nevertheless, noticed that Captain Hibbert had been very much struck +with Olive's beauty. She was aware that her daughter was a beautiful +girl, but whether men would want to marry her Mrs. Barton did not know. +Captain Hibbert's conduct would help her to arrive at a decision. She +certainly dreamed of a title for Olive. Lord Kilcarney was, alas! not to +be thought of. Ah! if Mr. Burke were only Lord Kilcarney! But he was +not. However, Captain Hibbert would be a fairly good match. He was of +excellent family, had two thousand a year, and a place in the country +and in England too. But why snatch up the very first fish that came by? +There was no saying whom they would meet at the Castle. Still, to +encourage a flirtation could be no harm. If they met anything better, it +could be broken off; if they did not, it would be a very nice match +indeed. Besides, there was no denying that Olive was a little too +_naïve_ in her manner. Captain Hibbert's society would brush that off, +and Olive would go up to the Castle with the reputation of having made a +conquest. + +Such were Mrs. Barton's thoughts as she sat, her hands laid like china +ornaments on her lap; her feet were tucked under the black-pleated +skirt, and she sometimes raised her Greuze-like eyes and looked at her +daughter. + +The girls were grouped around a small table, on which stood a +feather-shaded lamp. In clear voices and clear laughs they were talking +of each other's dresses. May had just stood up to show off her skirt. +She was a superb specimen of a fat girl, and in a glow of orange ribbons +and red hair she commanded admiration. + +'And to think she is going to waste her time with that dissipated young +man, Mr. Scully!' thought Mrs. Barton. Then Olive stood up. She was all +rose, and when, laughing, with a delicious movement of the arms, she +hitched back her bustle, she lost her original air, and looked as might +have done the Fornarina when not sitting in immortality. It was the +battle of blonde tints: Olive with primroses and corn, May with a +cadmium yellow and red gold. + +'And now, Alice, get up and let's see you!' she cried, catching hold of +her sister's arm. + +Still resisting, Alice rose to her feet, and May, who was full of good +nature, made some judicious observations. + +'And how different we all look from what we did at the convent! Do you +remember our white frocks?' + +Alice's face lit up with a sudden remembrance, and she said: + +'But why, Lady Sarah, haven't we seen Cecilia? I've been thinking of her +during dinner. I hope she is not ill?' + +'Oh, dear me, no! But poor Cecilia does not care to come down when there +is company.' + +'But can I not see her?' + +'Oh, certainly! You will find her in her room. But you do not know the +way; I will ring for my maid, she will show you.' + +At this moment men's voices were heard on the staircase. The ladies all +looked up, the light defining the corner of a forehead, the outline of a +nose and chin, bathing a neck in warm shadow, modelling a shoulder with +grey tints, sending a thousand rays flashing through the diamonds on the +bosom, touching the finger-rings, and lastly dying away amid the folds +of the dresses that trailed on the soft carpet. Mr. Ryan, walking with +his habitual roll and his hands in his pockets, entered. His tie was +under his left ear. Mr. Lynch, haunted by the idea that he had not made +himself agreeable to Alice during dinner, sat down beside her. Mr. +Scully made a rush for May. Tall, handsome Captain Hibbert, with his air +of conventional high style, quitted Lord Dungory, and asked Olive what +they had been saying since they left the dining-room. Mr. Burke tried to +join in the conversation, but Mr. Ryan, thinking it would be as well not +to let the occasion slip of speaking of a certain 'bay harse who'd jump +anythin',' took him confidentially by the sleeve. + +'Now, look here, will yer,' he began. The rest of his remarks were lost +in the hum of the conversation, and by well-bred transitions +observations were made on the dancing and hunting prospects of the +season. Mr. Adair took no interest in such subjects, and to everyone's +relief he remained silent. May and Fred Scully had withdrawn to a corner +of the room where they could talk more at their ease; Captain Hibbert +was conscious of nothing but Olive and her laughter, which rippled and +tinkled through an odour of coffee. + +Little by little she was gaining the attention of the room. Mr. Adair +ceased to listen to Lord Dungory, who was explaining why Leonardo da +Vinci was a greater painter than Titian. Mr. Lynch left off talking to +Alice; the little blonde honourable looked sillier and sillier as his +admiration grew upon him. Mrs. Barton, to hide her emotion, engaged in +an ardent discussion concerning the rearing of calves with Mrs. Gould. +Lady Sarah bit her lip, and, unable to endure her enemy's triumph any +longer, she said in her most mellifluous tone: + +'Won't you sing us something, Captain Hibbert?' + +'Well, really, Lady Sarah, I should be very glad, but I don't think, you +know--I am not sure I could manage without my music.' + +'I shall be very glad to accompany you. I think I know _In the +Gloaming_, and I have heard you sing that.' + +Olive, at a sign from her mother, entreated, and when the gallant +Captain rolled from under the brown-gold moustache the phrase, 'Oh, my +darling!' all strove not to look at her, and when he dropped his voice +to a whisper, and sang of his aching heart, a feeling prevailed that all +were guilty of an indiscretion in listening to such an intimate avowal. +Then he sang two songs more, equally filled with reference to tears, +blighted love, and the possibility of meeting in other years, and Olive +hung down her head, overcome by the fine sentiments which she felt were +addressed to her. + +Meanwhile Alice became aware that her sister was the object of all eyes +and thoughts; that she was gaining the triumph that men are agreed may +be desired by women without impropriety. Alice was a healthy-bodied +girl; her blood flowed as warm as in her sister. The men about her did +not correspond with her ideal, but this scarcely rendered the fact that +they neglected her less bitter. She asked Lady Sarah again if she might +go upstairs and see Cecilia. + +She found the little cripple leaning over the banisters listening to the +sound of voices. + +'Oh, my dear! Is it you? I expected you to come to see me when you left +the gentlemen in the dining-room.' + +'I couldn't come before, dear,' said Alice, kissing her friend. 'Just as +I was asking Lady Sarah the way to your room, we heard them coming.' + +'And how did you like the party? Which of the men did you think the +nicest?' + +'I did not care for any of them; and oh, that odious Mr. Lynch!' + +Cecilia's eyes flashed with a momentary gleam of satisfaction, and spoke +of a little excursion--a walk to the Brennans, who lived two miles +distant--that she had been planning for the last few days. + + + + +VII + + +The girls had given each other rendezvous at the gate of Dungory Castle. +Lover was never more anxious to meet mistress than this little deformed +girl to see her friend; and Alice could see her walking hurriedly up and +down the gravel-sweep in front of the massive grey-stone lodge. + +'She will see me next time she turns,' thought Alice; and immediately +after Cecilia uttered a joyful cry and ran forward. + +'Oh, so it is you, Alice! I am so glad! I thought you were going to +disappoint me.' + +'And why, dear, did you think I was going to disappoint you?' said +Alice, stooping to kiss the wan, wistful face. + +'I don't know--I can't say--but I fancied something would happen;' and +the great brown eyes began to melt with tears of delight. 'I had, you +know, set my heart on this walk with you.' + +'I am sure the pleasure is as much mine as yours; and now, whither lies +our way?' + +'Through the deer-park, through the oakwood, across the fields into the +highroad, and then you are at the gate,' + +'Won't that be too far for you?' + +'Oh, not at all! It is not more than a mile and a half; but for you, you +had to come another mile and a half. It is fully that from here to +Brookfield. But tell me, dear,' said Cecilia, clinging to her friend's +arm, 'why have you not been over to see me before? It is not kind of +you; we have been home from school now over a fortnight, and, except on +the night of the dinner-party, I haven't seen you once.' + +'I was coming over to see you last week, dear; but, to tell you the +truth, mamma prevented me. I cannot think why, but somehow she does not +seem to care that I should go to Dungory Castle. But for the matter of +that, why did you not come to see me? I've been expecting you every +day.' + +'I couldn't come either. My sisters advised me--I mean, insisted on my +stopping at home.' + +'And why?' + +'I really can't say,' replied Cecilia. + +And now Alice knew that the Ladies Cullen hated Mrs. Barton for her +intimacy with Lord Dungory. She longed to talk the matter out, but dared +not; while Cecilia regretted she had spoken; for, with the quickness of +the deformed, she knew that Alice had divined the truth of the family +feud. + +The sun fell like lead upon the short grass of the deer-park and the +frizzled heads of the hawthorns. On the right the green masses of the +oakwood shut in the view, and the stately red deer, lolling their high +necks, marched away through the hillocks, as if offended at their +solitude being disturbed. One poor crippled hind walked with a wretched +sidling movement, and Alice hoped Cecilia would not notice it, lest it +should remind her of her own misfortune. + +'I am sure,' she said, 'we never knew finer weather than this in +England. I don't think there could be finer weather, and still they say +the tenants are worse off than ever; that no rent at all, at least +nothing above Griffith's valuation, will be paid.' + +'Do they speak much of Griffith's valuation at Dungory Castle?' + +'Oh! they never cease, and--and--I don't know whether I ought to say, +but it won't matter with you, I suppose?--mind, you must not breathe a +word of this at Brookfield--the fact is my sisters' school--you know +they have a school, and go in for trying to convert the people--well, +this has got papa into a great deal of trouble. The Bishop has sent down +another priest--I think they call it a mission--and we are going to be +preached against, and papa received a threatening letter this morning. +He is going, I believe, to apply for police.' + +'And is this on account of the proselytizing?' + +'Oh! no, not entirely; he has refused to give his tenants Griffith's +valuation; but it makes one very unpopular to be denounced by the +priest. I assure you, papa is very angry. He told Sarah and Jane this +morning at breakfast that he'd have no more of it; that they had no +right to go into the poor people's houses and pull the children from +under the beds, and ask why they were not at school; that he didn't care +of what religion they were as long as they paid the rent; and that he +wasn't going to have his life endangered for such nonsense. There was an +awful row at home this morning. For my own part, I must say I sympathize +with papa. Besides the school, Sarah has, you know, a shop, where she +sells bacon, sugar, and tea at cost price, and it is well-known that +those who send their children to the school will never be asked to pay +their bills. She wanted me to come and help to weigh out the meal, Jane +being confined to her room with a sick headache, but I got out of it. I +would not, if I could, convert those poor people. You know, I often +fancy--I mean fear--I often sympathize too much with your creed. It was +only at service last Sunday I was thinking of it; our religion seems so +cold, so cheerless compared to yours. You remember the convent-church at +St. Leonard's--the incense, the vestments, the white-veiled +congregation--oh, how beautiful it was; we shall never be so happy +again!' + +'Yes, indeed; and how cross we used to think those dear nuns. You +remember Sister Mary, how she used to lecture Violet for getting up to +look out of the windows. What used she to say? 'Do you want, miss, to be +taken for a housemaid or scullery-maid, staring at people in that way as +they pass?'' + +'Yes, yes; that's exactly how she used to speak,' exclaimed Cecilia, +laughing. And, as the girls advanced through the oakwood, they helped +each other through the briers and over the trunks of fallen trees, +talking, the while, of their past life, which now seemed to them but one +long, sweet joy. A reference to how May Gould used to gallop the pony +round and round the field at the back of the convent was interrupted by +the terrifying sound of a cock-pheasant getting up from some bracken +under their very feet; and, amid the scurrying of rabbits in couples and +half-dozens, modest allusion was made to the girls who had been expelled +in '75. Absorbed in the sweetness of the past, the girls mused, until +they emerged from the shade of the woods into the glare and dust of the +highroad. Then came a view of rocky country, with harvesters working in +tiny fields, and then the great blue background of the Clare Mountains +was suddenly unfolded. A line and a bunch of trees indicated the Brennan +domain. The gate-lodge was in ruins, and the weed-grown avenue was +covered with cow-dung. + +'Which of the girls do you like best?' said Alice, who wished to cease +thinking of the poverty in which the spinsters lived. + +'Emily, I think; she doesn't say much, but she is more sensible than the +other two. Gladys wearies me with her absurd affectations; Zoe is well +enough, but what names!' + +'Yes, Emily has certainly the best of the names,' Alice replied, +laughing. + +'Are the Miss Brennans at home?' said Cecilia, when the maid opened the +hall-door. + +'Yes, miss--I mean your ladyship--will you walk in?' + +'You'll see, they'll keep us waiting a good half-hour while they put on +their best frocks,' said Cecilia, as she sat down in a faded arm-chair +in the middle of the room. A piano was rolled close against the wall, +the two rosewood cabinets were symmetrically placed on either side of +the farther window; from brass rods the thick, green curtains hung in +stiff folds, and, since the hanging of some water-colours, done by Zoe +before leaving school, no alterations, except the removal of the linen +covers from the furniture when visitors were expected, had been made in +the arrangement of the room. + +The Brennan family consisted of three girls--Gladys, Zoe, and Emily. +Thirty-three, thirty-one, and thirty were their respective ages. Their +father and mother, dead some ten or a dozen years, had left them joint +proprietors of a small property that gossip had magnified to three +thousand. They were known as the heiresses of Kinvarra; snub noses and +blue eyes betrayed their Celtic blood; and every year they went to spend +a month at the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin, returning home with quite a +little trousseau. Gladys and Zoe always dressed alike, from the bow +round the neck to the bow on the little shoe that they so artlessly with +drew when in the presence of _gentlemen_. Gladys' formula for receiving +visitors never varied: + +'Oh, how do you do--it is really too kind of you to give yourself all +this trouble to come and see us.' + +Immediately after Zoe put out her hand. Her manner was more jocose: + +'How d'ye do? We are, I am sure, delighted to see you. Will you have a +cup of tea? I know you will.' + +Emily, being considered too shy and silent, did not often come down to +receive company. On her devolved the entire management of the house and +servants; the two elder sisters killed time in the way they thought +would give least offence to their neighbours. + +Being all St. Leonard's girls, the conversation immediately turned on +convent-life. 'Was Madam this there? Had Madam that left?' Garden +chapel, school, hall, dormitory, refectory were visited; every nun was +passed in review, and, in the lightness and gaiety of the memories +invoked, even these maiden ladies flushed and looked fresh again, the +conversation came to a pause, and then allusion was made to the +disturbed state of the country, and to a gentleman who, it was reported, +was going to be married. But, as Alice did not know the person whose +antecedents were being called into question, she took an early +opportunity of asking Gladys if she cared for riding? 'No, they never +went to ride now: they used to, but they came in so fatigued that they +could not talk to Emily; so they had given up riding.' Did they care for +driving? 'Yes, pretty well; but there was no place to drive to except +into Gort, and as people had been unjust enough to say that they were +always to be seen in Gort, they had given up driving--unless, of course, +they went to call on friends.' Then tea was brought in; and, apropos of +a casual reference to conventual buttered toast, the five girls talked, +until nearly six o'clock, of their girlhood--of things that would never +have any further influence in their lives, of happiness they would never +experience again. At last Alice and Cecilia pleaded that they must be +going home. + +As they walked across the fields the girls only spoke occasionally. +Alice strove to see clear, but her thoughts were clouded, scattered, +diffused. Force herself as she would, still no conclusion seemed +possible; all was vague and contradictory. She had talked to these +Brennans, seen how they lived, could guess what their past was, what +their future must be. In that neat little house their uneventful life +dribbled away in maiden idleness; neither hope nor despair broke the +triviality of their days--and yet, was it their fault? No; for what +could they do if no one would marry them?--a woman could do nothing +without a husband. + +There is a reason for the existence of a pack-horse, but none for that +of an unmarried woman. She can achieve nothing--she has no duty but, by +blotting herself out, to shield herself from the attacks of +ever-slandering friends. Alice had looked forward to a husband and a +home as the certain accomplishment of years; now she saw that a woman, +independently of her own will, may remain single. + +'I wonder,' she said, forgetting for the moment she was speaking to +Cecilia, 'I wonder none of those Brennans married; you can't call them +ugly girls, and they have some money. How dreadfully lonely they must be +living there by themselves!' + +'I think they are far happier as they are,' said Cecilia, and her brown +eyes set in liquid blue looked strangely at Alice as she helped her over +the low wall. The girls walked in silence through the stillness of the +silver firs, their thoughts as sharp as the needles that scratched the +pale sky. + +'It may seem odd of me to say so--of course I would not say this to +anyone but you--but I assure you, even if I were as tall as you are, +dear, nothing would induce me to marry. I never took the slightest +pleasure in any man's conversation. Do you? But I know you do,' she +said, breaking off suddenly--'I know you like men; I feel you do. Don't +you?' + +'Well, since you put it so plainly, I confess I should like to know nice +men. I don't care for those I have met hitherto, particularly those I +saw at dinner the other night; but I believe there are nice men in the +world.' + +'Oh! no there aren't.' + +'Well, Cecilia, I don't see how you can speak so positively as that; you +have seen, as yet, very little of the world.' + +'Ah, yes, but I know it; I can guess it all, I know it instinctively, +and I hate it.' + +'There is nothing else, so we must make the best of it.' + +'But there is something else--there is God, and the love of beautiful +things. I spent all day yesterday playing Bach's Passion Music, and the +hours passed like a dream until my sisters came in from walking and +began to talk about marriage and men. It made me feel sick--it was +horrible; and it is such things that make me hate life--and I do hate +it; it is the way we are brought back to earth, and forced to realize +how vile and degraded we are. Society seems to me no better than a +pigsty; but in the beautiful convent--that we shall, alas! never see +again--it was not so. There, at least, life was pure--yes, and +beautiful. Do you not remember that beautiful white church with all its +white pillars and statues, and the dark-robed nuns, and the white-veiled +girls, their veils falling from their bent heads? They often seemed to +me like angels. I am sure that Heaven must be very much like that--pure, +desireless, contemplative.' + +Amazed, Alice looked at her friend questioningly, for she had never +heard her speak like this before. But Cecilia did not see her; the +prominent eyes of the mystic were veiled with strange glamour, and, with +divine _gourmandise_, she savoured the ineffable sweetness of the +vision, and, after a long silence, she said: + +'I often wonder, Alice, how you can think as you do; and, strange to +say, no one suspects you are an unbeliever; you're so good in all except +that one point.' + +'But surely, dear, it isn't a merit to believe; it is hardly a thing +that we can call into existence.' + +'You should pray for faith.' + +'I don't see how I can pray if I haven't faith.' + +'You're too clever; but I would ask you, Alice--you never told me--did +you never believe in God, I mean when you were a little child?' + +'I suppose I must have, but, as well as I can remember, it was only in a +very half-hearted way. I could never quite bring myself to credit that +there was a Being far away, sitting behind a cloud, who kept his eye on +all the different worlds, and looked after them just as a stationmaster +looks after the arrival and departure of trains from some great +terminus.' + +'Alice! how can you talk so? Aren't you afraid that something awful +might happen to you for talking of the Creator of all things in that +way?' + +'Why should I be afraid, and why should that Being, if he exists, be +angry with me for my sincerity? If he be all-powerful, it rests with +himself to make me believe.' + +They had now accomplished the greater part of their journey, and, a +little tired, had sat down to rest on a portion of a tree left by the +woodcutters. Gold rays slanted through the glades, enveloping and +rounding off the tall smooth trunks that rose branchless to a height of +thirty, even forty, feet; and the pink clouds, seen through the arching +dome of green, were vague as the picture on some dim cathedral-roof. + +'In places like these, I wonder you don't feel God's presence.' + +'On the contrary, the charm of nature is broken when we introduce a +ruling official.' + +'Alice! how can you--you who are so good--speak in that way?' At that +moment a dead leaf rustled through the silence--'And do you think that +we shall die like that leaf? That, like it, we shall become a part of +the earth and be forgotten as utterly?' + +'I am afraid I do. That dead, fluttering thing was once a bud; it lived +the summer-life of a leaf; now it will decay through the winter, and +perhaps the next, until it finally becomes part of the earth. Everything +in nature I see pursuing the same course; why should I imagine myself an +exception to the general rule?' + +'What, then, is the meaning of life?' + +'That I'm afraid we shall never learn from listening to the rustling of +leaves.' + +The short sharp cry of a bird broke the mild calm of the woods, and +Alice said: + +'Perhaps the same thought that troubles us is troubling that bird.' + +The girls walked on in silence, and when they came to the end of the +path and their parting was inevitable, there was something of the +passion of the lover in Cecilia's voice: 'Promise me you will come to +see me soon again. You'll not leave me so long; you will write; I shall +not be able to live if I don't hear from you.' + +The sound of hooves was heard, and a pair of cream-coloured ponies, with +a florid woman driving determinedly, came sweeping round the corner. + +'What a strange person!' said Alice, watching the blue veil and the +brightly dyed hair. + +'Don't you know who she is?' said Cecilia; 'that is your neighbour, Mrs. +Lawler.' + +'Oh! is it really? I have been so long at school that I know nobody--I +have been anxious to see her. Why, I wonder, do people speak of her so +mysteriously?' + +'You must have heard that she isn't visited?' + +'Well, yes; but I didn't quite understand. Your father was saying +something the other day about Mr. Lawler's shooting-parties; then mamma +looked at him; he laughed and spoke of "_les colombes de Cythère."_ I +intended to ask mamma what he meant, but somehow I forgot.' + +'She was one of those women that walk about the streets by night.' + +'Oh! really!' said Alice; and the conversation came to a sudden pause. +They had never spoken upon such a subject before, and the presence of +the deformed girl rendered it a doubly painful one. In her +embarrassment, Alice said: + +'Then I wonder Mr. Lawler married her. Was it his fault that--' + +'Oh! I don't think so,' Cecilia replied, scornfully: 'but what does it +matter?--she was quite good enough for him.' + +At every moment a new Cecilia was revealing herself, the existence of +whom Alice had not even suspected in the old; and as she hurried home +she wondered if the minds of the other girls were the same as they were +at school. Olive? She could see but little change in her sister; and May +she had scarcely spoken to since they left school; Violet she hadn't met +since they parted at Athenry for their different homes. But Cecilia--She +entered the house still thinking of her, and heard Olive telling her +mother that Captain Hibbert had admired her new hat. + +'He told me that I'd be the handsomest girl at the Drawing-Room.' + +'And what did you say, dear?' + +'I asked him how he knew. Was that right?' + +'Quite right; and what did he say then?' + +'He said, because he had never seen anybody so handsome, and as he had +seen everybody in London, he supposed--I forget the exact words, but +they were very nice; I am sure he admired my new hat; but you--you +haven't told me how you liked it. Do you think I should wear it down on +my eyes, or a bit back?' + +'I think it very becoming as it is; but tell me more about Captain +Hibbert.' + +'He told me he was coming to meet us at Mass. You know he is a Roman +Catholic?' + +'I know he is, dear, and am very glad.' + +'If he weren't, he wouldn't be able to meet us at Mass.' + + + + +VIII + + +According to old-established custom, on the arrival of his family Arthur +had turned his nudities to the wall, and now sitting, one leg tucked +under him, on the sofa, throwing back from time to time his long blond +locks, he hummed an Italian air. + +'How tired you look, Alice dear! Will you have a cup of tea? It will +freshen you up; you have been walking yourself to death.' + +'Thanks, mamma, I will have a cup of tea; Cecilia and I went to see the +Brennans.' + +'And are any of them going to be married yet?' said Olive. + +'I really don't know; I didn't ask them.' + +'Well, they ought to be doing something with themselves; they have been +trying it on long enough. They have been going up to the Shelbourne for +the last ten years. Did they show you the dresses they brought down this +season? They haven't worn them yet--they keep them wrapped up in silver +paper.' + +'And how did you hear all that?' she asked. + +'Oh, one hears everything! I don't live with my nose buried in a book +like you. That was all very well in the convent.' + +'But what have I done that you should speak to me in that way?' + +'Now, Alice dear,' said Mrs. Barton coaxingly, 'don't get angry. I +assure you Olive means nothing.' + +'No, indeed, I didn't!' Olive exclaimed, and she forced her sister back +into the chair. + +Arthur's attention had been too deeply absorbed in the serenade in _Don +Pasquale_ to give heed to the feminine bickering with which his studio +was ringing, until he was startled suddenly from his musical dreaming by +an angry exclamation from his wife. + +The picture of the bathers, which Alice had seen begun, had been only +partially turned to the wall, and, after examining it for a few moments, +Mrs. Barton got up and turned the picture round. The two naked creatures +who were taking a dip in the quiet, sunlit pool were Olive and Mrs. +Barton; and so grotesque were the likenesses that Alice could not +refrain from laughing. + +'This is monstrous! This is disgraceful, sir! How often have I forbidden +you to paint my face on any of your shameless pictures? And your +daughter, too--and just as she is coming out! Do you want to ruin us? I +should like to know what anyone would think if--' And, unable to +complete her sentence, either mentally or aloud, Mrs. Barton wheeled the +easel, on which a large picture stood, into the full light of the +window. + +If Arthur had wounded the susceptibilities of his family before, he had +outraged them now. The great woman, who had gathered to her bosom one of +the doves her naked son, Cupid, had shot out of the trees with his bow +and arrow, was Olive. The white face and its high nose, beautiful as a +head by Canova is beautiful; the corn-like tresses, piled on the top of +the absurdly small head, were, beyond mistaking, Olive. Mrs. Barton +stammered for words; Olive burst into tears. + +'Oh, papa! how could you disgrace me in that way? Oh, I am disgraced! +There's no use in my going to the Drawing-Room now.' + +'My dear, my dear, I assure you I can change it with a flick of the +brush. Admiration carried away by idea. I promise you I'll change it.' + +'Come away. Olive--come away!' said Mrs. Barton, casting a look of +burning indignation at her husband. 'If you cry like that, Olive, you +won't be fit to be looked at, and Captain Hibbert is coming here +to-night.' + +When they had left the room Arthur looked inquiringly at Alice. + +'This is very disagreeable,' he said; 'I really didn't think the +likeness was so marked as all that; I assure you I didn't. I must do +something to alter it--I might change the colour of the hair; but no, I +can't do that, the entire scheme of colour depends upon that. It is a +great pity, for it is one of my best things; the features I might alter, +and yet it is very hard to do so, without losing the character. I wonder +if I were to make the nose straighter. Alice, dear, would you mind +turning your head this way?' + +'Oh! no, no, no, papa dear! You aren't going to put my face upon it!' +And she ran from the room smothered with laughter. + +When this little quarrel was over and done, and Olive had ceased to +consider herself a disgraced girl, the allusion that had been made to +Mass as a means of meeting Captain Hibbert remained like a sting in +Alice's memory. It surprised her at all sorts of odd moments, and often +forced her, under many different impulses of mind, to reconsider the +religious problem more passionately and intensely than she had ever done +before. She asked herself if she had ever believed? Perhaps in very +early youth, in a sort of vague, half-hearted way, she had taken for +granted the usual traditional ideas of heaven and hell, but even then, +she remembered, she used to wonder how it was that time was found for +everything else but God. If He existed, it seemed to her that monks and +nuns, or puritans of the sternest type, were alone in the right. And yet +she couldn't quite feel that they were right. She had always been +intensely conscious of the grotesque contrast between a creed like that +of the Christian, and having dancing and French lessons, and going to +garden-parties--yes, and making wreaths and decorations for churches at +Christmas-time. If one only believed, and had but a shilling, surely the +only logical way of spending it was to give it to the poor, or a +missionary--and yet nobody seemed to think so. Priests and bishops did +not do so, she herself did not want to do so; still, so long as Alice +believed, she was unable to get rid of the idea. Teachers might say what +they pleased, but the creed they taught spoke for itself, and prescribed +an impossible ideal--an unsatisfactory ideal which aspired to no more +than saving oneself after all. + +Lies and all kinds of subterfuge were strictly against her character. +But it was impossible for her to do or say anything when by so doing she +knew she might cause suffering or give pain to anyone, even an enemy; +and this defect in her character forced her to live up to what she +deemed a lie. She had longed to tell the truth and thereby be saved the +mummery of attending at Mass; but when she realized the consternation, +the agony of mind, it would cause the nuns she loved, she held back the +word. But since she had left the convent she had begun to feel that her +life must correspond to her ideas and she had determined to speak to her +mother on this (for her) all-important subject--the conformity of her +outer life to her inner life. The power to prevail upon herself to do +what she thought wrong merely because she did not wish to wound other +people's feelings was dying in her. Sooner or later she would have to +break away; and as the hour approached when they should go to Mass to +meet Captain Hibbert, the desire to be allowed to stay away became +almost irresistible; and at the last moment it was only a foolish fear +that such a declaration might interfere with her sister's prospects that +stayed the words as they rose to her lips. She picked up her gloves, and +a moment after found herself in the brougham--packed into it, watching +the expressionless church-going faces of her family. + +From afar the clanging of a high-swinging bell was heard, and the harsh +reverberations, travelling over the rocky town-lands, summoned the +cottagers to God. The peasants stepped aside to let the carriage pass. +Peasants and landlords were going to worship in the same chapel, but it +would seem from the proclamations pasted on the gate-posts that the +house of prayer had gone over into the possession of the tenantry. + +'Now, Arthur--do you hear?--you mustn't look at those horrid papers!' +Mrs. Barton whispered to her husband. 'We must pretend not to see them. +I wonder how Father Shannon can allow such a thing, making the house of +God into--into I don't know what, for the purpose of preaching robbery +and murder. Just look at the country-people--how sour and wicked they +look! Don't they, Alice?' + +'Goodness me!' said Olive, 'who in the world can those people be in our +pew?' + +Mrs. Barton trembled a little. Had the peasants seized the religious +possessions of their oppressors? Dismissing the suspicion, she examined +the backs indicated by Olive. + +'Why, my dear, it is the Goulds; what can have brought them all this +way?' + +The expected boredom of the service was forgotten, and Olive shook hands +warmly with Mrs. Gould and May. + +'Why, you must have driven fifteen miles; where are your horses?' + +'We took the liberty of sending the carriage on to Brookfield, and we +are coming on to lunch with you--that is to say, if you will let us?' +cried May. + +'Of course, of course; but how nice of you!' + +'Oh! we have such news; but it was courageous of us to come all this +way. Have you seen those terrible proclamations?' + +'Indeed we have. Just fancy a priest allowing his chapel to be turned +into a political--political what shall I call it?' + +'Bear-garden,' suggested May. + +'And Father Shannon is going to take the chair at the meeting; he +wouldn't get his dues if he didn't.' + +'Hush, hush! they may hear you; but you were saying something about +news.' + +'Oh! don't ask me,' said Mrs. Gould; 'that's May's affair--such work!' + +'Say quickly! what is it, May?' + +'Look here, girls, I can't explain everything now; but we are going to +give a ball--that is to say, all the young girls are going to subscribe. +It will only cost us about three pounds apiece--that is to say, if we +can get forty subscribers; we have got twenty already, and we hope you +will join us. It is going to be called the Spinsters' Ball. But there is +such a lot to be done: the supper to be got together, the decorations of +the room--splendid room, the old schoolhouse, you know. We are going to +ask you to let us take Alice away with us.' + +The conversation was here interrupted by the appearance of the priest, a +large fat man, whose new, thick-soled boots creaked as he ascended the +steps of the altar. He was preceded by two boys dressed in white and +black surplices, who rang little brass bells furiously; a great +trampling of feet was heard, and the peasants came into the church, +coughing and grunting with monotonous, animal-like voices; and the +sour odour of cabin-smoked frieze arose--it was almost visible in the +great beams of light that poured through the eastern windows; whiffs +of unclean leather, mingled with a smell of a sick child; and Olive +and May, exchanging looks of disgust, drew forth cambric +pocket-handkerchiefs, and in unison the perfumes of white rose and eau +d'opoponax evaporated softly. + +Just behind Alice a man groaned and cleared his throat with loud +guffaws; she listened to hear the saliva fall: it splashed on the +earthen floor. Farther away a circle of dried and yellowing faces +bespoke centuries of damp cabins; they moaned and sighed, a prey to the +gross superstition of the moment. One man, bent double, beat a ragged +shirt with a clenched fist; the women of forty, with cloaks drawn over +their foreheads and trailing on the ground in long black folds, crouched +until only the lean, hard-worked hands that held the rosary were seen +over the bench-rail. + +The sermon came in the middle of Mass, and was a violent denunciation of +the Ladies Cullen, who, it was stated, had pursued one poor boy until he +took refuge in an empty house, the door of which he was fortunately +enabled to fasten against them; they had sent a sick woman blankets, in +which they had not neglected to enclose some tracts; amateur +shopkeeping, winter clothing, wood, turf, presents of meal, wine, and +potatoes were all vigorously attacked as the wiles of the Evil One to +lead the faithful from the true Church. + + + + +IX + + +As they returned from church, a horseman was seen riding rapidly towards +them. It was Captain Hibbert. The movement of his shoulders, as he +reined in his mettlesome bay, was picturesque, and he was coaxingly and +gushingly upbraided for neglect of his religious duties. + +During lunch, curiosity rendered May and Mrs. Gould nearly speechless; +but their carriage had not turned into the highroad, on its way home, +when the latter melted into a shower of laudatory words and phrases: + +'What a charming man Captain Hibbert is! No wonder you young ladies like +the military. He is so good-looking--and such good manners. Don't you +think so, Alice dear?' + +'I think the Captain a very handsome man--indeed, I believe that there +are not two opinions on the subject.' + +'And Olive--I do not remember that I ever saw a more beautiful girl. +Such hair! and her figure so sylph-like! I do not know what the young +ladies will do--she will cut everybody out at the Castle!' + +'I don't know about that,' said May jauntily; 'what one man will turn +his nose up at, another will go wild after.' + +Mrs. Gould did not answer; but her lips twitched, and Alice guessed she +was annoyed that May could not express herself less emphatically. In a +few moments the conversation was continued: + +'At any rate, Captain Hibbert seems to think there is no one like Olive; +and they'd make a handsome couple. What do you think, Alice? Is there +any chance of there being a match?' + +'I really can't tell you, Mrs. Gould. Olive, as you say, is a very +beautiful girl, and I suppose Captain Hibbert admires her; but I don't +think that either has, up to the present, thought of the matter more +seriously.' + +'You must admit, Alice, that he seems a bit gone on her,' said May, with +a direct determination to annoy her mother. + +'May, dear, you shouldn't talk in that slangy way; you never used to; +you have picked it up from Mr. Scully. Do you know Mr. Scully, Alice? +Violet's brother.' + +'Yes, I met him the night we dined at Lord Dungory's.' + +'Oh, of course you did. Well, I admit I don't like him; but May does. +They go out training horses together. I don't mind that; but I wish she +wouldn't imitate his way of talking. He has been a very wild young man.' + +'Now, mother dear, I wish you would leave off abusing Fred. I have +repeatedly told you that I don't like it.' + +The acerbity of this remark was softened by May's manner, and, throwing +her arms on her mother's shoulders, she commenced to coax and cajole +her. + +The Goulds were of an excellent county family. They had for certainly +three generations lived in comfortable idleness, watching from their big +square house the different collections of hamlets toiling and moiling, +and paying their rents every gale day. It was said that some ancestor, +whose portrait still existed, had gone to India and come back with the +money that had purchased the greater part of the property. But, be this +as it may, in Galway three generations of landlordism are considered +sufficient repentance for shopkeeping in Gort, not to speak of Calcutta. +Since then the family history had been stainless. Father and son had in +turn put their horses out to grass in April, had begun to train them +again in August, had boasted at the Dublin horse-show of having been out +cub-hunting, had ridden and drunk hard from the age of twenty to +seventy. But, by dying at fifty-five, the late squire had deviated +slightly from the regular line, and the son and heir being only twelve, +a pause had come in the hereditary life of the Goulds. In the interim, +however, May had apparently resolved to keep up the traditions so far as +her sex was supposed to allow her. + +They lived in one of those box-like mansions, so many of which were +built in Ireland under the Georges. On either side trees had been +planted, and they stretched to the right and left like the wings of a +theatre. In front there was a green lawn; at the back a sloppy +stableyard. The latter was May's especial delight, and when Mr. Scully +was with them, it seemed impossible to induce her to leave it. He +frequently rode over to Beechgrove, and towards the end of the afternoon +it became easy to persuade him to stay to dinner. And, as the night +darkened and the rain began to fall, the inhospitality of turning him +out was insisted on by May, and Mrs. Gould sent up word that a room was +to be prepared for him. Next morning he sent home for a change of +things, and thus it was not infrequent for him to protract his visit to +the extent of three or four days. + +His great friend, Mrs. Manly--a lady who had jumped five feet, four +months before the birth of her sixth child--had said that his was a +'wasted life,' and the phrase, summing up what most people thought of +him, gained currency, and was now generally used whenever his conduct +was criticized or impeached. After having been in London, where he spent +some years in certain vague employments, and having contracted as much +debt as his creditors would permit, and more than his father would pay, +he had gone through the Bankruptcy Court, and returned home to drag +through life wearily, through days and weeks so appallingly idle, that +he often feared to get out of bed in the morning. At first his father +had tried to make use of him in his agency business, and it was +principally owing to Mr. Fred's bullying and insolent manners that Mr. +Scully was now unable to leave his house unless accompanied by police. + +Fred was about thirty years of age. His legs were long, his hands were +bony, and 'stableyard' was written in capital letters on his face. He +carried a _Sportsman_ under his arm, a penny and a half-crown jingled in +his pocket; and as he walked he lashed the trousers and boot, whose +elegance was an echo of the old Regent Street days, with an ash-plant. + +Such was the physiology of this being, and from it the psychology is +easy to surmise: a complete powerlessness to understand that there was +anything in life worth seeking except pleasure--and pleasure to Fred +meant horses and women. Of earthly honour the greatest was to be well +known in an English hunting country; and he was not averse to speaking +of certain ladies of title, with whom he had been on intimate terms, and +with whom, it was said, he corresponded. On occasions he would read or +recite poems, cut from the pages of the Society Journals, to his lady +friends. + +May, however, saw nothing but the outside. The already peeling-off +varnish of a few years of London life satisfied her. Given a certain +versatility in turning a complimentary phrase, the abundant ease with +which he explained his tastes, which, although few, were pronounced, add +to these the remnant of fashion that still lingered in his +wardrobe--scarfs from the Burlington Arcade, scent from Bond Street, +cracked patent-leather shoes and mended silk stockings--and it will be +understood how May built something that did duty for an ideal out of +this broken-down swell. + +She was a girl of violent blood, and, excited by the air of the +hunting-field, she followed Fred's lead fearlessly; to feel the life of +the horse throbbing underneath her passioned and fevered her flesh until +her mental exaltation reached the rushing of delirium. Then his evening +manners fascinated her, and, as he leaned back smoking in the +dining-room arm-chair, his patent-leather shoes propped up against the +mantelpiece, he showed her glimpses of a wider world than she knew +of--and the girl's eyes softened as she listened to his accounts of the +great life he had led, the county-houses he had visited, and the +legendary runs he had held his own in. She sympathized with him when he +explained how hardly fate had dealt with him in not giving him £5,000 a +year, to be spent in London and Northamptonshire. + +He cursed Ireland as the most hideous hole under the sun; he frightened +Mrs. Gould by reiterated assurances that the Land League would leave +them all beggars; and, having established this point, he proceeded to +develop his plan for buying young horses, training them, and disposing +of them in the English market. Eventually he dismissed his audience by +taking up the newspaper and falling asleep with the stump of a +burned-out cigarette between his lips. After breakfast he was seen +slouching through the laurels on his way to the stables. From the +kitchen and the larder--where the girls were immersed in calculations +anent the number of hams, tongues, and sirloins of beef that would be +required--he could be seen passing; and as May stood on no ceremony with +Alice, whistling to her dogs, and sticking both hands into the pockets +of her blue dress, she rushed after him, the mud of the yard oozing +through the loose, broken boots which she insisted on wearing. Behind +the stables there was a small field that had lately been converted into +an exercise-ground, and there the two would stand for hours, watching a +couple of goat-like colts, mounted by country lads--still in corduroy +and hobnails--walking round and round. + +Mrs. Gould was clearly troubled by this very plain conduct. Once or +twice she allowed a word of regret to escape her, and Alice could see +that she lived in awe of her daughter. And May, there was no doubt, was +a little lawless when Fred was about her skirts; but when he was gone +she returned to her old, glad, affectionate ways and to her work. + +The girls delighted in each other's society, and the arrangements for +their ball were henceforth a continual occupation. The number of letters +that had to be written was endless. Sitting at either end of the table +in the drawing-room, their pens scratched and their tongues rattled +together; and, penetrated with the intimacy of home, all kinds of +stories were told, and the whole country was passed in review. + +'And do you know,' said May, raising her eyes from the letter she was +writing, 'when this affair was first started mamma was afraid to go in +for it; she said we'd find it hard to hunt up fifty spinsters in +Galway.' + +'I said fifty who would subscribe--a very different thing indeed.' + +'Oh no, you didn't, mamma; you said there weren't fifty spinsters in +Galway--a jolly lucky thing it would be if there weren't; wouldn't it, +Alice?' + +Alice was busy trying to disentangle a difficult sentence. Her startled +face made May laugh. + +'It isn't cheering, is it?' + +'I didn't hear what you were saying,' she answered, a little vexed at +being misunderstood. 'But fifty, surely, is a great number. Are there so +many unmarried women in Galway?' + +'I should think there are,' replied May, as if glorying in the fact. +'Who are there down your side of the country? Let's count. To begin +with, there are the Brennans--there are three of them, and all three are +out of the running, distanced.' + +'Now, May, how can you talk like that?' said Mrs. Gould, and she pulled +up her skirt so that she could roast her fat thick legs more comfortably +before the fire. There being no man present, she undid a button or two +of her dress. + +'You said so yourself the other day, mother.' + +'No, I didn't, May, and I wish you wouldn't vex me. What I say I stand +by, and I merely wondered why girls with good fortunes like the Brennans +didn't get married.' + +'You said the fact was there was no one to marry.' + +'May, I will not allow you to contradict me!' exclaimed Mrs. Gould; and +she grew purple to the roots of her white hair. 'I said the Brennans +looked too high, that they wanted gentlemen, eldest sons of county +families; but if they'd been content to marry in their own position of +life they would have been married long ago.' + +'Well, mother dear, there's no use being angry about it; let the thing +pass. You know the Brennans, Alice; they are neighbours of yours.' + +'Yes, Cecilia and I walked over to see them the other day; we had tea +with them.' + +'Their great hunting-ground is the Shelbourne Hotel--they take it in +turns, a couple of them go up every six months.' + +'How can you say such things, May? I will not suffer it.' + +'I say it! I know nothing about it. I've only just come back from school; +it is you who tell me these things when we are sitting here alone of an +evening.' + +Mrs. Gould's face again became purple, and she protested vehemently: 'I +shall leave the room, May. I will not suffer it one moment longer. I +can't think how it is you dare speak to me in that way; and, what is +worse, attribute to me such ill-natured remarks.' + +'Now, mother dear, don't bother, perhaps I did exaggerate. I am very +sorry. But, there's a dear, sit down, and we won't say any more about +it.' + +'You do annoy one, May, and I believe you do it on purpose. And you know +exactly what will be disagreeable to say, and you say it,' replied Mrs. +Gould; and she raised her skirt so as to let the heat of the fire into +her petticoats. + +'Thank God that's over,' May whispered to Alice; 'but what were we +talking about?' + +'I think you were making out a list of the Galway spinsters,' said +Alice, who could not help feeling a little amused, though she was sorry +for Mrs. Gould. + +'So we were,' cried May; 'we were speaking of the Brennans. Do you know +their friends the Duffys? There are five of them. That's a nice little +covey of love-birds; I don't think they would fly away if they saw a +sportsman coming into the field.' + +'I never heard a girl talk like that,' murmured Mrs. Gould, without +raising her face from the fire, 'that wasn't punished for it. Perhaps, +my lady, you will find it hard enough to suit yourself. Wait until you +have done two or three Castle seasons. We'll see how you'll speak then.' + +Without paying any attention to these maternal forebodings, May +continued: + +'Then there are Lord Rosshill's seven daughters; they are all maidens, +and are likely to remain so.' + +'Are they all unmarried?' asked Alice. + +'Of course they are!' exclaimed Mrs. Gould; 'how could they be anything +else? Didn't they all want to marry people in their father's position? +And that wasn't possible. There're seven Honourable Miss Gores, and one +Lord Rosshill--so they all remained in single blessedness.' + +'Who's making ill-natured remarks now?' exclaimed May triumphantly. + +'I am not making ill-natured remarks; I am only saying what's true. My +advice to young girls is that they should be glad to have those who will +take them. If they can't make a good marriage let them make a bad +marriage; for, believe me, it is far better to be minding your own +children than your sister's or your brother's children. And I can assure +you, in these days of competition, it is no easy matter to get settled.' + +'It is the same now as ever it was, and there are plenty of nice young +men. It doesn't prove, because a whole lot of old sticks of things can't +get married, that I shan't.' + +'I didn't say you wouldn't get married, May; I am sure that any man +would be only too glad to have you; but what I say is that these grand +matches that girls dream of aren't possible nowadays. Nice young men! I +dare say; and plenty of them, I know them; young scamps without a +shilling, who amuse themselves with a girl until they are tired of her, +and then, off they go. Now, then, let's count up the good matches that +are going in the county--' + +At this moment the servant was heard at the door bringing in the tea. + +'Oh! bother!' exclaimed Mrs. Gould, settling her dress hurriedly. The +interval was full of secret irritation; and the three women watched the +methodical butler place the urn on the table, turn up the lamp that was +burning low, and bring chairs forward from the farthest corners. + +'On your side of the county,' said Mrs. Gould, as soon as the door was +closed, 'there is our brace of baronets, as they are called. But poor +Sir Richard--I am afraid he is a bad case--and yet he never took to +drink until he was five-and-thirty; and as for Sir Charles--of course +there are great advantages, he has a very fine property; but still many +girls might--and I can quite understand their not liking to marry him.' + +'Why, Mrs. Gould, what is wrong with him?' Alice asked innocently. + +'Don't you know?' said May, winking. 'Haven't you heard? But I forgot, +he isn't your side of the county. He's married already; at least, so +they say.' + +'It is very sad, very sad, indeed,' murmured Mrs. Gould; 'he'd have been +a great match.' + +'And to whom is he married?' said Alice, whose curiosity was awakened by +the air of mystery with which the baronet was surrounded. + +'Well, he's not exactly married,' replied May, laughing; 'but he has a +large family.' + +'May, I will not allow it; it is very wrong of you, indeed, to talk like +that--' + +'Now, mother dear, don't get into a passion; where's the harm? The whole +country knows it; Violet was talking of it to me only the other day. +There isn't a man within a mile of us, so we needn't be on our P's and +Q's.' + +'And who is the mother of all these children?' Alice asked. + +'A country-woman with whom he lives,' said May. 'Just fancy marrying a +man with a little dirty crowd of illegitimate children running about the +stable-yard!' + +'The usual thing in such cases is to emigrate them,' said Mrs. Gould +philosophically; and she again distended herself before the fire. + +'Emigrate them!' cried May; 'if he emigrated them to the moon, I +wouldn't marry such a man; would you, Alice?' + +'I certainly wouldn't like to,' and her sense of humour being now +tickled by the conversation, she added slyly: 'but you were counting up +the good matches in the county.' + +'Ah! so we were,' said the old lady. 'Well, there is Mr. Adair. I am +sure no girl would wish for a better husband.' + +'Oh, the old frump! why he must be forty if he's a day. You remember, +Alice, it was he who took me down to dinner at Lord Dungory's. And he +talked all the time of his pamphlet on the Amalgamation of the Unions, +which was then in the hands of the printer; and the other in which he +had pulled Mr. Parnell's ears, _Ireland under the Land League_, and the +series of letters he was thinking of contributing to the _Irish Times_ +on high-farming _versus_ peasant proprietors. Just fancy, Alice, living +with such a man as that!' + +'Well, I don't know what you girls think,' said Mrs. Gould, whose +opinions were moods of mind rather than convictions, 'but I assure you +he passes for being the cleverest man in the county; and it is said that +Gladstone is only waiting to give him a chance. But as you like; he +won't do, so let him pass. Then there is Mr. Ryan, he ought to be well +off; he farms thousands of acres.' + +'One might as well marry a herdsman at once. Did you ever hear what he +once said to a lady at a ball; you know, about the docket?' + +Alice said that she had heard the story, and the conversation turned on +Mr. Lynch. Mrs. Gould admitted that he was the worser of the two. + +'He smells so dreadfully of whiskey,' said Alice timidly. + +'Ah! you see she is coming out of her shell at last,' exclaimed May. 'I +saw you weren't having a very good time of it when he took you down to +dinner at Dungory Castle. I wonder they were asked. Fred told me that he +had never heard of their having been there before.' + +'It is very difficult to make up a number sometimes,' suggested Mrs. +Gould; 'but they are certainly very coarse. I hear, when Mr. Ryan and +Mr. Lynch go to fairs, that they sleep with their herdsman, and in Mayo +there is a bachelor's house where they have fine times--whiskey-drinking +and dancing until three o'clock in the morning.' + +'And where do the ladies come from, May?' asked Alice, for she now +looked on the girl as an inexhaustible fund of information. + +'Plenty of ladies in the village,' replied Mrs. Gould, rubbing her shins +complacently; 'that's what I used to hear of in my day, and I believe +the custom isn't even yet quite extinct.' + +'And are there no other beaux in the county? Does that exhaust the +list?' + +'Oh! no; but there's something against them all. There are a few +landlords who live away, and of whom nobody knows anything. Then there +are some boys at school; but they are too young; there is Mr. Reed, the +dispensary doctor. Mr. Burke has only two hundred a year; but if his +brother were to die he would be the Marquis of Kilcarney. He'd be a +great match then, in point of position; but I hear the estates are +terribly encumbered.' + +'Has the present Marquis no children?' said Alice. + +'He's not married,' said Mrs. Gould; 'he's a confirmed old bachelor. +Just fancy, there's twenty years between the brothers. I remember, in +old times, the present Marquis used to be the great beau at the Castle. +I don't believe there was a girl in Dublin who didn't have a try at him. +Then who else is there? I suppose I daren't mention the name of Mr. Fred +Scully, or May will fly at me.' + +'No, mother dear, I won't fly at you; but what is the use of abusing +Fred?--we have known him all our lives. If he has spent his money he has +done no worse than a hundred other young men. I know I can't marry him, +and I am not in love with him; but I must amuse myself with something. I +can't sit here all day listening to you lamenting over the Land League; +and, after a certain number of hours, conjecturing whether Mickey Moran +will or will not pay his rent becomes monotonous.' + +'Now don't vex me, May; for I won't stand it,' said Mrs. Gould, getting +angry. 'When you ask me for a new dress you don't think of what you are +saying now. It was only the other day you were speaking to me of +refurnishing this room. I should like to know how that's to be done if +there was no one to look after Mickey Moran's rent?' + +The girls looked round the large, dull room. Emaciated forms of narrow, +antique sofas were seen dimly in the musty-smelling twilight. Screens +worked in red and green wools stood in the vicinity of the fireplace, +the walls were lined with black pictures, and the floor, hidden in dark +shadow and sunken in places, conveyed an instant idea of damp and +mildew. + +'I think that something ought to be done,' said May. 'Just look at these +limp curtains! Did you ever see anything so dreary? Are they brown, or +red, or chocolate?' + +'They satisfied your betters,' said Mrs. Gould, as she lighted her +bedroom candle. 'Goodness me!' she added, glancing at the gilt clock +that stood on the high, stucco, white-painted chimney-piece, amid a +profusion of jingling glass candelabra, 'it is really half-past twelve +o'clock!' + +'Gracious me! there's another evening wasted; we must really try and be +more industrious. It is too late to do anything further to-night,' said +May. 'Come on, Alice, it is time to go to bed.' + + + + +X + + +During the whole of the next week, until the very night of the ball, the +girls hadn't a moment they could call their own. It was impossible to +say how time went. There were so many things to think of--to remind each +other of. Nobody knew what they had done last, or what they should do +next. The principle on which the ball had been arranged was this: the +forty-five spinsters who had agreed to bear the expense, which it was +guaranteed would not exceed £3 10s. apiece, were supplied each with five +tickets to be distributed among their friends. To save money, the supper +had been provided by the Goulds and Manlys, and day after day the rich +smells of roast beef and the salt vapours of boiling hams trailed along +the passages, and ascended through the banisters of the staircases in +Beech Grove and Manly Park. Fifty chickens had been killed; presents of +woodcock and snipe were received from all sides; salmon had arrived from +Galway; cases of champagne from Dublin. As a wit said, 'Circe has +prepared a banquet and is calling us in.' + +After much hesitation, a grammar-school, built by an enterprising +landlord for an inappreciative population that had declined to support +it, was selected as the most suitable location for the festivities. It +lay about a mile from the town, and this was in itself an advantage. To +the decoration of the rooms May and Fred diligently applied themselves. +Away they went every morning, the carriage filled with yards of red +cloth, branches of evergreen, oak and holly, flags and Chinese lanterns. +You see them: Fred mounted on a high ladder, May and the maid striving +to hand him a long garland which is to be hung between the windows. You +see them leaning over the counter of a hardware shop, explaining how +oblong and semicircular pieces of tin are to be provided with places for +candles (the illumination of the room had remained an unsolved problem +until ingenious Fred had hit upon this plan); you see them running up +the narrow staircases, losing themselves in the twisty passages, calling +for the housekeeper; you see them trying to decide which is the +gentlemen's cloakroom, which the ladies', and wondering if they will be +able to hire enough furniture in the town to arrange a sitting-room for +the chaperons. + +As May said, 'We shall have them hanging about our heels the whole +evening if we don't try to make them comfortable.' + +At last the evening of the ball arrived, and, as the clocks were +striking eight, dressed and ready to start, Alice knocked at May's door. + +'What! dressed already?' said May, as she leaned towards the glass, +illuminated on either side with wax candles, and looked into the +whiteness of her bosom. She wore a costume of Prussian-blue velvet and +silk; the bodice (entirely of velvet) was pointed back and front, and a +berthe of moresque lace softened the contrast between it and the cream +tints of the skin. These and the flame-coloured hair were the spirits of +the shadowy bedchamber; whereas Alice, in her white corded-silk, her +clear candid eyes, was the truer Madonna whose ancient and inferior +prototype stood on her bracket in a forgotten corner. + +'Oh! how nice you look!' exclaimed May; 'I don't think I ever saw anyone +look so pure.' + +Alice smiled; and, interpreting the smile, May said: + +'I am afraid you don't think so much of me.' + +'I am sure, May, you look very nice indeed, and just as you would like +to look.' + +To May's excitable mind it was not difficult to suggest a new train of +thought, and she immediately proceeded to explain why she had chosen her +present dress. + +'I knew that you, and Olive, and Violet, and Lord knows how many others +would be in white, and, as we shall all have to wear white at the +Drawing-Room, I thought I'd appear in this. But isn't the whole thing +delightful? I am engaged already for several dances, and I have been +practising the step all day with Fred.' Then, singing to herself, she +waltzed in front of the glass at the immediate risk of falling into the +bath: + + '"Five-and-forty spinsters baked in a pie! + When the pie was opened the maids began to sing, + Wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the King!" + +'Oh, dear, there's my garter coming down!' and, dropping on to the sofa, +the girl hitched up the treacherous article of dress. 'And tell me what +you think of my legs,' she said, advancing a pair of stately calves. +'Violet says they are too large.' + +'They seem to me to be all right; but, May dear, you haven't got a +petticoat on.' + +'You can't wear petticoats with these tight dresses; one can't move +one's legs as it is.' + +'But don't you think you'll feel cold--catch cold?' + +'Not a bit of it; no danger of cold when you have shammy-leather +drawers.' + +Then, overcome by her exuberant feelings, May began to sing: +'Five-and-forty spinsters baked in a pie,' etc. 'Five-and-forty,' she +said, breaking off, 'have subscribed. I wonder how many will be married +by this time next year? You know, I shouldn't care to be married all at +once; I'd want to see the world a bit first. Even if I liked a man, I +shouldn't care to marry him now; time enough in about three years' time, +when one is beginning to get tired of flirtations and parties. I have +often wondered what it must be like. Just fancy waking up and seeing a +man's face on the pillow, or for--' + +'No, no, May; I will not; you must not. I will not listen to these +improper conversations!' + +'Now, don't get angry, there's a dear, nice girl; you're worse than +Violet, 'pon my word you are; but we must be off. It is a good +half-hour's drive, and we shall want to be there before nine. The people +will begin to come in about that time.' + +Mrs. Gould was asleep in the drawing-room, and, as they awoke her, the +sound of wheels was heard on the gravel outside. The girls hopped into +the carriage. Mrs. Gould pulled herself in, and, blotted out in a far +corner, thought vaguely of asking May not to dance more than three times +with Fred Scully; May chattered to Alice or looked impatiently through +the misted windows for the familiar signs; the shadow of a tree on the +sky, or the obscure outline of a farm-building that would tell how near +they were to their destination. Suddenly the carriage turned to the +right, and entered a sort of crescent. There were hedges on both sides, +through which vague forms were seen scrambling, but May humorously +explained that as no very unpopular landlord was going to be present, it +was not thought that an attempt would be made to blow up the building; +and, conscious of the beautiful night which hung like a blue mysterious +flower above them, they passed through a narrow doorway draped with +red-striped canvas. + +'Now, mother, what do you think of the decorations? Do say a word of +praise.' + +'I've always said, May, that you have excellent taste.' + +The school-hall and refectory had been transformed into ball and supper +rooms, and the narrow passages intervening were hung with red cloth and +green garlands of oak and holly. On crossing threads Chinese lanterns +were wafted luminously. + +'What taste Fred has!' said May, pointing to the huge arrangement that +covered the end wall. 'And haven't my tin candelabra turned out a +success? There will be no grease, and the room couldn't be better +lighted.' + +'But look!' said Alice, 'look at all those poor people staring in at the +window. Isn't it dreadful that they, in the dark and cold, should be +watching us dancing in our beautiful dresses, and in our warm bright +room?' + +'You don't want to ask them in, do you?' + +'Of course not, but it seems very sinister; doesn't it seem so to you?' + +'I don't know what you mean by its being sinister; but sinister or not +sinister, it couldn't be helped; for if we had nailed up every window we +should have simply died of heat.' + +'I hope you won't think of opening the windows too soon,' said Mrs. +Gould. 'You must think of us poor chaperons, who will be sitting still +all night.' + +Then, in the gaping silence, the three ladies listened to the melancholy +harper and the lachrymose fiddlers who, on the _estrade_ in the far +corner, sat tuning their instruments. At last the people began to come +in. The first were a few stray blackcoats, then feminine voices were +heard in the passages, and necks and arms, green toilettes and white +satin shoes, were seen passing and taking seats. Two Miss Duffys, the +fattest of the four, were with their famous sister Bertha. Bertha was +rarely seen in Galway; she lived with an aunt in Dublin, where her +terrible tongue was dreaded by the _débutantes_ at the Castle. In a +yellow dress as loud and as hard as her voice, she stood explaining that +she had come down expressly for the ball. Opposite, the Honourable Miss +Gores made a group of five; and a few men who preferred consideration to +amusement made their way towards them. The Brennans--Gladys and Zoe--as +soon as they saw Alice, asked after Lord Dungory; and all the girls were +anxious to see Violet, who they feared would seem thin in a low dress. + +Hers was the charm of an infinite fragility. The bosom, whose curves +were so faint that they were epicene, was set in a bodice of white +_broché_, joining a skirt of white satin, with an overskirt of tulle, +and the only touch of colour was a bunch of pink and white azaleas worn +on the left shoulder. And how irresistibly suggestive of an Indian +carved ivory were the wee foot, the thin arm, the slender cheek! + +'How sweet you look, Violet,' said Alice, with frank admiration in her +eyes. + +'Thanks for saying so; 'tisn't often we girls pay each other +compliments. But you, you do look ever so nice in that white silk. It +becomes you perfectly.' And then, her thoughts straying suddenly from +Alice's dress, she said: + +'Do you see Mr. Burke over there? If his brother died he would be a +marquis. Do you know him?' + +'Yes; I met him at dinner at Dungory Castle.' + +'Well, introduce him to me if you get a chance.' + +'I am afraid you will find him stupid.' + +'Oh, that doesn't matter; 'tis good form to be seen dancing with an +Honourable. Do you know many men in the room?' + +Alice admitted she knew no one, and, lapsing into silence, the girls +scanned the ranks for possible partners. Poor Sir Richard, already very +drunk, his necktie twisted under his right ear, was vainly attempting to +say something to those whom he knew, or fancied he knew. Sir Charles, +forgetful of the family at home, was flirting with a young girl whose +mother was probably formulating the details of a new emigration scheme. +Dirty Mr. Ryan, his hands thrust deep into the pockets of his baggy +trousers, whispered words of counsel to Mr. Lynch: a rumour had gone +abroad that Captain Hibbert was going to hunt that season in Galway, and +would want a couple of horses. Mr. Adair was making grotesque attempts +to talk to a lady of dancing. On every side voices were heard speaking +of the distances they had achieved: some had driven twenty, some thirty +miles. + +Already the first notes of the waltz had been shrieked out by the +cornet, and Mr. Fred Scully, with May's red tresses on his shoulder, was +about to start, when Mrs. Barton and Olive entered. Olive, in white +silk, so tightly drawn back that every line of her supple thighs, and +every plumpness of her superb haunches was seen; and the double garland +of geraniums that encircled the tulle veiling seemed like flowers of +blood scattered on virgin snow. Her beauty imposed admiration; and, +murmuring assent, the dancers involuntarily drew into lines, and this +pale, uncoloured loveliness, her high nose seen, and her silly laugh +heard, by the side of her sharp, brown-eyed mother, passed down the +room. Lord Dungory and Lord Rosshill advanced to meet them; a moment +after Captain Hibbert and Mr. Burke came up to ask for dances; a waltz +was promised to each. A circling crowd of black-coats instantly absorbed +the triumphant picture; the violinist scraped, and the harper twanged +intermittently; a band of fox-hunters arrived; girls had been chosen, +and in the small space of floor that remained the white skirts and red +tail coats passed and repassed, borne along Strauss's indomitable +rhythms. + +An hour passed: perspiration had begun to loosen the work of +curling-tongs; dust had thickened the voices, but the joy of exercise +was in every head and limb. A couple would rush off for a cup of tea, or +an ice, and then, pale and breathless, return to the fray. Mrs. Manly +was the gayest. Pushing her children out of her skirts, she called upon +May: + +'Now then, May, have you a partner? We are going to have a real romp--we +are going to have Kitchen Lancers. I'll undertake to see everybody +through them.' + +A select few, by signs, winks, and natural instinct, were drawn towards +this convivial circle; but, notwithstanding all her efforts to make +herself understood, Mrs. Manly was sadly hampered by the presence of a +tub-like old lady who, with a small boy, was seeking a _vis-à-vis._ + +'My dear May, we can't have her here, we are going to romp; anyone can +see that. Tell her we are going to dance Kitchen Lancers.' + +But the old lady could not be made to understand, and it was with +difficulty that she was disentangled from the sixteen. At that moment +the appearance of a waiter with a telegram caused the dancers to pause. +Mr. Burke's name was whispered in front of the messenger; but he who, +until that evening, had been Mr. Burke, was now the Marquis of +Kilearney. The smiling mouth drooped to an expression of fear as he tore +open the envelope. One glance was enough; he looked about the room like +one dazed. Then, as his eyes fell upon the vague faces seen looking +through the wet November pane, he muttered: 'Oh! you brutes, you brutes! +so you have shot my brother!' + +Unchecked, the harper twanged and the fiddler scraped out the tune of +their Lancers. Few really knew what had happened, and the newly-made +marquis had to fight his way through women who, in skin-tight dresses, +danced with wantoning movements of the hips, and threw themselves into +the arms of men, to be, in true kitchen-fashion, whirled round and round +with prodigious violence. + +Nevertheless, Lord Dungory and Lord Rosshill could not conceal their +annoyance; both felt keenly that they had compromised themselves by +remaining in the room after the news of so dreadful a catastrophe. But, +as Mrs. Barton was anxious that her daughter's success should not be +interfered with, nothing could be done but to express sympathy in +appropriate words. Nobody, Lord Dungory declared, could regret the +dastardly outrage that had been committed more than he. He had known +Lord Kilcarney many years, and he had always found him a man whom no one +could fail to esteem. The earldom was one of the oldest in Ireland, but +the marquisate did not go back farther than the last few years. +Beaconsfield had given him a step in the peerage; no one knew why. A +very curious man--most retiring--hated society. Then Lord Rosshill +related an anecdote concerning an enormous water-jump that he and Lord +Kilcarney had taken together; and he also spoke of the late Marquis's +aversion to matrimony, and hinted that he had once refused a match which +would have relieved the estates of all debt. But he could not be +persuaded; indeed, he had never been known to pay any woman the +slightest attention. + +'It is to be hoped the present Marquis won't prove so difficult to +please,' said Mrs. Gould. The remark was an unfortunate one, and the +chaperons present resented this violation of their secret thoughts. Mrs. +Barton and Mrs. Scully suddenly withdrew their eyes, which till then had +been gently following their daughters through the figures of the dance, +and, forgetting what they foresaw would be the cause of future enmity, +united in condemning Mrs. Gould. Obeying a glance of the Lady Hamilton +eyes, Lord Dungory said: + +'_On cherche l'amour dans les boudoirs, non pas dans les cimetières, +madame_.' Then he added (but this time only for the private ear of Mrs. +Barton), '_La mer ne rend pas ses morts, mais la tombe nous donne +souvent les écussons_.' + +'Ha! ha! ha!' laughed Mrs. Barton, '_ce Milord, il trouve l'esprit +partout_;' and her light coaxing laugh dissipated this moment of +ball-room gloom. + +And Alice? Although conscious of her deficiency in the _trois temps_, +determined not to give in without an effort, she had suffered May to +introduce her to a couple of officers; but to execute the step she knew +theoretically, or to talk to her partner when he had dragged her, +breathless, out of the bumping dances, she found to be difficult, so +ignorant was she of hunting and of London theatres, and having read only +one book of Ouida's, it would be vain for her to hope to interest her +partner in literature. The other girls seemed more at home with their +partners, and while she walked with hers, wondering what she should say +next, she noticed behind screens, under staircases, at the end of dark +passages, girls whom she had known at St. Leonards incapable of +learning, or even understanding the simplest lessons, suddenly +transformed as if by magic into bright, clever, agreeable girls--capable +of fulfilling that only duty which falls to the lot of women: of amusing +men. But she could not do this, and must, therefore, resign herself to +an aimless life of idleness, and be content in a few years to take a +place amid the Miss Brennans, the Ladies Cullen, the Miss Duffys, the +Honourable Miss Gores, those whom she saw sitting round the walls +'waiting to be asked,' as did the women in the old Babylonian Temple. + +Such was her criticism of life as she sat wearily answering Mrs. Gould's +tiresome questions, not daring to approach her mother, who was laughing +with Olive, Captain Hibbert, and Lord Dungory. Waltz after waltz had +been played, and her ears reeked with their crying strain. One or two +men had asked her 'if they might have the pleasure'; but she was +determined to try dancing no more, and had refused them. At last, at the +earnest request of Mrs. Gould, she had allowed Dr. Reed to take her in +to supper. He was an earnest-eyed, stout, commonplace man, and looked +some years over thirty. Alice, however, found she could talk to him +better than with her other partners, and when they left the clattering +supper-room, where plates were being broken and champagne was being +drunk by the gallon, sitting on the stairs, he talked to her till voices +were heard calling for his services. A dancer had been thrown and had +broken his leg. Alice saw something carried towards her, and, rushing +towards May, whom she saw in the doorway, she asked for an explanation. + +'Oh, nothing, nothing! he slipped down--has broken or sprained his +ankle--that's all. Why aren't you dancing? Greatest fun in the +world--just beginning to get noisy--and we are going it. Come on, Fred; +come on!' + +To the rowdy tune of the _Posthorn Polka_ the different couples were +dashing to and fro--all a little drunk with emotion and champagne; and, +as if fascinated, Alice's eyes followed the shoulders of a tall, +florid-faced man. Doing the _deux temps_, he traversed the room in two +or three prodigious jumps. His partner, a tiny creature, looked a +crushed bird within the circle of his terrible arm. Like a collier +labouring in a heavy sea, a county doctor lurched from side to side, +overpowered by the fattest of the Miss Duffys. A thin, trim youth, with +bright eyes glancing hither and thither, executed a complex step, and +glided with surprising dexterity in and out, and through this rushing +mad mass of light toilettes and flying coat-tails. Marks, too, of +conflict were visible. Mr. Ryan had lost some portion of his garment in +an obscure misunderstanding in the supper-room. All Mr. Lynch's studs +had gone, and his shirt was in a precarious state; drunken Sir Richard +had not been carried out of the room before strewing the floor with his +necktie and fragments of his gloves. But these details were forgotten in +the excitement. The harper twanged still more violently at his strings, +the fiddler rasped out the agonizing tune more screechingly than ever; +and as the delirium of the dance fevered this horde of well-bred people +the desire to exercise, their animal force grew irresistible, and they +charged, intent on each other's overthrow. In the onset, the vast +shoulders and the _deux temps_ were especially successful. One couple +had gone down splendidly before him, another had fallen over the +prostrate ones; and in a moment, in positions more or less recumbent, +eight people were on the floor. Fears were expressed for the tight +dresses, and Violet had shown more of her thin ankles than was +desirable; but the climax was not reached until a young man, whose +unsteady legs forbade him this part of the fun, established himself in a +safe corner, and commenced to push the people over as they passed him. +This was the signal for the flight of the chaperons. + +'Now come along, Miss Barton,' cried Mrs. Barton, catching sight of +Alice; 'and will you, Lord Dungory, look after Olive?' + +Lord Rosshill collected the five Honourable Miss Gores, the Miss +Brennans drew around Mrs. Scully, who, without taking the least notice +of them, steered her way. + +And so ended, at least so far as they were concerned, the ball given +by the spinsters of the county of Galway. But the real end? On this +subject much curiosity was evinced. + +The secret was kept for a time, but eventually the story leaked out +that, overcome by the recollections of still pleasanter evenings spent +under the hospitable roof of the Mayo bachelor, Mr. Ryan, Mr. Lynch and +Sir Charles had brought in the maid-servants, and that, with jigs for +waltzes, and whiskey for champagne, the gaiety had not been allowed to +die until the day was well begun. Bit by bit and fragment by fragment +the story was pieced together, and, in the secrecy of their bedrooms, +with little smothered fits of laughter, the young ladies told each other +how Sir Charles had danced with the big housemaid, how every time he did +the cross-over he had slapped her on the belly; and then, with more +laughter, they related how she had said: 'Now don't, Sir Charles, I +forbid you to take such liberties.' And it also became part of the story +that, when they were tired of even such pleasures as these, the +gentlemen had gone upstairs to where the poor man with the broken leg +was lying, and had, with whiskey and song, relieved his sufferings until +the Galway train rolled into Ballinasloe. + + + + +XI + + +'Goodness me! Alice; how can you remain up here all alone, and by that +smouldering fire? Why don't you come downstairs? Papa says he is quite +satisfied with the first part of the tune, but the second won't come +right; and, as mamma had a lot to say to Lord Dungory, I and Captain +Hibbert sat out in the passage together. He told me he liked the way I +arrange my hair. Do tell me, dear, if you think it suits me?' + +'Very well, indeed; but what else did Captain Hibbert say to you?' + +'Well, I'll tell you something,' replied Olive, suddenly turning from +the glass. 'But first promise not to tell anyone. I don't know what I +should do if you did. You promise?' + +'Yes, I promise.' + +'If you look as serious as that I shall never be able to tell you. It is +very wicked, I know, but I couldn't help myself. He put his arm round my +waist and kissed me. Now don't scold, I won't be scolded,' the girl +said, as she watched the cloud gathering on her sister's face. 'Oh! you +don't know how angry I was. I cried, I assure you I did, and I told him +he had disgraced me. I couldn't say more than that, could I, now? and he +promised never to do it again. It was the first time a man ever kissed +me--I was awfully ashamed. No one ever attempted to kiss you, I suppose; +nor can I fancy their trying, for your cross face would soon frighten +them; but I can't look serious.' + +'And did he ask you to marry him?' + +'Oh! of course, but I haven't told mamma, for she is always talking to +me about Lord Kilcarney--the little marquis, as she calls him; but I +couldn't have him. Just fancy giving up dear Edward! I assure you I +believe he would kill himself if I did. He has often told me I am the +only thing worth living for.' + +Alice looked at her beautiful sister questioningly, her good sense +telling her that, if Olive was not intended for him, it was wrong to +allow her to continue her flirtation. But for the moment the +consideration of her own misfortunes absorbed her. Was there nothing in +life for a girl but marriage, and was marriage no more than a sensual +gratification; did a man seek nothing but a beautiful body that he could +kiss and enjoy? Did a man's desires never turn to mating with one who +could sympathize with his hopes, comfort him in his fears, and united by +that most profound and penetrating of all unions--that of the soul--be +collaborator in life's work? 'Could no man love as she did?' She was +ready to allow that marriage owned a material as well as a spiritual +aspect, and that neither could be overlooked. Some, therefore, though +their souls were as beautiful as the day, were, from purely physical +causes, incapacitated from entering into the marriage state. Cecilia was +such a one. + +'Now what are you thinking about, Alice?' + +'I do not know, nothing in particular; one doesn't know always of what +one is thinking! Tell me what they are saying downstairs.' + +'But I have told you; that Captain Hibbert preferred my hair like this, +and I asked you if you thought he was right, but you hardly looked.' + +'Yes, I did, Olive; I think the fashion suits you.' + +'You won't tell anybody that I told you he kissed me? Oh, I had +forgotten about Lord Rosshill; he has been fired at. Lord Dungory +returned from Dublin, and he brought the evening paper with him. It is +full of bad news.' + +'What news?' Alice asked, with a view to escaping from wearying +questions; and Olive told her a bailiff's house had been broken into by +an armed gang. 'They dragged him out of his bed and shot him in the legs +before his own door. And an attempt has been made to blow up a +landlord's house with dynamite. And in Queen's County shots have been +fired through a dining-room window--now, what else? I am telling you a +lot; I don't often remember what is in the paper. No end of hayricks +were burnt last week, and some cattle have had their tails cut off, and +a great many people have been beaten. Lord Dungory says he doesn't know +how it will all end unless the Government bring in a Coercion Act. What +do you think, Alice?' + +Alice dropped some formal remarks, and Olive hoped that the state of the +country would not affect the Castle's season. She didn't know which of +the St. Leonard girls would be married first. She asked Alice to guess. +Alice said she couldn't guess, and fell to thinking that nobody would +ever want to marry her. It was as if some instinct had told her, and she +could not drive the word 'celibacy' out of her ears. It seemed to her +that she was _fichue à jamais_, as that odious Lord Dungory would say. +She did not remember that she had ever been so unhappy before, and it +seemed to her that she would always be unhappy, _fichue à jamais_. + +But to her surprise she awoke in a more cheerful mood, and when she came +down to breakfast Mr. Barton raised his head from the newspaper and +asked her if she had heard that Lord Rosshill had been fired at. + +'Yes, father. Olive told me so overnight;' and the conversation turned +on her headache, and then on the state of Ireland. + +Mrs. Barton asked if this last outrage would prove sufficient to force +the Government to pass a new Coercion Bill. + +'I wish they would put me at the head of an army,' Mr. Barton said, +whose thoughts had gone back to his picture--_Julius Caesar overturning +the Altars of the Druids_. + +'Papa would look fine leading the landlords against the tenants dressed +in Julius Caesar's big red cloak!' cried Mrs. Barton, turning back as +she glided out of the room, already deep in consideration of what Milord +would like to eat for luncheon and the gown she would wear that +afternoon. Mr. Barton threw the newspaper aside and returned to his +studio; and in the girls' room Olive and Barnes, the bland, soft smiling +maid, began their morning gossip. Whatever subject was started it +generally wound round to Captain Hibbert. Alice had wearied of his name, +but this morning she pricked up her ears. She was surprised to hear her +sister say she had forbidden him ever to visit the Lawlers. At that +moment the dull sound of distant firing broke the stillness of the snow. + +'I took good care to make Captain Hibbert promise not to go to this +shooting-party the last time I saw him.' + +'And what harm was there in his going to this shooting-party?' said +Alice. + +'What harm? I suppose, miss, you have heard what kind of woman Mrs. +Lawler is? Ask Barnes,' + +'You shouldn't talk in this way, Olive. We know well enough that Mrs. +Lawler was not a lady before she married; but nothing can be said +against her since.' + +'Oh! can't there, indeed? You never heard the story about her and her +steward? Ask Barnes.' + +'Oh! don't miss; you shouldn't really!' said the maid. 'What will Miss +Alice think?' + +'Never mind what she thinks; you tell her about the steward and all the +officers from Gort.' + +And then Mrs. Lawler's flirtations were talked of until the bell rang +for lunch. Milord and Mrs. Barton had just passed into the dining-room, +and Alice noticed that his eyes often wandered in the direction of the +policemen walking up and down the terrace. He returned more frequently +than was necessary to the attempt made on Lord Rosshill's life, and it +was a long time before Mrs. Barton could persuade him to drop a French +epigram. At last, in answer to her allusions to knights of old and _la +galanterie_, the old lord could only say: '_L'amour est comme +l'hirondelle; quand l'heure sonne, en dépit du danger, tous les deux +partent pour les rivages célestes._' A pretty conceit; but Milord was +not _en veine_ that morning. The Land League had thrown its shadow over +him, and it mattered little how joyously a conversation might begin, too +soon a reference was made to Griffith's valuation, or the possibility of +a new Coercion Act. + +In the course of the afternoon, however, much to the astonishment of +Milord and Mrs. Barton in the drawing-room and the young ladies who were +sitting upstairs doing a little needlework, a large family carriage, +hung with grey trappings and drawn by two powerful bay horses, drove up +to the hall-door. + +A gorgeous footman opened the door, and, with a momentary display of +exquisite ankle, a slim young girl stepped out. + +'I wonder,' said Mrs. Barton, 'that Mrs. Scully condescends to come out +with anything less than four horses and outriders.' + +'_Elle veut acheter la distinction comme elle vendait du jambon--à +faux poids_,' said Lord Dungory. + +'Yes, indeed; and to think that the woman we now receive as an equal +once sold bacon and eggs behind a counter in Galway!' + +'No, it was not she; it was her mother.' + +'Well, she was hanging on to her mother's apron-strings at the time. You +may depend upon it, this visit is not for nothing; something's in the +wind.' + +A moment after, looking more large and stately than ever, Mrs. Scully +sailed into the room. Mrs. Barton was delighted to see her. It was so +good of her to come, and in such weather as this; and, after having +refused lunch and referred to the snow and the horses' feet, Mrs. Scully +consented to lay aside her muff and boa. The young ladies withdrew, when +the conversation turned on the state of the county and Lord Rosshill's +fortunate escape. As they ascended the stairs they stopped to listen to +Mr. Barton, who was singing _A che la morte_. + +'The Land League doesn't seem to affect Mr. Barton's spirits,' said +Violet. 'What a beautiful voice he has!' + +'Yes, and nobody designs pictures like papa; but he wouldn't study when +he was young, and he says he hasn't time now on account of--' + +'Now, Alice, for goodness' sake don't begin. I am sick of that Land +League. From morning till night it is nothing but coercion and +Griffith's valuation.' + +Violet and Alice laughed at Olive's petulance, and, opening a door, the +latter said: + +'This is our room, and it is the only one in the house where tenants, +land, and rent are never spoken of.' + +'That's something to know,' said Violet. 'I agree with Olive. If things +are bad, talking of them won't make them any better.' + +Barnes rose from her seat. + +'Now don't go, Barnes. Violet, this is Barnes, our maid.' + +There was about Barnes a false air of homeliness; but in a few moments +it became apparent that her life had been spent amid muslins, +confidences, and illicit conversations. Now, with motherly care she +removed a tulle skirt from the table, and Violet, with quick, nervous +glances, examined the room. In the middle of the floor stood the large +work-table, covered with a red cloth. There was a stand with shelves, +filled on one side with railway novels, on the other with worsted work, +cardboard-boxes, and rags of all kinds. A canary-cage stood on the top, +and the conversation was frequently interrupted by the piercing trilling +of the little yellow bird. + +'You're very comfortable. I should like to come and work here with you. +I am sick of Fred's perpetual talk about horses; and if he isn't talking +of them his conversation is so improper that I can't listen to it.' + +'Why, what does he say?' said Olive, glancing at Barnes, who smiled +benignly in the background. + +'Oh, I couldn't repeat what he says! it's too dreadful. I have to fly +from him. But he's always at the Goulds' now; he and May are having a +great "case".' + +'Oh yes, I know!' said Olive; 'they never left each other at our ball. +Don't you remember?' + +'Of course I do. And what a jolly ball that was! I never amused myself +so much in my life. If the balls at the Castle are as good, they will +do. But wasn't it sad, you know, about poor Lord Kilcarney receiving the +news of his brother's murder just at that moment? I can see him now, +rushing out of the room.' + +Violet's manner did not betoken in the least that she thought it sad, +and after a pause she said: + +'But you haven't shown me your dresses. I loved the one you wore at the +ball.' + +'Yes, yes: I must show you my cream-coloured dinner-dress, and my ruby +dress, too. You haven't seen that either,' cried Olive. 'Come along, +Barnes, come along.' + +'But I see you use your bedroom, too, as a sitting-room?' she said, as +she glanced at the illustrations in a volume of Dickens and threw down a +volume of Shelley's poetry. + +'Oh, that's this lady, here!' cried Olive. 'She says she cannot read in +our room on account of my chattering, so she comes in here to continue +her schooling. I should've thought that she had had enough of it; and +she makes the place in such a mess with bits of paper. Barnes is always +tidying up after her.' + +Alice laughed constrainedly, and taking the cream-coloured dress out of +the maid's hands, Olive explained why it suited her. Violet had much to +say concerning the pink trimming, and the maid referred to her late +mistress's wardrobes. The ruby dress, however, drew forth many little +cries of admiration. Then an argument was started concerning the colour +of hair, and, before the glass with hairpins and lithe movements of the +back and loins, the girls explained their favourite coiffures. + +'But, Alice, you haven't opened your lips, and you haven't shown me your +dresses.' + +'Barnes will show you my dinner-frocks, but I don't think as much about +what I wear as Olive does.' + +Violet quickly understood, but, with clever dissimulation, she examined +and praised the black silk trimmed with red ribbons. 'She's angry +because we didn't look at her dresses first,' Olive interjected; and +Violet came to Alice's rescue with a question: 'Had they heard lately of +Lord Kilcarney?' Olive protested that she would sooner die than accept +such a little red-haired thing as that for a husband, and Violet laughed +delightedly. + +'Anyway, you haven't those faults to find with a certain officer, now +stationed at Gort, who, if report speaks truly, is constantly seen +riding towards Brookfield.' + +'Well, what harm is there in that?' said Olive, for she did not feel +quite sure in her mind if she should resent or accept the gracious +insinuation. + +'None whatever; I only wish such luck were mine. What with the weather, +and papa's difficulties with his herdsmen and his tenants, we haven't +seen a soul for the last month. I wish a handsome young officer would +come galloping up our avenue some day.' + +Deceived, Olive abandoned herself to the plausive charm of Violet's +manner, and at different times she spoke of her flirtation, and told +many little incidents concerning it--what he had said to her, how she +had answered him, and how, the last time they had met, he had expressed +his sorrow at being unable to call to see her until the end of the week. + +'He is shooting to-day at the Lawlers',' said Violet. + +'That I'm sure he's not,' said Olive, with a triumphant toss of her fair +head; 'for I forbade him to go there.' + +Violet smiled, and Olive insisted on an explanation being given. + +'Well,' exclaimed the girl, more bluntly than she had yet spoken, +'because as we were coming here we saw him walking along one of the +covers. There were a lot of gentlemen, and, just fancy, that dreadful +woman, Mrs. Lawler, was with them, marching along, just like a man, and +a gun under her arm.' + +'I don't believe you; you only say that to annoy me,' cried Olive, +trembling with passion. + +'I am not in the habit of telling lies, and don't know why you should +think I care to annoy you,' Violet replied, a little too definitely; +and, unable to control her feelings any longer, Olive walked out of the +room. Barnes folded up and put away the dresses, and Alice sought for +words that would attenuate the unpleasantness of the scene. But Violet +was the quicker with her tongue, and she poured out her excuses. 'I am +so sorry,' she said, 'but how could I know that she objected to Captain +Hibbert's shooting at the Lawlers', or that he had promised her not to +go there? I am very sorry, indeed.' + +'Oh I it doesn't matter,' said Alice hesitatingly. 'You know how +excitable Olive is. I don't think she cares more about Captain Hibbert +than anyone else; she was only a little piqued, you know--the surprise, +and she particularly dislikes the Lawlers. Of course, it is very +unpleasant for us to live so near without being able to visit them.' + +'Yes, I understand. I am very sorry. Do you know where she is gone? I +shouldn't like to go away without seeing her.' + +'I am afraid she has shut herself up in her room. Next time you meet, +she'll have forgotten all about it.' + +Elated, but at the same time a little vexed, Violet followed Alice down +to the drawing-room. + +'My dear child, what a time you have been! I thought you were never +coming downstairs again,' said Mrs. Scully. 'Now, my dear Mrs. Barton, +we really must. We shall meet again, if not before, at the Castle.' + +Then stout mother and thin daughter took their leave; but the large +carriage, with its sumptuous grey trappings, had not reached the crest +of the hill when, swiftly unlocking her door, Olive rushed to Barnes for +sympathy. + +'Oh the spiteful little cat!' she exclaimed. 'I know why she said that; +she's jealous of me. You heard her say she hadn't a lover. I don't +believe she saw Edward at all, but she wanted to annoy me. Don't you +think so, Barnes?' + +'I'm sure she wanted to annoy you, miss. I could see it in her eyes. She +has dreadful eyes--those cold, grey, glittering things. I could never +trust them. And she hasn't a bit on her bones. I don't know if you +noticed, miss, that when you were counting your petticoats she was +ashamed of her legs? There isn't a bit on them; and I saw her look at +yours, miss.' + +'Did you really? She's like a rail; and as spiteful as she's lean. At +school nothing made her so angry as when anyone else was praised; and +you may be sure that jealousy brought her here. She heard how Captain +Hibbert admired me, and so came on purpose to annoy me.' + +'You may be sure it was that, miss,' said Barnes, as she bustled about, +shutting and opening a variety of cardboard boxes. + +For a moment the quarrel looked as if it were going to end here; but in +Olive's brain thoughts leaped as quickly back as forward, and she +startled Barnes by declaring wildly that, if Edward had broken his +promise to her, she would never speak to him again. + +'I don't believe that Violet would have dared to say that she saw him if +it weren't true.' + +'Well, miss, a shooting-party's but a shooting-party, and there was a +temptation, you know. A gentleman who is fond of sport--' + +'Yes; but it isn't for the shooting he is gone. 'Tis for Mrs. Lawler. I +know it is.' + +'Not it, miss. Always admitting that he is there, how could he think of +Mrs. Lawler when he's always thinking of you? And, besides, out in the +snow, too. Now, I wouldn't say anything if the weather was fine--like we +had last June--and they giving each other meetings out in the park--' + +'But what did you tell me about the steward, and how Mrs. Lawler fell in +love with all the young men who come to her house? And what did the +housemaid tell you of the walking about the passages at night and into +each other's rooms? Oh, I must know if he's there!' + +'I'll find out in the morning, miss. The coachman is sure to know who +was at the shooting-party.' + +'In the morning! It will be too late then! I must know this evening!' +exclaimed Olive, as she walked about the room, her light brain now flown +with jealousy and suspicion. 'I'll write him a letter,' she said +suddenly, 'and you must get someone to take it over.' + +'But there's nobody about. Why, it is nearly seven o'clock,' said +Barnes, who had begun to realize the disagreeableness and danger of the +adventure she was being rapidly drawn into. + +'If you can't, I shall go myself,' cried Olive, as she seized some paper +and a pencil belonging to Alice, and sat down to write a note: + + +'DEAR CAPTAIN HIBBERT, +'If you have broken your promise to me about not going to the Lawlers' +I shall never be able to forgive you!' (Then, as through her perturbed +mind the thought gleamed that this was perhaps a little definite, she +added): 'Anyhow, I wish to see you. Come at once, and explain that what +I have heard about you is not true. I cannot believe it. + 'Yours ever and anxiously, + 'OLIVE BARTON.' + + +'Now somebody must take this over at once to the Lawlers.' + +'But, miss, really at this hour of night, too, I don't know of anyone to +send! Just think, miss, what would your ma say?' + +'I don't care what mamma says. It would kill me to wait till morning! +Somebody must go. Why can't you go yourself? It isn't more than half a +mile across the fields. You won't refuse me, will you? Put on your hat, +and go at once.' + +'And what will the Lawlers say when they hear of it, miss? and I am sure +that if Mrs. Barton ever hears of it she will--' + +'No, no, she won't! for I could not do without you, Barnes. You have +only to ask if Captain Hibbert is there, and, if he is there, send the +letter up, and wait for an answer. Now, there's a dear! now do go at +once. If you don't, I shall go mad! Now, say you will go, or give me the +letter. Yes, give it to me, and I'll go myself. Yes, I prefer to go +myself.' + + + + +XII + + +The result of this missive was that next morning the servants whispered +that someone had been about the house on the preceding evening. Olive +and Barnes sat talking for hours; and one day, unable to keep her +counsel any longer, Olive told her sister what had happened. The letter +that Barnes had taken across the field for her had, she declared, +frightened Edward out of his senses; he had come rushing through the +snow, and had spoken with her for full five minutes under her window. He +loved her to distraction; and the next day she had received a long +letter, full of references to his colonel, explaining how entirely +against his will and desire he had been forced to accept the invitation +to go and shoot at the Lawlers'. Alice listened quietly; as if she +doubted whether Captain Hibbert would have died of consumption or +heartache if Olive had acted otherwise, and then advised her sister +quietly; and, convinced that her duty was to tell her mother everything, +she waited for an occasion to speak. Mr. Barton was passing down the +passage to his studio, Olive was racing upstairs to Barnes, Mrs. Barton +had her hand on the drawing-room door; and she looked round surprised +when she saw that her daughter was following her. + +'I want to speak to you, mamma.' + +'Come in, dear.' + +Alice shut the door behind her. + +'How bare and untidy the room looks at this season of the year; really +you and Olive ought to go into the conservatory and see if you can't get +some geraniums.' + +'Yes, mamma, I will presently; but it was about Olive that I wanted to +speak,' said Alice, in a strained and anxious way. + +'What a bore that girl is with her serious face,' thought Mrs. Barton; +but she laughed coaxingly, and said: + +'And what has my grave-faced daughter to say--the learned keeper of the +family's wisdom?' + +Even more than Olive's--for they were less sincere--Mrs. Barton's +trivialities jarred, and Alice's ideas had already begun to slip from +her, and feeling keenly the inadequacy of her words, she said: + +'Well, mamma, I wanted to ask you if Olive is going to marry Captain +Hibbert?' + +It was now for Mrs. Barton to look embarrassed. + +'Well, really, I don't know; nothing is arranged--I never thought about +the matter. What could have made you think she was going to marry +Captain Hibbert? In my opinion they aren't at all suited to each other. +Why do you ask me?' + +'Because I have heard you speak of Lord Kilcarney as a man you would +like Olive to marry, and, if this be so, I thought I had better tell you +about Captain Hibbert. I think she is very much in love with him.' + +'Oh! nonsense; it is only to kill time. A girl must amuse herself +somehow.' + +It was on Alice's lips to ask her mother if she thought such conduct +quite right, but, checking herself, she said: + +'I am afraid people are talking about it, and that surely is not +desirable.' + +'But why do you come telling me these stories?' she said. + +'Why, mamma, because I thought it right to do so.' + +The word 'right' was unpleasant; but, recovering her temper, which for +years before had never failed her, Mrs. Barton returned to her sweet +little flattering manners. + +'Of course, of course, my dear girl; but you do not understand me. What +I mean to say is, Have you any definite reason for supposing that Olive +is in love with Captain Hibbert, and that people are talking about it?' + +'I think so, mamma,' said the girl, deceived by this expression of +goodwill. 'You remember when the Scullys came here? Well, Violet was up +in our room, and we were showing her our dresses; the conversation +somehow turned on Captain Hibbert, and when Violet said that she had +seen him that day, as they came along in the carriage, shooting with the +Lawlers, Olive burst out crying and rushed out of the room. It was very +awkward. Violet said she was very sorry and all that, but--' + +'Yes, yes, dear; but why was Olive angry at hearing that Captain Hibbert +went out shooting with the Lawlers?' + +'Because, it appears, she had previously forbidden him to go there, you +know, on account of Mrs. Lawler.' + +'And what happened then?' + +'Well, that's the worst of it. I don't mean to say it was all Olive's +fault; I think she must have lost her head a little, for she sent Barnes +over that evening to the Lawlers' with a note, telling Captain Hibbert +that he must come at once and explain. It was eleven o'clock at night, +and they had a long talk through the window.' + +Mrs. Barton did not speak for some moments. The peat-fire was falling +into masses of white ash, and she thought vaguely of putting on some +more turf; then her attention was caught by the withering ferns in the +flower-glasses, then by the soaking pasture-lands, then by the spiky +branches of the chestnut-trees swinging against the grey, dead sky. + +'But tell me, Alice,' she said at last, 'for of course it is important +that I should know--do you think that Olive is really in love with +Captain Hibbert?' + +'She told me, as we were going to bed the other night, mamma, that she +never could care for anyone else; and--and' + +'And what, dear?' + +'I don't like to betray my sister's confidence,' Alice answered, 'but +I'm sure I had better tell you all: she told me that he had kissed her +many times, and no later than yesterday, in the conservatory.' + +'Indeed! you did very well to let me know of this,' said Mrs. Barton, +becoming as earnestly inclined as her daughter Alice. 'I am sorry that +Olive was so foolish; I must speak to her about it. This must not occur +again. I think that if you were to tell her to come down here--' + +'Oh no, mamma; Olive would know at once that I had been speaking about +her affairs; you must promise me to make only an indirect use of what I +have told you.' + +'Of course--of course, my dear Alice; no one shall ever know what has +passed between us. You can depend upon me. I will not speak to Olive +till I get a favourable opportunity. And now I have to go and see after +the servants. Are you going upstairs?' + +On Alice, tense with the importance of the explanation, this dismissal +fell not a little chillingly; but she was glad that she had been able to +induce her mother to consider the matter seriously. + +A few minutes passed dreamily, almost unconsciously; Mrs. Barton threw +two sods of turf on the fire, and resumed her thinking. Her first +feeling of resentment against her eldest daughter had vanished; and she +now thought solely of the difficulty she was in, and how she could best +extricate herself from it. 'So Olive was foolish enough to allow Captain +Hibbert to kiss her in the conservatory!' Mrs. Barton murmured to +herself. The morality of the question interested her profoundly. She had +never allowed anyone to kiss her before she was married; and she was +full of pity and presentiment for the future of a young girl who could +thus compromise herself. But in Olive's love for Captain Hibbert Mrs. +Barton was concerned only so far as it affected the labour and time that +would have to be expended in persuading her to cease to care for him. +That this was the right thing to do Mrs. Barton did not for a moment +doubt. Her daughter was a beautiful girl, would probably be the belle of +the season; therefore to allow her, at nineteen, to marry a +thousand-a-year captain would be, Mrs. Barton thought, to prove herself +incapable, if not criminal, in the performance of the most important +duty of her life. Mrs. Barton trembled when she thought of the sending +of the letter: if the story were to get wind in Dublin, it might wreck +her hopes of the marquis. Therefore, to tell Barnes to leave the house +would be fatal. Things must be managed gently, very gently. Olive must +be talked to, how far her heart was engaged in the matter must be found +out, and she must be made to see the folly, the madness of risking her +chance of winning a coronet for the sake of a beggarly thousand-a-year +captain. And, good heavens! the chaperons: what would they say of her, +Mrs. Barton, were such a thing to occur? Mrs. Barton turned from the +thought in horror; and then, out of the soul of the old coquette arose, +full-fledged, the chaperon, the satellite whose light and glory is +dependent on that of the fixed star around which she revolves. + +At this moment Olive, her hands filled with ferns, bounced into the +room. + +'Oh! here you are, mamma! Alice told me you wanted a few ferns and +flowers to brighten up the room.' + +'I hope you haven't got your feet wet, my dear; if you have, you had +better go up at once and change.' + +Olive was now more than ever like her father. Her shoulders had grown +wider, and the blonde head and scarlet lips had gained a summer +brilliance and beauty. + +'No, I am not wet,' she said, looking down at her boots; 'it isn't +raining; but if it were Alice would send me out all the same.' + +'Where is she now?' + +'Up in her room reading, I suppose; she never stirs out of it. I thought +when we came home from school the last time that we would be better +friends; but, do you know what I think: Alice is a bit sulky. What do +you think, mamma?' + +To talk of Alice, to suggest that she was a little jealous, to explain +the difficulty of the position she occupied, to commiserate and lavish +much pity upon her was, no doubt, a fascinating subject of conversation, +it had burned in the brains of mother and daughter for many months; but, +too wise to compromise herself with her children, Mrs. Barton resisted +the temptation to gratify a vindictiveness that rankled in her heart. +She said: + +'Alice has not yet found her _beau cavalier_; we shall see when we are +at the Castle if she will remain faithful to her books. I am afraid that +Miss Alice will then prefer some gay, dashing young officer to her +_Marmion_ and her _Lara_.' + +'I should think so, indeed. She says that the only man she cares to +speak to in the county is Dr. Reed, that little frumpy fellow with his +medicines. I can't understand her. I couldn't care for anyone but an +officer.' + +This was the chance Mrs. Barton required, and she instantly availed +herself of it. 'The red-coat fever!' she exclaimed, waving her hands. +'There is no one like officers _pour faire passer le temps_' + +'Yes, ma!' cried Olive, proud of having understood so much French; +'doesn't time pass quickly with them?' + +'It flies, my dear, and they fly away, and then we take up with another. +They are all nice; their profession makes them that.' + +'But some are nicer than others; for instance, I am sure they are not +all as handsome as Captain Hibbert.' + +'Oh! indeed they are,' said Mrs. Barton, laughing; 'wait until we get to +Dublin; you have no idea what charming men we shall meet there. We shall +find a lord or an earl, or perhaps a marquis, who will give a coroneted +carriage to my beautiful girl to drive in.' + +Olive tossed her head, and her mother looked at her admiringly, and +there was love in the sweet brown deceit of the melting eyes; a hard, +worldly affection, but a much warmer one than any Mrs. Barton could feel +for Alice, in whom she saw nothing but failure, and in the end spiritual +spinsterhood. After a pause she said: + +'What a splendid match Lord Kilcarney would be, and where would he find +a girl like my Olive to do the honours of his house?' + +'Oh! mamma, I never could marry him!' + +'And why not, my dear girl?' + +'I don't know, he's a silly little fool; besides, I like Captain +Hibbert.' + +'Yes, you like Captain Hibbert, so do I; but a girl like you could not +throw herself away on a thousand-a-year captain in the army.' + +'And why not, mamma?' said Olive, who had already begun to whimper; +'Captain Hibbert loves me, I know, very dearly, and I like him; he is of +very good family, and he has enough to support me.' + +The moment was a supreme one, and Mrs. Barton hesitated to strike and +bring the matter to a head. Would it be better, she asked herself, to +let things go by and use her influence for the future in one direction? +After a brief pause she decided on the former course. She said: + +'My dear child, neither your father nor myself could ever consent to see +you throw yourself away on Captain Hibbert. I am afraid you have seen +too much of him, and have been led away into caring for him. But take my +word for it, a girl's love is only _à fleur de peau_. When you have been +to a few of the Castle balls you'll soon forget all about him. Remember, +you are not twenty yet; it would be madness.' + +'Oh! mamma, I didn't think you were so cruel!' exclaimed Olive, and she +rushed out of the room. + +Mrs. Barton made no reply, but her resolve was rapidly gaining strength +in her mind: Olive's flirtation was to be brought at once to a close. +Captain Hibbert she would admit no more, and the girl was in turn to be +wheedled and coerced. + +Nor did Mrs. Barton for a moment doubt that she would succeed; she had +never tasted failure; and she stayed only a moment to regret, for she +was too much a woman of the world to waste time in considering her +mistakes. The needs of the moment were ever present to her, and she now +devoted herself entirely to the task of consoling her daughter. Barnes, +too, was well instructed, and henceforth she spoke only of the earls, +dukes, lords, and princes who were waiting for Olive at the Castle. + +In the afternoon Mrs. Barton called Olive into the drawing-room, where +woman was represented as a triumphant creature walking over the heads +and hearts of men. '_Le génie de la femme est la beauté_,' declared +Milord, and again: '_Le coeur de l'homme ne peut servir que de piédestal +pour l'idole.'_ + +'Oh! Milord, Milord!' said Mrs. Barton. 'So in worshipping us you are +idolaters. I'm ashamed of you.' + +'Pardon, pardon, madame: _Devant un amour faux on est idolâtre, mais à +l'autel d'un vrai, on est chrétien_.' + +And in such lugubrious gaiety the girl grieved. Captain Hibbert had been +refused admission; he had written, but his letters had been intercepted; +and holding them in her hand Mrs. Barton explained she could not consent +to such a marriage, and continued to dazzle the girl with visions of the +honours that awaited the future Marchioness of Kilcarney. 'An engaged +girl is not noticed at the Castle. You don't know what nice men you'll +meet there; have your fun out first,' were the arguments most frequently +put forward; and, in the excitement of breaking off Olive's engagement, +even the Land League was forgotten. Olive hesitated, but at length +allowed herself to be persuaded to at least try to captivate the marquis +before she honoured the captain with her hand. No sooner said than done. +Mrs. Barton lost not a moment in writing to Captain Hibbert, asking him +to come and see them the following day, if possible, between eleven and +twelve. She wanted to speak to him on a matter which had lately come to +her knowledge, and which had occasioned her a good deal of surprise. + + + + +XIII + + +Mr. Barton could think of nothing but the muscles of the strained back +of a dying Briton and a Roman soldier who cut the cords that bound the +white captive to the sacrificial oak; but it would be no use returning +to the studio until these infernal tenants were settled with, and he +loitered about the drawing-room windows looking pale, picturesque, and +lymphatic. His lack of interest in his property irritated Mrs. Barton. +'Darling, you must try to get them to take twenty per cent.' At times +she strove to prompt the arguments that should be used to induce the +tenants to accept the proffered abatement, but she could not detach her +thoughts from the terrible interview she was about to go through with +Captain Hibbert. She expected him to be violent; he would insist on +seeing Olive, and she watched wearily the rain dripping from the wooden +edges of the verandah. The last patches of snow melted, and at last a +car was seen approaching, closely followed by another bearing four +policemen. + +'Here's your agent,' exclaimed Mrs. Barton hurriedly. 'Don't bring him +in here; go out and meet him, and when you see Captain Hibbert welcome +him as cordially as you can. But don't speak to him of Olive, and don't +give him time to speak to you; say you are engaged. I don't want Mr. +Scully to know anything about this break-off. It is most unfortunate you +didn't tell me you were going to meet your tenants to-day. However, it +is too late now.' + +'Very well, my dear, very well,' said Mr. Barton, trying to find his +hat. 'I would, I assure you, give twenty pounds to be out of the whole +thing. I can't argue with those fellows about their rents. I think the +Government ought to let us fight it out. I should be very glad to take +the command of a flying column of landlords, and make a dash into +Connemara. I have always thought my military genius more allied to that +of Napoleon than to that of Wellington.' + +It was always difficult to say how far Mr. Barton believed in the +extravagant remarks he was in the habit of giving utterance to. He +seemed to be aware of their absurdity, without, however, relinquishing +all belief in their truth. And now, as he picked his way across the wet +stones, his pale hair blown about in the wind, he presented a strange +contrast with the short-set man who had just jumped down from the car, +his thick legs encased in gaiters, and a long ulster about them. + +'Howd' yer do, Barton?' he exclaimed. 'D'yer know that I think things +are gitting worse instid of bither. There's been another bailiff shot in +Mayo, and we've had a process-server nearly beaten to death down our +side of the counthry. Gad! I was out with the Sub-Sheriff and fifty +police thrying to serve notices on Lord Rosshill's estate, and we had to +come back as we wint. Such blawing of horns you niver heard in yer life. +The howle counthry was up, and they with a trench cut across the road as +wide as a canal.' + +'Well, what do you think we had better do with these fellows? Do you +think they will take the twenty per cent.?' + +''Tis impossible to say. Gad! the Lague is gittin' stronger ivery day, +Barton. But they ought to take it; twenty per cent. will bring it very +nearly to Griffith's.' + +'But if they don't take it?' + +'Well, I don't know what we will do, for notices it is impossible to +serve. Gad! I'll never forgit how we were pelted the other day--such +firing of stones, such blawing of horns! I think you'll have to give +them the thirty; but we'll thry them at twinty-foive.' + +'And if they won't take it--?' + +'What! the thirty? They'll take that and jumping, you needn't fear. Here +they come.' + +Turning, the two men watched the twenty or thirty peasants who, with +heads set against the gusts, advanced steadily up the avenue, making way +for a horseman; and from the drawing-room window Mrs. Barton recognized +the square-set shoulders of Captain Hibbert. After shaking hands and +speaking a few words with Mr. Barton, he trotted round to the stables; +and when he walked back and entered the house, in all the clean-cut +elegance of military boots and trousers, the peasants lifted their hats, +and the interview began. + +'Now, boys,' said Mr. Barton, who thought that a little familiarity +would not be inappropriate, 'I've asked you to meet me so that we might +come to some agreement about the rents. We've known each other a long +time, and my family has been on this estate I don't know for how many +generations. Therefore--why, of course, I should be very sorry if we had +any falling out. I don't know much about farming, but I hear everyone +say that this has been a capital year, and . . . I think I cannot do better +than to make you again the same offer as I made you before--that is to +say, of twenty per cent, abatement all round; that will bring your rents +down to Griffith's valuation.' + +Mr. Barton had intended to be very impressive, but, feeling that words +were betraying him, he stopped short, and waited anxiously to hear what +answer the peasant who had stepped forward would make. The old man began +by removing a battered tall-hat, out of which fell a red handkerchief. +The handkerchief was quickly thrown back into the crown, and, at an +intimation from Mr. Barton, hat and handkerchief were replaced upon the +white head. He then commenced: + +'Now, yer honour, the rints is too high; we cannot pay the present rint, +at least without a reduction. I have been a tinent on the property, and +my fathers before me, for the past fifty years. And it was in +forty-three that the rints was ruz--in the time of your father, the Lord +have mercy on his soul!