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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Austin and His Friends, by Frederic H. Balfour
+
+
+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: Austin and His Friends
+
+
+Author: Frederic H. Balfour
+
+
+
+Release Date: June 21, 2005  [eBook #16099]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUSTIN AND HIS FRIENDS***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Jeannie Howse, and the
+Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+(https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+AUSTIN AND HIS FRIENDS
+
+by
+
+FREDERIC H. BALFOUR
+
+Author Of "The Expiation of Eugene," etc.
+
+London
+Greening & Co., Ltd.
+
+1906
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: DAPHNIS AT THE FOUNTAIN]
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Advertisement
+
+
+The old-fashioned ghost-story was always terrifying and ghastly;
+something that made people afraid to go to bed, or to look over their
+shoulders, or to enter a room in the dark. It dealt with apparitions
+in a white sheet, and clanking chains, and dreadful faces that peered
+out from behind the window curtains in a haunted chamber. And the more
+blood-curdling it was, the more keenly people enjoyed it--until they
+were left alone, and then they were apt to wish that they had been
+reading Robinson Crusoe or Alison's History of Europe instead. Now the
+present book embodies an attempt to write a _cheerful_ ghost-story; a
+story in which the ghostly element is of a friendly and pleasant
+character, and sheds a sense of happiness and sunshine over the entire
+life of the ghost-seer. Whether the author has succeeded in doing so
+will be for his readers to decide. It is only necessary to add that he
+has not introduced a single supernormal incident that has not occurred
+and been authenticated in the recorded experiences of persons lately
+or still alive.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Austin and His Friends
+
+Chapter the First
+
+
+It was rather a beautiful old house--the house where Austin lived.
+That is, it was old-fashioned, low-browed, solid, and built of that
+peculiar sort of red brick which turns a rich rose-colour with age;
+and this warm rosy tint was set off to advantage by the thick mantle
+of dark green ivy in which it was partly encased, and by the row of
+tall white and purple irises which ran along the whole length of the
+sunniest side of the building. There was an ancient sun-dial just
+above the door, and all the windows were made of small, square
+panes--not a foot of plate-glass was there about the place; and if the
+rooms were nor particularly large or stately, they had that
+comfortable and settled look which tells of undisturbed occupancy by
+the same inmates for many years. But the principal charm of the place
+was the garden in which the house stood. In this case the frame was
+really more beautiful than the picture. On one side, the grounds were
+laid out in very formal style, with straight walks, clipped box
+hedges, an old stone fountain, and a perfect bowling-green of a lawn;
+while at right angles to this there was a plot of land in which all
+regularity was set at naught, and sweet-peas, tulips, hollyhocks,
+dahlias, gillyflowers, wall-flowers, sun-flowers, and a dozen others
+equally sweet and friendly shared the soil with gooseberry bushes and
+thriving apple-trees. Taking it all in all, it was a lovable and most
+reposeful home, and Austin, who had lived there ever since he could
+remember, was quite unable to imagine any lot in life that could be
+compared to his.
+
+Now this was curious, for Austin was a hopeless cripple. Up to the age
+of sixteen, he had been the most active, restless, healthy boy in all
+the countryside. He used to spend his days in boating, bicycling,
+climbing hills, and wandering at large through the woods and leafy
+lanes which stretched far and wide in all directions of the compass.
+One of his chief diversions had been sheep-chasing; nothing delighted
+him more than to start a whole flock of the astonished creatures
+careering madly round some broad green meadow, their fat woolly backs
+wobbling and jolting along in a compact mass of mild perplexity at
+this sudden interruption of their never-ending meal, while Austin
+scampered at their tails, as much excited with the sport as Don
+Quixote himself when he dispersed the legions of Alifanfaron. Let
+hare-coursers, otter-hunters, and pigeon-torturers blame him if they
+choose; the exercise probably did the sheep a vast amount of good, and
+Austin fully believed that they enjoyed it quite as much as he did.
+Then suddenly a great calamity befell him. A weakness made itself
+apparent in his right knee, accompanied by considerable pain. The
+family doctor looked anxious and puzzled; a great surgeon was called
+in, and the two shook their heads together in very portentous style.
+It was a case of caries, they said, and Austin mustn't hunt sheep any
+more. Soon he had to lie upon the sofa for several hours a day, and
+what made Aunt Charlotte more anxious than anything else was that he
+didn't seem to mind lying on the sofa, as he would have done if he had
+felt strong and well; on the contrary, he grew thin and listless, and
+instead of always jumping up and trying to evade the doctor's orders,
+appeared quite content to lie there, quiet and resigned, from one
+week's end to another. That, thought shrewd Aunt Charlotte, betokened
+mischief. Another consultation followed, and then a very terrible
+sentence was pronounced. It was necessary, in order to save his life,
+that Austin should lose his leg.
+
+What does a boy generally feel under such circumstances? What would
+you and I feel? Austin's first impulse was to burst into a passionate
+fit of weeping, and he yielded to it unreservedly. But, the fit once
+past, he smiled brilliantly through his tears. True, he would never
+again be able to enjoy those glorious ramps up hill and down dale that
+up till then had sent the warm life coursing through his veins. Never
+more would he go scorching along the level roads against the wind on
+his cherished bicycle. The open-air athletic days of stress and effort
+were gone, never to return. But there might be compensations; who
+could tell? Happiness, all said and done, need not depend upon a
+shin-bone more or less. He might lose a leg, but legs were, after all,
+a mere concomitant to life--life did not consist in legs. There would
+still be something left to live for, and who could tell whether that
+something might not be infinitely grander and nobler and more
+satisfying than even the rapture of flying ten miles an hour on his
+wheel, or chevying a flock of agitated sheep from one pasture to
+another?
+
+Where this sudden inspiration came from, he then had no idea; but come
+it did, in the very nick of time, and helped him to dry his tears. The
+day of destiny also came, and his courage was put to the test. He knew
+well enough, of course, that of the operation he would feel nothing.
+But the sight of the hard, white, narrow pallet on which he had to
+lie, the cold glint of the remorseless instruments, the neatly folded
+packages of lint and cotton-wool, and the faint, horrible smell of
+chloroform turned him rather sick for a minute. Then he glanced
+downwards, with a sense of almost affectionate yearning, at the limb
+he was about to lose. "Good-bye, dear old leg!" he murmured, with a
+little laugh which smothered a rising sob. "We've had some lovely
+ramps together, but the best of friends must part."
+
+Afterwards, during the long days of dreary convalescence, he began to
+feel an interest in what remained of it; and then he found himself
+taking a sort of ęsthetic pleasure in the smooth, beautifully-rounded
+stump, which really was in its way quite an artistic piece of work. At
+last, when the flesh was properly healed, and the white skin growing
+healthily again around his abbreviated member, he grew eager to make
+acquaintance with his new leg; for of course it was never intended
+that he should perform the rest of his earthly pilgrimage with only a
+leg and a half--let the added half be of what material it might. And
+his excitement may be better imagined than described when, one
+afternoon, the surgeon came in with a most wonderful object in his
+arms--a lovely prop of bright, black, burnished wood, set off with
+steel couplings and the most fascinating straps you ever saw. And the
+best of all was the socket, in which his soft white stump fitted as
+comfortably as though they had been made for one another--as, in fact,
+one of them had been. It was a little difficult to walk just at first,
+for Austin was accustomed to begin by throwing out his foot, whereas
+now he had to begin by moving his thigh; this naturally made him
+stagger, and for some time he could only get along with the aid of a
+crutch. But to be able to walk again at all was a great achievement,
+and then, if you only looked at it in the proper light, it really was
+great fun.
+
+There was, however, one person who, probably from a defective sense of
+humour, was unable to see any fun in it at all. Aunt Charlotte would
+have given her very ears for Austin, but her affection was of a
+somewhat irritable sort, and generally took the form of scolding. She
+was not a stupid woman by any means, but there was one thing in the
+world she never could understand, and that was Austin himself. He
+wasn't like other boys one bit, she always said. He had such a queer,
+topsy-turvy way of looking at things; would express the most
+outrageous opinions with an innocent unconsciousness that made her
+long to box his ears, and support the most arrant absurdities by
+arguments that conveyed not the smallest meaning to her intellect.
+Look at him now, for instance; a cripple for life, and pretending to
+see nothing in it but a joke, and expressing as much admiration for
+his horrible wooden leg as though it had been a king's sceptre! In
+Aunt Charlotte's view, Austin ought to have pitied himself immensely,
+and expressed a hope that God would help him to bear his burden with
+orthodox resignation to the Divine will; instead of which, he seemed
+totally unconscious of having any burden at all--a state of mind that
+was nothing less than impious. Austin was now seventeen, and it was
+high time that he took more serious views of life. Ever since he was a
+baby he had been her special charge; for his mother had died in giving
+him birth, and his father had followed her about a twelvemonth later.
+She had always done her duty to the boy, and loved him as though he
+had been her own; but she reminded onlookers rather of a conscientious
+elderly cat with limited views of natural history condemned by
+circumstances to take care of a very irresponsible young eaglet. The
+eaglet, on his side, was entirely devoted to his protectress, but it
+was impossible for him not to feel a certain lenient and amused
+contempt for her very limited horizon.
+
+"Auntie," he said to her one day, "you're just like a frog at the
+bottom of a well. You think the speck of blue you see above you is the
+entire sky, and the water you paddle up and down in is the ocean. Why
+can't you take a rather more cosmic view of things?"
+
+This extraordinary remark occurred in the course of a wrangle between
+the two, because Austin insisted on his pet cat--a plump, white,
+matronly creature he had christened 'Gioconda,' because (so _he_ said)
+she always smiled so sweetly--sitting up at the dinner-table and being
+fed with tit-bits off his own fork; and Aunt Charlotte objected to
+this proceeding on the ground that the proper place for cats was in
+the kitchen. Austin, on his side, averred that cats were in many ways
+much superior to human beings; that they had been worshipped as gods
+by the philosophical Egyptians because they were so scornful and
+mysterious; and that Gioconda herself was not only the divinest cat
+alive, but entitled to respect, if only as an embodiment and
+representative of cat-hood in the abstract, which was a most important
+element in the economy of the universe. It was when Aunt Charlotte
+stigmatised these philosophical reflections as a pack of impertinent
+twaddle that Austin had had the audacity to say that she was like a
+frog.
+
+And now her eaglet had been maimed for life, and whatever he might
+feel about it himself her own responsibilities were certainly much
+increased. At this very moment, for instance, after having practised
+stumping about the room for half-an-hour he insisted on going
+downstairs. Of course the idea was ridiculous. Even the doctor shook
+his head, while old Martha, who had tubbed Austin when he was two
+years old, joined in the general protest. But Austin, disdaining to
+argue the point with any one of them, had already hobbled out of the
+room, and before they were well aware of it had begun to essay the
+descent perilous. Ominous bumps were heard, and then a dull thud as of
+a body falling. But a bend in the wall had caught the body, and the
+explorer was none the worse. Then Aunt Charlotte, rushing back into
+the bedroom, flung open the window wide.
+
+"Lubin!" she shouted lustily.
+
+A young gardener boy, tall, round-faced and curly-haired, glanced up
+astonished from his work among the sweet-peas.
+
+"Come up here directly and carry Master Austin downstairs. He's got a
+wooden leg and hasn't learnt how to use it."
+
+The consequence of which was that two minutes later Austin, panting
+and enraged at the failure of his first attempt at independence, found
+himself firmly encircled by a pair of strong young arms, lifted gently
+from the ground, and carried swiftly and safely downstairs and out at
+the garden door.
+
+"Now you just keep quiet, Master Austin," murmured Lubin, chuckling as
+Austin began to kick. "No use your starting to run before you know how
+to walk. Wooden legs must be humoured a bit, Sir; 'twon't do to expect
+too much of 'em just at first, you see. This one o' yours is mighty
+handsome to look at, I don't deny, but it's not accustomed to
+staircases and maybe it'll take some time before it is. Hold tight,
+Sir; only a few yards more now. There! Here we are on the lawn at
+last. Now you can try your paces at your leisure."
+
+"You're awfully nice to me, Lubin," gasped Austin, red with
+mortification, as he slipped from the lad's arms on to the grass, "but
+I felt just now as if I could have killed you, all the same."
+
+"Lor', Sir, I don't mind," said Lubin. "I doubt that was no more'n
+natural. Can you stand steady? Here--lay hold o' my arm. Slow and
+sure's the word. Look out for that flower-bed. Now, then, round you
+go--that's it. Ah!"--as Austin fell sprawling on the grass. "Now how
+are you going to get up again, I should like to know? Seems to me the
+first thing you've got to learn is not to lose your balance, 'cause
+once you're down 'tain't the easiest thing in creation to scramble up
+again. You'll have to stick to the crutch at first, I reckon. Up we
+come! Now let's see how you can fare along a bit all by yourself."
+
+Austin was thankful for the support of his crutch, with the aid of
+which he managed to stagger about for a few minutes at quite a
+respectable speed. It reminded him almost of the far-off days when he
+was learning to ride his bicycle. At last he thought he would like to
+rest a bit, and was much surprised when, on flinging himself down
+upon a garden seat, his leg flew up in the air.
+
+"Lively sort o' limb, this new leg o' yours, Sir," commented Lubin, as
+he bent it into a more decorous position. "You'll have to take care it
+don't carry you off with it one o' these fine days. Seems to me it
+wants taming, and learning how to behave itself in company. I heard
+tell of a cork leg once upon a time as was that nimble it started off
+running on its own account, and no earthly power could stop it.
+Wouldn't have mattered so much if it'd had nobody but itself to
+consider, but unluckily the gentleman it belonged to happened to be
+screwed on to the top end of it, and of course he had to follow. They
+do say as how he's following it still--poor beggar! Must be worn to a
+shadow by this time, I should think. But p'raps it ain't true after
+all. There are folks as'll say anything."
+
+"I expect it's true enough," replied Austin cheerfully. "If you want a
+thing to be true, all you've got to do is to believe it--believe it as
+hard as you can. That makes it true, you see. At least, that's what
+the new psychology teaches. Thought creates things, you
+understand--though how it works I confess I can't explain. But never
+mind. Oh, dear, how drunk I am!"
+
+"Drunk, Sir? No, no, only a bit giddy," said Lubin, as he stood
+watching Austin with his hands upon his hips. "You're not over strong
+yet, and that new leg of yours has been giving you too much exercise
+to begin with. You just keep quiet a few minutes, and you'll soon be
+as right as ninepence."
+
+Then Austin slid carefully off the seat, and stretched himself full
+length upon the grass. "I _am_ drunk," he murmured, closing his eyes,
+"drunk with the scent of the flowers. Don't you smell them, Lubin? The
+air's heavy with it, and it has got into my brain. And how sweet the
+grass smells too. I love it--it's like breathing the breath of Nature.
+What do legs matter? It's much nicer to roll over the grass wherever
+you want to go than to have the bother of walking. Don't worry about
+me any more, nice Lubin. Go on tying up your sweet-peas. I'll come and
+help you when I'm tired of rolling about. Just now I don't want
+anything; I'm drunk--I'm happy--I'm satisfied--I'm happier than I ever
+was before. Be kind to the flowers, Lubin; don't tie them too tight.
+They're my friends and my lovers. Aren't you a little fond of them
+too?"
+
+Then, left to his own reflections, he lay perfectly peaceful and
+content staring up into the sky. For months he had been fated to lead
+an entirely new life, and now it had actually begun. His entrance upon
+it was not bitter. He had flowers growing by his path, and books that
+he loved, and one or two friends who loved him. It was all right! And
+that was how he spent his first day of acknowledged cripplehood.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter the Second
+
+
+In a very short time Austin had overcome the initial difficulties of
+locomotion, and now began to take regular exercise out of doors. It
+would be too much to say that his gait was particularly elegant; but
+there really was something triumphal about the way in which he learnt
+to brandish his leg with every step he took, and the majestic swing
+with which he brought it round to its place in advance of the other.
+In fact, he soon found himself stumping along the highroads with
+wonderful speed and safety; though to clamber over stiles, and work a
+bicycle one-footed, of course took much more practice.
+
+Hitherto I have said nothing about the neighbourhood of Austin's home.
+Now when I say neighbourhood, I don't mean the topographical
+surroundings--I use the word in its correcter sense of neighbours; and
+these it is necessary to refer to in passing. Of course there were
+several people living round about. There was the MacTavish family,
+for instance, consisting of Mr and Mrs MacTavish, five daughters and
+two sons. Mrs MacTavish had a brother who had been knighted, and on
+the strength of such near relationship to Sir Titus and Lady
+Clandougal, considered herself one of the county. But her claim was
+not endorsed, even by the humbler gentry with whom she was forced to
+associate, while as for the county proper it is not too much to say
+that that august community had never even heard of her. The Miss
+MacTavishes, ranging in age from fifteen to five-and-twenty, were
+rather gawky young persons, with red hair and a perpetual giggle; in
+fact they could not speak without giggling, even if it was to tell you
+that somebody was dead. Every now and then Mrs MacTavish would
+proclaim, with portentous complacency, that Florrie, or Lizzie, or
+Aggie, was "out"--to the awe-struck admiration of her friends; which
+meant that the young person referred to had begun to do up her hair in
+a sort of bun at the back of her head, and had had her frock let down
+a couple of tucks. Austin couldn't bear them, though he was always
+scrupulously polite. And the boys were, if anything, less interesting
+than the girls. The elder of the two--a freckled young giant named
+Jock--was always asking him strange conundrums, such as whether he was
+going to put the pot on for the Metropolitan--which conveyed no more
+idea to Austin's mind than if he had said it in Chinese; while Sandy,
+the younger, used to terrify him out of his wits by shouting out that
+Yorkshire had got the hump, or that Jobson was 'not out' for a
+century, or that wickets were cheap at the Oval. In fact, the entire
+family bored him to extinction, though Aunt Charlotte, who had been an
+old school-friend of the mamma, sang their praises perseveringly, and
+said that the girls were dears.
+
+Then there was the inevitable vicar, with a wife who piqued herself on
+her smart bonnets; a curate, who preached Socialism, wore
+knickerbockers, and belonged to the Fabian Society; a few unattached
+elderly ladies who had long outlived the reproach of their virginity;
+and just two or three other families with nothing particular to
+distinguish them one way or another. It may readily be inferred,
+therefore, that Austin had not many associates. There was really no
+one in the place who interested him in the very least, and the
+consequence was that he was generally regarded as unsociable. And so
+he was--very unsociable. The companionship of his books, his bicycle,
+his flowers and his thoughts was far more precious to him than that of
+the silly people who bothered him to join in their vapid diversions
+and unseasonable talk, and he rightly acted upon his preference. His
+own resources were of such a nature that he never felt alone; and
+having but few comrades in the flesh, he wisely courted the society of
+those whom, though long since dead, he held in far higher esteem than
+all the elderly ladies and curates and MacTavishes who ever lived. His
+appetite in literature was keen, but fastidious. He devoured all the
+books he could procure about the Renaissance of art in Italy. The
+works of Mr Walter Pater were as a treasure-house of suggestion to
+him, and did much to form and guide his gradually developing
+mentality. He read Plato, being even more fascinated by the exquisite
+technique of the dialectic than by the ethical value of the teaching.
+And there was one small, slim book that he always carried about with
+him, and kept for special reading in the fields and woods. This was
+Virgil's Eclogues, the sylvan atmosphere of which penetrated the very
+depths of his being, and created in him a moral or spiritual
+atmosphere which was its counterpart. He seemed to live amid gracious
+pastoral scenes, where beautiful youths and maidens passed a
+perpetual springtime in a land of dewy lawns, and shady groves, and
+pools, and rippling streams. Daphnis and Mopsus, Corydon, Alexis, and
+Amyntas, were all to him real personages, who peopled his solitude,
+inspired his poetic fancy, and fostered in his imagination the
+elements of an ideal life where the beauty and purity and freshness of
+untainted Nature reigned supreme. The accident of his lameness, by
+incapacitating him for violent exercise out of doors, ministered to
+the development of this spiritual tendency, and threw him back upon
+the allurements of a refined idealism. Daphnis became to him the
+embodiment, the concrete image, of eternal youthhood, of adolescence
+in the abstract, the attribute of an idealised humanity. To lead the
+pure Daphnis life of simplicity, stainlessness, communion with
+beautiful souls, was to lead the highest life. To find one's bliss in
+sunshine, flowers, and the winds of heaven--in both the physical and
+moral spheres--was to find the highest bliss. Why should not he,
+Austin Trevor, cripple as he was, so live the Daphnis life as to be
+himself a Daphnis?
+
+No wonder a boy like this was voted unsociable. No wonder Sandy and
+Jock despised him as a muff, and the young ladies deplored his
+unaccountably elusive ways. The truth was that Austin simply had no
+use for any of them; his life was complete without them, it contained
+no niche into which they could ever fit. Lubin was a far more
+congenial comrade. Lubin never bothered him about football, or
+cricket, or horse-racing, never worried him with invitations to
+horrible picnics, never outraged his sensibilities in any way. On the
+contrary, Lubin rather contributed to his happiness by the care he
+took of the flowers, and the intelligence he showed in carrying out
+all Austin's elaborately conveyed instructions. Why, Lubin himself was
+a sort of Daphnis--in a humble way. But Sandy! No, Austin was not
+equal to putting up with Sandy.
+
+There was, however, one gentleman in the neighbourhood whom Master
+Austin was gracious enough to approve. This was a certain Mr Roger St
+Aubyn, a man of taste and culture, who possessed a very rare
+collection of fine pictures and old engravings which nobody had ever
+seen. St Aubyn was, in fact, something of a recluse, a student who
+seldom went beyond his park gates, and found his greatest pleasure in
+reading Greek and cultivating orchids. It was by the purest accident
+that the two came across each other. Austin was lying one afternoon on
+a bank of wild hyacinths just outside Combe Spinney, lazily admiring
+the effect of his bright black leg against the bright blue sky, and
+thinking of nothing in particular. Mr St Aubyn, who happened to be
+strolling in that direction, was attracted by the unwonted spectacle,
+and ventured on some good-humoured quizzical remark. This led to a
+conversation, in the course of which the scholar thought he discovered
+certain original traits in the modest observations of the youth. One
+topic drifted into another, and soon the two were engaged in an
+animated discussion about pursuits in life. It was in the course of
+this that Austin let drop the one word--Art.
+
+"What is Art?" queried St Aubyn.
+
+Austin hesitated for some moments. Then he said, very slowly:
+
+"That is a question to which a dozen answers might be given. A whole
+book would be required to deal with it."
+
+St Aubyn was delighted, both at the reply and at the hesitation that
+had preceded it.
+
+"And are you an artist?" he enquired.
+
+"I believe I am," replied Austin, very seriously. "Of course one
+doesn't like to be too confident, and I can't draw a single line, but
+still----"
+
+"Good again," approved the other. "Here as in everything else all
+depends upon the definition. What is an artist?"
+
+"An artist," exclaimed Austin, kindling, "is one who can see the
+beauty everywhere."
+
+"_The_ beauty?" repeated St Aubyn.
+
+"The beauty that exists everywhere, even in ugly things. The beauty
+that ordinary people don't see," returned Austin. "Anybody can see
+beauty in what are _called_ beautiful things--light, and colour, and
+grace. But it takes an artist to see beauty in a muddy road, and
+dripping branches, and drenching rain. How people cursed and grumbled
+on that rainy day we had last week; it made me sick to hear them. Now
+I saw the beauty _under_ the ugliness of it all--the wonderful soft
+greys and browns, the tiny glints of silver between the leaves, the
+flashes of pearl and orpiment behind the shifting clouds. Do you know,
+I even see beauty in this wooden leg of mine, great beauty, though
+everybody else thinks it perfectly hideous! So that is why I hope I am
+not wrong in imagining that perhaps I may, really, be in some sense an
+artist."
+
+For a moment St Aubyn did not speak. "The boy's a great artist," he
+muttered to himself. His interest was now excited in good earnest; here
+was no common mind. Of art Austin knew practically nothing, but the
+artistic instinct was evidently tingling in every vein of him. St Aubyn
+himself lived for art and literature, and was amazed to have come
+across so curiously exceptional a personality. He drew the boy out a
+little more, and then, in a moment of impulse, did a most unaccustomed
+thing: he invited Austin to lunch with him on the following Thursday,
+promising, in addition, that they should spend the afternoon together
+looking over his conservatories and picture-gallery.
+
+So great an honour, so undreamt-of a privilege, sent Austin's blood to
+the roots of his hair. He flourished his leg more proudly than ever as
+he stumped victoriously home and announced the great news to Aunt
+Charlotte. That estimable lady was fingering some notepaper on her
+writing-table as her excited nephew came bursting in upon her with his
+face radiant.
+
+"Auntie," he cried, "what do you think? You'll never guess. I'm going
+to lunch with Mr St Aubyn on Thursday!"
+
+Aunt Charlotte turned round, looking slightly dazed.
+
+"Going to lunch with whom?" she asked.
+
+"With Mr St Aubyn. You know--he lives at Moorcombe Court. I met him in
+the woods and had a long talk with him, and now he's going to show me
+all his pictures--_and_ his engravings--_and_ his wonderful orchids
+and things. I'm to spend all the afternoon with him. Isn't it
+splendid! I could never have hoped for such an opportunity. And he's
+so awfully nice--so cultured and clever, you know--"
+
+"Really!" said Aunt Charlotte, drawing herself up. "Well, you're
+vastly honoured, Austin, I must say. Mr St Aubyn is chary of his
+civilities. It is very kind of him to ask you, I'm sure, but I think
+it's rather a liberty all the same."
+
+"A liberty!" repeated Austin, aghast.
+
+"He has never called on me," returned Aunt Charlotte, statelily. "If
+he had wished to cultivate our acquaintance, that would have been at
+least the usual thing to do. However, of course I've no objection. On
+Thursday, you say. Well, now just give me your attention to something
+rather more important. I intend to invite some people here to tea next
+week, and you may as well write the invitations for me now."
+
+Austin's face lengthened. "Oh, why?" he sighed. "It isn't as though
+there was anybody worth asking--and really, the horrid creatures that
+infest this neighbourhood--. Whom do you want to ask?"
+
+"I'm astonished at you, speaking of our friends like that," replied
+his aunt, severely. "They're not horrid creatures; they're all very
+nice and kind. Of course we must have the MacTavishes----"
+
+"I knew it," groaned Austin, sinking into a chair. "Those dear
+MacTavishes! There are nineteen of them, aren't there? Or is it only
+nine?"
+
+"Don't be ridiculous, Austin," said Aunt Charlotte. "Then there are
+the Miss Minchins--that'll be eleven; the vicar and his wife, of
+_course_; and old Mr and Mrs Cobbledick. Now just come and sit
+here----"
+
+"The Cobbledicks--those old murderers!" cried Austin. "Do you want us
+to be all assassinated together?"
+
+"Murderers!" exclaimed Aunt Charlotte, horrified. "I think you've gone
+out of your mind. A dear kindly old couple like the Cobbledicks! Not
+very handsome, perhaps, but--murderers! What in the world will you say
+next?"
+
+"The most sinister-looking old pair of cut-throats in the parish,"
+returned Austin. "I should be sorry to meet them on a lonely road on a
+dark night, I know that. But really, auntie, I do wish you'd think
+better of all this. We're quite happy alone; what do we want of all
+these horrible people coming to bore us for Heaven knows how many
+hours? Of course _I_ shall be told off to amuse the MacTavishes; just
+think of it! Seven red-haired, screaming, giggling monsters----"
+
+"Hold your tongue, do, you abominable boy!" cried Aunt Charlotte. "I'm
+inviting our friends for _my_ pleasure, not for yours, and I forbid
+you to speak of them in that wicked, slanderous, disrespectful way.
+Come now, sit down here and write me the invitations at once."
+
+"For the last time, auntie, I entreat you----" began Austin.
+
+"Not a word more!" replied his aunt. "Begin without more ado."
+
+"Well, if you insist," consented Austin, as he dragged himself into
+the seat. "Have you fixed upon a day?"
+
+"No--any day will do. Just choose one yourself," said Aunt Charlotte,
+as she dived after an errant ball of worsted. "What day will suit you
+best?"
+
+"Shall we say the 24th?" suggested Austin.
+
+"By all means," replied his aunt briskly. "If you're sure that that
+won't interfere with anything else. I've such a wretched memory for
+dates. To-day is the 19th. Yes, I should say the 24th will do very
+well indeed."
+
+"It will suit me admirably," said Austin, sitting down and beginning
+to write with great alacrity, while his aunt busied herself with her
+knitting. As soon as the envelopes were addressed, he slipped them
+into his coat pocket, and, rising, said he might as well go out and
+post them there and then.
+
+"Do," said Aunt Charlotte, well pleased at Austin's sudden
+capitulation. "That is, unless you're too tired with your walk. Martha
+can always give them to the milkman if you are."
+
+"Not a bit of it," said Austin hastily, as he swung himself out of the
+room. "I shall be back in time for dinner."
+
+"He certainly is the very oddest boy," soliloquised Aunt Charlotte, as
+she settled herself comfortably on the sofa and went on clicking her
+knitting-needles. "Why he dislikes the MacTavishes so I can't imagine;
+nice, cheerful young persons as anyone would wish to see. It really is
+very queer. And then the way he suddenly gave in at last! It only
+shows that I must be firm with him. As soon as he saw I was in earnest
+he yielded at once. He's got a sweet nature, but he requires a firm
+hand. He's different, too, since he lost his leg--more full of
+fancies, it seems to me, and a great deal too much wrapped up in those
+books of his. I suppose that when one's body is defective, one's mind
+feels the effects of it. I shall have to keep him up to the mark, and
+see that he has plenty of cheerful society. Nothing like nice
+companions for maintaining the brain in order."
+
+Thus did Aunt Charlotte decide to her own satisfaction what she
+thought would be best for Austin.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter the Third
+
+
+He stood leaning against the old stone fountain on the straight lawn
+under the noonday sun. The bees hummed slumberously around him,
+sailing from flower to flower, and the hot air, laden with the scents
+of the soil, seemed to penetrate his body at every pore, infusing a
+sense of vitality into him which pulsed through all his veins. Austin
+always said that high noon was the supreme moment of the day. To some
+folks the most beautiful time was dawn, to others sunset, but at noon
+Nature was like a flower at its full, a flower in the very zenith of
+its strength and glory. He had always loved the noon.
+
+"The world seems literally palpitating with life," he thought, as he
+rested his arm on the rim of the time-worn fountain. "I'm sure it's
+conscious, in some way or other. How it must enjoy itself! Look at the
+trees; so strong, and calm, and splendid. They know well enough how
+strong they are, and when there's a storm that tries to blow them
+down, how they do revel in battling with it! And then the hot air,
+embracing the earth so voluptuously--playing with the slender plants,
+and caressing the upstanding flowers. They stand up because they want
+to be caressed, the amorous creatures. How wonderful it is--the
+different characters that flowers have. Some are shrill and fierce and
+passionate, while others are meek and sly, and pretend to shrink when
+they are even noticed. Some are wicked--shamelessly, insolently,
+magnificently wicked--like those scarlet anthuriums, with their
+curling yellow tongues. That flower is the very incarnation of sin;
+no, not incarnation--what's the word? I can't think, but it doesn't
+matter. Incarnation will do, for the thing is exactly like
+recalcitrant human flesh. Lubin!"
+
+"Yes, Sir?" responded Lubin, who was digging near.
+
+"What are the wickedest flowers you know?" asked Austin.
+
+"Well, Sir, I should say them as had most thorns," said Lubin
+feelingly.
+
+"I wonder," mused Austin. Then he relapsed into his meditations. "How
+thick with life the air is. I'm sure it's populated, if we only had
+eyes to see. I feel it throbbing all round me--full of beings as much
+alive as I am, only invisible. People used to see them once upon a
+time--why can't we now? Naiads, and dryads, and fauns, and the great
+god Pan everywhere; oh, to think we may be actually surrounded by
+these wonders of beauty, and yet unable to talk to any of them!
+Nothing but wicked old women, and horrible young men in plaid
+knickerbockers and bowler hats, who worry one about odds and
+handicaps. It's all very sad and ugly."
+
+"Aren't you rather hot, standing there in the sun, Sir, all this
+time?" said Lubin, looking up.
+
+"Very hot," replied Austin. "I wonder what time it is?"
+
+Lubin glanced up at the sundial. "Just five minutes past the hour, or
+thereabouts, I make it."
+
+"Oh, Lubin, let's go and bathe!" cried Austin suddenly. "You must be
+far hotter than I am. There's plenty of time--we don't lunch till
+half-past one. How long would it take us to get to the bathing-pool
+just at the bend of the river?"
+
+"Well--not above ten minutes, I should say," was Lubin's answer. "I'd
+like a dip myself more'n a little, but I'm not quite sure if I ought
+to--you see the mistress wants all this finished up by the afternoon,
+and then----"
+
+"But you must!" insisted Austin. "You forget that I've only got one
+leg, so I can't swim as I used, and you've got to come and take care I
+don't get drowned. 'O weep for Adonais--he is dead!' How angry Aunt
+Charlotte would be. And then she'd cry, poor dear, and go into hideous
+mourning for her poor Austin. Come along, Lubin--but wait, I must just
+go and get a couple of towels. Oh, I'm simply mad for the water. I'll
+be back in less than a flash."
+
+Lubin drove his spade into the earth, turned down his sleeves, and
+rested--a fair-skinned, bronzed, wholesome object, good to look
+at--while Austin stumped away. In less than five minutes the two
+youths started off together, tramping through the long, lush
+meadow-grass which lay between the end of the garden and the river.
+The sun burned fiercely overhead, and the air quivered in the heat.
+
+"Isn't it wonderful!" cried Austin, when they reached the edge of the
+water, and were standing under the shade of some trees that overhung
+the towing-path. "Come, Lubin, strip--I'm half undressed already. Look
+at the white and purple lights in the water--aren't they marvellous?
+Now we're going right down into them. Oh the freedom of air, and
+colour, and body--how I do _hate_ clothes! I say, how funny my stump
+looks, doesn't it? Just like a great white rolling-pin. You must go in
+first, Lubin, and then you'll be prepared to catch me when I begin
+drowning."
+
+Lubin, standing nude and shapely, like a fair Greek statue, for a
+moment on the bank, took a silent header and disappeared. Then Austin
+prepared to follow. He tumbled rather than plunged into the water,
+and, unable to attain an erect position owing to his imperfect
+organism, would have fared badly if Lubin had not caught him in his
+arms and turned him deftly over on his back.
+
+"You just content yourself with floating face upwards, Sir," he said.
+"There's no sort of use in trying to strike out, you'd only sink to
+the bottom like a boat with a hole in it. There--let me hold you like
+this; one hand'll do it. Look out for the river-weeds. Now try and
+work your foot. Seems to be making you go round and round, somehow.
+But that don't matter. A bathe's a bathe, all said and done. How jolly
+cool it is!"
+
+"Isn't it exquisite?" murmured Austin, with closed eyes. "I do think
+that drowning must be a lovely death. We're like the minnows, Lubin,
+'staying their wavy bodies 'gainst the streams, to taste the luxury of
+sunny beams tempered with coolness.' That's what _our_ wavy bodies are
+doing now. Don't you like it? 'Now more than ever it seems rich to
+die----'"
+
+But the next moment, owing probably to Lubin having lost his
+equilibrium, the young rhapsodist found himself, spluttering and
+half-choked, nearer to the bed of the river than the surface, while
+his leg was held in chancery by a network of clinging water-weeds.
+Lubin had some slight difficulty in extricating him, and for the
+moment, at least, his poetic fantasies came to an abrupt and
+unromantic finish.
+
+"Here, get on my back, and I'll swim you out as far as them
+water-lilies," said Lubin, giving him a dexterous hoist. "I'm awfully
+keen on the yellow sort, and they look wonderful fine ones. That's
+better. Now, Sir, you can just imagine yourself any drownded heathen
+as comes into your head, only hold tight and don't stir. If you do
+you'll get drownded in good earnest, and I shall have to settle
+accounts with your aunt afterwards. Are you ready? Right, then. And
+now away we go."
+
+He struck out strongly and slowly, with Austin crouching on his
+shoulders. They arrived in safety at the point aimed at, and managed
+to tear away a grand cluster of the great, beautiful yellow flowers;
+but the process was a very ticklish one, and the struggle resulted,
+not unnaturally, in Austin becoming dislodged from his not very secure
+position, and floundering head foremost into the depths. Lubin caught
+him as he rose again, and, taking him firmly by one hand, helped him
+to swim alongside of him back to the shore. It was a difficult feat,
+and by the time they had accomplished the distance they were both
+pretty well exhausted.
+
+"You _have_ been good to me, Lubin," gasped Austin, as he flung
+himself sprawling on the grass. "I've had a lovely time--haven't you
+too? Was I very heavy? Perhaps it is rather a bore to have only one
+leg when one wants to swim. But now you can always say you've saved me
+from drowning, can't you. I should have gone under a dozen times if
+you hadn't held me up and lugged me about. Oh, dear, now we must put
+on our clothes again--what a barbarism clothes are! I do hate them so,
+don't you? But I suppose there's no help for it.
+
+          "Rise, Lubin, rise, and twitch thy mantle blue;
+          To-morrow to fresh woods, and pastures new.
+
+"Oh, do help me to screw on my leg. That's it. I say, it's a
+quarter-past one! We must hurry up, or Aunt Charlotte will be cursing.
+What _does_ it matter if one eats at half-past one or at a quarter to
+two? I really am very fond of Aunt Charlotte, you know, though I find
+it awfully difficult to educate her. I sometimes despair of ever being
+able to bring her up properly at all, she is so hopelessly Early
+Victorian, poor thing. But, then, so many people are, aren't they? Now
+animals are never Early Victorian; that's why I respect them so. If
+you weren't a human being, Lubin--and a very nice one, as you
+are--what sort of an animal would you like to be?"
+
+"Well, I don't rightly know as I ever considered the point," said
+Lubin, passing his fingers through his drenched curls. "Perhaps I'd as
+lief be a squirrel as anything. I'm awfully fond o' nuts, and when I
+was a kid I used to spend half my time a-climbing trees. A squirrel
+must have rather a jolly life of it, when one comes to think."
+
+"What a splendid idea!" cried Austin, as they prepared to start. "You
+_are_ clever, Lubin. It would be lovely to live in a tree, curtained
+all round with thousands of quivering green leaves. I wish I knew what
+animals think about all day. It must be very dull for them never to
+have any thoughts, poor dears, and yet they seem happy enough
+somehow. Perhaps they have something else instead to make up for
+it--something that we've no idea of. I _say_--it's half-past one!"
+
+So Austin was late for lunch after all, and got a scolding from Aunt
+Charlotte, who told him that it was exceedingly ill-bred to
+inconvenience other people by habitual unpunctuality. Austin was very
+penitent, and promised he'd never be unpunctual again if he lived to
+be a hundred. Then Aunt Charlotte was mollified, and regaled him with
+an improving account of a most excellent book she had just been
+reading, upon the importance of instilling sound principles of
+political economy into the mind of the agricultural labourer. It was
+so essential, she explained, that people in that position should
+understand something about the laws which govern prices, the relations
+of capital and labour, the _metayer_ system, and the ratio which
+should exist between an increase of population and the exhaustion of
+the soil by too frequent crops of wheat; and she wound up by
+propounding a series of hypothetical problems based on the doctrines
+she had set forth, for Austin to solve offhand.
+
+Austin listened very dutifully for some time, but the subject bored
+him atrociously, and his attention began to wander. At last he made
+some rather vague and irrelevant replies, and then announced boldly
+that he thought all politicians were very silly old gentlemen,
+particularly economists; for his own part, he hated economy,
+especially when he wanted to buy something beautiful to look at; he
+further considered that political economists would be much better
+employed if they sat contemplating tulips instead of writing horrid
+books, and that Lubin was a great deal wiser than the whole pack of
+them put together. Then Aunt Charlotte got extremely angry, and a
+great wrangle ensued, in the course of which she said he was a
+foolish, ignorant boy, who talked nonsense for the sake of talking it.
+Austin replied by asking if she knew what a quincunx was, or what
+Virgil was really driving at when he composed the First Eclogue, and
+whether she had ever heard of Lycidas; and when she said that she had
+something better to do than stuff her head with quidnunxes and all
+such pagan rubbish, he remarked very politely that ignorance was
+evidently not all of the same sort. Which sent Aunt Charlotte bustling
+away in a huff to look after her household duties.
+
+"It's all very sad and very ugly, isn't it, Gioconda?" sighed Austin,
+as he lifted the large, white, fluffy animal upon his lap. "You're a
+great philosopher, my dear; I wish I were as wise as you. You're so
+scornful, so dignified, so divinely egoistic. But you don't mind being
+worshipped, do you, Gioconda? Because you know it's your right, of
+course. There--she's actually condescending to purr! Now we'll come
+and disport ourselves under the trees, and you shall watch the birds
+from a safe distance. I know your wicked ways, and I must teach you
+how to treat your inferiors with proper benignity and toleration."
+
+But Gioconda had plans of her own for the afternoon, and declined the
+proposed discipline; so Austin strolled off by himself, and lay down
+under the trees with a large book on Italian gardens to console him.
+His improvised exertions in the water had produced a certain fatigue,
+and he felt lazy and inert. Gradually he dropped off into a doze,
+which lasted more than an hour. And he had a curious dream. He thought
+he was in some strange land--a land like a garden seen through yellow
+glass--where everything was transparent, and people glided about as
+though they were skating, without any conscious effort. Then Aunt
+Charlotte appeared upon the scene, and he saw by her eyes that she was
+very angry because Lycidas had been drowned while bathing; but Austin
+assured her that it was Lubin who was drowned, and that it really was
+of no consequence, because Lubin was only a squirrel after all. At
+this point things got extremely mixed, and the sound of voices broke
+in upon his slumbers. He opened his eyes, and saw Aunt Charlotte
+herself in the act of walking away with a toss of her head that
+betokened a ruffled temper.
+
+Austin's interest was immediately aroused. "Lubin!" he called softly,
+motioning the lad to come nearer. "What was she rowing you about? Was
+she blowing you up about this morning?"
+
+"Well," confessed Lubin with a broad smile, "she didn't seem
+over-pleased. Said you might have lost your life, going out o' your
+depth with only one leg to stand on, and that if you'd been drownded I
+should have had to answer for it before a judge and jury."
+
+"What a wicked, abandoned old woman!" cried Austin. "Only one leg to
+stand on, indeed!--she hasn't a single leg to stand on when she says
+such things. She ought to have gone down on her knees and thanked you
+for taking such care of me. But I shall never make anything of her,
+I'm afraid. The more I try to educate her the worse she gets."
+
+"I shouldn't wonder," replied Lubin sagely. "The old hen feels herself
+badly off when the egg teaches her to cackle. That's human nature,
+that is. And then she was riled because she was afraid I shouldn't
+have time to get the garden-things in order by to-morrow, when it
+seems there's some sort o' company expected. I told her 'twould be all
+right."
+
+"Oh, those brutes! Of course, they're coming to-morrow. I'd nearly
+forgotten all about it. It's just like Aunt Charlotte to be so fond of
+all those hideous people. You hate the MacTavishes, don't you, Lubin?
+_Do_ hate the MacTavishes! Fancy--nine of them, no less, counting the
+old ones, and all of them coming together. What a family! I despise
+people who breed like rabbits, as though they thought they were so
+superlative that the rest of the world could never have enough of
+them."
+
+"Ay, fools grow without watering," assented Lubin. "Can't say I ever
+took to 'em myself--though it's not my place to say so. The young
+gents make a bit too free with one, and when they opens their mouths
+no one else may so much as sneeze. Think they know everything, they
+do. There's a saying as I've heard, that asses sing badly 'cause they
+pitch their voices too high. Maybe it's the same wi' them."
+
+"Well, I hope Aunt Charlotte will enjoy their conversation," said
+Austin comfortably. "I say, Lubin, do you know anything about a Mr St
+Aubyn, who lives not far from here?"
+
+"What, him at the Court?" replied Lubin. "I don't know him myself, but
+they say as _he's_ a gentleman, and no mistake. Keeps himself to
+himself, he does, and has always got a civil word for everybody. Fine
+old place, too, that of his."
+
+"Have you ever been inside?" asked Austin.
+
+"Lor' no, Sir," answered Lubin. "Don't know as I'm over anxious to,
+either. The garden's a sight, it's true--but it seems there's
+something queer about the house. Can't make out what it can be, unless
+the drains are a bit out of order. But it ain't that neither. Sort o'
+frightening--so folks say. But lor', some folks'll say anything. I
+never knew anybody as ever _saw_ anything there. It's only some old
+woman's yarn, I reckon."
+
+"Oh, is it haunted? Are there any ghosts?" cried Austin, in great
+excitement. "I'd give anything in this world to see a ghost!"
+
+"I don't know as I'd care to sleep in a haunted house myself," said
+Lubin, beginning to sweep the lawn. "Some folks don't mind that sort
+o' thing, I s'pose; must have got accustomed to it somehow. Then
+there's those as is born ghost-seers, and others as couldn't see one,
+not if it was to walk arm-in-arm with 'em to church. Let's hope Mr St
+Aubyn's one o' that sort, seeing as he's got to live there. It's poor
+work being a baker if your head's made of butter, I've heard say."
+
+"Then it _is_ haunted!" exclaimed Austin. "What a bit of luck. You
+see, Lubin, I know Mr St Aubyn just a little, and soon I'm going to
+lunch with him. How I shall be on the look-out! I wonder how it feels
+to see a ghost. You've never seen one, have you?"
+
+"Oh no, Sir," replied Lubin, shaking his head. "I doubt I'm not put
+together that way. A blind man may shoot a crow by mistake, but he
+ain't no judge o' colours. Though ghosts are mostly white, they say.
+Well, it may be different with you, and when you go to lunch at the
+Court, I'm sure I hope you'll see all the ghosts on the premises if
+you've a fancy for that kind of wild fowl. Let ghosts leave me alone
+and I'll leave them alone--that's all I've got to say. I never had no
+hankering after gentry as go flopping around without their bodies.
+'Tain't commonly decent, to my thinking. Don't hold with such goings
+on myself."
+
+"Oh, but you must make allowances for their circumstances," answered
+Austin. "If they've got no bodies of course they can't put them on,
+you know. Besides, there are ghosts and ghosts. Some are mischievous,
+and some are very, very unhappy, and others come to do us good and
+help us to find wills, and treasures, and all sorts of pleasant
+things. I'd love to talk with one, and have it out with him. What
+wonderful things one might learn!"
+
+"Ay, there's more in the world than what's taught in the catechism,"
+said Lubin. "Let's hope you'll have picked up a few crumbs when you've
+been to lunch at the Court. Every little helps, as the sow said when
+she swallowed the gnat. I confess I'm not curious myself."
+
+"Well, I'm awfully curious," replied Austin, as he began to get up.
+"But now I must stir about a bit. You know my wooden leg gets horribly
+lazy sometimes, and I've got to exercise it every now and then for its
+own good. I know Aunt Charlotte wants me to go into the town with her
+to buy provender for this bun-trouble of hers to-morrow. It's very
+curious what different ideas of pleasure different people have."
+
+"He's a rare sort o' boy, the young master," soliloquised Lubin as
+Austin went pegging along towards the house. "Game for no end of
+mischief when the fit takes him, for all he's only got one leg. One'd
+think he was half daft to hear him talk sometimes, too. Seems like as
+if it galled him a bit to rub along with the old auntie, and I
+shouldn't wonder if the old auntie herself felt about as snug as a
+bell-wether tied to a frisky colt. However, I s'pose the A'mighty
+knows what He's about, and it's always the old cow's notion as she
+never was a calf herself."
+
+With which philosophical reflection Lubin slipped on his green
+corduroy jacket, shouldered his broom, and trudged cheerfully home
+to tea.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter the Fourth
+
+
+The next day the great heat had moderated, and the sky was covered
+with a thin pearly veil of gossamer greyness which afforded a
+delightful relief after the glare of the past week. A smart shower had
+fallen during the night, and the parched earth, refreshed after its
+bath, appeared more fragrant and more beautiful than ever. Aunt
+Charlotte busied herself all the morning with various household
+diversions, while Austin, swaying lazily to and fro in a hammock under
+an old apple tree, read 'Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight.' At last he
+looked at his watch, and found that it was about time to go and dress.
+
+"Well, you _have_ made yourself smart," commented Aunt Charlotte
+complacently, as Austin, sprucely attired in a pale flannel suit, with
+a lilac tie and a dark-red rose in his button-hole, came into the
+morning-room to say good-bye. "But why need you have dressed so early?
+Our friends aren't coming till three o'clock at the very earliest,
+and it's not much more than twelve--at least, so says my watch. You
+needn't have changed till after lunch, at any rate."
+
+"My dear auntie, have you forgotten?" asked Austin, in innocent
+surprise. "To-day's Thursday, and I'm engaged to lunch and spend the
+afternoon with Mr St Aubyn. You know I told you all about it the very
+day he asked me."
+
+"Mr St Aubyn?--I don't understand," said Aunt Charlotte, with a
+bewildered air. "I have a recollection of your telling me a few days
+ago that you were lunching out some day or other, but----"
+
+"On Thursday, you know, I said."
+
+"Did you? Well, but--but our friends are coming _here_ to-day! You
+must have been dreaming, Austin," cried Aunt Charlotte, sitting bolt
+upright. "How can you have made such a blunder? Of course you can't
+possibly go!"
+
+"Do you really propose, auntie, that I should break my engagement with
+Mr St Aubyn for the sake of entertaining people like the MacTavishes
+and the Cobbledicks?" replied Austin, quite unmoved.
+
+"But why did you fix on the same day?" exclaimed Aunt Charlotte
+desperately. "I cannot understand it. I left the date to you, you know
+I did--I told you I didn't care what day it was, and said you might
+choose whichever suited yourself best. What on earth induced you to
+pitch on the very day when you were invited out?"
+
+"For the very reason you yourself assign--that you let me choose any
+day that suited me best. For the very reason that I _was_ invited out.
+You see, my dear auntie----"
+
+"Oh, you false, cunning boy!" cried Aunt Charlotte, who now saw how
+she had been trapped. "So you let me agree to the 24th, and took care
+not to tell me that the 24th was Thursday because you knew quite well
+I should never have consented if you had. What abominable deception!
+But you shall suffer for it, Austin. Of course you'll remain at home
+now, if only as a punishment for your deceit. I shouldn't dream of
+letting you go, after such disgraceful conduct. To think you could
+have tricked me so!"
+
+"My dear auntie, of course I shall go," said Austin, drawing on his
+gloves. "Why you should wish me to stay, I cannot imagine. What on
+earth makes you so insistent that I should meet these friends of
+yours?"
+
+"It's for your own good, you ungrateful little creature," replied Aunt
+Charlotte, quivering. "You know what I've always said. You require
+more companionship of your own age, you want to mix with other young
+people instead of wasting and dreaming your time away as you do, and
+it was for your sake, for your sake only, that I asked our
+friends----"
+
+"Oh, no, auntie, it wasn't. You told me so yourself," Austin reminded
+her. "You told me distinctly that it was for your own pleasure and not
+for mine that you were going to invite them. So that argument won't
+do. And you were perfectly right. If you find intellectual joy in the
+society of Mrs Cobbledick and Shock-headed Peter----"
+
+"Shock-headed Peter? Who in the name of fortune is that?" interrupted
+Aunt Charlotte, amazed.
+
+"One of the MacTavish enchantresses--Florrie, I think, or perhaps
+Aggie. How am I to know? Everybody calls her Shock-headed Peter. But
+as I was saying, if you find happiness in the society of such people,
+invite them by all means. I only ask you not to cram them down my
+throat. I wouldn't mind the others so much, but the MacTavishes I
+_bar_. I will not have them forced upon me. I detest them, and I've
+no doubt they despise me. We simply bore each other out of our lives.
+There! Let that suffice. I'm very fond of _you_, auntie, and I don't
+want anyone else. Do you perfectly understand?"
+
+"I shall evidently never understand _you_, Austin," replied Aunt
+Charlotte. "You have treated me shockingly, shockingly. And now you
+leave me in the most heartless way with all these people on my
+hands----"
+
+"Then why did you insist on inviting them?" put in Austin. "I
+entreated you not to. I'd have gone down on my knees to you, only
+unfortunately I've only one. And when I entreated you for the last
+time, you said you wouldn't listen to another word. I saw that further
+appeal was useless, so I was compelled by you yourself to play for my
+own safety. So now good-bye, dear auntie. It's time I was off. Cheer
+up--you'll all enjoy yourselves much more without an awkward
+unsympathetic creature like me among you, see if you don't. And you
+can make any excuse for me you like," he added with a smile as he left
+the room. Aunt Charlotte remained transfixed.
+
+"I suppose he must go his own gait," she muttered, as she picked up
+her knitting again. "There's no use in trying to force him this way
+or that; if he doesn't want to do a thing he won't do it. Of course
+what he says is true enough--I did let him choose the date, and I did
+ask these people because I thought it would be good for him, and I did
+insist on doing so when he begged me not to. Well, I'm hoist with my
+own petard this time, though I wouldn't confess as much to him if my
+life depended on it. But the trickery of the little wretch! It's that
+I can't get over."
+
+Meanwhile Austin meditated on the little episode on his side, as he
+made his way along the road. "I daresay dear old auntie was a bit put
+out," he thought, "but she brought it all upon herself. She doesn't
+see that everybody must live his own life, that it's a duty one owes
+to oneself to realise one's own individuality. Now it's _bad_ for me
+to associate with people I detest--bad for my soul's development; just
+as bad as it is for anyone's body to eat food that doesn't agree with
+him. Those MacTavishes poison my soul just as arsenic poisons the
+body, and I won't have my soul poisoned if I can help it. It's very
+sad to see how blind she is to the art and philosophy of life. But
+she'll have to learn it, and the sooner she begins the better."
+
+Here he left the high road, and turned into a long, narrow lane
+enclosed between high banks, which led into a pleasant meadow by the
+river side. This shortened the way considerably, and when he reached
+the stile at the further end of the meadow he found himself only some
+ten minutes' walk from the park gates. Then a subdued excitement fell
+upon him. He was going to see the beautiful picture-gallery and the
+great collection of engravings, and the gardens with conservatories
+full of lovely orchids. He was going to hold delightful converse with
+the cultured and agreeable man to whom all these things belonged.
+And--well, he might possibly even see a ghost! But now, in the genial
+daylight, with the prospect of luncheon immediately before him, the
+idea of ghosts seemed rather to retire into the background. Ghosts did
+not appear so attractive as they had done yesterday afternoon, when he
+had talked about them with Lubin. However--here he was.
+
+Mr St Aubyn, tall and middle-aged, with a refined face set in a short,
+pointed beard, received him with exquisite cordiality. How seldom does
+a man realise the positive idolatry he can inspire by treating a
+well-bred youth on equal terms, instead of assuming airs of patronage
+and condescension! The boy accepts such an attitude as natural,
+perhaps, but he resents it nevertheless, and never gives the man his
+confidence. The perfect manners of St Aubyn won Austin's heart at
+once, and he responded with a modest ardour that touched and gratified
+his host. The Court, too, exceeded his expectations. It was a grand
+old mansion dating from the reign of Elizabeth, with mullioned
+casements, and carved doorways, and cool, dim rooms oak-panelled, and
+broad fireplaces; and around it lay a shining garden enclosed by old
+monastic walls of red brick, with shaped beds of carnations glowing
+redly in the sunlight, and, beyond the straight lines of lawn, a
+wilderness of nut-trees, with a pool of yellow water-lilies, where
+wild hyacinths and pale jonquils rioted when it was spring. On one
+side of the garden, at right angles to the house, the wall shelved
+into a great grass terrace, and here stood a sort of wing, flanked by
+two glorious old towers, crumbling and ivy-draped, forming entrances
+to a vast room, tapestried, which had been a banqueting hall in the
+picturesque Tudor days. Meanwhile, Austin was ushered by his host into
+the library--a moderate-sized apartment, lined with countless books
+and adorned with etchings of great choiceness; whence, after a few
+minutes' chat on indifferent subjects, they adjourned to the
+dining-room, where a luncheon, equally choice and good, awaited them.
+
+At first they played a little at cross-purposes. St Aubyn, with the tact
+of an accomplished man entertaining a clever youth, tried to draw Austin
+out; while Austin, modest in the presence of one whom he recognised as
+infinitely his superior in everything he most valued, was far more
+anxious to hear St Aubyn talk than to talk himself. The result was that
+Austin won, and St Aubyn soon launched forth delightfully upon art, and
+books, and travel. He had been a great traveller in his day, and the boy
+listened with enraptured ears to his description of the magnificent
+gardens in the vicinity of Rome--the Lante, the Torlonia, the
+Aldobrandini, the Falconieri, and the Muti--architectural wonders that
+Austin had often read of, but of course had never seen; and then he
+talked of Viterbo and its fountains, Vicenza the city of Palladian
+palaces, every house a gem, and Sicily, with its hidden wonders, hidden
+from the track of tourists because far in the depths of the interior. He
+had travelled in Burma too, and inflamed the boy's imagination by
+telling him of the gorgeous temples of Rangoon and Mandalay; he had
+been--like everybody else--to Japan; and he had lived for six weeks up
+country in China, in a secluded Buddhist monastery perched on the edge
+of a precipice, like an eagle's nest, where his only associates were
+bonzes in yellow robes, and the stillness was only broken by the
+deep-toned temple bell, booming for vespers. Then, somehow, his thoughts
+turned back to Europe, and he began a disquisition upon the great old
+masters--Tintoretto, Rembrandt, Velasquez, Tiziano, and Peter Paul--with
+whose immortal works he seemed as familiar as he subsequently showed
+himself with the pictures in his own house. He described the Memlings at
+Bruges, the Botticellis at Florence and the Velasquezes in
+Spain--averring in humorous exaggeration that beside a Velasquez most
+other paintings were little better than chromolithographs. Austin put in
+a word now and then, asked a question or two as occasion served, and so
+suggested fresh and still more fascinating reminiscences; but he had no
+desire whatever to interrupt the illuminating stream of words by airing
+any opinions of his own. It was not until the meal was drawing to a
+close that the conversation took a more personal turn, and Austin was
+induced to say something about himself, his tastes, and his
+surroundings. Then St Aubyn began deftly and diplomatically to elicit
+something in the way of self-disclosure; and before long he was able to
+see exactly how things stood--the boy of ideals, of visionary and
+artistic tastes, of crude fresh theories and a queer philosophy of life,
+full of a passion for Nature and a contempt for facts, on one hand; and
+the excellent, commonplace, uncomprehending aunt, with her philistine
+friends and blundering notions as to what was good for him, upon the
+other. It was an amusing situation, and psychologically very
+interesting. St Aubyn listened attentively with a sympathetic smile as
+Austin stated his case.
+
+"I see, I see," he said nodding. "You feel it imperative to lead your
+own life and try to live up to your own ideals. That is good--quite
+good. And you are not in sympathy with your aunt's friends. Nothing
+more natural. Of course it is important to be sure that your ideals
+are the highest possible. Do you think they are?"
+
+"They seem so. They are the highest possible for _me_," replied Austin
+earnestly.
+
+"That implies a limitation," observed St Aubyn, emitting a stream of
+blue smoke from his lips. "Well, we all have our limitations. You
+appear to have a very strong sense that every man should realise his
+own individuality to the full; that that is his first duty to
+himself. Tell me then--does it never occur to you that we may also
+have duties to others?"
+
+"Why, yes--certainly," said Austin. "I only mean that we have _no
+right_ to sacrifice our own individualities to other people's ideas.
+For instance, my aunt, who has always been the best of friends to me,
+is for ever worrying me to associate with people who rasp every nerve
+in my body, because she thinks that it would do me good. Then I rebel.
+I simply will not do it."
+
+"What friends have you?" asked St Aubyn quietly.
+
+"I don't think I have any," said Austin, with great simplicity.
+"Except Lubin. My best companionship I find in books."
+
+"The best in the world--so long as the books are good," replied St
+Aubyn. "But who is Lubin?"
+
+"He's a gardener," said Austin. "About two years older than I am. But
+he's a gentleman, you understand. And if you could only see the sort
+of people my poor aunt tries to force upon me!"
+
+"I think you may add me to Lubin--as your friend," observed St Aubyn;
+at which Austin flushed with pleasure. "But now, one other word. You
+say you want to realise your highest self. Well, the way to do it is
+not to live for yourself alone; it is to live for others. To save
+oneself one must first lose oneself--forget oneself, when occasion
+arises--for the sake of other people. It is only by self-sacrifice for
+the sake of others that the supreme heights are to be attained."
+
+For the first time Austin's face fell. He tossed his long hair off his
+forehead, and toyed silently with his cigarette.
+
+"Is that a hard saying?" resumed St Aubyn, smiling. "It has high
+authority, however. Think it over at your leisure. Have you finished?
+Come, then, and let me show you the pictures. We have the whole
+afternoon before us."
+
+They explored the fine old house well-nigh from roof to basement,
+while St Aubyn recounted all the associations connected with the
+different rooms. Then they went into the picture-gallery. Austin,
+breathless with interest, hung upon St Aubyn's lips as he pointed out
+the peculiarities of each great master represented, and explained how,
+for instance, by a fold of the drapery or the crook of a finger, the
+characteristic mannerisms of the painter could be detected, and the
+school to which a given work belonged could approximately be
+determined; drew attention to the unifying and grouping of the
+different features of a composition; spoke learnedly of textures,
+qualities, and tactile values; and laid stress on the importance of
+colour, light, atmosphere, and the sense of motion, as contrasted with
+the undue preponderance too often attached by critics to mere outline.
+All this was new to Austin, who had really never seen any good
+pictures before, and his enthusiasm grew with what it fed on. St Aubyn
+was an admirable cicerone; he loved his pictures, and he knew
+them--knew everything that could be known about them--and, inspired by
+the intelligent appreciation of his guest, spared no pains to do them
+justice. A good half-hour was then spent over the engravings, which
+were kept in a quaint old room by themselves; and afterwards they
+adjourned to the garden. St Aubyn's conservatories were famous, and
+his orchids of great variety and beauty. Austin seemed transported
+into a world where everything was so arranged as to gratify his
+craving for harmony and fitness, and he moved almost silently beside
+his host in a dream of satisfaction and delight.
+
+"By the way, there's still one room you haven't seen," remarked St
+Aubyn, as they were strolling at their leisure through the grounds.
+"We call it the Banqueting Hall--in that wing between the two old
+towers. Queen Elizabeth was entertained there once, and it contains
+some rather beautiful tapestries. I should like to have them moved
+into the main building, only there's really no place where they'd fit,
+and perhaps it's better they should remain where they were originally
+intended for. Are you fond of tapestry?"
+
+"I've never seen any," said Austin, "but of course I've read about
+it--Gobelin, Bayeux, and so on. I should love to see what it looks
+like in reality."
+
+"Come, then," said St Aubyn, crossing the lawn. "I have the key in my
+pocket."
+
+He flung open the door. Austin found himself in the vast apartment,
+groined and vaulted, measuring about a hundred and twenty feet by
+fifty, and lighted by exquisite pointed windows enriched with
+coats-of-arms and other heraldic devices in jewel-like stained glass.
+The walls were completely hidden by tapestries of rare beauty, woven
+into the semblance of gardens, palaces, arcades and bowers of clipped
+hedges and pleached trees with slender fountains set meetly in green
+shade; while some again were crowded with swaying Gothic figures of
+saints and kings and warriors and angels, all far too beautiful,
+thought Austin, to have ever lived. Yet surely there must be some
+prototypes of all these wonderful conceptions somewhere. There must be
+a world--if we could only find it--where loveliness that we only know
+as pictured exists in actual reality. What a dream-like hall it was,
+on that still summer afternoon. Yet there was something uncanny about
+it too. St Aubyn had stepped out of sight, and Austin left by himself
+began to experience a very extraordinary sensation. He felt that he
+was not alone. The immense chamber seemed _full of presences_. He
+could see nothing, but he felt them all about him. The place was
+thickly populated, but the population was invisible. Everything looked
+as empty as it had looked when the door was first thrown open, and yet
+it was really full of ghostly palpitating life, crowded with the
+spirits of bygone men and women who had held stately revels there
+three hundred years before. He was not frightened, but a sense of awe
+crept over him, rooting him to the spot and imparting a rapt
+expression to his face. Did he hear anything? Wasn't there a faint
+rustling sound somewhere in the air behind him? No. It must have been
+his fancy. Everything was as silent as the grave.
+
+He turned and saw St Aubyn close beside him. "The place is haunted!"
+he exclaimed in a husky voice.
+
+"What makes you think so?" asked St Aubyn, without any intonation of
+surprise.
+
+"I feel it," he replied.
+
+"Come out," said the other abruptly. "It's curious you should say
+that. Other people seem to have felt the same. I'm not so sensitive
+myself. You're looking pale. Let's go into the library and have a cup
+of tea."
+
+The hot stimulant revived him, and he was soon talking at his ease
+again. But the curious impression remained. It seemed to him as if he
+had had an experience whose effects would not be easily shaken off. He
+had seen no ghosts, but he had felt them, and that was quite enough.
+The sensation he had undergone was unmistakable; the hall was full of
+ghosts, and he had been conscious of their presence. This, then, was
+apparently what Lubin had alluded to. Oh, it was all real
+enough--there was no room left for any doubt whatever.
+
+It was a quarter to five when he took leave of his entertainer,
+responding warmly to an injunction to look in again whenever he felt
+disposed. He walked very thoughtfully homewards, revolving many
+questions in his busy brain. How much he had seen and learnt since he
+left home that morning! Worlds of beauty, of art, of intellect had
+dawned upon his consciousness; a world of mystery too. Even now,
+tramping along the road, he felt a different being. Even now he
+imagined the presence of unseen entities--walking by his side, it
+might be, but anyhow close to him. Was it so? Could it be that he
+really was surrounded by intelligences that eluded his physical senses
+and yet in some mysterious fashion made their existence _known_?
+
+At last he arrived at the stile leading into the meadow, and prepared
+to clamber over. Then he hesitated. Why? He could not tell. A queer,
+invincible repugnance to cross that stile suddenly came over him. The
+meadow looked fresh and green, and the road--hot, dusty, and
+white--was certainly not alluring; besides, he longed to saunter along
+the grass by the river and think over his experiences. But something
+prevented him. With a sense of irritation he took a few steps along
+the road; then the thought of the cool field reasserted itself, and
+with a determined effort he retraced his steps and threw one leg over
+the top bar of the stile. It was no use. Gently, but unmistakably,
+something pushed him back. He _could_ not cross. He wanted to, and he
+was in full possession of both his physical and mental faculties, but
+he simply could not do it.
+
+In great perplexity, not unmixed with some natural sense of umbrage,
+Austin set off again along the ugly road. The sun had come out once
+more, and it was very hot. What could be the matter with him? Why had
+he been so silly as to take the highway, with its horrid dust and
+glare, when the field and the lane would have been so much more
+pleasant? He felt puzzled and annoyed. How Mr St Aubyn would have
+laughed at him could he but have known. This long tramp along the
+disagreeable road was the only jarring incident that had befallen him
+that day. Well, it would soon be over. And what a day it had been,
+after all. How marvellous the pictures were, and the gardens; what an
+acquisition to his life was the friendship--not only the
+acquaintanceship--of St Aubyn; and then the tapestries, the great
+mysterious hall, and the strange revelations that had come upon him in
+the hall itself! At last his thoughts reverted, half in
+self-reproach, to Aunt Charlotte. How had she fared, meanwhile? Had
+she enjoyed her Cobbledicks and her MacTavishes as much as he had
+enjoyed his experiences at the Court?
+
+For all his theories about living his own life and developing his own
+individuality, Austin was not a selfish boy. Egoistic he might be, but
+selfish he was not. His impulses were always generous and kindly, and
+he was full of thought for others. He was for ever contriving delicate
+little gifts for those in want, planning pleasant little surprises for
+people whom he loved. And now he hoped most ardently that dear Aunt
+Charlotte had not been very dull, and for the moment felt quite kindly
+towards the Cobbledicks and the MacTavishes as he reflected that, no
+doubt, they had helped to make his auntie happy on that afternoon.
+
+At last he came to the entrance of the lane through which he had
+passed in the morning. At that moment a crowd of men and boys, most of
+them armed with heavy sticks and all looking terribly excited, rushed
+past him, and precipitated themselves into the narrow opening. He
+asked one of them what was the matter, but the man took no notice and
+ran panting after the others. So Austin pursued his way, and in a few
+minutes arrived at the garden gate, where to his great surprise he
+found Aunt Charlotte waiting for him--the picture of anxiety and
+terror.
+
+"Well, auntie!--why, what's the matter?" he exclaimed, as Aunt
+Charlotte with a cry of relief threw herself into his arms.
+
+"Oh, my dear boy!" she uttered in trembling agitation. "How thankful I
+am to see you! Which way did you come back?"
+
+"Which way? Along the road," said Austin, much astonished. "Why?"
+
+"Thank God!" ejaculated Aunt Charlotte. "Then you're really safe. I've
+been out of my mind with fear. A most dreadful thing has happened. Let
+us sit down a minute till I get my breath, and I'll tell you all about
+it."
+
+Austin led her to a garden seat which stood near, and sat down beside
+her. "Well, what is it all about?" he asked.
+
+"My dear, it was like this," began Aunt Charlotte, as she gradually
+recovered her composure. "Our friends were just going away--oh, I
+forgot to tell you that of course they came; we had a most delightful
+time, and dear Lottie--no, Lizzie--I always do forget which is
+which--I can't remember, but it doesn't matter--was the life and soul
+of the party; however, as I was saying, they were just going away, and
+I was there at the gate seeing them off, when the butcher's boy came
+running up and warned them on no account to venture into the road, as
+Hunt's dog--that's the butcher, you know--I mean Hunt is--had gone
+raving mad, and was loose upon the streets. Of course we were all most
+horribly alarmed, and wanted to know whether anybody had been bitten;
+but the boy was off like a shot, and two minutes afterwards the
+wretched dog itself came tearing past, as mad as a dog could be, its
+jaws a mass of foam, and snapping right and left. As soon as ever it
+was safe our friends took the opportunity of escaping--of course in
+the opposite direction; and then a crowd of villagers came along in
+pursuit, but not knowing which turning to take till some man or other
+told them that the dog had gone up the lane. Then imagine my terror!
+For I felt perfectly convinced that you'd be coming home that way, as
+the road was hot and dusty, and I know how fond you are of lanes and
+fields. Oh, my dear, I can't get over it even now. How was it you
+chose the road?"
+
+For a moment Austin did not speak. Then he said very slowly:
+
+"I don't know how to tell you. Of course I _could_ tell you easily
+enough, but I don't think you'd understand. Auntie, I intended to come
+home by the lane. Twice or three times I tried to cross the stile into
+the meadows, and each time I was prevented. Something stopped me.
+Something pushed me back. Naturally I wanted to come by the
+meadow--the road was horrid--and I wanted to stroll along on the grass
+and enjoy myself by the river. But there it was--I couldn't do it. So
+I gave up trying, and came by the road after all."
+
+"What _do_ you mean, Austin?" asked Aunt Charlotte. "I never heard
+such a thing in my life. What was it that pushed you back?"
+
+"I don't know," replied the boy deliberately. "I only know that
+something did. And as the lane is very narrow, and enclosed by
+excessively steep banks, the chances are that I should have met the
+dog in it, and that the dog would have bitten me and given me
+hydrophobia. And now you know as much as I do myself."
+
+"I can't tell what to think, I'm sure," said Aunt Charlotte. "Anyhow,
+it's most providential that you escaped, but as for your being
+prevented, as you say--as for anything pushing you back--why, my dear,
+of course that was only your fancy. What else could it have been? I'm
+far too practical to believe in presentiments, and warnings, and
+nonsense of that sort. I'd as soon believe in table-rapping. No, my
+dear; I thank God you've come back safe and sound, but don't go
+hinting at anything supernatural, because I simply don't believe in
+it."
+
+"Then why do you thank God?" asked Austin, "Isn't He supernatural?
+Why, He's the only really supernatural Being possible, it seems to
+me."
+
+That was a poser. Aunt Charlotte, having recovered her equanimity,
+began to feel argumentative. It was incumbent on her to prove that she
+was not inconsistent in attributing Austin's preservation to the
+intervention of God, while disclaiming any belief in what she called
+the supernatural. And for the moment she did not know how to do it.
+
+"By the supernatural, Austin," she said at last, in a very oracular
+tone, "I mean superstition. And I call that story of yours a piece of
+superstition and nothing else."
+
+"Auntie, you do talk the most delightful nonsense of any elderly lady
+of my acquaintance," cried Austin, as he laughingly patted her on the
+back. "It's no use arguing with you, because you never can see that
+two and two make four. It's very sad, isn't it? However, the thing to
+be thankful for is that I've got back safe and sound, and that we've
+both had a delightful afternoon. And now tell me all your adventures.
+I'm dying to hear about the vicar, and the Cobbledicks, and the
+ingenious Jock and Sandy. Did all your friends turn up?"
+
+"Indeed they did, and a most charming time we had," replied Aunt
+Charlotte briskly. "Of course they were astonished to find that you
+weren't here to welcome them, and I was obliged to say how unfortunate
+it was, but a most stupid mistake had arisen, and that you were
+dreadfully sorry, and all the rest of it. Ah, you don't know what you
+missed, Austin. The boys were full of fun as usual, and dear
+Lizzie--or was it Florrie? well, it doesn't matter--said she was sure
+you'd gone to the Court in preference because you were expecting to
+meet a lot of girls there who were much prettier than she was. Of
+course she was joking, but----"
+
+"The vulgar, disgusting brute!" cried Austin, in sudden anger. "And
+these are the creatures you torment me to associate with. Well----"
+
+"Austin, you've no right to call a young lady a brute; it's abominably
+rude of you," said Aunt Charlotte severely. "There was nothing vulgar
+in what she said; it was just a playful sally, such as any sprightly
+girl might indulge in. I assured her you were going to meet nobody but
+Mr St Aubyn himself, and then she said it was a shame that you should
+have been inveigled away to be bored by----"
+
+"I don't want to hear what the woman said," interrupted Austin, with a
+gesture of contempt. "Such people have no right to exist. They're not
+worthy for a man like St Aubyn to tread upon. It's a pity you know
+nothing of him yourself, auntie. You wouldn't appreciate your Lotties
+and your Florries quite so much as you do now, if you did."
+
+"Then you enjoyed yourself?" returned Aunt Charlotte, waiving the
+point. "Oh, I've no doubt he's an agreeable person in his way. And the
+gardens are quite pretty, I'm told. Hasn't he got a few rather nice
+pictures in his rooms? I'm very fond of pictures myself. Well, now,
+tell me all about it. How did you amuse yourself all the afternoon,
+and what did you talk to him about?"
+
+But before Austin could frame a fitting answer the butcher's boy
+looked over the gate to tell them that the rabid dog had been found in
+the lane and killed.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter the Fifth
+
+
+It will readily be understood that Austin was in no hurry to confide
+anything about his experiences in the Banqueting Hall to his Aunt
+Charlotte. The way in which she had received his straightforward,
+simple account of the curious impressions which had determined his
+choice of a route in coming home was enough, and more than enough, to
+seal his tongue. He was sensitive in the extreme, and any lack of
+sympathy or comprehension made him retire immediately into his shell.
+His aunt's demeanour imparted an air of reserve even to the
+description he gave her of the attractions of Moorcombe Court. Perhaps
+the good lady was a trifle sore at never having been invited there
+herself. One never knows. At any rate, her attitude was chilling. So
+as regarded the incident in the Banqueting Hall he preserved entire
+silence. Her scepticism was too complacent to be attacked.
+
+He was aroused next morning by the sweetest of country sounds--the
+sound of a scythe upon the lawn. Then there came the distant call of
+the street flower-seller, "All a-growing, all a-blowing," which he
+remembered as long as he could remember anything. The world was waking
+up, but it was yet early--not more than half-past six at the very
+latest. So he lay quietly and contentedly in his white bed, lazily
+wondering how it would feel in the Banqueting Hall at that early hour,
+and what it would be like there in the dead of night, and how soon it
+would be proper for him to go and leave a card on Mr St Aubyn, and
+what Lubin would think of it all, and how it was he had never before
+noticed that great crack in the ceiling just above his head. At last
+he slipped carefully out of bed without waiting for Martha to bring
+him his hot water, and hopped as best he could to the open window and
+looked out. There was Lubin, mowing vigorously away, and the air was
+full of sweet garden scents and the early twittering of birds. He
+could not go back to bed after that, but proceeded forthwith to dress.
+
+After a hurried toilet, he bumped his way downstairs; intercepted the
+dairyman, from whom he extorted a great draught of milk, and then
+went into the garden. How sweet it was, that breath of morning air!
+Lubin had just finished mowing the lawn, and the perfume of the cool
+grass, damp with the night's dew, seemed to pervade the world. No one
+else was stirring; there was nothing to jar his nerves; everything was
+harmonious, fresh, beautiful, and young. And the harmony of it all
+consisted in this, that Austin was fresh, and beautiful, and young
+himself.
+
+"Well, and how did ye fare at the Court?" asked Lubin, as Austin
+joined him. "Was it as fine a place as you reckoned it would be?"
+
+"Oh, Lubin, it was lovely!" cried Austin, enthusiastically. "I do wish
+you could see it. And the garden! Of course this one's lovely too, and
+I love it, but the garden at the Court is simply divine. It's on a
+great scale, you know, and there are huge orchid-houses, and flaming
+carnations, and stained tulips, and gilded lilies, and a wonderful
+grass terrace, and--"
+
+"Ay, ay, I've heard tell of all that," interrupted Lubin. "But how
+about the ghosts? Did you see any o' them, as you was so anxious
+about?"
+
+"No--I didn't see any; but they're there all the same," returned
+Austin. "I felt them, you know. But only in one place; that great
+room, they say, was a Banqueting Hall once upon a time. You know,
+Lubin, I'm going back there before long. Mr St Aubyn asked me to come
+again, and I intend to go into that room again to see if I feel
+anything more. It was the very queerest thing! I never felt so strange
+in my life. The place seemed actually full of them. I could feel them
+all round me, though I couldn't see a thing. And the strangest part of
+it is that I've never felt quite the same since."
+
+"How d'ye mean?" asked Lubin, looking up.
+
+"I don't know--but I fancy I may still be surrounded by them in some
+sort of way," replied Austin. "It's possibly nothing but imagination
+after all. However, we shall see. Now this morning I want to go a long
+ramp into the country--as far as the Beacon, if I can. It's going to
+be a splendid day, I'm sure."
+
+"I'm not," said Lubin. "The old goose was dancing for rain on the
+green last night, and that's a sure sign of a change."
+
+"Dancing for rain! What old goose?" asked Austin, astonished.
+
+"The geese always dance when they want rain," replied Lubin, "and what
+the goose asks for God sends. Did you never hear that before? It's a
+sure fact, that is. It'll rain within four-and-twenty hours, you mark
+my words."
+
+"I hope it won't," said Austin. "And so your mother keeps geese?"
+
+"Ay, that she does, and breeds 'em, and fattens 'em up against
+Michaelmas. And we've a fine noise o' ducks on the pond, too. They
+pays their way too, I reckon."
+
+"A noise o' ducks? What, do they quack so loud?"
+
+"Lor' bless you, Master Austin, where was you brought up? Everybody
+hereabouts know what a noise o' ducks is. Same as a flock o' geese,
+only one quacks and the other cackles. Well, now I'm off home, for its
+peckish work mowing on an empty belly, and the mother'll be looking
+out for me. Geese for me, ghosts for you, and in the end we'll see
+which pans out the best."
+
+So Lubin trudged away to his breakfast and left Austin to his
+reflections. The predicted rain held off in spite of the terpsichorean
+importunity of Lubin's geese, and Austin passed a lovely morning on
+the moors; but next day it came down with a vengeance, and for six
+hours there was a regular deluge. However, Austin didn't mind. When it
+was fine he spent his days in the fields and woods; if it rained, he
+sat at a window where he could watch the grey mists, and the driving
+clouds, and the straight arrows of water falling wonderfully through
+the air. His books, too, were a resource that never failed, and if he
+was unable personally to participate in beautiful scenes, he could
+always read about them, which was the next best thing after all.
+
+The weather continued unsettled for some days, and then it cleared up
+gloriously, so that Austin was able to lead what he called his Daphnis
+life once more. The rains had had rather a depressing effect upon his
+general health, and once or twice he had fancied that something was
+troubling him in his stump; but with the return of the sun all such
+symptoms disappeared as though by magic, and he felt younger and
+lighter than ever as he stepped forth again into the glittering air.
+More than a week had elapsed since his day at the Court, and he began
+to think that now he really might venture to go and call. So off he
+set one sunny afternoon, and with rather a beating heart presented
+himself at the park gates.
+
+Here, however, a disappointment awaited him. The lodge-keeper shook
+his head, and announced that Mr St Aubyn was away and wouldn't be back
+till night. Austin could do nothing but leave a card, and hope that he
+might be lucky enough to meet him by accident before long.
+
+So he turned back and made for the meadow by the river side, feeling
+sure that he would be safe from rabid dogs that time at any rate. And
+certainly no mysterious influences intervened to prevent him sitting
+on the stile for a rest, and indulging in pleasant thoughts. Then he
+pulled out his pocket-volume of the beloved Eclogues, and read the
+musical contest between Menalcas and Damętas with great enjoyment.
+Why, he wondered, were there no delightful shepherd-boys now-a-days,
+who spent their time in lying under trees and singing one against the
+other? Lubin was much nicer than most country lads, but even Lubin was
+not equal to improvising songs about Phyllis, and Delia, and the
+Muses. Then he looked up, and saw a stranger approaching him across
+the field.
+
+He was a big, stoutish man, with a fat face, a frock-coat tightly
+buttoned up, a large umbrella, and a rather shabby hat of the shape
+called chimney-pot. A somewhat incongruous object, amid that rural
+scene, and not a very prepossessing one; but apparently a gentleman,
+though scarcely of the stamp of St Aubyn. At last he came quite near,
+and Austin moved as though to let him pass.
+
+"Don't trouble yourself, young gentleman," said the newcomer, in a
+good-humoured, offhand way. "Can you tell me whether I'm anywhere near
+a place called Moorcombe Court?"
+
+"Yes--it's not far off," replied Austin, immediately interested. "I've
+just come from there myself."
+
+"Really, now!" was the gentleman's rejoinder. "And how's me friend St
+Aubyn?"
+
+So he was Mr St Aubyn's friend--or claimed to be. "I really
+suspected," said Austin to himself, "that he must be a bailiff." From
+which it may be inferred that the youth's acquaintance with bailiffs
+was somewhat limited. Then he said, aloud:
+
+"I believe he's quite well, thank you, but I'm afraid you'll not be
+able to see him. He's gone out somewhere for the day."
+
+"Dear me, now, that's a pity!" exclaimed the stranger, taking off his
+hat and wiping his hot, bald head. "Dear old Roger--it's years since
+we met, and I was quite looking forward to enjoying a chat with him
+about old times. Well, well, another day will do, no doubt. You don't
+live at the Court, do you?"
+
+"I? Oh, no," said Austin. "I only visit there. It is such a charming
+place!"
+
+"Shouldn't wonder," remarked the other, nodding. "Our friend's a rich
+man, and can afford to gratify his tastes--which are rather expensive
+ones, or used to be when I knew him years ago. I must squeeze an hour
+to go and see him some time or other while I'm here, if I can only
+manage it."
+
+"Then you are not here for long?" asked Austin, wondering who the man
+could be.
+
+"Depends upon business, young gentleman," replied the stranger.
+"Depends upon how we draw. We shall have a week for certain, but after
+that----"
+
+"How you draw?" repeated Austin, politely mystified.
+
+"Yes, draw--what houses we draw, to be sure," explained the stranger.
+"What, haven't you seen the bills? I'm on tour with 'Sardanapalus'!"
+
+A ray of light flashed upon Austin's memory. "Oh! I think I
+understand," he ventured hesitatingly. "Are you--can you perhaps
+be--er--Mr Buckskin?"
+
+"For Buckskin read Buskin, and you may boast of having hazarded a
+particularly shrewd guess," replied the gentleman. "Bucephalus Buskin,
+at your service; and, of course, the public's."
+
+"Ah, now I know," exclaimed Austin. "The greatest actor in Europe, on
+or off the stage."
+
+"Oh come, now, come; spare my blushes, young gentleman, draw it a
+_little_ milder!" cried the delighted manager, almost bursting with
+mock modesty. "Greatest actor in Europe--oh, very funny, very good
+indeed! Off the stage, too! Oh dear, dear, dear, what wags there are
+in the world! And pray, young gentleman, from whom did you pick up
+that?"
+
+"I think it must have been the milkman," replied Austin simply.
+
+"The milkman, eh? A most discriminating milkman, 'pon my word. Well,
+it's always encouraging to find appreciation of high art, even among
+milkmen," observed Mr Buskin. "Only shows how much we owe the growing
+education of the masses to the drama. Talk of the press, the pulpit,
+the schoolroom----"
+
+"I believe he was quoting an advertisement," interpolated Austin.
+
+"An ad., eh?" said the mummer, somewhat disconcerted. "Oh, well, I
+shouldn't be surprised. Of course _I_ have nothing to do with such
+things. That's the business of the advance-agent. And did he really
+put in that? I positively must speak to him about it. A good fellow,
+you know, but rather inclined to let his zeal outrun his discretion.
+It's not good business to raise too great expectations, is it, now?"
+
+Austin, in his innocence, scarcely took in the meaning of all this.
+But it was clear enough that Mr Buskin was a great personage in his
+way, and extremely modest into the bargain. His interest was now very
+much excited, and he awaited eagerly what the communicative gentleman
+would say next.
+
+"I should think it would take," continued Mr Buskin, warming to his
+subject. "It's a most magnificent spectacle when it's properly done--as
+we do it. There's a scene in the third act--the Banquet in the Royal
+Palace--that's something you won't forget as long as you live. A
+gorgeous hall, brilliantly illuminated--the whole Court in glittering
+costumes--the tables covered with gold and silver plate. Peals of
+thunder, and a frightful tempest raging outside. In the midst of the
+revels a conspiracy breaks out--enter Pania, bloody--Sardanapalus
+assumes a suit of armour, and admires himself in a looking-glass--and
+then the rival armies burst in, and a terrific battle ensues----"
+
+"What, in the dining-room?" asked the astonished Austin.
+
+"Well, well, the poet allows himself a bit of licence there, I admit;
+but that only gives us an opportunity of showing what fine
+stage-management can do," said Mr Buskin complacently. "It's a
+magnificent situation. You'll say you never saw anything like it since
+you were born, you just mark my words."
+
+"It certainly must be very wonderful," remarked Austin. "But I'm
+afraid I'm rather ignorant of such matters. What _is_ 'Sardanapalus,'
+may I ask?"
+
+"What, never heard of Byron's 'Sardanapalus'?" exclaimed the actor,
+throwing up his hands. "Why, it's one of the finest things ever put
+upon the boards. Full of telling effects, and not too many bothering
+lengths, you know. The Poet Laureate, dear good man, worried my life
+out a year ago to let him write a play upon the subject especially for
+me. The part of Sardanapalus was to be devised so as to bring out all
+my particular--er--capabilities, and any little hints that might occur
+to me were to be acted upon and embodied in the text. But I wouldn't
+hear of it. 'Me dear Alfred,' I said, 'it isn't that I underrate your
+very well-known talents, but Byron's good enough for _me_. Hang it
+all, you know, an artist owes something to the classics of his
+country.' So now, if that uneasy spirit ever looks this way from the
+land of the eternal shades, he'll see something at least to comfort
+him. He'll see that one actor, at least, not unknown to Europe, has
+vindicated his reputation as a playwright in the face of the British
+public."
+
+Austin felt immensely flattered at such confidences being vouchsafed
+to him by the eminent exponent of Lord Byron, and said he was certain
+that the theatre would be crammed. Mr Buskin shrugged his shoulders,
+and replied he was sure he hoped so.
+
+"And now," he added, "I think I'll be walking back. And look you here,
+young gentleman. We've had a pleasant meeting, and I'd like to see
+you again. Just take this card"--scribbling a few words on it in
+pencil--"and the night you favour us with your presence in the house,
+come round and see me in me dressing-room between the acts. You've
+only to show that, and they'll let you in at once. I'd like your
+impressions of the thing while it's going on."
+
+Austin accepted the card with becoming courtesy, and offered his own
+in exchange. Mr Buskin shook hands in a very cordial manner, and the
+next moment was making his way rapidly in the direction of the town.
+
+"What a very singular gentleman," thought Austin, when he was once
+more alone. "I wonder whether all actors are like that. Scarcely, I
+suppose. Well, now I'm to have a glimpse of another new world. Mr St
+Aubyn has shown me one or two; what will Mr Buskin's be like? It's all
+extremely interesting, anyhow."