--but he had an agent who was a hard man, and he +ruz the rints, and since then we have been in poverty, livin' on yaller +mail and praties, and praties that is watery; there is no diet in them, +yer honour. And if yer honour will come down and walk the lands yerself, +yer wi' see I am spaking the truth. We ask nothing better than yer should +walk the lands yerself. There is two acres of my land, yer honour, +flooded for three months of the year, and for that land I am paying +twenty-five shillings an acre. I have my receipts, paid down to the last +gale-day.' + +And, still speaking, the old man fumbled in his pockets and produced a +large pile of papers, which he strove to push into Mr. Barton's hand, +alluding all the while to the losses he had sustained. Two pigs had died +on him, and he had lost a fine mare and foal. His loquacity was, +however, cut short by a sturdy, middle-aged peasant standing next him. + +'And I, too, yer honour, am payin' five-and-twenty shillin's for the +same flooded land. Yer honour can come down any day and see it. It is +not worth, to me, more than fifteen shillings an acre at the bare +outside. But it could be drained, for there is a fall into the marin +stream betwixt your honour's property and the Miss Brennans'. It +wouldn't cost more than forty pound, and the Miss Brennans will pay half +if yer honour will pay the other.' + +Mr. Barton listened patiently to those peasant-like digressions, while +Mrs. Barton listened patiently to the Captain's fervid declarations of +love. He had begun by telling her of the anguish it had caused him to +have been denied, and three times running, admittance to Brookfield. One +whole night he had lain awake wondering what he had done to offend them. +Mrs. Barton could imagine how he had suffered, for she, he ventured to +say, must have long since guessed what were his feelings for her +daughter. + +'We were very sorry to have been out, and it is so unusual that we +should be,' said Mrs. Barton, leaning forward her face insinuatingly. +'But you were speaking of Olive. We say here that there is no one like +_le beau capitaine_, no one so handsome, no one so nice, no one so +gallant, and--and--' here Mrs. Barton laughed merrily, for she thought +the bitterness of life might be so cunningly wrapped up in sweet +compliments that both could be taken together, like sugared-medicine--in +one child-like gulp. 'There is, of course, no one I should prefer to _le +beau capitaine_--there is no one to whom I would confide my Olive more +willingly; but, then, one must look to other things; one cannot live +entirely on love, even if it be the love of a _beau capitaine_.' + +Nevertheless, the man's face darkened. The eyebrows contracted, the +straight white nose seemed to grow straighter, and he twirled his +moustache angrily. + +'I am aware, my dear Mrs. Barton, that I cannot give your daughter the +position I should like to, but I am not as poor as you seem to imagine. +Independent of my pay I have a thousand a year; Miss Barton has, if I be +not mistaken, some money of her own; and, as I shall get my majority +within the next five years, I may say that we shall begin life upon +something more than fifteen hundred a year.' + +'It is true that I have led you to believe that Olive has money, but +Irish money can be no longer counted upon. Were Mr. Barton to create a +charge on his property, how would it be possible for him to guarantee +the payment of the interest in such times as the present? We are living +on the brink of a precipice. We do not know what is, and what is not, +our own. The Land League is ruining us, and the Government will not put +it down; this year the tenants may pay at twenty per cent. reduction, +but next year they may refuse to pay at all. Look out there: you see +they are making their own terms with Mr. Barton.' + +'I should be delighted to give you thirty per cent. if I could afford +it,' said Mr. Barton, as soon as the question of reduction, that had +been lost sight of in schemes for draining, and discussion concerning +bad seasons, had been re-established; 'but you must remember that I have +to pay charges, and my creditors won't wait any more than yours will. If +you refuse to pay your rents and I get sold out, you will have another +landlord here; you'll ruin me, but you won't do yourselves any good. You +will have some Englishman here who will make you pay your rents.' + +'An Englishman here!' exclaimed a peasant. 'Arrah! he'll go back quicker +than he came.' + +'Maybe he wouldn't go back at all,' cried another, chuckling. 'We'd make +an Oirishman of him for ever.' + +'Begad, we'd make him wear the grane in raal earnest, and, a foine scraw +it would be,' said a third. + +The witticism was greeted with a roar of laughter, and upon this +expression of a somewhat verdant patriotism the dispute concerning the +reduction was resumed. + +'Give us the land all round at the Government valuation,' said a man in +the middle of the group. + +'Why, you are only fifteen per cent. above the valuation,' cried Mr. +Scully. + +For a moment this seemed to create a difference of opinion among the +peasants; but the League had drawn them too firmly together to be thus +easily divided. They talked amongst themselves in Irish. Then the old +man said: + +'We can't take less than thirty, yer honour. The Lague wouldn't let us.' + +'I can't give you more than twenty.' + +'Thin let us come on home, thin; no use us wasting our toime here,' +cried a sturdy peasant, who, although he had spoken but seldom, seemed +to exercise an authority over the others. With one accord they followed +him; but, rushing forward, Mr. Scully seized him by the arm, saying: + +'Now then, boys, come back, come back; he'll settle with you right +enough if you'll listen to reason.' + +From the drawing-room window Mrs. Barton watched the conflict. On one +side she saw her daughter's beautiful white face becoming the prize of a +penniless officer; on the other she saw the pretty furniture, the +luxurious idleness, the very silk dress on her back, being torn from +them, and distributed among a crowd of Irish-speaking, pig-keeping +peasants. She could see that some new and important point was being +argued; and it was with a wrench she detached her thoughts from the +pantomime that was being enacted within her view, and, turning to +Captain Hibbert, said: + +'You see--you see what is happening. We are--that is to say, we may +be--ruined at any moment by this wicked agitation. As I have said +before, there is no one I should like so much as yourself; but, in the +face of such a future, how could I consent to give you my +daughter?--that is to say, I could not unless you could settle at least +a thousand a year upon her. She has been brought up in every luxury.' + +'That may be, Mrs. Barton. I hope to give her quite as comfortable a +home as any she has been accustomed to. But a thousand a year is +impossible. I haven't got it. But I can settle five hundred on her, and +there's many a peeress of the realm who hasn't that. Of course five +hundred a year is very little. No one feels it more than I. For had I +the riches of the world, I should not consider them sufficient to create +a place worthy of Olive's beauty. But love must be allowed to count for +something, and I think--yes, I can safely say--she will never find--' + +'Yes, I know--I am sure; but it cannot be.' + +'Then you mean to say that you will sacrifice your daughter's happiness +for the sake of a little wretched pride?' + +'Why press the matter further? Why cannot we remain friends?' + +'Friends! Yes, I hope we shall remain friends; but I will never consent +to give up Olive. She loves me. I know she does. My life is bound up in +hers. No, I'll never consent to give her up, and I know she won't give +me up.' + +'Olive has laughed and flirted with you, but it was only _pour passer le +temps_; and I may as well tell you that you are mistaken when you think +that she loves you.' + +'Olive does love me. I know she does; and I'll not believe she does +not--at least, until she tells me so. I consider I am engaged to her; +and I must beg of you, Mrs. Barton, to allow me to see her and hear from +her own lips what she has to say on this matter.' + +With the eyes of one about to tempt fortune adventurously, like one +about to play a bold card for a high stake, Mrs. Barton looked on the +tall, handsome man before her; and, impersonal as were her feelings, she +could not but admire, for the space of one swift thought, the pale +aristocratic face now alive with passion. Could she depend upon Olive to +say no to him? The impression of the moment was that no girl would. +Nevertheless, she must risk the interview, and gliding towards the door, +she called; and then, as a cloud that grows bright in the sudden +sunshine, the man's face glowed with delight at the name, and a moment +after, white and drooping like a cut flower, the girl entered. Captain +Hibbert made a movement as if he were going to rush forward to meet her. +She looked as if she would have opened her arms to receive him, but Mrs. +Barton's words fell between them like a sword. + +'Olive,' she said, 'I hear you are engaged to Captain Hibbert! Is it +true?' + +Startled in the drift of her emotions, and believing her confidence had +been betrayed, the girl's first impulse was to deny the impeachment. No +absolute promise of marriage had she given him, and she said: + +'No, mamma, I am not engaged. Did Edward--I mean Captain Hibbert--say I +was engaged to him? I am sure--' + +'Didn't you tell me, Olive, that you loved me better than anyone else? +Didn't you even say you could never love anyone else? If I had thought +that--' + +'I knew my daughter would not have engaged herself to you, Captain +Hibbert, without telling me of it. As I have told you before, we all +like you very much, but this marriage is impossible; and I will never +consent, at least for the present, to an engagement between you.' + +'Olive, have you nothing to say? I will not give you up unless you tell +me yourself that I must do so.' + +'Oh, mamma, what shall I do?' said Olive, bursting into a passionate +flood of tears. + +'Say what I told you to say,' whispered Mrs. Barton. + +'You see, Edward, that mamma won't consent, at least not for the +present, to our engagement.' + +This was enough for Mrs. Barton's purpose, and, soothing her daughter +with many words, she led her to the door. Then, confronting Captain +Hibbert, she said: + +'There is never any use in forcing on these violent scenes. As I have +told you, there is no one I should prefer to yourself. We always say +here that there is no one like _le beau capitaine_; but, in the face of +these bad times, how can I give you my daughter? And you soldiers forget +so quickly. In a year's time you'll have forgotten all about Olive.' + +'That isn't true; I shall never forget her. I cannot forget her; but I +will consent to wait if you will consent to our being engaged.' + +'No, Captain Hibbert, I think it is better not. I do not approve of +those long engagements.' + +'Then you'll forget what has passed between us, and let us be the same +friends as we were before?' + +'I hope we shall always remain friends; but I do not think, for my +daughter's peace of mind, it would be advisable for us to see as much of +each other as we have hitherto done. And I hope you will promise me not +to communicate with my Olive in any way.' + +'Why should I enter into promises with you, Mrs. Barton, when you +decline to enter into any with me?' + +Mrs. Barton did not look as if she intended to answer this question. The +conversation had fallen, and her thoughts had gone back to the tenants +and the reduction that Mr. Scully was now persuading them to accept. He +talked apart, first with one, then with another. His square bluff figure +in a long coarse ulster stood out in strong relief against the green +grass and the evergreens. + +'Thin it is decided yer pay at twinty-foive per cint.,' said Mr. Scully. + +'Then, Captain Hibbert,' said Mrs. Barton a little sternly, 'I am very +sorry indeed, that we can't agree; but, after what has passed between us +to-day, I do not think you will be justified in again trying to see my +daughter.' + +'Begad, sor, they were all aginst me for agraying to take the +twinty-foive,' whispered the well-to-do tenant who was talking to the +agent. + +'I fail to understand,' said Captain Hibbert haughtily, 'that Miss Barton +said anything that would lead me to suppose that she wished me to give +her up. However, I do not see that anything would be gained by +discussing this matter further. Good-morning, Mrs. Barton.' + +'Good-morning, Captain Hibbert;' and Mrs. Barton smiled winningly as she +rang the bell for the servant to show him out. When she returned to the +window the tenants were following Mr. Scully into the rent-office, and, +with a feeling of real satisfaction she murmured to herself: + +'Well, after all, nothing ever turns out as badly as we expect it.' + + + + +XIV + + +But, although Mrs. Barton had bidden the captain away, Olive's sorrowful +looks haunted the house. + +A white weary profile was seen on the staircase, a sigh was heard when +she left the room; and when, after hours of absence, she was sought for, +she was found lying at full length, crying upon her bed. + +'My dear, it distresses me to see you in this state. You really must get +up; I cannot allow it. There's nothing that spoils one's good looks like +unhappiness. Instead of being the belle of the season, you'll be a +complete wreck. I must insist on your getting up, and trying to interest +yourself in something.' + +'Oh! mamma, don't, don't! I wish I were dead; I am sick of everything!' + +'Sick of everything?' said Mrs. Barton, laughing. 'Why, my dear child, +you have tasted nothing yet. Wait until we get to the Castle; you'll see +what a lot of Captain Hibberts there will be after this pretty face; +that's to say if you don't spoil it in the meantime with fretting.' + +'But, mamma,' she said, 'how can I help thinking of him?--there's +nothing to do here, one never hears of anything but that horrid Land +League--whether the Government will or will not help the landlords, +whether Paddy So-and-so will or will not pay his rent. I am sick of it. +Milord comes to see you, and Alice likes reading-books, and papa has his +painting; but I have nothing since you sent Captain Hibbert away.' + +'Yes, yes, my beautiful Olive flower, it is a little dull for you at +present, and to think that this wicked agitation should have begun the +very season you were coming out! Who could have foreseen such a thing? +But come, my pet, I cannot allow you to ruin your beautiful complexion +with foolish tears; you must get up; unfortunately I can't have you in +the drawing-room, I have to talk business with Milord, but you can go +out for a walk with Alice--it isn't raining to-day.' + +'Oh! no; I couldn't go out to walk with Alice, it would bore me to +death. She never talks about anything that interests me.' + +Vanished the sweet pastel-like expression of Mrs. Barton's features, +lost in a foreseeing of the trouble this plain girl would be. Partners +would have to be found, and to have her dragging after her all through +the Castle season would be intolerable. And all these airs of virtue, +and injured innocence, how insupportable they were! Alice, as far as +Mrs. Barton could see, was fit for nothing. Even now, instead of helping +to console her sister, and win her thoughts away from Captain Hibbert, +she shut herself up to read books. Such a taste for reading and moping +she had never seen in a girl before--_voilà un type de vieille fille_. +Whom did she take after? Certainly not after her mother, nor yet her +father. But what was the good of thinking of the tiresome girl? There +were plenty of other things far more important to consider, and the +first thing of all was--how to make Olive forget Captain Hibbert? On +this point Mrs. Barton was not quite satisfied with the manner in which +she had played her part. Olive's engagement had been broken off by too +violent means, and nothing was more against her nature than (to use her +own expression) _brusquer les choses_. Early in life Mrs. Barton +discovered that she could amuse men, and since then she had devoted +herself assiduously to the cultivation of this talent, and the divorce +between herself and her own sex was from the first complete. She not +only did not seek to please, but she made no attempt to conceal her +aversion from the society of women, and her preference for those forms +of entertainment where they were found in fewest numbers. Balls were, +therefore, never much to her taste; at the dinner-table she was freer, +but it was on the racecourse that she reigned supreme. From the box-seat +of a drag the white hands were waved, the cajoling laugh was set going; +and fashionably-dressed men, with race-glasses about their shoulders, +came crowding and climbing about her like bees about their queen. Mrs. +Barton had passed from flirtation to flirtation without a violent word. +With a wave of her hands she had called the man she wanted; with a wave +of her hands, and a tinkle of the bell-like laugh, she had dismissed +him. As nothing had cost her a sigh, nothing had been denied her. But +now all was going wrong. Olive was crying and losing her good looks. Mr. +Barton had received a threatening letter, and, in consequence, had for a +week past been unable to tune his guitar; poor Lord Dungory was being +bored to death by policemen and proselytizing daughters. Everything was +going wrong. This phrase recurred in Mrs. Barton's thoughts as she +reviewed the situation, her head leaned in the pose of the most +plaintive of the pastels that Lord Dungory had commissioned his +favourite artist to execute in imitation of the Lady Hamilton portraits. +And now, his finger on his lip, like harlequin glancing after columbine, +the old gentleman, who had entered on tiptoe, exclaimed: + + '"_Avez vous vu, dans Barcelone + Une Andalouse au sein bruni? + Pâle comme un beau soir d' Automne; + C'est ma maîtresse, ma lionne! + La Marquesa d' Amalëqui_."' + +Instantly the silver laugh was set a-tinkling, and, with delightful +gestures, Milord was led captive to the sofa. + +'_C'est l'aurore qui vient pour dissiper les brumes du matin_,' Mrs. +Barton declared as she settled her skirts over her ankles. + + '"_Qu'elle est superbe en son désordre + Quand elle tombe. . . ."' + +'Hush, hush!' exclaimed Mrs. Barton, bursting with laughter; and, +placing her hand (which was instantly fervently kissed) upon Milord's +mouth, she said: 'I will hear no more of that wicked poetry.' + +'What! hear no more of the divine Alfred de Musset?' Milord answered, as +if a little discouraged. + +'Hush, hush!' + +Alice entered, having come from her room to fetch a book, but seeing the +couple on the sofa she tried to retreat, adding to her embarrassment and +to theirs by some ill-expressed excuses. + +'Don't run away like that,' said Mrs. Barton; 'don't behave like a +charity-school girl. Come in. I think you know Lord Dungory.' + +'Oh! this is the studious one,' said Milord, as he took Alice +affectionately with both hands, and drew her towards him. 'Now look at +this fair brow; I am sure there is poetry here. I was just speaking to +your mother about Alfred de Musset. He is not quite proper, it is true, +for you girls; but oh, what passion! He is the poet of passion. I +suppose you love Byron?' + +'Yes; but not so much as Shelley and Keats,' said Alice +enthusiastically, forgetting for the moment her aversion to the speaker +in the allusion to her favourite pursuit. + +'The study of Shelley is the fashion of the day. You know, I suppose, +the little piece entitled _Love's Philosophy_--"_The fountains mingle +with the river; the river with the ocean_." You know "_Nothing in the +world is single: all things, by a law divine, in one another's being +mingle. Why not I with thine?"'_ + +'Oh yes, and the _Sensitive Plant_. Is it not lovely?' + +'There is your book, my dear; you must run away now. I have to talk with +Milord about important business.' + +Milord looked disappointed at being thus interrupted in his quotations; +but he allowed himself to be led back to the sofa. 'I beg your pardon +for a moment,' said Mrs. Barton, whom a sudden thought had struck, and +she followed her daughter out of the room. + +'Instead of wasting your time reading all this love-poetry, Alice, it +would be much better if you would devote a little of your time to your +sister; she is left all alone, and you know I don't care that she should +be always in Barnes' society.' + +'But what am I to do, mamma? I have often asked Olive to come out with +me, but she says I don't amuse her.' + +'I want you to win her thoughts away from Captain Hibbert,' said Mrs. +Barton; 'she is grieving her heart out and will be a wreck before we go +to Dublin. Tell her you heard at Dungory Castle that he was flirting +with other girls, that he is not worth thinking about, and that the +Marquis is in love with her.' + +'But that would be scarcely the truth, mamma,' Alice replied +hesitatingly. + +Mrs. Barton gave her daughter one quick look, bit her lips, and, without +another word, returned to Milord. Everything was decidedly going wrong; +and to be annoyed by that gawk of a girl in a time like the present was +unbearable. But Mrs. Barton never allowed her temper to master her, and +in two minutes all memory of Alice had passed out of her mind, and she +was talking business with Lord Dungory. Many important questions had to +be decided. It was known that mortgages, jointures, legacies, and debts +of all kinds had reduced the Marquis's income to a minimum, and that he +stood in urgent need of a little ready money. It was known that his +relations looked to an heiress to rehabilitate the family fortune. Mrs. +Barton hoped to dazzle him with Olive's beauty, but it was +characteristic of her to wish to bait the hook on every side, and she +hoped that a little gilding of it would silence the chorus of scorn and +dissent that she knew would be raised against her when once her plans +became known. Four thousand pounds might be raised on the Brookfield +property, but, if this sum could be multiplied by five, Mrs. Barton felt +she would be going into the matrimonial market armed to the teeth, and +prepared to meet all comers. And, seeking the solution of this problem, +Milord and Mrs. Barton sat on the sofa, drawn up close together, their +knees touching; he, although gracious and urbane as was his wont, seemed +more than usually thoughtful. She, although as charmful and cajoling as +ever, in the pauses of the conversation allowed an expression of anxiety +to cloud her bright face. Fifteen thousand pounds requires a good deal +of accounting for, but, after many arguments had been advanced on either +side, it was decided that she had made, within the last seven years, +many successful investments. She had commenced by winning five hundred +pounds at racing, and this money had been put into Mexican railways. The +speculation had proved an excellent one, and then, with a few airy and +casual references to Hudson Bay, Grand Trunks, and shares in steamboats, +it was thought the creation of Olive's fortune could be satisfactorily +explained to a not too exacting society. + +Three or four days after, Mrs. Barton surprised the young ladies by +visiting them in the sitting-room. Barnes was working at the machine, +Olive stood drumming her fingers idly against the window-pane. + +'Just fancy seeing you, mamma! I was looking out for Milord; he is a +little late to-day, is he not?' said Olive. + +'I do not expect him to-day--he is suffering from a bad cold; this +weather is dreadfully trying. But how snug you are in your little room; +and Alice is absolutely doing needlework.' + +'I wonder what I am doing wrong now,' thought the girl. + +Barnes left the room. Mrs. Barton threw some turf upon the fire, and she +looked round. Her eyes rested on the cardboard boxes--on the bodice left +upon the work-table--on the book that Alice had laid aside, and she +spoke of these things, evidently striving to interest herself in the +girl's occupation. At length she said: + +'If the weather clears up I think we might all go for a drive; there is +really no danger. The Land League never has women fired at. We might go +and see the Brennans. What do you think, Olive?' + +'I don't care to go off there to see a pack of women,' the girl replied, +still drumming her fingers on the window-pane. + +'Now, Olive, don't answer so crossly, but come and sit down here by me;' +and, to make room for her, Mrs. Barton moved nearer to Alice. 'So my +beautiful Olive doesn't care for a pack of women,' said Mrs. +Barton--'Olive does not like a pack of women; she would prefer a +handsome young lord, or a duke, or an earl.' + +Olive turned up her lips contemptuously, for she guessed her mother's +meaning. + +'What curious lives those girls do lead, cooped up there by themselves, +with their little periodical trip up to the Shelbourne Hotel. Of course +the two young ones never could have done much; they never open their +lips, but Gladys is a nice girl in her way, and she has some money of +her own, I wonder she wasn't picked up.' + +'I should like to know who would care for her?' + +'She had a very good chance once; but she wouldn't say yes, and she +wouldn't say no, and she kept him hanging after her until at last off he +went and married someone else. A Mr. Blake, I think.' + +'Yes, that was his name; and why wouldn't she marry him?' + +'Well, I don't know--folly, I suppose. He was, of course, not so young +as Harry Renley, but he had two thousand a year, and he would have made +her an excellent husband; kept a carriage for her, and a house in +London: whereas you see she has remained Miss Brennan, goes up every +year to the Shelbourne Hotel to buy dresses, and gets older and more +withered every day.' + +'I know they lead a stupid life down here, but mightn't they go abroad +and travel?' asked Alice; 'they are no longer so very young.' + +'A woman can do nothing until she is married,' Mrs. Barton answered +decisively. + +'But some husbands treat their wives infamously; isn't no husband better +than a bad husband?' + +'I don't think so,' returned Mrs. Barton, and she glanced sharply at her +daughter. 'I would sooner have the worst husband in the world than no +husband.' Then settling herself like a pleader who has come to the +incisive point of his argument, she continued: 'A woman is absolutely +nothing without a husband; if she doesn't wish to pass for a failure she +must get a husband, and upon this all her ideas should be set. I have +always found that in this life we can only hope to succeed in what we +undertake by keeping our minds fixed on it and never letting it out of +sight until it is attained. Keep on trying, that is my advice to all +young ladies: try to make yourselves agreeable, try to learn how to +amuse men. Flatter them; that is the great secret; nineteen out of +twenty will believe you, and the one that doesn't can't but think it +delightful. Don't waste your time thinking of your books, your painting, +your accomplishments; if you were Jane Austens, George Eliots, and Rosa +Bonheurs, it would be of no use if you weren't married. A husband is +better than talent, better even than fortune--without a husband a woman +is nothing; with a husband she may rise to any height. Marriage gives a +girl liberty, gives her admiration, gives her success; a woman's whole +position depends upon it. And while we are on the subject it is as well +to have one's say, and I speak for you both. You, Alice, are too much +inclined to shrink into the background and waste your time with books; +and you too, Olive, are behaving very foolishly, wasting your time and +your complexion over a silly girlish flirtation.' + +'There's no use talking about that. You have forbidden him the house; +you can't do any more.' + +'No, Olive, all I did was to insist that he should not come running +after you until you had had time to consider the sacrifices you were +making for him. I have no one's interest in the world, my dear girl, but +your interests. Officers are all very well to laugh, talk, and flirt +with--_pour passer le temps_--but I couldn't allow you to throw yourself +away on the first man you meet. You will meet hundreds of others quite +as handsome and as nice at the Castle.' + +'I never could care for anyone else.' + +'Wait until you have seen the others. Besides, what do you want? to be +engaged to him? And I should like to know what is the use of my taking +an engaged girl up to the Castle? No one would look at you.' + +Olive raised her eyes in astonishment; she had not considered the +question from this point of view, and the suggestion that, if engaged, +she might as well stop at home, for no one would look at her, filled her +with alarm. + +'Whereas,' said Mrs. Barton, who saw that her words had the intended +effect, 'if you were free you would be the season's beauty; nothing +would be thought of but you; you would have lords, and earls, and +marquesses dancing attendance on you, begging you to dance with them; +you would be spoken of in the papers, described as the new beauty, and +what not, and then if you were free--' Here Mrs. Barton heaved a deep +sigh, and, letting her white hand fall over the arm of her chair, she +seemed to abandon herself to the unsearchable decrees of destiny. + +'Well, what then, mamma?' asked Olive excitedly. 'I am free, am I not?' + +'Then you could outstrip the other girls, and go away with the great +prize. They are all watching him; he will go to one of you for certain. +I hear that Mrs. Scully--that great, fat, common creature, who sold +bacon in a shop in Galway--is thinking of him for her daughter. Of +course, if you like to see Violet become a marchioness, right under your +nose, you can do so.' + +'But what do you want me to do?' exclaimed the coronet-dazzled girl. + +'Merely to think no more of Captain Hibbert. But I didn't tell you;--he +was very impertinent to me when I last saw him. He said he would flirt +with you, as long as you would flirt with him, and that he didn't see +why you shouldn't amuse yourself. That's what I want to warn you +against--losing your chance of being a marchioness to help an idle young +officer to while away his time. If I were you, I would tell him, when I +next saw him, that he must not think about it any more. You can put it +all down to me; say that I would never hear of it; say that you couldn't +think of disobeying me, but that you hope you will always remain +friends. You see, that's the advantage of having a mother;--poor mamma +has to bear everything.' + +Olive made no direct answer, but she laughed nervously, and in a manner +that betokened assent; and, having so far won her way, Mrs. Barton +determined to conclude. But she could not invite Captain Hibbert to the +house! The better plan would be to meet on neutral ground. A +luncheon-party at Dungory Castle instantly suggested itself; and three +days after, as they drove through the park, Mrs. Barton explained to +Olive, for the last time, how she should act if she wished to become the +Marchioness of Kilcarney. + +'Shake hands with him just as if nothing had happened, but don't enter +into conversation; and after lunch I shall arrange that we all go out +for a walk on the terrace. You will then pair off with him, Alice; Olive +will join you. Something will be sure to occur that will give her an +opportunity of saying that he must think no more about her--that I would +never consent.' + +'Oh! mamma, it is very hard, for I can never forget him.' + +'Now, my dear girl, for goodness' sake don't work yourself up into a +state of mind, or we may as well go back to Brookfield. What I tell you +to do is right; and if you see nobody at the Castle that you like +better--well, then it will be time enough. I want you to be, at least, +the beauty of one season.' + +This argument again turned the scales. Olive laughed, but her laugh was +full of the nervous excitement from which she suffered. + +'I shan't know what to say,' she exclaimed, tossing her head, 'so I hope +you will help me out of my difficulty, Alice.' + +'I wish I could be left out of it altogether,' said the girl, who was +sitting with her back to the horses. 'It seems to me that I am being put +into a very false position!' + +'Put into a false position!' said Mrs. Barton. 'I'll hear no more of +this! If you won't do as you are told, you had better go back to St. +Leonards--such wicked jealousy!' + +'Oh, mamma!' said Alice, wounded to the quick, 'how can you be so +unjust? + +And her eyes filled with tears, for since she had left school she had +experienced only a sense of retreating within herself, but so long as +she was allowed to live within herself she was satisfied. But this +refuge was no longer available. She must take part in the scuffle; and +she couldn't. But whither to go? There seemed to be no escape from the +world into which she had been thrust, and for no purpose but to suffer. +But the others didn't suffer. Why wasn't she like them? + +'I am sorry, Alice dear, for having spoken so crossly; but I am sorely +tried. I really am more to be pitied than blamed; and if you knew all, +you would, I know, be the first to try to help me out of my +difficulties, instead of striving to increase them.' 'I would do +anything to help you,' exclaimed Alice, deceived by the accent of sorrow +with which Mrs. Barton knew how to invest her words. + +'I am sure you would, if you knew how much depends--But dry your eyes, +my dear, for goodness' sake dry them. Here we are at the door. I only +want you to be with Olive when she tells Captain Hibbert that she +cannot--and, now mind, Olive, you tell him plainly that he must not +consider himself engaged to you.' + +In the ceremonious drawing-room, patched with fragments of Indian +drapery, Lady Jane and Lady Sarah sat angularly and as far from their +guests as possible, for they suspected that their house was being made +use of as a battle-ground by Mrs. Barton, and were determined to resent +the impertinence as far as lay in their power. But Milord continued to +speak of indifferent things with urbanity and courtly gestures; and as +they descended the staircase, he explained the beauty of his marble +statues and his stuffed birds. + +'But, Lady Jane, where is Cecilia? I hope she is not unwell?' + +'Oh no; Cecilia is quite well, thank you. But she never comes down when +there is company--she is so very sensitive. But that reminds me. She +told me to tell you that she is dying to see you. You will find her +waiting for you in her room when we have finished lunch.' + +'Cecilia is not the only person to be thought of,' said Milord. 'I will +not allow Alice to hide herself away upstairs for the rest of the +afternoon. I hear, Alice, you are a great admirer of Tennyson's +_Idylls_. I have just received a new edition of his poems, with +illustrations by Doré: charming artist, full of poetry, fancy, +sweetness, imagination. Do you admire Doré, Captain Hibbert?' + +The Captain declared that he admired Doré far more than the old masters, +a point of taste that Milord ventured to question; and until they rose +from table he spoke of his collection of Arundel prints with grace and +erudition. Then they all went out to walk on the terrace. But as their +feet echoed in the silence of the hall, Cecilia, in a voice tremulous +with expectancy, was heard speaking: + +'Alice, come upstairs; I am waiting for you.' + +Alice made a movement as if to comply, but, stepping under the +banisters, Lord Dungory said: + +'Alice cannot come now, she is going out to walk with us, dear. She will +see you afterwards.' + +'Oh! let me go to her,' Alice cried. + +'There will be plenty of time to see her later on,' whispered Mrs. +Barton. 'Remember what you promised me; 'and she pointed to Captain +Hibbert, who was standing on the steps of the house, his wide decorative +shoulders defined against a piece of grey sky. + +In despair at her own helplessness, and with a feeling of loathing so +strong that it seemed like physical sickness, Alice went forward and +entered into conversation with Captain Hibbert. Lord Dungory, Mrs. +Barton, and Olive walked together; Lady Jane and Lady Sarah followed at +a little distance. In this order the party proceeded down the avenue as +far as the first gate; then they returned by a side-walk leading through +the laurels, and stood in a line facing the wind-worn tennis-ground, +with its black, flowerless beds, and bleak vases of alabaster and stone. +From time to time remarks anent the Land League were made; but all knew +that a drama even as important as that of rent was being enacted. Olive +had joined her sister, and the girls moved forward on either side of the +handsome Captain; and, as a couple of shepherds directing the movements +of their flock, Lord Dungory and Mrs. Barton stood watching. Suddenly +her eyes met Lady Jane's. The glance exchanged was tempered in the hate +of years; it was vindictive, cruel, terrible; it shone as menacingly as +if the women had drawn daggers from their skirts, and Jane, obeying a +sudden impulse, broke away from her sister, and called to Captain +Hibbert. Fortunately he did not hear her, and, before she could speak +again, Lord Dungory said: + +'Jane, now, Jane, I beg of you--' + +Mrs. Barton smiled a sweet smile of reply, and whispered to herself: + +'Do that again, my lady, and you won't have a penny to spend this year.' + +'And now, dear, tell me, I want to hear all about it,' said Mrs. Barton, +as the carriage left the steps of Dungory Castle. 'What did he say?' + +'Oh! mamma, mamma, I am afraid I have broken his heart,' replied Olive +dolorously. + +'It doesn't do a girl any harm even if it does leak out that she jilted +a man; it makes the others more eager after her. But tell me, dear, I +hope there was no misunderstanding; did you really tell him that it was +no use, that he must think of you no more?' + +'Mamma dear, don't make me go over it again, I can't, I can't; Alice +heard all I said--she'll tell you,' + +'No, no, don't appeal to me; it's no affair of mine,' exclaimed the girl +more impetuously than she had intended. + +'I am surprised at you, Alice; you shouldn't give way to temper like +that. Come, tell me at once what happened.' + +The thin, grey, moral eyes of the daughter and the brown, soft, merry +eyes of the mother exchanged a long deep gaze of inquiry, and then Alice +burst into an uncontrollable fit of tears. She trembled from too much +grief, and could not answer; and when she heard her mother say to Olive, +'Now that the coast is clear, we can go in heart and soul for the +marquess,' she shuddered inwardly and wished she might stay at home in +Galway and be spared the disgrace of the marriage-market. + + + + +XV + + +It rained incessantly. Sheets of water, blown by winds that had +travelled the Atlantic, deluged the county; grey mists trailed mournful +and shapeless along the edges of the domain woods, over the ridges of +the tenants' holdings. 'Never more shall we be driven forth to die in +the bogs and ditches,' was the cry that rang through the mist; and, +guarded by policemen, in their stately houses, the landlords listened, +waiting for the sword of a new coercion to fall and release them from +their bondage. The meeting of Parliament in the spring would bring them +this; in the meantime, all who could, fled, resolving not to return till +the law restored the power that the Land League had so rudely shaken. +Some went to England, others to France. Mr. Barton accepted two hundred +pounds from his wife and proceeded to study gargoyles and pictures in +Bruges; and, striving to forget the murders and rumours of murders that +filled the papers, the girls and their mammas talked of beaux, partners, +and trains, in spite of the irritating presence of the Land League +agitators who stood on the platforms of the different stations. The +train was full of girls. Besides the Bartons, there were the Brennans: +Gladys and Zoe--Emily remained at home to look after the place. Three of +the Miss Duffys were coming to the Drawing-Room, and four of the +Honourable Miss Gores; the Goulds and Scullys made one party, and to +avoid Mrs. Barton, the Ladies Cullen had pleaded important duties. They +were to follow in a day or so. + +Lord Dungory's advice to Mrs. Barton was to take a house, and he warned +her against spending the whole season in an hotel, but apparently +without avail, for when the train stopped a laughing voice was heard: +'Milord, _vous n'êtes qu'un vilain misanthrope_; we shall be very +comfortable at the Shelbourne; we shall meet all the people in Dublin +there, and we can have private rooms to give dinner-parties.' + +Hearing this, Alice congratulated herself, for in an hotel she would be +freer than she would be in a house let for the season. She would hear +something, and see a little over the horizon of her family in an hotel. +She had spent a week in the Shelbourne on her way home from school, and +remembered the little winter-garden on the first landing, and the +fountain splashing amid ferns and stone frogs. The ladies' drawing-room +she knew was on the right, and when she had taken off her hat and +jacket, leaving her mother and sister talking of Mrs. Symond and Lord +Kilcarney, she went there hoping to find some of the people whom she had +met there before. + +The usually skirt-filled ottoman stood vacantly gaping, the little +chairs seemed lonely about the hearthrug, even the sofa where the +invalid ladies sat was unoccupied, and the perforated blinds gave the +crowds that passed up and down the street a shadow-like appearance. The +prospect was not inspiriting, but not knowing what else to do, Alice sat +down by the fire, and fell to thinking who the man might be that sat +reading on the other side of the fireplace. He didn't seem as if he knew +much about horses, and as he read intently, she could watch him +unobserved. At last their eyes met, and when Alice turned away her face +she felt that he was looking at her, and, perhaps getting nervous under +his examination, she made a movement to stir the fire. + +'Will you allow me?' he said, rising from his chair. 'I beg your pardon, +but, if you will allow me, I will arrange the fire.' + +Alice let him have the poker, and when he had knocked in the coal-crust +and put on some fresh fuel, he said: + +'If it weren't for me I don't know what would become of this fire. I +believe the old porter goes to sleep and forgets all about it. Now and +again he wakes up and makes a deal of fuss with a shovel and a broom.' + +'I really can't say, we only came up from Galway to-day.' + +'Then you don't know the famous Shelbourne Hotel! All the events of life +are accomplished here. People live here, and die here, and flirt here, +and, I was going to say, marry here--but hitherto the Shelbourne +marriages have resulted in break-offs--and we quarrel here; the friends +of to-day are enemies to-morrow, and then they sit at different ends of +the room. Life in the Shelbourne is a thing in itself, and a thing to be +studied.' + +Alice laughed again, and again she continued her conversation. + +'I really know nothing of the Shelbourne. I was only here once before, +and then only for a few days last summer, when I came home from school.' + +'And now you are here for the Drawing-Room?' + +'Yes; but how did you guess that?' + +'The natural course of events: a young lady leaves school, she spends +four or five months at home, and then she is taken to the +Lord-Lieutenant's Drawing-Room.' + +She liked him none the better for what he had said, and began to wonder +how she might bring the conversation to a close. But when he spoke again +she forgot her intentions, and allowed his voice to charm her. + +'I think you told me,' he said, 'that you came up from Galway to-day; may +I ask you from what side of the county?' + +Another piece of impertinence. Why should he question her? And yet she +answered him. + +'We live near Gort--do you know Gort?' + +'Oh yes, I have been travelling for the last two months in Ireland. I +spent nearly a fortnight in Galway. Lord Dungory lives near Gort. Do you +know him?' + +'Very well indeed. He is our nearest neighbour; we see him nearly every +day. Do you know him?' + +'Yes, a little. I have met him in London. If I had not been so pressed +for time I should have called upon him when I was in Galway. I passed +his place going to a land meeting--oh, you need not be alarmed, I am not +a Land League organizer, or else I should not have thought of calling at +Dungory Castle. What a pretty drive it is to Gort.' + +'Then, do you know a place on the left-hand side of the road, about a +mile and a half from Dungory Castle?' + +'You mean Brookfield?' + +'Yes; that is our place.' + +'Then you are Miss Barton?' + +'Yes, I am Miss Barton; do you know father or mother?' + +'No, no; but I have heard the name in Galway. I was spending a few days +with one of your neighbours.' + +'Oh, really!' said Alice, a little embarrassed; for she knew it must +have been with the Lawlers that he had been staying. At the end of a +long silence she said: + +'I am afraid you have chosen a rather unfortunate time for visiting +Ireland. All these terrible outrages, murders, refusals to pay rent; I +wonder you have not been frightened away.' + +'As I do not possess a foot of land--I believe I should say "not land +enough to sod a lark"--my claim to collect rent would rest on even a +slighter basis than that of the landlords; and as, with the charming +inconsistency of your race, you have taken to killing each other instead +of slaughtering the hated Saxon, I really feel safer in Ireland than +elsewhere. I suppose,' he said, 'you do a great deal of novel-reading in +the country?' + +'Oh yes,' she answered, with almost an accent of voluptuousness in her +voice; 'I spent the winter reading.' + +'Because there was no hunting?' replied Harding, with a smile full of +cynical weariness. + +'No, I assure you, no; I do not think I should have gone out hunting +even if it hadn't been stopped,' said Alice hastily; for it vexed her +not a little to see that she was considered incapable of loving a book +for its own sake. + +'And what do you read?' + +The tone of indifference with which the question was put was not lost +upon Alice, but she was too much interested in the conversation to pay +heed to it. She said: + +'I read nearly all Byron, Shelley, Keats, Tennyson, and Browning--I +think I like him better than all the poets! Do you know the scene at St. +Praxed's?' + +'Yes, of course; it is very fine. But I don't know that I ever cared +much for Browning. Not only the verse, but the whole mind of the man is +uncouth--yes, uncouth _is_ the word I want. He is the Carlyle of Poetry. +Have you ever read Carlyle?' + +'Oh yes, I have read his _French Revolution_ and his _Life of Schiller_, +but that's all. I only came home from school last summer, and at school +we never read anything. I couldn't get many new books down in Galway. +There were, of course, Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot in the library, +but that was all. I once got a beautiful book from Dungory Castle. I +wonder if you ever read it? It is called _Madame Gervaisais_. From the +descriptions of Rome it almost seems to me that I have been there.' + +'I know the book, but I didn't know a Catholic girl could admire +it--and you are a Catholic, I presume?' + +'I was brought up a Catholic.' + +'It is one thing to be brought up a Catholic, and another to avoid +doubting.' + +'There can surely be no harm in doubting?' + +'Not the least; but toward which side are you? Have you fallen into the +soft feather-bed of agnosticism, or the thorny ditch of belief?' + +'Why do you say "the soft feather-bed of agnosticism"?' + +'It must be a relief to be redeemed from belief in hell; and perhaps +there is no other redemption.' + +'And do you never doubt?' she said. + +'No, I can't say I am given much to doubting, nor do I think the subject +is any longer worthy of thought. The world's mind, after much anxiety, +arrives at a conclusion, and what sages cannot determine in one age, a +child is certain about in the next. Thomas Aquinas was harassed with +doubts regarding the possibility of old women flying through the air on +broomsticks; nowadays were a man thus afflicted he would be surely a fit +subject for Hanwell. The world has lived through Christianity, as it has +through a score of other things. But I am afraid I shock you?' + +'No, I don't think you do; only I never heard anyone speak in that way +before--that is all.' + +Here the conversation came to a pause, and soon after the presence of +some ladies rendered its revival impossible. Their evening gowns +suggested the dinner-hour, and reminded Alice that she had to prepare +herself for the meal. + +All the Galway people, excepting the Honourable Misses Gore and the +Scullys--who had taken houses in town for the season--dined at _table +d'hote._ The Miss Duffys were, with the famous Bertha, the terror of the +_débutantes._ The Brennans and the Goulds sat at the same table. May, +thinking of Fred, who had promised to come during the evening, leaned +back in her chair, looking unutterably bored. Under a window Sir Richard +and Sir Charles were immersed in wine and discussion. In earnest tones +the latter deprecated the folly of indulging in country love; the +former, his hand on the champagne bottle, hiccoughed, 'Mu--ch better +come up--up Dub--lin, yer know, my boy. But look, look here; I know such +a nice'--a glance round, to make sure that no lady was within earshot; +and the conversation lapsed into a still more confidential whisper. + +Mr. Ryan and Mr. Lynch ate their dinner in sullen silence, and at the +other end of the long table Mr. Adair--whom it was now confidently +stated Mr. Gladstone could not possibly get on without--talked to Mr. +Harding; and when the few dried oranges and tough grapes that +constituted dessert had been tasted, the ladies got up, and in twos and +threes retired to the ladies' sitting-room. They were followed by Lord +Dungory, Mr. Adair, and Mr. Harding: the other gentlemen--the baronets +and Messrs. Ryan and Lynch--preferring smoke and drink to chatter and +oblique glances in the direction of ankle-concealing skirts, went up to +the billiardroom. And the skirts, what an importance they took in the +great sitting-room full of easy-chairs and Swiss scenery: châlets, +lakes, cascades, and chamois, painted on the light-coloured walls. The +big ottoman was swollen with bustled skirts; the little low seats around +the fire disappeared under skirts; skirts were tucked away to hide the +slippered feet, skirts were laid out along the sofas to show the +elegance of the cut. Then woolwork and circulating novels were produced, +and the conversation turned on marriage. Bertha being the only Dublin +girl present, all were anxious to hear her speak; after a few +introductory remarks, she began: + +'Oh! so you have all come up to the Castle and are going to be +presented. Well, you'll find the rooms very grand, and the suppers very +good, and if you know a lot of people--particularly the officers +quartered here--you will find the Castle balls very amusing. The best +way is to come to town a month before the Drawing-Room, and give a ball; +and in that way you get to know all the men. If you haven't done that, I +am afraid you won't get many partners. Even if you do get introduced, +they'll only ask you to dance, and you'll never see them again. Dublin +is like a racecourse, men come and speak to you and pass on. 'Tis +pleasant enough if you know people, but as for marriages, there aren't +any. I assure you I know lots of girls--and very pretty girls, too--who +have been going out these six or seven seasons, and who have not been +able to pull it off.' + +'And the worst of it is,' said a girl, 'every year we are growing more +and more numerous, and the men seem to be getting fewer. Nowadays a man +won't look at you unless you have at least two thousand a year.' + +Mrs. Barton, who did not wish her daughters to be discouraged from the +first, settled her skirts with a movement of disdain. Mrs. Gould +pathetically declared she did not believe love to be dead in the world +yet, and maintained her opinion that a nice girl could always marry. But +Bertha was not easily silenced, and, being perfectly conversant with her +subject, she disposed of Dublin's claims as a marriage-mart, and she +continued to comment on the disappointments of girls until the +appearance of Lord Dungory and Mr. Harding brought the conversation to a +sudden close. + +'_Une causerie de femme! que dites-vous?--je le suis--l'amour +n'existe plus, et l'âme de l'homme est plus près des sens que l'âme de +la femme_,' said Milord. Everyone laughed; and, with a charming movement +of her skirts, Mrs. Barton made room for him to sit beside her. + +Harding withdrew to the other end of the room to resume his reading, and +Alice did not dare to hope that he would lay aside his book and come to +talk to her. If he did, her mother would ask her to introduce him to +her, and she would have to enter into explanations that he and she had +merely exchanged a few words before dinner. + +She withstood the conversation of the charmed circle as long as she +could, and then boldly crossed the room for a newspaper. Harding rose to +help her to find one, and they talked together till Milord took him away +to the billiard-room. + +May, who had been vainly expecting Fred the whole evening, said: + +'Well, Alice, I hope you have had a nice flirtation?' + +'And did you notice, May, how she left us to look for a newspaper. Our +Alice is fond of reading, but it was not of reading she was thinking +this evening. She kept him all to herself at the other end of the room.' +Mrs. Barton laughed merrily, and Alice began to understand that her +mother was approving her flirtation. That is the name that her mother +would give her talk with Mr. Harding. + + + + +XVI + + +During the Dublin Season it is found convenient to give teas: the young +ladies have to be introduced to the men they will meet after at the +Castle. These gatherings take place at five o'clock in the afternoon; +and as Mrs. Barton started from the Shelbourne Hotel for Lady Georgina +Stapleton's, she fell to thinking that a woman is never really +vulnerable until she is bringing out her daughters. Till then the usual +shafts directed against her virtue fall harmlessly on either side, but +now they glance from the marriage buckler and strike the daughter in +full heart. In the ball-room, as in the forest, the female is most +easily assailed when guarding her young, and nowhere in the whole animal +kingdom is this fact so well exemplified as in Dublin Castle. + +Lady Georgina lived in Harcourt Street, and it was on her way thither +that something like a regret rose up in Mrs. Barton that she had (she +was forced to confess it) aroused the enmity of women, and persistently. + +Lady Georgina Stapleton was Lord Dungory's eldest sister. She, too, +hated Mrs. Barton; but, being poor (Milord used to call himself the +milch-cow), she found herself, like the Ladies Cullen, occasionally +obliged to smile upon and extend a welcoming hand to the family enemy; +and when Mrs. Barton came to Dublin for the Castle Season, a little +pressure was put upon Lady Georgina to obtain invitations from the +Chamberlain; the ladies exchanged visits, and there the matter ended, as +Mrs. Barton and her daughter passed through Stephen's Green, and she +remembered that she had never taken the trouble to conceal her dislike +of the house in Harcourt Street, and some of the hard things she had +said when standing on the box-seat of a drag at Punchestown Races had +travelled back and had found a lasting resting-place in Lady Georgina's +wrathful memory. + +'This is considered to be the most artistic house in Dublin,' said Mrs. +Barton, as the servant showed them upstairs. + +'How lovely the camellias look,' said Olive. + +'And now, Alice, mind, none of your Liberalism in this house, or you +will ruin your sister's chances.' + +Lady Georgina wore a wig, or her hair was arranged so as to look like +one. Fifty years had rubbed away much of her youthful ugliness; and, in +the delicate twilight of her rooms, her aristocratic bearing might be +mistaken for good looks. + +Lady Georgina was a celebrated needlewoman, and she was now begging Lord +Kilcarney to assist her at a charity bazaar. Few people had yet arrived; +and when Harding was announced, Mrs. Barton whispered: + +'Here's your friend, Alice; don't miss your chance.' + +Then every moment bevies of girls came in and were accommodated with +seats, and if possible with young men. Teacups were sent down to be +washed, and the young men were passed from group to group. The young +ladies smiled and looked delightful, and spoke of dancing and tennis +until, replying to an imperative glance from their chaperons, from time +to time they rose to leave; but, obeying a look of supplication from +their hostess, the young men remained. + +Lord Kilcarney had been hunted desperately around screens and over every +ottoman in the room; and Lady Georgina had proved her goodwill in +proportion to the amount of assistance she had lent to her friends in +the chase. Long ago he had been forced away from Olive. Mrs. Barton +endured with stoical indifference the scowls of her hostess; but at +length, compelled to recognize that none of the accidents attendant on +the handing of teacups or the moving of chairs would bring him back, she +rose to take her leave. The little Marquis was on his feet in a moment, +and, shaking hands with her effusively, he promised to call to see them +at the Shelbourne. A glance went round; and of Mrs. Barton's triumph +there could be no doubt. + +'But to-day's success is often a prelude to to-morrow's defeat,' was Lady +Georgina's comment, and Mrs. Barton and her daughters were discussed as +they walked across the green to their hotel. Nor was Lady Georgina +altogether a false prophet, for next day Mrs. Barton found the Marquis's +cards on her table. 'I'm sorry we missed him,' she said, 'but we haven't +a minute;' and, calling on her daughters to follow, she dashed again +into the whirl of a day that would not end for many hours, though it had +begun twelve hours ago--a day of haste and anticipation it had been, +filled with cries of 'Mamma,' telegrams, letters, and injunctions not to +forget this and that--a day whose skirts trailed in sneers and +criticisms, a hypocritical and deceitful day, a day of intrigue, a day +in which the post-box was the chief factor--a great day withal. + +But above this day, and above all other days, was the day that took them +spellbound to the foot of a narrow staircase, a humble flight seemingly, +but leading to a temple of tightly-stretched floorcloth, tall wardrobes, +and groups and lines of lay figures in eternally ladylike attitudes. + +'Oh! how do you do, Mrs. Barton? We have been expecting you for the last +two or three days. I will run upstairs and tell Mrs. Symond that you are +here; she will be so glad to see you.' + +'That is Miss Cooper!' explained Mrs. Barton. 'Everyone knows her; she +has been with Mrs. Symond many years. And, as for dear Mrs. Symond, +there is no one like her. She knows the truth about everybody. Here she +comes,' and Mrs. Barton rushed forward and embraced a thin woman with +long features. + +'And how do you do, dear Mrs. Barton, and how well you are looking, and +the young ladies? I see Miss Olive has improved since she was in +Dublin.' (In an audible whisper.) 'Everyone is talking about her. There +is no doubt but that she'll be the belle of the season.' (In a still +audible, but lower tone of voice.) 'But tell me, is it true that--' + +'Now, now, now!' said Mrs. Barton, drowning her words in cascades of +silvery laughter, 'I know nothing of what you're saying; ha! ha! ha! no, +no--I assure you. I will not--' + +Then, as soon as the ladies had recovered their composure, a few +questions were asked about her Excellency, the prospects of the Castle +season, and the fashions of the year. + +'And now tell me,' said Mrs. Barton, 'what pretty things have you that +would make up nicely for trains?' + +'Trains, Mrs. Barton? We have some sweet things that would make up +beautifully for trains. Miss Cooper, will you kindly fetch over that +case of silks that we had over yesterday from Paris?' + +'The young ladies must be, of course, in white; for Miss Olive I should +like, I think, snowdrops; for you, Mrs. Barton, I am uncertain which of +two designs I shall recommend. Now, this is a perfectly regal material.' + +With words of compliment and solicitation, the black-dressed assistant +displayed the armouries of Venus--armouries filled with the deep blue of +midnight, with the faint tints of dawn, with strange flowers and birds, +with moths, and moons, and stars. Lengths of white silk clear as the +notes of violins playing in a minor key; white poplin falling into folds +statuesque as the bass of a fugue by Bach; yards of ruby velvet, rich as +an air from Verdi played on the piano; tender green velvet, pastoral as +hautboys heard beneath trees in a fair Arcadian vale; blue turquoise +faille fanciful as the tinkling of a guitar twanged by a Watteau +shepherd; gold brocade, sumptuous as organ tones swelling through the +jewelled twilight of a nave; scarves and trains of midnight-blue +profound as the harmonic snoring of a bassoon; golden daffodils violent +as the sound of a cornet; bouquets of pink roses and daisies, charmful +and pure as the notes of a flute; white faille, soft draperies of tulle, +garlands of white lilac, sprays of white heather, delicate and resonant +as the treble voices of children singing carols in dewy English woods; +berthas, flounces, plumes, stomachers, lappets, veils, frivolous as the +strains of a German waltz played on Liddell's band. + +An hour passed, but the difficulty of deciding if Olive's dress should +be composed of silk or Irish poplin was very great, for, determined that +all should be humiliated, Mrs. Barton laid her plans amid designs for +night and morning; birds fluttering through leafy trees, birds drowsing +on bending boughs, and butterflies folding their wings. At a critical +moment, however, an assistant announced that Mrs. Scully was waiting. +The ladies started; desperate effort was made; rosy clouds and veils of +silver tissue were spoken of; but nothing could be settled, and on the +staircase the ladies had to squeeze into a corner to allow Violet and +Mrs. Scully to pass. + +'How do you do, Olive? How do you do, Alice? and you, Mrs. Barton, how +do you do? And what are you going to wear? Have you decided on your +dress?' + +'Oh! That is a secret that could be told to no one; oh, not for worlds!' +said Mrs. Barton. + +'I'm sure it will be very beautiful,' replied Mrs. Scully, with just a +reminiscence of the politeness of the Galway grocery business in her +voice. + +'I hear you have taken a house in Fitzwilliam Square for the season?' +said Mrs. Barton. + +'Yes, we are very comfortable; you must come and see us. You are at the +Shelbourne, I believe?' + +'Come to tea with us,' cried Violet. 'We are always at home about five.' + +'We shall be delighted,' returned Mrs. Barton. + +Mrs. Scully's acquaintance with Mrs. Symond was of the slightest; but, +knowing that claims to fashion in Dublin are judged by the intimacy you +affect with the dressmaker, she shook her warmly by the hand, and +addressed her as dear Mrs. Symond. To the Christian name of Helen none +less than a Countess dare to aspire. + +'And how well you are looking, dear Mrs. Symond; and when are you going +to take your daughters to the Castle?' + +'Oh, not for some time yet; my eldest is only sixteen.' + +Mrs. Symonds had three daughters to bring out, and she hoped when her +feet were set on the redoubtable ways of Cork Hill, her fashionable +customers would extend to her a cordial helping hand. Mrs. Symonds' was +one of the myriad little schemes with which Dublin is honeycombed, and +although she received Mrs. Scully's familiarities somewhat coldly, she +kept her eyes fixed upon Violet. The insidious thinness of the girl's +figure, and her gay, winsome look interested her, and, as if speaking to +herself, she said: + +'You will want something very sweet; something quite pure and lovely for +Miss Scully?' + +Mother and daughter were instantly all attention, and Mrs. Symond +continued: + +'Let me see, I have some Surat silk that would make up sweetly. Miss +Cooper, will you have the kindness to fetch those rolls of Surat silk we +received yesterday from Paris?' + +Then, beautiful as a flower harvesting, the hues and harmonies of earth, +ocean, and sky fell before the ravished eyes. The white Surat silk, +chaste, beautiful, delicious as that presentiment of shared happiness +which fills a young girl's mind when her fancy awakens in the soft +spring sunlight; the white faille with tulle and garlands of white +lilac, delicate and only as sensuous as the first meetings of +sweethearts, when the may is white in the air and the lilac is in bloom +on the lawn; trains of blue sapphire broché looped with blue ostrich +feathers, seductive and artificial as a boudoir plunged in a dream of +Ess. bouquet; dove-coloured velvet trains adorned with tulips and tied +with bows of brown and pink--temperate as the love that endures when the +fiery day of passion has gone down; bodices and trains of daffodil silk, +embroidered with shaded maple-leaves, impure as lamp-lit and +patchouli-scented couches; trains of white velouture festooned with +tulle; trails of snowdrops, icy as lips that have been bought, and cold +as a life that lives in a name. + +The beautiful silks hissed as they came through the hands of the +assistants, cat-like the velvet footfalls of the velvet fell; it was a +witches' Sabbath, and out of this terrible caldron each was to draw her +share of the world's gifts. Smiling and genial, Mrs. Symond stirred the +ingredients with a yard measure; the girls came trembling, doubting, +hesitating; and the anxious mothers saw what remained of their +jeopardized fortunes sliding in a thin golden stream into the flaming +furnace that the demon of Cork Hill blew with unintermittent breath. + +Secrets, what secrets were held on the subject of the presentation +dresses! The obscure Hill was bound with a white frill of anticipation. +Olive's fame had gone forth. She was admitted to be the new Venus, and +Lord Kilcarney was spoken of as likely to yield to her the coveted +coronet. Would he marry her without so much as looking at another girl? +was the question on every lip, and in the jealousy thus created the +appraisers of Violet's beauty grew bolder. Her thinness was condoned, +and her refinement insisted upon. Nor were May Gould and her chances +overlooked by the gossips of Merrion Square. Her flirtation with Fred +Scully was already a topic of conversation. + +Alice knew she was spoken of pityingly, but she hungered little after +the praise of the Dubliners, and preferred to stay at home and talk to +Harding in the ladies' drawing-room rather than follow her mother and +sister in their wild hunt after Lord Kilcarney. Through the afternoon +teas of Merrion Square and Stephen's Green the chase went merrily. + + + + +XVII + + +On the night of the Drawing-Room, February 20, 1882, the rain rushed +along the streets; wind, too, had risen, and, threatening to tear every +window from its sash, it careered in great gusts. Sky there was none, +nor sight of anything save when the lightning revealed the outline of +the housetops. The rattling and the crashing of the thunder was +fearsome, and often, behind their closely drawn curtains, the girls +trembled, and, covering their faces with their hands, forgot the article +of clothing they were in search of. In their rooms all was warm and +snug, and gay with firelight and silk; the chaperons had whispered that +warm baths were advisable, and along the passages the ladies'-maids +passed hurriedly, carrying cans of hot water, sponges, and +drying-sheets. + +Alice and Olive slept in two rooms on the third floor, on either side of +their mother; May and Mrs. Gould were on the fourth, and next to May was +Fred Scully, who, under the pretext of the impossibility of his agreeing +with his mother concerning the use of a latch-key, had lately moved into +the hotel. May was deeply concerned in Fred's grievance, and, discussing +it, or the new Shelbourne scandal--the loves of the large lady and the +little man at the other end of the corridor--they lingered about each +other's bedroom-doors. Alice could now hear them talking as they +descended the staircase together; then a burst of smothered laughter, +and May came in to see her. + +'Oh, how nice you look!' + +'If you don't "mash" Mr. Harding to-night, he'll be a tough one indeed. +Did I tell you I was talking to him yesterday in the ladies' +drawing-room? He is very enticing, but I can't quite make him out: I +think he despises us all; all but you; about you he said all kinds of +nice things--that you were so clever, and nice, and amusing. And tell +me, dear,' said May, in her warm, affectionate way, 'do you really like +him--you know what I mean?' + +May's eyes and voice were so full of significance that to pretend to +misunderstand was impossible. + +'I like Mr. Harding well enough. It is very pleasant to have him to talk +to. I am sure I don't want to run down my own sex--there are plenty +only too anxious to do that--but I am afraid that there is not a girl in +Dublin who thinks of anything except how she is to get married.' + +'I don't know about that,' said May, a little offended. 'I suppose if +you think of a man at all, you think of how he likes you.' + +The defiant tone in which these words were spoken was surprising; and, +for a moment, Alice stood staring blankly at this superb cream-fleshed +girl, superb in her dress of cream faille, her sensual beauty poetized +by the long veils which hung like gossamer-webs from the coils of her +copper-gleaming hair. + +'I am afraid, May,' she said, 'that you think a great deal too much of +such things. I don't say anything against Mr. Scully, but I think it +right to tell you that he is considered a very dangerous young man; and +I am sure it does a girl no good to be seen with him. It was he who . . .' + +'Now I'll not hear you abuse Fred,' cried May. 'We are great friends; I +like you better than any other girl, and if you value our friendship, +you'll not speak to me again like this. I wouldn't put up with it, no, +not from my own mother.' + +The girl moved towards the door hastily, but Alice laid her hand on her +arm, saying: + +'You mustn't be angry, May; perhaps you're right; I shouldn't meddle in +things that don't concern me; but then we have been so long friends that +I couldn't help--' + +'I know, I know,' the girl answered, overcome as it were by an +atmosphere. 'You were speaking only for my good; but if you're friends +with a person, you can't stand by and hear them abused. I know people +speak badly of Fred; but then people are so jealous--and they are all +jealous of Fred.' + +The girls examined each other's dresses, and at the end of a long +silence May said: + +'What an extraordinary thing this Drawing-Room is when one comes to +think of it. Just fancy going to all this expense to be kissed by the +Lord-Lieutenant--a man one never saw before. Will you feel ashamed when +he kisses you?' + +'Well, I don't know that I have thought much about it,' said Alice, +laughing. 'I suppose it doesn't matter, it is only a ceremony, not a +real kiss.' + +At this moment Mrs. Barton's voice was heard calling: 'Now, Alice, +Alice, where are you? We are waiting for you! Make haste, for goodness' +sake; we are very late as it is.' + +The trail of a sachet-scented petticoat could be detected on this length +of Brussels carpet, the acrid vulgarity of eau de Cologne hung like a +curtain before an open door, a vision of white silk gleamed for a moment +as it fled from room to room: men in a strange garb--black velvet and +steel buttons--hurried away, tripping over their swords, furtively +ashamed of their stockinged calves. On the first landing, about the +winter-garden, a crowd of German waiters, housemaids, billiard-players +with cigars in their teeth and cues in their hands, had collected; +underneath, in the hall, the barmaids, and old ladies, wrapped up in +rugs and shawls to save them from the draughts, were criticizing the +dresses. Olive's name was on every lip, and to see her all were +breathless with expectation; her matrimonial prospects were discussed, +and Lord Kilcarney was openly spoken of. 'Ah! here she is! there she +is!' was whispered. The head-porter, wild with excitement, shouted for +Mrs. Barton's carriage; three under-porters distended huge umbrellas; +the door was opened, an immense wind tore through the hall, sending the +old ladies flying back to their sitting-room, and the Bartons, holding +their hair and their trains, rushed across the wet pavement and took +refuge in the brougham. + +'Did one ever see such weather?' said Mrs. Barton. 'I hope your hair +isn't ruffled, Olive?' + +'No, mamma, I think it is all right.' + +Reassured, Mrs. Barton continued: 'I don't think there ever was a +country so hateful as Ireland. What with rain and Land League. I wonder +why we live here! Did you notice the time, Alice, as we left the hotel?' + +'Yes, mamma; it was twenty-five minutes to ten.' + +'Oh! we are very late; we shan't be there before ten. The thing to do is +to get there about half-past nine; the Drawing-Room doesn't begin before +eleven; but if you can get into the first lot you can stand at the +entrance of Patrick's Hall. I see, Alice, your friend Harding is going +to the Drawing-Room. Now, if you do what I tell you, you won't miss him; +for it does look so bad to see a girl alone, just as if she was unable +to get a man.' + +While Mrs. Barton continued to advise her girls, the carriage rolled +rapidly along Stephen's Green. It had now turned into Grafton Street; +and on the steep, rain-flooded asphalte, they narrowly escaped an +accident. The coachman, however, steadied his horses, and soon the long +colonnades of the Bank of Ireland were seen on the left. From this point +they were no longer alone, and except when a crash of thunder drowned +every other sound, the rattling of wheels was heard behind and in front +of them. Carriages came from every side: the night was alive with +flashing lamps; a glimpse of white fur or silk, the red breast of a +uniform, the gold of an epaulette, were seen, and thinking of the block +that would take place on the quays, the coachmen whipped up their +horses; but soon the ordering voices of the mantled and mounted +policemen were heard, and the carriages came to a full stop. + +'We are very late; hundreds will pass before us,' said Mrs. Barton +despairingly, as she watched the lines of silk-laden carriages that +seemed to be passing them by. But it was difficult to make sure of +anything; and fearful of soiling their gloves, they refrained from +touching the breath-misted windows. + +Despite the weather the streets were lined with vagrants, patriots, +waifs, idlers of all sorts and kinds. Plenty of girls of sixteen and +eighteen came out to see the 'finery.' Poor little things in battered +bonnets and draggled skirts, who would dream upon ten shillings a week; +a drunken mother striving to hush a child that cries beneath a dripping +shawl; a harlot embittered by feelings of commercial resentment; troops +of labourers; hang-dog faces, thin coats, torn shirts; Irish-Americans, +sinister faced, and broad-brimmed. Never were poverty and wealth brought +into plainer proximity. In the broad glare of the carriage lights the +shape of every feature, even the colour of the eyes, every glance, every +detail of dress, every stain of misery were revealed to the silken +exquisites who, a little frightened, strove to hide themselves within +the scented shadows of their broughams; and in like manner the bloom on +every aristocratic cheek, the glitter of every diamond, the richness of +every plume, were visible to the wondering eyes of those who stood +without in the wet and the cold. + +'I wish they wouldn't stare so,' said Mrs. Barton; 'one would think they +were a lot of hungry children looking into a sweetmeat shop. The police +ought really to prevent it.' + +'And how wicked those men in the big hats look,' said Olive; 'I'm sure +they would rob us if they only dared.' + +At last the order came that the carriages were to move on, and they +rolled on, now blocked under the black rain-dripping archway of the +Castle yard, now delayed as they laboriously made the tour of the +quadrangle. Olive doubted if her turn would ever come; but, by slow +degrees, each carriage discharged its cargo of silk, and at last Mrs. +Barton and her daughters found themselves in the vestibule, taking +numbers for their wraps at the cloak-rooms placed on either side of the +stairway. + +The slender figures ascending to tiny naked shoulders, presented a +piquant contrast with the huge, black Assyrian, bull-like policemen, who +guarded the passage, and reduced, by contrast, to almost doll-like +proportions the white creatures who went up the great stairway. Overhead +an artificial plant, some twenty feet wide, spread a decorative +greenness; the walls were lined with rifles, and at regular intervals, +in lieu of pictures, were set stars made out of swords. There were also +three suits of plate armour, and the grinning of the helmets of old-time +contrasted with the bearskin-shrouded faces of the red guardsmen. And +through all this military display the white ware tripped past powdered +and purple-coated footmen, splendid in the splendour of pink calves and +salmon-coloured breeches. + +As the white mass of silk pushed along the white-painted corridor, the +sense of ceremony that had till then oppressed it, evaporated in the +fumes of the blazing gas, and something like a battle began in the blue +drawing-room. Heat and fatigue soon put an end to all coquetting between +the sexes. The beautiful silks were hidden by the crowd; only the +shoulders remained, and, to appease their terrible ennui, the men gazed +down the backs of the women's dresses. Shoulders were there, of all +tints and shapes. Indeed, it was like a vast rosary, alive with white, +pink, and cream-coloured flowers; of Maréchal Niels, Souvenir de +Malmaisons, Mademoiselle Eugène Verdiers, Aimée Vibert Scandens. Sweetly +turned, adolescent shoulders, blush-white, smooth and even as the petals +of a Marquise Mortemarle; the strong, commonly turned shoulders, +abundant and free as the fresh rosy pink of the Anna Alinuff; the +drooping white shoulders, full of falling contours as a pale Madame +Lacharme; the chlorotic shoulders, deadly white, of the almost greenish +shade that is found in a Princess Clementine; the pert, the dainty +little shoulders, filled with warm pink shadows, pretty and compact as +Countess Cécile de Chabrillant; the large heavy shoulders full of vulgar +madder tints, coarse, strawberry-colour, enormous as a Paul Neron; +clustering white shoulders, grouped like the blossoms of an Aimée Vibert +Scandens, and, just in front of me, under my eyes, the flowery, the +voluptuous, the statuesque shoulders of a tall blonde woman of thirty, +whose flesh is full of the exquisite peach-like tones of a Mademoiselle +Eugène Verdier, blooming in all its pride of summer loveliness. + +To make way for this enormous crowd, the Louis XV. sofas and arm-chairs +had been pushed against the walls, and an hour passed wearily, in all +its natural impudence, in this beautiful drawing-room, the brain aching +with dusty odour of poudre de riz, and the many acidities of evaporating +perfume; the sugary sweetness of the blondes, the salt flavours of the +brunettes, and this allegro movement of odours was interrupted suddenly +by the garlicky andante, deep as the pedal notes of an organ, that the +perspiring armpits of a fat chaperon exhaled slowly. + +At last there was a move forwards, and a sigh of relief, a grunt of +satisfaction, broke from the oppressed creatures; but a line of +guardsmen was pressing from behind, and the women were thrown hither and +thither into the arms and on to the backs of soldiers, police officers, +county inspectors, and Castle underlings. Now a lady turns pale, and +whispers to her husband that she is going to faint; now a young girl's +petticoats have become entangled in the moving mass of legs! She cries +aloud for help; her brother expostulates with those around. He is +scarcely heeded. And the struggle grows still more violent when it +becomes evident that the guardsmen are about to bring down the bar; and, +begging a florid-faced attorney to unloose his sword, which had become +entangled in her dress, Mrs. Barton called on her daughter, and, +slipping under the raised arms, they found themselves suddenly in a +square, sombre room, full of a rich, brown twilight. In one corner there +was a bureau, where an attendant served out blank cards; in another the +white plumes nodded against the red glare that came from the +throne-room, whence Liddell's band was heard playing waltz tunes, and +the stentorian tones of the Chamberlain's voice called the ladies' +names. + +'Have you got your cards?' said Mrs. Barton. + +'I have got mine,' said Olive. + +'And I have got mine,' said Alice. + +'Well, you know what to do? You give your card to the aide-de-camp, he +passes it on and spreads out your train, and you walk right up to His +Excellency; he kisses you on both cheeks, you curtsy, and, at the far +door, two aides-de-camp pick up your train and place it on your arm.' + +The girls continued to advance, experiencing the while the nerve +atrophy, the systolic emotion of communicants, who, when the bell rings, +approach the altar-rails to receive God within their mouths. + +The massive, the low-hanging, the opulently twisted gold candelabra, the +smooth lustre of the marble columns are evocative of the persuasive +grandeur of a cathedral; and, deep in the darkness of the pen, a vast +congregation of peeresses and judges watch the ceremony in devout +collectiveness. How symmetrical is the place! A red, a well-trimmed +bouquet of guardsmen has been set in the middle of the Turkey carpet; +around the throne a semicircle of red coats has been drawn, and above it +flow the veils, the tulle, the skirts of the ladies-of-honour--they seem +like white clouds dreaming on a bank of scarlet poppies--and the long +sad legs, clad in maroon-coloured breeches, is the Lord-Lieutenant, the +teeth and the diamonds on his right is Her Excellency. And now a +lingering survival of the terrible Droit de Seigneur--diminished and +attenuated, but still circulating through our modern years--this +ceremony, a pale ghost of its former self, is performed; and, having +received a kiss on either cheek, the _débutantes_ are free to seek their +bridal beds in Patrick's Hall. + +'Miss Olive Barton, presented by Mrs. Barton!' shouted the Chamberlain. + +Olive abandoned her train to the aides-de-camp; she saw their bent +backs, felt their nimble fingers exhibiting this dress whereon Mrs. +Barton and Mrs. Symond had for days been expending all the poetry of +their natures. What white wonder, what manifold marvel of art! Dress of +snow satin, skirt quite plain in front. Bodice and train of white +poplin; the latter wrought with patterns representing night and morning: +a morning made of silver leaves with silver birds fluttering through +leafy trees, butterflies sporting among them, and over all a sunrise +worked in gold and silver thread; then on the left side the same sun +sank amid rosy clouds, and there butterflies slept with folded wing, and +there birds roosted on bending boughs; veils of silver tissue softened +the edges of the train, silver stars gleamed in the corn-coloured hair, +the long hands, gloved with white undressed kid, carried a silver fan; +she was adorably beautiful and adorably pale, and she floated through +the red glare, along the scarlet line, to the weary-looking man in +maroon breeches, like some wonderful white bird of downy plumage. He +kissed her on both cheeks; and she passed away to the farther door, +where her train was caught up and handed to her by two aides-de-camp. He +had seemed to salute her with deference and warmth; his kiss was more +than ceremonial, and eager looks passed between the ladies-of-honour +standing on the estrade; the great bouquet of red-coats placed in the +middle of the floor, animated by one desire, turned its sixteen heads to +gaze after the wonderful vision of blonde beauty that had come--that had +gone. Mrs. Barton experienced an instant thrill of triumph, and advanced +into the throne. + +In the composition of her dress she had given range to her somewhat +florid taste. The front was brocade, laid upon a ground of grey-pink, +shot with orange, and the effect was such as is seen when the sun hangs +behind a lowering grey cloud, tinged with pink. On this were wonderful +soft-coloured flowers, yellow melting into pink, green fading to +madder-like tints. The bodice and the train were of gold-brown velvet +that matched the gold-brown of the hair. Mrs. Barton was transformed +from the usual Romney portrait to one by Sir Peter Lely; and when she +made her curtsy, Her Excellency's face contracted, and the +ladies-of-honour whispered: 'The harm she does her daughters . . . I +wonder . . .' + +'Miss Violet Scully, presented by Mrs. Scully,' shouted the Chamberlain. + +Now there was an admixture of curiosity in the admiration accorded to +Violet. Hers was not the plain appealing of Olive's Greek statue-like +beauty; it was rather the hectic erethism of painters and sculptors in a +period preceding the apogee of an art. She was a statuette in biscuit +after a design by Andrea Mantegna. But the traces of this exquisite +atavism were now almost concealed in the supreme modernity of her +attire. From the tiny waist trailed yards of white faille, trimmed with +tulle ruchings, frecked as a meadow with faintly-tinted daisies; the +hips were engarlanded with daisies, and the flowers melted and bloomed +amid snows of faille and tulle. + +The Lord-Lieutenant leaned forward to kiss her, but at that moment of +his kiss the thunder crashed so loudly that he withdrew from her, and so +abruptly that Her Excellency looked surprised. The incident passed, +however, almost unperceived. So loud was the thunder, everybody was +thinking of dynamite, and it was some time before even the voluptuous +strains of Liddell's band could calm their inquietude. Nevertheless the +Chamberlain continued to shout: + +'Lady Sarah Cullen, Lady Jane Cullen, Mrs. Scully, presented by Lady +Sarah Cullen.' + +Then came a batch of people whom no one knew, and in the front of these +the aides-de-camp allowed Alice to pass on to His Excellency. She was +prettily dressed, dragging after her a train of white faille trimmed +with sprays of white heather and tulle, the petticoat being beautifully +arranged with folded draperies of crêpe de Chine. + +A number of ladies had collected in the farther ante-room, and, in +lines, they stood watching the effluent tide of satin and silk +discharging its volume into the spaces of Patrick's Hall. + + + + +XVIII + + +'I wish Alice would make haste, and not keep us waiting. I suppose she +has got behind a crowd. Here are the Scullys; let's hide, they don't +know a creature, and will hang on us.' + +Olive and Mrs. Barton tried to slip out of sight, but they were too +late; and a moment after, looking immense in a train and bodice of Lyons +velvet, Mrs. Scully came up and accosted them. + +'And how do you do, Mrs. Barton?' she said, with a desperate effort to +make herself agreeable; + +'I must congratulate you. Everyone is admiring your dress; I assure you +your train looked perfectly regal.' + +'I am glad you like it,' replied Mrs. Barton; 'but what do you think of +Olive? Do you like her dress?' + +'Oh, Olive has no need of my praises. If I were not afraid of making her +too vain I would tell her that all Dublin is talking of her. Indeed, I +heard a gentleman say--a gentleman who, I believe, writes for the +papers--that she will be in the _World_ or _Truth_ next week as the +belle of the season. None of the other young ladies will have a chance +with her.' + +'Oh, I don't know about that,' exclaimed Mrs. Barton, laughing merrily; +'haven't you got your Violet?--whom, by the way, you have transformed +into a beautiful daisy. It will be, perhaps, not the Rose nor the Olive +that will carry off the prize, but the daisy.' + +Violet glanced sharply at Mrs. Barton, and there was hate in the glance; +for, although her mother did not, she understood well what was meant by +the allusion to the daisy, the humblest of the earth's flowers. + +The appearance, however, of Lord Kilcarney brought the conversation to a +close; and, not knowing how to address him, Olive laughed beautifully +from behind her silver fan. They entered Patrick's Hall, where Lord +Dungory, Lord Rosshill, and others were waiting to receive Mrs. Barton, +who sought for a prominent seat, and dealing out pearly laughs and +winsome compliments to her court, she watched Olive, who, according to +orders, had taken Lord Kilcarney to sit on the highest of the series of +benches that lined one side of the room, which she did, and for a moment +Mrs. Barton felt as if she held Dublin under her satin shoe. Alice was +her only trouble. What would she do with this gawk of a girl? But soon +even this difficulty was solved, for Harding came up and asked her if he +might take her to get an ice. + +'How absurd we looked dressed up in this way,' said Harding; 'look at +that attorney and the court sword. It would be just as logical to stick +a quill pen behind the ear of a fat pig.' + +'Well, the sword--I confess I don't see much meaning in that; but the +rest of the dress is well enough. I don't see why one style of dress +should be more absurd than another, unless it is because it isn't the +fashion.' + +'Yes, but that is just the reason; just fancy dressing oneself up in the +costume of a bygone time.' + +'And is everything that isn't the fashion ridiculous?' + +'Ah, there, I fancy, you have the best of the argument. Waiter, a +strawberry ice. But did you say you would have strawberry?' + +'I don't think I did, for I prefer lemon.' + +The centre of the ceiling was filled with an oval picture representing +St. Patrick receiving Pagans into the true faith. The walls were white +painted, the panels were gold-listed. There were pillars at both ends of +the room, and in a top gallery, behind a curtain of evergreen plants, +Liddell's orchestra continued to pour an uninterrupted flood of waltz +melody upon the sea of satin, silk, poplin, and velvet that surged +around the buffet, angrily demanding cream ices, champagne, and +claret-cup. Every moment the crowd grew denser, and the red coats of the +Guards and the black corded jackets of the Rifles stained like spots of +ink and blood the pallor of the background. A few young men looked +elegant and shapely in the velvet and stockings of Court dress. One of +these was Fred Scully. He was with May, who, the moment she caught sight +of Alice, made frantic efforts to reach her. + +'My dear, did anyone ever look so nice! You are as sweet--well, a little +sweeter--than you generally are! How do you do, Mr. Harding? And tell +me, Alice, what do you think of my dress?' + +May was in cream faille with ruchings of tulle. A beautiful piece of +white lilac nestled upon her right breast. + +'You are very nice, May, and I think the white sets off your hair to +advantage.' + +'Well, good-bye dear, Fred and I are going into the next room; one is so +pushed about here, but there are nice large velvet sofas there where one +can sit and talk. I advise you to come.' + +In the reposing shadows of rich velvet and sombre hangings women leaned +over the sofas, talking to men in uniform, while two strange-looking +creatures, in long garments, walked up and down the room--Dons from +Trinity, who argued with Mr. Adair earnestly. + +'He is one of the lights of your county, is he not?' said Harding, +indicating Mr. Adair. + +'Oh, yes,' replied Alice, 'he took honours and a gold medal at Trinity +College.' + +'I know he did, and a capacity for passing competitive examinations is +the best proof of a man's incapacity for everything else.' + +'Do you know him?' + +'Yes, a little. He wears his University laurels at forty, builds parish +schools, and frightens his neighbours with the liberality of his +opinions and the rectitude of his life.' + +'But have you seen his pamphlets on the amalgamation of the poor +houses?' said Alice, astonished at the slight consideration afforded to +the rural genius. + +'I have heard of them. It appears he is going in for politics; but his +politics will be on a par with his saw-mill, and his farmyard in +concrete. Mr. Adair is a well-known person. Every county in England, +Ireland, and Scotland, possesses and is proud of its Mr. Adair.' + +Alice wondered for some moments in silence; and when suddenly her +thoughts detached themselves, she said: 'We didn't see you in the +ladies' drawing-room.' + +'I was very busy all the morning. I had two articles to write for one of +my papers and some books to review.' + +'How nice it must be to have a duty to perform every day; to have always +an occupation to which you can turn with pleasure.' + +'I don't know that I look upon my ink-bottle as an eternal haven of +bliss. Still, I would sooner contribute articles to daily and weekly +papers than sit in the Kildare Street Club, drinking glasses of sherry. +Having nothing to do must be a terrible occupation, and one difficult to +fulfil with dignity and honour. But,' he added, as if a sudden thought +had struck him, 'you must have a great deal of time on your hands; why +don't you write a novel?' + +'Everybody can't write novels.' + +'Oh yes, they can.' + +'Is that the reason why you advise me to write one? + +'Not exactly. Did you ever try to write a story?' + +'No, not since I was at school. I used to write stories there, and read +them to the girls, and . . .' + +'And what?' + +'Oh, nothing; it seems so absurd of me to talk to you about such things; +you will only laugh at me just as you did at Mr. Adair.' + +'No, I assure you, I am very loyal to my friends.' + +'Friends!' + +'I should have thought that friendship was a question of sympathy, and +not one of time: but I will withdraw the word.' + +'Oh, no, I didn't mean that--I am sure I am very glad . . .' + +'Very well, then, we will be friends; and now tell me what you were +going to say.' + +'I have forgotten--what was I saying?' + +'You were telling me about something you had written at school.' + +'Oh, yes, I remember. I did a little play for the girls to act just +before we left.' + +'What was it about--what was it called?' + +'It was not original--it was an adaptation of Tennyson's ballad of King +Cophetua. You know Miss Gould--she played the King; and Miss Scully, she +played the beggar-maid. But, of course, the whole thing was very +childish.' + +At this moment a figure in knee-breeches and flesh-coloured stockings +was seen waving a wand at the far end of the room. He was the usher +clearing the way for the viceregal procession. + +The first to appear were the A.D.C.'s. They were followed by the Medical +Department, by the Private Secretary, the Military Private Secretary, +the Assistant Under Secretaries, by the Gentlemen in Waiting, the Master +of the Horse, the Dean of the Chapel Royal, the Chamberlain, the +Gentleman Usher, the Comptroller, the State Steward, walking with a +wand, like a doge in an opera bouffe; then came another secretary, and +another band of the underlings who flock about this mock court. And then +came a heavy-built, red-bearded man, who carried, as one might a baby, a +huge gilt sword in his fat hands. He was followed by their Excellencies. +The long, maroon-coloured breeches preserved their usual +disconsolateness, the teeth and diamonds retained their splendour, and +the train--many yards of azure blue richest Duchesse satin, embroidered +with large bouquets of silver lily of the valley, and trimmed with +plumes of azure blue ostrich feathers, and bunches of silver coral--was +upheld by two tiny children who tottered beneath its enormous weight. +Then another batch of A.D.C.'s-in-Waiting, the ladies of the viceregal +family: their Excellencies' guests and the ladies in attendance--placed +according to their personal precedence--brought up the rear of the +procession. + +'Doesn't real, actual life sometimes appear to you, Miss Barton, more +distorted and unreal than a dream? I know it does to me. The spectacle +we have just witnessed was a part of the ages that believed in the +godhead of Christ and the divine right of Kings; but it seems to me +strange that such barbarities should be permitted to loiter.' + +'But what has Christianity to do with the procession that has just +passed?' + +'Were it not for faith, do you think a mock court would be allowed to +promenade in that ludicrous fashion?' + +'I'm not sure it is faith that enables them to reverence the sword of +State. Is it not rather that love of ceremonial inherent in us all--more +or less?' + +'Perhaps you are right.' + +The conversation drifted back to literature; they talked for ten +minutes, and then Alice suggested that it was time she should return to +Mrs. Barton. Patrick's Hall was still crowded, and champagne corks +exploded through the babbling of the voices. The squadron of distressed +damsels had not deserted their favourite corner, and they waited about +the pillars like cabs on a stand. At this hour a middle-aged married +doctor would be welcomed; all were desirous of being seen, if only for a +moment, on the arm of a man. Mrs. Barton's triumph was Cæsarean. More +than half-a-dozen old lords and one young man listened to her bewitching +laugh, and were fed on the brown flashing gold of her eyes. Milord and +Rosshill had been pushed aside; and, apart, each sought to convince the +other that he was going to leave town by the evening mail. Well in view +of everyone, Olive had spent an hour with Lord Kilcarney. He had just +brought her back to Mrs. Barton. At a little distance the poor Scullys +stood waiting. They knew no one, even the Bartons had given them a very +cold shoulder. Mrs. Gould, in an old black velvet dress, wondered why +all the nice girls did not get married, and from time to time she +plaintively questioned the passers-by if they had seen May. Violet's +sharp face had grown sharper. She knew she could do something if she +only got a chance. But would she get a chance? The Ladies Cullen, their +plank-like shoulders bound in grey frisé velvet and steel, were talking +to her. Suddenly Lady Sarah bowed to Lord Kilcarney, and the bow said, +'Come hither!' Leaving Olive he approached. A moment after he was +introduced to Violet. Her thin face lit up as if from a light within; a +grey cloud dimmed the light of Mrs. Barton's golden eyes, and when she +saw _Him_ in the vestibule helping the Scullys on with their wraps, she +shuddered as if struck with a blast of icy wind. + + + + +XIX + + + 'DUNGORY CASTLE, GORT, + 'Co. GALWAY. + +'MY DEAREST ALICE, +'I was so delighted to hear from you; it was very good of you to write +to me. I was deeply interested in your description of the Dublin +festivities, and must try and tell you all the news. + +'Everybody here is talking of Olive and Lord Kilcarney. It is said that +he proposed to her at the Drawing-Room. Is this true? I hope so, for she +seems to have set her heart on the match. But she is a great deal too +nice for him. They say that when he is in London he does nothing but go +about from bar-room to bar-room drinking brandies and sodas. It is also +said that he used to spend much of his time with actresses. I hope these +stories are false, but I cannot help thinking. . . . Well, we have often +talked over these things, and you know what my opinions of men are. I +hope I am not doing wrong in speaking like this; but a piece of news has +reached me that forces my thoughts back into the old ways--ways that I +know you have often reproved me for letting my mind wander in. In a +word, darling Alice, I hear that you are very much taken up with a Mr. +Harding, a writer, or painter, or something of that sort. Now, will you +promise to write and tell me if this be true? I would sooner know the +worst at once--hear that you love him madly, passionately, as I believe +some women love men. But you, who are so nice, so good, so beautiful, +you could not love a man thus. I cannot think you could--I will not +think you do. I have been crying all the morning, crying bitterly; +horrible thoughts have forced themselves on my mind. I have seen (but it +was not true though it seemed so clear; visions are not always true) +this man kissing you! Oh! Alice, let me warn you, let me beg of you to +think well before you abandon yourself to a man's power, to a man's +love. + +'But you, Alice; you who are so noble, so pure, so lofty-minded, you +would not soil yourself by giving way to such a sentiment. Write! you +will write, and tell me that what I saw in vision was a lie, an +abominable lie! Nay, you do not love Mr. Harding. You will not marry +him; surely you will not. Oh! to be left here alone, never to see you +again--I could not bear it, I should die. You will not leave me to die, +Alice dear, you will not; write and tell me you will not. And what +grieves me doubly is that it must seem to you, dear, that I am only +thinking of myself. I am not; I think of you, I wish to save you from +what must be a life of misery and, worse still, of degradation; for +every man is a degradation when he approaches a woman. I know you +couldn't bear up against this; you are too refined, too pure--I can +sympathize with you. I know, poor little cripple though I be, the +horrors of married life. I know what men are--you smile your own kind, +sweet smile; I see it as I write; but you are wrong: I know nothing of +men in particular, but I know what the sex is--I know nothing of +individuals, but I know what life is. The very fact of being forced to +live apart has helped me to realize how horrible life is, and how the +passions of men make it vile and abominable. All their tender little +words and attentions are but lust in disguise. I hate them! I could +whip, I could beat, I would torture them; and when I had done my worst I +should not have done enough to punish them for the wrongs they have done +to my sex. + +'I know, Alice dear, I am writing violently, that I am letting my temper +get the better of me, and this is very wrong; you have often told me it +is very wrong; but I cannot help it, my darling, when I think of the +danger you are in. I cannot tell you how, but I do know you are in +danger; something, some instinct has put me in communication with you: +there are moments when I see you, yes, see you sitting by that man--I +see you now:--the scene is a long blue drawing-room all aglow with gold +mirrors and wax candles--he is sitting by you, I see you smiling upon +him--my blood boils, Alice--I fear I am going mad; my head drops on the +table, and I strive to shut out the odious sight, but I cannot, I +cannot, I cannot. . . . + +'I am calmer now: you will forgive me, Alice dear? I know I am wrong to +write to you in this way, but there are moments when I realize things +with such horrible vividness that I am, as it were, maddened with pain. +Sometimes I awake in the night, and then I see life in all its hideous +nakedness, revealed, as it were, by a sudden flash of lightning. Oh, it +is terrible to think we are thus. Good-bye, dear, I know you will +forgive me, and I hope you will write at once, and will not leave me in +suspense: that is the worst torture. With love to our friends Olive, +May, and Violet, believe me, darling Alice, + 'Yours affectionately, + 'CECILIA CULLEN.' + + +She read steadily, word by word, and then let the letter fall. + +Her vision was not precise, but there were flashes of sun in it, and her +thoughts loomed and floated away. She thought of herself, of Harding, of +their first meeting. The first time she had seen him he was sitting in +the same place and in the same chair as she was sitting in now. She +remembered the first words that had been spoken: the scene was as clear +to her as if it were etched upon her brain; and as she mused she thought +of the importance of that event. Harding was to her what a mountain is +to the level plain. From him she now looked forward and back. 'So people +say that I am in love with him! well, supposing I were, I do not know +that I should feel ashamed of myself.' + +The reflection was an agreeable one, and in it her thoughts floated away +like red-sailed barges into the white mists that veil with dreamy +enchantment the wharves and the walls of an ancient town. What did she +know of him? Nothing! He was to her as much, but no more, than the +author of a book in which she was deeply interested: with this +difference:--she could hear him reply to her questions; but his answers +were only like other books, and revealed nothing of his personality. She +would have liked to have known the individual man surrounded with his +individual hopes and sufferings, but of these she knew nothing. They had +talked of all things, but it seemed to her that of the real man she had +never had a glimpse. Never did he unbend, never did he lift the mask he +wore. He was interesting, but very unhuman, and he paraded his ideas and +his sneers as the lay figures did the mail-armour on the castle +stairway. She did not know if he were a good or a bad man; she fancied +he was not very good, and then she grew angry with herself for +suspecting him. But honest or dishonest, she was sure he could love no +one; and she strove to recall his face. She could remember nothing but +the cold merciless eyes--eyes that were like the palest blue porcelain: +'But how ungrateful I am,' thought the girl, and she checked the bitter +flow of reproaches that rose in her mind. + +Two old ladies sat on the sofa under the window, their white hair and +white caps coming out very white upon the grey Irish day; and around the +ottoman the young ladies, Gladys and Zoe Brennan, one of the Miss +Duffys, and the girl in red, yawned over circulating novels, longing +that a man might come in--not with hope that he would interest them, but +because they were accustomed to think of all time as wasted that was not +spent in talking to a man. + +Nor were they awakened from their languid hopes until Olive came rushing +into the room with a large envelope in her hand. + +'Oh, I see,' she said, 'you have got a letter from Cecilia. What does +she say? I got one this morning from Barnes;' and, bending her head, +Olive whispered in Alice's ear: 'She says that everyone is talking in +Galway of when I shall be a marchioness!' + +'Is that the letter?' asked Alice innocently. + +'No, you silly, this is a Castle invitation.' + +The Brennans and the girl in red looked up. + +'Ah, is it for to-night or to-morrow?' said the latter. + +'For to-morrow.' + +'Now, I wonder if there will be one for me. Is it to dinner or to the +dance?' + +'To dinner.' + +'Ah, really . . . yes, very lucky.' Her eyes fell, and her look was +expressive of her deep disappointment. A dance--yes, but a dinner and a +dance! Then she continued: 'Ah, the Castle treats us all very badly. I +am glad sometimes when I hear the Land League abusing it. We come up +here, and spend all our money on dresses, and we get nothing for it +except two State balls, and it is no compliment to ask us to them--they +are obliged to. But what do you think of my little coat? It is this that +keeps me warm,' and Miss O'Reilly held out her sealskin for the company +to feel the texture. For the last three weeks she had not failed, on all +occasions, to call attention to this garment--'Signor Parisina had said +it was lovely.' Here she sighed--Signor Parisina had left the hotel. +'And I have a new dress coming home--it is all red--a cardinal silk--you +know nothing but red suits me!' + +'Is the hall-porter distributing the invitations?' asked Gladys Brennan. +'Did he give you yours?' + +'No, ours was, of course, directed to mamma; I found it in her room.' + +'Then perhaps--' Zoe did not finish the sentence, and both sisters +rolled up their worsted-work preparatory to going upstairs. + +In Dublin, during six weeks of the year, the arrival of these large +official envelopes is watched with eagerness. These envelopes are the +balm of Gilead; and the Land League and the hopelessness of matchmaking +are merged and lost for a moment in an exquisite thrill of triumph or +despair. An invitation to the Castle means much. The greyheaded official +who takes you down to dinner may bore you, and, at the dance, you may +find yourself without a partner; but the delight of asking your friends +if you may expect to meet them on such a night, of telling them +afterwards of your successes, are the joys of Dublin. And, armed with +their invitation, the Bartons scored heavily over the Scullys and the +Goulds, who were only asked to the dance. + +'And what will the dinner be like, mamma?' asked Olive. + +'It will be very grand. Lord Cowper does things in very good style +indeed; and our names will be given in the papers. But I don't think it +will amuse you, dear. All the officials have to be asked--judges, +police-officers, etc. You will probably go down with some old fellow of +sixty: but that can't be helped. At the dance, after, we'll see the +Marquis.' + +'I told you, mamma, didn't I, that Barnes wrote that everybody in Galway +said he was in love with me, and had proposed?' + +'You did, dear; and it does no harm for the report to have got about, +for if a thing gets very much spoken of, it forces a man to come to the +point. You will wear your red tulle. I don't know that you look better +in anything else.' + +Whatever Mrs. Barton's faults may have been, she did her duty, as she +conceived it, by her daughter; and during the long dinner, through the +leaves of the flowering-plants, she watched her Olive anxiously. A +hundred and twenty people were present. Mothers and eligible daughters, +judges, lords, police-officers, earls, poor-law inspectors, countesses, +and Castle officials. Around the great white-painted, gold-listed walls +the table, in the form of a horseshoe, was spread. In the soothing light +of the shaded lamps the white glitter of the piled-up silver danced over +the talking faces, and descended in silvery waves into the bosoms of the +women. Salmon and purple-coloured liveries passed quickly; and in the +fragrance of soup and the flavours of sherry, in the lascivious pleasing +of the waltz tunes that Liddell's band poured from a top gallery, the +goodly company of time-servers, panders, and others forgot their fears +of the Land League and the doom that was now waxing to fulness. + +To the girls the dinner seemed interminable, but at the 'private dance' +afterwards those who were known in official circles, or were fortunate +enough to meet their friends, amused themselves. It took place in the +Throne-Room. As the guests arrived they scanned each other narrowly. +People who had known each other from childhood upwards, as they met on +the landing, affected a look of surprise: 'Oh, so you are here? I wonder +how you got your invitation? Well, I suppose you are better than I took +you to be!' Acquaintances saluted each other more cordially than was +their wont: he or she who had dined at the Castle took his or her place +at once among the _élite;_ he or she who had come to dance was +henceforth considered worthy of a bow in Grafton Street. For Dublin is a +city without a conviction, without an opinion. Things are right and +wrong according to the dictum of the nearest official. If it be not +absolutely ill-bred to say you think this, or are inclined to take such +or such a view, it is certainly more advisable to say that the +Attorney-General thinks so, or that on one occasion you heard the State +Steward, the Chamberlain, or any other equally distinguished underling, +express this or that opinion. Castle tape is worn in time of mourning +and in the time of feasting. Every gig-man in the Kildare Street wears +it in his buttonhole, and the ladies of Merrion Square are found to be +gartered with it. + +Mrs. Barton's first thought was to get Olive partners. Milord and Lord +Rosshill were sent hither and thither, and with such good result that +the whole evening the beauty was beset with A.D.C.'s. But the Marquis +had danced three times with Violet Scully, and Mrs. Barton vented her +anger on poor Alice. The girl knew no one, nor was there time to +introduce her to men. She was consequently sent off with Milord to see +where the Marquis was hiding; and she was commissioned to tell her +sister to answer thus when Lord Kilcarney asked for another dance: 'I am +engaged, _cher marquis_, but for you, of course, I shall have to throw +some poor fellow over.' Mrs. Barton did not know how to play a waiting +game. Her tactics were always to grapple with the enemy. She was a +Hannibal: she risked all to gain all. Mrs. Scully, on the contrary, +watched the combat from afar--as Moltke did the German lines when they +advanced upon Paris. + +The Bartons were not invited to the next private dance, which was +annoying, and after long conjecturing as to the enemy that had served +them this trick, they resigned themselves to the inevitable, and began +to look forward to the State ball given on the following Monday. + +As they mounted the stairway Mrs. Barton said: + +'You know we turn to the left this time and enter Patrick's Hall by this +end; the other entrance is blocked up by the daïs--only the three and +four season girls stand about the pillars. There they are drawn up in +battle array.' + +'I declare Olive Barton is here!' whispered the redoubtable Bertha; +'this doesn't look as if the beaux were coming forward in their +hundreds. It is said that Lord Kilcarney has given her up for Violet +Scully.' + +'I'm not a bit surprised,' said the girl in red; 'and, now I think of +it, all the beauties come to the same end. I'll just give her a couple +more Castle seasons. It is that that will pull the fine feathers out of +her.' + +St. Patrick's Hall was now a huge democratic crush. All the little sharp +glances of the 'private dances,' 'What, you here!' were dispensed with +as useless, for all were within their rights in being at the ball. They +pushed, laughed, danced. They met as they would have met in Rotten Row, +and they took their amusement with the impartiality of pleasure-seekers +jigging and drinking in a marketplace on fair-day. On either side of the +Hall there were ascending benches; these were filled with chaperons and +_débutantes_, and over their heads the white-painted, gold-listed walls +were hung with garlands of evergreen oak interwoven with the celebrated +silver shields, the property of the Cowper family, and in front of the +curtains hanging about the daïs, the maroon legs of His Excellency, and +the teeth and diamonds of Her Excellency, were seen passing to and fro, +and up and down to the music of oblivion that Liddell dispensed with a +flowing arm. + +'Now aren't the Castle balls very nice?' said Bertha; 'and how are you +amusing yourself?' + +'Oh, very much indeed,' replied the poor _débutante_ who had not even a +brother to take her for a walk down the room or to the buffet for an +ice. + +'And is it true, Bertha,' asks the fierce aunt--'you know all the +news--that Mr. Jones has been transferred to another ship and has gone +off to the Cape?' + +'Yes, yes,' replied the girl; 'a nice end to her beau; and after +dinnering him up the whole summer, too.' + +Alice shuddered. What were they but snowflakes born to shine for a +moment and then to fade, to die, to disappear, to become part of the +black, the foul-smelling slough of mud below? The drama in muslin was +again unfolded, and she could read each act; and there was a 'curtain' +at the end of each. The first was made of young, hopeful faces, the +second of arid solicitation, the third of the bitter, malignant tongues +of Bertha Duffy and her friend. She had begun to experience the worst +horrors of a Castle ball. She was sick of pity for those around her, and +her lofty spirit resented the insult that was being offered to her sex. + +'Have you been long here, Miss Barton?' She looked up. Harding was by +her! 'I have been looking out for you, but the crowd is so great that it +is hard to find anyone.' + +'I think we arrived about a quarter to eleven,' Alice answered. + +Then, after a pause, Harding said: 'Will you give me this waltz?' She +assented, and, as they made their way through the dancers, he added: +'But I believe you do not care about dancing. If you'd prefer it, we +might go for a walk down the room. Perhaps you'd like an ice? This is +the way to the buffet.' + +But Alice and Harding did not stop long there; they were glad to leave +the heat of gas, the odour of sauces, the effervescence of the wine, the +detonations of champagne, the tumult of laughter, the racing of plates, +the heaving of bosoms, the glittering of bodices, for the peace and the +pale blue refinement of the long blue drawing-room. How much of our +sentiments and thoughts do we gather from our surroundings; and the +shining blue of the turquoise-coloured curtains, the pale dead-blue of +the Louis XV. furniture, and the exquisite fragility of the glass +chandeliers, the gold mirrors rutilant with the light of some hundreds +of tall wax candles, were illustrative of the light dreams and delicate +lassitude that filled the souls of the women as they lay back whispering +to their partners, the crinolettes lifting the skirts over the edges of +the sofas. Here the conversation seems serious, there it is smiling, and +broken by the passing and repassing of a fan. + +'Only four days more of Dublin,' said Harding; 'I have settled, or +rather the fates have settled, that I am to leave next Saturday.' + +'And where are you going? to London?' + +'Yes, to London. I am sorry I am leaving so soon; but it can't be +helped. I have met many nice people here--some of whom I shall not be +able to forget.' + +'You speak as if it were necessary to forget them--it is surely always +better to remember.' + +'I shall remember you.' + +'Do you think you will?' + +At this moment only one thing in the world seemed to be of much real +importance--that the man now sitting by her side should not be taken +away from her. To know that he existed, though far from her, would be +almost enough--a sort of beacon-light--a light she might never reach to, +but which would guide her . . . whither? + +In no century have men been loved so implicitly by women as in the +nineteenth; nor could this be otherwise, for putting aside the fact that +the natural wants of love have become a nervous erethism in the struggle +that a surplus population of more than two million women has created, +there are psychological reasons that to-day more than ever impel women to +shrink from the intellectual monotony of their sex, and to view with +increasing admiration the male mind; for as the gates of the harem are +being broken down, and the gloom of the female mind clears, it becomes +certain that woman brings a loftier reverence to the shrine of man than +she has done in any past age, seeing, as she now does, in him the +incarnation of the freedom of which she is vaguely conscious and which +she is perceptibly acquiring. So sets the main current that is bearing +civilization along; but beneath the great feminine tide there is an +undercurrent of hatred and revolt. This is particularly observable in +the leaders of the movement; women who in the tumult of their +aspirations, and their passionate yearnings towards the new ideal, and +the memory of the abasement their sex have been in the past, and are +still being in the present, subjected to, forget the laws of life, and +with virulent virtue and protest condemn love--that is to say, love in +the sense of sexual intercourse--and proclaim a higher mission for woman +than to be the mother of men: and an adjuvant, unless corrected by +sanative qualities of a high order, is, of course, found in any physical +defect. But as the corporeal and incorporeal hereditaments of Alice +Barton and Lady Cecilia Cullen were examined fully in the beginning of +this chapter, it is only necessary to here indicate the order of +ideas--the moral atmosphere of the time--to understand the efflorescence +of the two minds, and to realize how curiously representative they are +of this last quarter of the nineteenth century. + +And it was necessary to make that survey of psychical cause and effect +to appreciate the sentiments that actuated Alice in her relationship +with Harding. She loved him, but more through the imagination than the +heart. She knew he was deceiving her, but to her he meant so much that +she had not the force of will to cast him off, and abandoned herself to +the intellectual sensualism of his society. It was this, and nothing +more. What her love might have been it is not necessary to analyze; in +the present circumstances, it was completely merged in the knowledge +that he was to her, light, freedom, and instruction, and that when he +left, darkness and ignorance would again close in upon her. They had not +spoken for some moments. With a cruelty that was peculiar to him, he +waited for her to break the silence. + +'I am sorry you are going away; I am afraid we shall never meet again.' + +'Oh yes, we shall,' he replied: 'you'll get married one of these days +and come to live in London.' + +'Why should I go to live in London?' + +'There are Frenchmen born in England, Englishmen born in France. Heine +was a Frenchman born in Germany--and you are a Kensingtonian. I see +nothing Irish in you. Oh, you are very Kensington, and therefore you +will--I do not know when or how, but assuredly as a stream goes to the +river and the river to the sea, you will drift to your native +place--Kensington. But do you know that I have left the hotel? There +were too many people about to do much work, so I took rooms in +Molesworth Street--there I can write and read undisturbed. You might +come and see me.' + +'I should like to very much, but I don't think I could ask mother to +come with me; she is so very busy just now.' + +'Well, don't ask your mother to come; you won't be afraid to come +alone?' + +'I am afraid I could not do that.' + +'Why not? No one will ever know anything about it.' + +'Very possibly, but I don't think it would be a proper thing to do--I +don't think it would be a _right_ thing to do.' + +'Right! I thought we had ceased to believe in heaven and hell.' + +'Yes; but does that change anything? There are surely duties that we owe +to our people, to our families. The present ordering of things may be +unjust, but, as long as it exists, had we not better live in accordance +with it?' + +'A very sensible answer, and I suppose you are right.' + +Alice looked at him in astonishment, but she was shaken too intensely in +all her feelings to see that he was perfectly sincere, that his answer +was that of a man who saw and felt through his intelligence, and not his +conscience. + +The conversation had come to a pause, and the silence was broken +suddenly by whispered words, and the abundant laughter that was +seemingly used to hide the emotions that oppressed the speakers. Finally +they sat down quite close to, but hidden from, Alice and Harding by a +screen, and through the paper even their breathing was audible. All the +dancers were gone; there was scarcely a white skirt or black coat in the +pale blueness of the room. Evidently the lovers thought they were well +out of reach of eavesdroppers. Alice felt this, but before she could +rise to go Fred Scully had said-- + +'Now, May, I hope you won't refuse to let me come and see you in your +room to-night. It would be too cruel if you did. I'll steal along the +passage; no one will hear, no one will ever know, and I'll be so very +good. I promise you I will.' + +'Oh, Fred, I'm afraid I can't trust you; it would be so very wicked.' + +'Nothing is wicked when we really love; besides, I only want to talk to +you.' + +'You can talk to me here.' + +'Yes, but it isn't the same thing; anyone can talk to you here. I want +to show you a little poem I cut out of a newspaper to-day for you. I'll +steal along the passage--no one will ever know.' + +'You'll promise to be very good, and you won't stop more than five +minutes.' + +The words were spoken in low, soft tones, exquisitely expressive of the +overthrow of reason and the merging of all the senses in the sweet +abandonment of passion. + +Alice sat unable to move, till at last, awakening with a pained look in +her grey eyes, she touched Harding's hand with hers, and, laying her +finger on her lips, she arose. Their footfalls made no sound on the +deep, soft carpet. + +'This is very terrible,' she murmured, half to herself. + +Harding had too much tact to answer; and, taking advantage of the +appearance of Violet Scully, who came walking gaily down the room on the +Marquis's arm, he said: + +'Your friend Miss Scully seems to be in high spirits.' + +Violet exchanged smiles with Alice as she passed. The smile was one of +triumph. She had waltzed three times with the Marquis, and was now going +to sit out a set of quadrilles. + +'What a beautiful waltz the _Blue Danube_ is!' she said, leading her +admirer to where the blue fans were numerous. Upon the glistening piano +stood a pot filled with white azaleas; and, in the pauses of the +conversation, one heard the glass of the chandeliers tinkling gently to +the vibration of the music. + +'It is a beautiful waltz when I am dancing it with you.' + +'I am sure you say that to every girl you dance with.' + +'No, I shouldn't know how to say so to anyone but you,' said the little +man humbly; and so instinct were the words with truth that the girl, in +the violence of her emotion, fancied her heart had ceased to beat. + +'But you haven't known me a fortnight,' she answered involuntarily. + +'But that doesn't matter; the moment I saw you, I--I--liked you. It is +so easy to know the people we--like; we know it at once--at least I do.' + +She was more self-possessed than he, but the words 'Am I--am I going to +be a marchioness?' throbbed like a burning bullet sunk into the very +centre of her forehead. And to maintain her mental equipoise she was +forced, though by doing so she felt she was jeopardizing her chances, to +coquette with him. After a long silence she said: + +'Oh, do you think we know at first sight the people we like? Do you +believe in first impressions?' + +'My first and last impressions of you are always the same. All I know is +that when you are present all things are bright, beautiful, and +cheering, and when you are away I don't much care what happens. Now, +these Castle balls used to bore me to death last year; I used to go into +a back room and fall asleep. But this year I am as lively as a kitten--I +think I could go on for ever, and the Castle seems to me the most +glorious place on earth. I used to hate it; I was as bad as Parnell, but +not for the same reasons, of course. Now I am only afraid he will have +his way, and they'll shut the whole place up. Anyhow, even if they do, I +shall always look back upon this season as a very happy time.' + +'But you do not really think that Parnell will be allowed to have his +way?' said Violet inadvertently. + +'I don't know; I don't take much interest in politics, but I believe +things are going to the bad. Dublin, they say, is undermined with secret +societies, and the murder that was committed the other day in Sackville +Street was the punishment they inflict on those whom they suspect of +being informers, even remotely.' + +'But don't you think the Government will soon be obliged to step in and +put an end to all this kind of thing?' + +'I don't know; I'm afraid they'll do nothing until we landlords are all +ruined.' + +Violet's thin face contracted. She had introduced a subject that might +prevent him from ever proposing to her. She knew how heavily the +Kilcarney estates were mortgaged; and, even now, as she rightly +conjectured, the poor little man was inwardly trembling at the folly it +had been on his lips to speak. Three of his immediate ancestors had +married penniless girls, and it was well known that another love-match +would precipitate the property over that precipice known to every Irish +landowner--the Encumbered Estates Court. But those dainty temples, so +finely shaded with light brown tresses, that delicately moulded +head--delicate as an Indian carven ivory, dispelled all thoughts of his +property, and he forgot his duty to marry an heiress. Violet meanwhile, +prompted by her instinct, said the right words: + +'But things never turn out as well or as badly as we expect them to.' + +This facile philosophy went like wine to the little Marquis's head, and +he longed to throw himself at the feet of his goddess and thank her for +the balm she had poured upon him. The gloom of approaching ruin +disappeared, and he saw nothing in the world but a white tulle skirt, a +thin foot, a thin bosom, and a pair of bright grey eyes. Vaguely he +sought for equivalent words, but loud-talking dancers passed into the +room, and, abashed by their stares, the Marquis broke off a flowering +branch and said, stammering the while incoherently: + +'Will you keep this in memory of this evening?' + +Violet thrust the flowers into her bosom, and was about to thank him, +when an A.D.C. came up and claimed her for the dance. She told him he +was mistaken, that she was engaged; and, taking Lord Kilcarney's arm, +they made their way in silence back to the ball-room. Violet was +satisfied; she felt now very sure of her Marquis, and, as they +approached Mrs. Scully, a quick glance said that things were going as +satisfactorily as could be desired. Not daring to trust herself to the +gossip of the chaperons, this excellent lady sat apart, maintaining the +solitary dignity to which the Galway counter had accustomed her. She +received the Marquis with the same smile as she used to bestow on her +best customers, and they talked for a few minutes of the different +aspects of the ball-room, of their friends, of things that did not +interest them. Then Violet said winsomely, affecting an accent of +command that enchanted him: + +'Now I want you to go and dance with someone else; let me see--what do +you say to Olive Barton? If you don't, I shall be in her mother's black +books for the rest of my life. Now go. We shall be at home to-morrow; +you might come in for tea;' and, suffocated with secret joy, Lord +Kilcarney made his way across the room to Mrs. Barton, who foolishly +cancelled a couple of Olive's engagements, and sent her off to dance +with him, whereas wise Violet sat by her mother, refusing all her +partners; but, when _God Save the Queen_ was played, she accepted Lord +Kilcarney's arm, and they pressed forward to see the Lord-Lieutenant and +Her Excellency pass down the room. + +Violet's eyes feasted on the bowing black coats and light toilettes, +and, leaning on her escutcheon, she dreamed vividly of the following +year when she would take her place amid all these noble people, and, as +high as they, stand a peeress on the daïs. + + + + +XX + + +'So you couldn't manage to keep him after all, my lady? When did he +leave the hotel?' + +'Mr. Harding left Dublin last Monday week.' + +Alice wondered if her mother hated her; if she didn't, it was difficult +to account for her cruel words. And this was the girl's grief, and she +feared that hatred would beget hatred, and that she would learn to hate +her mother. But Mrs. Barton was a loving and affectionate mother, who +would sacrifice herself for one child almost as readily for the other. +In each of us there are traits that the chances of life have never +revealed; and though she would have sat by the bedside, even if Alice +were stricken with typhoid fever, Mrs. Barton recoiled spitefully like a +cat before the stern rectitudes of a nature so dissimilar from her own. +She had fashioned Olive, who was now but a pale copy of her mother +according to her guise: all the affectations had been faithfully +reproduced, but the charm of the original had evaporated like a perfume. +It would be rash to say that Mrs. Barton did not see that the weapons +which had proved so deadly in her hands were ineffectual in her +daughter's; but twenty years of elegant harlotry had blunted her finer +perceptions, and now the grossest means of pushing Olive and the Marquis +morally and physically into each other's arms seemed to her the best. +Alice was to her but a plain girl, whose misfortune was that she had +ever been born. This idea had grown up with Mrs. Barton, and fifteen +years ago she had seen in the child's face the spinster of fifty. But +since the appearance of Harding, and the manifest interest he had shown +in her daughter, Mrs. Barton's convictions that Alice would never be +able to find a husband had been somewhat shaken, and she had almost +concluded that it would be as well--for there was no knowing what men's +tastes were--to give her a chance. Nor was the dawning fancy dispelled +by the fact that Harding had not proposed, and the cutting words she had +addressed to the girl were the result of the nervous irritation caused +by the marked attention the Marquis was paying Violet Scully. + +For, like Alice, Mrs. Barton never lived long in a fool's paradise, and +she now saw that the battle was going against her, and would most +assuredly be lost unless a determined effort was made. So she delayed +not a moment in owning to herself that she had committed a mistake in +going to the Shelbourne Hotel. Had she taken a house in Mount Street or +Fitzwilliam Place, she could have had all the best men from the barracks +continually at her house. But at the hotel she was helpless; there were +too many people about, too many beasts of women criticizing her conduct. +Mrs. Barton had given two dinner-parties in a private room hired for the +occasion; but these dinners could scarcely be called successful. On one +occasion they had seven men to dinner, and as some half-dozen more +turned in in the evening, it became necessary to send down to the +ladies' drawing-room for partners. Bertha Duffy and the girl in red of +course responded to the call, but they had rendered everything odious by +continuous vulgarity and brogue. Then other mistakes had been made. A +charity costume ball had been advertised. It was to be held in the +Rotunda. An imposing list of names headed the prospectus, and it was +confidently stated that all the lady patronesses would attend. Mrs. +Barton fell into the trap, and, to her dismay, found herself and her +girls in the company of the rag, tag, and bobtail of Catholic Dublin: +Bohemian girls fabricated out of bed-curtains, negro minstrels that an +application of grease and burnt cork had brought into a filthy +existence. And from the single gallery that encircled this tomb-like +building the small tradespeople looked down upon the multicoloured crowd +that strove to dance through the mud that a late Land League meeting had +left upon the floor; and all the while grey dust fell steadily into the +dancers' eyes and into the sloppy tea distributed at counters placed +here and there like coffee-stands in the public street. + +'I never felt so low in my life,' said the lady who always brought back +an A.D.C. from the Castle, and the phrase was cited afterwards as being +admirably descriptive of the festival. + +When it became known that the Bartons had been present at this ball, +that the beauty had been seen dancing with the young Catholic nobodies, +their names were struck off the lists, and they were asked to no more +private dances at the Castle. Lord Dungory was sent to interview the +Chamberlain, but that official could promise nothing. Mrs. Barton's hand +was therefore forced. It was obligatory upon her to have some place +where she could entertain officers; the Shelbourne did not lend itself +to that purpose. She hired a house in Mount Street, and one that +possessed a polished floor admirably suited to dancing. + +Then she threw off the mask, and pirate-like, regardless of the laws of +chaperons, resolved to carry on the war as she thought proper. She'd +have done once and for ever with those beasts of women who abused and +criticized her. Henceforth she would shut her door against them all, and +it would only be open to men--young men for her daughters, elderly men +for herself. At four o'clock in the afternoon the entertainment began. +Light refreshments, consisting of tea, claret, biscuits, and cigarettes, +were laid out in the dining-room. Having partaken, the company, +consisting of three colonels and some half-dozen subalterns, went +upstairs to the drawing-room. And in recognition of her flirtation with +Harding, a young man replaced Alice at the piano, and for half-a-crown +an hour supplied the necessary music. + +Round and round the girls went, passing in turn out of the arms of an +old into those of a young man, and back again. If they stayed their feet +for a moment, Mrs. Barton glided across the floor, and, with insinuating +gestures and intonations of voice, would beg of them to continue. She +declared that it was _la grâce et la beauté_, etc. The merriment did not +cease until half-past six. Some of the company then left, and some few +were detained for dinner. A new pianist and fresh officers arrived about +nine o'clock, and dancing was continued until one or two in the morning. +To yawning subalterns the house in Mount Street seemed at first like a +little paradise. The incessant dancing was considered fatiguing, but +there were interludes in which claret was drunk, cigarettes smoked, and +loose conversation permitted in the dining-room. + +Then the dinners! Mrs. Barton's dinners are worthy of special study. Her +circle of acquaintances being limited, the same guests were generally +found at her table. Lord Dungory always sat next to her. He displayed +his old-fashioned shirt-front, his cravat, his studs, his urbanity, his +French epigram. Lord Rosshill sat opposite him; he was thin, melancholy, +aristocratic, silent, and boring. There was a captain who, since he had +left the army, had grown to the image of a butler, and an ashen-tinted +young man who wore his arm in a sling; and an old man, who looked like a +dirty and worn-out broom, and who put his arm round the backs of the +chairs. These and three A.D.C.'s made up the party. There was very +little talking, and what there was was generally confined to asking the +young ladies if they had been to the Castle, and if they liked dancing. + +The Marquis was a constant, although an unwilling guest at all these +entertainments. He would fain have refused Mrs. Barton's hospitalities, +but so pressing was she that this seemed impossible. There were times +when he started at the postman's knock as at the sound of a Land +Leaguer's rifle. Too frequently his worst fears were realized. '_Mon +cher Marquis_, it will give us much pleasure if you will dine with us +to-morrow night at half-past seven.' 'Dear Mrs. Barton, I regret +extremely that I am engaged for to-morrow night.' An hour later, '_Mon +cher Marquis_, I am very sorry you cannot come to-morrow night, but +Thursday will suit us equally well.' What was to be done? A second +excuse would result only in a proposal to fix a day next week; better +accept and get it over. He must do this or send a rude message to the +effect that he was engaged for every day he intended to dine out that +season, and he lacked the moral courage to write such a letter. Mrs. +Barton's formula for receiving the Marquis never varied. If he arrived +early he found Olive waiting to receive him in the drawing-room. She was +always prepared with a buttonhole, which she insisted on arranging and +pinning into his coat. Then allusion was made to the forget-me-nots that +the bouquet was sure to contain; and laughing vacantly--for laughter +with Olive took the place of conversation--she fled through the rooms, +encouraging him to pursue her. During dinner attempts were made to +exchange a few words, but without much success. Nor was it until Olive +pelted him with flowers, and he replied by destroying another bouquet +and applying it to the same purpose, that much progress was made towards +intimacy. But this little scene was exceptional, and on all other +occasions Lord Kilcarney maintained an attitude of reserve. + +Mrs. Barton was at her wits' end. Three days ago she had met him walking +in Grafton Street with Violet; yesterday she had caught sight of him +driving towards Fitzwilliam Place in a four-wheeler. She had fortunately +a visit to pay in that neighbourhood, and was rewarded by seeing the +Marquis's cab draw up before the Scullys' door. The mere fact that he +should use a cab instead of an outside car was a point to consider, but +when she noticed that one of the blinds was partially drawn down, her +heart sank. Nor did the secret of this suspicious visit long remain her +exclusive property. As if revealed by those mysteriously subtle oral and +visual faculties observed in savage tribes, by which they divine the +approach of their enemies or their prey, two days had not elapsed before +the tongue of every chaperon was tipped with the story of the +four-wheeler and the half-drawn blind, but it was a distinctly +latter-day instinct that had led these ladies to speak of there having +been luggage piled upon the roof of this celebrated cab. Henceforth eye, +ear, and nostril were open, and in the quivering ardour of the chase +they scattered through the covers of Cork Hill and Merrion Square, +passing from one to the other, by means of sharp yelps and barkings, +every indication of the trail that came across their way. Sometimes +hearkening to a voice they had confidence in, they rallied at a single +point, and then an old bitch, her nose in the air, her capstrings +hanging lugubriously on either side of her weatherbeaten cheeks, would +utter a deep and prolonged baying; a little farther on the scent was +recovered, and, with sterns wagging and bristles erect, they hunted the +quarry vigorously. Every moment he was expected to break--fear was even +expressed that he might end by being chopped. + +The Shelbourne Hotel was a favourite meet, and in the ladies' +drawing-room each fresh piece of news was torn with avidity. The +consumption of notepaper was extraordinary. Two, three, four, and even +five sheets of paper were often filled with what these scavengeresses +could rake out of the gutters of gossip. 'Ah! me arm aches, and the +sleeve of me little coat is wore; I am so eager to write it all off to +me ant, that I am too impatient to wait to take it off,' was the verbal +form in which the girl in red explained her feelings on the subject. +Bertha Duffy declared she would write no more; that she was ruining +herself in stamps. Nor were the pens of the Brennans silent; and looking +over their shoulders, on which the mantles of spinsterhood were fast +descending, one read: 'I hear they danced at the Castle three times +together last night . . . a friend of mine saw them sitting in Merrion +Square the whole of one afternoon. . . . They say that if he marries her, +that he'll be ruined. . . . The estates are terribly encumbered . . . his +family are in despair about it. . . . Violet is a very nice girl, but we +all know her mother sold bacon behind a counter in Galway. . . . He never +looks at Olive Barton now; this is a sad end to her beau, and after +feeding him up the whole season. . . . He dined there three times a week: +Mrs. Barton took the house on purpose to entertain him. . . . It is said +that she offered him twenty thousand pounds if he'd marry her +daughter. . . . The money that woman spends is immense, and no one knows +whence it comes.' + +In these matrimonial excitements the amatories of the lady who brought +the A.D.C. home from the Castle passed unheeded. The critical gaze of +her friends was sorely distracted, and even the night porter forgot to +report the visits of her young gentlemen. May, too, profited largely by +the present ferment of curiosity; and, unobserved, she kept her trysts +with Fred Scully at the corners of this and that street, and in the +hotel they passed furtively down this passage and up that pair of +stairs; when disturbed they hid behind the doors. + +Mrs. Gould lived in ignorance of all this chambering folly, spending her +time either writing letters or gossiping about Lord Kilcarney in the +drawing-room. And when she picked up a fragment of fresh news she lost +not a moment, but put on her bonnet and carried it over to Mount Street. +So assiduous was she in this self-imposed duty, that Mrs. Barton was +obliged at last to close her door against this obtrusive visitor. + +But one day, after a moment of intense reflection, Mrs. Barton concluded +that she was losing the battle--that now, in the eleventh hour, it could +only be snatched out of defeat by a bold and determined effort. She sat +down and penned one of her admirable invitations to dinner. An hour +later a note feebly pleaded a 'previous engagement.' Undaunted, she sat +down again and wrote: 'Tomorrow will suit us equally well.' The Marquis +yielded; and Lord Dungory was ordered, when he found himself alone with +him in the dining-room, to lose no opportunity of insisting upon the +imminent ruin of all Irish landlords. He was especially enjoined to say +that, whatever chance of escape there was for the owners of unencumbered +properties, the doom of those who had mortgages to pay had been sounded. +Milord executed his task with consummate ability; and when the _grand +parti_ entered the drawing-room, his thoughts were racked with horrible +forebodings. The domain woods, the pride of centuries, he saw plundered +and cut down; lawns, pleasure-grounds, and gardens distributed among +peasants, and he, a miserable outcast, starving in a Belgian +boarding-house. Mrs. Barton's eyes brightened at the distressed +expression of his face. Olive brought in the buttonhole and went to the +piano; Milord engaged Alice's attention; and the Marquis was led into +the adjoining room. + +'The season is now drawing to its close,' Mrs. Barton said; 'we shall be +soon returning to Galway. We shall be separating. I know Olive likes +you, but if there is no--if it is not to be, I should like to tell her +not to think about it any more.' + +The Marquis felt the earth gliding. What could have tempted the woman to +speak like this to him? What answer was he to make her? He struggled +with words and thoughts that gave way, as he strove to formulate a +sentence, like water beneath the arms of one drowning. + +'Oh, really, Mrs. Barton,' he said, stammering, speaking like one in a +dream, 'you take me by surprise. I did not expect this; you certainly +are too kind. In proposing this marriage to me, you do me an honour I +did not anticipate, but you know it is difficult offhand, for I am bound +to say . . . at least I am not prepared to say that I am in love with your +daughter. . . . She is, of course, very beautiful, and no one admires her +more than I, but--' + +'Olive will have twenty thousand pounds paid down on her wedding-day; +not promised, you know, but paid down; and in the present times I think +this is more than most girls can say. Most Irish properties are +embarrassed, mortgaged,' she continued, risking everything to gain +everything, 'and twenty thousand pounds would be a material help to most +men. At my death she will have more; I--' + +'Oh, Mrs. Barton, do not let us speak of that!' cried the little man. + +'And why not? Does it prove that because we are practical, we do not +care for a person? I quite understand that it would be impossible for +you to marry without money, and that Olive will have twenty thousand +paid down on her wedding-day will not prevent you from being very fond +of her. On the contrary, I should think--' + +'Twenty thousand pounds is, of course, a great deal of money,' said the +little man, shrinking, terror-stricken, from a suddenly protruding +glimpse of the future with which Milord had previously poisoned his +mind. + +'Yes, indeed it is, and in these times,' urged Mrs. Barton. + +The weak grey eyes were cast down, abashed by the daring determination +of the brown. + +'Of course Olive is a beautiful girl,' he said. + +'And she is so fond of you, and so full of affection. . . .' + +The situation was now tense with fear, anxiety, apprehension; and with +resolute fingers Mrs. Barton tightened the chord until the required note +vibrated within the moral consciousness. The poor Marquis felt his +strength ebbing away; he was powerless as one lying in the hot chamber +of a Turkish bath. Would no one come to help him? The implacable melody +of _Dream Faces_, which Olive hammered out on the piano, agonized him. +If she would stop for one moment he would find the words to tell her +mother that he loved Violet Scully and would marry none other. But bang, +bang, bang the left hand pounded the bass into his stunned ears, and the +eyes that he feared were fixed upon him. He gasped for words, he felt +like a drunkard who clutches the air as he reels over a precipice, and +the shades of his ancestors seemed to crowd menacingly around him. He +strove against his fears until a thin face with luminous eyes shone +through the drifting wrack like a stars. + +'But we have seen so little of each other,' he said at last; 'Miss +Barton is a great beauty, I know, and nobody appreciates her beauty more +than I, but I am not what you call in love with her.' + +He deplored the feebleness of his words, and Mrs. Barton swooped upon +him again. + +'You do not love her because, as you say, you have seen very little of +each other. We are going down to Brookfield to-morrow. We shall be very +glad if you will come with us, and in the country you will have an +opportunity of judging, of knowing her: and she is such an affectionate +little thing.' + +Affrighted, the Marquis sought again for words, and he glanced at his +torturer timidly, like the hare on the ever-nearing hounds. Why did she +pursue him, he asked, in this terrible way? Had she gone mad? What was +he to say? He had not the courage to answer no to her face. Besides, if +Violet would not have him, he might as well save the family estates. If +Violet refused him! Then he didn't care what became of him! He sought, +and he struggled for words, for words that would save him; and, in this +hour of deep tribulation, words came and they saved him. + +'I have a great deal of business to attend to to-morrow. I am--that is +to say, my solicitor is, raising for me a large sum of money at four per +cent. On one large mortgage I am paying six per cent., therefore if I +can get the money at four I shall be by some hundreds of pounds a richer +man than I am at present. At the end of the week this matter will be +settled. I will write to you and say when I shall be able to accept your +invitation.' + +Mrs. Barton would have preferred to have brought the matter at once to a +conclusion, but in the hesitation that ensued, the Marquis, unable to +withstand the strain set upon his feelings any longer, moved away from +her. And in the next room, to save himself from further persecution, he +engaged at once in conversation with Alice. Ten minutes after he said +good-night. To get out of the light into the dark, to feel the cool wind +upon his cheek, oh! what a relief! 'What could have persuaded that woman +to speak to me as she did? She must be mad.' He walked on as if in a +dream, the guineas she had promised him chinking dubiously through his +brain. Then stopping suddenly, overcome by nerve-excitement, he threw +his arms in the air: his features twitched convulsively. The spasm +passed; and, unconscious of all save the thoughts that held and tore +him--their palpitating prey--he walked onwards. . . . Black ruin on one +side, and oh! what sweet white vision of happiness on the other! Why was +he thus tortured--why was he thus torn on the rack of such a terrible +discussion? He stopped again, and his weak neck swayed plaintively. +Then, in the sullen calm that followed, the thought crossed his mind: If +he only knew. . . . She might refuse him; if so, he did not care what +became of him, and he would accept the other willingly. But would she +refuse him? That he must know at once. If she did refuse, he would, at +all events, escape the black looks of his relations, and in the +cowardice of the thought the weary spirit was healed, assuaged, as tired +limbs might be in a bath of cool, clear water. Why lose a moment? It was +only half-past ten--an 'outside' would take him in less than two minutes +to Fitzwilliam Place. Yes, he would go. + +And as the car clattered he feasted on the white thin face and the grey +allurements of her eyes. But if she weren't at home. + +He was shown upstairs. Mother and daughter were alone, talking over the +fire in the drawing-room. Nothing could be more propitious, but his +fears returned to him, and when he strove to explain the lateness of his +visit his face had again grown suddenly haggard and worn. Violet +exchanged glances, and said in looks, if not in words: 'It is clear they +have been hunting him pretty closely to-day.' + +'I must apologize,' he said, 'for calling on you at such an hour; I +really did not think it was so late, but the fact is I was rather +anxious to see. . . .' + +'But won't you sit down, Lord Kilcarney?' said Violet. 'I assure you we +never go to bed before twelve, and sometimes we sit up here until +one--don't we, mamma?' + +Mrs. Scully smiled jocosely, and the Marquis sat down. In an instant his +fate was decided. Overcome by the girl's frail sweetness, by the +pellucid gaiety of her grey eyes, he surrendered; and his name and +fortune fluttered into her lap, helplessly as a blown leaf. He said: + +'I came to see you to-night . . . I took the liberty of calling on you at +this late hour, because things had occurred that . . . well, I mean . . . +you must have observed that I was attached to you. I don't know if you +guessed it, but the fact is that I never cared for anyone as I do for +you, and I felt I could bear with uncertainty no longer, and that I must +come to-night, and ask you if you will have me.' + +Violet raised her eyes. + +'Say yes,' murmured the Marquis, and it seemed to him that in the words +life had fallen from his lips. + +'Yes,' was the answer, and he clasped the thin hand she extended to him. + +'Ah, how happy you have made me, I never thought such honours were in +store for me,' exclaimed Mrs. Scully. The discipline of years was lost +in a moment; and, reverting to her long-buried self, she clasped the +Marquis to her agitated bosom. Violet looked annoyed, ashamed; and Mrs. +Scully, whom excitement had stripped of all her grand manners, said: + +'And now, me dear children, I'll leave you to yerselves.' + +The lovers sat side by side. Violet thought of the great love she had +inspired, and the Marquis of the long years of happiness that +would--that must now be his, of the frail grace that as a bland odour +seemed to float about his beloved. And now that she was his, he would +have her know that his love of her rose out of his deepest sense of +soul; but words were weak: he seemed to be tongue-tied. + +'Where did you dine to-night?' she said suddenly. + +'With the Bartons.' + +He told her everything--of the proposal and the invitation to +Brookfield. + +'And are you going down to Galway to stay with them?' + +'Of course not. How can you ask such a question?' + +'And why not--why shouldn't you go? I wish you would,' she added; and +the light in her grey eyes was malign. + +'You're joking? You surely don't mean what you say. I thought you said +you loved me.' + +'Yes, my dear Harry, that is the very reason. We love each other, +therefore I know I can trust you.' + +He pressed the hand--the silken skin, the palm delicately moist--in +recognition of her kind words. + +'I wouldn't go for anything in the world. I hate those people. 'Pon my +word, I don't think anything would tempt me to spend a week with them in +the country.' + +'Yes; I could.' + +The Marquis laughed. 'Yes, you could--you could tempt me to do anything. +But why should you want me to go and spend a week with them in Galway?' + +'Because, dear, they were rude to me; because,' she added, casting down +her eyes--'because they tried to buy you from me. That is why I should +like to humiliate them.' + +The enchantment of the Marquis was completed, and he said: + +'What, a whole week away from you! a whole week with Mrs. Barton! I +could not endure it.' + +'What, not for my sake?' + +'Anything for your sake, darling.' He clasped her in his arms, and then +they lapsed into silence that to him was even sweeter than the kiss she +had given him. Love's deepest delight is the ineffable consciousness of +our own weakness. We drink the sweetened cup in its entirety when, +having ceased to will, we abandon ourselves with the lethal languors of +the swimmer to the vague depths of dreams. And it was past midnight when +the Marquis left Fitzwilliam Place. The ladies accompanied him +downstairs; their hands helped him to his hat and coat, and then the +lock slipped back sharply, and in the gloom, broken in one spot by the +low-burning gas, the women wondered. + +'Oh, mamma, mamma, mamma! I am so happy!' the girl exclaimed, and, +weeping passionately, she threw herself for rest upon Mrs. Scully's +arms. + +'Yes, my child; you have been very good, you have made me very happy. +You'll be a marchioness. Who would have thought I'd have lived to see +all this honour when I served in the little shop at Galway!' + +At the mention of the shop Violet recovered her composure, and mother +and daughter listened to the receding footfalls. + +'I wonder if he is happy,' Violet murmured; 'as happy as I am. For I do +like him. He is a good sort.' + +'Your happiness is a different happiness,' Mrs. Scully answered. + +Like a flowering tree, a luxuriant joy bloomed in the Marquis's heart; +in its shade and fragrance his thoughts lay supinely; and, a prey to +many floating and fanciful imaginings, he walked onwards through the +darkness. In the lowering skies he saw the fair face that had led him to +the verge on which he now stood. + +'Was anybody as happy as he? And what did his happiness mean?' he asked +himself. + +Shades flitted across yellow window-panes, and he remembered he had +received an invitation for this very ball. + +Cats slunk through the area railings; policemen moved from their hiding +corners; a lover passed on with his dreams. + + + + +XXI + + +Mrs. Barton rarely took anyone into her confidence, and her plan for the +capture of the Marquis was locked within her breast. Not to her husband, +nor yet to Milord, did she think of going for advice. Her special +experience of life had taught her to trust none, to be self-reliant, and +never to give up hope. For as she often said, it is the last effort that +wins the battle. Mrs. Barton's knowledge of the world, when it came to +be analyzed, was only that of the courtesan--skin deep. + +Two days after she received a note from the Marquis, saying he would be +glad to spend a week with them at Brookfield. She read it quietly, +slipped it into the pocket of the black silk that covered the unseen +feet, and glided out of the room. Every detail was clear to her. They +must leave Dublin to-morrow morning; they need not trouble about calling +on a pack of women, but they would have all their men friends to dinner. + +Mr. Barton, when he was informed of these sudden determinations, was in +the act of rehearsing a song he was to sing the following day at a +concert. + +'But, my dear,' he said, tightening one of the strings; 'the public will +be awfully disappointed.' + +'Yes, my dear, yes; I am very sorry, but I have my reasons--serious +reasons; and in this world we must only do what's right.' + +'Then in the next world we shall be able to do everything that's wrong,' +said Mr. Barton; and he threw back his blond locks with troubadour-like +waves of his lymphatic hand. 'I shall like the next world better than +this,' he added, and his wife and daughter laughed; for papa was +supposed to be very naughty. + +'Olive, dear--' + +'Oh, mamma, I wish you wouldn't call me Olive. I shall change my name. +Captain Talbot was chaffing me about it yesterday. Everybody chaffs me +about it.' + +'Never mind, my dear; it makes a subject of conversation. But I was +going to tell you that we shall have to start for Brookfield to-morrow.' + +'Go to Brookfield! I couldn't possibly leave Dublin yet a while; what +would all my young men do--they'd die of broken hearts!' + +'It won't matter much if they do; there aren't a dozen worth two +thousand a year each.' + +'No? You are joking, mamma. And the Marquis?' + +'That's a secret, dear.' + +'Then you don't think he'll propose to me after all; and I gave up +Edward--Captain Hibbert.' + +'I thought you had forgotten that horrid man's name. I didn't say, dear, +that the Marquis wouldn't propose to you--of course he will. But we must +leave Dublin to-morrow--I have serious reasons.' + +'Oh, mamma, I didn't think you were so cruel, to go back to that hateful +place, where everybody talks of rents, and that odious Land League.' + +'Now, I will not allow my darling to cry like that,' exclaimed Mrs. +Barton, and she threw her arms round the girl's shoulders. 'I didn't say +that there wouldn't be a man within seven miles. On the contrary, there +will be one very charming man indeed.' + +'What do you mean, mamma?' + +'That's a secret--that's a secret.' + +Alice was told that she had better come home early that afternoon, so +that she might have plenty of time to pack her own things and help her +sister with hers; and it seemed to her unbelievable that she was at last +leaving that hateful little varnished floor, complimenting old beaux and +young A.D.C.'s. + +But if to nobody else, she must say good-bye to May. She had hardly seen +her since the night of the State ball--the night she had given Fred +Scully permission to see her in her room. She found her in the ladies' +drawing-room. + +'How do you do, May?' + +'Oh, how do you do, Alice? I am so glad to see you. What a dreadful +day!' + +'Yes, isn't it? Don't you find it very depressing?' + +'I should think I did. I'm feeling rather out of sorts. Do you ever feel +out of sorts? you know, when everything seems as if it were reflected in +a darkened glass? There are times when we girls are nervous and weak, +and ready to quarrel with anyone. I don't know what I wish for now; I +think I should like to go back to the country.' + +'We are going back to-morrow morning.' + +'You don't say so; and how's that? There are plenty of balls and +afternoon dances. What does Olive say to going home?' + +'She doesn't mind. You know mamma always said she would return +immediately after the Castle balls.' + +'And now that it is all over, tell me what you think of the Castle. Did +it come up to your expectations?' + +'I don't know that I think much about the matter. I am not so fond of +dancing as you are.' + +'Oh, goodness me, goodness me, how ill I do feel,' said May, as she +started and yawned in a way that betokened the nervous lassitude she was +suffering from. + +'Perhaps you had better see the doctor,' said Alice significantly. + +'I'm worried. Fred hasn't been as nice lately as he used to be.' + +'What has he done?' + +'Last night he promised to meet me in the Square, and he wrote to say he +couldn't come, that he was forced to go and see an important customer +about some horses.' + +'Perhaps he had.' + +'I dare say he had, but what of that? It does not make it any less +disagreeable for me to be disappointed.' + +'How cross you are, May! I came out on purpose to talk to you on this +very subject. I hope you won't be angry, but I think it is my duty to +tell you that people are beginning to talk about you.' + +'And what do they say?' + +'Well, they say many unpleasant things; you know how ill-natured people +are.' + +'Yes, but what do they say?' + +'They say you are desperately in love with Fred Scully.' + +'Supposing I were; is there any very great harm in that?' + +'I only want to put you on your guard, May dear; and since I have come +here for the purpose of speaking out, I had better do so, however +unpleasant it may be; and I must say that you often forget yourself when +he is in the room, and by your whole manner betray your feelings. You +look at him--' + +'You needn't talk. Now that Harding has left town, these moral +reflections come very easy to you!' + +Alice blushed a little; she trembled, and pursuing her advantage, May +said: + +'Oh, yes; I have watched you in the Castle sitting out dances; and when +girls like you butter! 'Pon my word, it was painful to look at you.' + +'Mr. Harding and I talked merely of books and pictures.' + +'If you come here to insinuate that Fred and I are in the habit of +indulging in improper conversation. . . . I didn't expect this from you. I +shan't stop another moment. I shan't speak to you again.' + +Picking up her novel, and deaf to all explanations, May walked haughtily +out of the room. Alice would have given much to help; and, her heart +filled with gentle disappointment, she returned home. The evening was +spent in packing; and next morning at dawn, looking tired, their eyes +still heavy with sleep, the Bartons breakfasted for the last time in +Mount Street. + +At the Broadstone they met Lord Dungory. Then, their feet and knees +cosily wrapped up in furs, with copies of the _Freeman's Journal_ lying +on the top, they deplored the ineffectiveness of Mr. Forster's Coercion +Act. Eight hundred people were in prison, and still the red shadow of +murder pointed across the land. Milord read from the newspaper: + +'A dastardly outrage was committed last night in the neighbourhood of +Mullingar. A woman named Mary ---- had some differences with her sister +Bridget ----. One day, after some angry words, it appears that she left +the house, and seeing a man working in a potato-field, she asked him if +he could do anything to help her. He scratched his head, and, after a +moment's reflection, he said he was going to meet a "party," and he +would see what could be done. On the following day he suggested that +Bridget might be removed for the sum of one pound. Mary ---- could not, +however, procure more than fifteen shillings, and a bargain was struck. +On the night arranged for the assassination Mary wished to leave the +house, not caring to see her sister shot in her presence, but Pat +declared that her absence would excite suspicion. In the words of one of +the murderers, the deed was accomplished "nately and without unnecessary +fuss."' + +'I wonder,' said Mrs. Barton, 'what those wretches will have to do +before the Government will consent to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act, and +place the country in the hands of the military. Do they never think of +how wickedly they are behaving, and of how God will punish them when +they die? Do they never think of their immortal souls?' + +'_L'âme du paysan se vautre dans la boue comme la mienne se plaît dans +la soie_.' + +'_Dans la soie! dans la soie! oh, ce Milord, ce Milord!'_ + +'_Oui, madame_,' he added, lowering his voice, '_dans le blanc paradis +de votre corsage_.' + +Three days after life at Brookfield had resumed its ordinary course. +Once breakfast was over, Arthur retired to the consideration of the +pectoral muscles of the ancient Briton, Milord drank his glass of sherry +at half-past one, and Mrs. Barton devoted herself to the double task of +amusing him and encouraging Olive with visions of future fame. Alice was +therefore left definitely to herself, and without hindrance or comment +was allowed to set up her writing-table, and spend as much time as she +pleased in her bedroom. + +Several sheets of foolscap paper covered with large open handwriting lay +upon the table. Upon the first page, with a line ruled beneath it, stood +the title: 'The Diary of a Plain Girl--Notes and Sensations.' She had +just laid aside her pen and was waiting for Cecilia. + +'Oh, Alice darling, how are you? I am delighted--I am so delighted to +see you. Let me kiss you, let me see you; I have been longing for you +for weeks--for months.' + +Alice bent her face down, and then, holding each other's hands, the +girls stood looking through a deep and expressive silence into each +other's eyes. + +'I wish, Alice, I could tell you how glad I am to have you back: it +seems like heaven to see you again. You look so nice, so true, so sweet, +so perfect. There never was anyone so perfect as you, Alice.' + +'Cecilia dear, you shouldn't talk to me like that; it is absurd. Indeed, +I don't think it is quite right.' + +'Not quite right,' replied the cripple sadly; 'what do you mean? Why is +it wrong--why should it be wrong for me to love you?' + +'I don't mean to say that it is wrong; you misunderstand me; +but--but--well, I don't know how to explain myself, but--' + +'I know, I know, I know,' said Cecilia, and her nervous sensitivity +revealed thoughts in Alice's mind--thoughts of which Alice herself was +not distinctly conscious, just as a photograph exposes irregularities in +the texture of a leaf that the naked eye would not perceive. + +'If Harding were to speak to you so, you wouldn't think it wrong.' + +Alice's face flushed a little, and she said, with a certain resoluteness +in her voice, 'Cecilia, I wish you wouldn't talk to me in this way. You +give me great pain.' + +'I am sorry if I do, but I can't help it. I am jealous of the words that +are spoken to you, of the air you breathe, of the ground you walk upon. +How, then, can I help hating that man?' + +'I do not wish to argue this point with you, Cecilia, nor am I sure that +I understand it. There is no one I like better than you, dear, but that +we should be jealous of each other is absurd.' + +'For you perhaps, but not for me.' Cecilia looked at Alice +reproachfully, and at the end of a long and morose silence she said: + +'You received the long letter I wrote to you about him?' + +'Yes, Cecilia, and I answered it. It seems to me very foolish to +pronounce condemnatory opinion on the whole world; and particularly for +you who have seen so little of it.' + +'That doesn't matter. People are blinded by their passions; but when +these have worn themselves out, they see the truth in all its horrible +nakedness. One of these days you'll tell me that I am right. You have +been a good deal in the world lately; tell me if you have found it +beautiful. You didn't believe me when I told you that men were vile and +abominable; you said there were good men in the world, that you were +sure of it. Have you found them? Was Mr. Harding so very perfect?' + +Alice coloured again; she hesitated, and in the silence Cecilia again +divined her friend's thoughts. + +'A very poor ideal indeed, it seems to me that you set yourself--to make +the best of this wretched world.' + +'I cannot understand what good can come of craving after the +unattainable,' said Alice, looking earnestly out of her grey sharp eyes. + +'True beauty lies only in the unattainable,' said Cecilia, lifting her +eyes with that curious movement of the eyeball by which painters +represent faith and mysticism. + +At the end of a long silence, Alice said: + +'But you'll have some tea, will you not, Cecilia?' + +'Yes; but don't let us go downstairs.' + +'We'll have it up here; Barnes will bring it up.' + +'Oh, that will be so nice.' + +The girls drew closer to the fire, and in its uniting warmth they looked +into the ardent face of their friendship, talking, at first, conscious +of the appropriateness of their conversation; but soon forgetful of the +more serious themes they had been discussing, questions were asked and +answered, and comments passed, upon the presentations, the dresses, the +crowds, upon all their acquaintances. + +'It is given out, Alice dear, that Lord Kilcarney is coming down to stay +at Brookfield. Is it true?' + +'I have heard nothing of it. Whom did you hear it from?' + +'Well, the Duffys wrote it to my sisters. The Duffys, you know, have all +the Dublin news.' + +'What dreadful gossips they are! And the wonderful part of it is that +they often tell you that things have happened long before they do +happen.' + +'Yes; I have noticed that. They anticipate the news.' + +The girls laughed lightly, and Cecilia continued: + +'But tell me, which do you think he admires most, Olive or Violet? The +rumour goes that he pays Violet great attentions. The family is, of +course, wild about it. She hasn't a penny piece, and Olive, they say, +has a good deal of money.' + +'I don't know.' + +'You must show me the dress you wore. You described it beautifully in +your letter. You must have looked very sweet. Did everybody say so?' + +'I am not sure that they did. Men, you know, do not always admire what +women do.' + +'I should think not. Men only admire beastliness.' + +'Cecilia dear, you shouldn't talk like that; it isn't nice.' + +Cecilia looked at Alice wistfully, and she said: + +'But tell me about the presentations. I suppose there were an immense +number of people present?' + +'Yes, and particularly _débutantes_; there were a great number presented +this year. It was considered a large Drawing-Room.' + +'And how are you presented? I've heard my sister speak about it, but I +never quite understood.' + +At that moment Barnes brought in the tea. She set it on a little table +used for the purpose. + +'There is a letter for you, miss, on the tray,' she said as she left the +room; 'it came by the afternoon post.' + +Without answering, Alice continued to pour out the tea, but when she +handed Cecilia her cup, she said, surprised at the dull, sullen stare +fixed upon her: + +'What is the matter? Why do you look at me like that?' + +'That letter, I am sure, is from Harding; it is a man's handwriting.' + +She had been expecting that letter for days. + +'Oh! give it me,' she said impulsively. + +'There it is; I wouldn't touch it. I knew you liked that man; but I +didn't expect to find you corresponding with him. It is shameful; it +isn't worthy of you. You might have left such things to May Gould.' + +'Cecilia, you have no right to speak to me in that way; you are +presuming too much on our friendship.' + +'Oh, yes, yes; but before you met him I could not presume too much upon +our friendship.' + +'If you want to know why I wrote to Mr. Harding, I'll tell you.' + +'It was you who wrote to him, then?' + +'Yes, I wrote to him.' + +'Oh, yes, yes, yes; I see it all now,' cried Cecilia, and she walked +wildly to and fro, her eye tinged with a strange glare. 'Yes, I see it +all. This room, that was once a girl's room, is now Harding's room. He +is the atmosphere of the place. I was conscious of it when I entered, +but now it is visible to me--that manuscript, that writing-table, that +letter. Oh yes, it is Harding, all is Harding!' + +'Cecilia, Cecilia, think, I beg of you, of what you are saying.' + +But when Alice approached and strove to raise her from the pillow upon +which she had thrown herself, she started up and savagely confronted +her. + +'Don't touch me, don't touch me!' she cried. 'I cannot bear it. What are +you to me, what am I to you? It is not with me you would care to be, but +with _him_. It is not my kiss of friendship that would console you, but +his kiss of passion that would charm you. . . . Go to him, and leave me to +die.' + +'Was this insanity?' And then, forgetful of the abuse that was being +showered upon her, Alice said: + +'Cecilia dear, listen; I'll forgive the language you have used toward +me, for I know you do not know what you are saying. You must be ill . . . +you cannot be in your right senses to-day, or you would not speak like +that.' + +'You would soothe me, but you little dream of the poison you are +dropping on my wounds. You never understood, you are too far removed +from me in thought and feeling ever to understand--no, your spirituality +is only a delusion; you are no better at heart than May Gould. It is the +same thing: one seeks a husband, another gratifies herself with a lover. +It is the same thing--where's the difference? It is animal passion all +the same. And that letter is full of it--it must be--I am sure it is.' + +'You are very insulting, Cecilia. Where have you thrown my letter?' + +The letter had fallen beneath the table. Alice made a movement towards +it, but, overcome by mad rage, Cecilia caught it up and threw it into +the fire. Alice rescued her letter, and then, her face full of stern +indignation, she said: + +'I think, Cecilia, you had better leave my room, and before you come to +see me again, I shall expect to receive a written apology for the +outrageous way you have behaved.' + +In a few days came a humble and penitent letter; Cecilia returned, her +eyes full of tears, and begged to be forgiven; the girls resumed their +friendship, but both were conscious that it was neither so bright nor so +communicative as in the olden days. + + + + +XXII + + +'Something has happened to my learned daughter,' said Mr. Barton, and he +continued his thumb-nail sketch on the tablecloth. 'What is it?' he +added indolently. + +Alice passed the cheque and the memorandum across the table. 'Three +pounds for three articles contributed to the ---- during the month of +April.' + +'You don't mean to say, Alice, you got three pounds for your writing?' +said Mrs. Barton. + +'Yes, mother, I have, and I hope to make ten pounds next month. Mr. +Harding says he can get me lots of work.' + +'So my lady then, with all her shy ways, knows how to make use of a man +as well as any of us.' + +Mrs. Barton did not willingly wound. She saw life from the point of view +of making use of men, that was all; and when Alice walked out of the +room, Mrs. Barton felt sorry for what she had said, and she would have +gone to comfort her daughter if Olive had not, at that moment, stood in +imminent need of comfort. + +'I suppose,' she said pettishly, 'the letter you received this morning +is from the Marquis, to say he won't be here next Tuesday?' + +It was. For as the day fixed for his arrival at Brookfield approached, +he would write to apologize, and to beg that he might be allowed to +postpone his visit to Monday week or Wednesday fortnight. Mrs. Barton +replied that they would be very glad to see him when he found it +convenient to come and see them. She did not inquire into the reason of +his rudeness, she was determined to fight the battle out to the end, and +she did not dare to think that he was being prompted by that beast of a +girl, Violet Scully. + +'He writes a very nice letter indeed. He says he has a very bad cold, +and doesn't like to show himself at Brookfield with a red nose, but +that, unless he dies in the meantime, he will be with us on the +twentieth of the month, and will--if we'll have him--stop three weeks +with us.' + +'I knew the letter was a put-off. I don't believe he admires me at all, +the little beast; and I know I shall never be a marchioness. You made me +treat poor Edward shamefully, and for no purpose, after all.' + +'Now, Olive, you mustn't speak like that. Go upstairs and ask Barnes if +she has heard anything lately?' + +'Oh, I'm sick of Barnes; what has she heard?' + +'She is a great friend of Lady Georgina's maid, who knows the Burkes +intimately, particularly Lady Emily's maid, and Barnes got a letter from +her friend the other day, saying that Lady Emily was delighted at the +idea of her brother marrying you, dear, and that he thinks of nobody +else, speaks of nobody else. Run up and speak to her about it.' + +As we have seen, Mrs. Barton had drugged Olive's light brain with +visions of victories, with dancing, dresses, admiration; but now, in the +tiring void of country days, memories of Edward's love and devotion were +certain to arise. He made, however, no attempt to renew his courtship. +At Gort, within three miles, he remained silent, immovable as one of the +Clare mountains. Sometimes his brown-gold moustache and square shoulders +were caught sight of as he rode rapidly along the roads. He had once +been seen sitting with Mrs. Lawler behind the famous cream-coloured +ponies; and to allude to his disgraceful conduct without wounding +Olive's vanity was an art that Mrs. Barton practised daily; and to keep +the girl in spirits she induced Sir Charles, who it was reported was +about to emigrate his family to the wilds of Maratoga, to come and stay +with them. If a rumour were to reach the Marquis's ears, it might help +to bring him to the point. In any case Sir Charles's attentions to Olive +would keep her in humour until the great day arrived. + +Well convinced that this was her last throw, Mrs. Barton resolved to +smear the hook well with the three famous baits she was accustomed to +angle with. They were--dinners, flattery, and dancing. Accordingly, an +order was given to the Dublin fishmonger to send them fish daily for the +next three weeks, and to the pastrycook for a French cook. The store of +flattery kept on the premises being illimitable, she did not trouble +about that, but devoted herself to the solution of the problem of how +she should obtain a constant and unfailing supply of music. Once she +thought of sending up to Dublin for a professional pianist, but was +obliged to abandon the idea on account of the impossibility of devising +suitable employment for him during the morning hours. A tune or two +might not come in amiss after lunch, but to have him hanging about the +shrubberies all the morning would be intolerable. She might ask a couple +of the Brennans or the Duffys to stay with them, but they would be in +the way, and occupy the Marquis's time, and go tell-taling all over the +country; no, that wouldn't do either. Alice's playing was wretched. It +was a wonderful thing that a girl like her would not make some effort to +amuse men--would not do something. Once Olive was married, she (Mrs. +Barton) would try to patch up something for this gawk of a girl--marry +her to Sir Charles; excellent match it would be, too--get all the +children emigrated first: and if he would not have her, there was Sir +Richard. It was said that he was quite reformed--had given up drink. But +there was no use thinking of that: for the present she would have to put +up with the girl's music, which was wretched. + +Olive fell in with her mother's plans, and she angled industriously for +Lord Kilcarney. She did not fail to say in or out of season, '_Il n'y a +personne comme notre cher Marquis_,' and as the turbot and fruit, that +had arrived by the afternoon train from Dublin, were discussed, Milord +did not cease to make the most appropriate remarks. Referring to the +bouquet that she had pinned into the Marquis's buttonhole, he said: + +'_Il y a des amants partout où il y a des oiseaux et des roses_.' And +again: '_Les regardes des amoureux sont la lumière comme le baiser est +la vie du monde_.' + +After dinner no time was lost, although the Marquis pleaded fatigue, in +settling Alice at the piano, and dancing began in sober earnest. After +each waltz Olive conducted him to the dining-room; she helped him +liberally to wine, and when she held a match to his cigarette their +fingers touched. But to find occupation for the long morning hours of +her young couple was a grave trouble to Mrs. Barton. She was determined +to make every moment of the little Marquis's stay in Galway moments of +sunshine; but mental no more than atmospheric sunshine is to be had by +the willing, and the poor little fellow seemed to pine in his Galway +cage like a moulting canary. He submitted to all the efforts made in his +behalf, but his submission was that of a victim. After breakfast he +always attempted to escape, and if he succeeded in eluding Mrs. Barton, +he would remain for hours hidden in the laurels, enwrapped in summer +meditations, the nature of which it was impossible even to conjecture. +In the afternoon he spoke of the burden of his correspondence, and when +the inevitable dancing was spoken of, he often excused himself on the +ground of having a long letter to finish. If it were impossible for her +to learn the contents of these letters, Mrs. Barton ardently desired to +know to whom they were addressed. Daily she volunteered to send special +messengers to the post on his account; the footman, the coachman, and +pony-chaise, were in turn rejected by him. + +'Thank you, Mrs. Barton, thank you, but I should like to avail myself of +the chance of a constitutional.' + +'_La santé de notre petit Marquis avant tout_,' she would exclaim, with +much silvery laughter and all the habitual movements of the white hands. +'But what do you say: I am sure the young ladies would like a walk, +too?' + +With a view to picturesque effect Mrs. Barton's thoughts had long been +centred on a picnic. They were now within a few days of the first of +May, and there was enough sunshine in the air to justify an excursion to +Kinvarra Castle. It is about four miles distant, at the end of a long +narrow bay. + +Mrs. Barton applied herself diligently to the task of organization. +Having heard from Dublin of the hoax that was being played on their +enemy, the Ladies Cullen consented to join the party, and they brought +with them one of the Honourable Miss Gores. The Duffys and Brennans +numbered their full strength, including even the famous Bertha, who was +staying with her sisters on a visit. The Goulds excused themselves on +account of the distance and the disturbed state of the country. Mrs. +Barton found, therefore, much difficulty in maintaining the noted +characteristic of her parties. Sir Richard and Sir Charles had agreed to +come; Mr. Adair, Mr. Ryan, and Mr. Lynch were also present. They drove +up on outside cars, and were all attended by a bodyguard of policemen. + +And very soon everybody fell to babbling of the history of the Castle, +which nobody knew: Ireland has had few chroniclers. Lord Dungory pointed +out that in the seventeenth century people lived in Ireland +naked--speaking Latin habitually--without furniture or tapestries or +paintings or baths. The Castle suggested a military movement to Mr. +Barton. + +'If things get any worse, we might all retire into this castle. The +ladies will stand on the battlements, and I will undertake to hold the +place for ever against those village ruffians.' + +'I do not think there will be any necessity for that,' replied Mr. Adair +sententiously. 'I think that these last terrible outrages have awakened +the Government to a sense of their responsibility. I have reason to +believe that immediate steps will be taken to crush this infamous +conspiracy.' + +Lord Dungory interposed with a neat epigram, and Mr. Adair fell to +telling how he would crush the Land League out of existence if the +Government would place him in supreme power for the space of one month. + +'That is all I would ask: one month to restore this island to peace and +prosperity. I have always been a Liberal, but I confess that I entirely +fail to understand the action the Government are taking in the present +crisis.' + +As Lord Dungory was about to reply that he did not believe that the +peasants could continue to resist the Government indefinitely, the +police-sergeant in charge of the picnic-party approached, his face +overcast. + +'We've just received bad news from Dublin, my lord. The worst. Lord +Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke were murdered this evening in the +Phoenix Park. It is unfortunately true, sir; I've the telegram with me.' +And he handed the yellow envelope to Lord Dungory, who, after glancing +at it, handed it on to Mr. Adair. + +The appearance of the police in conversation with Lord Dungory and Mr. +Adair was a sign for the assembling of the rest of the company, and it +was under the walls of old Kinvarra Castle that the picnic-party heard +the awful news. + +Then, in turn, each ejaculated a few words. + +Mrs. Barton said: 'It is dreadful to think there are such wicked people +in the world.' + +Mr. Adair said: 'There can be no doubt but that we have arrived at the +crisis; Europe will ring with the echoes of the crime.' + +Olive said: 'I think they ought to hang Mr. Parnell; I believe it was he +who drove the car.' + +Mr. Barton said: 'The landlords and Land-Leaguers will have to do what I +say; they will have to fight it out. Now, at their head, I believe by a +series of rapid marches--' + +'Arthur, Arthur, I beg of you,' exclaimed Mrs. Barton. + +'We shall all have to emigrate,' Sir Charles murmured reflectively. + +'The law is in abeyance,' said Mr. Lynch. + +'Precisely,' replied Milord; 'and as I once said to Lord Granville, +"_Les moeurs sont les hommes, mais la loi est la raison du pays_."' + +Mr. Adair looked up; he seemed about to contest the truth of this +aphorism, but he relapsed into his consideration of Mr. Gladstone's +political integrity. The conversation had fallen, but at the end of a +long silence Mr. Ryan said: + +'Begorra, I am very glad they were murthered.' + +All drew back instinctively. This was too horrible, and doubt of Mr. +Ryan's sanity was expressed on every face. + +At last Mr. Adair said, conscious that he was expressing the feelings of +the entire company: 'What do you mean, sir? Have you gone mad? Do you +not know that this is no fitting time for buffoonery?' + +'Will ye hear me cousin out?' said Mr. Lynch. + +'Begorra, I'm glad they were murthered,' continued Mr. Ryan; 'for if +they hadn't been we'd have been--there's the long and the short of it. I +know the counthry well, and I know that in six months more, without a +proper Coercion Act, we'd have been burned in our beds.' + +The unanswerableness of Mr. Ryan's words, and the implacable certainty +which forced itself into every heart, that he spoke but the truth, did +not, however, make the company less inclined to oppose the utilitarian +view he took of the tragedy. + +Unfinished phrases . . . 'Disgraceful' . . . 'Shocking' . . . +'Inconceivable' . . . 'That anyone should say such a thing' . . . were +passed round, and a disposition was shown to boycott Mr. Ryan. + +Mr. Adair spoke of not sitting in the room where such opinions were +expressed, but Milord was seen whispering to him, 'We're not in a room, +Adair, we're out of doors;' and Mrs. Barton, always anxious to calm +troubled lives, suggested that 'people did not mean all they said.' Mr. +Ryan, however, maintained through it all an attitude of stolid +indifference, the indifference of a man who knows that all must come +back sooner or later to his views. + +And presently, although the sting remained, the memory of the wasp that +had stung seemed to be lost. Milord and Mr. Adair engaged in a long and +learned discussion concerning the principles of Liberalism, in the +course of which many allusions were made to the new Coercion Bill, +which, it was now agreed, Mr. Gladstone would, in a few days, lay before +Parliament. The provisions of this Bill were debated. Milord spoke of an +Act that had been in force consequent on the Fenian rising in '69. Mr. +Adair was of opinion that the importance of a new Coercion Act could not +be over-estimated; Mr. Barton declared in favour of a military +expedition--a rapid dash into the heart of Connemara. But the +conversation languished, and in the ever-lengthening silences all found +their thoughts reverting to the idea brutally expressed by Mr. Ryan: +_Yes, they were glad; for if Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke had +not been assassinated, every landowner in the country would have been +murdered._ + +There was no dancing that evening; and as the night advanced the danger +of the long drive home increased in intensity in the minds of Messrs. +Lynch and Ryan. They sat on either side of Mr. Adair, and it was finally +arranged that they should join their police-forces, and spend the night +at his place. Sir Charles was sleeping at Brookfield; Milord had four +policemen with him; and as all would have to pass his gate, he did not +anticipate that even the Land League would venture to attack thirteen +armed men. Mr. Barton, who saw the picturesque in everything, declared, +when he came back, that they looked like a caravan starting for a +pilgrimage across the desert. After a few further remarks, the ladies +rose to retire; but when Mrs. Barton gave her hand to Lord Kilcarney, he +said, his voice trembling a little: + +'I'm afraid I must leave you to-morrow, Mrs. Barton. I shall have to run +over to London to vote in the House of Lords. . .' + +Mrs. Barton led the poor little man into the farther corner of the room, +and making a place for him by her side, she said: + +'Of course we are very sorry you are leaving--we should like you to stop +a little longer with us. Is it impossible for you. . . ?' + +'I am afraid so, Mrs. Barton; it is very kind of you, but--' + +'It is a great pity,' she answered; 'but before we part I should like to +know if you have come to any conclusion about what I spoke to you of in +Dublin. If it is not to be, I should like to know, that I might tell the +girl, so that she might not think anything more about--' + +'What am I to say, what am I to do?' thought the Marquis. 'Oh! why does +this woman worry me? How can I tell her that I wouldn't marry her +daughter for tens of thousands of pounds?' 'I think, Mrs. Barton--I +mean, I think you will agree with me that until affairs in Ireland grow +more settled, it would be impossible for anyone to enter into any +engagements whatever. We are all on the brink of ruin.' + +'But twenty thousand pounds would settle a great deal.' + +The little Marquis was conscious of annihilation, and he sought to +escape Mrs. Barton as he might a piece of falling rock. With a desperate +effort he said: + +'Yes, Mrs. Barton--yes, I agree with you, twenty thousand pounds is a +great deal of money; but I think we had better wait until the Lords have +passed the new Coercion Bill--say nothing more about this--leave it an +open question.' + +And on this eminently unsatisfactory answer the matter ended; even Mrs. +Barton saw she could not, at least for the present, continue to press +it. Still she did not give up hope. 'Try on to the end; we never know +that it is not the last little effort that will win the game,' was the +aphorism with which she consoled her daughter, and induced her to write +to Lord Kilcarney. And almost daily he received from her flowers, +supposed to be emblematical of the feeling she entertained for him; and +for these Alice was sometimes ordered to compose verses and suitable +mottoes. + + + + +XXIII + + +But Lord Kilcarney's replies to these letters seldom consisted of more +than a few well-chosen words, and he often allowed a week, and sometimes +a fortnight, to elapse before answering at all. Olive--too vain and +silly to understand the indifference with which she was treated--whined +and fretted less than might have been expected. She spent a great deal +of her time with Barnes, who fed her with scandal and flattery. But a +storm was about to break, and in August it was known, without any +possibility of a doubt, that the Marquis was engaged to Violet Scully, +and that their marriage was settled for the autumn. + +And this marriage, and the passing of the Bill for the Prevention of +Crime, were the two interests present in the mind of Irish landlordism +during the summer of '82. Immediately the former event was publicly +announced, every girl in Dublin ran to her writing desk to confirm to +her friends and relatives the truth of the news which for the last two +months she had so resolutely anticipated. The famous Bertha, the terror +of the _débutantes_, rushed to Brookfield, but she did not get there +before the Brennans, and the result was a meeting of these families of +girls in Mrs. Barton's drawing-room. Gladys was, however, the person +chosen by God and herself to speak the wonderful words: + +'Of course you have heard the news, Mrs. Barton?' + +'No,' replied Mrs. Barton, a little nervously; 'what is it?' + +'Oh yes, what is it?' exclaimed Olive. 'Anyone going to be married?' + +'Yes. Can you guess?' + +'No; tell me quick . . . no, do tell me. Are you going to be married?' + +Had Olive been suddenly dowered with the wit of Congreve she could not +have contrived an answer that would have shielded her better from the +dart that Gladys was preparing to hurl. The girl winced; and divining +the truth in a moment of inspiration, Mrs. Barton said: + +'Ah! I know; Lord Kilcarney is engaged to Violet Scully.' + +The situation was almost saved, and would have been had Olive not been +present. She glanced at her mother in astonishment; and Gladys, fearing +utter defeat, hurled her dart recklessly. + +'Yes,' she exclaimed, 'and their marriage is fixed for this autumn.' + +'I don't believe a word of it. . . . You only say so because you think it +will annoy me.' + +'My dear Olive, how can it annoy you? You know very well you refused +him,' said Mrs. Barton, risking the danger of contradiction. 'Gladys is +only telling us the news.' + +'News, indeed; a pack of lies. I know her well; and all because--because +she didn't succeed in hooking the man she was after in the Shelbourne +last year. I'm not going to listen to her lies, if you are;' and on +these words Olive flaunted passionately out of the room. + +'So very sorry, really,' exclaimed Zoe. 'We really didn't know . . . +indeed we didn't. We couldn't have known that--that there was any reason +why dear Olive wouldn't like to hear that Lord Kilcarney was engaged to +Violet.' + +'Not at all, not at all. I assure you that whatever question there may +once have been, I give you my word, was broken off a long time ago; they +did not suit each other at all,' said Mrs. Barton. Now that she was +relieved of the presence of her young, the mother fought admirably. But +in a few minutes the enemy was reinforced by the arrival of the Hon. +Miss Gores. + +'Oh, how do you do? I am so glad to see you,' said Mrs. Barton, the +moment they entered the room. 'Have you heard the news? all is +definitely settled between the little Marquis and Violet. We were all +talking of it; I am so glad for her sake. Of course it is very grand to +be a marchioness, but I'm afraid she'll find her coronet a poor +substitute for her dinner. You know what a state the property is in. She +has married a beggar. The great thing after all, nowadays, is money.' + +It would have been better perhaps not to have spoken of Lord Kilcarney's +mortgages, but the Marquis's money embarrassments were the weak point in +Violet's marriage, but it would not be natural (supposing that Olive had +herself refused Lord Kilcarney) for her not to speak of them. So she +prattled on gaily for nearly an hour, playing her part admirably, +extricating herself from a difficult position and casting some +doubt--only a little, it is true, but a little was a gain on the story +that Olive had been rejected. + +As soon as her visitors left the room, and she went to the window to +watch the carriages drive away and to consider how she might console her +daughter--persuade her, perhaps, that everything had happened for the +best. + +'Oh, mamma,' she said, rushing into the room, 'this is terrible; what +shall we do--what shall we do?' + +'What's terrible, my beautiful darling?' + +Olive looked through her languor and tears, and she answered petulantly: + +'Oh, you know very well I'm disgraced; he's going to marry Violet, and I +shall not be a marchioness after all.' + +'If my beautiful darling likes she can be a duchess,' replied Mrs. +Barton with a silvery laugh. + +'I don't understand, mamma.' + +'I mean that we aren't entirely dependent on that wretched little +Marquis with his encumbered property; if he were fool enough to let +himself be entrapped by that designing little beast, Violet Scully, so +much the worse for him; we shall get someone far grander than he. It is +never wise for a girl to settle herself off the first season she comes +out.' + +'It is all very well to say that now, but you made me break off with +dear Edward, who was ever so nice, and loved me dearly.' + +Mrs. Barton winced, but she answered almost immediately: + +'My dear, we shall get someone a great deal grander than that wretched +Marquis. There will be a whole crowd of English dukes and earls at the +Castle next year; men who haven't a mortgage on their property, and who +will all fight for the hand of my beautiful Olive. Mr. Harding, Alice's +friend, will put your portrait into one of the Society papers as the +Galway beauty, and then next year you may be her Grace.' + +'And how will they do my portrait, mamma?' + +'I think you look best, darling, with your hair done up on the top of +your head, in the French fashion.' + +'Oh! do you think so? You don't like the way I have it done in now?' +said the girl; and, laughing, she ran to the glass to admire herself. +'Barnes said I looked sweet this morning;' and five minutes after she +was tossing her head nervously, declaring she was miserable, and often +she burst out crying for no assignable cause. Mrs. Barton consoled and +flattered gaily; but the sweet placid countenance was sometimes a little +troubled. As the girls left the breakfast-room one morning she said, as +if asking their advice: + +'I have just received an invitation from Dungory Castle; they are giving +a tennis-party, and they want us to go to lunch.' + +'Oh! mamma, I don't want to go,' cried Olive. + +'And why, my dear?' + +'Oh! because everybody knows about the Marquis, and I couldn't bear +their sneers; those Brennans and the Duffys are sure to be there.' + +'Bertha's in Dublin,' said Mrs. Barton, in an intonation of voice a +little too expressive of relief. + +'Gladys is just as bad; and then there's that horrid Zoe. Oh! I couldn't +bear it.' + +'It will look as if we were avoiding them; they will only talk the more. +I always think it is best to put a bold face on everything.' + +'I couldn't, I couldn't. I'm broken-hearted, that's what I am. I have +nothing to do or to think of.' + +There could be little doubt that the Ladies Cullen had got up the +tennis-party so that they might have an opportunity of sneering at her, +but Milord would keep them in check (it might be as well to tell him to +threaten to put down the school if they did not keep a guard on their +tongues), and if Olive would only put a bold face on it and captivate +Sir Charles, this very disagreeable business might blow over. Further +than this Mrs. Barton's thoughts did not travel, but they were clear and +precise thoughts, and with much subtlety and insinuative force she +applied herself to the task of overcoming her daughter's weakness and +strengthening her in this overthrow of vanity and self-love. But to the +tennis-party they must go. Milord, too, was of opinion that they could +not absent themselves, and he had doubtless been able to arrive at a +very clear understanding with Lady Sarah and Lady Jane concerning the +future of Protestantism in the parish, for on the day of the +tennis-party no allusion was made to Lord Kilcarney's visit to +Brookfield; certain references to his marriage were, of course, +inevitable, but it was only necessary to question Mr. Adair on his views +concerning the new Coercion Act to secure for Mrs. Barton an almost +complete immunity from feminine sarcasm. + +'I do not deny,' said Mr. Adair, 'that the Crimes Bill will restore +tranquillity, but I confess that I can regard no Government as +satisfactory that can only govern by the sword.' + +These sentiments being but only very partially appreciated by the rest +of the company, the conversation came to an awkward pause, and Lady Jane +said as she left the room: + +'I do not know a more able man on a county board than Mr. Adair. He took +honours at Trinity, and if he hasn't done as much since as we expected, +it is because he is too honourable, too conscientious, to ally himself +to any particular party.' + +'That was always the way with Lord Dungory,' suggested Mrs. Gould. + +Lady Jane bit her lip, and continued, without taking notice of the +interruption: + +'Now, I hope Mr. Adair will not write a pamphlet, or express himself too +openly concerning the Crimes Act. The question of the day is the +organization of the Land Act, and I hear that Mr. Gladstone says it will +be impossible to get on without Mr. Adair's assistance.' + +'Every six months,' said Mrs. Gould, 'it is given out that Gladstone +cannot go on without him; but somehow Gladstone does manage to get on +without him, and then we never hear any more about it.' + +Lady Jane looked angry; and all wondered at Mrs. Gould's want of tact, +but at that moment the footman announced Messrs. Ryan and Lynch, and +Alice asked if she might go up to see Cecilia. More visitors arrived; +the Brennans, the Duffys, the five Honourable Miss Gores, and the +company adjourned to the tennis ground. Mr. Lynch was anxious to have +May for a partner, but she refused him somewhat pettishly, declaring at +the same time that she had given up tennis, and would never touch a +racquet again. Her continuous silence and dejected appearance created +some surprise, and her cheeks flushed with passion when her mother said +she didn't know what had come over May lately. Then obeying an impulse, +May rose to her feet, and leaving the tennis players she walked across +the pleasure grounds. Dungory Castle was surrounded by heavy woods and +overtopping clumps of trees. As the house was neared, these were filled +in with high laurel hedges and masses of rhododendron, and an opening in +the branches of some large beech-trees revealed a blue and beautiful +aspect of the Clare mountains. + +'I wonder what May is angry about?' Cecilia said to Alice as they +watched the tennis playing from their window; 'suppose those horrid men +are annoying her.' + +'I never saw her refuse to play tennis before,' Alice replied demurely. +And ten minutes after, some subtle desire of which she was not very +conscious led her through the shrubberies towards the place where she +already expected to find May. And dreaming of reconciliation, of a +renewal of friendship, Alice walked through the green summer of the +leaves, listening to the infinite twittering of the birds, and startled +by the wood-pigeons that from time to time rose boisterously out of the +high branches. On a garden bench, leaning forward, her hands rested on +her knees, May sat swinging her parasol from side to side, playing with +the fallen leaves. When she looked up, the sunlight fell full upon her +face, and Alice saw that she was crying. But affecting not to see the +tears, she said, speaking rapidly: + +'Oh, May dear, I have been looking for you. The last time we--' + +But interrupted here by a choking sob, she found herself forced to say: + +'My dear May, what is the matter? Can I do anything for you?' + +'Oh, no, no; only leave me; don't question me. I don't want anyone's +help.' + +The ungraciousness of the words was lost in the accent of grief with +which they were spoken. + +'I assure you I don't wish to be inquisitive,' Alice replied +sorrowfully, 'nor do I come to annoy you with good advice, but the last +time we met we didn't part good friends. . . . I was merely anxious to +assure you that I bore no ill-feeling, but, of course, if you--' + +'Oh no, no,' cried May; reaching and catching at Alice's arm she pulled +her down into the seat beside her; 'I am awfully sorry for my rudeness +to you--to you who are so good--so good. Oh, Alice dear, you will +forgive me, will you not?' and sobbing very helplessly, she threw +herself into her friend's arms. + +'Oh, of course I forgive you,' cried Alice, deeply affected. 'I had no +right to lecture you in the way I did; but I meant it for the best, +indeed I did.' + +'I know you did, but I lost my temper. Ah, if you knew how sorely I was +tried you would forgive me.' + +'I do forgive you, May dear; but tell me, cannot I help you now? You +know that you can confide in me, and I will do any thing in my power to +help you.' + +'No one can help me now,' said the girl sullenly. + +Alice did not speak at once, but at the end of a long silence she said: + +'Does Fred Scully love you no more?' + +'I do not know whether he does or not; nor does it matter much. He's not +in Ireland. He's far away by this time.' + +'Where is he?' + +'He's gone to Australia. He wrote to me about two months ago to say that +all had been decided in a few hours, and that he was to sail next +morning. He's gone out with some racehorses, and expects to win a lot of +money. He'll be back again in a year.' + +'A year isn't long to wait; you'll see him when he comes back.' + +'I don't think I should care to see him again. Oh, you were right, +Alice, to warn me against him. I was foolish not to listen to you, but +it was too late even then.' + +Alice trembled; she had already guessed the truth, but hoping when she +knew all hope was vain, she said: + +'You had better tell me, May; you know I am to be trusted.' + +'Can't you guess it?' + +The conversation fell, and the girls sat staring into the depths of the +wood. Involuntarily their eyes followed a small bird that ran up branch +after branch of a beech-tree, pecking as it went. It seemed like a toy +mouse, so quick and unvarying were its movements. At last May said, and +very dolorously: + +'Alice, I thought you were kinder; haven't you a word of pity? Why tell +you, why ask me to tell you? Oh! what a fool I was!' + +'Oh! no, no, May, you did right to tell me. I am more sorry for you than +words can express, and I didn't speak because I was trying to think of +some way of helping you.' + +'Oh! there's no--no way of helping me, dear. There's nothing for me to +do but to die.' And now giving way utterly, the girl buried her face in +her hands and sobbed until it seemed that she would choke in thick +grief. + +'Oh! May, May dear, you mustn't cry like that: if anyone were to come +by, what would they think?' + +'What does it matter? Everyone will know sooner or later--I wish I were +dead--dead and out of sight for ever of this miserable world.' + +'No, May,' said Alice, thinking instinctively of the child, 'you mustn't +die. Your trial is a terrible one, but people before now have got over +worse. I am trying to think what can be done.' + +Then May raised her weeping face, and there was a light of hope in her +eyes. She clasped Alice's hand. Neither spoke. The little brown bird +pursued his way up and down the branches of the beech; beyond it lay the +sky, and the girls, tense with little sufferings, yearned into this +vision of beautiful peace. + +At last Alice said: 'Did you tell Mr. Scully of the trouble? Does he +know--' + +'He was away, and I didn't like to write it to him; his departure for +Australia took me quite by surprise.' + +'Have you told your mother?' + +'Oh no, I'd rather die than tell her; I couldn't tell her. You know what +she is.' + +'I think she ought to be told; she would take you abroad.' + +'Oh no, Alice dear; it would never do to tell mamma. You know what she +is, you know how she talks, she would never leave off abusing the +Scullys; and then, I don't know how, but somehow everybody would get to +know about it. But find it out they will, sooner or later; it is only a +question of time.' + +'No, no, May, they shall know nothing of this--at least, not if I can +help it.' + +'But you can't help it.' + +'There is one thing quite certain; you must go away. You cannot stop in +Galway.' + +'It is all very well talking like that, but where can I go to? A girl +cannot move a yard away from home without people wanting to know where +she has gone.' + +Alice's eyes filled with tears. + +'You might go up to Dublin,' she said, 'and live in lodgings.' + +'And what excuse should I give to mother?' said May, who in her despair +had not courage to deny the possibility of the plan. + +'You needn't tell her where you are,' replied Alice; and then she +hesitated, feeling keenly conscious of the deception she was practising. +But her unswerving common sense coming, after a moment's reflection, to +her aid, she said: 'You might say that you were going to live in the +convent. Go to the Mother Superior, tell her of your need, beg of her, +persuade her to receive and forward your letters; and in that way, it +seems to me that no one need be the wiser of what is going to happen.' + +The last words were spoken slowly, as if with a sense of shame at being +forced to speak thus. May raised her face, now aflame with hope and joy. + +'I wonder if it is possible to--' A moment after the light died out of +her face, and she said: + +'But how shall I live? Who will support me? I cannot ask mother for +money without awakening suspicion.' + +'I think, May, I shall be able to give you almost all the money you +want,' replied Alice in a hesitating and slightly embarrassed manner. + +'You, Alice?' + +'But I haven't told you; I have been writing a good deal lately for +newspapers, and have made nearly twenty pounds. That will be all you +will want for the present, and I shall be able, I hope, to make +sufficient to keep you supplied.' + +'I don't think that anyone was ever as good as you, Alice. You make me +feel ashamed of myself.' + +'I am doing only what anyone else would do if they were called upon. But +we have been sitting here a long time now, and before we go back to the +tennis-ground we had better arrange what is to be done. When do you +propose leaving?' + +'I had better leave at once. It is seven months ago now--no one suspects +as yet.' + +'Well, then, when would you like me to send you the money? You can have +it at once if you like.' + +'Oh, thanks, dear; mother will give me enough to last me a little while, +and I will write to you from Dublin. You are sure no one sees your +letters at Brookfield?' + +'Quite sure; there's not the slightest danger.' She did not question the +advice she had given, and she felt sure that the Reverend Mother, if a +proper appeal were made to her common sense, would consent to conceal +the girl's fault. Two months would not be long passing, but the expenses +of this time would be heavy, and she, Alice, would have to meet them +all. She trembled lest she might fail to do so, and she tried to reckon +them up. It would be impossible to get rooms under a pound a week, and +to live, no matter how cheaply, would cost at least two pounds; three +pounds a week, four threes are twelve! The twenty pounds would scarcely +carry her over a month, she would not be well for at least two; and then +there was the doctor, the nurse, the flannels for the baby. Alice tried +to calculate, thinking plainly and honestly. If a repulsive detail rose +suddenly up in her mind, she did not shrink, nor was she surprised to +find herself thinking of such things; she did so as a matter of course, +keeping her thoughts fixed on the one object of doing her duty towards +her friend. And how to do this was the problem that presented itself +unceasingly for solution. She felt that somehow she would have to earn +twenty pounds within the next month. Out of the _Lady's Paper_, in which +'Notes and Sensations of a Plain Girl at Dublin Castle,' was still +running, she could not hope to make more than thirty shillings a week; a +magazine had lately accepted a ten-page story worth, she fancied, about +five pounds, but when they would print it and pay her was impossible to +say. She could write the editor an imploring letter, asking him to +advance her the money. But even then there was another nine pounds to +make up. And to do this seemed to her an impossibility. She could not +ask her father or mother; she would only do so if the worst came to the +worst. She would write paragraphs, articles, short stories, and would +send them to every editor in London. One out of three might turn up +trumps. + + + 'GARDNER STREET, + 'MOUNTJOY SQUARE. +'DARLING ALICE, +'I have been in Dublin now more than a week. I did not write to you +before because I wished to write to tell you that I had done all you +told me to do. The first thing I did was to go to the convent. Would you +believe it, the new Rev. Mother is Sister Mary who we knew so well at +St. Leonards! She has been transferred to the branch convent in Dublin; +she was delighted to see me, but the sight of her dear face awoke so +many memories, so many old associations, that I burst out crying, and it +seemed to me impossible that I should ever be able to find courage to +tell her the truth. None will ever know what it cost me to speak the +words. They came to me all of a sudden, and I told her everything. I +thought she would reproach me and speak bitterly, but she only said, "My +poor child, I am sorry you hadn't strength to resist temptation; your +trial is a dreadful one." She was very, very kind. Her face lighted up +when I spoke of you, and she said: "Sweet girl; she was always an angel; +one of these days she will come back to us. She is too good for the +world." Then I insisted that it was your idea that I should seek help +from the convent, but she said that it was my duty to go to my mother +and tell her the whole truth. Oh, my darling Alice, I cannot tell you +what a terrible time I went through. We were talking for at least two +hours, and it was only with immense difficulty that I at last succeeded +in making her understand what kind of person poor mamma is, and how +hopeless it would be to expect her to keep any secret, even if her +daughter's honour was in question. I told her how she would run about, +talking in her mild unmeaning way of "poor May and that shameful Mr. +Scully;" and, at last, the Rev. Mother, as you prophesied she would, saw +the matter in its proper light, and she has consented to receive all my +letters, and if mother writes, to give her to understand that I am safe +within the convent walls. It is very good of her, for I know the awful +risk she is wilfully incurring so as to help me out of my trouble. + +'The house I am staying in is nice enough, and the landlady seems a kind +woman. The name I go by is Mrs. Brandon (you will not forget to direct +your letters so), and I said that my husband was an officer, and had +gone out to join his regiment in India. I have a comfortable bedroom on +the third floor. There are two windows, and they look out on the street. +The time seems as if it would never pass; the twelve hours of the day +seem like twelve centuries. I have not even a book to read, and I never +go out for fear of being seen. In the evening I put on a thick veil and +go for a walk in the back streets. But I cannot go out before nine; it +is not dark till then, and I cannot stop out later than ten on account +of the men who speak to you. My coloured hair makes me look fast, and I +am so afraid of meeting someone I know, that this short hour is as full +of misery as those that preceded it. Every passer-by seems to know me, +to recognize me, and I cannot help imagining that he or she will be +telling my unfortunate story half an hour after in the pitiless +drawing-rooms of Merrion Square. Oh, Alice darling, you are the only +friend I have in the world. If it were not for you, I believe I should +drown myself in the Liffey. No girl was ever so miserable as I. I cannot +tell you how I feel, and you cannot imagine how forlorn it all is; and I +am so ill. I am always hungry, and always sick, and always longing. Oh, +these longings; you may think they are nothing, but they are dreadful. +You remember how active I used to be, how I used to run about the +tennis-court; now I can scarcely crawl. And the strange sickening +fancies: I see things in the shops that tempt me, sometimes it is a dry +biscuit, sometimes a basket of strawberries; but whatever it is, I stand +and look at it, long for it, until weary of longing and standing with a +sort of weight weighing me down, and my stays all rucking up to my neck, +I crawl home. There I am all alone; and I sit in the dark, on a wretched +hard chair by the window; and I cry; and I watch the summer night and +all the golden stars, and I cannot say what I think of during all these +long and lonely hours; I only know that I cannot find energy to go to +bed. And I never sleep a whole night through; the cramp comes on so +terribly that I jump up screaming. Oh, Alice, how I hate _him!_ When I +think of it all I see how selfish men are; they never think of us--they +only think of themselves. You would scarcely know me if you saw me now; +all my complexion--you know what a pretty complexion it was--is all red +and mottled. When you saw me a fortnight ago I was all right: it is +extraordinary what a change has come about. I think it was the journey +and the excitement; there would be no concealing the truth now. It is +lucky I left Galway when I did. + +'Mother gave me five pounds on leaving home. My ticket cost nearly +thirty shillings, a pound went in cabs and hotel expenses, and my +breakfasts brought my bill up yesterday to two pounds--I cannot think +how, for I only pay sixteen shillings for my room--and when it was paid +I had only a few shillings left. Will you, therefore, send the money you +promised, if possible, by return of post? + 'Always affectionately yours, + 'MAY GOULD.' + + +The tears started to Alice's eyes as she read the letter. She did not +consider if May might have spared her the physical details with which +her letter abounded; she did not stay to think of the cause, of the +result; for the moment she was numb to ideas and sensations that were +not those of humble human pity for humble human suffering: like the +waters of a new baptism, pity made her pure and whole, and the false +shame of an ancient world fell from her. Leaning her head on her strong, +well-shaped hand, she set to arranging her little plans for her friend's +help--plans that were charming for their simplicity, their sweet +homeliness. The letter she had just read had come by the afternoon post, +and if she were to send May the money she wrote for that evening, it +would be necessary to go into Gort to register the letter. Gort was two +miles away; and if she asked for the carriage her mother might propose +that the letters should be sent in by a special messenger. This of +course was impossible, and Alice, for the first time in her life found +herself obliged to tell a deliberate lie. For a moment her conscience +stood at bay, but she accepted the inevitable and told her mother that +she had some MSS. to register, and did not care to entrust them to other +hands. It was a consolation to know that eighteen pounds were safely +despatched, but she was bitterly unhappy, and the fear that money might +be wanting in the last and most terrible hours bound her to her desk as +with a chain; and when her tired and exhausted brain ceased to formulate +phrases, the picture of the lonely room, the night walks, and the +suffering of the jaded girl, stared her in the face with a terrible +distinctness. Her only moments of gladness were when the post brought a +cheque from London. Sometimes they were for a pound, sometimes for +fifteen shillings. Once she received five pounds ten--it was for her +story. On the 10th of September she received the following letter: + + +'DARLING ALICE, +'Thanks a thousand times for your last letter, and the money enclosed. +It came in the nick of time, for I was run almost to my last penny. I +did not write before, because I didn't feel in the humour to do +anything. Thank goodness! I'm not sick any more, though I don't know +that it isn't counterbalanced by the dreadful faintness and the constant +movement. Isn't it awful to sit here day after day, watching myself, and +knowing the only relief I shall get will be after such terrible pain? I +woke up last night crying with the terror of it. Cervassi says there are +cases on record of painless confinements, and in my best moods I think +mine is to be one of them. I know it is wrong to write all these things +to a good girl like you, but I think talking about it is part of the +complaint, and poor sinner me has no one to talk to. Do you remember my +old black cashmere? I've been altering it till there's hardly a bit of +the original body left; but now the skirt is adding to my troubles by +getting shorter and shorter in front. It is now quite six inches off the +ground, and instead of fastening it I have to pin the placket-hole, and +then it falls nearly right. . . . Only three weeks longer, and then. . . +But there, I won't look forward, because I know I am going to die, and +all the accounting for it, and everything else, will be on your +shoulders. Good-bye, dear; I shan't write again, at least not till +afterwards. And if there is an afterward, I shall never be able to thank +you properly; but still I think it will be a weight off you. Is it so, +dear? Do you wish I were dead? I know you don't. It was unkind to write +that last line; I will scratch it out. You will not be angry, dear. I am +too wretched to know what I am writing, and I want to lie down. + 'Always affectionately yours, + 'MAY GOULD.' + + +Outside the air was limpid with sunlight, and the newly mown meadow was +golden in the light of evening. The autumn-coloured foliage of the +chestnuts lay mysteriously rich and still, harmonizing in measured tones +with the ruddy tints of the dim September sunset. The country dozed as +if satiated with summer love. Heavy scents were abroad--the pungent +odours of the aftermath. A high baritone voice broke the languid +silence, and, in embroidered smoking-jacket and cap, Mr. Barton twanged +his guitar. Milord had been thrown down amid the hay; and Mrs. Barton +and Olive were showering it upon him. The old gentleman's legs were in +the air. + +Crushing the letter, Alice's hands fell on the table; she burst into +tears. But work was more vital than tears; and, taking up her pen, she +continued her story--penny journal fiction of true love and unending +happiness in the end. A month later she received this note: + + +'DEAREST, +'Just a line in pencil--I mustn't sit up--to tell you it is all over, +and all I said was "Thank God, thank God!" over and over again, as each +pain went. It is such a relief; but I mustn't write much. It is such a +funny screwed-up-looking baby, and I don't feel any of those maternal +sentiments that you read about--at least not yet. And it always cries +just when I am longing to go to sleep. Thank you again and again for all +you have done for me and been to me. I feel awfully weak. + 'Always affectionately yours, + 'MAY GOULD.' + + + + +XXIV + + +Then Alice heard that the baby was dead, and that a little money would +be required to bury it. Another effort was made, the money was sent; and +the calm of the succeeding weeks was only disturbed by an uneasy desire +to see May back in Galway, and hear her say that her terrible secret was +over and done with for ever. One day she was startled by a quick +trampling of feet in the corridor, and May rushed into the room. She +threw herself into Alice's arms and kissed her with effusion, with +tears. The girls looked at each other long and nervously. One was pale +and over-worn, her spare figure was buttoned into a faded dress, and her +hair was rolled into a plain knot. The other was superb with health, and +her face was full of rose-bloom. She was handsomely dressed in green +velvet, and her copper hair flamed and flashed beneath a small bonnet +with mauve strings. + +'Oh, Alice, how tired and pale you look! You have been working too hard, +and all for me! How can I thank you? I shall never be able to thank +you--I cannot find words to tell you how grateful I am--but I am +grateful, Alice, indeed I am.' + +'I am sure you are, dear. I did my best for you, it is true; and thank +heaven I succeeded, and no one knows--I do not think that anyone even +suspects.' + +'No, not a soul. We managed it very well, didn't we? And the Reverend +Mother behaved splendidly--she just took the view that you said she +would. She saw that no good would come of telling mamma about me when I +made her understand that if a word were said my misfortune would be +belled all over the country in double-quick time. But, Alice dear, I had +a terrible time of it, two months waiting in that little lodging, afraid +to go out for fear someone would recognize me; it was awful. And often I +hadn't enough to eat, for when you are in that state you can't eat +everything, and I was afraid to spend any money. You did your best to +keep me supplied, dear, good guardian angel that you are.' Then the +impulsive girl flung herself on Alice's shoulders, and kissed her. 'But +there were times when I was hard up--oh, much more hard up than you +thought I was, for I didn't tell you everything; if I had, you would +have worried yourself into your grave. Oh, I had a frightful time of it! +If one is married one is petted and consoled and encouraged; but alone +in a lodging--oh, it was frightful.' + +'And what about the poor baby?' said Alice. + +'The poor little thing died, as I wrote you, about ten days after it was +born. I nursed it, and I was sorry for it. I really was; but of course +. . . well, it seems a hard thing to say, but I don't know what I should +have done with it if it had lived. Life isn't so happy, is it, even +under the best of circumstances?' + +The conversation came to a sudden close. At last the nervous silence +that intervened was broken by May: + +'We were speaking about money. I will repay you all I owe you some day, +Alice dear. I will save up all the money I can get out of mother. She is +such a dear old thing, but I cannot understand her. Not a penny did she +send me for the first six weeks, and then she sent me £25; and it was +lucky she did, for the doctor's bill was something tremendous. And I +bought this dress and bonnet with what was left . . . I ought to have +repaid you first thing, but I forgot it until I had ordered the dress.' + +'I assure you it does not matter, May; I shall never take the money from +you. If I did, it would take away all the pleasure I have had in serving +you.' + +'Oh, but I will insist, Alice dear; I could not think of such a thing. +But there's no use in discussing that point until I get the money. . . . +Tell me, what do you think of my bonnet?' + +'I think it very nice indeed, and I never saw you looking better.' + +And thus ended May Gould's Dublin adventure. It was scarcely spoken of +again, and when they met at a ball given by the officers stationed in +Galway, Alice was astonished to find that she experienced no antipathy +whatever towards this rich-blooded young person. 'My dear guardian +angel, come and sit with me in this corner; I'd sooner talk to you than +anyone--we won't go down yet a while--we'll make the men wait;' and when +she put her arms round Alice's waist and told her the last news of +Violet and her Marquis, Alice abandoned herself to the caress and heard +that thirty years ago the late Marquis had entered a grocer's shop in +Galway to buy a pound of tea for an importuning beggar: 'And what do you +think, my dear?--It was Mrs. Scully who served it out to him; and do you +know what they are saying?--that it is all your fault that Olive did not +marry Kilcarney.' + +'My fault?' + +'Your fault, because you gave the part of the beggar-maid to Violet, and +if Olive had played the beggar-maid and hadn't married Kilcarney, the +fault would have been laid at your door just the same.' + +The pale cheeks of Lord Rosshill's seven daughters waxed a hectic red; +the Ladies Cullen grew more angular, and smiled and cawed more cruelly; +Mrs. Barton, the Brennans, and Duffys cackled more warmly and +continuously; and Bertha, the terror of the _débutantes_, beat the big +drum more furiously than ever. The postscripts to her letters were +particularly terrible: 'And to think that the grocer's daughter should +come in for all this honour. It is she who will turn up her nose at us +at the Castle next year.' 'Ah, had I known what was going to happen it +is I who would have pulled the fine feathers out of her.' Day after day, +week after week, the agony was protracted, until every heart grew weary +of the strain put upon it and sighed for relief. But it was impossible +to leave off thinking and talking; and the various accounts of +orange-blossoms and the bridesmaids that in an incessant postal stream +were poured during the month of January into Galway seemed to provoke +rather than abate the marriage fever. The subject was inexhaustible, and +little else was spoken of until it was time to pack up trunks and +prepare for the Castle season. The bride, it was stated, would be +present at the second Drawing-Room in March. + +Nevertheless Alice noticed that the gladness of last year was gone out +of their hearts; none expected much, and all remembered a little of the +disappointments they had suffered. A little of the book had been read; +the lines of white girls standing about the pillars in Patrick's Hall, +the empty waltz tunes and the long hours passed with their chaperons +were terrible souvenirs to pause upon. Still they must fight on to the +last; there is no going back--there is nothing for them to go back to. +There is no hope in life for them but the vague hope of a husband. So +they keep on to the last, becoming gradually more spiteful and puerile, +their ideas of life and things growing gradually narrower, until, in +their thirty-fifth or fortieth year, they fall into the autumn heaps, to +lie there forgotten, or to be blown hither or thither by every wind that +blows. + +Two of Lord Rosshill's daughters had determined to try their luck again, +and a third was undecided; the Ladies Cullen said that they had their +school to attend to and could not leave Galway; poverty compelled the +Brennans and Duffys to remain at home. Alice would willingly have done +the same, but, tempted by the thin chance that she might meet with +Harding, she yielded to her mother's persuasions. Harding did not return +to Dublin, and her second season was more barren of incident than the +first. The same absence of conviction, the same noisy gossiping and +inability to see over the horizon of Merrion Square, the same servile +adoration of officialism, the same meanness committed to secure an +invitation to the Castle, the same sing-song waltz tunes, the same +miserable, mocking, melancholy, muslin hours were endured by the same +white martyrs. + +And if the Castle remained unchanged, Mount Street lost nothing of its +original aspect. Experience had apparently taught Mrs. Barton nothing; +she knew but one set of tricks--if they failed she repeated them: she +was guided by the indubitableness of instinct rather than by the more +wandering light that is reason. Mr. Barton, who it was feared might talk +of painting, and so distract the attention from more serious matters, +was left in Galway, and amid eight or nine men collected here, there, +and everywhere out of the hotels and barrack-rooms, the three ladies sat +down to dinner. + +Mrs. Barton, who could have talked to twenty men, and have kept them +amused, was severely handicapped by the presence of her daughters. +Olive, at the best of times, could do little more than laugh; and as +Alice never had anything to say to the people she met at her mother's +house, the silences that hung over the Mount Street dinner-table were +funereal in intensity and length. From time to time questions were asked +relating to the Castle, the weather, and the theatre. + +Therefore, beyond the fact that neither Lord Kilcarney nor Mr. Harding +was present, the girls passed their second season in the same manner as +their first. _Les deux pièces de résistance_ at Mount Street were a +dissipated young English lord and a gouty old Irish distiller, and Mrs. +Barton was making every effort to secure one of these. A pianist was +ordered to attend regularly at four o'clock. And now if Alice was +relieved of the duty of spelling through the doleful strains of 'Dream +Faces,' she was forced to go round and round with the distiller until an +extra glass of port forced the old gentleman to beg mercy of Mrs. +Barton. At one o'clock in the morning the young lord used to enter the +Kildare Street Club weary. But not much way was made with either, and +when one returned to London and the other to a sick-bed, Olive abandoned +herself to a series of flirtations. At the Castle she danced with all +who asked her, and she sat out dances in the darkest corners of the most +distant rooms with every officer stationed in Dublin. Mrs. Barton never +refused an invitation to any dance, no matter how low, and in all the +obscure 'afternoons' in Mount Street and Pembroke Street Olive's blonde +cameo-like face was seen laughing with every official of Cork Hill and +the gig-men of Kildare Street. + +In May the Bartons went abroad, and Olive flirted with foreign +titles--French Counts, Spanish Dukes, Russian Princes, Swedish noblemen +of all kinds, and a goodly number of English refugees with +irreproachable neckties and a taste for baccarat. In the balmy gardens +of Ostend and Boulogne, jubilant with June and the overture of +Masaniello, Milord and Mrs. Barton walked in front, talking and laughing +gracefully. Olive chose him who flattered her the most outrageously; and +Alice strove hard to talk to the least objectionable of the men she was +brought in contact with. Amid these specious talkers there were a few +who reminded her of Mr. Harding, and she hoped later on to be able to +turn her present experiences to account. There was, of course, much +dining at cafés and dining at the casinos, and evening walks along the +dark shore. Alice often feared for her sister, but the girl's vanity and +lightheadedness were her safeguards, and she returned to Galway only a +little wearied by the long chase after amusement. + +The soft Irish summer is pleasant after the glare of foreign towns, and +the country, the rickety stone walls and the herds of cattle, the deep +curved lines of the plantations of the domain lands, the long streaks of +brown bog, the flashing tarns of bog-water, and the ruined cottage, lay +dozing in beautiful silvery haze. There was much charm for Alice in +these familiar signs; and, although she did not approve of--although she +would not care ever to meet them again--the people she had met at Ostend +and Dieppe had interested her. She had picked up ideas and had received +impressions, and with these germinating in her, a time of quiet, a time +for reading and thinking, came as a welcome change after the noise of +casinos and the glitter of fireworks. The liberty she had enjoyed, the +sense it had brought with it that she was neither a doll nor a victim, +had rendered her singularly happy. The plot of a new story was singing +in her head, the characters flitted before her eyes, and to think of +them or to tell Cecilia of them was a pleasure sufficient for all her +daily desire. Olive, too, was glad. The sunlight has gone into her +blood, and she romps with her mother and Milord amid the hay, or, +stretched at length, she listens to the green air of the lawn, her +dreams ripple like water along a vessel's side, the white wake of the +past in bubble behind her; and when the life of the landscape is burnt +out, and the day in dying seems to have left its soul behind, she stands +watching, her thoughts curdling gently, the elliptical flight of the +swallows through the gloom, and the flutter of the bats upon the dead +sky. + +But the thoughtless brain, fed for many weeks upon noise and glitter, +soon began to miss its accustomed stimulants, and Mrs. Barton was quick +to comprehend sudden twitchings of the face and abrupt movements of the +limbs. And, keenly alive to what was passing in her daughter's mind, she +insisted on Olive's accompanying her to the tennis-parties with which +the county teemed. Sir Charles, Mr. Adair, and even poor Sir Richard +were put forward as the most eligible of men. + +'It is impossible to say when the big fish will be caught; it is often +the last try that brings him to land,' murmured Mrs. Barton. But Olive +had lost courage, and could fix her thoughts on no one. And, often when +they returned home, she would retire to her room to have a good cry. + +'Leave me alone, Alice; oh, go away. Don't tease me, don't tease me! I +only want to be left alone.' + +'But listen, dear; can I do anything for you?' + +'You! no, no, indeed you can't. I only want to be left alone. I am so +miserable, so unhappy; I wish I were dead!' + +'Dead?' + +'Yes, dead; what's the use of living when I know that I shall be an old +maid? We shall all be old maids. What's the use of being pretty, either, +when Violet, though she be but a bag of bones, has got the Marquis? I +have been out two seasons now, and nothing has come of all the trying. +And yet I was the belle of the season, wasn't I, Alice?' And now, +looking more than ever like a cameo Niobe, Olive stared at her sister +piteously. 'Oh yes, Alice, I know I shall be an old maid; and isn't it +dreadful, and I the belle of the season? It makes me so unhappy. No one +ever heard of the belle (and I was the belle not of one, but of two +seasons) remaining an old maid. I can understand a lot of ugly things +not getting married, but I--' + +Alice smiled, and half ironically she asked herself if Olive really +suffered. No heart-pang was reflected in those blue mindless eyes; there +was no heart to wound: only a little foolish vanity had been bruised. + +'And to think,' cried this whimpering beauty, when Alice had seen her +successfully through a flood of hysterical tears, 'that I was silly +enough to give up dear Edward. I am punished for it now, indeed I am; +and it was very wicked of me--it was a great sin. I broke his heart. But +you know, Alice dear, that it was all mamma's fault; she urged me on; +and you know how I refused, how I resisted her. Didn't I resist--tell +me. You know, and why won't you say that I did resist?' + +'You did, indeed, Olive; but you must not distress yourself, or you will +make yourself ill.' + +'Yes, perhaps you are right, there's nothing makes one look so ugly as +crying, and if I lost my looks and met Edward he might not care for me. +He'd be disappointed, I mean--but I haven't lost my looks; I am just as +pretty as I was when I came out first. Am I not, Alice?' + +'Indeed you are, dear.' + +'You don't think I have gone off a bit--now do tell me? and I want to +ask you what you think of my hair in a fringe; Papa says it isn't +classical, but that's nonsense. I wish I knew how Edward would like me +to wear it.' + +'But you mustn't think of him, Olive dear; you know mother would never +hear of it.' + +'I can't help thinking of him. . . . And now I will tell you something, +Alice, if you promise me on your word of honour not to scold me, and, +above all, not to tell mamma.' + +'I promise.' + +'Well, the other day I was walking at the end of the lawn feeling so +very miserable. You don't know how miserable I feel; you are never +miserable, for you think of nothing but your books. Well (mind, you have +given me your word not to tell anyone), I saw Captain Hibbert riding +along the road, and when he saw me he stopped his horse and kissed his +hand to me.' + +'And what did you do?' + +'I don't know what I did. He called me, and then I saw Milord coming +along the road, and fled but, oh, isn't it cruel of mamma to have +forbidden Edward to come and see us? and he loving me as much as ever.' + +This was not the moment to advise her sister against clandestine +meetings with Captain Hibbert; she was sobbing violently, and Alice had +to assure her again and again that no one who had been the belle of the +season had ever remained an old maid. But Alice (having well in mind the +fate that had befallen May Gould) grew not a little alarmed when, in the +course of next week, she suddenly noticed that Olive was in the habit of +going out for long walks alone, and that she invariably returned in a +state of high spirits, all the languor and weariness seeming to have +fallen from her. + +Alice once thought of following her sister. She watched her open the +wicket and walk across the meadows towards the Lawler domain. There was +a bypath there leading to the highroad, but the delicacy of their +position in relation to the owners prevented the Bartons from ever +making use of it. Nor did Alice fail to notice that about the same time, +Barnes, on the pretence of arranging the room for the evening, would +strive to drive her from her writing-table, and beds were made and +unmade, dresses were taken out of the wardrobe, and importuning +conversations were begun. But, taking no heed of the officious maid, +Alice, her thoughts tense with anxiety, sat at her window watching the +slender figure of the girl growing dim in the dying light. Once she did +not return until it was quite dark, and, reproaching herself for having +remained so long silent, Alice walked across the pleasure-grounds to +meet her. + +'What, you here?' cried Olive, surprised at finding her sister waiting +for her at the wicket. She was out of breath; she had evidently been +running. + +'Yes, Olive, I was anxious to speak to you--you must know that it is +very wrong to meet Captain Hibbert--and in the secrecy of a wood!' + +'Who told you I had been to meet Captain Hibbert? I suppose you have +been following me!' + +'No, Olive, I haven't, and you have no right to accuse me of such +meanness. I have not been following you, but I cannot help putting two +and two together. You told me something of this once before, and since +then you have scarcely missed an evening.' + +'Well, I don't see any harm in meeting Edward; he is going to marry me.' + +'Going to marry you?' + +'Yes, going to marry me; is there anything so very extraordinary in +that? Mamma had no right to break off the match, and I am not going to +remain an old maid.' + +'And have you told mother about this?' + +'No, where's the use, since she won't hear of it?' + +'And are you going to run away with Captain Hibbert?' + +'Run away with him!' exclaimed Olive, laughing strangely. 'No, of course +I am not.' + +'And how are you to marry him if you don't tell mother?' + +'I shall tell her when the time comes to tell her. And now, Alice dear, +you will promise not to betray me, won't you? You will not speak about +this to anyone, you promise me? If you did, I know I should go mad or +kill myself.' + +'But when will you tell mother of your resolution to marry Captain +Hibbert?' + +'Tell her? I'll tell her to-morrow if you like; that is to say, if you +will give me your word of honour not to speak to her about my meeting +Edward in the Lawler Wood.' + +Afterwards Alice often wondered at her dullness in not guessing the +truth. But at the time it did not occur to her that Olive might have +made arrangements to elope with Captain Hibbert; and, on the +understanding that all was to be explained on the following day, she +promised to keep her sister's secret. + + + + +XXV + + +Lord Dungory dined at Brookfield that evening. He noticed that Olive was +nervous and restless, and he reminded her of what a French poet had said +on the subject of beauty. But she only turned her fair head impatiently, +and a little later on when her mother spoke to her she burst into tears. +Nor was she as easily consoled as usual, and she did not become calm +until Mrs. Barton suggested that her dear child was ill, and that she +would go upstairs and put her to bed. Then, looking a little alarmed, +Olive declared she was quite well, but she passionately begged to be +left alone. As they left the dining-room she attempted to slip away; +Alice made a movement as if to follow her, but Mrs. Barton said: + +'Leave her to herself, Alice; she would rather be left alone. She has +overstrained her nerves, that is all.' + +Olive heard these words with a singular satisfaction, and as she +ascended the stairs from the first landing, her heart beat less +violently. On the threshold of her room she paused to listen for the +drawing-room door to shut. Through the silent house the lock sounded +sharply. + +'I hope none of them will come upstairs bothering after me,' the girl +murmured to herself. 'If they do I shall go mad;' and standing in the +middle of the floor she looked round the room vacantly, unable to +collect her thoughts. The wardrobe was on her right, and, seeing herself +in the glass, she wondered if she were looking well. Her eyes wandered +from her face to her shoulders, and thence to her feet. Going over to +the toilette-table she sought amid her boots, and, having selected a +strong pair, she began to button them. Her back was turned to the door, +and at the slightest sound she started. Once or twice the stairs +creaked, and she felt something would occur to stop her. Her heart was +beating so violently that she thought she was going to be ill; and she +almost burst out crying because she could not make up her mind if she +should put on a hat and travelling-shawl, or run down to the wood as she +was, to meet the Captain. 'He will surely,' she thought, 'have something +in the carriage to put around me, but he may bring the dog-cart, and it +looks very cold. But if Alice or mamma saw me coming downstairs with a +shawl on, they'd suspect something, and I shouldn't be able to get away. +I wonder what time it is? I promised to meet Edward at nine; he'll of +course wait for me, but what time is it? We dined at half-past seven; we +were an hour at dinner, half-past eight, and I have been ten minutes +here. It must be nearly nine now, and it will take me ten minutes to get +to the corner of the road. The house is quiet now.' + +Olive ran down a few steps, but at that moment heavy footsteps and a +jingling of glasses announced that the butler was carrying glasses from +the dining-room to the pantry. 