+
+Then he stumped along to the river side, giving a majestic twirl to
+his wooden leg with every step he took through the long grass. How he
+would have loved a bathe! The pool where he had so enjoyed himself
+with Lubin was not far off--the pool of Daphnis, as he had christened
+it; but he hesitated to venture in alone. So he lay down on the bank
+and watched the yellow water-lilies from afar, dreaming of many
+things. How clever Lubin was, and what a lot he knew! Why geese should
+dance for rain he couldn't even imagine; but the rain had actually
+come, and it was all a most suggestive mystery. How many other curious
+connections there must be among natural occurrences that nobody ever
+dreamt of! It was in the country one learnt about such things; in the
+fields and woods, and by the side of rivers. Nature was the great
+school, after all. History and geography were all very well in their
+way, but what food for the soul was there in knowing whether Norway
+was an island or a peninsula, or on what date some silly king had had
+his crown put on? What did it matter, after all? Those were the facts
+he despised; facts that had no significance for him whatever, that
+left him exactly as they found him first. The sky and the birds and
+the flowers taught him lessons that were worth more than all the
+histories and geographies that were ever written. The schoolroom was a
+desert, arid and unsatisfying; whereas the garden, the enclosed space
+which held stained cups of beauty and purple gold-eyed bells, that was
+a jewelled sanctuary. Lubin was nearer the heart of things than
+Freeman and Macaulay, though they would have disdained him as a clod.
+Virgil and Theocritus were greater philosophers than either Comte or
+Hegel. Daphnis and Corydon represented the finest flower, the purest
+type of human evolution, and Herbert Spencer was nothing better than a
+particularly silly old man.
+
+Having disposed of the education question thus conclusively, it
+occurred to Austin that it must be about time for tea; so he struggled
+to his legs and turned his footsteps homeward. Just as he arrived at
+the house he met Lubin outside the gate with a wheelbarrow.
+
+"Off already?" he asked.
+
+"Ay," said Lubin. "I say, Master Austin, there's something I want to
+tell you. I see a magpie not an hour ago!"
+
+"A magpie? I don't think I ever saw one in my life. What was it like?"
+enquired Austin.
+
+"Don't matter what it was like," replied Lubin, sententiously. "But it
+was just outside your bedroom window. You'd better be on the
+look-out."
+
+"What for?" asked Austin. "Did it say it was coming back?"
+
+"'Tain't nothing to laugh at," said Lubin, nodding his head. "A magpie
+bodes ill-luck. That's well known, that is. So you just keep your eye
+open, that's all I've got to say. It's a warning, you see. Did ye
+never hear that before?"
+
+Austin's first impulse was to laugh; then he remembered the dancing
+goose, and the rain which followed in due course. "All right, Lubin,"
+he said cheerfully. "I'm not afraid of magpies; I don't think they're
+very dangerous. But I _have_ heard that they've a fancy for silver
+spoons, so I'll tell Aunt Charlotte to lock the plate up safely before
+she goes to bed."
+
+As he had expected, Aunt Charlotte was much pleased at hearing of his
+encounter with Mr Buskin, who, she thought, must be a most delightful
+person. It would be so good, too, for Austin to see something of the
+gay world instead of always mooning about alone; and then he would be
+sure to meet other young people at the performance, friends from the
+neighbouring town, with whom he could talk and be sociable. Austin, on
+his side, was quite willing to go and be amused, though he felt,
+perhaps, more interested in what promised to be an entirely new
+experience than excited at the prospect of a treat. He wanted to see
+and to study, and then he would be able to judge.
+
+"By the way, Austin," said his aunt, as they were separating for the
+night a few hours later, "I want you to go into the town to-morrow and
+tell Snewin to send a man up at once to look at the roof. I'm afraid
+it's been in rather a bad state for some time past, and those heavy
+rains we had last week seem to have damaged it still more. Be sure you
+don't forget. It won't do to have a leaky roof over our heads; it
+might come tumbling down, and cost a mint of money to put right
+again."
+
+Austin gave the required promise, and thought no more about it. He
+also forgot entirely to tell his aunt she had better lock up the
+spoons with particular care that night because Lubin had seen a magpie
+in suspicious proximity to his window. He went straight up to his
+room, feeling rather sleepy, and bent on getting between the sheets as
+soon as possible. But just as he was putting on his nightgown, a light
+pattering sound attracted his attention, and he immediately became all
+ears.
+
+"Rain?" he exclaimed. "Why, there wasn't a sign of it an hour ago!"
+
+He drew up the blind and looked out. The sky was perfectly clear, and
+a brilliant moon was shining.
+
+"That's queer!" he murmured. "I could have sworn I heard it raining.
+What in the world could it have been?"
+
+He turned away and put out the candle. As he approached the bed a
+curious disinclination to get into it came over him. Then he heard the
+same pattering noise again. He stopped short, and listened more
+attentively. It seemed to come from the walls.
+
+A shower of raps, rather like tiny explosions, now sounded all around
+him. He leant his head against the wall, and the sound became
+distincter. This time there was no mistake about it. He had never
+heard anything like it in his life. He was quite cool, not in the
+least frightened, and very much on the alert. The raps continued at
+intervals for about five minutes. Then, seeing that it was impossible
+to solve the mystery, he suddenly jumped into bed. At that moment the
+raps ceased.
+
+For nearly an hour he lay awake, wondering. Certainly he had not been
+the victim of hallucination. He was in perfect health, and in full
+possession of all his faculties. Indeed his faculties were
+particularly alive; he had been thinking of something else altogether
+when the raps first forced themselves upon his consciousness, and
+afterwards he had listened to them for several minutes with close and
+critical attention. No explanation of the strange phenomenon suggested
+itself in spite of endless theories and speculations. Could it be
+mice? But mice only gnawed and scuttled about; they did not rap. It
+was more like crackling than anything else; the noise produced by
+thousands of faint discharges. No, it was inexplicable, and he
+wondered more and more.
+
+Gradually he fell asleep. How long he slept he didn't know, but he
+awoke with a sensation of cold. Instinctively he put out his hand to
+pull the coverings closer over him, and found that they seemed to have
+slipped down somehow, leaving his chest exposed. Then, warm again, he
+dozed off once more and dreamt that he was at the pool of Daphnis with
+Lubin. How cool and blue the water looked, and how lovely the plunge
+would be! But when he was stripped the weather suddenly changed; a
+chill wind sprang up which made his teeth chatter; and then Lubin--who
+somehow wasn't Lubin but had unaccountably turned into Mr
+Buskin--insisted on throwing him into the water, which now looked cold
+and black. He struggled furiously, and awoke shivering.
+
+There was not a rag upon him. Again he stretched out his hand to feel
+for the clothes, but they had disappeared. Instinctively he threw
+himself out of bed and flung open the shutters. The moon had set, and
+the first faint gleams of approaching dawn filtered into the room,
+showing, to his amazement, the bedclothes drawn completely away from
+the mattress and hanging over the rail at the foot, so as to be quite
+out of the reach of his hand as he had lain there. What on earth was
+the matter with the bed? Was it bewitched? Who had uncovered him in
+that unceremonious way, leaving him perished with cold? No wonder he
+had dreamt of that chilly wind, numbing his body as he stood naked by
+the pool. Had he by any chance kicked the coverlet off in his sleep,
+as he engaged in that dream-struggle with the absurdly impossible
+Buskin-Lubin who had attempted to pitch him into the dark water?
+Clearly not; for that would not account for the sheet and blanket
+being dragged so carefully out of the range of his hands, and hung
+over the foot-rail so that they touched the floor.
+
+Such were the thoughts that flashed through his mind as he stood
+motionless by the window, with wide open eyes, in the chill morning
+light. Suddenly a rending, bursting noise was heard in the ceiling.
+The crack widened into a chasm, and then, with a heavy thud, down fell
+a confused mass of old bricks, crumbling mortar, and rotten,
+worm-eaten wood full on the mattress he had just relinquished,
+scattering pulverised rubble in all directions, and covering the bed
+with a layer of horrible dust and _débris_.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter the Sixth
+
+
+Had her very life depended on it, old Martha would have been totally
+unable to give any coherent account of what she felt, said, or did,
+when she came into Master Austin's room that morning at half-past
+seven with his hot water. She thought she must have screamed, but such
+was her bewilderment and terror she really could not remember whether
+she did or no. But she never had any doubt as to what she saw. Instead
+of a fair white bed with Austin lying in it, she was confronted by the
+sight of a gaping hole in the roof, something that looked like a
+rubbish heap in a brickfield immediately underneath, and the long
+slender form of Austin himself wrapped in a comfortable wadded
+dressing-gown fast asleep upon the sofa. "Bless us and save us!" she
+ejaculated under her breath. "And to think that the boy's lived
+through it!"
+
+Austin, roused by her entrance, yawned, stretched himself, and lazily
+opened his eyes. "Is that you already, Martha?" he said. "Oh, how
+sleepy I am. Is it really half-past seven?"
+
+"But what does it all mean--how it is you're not killed?" cried
+Martha, putting down the jug, and finding her voice at last. "The good
+Lord preserve us--here's the house tumbling down about our ears and
+never a one of us the wiser. And the man was to 'ave come this very
+day to see to that blessed roof. Come, wake up, do, Master Austin, and
+tell me how it happened."
+
+"Is Aunt Charlotte up yet?" asked Austin turning over on his side.
+
+"Ay, that she be, and making it lively for the maids downstairs.
+Whatever will she say when she hears about this to-do?" exclaimed
+Martha, with her hands upon her hips as she gazed at the desolation
+round her.
+
+"Well, please go down and ask her to come up here at once," said
+Austin. "I see I shall have to say something, and it really will be
+too much bother to go over it to everybody in turn. I've had rather a
+disturbed night, and feel most awfully tired. So just run down and
+bring her up as soon as ever you can, and then we'll get it over."
+
+"A pretty business--and me with forty-eleven things to do already
+to-day," muttered the old servant as she hurried out. "True it is that
+except the Lord builds the house they labour in vain as builds it. He
+didn't have no hand in building this one, that's as plain as I am--as
+never was a beauty at my best. Well, the child's safe, that's one
+mercy. Though what he was doing out of his bed when the roof came
+down's a mystery to _me_. Talking to the moon, I shouldn't wonder. The
+good Lord's got 'is own ways o' doing things, and it ain't for the
+likes of us to pick holes when they turn out better than the worst."
+
+Meanwhile Austin lay quietly and drowsily on his couch piecing things
+together. Seen from the distance of a few hours, now that he had
+leisure to reflect, how wonderfully they fitted in! First of all,
+there had been that sudden outburst of raps just as he was stepping
+into bed. That, evidently, was intended as a warning. It was as much
+as to say, "Don't! don't!" But of course he couldn't be expected to
+know this, and so he could only wonder where the raps came from, and
+get into bed as usual. Then, the instant he did so the raps ceased.
+That was because it wasn't any use to go on. The rappers, he
+supposed, had benevolently tried to frighten him away, and induce him
+to go and sleep on the sofa at the other end of the room where he was
+now; but the attempt had failed. So there was nothing for them to do,
+as he was actually in bed, but to get him out again; and this they had
+succeeded in doing by dragging all his clothes off. Now he saw it all.
+Nothing, it seemed to him, could possibly be clearer. But who were the
+unseen friends who had thus interposed to save his life? Ah, that was
+a secret still.
+
+Then footsteps were heard outside, and in bustled Aunt Charlotte, with
+Martha chattering in her wake. Austin raised himself upon his
+cushions, and then sank back again. "Lord save us!" cried Aunt
+Charlotte, coming to a dead stop, as she surveyed the ruins.
+
+"It's rather a mess, isn't it?" remarked Austin, folding a red
+table-cover round his single leg by way of counterpane.
+
+"A mess!" repeated Aunt Charlotte. "I should think it _was_ a mess.
+How in the world, Austin, did you manage to escape?"
+
+"Well--I happened to get out of bed a minute or two before the ceiling
+broke," said Austin, "and it's just as well I did. Otherwise my
+artless countenance would have got rather disfigured, and I might
+even have been hurt. You see all that raw material isn't composed of
+gossamer----"
+
+"What time did it occur?" asked Aunt Charlotte, shortly.
+
+"The dawn was just breaking. I suppose it must have been about four
+o'clock, but I didn't look at my watch," replied Austin. "I was too
+cold and sleepy."
+
+"Cold and sleepy!" exclaimed Aunt Charlotte. "And the house collapsing
+over your head. You seem to have had time to pull the bedclothes away,
+though. That's very curious. What did you do that for?"
+
+"I didn't," replied Austin.
+
+"Then who did?" asked Aunt Charlotte, getting more and more excited.
+"I do wish you'd be a little more communicative, Austin; I have to
+drag every word out of you as though you were trying to hide
+something. Who hung the bedclothes over the footrail if you didn't?"
+
+"I can't tell you. I don't know. All I know is that I found them where
+they are now when I woke up, and I woke up because I was so cold. Then
+I got out of bed, and a minute afterwards down came all the bricks."
+
+"Do you mean to tell me----" began Aunt Charlotte, in her most
+scathing tones.
+
+"Certainly I do. Exactly what I _have_ told you. Why?"
+
+"Do you expect me to believe," resumed his aunt, "that somebody came
+into the room when you were asleep, and deliberately pulled off all
+your bedclothes for the fun of doing it? Am I to understand----"
+
+"My dear auntie, I am not an idiot, nor am I in the habit of perjuring
+myself," interrupted Austin. "I saw nobody come into the room, and I
+saw nobody pull off the clothes. If you really want to know what I
+'expect you to believe,' I've already told you. I might tell you a
+little more, but then I shouldn't expect you to believe it, so what
+would be the good? It seems to me the best thing to do now is to send
+for Snewin to take away all this mess, move the furniture, and mend
+the hole in the ceiling. If once it begins to rain----"
+
+"Oh! You might tell me a little more, might you?" said Aunt Charlotte,
+bristling. "So you haven't told me everything after all. Now, then,
+never mind whether I believe it or not, that's my affair. What is
+there more to tell?"
+
+"Nothing," replied Austin. "Because it isn't only your affair whether
+you believe me or not; it's my affair as well. Why, you don't even
+believe what I've told you already! So I won't tax your credulity any
+further."
+
+Aunt Charlotte now began to get rather angry, "Look here, Austin," she
+said, "I intend to get to the bottom of this business, so it's not the
+slightest use trying to beat about the bush. I insist on your telling
+me how it was you happened to get out of bed just before the accident
+occurred, and how the bedclothes came to be pulled away and hung where
+they are now. There's a mystery about the whole thing, and I hate
+mysteries, so you'd better make a clean breast of it at once."
+
+"Had I?" said Austin, pretending to reflect. "I wonder whether it
+would be wise. You see, dear auntie, you're such a sensitive creature;
+your nerves are so highly strung, you're so easily frightened out of
+your dear old wits--"
+
+"Be done with all this nonsense!" snapped Aunt Charlotte brusquely.
+"Come, I can't stand here all day. Just tell me exactly what took
+place--why you woke up, and what you saw, and everything about it you
+remember."
+
+"Dear auntie, I don't want you to stand there all day; in fact I'd
+much rather you didn't stand there a minute longer, because I want to
+get up," Austin assured her earnestly. "I awoke because I had a horrid
+dream, caused by the cold which in its turn was produced by my being
+left with nothing on. And I didn't see anything, for the simple reason
+that the room was as dark as pitch. Is there anything else you want to
+know?"
+
+"Yes, there is. Everything that you haven't told me," said the
+uncompromising aunt.
+
+"Very well, then," said Austin, leaning upon his elbow and looking her
+full in the face. "But on one condition only--that you believe every
+word I say."
+
+"Of course, Austin, I should never dream of doubting your good faith,"
+replied Aunt Charlotte. "But don't romance. Now then."
+
+"It's very simple, after all," began Austin. "Just as I was getting
+into bed a strange noise, like a shower of little raps, broke out all
+around me. It went on for nearly five minutes, and I was listening all
+the time and trying to find out what it was and where it came from. At
+the moment I had no clue, but now I fancy I can guess. Those raps
+were warnings. They--the rappers--were trying to prevent me getting
+into bed. They didn't succeed, of course, and so, just as the ceiling
+was on the point of giving way, they compelled me to get out of bed by
+pulling all the clothes off. If they hadn't, I should have been half
+killed. Now, what do you make of that?"
+
+"I knew it must be some nonsense of the sort!" exclaimed Aunt
+Charlotte, in her most vigorous tones. "Raps, indeed! I never heard
+such twaddle. Of course I don't doubt your word, but it's clear enough
+that you dreamt the whole thing. You always were a dreamer, Austin,
+and you're getting worse than ever. I don't believe you know half the
+time whether you're asleep or awake."
+
+"Did I dream _that_?" asked Austin, pointing to the bedclothes as they
+hung.
+
+"You dragged them there in your sleep, of course," retorted Aunt
+Charlotte triumphantly. "I see the whole thing now. You had a dream,
+you kicked the clothes off in your sleep, and then you got out of bed,
+still in your sleep----"
+
+"I didn't do anything of the sort," interrupted Austin. "I was wide
+awake the whole time. You see, auntie, I was here and you weren't, so
+I ought to know something about it."
+
+"It's no use arguing with you," replied Aunt Charlotte, loftily. "It's
+a clear case of sleep-walking--as clear as any case I ever heard of.
+And then all that nonsense about raps! Of course, if you heard
+anything at all--which I only half believe--it was something beginning
+to give way in the roof. There! It only requires a little
+common-sense, you see, to explain the whole affair. And now, my
+dear----"
+
+"Hush!" whispered Austin suddenly.
+
+"What's the matter?" exclaimed Aunt Charlotte, not liking to be
+interrupted.
+
+"Listen!" said Austin, under his breath.
+
+A torrent of raps burst out in the wall immediately behind him,
+plainly audible in the silence. Then they stopped, as suddenly as they
+had begun.
+
+"Did you hear them?" said Austin. "Those were the raps I told you of.
+Hark! There they are again. I wish they would sound a little louder."
+A distinct increase in the sound was noticeable. "Oh, isn't it
+perfectly wonderful? Now, what have you to say?"
+
+Aunt Charlotte stood agape. It was no use pretending she didn't hear
+them. They were as unmistakable as knocks at a front door.
+
+"What jugglery is this?" she demanded, in an angry tone.
+
+"Really, dear auntie, I am not a conjurer," replied Austin, as he sank
+back upon his cushions. "That was what I heard last night. But of
+course _you_ don't believe in such absurdities. It's only your fancy
+after all, you know."
+
+"'Tain't _my_ fancy, anyhow," put in old Martha, speaking for the
+first time. "I heard 'em plain enough. 'Tis the 'good people,' for
+sure."
+
+"Hold your tongue, do!" cried Aunt Charlotte in sore perplexity. "Good
+people, indeed!--the devil himself, more likely. I tell you what it
+is, Austin----"
+
+"Why, I thought you weren't superstitious!" observed Austin, in a tone
+of most exasperating surprise. Three gentle knocks, running off into a
+ripple of pattering explosions, were then heard in a farther corner of
+the room. "There, don't you hear them laughing at you? Thank you, dear
+people, whoever you are, that was very kind. And it was awfully sweet
+of you to save me from those bricks last night. It _was_ good of them,
+wasn't it, auntie dear?"
+
+"If all this devilry goes on I shall take serious measures to stop
+it," gasped Aunt Charlotte, who was almost frightened to death. "I
+cannot and will not live in a haunted house. It's you who are haunted,
+Austin, and I shall go and see the vicar about it this very day. It's
+an awful state of things, positively awful. To think that you are
+actually holding communication with familiar spirits! The vicar shall
+come here at once, and I'll get him to hold a service of exorcism. I
+believe there is such a service, and----"
+
+"Oh, do, do, _do_!" screamed Austin, clapping his hands with delight.
+"What fun it would be! Fancy dear Mr Sheepshanks, in all his tippets
+and toggery, ambling and capering round poor me, and trying to drive
+the devil out of me with a broomful of holy water! That's a lovely
+idea of yours, auntie. Lubin shall come and be an acolyte, and we'll
+get Mr Buskin to be stage-manager, and you shall be the pew-opener.
+And then I'll empty the holy-water pot over dear Mr Sheepshanks' head
+when he's looking the other way. You _are_ a genius, auntie, though
+you're too modest to be conscious of it. But you're very ungrateful
+all the same, for if it hadn't been for----"
+
+"There, stop your ribaldry, Austin, and get up," said Aunt Charlotte,
+impatiently. "The sooner we're all out of this dreadful room the
+better. And let me tell you that you'd be better employed in thanking
+God for your deliverance than in turning sacred subjects into
+ridicule."
+
+"Thanking God? Why, not a moment ago you said it was the devil!"
+exclaimed Austin. "How you do chop and change about, auntie. You can't
+possibly expect me to be orthodox when you go on contradicting
+yourself at such a rate. However, if you really must go, I think I
+_will_ get up. It must be long past eight, and I want my breakfast
+awfully."
+
+The day so excitingly ushered in turned out a busy one. As soon as he
+had finished his meal, Austin pounded off to invoke the immediate
+presence of Mr Snewin the builder, and before long there was a mighty
+bustle in the house. The furniture had all to be removed from the
+scene of the disaster, the bed cleared of the _débris_, preparations
+made for the erection of light scaffolding for repairing the roof, and
+Austin himself installed, with all his books and treasures, in another
+bedroom overlooking a different part of the garden. It was all a most
+enjoyable adventure, and even Aunt Charlotte forgot her terrors in
+the more practical necessities of the occasion. Just before lunch
+Austin snatched a few minutes to run out and gossip with Lubin on the
+lawn. Lubin listened with keen interest to the boy's picturesque
+account of his experiences, and then remarked, sagely nodding his
+head:
+
+"I told you to be on the look-out, you know, Master Austin. Magpies
+don't perch on folks' window-sills for nothing. You'll believe me a
+little quicker next time, maybe."
+
+For once in his life Austin could think of nothing to say in reply. To
+ask Lubin to explain the connection between magpies and misadventures
+would have been useless; it evidently sufficed for him that such was
+the order of Nature, and only a magpie would have been able to clear
+up the mystery. Besides, there are many such mysteries in the world.
+Why do cats occasionally wash their heads behind the ear? Clearly, to
+tell us that we may expect bad weather; for the bad weather invariably
+follows. These are all providential arrangements intended for our
+personal convenience, and are not to be accounted for on any
+cut-and-dried scientific theory. Lubin's erudition was certainly very
+great, but there was something exasperating about it too.
+
+So Austin went in to lunch thoughtful and dispirited, wondering why
+there were so many absurdities in life that he could neither elucidate
+nor controvert. He decided not to say anything to Aunt Charlotte about
+Lubin's magpie sciolisms, lest he should provoke a further outburst of
+the discussion they had held in the morning; he had had the best of
+that, anyhow, and did not care to compromise his victory by dragging
+in extraneous considerations in which he did not feel sure of his
+ground. Aunt Charlotte, on her side, was inclined to be talkative,
+taking refuge in the excitement of having work-men in the house from
+the uneasy feelings which still oppressed her in consequence of those
+frightening raps. But now that the haunted room was to be invaded by
+friendly, commonplace artisans from the village, and turned inside
+out, and almost pulled to pieces, there was a chance that the ghosts
+would be got rid of without invoking the aid of Mr Sheepshanks; a
+reflection that inspired her with hope, and comforted her greatly.
+
+"You know you're a great anxiety to me, Austin," she said, as,
+refreshed by food and wine, she took up her knitting after lunch. "I
+wish you were more like other boys, indeed I do. I never could
+understand you, and I suppose I never shall."
+
+"But what does that matter, auntie?" asked Austin. "I don't understand
+_you_ sometimes, but that doesn't make me anxious in the very least.
+Why you should worry yourself about me I can't conceive. What do I do
+to make you anxious? I don't get tipsy, I don't gamble away vast
+fortunes at a sitting, and although I'm getting on for eighteen I
+haven't had a single action for breach of promise brought against me
+by anybody. Now _I_ think that's rather a creditable record. It isn't
+everybody who can say as much."
+
+"I want you to be more _serious_, Austin," replied his aunt, "and not
+to talk such nonsense as you're talking now. I want you to be
+sensible, practical, and alive to the sober facts of life. You're too
+dreamy a great deal. Soon you won't know the difference between dreams
+and realities----"
+
+"I don't even now. No more do you. No more does anybody," interrupted
+Austin, lighting a cigarette.
+
+"There you are again!" exclaimed Aunt Charlotte, clicking her needles
+energetically. "Did one ever hear such rubbish? It all comes from
+those outlandish books you're always poring over. If you'd only take
+_my_ advice, you'd read something solid, and sensible, and improving,
+like 'Self Help,' by Dr Smiles. That would be of some use to you, but
+these others----"
+
+"I read a whole chapter of it once," said Austin. "I can scarcely
+believe it myself, but I did. It's the most immoral, sordid, selfish
+book that was ever printed. It deifies Success--success in
+money-making--success of the coarsest and most materialistic kind. It
+is absolutely unspiritual and degrading. It nearly made me sick."
+
+"Be silent!" cried Aunt Charlotte, horrified. "How dare you talk like
+that? I will not sit still and hear you say such things. Few books
+have had a greater influence upon the age. Degrading? Why, it's been
+the making of thousands!"
+
+"Thousands of soulless money-grubbers," retorted Austin. "That's what
+it has made. Men without an idea or an aspiration above their horrible
+spinning-jennies and account-books. I hate your successful
+stockbrokers and shipowners and manufacturers. They are an odious
+race. Wasn't it a stockjobber who thought Botticelli was a cheese?
+Everyone knows the story, and I believe the hero of it was either a
+stockjobber or a man who made screws in Birmingham."
+
+Aunt Charlotte let her knitting fall on her lap in despair. "Austin,"
+she said, in her most solemn tones, "I never regretted your poor
+mother's death as I regret it at this moment."
+
+"Why, auntie?" he asked, surprised.
+
+"Perhaps she would have understood you better; perhaps she might even
+have been able to manage you," replied the poor lady. "I confess that
+you're beyond me altogether. Do you know what it was she said to me
+upon her death-bed? 'Charlotte,' she said, 'my only sorrow in dying is
+that I shall never be able to bring up my boy. Who will ever take such
+care of him as I should?' You were then two days old, and the very
+next day she died. I've never forgotten it. She passed away with that
+sorrow, that terrible anxiety, tearing at her heart. I took her place,
+as you know, but of course I was only a makeshift. I often wonder
+whether she is still as anxious about you as she was then."
+
+"My dearest auntie, you've been an angel in a lace cap to me all my
+life, and I'm sure my mother isn't worrying herself about me one bit.
+Why should she?" argued Austin. "I'm leading a lovely life, I'm as
+happy as the days are long, and if my tastes don't run in the
+direction of selling screws or posting ledgers, nothing that anybody
+can say will change them. And I tell you candidly that if they were so
+changed they would certainly be changed for the worse. I hate ugly
+things as intensely as I love beautiful ones, and I'm very thankful
+that I'm not ugly myself. Now don't look at me like that; it's so
+conventional! Of course I know I'm not ugly, but rather the reverse
+(that's a modest way of putting it), and I pray to beloved Pan that he
+will give me beauty in the inward soul so that the inward and the
+outward man may be at one. That's out of the 'Phędrus,' you know--a
+very much superior composition to 'Self Help.' So cheer up, auntie,
+and don't look on me as a doomed soul because we're not both turned
+out of the same melting-pot. Now I'm just going upstairs to see to the
+arrangement of my new room, and then I shall go and help Lubin in the
+garden."
+
+So saying, he strolled out. But poor Aunt Charlotte only shook her
+head. She could not forget how Austin's mother had grieved at not
+living to bring up her boy, and wished more earnestly than ever that
+the responsibility had fallen into other hands than hers. There was
+something so dreadfully uncanny about Austin. His ignorance about the
+common facts of life was as extraordinary as his perfect familiarity
+with matters known only to great scholars. His views and tastes were
+strange to her, so strange as to be beyond her comprehension
+altogether. She found herself unable to argue with him because their
+minds were set on different planes, and her representations did not
+seem to touch him in the very least. And yet, after all, he was a very
+good boy, full of pure thoughts and kindly impulses and spiritual
+intuitions and intellectual proclivities which certainly no moralist
+would condemn. If only he were more practical, even more commonplace,
+and wouldn't talk such nonsense! Then there would not be such a gulf
+between them as there was at present; then she might have some
+influence over him for good, at any rate. Her thoughts recurred,
+uneasily, to the strange experiences of that morning. The mystery of
+the raps distracted her, puzzled her, frightened her; whereas Austin
+was not frightened at all--on the contrary, he accepted the whole
+thing with the serenest cheerfulness and _sang-froid_, finding it
+apparently quite natural that these unseen agencies, coming from
+nobody knew where, should take him under their protection and make
+friends with him. What could it all portend?
+
+Of course it was very foolish of the good lady to fret like this
+because Austin was so different from what she thought he should be.
+She did not see that his nature was infinitely finer and subtler than
+her own, and that it was no use in the world attempting to stifle his
+intellectual growth and drag him down to her own level. A burly,
+muscular boy, who played football and read 'Tom Brown,' would have
+been far more to her taste, for such a one she would at least have
+understood. But Austin, with his queer notions and audacious
+paradoxes, was utterly beyond her. Unluckily, too, she had no sense of
+humour, and instead of laughing at his occasionally preposterous
+sallies, she allowed them to irritate and worry her. A person with no
+sense of humour is handicapped from start to finish, and is as much to
+be pitied as one born blind or deaf.
+
+But Austin had his limitations too, and among them was a most
+deplorable want of tact. Otherwise he would never have said, as he
+was going to bed that night:
+
+"By the way, auntie, what day have you arranged for the vicar to come
+and cast all those devils out of me?"
+
+He might as well have let sleeping dogs lie. Aunt Charlotte turned
+round upon him in almost a rage, and solemnly forbade him, in any
+circumstances and under whatsoever provocation, ever to mention the
+subject in her presence again.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter the Seventh
+
+
+But by one of those curious coincidences that occur every now and
+then, who should happen to drop in the very next afternoon but the
+vicar himself, just as Austin and his aunt were having tea upon the
+lawn. Now Aunt Charlotte and the vicar were great friends. They had
+many interests in common--the same theological opinions, for example;
+and then Aunt Charlotte was indefatigable in all sorts of parish work,
+such as district-visiting, and the organisation of school teas,
+village clubs, and those rather formidable entertainments known as
+"treats"; so that the two had always something to talk about, and were
+very fond of meeting. Besides all this, there was another bond of
+union between them which scarcely anybody would have guessed. Mr
+Sheepshanks, though as unworldly a man as any in the county,
+considered himself unusually shrewd in business matters; and Aunt
+Charlotte, like many middle-aged ladies in her position, found it a
+great comfort to have a gentleman at her beck and call with whom she
+could talk confidentially about her investments, and who could be
+relied upon to give her much disinterested advice that he often acted
+on himself. On this particular afternoon the vicar hinted that he had
+something of special importance to communicate, and Aunt Charlotte was
+unusually gracious. He was a short gentleman, with a sloping forehead,
+a prominent nose, a clean-shaven, High-Church face, narrow, dogmatic
+views, and small, twinkling eyes; not the sort of person whom one
+would naturally associate with financial acumen, but endowed with an
+air of self-confidence, and a pretension to private information, which
+would have done credit to any stockbroker on 'Change.
+
+"I've been thinking over that little matter of yours that you
+mentioned to me the other day," he began, when he had finished his
+third cup, and Austin had strolled away. "You say your mortgage at
+Southport has just been paid off, and you want a new investment for
+your money. Well, I think I know the very thing to suit you."
+
+"Do you really? How kind of you!" exclaimed Aunt Charlotte. "What is
+it--shares or bonds?"
+
+"Shares," replied Mr Sheepshanks; "shares. Of course I know that very
+prudent people will tell you that bonds are safer. And no doubt, as a
+rule they are. If a concern fails, the bond-holder is a creditor,
+while the shareholder is a debtor--besides having lost his capital.
+But in this case there is no fear of failure."
+
+"Dear me," said Aunt Charlotte, beginning to feel impressed. "Is it an
+industrial undertaking?"
+
+"I suppose it might be so described," answered her adviser,
+cautiously. "But it is mainly scientific. It is the outcome of a great
+chemical analysis."
+
+"Oh, pray tell me all about it; I am so interested!" urged Aunt
+Charlotte, eagerly. "You know what confidence I have in your judgment.
+Has it anything to do with raw material? It isn't a plantation
+anywhere, is it?"
+
+"It's gold!" said Mr Sheepshanks.
+
+"Gold?" repeated Aunt Charlotte, rather taken aback. "A gold mine, I
+suppose you mean?"
+
+"The hugest gold-mine in the world," replied the vicar, enjoying her
+evident perplexity. "An inexhaustible gold mine. A gold mine without
+limits."
+
+"But where--whereabouts is it?" cried Aunt Charlotte.
+
+"All around you," said the vicar, waving his hands vaguely in the air.
+"Not in any country at all, but everywhere else. In the ocean."
+
+"Gold in the ocean!" ejaculated the puzzled lady, dropping her
+knitting on her lap, and gazing helplessly at her financial mentor.
+
+"Gold in the ocean--precisely," affirmed that gentleman in an
+impressive voice. "It has been discovered that sea-water holds a large
+quantity of gold in solution, and that by some most interesting
+process of precipitation any amount of it can be procured ready for
+coining. I got a prospectus of the scheme this morning from Shark,
+Picaroon & Co., Fleece Court, London, and I've brought it for you to
+read. A most enterprising firm they seem to be. You'll see that it's
+full of very elaborate scientific details--the results of the analyses
+that have been made, the cost of production, estimates for machinery,
+and I don't know what all. I can't say I follow it very clearly
+myself, for the clerical mind, as everybody knows, is not very well
+adapted to grasping scientific terminology, but I can understand the
+general tenor of it well enough. It seems to me that the enterprise is
+promising in a very high degree."
+
+"How very remarkable!" observed Aunt Charlotte, as she gazed at the
+tabulated figures and enumeration of chemical properties in bewildered
+awe. "And you think it a safe investment?"
+
+"_I_ do," replied Mr Sheepshanks, "but don't act on my opinion--judge
+for yourself. What's the amount you have to invest--two thousand
+pounds, isn't it? Well, I believe that you'd stand to get an income to
+that very amount by investing just that sum in the undertaking. Look
+what they say overleaf about the cost of working and the estimated
+returns. It all sounds fabulous, I admit, but there are the figures,
+my dear lady, in black and white, and figures cannot lie."
+
+"I'll write to my bankers about it this very night," said Aunt
+Charlotte, folding up the prospectus and putting it carefully into her
+pocket. "It's evidently not a chance to be missed, and I'm most
+grateful to you, dear Mr Sheepshanks, for putting it in my way."
+
+"Always delighted to be of service to you--as far as my poor judgment
+can avail," the vicar assured her with becoming modesty. "Ah, it's
+wonderful when one thinks of the teeming riches that lie around us,
+only waiting to be utilised. There _was_ another scheme I thought of
+for you--a scheme for raising the sunken galleons in the Spanish main,
+and recovering the immense treasures that are now lying, safe and
+sound, at the bottom of the sea. Curious that both enterprises should
+be connected with salt water, eh? And the prospectus was headed with a
+most appropriate text--'The Sea shall give up her Dead.' That rather
+appealed to me, do you know. It cast an air of solemnity over the
+undertaking, and seemed to sanctify it somehow. However, I think the
+other will be the best. Well, Austin, and what are you reading now?"
+
+"Aunt Charlotte's face," laughed Austin, sauntering up. "She looks as
+though you had been giving her absolution, Mr Sheepshanks--so beaming
+and refreshed. Why, what's it all about?"
+
+"I expect you want more absolution than your aunt," said the vicar,
+humorously. "A sad useless fellow you are, I'm afraid. You and I must
+have a little serious talk together some day, Austin. I really want
+you to do something--for your own sake, you know. Now, how would you
+like to take a class in the Sunday-school, for instance? I shall have
+a vacancy in a week or two."
+
+"Austin teach in the Sunday-school! He'd be more in his place if he
+went there as a scholar than as a teacher," said Aunt Charlotte,
+derisively.
+
+"I don't know why you should say that," remarked Austin, with perfect
+gravity. "I think it would be delightful. I should make a beautiful
+Sunday-school teacher, I'm convinced."
+
+"There, now!" exclaimed the vicar, approvingly.
+
+Austin was standing under an apple-tree, and over him stretched a
+horizontal branch laden with ripening fruit. He raised his hands on
+either side of his head and clasped it, and then began swinging his
+wooden leg round and round in a way that bade fair to get on Aunt
+Charlotte's nerves. He was so proud of that leg of his, while his aunt
+abhorred the very sight of it.
+
+"No doubt they're all very charming boys, and I should love to tell
+them things," he went on. "I think I'd begin with 'The Gods of
+Greece'--Louis Dyer, you know--and then I'd read them a few
+carefully-selected passages from the 'Phędrus.' Then, by way of
+something lighter, and more appropriate to their circumstances, I'd
+give them a course of Virgil--the 'Georgics', because, I suppose,
+most of them are connected with farming, and the 'Eclogues,' to
+initiate them into the poetical side of country life. When once I'd
+brought out all their latent sense of the Beautiful--for I'm afraid it
+_is_ latent----"
+
+"But it's a _Sunday_-school!" interrupted the vicar, horrified.
+"Virgil and the Phędrus indeed! My dear boy, have you taken leave of
+your senses? What in the world can you be thinking of?"
+
+"Then what would you suggest?" enquired Austin, mildly.
+
+"You'd have to teach them the Bible and the Catechism, of course,"
+said Mr Sheepshanks, with an air of slight bewilderment.
+
+"H'm--that seems to me rather a limited curriculum," replied Austin,
+dubiously. "I only remember one passage in the Catechism, beginning,
+'My good child, know this.' I forget what it was he had to know, but
+it was something very dull. The Bible, of course, has more
+possibilities. There is some ravishing poetry in the Bible. Well, I
+can begin with the Bible, if you really prefer it, of course. The Song
+of Solomon, for instance. Oh, yes, that would be lovely! I'll divide
+it up into characters, and make each boy learn his part--the
+shepherd, the Shulamite, King Solomon, and all the rest of them. The
+Spring Song might even be set to music. And then all those lovely
+metaphors, about the two roes that were twins, and something else that
+was like a heap of wheat set about with lilies. Though, to be sure, I
+never could see any very striking resemblance between the objects
+typified and----"
+
+"Hold your tongue, do, Austin!" cried Aunt Charlotte, scandalised.
+"And for mercy's sake, keep that leg of yours quiet, if you can. You
+are fidgeting me out of my wits."
+
+Mr Sheepshanks, his mouth pursed up in a deprecating and uneasy smile,
+sat gazing vaguely in front of him. "I think it might be wise to defer
+the Song of Solomon," he suggested. "A few simple stories from the
+Book of Genesis, perhaps, would be better suited to the minds of your
+young pupils. And then the sublime opening chapters----"
+
+"Oh, dear Mr Sheepshanks! Those stories in Genesis are some of them
+too _risqués_ altogether," protested Austin. "One must draw the line
+somewhere, you see. We should be sure to come upon something improper,
+and just think how I should blush. Really, you can't expect me to read
+such things to boys actually younger than myself, and probably be
+asked to explain them into the bargain. There's the Creation part,
+it's true, but surely when one considers how occult all that is one
+wants to be familiar with the Kabbala and all sorts of mystical works
+to discover the hidden meaning. Now I should propose 'The Art of
+Creation'--do you know it? It shows that the only possible creator is
+Thought, and explains how everything exists in idea before it takes
+tangible shape. This applies to the universe at large, as well as to
+everything we make ourselves. I'd tell the boys that whenever they
+_think_, they are really _creating_, so that----"
+
+"I should vastly like to know where you pick up all these
+extraordinary notions!" interrupted the vicar, who could not for the
+life of him make out whether Austin was in jest or earnest. "They're
+most dangerous notions, let me tell you, and entirely opposed to sound
+orthodox Church teaching. It's clear to me that your reading wants to
+be supervised, Austin, by some judicious friend. There's an excellent
+little work I got a few days ago that I think you would like to see.
+It's called 'The Mission-field in Africa.' There you'll find a most
+remarkable account of all those heathen superstitions----"
+
+"Where is Africa?" asked Austin, munching a leaf.
+
+"There!" exclaimed Aunt Charlotte. "That's Austin all over. He'll talk
+by the hour together about a lot of outlandish nonsense that no
+sensible person ever heard of, and all the time he doesn't even know
+where Africa is upon the map. What is to be done with such a boy?"
+
+"Well, I think we'll postpone the question of his teaching in the
+Sunday-school, at all events," remarked the vicar, who began to feel
+rather sorry that he had ever suggested it. "It's more than probable
+that his ideas would be over the children's heads, and come into
+collision with what they heard in church. Well, now I must be going.
+You'll think over that little matter we were speaking of?" he said, as
+he took a neighbourly leave of his parishioner and ally.
+
+"Indeed I will, and I'll write to my bankers to-night," replied that
+lady cordially.
+
+Then the vicar ambled across the lawn, and Austin accompanied him, as
+in duty bound, to the garden gate. Meanwhile, Aunt Charlotte leant
+comfortably back in her wicker chair, absorbed in pleasant meditation.
+The repairs to the roof would, no doubt, run into a little money, but
+the vicar's tip about this wonderful company for extracting gold from
+sea-water made up for any anxiety she might otherwise have experienced
+upon that score. What a kind, good man he was--and _so_ clever in
+business matters, which, of course, were out of her range altogether.
+She took the prospectus out of her pocket, and ran her eyes over it
+again. Capital, £500,000, in shares of £100 each. Solicitors, Messrs
+Somebody Something & Co., Fetter Lane, E.C. Bankers, The Shoreditch &
+Houndsditch Amalgamated Banking Corporation, St Mary Axe. Acquisition
+of machinery, so much. Cost of working, so much. Estimated
+returns--something perfectly enormous. It all looked wonderful, quite
+wonderful. She again determined to write to her bankers that very
+evening before dinner.
+
+"You're going to the theatre to-night, aren't you, Austin?" she said,
+as he returned from seeing Mr Sheepshanks courteously off the
+premises. "I want you to post a letter for me on your way. Post it at
+the Central Office, so as to be sure it catches the night mail. It's a
+business letter of importance."
+
+"All right, auntie," he replied, arranging his trouser so that it
+should fall gracefully over his wooden leg.
+
+"And I do wish, Austin, that you'd behave rather more like other
+people when Mr Sheepshanks comes to see us. There really is no
+necessity for talking to him in the way you do. Of course it was a
+great compliment, his asking you to take a class in the Sunday-school,
+though I could have told him that he couldn't possibly have made an
+absurder choice, and you might very well have contented yourself with
+regretting your utter unfitness for such a post without exposing your
+ignorance in the way you did. The idea of telling a clergyman, too,
+that the Book of Genesis was too improper for boys to read, when he
+had just been recommending it! I thought you'd have had more respect
+for his position, whatever silly notions you may have yourself."
+
+"I do respect the vicar; he's quite a nice little thing," replied
+Austin, in a conciliatory tone. "And of course he thinks just what a
+vicar ought to think, and I suppose what all vicars do think. But as
+I'm not a vicar myself I don't see that I am bound to think as they
+do."
+
+"You a vicar, indeed!" sniffed Aunt Charlotte. "A remarkable sort of
+vicar you'd make, and pretty sermons you'd preach if you had the
+chance. What time does this performance of yours begin to-night?"
+
+"At eight, I believe."
+
+"Well, then, I'll just go in and tell cook to let us have dinner a
+quarter of an hour earlier than usual," said Aunt Charlotte, as she
+folded up her work. "The omnibus from the 'Peacock' will get you into
+town in plenty of time, and the walk back afterwards will do you
+good."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The town in question was about a couple of miles from the village
+where Austin lived--a clean, cheerful, prosperous little borough, with
+plenty of good shops, a commodious theatre, several churches and
+chapels, and a fine market. Dinner was soon disposed of, and as the
+omnibus which plied between the two places clattered and rattled along
+at a good speed--having to meet the seven-fifty down-train at the
+railway station--he was able to post his aunt's precious letter and
+slip into his stall in the dress-circle before the curtain rose. The
+orchestra was rioting through a composition called 'The Clang o' the
+Wooden Shoon,' as an appropriate introduction to a tragedy the scene
+of which was laid in Nineveh; the house seemed fairly full, and the
+air was heavy with that peculiar smell, a sort of doubtfully aromatic
+stuffiness, which is so grateful to the nostrils of playgoers. Austin
+gazed around him with keen interest. He had not been inside a theatre
+for years, and the vivid description that Mr Buskin had given him of
+the show he was about to witness filled him with pleasurable
+anticipation. To all intents and purposes, the experience that awaited
+him was something entirely new; how, he wondered, would it fit into
+his scheme of life? What room would there be, in his idealistic
+philosophy, for the stage?
+
+Then the music came to an end in a series of defiant bangs, the
+curtain rolled itself out of sight, and a brilliant spectacle
+appeared. The only occupant of the scene at first was a gentleman in a
+thick black beard and fantastic garb who seemed to have acquired the
+habit of talking very loudly to himself. In this way the audience
+discovered that the gentleman, who was no less a personage than the
+Queen's brother, was seriously dissatisfied with his royal
+brother-in-law, whose habits were of a nature which did not make for
+the harmony of his domestic circle. Then soft music was heard, and in
+lounged Sardanapalus himself--a glittering figure in flowing robes of
+silver and pale blue, garlanded with flowers, and surrounded by a
+crowd of slaves and women all very elegantly dressed; and it really
+was quite wonderful to notice how his Majesty lolled and languished
+about the stage, how beautifully affected all his gestures were, and
+with what a high-bred supercilious drawl he rolled out his behests
+that a supper should be served at midnight in the pavilion that
+commanded a view of the Euphrates. And this magnificent, absurd
+creature--this mouthing, grimacing, attitudinising popinjay, thought
+Austin, was no other than Mr Bucephalus Buskin, with whom he had
+chatted on easy terms in a common field only a few days previously!
+The memory of the umbrella, the tight frock-coat, the bald head, the
+fat, reddish face, and the rather rusty "chimney-pot" here recurred to
+him, and he nearly giggled out loud in thinking how irresistibly funny
+Mr Buskin would look if he were now going through all these fanciful
+gesticulations in his walking dress. The fact was that the man himself
+was perfectly unrecognisable, and Austin was mightily impressed by
+what was really a signal triumph in the art of making up.
+
+The play went on, and Sardanapalus showed no signs of moral
+improvement. In fact, it soon became evident that his code of ethics
+was deplorable, and Austin could only console himself with the
+thought that the real Mr Buskin was, no doubt, a most virtuous and
+respectable person who never gave Mrs Buskin--if there was one--any
+grounds for jealousy. Then the first act came to an end, the lights
+went up, and a subdued buzz of conversation broke out all over the
+theatre. The second act was even more exciting, as Sardanapalus,
+having previously confessed himself unable to go on multiplying
+empires, was forced to interfere in a scuffle between his
+brother-in-law and Arbaces--who was by way of being a traitor; but the
+most sensational scene of all was the banquet in act the third, of
+which so glowing an account had been given to Austin by the great
+tragedian himself. That, indeed, was something to remember.
+
+                      "Guests, to my pledge!
+    Down on your knees, and drink a measure to
+    The safety of the King--the monarch, say I?
+    The god Sardanapalus! mightier than
+    His father Baal, the god Sardanapalus!"
+                             [_Thunder. Confusion._]
+
+Ah, that was thrilling, if you like, in spite of the halting rhythm.
+And yet, even at that supreme moment, the vision of the umbrella and
+the rather shabby hat would crop up again, and Austin didn't quite
+know whether to let himself be thrilled or to lean back and roar. The
+conspiracy burst out a few minutes afterwards, and then there ensued
+a most terrifying and portentous battle, rioters and loyalists
+furiously attempting to kill each other by the singular expedient of
+clattering their swords together so as to make as much noise as
+possible, and then passing them under their antagonists' armpits, till
+the stage was heaped with corpses; and all this bloody work entirely
+irrespective of the valuable glass and china on the supper-table, and
+the costly hearthrugs strewn about the floor. Even Sardanapalus,
+having first looked in the glass to make sure that his helmet was
+straight, performed prodigies of valour, and the curtain descended to
+his insatiable shouting for fresh weapons and a torrent of tumultuous
+applause from the gallery.
+
+"Now for it!" said Austin to himself, when another act had been got
+through, in the course of which Sardanapalus had suffered from a
+distressing nightmare. He took Mr Buskin's card out of his pocket,
+and, hurrying out as fast as he could manage, stumped his way round to
+the stage door. Cerberus would fain have stopped him, but Austin
+flourished his card in passing, and enquired of the first
+civil-looking man he met where the manager was to be found. He was
+piloted through devious ways and under strange scaffoldings, to the
+foot of a steep and very dirty flight of steps--luckily there were
+only seven--at the top of which was dimly visible a door; and at this,
+having screwed his courage to the sticking-place, he knocked.
+
+"Come in!" cried a voice inside.
+
+He found himself on the threshold of a room such as he had never seen
+before. There was no carpet, and the little furniture it contained was
+heaped with masses of heterogeneous clothes. Two looking-glasses were
+fixed against the walls, and in front of one of them was a sort of
+shelf, or dresser, covered with small pots of some ungodly looking
+materials of a pasty appearance--rouge, grease-paint, cocoa-butter,
+and heaven knows what beside--with black stuff, white stuff, yellow
+stuff, paint-brushes, gum-pots, powder-puffs, and discoloured rags
+spread about in not very picturesque confusion. In a corner of this
+engaging boudoir, sitting in an armchair with a glass of liquor beside
+him and smoking a strong cigar, was the most extraordinary and
+repulsive object he had ever clapped his eyes on. The face, daubed and
+glistening with an unsightly coating of red, white, and yellow-ochre
+paint, and adorned with protuberant bristles by way of eyebrows,
+appeared twice its natural dimensions. The throat was bare to the
+collar-bones. A huge wig covered the head, falling over the shoulders;
+while the whole was encircled by a great wreath of pink calico roses,
+the back of which, just under the nape of the neck, was fastened by a
+glittering pinchbeck tassel. The arms were nude, their natural growth
+of dark hair being plastered over with white chalk, which had a
+singularly ghastly effect; a short-skirted, low-necked gold frock, cut
+like a little girl's, partly covered the body, and over this were
+draped coarse folds of scarlet, purple, and white, with tinsel stars
+along the seams, and so disposed as to display to fullest advantage
+the brawny calves of the tragedian.
+
+"Great Scott, if it isn't young Dot-and-carry-One!" exclaimed Mr
+Sardanapalus Buskin, as the slim figure of Austin, in his simple
+evening-dress, appeared at the entrance. "Come in, young gentleman,
+come in. So you've come to beard the lion in his den, have you? Well,
+it's kind of you not to have forgotten. You're welcome, very welcome.
+That was a very pleasant little meeting we had the other day, over
+there in the fields. And what do you think of the performance? Been in
+front?"
+
+"Oh, yes--thank you so very much," said Austin, hesitatingly. "It is
+awfully kind of you to let me come and see you like this. I've never
+seen anything of the sort in all my life."
+
+"Ah, I daresay it's a sort of revelation to you," said Sardanapalus,
+with good-humoured condescension. "Have a drop of whiskey-and-water?
+Well, well, I won't press you. And so you've enjoyed the play?"
+
+"The whole thing has interested me enormously," replied Austin. "It
+has given me any amount to think of."
+
+"Ah, that's good; that's very good, indeed," said the actor, nodding
+sagely. "Do you remember what I was saying to you the other day about
+the educative power of the stage? That's what it is, you see; the
+greatest educative power in the land. How did that last scene go? Made
+the people in the stalls sit up a bit, I reckon. Ah, it's a great
+life, this. Talk of art! I tell you, young gentleman, acting's the
+only art worthy of the name. The actor's all the artists in creation
+rolled into one. Every art that exists conspires to produce him and to
+perfect him. Painting, for instance; did you ever see anything to
+compare with that Banqueting Scene in the Palace? Why, it's a triumph
+of pictorial art, and, by Jove, of architecture too. And the actor
+doesn't only paint scenes--or get them painted for him, it comes to
+the same thing--he paints himself. Look at me, for instance. Why, I
+could paint you, young gentleman, so that your own mother wouldn't
+know you. With a few strokes of the brush I could transform you into a
+beautiful young girl, or a wrinkled old Jew, or an Artful Dodger, or
+anything else you had a fancy for. Music, again--think of the effect
+of that slow music in the first act. There was pathos for you, if you
+like. Oratory--talk of Demosthenes or Cicero, Mr Gladstone or John
+Bright! Why, they're nowhere, my dear young friend, literally nowhere.
+Didn't my description of the dream just _fetch_ you? Be honest now; by
+George, Sir, it thrilled the house. Look here, young man"--and
+Sardanapalus began to speak very slowly, with tremendous emphasis and
+solemnity--"and remember what I'm going to say until your dying day.
+If I were to drink too much of this, I should be intoxicated; but what
+is the intoxication produced by whiskey compared with the intoxication
+of applause? Just think of it, as soberly and calmly as you
+can--hundreds of people, all in their right minds, stamping and
+shouting and yelling for you to come and show yourself before the
+curtain; the entire house at your feet. Why, it's worship, Sir, sheer
+worship; and worship is a very sacred thing. Show me the man who's
+superior to _that_, and I'll show you a man who's either above or
+below the level of human nature. Whatever he may be, I don't envy him.
+To-morrow morning I shall be an ordinary citizen in a frock-coat and a
+tall hat. To-night I'm a king, a god. What other artist can say as
+much?"
+
+So saying, Sardanapalus puffed up his cigar and swallowed another
+half-glass of liquor. The pungent smoke made Austin cough and blink.
+"It must indeed be an exciting life," he ventured; "quite delirious,
+to judge from what you say."
+
+"It requires a cool head," replied Sardanapalus, with a stoical shrug.
+"Ah! there's the bell," he added, as a loud ting was heard outside.
+"The curtain's going up. Now hurry away to the front, and see the last
+act. The scene where I'm burnt on the top of all my treasures isn't to
+be missed. It's the grandest and most moving scene in any play upon
+the stage. And watch the expression of my face," said Mr Buskin, as he
+applied the powder-puff to his cheeks and nose. "Gestures are all very
+well--any fool can be taught to act with his arms and legs. But
+expression! That's where the heaven-born genius comes in. However, I
+must be off. Good-night, young gentleman, good-night."
+
+He shook Austin warmly by the hand, and precipitated himself down the
+wooden steps. Austin followed, regained the stage-door, and was soon
+back in the dress-circle. But he felt that really he had seen almost
+enough. The last act seemed to drag, and it was only for the sake of
+witnessing the holocaust at the end that he sat it out. Even the
+varying "expressions" assumed by Sardanapalus failed to arouse his
+enthusiasm. He reproached himself for this, for poor Buskin rolled his
+eyes and twisted his mouth and pulled such lugubrious faces that
+Austin felt how pathetic it all was, and how hard the man was trying
+to work upon the feelings of the audience. But the flare-up at the end
+was really very creditable. Blue fire, red fire, and clouds of smoke
+filled the entire stage, and when Myrrha clambered up the burning pile
+to share the fate of her paramour the enthusiasm of the spectators
+knew no bounds. Calls for Sardanapalus and all his company resounded
+from every part of the house, and it was a tremendous moment when the
+curtain was drawn aside, and the great actor, apparently not a penny
+the worse for having just been burnt alive, advanced majestically to
+the footlights. Then all the other performers were generously
+permitted to approach and share in the ovation, bowing again and again
+in acknowledgment of the approbation of their patrons, and looking,
+thought Austin rather cruelly, exactly like a row of lacqueys in
+masquerade. This marked the close of the proceedings, and Austin, with
+a sigh of relief, soon found himself once more in the cool streets,
+walking briskly in the direction of the country.
+
+Well, he had had his experience, and now his curiosity was satisfied.
+What was the net result? He began sifting his sensations, and trying
+to discover what effect the things he had seen and heard had really
+had upon him. It was all very brilliant, very interesting; in a
+certain way, very exciting. He began to understand what it was that
+made so many people fond of theatre-going. But he felt at the same
+time that he himself was not one of them. For some reason or other he
+had escaped the spell. He was more inclined to criticise than to
+enjoy. There was something wanting in it all. What could that
+something be?
+
+The sound of footsteps behind him, echoing in the quiet street, just
+then reached his ears. The steps came nearer, and the next moment a
+well-known voice exclaimed:
+
+"Well, Austin! I hoped I should catch you up!"
+
+"Oh, Mr St Aubyn, is that you? How glad I am to see you!" cried the
+boy, grasping the other's hand. "This is a delightful surprise. Have
+you been to the theatre, too?"
+
+"I have," replied St Aubyn. "You didn't notice me, I daresay, but I
+was watching you most of the time. It amused me to speculate what
+impression the thing was making on you. Were you very much carried
+away?"
+
+"I certainly was not," said Austin, "though I was immensely
+interested. It gave me a lot to think about, as I told Mr Buskin
+himself when I went to see him for a few minutes behind the scenes.
+You know I happened to meet him a few days ago, and he asked me to--it
+really was most kind of him. By the way, he was just on his way to
+call upon you at the Court."
+
+"Well--and now tell me what you thought of it all. What impressed you
+most about the whole affair?"
+
+"I think," said Austin, speaking very slowly, as though weighing every
+word, "that the general impression made upon me was that of utter
+unreality. I cannot conceive of anything more essentially artificial.
+The music was pretty, the scenery was very fine, and the costumes were
+dazzling enough--from a distance; but when you've said that you've
+said everything. The situations were impossible and absurd. The
+speeches were bombast. The sentiment was silly and untrue. And
+Sardanapalus himself was none so distraught by his unpleasant dream
+and all his other troubles but that he was looking forward to his
+glass of whiskey-and-water between the acts. No, he didn't impose on
+me one bit. I didn't believe in Sardanapalus for a moment, even before
+I had the privilege of seeing and hearing him as Mr Buskin in his
+dressing-room. The entire business was a sham."
+
+"But surely it doesn't pretend to be anything else?" suggested St
+Aubyn, surprised.
+
+"Be it so. I don't like shams, I suppose," returned the boy.
+
+"Still, you shouldn't generalise too widely," urged the other. "There
+are plays where one's sensibilities are really touched, where the
+situations are not forced, where the performers move and speak like
+living, ordinary human beings, and, in the case of great actors, work
+upon the feelings of the audience to such an extent----"
+
+"And there the artificiality is all the greater!" chipped in Austin,
+tersely. "The more perfect the illusion, the hollower the
+artificiality. Of course, no one could take Sardanapalus seriously,
+any more than if he were a marionette pulled by strings instead of the
+sort of live marionette he really is. But where the acting and the
+situations are so perfect, as you say, as to cause real emotion, the
+unreality of the whole business is more flagrantly conspicuous than
+ever. The emotions pourtrayed are not real, and nobody pretends they
+are. The art, therefore, of making them appear real, and even
+communicating them to the audience, must of necessity involve greater
+artificiality than where the acting is bad and the situations
+ridiculous. There's a person I know, near where I live--you never
+heard of him, of course, but he's called Jock MacTavish--and he told
+me he once went to see a really very great actress do some part or
+other in which she had to die a most pathetic death. It was said to be
+simply heart-rending, and everybody used to cry. Well, the night Jock
+MacTavish was there something went wrong--a sofa was out of its place,
+or a bolster had been forgotten, or a rope wouldn't work, I don't know
+what it was--and the language that woman indulged in while she was in
+the act of dying would have disgraced a bargee. Jock was in a
+stage-box and heard every filthy word of it. Of course _he_ told me
+the story as a joke, and I was rather disgusted, but I'm glad he did
+so now. That was an extreme case, I know--such things don't occur one
+time in ten thousand, no doubt--but it's an illustration of what I
+mean when I say that the finer the illusion produced the hollower the
+sham that produces it."
+
+"You're a mighty subtle-minded young person for your age," exclaimed
+St Aubyn, with a good-humoured laugh. "I confess that your theory is
+new to me; it had never occurred to me before. For one who has only
+been inside a theatre two or three times in his life you seem to have
+elaborated your conclusions pretty quickly. I may infer, then, that
+you're not exactly hankering to go on the stage yourself?"
+
+"_I_?" said Austin, drawing himself up. "I, disguise myself in paint
+and feathers to be a public gazing-stock? Of course you mean it as a
+joke."
+
+"And yet there _are_ gentlemen upon the stage," observed St Aubyn, in
+order to draw him on.
+
+"So much the better for the stage, perhaps; so much the worse for the
+gentlemen," replied Austin haughtily.
+
+A pause. They were now well out in the open country, with the moonlit
+road stretching far in front of them. Then St Aubyn said, in a
+different tone altogether:
+
+"You surprise me beyond measure by what you say. I should have thought
+that a boy of your poetical and artistic temperament would have had
+his imagination somewhat fired, even by the efforts of the poor
+showman whom we've seen to-night. Now I will make you a confession. At
+the bottom of my heart I agree with every word you've said. I may be
+one-sided, prejudiced, what you will, but I cannot help looking upon a
+public performer as I look upon no other human being. And I pity the
+performer, too; he takes himself so seriously, he fails so completely
+to realise what he really is. And the danger of going on the stage is
+that, once an actor, always an actor. Let a man once get bitten by the
+craze, and there's no hope for him. Only the very finest natures can
+escape. The fascination is too strong. He's ruined for any other
+career, however honourable and brilliant."
+
+"Is that so, really?" asked Austin. "I cannot see where all this
+wonderful fascination comes in. I should think it must be a dreadful
+trade myself."
+
+"So it is. Because they don't know it. Because of the very fascination
+which exists, although you can't understand it. Let me tell you a
+story. I knew a man once upon a time--he was a great friend of
+mine--in the navy. Although he was quite young, not more than
+twenty-six, he was already a distinguished officer; he had seen active
+service, been mentioned in despatches, and all the rest of it. He was
+also, curiously enough, a most accomplished botanist, and had written
+papers on the flora of Cambodia and Yucatan that had been accepted
+with marked appreciation by the Linnęan Society. Well--that man, who
+had a brilliant career before him, and would probably have been an
+admiral and a K.C.B. if he had stuck to it, got attacked by the
+theatrical microbe. He chucked everything, and devoted his whole life
+to acting. He is acting still. He cares for nothing else. It is the
+one and only thing in the universe he lives for. The service of his
+country, the pure fame of scientific research and authorship, are as
+nothing to him, the merest dust in the balance, as compared with the
+cheap notoriety of the footlights."
+
+"He must be mad. And is he a success?" asked Austin.
+
+"Judge for yourself--you've just been seeing him," replied St Aubyn.
+"Though, of course, his name is no more Buskin than yours or mine."
+
+"Good Heavens!" cried the boy. "And Mr Buskin was--all that?"
+
+"He was all that," responded the other. "It was rather painful for me
+to see him this evening in his present state, as you may imagine. As
+to his being successful in a monetary sense, I really cannot tell you.
+But, to do him justice, I don't think he cares for money in the very
+least. So long as he makes two ends meet he's quite satisfied. All he
+cares about is painting his face, and dressing himself up, and
+ranting, and getting rounds of applause. And, so far, he certainly has
+his reward. His highest ambition, it is true, he has not yet attained.
+If he could only get his portrait published in a halfpenny paper
+wearing some new-shaped stock or collar that the hosiers were anxious
+to bring into fashion, he would feel that there was little left to
+live for. But that is a distinction reserved for actors who stand at
+the tip-top of their profession, and I'm afraid that poor Buskin has
+but little chance of ever realising his aspiration."
+
+"Are you serious?" said Austin, open-eyed.
+
+"Absolutely," replied St Aubyn. "I know it for a fact."
+
+"Well," exclaimed Austin, fetching a deep breath, "of course if a man
+has to do this sort of thing for a living--if it's his only way of
+making money--I don't think I despise him so much. But if he does it
+because he loves it, loves it better than any other earthly thing,
+then I despise him with all my heart and soul. I cannot conceive a
+more utterly unworthy existence."
+
+"And to such an existence our friend Buskin has sacrificed his whole
+career," replied St Aubyn, gravely.
+
+"What a tragedy," observed the boy.
+
+"Yes; a tragedy," agreed the other. "A truer tragedy than the
+imitation one that he's been acting in, if he could only see it. Well,
+here is my turning. Good-night! I'm very glad we met. Come and see me
+soon. I'm not going away again."
+
+Then Austin, left alone, stumped thoughtfully along the country road.
+The sweet smell of the flowery hedges pervaded the night air, and from
+the fields on either side was heard ever and anon the bleating of some
+wakeful sheep. How peaceful, how reposeful, everything was! How strong
+and solemn the great trees looked, standing here and there in the wide
+meadows under the moonlight and the stars! And what a contrast--oh,
+_what_ a contrast--was the beauty of these calm pastoral scenes to
+the tawdry gorgeousness of those other "scenes" he had been witnessing,
+with their false effects, and coloured fires, and painted, spouting
+occupants! There was no need for him to argue the question any more,
+even with himself. It was as clear as the moon in the steel-blue sky
+above him that the associations of the theatre were totally, hopelessly,
+and radically incompatible with the ideals of the Daphnis life.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter the Eighth
+
+
+It is scarcely necessary to say that Austin knew nothing whatever
+about his aunt's preoccupation, and that even if she had taken him
+into her confidence, he would have paid little or no attention to the
+matter. I am afraid that his ideas about finance were crude in the
+extreme, being limited to a sort of vague impression that capital was
+what you put into a bank, and interest was what you took out; while
+the difference between the par value of a security and the price you
+could get for it on the market, would have been to him a hopelessly
+unfathomable mystery. Aunt Charlotte, therefore, was very wise in
+abstaining from any reference, in conversation, to the great
+enterprise for extracting gold from sea-water, in which she hoped to
+purchase shares; for one could never have told what foolish remark he
+might have made, though it was quite certain that he would have said
+something foolish, and probably very exasperating. So she kept her
+secret locked up in her own breast, and silently counted the hours
+till she could get a reply from her bankers.
+
+Of course Austin had to give his aunt an account, at breakfast-time
+next morning, of the pageant of the previous night; and as he confined
+himself to saying that the scenery and dresses were very fine, and
+that Mr Buskin was quite unrecognisable, and that all the performers
+knew their parts, and that he had walked part of the way home with
+Roger St Aubyn afterwards, the impression left on the good lady's mind
+was that he had enjoyed himself very much. This inevitable duty
+accomplished, Austin straightway banished the whole subject from his
+memory and gave himself up more unreservedly than ever to his garden
+and his thoughts. How fresh and sweet and welcoming the garden looked
+on that calm, lovely summer day! How brightly the morning dewdrops
+twinkled on the leaves, like a sprinkling of liquid diamonds! Every
+flower seemed to greet him with silent laughter: "Aha, you've been
+playing truant, have you? Straying into alien precincts, roving in
+search of something newer and gaudier than anything you have here?
+Sunlight palls on you; gas is so much more festive! The scents of the
+fields are vulgar; finer the hot smells of the playhouse, more meet
+for a cultured nostril!" Of course Austin made all this nonsense up
+himself, but he felt so happy that it amused him to attribute the
+words to the dear flower-friends who were all around him, and to whom
+he could never be really faithless. Faugh! that playhouse! He would
+never enter one again. Be an actor! Lubin was a cleaner gentleman than
+any painted Buskin on the stage. Here, in the clear, pure splendour of
+the sunlit air, the place where he had been last night loomed up in
+his consciousness as something meretricious and unwholesome. Yet he
+was glad he had been, for it made everything so much purer and sweeter
+by contrast. Never had the garden looked more meetly set, never had
+the sun shone more genially, and the air impelled the blood and sent
+it coursing more joyously through his veins, than on that morning of
+the rejuvenescence of all his high ideals.
+
+Then he drew a small blue volume out of his pocket, and lay down on
+the grass with his back against the trunk of an apple-tree. Austin's
+theory--or one of his theories, for he had hundreds--was that one's
+literature should always be in harmony with one's surroundings; and
+so, intending to pass his morning in the garden, he had chosen 'The
+Garden of Cyrus' as an appropriate study. He opened it reverently, for
+it was compact of jewelled thoughts that had been set to words by one
+of the princes of prose. He, the young garden-lover, sat at the feet
+of the great garden-mystic, and began to pore wonderingly over the
+inscrutable secrets of the quincunx. His fine ear was charmed by the
+rhythm of the sumptuous and stately sentences, and his pulses throbbed
+in response to every measured phrase in which the lore of garden
+symmetry and the principles of garden science were set forth. He read
+of the hanging gardens of Babylon, first made by Queen Semiramis,
+third or fourth from Nimrod, and magnificently renewed by
+Nabuchodonosor, according to Josephus: "_from whence, overlooking
+Babylon, and all the region about it, he found no circumscription to
+the eye of his ambition; till, over-delighted with the bravery of this
+Paradise, in his melancholy metamorphosis he found the folly of that
+delight, and a proper punishment in the contrary habitation--in wild
+plantations and wanderings of the fields_." Austin shook his head over
+this; he did not think it possible to love a garden too much, and
+demurred to the idea that such a love deserved any punishment at all.
+But that was theology, and he had no taste for theological
+dissertations. So he dipped into the pages where the quincunx is
+"naturally" considered, and here he admired the encyclopędic learning
+of the author, which appeared to have been as wide as that attributed
+to Solomon; then glanced at the "mystic" part, which he reserved for
+later study. But one paragraph riveted his attention, as he turned
+over the leaves. Here was a mine of gold, a treasure-house of
+suggestiveness and wisdom.
+
+_"Light, that makes things seen, makes some things invisible; were it
+not for darkness and the shadow of the earth, the noblest part of the
+creation had remained unseen, and the stars in heaven as invisible as
+on the fourth day, when they were created above the horizon with the
+sun, or there was not an eye to behold them. The greatest mystery of
+religion is expressed by adumbration, and in the noblest part of
+Jewish types, we find the cherubim shadowing the mercy-seat. Life
+itself is but the shadow of death, and souls departed but the shadows
+of the living. All things fall under this name. The sun itself is but
+the dark simulacrum, and light but the shadow of God."_
+
+Austin delighted in symbolism, and these apparent paradoxes fascinated
+him. But was it all true? He loved to think that life was the shadow,
+and death--what we call death--the substance; he had always felt that
+the reality of everything was to be sought for on the other side. But
+he could not see why departed souls should be regarded as the shadows
+of living men. Rather it was we who lived in a vain show, and would
+continue to do so until the spirit, the true substance of us, should
+be set free. Well, whatever the truth of it might be, it was all a
+charming puzzle, and we should learn all about it some day, and
+meantime he had been furnished with an entirely new idea--the
+revealing power of darkness. He loved the light because it was
+beautiful, and now he loved the darkness because it was mysterious,
+and held such wondrous secrets in its folds. He had never been afraid
+of the dark even when a child. It had always been associated in his
+mind with sleep and dreams, and he was very fond of both.
+
+Of course it would have been no use attempting to instruct Lubin in
+the cryptic properties of the quincunx, or any other theories of
+garden arrangement propounded by Sir Thomas Browne. And Aunt Charlotte
+would have proved a still more hopeless subject. She had no head for
+mysticism, poor dear, and Austin often told her she was one of the
+greatest sceptics he had ever known. "You believe in nothing but your
+dinner, your bank-book, and your Bible, auntie; I declare it's
+perfectly shocking," he said to her one day. "And a very good creed
+too," she replied; "it wouldn't be a bad thing for you either, if you
+had a little more sound religion and practical common-sense." Just now
+it was the bank-book phase that was uppermost, and when a letter was
+brought in to her at breakfast-time next morning bearing the London
+postmark, she clutched it eagerly and opened it with evident
+anticipation. But as she read the contents her brow clouded and her
+face fell. Clearly she was disappointed and surprised, but made no
+remark to Austin.
+
+A couple of days passed without anything of importance happening,
+except that she wrote again to her bankers and looked out anxiously
+for their reply. But none came, and she grew irritable and disturbed.
+It really was most extraordinary; she had always thought that bankers
+were so shrewd, and prompt, and business-like, and yet here they were,
+treating her as though she were of no account whatever, and actually
+leaving her second letter without an answer. The affair was pressing,
+too. There was certain to be a perfect rush for shares in so
+exceptional an undertaking, and when once they were all allotted, of
+course up they'd go to an enormous premium, and all her chances of
+investing would be lost. It was too exasperating for words. What were
+the men thinking of? Why were they so neglectful of her interests? She
+had always been an excellent customer, and had never overdrawn her
+account--never. And now they were leaving her in the lurch. However,
+she determined she would not submit. She fumed in silence for yet
+another day, and then, at dinner in the evening, came out with a most
+unexpected declaration.
+
+"Austin," she said suddenly, after a long pause, "I'm going to town
+to-morrow by the 10.27 train."
+
+Austin was peeling an apple, intent on seeing how long a strip he
+could pare off without breaking it. "Won't it be very hot?" he asked
+absently.
+
+"Hot? Well, perhaps it will," said Aunt Charlotte, rather nettled at
+his indifference. "But I can't help that. The fact is that my bankers
+are giving me a great deal of annoyance just now, and I'm going up to
+London to have it out with them."
+
+"Really?" replied Austin, politely interested. "I hope they haven't
+been embezzling your money?"
+
+"Do, for goodness sake, pull yourself together and try not to talk
+nonsense for once in your life," retorted Aunt Charlotte, tartly.
+"Embezzling my money, indeed!--I should just like to catch them at it.
+Of course it's nothing of the kind. But I've lately given them certain
+instructions which they virtually refuse to carry out, and in a case
+of that sort it's always better to discuss the affair in person."
+
+"I see," said Austin, beginning to munch his apple. "I wonder why they
+won't do what you want them to. Isn't it very rude of them?"
+
+"Rude? Well--I can't say they've been exactly rude," acknowledged Aunt
+Charlotte. "But they're making all sorts of difficulties, and hint
+that they know better than I do----"
+
+"Which is absurd, of course," put in Austin, with his very simplest
+air.
+
+Aunt Charlotte glanced sharply at him, but there was not the faintest
+trace of irony in his expression. "I fancy they don't quite understand
+the question," she said, "so I intend to run up and explain it to
+them. One can do these things so much better in conversation than by
+writing. I shall get lunch in town, and then there'll be time for me
+to do a little shopping, perhaps, before catching the 4.40 back. That
+will get me here in ample time for dinner at half-past seven."
+
+"And what train do you go by in the morning?" enquired Austin.
+
+"The 10.27," replied his aunt. "I shall take the omnibus from the
+Peacock that starts at a quarter to ten."
+
+It cannot be said that Aunt Charlotte's projected trip to town
+interested Austin much. Business of any sort was a profound mystery to
+him, and with regard to speculations, investments, and such-like
+matters his mind was a perfect blank. He had a vague notion that
+perhaps Aunt Charlotte wanted some money, and that the bankers had
+refused to give her any; though whether she had a right to demand it,
+or they a right to withhold it, he had no more idea than the man in
+the moon. So he dismissed the whole affair from his mind as something
+with which he had nothing whatever to do, and spent the evening in the
+company of Sir Thomas Browne. At ten o'clock he went forth into the
+garden, and became absorbed in an attempt to identify the different
+colours of the flowers in the moonlight. It proved a fascinating
+occupation, for the pale, cold brightness imparted hues to the
+flowers that were strange and weird, so that it was a matter of real
+difficulty to say what the colours actually were. Then he wondered how
+it was he had never before discovered what an inspiring thing it was
+to wander all alone at night about a garden illuminated by a brilliant
+moon. The shadows were so black and secret, the radiance so spiritual,
+the shapes so startlingly fantastic, it was like being in another
+world. And then the silence. That was the most compelling charm of
+all. It helped him to feel. And he felt that he was not alone, though
+he heard nothing and saw nobody. The garden was full of
+flower-fairies, invisible elves and sprites whose mission it was to
+guard the flowers, and who loved the moonlight more than they loved
+the day; dainty, diaphanous creatures who were wafted across the
+smooth lawns on summer breezes, and washed the thirsty petals and
+drooping leaves in the dew which the clear blue air of night diffuses
+so abundantly. He had a sense--almost a knowledge--that the garden he
+was in was a dream-garden, a sort of panoramic phantasm, and that the
+real garden lay _behind_ it somehow, hidden from material eyesight,
+eluding material touch, but there all the same, unearthly and elysian,
+more beautiful a great deal than the one in which he was standing,
+and teeming with gracious presences. It seemed a revelation to him,
+this sudden perception of a real world underlying the apparent one;
+and for nearly half-an-hour he sauntered to and fro in a reverie,
+leaning sometimes against the old stone fountain, and sometimes
+watching the pale clouds as they began flitting together as though to
+keep a rendezvous in space, until they concealed the face of the moon
+entirely from view and left the garden dark.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Whether Austin had strange dreams that night or no, certain it is that
+when he came down to breakfast in the morning his face was set and
+there was a look of unusual preoccupation in his eyes. Aunt Charlotte,
+being considerably preoccupied with her own affairs, noticed nothing,
+and busied herself with the teapot as was her wont. Austin chipped his
+egg in silence, while his auntie, helping herself generously to fried
+bacon, made some remark about the desirability of laying a good
+foundation in view of her journey up to town. Thereupon Austin said:
+
+"Is it absolutely necessary for you to go to town this morning,
+auntie?"
+
+"Of course it is," replied Aunt Charlotte, munching heartily. "I told
+you so last night."
+
+"Why can't you go to-morrow instead?" asked Austin, tentatively.
+"Would it be too late?"
+
+"I've arranged to go _to-day_," said Aunt Charlotte, with decision.
+"The sooner this business is settled the better. What should I gain by
+waiting?"
+
+"I don't see any particular hurry," said Austin. "It's only giving
+yourself trouble for nothing. If I were you I'd write what you want to
+say, and then go up to see these people if their answer was still
+unsatisfactory."
+
+"But you see you don't know anything about the matter," retorted Aunt
+Charlotte, beginning to wonder at the boy's persistency. "What in the
+world makes you want me not to go?"
+
+"Oh--I only thought it might prove unnecessary," replied he, rather
+lamely. "It's going to be very hot, and after all----"
+
+"It'll be quite as hot to-morrow," said Aunt Charlotte, as she stirred
+her tea.
+
+"Well, why not go by a later train, then?" suggested Austin. "Look
+here; go by the 4.20 this afternoon, and take me with you. We'll go to
+a nice quiet hotel, and have a beautiful dinner, and see some of the
+sights, and then you'd have all to-morrow morning to do your business
+with these horrid old gentlemen at the bank. Now don't you think
+that's rather a good idea?"
+
+"I--dare--_say_!" cried Aunt Charlotte, in her highest key. "So that's
+what you're aiming at, is it? Oh, you're a cunning boy, my dear, if
+ever there was one. But your little project would cost at least four
+times as much as I propose to spend to-day, and for that reason alone
+it's not to be thought of for a moment. What in creation ever put such
+an idea into your head?"
+
+"I don't want to come with you in the very least, really--especially
+as you don't want to have me," replied Austin. "But I do wish you'd
+give up your idea of going to London by the 10.27 this morning. If
+you'll only do that I don't care for anything else. Take the same
+train to-morrow, if you like, but not to-day. That's all I have to ask
+you."
+
+"But why--why--why?" demanded Aunt Charlotte, in not unnatural
+amazement.
+
+"I can't tell you why," said Austin. "It wouldn't be any use."
+
+"You are the very absurdest child I ever came across!" exclaimed Aunt
+Charlotte. "I've often had to put up with your fancies, but never with
+any so outrageously unreasonable as this. Now not another word. I'm
+going to travel by the 10.27 this morning, and if you like to come and
+see me off, you're at perfect liberty to do so."
+
+Austin made no reply, and breakfast proceeded in silence. Then he
+glanced at the clock, and saw that it was ten minutes to nine. As soon
+as the meal was finished, he rose from his chair and moved slowly
+towards the door.
+
+"You still intend to go by the----"
+
+"Hold your tongue!" snapped his aunt. Whereupon Austin left the room
+without another word. Then he stumped his way upstairs and was not
+seen again. Aunt Charlotte, meanwhile, began preparations for her
+journey. It was now close on nine o'clock, and she had to order the
+dinner, see that she had sufficient money for her expenses, choose a
+bonnet for travelling in, and look after half-a-dozen other important
+trifles before setting out to catch the railway omnibus at the
+Peacock. At last Austin, waiting behind a door, heard her enter her
+room to dress. Very gently he stole out with something in his pocket,
+and two minutes afterwards was standing on the lawn with his straw
+hat tilted over his eyes, chattering with Lubin about tubers, corms,
+and bulbs, potting and bedding-out, and other pleasant mysteries of
+garden-craft.
+
+It was not very long, however, before a singular bustle was heard on
+the first floor. Maids ran scuttling up and down stairs, voices
+resounded through the open windows, and then came the sound of thumps,
+as of somebody vigorously battering at a door. Austin turned round,
+and began walking towards the house. He was met by old Martha, who
+seemed to be in a tremendous fluster about something.
+
+"Master Austin! Master Austin! Oh, here you are. What in the world is
+to be done? Your aunt's locked up in her bedroom, and nobody can find
+the key!"
+
+"Is that all?" answered Austin calmly. "Then she'll have to stay there
+till it turns up, evidently."
+
+"But the mistress says she's sure you know all about it," panted
+Martha, in great distress, "and she's in a most terrible taking. Now,
+Master Austin, I do beseech you--'tain't no laughing matter, for the
+omnibus starts in a few minutes, and your aunt----"
+
+A terrific banging was now heard from the locked-up room, accompanied
+by shouts and cries from the imprisoned lady. Austin advanced to the
+foot of the staircase, looking rather white, and listened.
+
+"Austin! Austin! Where are you? What have you done with the key?"
+shrieked Aunt Charlotte, in a tempest of despair and rage. "Let me
+out, I say, let me out at once! It's you who have done this, I know it
+is. Open the door, or I shall lose the train!" A fresh bombardment
+from the lady's fists here followed. "Where _is_ Austin, Martha? Can't
+you find him anywhere?"
+
+"He's here, ma'am," cried back Martha, in quavering tones, "but he
+don't seem as if----"
+
+"Call Lubin with a ladder!" interrupted the desperate lady. "I must
+catch the omnibus, if I break all my bones in getting out of the
+window. Where's Lubin? Isn't there a ladder tall enough? Austin!
+Austin! Where _is_ Austin, and why doesn't he open the door?"
+
+"He was here not a moment ago," replied Martha, tremulously, "but
+where he's got to now, or where he's put the key, the Lord only knows.
+Perhaps he's gone to see about a ladder. Lubin! have you seen Master
+Austin anywhere?"
+
+But Austin, unobserved in the confusion, having stealthily glanced at
+his watch, had slipped out at the garden gate, and now stood looking
+down the road. The omnibus had just started, and for about thirty
+seconds he remained watching it as it lumbered and clattered along in
+a cloud of dust until it was lost to view. Then he went back to the
+house, and handed the key to Martha. "There's the key," he said. "Tell
+Aunt Charlotte I'm going for a walk, and I'll let her know all about
+it when I come back to lunch."
+
+He was out of the house in a twinkling, stumping along as hard as he
+could go until he reached the moors. He had played a daring game, but
+felt quite satisfied with the result so far, as he knew that there
+were no cabs to be had in the village, and that, even if his aunt were
+mad enough to brave a two-mile tramp along the broiling road, she
+could not possibly reach the station in time to catch the train. Now
+that the deed was done, a sensation of fatigue stole over him, and
+with a sigh of relief he flung himself down on the soft tussocks of
+purple heather, and covered his eyes with his straw hat. For
+half-an-hour he lay there motionless and deep in thought. No suspicion
+that he had acted wrongly disturbed him for a moment. Of course it was
+a pity that poor Aunt Charlotte should have been disappointed, and
+certainly that locking of her up in her bedroom had been a very
+painful duty; but if it was necessary--as it was--what else could he
+have done? No doubt she would forgive him when she understood his
+reasons; and, after all, it was really her own fault for having been
+so obstinate.
+
+It was now half-past ten, and Austin had no intention of getting home
+before it was time for lunch. He had thus the whole morning before
+him, and he spent it rambling about the moors, struggling up hills,
+revelling in the heat tempered by cool grass, and wondering how
+Daphnis would have behaved if he had had an unreasonable old aunt to
+take care of; for Aunt Charlotte was really a great responsibility,
+and dreadfully difficult to manage. Then, coming on a deep, clear
+rivulet which ran between two meadows, he yielded to a sudden impulse,
+and, stripping himself to the skin, plunged into it, wooden leg and
+all. There he floated luxuriously for a while, the sun blazing
+fiercely overhead, and the cool waters playing over his white body.
+When he emerged, covered with sparkling drops, he remembered that he
+had no towel; so there was nothing to be done but to stagger about and
+disport himself like a naked faun among the buttercups and bulrushes,
+until the sun had dried him. As soon as he was dressed, he looked at
+his watch, and found that it was nearly twelve. Then he consulted a
+little time-table, and made a rapid calculation. It would take him
+just half-an-hour to reach the station from where he was, and
+therefore it was high time to start.
+
+Off he set, and arrived there, as it seemed, at a moment of great
+excitement. The station-master was on the platform, in the act of
+posting up a telegram, around which a number of people--travellers,
+porters, and errand-boys--were crowding eagerly. Austin joined the
+group, and read the message carefully and deliberately twice through.
+He asked no questions, but listened to the remarks he heard around
+him. Then he passed rapidly through the booking-office, and struck out
+on his way home.
+
+Meantime Aunt Charlotte had passed the hours fuming. To her, Austin's
+extraordinary behaviour was absolutely unaccountable, except on the
+hypothesis that he was not responsible for his actions. Her rage was
+beyond control. That the boy should have had the unheard-of audacity
+to lock her up in her own bedroom in order to gratify some mad whim,
+and so have upset her plans for the entire day, was an outrage
+impossible to forgive. If he was not out of his mind he ought to be,
+for there was no other excuse for him that she could think of. What
+_was_ to be done with such a boy? He was too old to be whipped, too
+young to be sent to college, too delicate to be placed under
+restraint. But she would let him feel the full force of her
+indignation when he returned. He should apologise, he should eat his
+fill of humble pie, he should beg for mercy on his knees. She had put
+up with a good deal, but this last escapade was not to be overlooked.
+Even Martha, when she came in to lay the cloth for lunch, could think
+of nothing to say in extenuation of his offence.
+
+It was certainly two hours before her excitement allowed her to sit
+down and begin to knit. Even then--and naturally enough--while she was
+musing the fire burned. It never occurred to her to reflect that there
+must have been some _reason_ for Austin's extraordinary prank, and
+that the first thing to be done was to discover what that was. She was
+too angry to take this obvious fact into consideration, and so, when
+Austin at last appeared, his eyes full of suppressed excitement and
+his forehead bathed in sweat, her pent-up wrath found vent and she
+flamed out at him in a rage.
+
+For some minutes Austin stood quite silent while she stormed. If it
+made her feel better to storm, well, let her do it. Half-a-dozen times
+she demanded what he meant by his behaviour, and how he dared, and
+whether he had suddenly gone crazy, and then went on storming without
+waiting for his reply. Once, when he opened his mouth to speak, she
+sharply told him to shut it again. It was clear, even to Martha, that
+if Austin's conduct had been inexplicable, his aunt's was utterly
+absurd.
+
+"You've asked me several times what made me lock you up this morning,"
+he said at last, when she paused for breath, "and each time you've
+refused to let me answer you. That's not very reasonable, you know.
+Now I've got something to tell you, but if you want to do any more
+raving please do it at once and get it over, and then I'll have my
+turn."
+
+"Will you go to your room this instant and stay there?" cried Aunt
+Charlotte, pointing to the door.
+
+"Certainly not," replied Austin. "And now I'll ask you to listen to me
+for a minute, for you must be tired with all that shouting." Aunt
+Charlotte took up her work with trembling hands, ostentatiously
+pretending that Austin was no longer in the room. "You wanted to go to
+town by the 10.27 train, and I took forcible measures to prevent you.
+It may therefore interest you to know what became of that train, and
+what you have escaped. There's been a frightful collision. The down
+express ran into it at the curve just beyond the signal station at
+Colebridge Junction, owing to some mistake of the signalman, I
+believe. Anyhow, in the train you wanted to go by there were five
+people killed outright, and fourteen others crunched up and mangled in
+a most inartistic style. And if I hadn't locked you up as I did you'd
+probably be in the County Hospital at this moment in an exceedingly
+unpleasant predicament."
+
+Dead silence. Then, "The Lord preserve us!" ejaculated Martha, who
+stood by, in awe-struck tones. Aunt Charlotte slowly raised her eyes
+from her knitting, and fixed them on Austin's face. "A collision!" she
+exclaimed. "Why, what do you know about it?"
+
+"I called at the station and read the telegram myself. There was a
+crowd of people on the platform all discussing it," returned Austin,
+briefly.
+
+"Your life has been saved by a miracle, ma'am, and it's Master Austin
+as you've got to thank for it," cried Martha, her eyes full of tears,
+"though how it came about, the good Lord only knows," she added,
+turning as though for enlightenment to the boy himself.
+
+Then Aunt Charlotte sank back in her chair, looking very white. "I
+don't understand it, Austin," she said tremulously. "It's terrible to
+think of such a catastrophe, and all those poor creatures being
+killed--and it's most providential, of course, that--that--I was kept
+from going. But all that doesn't explain what share _you_ had in it.
+You don't expect me to believe that you knew what was going to happen
+and kept me at home on purpose? The very idea is ridiculous. It was a
+coincidence, of course, though a most remarkable one, I must admit. A
+collision! Thank God for all His mercies!"