'When will he cease, when will he cease; +will he hang about that passage all night?' the girl asked herself +tremblingly; and so cruel, so poignant had her suspense become, that had +it been prolonged much further her overwrought nerves would have given +way, and she would have lapsed into a fit of hysterics. But the +tray-full of glasses she had heard jingling were now being washed, and +the irritative butler did not stir forth again. This was Olive's +opportunity. From the proximity of the drawing-room to the hall-door it +was impossible for her to open it without being heard; the kitchen-door +was equally, even more, dangerous, and she could hear the servants +stirring in the passages; there was no safe way of getting out of the +house unseen, except through the dining-room. + +The candles were lighted, the crumbs were still on the tablecloth; +passing behind the red curtain she unlocked the French window, and she +shivered in the keen wind that was blowing. + +It was almost as bright as day. A September moon rose red, and in a +broken and fragmentary way the various aspects of the journey that lay +before her were anticipated: as she ran across the garden swards she saw +the post-horses galloping in front of her; as her nervous fingers strove +to unfasten the wicket, she thought of the railway-carriage; and as she +passed under the great dark trunks of the chestnut-trees she dreamed of +Edward's arm that would soon be cast protectingly around her, and his +face; softer than the leafy shadows above her, would be leaned upon her, +and his eyes filled with a brighter light than the moon's would look +down into hers. + +The white meadow that she crossed so swiftly gleamed like the sea, and +the cows loomed through the greyness like peaceful apparitions. But the +dark wood with its sepulchral fir-tops and mysteriously spreading +beech-trees was full of formless terror, and once the girl screamed as +the birds flew with an awful sound through the dark undergrowth. A +gloomy wood by night has terrors for the bravest, and it was only the +certainty that she was leaving girl-life--chaperons, waltz-tunes, and +bitter sneering, for ever--that gave courage to proceed. A bit of +moss-grown wall, a singularly shaped holly-bush, a white stone, took +fantastic and supernatural appearances, and once she stopped, paralyzed +with fear, before the grotesque shadow that a dead tree threw over an +unexpected glade. A strange bird rose from the bare branches, and at +that moment her dress was caught by a bramble, and, when her shriek tore +the dark stillness, a hundred wings flew through the pallor of the +waning moon. + +At the end of this glade there was a paling and a stile that Olive would +have to cross, and she could now hear, as she ran forward, the needles +of the silver firs rustling with a pricking sound in the wind. The heavy +branches stretched from either side, and Olive thought when she had +passed this dernful alley she would have nothing more to fear; and she +ran on blindly until she almost fell in the arms of someone whom she +instantly believed to be Edward. + +'Oh! Edward, Edward, I am nearly dead with fright!' she exclaimed. + +'I am not Edward,' a woman answered. Olive started a step backwards; she +would have fainted, but at the moment the words were spoken Mrs. +Lawler's face was revealed in a beam of weak light that fell through a +vista in the branches. + +'Who are you? Let me pass.' + +'Who am I? You know well enough; we haven't been neighbours for fifteen +years without knowing each other by sight. So you are going to run away +with Captain Hibbert!' + +'Oh, Mrs. Lawler, let me pass. I am in a great hurry, I cannot wait; and +you won't say anything about meeting me in the wood, will you?' + +'Let you pass, indeed; and what do you think I came here for? Oh, I know +all about it--all about the corner of the road, and the carriage and +post-horses! a very nice little plan and very nicely arranged, but I'm +afraid it won't come off--at least, not to-night.' + +'Oh, won't it, and why?' cried Olive, clasping her hands. 'Then it was +Edward who sent you to meet me, to tell me that--that--What has +happened?' + +'Sent me to tell you! Whom do you take me for? Is it for a--well, a nice +piece of cheek! I carry your messages? Well, I never!' + +'Then what did you come here for--how did you know? . . .' + +'How did I know? That's my business. What did I come here for? What do +you think? Why, to prevent you from going off with Teddy.' + +'With Teddy!' + +'Yes, with Teddy. Do you think no one calls him Teddy but yourself?' + +Then Olive understood, and, with her teeth clenched she said, 'No, it +isn't true; it is a lie; I will not believe it. Let me pass. What +business have you to detain me?--what right have you to speak to me? We +don't know you; no one knows you: you are a bad woman whom no one will +know.' + +'A bad woman! I like that--and from you. And what do you want to be, why +are you running away from home? Why, to be what I was. We're all alike, +the same blood runs in our veins, and when the devil is in us we must +have sweethearts, get them how we may: the airs and graces come on +after; they are only so much trimming.' + +'How dare you insult me, you bad woman? Let me pass; I don't know what +you mean.' + +'Oh yes, you do. You think Teddy will take you off to Paris, and spoon +you and take you out; but he won't, at least not to-night. I shan't give +him up so easily as you think for, my lady.' + +'Give him up! What is he to you? How dare you speak so of my future +husband? Captain Hibbert only loves me, he has often told me so.' + +'Loves nobody but you! I suppose you think that he never kissed, or +spooned, or took anyone on his knee but you. Well, I suppose at twenty +we'd believe anything a man told us; and we always think we are getting +the first of it when we are only getting someone else's leavings. But it +isn't for chicks of girls like you that a man cares, it isn't to you a +man comes for the love he wants; your kisses are very skim milk indeed, +and it is we who teach them the words of love that they murmur +afterwards in your ears.' + +The women looked at each other in silence, and both heard the needles +shaken through the darkness above them. Mrs. Lawler stood by the stile, +her hand was laid on the paling. At last Olive said: + +'Let me pass. I will not listen to you any longer; nor do I believe a +word you have said. We all know what you are; you are a bad woman whom +no one will visit. Let me pass!' and pushing passionately forward she +attempted to cross the stile. Then Mrs. Lawler took her by the shoulder +and threw her roughly back. She fell to the ground heavily. + +'Now you had better get up and go home,' said Mrs. Lawler, and she +approached the prostrate girl. 'I didn't mean to hurt you; but you +shan't elope with Teddy if I can prevent it. Why don't you get up?' + +'Oh! my leg, my leg; you have broken my leg!' + +'Let me help you up.' + +'Don't touch me,' said Olive, attempting to rise; but the moment she put +her right foot to the ground she shrieked with pain, and fell again. + +'Well, if you are going to take it in that way, you may remain where you +are, and I can't go and ring them up at Brookfield. I don't think there +will be much eloping done to-night, so farewell.' + + + + +XXVI + + +About ten o'clock on the night of Olive's elopement, Alice knocked +tremblingly at her mother's door. + +'Mother,' she said, 'Olive is not in her room, nor yet in the house; I +have looked for her everywhere.' + +'She is downstairs with her father in the studio,' said Mrs. Barton; +and, signing to her daughter to be silent, she led her out of hearing of +Barnes, who was folding and putting some dresses away in the wardrobe. + +'I have been down to the studio,' Alice replied in a whisper. + +'Then I am afraid she has run away with Captain Hibbert. But we shall +gain nothing by sending men out with lanterns and making a fuss; by this +time she is well on her way to Dublin. She might have done better than +Captain Hibbert, but she might also have done worse. She will write to +us in a few days to tell us that she is married, and to beg of us to +forgive her.' + +And that night Mrs. Barton slept even more happily, with her mind more +completely at rest, than usual; whereas Alice, fevered with doubt and +apprehension, lay awake. At seven o'clock she was at her window, +watching the grey morning splinter into sunlight over the quiet fields. +Through the mist the gamekeeper came, and another man, carrying a woman +between them, and the suspicion that her sister might have been killed +in an agrarian outrage gripped her heart like an iron hand. She ran +downstairs, and, rushing across the gravel, opened the wicket-gate. +Olive was moaning with pain, but her moans were a sweet reassurance in +Alice's ears, and without attempting to understand the man's story of +how Miss Olive had sprained her ankle in crossing the stile in their +wood, and how he had found her as he was going his rounds, she gave the +man five shillings, thanked him, and sent him away. Barnes and the +butler then carried Olive upstairs, and in the midst of much confusion +Mr. Barton rode down the avenue in quest of Dr. Reed--galloped down the +avenue, his pale hair blowing in the breeze. + +'I wish you had come straight to me,' said Mrs. Barton to Alice, as soon +as Barnes had left the room. 'We'd have got her upstairs between us, and +then we might have told any story we liked about her illness.' + +'But the Lawlers' gamekeeper would know all about it.' + +'Ah, yes, that's true. I never heard of anything so unfortunate in my +life. An elopement is never very respectable, but an elopement that does +not succeed, when the girl comes home again, is just as bad as--I cannot +think how Olive could have managed to meet Captain Hibbert and arrange +all this business, without my finding it out. I feel sure she must have +had the assistance of a third party. I feel certain that all this is +Barnes's doing. I am beginning to hate that woman, with her perpetual +smile, but it won't do to send her away now; we must wait.' And on these +words Mrs. Barton approached the bed. + +Shaken with sudden fits of shivering, and her teeth chattering, Olive +lay staring blindly at her mother and sister. Her eyes were expressive +at once of fear and pain. + +'And now, my own darling, will you tell me how all this happened?' + +'Oh, not now, mother--not now . . . I don't know; I couldn't help it. . . . +You mustn't scold me, I feel too ill to bear it.' + +'I am not thinking of scolding you, dearest, and you need not tell me +anything you do not like. . . . I know you were going to run away with +Captain Hibbert, and met with an accident crossing the stile in the +Lawler Wood.' + +'Oh, yes, yes; I met that horrid woman, Mrs. Lawler; she knew all about +it, and was waiting for me at the stile. She said lots of dreadful +things to me . . . I don't remember what; that she had more right to +Edward than I--' + +'Never mind, dear; don't agitate yourself thinking of what she said.' + +'And then, as I tried to pass her, she pushed me and I fell, and hurt my +ankle so badly that I could not get up; and she taunted me, and she said +she could not help me home because we were not on visiting terms. And I +lay in that dreadful wood all night. But I can't speak any more, I feel +too ill; and I never wish to see Edward again. . . . The pain of my ankle +is something terrible.' + +Mrs. Barton looked at Alice expressively, and she whispered in her ear: + +'This is all Barnes's doing, but we cannot send her away. . . . We must put +a bold face on it, and brave it out.' + +Dr. Reed was announced. + +'Oh, how do you do, doctor? . . . It is so good of you to come at once. +. . . We were afraid Mr. Barton would not find you at home. I am afraid +that Olive has sprained her foot badly. Last night she went out for a +walk rather late in the evening, and, in endeavouring to cross a stile, +she slipped and hurt herself so badly that she was unable to return +home, and lay exposed for several hours to the heavy night dews. I am +afraid she has caught a severe cold. . . . She has been shivering.' + +'Can I see her foot?' + +'Certainly. Olive, dear, will you allow Dr. Reed to see your ankle?' + +'Oh, take care, mamma; you are hurting me!' shrieked the girl, as Mrs. +Barton removed the bedclothes. At this moment a knock was heard at the +door. + +'Who on earth is this?' cried Mrs. Barton. 'Alice, will you go and see? +Say that I am engaged, and can attend to nothing now.' + +When Alice returned to the bedside she drew her mother imperatively +towards the window. 'Captain Hibbert is waiting in the drawing-room. He +says he must see you.' + +At the mention of Captain Hibbert's name Mrs. Barton's admirably +governed temper showed signs of yielding: her face contracted and she +bit her lips. + +'You must go down and see him. Tell him that Olive is very ill and that +the doctor is with her. And mind you, you must not answer any questions. +Say that I cannot see him, but that I am greatly surprised at his +forcing his way into my house after what has passed between us; that I +hope he will never intrude himself upon us again; that I cannot have my +daughter's life endangered, and that, if he insists on persecuting us, I +shall have to write to his Colonel.' + +'Do you not think that father would be the person to make such +explanations?' + +'You know your father could not be trusted to talk sensibly for five +minutes--at least,' she said, correcting herself, 'on anything that did +not concern painting or singing. . . . But,' she continued, following her +daughter to the door, 'on second thoughts I do not think it would be +advisible to bring matters to a crisis. . . . I do not know how this affair +will affect Olive's chances, and if he is anxious to marry her I do not +see why he should not; . . . she may not be able to get any better. So you +had better, I think, put him off--pretend that we are very angry, and +get him to promise not to try to see or to write to Olive until, let us +say, the end of the year. It will only make him more keen on her.' + +When Alice opened the drawing-room door Captain Hibbert rushed forward; +his soft eyes were bright with excitement, and his tall figure was +thrown into a beautiful pose when he stopped. + +'Oh, I beg your pardon. Miss Barton. I had expected your sister.' + +'My sister is very ill in bed, and the doctor is with her.' + +'Ill in bed!' + +'Yes, she sprained her ankle last night in attempting to cross the stile +in the wood at the end of our lawn.' + +'Oh, that was the reason . . . then . . . Can I see your sister for a few +minutes?' + +'It is quite impossible; and my mother desires me to say that she is +very much surprised that you should come here. . . . We know all about your +attempt to induce Olive to leave her home.' + +'Then she has told you? But if you knew how I love her, you would not +blame me. What else could I do? Your mother would not let me see her, +and she was very unhappy at home; you did not know this, but I did, and +if luck hadn't been against me--Ah! but what's the use in talking of +luck; luck was against me, or she would have been my wife now. And what +a little thing suffices to blight a man's happiness in life; what a +little, oh, what a little!' he said, speaking in a voice full of +bitterness; and he buried his face in his hands. + +Alice's eyes as she looked at him were expressive of her thoughts--they +beamed at once with pity and admiration. He was but the ordinary +handsome young man that in England nature seems to reproduce in +everlasting stereotype. Long graceful legs, clad in tight-fitting +trousers, slender hips rising architecturally to square wide shoulders, +a thin strong neck and a tiny head--yes, a head so small that an artist +would at once mark off eight on his sheet of double elephant. And now he +lay over the back of a chair weeping like a child; in the intensity of +his grief he was no longer commonplace; and as Alice looked at this +superb animal thrown back in a superb abandonment of pose, her heart +filled with the natural pity that the female feels always for the male +in distress, and the impulse within her was to put her arms about him +and console him; and then she understood her sister's passion for him, +and her mind formulated it thus: 'How handsome he is! Any girl would +like a man like that.' And as Alice surrendered herself to those +sensuous, or rather romantic feelings, her nature quickened to a sense +of pleasure, and she grew gentler with him, and was glad to listen while +he sobbed out his sorrows to her. + +'Oh, why,' he exclaimed, 'did she fall over that thrice-accursed stile! +In five minutes more we would have been in each other's arms, and for +ever. I had a couple of the best post-horses in Gort; they'd have taken +us to Athenry in a couple of hours, and then--Oh! what luck, what +luck!' + +'But do you not know that Olive met Mrs. Lawler in the wood, and that it +was she who--' + +'What do you say? You don't mean to tell me that it was Mrs. Lawler who +prevented Olive from meeting me? Oh, what beasts, what devils women +are,' he said; 'and the worst of it is that one cannot be even with +them, and they know it. If you only knew,' he said, turning almost +fiercely upon Alice, 'how I loved your sister, you would pity me; but I +suppose it is all over now. Is she very ill?' + +'We don't know yet. She has sprained her ankle very badly, and is +shivering terribly; she was lying out all night in the wet wood.' + +He did not answer at once. He walked once or twice up and down the room, +and then he said, taking Alice's hand in his, 'Will you be a friend to +me, Miss Barton?' He could get no further, for tears were rolling down +his cheeks. + +Alice looked at him tenderly; she was much touched by the manifestation +of his love, and at the end of a long silence she said: + +'Now, Captain Hibbert, I want you to listen to me. Don't cry any more, +but listen.' + +'I dare say I look a great fool.' + +'No, indeed you do not,' she answered; and then in kindly worded phrases +she told him that, at least for the present, he must not attempt to +correspond with Olive. 'Give me your word of honour that you will +neither write nor speak to her for, let us say, six months, and I will +promise to be your friend.' + +'I will do anything you ask me to do, but will you in return promise to +write and tell me how she is getting on, and if she is in any danger?' + +'I think I can promise to do that; I will write and tell you how Olive +is in a few days. Now we must say good-bye; and you will not forget your +promise to me, as I shall not forget mine to you.' + +When Alice went upstairs, Dr. Reed and Mrs. Barton were talking on the +landing. + +'And what do you think, doctor?' asked the anxious mother. + +'It is impossible to say. She has evidently received a severe nervous +shock, and this and the exposure to which she was subjected may develop +into something serious. You will give her that Dover's powder to-night, +and you will see that she has absolute quiet and rest. Have you got a +reliable nurse?' + +'Yes, the young ladies have a maid; I think Barnes can be trusted to +carry out your orders, doctor.' + +'Oh, mamma, I hope you will allow me to nurse my sister; I should not +like to leave her in charge of a servant.' + +'I am afraid you are not strong enough, dear.' + +'Oh, yes, I am; am I not strong enough, doctor?' + +Dr. Reed looked for a moment steadily at Alice. 'Your sister will,' he +said, 'require a good deal of looking after. But if you will not overdo +it, I think you seem quite strong enough to nurse her. But you must not +sit up at night with her too regularly; you must share the labour with +someone.' + +'She will do that with me,' said Mrs. Barton, speaking more kindly, +Alice thought, than she had ever heard her speak before. + +Then a wailing voice was heard calling to Alice. + +'Go in and see what she wants, dear, but you will not encourage her to +talk much; the doctor does not wish it.' + +The room did not look the same to Alice as it had ever looked before. +Her eyes fell on the Persian rugs laid between the two white beds and +the tall glass in the wardrobe where Olive wasted half-an-hour every +evening, examining her beauty. Would she ever do so again? Now a broken +reflection of feverish eyes and blonde hair was what remained. The white +curtains of the chimneypiece had been drawn aside, a bright fire was +burning, and Barnes was removing a foot-pan of hot water. + +'Sit down here by me, Alice; I want to talk to you.' + +'The doctor has forbidden you to talk, dear; he says you must have +perfect rest and quiet.' + +'I must talk a little to you; if I didn't I should go mad.' + +'Well, what is it, dear?' + +'I will tell you presently,' said the sick girl, glancing at Barnes. + +'You can tidy up the room afterwards, Barnes; Miss Olive wants to talk +to me now.' + +'Oh, Alice, tell me,' cried the girl, when the servant had left the +room, 'I don't want to ask mamma--she won't tell me the exact truth; but +you will. Tell me what the doctor said. . . . Did he say I was going to +die?' + +'Going to die? Olive, who ever heard of such a thing? You really must +not give way to such fancies.' + +'Well, tell me what he said.' + +'He said that you had received a severe nervous shock, that you had been +subjected to several hours' exposure, that you must take great care of +yourself, and, above all, have perfect rest and quiet, and not excite +yourself, and not talk.' + +'Is that all he said? Then he cannot know how ill I feel; perhaps I +ought to see another doctor. But I don't believe anyone could do me much +good. Oh, I feel wretchedly ill, and somehow I seem to know I am going +to die! It would be very horrible to die; but young girls no older than +I have died--have been cut off in the beginning of their life. And we +have seen nothing of life, only a few balls and parties. It would be +terrible to die so soon. When Violet carried off the Marquis I felt so +bitterly ashamed that I thought I would have liked to die; but not +now--now I know that Edward loves me I would not care to die; it would +be terrible to die before I was married. Wouldn't it, Alice? . . . But you +don't answer me; did you never think about death?' + +Then, as the thin wailing voice sank into her ears, Alice started from +her dreams, and she strove to submit her attention to her sister. + +'Yes, dear, of course I have. Death is, no doubt, a very terrible thing, +but we can do no good by thinking of it.' + +'Oh yes, we should, Alice, for this is not the only world--there is +another and a better one; and, as mamma says, and as religion says, we +are only here to try and get a good place in it. You are surprised to +hear me speak like this; you think I never think of anything but the +colour of a bonnet-string, but I do.' + +'I am sure you do, Olive; I never doubted it; but I wish you would now +do what the doctor orders, and refrain from talking and exciting +yourself, and try and get well. You may then think of death and other +gloomy things as much as you like.' + +'You don't understand, Alice; one can't think of death, then--one has so +much else to think of; one is so taken up with other ideas. It is only +when one is ill that one really begins to see what life is. You have +never been ill, and you don't know how terribly near death seems to have +come--very near. Perhaps I ought to see the priest; it would be just as +well, just in case I should die. Don't you think so?' + +'I don't think there is any more danger of your dying now than there was +a month ago, dear, and I am sure you can have nothing on your mind that +demands immediate confession,' she said, her voice trembling a little. + +'Oh yes, I have, Alice, and a very great deal; I have been very wicked.' + +'Very wicked!' + +'Well, I know you aren't pious, Alice, and perhaps you don't believe +there is harm in such things, but I do; and I know it was very wrong, +and perhaps a mortal sin, to try to run away with Edward. But I loved +him so very dearly, and I was so tired of staying at home and being +taken out to parties. And when you are in love with a man you forget +everything. At least I did; and when he asked to kiss me I couldn't +refuse. You won't tell anyone, Alice dear, that I told you this.' Alice +shook her head, and Olive continued, in spite of all that the doctor had +said: + +'But you don't know how lonely I feel at home; you never feel lonely, I +dare say, for you only think of your books and papers, and don't realize +what a disgrace it would be if I didn't marry, and after all the trouble +that mamma has taken. But I don't know what will become of me now. I'm +going to be dreadfully ill, and when I get well I shall be pretty no +longer; I am sure I am looking wretchedly. I must see myself--fetch the +glass, Alice, Alice.' + +Olive lay whining and calling for her sister, and when Dr. Reed came he +ordered several inches of the pale silky hair to be cut away and a cold +lotion to be applied to the forehead, and some sliced lemons were given +to her to suck. + +The clear blue eyes were dull, the breathing quick, the skin dry and +hot; and on the following day four leeches had to be applied to her +ankle. They relieved her somewhat, and, when she had taken her draught, +she sank to sleep. But as the night grew denser, Alice was suddenly +awakened by someone speaking wildly in her ear: 'Take me away, dear! I +am sick of home; I want to get away from all these spiteful girls. I +know they are laughing at me because Violet cut me out with the Marquis. +We shall be married, shan't we, the moment we arrive in Dublin? It's +horrible to be married at the registrar's, but it's better than not +being married at all. But do you think they will catch us up? It would +be dreadful to be taken back home, I couldn't bear it. Oh, do drive on; +we don't seem to be moving. You see that strange tree on the right, we +haven't passed it yet; I don't think we ever shall. Whip up that bay +horse; don't you see he is turning round, wants to go back? I am sure +that this isn't the road; that man at the corner told you a lie. I know +he was mocking at us--I saw it in his eye. . . . Look, look, Edward! Oh, +look--it is papa, or Lord Dungory, I can't tell which, he won't lift his +cloak.' And then the vision would fade, and she would fancy herself in +the wood, arguing once again with Mrs. Lawler. 'No, what you say isn't +true; he never loved you. How could he? You are an old woman. Let me +pass--let me pass. Why do you speak to me? We don't visit, we never did +visit you. No; it was not at our house you met Edward. You were on the +streets; and Edward shall not, he could not, think of running away with +you--will you, darling? Oh, help me, help me out of this dreadful wood. +I want to go home, but I can't walk. That terrible bird is still +watching me, and I dare not pass that tree till you drive it away.' + +The two beds, with their white curtains and brass crowns, showed through +the pale obscurity, broken only by the red-glowing basin where a +night-light burnt, and the long tongues of flame that the blazing peat +scattered from time to time across the darkened ceiling. The solitude of +the sleeping house grew momentarily more intense in Alice's brain, and +she trembled as she strove to soothe her sister, and covered the hot +feverish arms over with the bedclothes. + +'What sort of night has Olive had?' Mrs. Barton asked when she came in +about eight. + +'Not a very quiet one; I am afraid she's a little delirious.' + +'Dr. Reed promised to be here early. How do you feel, dear?' Mrs. Barton +asked, leaning over the bed. + +'Oh, very ill; I can scarcely breathe, and I have such a pain in my +side.' + +'Your lips look very sore, dear; do they hurt you?'--Olive only moaned +dismally--and, looking anxiously at her elder daughter, she said: + +'And you, too, Alice, are not looking well. You are tired, and mustn't +sit up another night with your sister. To-night I'll take your place.' + +'Oh, mother, no! I assure you it is a pleasure to me to nurse Olive. I +am very well indeed; do not think about me.' + +'Indeed, I will think about you, and you must do as I tell you. I'll +look after Olive, and you must try and get a good night's rest We will +take it in turns to nurse her. And now come down to breakfast. Barnes, +you'll not think of leaving Miss Olive until we come back; and, if any +change occurs, ring for me immediately.' + +When Dr. Reed arrived, Alice was again sitting by the bedside. + +'And how is our patient to-day?' + +'I cannot say she is any better; she has a distressing cough, and last +night I am afraid she was a little delirious.' + +'Ah, you say the cough is distressing?' + +'I am afraid I must call it distressing; is that a very bad sign?' + +'Probably there is not much wrong, but it would be better to ascertain +the condition of the patient, and then we may be able to do something to +relieve her.' + +The doctor drew a stethoscope from his pocket, and they lifted the +patient into a sitting position. + +'I should like to examine her chest;' and his fingers moved to unfasten +her night-gown. + +'Don't expose me,' she murmured feebly. + +'Now, Olive dear, remember it is only the doctor; let him examine you.' + +Olive's eyes were a dull filmy blue, the lips were covered with sores, +and there was a redness over the cheekbones--not the hectic flush of +phthisis, but a dusky redness. And the patient was so weak that during +the stethoscopic examination her head fell from side to side as she was +moved, and when the doctor pressed her right side her moans were +pregnant with pain. + +'Now let me see the tongue. Dry and parched.' + +'Shall I die, doctor?' the girl asked feebly and plaintively as she sank +amidst the pillows. + +'Die! no, not if you take care of yourself and do what you are told.' + +'But tell me, Dr. Reed,' Alice asked. 'You can tell me the truth.' + +'She'll get well if she takes care of herself. It is impossible to say. +No one can predict the turn pneumonia will take.' + +'Pneumonia! What is that?' + +'Congestion of the lungs, or rather an advanced stage of it. It is more +common in men than in women, and it is the consequence of long exposure +to wet and cold.' + +'Is it very dangerous?' + +'Very; and now let me tell you that it is all-important that the +temperature of the room should not be allowed to vary. I attended a case +of it some three or four miles from here, but the damp of the cabin was +so great that it was impossible to combat the disease. The cottage, or +rather hovel, was built on the edge of a soft spongy bog, and so wet was +it that the woman had to sweep the water every morning from the floor, +where it collected in great pools. I am now going to visit an evicted +family, who are living in a partially roofed shed fenced up by the +roadside. The father is down with fever, and lies shivering, with +nothing to drink but cold water. His wife told me that last week it +rained so heavily that she had to get up three times in the night to +wring the sheets out.' + +'And why were they evicted?' + +'Oh, that is a long story; but it is a singularly characteristic one. In +the first place, he was an idle fellow; he got into difficulties and +owed his landlord three years' rent. Then he got into bad hands, and was +prevented from coming to terms with his landlord. There was a lot of +jobbing going on between the priest and the village grocer, and finally +it was arranged that the latter should pay off the existing debt if the +landlord could be forced into letting him the farm at a "fair rent," +that is to say, thirty per cent reduction on the old rent. In +recognition of his protecting influence, the priest was to take a third +of the farm off the grocer's hands, and the two were then to conjointly +rack-rent poor Murphy for the remaining third portion, which he would be +allowed to retain for a third of the original rent; but the National +League heard of their little tricks, and now the farm is boycotted, and +Murphy is dying in the ditch for the good of his _counthry_.' + +'I thought boycotting was ended, that the League had lost all power.' + +'It has and it hasn't. Sometimes a man takes a farm and keeps it in +defiance of his neighbours; sometimes they hunt him out of it. It is +hard to come to a conclusion, for when in one district you hear of rents +being paid and boycotted farms letting freely, in another, only a few +miles away, the landlords are giving reductions, and there are farms +lying waste that no one dare look at. In my opinion the fire is only +smouldering, and when the Coercion Act expires the old organization will +rise up as strong and as triumphant as before. This is a time of respite +for both parties.' + +The conversation then came to a sudden pause. Alice felt it would be out +of place for her to speak her sympathies for the Nationalistic cause, +and she knew it would be unfair to lead the doctor to express his. So at +the end of a long silence, during which each divined the other's +thoughts, she said: + +'I suppose you see a great deal of the poor and the miseries they +endure?' + +'I have had good opportunities of studying them. Before I came here I +spent ten years in the poorest district in Donegal. I am sure there +wasn't a gentleman's house within fifteen miles of me.' + +'And didn't you feel very lonely?' + +'Yes, I did, but one gets so used to solitude that to return to the +world, after having lived long in the atmosphere of one's own thoughts, +is painful. The repugnance that grows on those who live alone to hearing +their fellow-creatures express their ideas is very remarkable. It must +be felt to be understood; and I have often wondered how it was that I +never met it in a novel.' + +'It would be very difficult to write. Do you ever read fiction?' + +'Yes, and enjoy it. In my little home amid the northern bogs, I used to +look forward when I had finished writing, to reading a story.' + +'What were you writing?' + +'A book.' + +'A book!' exclaimed Alice, looking suddenly pleased and astonished. + +'Yes, but not a work of fiction--I am afraid I am too prosaic an +individual for that--a medical work.' + +'And have you finished your book?' + +'Yes, it is finished, and I am glad to say it is in the hands of a +London publisher. We have not yet agreed about the price, but I hope and +believe that, directly and indirectly, it will lead to putting me into a +small London practice.' + +'And then you will leave us?' + +'I am afraid so. There are many friends I shall miss--that I shall be +very sorry to leave, but--' + +'Oh, of course it would not do to miss such a chance.' + +They fell to discussing the patient, and when the doctor left, Alice +proceeded to carry out his instructions concerning the patient, and, +these being done, she sat down by the bedside and continued her thoughts +of him with a sense of pleasure. She remembered that she had always +liked him. Yes, it was a liking that dated as far back as the spinsters' +ball at Ballinasloe. He was the only man there in whom she had taken the +slightest interest. They were sitting together on the stairs when that +poor fellow was thrown down and had his leg broken. She remembered how +she had enjoyed meeting him at tennis-parties, and how often she had +walked away with him from the players through the shrubberies; and above +all she could not forget--it was a long sweet souvenir--the beautiful +afternoon she had spent with him, sitting on the rock, the day of the +picnic at Kinvarra Castle. She had forgotten, or rather she had never +noticed, that he was a short, thick-set, middle-aged man, that he wore +mutton-chop whiskers, and that his lips were overhung by a long dark +moustache. His manners were those of an unpolished and somewhat +commonplace man. But while she thought of his grey eyes her heart was +thrilled with gladness, and as she dreamed of his lonely life of labour +and his ultimate hopes of success, all her old sorrows and fears seemed +to have evaporated. Then suddenly and with the unexpectedness of an +apparition the question presented itself: Did she like him better than +Harding? Alice shrank from the unpleasantness of the thought, and did +not force herself to answer it, but busied herself with attending to her +sister's wants. + +While the dawn of Alice's happiness, Olive lay suffering in all the dire +humility of the flesh. Hourly her breathing grew shorter and more +hurried, her cough more frequent, and the expectoration that accompanied +it darker and thicker in colour. The beautiful eyes were now turgid and +dull, the lids hung heavily over a line of filmy blue, and a thick scaly +layer of bloody tenacious mucus persistently accumulated and covered the +tiny and once almost jewel-like teeth. For three or four days these +symptoms knew no abatement; and it was over this prostrated body, +weakened and humiliated by illness, that Alice and Dr. Reed read love in +each other's eyes, and it was about this poor flesh that their hands +were joined as they lifted Olive out of the recumbent position she had +slipped into, and built up the bowed-in pillows. And as it had once been +all Olive in Brookfield, it was now all Alice; the veil seemed suddenly +to have slipped from all eyes, and the exceeding worth of this plain +girl was at last recognized. Mrs. Barton's presence at the bedside did +not soothe the sufferer; she grew restless and demanded her sister. And +the illness continued, her life in the balance till the eighth day. It +was then that she took a turn for the better; the doctor pronounced her +out of danger, and two days after she lay watching Alice and Dr. Reed +talking in the window. 'Were they talking about her?' she asked herself. +She did not think they were. It seemed to her that each was interested +in the other. 'Laying plans,' the sick girl said to herself, 'for +themselves.' At these words her senses dimmed, and when she awoke she +had some difficulty in remembering what she had seen. + + + + +XXVII + + +'Ah, _ce cher Milord, comme il est beau, comme il est parfait!_' +exclaimed Mrs. Barton, as she led him to his chair and poured out his +glass of sherry. + +But there was a gloom on his face which laughter and compliments failed +for a moment to dissipate--at last he said: + +'Ah, Mrs. Barton, Mrs. Barton! if I hadn't this little retreat to take +refuge in, to hide myself in, during some hours of the day, I should not +be able to bear up--Brookfield has prolonged my life for--' + +'I cannot allow such sad thoughts as these,' said Mrs. Barton laughing, +and waving her white hands. 'Who has been teasing _notre cher_ Milord? +What have dreadful Lady Jane and terrible Lady Sarah been doing to him?' + +'I shall never forget this morning, no, not if I lived to a thousand,' +the old gentleman murmured plaintively. 'Oh, the scenes--the scenes I +have been through! Cecilia, as I told you yesterday, has been filling +the house with rosaries and holywater-fonts; Jane and Sarah have been +breaking these, and the result has been tears and upbraidings. Last +night at dinner I don't really know what they didn't say to each other; +and then the two elder ones fell upon me and declared that it was all my +fault, that I ought never to have sent my daughter to a Catholic +convent. I was obliged to shut myself up in the study and lock the door. +Then this morning, when I thought it was all over, it began again worse +than ever; and then in the middle of it all, when Jane asked Cecilia how +many Gods there were in the roll of bread she was eating if the priest +were to bless it--if a Papist wasn't one who couldn't worship God till +somebody had turned Him into a biscuit--a most injudicious observation, +I said so at the time, and I must apologize to you, my dear Mrs. Barton, +for repeating it, but I am really so upset that I scarcely know what I +am saying. Well, Jane had no sooner spoken than Cecilia overthrew the +teacups and said she wasn't going to stay in the house to hear her +religion insulted, and without another word she walked down to the +parish priest and was baptized a Catholic; nor is that all. She returned +with a scapular round her neck, a rosary about her waist, and a Pope's +medal in her hand. I really thought Jane and Sarah would have fainted; +indeed I am sure they would have fainted if Cecilia hadn't declared that +she was going to pack up her things and return at once to St. Leonards +and become a nun. Such an announcement as this was, of course, far +beyond fainting, and . . . but no, I will not attempt to describe it, but +I can assure you I was very anxious to get out of the house.' + +'Cecilia going to be a nun; oh, I am so glad!' exclaimed Olive. 'It is +far the best thing she could do, for she couldn't hope to be married.' + +'Olive, Olive!' said Mrs. Barton, 'you shouldn't speak so openly. We +should always consider the religious prejudices of others. Of course, as +Catholics we must be glad to hear of anyone joining the true Church, but +we should remember that Milord is going to lose his daughter.' + +'I assure you, my dear Mrs. Barton, I have no prejudices. I look upon +all religions as equally good and equally bad, but to be forced to live +in a perpetual discussion in which teacups are broken, concerning +scapulars, bacon and meal shops, and a school which, putting aside the +question of expense, makes me hated in the neighbourhood, I regard as +intolerable; and when I go home this evening, I shall tell Jane that the +school must be put down or carried on in a less aggressive way. I assure +you I have no wish to convert the people; they are paying their rents +very well now, and I think it absurd to upset them; and the fact of +having received Cecilia into the Church might incline the priest very +much towards us.' + +'And Cecilia will be so happy in that beautiful convent!' suggested Mrs. +Barton. + +'_C'est le génie du Catholicisme de nous débarrasser des filles +laides._' + +And upon this expression of goodwill towards the Church of Rome +Cecilia's future life was discussed with much amiability. Mrs. Barton +said she would make a sweet little nun; Olive declared that she would +certainly go to St. Leonard's to see her 'professed'; and Milord's +description of Lady Sarah's and Lady Jane's ill-humour was considered +very amusing, and just as he was about to recount some new incident--one +that had escaped his memory till then--the door opened and the servant +announced Dr. Reed. + +'Now, what can he want? Olive is quite well. He looks at her tongue and +feels her pulse. How do you do, Dr. Reed? Here is your patient, whom you +will find in the best health and spirits.' + +As he was about to reply, Alice came into the room, and she tried to +carry on the conversation naturally. But the silence of Mrs. Barton and +Milord made this difficult; Dr. Reed was not a ready talker, and this +morning his replies were more than ever awkward and constrained. At last +it dawned on Alice that he wanted to speak to her alone; and in answer +to a remark he had made concerning the fever dens in Gort she said: + +'I wanted to ask you a question or two about typhoid fever, Dr. Reed; +one of my heroines is going to die of it, and I should like to avoid +medical impossibilities. May I show you the passage?' + +'Certainly, Miss Barton; I shall be delighted to help you--if I can.' + +As soon as Alice left the room to fetch her manuscript the doctor +hurriedly bade his patient, Milord, and Mrs. Barton, good-bye. + +'Aren't you going to wait to see Alice?' Mrs. Barton asked. + +'I have to speak to the boy in charge of my car; I shall see Miss Barton +as she comes downstairs.' + +Mrs. Barton looked as if she thought this arrangement not a little +singular, but she said nothing; and when Alice came running downstairs +with a roll of MSS. in her hand, she attempted to explain her difficulty +to the doctor. He made a feeble attempt to listen to the passage she +read aloud to him; and when their eyes met across the paper she saw he +was going to propose to her. + +'Will you walk down the drive with me? and we will talk of that as we go +along.' + +Her hat was on the hall-table; she took it up, and in silence walked +with him out on the gravel. + +'Will I put the harse up, sor?' cried the boy from the outside car. + +'No; follow me down the avenue.' + +It was a wild autumn evening, full of wind and leaves. The great green +pasture-lands, soaked and soddened with rain, rolled their monotonous +green turf to the verge of the blown beech-trees, about which the rooks +drifted in picturesque confusion. Now they soared like hawks, or on +straightened wings were carried down a furious gust across the +tumultuous waves of upheaved yellow, and past the rift of cold crimson +that is tossed like a banner through the shadows of evening. + +'I came here to tell you that I am going away; that I am leaving Ireland +for ever. I've bought the practice I spoke to you of in Notting Hill.' + +'Oh, I am so glad!' + +'Thank you! But there is another and more important matter on which I +should like to speak to you. For a long time back I had resolved to +leave Ireland a sad or an entirely happy man. Which shall it be? You are +the only woman I ever loved--will you be my wife?' + +'Yes, I will.' + +'I was afraid to ask you before. But,' he added, sighing, 'I shan't be +able to give you a home like the one you are leaving. We shall have to +be very economical; we shall not have more than three hundred a year to +live upon. Will you be satisfied with that?' + +'I hope, indeed--I am sure we shall get on very well. You forget that I +can do something to keep myself,' she added, smiling. 'I have two or +three orders.' + +She passed her arm through Dr. Reed's; and as he unfolded his plans to +her, he held her hand warmly and affectionately in his: and as the +twilight drifted it was wrapped like a veil about them. The rooks in +great flitting flocks passed over their heads, the tempestuous crimson +of the sky had been hurled further away, and only the form of the grey +horse, that the boy had allowed to graze, stood out distinctly in the +gloom that descended upon the earth. + + + + +XXVIII + + +On the very first opportunity she could find Alice told her mother that +Dr. Reed had proposed to her, and that she had accepted him. Mrs. Barton +said it was disgraceful, and that she would never hear of such a +marriage; and when the doctor called next day she acquainted him with +her views on the subject. She told him he had very improperly taken +advantage of his position to make love to her daughter; she really +didn't know how he could ever have arrived at the conclusion that a +match was possible, and that for the future his visits must cease at +Brookfield. And when Alice heard what had passed between Dr. Reed and +her mother she wrote, assuring him that her feelings towards him would +remain uninfluenced by anything that anyone might say. All the same, it +might be as well, having regard for what had happened, that the marriage +should take place with the least possible delay. + +She took this letter down to the post-office herself, and when she +returned she entered the drawing-room and told Mrs. Barton what she had +done. + +'I wish you had shown me the letter before you sent it. There is nothing +we need advice about so much as a letter.' + +'Yes, mother,' replied Alice, deceived by the gentleness of Mrs. +Barton's manner; 'but we seemed to hold such widely different views on +this matter that there did not seem to be any use in discussing it.' + +'Mother and daughter should never hold different views; my children's +interests are my interests--what interests have I now but theirs?' + +'Oh, mother! Then you will consent to this marriage?' + +Mrs. Barton's face always changed expression before a direct question. +'My dear, I would consent to anything that would make you happy; but it +seems to me impossible that you could be happy with Dr. Reed. I wonder +how you could like him. You do not know--I mean, you do not realize what +the intimacies of married life are. They are often hard to put up with, +no matter who the man may be, but with one who is not a gentleman--' + +'But, mother, Dr. Reed seems to me to be in every way a gentleman. Who +is there more gentlemanly in the country? I am sure that from every +point of view he is preferable to Mr. Adair or Sir Charles, or Sir +Richard or Mr. Ryan, or his cousin, Mr. Lynch.' + +'My darling child, I would sooner see you laid in your coffin than +married to either Mr. Ryan or Mr. Lynch; but that is not the question. +It is, whether you had not better wait for a few years before you throw +yourself away on such a man as Dr. Reed. I know that you have been +greatly tried; nothing is so trying to a girl as to come out with her +sister who is the belle of the season, and I must say you have shown a +great deal of pluck; and perhaps I haven't been considerate enough. But +I, too, have had my disappointments--Olive's affairs did not, as you +know, turn out as well as I had expected, and to see you now marry one +who is so much beneath us!' + +'Mother, dear, he is not beneath us. There is no one who has earned his +career but Dr. Reed; he owes nothing to anyone; he has done it all by +his own exertions; and now he has bought a London practice.' + +'Then you do not love him; it is only for the sake of settling yourself +in life that you are marrying him?' + +'I respect Dr. Reed more than any man living; I bear for him a most +sincere affection, and I hope to make him a good wife.' + +'You don't love him as you did Mr. Harding? If you will only wait you +may get him. The tenants are paying their rents very well, and I am +thinking of going to London in the spring.' + +The girl winced at the mention of Harding, but she looked into her +mother's soft appealing brown eyes; and, reading clearer than she had +ever read before all the adorable falseness that lay therein, she +answered: + +'I do not want to marry Mr. Harding; I am engaged to Dr. Reed, and I do +not intend to give him up.' + +This answer was given so firmly that Mrs. Barton lost her temper for a +moment, and she said: + +'And do you really know what this Dr. Reed originally was? Lord Dungory +is dining here to-night; he knows all about Dr. Reed's antecedents, and +I am sure he will be horrified when he hears that you are thinking of +marrying him.' + +'I cannot recognize Lord Dungory's right to advise me on any course I +may choose to take, and I hope he will have the good taste to refrain +from speaking to me of my marriage.' + +'What do you mean? How dare you speak to me like that, you impertinent +girl!' + +'I am not impertinent, mother, and I hope I shall never be impertinent +to you; but I am now in my twenty-fifth year, and if I am ever to judge +for myself, I must do so now.' + +Alice was curiously surprised by her own words; it seemed to her that it +was some strange woman, and not herself--not the old self with whom she +was intimately acquainted--who was speaking. Life is full of these +epoch-marking moments. We have all at some given time experienced the +sensation of finding ourselves either stronger or weaker than we had +ever before known ourselves to be; Alice now for the first time felt +that she was speaking and acting in her own individual right; and the +knowledge as it thrilled through her consciousness was almost a physical +pleasure. But notwithstanding the certitude that never left her of the +propriety of her conduct, and the equally ever-present sentiment of the +happiness that awaited her, she suffered much during the next ten days, +and she was frequently in tears. Cecilia had started for St. Leonards +without coming to wish her good-bye, and the cruel sneers, insinuations +of all kinds against her and against Dr. Reed, which Mrs. Barton never +missed an occasion of using, wounded the girl so deeply, that it was +only at the rarest intervals that she left her room--when she walked to +the post with a letter, when the luncheon or dinner bell rang. Why she +should be thus persecuted, Alice was unable to determine; and why her +family did not hail with delight this chance of getting rid of a plain +girl, whose prospects were limited, was difficult to say; nor could the +girl arrive at any notion of the pleasure or profit it might be to +anyone that she should waste her life amid chaperons and gossip, instead +of taking her part in the world's work. And yet this seemed to be her +mother's idea. She did not hesitate to threaten that she would neither +attend herself, nor allow Mr. Barton to attend the ceremony. Alice might +meet Dr. Reed at the corner of the road, and be married as best she +could. Alice appealed to her father against this decision, but she soon +had to renounce the hope of obtaining any definite answer. He had been +previously told that if he attempted any interference, his supply of +paints, brushes, canvases, and guitar-strings would be cut off, and, as +he was at present deeply engaged on a new picture of _Julius Cæsar +overturning the Altars of the Druids_, he hesitated before the +alternatives offered to him. He spoke with much affection; he regretted +that Alice could not see her way to marrying somebody whom her mother +could approve! He explained the difficulties of his position, and the +necessity of his turning something out--seeing what he really could do +before the close of the year. Alice was disappointed, and bitterly, but +she bore her disappointment bravely, and she wrote to Dr. Reed, telling +him what had occurred, and proposing to meet him on a certain day at the +Parish Church, where Father Shannon would marry them; and, that if he +refused, they would proceed to Dublin, and be married at the Registry +Office. In a way Alice would have preferred this latter course, but her +good sense warned her against the uselessness of offering any too +violent opposition to the opinions of the world. And so it was arranged; +and sad, weary, and wretched, Alice lingered through the last few days +of the life that had always been to her one of humiliation, and which +now towards its close had quieted to one of intense pain. + +The Brennans had promised to meet her in the chapel, and one day, as she +was sitting by her window, she saw May in all the glory of her copper +hair, drive a tandem up to the door. This girl threw the reins to the +groom, and rushed to her friend. + +'And how do you do, Alice, and how well you are looking, and how pleased +I am to see you. I would have come before, only my leader was coughing +and I couldn't take him out. Oh, I was so wild; it is always like that; +nothing is so disappointing as horses; whenever you especially require +them they are laid up, and you can't imagine the difficulty I had to get +him along; I must really get another leader; he was trying to turn round +the whole way--if it hadn't been for the whip. I took blood out of him +three times running. But I know you don't care anything about horses, +and I want to hear about this marriage. I am so glad, so pleased, but +tell me, do you like him? He seems a very nice sort of man, you know, a +man that would make a woman happy. . . . I am sure you will be happy with +him, but it is dreadful to think we are going to lose you. I shall, I +know, be running over to London on purpose to see you; but tell me, what +I want to know is, do you like him? Would you believe it, I never once +suspected there was anything between you?' + +'Yes, my dear May,' Alice replied smiling, 'I do like Edward Reed; nor +do I think that I should ever like any other man half as much: I have +perfect confidence in him, and where there is not confidence there +cannot be love. He has bought a small practice in Notting Hill, which +with care and industry he hopes may be worked up into a substantial +business. We shall be very poor at first, but we shall be able to make +both ends meet.' + +'I can see it all; a little suburban semi-detached house, with green +Venetian blinds, a small mahogany sideboard, and a clean capped +maid-servant; and in the drawing-room you won't have a piano--you don't +care for music, but you'll have some basket chairs, and small bookcases, +and a tea-table with tea-cakes at five--oh, won't you look quiet and +grave at that tea-table. But tell me, it is all over the county that +Mrs. Barton won't hear of this marriage, and that she won't allow your +father to go to the chapel to give you away. It is a shame, and for the +life of me I can't see what parents have to do with our marriages, do +you?' + +Without waiting for an answer, May continued the conversation, and with +vehemence she passed from one subject to another utterly disconnected +without a transitional word of explanation. She explained how tiresome +it was to sit at home of an evening listening to Mrs. Gould bemoaning +the state of the country; she spoke of her terrier, and this led up to a +critical examination of the good looks of several of the officers +stationed at Gort; then she alluded to the last meet of the hounds, and +she described the big wall she and Mrs. Manly had jumped together; a new +hat and an old skirt that she had lately done up came in for a passing +remark, and, with an abundance of laughter, May gave an account of a +luncheon-party at Lord Rosshill's; and, apparently verbatim, she told +what each of the five Honourable Miss Gores had said about the marriage. +Then growing suddenly serious, she said: + +'It is all very well to laugh, but, when one comes to think of it, it is +very sad indeed to see seven human lives wasting away, a whole family of +girls eating their hearts out in despair, having nothing to do but to +pop about from one tennis-party to another, and chatter to each other or +their chaperons of this girl and that who does not seem to be getting +married. You are very lucky indeed, Alice--luckier than you think you +are, and you are quite right to stick out and do the best you can for +yourself in spite of what your people say. It is all very well for them +to talk, but they don't know what we suffer: we are not all made alike, +and the wants of one are not the wants of another. I dare say you never +thought much about that sort of thing; but as I say, we are not all made +alike. Every woman, or nearly every one, wants a husband and a home, and +it is only natural she should, and if she doesn't get them the +temptations she has to go through are something frightful, and if we +make the slightest slip the whole world is down upon us. I can talk to +you, Alice, because you know what I have gone through. You have been a +very good friend to me--had it not been for you I don't know what would +have become of me. You didn't reproach me, you were kind and had pity +for me; you are a sensible person, and I dare say you understood that I +wasn't entirely to blame. And I wasn't entirely to blame; the +circumstances we girls live under are not just--no, they are not just. +We are told that we must marry a man with at least a thousand a year, or +remain spinsters; well, I should like to know where the men are who have +a thousand a year, and some of us can't remain spinsters. Oh! you are +very lucky indeed to have found a husband, and to be going away to a +home of your own. I wish I were as lucky as you, Alice, indeed I do, for +then there would be no excuse, and I could be a good woman. You won't +hate me too much, will you, Alice? I have made a lot of good +resolutions, and they shall be kept some day.' + +'Some day! You don't mean that you are again--' + +'No; but I've a lover. It is dreadfully sinful, and if I died I should +go straight to hell. I know all that. I wish I were going to be married, +like you! For then one is out of temptation. Haven't you a kind word for +me? Won't you kiss me and tell me you don't despise me?' + +'Of course I'll kiss you, May; and I am sure that one of these days you +will--' + +Alice could say no more; and the girls kissed and cried in each other's +arms, and the group was a sad allegory of poor humanity's triumph, and +poor humanity's more than piteous failures. At last they went +downstairs, and in the hall May showed Alice the beautiful +wedding-present she had bought her, and the girl did not say that she +had sold her hunter to buy it. + + + + +XXIX + + +At Brookfield on the morning of December 3, '84, the rain fell +persistently in the midst of a profound silence. The trees stood stark +in the grey air as if petrified; there was not wind enough to waft the +falling leaf; it fell straight as if shotted. + +Not a living thing was to be seen except the wet sheep, nor did anything +stir either within or without till an outside car, one seat overturned +to save the cushions from the wet, came careering up the avenue. There +was a shaggy horse and a wild-looking driver in a long, shaggy frieze +ulster. Even now, at the last moment, Alice expected the drawing-room +door to open and her mother to come rushing out to wish her good-bye. +But Mrs. Barton remained implacable, and after laying one more kiss on +her sister's pale cheek, Alice, in a passionate flood of tears, was +driven away. + +In streaming mackintoshes, and leaning on dripping umbrellas, she found +her husband, and Gladys and Zoe Brennan, waiting for her in the porch of +the church. + +'Did you ever see such weather?' said Zoe. + +'Isn't it dreadful!' said Gladys. + +'It was good of you to come,' said Alice. + +'It was indeed!' said the bridegroom. + +'What nonsense!' said Zoe. 'We were only too pleased; and if to-day be +wet, to-morrow and the next and the next will be sunshine. + +And thanking Zoe inwardly for this most appropriate remark, the party +ascended the church toward the altar-rails, where Father Shannon was +awaiting them. Large, pompous, and arrogant, he stood on his +altar-steps, and his hands were crossed over his portly stomach. On +either side of him the plaster angels bowed their heads and folded their +wings. Above him the great chancel window, with its panes of green and +yellow glass, jarred in an unutterable clash of colour; and the great +white stare of the chalky walls, and the earthen floor with its tub of +holy water, and the German prints absurdly representing the suffering of +Christ, bespoke the primitive belief, the coarse superstition, of which +the place was an immediate symbol. Alice and the doctor looked at each +other and smiled, but their thoughts were too firmly fixed on the actual +problem of their united lives to wander far in the most hidden ways of +the old world's psychical extravagances. What did it matter to them what +absurd usages the place they were in was put to?--they, at least, were +only making use of it as they might of any other public office--the +police-station, where inquiries are made concerning parcels left in +cabs; the Commissioner before whom an affidavit is made. And it served +its purpose as well as any of the others did theirs. The priest joined +their hands, Edward put the ring on Alice's finger, and the usual +prayers did no harm if they did no good; and having signed their names +in the register and bid good-bye to the Miss Brennans, they got into the +carriage, man and wife, their feet set for ever upon one path, their +interests and delights melted to one interest and one delight, their +separate troubles merged into one trouble that might or might not be +made lighter by the sharing; and penetrated by such thoughts they leaned +back on the blue cushions of the carriage, happy, and yet a little +frightened. + +Rather than pass three hours waiting for a train at the little station +of Ardrahan, it had been arranged to spend the time driving to Athenry; +and, as the carriage rolled through the deliquefying country, the eyes +of the man and the woman rested half fondly, half regretfully, and +wholly pitifully, on all the familiar signs and the wild landmarks which +during so many years had grown into and become part of the texture of +their habitual thought; on things of which they would now have to wholly +divest themselves, and remember only as the background of their younger +lives. Through the streaming glass they could see the strip of bog; and +the half-naked woman, her soaked petticoat clinging about her red legs, +piling the wet peat into the baskets thrown across the meagre back of a +starveling ass. And farther on there were low-lying, swampy fields, and +between them and the roadside a few miserable poplars with cabins sunk +below the dung-heaps, and the meagre potato-plots lying about them; and +then, as these are passed, there are green enclosures full of fattening +kine, and here and there a dismantled cottage, one wall still black with +the chimney's smoke, uttering to those who know the country a tale of +eviction. Beyond these, beautiful plantations sweep along the crests of +the hills, the pillars of a Georgian house showing at the end of a +vista. The carriage turned up a narrow road, and our travellers came +upon a dozen policemen grouped round a roadside cottage, out of which +the furniture had just been thrown. The family had taken shelter from +the rain under a hawthorn-tree, and the agents were consulting with +their bailiffs if it would not be as well to throw down the walls of the +cottage. + +'If we don't,' one of the men said, 'they will be back again as soon as +our backs are turned, and our work will have to be begun all over +again.' + +'Shocking,' Alice said, 'that an eviction scene should be our last +glimpse of Ireland. Let us pay the rent for them, Edward,' and as she +spoke the words the thought passed through her mind that her almsgiving +was only another form of selfishness. She wished her departure to be +associated with an act of kindness. She would have withdrawn her +request, but Edward's hand was in his pocket and he was asking the agent +how much the rent was. Five years' rent was owing--more than the +travellers had in their purses. + +'It is well that we cannot assist them to remain here,' said Edward. +'Circumstances are different, and they will harden; none is of use here. +Of what use--' + +'You believe, then, that this misery will last for ever?' + +'Nothing lasts in Ireland but the priests. And now let us forget +Ireland, as many have done before us.' + + * * * * * + +Two years and a half have passed away, and the suburban home predicted +by May, when she came to bid Alice a last good-bye, arises before the +reader in all its yellow paint and homely vulgarity. In this suburb we +find the ten-roomed house with all its special characteristics--a +dining-room window looking upon a commodious area with dust and coal +holes. The drawing-room has two windows, and the slender balcony is +generally set with flower-boxes. Above that come the two windows of the +best bedroom belonging to Mr. and Mrs., and above that again the windows +of two small rooms, respectively inhabited by the eldest son and +daughter; and these are topped by the mock-Elizabethan gable which +enframes the tiny window of a servant's room. Each house has a pair of +trim stone pillars, the crude green of the Venetian blinds jars the +cultured eye, and even the tender green of the foliage in the crescent +seems as cheap and as common as if it had been bought--as everything +else is in Ashbourne Crescent--at the Stores. But how much does this +crescent of shrubs mean to the neighbourhood? Is it not there that the +old ladies take their pugs for their constitutional walks, and is it not +there that the young ladies play tennis with their gentleman +acquaintances when they come home from the City on a Saturday afternoon? + +In Ashbourne Crescent there is neither Dissent nor Radicalism, but +general aversion to all considerations which might disturb belief in all +the routine of existence, in all its temporal and spiritual aspects, as +it had come amongst them. The fathers and the brothers go to the City +every day at nine, the young ladies play tennis, read novels, and beg to +be taken to dances at the Kensington Town Hall. On Sunday the air is +alive with the clanging of bells, and in orderly procession every family +proceeds to church, the fathers in all the gravity of umbrellas and +prayer-books, the matrons in silk mantles and clumsy ready-made elastic +sides; the girls in all the gaiety of their summer dresses with lively +bustles bobbing, the young men in frock-coats which show off their broad +shoulders--from time to time they pull their tawny moustaches. Each +house keeps a cook and housemaid, and on Sunday afternoons, when the +skies are flushed with sunset and the outlines of this human warren grow +harshly distinct--black lines upon pale red--these are seen walking +arm-in-arm away towards a distant park with their young men. + +Ashbourne Crescent, with its bright brass knockers, its white-capped +maid-servant, and spotless oilcloths, will pass away before some great +tide of revolution that is now gathering strength far away, deep down +and out of sight in the heart of the nation, is probable enough; but for +the moment it is, in all its cheapness and vulgarity, more than anything +else representative, though the length and breadth of the land be +searched, of the genius of Empire that has been glorious through the +long tale that nine hundred years have to tell. Ashbourne Crescent may +possibly soon be replaced by something better, but at present it +commands our admiration, for it is, more than all else, typical England. +Neither ideas nor much lucidity will be found there, but much belief in +the wisdom shown in the present ordering of things, and much plain sense +and much honesty of purpose. Certainly, if your quest be for hectic +emotion and passionate impulses, you would do well to turn your steps +aside; you will not find them in Ashbourne Crescent. There life flows +monotonously, perhaps sometimes even a little moodily, but it is built +upon a basis of honest materialism--that materialism without which the +world cannot live. And No. 31 differs a little from the rest of the +houses. The paint on its walls is fresher, and there are no flowers on +its balcony: the hall-door has three bells instead of the usual two, and +there is a brass plate with 'Dr. Reed' engraved upon it. The cook is +talking through the area-railings to the butcher-boy; a smart +parlourmaid opens the door, and we see that the interior is as orderly, +commonplace, and clean as we might expect at every house in the +crescent. The floorcloths are irreproachable, the marble-painted walls +are unadorned with a single picture. On the right is the dining-room, a +mahogany table bought for five pounds in the Tottenham Court Road, a +dozen chairs to match, a sideboard and a small table; green-painted +walls decorated with two engravings, one of Frith's 'Railway Station,' +the other of Guido's 'Fortune.' Further down the passage leading to the +kitchen-stairs there is a second room: this is the Doctor's +consulting-room. A small bookcase filled with serious-looking volumes, a +mahogany escritoire strewn with papers, letters, memoranda of all sorts. +The floor is covered with a bright Brussels carpet; there are two +leather armchairs, and a portrait of an admiral hangs over the +fireplace. + +Let us go upstairs. How bright and clean are the high marble-painted +walls! and on the first landing there is a large cheaply coloured +window. The drawing-room is a double room, not divided by curtains but +by stiff folding-doors. The furniture is in red, and the heavy curtains +that drape the windows fall from gilt cornices. In the middle of the +floor there is a settee (probably a reminiscence of the Shelbourne +Hotel); and on either side of the fireplace there are sofas, and about +the hearthrug many arm-chairs to match with the rest. Above the +chimneypiece there is a gilt oval mirror, worth ten pounds. The second +room is Alice's study; it is there she writes her novels. A table in +black wood with a pile of MSS. neatly fastened together stands in one +corner; there is a bookcase just behind; its shelves are furnished with +imaginative literature, such as Shelley's poems, Wordsworth's poems, +Keats' poems. There are also handsome editions of Tennyson and Browning, +presents from Dr. Reed to his wife. You see a little higher up the shelf +a thin volume, Swinburne's _Atalanta in Calydon_, and next to it is +Walter Pater's _Renaissance_--studies in art and poetry. There are also +many volumes in yellow covers, evidently French novels. + +The character of the house is therefore essentially provincial, and +shows that its occupants have not always lived amid the complex +influences of London life--viz., is not even suburban. Nevertheless, +here and there traces of new artistic impulses are seen. On the +mantelpiece in the larger room there are two large blue vases; on a +small table stands a pot in yellow porcelain, evidently from Morris's; +and on the walls there are engravings from Burne Jones. Every Thursday +afternoon numbers of ladies, all of whom write novels, assemble here to +drink tea and talk of their work. + +It is now eleven o'clock in the morning. Alice enters her drawing-room. +You see her: a tall, spare woman with kind eyes, who carries her arms +stiffly. She has just finished her housekeeping, she puts down her +basket of keys, and with all the beautiful movement of the young mother +she takes up the crawling mass of white frock, kisses her son and +settles his blue sash. And when she has talked to him for a few minutes +she rings the bell for nurse; then she sits down to write. As usual, her +pen runs on without a perceptible pause. Words come to her easily, but +she has not finished the opening paragraph of the article she is writing +when the sound of rapid footsteps attracts her attention, and Olive +bursts into the room. + +'Oh, Alice, how do you do? I couldn't stop at home any longer, I am sick +of it.' + +'Couldn't stop at home any longer, Olive; what do you mean?' + +'If you won't take me in, say so, and I'll go.' + +'My dear Olive, I shall be delighted to have you with me; but why can't +you stop at home any longer--surely there is no harm in my asking?' + +'Oh, I don't know; don't ask me; I am so miserable at home; I can't tell +you how unhappy I am. I know I shall never be married, and the perpetual +trying to make up matches is sickening. Mamma will insist on riches, +position, and all that sort of thing--those kind of men don't want to +get married--I am sick of going out; I won't go out any more. We never +missed a tennis-party last year; we used to go sometimes ten miles to +them, so eager was mamma after Captain Gibbon, and it did not come off; +and then the whole country laughs.' + +'And who is Captain Gibbon? I never heard of him before.' + +'No, you don't know him: he was not in Galway in your time.' + +'And Captain Hibbert! Have you heard from him since he went out to +India?' + +'Yes, once; he wrote to me to say that he hoped to see me when he came +home.' + +'And when will that be?' + +'Oh, I don't know; when people go out to India one never expects to see +them again.' + +Seeing how sore the wound was, Alice did not attempt to probe it, but +strove rather to lead Olive's thoughts away from it, and gradually the +sisters lapsed into talking of their acquaintances and friends, and of +how life had dealt with them. + +'And May, what is she doing?' + +'She met with a bad accident, and has not been out hunting lately. She +was riding a pounding match with Mrs. Manly across country: May's horse +came to grief at a big wall, and broke several of her ribs. They say she +has given up riding--now she does nothing but paint. You remember how +well she used to paint at school.' + +'And the Brennans?' + +'Oh, they go up to the Shelbourne every year, but none of them are +married; and I am afraid that they must be very hard up, for their land +is very highly let, and the tenants are paying no rent at all +now--Ireland is worse than ever; we shall all be ruined, and they say +Home Rule is certain. But I am sick of the subject.' + +Then the Duffys, the Honourable Miss Gores, and the many other families +of unmarried girls--the poor muslin martyrs, whose sufferings were the +theme of this book, were again passed in review; their failures +sometimes jeeringly alluded to by Olive, but always listened to +pityingly by Alice--and, talking thus of their past life, the sisters +leant over the spring fire that burnt out in the grate. At the end of a +long silence Alice said: + +'Well, dear, I hope you have come to live with us, or at any rate to pay +us a long visit.' + + + + + + THE END + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Muslin, by George Moore + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MUSLIN *** + +***** This file should be named 14659-8.txt or 14659-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/6/5/14659/ + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Muslin + +Author: George Moore + +Release Date: January 10, 2005 [EBook #14659] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MUSLIN *** + + + + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + MUSLIN + + By + + GEORGE MOORE + + + + _Originally published under the title of 'A Drama in Muslin,' 1886._ + + _New Edition, September, 1915._ + + + + + +PREFACE + + +My excuse for modifying the title of this book is, that _A Drama in +Muslin_ has long seemed to me to be the vulgar one among the titles of +my many books. But to change the title of a book that has been in +circulation, however precarious, for more than thirty years, is not +permissible, and that is why I rejected the many titles that rose up in +my mind while correcting the proofs of this new edition. In _Neophytes_, +_Debutantes_, and _The Baiting of Mrs. Barton_, readers would have +divined a new story, but the dropping out of the unimportant word +'drama' will not deceive the most casual follower of literature. The +single word 'muslin' is enough. _Mousseline_ would be more euphonious, a +fuller, richer word; and _Bal Blanc_, besides being more picturesque, +would convey my meaning; but a shade of meaning is not sufficient +justification for the use of French titles or words, for they lessen the +taste of our language; we don't get the smack, and Milord's epigrams +poisoned my memory of _A Drama in Muslin_. But they cannot be omitted +without much re-writing, I said, and remembering my oath never to +attempt the re-writing of an old book again, I fell back on the +exclusion of _A Drama in Muslin_ as the only way out of the dilemma. A +wavering resolution was precipitated by recollection of some disgraceful +pages, but a moment after I was thinking that the omission of the book +would create a hiatus. _A Drama in Muslin_, I reflected, is a link +between two styles; and a book that has achieved any notoriety cannot be +omitted from a collected edition, so my publishers said, and they harped +on this string, until one day I flung myself out of their office and +rattled down the stairs muttering, 'What a smell of shop!' But in the +Strand near the Cecil Inn, the thought glided into my mind that the +pages that seemed so disgraceful in memory might not seem so in print, +'and the only way to find out if this be so,' the temptation continued, +'will be to ask the next policeman the way to Charing Cross Road.' +Another saw me over a dangerous crossing (London is the best policed +city in Europe), a third recommended a shop 'over yonder: you've just +passed it by, sir.' 'Thank you, thank you,' I cried back, and no sooner +was I on the other side than, overcome by shyness, as always in these +stores of dusty literature, I asked for the _Drama in Muslin_, +pronouncing the title so timidly that the bookseller guessed me at once +to be the author, and began telling of the books that were doing well in +first editions. 'If I had any I wanted to get rid of?' he mentioned +several he would be glad to buy. Whereupon in turn I grew confidential +and confided to him my present dilemma, failing, however, to dissuade +him from his opinion that _A Drama in Muslin_ ought to be included. 'Any +corrections you make in the new edition will keep up the price of the +old,' he added as he wrapped up the brown paper parcel. 'You will like +the book better than you think for.' 'Thank you, thank you,' I cried +after me, and hopped into a taxi, unsuspicious that I carried a +delightful evening under my arm. A comedy novel, written with +sprightliness and wit, I said, as I turned to the twentieth page, and it +needs hardly any editing. A mere re-tying of a few bows that the +effluxion of time has untied, or were never tied by the author, who, if +I remember right, used to be less careful of his literary appearance +than his prefacer, neglecting to examine his sentences, and to scan them +as often as one might expect from an admirer, not to say disciple, of +Walter Pater. + +An engaging young man rose out of the pages of his book, one that Walter +Pater would admire (did admire), one that life, I added, seems to have +affected through his senses violently, and who was (may we say +therefore) a little over anxious to possess himself of a vocabulary +which would suffer him to tell all he saw, heard, smelt and touched. + +Upon this sudden sympathy the book, of which I had read but twenty +pages, dropped on my knees, and I sat engulfed in a reverie of the +charming article I should have written about this book if it had come to +me for review. 'But it couldn't have come to me,' I reflected, 'for +myself and the young man that wrote it were not contemporaries.' It +would be true, however, to say that our lives overlapped; but when did +the author of the _Drama in Muslin_ disappear from literature? His next +book was _Confession of a Young Man_. It was followed by _Spring Days_; +he must have died in the last pages of that story, for we find no trace +of him in _Esther Waters_! And my thoughts, dropping away from the books +he had written, began to take pleasure in the ridiculous appearance that +the author of _A Drama in Muslin_ presented in the mirrors of Dublin +Castle as he tripped down the staircases in parly morning. And a smile +played round my lips as I recalled his lank yellow hair (often standing +on end), his sloping shoulders and his female hands--a strange +appearance which a certain vivacity of mind sometimes rendered engaging. + +He was writing at that time _A Mummer's Wife_ in his bedroom at the +Shelbourne Hotel, and I thought how different were the two visions, _A +Mummer's Wife_ and _A Drama in Muslin_ and how the choice of these two +subjects revealed him to me. 'It was life that interested him rather +than the envelope' I said. 'He sought Alice Barton's heart as eagerly as +Kate Ede's;' and my heart went out to the three policemen to whose +assiduities I owed this pleasant evening, all alone with my cat and my +immediate ancestor; and as I sat looking into the fire I fell to +wondering how it was that the critics of the 'eighties could have been +blind enough to dub him an imitator of Zola. 'A soul searcher, if ever +there was one,' I continued, 'whose desire to write well is apparent on +every page, a headlong, eager, uncertain style (a young hound yelping at +every trace of scent), but if we look beneath the style we catch sight +of the young man's true self, a real interest in religious questions and +a hatred as lively as Ibsen's of the social conventions that drive women +into the marriage market. It seems strange,' I said, abandoning myself +to recollection, 'that the critics of the 'eighties failed to notice +that the theme of _A Drama in Muslin_ is the same as that of the _Doll's +House_; the very title should have pointed this put to them.' But they +were not interested in themes; but in morality, and how they might crush +a play which, if it were uncrushed by them, would succeed in undermining +the foundations of society--their favourite phrase at the time, it +entered into every article written about the _Doll's House_--and, +looking upon themselves as the saviours of society, these +master-builders kept on staying and propping the damaged construction +till at length they were joined by some dramatists and story-tellers who +feared with them for the 'foundations of society,' and these latter set +themselves the task of devising new endings that would be likely to +catch the popular taste and so mitigate the evil, the substitution of an +educational motive for a carnal one. For Nora does not leave her husband +for a lover, but to educate herself. The critics were used to lovers, +and what we are used to is bearable, but a woman who leaves her husband +and her children for school-books is unbearable, and much more immoral +than the usual little wanton. So the critics thought in the 'eighties, +and they thought truly, if it be true that morality and custom are +interchangeable terms. The critics were right in a way; everybody is +right in a way, for nothing is wholly right and nothing wholly wrong, a +truth often served up by philosophers; but the public has ever eschewed +it, and perhaps our argument will be better appreciated if we dilute +this truth a little, saying instead that it is the telling that makes a +story true or false, and that the dramatic critics of the 'eighties were +not altogether as wrong as Mr. Archer imagined them to be, but failed to +express themselves. + +The public is without power of expression, and it felt that it was being +fooled for some purpose not very apparent and perhaps anarchical. Nor is +a sudden revelation very convincing in modern times. In the space of +three minutes, Nora, who has been her husband's sensual toy, and has +taken pleasure in being that, and only that, leaves her husband and her +children, as has been said, for school-books. A more arbitrary piece of +stage craft was never devised; but it was not the stage craft the +critics were accustomed to, and the admirers of Ibsen did not dare to +admit that he had devised Nora to cry aloud that a woman is more than a +domestic animal. It would have been fatal for an apostle or even a +disciple to admit the obvious fact that Ibsen was a dramatist of moral +ideas rather than of sensuous emotions; and there was nobody in the +'eighties to explain the redemption of Ibsen by his dialogue, the +strongest and most condensed ever written, yet coming off the reel like +silk. A wonderful thread, that never tangles in his hands. Ibsen is a +magical weaver, and so closely does he weave that we are drawn along in +the net like fishes. + +But it is with the subject of the _Doll's House_ rather than with the +art with which it is woven that we are concerned here. The subject of _A +Drama in Muslin_ is the same as that of _A Doll's House_, and for this +choice of subject I take pride in my forerunner. It was a fine thing for +a young man of thirty to choose the subject instinctively that Ibsen had +chosen a few years before; it is a feather in his cap surely; and I +remember with pleasure that he was half through his story when Dr. +Aveling read him the first translation of _A Doll's House_, a poor +thing, done by a woman, that withheld him from any appreciation of the +play. The fact that he was writing the same subject from an entirely +different point of view prejudiced him against Ibsen; and the making of +a woman first in a sensual and afterward transferring her into an +educational mould with a view to obtaining an instrument to thunder out +a given theme could not be else than abhorrent to one whose art, however +callow, was at least objective. In the _Doll's House_ Ibsen had +renounced all objectivity. It does not seem to me that further apologies +are necessary for my predecessor's remark to Dr. Aveling after the +reading that he was engaged in moulding a woman in one of Nature's +moulds. 'A puritan,' he said, 'I am writing of, but not a sexless +puritan, and if women cannot win their freedom without leaving their sex +behind they had better remain slaves, for a slave with his sex is better +than a free eunuch;' and he discoursed on the book he was writing, +convinced that Alice Barton represented her sex better than the +archetypal hieratic and clouded figure of Nora which Ibsen had dreamed +so piously, allowing, he said, memories of Egyptian sculpture to mingle +with his dreams. + +My ancestor could not have understood the _Doll's House_ while he was +writing _A Drama in Muslin_, not even in Mr. Archer's translation; he +was too absorbed in his craft at that time, in observing and remembering +life, to be interested in moral ideas. And his portrait of Alice Barton +gives me much the same kind of pleasure as a good drawing. She keeps her +place in the story, moving through it with quiet dignity, commanding our +sympathy and respect always, and for her failure to excite our wonder +like Nora we may say that the author's design was a comedy, and that in +comedy the people are not and perhaps should not be above life size. But +why apologize for what needs no apology? Alice Barton is a creature of +conventions and prejudices, not her mother's but her own; so far she had +freed herself, and it may well be that none obtains a wider liberty. She +leaves her home with the dispensary doctor, who has bought a small +practice in Notting Hill, and the end seems a fulfilment of the +beginning. The author conducts her to the door of womanhood, and there +he leaves her with the joys and troubles, no doubt, of her new estate; +but with these he apparently does not consider himself to be concerned, +though he seems to have meditated at this time a sort of small _comedie +humaine_--small, for he must have known that he could not withstand the +strain of Balzac's shifts of fourteen hours. We are glad he was able to +conquer the temptation to imitate, yet we cannot forego a regret that he +did not turn to Violet Scully that was and look into the married life of +the Marchioness of Kilcamey--her grey intense eyes shining through a +grey veil, and her delightful thinness--her epicene bosom and long +thighs are the outward signs of a temper, constant perhaps, but not +narrow. He would have been able to discover an intrigue of an engaging +kind in her, and the thinking out of the predestined male would have +been as agreeable a task as falls to the lot of a man of letters. And +being a young man he would begin by considering the long series of +poets, painters and musicians, he had read of in Balzac's novels, but as +none of these would be within the harmony of Violet's perverse humour, +he would turn to life, and presently a vague shaggy shape would emerge +from the back of his mind, but it would refuse to condense into any +recognizable face; which is as well, perhaps, else I might be tempted to +pick up this forgotten flower, though I am fain to write no more long +stories. + +But though we regret that the author of _Muslin_ did not gather this +Violet for his literary buttonhole, let no one suggest that the old man +should return to his Springtime to do what the young man left undone. +Our gathering-time is over, and we are henceforth prefacers. _The Brook +Cherith_ is our last. Some may hear this decision with sorrow, but we +have written eighteen books, which is at least ten too many, and none +shall persuade us to pick up the burden of another long story. We swear +it and close our ears to our admirers, and to escape them we plunge into +consideration of Violet's soul and her aptitudes, saying, and saying +well, that if polygamy thrives with Mohammedanism in the East, polyandry +has settled down in the West with Christianity, and that since Nora +slammed the door the practice of acquiring a share in a woman's life, +rather than insisting on the whole of it, has caught such firm root in +our civilization that it is no exaggeration to say that every married +woman to-day will admit she could manage two men better than her husband +could manage two wives. If we inquire still further, we submit, and +confidently, that every woman--saint or harlot, it matters not +which--would confess she would prefer to live with two men rather than +share her husband with another woman. All women are of one mind on this +subject; it is the one thing on which they all agree irrespective of +creed or class, so these remarks barely concern them; but should male +eyes fall on this page, and if in the pride of his heart he should cry +out, 'This is not so,' I would have him make application to his wife or +sister, and if he possess neither he may discover the truth in his own +mind. Let him ask himself if it could be otherwise, since our usage and +wont is that a woman shall prepare for the reception of visitors by +adorning her rooms with flowers and dressing herself in fine linen and +silk attire, and be to all men alike as they come and go. She must cover +all with winning glances, and beguile all with seductive eyes and foot, +and talk about love, though, perhaps she would prefer to think of one +who is far away. Men do not live under such restraint. A man may reserve +all his thoughts for his mistress, but the moment he leaves, his +mistress must begin to cajole the new-comer, however indifferent he may +be to her. The habit of her life is to cajole, to please, to inspire, if +possible, and if she be not a born coquette she becomes one, and takes +pleasure in her art, devoting her body and mind to it, reading only +books about love and lovers, singing songs of love, and seeking always +new scents and colours and modes of fascination. If lovers are away and +none calls, she abandons herself to dreams, and her imagination +furnishes quickly a new romance. Somebody she has half-forgotten rises +up in her memory, and she thinks that she could like him if he were to +come into her drawing-room now. It would be happiness indeed to walk +forward into his arms and to call her soul into her eyes; or, if a +letter were to come from him asking her to dinner, she would accept it; +and, lying back among her silken cushions, she thinks she could spend +many hours in his company without weariness. She creates his rooms and +his person and his conversation, and when he is exhausted a new intrigue +rises up in her mind, and then another and another. Some drop away and +remain for ever unfulfilled, while others 'come into their own,' as the +saying is. + +If this be a true analysis of a woman's life--and who will say it is +not?--the dreams of the Marchioness of Kilcarney would begin in her +easy-chair about the second spring after her marriage, the shaggy shape +that haunts the back of my mind would hear her dreams, and the wooing +that began with the daffodils would continue always, for she is a woman +that could keep a lover till the end of time. At her death husband and +lover would visit her grave together and talk of her perfections in the +winter evenings. But if Violet did not die another vagrant male would +steal through the ilex-trees, a hunter in pursuit of game, or else it +might be a fisher, seated among the rocks waiting, for tunny-fish. +Either might take Violet's fancy. The author of _Muslin_ seems to have +entertained a thought of some such pastoral frolic in the Shelbourne +Hotel--the opposition of husband and lover to the newcomer, Harding, +whom it had occurred to Mrs. Barton to invite to Brookfield, and whom +she would have invited had it not been for her great matrimonial +projects; my forerunner, who was an artist, saw that any deflection of +Mrs. Barton's thoughts would jeopardize his composition, and he allowed +Mrs. Barton to remain a chaperon. He was right in this, but Violet +should have been the impulse and nucleus of a new story. . . . I began to +think suddenly of the blight that would fall on the twain if Violet's +lover were to die, and to figure them sitting in the evenings meditating +on the admirable qualities of the deceased till in their loneliness he +would come to seem to them as a being more than human, touching almost +on the Divine. Their ears would retain the sound of his voice, and the +familiar furniture would provoke remembrances of him. Ashamed of their +weakness, their eyes would seek the chair he used to sit in: it is away +in a far corner, lest a casual visitor should draw it forward and defile +it with his presence--a thing that happened once (the unhappy twain +remember how they lacked moral courage to beg him to choose another +chair). The table, laid for two, was too painful to behold, and they +never enjoyed a meal, hardly could they eat, till at last it was decided +that his place should be laid for him as if he had gone away on a +journey, and might appear in the doorway and sit down with them and +share the repast as of yore--a pretty deception the folly of which they +were alive to (a little) but would not willingly be without. + +His room, too, awaits him, and his clothes have not been destroyed or +given to the poor, but he folded by charitable hands in the drawers +kept safe from moth with orris-root and lavender. His hat hangs on its +accustomed peg in the hall, and they think of it among many other +things. At last the silence of these lonely meditations is broken by +sudden recollections--for dinner the cook had sent up a boiled chicken +instead of roast, and he had looked upon boiled chicken as a vulgar +insularism always. Nor were there bananas on the table. Bananas were an +acquired taste with them, they had learned to eat the fruit for love of +their friend, and since he has gone they have not eaten the chicken +roast nor the fruit, and it seems to them that they should have eaten of +these things in memory of him. In the Spring they come upon his +pruning-knife, and discourse sadly on the changes he would have advised. +Spring opens into summer, and when summer drops into the autumn +Kilcarney's black passes into grey; he appears one morning in a violet +tie, and the tie, picked out of a drawer with indifferent hand, causes +Violet to doubt her husband's constancy. It was soon after this +thoughtless act that he began, for the thousandth time, to remind her +that the world might be searched in its dimmest corners and no friend +again found like the one they had lost. . . . The reflection had become +part of their habitual thought, and, feeling a little trite and +commonplace, Violet listened, or half-listened, engulfed in retrospect. + +'I met in Merrion Square,' and she mentioned a name, 'and do you know +whom he seemed to be very like?' The colour died out of Kilcarney's +cheek and he could but murmur, 'Oh, Violet!' and colouring at being +caught up on what might be looked upon as a mental infidelity, she +answered, 'of course, none is like him . . . I wish you would not seek to +misunderstand me.' + +The matter passed off, but next evening she sat looking at her husband, +her thoughts suspended for so long that he began to fear, wrongly +however, that she was about to put forward some accusation, to twit him +perchance on his lack of loyalty to his dead friend. He had not eaten a +banana for dinner, though he had intended to eat one. 'Of course, we +shall never find anyone like him,' she said--'not if we were to search +all the corners of the world. That is so, we're both agreed on that +point, but I've been thinking which of all our friends and acquaintances +would least unworthily fill his place in our lives.' 'Violet! Violet!' +'If you persist in misunderstanding me,' she answered, 'I have no more +to say,' whereupon the Marquis tried to persuade the Marchioness out of +the morose silence that had fallen upon them, and failing to move her he +raised the question that had divided them. 'If you mean, Violet, that +our racing friend would be a poor shift for our dead friend, meaning +thereby that nobody in Dublin is comparable'--'could I have meant +anything else, you old dear?' she replied; and the ice having been +broken, the twain plunged at once into the waters of recollection, and +coming upon a current they were borne onward, swiftly and more swiftly, +till at length a decision had to be come to--they would invite their +racing friend. + +It was on the Marquis's lips to say a word or two in disparagement of +the invited guest, but on second thoughts it seemed to him that he had +better refrain; the Marchioness, too, was about to plead, she did not +know exactly what, but she thought she would like to reassure the +Marquis. . . . On second thoughts she decided too that it would be better +(perhaps) to refrain. Well, to escape from the toils of an interesting +story (for I'm no longer a story-teller but a prefacer) I will say that +three nights later Sir Hugh took the Marchioness in to dinner; he sat in +his predecessor's chair, knowing nothing of him, thereby startling his +hosts, who, however, soon recovered their presence of mind. After dinner +the Marquis said, 'Now, Sir Hugh, I hope you will excuse me if I go +upstairs. I am taking the racing calendar with me, you see.' + +My forerunner, the author of _Muslin_, should have written the story +sketched here with a failing hand, his young wit would have allowed him +to tell how the marriage that had wilted sadly after the death of Uncle +Toby now renewed its youth, opening its leaves to the light again, +shaking itself in the gay breezes floating by. He would have been able +in this story to present three exemplars of the domestic virtues, +telling how they went away to the seaside together, and returned +together to their castle among tall trees in October compelling the +admiration of the entire countryside. He would have shown us the +Marchioness entertaining visitors while the two men talked by the +fireplace, delighting in each other's company, and he would not have +forgotten to put them before us in their afternoon walks, sharing +between them Violet's knick-knacks, her wraps, her scarf, her fan, her +parasol, her cushion. His last chapter would probably be in a ball-room, +husband and lover standing by the door watching the Marchioness swinging +round the room on the arm of a young subaltern. 'Other women are younger +than she, Kilcarney, but who is as graceful? Have you ever seen a woman +hold herself like Violet?' One of the daughters (for there have been +children by this second, or shall we say by this third, marriage) comes +up breathless after the dance. 'Darling Uncle Hughie, won't you take me +for an ice?' and he gives her his arm affectionately, but as they pass +away to the buffet Sir Hugh hears Kilcarney speaking of Lily as his +daughter. Sir Hugh's face clouds suddenly, but he remembers that, after +all, Kilcarney is a guardian of his wife's honour. A very ingenious +story, no doubt, and if, as the young man's ascendant--the critics of +1915 are pleased to speak of me as ascendant from the author of +_Muslin_--I may be permitted to remark upon it, I would urge the very +grave improbability that three people ever lived contemporaneously who +were wise enough to prefer, and so consistently, happiness to the +conventions. + +There are still May Gould and Olive to consider, but this preface has +been prolonged unduly, and it may be well to leave the reader to imagine +a future for these girls, and to decide the interests that will fill +Mrs. Barton's life when Lord Dungory's relations with this world have +ceased. + +G.M. + + + + + +MUSLIN + + + +I + + +The convent was situated on a hilltop, and through the green garden the +white dresses of the schoolgirls fluttered like the snowy plumage of a +hundred doves. Obeying a sudden impulse, a flock of little ones would +race through a deluge of leaf-entangled rays towards a pet companion +standing at the end of a gravel-walk examining the flower she has just +picked, the sunlight glancing along her little white legs proudly and +charmingly advanced. The elder girls in their longer skirts were more +dignified, but when they caught sight of a favourite sister, they too +ran forward, and then retreated timidly, as if afraid of committing an +indiscretion. + +It was prize-day in the Convent of the Holy Child, and since early +morning all had been busy preparing for the arrival of the Bishop. His +throne had been set at one end of the school-hall, and at the other the +carpenters had erected a stage for the performance of _King Cophetua_, a +musical sketch written by Miss Alice Barton for the occasion. + +Alice Barton was what is commonly known as a plain girl. At home, during +the holidays, she often heard that the dressmaker could not fit her; but +though her shoulders were narrow and prim, her arms long and almost +awkward, there was a character about the figure that commanded +attention. Alice was now turned twenty; she was the eldest, the +best-beloved, and the cleverest girl in the school. It was not, +therefore, on account of any backwardness in her education that she had +been kept so long out of society, but because Mrs. Barton thought that, +as her two girls were so different in appearance, it would be well for +them to come out together. Against this decision Alice said nothing, +and, like a tall arum lily, she had grown in the convent from girl to +womanhood. To her the little children ran to be comforted; and to walk +with her in the garden was considered an honour and a pleasure that even +the Reverend Mother was glad to participate in. + +Lady Cecilia Cullen sat next to Alice, and her high shoulders and long +face and pathetic eyes drew attention to her shoulders--they were a +little wry, the right seemingly higher than the left. Her eyes were on +Alice, and it was plain that she wished the other girls away, and that +her nature was delicate, sensitive, obscure, if not a little queer. At +home her elder sisters complained that an ordinary look or gesture often +shocked her, and so deeply that she would remain for hours sitting apart +refusing all consolation; and it was true that a spot on the tablecloth +or presence of one repellent to her was sufficient to extinguish a +delight or an appetite. + +Violet Scully occupied the other end of the garden bench. She was very +thin, but withal elegantly made. Her face was neat and delicate, and it +was set with light blue eyes; and when she was not changing her place +restlessly, or looking round as if she fancied someone was approaching, +when she was still (which was seldom), a rigidity of feature and an +almost complete want of bosom gave her the appearance of a convalescent +boy. + +If May Gould, who stood at the back, her hand leaning affectionately on +Alice's shoulder, had been three inches taller, she would have been +classed a fine figure, but her features were too massive for her height. +Her hair was not of an inherited red. It was the shade of red that is +only seen in the children of dark-haired parents. In great coils it +rolled over the dimpled cream of her neck, and with the exception of +Alice, May was the cleverest girl in the school. For public inspection +she made large water-coloured drawings of Swiss scenery; for private +view, pen-and-ink sketches of officers sitting in conservatories with +young ladies. The former were admired by the nuns, the latter occasioned +some discussion among a select few. + +Violet Scully and May Gould would appeal to different imaginations. + +Olive, Alice's sister, was more beautiful than either, but there was +danger that her corn-coloured hair, wound round a small shapely head, +might fail to excite more than polite admiration. Her nose was finely +chiselled, but it was high and aquiline, and though her eyes were well +drawn and coloured, they lacked personal passion and conviction; but no +flower could show more delicate tints than her face--rose tints fading +into cream, cream rising into rose. Her ear was curved like a shell, her +mouth was faint and weak as a rose, and her moods alternated between +sudden discontent and sudden gaiety. + +'I don't see, Alice, why you couldn't have made King Cophetua marry the +Princess. Whoever heard of a King marrying a beggar-maid? Besides, I +hear that lots of people are going to be present, and to be jilted +before them all isn't very nice. I am sure mamma wouldn't like it.' + +'But you are not jilted, my dear Olive. You don't like the King, and you +show your nobleness of mind by refusing him.' + +'I don't see that. Whoever refused a King?' + +'Well, what do you want?' exclaimed May. 'I never saw anyone so selfish +in all my life; you wouldn't be satisfied unless you played the whole +piece by yourself.' + +Olive would probably have made a petulant and passionate reply, but at +that moment visitors were coming up the drive. + +'It's papa,' cried Olive. + +'And he is with mamma,' said Violet; and she tripped after Olive. + +Mr. Barton, a tall, handsome man, seemed possessed of all the beauty of +a cameo, and Olive had inherited his high aquiline nose and the moulding +of his romantic forehead; and his colour, too. He wore a flowing beard, +and his hair and beard were the colour of pale _cafe-au-lait_. Giving a +hand to each daughter, he said: + +'Here is learning and here is beauty. Could a father desire more? And +you, Violet, and you, May, are about to break into womanhood. I used to +kiss you in old times, but I suppose you are too big now. How +strange--how strange! There you are, a row of brunettes and blondes, who +before many days are over will be charming the hearts of all the young +men in Galway. I suppose it was in talking of such things that you spent +the morning?' + +'Our young charges have been, I assure you, very busy all the morning. +We are not as idle as you think, Mr. Barton,' said the nun in a tone of +voice that showed that she thought Mr. Barton's remark ill-considered. +'We have been arranging the stage for the representation of a little +play that your daughter Alice composed.' + +'Oh yes, I know; she wrote to me about it. _King Cophetua_ is the name, +isn't it? I am very curious indeed, for I have set Tennyson's ballad to +music myself. I sing it to the guitar, and if life were not so hurried I +should have sent it to you. However--however, we are all going home +to-morrow. I have promised to take charge of Cecilia, and Mrs. Scully is +going to look after May.' + +'Oh, how nice! Oh, how jolly that will be!' Olive cried; and, catching +Violet by the hands, she romped with her for glee. + +But the nun, taking advantage of this break in the conversation, said: + +'Come, now, young ladies, it is after two o'clock; we shall never be +ready in time if you don't make haste--and it won't do to keep the +Bishop waiting.' Like a hen gathering her chickens, the Sister hurried +away with Violet, Olive, and May. + +'How happy they seem in this beautiful retreat!' said Mrs. Scully, +drawing her black lace shawl about her grey-silk shoulders. 'How little +they know of the troubles of the world! I am afraid it would be hard to +persuade them to leave their convent if they knew the trials that await +them.' + +'We cannot escape our trials,' a priest said, who had just joined the +group; 'they are given to us that we may overcome them.' + +'I suppose so, indeed,' said Mrs. Scully; and, trying to find +consolation in the remark, she sighed. Another priest, as if fearing +further religious shop from his fellow-worker, informed Mr. Barton, in a +cheerful tone of voice, that he had heard he was a great painter. + +'I don't know--I don't know,' replied Mr. Barton; 'painting is, after +all, only dreaming. I should like to be put at the head of an army, but +when I am seized with an idea I have to rush to put it down.' + +Finding no appropriate answer to these somewhat erratic remarks, the +priest joined in a discussion that had been started concerning the +action taken by the Church during the present agrarian agitation. Mr. +Barton, who was weary of the subject, stepped aside, and, sitting on one +of the terrace benches between Cecilia and Alice, he feasted his eyes on +the colour-changes that came over the sea, and in long-drawn-out and +disconnected phrases explained his views on nature and art until the +bell was rung for the children to assemble in the school-hall. + + + + +II + + +It was a large room with six windows; these had been covered over with +red cloth, and the wall opposite was decorated with plates, flowers, and +wreaths woven out of branches of ilex and holly. + +Chairs for the visitors had been arranged in a semicircle around the +Bishop's throne--a great square chair approached by steps, and rendered +still more imposing by the canopy, whose voluminous folds fell on either +side like those of a corpulent woman's dress. Opposite was the stage. +The footlights were turned down, but the blue mountains and brown +palm-trees of the drop-curtain, painted by one of the nuns, loomed +through the red obscurity of the room. Benches had been set along the +walls. Between them a strip of carpet, worked with roses and lilies, +down which the girls advanced when called to receive their prizes, +stretched its blue and slender length. + +'His Grace is coming!' a nun cried, running in, and instantly the +babbling of voices ceased, and four girls hastened to the pianos placed +on either side of the stage, two left-hands struck a series of chords in +the bass, the treble notes replied, and, to the gallant measure of a +French polka, a stately prelate entered, smiling benediction as he +advanced, the soft clapping of feminine palms drowning, for a moment, +the slangy strains of the polka. + +When the Bishop was seated on his high throne, the back of which +extended some feet above his head, and as soon as the crowd of visitors +had been accommodated with chairs around him, a nun made her way through +the room, seeking anxiously among the girls. She carried in her hand a +basket filled with programmes, all rolled and neatly tied with pieces of +different coloured ribbon. These she distributed to the ten tiniest +little children she could find, and, advancing five from either side, +they formed in a line and curtsied to the Bishop. One little dot, whose +hair hung about her head like a golden mist, nearly lost her balance; +she was, however, saved from falling by a companion, and then, like a +group of kittens, they tripped down the strip of blue carpet and handed +the programmes to the guests, who leaned forward as if anxious to touch +their hands, to stroke their shining hair. + +The play was now ready to begin, and Alice felt she was going from hot +to cold, for when the announcement printed on the programme, that she +was the author of the comedy of _King Cophetua_ had been read, all eyes +were fixed upon her; the Bishop, after eyeing her intently, bent towards +the Reverend Mother and whispered to her. Cecilia clasped Alice's hand +and said: 'You must not be afraid, dear; I know it will be all right.' + +And the little play was as charming as it was guileless. The old legend +had been arranged--as might have been expected from a schoolgirl--simply +and unaffectedly. The scene opened in a room in the palace of the King, +and when a chorus, supposed to be sung by the townspeople, was over, a +Minister entered hurriedly. The little children uttered a cry of +delight; they did not recognize their companion in her strange disguise. +A large wig, with brown curls hanging over the shoulders, almost hid the +face, that had been made to look quite aged by a few clever touches of +the pencil about the eyes and mouth. She was dressed in a long garment, +something between an ulster and a dressing-gown. It fell just below her +knees, for it had been decided by the Reverend Mother that it were +better that there should be a slight display of ankles than the least +suspicion of trousers. The subject was a delicate one, and for some +weeks past a look of alarm had not left the face of the nun in charge of +the wardrobe. But these considerations only amused the girls, and now, +delighted at the novelty of her garments, the Minister strutted about +the stage complaining of the temper of the Dowager Queen. 'Who could +help it if the King wouldn't marry? Who could make him leave his poetry +and music for a pretty face if he didn't care to do so? He had already +refused blue eyes, black eyes, brown eyes. However, the new Princess was +a very beautiful person, and ought, all things considered, to be +accepted by the King. She must be passing through the city at the +moment.' + +On this the Queen entered. The first words she spoke were inaudible, +but, gathering courage, she trailed her white satin, with its large +brocaded pattern, in true queenly fashion, and questioned the Minister +as to his opinion of the looks of the new Princess. But she gave no +point to her words. The scene was, fortunately, a short one, and no +sooner had they disappeared than a young man entered. He held a lute in +his left hand, and with his right he twanged the strings idly. He was +King Cophetua, and many times during rehearsal Alice had warned May that +her reading of the character was not right; but May did not seem able to +accommodate herself to the author's view of the character, and, after a +few minutes, fell back into her old swagger; and now, excited by the +presence of an audience, by the footlights, by the long coat under which +she knew her large, well-shaped legs could be seen, she forgot her +promises, and strolled about like a man, as she had seen young Scully +saunter about the stable-yard at home. She looked, no doubt, very +handsome, and, conscious of the fact, she addressed her speeches to a +group of young men, who, for no ostensible reason except to get as far +away as possible from the Bishop, had crowded into the left-hand corner +of the hall. + +And so great was May's misreading of the character, that Alice could +hardly realize that she was listening to her own play. Instead of +speaking the sentence, 'My dear mother, I could not marry anyone I did +not love; besides, am I not already wedded to music and poetry?' slowly, +dreamily, May emphasized the words so jauntily, that they seemed to be +poetic equivalents for wine and tobacco. There was no doubt that things +were going too far; the Reverend Mother frowned, and shifted her +position in her chair uneasily; the Bishop crossed his legs and took +snuff methodically. + +But at this moment the attention of the audience was diverted by the +entrance of the Princess. May's misbehaviour was forgotten, and a murmur +of admiration rose through the red twilight. Dressed in a tight-fitting +gown of pale blue, opening in front, and finishing in a train held up by +the smallest child in the school, Olive moved across the stage like a +beautiful bird. Taking a wreath of white roses from her hair, she +presented them to the King. He had then to kiss her hand, and lead her +to a chair. In the scene that followed, Alice had striven to be +intensely pathetic. She had intended that the King, by a series of +kindly put questions, should gradually win the Princess's confidence, +and induce her to tell the truth--that her affections had already been +won by a knight at her father's Court; that she could love none other. + +KING. But if this knight did not exist; if you had never seen him, you +would, I suppose, have accepted my hand? + +PRINCESS. You will not be offended if I tell you the truth? + +KING. No; my word on it. + +PRINCESS. I could never have listened to your love. + +KING (_rising hastily_). Am I then so ugly, so horrible, so vile, that +even if your heart were not engaged elsewhere you could not have +listened to me? + +PRINCESS. You are neither horrible nor vile, King Cophetua; but again +promise me secrecy, and I will tell you the whole truth. + +KING. I promise. + +PRINCESS. You are loved by a maiden far more beautiful than I; she is +dying of love for your sake! She has suffered much for her love; she is +suffering still. + +KING. Who is this maiden? + +PRINCESS. Ah! She is but a beggar-maid; she lives on charity, the songs +she sings, and the flowers she sells in the streets. And now she is +poorer than ever, for your royal mother has caused her to be driven out +of the city. + + +Here the King weeps--he is supposed to be deeply touched by the +Princess's account of the wrongs done to the beggar-maid--and it is +finally arranged between him and the Princess that they shall pretend to +have come to some violent misunderstanding, and that, in their war of +words, they shall insult each other's parents so grossly that all +possibilities of a marriage will be for ever at an end. Throwing aside a +chair so as to bring the Queen within ear-shot, the King declares that +his royal neighbour is an old dunce, and that there is not enough money +in his treasury to pay the Court boot-maker; the Princess retaliates by +saying that the royal mother of the crowned head she is addressing is an +old cat, who paints her face and beats her maids-of-honour. + +The play that up to this point had been considered a little tedious now +engaged the attention of the audience, and when the Queen entered she +was greeted with roars of laughter. The applause was deafening. Olive +played her part better than had been expected, and all the white frocks +trembled with excitement. The youths in the left-hand corner craned +their heads forward so as not to lose a syllable of what was coming; the +Bishop recrossed his legs in a manner that betokened his entire +satisfaction; and, delighted, the mammas and papas whispered together. +But the faces of the nuns betrayed the anxiety they felt. Inquiring +glances passed beneath the black hoods; all the sleek faces grew alive +and alarmed. May was now alone on the stage, and there was no saying +what indiscretion she might not be guilty of. + +The Reverend Mother, however, had anticipated the danger of the scene, +and had sent round word to the nun in charge of the back of the stage to +tell Miss Gould that she was to set the crown straight on her head, and +to take her hands out of her pockets. The effect of receiving such +instructions from the wings was that May forgot one-half her words, and +spoke the other half so incorrectly that the passage Alice had counted +on so much--'At last, thank Heaven, that tiresome trouble is over, and I +am free to return to music and poetry'--was rendered into nonsense, and +the attention of the audience lost. Nor were matters set straight until +a high soprano voice was heard singing: + + 'Buy, buy, who will buy roses of me? + Roses to weave in your hair. + A penny, only a penny for three, + Roses a queen might wear! + Roses! I gathered them far away + In gardens, white and red. + Roses! Make presents of roses to-day + And help me to earn my bread.' + +The King divined that this must be the ballad-singer--the beggar-maid +who loved him, who, by some secret emissaries of the Queen, had been +driven away from the city, homeless and outcast; and, snatching his lute +from the wall, he sang a few plaintive verses in response. The strain +was instantly taken up, and then, on the current of a plain religious +melody, the two voices were united, and, as two perfumes, they seemed to +blend and become one. + +Alice would have preferred something less ethereal, for the exigencies +of the situation demanded that the King should get out of the window and +claim the hand of the beggar-maid in the public street. But the nun who +had composed the music could not be brought to see this, and, after a +comic scene between the Queen and the Chancellor, the King, followed by +his Court and suite, entered, leading the beggar-maid by the hand. In a +short speech he told how her sweetness, her devotion, and, above all, +her beautiful voice, had won his heart, and that he intended to make her +his Queen. A back cloth went up, and it disclosed a double throne, and +as the young bride ascended the steps to take her place by the side of +her royal husband, a joyful chorus was sung, in which allusion was made +to a long reign and happy days. + +Everyone was enchanted but Alice, who had wished to show how a man, in +the trouble and bitterness of life, must yearn for the consoling +sympathy of a woman, and how he may find the dove his heart is sighing +for in the lowliest bracken; and, having found her, and having +recognized that she is the one, he should place her in his bosom, +confident that her plumes are as fair and immaculate as those that +glitter in the sunlight about the steps and terraces of the palace. +Instead of this, she had seen a King who seemed to regard life as a +sensual gratification; and a beggar-maid, who looked upon her lover, not +timidly, as a new-born flower upon the sun, but as a clever huckstress +at a customer who had bought her goods at her valuing. But the audience +did not see below the surface, and, in answer to clapping of hands and +cries of _Encore_, the curtain was raised once more, and King Cophetua, +seated on his throne by the side of his beggar-maid, was shown to them +again. + +The excitement did not begin to calm until the _tableaux vivants_ were +ready. For, notwithstanding the worldliness of the day, it was thought +that Heaven should not be forgotten. The convent being that of the Holy +Child, something illustrative of the birth of Christ naturally suggested +itself. No more touching or edifying subject than that of the +Annunciation could be found. Violet's thin, elegant face seemed +representative of an intelligent virginity, and in a long, white dress +she knelt at the _prie-dieu._ Olive, with a pair of wings obtained from +the local theatre, and her hair, blonde as an August harvesting, lying +along her back, took the part of the Angel. She wore a star on her +forehead, and after an interval that allowed the company to recover +their composure, and the carpenter to prepare the stage, the curtain was +again raised. This time the scene was a stable. At the back, in the +right-hand corner, there was a manger to which was attached a stuffed +donkey; Violet sat on a low stool and held the new-born Divinity in her +arms; May, who for the part of Joseph had been permitted to wear a false +beard, held a staff, and tried to assume the facial expression of a man +who had just been blessed with a son. In the foreground knelt the three +wise men from the East; with outstretched hands they held forth their +offerings of frankincense and myrrh. The picture of the world's +Redemption was depicted with such taste that a murmur of pious +admiration sighed throughout the hall. + +Soon after a distribution of prizes began, and when the different awards +had been distributed, and the Bishop had made a speech, there was +benediction in the convent-church. + + + + +III + + +'And to think,' said Alice, 'that this is the very last evening we shall +ever pass here!' + +'I don't see why you should be so very sorry for that,' replied May; 'I +should have thought that you must have had enough of the place. Why, you +have been here nearly ten years! I never would have consented to remain +so long as that.' + +'I didn't mind; we have been very happy here, and to say good-bye, and +for ever, to friends we have known so long, and who have been so good to +us, seems very sad--at least, it does to me.' + +'It is all very well for you,' said Olive; 'I dare say you have been +happy here, you have always been the petted and spoilt child of the +school. Nothing was ever too good for Alice; no matter who was wrong or +what was done, Alice was sure to be right.' + +'I never knew anyone so unreasonable,' said Cecilia. 