+
+"If it was only a coincidence I don't exactly see what there is to
+thank God for," remarked Austin, very drily.
+
+"'Twarn't no coincidence," averred old Martha, solemnly. "On that I'll
+stake my soul."
+
+"What was it, then?" retorted Aunt Charlotte. "Anyhow, Austin, there
+seems no doubt that, under God, it was what you did that saved my life
+to-day. But what made you do it? How could you possibly tell that you
+were preventing me from getting killed?"
+
+"I should have told you all that long ago if you weren't so hopelessly
+illogical, auntie," he replied. "But you never can see the connection
+between cause and effect. That was the reason I couldn't explain why I
+didn't want you to go, even before I locked you up. It wouldn't have
+been any use. You'd have simply laughed in my face, and have gone to
+London all the same."
+
+"I don't know what you mean. Don't beat about the bush, Austin, and
+worry my head with all this vague talk about cause and effect and such
+like. What has my being illogical got to do with it?"
+
+"Well--if you want me to explain, of course I'll do so; but I don't
+suppose it'll make any difference," said Austin. "Some time ago, I
+told you that just as I was going to get over a stile, I felt
+something push me back, and so I came home another way. You'll
+recollect that if I _had_ got over that stile I should have come
+across a rabid dog where there was no possibility of escape, and no
+doubt have got frightfully bitten. But when I told you how I was
+prevented, you scoffed at the whole story, and said that I was
+superstitious.--Stop a minute! I haven't finished yet.--Then, only
+the other day, my life was saved from all those bricks tumbling on me
+when I was asleep by just the same sort of interposition. Again you
+jeered at me, and when I told you I had heard raps in the wall you
+ridiculed the idea, and--do you remember?--the words were scarcely out
+of your mouth when you heard the raps yourself, and then you got
+nearly beside yourself with fright and anger, and said it was the
+devil. And now for the third time the same sort of thing has happened.
+What is the good of telling you about it? You'd only scoff and jeer as
+you did before, although on this occasion it is your own life that has
+been saved, not mine."
+
+Certainly Master Austin was having his revenge on Aunt Charlotte for
+the torrent of abuse she had poured upon him a few minutes previously.
+For a short time she sat quite still, the picture of perplexity and
+irritation. The facts as Austin stated them were incontrovertible, and
+yet--probably because she lacked the instinct of causality--she could
+not accept his explanation of them. There are some people in the world
+who are constituted like this. They create a mental atmosphere around
+them which is as impenetrable to conviction in certain matters as a
+brick wall is to a parched pea. They will fall back on any loophole
+of a theory, however imbecile and far-fetched, rather than accept some
+simple and self-evident solution that they start out by regarding as
+impossible. And Aunt Charlotte was a very apposite specimen of the
+class.
+
+"I'll not scoff, at anyrate, Austin," she said at last. "I cannot
+forget--and I never will forget--that it's to you I owe it that I am
+sitting here this moment. Tell me what moved you to act as you did
+this morning. I may not share your belief, but I will not ridicule it.
+Of that you may rest assured."
+
+"It is all simple enough," he said. "I had a horrid dream just before
+I woke--nothing circumstantial, but a general sense of the most awful
+confusion, and disaster, and terror. I fancy it was that that woke me.
+And as I was opening my eyes, a voice said to me quite distinctly, as
+distinctly as I am speaking now, '_Keep auntie at home this morning._'
+The words dinned themselves into my ears all the time I was dressing,
+and then I acted upon them as you know. But what would have been the
+good of telling you? None whatever. So I tried persuasion, and when
+that failed I simply locked you in."
+
+Now there are two sorts of superstition, each of which is the very
+antithesis of the other. The victim of one believes all kinds of
+absurdities blindfold, oblivious of evidence or causality. The
+upsetting of a salt-cellar or the fall of a mirror is to him a
+harbinger of disaster, entirely irrespective of any possible
+connection between the cause and the effect. A bit of stalk floating
+on his tea presages an unlooked-for visitor, and the guttering of a
+candle is a sign of impending death. All this he believes firmly, and
+acts upon, although he would candidly acknowledge his inability to
+explain the principle supposed to underlie the sequence between the
+omen and its fulfilment. It is the irrationality of the belief that
+constitutes its superstitious character, the contented acquiescence in
+some inconceivable and impossible law, whether physical or
+metaphysical, in virtue of which the predicted event is expected to
+follow the wholly unrelated augury. The other sort of superstition is
+that of which, as we have seen, Aunt Charlotte was an exemplification.
+Here, again, there is a splendid disregard of evidence, testimony, and
+causal laws. But it takes the form of scepticism, and a scepticism so
+blindly partial as to sink into the most abject credulity. The wildest
+sophistries are dragged in to account for an unfamiliar happening, and
+scientific students are accused, now of idiocy, now of fraud, rather
+than the fact should be confessed that our knowledge of the universe
+is limited. If Aunt Charlotte, for instance, had seen a table rise
+into the air of itself in broad daylight she would have said, "I
+certainly saw it happen, and as an honest woman I can't deny it; but I
+don't believe it for all that." The succession of abnormal
+occurrences, however, of which Austin had been the subject, had begun
+to undermine her dogmatism; and this last event, the interposition of
+something, she knew not what, to save her from a horrible accident,
+appealed to her very strongly. There was a pathos, too, about the part
+played in it by Austin which touched her to the quick, and she
+reproached herself keenly for the injustice with which she had treated
+him in her unreasoning anger.
+
+She felt a great lump come in her throat as he ceased speaking, and
+for a moment or two found it impossible to answer. "A voice!" she
+uttered at last. "What sort of a voice, Austin?"
+
+"It sounded like a woman's," he replied.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter the Ninth
+
+
+From this time forward Austin seemed to live a double life. Perhaps it
+would be more accurate to say that he inhabited two worlds. Around him
+the flowers bloomed in the garden, Lubin worked and whistled, Aunt
+Charlotte bustled about her duties, and everything went on as usual.
+But beyond and behind all this there was something else. The dreams
+and reveries that had hitherto invaded him became felt realities; he
+no longer had any doubt that he was encircled by beings whom he could
+not see, but who were none the less actual for that. And the curious
+feature of the case was that it all seemed perfectly natural to him,
+and so far from feeling frightened, or suffering from any sense of
+being haunted, he experienced a sort of pleasure in it, a grateful
+consciousness of friendly though unseen companionship that heightened
+his joy in life. Who these invisible guardians could be, of course he
+had no idea; it was enough for him just then to know that they were
+there, and that, by their timely intervention on no fewer than three
+ocasions, they had given ample proof that they both loved and trusted
+him.
+
+Aunt Charlotte, on her side, could not but acknowledge that there must
+be "something in it," as she said; it could not all be nothing but
+Austin's fancy. She remembered that people who wrote hymns and poems
+talked sometimes of guardian angels, and it was possible that a belief
+in guardian angels might be orthodox. It was even conceivable that it
+was a benevolent functionary of this class who had let St Peter out of
+prison; and if the institution had existed then, why, there was
+nothing unreasonable in the conclusion that it might possibly exist
+now. She revolved these questionings in her mind during her journey up
+to town the day after Austin's escapade, when, as she told herself,
+she would be perfectly safe from accident; for it was not in the
+nature of things that two collisions should happen so close together.
+And she had reason to be glad she went, seeing that her bankers
+received her with perfect cordiality, and convinced her that she would
+certainly lose all her money if she insisted on investing it in any
+such wild-cat scheme as the one she had set her heart upon. They
+suggested, instead, certain foreign bonds on which she would receive a
+perfectly safe four-and-a-half per cent.; and so pleased was she at
+having been preserved from risking her two thousand pounds that she
+not only indulged in a modest half-bottle of Beaune with her lunch,
+but bought a pretty pencil-case for Austin. She determined at the same
+time to let the vicar know what her bankers had said about the
+investment he had urged upon her, and promised herself that she would
+take the opportunity--of course without mentioning names--of
+consulting him about the orthodoxy of guardian angels. He might be
+expected to prove a safer guide in such a matter as that than in
+questions of high finance.
+
+A few days afterwards, Austin went to call upon his friend St Aubyn.
+He longed to see the beautiful gardens at the Court again, now that he
+had obtained a glimpse into the mystic side of garden-craft through
+the writings of Sir Thomas Browne; he felt intensely curious to pay
+another visit to the haunted Banqueting Hall, which had a special
+fascination for him since his own abnormal experiences; and he felt
+that a confidential talk with Mr St Aubyn himself would do him no end
+of good. _There_ was a man, at anyrate, to whom he could open his
+heart; a man of high culture, wide sympathies, and great knowledge of
+life. He was shown into the big, dim drawing-room, where a faint
+perfume of lavender seemed to hang about, imparting to him a sense of
+quiet and repose that was very soothing; through the half-closed
+shutters the colours of the garden again gleamed brilliantly in the
+sunshine, and there was heard a faint liquid sound, as of the plashing
+of an adjacent fountain. St Aubyn entered in a few minutes, and
+greeted him very cordially.
+
+"Well, and what have you been about?" he said, after a few
+preliminaries had been exchanged. "Reading and dreaming, I suppose, as
+usual?"
+
+"I'm afraid I've done both, and very little else to speak of," replied
+Austin, laughing. "I'm always reading, off and on, without much
+system, you know. But if I'm rather desultory I always enjoy reading,
+because books give me so many new ideas, and it's delightful to have
+always something fresh to think about."
+
+"Yes, yes," rejoined St Aubyn. "I don't know what you read, of course,
+but it's clear you don't read many novels."
+
+"Novels!" exclaimed Austin scornfully. "How _can_ people read novels,
+when there are so many other books in the world?"
+
+"Well, what have you been reading, then?" enquired St Aubyn, lighting
+a cigarette.
+
+"I've been dipping into one of the most puzzling, fascinating,
+bothering books I ever came across," replied Austin, following his
+example. "I mean 'The Garden of Cyrus,' by Sir Thomas Browne. I can't
+follow him a bit, and yet, somehow, he drags me along with him. All
+that about the quincunx is most baffling. He seems to begin with the
+arrangement of a garden, and then to lead one on through a maze of
+arithmetical progressions till one finds oneself landed in a mystical
+philosophy of life and creation, and I don't know what all. If I could
+only understand him better I should probably enjoy him more."
+
+St Aubyn smiled. "Well, of course, it all sounds very fanciful," he
+said. "One must read him as one reads all those curious old medięval
+authors, who are full of pseudo-science and theories based on fables.
+His great charm to me is his style, which is singularly rich and
+chaste. But I've no doubt whatever, myself, that a great deal of this
+ancient lore, which we have been accustomed to regard as so much
+sciolism, not to say pure nonsense, had a germ of truth in it, and
+that truth I believe we are gradually beginning to re-discover. You
+see, one mustn't always take the formulas employed by these old
+writers in their literal sense. Many were purely symbolic, and
+concealed occult meanings. Now the philosopher's stone, to take a
+familiar example, was not a stone at all. The word was no more than a
+symbol, and covered a search for one of the great secrets--the origin
+of life, or the nature of matter, or the attainment of immortality.
+They seem to us to have taken a very roundabout route in their
+investigations, but their object was often very much the same as that
+of every chemist and biologist of the present day. Take alchemy,
+again, which is supposed by people generally to have been nothing but
+an attempt to turn the baser metals into gold. According to the
+Rosicrucians, who may be supposed to have known something about it,
+alchemy was the science of guiding the invisible processes of life for
+the purpose of attaining certain results in both the physical and
+spiritual spheres. Chemistry deals with inanimate substances, alchemy
+with the principle of life itself. The highest aim of the alchemist
+was the evolution of a divine and immortal being out of a mortal and
+semi-animal man; the development, in short, of all those hidden
+properties which lie latent in man's nature."
+
+"That is a very valuable thing to know," observed Austin, greatly
+interested. "Every day I live, the more I realise the truth that
+everything we see is on the surface, and that there's a whole world of
+machinery--I can't think of a better term--working at the back of it.
+It's like a clock. The face and the hands are all we see, but it's the
+works inside that we can't see that make it go."
+
+"Excellently put," returned St Aubyn. "There are influences and forces
+all round us of which we only notice the effects, and how far these
+forces are intelligent is a very curious question. I see nothing
+unscientific myself in the hypothesis that they may be."
+
+"I wonder!" exclaimed Austin. "Do you know--I have had some very funny
+experiences myself lately, that can't be explained on any other ground
+that I can think of. The first occurred the very day that I was here
+first. Would you mind if I told you about them? Would it bother you
+very much?"
+
+"On the contrary! I shall listen with the greatest interest, I assure
+you," replied St Aubyn, with a smile.
+
+So Austin began at the beginning, and gave his friend a clear, full,
+circumstantial account of the three occurrences which had made so deep
+an impression on his mind. The story of the bricks riveted the
+attention of his hearer, who questioned him closely about a number of
+significant details; then he went on to the incident of Aunt
+Charlotte's proposed journey, the mysterious warning he had received,
+and the desperate measures to which he had been driven to keep her
+from going out. St Aubyn shouted with laughter as Austin gravely
+described how he had locked her up in her bedroom, and how lustily she
+had banged and screamed to be released before it was too late to catch
+the train. The sequel seemed to astonish him, and he fell into a
+musing silence.
+
+"You tell your story remarkably well," he said at last, "and I don't
+mind confessing that the abnormal character of the whole thing strikes
+me as beyond question. Any attempt to explain such sequences by the
+worn-out old theory of imagination or coincidence would be manifestly
+futile. Such coincidences, like miracles, do not happen. Many things
+have happened that people call miracles, by which they mean a sort of
+divine conjuring-trick that is performed or brought about by violating
+or annihilating natural laws. That, of course, is absurd. Nothing
+happens but in virtue of natural laws, laws just as natural and
+inherent in the universal scheme of things as gravitation or the
+precession of the equinoxes, _only_ outside our extremely limited
+knowledge of the universe. That, under certain conditions, such
+interpositions affecting physical organisms may be produced by
+invisible agencies is, in my view, eminently conceivable. It is purely
+a question of evidence."
+
+"I am so glad you think so," replied Austin. "It makes things so much
+easier. And then it's so pleasant to think that one is really
+surrounded by unseen friends who are looking after one. I was never a
+bit afraid of ghosts, and _my_ ghosts are apparently a charming set of
+people. I wonder who they are?"
+
+"Ah, that is more than I can tell you," answered the other, laughing.
+"I'm not so favoured as you appear to be. But come, let's have a
+stroll round the garden. You don't mind the sun, I know."
+
+"And the Banqueting Hall! I insist on the Banqueting Hall," added
+Austin, who now began to feel quite at home with his genial host. "I
+long to be in there again. I'm sure it's full of wonders, if one only
+had eyes to see."
+
+"By all means," smiled St Aubyn, as they went out. "You shall take
+your fill of them, never fear. Don't forget your hat--the sun's pretty
+powerful to-day. Doesn't the lawn look well?"
+
+"Lovely," assented Austin, admiringly. "Like a great green velvet
+carpet. How do you manage to keep it in such good condition?"
+
+"By plenty of rolling and watering. That's the only secret. Let's walk
+this way, down to the pool where the lilies are. There'll be plenty of
+shade under the trees. Do you see that old statue, just over there by
+the wall? That's a great favourite of mine. It always looks to me like
+a petrified youth, a being that will never grow old in soul although
+its form has existed for centuries, and the stone it's made of for
+thousands of thousands of years. That's an illustration of the saying
+that whom the gods love die young. Not that they die in youth, but
+that they never really grow old, let them live for eighty years or
+more, as we count time. They remain always young in soul, however long
+their bodies last. Perhaps that's what Isaiah had in his mind when he
+talked about a child dying at a hundred. _You'll_ never grow old, you
+know."
+
+"Shan't I? How nice," exclaimed Austin, brightly. "I certainly can't
+fancy myself old a bit. How funny it would be if one always preserved
+one's youthful shape and features, while one's skin got all cracked
+and rough and wrinkled like that old youth over there! The effect
+would be rather ghastly. But I don't want to grow old in any sense. I
+should like to remain a boy all my life. I suppose that in the other
+world people may live a thousand years and always remain eighteen. I'm
+nearly eighteen myself."
+
+St Aubyn could not help casting a glance of keen interest at the boy
+as he said this. A presentiment shot through him that that might
+actually be the destiny of the pure-souled, enthusiastic young
+creature who had just uttered the suggestive words. Austin's long,
+pale face, slender form, and bright, far-away expression carried with
+them the idea that perhaps he might not stay very long where he was. A
+sudden pang made itself felt as the possibility occurred to him, and
+he rapidly changed the subject.
+
+"I don't think I'd let my thoughts run too much on mystical questions
+if I were you, Austin," he said. "I mean in connection with these
+curious experiences you've been having. You have enough joy in life,
+joy from the world around you, to dispense with speculations about the
+unseen. All that sort of thing is premature, and if it takes too great
+a hold upon you its tendency will be to make you morbid."
+
+"It hasn't done so yet," replied Austin. "As far as I can judge of the
+other world, it seems quite as joyous and lively as this one, and in
+reality I expect it's a good deal more so. I don't hanker after
+experiences, as you call them, but hitherto whenever they've come
+they've always been helpful and agreeable--never terrifying or ghastly
+in the very least. And I don't lay myself out for them, you know. I
+just feel that there _is_ something near me that I can't see, and that
+it's pleasant and friendly. The thought is a happy one, and makes me
+enjoy the world I live in all the more."
+
+"Well, then, let us enjoy it together, and talk about orchids and
+tulips, and things we can see and handle," said St Aubyn, cheerfully.
+"How's Aunt Charlotte, for instance? Has she quite forgiven you for
+having saved her life?"
+
+"Oh, quite, I think," replied Austin, his eyes twinkling. "I believe
+she's almost grateful, for when she came back from town she presented
+me with a gold pencil-case. She doesn't often do that sort of thing,
+poor dear, and I'm sure she meant it as a sign of reconciliation. It's
+pretty, isn't it?" he added, taking it out of his pocket.
+
+"Charming," assented St Aubyn. "That bit of lapis lazuli at the top,
+with a curious design upon it, is by way of being an amulet, I
+suppose?"
+
+"H'm! I don't believe in amulets, you know," said Austin, nodding
+sagely. "I consider that all nonsense."
+
+"Yet there's no doubt that some amulets have influence," remarked St
+Aubyn. "If a piece of amber, for example, has been highly magnetised
+by a 'sensitive,' as very psychic persons are called, it is quite
+possible that, worn next the skin, a certain amount of magnetic fluid
+may be transmitted to the wearer, producing a distinct effect upon his
+vitality. There's nothing occult about that. The most thoroughgoing
+materialist might acknowledge it. But when it comes to spells, and all
+that gibberish, there, of course, I part company. The magical power of
+certain precious stones may be a fact of nature, but I see no proof
+of its truth, and therefore I don't believe in it."
+
+"And now may we go and look at the flowers?" suggested Austin.
+
+"Come along," returned St Aubyn. "What a boy you are for flowers! Do
+you know much of botany?"
+
+"No--yes, a little--but not nearly as much as I ought," said Austin,
+as they strolled through the blaze of colour. "I love flowers for
+their beauty and suggestiveness, irrespective of the classifications
+to which they may happen to belong. A garden is to me the most
+beautiful thing in the world. There's something sacred about it.
+Everything that's beautiful is good, and if it isn't beautiful it
+can't be good, and when one realises beauty one is happy. That's why I
+feel so much happier in gardens than in church."
+
+"Why, aren't you fond of church?" asked St Aubyn, amused.
+
+"A garden makes me happier," said Austin. "Religion seems to encourage
+pain, and ugliness, and mourning. I don't know why it should, but
+nearly all the very religious people I know are solemn and melancholy,
+as though they hadn't wits enough to be anything else. They only
+understand what is uncomfortable, just as beasts of burden only
+understand threats and beatings. I suppose it's a question of culture.
+Now I learn more of what _I_ call religion from fields, and trees, and
+flowers than from anything else. I don't believe that if the world had
+consisted of nothing but cities any real religion would ever have been
+evolved at all."
+
+"Crude, my dear Austin, very crude!" remarked St Aubyn, patting his
+shoulder as they walked. "There's more in religion than that, a great
+deal. Beware of generalising too widely, and don't forget the personal
+equation. Now, come and have a look at the orchids. I've got one or
+two rather fine ones that you haven't seen."
+
+He led the way towards the orchid-houses. Here they spent a delightful
+quarter of an hour, and it was only the thought of his visit to the
+Banqueting Hall that reconciled Austin to tearing himself away. St
+Aubyn seemed much diverted at his insistence, and asked him whether he
+expected to find the figures on the tapestry endowed with life and
+disporting themselves about the room for his entertainment.
+
+"I wish they would!" laughed Austin. "What fun it would be. I'm sure
+they'd enjoy it too. How old is the tapestry, by the way?"
+
+"It's fifteenth century work, I believe," replied St Aubyn. "Here we
+are. It really is very good of its kind, and the colours are
+wonderfully preserved."
+
+"It's lovely!" sighed Austin, as he walked slowly up the hall,
+feasting his eyes once more on the beautiful fabrics. "What a thing to
+live with! Just think of having all these charming people as one's
+daily companions. I shouldn't want them to come to life, I like them
+just as they are. If they moved or spoke the charm would be broken.
+Why don't you spend hours every day in this wonderful place?"
+
+"My dear boy, I haven't such an imagination as you have," answered St
+Aubyn, laughing. "But as a mere artist, of course I appreciate them as
+much as anyone, just as I appreciate statuary or pictures. And I prize
+them for their historical value too."
+
+Austin made no reply. He began to look abstracted, as though listening
+to something else. The sun had begun to sink on the other side of the
+house, leaving the hall itself in comparative shadow.
+
+"Don't you feel anything?" he said at last, in an undertone.
+
+"Nothing whatever," replied St Aubyn. "Do you?"
+
+"Yes. Hush! No--it was nothing. But I feel it--all round me. The most
+curious sensation. The room's full. Some of them are behind me. Don't
+you feel a wind?"
+
+"Indeed I don't," said St Aubyn. "There's not a breath stirring
+anywhere."
+
+They were standing side by side. Austin gently put out his right hand
+and grasped St Aubyn's left.
+
+"_Now_ don't you feel anything?" he asked.
+
+"Yes--a sort of thrill. A tingling in my arm," replied St Aubyn.
+"That's rather strange. But it comes from you, not from----" He
+paused.
+
+"It comes _through_ me," said Austin.
+
+They stood for a few seconds in unbroken silence. Then St Aubyn
+suddenly withdrew his hand. "This is unhealthy!" he said, with a touch
+of abruptness. "You must be highly magnetic. Your organism is
+'sensitive,' and that's why you experience things that I don't."
+
+"Oh, why did you break the spell?" cried Austin, regretfully. "What
+harm could it have done you? You said yourself just now that nothing
+happens that isn't natural. And this is natural enough, if one could
+only understand the way it works."
+
+"Many things are natural that are not desirable," returned St Aubyn,
+walking up and down. "It's quite natural for people to go to sea, but
+it makes some of them sea-sick, nevertheless, and they had better stay
+on shore. It's all a matter of temperament, I suppose, and what is
+pleasant for you is something that my own instincts warn me very
+carefully to avoid."
+
+Austin drew his handkerchief across his eyes, as though beginning to
+come back to the realities of life. "I daresay," he said, vaguely.
+"But it's very restful here. The air seems to make me sleepy. I almost
+think--"
+
+At this point a servant appeared at the other end of the hall, and St
+Aubyn went to see what he wanted. The next moment he returned, with
+quickened steps.
+
+"Come away with you--you and your spooks!" he cried, cheerfully,
+taking Austin by the arm. "Here's an old aunt of mine suddenly dropped
+from the skies, and clamouring for a cup of tea. We must go in and
+entertain her. She's all by herself in the library."
+
+"I shall be very glad," said Austin. "You go on first, and I'll be
+with you in two minutes."
+
+So St Aubyn strode off to welcome his elderly relative, and when
+Austin came into the room he found his friend stooping over a very
+small, very dowdy old lady dressed in rusty black silk, with a large
+bonnet rather on one side, who was standing on tiptoe, the better to
+peck at St Aubyn's cheek by way of a salute. She had small, twinkling
+eyes, a wrinkled face, and the very honestest wig that Austin had ever
+seen; and yet there was an air and a style about the old body which
+somehow belied her quaint appearance, and suggested the idea that she
+was something more than the insignificant little creature that she
+looked at first sight. And so in fact she was, being no less a
+personage than the Dowager-Countess of Merthyr Tydvil, and a very
+great lady indeed.
+
+"But, my dear aunt, why did you never let me know that I might expect
+you?" St Aubyn was saying as Austin entered. "I might have been miles
+away, and you'd have had all your journey for nothing."
+
+"My dear, I'm staying with the people at Cleeve Castle, and I thought
+I'd just give 'em the slip for an hour or two and take you by
+surprise," answered the old lady as she sat down. "No, you needn't
+ring--I ordered tea as soon as I came in. They just bore me out of my
+life, you see, and they've got a pack o' riffraff staying with 'em
+that I don't know how to sit in the same room with. But who's your
+young friend over there? Why don't you introduce him?"
+
+"I beg your pardon!" said St Aubyn. "Mr Austin Trevor, a near
+neighbour of mine. Austin, my aunt, Lady Merthyr Tydvil."
+
+"Why, of course I know now," said the old lady, nodding briskly. "So
+you're Austin, are you? Roger was telling me about you not three weeks
+ago. Well, Austin, I like the looks of you, and that's more than I can
+say of most people, I can tell you. How long have you been living
+hereabouts?"
+
+"Ever since I can remember," Austin said.
+
+"Roger, do touch the bell, there's a good creature," said Lady Merthyr
+Tydvil. "That man of yours must be growing the tea-plants, I should
+think. Ah, here he is. I'm gasping for something to drink. Did the
+water boil, Richards? You're sure? How many spoonfuls of tea did you
+put in? H'm! Well, never mind now. I shall be better directly. What
+are those? Oh--Nebuchadnezzar sandwiches. Very good. That's all we
+want, I think."
+
+She dismissed the man with a gesture as though the house belonged to
+her, while St Aubyn looked on, amused.
+
+"I thought I should never get here," she continued. "The driver was a
+perfect imbecile, my dear--didn't know the country a bit. And it's not
+more than seven miles, you know, if it's as much. I was sure the
+wretch was going wrong, and if I hadn't insisted on pulling him up and
+asking a respectable-looking body where the house was I believe we
+should have been wandering about the next shire at this moment. I've
+no patience with such fools."
+
+"And how long are you staying at Cleeve?" asked St Aubyn, supplying
+her with sandwiches.
+
+"I've been there nearly a week already, and the trouble lasts three
+days more," replied his aunt, as she munched away. "The Duke's a fool,
+and she's worse. Haven't the ghost of an idea, either of 'em, how to
+mix people, you know. And what with their horrible charades, and their
+nonsensical round games, and their everlasting bridge, I'm pretty well
+at the end of my tether. Never was among such a beef-witted set of
+addlepates since I was born. The only man among 'em who isn't a
+hopeless booby's a Socialist, and he's been twice in gaol for inciting
+honest folks not to pay their taxes. Oh, they're a precious lot, I
+promise you. I don't know what we're coming to, I'm sure."
+
+"But it's so easy not to do things," observed St Aubyn, lazily. "Why
+on earth do you go there? I wouldn't, I know that."
+
+"Why does anybody do anything?" retorted the old lady. "We can't all
+stay at home and write books that nobody reads, as you do."
+
+Austin looked up enquiringly. He had no idea that St Aubyn was an
+author, and said so.
+
+"What, you didn't know that Roger wrote books?" said the old lady,
+turning to him. "Oh yes, he does, my dear, and very fine books
+too--only they're miles above the comprehension of stupid old women
+like me. Probably you've not a notion what a learned person he really
+is. I don't even know the names of the things he writes of."
+
+"And you never told me!" said Austin to his friend. "But you'll have
+to lend me some of your books now, you know. I'm dying to know what
+they're all about."
+
+"They're chiefly about antiquities," responded St Aubyn; "early
+Peruvian, Mexican, Egyptian, and so on. You're perfectly welcome to
+read them all if you care to. They're not at all deep, whatever my
+aunt may say."
+
+During this brief interchange of remarks, Lady Merthyr Tydvil had been
+gazing rather fixedly at Austin, with her head on one side like an
+enquiring old bird, and a puzzled expression on her face.
+
+"The most curious likeness!" she exclaimed. "Now, how is it that your
+face seems so familiar to me, I wonder? I've certainly never seen you
+anywhere before, and yet--and yet--who _is_ it you remind me of, for
+goodness' sake?"
+
+"I wish I could tell you," replied Austin, laughing. "Likenesses are
+often quite accidental, and it may be----"
+
+"Stuff and nonsense, my dear," interrupted the old lady, brusquely.
+"There's nothing accidental about this. You're the living image of
+somebody, but who it is I can't for the life of me imagine. What do
+you say your name is?"
+
+"My surname, you mean?--Trevor," replied Austin, beginning to be
+rather interested.
+
+"Trevor!" cried Lady Merthyr Tydvil, her voice rising almost to a
+squeak. "No relation to Geoffrey Trevor who was in the 16th Lancers?"
+
+"He was my father," said Austin, much surprised.
+
+"Why, my dear, my dear, he was a _great_ friend of mine!" exclaimed
+the old lady, raising both her hands. "I knew him twenty years ago and
+more, and was fonder of him than I ever let out to anybody. Of course
+it doesn't matter a bit now, but I always told him that if I'd been a
+single woman, and a quarter of a century younger, I'd have married him
+out of hand. That was a standing joke between us, for I was old enough
+to be his mother, and he was already engaged--ah, and a sweet pretty
+creature she was, too, and I don't wonder he fell in love with her. So
+you are Geoffrey's son! I can scarcely believe it, even now. But it's
+your mother you take after, not Geoffrey. She was a Miss--Miss----"
+
+"Her maiden name was Waterfield," interpolated Austin.
+
+"So it was, so it was!" assented the old lady, eagerly. "What a memory
+you've got, to be sure. One of Sir Philip Waterfield's daughters, down
+in Leicestershire. And her other name was Dorothea. Why, I remember it
+all now as though it had happened yesterday. Your father made me his
+confidante all through; such a state as he was in you never saw,
+wondering whether she'd have him, never able to screw up his courage
+to ask her, now all down in the dumps and the next day halfway up to
+the moon. Well, of course they were married at last, and then I
+somehow lost sight of them. They went abroad, I think, and when they
+came back they settled in some place on the other side of nowhere and
+I never saw them again. And you are their son Austin!"
+
+Interested as he was in these reminiscences, Austin could not help
+being struck with the wonderful grace of this curious old lady's
+gestures. In spite of her skimpy dress and antiquated bonnet, she was,
+he thought, the most exquisitely-bred old woman he had ever seen.
+Every movement was a charm, and he watched her, as she spoke, with
+growing fascination and delight.
+
+"It is quite marvellous to think you knew my parents," he said in
+reply, "while I have no recollection of either of them. My mother died
+when I was born, and my father a year or two later. What was my mother
+like? Did you know her well?"
+
+"She was a delicate-looking creature, with a pale face and dark-grey
+eyes," answered the old lady, "and you put me in mind of her very
+strongly. I didn't know her very well, but I remember your father
+bringing her to call on me when they were first engaged, and a
+wonderfully handsome couple they were. No doubt they were very happy,
+but their lives were cut short, as so often happens, leaving a lot of
+stupid people alive that the world could well dispense with. But I see
+you've lost one of your legs! How did that come about, I should like
+to know?"
+
+"Oh--something went wrong with the bone, and it had to be cut off,"
+said Austin, rather vaguely.
+
+"Dear, dear, what a pity," was the old lady's comment. "And are you
+very sorry for yourself?"
+
+"Not in the least," said Austin, smiling brightly. "I've got quite
+fond of my new one."
+
+"You're quite a philosopher, I see," said the old lady, nodding; "as
+great a philosopher as the fox who couldn't reach the grapes, and he
+was one of the wisest who ever lived. And now I think I'll have
+another cup of tea, Roger, if there's any left. Give me two lumps of
+sugar, and just enough cream to swear by."
+
+The conversation now became more general, and Austin, thinking that
+the countess would like to be alone with her nephew for a few minutes
+before returning to the Castle, watched for an opportunity of taking
+leave. He soon rose, and said he must be going home. The old lady
+shook hands with him in the most cordial manner, telling him that in
+no case must he ever forget his mother--oblivious, apparently, of the
+fact that by no earthly possibility could he remember her; and St
+Aubyn accompanied him to the door. "You've quite won her heart," he
+said, laughingly, as he bade the boy farewell. "If she was ever in
+love with your father, she seems to have transferred her affections to
+you. Good-bye--and don't let it be too long before you come again."
+
+Austin brandished his leg with more than usual haughtiness as he
+thudded his way home along the road. He always gave it a sort of
+additional swing when he was excited or pleased, and on this
+particular occasion his gait was almost defiant. It must be confessed
+that, never having known either of his parents, he had not hitherto
+thought much about them. There was one small and much-faded photograph
+of his father, which Aunt Charlotte kept locked up in a drawer, but
+of his mother there was no likeness at all, and he had no idea
+whatever of her appearance. But now he began to feel more interest in
+them, and a sense of longing, not unmixed with curiosity, took
+possession of him. What sort of a woman, he wondered, could that
+unknown mother have been? Well, physically he was himself like her--so
+Lady Merthyr Tydvil had said; and so much like her that it was through
+that very resemblance that all these interesting discoveries had been
+made. Then his thoughts reverted to what Aunt Charlotte had told him
+about his mother's dying words, and how bitterly she had grieved at
+not living to bring him up herself. And yet she was still
+alive--somewhere--though in a world removed. Of course he couldn't
+remember her, having never seen her, _but she had not forgotten
+him_--of that he felt convinced. That was a curious reflection. His
+mother was alive, and mindful of him. He could not prove it,
+naturally, but he knew it all the same. He realised it as though by
+instinct. And who could tell how near she might be to him? Distance,
+after all, is not necessarily a matter of miles. One may be only a few
+inches from another person, and yet if those inches are occupied by an
+impenetrable wall of solid steel, the two will be as much separated
+as though an ocean rolled between them. On the other hand, Austin had
+read of cases in which two friends were actually on the opposite sides
+of an ocean, and yet, through some mysterious channel, were sometimes
+conscious, in a sub-conscious way, of each other's thoughts and
+circumstances. Perhaps his mother could even see him, although he
+could not see her. It was all a very fascinating puzzle, but there was
+some truth underlying it somewhere, if he could only find it out.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter the Tenth
+
+
+Austin returned in plenty of time to spend a few minutes loitering in
+the garden after he had dressed for dinner. It was a favourite habit
+of his, and he said it gave him an appetite; but the truth was that he
+always loved to be in the open air to the very last moment of the day,
+watching the colours of the sky as they changed and melted into
+twilight. On this particular evening the heavens were streaked with
+primrose, and pale iris, and delicate limpid green; and so absorbed
+was he in gazing at this splendour of dissolving beauty that he forgot
+all about his appetite, and had to be called twice over before he
+could drag himself away.
+
+"Well, and did you have an interesting visit?" asked Aunt Charlotte,
+when dinner was halfway through. "You found Mr St Aubyn at home?"
+
+Austin had been unusually silent up till then, being somewhat
+preoccupied with the experiences of the afternoon. He wanted to ask
+his aunt all manner of questions, but scarcely liked to do so as long
+as the servant was waiting. But now he could hold out no longer.
+
+"Yes--even more interesting than I hoped," he answered. "I had plenty
+of delightful chat with St Aubyn, and then a visitor came in. It's
+that that I want to talk about."
+
+"A visitor, eh?" said Aunt Charlotte, her attention quickening. "What
+sort of a visitor? A lady?"
+
+"Yes, an old lady," replied Austin, "who----"
+
+"Did she come in an open fly?" pursued Aunt Charlotte, helping herself
+to sauce.
+
+"Why, how did you know? I believe she did," said Austin. "She had
+driven over from Cleeve."
+
+"Well, then, I must have seen her," said Aunt Charlotte. "A
+queer-looking old person in a great bonnet. I happened to be walking
+through the village, and she stopped the fly to ask me the way to the
+Court, and I remember wondering who she could possibly be. I suppose
+it was she whom you met there."
+
+"What, was it _you_ she asked?" exclaimed Austin, opening his eyes.
+"She told us the driver didn't know the way, and that she'd
+enquired--oh dear, oh dear, how funny!"
+
+"What's funny?" demanded Aunt Charlotte, abruptly.
+
+"Oh, never mind, I can't tell you, and it doesn't matter in the
+least," said Austin, beginning to giggle. "Only I shouldn't have known
+it was you from her description."
+
+"Why, what did she say?" Aunt Charlotte was getting suspicious.
+
+"My dear auntie, she didn't know who you were, of course," replied
+Austin, "and she bore high testimony to the respectability of your
+appearance, that's all. Only it's so funny to think it was you. It
+never occurred to me for a moment."
+
+"What did she _say_, Austin?" repeated Aunt Charlotte, sternly. "I
+insist upon knowing her exact words. Of course it doesn't really
+matter what a poor old thing like that may have said, but I always
+like to be precise, and it's just as well to know how one strikes a
+stranger. It wasn't anything rude, I hope, for I'm sure I answered her
+quite kindly."
+
+The servant was out of the room. "No, auntie, I don't think it was
+rude, but it was so comic----"
+
+"Do stop giggling, and tell me what it was," interrupted Aunt
+Charlotte, impatiently.
+
+"Well, she only said you were a respectable-looking body," replied
+Austin, as gravely as he could. "And so you are, you know, auntie,
+though, perhaps, if I had to describe you I should put it in rather
+different words. I'm sure she meant it as a compliment."
+
+"Upon my word, I feel extremely flattered!" exclaimed Aunt Charlotte,
+reddening. "A respectable-looking body, indeed! Well, it's something
+to know I look respectable. And who was this very patronising old
+person, pray? Some old nurse or other, I should say, to judge by her
+appearance."
+
+"She was the Countess of Merthyr Tydvil, St Aubyn's aunt," said
+Austin, enjoying the joke.
+
+"The Countess of Merthyr Tydvil!" echoed Aunt Charlotte, amazed.
+
+"And she's staying with the Duke at Cleeve Castle," added Austin. "But
+that's not the point. Just fancy, auntie, she actually knew my father!
+She knew him before he was married, and they were tremendous friends.
+It all came out because she said I was so like somebody, and she
+couldn't think who it could be, and then she asked what my surname
+was, and so on, till we found out all about it. Wasn't it curious? Did
+you ever hear of her before?"
+
+"Indeed I never knew of her existence till this moment," answered Aunt
+Charlotte, beginning to get interested. "Your father had any number of
+friends, and of course we didn't know them all. Well, it is curious, I
+must say. But she didn't say you were like your father, did she?"
+
+"No--my mother," replied Austin. "She didn't know her much, but she
+remembers her very well. She said she was a very lovely person, too."
+
+"Your father was good-looking in a way," said Aunt Charlotte, falling
+into a reminiscent mood, "but not in the least like you. He used to go
+a great deal into society, and no doubt it was there he met this Lady
+Merthyr Tydvil, and any number of others. Did she tell you anything
+about him--anything, I mean, that you didn't know before?"
+
+"No, I don't think she did, except that she was very fond of him and
+would like to have married him herself. But as she was married
+already, and he was engaged to somebody else, of course it was too
+late."
+
+"What! She told you that?" cried Aunt Charlotte, scandalized. "What a
+shameless old hussy she must be!"
+
+"Not a bit of it," retorted Austin. "She's a sweet old woman, and I
+love her very much. Besides, she only meant it in fun."
+
+"Fun, indeed!" sniffed Aunt Charlotte, primly. "She may call me a
+respectable-looking body as much as she likes now. It's more than I
+can say for her."
+
+"Auntie, you _are_ an old goose!" exclaimed Austin, with a burst of
+laughter. "You never could see a joke. She called you a
+respectable-looking body, and you called her a queer old woman like a
+nurse. Now you say she's a shameless old hussy, and so, on the whole,
+I think you've won the match."
+
+Aunt Charlotte relapsed into silence, and did not speak again until
+the dessert had been brought in. Austin helped himself to a plateful
+of black cherries, while his aunt toyed with a peach. At last she
+said, in rather a hesitating tone:
+
+"Well, you've told me your adventures, so there's an end of that. But
+I've had a little adventure of my own this afternoon; though whether
+it would interest you to hear it----"
+
+"Oh, do tell me!" said Austin, eagerly. "An adventure--you?"
+
+"I'm not sure whether adventure is quite the correct expression,"
+replied Aunt Charlotte, "and I don't quite know how to begin. You see,
+my dear Austin, that you are very young."
+
+"It isn't anything improper, is it?" asked Austin, innocently.
+
+"If you say such things as that I won't utter another word," rejoined
+his aunt. "I simply state the fact--that you are very young."
+
+"And I hope I shall always remain so," Austin said.
+
+"That being the case," resumed his aunt, impressively, "a great many
+things happened long before you were born."
+
+"I've never doubted that for a moment, even in my most sceptical
+moods," Austin assured her seriously.
+
+"Well, I once knew a gentleman," continued Aunt Charlotte, "of whom I
+used to see a great deal. Indeed I had reasons for believing that--the
+gentleman--rather appreciated my--conversation. Perhaps I was a little
+more sprightly in those days than I am now. Anyhow, he paid me
+considerable attention----"
+
+"Oh!" cried Austin, opening his eyes as wide as they would go. "Oh,
+auntie!"
+
+"Of course things never went any further," said Aunt Charlotte,
+"though I don't know what might have happened had it not been that I
+gave him no encouragement whatever."
+
+"But why didn't you? What was he like? Tell me all about him!"
+interrupted Austin, excitedly. "Was he a soldier, like father? I'm
+sure he was--a beautiful soldier in the Blues, whatever the Blues may
+be, with a grand uniform and clanking spurs. That's the sort of man
+that would have captivated you, auntie. Was he wounded? Had he a
+wooden leg? Oh, go on, go on! I'm dying to hear all about it."
+
+"That he had a uniform is possible, though I never saw him wear one,
+and it may have been blue for anything I know; but that wouldn't imply
+that he was in the Blues," replied his aunt, sedately. "No; the
+strange thing was that he suddenly went abroad, and for
+five-and-twenty years I never heard of him. And now he has written me
+a letter."
+
+"A letter!" cried Austin. "This _is_ an adventure, and no mistake. But
+go on, go on."
+
+"I never was more astounded in my life," resumed his aunt. "A letter
+came from him this afternoon. He recalls himself to my remembrance,
+and says--this is the most singular part--that he was actually staying
+quite close to here only a short time ago, but had no idea that I was
+living here. Had he known it he would most certainly have called, but
+as he has only just discovered it, quite accidentally, he says he
+shall make a point of coming down again, when he hopes he may be
+permitted to renew our old acquaintance."
+
+"Now look here, auntie," said Austin, sitting bolt upright. "Let him
+call, by all means, and see how well you look after being deserted for
+five-and-twenty years; but I don't want a step-uncle, and you are not
+to give me one. Fancy me with an Uncle Charlotte! That wouldn't do,
+you know. You won't give me a step-uncle, will you? Please!"
+
+"Don't be absurd, my dear; and do, for goodness' sake, keep that
+dreadful leg of yours quiet if you can. It always gives me the jumps
+when you go on jerking it about like that. Of course I should never
+dream of marrying now; but I confess I do feel a little curious to see
+what my old friend looks like after all these years----"
+
+"Your old admirer, you mean," interpolated Austin. "To think of your
+having had a romance! You can't throw stones at Lady Merthyr Tydvil
+now, you know. I believe you're a regular flirt, auntie, I do indeed.
+This poor young man now; you say he disappeared, but _I_ believe you
+simply drove him away in despair by your cruelty. Were you a 'cruel
+maid' like the young women one reads about in poetry-books? Oh,
+auntie, auntie, I shall never have faith in you again."
+
+"You're a very disrespectful boy, that's what _you_ are," retorted
+Aunt Charlotte, turning as pink as her ribbons. "The gentleman we're
+speaking of must be quite elderly, several years older than I am, and,
+for all I know, he may have a wife and half-a-dozen grown-up children
+by this time. You let your tongue wag a very great deal too fast, I
+can tell you, Austin."
+
+"But what's his name?" asked Austin, not in the least abashed. "We
+can't go on for ever referring to him as 'the gentleman,' as though
+there were no other gentlemen in the world, can we now?"
+
+"His name is Ogilvie--Mr Granville Ogilvie," replied his aunt. "He
+belongs to a very fine old family in the north. There have been
+Ogilvies distinguished in many ways--in literature, in the services,
+and in politics. But there was always a mystery about Granville,
+somehow. However, I expect he'll be calling here in a few days, and
+then, no doubt, your curiosity will be gratified."
+
+"Oh, I know what he'll be like," said Austin. "A lean, brown
+traveller, with his face tanned by tropic suns and Arctic snows to the
+colour of an old saddle-bag. His hair, of course, prematurely grey. On
+his right cheek there'll be a lovely bright-blue scar, where a
+charming tiger scratched him just before he killed it with unerring
+aim. I know the sort of person exactly. And now he comes to say that
+he lays his battered, weather-worn old carcase at the feet of the
+cruel maid who spurned it when it was young and strong and beautiful.
+And the cruel maid, now in the full bloom of placid maternity--I mean
+maturity----"
+
+"Hold your tongue or I'll pull your ears!" exclaimed Aunt Charlotte,
+scarlet with confusion. "You'll make me sorry I ever said anything to
+you on the subject. Mr Ogilvie, as far as I can judge from his letter,
+is a most polished gentleman. There's a quaint, old-world courtesy
+about him which one scarcely ever meets with at the present day. Just
+remember, if you please, that we're simply two old friends, who are
+going to meet again after having lost sight of each other for
+five-and-twenty years; and what there is to laugh about in that I
+entirely fail to see."
+
+"Dear auntie, I won't laugh any more, I promise you," said Austin.
+"I'm sure he'll turn out a most courtly old personage, and perhaps
+he'll have an enormous fortune that he made by shaking pagoda-trees in
+India. How do pagodas grow on trees, I wonder? I always thought a
+pagoda was a sort of odalisque--isn't that right? Oh, I mean
+obelisk--with beautiful flounces all the way up to the top. It seems a
+funny way of making money, doesn't it. Where is India, by the bye?
+Anywhere near Peru?"
+
+"Your ignorance is positively disgraceful, Austin," said Aunt
+Charlotte, with great severity. "I only hope you won't talk like that
+in the presence of Mr Ogilvie. I expect you're right in surmising that
+he's been a great traveller, for he says himself that he has led a
+very wandering, restless life, and he would be shocked to think I had
+a nephew who didn't know how to find India upon the map. There, you've
+had quite as many cherries as are good for you, I'm sure. Let us go
+and see if it's dry enough to have our coffee on the lawn, while
+Martha clears away."
+
+Now although Austin was intensely tickled at the idea of Aunt Charlotte
+having had a love-affair, and a love-affair that appeared to threaten
+renewal, the fact was that he really felt just a little anxious. Not
+that he believed for a moment that she would be such a goose as to
+marry, at her age; that, he assured himself, was impossible. But it is
+often the very things we tell ourselves are impossible that we fear the
+most, and Austin, in spite of his curiosity to see his aunt's old flame,
+looked forward to his arrival with just a little apprehension. For some
+reason or other, he considered himself partly responsible for Aunt
+Charlotte. The poor lady had so many limitations, she was so hopelessly
+impervious to a joke, her views were so stereotyped and conventional--in
+a word, she was so terribly Early Victorian, that there was no knowing
+how she might be taken in and done for if he did not look after her a
+bit. But how to do it was the difficulty. Certainly he could not prevent
+the elderly swain from calling, and, of course, it would be only proper
+that he himself should be absent when the two first came together. A
+_tźte-ą-tźte_ between them was inevitable, and was not likely to be
+decisive. But, this once over, he would appear upon the scene, take
+stock of the aspirant, and shape his policy accordingly. What sort of a
+man, he wondered, could Mr Ogilvie be? He had actually passed through
+the town not so very long ago; but then so had hundreds of strangers,
+and Austin had never noticed anyone in particular--certainly no one who
+was in the least likely to be the gentleman in question. There was
+nothing to be done, meanwhile, then, but to wait and watch. Perhaps the
+gentleman would not want to marry Aunt Charlotte after all. Perhaps, as
+she herself had suggested, he had a wife and family already. Neither of
+them knew anything at all about him. He might be a battered old
+traveller, or an Anglo-Indian nabob, or a needy haunter of Continental
+pensions, or a convict just emerged from a term of penal servitude. He
+might be as rich as Midas, or as poor as a church-mouse. But on one
+thing Austin was determined--Aunt Charlotte must be saved from herself,
+if necessary. They wanted no interloper in their peaceful home. And he,
+Austin, would go forth into the world, wooden leg and all, rather than
+submit to be saddled with a step-uncle.
+
+As for Aunt Charlotte, she, too, deemed it beyond the dreams of
+possibility that she would ever marry. In fact, it was only Austin's
+nonsense that had put so ridiculous a notion into her head. It was
+true that, in the years gone by, the attentions of young Granville
+Ogilvie had occasioned her heart a flutter. Perhaps some faint,
+far-off reverberation of that flutter was making itself felt in her
+heart now. It is so, no doubt, with many maiden ladies when they look
+back upon the past. But if she had ever felt a little sore at her
+sudden abandonment by the mercurial young man who had once touched her
+fancy, the tiny scratch had healed and been forgotten long ago. At the
+same time, although the idea of marriage after five-and-twenty years
+was too absurd to be dwelt on for a moment, the worthy lady could not
+help feeling how delightful it would be to be _asked_. Of course, that
+would involve the extremely painful process of refusing; and Aunt
+Charlotte, in spite of her rough tongue, was a merciful woman, and
+never willingly inflicted suffering upon anybody. Even blackbeetles,
+as she often told herself, were God's creatures, and Mr Ogilvie,
+although he had deserted her, no doubt had finer sensibilities than a
+blackbeetle. So she did not wish to hurt him if she could avoid it;
+still, a proposal of marriage at the age of forty-seven would be
+rather a feather in her cap, and she was too true a woman to be
+indifferent to that coveted decoration. But then, once more, it was
+quite possible that he would not propose at all.
+
+The next morning Austin put on his straw hat, and went and sat down by
+the old stone fountain in the full blaze of the sun, as was his
+custom. Lubin was somewhere in the shrubbery, and, unaware that anyone
+was within hearing, was warbling lustily to himself. Austin
+immediately pricked up his ears, for he had had no idea that Lubin was
+a vocalist. Away he carolled blithely enough, in a rough but not
+unmusical voice, and Austin was just able to catch some of the words
+of the quaint old west-country ballad that he was singing.
+
+    "Welcome to town, Tom Dove, Tom Dove,
+       The merriest man alive,
+     Thy company still we love, we love,
+       God grant thee still to thrive.
+     And never will we, depart from thee,
+       For better or worse, my joy!
+     For thou shalt still, have our good will,
+       God's blessing on my sweet boy."
+
+"Bravo, Lubin!" cried Austin, clapping his hands. "You do sing
+beautifully. And what a delightful old song! Where did you pick it
+up?"
+
+"Eh, Master Austin," said Lubin, emerging from among the
+rhododendrons, "if I'd known you was a-listening I'd 'a faked up
+something from a French opera for you. Why, that's an old song as I've
+known ever since I was that high--'Tom of Exeter' they calls it. It's
+a rare favourite wi' the maids down in the parts I come from."
+
+"Shows their good taste," said Austin. "It's awfully pretty. Who was
+Tom Dove, and why did he come to town?"
+
+"Nay, I can't tell," replied Lubin. "Tis some made-up tale, I doubt.
+They do say as how he was a tailor. But there is folks as'll say
+anything, you know."
+
+"A tailor!" exclaimed Austin, scornfully, "That I'm sure he wasn't.
+But oh, Lubin, there _is_ somebody coming to town in a day or
+two--somebody I want to find out about. Do you often go into the
+town?"
+
+"Eh, well, just o' times; when there's anything to take me there,"
+answered Lubin, vaguely. "On market-days, every now and again."
+
+"Oh yes, I know, when you go and sell ducks," put in Austin. "Now
+what I want to know is this. Have you, within the last three or four
+weeks, seen a stranger anywhere about?"
+
+"A stranger?" repeated Lubin. "Ay, that I certainly have. Any amount
+o' strangers."
+
+"Oh well, yes, of course, how stupid of me!" exclaimed Austin,
+impatiently. "There must have been scores and scores. But I mean a
+particular stranger--a certain person in particular, if you understand
+me. Anybody whose appearance struck you in any way."
+
+"Well, but what sort of a stranger?" asked Lubin. "Can't you tell me
+anything about him? What'd he look like, now?"
+
+"That's just what I want to find out," replied Austin. "If I could
+describe him I shouldn't want you to. All I know is that he's a sort
+of elderly gentleman, rather more than fifty. He may be fifty-five, or
+getting on for sixty. Now, isn't that near enough? Oh--and I'm almost
+sure that he's a traveller."
+
+"H'm," pondered Lubin, leaning on his broom reflectively. "Well, yes,
+I did see a sort of elderly gentleman some three or four weeks ago,
+standing at the bar o' the 'Coach-and-Horses.' What his age might be I
+couldn't exactly say, 'cause he was having a drink with his back
+turned to the door. But he was a traveller, that I know."
+
+"A traveller? I wonder whether that was the one!" exclaimed Austin.
+"Had he a dark-brown face? Or a wooden leg? Or a scar down one of his
+cheeks?"
+
+"Not as I see," answered Lubin, beginning to sweep the lawn. "But a
+traveller he was, because the barmaid told me so. Travelled all over
+the country in bonnets."
+
+"Travelled in bonnets?" cried Austin. "What _do_ you mean, Lubin? How
+can a man go travelling about the country in a bonnet? Had he a bonnet
+on when you saw him drinking in the bar?"
+
+"Lor', Master Austin, wherever was you brought up?" exclaimed Lubin,
+in grave amazement at the youth's ignorance. "When a gentleman
+'travels' in anything, it means he goes about getting orders for it.
+Now this here gentleman was agent, I take it, for some big millinery
+shop in London, and come down here wi' boxes an' boxes o' bonnets, an'
+tokes, and all sorts o' female headgear as women goes about in----"
+
+"In short, he was a commercial traveller," said Austin, very mildly.
+"You see, my dear Lubin, we have been talking of different things. I
+wasn't thinking of a gentleman who hawks haberdashery. When I said
+traveller, I meant a man who goes tramping across Africa, and shoots
+elephants, and gets snowed up at the North Pole, and has all sorts of
+uncomfortable and quite incredible adventures. They always have faces
+as brown as an old trunk, and generally limp when they walk. That's
+the sort of person I'm looking out for. You haven't seen anyone like
+that, have you?"
+
+"Nay--nary a one," said Lubin, shaking his head. "Would he have been
+putting up at one o' the inns, now, or staying long wi' some o' the
+gentry?"
+
+"I haven't the slightest idea," acknowledged Austin.
+
+"Might as well go about looking for a ram wi' five feet," remarked
+Lubin. "Some things you can't find 'cause they don't exist, and other
+things you can't find 'cause there's too many of 'em. And as you don't
+know nothing about this gentleman, and wouldn't know him if you met
+him in the street permiscuous, I take it you'll have to wait to see
+what he looks like till he turns up again of his own accord. 'Tain't
+in reason as you can go up to every old gentleman with a brown face
+as you never see before an' ask him if he's ever been snowed up at the
+North Pole and why he hasn't got a wooden leg. He'd think, as likely
+as not, as you was trying to get a rise out of him. Don't you know
+what the name may be, neither?"
+
+"Oh yes, I do, of course," responded Austin. "He's a Mr Ogilvie."
+
+"Never heard of 'im," said Lubin. "Might find out at one o' the inns
+if any party o' that name's been staying there, but I doubt they
+wouldn't remember. Folks don't generally stay more'n one night, you
+see, just to have a look at the old market-place and the church, and
+then off they go next morning and don't leave no addresses. Th' only
+sort as stays a day or two are the artists, and they'll stay painting
+here for more'n a week at a time. It may 'a been one o' them."
+
+"I wonder!" exclaimed Austin, struck by the idea. "Perhaps he's an
+artist, after all; artists do travel, I know. I never thought of that.
+However, it doesn't matter. It's only some old friend of Aunt
+Charlotte's, and he's coming to call on her soon, so it isn't worth
+bothering about meanwhile."
+
+He therefore dismissed the matter from his mind, and set about the far
+more profitable employment of fortifying himself by a morning's
+devotion to garden-craft, both manual and mental, against the
+martyrdom (as he called it) that he was to undergo that afternoon. For
+Aunt Charlotte had insisted on his accompanying her to tea at the
+vicarage, and this was a function he detested with all his heart. He
+never knew whom he might meet there, and always went in fear of
+Cobbledicks, MacTavishes, and others of the same sort. The vicar
+himself he did not mind so much--the vicar was not a bad little thing
+in his way; but Mrs Sheepshanks, with her patronising disapproval and
+affected airs of smartness, he couldn't endure, while the Socialistic
+curate was his aversion. The reason he hated the curate was partly
+because he always wore black knickerbockers, and partly because he was
+such chums with the MacTavish boys. How any self-respecting individual
+could put up with such savages as Jock and Sandy was a problem that
+Austin was wholly unable to solve, until it was suggested to him by
+somebody that the real attraction was neither Jock nor Sandy, but one
+of their screaming sisters--a Florrie, or a Lottie, or an Aggie--it
+really did not matter which, since they were all alike. When this
+once dawned upon him, Austin despised the knickerbockered curate more
+than ever.
+
+On the present occasion, however, the MacTavishes were happily not
+there; the only other guest (for of course the curate didn't count)
+being a friend of the curate's, who had come to spend a few days with
+him in the country. The friend was a harsh-featured, swarthy young
+man, belonging to what may be called the muscular variety of high
+Ritualism; much given to a sort of aggressive slang--he had been known
+to refer to the bishop of his diocese as "the sporting old jester that
+bosses our show"--and representing militant sacerdotalism in its most
+blusterous and rampant form. He was also in the habit of informing
+people that he was "nuts" on the Athanasian Creed, and expressing the
+somewhat arbitrary opinion that if the Rev. John Wesley had had his
+deserts he would have been exhibited in a pillory and used as a target
+for stale eggs. There are a few such interesting youths in Holy
+Orders, and the curate's friend was one of them.
+
+The party were assembled in the garden, where Mrs Sheepshanks's best
+tea-service was laid out. To say that the conversation was brilliant
+would be an exaggeration; but it was pleasant and decorous, as
+conversations at a vicarage ought to be. The two ladies compared notes
+about the weather and the parish; the curate asked Austin what he had
+been doing with himself lately; the friend kept silence, even from
+good words, while the vicar, one of the mildest of his cloth, sat
+blinking in furtive contemplation of the friend. Certainly it was not
+a very exhilarating entertainment, and Austin felt that if it went on
+much longer he should scream. What possible pleasure, he marvelled,
+could Aunt Charlotte find in such a vapid form of dissipation? Even
+the garden irritated him, for it was laid out in the silly Early
+Victorian style, with wriggling paths, and ribbon borders, and shrubs
+planted meaninglessly here and there about the lawn, and a dreadful
+piece of sham rockwork in one corner. Of course the vicar's wife
+thought it quite perfect, and always snubbed Austin in a very lofty
+way if he ever ventured to express his own views as to how a garden
+should be fitly ordered. Then his eye happened to fall upon the
+curate's friend; and he caught the curate's friend in the act of
+staring at him with a most offensive expression of undisguised
+contempt.
+
+Now, Austin was courteous to everyone; but to anybody he disliked his
+politeness was simply deadly. Of course he took no notice of the young
+parson's tacit insolence; he only longed, as fervently as he knew how
+to long, for an opportunity of being polite to him. And the occasion
+was soon forthcoming. The conversation growing more general by
+degrees, a reference was made by the vicar, in passing, to a certain
+clergyman of profound scholarship and enlightened views, whose
+recently published book upon the prophet Daniel had been painfully
+exercising the minds of the editor and readers of the _Church Times_;
+and it was then that the curate's friend, without moving a muscle of
+his face, suddenly leaned forward and said, in a rasping voice:
+
+"The man's an impostor and a heretic. He ought to be burned. I would
+gladly walk in the procession, singing the 'Te Deum,' and set fire to
+the faggots myself."[A]
+
+And there was no doubt he meant it. A dead silence fell upon the
+party. The curate looked horribly annoyed. The ladies exclaimed "Oh!"
+with a little shudder of dismay. The vicar started, fidgeted, and
+blinked more nervously than ever. Then Austin, with the most charming
+manner in the world, broke the spell.
+
+"Really!" he exclaimed, turning towards the speaker, a bright smile of
+interest upon his face. "That's a most delightfully original
+suggestion. May I ask what religion you belong to?"
+
+"What religion!" scowled the curate's friend, astounded at the
+enquiry.
+
+"Yes--it must be one I never heard of," replied Austin, sweetly. "I am
+so awfully ignorant, you know; I know nothing of geography, and
+scarcely anything about the religions of savage countries. Are you a
+Thug?"
+
+"Oh, Austin!" breathed Aunt Charlotte, faintly.
+
+"I always do make such mistakes," continued Austin, with his most
+engaging air; "I'm so sorry, please forgive me if I'm stupid. I
+forgot, of course Thugs don't burn people alive, they only strangle
+them. Perhaps I'm thinking of the Bosjesmans, or the Andaman
+Islanders, or the aborigines of New Guinea. I do get so mixed up! But
+I've often thought how lovely it would be to meet a cannibal. You
+aren't a cannibal, are you?" he added wistfully.
+
+"I'm a priest of the Church of England," replied the curate's friend,
+with crushing scorn, though his face was livid. "When you're a little
+older you'll probably understand all that that implies."
+
+"Fancy!" exclaimed Austin, with an air of innocent amazement. "I've
+heard of the Church of England, but I quite thought you must belong to
+one of those curious persuasions in Africa, isn't it--or is it
+Borneo?--where the services consist in skinning people alive and then
+roasting them for dinner. It occurred to me that you might have gone
+there as a missionary, and that the savages had converted you instead
+of you converting the savages. I'm sure I beg your pardon. And have
+you ever set fire to a bishop?"
+
+"Austin! Austin!" came still more faintly from Aunt Charlotte.
+
+The vicar, scandalised at first, was now in convulsions of silent
+laughter. Mrs Sheepshanks's parasol was lowered in a most suspicious
+manner, so as completely to hide her face; while the unfortunate
+curate, with his head almost between his knees, was working havoc in
+the vicarage lawn with the point of a heavy walking-stick. The only
+person who seemed perfectly at his ease was Austin, and he was
+enjoying himself hugely. Then the vicar, feeling it incumbent upon
+him, as host, to say something to relieve the strain, attempted to
+pull himself together.
+
+"My dear boy," he said, in rather a quavering voice, "you may be
+perfectly sure that our valued guest has no sympathy with any of the
+barbarous religions you allude to, but is a most loyal member of the
+Church of England; and that when he said he would like to 'burn' a
+brother clergyman--one of the greatest Talmudists and Hebrew scholars
+now alive--it was only his humorous way of intimating that he was
+inclined to differ from him on one or two obscure points of historical
+or verbal criticism which----"
+
+"It was not," said the curate's friend.
+
+Mrs Sheepshanks immediately turned to Aunt Charlotte, and remarked
+that feather boas were likely to be more than ever in fashion when the
+weather changed; and Aunt Charlotte said she had heard from a most
+authoritative source that pleated corselets were to be the rage that
+autumn. Both ladies then agreed that the days were certainly beginning
+to draw in, and asked the curate if he didn't think so too. The curate
+fumbled in his pocket, and offered Austin a cigarette, and Austin,
+noticing the unconcealed annoyance of the unfortunate young man, who
+was really not a bad fellow in the main, felt kindly towards him, and
+accepted the cigarette with effusion. The vicar relapsed into silence,
+making no attempt to complete his unfinished sentence; then he stole a
+glance at the saturnine face of the stranger, and from that moment
+became an almost liberal-minded theologian; He had had an
+object-lesson that was to last him all his life, and he never forgot
+it.
+
+"Well, Austin," said Aunt Charlotte, when they were walking home, a
+few minutes later, "of course you _ought_ to have a severe scolding
+for your behaviour this afternoon; but the fact is, my dear, that on
+this occasion I do not feel inclined to give you one. That man was
+perfectly horrible, and deserved everything he got. I only hope it may
+have done him good. I couldn't have believed such people existed at
+the present day. The most charitable view to take of him is that he
+can scarcely be in his right mind."
+
+"What, because he wanted to burn somebody alive?" said Austin. "Oh,
+that was natural enough. I thought it rather an amusing idea, to tell
+the truth. The reason I went for him was that I caught him making
+faces at me when he thought I wasn't looking. I saw at once that he
+was a beast, so the instant he gave me an opportunity of settling
+accounts with him I took it. Oh, what a blessing it is to be at home
+again! Dear auntie, let's make a virtuous resolution. We'll neither of
+us go to the vicarage again as long as we both shall live."
+
+He strolled into the garden--the good garden, with straight walks, and
+clipped hedges, and fair formal shape--and threw himself down upon a
+long chair. He had already begun to forget the incidents of the
+afternoon. Here was rest, and peace, and beauty. How tired he was! Why
+did he feel so tired? He could not tell. A deep sense of satisfaction
+and repose stole over him. Lubin was there, tidying up, but he did not
+feel any inclination to talk to Lubin or anybody else. He liked
+watching Lubin, however, for Lubin was part of the garden, and all his
+associations with him were pleasant. The scent of the flowers and the
+grass possessed him. The sun was far from setting, and a young
+crescent moon was hovering high in the heavens, looking like a silver
+sickle against the blue. From the distant church came the sound of
+bells ringing for even-song, faint as horns of elf-land, through the
+still air. He felt that he would like to lie there always--just
+resting, and drinking in the beauty of the world.
+
+Suddenly he half-rose. "Lubin!" he called out quickly, in an
+undertone.
+
+"Sir," responded Lubin, turning round.
+
+"Who was that lady looking over the garden-gate just now?"
+
+"Lady?" repeated Lubin. "I never saw no lady. Whereabouts was she?"
+
+"On the path of course, outside. A second ago. She stood looking at me
+over the gate, and then went on. Run to the gate and see how far she's
+got--quick!"
+
+Lubin did as he was bidden without delay, looking up and down the
+road. Then he returned, and soberly picked up his broom.
+
+"There ain't no lady there," he said. "No one in sight either way.
+Must 'a been your fancy, Master Austin, I expect."
+
+"Fancy, indeed!" retorted Austin, excitedly. "You'll tell me next it's
+my fancy that I'm looking at you now. A lady in a large hat and a sort
+of light-coloured dress. She _must_ be there. There's nowhere else for
+her to be, unless the earth has swallowed her up. I'll go and look
+myself."
+
+He struggled up and staggered as fast as he could go to the gate. Then
+he pushed it open and went out as far as the middle of the road from
+which he could see at least a hundred yards each way. But not a living
+creature was in sight.
+
+"It's enough to make one's hair stand on end!" he exclaimed, as he
+came slowly back. "Where can she have got to? She was here--here, by
+the gate--not twenty seconds ago, only a few yards from where I was
+sitting. Don't talk to me about fancy; that's sheer nonsense. I saw
+her as distinctly as I see you now, and I should know her again
+directly if I saw her a year hence. Of all inexplicable things!"
+
+There was no more lying down. He was too much puzzled and excited to
+keep still. Up and down he paced, cudgelling his brains in search of
+an explanation, wondering what it could all mean, and longing for
+another glimpse of the mysterious visitor. For one brief moment he had
+had a full, clear view of her face, and in that moment he had been
+struck by her unmistakable resemblance to himself.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[A] A fact. Said in the writer's presence by a young clergyman of the
+same breed as the one here described.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter the Eleventh
+
+
+The repairs to the ceiling in Austin's room were now finished, and it
+was with great satisfaction that he resumed possession of his old
+quarters. The mysterious events that had befallen him when he slept
+there last, some weeks before, recurred very vividly to his mind as he
+found himself once more amid the familiar surroundings, and although
+he heard no more raps or anything else of an abnormal nature, he felt
+that, whatever dangers might threaten him in the future, he would
+always be protected by those he thought of as his unseen friends. Aunt
+Charlotte, meanwhile, had taken an opportunity of consulting the vicar
+as to the orthodoxy of a belief in guardian angels, and the vicar had
+reassured her at once by referring her to the Collect for St Michael
+and All Angels, in which we are invited to pray that they may succour
+and defend us upon earth; so that there really was nothing
+superstitious in the conclusion that, as Austin had undoubtedly been
+succoured and defended in a very remarkable manner on more than one
+occasion, some benevolent entity from a better world might have had a
+hand in it. The worthy lady, of course, could not resist the
+temptation of informing Mr Sheepshanks of what her bankers had said
+about the investment he had so earnestly urged upon her, and the vicar
+seemed greatly surprised. He had not put any money into it himself, it
+was true, but was being sorely tempted by another prospectus he had
+just received of an enterprise for recovering the baggage which King
+John lost some centuries ago in the Wash. The only consideration that
+made him hesitate was the uncertainty whether, in view of the
+perishable nature of the things themselves, they would be worth very
+much to anybody if ever they were fished up.
+
+"Austin," said Aunt Charlotte, two days afterwards at breakfast, "I
+have had another letter from Mr Ogilvie. Of course I wrote to him when
+I heard first, saying how pleased I should be to see him whenever he
+was in the neighbourhood again; and now I have his reply. He proposes
+to call here to-morrow afternoon, and have a cup of tea with us."
+
+"So the fateful day has come at last," remarked Austin. "Very well,
+auntie, I'll make myself scarce while you're talking over old times
+together, but I insist on coming in before he goes, remember. I'm
+awfully curious to see what he's like. Do you think he wears a wig?"
+
+"I really haven't thought about it," replied his aunt. "It's nothing
+to me whether he does or not--or to you either, for the matter of
+that. Of course you must present yourself to him some time or other;
+it would be most discourteous not to. And do, if you can, try and
+behave rather more like other people. Don't parade your terrible
+ignorance of geography, for instance, as you do sometimes. He would
+think that I had neglected your education disgracefully, and seeing
+what a traveller he's been himself--"
+
+"All right, auntie, I won't give you away," Austin assured her. "You'd
+better tell him what a horrid dunce I am before I come in, and then he
+won't be so surprised if I do put my foot in it. After all, we're not
+sure that he's been a traveller. He may be a painter. Lubin says that
+lots of painters come down here sometimes. My own idea is that he'll
+turn out to be nothing but a bank manager, or perhaps a stockbroker. I
+expect he's rolling in money."
+
+Austin had said nothing to his aunt about the lady who had looked over
+the gate for one brief moment and then so unaccountably disappeared.
+What would have been the use? He felt baffled and perplexed, but it
+was not likely that Aunt Charlotte would be able to throw any light
+upon the mystery. She would probably say that he had been dreaming, or
+that he only imagined it, or that it was an old gipsy woman, or one of
+the MacTavish girls playing a trick, or something equally fatuous and
+absurd. But the more he thought of it the more he was convinced of the
+reality of the whole thing, and of the existence of some great marvel.
+That he had seen the lady was beyond question. That she had vanished
+the next moment was also beyond question. That she had hidden behind a
+tree or gone crouching in a ditch was inconceivable, to say the least
+of it; so fair and gracious a person would scarcely descend to such
+undignified manoeuvres, worthy only of a hoydenish peasant girl. And
+yet, what could possibly have become of her? The enigma was quite
+unsolvable.
+
+The next morning brought with it a surprise. Aunt Charlotte had some
+very important documents that she wanted to deposit with her
+bankers--so important, indeed, that she did not like to entrust them
+to the post; so Austin, half in jest, proposed that he should go to
+town himself by an early train, and leave them at the bank in person.
+To his no small astonishment, Aunt Charlotte took him at his word,
+though not without some misgivings; instructed him to send her a
+telegram as soon as ever the papers were in safe custody, and assured
+him that she would not have a moment's peace until she got it. Austin,
+much excited at the prospect of a change, packed the documents away in
+the pistol-pocket of his trousers, and started off immediately after
+breakfast in high spirits. The journey was a great delight to him, as
+he had not travelled by railway for nearly a couple of years, and he
+derived immense amusement from watching his fellow-passengers and
+listening to their conversation. There was a party of very
+serious-minded American tourists, with an accent reverberant enough to
+have cracked the windows of the carriage had they not, luckily, been
+open; and from the talk of these good people he learnt that they came
+from a place called New Jerusalem, that they intended to do London in
+two days, and that they answered to the names of Mr Thwing, Mr Moment,
+and Mr and Mrs Skull. The gentlemen were arrayed in shiny
+broad-cloth, with narrow black ties, tied in a careless bow; the lady
+wore long curls all down her back and a brown alpaca gown; and they
+all seemed under the impression that the most important sights which
+awaited them were the Metropolitan Tabernacle and some tunnel under
+the Thames. The only other passenger was a rather smart-looking
+gentleman with a flower in his buttonhole, who made himself very
+pleasant; engaged Austin in conversation, gave him hints as to how
+best to enjoy himself in London, asked him a number of questions about
+where he lived and how he spent his time, and finished up by inviting
+him to lunch. But Austin, never having seen the man before, declined;
+and no amount of persuasion availed to make him alter his decision.
+
+On arrival in London, he got into an omnibus--not daring to call a
+cab, lest he should pay the cabman a great deal too much or a great
+deal too little--and in a short time was set down near Waterloo Place,
+where the bank was situated. His first care was to relieve himself of
+the precious documents, and this he did at once; but he thought the
+clerk looked at him in a disagreeably sharp and suspicious manner, and
+wondered whether it was possible he might be accused of forgery and
+given in charge to a policeman. The papers consisted of some
+dividend-warrants payable to bearer, and an endorsed cheque, and the
+clerk examined them with a most formidable and inquisitorial frown.
+Then he asked Austin what his name was, and where he lived; and Austin
+blushed and stammered to such an extent and made such confused replies
+that the clerk looked more suspiciously at him than ever, and Austin
+had it on the tip of his tongue to assure him that he really had not
+stolen the documents, or forged Aunt Charlotte's name, or infringed
+the laws in any way whatever that he could think of. But just then the
+clerk, who had been holding a muttered consultation with another
+gentleman of equally threatening aspect, turned to him again with a
+less aggressive expression, as much as to say that he'd let him off
+this time if he promised never to do it any more, and intimated, with
+a sort of grudging nod, that he was free to go if he liked. Which
+Austin, much relieved, forthwith proceeded to do.
+
+Then he stumped off as hard as he could go to the Post-Office near by,
+to despatch the telegram which should set Aunt Charlotte's mind at
+ease; and by dint of carefully observing what all the other people did
+managed to get hold of a telegraph-form and write his message.
+"Documents all safe in the Bank.--Your affectionate Austin." That
+would do beautifully, he thought. Then he offered it to a
+proud-looking young lady who lived behind a barricade of brass
+palings, and the young lady, having read it through (rather to his
+indignation) and rapidly counted the words, gave him a couple of
+stamps. But he explained, with great politeness, that he did not wish
+it to go by post, as it was most important that it should reach its
+destination before lunch-time; whereupon the young lady burst into a
+hearty laugh, and asked him how soon he was going back to school.
+Austin coloured furiously, rectified his mistake, and bolted.
+
+In Piccadilly Circus his attention was immediately attracted by a
+number of stout, florid, elderly ladies who were selling some most
+lovely bouquets for the buttonhole. This was a temptation impossible
+to resist, and he lost no time in choosing one. It cost fourpence, and
+Austin was so charmed at the skilful way in which the florid lady he
+had patronised pinned it into the lapel of his jacket that he raised
+his hat to her on parting with as much ceremony as though she had been
+a duchess at the very least. Then, observing that his shoe was dusty,
+he submitted it to a merry-looking shoeblack, who not only cleaned it
+and creamed it to perfection but polished up his wooden leg as well;
+Austin, in his usual absent-minded way, humming to himself the while.
+During the operation there suddenly rushed up a drove of very
+ungainly-looking objects, who, in point of fact, were persons lately
+arrived from Lancashire to play a football match at the Alexandra
+Palace--though Austin, of course, could not be expected to know that;
+and two of these, staring at him as though he were a wild animal that
+they had never seen before, enquired with much solicitude how his
+mother was, and whether he was having a happy day. Austin took no more
+notice of them than if they had been flies, but as soon as the
+shoeblack had finished, and been generously rewarded, he presented
+them each with a penny.
+
+"Wot's this for?" growled the foremost. "We ain't beggars, we ain't.
+Wot d'ye mean by it?"
+
+"Aren't you? I thought you were," said Austin. "However, you can keep
+the pennies. They will buy you bread, you know."
+
+The fellows edged off, muttering resentfully, and Austin prepared to
+cross the road to Piccadilly. The next moment he received a violent
+blow on the shoulder from an advancing horse, and was knocked clean
+off his legs. He was in the act of half-consciously taking off his hat
+and begging the horse's pardon when a stout policeman, coming to the
+rescue, lifted him bodily up in one arm, and, carrying him over the
+crossing, deposited him safely on the pavement. He recovered his
+breath in a minute or two, and then began to walk down Piccadilly
+towards the Park.
+
+The streets were gay and crowded, partly with black and grey people
+who seemed to be going about some business or other, but starred
+beautifully here and there with bright-eyed, clear-skinned, slender
+youths in straw hats, something like Austin himself, enjoying their
+release from school. Phalanxes of smartly-dressed ladies impeded the
+traffic outside the windows of all the millinery shops, omnibuses
+rattled up and down in a never-ending procession, and strident urchins
+with little pink newspapers under their arms yelled for all they were
+worth. Austin, absorbed in the cheerful spectacle, sauntered hither
+and thither, now attracted by the fresh verdure of the Green Park, now
+gazing with vivid interest at the ever-varying types of humanity that
+surged around him; blissfully unconscious that every one was staring
+at him, as though wondering who the pale-faced boy with eager eyes and
+a shiny black wooden leg could be, and why he went zigzagging to and
+fro and peering so excitedly about as though he had never seen any
+shops or people in his life before. At last he arrived at the Corner,
+and, turning into the Park, spent a quarter of an hour watching the
+riders in Rotten Row; then he crossed to the Marble Arch, passing a
+vast array of gorgeous flowers in full bloom, listened wonderingly to
+an untidy orator demolishing Christianity for the benefit of a little
+knot of errand-boys and nursemaids, took another omnibus along Oxford
+Street to the Circus, and, after an enchanting walk down Regent
+Street, entered a bright little Italian restaurant in the Quadrant,
+where he had a delightful lunch. This disposed of, he found that he
+could afford a full hour to have a look at the National Gallery
+without danger of losing his train, and off he plodded towards
+Trafalgar Square to make the most of his opportunity.
+
+Meanwhile Aunt Charlotte received her telegram, and, greatly relieved
+by its contents, spent an agreeable day. It was not to be wondered at
+if she felt a little fluttering excitement at the prospect of seeing
+her old suitor, and was more than usually fastidious in the
+arrangement of her modest toilet. Lubin had been requisitioned to
+provide a special supply of the freshest and finest flowers for the
+drawing-room, and she had herself gone to the pastrycook's to order
+the cheese-cakes and cream-tarts on which the expected visitor was to
+be regaled. Of course she kept on telling herself all the time what a
+foolish old woman she was, and how silly Mr Ogilvie would think her if
+he only knew of all her little fussy preparations; men who had knocked
+about the world hated to be fidgeted over and made much of, and no
+doubt it was quite natural they should. And then she went bustling off
+to impress on Martha the expediency of giving the silver tea-service
+an extra polish, and to be sure and see that the toast was crisp and
+fresh. When at last she sat down with a book in front of her in order
+to pass the time she found her attention wandering, and her thoughts
+recurring to the last occasion on which she had seen Granville
+Ogilvie. He had been rather a fine-looking young man in those
+days--tall, straight, and well set up; and well she remembered the
+whimsical way he had of speaking, the humorous glance of his eye, and
+those baffling intonations of voice that made it so difficult for her
+to be sure whether he were in jest or earnest. That he had
+confessedly been attracted by her was a matter of common knowledge.
+Why had she given him no encouragement? Perhaps it was because she had
+never understood him; because she had never been able to feel any real
+rapport between them, because their minds moved on different planes,
+and never seemed to meet. She had no sense of humour, and no insight;
+he was elusive, difficult to get into touch with; all she knew of him
+was his exterior, and that, for her, was no guide to the man beneath.
+Then he had dropped out of her life, and for five and twenty years she
+had never heard of him. Whatever chance she may have had was gone, and
+gone for ever. Did she regret it, now that she was able to look back
+upon the past so calmly? She thought not. And yet, as she meditated on
+those far-off days when she was young and pretty, the intervening
+years seemed to be annihilated, and she felt herself once more a girl
+of twenty-two, with a young man hovering around her, always on the
+verge of a proposal that she herself staved off.
+
+She was not agitated, but she was very curious to see what he would
+look like, and just a little anxious lest there should be any
+awkwardness about their meeting. But eventually it came about in the
+most natural manner in the world, and if anybody had peeped into the
+shady drawing-room just at the time when Austin's train was steaming
+into the station, there would certainly have been nothing in the scene
+to suggest any tragedy or romance whatever. Aunt Charlotte, in a
+pretty white lace _fichu_ set off with rose-coloured bows, was
+dispensing tea with hospitable smiles, while Martha handed cakes and
+poured a fresh supply of hot water into the teapot. Opposite, sat the
+long expected visitor; no lean, brown adventurer, no Indian nabob, and
+certainly no artist, but a tallish, large-featured, and somewhat
+portly gentleman, with a ruddy complexion, good teeth, and a general
+air of prosperity. His fashionable pale-grey frock-coat, evidently the
+work of a good tailor, fitted him like a glove; he wore, also, a white
+waistcoat, a gold eye-glass, and patent leather shoes. His appearance,
+in short, was that of a thoroughly well-groomed, though slightly
+over-dressed, London man; and he impressed both Martha and Aunt
+Charlotte with being a very fine gentleman indeed, for his manners
+were simply perfect, if perhaps a little studied. He dropped his
+gloves into his hat with a graceful gesture as he accepted a cup of
+tea, and then, turning to his hostess, said----
+
+"It is indeed delightful to meet you after all these years; it seems
+to bring back old times so vividly. And the years have dealt very
+gently with you, my dear friend. I should have known you anywhere."
+
+It was not quite certain to Aunt Charlotte whether she could
+truthfully have returned the compliment. There are some elderly people
+in whom it is the easiest thing in the world to recognise the features
+of their youth. Allow for a little accentuation of facial lines, a
+little roughening of the skin, a little modification in the
+arrangement of the hair, and the face is virtually the same. Aunt
+Charlotte herself was one of these, but Granville Ogilvie was not. She
+might even have passed him in the street. That he was the man she had
+known was beyond question, but there was a puffiness under the eyes
+and a fulness about the cheeks that altered the general effect of his
+appearance, and in spite of his modish dress and elaborate manners he
+seemed to have grown just a little coarse. Still, remembering what a
+bird of passage he had been, and the many experiences he must have had
+by land and sea, all that was not to be wondered at. It was really
+remarkable, everything considered, that he had managed to preserve
+himself so well.
+
+"Oh, I'm an old woman now," replied Aunt Charlotte with an almost
+youthful blush. "But I've had a peaceful life if rather a monotonous
+one, and I've nothing to complain of. It is very good of you to have
+remembered me, and I'm more glad than I can say to see you again. It's
+a quarter of a century since we met!"
+
+"It seems like yesterday," Mr Ogilvie assured her. "And yet how many
+things have happened in the meantime! This charming house of yours is
+a perfect haven of rest. Why do people knock about the world as they
+do, when they might stay quietly at home?"
+
+"Nay, it is rather I who should ask you that," laughed Aunt Charlotte.
+"It is you who have been knocking about, you know, not I. Men are so
+fond of adventures, while we women have to content ourselves with a
+very humdrum sort of life. You've been a great traveller, have you
+not?"
+
+This was a mild attempt at pumping on the part of Aunt Charlotte, for
+Mr Ogilvie certainly did not give one the idea of an explorer. But she
+was consumed with curiosity to knew where he had spent the years
+since she had seen him last, and now brought all her artless ingenuity
+into play in order to find out.
+
+"Yes, I was always a roving, restless sort of fellow," said Mr
+Ogilvie. "Never could stay long in the same place, you know. I often
+wonder how long it will be before I settle down for good."
+
+"Well, I almost envy you," confessed Aunt Charlotte, nibbling a
+cheese-cake. "I love travels and adventures; in books, of course, I
+mean. I've been reading Captain Burnaby's 'Ride to Khiva' lately, and
+that wonderful 'Life of Sir Richard Burton.' What marvellous nerve
+such men must have! To think of the disguises, for instance, they were
+forced to adopt, when detection would have cost them their lives! You
+should write your travels too, you know; I'm sure they'd be most
+exciting. Were you ever compelled to disguise yourself when you were
+travelling?"
+
+"I should rather think so," replied Mr Ogilvie, nodding his head
+impressively. "And that, my dear lady, under circumstances in which
+disguise was absolutely imperative. The most serious results would
+have followed if I hadn't done so; not death, perhaps, but utter and
+irretrievable ruin. However, here I am, you see, safe and sound, and
+none the worse for it after all. What delicious cream-tarts these are,
+to be sure! They remind one of the Arabian Nights. In Persia, by the
+way, they put pepper in them."
+
+"Oh dear! I don't think I should like that at all," exclaimed Aunt
+Charlotte, naļvely. "And have you really been in Persia? You must have
+enjoyed that very much. I suppose you saw some magnificent scenery in
+your wanderings?"
+
+"Oh, magnificent, magnificent," assented the great traveller.
+"Mountains, forests, castles, glaciers, and everything you can think
+of. But I've never got quite as far as Persia, you understand, and
+just at present I feel more interested in England. I sometimes think
+that I shall never leave English shores again."
+
+"And you are not married?" ventured the lady, with a tremor of
+hesitation in her voice. She had rushed on her destruction unawares.
+
+"No--no," replied the man who had once wanted to marry her. "And at
+this moment I'm very glad I'm not."
+
+"Oh, are you? Why?" exclaimed the foolish woman. "Don't you believe in
+marriage?"
+
+"In the abstract--oh, yes," said Mr Ogilvie, with meaning. "But my
+chance of married happiness escaped me years ago."
+
+Aunt Charlotte blushed hotly. She felt angry with herself for having
+given him an opening for such a remark, and annoyed with him for
+taking advantage of it. "Let me give you some more tea," she said.
+
+"Thank you so much, but I never exceed two cups," replied Mr Ogilvie,
+who did not particularly care for tea. "And yet there comes a time,
+you know, when the sight of so peaceful and attractive a home as this
+makes one wish that one had one like it of one's own. Of course a man
+has his tastes, his hobbies, his ambitions--every man, I mean, of
+character. And I am a man of character. But indulgence in a hobby is
+not incompatible with the love of a fireside, and the blessings of
+_dulce domum_, to say nothing of the _placens uxor_, who is the only
+true goddess of the hearth. Yes, dear friend, I confess that I should
+like--that I positively long--to marry. That is why, paradoxical as it
+may appear, I congratulate myself on not being married already. But,
+of course, in all such cases, the man himself is not the only factor
+to be reckoned with. The lady must be found, and the lady's consent
+obtained. And there we have the rub."
+
+"Dear me! how very unfortunate!" was all Aunt Charlotte could think of
+to remark. "And can't you find the lady?"
+
+"I thought I had found her once," said Mr Ogilvie.
+
+Then he deliberately rose from his chair, brushed a few crumbs from his
+coat, and took a few steps up and down the room. "Listen to me, dear
+friend," he began, in low, earnest tones. "There was a time--far be it
+from me to take undue advantage of these reminiscences--when you and I
+were thrown considerably together. At that time, that far-off, happy,
+and yet most tantalising time, I was bold enough to cherish certain
+aspirations." Here he took up his position behind a chair, resting his
+hands lightly on the back of it. "That those aspirations were not wholly
+unsuspected by you I had reason to believe. I may, of course, have been
+mistaken; love, or vanity if you prefer it, may blind the wisest of us.
+In any case, if I was vain, my pride came to the rescue, and sooner than
+incur the humiliation of a refusal--possibly a scornful refusal--I kept
+my secret locked in the inmost sanctuary of my heart, and went away."
+Mr Ogilvie illustrated his disappearance into vacancy by a slight but
+most expressive gesture of his arms. "I simply went away. And now I have
+come back. I have unburdened myself before you. In the years that are
+past, I was silent. Now I have spoken. And I am here to know what answer
+you have in your heart to give me."
+
+It had actually come. She remembered how she had told herself that,
+though she could never dream of marrying, it really would be very
+pleasant to be asked. But now that the proposal had been made she felt
+most horribly embarrassed. What in the world was she to say to the
+man? She knew him not one bit better than she had done when she saw
+him last. He puzzled her more than ever. He did not look like a
+despairing lover, but a singularly plump and prosperous gentleman; and
+certainly the silver-grey frock-coat, and gold eye-glass, and
+varnished shoes struck her as singularly out of harmony with the
+extraordinary speech he had just delivered. Yet it was evidently
+impromptu, and possibly would never have been delivered at all had not
+she herself so blunderingly led up to it. And it was not a bad speech
+in its way. There was something really effective about it--or perhaps
+it was in the manner of its delivery. So she sat in silence, most
+dreadfully ill at ease, and not finding a single word wherewith to
+answer him.
+
+"Charlotte," said Mr Ogilvie in a low voice, bending over her,
+"Charlotte."
+
+"Mr Ogilvie!" gasped the unhappy lady, almost frightened out of her
+wits.
+
+"You _once_ called me Granville," he murmured, trying to take her
+hand.
+
+"But I can't do it again!" cried Aunt Charlotte, shaking her head
+vigorously. "It wouldn't be proper. We are just two old people, you
+see, and--and----"
+
+"H'm!" Mr Ogilvie straightened himself again. "It is true I am no
+longer in my first youth, and time has certainly left its mark upon my
+lineaments; but you, dear friend, are one of those whose charms
+intensify with years." Here he took out a white pocket-handkerchief,
+and passed it lightly across his eyes. "But I have startled you, and I
+am sorry. I have sprung upon you, suddenly and thoughtlessly, what I
+ought to have only hinted at. I have erred from lack of delicacy.
+Forgive me my impulsiveness, my ardour. I was ever a blunt man, little
+versed in the arts of diplomacy and _finesse_. For years I have
+looked forward to this moment; in my dreams, in my waking hours,
+in----"
+
+"Pardon me one moment," said Aunt Charlotte, starting to her feet. "I
+know I'm sadly rude to interrupt you, but I hear my nephew in the
+hall, and I must just say a word to him before he comes in. I'll be
+back immediately. You will forgive me--won't you?"
+
+She floundered to the door, leaving Mr Ogilvie no little disconcerted
+at his appeal being thus cut short. Austin had just come in, and was
+in the act of hanging up his hat when his aunt appeared.
+
+"Well, auntie!" he said. "And has the gentleman arrived?"
+
+"Hush!" breathed Aunt Charlotte, as she pointed a warning finger to
+the door. "He's in the drawing-room. Austin, you've come back in the
+very nick of time. Don't ask me any questions. My dear, you were right
+after all."
+
+"Ah!" was all Austin said. "Well?"
+
+"Come in with me at once, we can't keep him waiting," said Aunt
+Charlotte hastily. "I'll explain everything to you afterwards. Never
+mind your hair--you look quite nice enough. And mind--your very
+prettiest manners, for my sake."
+
+What in the world she meant by this Austin couldn't imagine, but
+instantly took up the cue. The two entered the room together. Mr
+Ogilvie was standing a little distance off in an attitude of
+expectancy, his eyes turned towards the door. Aunt Charlotte took a
+step forward, and prepared to introduce her nephew. Austin suddenly
+paused; gazed at the visitor for one instant with an expression that
+no one had ever seen upon his face before; and then, falling flop upon
+the nearest easy-chair, went straightway into a paroxysm of hysterical
+and frantic laughter.
+
+"Austin! Austin! Have you gone out of your mind?" cried his aunt,
+almost beside herself with stupefaction. "Is this your good behaviour?
+What in the world's the matter with the boy now?"
+
+"It's _Mr Buskin!_" shrieked Austin, hammering his leg upon the floor
+in a perfect ecstasy of delight. "The step-uncle! Oh, do slap me,
+auntie, or I shall go on laughing till I die!"
+
+"_Who's_ Mr Buskin?" gasped his aunt, bewildered. "This is Mr
+Granville Ogilvie. What Buskin are you raving about, for Heaven's
+sake?"
+
+"It's Mr Buskin the actor," panted Austin breathlessly, as he began to
+recover himself. "He was at the theatre here, some time ago. How do
+you do, Mr Buskin? Oh, please forgive me for being so rude. I hope
+you're pretty well?"
+
+Mr Ogilvie had not budged an inch. But when Austin came in he had
+started violently. "Great Scott! Young Dot-and-carry-One!" he
+muttered, but so low that no one heard him. He now advanced a pace or
+two, and cleared his throat.
+
+"I have certainly had the honour of meeting this young gentleman
+before," he said, in his most stately manner. "He was even kind enough
+to present me with his card, but I fear I did not pay as much
+attention to the name as it deserved. It is true, my dear lady, that I
+am known to Europe under the designation he ascribes to me; but to you
+I am what I have always been and always shall be--Granville Ogilvie,
+and your most humble slave."
+
+"Is it possible?" ejaculated Aunt Charlotte faintly.
+
+"You will, no doubt, attribute to its true source the concealment I
+have exercised towards you respecting my life for the last
+five-and-twenty years," resumed Mr Ogilvie, with a candid air. "I was
+ever the most modest of men, and the modesty which, from a gross and
+worldly point of view, has always been the most formidable obstacle in
+my path, prohibited my avowing to you the secret of my profession.
+Still, I practised no deceit; indeed, I confessed in the most artless
+fashion that, in my wanderings--in other words, on tour--I was
+compelled to assume disguises, and that some of my scenery was
+magnificent. But why should I defend myself? _Qui s'excuse s'accuse_;
+and now that this very engaging young gentleman has saved me the
+trouble of revealing the position in life that I am proud to occupy,
+there is nothing more to be said. We were interrupted, you remember,
+at a crisis of our conversation. I crave your permission to add, at a
+crisis of our lives. Far be it from me to----"
+
+"I am afraid I am scarcely equal to renewing the conversation at the
+point where we broke off," said Aunt Charlotte, who now felt her wits
+getting more under control. "Indeed, Mr Ogilvie, I have nothing to
+reproach you with. I had no right to enquire what your profession was,
+and still less have I a right to criticise it. But of course you will
+understand that the subject we were speaking of must never be
+mentioned again."
+
+The lover sighed. It was not a bad situation, and his long experience
+enabled him to make it quite effective. Silently he took his gloves
+out of his hat, paused, and then dropped them in again, with the very
+faintest and most dramatic gesture of despair. The action was trifling
+in the extreme, but it was performed by a play-actor who knew his
+business, and Aunt Charlotte felt as though cold water were running
+down her back. Then he turned, quite beautifully, to Austin.
+
+"And you, young gentleman. And what have _you_ to say?" he asked in a
+carefully choking voice.
+
+"That I like you even better in your present part than as
+Sardanapalus," replied Austin, cordially.
+
+"The tribute is two-edged," observed the actor with a shrug. And
+certainly he had acted well, and dressed the character to perfection.
+But the takings of the performance, alas, had not paid expenses. He
+really had a sentiment for the lady he had been wooing, and the
+prospect of a solid additional income--for it was clear she was in
+very easy circumstances--had smiled upon him not unpleasantly. And
+why should she not have married him? He was her equal in birth, they
+had been possible lovers in their youth, he had made a name for
+himself meanwhile, and, after all, there was no stain upon his honour.
+But she had now definitely refused. The little comedy had been played
+out. There was nothing for him to do but to make a graceful exit, and
+this he did in a way that brought tears to the lady's eyes. "Oh, need
+you go?" she urged with fatuous politeness. Austin was more friendly
+still; he reminded Mr Ogilvie that having returned so late he had had
+no opportunity of enjoying a renewal of their acquaintance, and begged
+him to remain a little longer for a chat and a cigarette. But Mr
+Ogilvie was too much of an artist to permit an anti-climax. The
+catastrophe had come off, and the curtain must be run down quick. So
+he wrenched himself away with what dignity he might, and, relapsing
+into his natural or Buskin phase as soon as he got outside, comforted
+himself with a glass of stiff whiskey and water at the refreshment bar
+of the railway station before getting into the train for London.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter the Twelfth
+
+
+As the weeks rolled on the days began perceptibly to draw in, and the
+leaves turned gradually from green to golden brown. It was the fall of
+the year, when the wind acquires an edge, and blue sky disappears behind
+purple clouds, and the world is reminded that ere very long all nature
+will be wrapped in a shroud of grey and silver. Rain fell with greater
+frequency, the uplands were often veiled in a damp mist, the hours of
+basking in noontide suns by the old stone fountain were gone, and Austin
+was fain to relinquish, one by one, those summer fantasies that for so
+many happy months had made the gladness of his life. There is always
+something sad about the autumn. It is associated, undeniably, with
+golden harvests and purple vintages, the crimson and yellow magnificence
+of foliage, and a few gorgeous blooms; but these, after all, are no more
+than indications that the glory of the year has reached its zenith,
+that its labours have attained fruition, and that the death of winter
+must be passed through before the resurrection-time of spring.
+
+    "Ihr Matten lebt wohl,
+        Ihr sonnigen Waiden,
+        Der Senne muss scheiden,
+    Die Sommer ist bin."
+
+And yet the summer did not carry everything away with it. As the year
+ripened and decayed, other fantasies arose to take the place of those
+he was losing--or rather, he grew more and more under the obsession of
+ideas not wholly of this world, ideas and phases of consciousness
+that, as we have seen, had for some time past been gradually gaining
+an entrance into his soul. As the beauties of the material world
+faded, the wonders of a higher world superseded them. He still lived
+much in the open air, drinking in all the influences of the scenery in
+earth and sky, and marvelling at the loveliness of the year's
+decadence; but, as though in subtle sympathy with nature's phases, it
+seemed to him as though his own body had less vitality, and that,
+while his mind was as keen and vigorous as ever, he felt less and less
+inclined to explore his beloved, fields and woods. Aunt Charlotte
+looked first critically and then anxiously at his face, which
+appeared to her paler and thinner than before. His stump began to
+trouble him again, and once or twice he confessed, in a reluctant sort
+of way, that his back did not feel quite comfortable. Of course he
+thought it was very silly of his back, and was annoyed that it did not
+behave more sensibly. But he didn't let it trouble him over-much, for
+he was always very philosophical about pain. Once, when he had a
+toothache, somebody expressed surprise that he bore it with such
+stoicism, and asked him jokingly for the secret. "Oh," he replied, "I
+just fix my attention on my great toe, or any other part of my body,
+and think how nice it is that I haven't got a toothache there."
+
+Aunt Charlotte had meanwhile grown to have much more respect for
+Austin than she had ever felt previously. He was now nearly eighteen,
+and his character and mental force had developed very rapidly of late.
+In spite of his inconceivable ignorance in some respects--geography,
+for instance--he had shown a shrewdness for which she had been totally
+unprepared, and a quiet persistence in matters where he felt that he
+was right and she was wrong that had begun to impress her very
+seriously. Many instances had arisen in which there had been a
+struggle for the mastery between them, and in every case not only had
+Austin had his own way but she had been compelled to acknowledge to
+herself that the wisdom had been on his side and not on hers. It was
+not so much that his reasoning powers were exceptionally acute as that
+he seemed to have a mysterious instinct, a sort of sub-conscious
+intuition, that never led him astray. And then there were those
+baffling, inexplicable premonitions that on three occasions had
+intervened to prevent some great disaster. The thought of these made
+her very pensive, and now that the vicar had set her mind at rest upon
+the abstract theory of invisible protectors she felt that she could
+harbour speculations about them without danger to her soul's welfare.
+That the power at work could scarcely emanate from the devil was now
+clear even to her, timid and narrow-minded as she was. Still, with
+that illogical shrinking from any tangible proof that her creed was
+true that is so characteristic of the orthodox, the whole thing gave
+her rather an uncomfortable sensation, and she would vastly have
+preferred to believe in spiritual or angelic ministrations as a pious
+opinion or casual article of faith than to have it brought home to her
+in the guise of knocks and raps. There are millions like her in the
+world to-day. Her religion, like everything else about her, was
+conventional, though not a whit the less sincere for that.
+
+And so it came about that she felt very much more dependent upon
+Austin than Austin did on her, although neither of them was conscious
+of the fact. The chief result was that, now they had fallen into their
+proper positions, they got on together much better than they had done
+before. Austin had really accomplished something towards "educating"
+his aunt, as he used humorously to say, and as he represented the
+newer and fresher thought it was well that it should be so. I do not
+know that he troubled himself very much about the future. In spite of
+his delicate health he was full of the joy of life, and he accepted it
+as a matter of course that wherever his future might be spent it would
+be a happy and a joyous one. What was the use of worrying about a
+matter over which he had absolutely no control? The universe was very
+beautiful, and he was a part of it. And as the universe would
+certainly endure, so would he endure. Why, then, should he concern
+himself about what might be in store for him?
+
+"You must take care of yourself, Austin," said Aunt Charlotte to him
+one day. "I'm afraid you've been overtaxing your strength, you know.
+You never would remain quiet even on the hottest days, and we've had
+rather a trying summer, you must remember."
+
+"It's been a lovely summer," replied Austin, who was lying down.
+
+"And how are you feeling, my dear?" asked Aunt Charlotte, anxiously.
+
+"Splendid!" he assured her. "I never felt better in my life."
+
+"But those little pains you spoke of; that weakness in your back----"
+
+"Oh, _that_!" said Austin, slightingly. "I wasn't thinking of my body.
+What does one's body matter? I meant _myself_. I'm all right. I
+daresay my bones may be doing something silly, but really I'm not
+responsible for their vagaries, am I now?"
+
+Aunt Charlotte sighed, and dropped the subject for the time being. But
+she was not quite easy in her mind.
+
+One day a great joy came to Austin. He was hobbling about the garden
+with his aunt, when all of a sudden he saw Roger St Aubyn approaching
+them across the lawn. It was with immense pride that he presented his
+friend to Aunt Charlotte, who, as may be remembered, had been just a
+little huffy that St Aubyn had never called on her before; but now
+that he had actually come the small grievance was forgotten in a
+moment, and she welcomed him with charming cordiality.
+
+"It is all the pleasanter to meet you," she said, "as I have now an
+opportunity of thanking you for all your kindness to Austin. He is
+never tired of telling me how much he has enjoyed himself with you."
+
+"The pleasure has been divided; he certainly has given me quite as
+much as ever I have been fortunate enough to give him," replied St
+Aubyn, smiling, "What a very dear old garden you have here; I don't
+wonder that he's so fond of it. It seems a place one might spend one's
+life in without ever growing old."
+
+"That's what I mean to do," said Austin, laughing.
+
+"But yours is magnificent, I'm told," observed Aunt Charlotte. "A
+little place like this is nothing in comparison, of course. Still, you
+are right; we are both extremely fond of it, and have spent many happy
+hours in it during the years that we've lived here."
+
+"And is that Lubin?" asked St Aubyn, noticing the young gardener a
+little distance off.
+
+"Yes, that's Lubin," replied Austin, delighted that St Aubyn should
+have remembered him. Then Lubin looked up with a respectful smile, and
+bashfully touched his cap. "Lubin's awfully clever," he continued, as
+they sauntered out of hearing, "and _so_ nice every way. He's what I
+call a real gentleman, and knows all sorts of curious things. It's
+perfectly wonderful how much more country people know than townsfolk.
+Of course I mean about _real_ things--nature, and all that--not silly
+stuff you find in history-books, which is of no consequence to anybody
+in the world."
+
+"Now, Austin," began Aunt Charlotte, warningly.
+
+"Oh, you needn't be afraid," laughed St Aubyn; "Austin's heresies are
+no novelty to me. And a heresy, you must recollect, has always some
+forgotten truth at the bottom of it."
+
+"I'm sure I hope so," replied Aunt Charlotte. "But the wind's getting
+a trifle chilly, and I think it's about time for tea. Austin isn't
+very strong just now, and mustn't run any risks."
+
+So they went indoors and had their tea in the drawing-room, when St
+Aubyn let fall the information that he was starting in a few days for
+a short tour in Italy. It would not be long, however, before he was
+back, and then of course he should look forward to seeing a great deal
+of Austin at the Court. Then Aunt Charlotte had to promise that she
+would honour the Court with a visit too; whereupon Austin launched out
+into a most glowing and picturesque description of the orchid-houses,
+and the pool of water-lilies, and the tapestry in the Banqueting Hall,
+being extremely curious to know whether his prosaic relative would
+experience any of those queer sensations that had so greatly impressed
+himself. This suggested a reference to Lady Merthyr Tydvil, who had
+taken so great an interest in Austin when last he had been at the
+Court; and here Aunt Charlotte chimed in, being naturally anxious to
+hear all about the wonderful old lady who had known Austin's father so
+well in years gone by, and remembered his mother too. Of course St
+Aubyn said, as in duty bound, that he hoped the countess would have
+the pleasure of meeting Austin's aunt some day under his own roof, and
+Aunt Charlotte acknowledged the courtesy in fitting terms.
+
+So the visit was quite a success, and Austin felt much more at his
+ease now that he could talk to his aunt about St Aubyn as one whom
+they both knew. She, on her side, was delighted with her new
+acquaintance, particularly as he seemed quite familiar with Austin's
+ethical and intellectual eccentricities, and did not seem horrified at
+them in the very least. The only thing that disturbed her just a
+little was the state of the boy's health. His spirits were as good as
+ever, and he seemed quite indifferent to the fact that he was not
+robust and hale; but there could be no doubt that he was paler and
+more fragile than he ought to have been, and the uneasiness he was
+fain to acknowledge in his hip and back worried her not a
+little--more, in fact, a great deal than it worried Austin himself.
+
+The truth was that his attention was taken up with something wholly
+different. The allusions to his unknown mother that had been made by
+Lady Merthyr Tydvil, and the cropping-up of the same subject during St
+Aubyn's visit, had somehow connected themselves in his mind with the
+mysterious appearance of the strange lady at the garden gate on the
+evening of the tea-party at the vicarage. Lady Merthyr Tydvil had
+recognised a strong resemblance between his mother as she had known
+her and himself, and he had noticed the very same thing in the
+strange lady. There were the same dark eyes, the same long, pale face,
+even (as far as he could judge) the same shade in colour of the hair.
+He would have thought little or nothing of this had it not been for
+the inexplicable and almost miraculous vanishing of the figure when
+there was absolutely nowhere for it to vanish to. Austin knew nothing
+of such happenings; with all his reading he had never chanced to open
+a single book that dealt with phenomena of this class, much less any
+written by scientific and sober investigators, so that the entire
+subject was an undiscovered country to him. Had he done so, his
+perplexity would not have been nearly so great, and very probably he
+might have recognised the fact of his own remarkable psychic powers.
+Still, in spite of this disadvantage, the conviction was slowly but
+surely forcing itself upon his mind that the lady he had seen was no
+one but his own mother. From this to a belief that it was she who had
+intervened to save both himself and his Aunt Charlotte from serious
+disasters was but a single step; and like Mary of old, in the presence
+of an even greater mystery, he revolved all these things silently in
+his heart.
+
+It was during the period when he was occupied with this train of
+thought that another strange thing occurred. One evening he strolled
+into the garden just as the sun was setting. It was one of those lurid
+sunsets peculiar to autumn, which look like a distant conflagration
+obscured by a veil of smoke. The western sky was aglow with a dull,
+murky crimson flecked by clouds of the deepest indigo, from behind
+which there seemed to shoot up luminous pulsations like the reflection
+of unseen flames. The effect of this red, throbbing light upon the
+garden in which he stood was almost unearthly, something resembling
+that of an eclipse viewed through warm-coloured glass; beautiful in
+itself, yet abnormal, fantastic, suggestive of weird imaginings.
+Austin, absorbed in contemplation, moved slowly through the shrubbery
+until he reached the lawn; then came to a dead stop. An astounding
+vision appeared before him. Standing by the old stone fountain,
+scarcely ten yards away, he saw the figure of a youth. The slender
+form was partly draped in a loose tunic of some dim, pale, reddish
+hue, descending halfway to his knees; on his feet were sandals of the
+old classic type; his golden hair was bound by a narrow fillet, and in
+his right hand he held a round, shallow cup, apparently of gold,
+towards which he was bending his head as though to drink from it.
+Austin stood transfixed. So exquisite a being he had never dreamt of
+or conceived. The contour of the limbs, the fall of the tunic, the
+pose of the head and throat, the ruddy lips, ever so slightly parted
+to meet the edge of the vessel he was in the act of raising to them,
+were something more than human. The whole thing stood out with
+stereoscopic clearness, and seemed as though self-luminous, although
+it shed no light on its surroundings. At that moment the youth turned
+his head, and met Austin's eyes with an expression that was not a
+smile, but something far more subtle, something that bore the same
+relation to a smile that a smile does to a laugh--thrilling,
+penetrating, indescribable. Austin flung out his hands in rapture.
+
+"Daphnis!" he ejaculated, with a flash of intuition.
+
+He threw himself forward impulsively, in a mad attempt to approach the
+wonderful phantasm. As he did so, the colours lost their sheen, and
+the figure faded into transparency. By the time he was near enough to
+touch it, it was no longer there, and the next instant he found
+himself clinging to the cold stone margin of the old fountain, all
+alone upon the lawn in the fast gathering twilight, shivering,
+panting, marvelling, but exultant in the consciousness of having been
+vouchsafed just one glimpse of the being who, so long unseen, had
+constituted for many years his cherished ideal of physical and
+spiritual beauty.
+
+He leant upon the fountain, in the spot that the vision had occupied.
+"And I believe he's always been here--all these many years," mused the
+boy, coming gradually to himself again. "He has stood beside me, often
+and often, inspiring me with beautiful ideas, though I never guessed
+it, never suspected it for a single moment. And now he has shown
+himself to me at last. The fountain is haunted, haunted by the
+beautiful earth-spirit that has been my guide, that I've dreamt of all
+my life without ever having seen him. It's a sacred fountain now--like
+the fountains of old Hellas, sacred with the hauntings of the gods.
+And he actually drank of the water--or was going to, if I hadn't
+frightened him away. Perhaps he's still here, although I can't see him
+any more. I wonder whether he knows my mother. It may be that they're
+great friends, and keep watch over me together. How wonderful it all
+is!"
+
+Then he walked slowly and rather painfully back to the house. He was
+in great spirits that night at dinner, though he ate no more than
+would have satisfied a bird, greatly to his aunt's disturbance. With
+much tact he abstained from saying anything to her about the
+extraordinary experience he had just gone through, feeling very justly
+that, though she seemed more or less reconciled to the ministry of
+angels, Daphnis was frankly a pagan spirit, and would, as such, be
+open to grave suspicion from the standpoint of his aunt's orthodoxy.
+But it didn't matter much, after all. He was happy in the
+consciousness that every day he was getting into nearer touch with a
+beautiful world that he could not see as yet, but in the existence of
+which he now believed as firmly as in that of his own garden. The
+spirit-land was fast becoming a reality to him, and although he had
+never beheld the glories of its scenery he had actually had a visit
+from two of its inhabitants. That, he thought, constituted the
+difference between Aunt Charlotte and himself. She believed in some
+place she called heaven, and had a vague notion that it was like a
+sort of religious transformation-scene, millions of miles away, up
+somewhere in the sky. He, on the contrary, knew that the spirit-world
+was all around him, because he had had ocular as well as intuitive
+demonstration of its proximity.
+
+It must not be supposed, however, that he sank into a state of mystic
+contemplation that unfitted him for every-day life. On the contrary,
+he took more interest in his physical surroundings than ever. It was
+now October, and he threw himself with almost feverish energy into the
+garden-work belonging to that month. There were potted carnations to
+be removed into warmth and shelter, hyacinths and tulips for the
+spring bloom to be planted in different beds, roses and honeysuckles
+to be carefully and scientifically pruned, and dead leaves to be
+plucked off everywhere. His fragile health prevented him from helping
+in the more onerous tasks, but he followed Lubin about indefatigably,
+watching everything he did with eager vigilance, whether he was
+planting ranunculuses and anemones, or clipping hedges, or trimming
+evergreens; while he himself was fain to be content with pruning and
+budding, and directing how the plants should be most fitly set. He
+said he wanted the show of flowers next year to be a triumph of
+gardencraft. The garden was a sort of holy of holies to him, and he
+tended it, and planned for it, and worked in it more enthusiastically
+than he had ever done before. This interest in common things was
+gratifying to Aunt Charlotte, who distrusted and discouraged his
+dwelling on what she called the uncanny side of life; but she was
+anxious, at the same time, that he should not overtax his strength,
+and gave secret orders to Lubin to see that the young master did not
+allow his ardour to outrun the dictates of discretion.
+
+One afternoon, Austin, who was feeling unusually tired, was lying in
+an easy-chair in the drawing-room with a book. He had been all the
+morning standing about in the garden, and after lunch Aunt Charlotte
+had put her foot down, and peremptorily forbidden him to go out any
+more that day. Austin had tried to get up a small rebellion,
+protesting that there were a lot of jonquils to be planted, and that
+Lubin would be sure to stick them too close together if he were not
+there to look after him; but his aunt was firm, and Austin was
+compelled on this occasion to submit. So there he lay, very calm and
+comfortable, while Aunt Charlotte knitted industriously, close by.
+
+"You see, my dear, you're not strong--not nearly so strong as you
+ought to be," she said, as she glanced at his drawn face. "I intend to
+take extra care of you this winter, and if you're not good about it I
+shall have to call in the doctor. I feel I have a great
+responsibility, you know, Austin. Oh, if only your poor mother were
+here, and could look after you herself!"
+
+"How do you know she doesn't?" asked Austin.
+
+"My dear!" exclaimed Aunt Charlotte, rather shocked.
+
+"Well, you can't be sure," retorted Austin, "and I believe myself she
+does. I'm sure of one thing, anyhow--and that is that if she came into
+the room at this moment I should recognise her at once."
+
+"You? Why, you never saw her in your life!" said Aunt Charlotte. "You
+shouldn't indulge such fancies, Austin. You could only think it might
+possibly be your mother, from the descriptions you've heard of her. Of
+course you could never be certain."
+
+"How is it she never had her likeness taken?" enquired Austin, laying
+his book aside.
+
+"She did have her likeness taken once; but she didn't care for it, and
+I don't think she kept any copies," replied Aunt Charlotte. "It was
+just a common cabinet photograph, you know, done by some man or other
+in a country town. There may be one or two in existence, but I've
+never come across any. I've often wished I could."
+
+"There are a lot of old trunks up in the attic, full of all sorts of
+rubbish," suggested Austin. "It might be amusing to go up and grub
+about among them some day. One might find wonderful heirlooms, and
+jewels, and forgotten wills. I should like to hunt there awfully. I'm
+sure they haven't been touched for a century."
+
+"In that case it isn't likely we should find your mother's photograph
+among them," retorted Aunt Charlotte briskly.
+
+Austin laughed. "But may I?" he persisted.
+
+"My dear, of course you may if you like," replied Aunt Charlotte. "I
+don't suppose there are any treasures or secrets to be unearthed;
+probably you'll find nothing but a lot of old bills, and school-books,
+and such-like useless lumber. There _may_ be some forgotten
+photographs--I couldn't swear there aren't; but if you do find
+anything of interest I shall be much surprised."
+
+Austin was on his legs in a moment. "Just the thing for an afternoon
+like this!" he cried impulsively. "I'll go up now, and have a look
+round. Don't worry, auntie; I won't fatigue myself, I promise you. I
+only want to see if there's anything that looks as though it might be
+worth examining."
+
+He hopped out of the room in some excitement, full of this new
+project. Aunt Charlotte, less enthusiastic, continued knitting
+placidly, her only anxiety being lest Austin should strain his back in
+leaning over the boxes. In about twenty minutes or so he returned,
+followed by Martha, the two carrying between them a battered green
+chest full of odds and ends, which she had carefully dusted before
+bringing into the drawing-room. "There!" he said, triumphantly;
+"here's treasure-trove, if you like. Put it on the chair, Martha,
+close by me, and then I can empty it at my leisure. Now for a plunge
+into the past. Isn't it going to be fun, auntie?"
+
+"I hope, my dear, that the entertainment will come up to your
+expectations," observed Aunt Charlotte, equably.
+
+"Sure to," said Austin, beginning to rummage about. "What are these?
+Old exercise-books, as I live! Oh, do look here; isn't this wonderful?
+Here's a translation: 'Horace, Liber I, Satire 5.' How brown the ink
+is. _Aricia a little town on the way to Appia received me coming from
+the magnificent city of Rome with poor accommodation. Heliodorus by far
+the most learned orator of the Greeks accompanied me. We came to the
+market-place of Appius filled with sailors and insolent brokers._--Were
+they stockbrokers, I wonder? Oh, auntie, these are exercises done by my
+grandfather when he was a little boy. Poor little grandfather; what
+pains he seems to have taken over it, and how beautifully it's written.
+I hope he got a lot of marks; do you think he did? _The sailor, soaked
+in poor wine, and the passenger, earnestly celebrate their absent
+mistresses._ Poor things! They don't seem to have had a very enjoyable
+excursion. However, I can't read it all through. Oh--here are a lot of
+letters. Not very interesting. All about contracts and sales, and silly
+things like that. Here's a funny book, though. Do look, auntie. It must
+have been printed centuries ago by the look of it. I wonder what it's
+all about. _A Sequel to the Antidote to the Miseries of Human Life,
+containing a Further Account of Mrs Placid and her daughter Rachel. By
+the Author of the Antidote._ What _does_ it all mean? 'Squire
+Bustle'--'Miss Finakin'--'Uncle Jeremiah'--used people to read books
+like this when grandfather was a little boy? It looks quite charming,
+but I think we'll put it by for the present. What's this? Oh, a
+daguerreotype, I suppose--an extraordinary-looking, smirking old
+person in a great bonnet with large roses all round her face, and tied
+with huge ribbons under her chin. Dear auntie, why don't you wear
+bonnets like that? You _would_ look so sweet! Pamphlets--tracts--oh
+dear, these are all dreadfully dry. What a mixture it all is, to be
+sure. The things seem to have been shot in anyhow. Hullo--an album.
+_Now_ we shall see. This is evidently of much later date than the other
+treasures, though it is at the bottom of them all."
+
+He dragged out an old, soiled, photographic album bound in purple
+morocco, and all falling to pieces. It proved to contain family
+portraits, none of them particularly attractive in themselves, but
+interesting enough to Austin. He turned over the pages one by one,
+slowly. Aunt Charlotte glanced curiously at them over her spectacles
+from where she sat.
+
+"I don't think I remember ever seeing that album," she said. "I wonder
+whom it can have belonged to. Ah! I expect it must have been your
+father's. Yes--there's a photograph of your Uncle Ernest, when he was
+just of age. You never saw him, he went to Australia before you were
+born. Those ladies I don't know. What a string of them there are, to
+be sure. I suppose they were----"
+
+"There she is!" cried Austin, suddenly bringing his hand down upon the
+page. "That's my mother. I told you I should know her, didn't I?"
+
+Aunt Charlotte jumped. "The very photograph!" she exclaimed. "I had no
+idea there was a copy in existence. But how in the wide world did you
+recognise it?"
+
+Austin continued examining it for some seconds without replying. "I
+don't think it quite does her justice," he said at last, thoughtfully.
+"The position isn't well arranged. It makes the chin too small."
+
+"Quite true!" assented Aunt Charlotte. "It's the way she's holding her
+head." Then, with another start: "But how can you know that?"
+
+"Because I saw her only the other day," said Austin.
+
+For a moment Aunt Charlotte thought he was wool-gathering. He spoke in
+such a perfectly calm, natural tone, that he might have been referring
+to someone who lived in the next street. But a glance at his face
+convinced her that he meant exactly what he said.
+
+"Austin!" she exclaimed. "What can you be thinking about?"
+
+"It's perfectly true," he assured her. "I saw her a few weeks ago in
+the garden. She stood and looked at me over the gate, and then
+suddenly disappeared."
+
+"And you really believe it?" cried Aunt Charlotte in amaze.
+
+"I don't believe it, I know it," he answered, laying down the
+photograph. "I saw her as distinctly as I see you now. It was that day
+we had been having tea at the vicarage, when we met the man who wanted
+to set fire to some bishop or other. Ask Lubin; he'll remember it fast
+enough."
+
+This time Aunt Charlotte fairly collapsed. It was no longer any use
+flouting Austin's statements; they were too calm, too collected, to be
+disposed of by mere derision. There could be no doubt that he firmly
+believed he had seen something or somebody, and whatever might be the
+explanation of that belief it had enabled him not only to recognise
+his mother's photograph but to criticise, and criticise correctly, a
+certain defect in the portrait. She could not deny that what he said
+was true. "Can such things really be?" she uttered under her breath.
+
+"Dear auntie, they _are_," said Austin. "I've been conscious of it for
+months, and lately I've had the proof. Indeed, I've had more than
+one. There are people all round us, only it isn't given to everybody
+to see them. And it isn't really very astonishing that it should be
+so, when one comes to think of it."
+
+From that day forward Aunt Charlotte watched Austin with a sense of
+something akin to awe. Certainly he was different from other folk.
+With all his love of life, his keen interest in his surroundings, and
+his wealth of boyish spirits, he seemed a being apart--a being who
+lived not only in this world but on the boundary between this world
+and another. As an orthodox Christian woman of course she believed in
+that other--"another and a better world," as she was accustomed to
+call it. But that that world was actually around her, hemming her in,
+within reach of her fingertips so to speak, that was quite a new idea.
+It gave her the creeps, and she strove to put it out of her head as
+much as possible. But ere many weeks elapsed, it was forced upon her
+in a very painful way, and she could no longer ignore the feeling
+which stole over her from time to time that not only was the boundary
+between the two worlds a very narrow one, but that her poor Austin
+would not be long before he crossed it altogether.
+
+For there was no doubt that he was beginning to fade. He got paler
+and thinner by degrees, and one day she found him in a dead faint upon
+the floor. The slight uneasiness in his hip had increased to actual
+pain, and the pain had spread to his back. In an agony of apprehension
+she summoned the doctor, and the doctor with hollow professional
+cheerfulness said that that sort of thing wouldn't do at all, and that
+Master Austin must make up his mind to lie up a bit. And so he was put
+to bed, and people smiled ghastly smiles which were far more
+heartrending than sobs, and talked about taking him away to some
+beautiful warm southern climate where he would soon grow strong and
+well again. Austin only said that he was very comfortable where he
+was, and that he wouldn't think of being taken away, because he knew
+how dreadfully poor Aunt Charlotte suffered at sea, and travelling was
+a sad nuisance after all. And indeed it would have been impossible to
+move him, for his sufferings were occasionally very great. Sometimes
+he would writhe in strange agonies all night long, till they used to
+wonder how he would live through it; but when morning came he scarcely
+ever remembered anything at all, and in answer to enquiries always
+said that he had had a very good night indeed, thank you. Once or
+twice he seemed to have a dim recollection of something--some "bustle
+and fluff," as he expressed it--during his troubled sleep; and then he
+would ask anxiously whether he really had been giving them any bother,
+and assure them that he was so very sorry, and hoped they would
+forgive him for having been so stupid. At which Aunt Charlotte had to
+smile and joke as heroically as she knew how.
+
+There were some days, however, when he was quite free from pain, and
+then he was as bright and cheerful as ever. He lay in his white bed
+surrounded by the books he loved, which he read intermittently; and
+every now and then, when Aunt Charlotte thought he was strong enough,
+a visitor would be admitted. Roger St Aubyn, now back from Italy,
+often dropped in to sit with him, and these were golden hours to
+Austin, who listened delightedly to his friend's absorbing
+descriptions of the beautiful places he had been to and the wonderful
+old legends that were attached to them. Then nothing would content him
+but that Lubin must come up occasionally and tell him how the garden
+was looking, and what he thought of the prospects for next summer, and
+answer all sorts of searching questions as to the operations in which
+he had been engaged since Austin had been a prisoner. Austin enjoyed
+these colloquies with Lubin; the very sight of him, he said, was like
+having a glimpse of the garden. But somehow Lubin's eyes always looked
+rather red and misty when he came out of the room, and it was noticed
+that he went about his work in a very half-hearted and listless
+manner.
+
+One day, however, a visitor called whose presence was not so
+sympathetic. This was Mr Sheepshanks, the vicar. Of course he was
+quite right to call--indeed it would have been an unpardonable
+omission had he not done so; at the same time his little furtive
+movements and professional air of solemnity got on Austin's nerves,
+and produced a sense of irritation that was certainly not conducive to
+his well-being. At last the point was reached to which the vicar had
+been gradually leading up, and he suggested that, now that it had
+pleased Providence to stretch Austin on a couch of pain, it was
+advisable that he should think about making his peace with God.
+
+"Make my peace with God?" repeated Austin, opening his eyes. "What
+about? We haven't quarrelled!"
+
+"My dear young friend, that is scarcely the way for a creature to
+speak of its relations with its Creator," said the vicar, gravely
+shocked.
+
+"Isn't it?" said Austin. "I'm very sorry; I thought you were hinting
+that I had some grudge against the Creator, and that I ought to make
+it up. Because I haven't, not in the very least. I've had a lovely
+life, and I'm more obliged to Him for it than I can say."
+
+"Ahem," coughed the vicar dubiously. "One scarcely speaks of being
+_obliged_ to the Almighty, my dear Austin. We owe Him our everlasting
+gratitude for His mercies to us, and when we think how utterly
+unworthy the best of us are of the very least attention on His
+part----"
+
+"I don't see that at all," interrupted Austin. "On the contrary,
+seeing that God brought us all into existence without consulting any
+one of us I think we have a right to expect a great deal of attention
+on His part. Surely He has more responsibility towards somebody He has
+made than that somebody has towards Him. That's only common sense, it
+seems to me."
+
+The vicar thought he had never had such an unmanageable penitent to
+deal with since he took orders. "But how about sin?" he suggested,
+shifting his ground. "Have you no sense of sin?"
+
+"I'm almost afraid not," acknowledged Austin, with well-bred concern.
+"Ought I to have?"
+
+"We all ought to have," replied the vicar sternly. "We have all
+sinned, and come short of the glory of God."
+
+"I don't see how we could have done otherwise," remarked Austin, who
+was getting rather bored. "Little people like us can't be expected to
+come up to a standard which I suppose implies divine perfection. I
+dare say I've done lots of sins, but for the life of me I've no idea
+what they were. I don't think I ever thought about it."
+
+"It's time you thought about it now, then," said the vicar, getting
+up. "I won't worry you any more to-day, because I see you're tired.
+But I shall pray for you, and when next I come I hope you'll
+understand my meaning more clearly than you do at present."
+
+"That is very kind of you," said Austin, putting out his almost
+transparent hand. "I'm awfully sorry to give you so much trouble.
+You'll see Aunt Charlotte before you go away? I know she'll expect
+you to go in for a cup of tea."
+
+So the vicar escaped, almost as glad to do so as Austin was to be left
+in peace. And the worst of it was that, though he cudgelled his brains
+for many hours that night, he could not think of any sins in
+particular that Austin had been in the habit of committing. He was
+kind, he was pure, and he was unselfish. His exaggerated abuse of
+people he didn't like was more than half humorous, and was rather a
+fault than a sin. Yet he must be a sinner somehow, because everybody
+was. Perhaps his sin consisted in his not being pious in the
+evangelical sense of the word. Yet he loved goodness, and the vicar
+had once heard a great Roman Catholic divine say that loving goodness
+was the same thing as loving God. But Austin had never said that he
+loved God; he had only said that he was much obliged to Him. The poor
+vicar worried himself about all this until he fell asleep, taking
+refuge in the reflection that if he couldn't understand the state of
+Austin's soul there was always the probability that God did.
+
+Aunt Charlotte, on her side, was too much absorbed in her anxiety and
+sorrow to trouble herself with such misgivings. The light of her life
+was burning very low, and bade fair to be extinguished altogether.
+What were theological conundrums to her now? It would be positively
+wicked to fear that anything dreadful could happen to Austin because
+he had forgotten his catechism and was not impressed by the vicar's
+prosy discourses in church. Face to face with the possibility of
+losing him, all her conventionality collapsed. The boy had been
+everything in the world to her, and now he was going elsewhere.
+
+The house was a very mournful place just then, and the servants moved
+noiselessly about as though in the presence of some strange mystery.
+The only person in it who seemed really happy was Austin himself. A
+great London surgeon came to see him once, and then there was talk of
+hiring a trained nurse. But Austin combatted this project with all the
+vigour at his command, protesting that trained nurses always scented
+themselves with chloroform and put him in mind of a hospital; he
+really could not have one in the room. Some assistance, however, was
+necessary, for the disease was making such rapid progress that he
+could no longer turn himself in bed; and Austin, recognising the fact,
+insisted that Lubin and no other should tend him. So Lubin, tearfully
+overjoyed at the distinction, exchanged the garden for the
+sick-chamber, into which, as Austin said, he seemed to bring the very
+scent of grass and flowers; and there he passed his time, day after
+day, raising the helpless boy in his strong arms, shifting his
+position, anticipating his slightest wish, and even sleeping in a low
+truckle-bed in a corner of the room at night.
+
+Sometimes Austin would lie, silent and motionless, for hours, with a
+perfectly calm and happy look upon his face. This was when the pain
+relaxed its grip upon him. At other times he would talk almost
+incessantly, apparently holding a conversation with people whom Lubin
+could not see. One would have thought that someone very dear to him
+had come to pay him a visit, and that he and this mysterious someone
+were deeply attached to each other, so bright and playful were the
+smiles that rippled upon his lips. He spoke in a low, rapid undertone,
+so that Lubin could only catch a word or two here and there; then
+there would be a pause, as though to allow for some unheard reply, to
+which Austin appeared to be listening intently; and then off he would
+go again as fast as ever. His eyes had a wistful, far-off look in
+them, and every now and then he seemed puzzled at Lubin's presence,
+not being quite able to reconcile the actual surroundings of the
+sick-room with those other scenes that were now dawning upon his
+sight, scenes in which Lubin had no place. There was a little
+confusion in his mind in consequence; but as the days went on things
+gradually became much clearer.
+
+Now Austin, in spite of his utter indifference to, or indeed aversion
+from, theological religion, had always loved his Sundays. To him they
+were as days of heaven upon earth, and in them he appeared to take an
+instinctive delight, as though the very atmosphere of the day filled
+him with spiritual aspirations, and thoughts which belonged not to
+this world. Above all, he loved Sunday evenings, which appeared to him
+a season hallowed in some special way, when all high and pure
+influences were felt in their greatest intensity. And now another
+Sunday came round, and, as had been the case all through his illness,
+he felt and knew by instinct what day it was. He lay quite still, as
+the distant chime of the church bells was wafted through the air,
+faint but just audible in the silent room. Aunt Charlotte smiled
+tenderly at him through her tears; she was going to church, poor soul,
+to pray for his recovery, though knowing quite well that what she
+called his recovery was beyond hope. Austin shot a brilliant smile at
+her in return, and Aunt Charlotte rushed out of the room choking.
+
+The day drew to its close, the darkness gathered, and Austin, who had
+been suffering considerably during the afternoon, was now easier. At
+about seven o'clock his aunt stole softly in, unable to keep away, and
+looked at him. His eyes were closed, and he appeared to be asleep.
+
+"How has he been this afternoon?" she asked of Lubin in an undertone.
+
+"Seemed to be sufferin' a bit about two hour ago, but nothing more 'n
+usual," said Lubin. "Then he got easier and sank asleep, quite
+quiet-like. He's breathin' regular enough."
+
+"He doesn't look worse--there's even a little colour in his cheeks,"
+observed Aunt Charlotte, as she watched the sleeping boy. "He's in
+quite a nice, natural slumber. If nursing could only bring him round!"
+
+"I'd nurse him all my life for that matter," replied Lubin huskily,
+standing on the other side of the bed.
+
+"I know you would, Lubin," cried Aunt Charlotte. "You've been
+goodness itself to my poor darling. What wouldn't I do--what wouldn't
+we all do--to save his precious life!"
+
+"Is he waking up?" whispered Lubin, bending over. "Nay--just turning
+his head a bit to one side. He's comfortable enough for the time
+being. If it wasn't for them crooel pains as seizes him----"
+
+"Ah, but they're only the symptoms of the disease!" sighed Aunt
+Charlotte, mournfully. "And the doctor says that if they were to leave
+him suddenly, it--wouldn't--be a good--sign." Here she began to sob
+under her breath. "It might mean that his poor body was no longer
+capable of feeling. Well, God knows what's best for all of us. Aren't
+you getting nearly worn out yourself, Lubin?"
+
+"I? Laws no, ma'am," answered Lubin almost scornfully. "I get a sort
+o' dog's snooze every now and again, and when Martha was here this
+morning I slept for four hour on end. No fear o' me caving in. Ah,
+would ye now?" observing some feeble attempt on Austin's part to shift
+his position. "There!" as he deftly slipped his hands under him, and
+turned him a little to one side. "That eases him a bit. It's stiff
+work, lying half the day with one's back in the same place."
+
+Then Martha appeared at the door, and insisted on Aunt Charlotte going
+downstairs and trying to take some nourishment. In the sick-room all
+was silent. Austin continued sleeping peacefully, an expression of
+absolute contentment and happiness upon his face, while Lubin sat by
+the bedside watching.
+
+But Austin did not go on sleeping all the night. There came a time
+when his deep unconsciousness was invaded by a very strange and
+wonderful sensation. He no longer felt himself lying motionless in
+bed, as he had been doing for so long. He seemed rather to be
+floating, as one might float along the current of a strong, swift
+stream. He felt no bed under him, though what it was that held him up
+he couldn't guess, and it never occurred to him to wonder. All he knew
+was that his pains had vanished, that his body was scarcely palpable,
+and that the smooth, gliding motion--if motion it could be called--was
+the most exquisite sensation he had ever felt. What _could_ be
+happening? Austin, his mind now wide awake, and thoroughly on the
+alert, lay for some time in rapt enjoyment of this new experience.
+Then he opened his eyes, and found that he was in bed after all; the
+nightlight was burning on a table by the window, the bookcase stood
+where it did, and he could even discern Lubin, who seemed to have
+dropped asleep, in an armchair three or four yards away. That made the
+mystery all the greater, and Austin waited in expectant silence to see
+what would happen next.
+
+Suddenly, as in a flash, the whole of his past life unrolled itself
+before his consciousness. He saw himself a toddling baby, a growing
+child, a schoolboy, a happy young rascal chasing sheep; then came a
+period of pain, a gradual convalescence, a joyful life in the country
+air, a life of reading, a life of pleasant dreams, a life into which
+entered his friendship with St Aubyn, his days with Lubin in the
+garden, his encounters with Mr Buskin, and those strange experiences
+that had reached him from another world. That other world was coming
+very near to him now, and he was coming very near to it! And all these
+recollections formed one marvellous panorama, one great simultaneous
+whole, with no appearance of succession, but just as though it had
+happened all at once. Austin seemed to be past reasoning; he had
+advanced to a stage where thinking and speculating were things gone by
+for ever, and his perceptions were wholly passive. There was his
+life, spread out in consciousness before him; and meanwhile he was
+undergoing a change.
+
+He looked up, and saw a dim, violet cloud hanging horizontally over
+him. It was in shape like a human form; his own form. At that moment a
+great tremor, a sort of convulsive thrill, passed through him as he
+lay, jarring every nerve, and awaking him, at that supreme crisis, to
+the existence of his body. A sense of confusion followed; and then he
+seemed to pass out of his own head, and found himself poised in the
+air immediately over the place where he had just been lying. He saw
+the violet cloud no more, though whether he had coalesced with it, or
+the cloud itself had become disintegrated, he could not tell; then, by
+a sort of instinct, he assumed an erect position, and saw that he was
+balanced, somehow, a little distance from the bed, looking down upon
+it. And on the bed, connected with him by a faintly luminous cord, lay
+the white, still, beautiful form of a dead boy. "And that was my
+body!" he cried, in awestruck wonder, though his words caused no
+vibration in the air.
+
+He looked at himself, and saw that he was glorious, encircled by a
+radiant fire-mist. And he was throbbing and pulsating with life, able
+to move hither and thither without effort, free from lameness, free
+from weight, strong, vigorous, full of energy, poised like a bird in
+the pure air of heaven, ready to take his flight in any conceivable
+direction at the faintest motion of his own will. Then the
+resplendence that enveloped him extended, until the whole room was
+full of it; and in the midst of it there stood a very sweet and
+gracious figure, robed in white drapery, and with eyes of intensest
+love, more beautiful to look at than anything that Austin had ever
+dreamed of. "Mother!" he whispered, as he glided swiftly towards her.
+
+The walls and ceiling of the room dissolved, and a wonderful
+landscape, the pageantry and splendour of the Spirit Land, revealed
+itself. It was bathed in a light that never was on land or sea, and
+there were sunny slopes, and jewelled meadows, and silvery streams,
+and flowers that only grow in Paradise. Austin was dazzled with its
+glory; here at last was the realisation of all he had dimly fancied,
+all he had ever longed for. And yet as he floated outwards and upwards
+into the heavenly realms, the crown and climax of his happiness lay in
+the thought that he could always, by the mere impulse of desire,
+revisit the sweet old garden he had loved, and watch Lubin at his
+work among the flowers, and stand, though all unseen, beside the old
+stone fountain where he had passed such happy times in the earth-life
+he was leaving.
+
+
+
+
+Edinburgh
+M'laren and Co., Limited
+Printers
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUSTIN AND HIS FRIENDS***
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+<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, Austin and His Friends, by Frederic H. Balfour</h1>
+<pre>
+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 <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Austin and His Friends</p>
+<p>Author: Frederic H. Balfour</p>
+<p>Release Date: June 21, 2005  [eBook #16099]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUSTIN AND HIS FRIENDS***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3 class="pg">E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Jeannie Howse,<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (https://www.pgdp.net)</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<br />
+<a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a>
+<br />
+
+<div class="img" style="width: 65%;"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a>
+<a href="images/frontis.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/frontis.jpg" width="90%" alt="Daphnis at the Fountain" /></a>
+<p class="cen" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 90%;">
+Daphnis At The Fountain</p>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h1><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a>Austin and His<br />
+Friends</h1>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h3>BY</h3>
+
+<br />
+
+<h2>FREDERIC H. BALFOUR</h2>
+
+<h4>AUTHOR OF<br />
+&quot;THE EXPIATION OF EUGENE,&quot; ETC.</h4>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<div class="img" style="width: 40%;">
+<img border="0" src="images/deco.jpg" width="40%" alt="Frontpage decoration" />
+</div>
+<br />
+
+
+<h5>LONDON<br />
+GREENING &amp; CO., LTD.<br />
+1906</h5>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="toc" id="toc"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+<h3>Table of Contents</h3>
+
+<div class="centered">
+  <table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" width="30%" summary="Table of Contents">
+  <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Chapter_the_First">Chapter the First</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Chapter_the_Second">Chapter the Second</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Chapter_the_Third">Chapter the Third</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Chapter_the_Fourth">Chapter the Fourth</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Chapter_the_Fifth">Chapter the Fifth</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Chapter_the_Sixth">Chapter the Sixth</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Chapter_the_Seventh">Chapter the Seventh</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Chapter_the_Eighth">Chapter the Eighth</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Chapter_the_Ninth">Chapter the Ninth</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Chapter_the_Tenth">Chapter the Tenth</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Chapter_the_Eleventh">Chapter the Eleventh</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td><a href="#Chapter_the_Twelfth">Chapter the Twelfth</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  </table>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a><hr/>
+<br />
+
+<h3>Advertisement<a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a></h3>
+<br />
+
+<p>The old-fashioned ghost-story was always terrifying and ghastly;
+something that made people afraid to go to bed, or to look over their
+shoulders, or to enter a room in the dark. It dealt with apparitions
+in a white sheet, and clanking chains, and dreadful faces that peered
+out from behind the window curtains in a haunted chamber. And the more
+blood-curdling it was, the more keenly people enjoyed it&mdash;until they
+were left alone, and then they were apt to wish that they had been
+reading Robinson Crusoe or Alison's History of Europe instead. Now the
+present book embodies an attempt to write a <i>cheerful</i> ghost-story; a
+story in which the ghostly element is of a friendly and pleasant
+character, and sheds a sense of happiness and sunshine over the entire
+life of the ghost-seer. Whether the author has succeeded in doing so
+will be for his readers to decide. It is only necessary to add that he
+has not introduced a single supernormal incident that has not occurred
+and been authenticated in the recorded experiences of persons lately
+or still alive.</p>
+
+<br /><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a>
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="Chapter_the_First" id="Chapter_the_First"></a><hr />
+<br />
+<h2>Austin and His Friends</h2><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a>
+
+<h2>Chapter the First<span class="totoc"><a class="noline" href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2>
+<br />
+
+<p>It was rather a beautiful old house&mdash;the house where Austin lived.
+That is, it was old-fashioned, low-browed, solid, and built of that
+peculiar sort of red brick which turns a rich rose-colour with age;
+and this warm rosy tint was set off to advantage by the thick mantle
+of dark green ivy in which it was partly encased, and by the row of
+tall white and purple irises which ran along the whole length of the
+sunniest side of the building. There was an ancient sun-dial just
+above the door, and all the windows were made of small, square
+panes&mdash;not a foot of plate-glass was there about the place; and if the
+rooms were nor particularly large or stately, they had that
+comfortable and settled look which tells of undisturbed occupancy by
+the same inmates for many years. But the principal charm of the place<a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a>
+was the garden in which the house stood. In this case the frame was
+really more beautiful than the picture. On one side, the grounds were
+laid out in very formal style, with straight walks, clipped box
+hedges, an old stone fountain, and a perfect bowling-green of a lawn;
+while at right angles to this there was a plot of land in which all
+regularity was set at naught, and sweet-peas, tulips, hollyhocks,
+dahlias, gillyflowers, wall-flowers, sun-flowers, and a dozen others
+equally sweet and friendly shared the soil with gooseberry bushes and
+thriving apple-trees. Taking it all in all, it was a lovable and most
+reposeful home, and Austin, who had lived there ever since he could
+remember, was quite unable to imagine any lot in life that could be
+compared to his.</p>
+
+<p>Now this was curious, for Austin was a hopeless cripple. Up to the age
+of sixteen, he had been the most active, restless, healthy boy in all
+the countryside. He used to spend his days in boating, bicycling,
+climbing hills, and wandering at large through the woods and leafy
+lanes which stretched far and wide in all directions of the compass.
+One of his chief diversions had been sheep-chasing; nothing delighted
+him more than to start a whole flock of the astonished creatures
+careering madly round some broad green meadow, their fat woolly backs<a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a>
+wobbling and jolting along in a compact mass of mild perplexity at
+this sudden interruption of their never-ending meal, while Austin
+scampered at their tails, as much excited with the sport as Don
+Quixote himself when he dispersed the legions of Alifanfaron. Let
+hare-coursers, otter-hunters, and pigeon-torturers blame him if they
+choose; the exercise probably did the sheep a vast amount of good, and
+Austin fully believed that they enjoyed it quite as much as he did.
+Then suddenly a great calamity befell him. A weakness made itself
+apparent in his right knee, accompanied by considerable pain. The
+family doctor looked anxious and puzzled; a great surgeon was called
+in, and the two shook their heads together in very portentous style.
+It was a case of caries, they said, and Austin mustn't hunt sheep any
+more. Soon he had to lie upon the sofa for several hours a day, and
+what made Aunt Charlotte more anxious than anything else was that he
+didn't seem to mind lying on the sofa, as he would have done if he had
+felt strong and well; on the contrary, he grew thin and listless, and
+instead of always jumping up and trying to evade the doctor's orders,
+appeared quite content to lie there, quiet and resigned, from one
+week's end to another. That, <a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a>thought shrewd Aunt Charlotte, betokened
+mischief. Another consultation followed, and then a very terrible
+sentence was pronounced. It was necessary, in order to save his life,
+that Austin should lose his leg.</p>
+
+<p>What does a boy generally feel under such circumstances? What would
+you and I feel? Austin's first impulse was to burst into a passionate
+fit of weeping, and he yielded to it unreservedly. But, the fit once
+past, he smiled brilliantly through his tears. True, he would never
+again be able to enjoy those glorious ramps up hill and down dale that
+up till then had sent the warm life coursing through his veins. Never
+more would he go scorching along the level roads against the wind on
+his cherished bicycle. The open-air athletic days of stress and effort
+were gone, never to return. But there might be compensations; who
+could tell? Happiness, all said and done, need not depend upon a
+shin-bone more or less. He might lose a leg, but legs were, after all,
+a mere concomitant to life&mdash;life did not consist in legs. There would
+still be something left to live for, and who could tell whether that
+something might not be infinitely grander and nobler and more
+satisfying than even the rapture of flying ten miles an hour on his
+<a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a>wheel, or chevying a flock of agitated sheep from one pasture to
+another?</p>
+
+<p>Where this sudden inspiration came from, he then had no idea; but come
+it did, in the very nick of time, and helped him to dry his tears. The
+day of destiny also came, and his courage was put to the test. He knew
+well enough, of course, that of the operation he would feel nothing.
+But the sight of the hard, white, narrow pallet on which he had to
+lie, the cold glint of the remorseless instruments, the neatly folded
+packages of lint and cotton-wool, and the faint, horrible smell of
+chloroform turned him rather sick for a minute. Then he glanced
+downwards, with a sense of almost affectionate yearning, at the limb
+he was about to lose. &quot;Good-bye, dear old leg!&quot; he murmured, with a
+little laugh which smothered a rising sob. &quot;We've had some lovely
+ramps together, but the best of friends must part.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Afterwards, during the long days of dreary convalescence, he began to
+feel an interest in what remained of it; and then he found himself
+taking a sort of &aelig;sthetic pleasure in the smooth, beautifully-rounded
+stump, which really was in its way quite an artistic piece of work. At
+last, when the flesh was properly healed, and the white skin growing
+healthily again around his <a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>abbreviated member, he grew eager to make
+acquaintance with his new leg; for of course it was never intended
+that he should perform the rest of his earthly pilgrimage with only a
+leg and a half&mdash;let the added half be of what material it might. And
+his excitement may be better imagined than described when, one
+afternoon, the surgeon came in with a most wonderful object in his
+arms&mdash;a lovely prop of bright, black, burnished wood, set off with
+steel couplings and the most fascinating straps you ever saw. And the
+best of all was the socket, in which his soft white stump fitted as
+comfortably as though they had been made for one another&mdash;as, in fact,
+one of them had been. It was a little difficult to walk just at first,
+for Austin was accustomed to begin by throwing out his foot, whereas
+now he had to begin by moving his thigh; this naturally made him
+stagger, and for some time he could only get along with the aid of a
+crutch. But to be able to walk again at all was a great achievement,
+and then, if you only looked at it in the proper light, it really was
+great fun.</p>
+
+<p>There was, however, one person who, probably from a defective sense of
+humour, was unable to see any fun in it at all. Aunt Charlotte would
+have given her very ears for Austin, but her <a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a>affection was of a
+somewhat irritable sort, and generally took the form of scolding. She
+was not a stupid woman by any means, but there was one thing in the
+world she never could understand, and that was Austin himself. He
+wasn't like other boys one bit, she always said. He had such a queer,
+topsy-turvy way of looking at things; would express the most
+outrageous opinions with an innocent unconsciousness that made her
+long to box his ears, and support the most arrant absurdities by
+arguments that conveyed not the smallest meaning to her intellect.
+Look at him now, for instance; a cripple for life, and pretending to
+see nothing in it but a joke, and expressing as much admiration for
+his horrible wooden leg as though it had been a king's sceptre! In
+Aunt Charlotte's view, Austin ought to have pitied himself immensely,
+and expressed a hope that God would help him to bear his burden with
+orthodox resignation to the Divine will; instead of which, he seemed
+totally unconscious of having any burden at all&mdash;a state of mind that
+was nothing less than impious. Austin was now seventeen, and it was
+high time that he took more serious views of life. Ever since he was a
+baby he had been her special charge; for his mother had died in giving
+him birth, and his father had followed <a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a>her about a twelvemonth later.
+She had always done her duty to the boy, and loved him as though he
+had been her own; but she reminded onlookers rather of a conscientious
+elderly cat with limited views of natural history condemned by
+circumstances to take care of a very irresponsible young eaglet. The
+eaglet, on his side, was entirely devoted to his protectress, but it
+was impossible for him not to feel a certain lenient and amused
+contempt for her very limited horizon.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Auntie,&quot; he said to her one day, &quot;you're just like a frog at the
+bottom of a well. You think the speck of blue you see above you is the
+entire sky, and the water you paddle up and down in is the ocean. Why
+can't you take a rather more cosmic view of things?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>This extraordinary remark occurred in the course of a wrangle between
+the two, because Austin insisted on his pet cat&mdash;a plump, white,
+matronly creature he had christened 'Gioconda,' because (so <i>he</i> said)
+she always smiled so sweetly&mdash;sitting up at the dinner-table and being
+fed with tit-bits off his own fork; and Aunt Charlotte objected to
+this proceeding on the ground that the proper place for cats was in
+the kitchen. Austin, on his side, averred that cats were in many ways
+much superior to human beings; <a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a>that they had been worshipped as gods
+by the philosophical Egyptians because they were so scornful and
+mysterious; and that Gioconda herself was not only the divinest cat
+alive, but entitled to respect, if only as an embodiment and
+representative of cat-hood in the abstract, which was a most important
+element in the economy of the universe. It was when Aunt Charlotte
+stigmatised these philosophical reflections as a pack of impertinent
+twaddle that Austin had had the audacity to say that she was like a
+frog.</p>
+
+<p>And now her eaglet had been maimed for life, and whatever he might
+feel about it himself her own responsibilities were certainly much
+increased. At this very moment, for instance, after having practised
+stumping about the room for half-an-hour he insisted on going
+downstairs. Of course the idea was ridiculous. Even the doctor shook
+his head, while old Martha, who had tubbed Austin when he was two
+years old, joined in the general protest. But Austin, disdaining to
+argue the point with any one of them, had already hobbled out of the
+room, and before they were well aware of it had begun to essay the
+descent perilous. Ominous bumps were heard, and then a dull thud as of
+a body falling. But <a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>a bend in the wall had caught the body, and the
+explorer was none the worse. Then Aunt Charlotte, rushing back into
+the bedroom, flung open the window wide.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Lubin!&quot; she shouted lustily.</p>
+
+<p>A young gardener boy, tall, round-faced and curly-haired, glanced up
+astonished from his work among the sweet-peas.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come up here directly and carry Master Austin downstairs. He's got a
+wooden leg and hasn't learnt how to use it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The consequence of which was that two minutes later Austin, panting
+and enraged at the failure of his first attempt at independence, found
+himself firmly encircled by a pair of strong young arms, lifted gently
+from the ground, and carried swiftly and safely downstairs and out at
+the garden door.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Now you just keep quiet, Master Austin,&quot; murmured Lubin, chuckling as
+Austin began to kick. &quot;No use your starting to run before you know how
+to walk. Wooden legs must be humoured a bit, Sir; 'twon't do to expect
+too much of 'em just at first, you see. This one o' yours is mighty
+handsome to look at, I don't deny, but it's not accustomed to
+staircases and maybe it'll take some time before it is. Hold tight,
+Sir; only a few yards more now. There! <a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>Here we are on the lawn at
+last. Now you can try your paces at your leisure.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You're awfully nice to me, Lubin,&quot; gasped Austin, red with
+mortification, as he slipped from the lad's arms on to the grass, &quot;but
+I felt just now as if I could have killed you, all the same.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Lor', Sir, I don't mind,&quot; said Lubin. &quot;I doubt that was no more'n
+natural. Can you stand steady? Here&mdash;lay hold o' my arm. Slow and
+sure's the word. Look out for that flower-bed. Now, then, round you
+go&mdash;that's it. Ah!&quot;&mdash;as Austin fell sprawling on the grass. &quot;Now how
+are you going to get up again, I should like to know? Seems to me the
+first thing you've got to learn is not to lose your balance, 'cause
+once you're down 'tain't the easiest thing in creation to scramble up
+again. You'll have to stick to the crutch at first, I reckon. Up we
+come! Now let's see how you can fare along a bit all by yourself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Austin was thankful for the support of his crutch, with the aid of
+which he managed to stagger about for a few minutes at quite a
+respectable speed. It reminded him almost of the far-off days when he
+was learning to ride his bicycle. At last he thought he would like to
+rest a bit, and was much surprised when, on flinging <a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a>himself down
+upon a garden seat, his leg flew up in the air.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Lively sort o' limb, this new leg o' yours, Sir,&quot; commented Lubin, as
+he bent it into a more decorous position. &quot;You'll have to take care it
+don't carry you off with it one o' these fine days. Seems to me it
+wants taming, and learning how to behave itself in company. I heard
+tell of a cork leg once upon a time as was that nimble it started off
+running on its own account, and no earthly power could stop it.
+Wouldn't have mattered so much if it'd had nobody but itself to
+consider, but unluckily the gentleman it belonged to happened to be
+screwed on to the top end of it, and of course he had to follow. They
+do say as how he's following it still&mdash;poor beggar! Must be worn to a
+shadow by this time, I should think. But p'raps it ain't true after
+all. There are folks as'll say anything.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I expect it's true enough,&quot; replied Austin cheerfully. &quot;If you want a
+thing to be true, all you've got to do is to believe it&mdash;believe it as
+hard as you can. That makes it true, you see. At least, that's what
+the new psychology teaches. Thought creates things, you
+understand&mdash;though how it works I confess I can't explain. But never
+mind. Oh, dear, how drunk I am!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a>Drunk, Sir? No, no, only a bit giddy,&quot; said Lubin, as he stood
+watching Austin with his hands upon his hips. &quot;You're not over strong
+yet, and that new leg of yours has been giving you too much exercise
+to begin with. You just keep quiet a few minutes, and you'll soon be
+as right as ninepence.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Austin slid carefully off the seat, and stretched himself full
+length upon the grass. &quot;I <i>am</i> drunk,&quot; he murmured, closing his eyes,
+&quot;drunk with the scent of the flowers. Don't you smell them, Lubin? The
+air's heavy with it, and it has got into my brain. And how sweet the
+grass smells too. I love it&mdash;it's like breathing the breath of Nature.
+What do legs matter? It's much nicer to roll over the grass wherever
+you want to go than to have the bother of walking. Don't worry about
+me any more, nice Lubin. Go on tying up your sweet-peas. I'll come and
+help you when I'm tired of rolling about. Just now I don't want
+anything; I'm drunk&mdash;I'm happy&mdash;I'm satisfied&mdash;I'm happier than I ever
+was before. Be kind to the flowers, Lubin; don't tie them too tight.
+They're my friends and my lovers. Aren't you a little fond of them
+too?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then, left to his own reflections, he lay <a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>perfectly peaceful and
+content staring up into the sky. For months he had been fated to lead
+an entirely new life, and now it had actually begun. His entrance upon
+it was not bitter. He had flowers growing by his path, and books that
+he loved, and one or two friends who loved him. It was all right! And
+that was how he spent his first day of acknowledged cripplehood.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="Chapter_the_Second" id="Chapter_the_Second"></a><hr />
+<br />
+<h2><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a>Chapter the Second<span class="totoc"><a class="noline" href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2>
+<br />
+
+<p>In a very short time Austin had overcome the initial difficulties of
+locomotion, and now began to take regular exercise out of doors. It
+would be too much to say that his gait was particularly elegant; but
+there really was something triumphal about the way in which he learnt
+to brandish his leg with every step he took, and the majestic swing
+with which he brought it round to its place in advance of the other.
+In fact, he soon found himself stumping along the highroads with
+wonderful speed and safety; though to clamber over stiles, and work a
+bicycle one-footed, of course took much more practice.</p>
+
+<p>Hitherto I have said nothing about the neighbourhood of Austin's home.
+Now when I say neighbourhood, I don't mean the topographical
+surroundings&mdash;I use the word in its correcter sense of neighbours; and
+these it is necessary to refer to in passing. Of course there were
+several <a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a>people living round about. There was the MacTavish family,
+for instance, consisting of Mr and Mrs MacTavish, five daughters and
+two sons. Mrs MacTavish had a brother who had been knighted, and on
+the strength of such near relationship to Sir Titus and Lady
+Clandougal, considered herself one of the county. But her claim was
+not endorsed, even by the humbler gentry with whom she was forced to
+associate, while as for the county proper it is not too much to say
+that that august community had never even heard of her. The Miss
+MacTavishes, ranging in age from fifteen to five-and-twenty, were
+rather gawky young persons, with red hair and a perpetual giggle; in
+fact they could not speak without giggling, even if it was to tell you
+that somebody was dead. Every now and then Mrs MacTavish would
+proclaim, with portentous complacency, that Florrie, or Lizzie, or
+Aggie, was &quot;out&quot;&mdash;to the awe-struck admiration of her friends; which
+meant that the young person referred to had begun to do up her hair in
+a sort of bun at the back of her head, and had had her frock let down
+a couple of tucks. Austin couldn't bear them, though he was always
+scrupulously polite. And the boys were, if anything, less interesting
+than the girls. The elder of the two&mdash;<a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>a freckled young giant named
+Jock&mdash;was always asking him strange conundrums, such as whether he was
+going to put the pot on for the Metropolitan&mdash;which conveyed no more
+idea to Austin's mind than if he had said it in Chinese; while Sandy,
+the younger, used to terrify him out of his wits by shouting out that
+Yorkshire had got the hump, or that Jobson was 'not out' for a
+century, or that wickets were cheap at the Oval. In fact, the entire
+family bored him to extinction, though Aunt Charlotte, who had been an
+old school-friend of the mamma, sang their praises perseveringly, and
+said that the girls were dears.</p>
+
+<p>Then there was the inevitable vicar, with a wife who piqued herself on
+her smart bonnets; a curate, who preached Socialism, wore
+knickerbockers, and belonged to the Fabian Society; a few unattached
+elderly ladies who had long outlived the reproach of their virginity;
+and just two or three other families with nothing particular to
+distinguish them one way or another. It may readily be inferred,
+therefore, that Austin had not many associates. There was really no
+one in the place who interested him in the very least, and the
+consequence was that he was generally regarded as unsociable. And so
+he was&mdash;very <a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>unsociable. The companionship of his books, his bicycle,
+his flowers and his thoughts was far more precious to him than that of
+the silly people who bothered him to join in their vapid diversions
+and unseasonable talk, and he rightly acted upon his preference. His
+own resources were of such a nature that he never felt alone; and
+having but few comrades in the flesh, he wisely courted the society of
+those whom, though long since dead, he held in far higher esteem than
+all the elderly ladies and curates and MacTavishes who ever lived. His
+appetite in literature was keen, but fastidious. He devoured all the
+books he could procure about the Renaissance of art in Italy. The
+works of Mr Walter Pater were as a treasure-house of suggestion to
+him, and did much to form and guide his gradually developing
+mentality. He read Plato, being even more fascinated by the exquisite
+technique of the dialectic than by the ethical value of the teaching.
+And there was one small, slim book that he always carried about with
+him, and kept for special reading in the fields and woods. This was
+Virgil's Eclogues, the sylvan atmosphere of which penetrated the very
+depths of his being, and created in him a moral or spiritual
+atmosphere which was its counterpart. He seemed to live amid gracious
+pastoral scenes, <a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>where beautiful youths and maidens passed a
+perpetual springtime in a land of dewy lawns, and shady groves, and
+pools, and rippling streams. Daphnis and Mopsus, Corydon, Alexis, and
+Amyntas, were all to him real personages, who peopled his solitude,
+inspired his poetic fancy, and fostered in his imagination the
+elements of an ideal life where the beauty and purity and freshness of
+untainted Nature reigned supreme. The accident of his lameness, by
+incapacitating him for violent exercise out of doors, ministered to
+the development of this spiritual tendency, and threw him back upon
+the allurements of a refined idealism. Daphnis became to him the
+embodiment, the concrete image, of eternal youthhood, of adolescence
+in the abstract, the attribute of an idealised humanity. To lead the
+pure Daphnis life of simplicity, stainlessness, communion with
+beautiful souls, was to lead the highest life. To find one's bliss in
+sunshine, flowers, and the winds of heaven&mdash;in both the physical and
+moral spheres&mdash;was to find the highest bliss. Why should not he,
+Austin Trevor, cripple as he was, so live the Daphnis life as to be
+himself a Daphnis?</p>
+
+<p>No wonder a boy like this was voted unsociable. No wonder Sandy and
+Jock despised him as a muff, and the young ladies deplored his
+<a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a>unaccountably elusive ways. The truth was that Austin simply had no
+use for any of them; his life was complete without them, it contained
+no niche into which they could ever fit. Lubin was a far more
+congenial comrade. Lubin never bothered him about football, or
+cricket, or horse-racing, never worried him with invitations to
+horrible picnics, never outraged his sensibilities in any way. On the
+contrary, Lubin rather contributed to his happiness by the care he
+took of the flowers, and the intelligence he showed in carrying out
+all Austin's elaborately conveyed instructions. Why, Lubin himself was
+a sort of Daphnis&mdash;in a humble way. But Sandy! No, Austin was not
+equal to putting up with Sandy.</p>
+
+<p>There was, however, one gentleman in the neighbourhood whom Master
+Austin was gracious enough to approve. This was a certain Mr Roger St
+Aubyn, a man of taste and culture, who possessed a very rare
+collection of fine pictures and old engravings which nobody had ever
+seen. St Aubyn was, in fact, something of a recluse, a student who
+seldom went beyond his park gates, and found his greatest pleasure in
+reading Greek and cultivating orchids. It was by the purest accident
+that the two came across each other. Austin was lying one afternoon on
+a bank of wild <a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a>hyacinths just outside Combe Spinney, lazily admiring
+the effect of his bright black leg against the bright blue sky, and
+thinking of nothing in particular. Mr St Aubyn, who happened to be
+strolling in that direction, was attracted by the unwonted spectacle,
+and ventured on some good-humoured quizzical remark. This led to a
+conversation, in the course of which the scholar thought he discovered
+certain original traits in the modest observations of the youth. One
+topic drifted into another, and soon the two were engaged in an
+animated discussion about pursuits in life. It was in the course of
+this that Austin let drop the one word&mdash;Art.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What is Art?&quot; queried St Aubyn.</p>
+
+<p>Austin hesitated for some moments. Then he said, very slowly:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is a question to which a dozen answers might be given. A whole
+book would be required to deal with it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>St Aubyn was delighted, both at the reply and at the hesitation that
+had preceded it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And are you an artist?&quot; he enquired.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I believe I am,&quot; replied Austin, very seriously. &quot;Of course one
+doesn't like to be too confident, and I can't draw a single line, but
+still&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good again,&quot; approved the other. &quot;Here <a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a>as in everything else all
+depends upon the definition. What is an artist?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;An artist,&quot; exclaimed Austin, kindling, &quot;is one who can see the
+beauty everywhere.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<i>The</i> beauty?&quot; repeated St Aubyn.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The beauty that exists everywhere, even in ugly things. The beauty
+that ordinary people don't see,&quot; returned Austin. &quot;Anybody can see
+beauty in what are <i>called</i> beautiful things&mdash;light, and colour, and
+grace. But it takes an artist to see beauty in a muddy road, and
+dripping branches, and drenching rain. How people cursed and grumbled
+on that rainy day we had last week; it made me sick to hear them. Now
+I saw the beauty <i>under</i> the ugliness of it all&mdash;the wonderful soft
+greys and browns, the tiny glints of silver between the leaves, the
+flashes of pearl and orpiment behind the shifting clouds. Do you know,
+I even see beauty in this wooden leg of mine, great beauty, though
+everybody else thinks it perfectly hideous! So that is why I hope I am
+not wrong in imagining that perhaps I may, really, be in some sense an
+artist.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>For a moment St Aubyn did not speak. &quot;The boy's a great artist,&quot; he
+muttered to himself. His interest was now excited in good earnest; here
+was no common mind. Of art Austin knew <a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>practically nothing, but the
+artistic instinct was evidently tingling in every vein of him. St Aubyn
+himself lived for art and literature, and was amazed to have come
+across so curiously exceptional a personality. He drew the boy out a
+little more, and then, in a moment of impulse, did a most unaccustomed
+thing: he invited Austin to lunch with him on the following Thursday,
+promising, in addition, that they should spend the afternoon together
+looking over his conservatories and picture-gallery.</p>
+
+<p>So great an honour, so undreamt-of a privilege, sent Austin's blood to
+the roots of his hair. He flourished his leg more proudly than ever as
+he stumped victoriously home and announced the great news to Aunt
+Charlotte. That estimable lady was fingering some notepaper on her
+writing-table as her excited nephew came bursting in upon her with his
+face radiant.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Auntie,&quot; he cried, &quot;what do you think? You'll never guess. I'm going
+to lunch with Mr St Aubyn on Thursday!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Charlotte turned round, looking slightly dazed.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Going to lunch with whom?&quot; she asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;With Mr St Aubyn. You know&mdash;he lives at Moorcombe Court. I met him in
+the woods <a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>and had a long talk with him, and now he's going to show me
+all his pictures&mdash;<i>and</i> his engravings&mdash;<i>and</i> his wonderful orchids
+and things. I'm to spend all the afternoon with him. Isn't it
+splendid! I could never have hoped for such an opportunity. And he's
+so awfully nice&mdash;so cultured and clever, you know&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Really!&quot; said Aunt Charlotte, drawing herself up. &quot;Well, you're
+vastly honoured, Austin, I must say. Mr St Aubyn is chary of his
+civilities. It is very kind of him to ask you, I'm sure, but I think
+it's rather a liberty all the same.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A liberty!&quot; repeated Austin, aghast.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He has never called on me,&quot; returned Aunt Charlotte, statelily. &quot;If
+he had wished to cultivate our acquaintance, that would have been at
+least the usual thing to do. However, of course I've no objection. On
+Thursday, you say. Well, now just give me your attention to something
+rather more important. I intend to invite some people here to tea next
+week, and you may as well write the invitations for me now.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Austin's face lengthened. &quot;Oh, why?&quot; he sighed. &quot;It isn't as though
+there was anybody worth asking&mdash;and really, the horrid creatures that
+infest this neighbourhood&mdash;. Whom do you want to ask?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a>I'm astonished at you, speaking of our friends like that,&quot; replied
+his aunt, severely. &quot;They're not horrid creatures; they're all very
+nice and kind. Of course we must have the MacTavishes&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I knew it,&quot; groaned Austin, sinking into a chair. &quot;Those dear
+MacTavishes! There are nineteen of them, aren't there? Or is it only
+nine?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Don't be ridiculous, Austin,&quot; said Aunt Charlotte. &quot;Then there are
+the Miss Minchins&mdash;that'll be eleven; the vicar and his wife, of
+<i>course</i>; and old Mr and Mrs Cobbledick. Now just come and sit
+here&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The Cobbledicks&mdash;those old murderers!&quot; cried Austin. &quot;Do you want us
+to be all assassinated together?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Murderers!&quot; exclaimed Aunt Charlotte, horrified. &quot;I think you've gone
+out of your mind. A dear kindly old couple like the Cobbledicks! Not
+very handsome, perhaps, but&mdash;murderers! What in the world will you say
+next?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The most sinister-looking old pair of cut-throats in the parish,&quot;
+returned Austin. &quot;I should be sorry to meet them on a lonely road on a
+dark night, I know that. But really, auntie, I do wish you'd think
+better of all this. We're <a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>quite happy alone; what do we want of all
+these horrible people coming to bore us for Heaven knows how many
+hours? Of course <i>I</i> shall be told off to amuse the MacTavishes; just
+think of it! Seven red-haired, screaming, giggling monsters&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hold your tongue, do, you abominable boy!&quot; cried Aunt Charlotte. &quot;I'm
+inviting our friends for <i>my</i> pleasure, not for yours, and I forbid
+you to speak of them in that wicked, slanderous, disrespectful way.
+Come now, sit down here and write me the invitations at once.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;For the last time, auntie, I entreat you&mdash;&mdash;&quot; began Austin.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not a word more!&quot; replied his aunt. &quot;Begin without more ado.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, if you insist,&quot; consented Austin, as he dragged himself into
+the seat. &quot;Have you fixed upon a day?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No&mdash;any day will do. Just choose one yourself,&quot; said Aunt Charlotte,
+as she dived after an errant ball of worsted. &quot;What day will suit you
+best?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Shall we say the 24th?&quot; suggested Austin.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By all means,&quot; replied his aunt briskly. &quot;If you're sure that that
+won't interfere with anything else. I've such a wretched memory for
+dates. <a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a>To-day is the 19th. Yes, I should say the 24th will do very
+well indeed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It will suit me admirably,&quot; said Austin, sitting down and beginning
+to write with great alacrity, while his aunt busied herself with her
+knitting. As soon as the envelopes were addressed, he slipped them
+into his coat pocket, and, rising, said he might as well go out and
+post them there and then.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do,&quot; said Aunt Charlotte, well pleased at Austin's sudden
+capitulation. &quot;That is, unless you're too tired with your walk. Martha
+can always give them to the milkman if you are.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not a bit of it,&quot; said Austin hastily, as he swung himself out of the
+room. &quot;I shall be back in time for dinner.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He certainly is the very oddest boy,&quot; soliloquised Aunt Charlotte, as
+she settled herself comfortably on the sofa and went on clicking her
+knitting-needles. &quot;Why he dislikes the MacTavishes so I can't imagine;
+nice, cheerful young persons as anyone would wish to see. It really is
+very queer. And then the way he suddenly gave in at last! It only
+shows that I must be firm with him. As soon as he saw I was in earnest
+he yielded at once. He's got a sweet nature, but he requires a firm
+hand. He's <a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a>different, too, since he lost his leg&mdash;more full of
+fancies, it seems to me, and a great deal too much wrapped up in those
+books of his. I suppose that when one's body is defective, one's mind
+feels the effects of it. I shall have to keep him up to the mark, and
+see that he has plenty of cheerful society. Nothing like nice
+companions for maintaining the brain in order.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Thus did Aunt Charlotte decide to her own satisfaction what she
+thought would be best for Austin.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="Chapter_the_Third" id="Chapter_the_Third"></a><hr />
+<br />
+<h2><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a>Chapter the Third<span class="totoc"><a class="noline" href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2>
+<br />
+
+<p>He stood leaning against the old stone fountain on the straight lawn
+under the noonday sun. The bees hummed slumberously around him,
+sailing from flower to flower, and the hot air, laden with the scents
+of the soil, seemed to penetrate his body at every pore, infusing a
+sense of vitality into him which pulsed through all his veins. Austin
+always said that high noon was the supreme moment of the day. To some
+folks the most beautiful time was dawn, to others sunset, but at noon
+Nature was like a flower at its full, a flower in the very zenith of
+its strength and glory. He had always loved the noon.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The world seems literally palpitating with life,&quot; he thought, as he
+rested his arm on the rim of the time-worn fountain. &quot;I'm sure it's
+conscious, in some way or other. How it must enjoy itself! Look at the
+trees; so strong, and calm, and splendid. They know well enough how
+strong <a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>they are, and when there's a storm that tries to blow them
+down, how they do revel in battling with it! And then the hot air,
+embracing the earth so voluptuously&mdash;playing with the slender plants,
+and caressing the upstanding flowers. They stand up because they want
+to be caressed, the amorous creatures. How wonderful it is&mdash;the
+different characters that flowers have. Some are shrill and fierce and
+passionate, while others are meek and sly, and pretend to shrink when
+they are even noticed. Some are wicked&mdash;shamelessly, insolently,
+magnificently wicked&mdash;like those scarlet anthuriums, with their
+curling yellow tongues. That flower is the very incarnation of sin;
+no, not incarnation&mdash;what's the word? I can't think, but it doesn't
+matter. Incarnation will do, for the thing is exactly like
+recalcitrant human flesh. Lubin!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, Sir?&quot; responded Lubin, who was digging near.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What are the wickedest flowers you know?&quot; asked Austin.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, Sir, I should say them as had most thorns,&quot; said Lubin
+feelingly.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I wonder,&quot; mused Austin. Then he relapsed into his meditations. &quot;How
+thick with life the air is. I'm sure it's populated, if we only had
+<a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>eyes to see. I feel it throbbing all round me&mdash;full of beings as much
+alive as I am, only invisible. People used to see them once upon a
+time&mdash;why can't we now? Naiads, and dryads, and fauns, and the great
+god Pan everywhere; oh, to think we may be actually surrounded by
+these wonders of beauty, and yet unable to talk to any of them!
+Nothing but wicked old women, and horrible young men in plaid
+knickerbockers and bowler hats, who worry one about odds and
+handicaps. It's all very sad and ugly.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Aren't you rather hot, standing there in the sun, Sir, all this
+time?&quot; said Lubin, looking up.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Very hot,&quot; replied Austin. &quot;I wonder what time it is?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Lubin glanced up at the sundial. &quot;Just five minutes past the hour, or
+thereabouts, I make it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, Lubin, let's go and bathe!&quot; cried Austin suddenly. &quot;You must be
+far hotter than I am. There's plenty of time&mdash;we don't lunch till
+half-past one. How long would it take us to get to the bathing-pool
+just at the bend of the river?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well&mdash;not above ten minutes, I should say,&quot; was Lubin's answer. &quot;I'd
+like a dip myself more'n a little, but I'm not quite sure if I ought
+<a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>to&mdash;you see the mistress wants all this finished up by the afternoon,
+and then&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But you must!&quot; insisted Austin. &quot;You forget that I've only got one
+leg, so I can't swim as I used, and you've got to come and take care I
+don't get drowned. 'O weep for Adonais&mdash;he is dead!' How angry Aunt
+Charlotte would be. And then she'd cry, poor dear, and go into hideous
+mourning for her poor Austin. Come along, Lubin&mdash;but wait, I must just
+go and get a couple of towels. Oh, I'm simply mad for the water. I'll
+be back in less than a flash.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Lubin drove his spade into the earth, turned down his sleeves, and
+rested&mdash;a fair-skinned, bronzed, wholesome object, good to look
+at&mdash;while Austin stumped away. In less than five minutes the two
+youths started off together, tramping through the long, lush
+meadow-grass which lay between the end of the garden and the river.
+The sun burned fiercely overhead, and the air quivered in the heat.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Isn't it wonderful!&quot; cried Austin, when they reached the edge of the
+water, and were standing under the shade of some trees that overhung
+the towing-path. &quot;Come, Lubin, strip&mdash;I'm half undressed already. Look
+at the white and purple lights in the water&mdash;aren't they marvellous?
+<a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>Now we're going right down into them. Oh the freedom of air, and
+colour, and body&mdash;how I do <i>hate</i> clothes! I say, how funny my stump
+looks, doesn't it? Just like a great white rolling-pin. You must go in
+first, Lubin, and then you'll be prepared to catch me when I begin
+drowning.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Lubin, standing nude and shapely, like a fair Greek statue, for a
+moment on the bank, took a silent header and disappeared. Then Austin
+prepared to follow. He tumbled rather than plunged into the water,
+and, unable to attain an erect position owing to his imperfect
+organism, would have fared badly if Lubin had not caught him in his
+arms and turned him deftly over on his back.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You just content yourself with floating face upwards, Sir,&quot; he said.
+&quot;There's no sort of use in trying to strike out, you'd only sink to
+the bottom like a boat with a hole in it. There&mdash;let me hold you like
+this; one hand'll do it. Look out for the river-weeds. Now try and
+work your foot. Seems to be making you go round and round, somehow.
+But that don't matter. A bathe's a bathe, all said and done. How jolly
+cool it is!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Isn't it exquisite?&quot; murmured Austin, with closed eyes. &quot;I do think
+that drowning must be <a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>a lovely death. We're like the minnows, Lubin,
+'staying their wavy bodies 'gainst the streams, to taste the luxury of
+sunny beams tempered with coolness.' That's what <i>our</i> wavy bodies are
+doing now. Don't you like it? 'Now more than ever it seems rich to
+die&mdash;&mdash;'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But the next moment, owing probably to Lubin having lost his
+equilibrium, the young rhapsodist found himself, spluttering and
+half-choked, nearer to the bed of the river than the surface, while
+his leg was held in chancery by a network of clinging water-weeds.
+Lubin had some slight difficulty in extricating him, and for the
+moment, at least, his poetic fantasies came to an abrupt and
+unromantic finish.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Here, get on my back, and I'll swim you out as far as them
+water-lilies,&quot; said Lubin, giving him a dexterous hoist. &quot;I'm awfully
+keen on the yellow sort, and they look wonderful fine ones. That's
+better. Now, Sir, you can just imagine yourself any drownded heathen
+as comes into your head, only hold tight and don't stir. If you do
+you'll get drownded in good earnest, and I shall have to settle
+accounts with your aunt afterwards. Are you ready? Right, then. And
+now away we go.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He struck out strongly and slowly, with Austin <a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>crouching on his
+shoulders. They arrived in safety at the point aimed at, and managed
+to tear away a grand cluster of the great, beautiful yellow flowers;
+but the process was a very ticklish one, and the struggle resulted,
+not unnaturally, in Austin becoming dislodged from his not very secure
+position, and floundering head foremost into the depths. Lubin caught
+him as he rose again, and, taking him firmly by one hand, helped him
+to swim alongside of him back to the shore. It was a difficult feat,
+and by the time they had accomplished the distance they were both
+pretty well exhausted.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You <i>have</i> been good to me, Lubin,&quot; gasped Austin, as he flung
+himself sprawling on the grass. &quot;I've had a lovely time&mdash;haven't you
+too? Was I very heavy? Perhaps it is rather a bore to have only one
+leg when one wants to swim. But now you can always say you've saved me
+from drowning, can't you. I should have gone under a dozen times if
+you hadn't held me up and lugged me about. Oh, dear, now we must put
+on our clothes again&mdash;what a barbarism clothes are! I do hate them so,
+don't you? But I suppose there's no help for it.</p>
+
+<span style="margin-left: 10em;">&quot;Rise,
+Lubin, rise, and twitch thy mantle blue;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 10em;">To-morrow to fresh woods, and pastures new.</span><br />
+
+<p class="noin"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>&quot;Oh,
+do help me to screw on my leg. That's it. I say, it's a
+quarter-past one! We must hurry up, or Aunt Charlotte will be cursing.