'You grumble at +everything, and you are always dying of jealousy of your sister.' + +'That's not true, and you haven't much to talk of; after beating your +brains out you only just got the prize for composition. Besides, if you +like the convent as much as I dare say you do, although you aren't a +Catholic, you had better stop here with my sister.' + +'Oh, Olive! how can you speak to Cecilia in that horrid way? I am +ashamed of you.' + +'So you are going to turn against me, Alice; but that's your way. I +shan't stay here.' + +The retreating figure of the young girl stood out in beautiful +distinctness in the pale light; behind her the soft evening swept the +sea, effacing with azure the brown sails of the fishing-boats; in front +of her the dresses of the girls flitted white through the sombre green +of the garden. + +'I am sorry,' said Cecilia, 'you spoke to her. She is put out because +she didn't get a prize, and Sister Agnes told her that she nearly spoilt +the play by the stupid way she played the Princess.' + +'She will find that that temper of hers will stand in her way if she +doesn't learn to control it,' Violet said; 'but, now she is gone, tell +me, Alice, how do you think she played her part? As far as I can judge +she didn't seem to put any life into it. You meant the Princess to be a +sharp, cunning woman of the world, didn't you?' + +'No, not exactly; but I agree with you that Olive didn't put life into +it.' + +'Well, anyhow, the play was a great success, and you got, dear Alice, +the handsomest prize that has ever been given in the school.' + +'And how do you think I did the King? Did I make him look like a man? I +tried to walk just as Fred Scully does when he goes down to the +stables.' + +'You did the part very well, May; but I think I should like him to have +been more sentimental.' + +'I don't think men are sentimental--at least, not as you think they are. +I tried to copy Fred Scully.' + +'My part was a mere nothing. You must write me a something, Alice, one +of these days--a coquettish girl, you know, who could twist a man round +her fingers. A lot of _bavardage_ in it.' + +'I suppose you'll never be able to speak English again, now you've got +the prize for French conversation.' + +'Sour grapes! You would like to have got it yourself. I worked hard for +it. I was determined to get it, for ma says it is of great advantage in +society for a girl to speak French well.' + +'Jealous! I should like to know why I should be jealous. Of what? I got +all I tried for. Besides, the truth about your French prize is that you +may consider yourself very fortunate, for if' (she mentioned the name of +one of her schoolfellows) 'hadn't been so shy and timid, you'd have come +off second best.' + +The rudeness of this retort drew a sharp answer from Violet; and then, +in turn, but more often simultaneously, the girls discussed the justice +of the distribution. The names of an infinite number of girls were +mentioned; but when, in the babbling flow of convent-gossip, a favourite +nun was spoken of, one of the chatterers would sigh, and for a moment be +silent. + +The violet waters of the bay had darkened, and, like the separating +banners of a homeward-moving procession, the colours of the sky went +east and west. The girdle of rubies had melted, had become the pale red +lining of a falling mantle; the large spaces of gold grew dim; orange +and yellow streamers blended; lilac and blue pennons faded to deep +greys; dark hoods and dark veils were drawn closer; purple was gathered +like garments about the loins; the night fell, and the sky, now +decorated with a crescent moon and a few stars, was filled with +stillness and adoration. The day's death was exquisite, even human; and +as she gazed on the beautiful corpse lowered amid the fumes of a +thousand censers into an under-world, even Violet's egotism began to +dream. + +'The evening is lovely. I am glad; it is the last we shall pass here,' +said the girl pensively, 'and all good-byes are sad.' + +'Yes, we have been happy,' said May, 'and I too am sorry to leave; but +then we couldn't spend our lives here. There are plenty of things to be +done at home; and I suppose we shall all get married one of these days? +And there will be balls and parties before we get married. I don't think +that I'd care to get married all at once. Would you, Violet?' + +'I don't know. Perhaps not, unless it was to someone very grand indeed.' + +'Oh, would you do that? I don't think I could marry a man unless I loved +him,' said May. + +'Yes, but you might love someone who was very grand as well as someone +who wasn't.' + +'That's true enough; but then--' and May stopped, striving to readjust +her ideas, which Violet's remark had suddenly disarranged. After a pause +she said: + +'But does your mother intend to bring you to Dublin for the season? Are +you going to be presented this year?' + +'I hope so. Mamma said I should be, last vacation.' + +'I shall take good care that I am. The best part of the hunting will be +over, and I wouldn't miss the Castle balls for anything. Do you like +officers?' + +The crudity of the question startled Alice, and it was with difficulty +she answered she didn't know--that she had not thought about the matter. + +May and Violet continued the conversation; and over the lingering waste +of yellow, all that remained to tell where the sun had set, the night +fell like a heavy, blinding dust, sadly and regretfully, as the last +handful of earth thrown upon a young girl's grave. + + + + +IV + + +In the tiny cornfields the reapers rose from their work to watch the +carriage. Mr. Barton commented on the disturbed state of the country. +Olive asked if Mr. Parnell was good-looking. A railway-bridge was passed +and a pine-wood aglow with the sunset, and a footman stepped down from +the box to open a swinging iron gate. + +This was Brookfield. Sheep grazed on the lawn, at the end of which, +beneath some chestnut-trees, was the house. It had been built by the +late Mr. Barton out of a farmhouse, but the present man, having +travelled in Italy and been attracted by the picturesque, had built a +verandah; and for the same reason had insisted on calling his daughter +Olive. + +'Oh there, mamma!' cried Olive, looking out of the carriage window; and +the two girls watched their mother, a pretty woman of forty, coming +across the greensward to meet them. + +She moved over the greensward in a skirt that seemed a little too +long--a black silk skirt trimmed with jet. As she came forward her +daughters noticed that their mother dyed her hair in places where it +might be suspected of turning grey. It was parted in the middle and she +wore it drawn back over her ears and slightly puffed on either side in +accordance with the fashion that had come in with the Empress Eugenie. +Even in a photograph she was like a last-century beauty sketched by +Romney in pastel--brown, languid, almond-shaped eyes, a thin figure a +little bent. Even in youth it had probably resembled Alice's rather than +Olive's, but neither had inherited her mother's hands--the most +beautiful hands ever seen--and while they trifled with the newly bought +_foulards_ a warbling voice inquired if Olive was sure she was not +tired. + +'Five hours in the train! And you, Alice? You must be starving, my dear, +and I'm afraid the saffron buns are cold. Milord brought us over such a +large packet to-day. We must have some heated up. They won't be a +minute.' + +'Oh, mamma, I assure you I am not in the least hungry!' cried Olive. + +'_La beaute n'a jamais faim, elle se nourrit d'elle meme,'_ replied Lord +Dungory, who had just returned from the pleasure-ground whither he had +gone for a little walk with Arthur. + +'You will find Milord the same as ever--_toujours galant_; always +thinking of _la beaute, et les femmes_.' + +Lord Dungory was the kind of man that is often seen with the Mrs. Barton +type of woman. An elderly beau verging on the sixties, who, like Mrs. +Barton, suggested a period. His period was very early Victorian, but he +no longer wore a silk hat in the country. A high silk hat in Galway +would have called attention to his age, so the difficulty of costume was +ingeniously compromised by a tall felt, a cross between a pot and a +chimney-pot. For collars, a balance had been struck between the +jaw-scrapers of old time and the nearest modern equivalent; and in the +tying of the large cravat there was a reminiscence, but nothing more, of +the past generation. + +He had modelled himself, consciously or unconsciously, on Lord +Palmerston, and in the course of conversation one gathered that he was +on terms of intimacy with the chiefs of the Liberal party, such as Lord +Granville and Lord Hartington, and if the listener was credited with any +erudition, allusion was made to the most celebrated artists and authors, +and to their works. There was a celebrated Boucher in Dungory Castle, +which Milord, it was hinted, had bought for some very small sum many +years ago on the Continent; there was also a cabinet by Buhl and a +statue supposed to be a Jean Gougon, and the proofs of their +authenticity were sometimes spoken of after a set dinner-party. His +speech was urbane, and, on all questions of taste, Lord Dungory's +opinion was eagerly sought for. He gave a tone to the ideas put forward +in the surrounding country houses, and it was through him that Mr. +Barton held the title of a genius born out of due time. If Arthur, he +said, had lived two centuries ago, when the gift of imagination was +considered indispensable in the artist, he would have achieved high +distinction. His subjects--_The Bridal of Triermain_ and _Julius Caesar +overturning the Altars of the Druids_--would have been envied, perhaps +stolen, by the Venetian painters. And this tribute to Arthur's genius, +so generously expressed, enabled him to maintain the amenities of his +life at Brookfield. He never forgot to knock at Arthur's studio-door, +and the moment his eyes fell on a new composition, he spoke of it with +respect; and he never failed to allude to it at lunch. He lunched at +Brookfield every day. At half-past one his carriage was at the door. In +the afternoons he went out to drive with Mrs. Barton or sat in the +drawing-room with her. Four times in the week he remained to dinner, and +did not return home until close on midnight. + +Whether he ever made any return to Mrs. Barton for her hospitalities, +and, if so, in what form he repaid his obligations to her, was, when +friends drew together, a favourite topic of conversation in the county +of Galway. It had been remarked that the Bartons never dined at Dungory +Castle except on state occasions; and it was well-known that the Ladies +Cullen hated Mrs. Barton with a hatred as venomous as the poison hid in +the fangs of adders. + +But Lord Dungory knew how to charm his tame snakes. For fortune they had +but five thousand pounds each, and, although freedom and a London +lodging were often dreamed of, the flesh-pots of Dungory Castle +continued to be purchased at the price of smiles and civil words +exchanged with Mrs. Barton. Besides, as they grew old and ugly, the +Ladies Cullen had developed an inordinate passion for the conversion of +souls. They had started a school of their own in opposition to the +National school, which was under the direction of the priest, and to +persuade the peasants to read the Bible and to eat bacon on Friday, were +good works that could not be undertaken without funds; and these were +obtained, it was said, by the visits of the Ladies Cullen to Brookfield. + +Mrs. Gould declared she could estimate to a fraction the prosperity of +Protestantism in the parish by the bows these ladies exchanged with Mrs. +Barton when their carriages crossed on the roads. + +'Here are the saffron buns at last, my dear children;' and Mrs. Barton +pressed them upon her girls, saying that Milord had brought them from +Dungory Castle especially for them. 'Take a bottom piece, Olive, and +Alice, you really must. . . Well, if you won't eat, tell Milord about your +play of King Cophetua and the beggar-maid. Arthur, tell me, how did you +like the play, and how did the nuns like it? To think of my daughter, so +prim and demure, writing a play, and on such a subject.' + +'But, mamma, what is there odd in the subject? We all know the old +ballad.' + +'Yes, we all know the ballad,' Arthur answered; 'I sing stanzas of it to +the guitar myself.' He began to chant to himself, and Mrs. Barton +listened, her face slanted in the pose of the picture of Lady Hamilton; +and Milord rejoiced in the interlude, for it gave him opportunity to +meditate. Anna (Mrs. Barton) seemed to him more charming and attractive +than he had ever seen her, as she sat in the quiet shadow of the +verandah: beyond the verandah, behind her, the autumn sunshine fell +across the shelving meadows. A quiet harmony reigned over Brookfield. +The rooks came flapping home through the sunlight, and when Arthur had +ceased humming Mrs. Barton said: + +'And now, my dear children, if you have finished your tea, come, and I +will show you your room.' + +She did not leave the verandah, however, without paying a pretty +compliment to Milord, one that set him thinking how miserable his life +would have been with his three disagreeable daughters if he had not +fallen in with this enchantment. He remembered that it had lasted for +nearly twenty years, and it was as potent as ever. In what did it +consist, he asked himself. He sometimes thought her laughter too +abundant, sometimes it verged on merriment. He did not like to think of +Anna as a merry woman; he preferred to think that wherever she went she +brought happiness with her. He had known her sad, but never melancholy, +for she was never without a smile even when she was melancholy. + +Awakening from his reverie he drew his chair closer to Arthur's, and, +with a certain parade of interest, asked him if he had been to the +Academy. + +'Did you see anything, Arthur, that in design approached your picture of +_Julius Caesar Overturning the Altars of the Druids_?' + +'There were some beautiful bits of painting there,' replied Arthur, +whose modesty forbade him to answer the question directly. 'I saw some +lovely landscapes, and there were some babies' frocks,' he added +satirically. 'In one of these pictures I saw a rattle painted to +perfection.' + +'Ah, yes, yes! You don't like the pettiness of family feeling dragged +into art; but if you only condescend to take a little more notice of the +craft--the craft is, after all--' + +'I am carried along too rapidly by my feelings. I feel that I must get +my idea on canvas. But when I was in London I saw such a lovely +woman--one of the most exquisite creatures possible to imagine! Oh, so +sweet, and so feminine! I have it all in my head. I shall do something +like her to-morrow.' + +Here he began to sketch with his stick in the dust, and from his face it +might be judged he was satisfied with the invisible result. At last he +said: + +'You needn't say anything about it, but she sent me some songs, with +accompaniments written for the guitar. You shall hear some of the songs +to-night. . . . Ah, there is the dinner-bell!' + +Olive was placed next to Milord, and the compliments paid to her by the +old courtier delighted her. She pretended to understand when he said: +'_La femme est comme une ombre: si vous la suives, elle vous fuit; si +vous fuyez, elle vous poursuit_.' A little later the champagne she had +drunk set her laughing hysterically, and she begged him to translate (he +had just whispered to her mother, '_L'amour est la conscience du plaisir +donne et recu, la certitude de donner et de recevoir_'); and he would +have complied with her request, but Mrs. Barton forbade him. Alice, who +had understood, found herself obliged to say that she had not +understood, which little fib begot a little annoyance in her against her +mother; and Milord, as if he thought that he had been guilty of a slight +indiscretion, said, addressing himself to both girls: '_Gardez bien vos +illusions, mon enfant, car les illusions sont le miroir de l'amour.'_ + +'Ah! _mais il ne faut pas couvrir trop l'abime avec des fleurs_,' said +Mrs. Barton, as a sailor from his point of vantage might cry, 'Rocks +ahead!' + +Arthur only joined occasionally in the conversation; he gazed long and +ardently on his daughter, and then sketched with his thumb-nail on the +cloth, and when they arose from the table, Mrs. Barton said: + +'Now, now, I am not going to allow you gentlemen to spend any more time +over your wine. This is our first evening together; come into the +drawing-room with us, and we shall have some music.' + +Like most men of an unevenly balanced mind, Arthur loved an eccentric +costume, and soon after he appeared in a long-tasselled cap and a +strangely coloured smoking jacket; he wore a pair of high-heeled +brocaded slippers, and, twanging a guitar, hummed to himself +plaintively. Then, when he thought he had been sufficiently admired, he +sang _A che la morte, Il Balen_, and several other Italian airs, in +which frequent allusion was made to the inconstancy of woman's and the +truth of man's affection. At every pause in the music these sentiments +were laughingly contested by Mrs. Barton. She appealed to Milord. He +never had had anything to complain of. Was it not well known that the +poor woman had been only too true to him? Finally, it was arranged there +should be a little dancing. + +As Mrs. Barton said, it was of great importance to know if Olive knew +the right step, and who could put her up to all the latest fashions as +well as Milord? The old gentleman replied in French, and settled his +waistcoat, fearing the garment was doing him an injustice. + +'But who is to play?' asked the poetical-looking Arthur, who, on the +highest point of the sofa, hummed and tuned his guitar after true +troubadour fashion. + +'Alice will play us a waltz,' said Mrs. Barton winningly. + +'Oh yes, Alice dear, play us a waltz,' cried Olive. + +'You know how stupid I am; I can't play a note without my music, and it +is all locked up in my trunk upstairs.' + +'It won't take you a minute to get it out,' said Mrs. Barton; and +moving, as if she were on wheels, towards her daughter, she whispered: +'Do as I tell you--run upstairs at once and get your music.' + +She looked questioningly at her mother and hesitated. But Mrs. Barton +had a way of compelling obedience, and the girl went upstairs, to return +soon after with a roll of music. At the best of times she had little +love of the art, but now, sick with disappointment, and weary from a +long railway journey, to spell through the rhythm of the _My Queen +Waltz_ and the jangle of _L'Esprit Francais_ was to her an odious and, +when the object of it was considered, an abominable duty to perform. She +had to keep her whole attention fixed on the page before her, but when +she raised her eyes the picture she saw engraved itself on her mind. It +was a long time before she could forget Olive's blond, cameo-like +profile seen leaning over the old beau's fat shoulder. Mrs. Barton +laughed and laughed again, declaring the while that it was _la grace et +la beaute reunies._ Mr. Barton shouted and twanged in measure, the +excitement gaining on him until he rushed at his wife, and, seizing her +round the waist, whirled her and whirled her, holding his guitar above +her head. At last they bumped against Milord, and shot the old man and +his burden on to the nearest sofa. Then Alice, who thought her mission +at the piano was over, rose to go, but Mrs. Barton ordered her to resume +her seat, and the dancing was continued till the carriage came up the +gravel sweep to fetch Milord away. This was generally about half-past +eleven, and as he muffled himself up in overcoats, the girls were told +to cram his pockets with cigarettes and bon-bons. + +'Bedad, I think it is revolvers and policemen you ought to be givin' me, +not swatemates,' he said, affecting a brogue. + +'Oh yes, is it not dreadful?' exclaimed Mrs. Barton. 'I don't know what +we shall do if the Government don't put down the Land League; we shall +all be shot in our beds some night. Did you hear of that murder the +other day?' + +'And it is said there will be no rents collected this year,' said Mr. +Barton, as he tightened one of the strings of his guitar. + +'Oh, do cease that noise!' said Mrs. Barton. 'And tell me, Lord Dungory, +will the Government refuse us soldiers and police to put the people +out?' + +'If we go to the Castle, we shall want more money to buy dresses,' said +Olive. + +'_La mer a toujours son ecume pour habiller ses deesses,'_ replied +Milord; and he got into his carriage amid pearly peals of laughter from +Mrs. Barton, intermingled with a few high notes from Olive, who had +already taken to mimicking her mother. + + + + +V + + +Mr. Barton, or Arthur, as he was usually called, always returned to his +studio immediately after breakfast, and, as Mrs. Barton had domestic +duties to attend to, the girls were left to themselves to appreciate +their return home from school and look forward to their entry into the +life of the world. + +The two girls descended the stairs with their summer hats and sunshades, +and Alice stopped at the door of the schoolroom. It was here that, only +a few years ago, she had interceded with the dear old governess, and +aided Olive to master the difficulties against which the light brain +could not contend singly--the hardships of striving to recall the number +of continents the world possesses, the impossibility of learning to say +definitely if seven times four made twenty-eight or thirty. + +At the end of the passage under the stairs the children used to play for +hours, building strange houses out of boxes of bricks, or dressing dolls +in fantastic costumes. Olive had forgotten, but Alice remembered, and +her thoughts wandered through the land of toys. The box of bricks had +come from an aunt that was now dead; the big doll mother had brought +from Dublin when she went to see the oculist about her eyes; and then +there were other toys that suggested nothing, and whose history was +entirely forgotten. But the clock that stood in the passage was well +remembered, and Alice thought how this old-fashioned timepiece used to +be the regulator and confidant of all their joys and hopes. She saw +herself again listening, amid her sums, for the welcome voice that would +call her away; she saw herself again examining its grave face and +striving to calculate, with childish eagerness, if she would have time +to build another Tower of Babel or put another tack in the doll's frock +before the ruthless iron tongue struck the fatal hour. + +'Olive, is it possible you don't remember how we used to listen to the +dear old clock when we were children?' + +'You are a funny girl, Alice; you remember everything. Fancy thinking of +that old clock! I hated it, for it brought me to lessons when it struck +eleven.' + +'Yes, but it brought you out to play when it struck twelve. See! the +hands are just on the hour; let us wait to hear it strike.' + +The girls listened vainly for a sound; and Alice felt as if she had been +apprised of the loss of a tried friend when one of the servants told +them the clock had been broken some years ago. + +The kitchen windows looked on a street made by a line of buildings +parallel with the house. These were the stables and outhouses, and they +formed one of the walls of the garden that lay behind, sheltered on the +north side by a thin curtain of beeches, filled every evening with noisy +rooks; and, coming round to the front of the house, the girls lingered +beneath the chestnut-trees, and in the rosary, where a little fountain +played when visitors were present, and then stood leaning over the +wooden paling that defended the pleasure-ground from the cows that +grazed in the generous expanse of grass extending up to the trees of the +Lawler domain. Brookfield was therefore without pretensions--it could +hardly be called 'a place'--but, manifolded in dreams past and present, +it extended indefinitely before Alice's eyes, and, absorbed by the sad +sweetness of retrospection, she lingered while Olive ran through the +rosary from the stables and back again, calling to her sister, making +the sunlight ring with her light laughter. She refrained, therefore, +from reminding her that it was here they used to play with Nell, the old +setter, and that it was there they gave bread to the blind beggar; Olive +had no heart for these things, and when she admired the sleek +carriage-horses that had lately been bought to take them to balls and +tennis-parties, Alice thought of the old brown mare that used to take +them for such delightful drives. + +Suddenly Mrs. Barton's voice was heard calling. Milord had arrived: they +were to go into the garden and pick a few flowers to make a buttonhole +for him. Olive darted off at once to execute the commission, and soon +returned with a rose set round with stephanotis. The old lord, seated in +the dining-room, in an arm-chair which Mrs. Barton had drawn up to the +window so that he might enjoy the air, sipped his sherry, and Alice, as +she entered the room, heard him say: + +'_Quand on aime on est toujours bien portant_.' + +She stopped abruptly, and Mrs. Barton, who already suspected her of +secret criticism, whispered, as she glided across the room: + +'Now, my dear girl, go and talk to Milord and make yourself agreeable.' + +The girl felt she was incapable of this, and it pained her to listen to +her sister's facile hilarity, and her mother's coaxing observations. +Milord did not, however, neglect her; he made suitable remarks +concerning her school successes, and asked appropriate questions anent +her little play of _King Cophetua_. But whatever interest the subject +possessed was found in the fact that Olive had taken the part of the +Princess; and, re-arranging the story a little, Mrs. Barton declared, +with a shower of little laughs, and many waves of the white hands, that +'my lady there had refused a King; a nice beginning, indeed, and a +pleasant future for her chaperon.' + +The few books the house possessed lay on the drawing-room table, or were +piled, in dusty confusion, in the bookcase in Mr. Barton's studio; and, +thinking of them, Alice determined she would pay her father a visit in +his studio. + +At her knock he ceased singing _Il Balen_, and cried, 'Come in!' + +'I beg your pardon, papa; I'm afraid I am interrupting you.' + +'Not at all--not at all, I assure you; come in. I will have a cigarette; +there is nothing like reconsidering one's work through the smoke of a +cigarette. The most beautiful pictures I have ever seen I have seen in +the smoke of a cigarette; nothing can beat those, particularly if you +are lying back looking up at a dirty ceiling.' + +War and women were the two poles of Arthur's mind. _Cain shielding his +Wife from Wild Beasts_ had often been painted, numberless _Bridals of +Triermain_; and as for the _Rape of the Sabines_, it seemed as if it +could never be sufficiently accomplished. Opposite the door was a huge +design representing Samson and Delilah; opposite the fireplace, _Julius +Caesar overturning the Altars of the Druids_ occupied nearly the entire +wall. Nymphs and tigers were scattered in between; canvases were also +propped against almost every piece of furniture. + +At last Alice's eyes were suddenly caught by a picture representing +three women bathing. It was a very rough sketch, but, before she had +time to examine it, Arthur turned it against the wall. Why he hid two +pictures from her she could not help wondering. It could not be for +propriety's sake, for there were nudities on every side of her. + +Then, lying upon the sofa, he explained how So-and-so had told him, when +he was a boy in London, that no one since Michael Angelo had been able +to design as he could; how he had modelled a colossal statue of Lucifer +before he was sixteen, how he had painted a picture of the Battle of +Arbela, forty feet by twenty, before he was eighteen; but that was of no +use, the world nowadays only cared for execution, and he could not wait +until he had got the bit of ribbon in Delilah's hair to look exactly +like silk. + +Alice listened to her father babbling, her heart and her mind at +variance. A want of knowledge of painting might blind her to the effects +of his pictures (there was in them all a certain crude merit of design), +but it was impossible not to see that they were lacking in something, in +what she could not say, having no knowledge of painting. Nor was she +sure that her father believed in his pictures, though he had just +declared they had all the beauties of Raphael and other beauties +besides. He had a trick of never appearing to thoroughly believe in them +and in himself. She listened interested and amused, not knowing how to +take him. She had been away at school for nearly ten years, coming home +for rare holidays, and was, therefore, without any real knowledge of her +parents. She understood her father even less than her mother; but she +was certain that if he were not a great genius he might have been one, +and she resolved to find out Lord Dungory's opinions on her father. But +the opportunity for five minutes quiet chat behind her mother's back did +not present itself. As soon as he arrived her mother sent her out of the +room on some pretext more or less valid, and at the end of the week the +gowns that had been ordered in Dublin arrived: ecstasy consumed the +house, and she heard him say that he would give a great dinner-party to +show them off. + + + + +VI + + +Arthur, who rarely dined out, handed the ladies into the carriage. + +Mrs. Barton was beautifully dressed in black satin; Olive was lost in a +mass of tulle; Alice wore a black silk trimmed with passementerie and +red ribbons. Behind the Clare mountains the pale transitory colours of +the hour faded, and the women, their bodies and their thoughts swayed +together by the motion of the vehicle, listened to the irritating +barking of the cottage-dog. Surlily a peasant, returning from his work, +his frieze coat swung over one shoulder, stepped aside. A bare-legged +woman, surrounded by her half-naked children, leaving the potato she was +peeling in front of her door, gazed, like her husband, after the rolling +vision of elegance that went by her, and her obtuse brain probably +summed up the implacable decrees of Destiny in the phrase: + +'Shure there misht be a gathering at the big house this evening.' + +'But tell me, mamma,' said Olive, after a long silence, 'how much +champagne ought I to drink at dinner? You know, it is a long time since +I have tasted it. Indeed, I don't remember that I ever did taste it.' + +Mrs. Barton laughed softly: + +'Well, my dear, I don't think that two glasses could do you any harm; +but I would not advise you to drink any more.' + +'And what shall I say to the man who takes me down to dinner? Shall I +have to begin the conversation, or will he?' + +'He will be sure to say something; you need not trouble yourself about +that. I think we shall meet some nice men to-night. Captain Hibbert will +be there. He is very handsome and well-connected. I hope he will take +you down. Then there will be the Honourable Mr. Burke. He is a nice +little man, but there's not much in him, and he hasn't a penny. His +brother is Lord Kilcarney, a confirmed bachelor. Then there will be Mr. +Adair; he is very well off. He has at least four thousand a year in the +country; but it would seem that he doesn't care for women. He is very +clever; he writes pamphlets. He used to sympathize with the Land League, +but the outrages went against his conscience. You never know what he +really does think. He admires Gladstone, and Gladstone says he can't do +without him.' + +They had now passed the lodge-gates, and were driving through the park. +Herds of fallow deer moved away, but the broad bluff forms of the red +deer gazed steadfastly as lions from the crest of a hill. + +'Did you ever meet Lady Dungory, mamma?' asked Alice. 'Is she dead?' + +'No, dear, she is not dead; but it would be better, perhaps, if she +were. She behaved very badly. Lord Dungory had to get a separation. No +one ever speaks of her now. Mind, you are warned!' + +At this moment the carriage stopped before a modern house, built between +two massive Irish towers entirely covered with huge ivy. + +'I am afraid we are a little late,' said Mrs. Barton to the servant, as +he relieved them of their _sorties de bal_. + +'Eight o'clock has just struck, ma'am.' + +'The two old things will make faces at us, I know,' murmured Mrs. +Barton, as she ascended the steps. + +On either side there were cases of stuffed birds; a fox lay in wait for +a pheasant on the right; an otter devoured a trout on the left. These +attested the sporting tastes of a former generation. The white marble +statues of nymphs sleeping in the shadows of the different landings and +the Oriental draperies with which each cabinet was hung suggested the +dilettantism of the present owner. + +Mrs. Barton walked on in front; the girls drew together like birds. They +were amazed at the stateliness of the library, and they marvelled at the +richness of the chandeliers and the curiously assorted pictures. The +company was assembled in a small room at the end of the suite. + +Two tall, bony, high-nosed women advanced and shook hands menacingly +with Mrs. Barton. They were dressed alike in beautiful gowns of +gold-brown plush. + +With a cutting stare and a few cold conventional words, they welcomed +Olive and Alice home to the country again. Lord Dungory whispered +something to Mrs. Barton. Olive passed across the room; the black coats +gave way, and, as a white rose in a blood-coloured glass, her shoulders +rose out of the red tulle. Captain Hibbert twisted his brown-gold +moustache, and, with the critical gaze of the connoisseur, examined the +undulating lines of the arms, the delicate waist, and the sloping hips: +her skirts seemed to fall before his looks. + +Immediately after, the roaring of a gong was heard, and the form of the +stately butler was seen approaching. Lord Dungory and Lady Jane +exchanged looks. The former offered his arm to Mrs. Gould; the latter, +her finger on her lips, in a movement expressive of profound meditation, +said: + +'Mr. Ryan, will you take down Mrs. Barton; Mr. Scully, will you take +Miss Olive Barton; Mr. Adair, will you take Miss Gould; Mr. Lynch, will +you take Miss Alice Barton; Mr. Burke, will you take my sister?' Then, +smiling at the thought that she had checkmated her father, who had +ordered that Olive Barton should go down with Captain Hibbert, she took +Captain Hibbert's arm, and followed the dinner-party. About the marble +statues and stuffed birds on the staircase flowed a murmur of +amiability, and, during a pause, skirts were settled amid the chairs, +which the powdered footmen drew back ceremoniously to make way for the +guests to pass. + +A copy of Murillo's _Madonna presenting the Divine Child to St. Joseph_ +hung over the fireplace; between the windows another Madonna stood on a +half-moon, and when Lord Dungory said, 'For what we are going to +receive, the Lord make us truly thankful,' these pictures helped the +company to realize a suitable, although momentary emotion. + +Turtle soup was handed round. The soft steaming fragrance mixed with the +fresh perfume of the roses that bloomed in a silver vase beneath the +light of the red-shaded wax candles. A tree covered with azaleas spread +notes of delicate colour over the gold screen that hid the door by which +the servants came and went. + +'Oh, Lady Sarah,' exclaimed Mrs. Gould, 'I do not know how you have such +beautiful flowers--and in this wretched climate!' + +'Yes, it is very trying; but then we have a great deal of glass.' + +'Which do you prefer, roses or azaleas?' asked Mrs. Barton. + +'_Les roses sont les fleurs en corsage, mais les azalees sont les fleurs +en peignoir_.' + +Lady Sarah and Lady Jane, who had both overheard the remark, levelled +indignant glances at their father, scornful looks at Mrs. Barton, and, +to avoid further amatory allusions, Lady Sarah said: + +'I do not think we shall soon have bread, much less flowers, to place on +our tables, if the Government do not step in and put down the revolution +that is going on in this country.' + +Everyone, except the young girls, looked questioningly at each other, +and the mutuality of their interests on this point became at once +apparent. + +'Ah, Lord Dungory! do you think we shall be able to collect our rents +this year? What reduction do you intend to give?' + +Lord Dungory, who had no intention of showing his hand, said: + +'The Land League has, I believe, advised the people to pay no more than +Griffith's valuation. I do not know if your lands are let very much +above it?' + +'If you have not seen the _Evening Mail_ you have probably not heard of +the last terrible outrage,' said Captain Hibbert; and, amid a profound +silence, he continued: 'I do not know if anybody here is acquainted with +a Mr. Macnamara; he lives in Meath.' + +'Oh! you don't say anything has happened to him? I knew his cousin,' +exclaimed Mrs. Gould. + +Captain Hibbert looked round with his bland, good-looking stare, and, as +no nearer relative appeared to be present, he resumed his story: + +'He was, it seems, sitting smoking after dinner, when suddenly two shots +were fired through the windows.' + +At this moment a champagne-cork slipped through the butler's fingers and +went off with a bang. + +'Oh, goodness me! what's that?' exclaimed Mrs. Gould; and, to pass off +their own fears, everyone was glad to laugh at the old lady. It was not +until Captain Hibbert told that Mr. Macnamara had been so severely +wounded that his life was despaired of, that the chewing faces became +grave again. + +'And I hear that Macnamara had the foinest harses in Mathe,' said Mr. +Ryan; 'I very nearly sold him one last year at the harse show.' + +Mr. Ryan was the laughing-stock of the country, and a list of the +grotesque sayings he was supposed, on different occasions, to have been +guilty of, was constantly in progress of development. He lived with his +cousin, Mr. Lynch, and, in conjunction, they farmed large tracts of +land. Mr. Ryan was short and thick; Mr. Lynch was taller and larger, and +a pair of mutton-chop whiskers made his bloated face look bigger still. +On either side of the white tablecloth their dirty hands fumbled at +their shirt-studs, that constantly threatened to fall through the worn +buttonholes. They were, nevertheless, received everywhere, and Pathre, +as Mr. Ryan was called by his friends, was permitted the licences that +are usually granted to the buffoon. + +'Arrah!' he said, 'I wouldn't moind the lague being hard on them who +lives out of the counthry, spendin' their cash on liquor and theatres in +London; but what can they have agin us who stops at home, mindin' our +properties and riding our harses?' + +This criticism of justice, as administered by the league, did not, +however, seem to meet with the entire approval of those present. Mr. +Adair looked grave; he evidently thought it was based on a superficial +notion of political economy. Mr. Burke, a very young man with a tiny red +moustache and a curious habit of wriggling his long weak neck, feeling +his amusements were being unfairly attacked, broke the silence he had +till then preserved, and said: + +'I haven't an acre of land in the world, but if my brother chooses to +live in London, I don't see why he should be deprived of his rents. For +my part, I like the Gaiety Theatre, and so does my brother. Have you +seen the _Forty Thieves_, Lady Jane? Capital piece--I saw it twenty +times.' + +'I think what Pathre, me cousin, means to say,' said Mr. Lynch, +declining the venison the servant offered him, 'is that there are many +in the country who don't deserve much consideration. I am alluding to +those who acquired their property in the land courts, and the +Cromwellians, and the--I mean the rack-renters.' + +The sudden remembrance that Lord Dungory dated from the time of James so +upset Mr. Lynch that he called back the servant and accepted the +venison, which he failed, however, to eat. + +'I do not see,' said Lord Dungory, with the air of a man whose words are +conclusive, 'why we should go back to the time of Cromwell to discuss +the rights of property rather than to that of the early Kings of +Ireland. If there is to be a returning, why not at once put in a claim +on the part of the Irish Elk? No! there must be some finality in human +affairs.' And on this phrase the conversation came to a pause. + +But if the opinions of those present were not in accord concerning the +rights of property, their tastes in conversation certainly differed as +widely. Olive's white face twitched from time to time with nervous +annoyance. Alice looked up in a sort of mild despair as she strove to +answer Mr. Lynch's questions; May had fallen into a state of morose +lassitude. If Mr. Adair would only cease to explain to her how +successfully he had employed concrete in the construction of his +farm-buildings! She felt that if he started again on the saw-mill she +must faint, and Olive's senses, too, were swimming, but just as she +thought she was going off Captain Hibbert looked so admiringly at her +that she recovered herself; and at the same time Mr. Scully succeeded in +making May understand that he would infinitely prefer to be near her +than Lady Sarah. In return for this expression of feeling the young lady +determined to risk a remark across the table; but she was cut short by +Mrs. Gould, who pithily summed up the political situation in the words: + +'The way I look at it is like this: Will the Government help us to get +our rents, or will it not? Mr. Forster's Act does not seem to be able to +do that. There's May there who has been talking all the morning of +Castle seasons, and London seasons, and I don't know what; really I +don't see how it is to be done if the Land League--' + +'And Mr. Parnell's a gentleman, too. I wonder how he can ally himself +with such blackguards,' gently insinuated Mrs. Barton, who saw a husband +lost in the politician. + +But the difficulty the Government find themselves in is that the Land +League is apparently a legal organization,' said Lord Dungory in the +midst of a profound silence. + +'A society legal, that exists and holds its power through an organized +system of outrage! Mind you, as I have always said, the landlords have +brought all their misfortunes upon themselves; they have often behaved +disgracefully--but I would, nevertheless, put down the outrages; yes, I +would put down the outrages, and at any cost.' + +'And what would yer do?' asked Mr. Ryan. 'De yer know that the herds are +being coerced now? we'd get on well enough were it not for that.' + +'In the beginning of this year Mr. Forster asked Parliament for special +powers. How has he used those powers? Without trial, five hundred people +have been thrown into prison, and each fresh arrest is answered by a +fresh outrage; and when the warrant is issued, and I suppose it will be +issued sooner or later, for the arrest of Mr. Parnell, I should not be +surprised to hear of a general strike being made against rent. The +consequences of such an event will be terrific; but let these +consequences, I say, rest on Mr. Forster's head. I shall have no word of +pity for him. His government is a disgrace to Liberalism, and I fear he +has done much to prejudice our ideal in the eyes of the world.' + +Lord Dungory and Lady Jane exchanged smiles; and poor crotchety Mr. +Adair leaned forward his large, bald brow, obscured by many obscure +ideals. After a pause he continued: + +'But I was speaking of Flanders. From the time of Charles the Fifth the +most severe laws were enacted to put down the outrages, but there was an +undercurrent of sympathy with the outrage-monger which kept the system +alive until 1840. Then the Government took the matter in hand, and +treated outrage-mongering as what it is--an act of war; and quartered +troops on the inhabitants and stamped the disease out in a few years. Of +course I could not, and would not, advocate the employment of such +drastic measures in Ireland; but I would put down the outrages with a +firm hand, and I would render them impossible in the future by the +creation of peasant-proprietors.' + +Then, amid the juicy odours of cut pineapple, and the tepid flavours of +Burgundy, Mr. Adair warmed to his subject, and proceeded to explain that +absolute property did not exist in land in Ireland before 1600, and, +illustrating his arguments with quotations from Arthur Young, he spoke +of the plantation of Ulster, the leases of the eighteenth century, the +Protestants in the North, the employment of labour; until, at last, +inebriated with theory, he asked the company what was the end of +government? + +This was too much, and, seeing the weary faces about him, Lord Dungory +determined to change the subject of conversation: + +'The end of government?' he said; 'I am afraid that you would get many +different answers to that question. Ask these young ladies; they will +tell you, probably, that it is to have _des beaux amants et des joyeuses +amours_, and I am not sure that they are not right.' + +Mrs. Barton's coaxing laugh was heard, and then reference was made to +the detachment of the Connaught Rangers stationed at Galway, and the +possibility of their giving a dance was eagerly discussed. Mr. Ryan had +a word to say anent the hunting prospect, and, when May Gould declared +she was going to ride straight and not miss a meet, she completed the +conquest of Mr. Scully, and encouraging glances were exchanged between +them until Lady Sarah looked inquiringly round the table--then she +pushed back her chair. All rose, and a moment after, through the +twilight of the drawing-room, colour and nudity were scattered in +picturesque confusion. + +Every mind was occupied by one thought--how the pleasure of the +dinner-party had been spoiled by that horrible Land League discussion. +All wondered who had introduced the subject, and the blame was fixed +upon Mr. Adair. Mrs. Gould, in her homely way, came to the point at +once: + +'People say he is so clever, but I am sure I can't see it. He has spent +a fortune in building farmyards in concrete, and his saw-mill, I hear, +costs him twenty pounds a month dead loss, and he is always writing +letters to the papers. I never can think much of a man who writes to the +papers.' + +'A most superior man,' said Lady Sarah, who, notwithstanding her +thirty-five years, had not entirely given up hope. 'He took honours at +Trinity.' + +Then Mr. Burke and Lord Kilcarney were spoken of, and some new anecdotes +were told of Mr. Ryan. The famous one--how he had asked a lady to show +him her docket at the Galway ball, when she told him that she was +engaged for all the dances--excited, as it never failed to do, a good +deal of laughter. Mrs. Barton did not, however, join in the +conversation. She knew, if she did, that the Ladies Cullen would be as +rude as the absence of Milord, and the fact that she was a guest in +their house would allow them to be. Mrs. Barton's mind was now occupied +with one thought, and, leaning back in her chair, she yielded herself +entirely to it. Although the dinner-party had been spoiled by Mr. +Adair's uncontrollable desire to impart information, she had, +nevertheless, noticed that Captain Hibbert had been very much struck +with Olive's beauty. She was aware that her daughter was a beautiful +girl, but whether men would want to marry her Mrs. Barton did not know. +Captain Hibbert's conduct would help her to arrive at a decision. She +certainly dreamed of a title for Olive. Lord Kilcarney was, alas! not to +be thought of. Ah! if Mr. Burke were only Lord Kilcarney! But he was +not. However, Captain Hibbert would be a fairly good match. He was of +excellent family, had two thousand a year, and a place in the country +and in England too. But why snatch up the very first fish that came by? +There was no saying whom they would meet at the Castle. Still, to +encourage a flirtation could be no harm. If they met anything better, it +could be broken off; if they did not, it would be a very nice match +indeed. Besides, there was no denying that Olive was a little too +_naive_ in her manner. Captain Hibbert's society would brush that off, +and Olive would go up to the Castle with the reputation of having made a +conquest. + +Such were Mrs. Barton's thoughts as she sat, her hands laid like china +ornaments on her lap; her feet were tucked under the black-pleated +skirt, and she sometimes raised her Greuze-like eyes and looked at her +daughter. + +The girls were grouped around a small table, on which stood a +feather-shaded lamp. In clear voices and clear laughs they were talking +of each other's dresses. May had just stood up to show off her skirt. +She was a superb specimen of a fat girl, and in a glow of orange ribbons +and red hair she commanded admiration. + +'And to think she is going to waste her time with that dissipated young +man, Mr. Scully!' thought Mrs. Barton. Then Olive stood up. She was all +rose, and when, laughing, with a delicious movement of the arms, she +hitched back her bustle, she lost her original air, and looked as might +have done the Fornarina when not sitting in immortality. It was the +battle of blonde tints: Olive with primroses and corn, May with a +cadmium yellow and red gold. + +'And now, Alice, get up and let's see you!' she cried, catching hold of +her sister's arm. + +Still resisting, Alice rose to her feet, and May, who was full of good +nature, made some judicious observations. + +'And how different we all look from what we did at the convent! Do you +remember our white frocks?' + +Alice's face lit up with a sudden remembrance, and she said: + +'But why, Lady Sarah, haven't we seen Cecilia? I've been thinking of her +during dinner. I hope she is not ill?' + +'Oh, dear me, no! But poor Cecilia does not care to come down when there +is company.' + +'But can I not see her?' + +'Oh, certainly! You will find her in her room. But you do not know the +way; I will ring for my maid, she will show you.' + +At this moment men's voices were heard on the staircase. The ladies all +looked up, the light defining the corner of a forehead, the outline of a +nose and chin, bathing a neck in warm shadow, modelling a shoulder with +grey tints, sending a thousand rays flashing through the diamonds on the +bosom, touching the finger-rings, and lastly dying away amid the folds +of the dresses that trailed on the soft carpet. Mr. Ryan, walking with +his habitual roll and his hands in his pockets, entered. His tie was +under his left ear. Mr. Lynch, haunted by the idea that he had not made +himself agreeable to Alice during dinner, sat down beside her. Mr. +Scully made a rush for May. Tall, handsome Captain Hibbert, with his air +of conventional high style, quitted Lord Dungory, and asked Olive what +they had been saying since they left the dining-room. Mr. Burke tried to +join in the conversation, but Mr. Ryan, thinking it would be as well not +to let the occasion slip of speaking of a certain 'bay harse who'd jump +anythin',' took him confidentially by the sleeve. + +'Now, look here, will yer,' he began. The rest of his remarks were lost +in the hum of the conversation, and by well-bred transitions +observations were made on the dancing and hunting prospects of the +season. Mr. Adair took no interest in such subjects, and to everyone's +relief he remained silent. May and Fred Scully had withdrawn to a corner +of the room where they could talk more at their ease; Captain Hibbert +was conscious of nothing but Olive and her laughter, which rippled and +tinkled through an odour of coffee. + +Little by little she was gaining the attention of the room. Mr. Adair +ceased to listen to Lord Dungory, who was explaining why Leonardo da +Vinci was a greater painter than Titian. Mr. Lynch left off talking to +Alice; the little blonde honourable looked sillier and sillier as his +admiration grew upon him. Mrs. Barton, to hide her emotion, engaged in +an ardent discussion concerning the rearing of calves with Mrs. Gould. +Lady Sarah bit her lip, and, unable to endure her enemy's triumph any +longer, she said in her most mellifluous tone: + +'Won't you sing us something, Captain Hibbert?' + +'Well, really, Lady Sarah, I should be very glad, but I don't think, you +know--I am not sure I could manage without my music.' + +'I shall be very glad to accompany you. I think I know _In the +Gloaming_, and I have heard you sing that.' + +Olive, at a sign from her mother, entreated, and when the gallant +Captain rolled from under the brown-gold moustache the phrase, 'Oh, my +darling!' all strove not to look at her, and when he dropped his voice +to a whisper, and sang of his aching heart, a feeling prevailed that all +were guilty of an indiscretion in listening to such an intimate avowal. +Then he sang two songs more, equally filled with reference to tears, +blighted love, and the possibility of meeting in other years, and Olive +hung down her head, overcome by the fine sentiments which she felt were +addressed to her. + +Meanwhile Alice became aware that her sister was the object of all eyes +and thoughts; that she was gaining the triumph that men are agreed may +be desired by women without impropriety. Alice was a healthy-bodied +girl; her blood flowed as warm as in her sister. The men about her did +not correspond with her ideal, but this scarcely rendered the fact that +they neglected her less bitter. She asked Lady Sarah again if she might +go upstairs and see Cecilia. + +She found the little cripple leaning over the banisters listening to the +sound of voices. + +'Oh, my dear! Is it you? I expected you to come to see me when you left +the gentlemen in the dining-room.' + +'I couldn't come before, dear,' said Alice, kissing her friend. 'Just as +I was asking Lady Sarah the way to your room, we heard them coming.' + +'And how did you like the party? Which of the men did you think the +nicest?' + +'I did not care for any of them; and oh, that odious Mr. Lynch!' + +Cecilia's eyes flashed with a momentary gleam of satisfaction, and spoke +of a little excursion--a walk to the Brennans, who lived two miles +distant--that she had been planning for the last few days. + + + + +VII + + +The girls had given each other rendezvous at the gate of Dungory Castle. +Lover was never more anxious to meet mistress than this little deformed +girl to see her friend; and Alice could see her walking hurriedly up and +down the gravel-sweep in front of the massive grey-stone lodge. + +'She will see me next time she turns,' thought Alice; and immediately +after Cecilia uttered a joyful cry and ran forward. + +'Oh, so it is you, Alice! I am so glad! I thought you were going to +disappoint me.' + +'And why, dear, did you think I was going to disappoint you?' said +Alice, stooping to kiss the wan, wistful face. + +'I don't know--I can't say--but I fancied something would happen;' and +the great brown eyes began to melt with tears of delight. 'I had, you +know, set my heart on this walk with you.' + +'I am sure the pleasure is as much mine as yours; and now, whither lies +our way?' + +'Through the deer-park, through the oakwood, across the fields into the +highroad, and then you are at the gate,' + +'Won't that be too far for you?' + +'Oh, not at all! It is not more than a mile and a half; but for you, you +had to come another mile and a half. It is fully that from here to +Brookfield. But tell me, dear,' said Cecilia, clinging to her friend's +arm, 'why have you not been over to see me before? It is not kind of +you; we have been home from school now over a fortnight, and, except on +the night of the dinner-party, I haven't seen you once.' + +'I was coming over to see you last week, dear; but, to tell you the +truth, mamma prevented me. I cannot think why, but somehow she does not +seem to care that I should go to Dungory Castle. But for the matter of +that, why did you not come to see me? I've been expecting you every +day.' + +'I couldn't come either. My sisters advised me--I mean, insisted on my +stopping at home.' + +'And why?' + +'I really can't say,' replied Cecilia. + +And now Alice knew that the Ladies Cullen hated Mrs. Barton for her +intimacy with Lord Dungory. She longed to talk the matter out, but dared +not; while Cecilia regretted she had spoken; for, with the quickness of +the deformed, she knew that Alice had divined the truth of the family +feud. + +The sun fell like lead upon the short grass of the deer-park and the +frizzled heads of the hawthorns. On the right the green masses of the +oakwood shut in the view, and the stately red deer, lolling their high +necks, marched away through the hillocks, as if offended at their +solitude being disturbed. One poor crippled hind walked with a wretched +sidling movement, and Alice hoped Cecilia would not notice it, lest it +should remind her of her own misfortune. + +'I am sure,' she said, 'we never knew finer weather than this in +England. I don't think there could be finer weather, and still they say +the tenants are worse off than ever; that no rent at all, at least +nothing above Griffith's valuation, will be paid.' + +'Do they speak much of Griffith's valuation at Dungory Castle?' + +'Oh! they never cease, and--and--I don't know whether I ought to say, +but it won't matter with you, I suppose?--mind, you must not breathe a +word of this at Brookfield--the fact is my sisters' school--you know +they have a school, and go in for trying to convert the people--well, +this has got papa into a great deal of trouble. The Bishop has sent down +another priest--I think they call it a mission--and we are going to be +preached against, and papa received a threatening letter this morning. +He is going, I believe, to apply for police.' + +'And is this on account of the proselytizing?' + +'Oh! no, not entirely; he has refused to give his tenants Griffith's +valuation; but it makes one very unpopular to be denounced by the +priest. I assure you, papa is very angry. He told Sarah and Jane this +morning at breakfast that he'd have no more of it; that they had no +right to go into the poor people's houses and pull the children from +under the beds, and ask why they were not at school; that he didn't care +of what religion they were as long as they paid the rent; and that he +wasn't going to have his life endangered for such nonsense. There was an +awful row at home this morning. For my own part, I must say I sympathize +with papa. Besides the school, Sarah has, you know, a shop, where she +sells bacon, sugar, and tea at cost price, and it is well-known that +those who send their children to the school will never be asked to pay +their bills. She wanted me to come and help to weigh out the meal, Jane +being confined to her room with a sick headache, but I got out of it. I +would not, if I could, convert those poor people. You know, I often +fancy--I mean fear--I often sympathize too much with your creed. It was +only at service last Sunday I was thinking of it; our religion seems so +cold, so cheerless compared to yours. You remember the convent-church at +St. Leonard's--the incense, the vestments, the white-veiled +congregation--oh, how beautiful it was; we shall never be so happy +again!' + +'Yes, indeed; and how cross we used to think those dear nuns. You +remember Sister Mary, how she used to lecture Violet for getting up to +look out of the windows. What used she to say? 'Do you want, miss, to be +taken for a housemaid or scullery-maid, staring at people in that way as +they pass?'' + +'Yes, yes; that's exactly how she used to speak,' exclaimed Cecilia, +laughing. And, as the girls advanced through the oakwood, they helped +each other through the briers and over the trunks of fallen trees, +talking, the while, of their past life, which now seemed to them but one +long, sweet joy. A reference to how May Gould used to gallop the pony +round and round the field at the back of the convent was interrupted by +the terrifying sound of a cock-pheasant getting up from some bracken +under their very feet; and, amid the scurrying of rabbits in couples and +half-dozens, modest allusion was made to the girls who had been expelled +in '75. Absorbed in the sweetness of the past, the girls mused, until +they emerged from the shade of the woods into the glare and dust of the +highroad. Then came a view of rocky country, with harvesters working in +tiny fields, and then the great blue background of the Clare Mountains +was suddenly unfolded. A line and a bunch of trees indicated the Brennan +domain. The gate-lodge was in ruins, and the weed-grown avenue was +covered with cow-dung. + +'Which of the girls do you like best?' said Alice, who wished to cease +thinking of the poverty in which the spinsters lived. + +'Emily, I think; she doesn't say much, but she is more sensible than the +other two. Gladys wearies me with her absurd affectations; Zoe is well +enough, but what names!' + +'Yes, Emily has certainly the best of the names,' Alice replied, +laughing. + +'Are the Miss Brennans at home?' said Cecilia, when the maid opened the +hall-door. + +'Yes, miss--I mean your ladyship--will you walk in?' + +'You'll see, they'll keep us waiting a good half-hour while they put on +their best frocks,' said Cecilia, as she sat down in a faded arm-chair +in the middle of the room. A piano was rolled close against the wall, +the two rosewood cabinets were symmetrically placed on either side of +the farther window; from brass rods the thick, green curtains hung in +stiff folds, and, since the hanging of some water-colours, done by Zoe +before leaving school, no alterations, except the removal of the linen +covers from the furniture when visitors were expected, had been made in +the arrangement of the room. + +The Brennan family consisted of three girls--Gladys, Zoe, and Emily. +Thirty-three, thirty-one, and thirty were their respective ages. Their +father and mother, dead some ten or a dozen years, had left them joint +proprietors of a small property that gossip had magnified to three +thousand. They were known as the heiresses of Kinvarra; snub noses and +blue eyes betrayed their Celtic blood; and every year they went to spend +a month at the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin, returning home with quite a +little trousseau. Gladys and Zoe always dressed alike, from the bow +round the neck to the bow on the little shoe that they so artlessly with +drew when in the presence of _gentlemen_. Gladys' formula for receiving +visitors never varied: + +'Oh, how do you do--it is really too kind of you to give yourself all +this trouble to come and see us.' + +Immediately after Zoe put out her hand. Her manner was more jocose: + +'How d'ye do? We are, I am sure, delighted to see you. Will you have a +cup of tea? I know you will.' + +Emily, being considered too shy and silent, did not often come down to +receive company. On her devolved the entire management of the house and +servants; the two elder sisters killed time in the way they thought +would give least offence to their neighbours. + +Being all St. Leonard's girls, the conversation immediately turned on +convent-life. 'Was Madam this there? Had Madam that left?' Garden +chapel, school, hall, dormitory, refectory were visited; every nun was +passed in review, and, in the lightness and gaiety of the memories +invoked, even these maiden ladies flushed and looked fresh again, the +conversation came to a pause, and then allusion was made to the +disturbed state of the country, and to a gentleman who, it was reported, +was going to be married. But, as Alice did not know the person whose +antecedents were being called into question, she took an early +opportunity of asking Gladys if she cared for riding? 'No, they never +went to ride now: they used to, but they came in so fatigued that they +could not talk to Emily; so they had given up riding.' Did they care for +driving? 'Yes, pretty well; but there was no place to drive to except +into Gort, and as people had been unjust enough to say that they were +always to be seen in Gort, they had given up driving--unless, of course, +they went to call on friends.' Then tea was brought in; and, apropos of +a casual reference to conventual buttered toast, the five girls talked, +until nearly six o'clock, of their girlhood--of things that would never +have any further influence in their lives, of happiness they would never +experience again. At last Alice and Cecilia pleaded that they must be +going home. + +As they walked across the fields the girls only spoke occasionally. +Alice strove to see clear, but her thoughts were clouded, scattered, +diffused. Force herself as she would, still no conclusion seemed +possible; all was vague and contradictory. She had talked to these +Brennans, seen how they lived, could guess what their past was, what +their future must be. In that neat little house their uneventful life +dribbled away in maiden idleness; neither hope nor despair broke the +triviality of their days--and yet, was it their fault? No; for what +could they do if no one would marry them?--a woman could do nothing +without a husband. + +There is a reason for the existence of a pack-horse, but none for that +of an unmarried woman. She can achieve nothing--she has no duty but, by +blotting herself out, to shield herself from the attacks of +ever-slandering friends. Alice had looked forward to a husband and a +home as the certain accomplishment of years; now she saw that a woman, +independently of her own will, may remain single. + +'I wonder,' she said, forgetting for the moment she was speaking to +Cecilia, 'I wonder none of those Brennans married; you can't call them +ugly girls, and they have some money. How dreadfully lonely they must be +living there by themselves!' + +'I think they are far happier as they are,' said Cecilia, and her brown +eyes set in liquid blue looked strangely at Alice as she helped her over +the low wall. The girls walked in silence through the stillness of the +silver firs, their thoughts as sharp as the needles that scratched the +pale sky. + +'It may seem odd of me to say so--of course I would not say this to +anyone but you--but I assure you, even if I were as tall as you are, +dear, nothing would induce me to marry. I never took the slightest +pleasure in any man's conversation. Do you? But I know you do,' she +said, breaking off suddenly--'I know you like men; I feel you do. Don't +you?' + +'Well, since you put it so plainly, I confess I should like to know nice +men. I don't care for those I have met hitherto, particularly those I +saw at dinner the other night; but I believe there are nice men in the +world.' + +'Oh! no there aren't.' + +'Well, Cecilia, I don't see how you can speak so positively as that; you +have seen, as yet, very little of the world.' + +'Ah, yes, but I know it; I can guess it all, I know it instinctively, +and I hate it.' + +'There is nothing else, so we must make the best of it.' + +'But there is something else--there is God, and the love of beautiful +things. I spent all day yesterday playing Bach's Passion Music, and the +hours passed like a dream until my sisters came in from walking and +began to talk about marriage and men. It made me feel sick--it was +horrible; and it is such things that make me hate life--and I do hate +it; it is the way we are brought back to earth, and forced to realize +how vile and degraded we are. Society seems to me no better than a +pigsty; but in the beautiful convent--that we shall, alas! never see +again--it was not so. There, at least, life was pure--yes, and +beautiful. Do you not remember that beautiful white church with all its +white pillars and statues, and the dark-robed nuns, and the white-veiled +girls, their veils falling from their bent heads? They often seemed to +me like angels. I am sure that Heaven must be very much like that--pure, +desireless, contemplative.' + +Amazed, Alice looked at her friend questioningly, for she had never +heard her speak like this before. But Cecilia did not see her; the +prominent eyes of the mystic were veiled with strange glamour, and, with +divine _gourmandise_, she savoured the ineffable sweetness of the +vision, and, after a long silence, she said: + +'I often wonder, Alice, how you can think as you do; and, strange to +say, no one suspects you are an unbeliever; you're so good in all except +that one point.' + +'But surely, dear, it isn't a merit to believe; it is hardly a thing +that we can call into existence.' + +'You should pray for faith.' + +'I don't see how I can pray if I haven't faith.' + +'You're too clever; but I would ask you, Alice--you never told me--did +you never believe in God, I mean when you were a little child?' + +'I suppose I must have, but, as well as I can remember, it was only in a +very half-hearted way. I could never quite bring myself to credit that +there was a Being far away, sitting behind a cloud, who kept his eye on +all the different worlds, and looked after them just as a stationmaster +looks after the arrival and departure of trains from some great +terminus.' + +'Alice! how can you talk so? Aren't you afraid that something awful +might happen to you for talking of the Creator of all things in that +way?' + +'Why should I be afraid, and why should that Being, if he exists, be +angry with me for my sincerity? If he be all-powerful, it rests with +himself to make me believe.' + +They had now accomplished the greater part of their journey, and, a +little tired, had sat down to rest on a portion of a tree left by the +woodcutters. Gold rays slanted through the glades, enveloping and +rounding off the tall smooth trunks that rose branchless to a height of +thirty, even forty, feet; and the pink clouds, seen through the arching +dome of green, were vague as the picture on some dim cathedral-roof. + +'In places like these, I wonder you don't feel God's presence.' + +'On the contrary, the charm of nature is broken when we introduce a +ruling official.' + +'Alice! how can you--you who are so good--speak in that way?' At that +moment a dead leaf rustled through the silence--'And do you think that +we shall die like that leaf? That, like it, we shall become a part of +the earth and be forgotten as utterly?' + +'I am afraid I do. That dead, fluttering thing was once a bud; it lived +the summer-life of a leaf; now it will decay through the winter, and +perhaps the next, until it finally becomes part of the earth. Everything +in nature I see pursuing the same course; why should I imagine myself an +exception to the general rule?' + +'What, then, is the meaning of life?' + +'That I'm afraid we shall never learn from listening to the rustling of +leaves.' + +The short sharp cry of a bird broke the mild calm of the woods, and +Alice said: + +'Perhaps the same thought that troubles us is troubling that bird.' + +The girls walked on in silence, and when they came to the end of the +path and their parting was inevitable, there was something of the +passion of the lover in Cecilia's voice: 'Promise me you will come to +see me soon again. You'll not leave me so long; you will write; I shall +not be able to live if I don't hear from you.' + +The sound of hooves was heard, and a pair of cream-coloured ponies, with +a florid woman driving determinedly, came sweeping round the corner. + +'What a strange person!' said Alice, watching the blue veil and the +brightly dyed hair. + +'Don't you know who she is?' said Cecilia; 'that is your neighbour, Mrs. +Lawler.' + +'Oh! is it really? I have been so long at school that I know nobody--I +have been anxious to see her. Why, I wonder, do people speak of her so +mysteriously?' + +'You must have heard that she isn't visited?' + +'Well, yes; but I didn't quite understand. Your father was saying +something the other day about Mr. Lawler's shooting-parties; then mamma +looked at him; he laughed and spoke of "_les colombes de Cythere."_ I +intended to ask mamma what he meant, but somehow I forgot.' + +'She was one of those women that walk about the streets by night.' + +'Oh! really!' said Alice; and the conversation came to a sudden pause. +They had never spoken upon such a subject before, and the presence of +the deformed girl rendered it a doubly painful one. In her +embarrassment, Alice said: + +'Then I wonder Mr. Lawler married her. Was it his fault that--' + +'Oh! I don't think so,' Cecilia replied, scornfully: 'but what does it +matter?--she was quite good enough for him.' + +At every moment a new Cecilia was revealing herself, the existence of +whom Alice had not even suspected in the old; and as she hurried home +she wondered if the minds of the other girls were the same as they were +at school. Olive? She could see but little change in her sister; and May +she had scarcely spoken to since they left school; Violet she hadn't met +since they parted at Athenry for their different homes. But Cecilia--She +entered the house still thinking of her, and heard Olive telling her +mother that Captain Hibbert had admired her new hat. + +'He told me that I'd be the handsomest girl at the Drawing-Room.' + +'And what did you say, dear?' + +'I asked him how he knew. Was that right?' + +'Quite right; and what did he say then?' + +'He said, because he had never seen anybody so handsome, and as he had +seen everybody in London, he supposed--I forget the exact words, but +they were very nice; I am sure he admired my new hat; but you--you +haven't told me how you liked it. Do you think I should wear it down on +my eyes, or a bit back?' + +'I think it very becoming as it is; but tell me more about Captain +Hibbert.' + +'He told me he was coming to meet us at Mass. You know he is a Roman +Catholic?' + +'I know he is, dear, and am very glad.' + +'If he weren't, he wouldn't be able to meet us at Mass.' + + + + +VIII + + +According to old-established custom, on the arrival of his family Arthur +had turned his nudities to the wall, and now sitting, one leg tucked +under him, on the sofa, throwing back from time to time his long blond +locks, he hummed an Italian air. + +'How tired you look, Alice dear! Will you have a cup of tea? It will +freshen you up; you have been walking yourself to death.' + +'Thanks, mamma, I will have a cup of tea; Cecilia and I went to see the +Brennans.' + +'And are any of them going to be married yet?' said Olive. + +'I really don't know; I didn't ask them.' + +'Well, they ought to be doing something with themselves; they have been +trying it on long enough. They have been going up to the Shelbourne for +the last ten years. Did they show you the dresses they brought down this +season? They haven't worn them yet--they keep them wrapped up in silver +paper.' + +'And how did you hear all that?' she asked. + +'Oh, one hears everything! I don't live with my nose buried in a book +like you. That was all very well in the convent.' + +'But what have I done that you should speak to me in that way?' + +'Now, Alice dear,' said Mrs. Barton coaxingly, 'don't get angry. I +assure you Olive means nothing.' + +'No, indeed, I didn't!' Olive exclaimed, and she forced her sister back +into the chair. + +Arthur's attention had been too deeply absorbed in the serenade in _Don +Pasquale_ to give heed to the feminine bickering with which his studio +was ringing, until he was startled suddenly from his musical dreaming by +an angry exclamation from his wife. + +The picture of the bathers, which Alice had seen begun, had been only +partially turned to the wall, and, after examining it for a few moments, +Mrs. Barton got up and turned the picture round. The two naked creatures +who were taking a dip in the quiet, sunlit pool were Olive and Mrs. +Barton; and so grotesque were the likenesses that Alice could not +refrain from laughing. + +'This is monstrous! This is disgraceful, sir! How often have I forbidden +you to paint my face on any of your shameless pictures? And your +daughter, too--and just as she is coming out! Do you want to ruin us? I +should like to know what anyone would think if--' And, unable to +complete her sentence, either mentally or aloud, Mrs. Barton wheeled the +easel, on which a large picture stood, into the full light of the +window. + +If Arthur had wounded the susceptibilities of his family before, he had +outraged them now. The great woman, who had gathered to her bosom one of +the doves her naked son, Cupid, had shot out of the trees with his bow +and arrow, was Olive. The white face and its high nose, beautiful as a +head by Canova is beautiful; the corn-like tresses, piled on the top of +the absurdly small head, were, beyond mistaking, Olive. Mrs. Barton +stammered for words; Olive burst into tears. + +'Oh, papa! how could you disgrace me in that way? Oh, I am disgraced! +There's no use in my going to the Drawing-Room now.' + +'My dear, my dear, I assure you I can change it with a flick of the +brush. Admiration carried away by idea. I promise you I'll change it.' + +'Come away. Olive--come away!' said Mrs. Barton, casting a look of +burning indignation at her husband. 'If you cry like that, Olive, you +won't be fit to be looked at, and Captain Hibbert is coming here +to-night.' + +When they had left the room Arthur looked inquiringly at Alice. + +'This is very disagreeable,' he said; 'I really didn't think the +likeness was so marked as all that; I assure you I didn't. I must do +something to alter it--I might change the colour of the hair; but no, I +can't do that, the entire scheme of colour depends upon that. It is a +great pity, for it is one of my best things; the features I might alter, +and yet it is very hard to do so, without losing the character. I wonder +if I were to make the nose straighter. Alice, dear, would you mind +turning your head this way?' + +'Oh! no, no, no, papa dear! You aren't going to put my face upon it!' +And she ran from the room smothered with laughter. + +When this little quarrel was over and done, and Olive had ceased to +consider herself a disgraced girl, the allusion that had been made to +Mass as a means of meeting Captain Hibbert remained like a sting in +Alice's memory. It surprised her at all sorts of odd moments, and often +forced her, under many different impulses of mind, to reconsider the +religious problem more passionately and intensely than she had ever done +before. She asked herself if she had ever believed? Perhaps in very +early youth, in a sort of vague, half-hearted way, she had taken for +granted the usual traditional ideas of heaven and hell, but even then, +she remembered, she used to wonder how it was that time was found for +everything else but God. If He existed, it seemed to her that monks and +nuns, or puritans of the sternest type, were alone in the right. And yet +she couldn't quite feel that they were right. She had always been +intensely conscious of the grotesque contrast between a creed like that +of the Christian, and having dancing and French lessons, and going to +garden-parties--yes, and making wreaths and decorations for churches at +Christmas-time. If one only believed, and had but a shilling, surely the +only logical way of spending it was to give it to the poor, or a +missionary--and yet nobody seemed to think so. Priests and bishops did +not do so, she herself did not want to do so; still, so long as Alice +believed, she was unable to get rid of the idea. Teachers might say what +they pleased, but the creed they taught spoke for itself, and prescribed +an impossible ideal--an unsatisfactory ideal which aspired to no more +than saving oneself after all. + +Lies and all kinds of subterfuge were strictly against her character. +But it was impossible for her to do or say anything when by so doing she +knew she might cause suffering or give pain to anyone, even an enemy; +and this defect in her character forced her to live up to what she +deemed a lie. She had longed to tell the truth and thereby be saved the +mummery of attending at Mass; but when she realized the consternation, +the agony of mind, it would cause the nuns she loved, she held back the +word. But since she had left the convent she had begun to feel that her +life must correspond to her ideas and she had determined to speak to her +mother on this (for her) all-important subject--the conformity of her +outer life to her inner life. The power to prevail upon herself to do +what she thought wrong merely because she did not wish to wound other +people's feelings was dying in her. Sooner or later she would have to +break away; and as the hour approached when they should go to Mass to +meet Captain Hibbert, the desire to be allowed to stay away became +almost irresistible; and at the last moment it was only a foolish fear +that such a declaration might interfere with her sister's prospects that +stayed the words as they rose to her lips. She picked up her gloves, and +a moment after found herself in the brougham--packed into it, watching +the expressionless church-going faces of her family. + +From afar the clanging of a high-swinging bell was heard, and the harsh +reverberations, travelling over the rocky town-lands, summoned the +cottagers to God. The peasants stepped aside to let the carriage pass. +Peasants and landlords were going to worship in the same chapel, but it +would seem from the proclamations pasted on the gate-posts that the +house of prayer had gone over into the possession of the tenantry. + +'Now, Arthur--do you hear?--you mustn't look at those horrid papers!' +Mrs. Barton whispered to her husband. 'We must pretend not to see them. +I wonder how Father Shannon can allow such a thing, making the house of +God into--into I don't know what, for the purpose of preaching robbery +and murder. Just look at the country-people--how sour and wicked they +look! Don't they, Alice?' + +'Goodness me!' said Olive, 'who in the world can those people be in our +pew?' + +Mrs. Barton trembled a little. Had the peasants seized the religious +possessions of their oppressors? Dismissing the suspicion, she examined +the backs indicated by Olive. + +'Why, my dear, it is the Goulds; what can have brought them all this +way?' + +The expected boredom of the service was forgotten, and Olive shook hands +warmly with Mrs. Gould and May. + +'Why, you must have driven fifteen miles; where are your horses?' + +'We took the liberty of sending the carriage on to Brookfield, and we +are coming on to lunch with you--that is to say, if you will let us?' +cried May. + +'Of course, of course; but how nice of you!' + +'Oh! we have such news; but it was courageous of us to come all this +way. Have you seen those terrible proclamations?' + +'Indeed we have. Just fancy a priest allowing his chapel to be turned +into a political--political what shall I call it?' + +'Bear-garden,' suggested May. + +'And Father Shannon is going to take the chair at the meeting; he +wouldn't get his dues if he didn't.' + +'Hush, hush! they may hear you; but you were saying something about +news.' + +'Oh! don't ask me,' said Mrs. Gould; 'that's May's affair--such work!' + +'Say quickly! what is it, May?' + +'Look here, girls, I can't explain everything now; but we are going to +give a ball--that is to say, all the young girls are going to subscribe. +It will only cost us about three pounds apiece--that is to say, if we +can get forty subscribers; we have got twenty already, and we hope you +will join us. It is going to be called the Spinsters' Ball. But there is +such a lot to be done: the supper to be got together, the decorations of +the room--splendid room, the old schoolhouse, you know. We are going to +ask you to let us take Alice away with us.' + +The conversation was here interrupted by the appearance of the priest, a +large fat man, whose new, thick-soled boots creaked as he ascended the +steps of the altar. He was preceded by two boys dressed in white and +black surplices, who rang little brass bells furiously; a great +trampling of feet was heard, and the peasants came into the church, +coughing and grunting with monotonous, animal-like voices; and the +sour odour of cabin-smoked frieze arose--it was almost visible in the +great beams of light that poured through the eastern windows; whiffs +of unclean leather, mingled with a smell of a sick child; and Olive +and May, exchanging looks of disgust, drew forth cambric +pocket-handkerchiefs, and in unison the perfumes of white rose and eau +d'opoponax evaporated softly. + +Just behind Alice a man groaned and cleared his throat with loud +guffaws; she listened to hear the saliva fall: it splashed on the +earthen floor. Farther away a circle of dried and yellowing faces +bespoke centuries of damp cabins; they moaned and sighed, a prey to the +gross superstition of the moment. One man, bent double, beat a ragged +shirt with a clenched fist; the women of forty, with cloaks drawn over +their foreheads and trailing on the ground in long black folds, crouched +until only the lean, hard-worked hands that held the rosary were seen +over the bench-rail. + +The sermon came in the middle of Mass, and was a violent denunciation of +the Ladies Cullen, who, it was stated, had pursued one poor boy until he +took refuge in an empty house, the door of which he was fortunately +enabled to fasten against them; they had sent a sick woman blankets, in +which they had not neglected to enclose some tracts; amateur +shopkeeping, winter clothing, wood, turf, presents of meal, wine, and +potatoes were all vigorously attacked as the wiles of the Evil One to +lead the faithful from the true Church. + + + + +IX + + +As they returned from church, a horseman was seen riding rapidly towards +them. It was Captain Hibbert. The movement of his shoulders, as he +reined in his mettlesome bay, was picturesque, and he was coaxingly and +gushingly upbraided for neglect of his religious duties. + +During lunch, curiosity rendered May and Mrs. Gould nearly speechless; +but their carriage had not turned into the highroad, on its way home, +when the latter melted into a shower of laudatory words and phrases: + +'What a charming man Captain Hibbert is! No wonder you young ladies like +the military. He is so good-looking--and such good manners. Don't you +think so, Alice dear?' + +'I think the Captain a very handsome man--indeed, I believe that there +are not two opinions on the subject.' + +'And Olive--I do not remember that I ever saw a more beautiful girl. +Such hair! and her figure so sylph-like! I do not know what the young +ladies will do--she will cut everybody out at the Castle!' + +'I don't know about that,' said May jauntily; 'what one man will turn +his nose up at, another will go wild after.' + +Mrs. Gould did not answer; but her lips twitched, and Alice guessed she +was annoyed that May could not express herself less emphatically. In a +few moments the conversation was continued: + +'At any rate, Captain Hibbert seems to think there is no one like Olive; +and they'd make a handsome couple. What do you think, Alice? Is there +any chance of there being a match?' + +'I really can't tell you, Mrs. Gould. Olive, as you say, is a very +beautiful girl, and I suppose Captain Hibbert admires her; but I don't +think that either has, up to the present, thought of the matter more +seriously.' + +'You must admit, Alice, that he seems a bit gone on her,' said May, with +a direct determination to annoy her mother. + +'May, dear, you shouldn't talk in that slangy way; you never used to; +you have picked it up from Mr. Scully. Do you know Mr. Scully, Alice? +Violet's brother.' + +'Yes, I met him the night we dined at Lord Dungory's.' + +'Oh, of course you did. Well, I admit I don't like him; but May does. +They go out training horses together. I don't mind that; but I wish she +wouldn't imitate his way of talking. He has been a very wild young man.' + +'Now, mother dear, I wish you would leave off abusing Fred. I have +repeatedly told you that I don't like it.' + +The acerbity of this remark was softened by May's manner, and, throwing +her arms on her mother's shoulders, she commenced to coax and cajole +her. + +The Goulds were of an excellent county family. They had for certainly +three generations lived in comfortable idleness, watching from their big +square house the different collections of hamlets toiling and moiling, +and paying their rents every gale day. It was said that some ancestor, +whose portrait still existed, had gone to India and come back with the +money that had purchased the greater part of the property. But, be this +as it may, in Galway three generations of landlordism are considered +sufficient repentance for shopkeeping in Gort, not to speak of Calcutta. +Since then the family history had been stainless. Father and son had in +turn put their horses out to grass in April, had begun to train them +again in August, had boasted at the Dublin horse-show of having been out +cub-hunting, had ridden and drunk hard from the age of twenty to +seventy. But, by dying at fifty-five, the late squire had deviated +slightly from the regular line, and the son and heir being only twelve, +a pause had come in the hereditary life of the Goulds. In the interim, +however, May had apparently resolved to keep up the traditions so far as +her sex was supposed to allow her. + +They lived in one of those box-like mansions, so many of which were +built in Ireland under the Georges. On either side trees had been +planted, and they stretched to the right and left like the wings of a +theatre. In front there was a green lawn; at the back a sloppy +stableyard. The latter was May's especial delight, and when Mr. Scully +was with them, it seemed impossible to induce her to leave it. He +frequently rode over to Beechgrove, and towards the end of the afternoon +it became easy to persuade him to stay to dinner. And, as the night +darkened and the rain began to fall, the inhospitality of turning him +out was insisted on by May, and Mrs. Gould sent up word that a room was +to be prepared for him. Next morning he sent home for a change of +things, and thus it was not infrequent for him to protract his visit to +the extent of three or four days. + +His great friend, Mrs. Manly--a lady who had jumped five feet, four +months before the birth of her sixth child--had said that his was a +'wasted life,' and the phrase, summing up what most people thought of +him, gained currency, and was now generally used whenever his conduct +was criticized or impeached. After having been in London, where he spent +some years in certain vague employments, and having contracted as much +debt as his creditors would permit, and more than his father would pay, +he had gone through the Bankruptcy Court, and returned home to drag +through life wearily, through days and weeks so appallingly idle, that +he often feared to get out of bed in the morning. At first his father +had tried to make use of him in his agency business, and it was +principally owing to Mr. Fred's bullying and insolent manners that Mr. +Scully was now unable to leave his house unless accompanied by police. + +Fred was about thirty years of age. His legs were long, his hands were +bony, and 'stableyard' was written in capital letters on his face. He +carried a _Sportsman_ under his arm, a penny and a half-crown jingled in +his pocket; and as he walked he lashed the trousers and boot, whose +elegance was an echo of the old Regent Street days, with an ash-plant. + +Such was the physiology of this being, and from it the psychology is +easy to surmise: a complete powerlessness to understand that there was +anything in life worth seeking except pleasure--and pleasure to Fred +meant horses and women. Of earthly honour the greatest was to be well +known in an English hunting country; and he was not averse to speaking +of certain ladies of title, with whom he had been on intimate terms, and +with whom, it was said, he corresponded. On occasions he would read or +recite poems, cut from the pages of the Society Journals, to his lady +friends. + +May, however, saw nothing but the outside. The already peeling-off +varnish of a few years of London life satisfied her. Given a certain +versatility in turning a complimentary phrase, the abundant ease with +which he explained his tastes, which, although few, were pronounced, add +to these the remnant of fashion that still lingered in his +wardrobe--scarfs from the Burlington Arcade, scent from Bond Street, +cracked patent-leather shoes and mended silk stockings--and it will be +understood how May built something that did duty for an ideal out of +this broken-down swell. + +She was a girl of violent blood, and, excited by the air of the +hunting-field, she followed Fred's lead fearlessly; to feel the life of +the horse throbbing underneath her passioned and fevered her flesh until +her mental exaltation reached the rushing of delirium. Then his evening +manners fascinated her, and, as he leaned back smoking in the +dining-room arm-chair, his patent-leather shoes propped up against the +mantelpiece, he showed her glimpses of a wider world than she knew +of--and the girl's eyes softened as she listened to his accounts of the +great life he had led, the county-houses he had visited, and the +legendary runs he had held his own in. She sympathized with him when he +explained how hardly fate had dealt with him in not giving him L5,000 a +year, to be spent in London and Northamptonshire. + +He cursed Ireland as the most hideous hole under the sun; he frightened +Mrs. Gould by reiterated assurances that the Land League would leave +them all beggars; and, having established this point, he proceeded to +develop his plan for buying young horses, training them, and disposing +of them in the English market. Eventually he dismissed his audience by +taking up the newspaper and falling asleep with the stump of a +burned-out cigarette between his lips. After breakfast he was seen +slouching through the laurels on his way to the stables. From the +kitchen and the larder--where the girls were immersed in calculations +anent the number of hams, tongues, and sirloins of beef that would be +required--he could be seen passing; and as May stood on no ceremony with +Alice, whistling to her dogs, and sticking both hands into the pockets +of her blue dress, she rushed after him, the mud of the yard oozing +through the loose, broken boots which she insisted on wearing. Behind +the stables there was a small field that had lately been converted into +an exercise-ground, and there the two would stand for hours, watching a +couple of goat-like colts, mounted by country lads--still in corduroy +and hobnails--walking round and round. + +Mrs. Gould was clearly troubled by this very plain conduct. Once or +twice she allowed a word of regret to escape her, and Alice could see +that she lived in awe of her daughter. And May, there was no doubt, was +a little lawless when Fred was about her skirts; but when he was gone +she returned to her old, glad, affectionate ways and to her work. + +The girls delighted in each other's society, and the arrangements for +their ball were henceforth a continual occupation. The number of letters +that had to be written was endless. Sitting at either end of the table +in the drawing-room, their pens scratched and their tongues rattled +together; and, penetrated with the intimacy of home, all kinds of +stories were told, and the whole country was passed in review. + +'And do you know,' said May, raising her eyes from the letter she was +writing, 'when this affair was first started mamma was afraid to go in +for it; she said we'd find it hard to hunt up fifty spinsters in +Galway.' + +'I said fifty who would subscribe--a very different thing indeed.' + +'Oh no, you didn't, mamma; you said there weren't fifty spinsters in +Galway--a jolly lucky thing it would be if there weren't; wouldn't it, +Alice?' + +Alice was busy trying to disentangle a difficult sentence. Her startled +face made May laugh. + +'It isn't cheering, is it?' + +'I didn't hear what you were saying,' she answered, a little vexed at +being misunderstood. 'But fifty, surely, is a great number. Are there so +many unmarried women in Galway?' + +'I should think there are,' replied May, as if glorying in the fact. +'Who are there down your side of the country? Let's count. To begin +with, there are the Brennans--there are three of them, and all three are +out of the running, distanced.' + +'Now, May, how can you talk like that?' said Mrs. Gould, and she pulled +up her skirt so that she could roast her fat thick legs more comfortably +before the fire. There being no man present, she undid a button or two +of her dress. + +'You said so yourself the other day, mother.' + +'No, I didn't, May, and I wish you wouldn't vex me. What I say I stand +by, and I merely wondered why girls with good fortunes like the Brennans +didn't get married.' + +'You said the fact was there was no one to marry.' + +'May, I will not allow you to contradict me!' exclaimed Mrs. Gould; and +she grew purple to the roots of her white hair. 'I said the Brennans +looked too high, that they wanted gentlemen, eldest sons of county +families; but if they'd been content to marry in their own position of +life they would have been married long ago.' + +'Well, mother dear, there's no use being angry about it; let the thing +pass. You know the Brennans, Alice; they are neighbours of yours.' + +'Yes, Cecilia and I walked over to see them the other day; we had tea +with them.' + +'Their great hunting-ground is the Shelbourne Hotel--they take it in +turns, a couple of them go up every six months.' + +'How can you say such things, May? I will not suffer it.' + +'I say it! I know nothing about it. I've only just come back from school; +it is you who tell me these things when we are sitting here alone of an +evening.' + +Mrs. Gould's face again became purple, and she protested vehemently: 'I +shall leave the room, May. I will not suffer it one moment longer. I +can't think how it is you dare speak to me in that way; and, what is +worse, attribute to me such ill-natured remarks.' + +'Now, mother dear, don't bother, perhaps I did exaggerate. I am very +sorry. But, there's a dear, sit down, and we won't say any more about +it.' + +'You do annoy one, May, and I believe you do it on purpose. And you know +exactly what will be disagreeable to say, and you say it,' replied Mrs. +Gould; and she raised her skirt so as to let the heat of the fire into +her petticoats. + +'Thank God that's over,' May whispered to Alice; 'but what were we +talking about?' + +'I think you were making out a list of the Galway spinsters,' said +Alice, who could not help feeling a little amused, though she was sorry +for Mrs. Gould. + +'So we were,' cried May; 'we were speaking of the Brennans. Do you know +their friends the Duffys? There are five of them. That's a nice little +covey of love-birds; I don't think they would fly away if they saw a +sportsman coming into the field.' + +'I never heard a girl talk like that,' murmured Mrs. Gould, without +raising her face from the fire, 'that wasn't punished for it. Perhaps, +my lady, you will find it hard enough to suit yourself. Wait until you +have done two or three Castle seasons. We'll see how you'll speak then.' + +Without paying any attention to these maternal forebodings, May +continued: + +'Then there are Lord Rosshill's seven daughters; they are all maidens, +and are likely to remain so.' + +'Are they all unmarried?' asked Alice. + +'Of course they are!' exclaimed Mrs. Gould; 'how could they be anything +else? Didn't they all want to marry people in their father's position? +And that wasn't possible. There're seven Honourable Miss Gores, and one +Lord Rosshill--so they all remained in single blessedness.' + +'Who's making ill-natured remarks now?' exclaimed May triumphantly. + +'I am not making ill-natured remarks; I am only saying what's true. My +advice to young girls is that they should be glad to have those who will +take them. If they can't make a good marriage let them make a bad +marriage; for, believe me, it is far better to be minding your own +children than your sister's or your brother's children. And I can assure +you, in these days of competition, it is no easy matter to get settled.' + +'It is the same now as ever it was, and there are plenty of nice young +men. It doesn't prove, because a whole lot of old sticks of things can't +get married, that I shan't.' + +'I didn't say you wouldn't get married, May; I am sure that any man +would be only too glad to have you; but what I say is that these grand +matches that girls dream of aren't possible nowadays. Nice young men! I +dare say; and plenty of them, I know them; young scamps without a +shilling, who amuse themselves with a girl until they are tired of her, +and then, off they go. Now, then, let's count up the good matches that +are going in the county--' + +At this moment the servant was heard at the door bringing in the tea. + +'Oh! bother!' exclaimed Mrs. Gould, settling her dress hurriedly. The +interval was full of secret irritation; and the three women watched the +methodical butler place the urn on the table, turn up the lamp that was +burning low, and bring chairs forward from the farthest corners. + +'On your side of the county,' said Mrs. Gould, as soon as the door was +closed, 'there is our brace of baronets, as they are called. But poor +Sir Richard--I am afraid he is a bad case--and yet he never took to +drink until he was five-and-thirty; and as for Sir Charles--of course +there are great advantages, he has a very fine property; but still many +girls might--and I can quite understand their not liking to marry him.' + +'Why, Mrs. Gould, what is wrong with him?' Alice asked innocently. + +'Don't you know?' said May, winking. 'Haven't you heard? But I forgot, +he isn't your side of the county. He's married already; at least, so +they say.' + +'It is very sad, very sad, indeed,' murmured Mrs. Gould; 'he'd have been +a great match.' + +'And to whom is he married?' said Alice, whose curiosity was awakened by +the air of mystery with which the baronet was surrounded. + +'Well, he's not exactly married,' replied May, laughing; 'but he has a +large family.' + +'May, I will not allow it; it is very wrong of you, indeed, to talk like +that--' + +'Now, mother dear, don't get into a passion; where's the harm? The whole +country knows it; Violet was talking of it to me only the other day. +There isn't a man within a mile of us, so we needn't be on our P's and +Q's.' + +'And who is the mother of all these children?' Alice asked. + +'A country-woman with whom he lives,' said May. 'Just fancy marrying a +man with a little dirty crowd of illegitimate children running about the +stable-yard!' + +'The usual thing in such cases is to emigrate them,' said Mrs. Gould +philosophically; and she again distended herself before the fire. + +'Emigrate them!' cried May; 'if he emigrated them to the moon, I +wouldn't marry such a man; would you, Alice?' + +'I certainly wouldn't like to,' and her sense of humour being now +tickled by the conversation, she added slyly: 'but you were counting up +the good matches in the county.' + +'Ah! so we were,' said the old lady. 'Well, there is Mr. Adair. I am +sure no girl would wish for a better husband.' + +'Oh, the old frump! why he must be forty if he's a day. You remember, +Alice, it was he who took me down to dinner at Lord Dungory's. And he +talked all the time of his pamphlet on the Amalgamation of the Unions, +which was then in the hands of the printer; and the other in which he +had pulled Mr. Parnell's ears, _Ireland under the Land League_, and the +series of letters he was thinking of contributing to the _Irish Times_ +on high-farming _versus_ peasant proprietors. Just fancy, Alice, living +with such a man as that!' + +'Well, I don't know what you girls think,' said Mrs. Gould, whose +opinions were moods of mind rather than convictions, 'but I assure you +he passes for being the cleverest man in the county; and it is said that +Gladstone is only waiting to give him a chance. But as you like; he +won't do, so let him pass. Then there is Mr. Ryan, he ought to be well +off; he farms thousands of acres.' + +'One might as well marry a herdsman at once. Did you ever hear what he +once said to a lady at a ball; you know, about the docket?' + +Alice said that she had heard the story, and the conversation turned on +Mr. Lynch. Mrs. Gould admitted that he was the worser of the two. + +'He smells so dreadfully of whiskey,' said Alice timidly. + +'Ah! you see she is coming out of her shell at last,' exclaimed May. 'I +saw you weren't having a very good time of it when he took you down to +dinner at Dungory Castle. I wonder they were asked. Fred told me that he +had never heard of their having been there before.' + +'It is very difficult to make up a number sometimes,' suggested Mrs. +Gould; 'but they are certainly very coarse. I hear, when Mr. Ryan and +Mr. Lynch go to fairs, that they sleep with their herdsman, and in Mayo +there is a bachelor's house where they have fine times--whiskey-drinking +and dancing until three o'clock in the morning.' + +'And where do the ladies come from, May?' asked Alice, for she now +looked on the girl as an inexhaustible fund of information. + +'Plenty of ladies in the village,' replied Mrs. Gould, rubbing her shins +complacently; 'that's what I used to hear of in my day, and I believe +the custom isn't even yet quite extinct.' + +'And are there no other beaux in the county? Does that exhaust the +list?' + +'Oh! no; but there's something against them all. There are a few +landlords who live away, and of whom nobody knows anything. Then there +are some boys at school; but they are too young; there is Mr. Reed, the +dispensary doctor. Mr. Burke has only two hundred a year; but if his +brother were to die he would be the Marquis of Kilcarney. He'd be a +great match then, in point of position; but I hear the estates are +terribly encumbered.' + +'Has the present Marquis no children?' said Alice. + +'He's not married,' said Mrs. Gould; 'he's a confirmed old bachelor. +Just fancy, there's twenty years between the brothers. I remember, in +old times, the present Marquis used to be the great beau at the Castle. +I don't believe there was a girl in Dublin who didn't have a try at him. +Then who else is there? I suppose I daren't mention the name of Mr. Fred +Scully, or May will fly at me.' + +'No, mother dear, I won't fly at you; but what is the use of abusing +Fred?--we have known him all our lives. If he has spent his money he has +done no worse than a hundred other young men. I know I can't marry him, +and I am not in love with him; but I must amuse myself with something. I +can't sit here all day listening to you lamenting over the Land League; +and, after a certain number of hours, conjecturing whether Mickey Moran +will or will not pay his rent becomes monotonous.' + +'Now don't vex me, May; for I won't stand it,' said Mrs. Gould, getting +angry. 'When you ask me for a new dress you don't think of what you are +saying now. It was only the other day you were speaking to me of +refurnishing this room. I should like to know how that's to be done if +there was no one to look after Mickey Moran's rent?' + +The girls looked round the large, dull room. Emaciated forms of narrow, +antique sofas were seen dimly in the musty-smelling twilight. Screens +worked in red and green wools stood in the vicinity of the fireplace, +the walls were lined with black pictures, and the floor, hidden in dark +shadow and sunken in places, conveyed an instant idea of damp and +mildew. + +'I think that something ought to be done,' said May. 'Just look at these +limp curtains! Did you ever see anything so dreary? Are they brown, or +red, or chocolate?' + +'They satisfied your betters,' said Mrs. Gould, as she lighted her +bedroom candle. 'Goodness me!' she added, glancing at the gilt clock +that stood on the high, stucco, white-painted chimney-piece, amid a +profusion of jingling glass candelabra, 'it is really half-past twelve +o'clock!' + +'Gracious me! there's another evening wasted; we must really try and be +more industrious. It is too late to do anything further to-night,' said +May. 'Come on, Alice, it is time to go to bed.' + + + + +X + + +During the whole of the next week, until the very night of the ball, the +girls hadn't a moment they could call their own. It was impossible to +say how time went. There were so many things to think of--to remind each +other of. Nobody knew what they had done last, or what they should do +next. The principle on which the ball had been arranged was this: the +forty-five spinsters who had agreed to bear the expense, which it was +guaranteed would not exceed L3 10s. apiece, were supplied each with five +tickets to be distributed among their friends. To save money, the supper +had been provided by the Goulds and Manlys, and day after day the rich +smells of roast beef and the salt vapours of boiling hams trailed along +the passages, and ascended through the banisters of the staircases in +Beech Grove and Manly Park. Fifty chickens had been killed; presents of +woodcock and snipe were received from all sides; salmon had arrived from +Galway; cases of champagne from Dublin. As a wit said, 'Circe has +prepared a banquet and is calling us in.' + +After much hesitation, a grammar-school, built by an enterprising +landlord for an inappreciative population that had declined to support +it, was selected as the most suitable location for the festivities. It +lay about a mile from the town, and this was in itself an advantage. To +the decoration of the rooms May and Fred diligently applied themselves. +Away they went every morning, the carriage filled with yards of red +cloth, branches of evergreen, oak and holly, flags and Chinese lanterns. +You see them: Fred mounted on a high ladder, May and the maid striving +to hand him a long garland which is to be hung between the windows. You +see them leaning over the counter of a hardware shop, explaining how +oblong and semicircular pieces of tin are to be provided with places for +candles (the illumination of the room had remained an unsolved problem +until ingenious Fred had hit upon this plan); you see them running up +the narrow staircases, losing themselves in the twisty passages, calling +for the housekeeper; you see them trying to decide which is the +gentlemen's cloakroom, which the ladies', and wondering if they will be +able to hire enough furniture in the town to arrange a sitting-room for +the chaperons. + +As May said, 'We shall have them hanging about our heels the whole +evening if we don't try to make them comfortable.' + +At last the evening of the ball arrived, and, as the clocks were +striking eight, dressed and ready to start, Alice knocked at May's door. + +'What! dressed already?' said May, as she leaned towards the glass, +illuminated on either side with wax candles, and looked into the +whiteness of her bosom. She wore a costume of Prussian-blue velvet and +silk; the bodice (entirely of velvet) was pointed back and front, and a +berthe of moresque lace softened the contrast between it and the cream +tints of the skin. These and the flame-coloured hair were the spirits of +the shadowy bedchamber; whereas Alice, in her white corded-silk, her +clear candid eyes, was the truer Madonna whose ancient and inferior +prototype stood on her bracket in a forgotten corner. + +'Oh! how nice you look!' exclaimed May; 'I don't think I ever saw anyone +look so pure.' + +Alice smiled; and, interpreting the smile, May said: + +'I am afraid you don't think so much of me.' + +'I am sure, May, you look very nice indeed, and just as you would like +to look.' + +To May's excitable mind it was not difficult to suggest a new train of +thought, and she immediately proceeded to explain why she had chosen her +present dress. + +'I knew that you, and Olive, and Violet, and Lord knows how many others +would be in white, and, as we shall all have to wear white at the +Drawing-Room, I thought I'd appear in this. But isn't the whole thing +delightful? I am engaged already for several dances, and I have been +practising the step all day with Fred.' Then, singing to herself, she +waltzed in front of the glass at the immediate risk of falling into the +bath: + + '"Five-and-forty spinsters baked in a pie! + When the pie was opened the maids began to sing, + Wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the King!" + +'Oh, dear, there's my garter coming down!' and, dropping on to the sofa, +the girl hitched up the treacherous article of dress. 'And tell me what +you think of my legs,' she said, advancing a pair of stately calves. +'Violet says they are too large.' + +'They seem to me to be all right; but, May dear, you haven't got a +petticoat on.' + +'You can't wear petticoats with these tight dresses; one can't move +one's legs as it is.' + +'But don't you think you'll feel cold--catch cold?' + +'Not a bit of it; no danger of cold when you have shammy-leather +drawers.' + +Then, overcome by her exuberant feelings, May began to sing: +'Five-and-forty spinsters baked in a pie,' etc. 'Five-and-forty,' she +said, breaking off, 'have subscribed. I wonder how many will be married +by this time next year? You know, I shouldn't care to be married all at +once; I'd want to see the world a bit first. Even if I liked a man, I +shouldn't care to marry him now; time enough in about three years' time, +when one is beginning to get tired of flirtations and parties. I have +often wondered what it must be like. Just fancy waking up and seeing a +man's face on the pillow, or for--' + +'No, no, May; I will not; you must not. I will not listen to these +improper conversations!' + +'Now, don't get angry, there's a dear, nice girl; you're worse than +Violet, 'pon my word you are; but we must be off. It is a good +half-hour's drive, and we shall want to be there before nine. The people +will begin to come in about that time.' + +Mrs. Gould was asleep in the drawing-room, and, as they awoke her, the +sound of wheels was heard on the gravel outside. The girls hopped into +the carriage. Mrs. Gould pulled herself in, and, blotted out in a far +corner, thought vaguely of asking May not to dance more than three times +with Fred Scully; May chattered to Alice or looked impatiently through +the misted windows for the familiar signs; the shadow of a tree on the +sky, or the obscure outline of a farm-building that would tell how near +they were to their destination. Suddenly the carriage turned to the +right, and entered a sort of crescent. There were hedges on both sides, +through which vague forms were seen scrambling, but May humorously +explained that as no very unpopular landlord was going to be present, it +was not thought that an attempt would be made to blow up the building; +and, conscious of the beautiful night which hung like a blue mysterious +flower above them, they passed through a narrow doorway draped with +red-striped canvas. + +'Now, mother, what do you think of the decorations? Do say a word of +praise.' + +'I've always said, May, that you have excellent taste.' + +The school-hall and refectory had been transformed into ball and supper +rooms, and the narrow passages intervening were hung with red cloth and +green garlands of oak and holly. On crossing threads Chinese lanterns +were wafted luminously. + +'What taste Fred has!' said May, pointing to the huge arrangement that +covered the end wall. 'And haven't my tin candelabra turned out a +success? There will be no grease, and the room couldn't be better +lighted.' + +'But look!' said Alice, 'look at all those poor people staring in at the +window. Isn't it dreadful that they, in the dark and cold, should be +watching us dancing in our beautiful dresses, and in our warm bright +room?' + +'You don't want to ask them in, do you?' + +'Of course not, but it seems very sinister; doesn't it seem so to you?' + +'I don't know what you mean by its being sinister; but sinister or not +sinister, it couldn't be helped; for if we had nailed up every window we +should have simply died of heat.' + +'I hope you won't think of opening the windows too soon,' said Mrs. +Gould. 'You must think of us poor chaperons, who will be sitting still +all night.' + +Then, in the gaping silence, the three ladies listened to the melancholy +harper and the lachrymose fiddlers who, on the _estrade_ in the far +corner, sat tuning their instruments. At last the people began to come +in. The first were a few stray blackcoats, then feminine voices were +heard in the passages, and necks and arms, green toilettes and white +satin shoes, were seen passing and taking seats. Two Miss Duffys, the +fattest of the four, were with their famous sister Bertha. Bertha was +rarely seen in Galway; she lived with an aunt in Dublin, where her +terrible tongue was dreaded by the _debutantes_ at the Castle. In a +yellow dress as loud and as hard as her voice, she stood explaining that +she had come down expressly for the ball. Opposite, the Honourable Miss +Gores made a group of five; and a few men who preferred consideration to +amusement made their way towards them. The Brennans--Gladys and Zoe--as +soon as they saw Alice, asked after Lord Dungory; and all the girls were +anxious to see Violet, who they feared would seem thin in a low dress. + +Hers was the charm of an infinite fragility. The bosom, whose curves +were so faint that they were epicene, was set in a bodice of white +_broche_, joining a skirt of white satin, with an overskirt of tulle, +and the only touch of colour was a bunch of pink and white azaleas worn +on the left shoulder. And how irresistibly suggestive of an Indian +carved ivory were the wee foot, the thin arm, the slender cheek! + +'How sweet you look, Violet,' said Alice, with frank admiration in her +eyes. + +'Thanks for saying so; 'tisn't often we girls pay each other +compliments. But you, you do look ever so nice in that white silk. It +becomes you perfectly.' And then, her thoughts straying suddenly from +Alice's dress, she said: + +'Do you see Mr. Burke over there? If his brother died he would be a +marquis. Do you know him?' + +'Yes; I met him at dinner at Dungory Castle.' + +'Well, introduce him to me if you get a chance.' + +'I am afraid you will find him stupid.' + +'Oh, that doesn't matter; 'tis good form to be seen dancing with an +Honourable. Do you know many men in the room?' + +Alice admitted she knew no one, and, lapsing into silence, the girls +scanned the ranks for possible partners. Poor Sir Richard, already very +drunk, his necktie twisted under his right ear, was vainly attempting to +say something to those whom he knew, or fancied he knew. Sir Charles, +forgetful of the family at home, was flirting with a young girl whose +mother was probably formulating the details of a new emigration scheme. +Dirty Mr. Ryan, his hands thrust deep into the pockets of his baggy +trousers, whispered words of counsel to Mr. Lynch: a rumour had gone +abroad that Captain Hibbert was going to hunt that season in Galway, and +would want a couple of horses. Mr. Adair was making grotesque attempts +to talk to a lady of dancing. On every side voices were heard speaking +of the distances they had achieved: some had driven twenty, some thirty +miles. + +Already the first notes of the waltz had been shrieked out by the +cornet, and Mr. Fred Scully, with May's red tresses on his shoulder, was +about to start, when Mrs. Barton and Olive entered. Olive, in white +silk, so tightly drawn back that every line of her supple thighs, and +every plumpness of her superb haunches was seen; and the double garland +of geraniums that encircled the tulle veiling seemed like flowers of +blood scattered on virgin snow. Her beauty imposed admiration; and, +murmuring assent, the dancers involuntarily drew into lines, and this +pale, uncoloured loveliness, her high nose seen, and her silly laugh +heard, by the side of her sharp, brown-eyed mother, passed down the +room. Lord Dungory and Lord Rosshill advanced to meet them; a moment +after Captain Hibbert and Mr. Burke came up to ask for dances; a waltz +was promised to each. A circling crowd of black-coats instantly absorbed +the triumphant picture; the violinist scraped, and the harper twanged +intermittently; a band of fox-hunters arrived; girls had been chosen, +and in the small space of floor that remained the white skirts and red +tail coats passed and repassed, borne along Strauss's indomitable +rhythms. + +An hour passed: perspiration had begun to loosen the work of +curling-tongs; dust had thickened the voices, but the joy of exercise +was in every head and limb. A couple would rush off for a cup of tea, or +an ice, and then, pale and breathless, return to the fray. Mrs. Manly +was the gayest. Pushing her children out of her skirts, she called upon +May: + +'Now then, May, have you a partner? We are going to have a real romp--we +are going to have Kitchen Lancers. I'll undertake to see everybody +through them.' + +A select few, by signs, winks, and natural instinct, were drawn towards +this convivial circle; but, notwithstanding all her efforts to make +herself understood, Mrs. Manly was sadly hampered by the presence of a +tub-like old lady who, with a small boy, was seeking a _vis-a-vis._ + +'My dear May, we can't have her here, we are going to romp; anyone can +see that. Tell her we are going to dance Kitchen Lancers.' + +But the old lady could not be made to understand, and it was with +difficulty that she was disentangled from the sixteen. At that moment +the appearance of a waiter with a telegram caused the dancers to pause. +Mr. Burke's name was whispered in front of the messenger; but he who, +until that evening, had been Mr. Burke, was now the Marquis of +Kilearney. The smiling mouth drooped to an expression of fear as he tore +open the envelope. One glance was enough; he looked about the room like +one dazed. Then, as his eyes fell upon the vague faces seen looking +through the wet November pane, he muttered: 'Oh! you brutes, you brutes! +so you have shot my brother!' + +Unchecked, the harper twanged and the fiddler scraped out the tune of +their Lancers. Few really knew what had happened, and the newly-made +marquis had to fight his way through women who, in skin-tight dresses, +danced with wantoning movements of the hips, and threw themselves into +the arms of men, to be, in true kitchen-fashion, whirled round and round +with prodigious violence. + +Nevertheless, Lord Dungory and Lord Rosshill could not conceal their +annoyance; both felt keenly that they had compromised themselves by +remaining in the room after the news of so dreadful a catastrophe. But, +as Mrs. Barton was anxious that her daughter's success should not be +interfered with, nothing could be done but to express sympathy in +appropriate words. Nobody, Lord Dungory declared, could regret the +dastardly outrage that had been committed more than he. He had known +Lord Kilcarney many years, and he had always found him a man whom no one +could fail to esteem. The earldom was one of the oldest in Ireland, but +the marquisate did not go back farther than the last few years. +Beaconsfield had given him a step in the peerage; no one knew why. A +very curious man--most retiring--hated society. Then Lord Rosshill +related an anecdote concerning an enormous water-jump that he and Lord +Kilcarney had taken together; and he also spoke of the late Marquis's +aversion to matrimony, and hinted that he had once refused a match which +would have relieved the estates of all debt. But he could not be +persuaded; indeed, he had never been known to pay any woman the +slightest attention. + +'It is to be hoped the present Marquis won't prove so difficult to +please,' said Mrs. Gould. The remark was an unfortunate one, and the +chaperons present resented this violation of their secret thoughts. Mrs. +Barton and Mrs. Scully suddenly withdrew their eyes, which till then had +been gently following their daughters through the figures of the dance, +and, forgetting what they foresaw would be the cause of future enmity, +united in condemning Mrs. Gould. Obeying a glance of the Lady Hamilton +eyes, Lord Dungory said: + +'_On cherche l'amour dans les boudoirs, non pas dans les cimetieres, +madame_.' Then he added (but this time only for the private ear of Mrs. +Barton), '_La mer ne rend pas ses morts, mais la tombe nous donne +souvent les ecussons_.' + +'Ha! ha! ha!' laughed Mrs. Barton, '_ce Milord, il trouve l'esprit +partout_;' and her light coaxing laugh dissipated this moment of +ball-room gloom. + +And Alice? Although conscious of her deficiency in the _trois temps_, +determined not to give in without an effort, she had suffered May to +introduce her to a couple of officers; but to execute the step she knew +theoretically, or to talk to her partner when he had dragged her, +breathless, out of the bumping dances, she found to be difficult, so +ignorant was she of hunting and of London theatres, and having read only +one book of Ouida's, it would be vain for her to hope to interest her +partner in literature. The other girls seemed more at home with their +partners, and while she walked with hers, wondering what she should say +next, she noticed behind screens, under staircases, at the end of dark +passages, girls whom she had known at St. Leonards incapable of +learning, or even understanding the simplest lessons, suddenly +transformed as if by magic into bright, clever, agreeable girls--capable +of fulfilling that only duty which falls to the lot of women: of amusing +men. But she could not do this, and must, therefore, resign herself to +an aimless life of idleness, and be content in a few years to take a +place amid the Miss Brennans, the Ladies Cullen, the Miss Duffys, the +Honourable Miss Gores, those whom she saw sitting round the walls +'waiting to be asked,' as did the women in the old Babylonian Temple. + +Such was her criticism of life as she sat wearily answering Mrs. Gould's +tiresome questions, not daring to approach her mother, who was laughing +with Olive, Captain Hibbert, and Lord Dungory. Waltz after waltz had +been played, and her ears reeked with their crying strain. One or two +men had asked her 'if they might have the pleasure'; but she was +determined to try dancing no more, and had refused them. At last, at the +earnest request of Mrs. Gould, she had allowed Dr. Reed to take her in +to supper. He was an earnest-eyed, stout, commonplace man, and looked +some years over thirty. Alice, however, found she could talk to him +better than with her other partners, and when they left the clattering +supper-room, where plates were being broken and champagne was being +drunk by the gallon, sitting on the stairs, he talked to her till voices +were heard calling for his services. A dancer had been thrown and had +broken his leg. Alice saw something carried towards her, and, rushing +towards May, whom she saw in the doorway, she asked for an explanation. + +'Oh, nothing, nothing! he slipped down--has broken or sprained his +ankle--that's all. Why aren't you dancing? Greatest fun in the +world--just beginning to get noisy--and we are going it. Come on, Fred; +come on!' + +To the rowdy tune of the _Posthorn Polka_ the different couples were +dashing to and fro--all a little drunk with emotion and champagne; and, +as if fascinated, Alice's eyes followed the shoulders of a tall, +florid-faced man. Doing the _deux temps_, he traversed the room in two +or three prodigious jumps. His partner, a tiny creature, looked a +crushed bird within the circle of his terrible arm. Like a collier +labouring in a heavy sea, a county doctor lurched from side to side, +overpowered by the fattest of the Miss Duffys. A thin, trim youth, with +bright eyes glancing hither and thither, executed a complex step, and +glided with surprising dexterity in and out, and through this rushing +mad mass of light toilettes and flying coat-tails. Marks, too, of +conflict were visible. Mr. Ryan had lost some portion of his garment in +an obscure misunderstanding in the supper-room. All Mr. Lynch's studs +had gone, and his shirt was in a precarious state; drunken Sir Richard +had not been carried out of the room before strewing the floor with his +necktie and fragments of his gloves. But these details were forgotten in +the excitement. The harper twanged still more violently at his strings, +the fiddler rasped out the agonizing tune more screechingly than ever; +and as the delirium of the dance fevered this horde of well-bred people +the desire to exercise, their animal force grew irresistible, and they +charged, intent on each other's overthrow. In the onset, the vast +shoulders and the _deux temps_ were especially successful. One couple +had gone down splendidly before him, another had fallen over the +prostrate ones; and in a moment, in positions more or less recumbent, +eight people were on the floor. Fears were expressed for the tight +dresses, and Violet had shown more of her thin ankles than was +desirable; but the climax was not reached until a young man, whose +unsteady legs forbade him this part of the fun, established himself in a +safe corner, and commenced to push the people over as they passed him. +This was the signal for the flight of the chaperons. + +'Now come along, Miss Barton,' cried Mrs. Barton, catching sight of +Alice; 'and will you, Lord Dungory, look after Olive?' + +Lord Rosshill collected the five Honourable Miss Gores, the Miss +Brennans drew around Mrs. Scully, who, without taking the least notice +of them, steered her way. + +And so ended, at least so far as they were concerned, the ball given +by the spinsters of the county of Galway. But the real end? On this +subject much curiosity was evinced. + +The secret was kept for a time, but eventually the story leaked out +that, overcome by the recollections of still pleasanter evenings spent +under the hospitable roof of the Mayo bachelor, Mr. Ryan, Mr. Lynch and +Sir Charles had brought in the maid-servants, and that, with jigs for +waltzes, and whiskey for champagne, the gaiety had not been allowed to +die until the day was well begun. Bit by bit and fragment by fragment +the story was pieced together, and, in the secrecy of their bedrooms, +with little smothered fits of laughter, the young ladies told each other +how Sir Charles had danced with the big housemaid, how every time he did +the cross-over he had slapped her on the belly; and then, with more +laughter, they related how she had said: 'Now don't, Sir Charles, I +forbid you to take such liberties.' And it also became part of the story +that, when they were tired of even such pleasures as these, the +gentlemen had gone upstairs to where the poor man with the broken leg +was lying, and had, with whiskey and song, relieved his sufferings until +the Galway train rolled into Ballinasloe. + + + + +XI + + +'Goodness me! Alice; how can you remain up here all alone, and by that +smouldering fire? Why don't you come downstairs? Papa says he is quite +satisfied with the first part of the tune, but the second won't come +right; and, as mamma had a lot to say to Lord Dungory, I and Captain +Hibbert sat out in the passage together. He told me he liked the way I +arrange my hair. Do tell me, dear, if you think it suits me?' + +'Very well, indeed; but what else did Captain Hibbert say to you?' + +'Well, I'll tell you something,' replied Olive, suddenly turning from +the glass. 