+What <i>does</i> it matter if one eats at half-past one or at a quarter to
+two? I really am very fond of Aunt Charlotte, you know, though I find
+it awfully difficult to educate her. I sometimes despair of ever being
+able to bring her up properly at all, she is so hopelessly Early
+Victorian, poor thing. But, then, so many people are, aren't they? Now
+animals are never Early Victorian; that's why I respect them so. If
+you weren't a human being, Lubin&mdash;and a very nice one, as you
+are&mdash;what sort of an animal would you like to be?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, I don't rightly know as I ever considered the point,&quot; said
+Lubin, passing his fingers through his drenched curls. &quot;Perhaps I'd as
+lief be a squirrel as anything. I'm awfully fond o' nuts, and when I
+was a kid I used to spend half my time a-climbing trees. A squirrel
+must have rather a jolly life of it, when one comes to think.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What a splendid idea!&quot; cried Austin, as they prepared to start. &quot;You
+<i>are</i> clever, Lubin. It would be lovely to live in a tree, curtained
+all round with thousands of quivering green leaves. I wish I knew what
+animals think about all day. It must be very dull for them never to
+have any <a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a>thoughts, poor dears, and yet they seem happy enough
+somehow. Perhaps they have something else instead to make up for
+it&mdash;something that we've no idea of. I <i>say</i>&mdash;it's half-past one!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So Austin was late for lunch after all, and got a scolding from Aunt
+Charlotte, who told him that it was exceedingly ill-bred to
+inconvenience other people by habitual unpunctuality. Austin was very
+penitent, and promised he'd never be unpunctual again if he lived to
+be a hundred. Then Aunt Charlotte was mollified, and regaled him with
+an improving account of a most excellent book she had just been
+reading, upon the importance of instilling sound principles of
+political economy into the mind of the agricultural labourer. It was
+so essential, she explained, that people in that position should
+understand something about the laws which govern prices, the relations
+of capital and labour, the <i>metayer</i> system, and the ratio which
+should exist between an increase of population and the exhaustion of
+the soil by too frequent crops of wheat; and she wound up by
+propounding a series of hypothetical problems based on the doctrines
+she had set forth, for Austin to solve offhand.</p>
+
+<p>Austin listened very dutifully for some time, but the subject bored
+him atrociously, and his <a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a>attention began to wander. At last he made
+some rather vague and irrelevant replies, and then announced boldly
+that he thought all politicians were very silly old gentlemen,
+particularly economists; for his own part, he hated economy,
+especially when he wanted to buy something beautiful to look at; he
+further considered that political economists would be much better
+employed if they sat contemplating tulips instead of writing horrid
+books, and that Lubin was a great deal wiser than the whole pack of
+them put together. Then Aunt Charlotte got extremely angry, and a
+great wrangle ensued, in the course of which she said he was a
+foolish, ignorant boy, who talked nonsense for the sake of talking it.
+Austin replied by asking if she knew what a quincunx was, or what
+Virgil was really driving at when he composed the First Eclogue, and
+whether she had ever heard of Lycidas; and when she said that she had
+something better to do than stuff her head with quidnunxes and all
+such pagan rubbish, he remarked very politely that ignorance was
+evidently not all of the same sort. Which sent Aunt Charlotte bustling
+away in a huff to look after her household duties.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It's all very sad and very ugly, isn't it, Gioconda?&quot; sighed Austin,
+as he lifted the large, <a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a>white, fluffy animal upon his lap. &quot;You're a
+great philosopher, my dear; I wish I were as wise as you. You're so
+scornful, so dignified, so divinely egoistic. But you don't mind being
+worshipped, do you, Gioconda? Because you know it's your right, of
+course. There&mdash;she's actually condescending to purr! Now we'll come
+and disport ourselves under the trees, and you shall watch the birds
+from a safe distance. I know your wicked ways, and I must teach you
+how to treat your inferiors with proper benignity and toleration.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But Gioconda had plans of her own for the afternoon, and declined the
+proposed discipline; so Austin strolled off by himself, and lay down
+under the trees with a large book on Italian gardens to console him.
+His improvised exertions in the water had produced a certain fatigue,
+and he felt lazy and inert. Gradually he dropped off into a doze,
+which lasted more than an hour. And he had a curious dream. He thought
+he was in some strange land&mdash;a land like a garden seen through yellow
+glass&mdash;where everything was transparent, and people glided about as
+though they were skating, without any conscious effort. Then Aunt
+Charlotte appeared upon the scene, and he saw by her eyes that she was
+very angry <a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>because Lycidas had been drowned while bathing; but Austin
+assured her that it was Lubin who was drowned, and that it really was
+of no consequence, because Lubin was only a squirrel after all. At
+this point things got extremely mixed, and the sound of voices broke
+in upon his slumbers. He opened his eyes, and saw Aunt Charlotte
+herself in the act of walking away with a toss of her head that
+betokened a ruffled temper.</p>
+
+<p>Austin's interest was immediately aroused. &quot;Lubin!&quot; he called softly,
+motioning the lad to come nearer. &quot;What was she rowing you about? Was
+she blowing you up about this morning?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well,&quot; confessed Lubin with a broad smile, &quot;she didn't seem
+over-pleased. Said you might have lost your life, going out o' your
+depth with only one leg to stand on, and that if you'd been drownded I
+should have had to answer for it before a judge and jury.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What a wicked, abandoned old woman!&quot; cried Austin. &quot;Only one leg to
+stand on, indeed!&mdash;she hasn't a single leg to stand on when she says
+such things. She ought to have gone down on her knees and thanked you
+for taking such care of me. But I shall never make anything of her,
+I'm afraid. The more I try to educate her the worse she gets.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a>I shouldn't wonder,&quot; replied Lubin sagely. &quot;The old hen feels herself
+badly off when the egg teaches her to cackle. That's human nature,
+that is. And then she was riled because she was afraid I shouldn't
+have time to get the garden-things in order by to-morrow, when it
+seems there's some sort o' company expected. I told her 'twould be all
+right.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, those brutes! Of course, they're coming to-morrow. I'd nearly
+forgotten all about it. It's just like Aunt Charlotte to be so fond of
+all those hideous people. You hate the MacTavishes, don't you, Lubin?
+<i>Do</i> hate the MacTavishes! Fancy&mdash;nine of them, no less, counting the
+old ones, and all of them coming together. What a family! I despise
+people who breed like rabbits, as though they thought they were so
+superlative that the rest of the world could never have enough of
+them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ay, fools grow without watering,&quot; assented Lubin. &quot;Can't say I ever
+took to 'em myself&mdash;though it's not my place to say so. The young
+gents make a bit too free with one, and when they opens their mouths
+no one else may so much as sneeze. Think they know everything, they
+do. There's a saying as I've heard, that asses sing badly 'cause they
+pitch <a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>their voices too high. Maybe it's the same wi' them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, I hope Aunt Charlotte will enjoy their conversation,&quot; said
+Austin comfortably. &quot;I say, Lubin, do you know anything about a Mr St
+Aubyn, who lives not far from here?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What, him at the Court?&quot; replied Lubin. &quot;I don't know him myself, but
+they say as <i>he's</i> a gentleman, and no mistake. Keeps himself to
+himself, he does, and has always got a civil word for everybody. Fine
+old place, too, that of his.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Have you ever been inside?&quot; asked Austin.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Lor' no, Sir,&quot; answered Lubin. &quot;Don't know as I'm over anxious to,
+either. The garden's a sight, it's true&mdash;but it seems there's
+something queer about the house. Can't make out what it can be, unless
+the drains are a bit out of order. But it ain't that neither. Sort o'
+frightening&mdash;so folks say. But lor', some folks'll say anything. I
+never knew anybody as ever <i>saw</i> anything there. It's only some old
+woman's yarn, I reckon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, is it haunted? Are there any ghosts?&quot; cried Austin, in great
+excitement. &quot;I'd give anything in this world to see a ghost!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I don't know as I'd care to sleep in a haunted house myself,&quot; said
+Lubin, beginning to sweep <a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a>the lawn. &quot;Some folks don't mind that sort
+o' thing, I s'pose; must have got accustomed to it somehow. Then
+there's those as is born ghost-seers, and others as couldn't see one,
+not if it was to walk arm-in-arm with 'em to church. Let's hope Mr St
+Aubyn's one o' that sort, seeing as he's got to live there. It's poor
+work being a baker if your head's made of butter, I've heard say.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then it <i>is</i> haunted!&quot; exclaimed Austin. &quot;What a bit of luck. You
+see, Lubin, I know Mr St Aubyn just a little, and soon I'm going to
+lunch with him. How I shall be on the look-out! I wonder how it feels
+to see a ghost. You've never seen one, have you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh no, Sir,&quot; replied Lubin, shaking his head. &quot;I doubt I'm not put
+together that way. A blind man may shoot a crow by mistake, but he
+ain't no judge o' colours. Though ghosts are mostly white, they say.
+Well, it may be different with you, and when you go to lunch at the
+Court, I'm sure I hope you'll see all the ghosts on the premises if
+you've a fancy for that kind of wild fowl. Let ghosts leave me alone
+and I'll leave them alone&mdash;that's all I've got to say. I never had no
+hankering after gentry as go flopping around without their bodies.
+'Tain't commonly <a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>decent, to my thinking. Don't hold with such goings
+on myself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, but you must make allowances for their circumstances,&quot; answered
+Austin. &quot;If they've got no bodies of course they can't put them on,
+you know. Besides, there are ghosts and ghosts. Some are mischievous,
+and some are very, very unhappy, and others come to do us good and
+help us to find wills, and treasures, and all sorts of pleasant
+things. I'd love to talk with one, and have it out with him. What
+wonderful things one might learn!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ay, there's more in the world than what's taught in the catechism,&quot;
+said Lubin. &quot;Let's hope you'll have picked up a few crumbs when you've
+been to lunch at the Court. Every little helps, as the sow said when
+she swallowed the gnat. I confess I'm not curious myself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, I'm awfully curious,&quot; replied Austin, as he began to get up.
+&quot;But now I must stir about a bit. You know my wooden leg gets horribly
+lazy sometimes, and I've got to exercise it every now and then for its
+own good. I know Aunt Charlotte wants me to go into the town with her
+to buy provender for this bun-trouble of hers to-morrow. It's very
+curious what different ideas of pleasure different people have.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a>He's a rare sort o' boy, the young master,&quot; soliloquised Lubin as
+Austin went pegging along towards the house. &quot;Game for no end of
+mischief when the fit takes him, for all he's only got one leg. One'd
+think he was half daft to hear him talk sometimes, too. Seems like as
+if it galled him a bit to rub along with the old auntie, and I
+shouldn't wonder if the old auntie herself felt about as snug as a
+bell-wether tied to a frisky colt. However, I s'pose the A'mighty
+knows what He's about, and it's always the old cow's notion as she
+never was a calf herself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>With which philosophical reflection Lubin slipped on his green
+corduroy jacket, shouldered his broom, and trudged cheerfully home
+to tea.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="Chapter_the_Fourth" id="Chapter_the_Fourth"></a><hr />
+<br />
+<h2><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>Chapter the Fourth<span class="totoc"><a class="noline" href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2>
+<br />
+
+<p>The next day the great heat had moderated, and the sky was covered
+with a thin pearly veil of gossamer greyness which afforded a
+delightful relief after the glare of the past week. A smart shower had
+fallen during the night, and the parched earth, refreshed after its
+bath, appeared more fragrant and more beautiful than ever. Aunt
+Charlotte busied herself all the morning with various household
+diversions, while Austin, swaying lazily to and fro in a hammock under
+an old apple tree, read 'Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight.' At last he
+looked at his watch, and found that it was about time to go and dress.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, you <i>have</i> made yourself smart,&quot; commented Aunt Charlotte
+complacently, as Austin, sprucely attired in a pale flannel suit, with
+a lilac tie and a dark-red rose in his button-hole, came into the
+morning-room to say good-bye. &quot;But why need you have dressed so early?
+Our <a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a>friends aren't coming till three o'clock at the very earliest,
+and it's not much more than twelve&mdash;at least, so says my watch. You
+needn't have changed till after lunch, at any rate.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My dear auntie, have you forgotten?&quot; asked Austin, in innocent
+surprise. &quot;To-day's Thursday, and I'm engaged to lunch and spend the
+afternoon with Mr St Aubyn. You know I told you all about it the very
+day he asked me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mr St Aubyn?&mdash;I don't understand,&quot; said Aunt Charlotte, with a
+bewildered air. &quot;I have a recollection of your telling me a few days
+ago that you were lunching out some day or other, but&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;On Thursday, you know, I said.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did you? Well, but&mdash;but our friends are coming <i>here</i> to-day! You
+must have been dreaming, Austin,&quot; cried Aunt Charlotte, sitting bolt
+upright. &quot;How can you have made such a blunder? Of course you can't
+possibly go!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you really propose, auntie, that I should break my engagement with
+Mr St Aubyn for the sake of entertaining people like the MacTavishes
+and the Cobbledicks?&quot; replied Austin, quite unmoved.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But why did you fix on the same day?&quot; <a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a>exclaimed Aunt Charlotte
+desperately. &quot;I cannot understand it. I left the date to you, you know
+I did&mdash;I told you I didn't care what day it was, and said you might
+choose whichever suited yourself best. What on earth induced you to
+pitch on the very day when you were invited out?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;For the very reason you yourself assign&mdash;that you let me choose any
+day that suited me best. For the very reason that I <i>was</i> invited out.
+You see, my dear auntie&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, you false, cunning boy!&quot; cried Aunt Charlotte, who now saw how
+she had been trapped. &quot;So you let me agree to the 24th, and took care
+not to tell me that the 24th was Thursday because you knew quite well
+I should never have consented if you had. What abominable deception!
+But you shall suffer for it, Austin. Of course you'll remain at home
+now, if only as a punishment for your deceit. I shouldn't dream of
+letting you go, after such disgraceful conduct. To think you could
+have tricked me so!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My dear auntie, of course I shall go,&quot; said Austin, drawing on his
+gloves. &quot;Why you should wish me to stay, I cannot imagine. What on
+earth makes you so insistent that I should meet these friends of
+yours?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>It's for your own good, you ungrateful little creature,&quot; replied Aunt
+Charlotte, quivering. &quot;You know what I've always said. You require
+more companionship of your own age, you want to mix with other young
+people instead of wasting and dreaming your time away as you do, and
+it was for your sake, for your sake only, that I asked our
+friends&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, no, auntie, it wasn't. You told me so yourself,&quot; Austin reminded
+her. &quot;You told me distinctly that it was for your own pleasure and not
+for mine that you were going to invite them. So that argument won't
+do. And you were perfectly right. If you find intellectual joy in the
+society of Mrs Cobbledick and Shock-headed Peter&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Shock-headed Peter? Who in the name of fortune is that?&quot; interrupted
+Aunt Charlotte, amazed.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;One of the MacTavish enchantresses&mdash;Florrie, I think, or perhaps
+Aggie. How am I to know? Everybody calls her Shock-headed Peter. But
+as I was saying, if you find happiness in the society of such people,
+invite them by all means. I only ask you not to cram them down my
+throat. I wouldn't mind the others so much, but the MacTavishes I
+<i>bar</i>. I will not have them forced upon <a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a>me. I detest them, and I've
+no doubt they despise me. We simply bore each other out of our lives.
+There! Let that suffice. I'm very fond of <i>you</i>, auntie, and I don't
+want anyone else. Do you perfectly understand?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I shall evidently never understand <i>you</i>, Austin,&quot; replied Aunt
+Charlotte. &quot;You have treated me shockingly, shockingly. And now you
+leave me in the most heartless way with all these people on my
+hands&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then why did you insist on inviting them?&quot; put in Austin. &quot;I
+entreated you not to. I'd have gone down on my knees to you, only
+unfortunately I've only one. And when I entreated you for the last
+time, you said you wouldn't listen to another word. I saw that further
+appeal was useless, so I was compelled by you yourself to play for my
+own safety. So now good-bye, dear auntie. It's time I was off. Cheer
+up&mdash;you'll all enjoy yourselves much more without an awkward
+unsympathetic creature like me among you, see if you don't. And you
+can make any excuse for me you like,&quot; he added with a smile as he left
+the room. Aunt Charlotte remained transfixed.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I suppose he must go his own gait,&quot; she muttered, as she picked up
+her knitting again. &quot;<a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>There's no use in trying to force him this way
+or that; if he doesn't want to do a thing he won't do it. Of course
+what he says is true enough&mdash;I did let him choose the date, and I did
+ask these people because I thought it would be good for him, and I did
+insist on doing so when he begged me not to. Well, I'm hoist with my
+own petard this time, though I wouldn't confess as much to him if my
+life depended on it. But the trickery of the little wretch! It's that
+I can't get over.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Austin meditated on the little episode on his side, as he
+made his way along the road. &quot;I daresay dear old auntie was a bit put
+out,&quot; he thought, &quot;but she brought it all upon herself. She doesn't
+see that everybody must live his own life, that it's a duty one owes
+to oneself to realise one's own individuality. Now it's <i>bad</i> for me
+to associate with people I detest&mdash;bad for my soul's development; just
+as bad as it is for anyone's body to eat food that doesn't agree with
+him. Those MacTavishes poison my soul just as arsenic poisons the
+body, and I won't have my soul poisoned if I can help it. It's very
+sad to see how blind she is to the art and philosophy of life. But
+she'll have to learn it, and the sooner she begins the better.&quot;</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a>Here he left the high road, and turned into a long, narrow lane
+enclosed between high banks, which led into a pleasant meadow by the
+river side. This shortened the way considerably, and when he reached
+the stile at the further end of the meadow he found himself only some
+ten minutes' walk from the park gates. Then a subdued excitement fell
+upon him. He was going to see the beautiful picture-gallery and the
+great collection of engravings, and the gardens with conservatories
+full of lovely orchids. He was going to hold delightful converse with
+the cultured and agreeable man to whom all these things belonged.
+And&mdash;well, he might possibly even see a ghost! But now, in the genial
+daylight, with the prospect of luncheon immediately before him, the
+idea of ghosts seemed rather to retire into the background. Ghosts did
+not appear so attractive as they had done yesterday afternoon, when he
+had talked about them with Lubin. However&mdash;here he was.</p>
+
+<p>Mr St Aubyn, tall and middle-aged, with a refined face set in a short,
+pointed beard, received him with exquisite cordiality. How seldom does
+a man realise the positive idolatry he can inspire by treating a
+well-bred youth on equal terms, instead of assuming airs of patronage
+and <a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a>condescension! The boy accepts such an attitude as natural,
+perhaps, but he resents it nevertheless, and never gives the man his
+confidence. The perfect manners of St Aubyn won Austin's heart at
+once, and he responded with a modest ardour that touched and gratified
+his host. The Court, too, exceeded his expectations. It was a grand
+old mansion dating from the reign of Elizabeth, with mullioned
+casements, and carved doorways, and cool, dim rooms oak-panelled, and
+broad fireplaces; and around it lay a shining garden enclosed by old
+monastic walls of red brick, with shaped beds of carnations glowing
+redly in the sunlight, and, beyond the straight lines of lawn, a
+wilderness of nut-trees, with a pool of yellow water-lilies, where
+wild hyacinths and pale jonquils rioted when it was spring. On one
+side of the garden, at right angles to the house, the wall shelved
+into a great grass terrace, and here stood a sort of wing, flanked by
+two glorious old towers, crumbling and ivy-draped, forming entrances
+to a vast room, tapestried, which had been a banqueting hall in the
+picturesque Tudor days. Meanwhile, Austin was ushered by his host into
+the library&mdash;a moderate-sized apartment, lined with countless books
+and adorned with etchings of great choiceness; whence, after a few
+minutes' <a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>chat on indifferent subjects, they adjourned to the
+dining-room, where a luncheon, equally choice and good, awaited them.</p>
+
+<p>At first they played a little at cross-purposes. St Aubyn, with the tact
+of an accomplished man entertaining a clever youth, tried to draw Austin
+out; while Austin, modest in the presence of one whom he recognised as
+infinitely his superior in everything he most valued, was far more
+anxious to hear St Aubyn talk than to talk himself. The result was that
+Austin won, and St Aubyn soon launched forth delightfully upon art, and
+books, and travel. He had been a great traveller in his day, and the boy
+listened with enraptured ears to his description of the magnificent
+gardens in the vicinity of Rome&mdash;the Lante, the Torlonia, the
+Aldobrandini, the Falconieri, and the Muti&mdash;architectural wonders that
+Austin had often read of, but of course had never seen; and then he
+talked of Viterbo and its fountains, Vicenza the city of Palladian
+palaces, every house a gem, and Sicily, with its hidden wonders, hidden
+from the track of tourists because far in the depths of the interior. He
+had travelled in Burma too, and inflamed the boy's imagination by
+telling him of the gorgeous temples of Rangoon and Mandalay; he had
+been&mdash;like everybody else&mdash;<a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>to Japan; and he had lived for six weeks up
+country in China, in a secluded Buddhist monastery perched on the edge
+of a precipice, like an eagle's nest, where his only associates were
+bonzes in yellow robes, and the stillness was only broken by the
+deep-toned temple bell, booming for vespers. Then, somehow, his thoughts
+turned back to Europe, and he began a disquisition upon the great old
+masters&mdash;Tintoretto, Rembrandt, Velasquez, Tiziano, and Peter Paul&mdash;with
+whose immortal works he seemed as familiar as he subsequently showed
+himself with the pictures in his own house. He described the Memlings at
+Bruges, the Botticellis at Florence and the Velasquezes in
+Spain&mdash;averring in humorous exaggeration that beside a Velasquez most
+other paintings were little better than chromolithographs. Austin put in
+a word now and then, asked a question or two as occasion served, and so
+suggested fresh and still more fascinating reminiscences; but he had no
+desire whatever to interrupt the illuminating stream of words by airing
+any opinions of his own. It was not until the meal was drawing to a
+close that the conversation took a more personal turn, and Austin was
+induced to say something about himself, his tastes, and his
+surroundings. Then St Aubyn began deftly and <a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>diplomatically to elicit
+something in the way of self-disclosure; and before long he was able to
+see exactly how things stood&mdash;the boy of ideals, of visionary and
+artistic tastes, of crude fresh theories and a queer philosophy of life,
+full of a passion for Nature and a contempt for facts, on one hand; and
+the excellent, commonplace, uncomprehending aunt, with her philistine
+friends and blundering notions as to what was good for him, upon the
+other. It was an amusing situation, and psychologically very
+interesting. St Aubyn listened attentively with a sympathetic smile as
+Austin stated his case.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I see, I see,&quot; he said nodding. &quot;You feel it imperative to lead your
+own life and try to live up to your own ideals. That is good&mdash;quite
+good. And you are not in sympathy with your aunt's friends. Nothing
+more natural. Of course it is important to be sure that your ideals
+are the highest possible. Do you think they are?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;They seem so. They are the highest possible for <i>me</i>,&quot; replied Austin
+earnestly.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That implies a limitation,&quot; observed St Aubyn, emitting a stream of
+blue smoke from his lips. &quot;Well, we all have our limitations. You
+appear to have a very strong sense that every man should realise his
+own individuality to the <a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a>full; that that is his first duty to
+himself. Tell me then&mdash;does it never occur to you that we may also
+have duties to others?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why, yes&mdash;certainly,&quot; said Austin. &quot;I only mean that we have <i>no
+right</i> to sacrifice our own individualities to other people's ideas.
+For instance, my aunt, who has always been the best of friends to me,
+is for ever worrying me to associate with people who rasp every nerve
+in my body, because she thinks that it would do me good. Then I rebel.
+I simply will not do it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What friends have you?&quot; asked St Aubyn quietly.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I don't think I have any,&quot; said Austin, with great simplicity.
+&quot;Except Lubin. My best companionship I find in books.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The best in the world&mdash;so long as the books are good,&quot; replied St
+Aubyn. &quot;But who is Lubin?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He's a gardener,&quot; said Austin. &quot;About two years older than I am. But
+he's a gentleman, you understand. And if you could only see the sort
+of people my poor aunt tries to force upon me!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I think you may add me to Lubin&mdash;as your friend,&quot; observed St Aubyn;
+at which Austin <a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a>flushed with pleasure. &quot;But now, one other word. You
+say you want to realise your highest self. Well, the way to do it is
+not to live for yourself alone; it is to live for others. To save
+oneself one must first lose oneself&mdash;forget oneself, when occasion
+arises&mdash;for the sake of other people. It is only by self-sacrifice for
+the sake of others that the supreme heights are to be attained.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>For the first time Austin's face fell. He tossed his long hair off his
+forehead, and toyed silently with his cigarette.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is that a hard saying?&quot; resumed St Aubyn, smiling. &quot;It has high
+authority, however. Think it over at your leisure. Have you finished?
+Come, then, and let me show you the pictures. We have the whole
+afternoon before us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>They explored the fine old house well-nigh from roof to basement,
+while St Aubyn recounted all the associations connected with the
+different rooms. Then they went into the picture-gallery. Austin,
+breathless with interest, hung upon St Aubyn's lips as he pointed out
+the peculiarities of each great master represented, and explained how,
+for instance, by a fold of the drapery or the crook of a finger, the
+characteristic mannerisms of the painter could be detected, and the
+school <a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a>to which a given work belonged could approximately be
+determined; drew attention to the unifying and grouping of the
+different features of a composition; spoke learnedly of textures,
+qualities, and tactile values; and laid stress on the importance of
+colour, light, atmosphere, and the sense of motion, as contrasted with
+the undue preponderance too often attached by critics to mere outline.
+All this was new to Austin, who had really never seen any good
+pictures before, and his enthusiasm grew with what it fed on. St Aubyn
+was an admirable cicerone; he loved his pictures, and he knew
+them&mdash;knew everything that could be known about them&mdash;and, inspired by
+the intelligent appreciation of his guest, spared no pains to do them
+justice. A good half-hour was then spent over the engravings, which
+were kept in a quaint old room by themselves; and afterwards they
+adjourned to the garden. St Aubyn's conservatories were famous, and
+his orchids of great variety and beauty. Austin seemed transported
+into a world where everything was so arranged as to gratify his
+craving for harmony and fitness, and he moved almost silently beside
+his host in a dream of satisfaction and delight.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By the way, there's still one room you <a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a>haven't seen,&quot; remarked St
+Aubyn, as they were strolling at their leisure through the grounds.
+&quot;We call it the Banqueting Hall&mdash;in that wing between the two old
+towers. Queen Elizabeth was entertained there once, and it contains
+some rather beautiful tapestries. I should like to have them moved
+into the main building, only there's really no place where they'd fit,
+and perhaps it's better they should remain where they were originally
+intended for. Are you fond of tapestry?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I've never seen any,&quot; said Austin, &quot;but of course I've read about
+it&mdash;Gobelin, Bayeux, and so on. I should love to see what it looks
+like in reality.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come, then,&quot; said St Aubyn, crossing the lawn. &quot;I have the key in my
+pocket.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He flung open the door. Austin found himself in the vast apartment,
+groined and vaulted, measuring about a hundred and twenty feet by
+fifty, and lighted by exquisite pointed windows enriched with
+coats-of-arms and other heraldic devices in jewel-like stained glass.
+The walls were completely hidden by tapestries of rare beauty, woven
+into the semblance of gardens, palaces, arcades and bowers of clipped
+hedges and pleached trees with slender fountains set <a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>meetly in green
+shade; while some again were crowded with swaying Gothic figures of
+saints and kings and warriors and angels, all far too beautiful,
+thought Austin, to have ever lived. Yet surely there must be some
+prototypes of all these wonderful conceptions somewhere. There must be
+a world&mdash;if we could only find it&mdash;where loveliness that we only know
+as pictured exists in actual reality. What a dream-like hall it was,
+on that still summer afternoon. Yet there was something uncanny about
+it too. St Aubyn had stepped out of sight, and Austin left by himself
+began to experience a very extraordinary sensation. He felt that he
+was not alone. The immense chamber seemed <i>full of presences</i>. He
+could see nothing, but he felt them all about him. The place was
+thickly populated, but the population was invisible. Everything looked
+as empty as it had looked when the door was first thrown open, and yet
+it was really full of ghostly palpitating life, crowded with the
+spirits of bygone men and women who had held stately revels there
+three hundred years before. He was not frightened, but a sense of awe
+crept over him, rooting him to the spot and imparting a rapt
+expression to his face. Did he hear anything? Wasn't there a faint
+rustling <a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>sound somewhere in the air behind him? No. It must have been
+his fancy. Everything was as silent as the grave.</p>
+
+<p>He turned and saw St Aubyn close beside him. &quot;The place is haunted!&quot;
+he exclaimed in a husky voice.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What makes you think so?&quot; asked St Aubyn, without any intonation of
+surprise.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I feel it,&quot; he replied.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come out,&quot; said the other abruptly. &quot;It's curious you should say
+that. Other people seem to have felt the same. I'm not so sensitive
+myself. You're looking pale. Let's go into the library and have a cup
+of tea.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The hot stimulant revived him, and he was soon talking at his ease
+again. But the curious impression remained. It seemed to him as if he
+had had an experience whose effects would not be easily shaken off. He
+had seen no ghosts, but he had felt them, and that was quite enough.
+The sensation he had undergone was unmistakable; the hall was full of
+ghosts, and he had been conscious of their presence. This, then, was
+apparently what Lubin had alluded to. Oh, it was all real
+enough&mdash;there was no room left for any doubt whatever.</p>
+
+<p>It was a quarter to five when he took leave of <a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a>his entertainer,
+responding warmly to an injunction to look in again whenever he felt
+disposed. He walked very thoughtfully homewards, revolving many
+questions in his busy brain. How much he had seen and learnt since he
+left home that morning! Worlds of beauty, of art, of intellect had
+dawned upon his consciousness; a world of mystery too. Even now,
+tramping along the road, he felt a different being. Even now he
+imagined the presence of unseen entities&mdash;walking by his side, it
+might be, but anyhow close to him. Was it so? Could it be that he
+really was surrounded by intelligences that eluded his physical senses
+and yet in some mysterious fashion made their existence <i>known</i>?</p>
+
+<p>At last he arrived at the stile leading into the meadow, and prepared
+to clamber over. Then he hesitated. Why? He could not tell. A queer,
+invincible repugnance to cross that stile suddenly came over him. The
+meadow looked fresh and green, and the road&mdash;hot, dusty, and
+white&mdash;was certainly not alluring; besides, he longed to saunter along
+the grass by the river and think over his experiences. But something
+prevented him. With a sense of irritation he took a few steps along
+the road; then the thought of the cool field reasserted itself, and
+with a <a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a>determined effort he retraced his steps and threw one leg over
+the top bar of the stile. It was no use. Gently, but unmistakably,
+something pushed him back. He <i>could</i> not cross. He wanted to, and he
+was in full possession of both his physical and mental faculties, but
+he simply could not do it.</p>
+
+<p>In great perplexity, not unmixed with some natural sense of umbrage,
+Austin set off again along the ugly road. The sun had come out once
+more, and it was very hot. What could be the matter with him? Why had
+he been so silly as to take the highway, with its horrid dust and
+glare, when the field and the lane would have been so much more
+pleasant? He felt puzzled and annoyed. How Mr St Aubyn would have
+laughed at him could he but have known. This long tramp along the
+disagreeable road was the only jarring incident that had befallen him
+that day. Well, it would soon be over. And what a day it had been,
+after all. How marvellous the pictures were, and the gardens; what an
+acquisition to his life was the friendship&mdash;not only the
+acquaintanceship&mdash;of St Aubyn; and then the tapestries, the great
+mysterious hall, and the strange revelations that had come upon him in
+the hall itself! At last his thoughts reverted, <a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a>half in
+self-reproach, to Aunt Charlotte. How had she fared, meanwhile? Had
+she enjoyed her Cobbledicks and her MacTavishes as much as he had
+enjoyed his experiences at the Court?</p>
+
+<p>For all his theories about living his own life and developing his own
+individuality, Austin was not a selfish boy. Egoistic he might be, but
+selfish he was not. His impulses were always generous and kindly, and
+he was full of thought for others. He was for ever contriving delicate
+little gifts for those in want, planning pleasant little surprises for
+people whom he loved. And now he hoped most ardently that dear Aunt
+Charlotte had not been very dull, and for the moment felt quite kindly
+towards the Cobbledicks and the MacTavishes as he reflected that, no
+doubt, they had helped to make his auntie happy on that afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>At last he came to the entrance of the lane through which he had
+passed in the morning. At that moment a crowd of men and boys, most of
+them armed with heavy sticks and all looking terribly excited, rushed
+past him, and precipitated themselves into the narrow opening. He
+asked one of them what was the matter, but the man took no notice and
+ran panting after the <a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a>others. So Austin pursued his way, and in a few
+minutes arrived at the garden gate, where to his great surprise he
+found Aunt Charlotte waiting for him&mdash;the picture of anxiety and
+terror.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, auntie!&mdash;why, what's the matter?&quot; he exclaimed, as Aunt
+Charlotte with a cry of relief threw herself into his arms.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, my dear boy!&quot; she uttered in trembling agitation. &quot;How thankful I
+am to see you! Which way did you come back?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Which way? Along the road,&quot; said Austin, much astonished. &quot;Why?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thank God!&quot; ejaculated Aunt Charlotte. &quot;Then you're really safe. I've
+been out of my mind with fear. A most dreadful thing has happened. Let
+us sit down a minute till I get my breath, and I'll tell you all about
+it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Austin led her to a garden seat which stood near, and sat down beside
+her. &quot;Well, what is it all about?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My dear, it was like this,&quot; began Aunt Charlotte, as she gradually
+recovered her composure. &quot;Our friends were just going away&mdash;oh, I
+forgot to tell you that of course they came; we had a most delightful
+time, and dear Lottie&mdash;no, Lizzie&mdash;<a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a>I always do forget which is
+which&mdash;I can't remember, but it doesn't matter&mdash;was the life and soul
+of the party; however, as I was saying, they were just going away, and
+I was there at the gate seeing them off, when the butcher's boy came
+running up and warned them on no account to venture into the road, as
+Hunt's dog&mdash;that's the butcher, you know&mdash;I mean Hunt is&mdash;had gone
+raving mad, and was loose upon the streets. Of course we were all most
+horribly alarmed, and wanted to know whether anybody had been bitten;
+but the boy was off like a shot, and two minutes afterwards the
+wretched dog itself came tearing past, as mad as a dog could be, its
+jaws a mass of foam, and snapping right and left. As soon as ever it
+was safe our friends took the opportunity of escaping&mdash;of course in
+the opposite direction; and then a crowd of villagers came along in
+pursuit, but not knowing which turning to take till some man or other
+told them that the dog had gone up the lane. Then imagine my terror!
+For I felt perfectly convinced that you'd be coming home that way, as
+the road was hot and dusty, and I know how fond you are of lanes and
+fields. Oh, my dear, I can't get over it even now. How was it you
+chose the road?&quot;</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a>For a moment Austin did not speak. Then he said very slowly:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I don't know how to tell you. Of course I <i>could</i> tell you easily
+enough, but I don't think you'd understand. Auntie, I intended to come
+home by the lane. Twice or three times I tried to cross the stile into
+the meadows, and each time I was prevented. Something stopped me.
+Something pushed me back. Naturally I wanted to come by the
+meadow&mdash;the road was horrid&mdash;and I wanted to stroll along on the grass
+and enjoy myself by the river. But there it was&mdash;I couldn't do it. So
+I gave up trying, and came by the road after all.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What <i>do</i> you mean, Austin?&quot; asked Aunt Charlotte. &quot;I never heard
+such a thing in my life. What was it that pushed you back?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I don't know,&quot; replied the boy deliberately. &quot;I only know that
+something did. And as the lane is very narrow, and enclosed by
+excessively steep banks, the chances are that I should have met the
+dog in it, and that the dog would have bitten me and given me
+hydrophobia. And now you know as much as I do myself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I can't tell what to think, I'm sure,&quot; said <a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a>Aunt Charlotte. &quot;Anyhow,
+it's most providential that you escaped, but as for your being
+prevented, as you say&mdash;as for anything pushing you back&mdash;why, my dear,
+of course that was only your fancy. What else could it have been? I'm
+far too practical to believe in presentiments, and warnings, and
+nonsense of that sort. I'd as soon believe in table-rapping. No, my
+dear; I thank God you've come back safe and sound, but don't go
+hinting at anything supernatural, because I simply don't believe in
+it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then why do you thank God?&quot; asked Austin, &quot;Isn't He supernatural?
+Why, He's the only really supernatural Being possible, it seems to
+me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>That was a poser. Aunt Charlotte, having recovered her equanimity,
+began to feel argumentative. It was incumbent on her to prove that she
+was not inconsistent in attributing Austin's preservation to the
+intervention of God, while disclaiming any belief in what she called
+the supernatural. And for the moment she did not know how to do it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By the supernatural, Austin,&quot; she said at last, in a very oracular
+tone, &quot;I mean superstition. And I call that story of yours a piece of
+superstition and nothing else.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a>Auntie, you do talk the most delightful nonsense of any elderly lady
+of my acquaintance,&quot; cried Austin, as he laughingly patted her on the
+back. &quot;It's no use arguing with you, because you never can see that
+two and two make four. It's very sad, isn't it? However, the thing to
+be thankful for is that I've got back safe and sound, and that we've
+both had a delightful afternoon. And now tell me all your adventures.
+I'm dying to hear about the vicar, and the Cobbledicks, and the
+ingenious Jock and Sandy. Did all your friends turn up?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Indeed they did, and a most charming time we had,&quot; replied Aunt
+Charlotte briskly. &quot;Of course they were astonished to find that you
+weren't here to welcome them, and I was obliged to say how unfortunate
+it was, but a most stupid mistake had arisen, and that you were
+dreadfully sorry, and all the rest of it. Ah, you don't know what you
+missed, Austin. The boys were full of fun as usual, and dear
+Lizzie&mdash;or was it Florrie? well, it doesn't matter&mdash;said she was sure
+you'd gone to the Court in preference because you were expecting to
+meet a lot of girls there who were much prettier than she was. Of
+course she was joking, but&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The vulgar, disgusting brute!&quot; cried <a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a>Austin, in sudden anger. &quot;And
+these are the creatures you torment me to associate with. Well&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Austin, you've no right to call a young lady a brute; it's abominably
+rude of you,&quot; said Aunt Charlotte severely. &quot;There was nothing vulgar
+in what she said; it was just a playful sally, such as any sprightly
+girl might indulge in. I assured her you were going to meet nobody but
+Mr St Aubyn himself, and then she said it was a shame that you should
+have been inveigled away to be bored by&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I don't want to hear what the woman said,&quot; interrupted Austin, with a
+gesture of contempt. &quot;Such people have no right to exist. They're not
+worthy for a man like St Aubyn to tread upon. It's a pity you know
+nothing of him yourself, auntie. You wouldn't appreciate your Lotties
+and your Florries quite so much as you do now, if you did.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then you enjoyed yourself?&quot; returned Aunt Charlotte, waiving the
+point. &quot;Oh, I've no doubt he's an agreeable person in his way. And the
+gardens are quite pretty, I'm told. Hasn't he got a few rather nice
+pictures in his rooms? I'm very fond of pictures myself. Well, now,
+tell me all about it. How did you amuse yourself all <a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a>the afternoon,
+and what did you talk to him about?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But before Austin could frame a fitting answer the butcher's boy
+looked over the gate to tell them that the rabid dog had been found in
+the lane and killed.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="Chapter_the_Fifth" id="Chapter_the_Fifth"></a><hr />
+<br />
+<h2><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>Chapter the Fifth<span class="totoc"><a class="noline" href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2>
+<br />
+
+<p>It will readily be understood that Austin was in no hurry to confide
+anything about his experiences in the Banqueting Hall to his Aunt
+Charlotte. The way in which she had received his straightforward,
+simple account of the curious impressions which had determined his
+choice of a route in coming home was enough, and more than enough, to
+seal his tongue. He was sensitive in the extreme, and any lack of
+sympathy or comprehension made him retire immediately into his shell.
+His aunt's demeanour imparted an air of reserve even to the
+description he gave her of the attractions of Moorcombe Court. Perhaps
+the good lady was a trifle sore at never having been invited there
+herself. One never knows. At any rate, her attitude was chilling. So
+as regarded the incident in the Banqueting Hall he preserved entire
+silence. Her scepticism was too complacent to be attacked.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a>He was aroused next morning by the sweetest of country sounds&mdash;the
+sound of a scythe upon the lawn. Then there came the distant call of
+the street flower-seller, &quot;All a-growing, all a-blowing,&quot; which he
+remembered as long as he could remember anything. The world was waking
+up, but it was yet early&mdash;not more than half-past six at the very
+latest. So he lay quietly and contentedly in his white bed, lazily
+wondering how it would feel in the Banqueting Hall at that early hour,
+and what it would be like there in the dead of night, and how soon it
+would be proper for him to go and leave a card on Mr St Aubyn, and
+what Lubin would think of it all, and how it was he had never before
+noticed that great crack in the ceiling just above his head. At last
+he slipped carefully out of bed without waiting for Martha to bring
+him his hot water, and hopped as best he could to the open window and
+looked out. There was Lubin, mowing vigorously away, and the air was
+full of sweet garden scents and the early twittering of birds. He
+could not go back to bed after that, but proceeded forthwith to dress.</p>
+
+<p>After a hurried toilet, he bumped his way downstairs; intercepted the
+dairyman, from whom he extorted a great draught of milk, and then
+went <a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>into the garden. How sweet it was, that breath of morning air!
+Lubin had just finished mowing the lawn, and the perfume of the cool
+grass, damp with the night's dew, seemed to pervade the world. No one
+else was stirring; there was nothing to jar his nerves; everything was
+harmonious, fresh, beautiful, and young. And the harmony of it all
+consisted in this, that Austin was fresh, and beautiful, and young
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, and how did ye fare at the Court?&quot; asked Lubin, as Austin
+joined him. &quot;Was it as fine a place as you reckoned it would be?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, Lubin, it was lovely!&quot; cried Austin, enthusiastically. &quot;I do wish
+you could see it. And the garden! Of course this one's lovely too, and
+I love it, but the garden at the Court is simply divine. It's on a
+great scale, you know, and there are huge orchid-houses, and flaming
+carnations, and stained tulips, and gilded lilies, and a wonderful
+grass terrace, and&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ay, ay, I've heard tell of all that,&quot; interrupted Lubin. &quot;But how
+about the ghosts? Did you see any o' them, as you was so anxious
+about?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a>No&mdash;I didn't see any; but they're there all the same,&quot; returned
+Austin. &quot;I felt them, you know. But only in one place; that great
+room, they say, was a Banqueting Hall once upon a time. You know,
+Lubin, I'm going back there before long. Mr St Aubyn asked me to come
+again, and I intend to go into that room again to see if I feel
+anything more. It was the very queerest thing! I never felt so strange
+in my life. The place seemed actually full of them. I could feel them
+all round me, though I couldn't see a thing. And the strangest part of
+it is that I've never felt quite the same since.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How d'ye mean?&quot; asked Lubin, looking up.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I don't know&mdash;but I fancy I may still be surrounded by them in some
+sort of way,&quot; replied Austin. &quot;It's possibly nothing but imagination
+after all. However, we shall see. Now this morning I want to go a long
+ramp into the country&mdash;as far as the Beacon, if I can. It's going to
+be a splendid day, I'm sure.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I'm not,&quot; said Lubin. &quot;The old goose was dancing for rain on the
+green last night, and that's a sure sign of a change.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dancing for rain! What old goose?&quot; asked Austin, astonished.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a>The geese always dance when they want rain,&quot; replied Lubin, &quot;and what
+the goose asks for God sends. Did you never hear that before? It's a
+sure fact, that is. It'll rain within four-and-twenty hours, you mark
+my words.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I hope it won't,&quot; said Austin. &quot;And so your mother keeps geese?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ay, that she does, and breeds 'em, and fattens 'em up against
+Michaelmas. And we've a fine noise o' ducks on the pond, too. They
+pays their way too, I reckon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A noise o' ducks? What, do they quack so loud?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Lor' bless you, Master Austin, where was you brought up? Everybody
+hereabouts know what a noise o' ducks is. Same as a flock o' geese,
+only one quacks and the other cackles. Well, now I'm off home, for its
+peckish work mowing on an empty belly, and the mother'll be looking
+out for me. Geese for me, ghosts for you, and in the end we'll see
+which pans out the best.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So Lubin trudged away to his breakfast and left Austin to his
+reflections. The predicted rain held off in spite of the terpsichorean
+importunity of Lubin's geese, and Austin passed a lovely <a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>morning on
+the moors; but next day it came down with a vengeance, and for six
+hours there was a regular deluge. However, Austin didn't mind. When it
+was fine he spent his days in the fields and woods; if it rained, he
+sat at a window where he could watch the grey mists, and the driving
+clouds, and the straight arrows of water falling wonderfully through
+the air. His books, too, were a resource that never failed, and if he
+was unable personally to participate in beautiful scenes, he could
+always read about them, which was the next best thing after all.</p>
+
+<p>The weather continued unsettled for some days, and then it cleared up
+gloriously, so that Austin was able to lead what he called his Daphnis
+life once more. The rains had had rather a depressing effect upon his
+general health, and once or twice he had fancied that something was
+troubling him in his stump; but with the return of the sun all such
+symptoms disappeared as though by magic, and he felt younger and
+lighter than ever as he stepped forth again into the glittering air.
+More than a week had elapsed since his day at the Court, and he began
+to think that now he really might venture to go and call. So off he
+set one sunny afternoon, and with rather <a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a>a beating heart presented
+himself at the park gates.</p>
+
+<p>Here, however, a disappointment awaited him. The lodge-keeper shook
+his head, and announced that Mr St Aubyn was away and wouldn't be back
+till night. Austin could do nothing but leave a card, and hope that he
+might be lucky enough to meet him by accident before long.</p>
+
+<p>So he turned back and made for the meadow by the river side, feeling
+sure that he would be safe from rabid dogs that time at any rate. And
+certainly no mysterious influences intervened to prevent him sitting
+on the stile for a rest, and indulging in pleasant thoughts. Then he
+pulled out his pocket-volume of the beloved Eclogues, and read the
+musical contest between Menalcas and Dam&aelig;tas with great enjoyment.
+Why, he wondered, were there no delightful shepherd-boys now-a-days,
+who spent their time in lying under trees and singing one against the
+other? Lubin was much nicer than most country lads, but even Lubin was
+not equal to improvising songs about Phyllis, and Delia, and the
+Muses. Then he looked up, and saw a stranger approaching him across
+the field.</p>
+
+<p>He was a big, stoutish man, with a fat face, a <a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a>frock-coat tightly
+buttoned up, a large umbrella, and a rather shabby hat of the shape
+called chimney-pot. A somewhat incongruous object, amid that rural
+scene, and not a very prepossessing one; but apparently a gentleman,
+though scarcely of the stamp of St Aubyn. At last he came quite near,
+and Austin moved as though to let him pass.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Don't trouble yourself, young gentleman,&quot; said the newcomer, in a
+good-humoured, offhand way. &quot;Can you tell me whether I'm anywhere near
+a place called Moorcombe Court?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes&mdash;it's not far off,&quot; replied Austin, immediately interested. &quot;I've
+just come from there myself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Really, now!&quot; was the gentleman's rejoinder. &quot;And how's me friend St
+Aubyn?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So he was Mr St Aubyn's friend&mdash;or claimed to be. &quot;I really
+suspected,&quot; said Austin to himself, &quot;that he must be a bailiff.&quot; From
+which it may be inferred that the youth's acquaintance with bailiffs
+was somewhat limited. Then he said, aloud:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I believe he's quite well, thank you, but I'm afraid you'll not be
+able to see him. He's gone out somewhere for the day.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>Dear me, now, that's a pity!&quot; exclaimed the stranger, taking off his
+hat and wiping his hot, bald head. &quot;Dear old Roger&mdash;it's years since
+we met, and I was quite looking forward to enjoying a chat with him
+about old times. Well, well, another day will do, no doubt. You don't
+live at the Court, do you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I? Oh, no,&quot; said Austin. &quot;I only visit there. It is such a charming
+place!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Shouldn't wonder,&quot; remarked the other, nodding. &quot;Our friend's a rich
+man, and can afford to gratify his tastes&mdash;which are rather expensive
+ones, or used to be when I knew him years ago. I must squeeze an hour
+to go and see him some time or other while I'm here, if I can only
+manage it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then you are not here for long?&quot; asked Austin, wondering who the man
+could be.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Depends upon business, young gentleman,&quot; replied the stranger.
+&quot;Depends upon how we draw. We shall have a week for certain, but after
+that&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How you draw?&quot; repeated Austin, politely mystified.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, draw&mdash;what houses we draw, to be sure,&quot; explained the stranger.
+&quot;What, haven't you <a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a>seen the bills? I'm on tour with 'Sardanapalus'!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A ray of light flashed upon Austin's memory. &quot;Oh! I think I
+understand,&quot; he ventured hesitatingly. &quot;Are you&mdash;can you perhaps
+be&mdash;er&mdash;Mr Buckskin?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;For Buckskin read Buskin, and you may boast of having hazarded a
+particularly shrewd guess,&quot; replied the gentleman. &quot;Bucephalus Buskin,
+at your service; and, of course, the public's.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ah, now I know,&quot; exclaimed Austin. &quot;The greatest actor in Europe, on
+or off the stage.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh come, now, come; spare my blushes, young gentleman, draw it a
+<i>little</i> milder!&quot; cried the delighted manager, almost bursting with
+mock modesty. &quot;Greatest actor in Europe&mdash;oh, very funny, very good
+indeed! Off the stage, too! Oh dear, dear, dear, what wags there are
+in the world! And pray, young gentleman, from whom did you pick up
+that?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I think it must have been the milkman,&quot; replied Austin simply.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The milkman, eh? A most discriminating milkman, 'pon my word. Well,
+it's always encouraging to find appreciation of high art, even among
+milkmen,&quot; observed Mr Buskin. &quot;Only <a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a>shows how much we owe the growing
+education of the masses to the drama. Talk of the press, the pulpit,
+the schoolroom&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I believe he was quoting an advertisement,&quot; interpolated Austin.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;An ad., eh?&quot; said the mummer, somewhat disconcerted. &quot;Oh, well, I
+shouldn't be surprised. Of course <i>I</i> have nothing to do with such
+things. That's the business of the advance-agent. And did he really
+put in that? I positively must speak to him about it. A good fellow,
+you know, but rather inclined to let his zeal outrun his discretion.
+It's not good business to raise too great expectations, is it, now?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Austin, in his innocence, scarcely took in the meaning of all this.
+But it was clear enough that Mr Buskin was a great personage in his
+way, and extremely modest into the bargain. His interest was now very
+much excited, and he awaited eagerly what the communicative gentleman
+would say next.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I should think it would take,&quot; continued Mr Buskin, warming to his
+subject. &quot;It's a most magnificent spectacle when it's properly done&mdash;as
+we do it. There's a scene in the third act&mdash;the Banquet in the Royal
+Palace&mdash;that's <a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a>something you won't forget as long as you live. A
+gorgeous hall, brilliantly illuminated&mdash;the whole Court in glittering
+costumes&mdash;the tables covered with gold and silver plate. Peals of
+thunder, and a frightful tempest raging outside. In the midst of the
+revels a conspiracy breaks out&mdash;enter Pania, bloody&mdash;Sardanapalus
+assumes a suit of armour, and admires himself in a looking-glass&mdash;and
+then the rival armies burst in, and a terrific battle ensues&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What, in the dining-room?&quot; asked the astonished Austin.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, well, the poet allows himself a bit of licence there, I admit;
+but that only gives us an opportunity of showing what fine
+stage-management can do,&quot; said Mr Buskin complacently. &quot;It's a
+magnificent situation. You'll say you never saw anything like it since
+you were born, you just mark my words.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It certainly must be very wonderful,&quot; remarked Austin. &quot;But I'm
+afraid I'm rather ignorant of such matters. What <i>is</i> 'Sardanapalus,'
+may I ask?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What, never heard of Byron's 'Sardanapalus'?&quot; exclaimed the actor,
+throwing up his hands. &quot;Why, it's one of the finest things ever put
+upon the boards. Full of telling effects, and <a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a>not too many bothering
+lengths, you know. The Poet Laureate, dear good man, worried my life
+out a year ago to let him write a play upon the subject especially for
+me. The part of Sardanapalus was to be devised so as to bring out all
+my particular&mdash;er&mdash;capabilities, and any little hints that might occur
+to me were to be acted upon and embodied in the text. But I wouldn't
+hear of it. 'Me dear Alfred,' I said, 'it isn't that I underrate your
+very well-known talents, but Byron's good enough for <i>me</i>. Hang it
+all, you know, an artist owes something to the classics of his
+country.' So now, if that uneasy spirit ever looks this way from the
+land of the eternal shades, he'll see something at least to comfort
+him. He'll see that one actor, at least, not unknown to Europe, has
+vindicated his reputation as a playwright in the face of the British
+public.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Austin felt immensely flattered at such confidences being vouchsafed
+to him by the eminent exponent of Lord Byron, and said he was certain
+that the theatre would be crammed. Mr Buskin shrugged his shoulders,
+and replied he was sure he hoped so.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And now,&quot; he added, &quot;I think I'll be walking back. And look you here,
+young gentleman. We've had a pleasant meeting, and I'd like to <a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a>see
+you again. Just take this card&quot;&mdash;scribbling a few words on it in
+pencil&mdash;&quot;and the night you favour us with your presence in the house,
+come round and see me in me dressing-room between the acts. You've
+only to show that, and they'll let you in at once. I'd like your
+impressions of the thing while it's going on.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Austin accepted the card with becoming courtesy, and offered his own
+in exchange. Mr Buskin shook hands in a very cordial manner, and the
+next moment was making his way rapidly in the direction of the town.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What a very singular gentleman,&quot; thought Austin, when he was once
+more alone. &quot;I wonder whether all actors are like that. Scarcely, I
+suppose. Well, now I'm to have a glimpse of another new world. Mr St
+Aubyn has shown me one or two; what will Mr Buskin's be like? It's all
+extremely interesting, anyhow.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then he stumped along to the river side, giving a majestic twirl to
+his wooden leg with every step he took through the long grass. How he
+would have loved a bathe! The pool where he had so enjoyed himself
+with Lubin was not far off&mdash;the pool of Daphnis, as he had christened
+it; but he hesitated to venture in alone. So he lay down on the bank
+and watched the yellow water-lilies <a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a>from afar, dreaming of many
+things. How clever Lubin was, and what a lot he knew! Why geese should
+dance for rain he couldn't even imagine; but the rain had actually
+come, and it was all a most suggestive mystery. How many other curious
+connections there must be among natural occurrences that nobody ever
+dreamt of! It was in the country one learnt about such things; in the
+fields and woods, and by the side of rivers. Nature was the great
+school, after all. History and geography were all very well in their
+way, but what food for the soul was there in knowing whether Norway
+was an island or a peninsula, or on what date some silly king had had
+his crown put on? What did it matter, after all? Those were the facts
+he despised; facts that had no significance for him whatever, that
+left him exactly as they found him first. The sky and the birds and
+the flowers taught him lessons that were worth more than all the
+histories and geographies that were ever written. The schoolroom was a
+desert, arid and unsatisfying; whereas the garden, the enclosed space
+which held stained cups of beauty and purple gold-eyed bells, that was
+a jewelled sanctuary. Lubin was nearer the heart of things than
+Freeman and Macaulay, though they would have disdained him as a clod.
+<a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a>Virgil and Theocritus were greater philosophers than either Comte or
+Hegel. Daphnis and Corydon represented the finest flower, the purest
+type of human evolution, and Herbert Spencer was nothing better than a
+particularly silly old man.</p>
+
+<p>Having disposed of the education question thus conclusively, it
+occurred to Austin that it must be about time for tea; so he struggled
+to his legs and turned his footsteps homeward. Just as he arrived at
+the house he met Lubin outside the gate with a wheelbarrow.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Off already?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ay,&quot; said Lubin. &quot;I say, Master Austin, there's something I want to
+tell you. I see a magpie not an hour ago!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A magpie? I don't think I ever saw one in my life. What was it like?&quot;
+enquired Austin.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Don't matter what it was like,&quot; replied Lubin, sententiously. &quot;But it
+was just outside your bedroom window. You'd better be on the
+look-out.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What for?&quot; asked Austin. &quot;Did it say it was coming back?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Tain't nothing to laugh at,&quot; said Lubin, nodding his head. &quot;A magpie
+bodes ill-luck. That's well known, that is. So you just keep <a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a>your eye
+open, that's all I've got to say. It's a warning, you see. Did ye
+never hear that before?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Austin's first impulse was to laugh; then he remembered the dancing
+goose, and the rain which followed in due course. &quot;All right, Lubin,&quot;
+he said cheerfully. &quot;I'm not afraid of magpies; I don't think they're
+very dangerous. But I <i>have</i> heard that they've a fancy for silver
+spoons, so I'll tell Aunt Charlotte to lock the plate up safely before
+she goes to bed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>As he had expected, Aunt Charlotte was much pleased at hearing of his
+encounter with Mr Buskin, who, she thought, must be a most delightful
+person. It would be so good, too, for Austin to see something of the
+gay world instead of always mooning about alone; and then he would be
+sure to meet other young people at the performance, friends from the
+neighbouring town, with whom he could talk and be sociable. Austin, on
+his side, was quite willing to go and be amused, though he felt,
+perhaps, more interested in what promised to be an entirely new
+experience than excited at the prospect of a treat. He wanted to see
+and to study, and then he would be able to judge.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By the way, Austin,&quot; said his aunt, as they <a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a>were separating for the
+night a few hours later, &quot;I want you to go into the town to-morrow and
+tell Snewin to send a man up at once to look at the roof. I'm afraid
+it's been in rather a bad state for some time past, and those heavy
+rains we had last week seem to have damaged it still more. Be sure you
+don't forget. It won't do to have a leaky roof over our heads; it
+might come tumbling down, and cost a mint of money to put right
+again.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Austin gave the required promise, and thought no more about it. He
+also forgot entirely to tell his aunt she had better lock up the
+spoons with particular care that night because Lubin had seen a magpie
+in suspicious proximity to his window. He went straight up to his
+room, feeling rather sleepy, and bent on getting between the sheets as
+soon as possible. But just as he was putting on his nightgown, a light
+pattering sound attracted his attention, and he immediately became all
+ears.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Rain?&quot; he exclaimed. &quot;Why, there wasn't a sign of it an hour ago!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He drew up the blind and looked out. The sky was perfectly clear, and
+a brilliant moon was shining.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That's queer!&quot; he murmured. &quot;I could <a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a>have sworn I heard it raining.
+What in the world could it have been?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He turned away and put out the candle. As he approached the bed a
+curious disinclination to get into it came over him. Then he heard the
+same pattering noise again. He stopped short, and listened more
+attentively. It seemed to come from the walls.</p>
+
+<p>A shower of raps, rather like tiny explosions, now sounded all around
+him. He leant his head against the wall, and the sound became
+distincter. This time there was no mistake about it. He had never
+heard anything like it in his life. He was quite cool, not in the
+least frightened, and very much on the alert. The raps continued at
+intervals for about five minutes. Then, seeing that it was impossible
+to solve the mystery, he suddenly jumped into bed. At that moment the
+raps ceased.</p>
+
+<p>For nearly an hour he lay awake, wondering. Certainly he had not been
+the victim of hallucination. He was in perfect health, and in full
+possession of all his faculties. Indeed his faculties were
+particularly alive; he had been thinking of something else altogether
+when the raps first forced themselves upon his consciousness, and
+afterwards he had listened to them for several <a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a>minutes with close and
+critical attention. No explanation of the strange phenomenon suggested
+itself in spite of endless theories and speculations. Could it be
+mice? But mice only gnawed and scuttled about; they did not rap. It
+was more like crackling than anything else; the noise produced by
+thousands of faint discharges. No, it was inexplicable, and he
+wondered more and more.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually he fell asleep. How long he slept he didn't know, but he
+awoke with a sensation of cold. Instinctively he put out his hand to
+pull the coverings closer over him, and found that they seemed to have
+slipped down somehow, leaving his chest exposed. Then, warm again, he
+dozed off once more and dreamt that he was at the pool of Daphnis with
+Lubin. How cool and blue the water looked, and how lovely the plunge
+would be! But when he was stripped the weather suddenly changed; a
+chill wind sprang up which made his teeth chatter; and then Lubin&mdash;who
+somehow wasn't Lubin but had unaccountably turned into Mr
+Buskin&mdash;insisted on throwing him into the water, which now looked cold
+and black. He struggled furiously, and awoke shivering.</p>
+
+<p>There was not a rag upon him. Again he <a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>stretched out his hand to feel
+for the clothes, but they had disappeared. Instinctively he threw
+himself out of bed and flung open the shutters. The moon had set, and
+the first faint gleams of approaching dawn filtered into the room,
+showing, to his amazement, the bedclothes drawn completely away from
+the mattress and hanging over the rail at the foot, so as to be quite
+out of the reach of his hand as he had lain there. What on earth was
+the matter with the bed? Was it bewitched? Who had uncovered him in
+that unceremonious way, leaving him perished with cold? No wonder he
+had dreamt of that chilly wind, numbing his body as he stood naked by
+the pool. Had he by any chance kicked the coverlet off in his sleep,
+as he engaged in that dream-struggle with the absurdly impossible
+Buskin-Lubin who had attempted to pitch him into the dark water?
+Clearly not; for that would not account for the sheet and blanket
+being dragged so carefully out of the range of his hands, and hung
+over the foot-rail so that they touched the floor.</p>
+
+<p>Such were the thoughts that flashed through his mind as he stood
+motionless by the window, with wide open eyes, in the chill morning
+light. Suddenly a rending, bursting noise was heard <a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a>in the ceiling.
+The crack widened into a chasm, and then, with a heavy thud, down fell
+a confused mass of old bricks, crumbling mortar, and rotten,
+worm-eaten wood full on the mattress he had just relinquished,
+scattering pulverised rubble in all directions, and covering the bed
+with a layer of horrible dust and <i>d&eacute;bris</i>.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="Chapter_the_Sixth" id="Chapter_the_Sixth"></a><hr />
+<br />
+<h2><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a>Chapter the Sixth<span class="totoc"><a class="noline" href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2>
+<br />
+
+<p>Had her very life depended on it, old Martha would have been totally
+unable to give any coherent account of what she felt, said, or did,
+when she came into Master Austin's room that morning at half-past
+seven with his hot water. She thought she must have screamed, but such
+was her bewilderment and terror she really could not remember whether
+she did or no. But she never had any doubt as to what she saw. Instead
+of a fair white bed with Austin lying in it, she was confronted by the
+sight of a gaping hole in the roof, something that looked like a
+rubbish heap in a brickfield immediately underneath, and the long
+slender form of Austin himself wrapped in a comfortable wadded
+dressing-gown fast asleep upon the sofa. &quot;Bless us and save us!&quot; she
+ejaculated under her breath. &quot;And to think that the boy's lived
+through it!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Austin, roused by her entrance, yawned, <a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>stretched himself, and lazily
+opened his eyes. &quot;Is that you already, Martha?&quot; he said. &quot;Oh, how
+sleepy I am. Is it really half-past seven?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But what does it all mean&mdash;how it is you're not killed?&quot; cried
+Martha, putting down the jug, and finding her voice at last. &quot;The good
+Lord preserve us&mdash;here's the house tumbling down about our ears and
+never a one of us the wiser. And the man was to 'ave come this very
+day to see to that blessed roof. Come, wake up, do, Master Austin, and
+tell me how it happened.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is Aunt Charlotte up yet?&quot; asked Austin turning over on his side.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ay, that she be, and making it lively for the maids downstairs.
+Whatever will she say when she hears about this to-do?&quot; exclaimed
+Martha, with her hands upon her hips as she gazed at the desolation
+round her.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, please go down and ask her to come up here at once,&quot; said
+Austin. &quot;I see I shall have to say something, and it really will be
+too much bother to go over it to everybody in turn. I've had rather a
+disturbed night, and feel most awfully tired. So just run down and
+bring her up as soon as ever you can, and then we'll get it over.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a>A pretty business&mdash;and me with forty-eleven things to do already
+to-day,&quot; muttered the old servant as she hurried out. &quot;True it is that
+except the Lord builds the house they labour in vain as builds it. He
+didn't have no hand in building this one, that's as plain as I am&mdash;as
+never was a beauty at my best. Well, the child's safe, that's one
+mercy. Though what he was doing out of his bed when the roof came
+down's a mystery to <i>me</i>. Talking to the moon, I shouldn't wonder. The
+good Lord's got 'is own ways o' doing things, and it ain't for the
+likes of us to pick holes when they turn out better than the worst.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Austin lay quietly and drowsily on his couch piecing things
+together. Seen from the distance of a few hours, now that he had
+leisure to reflect, how wonderfully they fitted in! First of all,
+there had been that sudden outburst of raps just as he was stepping
+into bed. That, evidently, was intended as a warning. It was as much
+as to say, &quot;Don't! don't!&quot; But of course he couldn't be expected to
+know this, and so he could only wonder where the raps came from, and
+get into bed as usual. Then, the instant he did so the raps ceased.
+That was because it wasn't any use to go on. The rappers, <a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a>he
+supposed, had benevolently tried to frighten him away, and induce him
+to go and sleep on the sofa at the other end of the room where he was
+now; but the attempt had failed. So there was nothing for them to do,
+as he was actually in bed, but to get him out again; and this they had
+succeeded in doing by dragging all his clothes off. Now he saw it all.
+Nothing, it seemed to him, could possibly be clearer. But who were the
+unseen friends who had thus interposed to save his life? Ah, that was
+a secret still.</p>
+
+<p>Then footsteps were heard outside, and in bustled Aunt Charlotte, with
+Martha chattering in her wake. Austin raised himself upon his
+cushions, and then sank back again. &quot;Lord save us!&quot; cried Aunt
+Charlotte, coming to a dead stop, as she surveyed the ruins.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It's rather a mess, isn't it?&quot; remarked Austin, folding a red
+table-cover round his single leg by way of counterpane.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A mess!&quot; repeated Aunt Charlotte. &quot;I should think it <i>was</i> a mess.
+How in the world, Austin, did you manage to escape?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well&mdash;I happened to get out of bed a minute or two before the ceiling
+broke,&quot; said Austin, &quot;and it's just as well I did. Otherwise my
+<a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a>artless countenance would have got rather disfigured, and I might
+even have been hurt. You see all that raw material isn't composed of
+gossamer&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What time did it occur?&quot; asked Aunt Charlotte, shortly.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The dawn was just breaking. I suppose it must have been about four
+o'clock, but I didn't look at my watch,&quot; replied Austin. &quot;I was too
+cold and sleepy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Cold and sleepy!&quot; exclaimed Aunt Charlotte. &quot;And the house collapsing
+over your head. You seem to have had time to pull the bedclothes away,
+though. That's very curious. What did you do that for?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I didn't,&quot; replied Austin.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then who did?&quot; asked Aunt Charlotte, getting more and more excited.
+&quot;I do wish you'd be a little more communicative, Austin; I have to
+drag every word out of you as though you were trying to hide
+something. Who hung the bedclothes over the footrail if you didn't?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I can't tell you. I don't know. All I know is that I found them where
+they are now when I woke up, and I woke up because I was so cold. Then
+I got out of bed, and <a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a>a minute afterwards down came all the bricks.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you mean to tell me&mdash;&mdash;&quot; began Aunt Charlotte, in her most
+scathing tones.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Certainly I do. Exactly what I <i>have</i> told you. Why?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you expect me to believe,&quot; resumed his aunt, &quot;that somebody came
+into the room when you were asleep, and deliberately pulled off all
+your bedclothes for the fun of doing it? Am I to understand&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My dear auntie, I am not an idiot, nor am I in the habit of perjuring
+myself,&quot; interrupted Austin. &quot;I saw nobody come into the room, and I
+saw nobody pull off the clothes. If you really want to know what I
+'expect you to believe,' I've already told you. I might tell you a
+little more, but then I shouldn't expect you to believe it, so what
+would be the good? It seems to me the best thing to do now is to send
+for Snewin to take away all this mess, move the furniture, and mend
+the hole in the ceiling. If once it begins to rain&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh! You might tell me a little more, might you?&quot; said Aunt Charlotte,
+bristling. &quot;So you haven't told me everything after all. Now, then,
+never mind whether I believe it <a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a>or not, that's my affair. What is
+there more to tell?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nothing,&quot; replied Austin. &quot;Because it isn't only your affair whether
+you believe me or not; it's my affair as well. Why, you don't even
+believe what I've told you already! So I won't tax your credulity any
+further.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Charlotte now began to get rather angry, &quot;Look here, Austin,&quot; she
+said, &quot;I intend to get to the bottom of this business, so it's not the
+slightest use trying to beat about the bush. I insist on your telling
+me how it was you happened to get out of bed just before the accident
+occurred, and how the bedclothes came to be pulled away and hung where
+they are now. There's a mystery about the whole thing, and I hate
+mysteries, so you'd better make a clean breast of it at once.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Had I?&quot; said Austin, pretending to reflect. &quot;I wonder whether it
+would be wise. You see, dear auntie, you're such a sensitive creature;
+your nerves are so highly strung, you're so easily frightened out of
+your dear old wits&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Be done with all this nonsense!&quot; snapped Aunt Charlotte brusquely.
+&quot;Come, I can't stand here all day. Just tell me exactly what took
+place&mdash;why you woke up, and <a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a>what you saw, and everything about it you
+remember.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dear auntie, I don't want you to stand there all day; in fact I'd
+much rather you didn't stand there a minute longer, because I want to
+get up,&quot; Austin assured her earnestly. &quot;I awoke because I had a horrid
+dream, caused by the cold which in its turn was produced by my being
+left with nothing on. And I didn't see anything, for the simple reason
+that the room was as dark as pitch. Is there anything else you want to
+know?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, there is. Everything that you haven't told me,&quot; said the
+uncompromising aunt.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Very well, then,&quot; said Austin, leaning upon his elbow and looking her
+full in the face. &quot;But on one condition only&mdash;that you believe every
+word I say.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Of course, Austin, I should never dream of doubting your good faith,&quot;
+replied Aunt Charlotte. &quot;But don't romance. Now then.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It's very simple, after all,&quot; began Austin. &quot;Just as I was getting
+into bed a strange noise, like a shower of little raps, broke out all
+around me. It went on for nearly five minutes, and I was listening all
+the time and trying to find out what it was and where it came from. At
+the <a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a>moment I had no clue, but now I fancy I can guess. Those raps
+were warnings. They&mdash;the rappers&mdash;were trying to prevent me getting
+into bed. They didn't succeed, of course, and so, just as the ceiling
+was on the point of giving way, they compelled me to get out of bed by
+pulling all the clothes off. If they hadn't, I should have been half
+killed. Now, what do you make of that?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I knew it must be some nonsense of the sort!&quot; exclaimed Aunt
+Charlotte, in her most vigorous tones. &quot;Raps, indeed! I never heard
+such twaddle. Of course I don't doubt your word, but it's clear enough
+that you dreamt the whole thing. You always were a dreamer, Austin,
+and you're getting worse than ever. I don't believe you know half the
+time whether you're asleep or awake.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did I dream <i>that</i>?&quot; asked Austin, pointing to the bedclothes as they
+hung.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You dragged them there in your sleep, of course,&quot; retorted Aunt
+Charlotte triumphantly. &quot;I see the whole thing now. You had a dream,
+you kicked the clothes off in your sleep, and then you got out of bed,
+still in your sleep&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I didn't do anything of the sort,&quot; interrupted <a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a>Austin. &quot;I was wide
+awake the whole time. You see, auntie, I was here and you weren't, so
+I ought to know something about it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It's no use arguing with you,&quot; replied Aunt Charlotte, loftily. &quot;It's
+a clear case of sleep-walking&mdash;as clear as any case I ever heard of.
+And then all that nonsense about raps! Of course, if you heard
+anything at all&mdash;which I only half believe&mdash;it was something beginning
+to give way in the roof. There! It only requires a little
+common-sense, you see, to explain the whole affair. And now, my
+dear&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hush!&quot; whispered Austin suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What's the matter?&quot; exclaimed Aunt Charlotte, not liking to be
+interrupted.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Listen!&quot; said Austin, under his breath.</p>
+
+<p>A torrent of raps burst out in the wall immediately behind him,
+plainly audible in the silence. Then they stopped, as suddenly as they
+had begun.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did you hear them?&quot; said Austin. &quot;Those were the raps I told you of.
+Hark! There they are again. I wish they would sound a little louder.&quot;
+A distinct increase in the sound was noticeable. &quot;Oh, isn't it
+perfectly wonderful? Now, what have you to say?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Charlotte stood agape. It was no use <a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a>pretending she didn't hear
+them. They were as unmistakable as knocks at a front door.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What jugglery is this?&quot; she demanded, in an angry tone.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Really, dear auntie, I am not a conjurer,&quot; replied Austin, as he sank
+back upon his cushions. &quot;That was what I heard last night. But of
+course <i>you</i> don't believe in such absurdities. It's only your fancy
+after all, you know.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Tain't <i>my</i> fancy, anyhow,&quot; put in old Martha, speaking for the
+first time. &quot;I heard 'em plain enough. 'Tis the 'good people,' for
+sure.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hold your tongue, do!&quot; cried Aunt Charlotte in sore perplexity. &quot;Good
+people, indeed!&mdash;the devil himself, more likely. I tell you what it
+is, Austin&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why, I thought you weren't superstitious!&quot; observed Austin, in a tone
+of most exasperating surprise. Three gentle knocks, running off into a
+ripple of pattering explosions, were then heard in a farther corner of
+the room. &quot;There, don't you hear them laughing at you? Thank you, dear
+people, whoever you are, that was very kind. And it was awfully sweet
+of you to save me from those bricks last night. It <i>was</i> good of them,
+wasn't it, auntie dear?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a>If all this devilry goes on I shall take serious measures to stop
+it,&quot; gasped Aunt Charlotte, who was almost frightened to death. &quot;I
+cannot and will not live in a haunted house. It's you who are haunted,
+Austin, and I shall go and see the vicar about it this very day. It's
+an awful state of things, positively awful. To think that you are
+actually holding communication with familiar spirits! The vicar shall
+come here at once, and I'll get him to hold a service of exorcism. I
+believe there is such a service, and&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, do, do, <i>do</i>!&quot; screamed Austin, clapping his hands with delight.
+&quot;What fun it would be! Fancy dear Mr Sheepshanks, in all his tippets
+and toggery, ambling and capering round poor me, and trying to drive
+the devil out of me with a broomful of holy water! That's a lovely
+idea of yours, auntie. Lubin shall come and be an acolyte, and we'll
+get Mr Buskin to be stage-manager, and you shall be the pew-opener.
+And then I'll empty the holy-water pot over dear Mr Sheepshanks' head
+when he's looking the other way. You <i>are</i> a genius, auntie, though
+you're too modest to be conscious of it. But you're very ungrateful
+all the same, for if it hadn't been for&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There, stop your ribaldry, Austin, and get <a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a>up,&quot; said Aunt Charlotte,
+impatiently. &quot;The sooner we're all out of this dreadful room the
+better. And let me tell you that you'd be better employed in thanking
+God for your deliverance than in turning sacred subjects into
+ridicule.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thanking God? Why, not a moment ago you said it was the devil!&quot;
+exclaimed Austin. &quot;How you do chop and change about, auntie. You can't
+possibly expect me to be orthodox when you go on contradicting
+yourself at such a rate. However, if you really must go, I think I
+<i>will</i> get up. It must be long past eight, and I want my breakfast
+awfully.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The day so excitingly ushered in turned out a busy one. As soon as he
+had finished his meal, Austin pounded off to invoke the immediate
+presence of Mr Snewin the builder, and before long there was a mighty
+bustle in the house. The furniture had all to be removed from the
+scene of the disaster, the bed cleared of the <i>d&eacute;bris</i>, preparations
+made for the erection of light scaffolding for repairing the roof, and
+Austin himself installed, with all his books and treasures, in another
+bedroom overlooking a different part of the garden. It was all a most
+enjoyable adventure, and even Aunt Charlotte forgot her <a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a>terrors in
+the more practical necessities of the occasion. Just before lunch
+Austin snatched a few minutes to run out and gossip with Lubin on the
+lawn. Lubin listened with keen interest to the boy's picturesque
+account of his experiences, and then remarked, sagely nodding his
+head:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I told you to be on the look-out, you know, Master Austin. Magpies
+don't perch on folks' window-sills for nothing. You'll believe me a
+little quicker next time, maybe.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>For once in his life Austin could think of nothing to say in reply. To
+ask Lubin to explain the connection between magpies and misadventures
+would have been useless; it evidently sufficed for him that such was
+the order of Nature, and only a magpie would have been able to clear
+up the mystery. Besides, there are many such mysteries in the world.
+Why do cats occasionally wash their heads behind the ear? Clearly, to
+tell us that we may expect bad weather; for the bad weather invariably
+follows. These are all providential arrangements intended for our
+personal convenience, and are not to be accounted for on any
+cut-and-dried scientific theory. Lubin's erudition was certainly very
+great, but there was something exasperating about it too.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a>So Austin went in to lunch thoughtful and dispirited, wondering why
+there were so many absurdities in life that he could neither elucidate
+nor controvert. He decided not to say anything to Aunt Charlotte about
+Lubin's magpie sciolisms, lest he should provoke a further outburst of
+the discussion they had held in the morning; he had had the best of
+that, anyhow, and did not care to compromise his victory by dragging
+in extraneous considerations in which he did not feel sure of his
+ground. Aunt Charlotte, on her side, was inclined to be talkative,
+taking refuge in the excitement of having work-men in the house from
+the uneasy feelings which still oppressed her in consequence of those
+frightening raps. But now that the haunted room was to be invaded by
+friendly, commonplace artisans from the village, and turned inside
+out, and almost pulled to pieces, there was a chance that the ghosts
+would be got rid of without invoking the aid of Mr Sheepshanks; a
+reflection that inspired her with hope, and comforted her greatly.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You know you're a great anxiety to me, Austin,&quot; she said, as,
+refreshed by food and wine, she took up her knitting after lunch. &quot;I
+wish you were more like other boys, indeed I do. <a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a>I never could
+understand you, and I suppose I never shall.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But what does that matter, auntie?&quot; asked Austin. &quot;I don't understand
+<i>you</i> sometimes, but that doesn't make me anxious in the very least.
+Why you should worry yourself about me I can't conceive. What do I do
+to make you anxious? I don't get tipsy, I don't gamble away vast
+fortunes at a sitting, and although I'm getting on for eighteen I
+haven't had a single action for breach of promise brought against me
+by anybody. Now <i>I</i> think that's rather a creditable record. It isn't
+everybody who can say as much.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I want you to be more <i>serious</i>, Austin,&quot; replied his aunt, &quot;and not
+to talk such nonsense as you're talking now. I want you to be
+sensible, practical, and alive to the sober facts of life. You're too
+dreamy a great deal. Soon you won't know the difference between dreams
+and realities&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I don't even now. No more do you. No more does anybody,&quot; interrupted
+Austin, lighting a cigarette.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There you are again!&quot; exclaimed Aunt Charlotte, clicking her needles
+energetically. &quot;Did one ever hear such rubbish? It all comes <a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a>from
+those outlandish books you're always poring over. If you'd only take
+<i>my</i> advice, you'd read something solid, and sensible, and improving,
+like 'Self Help,' by Dr Smiles. That would be of some use to you, but
+these others&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I read a whole chapter of it once,&quot; said Austin. &quot;I can scarcely
+believe it myself, but I did. It's the most immoral, sordid, selfish
+book that was ever printed. It deifies Success&mdash;success in
+money-making&mdash;success of the coarsest and most materialistic kind. It
+is absolutely unspiritual and degrading. It nearly made me sick.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Be silent!&quot; cried Aunt Charlotte, horrified. &quot;How dare you talk like
+that? I will not sit still and hear you say such things. Few books
+have had a greater influence upon the age. Degrading? Why, it's been
+the making of thousands!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thousands of soulless money-grubbers,&quot; retorted Austin. &quot;That's what
+it has made. Men without an idea or an aspiration above their horrible
+spinning-jennies and account-books. I hate your successful
+stockbrokers and shipowners and manufacturers. They are an odious
+race. Wasn't it a stockjobber who thought Botticelli <a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a>was a cheese?
+Everyone knows the story, and I believe the hero of it was either a
+stockjobber or a man who made screws in Birmingham.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Charlotte let her knitting fall on her lap in despair. &quot;Austin,&quot;
+she said, in her most solemn tones, &quot;I never regretted your poor
+mother's death as I regret it at this moment.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why, auntie?&quot; he asked, surprised.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Perhaps she would have understood you better; perhaps she might even
+have been able to manage you,&quot; replied the poor lady. &quot;I confess that
+you're beyond me altogether. Do you know what it was she said to me
+upon her death-bed? 'Charlotte,' she said, 'my only sorrow in dying is
+that I shall never be able to bring up my boy. Who will ever take such
+care of him as I should?' You were then two days old, and the very
+next day she died. I've never forgotten it. She passed away with that
+sorrow, that terrible anxiety, tearing at her heart. I took her place,
+as you know, but of course I was only a makeshift. I often wonder
+whether she is still as anxious about you as she was then.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My dearest auntie, you've been an angel in <a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a>a lace cap to me all my
+life, and I'm sure my mother isn't worrying herself about me one bit.
+Why should she?&quot; argued Austin. &quot;I'm leading a lovely life, I'm as
+happy as the days are long, and if my tastes don't run in the
+direction of selling screws or posting ledgers, nothing that anybody
+can say will change them. And I tell you candidly that if they were so
+changed they would certainly be changed for the worse. I hate ugly
+things as intensely as I love beautiful ones, and I'm very thankful
+that I'm not ugly myself. Now don't look at me like that; it's so
+conventional! Of course I know I'm not ugly, but rather the reverse
+(that's a modest way of putting it), and I pray to beloved Pan that he
+will give me beauty in the inward soul so that the inward and the
+outward man may be at one. That's out of the 'Ph&aelig;drus,' you know&mdash;a
+very much superior composition to 'Self Help.' So cheer up, auntie,
+and don't look on me as a doomed soul because we're not both turned
+out of the same melting-pot. Now I'm just going upstairs to see to the
+arrangement of my new room, and then I shall go and help Lubin in the
+garden.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So saying, he strolled out. But poor Aunt Charlotte only shook her
+head. She could not <a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a>forget how Austin's mother had grieved at not
+living to bring up her boy, and wished more earnestly than ever that
+the responsibility had fallen into other hands than hers. There was
+something so dreadfully uncanny about Austin. His ignorance about the
+common facts of life was as extraordinary as his perfect familiarity
+with matters known only to great scholars. His views and tastes were
+strange to her, so strange as to be beyond her comprehension
+altogether. She found herself unable to argue with him because their
+minds were set on different planes, and her representations did not
+seem to touch him in the very least. And yet, after all, he was a very
+good boy, full of pure thoughts and kindly impulses and spiritual
+intuitions and intellectual proclivities which certainly no moralist
+would condemn. If only he were more practical, even more commonplace,
+and wouldn't talk such nonsense! Then there would not be such a gulf
+between them as there was at present; then she might have some
+influence over him for good, at any rate. Her thoughts recurred,
+uneasily, to the strange experiences of that morning. The mystery of
+the raps distracted her, puzzled her, frightened her; whereas Austin
+was not frightened at all&mdash;on the contrary, he accepted the whole
+<a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a>thing with the serenest cheerfulness and <i>sang-froid</i>, finding it
+apparently quite natural that these unseen agencies, coming from
+nobody knew where, should take him under their protection and make
+friends with him. What could it all portend?</p>
+
+<p>Of course it was very foolish of the good lady to fret like this
+because Austin was so different from what she thought he should be.
+She did not see that his nature was infinitely finer and subtler than
+her own, and that it was no use in the world attempting to stifle his
+intellectual growth and drag him down to her own level. A burly,
+muscular boy, who played football and read 'Tom Brown,' would have
+been far more to her taste, for such a one she would at least have
+understood. But Austin, with his queer notions and audacious
+paradoxes, was utterly beyond her. Unluckily, too, she had no sense of
+humour, and instead of laughing at his occasionally preposterous
+sallies, she allowed them to irritate and worry her. A person with no
+sense of humour is handicapped from start to finish, and is as much to
+be pitied as one born blind or deaf.</p>
+
+<p>But Austin had his limitations too, and among them was a most
+deplorable want of tact. <a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a>Otherwise he would never have said, as he
+was going to bed that night:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By the way, auntie, what day have you arranged for the vicar to come
+and cast all those devils out of me?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He might as well have let sleeping dogs lie. Aunt Charlotte turned
+round upon him in almost a rage, and solemnly forbade him, in any
+circumstances and under whatsoever provocation, ever to mention the
+subject in her presence again.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="Chapter_the_Seventh" id="Chapter_the_Seventh"></a><hr />
+<br />
+<h2><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a>Chapter the Seventh<span class="totoc"><a class="noline" href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2>
+<br />
+
+<p>But by one of those curious coincidences that occur every now and
+then, who should happen to drop in the very next afternoon but the
+vicar himself, just as Austin and his aunt were having tea upon the
+lawn. Now Aunt Charlotte and the vicar were great friends. They had
+many interests in common&mdash;the same theological opinions, for example;
+and then Aunt Charlotte was indefatigable in all sorts of parish work,
+such as district-visiting, and the organisation of school teas,
+village clubs, and those rather formidable entertainments known as
+&quot;treats&quot;; so that the two had always something to talk about, and were
+very fond of meeting. Besides all this, there was another bond of
+union between them which scarcely anybody would have guessed. Mr
+Sheepshanks, though as unworldly a man as any in the county,
+considered himself unusually shrewd in business matters; and Aunt
+<a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a>Charlotte, like many middle-aged ladies in her position, found it a
+great comfort to have a gentleman at her beck and call with whom she
+could talk confidentially about her investments, and who could be
+relied upon to give her much disinterested advice that he often acted
+on himself. On this particular afternoon the vicar hinted that he had
+something of special importance to communicate, and Aunt Charlotte was
+unusually gracious. He was a short gentleman, with a sloping forehead,
+a prominent nose, a clean-shaven, High-Church face, narrow, dogmatic
+views, and small, twinkling eyes; not the sort of person whom one
+would naturally associate with financial acumen, but endowed with an
+air of self-confidence, and a pretension to private information, which
+would have done credit to any stockbroker on 'Change.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I've been thinking over that little matter of yours that you
+mentioned to me the other day,&quot; he began, when he had finished his
+third cup, and Austin had strolled away. &quot;You say your mortgage at
+Southport has just been paid off, and you want a new investment for
+your money. Well, I think I know the very thing to suit you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do you really? How kind of you!&quot; <a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a>exclaimed Aunt Charlotte. &quot;What is
+it&mdash;shares or bonds?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Shares,&quot; replied Mr Sheepshanks; &quot;shares. Of course I know that very
+prudent people will tell you that bonds are safer. And no doubt, as a
+rule they are. If a concern fails, the bond-holder is a creditor,
+while the shareholder is a debtor&mdash;besides having lost his capital.
+But in this case there is no fear of failure.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dear me,&quot; said Aunt Charlotte, beginning to feel impressed. &quot;Is it an
+industrial undertaking?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I suppose it might be so described,&quot; answered her adviser,
+cautiously. &quot;But it is mainly scientific. It is the outcome of a great
+chemical analysis.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, pray tell me all about it; I am so interested!&quot; urged Aunt
+Charlotte, eagerly. &quot;You know what confidence I have in your judgment.
+Has it anything to do with raw material? It isn't a plantation
+anywhere, is it?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It's gold!&quot; said Mr Sheepshanks.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Gold?&quot; repeated Aunt Charlotte, rather taken aback. &quot;A gold mine, I
+suppose you mean?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The hugest gold-mine in the world,&quot; replied the vicar, enjoying her
+evident perplexity. &quot;An <a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a>inexhaustible gold mine. A gold mine without
+limits.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But where&mdash;whereabouts is it?&quot; cried Aunt Charlotte.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;All around you,&quot; said the vicar, waving his hands vaguely in the air.
+&quot;Not in any country at all, but everywhere else. In the ocean.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Gold in the ocean!&quot; ejaculated the puzzled lady, dropping her
+knitting on her lap, and gazing helplessly at her financial mentor.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Gold in the ocean&mdash;precisely,&quot; affirmed that gentleman in an
+impressive voice. &quot;It has been discovered that sea-water holds a large
+quantity of gold in solution, and that by some most interesting
+process of precipitation any amount of it can be procured ready for
+coining. I got a prospectus of the scheme this morning from Shark,
+Picaroon &amp; Co., Fleece Court, London, and I've brought it for you to
+read. A most enterprising firm they seem to be. You'll see that it's
+full of very elaborate scientific details&mdash;the results of the analyses
+that have been made, the cost of production, estimates for machinery,
+and I don't know what all. I can't say I follow it very clearly
+myself, for the clerical mind, as everybody knows, is not very well
+adapted to grasping scientific terminology, but I can <a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a>understand the
+general tenor of it well enough. It seems to me that the enterprise is
+promising in a very high degree.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How very remarkable!&quot; observed Aunt Charlotte, as she gazed at the
+tabulated figures and enumeration of chemical properties in bewildered
+awe. &quot;And you think it a safe investment?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<i>I</i> do,&quot; replied Mr Sheepshanks, &quot;but don't act on my opinion&mdash;judge
+for yourself. What's the amount you have to invest&mdash;two thousand
+pounds, isn't it? Well, I believe that you'd stand to get an income to
+that very amount by investing just that sum in the undertaking. Look
+what they say overleaf about the cost of working and the estimated
+returns. It all sounds fabulous, I admit, but there are the figures,
+my dear lady, in black and white, and figures cannot lie.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I'll write to my bankers about it this very night,&quot; said Aunt
+Charlotte, folding up the prospectus and putting it carefully into her
+pocket. &quot;It's evidently not a chance to be missed, and I'm most
+grateful to you, dear Mr Sheepshanks, for putting it in my way.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Always delighted to be of service to you&mdash;as far as my poor judgment
+can avail,&quot; the vicar <a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a>assured her with becoming modesty. &quot;Ah, it's
+wonderful when one thinks of the teeming riches that lie around us,
+only waiting to be utilised. There <i>was</i> another scheme I thought of
+for you&mdash;a scheme for raising the sunken galleons in the Spanish main,
+and recovering the immense treasures that are now lying, safe and
+sound, at the bottom of the sea. Curious that both enterprises should
+be connected with salt water, eh? And the prospectus was headed with a
+most appropriate text&mdash;'The Sea shall give up her Dead.' That rather
+appealed to me, do you know. It cast an air of solemnity over the
+undertaking, and seemed to sanctify it somehow. However, I think the
+other will be the best. Well, Austin, and what are you reading now?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Aunt Charlotte's face,&quot; laughed Austin, sauntering up. &quot;She looks as
+though you had been giving her absolution, Mr Sheepshanks&mdash;so beaming
+and refreshed. Why, what's it all about?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I expect you want more absolution than your aunt,&quot; said the vicar,
+humorously. &quot;A sad useless fellow you are, I'm afraid. You and I must
+have a little serious talk together some day, Austin. I really want
+you to do something&mdash;for your own sake, you know. Now, how would <a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a>you
+like to take a class in the Sunday-school, for instance? I shall have
+a vacancy in a week or two.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Austin teach in the Sunday-school! He'd be more in his place if he
+went there as a scholar than as a teacher,&quot; said Aunt Charlotte,
+derisively.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I don't know why you should say that,&quot; remarked Austin, with perfect
+gravity. &quot;I think it would be delightful. I should make a beautiful
+Sunday-school teacher, I'm convinced.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There, now!&quot; exclaimed the vicar, approvingly.</p>
+
+<p>Austin was standing under an apple-tree, and over him stretched a
+horizontal branch laden with ripening fruit. He raised his hands on
+either side of his head and clasped it, and then began swinging his
+wooden leg round and round in a way that bade fair to get on Aunt
+Charlotte's nerves. He was so proud of that leg of his, while his aunt
+abhorred the very sight of it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No doubt they're all very charming boys, and I should love to tell
+them things,&quot; he went on. &quot;I think I'd begin with 'The Gods of
+Greece'&mdash;Louis Dyer, you know&mdash;and then I'd read them a few
+carefully-selected passages from the 'Ph&aelig;drus.' Then, by way of
+something lighter, and more appropriate to their circumstances, I'd
+give them a <a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></a>course of Virgil&mdash;the 'Georgics', because, I suppose,
+most of them are connected with farming, and the 'Eclogues,' to
+initiate them into the poetical side of country life. When once I'd
+brought out all their latent sense of the Beautiful&mdash;for I'm afraid it
+<i>is</i> latent&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But it's a <i>Sunday</i>-school!&quot; interrupted the vicar, horrified.
+&quot;Virgil and the Ph&aelig;drus indeed! My dear boy, have you taken leave of
+your senses? What in the world can you be thinking of?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then what would you suggest?&quot; enquired Austin, mildly.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You'd have to teach them the Bible and the Catechism, of course,&quot;
+said Mr Sheepshanks, with an air of slight bewilderment.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;H'm&mdash;that seems to me rather a limited curriculum,&quot; replied Austin,
+dubiously. &quot;I only remember one passage in the Catechism, beginning,
+'My good child, know this.' I forget what it was he had to know, but
+it was something very dull. The Bible, of course, has more
+possibilities. There is some ravishing poetry in the Bible. Well, I
+can begin with the Bible, if you really prefer it, of course. The Song
+of Solomon, for instance. Oh, yes, that would be lovely! I'll divide
+it up into characters, and make each boy learn his <a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a>part&mdash;the
+shepherd, the Shulamite, King Solomon, and all the rest of them. The
+Spring Song might even be set to music. And then all those lovely
+metaphors, about the two roes that were twins, and something else that
+was like a heap of wheat set about with lilies. Though, to be sure, I
+never could see any very striking resemblance between the objects
+typified and&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hold your tongue, do, Austin!&quot; cried Aunt Charlotte, scandalised.
+&quot;And for mercy's sake, keep that leg of yours quiet, if you can. You
+are fidgeting me out of my wits.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Mr Sheepshanks, his mouth pursed up in a deprecating and uneasy smile,
+sat gazing vaguely in front of him. &quot;I think it might be wise to defer
+the Song of Solomon,&quot; he suggested. &quot;A few simple stories from the
+Book of Genesis, perhaps, would be better suited to the minds of your
+young pupils. And then the sublime opening chapters&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, dear Mr Sheepshanks! Those stories in Genesis are some of them
+too <i>risqu&eacute;s</i> altogether,&quot; protested Austin. &quot;One must draw the line
+somewhere, you see. We should be sure to come upon something improper,
+and just think how I should blush. Really, you can't expect me to read
+such things to boys actually younger than <a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a>myself, and probably be
+asked to explain them into the bargain. There's the Creation part,
+it's true, but surely when one considers how occult all that is one
+wants to be familiar with the Kabbala and all sorts of mystical works
+to discover the hidden meaning. Now I should propose 'The Art of
+Creation'&mdash;do you know it? It shows that the only possible creator is
+Thought, and explains how everything exists in idea before it takes
+tangible shape. This applies to the universe at large, as well as to
+everything we make ourselves. I'd tell the boys that whenever they
+<i>think</i>, they are really <i>creating</i>, so that&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I should vastly like to know where you pick up all these
+extraordinary notions!&quot; interrupted the vicar, who could not for the
+life of him make out whether Austin was in jest or earnest. &quot;They're
+most dangerous notions, let me tell you, and entirely opposed to sound
+orthodox Church teaching. It's clear to me that your reading wants to
+be supervised, Austin, by some judicious friend. There's an excellent
+little work I got a few days ago that I think you would like to see.
+It's called 'The Mission-field in Africa.' There you'll find a most
+remarkable account of all those heathen superstitions&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a>Where is Africa?&quot; asked Austin, munching a leaf.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There!&quot; exclaimed Aunt Charlotte. &quot;That's Austin all over. He'll talk
+by the hour together about a lot of outlandish nonsense that no
+sensible person ever heard of, and all the time he doesn't even know
+where Africa is upon the map. What is to be done with such a boy?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, I think we'll postpone the question of his teaching in the
+Sunday-school, at all events,&quot; remarked the vicar, who began to feel
+rather sorry that he had ever suggested it. &quot;It's more than probable
+that his ideas would be over the children's heads, and come into
+collision with what they heard in church. Well, now I must be going.
+You'll think over that little matter we were speaking of?&quot; he said, as
+he took a neighbourly leave of his parishioner and ally.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Indeed I will, and I'll write to my bankers to-night,&quot; replied that
+lady cordially.</p>
+
+<p>Then the vicar ambled across the lawn, and Austin accompanied him, as
+in duty bound, to the garden gate. Meanwhile, Aunt Charlotte leant
+comfortably back in her wicker chair, absorbed in pleasant meditation.
+The repairs to the roof would, no doubt, run into a little money, but
+the vicar's tip about this wonderful <a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a>company for extracting gold from
+sea-water made up for any anxiety she might otherwise have experienced
+upon that score. What a kind, good man he was&mdash;and <i>so</i> clever in
+business matters, which, of course, were out of her range altogether.
+She took the prospectus out of her pocket, and ran her eyes over it
+again. Capital, &pound;500,000, in shares of &pound;100 each. Solicitors, Messrs
+Somebody Something &amp; Co., Fetter Lane, E.C. Bankers, The Shoreditch &amp;
+Houndsditch Amalgamated Banking Corporation, St Mary Axe. Acquisition
+of machinery, so much. Cost of working, so much. Estimated
+returns&mdash;something perfectly enormous. It all looked wonderful, quite
+wonderful. She again determined to write to her bankers that very
+evening before dinner.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You're going to the theatre to-night, aren't you, Austin?&quot; she said,
+as he returned from seeing Mr Sheepshanks courteously off the
+premises. &quot;I want you to post a letter for me on your way. Post it at
+the Central Office, so as to be sure it catches the night mail. It's a
+business letter of importance.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;All right, auntie,&quot; he replied, arranging his trouser so that it
+should fall gracefully over his wooden leg.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></a>And I do wish, Austin, that you'd behave rather more like other
+people when Mr Sheepshanks comes to see us. There really is no
+necessity for talking to him in the way you do. Of course it was a
+great compliment, his asking you to take a class in the Sunday-school,
+though I could have told him that he couldn't possibly have made an
+absurder choice, and you might very well have contented yourself with
+regretting your utter unfitness for such a post without exposing your
+ignorance in the way you did. The idea of telling a clergyman, too,
+that the Book of Genesis was too improper for boys to read, when he
+had just been recommending it! I thought you'd have had more respect
+for his position, whatever silly notions you may have yourself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I do respect the vicar; he's quite a nice little thing,&quot; replied
+Austin, in a conciliatory tone. &quot;And of course he thinks just what a
+vicar ought to think, and I suppose what all vicars do think. But as
+I'm not a vicar myself I don't see that I am bound to think as they
+do.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You a vicar, indeed!&quot; sniffed Aunt Charlotte. &quot;A remarkable sort of
+vicar you'd make, and pretty sermons you'd preach if you had the
+<a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></a>chance. What time does this performance of yours begin to-night?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;At eight, I believe.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, then, I'll just go in and tell cook to let us have dinner a
+quarter of an hour earlier than usual,&quot; said Aunt Charlotte, as she
+folded up her work. &quot;The omnibus from the 'Peacock' will get you into
+town in plenty of time, and the walk back afterwards will do you
+good.&quot;</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The town in question was about a couple of miles from the village
+where Austin lived&mdash;a clean, cheerful, prosperous little borough, with
+plenty of good shops, a commodious theatre, several churches and
+chapels, and a fine market. Dinner was soon disposed of, and as the
+omnibus which plied between the two places clattered and rattled along
+at a good speed&mdash;having to meet the seven-fifty down-train at the
+railway station&mdash;he was able to post his aunt's precious letter and
+slip into his stall in the dress-circle before the curtain rose. The
+orchestra was rioting through a composition called 'The Clang o' the
+Wooden Shoon,' as an appropriate introduction to a tragedy the scene
+of which was laid in Nineveh; the house seemed fairly full, and the
+air was heavy with that peculiar smell, a sort <a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a>of doubtfully aromatic
+stuffiness, which is so grateful to the nostrils of playgoers. Austin
+gazed around him with keen interest. He had not been inside a theatre
+for years, and the vivid description that Mr Buskin had given him of
+the show he was about to witness filled him with pleasurable
+anticipation. To all intents and purposes, the experience that awaited
+him was something entirely new; how, he wondered, would it fit into
+his scheme of life? What room would there be, in his idealistic
+philosophy, for the stage?</p>
+
+<p>Then the music came to an end in a series of defiant bangs, the
+curtain rolled itself out of sight, and a brilliant spectacle
+appeared. The only occupant of the scene at first was a gentleman in a
+thick black beard and fantastic garb who seemed to have acquired the
+habit of talking very loudly to himself. In this way the audience
+discovered that the gentleman, who was no less a personage than the
+Queen's brother, was seriously dissatisfied with his royal
+brother-in-law, whose habits were of a nature which did not make for
+the harmony of his domestic circle. Then soft music was heard, and in
+lounged Sardanapalus himself&mdash;a glittering figure in flowing robes of
+silver and pale blue, garlanded with flowers, and surrounded by a
+crowd of slaves <a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></a>and women all very elegantly dressed; and it really
+was quite wonderful to notice how his Majesty lolled and languished
+about the stage, how beautifully affected all his gestures were, and
+with what a high-bred supercilious drawl he rolled out his behests
+that a supper should be served at midnight in the pavilion that
+commanded a view of the Euphrates. And this magnificent, absurd
+creature&mdash;this mouthing, grimacing, attitudinising popinjay, thought
+Austin, was no other than Mr Bucephalus Buskin, with whom he had
+chatted on easy terms in a common field only a few days previously!
+The memory of the umbrella, the tight frock-coat, the bald head, the
+fat, reddish face, and the rather rusty &quot;chimney-pot&quot; here recurred to
+him, and he nearly giggled out loud in thinking how irresistibly funny
+Mr Buskin would look if he were now going through all these fanciful
+gesticulations in his walking dress. The fact was that the man himself
+was perfectly unrecognisable, and Austin was mightily impressed by
+what was really a signal triumph in the art of making up.</p>
+
+<p>The play went on, and Sardanapalus showed no signs of moral
+improvement. In fact, it soon became evident that his code of ethics
+was deplorable, and Austin could only console himself <a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></a>with the
+thought that the real Mr Buskin was, no doubt, a most virtuous and
+respectable person who never gave Mrs Buskin&mdash;if there was one&mdash;any
+grounds for jealousy. Then the first act came to an end, the lights
+went up, and a subdued buzz of conversation broke out all over the
+theatre. The second act was even more exciting, as Sardanapalus,
+having previously confessed himself unable to go on multiplying
+empires, was forced to interfere in a scuffle between his
+brother-in-law and Arbaces&mdash;who was by way of being a traitor; but the
+most sensational scene of all was the banquet in act the third, of
+which so glowing an account had been given to Austin by the great
+tragedian himself. That, indeed, was something to remember.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8">&quot;Guests, to my pledge!<br /></span>
+<span>Down on your knees, and drink a measure to<br /></span>
+<span>The safety of the King&mdash;the monarch, say I?<br /></span>
+<span>The god Sardanapalus! mightier than<br /></span>
+<span>His father Baal, the god Sardanapalus!&quot;<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">[<i>Thunder. Confusion.</i>]<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Ah, that was thrilling, if you like, in spite of the halting rhythm.
+And yet, even at that supreme moment, the vision of the umbrella and
+the rather shabby hat would crop up again, and Austin didn't quite
+know whether to let himself be thrilled or to lean back and roar. The
+cons<a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a>piracy burst out a few minutes afterwards, and then there ensued
+a most terrifying and portentous battle, rioters and loyalists
+furiously attempting to kill each other by the singular expedient of
+clattering their swords together so as to make as much noise as
+possible, and then passing them under their antagonists' armpits, till
+the stage was heaped with corpses; and all this bloody work entirely
+irrespective of the valuable glass and china on the supper-table, and
+the costly hearthrugs strewn about the floor. Even Sardanapalus,
+having first looked in the glass to make sure that his helmet was
+straight, performed prodigies of valour, and the curtain descended to
+his insatiable shouting for fresh weapons and a torrent of tumultuous
+applause from the gallery.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Now for it!&quot; said Austin to himself, when another act had been got
+through, in the course of which Sardanapalus had suffered from a
+distressing nightmare. He took Mr Buskin's card out of his pocket,
+and, hurrying out as fast as he could manage, stumped his way round to
+the stage door. Cerberus would fain have stopped him, but Austin
+flourished his card in passing, and enquired of the first
+civil-looking man he met where the manager was to be found. He <a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></a>was
+piloted through devious ways and under strange scaffoldings, to the
+foot of a steep and very dirty flight of steps&mdash;luckily there were
+only seven&mdash;at the top of which was dimly visible a door; and at this,
+having screwed his courage to the sticking-place, he knocked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come in!&quot; cried a voice inside.</p>
+
+<p>He found himself on the threshold of a room such as he had never seen
+before. There was no carpet, and the little furniture it contained was
+heaped with masses of heterogeneous clothes. Two looking-glasses were
+fixed against the walls, and in front of one of them was a sort of
+shelf, or dresser, covered with small pots of some ungodly looking
+materials of a pasty appearance&mdash;rouge, grease-paint, cocoa-butter,
+and heaven knows what beside&mdash;with black stuff, white stuff, yellow
+stuff, paint-brushes, gum-pots, powder-puffs, and discoloured rags
+spread about in not very picturesque confusion. In a corner of this
+engaging boudoir, sitting in an armchair with a glass of liquor beside
+him and smoking a strong cigar, was the most extraordinary and
+repulsive object he had ever clapped his eyes on. The face, daubed and
+glistening with an unsightly coating of red, white, and yellow-ochre
+paint, and adorned with protuberant bristles by way <a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"></a>of eyebrows,
+appeared twice its natural dimensions. The throat was bare to the
+collar-bones. A huge wig covered the head, falling over the shoulders;
+while the whole was encircled by a great wreath of pink calico roses,
+the back of which, just under the nape of the neck, was fastened by a
+glittering pinchbeck tassel. The arms were nude, their natural growth
+of dark hair being plastered over with white chalk, which had a
+singularly ghastly effect; a short-skirted, low-necked gold frock, cut
+like a little girl's, partly covered the body, and over this were
+draped coarse folds of scarlet, purple, and white, with tinsel stars
+along the seams, and so disposed as to display to fullest advantage
+the brawny calves of the tragedian.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Great Scott, if it isn't young Dot-and-carry-One!&quot; exclaimed Mr
+Sardanapalus Buskin, as the slim figure of Austin, in his simple
+evening-dress, appeared at the entrance. &quot;Come in, young gentleman,
+come in. So you've come to beard the lion in his den, have you? Well,
+it's kind of you not to have forgotten. You're welcome, very welcome.
+That was a very pleasant little meeting we had the other day, over
+there in the fields. And what do you think of the performance? Been in
+front?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"></a>Oh, yes&mdash;thank you so very much,&quot; said Austin, hesitatingly. &quot;It is
+awfully kind of you to let me come and see you like this. I've never
+seen anything of the sort in all my life.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ah, I daresay it's a sort of revelation to you,&quot; said Sardanapalus,
+with good-humoured condescension. &quot;Have a drop of whiskey-and-water?
+Well, well, I won't press you. And so you've enjoyed the play?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The whole thing has interested me enormously,&quot; replied Austin. &quot;It
+has given me any amount to think of.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ah, that's good; that's very good, indeed,&quot; said the actor, nodding
+sagely. &quot;Do you remember what I was saying to you the other day about
+the educative power of the stage? That's what it is, you see; the
+greatest educative power in the land. How did that last scene go? Made
+the people in the stalls sit up a bit, I reckon. Ah, it's a great
+life, this. Talk of art! I tell you, young gentleman, acting's the
+only art worthy of the name. The actor's all the artists in creation
+rolled into one. Every art that exists conspires to produce him and to
+perfect him. Painting, for instance; did you ever see anything to
+compare with that Banqueting Scene in the Palace? Why, it's a triumph
+of pictorial art, <a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a>and, by Jove, of architecture too. And the actor
+doesn't only paint scenes&mdash;or get them painted for him, it comes to
+the same thing&mdash;he paints himself. Look at me, for instance. Why, I
+could paint you, young gentleman, so that your own mother wouldn't
+know you. With a few strokes of the brush I could transform you into a
+beautiful young girl, or a wrinkled old Jew, or an Artful Dodger, or
+anything else you had a fancy for. Music, again&mdash;think of the effect
+of that slow music in the first act. There was pathos for you, if you
+like. Oratory&mdash;talk of Demosthenes or Cicero, Mr Gladstone or John
+Bright! Why, they're nowhere, my dear young friend, literally nowhere.
+Didn't my description of the dream just <i>fetch</i> you? Be honest now; by
+George, Sir, it thrilled the house. Look here, young man&quot;&mdash;and
+Sardanapalus began to speak very slowly, with tremendous emphasis and
+solemnity&mdash;&quot;and remember what I'm going to say until your dying day.
+If I were to drink too much of this, I should be intoxicated; but what
+is the intoxication produced by whiskey compared with the intoxication
+of applause? Just think of it, as soberly and calmly as you
+can&mdash;hundreds of people, all in their right minds, stamping and
+shouting and yelling for you to <a name="Page_145" id="Page_145"></a>come and show yourself before the
+curtain; the entire house at your feet. Why, it's worship, Sir, sheer
+worship; and worship is a very sacred thing. Show me the man who's
+superior to <i>that</i>, and I'll show you a man who's either above or
+below the level of human nature. Whatever he may be, I don't envy him.
+To-morrow morning I shall be an ordinary citizen in a frock-coat and a
+tall hat. To-night I'm a king, a god. What other artist can say as
+much?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So saying, Sardanapalus puffed up his cigar and swallowed another
+half-glass of liquor. The pungent smoke made Austin cough and blink.
+&quot;It must indeed be an exciting life,&quot; he ventured; &quot;quite delirious,
+to judge from what you say.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It requires a cool head,&quot; replied Sardanapalus, with a stoical shrug.
+&quot;Ah! there's the bell,&quot; he added, as a loud ting was heard outside.
+&quot;The curtain's going up. Now hurry away to the front, and see the last
+act. The scene where I'm burnt on the top of all my treasures isn't to
+be missed. It's the grandest and most moving scene in any play upon
+the stage. And watch the expression of my face,&quot; said Mr Buskin, as he
+applied the powder-puff to his cheeks and nose. &quot;Gestures are all very
+well&mdash;any fool can be taught to act with his arms and legs. But
+<a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a>expression! That's where the heaven-born genius comes in. However, I
+must be off. Good-night, young gentleman, good-night.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He shook Austin warmly by the hand, and precipitated himself down the
+wooden steps. Austin followed, regained the stage-door, and was soon
+back in the dress-circle. But he felt that really he had seen almost
+enough. The last act seemed to drag, and it was only for the sake of
+witnessing the holocaust at the end that he sat it out. Even the
+varying &quot;expressions&quot; assumed by Sardanapalus failed to arouse his
+enthusiasm. He reproached himself for this, for poor Buskin rolled his
+eyes and twisted his mouth and pulled such lugubrious faces that
+Austin felt how pathetic it all was, and how hard the man was trying
+to work upon the feelings of the audience. But the flare-up at the end
+was really very creditable. Blue fire, red fire, and clouds of smoke
+filled the entire stage, and when Myrrha clambered up the burning pile
+to share the fate of her paramour the enthusiasm of the spectators
+knew no bounds. Calls for Sardanapalus and all his company resounded
+from every part of the house, and it was a tremendous moment when the
+curtain was drawn aside, and the great actor, apparently not a penny
+the worse for having <a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a>just been burnt alive, advanced majestically to
+the footlights. Then all the other performers were generously
+permitted to approach and share in the ovation, bowing again and again
+in acknowledgment of the approbation of their patrons, and looking,
+thought Austin rather cruelly, exactly like a row of lacqueys in
+masquerade. This marked the close of the proceedings, and Austin, with
+a sigh of relief, soon found himself once more in the cool streets,
+walking briskly in the direction of the country.</p>
+
+<p>Well, he had had his experience, and now his curiosity was satisfied.
+What was the net result? He began sifting his sensations, and trying
+to discover what effect the things he had seen and heard had really
+had upon him. It was all very brilliant, very interesting; in a
+certain way, very exciting. He began to understand what it was that
+made so many people fond of theatre-going. But he felt at the same
+time that he himself was not one of them. For some reason or other he
+had escaped the spell. He was more inclined to criticise than to
+enjoy. There was something wanting in it all. What could that
+something be?</p>
+
+<p>The sound of footsteps behind him, echoing in the quiet street, just
+then reached his ears. <a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></a>The steps came nearer, and the next moment a
+well-known voice exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, Austin! I hoped I should catch you up!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, Mr St Aubyn, is that you? How glad I am to see you!&quot; cried the
+boy, grasping the other's hand. &quot;This is a delightful surprise. Have
+you been to the theatre, too?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have,&quot; replied St Aubyn. &quot;You didn't notice me, I daresay, but I
+was watching you most of the time. It amused me to speculate what
+impression the thing was making on you. Were you very much carried
+away?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I certainly was not,&quot; said Austin, &quot;though I was immensely
+interested. It gave me a lot to think about, as I told Mr Buskin
+himself when I went to see him for a few minutes behind the scenes.
+You know I happened to meet him a few days ago, and he asked me to&mdash;it
+really was most kind of him. By the way, he was just on his way to
+call upon you at the Court.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well&mdash;and now tell me what you thought of it all. What impressed you
+most about the whole affair?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I think,&quot; said Austin, speaking very slowly, as though weighing every
+word, &quot;that the general impression made upon me was that of utter
+<a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a>unreality. I cannot conceive of anything more essentially artificial.
+The music was pretty, the scenery was very fine, and the costumes were
+dazzling enough&mdash;from a distance; but when you've said that you've
+said everything. The situations were impossible and absurd. The
+speeches were bombast. The sentiment was silly and untrue. And
+Sardanapalus himself was none so distraught by his unpleasant dream
+and all his other troubles but that he was looking forward to his
+glass of whiskey-and-water between the acts. No, he didn't impose on
+me one bit. I didn't believe in Sardanapalus for a moment, even before
+I had the privilege of seeing and hearing him as Mr Buskin in his
+dressing-room. The entire business was a sham.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But surely it doesn't pretend to be anything else?&quot; suggested St
+Aubyn, surprised.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Be it so. I don't like shams, I suppose,&quot; returned the boy.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Still, you shouldn't generalise too widely,&quot; urged the other. &quot;There
+are plays where one's sensibilities are really touched, where the
+situations are not forced, where the performers move and speak like
+living, ordinary human beings, and, in the case of great actors, work
+upon the feelings of the audience to such an extent&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_150" id="Page_150"></a>And there the artificiality is all the greater!&quot; chipped in Austin,
+tersely. &quot;The more perfect the illusion, the hollower the
+artificiality. Of course, no one could take Sardanapalus seriously,
+any more than if he were a marionette pulled by strings instead of the
+sort of live marionette he really is. But where the acting and the
+situations are so perfect, as you say, as to cause real emotion, the
+unreality of the whole business is more flagrantly conspicuous than
+ever. The emotions pourtrayed are not real, and nobody pretends they
+are. The art, therefore, of making them appear real, and even
+communicating them to the audience, must of necessity involve greater
+artificiality than where the acting is bad and the situations
+ridiculous. There's a person I know, near where I live&mdash;you never
+heard of him, of course, but he's called Jock MacTavish&mdash;and he told
+me he once went to see a really very great actress do some part or
+other in which she had to die a most pathetic death. It was said to be
+simply heart-rending, and everybody used to cry. Well, the night Jock
+MacTavish was there something went wrong&mdash;a sofa was out of its place,
+or a bolster had been forgotten, or a rope wouldn't work, I don't know
+what it was&mdash;and the language that woman indulged in while she <a name="Page_151" id="Page_151"></a>was in
+the act of dying would have disgraced a bargee. Jock was in a
+stage-box and heard every filthy word of it. Of course <i>he</i> told me
+the story as a joke, and I was rather disgusted, but I'm glad he did
+so now. That was an extreme case, I know&mdash;such things don't occur one
+time in ten thousand, no doubt&mdash;but it's an illustration of what I
+mean when I say that the finer the illusion produced the hollower the
+sham that produces it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You're a mighty subtle-minded young person for your age,&quot; exclaimed
+St Aubyn, with a good-humoured laugh. &quot;I confess that your theory is
+new to me; it had never occurred to me before. For one who has only
+been inside a theatre two or three times in his life you seem to have
+elaborated your conclusions pretty quickly. I may infer, then, that
+you're not exactly hankering to go on the stage yourself?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<i>I</i>?&quot; said Austin, drawing himself up. &quot;I, disguise myself in paint
+and feathers to be a public gazing-stock? Of course you mean it as a
+joke.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And yet there <i>are</i> gentlemen upon the stage,&quot; observed St Aubyn, in
+order to draw him on.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;So much the better for the stage, perhaps; so much the worse for the
+gentlemen,&quot; replied Austin haughtily.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></a>A pause. They were now well out in the open country, with the moonlit
+road stretching far in front of them. Then St Aubyn said, in a
+different tone altogether:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You surprise me beyond measure by what you say. I should have thought
+that a boy of your poetical and artistic temperament would have had
+his imagination somewhat fired, even by the efforts of the poor
+showman whom we've seen to-night. Now I will make you a confession. At
+the bottom of my heart I agree with every word you've said. I may be
+one-sided, prejudiced, what you will, but I cannot help looking upon a
+public performer as I look upon no other human being. And I pity the
+performer, too; he takes himself so seriously, he fails so completely
+to realise what he really is. And the danger of going on the stage is
+that, once an actor, always an actor. Let a man once get bitten by the
+craze, and there's no hope for him. Only the very finest natures can
+escape. The fascination is too strong. He's ruined for any other
+career, however honourable and brilliant.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is that so, really?&quot; asked Austin. &quot;I cannot see where all this
+wonderful fascination comes in. I should think it must be a dreadful
+trade myself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_153" id="Page_153"></a>So it is. Because they don't know it. Because of the very fascination
+which exists, although you can't understand it. Let me tell you a
+story. I knew a man once upon a time&mdash;he was a great friend of
+mine&mdash;in the navy. Although he was quite young, not more than
+twenty-six, he was already a distinguished officer; he had seen active
+service, been mentioned in despatches, and all the rest of it. He was
+also, curiously enough, a most accomplished botanist, and had written
+papers on the flora of Cambodia and Yucatan that had been accepted
+with marked appreciation by the Linn&aelig;an Society. Well&mdash;that man, who
+had a brilliant career before him, and would probably have been an
+admiral and a K.C.B. if he had stuck to it, got attacked by the
+theatrical microbe. He chucked everything, and devoted his whole life
+to acting. He is acting still. He cares for nothing else. It is the
+one and only thing in the universe he lives for. The service of his
+country, the pure fame of scientific research and authorship, are as
+nothing to him, the merest dust in the balance, as compared with the
+cheap notoriety of the footlights.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He must be mad. And is he a success?&quot; asked Austin.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Judge for yourself&mdash;you've just been seeing <a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></a>him,&quot; replied St Aubyn.
+&quot;Though, of course, his name is no more Buskin than yours or mine.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Good Heavens!&quot; cried the boy. &quot;And Mr Buskin was&mdash;all that?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He was all that,&quot; responded the other. &quot;It was rather painful for me
+to see him this evening in his present state, as you may imagine. As
+to his being successful in a monetary sense, I really cannot tell you.
+But, to do him justice, I don't think he cares for money in the very
+least. So long as he makes two ends meet he's quite satisfied. All he
+cares about is painting his face, and dressing himself up, and
+ranting, and getting rounds of applause. And, so far, he certainly has
+his reward. His highest ambition, it is true, he has not yet attained.
+If he could only get his portrait published in a halfpenny paper
+wearing some new-shaped stock or collar that the hosiers were anxious
+to bring into fashion, he would feel that there was little left to
+live for. But that is a distinction reserved for actors who stand at
+the tip-top of their profession, and I'm afraid that poor Buskin has
+but little chance of ever realising his aspiration.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Are you serious?&quot; said Austin, open-eyed.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Absolutely,&quot; replied St Aubyn. &quot;I know it for a fact.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_155" id="Page_155"></a>Well,&quot; exclaimed Austin, fetching a deep breath, &quot;of course if a man
+has to do this sort of thing for a living&mdash;if it's his only way of
+making money&mdash;I don't think I despise him so much. But if he does it
+because he loves it, loves it better than any other earthly thing,
+then I despise him with all my heart and soul. I cannot conceive a
+more utterly unworthy existence.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And to such an existence our friend Buskin has sacrificed his whole
+career,&quot; replied St Aubyn, gravely.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What a tragedy,&quot; observed the boy.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes; a tragedy,&quot; agreed the other. &quot;A truer tragedy than the
+imitation one that he's been acting in, if he could only see it. Well,
+here is my turning. Good-night! I'm very glad we met. Come and see me
+soon. I'm not going away again.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Austin, left alone, stumped thoughtfully along the country road.
+The sweet smell of the flowery hedges pervaded the night air, and from
+the fields on either side was heard ever and anon the bleating of some
+wakeful sheep. How peaceful, how reposeful, everything was! How strong
+and solemn the great trees looked, standing here and there in the wide
+meadows under the moonlight and the stars! And what a contrast&mdash;oh,
+<a name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></a><i>what</i> a contrast&mdash;was the beauty of these calm pastoral scenes to
+the tawdry gorgeousness of those other &quot;scenes&quot; he had been witnessing,
+with their false effects, and coloured fires, and painted, spouting
+occupants! There was no need for him to argue the question any more,
+even with himself. It was as clear as the moon in the steel-blue sky
+above him that the associations of the theatre were totally, hopelessly,
+and radically incompatible with the ideals of the Daphnis life.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="Chapter_the_Eighth" id="Chapter_the_Eighth"></a><hr />
+<br />
+<h2><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157"></a>Chapter the Eighth<span class="totoc"><a class="noline" href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2>
+<br />
+
+<p>It is scarcely necessary to say that Austin knew nothing whatever
+about his aunt's preoccupation, and that even if she had taken him
+into her confidence, he would have paid little or no attention to the
+matter. I am afraid that his ideas about finance were crude in the
+extreme, being limited to a sort of vague impression that capital was
+what you put into a bank, and interest was what you took out; while
+the difference between the par value of a security and the price you
+could get for it on the market, would have been to him a hopelessly
+unfathomable mystery. Aunt Charlotte, therefore, was very wise in
+abstaining from any reference, in conversation, to the great
+enterprise for extracting gold from sea-water, in which she hoped to
+purchase shares; for one could never have told what foolish remark he
+might have made, though it was quite certain that he would have said
+something foolish, and <a name="Page_158" id="Page_158"></a>probably very exasperating. So she kept her
+secret locked up in her own breast, and silently counted the hours
+till she could get a reply from her bankers.</p>
+
+<p>Of course Austin had to give his aunt an account, at breakfast-time
+next morning, of the pageant of the previous night; and as he confined
+himself to saying that the scenery and dresses were very fine, and
+that Mr Buskin was quite unrecognisable, and that all the performers
+knew their parts, and that he had walked part of the way home with
+Roger St Aubyn afterwards, the impression left on the good lady's mind
+was that he had enjoyed himself very much. This inevitable duty
+accomplished, Austin straightway banished the whole subject from his
+memory and gave himself up more unreservedly than ever to his garden
+and his thoughts. How fresh and sweet and welcoming the garden looked
+on that calm, lovely summer day! How brightly the morning dewdrops
+twinkled on the leaves, like a sprinkling of liquid diamonds! Every
+flower seemed to greet him with silent laughter: &quot;Aha, you've been
+playing truant, have you? Straying into alien precincts, roving in
+search of something newer and gaudier than anything you have here?
+Sunlight palls on you; gas is so much more <a name="Page_159" id="Page_159"></a>festive! The scents of the
+fields are vulgar; finer the hot smells of the playhouse, more meet
+for a cultured nostril!&quot; Of course Austin made all this nonsense up
+himself, but he felt so happy that it amused him to attribute the
+words to the dear flower-friends who were all around him, and to whom
+he could never be really faithless. Faugh! that playhouse! He would
+never enter one again. Be an actor! Lubin was a cleaner gentleman than
+any painted Buskin on the stage. Here, in the clear, pure splendour of
+the sunlit air, the place where he had been last night loomed up in
+his consciousness as something meretricious and unwholesome. Yet he
+was glad he had been, for it made everything so much purer and sweeter
+by contrast. Never had the garden looked more meetly set, never had
+the sun shone more genially, and the air impelled the blood and sent
+it coursing more joyously through his veins, than on that morning of
+the rejuvenescence of all his high ideals.</p>
+
+<p>Then he drew a small blue volume out of his pocket, and lay down on
+the grass with his back against the trunk of an apple-tree. Austin's
+theory&mdash;or one of his theories, for he had hundreds&mdash;was that one's
+literature should always be in harmony with one's surroundings; and
+so, <a name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></a>intending to pass his morning in the garden, he had chosen 'The
+Garden of Cyrus' as an appropriate study. He opened it reverently, for
+it was compact of jewelled thoughts that had been set to words by one
+of the princes of prose. He, the young garden-lover, sat at the feet
+of the great garden-mystic, and began to pore wonderingly over the
+inscrutable secrets of the quincunx. His fine ear was charmed by the
+rhythm of the sumptuous and stately sentences, and his pulses throbbed
+in response to every measured phrase in which the lore of garden
+symmetry and the principles of garden science were set forth. He read
+of the hanging gardens of Babylon, first made by Queen Semiramis,
+third or fourth from Nimrod, and magnificently renewed by
+Nabuchodonosor, according to Josephus: &quot;<i>from whence, overlooking
+Babylon, and all the region about it, he found no circumscription to
+the eye of his ambition; till, over-delighted with the bravery of this
+Paradise, in his melancholy metamorphosis he found the folly of that
+delight, and a proper punishment in the contrary habitation&mdash;in wild
+plantations and wanderings of the fields</i>.&quot; Austin shook his head over
+this; he did not think it possible to love a garden too much, and
+demurred to the idea that such a love deserved any punishment at <a name="Page_161" id="Page_161"></a>all.
+But that was theology, and he had no taste for theological
+dissertations. So he dipped into the pages where the quincunx is
+&quot;naturally&quot; considered, and here he admired the encyclop&aelig;dic learning
+of the author, which appeared to have been as wide as that attributed
+to Solomon; then glanced at the &quot;mystic&quot; part, which he reserved for
+later study. But one paragraph riveted his attention, as he turned
+over the leaves. Here was a mine of gold, a treasure-house of
+suggestiveness and wisdom.</p>
+
+<p><i>&quot;Light, that makes things seen, makes some things invisible; were it
+not for darkness and the shadow of the earth, the noblest part of the
+creation had remained unseen, and the stars in heaven as invisible as
+on the fourth day, when they were created above the horizon with the
+sun, or there was not an eye to behold them. The greatest mystery of
+religion is expressed by adumbration, and in the noblest part of
+Jewish types, we find the cherubim shadowing the mercy-seat. Life
+itself is but the shadow of death, and souls departed but the shadows
+of the living. All things fall under this name. The sun itself is but
+the dark simulacrum, and light but the shadow of God.&quot;</i></p>
+
+<p>Austin delighted in symbolism, and these apparent paradoxes fascinated
+him. But was it <a name="Page_162" id="Page_162"></a>all true? He loved to think that life was the shadow,
+and death&mdash;what we call death&mdash;the substance; he had always felt that
+the reality of everything was to be sought for on the other side. But
+he could not see why departed souls should be regarded as the shadows
+of living men. Rather it was we who lived in a vain show, and would
+continue to do so until the spirit, the true substance of us, should
+be set free. Well, whatever the truth of it might be, it was all a
+charming puzzle, and we should learn all about it some day, and
+meantime he had been furnished with an entirely new idea&mdash;the
+revealing power of darkness. He loved the light because it was
+beautiful, and now he loved the darkness because it was mysterious,
+and held such wondrous secrets in its folds. He had never been afraid
+of the dark even when a child. It had always been associated in his
+mind with sleep and dreams, and he was very fond of both.</p>
+
+<p>Of course it would have been no use attempting to instruct Lubin in
+the cryptic properties of the quincunx, or any other theories of
+garden arrangement propounded by Sir Thomas Browne. And Aunt Charlotte
+would have proved a still more hopeless subject. She had no head for
+mysticism, poor dear, and Austin often told her <a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"></a>she was one of the
+greatest sceptics he had ever known. &quot;You believe in nothing but your
+dinner, your bank-book, and your Bible, auntie; I declare it's
+perfectly shocking,&quot; he said to her one day. &quot;And a very good creed
+too,&quot; she replied; &quot;it wouldn't be a bad thing for you either, if you
+had a little more sound religion and practical common-sense.&quot; Just now
+it was the bank-book phase that was uppermost, and when a letter was
+brought in to her at breakfast-time next morning bearing the London
+postmark, she clutched it eagerly and opened it with evident
+anticipation. But as she read the contents her brow clouded and her
+face fell. Clearly she was disappointed and surprised, but made no
+remark to Austin.</p>
+
+<p>A couple of days passed without anything of importance happening,
+except that she wrote again to her bankers and looked out anxiously
+for their reply. But none came, and she grew irritable and disturbed.
+It really was most extraordinary; she had always thought that bankers
+were so shrewd, and prompt, and business-like, and yet here they were,
+treating her as though she were of no account whatever, and actually
+leaving her second letter without an answer. The affair was pressing,
+too. There was certain <a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></a>to be a perfect rush for shares in so
+exceptional an undertaking, and when once they were all allotted, of
+course up they'd go to an enormous premium, and all her chances of
+investing would be lost. It was too exasperating for words. What were
+the men thinking of? Why were they so neglectful of her interests? She
+had always been an excellent customer, and had never overdrawn her
+account&mdash;never. And now they were leaving her in the lurch. However,
+she determined she would not submit. She fumed in silence for yet
+another day, and then, at dinner in the evening, came out with a most
+unexpected declaration.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Austin,&quot; she said suddenly, after a long pause, &quot;I'm going to town
+to-morrow by the 10.27 train.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Austin was peeling an apple, intent on seeing how long a strip he
+could pare off without breaking it. &quot;Won't it be very hot?&quot; he asked
+absently.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hot? Well, perhaps it will,&quot; said Aunt Charlotte, rather nettled at
+his indifference. &quot;But I can't help that. The fact is that my bankers
+are giving me a great deal of annoyance just now, and I'm going up to
+London to have it out with them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Really?&quot; replied Austin, politely interested. &quot;<a name="Page_165" id="Page_165"></a>I hope they haven't
+been embezzling your money?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Do, for goodness sake, pull yourself together and try not to talk
+nonsense for once in your life,&quot; retorted Aunt Charlotte, tartly.
+&quot;Embezzling my money, indeed!&mdash;I should just like to catch them at it.
+Of course it's nothing of the kind. But I've lately given them certain
+instructions which they virtually refuse to carry out, and in a case
+of that sort it's always better to discuss the affair in person.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I see,&quot; said Austin, beginning to munch his apple. &quot;I wonder why they
+won't do what you want them to. Isn't it very rude of them?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Rude? Well&mdash;I can't say they've been exactly rude,&quot; acknowledged Aunt
+Charlotte. &quot;But they're making all sorts of difficulties, and hint
+that they know better than I do&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Which is absurd, of course,&quot; put in Austin, with his very simplest
+air.</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Charlotte glanced sharply at him, but there was not the faintest
+trace of irony in his expression. &quot;I fancy they don't quite understand
+the question,&quot; she said, &quot;so I intend to run up and explain it to
+them. One can do these things so much better in conversation than by
+writing. I shall get lunch in town, and then <a name="Page_166" id="Page_166"></a>there'll be time for me
+to do a little shopping, perhaps, before catching the 4.40 back. That
+will get me here in ample time for dinner at half-past seven.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And what train do you go by in the morning?&quot; enquired Austin.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The 10.27,&quot; replied his aunt. &quot;I shall take the omnibus from the
+Peacock that starts at a quarter to ten.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It cannot be said that Aunt Charlotte's projected trip to town
+interested Austin much. Business of any sort was a profound mystery to
+him, and with regard to speculations, investments, and such-like
+matters his mind was a perfect blank. He had a vague notion that
+perhaps Aunt Charlotte wanted some money, and that the bankers had
+refused to give her any; though whether she had a right to demand it,
+or they a right to withhold it, he had no more idea than the man in
+the moon. So he dismissed the whole affair from his mind as something
+with which he had nothing whatever to do, and spent the evening in the
+company of Sir Thomas Browne. At ten o'clock he went forth into the
+garden, and became absorbed in an attempt to identify the different
+colours of the flowers in the moonlight. It proved a fascinating
+occupation, for the pale, <a name="Page_167" id="Page_167"></a>cold brightness imparted hues to the
+flowers that were strange and weird, so that it was a matter of real
+difficulty to say what the colours actually were. Then he wondered how
+it was he had never before discovered what an inspiring thing it was
+to wander all alone at night about a garden illuminated by a brilliant
+moon. The shadows were so black and secret, the radiance so spiritual,
+the shapes so startlingly fantastic, it was like being in another
+world. And then the silence. That was the most compelling charm of
+all. It helped him to feel. And he felt that he was not alone, though
+he heard nothing and saw nobody. The garden was full of
+flower-fairies, invisible elves and sprites whose mission it was to
+guard the flowers, and who loved the moonlight more than they loved
+the day; dainty, diaphanous creatures who were wafted across the
+smooth lawns on summer breezes, and washed the thirsty petals and
+drooping leaves in the dew which the clear blue air of night diffuses
+so abundantly. He had a sense&mdash;almost a knowledge&mdash;that the garden he
+was in was a dream-garden, a sort of panoramic phantasm, and that the
+real garden lay <i>behind</i> it somehow, hidden from material eyesight,
+eluding material touch, but there all the same, unearthly and elysian,
+more <a name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></a>beautiful a great deal than the one in which he was standing,
+and teeming with gracious presences. It seemed a revelation to him,
+this sudden perception of a real world underlying the apparent one;
+and for nearly half-an-hour he sauntered to and fro in a reverie,
+leaning sometimes against the old stone fountain, and sometimes
+watching the pale clouds as they began flitting together as though to
+keep a rendezvous in space, until they concealed the face of the moon
+entirely from view and left the garden dark.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Whether Austin had strange dreams that night or no, certain it is that
+when he came down to breakfast in the morning his face was set and
+there was a look of unusual preoccupation in his eyes. Aunt Charlotte,
+being considerably preoccupied with her own affairs, noticed nothing,
+and busied herself with the teapot as was her wont. Austin chipped his
+egg in silence, while his auntie, helping herself generously to fried
+bacon, made some remark about the desirability of laying a good
+foundation in view of her journey up to town. Thereupon Austin said:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is it absolutely necessary for you to go to town this morning,
+auntie?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Of course it is,&quot; replied Aunt Charlotte, <a name="Page_169" id="Page_169"></a>munching heartily. &quot;I told
+you so last night.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why can't you go to-morrow instead?&quot; asked Austin, tentatively.
+&quot;Would it be too late?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I've arranged to go <i>to-day</i>,&quot; said Aunt Charlotte, with decision.
+&quot;The sooner this business is settled the better. What should I gain by
+waiting?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I don't see any particular hurry,&quot; said Austin. &quot;It's only giving
+yourself trouble for nothing. If I were you I'd write what you want to
+say, and then go up to see these people if their answer was still
+unsatisfactory.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But you see you don't know anything about the matter,&quot; retorted Aunt
+Charlotte, beginning to wonder at the boy's persistency. &quot;What in the
+world makes you want me not to go?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh&mdash;I only thought it might prove unnecessary,&quot; replied he, rather
+lamely. &quot;It's going to be very hot, and after all&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It'll be quite as hot to-morrow,&quot; said Aunt Charlotte, as she stirred
+her tea.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, why not go by a later train, then?&quot; suggested Austin. &quot;Look
+here; go by the 4.20 this afternoon, and take me with you. We'll go to
+a nice quiet hotel, and have a beautiful dinner, <a name="Page_170" id="Page_170"></a>and see some of the
+sights, and then you'd have all to-morrow morning to do your business
+with these horrid old gentlemen at the bank. Now don't you think
+that's rather a good idea?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I&mdash;dare&mdash;<i>say</i>!&quot; cried Aunt Charlotte, in her highest key. &quot;So that's
+what you're aiming at, is it? Oh, you're a cunning boy, my dear, if
+ever there was one. But your little project would cost at least four
+times as much as I propose to spend to-day, and for that reason alone
+it's not to be thought of for a moment. What in creation ever put such
+an idea into your head?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I don't want to come with you in the very least, really&mdash;especially
+as you don't want to have me,&quot; replied Austin. &quot;But I do wish you'd
+give up your idea of going to London by the 10.27 this morning. If
+you'll only do that I don't care for anything else. Take the same
+train to-morrow, if you like, but not to-day. That's all I have to ask
+you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But why&mdash;why&mdash;why?&quot; demanded Aunt Charlotte, in not unnatural
+amazement.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I can't tell you why,&quot; said Austin. &quot;It wouldn't be any use.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You are the very absurdest child I ever came <a name="Page_171" id="Page_171"></a>across!&quot; exclaimed Aunt
+Charlotte. &quot;I've often had to put up with your fancies, but never with
+any so outrageously unreasonable as this. Now not another word. I'm
+going to travel by the 10.27 this morning, and if you like to come and
+see me off, you're at perfect liberty to do so.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Austin made no reply, and breakfast proceeded in silence. Then he
+glanced at the clock, and saw that it was ten minutes to nine. As soon
+as the meal was finished, he rose from his chair and moved slowly
+towards the door.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You still intend to go by the&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hold your tongue!&quot; snapped his aunt. Whereupon Austin left the room
+without another word. Then he stumped his way upstairs and was not
+seen again. Aunt Charlotte, meanwhile, began preparations for her
+journey. It was now close on nine o'clock, and she had to order the
+dinner, see that she had sufficient money for her expenses, choose a
+bonnet for travelling in, and look after half-a-dozen other important
+trifles before setting out to catch the railway omnibus at the
+Peacock. At last Austin, waiting behind a door, heard her enter her
+room to dress. Very gently he stole out with something in his pocket,
+and two minutes afterwards was standing <a name="Page_172" id="Page_172"></a>on the lawn with his straw
+hat tilted over his eyes, chattering with Lubin about tubers, corms,
+and bulbs, potting and bedding-out, and other pleasant mysteries of
+garden-craft.</p>
+
+<p>It was not very long, however, before a singular bustle was heard on
+the first floor. Maids ran scuttling up and down stairs, voices
+resounded through the open windows, and then came the sound of thumps,
+as of somebody vigorously battering at a door. Austin turned round,
+and began walking towards the house. He was met by old Martha, who
+seemed to be in a tremendous fluster about something.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Master Austin! Master Austin! Oh, here you are. What in the world is
+to be done? Your aunt's locked up in her bedroom, and nobody can find
+the key!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is that all?&quot; answered Austin calmly. &quot;Then she'll have to stay there
+till it turns up, evidently.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But the mistress says she's sure you know all about it,&quot; panted
+Martha, in great distress, &quot;and she's in a most terrible taking. Now,
+Master Austin, I do beseech you&mdash;'tain't no laughing matter, for the
+omnibus starts in a few minutes, and your aunt&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A terrific banging was now heard from the <a name="Page_173" id="Page_173"></a>locked-up room, accompanied
+by shouts and cries from the imprisoned lady. Austin advanced to the
+foot of the staircase, looking rather white, and listened.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Austin! Austin! Where are you? What have you done with the key?&quot;
+shrieked Aunt Charlotte, in a tempest of despair and rage. &quot;Let me
+out, I say, let me out at once! It's you who have done this, I know it
+is. Open the door, or I shall lose the train!&quot; A fresh bombardment
+from the lady's fists here followed. &quot;Where <i>is</i> Austin, Martha? Can't
+you find him anywhere?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He's here, ma'am,&quot; cried back Martha, in quavering tones, &quot;but he
+don't seem as if&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Call Lubin with a ladder!&quot; interrupted the desperate lady. &quot;I must
+catch the omnibus, if I break all my bones in getting out of the
+window. Where's Lubin? Isn't there a ladder tall enough? Austin!
+Austin! Where <i>is</i> Austin, and why doesn't he open the door?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He was here not a moment ago,&quot; replied Martha, tremulously, &quot;but
+where he's got to now, or where he's put the key, the Lord only knows.
+Perhaps he's gone to see about a ladder. Lubin! have you seen Master
+Austin anywhere?&quot;</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174"></a>But Austin, unobserved in the confusion, having stealthily glanced at
+his watch, had slipped out at the garden gate, and now stood looking
+down the road. The omnibus had just started, and for about thirty
+seconds he remained watching it as it lumbered and clattered along in
+a cloud of dust until it was lost to view. Then he went back to the
+house, and handed the key to Martha. &quot;There's the key,&quot; he said. &quot;Tell
+Aunt Charlotte I'm going for a walk, and I'll let her know all about
+it when I come back to lunch.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He was out of the house in a twinkling, stumping along as hard as he
+could go until he reached the moors. He had played a daring game, but
+felt quite satisfied with the result so far, as he knew that there
+were no cabs to be had in the village, and that, even if his aunt were
+mad enough to brave a two-mile tramp along the broiling road, she
+could not possibly reach the station in time to catch the train. Now
+that the deed was done, a sensation of fatigue stole over him, and
+with a sigh of relief he flung himself down on the soft tussocks of
+purple heather, and covered his eyes with his straw hat. For
+half-an-hour he lay there motionless and deep in thought. No suspicion
+that he had acted wrongly disturbed him for a moment. Of course it was
+a pity that poor <a name="Page_175" id="Page_175"></a>Aunt Charlotte should have been disappointed, and
+certainly that locking of her up in her bedroom had been a very
+painful duty; but if it was necessary&mdash;as it was&mdash;what else could he
+have done? No doubt she would forgive him when she understood his
+reasons; and, after all, it was really her own fault for having been
+so obstinate.</p>
+
+<p>It was now half-past ten, and Austin had no intention of getting home
+before it was time for lunch. He had thus the whole morning before
+him, and he spent it rambling about the moors, struggling up hills,
+revelling in the heat tempered by cool grass, and wondering how
+Daphnis would have behaved if he had had an unreasonable old aunt to
+take care of; for Aunt Charlotte was really a great responsibility,
+and dreadfully difficult to manage. Then, coming on a deep, clear
+rivulet which ran between two meadows, he yielded to a sudden impulse,
+and, stripping himself to the skin, plunged into it, wooden leg and
+all. There he floated luxuriously for a while, the sun blazing
+fiercely overhead, and the cool waters playing over his white body.
+When he emerged, covered with sparkling drops, he remembered that he
+had no towel; so there was nothing to be done but to stagger about and
+disport himself <a name="Page_176" id="Page_176"></a>like a naked faun among the buttercups and bulrushes,
+until the sun had dried him. As soon as he was dressed, he looked at
+his watch, and found that it was nearly twelve. Then he consulted a
+little time-table, and made a rapid calculation. It would take him
+just half-an-hour to reach the station from where he was, and
+therefore it was high time to start.</p>
+
+<p>Off he set, and arrived there, as it seemed, at a moment of great
+excitement. The station-master was on the platform, in the act of
+posting up a telegram, around which a number of people&mdash;travellers,
+porters, and errand-boys&mdash;were crowding eagerly. Austin joined the
+group, and read the message carefully and deliberately twice through.
+He asked no questions, but listened to the remarks he heard around
+him. Then he passed rapidly through the booking-office, and struck out
+on his way home.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime Aunt Charlotte had passed the hours fuming. To her, Austin's
+extraordinary behaviour was absolutely unaccountable, except on the
+hypothesis that he was not responsible for his actions. Her rage was
+beyond control. That the boy should have had the unheard-of audacity
+to lock her up in her own bedroom in order to gratify some mad whim,
+and so have upset her <a name="Page_177" id="Page_177"></a>plans for the entire day, was an outrage
+impossible to forgive. If he was not out of his mind he ought to be,
+for there was no other excuse for him that she could think of. What
+<i>was</i> to be done with such a boy? He was too old to be whipped, too
+young to be sent to college, too delicate to be placed under
+restraint. But she would let him feel the full force of her
+indignation when he returned. He should apologise, he should eat his
+fill of humble pie, he should beg for mercy on his knees. She had put
+up with a good deal, but this last escapade was not to be overlooked.
+Even Martha, when she came in to lay the cloth for lunch, could think
+of nothing to say in extenuation of his offence.</p>
+
+<p>It was certainly two hours before her excitement allowed her to sit
+down and begin to knit. Even then&mdash;and naturally enough&mdash;while she was
+musing the fire burned. It never occurred to her to reflect that there
+must have been some <i>reason</i> for Austin's extraordinary prank, and
+that the first thing to be done was to discover what that was. She was
+too angry to take this obvious fact into consideration, and so, when
+Austin at last appeared, his eyes full of suppressed excitement and
+his forehead bathed in sweat, her <a name="Page_178" id="Page_178"></a>pent-up wrath found vent and she
+flamed out at him in a rage.</p>
+
+<p>For some minutes Austin stood quite silent while she stormed. If it
+made her feel better to storm, well, let her do it. Half-a-dozen times
+she demanded what he meant by his behaviour, and how he dared, and
+whether he had suddenly gone crazy, and then went on storming without
+waiting for his reply. Once, when he opened his mouth to speak, she
+sharply told him to shut it again. It was clear, even to Martha, that
+if Austin's conduct had been inexplicable, his aunt's was utterly
+absurd.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You've asked me several times what made me lock you up this morning,&quot;
+he said at last, when she paused for breath, &quot;and each time you've
+refused to let me answer you. That's not very reasonable, you know.
+Now I've got something to tell you, but if you want to do any more
+raving please do it at once and get it over, and then I'll have my
+turn.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Will you go to your room this instant and stay there?&quot; cried Aunt
+Charlotte, pointing to the door.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Certainly not,&quot; replied Austin. &quot;And now I'll ask you to listen to me
+for a minute, for you must be tired with all that shouting.&quot; Aunt
+<a name="Page_179" id="Page_179"></a>Charlotte took up her work with trembling hands, ostentatiously
+pretending that Austin was no longer in the room. &quot;You wanted to go to
+town by the 10.27 train, and I took forcible measures to prevent you.
+It may therefore interest you to know what became of that train, and
+what you have escaped. There's been a frightful collision. The down
+express ran into it at the curve just beyond the signal station at
+Colebridge Junction, owing to some mistake of the signalman, I
+believe. Anyhow, in the train you wanted to go by there were five
+people killed outright, and fourteen others crunched up and mangled in
+a most inartistic style. And if I hadn't locked you up as I did you'd
+probably be in the County Hospital at this moment in an exceedingly
+unpleasant predicament.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Dead silence. Then, &quot;The Lord preserve us!&quot; ejaculated Martha, who
+stood by, in awe-struck tones. Aunt Charlotte slowly raised her eyes
+from her knitting, and fixed them on Austin's face. &quot;A collision!&quot; she
+exclaimed. &quot;Why, what do you know about it?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I called at the station and read the telegram myself. There was a
+crowd of people on the platform all discussing it,&quot; returned Austin,
+briefly.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Your life has been saved by a miracle, ma'am, <a name="Page_180" id="Page_180"></a>and it's Master Austin
+as you've got to thank for it,&quot; cried Martha, her eyes full of tears,
+&quot;though how it came about, the good Lord only knows,&quot; she added,
+turning as though for enlightenment to the boy himself.</p>
+
+<p>Then Aunt Charlotte sank back in her chair, looking very white. &quot;I
+don't understand it, Austin,&quot; she said tremulously. &quot;It's terrible to
+think of such a catastrophe, and all those poor creatures being
+killed&mdash;and it's most providential, of course, that&mdash;that&mdash;I was kept
+from going. But all that doesn't explain what share <i>you</i> had in it.
+You don't expect me to believe that you knew what was going to happen
+and kept me at home on purpose? The very idea is ridiculous. It was a
+coincidence, of course, though a most remarkable one, I must admit. A
+collision! Thank God for all His mercies!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If it was only a coincidence I don't exactly see what there is to
+thank God for,&quot; remarked Austin, very drily.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Twarn't no coincidence,&quot; averred old Martha, solemnly. &quot;On that I'll
+stake my soul.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What was it, then?&quot; retorted Aunt Charlotte. &quot;Anyhow, Austin, there
+seems no doubt that, under God, it was what you did that saved my life
+to-day. But what made you do it? <a name="Page_181" id="Page_181"></a>How could you possibly tell that you
+were preventing me from getting killed?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I should have told you all that long ago if you weren't so hopelessly
+illogical, auntie,&quot; he replied. &quot;But you never can see the connection
+between cause and effect. That was the reason I couldn't explain why I
+didn't want you to go, even before I locked you up. It wouldn't have
+been any use. You'd have simply laughed in my face, and have gone to
+London all the same.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I don't know what you mean. Don't beat about the bush, Austin, and
+worry my head with all this vague talk about cause and effect and such
+like. What has my being illogical got to do with it?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well&mdash;if you want me to explain, of course I'll do so; but I don't
+suppose it'll make any difference,&quot; said Austin. &quot;Some time ago, I
+told you that just as I was going to get over a stile, I felt
+something push me back, and so I came home another way. You'll
+recollect that if I <i>had</i> got over that stile I should have come
+across a rabid dog where there was no possibility of escape, and no
+doubt have got frightfully bitten. But when I told you how I was
+prevented, you scoffed at the whole story, and said that I was
+superstitious.&mdash;Stop a minute! I haven't finished <a name="Page_182" id="Page_182"></a>yet.&mdash;Then, only
+the other day, my life was saved from all those bricks tumbling on me
+when I was asleep by just the same sort of interposition. Again you
+jeered at me, and when I told you I had heard raps in the wall you
+ridiculed the idea, and&mdash;do you remember?&mdash;the words were scarcely out
+of your mouth when you heard the raps yourself, and then you got
+nearly beside yourself with fright and anger, and said it was the
+devil. And now for the third time the same sort of thing has happened.
+What is the good of telling you about it? You'd only scoff and jeer as
+you did before, although on this occasion it is your own life that has
+been saved, not mine.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Certainly Master Austin was having his revenge on Aunt Charlotte for
+the torrent of abuse she had poured upon him a few minutes previously.
+For a short time she sat quite still, the picture of perplexity and
+irritation. The facts as Austin stated them were incontrovertible, and
+yet&mdash;probably because she lacked the instinct of causality&mdash;she could
+not accept his explanation of them. There are some people in the world
+who are constituted like this. They create a mental atmosphere around
+them which is as impenetrable to conviction in certain matters as a
+brick wall is to a parched pea. They will fall back on <a name="Page_183" id="Page_183"></a>any loophole
+of a theory, however imbecile and far-fetched, rather than accept some
+simple and self-evident solution that they start out by regarding as
+impossible. And Aunt Charlotte was a very apposite specimen of the
+class.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I'll not scoff, at anyrate, Austin,&quot; she said at last. &quot;I cannot
+forget&mdash;and I never will forget&mdash;that it's to you I owe it that I am
+sitting here this moment. Tell me what moved you to act as you did
+this morning. I may not share your belief, but I will not ridicule it.
+Of that you may rest assured.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is all simple enough,&quot; he said. &quot;I had a horrid dream just before
+I woke&mdash;nothing circumstantial, but a general sense of the most awful
+confusion, and disaster, and terror. I fancy it was that that woke me.
+And as I was opening my eyes, a voice said to me quite distinctly, as
+distinctly as I am speaking now, '<i>Keep auntie at home this morning.</i>'
+The words dinned themselves into my ears all the time I was dressing,
+and then I acted upon them as you know. But what would have been the
+good of telling you? None whatever. So I tried persuasion, and when
+that failed I simply locked you in.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Now there are two sorts of superstition, each of which is the very
+antithesis of the other. The <a name="Page_184" id="Page_184"></a>victim of one believes all kinds of
+absurdities blindfold, oblivious of evidence or causality. The
+upsetting of a salt-cellar or the fall of a mirror is to him a
+harbinger of disaster, entirely irrespective of any possible
+connection between the cause and the effect. A bit of stalk floating
+on his tea presages an unlooked-for visitor, and the guttering of a
+candle is a sign of impending death. All this he believes firmly, and
+acts upon, although he would candidly acknowledge his inability to
+explain the principle supposed to underlie the sequence between the
+omen and its fulfilment. It is the irrationality of the belief that
+constitutes its superstitious character, the contented acquiescence in
+some inconceivable and impossible law, whether physical or
+metaphysical, in virtue of which the predicted event is expected to
+follow the wholly unrelated augury. The other sort of superstition is
+that of which, as we have seen, Aunt Charlotte was an exemplification.
+Here, again, there is a splendid disregard of evidence, testimony, and
+causal laws. But it takes the form of scepticism, and a scepticism so
+blindly partial as to sink into the most abject credulity. The wildest
+sophistries are dragged in to account for an unfamiliar happening, and
+scientific students are accused, now of idiocy, now of fraud, <a name="Page_185" id="Page_185"></a>rather
+than the fact should be confessed that our knowledge of the universe
+is limited. If Aunt Charlotte, for instance, had seen a table rise
+into the air of itself in broad daylight she would have said, &quot;I
+certainly saw it happen, and as an honest woman I can't deny it; but I
+don't believe it for all that.&quot; The succession of abnormal
+occurrences, however, of which Austin had been the subject, had begun
+to undermine her dogmatism; and this last event, the interposition of
+something, she knew not what, to save her from a horrible accident,
+appealed to her very strongly. There was a pathos, too, about the part
+played in it by Austin which touched her to the quick, and she
+reproached herself keenly for the injustice with which she had treated
+him in her unreasoning anger.</p>
+
+<p>She felt a great lump come in her throat as he ceased speaking, and
+for a moment or two found it impossible to answer. &quot;A voice!&quot; she
+uttered at last. &quot;What sort of a voice, Austin?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It sounded like a woman's,&quot; he replied.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="Chapter_the_Ninth" id="Chapter_the_Ninth"></a><hr />
+<br />
+<h2><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186"></a>Chapter the Ninth<span class="totoc"><a class="noline" href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2>
+<br />
+
+<p>From this time forward Austin seemed to live a double life. Perhaps it
+would be more accurate to say that he inhabited two worlds. Around him
+the flowers bloomed in the garden, Lubin worked and whistled, Aunt
+Charlotte bustled about her duties, and everything went on as usual.
+But beyond and behind all this there was something else. The dreams
+and reveries that had hitherto invaded him became felt realities; he
+no longer had any doubt that he was encircled by beings whom he could
+not see, but who were none the less actual for that. And the curious
+feature of the case was that it all seemed perfectly natural to him,
+and so far from feeling frightened, or suffering from any sense of
+being haunted, he experienced a sort of pleasure in it, a grateful
+consciousness of friendly though unseen companionship that heightened
+his joy in life. Who these invisible guardians <a name="Page_187" id="Page_187"></a>could be, of course he
+had no idea; it was enough for him just then to know that they were
+there, and that, by their timely intervention on no fewer than three
+ocasions, they had given ample proof that they both loved and trusted
+him.</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Charlotte, on her side, could not but acknowledge that there must
+be &quot;something in it,&quot; as she said; it could not all be nothing but
+Austin's fancy. She remembered that people who wrote hymns and poems
+talked sometimes of guardian angels, and it was possible that a belief
+in guardian angels might be orthodox. It was even conceivable that it
+was a benevolent functionary of this class who had let St Peter out of
+prison; and if the institution had existed then, why, there was
+nothing unreasonable in the conclusion that it might possibly exist
+now. She revolved these questionings in her mind during her journey up
+to town the day after Austin's escapade, when, as she told herself,
+she would be perfectly safe from accident; for it was not in the
+nature of things that two collisions should happen so close together.
+And she had reason to be glad she went, seeing that her bankers
+received her with perfect cordiality, and convinced her that she would
+certainly lose all her money if she insisted on investing it in any
+such <a name="Page_188" id="Page_188"></a>wild-cat scheme as the one she had set her heart upon. They
+suggested, instead, certain foreign bonds on which she would receive a
+perfectly safe four-and-a-half per cent.; and so pleased was she at
+having been preserved from risking her two thousand pounds that she
+not only indulged in a modest half-bottle of Beaune with her lunch,
+but bought a pretty pencil-case for Austin. She determined at the same
+time to let the vicar know what her bankers had said about the
+investment he had urged upon her, and promised herself that she would
+take the opportunity&mdash;of course without mentioning names&mdash;of
+consulting him about the orthodoxy of guardian angels. He might be
+expected to prove a safer guide in such a matter as that than in
+questions of high finance.</p>
+
+<p>A few days afterwards, Austin went to call upon his friend St Aubyn.
+He longed to see the beautiful gardens at the Court again, now that he
+had obtained a glimpse into the mystic side of garden-craft through
+the writings of Sir Thomas Browne; he felt intensely curious to pay
+another visit to the haunted Banqueting Hall, which had a special
+fascination for him since his own abnormal experiences; and he felt
+that a confidential talk with Mr St Aubyn himself would do <a name="Page_189" id="Page_189"></a>him no end
+of good. <i>There</i> was a man, at anyrate, to whom he could open his
+heart; a man of high culture, wide sympathies, and great knowledge of
+life. He was shown into the big, dim drawing-room, where a faint
+perfume of lavender seemed to hang about, imparting to him a sense of
+quiet and repose that was very soothing; through the half-closed
+shutters the colours of the garden again gleamed brilliantly in the
+sunshine, and there was heard a faint liquid sound, as of the plashing
+of an adjacent fountain. St Aubyn entered in a few minutes, and
+greeted him very cordially.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, and what have you been about?&quot; he said, after a few
+preliminaries had been exchanged. &quot;Reading and dreaming, I suppose, as
+usual?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I'm afraid I've done both, and very little else to speak of,&quot; replied
+Austin, laughing. &quot;I'm always reading, off and on, without much
+system, you know. But if I'm rather desultory I always enjoy reading,
+because books give me so many new ideas, and it's delightful to have
+always something fresh to think about.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, yes,&quot; rejoined St Aubyn. &quot;I don't know what you read, of course,
+but it's clear you don't read many novels.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_190" id="Page_190"></a>Novels!&quot; exclaimed Austin scornfully. &quot;How <i>can</i> people read novels,
+when there are so many other books in the world?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, what have you been reading, then?&quot; enquired St Aubyn, lighting
+a cigarette.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I've been dipping into one of the most puzzling, fascinating,
+bothering books I ever came across,&quot; replied Austin, following his
+example. &quot;I mean 'The Garden of Cyrus,' by Sir Thomas Browne. I can't
+follow him a bit, and yet, somehow, he drags me along with him. All
+that about the quincunx is most baffling. He seems to begin with the
+arrangement of a garden, and then to lead one on through a maze of
+arithmetical progressions till one finds oneself landed in a mystical
+philosophy of life and creation, and I don't know what all. If I could
+only understand him better I should probably enjoy him more.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>St Aubyn smiled. &quot;Well, of course, it all sounds very fanciful,&quot; he
+said. &quot;One must read him as one reads all those curious old medi&aelig;val
+authors, who are full of pseudo-science and theories based on fables.
+His great charm to me is his style, which is singularly rich and
+chaste. But I've no doubt whatever, myself, that a great deal of this
+ancient lore, which we have been <a name="Page_191" id="Page_191"></a>accustomed to regard as so much
+sciolism, not to say pure nonsense, had a germ of truth in it, and
+that truth I believe we are gradually beginning to re-discover. You
+see, one mustn't always take the formulas employed by these old
+writers in their literal sense. Many were purely symbolic, and
+concealed occult meanings. Now the philosopher's stone, to take a
+familiar example, was not a stone at all. The word was no more than a
+symbol, and covered a search for one of the great secrets&mdash;the origin
+of life, or the nature of matter, or the attainment of immortality.
+They seem to us to have taken a very roundabout route in their
+investigations, but their object was often very much the same as that
+of every chemist and biologist of the present day. Take alchemy,
+again, which is supposed by people generally to have been nothing but
+an attempt to turn the baser metals into gold. According to the
+Rosicrucians, who may be supposed to have known something about it,
+alchemy was the science of guiding the invisible processes of life for
+the purpose of attaining certain results in both the physical and
+spiritual spheres. Chemistry deals with inanimate substances, alchemy
+with the principle of life itself. The highest aim of the alchemist
+was the evolution of a divine <a name="Page_192" id="Page_192"></a>and immortal being out of a mortal and
+semi-animal man; the development, in short, of all those hidden
+properties which lie latent in man's nature.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is a very valuable thing to know,&quot; observed Austin, greatly
+interested. &quot;Every day I live, the more I realise the truth that
+everything we see is on the surface, and that there's a whole world of
+machinery&mdash;I can't think of a better term&mdash;working at the back of it.
+It's like a clock. The face and the hands are all we see, but it's the
+works inside that we can't see that make it go.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Excellently put,&quot; returned St Aubyn. &quot;There are influences and forces
+all round us of which we only notice the effects, and how far these
+forces are intelligent is a very curious question. I see nothing
+unscientific myself in the hypothesis that they may be.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I wonder!&quot; exclaimed Austin. &quot;Do you know&mdash;I have had some very funny
+experiences myself lately, that can't be explained on any other ground
+that I can think of. The first occurred the very day that I was here
+first. Would you mind if I told you about them? Would it bother you
+very much?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;On the contrary! I shall listen with the <a name="Page_193" id="Page_193"></a>greatest interest, I assure
+you,&quot; replied St Aubyn, with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>So Austin began at the beginning, and gave his friend a clear, full,
+circumstantial account of the three occurrences which had made so deep
+an impression on his mind. The story of the bricks riveted the
+attention of his hearer, who questioned him closely about a number of
+significant details; then he went on to the incident of Aunt
+Charlotte's proposed journey, the mysterious warning he had received,
+and the desperate measures to which he had been driven to keep her
+from going out. St Aubyn shouted with laughter as Austin gravely
+described how he had locked her up in her bedroom, and how lustily she
+had banged and screamed to be released before it was too late to catch
+the train. The sequel seemed to astonish him, and he fell into a
+musing silence.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You tell your story remarkably well,&quot; he said at last, &quot;and I don't
+mind confessing that the abnormal character of the whole thing strikes
+me as beyond question. Any attempt to explain such sequences by the
+worn-out old theory of imagination or coincidence would be manifestly
+futile. Such coincidences, like miracles, do not happen. Many things
+have happened that people <a name="Page_194" id="Page_194"></a>call miracles, by which they mean a sort of
+divine conjuring-trick that is performed or brought about by violating
+or annihilating natural laws. That, of course, is absurd. Nothing
+happens but in virtue of natural laws, laws just as natural and
+inherent in the universal scheme of things as gravitation or the
+precession of the equinoxes, <i>only</i> outside our extremely limited
+knowledge of the universe. That, under certain conditions, such
+interpositions affecting physical organisms may be produced by
+invisible agencies is, in my view, eminently conceivable. It is purely
+a question of evidence.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am so glad you think so,&quot; replied Austin. &quot;It makes things so much
+easier. And then it's so pleasant to think that one is really
+surrounded by unseen friends who are looking after one. I was never a
+bit afraid of ghosts, and <i>my</i> ghosts are apparently a charming set of
+people. I wonder who they are?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ah, that is more than I can tell you,&quot; answered the other, laughing.
+&quot;I'm not so favoured as you appear to be. But come, let's have a
+stroll round the garden. You don't mind the sun, I know.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And the Banqueting Hall! I insist on the Banqueting Hall,&quot; added
+Austin, who now began <a name="Page_195" id="Page_195"></a>to feel quite at home with his genial host. &quot;I
+long to be in there again. I'm sure it's full of wonders, if one only
+had eyes to see.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By all means,&quot; smiled St Aubyn, as they went out. &quot;You shall take
+your fill of them, never fear. Don't forget your hat&mdash;the sun's pretty
+powerful to-day. Doesn't the lawn look well?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Lovely,&quot; assented Austin, admiringly. &quot;Like a great green velvet
+carpet. How do you manage to keep it in such good condition?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By plenty of rolling and watering. That's the only secret. Let's walk
+this way, down to the pool where the lilies are. There'll be plenty of
+shade under the trees. Do you see that old statue, just over there by
+the wall? That's a great favourite of mine. It always looks to me like
+a petrified youth, a being that will never grow old in soul although
+its form has existed for centuries, and the stone it's made of for
+thousands of thousands of years. That's an illustration of the saying
+that whom the gods love die young. Not that they die in youth, but
+that they never really grow old, let them live for eighty years or
+more, as we count time. They remain always young in soul, however long
+their bodies last. Perhaps that's what Isaiah had in his mind <a name="Page_196" id="Page_196"></a>when he
+talked about a child dying at a hundred. <i>You'll</i> never grow old, you
+know.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Shan't I? How nice,&quot; exclaimed Austin, brightly. &quot;I certainly can't
+fancy myself old a bit. How funny it would be if one always preserved
+one's youthful shape and features, while one's skin got all cracked
+and rough and wrinkled like that old youth over there! The effect
+would be rather ghastly. But I don't want to grow old in any sense. I
+should like to remain a boy all my life. I suppose that in the other
+world people may live a thousand years and always remain eighteen. I'm
+nearly eighteen myself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>St Aubyn could not help casting a glance of keen interest at the boy
+as he said this. A presentiment shot through him that that might
+actually be the destiny of the pure-souled, enthusiastic young
+creature who had just uttered the suggestive words. Austin's long,
+pale face, slender form, and bright, far-away expression carried with
+them the idea that perhaps he might not stay very long where he was. A
+sudden pang made itself felt as the possibility occurred to him, and
+he rapidly changed the subject.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I don't think I'd let my thoughts run too much on mystical questions
+if I were you, Austin,&quot; <a name="Page_197" id="Page_197"></a>he said. &quot;I mean in connection with these
+curious experiences you've been having. You have enough joy in life,
+joy from the world around you, to dispense with speculations about the
+unseen. All that sort of thing is premature, and if it takes too great
+a hold upon you its tendency will be to make you morbid.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It hasn't done so yet,&quot; replied Austin. &quot;As far as I can judge of the
+other world, it seems quite as joyous and lively as this one, and in
+reality I expect it's a good deal more so. I don't hanker after
+experiences, as you call them, but hitherto whenever they've come
+they've always been helpful and agreeable&mdash;never terrifying or ghastly
+in the very least. And I don't lay myself out for them, you know. I
+just feel that there <i>is</i> something near me that I can't see, and that
+it's pleasant and friendly. The thought is a happy one, and makes me
+enjoy the world I live in all the more.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, then, let us enjoy it together, and talk about orchids and
+tulips, and things we can see and handle,&quot; said St Aubyn, cheerfully.
+&quot;How's Aunt Charlotte, for instance? Has she quite forgiven you for
+having saved her life?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, quite, I think,&quot; replied Austin, his eyes <a name="Page_198" id="Page_198"></a>twinkling. &quot;I believe
+she's almost grateful, for when she came back from town she presented
+me with a gold pencil-case. She doesn't often do that sort of thing,
+poor dear, and I'm sure she meant it as a sign of reconciliation. It's
+pretty, isn't it?&quot; he added, taking it out of his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Charming,&quot; assented St Aubyn. &quot;That bit of lapis lazuli at the top,
+with a curious design upon it, is by way of being an amulet, I
+suppose?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;H'm! I don't believe in amulets, you know,&quot; said Austin, nodding
+sagely. &quot;I consider that all nonsense.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yet there's no doubt that some amulets have influence,&quot; remarked St
+Aubyn. &quot;If a piece of amber, for example, has been highly magnetised
+by a 'sensitive,' as very psychic persons are called, it is quite
+possible that, worn next the skin, a certain amount of magnetic fluid
+may be transmitted to the wearer, producing a distinct effect upon his
+vitality. There's nothing occult about that. The most thoroughgoing
+materialist might acknowledge it. But when it comes to spells, and all
+that gibberish, there, of course, I part company. The magical power of
+certain precious stones may be a fact of nature, but I see <a name="Page_199" id="Page_199"></a>no proof
+of its truth, and therefore I don't believe in it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And now may we go and look at the flowers?&quot; suggested Austin.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come along,&quot; returned St Aubyn. &quot;What a boy you are for flowers! Do
+you know much of botany?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No&mdash;yes, a little&mdash;but not nearly as much as I ought,&quot; said Austin,
+as they strolled through the blaze of colour. &quot;I love flowers for
+their beauty and suggestiveness, irrespective of the classifications
+to which they may happen to belong. A garden is to me the most
+beautiful thing in the world. There's something sacred about it.
+Everything that's beautiful is good, and if it isn't beautiful it
+can't be good, and when one realises beauty one is happy. That's why I
+feel so much happier in gardens than in church.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why, aren't you fond of church?&quot; asked St Aubyn, amused.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A garden makes me happier,&quot; said Austin. &quot;Religion seems to encourage
+pain, and ugliness, and mourning. I don't know why it should, but
+nearly all the very religious people I know are solemn and melancholy,
+as though they hadn't wits enough to be anything else. They only
+<a name="Page_200" id="Page_200"></a>understand what is uncomfortable, just as beasts of burden only
+understand threats and beatings. I suppose it's a question of culture.
+Now I learn more of what <i>I</i> call religion from fields, and trees, and
+flowers than from anything else. I don't believe that if the world had
+consisted of nothing but cities any real religion would ever have been
+evolved at all.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Crude, my dear Austin, very crude!&quot; remarked St Aubyn, patting his
+shoulder as they walked. &quot;There's more in religion than that, a great
+deal. Beware of generalising too widely, and don't forget the personal
+equation. Now, come and have a look at the orchids. I've got one or
+two rather fine ones that you haven't seen.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He led the way towards the orchid-houses. Here they spent a delightful
+quarter of an hour, and it was only the thought of his visit to the
+Banqueting Hall that reconciled Austin to tearing himself away. St
+Aubyn seemed much diverted at his insistence, and asked him whether he
+expected to find the figures on the tapestry endowed with life and
+disporting themselves about the room for his entertainment.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I wish they would!&quot; laughed Austin. &quot;What fun it would be. I'm sure
+they'd enjoy <a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"></a>it too. How old is the tapestry, by the way?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It's fifteenth century work, I believe,&quot; replied St Aubyn. &quot;Here we
+are. It really is very good of its kind, and the colours are
+wonderfully preserved.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It's lovely!&quot; sighed Austin, as he walked slowly up the hall,
+feasting his eyes once more on the beautiful fabrics. &quot;What a thing to
+live with! Just think of having all these charming people as one's
+daily companions. I shouldn't want them to come to life, I like them
+just as they are. If they moved or spoke the charm would be broken.
+Why don't you spend hours every day in this wonderful place?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My dear boy, I haven't such an imagination as you have,&quot; answered St
+Aubyn, laughing. &quot;But as a mere artist, of course I appreciate them as
+much as anyone, just as I appreciate statuary or pictures. And I prize
+them for their historical value too.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Austin made no reply. He began to look abstracted, as though listening
+to something else. The sun had begun to sink on the other side of the
+house, leaving the hall itself in comparative shadow.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_202" id="Page_202"></a>Don't you feel anything?&quot; he said at last, in an undertone.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nothing whatever,&quot; replied St Aubyn. &quot;Do you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes. Hush! No&mdash;it was nothing. But I feel it&mdash;all round me. The most
+curious sensation. The room's full. Some of them are behind me. Don't
+you feel a wind?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Indeed I don't,&quot; said St Aubyn. &quot;There's not a breath stirring
+anywhere.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>They were standing side by side. Austin gently put out his right hand
+and grasped St Aubyn's left.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<i>Now</i> don't you feel anything?&quot; he asked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes&mdash;a sort of thrill. A tingling in my arm,&quot; replied St Aubyn.
+&quot;That's rather strange. But it comes from you, not from&mdash;&mdash;&quot; He
+paused.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It comes <i>through</i> me,&quot; said Austin.</p>
+
+<p>They stood for a few seconds in unbroken silence. Then St Aubyn
+suddenly withdrew his hand. &quot;This is unhealthy!&quot; he said, with a touch
+of abruptness. &quot;You must be highly magnetic. Your organism is
+'sensitive,' and that's why you experience things that I don't.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, why did you break the spell?&quot; cried <a name="Page_203" id="Page_203"></a>Austin, regretfully. &quot;What
+harm could it have done you? You said yourself just now that nothing
+happens that isn't natural. And this is natural enough, if one could
+only understand the way it works.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Many things are natural that are not desirable,&quot; returned St Aubyn,
+walking up and down. &quot;It's quite natural for people to go to sea, but
+it makes some of them sea-sick, nevertheless, and they had better stay
+on shore. It's all a matter of temperament, I suppose, and what is
+pleasant for you is something that my own instincts warn me very
+carefully to avoid.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Austin drew his handkerchief across his eyes, as though beginning to
+come back to the realities of life. &quot;I daresay,&quot; he said, vaguely.
+&quot;But it's very restful here. The air seems to make me sleepy. I almost
+think&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>At this point a servant appeared at the other end of the hall, and St
+Aubyn went to see what he wanted. The next moment he returned, with
+quickened steps.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come away with you&mdash;you and your spooks!&quot; he cried, cheerfully,
+taking Austin by the arm. &quot;Here's an old aunt of mine suddenly dropped
+from the skies, and clamouring for a cup of tea. <a name="Page_204" id="Page_204"></a>We must go in and
+entertain her. She's all by herself in the library.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I shall be very glad,&quot; said Austin. &quot;You go on first, and I'll be
+with you in two minutes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So St Aubyn strode off to welcome his elderly relative, and when
+Austin came into the room he found his friend stooping over a very
+small, very dowdy old lady dressed in rusty black silk, with a large
+bonnet rather on one side, who was standing on tiptoe, the better to
+peck at St Aubyn's cheek by way of a salute. She had small, twinkling
+eyes, a wrinkled face, and the very honestest wig that Austin had ever
+seen; and yet there was an air and a style about the old body which
+somehow belied her quaint appearance, and suggested the idea that she
+was something more than the insignificant little creature that she
+looked at first sight. And so in fact she was, being no less a
+personage than the Dowager-Countess of Merthyr Tydvil, and a very
+great lady indeed.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But, my dear aunt, why did you never let me know that I might expect
+you?&quot; St Aubyn was saying as Austin entered. &quot;I might have been miles
+away, and you'd have had all your journey for nothing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_205" id="Page_205"></a>My dear, I'm staying with the people at Cleeve Castle, and I thought
+I'd just give 'em the slip for an hour or two and take you by
+surprise,&quot; answered the old lady as she sat down. &quot;No, you needn't
+ring&mdash;I ordered tea as soon as I came in. They just bore me out of my
+life, you see, and they've got a pack o' riffraff staying with 'em
+that I don't know how to sit in the same room with. But who's your
+young friend over there? Why don't you introduce him?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I beg your pardon!&quot; said St Aubyn. &quot;Mr Austin Trevor, a near
+neighbour of mine. Austin, my aunt, Lady Merthyr Tydvil.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why, of course I know now,&quot; said the old lady, nodding briskly. &quot;So
+you're Austin, are you? Roger was telling me about you not three weeks
+ago. Well, Austin, I like the looks of you, and that's more than I can
+say of most people, I can tell you. How long have you been living
+hereabouts?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ever since I can remember,&quot; Austin said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Roger, do touch the bell, there's a good creature,&quot; said Lady Merthyr
+Tydvil. &quot;That man of yours must be growing the tea-plants, I should
+think. Ah, here he is. I'm gasping for something to drink. Did the
+water boil, Richards? You're sure? How many spoonfuls <a name="Page_206" id="Page_206"></a>of tea did you
+put in? H'm! Well, never mind now. I shall be better directly. What
+are those? Oh&mdash;Nebuchadnezzar sandwiches. Very good. That's all we
+want, I think.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She dismissed the man with a gesture as though the house belonged to
+her, while St Aubyn looked on, amused.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I thought I should never get here,&quot; she continued. &quot;The driver was a
+perfect imbecile, my dear&mdash;didn't know the country a bit. And it's not
+more than seven miles, you know, if it's as much. I was sure the
+wretch was going wrong, and if I hadn't insisted on pulling him up and
+asking a respectable-looking body where the house was I believe we
+should have been wandering about the next shire at this moment. I've
+no patience with such fools.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And how long are you staying at Cleeve?&quot; asked St Aubyn, supplying
+her with sandwiches.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I've been there nearly a week already, and the trouble lasts three
+days more,&quot; replied his aunt, as she munched away. &quot;The Duke's a fool,
+and she's worse. Haven't the ghost of an idea, either of 'em, how to
+mix people, you know. And what with their horrible charades, and their
+nonsensical round games, and their everlasting bridge, I'm pretty well
+at the end of my <a name="Page_207" id="Page_207"></a>tether. Never was among such a beef-witted set of
+addlepates since I was born. The only man among 'em who isn't a
+hopeless booby's a Socialist, and he's been twice in gaol for inciting
+honest folks not to pay their taxes. Oh, they're a precious lot, I
+promise you. I don't know what we're coming to, I'm sure.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But it's so easy not to do things,&quot; observed St Aubyn, lazily. &quot;Why
+on earth do you go there? I wouldn't, I know that.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why does anybody do anything?&quot; retorted the old lady. &quot;We can't all
+stay at home and write books that nobody reads, as you do.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Austin looked up enquiringly. He had no idea that St Aubyn was an
+author, and said so.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What, you didn't know that Roger wrote books?&quot; said the old lady,
+turning to him. &quot;Oh yes, he does, my dear, and very fine books
+too&mdash;only they're miles above the comprehension of stupid old women
+like me. Probably you've not a notion what a learned person he really
+is. I don't even know the names of the things he writes of.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And you never told me!&quot; said Austin to his friend. &quot;But you'll have
+to lend me some of your books now, you know. I'm dying to know what
+they're all about.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_208" id="Page_208"></a>They're chiefly about antiquities,&quot; responded St Aubyn; &quot;early
+Peruvian, Mexican, Egyptian, and so on. You're perfectly welcome to
+read them all if you care to. They're not at all deep, whatever my
+aunt may say.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>During this brief interchange of remarks, Lady Merthyr Tydvil had been
+gazing rather fixedly at Austin, with her head on one side like an
+enquiring old bird, and a puzzled expression on her face.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The most curious likeness!&quot; she exclaimed. &quot;Now, how is it that your
+face seems so familiar to me, I wonder? I've certainly never seen you
+anywhere before, and yet&mdash;and yet&mdash;who <i>is</i> it you remind me of, for
+goodness' sake?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I wish I could tell you,&quot; replied Austin, laughing. &quot;Likenesses are
+often quite accidental, and it may be&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Stuff and nonsense, my dear,&quot; interrupted the old lady, brusquely.