'But first promise not to tell anyone. I don't know what I +should do if you did. You promise?' + +'Yes, I promise.' + +'If you look as serious as that I shall never be able to tell you. It is +very wicked, I know, but I couldn't help myself. He put his arm round my +waist and kissed me. Now don't scold, I won't be scolded,' the girl +said, as she watched the cloud gathering on her sister's face. 'Oh! you +don't know how angry I was. I cried, I assure you I did, and I told him +he had disgraced me. I couldn't say more than that, could I, now? and he +promised never to do it again. It was the first time a man ever kissed +me--I was awfully ashamed. No one ever attempted to kiss you, I suppose; +nor can I fancy their trying, for your cross face would soon frighten +them; but I can't look serious.' + +'And did he ask you to marry him?' + +'Oh! of course, but I haven't told mamma, for she is always talking to +me about Lord Kilcarney--the little marquis, as she calls him; but I +couldn't have him. Just fancy giving up dear Edward! I assure you I +believe he would kill himself if I did. He has often told me I am the +only thing worth living for.' + +Alice looked at her beautiful sister questioningly, her good sense +telling her that, if Olive was not intended for him, it was wrong to +allow her to continue her flirtation. But for the moment the +consideration of her own misfortunes absorbed her. Was there nothing in +life for a girl but marriage, and was marriage no more than a sensual +gratification; did a man seek nothing but a beautiful body that he could +kiss and enjoy? Did a man's desires never turn to mating with one who +could sympathize with his hopes, comfort him in his fears, and united by +that most profound and penetrating of all unions--that of the soul--be +collaborator in life's work? 'Could no man love as she did?' She was +ready to allow that marriage owned a material as well as a spiritual +aspect, and that neither could be overlooked. Some, therefore, though +their souls were as beautiful as the day, were, from purely physical +causes, incapacitated from entering into the marriage state. Cecilia was +such a one. + +'Now what are you thinking about, Alice?' + +'I do not know, nothing in particular; one doesn't know always of what +one is thinking! Tell me what they are saying downstairs.' + +'But I have told you; that Captain Hibbert preferred my hair like this, +and I asked you if you thought he was right, but you hardly looked.' + +'Yes, I did, Olive; I think the fashion suits you.' + +'You won't tell anybody that I told you he kissed me? Oh, I had +forgotten about Lord Rosshill; he has been fired at. Lord Dungory +returned from Dublin, and he brought the evening paper with him. It is +full of bad news.' + +'What news?' Alice asked, with a view to escaping from wearying +questions; and Olive told her a bailiff's house had been broken into by +an armed gang. 'They dragged him out of his bed and shot him in the legs +before his own door. And an attempt has been made to blow up a +landlord's house with dynamite. And in Queen's County shots have been +fired through a dining-room window--now, what else? I am telling you a +lot; I don't often remember what is in the paper. No end of hayricks +were burnt last week, and some cattle have had their tails cut off, and +a great many people have been beaten. Lord Dungory says he doesn't know +how it will all end unless the Government bring in a Coercion Act. What +do you think, Alice?' + +Alice dropped some formal remarks, and Olive hoped that the state of the +country would not affect the Castle's season. She didn't know which of +the St. Leonard girls would be married first. She asked Alice to guess. +Alice said she couldn't guess, and fell to thinking that nobody would +ever want to marry her. It was as if some instinct had told her, and she +could not drive the word 'celibacy' out of her ears. It seemed to her +that she was _fichue a jamais_, as that odious Lord Dungory would say. +She did not remember that she had ever been so unhappy before, and it +seemed to her that she would always be unhappy, _fichue a jamais_. + +But to her surprise she awoke in a more cheerful mood, and when she came +down to breakfast Mr. Barton raised his head from the newspaper and +asked her if she had heard that Lord Rosshill had been fired at. + +'Yes, father. Olive told me so overnight;' and the conversation turned +on her headache, and then on the state of Ireland. + +Mrs. Barton asked if this last outrage would prove sufficient to force +the Government to pass a new Coercion Bill. + +'I wish they would put me at the head of an army,' Mr. Barton said, +whose thoughts had gone back to his picture--_Julius Caesar overturning +the Altars of the Druids_. + +'Papa would look fine leading the landlords against the tenants dressed +in Julius Caesar's big red cloak!' cried Mrs. Barton, turning back as +she glided out of the room, already deep in consideration of what Milord +would like to eat for luncheon and the gown she would wear that +afternoon. Mr. Barton threw the newspaper aside and returned to his +studio; and in the girls' room Olive and Barnes, the bland, soft smiling +maid, began their morning gossip. Whatever subject was started it +generally wound round to Captain Hibbert. Alice had wearied of his name, +but this morning she pricked up her ears. She was surprised to hear her +sister say she had forbidden him ever to visit the Lawlers. At that +moment the dull sound of distant firing broke the stillness of the snow. + +'I took good care to make Captain Hibbert promise not to go to this +shooting-party the last time I saw him.' + +'And what harm was there in his going to this shooting-party?' said +Alice. + +'What harm? I suppose, miss, you have heard what kind of woman Mrs. +Lawler is? Ask Barnes,' + +'You shouldn't talk in this way, Olive. We know well enough that Mrs. +Lawler was not a lady before she married; but nothing can be said +against her since.' + +'Oh! can't there, indeed? You never heard the story about her and her +steward? Ask Barnes.' + +'Oh! don't miss; you shouldn't really!' said the maid. 'What will Miss +Alice think?' + +'Never mind what she thinks; you tell her about the steward and all the +officers from Gort.' + +And then Mrs. Lawler's flirtations were talked of until the bell rang +for lunch. Milord and Mrs. Barton had just passed into the dining-room, +and Alice noticed that his eyes often wandered in the direction of the +policemen walking up and down the terrace. He returned more frequently +than was necessary to the attempt made on Lord Rosshill's life, and it +was a long time before Mrs. Barton could persuade him to drop a French +epigram. At last, in answer to her allusions to knights of old and _la +galanterie_, the old lord could only say: '_L'amour est comme +l'hirondelle; quand l'heure sonne, en depit du danger, tous les deux +partent pour les rivages celestes._' A pretty conceit; but Milord was +not _en veine_ that morning. The Land League had thrown its shadow over +him, and it mattered little how joyously a conversation might begin, too +soon a reference was made to Griffith's valuation, or the possibility of +a new Coercion Act. + +In the course of the afternoon, however, much to the astonishment of +Milord and Mrs. Barton in the drawing-room and the young ladies who were +sitting upstairs doing a little needlework, a large family carriage, +hung with grey trappings and drawn by two powerful bay horses, drove up +to the hall-door. + +A gorgeous footman opened the door, and, with a momentary display of +exquisite ankle, a slim young girl stepped out. + +'I wonder,' said Mrs. Barton, 'that Mrs. Scully condescends to come out +with anything less than four horses and outriders.' + +'_Elle veut acheter la distinction comme elle vendait du jambon--a +faux poids_,' said Lord Dungory. + +'Yes, indeed; and to think that the woman we now receive as an equal +once sold bacon and eggs behind a counter in Galway!' + +'No, it was not she; it was her mother.' + +'Well, she was hanging on to her mother's apron-strings at the time. You +may depend upon it, this visit is not for nothing; something's in the +wind.' + +A moment after, looking more large and stately than ever, Mrs. Scully +sailed into the room. Mrs. Barton was delighted to see her. It was so +good of her to come, and in such weather as this; and, after having +refused lunch and referred to the snow and the horses' feet, Mrs. Scully +consented to lay aside her muff and boa. The young ladies withdrew, when +the conversation turned on the state of the county and Lord Rosshill's +fortunate escape. As they ascended the stairs they stopped to listen to +Mr. Barton, who was singing _A che la morte_. + +'The Land League doesn't seem to affect Mr. Barton's spirits,' said +Violet. 'What a beautiful voice he has!' + +'Yes, and nobody designs pictures like papa; but he wouldn't study when +he was young, and he says he hasn't time now on account of--' + +'Now, Alice, for goodness' sake don't begin. I am sick of that Land +League. From morning till night it is nothing but coercion and +Griffith's valuation.' + +Violet and Alice laughed at Olive's petulance, and, opening a door, the +latter said: + +'This is our room, and it is the only one in the house where tenants, +land, and rent are never spoken of.' + +'That's something to know,' said Violet. 'I agree with Olive. If things +are bad, talking of them won't make them any better.' + +Barnes rose from her seat. + +'Now don't go, Barnes. Violet, this is Barnes, our maid.' + +There was about Barnes a false air of homeliness; but in a few moments +it became apparent that her life had been spent amid muslins, +confidences, and illicit conversations. Now, with motherly care she +removed a tulle skirt from the table, and Violet, with quick, nervous +glances, examined the room. In the middle of the floor stood the large +work-table, covered with a red cloth. There was a stand with shelves, +filled on one side with railway novels, on the other with worsted work, +cardboard-boxes, and rags of all kinds. A canary-cage stood on the top, +and the conversation was frequently interrupted by the piercing trilling +of the little yellow bird. + +'You're very comfortable. I should like to come and work here with you. +I am sick of Fred's perpetual talk about horses; and if he isn't talking +of them his conversation is so improper that I can't listen to it.' + +'Why, what does he say?' said Olive, glancing at Barnes, who smiled +benignly in the background. + +'Oh, I couldn't repeat what he says! it's too dreadful. I have to fly +from him. But he's always at the Goulds' now; he and May are having a +great "case".' + +'Oh yes, I know!' said Olive; 'they never left each other at our ball. +Don't you remember?' + +'Of course I do. And what a jolly ball that was! I never amused myself +so much in my life. If the balls at the Castle are as good, they will +do. But wasn't it sad, you know, about poor Lord Kilcarney receiving the +news of his brother's murder just at that moment? I can see him now, +rushing out of the room.' + +Violet's manner did not betoken in the least that she thought it sad, +and after a pause she said: + +'But you haven't shown me your dresses. I loved the one you wore at the +ball.' + +'Yes, yes: I must show you my cream-coloured dinner-dress, and my ruby +dress, too. You haven't seen that either,' cried Olive. 'Come along, +Barnes, come along.' + +'But I see you use your bedroom, too, as a sitting-room?' she said, as +she glanced at the illustrations in a volume of Dickens and threw down a +volume of Shelley's poetry. + +'Oh, that's this lady, here!' cried Olive. 'She says she cannot read in +our room on account of my chattering, so she comes in here to continue +her schooling. I should've thought that she had had enough of it; and +she makes the place in such a mess with bits of paper. Barnes is always +tidying up after her.' + +Alice laughed constrainedly, and taking the cream-coloured dress out of +the maid's hands, Olive explained why it suited her. Violet had much to +say concerning the pink trimming, and the maid referred to her late +mistress's wardrobes. The ruby dress, however, drew forth many little +cries of admiration. Then an argument was started concerning the colour +of hair, and, before the glass with hairpins and lithe movements of the +back and loins, the girls explained their favourite coiffures. + +'But, Alice, you haven't opened your lips, and you haven't shown me your +dresses.' + +'Barnes will show you my dinner-frocks, but I don't think as much about +what I wear as Olive does.' + +Violet quickly understood, but, with clever dissimulation, she examined +and praised the black silk trimmed with red ribbons. 'She's angry +because we didn't look at her dresses first,' Olive interjected; and +Violet came to Alice's rescue with a question: 'Had they heard lately of +Lord Kilcarney?' Olive protested that she would sooner die than accept +such a little red-haired thing as that for a husband, and Violet laughed +delightedly. + +'Anyway, you haven't those faults to find with a certain officer, now +stationed at Gort, who, if report speaks truly, is constantly seen +riding towards Brookfield.' + +'Well, what harm is there in that?' said Olive, for she did not feel +quite sure in her mind if she should resent or accept the gracious +insinuation. + +'None whatever; I only wish such luck were mine. What with the weather, +and papa's difficulties with his herdsmen and his tenants, we haven't +seen a soul for the last month. I wish a handsome young officer would +come galloping up our avenue some day.' + +Deceived, Olive abandoned herself to the plausive charm of Violet's +manner, and at different times she spoke of her flirtation, and told +many little incidents concerning it--what he had said to her, how she +had answered him, and how, the last time they had met, he had expressed +his sorrow at being unable to call to see her until the end of the week. + +'He is shooting to-day at the Lawlers',' said Violet. + +'That I'm sure he's not,' said Olive, with a triumphant toss of her fair +head; 'for I forbade him to go there.' + +Violet smiled, and Olive insisted on an explanation being given. + +'Well,' exclaimed the girl, more bluntly than she had yet spoken, +'because as we were coming here we saw him walking along one of the +covers. There were a lot of gentlemen, and, just fancy, that dreadful +woman, Mrs. Lawler, was with them, marching along, just like a man, and +a gun under her arm.' + +'I don't believe you; you only say that to annoy me,' cried Olive, +trembling with passion. + +'I am not in the habit of telling lies, and don't know why you should +think I care to annoy you,' Violet replied, a little too definitely; +and, unable to control her feelings any longer, Olive walked out of the +room. Barnes folded up and put away the dresses, and Alice sought for +words that would attenuate the unpleasantness of the scene. But Violet +was the quicker with her tongue, and she poured out her excuses. 'I am +so sorry,' she said, 'but how could I know that she objected to Captain +Hibbert's shooting at the Lawlers', or that he had promised her not to +go there? I am very sorry, indeed.' + +'Oh I it doesn't matter,' said Alice hesitatingly. 'You know how +excitable Olive is. I don't think she cares more about Captain Hibbert +than anyone else; she was only a little piqued, you know--the surprise, +and she particularly dislikes the Lawlers. Of course, it is very +unpleasant for us to live so near without being able to visit them.' + +'Yes, I understand. I am very sorry. Do you know where she is gone? I +shouldn't like to go away without seeing her.' + +'I am afraid she has shut herself up in her room. Next time you meet, +she'll have forgotten all about it.' + +Elated, but at the same time a little vexed, Violet followed Alice down +to the drawing-room. + +'My dear child, what a time you have been! I thought you were never +coming downstairs again,' said Mrs. Scully. 'Now, my dear Mrs. Barton, +we really must. We shall meet again, if not before, at the Castle.' + +Then stout mother and thin daughter took their leave; but the large +carriage, with its sumptuous grey trappings, had not reached the crest +of the hill when, swiftly unlocking her door, Olive rushed to Barnes for +sympathy. + +'Oh the spiteful little cat!' she exclaimed. 'I know why she said that; +she's jealous of me. You heard her say she hadn't a lover. I don't +believe she saw Edward at all, but she wanted to annoy me. Don't you +think so, Barnes?' + +'I'm sure she wanted to annoy you, miss. I could see it in her eyes. She +has dreadful eyes--those cold, grey, glittering things. I could never +trust them. And she hasn't a bit on her bones. I don't know if you +noticed, miss, that when you were counting your petticoats she was +ashamed of her legs? There isn't a bit on them; and I saw her look at +yours, miss.' + +'Did you really? She's like a rail; and as spiteful as she's lean. At +school nothing made her so angry as when anyone else was praised; and +you may be sure that jealousy brought her here. She heard how Captain +Hibbert admired me, and so came on purpose to annoy me.' + +'You may be sure it was that, miss,' said Barnes, as she bustled about, +shutting and opening a variety of cardboard boxes. + +For a moment the quarrel looked as if it were going to end here; but in +Olive's brain thoughts leaped as quickly back as forward, and she +startled Barnes by declaring wildly that, if Edward had broken his +promise to her, she would never speak to him again. + +'I don't believe that Violet would have dared to say that she saw him if +it weren't true.' + +'Well, miss, a shooting-party's but a shooting-party, and there was a +temptation, you know. A gentleman who is fond of sport--' + +'Yes; but it isn't for the shooting he is gone. 'Tis for Mrs. Lawler. I +know it is.' + +'Not it, miss. Always admitting that he is there, how could he think of +Mrs. Lawler when he's always thinking of you? And, besides, out in the +snow, too. Now, I wouldn't say anything if the weather was fine--like we +had last June--and they giving each other meetings out in the park--' + +'But what did you tell me about the steward, and how Mrs. Lawler fell in +love with all the young men who come to her house? And what did the +housemaid tell you of the walking about the passages at night and into +each other's rooms? Oh, I must know if he's there!' + +'I'll find out in the morning, miss. The coachman is sure to know who +was at the shooting-party.' + +'In the morning! It will be too late then! I must know this evening!' +exclaimed Olive, as she walked about the room, her light brain now flown +with jealousy and suspicion. 'I'll write him a letter,' she said +suddenly, 'and you must get someone to take it over.' + +'But there's nobody about. Why, it is nearly seven o'clock,' said +Barnes, who had begun to realize the disagreeableness and danger of the +adventure she was being rapidly drawn into. + +'If you can't, I shall go myself,' cried Olive, as she seized some paper +and a pencil belonging to Alice, and sat down to write a note: + + +'DEAR CAPTAIN HIBBERT, +'If you have broken your promise to me about not going to the Lawlers' +I shall never be able to forgive you!' (Then, as through her perturbed +mind the thought gleamed that this was perhaps a little definite, she +added): 'Anyhow, I wish to see you. Come at once, and explain that what +I have heard about you is not true. I cannot believe it. + 'Yours ever and anxiously, + 'OLIVE BARTON.' + + +'Now somebody must take this over at once to the Lawlers.' + +'But, miss, really at this hour of night, too, I don't know of anyone to +send! Just think, miss, what would your ma say?' + +'I don't care what mamma says. It would kill me to wait till morning! +Somebody must go. Why can't you go yourself? It isn't more than half a +mile across the fields. You won't refuse me, will you? Put on your hat, +and go at once.' + +'And what will the Lawlers say when they hear of it, miss? and I am sure +that if Mrs. Barton ever hears of it she will--' + +'No, no, she won't! for I could not do without you, Barnes. You have +only to ask if Captain Hibbert is there, and, if he is there, send the +letter up, and wait for an answer. Now, there's a dear! now do go at +once. If you don't, I shall go mad! Now, say you will go, or give me the +letter. Yes, give it to me, and I'll go myself. Yes, I prefer to go +myself.' + + + + +XII + + +The result of this missive was that next morning the servants whispered +that someone had been about the house on the preceding evening. Olive +and Barnes sat talking for hours; and one day, unable to keep her +counsel any longer, Olive told her sister what had happened. The letter +that Barnes had taken across the field for her had, she declared, +frightened Edward out of his senses; he had come rushing through the +snow, and had spoken with her for full five minutes under her window. He +loved her to distraction; and the next day she had received a long +letter, full of references to his colonel, explaining how entirely +against his will and desire he had been forced to accept the invitation +to go and shoot at the Lawlers'. Alice listened quietly; as if she +doubted whether Captain Hibbert would have died of consumption or +heartache if Olive had acted otherwise, and then advised her sister +quietly; and, convinced that her duty was to tell her mother everything, +she waited for an occasion to speak. Mr. Barton was passing down the +passage to his studio, Olive was racing upstairs to Barnes, Mrs. Barton +had her hand on the drawing-room door; and she looked round surprised +when she saw that her daughter was following her. + +'I want to speak to you, mamma.' + +'Come in, dear.' + +Alice shut the door behind her. + +'How bare and untidy the room looks at this season of the year; really +you and Olive ought to go into the conservatory and see if you can't get +some geraniums.' + +'Yes, mamma, I will presently; but it was about Olive that I wanted to +speak,' said Alice, in a strained and anxious way. + +'What a bore that girl is with her serious face,' thought Mrs. Barton; +but she laughed coaxingly, and said: + +'And what has my grave-faced daughter to say--the learned keeper of the +family's wisdom?' + +Even more than Olive's--for they were less sincere--Mrs. Barton's +trivialities jarred, and Alice's ideas had already begun to slip from +her, and feeling keenly the inadequacy of her words, she said: + +'Well, mamma, I wanted to ask you if Olive is going to marry Captain +Hibbert?' + +It was now for Mrs. Barton to look embarrassed. + +'Well, really, I don't know; nothing is arranged--I never thought about +the matter. What could have made you think she was going to marry +Captain Hibbert? In my opinion they aren't at all suited to each other. +Why do you ask me?' + +'Because I have heard you speak of Lord Kilcarney as a man you would +like Olive to marry, and, if this be so, I thought I had better tell you +about Captain Hibbert. I think she is very much in love with him.' + +'Oh! nonsense; it is only to kill time. A girl must amuse herself +somehow.' + +It was on Alice's lips to ask her mother if she thought such conduct +quite right, but, checking herself, she said: + +'I am afraid people are talking about it, and that surely is not +desirable.' + +'But why do you come telling me these stories?' she said. + +'Why, mamma, because I thought it right to do so.' + +The word 'right' was unpleasant; but, recovering her temper, which for +years before had never failed her, Mrs. Barton returned to her sweet +little flattering manners. + +'Of course, of course, my dear girl; but you do not understand me. What +I mean to say is, Have you any definite reason for supposing that Olive +is in love with Captain Hibbert, and that people are talking about it?' + +'I think so, mamma,' said the girl, deceived by this expression of +goodwill. 'You remember when the Scullys came here? Well, Violet was up +in our room, and we were showing her our dresses; the conversation +somehow turned on Captain Hibbert, and when Violet said that she had +seen him that day, as they came along in the carriage, shooting with the +Lawlers, Olive burst out crying and rushed out of the room. It was very +awkward. Violet said she was very sorry and all that, but--' + +'Yes, yes, dear; but why was Olive angry at hearing that Captain Hibbert +went out shooting with the Lawlers?' + +'Because, it appears, she had previously forbidden him to go there, you +know, on account of Mrs. Lawler.' + +'And what happened then?' + +'Well, that's the worst of it. I don't mean to say it was all Olive's +fault; I think she must have lost her head a little, for she sent Barnes +over that evening to the Lawlers' with a note, telling Captain Hibbert +that he must come at once and explain. It was eleven o'clock at night, +and they had a long talk through the window.' + +Mrs. Barton did not speak for some moments. The peat-fire was falling +into masses of white ash, and she thought vaguely of putting on some +more turf; then her attention was caught by the withering ferns in the +flower-glasses, then by the soaking pasture-lands, then by the spiky +branches of the chestnut-trees swinging against the grey, dead sky. + +'But tell me, Alice,' she said at last, 'for of course it is important +that I should know--do you think that Olive is really in love with +Captain Hibbert?' + +'She told me, as we were going to bed the other night, mamma, that she +never could care for anyone else; and--and' + +'And what, dear?' + +'I don't like to betray my sister's confidence,' Alice answered, 'but +I'm sure I had better tell you all: she told me that he had kissed her +many times, and no later than yesterday, in the conservatory.' + +'Indeed! you did very well to let me know of this,' said Mrs. Barton, +becoming as earnestly inclined as her daughter Alice. 'I am sorry that +Olive was so foolish; I must speak to her about it. This must not occur +again. I think that if you were to tell her to come down here--' + +'Oh no, mamma; Olive would know at once that I had been speaking about +her affairs; you must promise me to make only an indirect use of what I +have told you.' + +'Of course--of course, my dear Alice; no one shall ever know what has +passed between us. You can depend upon me. I will not speak to Olive +till I get a favourable opportunity. And now I have to go and see after +the servants. Are you going upstairs?' + +On Alice, tense with the importance of the explanation, this dismissal +fell not a little chillingly; but she was glad that she had been able to +induce her mother to consider the matter seriously. + +A few minutes passed dreamily, almost unconsciously; Mrs. Barton threw +two sods of turf on the fire, and resumed her thinking. Her first +feeling of resentment against her eldest daughter had vanished; and she +now thought solely of the difficulty she was in, and how she could best +extricate herself from it. 'So Olive was foolish enough to allow Captain +Hibbert to kiss her in the conservatory!' Mrs. Barton murmured to +herself. The morality of the question interested her profoundly. She had +never allowed anyone to kiss her before she was married; and she was +full of pity and presentiment for the future of a young girl who could +thus compromise herself. But in Olive's love for Captain Hibbert Mrs. +Barton was concerned only so far as it affected the labour and time that +would have to be expended in persuading her to cease to care for him. +That this was the right thing to do Mrs. Barton did not for a moment +doubt. Her daughter was a beautiful girl, would probably be the belle of +the season; therefore to allow her, at nineteen, to marry a +thousand-a-year captain would be, Mrs. Barton thought, to prove herself +incapable, if not criminal, in the performance of the most important +duty of her life. Mrs. Barton trembled when she thought of the sending +of the letter: if the story were to get wind in Dublin, it might wreck +her hopes of the marquis. Therefore, to tell Barnes to leave the house +would be fatal. Things must be managed gently, very gently. Olive must +be talked to, how far her heart was engaged in the matter must be found +out, and she must be made to see the folly, the madness of risking her +chance of winning a coronet for the sake of a beggarly thousand-a-year +captain. And, good heavens! the chaperons: what would they say of her, +Mrs. Barton, were such a thing to occur? Mrs. Barton turned from the +thought in horror; and then, out of the soul of the old coquette arose, +full-fledged, the chaperon, the satellite whose light and glory is +dependent on that of the fixed star around which she revolves. + +At this moment Olive, her hands filled with ferns, bounced into the +room. + +'Oh! here you are, mamma! Alice told me you wanted a few ferns and +flowers to brighten up the room.' + +'I hope you haven't got your feet wet, my dear; if you have, you had +better go up at once and change.' + +Olive was now more than ever like her father. Her shoulders had grown +wider, and the blonde head and scarlet lips had gained a summer +brilliance and beauty. + +'No, I am not wet,' she said, looking down at her boots; 'it isn't +raining; but if it were Alice would send me out all the same.' + +'Where is she now?' + +'Up in her room reading, I suppose; she never stirs out of it. I thought +when we came home from school the last time that we would be better +friends; but, do you know what I think: Alice is a bit sulky. What do +you think, mamma?' + +To talk of Alice, to suggest that she was a little jealous, to explain +the difficulty of the position she occupied, to commiserate and lavish +much pity upon her was, no doubt, a fascinating subject of conversation, +it had burned in the brains of mother and daughter for many months; but, +too wise to compromise herself with her children, Mrs. Barton resisted +the temptation to gratify a vindictiveness that rankled in her heart. +She said: + +'Alice has not yet found her _beau cavalier_; we shall see when we are +at the Castle if she will remain faithful to her books. I am afraid that +Miss Alice will then prefer some gay, dashing young officer to her +_Marmion_ and her _Lara_.' + +'I should think so, indeed. She says that the only man she cares to +speak to in the county is Dr. Reed, that little frumpy fellow with his +medicines. I can't understand her. I couldn't care for anyone but an +officer.' + +This was the chance Mrs. Barton required, and she instantly availed +herself of it. 'The red-coat fever!' she exclaimed, waving her hands. +'There is no one like officers _pour faire passer le temps_' + +'Yes, ma!' cried Olive, proud of having understood so much French; +'doesn't time pass quickly with them?' + +'It flies, my dear, and they fly away, and then we take up with another. +They are all nice; their profession makes them that.' + +'But some are nicer than others; for instance, I am sure they are not +all as handsome as Captain Hibbert.' + +'Oh! indeed they are,' said Mrs. Barton, laughing; 'wait until we get to +Dublin; you have no idea what charming men we shall meet there. We shall +find a lord or an earl, or perhaps a marquis, who will give a coroneted +carriage to my beautiful girl to drive in.' + +Olive tossed her head, and her mother looked at her admiringly, and +there was love in the sweet brown deceit of the melting eyes; a hard, +worldly affection, but a much warmer one than any Mrs. Barton could feel +for Alice, in whom she saw nothing but failure, and in the end spiritual +spinsterhood. After a pause she said: + +'What a splendid match Lord Kilcarney would be, and where would he find +a girl like my Olive to do the honours of his house?' + +'Oh! mamma, I never could marry him!' + +'And why not, my dear girl?' + +'I don't know, he's a silly little fool; besides, I like Captain +Hibbert.' + +'Yes, you like Captain Hibbert, so do I; but a girl like you could not +throw herself away on a thousand-a-year captain in the army.' + +'And why not, mamma?' said Olive, who had already begun to whimper; +'Captain Hibbert loves me, I know, very dearly, and I like him; he is of +very good family, and he has enough to support me.' + +The moment was a supreme one, and Mrs. Barton hesitated to strike and +bring the matter to a head. Would it be better, she asked herself, to +let things go by and use her influence for the future in one direction? +After a brief pause she decided on the former course. She said: + +'My dear child, neither your father nor myself could ever consent to see +you throw yourself away on Captain Hibbert. I am afraid you have seen +too much of him, and have been led away into caring for him. But take my +word for it, a girl's love is only _a fleur de peau_. When you have been +to a few of the Castle balls you'll soon forget all about him. Remember, +you are not twenty yet; it would be madness.' + +'Oh! mamma, I didn't think you were so cruel!' exclaimed Olive, and she +rushed out of the room. + +Mrs. Barton made no reply, but her resolve was rapidly gaining strength +in her mind: Olive's flirtation was to be brought at once to a close. +Captain Hibbert she would admit no more, and the girl was in turn to be +wheedled and coerced. + +Nor did Mrs. Barton for a moment doubt that she would succeed; she had +never tasted failure; and she stayed only a moment to regret, for she +was too much a woman of the world to waste time in considering her +mistakes. The needs of the moment were ever present to her, and she now +devoted herself entirely to the task of consoling her daughter. Barnes, +too, was well instructed, and henceforth she spoke only of the earls, +dukes, lords, and princes who were waiting for Olive at the Castle. + +In the afternoon Mrs. Barton called Olive into the drawing-room, where +woman was represented as a triumphant creature walking over the heads +and hearts of men. '_Le genie de la femme est la beaute_,' declared +Milord, and again: '_Le coeur de l'homme ne peut servir que de piedestal +pour l'idole.'_ + +'Oh! Milord, Milord!' said Mrs. Barton. 'So in worshipping us you are +idolaters. I'm ashamed of you.' + +'Pardon, pardon, madame: _Devant un amour faux on est idolatre, mais a +l'autel d'un vrai, on est chretien_.' + +And in such lugubrious gaiety the girl grieved. Captain Hibbert had been +refused admission; he had written, but his letters had been intercepted; +and holding them in her hand Mrs. Barton explained she could not consent +to such a marriage, and continued to dazzle the girl with visions of the +honours that awaited the future Marchioness of Kilcarney. 'An engaged +girl is not noticed at the Castle. You don't know what nice men you'll +meet there; have your fun out first,' were the arguments most frequently +put forward; and, in the excitement of breaking off Olive's engagement, +even the Land League was forgotten. Olive hesitated, but at length +allowed herself to be persuaded to at least try to captivate the marquis +before she honoured the captain with her hand. No sooner said than done. +Mrs. Barton lost not a moment in writing to Captain Hibbert, asking him +to come and see them the following day, if possible, between eleven and +twelve. She wanted to speak to him on a matter which had lately come to +her knowledge, and which had occasioned her a good deal of surprise. + + + + +XIII + + +Mr. Barton could think of nothing but the muscles of the strained back +of a dying Briton and a Roman soldier who cut the cords that bound the +white captive to the sacrificial oak; but it would be no use returning +to the studio until these infernal tenants were settled with, and he +loitered about the drawing-room windows looking pale, picturesque, and +lymphatic. His lack of interest in his property irritated Mrs. Barton. +'Darling, you must try to get them to take twenty per cent.' At times +she strove to prompt the arguments that should be used to induce the +tenants to accept the proffered abatement, but she could not detach her +thoughts from the terrible interview she was about to go through with +Captain Hibbert. She expected him to be violent; he would insist on +seeing Olive, and she watched wearily the rain dripping from the wooden +edges of the verandah. The last patches of snow melted, and at last a +car was seen approaching, closely followed by another bearing four +policemen. + +'Here's your agent,' exclaimed Mrs. Barton hurriedly. 'Don't bring him +in here; go out and meet him, and when you see Captain Hibbert welcome +him as cordially as you can. But don't speak to him of Olive, and don't +give him time to speak to you; say you are engaged. I don't want Mr. +Scully to know anything about this break-off. It is most unfortunate you +didn't tell me you were going to meet your tenants to-day. However, it +is too late now.' + +'Very well, my dear, very well,' said Mr. Barton, trying to find his +hat. 'I would, I assure you, give twenty pounds to be out of the whole +thing. I can't argue with those fellows about their rents. I think the +Government ought to let us fight it out. I should be very glad to take +the command of a flying column of landlords, and make a dash into +Connemara. I have always thought my military genius more allied to that +of Napoleon than to that of Wellington.' + +It was always difficult to say how far Mr. Barton believed in the +extravagant remarks he was in the habit of giving utterance to. He +seemed to be aware of their absurdity, without, however, relinquishing +all belief in their truth. And now, as he picked his way across the wet +stones, his pale hair blown about in the wind, he presented a strange +contrast with the short-set man who had just jumped down from the car, +his thick legs encased in gaiters, and a long ulster about them. + +'Howd' yer do, Barton?' he exclaimed. 'D'yer know that I think things +are gitting worse instid of bither. There's been another bailiff shot in +Mayo, and we've had a process-server nearly beaten to death down our +side of the counthry. Gad! I was out with the Sub-Sheriff and fifty +police thrying to serve notices on Lord Rosshill's estate, and we had to +come back as we wint. Such blawing of horns you niver heard in yer life. +The howle counthry was up, and they with a trench cut across the road as +wide as a canal.' + +'Well, what do you think we had better do with these fellows? Do you +think they will take the twenty per cent.?' + +''Tis impossible to say. Gad! the Lague is gittin' stronger ivery day, +Barton. But they ought to take it; twenty per cent. will bring it very +nearly to Griffith's.' + +'But if they don't take it?' + +'Well, I don't know what we will do, for notices it is impossible to +serve. Gad! I'll never forgit how we were pelted the other day--such +firing of stones, such blawing of horns! I think you'll have to give +them the thirty; but we'll thry them at twinty-foive.' + +'And if they won't take it--?' + +'What! the thirty? They'll take that and jumping, you needn't fear. Here +they come.' + +Turning, the two men watched the twenty or thirty peasants who, with +heads set against the gusts, advanced steadily up the avenue, making way +for a horseman; and from the drawing-room window Mrs. Barton recognized +the square-set shoulders of Captain Hibbert. After shaking hands and +speaking a few words with Mr. Barton, he trotted round to the stables; +and when he walked back and entered the house, in all the clean-cut +elegance of military boots and trousers, the peasants lifted their hats, +and the interview began. + +'Now, boys,' said Mr. Barton, who thought that a little familiarity +would not be inappropriate, 'I've asked you to meet me so that we might +come to some agreement about the rents. We've known each other a long +time, and my family has been on this estate I don't know for how many +generations. Therefore--why, of course, I should be very sorry if we had +any falling out. I don't know much about farming, but I hear everyone +say that this has been a capital year, and . . . I think I cannot do better +than to make you again the same offer as I made you before--that is to +say, of twenty per cent, abatement all round; that will bring your rents +down to Griffith's valuation.' + +Mr. Barton had intended to be very impressive, but, feeling that words +were betraying him, he stopped short, and waited anxiously to hear what +answer the peasant who had stepped forward would make. The old man began +by removing a battered tall-hat, out of which fell a red handkerchief. +The handkerchief was quickly thrown back into the crown, and, at an +intimation from Mr. Barton, hat and handkerchief were replaced upon the +white head. He then commenced: + +'Now, yer honour, the rints is too high; we cannot pay the present rint, +at least without a reduction. I have been a tinent on the property, and +my fathers before me, for the past fifty years. And it was in +forty-three that the rints was ruz--in the time of your father, the Lord +have mercy on his soul!--but he had an agent who was a hard man, and he +ruz the rints, and since then we have been in poverty, livin' on yaller +mail and praties, and praties that is watery; there is no diet in them, +yer honour. And if yer honour will come down and walk the lands yerself, +yer wi' see I am spaking the truth. We ask nothing better than yer should +walk the lands yerself. There is two acres of my land, yer honour, +flooded for three months of the year, and for that land I am paying +twenty-five shillings an acre. I have my receipts, paid down to the last +gale-day.' + +And, still speaking, the old man fumbled in his pockets and produced a +large pile of papers, which he strove to push into Mr. Barton's hand, +alluding all the while to the losses he had sustained. Two pigs had died +on him, and he had lost a fine mare and foal. His loquacity was, +however, cut short by a sturdy, middle-aged peasant standing next him. + +'And I, too, yer honour, am payin' five-and-twenty shillin's for the +same flooded land. Yer honour can come down any day and see it. It is +not worth, to me, more than fifteen shillings an acre at the bare +outside. But it could be drained, for there is a fall into the marin +stream betwixt your honour's property and the Miss Brennans'. It +wouldn't cost more than forty pound, and the Miss Brennans will pay half +if yer honour will pay the other.' + +Mr. Barton listened patiently to those peasant-like digressions, while +Mrs. Barton listened patiently to the Captain's fervid declarations of +love. He had begun by telling her of the anguish it had caused him to +have been denied, and three times running, admittance to Brookfield. One +whole night he had lain awake wondering what he had done to offend them. +Mrs. Barton could imagine how he had suffered, for she, he ventured to +say, must have long since guessed what were his feelings for her +daughter. + +'We were very sorry to have been out, and it is so unusual that we +should be,' said Mrs. Barton, leaning forward her face insinuatingly. +'But you were speaking of Olive. We say here that there is no one like +_le beau capitaine_, no one so handsome, no one so nice, no one so +gallant, and--and--' here Mrs. Barton laughed merrily, for she thought +the bitterness of life might be so cunningly wrapped up in sweet +compliments that both could be taken together, like sugared-medicine--in +one child-like gulp. 'There is, of course, no one I should prefer to _le +beau capitaine_--there is no one to whom I would confide my Olive more +willingly; but, then, one must look to other things; one cannot live +entirely on love, even if it be the love of a _beau capitaine_.' + +Nevertheless, the man's face darkened. The eyebrows contracted, the +straight white nose seemed to grow straighter, and he twirled his +moustache angrily. + +'I am aware, my dear Mrs. Barton, that I cannot give your daughter the +position I should like to, but I am not as poor as you seem to imagine. +Independent of my pay I have a thousand a year; Miss Barton has, if I be +not mistaken, some money of her own; and, as I shall get my majority +within the next five years, I may say that we shall begin life upon +something more than fifteen hundred a year.' + +'It is true that I have led you to believe that Olive has money, but +Irish money can be no longer counted upon. Were Mr. Barton to create a +charge on his property, how would it be possible for him to guarantee +the payment of the interest in such times as the present? We are living +on the brink of a precipice. We do not know what is, and what is not, +our own. The Land League is ruining us, and the Government will not put +it down; this year the tenants may pay at twenty per cent. reduction, +but next year they may refuse to pay at all. Look out there: you see +they are making their own terms with Mr. Barton.' + +'I should be delighted to give you thirty per cent. if I could afford +it,' said Mr. Barton, as soon as the question of reduction, that had +been lost sight of in schemes for draining, and discussion concerning +bad seasons, had been re-established; 'but you must remember that I have +to pay charges, and my creditors won't wait any more than yours will. If +you refuse to pay your rents and I get sold out, you will have another +landlord here; you'll ruin me, but you won't do yourselves any good. You +will have some Englishman here who will make you pay your rents.' + +'An Englishman here!' exclaimed a peasant. 'Arrah! he'll go back quicker +than he came.' + +'Maybe he wouldn't go back at all,' cried another, chuckling. 'We'd make +an Oirishman of him for ever.' + +'Begad, we'd make him wear the grane in raal earnest, and, a foine scraw +it would be,' said a third. + +The witticism was greeted with a roar of laughter, and upon this +expression of a somewhat verdant patriotism the dispute concerning the +reduction was resumed. + +'Give us the land all round at the Government valuation,' said a man in +the middle of the group. + +'Why, you are only fifteen per cent. above the valuation,' cried Mr. +Scully. + +For a moment this seemed to create a difference of opinion among the +peasants; but the League had drawn them too firmly together to be thus +easily divided. They talked amongst themselves in Irish. Then the old +man said: + +'We can't take less than thirty, yer honour. The Lague wouldn't let us.' + +'I can't give you more than twenty.' + +'Thin let us come on home, thin; no use us wasting our toime here,' +cried a sturdy peasant, who, although he had spoken but seldom, seemed +to exercise an authority over the others. With one accord they followed +him; but, rushing forward, Mr. Scully seized him by the arm, saying: + +'Now then, boys, come back, come back; he'll settle with you right +enough if you'll listen to reason.' + +From the drawing-room window Mrs. Barton watched the conflict. On one +side she saw her daughter's beautiful white face becoming the prize of a +penniless officer; on the other she saw the pretty furniture, the +luxurious idleness, the very silk dress on her back, being torn from +them, and distributed among a crowd of Irish-speaking, pig-keeping +peasants. She could see that some new and important point was being +argued; and it was with a wrench she detached her thoughts from the +pantomime that was being enacted within her view, and, turning to +Captain Hibbert, said: + +'You see--you see what is happening. We are--that is to say, we may +be--ruined at any moment by this wicked agitation. As I have said +before, there is no one I should like so much as yourself; but, in the +face of such a future, how could I consent to give you my +daughter?--that is to say, I could not unless you could settle at least +a thousand a year upon her. She has been brought up in every luxury.' + +'That may be, Mrs. Barton. I hope to give her quite as comfortable a +home as any she has been accustomed to. But a thousand a year is +impossible. I haven't got it. But I can settle five hundred on her, and +there's many a peeress of the realm who hasn't that. Of course five +hundred a year is very little. No one feels it more than I. For had I +the riches of the world, I should not consider them sufficient to create +a place worthy of Olive's beauty. But love must be allowed to count for +something, and I think--yes, I can safely say--she will never find--' + +'Yes, I know--I am sure; but it cannot be.' + +'Then you mean to say that you will sacrifice your daughter's happiness +for the sake of a little wretched pride?' + +'Why press the matter further? Why cannot we remain friends?' + +'Friends! Yes, I hope we shall remain friends; but I will never consent +to give up Olive. She loves me. I know she does. My life is bound up in +hers. No, I'll never consent to give her up, and I know she won't give +me up.' + +'Olive has laughed and flirted with you, but it was only _pour passer le +temps_; and I may as well tell you that you are mistaken when you think +that she loves you.' + +'Olive does love me. I know she does; and I'll not believe she does +not--at least, until she tells me so. I consider I am engaged to her; +and I must beg of you, Mrs. Barton, to allow me to see her and hear from +her own lips what she has to say on this matter.' + +With the eyes of one about to tempt fortune adventurously, like one +about to play a bold card for a high stake, Mrs. Barton looked on the +tall, handsome man before her; and, impersonal as were her feelings, she +could not but admire, for the space of one swift thought, the pale +aristocratic face now alive with passion. Could she depend upon Olive to +say no to him? The impression of the moment was that no girl would. +Nevertheless, she must risk the interview, and gliding towards the door, +she called; and then, as a cloud that grows bright in the sudden +sunshine, the man's face glowed with delight at the name, and a moment +after, white and drooping like a cut flower, the girl entered. Captain +Hibbert made a movement as if he were going to rush forward to meet her. +She looked as if she would have opened her arms to receive him, but Mrs. +Barton's words fell between them like a sword. + +'Olive,' she said, 'I hear you are engaged to Captain Hibbert! Is it +true?' + +Startled in the drift of her emotions, and believing her confidence had +been betrayed, the girl's first impulse was to deny the impeachment. No +absolute promise of marriage had she given him, and she said: + +'No, mamma, I am not engaged. Did Edward--I mean Captain Hibbert--say I +was engaged to him? I am sure--' + +'Didn't you tell me, Olive, that you loved me better than anyone else? +Didn't you even say you could never love anyone else? If I had thought +that--' + +'I knew my daughter would not have engaged herself to you, Captain +Hibbert, without telling me of it. As I have told you before, we all +like you very much, but this marriage is impossible; and I will never +consent, at least for the present, to an engagement between you.' + +'Olive, have you nothing to say? I will not give you up unless you tell +me yourself that I must do so.' + +'Oh, mamma, what shall I do?' said Olive, bursting into a passionate +flood of tears. + +'Say what I told you to say,' whispered Mrs. Barton. + +'You see, Edward, that mamma won't consent, at least not for the +present, to our engagement.' + +This was enough for Mrs. Barton's purpose, and, soothing her daughter +with many words, she led her to the door. Then, confronting Captain +Hibbert, she said: + +'There is never any use in forcing on these violent scenes. As I have +told you, there is no one I should prefer to yourself. We always say +here that there is no one like _le beau capitaine_; but, in the face of +these bad times, how can I give you my daughter? And you soldiers forget +so quickly. In a year's time you'll have forgotten all about Olive.' + +'That isn't true; I shall never forget her. I cannot forget her; but I +will consent to wait if you will consent to our being engaged.' + +'No, Captain Hibbert, I think it is better not. I do not approve of +those long engagements.' + +'Then you'll forget what has passed between us, and let us be the same +friends as we were before?' + +'I hope we shall always remain friends; but I do not think, for my +daughter's peace of mind, it would be advisable for us to see as much of +each other as we have hitherto done. And I hope you will promise me not +to communicate with my Olive in any way.' + +'Why should I enter into promises with you, Mrs. Barton, when you +decline to enter into any with me?' + +Mrs. Barton did not look as if she intended to answer this question. The +conversation had fallen, and her thoughts had gone back to the tenants +and the reduction that Mr. Scully was now persuading them to accept. He +talked apart, first with one, then with another. His square bluff figure +in a long coarse ulster stood out in strong relief against the green +grass and the evergreens. + +'Thin it is decided yer pay at twinty-foive per cint.,' said Mr. Scully. + +'Then, Captain Hibbert,' said Mrs. Barton a little sternly, 'I am very +sorry indeed, that we can't agree; but, after what has passed between us +to-day, I do not think you will be justified in again trying to see my +daughter.' + +'Begad, sor, they were all aginst me for agraying to take the +twinty-foive,' whispered the well-to-do tenant who was talking to the +agent. + +'I fail to understand,' said Captain Hibbert haughtily, 'that Miss Barton +said anything that would lead me to suppose that she wished me to give +her up. However, I do not see that anything would be gained by +discussing this matter further. Good-morning, Mrs. Barton.' + +'Good-morning, Captain Hibbert;' and Mrs. Barton smiled winningly as she +rang the bell for the servant to show him out. When she returned to the +window the tenants were following Mr. Scully into the rent-office, and, +with a feeling of real satisfaction she murmured to herself: + +'Well, after all, nothing ever turns out as badly as we expect it.' + + + + +XIV + + +But, although Mrs. Barton had bidden the captain away, Olive's sorrowful +looks haunted the house. + +A white weary profile was seen on the staircase, a sigh was heard when +she left the room; and when, after hours of absence, she was sought for, +she was found lying at full length, crying upon her bed. + +'My dear, it distresses me to see you in this state. You really must get +up; I cannot allow it. There's nothing that spoils one's good looks like +unhappiness. Instead of being the belle of the season, you'll be a +complete wreck. I must insist on your getting up, and trying to interest +yourself in something.' + +'Oh! mamma, don't, don't! I wish I were dead; I am sick of everything!' + +'Sick of everything?' said Mrs. Barton, laughing. 'Why, my dear child, +you have tasted nothing yet. Wait until we get to the Castle; you'll see +what a lot of Captain Hibberts there will be after this pretty face; +that's to say if you don't spoil it in the meantime with fretting.' + +'But, mamma,' she said, 'how can I help thinking of him?--there's +nothing to do here, one never hears of anything but that horrid Land +League--whether the Government will or will not help the landlords, +whether Paddy So-and-so will or will not pay his rent. I am sick of it. +Milord comes to see you, and Alice likes reading-books, and papa has his +painting; but I have nothing since you sent Captain Hibbert away.' + +'Yes, yes, my beautiful Olive flower, it is a little dull for you at +present, and to think that this wicked agitation should have begun the +very season you were coming out! Who could have foreseen such a thing? +But come, my pet, I cannot allow you to ruin your beautiful complexion +with foolish tears; you must get up; unfortunately I can't have you in +the drawing-room, I have to talk business with Milord, but you can go +out for a walk with Alice--it isn't raining to-day.' + +'Oh! no; I couldn't go out to walk with Alice, it would bore me to +death. She never talks about anything that interests me.' + +Vanished the sweet pastel-like expression of Mrs. Barton's features, +lost in a foreseeing of the trouble this plain girl would be. Partners +would have to be found, and to have her dragging after her all through +the Castle season would be intolerable. And all these airs of virtue, +and injured innocence, how insupportable they were! Alice, as far as +Mrs. Barton could see, was fit for nothing. Even now, instead of helping +to console her sister, and win her thoughts away from Captain Hibbert, +she shut herself up to read books. Such a taste for reading and moping +she had never seen in a girl before--_voila un type de vieille fille_. +Whom did she take after? Certainly not after her mother, nor yet her +father. But what was the good of thinking of the tiresome girl? There +were plenty of other things far more important to consider, and the +first thing of all was--how to make Olive forget Captain Hibbert? On +this point Mrs. Barton was not quite satisfied with the manner in which +she had played her part. Olive's engagement had been broken off by too +violent means, and nothing was more against her nature than (to use her +own expression) _brusquer les choses_. Early in life Mrs. Barton +discovered that she could amuse men, and since then she had devoted +herself assiduously to the cultivation of this talent, and the divorce +between herself and her own sex was from the first complete. She not +only did not seek to please, but she made no attempt to conceal her +aversion from the society of women, and her preference for those forms +of entertainment where they were found in fewest numbers. Balls were, +therefore, never much to her taste; at the dinner-table she was freer, +but it was on the racecourse that she reigned supreme. From the box-seat +of a drag the white hands were waved, the cajoling laugh was set going; +and fashionably-dressed men, with race-glasses about their shoulders, +came crowding and climbing about her like bees about their queen. Mrs. +Barton had passed from flirtation to flirtation without a violent word. +With a wave of her hands she had called the man she wanted; with a wave +of her hands, and a tinkle of the bell-like laugh, she had dismissed +him. As nothing had cost her a sigh, nothing had been denied her. But +now all was going wrong. Olive was crying and losing her good looks. Mr. +Barton had received a threatening letter, and, in consequence, had for a +week past been unable to tune his guitar; poor Lord Dungory was being +bored to death by policemen and proselytizing daughters. Everything was +going wrong. This phrase recurred in Mrs. Barton's thoughts as she +reviewed the situation, her head leaned in the pose of the most +plaintive of the pastels that Lord Dungory had commissioned his +favourite artist to execute in imitation of the Lady Hamilton portraits. +And now, his finger on his lip, like harlequin glancing after columbine, +the old gentleman, who had entered on tiptoe, exclaimed: + + '"_Avez vous vu, dans Barcelone + Une Andalouse au sein bruni? + Pale comme un beau soir d' Automne; + C'est ma maitresse, ma lionne! + La Marquesa d' Amalequi_."' + +Instantly the silver laugh was set a-tinkling, and, with delightful +gestures, Milord was led captive to the sofa. + +'_C'est l'aurore qui vient pour dissiper les brumes du matin_,' Mrs. +Barton declared as she settled her skirts over her ankles. + + '"_Qu'elle est superbe en son desordre + Quand elle tombe. . . ."' + +'Hush, hush!' exclaimed Mrs. Barton, bursting with laughter; and, +placing her hand (which was instantly fervently kissed) upon Milord's +mouth, she said: 'I will hear no more of that wicked poetry.' + +'What! hear no more of the divine Alfred de Musset?' Milord answered, as +if a little discouraged. + +'Hush, hush!' + +Alice entered, having come from her room to fetch a book, but seeing the +couple on the sofa she tried to retreat, adding to her embarrassment and +to theirs by some ill-expressed excuses. + +'Don't run away like that,' said Mrs. Barton; 'don't behave like a +charity-school girl. Come in. I think you know Lord Dungory.' + +'Oh! this is the studious one,' said Milord, as he took Alice +affectionately with both hands, and drew her towards him. 'Now look at +this fair brow; I am sure there is poetry here. I was just speaking to +your mother about Alfred de Musset. He is not quite proper, it is true, +for you girls; but oh, what passion! He is the poet of passion. I +suppose you love Byron?' + +'Yes; but not so much as Shelley and Keats,' said Alice +enthusiastically, forgetting for the moment her aversion to the speaker +in the allusion to her favourite pursuit. + +'The study of Shelley is the fashion of the day. You know, I suppose, +the little piece entitled _Love's Philosophy_--"_The fountains mingle +with the river; the river with the ocean_." You know "_Nothing in the +world is single: all things, by a law divine, in one another's being +mingle. Why not I with thine?"'_ + +'Oh yes, and the _Sensitive Plant_. Is it not lovely?' + +'There is your book, my dear; you must run away now. I have to talk with +Milord about important business.' + +Milord looked disappointed at being thus interrupted in his quotations; +but he allowed himself to be led back to the sofa. 'I beg your pardon +for a moment,' said Mrs. Barton, whom a sudden thought had struck, and +she followed her daughter out of the room. + +'Instead of wasting your time reading all this love-poetry, Alice, it +would be much better if you would devote a little of your time to your +sister; she is left all alone, and you know I don't care that she should +be always in Barnes' society.' + +'But what am I to do, mamma? I have often asked Olive to come out with +me, but she says I don't amuse her.' + +'I want you to win her thoughts away from Captain Hibbert,' said Mrs. +Barton; 'she is grieving her heart out and will be a wreck before we go +to Dublin. Tell her you heard at Dungory Castle that he was flirting +with other girls, that he is not worth thinking about, and that the +Marquis is in love with her.' + +'But that would be scarcely the truth, mamma,' Alice replied +hesitatingly. + +Mrs. Barton gave her daughter one quick look, bit her lips, and, without +another word, returned to Milord. Everything was decidedly going wrong; +and to be annoyed by that gawk of a girl in a time like the present was +unbearable. But Mrs. Barton never allowed her temper to master her, and +in two minutes all memory of Alice had passed out of her mind, and she +was talking business with Lord Dungory. Many important questions had to +be decided. It was known that mortgages, jointures, legacies, and debts +of all kinds had reduced the Marquis's income to a minimum, and that he +stood in urgent need of a little ready money. It was known that his +relations looked to an heiress to rehabilitate the family fortune. Mrs. +Barton hoped to dazzle him with Olive's beauty, but it was +characteristic of her to wish to bait the hook on every side, and she +hoped that a little gilding of it would silence the chorus of scorn and +dissent that she knew would be raised against her when once her plans +became known. Four thousand pounds might be raised on the Brookfield +property, but, if this sum could be multiplied by five, Mrs. Barton felt +she would be going into the matrimonial market armed to the teeth, and +prepared to meet all comers. And, seeking the solution of this problem, +Milord and Mrs. Barton sat on the sofa, drawn up close together, their +knees touching; he, although gracious and urbane as was his wont, seemed +more than usually thoughtful. She, although as charmful and cajoling as +ever, in the pauses of the conversation allowed an expression of anxiety +to cloud her bright face. Fifteen thousand pounds requires a good deal +of accounting for, but, after many arguments had been advanced on either +side, it was decided that she had made, within the last seven years, +many successful investments. She had commenced by winning five hundred +pounds at racing, and this money had been put into Mexican railways. The +speculation had proved an excellent one, and then, with a few airy and +casual references to Hudson Bay, Grand Trunks, and shares in steamboats, +it was thought the creation of Olive's fortune could be satisfactorily +explained to a not too exacting society. + +Three or four days after, Mrs. Barton surprised the young ladies by +visiting them in the sitting-room. Barnes was working at the machine, +Olive stood drumming her fingers idly against the window-pane. + +'Just fancy seeing you, mamma! I was looking out for Milord; he is a +little late to-day, is he not?' said Olive. + +'I do not expect him to-day--he is suffering from a bad cold; this +weather is dreadfully trying. But how snug you are in your little room; +and Alice is absolutely doing needlework.' + +'I wonder what I am doing wrong now,' thought the girl. + +Barnes left the room. Mrs. Barton threw some turf upon the fire, and she +looked round. Her eyes rested on the cardboard boxes--on the bodice left +upon the work-table--on the book that Alice had laid aside, and she +spoke of these things, evidently striving to interest herself in the +girl's occupation. At length she said: + +'If the weather clears up I think we might all go for a drive; there is +really no danger. The Land League never has women fired at. We might go +and see the Brennans. What do you think, Olive?' + +'I don't care to go off there to see a pack of women,' the girl replied, +still drumming her fingers on the window-pane. + +'Now, Olive, don't answer so crossly, but come and sit down here by me;' +and, to make room for her, Mrs. Barton moved nearer to Alice. 'So my +beautiful Olive doesn't care for a pack of women,' said Mrs. +Barton--'Olive does not like a pack of women; she would prefer a +handsome young lord, or a duke, or an earl.' + +Olive turned up her lips contemptuously, for she guessed her mother's +meaning. + +'What curious lives those girls do lead, cooped up there by themselves, +with their little periodical trip up to the Shelbourne Hotel. Of course +the two young ones never could have done much; they never open their +lips, but Gladys is a nice girl in her way, and she has some money of +her own, I wonder she wasn't picked up.' + +'I should like to know who would care for her?' + +'She had a very good chance once; but she wouldn't say yes, and she +wouldn't say no, and she kept him hanging after her until at last off he +went and married someone else. A Mr. Blake, I think.' + +'Yes, that was his name; and why wouldn't she marry him?' + +'Well, I don't know--folly, I suppose. He was, of course, not so young +as Harry Renley, but he had two thousand a year, and he would have made +her an excellent husband; kept a carriage for her, and a house in +London: whereas you see she has remained Miss Brennan, goes up every +year to the Shelbourne Hotel to buy dresses, and gets older and more +withered every day.' + +'I know they lead a stupid life down here, but mightn't they go abroad +and travel?' asked Alice; 'they are no longer so very young.' + +'A woman can do nothing until she is married,' Mrs. Barton answered +decisively. + +'But some husbands treat their wives infamously; isn't no husband better +than a bad husband?' + +'I don't think so,' returned Mrs. Barton, and she glanced sharply at her +daughter. 'I would sooner have the worst husband in the world than no +husband.' Then settling herself like a pleader who has come to the +incisive point of his argument, she continued: 'A woman is absolutely +nothing without a husband; if she doesn't wish to pass for a failure she +must get a husband, and upon this all her ideas should be set. I have +always found that in this life we can only hope to succeed in what we +undertake by keeping our minds fixed on it and never letting it out of +sight until it is attained. Keep on trying, that is my advice to all +young ladies: try to make yourselves agreeable, try to learn how to +amuse men. Flatter them; that is the great secret; nineteen out of +twenty will believe you, and the one that doesn't can't but think it +delightful. Don't waste your time thinking of your books, your painting, +your accomplishments; if you were Jane Austens, George Eliots, and Rosa +Bonheurs, it would be of no use if you weren't married. A husband is +better than talent, better even than fortune--without a husband a woman +is nothing; with a husband she may rise to any height. Marriage gives a +girl liberty, gives her admiration, gives her success; a woman's whole +position depends upon it. And while we are on the subject it is as well +to have one's say, and I speak for you both. You, Alice, are too much +inclined to shrink into the background and waste your time with books; +and you too, Olive, are behaving very foolishly, wasting your time and +your complexion over a silly girlish flirtation.' + +'There's no use talking about that. You have forbidden him the house; +you can't do any more.' + +'No, Olive, all I did was to insist that he should not come running +after you until you had had time to consider the sacrifices you were +making for him. I have no one's interest in the world, my dear girl, but +your interests. Officers are all very well to laugh, talk, and flirt +with--_pour passer le temps_--but I couldn't allow you to throw yourself +away on the first man you meet. You will meet hundreds of others quite +as handsome and as nice at the Castle.' + +'I never could care for anyone else.' + +'Wait until you have seen the others. Besides, what do you want? to be +engaged to him? And I should like to know what is the use of my taking +an engaged girl up to the Castle? No one would look at you.' + +Olive raised her eyes in astonishment; she had not considered the +question from this point of view, and the suggestion that, if engaged, +she might as well stop at home, for no one would look at her, filled her +with alarm. + +'Whereas,' said Mrs. Barton, who saw that her words had the intended +effect, 'if you were free you would be the season's beauty; nothing +would be thought of but you; you would have lords, and earls, and +marquesses dancing attendance on you, begging you to dance with them; +you would be spoken of in the papers, described as the new beauty, and +what not, and then if you were free--' Here Mrs. Barton heaved a deep +sigh, and, letting her white hand fall over the arm of her chair, she +seemed to abandon herself to the unsearchable decrees of destiny. + +'Well, what then, mamma?' asked Olive excitedly. 'I am free, am I not?' + +'Then you could outstrip the other girls, and go away with the great +prize. They are all watching him; he will go to one of you for certain. +I hear that Mrs. Scully--that great, fat, common creature, who sold +bacon in a shop in Galway--is thinking of him for her daughter. Of +course, if you like to see Violet become a marchioness, right under your +nose, you can do so.' + +'But what do you want me to do?' exclaimed the coronet-dazzled girl. + +'Merely to think no more of Captain Hibbert. But I didn't tell you;--he +was very impertinent to me when I last saw him. He said he would flirt +with you, as long as you would flirt with him, and that he didn't see +why you shouldn't amuse yourself. That's what I want to warn you +against--losing your chance of being a marchioness to help an idle young +officer to while away his time. If I were you, I would tell him, when I +next saw him, that he must not think about it any more. You can put it +all down to me; say that I would never hear of it; say that you couldn't +think of disobeying me, but that you hope you will always remain +friends. You see, that's the advantage of having a mother;--poor mamma +has to bear everything.' + +Olive made no direct answer, but she laughed nervously, and in a manner +that betokened assent; and, having so far won her way, Mrs. Barton +determined to conclude. But she could not invite Captain Hibbert to the +house! The better plan would be to meet on neutral ground. A +luncheon-party at Dungory Castle instantly suggested itself; and three +days after, as they drove through the park, Mrs. Barton explained to +Olive, for the last time, how she should act if she wished to become the +Marchioness of Kilcarney. + +'Shake hands with him just as if nothing had happened, but don't enter +into conversation; and after lunch I shall arrange that we all go out +for a walk on the terrace. You will then pair off with him, Alice; Olive +will join you. Something will be sure to occur that will give her an +opportunity of saying that he must think no more about her--that I would +never consent.' + +'Oh! mamma, it is very hard, for I can never forget him.' + +'Now, my dear girl, for goodness' sake don't work yourself up into a +state of mind, or we may as well go back to Brookfield. What I tell you +to do is right; and if you see nobody at the Castle that you like +better--well, then it will be time enough. I want you to be, at least, +the beauty of one season.' + +This argument again turned the scales. Olive laughed, but her laugh was +full of the nervous excitement from which she suffered. + +'I shan't know what to say,' she exclaimed, tossing her head, 'so I hope +you will help me out of my difficulty, Alice.' + +'I wish I could be left out of it altogether,' said the girl, who was +sitting with her back to the horses. 'It seems to me that I am being put +into a very false position!' + +'Put into a false position!' said Mrs. Barton. 'I'll hear no more of +this! If you won't do as you are told, you had better go back to St. +Leonards--such wicked jealousy!' + +'Oh, mamma!' said Alice, wounded to the quick, 'how can you be so +unjust? + +And her eyes filled with tears, for since she had left school she had +experienced only a sense of retreating within herself, but so long as +she was allowed to live within herself she was satisfied. But this +refuge was no longer available. She must take part in the scuffle; and +she couldn't. But whither to go? There seemed to be no escape from the +world into which she had been thrust, and for no purpose but to suffer. +But the others didn't suffer. Why wasn't she like them? + +'I am sorry, Alice dear, for having spoken so crossly; but I am sorely +tried. I really am more to be pitied than blamed; and if you knew all, +you would, I know, be the first to try to help me out of my +difficulties, instead of striving to increase them.' 'I would do +anything to help you,' exclaimed Alice, deceived by the accent of sorrow +with which Mrs. Barton knew how to invest her words. + +'I am sure you would, if you knew how much depends--But dry your eyes, +my dear, for goodness' sake dry them. Here we are at the door. I only +want you to be with Olive when she tells Captain Hibbert that she +cannot--and, now mind, Olive, you tell him plainly that he must not +consider himself engaged to you.' + +In the ceremonious drawing-room, patched with fragments of Indian +drapery, Lady Jane and Lady Sarah sat angularly and as far from their +guests as possible, for they suspected that their house was being made +use of as a battle-ground by Mrs. Barton, and were determined to resent +the impertinence as far as lay in their power. But Milord continued to +speak of indifferent things with urbanity and courtly gestures; and as +they descended the staircase, he explained the beauty of his marble +statues and his stuffed birds. + +'But, Lady Jane, where is Cecilia? I hope she is not unwell?' + +'Oh no; Cecilia is quite well, thank you. But she never comes down when +there is company--she is so very sensitive. But that reminds me. She +told me to tell you that she is dying to see you. You will find her +waiting for you in her room when we have finished lunch.' + +'Cecilia is not the only person to be thought of,' said Milord. 'I will +not allow Alice to hide herself away upstairs for the rest of the +afternoon. I hear, Alice, you are a great admirer of Tennyson's +_Idylls_. I have just received a new edition of his poems, with +illustrations by Dore: charming artist, full of poetry, fancy, +sweetness, imagination. Do you admire Dore, Captain Hibbert?' + +The Captain declared that he admired Dore far more than the old masters, +a point of taste that Milord ventured to question; and until they rose +from table he spoke of his collection of Arundel prints with grace and +erudition. Then they all went out to walk on the terrace. But as their +feet echoed in the silence of the hall, Cecilia, in a voice tremulous +with expectancy, was heard speaking: + +'Alice, come upstairs; I am waiting for you.' + +Alice made a movement as if to comply, but, stepping under the +banisters, Lord Dungory said: + +'Alice cannot come now, she is going out to walk with us, dear. She will +see you afterwards.' + +'Oh! let me go to her,' Alice cried. + +'There will be plenty of time to see her later on,' whispered Mrs. +Barton. 'Remember what you promised me; 'and she pointed to Captain +Hibbert, who was standing on the steps of the house, his wide decorative +shoulders defined against a piece of grey sky. + +In despair at her own helplessness, and with a feeling of loathing so +strong that it seemed like physical sickness, Alice went forward and +entered into conversation with Captain Hibbert. Lord Dungory, Mrs. +Barton, and Olive walked together; Lady Jane and Lady Sarah followed at +a little distance. In this order the party proceeded down the avenue as +far as the first gate; then they returned by a side-walk leading through +the laurels, and stood in a line facing the wind-worn tennis-ground, +with its black, flowerless beds, and bleak vases of alabaster and stone. +From time to time remarks anent the Land League were made; but all knew +that a drama even as important as that of rent was being enacted. Olive +had joined her sister, and the girls moved forward on either side of the +handsome Captain; and, as a couple of shepherds directing the movements +of their flock, Lord Dungory and Mrs. Barton stood watching. Suddenly +her eyes met Lady Jane's. The glance exchanged was tempered in the hate +of years; it was vindictive, cruel, terrible; it shone as menacingly as +if the women had drawn daggers from their skirts, and Jane, obeying a +sudden impulse, broke away from her sister, and called to Captain +Hibbert. Fortunately he did not hear her, and, before she could speak +again, Lord Dungory said: + +'Jane, now, Jane, I beg of you--' + +Mrs. Barton smiled a sweet smile of reply, and whispered to herself: + +'Do that again, my lady, and you won't have a penny to spend this year.' + +'And now, dear, tell me, I want to hear all about it,' said Mrs. Barton, +as the carriage left the steps of Dungory Castle. 'What did he say?' + +'Oh! mamma, mamma, I am afraid I have broken his heart,' replied Olive +dolorously. + +'It doesn't do a girl any harm even if it does leak out that she jilted +a man; it makes the others more eager after her. But tell me, dear, I +hope there was no misunderstanding; did you really tell him that it was +no use, that he must think of you no more?' + +'Mamma dear, don't make me go over it again, I can't, I can't; Alice +heard all I said--she'll tell you,' + +'No, no, don't appeal to me; it's no affair of mine,' exclaimed the girl +more impetuously than she had intended. + +'I am surprised at you, Alice; you shouldn't give way to temper like +that. Come, tell me at once what happened.' + +The thin, grey, moral eyes of the daughter and the brown, soft, merry +eyes of the mother exchanged a long deep gaze of inquiry, and then Alice +burst into an uncontrollable fit of tears. She trembled from too much +grief, and could not answer; and when she heard her mother say to Olive, +'Now that the coast is clear, we can go in heart and soul for the +marquess,' she shuddered inwardly and wished she might stay at home in +Galway and be spared the disgrace of the marriage-market. + + + + +XV + + +It rained incessantly. Sheets of water, blown by winds that had +travelled the Atlantic, deluged the county; grey mists trailed mournful +and shapeless along the edges of the domain woods, over the ridges of +the tenants' holdings. 'Never more shall we be driven forth to die in +the bogs and ditches,' was the cry that rang through the mist; and, +guarded by policemen, in their stately houses, the landlords listened, +waiting for the sword of a new coercion to fall and release them from +their bondage. The meeting of Parliament in the spring would bring them +this; in the meantime, all who could, fled, resolving not to return till +the law restored the power that the Land League had so rudely shaken. +Some went to England, others to France. Mr. Barton accepted two hundred +pounds from his wife and proceeded to study gargoyles and pictures in +Bruges; and, striving to forget the murders and rumours of murders that +filled the papers, the girls and their mammas talked of beaux, partners, +and trains, in spite of the irritating presence of the Land League +agitators who stood on the platforms of the different stations. The +train was full of girls. Besides the Bartons, there were the Brennans: +Gladys and Zoe--Emily remained at home to look after the place. Three of +the Miss Duffys were coming to the Drawing-Room, and four of the +Honourable Miss Gores; the Goulds and Scullys made one party, and to +avoid Mrs. Barton, the Ladies Cullen had pleaded important duties. They +were to follow in a day or so. + +Lord Dungory's advice to Mrs. Barton was to take a house, and he warned +her against spending the whole season in an hotel, but apparently +without avail, for when the train stopped a laughing voice was heard: +'Milord, _vous n'etes qu'un vilain misanthrope_; we shall be very +comfortable at the Shelbourne; we shall meet all the people in Dublin +there, and we can have private rooms to give dinner-parties.' + +Hearing this, Alice congratulated herself, for in an hotel she would be +freer than she would be in a house let for the season. She would hear +something, and see a little over the horizon of her family in an hotel. +She had spent a week in the Shelbourne on her way home from school, and +remembered the little winter-garden on the first landing, and the +fountain splashing amid ferns and stone frogs. The ladies' drawing-room +she knew was on the right, and when she had taken off her hat and +jacket, leaving her mother and sister talking of Mrs. Symond and Lord +Kilcarney, she went there hoping to find some of the people whom she had +met there before. + +The usually skirt-filled ottoman stood vacantly gaping, the little +chairs seemed lonely about the hearthrug, even the sofa where the +invalid ladies sat was unoccupied, and the perforated blinds gave the +crowds that passed up and down the street a shadow-like appearance. The +prospect was not inspiriting, but not knowing what else to do, Alice sat +down by the fire, and fell to thinking who the man might be that sat +reading on the other side of the fireplace. He didn't seem as if he knew +much about horses, and as he read intently, she could watch him +unobserved. At last their eyes met, and when Alice turned away her face +she felt that he was looking at her, and, perhaps getting nervous under +his examination, she made a movement to stir the fire. + +'Will you allow me?' he said, rising from his chair. 'I beg your pardon, +but, if you will allow me, I will arrange the fire.' + +Alice let him have the poker, and when he had knocked in the coal-crust +and put on some fresh fuel, he said: + +'If it weren't for me I don't know what would become of this fire. I +believe the old porter goes to sleep and forgets all about it. Now and +again he wakes up and makes a deal of fuss with a shovel and a broom.' + +'I really can't say, we only came up from Galway to-day.' + +'Then you don't know the famous Shelbourne Hotel! All the events of life +are accomplished here. People live here, and die here, and flirt here, +and, I was going to say, marry here--but hitherto the Shelbourne +marriages have resulted in break-offs--and we quarrel here; the friends +of to-day are enemies to-morrow, and then they sit at different ends of +the room. Life in the Shelbourne is a thing in itself, and a thing to be +studied.' + +Alice laughed again, and again she continued her conversation. + +'I really know nothing of the Shelbourne. I was only here once before, +and then only for a few days last summer, when I came home from school.' + +'And now you are here for the Drawing-Room?' + +'Yes; but how did you guess that?' + +'The natural course of events: a young lady leaves school, she spends +four or five months at home, and then she is taken to the +Lord-Lieutenant's Drawing-Room.' + +She liked him none the better for what he had said, and began to wonder +how she might bring the conversation to a close. But when he spoke again +she forgot her intentions, and allowed his voice to charm her. + +'I think you told me,' he said, 'that you came up from Galway to-day; may +I ask you from what side of the county?' + +Another piece of impertinence. Why should he question her? And yet she +answered him. + +'We live near Gort--do you know Gort?' + +'Oh yes, I have been travelling for the last two months in Ireland. I +spent nearly a fortnight in Galway. Lord Dungory lives near Gort. Do you +know him?' + +'Very well indeed. He is our nearest neighbour; we see him nearly every +day. Do you know him?' + +'Yes, a little. I have met him in London. If I had not been so pressed +for time I should have called upon him when I was in Galway. I passed +his place going to a land meeting--oh, you need not be alarmed, I am not +a Land League organizer, or else I should not have thought of calling at +Dungory Castle. What a pretty drive it is to Gort.' + +'Then, do you know a place on the left-hand side of the road, about a +mile and a half from Dungory Castle?' + +'You mean Brookfield?' + +'Yes; that is our place.' + +'Then you are Miss Barton?' + +'Yes, I am Miss Barton; do you know father or mother?' + +'No, no; but I have heard the name in Galway. I was spending a few days +with one of your neighbours.' + +'Oh, really!' said Alice, a little embarrassed; for she knew it must +have been with the Lawlers that he had been staying. At the end of a +long silence she said: + +'I am afraid you have chosen a rather unfortunate time for visiting +Ireland. All these terrible outrages, murders, refusals to pay rent; I +wonder you have not been frightened away.' + +'As I do not possess a foot of land--I believe I should say "not land +enough to sod a lark"--my claim to collect rent would rest on even a +slighter basis than that of the landlords; and as, with the charming +inconsistency of your race, you have taken to killing each other instead +of slaughtering the hated Saxon, I really feel safer in Ireland than +elsewhere. I suppose,' he said, 'you do a great deal of novel-reading in +the country?' + +'Oh yes,' she answered, with almost an accent of voluptuousness in her +voice; 'I spent the winter reading.' + +'Because there was no hunting?' replied Harding, with a smile full of +cynical weariness. + +'No, I assure you, no; I do not think I should have gone out hunting +even if it hadn't been stopped,' said Alice hastily; for it vexed her +not a little to see that she was considered incapable of loving a book +for its own sake. + +'And what do you read?' + +The tone of indifference with which the question was put was not lost +upon Alice, but she was too much interested in the conversation to pay +heed to it. She said: + +'I read nearly all Byron, Shelley, Keats, Tennyson, and Browning--I +think I like him better than all the poets! Do you know the scene at St. +Praxed's?' + +'Yes, of course; it is very fine. But I don't know that I ever cared +much for Browning. Not only the verse, but the whole mind of the man is +uncouth--yes, uncouth _is_ the word I want. He is the Carlyle of Poetry. +Have you ever read Carlyle?' + +'Oh yes, I have read his _French Revolution_ and his _Life of Schiller_, +but that's all. I only came home from school last summer, and at school +we never read anything. I couldn't get many new books down in Galway. +There were, of course, Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot in the library, +but that was all. I once got a beautiful book from Dungory Castle. I +wonder if you ever read it? It is called _Madame Gervaisais_. From the +descriptions of Rome it almost seems to me that I have been there.' + +'I know the book, but I didn't know a Catholic girl could admire +it--and you are a Catholic, I presume?' + +'I was brought up a Catholic.' + +'It is one thing to be brought up a Catholic, and another to avoid +doubting.' + +'There can surely be no harm in doubting?' + +'Not the least; but toward which side are you? Have you fallen into the +soft feather-bed of agnosticism, or the thorny ditch of belief?' + +'Why do you say "the soft feather-bed of agnosticism"?' + +'It must be a relief to be redeemed from belief in hell; and perhaps +there is no other redemption.' + +'And do you never doubt?' she said. + +'No, I can't say I am given much to doubting, nor do I think the subject +is any longer worthy of thought. The world's mind, after much anxiety, +arrives at a conclusion, and what sages cannot determine in one age, a +child is certain about in the next. Thomas Aquinas was harassed with +doubts regarding the possibility of old women flying through the air on +broomsticks; nowadays were a man thus afflicted he would be surely a fit +subject for Hanwell. The world has lived through Christianity, as it has +through a score of other things. But I am afraid I shock you?' + +'No, I don't think you do; only I never heard anyone speak in that way +before--that is all.' + +Here the conversation came to a pause, and soon after the presence of +some ladies rendered its revival impossible. Their evening gowns +suggested the dinner-hour, and reminded Alice that she had to prepare +herself for the meal. + +All the Galway people, excepting the Honourable Misses Gore and the +Scullys--who had taken houses in town for the season--dined at _table +d'hote._ The Miss Duffys were, with the famous Bertha, the terror of the +_debutantes._ The Brennans and the Goulds sat at the same table. May, +thinking of Fred, who had promised to come during the evening, leaned +back in her chair, looking unutterably bored. Under a window Sir Richard +and Sir Charles were immersed in wine and discussion. In earnest tones +the latter deprecated the folly of indulging in country love; the +former, his hand on the champagne bottle, hiccoughed, 'Mu--ch better +come up--up Dub--lin, yer know, my boy. But look, look here; I know such +a nice'--a glance round, to make sure that no lady was within earshot; +and the conversation lapsed into a still more confidential whisper. + +Mr. Ryan and Mr. Lynch ate their dinner in sullen silence, and at the +other end of the long table Mr. Adair--whom it was now confidently +stated Mr. Gladstone could not possibly get on without--talked to Mr. +Harding; and when the few dried oranges and tough grapes that +constituted dessert had been tasted, the ladies got up, and in twos and +threes retired to the ladies' sitting-room. They were followed by Lord +Dungory, Mr. Adair, and Mr. Harding: the other gentlemen--the baronets +and Messrs. Ryan and Lynch--preferring smoke and drink to chatter and +oblique glances in the direction of ankle-concealing skirts, went up to +the billiardroom. And the skirts, what an importance they took in the +great sitting-room full of easy-chairs and Swiss scenery: chalets, +lakes, cascades, and chamois, painted on the light-coloured walls. The +big ottoman was swollen with bustled skirts; the little low seats around +the fire disappeared under skirts; skirts were tucked away to hide the +slippered feet, skirts were laid out along the sofas to show the +elegance of the cut. Then woolwork and circulating novels were produced, +and the conversation turned on marriage. Bertha being the only Dublin +girl present, all were anxious to hear her speak; after a few +introductory remarks, she began: + +'Oh! so you have all come up to the Castle and are going to be +presented. Well, you'll find the rooms very grand, and the suppers very +good, and if you know a lot of people--particularly the officers +quartered here--you will find the Castle balls very amusing. The best +way is to come to town a month before the Drawing-Room, and give a ball; +and in that way you get to know all the men. If you haven't done that, I +am afraid you won't get many partners. Even if you do get introduced, +they'll only ask you to dance, and you'll never see them again. Dublin +is like a racecourse, men come and speak to you and pass on. 'Tis +pleasant enough if you know people, but as for marriages, there aren't +any. I assure you I know lots of girls--and very pretty girls, too--who +have been going out these six or seven seasons, and who have not been +able to pull it off.' + +'And the worst of it is,' said a girl, 'every year we are growing more +and more numerous, and the men seem to be getting fewer. Nowadays a man +won't look at you unless you have at least two thousand a year.' + +Mrs. Barton, who did not wish her daughters to be discouraged from the +first, settled her skirts with a movement of disdain. Mrs. Gould +pathetically declared she did not believe love to be dead in the world +yet, and maintained her opinion that a nice girl could always marry. But +Bertha was not easily silenced, and, being perfectly conversant with her +subject, she disposed of Dublin's claims as a marriage-mart, and she +continued to comment on the disappointments of girls until the +appearance of Lord Dungory and Mr. Harding brought the conversation to a +sudden close. + +'_Une causerie de femme! que dites-vous?--je le suis--l'amour +n'existe plus, et l'ame de l'homme est plus pres des sens que l'ame de +la femme_,' said Milord. Everyone laughed; and, with a charming movement +of her skirts, Mrs. Barton made room for him to sit beside her. + +Harding withdrew to the other end of the room to resume his reading, and +Alice did not dare to hope that he would lay aside his book and come to +talk to her. If he did, her mother would ask her to introduce him to +her, and she would have to enter into explanations that he and she had +merely exchanged a few words before dinner. + +She withstood the conversation of the charmed circle as long as she +could, and then boldly crossed the room for a newspaper. Harding rose to +help her to find one, and they talked together till Milord took him away +to the billiard-room. + +May, who had been vainly expecting Fred the whole evening, said: + +'Well, Alice, I hope you have had a nice flirtation?' + +'And did you notice, May, how she left us to look for a newspaper. Our +Alice is fond of reading, but it was not of reading she was thinking +this evening. She kept him all to herself at the other end of the room.' +Mrs. Barton laughed merrily, and Alice began to understand that her +mother was approving her flirtation. That is the name that her mother +would give her talk with Mr. Harding. + + + + +XVI + + +During the Dublin Season it is found convenient to give teas: the young +ladies have to be introduced to the men they will meet after at the +Castle. These gatherings take place at five o'clock in the afternoon; +and as Mrs. Barton started from the Shelbourne Hotel for Lady Georgina +Stapleton's, she fell to thinking that a woman is never really +vulnerable until she is bringing out her daughters. Till then the usual +shafts directed against her virtue fall harmlessly on either side, but +now they glance from the marriage buckler and strike the daughter in +full heart. In the ball-room, as in the forest, the female is most +easily assailed when guarding her young, and nowhere in the whole animal +kingdom is this fact so well exemplified as in Dublin Castle. + +Lady Georgina lived in Harcourt Street, and it was on her way thither +that something like a regret rose up in Mrs. Barton that she had (she +was forced to confess it) aroused the enmity of women, and persistently. + +Lady Georgina Stapleton was Lord Dungory's eldest sister. She, too, +hated Mrs. Barton; but, being poor (Milord used to call himself the +milch-cow), she found herself, like the Ladies Cullen, occasionally +obliged to smile upon and extend a welcoming hand to the family enemy; +and when Mrs. Barton came to Dublin for the Castle Season, a little +pressure was put upon Lady Georgina to obtain invitations from the +Chamberlain; the ladies exchanged visits, and there the matter ended, as +Mrs. Barton and her daughter passed through Stephen's Green, and she +remembered that she had never taken the trouble to conceal her dislike +of the house in Harcourt Street, and some of the hard things she had +said when standing on the box-seat of a drag at Punchestown Races had +travelled back and had found a lasting resting-place in Lady Georgina's +wrathful memory. + +'This is considered to be the most artistic house in Dublin,' said Mrs. +Barton, as the servant showed them upstairs. + +'How lovely the camellias look,' said Olive. + +'And now, Alice, mind, none of your Liberalism in this house, or you +will ruin your sister's chances.' + +Lady Georgina wore a wig, or her hair was arranged so as to look like +one. Fifty years had rubbed away much of her youthful ugliness; and, in +the delicate twilight of her rooms, her aristocratic bearing might be +mistaken for good looks. + +Lady Georgina was a celebrated needlewoman, and she was now begging Lord +Kilcarney to assist her at a charity bazaar. Few people had yet arrived; +and when Harding was announced, Mrs. Barton whispered: + +'Here's your friend, Alice; don't miss your chance.' + +Then every moment bevies of girls came in and were accommodated with +seats, and if possible with young men. Teacups were sent down to be +washed, and the young men were passed from group to group. The young +ladies smiled and looked delightful, and spoke of dancing and tennis +until, replying to an imperative glance from their chaperons, from time +to time they rose to leave; but, obeying a look of supplication from +their hostess, the young men remained. + +Lord Kilcarney had been hunted desperately around screens and over every +ottoman in the room; and Lady Georgina had proved her goodwill in +proportion to the amount of assistance she had lent to her friends in +the chase. Long ago he had been forced away from Olive. Mrs. Barton +endured with stoical indifference the scowls of her hostess; but at +length, compelled to recognize that none of the accidents attendant on +the handing of teacups or the moving of chairs would bring him back, she +rose to take her leave. The little Marquis was on his feet in a moment, +and, shaking hands with her effusively, he promised to call to see them +at the Shelbourne. A glance went round; and of Mrs. Barton's triumph +there could be no doubt. + +'But to-day's success is often a prelude to to-morrow's defeat,' was Lady +Georgina's comment, and Mrs. Barton and her daughters were discussed as +they walked across the green to their hotel. Nor was Lady Georgina +altogether a false prophet, for next day Mrs. Barton found the Marquis's +cards on her table. 'I'm sorry we missed him,' she said, 'but we haven't +a minute;' and, calling on her daughters to follow, she dashed again +into the whirl of a day that would not end for many hours, though it had +begun twelve hours ago--a day of haste and anticipation it had been, +filled with cries of 'Mamma,' telegrams, letters, and injunctions not to +forget this and that--a day whose skirts trailed in sneers and +criticisms, a hypocritical and deceitful day, a day of intrigue, a day +in which the post-box was the chief factor--a great day withal. + +But above this day, and above all other days, was the day that took them +spellbound to the foot of a narrow staircase, a humble flight seemingly, +but leading to a temple of tightly-stretched floorcloth, tall wardrobes, +and groups and lines of lay figures in eternally ladylike attitudes. + +'Oh! how do you do, Mrs. Barton? We have been expecting you for the last +two or three days. I will run upstairs and tell Mrs. Symond that you are +here; she will be so glad to see you.' + +'That is Miss Cooper!' explained Mrs. Barton. 'Everyone knows her; she +has been with Mrs. Symond many years. And, as for dear Mrs. Symond, +there is no one like her. She knows the truth about everybody. Here she +comes,' and Mrs. Barton rushed forward and embraced a thin woman with +long features. + +'And how do you do, dear Mrs. Barton, and how well you are looking, and +the young ladies? I see Miss Olive has improved since she was in +Dublin.' (In an audible whisper.) 'Everyone is talking about her. There +is no doubt but that she'll be the belle of the season.' (In a still +audible, but lower tone of voice.) 'But tell me, is it true that--' + +'Now, now, now!' said Mrs. Barton, drowning her words in cascades of +silvery laughter, 'I know nothing of what you're saying; ha! ha! ha! no, +no--I assure you. I will not--' + +Then, as soon as the ladies had recovered their composure, a few +questions were asked about her Excellency, the prospects of the Castle +season, and the fashions of the year. + +'And now tell me,' said Mrs. Barton, 'what pretty things have you that +would make up nicely for trains?' + +'Trains, Mrs. Barton? We have some sweet things that would make up +beautifully for trains. Miss Cooper, will you kindly fetch over that +case of silks that we had over yesterday from Paris?' + +'The young ladies must be, of course, in white; for Miss Olive I should +like, I think, snowdrops; for you, Mrs. Barton, I am uncertain which of +two designs I shall recommend. Now, this is a perfectly regal material.' + +With words of compliment and solicitation, the black-dressed assistant +displayed the armouries of Venus--armouries filled with the deep blue of +midnight, with the faint tints of dawn, with strange flowers and birds, +with moths, and moons, and stars. Lengths of white silk clear as the +notes of violins playing in a minor key; white poplin falling into folds +statuesque as the bass of a fugue by Bach; yards of ruby velvet, rich as +an air from Verdi played on the piano; tender green velvet, pastoral as +hautboys heard beneath trees in a fair Arcadian vale; blue turquoise +faille fanciful as the tinkling of a guitar twanged by a Watteau +shepherd; gold brocade, sumptuous as organ tones swelling through the +jewelled twilight of a nave; scarves and trains of midnight-blue +profound as the harmonic snoring of a bassoon; golden daffodils violent +as the sound of a cornet; bouquets of pink roses and daisies, charmful +and pure as the notes of a flute; white faille, soft draperies of tulle, +garlands of white lilac, sprays of white heather, delicate and resonant +as the treble voices of children singing carols in dewy English woods; +berthas, flounces, plumes, stomachers, lappets, veils, frivolous as the +strains of a German waltz played on Liddell's band. + +An hour passed, but the difficulty of deciding if Olive's dress should +be composed of silk or Irish poplin was very great, for, determined that +all should be humiliated, Mrs. Barton laid her plans amid designs for +night and morning; birds fluttering through leafy trees, birds drowsing +on bending boughs, and butterflies folding their wings. At a critical +moment, however, an assistant announced that Mrs. Scully was waiting. +The ladies started; desperate effort was made; rosy clouds and veils of +silver tissue were spoken of; but nothing could be settled, and on the +staircase the ladies had to squeeze into a corner to allow Violet and +Mrs. Scully to pass. + +'How do you do, Olive? How do you do, Alice? and you, Mrs. Barton, how +do you do? And what are you going to wear? Have you decided on your +dress?' + +'Oh! That is a secret that could be told to no one; oh, not for worlds!' +said Mrs. Barton. + +'I'm sure it will be very beautiful,' replied Mrs. Scully, with just a +reminiscence of the politeness of the Galway grocery business in her +voice. + +'I hear you have taken a house in Fitzwilliam Square for the season?' +said Mrs. Barton. + +'Yes, we are very comfortable; you must come and see us. You are at the +Shelbourne, I believe?' + +'Come to tea with us,' cried Violet. 'We are always at home about five.' + +'We shall be delighted,' returned Mrs. Barton. + +Mrs. Scully's acquaintance with Mrs. Symond was of the slightest; but, +knowing that claims to fashion in Dublin are judged by the intimacy you +affect with the dressmaker, she shook her warmly by the hand, and +addressed her as dear Mrs. Symond. To the Christian name of Helen none +less than a Countess dare to aspire. + +'And how well you are looking, dear Mrs. Symond; and when are you going +to take your daughters to the Castle?' + +'Oh, not for some time yet; my eldest is only sixteen.' + +Mrs. Symonds had three daughters to bring out, and she hoped when her +feet were set on the redoubtable ways of Cork Hill, her fashionable +customers would extend to her a cordial helping hand. Mrs. Symonds' was +one of the myriad little schemes with which Dublin is honeycombed, and +although she received Mrs. Scully's familiarities somewhat coldly, she +kept her eyes fixed upon Violet. The insidious thinness of the girl's +figure, and her gay, winsome look interested her, and, as if speaking to +herself, she said: + +'You will want something very sweet; something quite pure and lovely for +Miss Scully?' + +Mother and daughter were instantly all attention, and Mrs. Symond +continued: + +'Let me see, I have some Surat silk that would make up sweetly. Miss +Cooper, will you have the kindness to fetch those rolls of Surat silk we +received yesterday from Paris?' + +Then, beautiful as a flower harvesting, the hues and harmonies of earth, +ocean, and sky fell before the ravished eyes. The white Surat silk, +chaste, beautiful, delicious as that presentiment of shared happiness +which fills a young girl's mind when her fancy awakens in the soft +spring sunlight; the white faille with tulle and garlands of white +lilac, delicate and only as sensuous as the first meetings of +sweethearts, when the may is white in the air and the lilac is in bloom +on the lawn; trains of blue sapphire broche looped with blue ostrich +feathers, seductive and artificial as a boudoir plunged in a dream of +Ess. bouquet; dove-coloured velvet trains adorned with tulips and tied +with bows of brown and pink--temperate as the love that endures when the +fiery day of passion has gone down; bodices and trains of daffodil silk, +embroidered with shaded maple-leaves, impure as lamp-lit and +patchouli-scented couches; trains of white velouture festooned with +tulle; trails of snowdrops, icy as lips that have been bought, and cold +as a life that lives in a name. + +The beautiful silks hissed as they came through the hands of the +assistants, cat-like the velvet footfalls of the velvet fell; it was a +witches' Sabbath, and out of this terrible caldron each was to draw her +share of the world's gifts. Smiling and genial, Mrs. Symond stirred the +ingredients with a yard measure; the girls came trembling, doubting, +hesitating; and the anxious mothers saw what remained of their +jeopardized fortunes sliding in a thin golden stream into the flaming +furnace that the demon of Cork Hill blew with unintermittent breath. + +Secrets, what secrets were held on the subject of the presentation +dresses! The obscure Hill was bound with a white frill of anticipation. +Olive's fame had gone forth. She was admitted to be the new Venus, and +Lord Kilcarney was spoken of as likely to yield to her the coveted +coronet. Would he marry her without so much as looking at another girl? +was the question on every lip, and in the jealousy thus created the +appraisers of Violet's beauty grew bolder. Her thinness was condoned, +and her refinement insisted upon. Nor were May Gould and her chances +overlooked by the gossips of Merrion Square. Her flirtation with Fred +Scully was already a topic of conversation. + +Alice knew she was spoken of pityingly, but she hungered little after +the praise of the Dubliners, and preferred to stay at home and talk to +Harding in the ladies' drawing-room rather than follow her mother and +sister in their wild hunt after Lord Kilcarney. Through the afternoon +teas of Merrion Square and Stephen's Green the chase went merrily. + + + + +XVII + + +On the night of the Drawing-Room, February 20, 1882, the rain rushed +along the streets; wind, too, had risen, and, threatening to tear every +window from its sash, it careered in great gusts. Sky there was none, +nor sight of anything save when the lightning revealed the outline of +the housetops. The rattling and the crashing of the thunder was +fearsome, and often, behind their closely drawn curtains, the girls +trembled, and, covering their faces with their hands, forgot the article +of clothing they were in search of. In their rooms all was warm and +snug, and gay with firelight and silk; the chaperons had whispered that +warm baths were advisable, and along the passages the ladies'-maids +passed hurriedly, carrying cans of hot water, sponges, and +drying-sheets. + +Alice and Olive slept in two rooms on the third floor, on either side of +their mother; May and Mrs. Gould were on the fourth, and next to May was +Fred Scully, who, under the pretext of the impossibility of his agreeing +with his mother concerning the use of a latch-key, had lately moved into +the hotel. May was deeply concerned in Fred's grievance, and, discussing +it, or the new Shelbourne scandal--the loves of the large lady and the +little man at the other end of the corridor--they lingered about each +other's bedroom-doors. Alice could now hear them talking as they +descended the staircase together; then a burst of smothered laughter, +and May came in to see her. + +'Oh, how nice you look!' + +'If you don't "mash" Mr. Harding to-night, he'll be a tough one indeed. +Did I tell you I was talking to him yesterday in the ladies' +drawing-room? He is very enticing, but I can't quite make him out: I +think he despises us all; all but you; about you he said all kinds of +nice things--that you were so clever, and nice, and amusing. And tell +me, dear,' said May, in her warm, affectionate way, 'do you really like +him--you know what I mean?' + +May's eyes and voice were so full of significance that to pretend to +misunderstand was impossible. + +'I like Mr. Harding well enough. It is very pleasant to have him to talk +to. I am sure I don't want to run down my own sex--there are plenty +only too anxious to do that--but I am afraid that there is not a girl in +Dublin who thinks of anything except how she is to get married.' + +'I don't know about that,' said May, a little offended. 'I suppose if +you think of a man at all, you think of how he likes you.' + +The defiant tone in which these words were spoken was surprising; and, +for a moment, Alice stood staring blankly at this superb cream-fleshed +girl, superb in her dress of cream faille, her sensual beauty poetized +by the long veils which hung like gossamer-webs from the coils of her +copper-gleaming hair. + +'I am afraid, May,' she said, 'that you think a great deal too much of +such things. I don't say anything against Mr. Scully, but I think it +right to tell you that he is considered a very dangerous young man; and +I am sure it does a girl no good to be seen with him. It was he who . . .' + +'Now I'll not hear you abuse Fred,' cried May. 'We are great friends; I +like you better than any other girl, and if you value our friendship, +you'll not speak to me again like this. I wouldn't put up with it, no, +not from my own mother.' + +The girl moved towards the door hastily, but Alice laid her hand on her +arm, saying: + +'You mustn't be angry, May; perhaps you're right; I shouldn't meddle in +things that don't concern me; but then we have been so long friends that +I couldn't help--' + +'I know, I know,' the girl answered, overcome as it were by an +atmosphere. 'You were speaking only for my good; but if you're friends +with a person, you can't stand by and hear them abused. I know people +speak badly of Fred; but then people are so jealous--and they are all +jealous of Fred.' + +The girls examined each other's dresses, and at the end of a long +silence May said: + +'What an extraordinary thing this Drawing-Room is when one comes to +think of it. Just fancy going to all this expense to be kissed by the +Lord-Lieutenant--a man one never saw before. Will you feel ashamed when +he kisses you?' + +'Well, I don't know that I have thought much about it,' said Alice, +laughing. 'I suppose it doesn't matter, it is only a ceremony, not a +real kiss.' + +At this moment Mrs. Barton's voice was heard calling: 'Now, Alice, +Alice, where are you? We are waiting for you! Make haste, for goodness' +sake; we are very late as it is.' + +The trail of a sachet-scented petticoat could be detected on this length +of Brussels carpet, the acrid vulgarity of eau de Cologne hung like a +curtain before an open door, a vision of white silk gleamed for a moment +as it fled from room to room: men in a strange garb--black velvet and +steel buttons--hurried away, tripping over their swords, furtively +ashamed of their stockinged calves. On the first landing, about the +winter-garden, a crowd of German waiters, housemaids, billiard-players +with cigars in their teeth and cues in their hands, had collected; +underneath, in the hall, the barmaids, and old ladies, wrapped up in +rugs and shawls to save them from the draughts, were criticizing the +dresses. Olive's name was on every lip, and to see her all were +breathless with expectation; her matrimonial prospects were discussed, +and Lord Kilcarney was openly spoken of. 'Ah! here she is! there she +is!' was whispered. The head-porter, wild with excitement, shouted for +Mrs. Barton's carriage; three under-porters distended huge umbrellas; +the door was opened, an immense wind tore through the hall, sending the +old ladies flying back to their sitting-room, and the Bartons, holding +their hair and their trains, rushed across the wet pavement and took +refuge in the brougham. + +'Did one ever see such weather?' said Mrs. Barton. 