+&quot;There's nothing accidental about this. You're the living image of
+somebody, but who it is I can't for the life of me imagine. What do
+you say your name is?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My surname, you mean?&mdash;Trevor,&quot; replied Austin, beginning to be
+rather interested.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Trevor!&quot; cried Lady Merthyr Tydvil, her <a name="Page_209" id="Page_209"></a>voice rising almost to a
+squeak. &quot;No relation to Geoffrey Trevor who was in the 16th Lancers?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He was my father,&quot; said Austin, much surprised.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why, my dear, my dear, he was a <i>great</i> friend of mine!&quot; exclaimed
+the old lady, raising both her hands. &quot;I knew him twenty years ago and
+more, and was fonder of him than I ever let out to anybody. Of course
+it doesn't matter a bit now, but I always told him that if I'd been a
+single woman, and a quarter of a century younger, I'd have married him
+out of hand. That was a standing joke between us, for I was old enough
+to be his mother, and he was already engaged&mdash;ah, and a sweet pretty
+creature she was, too, and I don't wonder he fell in love with her. So
+you are Geoffrey's son! I can scarcely believe it, even now. But it's
+your mother you take after, not Geoffrey. She was a Miss&mdash;Miss&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Her maiden name was Waterfield,&quot; interpolated Austin.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;So it was, so it was!&quot; assented the old lady, eagerly. &quot;What a memory
+you've got, to be sure. One of Sir Philip Waterfield's daughters, down
+in Leicestershire. And her other name was Dorothea. Why, I remember it
+all now as though it had happened yesterday. Your father made <a name="Page_210" id="Page_210"></a>me his
+confidante all through; such a state as he was in you never saw,
+wondering whether she'd have him, never able to screw up his courage
+to ask her, now all down in the dumps and the next day halfway up to
+the moon. Well, of course they were married at last, and then I
+somehow lost sight of them. They went abroad, I think, and when they
+came back they settled in some place on the other side of nowhere and
+I never saw them again. And you are their son Austin!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Interested as he was in these reminiscences, Austin could not help
+being struck with the wonderful grace of this curious old lady's
+gestures. In spite of her skimpy dress and antiquated bonnet, she was,
+he thought, the most exquisitely-bred old woman he had ever seen.
+Every movement was a charm, and he watched her, as she spoke, with
+growing fascination and delight.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is quite marvellous to think you knew my parents,&quot; he said in
+reply, &quot;while I have no recollection of either of them. My mother died
+when I was born, and my father a year or two later. What was my mother
+like? Did you know her well?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She was a delicate-looking creature, with a <a name="Page_211" id="Page_211"></a>pale face and dark-grey
+eyes,&quot; answered the old lady, &quot;and you put me in mind of her very
+strongly. I didn't know her very well, but I remember your father
+bringing her to call on me when they were first engaged, and a
+wonderfully handsome couple they were. No doubt they were very happy,
+but their lives were cut short, as so often happens, leaving a lot of
+stupid people alive that the world could well dispense with. But I see
+you've lost one of your legs! How did that come about, I should like
+to know?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh&mdash;something went wrong with the bone, and it had to be cut off,&quot;
+said Austin, rather vaguely.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dear, dear, what a pity,&quot; was the old lady's comment. &quot;And are you
+very sorry for yourself?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not in the least,&quot; said Austin, smiling brightly. &quot;I've got quite
+fond of my new one.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You're quite a philosopher, I see,&quot; said the old lady, nodding; &quot;as
+great a philosopher as the fox who couldn't reach the grapes, and he
+was one of the wisest who ever lived. And now I think I'll have
+another cup of tea, Roger, if there's any left. Give me two lumps of
+sugar, and just enough cream to swear by.&quot;</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212"></a>The conversation now became more general, and Austin, thinking that
+the countess would like to be alone with her nephew for a few minutes
+before returning to the Castle, watched for an opportunity of taking
+leave. He soon rose, and said he must be going home. The old lady
+shook hands with him in the most cordial manner, telling him that in
+no case must he ever forget his mother&mdash;oblivious, apparently, of the
+fact that by no earthly possibility could he remember her; and St
+Aubyn accompanied him to the door. &quot;You've quite won her heart,&quot; he
+said, laughingly, as he bade the boy farewell. &quot;If she was ever in
+love with your father, she seems to have transferred her affections to
+you. Good-bye&mdash;and don't let it be too long before you come again.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Austin brandished his leg with more than usual haughtiness as he
+thudded his way home along the road. He always gave it a sort of
+additional swing when he was excited or pleased, and on this
+particular occasion his gait was almost defiant. It must be confessed
+that, never having known either of his parents, he had not hitherto
+thought much about them. There was one small and much-faded photograph
+of his father, which Aunt Charlotte kept locked up in a drawer, but
+<a name="Page_213" id="Page_213"></a>of his mother there was no likeness at all, and he had no idea
+whatever of her appearance. But now he began to feel more interest in
+them, and a sense of longing, not unmixed with curiosity, took
+possession of him. What sort of a woman, he wondered, could that
+unknown mother have been? Well, physically he was himself like her&mdash;so
+Lady Merthyr Tydvil had said; and so much like her that it was through
+that very resemblance that all these interesting discoveries had been
+made. Then his thoughts reverted to what Aunt Charlotte had told him
+about his mother's dying words, and how bitterly she had grieved at
+not living to bring him up herself. And yet she was still
+alive&mdash;somewhere&mdash;though in a world removed. Of course he couldn't
+remember her, having never seen her, <i>but she had not forgotten
+him</i>&mdash;of that he felt convinced. That was a curious reflection. His
+mother was alive, and mindful of him. He could not prove it,
+naturally, but he knew it all the same. He realised it as though by
+instinct. And who could tell how near she might be to him? Distance,
+after all, is not necessarily a matter of miles. One may be only a few
+inches from another person, and yet if those inches are occupied by an
+impenetrable wall of solid steel, the two will be <a name="Page_214" id="Page_214"></a>as much separated
+as though an ocean rolled between them. On the other hand, Austin had
+read of cases in which two friends were actually on the opposite sides
+of an ocean, and yet, through some mysterious channel, were sometimes
+conscious, in a sub-conscious way, of each other's thoughts and
+circumstances. Perhaps his mother could even see him, although he
+could not see her. It was all a very fascinating puzzle, but there was
+some truth underlying it somewhere, if he could only find it out.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="Chapter_the_Tenth" id="Chapter_the_Tenth"></a><hr />
+<br />
+<h2><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215"></a>Chapter the Tenth<span class="totoc"><a class="noline" href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2>
+<br />
+
+<p>Austin returned in plenty of time to spend a few minutes loitering in
+the garden after he had dressed for dinner. It was a favourite habit
+of his, and he said it gave him an appetite; but the truth was that he
+always loved to be in the open air to the very last moment of the day,
+watching the colours of the sky as they changed and melted into
+twilight. On this particular evening the heavens were streaked with
+primrose, and pale iris, and delicate limpid green; and so absorbed
+was he in gazing at this splendour of dissolving beauty that he forgot
+all about his appetite, and had to be called twice over before he
+could drag himself away.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, and did you have an interesting visit?&quot; asked Aunt Charlotte,
+when dinner was halfway through. &quot;You found Mr St Aubyn at home?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Austin had been unusually silent up till then, <a name="Page_216" id="Page_216"></a>being somewhat
+preoccupied with the experiences of the afternoon. He wanted to ask
+his aunt all manner of questions, but scarcely liked to do so as long
+as the servant was waiting. But now he could hold out no longer.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes&mdash;even more interesting than I hoped,&quot; he answered. &quot;I had plenty
+of delightful chat with St Aubyn, and then a visitor came in. It's
+that that I want to talk about.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A visitor, eh?&quot; said Aunt Charlotte, her attention quickening. &quot;What
+sort of a visitor? A lady?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, an old lady,&quot; replied Austin, &quot;who&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Did she come in an open fly?&quot; pursued Aunt Charlotte, helping herself
+to sauce.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why, how did you know? I believe she did,&quot; said Austin. &quot;She had
+driven over from Cleeve.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, then, I must have seen her,&quot; said Aunt Charlotte. &quot;A
+queer-looking old person in a great bonnet. I happened to be walking
+through the village, and she stopped the fly to ask me the way to the
+Court, and I remember wondering who she could possibly be. I suppose
+it was she whom you met there.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What, was it <i>you</i> she asked?&quot; exclaimed Austin, opening his eyes.
+&quot;She told us the driver <a name="Page_217" id="Page_217"></a>didn't know the way, and that she'd
+enquired&mdash;oh dear, oh dear, how funny!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What's funny?&quot; demanded Aunt Charlotte, abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, never mind, I can't tell you, and it doesn't matter in the
+least,&quot; said Austin, beginning to giggle. &quot;Only I shouldn't have known
+it was you from her description.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Why, what did she say?&quot; Aunt Charlotte was getting suspicious.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My dear auntie, she didn't know who you were, of course,&quot; replied
+Austin, &quot;and she bore high testimony to the respectability of your
+appearance, that's all. Only it's so funny to think it was you. It
+never occurred to me for a moment.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What did she <i>say</i>, Austin?&quot; repeated Aunt Charlotte, sternly. &quot;I
+insist upon knowing her exact words. Of course it doesn't really
+matter what a poor old thing like that may have said, but I always
+like to be precise, and it's just as well to know how one strikes a
+stranger. It wasn't anything rude, I hope, for I'm sure I answered her
+quite kindly.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The servant was out of the room. &quot;No, auntie, I don't think it was
+rude, but it was so comic&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_218" id="Page_218"></a>Do stop giggling, and tell me what it was,&quot; interrupted Aunt
+Charlotte, impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, she only said you were a respectable-looking body,&quot; replied
+Austin, as gravely as he could. &quot;And so you are, you know, auntie,
+though, perhaps, if I had to describe you I should put it in rather
+different words. I'm sure she meant it as a compliment.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Upon my word, I feel extremely flattered!&quot; exclaimed Aunt Charlotte,
+reddening. &quot;A respectable-looking body, indeed! Well, it's something
+to know I look respectable. And who was this very patronising old
+person, pray? Some old nurse or other, I should say, to judge by her
+appearance.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She was the Countess of Merthyr Tydvil, St Aubyn's aunt,&quot; said
+Austin, enjoying the joke.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The Countess of Merthyr Tydvil!&quot; echoed Aunt Charlotte, amazed.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And she's staying with the Duke at Cleeve Castle,&quot; added Austin. &quot;But
+that's not the point. Just fancy, auntie, she actually knew my father!
+She knew him before he was married, and they were tremendous friends.
+It all came out because she said I was so like somebody, and she
+couldn't think who it could be, and then she <a name="Page_219" id="Page_219"></a>asked what my surname
+was, and so on, till we found out all about it. Wasn't it curious? Did
+you ever hear of her before?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Indeed I never knew of her existence till this moment,&quot; answered Aunt
+Charlotte, beginning to get interested. &quot;Your father had any number of
+friends, and of course we didn't know them all. Well, it is curious, I
+must say. But she didn't say you were like your father, did she?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No&mdash;my mother,&quot; replied Austin. &quot;She didn't know her much, but she
+remembers her very well. She said she was a very lovely person, too.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Your father was good-looking in a way,&quot; said Aunt Charlotte, falling
+into a reminiscent mood, &quot;but not in the least like you. He used to go
+a great deal into society, and no doubt it was there he met this Lady
+Merthyr Tydvil, and any number of others. Did she tell you anything
+about him&mdash;anything, I mean, that you didn't know before?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, I don't think she did, except that she was very fond of him and
+would like to have married him herself. But as she was married
+already, and he was engaged to somebody else, of course it was too
+late.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_220" id="Page_220"></a>What! She told you that?&quot; cried Aunt Charlotte, scandalized. &quot;What a
+shameless old hussy she must be!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not a bit of it,&quot; retorted Austin. &quot;She's a sweet old woman, and I
+love her very much. Besides, she only meant it in fun.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Fun, indeed!&quot; sniffed Aunt Charlotte, primly. &quot;She may call me a
+respectable-looking body as much as she likes now. It's more than I
+can say for her.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Auntie, you <i>are</i> an old goose!&quot; exclaimed Austin, with a burst of
+laughter. &quot;You never could see a joke. She called you a
+respectable-looking body, and you called her a queer old woman like a
+nurse. Now you say she's a shameless old hussy, and so, on the whole,
+I think you've won the match.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Charlotte relapsed into silence, and did not speak again until
+the dessert had been brought in. Austin helped himself to a plateful
+of black cherries, while his aunt toyed with a peach. At last she
+said, in rather a hesitating tone:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, you've told me your adventures, so there's an end of that. But
+I've had a little adventure of my own this afternoon; though whether
+it would interest you to hear it&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_221" id="Page_221"></a>Oh, do tell me!&quot; said Austin, eagerly. &quot;An adventure&mdash;you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I'm not sure whether adventure is quite the correct expression,&quot;
+replied Aunt Charlotte, &quot;and I don't quite know how to begin. You see,
+my dear Austin, that you are very young.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It isn't anything improper, is it?&quot; asked Austin, innocently.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If you say such things as that I won't utter another word,&quot; rejoined
+his aunt. &quot;I simply state the fact&mdash;that you are very young.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And I hope I shall always remain so,&quot; Austin said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That being the case,&quot; resumed his aunt, impressively, &quot;a great many
+things happened long before you were born.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I've never doubted that for a moment, even in my most sceptical
+moods,&quot; Austin assured her seriously.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, I once knew a gentleman,&quot; continued Aunt Charlotte, &quot;of whom I
+used to see a great deal. Indeed I had reasons for believing that&mdash;the
+gentleman&mdash;rather appreciated my&mdash;conversation. Perhaps I was a little
+more sprightly in those days than I am now. Anyhow, he paid me
+considerable attention&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_222" id="Page_222"></a>Oh!&quot; cried Austin, opening his eyes as wide as they would go. &quot;Oh,
+auntie!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Of course things never went any further,&quot; said Aunt Charlotte,
+&quot;though I don't know what might have happened had it not been that I
+gave him no encouragement whatever.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But why didn't you? What was he like? Tell me all about him!&quot;
+interrupted Austin, excitedly. &quot;Was he a soldier, like father? I'm
+sure he was&mdash;a beautiful soldier in the Blues, whatever the Blues may
+be, with a grand uniform and clanking spurs. That's the sort of man
+that would have captivated you, auntie. Was he wounded? Had he a
+wooden leg? Oh, go on, go on! I'm dying to hear all about it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That he had a uniform is possible, though I never saw him wear one,
+and it may have been blue for anything I know; but that wouldn't imply
+that he was in the Blues,&quot; replied his aunt, sedately. &quot;No; the
+strange thing was that he suddenly went abroad, and for
+five-and-twenty years I never heard of him. And now he has written me
+a letter.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A letter!&quot; cried Austin. &quot;This <i>is</i> an adventure, and no mistake. But
+go on, go on.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I never was more astounded in my life,&quot; <a name="Page_223" id="Page_223"></a>resumed his aunt. &quot;A letter
+came from him this afternoon. He recalls himself to my remembrance,
+and says&mdash;this is the most singular part&mdash;that he was actually staying
+quite close to here only a short time ago, but had no idea that I was
+living here. Had he known it he would most certainly have called, but
+as he has only just discovered it, quite accidentally, he says he
+shall make a point of coming down again, when he hopes he may be
+permitted to renew our old acquaintance.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Now look here, auntie,&quot; said Austin, sitting bolt upright. &quot;Let him
+call, by all means, and see how well you look after being deserted for
+five-and-twenty years; but I don't want a step-uncle, and you are not
+to give me one. Fancy me with an Uncle Charlotte! That wouldn't do,
+you know. You won't give me a step-uncle, will you? Please!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Don't be absurd, my dear; and do, for goodness' sake, keep that
+dreadful leg of yours quiet if you can. It always gives me the jumps
+when you go on jerking it about like that. Of course I should never
+dream of marrying now; but I confess I do feel a little curious to see
+what my old friend looks like after all these years&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_224" id="Page_224"></a>Your old admirer, you mean,&quot; interpolated Austin. &quot;To think of your
+having had a romance! You can't throw stones at Lady Merthyr Tydvil
+now, you know. I believe you're a regular flirt, auntie, I do indeed.
+This poor young man now; you say he disappeared, but <i>I</i> believe you
+simply drove him away in despair by your cruelty. Were you a 'cruel
+maid' like the young women one reads about in poetry-books? Oh,
+auntie, auntie, I shall never have faith in you again.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You're a very disrespectful boy, that's what <i>you</i> are,&quot; retorted
+Aunt Charlotte, turning as pink as her ribbons. &quot;The gentleman we're
+speaking of must be quite elderly, several years older than I am, and,
+for all I know, he may have a wife and half-a-dozen grown-up children
+by this time. You let your tongue wag a very great deal too fast, I
+can tell you, Austin.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But what's his name?&quot; asked Austin, not in the least abashed. &quot;We
+can't go on for ever referring to him as 'the gentleman,' as though
+there were no other gentlemen in the world, can we now?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;His name is Ogilvie&mdash;Mr Granville Ogilvie,&quot; replied his aunt. &quot;He
+belongs to a very fine old family in the north. There have been
+Ogilvies <a name="Page_225" id="Page_225"></a>distinguished in many ways&mdash;in literature, in the services,
+and in politics. But there was always a mystery about Granville,
+somehow. However, I expect he'll be calling here in a few days, and
+then, no doubt, your curiosity will be gratified.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, I know what he'll be like,&quot; said Austin. &quot;A lean, brown
+traveller, with his face tanned by tropic suns and Arctic snows to the
+colour of an old saddle-bag. His hair, of course, prematurely grey. On
+his right cheek there'll be a lovely bright-blue scar, where a
+charming tiger scratched him just before he killed it with unerring
+aim. I know the sort of person exactly. And now he comes to say that
+he lays his battered, weather-worn old carcase at the feet of the
+cruel maid who spurned it when it was young and strong and beautiful.
+And the cruel maid, now in the full bloom of placid maternity&mdash;I mean
+maturity&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hold your tongue or I'll pull your ears!&quot; exclaimed Aunt Charlotte,
+scarlet with confusion. &quot;You'll make me sorry I ever said anything to
+you on the subject. Mr Ogilvie, as far as I can judge from his letter,
+is a most polished gentleman. There's a quaint, old-world courtesy
+about him which one scarcely ever meets with at the <a name="Page_226" id="Page_226"></a>present day. Just
+remember, if you please, that we're simply two old friends, who are
+going to meet again after having lost sight of each other for
+five-and-twenty years; and what there is to laugh about in that I
+entirely fail to see.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dear auntie, I won't laugh any more, I promise you,&quot; said Austin.
+&quot;I'm sure he'll turn out a most courtly old personage, and perhaps
+he'll have an enormous fortune that he made by shaking pagoda-trees in
+India. How do pagodas grow on trees, I wonder? I always thought a
+pagoda was a sort of odalisque&mdash;isn't that right? Oh, I mean
+obelisk&mdash;with beautiful flounces all the way up to the top. It seems a
+funny way of making money, doesn't it. Where is India, by the bye?
+Anywhere near Peru?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Your ignorance is positively disgraceful, Austin,&quot; said Aunt
+Charlotte, with great severity. &quot;I only hope you won't talk like that
+in the presence of Mr Ogilvie. I expect you're right in surmising that
+he's been a great traveller, for he says himself that he has led a
+very wandering, restless life, and he would be shocked to think I had
+a nephew who didn't know how to find India upon the map. There, you've
+had quite as many cherries as are good for you, I'm <a name="Page_227" id="Page_227"></a>sure. Let us go
+and see if it's dry enough to have our coffee on the lawn, while
+Martha clears away.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Now although Austin was intensely tickled at the idea of Aunt Charlotte
+having had a love-affair, and a love-affair that appeared to threaten
+renewal, the fact was that he really felt just a little anxious. Not
+that he believed for a moment that she would be such a goose as to
+marry, at her age; that, he assured himself, was impossible. But it is
+often the very things we tell ourselves are impossible that we fear the
+most, and Austin, in spite of his curiosity to see his aunt's old flame,
+looked forward to his arrival with just a little apprehension. For some
+reason or other, he considered himself partly responsible for Aunt
+Charlotte. The poor lady had so many limitations, she was so hopelessly
+impervious to a joke, her views were so stereotyped and conventional&mdash;in
+a word, she was so terribly Early Victorian, that there was no knowing
+how she might be taken in and done for if he did not look after her a
+bit. But how to do it was the difficulty. Certainly he could not prevent
+the elderly swain from calling, and, of course, it would be only proper
+that he himself should be absent when the two first came together. A
+<i>t&ecirc;te-&agrave;-t&ecirc;te</i> <a name="Page_228" id="Page_228"></a>between them was inevitable, and was not likely to be
+decisive. But, this once over, he would appear upon the scene, take
+stock of the aspirant, and shape his policy accordingly. What sort of a
+man, he wondered, could Mr Ogilvie be? He had actually passed through
+the town not so very long ago; but then so had hundreds of strangers,
+and Austin had never noticed anyone in particular&mdash;certainly no one who
+was in the least likely to be the gentleman in question. There was
+nothing to be done, meanwhile, then, but to wait and watch. Perhaps the
+gentleman would not want to marry Aunt Charlotte after all. Perhaps, as
+she herself had suggested, he had a wife and family already. Neither of
+them knew anything at all about him. He might be a battered old
+traveller, or an Anglo-Indian nabob, or a needy haunter of Continental
+pensions, or a convict just emerged from a term of penal servitude. He
+might be as rich as Midas, or as poor as a church-mouse. But on one
+thing Austin was determined&mdash;Aunt Charlotte must be saved from herself,
+if necessary. They wanted no interloper in their peaceful home. And he,
+Austin, would go forth into the world, wooden leg and all, rather than
+submit to be saddled with a step-uncle.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229"></a>As for Aunt Charlotte, she, too, deemed it beyond the dreams of
+possibility that she would ever marry. In fact, it was only Austin's
+nonsense that had put so ridiculous a notion into her head. It was
+true that, in the years gone by, the attentions of young Granville
+Ogilvie had occasioned her heart a flutter. Perhaps some faint,
+far-off reverberation of that flutter was making itself felt in her
+heart now. It is so, no doubt, with many maiden ladies when they look
+back upon the past. But if she had ever felt a little sore at her
+sudden abandonment by the mercurial young man who had once touched her
+fancy, the tiny scratch had healed and been forgotten long ago. At the
+same time, although the idea of marriage after five-and-twenty years
+was too absurd to be dwelt on for a moment, the worthy lady could not
+help feeling how delightful it would be to be <i>asked</i>. Of course, that
+would involve the extremely painful process of refusing; and Aunt
+Charlotte, in spite of her rough tongue, was a merciful woman, and
+never willingly inflicted suffering upon anybody. Even blackbeetles,
+as she often told herself, were God's creatures, and Mr Ogilvie,
+although he had deserted her, no doubt had finer sensibilities than a
+blackbeetle. So she did not wish to hurt him <a name="Page_230" id="Page_230"></a>if she could avoid it;
+still, a proposal of marriage at the age of forty-seven would be
+rather a feather in her cap, and she was too true a woman to be
+indifferent to that coveted decoration. But then, once more, it was
+quite possible that he would not propose at all.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning Austin put on his straw hat, and went and sat down by
+the old stone fountain in the full blaze of the sun, as was his
+custom. Lubin was somewhere in the shrubbery, and, unaware that anyone
+was within hearing, was warbling lustily to himself. Austin
+immediately pricked up his ears, for he had had no idea that Lubin was
+a vocalist. Away he carolled blithely enough, in a rough but not
+unmusical voice, and Austin was just able to catch some of the words
+of the quaint old west-country ballad that he was singing.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Welcome to town, Tom Dove, Tom Dove,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The merriest man alive,<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;Thy company still we love, we love,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">God grant thee still to thrive.<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;And never will we, depart from thee,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For better or worse, my joy!<br /></span>
+<span>&nbsp;For thou shalt still, have our good will,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">God's blessing on my sweet boy.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>&quot;Bravo, Lubin!&quot; cried Austin, clapping his hands. &quot;You do sing
+beautifully. And what <a name="Page_231" id="Page_231"></a>a delightful old song! Where did you pick it
+up?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Eh, Master Austin,&quot; said Lubin, emerging from among the
+rhododendrons, &quot;if I'd known you was a-listening I'd 'a faked up
+something from a French opera for you. Why, that's an old song as I've
+known ever since I was that high&mdash;'Tom of Exeter' they calls it. It's
+a rare favourite wi' the maids down in the parts I come from.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Shows their good taste,&quot; said Austin. &quot;It's awfully pretty. Who was
+Tom Dove, and why did he come to town?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay, I can't tell,&quot; replied Lubin. &quot;Tis some made-up tale, I doubt.
+They do say as how he was a tailor. But there is folks as'll say
+anything, you know.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A tailor!&quot; exclaimed Austin, scornfully, &quot;That I'm sure he wasn't.
+But oh, Lubin, there <i>is</i> somebody coming to town in a day or
+two&mdash;somebody I want to find out about. Do you often go into the
+town?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Eh, well, just o' times; when there's anything to take me there,&quot;
+answered Lubin, vaguely. &quot;On market-days, every now and again.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh yes, I know, when you go and sell <a name="Page_232" id="Page_232"></a>ducks,&quot; put in Austin. &quot;Now
+what I want to know is this. Have you, within the last three or four
+weeks, seen a stranger anywhere about?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A stranger?&quot; repeated Lubin. &quot;Ay, that I certainly have. Any amount
+o' strangers.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh well, yes, of course, how stupid of me!&quot; exclaimed Austin,
+impatiently. &quot;There must have been scores and scores. But I mean a
+particular stranger&mdash;a certain person in particular, if you understand
+me. Anybody whose appearance struck you in any way.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, but what sort of a stranger?&quot; asked Lubin. &quot;Can't you tell me
+anything about him? What'd he look like, now?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That's just what I want to find out,&quot; replied Austin. &quot;If I could
+describe him I shouldn't want you to. All I know is that he's a sort
+of elderly gentleman, rather more than fifty. He may be fifty-five, or
+getting on for sixty. Now, isn't that near enough? Oh&mdash;and I'm almost
+sure that he's a traveller.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;H'm,&quot; pondered Lubin, leaning on his broom reflectively. &quot;Well, yes,
+I did see a sort of elderly gentleman some three or four weeks ago,
+standing at the bar o' the 'Coach-and-Horses.' What his age might be I
+couldn't exactly say, <a name="Page_233" id="Page_233"></a>'cause he was having a drink with his back
+turned to the door. But he was a traveller, that I know.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;A traveller? I wonder whether that was the one!&quot; exclaimed Austin.
+&quot;Had he a dark-brown face? Or a wooden leg? Or a scar down one of his
+cheeks?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Not as I see,&quot; answered Lubin, beginning to sweep the lawn. &quot;But a
+traveller he was, because the barmaid told me so. Travelled all over
+the country in bonnets.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Travelled in bonnets?&quot; cried Austin. &quot;What <i>do</i> you mean, Lubin? How
+can a man go travelling about the country in a bonnet? Had he a bonnet
+on when you saw him drinking in the bar?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Lor', Master Austin, wherever was you brought up?&quot; exclaimed Lubin,
+in grave amazement at the youth's ignorance. &quot;When a gentleman
+'travels' in anything, it means he goes about getting orders for it.
+Now this here gentleman was agent, I take it, for some big millinery
+shop in London, and come down here wi' boxes an' boxes o' bonnets, an'
+tokes, and all sorts o' female headgear as women goes about in&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;In short, he was a commercial traveller,&quot; <a name="Page_234" id="Page_234"></a>said Austin, very mildly.
+&quot;You see, my dear Lubin, we have been talking of different things. I
+wasn't thinking of a gentleman who hawks haberdashery. When I said
+traveller, I meant a man who goes tramping across Africa, and shoots
+elephants, and gets snowed up at the North Pole, and has all sorts of
+uncomfortable and quite incredible adventures. They always have faces
+as brown as an old trunk, and generally limp when they walk. That's
+the sort of person I'm looking out for. You haven't seen anyone like
+that, have you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay&mdash;nary a one,&quot; said Lubin, shaking his head. &quot;Would he have been
+putting up at one o' the inns, now, or staying long wi' some o' the
+gentry?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I haven't the slightest idea,&quot; acknowledged Austin.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Might as well go about looking for a ram wi' five feet,&quot; remarked
+Lubin. &quot;Some things you can't find 'cause they don't exist, and other
+things you can't find 'cause there's too many of 'em. And as you don't
+know nothing about this gentleman, and wouldn't know him if you met
+him in the street permiscuous, I take it you'll have to wait to see
+what he looks like till he turns up again of his own accord. 'Tain't
+in reason as <a name="Page_235" id="Page_235"></a>you can go up to every old gentleman with a brown face
+as you never see before an' ask him if he's ever been snowed up at the
+North Pole and why he hasn't got a wooden leg. He'd think, as likely
+as not, as you was trying to get a rise out of him. Don't you know
+what the name may be, neither?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh yes, I do, of course,&quot; responded Austin. &quot;He's a Mr Ogilvie.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Never heard of 'im,&quot; said Lubin. &quot;Might find out at one o' the inns
+if any party o' that name's been staying there, but I doubt they
+wouldn't remember. Folks don't generally stay more'n one night, you
+see, just to have a look at the old market-place and the church, and
+then off they go next morning and don't leave no addresses. Th' only
+sort as stays a day or two are the artists, and they'll stay painting
+here for more'n a week at a time. It may 'a been one o' them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I wonder!&quot; exclaimed Austin, struck by the idea. &quot;Perhaps he's an
+artist, after all; artists do travel, I know. I never thought of that.
+However, it doesn't matter. It's only some old friend of Aunt
+Charlotte's, and he's coming to call on her soon, so it isn't worth
+bothering about meanwhile.&quot;</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236"></a>He therefore dismissed the matter from his mind, and set about the far
+more profitable employment of fortifying himself by a morning's
+devotion to garden-craft, both manual and mental, against the
+martyrdom (as he called it) that he was to undergo that afternoon. For
+Aunt Charlotte had insisted on his accompanying her to tea at the
+vicarage, and this was a function he detested with all his heart. He
+never knew whom he might meet there, and always went in fear of
+Cobbledicks, MacTavishes, and others of the same sort. The vicar
+himself he did not mind so much&mdash;the vicar was not a bad little thing
+in his way; but Mrs Sheepshanks, with her patronising disapproval and
+affected airs of smartness, he couldn't endure, while the Socialistic
+curate was his aversion. The reason he hated the curate was partly
+because he always wore black knickerbockers, and partly because he was
+such chums with the MacTavish boys. How any self-respecting individual
+could put up with such savages as Jock and Sandy was a problem that
+Austin was wholly unable to solve, until it was suggested to him by
+somebody that the real attraction was neither Jock nor Sandy, but one
+of their screaming sisters&mdash;a Florrie, or a Lottie, or an Aggie&mdash;it
+really did not matter which, since <a name="Page_237" id="Page_237"></a>they were all alike. When this
+once dawned upon him, Austin despised the knickerbockered curate more
+than ever.</p>
+
+<p>On the present occasion, however, the MacTavishes were happily not
+there; the only other guest (for of course the curate didn't count)
+being a friend of the curate's, who had come to spend a few days with
+him in the country. The friend was a harsh-featured, swarthy young
+man, belonging to what may be called the muscular variety of high
+Ritualism; much given to a sort of aggressive slang&mdash;he had been known
+to refer to the bishop of his diocese as &quot;the sporting old jester that
+bosses our show&quot;&mdash;and representing militant sacerdotalism in its most
+blusterous and rampant form. He was also in the habit of informing
+people that he was &quot;nuts&quot; on the Athanasian Creed, and expressing the
+somewhat arbitrary opinion that if the Rev. John Wesley had had his
+deserts he would have been exhibited in a pillory and used as a target
+for stale eggs. There are a few such interesting youths in Holy
+Orders, and the curate's friend was one of them.</p>
+
+<p>The party were assembled in the garden, where Mrs Sheepshanks's best
+tea-service was laid out. To say that the conversation was brilliant
+would <a name="Page_238" id="Page_238"></a>be an exaggeration; but it was pleasant and decorous, as
+conversations at a vicarage ought to be. The two ladies compared notes
+about the weather and the parish; the curate asked Austin what he had
+been doing with himself lately; the friend kept silence, even from
+good words, while the vicar, one of the mildest of his cloth, sat
+blinking in furtive contemplation of the friend. Certainly it was not
+a very exhilarating entertainment, and Austin felt that if it went on
+much longer he should scream. What possible pleasure, he marvelled,
+could Aunt Charlotte find in such a vapid form of dissipation? Even
+the garden irritated him, for it was laid out in the silly Early
+Victorian style, with wriggling paths, and ribbon borders, and shrubs
+planted meaninglessly here and there about the lawn, and a dreadful
+piece of sham rockwork in one corner. Of course the vicar's wife
+thought it quite perfect, and always snubbed Austin in a very lofty
+way if he ever ventured to express his own views as to how a garden
+should be fitly ordered. Then his eye happened to fall upon the
+curate's friend; and he caught the curate's friend in the act of
+staring at him with a most offensive expression of undisguised
+contempt.</p>
+
+<p>Now, Austin was courteous to everyone; but <a name="Page_239" id="Page_239"></a>to anybody he disliked his
+politeness was simply deadly. Of course he took no notice of the young
+parson's tacit insolence; he only longed, as fervently as he knew how
+to long, for an opportunity of being polite to him. And the occasion
+was soon forthcoming. The conversation growing more general by
+degrees, a reference was made by the vicar, in passing, to a certain
+clergyman of profound scholarship and enlightened views, whose
+recently published book upon the prophet Daniel had been painfully
+exercising the minds of the editor and readers of the <i>Church Times</i>;
+and it was then that the curate's friend, without moving a muscle of
+his face, suddenly leaned forward and said, in a rasping voice:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The man's an impostor and a heretic. He ought to be burned. I would
+gladly walk in the procession, singing the 'Te Deum,' and set fire to
+the faggots myself.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1"><sup>[A]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>And there was no doubt he meant it. A dead silence fell upon the
+party. The curate looked horribly annoyed. The ladies exclaimed &quot;Oh!&quot;
+with a little shudder of dismay. The vicar started, fidgeted, and
+blinked more nervously than ever. <a name="Page_240" id="Page_240"></a>Then Austin, with the most charming
+manner in the world, broke the spell.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Really!&quot; he exclaimed, turning towards the speaker, a bright smile of
+interest upon his face. &quot;That's a most delightfully original
+suggestion. May I ask what religion you belong to?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What religion!&quot; scowled the curate's friend, astounded at the
+enquiry.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes&mdash;it must be one I never heard of,&quot; replied Austin, sweetly. &quot;I am
+so awfully ignorant, you know; I know nothing of geography, and
+scarcely anything about the religions of savage countries. Are you a
+Thug?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, Austin!&quot; breathed Aunt Charlotte, faintly.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I always do make such mistakes,&quot; continued Austin, with his most
+engaging air; &quot;I'm so sorry, please forgive me if I'm stupid. I
+forgot, of course Thugs don't burn people alive, they only strangle
+them. Perhaps I'm thinking of the Bosjesmans, or the Andaman
+Islanders, or the aborigines of New Guinea. I do get so mixed up! But
+I've often thought how lovely it would be to meet a cannibal. You
+aren't a cannibal, are you?&quot; he added wistfully.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I'm a priest of the Church of England,&quot; replied the curate's friend,
+with crushing scorn, <a name="Page_241" id="Page_241"></a>though his face was livid. &quot;When you're a little
+older you'll probably understand all that that implies.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Fancy!&quot; exclaimed Austin, with an air of innocent amazement. &quot;I've
+heard of the Church of England, but I quite thought you must belong to
+one of those curious persuasions in Africa, isn't it&mdash;or is it
+Borneo?&mdash;where the services consist in skinning people alive and then
+roasting them for dinner. It occurred to me that you might have gone
+there as a missionary, and that the savages had converted you instead
+of you converting the savages. I'm sure I beg your pardon. And have
+you ever set fire to a bishop?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Austin! Austin!&quot; came still more faintly from Aunt Charlotte.</p>
+
+<p>The vicar, scandalised at first, was now in convulsions of silent
+laughter. Mrs Sheepshanks's parasol was lowered in a most suspicious
+manner, so as completely to hide her face; while the unfortunate
+curate, with his head almost between his knees, was working havoc in
+the vicarage lawn with the point of a heavy walking-stick. The only
+person who seemed perfectly at his ease was Austin, and he was
+enjoying himself hugely. Then the vicar, feeling it incumbent <a name="Page_242" id="Page_242"></a>upon
+him, as host, to say something to relieve the strain, attempted to
+pull himself together.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My dear boy,&quot; he said, in rather a quavering voice, &quot;you may be
+perfectly sure that our valued guest has no sympathy with any of the
+barbarous religions you allude to, but is a most loyal member of the
+Church of England; and that when he said he would like to 'burn' a
+brother clergyman&mdash;one of the greatest Talmudists and Hebrew scholars
+now alive&mdash;it was only his humorous way of intimating that he was
+inclined to differ from him on one or two obscure points of historical
+or verbal criticism which&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It was not,&quot; said the curate's friend.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs Sheepshanks immediately turned to Aunt Charlotte, and remarked
+that feather boas were likely to be more than ever in fashion when the
+weather changed; and Aunt Charlotte said she had heard from a most
+authoritative source that pleated corselets were to be the rage that
+autumn. Both ladies then agreed that the days were certainly beginning
+to draw in, and asked the curate if he didn't think so too. The curate
+fumbled in his pocket, and offered Austin a cigarette, and Austin,
+noticing the unconcealed annoyance of the unfortunate young man, who
+<a name="Page_243" id="Page_243"></a>was really not a bad fellow in the main, felt kindly towards him, and
+accepted the cigarette with effusion. The vicar relapsed into silence,
+making no attempt to complete his unfinished sentence; then he stole a
+glance at the saturnine face of the stranger, and from that moment
+became an almost liberal-minded theologian; He had had an
+object-lesson that was to last him all his life, and he never forgot
+it.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, Austin,&quot; said Aunt Charlotte, when they were walking home, a
+few minutes later, &quot;of course you <i>ought</i> to have a severe scolding
+for your behaviour this afternoon; but the fact is, my dear, that on
+this occasion I do not feel inclined to give you one. That man was
+perfectly horrible, and deserved everything he got. I only hope it may
+have done him good. I couldn't have believed such people existed at
+the present day. The most charitable view to take of him is that he
+can scarcely be in his right mind.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;What, because he wanted to burn somebody alive?&quot; said Austin. &quot;Oh,
+that was natural enough. I thought it rather an amusing idea, to tell
+the truth. The reason I went for him was that I caught him making
+faces at me when he thought I wasn't looking. I saw at once that he
+<a name="Page_244" id="Page_244"></a>was a beast, so the instant he gave me an opportunity of settling
+accounts with him I took it. Oh, what a blessing it is to be at home
+again! Dear auntie, let's make a virtuous resolution. We'll neither of
+us go to the vicarage again as long as we both shall live.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He strolled into the garden&mdash;the good garden, with straight walks, and
+clipped hedges, and fair formal shape&mdash;and threw himself down upon a
+long chair. He had already begun to forget the incidents of the
+afternoon. Here was rest, and peace, and beauty. How tired he was! Why
+did he feel so tired? He could not tell. A deep sense of satisfaction
+and repose stole over him. Lubin was there, tidying up, but he did not
+feel any inclination to talk to Lubin or anybody else. He liked
+watching Lubin, however, for Lubin was part of the garden, and all his
+associations with him were pleasant. The scent of the flowers and the
+grass possessed him. The sun was far from setting, and a young
+crescent moon was hovering high in the heavens, looking like a silver
+sickle against the blue. From the distant church came the sound of
+bells ringing for even-song, faint as horns of elf-land, through the
+still air. He felt that he would like to lie there always&mdash;just
+resting, and drinking in the beauty of the world.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245"></a>Suddenly he half-rose. &quot;Lubin!&quot; he called out quickly, in an
+undertone.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sir,&quot; responded Lubin, turning round.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who was that lady looking over the garden-gate just now?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Lady?&quot; repeated Lubin. &quot;I never saw no lady. Whereabouts was she?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;On the path of course, outside. A second ago. She stood looking at me
+over the gate, and then went on. Run to the gate and see how far she's
+got&mdash;quick!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Lubin did as he was bidden without delay, looking up and down the
+road. Then he returned, and soberly picked up his broom.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There ain't no lady there,&quot; he said. &quot;No one in sight either way.
+Must 'a been your fancy, Master Austin, I expect.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Fancy, indeed!&quot; retorted Austin, excitedly. &quot;You'll tell me next it's
+my fancy that I'm looking at you now. A lady in a large hat and a sort
+of light-coloured dress. She <i>must</i> be there. There's nowhere else for
+her to be, unless the earth has swallowed her up. I'll go and look
+myself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He struggled up and staggered as fast as he could go to the gate. Then
+he pushed it open and went out as far as the middle of the road <a name="Page_246" id="Page_246"></a>from
+which he could see at least a hundred yards each way. But not a living
+creature was in sight.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It's enough to make one's hair stand on end!&quot; he exclaimed, as he
+came slowly back. &quot;Where can she have got to? She was here&mdash;here, by
+the gate&mdash;not twenty seconds ago, only a few yards from where I was
+sitting. Don't talk to me about fancy; that's sheer nonsense. I saw
+her as distinctly as I see you now, and I should know her again
+directly if I saw her a year hence. Of all inexplicable things!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>There was no more lying down. He was too much puzzled and excited to
+keep still. Up and down he paced, cudgelling his brains in search of
+an explanation, wondering what it could all mean, and longing for
+another glimpse of the mysterious visitor. For one brief moment he had
+had a full, clear view of her face, and in that moment he had been
+struck by her unmistakable resemblance to himself.</p>
+
+<a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1">[A]</a><div class="note"><p> A fact. Said in the writer's presence by a young
+clergyman of the same breed as the one here described.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="Chapter_the_Eleventh" id="Chapter_the_Eleventh"></a><hr />
+<br />
+<h2><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247"></a>Chapter the Eleventh<span class="totoc"><a class="noline" href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2>
+<br />
+
+<p>The repairs to the ceiling in Austin's room were now finished, and it
+was with great satisfaction that he resumed possession of his old
+quarters. The mysterious events that had befallen him when he slept
+there last, some weeks before, recurred very vividly to his mind as he
+found himself once more amid the familiar surroundings, and although
+he heard no more raps or anything else of an abnormal nature, he felt
+that, whatever dangers might threaten him in the future, he would
+always be protected by those he thought of as his unseen friends. Aunt
+Charlotte, meanwhile, had taken an opportunity of consulting the vicar
+as to the orthodoxy of a belief in guardian angels, and the vicar had
+reassured her at once by referring her to the Collect for St Michael
+and All Angels, in which we are invited to pray that they may succour
+and defend us upon earth; so that there really was nothing
+<a name="Page_248" id="Page_248"></a>superstitious in the conclusion that, as Austin had undoubtedly been
+succoured and defended in a very remarkable manner on more than one
+occasion, some benevolent entity from a better world might have had a
+hand in it. The worthy lady, of course, could not resist the
+temptation of informing Mr Sheepshanks of what her bankers had said
+about the investment he had so earnestly urged upon her, and the vicar
+seemed greatly surprised. He had not put any money into it himself, it
+was true, but was being sorely tempted by another prospectus he had
+just received of an enterprise for recovering the baggage which King
+John lost some centuries ago in the Wash. The only consideration that
+made him hesitate was the uncertainty whether, in view of the
+perishable nature of the things themselves, they would be worth very
+much to anybody if ever they were fished up.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Austin,&quot; said Aunt Charlotte, two days afterwards at breakfast, &quot;I
+have had another letter from Mr Ogilvie. Of course I wrote to him when
+I heard first, saying how pleased I should be to see him whenever he
+was in the neighbourhood again; and now I have his reply. He proposes
+to call here to-morrow afternoon, and have a cup of tea with us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_249" id="Page_249"></a>So the fateful day has come at last,&quot; remarked Austin. &quot;Very well,
+auntie, I'll make myself scarce while you're talking over old times
+together, but I insist on coming in before he goes, remember. I'm
+awfully curious to see what he's like. Do you think he wears a wig?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I really haven't thought about it,&quot; replied his aunt. &quot;It's nothing
+to me whether he does or not&mdash;or to you either, for the matter of
+that. Of course you must present yourself to him some time or other;
+it would be most discourteous not to. And do, if you can, try and
+behave rather more like other people. Don't parade your terrible
+ignorance of geography, for instance, as you do sometimes. He would
+think that I had neglected your education disgracefully, and seeing
+what a traveller he's been himself&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;All right, auntie, I won't give you away,&quot; Austin assured her. &quot;You'd
+better tell him what a horrid dunce I am before I come in, and then he
+won't be so surprised if I do put my foot in it. After all, we're not
+sure that he's been a traveller. He may be a painter. Lubin says that
+lots of painters come down here sometimes. My own idea is that he'll
+turn out to be nothing but a bank manager, or perhaps a stockbroker. I
+expect he's rolling in money.&quot;</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250"></a>Austin had said nothing to his aunt about the lady who had looked over
+the gate for one brief moment and then so unaccountably disappeared.
+What would have been the use? He felt baffled and perplexed, but it
+was not likely that Aunt Charlotte would be able to throw any light
+upon the mystery. She would probably say that he had been dreaming, or
+that he only imagined it, or that it was an old gipsy woman, or one of
+the MacTavish girls playing a trick, or something equally fatuous and
+absurd. But the more he thought of it the more he was convinced of the
+reality of the whole thing, and of the existence of some great marvel.
+That he had seen the lady was beyond question. That she had vanished
+the next moment was also beyond question. That she had hidden behind a
+tree or gone crouching in a ditch was inconceivable, to say the least
+of it; so fair and gracious a person would scarcely descend to such
+undignified manoeuvres, worthy only of a hoydenish peasant girl. And
+yet, what could possibly have become of her? The enigma was quite
+unsolvable.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning brought with it a surprise. Aunt Charlotte had some
+very important documents that she wanted to deposit with her
+bankers&mdash;so important, indeed, that she did not <a name="Page_251" id="Page_251"></a>like to entrust them
+to the post; so Austin, half in jest, proposed that he should go to
+town himself by an early train, and leave them at the bank in person.
+To his no small astonishment, Aunt Charlotte took him at his word,
+though not without some misgivings; instructed him to send her a
+telegram as soon as ever the papers were in safe custody, and assured
+him that she would not have a moment's peace until she got it. Austin,
+much excited at the prospect of a change, packed the documents away in
+the pistol-pocket of his trousers, and started off immediately after
+breakfast in high spirits. The journey was a great delight to him, as
+he had not travelled by railway for nearly a couple of years, and he
+derived immense amusement from watching his fellow-passengers and
+listening to their conversation. There was a party of very
+serious-minded American tourists, with an accent reverberant enough to
+have cracked the windows of the carriage had they not, luckily, been
+open; and from the talk of these good people he learnt that they came
+from a place called New Jerusalem, that they intended to do London in
+two days, and that they answered to the names of Mr Thwing, Mr Moment,
+and Mr and Mrs Skull. The gentlemen were arrayed in shiny
+<a name="Page_252" id="Page_252"></a>broad-cloth, with narrow black ties, tied in a careless bow; the lady
+wore long curls all down her back and a brown alpaca gown; and they
+all seemed under the impression that the most important sights which
+awaited them were the Metropolitan Tabernacle and some tunnel under
+the Thames. The only other passenger was a rather smart-looking
+gentleman with a flower in his buttonhole, who made himself very
+pleasant; engaged Austin in conversation, gave him hints as to how
+best to enjoy himself in London, asked him a number of questions about
+where he lived and how he spent his time, and finished up by inviting
+him to lunch. But Austin, never having seen the man before, declined;
+and no amount of persuasion availed to make him alter his decision.</p>
+
+<p>On arrival in London, he got into an omnibus&mdash;not daring to call a
+cab, lest he should pay the cabman a great deal too much or a great
+deal too little&mdash;and in a short time was set down near Waterloo Place,
+where the bank was situated. His first care was to relieve himself of
+the precious documents, and this he did at once; but he thought the
+clerk looked at him in a disagreeably sharp and suspicious manner, and
+wondered whether it was possible he might be accused of <a name="Page_253" id="Page_253"></a>forgery and
+given in charge to a policeman. The papers consisted of some
+dividend-warrants payable to bearer, and an endorsed cheque, and the
+clerk examined them with a most formidable and inquisitorial frown.
+Then he asked Austin what his name was, and where he lived; and Austin
+blushed and stammered to such an extent and made such confused replies
+that the clerk looked more suspiciously at him than ever, and Austin
+had it on the tip of his tongue to assure him that he really had not
+stolen the documents, or forged Aunt Charlotte's name, or infringed
+the laws in any way whatever that he could think of. But just then the
+clerk, who had been holding a muttered consultation with another
+gentleman of equally threatening aspect, turned to him again with a
+less aggressive expression, as much as to say that he'd let him off
+this time if he promised never to do it any more, and intimated, with
+a sort of grudging nod, that he was free to go if he liked. Which
+Austin, much relieved, forthwith proceeded to do.</p>
+
+<p>Then he stumped off as hard as he could go to the Post-Office near by,
+to despatch the telegram which should set Aunt Charlotte's mind at
+ease; and by dint of carefully observing what all the other people did
+managed to get hold of a <a name="Page_254" id="Page_254"></a>telegraph-form and write his message.
+&quot;Documents all safe in the Bank.&mdash;Your affectionate Austin.&quot; That
+would do beautifully, he thought. Then he offered it to a
+proud-looking young lady who lived behind a barricade of brass
+palings, and the young lady, having read it through (rather to his
+indignation) and rapidly counted the words, gave him a couple of
+stamps. But he explained, with great politeness, that he did not wish
+it to go by post, as it was most important that it should reach its
+destination before lunch-time; whereupon the young lady burst into a
+hearty laugh, and asked him how soon he was going back to school.
+Austin coloured furiously, rectified his mistake, and bolted.</p>
+
+<p>In Piccadilly Circus his attention was immediately attracted by a
+number of stout, florid, elderly ladies who were selling some most
+lovely bouquets for the buttonhole. This was a temptation impossible
+to resist, and he lost no time in choosing one. It cost fourpence, and
+Austin was so charmed at the skilful way in which the florid lady he
+had patronised pinned it into the lapel of his jacket that he raised
+his hat to her on parting with as much ceremony as though she had been
+a duchess at the very least. Then, observing that his shoe was dusty,
+he submitted <a name="Page_255" id="Page_255"></a>it to a merry-looking shoeblack, who not only cleaned it
+and creamed it to perfection but polished up his wooden leg as well;
+Austin, in his usual absent-minded way, humming to himself the while.
+During the operation there suddenly rushed up a drove of very
+ungainly-looking objects, who, in point of fact, were persons lately
+arrived from Lancashire to play a football match at the Alexandra
+Palace&mdash;though Austin, of course, could not be expected to know that;
+and two of these, staring at him as though he were a wild animal that
+they had never seen before, enquired with much solicitude how his
+mother was, and whether he was having a happy day. Austin took no more
+notice of them than if they had been flies, but as soon as the
+shoeblack had finished, and been generously rewarded, he presented
+them each with a penny.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Wot's this for?&quot; growled the foremost. &quot;We ain't beggars, we ain't.
+Wot d'ye mean by it?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Aren't you? I thought you were,&quot; said Austin. &quot;However, you can keep
+the pennies. They will buy you bread, you know.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The fellows edged off, muttering resentfully, and Austin prepared to
+cross the road to Piccadilly. The next moment he received a violent
+<a name="Page_256" id="Page_256"></a>blow on the shoulder from an advancing horse, and was knocked clean
+off his legs. He was in the act of half-consciously taking off his hat
+and begging the horse's pardon when a stout policeman, coming to the
+rescue, lifted him bodily up in one arm, and, carrying him over the
+crossing, deposited him safely on the pavement. He recovered his
+breath in a minute or two, and then began to walk down Piccadilly
+towards the Park.</p>
+
+<p>The streets were gay and crowded, partly with black and grey people
+who seemed to be going about some business or other, but starred
+beautifully here and there with bright-eyed, clear-skinned, slender
+youths in straw hats, something like Austin himself, enjoying their
+release from school. Phalanxes of smartly-dressed ladies impeded the
+traffic outside the windows of all the millinery shops, omnibuses
+rattled up and down in a never-ending procession, and strident urchins
+with little pink newspapers under their arms yelled for all they were
+worth. Austin, absorbed in the cheerful spectacle, sauntered hither
+and thither, now attracted by the fresh verdure of the Green Park, now
+gazing with vivid interest at the ever-varying types of humanity that
+surged around him; blissfully unconscious that <a name="Page_257" id="Page_257"></a>every one was staring
+at him, as though wondering who the pale-faced boy with eager eyes and
+a shiny black wooden leg could be, and why he went zigzagging to and
+fro and peering so excitedly about as though he had never seen any
+shops or people in his life before. At last he arrived at the Corner,
+and, turning into the Park, spent a quarter of an hour watching the
+riders in Rotten Row; then he crossed to the Marble Arch, passing a
+vast array of gorgeous flowers in full bloom, listened wonderingly to
+an untidy orator demolishing Christianity for the benefit of a little
+knot of errand-boys and nursemaids, took another omnibus along Oxford
+Street to the Circus, and, after an enchanting walk down Regent
+Street, entered a bright little Italian restaurant in the Quadrant,
+where he had a delightful lunch. This disposed of, he found that he
+could afford a full hour to have a look at the National Gallery
+without danger of losing his train, and off he plodded towards
+Trafalgar Square to make the most of his opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Aunt Charlotte received her telegram, and, greatly relieved
+by its contents, spent an agreeable day. It was not to be wondered at
+if she felt a little fluttering excitement at the prospect of seeing
+her old suitor, and was more <a name="Page_258" id="Page_258"></a>than usually fastidious in the
+arrangement of her modest toilet. Lubin had been requisitioned to
+provide a special supply of the freshest and finest flowers for the
+drawing-room, and she had herself gone to the pastrycook's to order
+the cheese-cakes and cream-tarts on which the expected visitor was to
+be regaled. Of course she kept on telling herself all the time what a
+foolish old woman she was, and how silly Mr Ogilvie would think her if
+he only knew of all her little fussy preparations; men who had knocked
+about the world hated to be fidgeted over and made much of, and no
+doubt it was quite natural they should. And then she went bustling off
+to impress on Martha the expediency of giving the silver tea-service
+an extra polish, and to be sure and see that the toast was crisp and
+fresh. When at last she sat down with a book in front of her in order
+to pass the time she found her attention wandering, and her thoughts
+recurring to the last occasion on which she had seen Granville
+Ogilvie. He had been rather a fine-looking young man in those
+days&mdash;tall, straight, and well set up; and well she remembered the
+whimsical way he had of speaking, the humorous glance of his eye, and
+those baffling intonations of voice that made it so difficult for her
+to be sure whether <a name="Page_259" id="Page_259"></a>he were in jest or earnest. That he had
+confessedly been attracted by her was a matter of common knowledge.
+Why had she given him no encouragement? Perhaps it was because she had
+never understood him; because she had never been able to feel any real
+rapport between them, because their minds moved on different planes,
+and never seemed to meet. She had no sense of humour, and no insight;
+he was elusive, difficult to get into touch with; all she knew of him
+was his exterior, and that, for her, was no guide to the man beneath.
+Then he had dropped out of her life, and for five and twenty years she
+had never heard of him. Whatever chance she may have had was gone, and
+gone for ever. Did she regret it, now that she was able to look back
+upon the past so calmly? She thought not. And yet, as she meditated on
+those far-off days when she was young and pretty, the intervening
+years seemed to be annihilated, and she felt herself once more a girl
+of twenty-two, with a young man hovering around her, always on the
+verge of a proposal that she herself staved off.</p>
+
+<p>She was not agitated, but she was very curious to see what he would
+look like, and just a little anxious lest there should be any
+awkwardness about their <a name="Page_260" id="Page_260"></a>meeting. But eventually it came about in the
+most natural manner in the world, and if anybody had peeped into the
+shady drawing-room just at the time when Austin's train was steaming
+into the station, there would certainly have been nothing in the scene
+to suggest any tragedy or romance whatever. Aunt Charlotte, in a
+pretty white lace <i>fichu</i> set off with rose-coloured bows, was
+dispensing tea with hospitable smiles, while Martha handed cakes and
+poured a fresh supply of hot water into the teapot. Opposite, sat the
+long expected visitor; no lean, brown adventurer, no Indian nabob, and
+certainly no artist, but a tallish, large-featured, and somewhat
+portly gentleman, with a ruddy complexion, good teeth, and a general
+air of prosperity. His fashionable pale-grey frock-coat, evidently the
+work of a good tailor, fitted him like a glove; he wore, also, a white
+waistcoat, a gold eye-glass, and patent leather shoes. His appearance,
+in short, was that of a thoroughly well-groomed, though slightly
+over-dressed, London man; and he impressed both Martha and Aunt
+Charlotte with being a very fine gentleman indeed, for his manners
+were simply perfect, if perhaps a little studied. He dropped his
+gloves into his hat with a graceful gesture as he accepted <a name="Page_261" id="Page_261"></a>a cup of
+tea, and then, turning to his hostess, said&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is indeed delightful to meet you after all these years; it seems
+to bring back old times so vividly. And the years have dealt very
+gently with you, my dear friend. I should have known you anywhere.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It was not quite certain to Aunt Charlotte whether she could
+truthfully have returned the compliment. There are some elderly people
+in whom it is the easiest thing in the world to recognise the features
+of their youth. Allow for a little accentuation of facial lines, a
+little roughening of the skin, a little modification in the
+arrangement of the hair, and the face is virtually the same. Aunt
+Charlotte herself was one of these, but Granville Ogilvie was not. She
+might even have passed him in the street. That he was the man she had
+known was beyond question, but there was a puffiness under the eyes
+and a fulness about the cheeks that altered the general effect of his
+appearance, and in spite of his modish dress and elaborate manners he
+seemed to have grown just a little coarse. Still, remembering what a
+bird of passage he had been, and the many experiences he must have had
+by land and sea, all that was not to be wondered at. It was really
+<a name="Page_262" id="Page_262"></a>remarkable, everything considered, that he had managed to preserve
+himself so well.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, I'm an old woman now,&quot; replied Aunt Charlotte with an almost
+youthful blush. &quot;But I've had a peaceful life if rather a monotonous
+one, and I've nothing to complain of. It is very good of you to have
+remembered me, and I'm more glad than I can say to see you again. It's
+a quarter of a century since we met!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It seems like yesterday,&quot; Mr Ogilvie assured her. &quot;And yet how many
+things have happened in the meantime! This charming house of yours is
+a perfect haven of rest. Why do people knock about the world as they
+do, when they might stay quietly at home?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay, it is rather I who should ask you that,&quot; laughed Aunt Charlotte.
+&quot;It is you who have been knocking about, you know, not I. Men are so
+fond of adventures, while we women have to content ourselves with a
+very humdrum sort of life. You've been a great traveller, have you
+not?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>This was a mild attempt at pumping on the part of Aunt Charlotte, for
+Mr Ogilvie certainly did not give one the idea of an explorer. But she
+was consumed with curiosity to knew where <a name="Page_263" id="Page_263"></a>he had spent the years
+since she had seen him last, and now brought all her artless ingenuity
+into play in order to find out.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, I was always a roving, restless sort of fellow,&quot; said Mr
+Ogilvie. &quot;Never could stay long in the same place, you know. I often
+wonder how long it will be before I settle down for good.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, I almost envy you,&quot; confessed Aunt Charlotte, nibbling a
+cheese-cake. &quot;I love travels and adventures; in books, of course, I
+mean. I've been reading Captain Burnaby's 'Ride to Khiva' lately, and
+that wonderful 'Life of Sir Richard Burton.' What marvellous nerve
+such men must have! To think of the disguises, for instance, they were
+forced to adopt, when detection would have cost them their lives! You
+should write your travels too, you know; I'm sure they'd be most
+exciting. Were you ever compelled to disguise yourself when you were
+travelling?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I should rather think so,&quot; replied Mr Ogilvie, nodding his head
+impressively. &quot;And that, my dear lady, under circumstances in which
+disguise was absolutely imperative. The most serious results would
+have followed if I hadn't done so; not death, perhaps, but utter and
+irretrievable <a name="Page_264" id="Page_264"></a>ruin. However, here I am, you see, safe and sound, and
+none the worse for it after all. What delicious cream-tarts these are,
+to be sure! They remind one of the Arabian Nights. In Persia, by the
+way, they put pepper in them.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh dear! I don't think I should like that at all,&quot; exclaimed Aunt
+Charlotte, na&iuml;vely. &quot;And have you really been in Persia? You must have
+enjoyed that very much. I suppose you saw some magnificent scenery in
+your wanderings?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, magnificent, magnificent,&quot; assented the great traveller.
+&quot;Mountains, forests, castles, glaciers, and everything you can think
+of. But I've never got quite as far as Persia, you understand, and
+just at present I feel more interested in England. I sometimes think
+that I shall never leave English shores again.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And you are not married?&quot; ventured the lady, with a tremor of
+hesitation in her voice. She had rushed on her destruction unawares.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No&mdash;no,&quot; replied the man who had once wanted to marry her. &quot;And at
+this moment I'm very glad I'm not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, are you? Why?&quot; exclaimed the foolish woman. &quot;Don't you believe in
+marriage?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_265" id="Page_265"></a>In the abstract&mdash;oh, yes,&quot; said Mr Ogilvie, with meaning. &quot;But my
+chance of married happiness escaped me years ago.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Charlotte blushed hotly. She felt angry with herself for having
+given him an opening for such a remark, and annoyed with him for
+taking advantage of it. &quot;Let me give you some more tea,&quot; she said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Thank you so much, but I never exceed two cups,&quot; replied Mr Ogilvie,
+who did not particularly care for tea. &quot;And yet there comes a time,
+you know, when the sight of so peaceful and attractive a home as this
+makes one wish that one had one like it of one's own. Of course a man
+has his tastes, his hobbies, his ambitions&mdash;every man, I mean, of
+character. And I am a man of character. But indulgence in a hobby is
+not incompatible with the love of a fireside, and the blessings of
+<i>dulce domum</i>, to say nothing of the <i>placens uxor</i>, who is the only
+true goddess of the hearth. Yes, dear friend, I confess that I should
+like&mdash;that I positively long&mdash;to marry. That is why, paradoxical as it
+may appear, I congratulate myself on not being married already. But,
+of course, in all such cases, the man himself is not the only factor
+to be reckoned with. The lady must be found, <a name="Page_266" id="Page_266"></a>and the lady's consent
+obtained. And there we have the rub.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dear me! how very unfortunate!&quot; was all Aunt Charlotte could think of
+to remark. &quot;And can't you find the lady?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I thought I had found her once,&quot; said Mr Ogilvie.</p>
+
+<p>Then he deliberately rose from his chair, brushed a few crumbs from his
+coat, and took a few steps up and down the room. &quot;Listen to me, dear
+friend,&quot; he began, in low, earnest tones. &quot;There was a time&mdash;far be it
+from me to take undue advantage of these reminiscences&mdash;when you and I
+were thrown considerably together. At that time, that far-off, happy,
+and yet most tantalising time, I was bold enough to cherish certain
+aspirations.&quot; Here he took up his position behind a chair, resting his
+hands lightly on the back of it. &quot;That those aspirations were not wholly
+unsuspected by you I had reason to believe. I may, of course, have been
+mistaken; love, or vanity if you prefer it, may blind the wisest of us.
+In any case, if I was vain, my pride came to the rescue, and sooner than
+incur the humiliation of a refusal&mdash;possibly a scornful refusal&mdash;I kept
+my secret locked in the inmost sanctuary of my heart, and went away.&quot;
+Mr <a name="Page_267" id="Page_267"></a>Ogilvie illustrated his disappearance into vacancy by a slight but
+most expressive gesture of his arms. &quot;I simply went away. And now I have
+come back. I have unburdened myself before you. In the years that are
+past, I was silent. Now I have spoken. And I am here to know what answer
+you have in your heart to give me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It had actually come. She remembered how she had told herself that,
+though she could never dream of marrying, it really would be very
+pleasant to be asked. But now that the proposal had been made she felt
+most horribly embarrassed. What in the world was she to say to the
+man? She knew him not one bit better than she had done when she saw
+him last. He puzzled her more than ever. He did not look like a
+despairing lover, but a singularly plump and prosperous gentleman; and
+certainly the silver-grey frock-coat, and gold eye-glass, and
+varnished shoes struck her as singularly out of harmony with the
+extraordinary speech he had just delivered. Yet it was evidently
+impromptu, and possibly would never have been delivered at all had not
+she herself so blunderingly led up to it. And it was not a bad speech
+in its way. There was something really effective about it&mdash;or <a name="Page_268" id="Page_268"></a>perhaps
+it was in the manner of its delivery. So she sat in silence, most
+dreadfully ill at ease, and not finding a single word wherewith to
+answer him.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Charlotte,&quot; said Mr Ogilvie in a low voice, bending over her,
+&quot;Charlotte.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mr Ogilvie!&quot; gasped the unhappy lady, almost frightened out of her
+wits.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You <i>once</i> called me Granville,&quot; he murmured, trying to take her
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But I can't do it again!&quot; cried Aunt Charlotte, shaking her head
+vigorously. &quot;It wouldn't be proper. We are just two old people, you
+see, and&mdash;and&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;H'm!&quot; Mr Ogilvie straightened himself again. &quot;It is true I am no
+longer in my first youth, and time has certainly left its mark upon my
+lineaments; but you, dear friend, are one of those whose charms
+intensify with years.&quot; Here he took out a white pocket-handkerchief,
+and passed it lightly across his eyes. &quot;But I have startled you, and I
+am sorry. I have sprung upon you, suddenly and thoughtlessly, what I
+ought to have only hinted at. I have erred from lack of delicacy.
+Forgive me my impulsiveness, my ardour. I was ever a blunt man, little
+versed in the arts of diplomacy and <a name="Page_269" id="Page_269"></a><i>finesse</i>. For years I have
+looked forward to this moment; in my dreams, in my waking hours,
+in&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Pardon me one moment,&quot; said Aunt Charlotte, starting to her feet. &quot;I
+know I'm sadly rude to interrupt you, but I hear my nephew in the
+hall, and I must just say a word to him before he comes in. I'll be
+back immediately. You will forgive me&mdash;won't you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>She floundered to the door, leaving Mr Ogilvie no little disconcerted
+at his appeal being thus cut short. Austin had just come in, and was
+in the act of hanging up his hat when his aunt appeared.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, auntie!&quot; he said. &quot;And has the gentleman arrived?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Hush!&quot; breathed Aunt Charlotte, as she pointed a warning finger to
+the door. &quot;He's in the drawing-room. Austin, you've come back in the
+very nick of time. Don't ask me any questions. My dear, you were right
+after all.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ah!&quot; was all Austin said. &quot;Well?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Come in with me at once, we can't keep him waiting,&quot; said Aunt
+Charlotte hastily. &quot;I'll explain everything to you afterwards. Never
+mind your hair&mdash;you look quite nice enough. <a name="Page_270" id="Page_270"></a>And mind&mdash;your very
+prettiest manners, for my sake.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>What in the world she meant by this Austin couldn't imagine, but
+instantly took up the cue. The two entered the room together. Mr
+Ogilvie was standing a little distance off in an attitude of
+expectancy, his eyes turned towards the door. Aunt Charlotte took a
+step forward, and prepared to introduce her nephew. Austin suddenly
+paused; gazed at the visitor for one instant with an expression that
+no one had ever seen upon his face before; and then, falling flop upon
+the nearest easy-chair, went straightway into a paroxysm of hysterical
+and frantic laughter.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Austin! Austin! Have you gone out of your mind?&quot; cried his aunt,
+almost beside herself with stupefaction. &quot;Is this your good behaviour?
+What in the world's the matter with the boy now?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It's <i>Mr Buskin!</i>&quot; shrieked Austin, hammering his leg upon the floor
+in a perfect ecstasy of delight. &quot;The step-uncle! Oh, do slap me,
+auntie, or I shall go on laughing till I die!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<i>Who's</i> Mr Buskin?&quot; gasped his aunt, bewildered. &quot;This is Mr
+Granville Ogilvie. What Buskin are you raving about, for Heaven's
+sake?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_271" id="Page_271"></a>It's Mr Buskin the actor,&quot; panted Austin breathlessly, as he began to
+recover himself. &quot;He was at the theatre here, some time ago. How do
+you do, Mr Buskin? Oh, please forgive me for being so rude. I hope
+you're pretty well?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Mr Ogilvie had not budged an inch. But when Austin came in he had
+started violently. &quot;Great Scott! Young Dot-and-carry-One!&quot; he
+muttered, but so low that no one heard him. He now advanced a pace or
+two, and cleared his throat.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I have certainly had the honour of meeting this young gentleman
+before,&quot; he said, in his most stately manner. &quot;He was even kind enough
+to present me with his card, but I fear I did not pay as much
+attention to the name as it deserved. It is true, my dear lady, that I
+am known to Europe under the designation he ascribes to me; but to you
+I am what I have always been and always shall be&mdash;Granville Ogilvie,
+and your most humble slave.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is it possible?&quot; ejaculated Aunt Charlotte faintly.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You will, no doubt, attribute to its true source the concealment I
+have exercised towards you respecting my life for the last
+five-and-twenty <a name="Page_272" id="Page_272"></a>years,&quot; resumed Mr Ogilvie, with a candid air. &quot;I was
+ever the most modest of men, and the modesty which, from a gross and
+worldly point of view, has always been the most formidable obstacle in
+my path, prohibited my avowing to you the secret of my profession.
+Still, I practised no deceit; indeed, I confessed in the most artless
+fashion that, in my wanderings&mdash;in other words, on tour&mdash;I was
+compelled to assume disguises, and that some of my scenery was
+magnificent. But why should I defend myself? <i>Qui s'excuse s'accuse</i>;
+and now that this very engaging young gentleman has saved me the
+trouble of revealing the position in life that I am proud to occupy,
+there is nothing more to be said. We were interrupted, you remember,
+at a crisis of our conversation. I crave your permission to add, at a
+crisis of our lives. Far be it from me to&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I am afraid I am scarcely equal to renewing the conversation at the
+point where we broke off,&quot; said Aunt Charlotte, who now felt her wits
+getting more under control. &quot;Indeed, Mr Ogilvie, I have nothing to
+reproach you with. I had no right to enquire what your profession was,
+and still less have I a right to criticise it. But of course you will
+understand that the subject <a name="Page_273" id="Page_273"></a>we were speaking of must never be
+mentioned again.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The lover sighed. It was not a bad situation, and his long experience
+enabled him to make it quite effective. Silently he took his gloves
+out of his hat, paused, and then dropped them in again, with the very
+faintest and most dramatic gesture of despair. The action was trifling
+in the extreme, but it was performed by a play-actor who knew his
+business, and Aunt Charlotte felt as though cold water were running
+down her back. Then he turned, quite beautifully, to Austin.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And you, young gentleman. And what have <i>you</i> to say?&quot; he asked in a
+carefully choking voice.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That I like you even better in your present part than as
+Sardanapalus,&quot; replied Austin, cordially.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The tribute is two-edged,&quot; observed the actor with a shrug. And
+certainly he had acted well, and dressed the character to perfection.
+But the takings of the performance, alas, had not paid expenses. He
+really had a sentiment for the lady he had been wooing, and the
+prospect of a solid additional income&mdash;for it was clear she was in
+very easy circumstances&mdash;had smiled <a name="Page_274" id="Page_274"></a>upon him not unpleasantly. And
+why should she not have married him? He was her equal in birth, they
+had been possible lovers in their youth, he had made a name for
+himself meanwhile, and, after all, there was no stain upon his honour.
+But she had now definitely refused. The little comedy had been played
+out. There was nothing for him to do but to make a graceful exit, and
+this he did in a way that brought tears to the lady's eyes. &quot;Oh, need
+you go?&quot; she urged with fatuous politeness. Austin was more friendly
+still; he reminded Mr Ogilvie that having returned so late he had had
+no opportunity of enjoying a renewal of their acquaintance, and begged
+him to remain a little longer for a chat and a cigarette. But Mr
+Ogilvie was too much of an artist to permit an anti-climax. The
+catastrophe had come off, and the curtain must be run down quick. So
+he wrenched himself away with what dignity he might, and, relapsing
+into his natural or Buskin phase as soon as he got outside, comforted
+himself with a glass of stiff whiskey and water at the refreshment bar
+of the railway station before getting into the train for London.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="Chapter_the_Twelfth" id="Chapter_the_Twelfth"></a><hr />
+<br />
+<h2><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275"></a>Chapter the Twelfth<span class="totoc"><a class="noline" href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h2>
+<br />
+
+<p>As the weeks rolled on the days began perceptibly to draw in, and the
+leaves turned gradually from green to golden brown. It was the fall of
+the year, when the wind acquires an edge, and blue sky disappears behind
+purple clouds, and the world is reminded that ere very long all nature
+will be wrapped in a shroud of grey and silver. Rain fell with greater
+frequency, the uplands were often veiled in a damp mist, the hours of
+basking in noontide suns by the old stone fountain were gone, and Austin
+was fain to relinquish, one by one, those summer fantasies that for so
+many happy months had made the gladness of his life. There is always
+something sad about the autumn. It is associated, undeniably, with
+golden harvests and purple vintages, the crimson and yellow magnificence
+of foliage, and a few gorgeous blooms; but these, after all, are no more
+than indications that the glory of the year has reached <a name="Page_276" id="Page_276"></a>its zenith,
+that its labours have attained fruition, and that the death of winter
+must be passed through before the resurrection-time of spring.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Ihr Matten lebt wohl,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Ihr sonnigen Waiden,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Der Senne muss scheiden,<br /></span>
+<span>Die Sommer ist bin.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="noin">And yet the summer did not carry everything away with it. As the year
+ripened and decayed, other fantasies arose to take the place of those
+he was losing&mdash;or rather, he grew more and more under the obsession of
+ideas not wholly of this world, ideas and phases of consciousness
+that, as we have seen, had for some time past been gradually gaining
+an entrance into his soul. As the beauties of the material world
+faded, the wonders of a higher world superseded them. He still lived
+much in the open air, drinking in all the influences of the scenery in
+earth and sky, and marvelling at the loveliness of the year's
+decadence; but, as though in subtle sympathy with nature's phases, it
+seemed to him as though his own body had less vitality, and that,
+while his mind was as keen and vigorous as ever, he felt less and less
+inclined to explore his beloved, fields and woods. Aunt Charlotte
+looked first <a name="Page_277" id="Page_277"></a>critically and then anxiously at his face, which
+appeared to her paler and thinner than before. His stump began to
+trouble him again, and once or twice he confessed, in a reluctant sort
+of way, that his back did not feel quite comfortable. Of course he
+thought it was very silly of his back, and was annoyed that it did not
+behave more sensibly. But he didn't let it trouble him over-much, for
+he was always very philosophical about pain. Once, when he had a
+toothache, somebody expressed surprise that he bore it with such
+stoicism, and asked him jokingly for the secret. &quot;Oh,&quot; he replied, &quot;I
+just fix my attention on my great toe, or any other part of my body,
+and think how nice it is that I haven't got a toothache there.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Charlotte had meanwhile grown to have much more respect for
+Austin than she had ever felt previously. He was now nearly eighteen,
+and his character and mental force had developed very rapidly of late.
+In spite of his inconceivable ignorance in some respects&mdash;geography,
+for instance&mdash;he had shown a shrewdness for which she had been totally
+unprepared, and a quiet persistence in matters where he felt that he
+was right and she was wrong that had begun to impress her very
+seriously. Many instances had arisen <a name="Page_278" id="Page_278"></a>in which there had been a
+struggle for the mastery between them, and in every case not only had
+Austin had his own way but she had been compelled to acknowledge to
+herself that the wisdom had been on his side and not on hers. It was
+not so much that his reasoning powers were exceptionally acute as that
+he seemed to have a mysterious instinct, a sort of sub-conscious
+intuition, that never led him astray. And then there were those
+baffling, inexplicable premonitions that on three occasions had
+intervened to prevent some great disaster. The thought of these made
+her very pensive, and now that the vicar had set her mind at rest upon
+the abstract theory of invisible protectors she felt that she could
+harbour speculations about them without danger to her soul's welfare.
+That the power at work could scarcely emanate from the devil was now
+clear even to her, timid and narrow-minded as she was. Still, with
+that illogical shrinking from any tangible proof that her creed was
+true that is so characteristic of the orthodox, the whole thing gave
+her rather an uncomfortable sensation, and she would vastly have
+preferred to believe in spiritual or angelic ministrations as a pious
+opinion or casual article of faith than to have it brought home to her
+in the guise of knocks <a name="Page_279" id="Page_279"></a>and raps. There are millions like her in the
+world to-day. Her religion, like everything else about her, was
+conventional, though not a whit the less sincere for that.</p>
+
+<p>And so it came about that she felt very much more dependent upon
+Austin than Austin did on her, although neither of them was conscious
+of the fact. The chief result was that, now they had fallen into their
+proper positions, they got on together much better than they had done
+before. Austin had really accomplished something towards &quot;educating&quot;
+his aunt, as he used humorously to say, and as he represented the
+newer and fresher thought it was well that it should be so. I do not
+know that he troubled himself very much about the future. In spite of
+his delicate health he was full of the joy of life, and he accepted it
+as a matter of course that wherever his future might be spent it would
+be a happy and a joyous one. What was the use of worrying about a
+matter over which he had absolutely no control? The universe was very
+beautiful, and he was a part of it. And as the universe would
+certainly endure, so would he endure. Why, then, should he concern
+himself about what might be in store for him?</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You must take care of yourself, Austin,&quot; said <a name="Page_280" id="Page_280"></a>Aunt Charlotte to him
+one day. &quot;I'm afraid you've been overtaxing your strength, you know.
+You never would remain quiet even on the hottest days, and we've had
+rather a trying summer, you must remember.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It's been a lovely summer,&quot; replied Austin, who was lying down.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And how are you feeling, my dear?&quot; asked Aunt Charlotte, anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Splendid!&quot; he assured her. &quot;I never felt better in my life.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But those little pains you spoke of; that weakness in your back&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, <i>that</i>!&quot; said Austin, slightingly. &quot;I wasn't thinking of my body.
+What does one's body matter? I meant <i>myself</i>. I'm all right. I
+daresay my bones may be doing something silly, but really I'm not
+responsible for their vagaries, am I now?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Charlotte sighed, and dropped the subject for the time being. But
+she was not quite easy in her mind.</p>
+
+<p>One day a great joy came to Austin. He was hobbling about the garden
+with his aunt, when all of a sudden he saw Roger St Aubyn approaching
+them across the lawn. It was with immense pride that he presented his
+friend to Aunt <a name="Page_281" id="Page_281"></a>Charlotte, who, as may be remembered, had been just a
+little huffy that St Aubyn had never called on her before; but now
+that he had actually come the small grievance was forgotten in a
+moment, and she welcomed him with charming cordiality.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It is all the pleasanter to meet you,&quot; she said, &quot;as I have now an
+opportunity of thanking you for all your kindness to Austin. He is
+never tired of telling me how much he has enjoyed himself with you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The pleasure has been divided; he certainly has given me quite as
+much as ever I have been fortunate enough to give him,&quot; replied St
+Aubyn, smiling, &quot;What a very dear old garden you have here; I don't
+wonder that he's so fond of it. It seems a place one might spend one's
+life in without ever growing old.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That's what I mean to do,&quot; said Austin, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But yours is magnificent, I'm told,&quot; observed Aunt Charlotte. &quot;A
+little place like this is nothing in comparison, of course. Still, you
+are right; we are both extremely fond of it, and have spent many happy
+hours in it during the years that we've lived here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And is that Lubin?&quot; asked St Aubyn, <a name="Page_282" id="Page_282"></a>noticing the young gardener a
+little distance off.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes, that's Lubin,&quot; replied Austin, delighted that St Aubyn should
+have remembered him. Then Lubin looked up with a respectful smile, and
+bashfully touched his cap. &quot;Lubin's awfully clever,&quot; he continued, as
+they sauntered out of hearing, &quot;and <i>so</i> nice every way. He's what I
+call a real gentleman, and knows all sorts of curious things. It's
+perfectly wonderful how much more country people know than townsfolk.
+Of course I mean about <i>real</i> things&mdash;nature, and all that&mdash;not silly
+stuff you find in history-books, which is of no consequence to anybody
+in the world.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Now, Austin,&quot; began Aunt Charlotte, warningly.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Oh, you needn't be afraid,&quot; laughed St Aubyn; &quot;Austin's heresies are
+no novelty to me. And a heresy, you must recollect, has always some
+forgotten truth at the bottom of it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I'm sure I hope so,&quot; replied Aunt Charlotte. &quot;But the wind's getting
+a trifle chilly, and I think it's about time for tea. Austin isn't
+very strong just now, and mustn't run any risks.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So they went indoors and had their tea in the <a name="Page_283" id="Page_283"></a>drawing-room, when St
+Aubyn let fall the information that he was starting in a few days for
+a short tour in Italy. It would not be long, however, before he was
+back, and then of course he should look forward to seeing a great deal
+of Austin at the Court. Then Aunt Charlotte had to promise that she
+would honour the Court with a visit too; whereupon Austin launched out
+into a most glowing and picturesque description of the orchid-houses,
+and the pool of water-lilies, and the tapestry in the Banqueting Hall,
+being extremely curious to know whether his prosaic relative would
+experience any of those queer sensations that had so greatly impressed
+himself. This suggested a reference to Lady Merthyr Tydvil, who had
+taken so great an interest in Austin when last he had been at the
+Court; and here Aunt Charlotte chimed in, being naturally anxious to
+hear all about the wonderful old lady who had known Austin's father so
+well in years gone by, and remembered his mother too. Of course St
+Aubyn said, as in duty bound, that he hoped the countess would have
+the pleasure of meeting Austin's aunt some day under his own roof, and
+Aunt Charlotte acknowledged the courtesy in fitting terms.</p>
+
+<p>So the visit was quite a success, and Austin <a name="Page_284" id="Page_284"></a>felt much more at his
+ease now that he could talk to his aunt about St Aubyn as one whom
+they both knew. She, on her side, was delighted with her new
+acquaintance, particularly as he seemed quite familiar with Austin's
+ethical and intellectual eccentricities, and did not seem horrified at
+them in the very least. The only thing that disturbed her just a
+little was the state of the boy's health. His spirits were as good as
+ever, and he seemed quite indifferent to the fact that he was not
+robust and hale; but there could be no doubt that he was paler and
+more fragile than he ought to have been, and the uneasiness he was
+fain to acknowledge in his hip and back worried her not a
+little&mdash;more, in fact, a great deal than it worried Austin himself.</p>
+
+<p>The truth was that his attention was taken up with something wholly
+different. The allusions to his unknown mother that had been made by
+Lady Merthyr Tydvil, and the cropping-up of the same subject during St
+Aubyn's visit, had somehow connected themselves in his mind with the
+mysterious appearance of the strange lady at the garden gate on the
+evening of the tea-party at the vicarage. Lady Merthyr Tydvil had
+recognised a strong resemblance between his mother as she had known
+her and himself, and <a name="Page_285" id="Page_285"></a>he had noticed the very same thing in the
+strange lady. There were the same dark eyes, the same long, pale face,
+even (as far as he could judge) the same shade in colour of the hair.
+He would have thought little or nothing of this had it not been for
+the inexplicable and almost miraculous vanishing of the figure when
+there was absolutely nowhere for it to vanish to. Austin knew nothing
+of such happenings; with all his reading he had never chanced to open
+a single book that dealt with phenomena of this class, much less any
+written by scientific and sober investigators, so that the entire
+subject was an undiscovered country to him. Had he done so, his
+perplexity would not have been nearly so great, and very probably he
+might have recognised the fact of his own remarkable psychic powers.
+Still, in spite of this disadvantage, the conviction was slowly but
+surely forcing itself upon his mind that the lady he had seen was no
+one but his own mother. From this to a belief that it was she who had
+intervened to save both himself and his Aunt Charlotte from serious
+disasters was but a single step; and like Mary of old, in the presence
+of an even greater mystery, he revolved all these things silently in
+his heart.</p>
+
+<p>It was during the period when he was occupied <a name="Page_286" id="Page_286"></a>with this train of
+thought that another strange thing occurred. One evening he strolled
+into the garden just as the sun was setting. It was one of those lurid
+sunsets peculiar to autumn, which look like a distant conflagration
+obscured by a veil of smoke. The western sky was aglow with a dull,
+murky crimson flecked by clouds of the deepest indigo, from behind
+which there seemed to shoot up luminous pulsations like the reflection
+of unseen flames. The effect of this red, throbbing light upon the
+garden in which he stood was almost unearthly, something resembling
+that of an eclipse viewed through warm-coloured glass; beautiful in
+itself, yet abnormal, fantastic, suggestive of weird imaginings.
+Austin, absorbed in contemplation, moved slowly through the shrubbery
+until he reached the lawn; then came to a dead stop. An astounding
+vision appeared before him. Standing by the old stone fountain,
+scarcely ten yards away, he saw the figure of a youth. The slender
+form was partly draped in a loose tunic of some dim, pale, reddish
+hue, descending halfway to his knees; on his feet were sandals of the
+old classic type; his golden hair was bound by a narrow fillet, and in
+his right hand he held a round, shallow cup, apparently of gold,
+towards which he was bending <a name="Page_287" id="Page_287"></a>his head as though to drink from it.
+Austin stood transfixed. So exquisite a being he had never dreamt of
+or conceived. The contour of the limbs, the fall of the tunic, the
+pose of the head and throat, the ruddy lips, ever so slightly parted
+to meet the edge of the vessel he was in the act of raising to them,
+were something more than human. The whole thing stood out with
+stereoscopic clearness, and seemed as though self-luminous, although
+it shed no light on its surroundings. At that moment the youth turned
+his head, and met Austin's eyes with an expression that was not a
+smile, but something far more subtle, something that bore the same
+relation to a smile that a smile does to a laugh&mdash;thrilling,
+penetrating, indescribable. Austin flung out his hands in rapture.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Daphnis!&quot; he ejaculated, with a flash of intuition.</p>
+
+<p>He threw himself forward impulsively, in a mad attempt to approach the
+wonderful phantasm. As he did so, the colours lost their sheen, and
+the figure faded into transparency. By the time he was near enough to
+touch it, it was no longer there, and the next instant he found
+himself clinging to the cold stone margin of the old fountain, all
+alone upon the lawn in the fast <a name="Page_288" id="Page_288"></a>gathering twilight, shivering,
+panting, marvelling, but exultant in the consciousness of having been
+vouchsafed just one glimpse of the being who, so long unseen, had
+constituted for many years his cherished ideal of physical and
+spiritual beauty.</p>
+
+<p>He leant upon the fountain, in the spot that the vision had occupied.
+&quot;And I believe he's always been here&mdash;all these many years,&quot; mused the
+boy, coming gradually to himself again. &quot;He has stood beside me, often
+and often, inspiring me with beautiful ideas, though I never guessed
+it, never suspected it for a single moment. And now he has shown
+himself to me at last. The fountain is haunted, haunted by the
+beautiful earth-spirit that has been my guide, that I've dreamt of all
+my life without ever having seen him. It's a sacred fountain now&mdash;like
+the fountains of old Hellas, sacred with the hauntings of the gods.
+And he actually drank of the water&mdash;or was going to, if I hadn't
+frightened him away. Perhaps he's still here, although I can't see him
+any more. I wonder whether he knows my mother. It may be that they're
+great friends, and keep watch over me together. How wonderful it all
+is!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then he walked slowly and rather painfully <a name="Page_289" id="Page_289"></a>back to the house. He was
+in great spirits that night at dinner, though he ate no more than
+would have satisfied a bird, greatly to his aunt's disturbance. With
+much tact he abstained from saying anything to her about the
+extraordinary experience he had just gone through, feeling very justly
+that, though she seemed more or less reconciled to the ministry of
+angels, Daphnis was frankly a pagan spirit, and would, as such, be
+open to grave suspicion from the standpoint of his aunt's orthodoxy.