'I hope your hair +isn't ruffled, Olive?' + +'No, mamma, I think it is all right.' + +Reassured, Mrs. Barton continued: 'I don't think there ever was a +country so hateful as Ireland. What with rain and Land League. I wonder +why we live here! Did you notice the time, Alice, as we left the hotel?' + +'Yes, mamma; it was twenty-five minutes to ten.' + +'Oh! we are very late; we shan't be there before ten. The thing to do is +to get there about half-past nine; the Drawing-Room doesn't begin before +eleven; but if you can get into the first lot you can stand at the +entrance of Patrick's Hall. I see, Alice, your friend Harding is going +to the Drawing-Room. Now, if you do what I tell you, you won't miss him; +for it does look so bad to see a girl alone, just as if she was unable +to get a man.' + +While Mrs. Barton continued to advise her girls, the carriage rolled +rapidly along Stephen's Green. It had now turned into Grafton Street; +and on the steep, rain-flooded asphalte, they narrowly escaped an +accident. The coachman, however, steadied his horses, and soon the long +colonnades of the Bank of Ireland were seen on the left. From this point +they were no longer alone, and except when a crash of thunder drowned +every other sound, the rattling of wheels was heard behind and in front +of them. Carriages came from every side: the night was alive with +flashing lamps; a glimpse of white fur or silk, the red breast of a +uniform, the gold of an epaulette, were seen, and thinking of the block +that would take place on the quays, the coachmen whipped up their +horses; but soon the ordering voices of the mantled and mounted +policemen were heard, and the carriages came to a full stop. + +'We are very late; hundreds will pass before us,' said Mrs. Barton +despairingly, as she watched the lines of silk-laden carriages that +seemed to be passing them by. But it was difficult to make sure of +anything; and fearful of soiling their gloves, they refrained from +touching the breath-misted windows. + +Despite the weather the streets were lined with vagrants, patriots, +waifs, idlers of all sorts and kinds. Plenty of girls of sixteen and +eighteen came out to see the 'finery.' Poor little things in battered +bonnets and draggled skirts, who would dream upon ten shillings a week; +a drunken mother striving to hush a child that cries beneath a dripping +shawl; a harlot embittered by feelings of commercial resentment; troops +of labourers; hang-dog faces, thin coats, torn shirts; Irish-Americans, +sinister faced, and broad-brimmed. Never were poverty and wealth brought +into plainer proximity. In the broad glare of the carriage lights the +shape of every feature, even the colour of the eyes, every glance, every +detail of dress, every stain of misery were revealed to the silken +exquisites who, a little frightened, strove to hide themselves within +the scented shadows of their broughams; and in like manner the bloom on +every aristocratic cheek, the glitter of every diamond, the richness of +every plume, were visible to the wondering eyes of those who stood +without in the wet and the cold. + +'I wish they wouldn't stare so,' said Mrs. Barton; 'one would think they +were a lot of hungry children looking into a sweetmeat shop. The police +ought really to prevent it.' + +'And how wicked those men in the big hats look,' said Olive; 'I'm sure +they would rob us if they only dared.' + +At last the order came that the carriages were to move on, and they +rolled on, now blocked under the black rain-dripping archway of the +Castle yard, now delayed as they laboriously made the tour of the +quadrangle. Olive doubted if her turn would ever come; but, by slow +degrees, each carriage discharged its cargo of silk, and at last Mrs. +Barton and her daughters found themselves in the vestibule, taking +numbers for their wraps at the cloak-rooms placed on either side of the +stairway. + +The slender figures ascending to tiny naked shoulders, presented a +piquant contrast with the huge, black Assyrian, bull-like policemen, who +guarded the passage, and reduced, by contrast, to almost doll-like +proportions the white creatures who went up the great stairway. Overhead +an artificial plant, some twenty feet wide, spread a decorative +greenness; the walls were lined with rifles, and at regular intervals, +in lieu of pictures, were set stars made out of swords. There were also +three suits of plate armour, and the grinning of the helmets of old-time +contrasted with the bearskin-shrouded faces of the red guardsmen. And +through all this military display the white ware tripped past powdered +and purple-coated footmen, splendid in the splendour of pink calves and +salmon-coloured breeches. + +As the white mass of silk pushed along the white-painted corridor, the +sense of ceremony that had till then oppressed it, evaporated in the +fumes of the blazing gas, and something like a battle began in the blue +drawing-room. Heat and fatigue soon put an end to all coquetting between +the sexes. The beautiful silks were hidden by the crowd; only the +shoulders remained, and, to appease their terrible ennui, the men gazed +down the backs of the women's dresses. Shoulders were there, of all +tints and shapes. Indeed, it was like a vast rosary, alive with white, +pink, and cream-coloured flowers; of Marechal Niels, Souvenir de +Malmaisons, Mademoiselle Eugene Verdiers, Aimee Vibert Scandens. Sweetly +turned, adolescent shoulders, blush-white, smooth and even as the petals +of a Marquise Mortemarle; the strong, commonly turned shoulders, +abundant and free as the fresh rosy pink of the Anna Alinuff; the +drooping white shoulders, full of falling contours as a pale Madame +Lacharme; the chlorotic shoulders, deadly white, of the almost greenish +shade that is found in a Princess Clementine; the pert, the dainty +little shoulders, filled with warm pink shadows, pretty and compact as +Countess Cecile de Chabrillant; the large heavy shoulders full of vulgar +madder tints, coarse, strawberry-colour, enormous as a Paul Neron; +clustering white shoulders, grouped like the blossoms of an Aimee Vibert +Scandens, and, just in front of me, under my eyes, the flowery, the +voluptuous, the statuesque shoulders of a tall blonde woman of thirty, +whose flesh is full of the exquisite peach-like tones of a Mademoiselle +Eugene Verdier, blooming in all its pride of summer loveliness. + +To make way for this enormous crowd, the Louis XV. sofas and arm-chairs +had been pushed against the walls, and an hour passed wearily, in all +its natural impudence, in this beautiful drawing-room, the brain aching +with dusty odour of poudre de riz, and the many acidities of evaporating +perfume; the sugary sweetness of the blondes, the salt flavours of the +brunettes, and this allegro movement of odours was interrupted suddenly +by the garlicky andante, deep as the pedal notes of an organ, that the +perspiring armpits of a fat chaperon exhaled slowly. + +At last there was a move forwards, and a sigh of relief, a grunt of +satisfaction, broke from the oppressed creatures; but a line of +guardsmen was pressing from behind, and the women were thrown hither and +thither into the arms and on to the backs of soldiers, police officers, +county inspectors, and Castle underlings. Now a lady turns pale, and +whispers to her husband that she is going to faint; now a young girl's +petticoats have become entangled in the moving mass of legs! She cries +aloud for help; her brother expostulates with those around. He is +scarcely heeded. And the struggle grows still more violent when it +becomes evident that the guardsmen are about to bring down the bar; and, +begging a florid-faced attorney to unloose his sword, which had become +entangled in her dress, Mrs. Barton called on her daughter, and, +slipping under the raised arms, they found themselves suddenly in a +square, sombre room, full of a rich, brown twilight. In one corner there +was a bureau, where an attendant served out blank cards; in another the +white plumes nodded against the red glare that came from the +throne-room, whence Liddell's band was heard playing waltz tunes, and +the stentorian tones of the Chamberlain's voice called the ladies' +names. + +'Have you got your cards?' said Mrs. Barton. + +'I have got mine,' said Olive. + +'And I have got mine,' said Alice. + +'Well, you know what to do? You give your card to the aide-de-camp, he +passes it on and spreads out your train, and you walk right up to His +Excellency; he kisses you on both cheeks, you curtsy, and, at the far +door, two aides-de-camp pick up your train and place it on your arm.' + +The girls continued to advance, experiencing the while the nerve +atrophy, the systolic emotion of communicants, who, when the bell rings, +approach the altar-rails to receive God within their mouths. + +The massive, the low-hanging, the opulently twisted gold candelabra, the +smooth lustre of the marble columns are evocative of the persuasive +grandeur of a cathedral; and, deep in the darkness of the pen, a vast +congregation of peeresses and judges watch the ceremony in devout +collectiveness. How symmetrical is the place! A red, a well-trimmed +bouquet of guardsmen has been set in the middle of the Turkey carpet; +around the throne a semicircle of red coats has been drawn, and above it +flow the veils, the tulle, the skirts of the ladies-of-honour--they seem +like white clouds dreaming on a bank of scarlet poppies--and the long +sad legs, clad in maroon-coloured breeches, is the Lord-Lieutenant, the +teeth and the diamonds on his right is Her Excellency. And now a +lingering survival of the terrible Droit de Seigneur--diminished and +attenuated, but still circulating through our modern years--this +ceremony, a pale ghost of its former self, is performed; and, having +received a kiss on either cheek, the _debutantes_ are free to seek their +bridal beds in Patrick's Hall. + +'Miss Olive Barton, presented by Mrs. Barton!' shouted the Chamberlain. + +Olive abandoned her train to the aides-de-camp; she saw their bent +backs, felt their nimble fingers exhibiting this dress whereon Mrs. +Barton and Mrs. Symond had for days been expending all the poetry of +their natures. What white wonder, what manifold marvel of art! Dress of +snow satin, skirt quite plain in front. Bodice and train of white +poplin; the latter wrought with patterns representing night and morning: +a morning made of silver leaves with silver birds fluttering through +leafy trees, butterflies sporting among them, and over all a sunrise +worked in gold and silver thread; then on the left side the same sun +sank amid rosy clouds, and there butterflies slept with folded wing, and +there birds roosted on bending boughs; veils of silver tissue softened +the edges of the train, silver stars gleamed in the corn-coloured hair, +the long hands, gloved with white undressed kid, carried a silver fan; +she was adorably beautiful and adorably pale, and she floated through +the red glare, along the scarlet line, to the weary-looking man in +maroon breeches, like some wonderful white bird of downy plumage. He +kissed her on both cheeks; and she passed away to the farther door, +where her train was caught up and handed to her by two aides-de-camp. He +had seemed to salute her with deference and warmth; his kiss was more +than ceremonial, and eager looks passed between the ladies-of-honour +standing on the estrade; the great bouquet of red-coats placed in the +middle of the floor, animated by one desire, turned its sixteen heads to +gaze after the wonderful vision of blonde beauty that had come--that had +gone. Mrs. Barton experienced an instant thrill of triumph, and advanced +into the throne. + +In the composition of her dress she had given range to her somewhat +florid taste. The front was brocade, laid upon a ground of grey-pink, +shot with orange, and the effect was such as is seen when the sun hangs +behind a lowering grey cloud, tinged with pink. On this were wonderful +soft-coloured flowers, yellow melting into pink, green fading to +madder-like tints. The bodice and the train were of gold-brown velvet +that matched the gold-brown of the hair. Mrs. Barton was transformed +from the usual Romney portrait to one by Sir Peter Lely; and when she +made her curtsy, Her Excellency's face contracted, and the +ladies-of-honour whispered: 'The harm she does her daughters . . . I +wonder . . .' + +'Miss Violet Scully, presented by Mrs. Scully,' shouted the Chamberlain. + +Now there was an admixture of curiosity in the admiration accorded to +Violet. Hers was not the plain appealing of Olive's Greek statue-like +beauty; it was rather the hectic erethism of painters and sculptors in a +period preceding the apogee of an art. She was a statuette in biscuit +after a design by Andrea Mantegna. But the traces of this exquisite +atavism were now almost concealed in the supreme modernity of her +attire. From the tiny waist trailed yards of white faille, trimmed with +tulle ruchings, frecked as a meadow with faintly-tinted daisies; the +hips were engarlanded with daisies, and the flowers melted and bloomed +amid snows of faille and tulle. + +The Lord-Lieutenant leaned forward to kiss her, but at that moment of +his kiss the thunder crashed so loudly that he withdrew from her, and so +abruptly that Her Excellency looked surprised. The incident passed, +however, almost unperceived. So loud was the thunder, everybody was +thinking of dynamite, and it was some time before even the voluptuous +strains of Liddell's band could calm their inquietude. Nevertheless the +Chamberlain continued to shout: + +'Lady Sarah Cullen, Lady Jane Cullen, Mrs. Scully, presented by Lady +Sarah Cullen.' + +Then came a batch of people whom no one knew, and in the front of these +the aides-de-camp allowed Alice to pass on to His Excellency. She was +prettily dressed, dragging after her a train of white faille trimmed +with sprays of white heather and tulle, the petticoat being beautifully +arranged with folded draperies of crepe de Chine. + +A number of ladies had collected in the farther ante-room, and, in +lines, they stood watching the effluent tide of satin and silk +discharging its volume into the spaces of Patrick's Hall. + + + + +XVIII + + +'I wish Alice would make haste, and not keep us waiting. I suppose she +has got behind a crowd. Here are the Scullys; let's hide, they don't +know a creature, and will hang on us.' + +Olive and Mrs. Barton tried to slip out of sight, but they were too +late; and a moment after, looking immense in a train and bodice of Lyons +velvet, Mrs. Scully came up and accosted them. + +'And how do you do, Mrs. Barton?' she said, with a desperate effort to +make herself agreeable; + +'I must congratulate you. Everyone is admiring your dress; I assure you +your train looked perfectly regal.' + +'I am glad you like it,' replied Mrs. Barton; 'but what do you think of +Olive? Do you like her dress?' + +'Oh, Olive has no need of my praises. If I were not afraid of making her +too vain I would tell her that all Dublin is talking of her. Indeed, I +heard a gentleman say--a gentleman who, I believe, writes for the +papers--that she will be in the _World_ or _Truth_ next week as the +belle of the season. None of the other young ladies will have a chance +with her.' + +'Oh, I don't know about that,' exclaimed Mrs. Barton, laughing merrily; +'haven't you got your Violet?--whom, by the way, you have transformed +into a beautiful daisy. It will be, perhaps, not the Rose nor the Olive +that will carry off the prize, but the daisy.' + +Violet glanced sharply at Mrs. Barton, and there was hate in the glance; +for, although her mother did not, she understood well what was meant by +the allusion to the daisy, the humblest of the earth's flowers. + +The appearance, however, of Lord Kilcarney brought the conversation to a +close; and, not knowing how to address him, Olive laughed beautifully +from behind her silver fan. They entered Patrick's Hall, where Lord +Dungory, Lord Rosshill, and others were waiting to receive Mrs. Barton, +who sought for a prominent seat, and dealing out pearly laughs and +winsome compliments to her court, she watched Olive, who, according to +orders, had taken Lord Kilcarney to sit on the highest of the series of +benches that lined one side of the room, which she did, and for a moment +Mrs. Barton felt as if she held Dublin under her satin shoe. Alice was +her only trouble. What would she do with this gawk of a girl? But soon +even this difficulty was solved, for Harding came up and asked her if he +might take her to get an ice. + +'How absurd we looked dressed up in this way,' said Harding; 'look at +that attorney and the court sword. It would be just as logical to stick +a quill pen behind the ear of a fat pig.' + +'Well, the sword--I confess I don't see much meaning in that; but the +rest of the dress is well enough. I don't see why one style of dress +should be more absurd than another, unless it is because it isn't the +fashion.' + +'Yes, but that is just the reason; just fancy dressing oneself up in the +costume of a bygone time.' + +'And is everything that isn't the fashion ridiculous?' + +'Ah, there, I fancy, you have the best of the argument. Waiter, a +strawberry ice. But did you say you would have strawberry?' + +'I don't think I did, for I prefer lemon.' + +The centre of the ceiling was filled with an oval picture representing +St. Patrick receiving Pagans into the true faith. The walls were white +painted, the panels were gold-listed. There were pillars at both ends of +the room, and in a top gallery, behind a curtain of evergreen plants, +Liddell's orchestra continued to pour an uninterrupted flood of waltz +melody upon the sea of satin, silk, poplin, and velvet that surged +around the buffet, angrily demanding cream ices, champagne, and +claret-cup. Every moment the crowd grew denser, and the red coats of the +Guards and the black corded jackets of the Rifles stained like spots of +ink and blood the pallor of the background. A few young men looked +elegant and shapely in the velvet and stockings of Court dress. One of +these was Fred Scully. He was with May, who, the moment she caught sight +of Alice, made frantic efforts to reach her. + +'My dear, did anyone ever look so nice! You are as sweet--well, a little +sweeter--than you generally are! How do you do, Mr. Harding? And tell +me, Alice, what do you think of my dress?' + +May was in cream faille with ruchings of tulle. A beautiful piece of +white lilac nestled upon her right breast. + +'You are very nice, May, and I think the white sets off your hair to +advantage.' + +'Well, good-bye dear, Fred and I are going into the next room; one is so +pushed about here, but there are nice large velvet sofas there where one +can sit and talk. I advise you to come.' + +In the reposing shadows of rich velvet and sombre hangings women leaned +over the sofas, talking to men in uniform, while two strange-looking +creatures, in long garments, walked up and down the room--Dons from +Trinity, who argued with Mr. Adair earnestly. + +'He is one of the lights of your county, is he not?' said Harding, +indicating Mr. Adair. + +'Oh, yes,' replied Alice, 'he took honours and a gold medal at Trinity +College.' + +'I know he did, and a capacity for passing competitive examinations is +the best proof of a man's incapacity for everything else.' + +'Do you know him?' + +'Yes, a little. He wears his University laurels at forty, builds parish +schools, and frightens his neighbours with the liberality of his +opinions and the rectitude of his life.' + +'But have you seen his pamphlets on the amalgamation of the poor +houses?' said Alice, astonished at the slight consideration afforded to +the rural genius. + +'I have heard of them. It appears he is going in for politics; but his +politics will be on a par with his saw-mill, and his farmyard in +concrete. Mr. Adair is a well-known person. Every county in England, +Ireland, and Scotland, possesses and is proud of its Mr. Adair.' + +Alice wondered for some moments in silence; and when suddenly her +thoughts detached themselves, she said: 'We didn't see you in the +ladies' drawing-room.' + +'I was very busy all the morning. I had two articles to write for one of +my papers and some books to review.' + +'How nice it must be to have a duty to perform every day; to have always +an occupation to which you can turn with pleasure.' + +'I don't know that I look upon my ink-bottle as an eternal haven of +bliss. Still, I would sooner contribute articles to daily and weekly +papers than sit in the Kildare Street Club, drinking glasses of sherry. +Having nothing to do must be a terrible occupation, and one difficult to +fulfil with dignity and honour. But,' he added, as if a sudden thought +had struck him, 'you must have a great deal of time on your hands; why +don't you write a novel?' + +'Everybody can't write novels.' + +'Oh yes, they can.' + +'Is that the reason why you advise me to write one? + +'Not exactly. Did you ever try to write a story?' + +'No, not since I was at school. I used to write stories there, and read +them to the girls, and . . .' + +'And what?' + +'Oh, nothing; it seems so absurd of me to talk to you about such things; +you will only laugh at me just as you did at Mr. Adair.' + +'No, I assure you, I am very loyal to my friends.' + +'Friends!' + +'I should have thought that friendship was a question of sympathy, and +not one of time: but I will withdraw the word.' + +'Oh, no, I didn't mean that--I am sure I am very glad . . .' + +'Very well, then, we will be friends; and now tell me what you were +going to say.' + +'I have forgotten--what was I saying?' + +'You were telling me about something you had written at school.' + +'Oh, yes, I remember. I did a little play for the girls to act just +before we left.' + +'What was it about--what was it called?' + +'It was not original--it was an adaptation of Tennyson's ballad of King +Cophetua. You know Miss Gould--she played the King; and Miss Scully, she +played the beggar-maid. But, of course, the whole thing was very +childish.' + +At this moment a figure in knee-breeches and flesh-coloured stockings +was seen waving a wand at the far end of the room. He was the usher +clearing the way for the viceregal procession. + +The first to appear were the A.D.C.'s. They were followed by the Medical +Department, by the Private Secretary, the Military Private Secretary, +the Assistant Under Secretaries, by the Gentlemen in Waiting, the Master +of the Horse, the Dean of the Chapel Royal, the Chamberlain, the +Gentleman Usher, the Comptroller, the State Steward, walking with a +wand, like a doge in an opera bouffe; then came another secretary, and +another band of the underlings who flock about this mock court. And then +came a heavy-built, red-bearded man, who carried, as one might a baby, a +huge gilt sword in his fat hands. He was followed by their Excellencies. +The long, maroon-coloured breeches preserved their usual +disconsolateness, the teeth and diamonds retained their splendour, and +the train--many yards of azure blue richest Duchesse satin, embroidered +with large bouquets of silver lily of the valley, and trimmed with +plumes of azure blue ostrich feathers, and bunches of silver coral--was +upheld by two tiny children who tottered beneath its enormous weight. +Then another batch of A.D.C.'s-in-Waiting, the ladies of the viceregal +family: their Excellencies' guests and the ladies in attendance--placed +according to their personal precedence--brought up the rear of the +procession. + +'Doesn't real, actual life sometimes appear to you, Miss Barton, more +distorted and unreal than a dream? I know it does to me. The spectacle +we have just witnessed was a part of the ages that believed in the +godhead of Christ and the divine right of Kings; but it seems to me +strange that such barbarities should be permitted to loiter.' + +'But what has Christianity to do with the procession that has just +passed?' + +'Were it not for faith, do you think a mock court would be allowed to +promenade in that ludicrous fashion?' + +'I'm not sure it is faith that enables them to reverence the sword of +State. Is it not rather that love of ceremonial inherent in us all--more +or less?' + +'Perhaps you are right.' + +The conversation drifted back to literature; they talked for ten +minutes, and then Alice suggested that it was time she should return to +Mrs. Barton. Patrick's Hall was still crowded, and champagne corks +exploded through the babbling of the voices. The squadron of distressed +damsels had not deserted their favourite corner, and they waited about +the pillars like cabs on a stand. At this hour a middle-aged married +doctor would be welcomed; all were desirous of being seen, if only for a +moment, on the arm of a man. Mrs. Barton's triumph was Caesarean. More +than half-a-dozen old lords and one young man listened to her bewitching +laugh, and were fed on the brown flashing gold of her eyes. Milord and +Rosshill had been pushed aside; and, apart, each sought to convince the +other that he was going to leave town by the evening mail. Well in view +of everyone, Olive had spent an hour with Lord Kilcarney. He had just +brought her back to Mrs. Barton. At a little distance the poor Scullys +stood waiting. They knew no one, even the Bartons had given them a very +cold shoulder. Mrs. Gould, in an old black velvet dress, wondered why +all the nice girls did not get married, and from time to time she +plaintively questioned the passers-by if they had seen May. Violet's +sharp face had grown sharper. She knew she could do something if she +only got a chance. But would she get a chance? The Ladies Cullen, their +plank-like shoulders bound in grey frise velvet and steel, were talking +to her. Suddenly Lady Sarah bowed to Lord Kilcarney, and the bow said, +'Come hither!' Leaving Olive he approached. A moment after he was +introduced to Violet. Her thin face lit up as if from a light within; a +grey cloud dimmed the light of Mrs. Barton's golden eyes, and when she +saw _Him_ in the vestibule helping the Scullys on with their wraps, she +shuddered as if struck with a blast of icy wind. + + + + +XIX + + + 'DUNGORY CASTLE, GORT, + 'Co. GALWAY. + +'MY DEAREST ALICE, +'I was so delighted to hear from you; it was very good of you to write +to me. I was deeply interested in your description of the Dublin +festivities, and must try and tell you all the news. + +'Everybody here is talking of Olive and Lord Kilcarney. It is said that +he proposed to her at the Drawing-Room. Is this true? I hope so, for she +seems to have set her heart on the match. But she is a great deal too +nice for him. They say that when he is in London he does nothing but go +about from bar-room to bar-room drinking brandies and sodas. It is also +said that he used to spend much of his time with actresses. I hope these +stories are false, but I cannot help thinking. . . . Well, we have often +talked over these things, and you know what my opinions of men are. I +hope I am not doing wrong in speaking like this; but a piece of news has +reached me that forces my thoughts back into the old ways--ways that I +know you have often reproved me for letting my mind wander in. In a +word, darling Alice, I hear that you are very much taken up with a Mr. +Harding, a writer, or painter, or something of that sort. Now, will you +promise to write and tell me if this be true? I would sooner know the +worst at once--hear that you love him madly, passionately, as I believe +some women love men. But you, who are so nice, so good, so beautiful, +you could not love a man thus. I cannot think you could--I will not +think you do. I have been crying all the morning, crying bitterly; +horrible thoughts have forced themselves on my mind. I have seen (but it +was not true though it seemed so clear; visions are not always true) +this man kissing you! Oh! Alice, let me warn you, let me beg of you to +think well before you abandon yourself to a man's power, to a man's +love. + +'But you, Alice; you who are so noble, so pure, so lofty-minded, you +would not soil yourself by giving way to such a sentiment. Write! you +will write, and tell me that what I saw in vision was a lie, an +abominable lie! Nay, you do not love Mr. Harding. You will not marry +him; surely you will not. Oh! to be left here alone, never to see you +again--I could not bear it, I should die. You will not leave me to die, +Alice dear, you will not; write and tell me you will not. And what +grieves me doubly is that it must seem to you, dear, that I am only +thinking of myself. I am not; I think of you, I wish to save you from +what must be a life of misery and, worse still, of degradation; for +every man is a degradation when he approaches a woman. I know you +couldn't bear up against this; you are too refined, too pure--I can +sympathize with you. I know, poor little cripple though I be, the +horrors of married life. I know what men are--you smile your own kind, +sweet smile; I see it as I write; but you are wrong: I know nothing of +men in particular, but I know what the sex is--I know nothing of +individuals, but I know what life is. The very fact of being forced to +live apart has helped me to realize how horrible life is, and how the +passions of men make it vile and abominable. All their tender little +words and attentions are but lust in disguise. I hate them! I could +whip, I could beat, I would torture them; and when I had done my worst I +should not have done enough to punish them for the wrongs they have done +to my sex. + +'I know, Alice dear, I am writing violently, that I am letting my temper +get the better of me, and this is very wrong; you have often told me it +is very wrong; but I cannot help it, my darling, when I think of the +danger you are in. I cannot tell you how, but I do know you are in +danger; something, some instinct has put me in communication with you: +there are moments when I see you, yes, see you sitting by that man--I +see you now:--the scene is a long blue drawing-room all aglow with gold +mirrors and wax candles--he is sitting by you, I see you smiling upon +him--my blood boils, Alice--I fear I am going mad; my head drops on the +table, and I strive to shut out the odious sight, but I cannot, I +cannot, I cannot. . . . + +'I am calmer now: you will forgive me, Alice dear? I know I am wrong to +write to you in this way, but there are moments when I realize things +with such horrible vividness that I am, as it were, maddened with pain. +Sometimes I awake in the night, and then I see life in all its hideous +nakedness, revealed, as it were, by a sudden flash of lightning. Oh, it +is terrible to think we are thus. Good-bye, dear, I know you will +forgive me, and I hope you will write at once, and will not leave me in +suspense: that is the worst torture. With love to our friends Olive, +May, and Violet, believe me, darling Alice, + 'Yours affectionately, + 'CECILIA CULLEN.' + + +She read steadily, word by word, and then let the letter fall. + +Her vision was not precise, but there were flashes of sun in it, and her +thoughts loomed and floated away. She thought of herself, of Harding, of +their first meeting. The first time she had seen him he was sitting in +the same place and in the same chair as she was sitting in now. She +remembered the first words that had been spoken: the scene was as clear +to her as if it were etched upon her brain; and as she mused she thought +of the importance of that event. Harding was to her what a mountain is +to the level plain. From him she now looked forward and back. 'So people +say that I am in love with him! well, supposing I were, I do not know +that I should feel ashamed of myself.' + +The reflection was an agreeable one, and in it her thoughts floated away +like red-sailed barges into the white mists that veil with dreamy +enchantment the wharves and the walls of an ancient town. What did she +know of him? Nothing! He was to her as much, but no more, than the +author of a book in which she was deeply interested: with this +difference:--she could hear him reply to her questions; but his answers +were only like other books, and revealed nothing of his personality. She +would have liked to have known the individual man surrounded with his +individual hopes and sufferings, but of these she knew nothing. They had +talked of all things, but it seemed to her that of the real man she had +never had a glimpse. Never did he unbend, never did he lift the mask he +wore. He was interesting, but very unhuman, and he paraded his ideas and +his sneers as the lay figures did the mail-armour on the castle +stairway. She did not know if he were a good or a bad man; she fancied +he was not very good, and then she grew angry with herself for +suspecting him. But honest or dishonest, she was sure he could love no +one; and she strove to recall his face. She could remember nothing but +the cold merciless eyes--eyes that were like the palest blue porcelain: +'But how ungrateful I am,' thought the girl, and she checked the bitter +flow of reproaches that rose in her mind. + +Two old ladies sat on the sofa under the window, their white hair and +white caps coming out very white upon the grey Irish day; and around the +ottoman the young ladies, Gladys and Zoe Brennan, one of the Miss +Duffys, and the girl in red, yawned over circulating novels, longing +that a man might come in--not with hope that he would interest them, but +because they were accustomed to think of all time as wasted that was not +spent in talking to a man. + +Nor were they awakened from their languid hopes until Olive came rushing +into the room with a large envelope in her hand. + +'Oh, I see,' she said, 'you have got a letter from Cecilia. What does +she say? I got one this morning from Barnes;' and, bending her head, +Olive whispered in Alice's ear: 'She says that everyone is talking in +Galway of when I shall be a marchioness!' + +'Is that the letter?' asked Alice innocently. + +'No, you silly, this is a Castle invitation.' + +The Brennans and the girl in red looked up. + +'Ah, is it for to-night or to-morrow?' said the latter. + +'For to-morrow.' + +'Now, I wonder if there will be one for me. Is it to dinner or to the +dance?' + +'To dinner.' + +'Ah, really . . . yes, very lucky.' Her eyes fell, and her look was +expressive of her deep disappointment. A dance--yes, but a dinner and a +dance! Then she continued: 'Ah, the Castle treats us all very badly. I +am glad sometimes when I hear the Land League abusing it. We come up +here, and spend all our money on dresses, and we get nothing for it +except two State balls, and it is no compliment to ask us to them--they +are obliged to. But what do you think of my little coat? It is this that +keeps me warm,' and Miss O'Reilly held out her sealskin for the company +to feel the texture. For the last three weeks she had not failed, on all +occasions, to call attention to this garment--'Signor Parisina had said +it was lovely.' Here she sighed--Signor Parisina had left the hotel. +'And I have a new dress coming home--it is all red--a cardinal silk--you +know nothing but red suits me!' + +'Is the hall-porter distributing the invitations?' asked Gladys Brennan. +'Did he give you yours?' + +'No, ours was, of course, directed to mamma; I found it in her room.' + +'Then perhaps--' Zoe did not finish the sentence, and both sisters +rolled up their worsted-work preparatory to going upstairs. + +In Dublin, during six weeks of the year, the arrival of these large +official envelopes is watched with eagerness. These envelopes are the +balm of Gilead; and the Land League and the hopelessness of matchmaking +are merged and lost for a moment in an exquisite thrill of triumph or +despair. An invitation to the Castle means much. The greyheaded official +who takes you down to dinner may bore you, and, at the dance, you may +find yourself without a partner; but the delight of asking your friends +if you may expect to meet them on such a night, of telling them +afterwards of your successes, are the joys of Dublin. And, armed with +their invitation, the Bartons scored heavily over the Scullys and the +Goulds, who were only asked to the dance. + +'And what will the dinner be like, mamma?' asked Olive. + +'It will be very grand. Lord Cowper does things in very good style +indeed; and our names will be given in the papers. But I don't think it +will amuse you, dear. All the officials have to be asked--judges, +police-officers, etc. You will probably go down with some old fellow of +sixty: but that can't be helped. At the dance, after, we'll see the +Marquis.' + +'I told you, mamma, didn't I, that Barnes wrote that everybody in Galway +said he was in love with me, and had proposed?' + +'You did, dear; and it does no harm for the report to have got about, +for if a thing gets very much spoken of, it forces a man to come to the +point. You will wear your red tulle. I don't know that you look better +in anything else.' + +Whatever Mrs. Barton's faults may have been, she did her duty, as she +conceived it, by her daughter; and during the long dinner, through the +leaves of the flowering-plants, she watched her Olive anxiously. A +hundred and twenty people were present. Mothers and eligible daughters, +judges, lords, police-officers, earls, poor-law inspectors, countesses, +and Castle officials. Around the great white-painted, gold-listed walls +the table, in the form of a horseshoe, was spread. In the soothing light +of the shaded lamps the white glitter of the piled-up silver danced over +the talking faces, and descended in silvery waves into the bosoms of the +women. Salmon and purple-coloured liveries passed quickly; and in the +fragrance of soup and the flavours of sherry, in the lascivious pleasing +of the waltz tunes that Liddell's band poured from a top gallery, the +goodly company of time-servers, panders, and others forgot their fears +of the Land League and the doom that was now waxing to fulness. + +To the girls the dinner seemed interminable, but at the 'private dance' +afterwards those who were known in official circles, or were fortunate +enough to meet their friends, amused themselves. It took place in the +Throne-Room. As the guests arrived they scanned each other narrowly. +People who had known each other from childhood upwards, as they met on +the landing, affected a look of surprise: 'Oh, so you are here? I wonder +how you got your invitation? Well, I suppose you are better than I took +you to be!' Acquaintances saluted each other more cordially than was +their wont: he or she who had dined at the Castle took his or her place +at once among the _elite;_ he or she who had come to dance was +henceforth considered worthy of a bow in Grafton Street. For Dublin is a +city without a conviction, without an opinion. Things are right and +wrong according to the dictum of the nearest official. If it be not +absolutely ill-bred to say you think this, or are inclined to take such +or such a view, it is certainly more advisable to say that the +Attorney-General thinks so, or that on one occasion you heard the State +Steward, the Chamberlain, or any other equally distinguished underling, +express this or that opinion. Castle tape is worn in time of mourning +and in the time of feasting. Every gig-man in the Kildare Street wears +it in his buttonhole, and the ladies of Merrion Square are found to be +gartered with it. + +Mrs. Barton's first thought was to get Olive partners. Milord and Lord +Rosshill were sent hither and thither, and with such good result that +the whole evening the beauty was beset with A.D.C.'s. But the Marquis +had danced three times with Violet Scully, and Mrs. Barton vented her +anger on poor Alice. The girl knew no one, nor was there time to +introduce her to men. She was consequently sent off with Milord to see +where the Marquis was hiding; and she was commissioned to tell her +sister to answer thus when Lord Kilcarney asked for another dance: 'I am +engaged, _cher marquis_, but for you, of course, I shall have to throw +some poor fellow over.' Mrs. Barton did not know how to play a waiting +game. Her tactics were always to grapple with the enemy. She was a +Hannibal: she risked all to gain all. Mrs. Scully, on the contrary, +watched the combat from afar--as Moltke did the German lines when they +advanced upon Paris. + +The Bartons were not invited to the next private dance, which was +annoying, and after long conjecturing as to the enemy that had served +them this trick, they resigned themselves to the inevitable, and began +to look forward to the State ball given on the following Monday. + +As they mounted the stairway Mrs. Barton said: + +'You know we turn to the left this time and enter Patrick's Hall by this +end; the other entrance is blocked up by the dais--only the three and +four season girls stand about the pillars. There they are drawn up in +battle array.' + +'I declare Olive Barton is here!' whispered the redoubtable Bertha; +'this doesn't look as if the beaux were coming forward in their +hundreds. It is said that Lord Kilcarney has given her up for Violet +Scully.' + +'I'm not a bit surprised,' said the girl in red; 'and, now I think of +it, all the beauties come to the same end. I'll just give her a couple +more Castle seasons. It is that that will pull the fine feathers out of +her.' + +St. Patrick's Hall was now a huge democratic crush. All the little sharp +glances of the 'private dances,' 'What, you here!' were dispensed with +as useless, for all were within their rights in being at the ball. They +pushed, laughed, danced. They met as they would have met in Rotten Row, +and they took their amusement with the impartiality of pleasure-seekers +jigging and drinking in a marketplace on fair-day. On either side of the +Hall there were ascending benches; these were filled with chaperons and +_debutantes_, and over their heads the white-painted, gold-listed walls +were hung with garlands of evergreen oak interwoven with the celebrated +silver shields, the property of the Cowper family, and in front of the +curtains hanging about the dais, the maroon legs of His Excellency, and +the teeth and diamonds of Her Excellency, were seen passing to and fro, +and up and down to the music of oblivion that Liddell dispensed with a +flowing arm. + +'Now aren't the Castle balls very nice?' said Bertha; 'and how are you +amusing yourself?' + +'Oh, very much indeed,' replied the poor _debutante_ who had not even a +brother to take her for a walk down the room or to the buffet for an +ice. + +'And is it true, Bertha,' asks the fierce aunt--'you know all the +news--that Mr. Jones has been transferred to another ship and has gone +off to the Cape?' + +'Yes, yes,' replied the girl; 'a nice end to her beau; and after +dinnering him up the whole summer, too.' + +Alice shuddered. What were they but snowflakes born to shine for a +moment and then to fade, to die, to disappear, to become part of the +black, the foul-smelling slough of mud below? The drama in muslin was +again unfolded, and she could read each act; and there was a 'curtain' +at the end of each. The first was made of young, hopeful faces, the +second of arid solicitation, the third of the bitter, malignant tongues +of Bertha Duffy and her friend. She had begun to experience the worst +horrors of a Castle ball. She was sick of pity for those around her, and +her lofty spirit resented the insult that was being offered to her sex. + +'Have you been long here, Miss Barton?' She looked up. Harding was by +her! 'I have been looking out for you, but the crowd is so great that it +is hard to find anyone.' + +'I think we arrived about a quarter to eleven,' Alice answered. + +Then, after a pause, Harding said: 'Will you give me this waltz?' She +assented, and, as they made their way through the dancers, he added: +'But I believe you do not care about dancing. If you'd prefer it, we +might go for a walk down the room. Perhaps you'd like an ice? This is +the way to the buffet.' + +But Alice and Harding did not stop long there; they were glad to leave +the heat of gas, the odour of sauces, the effervescence of the wine, the +detonations of champagne, the tumult of laughter, the racing of plates, +the heaving of bosoms, the glittering of bodices, for the peace and the +pale blue refinement of the long blue drawing-room. How much of our +sentiments and thoughts do we gather from our surroundings; and the +shining blue of the turquoise-coloured curtains, the pale dead-blue of +the Louis XV. furniture, and the exquisite fragility of the glass +chandeliers, the gold mirrors rutilant with the light of some hundreds +of tall wax candles, were illustrative of the light dreams and delicate +lassitude that filled the souls of the women as they lay back whispering +to their partners, the crinolettes lifting the skirts over the edges of +the sofas. Here the conversation seems serious, there it is smiling, and +broken by the passing and repassing of a fan. + +'Only four days more of Dublin,' said Harding; 'I have settled, or +rather the fates have settled, that I am to leave next Saturday.' + +'And where are you going? to London?' + +'Yes, to London. I am sorry I am leaving so soon; but it can't be +helped. I have met many nice people here--some of whom I shall not be +able to forget.' + +'You speak as if it were necessary to forget them--it is surely always +better to remember.' + +'I shall remember you.' + +'Do you think you will?' + +At this moment only one thing in the world seemed to be of much real +importance--that the man now sitting by her side should not be taken +away from her. To know that he existed, though far from her, would be +almost enough--a sort of beacon-light--a light she might never reach to, +but which would guide her . . . whither? + +In no century have men been loved so implicitly by women as in the +nineteenth; nor could this be otherwise, for putting aside the fact that +the natural wants of love have become a nervous erethism in the struggle +that a surplus population of more than two million women has created, +there are psychological reasons that to-day more than ever impel women to +shrink from the intellectual monotony of their sex, and to view with +increasing admiration the male mind; for as the gates of the harem are +being broken down, and the gloom of the female mind clears, it becomes +certain that woman brings a loftier reverence to the shrine of man than +she has done in any past age, seeing, as she now does, in him the +incarnation of the freedom of which she is vaguely conscious and which +she is perceptibly acquiring. So sets the main current that is bearing +civilization along; but beneath the great feminine tide there is an +undercurrent of hatred and revolt. This is particularly observable in +the leaders of the movement; women who in the tumult of their +aspirations, and their passionate yearnings towards the new ideal, and +the memory of the abasement their sex have been in the past, and are +still being in the present, subjected to, forget the laws of life, and +with virulent virtue and protest condemn love--that is to say, love in +the sense of sexual intercourse--and proclaim a higher mission for woman +than to be the mother of men: and an adjuvant, unless corrected by +sanative qualities of a high order, is, of course, found in any physical +defect. But as the corporeal and incorporeal hereditaments of Alice +Barton and Lady Cecilia Cullen were examined fully in the beginning of +this chapter, it is only necessary to here indicate the order of +ideas--the moral atmosphere of the time--to understand the efflorescence +of the two minds, and to realize how curiously representative they are +of this last quarter of the nineteenth century. + +And it was necessary to make that survey of psychical cause and effect +to appreciate the sentiments that actuated Alice in her relationship +with Harding. She loved him, but more through the imagination than the +heart. She knew he was deceiving her, but to her he meant so much that +she had not the force of will to cast him off, and abandoned herself to +the intellectual sensualism of his society. It was this, and nothing +more. What her love might have been it is not necessary to analyze; in +the present circumstances, it was completely merged in the knowledge +that he was to her, light, freedom, and instruction, and that when he +left, darkness and ignorance would again close in upon her. They had not +spoken for some moments. With a cruelty that was peculiar to him, he +waited for her to break the silence. + +'I am sorry you are going away; I am afraid we shall never meet again.' + +'Oh yes, we shall,' he replied: 'you'll get married one of these days +and come to live in London.' + +'Why should I go to live in London?' + +'There are Frenchmen born in England, Englishmen born in France. Heine +was a Frenchman born in Germany--and you are a Kensingtonian. I see +nothing Irish in you. Oh, you are very Kensington, and therefore you +will--I do not know when or how, but assuredly as a stream goes to the +river and the river to the sea, you will drift to your native +place--Kensington. But do you know that I have left the hotel? There +were too many people about to do much work, so I took rooms in +Molesworth Street--there I can write and read undisturbed. You might +come and see me.' + +'I should like to very much, but I don't think I could ask mother to +come with me; she is so very busy just now.' + +'Well, don't ask your mother to come; you won't be afraid to come +alone?' + +'I am afraid I could not do that.' + +'Why not? No one will ever know anything about it.' + +'Very possibly, but I don't think it would be a proper thing to do--I +don't think it would be a _right_ thing to do.' + +'Right! I thought we had ceased to believe in heaven and hell.' + +'Yes; but does that change anything? There are surely duties that we owe +to our people, to our families. The present ordering of things may be +unjust, but, as long as it exists, had we not better live in accordance +with it?' + +'A very sensible answer, and I suppose you are right.' + +Alice looked at him in astonishment, but she was shaken too intensely in +all her feelings to see that he was perfectly sincere, that his answer +was that of a man who saw and felt through his intelligence, and not his +conscience. + +The conversation had come to a pause, and the silence was broken +suddenly by whispered words, and the abundant laughter that was +seemingly used to hide the emotions that oppressed the speakers. Finally +they sat down quite close to, but hidden from, Alice and Harding by a +screen, and through the paper even their breathing was audible. All the +dancers were gone; there was scarcely a white skirt or black coat in the +pale blueness of the room. Evidently the lovers thought they were well +out of reach of eavesdroppers. Alice felt this, but before she could +rise to go Fred Scully had said-- + +'Now, May, I hope you won't refuse to let me come and see you in your +room to-night. It would be too cruel if you did. I'll steal along the +passage; no one will hear, no one will ever know, and I'll be so very +good. I promise you I will.' + +'Oh, Fred, I'm afraid I can't trust you; it would be so very wicked.' + +'Nothing is wicked when we really love; besides, I only want to talk to +you.' + +'You can talk to me here.' + +'Yes, but it isn't the same thing; anyone can talk to you here. I want +to show you a little poem I cut out of a newspaper to-day for you. I'll +steal along the passage--no one will ever know.' + +'You'll promise to be very good, and you won't stop more than five +minutes.' + +The words were spoken in low, soft tones, exquisitely expressive of the +overthrow of reason and the merging of all the senses in the sweet +abandonment of passion. + +Alice sat unable to move, till at last, awakening with a pained look in +her grey eyes, she touched Harding's hand with hers, and, laying her +finger on her lips, she arose. Their footfalls made no sound on the +deep, soft carpet. + +'This is very terrible,' she murmured, half to herself. + +Harding had too much tact to answer; and, taking advantage of the +appearance of Violet Scully, who came walking gaily down the room on the +Marquis's arm, he said: + +'Your friend Miss Scully seems to be in high spirits.' + +Violet exchanged smiles with Alice as she passed. The smile was one of +triumph. She had waltzed three times with the Marquis, and was now going +to sit out a set of quadrilles. + +'What a beautiful waltz the _Blue Danube_ is!' she said, leading her +admirer to where the blue fans were numerous. Upon the glistening piano +stood a pot filled with white azaleas; and, in the pauses of the +conversation, one heard the glass of the chandeliers tinkling gently to +the vibration of the music. + +'It is a beautiful waltz when I am dancing it with you.' + +'I am sure you say that to every girl you dance with.' + +'No, I shouldn't know how to say so to anyone but you,' said the little +man humbly; and so instinct were the words with truth that the girl, in +the violence of her emotion, fancied her heart had ceased to beat. + +'But you haven't known me a fortnight,' she answered involuntarily. + +'But that doesn't matter; the moment I saw you, I--I--liked you. It is +so easy to know the people we--like; we know it at once--at least I do.' + +She was more self-possessed than he, but the words 'Am I--am I going to +be a marchioness?' throbbed like a burning bullet sunk into the very +centre of her forehead. And to maintain her mental equipoise she was +forced, though by doing so she felt she was jeopardizing her chances, to +coquette with him. After a long silence she said: + +'Oh, do you think we know at first sight the people we like? Do you +believe in first impressions?' + +'My first and last impressions of you are always the same. All I know is +that when you are present all things are bright, beautiful, and +cheering, and when you are away I don't much care what happens. Now, +these Castle balls used to bore me to death last year; I used to go into +a back room and fall asleep. But this year I am as lively as a kitten--I +think I could go on for ever, and the Castle seems to me the most +glorious place on earth. I used to hate it; I was as bad as Parnell, but +not for the same reasons, of course. Now I am only afraid he will have +his way, and they'll shut the whole place up. Anyhow, even if they do, I +shall always look back upon this season as a very happy time.' + +'But you do not really think that Parnell will be allowed to have his +way?' said Violet inadvertently. + +'I don't know; I don't take much interest in politics, but I believe +things are going to the bad. Dublin, they say, is undermined with secret +societies, and the murder that was committed the other day in Sackville +Street was the punishment they inflict on those whom they suspect of +being informers, even remotely.' + +'But don't you think the Government will soon be obliged to step in and +put an end to all this kind of thing?' + +'I don't know; I'm afraid they'll do nothing until we landlords are all +ruined.' + +Violet's thin face contracted. She had introduced a subject that might +prevent him from ever proposing to her. She knew how heavily the +Kilcarney estates were mortgaged; and, even now, as she rightly +conjectured, the poor little man was inwardly trembling at the folly it +had been on his lips to speak. Three of his immediate ancestors had +married penniless girls, and it was well known that another love-match +would precipitate the property over that precipice known to every Irish +landowner--the Encumbered Estates Court. But those dainty temples, so +finely shaded with light brown tresses, that delicately moulded +head--delicate as an Indian carven ivory, dispelled all thoughts of his +property, and he forgot his duty to marry an heiress. Violet meanwhile, +prompted by her instinct, said the right words: + +'But things never turn out as well or as badly as we expect them to.' + +This facile philosophy went like wine to the little Marquis's head, and +he longed to throw himself at the feet of his goddess and thank her for +the balm she had poured upon him. The gloom of approaching ruin +disappeared, and he saw nothing in the world but a white tulle skirt, a +thin foot, a thin bosom, and a pair of bright grey eyes. Vaguely he +sought for equivalent words, but loud-talking dancers passed into the +room, and, abashed by their stares, the Marquis broke off a flowering +branch and said, stammering the while incoherently: + +'Will you keep this in memory of this evening?' + +Violet thrust the flowers into her bosom, and was about to thank him, +when an A.D.C. came up and claimed her for the dance. She told him he +was mistaken, that she was engaged; and, taking Lord Kilcarney's arm, +they made their way in silence back to the ball-room. Violet was +satisfied; she felt now very sure of her Marquis, and, as they +approached Mrs. Scully, a quick glance said that things were going as +satisfactorily as could be desired. Not daring to trust herself to the +gossip of the chaperons, this excellent lady sat apart, maintaining the +solitary dignity to which the Galway counter had accustomed her. She +received the Marquis with the same smile as she used to bestow on her +best customers, and they talked for a few minutes of the different +aspects of the ball-room, of their friends, of things that did not +interest them. Then Violet said winsomely, affecting an accent of +command that enchanted him: + +'Now I want you to go and dance with someone else; let me see--what do +you say to Olive Barton? If you don't, I shall be in her mother's black +books for the rest of my life. Now go. We shall be at home to-morrow; +you might come in for tea;' and, suffocated with secret joy, Lord +Kilcarney made his way across the room to Mrs. Barton, who foolishly +cancelled a couple of Olive's engagements, and sent her off to dance +with him, whereas wise Violet sat by her mother, refusing all her +partners; but, when _God Save the Queen_ was played, she accepted Lord +Kilcarney's arm, and they pressed forward to see the Lord-Lieutenant and +Her Excellency pass down the room. + +Violet's eyes feasted on the bowing black coats and light toilettes, +and, leaning on her escutcheon, she dreamed vividly of the following +year when she would take her place amid all these noble people, and, as +high as they, stand a peeress on the dais. + + + + +XX + + +'So you couldn't manage to keep him after all, my lady? When did he +leave the hotel?' + +'Mr. Harding left Dublin last Monday week.' + +Alice wondered if her mother hated her; if she didn't, it was difficult +to account for her cruel words. And this was the girl's grief, and she +feared that hatred would beget hatred, and that she would learn to hate +her mother. But Mrs. Barton was a loving and affectionate mother, who +would sacrifice herself for one child almost as readily for the other. +In each of us there are traits that the chances of life have never +revealed; and though she would have sat by the bedside, even if Alice +were stricken with typhoid fever, Mrs. Barton recoiled spitefully like a +cat before the stern rectitudes of a nature so dissimilar from her own. +She had fashioned Olive, who was now but a pale copy of her mother +according to her guise: all the affectations had been faithfully +reproduced, but the charm of the original had evaporated like a perfume. +It would be rash to say that Mrs. Barton did not see that the weapons +which had proved so deadly in her hands were ineffectual in her +daughter's; but twenty years of elegant harlotry had blunted her finer +perceptions, and now the grossest means of pushing Olive and the Marquis +morally and physically into each other's arms seemed to her the best. +Alice was to her but a plain girl, whose misfortune was that she had +ever been born. This idea had grown up with Mrs. Barton, and fifteen +years ago she had seen in the child's face the spinster of fifty. But +since the appearance of Harding, and the manifest interest he had shown +in her daughter, Mrs. Barton's convictions that Alice would never be +able to find a husband had been somewhat shaken, and she had almost +concluded that it would be as well--for there was no knowing what men's +tastes were--to give her a chance. Nor was the dawning fancy dispelled +by the fact that Harding had not proposed, and the cutting words she had +addressed to the girl were the result of the nervous irritation caused +by the marked attention the Marquis was paying Violet Scully. + +For, like Alice, Mrs. Barton never lived long in a fool's paradise, and +she now saw that the battle was going against her, and would most +assuredly be lost unless a determined effort was made. So she delayed +not a moment in owning to herself that she had committed a mistake in +going to the Shelbourne Hotel. Had she taken a house in Mount Street or +Fitzwilliam Place, she could have had all the best men from the barracks +continually at her house. But at the hotel she was helpless; there were +too many people about, too many beasts of women criticizing her conduct. +Mrs. Barton had given two dinner-parties in a private room hired for the +occasion; but these dinners could scarcely be called successful. On one +occasion they had seven men to dinner, and as some half-dozen more +turned in in the evening, it became necessary to send down to the +ladies' drawing-room for partners. Bertha Duffy and the girl in red of +course responded to the call, but they had rendered everything odious by +continuous vulgarity and brogue. Then other mistakes had been made. A +charity costume ball had been advertised. It was to be held in the +Rotunda. An imposing list of names headed the prospectus, and it was +confidently stated that all the lady patronesses would attend. Mrs. +Barton fell into the trap, and, to her dismay, found herself and her +girls in the company of the rag, tag, and bobtail of Catholic Dublin: +Bohemian girls fabricated out of bed-curtains, negro minstrels that an +application of grease and burnt cork had brought into a filthy +existence. And from the single gallery that encircled this tomb-like +building the small tradespeople looked down upon the multicoloured crowd +that strove to dance through the mud that a late Land League meeting had +left upon the floor; and all the while grey dust fell steadily into the +dancers' eyes and into the sloppy tea distributed at counters placed +here and there like coffee-stands in the public street. + +'I never felt so low in my life,' said the lady who always brought back +an A.D.C. from the Castle, and the phrase was cited afterwards as being +admirably descriptive of the festival. + +When it became known that the Bartons had been present at this ball, +that the beauty had been seen dancing with the young Catholic nobodies, +their names were struck off the lists, and they were asked to no more +private dances at the Castle. Lord Dungory was sent to interview the +Chamberlain, but that official could promise nothing. Mrs. Barton's hand +was therefore forced. It was obligatory upon her to have some place +where she could entertain officers; the Shelbourne did not lend itself +to that purpose. She hired a house in Mount Street, and one that +possessed a polished floor admirably suited to dancing. + +Then she threw off the mask, and pirate-like, regardless of the laws of +chaperons, resolved to carry on the war as she thought proper. She'd +have done once and for ever with those beasts of women who abused and +criticized her. Henceforth she would shut her door against them all, and +it would only be open to men--young men for her daughters, elderly men +for herself. At four o'clock in the afternoon the entertainment began. +Light refreshments, consisting of tea, claret, biscuits, and cigarettes, +were laid out in the dining-room. Having partaken, the company, +consisting of three colonels and some half-dozen subalterns, went +upstairs to the drawing-room. And in recognition of her flirtation with +Harding, a young man replaced Alice at the piano, and for half-a-crown +an hour supplied the necessary music. + +Round and round the girls went, passing in turn out of the arms of an +old into those of a young man, and back again. If they stayed their feet +for a moment, Mrs. Barton glided across the floor, and, with insinuating +gestures and intonations of voice, would beg of them to continue. She +declared that it was _la grace et la beaute_, etc. The merriment did not +cease until half-past six. Some of the company then left, and some few +were detained for dinner. A new pianist and fresh officers arrived about +nine o'clock, and dancing was continued until one or two in the morning. +To yawning subalterns the house in Mount Street seemed at first like a +little paradise. The incessant dancing was considered fatiguing, but +there were interludes in which claret was drunk, cigarettes smoked, and +loose conversation permitted in the dining-room. + +Then the dinners! Mrs. Barton's dinners are worthy of special study. Her +circle of acquaintances being limited, the same guests were generally +found at her table. Lord Dungory always sat next to her. He displayed +his old-fashioned shirt-front, his cravat, his studs, his urbanity, his +French epigram. Lord Rosshill sat opposite him; he was thin, melancholy, +aristocratic, silent, and boring. There was a captain who, since he had +left the army, had grown to the image of a butler, and an ashen-tinted +young man who wore his arm in a sling; and an old man, who looked like a +dirty and worn-out broom, and who put his arm round the backs of the +chairs. These and three A.D.C.'s made up the party. There was very +little talking, and what there was was generally confined to asking the +young ladies if they had been to the Castle, and if they liked dancing. + +The Marquis was a constant, although an unwilling guest at all these +entertainments. He would fain have refused Mrs. Barton's hospitalities, +but so pressing was she that this seemed impossible. There were times +when he started at the postman's knock as at the sound of a Land +Leaguer's rifle. Too frequently his worst fears were realized. '_Mon +cher Marquis_, it will give us much pleasure if you will dine with us +to-morrow night at half-past seven.' 'Dear Mrs. Barton, I regret +extremely that I am engaged for to-morrow night.' An hour later, '_Mon +cher Marquis_, I am very sorry you cannot come to-morrow night, but +Thursday will suit us equally well.' What was to be done? A second +excuse would result only in a proposal to fix a day next week; better +accept and get it over. He must do this or send a rude message to the +effect that he was engaged for every day he intended to dine out that +season, and he lacked the moral courage to write such a letter. Mrs. +Barton's formula for receiving the Marquis never varied. If he arrived +early he found Olive waiting to receive him in the drawing-room. She was +always prepared with a buttonhole, which she insisted on arranging and +pinning into his coat. Then allusion was made to the forget-me-nots that +the bouquet was sure to contain; and laughing vacantly--for laughter +with Olive took the place of conversation--she fled through the rooms, +encouraging him to pursue her. During dinner attempts were made to +exchange a few words, but without much success. Nor was it until Olive +pelted him with flowers, and he replied by destroying another bouquet +and applying it to the same purpose, that much progress was made towards +intimacy. But this little scene was exceptional, and on all other +occasions Lord Kilcarney maintained an attitude of reserve. + +Mrs. Barton was at her wits' end. Three days ago she had met him walking +in Grafton Street with Violet; yesterday she had caught sight of him +driving towards Fitzwilliam Place in a four-wheeler. She had fortunately +a visit to pay in that neighbourhood, and was rewarded by seeing the +Marquis's cab draw up before the Scullys' door. The mere fact that he +should use a cab instead of an outside car was a point to consider, but +when she noticed that one of the blinds was partially drawn down, her +heart sank. Nor did the secret of this suspicious visit long remain her +exclusive property. As if revealed by those mysteriously subtle oral and +visual faculties observed in savage tribes, by which they divine the +approach of their enemies or their prey, two days had not elapsed before +the tongue of every chaperon was tipped with the story of the +four-wheeler and the half-drawn blind, but it was a distinctly +latter-day instinct that had led these ladies to speak of there having +been luggage piled upon the roof of this celebrated cab. Henceforth eye, +ear, and nostril were open, and in the quivering ardour of the chase +they scattered through the covers of Cork Hill and Merrion Square, +passing from one to the other, by means of sharp yelps and barkings, +every indication of the trail that came across their way. Sometimes +hearkening to a voice they had confidence in, they rallied at a single +point, and then an old bitch, her nose in the air, her capstrings +hanging lugubriously on either side of her weatherbeaten cheeks, would +utter a deep and prolonged baying; a little farther on the scent was +recovered, and, with sterns wagging and bristles erect, they hunted the +quarry vigorously. Every moment he was expected to break--fear was even +expressed that he might end by being chopped. + +The Shelbourne Hotel was a favourite meet, and in the ladies' +drawing-room each fresh piece of news was torn with avidity. The +consumption of notepaper was extraordinary. Two, three, four, and even +five sheets of paper were often filled with what these scavengeresses +could rake out of the gutters of gossip. 'Ah! me arm aches, and the +sleeve of me little coat is wore; I am so eager to write it all off to +me ant, that I am too impatient to wait to take it off,' was the verbal +form in which the girl in red explained her feelings on the subject. +Bertha Duffy declared she would write no more; that she was ruining +herself in stamps. Nor were the pens of the Brennans silent; and looking +over their shoulders, on which the mantles of spinsterhood were fast +descending, one read: 'I hear they danced at the Castle three times +together last night . . . a friend of mine saw them sitting in Merrion +Square the whole of one afternoon. . . . They say that if he marries her, +that he'll be ruined. . . . The estates are terribly encumbered . . . his +family are in despair about it. . . . Violet is a very nice girl, but we +all know her mother sold bacon behind a counter in Galway. . . . He never +looks at Olive Barton now; this is a sad end to her beau, and after +feeding him up the whole season. . . . He dined there three times a week: +Mrs. Barton took the house on purpose to entertain him. . . . It is said +that she offered him twenty thousand pounds if he'd marry her +daughter. . . . The money that woman spends is immense, and no one knows +whence it comes.' + +In these matrimonial excitements the amatories of the lady who brought +the A.D.C. home from the Castle passed unheeded. The critical gaze of +her friends was sorely distracted, and even the night porter forgot to +report the visits of her young gentlemen. May, too, profited largely by +the present ferment of curiosity; and, unobserved, she kept her trysts +with Fred Scully at the corners of this and that street, and in the +hotel they passed furtively down this passage and up that pair of +stairs; when disturbed they hid behind the doors. + +Mrs. Gould lived in ignorance of all this chambering folly, spending her +time either writing letters or gossiping about Lord Kilcarney in the +drawing-room. And when she picked up a fragment of fresh news she lost +not a moment, but put on her bonnet and carried it over to Mount Street. +So assiduous was she in this self-imposed duty, that Mrs. Barton was +obliged at last to close her door against this obtrusive visitor. + +But one day, after a moment of intense reflection, Mrs. Barton concluded +that she was losing the battle--that now, in the eleventh hour, it could +only be snatched out of defeat by a bold and determined effort. She sat +down and penned one of her admirable invitations to dinner. An hour +later a note feebly pleaded a 'previous engagement.' Undaunted, she sat +down again and wrote: 'Tomorrow will suit us equally well.' The Marquis +yielded; and Lord Dungory was ordered, when he found himself alone with +him in the dining-room, to lose no opportunity of insisting upon the +imminent ruin of all Irish landlords. He was especially enjoined to say +that, whatever chance of escape there was for the owners of unencumbered +properties, the doom of those who had mortgages to pay had been sounded. +Milord executed his task with consummate ability; and when the _grand +parti_ entered the drawing-room, his thoughts were racked with horrible +forebodings. The domain woods, the pride of centuries, he saw plundered +and cut down; lawns, pleasure-grounds, and gardens distributed among +peasants, and he, a miserable outcast, starving in a Belgian +boarding-house. Mrs. Barton's eyes brightened at the distressed +expression of his face. Olive brought in the buttonhole and went to the +piano; Milord engaged Alice's attention; and the Marquis was led into +the adjoining room. + +'The season is now drawing to its close,' Mrs. Barton said; 'we shall be +soon returning to Galway. We shall be separating. I know Olive likes +you, but if there is no--if it is not to be, I should like to tell her +not to think about it any more.' + +The Marquis felt the earth gliding. What could have tempted the woman to +speak like this to him? What answer was he to make her? He struggled +with words and thoughts that gave way, as he strove to formulate a +sentence, like water beneath the arms of one drowning. + +'Oh, really, Mrs. Barton,' he said, stammering, speaking like one in a +dream, 'you take me by surprise. I did not expect this; you certainly +are too kind. In proposing this marriage to me, you do me an honour I +did not anticipate, but you know it is difficult offhand, for I am bound +to say . . . at least I am not prepared to say that I am in love with your +daughter. . . . She is, of course, very beautiful, and no one admires her +more than I, but--' + +'Olive will have twenty thousand pounds paid down on her wedding-day; +not promised, you know, but paid down; and in the present times I think +this is more than most girls can say. Most Irish properties are +embarrassed, mortgaged,' she continued, risking everything to gain +everything, 'and twenty thousand pounds would be a material help to most +men. At my death she will have more; I--' + +'Oh, Mrs. Barton, do not let us speak of that!' cried the little man. + +'And why not? Does it prove that because we are practical, we do not +care for a person? I quite understand that it would be impossible for +you to marry without money, and that Olive will have twenty thousand +paid down on her wedding-day will not prevent you from being very fond +of her. On the contrary, I should think--' + +'Twenty thousand pounds is, of course, a great deal of money,' said the +little man, shrinking, terror-stricken, from a suddenly protruding +glimpse of the future with which Milord had previously poisoned his +mind. + +'Yes, indeed it is, and in these times,' urged Mrs. Barton. + +The weak grey eyes were cast down, abashed by the daring determination +of the brown. + +'Of course Olive is a beautiful girl,' he said. + +'And she is so fond of you, and so full of affection. . . .' + +The situation was now tense with fear, anxiety, apprehension; and with +resolute fingers Mrs. Barton tightened the chord until the required note +vibrated within the moral consciousness. The poor Marquis felt his +strength ebbing away; he was powerless as one lying in the hot chamber +of a Turkish bath. Would no one come to help him? The implacable melody +of _Dream Faces_, which Olive hammered out on the piano, agonized him. +If she would stop for one moment he would find the words to tell her +mother that he loved Violet Scully and would marry none other. But bang, +bang, bang the left hand pounded the bass into his stunned ears, and the +eyes that he feared were fixed upon him. He gasped for words, he felt +like a drunkard who clutches the air as he reels over a precipice, and +the shades of his ancestors seemed to crowd menacingly around him. He +strove against his fears until a thin face with luminous eyes shone +through the drifting wrack like a stars. + +'But we have seen so little of each other,' he said at last; 'Miss +Barton is a great beauty, I know, and nobody appreciates her beauty more +than I, but I am not what you call in love with her.' + +He deplored the feebleness of his words, and Mrs. Barton swooped upon +him again. + +'You do not love her because, as you say, you have seen very little of +each other. We are going down to Brookfield to-morrow. We shall be very +glad if you will come with us, and in the country you will have an +opportunity of judging, of knowing her: and she is such an affectionate +little thing.' + +Affrighted, the Marquis sought again for words, and he glanced at his +torturer timidly, like the hare on the ever-nearing hounds. Why did she +pursue him, he asked, in this terrible way? Had she gone mad? What was +he to say? He had not the courage to answer no to her face. Besides, if +Violet would not have him, he might as well save the family estates. If +Violet refused him! Then he didn't care what became of him! He sought, +and he struggled for words, for words that would save him; and, in this +hour of deep tribulation, words came and they saved him. + +'I have a great deal of business to attend to to-morrow. I am--that is +to say, my solicitor is, raising for me a large sum of money at four per +cent. On one large mortgage I am paying six per cent., therefore if I +can get the money at four I shall be by some hundreds of pounds a richer +man than I am at present. At the end of the week this matter will be +settled. I will write to you and say when I shall be able to accept your +invitation.' + +Mrs. Barton would have preferred to have brought the matter at once to a +conclusion, but in the hesitation that ensued, the Marquis, unable to +withstand the strain set upon his feelings any longer, moved away from +her. And in the next room, to save himself from further persecution, he +engaged at once in conversation with Alice. Ten minutes after he said +good-night. To get out of the light into the dark, to feel the cool wind +upon his cheek, oh! what a relief! 'What could have persuaded that woman +to speak to me as she did? She must be mad.' He walked on as if in a +dream, the guineas she had promised him chinking dubiously through his +brain. Then stopping suddenly, overcome by nerve-excitement, he threw +his arms in the air: his features twitched convulsively. The spasm +passed; and, unconscious of all save the thoughts that held and tore +him--their palpitating prey--he walked onwards. . . . Black ruin on one +side, and oh! what sweet white vision of happiness on the other! Why was +he thus tortured--why was he thus torn on the rack of such a terrible +discussion? He stopped again, and his weak neck swayed plaintively. +Then, in the sullen calm that followed, the thought crossed his mind: If +he only knew. . . . She might refuse him; if so, he did not care what +became of him, and he would accept the other willingly. But would she +refuse him? That he must know at once. If she did refuse, he would, at +all events, escape the black looks of his relations, and in the +cowardice of the thought the weary spirit was healed, assuaged, as tired +limbs might be in a bath of cool, clear water. Why lose a moment? It was +only half-past ten--an 'outside' would take him in less than two minutes +to Fitzwilliam Place. Yes, he would go. + +And as the car clattered he feasted on the white thin face and the grey +allurements of her eyes. But if she weren't at home. + +He was shown upstairs. Mother and daughter were alone, talking over the +fire in the drawing-room. Nothing could be more propitious, but his +fears returned to him, and when he strove to explain the lateness of his +visit his face had again grown suddenly haggard and worn. Violet +exchanged glances, and said in looks, if not in words: 'It is clear they +have been hunting him pretty closely to-day.' + +'I must apologize,' he said, 'for calling on you at such an hour; I +really did not think it was so late, but the fact is I was rather +anxious to see. . . .' + +'But won't you sit down, Lord Kilcarney?' said Violet. 'I assure you we +never go to bed before twelve, and sometimes we sit up here until +one--don't we, mamma?' + +Mrs. Scully smiled jocosely, and the Marquis sat down. In an instant his +fate was decided. Overcome by the girl's frail sweetness, by the +pellucid gaiety of her grey eyes, he surrendered; and his name and +fortune fluttered into her lap, helplessly as a blown leaf. He said: + +'I came to see you to-night . . . I took the liberty of calling on you at +this late hour, because things had occurred that . . . well, I mean . . . +you must have observed that I was attached to you. I don't know if you +guessed it, but the fact is that I never cared for anyone as I do for +you, and I felt I could bear with uncertainty no longer, and that I must +come to-night, and ask you if you will have me.' + +Violet raised her eyes. + +'Say yes,' murmured the Marquis, and it seemed to him that in the words +life had fallen from his lips. + +'Yes,' was the answer, and he clasped the thin hand she extended to him. + +'Ah, how happy you have made me, I never thought such honours were in +store for me,' exclaimed Mrs. Scully. The discipline of years was lost +in a moment; and, reverting to her long-buried self, she clasped the +Marquis to her agitated bosom. Violet looked annoyed, ashamed; and Mrs. +Scully, whom excitement had stripped of all her grand manners, said: + +'And now, me dear children, I'll leave you to yerselves.' + +The lovers sat side by side. Violet thought of the great love she had +inspired, and the Marquis of the long years of happiness that +would--that must now be his, of the frail grace that as a bland odour +seemed to float about his beloved. And now that she was his, he would +have her know that his love of her rose out of his deepest sense of +soul; but words were weak: he seemed to be tongue-tied. + +'Where did you dine to-night?' she said suddenly. + +'With the Bartons.' + +He told her everything--of the proposal and the invitation to +Brookfield. + +'And are you going down to Galway to stay with them?' + +'Of course not. How can you ask such a question?' + +'And why not--why shouldn't you go? I wish you would,' she added; and +the light in her grey eyes was malign. + +'You're joking? You surely don't mean what you say. I thought you said +you loved me.' + +'Yes, my dear Harry, that is the very reason. We love each other, +therefore I know I can trust you.' + +He pressed the hand--the silken skin, the palm delicately moist--in +recognition of her kind words. + +'I wouldn't go for anything in the world. I hate those people. 'Pon my +word, I don't think anything would tempt me to spend a week with them in +the country.' + +'Yes; I could.' + +The Marquis laughed. 'Yes, you could--you could tempt me to do anything. +But why should you want me to go and spend a week with them in Galway?' + +'Because, dear, they were rude to me; because,' she added, casting down +her eyes--'because they tried to buy you from me. That is why I should +like to humiliate them.' + +The enchantment of the Marquis was completed, and he said: + +'What, a whole week away from you! a whole week with Mrs. Barton! I +could not endure it.' + +'What, not for my sake?' + +'Anything for your sake, darling.' He clasped her in his arms, and then +they lapsed into silence that to him was even sweeter than the kiss she +had given him. Love's deepest delight is the ineffable consciousness of +our own weakness. We drink the sweetened cup in its entirety when, +having ceased to will, we abandon ourselves with the lethal languors of +the swimmer to the vague depths of dreams. And it was past midnight when +the Marquis left Fitzwilliam Place. The ladies accompanied him +downstairs; their hands helped him to his hat and coat, and then the +lock slipped back sharply, and in the gloom, broken in one spot by the +low-burning gas, the women wondered. + +'Oh, mamma, mamma, mamma! I am so happy!' the girl exclaimed, and, +weeping passionately, she threw herself for rest upon Mrs. Scully's +arms. + +'Yes, my child; you have been very good, you have made me very happy. +You'll be a marchioness. Who would have thought I'd have lived to see +all this honour when I served in the little shop at Galway!' + +At the mention of the shop Violet recovered her composure, and mother +and daughter listened to the receding footfalls. + +'I wonder if he is happy,' Violet murmured; 'as happy as I am. For I do +like him. He is a good sort.' + +'Your happiness is a different happiness,' Mrs. Scully answered. + +Like a flowering tree, a luxuriant joy bloomed in the Marquis's heart; +in its shade and fragrance his thoughts lay supinely; and, a prey to +many floating and fanciful imaginings, he walked onwards through the +darkness. In the lowering skies he saw the fair face that had led him to +the verge on which he now stood. + +'Was anybody as happy as he? And what did his happiness mean?' he asked +himself. + +Shades flitted across yellow window-panes, and he remembered he had +received an invitation for this very ball. + +Cats slunk through the area railings; policemen moved from their hiding +corners; a lover passed on with his dreams. + + + + +XXI + + +Mrs. Barton rarely took anyone into her confidence, and her plan for the +capture of the Marquis was locked within her breast. Not to her husband, +nor yet to Milord, did she think of going for advice. Her special +experience of life had taught her to trust none, to be self-reliant, and +never to give up hope. For as she often said, it is the last effort that +wins the battle. Mrs. Barton's knowledge of the world, when it came to +be analyzed, was only that of the courtesan--skin deep. + +Two days after she received a note from the Marquis, saying he would be +glad to spend a week with them at Brookfield. She read it quietly, +slipped it into the pocket of the black silk that covered the unseen +feet, and glided out of the room. Every detail was clear to her. They +must leave Dublin to-morrow morning; they need not trouble about calling +on a pack of women, but they would have all their men friends to dinner. + +Mr. Barton, when he was informed of these sudden determinations, was in +the act of rehearsing a song he was to sing the following day at a +concert. + +'But, my dear,' he said, tightening one of the strings; 'the public will +be awfully disappointed.' + +'Yes, my dear, yes; I am very sorry, but I have my reasons--serious +reasons; and in this world we must only do what's right.' + +'Then in the next world we shall be able to do everything that's wrong,' +said Mr. Barton; and he threw back his blond locks with troubadour-like +waves of his lymphatic hand. 'I shall like the next world better than +this,' he added, and his wife and daughter laughed; for papa was +supposed to be very naughty. + +'Olive, dear--' + +'Oh, mamma, I wish you wouldn't call me Olive. I shall change my name. +Captain Talbot was chaffing me about it yesterday. Everybody chaffs me +about it.' + +'Never mind, my dear; it makes a subject of conversation. But I was +going to tell you that we shall have to start for Brookfield to-morrow.' + +'Go to Brookfield! I couldn't possibly leave Dublin yet a while; what +would all my young men do--they'd die of broken hearts!' + +'It won't matter much if they do; there aren't a dozen worth two +thousand a year each.' + +'No? You are joking, mamma. And the Marquis?' + +'That's a secret, dear.' + +'Then you don't think he'll propose to me after all; and I gave up +Edward--Captain Hibbert.' + +'I thought you had forgotten that horrid man's name. I didn't say, dear, +that the Marquis wouldn't propose to you--of course he will. But we must +leave Dublin to-morrow--I have serious reasons.' + +'Oh, mamma, I didn't think you were so cruel, to go back to that hateful +place, where everybody talks of rents, and that odious Land League.' + +'Now, I will not allow my darling to cry like that,' exclaimed Mrs. +Barton, and she threw her arms round the girl's shoulders. 'I didn't say +that there wouldn't be a man within seven miles. On the contrary, there +will be one very charming man indeed.' + +'What do you mean, mamma?' + +'That's a secret--that's a secret.' + +Alice was told that she had better come home early that afternoon, so +that she might have plenty of time to pack her own things and help her +sister with hers; and it seemed to her unbelievable that she was at last +leaving that hateful little varnished floor, complimenting old beaux and +young A.D.C.'s. + +But if to nobody else, she must say good-bye to May. She had hardly seen +her since the night of the State ball--the night she had given Fred +Scully permission to see her in her room. She found her in the ladies' +drawing-room. + +'How do you do, May?' + +'Oh, how do you do, Alice? I am so glad to see you. What a dreadful +day!' + +'Yes, isn't it? Don't you find it very depressing?' + +'I should think I did. I'm feeling rather out of sorts. Do you ever feel +out of sorts? you know, when everything seems as if it were reflected in +a darkened glass? There are times when we girls are nervous and weak, +and ready to quarrel with anyone. I don't know what I wish for now; I +think I should like to go back to the country.' + +'We are going back to-morrow morning.' + +'You don't say so; and how's that? There are plenty of balls and +afternoon dances. What does Olive say to going home?' + +'She doesn't mind. You know mamma always said she would return +immediately after the Castle balls.' + +'And now that it is all over, tell me what you think of the Castle. Did +it come up to your expectations?' + +'I don't know that I think much about the matter. I am not so fond of +dancing as you are.' + +'Oh, goodness me, goodness me, how ill I do feel,' said May, as she +started and yawned in a way that betokened the nervous lassitude she was +suffering from. + +'Perhaps you had better see the doctor,' said Alice significantly. + +'I'm worried. Fred hasn't been as nice lately as he used to be.' + +'What has he done?' + +'Last night he promised to meet me in the Square, and he wrote to say he +couldn't come, that he was forced to go and see an important customer +about some horses.' + +'Perhaps he had.' + +'I dare say he had, but what of that? It does not make it any less +disagreeable for me to be disappointed.' + +'How cross you are, May! I came out on purpose to talk to you on this +very subject. I hope you won't be angry, but I think it is my duty to +tell you that people are beginning to talk about you.' + +'And what do they say?' + +'Well, they say many unpleasant things; you know how ill-natured people +are.' + +'Yes, but what do they say?' + +'They say you are desperately in love with Fred Scully.' + +'Supposing I were; is there any very great harm in that?' + +'I only want to put you on your guard, May dear; and since I have come +here for the purpose of speaking out, I had better do so, however +unpleasant it may be; and I must say that you often forget yourself when +he is in the room, and by your whole manner betray your feelings. You +look at him--' + +'You needn't talk. Now that Harding has left town, these moral +reflections come very easy to you!' + +Alice blushed a little; she trembled, and pursuing her advantage, May +said: + +'Oh, yes; I have watched you in the Castle sitting out dances; and when +girls like you butter! 'Pon my word, it was painful to look at you.' + +'Mr. Harding and I talked merely of books and pictures.' + +'If you come here to insinuate that Fred and I are in the habit of +indulging in improper conversation. . . . I didn't expect this from you. I +shan't stop another moment. I shan't speak to you again.' + +Picking up her novel, and deaf to all explanations, May walked haughtily +out of the room. Alice would have given much to help; and, her heart +filled with gentle disappointment, she returned home. The evening was +spent in packing; and next morning at dawn, looking tired, their eyes +still heavy with sleep, the Bartons breakfasted for the last time in +Mount Street. + +At the Broadstone they met Lord Dungory. Then, their feet and knees +cosily wrapped up in furs, with copies of the _Freeman's Journal_ lying +on the top, they deplored the ineffectiveness of Mr. Forster's Coercion +Act. Eight hundred people were in prison, and still the red shadow of +murder pointed across the land. Milord read from the newspaper: + +'A dastardly outrage was committed last night in the neighbourhood of +Mullingar. A woman named Mary ---- had some differences with her sister +Bridget ----. One day, after some angry words, it appears that she left +the house, and seeing a man working in a potato-field, she asked him if +he could do anything to help her. He scratched his head, and, after a +moment's reflection, he said he was going to meet a "party," and he +would see what could be done. On the following day he suggested that +Bridget might be removed for the sum of one pound. Mary ---- could not, +however, procure more than fifteen shillings, and a bargain was struck. +On the night arranged for the assassination Mary wished to leave the +house, not caring to see her sister shot in her presence, but Pat +declared that her absence would excite suspicion. In the words of one of +the murderers, the deed was accomplished "nately and without unnecessary +fuss."' + +'I wonder,' said Mrs. Barton, 'what those wretches will have to do +before the Government will consent to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act, and +place the country in the hands of the military. Do they never think of +how wickedly they are behaving, and of how God will punish them when +they die? Do they never think of their immortal souls?' + +'_L'ame du paysan se vautre dans la boue comme la mienne se plait dans +la soie_.' + +'_Dans la soie! dans la soie! oh, ce Milord, ce Milord!'_ + +'_Oui, madame_,' he added, lowering his voice, '_dans le blanc paradis +de votre corsage_.' + +Three days after life at Brookfield had resumed its ordinary course. +Once breakfast was over, Arthur retired to the consideration of the +pectoral muscles of the ancient Briton, Milord drank his glass of sherry +at half-past one, and Mrs. Barton devoted herself to the double task of +amusing him and encouraging Olive with visions of future fame. Alice was +therefore left definitely to herself, and without hindrance or comment +was allowed to set up her writing-table, and spend as much time as she +pleased in her bedroom. + +Several sheets of foolscap paper covered with large open handwriting lay +upon the table. Upon the first page, with a line ruled beneath it, stood +the title: 'The Diary of a Plain Girl--Notes and Sensations.' She had +just laid aside her pen and was waiting for Cecilia. + +'Oh, Alice darling, how are you? I am delighted--I am so delighted to +see you. Let me kiss you, let me see you; I have been longing for you +for weeks--for months.' + +Alice bent her face down, and then, holding each other's hands, the +girls stood looking through a deep and expressive silence into each +other's eyes. + +'I wish, Alice, I could tell you how glad I am to have you back: it +seems like heaven to see you again. You look so nice, so true, so sweet, +so perfect. There never was anyone so perfect as you, Alice.' + +'Cecilia dear, you shouldn't talk to me like that; it is absurd. Indeed, +I don't think it is quite right.' + +'Not quite right,' replied the cripple sadly; 'what do you mean? Why is +it wrong--why should it be wrong for me to love you?' + +'I don't mean to say that it is wrong; you misunderstand me; +but--but--well, I don't know how to explain myself, but--' + +'I know, I know, I know,' said Cecilia, and her nervous sensitivity +revealed thoughts in Alice's mind--thoughts of which Alice herself was +not distinctly conscious, just as a photograph exposes irregularities in +the texture of a leaf that the naked eye would not perceive. + +'If Harding were to speak to you so, you wouldn't think it wrong.' + +Alice's face flushed a little, and she said, with a certain resoluteness +in her voice, 'Cecilia, I wish you wouldn't talk to me in this way. You +give me great pain.' + +'I am sorry if I do, but I can't help it. I am jealous of the words that +are spoken to you, of the air you breathe, of the ground you walk upon. +How, then, can I help hating that man?' + +'I do not wish to argue this point with you, Cecilia, nor am I sure that +I understand it. There is no one I like better than you, dear, but that +we should be jealous of each other is absurd.' + +'For you perhaps, but not for me.' Cecilia looked at Alice +reproachfully, and at the end of a long and morose silence she said: + +'You received the long letter I wrote to you about him?' + +'Yes, Cecilia, and I answered it. It seems to me very foolish to +pronounce condemnatory opinion on the whole world; and particularly for +you who have seen so little of it.' + +'That doesn't matter. People are blinded by their passions; but when +these have worn themselves out, they see the truth in all its horrible +nakedness. One of these days you'll tell me that I am right. You have +been a good deal in the world lately; tell me if you have found it +beautiful. You didn't believe me when I told you that men were vile and +abominable; you said there were good men in the world, that you were +sure of it. Have you found them? Was Mr. Harding so very perfect?' + +Alice coloured again; she hesitated, and in the silence Cecilia again +divined her friend's thoughts. + +'A very poor ideal indeed, it seems to me that you set yourself--to make +the best of this wretched world.' + +'I cannot understand what good can come of craving after the +unattainable,' said Alice, looking earnestly out of her grey sharp eyes. + +'True beauty lies only in the unattainable,' said Cecilia, lifting her +eyes with that curious movement of the eyeball by which painters +represent faith and mysticism. + +At the end of a long silence, Alice said: + +'But you'll have some tea, will you not, Cecilia?' + +'Yes; but don't let us go downstairs.' + +'We'll have it up here; Barnes will bring it up.' + +'Oh, that will be so nice.' + +The girls drew closer to the fire, and in its uniting warmth they looked +into the ardent face of their friendship, talking, at first, conscious +of the appropriateness of their conversation; but soon forgetful of the +more serious themes they had been discussing, questions were asked and +answered, and comments passed, upon the presentations, the dresses, the +crowds, upon all their acquaintances. + +'It is given out, Alice dear, that Lord Kilcarney is coming down to stay +at Brookfield. Is it true?' + +'I have heard nothing of it. Whom did you hear it from?' + +'Well, the Duffys wrote it to my sisters. The Duffys, you know, have all +the Dublin news.' + +'What dreadful gossips they are! And the wonderful part of it is that +they often tell you that things have happened long before they do +happen.' + +'Yes; I have noticed that. They anticipate the news.' + +The girls laughed lightly, and Cecilia continued: + +'But tell me, which do you think he admires most, Olive or Violet? The +rumour goes that he pays Violet great attentions. The family is, of +course, wild about it. She hasn't a penny piece, and Olive, they say, +has a good deal of money.' + +'I don't know.' + +'You must show me the dress you wore. You described it beautifully in +your letter. You must have looked very sweet. Did everybody say so?' + +'I am not sure that they did. Men, you know, do not always admire what +women do.' + +'I should think not. Men only admire beastliness.' + +'Cecilia dear, you shouldn't talk like that; it isn't nice.' + +Cecilia looked at Alice wistfully, and she said: + +'But tell me about the presentations. I suppose there were an immense +number of people present?' + +'Yes, and particularly _debutantes_; there were a great number presented +this year. It was considered a large Drawing-Room.' + +'And how are you presented? I've heard my sister speak about it, but I +never quite understood.' + +At that moment Barnes brought in the tea. She set it on a little table +used for the purpose. + +'There is a letter for you, miss, on the tray,' she said as she left the +room; 'it came by the afternoon post.' + +Without answering, Alice continued to pour out the tea, but when she +handed Cecilia her cup, she said, surprised at the dull, sullen stare +fixed upon her: + +'What is the matter? Why do you look at me like that?' + +'That letter, I am sure, is from Harding; it is a man's handwriting.' + +She had been expecting that letter for days. + +'Oh! give it me,' she said impulsively. + +'There it is; I wouldn't touch it. I knew you liked that man; but I +didn't expect to find you corresponding with him. It is shameful; it +isn't worthy of you. You might have left such things to May Gould.' + +'Cecilia, you have no right to speak to me in that way; you are +presuming too much on our friendship.' + +'Oh, yes, yes; but before you met him I could not presume too much upon +our friendship.' + +'If you want to know why I wrote to Mr. Harding, I'll tell you.' + +'It was you who wrote to him, then?' + +'Yes, I wrote to him.' + +'Oh, yes, yes, yes; I see it all now,' cried Cecilia, and she walked +wildly to and fro, her eye tinged with a strange glare. 'Yes, I see it +all. This room, that was once a girl's room, is now Harding's room. He +is the atmosphere of the place. I was conscious of it when I entered, +but now it is visible to me--that manuscript, that writing-table, that +letter. Oh yes, it is Harding, all is Harding!' + +'Cecilia, Cecilia, think, I beg of you, of what you are saying.' + +But when Alice approached and strove to raise her from the pillow upon +which she had thrown herself, she started up and savagely confronted +her. + +'Don't touch me, don't touch me!' she cried. 'I cannot bear it. What are +you to me, what am I to you? It is not with me you would care to be, but +with _him_. It is not my kiss of friendship that would console you, but +his kiss of passion that would charm you. . . . Go to him, and leave me to +die.' + +'Was this insanity?' And then, forgetful of the abuse that was being +showered upon her, Alice said: + +'Cecilia dear, listen; I'll forgive the language you have used toward +me, for I know you do not know what you are saying. You must be ill . . . +you cannot be in your right senses to-day, or you would not speak like +that.' + +'You would soothe me, but you little dream of the poison you are +dropping on my wounds. You never understood, you are too far removed +from me in thought and feeling ever to understand--no, your spirituality +is only a delusion; you are no better at heart than May Gould. It is the +same thing: one seeks a husband, another gratifies herself with a lover. +It is the same thing--where's the difference? It is animal passion all +the same. And that letter is full of it--it must be--I am sure it is.' + +'You are very insulting, Cecilia. Where have you thrown my letter?' + +The letter had fallen beneath the table. Alice made a movement towards +it, but, overcome by mad rage, Cecilia caught it up and threw it into +the fire. Alice rescued her letter, and then, her face full of stern +indignation, she said: + +'I think, Cecilia, you had better leave my room, and before you come to +see me again, I shall expect to receive a written apology for the +outrageous way you have behaved.' + +In a few days came a humble and penitent letter; Cecilia returned, her +eyes full of tears, and begged to be forgiven; the girls resumed their +friendship, but both were conscious that it was neither so bright nor so +communicative as in the olden days. + + + + +XXII + + +'Something has happened to my learned daughter,' said Mr. Barton, and he +continued his thumb-nail sketch on the tablecloth. 'What is it?' he +added indolently. + +Alice passed the cheque and the memorandum across the table. 'Three +pounds for three articles contributed to the ---- during the month of +April.' + +'You don't mean to say, Alice, you got three pounds for your writing?' +said Mrs. Barton. + +'Yes, mother, I have, and I hope to make ten pounds next month. Mr. +Harding says he can get me lots of work.' + +'So my lady then, with all her shy ways, knows how to make use of a man +as well as any of us.' + +Mrs. Barton did not willingly wound. She saw life from the point of view +of making use of men, that was all; and when Alice walked out of the +room, Mrs. Barton felt sorry for what she had said, and she would have +gone to comfort her daughter if Olive had not, at that moment, stood in +imminent need of comfort. + +'I suppose,' she said pettishly, 'the letter you received this morning +is from the Marquis, to say he won't be here next Tuesday?' + +It was. For as the day fixed for his arrival at Brookfield approached, +he would write to apologize, and to beg that he might be allowed to +postpone his visit to Monday week or Wednesday fortnight. Mrs. Barton +replied that they would be very glad to see him when he found it +convenient to come and see them. She did not inquire into the reason of +his rudeness, she was determined to fight the battle out to the end, and +she did not dare to think that he was being prompted by that beast of a +girl, Violet Scully. + +'He writes a very nice letter indeed. He says he has a very bad cold, +and doesn't like to show himself at Brookfield with a red nose, but +that, unless he dies in the meantime, he will be with us on the +twentieth of the month, and will--if we'll have him--stop three weeks +with us.' + +'I knew the letter was a put-off. I don't believe he admires me at all, +the little beast; and I know I shall never be a marchioness. You made me +treat poor Edward shamefully, and for no purpose, after all.' + +'Now, Olive, you mustn't speak like that. Go upstairs and ask Barnes if +she has heard anything lately?' + +'Oh, I'm sick of Barnes; what has she heard?' + +'She is a great friend of Lady Georgina's maid, who knows the Burkes +intimately, particularly Lady Emily's maid, and Barnes got a letter from +her friend the other day, saying that Lady Emily was delighted at the +idea of her brother marrying you, dear, and that he thinks of nobody +else, speaks of nobody else. Run up and speak to her about it.' + +As we have seen, Mrs. Barton had drugged Olive's light brain with +visions of victories, with dancing, dresses, admiration; but now, in the +tiring void of country days, memories of Edward's love and devotion were +certain to arise. He made, however, no attempt to renew his courtship. +At Gort, within three miles, he remained silent, immovable as one of the +Clare mountains. Sometimes his brown-gold moustache and square shoulders +were caught sight of as he rode rapidly along the roads. He had once +been seen sitting with Mrs. Lawler behind the famous cream-coloured +ponies; and to allude to his disgraceful conduct without wounding +Olive's vanity was an art that Mrs. Barton practised daily; and to keep +the girl in spirits she induced Sir Charles, who it was reported was +about to emigrate his family to the wilds of Maratoga, to come and stay +with them. If a rumour were to reach the Marquis's ears, it might help +to bring him to the point. In any case Sir Charles's attentions to Olive +would keep her in humour until the great day arrived. + +Well convinced that this was her last throw, Mrs. Barton resolved to +smear the hook well with the three famous baits she was accustomed to +angle with. They were--dinners, flattery, and dancing. Accordingly, an +order was given to the Dublin fishmonger to send them fish daily for the +next three weeks, and to the pastrycook for a French cook. The store of +flattery kept on the premises being illimitable, she did not trouble +about that, but devoted herself to the solution of the problem of how +she should obtain a constant and unfailing supply of music. Once she +thought of sending up to Dublin for a professional pianist, but was +obliged to abandon the idea on account of the impossibility of devising +suitable employment for him during the morning hours. A tune or two +might not come in amiss after lunch, but to have him hanging about the +shrubberies all the morning would be intolerable. She might ask a couple +of the Brennans or the Duffys to stay with them, but they would be in +the way, and occupy the Marquis's time, and go tell-taling all over the +country; no, that wouldn't do either. Alice's playing was wretched. It +was a wonderful thing that a girl like her would not make some effort to +amuse men--would not do something. Once Olive was married, she (Mrs. +Barton) would try to patch up something for this gawk of a girl--marry +her to Sir Charles; excellent match it would be, too--get all the +children emigrated first: and if he would not have her, there was Sir +Richard. It was said that he was quite reformed--had given up drink. But +there was no use thinking of that: for the present she would have to put +up with the girl's music, which was wretched. + +Olive fell in with her mother's plans, and she angled industriously for +Lord Kilcarney. She did not fail to say in or out of season, '_Il n'y a +personne comme notre cher Marquis_,' and as the turbot and fruit, that +had arrived by the afternoon train from Dublin, were discussed, Milord +did not cease to make the most appropriate remarks. Referring to the +bouquet that she had pinned into the Marquis's buttonhole, he said: + +'_Il y a des amants partout ou il y a des oiseaux et des roses_.' And +again: '_Les regardes des amoureux sont la lumiere comme le baiser est +la vie du monde_.' + +After dinner no time was lost, although the Marquis pleaded fatigue, in +settling Alice at the piano, and dancing began in sober earnest. After +each waltz Olive conducted him to the dining-room; she helped him +liberally to wine, and when she held a match to his cigarette their +fingers touched. But to find occupation for the long morning hours of +her young couple was a grave trouble to Mrs. Barton. She was determined +to make every moment of the little Marquis's stay in Galway moments of +sunshine; but mental no more than atmospheric sunshine is to be had by +the willing, and the poor little fellow seemed to pine in his Galway +cage like a moulting canary. He submitted to all the efforts made in his +behalf, but his submission was that of a victim. After breakfast he +always attempted to escape, and if he succeeded in eluding Mrs. Barton, +he would remain for hours hidden in the laurels, enwrapped in summer +meditations, the nature of which it was impossible even to conjecture. +In the afternoon he spoke of the burden of his correspondence, and when +the inevitable dancing was spoken of, he often excused himself on the +ground of having a long letter to finish. If it were impossible for her +to learn the contents of these letters, Mrs. Barton ardently desired to +know to whom they were addressed. Daily she volunteered to send special +messengers to the post on his account; the footman, the coachman, and +pony-chaise, were in turn rejected by him. + +'Thank you, Mrs. Barton, thank you, but I should like to avail myself of +the chance of a constitutional.' + +'_La sante de notre petit Marquis avant tout_,' she would exclaim, with +much silvery laughter and all the habitual movements of the white hands. +'But what do you say: I am sure the young ladies would like a walk, +too?' + +With a view to picturesque effect Mrs. Barton's thoughts had long been +centred on a picnic. They were now within a few days of the first of +May, and there was enough sunshine in the air to justify an excursion to +Kinvarra Castle. It is about four miles distant, at the end of a long +narrow bay. + +Mrs. Barton applied herself diligently to the task of organization. +Having heard from Dublin of the hoax that was being played on their +enemy, the Ladies Cullen consented to join the party, and they brought +with them one of the Honourable Miss Gores. The Duffys and Brennans +numbered their full strength, including even the famous Bertha, who was +staying with her sisters on a visit. The Goulds excused themselves on +account of the distance and the disturbed state of the country. Mrs. +Barton found, therefore, much difficulty in maintaining the noted +characteristic of her parties. Sir Richard and Sir Charles had agreed to +come; Mr. Adair, Mr. Ryan, and Mr. Lynch were also present. They drove +up on outside cars, and were all attended by a bodyguard of policemen. + +And very soon everybody fell to babbling of the history of the Castle, +which nobody knew: Ireland has had few chroniclers. Lord Dungory pointed +out that in the seventeenth century people lived in Ireland +naked--speaking Latin habitually--without furniture or tapestries or +paintings or baths. The Castle suggested a military movement to Mr. +Barton. + +'If things get any worse, we might all retire into this castle. The +ladies will stand on the battlements, and I will undertake to hold the +place for ever against those village ruffians.' + +'I do not think there will be any necessity for that,' replied Mr. Adair +sententiously. 'I think that these last terrible outrages have awakened +the Government to a sense of their responsibility. I have reason to +believe that immediate steps will be taken to crush this infamous +conspiracy.' + +Lord Dungory interposed with a neat epigram, and Mr. Adair fell to +telling how he would crush the Land League out of existence if the +Government would place him in supreme power for the space of one month. + +'That is all I would ask: one month to restore this island to peace and +prosperity. I have always been a Liberal, but I confess that I entirely +fail to understand the action the Government are taking in the present +crisis.' + +As Lord Dungory was about to reply that he did not believe that the +peasants could continue to resist the Government indefinitely, the +police-sergeant in charge of the picnic-party approached, his face +overcast. + +'We've just received bad news from Dublin, my lord. The worst. Lord +Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke were murdered this evening in the +Phoenix Park. It is unfortunately true, sir; I've the telegram with me.' +And he handed the yellow envelope to Lord Dungory, who, after glancing +at it, handed it on to Mr. Adair. + +The appearance of the police in conversation with Lord Dungory and Mr. +Adair was a sign for the assembling of the rest of the company, and it +was under the walls of old Kinvarra Castle that the picnic-party heard +the awful news. + +Then, in turn, each ejaculated a few words. + +Mrs. Barton said: 'It is dreadful to think there are such wicked people +in the world.' + +Mr. Adair said: 'There can be no doubt but that we have arrived at the +crisis; Europe will ring with the echoes of the crime.' + +Olive said: 'I think they ought to hang Mr. Parnell; I believe it was he +who drove the car.' + +Mr. Barton said: 'The landlords and Land-Leaguers will have to do what I +say; they will have to fight it out. Now, at their head, I believe by a +series of rapid marches--' + +'Arthur, Arthur, I beg of you,' exclaimed Mrs. Barton. + +'We shall all have to emigrate,' Sir Charles murmured reflectively. + +'The law is in abeyance,' said Mr. Lynch. + +'Precisely,' replied Milord; 'and as I once said to Lord Granville, +"_Les moeurs sont les hommes, mais la loi est la raison du pays_."' + +Mr. Adair looked up; he seemed about to contest the truth of this +aphorism, but he relapsed into his consideration of Mr. Gladstone's +political integrity. The conversation had fallen, but at the end of a +long silence Mr. Ryan said: + +'Begorra, I am very glad they were murthered.' + +All drew back instinctively. This was too horrible, and doubt of Mr. +Ryan's sanity was expressed on every face. + +At last Mr. Adair said, conscious that he was expressing the feelings of +the entire company: 'What do you mean, sir? Have you gone mad? Do you +not know that this is no fitting time for buffoonery?' + +'Will ye hear me cousin out?' said Mr. Lynch. + +'Begorra, I'm glad they were murthered,' continued Mr. Ryan; 'for if +they hadn't been we'd have been--there's the long and the short of it. I +know the counthry well, and I know that in six months more, without a +proper Coercion Act, we'd have been burned in our beds.' + +The unanswerableness of Mr. Ryan's words, and the implacable certainty +which forced itself into every heart, that he spoke but the truth, did +not, however, make the company less inclined to oppose the utilitarian +view he took of the tragedy. + +Unfinished phrases . . . 'Disgraceful' . . . 'Shocking' . . . +'Inconceivable' . . . 'That anyone should say such a thing' . . . were +passed round, and a disposition was shown to boycott Mr. Ryan. + +Mr. Adair spoke of not sitting in the room where such opinions were +expressed, but Milord was seen whispering to him, 'We're not in a room, +Adair, we're out of doors;' and Mrs. Barton, always anxious to calm +troubled lives, suggested that 'people did not mean all they said.' Mr. +Ryan, however, maintained through it all an attitude of stolid +indifference, the indifference of a man who knows that all must come +back sooner or later to his views. + +And presently, although the sting remained, the memory of the wasp that +had stung seemed to be lost. Milord and Mr. Adair engaged in a long and +learned discussion concerning the principles of Liberalism, in the +course of which many allusions were made to the new Coercion Bill, +which, it was now agreed, Mr. Gladstone would, in a few days, lay before +Parliament. The provisions of this Bill were debated. Milord spoke of an +Act that had been in force consequent on the Fenian rising in '69. Mr. +Adair was of opinion that the importance of a new Coercion Act could not +be over-estimated; Mr. Barton declared in favour of a military +expedition--a rapid dash into the heart of Connemara. But the +conversation languished, and in the ever-lengthening silences all found +their thoughts reverting to the idea brutally expressed by Mr. Ryan: +_Yes, they were glad; for if Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke had +not been assassinated, every landowner in the country would have been +murdered._ + +There was no dancing that evening; and as the night advanced the danger +of the long drive home increased in intensity in the minds of Messrs. +Lynch and Ryan. They sat on either side of Mr. Adair, and it was finally +arranged that they should join their police-forces, and spend the night +at his place. Sir Charles was sleeping at Brookfield; Milord had four +policemen with him; and as all would have to pass his gate, he did not +anticipate that even the Land League would venture to attack thirteen +armed men. Mr. Barton, who saw the picturesque in everything, declared, +when he came back, that they looked like a caravan starting for a +pilgrimage across the desert. After a few further remarks, the ladies +rose to retire; but when Mrs. Barton gave her hand to Lord Kilcarney, he +said, his voice trembling a little: + +'I'm afraid I must leave you to-morrow, Mrs. Barton. I shall have to run +over to London to vote in the House of Lords. . .' + +Mrs. Barton led the poor little man into the farther corner of the room, +and making a place for him by her side, she said: + +'Of course we are very sorry you are leaving--we should like you to stop +a little longer with us. Is it impossible for you. . . ?' + +'I am afraid so, Mrs. Barton; it is very kind of you, but--' + +'It is a great pity,' she answered; 'but before we part I should like to +know if you have come to any conclusion about what I spoke to you of in +Dublin. If it is not to be, I should like to know, that I might tell the +girl, so that she might not think anything more about--' + +'What am I to say, what am I to do?' thought the Marquis. 'Oh! why does +this woman worry me? How can I tell her that I wouldn't marry her +daughter for tens of thousands of pounds?' 'I think, Mrs. Barton--I +mean, I think you will agree with me that until affairs in Ireland grow +more settled, it would be impossible for anyone to enter into any +engagements whatever. We are all on the brink of ruin.' + +'But twenty thousand pounds would settle a great deal.' + +The little Marquis was conscious of annihilation, and he sought to +escape Mrs. Barton as he might a piece of falling rock. With a desperate +effort he said: + +'Yes, Mrs. Barton--yes, I agree with you, twenty thousand pounds is a +great deal of money; but I think we had better wait until the Lords have +passed the new Coercion Bill--say nothing more about this--leave it an +open question.' + +And on this eminently unsatisfactory answer the matter ended; even Mrs. +Barton saw she could not, at least for the present, continue to press +it. Still she did not give up hope. 'Try on to the end; we never know +that it is not the last little effort that will win the game,' was the +aphorism with which she consoled her daughter, and induced her to write +to Lord Kilcarney. And almost daily he received from her flowers, +supposed to be emblematical of the feeling she entertained for him; and +for these Alice was sometimes ordered to compose verses and suitable +mottoes. + + + + +XXIII + + +But Lord Kilcarney's replies to these letters seldom consisted of more +than a few well-chosen words, and he often allowed a week, and sometimes +a fortnight, to elapse before answering at all. Olive--too vain and +silly to understand the indifference with which she was treated--whined +and fretted less than might have been expected. She spent a great deal +of her time with Barnes, who fed her with scandal and flattery. But a +storm was about to break, and in August it was known, without any +possibility of a doubt, that the Marquis was engaged to Violet Scully, +and that their marriage was settled for the autumn. + +And this marriage, and the passing of the Bill for the Prevention of +Crime, were the two interests present in the mind of Irish landlordism +during the summer of '82. Immediately the former event was publicly +announced, every girl in Dublin ran to her writing desk to confirm to +her friends and relatives the truth of the news which for the last two +months she had so resolutely anticipated. The famous Bertha, the terror +of the _debutantes_, rushed to Brookfield, but she did not get there +before the Brennans, and the result was a meeting of these families of +girls in Mrs. Barton's drawing-room. Gladys was, however, the person +chosen by God and herself to speak the wonderful words: + +'Of course you have heard the news, Mrs. Barton?' + +'No,' replied Mrs. Barton, a little nervously; 'what is it?' + +'Oh yes, what is it?' exclaimed Olive. 'Anyone going to be married?' + +'Yes. Can you guess?' + +'No; tell me quick . . . no, do tell me. Are you going to be married?' + +Had Olive been suddenly dowered with the wit of Congreve she could not +have contrived an answer that would have shielded her better from the +dart that Gladys was preparing to hurl. The girl winced; and divining +the truth in a moment of inspiration, Mrs. Barton said: + +'Ah! I know; Lord Kilcarney is engaged to Violet Scully.' + +The situation was almost saved, and would have been had Olive not been +present. She glanced at her mother in astonishment; and Gladys, fearing +utter defeat, hurled her dart recklessly. + +'Yes,' she exclaimed, 'and their marriage is fixed for this autumn.' + +'I don't believe a word of it. . . . You only say so because you think it +will annoy me.' + +'My dear Olive, how can it annoy you? You know very well you refused +him,' said Mrs. Barton, risking the danger of contradiction. 'Gladys is +only telling us the news.' + +'News, indeed; a pack of lies. I know her well; and all because--because +she didn't succeed in hooking the man she was after in the Shelbourne +last year. I'm not going to listen to her lies, if you are;' and on +these words Olive flaunted passionately out of the room. + +'So very sorry, really,' exclaimed Zoe. 'We really didn't know . . . +indeed we didn't. We couldn't have known that--that there was any reason +why dear Olive wouldn't like to hear that Lord Kilcarney was engaged to +Violet.' + +'Not at all, not at all. I assure you that whatever question there may +once have been, I give you my word, was broken off a long time ago; they +did not suit each other at all,' said Mrs. Barton. Now that she was +relieved of the presence of her young, the mother fought admirably. But +in a few minutes the enemy was reinforced by the arrival of the Hon. +Miss Gores. + +'Oh, how do you do? I am so glad to see you,' said Mrs. Barton, the +moment they entered the room. 'Have you heard the news? all is +definitely settled between the little Marquis and Violet. We were all +talking of it; I am so glad for her sake. Of course it is very grand to +be a marchioness, but I'm afraid she'll find her coronet a poor +substitute for her dinner. You know what a state the property is in. She +has married a beggar. The great thing after all, nowadays, is money.' + +It would have been better perhaps not to have spoken of Lord Kilcarney's +mortgages, but the Marquis's money embarrassments were the weak point in +Violet's marriage, but it would not be natural (supposing that Olive had +herself refused Lord Kilcarney) for her not to speak of them. So she +prattled on gaily for nearly an hour, playing her part admirably, +extricating herself from a difficult position and casting some +doubt--only a little, it is true, but a little was a gain on the story +that Olive had been rejected. + +As soon as her visitors left the room, and she went to the window to +watch the carriages drive away and to consider how she might console her +daughter--persuade her, perhaps, that everything had happened for the +best. + +'Oh, mamma,' she said, rushing into the room, 'this is terrible; what +shall we do--what shall we do?' + +'What's terrible, my beautiful darling?' + +Olive looked through her languor and tears, and she answered petulantly: + +'Oh, you know very well I'm disgraced; he's going to marry Violet, and I +shall not be a marchioness after all.' + +'If my beautiful darling likes she can be a duchess,' replied Mrs. +Barton with a silvery laugh. + +'I don't understand, mamma.' + +'I mean that we aren't entirely dependent on that wretched little +Marquis with his encumbered property; if he were fool enough to let +himself be entrapped by that designing little beast, Violet Scully, so +much the worse for him; we shall get someone far grander than he. It is +never wise for a girl to settle herself off the first season she comes +out.' + +'It is all very well to say that now, but you made me break off with +dear Edward, who was ever so nice, and loved me dearly.' + +Mrs. Barton winced, but she answered almost immediately: + +'My dear, we shall get someone a great deal grander than that wretched +Marquis. There will be a whole crowd of English dukes and earls at the +Castle next year; men who haven't a mortgage on their property, and who +will all fight for the hand of my beautiful Olive. Mr. Harding, Alice's +friend, will put your portrait into one of the Society papers as the +Galway beauty, and then next year you may be her Grace.' + +'And how will they do my portrait, mamma?' + +'I think you look best, darling, with your hair done up on the top of +your head, in the French fashion.' + +'Oh! do you think so? You don't like the way I have it done in now?' +said the girl; and, laughing, she ran to the glass to admire herself. +'Barnes said I looked sweet this morning;' and five minutes after she +was tossing her head nervously, declaring she was miserable, and often +she burst out crying for no assignable cause. Mrs. Barton consoled and +flattered gaily; but the sweet placid countenance was sometimes a little +troubled. As the girls left the breakfast-room one morning she said, as +if asking their advice: + +'I have just received an invitation from Dungory Castle; they are giving +a tennis-party, and they want us to go to lunch.' + +'Oh! mamma, I don't want to go,' cried Olive. + +'And why, my dear?' + +'Oh! because everybody knows about the Marquis, and I couldn't bear +their sneers; those Brennans and the Duffys are sure to be there.' + +'Bertha's in Dublin,' said Mrs. Barton, in an intonation of voice a +little too expressive of relief. + +'Gladys is just as bad; and then there's that horrid Zoe. Oh! I couldn't +bear it.' + +'It will look as if we were avoiding them; they will only talk the more. +I always think it is best to put a bold face on everything.' + +'I couldn't, I couldn't. I'm broken-hearted, that's what I am. I have +nothing to do or to think of.' + +There could be little doubt that the Ladies Cullen had got up the +tennis-party so that they might have an opportunity of sneering at her, +but Milord would keep them in check (it might be as well to tell him to +threaten to put down the school if they did not keep a guard on their +tongues), and if Olive would only put a bold face on it and captivate +Sir Charles, this very disagreeable business might blow over. Further +than this Mrs. Barton's thoughts did not travel, but they were clear and +precise thoughts, and with much subtlety and insinuative force she +applied herself to the task of overcoming her daughter's weakness and +strengthening her in this overthrow of vanity and self-love. But to the +tennis-party they must go. Milord, too, was of opinion that they could +not absent themselves, and he had doubtless been able to arrive at a +very clear understanding with Lady Sarah and Lady Jane concerning the +future of Protestantism in the parish, for on the day of the +tennis-party no allusion was made to Lord Kilcarney's visit to +Brookfield; certain references to his marriage were, of course, +inevitable, but it was only necessary to question Mr. Adair on his views +concerning the new Coercion Act to secure for Mrs. Barton an almost +complete immunity from feminine sarcasm. + +'I do not deny,' said Mr. Adair, 'that the Crimes Bill will restore +tranquillity, but I confess that I can regard no Government as +satisfactory that can only govern by the sword.' + +These sentiments being but only very partially appreciated by the rest +of the company, the conversation came to an awkward pause, and Lady Jane +said as she left the room: + +'I do not know a more able man on a county board than Mr. Adair. He took +honours at Trinity, and if he hasn't done as much since as we expected, +it is because he is too honourable, too conscientious, to ally himself +to any particular party.' + +'That was always the way with Lord Dungory,' suggested Mrs. Gould. + +Lady Jane bit her lip, and continued, without taking notice of the +interruption: + +'Now, I hope Mr. Adair will not write a pamphlet, or express himself too +openly concerning the Crimes Act. The question of the day is the +organization of the Land Act, and I hear that Mr. Gladstone says it will +be impossible to get on without Mr. Adair's assistance.' + +'Every six months,' said Mrs. Gould, 'it is given out that Gladstone +cannot go on without him; but somehow Gladstone does manage to get on +without him, and then we never hear any more about it.' + +Lady Jane looked angry; and all wondered at Mrs. Gould's want of tact, +but at that moment the footman announced Messrs. Ryan and Lynch, and +Alice asked if she might go up to see Cecilia. More visitors arrived; +the Brennans, the Duffys, the five Honourable Miss Gores, and the +company adjourned to the tennis ground. Mr. Lynch was anxious to have +May for a partner, but she refused him somewhat pettishly, declaring at +the same time that she had given up tennis, and would never touch a +racquet again. Her continuous silence and dejected appearance created +some surprise, and her cheeks flushed with passion when her mother said +she didn't know what had come over May lately. Then obeying an impulse, +May rose to her feet, and leaving the tennis players she walked across +the pleasure grounds. Dungory Castle was surrounded by heavy woods and +overtopping clumps of trees. As the house was neared, these were filled +in with high laurel hedges and masses of rhododendron, and an opening in +the branches of some large beech-trees revealed a blue and beautiful +aspect of the Clare mountains. + +'I wonder what May is angry about?' Cecilia said to Alice as they +watched the tennis playing from their window; 'suppose those horrid men +are annoying her.' + +'I never saw her refuse to play tennis before,' Alice replied demurely. +And ten minutes after, some subtle desire of which she was not very +conscious led her through the shrubberies towards the place where she +already expected to find May. And dreaming of reconciliation, of a +renewal of friendship, Alice walked through the green summer of the +leaves, listening to the infinite twittering of the birds, and startled +by the wood-pigeons that from time to time rose boisterously out of the +high branches. On a garden bench, leaning forward, her hands rested on +her knees, May sat swinging her parasol from side to side, playing with +the fallen leaves. When she looked up, the sunlight fell full upon her +face, and Alice saw that she was crying. But affecting not to see the +tears, she said, speaking rapidly: + +'Oh, May dear, I have been looking for you. The last time we--' + +But interrupted here by a choking sob, she found herself forced to say: + +'My dear May, what is the matter? Can I do anything for you?' + +'Oh, no, no; only leave me; don't question me. I don't want anyone's +help.' + +The ungraciousness of the words was lost in the accent of grief with +which they were spoken. + +'I assure you I don't wish to be inquisitive,' Alice replied +sorrowfully, 'nor do I come to annoy you with good advice, but the last +time we met we didn't part good friends. . . . I was merely anxious to +assure you that I bore no ill-feeling, but, of course, if you--' + +'Oh no, no,' cried May; reaching and catching at Alice's arm she pulled +her down into the seat beside her; 'I am awfully sorry for my rudeness +to you--to you who are so good--so good. Oh, Alice dear, you will +forgive me, will you not?' and sobbing very helplessly, she threw +herself into her friend's arms. + +'Oh, of course I forgive you,' cried Alice, deeply affected. 'I had no +right to lecture you in the way I did; but I meant it for the best, +indeed I did.' + +'I know you did, but I lost my temper. Ah, if you knew how sorely I was +tried you would forgive me.' + +'I do forgive you, May dear; but tell me, cannot I help you now? You +know that you can confide in me, and I will do any thing in my power to +help you.' + +'No one can help me now,' said the girl sullenly. + +Alice did not speak at once, but at the end of a long silence she said: + +'Does Fred Scully love you no more?' + +'I do not know whether he does or not; nor does it matter much. He's not +in Ireland. He's far away by this time.' + +'Where is he?' + +'He's gone to Australia. He wrote to me about two months ago to say that +all had been decided in a few hours, and that he was to sail next +morning. He's gone out with some racehorses, and expects to win a lot of +money. He'll be back again in a year.' + +'A year isn't long to wait; you'll see him when he comes back.' + +'I don't think I should care to see him again. Oh, you were right, +Alice, to warn me against him. I was foolish not to listen to you, but +it was too late even then.' + +Alice trembled; she had already guessed the truth, but hoping when she +knew all hope was vain, she said: + +'You had better tell me, May; you know I am to be trusted.' + +'Can't you guess it?' + +The conversation fell, and the girls sat staring into the depths of the +wood. Involuntarily their eyes followed a small bird that ran up branch +after branch of a beech-tree, pecking as it went. It seemed like a toy +mouse, so quick and unvarying were its movements. At last May said, and +very dolorously: + +'Alice, I thought you were kinder; haven't you a word of pity? Why tell +you, why ask me to tell you? Oh! what a fool I was!' + +'Oh! no, no, May, you did right to tell me. I am more sorry for you than +words can express, and I didn't speak because I was trying to think of +some way of helping you.' + +'Oh! there's no--no way of helping me, dear. There's nothing for me to +do but to die.' And now giving way utterly, the girl buried her face in +her hands and sobbed until it seemed that she would choke in thick +grief. + +'Oh! May, May dear, you mustn't cry like that: if anyone were to come +by, what would they think?' + +'What does it matter? Everyone will know sooner or later--I wish I were +dead--dead and out of sight for ever of this miserable world.' + +'No, May,' said Alice, thinking instinctively of the child, 'you mustn't +die. Your trial is a terrible one, but people before now have got over +worse. I am trying to think what can be done.' + +Then May raised her weeping face, and there was a light of hope in her +eyes. She clasped Alice's hand. Neither spoke. The little brown bird +pursued his way up and down the branches of the beech; beyond it lay the +sky, and the girls, tense with little sufferings, yearned into this +vision of beautiful peace. + +At last Alice said: 'Did you tell Mr. Scully of the trouble? Does he +know--' + +'He was away, and I didn't like to write it to him; his departure for +Australia took me quite by surprise.' + +'Have you told your mother?' + +'Oh no, I'd rather die than tell her; I couldn't tell her. You know what +she is.' + +'I think she ought to be told; she would take you abroad.' + +'Oh no, Alice dear; it would never do to tell mamma. You know what she +is, you know how she talks, she would never leave off abusing the +Scullys; and then, I don't know how, but somehow everybody would get to +know about it. But find it out they will, sooner or later; it is only a +question of time.' + +'No, no, May, they shall know nothing of this--at least, not if I can +help it.' + +'But you can't help it.' + +'There is one thing quite certain; you must go away. You cannot stop in +Galway.' + +'It is all very well talking like that, but where can I go to? A girl +cannot move a yard away from home without people wanting to know where +she has gone.' + +Alice's eyes filled with tears. + +'You might go up to Dublin,' she said, 'and live in lodgings.' + +'And what excuse should I give to mother?' said May, who in her despair +had not courage to deny the possibility of the plan. + +'You needn't tell her where you are,' replied Alice; and then she +hesitated, feeling keenly conscious of the deception she was practising. +But her unswerving common sense coming, after a moment's reflection, to +her aid, she said: 'You might say that you were going to live in the +convent. Go to the Mother Superior, tell her of your need, beg of her, +persuade her to receive and forward your letters; and in that way, it +seems to me that no one need be the wiser of what is going to happen.' + +The last words were spoken slowly, as if with a sense of shame at being +forced to speak thus. May raised her face, now aflame with hope and joy. + +'I wonder if it is possible to--' A moment after the light died out of +her face, and she said: + +'But how shall I live? Who will support me? I cannot ask mother for +money without awakening suspicion.' + +'I think, May, I shall be able to give you almost all the money you +want,' replied Alice in a hesitating and slightly embarrassed manner. + +'You, Alice?' + +'But I haven't told you; I have been writing a good deal lately for +newspapers, and have made nearly twenty pounds. That will be all you +will want for the present, and I shall be able, I hope, to make +sufficient to keep you supplied.' + +'I don't think that anyone was ever as good as you, Alice. You make me +feel ashamed of myself.' + +'I am doing only what anyone else would do if they were called upon. But +we have been sitting here a long time now, and before we go back to the +tennis-ground we had better arrange what is to be done. When do you +propose leaving?' + +'I had better leave at once. It is seven months ago now--no one suspects +as yet.' + +'Well, then, when would you like me to send you the money? You can have +it at once if you like.' + +'Oh, thanks, dear; mother will give me enough to last me a little while, +and I will write to you from Dublin. You are sure no one sees your +letters at Brookfield?' + +'Quite sure; there's not the slightest danger.' She did not question the +advice she had given, and she felt sure that the Reverend Mother, if a +proper appeal were made to her common sense, would consent to conceal +the girl's fault. Two months would not be long passing, but the expenses +of this time would be heavy, and she, Alice, would have to meet them +all. She trembled lest she might fail to do so, and she tried to reckon +them up. It would be impossible to get rooms under a pound a week, and +to live, no matter how cheaply, would cost at least two pounds; three +pounds a week, four threes are twelve! The twenty pounds would scarcely +carry her over a month, she would not be well for at least two; and then +there was the doctor, the nurse, the flannels for the baby. Alice tried +to calculate, thinking plainly and honestly. If a repulsive detail rose +suddenly up in her mind, she did not shrink, nor was she surprised to +find herself thinking of such things; she did so as a matter of course, +keeping her thoughts fixed on the one object of doing her duty towards +her friend. And how to do this was the problem that presented itself +unceasingly for solution. She felt that somehow she would have to earn +twenty pounds within the next month. Out of the _Lady's Paper_, in which +'Notes and Sensations of a Plain Girl at Dublin Castle,' was still +running, she could not hope to make more than thirty shillings a week; a +magazine had lately accepted a ten-page story worth, she fancied, about +five pounds, but when they would print it and pay her was impossible to +say. She could write the editor an imploring letter, asking him to +advance her the money. But even then there was another nine pounds to +make up. And to do this seemed to her an impossibility. She could not +ask her father or mother; she would only do so if the worst came to the +worst. She would write paragraphs, articles, short stories, and would +send them to every editor in London. One out of three might turn up +trumps. + + + 'GARDNER STREET, + 'MOUNTJOY SQUARE. +'DARLING ALICE, +'I have been in Dublin now more than a week. I did not write to you +before because I wished to write to tell you that I had done all you +told me to do. The first thing I did was to go to the convent. Would you +believe it, the new Rev. Mother is Sister Mary who we knew so well at +St. Leonards! She has been transferred to the branch convent in Dublin; +she was delighted to see me, but the sight of her dear face awoke so +many memories, so many old associations, that I burst out crying, and it +seemed to me impossible that I should ever be able to find courage to +tell her the truth. None will ever know what it cost me to speak the +words. They came to me all of a sudden, and I told her everything. I +thought she would reproach me and speak bitterly, but she only said, "My +poor child, I am sorry you hadn't strength to resist temptation; your +trial is a dreadful one." She was very, very kind. Her face lighted up +when I spoke of you, and she said: "Sweet girl; she was always an angel; +one of these days she will come back to us. She is too good for the +world." Then I insisted that it was your idea that I should seek help +from the convent, but she said that it was my duty to go to my mother +and tell her the whole truth. Oh, my darling Alice, I cannot tell you +what a terrible time I went through. We were talking for at least two +hours, and it was only with immense difficulty that I at last succeeded +in making her understand what kind of person poor mamma is, and how +hopeless it would be to expect her to keep any secret, even if her +daughter's honour was in question. I told her how she would run about, +talking in her mild unmeaning way of "poor May and that shameful Mr. +Scully;" and, at last, the Rev. Mother, as you prophesied she would, saw +the matter in its proper light, and she has consented to receive all my +letters, and if mother writes, to give her to understand that I am safe +within the convent walls. It is very good of her, for I know the awful +risk she is wilfully incurring so as to help me out of my trouble. + +'The house I am staying in is nice enough, and the landlady seems a kind +woman. The name I go by is Mrs. Brandon (you will not forget to direct +your letters so), and I said that my husband was an officer, and had +gone out to join his regiment in India. I have a comfortable bedroom on +the third floor. There are two windows, and they look out on the street. +The time seems as if it would never pass; the twelve hours of the day +seem like twelve centuries. I have not even a book to read, and I never +go out for fear of being seen. In the evening I put on a thick veil and +go for a walk in the back streets. But I cannot go out before nine; it +is not dark till then, and I cannot stop out later than ten on account +of the men who speak to you. My coloured hair makes me look fast, and I +am so afraid of meeting someone I know, that this short hour is as full +of misery as those that preceded it. Every passer-by seems to know me, +to recognize me, and I cannot help imagining that he or she will be +telling my unfortunate story half an hour after in the pitiless +drawing-rooms of Merrion Square. Oh, Alice darling, you are the only +friend I have in the world. If it were not for you, I believe I should +drown myself in the Liffey. No girl was ever so miserable as I. I cannot +tell you how I feel, and you cannot imagine how forlorn it all is; and I +am so ill. I am always hungry, and always sick, and always longing. Oh, +these longings; you may think they are nothing, but they are dreadful. +You remember how active I used to be, how I used to run about the +tennis-court; now I can scarcely crawl. And the strange sickening +fancies: I see things in the shops that tempt me, sometimes it is a dry +biscuit, sometimes a basket of strawberries; but whatever it is, I stand +and look at it, long for it, until weary of longing and standing with a +sort of weight weighing me down, and my stays all rucking up to my neck, +I crawl home. There I am all alone; and I sit in the dark, on a wretched +hard chair by the window; and I cry; and I watch the summer night and +all the golden stars, and I cannot say what I think of during all these +long and lonely hours; I only know that I cannot find energy to go to +bed. And I never sleep a whole night through; the cramp comes on so +terribly that I jump up screaming. Oh, Alice, how I hate _him!_ When I +think of it all I see how selfish men are; they never think of us--they +only think of themselves. You would scarcely know me if you saw me now; +all my complexion--you know what a pretty complexion it was--is all red +and mottled. When you saw me a fortnight ago I was all right: it is +extraordinary what a change has come about. I think it was the journey +and the excitement; there would be no concealing the truth now. It is +lucky I left Galway when I did. + +'Mother gave me five pounds on leaving home. My ticket cost nearly +thirty shillings, a pound went in cabs and hotel expenses, and my +breakfasts brought my bill up yesterday to two pounds--I cannot think +how, for I only pay sixteen shillings for my room--and when it was paid +I had only a few shillings left. Will you, therefore, send the money you +promised, if possible, by return of post? + 'Always affectionately yours, + 'MAY GOULD.' + + +The tears started to Alice's eyes as she read the letter. She did not +consider if May might have spared her the physical details with which +her letter abounded; she did not stay to think of the cause, of the +result; for the moment she was numb to ideas and sensations that were +not those of humble human pity for humble human suffering: like the +waters of a new baptism, pity made her pure and whole, and the false +shame of an ancient world fell from her. Leaning her head on her strong, +well-shaped hand, she set to arranging her little plans for her friend's +help--plans that were charming for their simplicity, their sweet +homeliness. The letter she had just read had come by the afternoon post, +and if she were to send May the money she wrote for that evening, it +would be necessary to go into Gort to register the letter. Gort was two +miles away; and if she asked for the carriage her mother might propose +that the letters should be sent in by a special messenger. This of +course was impossible, and Alice, for the first time in her life found +herself obliged to tell a deliberate lie. For a moment her conscience +stood at bay, but she accepted the inevitable and told her mother that +she had some MSS. to register, and did not care to entrust them to other +hands. It was a consolation to know that eighteen pounds were safely +despatched, but she was bitterly unhappy, and the fear that money might +be wanting in the last and most terrible hours bound her to her desk as +with a chain; and when her tired and exhausted brain ceased to formulate +phrases, the picture of the lonely room, the night walks, and the +suffering of the jaded girl, stared her in the face with a terrible +distinctness. Her only moments of gladness were when the post brought a +cheque from London. Sometimes they were for a pound, sometimes for +fifteen shillings. Once she received five pounds ten--it was for her +story. On the 10th of September she received the following letter: + + +'DARLING ALICE, +'Thanks a thousand times for your last letter, and the money enclosed. +It came in the nick of time, for I was run almost to my last penny. I +did not write before, because I didn't feel in the humour to do +anything. Thank goodness! I'm not sick any more, though I don't know +that it isn't counterbalanced by the dreadful faintness and the constant +movement. Isn't it awful to sit here day after day, watching myself, and +knowing the only relief I shall get will be after such terrible pain? I +woke up last night crying with the terror of it. Cervassi says there are +cases on record of painless confinements, and in my best moods I think +mine is to be one of them. I know it is wrong to write all these things +to a good girl like you, but I think talking about it is part of the +complaint, and poor sinner me has no one to talk to. Do you remember my +old black cashmere? I've been altering it till there's hardly a bit of +the original body left; but now the skirt is adding to my troubles by +getting shorter and shorter in front. It is now quite six inches off the +ground, and instead of fastening it I have to pin the placket-hole, and +then it falls nearly right. . . . Only three weeks longer, and then. . . +But there, I won't look forward, because I know I am going to die, and +all the accounting for it, and everything else, will be on your +shoulders. Good-bye, dear; I shan't write again, at least not till +afterwards. And if there is an afterward, I shall never be able to thank +you properly; but still I think it will be a weight off you. Is it so, +dear? Do you wish I were dead? I know you don't. It was unkind to write +that last line; I will scratch it out. You will not be angry, dear. I am +too wretched to know what I am writing, and I want to lie down. + 'Always affectionately yours, + 'MAY GOULD.' + + +Outside the air was limpid with sunlight, and the newly mown meadow was +golden in the light of evening. The autumn-coloured foliage of the +chestnuts lay mysteriously rich and still, harmonizing in measured tones +with the ruddy tints of the dim September sunset. The country dozed as +if satiated with summer love. Heavy scents were abroad--the pungent +odours of the aftermath. A high baritone voice broke the languid +silence, and, in embroidered smoking-jacket and cap, Mr. Barton twanged +his guitar. Milord had been thrown down amid the hay; and Mrs. Barton +and Olive were showering it upon him. The old gentleman's legs were in +the air. + +Crushing the letter, Alice's hands fell on the table; she burst into +tears. But work was more vital than tears; and, taking up her pen, she +continued her story--penny journal fiction of true love and unending +happiness in the end. A month later she received this note: + + +'DEAREST, +'Just a line in pencil--I mustn't sit up--to tell you it is all over, +and all I said was "Thank God, thank God!" over and over again, as each +pain went. It is such a relief; but I mustn't write much. It is such a +funny screwed-up-looking baby, and I don't feel any of those maternal +sentiments that you read about--at least not yet. And it always cries +just when I am longing to go to sleep. Thank you again and again for all +you have done for me and been to me. I feel awfully weak. + 'Always affectionately yours, + 'MAY GOULD.' + + + + +XXIV + + +Then Alice heard that the baby was dead, and that a little money would +be required to bury it. Another effort was made, the money was sent; and +the calm of the succeeding weeks was only disturbed by an uneasy desire +to see May back in Galway, and hear her say that her terrible secret was +over and done with for ever. One day she was startled by a quick +trampling of feet in the corridor, and May rushed into the room. She +threw herself into Alice's arms and kissed her with effusion, with +tears. The girls looked at each other long and nervously. One was pale +and over-worn, her spare figure was buttoned into a faded dress, and her +hair was rolled into a plain knot. The other was superb with health, and +her face was full of rose-bloom. She was handsomely dressed in green +velvet, and her copper hair flamed and flashed beneath a small bonnet +with mauve strings. + +'Oh, Alice, how tired and pale you look! You have been working too hard, +and all for me! How can I thank you? I shall never be able to thank +you--I cannot find words to tell you how grateful I am--but I am +grateful, Alice, indeed I am.' + +'I am sure you are, dear. I did my best for you, it is true; and thank +heaven I succeeded, and no one knows--I do not think that anyone even +suspects.' + +'No, not a soul. We managed it very well, didn't we? And the Reverend +Mother behaved splendidly--she just took the view that you said she +would. She saw that no good would come of telling mamma about me when I +made her understand that if a word were said my misfortune would be +belled all over the country in double-quick time. But, Alice dear, I had +a terrible time of it, two months waiting in that little lodging, afraid +to go out for fear someone would recognize me; it was awful. And often I +hadn't enough to eat, for when you are in that state you can't eat +everything, and I was afraid to spend any money. You did your best to +keep me supplied, dear, good guardian angel that you are.' Then the +impulsive girl flung herself on Alice's shoulders, and kissed her. 'But +there were times when I was hard up--oh, much more hard up than you +thought I was, for I didn't tell you everything; if I had, you would +have worried yourself into your grave. Oh, I had a frightful time of it! +If one is married one is petted and consoled and encouraged; but alone +in a lodging--oh, it was frightful.' + +'And what about the poor baby?' said Alice. + +'The poor little thing died, as I wrote you, about ten days after it was +born. I nursed it, and I was sorry for it. I really was; but of course +. . . well, it seems a hard thing to say, but I don't know what I should +have done with it if it had lived. Life isn't so happy, is it, even +under the best of circumstances?' + +The conversation came to a sudden close. At last the nervous silence +that intervened was broken by May: + +'We were speaking about money. I will repay you all I owe you some day, +Alice dear. I will save up all the money I can get out of mother. She is +such a dear old thing, but I cannot understand her. Not a penny did she +send me for the first six weeks, and then she sent me L25; and it was +lucky she did, for the doctor's bill was something tremendous. And I +bought this dress and bonnet with what was left . . . I ought to have +repaid you first thing, but I forgot it until I had ordered the dress.' + +'I assure you it does not matter, May; I shall never take the money from +you. If I did, it would take away all the pleasure I have had in serving +you.' + +'Oh, but I will insist, Alice dear; I could not think of such a thing. +But there's no use in discussing that point until I get the money. . . . +Tell me, what do you think of my bonnet?' + +'I think it very nice indeed, and I never saw you looking better.' + +And thus ended May Gould's Dublin adventure. It was scarcely spoken of +again, and when they met at a ball given by the officers stationed in +Galway, Alice was astonished to find that she experienced no antipathy +whatever towards this rich-blooded young person. 'My dear guardian +angel, come and sit with me in this corner; I'd sooner talk to you than +anyone--we won't go down yet a while--we'll make the men wait;' and when +she put her arms round Alice's waist and told her the last news of +Violet and her Marquis, Alice abandoned herself to the caress and heard +that thirty years ago the late Marquis had entered a grocer's shop in +Galway to buy a pound of tea for an importuning beggar: 'And what do you +think, my dear?--It was Mrs. Scully who served it out to him; and do you +know what they are saying?--that it is all your fault that Olive did not +marry Kilcarney.' + +'My fault?' + +'Your fault, because you gave the part of the beggar-maid to Violet, and +if Olive had played the beggar-maid and hadn't married Kilcarney, the +fault would have been laid at your door just the same.' + +The pale cheeks of Lord Rosshill's seven daughters waxed a hectic red; +the Ladies Cullen grew more angular, and smiled and cawed more cruelly; +Mrs. Barton, the Brennans, and Duffys cackled more warmly and +continuously; and Bertha, the terror of the _debutantes_, beat the big +drum more furiously than ever. The postscripts to her letters were +particularly terrible: 'And to think that the grocer's daughter should +come in for all this honour. It is she who will turn up her nose at us +at the Castle next year.' 'Ah, had I known what was going to happen it +is I who would have pulled the fine feathers out of her.' Day after day, +week after week, the agony was protracted, until every heart grew weary +of the strain put upon it and sighed for relief. But it was impossible +to leave off thinking and talking; and the various accounts of +orange-blossoms and the bridesmaids that in an incessant postal stream +were poured during the month of January into Galway seemed to provoke +rather than abate the marriage fever. The subject was inexhaustible, and +little else was spoken of until it was time to pack up trunks and +prepare for the Castle season. The bride, it was stated, would be +present at the second Drawing-Room in March. + +Nevertheless Alice noticed that the gladness of last year was gone out +of their hearts; none expected much, and all remembered a little of the +disappointments they had suffered. A little of the book had been read; +the lines of white girls standing about the pillars in Patrick's Hall, +the empty waltz tunes and the long hours passed with their chaperons +were terrible souvenirs to pause upon. Still they must fight on to the +last; there is no going back--there is nothing for them to go back to. +There is no hope in life for them but the vague hope of a husband. So +they keep on to the last, becoming gradually more spiteful and puerile, +their ideas of life and things growing gradually narrower, until, in +their thirty-fifth or fortieth year, they fall into the autumn heaps, to +lie there forgotten, or to be blown hither or thither by every wind that +blows. + +Two of Lord Rosshill's daughters had determined to try their luck again, +and a third was undecided; the Ladies Cullen said that they had their +school to attend to and could not leave Galway; poverty compelled the +Brennans and Duffys to remain at home. Alice would willingly have done +the same, but, tempted by the thin chance that she might meet with +Harding, she yielded to her mother's persuasions. Harding did not return +to Dublin, and her second season was more barren of incident than the +first. The same absence of conviction, the same noisy gossiping and +inability to see over the horizon of Merrion Square, the same servile +adoration of officialism, the same meanness committed to secure an +invitation to the Castle, the same sing-song waltz tunes, the same +miserable, mocking, melancholy, muslin hours were endured by the same +white martyrs. + +And if the Castle remained unchanged, Mount Street lost nothing of its +original aspect. Experience had apparently taught Mrs. Barton nothing; +she knew but one set of tricks--if they failed she repeated them: she +was guided by the indubitableness of instinct rather than by the more +wandering light that is reason. Mr. Barton, who it was feared might talk +of painting, and so distract the attention from more serious matters, +was left in Galway, and amid eight or nine men collected here, there, +and everywhere out of the hotels and barrack-rooms, the three ladies sat +down to dinner. + +Mrs. Barton, who could have talked to twenty men, and have kept them +amused, was severely handicapped by the presence of her daughters. +Olive, at the best of times, could do little more than laugh; and as +Alice never had anything to say to the people she met at her mother's +house, the silences that hung over the Mount Street dinner-table were +funereal in intensity and length. From time to time questions were asked +relating to the Castle, the weather, and the theatre. + +Therefore, beyond the fact that neither Lord Kilcarney nor Mr. Harding +was present, the girls passed their second season in the same manner as +their first. _Les deux pieces de resistance_ at Mount Street were a +dissipated young English lord and a gouty old Irish distiller, and Mrs. +Barton was making every effort to secure one of these. A pianist was +ordered to attend regularly at four o'clock. And now if Alice was +relieved of the duty of spelling through the doleful strains of 'Dream +Faces,' she was forced to go round and round with the distiller until an +extra glass of port forced the old gentleman to beg mercy of Mrs. +Barton. At one o'clock in the morning the young lord used to enter the +Kildare Street Club weary. But not much way was made with either, and +when one returned to London and the other to a sick-bed, Olive abandoned +herself to a series of flirtations. At the Castle she danced with all +who asked her, and she sat out dances in the darkest corners of the most +distant rooms with every officer stationed in Dublin. Mrs. Barton never +refused an invitation to any dance, no matter how low, and in all the +obscure 'afternoons' in Mount Street and Pembroke Street Olive's blonde +cameo-like face was seen laughing with every official of Cork Hill and +the gig-men of Kildare Street. + +In May the Bartons went abroad, and Olive flirted with foreign +titles--French Counts, Spanish Dukes, Russian Princes, Swedish noblemen +of all kinds, and a goodly number of English refugees with +irreproachable neckties and a taste for baccarat. In the balmy gardens +of Ostend and Boulogne, jubilant with June and the overture of +Masaniello, Milord and Mrs. Barton walked in front, talking and laughing +gracefully. Olive chose him who flattered her the most outrageously; and +Alice strove hard to talk to the least objectionable of the men she was +brought in contact with. Amid these specious talkers there were a few +who reminded her of Mr. Harding, and she hoped later on to be able to +turn her present experiences to account. There was, of course, much +dining at cafes and dining at the casinos, and evening walks along the +dark shore. Alice often feared for her sister, but the girl's vanity and +lightheadedness were her safeguards, and she returned to Galway only a +little wearied by the long chase after amusement. + +The soft Irish summer is pleasant after the glare of foreign towns, and +the country, the rickety stone walls and the herds of cattle, the deep +curved lines of the plantations of the domain lands, the long streaks of +brown bog, the flashing tarns of bog-water, and the ruined cottage, lay +dozing in beautiful silvery haze. There was much charm for Alice in +these familiar signs; and, although she did not approve of--although she +would not care ever to meet them again--the people she had met at Ostend +and Dieppe had interested her. She had picked up ideas and had received +impressions, and with these germinating in her, a time of quiet, a time +for reading and thinking, came as a welcome change after the noise of +casinos and the glitter of fireworks. The liberty she had enjoyed, the +sense it had brought with it that she was neither a doll nor a victim, +had rendered her singularly happy. The plot of a new story was singing +in her head, the characters flitted before her eyes, and to think of +them or to tell Cecilia of them was a pleasure sufficient for all her +daily desire. Olive, too, was glad. The sunlight has gone into her +blood, and she romps with her mother and Milord amid the hay, or, +stretched at length, she listens to the green air of the lawn, her +dreams ripple like water along a vessel's side, the white wake of the +past in bubble behind her; and when the life of the landscape is burnt +out, and the day in dying seems to have left its soul behind, she stands +watching, her thoughts curdling gently, the elliptical flight of the +swallows through the gloom, and the flutter of the bats upon the dead +sky. + +But the thoughtless brain, fed for many weeks upon noise and glitter, +soon began to miss its accustomed stimulants, and Mrs. Barton was quick +to comprehend sudden twitchings of the face and abrupt movements of the +limbs. And, keenly alive to what was passing in her daughter's mind, she +insisted on Olive's accompanying her to the tennis-parties with which +the county teemed. Sir Charles, Mr. Adair, and even poor Sir Richard +were put forward as the most eligible of men. + +'It is impossible to say when the big fish will be caught; it is often +the last try that brings him to land,' murmured Mrs. Barton. But Olive +had lost courage, and could fix her thoughts on no one. And, often when +they returned home, she would retire to her room to have a good cry. + +'Leave me alone, Alice; oh, go away. Don't tease me, don't tease me! I +only want to be left alone.' + +'But listen, dear; can I do anything for you?' + +'You! no, no, indeed you can't. I only want to be left alone. I am so +miserable, so unhappy; I wish I were dead!' + +'Dead?' + +'Yes, dead; what's the use of living when I know that I shall be an old +maid? We shall all be old maids. What's the use of being pretty, either, +when Violet, though she be but a bag of bones, has got the Marquis? I +have been out two seasons now, and nothing has come of all the trying. +And yet I was the belle of the season, wasn't I, Alice?' And now, +looking more than ever like a cameo Niobe, Olive stared at her sister +piteously. 'Oh yes, Alice, I know I shall be an old maid; and isn't it +dreadful, and I the belle of the season? It makes me so unhappy. No one +ever heard of the belle (and I was the belle not of one, but of two +seasons) remaining an old maid. I can understand a lot of ugly things +not getting married, but I--' + +Alice smiled, and half ironically she asked herself if Olive really +suffered. No heart-pang was reflected in those blue mindless eyes; there +was no heart to wound: only a little foolish vanity had been bruised. + +'And to think,' cried this whimpering beauty, when Alice had seen her +successfully through a flood of hysterical tears, 'that I was silly +enough to give up dear Edward. I am punished for it now, indeed I am; +and it was very wicked of me--it was a great sin. I broke his heart. But +you know, Alice dear, that it was all mamma's fault; she urged me on; +and you know how I refused, how I resisted her. Didn't I resist--tell +me. You know, and why won't you say that I did resist?' + +'You did, indeed, Olive; but you must not distress yourself, or you will +make yourself ill.' + +'Yes, perhaps you are right, there's nothing makes one look so ugly as +crying, and if I lost my looks and met Edward he might not care for me. +He'd be disappointed, I mean--but I haven't lost my looks; I am just as +pretty as I was when I came out first. Am I not, Alice?' + +'Indeed you are, dear.' + +'You don't think I have gone off a bit--now do tell me? and I want to +ask you what you think of my hair in a fringe; Papa says it isn't +classical, but that's nonsense. I wish I knew how Edward would like me +to wear it.' + +'But you mustn't think of him, Olive dear; you know mother would never +hear of it.' + +'I can't help thinking of him. . . . And now I will tell you something, +Alice, if you promise me on your word of honour not to scold me, and, +above all, not to tell mamma.' + +'I promise.' + +'Well, the other day I was walking at the end of the lawn feeling so +very miserable. You don't know how miserable I feel; you are never +miserable, for you think of nothing but your books. Well (mind, you have +given me your word not to tell anyone), I saw Captain Hibbert riding +along the road, and when he saw me he stopped his horse and kissed his +hand to me.' + +'And what did you do?' + +'I don't know what I did. He called me, and then I saw Milord coming +along the road, and fled but, oh, isn't it cruel of mamma to have +forbidden Edward to come and see us? and he loving me as much as ever.' + +This was not the moment to advise her sister against clandestine +meetings with Captain Hibbert; she was sobbing violently, and Alice had +to assure her again and again that no one who had been the belle of the +season had ever remained an old maid. But Alice (having well in mind the +fate that had befallen May Gould) grew not a little alarmed when, in the +course of next week, she suddenly noticed that Olive was in the habit of +going out for long walks alone, and that she invariably returned in a +state of high spirits, all the languor and weariness seeming to have +fallen from her. + +Alice once thought of following her sister. She watched her open the +wicket and walk across the meadows towards the Lawler domain. There was +a bypath there leading to the highroad, but the delicacy of their +position in relation to the owners prevented the Bartons from ever +making use of it. Nor did Alice fail to notice that about the same time, +Barnes, on the pretence of arranging the room for the evening, would +strive to drive her from her writing-table, and beds were made and +unmade, dresses were taken out of the wardrobe, and importuning +conversations were begun. But, taking no heed of the officious maid, +Alice, her thoughts tense with anxiety, sat at her window watching the +slender figure of the girl growing dim in the dying light. Once she did +not return until it was quite dark, and, reproaching herself for having +remained so long silent, Alice walked across the pleasure-grounds to +meet her. + +'What, you here?' cried Olive, surprised at finding her sister waiting +for her at the wicket. She was out of breath; she had evidently been +running. + +'Yes, Olive, I was anxious to speak to you--you must know that it is +very wrong to meet Captain Hibbert--and in the secrecy of a wood!' + +'Who told you I had been to meet Captain Hibbert? I suppose you have +been following me!' + +'No, Olive, I haven't, and you have no right to accuse me of such +meanness. I have not been following you, but I cannot help putting two +and two together. You told me something of this once before, and since +then you have scarcely missed an evening.' + +'Well, I don't see any harm in meeting Edward; he is going to marry me.' + +'Going to marry you?' + +'Yes, going to marry me; is there anything so very extraordinary in +that? Mamma had no right to break off the match, and I am not going to +remain an old maid.' + +'And have you told mother about this?' + +'No, where's the use, since she won't hear of it?' + +'And are you going to run away with Captain Hibbert?' + +'Run away with him!' exclaimed Olive, laughing strangely. 'No, of course +I am not.' + +'And how are you to marry him if you don't tell mother?' + +'I shall tell her when the time comes to tell her. And now, Alice dear, +you will promise not to betray me, won't you? You will not speak about +this to anyone, you promise me? If you did, I know I should go mad or +kill myself.' + +'But when will you tell mother of your resolution to marry Captain +Hibbert?' + +'Tell her? I'll tell her to-morrow if you like; that is to say, if you +will give me your word of honour not to speak to her about my meeting +Edward in the Lawler Wood.' + +Afterwards Alice often wondered at her dullness in not guessing the +truth. But at the time it did not occur to her that Olive might have +made arrangements to elope with Captain Hibbert; and, on the +understanding that all was to be explained on the following day, she +promised to keep her sister's secret. + + + + +XXV + + +Lord Dungory dined at Brookfield that evening. He noticed that Olive was +nervous and restless, and he reminded her of what a French poet had said +on the subject of beauty. But she only turned her fair head impatiently, +and a little later on when her mother spoke to her she burst into tears. +Nor was she as easily consoled as usual, and she did not become calm +until Mrs. Barton suggested that her dear child was ill, and that she +would go upstairs and put her to bed. Then, looking a little alarmed, +Olive declared she was quite well, but she passionately begged to be +left alone. As they left the dining-room she attempted to slip away; +Alice made a movement as if to follow her, but Mrs. Barton said: + +'Leave her to herself, Alice; she would rather be left alone. She has +overstrained her nerves, that is all.' + +Olive heard these words with a singular satisfaction, and as she +ascended the stairs from the first landing, her heart beat less +violently. On the threshold of her room she paused to listen for the +drawing-room door to shut. Through the silent house the lock sounded +sharply. + +'I hope none of them will come upstairs bothering after me,' the girl +murmured to herself. 'If they do I shall go mad;' and standing in the +middle of the floor she looked round the room vacantly, unable to +collect her thoughts. The wardrobe was on her right, and, seeing herself +in the glass, she wondered if she were looking well. Her eyes wandered +from her face to her shoulders, and thence to her feet. Going over to +the toilette-table she sought amid her boots, and, having selected a +strong pair, she began to button them. Her back was turned to the door, +and at the slightest sound she started. Once or twice the stairs +creaked, and she felt something would occur to stop her. Her heart was +beating so violently that she thought she was going to be ill; and she +almost burst out crying because she could not make up her mind if she +should put on a hat and travelling-shawl, or run down to the wood as she +was, to meet the Captain. 'He will surely,' she thought, 'have something +in the carriage to put around me, but he may bring the dog-cart, and it +looks very cold. But if Alice or mamma saw me coming downstairs with a +shawl on, they'd suspect something, and I shouldn't be able to get away. +I wonder what time it is? I promised to meet Edward at nine; he'll of +course wait for me, but what time is it? We dined at half-past seven; we +were an hour at dinner, half-past eight, and I have been ten minutes +here. It must be nearly nine now, and it will take me ten minutes to get +to the corner of the road. The house is quiet now.' + +Olive ran down a few steps, but at that moment heavy footsteps and a +jingling of glasses announced that the butler was carrying glasses from +the dining-room to the pantry. 'When will he cease, when will he cease; +will he hang about that passage all night?' the girl asked herself +tremblingly; and so cruel, so poignant had her suspense become, that had +it been prolonged much further her overwrought nerves would have given +way, and she would have lapsed into a fit of hysterics. But the +tray-full of glasses she had heard jingling were now being washed, and +the irritative butler did not stir forth again. This was Olive's +opportunity. From the proximity of the drawing-room to the hall-door it +was impossible for her to open it without being heard; the kitchen-door +was equally, even more, dangerous, and she could hear the servants +stirring in the passages; there was no safe way of getting out of the +house unseen, except through the dining-room. + +The candles were lighted, the crumbs were still on the tablecloth; +passing behind the red curtain she unlocked the French window, and she +shivered in the keen wind that was blowing. + +It was almost as bright as day. A September moon rose red, and in a +broken and fragmentary way the various aspects of the journey that lay +before her were anticipated: as she ran across the garden swards she saw +the post-horses galloping in front of her; as her nervous fingers strove +to unfasten the wicket, she thought of the railway-carriage; and as she +passed under the great dark trunks of the chestnut-trees she dreamed of +Edward's arm that would soon be cast protectingly around her, and his +face; softer than the leafy shadows above her, would be leaned upon her, +and his eyes filled with a brighter light than the moon's would look +down into hers. + +The white meadow that she crossed so swiftly gleamed like the sea, and +the cows loomed through the greyness like peaceful apparitions. But the +dark wood with its sepulchral fir-tops and mysteriously spreading +beech-trees was full of formless terror, and once the girl screamed as +the birds flew with an awful sound through the dark undergrowth. A +gloomy wood by night has terrors for the bravest, and it was only the +certainty that she was leaving girl-life--chaperons, waltz-tunes, and +bitter sneering, for ever--that gave courage to proceed. A bit of +moss-grown wall, a singularly shaped holly-bush, a white stone, took +fantastic and supernatural appearances, and once she stopped, paralyzed +with fear, before the grotesque shadow that a dead tree threw over an +unexpected glade. A strange bird rose from the bare branches, and at +that moment her dress was caught by a bramble, and, when her shriek tore +the dark stillness, a hundred wings flew through the pallor of the +waning moon. + +At the end of this glade there was a paling and a stile that Olive would +have to cross, and she could now hear, as she ran forward, the needles +of the silver firs rustling with a pricking sound in the wind. The heavy +branches stretched from either side, and Olive thought when she had +passed this dernful alley she would have nothing more to fear; and she +ran on blindly until she almost fell in the arms of someone whom she +instantly believed to be Edward. + +'Oh! Edward, Edward, I am nearly dead with fright!' she exclaimed. + +'I am not Edward,' a woman answered. Olive started a step backwards; she +would have fainted, but at the moment the words were spoken Mrs. +Lawler's face was revealed in a beam of weak light that fell through a +vista in the branches. + +'Who are you? Let me pass.' + +'Who am I? You know well enough; we haven't been neighbours for fifteen +years without knowing each other by sight. So you are going to run away +with Captain Hibbert!' + +'Oh, Mrs. Lawler, let me pass. I am in a great hurry, I cannot wait; and +you won't say anything about meeting me in the wood, will you?' + +'Let you pass, indeed; and what do you think I came here for? Oh, I know +all about it--all about the corner of the road, and the carriage and +post-horses! a very nice little plan and very nicely arranged, but I'm +afraid it won't come off--at least, not to-night.' + +'Oh, won't it, and why?' cried Olive, clasping her hands. 'Then it was +Edward who sent you to meet me, to tell me that--that--What has +happened?' + +'Sent me to tell you! Whom do you take me for? Is it for a--well, a nice +piece of cheek! I carry your messages? Well, I never!' + +'Then what did you come here for--how did you know? . . .' + +'How did I know? That's my business. What did I come here for? What do +you think? Why, to prevent you from going off with Teddy.' + +'With Teddy!' + +'Yes, with Teddy. Do you think no one calls him Teddy but yourself?' + +Then Olive understood, and, with her teeth clenched she said, 'No, it +isn't true; it is a lie; I will not believe it. Let me pass. What +business have you to detain me?--what right have you to speak to me? We +don't know you; no one knows you: you are a bad woman whom no one will +know.' + +'A bad woman! I like that--and from you. And what do you want to be, why +are you running away from home? Why, to be what I was. We're all alike, +the same blood runs in our veins, and when the devil is in us we must +have sweethearts, get them how we may: the airs and graces come on +after; they are only so much trimming.' + +'How dare you insult me, you bad woman? Let me pass; I don't know what +you mean.' + +'Oh yes, you do. You think Teddy will take you off to Paris, and spoon +you and take you out; but he won't, at least not to-night. I shan't give +him up so easily as you think for, my lady.' + +'Give him up! What is he to you? How dare you speak so of my future +husband? Captain Hibbert only loves me, he has often told me so.' + +'Loves nobody but you! I suppose you think that he never kissed, or +spooned, or took anyone on his knee but you. Well, I suppose at twenty +we'd believe anything a man told us; and we always think we are getting +the first of it when we are only getting someone else's leavings. But it +isn't for chicks of girls like you that a man cares, it isn't to you a +man comes for the love he wants; your kisses are very skim milk indeed, +and it is we who teach them the words of love that they murmur +afterwards in your ears.' + +The women looked at each other in silence, and both heard the needles +shaken through the darkness above them. Mrs. Lawler stood by the stile, +her hand was laid on the paling. At last Olive said: + +'Let me pass. I will not listen to you any longer; nor do I believe a +word you have said. We all know what you are; you are a bad woman whom +no one will visit. Let me pass!' and pushing passionately forward she +attempted to cross the stile. Then Mrs. Lawler took her by the shoulder +and threw her roughly back. She fell to the ground heavily. + +'Now you had better get up and go home,' said Mrs. Lawler, and she +approached the prostrate girl. 'I didn't mean to hurt you; but you +shan't elope with Teddy if I can prevent it. Why don't you get up?' + +'Oh! my leg, my leg; you have broken my leg!' + +'Let me help you up.' + +'Don't touch me,' said Olive, attempting to rise; but the moment she put +her right foot to the ground she shrieked with pain, and fell again. + +'Well, if you are going to take it in that way, you may remain where you +are, and I can't go and ring them up at Brookfield. I don't think there +will be much eloping done to-night, so farewell.' + + + + +XXVI + + +About ten o'clock on the night of Olive's elopement, Alice knocked +tremblingly at her mother's door. + +'Mother,' she said, 'Olive is not in her room, nor yet in the house; I +have looked for her everywhere.' + +'She is downstairs with her father in the studio,' said Mrs. Barton; +and, signing to her daughter to be silent, she led her out of hearing of +Barnes, who was folding and putting some dresses away in the wardrobe. + +'I have been down to the studio,' Alice replied in a whisper. + +'Then I am afraid she has run away with Captain Hibbert. But we shall +gain nothing by sending men out with lanterns and making a fuss; by this +time she is well on her way to Dublin. She might have done better than +Captain Hibbert, but she might also have done worse. She will write to +us in a few days to tell us that she is married, and to beg of us to +forgive her.' + +And that night Mrs. Barton slept even more happily, with her mind more +completely at rest, than usual; whereas Alice, fevered with doubt and +apprehension, lay awake. At seven o'clock she was at her window, +watching the grey morning splinter into sunlight over the quiet fields. +Through the mist the gamekeeper came, and another man, carrying a woman +between them, and the suspicion that her sister might have been killed +in an agrarian outrage gripped her heart like an iron hand. She ran +downstairs, and, rushing across the gravel, opened the wicket-gate. +Olive was moaning with pain, but her moans were a sweet reassurance in +Alice's ears, and without attempting to understand the man's story of +how Miss Olive had sprained her ankle in crossing the stile in their +wood, and how he had found her as he was going his rounds, she gave the +man five shillings, thanked him, and sent him away. Barnes and the +butler then carried Olive upstairs, and in the midst of much confusion +Mr. Barton rode down the avenue in quest of Dr. Reed--galloped down the +avenue, his pale hair blowing in the breeze. + +'I wish you had come straight to me,' said Mrs. Barton to Alice, as soon +as Barnes had left the room. 'We'd have got her upstairs between us, and +then we might have told any story we liked about her illness.' + +'But the Lawlers' gamekeeper would know all about it.' + +'Ah, yes, that's true. I never heard of anything so unfortunate in my +life. An elopement is never very respectable, but an elopement that does +not succeed, when the girl comes home again, is just as bad as--I cannot +think how Olive could have managed to meet Captain Hibbert and arrange +all this business, without my finding it out. I feel sure she must have +had the assistance of a third party. I feel certain that all this is +Barnes's doing. I am beginning to hate that woman, with her perpetual +smile, but it won't do to send her away now; we must wait.' And on these +words Mrs. Barton approached the bed. + +Shaken with sudden fits of shivering, and her teeth chattering, Olive +lay staring blindly at her mother and sister. Her eyes were expressive +at once of fear and pain. + +'And now, my own darling, will you tell me how all this happened?' + +'Oh, not now, mother--not now . . . I don't know; I couldn't help it. . . . +You mustn't scold me, I feel too ill to bear it.' + +'I am not thinking of scolding you, dearest, and you need not tell me +anything you do not like. . . . I know you were going to run away with +Captain Hibbert, and met with an accident crossing the stile in the +Lawler Wood.' + +'Oh, yes, yes; I met that horrid woman, Mrs. Lawler; she knew all about +it, and was waiting for me at the stile. She said lots of dreadful +things to me . . . I don't remember what; that she had more right to +Edward than I--' + +'Never mind, dear; don't agitate yourself thinking of what she said.' + +'And then, as I tried to pass her, she pushed me and I fell, and hurt my +ankle so badly that I could not get up; and she taunted me, and she said +she could not help me home because we were not on visiting terms. And I +lay in that dreadful wood all night. But I can't speak any more, I feel +too ill; and I never wish to see Edward again. . . . The pain of my ankle +is something terrible.' + +Mrs. Barton looked at Alice expressively, and she whispered in her ear: + +'This is all Barnes's doing, but we cannot send her away. . . . We must put +a bold face on it, and brave it out.' + +Dr. Reed was announced. + +'Oh, how do you do, doctor? . . . It is so good of you to come at once. +. . . We were afraid Mr. Barton would not find you at home. I am afraid +that Olive has sprained her foot badly. Last night she went out for a +walk rather late in the evening, and, in endeavouring to cross a stile, +she slipped and hurt herself so badly that she was unable to return +home, and lay exposed for several hours to the heavy night dews. I am +afraid she has caught a severe cold. . . . She has been shivering.' + +'Can I see her foot?' + +'Certainly. Olive, dear, will you allow Dr. Reed to see your ankle?' + +'Oh, take care, mamma; you are hurting me!' shrieked the girl, as Mrs. +Barton removed the bedclothes. At this moment a knock was heard at the +door. + +'Who on earth is this?' cried Mrs. Barton. 'Alice, will you go and see? +Say that I am engaged, and can attend to nothing now.' + +When Alice returned to the bedside she drew her mother imperatively +towards the window. 'Captain Hibbert is waiting in the drawing-room. He +says he must see you.' + +At the mention of Captain Hibbert's name Mrs. Barton's admirably +governed temper showed signs of yielding: her face contracted and she +bit her lips. + +'You must go down and see him. Tell him that Olive is very ill and that +the doctor is with her. And mind you, you must not answer any questions. +Say that I cannot see him, but that I am greatly surprised at his +forcing his way into my house after what has passed between us; that I +hope he will never intrude himself upon us again; that I cannot have my +daughter's life endangered, and that, if he insists on persecuting us, I +shall have to write to his Colonel.' + +'Do you not think that father would be the person to make such +explanations?' + +'You know your father could not be trusted to talk sensibly for five +minutes--at least,' she said, correcting herself, 'on anything that did +not concern painting or singing. . . . But,' she continued, following her +daughter to the door, 'on second thoughts I do not think it would be +advisible to bring matters to a crisis. . . . I do not know how this affair +will affect Olive's chances, and if he is anxious to marry her I do not +see why he should not; . . . she may not be able to get any better. So you +had better, I think, put him off--pretend that we are very angry, and +get him to promise not to try to see or to write to Olive until, let us +say, the end of the year. It will only make him more keen on her.' + +When Alice opened the drawing-room door Captain Hibbert rushed forward; +his soft eyes were bright with excitement, and his tall figure was +thrown into a beautiful pose when he stopped. + +'Oh, I beg your pardon. Miss Barton. I had expected your sister.' + +'My sister is very ill in bed, and the doctor is with her.' + +'Ill in bed!' + +'Yes, she sprained her ankle last night in attempting to cross the stile +in the wood at the end of our lawn.' + +'Oh, that was the reason . . . then . . . Can I see your sister for a few +minutes?' + +'It is quite impossible; and my mother desires me to say that she is +very much surprised that you should come here. . . . We know all about your +attempt to induce Olive to leave her home.' + +'Then she has told you? But if you knew how I love her, you would not +blame me. What else could I do? Your mother would not let me see her, +and she was very unhappy at home; you did not know this, but I did, and +if luck hadn't been against me--Ah! but what's the use in talking of +luck; luck was against me, or she would have been my wife now. And what +a little thing suffices to blight a man's happiness in life; what a +little, oh, what a little!' he said, speaking in a voice full of +bitterness; and he buried his face in his hands. + +Alice's eyes as she looked at him were expressive of her thoughts--they +beamed at once with pity and admiration. He was but the ordinary +handsome young man that in England nature seems to reproduce in +everlasting stereotype. Long graceful legs, clad in tight-fitting +trousers, slender hips rising architecturally to square wide shoulders, +a thin strong neck and a tiny head--yes, a head so small that an artist +would at once mark off eight on his sheet of double elephant. And now he +lay over the back of a chair weeping like a child; in the intensity of +his grief he was no longer commonplace; and as Alice looked at this +superb animal thrown back in a superb abandonment of pose, her heart +filled with the natural pity that the female feels always for the male +in distress, and the impulse within her was to put her arms about him +and console him; and then she understood her sister's passion for him, +and her mind formulated it thus: 'How handsome he is! Any girl would +like a man like that.' And as Alice surrendered herself to those +sensuous, or rather romantic feelings, her nature quickened to a sense +of pleasure, and she grew gentler with him, and was glad to listen while +he sobbed out his sorrows to her. + +'Oh, why,' he exclaimed, 'did she fall over that thrice-accursed stile! +In five minutes more we would have been in each other's arms, and for +ever. I had a couple of the best post-horses in Gort; they'd have taken +us to Athenry in a couple of hours, and then--Oh! what luck, what +luck!' + +'But do you not know that Olive met Mrs. Lawler in the wood, and that it +was she who--' + +'What do you say? You don't mean to tell me that it was Mrs. Lawler who +prevented Olive from meeting me? Oh, what beasts, what devils women +are,' he said; 'and the worst of it is that one cannot be even with +them, and they know it. If you only knew,' he said, turning almost +fiercely upon Alice, 'how I loved your sister, you would pity me; but I +suppose it is all over now. Is she very ill?' + +'We don't know yet. She has sprained her ankle very badly, and is +shivering terribly; she was lying out all night in the wet wood.' + +He did not answer at once. He walked once or twice up and down the room, +and then he said, taking Alice's hand in his, 'Will you be a friend to +me, Miss Barton?' He could get no further, for tears were rolling down +his cheeks. + +Alice looked at him tenderly; she was much touched by the manifestation +of his love, and at the end of a long silence she said: + +'Now, Captain Hibbert, I want you to listen to me. Don't cry any more, +but listen.' + +'I dare say I look a great fool.' + +'No, indeed you do not,' she answered; and then in kindly worded phrases +she told him that, at least for the present, he must not attempt to +correspond with Olive. 'Give me your word of honour that you will +neither write nor speak to her for, let us say, six months, and I will +promise to be your friend.' + +'I will do anything you ask me to do, but will you in return promise to +write and tell me how she is getting on, and if she is in any danger?' + +'I think I can promise to do that; I will write and tell you how Olive +is in a few days. Now we must say good-bye; and you will not forget your +promise to me, as I shall not forget mine to you.' + +When Alice went upstairs, Dr. Reed and Mrs. Barton were talking on the +landing. + +'And what do you think, doctor?' asked the anxious mother. + +'It is impossible to say. She has evidently received a severe nervous +shock, and this and the exposure to which she was subjected may develop +into something serious. You will give her that Dover's powder to-night, +and you will see that she has absolute quiet and rest. Have you got a +reliable nurse?' + +'Yes, the young ladies have a maid; I think Barnes can be trusted to +carry out your orders, doctor.' + +'Oh, mamma, I hope you will allow me to nurse my sister; I should not +like to leave her in charge of a servant.' + +'I am afraid you are not strong enough, dear.' + +'Oh, yes, I am; am I not strong enough, doctor?' + +Dr. Reed looked for a moment steadily at Alice. 'Your sister will,' he +said, 'require a good deal of looking after. But if you will not overdo +it, I think you seem quite strong enough to nurse her. But you must not +sit up at night with her too regularly; you must share the labour with +someone.' + +'She will do that with me,' said Mrs. Barton, speaking more kindly, +Alice thought, than she had ever heard her speak before. + +Then a wailing voice was heard calling to Alice. + +'Go in and see what she wants, dear, but you will not encourage her to +talk much; the doctor does not wish it.' + +The room did not look the same to Alice as it had ever looked before. +Her eyes fell on the Persian rugs laid between the two white beds and +the tall glass in the wardrobe where Olive wasted half-an-hour every +evening, examining her beauty. Would she ever do so again? Now a broken +reflection of feverish eyes and blonde hair was what remained. The white +curtains of the chimneypiece had been drawn aside, a bright fire was +burning, and Barnes was removing a foot-pan of hot water. + +'Sit down here by me, Alice; I want to talk to you.' + +'The doctor has forbidden you to talk, dear; he says you must have +perfect rest and quiet.' + +'I must talk a little to you; if I didn't I should go mad.' + +'Well, what is it, dear?' + +'I will tell you presently,' said the sick girl, glancing at Barnes. + +'You can tidy up the room afterwards, Barnes; Miss Olive wants to talk +to me now.' + +'Oh, Alice, tell me,' cried the girl, when the servant had left the +room, 'I don't want to ask mamma--she won't tell me the exact truth; but +you will. Tell me what the doctor said. . . . Did he say I was going to +die?' + +'Going to die? Olive, who ever heard of such a thing? You really must +not give way to such fancies.' + +'Well, tell me what he said.' + +'He said that you had received a severe nervous shock, that you had been +subjected to several hours' exposure, that you must take great care of +yourself, and, above all, have perfect rest and quiet, and not excite +yourself, and not talk.' + +'Is that all he said? Then he cannot know how ill I feel; perhaps I +ought to see another doctor. But I don't believe anyone could do me much +good. Oh, I feel wretchedly ill, and somehow I seem to know I am going +to die! It would be very horrible to die; but young girls no older than +I have died--have been cut off in the beginning of their life. And we +have seen nothing of life, only a few balls and parties. It would be +terrible to die so soon. When Violet carried off the Marquis I felt so +bitterly ashamed that I thought I would have liked to die; but not +now--now I know that Edward loves me I would not care to die; it would +be terrible to die before I was married. Wouldn't it, Alice? . . . But you +don't answer me; did you never think about death?' + +Then, as the thin wailing voice sank into her ears, Alice started from +her dreams, and she strove to submit her attention to her sister. + +'Yes, dear, of course I have. Death is, no doubt, a very terrible thing, +but we can do no good by thinking of it.' + +'Oh yes, we should, Alice, for this is not the only world--there is +another and a better one; and, as mamma says, and as religion says, we +are only here to try and get a good place in it. You are surprised to +hear me speak like this; you think I never think of anything but the +colour of a bonnet-string, but I do.' + +'I am sure you do, Olive; I never doubted it; but I wish you would now +do what the doctor orders, and refrain from talking and exciting +yourself, and try and get well. You may then think of death and other +gloomy things as much as you like.' + +'You don't understand, Alice; one can't think of death, then--one has so +much else to think of; one is so taken up with other ideas. It is only +when one is ill that one really begins to see what life is. You have +never been ill, and you don't know how terribly near death seems to have +come--very near. Perhaps I ought to see the priest; it would be just as +well, just in case I should die. Don't you think so?' + +'I don't think there is any more danger of your dying now than there was +a month ago, dear, and I am sure you can have nothing on your mind that +demands immediate confession,' she said, her voice trembling a little. + +'Oh yes, I have, Alice, and a very great deal; I have been very wicked.' + +'Very wicked!' + +'Well, I know you aren't pious, Alice, and perhaps you don't believe +there is harm in such things, but I do; and I know it was very wrong, +and perhaps a mortal sin, to try to run away with Edward. But I loved +him so very dearly, and I was so tired of staying at home and being +taken out to parties. And when you are in love with a man you forget +everything. At least I did; and when he asked to kiss me I couldn't +refuse. You won't tell anyone, Alice dear, that I told you this.' Alice +shook her head, and Olive continued, in spite of all that the doctor had +said: + +'But you don't know how lonely I feel at home; you never feel lonely, I +dare say, for you only think of your books and papers, and don't realize +what a disgrace it would be if I didn't marry, and after all the trouble +that mamma has taken. But I don't know what will become of me now. I'm +going to be dreadfully ill, and when I get well I shall be pretty no +longer; I am sure I am looking wretchedly. I must see myself--fetch the +glass, Alice, Alice.' + +Olive lay whining and calling for her sister, and when Dr. Reed came he +ordered several inches of the pale silky hair to be cut away and a cold +lotion to be applied to the forehead, and some sliced lemons were given +to her to suck. + +The clear blue eyes were dull, the breathing quick, the skin dry and +hot; and on the following day four leeches had to be applied to her +ankle. They relieved her somewhat, and, when she had taken her draught, +she sank to sleep. But as the night grew denser, Alice was suddenly +awakened by someone speaking wildly in her ear: 'Take me away, dear! I +am sick of home; I want to get away from all these spiteful girls. I +know they are laughing at me because Violet cut me out with the Marquis. +We shall be married, shan't we, the moment we arrive in Dublin? It's +horrible to be married at the registrar's, but it's better than not +being married at all. But do you think they will catch us up? It would +be dreadful to be taken back home, I couldn't bear it. Oh, do drive on; +we don't seem to be moving. You see that strange tree on the right, we +haven't passed it yet; I don't think we ever shall. Whip up that bay +horse; don't you see he is turning round, wants to go back? I am sure +that this isn't the road; that man at the corner told you a lie. I know +he was mocking at us--I saw it in his eye. . . . Look, look, Edward! Oh, +look--it is papa, or Lord Dungory, I can't tell which, he won't lift his +cloak.' And then the vision would fade, and she would fancy herself in +the wood, arguing once again with Mrs. Lawler. 'No, what you say isn't +true; he never loved you. How could he? You are an old woman. Let me +pass--let me pass. Why do you speak to me? We don't visit, we never did +visit you. No; it was not at our house you met Edward. You were on the +streets; and Edward shall not, he could not, think of running away with +you--will you, darling? Oh, help me, help me out of this dreadful wood. +I want to go home, but I can't walk. That terrible bird is still +watching me, and I dare not pass that tree till you drive it away.' + +The two beds, with their white curtains and brass crowns, showed through +the pale obscurity, broken only by the red-glowing basin where a +night-light burnt, and the long tongues of flame that the blazing peat +scattered from time to time across the darkened ceiling. The solitude of +the sleeping house grew momentarily more intense in Alice's brain, and +she trembled as she strove to soothe her sister, and covered the hot +feverish arms over with the bedclothes. + +'What sort of night has Olive had?' Mrs. Barton asked when she came in +about eight. + +'Not a very quiet one; I am afraid she's a little delirious.' + +'Dr. Reed promised to be here early. How do you feel, dear?' Mrs. Barton +asked, leaning over the bed. + +'Oh, very ill; I can scarcely breathe, and I have such a pain in my +side.' + +'Your lips look very sore, dear; do they hurt you?'--Olive only moaned +dismally--and, looking anxiously at her elder daughter, she said: + +'And you, too, Alice, are not looking well. You are tired, and mustn't +sit up another night with your sister. To-night I'll take your place.' + +'Oh, mother, no! I assure you it is a pleasure to me to nurse Olive. I +am very well indeed; do not think about me.' + +'Indeed, I will think about you, and you must do as I tell you. I'll +look after Olive, and you must try and get a good night's rest We will +take it in turns to nurse her. And now come down to breakfast. Barnes, +you'll not think of leaving Miss Olive until we come back; and, if any +change occurs, ring for me immediately.' + +When Dr. Reed arrived, Alice was again sitting by the bedside. + +'And how is our patient to-day?' + +'I cannot say she is any better; she has a distressing cough, and last +night I am afraid she was a little delirious.' + +'Ah, you say the cough is distressing?' + +'I am afraid I must call it distressing; is that a very bad sign?' + +'Probably there is not much wrong, but it would be better to ascertain +the condition of the patient, and then we may be able to do something to +relieve her.' + +The doctor drew a stethoscope from his pocket, and they lifted the +patient into a sitting position. + +'I should like to examine her chest;' and his fingers moved to unfasten +her night-gown. + +'Don't expose me,' she murmured feebly. + +'Now, Olive dear, remember it is only the doctor; let him examine you.' + +Olive's eyes were a dull filmy blue, the lips were covered with sores, +and there was a redness over the cheekbones--not the hectic flush of +phthisis, but a dusky redness. And the patient was so weak that during +the stethoscopic examination her head fell from side to side as she was +moved, and when the doctor pressed her right side her moans were +pregnant with pain. + +'Now let me see the tongue. Dry and parched.' + +'Shall I die, doctor?' the girl asked feebly and plaintively as she sank +amidst the pillows. + +'Die! no, not if you take care of yourself and do what you are told.' + +'But tell me, Dr. Reed,' Alice asked. 'You can tell me the truth.' + +'She'll get well if she takes care of herself. It is impossible to say. +No one can predict the turn pneumonia will take.' + +'Pneumonia! What is that?' + +'Congestion of the lungs, or rather an advanced stage of it. It is more +common in men than in women, and it is the consequence of long exposure +to wet and cold.' + +'Is it very dangerous?' + +'Very; and now let me tell you that it is all-important that the +temperature of the room should not be allowed to vary. I attended a case +of it some three or four miles from here, but the damp of the cabin was +so great that it was impossible to combat the disease. The cottage, or +rather hovel, was built on the edge of a soft spongy bog, and so wet was +it that the woman had to sweep the water every morning from the floor, +where it collected in great pools. I am now going to visit an evicted +family, who are living in a partially roofed shed fenced up by the +roadside. The father is down with fever, and lies shivering, with +nothing to drink but cold water. His wife told me that last week it +rained so heavily that she had to get up three times in the night to +wring the sheets out.' + +'And why were they evicted?' + +'Oh, that is a long story; but it is a singularly characteristic one. In +the first place, he was an idle fellow; he got into difficulties and +owed his landlord three years' rent. Then he got into bad hands, and was +prevented from coming to terms with his landlord. There was a lot of +jobbing going on between the priest and the village grocer, and finally +it was arranged that the latter should pay off the existing debt if the +landlord could be forced into letting him the farm at a "fair rent," +that is to say, thirty per cent reduction on the old rent. In +recognition of his protecting influence, the priest was to take a third +of the farm off the grocer's hands, and the two were then to conjointly +rack-rent poor Murphy for the remaining third portion, which he would be +allowed to retain for a third of the original rent; but the National +League heard of their little tricks, and now the farm is boycotted, and +Murphy is dying in the ditch for the good of his _counthry_.' + +'I thought boycotting was ended, that the League had lost all power.' + +'It has and it hasn't. Sometimes a man takes a farm and keeps it in +defiance of his neighbours; sometimes they hunt him out of it. It is +hard to come to a conclusion, for when in one district you hear of rents +being paid and boycotted farms letting freely, in another, only a few +miles away, the landlords are giving reductions, and there are farms +lying waste that no one dare look at. In my opinion the fire is only +smouldering, and when the Coercion Act expires the old organization will +rise up as strong and as triumphant as before. This is a time of respite +for both parties.' + +The conversation then came to a sudden pause. Alice felt it would be out +of place for her to speak her sympathies for the Nationalistic cause, +and she knew it would be unfair to lead the doctor to express his. So at +the end of a long silence, during which each divined the other's +thoughts, she said: + +'I suppose you see a great deal of the poor and the miseries they +endure?' + +'I have had good opportunities of studying them. Before I came here I +spent ten years in the poorest district in Donegal. I am sure there +wasn't a gentleman's house within fifteen miles of me.' + +'And didn't you feel very lonely?' + +'Yes, I did, but one gets so used to solitude that to return to the +world, after having lived long in the atmosphere of one's own thoughts, +is painful. The repugnance that grows on those who live alone to hearing +their fellow-creatures express their ideas is very remarkable. It must +be felt to be understood; and I have often wondered how it was that I +never met it in a novel.' + +'It would be very difficult to write. Do you ever read fiction?' + +'Yes, and enjoy it. In my little home amid the northern bogs, I used to +look forward when I had finished writing, to reading a story.' + +'What were you writing?' + +'A book.' + +'A book!' exclaimed Alice, looking suddenly pleased and astonished. + +'Yes, but not a work of fiction--I am afraid I am too prosaic an +individual for that--a medical work.' + +'And have you finished your book?' + +'Yes, it is finished, and I am glad to say it is in the hands of a +London publisher. We have not yet agreed about the price, but I hope and +believe that, directly and indirectly, it will lead to putting me into a +small London practice.' + +'And then you will leave us?' + +'I am afraid so. There are many friends I shall miss--that I shall be +very sorry to leave, but--' + +'Oh, of course it would not do to miss such a chance.' + +They fell to discussing the patient, and when the doctor left, Alice +proceeded to carry out his instructions concerning the patient, and, +these being done, she sat down by the bedside and continued her thoughts +of him with a sense of pleasure. She remembered that she had always +liked him. Yes, it was a liking that dated as far back as the spinsters' +ball at Ballinasloe. He was the only man there in whom she had taken the +slightest interest. They were sitting together on the stairs when that +poor fellow was thrown down and had his leg broken. She remembered how +she had enjoyed meeting him at tennis-parties, and how often she had +walked away with him from the players through the shrubberies; and above +all she could not forget--it was a long sweet souvenir--the beautiful +afternoon she had spent with him, sitting on the rock, the day of the +picnic at Kinvarra Castle. She had forgotten, or rather she had never +noticed, that he was a short, thick-set, middle-aged man, that he wore +mutton-chop whiskers, and that his lips were overhung by a long dark +moustache. His manners were those of an unpolished and somewhat +commonplace man. But while she thought of his grey eyes her heart was +thrilled with gladness, and as she dreamed of his lonely life of labour +and his ultimate hopes of success, all her old sorrows and fears seemed +to have evaporated. Then suddenly and with the unexpectedness of an +apparition the question presented itself: Did she like him better than +Harding? Alice shrank from the unpleasantness of the thought, and did +not force herself to answer it, but busied herself with attending to her +sister's wants. + +While the dawn of Alice's happiness, Olive lay suffering in all the dire +humility of the flesh. Hourly her breathing grew shorter and more +hurried, her cough more frequent, and the expectoration that accompanied +it darker and thicker in colour. The beautiful eyes were now turgid and +dull, the lids hung heavily over a line of filmy blue, and a thick scaly +layer of bloody tenacious mucus persistently accumulated and covered the +tiny and once almost jewel-like teeth. For three or four days these +symptoms knew no abatement; and it was over this prostrated body, +weakened and humiliated by illness, that Alice and Dr. Reed read love in +each other's eyes, and it was about this poor flesh that their hands +were joined as they lifted Olive out of the recumbent position she had +slipped into, and built up the bowed-in pillows. And as it had once been +all Olive in Brookfield, it was now all Alice; the veil seemed suddenly +to have slipped from all eyes, and the exceeding worth of this plain +girl was at last recognized. Mrs. Barton's presence at the bedside did +not soothe the sufferer; she grew restless and demanded her sister. And +the illness continued, her life in the balance till the eighth day. It +was then that she took a turn for the better; the doctor pronounced her +out of danger, and two days after she lay watching Alice and Dr. Reed +talking in the window. 'Were they talking about her?' she asked herself. +She did not think they were. It seemed to her that each was interested +in the other. 'Laying plans,' the sick girl said to herself, 'for +themselves.' At these words her senses dimmed, and when she awoke she +had some difficulty in remembering what she had seen. + + + + +XXVII + + +'Ah, _ce cher Milord, comme il est beau, comme il est parfait!_' +exclaimed Mrs. Barton, as she led him to his chair and poured out his +glass of sherry. + +But there was a gloom on his face which laughter and compliments failed +for a moment to dissipate--at last he said: + +'Ah, Mrs. Barton, Mrs. Barton! if I hadn't this little retreat to take +refuge in, to hide myself in, during some hours of the day, I should not +be able to bear up--Brookfield has prolonged my life for--' + +'I cannot allow such sad thoughts as these,' said Mrs. Barton laughing, +and waving her white hands. 'Who has been teasing _notre cher_ Milord? +What have dreadful Lady Jane and terrible Lady Sarah been doing to him?' + +'I shall never forget this morning, no, not if I lived to a thousand,' +the old gentleman murmured plaintively. 'Oh, the scenes--the scenes I +have been through! Cecilia, as I told you yesterday, has been filling +the house with rosaries and holywater-fonts; Jane and Sarah have been +breaking these, and the result has been tears and upbraidings. Last +night at dinner I don't really know what they didn't say to each other; +and then the two elder ones fell upon me and declared that it was all my +fault, that I ought never to have sent my daughter to a Catholic +convent. I was obliged to shut myself up in the study and lock the door. +Then this morning, when I thought it was all over, it began again worse +than ever; and then in the middle of it all, when Jane asked Cecilia how +many Gods there were in the roll of bread she was eating if the priest +were to bless it--if a Papist wasn't one who couldn't worship God till +somebody had turned Him into a biscuit--a most injudicious observation, +I said so at the time, and I must apologize to you, my dear Mrs. Barton, +for repeating it, but I am really so upset that I scarcely know what I +am saying. Well, Jane had no sooner spoken than Cecilia overthrew the +teacups and said she wasn't going to stay in the house to hear her +religion insulted, and without another word she walked down to the +parish priest and was baptized a Catholic; nor is that all. She returned +with a scapular round her neck, a rosary about her waist, and a Pope's +medal in her hand. I really thought Jane and Sarah would have fainted; +indeed I am sure they would have fainted if Cecilia hadn't declared that +she was going to pack up her things and return at once to St. Leonards +and become a nun. Such an announcement as this was, of course, far +beyond fainting, and . . . but no, I will not attempt to describe it, but +I can assure you I was very anxious to get out of the house.' + +'Cecilia going to be a nun; oh, I am so glad!' exclaimed Olive. 'It is +far the best thing she could do, for she couldn't hope to be married.' + +'Olive, Olive!' said Mrs. Barton, 'you shouldn't speak so openly. We +should always consider the religious prejudices of others. Of course, as +Catholics we must be glad to hear of anyone joining the true Church, but +we should remember that Milord is going to lose his daughter.' + +'I assure you, my dear Mrs. Barton, I have no prejudices. I look upon +all religions as equally good and equally bad, but to be forced to live +in a perpetual discussion in which teacups are broken, concerning +scapulars, bacon and meal shops, and a school which, putting aside the +question of expense, makes me hated in the neighbourhood, I regard as +intolerable; and when I go home this evening, I shall tell Jane that the +school must be put down or carried on in a less aggressive way. I assure +you I have no wish to convert the people; they are paying their rents +very well now, and I think it absurd to upset them; and the fact of +having received Cecilia into the Church might incline the priest very +much towards us.' + +'And Cecilia will be so happy in that beautiful convent!' suggested Mrs. +Barton. + +'_C'est le genie du Catholicisme de nous debarrasser des filles +laides._' + +And upon this expression of goodwill towards the Church of Rome +Cecilia's future life was discussed with much amiability. Mrs. Barton +said she would make a sweet little nun; Olive declared that she would +certainly go to St. Leonard's to see her 'professed'; and Milord's +description of Lady Sarah's and Lady Jane's ill-humour was considered +very amusing, and just as he was about to recount some new incident--one +that had escaped his memory till then--the door opened and the servant +announced Dr. Reed. + +'Now, what can he want? Olive is quite well. He looks at her tongue and +feels her pulse. How do you do, Dr. Reed? Here is your patient, whom you +will find in the best health and spirits.' + +As he was about to reply, Alice came into the room, and she tried to +carry on the conversation naturally. But the silence of Mrs. Barton and +Milord made this difficult; Dr. Reed was not a ready talker, and this +morning his replies were more than ever awkward and constrained. At last +it dawned on Alice that he wanted to speak to her alone; and in answer +to a remark he had made concerning the fever dens in Gort she said: + +'I wanted to ask you a question or two about typhoid fever, Dr. Reed; +one of my heroines is going to die of it, and I should like to avoid +medical impossibilities. May I show you the passage?' + +'Certainly, Miss Barton; I shall be delighted to help you--if I can.' + +As soon as Alice left the room to fetch her manuscript the doctor +hurriedly bade his patient, Milord, and Mrs. Barton, good-bye. + +'Aren't you going to wait to see Alice?' Mrs. Barton asked. + +'I have to speak to the boy in charge of my car; I shall see Miss Barton +as she comes downstairs.' + +Mrs. Barton looked as if she thought this arrangement not a little +singular, but she said nothing; and when Alice came running downstairs +with a roll of MSS. in her hand, she attempted to explain her difficulty +to the doctor. He made a feeble attempt to listen to the passage she +read aloud to him; and when their eyes met across the paper she saw he +was going to propose to her. + +'Will you walk down the drive with me? and we will talk of that as we go +along.' + +Her hat was on the hall-table; she took it up, and in silence walked +with him out on the gravel. + +'Will I put the harse up, sor?' cried the boy from the outside car. + +'No; follow me down the avenue.' + +It was a wild autumn evening, full of wind and leaves. The great green +pasture-lands, soaked and soddened with rain, rolled their monotonous +green turf to the verge of the blown beech-trees, about which the rooks +drifted in picturesque confusion. Now they soared like hawks, or on +straightened wings were carried down a furious gust across the +tumultuous waves of upheaved yellow, and past the rift of cold crimson +that is tossed like a banner through the shadows of evening. + +'I came here to tell you that I am going away; that I am leaving Ireland +for ever. I've bought the practice I spoke to you of in Notting Hill.' + +'Oh, I am so glad!' + +'Thank you! But there is another and more important matter on which I +should like to speak to you. For a long time back I had resolved to +leave Ireland a sad or an entirely happy man. Which shall it be? You are +the only woman I ever loved--will you be my wife?' + +'Yes, I will.' + +'I was afraid to ask you before. But,' he added, sighing, 'I shan't be +able to give you a home like the one you are leaving. We shall have to +be very economical; we shall not have more than three hundred a year to +live upon. Will you be satisfied with that?' + +'I hope, indeed--I am sure we shall get on very well. You forget that I +can do something to keep myself,' she added, smiling. 'I have two or +three orders.' + +She passed her arm through Dr. Reed's; and as he unfolded his plans to +her, he held her hand warmly and affectionately in his: and as the +twilight drifted it was wrapped like a veil about them. The rooks in +great flitting flocks passed over their heads, the tempestuous crimson +of the sky had been hurled further away, and only the form of the grey +horse, that the boy had allowed to graze, stood out distinctly in the +gloom that descended upon the earth. + + + + +XXVIII + + +On the very first opportunity she could find Alice told her mother that +Dr. Reed had proposed to her, and that she had accepted him. Mrs. Barton +said it was disgraceful, and that she would never hear of such a +marriage; and when the doctor called next day she acquainted him with +her views on the subject. She told him he had very improperly taken +advantage of his position to make love to her daughter; she really +didn't know how he could ever have arrived at the conclusion that a +match was possible, and that for the future his visits must cease at +Brookfield. And when Alice heard what had passed between Dr. Reed and +her mother she wrote, assuring him that her feelings towards him would +remain uninfluenced by anything that anyone might say. All the same, it +might be as well, having regard for what had happened, that the marriage +should take place with the least possible delay. + +She took this letter down to the post-office herself, and when she +returned she entered the drawing-room and told Mrs. Barton what she had +done. + +'I wish you had shown me the letter before you sent it. There is nothing +we need advice about so much as a letter.' + +'Yes, mother,' replied Alice, deceived by the gentleness of Mrs. +Barton's manner; 'but we seemed to hold such widely different views on +this matter that there did not seem to be any use in discussing it.' + +'Mother and daughter should never hold different views; my children's +interests are my interests--what interests have I now but theirs?' + +'Oh, mother! Then you will consent to this marriage?' + +Mrs. Barton's face always changed expression before a direct question. +'My dear, I would consent to anything that would make you happy; but it +seems to me impossible that you could be happy with Dr. Reed. I wonder +how you could like him. You do not know--I mean, you do not realize what +the intimacies of married life are. They are often hard to put up with, +no matter who the man may be, but with one who is not a gentleman--' + +'But, mother, Dr. Reed seems to me to be in every way a gentleman. Who +is there more gentlemanly in the country? I am sure that from every +point of view he is preferable to Mr. Adair or Sir Charles, or Sir +Richard or Mr. Ryan, or his cousin, Mr. Lynch.' + +'My darling child, I would sooner see you laid in your coffin than +married to either Mr. Ryan or Mr. Lynch; but that is not the question. +It is, whether you had not better wait for a few years before you throw +yourself away on such a man as Dr. Reed. I know that you have been +greatly tried; nothing is so trying to a girl as to come out with her +sister who is the belle of the season, and I must say you have shown a +great deal of pluck; and perhaps I haven't been considerate enough. But +I, too, have had my disappointments--Olive's affairs did not, as you +know, turn out as well as I had expected, and to see you now marry one +who is so much beneath us!' + +'Mother, dear, he is not beneath us. There is no one who has earned his +career but Dr. Reed; he owes nothing to anyone; he has done it all by +his own exertions; and now he has bought a London practice.' + +'Then you do not love him; it is only for the sake of settling yourself +in life that you are marrying him?' + +'I respect Dr. Reed more than any man living; I bear for him a most +sincere affection, and I hope to make him a good wife.' + +'You don't love him as you did Mr. Harding? If you will only wait you +may get him. The tenants are paying their rents very well, and I am +thinking of going to London in the spring.' + +The girl winced at the mention of Harding, but she looked into her +mother's soft appealing brown eyes; and, reading clearer than she had +ever read before all the adorable falseness that lay therein, she +answered: + +'I do not want to marry Mr. Harding; I am engaged to Dr. Reed, and I do +not intend to give him up.' + +This answer was given so firmly that Mrs. Barton lost her temper for a +moment, and she said: + +'And do you really know what this Dr. Reed originally was? Lord Dungory +is dining here to-night; he knows all about Dr. Reed's antecedents, and +I am sure he will be horrified when he hears that you are thinking of +marrying him.' + +'I cannot recognize Lord Dungory's right to advise me on any course I +may choose to take, and I hope he will have the good taste to refrain +from speaking to me of my marriage.' + +'What do you mean? How dare you speak to me like that, you impertinent +girl!' + +'I am not impertinent, mother, and I hope I shall never be impertinent +to you; but I am now in my twenty-fifth year, and if I am ever to judge +for myself, I must do so now.' + +Alice was curiously surprised by her own words; it seemed to her that it +was some strange woman, and not herself--not the old self with whom she +was intimately acquainted--who was speaking. Life is full of these +epoch-marking moments. We have all at some given time experienced the +sensation of finding ourselves either stronger or weaker than we had +ever before known ourselves to be; Alice now for the first time felt +that she was speaking and acting in her own individual right; and the +knowledge as it thrilled through her consciousness was almost a physical +pleasure. But notwithstanding the certitude that never left her of the +propriety of her conduct, and the equally ever-present sentiment of the +happiness that awaited her, she suffered much during the next ten days, +and she was frequently in tears. Cecilia had started for St. Leonards +without coming to wish her good-bye, and the cruel sneers, insinuations +of all kinds against her and against Dr. Reed, which Mrs. Barton never +missed an occasion of using, wounded the girl so deeply, that it was +only at the rarest intervals that she left her room--when she walked to +the post with a letter, when the luncheon or dinner bell rang. Why she +should be thus persecuted, Alice was unable to determine; and why her +family did not hail with delight this chance of getting rid of a plain +girl, whose prospects were limited, was difficult to say; nor could the +girl arrive at any notion of the pleasure or profit it might be to +anyone that she should waste her life amid chaperons and gossip, instead +of taking her part in the world's work. And yet this seemed to be her +mother's idea. She did not hesitate to threaten that she would neither +attend herself, nor allow Mr. Barton to attend the ceremony. Alice might +meet Dr. Reed at the corner of the road, and be married as best she +could. Alice appealed to her father against this decision, but she soon +had to renounce the hope of obtaining any definite answer. He had been +previously told that if he attempted any interference, his supply of +paints, brushes, canvases, and guitar-strings would be cut off, and, as +he was at present deeply engaged on a new picture of _Julius Caesar +overturning the Altars of the Druids_, he hesitated before the +alternatives offered to him. He spoke with much affection; he regretted +that Alice could not see her way to marrying somebody whom her mother +could approve! He explained the difficulties of his position, and the +necessity of his turning something out--seeing what he really could do +before the close of the year. Alice was disappointed, and bitterly, but +she bore her disappointment bravely, and she wrote to Dr. Reed, telling +him what had occurred, and proposing to meet him on a certain day at the +Parish Church, where Father Shannon would marry them; and, that if he +refused, they would proceed to Dublin, and be married at the Registry +Office. In a way Alice would have preferred this latter course, but her +good sense warned her against the uselessness of offering any too +violent opposition to the opinions of the world. And so it was arranged; +and sad, weary, and wretched, Alice lingered through the last few days +of the life that had always been to her one of humiliation, and which +now towards its close had quieted to one of intense pain. + +The Brennans had promised to meet her in the chapel, and one day, as she +was sitting by her window, she saw May in all the glory of her copper +hair, drive a tandem up to the door. This girl threw the reins to the +groom, and rushed to her friend. + +'And how do you do, Alice, and how well you are looking, and how pleased +I am to see you. I would have come before, only my leader was coughing +and I couldn't take him out. Oh, I was so wild; it is always like that; +nothing is so disappointing as horses; whenever you especially require +them they are laid up, and you can't imagine the difficulty I had to get +him along; I must really get another leader; he was trying to turn round +the whole way--if it hadn't been for the whip. I took blood out of him +three times running. But I know you don't care anything about horses, +and I want to hear about this marriage. I am so glad, so pleased, but +tell me, do you like him? He seems a very nice sort of man, you know, a +man that would make a woman happy. . . . I am sure you will be happy with +him, but it is dreadful to think we are going to lose you. I shall, I +know, be running over to London on purpose to see you; but tell me, what +I want to know is, do you like him? Would you believe it, I never once +suspected there was anything between you?' + +'Yes, my dear May,' Alice replied smiling, 'I do like Edward Reed; nor +do I think that I should ever like any other man half as much: I have +perfect confidence in him, and where there is not confidence there +cannot be love. He has bought a small practice in Notting Hill, which +with care and industry he hopes may be worked up into a substantial +business. We shall be very poor at first, but we shall be able to make +both ends meet.' + +'I can see it all; a little suburban semi-detached house, with green +Venetian blinds, a small mahogany sideboard, and a clean capped +maid-servant; and in the drawing-room you won't have a piano--you don't +care for music, but you'll have some basket chairs, and small bookcases, +and a tea-table with tea-cakes at five--oh, won't you look quiet and +grave at that tea-table. But tell me, it is all over the county that +Mrs. Barton won't hear of this marriage, and that she won't allow your +father to go to the chapel to give you away. It is a shame, and for the +life of me I can't see what parents have to do with our marriages, do +you?' + +Without waiting for an answer, May continued the conversation, and with +vehemence she passed from one subject to another utterly disconnected +without a transitional word of explanation. She explained how tiresome +it was to sit at home of an evening listening to Mrs. Gould bemoaning +the state of the country; she spoke of her terrier, and this led up to a +critical examination of the good looks of several of the officers +stationed at Gort; then she alluded to the last meet of the hounds, and +she described the big wall she and Mrs. Manly had jumped together; a new +hat and an old skirt that she had lately done up came in for a passing +remark, and, with an abundance of laughter, May gave an account of a +luncheon-party at Lord Rosshill's; and, apparently verbatim, she told +what each of the five Honourable Miss Gores had said about the marriage. +Then growing suddenly serious, she said: + +'It is all very well to laugh, but, when one comes to think of it, it is +very sad indeed to see seven human lives wasting away, a whole family of +girls eating their hearts out in despair, having nothing to do but to +pop about from one tennis-party to another, and chatter to each other or +their chaperons of this girl and that who does not seem to be getting +married. You are very lucky indeed, Alice--luckier than you think you +are, and you are quite right to stick out and do the best you can for +yourself in spite of what your people say. It is all very well for them +to talk, but they don't know what we suffer: we are not all made alike, +and the wants of one are not the wants of another. I dare say you never +thought much about that sort of thing; but as I say, we are not all made +alike. Every woman, or nearly every one, wants a husband and a home, and +it is only natural she should, and if she doesn't get them the +temptations she has to go through are something frightful, and if we +make the slightest slip the whole world is down upon us. I can talk to +you, Alice, because you know what I have gone through. You have been a +very good friend to me--had it not been for you I don't know what would +have become of me. You didn't reproach me, you were kind and had pity +for me; you are a sensible person, and I dare say you understood that I +wasn't entirely to blame. And I wasn't entirely to blame; the +circumstances we girls live under are not just--no, they are not just. +We are told that we must marry a man with at least a thousand a year, or +remain spinsters; well, I should like to know where the men are who have +a thousand a year, and some of us can't remain spinsters. Oh! you are +very lucky indeed to have found a husband, and to be going away to a +home of your own. I wish I were as lucky as you, Alice, indeed I do, for +then there would be no excuse, and I could be a good woman. You won't +hate me too much, will you, Alice? I have made a lot of good +resolutions, and they shall be kept some day.' + +'Some day! You don't mean that you are again--' + +'No; but I've a lover. It is dreadfully sinful, and if I died I should +go straight to hell. I know all that. I wish I were going to be married, +like you! For then one is out of temptation. Haven't you a kind word for +me? Won't you kiss me and tell me you don't despise me?' + +'Of course I'll kiss you, May; and I am sure that one of these days you +will--' + +Alice could say no more; and the girls kissed and cried in each other's +arms, and the group was a sad allegory of poor humanity's triumph, and +poor humanity's more than piteous failures. At last they went +downstairs, and in the hall May showed Alice the beautiful +wedding-present she had bought her, and the girl did not say that she +had sold her hunter to buy it. + + + + +XXIX + + +At Brookfield on the morning of December 3, '84, the rain fell +persistently in the midst of a profound silence. The trees stood stark +in the grey air as if petrified; there was not wind enough to waft the +falling leaf; it fell straight as if shotted. + +Not a living thing was to be seen except the wet sheep, nor did anything +stir either within or without till an outside car, one seat overturned +to save the cushions from the wet, came careering up the avenue. There +was a shaggy horse and a wild-looking driver in a long, shaggy frieze +ulster. Even now, at the last moment, Alice expected the drawing-room +door to open and her mother to come rushing out to wish her good-bye. +But Mrs. Barton remained implacable, and after laying one more kiss on +her sister's pale cheek, Alice, in a passionate flood of tears, was +driven away. + +In streaming mackintoshes, and leaning on dripping umbrellas, she found +her husband, and Gladys and Zoe Brennan, waiting for her in the porch of +the church. + +'Did you ever see such weather?' said Zoe. + +'Isn't it dreadful!' said Gladys. + +'It was good of you to come,' said Alice. + +'It was indeed!' said the bridegroom. + +'What nonsense!' said Zoe. 'We were only too pleased; and if to-day be +wet, to-morrow and the next and the next will be sunshine. + +And thanking Zoe inwardly for this most appropriate remark, the party +ascended the church toward the altar-rails, where Father Shannon was +awaiting them. Large, pompous, and arrogant, he stood on his +altar-steps, and his hands were crossed over his portly stomach. On +either side of him the plaster angels bowed their heads and folded their +wings. Above him the great chancel window, with its panes of green and +yellow glass, jarred in an unutterable clash of colour; and the great +white stare of the chalky walls, and the earthen floor with its tub of +holy water, and the German prints absurdly representing the suffering of +Christ, bespoke the primitive belief, the coarse superstition, of which +the place was an immediate symbol. Alice and the doctor looked at each +other and smiled, but their thoughts were too firmly fixed on the actual +problem of their united lives to wander far in the most hidden ways of +the old world's psychical extravagances. What did it matter to them what +absurd usages the place they were in was put to?--they, at least, were +only making use of it as they might of any other public office--the +police-station, where inquiries are made concerning parcels left in +cabs; the Commissioner before whom an affidavit is made. And it served +its purpose as well as any of the others did theirs. The priest joined +their hands, Edward put the ring on Alice's finger, and the usual +prayers did no harm if they did no good; and having signed their names +in the register and bid good-bye to the Miss Brennans, they got into the +carriage, man and wife, their feet set for ever upon one path, their +interests and delights melted to one interest and one delight, their +separate troubles merged into one trouble that might or might not be +made lighter by the sharing; and penetrated by such thoughts they leaned +back on the blue cushions of the carriage, happy, and yet a little +frightened. + +Rather than pass three hours waiting for a train at the little station +of Ardrahan, it had been arranged to spend the time driving to Athenry; +and, as the carriage rolled through the deliquefying country, the eyes +of the man and the woman rested half fondly, half regretfully, and +wholly pitifully, on all the familiar signs and the wild landmarks which +during so many years had grown into and become part of the texture of +their habitual thought; on things of which they would now have to wholly +divest themselves, and remember only as the background of their younger +lives. Through the streaming glass they could see the strip of bog; and +the half-naked woman, her soaked petticoat clinging about her red legs, +piling the wet peat into the baskets thrown across the meagre back of a +starveling ass. And farther on there were low-lying, swampy fields, and +between them and the roadside a few miserable poplars with cabins sunk +below the dung-heaps, and the meagre potato-plots lying about them; and +then, as these are passed, there are green enclosures full of fattening +kine, and here and there a dismantled cottage, one wall still black with +the chimney's smoke, uttering to those who know the country a tale of +eviction. Beyond these, beautiful plantations sweep along the crests of +the hills, the pillars of a Georgian house showing at the end of a +vista. The carriage turned up a narrow road, and our travellers came +upon a dozen policemen grouped round a roadside cottage, out of which +the furniture had just been thrown. The family had taken shelter from +the rain under a hawthorn-tree, and the agents were consulting with +their bailiffs if it would not be as well to throw down the walls of the +cottage. + +'If we don't,' one of the men said, 'they will be back again as soon as +our backs are turned, and our work will have to be begun all over +again.' + +'Shocking,' Alice said, 'that an eviction scene should be our last +glimpse of Ireland. Let us pay the rent for them, Edward,' and as she +spoke the words the thought passed through her mind that her almsgiving +was only another form of selfishness. She wished her departure to be +associated with an act of kindness. She would have withdrawn her +request, but Edward's hand was in his pocket and he was asking the agent +how much the rent was. Five years' rent was owing--more than the +travellers had in their purses. + +'It is well that we cannot assist them to remain here,' said Edward. +'Circumstances are different, and they will harden; none is of use here. +Of what use--' + +'You believe, then, that this misery will last for ever?' + +'Nothing lasts in Ireland but the priests. And now let us forget +Ireland, as many have done before us.' + + * * * * * + +Two years and a half have passed away, and the suburban home predicted +by May, when she came to bid Alice a last good-bye, arises before the +reader in all its yellow paint and homely vulgarity. In this suburb we +find the ten-roomed house with all its special characteristics--a +dining-room window looking upon a commodious area with dust and coal +holes. The drawing-room has two windows, and the slender balcony is +generally set with flower-boxes. Above that come the two windows of the +best bedroom belonging to Mr. and Mrs., and above that again the windows +of two small rooms, respectively inhabited by the eldest son and +daughter; and these are topped by the mock-Elizabethan gable which +enframes the tiny window of a servant's room. Each house has a pair of +trim stone pillars, the crude green of the Venetian blinds jars the +cultured eye, and even the tender green of the foliage in the crescent +seems as cheap and as common as if it had been bought--as everything +else is in Ashbourne Crescent--at the Stores. But how much does this +crescent of shrubs mean to the neighbourhood? Is it not there that the +old ladies take their pugs for their constitutional walks, and is it not +there that the young ladies play tennis with their gentleman +acquaintances when they come home from the City on a Saturday afternoon? + +In Ashbourne Crescent there is neither Dissent nor Radicalism, but +general aversion to all considerations which might disturb belief in all +the routine of existence, in all its temporal and spiritual aspects, as +it had come amongst them. The fathers and the brothers go to the City +every day at nine, the young ladies play tennis, read novels, and beg to +be taken to dances at the Kensington Town Hall. On Sunday the air is +alive with the clanging of bells, and in orderly procession every family +proceeds to church, the fathers in all the gravity of umbrellas and +prayer-books, the matrons in silk mantles and clumsy ready-made elastic +sides; the girls in all the gaiety of their summer dresses with lively +bustles bobbing, the young men in frock-coats which show off their broad +shoulders--from time to time they pull their tawny moustaches. Each +house keeps a cook and housemaid, and on Sunday afternoons, when the +skies are flushed with sunset and the outlines of this human warren grow +harshly distinct--black lines upon pale red--these are seen walking +arm-in-arm away towards a distant park with their young men. + +Ashbourne Crescent, with its bright brass knockers, its white-capped +maid-servant, and spotless oilcloths, will pass away before some great +tide of revolution that is now gathering strength far away, deep down +and out of sight in the heart of the nation, is probable enough; but for +the moment it is, in all its cheapness and vulgarity, more than anything +else representative, though the length and breadth of the land be +searched, of the genius of Empire that has been glorious through the +long tale that nine hundred years have to tell. Ashbourne Crescent may +possibly soon be replaced by something better, but at present it +commands our admiration, for it is, more than all else, typical England. +Neither ideas nor much lucidity will be found there, but much belief in +the wisdom shown in the present ordering of things, and much plain sense +and much honesty of purpose. Certainly, if your quest be for hectic +emotion and passionate impulses, you would do well to turn your steps +aside; you will not find them in Ashbourne Crescent. There life flows +monotonously, perhaps sometimes even a little moodily, but it is built +upon a basis of honest materialism--that materialism without which the +world cannot live. And No. 31 differs a little from the rest of the +houses. The paint on its walls is fresher, and there are no flowers on +its balcony: the hall-door has three bells instead of the usual two, and +there is a brass plate with 'Dr. Reed' engraved upon it. The cook is +talking through the area-railings to the butcher-boy; a smart +parlourmaid opens the door, and we see that the interior is as orderly, +commonplace, and clean as we might expect at every house in the +crescent. The floorcloths are irreproachable, the marble-painted walls +are unadorned with a single picture. On the right is the dining-room, a +mahogany table bought for five pounds in the Tottenham Court Road, a +dozen chairs to match, a sideboard and a small table; green-painted +walls decorated with two engravings, one of Frith's 'Railway Station,' +the other of Guido's 'Fortune.' Further down the passage leading to the +kitchen-stairs there is a second room: this is the Doctor's +consulting-room. A small bookcase filled with serious-looking volumes, a +mahogany escritoire strewn with papers, letters, memoranda of all sorts. +The floor is covered with a bright Brussels carpet; there are two +leather armchairs, and a portrait of an admiral hangs over the +fireplace. + +Let us go upstairs. How bright and clean are the high marble-painted +walls! and on the first landing there is a large cheaply coloured +window. The drawing-room is a double room, not divided by curtains but +by stiff folding-doors. The furniture is in red, and the heavy curtains +that drape the windows fall from gilt cornices. In the middle of the +floor there is a settee (probably a reminiscence of the Shelbourne +Hotel); and on either side of the fireplace there are sofas, and about +the hearthrug many arm-chairs to match with the rest. Above the +chimneypiece there is a gilt oval mirror, worth ten pounds. The second +room is Alice's study; it is there she writes her novels. A table in +black wood with a pile of MSS. neatly fastened together stands in one +corner; there is a bookcase just behind; its shelves are furnished with +imaginative literature, such as Shelley's poems, Wordsworth's poems, +Keats' poems. There are also handsome editions of Tennyson and Browning, +presents from Dr. Reed to his wife. You see a little higher up the shelf +a thin volume, Swinburne's _Atalanta in Calydon_, and next to it is +Walter Pater's _Renaissance_--studies in art and poetry. There are also +many volumes in yellow covers, evidently French novels. + +The character of the house is therefore essentially provincial, and +shows that its occupants have not always lived amid the complex +influences of London life--viz., is not even suburban. Nevertheless, +here and there traces of new artistic impulses are seen. On the +mantelpiece in the larger room there are two large blue vases; on a +small table stands a pot in yellow porcelain, evidently from Morris's; +and on the walls there are engravings from Burne Jones. Every Thursday +afternoon numbers of ladies, all of whom write novels, assemble here to +drink tea and talk of their work. + +It is now eleven o'clock in the morning. Alice enters her drawing-room. +You see her: a tall, spare woman with kind eyes, who carries her arms +stiffly. She has just finished her housekeeping, she puts down her +basket of keys, and with all the beautiful movement of the young mother +she takes up the crawling mass of white frock, kisses her son and +settles his blue sash. And when she has talked to him for a few minutes +she rings the bell for nurse; then she sits down to write. As usual, her +pen runs on without a perceptible pause. Words come to her easily, but +she has not finished the opening paragraph of the article she is writing +when the sound of rapid footsteps attracts her attention, and Olive +bursts into the room. + +'Oh, Alice, how do you do? I couldn't stop at home any longer, I am sick +of it.' + +'Couldn't stop at home any longer, Olive; what do you mean?' + +'If you won't take me in, say so, and I'll go.' + +'My dear Olive, I shall be delighted to have you with me; but why can't +you stop at home any longer--surely there is no harm in my asking?' + +'Oh, I don't know; don't ask me; I am so miserable at home; I can't tell +you how unhappy I am. I know I shall never be married, and the perpetual +trying to make up matches is sickening. Mamma will insist on riches, +position, and all that sort of thing--those kind of men don't want to +get married--I am sick of going out; I won't go out any more. We never +missed a tennis-party last year; we used to go sometimes ten miles to +them, so eager was mamma after Captain Gibbon, and it did not come off; +and then the whole country laughs.' + +'And who is Captain Gibbon? I never heard of him before.' + +'No, you don't know him: he was not in Galway in your time.' + +'And Captain Hibbert! Have you heard from him since he went out to +India?' + +'Yes, once; he wrote to me to say that he hoped to see me when he came +home.' + +'And when will that be?' + +'Oh, I don't know; when people go out to India one never expects to see +them again.' + +Seeing how sore the wound was, Alice did not attempt to probe it, but +strove rather to lead Olive's thoughts away from it, and gradually the +sisters lapsed into talking of their acquaintances and friends, and of +how life had dealt with them. + +'And May, what is she doing?' + +'She met with a bad accident, and has not been out hunting lately. She +was riding a pounding match with Mrs. Manly across country: May's horse +came to grief at a big wall, and broke several of her ribs. They say she +has given up riding--now she does nothing but paint. You remember how +well she used to paint at school.' + +'And the Brennans?' + +'Oh, they go up to the Shelbourne every year, but none of them are +married; and I am afraid that they must be very hard up, for their land +is very highly let, and the tenants are paying no rent at all +now--Ireland is worse than ever; we shall all be ruined, and they say +Home Rule is certain. But I am sick of the subject.' + +Then the Duffys, the Honourable Miss Gores, and the many other families +of unmarried girls--the poor muslin martyrs, whose sufferings were the +theme of this book, were again passed in review; their failures +sometimes jeeringly alluded to by Olive, but always listened to +pityingly by Alice--and, talking thus of their past life, the sisters +leant over the spring fire that burnt out in the grate. At the end of a +long silence Alice said: + +'Well, dear, I hope you have come to live with us, or at any rate to pay +us a long visit.' + + + + + + THE END + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Muslin, by George Moore + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MUSLIN *** + +***** This file should be named 14659.txt or 14659.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/6/5/14659/ + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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