+But it didn't matter much, after all. He was happy in the
+consciousness that every day he was getting into nearer touch with a
+beautiful world that he could not see as yet, but in the existence of
+which he now believed as firmly as in that of his own garden. The
+spirit-land was fast becoming a reality to him, and although he had
+never beheld the glories of its scenery he had actually had a visit
+from two of its inhabitants. That, he thought, constituted the
+difference between Aunt Charlotte and himself. She believed in some
+place she called heaven, and had a vague notion that it was like a
+sort of religious transformation-scene, millions of miles away, up
+somewhere in the sky. He, on the contrary, knew that the spirit-world
+was all around him, because he had <a name="Page_290" id="Page_290"></a>had ocular as well as intuitive
+demonstration of its proximity.</p>
+
+<p>It must not be supposed, however, that he sank into a state of mystic
+contemplation that unfitted him for every-day life. On the contrary,
+he took more interest in his physical surroundings than ever. It was
+now October, and he threw himself with almost feverish energy into the
+garden-work belonging to that month. There were potted carnations to
+be removed into warmth and shelter, hyacinths and tulips for the
+spring bloom to be planted in different beds, roses and honeysuckles
+to be carefully and scientifically pruned, and dead leaves to be
+plucked off everywhere. His fragile health prevented him from helping
+in the more onerous tasks, but he followed Lubin about indefatigably,
+watching everything he did with eager vigilance, whether he was
+planting ranunculuses and anemones, or clipping hedges, or trimming
+evergreens; while he himself was fain to be content with pruning and
+budding, and directing how the plants should be most fitly set. He
+said he wanted the show of flowers next year to be a triumph of
+gardencraft. The garden was a sort of holy of holies to him, and he
+tended it, and planned for it, and worked in it more enthusiastically
+than he had ever done <a name="Page_291" id="Page_291"></a>before. This interest in common things was
+gratifying to Aunt Charlotte, who distrusted and discouraged his
+dwelling on what she called the uncanny side of life; but she was
+anxious, at the same time, that he should not overtax his strength,
+and gave secret orders to Lubin to see that the young master did not
+allow his ardour to outrun the dictates of discretion.</p>
+
+<p>One afternoon, Austin, who was feeling unusually tired, was lying in
+an easy-chair in the drawing-room with a book. He had been all the
+morning standing about in the garden, and after lunch Aunt Charlotte
+had put her foot down, and peremptorily forbidden him to go out any
+more that day. Austin had tried to get up a small rebellion,
+protesting that there were a lot of jonquils to be planted, and that
+Lubin would be sure to stick them too close together if he were not
+there to look after him; but his aunt was firm, and Austin was
+compelled on this occasion to submit. So there he lay, very calm and
+comfortable, while Aunt Charlotte knitted industriously, close by.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You see, my dear, you're not strong&mdash;not nearly so strong as you
+ought to be,&quot; she said, as she glanced at his drawn face. &quot;I intend to
+take extra care of you this winter, and if you're <a name="Page_292" id="Page_292"></a>not good about it I
+shall have to call in the doctor. I feel I have a great
+responsibility, you know, Austin. Oh, if only your poor mother were
+here, and could look after you herself!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How do you know she doesn't?&quot; asked Austin.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My dear!&quot; exclaimed Aunt Charlotte, rather shocked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Well, you can't be sure,&quot; retorted Austin, &quot;and I believe myself she
+does. I'm sure of one thing, anyhow&mdash;and that is that if she came into
+the room at this moment I should recognise her at once.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;You? Why, you never saw her in your life!&quot; said Aunt Charlotte. &quot;You
+shouldn't indulge such fancies, Austin. You could only think it might
+possibly be your mother, from the descriptions you've heard of her. Of
+course you could never be certain.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How is it she never had her likeness taken?&quot; enquired Austin, laying
+his book aside.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;She did have her likeness taken once; but she didn't care for it, and
+I don't think she kept any copies,&quot; replied Aunt Charlotte. &quot;It was
+just a common cabinet photograph, you know, done by some man or other
+in a country town. There may be one or two in existence, but I've
+<a name="Page_293" id="Page_293"></a>never come across any. I've often wished I could.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There are a lot of old trunks up in the attic, full of all sorts of
+rubbish,&quot; suggested Austin. &quot;It might be amusing to go up and grub
+about among them some day. One might find wonderful heirlooms, and
+jewels, and forgotten wills. I should like to hunt there awfully. I'm
+sure they haven't been touched for a century.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;In that case it isn't likely we should find your mother's photograph
+among them,&quot; retorted Aunt Charlotte briskly.</p>
+
+<p>Austin laughed. &quot;But may I?&quot; he persisted.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My dear, of course you may if you like,&quot; replied Aunt Charlotte. &quot;I
+don't suppose there are any treasures or secrets to be unearthed;
+probably you'll find nothing but a lot of old bills, and school-books,
+and such-like useless lumber. There <i>may</i> be some forgotten
+photographs&mdash;I couldn't swear there aren't; but if you do find
+anything of interest I shall be much surprised.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Austin was on his legs in a moment. &quot;Just the thing for an afternoon
+like this!&quot; he cried impulsively. &quot;I'll go up now, and have a look
+round. Don't worry, auntie; I won't fatigue myself, I promise you. I
+only want to see if <a name="Page_294" id="Page_294"></a>there's anything that looks as though it might be
+worth examining.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He hopped out of the room in some excitement, full of this new
+project. Aunt Charlotte, less enthusiastic, continued knitting
+placidly, her only anxiety being lest Austin should strain his back in
+leaning over the boxes. In about twenty minutes or so he returned,
+followed by Martha, the two carrying between them a battered green
+chest full of odds and ends, which she had carefully dusted before
+bringing into the drawing-room. &quot;There!&quot; he said, triumphantly;
+&quot;here's treasure-trove, if you like. Put it on the chair, Martha,
+close by me, and then I can empty it at my leisure. Now for a plunge
+into the past. Isn't it going to be fun, auntie?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I hope, my dear, that the entertainment will come up to your
+expectations,&quot; observed Aunt Charlotte, equably.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sure to,&quot; said Austin, beginning to rummage about. &quot;What are these?
+Old exercise-books, as I live! Oh, do look here; isn't this wonderful?
+Here's a translation: 'Horace, Liber I, Satire 5.' How brown the ink
+is. <i>Aricia a little town on the way to Appia received me coming from
+the magnificent city of Rome with poor accommodation. Heliodorus by
+far the most learned orator of the <a name="Page_295" id="Page_295"></a>Greeks accompanied me. We came
+to the market-place of Appius filled with sailors and insolent
+brokers.</i>&mdash;Were they stockbrokers, I wonder? Oh, auntie, these are
+exercises done by my grandfather when he was a little boy. Poor little
+grandfather; what pains he seems to have taken over it, and how
+beautifully it's written. I hope he got a lot of marks; do you think
+he did? <i>The sailor, soaked in poor wine, and the passenger, earnestly
+celebrate their absent mistresses.</i> Poor things! They don't seem to
+have had a very enjoyable excursion. However, I can't read it all
+through. Oh&mdash;here are a lot of letters. Not very interesting. All
+about contracts and sales, and silly things like that. Here's a funny
+book, though. Do look, auntie. It must have been printed centuries ago
+by the look of it. I wonder what it's all about. <i>A Sequel to the
+Antidote to the Miseries of Human Life, containing a Further Account
+of Mrs Placid and her daughter Rachel. By the Author of the Antidote.</i>
+What <i>does</i> it all mean? 'Squire Bustle'&mdash;'Miss Finakin'&mdash;'Uncle
+Jeremiah'&mdash;used people to read books like this when grandfather was a
+little boy? It looks quite charming, but I think we'll put it by for
+the present. What's this? Oh, a daguerreotype, I suppose&mdash;an
+extraordinary-looking, smirking old <a name="Page_296" id="Page_296"></a>person in a great bonnet with
+large roses all round her face, and tied with huge ribbons under her
+chin. Dear auntie, why don't you wear bonnets like that? You <i>would</i>
+look so sweet! Pamphlets&mdash;tracts&mdash;oh dear, these are all dreadfully
+dry. What a mixture it all is, to be sure. The things seem to have
+been shot in anyhow. Hullo&mdash;an album. <i>Now</i> we shall see. This is
+evidently of much later date than the other treasures, though it is at
+the bottom of them all.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He dragged out an old, soiled, photographic album bound in purple
+morocco, and all falling to pieces. It proved to contain family
+portraits, none of them particularly attractive in themselves, but
+interesting enough to Austin. He turned over the pages one by one,
+slowly. Aunt Charlotte glanced curiously at them over her spectacles
+from where she sat.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I don't think I remember ever seeing that album,&quot; she said. &quot;I wonder
+whom it can have belonged to. Ah! I expect it must have been your
+father's. Yes&mdash;there's a photograph of your Uncle Ernest, when he was
+just of age. You never saw him, he went to Australia before you were
+born. Those ladies I don't know. What a string of them there are, to
+be sure. I suppose they were&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_297" id="Page_297"></a>There she is!&quot; cried Austin, suddenly bringing his hand down upon the
+page. &quot;That's my mother. I told you I should know her, didn't I?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Charlotte jumped. &quot;The very photograph!&quot; she exclaimed. &quot;I had no
+idea there was a copy in existence. But how in the wide world did you
+recognise it?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Austin continued examining it for some seconds without replying. &quot;I
+don't think it quite does her justice,&quot; he said at last, thoughtfully.
+&quot;The position isn't well arranged. It makes the chin too small.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Quite true!&quot; assented Aunt Charlotte. &quot;It's the way she's holding her
+head.&quot; Then, with another start: &quot;But how can you know that?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Because I saw her only the other day,&quot; said Austin.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment Aunt Charlotte thought he was wool-gathering. He spoke in
+such a perfectly calm, natural tone, that he might have been referring
+to someone who lived in the next street. But a glance at his face
+convinced her that he meant exactly what he said.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Austin!&quot; she exclaimed. &quot;What can you be thinking about?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It's perfectly true,&quot; he assured her. &quot;I saw <a name="Page_298" id="Page_298"></a>her a few weeks ago in
+the garden. She stood and looked at me over the gate, and then
+suddenly disappeared.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;And you really believe it?&quot; cried Aunt Charlotte in amaze.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I don't believe it, I know it,&quot; he answered, laying down the
+photograph. &quot;I saw her as distinctly as I see you now. It was that day
+we had been having tea at the vicarage, when we met the man who wanted
+to set fire to some bishop or other. Ask Lubin; he'll remember it fast
+enough.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>This time Aunt Charlotte fairly collapsed. It was no longer any use
+flouting Austin's statements; they were too calm, too collected, to be
+disposed of by mere derision. There could be no doubt that he firmly
+believed he had seen something or somebody, and whatever might be the
+explanation of that belief it had enabled him not only to recognise
+his mother's photograph but to criticise, and criticise correctly, a
+certain defect in the portrait. She could not deny that what he said
+was true. &quot;Can such things really be?&quot; she uttered under her breath.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dear auntie, they <i>are</i>,&quot; said Austin. &quot;I've been conscious of it for
+months, and lately I've had the proof. Indeed, I've had more than
+one. <a name="Page_299" id="Page_299"></a>There are people all round us, only it isn't given to everybody
+to see them. And it isn't really very astonishing that it should be
+so, when one comes to think of it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>From that day forward Aunt Charlotte watched Austin with a sense of
+something akin to awe. Certainly he was different from other folk.
+With all his love of life, his keen interest in his surroundings, and
+his wealth of boyish spirits, he seemed a being apart&mdash;a being who
+lived not only in this world but on the boundary between this world
+and another. As an orthodox Christian woman of course she believed in
+that other&mdash;&quot;another and a better world,&quot; as she was accustomed to
+call it. But that that world was actually around her, hemming her in,
+within reach of her fingertips so to speak, that was quite a new idea.
+It gave her the creeps, and she strove to put it out of her head as
+much as possible. But ere many weeks elapsed, it was forced upon her
+in a very painful way, and she could no longer ignore the feeling
+which stole over her from time to time that not only was the boundary
+between the two worlds a very narrow one, but that her poor Austin
+would not be long before he crossed it altogether.</p>
+
+<p>For there was no doubt that he was beginning <a name="Page_300" id="Page_300"></a>to fade. He got paler
+and thinner by degrees, and one day she found him in a dead faint upon
+the floor. The slight uneasiness in his hip had increased to actual
+pain, and the pain had spread to his back. In an agony of apprehension
+she summoned the doctor, and the doctor with hollow professional
+cheerfulness said that that sort of thing wouldn't do at all, and that
+Master Austin must make up his mind to lie up a bit. And so he was put
+to bed, and people smiled ghastly smiles which were far more
+heartrending than sobs, and talked about taking him away to some
+beautiful warm southern climate where he would soon grow strong and
+well again. Austin only said that he was very comfortable where he
+was, and that he wouldn't think of being taken away, because he knew
+how dreadfully poor Aunt Charlotte suffered at sea, and travelling was
+a sad nuisance after all. And indeed it would have been impossible to
+move him, for his sufferings were occasionally very great. Sometimes
+he would writhe in strange agonies all night long, till they used to
+wonder how he would live through it; but when morning came he scarcely
+ever remembered anything at all, and in answer to enquiries always
+said that he had had a very good night indeed, thank you. Once or
+twice <a name="Page_301" id="Page_301"></a>he seemed to have a dim recollection of something&mdash;some &quot;bustle
+and fluff,&quot; as he expressed it&mdash;during his troubled sleep; and then he
+would ask anxiously whether he really had been giving them any bother,
+and assure them that he was so very sorry, and hoped they would
+forgive him for having been so stupid. At which Aunt Charlotte had to
+smile and joke as heroically as she knew how.</p>
+
+<p>There were some days, however, when he was quite free from pain, and
+then he was as bright and cheerful as ever. He lay in his white bed
+surrounded by the books he loved, which he read intermittently; and
+every now and then, when Aunt Charlotte thought he was strong enough,
+a visitor would be admitted. Roger St Aubyn, now back from Italy,
+often dropped in to sit with him, and these were golden hours to
+Austin, who listened delightedly to his friend's absorbing
+descriptions of the beautiful places he had been to and the wonderful
+old legends that were attached to them. Then nothing would content him
+but that Lubin must come up occasionally and tell him how the garden
+was looking, and what he thought of the prospects for next summer, and
+answer all sorts of searching questions as to the operations in which
+he had been engaged <a name="Page_302" id="Page_302"></a>since Austin had been a prisoner. Austin enjoyed
+these colloquies with Lubin; the very sight of him, he said, was like
+having a glimpse of the garden. But somehow Lubin's eyes always looked
+rather red and misty when he came out of the room, and it was noticed
+that he went about his work in a very half-hearted and listless
+manner.</p>
+
+<p>One day, however, a visitor called whose presence was not so
+sympathetic. This was Mr Sheepshanks, the vicar. Of course he was
+quite right to call&mdash;indeed it would have been an unpardonable
+omission had he not done so; at the same time his little furtive
+movements and professional air of solemnity got on Austin's nerves,
+and produced a sense of irritation that was certainly not conducive to
+his well-being. At last the point was reached to which the vicar had
+been gradually leading up, and he suggested that, now that it had
+pleased Providence to stretch Austin on a couch of pain, it was
+advisable that he should think about making his peace with God.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Make my peace with God?&quot; repeated Austin, opening his eyes. &quot;What
+about? We haven't quarrelled!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;My dear young friend, that is scarcely <a name="Page_303" id="Page_303"></a>the way for a creature to
+speak of its relations with its Creator,&quot; said the vicar, gravely
+shocked.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Isn't it?&quot; said Austin. &quot;I'm very sorry; I thought you were hinting
+that I had some grudge against the Creator, and that I ought to make
+it up. Because I haven't, not in the very least. I've had a lovely
+life, and I'm more obliged to Him for it than I can say.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ahem,&quot; coughed the vicar dubiously. &quot;One scarcely speaks of being
+<i>obliged</i> to the Almighty, my dear Austin. We owe Him our everlasting
+gratitude for His mercies to us, and when we think how utterly
+unworthy the best of us are of the very least attention on His
+part&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I don't see that at all,&quot; interrupted Austin. &quot;On the contrary,
+seeing that God brought us all into existence without consulting any
+one of us I think we have a right to expect a great deal of attention
+on His part. Surely He has more responsibility towards somebody He has
+made than that somebody has towards Him. That's only common sense, it
+seems to me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The vicar thought he had never had such an unmanageable penitent to
+deal with since he took <a name="Page_304" id="Page_304"></a>orders. &quot;But how about sin?&quot; he suggested,
+shifting his ground. &quot;Have you no sense of sin?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I'm almost afraid not,&quot; acknowledged Austin, with well-bred concern.
+&quot;Ought I to have?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;We all ought to have,&quot; replied the vicar sternly. &quot;We have all
+sinned, and come short of the glory of God.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I don't see how we could have done otherwise,&quot; remarked Austin, who
+was getting rather bored. &quot;Little people like us can't be expected to
+come up to a standard which I suppose implies divine perfection. I
+dare say I've done lots of sins, but for the life of me I've no idea
+what they were. I don't think I ever thought about it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;It's time you thought about it now, then,&quot; said the vicar, getting
+up. &quot;I won't worry you any more to-day, because I see you're tired.
+But I shall pray for you, and when next I come I hope you'll
+understand my meaning more clearly than you do at present.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is very kind of you,&quot; said Austin, putting out his almost
+transparent hand. &quot;I'm awfully sorry to give you so much trouble.
+You'll see Aunt Charlotte before you go away? <a name="Page_305" id="Page_305"></a>I know she'll expect
+you to go in for a cup of tea.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So the vicar escaped, almost as glad to do so as Austin was to be left
+in peace. And the worst of it was that, though he cudgelled his brains
+for many hours that night, he could not think of any sins in
+particular that Austin had been in the habit of committing. He was
+kind, he was pure, and he was unselfish. His exaggerated abuse of
+people he didn't like was more than half humorous, and was rather a
+fault than a sin. Yet he must be a sinner somehow, because everybody
+was. Perhaps his sin consisted in his not being pious in the
+evangelical sense of the word. Yet he loved goodness, and the vicar
+had once heard a great Roman Catholic divine say that loving goodness
+was the same thing as loving God. But Austin had never said that he
+loved God; he had only said that he was much obliged to Him. The poor
+vicar worried himself about all this until he fell asleep, taking
+refuge in the reflection that if he couldn't understand the state of
+Austin's soul there was always the probability that God did.</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Charlotte, on her side, was too much absorbed in her anxiety and
+sorrow to trouble herself with such misgivings. The light of her <a name="Page_306" id="Page_306"></a>life
+was burning very low, and bade fair to be extinguished altogether.
+What were theological conundrums to her now? It would be positively
+wicked to fear that anything dreadful could happen to Austin because
+he had forgotten his catechism and was not impressed by the vicar's
+prosy discourses in church. Face to face with the possibility of
+losing him, all her conventionality collapsed. The boy had been
+everything in the world to her, and now he was going elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>The house was a very mournful place just then, and the servants moved
+noiselessly about as though in the presence of some strange mystery.
+The only person in it who seemed really happy was Austin himself. A
+great London surgeon came to see him once, and then there was talk of
+hiring a trained nurse. But Austin combatted this project with all the
+vigour at his command, protesting that trained nurses always scented
+themselves with chloroform and put him in mind of a hospital; he
+really could not have one in the room. Some assistance, however, was
+necessary, for the disease was making such rapid progress that he
+could no longer turn himself in bed; and Austin, recognising the fact,
+insisted that Lubin and no other should tend him. So <a name="Page_307" id="Page_307"></a>Lubin, tearfully
+overjoyed at the distinction, exchanged the garden for the
+sick-chamber, into which, as Austin said, he seemed to bring the very
+scent of grass and flowers; and there he passed his time, day after
+day, raising the helpless boy in his strong arms, shifting his
+position, anticipating his slightest wish, and even sleeping in a low
+truckle-bed in a corner of the room at night.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes Austin would lie, silent and motionless, for hours, with a
+perfectly calm and happy look upon his face. This was when the pain
+relaxed its grip upon him. At other times he would talk almost
+incessantly, apparently holding a conversation with people whom Lubin
+could not see. One would have thought that someone very dear to him
+had come to pay him a visit, and that he and this mysterious someone
+were deeply attached to each other, so bright and playful were the
+smiles that rippled upon his lips. He spoke in a low, rapid undertone,
+so that Lubin could only catch a word or two here and there; then
+there would be a pause, as though to allow for some unheard reply, to
+which Austin appeared to be listening intently; and then off he would
+go again as fast as ever. His eyes had a wistful, far-off look in
+them, and every now <a name="Page_308" id="Page_308"></a>and then he seemed puzzled at Lubin's presence,
+not being quite able to reconcile the actual surroundings of the
+sick-room with those other scenes that were now dawning upon his
+sight, scenes in which Lubin had no place. There was a little
+confusion in his mind in consequence; but as the days went on things
+gradually became much clearer.</p>
+
+<p>Now Austin, in spite of his utter indifference to, or indeed aversion
+from, theological religion, had always loved his Sundays. To him they
+were as days of heaven upon earth, and in them he appeared to take an
+instinctive delight, as though the very atmosphere of the day filled
+him with spiritual aspirations, and thoughts which belonged not to
+this world. Above all, he loved Sunday evenings, which appeared to him
+a season hallowed in some special way, when all high and pure
+influences were felt in their greatest intensity. And now another
+Sunday came round, and, as had been the case all through his illness,
+he felt and knew by instinct what day it was. He lay quite still, as
+the distant chime of the church bells was wafted through the air,
+faint but just audible in the silent room. Aunt Charlotte smiled
+tenderly at him through her tears; she was going to church, poor soul,
+to pray for his recovery, though <a name="Page_309" id="Page_309"></a>knowing quite well that what she
+called his recovery was beyond hope. Austin shot a brilliant smile at
+her in return, and Aunt Charlotte rushed out of the room choking.</p>
+
+<p>The day drew to its close, the darkness gathered, and Austin, who had
+been suffering considerably during the afternoon, was now easier. At
+about seven o'clock his aunt stole softly in, unable to keep away, and
+looked at him. His eyes were closed, and he appeared to be asleep.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;How has he been this afternoon?&quot; she asked of Lubin in an undertone.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Seemed to be sufferin' a bit about two hour ago, but nothing more 'n
+usual,&quot; said Lubin. &quot;Then he got easier and sank asleep, quite
+quiet-like. He's breathin' regular enough.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He doesn't look worse&mdash;there's even a little colour in his cheeks,&quot;
+observed Aunt Charlotte, as she watched the sleeping boy. &quot;He's in
+quite a nice, natural slumber. If nursing could only bring him round!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I'd nurse him all my life for that matter,&quot; replied Lubin huskily,
+standing on the other side of the bed.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I know you would, Lubin,&quot; cried Aunt <a name="Page_310" id="Page_310"></a>Charlotte. &quot;You've been
+goodness itself to my poor darling. What wouldn't I do&mdash;what wouldn't
+we all do&mdash;to save his precious life!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is he waking up?&quot; whispered Lubin, bending over. &quot;Nay&mdash;just turning
+his head a bit to one side. He's comfortable enough for the time
+being. If it wasn't for them crooel pains as seizes him&mdash;&mdash;&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Ah, but they're only the symptoms of the disease!&quot; sighed Aunt
+Charlotte, mournfully. &quot;And the doctor says that if they were to leave
+him suddenly, it&mdash;wouldn't&mdash;be a good&mdash;sign.&quot; Here she began to sob
+under her breath. &quot;It might mean that his poor body was no longer
+capable of feeling. Well, God knows what's best for all of us. Aren't
+you getting nearly worn out yourself, Lubin?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I? Laws no, ma'am,&quot; answered Lubin almost scornfully. &quot;I get a sort
+o' dog's snooze every now and again, and when Martha was here this
+morning I slept for four hour on end. No fear o' me caving in. Ah,
+would ye now?&quot; observing some feeble attempt on Austin's part to shift
+his position. &quot;There!&quot; as he deftly slipped his hands under him, and
+turned him a little to one side. &quot;That eases him a bit. It's <a name="Page_311" id="Page_311"></a>stiff
+work, lying half the day with one's back in the same place.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then Martha appeared at the door, and insisted on Aunt Charlotte going
+downstairs and trying to take some nourishment. In the sick-room all
+was silent. Austin continued sleeping peacefully, an expression of
+absolute contentment and happiness upon his face, while Lubin sat by
+the bedside watching.</p>
+
+<p>But Austin did not go on sleeping all the night. There came a time
+when his deep unconsciousness was invaded by a very strange and
+wonderful sensation. He no longer felt himself lying motionless in
+bed, as he had been doing for so long. He seemed rather to be
+floating, as one might float along the current of a strong, swift
+stream. He felt no bed under him, though what it was that held him up
+he couldn't guess, and it never occurred to him to wonder. All he knew
+was that his pains had vanished, that his body was scarcely palpable,
+and that the smooth, gliding motion&mdash;if motion it could be called&mdash;was
+the most exquisite sensation he had ever felt. What <i>could</i> be
+happening? Austin, his mind now wide awake, and thoroughly on the
+alert, lay for some time in rapt enjoyment of this new experience.
+Then he opened his eyes, and found that <a name="Page_312" id="Page_312"></a>he was in bed after all; the
+nightlight was burning on a table by the window, the bookcase stood
+where it did, and he could even discern Lubin, who seemed to have
+dropped asleep, in an armchair three or four yards away. That made the
+mystery all the greater, and Austin waited in expectant silence to see
+what would happen next.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, as in a flash, the whole of his past life unrolled itself
+before his consciousness. He saw himself a toddling baby, a growing
+child, a schoolboy, a happy young rascal chasing sheep; then came a
+period of pain, a gradual convalescence, a joyful life in the country
+air, a life of reading, a life of pleasant dreams, a life into which
+entered his friendship with St Aubyn, his days with Lubin in the
+garden, his encounters with Mr Buskin, and those strange experiences
+that had reached him from another world. That other world was coming
+very near to him now, and he was coming very near to it! And all these
+recollections formed one marvellous panorama, one great simultaneous
+whole, with no appearance of succession, but just as though it had
+happened all at once. Austin seemed to be past reasoning; he had
+advanced to a stage where thinking and speculating were things gone by
+for ever, and his <a name="Page_313" id="Page_313"></a>perceptions were wholly passive. There was his
+life, spread out in consciousness before him; and meanwhile he was
+undergoing a change.</p>
+
+<p>He looked up, and saw a dim, violet cloud hanging horizontally over
+him. It was in shape like a human form; his own form. At that moment a
+great tremor, a sort of convulsive thrill, passed through him as he
+lay, jarring every nerve, and awaking him, at that supreme crisis, to
+the existence of his body. A sense of confusion followed; and then he
+seemed to pass out of his own head, and found himself poised in the
+air immediately over the place where he had just been lying. He saw
+the violet cloud no more, though whether he had coalesced with it, or
+the cloud itself had become disintegrated, he could not tell; then, by
+a sort of instinct, he assumed an erect position, and saw that he was
+balanced, somehow, a little distance from the bed, looking down upon
+it. And on the bed, connected with him by a faintly luminous cord, lay
+the white, still, beautiful form of a dead boy. &quot;And that was my
+body!&quot; he cried, in awestruck wonder, though his words caused no
+vibration in the air.</p>
+
+<p>He looked at himself, and saw that he was glorious, encircled by a
+radiant fire-mist. And <a name="Page_314" id="Page_314"></a>he was throbbing and pulsating with life, able
+to move hither and thither without effort, free from lameness, free
+from weight, strong, vigorous, full of energy, poised like a bird in
+the pure air of heaven, ready to take his flight in any conceivable
+direction at the faintest motion of his own will. Then the
+resplendence that enveloped him extended, until the whole room was
+full of it; and in the midst of it there stood a very sweet and
+gracious figure, robed in white drapery, and with eyes of intensest
+love, more beautiful to look at than anything that Austin had ever
+dreamed of. &quot;Mother!&quot; he whispered, as he glided swiftly towards her.</p>
+
+<p>The walls and ceiling of the room dissolved, and a wonderful
+landscape, the pageantry and splendour of the Spirit Land, revealed
+itself. It was bathed in a light that never was on land or sea, and
+there were sunny slopes, and jewelled meadows, and silvery streams,
+and flowers that only grow in Paradise. Austin was dazzled with its
+glory; here at last was the realisation of all he had dimly fancied,
+all he had ever longed for. And yet as he floated outwards and upwards
+into the heavenly realms, the crown and climax of his happiness lay in
+the thought that he could always, by the mere impulse of desire,
+revisit the sweet <a name="Page_315" id="Page_315"></a>old garden he had loved, and watch Lubin at his
+work among the flowers, and stand, though all unseen, beside the old
+stone fountain where he had passed such happy times in the earth-life
+he was leaving.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<br />
+<a name="Page_316" id="Page_316"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+<h5>EDINBURGH<br />
+M'LAREN AND CO., LIMITED<br />
+PRINTERS</h5>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUSTIN AND HIS FRIENDS***</p>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Austin and His Friends, by Frederic H. Balfour
+
+
+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: Austin and His Friends
+
+
+Author: Frederic H. Balfour
+
+
+
+Release Date: June 21, 2005  [eBook #16099]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUSTIN AND HIS FRIENDS***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Jeannie Howse, and the
+Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+(https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+AUSTIN AND HIS FRIENDS
+
+by
+
+FREDERIC H. BALFOUR
+
+Author Of "The Expiation of Eugene," etc.
+
+London
+Greening & Co., Ltd.
+
+1906
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: DAPHNIS AT THE FOUNTAIN]
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Advertisement
+
+
+The old-fashioned ghost-story was always terrifying and ghastly;
+something that made people afraid to go to bed, or to look over their
+shoulders, or to enter a room in the dark. It dealt with apparitions
+in a white sheet, and clanking chains, and dreadful faces that peered
+out from behind the window curtains in a haunted chamber. And the more
+blood-curdling it was, the more keenly people enjoyed it--until they
+were left alone, and then they were apt to wish that they had been
+reading Robinson Crusoe or Alison's History of Europe instead. Now the
+present book embodies an attempt to write a _cheerful_ ghost-story; a
+story in which the ghostly element is of a friendly and pleasant
+character, and sheds a sense of happiness and sunshine over the entire
+life of the ghost-seer. Whether the author has succeeded in doing so
+will be for his readers to decide. It is only necessary to add that he
+has not introduced a single supernormal incident that has not occurred
+and been authenticated in the recorded experiences of persons lately
+or still alive.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Austin and His Friends
+
+Chapter the First
+
+
+It was rather a beautiful old house--the house where Austin lived.
+That is, it was old-fashioned, low-browed, solid, and built of that
+peculiar sort of red brick which turns a rich rose-colour with age;
+and this warm rosy tint was set off to advantage by the thick mantle
+of dark green ivy in which it was partly encased, and by the row of
+tall white and purple irises which ran along the whole length of the
+sunniest side of the building. There was an ancient sun-dial just
+above the door, and all the windows were made of small, square
+panes--not a foot of plate-glass was there about the place; and if the
+rooms were nor particularly large or stately, they had that
+comfortable and settled look which tells of undisturbed occupancy by
+the same inmates for many years. But the principal charm of the place
+was the garden in which the house stood. In this case the frame was
+really more beautiful than the picture. On one side, the grounds were
+laid out in very formal style, with straight walks, clipped box
+hedges, an old stone fountain, and a perfect bowling-green of a lawn;
+while at right angles to this there was a plot of land in which all
+regularity was set at naught, and sweet-peas, tulips, hollyhocks,
+dahlias, gillyflowers, wall-flowers, sun-flowers, and a dozen others
+equally sweet and friendly shared the soil with gooseberry bushes and
+thriving apple-trees. Taking it all in all, it was a lovable and most
+reposeful home, and Austin, who had lived there ever since he could
+remember, was quite unable to imagine any lot in life that could be
+compared to his.
+
+Now this was curious, for Austin was a hopeless cripple. Up to the age
+of sixteen, he had been the most active, restless, healthy boy in all
+the countryside. He used to spend his days in boating, bicycling,
+climbing hills, and wandering at large through the woods and leafy
+lanes which stretched far and wide in all directions of the compass.
+One of his chief diversions had been sheep-chasing; nothing delighted
+him more than to start a whole flock of the astonished creatures
+careering madly round some broad green meadow, their fat woolly backs
+wobbling and jolting along in a compact mass of mild perplexity at
+this sudden interruption of their never-ending meal, while Austin
+scampered at their tails, as much excited with the sport as Don
+Quixote himself when he dispersed the legions of Alifanfaron. Let
+hare-coursers, otter-hunters, and pigeon-torturers blame him if they
+choose; the exercise probably did the sheep a vast amount of good, and
+Austin fully believed that they enjoyed it quite as much as he did.
+Then suddenly a great calamity befell him. A weakness made itself
+apparent in his right knee, accompanied by considerable pain. The
+family doctor looked anxious and puzzled; a great surgeon was called
+in, and the two shook their heads together in very portentous style.
+It was a case of caries, they said, and Austin mustn't hunt sheep any
+more. Soon he had to lie upon the sofa for several hours a day, and
+what made Aunt Charlotte more anxious than anything else was that he
+didn't seem to mind lying on the sofa, as he would have done if he had
+felt strong and well; on the contrary, he grew thin and listless, and
+instead of always jumping up and trying to evade the doctor's orders,
+appeared quite content to lie there, quiet and resigned, from one
+week's end to another. That, thought shrewd Aunt Charlotte, betokened
+mischief. Another consultation followed, and then a very terrible
+sentence was pronounced. It was necessary, in order to save his life,
+that Austin should lose his leg.
+
+What does a boy generally feel under such circumstances? What would
+you and I feel? Austin's first impulse was to burst into a passionate
+fit of weeping, and he yielded to it unreservedly. But, the fit once
+past, he smiled brilliantly through his tears. True, he would never
+again be able to enjoy those glorious ramps up hill and down dale that
+up till then had sent the warm life coursing through his veins. Never
+more would he go scorching along the level roads against the wind on
+his cherished bicycle. The open-air athletic days of stress and effort
+were gone, never to return. But there might be compensations; who
+could tell? Happiness, all said and done, need not depend upon a
+shin-bone more or less. He might lose a leg, but legs were, after all,
+a mere concomitant to life--life did not consist in legs. There would
+still be something left to live for, and who could tell whether that
+something might not be infinitely grander and nobler and more
+satisfying than even the rapture of flying ten miles an hour on his
+wheel, or chevying a flock of agitated sheep from one pasture to
+another?
+
+Where this sudden inspiration came from, he then had no idea; but come
+it did, in the very nick of time, and helped him to dry his tears. The
+day of destiny also came, and his courage was put to the test. He knew
+well enough, of course, that of the operation he would feel nothing.
+But the sight of the hard, white, narrow pallet on which he had to
+lie, the cold glint of the remorseless instruments, the neatly folded
+packages of lint and cotton-wool, and the faint, horrible smell of
+chloroform turned him rather sick for a minute. Then he glanced
+downwards, with a sense of almost affectionate yearning, at the limb
+he was about to lose. "Good-bye, dear old leg!" he murmured, with a
+little laugh which smothered a rising sob. "We've had some lovely
+ramps together, but the best of friends must part."
+
+Afterwards, during the long days of dreary convalescence, he began to
+feel an interest in what remained of it; and then he found himself
+taking a sort of aesthetic pleasure in the smooth, beautifully-rounded
+stump, which really was in its way quite an artistic piece of work. At
+last, when the flesh was properly healed, and the white skin growing
+healthily again around his abbreviated member, he grew eager to make
+acquaintance with his new leg; for of course it was never intended
+that he should perform the rest of his earthly pilgrimage with only a
+leg and a half--let the added half be of what material it might. And
+his excitement may be better imagined than described when, one
+afternoon, the surgeon came in with a most wonderful object in his
+arms--a lovely prop of bright, black, burnished wood, set off with
+steel couplings and the most fascinating straps you ever saw. And the
+best of all was the socket, in which his soft white stump fitted as
+comfortably as though they had been made for one another--as, in fact,
+one of them had been. It was a little difficult to walk just at first,
+for Austin was accustomed to begin by throwing out his foot, whereas
+now he had to begin by moving his thigh; this naturally made him
+stagger, and for some time he could only get along with the aid of a
+crutch. But to be able to walk again at all was a great achievement,
+and then, if you only looked at it in the proper light, it really was
+great fun.
+
+There was, however, one person who, probably from a defective sense of
+humour, was unable to see any fun in it at all. Aunt Charlotte would
+have given her very ears for Austin, but her affection was of a
+somewhat irritable sort, and generally took the form of scolding. She
+was not a stupid woman by any means, but there was one thing in the
+world she never could understand, and that was Austin himself. He
+wasn't like other boys one bit, she always said. He had such a queer,
+topsy-turvy way of looking at things; would express the most
+outrageous opinions with an innocent unconsciousness that made her
+long to box his ears, and support the most arrant absurdities by
+arguments that conveyed not the smallest meaning to her intellect.
+Look at him now, for instance; a cripple for life, and pretending to
+see nothing in it but a joke, and expressing as much admiration for
+his horrible wooden leg as though it had been a king's sceptre! In
+Aunt Charlotte's view, Austin ought to have pitied himself immensely,
+and expressed a hope that God would help him to bear his burden with
+orthodox resignation to the Divine will; instead of which, he seemed
+totally unconscious of having any burden at all--a state of mind that
+was nothing less than impious. Austin was now seventeen, and it was
+high time that he took more serious views of life. Ever since he was a
+baby he had been her special charge; for his mother had died in giving
+him birth, and his father had followed her about a twelvemonth later.
+She had always done her duty to the boy, and loved him as though he
+had been her own; but she reminded onlookers rather of a conscientious
+elderly cat with limited views of natural history condemned by
+circumstances to take care of a very irresponsible young eaglet. The
+eaglet, on his side, was entirely devoted to his protectress, but it
+was impossible for him not to feel a certain lenient and amused
+contempt for her very limited horizon.
+
+"Auntie," he said to her one day, "you're just like a frog at the
+bottom of a well. You think the speck of blue you see above you is the
+entire sky, and the water you paddle up and down in is the ocean. Why
+can't you take a rather more cosmic view of things?"
+
+This extraordinary remark occurred in the course of a wrangle between
+the two, because Austin insisted on his pet cat--a plump, white,
+matronly creature he had christened 'Gioconda,' because (so _he_ said)
+she always smiled so sweetly--sitting up at the dinner-table and being
+fed with tit-bits off his own fork; and Aunt Charlotte objected to
+this proceeding on the ground that the proper place for cats was in
+the kitchen. Austin, on his side, averred that cats were in many ways
+much superior to human beings; that they had been worshipped as gods
+by the philosophical Egyptians because they were so scornful and
+mysterious; and that Gioconda herself was not only the divinest cat
+alive, but entitled to respect, if only as an embodiment and
+representative of cat-hood in the abstract, which was a most important
+element in the economy of the universe. It was when Aunt Charlotte
+stigmatised these philosophical reflections as a pack of impertinent
+twaddle that Austin had had the audacity to say that she was like a
+frog.
+
+And now her eaglet had been maimed for life, and whatever he might
+feel about it himself her own responsibilities were certainly much
+increased. At this very moment, for instance, after having practised
+stumping about the room for half-an-hour he insisted on going
+downstairs. Of course the idea was ridiculous. Even the doctor shook
+his head, while old Martha, who had tubbed Austin when he was two
+years old, joined in the general protest. But Austin, disdaining to
+argue the point with any one of them, had already hobbled out of the
+room, and before they were well aware of it had begun to essay the
+descent perilous. Ominous bumps were heard, and then a dull thud as of
+a body falling. But a bend in the wall had caught the body, and the
+explorer was none the worse. Then Aunt Charlotte, rushing back into
+the bedroom, flung open the window wide.
+
+"Lubin!" she shouted lustily.
+
+A young gardener boy, tall, round-faced and curly-haired, glanced up
+astonished from his work among the sweet-peas.
+
+"Come up here directly and carry Master Austin downstairs. He's got a
+wooden leg and hasn't learnt how to use it."
+
+The consequence of which was that two minutes later Austin, panting
+and enraged at the failure of his first attempt at independence, found
+himself firmly encircled by a pair of strong young arms, lifted gently
+from the ground, and carried swiftly and safely downstairs and out at
+the garden door.
+
+"Now you just keep quiet, Master Austin," murmured Lubin, chuckling as
+Austin began to kick. "No use your starting to run before you know how
+to walk. Wooden legs must be humoured a bit, Sir; 'twon't do to expect
+too much of 'em just at first, you see. This one o' yours is mighty
+handsome to look at, I don't deny, but it's not accustomed to
+staircases and maybe it'll take some time before it is. Hold tight,
+Sir; only a few yards more now. There! Here we are on the lawn at
+last. Now you can try your paces at your leisure."
+
+"You're awfully nice to me, Lubin," gasped Austin, red with
+mortification, as he slipped from the lad's arms on to the grass, "but
+I felt just now as if I could have killed you, all the same."
+
+"Lor', Sir, I don't mind," said Lubin. "I doubt that was no more'n
+natural. Can you stand steady? Here--lay hold o' my arm. Slow and
+sure's the word. Look out for that flower-bed. Now, then, round you
+go--that's it. Ah!"--as Austin fell sprawling on the grass. "Now how
+are you going to get up again, I should like to know? Seems to me the
+first thing you've got to learn is not to lose your balance, 'cause
+once you're down 'tain't the easiest thing in creation to scramble up
+again. You'll have to stick to the crutch at first, I reckon. Up we
+come! Now let's see how you can fare along a bit all by yourself."
+
+Austin was thankful for the support of his crutch, with the aid of
+which he managed to stagger about for a few minutes at quite a
+respectable speed. It reminded him almost of the far-off days when he
+was learning to ride his bicycle. At last he thought he would like to
+rest a bit, and was much surprised when, on flinging himself down
+upon a garden seat, his leg flew up in the air.
+
+"Lively sort o' limb, this new leg o' yours, Sir," commented Lubin, as
+he bent it into a more decorous position. "You'll have to take care it
+don't carry you off with it one o' these fine days. Seems to me it
+wants taming, and learning how to behave itself in company. I heard
+tell of a cork leg once upon a time as was that nimble it started off
+running on its own account, and no earthly power could stop it.
+Wouldn't have mattered so much if it'd had nobody but itself to
+consider, but unluckily the gentleman it belonged to happened to be
+screwed on to the top end of it, and of course he had to follow. They
+do say as how he's following it still--poor beggar! Must be worn to a
+shadow by this time, I should think. But p'raps it ain't true after
+all. There are folks as'll say anything."
+
+"I expect it's true enough," replied Austin cheerfully. "If you want a
+thing to be true, all you've got to do is to believe it--believe it as
+hard as you can. That makes it true, you see. At least, that's what
+the new psychology teaches. Thought creates things, you
+understand--though how it works I confess I can't explain. But never
+mind. Oh, dear, how drunk I am!"
+
+"Drunk, Sir? No, no, only a bit giddy," said Lubin, as he stood
+watching Austin with his hands upon his hips. "You're not over strong
+yet, and that new leg of yours has been giving you too much exercise
+to begin with. You just keep quiet a few minutes, and you'll soon be
+as right as ninepence."
+
+Then Austin slid carefully off the seat, and stretched himself full
+length upon the grass. "I _am_ drunk," he murmured, closing his eyes,
+"drunk with the scent of the flowers. Don't you smell them, Lubin? The
+air's heavy with it, and it has got into my brain. And how sweet the
+grass smells too. I love it--it's like breathing the breath of Nature.
+What do legs matter? It's much nicer to roll over the grass wherever
+you want to go than to have the bother of walking. Don't worry about
+me any more, nice Lubin. Go on tying up your sweet-peas. I'll come and
+help you when I'm tired of rolling about. Just now I don't want
+anything; I'm drunk--I'm happy--I'm satisfied--I'm happier than I ever
+was before. Be kind to the flowers, Lubin; don't tie them too tight.
+They're my friends and my lovers. Aren't you a little fond of them
+too?"
+
+Then, left to his own reflections, he lay perfectly peaceful and
+content staring up into the sky. For months he had been fated to lead
+an entirely new life, and now it had actually begun. His entrance upon
+it was not bitter. He had flowers growing by his path, and books that
+he loved, and one or two friends who loved him. It was all right! And
+that was how he spent his first day of acknowledged cripplehood.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter the Second
+
+
+In a very short time Austin had overcome the initial difficulties of
+locomotion, and now began to take regular exercise out of doors. It
+would be too much to say that his gait was particularly elegant; but
+there really was something triumphal about the way in which he learnt
+to brandish his leg with every step he took, and the majestic swing
+with which he brought it round to its place in advance of the other.
+In fact, he soon found himself stumping along the highroads with
+wonderful speed and safety; though to clamber over stiles, and work a
+bicycle one-footed, of course took much more practice.
+
+Hitherto I have said nothing about the neighbourhood of Austin's home.
+Now when I say neighbourhood, I don't mean the topographical
+surroundings--I use the word in its correcter sense of neighbours; and
+these it is necessary to refer to in passing. Of course there were
+several people living round about. There was the MacTavish family,
+for instance, consisting of Mr and Mrs MacTavish, five daughters and
+two sons. Mrs MacTavish had a brother who had been knighted, and on
+the strength of such near relationship to Sir Titus and Lady
+Clandougal, considered herself one of the county. But her claim was
+not endorsed, even by the humbler gentry with whom she was forced to
+associate, while as for the county proper it is not too much to say
+that that august community had never even heard of her. The Miss
+MacTavishes, ranging in age from fifteen to five-and-twenty, were
+rather gawky young persons, with red hair and a perpetual giggle; in
+fact they could not speak without giggling, even if it was to tell you
+that somebody was dead. Every now and then Mrs MacTavish would
+proclaim, with portentous complacency, that Florrie, or Lizzie, or
+Aggie, was "out"--to the awe-struck admiration of her friends; which
+meant that the young person referred to had begun to do up her hair in
+a sort of bun at the back of her head, and had had her frock let down
+a couple of tucks. Austin couldn't bear them, though he was always
+scrupulously polite. And the boys were, if anything, less interesting
+than the girls. The elder of the two--a freckled young giant named
+Jock--was always asking him strange conundrums, such as whether he was
+going to put the pot on for the Metropolitan--which conveyed no more
+idea to Austin's mind than if he had said it in Chinese; while Sandy,
+the younger, used to terrify him out of his wits by shouting out that
+Yorkshire had got the hump, or that Jobson was 'not out' for a
+century, or that wickets were cheap at the Oval. In fact, the entire
+family bored him to extinction, though Aunt Charlotte, who had been an
+old school-friend of the mamma, sang their praises perseveringly, and
+said that the girls were dears.
+
+Then there was the inevitable vicar, with a wife who piqued herself on
+her smart bonnets; a curate, who preached Socialism, wore
+knickerbockers, and belonged to the Fabian Society; a few unattached
+elderly ladies who had long outlived the reproach of their virginity;
+and just two or three other families with nothing particular to
+distinguish them one way or another. It may readily be inferred,
+therefore, that Austin had not many associates. There was really no
+one in the place who interested him in the very least, and the
+consequence was that he was generally regarded as unsociable. And so
+he was--very unsociable. The companionship of his books, his bicycle,
+his flowers and his thoughts was far more precious to him than that of
+the silly people who bothered him to join in their vapid diversions
+and unseasonable talk, and he rightly acted upon his preference. His
+own resources were of such a nature that he never felt alone; and
+having but few comrades in the flesh, he wisely courted the society of
+those whom, though long since dead, he held in far higher esteem than
+all the elderly ladies and curates and MacTavishes who ever lived. His
+appetite in literature was keen, but fastidious. He devoured all the
+books he could procure about the Renaissance of art in Italy. The
+works of Mr Walter Pater were as a treasure-house of suggestion to
+him, and did much to form and guide his gradually developing
+mentality. He read Plato, being even more fascinated by the exquisite
+technique of the dialectic than by the ethical value of the teaching.
+And there was one small, slim book that he always carried about with
+him, and kept for special reading in the fields and woods. This was
+Virgil's Eclogues, the sylvan atmosphere of which penetrated the very
+depths of his being, and created in him a moral or spiritual
+atmosphere which was its counterpart. He seemed to live amid gracious
+pastoral scenes, where beautiful youths and maidens passed a
+perpetual springtime in a land of dewy lawns, and shady groves, and
+pools, and rippling streams. Daphnis and Mopsus, Corydon, Alexis, and
+Amyntas, were all to him real personages, who peopled his solitude,
+inspired his poetic fancy, and fostered in his imagination the
+elements of an ideal life where the beauty and purity and freshness of
+untainted Nature reigned supreme. The accident of his lameness, by
+incapacitating him for violent exercise out of doors, ministered to
+the development of this spiritual tendency, and threw him back upon
+the allurements of a refined idealism. Daphnis became to him the
+embodiment, the concrete image, of eternal youthhood, of adolescence
+in the abstract, the attribute of an idealised humanity. To lead the
+pure Daphnis life of simplicity, stainlessness, communion with
+beautiful souls, was to lead the highest life. To find one's bliss in
+sunshine, flowers, and the winds of heaven--in both the physical and
+moral spheres--was to find the highest bliss. Why should not he,
+Austin Trevor, cripple as he was, so live the Daphnis life as to be
+himself a Daphnis?
+
+No wonder a boy like this was voted unsociable. No wonder Sandy and
+Jock despised him as a muff, and the young ladies deplored his
+unaccountably elusive ways. The truth was that Austin simply had no
+use for any of them; his life was complete without them, it contained
+no niche into which they could ever fit. Lubin was a far more
+congenial comrade. Lubin never bothered him about football, or
+cricket, or horse-racing, never worried him with invitations to
+horrible picnics, never outraged his sensibilities in any way. On the
+contrary, Lubin rather contributed to his happiness by the care he
+took of the flowers, and the intelligence he showed in carrying out
+all Austin's elaborately conveyed instructions. Why, Lubin himself was
+a sort of Daphnis--in a humble way. But Sandy! No, Austin was not
+equal to putting up with Sandy.
+
+There was, however, one gentleman in the neighbourhood whom Master
+Austin was gracious enough to approve. This was a certain Mr Roger St
+Aubyn, a man of taste and culture, who possessed a very rare
+collection of fine pictures and old engravings which nobody had ever
+seen. St Aubyn was, in fact, something of a recluse, a student who
+seldom went beyond his park gates, and found his greatest pleasure in
+reading Greek and cultivating orchids. It was by the purest accident
+that the two came across each other. Austin was lying one afternoon on
+a bank of wild hyacinths just outside Combe Spinney, lazily admiring
+the effect of his bright black leg against the bright blue sky, and
+thinking of nothing in particular. Mr St Aubyn, who happened to be
+strolling in that direction, was attracted by the unwonted spectacle,
+and ventured on some good-humoured quizzical remark. This led to a
+conversation, in the course of which the scholar thought he discovered
+certain original traits in the modest observations of the youth. One
+topic drifted into another, and soon the two were engaged in an
+animated discussion about pursuits in life. It was in the course of
+this that Austin let drop the one word--Art.
+
+"What is Art?" queried St Aubyn.
+
+Austin hesitated for some moments. Then he said, very slowly:
+
+"That is a question to which a dozen answers might be given. A whole
+book would be required to deal with it."
+
+St Aubyn was delighted, both at the reply and at the hesitation that
+had preceded it.
+
+"And are you an artist?" he enquired.
+
+"I believe I am," replied Austin, very seriously. "Of course one
+doesn't like to be too confident, and I can't draw a single line, but
+still----"
+
+"Good again," approved the other. "Here as in everything else all
+depends upon the definition. What is an artist?"
+
+"An artist," exclaimed Austin, kindling, "is one who can see the
+beauty everywhere."
+
+"_The_ beauty?" repeated St Aubyn.
+
+"The beauty that exists everywhere, even in ugly things. The beauty
+that ordinary people don't see," returned Austin. "Anybody can see
+beauty in what are _called_ beautiful things--light, and colour, and
+grace. But it takes an artist to see beauty in a muddy road, and
+dripping branches, and drenching rain. How people cursed and grumbled
+on that rainy day we had last week; it made me sick to hear them. Now
+I saw the beauty _under_ the ugliness of it all--the wonderful soft
+greys and browns, the tiny glints of silver between the leaves, the
+flashes of pearl and orpiment behind the shifting clouds. Do you know,
+I even see beauty in this wooden leg of mine, great beauty, though
+everybody else thinks it perfectly hideous! So that is why I hope I am
+not wrong in imagining that perhaps I may, really, be in some sense an
+artist."
+
+For a moment St Aubyn did not speak. "The boy's a great artist," he
+muttered to himself. His interest was now excited in good earnest; here
+was no common mind. Of art Austin knew practically nothing, but the
+artistic instinct was evidently tingling in every vein of him. St Aubyn
+himself lived for art and literature, and was amazed to have come
+across so curiously exceptional a personality. He drew the boy out a
+little more, and then, in a moment of impulse, did a most unaccustomed
+thing: he invited Austin to lunch with him on the following Thursday,
+promising, in addition, that they should spend the afternoon together
+looking over his conservatories and picture-gallery.
+
+So great an honour, so undreamt-of a privilege, sent Austin's blood to
+the roots of his hair. He flourished his leg more proudly than ever as
+he stumped victoriously home and announced the great news to Aunt
+Charlotte. That estimable lady was fingering some notepaper on her
+writing-table as her excited nephew came bursting in upon her with his
+face radiant.
+
+"Auntie," he cried, "what do you think? You'll never guess. I'm going
+to lunch with Mr St Aubyn on Thursday!"
+
+Aunt Charlotte turned round, looking slightly dazed.
+
+"Going to lunch with whom?" she asked.
+
+"With Mr St Aubyn. You know--he lives at Moorcombe Court. I met him in
+the woods and had a long talk with him, and now he's going to show me
+all his pictures--_and_ his engravings--_and_ his wonderful orchids
+and things. I'm to spend all the afternoon with him. Isn't it
+splendid! I could never have hoped for such an opportunity. And he's
+so awfully nice--so cultured and clever, you know--"
+
+"Really!" said Aunt Charlotte, drawing herself up. "Well, you're
+vastly honoured, Austin, I must say. Mr St Aubyn is chary of his
+civilities. It is very kind of him to ask you, I'm sure, but I think
+it's rather a liberty all the same."
+
+"A liberty!" repeated Austin, aghast.
+
+"He has never called on me," returned Aunt Charlotte, statelily. "If
+he had wished to cultivate our acquaintance, that would have been at
+least the usual thing to do. However, of course I've no objection. On
+Thursday, you say. Well, now just give me your attention to something
+rather more important. I intend to invite some people here to tea next
+week, and you may as well write the invitations for me now."
+
+Austin's face lengthened. "Oh, why?" he sighed. "It isn't as though
+there was anybody worth asking--and really, the horrid creatures that
+infest this neighbourhood--. Whom do you want to ask?"
+
+"I'm astonished at you, speaking of our friends like that," replied
+his aunt, severely. "They're not horrid creatures; they're all very
+nice and kind. Of course we must have the MacTavishes----"
+
+"I knew it," groaned Austin, sinking into a chair. "Those dear
+MacTavishes! There are nineteen of them, aren't there? Or is it only
+nine?"
+
+"Don't be ridiculous, Austin," said Aunt Charlotte. "Then there are
+the Miss Minchins--that'll be eleven; the vicar and his wife, of
+_course_; and old Mr and Mrs Cobbledick. Now just come and sit
+here----"
+
+"The Cobbledicks--those old murderers!" cried Austin. "Do you want us
+to be all assassinated together?"
+
+"Murderers!" exclaimed Aunt Charlotte, horrified. "I think you've gone
+out of your mind. A dear kindly old couple like the Cobbledicks! Not
+very handsome, perhaps, but--murderers! What in the world will you say
+next?"
+
+"The most sinister-looking old pair of cut-throats in the parish,"
+returned Austin. "I should be sorry to meet them on a lonely road on a
+dark night, I know that. But really, auntie, I do wish you'd think
+better of all this. We're quite happy alone; what do we want of all
+these horrible people coming to bore us for Heaven knows how many
+hours? Of course _I_ shall be told off to amuse the MacTavishes; just
+think of it! Seven red-haired, screaming, giggling monsters----"
+
+"Hold your tongue, do, you abominable boy!" cried Aunt Charlotte. "I'm
+inviting our friends for _my_ pleasure, not for yours, and I forbid
+you to speak of them in that wicked, slanderous, disrespectful way.
+Come now, sit down here and write me the invitations at once."
+
+"For the last time, auntie, I entreat you----" began Austin.
+
+"Not a word more!" replied his aunt. "Begin without more ado."
+
+"Well, if you insist," consented Austin, as he dragged himself into
+the seat. "Have you fixed upon a day?"
+
+"No--any day will do. Just choose one yourself," said Aunt Charlotte,
+as she dived after an errant ball of worsted. "What day will suit you
+best?"
+
+"Shall we say the 24th?" suggested Austin.
+
+"By all means," replied his aunt briskly. "If you're sure that that
+won't interfere with anything else. I've such a wretched memory for
+dates. To-day is the 19th. Yes, I should say the 24th will do very
+well indeed."
+
+"It will suit me admirably," said Austin, sitting down and beginning
+to write with great alacrity, while his aunt busied herself with her
+knitting. As soon as the envelopes were addressed, he slipped them
+into his coat pocket, and, rising, said he might as well go out and
+post them there and then.
+
+"Do," said Aunt Charlotte, well pleased at Austin's sudden
+capitulation. "That is, unless you're too tired with your walk. Martha
+can always give them to the milkman if you are."
+
+"Not a bit of it," said Austin hastily, as he swung himself out of the
+room. "I shall be back in time for dinner."
+
+"He certainly is the very oddest boy," soliloquised Aunt Charlotte, as
+she settled herself comfortably on the sofa and went on clicking her
+knitting-needles. "Why he dislikes the MacTavishes so I can't imagine;
+nice, cheerful young persons as anyone would wish to see. It really is
+very queer. And then the way he suddenly gave in at last! It only
+shows that I must be firm with him. As soon as he saw I was in earnest
+he yielded at once. He's got a sweet nature, but he requires a firm
+hand. He's different, too, since he lost his leg--more full of
+fancies, it seems to me, and a great deal too much wrapped up in those
+books of his. I suppose that when one's body is defective, one's mind
+feels the effects of it. I shall have to keep him up to the mark, and
+see that he has plenty of cheerful society. Nothing like nice
+companions for maintaining the brain in order."
+
+Thus did Aunt Charlotte decide to her own satisfaction what she
+thought would be best for Austin.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter the Third
+
+
+He stood leaning against the old stone fountain on the straight lawn
+under the noonday sun. The bees hummed slumberously around him,
+sailing from flower to flower, and the hot air, laden with the scents
+of the soil, seemed to penetrate his body at every pore, infusing a
+sense of vitality into him which pulsed through all his veins. Austin
+always said that high noon was the supreme moment of the day. To some
+folks the most beautiful time was dawn, to others sunset, but at noon
+Nature was like a flower at its full, a flower in the very zenith of
+its strength and glory. He had always loved the noon.
+
+"The world seems literally palpitating with life," he thought, as he
+rested his arm on the rim of the time-worn fountain. "I'm sure it's
+conscious, in some way or other. How it must enjoy itself! Look at the
+trees; so strong, and calm, and splendid. They know well enough how
+strong they are, and when there's a storm that tries to blow them
+down, how they do revel in battling with it! And then the hot air,
+embracing the earth so voluptuously--playing with the slender plants,
+and caressing the upstanding flowers. They stand up because they want
+to be caressed, the amorous creatures. How wonderful it is--the
+different characters that flowers have. Some are shrill and fierce and
+passionate, while others are meek and sly, and pretend to shrink when
+they are even noticed. Some are wicked--shamelessly, insolently,
+magnificently wicked--like those scarlet anthuriums, with their
+curling yellow tongues. That flower is the very incarnation of sin;
+no, not incarnation--what's the word? I can't think, but it doesn't
+matter. Incarnation will do, for the thing is exactly like
+recalcitrant human flesh. Lubin!"
+
+"Yes, Sir?" responded Lubin, who was digging near.
+
+"What are the wickedest flowers you know?" asked Austin.
+
+"Well, Sir, I should say them as had most thorns," said Lubin
+feelingly.
+
+"I wonder," mused Austin. Then he relapsed into his meditations. "How
+thick with life the air is. I'm sure it's populated, if we only had
+eyes to see. I feel it throbbing all round me--full of beings as much
+alive as I am, only invisible. People used to see them once upon a
+time--why can't we now? Naiads, and dryads, and fauns, and the great
+god Pan everywhere; oh, to think we may be actually surrounded by
+these wonders of beauty, and yet unable to talk to any of them!
+Nothing but wicked old women, and horrible young men in plaid
+knickerbockers and bowler hats, who worry one about odds and
+handicaps. It's all very sad and ugly."
+
+"Aren't you rather hot, standing there in the sun, Sir, all this
+time?" said Lubin, looking up.
+
+"Very hot," replied Austin. "I wonder what time it is?"
+
+Lubin glanced up at the sundial. "Just five minutes past the hour, or
+thereabouts, I make it."
+
+"Oh, Lubin, let's go and bathe!" cried Austin suddenly. "You must be
+far hotter than I am. There's plenty of time--we don't lunch till
+half-past one. How long would it take us to get to the bathing-pool
+just at the bend of the river?"
+
+"Well--not above ten minutes, I should say," was Lubin's answer. "I'd
+like a dip myself more'n a little, but I'm not quite sure if I ought
+to--you see the mistress wants all this finished up by the afternoon,
+and then----"
+
+"But you must!" insisted Austin. "You forget that I've only got one
+leg, so I can't swim as I used, and you've got to come and take care I
+don't get drowned. 'O weep for Adonais--he is dead!' How angry Aunt
+Charlotte would be. And then she'd cry, poor dear, and go into hideous
+mourning for her poor Austin. Come along, Lubin--but wait, I must just
+go and get a couple of towels. Oh, I'm simply mad for the water. I'll
+be back in less than a flash."
+
+Lubin drove his spade into the earth, turned down his sleeves, and
+rested--a fair-skinned, bronzed, wholesome object, good to look
+at--while Austin stumped away. In less than five minutes the two
+youths started off together, tramping through the long, lush
+meadow-grass which lay between the end of the garden and the river.
+The sun burned fiercely overhead, and the air quivered in the heat.
+
+"Isn't it wonderful!" cried Austin, when they reached the edge of the
+water, and were standing under the shade of some trees that overhung
+the towing-path. "Come, Lubin, strip--I'm half undressed already. Look
+at the white and purple lights in the water--aren't they marvellous?
+Now we're going right down into them. Oh the freedom of air, and
+colour, and body--how I do _hate_ clothes! I say, how funny my stump
+looks, doesn't it? Just like a great white rolling-pin. You must go in
+first, Lubin, and then you'll be prepared to catch me when I begin
+drowning."
+
+Lubin, standing nude and shapely, like a fair Greek statue, for a
+moment on the bank, took a silent header and disappeared. Then Austin
+prepared to follow. He tumbled rather than plunged into the water,
+and, unable to attain an erect position owing to his imperfect
+organism, would have fared badly if Lubin had not caught him in his
+arms and turned him deftly over on his back.
+
+"You just content yourself with floating face upwards, Sir," he said.
+"There's no sort of use in trying to strike out, you'd only sink to
+the bottom like a boat with a hole in it. There--let me hold you like
+this; one hand'll do it. Look out for the river-weeds. Now try and
+work your foot. Seems to be making you go round and round, somehow.
+But that don't matter. A bathe's a bathe, all said and done. How jolly
+cool it is!"
+
+"Isn't it exquisite?" murmured Austin, with closed eyes. "I do think
+that drowning must be a lovely death. We're like the minnows, Lubin,
+'staying their wavy bodies 'gainst the streams, to taste the luxury of
+sunny beams tempered with coolness.' That's what _our_ wavy bodies are
+doing now. Don't you like it? 'Now more than ever it seems rich to
+die----'"
+
+But the next moment, owing probably to Lubin having lost his
+equilibrium, the young rhapsodist found himself, spluttering and
+half-choked, nearer to the bed of the river than the surface, while
+his leg was held in chancery by a network of clinging water-weeds.
+Lubin had some slight difficulty in extricating him, and for the
+moment, at least, his poetic fantasies came to an abrupt and
+unromantic finish.
+
+"Here, get on my back, and I'll swim you out as far as them
+water-lilies," said Lubin, giving him a dexterous hoist. "I'm awfully
+keen on the yellow sort, and they look wonderful fine ones. That's
+better. Now, Sir, you can just imagine yourself any drownded heathen
+as comes into your head, only hold tight and don't stir. If you do
+you'll get drownded in good earnest, and I shall have to settle
+accounts with your aunt afterwards. Are you ready? Right, then. And
+now away we go."
+
+He struck out strongly and slowly, with Austin crouching on his
+shoulders. They arrived in safety at the point aimed at, and managed
+to tear away a grand cluster of the great, beautiful yellow flowers;
+but the process was a very ticklish one, and the struggle resulted,
+not unnaturally, in Austin becoming dislodged from his not very secure
+position, and floundering head foremost into the depths. Lubin caught
+him as he rose again, and, taking him firmly by one hand, helped him
+to swim alongside of him back to the shore. It was a difficult feat,
+and by the time they had accomplished the distance they were both
+pretty well exhausted.
+
+"You _have_ been good to me, Lubin," gasped Austin, as he flung
+himself sprawling on the grass. "I've had a lovely time--haven't you
+too? Was I very heavy? Perhaps it is rather a bore to have only one
+leg when one wants to swim. But now you can always say you've saved me
+from drowning, can't you. I should have gone under a dozen times if
+you hadn't held me up and lugged me about. Oh, dear, now we must put
+on our clothes again--what a barbarism clothes are! I do hate them so,
+don't you? But I suppose there's no help for it.
+
+          "Rise, Lubin, rise, and twitch thy mantle blue;
+          To-morrow to fresh woods, and pastures new.
+
+"Oh, do help me to screw on my leg. That's it. I say, it's a
+quarter-past one! We must hurry up, or Aunt Charlotte will be cursing.
+What _does_ it matter if one eats at half-past one or at a quarter to
+two? I really am very fond of Aunt Charlotte, you know, though I find
+it awfully difficult to educate her. I sometimes despair of ever being
+able to bring her up properly at all, she is so hopelessly Early
+Victorian, poor thing. But, then, so many people are, aren't they? Now
+animals are never Early Victorian; that's why I respect them so. If
+you weren't a human being, Lubin--and a very nice one, as you
+are--what sort of an animal would you like to be?"
+
+"Well, I don't rightly know as I ever considered the point," said
+Lubin, passing his fingers through his drenched curls. "Perhaps I'd as
+lief be a squirrel as anything. I'm awfully fond o' nuts, and when I
+was a kid I used to spend half my time a-climbing trees. A squirrel
+must have rather a jolly life of it, when one comes to think."
+
+"What a splendid idea!" cried Austin, as they prepared to start. "You
+_are_ clever, Lubin. It would be lovely to live in a tree, curtained
+all round with thousands of quivering green leaves. I wish I knew what
+animals think about all day. It must be very dull for them never to
+have any thoughts, poor dears, and yet they seem happy enough
+somehow. Perhaps they have something else instead to make up for
+it--something that we've no idea of. I _say_--it's half-past one!"
+
+So Austin was late for lunch after all, and got a scolding from Aunt
+Charlotte, who told him that it was exceedingly ill-bred to
+inconvenience other people by habitual unpunctuality. Austin was very
+penitent, and promised he'd never be unpunctual again if he lived to
+be a hundred. Then Aunt Charlotte was mollified, and regaled him with
+an improving account of a most excellent book she had just been
+reading, upon the importance of instilling sound principles of
+political economy into the mind of the agricultural labourer. It was
+so essential, she explained, that people in that position should
+understand something about the laws which govern prices, the relations
+of capital and labour, the _metayer_ system, and the ratio which
+should exist between an increase of population and the exhaustion of
+the soil by too frequent crops of wheat; and she wound up by
+propounding a series of hypothetical problems based on the doctrines
+she had set forth, for Austin to solve offhand.
+
+Austin listened very dutifully for some time, but the subject bored
+him atrociously, and his attention began to wander. At last he made
+some rather vague and irrelevant replies, and then announced boldly
+that he thought all politicians were very silly old gentlemen,
+particularly economists; for his own part, he hated economy,
+especially when he wanted to buy something beautiful to look at; he
+further considered that political economists would be much better
+employed if they sat contemplating tulips instead of writing horrid
+books, and that Lubin was a great deal wiser than the whole pack of
+them put together. Then Aunt Charlotte got extremely angry, and a
+great wrangle ensued, in the course of which she said he was a
+foolish, ignorant boy, who talked nonsense for the sake of talking it.
+Austin replied by asking if she knew what a quincunx was, or what
+Virgil was really driving at when he composed the First Eclogue, and
+whether she had ever heard of Lycidas; and when she said that she had
+something better to do than stuff her head with quidnunxes and all
+such pagan rubbish, he remarked very politely that ignorance was
+evidently not all of the same sort. Which sent Aunt Charlotte bustling
+away in a huff to look after her household duties.
+
+"It's all very sad and very ugly, isn't it, Gioconda?" sighed Austin,
+as he lifted the large, white, fluffy animal upon his lap. "You're a
+great philosopher, my dear; I wish I were as wise as you. You're so
+scornful, so dignified, so divinely egoistic. But you don't mind being
+worshipped, do you, Gioconda? Because you know it's your right, of
+course. There--she's actually condescending to purr! Now we'll come
+and disport ourselves under the trees, and you shall watch the birds
+from a safe distance. I know your wicked ways, and I must teach you
+how to treat your inferiors with proper benignity and toleration."
+
+But Gioconda had plans of her own for the afternoon, and declined the
+proposed discipline; so Austin strolled off by himself, and lay down
+under the trees with a large book on Italian gardens to console him.
+His improvised exertions in the water had produced a certain fatigue,
+and he felt lazy and inert. Gradually he dropped off into a doze,
+which lasted more than an hour. And he had a curious dream. He thought
+he was in some strange land--a land like a garden seen through yellow
+glass--where everything was transparent, and people glided about as
+though they were skating, without any conscious effort. Then Aunt
+Charlotte appeared upon the scene, and he saw by her eyes that she was
+very angry because Lycidas had been drowned while bathing; but Austin
+assured her that it was Lubin who was drowned, and that it really was
+of no consequence, because Lubin was only a squirrel after all. At
+this point things got extremely mixed, and the sound of voices broke
+in upon his slumbers. He opened his eyes, and saw Aunt Charlotte
+herself in the act of walking away with a toss of her head that
+betokened a ruffled temper.
+
+Austin's interest was immediately aroused. "Lubin!" he called softly,
+motioning the lad to come nearer. "What was she rowing you about? Was
+she blowing you up about this morning?"
+
+"Well," confessed Lubin with a broad smile, "she didn't seem
+over-pleased. Said you might have lost your life, going out o' your
+depth with only one leg to stand on, and that if you'd been drownded I
+should have had to answer for it before a judge and jury."
+
+"What a wicked, abandoned old woman!" cried Austin. "Only one leg to
+stand on, indeed!--she hasn't a single leg to stand on when she says
+such things. She ought to have gone down on her knees and thanked you
+for taking such care of me. But I shall never make anything of her,
+I'm afraid. The more I try to educate her the worse she gets."
+
+"I shouldn't wonder," replied Lubin sagely. "The old hen feels herself
+badly off when the egg teaches her to cackle. That's human nature,
+that is. And then she was riled because she was afraid I shouldn't
+have time to get the garden-things in order by to-morrow, when it
+seems there's some sort o' company expected. I told her 'twould be all
+right."
+
+"Oh, those brutes! Of course, they're coming to-morrow. I'd nearly
+forgotten all about it. It's just like Aunt Charlotte to be so fond of
+all those hideous people. You hate the MacTavishes, don't you, Lubin?
+_Do_ hate the MacTavishes! Fancy--nine of them, no less, counting the
+old ones, and all of them coming together. What a family! I despise
+people who breed like rabbits, as though they thought they were so
+superlative that the rest of the world could never have enough of
+them."
+
+"Ay, fools grow without watering," assented Lubin. "Can't say I ever
+took to 'em myself--though it's not my place to say so. The young
+gents make a bit too free with one, and when they opens their mouths
+no one else may so much as sneeze. Think they know everything, they
+do. There's a saying as I've heard, that asses sing badly 'cause they
+pitch their voices too high. Maybe it's the same wi' them."
+
+"Well, I hope Aunt Charlotte will enjoy their conversation," said
+Austin comfortably. "I say, Lubin, do you know anything about a Mr St
+Aubyn, who lives not far from here?"
+
+"What, him at the Court?" replied Lubin. "I don't know him myself, but
+they say as _he's_ a gentleman, and no mistake. Keeps himself to
+himself, he does, and has always got a civil word for everybody. Fine
+old place, too, that of his."
+
+"Have you ever been inside?" asked Austin.
+
+"Lor' no, Sir," answered Lubin. "Don't know as I'm over anxious to,
+either. The garden's a sight, it's true--but it seems there's
+something queer about the house. Can't make out what it can be, unless
+the drains are a bit out of order. But it ain't that neither. Sort o'
+frightening--so folks say. But lor', some folks'll say anything. I
+never knew anybody as ever _saw_ anything there. It's only some old
+woman's yarn, I reckon."
+
+"Oh, is it haunted? Are there any ghosts?" cried Austin, in great
+excitement. "I'd give anything in this world to see a ghost!"
+
+"I don't know as I'd care to sleep in a haunted house myself," said
+Lubin, beginning to sweep the lawn. "Some folks don't mind that sort
+o' thing, I s'pose; must have got accustomed to it somehow. Then
+there's those as is born ghost-seers, and others as couldn't see one,
+not if it was to walk arm-in-arm with 'em to church. Let's hope Mr St
+Aubyn's one o' that sort, seeing as he's got to live there. It's poor
+work being a baker if your head's made of butter, I've heard say."
+
+"Then it _is_ haunted!" exclaimed Austin. "What a bit of luck. You
+see, Lubin, I know Mr St Aubyn just a little, and soon I'm going to
+lunch with him. How I shall be on the look-out! I wonder how it feels
+to see a ghost. You've never seen one, have you?"
+
+"Oh no, Sir," replied Lubin, shaking his head. "I doubt I'm not put
+together that way. A blind man may shoot a crow by mistake, but he
+ain't no judge o' colours. Though ghosts are mostly white, they say.
+Well, it may be different with you, and when you go to lunch at the
+Court, I'm sure I hope you'll see all the ghosts on the premises if
+you've a fancy for that kind of wild fowl. Let ghosts leave me alone
+and I'll leave them alone--that's all I've got to say. I never had no
+hankering after gentry as go flopping around without their bodies.
+'Tain't commonly decent, to my thinking. Don't hold with such goings
+on myself."
+
+"Oh, but you must make allowances for their circumstances," answered
+Austin. "If they've got no bodies of course they can't put them on,
+you know. Besides, there are ghosts and ghosts. Some are mischievous,
+and some are very, very unhappy, and others come to do us good and
+help us to find wills, and treasures, and all sorts of pleasant
+things. I'd love to talk with one, and have it out with him. What
+wonderful things one might learn!"
+
+"Ay, there's more in the world than what's taught in the catechism,"
+said Lubin. "Let's hope you'll have picked up a few crumbs when you've
+been to lunch at the Court. Every little helps, as the sow said when
+she swallowed the gnat. I confess I'm not curious myself."
+
+"Well, I'm awfully curious," replied Austin, as he began to get up.
+"But now I must stir about a bit. You know my wooden leg gets horribly
+lazy sometimes, and I've got to exercise it every now and then for its
+own good. I know Aunt Charlotte wants me to go into the town with her
+to buy provender for this bun-trouble of hers to-morrow. It's very
+curious what different ideas of pleasure different people have."
+
+"He's a rare sort o' boy, the young master," soliloquised Lubin as
+Austin went pegging along towards the house. "Game for no end of
+mischief when the fit takes him, for all he's only got one leg. One'd
+think he was half daft to hear him talk sometimes, too. Seems like as
+if it galled him a bit to rub along with the old auntie, and I
+shouldn't wonder if the old auntie herself felt about as snug as a
+bell-wether tied to a frisky colt. However, I s'pose the A'mighty
+knows what He's about, and it's always the old cow's notion as she
+never was a calf herself."
+
+With which philosophical reflection Lubin slipped on his green
+corduroy jacket, shouldered his broom, and trudged cheerfully home
+to tea.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter the Fourth
+
+
+The next day the great heat had moderated, and the sky was covered
+with a thin pearly veil of gossamer greyness which afforded a
+delightful relief after the glare of the past week. A smart shower had
+fallen during the night, and the parched earth, refreshed after its
+bath, appeared more fragrant and more beautiful than ever. Aunt
+Charlotte busied herself all the morning with various household
+diversions, while Austin, swaying lazily to and fro in a hammock under
+an old apple tree, read 'Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight.' At last he
+looked at his watch, and found that it was about time to go and dress.
+
+"Well, you _have_ made yourself smart," commented Aunt Charlotte
+complacently, as Austin, sprucely attired in a pale flannel suit, with
+a lilac tie and a dark-red rose in his button-hole, came into the
+morning-room to say good-bye. "But why need you have dressed so early?
+Our friends aren't coming till three o'clock at the very earliest,
+and it's not much more than twelve--at least, so says my watch. You
+needn't have changed till after lunch, at any rate."
+
+"My dear auntie, have you forgotten?" asked Austin, in innocent
+surprise. "To-day's Thursday, and I'm engaged to lunch and spend the
+afternoon with Mr St Aubyn. You know I told you all about it the very
+day he asked me."
+
+"Mr St Aubyn?--I don't understand," said Aunt Charlotte, with a
+bewildered air. "I have a recollection of your telling me a few days
+ago that you were lunching out some day or other, but----"
+
+"On Thursday, you know, I said."
+
+"Did you? Well, but--but our friends are coming _here_ to-day! You
+must have been dreaming, Austin," cried Aunt Charlotte, sitting bolt
+upright. "How can you have made such a blunder? Of course you can't
+possibly go!"
+
+"Do you really propose, auntie, that I should break my engagement with
+Mr St Aubyn for the sake of entertaining people like the MacTavishes
+and the Cobbledicks?" replied Austin, quite unmoved.
+
+"But why did you fix on the same day?" exclaimed Aunt Charlotte
+desperately. "I cannot understand it. I left the date to you, you know
+I did--I told you I didn't care what day it was, and said you might
+choose whichever suited yourself best. What on earth induced you to
+pitch on the very day when you were invited out?"
+
+"For the very reason you yourself assign--that you let me choose any
+day that suited me best. For the very reason that I _was_ invited out.
+You see, my dear auntie----"
+
+"Oh, you false, cunning boy!" cried Aunt Charlotte, who now saw how
+she had been trapped. "So you let me agree to the 24th, and took care
+not to tell me that the 24th was Thursday because you knew quite well
+I should never have consented if you had. What abominable deception!
+But you shall suffer for it, Austin. Of course you'll remain at home
+now, if only as a punishment for your deceit. I shouldn't dream of
+letting you go, after such disgraceful conduct. To think you could
+have tricked me so!"
+
+"My dear auntie, of course I shall go," said Austin, drawing on his
+gloves. "Why you should wish me to stay, I cannot imagine. What on
+earth makes you so insistent that I should meet these friends of
+yours?"
+
+"It's for your own good, you ungrateful little creature," replied Aunt
+Charlotte, quivering. "You know what I've always said. You require
+more companionship of your own age, you want to mix with other young
+people instead of wasting and dreaming your time away as you do, and
+it was for your sake, for your sake only, that I asked our
+friends----"
+
+"Oh, no, auntie, it wasn't. You told me so yourself," Austin reminded
+her. "You told me distinctly that it was for your own pleasure and not
+for mine that you were going to invite them. So that argument won't
+do. And you were perfectly right. If you find intellectual joy in the
+society of Mrs Cobbledick and Shock-headed Peter----"
+
+"Shock-headed Peter? Who in the name of fortune is that?" interrupted
+Aunt Charlotte, amazed.
+
+"One of the MacTavish enchantresses--Florrie, I think, or perhaps
+Aggie. How am I to know? Everybody calls her Shock-headed Peter. But
+as I was saying, if you find happiness in the society of such people,
+invite them by all means. I only ask you not to cram them down my
+throat. I wouldn't mind the others so much, but the MacTavishes I
+_bar_. I will not have them forced upon me. I detest them, and I've
+no doubt they despise me. We simply bore each other out of our lives.
+There! Let that suffice. I'm very fond of _you_, auntie, and I don't
+want anyone else. Do you perfectly understand?"
+
+"I shall evidently never understand _you_, Austin," replied Aunt
+Charlotte. "You have treated me shockingly, shockingly. And now you
+leave me in the most heartless way with all these people on my
+hands----"
+
+"Then why did you insist on inviting them?" put in Austin. "I
+entreated you not to. I'd have gone down on my knees to you, only
+unfortunately I've only one. And when I entreated you for the last
+time, you said you wouldn't listen to another word. I saw that further
+appeal was useless, so I was compelled by you yourself to play for my
+own safety. So now good-bye, dear auntie. It's time I was off. Cheer
+up--you'll all enjoy yourselves much more without an awkward
+unsympathetic creature like me among you, see if you don't. And you
+can make any excuse for me you like," he added with a smile as he left
+the room. Aunt Charlotte remained transfixed.
+
+"I suppose he must go his own gait," she muttered, as she picked up
+her knitting again. "There's no use in trying to force him this way
+or that; if he doesn't want to do a thing he won't do it. Of course
+what he says is true enough--I did let him choose the date, and I did
+ask these people because I thought it would be good for him, and I did
+insist on doing so when he begged me not to. Well, I'm hoist with my
+own petard this time, though I wouldn't confess as much to him if my
+life depended on it. But the trickery of the little wretch! It's that
+I can't get over."
+
+Meanwhile Austin meditated on the little episode on his side, as he
+made his way along the road. "I daresay dear old auntie was a bit put
+out," he thought, "but she brought it all upon herself. She doesn't
+see that everybody must live his own life, that it's a duty one owes
+to oneself to realise one's own individuality. Now it's _bad_ for me
+to associate with people I detest--bad for my soul's development; just
+as bad as it is for anyone's body to eat food that doesn't agree with
+him. Those MacTavishes poison my soul just as arsenic poisons the
+body, and I won't have my soul poisoned if I can help it. It's very
+sad to see how blind she is to the art and philosophy of life. But
+she'll have to learn it, and the sooner she begins the better."
+
+Here he left the high road, and turned into a long, narrow lane
+enclosed between high banks, which led into a pleasant meadow by the
+river side. This shortened the way considerably, and when he reached
+the stile at the further end of the meadow he found himself only some
+ten minutes' walk from the park gates. Then a subdued excitement fell
+upon him. He was going to see the beautiful picture-gallery and the
+great collection of engravings, and the gardens with conservatories
+full of lovely orchids. He was going to hold delightful converse with
+the cultured and agreeable man to whom all these things belonged.
+And--well, he might possibly even see a ghost! But now, in the genial
+daylight, with the prospect of luncheon immediately before him, the
+idea of ghosts seemed rather to retire into the background. Ghosts did
+not appear so attractive as they had done yesterday afternoon, when he
+had talked about them with Lubin. However--here he was.
+
+Mr St Aubyn, tall and middle-aged, with a refined face set in a short,
+pointed beard, received him with exquisite cordiality. How seldom does
+a man realise the positive idolatry he can inspire by treating a
+well-bred youth on equal terms, instead of assuming airs of patronage
+and condescension! The boy accepts such an attitude as natural,
+perhaps, but he resents it nevertheless, and never gives the man his
+confidence. The perfect manners of St Aubyn won Austin's heart at
+once, and he responded with a modest ardour that touched and gratified
+his host. The Court, too, exceeded his expectations. It was a grand
+old mansion dating from the reign of Elizabeth, with mullioned
+casements, and carved doorways, and cool, dim rooms oak-panelled, and
+broad fireplaces; and around it lay a shining garden enclosed by old
+monastic walls of red brick, with shaped beds of carnations glowing
+redly in the sunlight, and, beyond the straight lines of lawn, a
+wilderness of nut-trees, with a pool of yellow water-lilies, where
+wild hyacinths and pale jonquils rioted when it was spring. On one
+side of the garden, at right angles to the house, the wall shelved
+into a great grass terrace, and here stood a sort of wing, flanked by
+two glorious old towers, crumbling and ivy-draped, forming entrances
+to a vast room, tapestried, which had been a banqueting hall in the
+picturesque Tudor days. Meanwhile, Austin was ushered by his host into
+the library--a moderate-sized apartment, lined with countless books
+and adorned with etchings of great choiceness; whence, after a few
+minutes' chat on indifferent subjects, they adjourned to the
+dining-room, where a luncheon, equally choice and good, awaited them.
+
+At first they played a little at cross-purposes. St Aubyn, with the tact
+of an accomplished man entertaining a clever youth, tried to draw Austin
+out; while Austin, modest in the presence of one whom he recognised as
+infinitely his superior in everything he most valued, was far more
+anxious to hear St Aubyn talk than to talk himself. The result was that
+Austin won, and St Aubyn soon launched forth delightfully upon art, and
+books, and travel. He had been a great traveller in his day, and the boy
+listened with enraptured ears to his description of the magnificent
+gardens in the vicinity of Rome--the Lante, the Torlonia, the
+Aldobrandini, the Falconieri, and the Muti--architectural wonders that
+Austin had often read of, but of course had never seen; and then he
+talked of Viterbo and its fountains, Vicenza the city of Palladian
+palaces, every house a gem, and Sicily, with its hidden wonders, hidden
+from the track of tourists because far in the depths of the interior. He
+had travelled in Burma too, and inflamed the boy's imagination by
+telling him of the gorgeous temples of Rangoon and Mandalay; he had
+been--like everybody else--to Japan; and he had lived for six weeks up
+country in China, in a secluded Buddhist monastery perched on the edge
+of a precipice, like an eagle's nest, where his only associates were
+bonzes in yellow robes, and the stillness was only broken by the
+deep-toned temple bell, booming for vespers. Then, somehow, his thoughts
+turned back to Europe, and he began a disquisition upon the great old
+masters--Tintoretto, Rembrandt, Velasquez, Tiziano, and Peter Paul--with
+whose immortal works he seemed as familiar as he subsequently showed
+himself with the pictures in his own house. He described the Memlings at
+Bruges, the Botticellis at Florence and the Velasquezes in
+Spain--averring in humorous exaggeration that beside a Velasquez most
+other paintings were little better than chromolithographs. Austin put in
+a word now and then, asked a question or two as occasion served, and so
+suggested fresh and still more fascinating reminiscences; but he had no
+desire whatever to interrupt the illuminating stream of words by airing
+any opinions of his own. It was not until the meal was drawing to a
+close that the conversation took a more personal turn, and Austin was
+induced to say something about himself, his tastes, and his
+surroundings. Then St Aubyn began deftly and diplomatically to elicit
+something in the way of self-disclosure; and before long he was able to
+see exactly how things stood--the boy of ideals, of visionary and
+artistic tastes, of crude fresh theories and a queer philosophy of life,
+full of a passion for Nature and a contempt for facts, on one hand; and
+the excellent, commonplace, uncomprehending aunt, with her philistine
+friends and blundering notions as to what was good for him, upon the
+other. It was an amusing situation, and psychologically very
+interesting. St Aubyn listened attentively with a sympathetic smile as
+Austin stated his case.
+
+"I see, I see," he said nodding. "You feel it imperative to lead your
+own life and try to live up to your own ideals. That is good--quite
+good. And you are not in sympathy with your aunt's friends. Nothing
+more natural. Of course it is important to be sure that your ideals
+are the highest possible. Do you think they are?"
+
+"They seem so. They are the highest possible for _me_," replied Austin
+earnestly.
+
+"That implies a limitation," observed St Aubyn, emitting a stream of
+blue smoke from his lips. "Well, we all have our limitations. You
+appear to have a very strong sense that every man should realise his
+own individuality to the full; that that is his first duty to
+himself. Tell me then--does it never occur to you that we may also
+have duties to others?"
+
+"Why, yes--certainly," said Austin. "I only mean that we have _no
+right_ to sacrifice our own individualities to other people's ideas.
+For instance, my aunt, who has always been the best of friends to me,
+is for ever worrying me to associate with people who rasp every nerve
+in my body, because she thinks that it would do me good. Then I rebel.
+I simply will not do it."
+
+"What friends have you?" asked St Aubyn quietly.
+
+"I don't think I have any," said Austin, with great simplicity.
+"Except Lubin. My best companionship I find in books."
+
+"The best in the world--so long as the books are good," replied St
+Aubyn. "But who is Lubin?"
+
+"He's a gardener," said Austin. "About two years older than I am. But
+he's a gentleman, you understand. And if you could only see the sort
+of people my poor aunt tries to force upon me!"
+
+"I think you may add me to Lubin--as your friend," observed St Aubyn;
+at which Austin flushed with pleasure. "But now, one other word. You
+say you want to realise your highest self. Well, the way to do it is
+not to live for yourself alone; it is to live for others. To save
+oneself one must first lose oneself--forget oneself, when occasion
+arises--for the sake of other people. It is only by self-sacrifice for
+the sake of others that the supreme heights are to be attained."
+
+For the first time Austin's face fell. He tossed his long hair off his
+forehead, and toyed silently with his cigarette.
+
+"Is that a hard saying?" resumed St Aubyn, smiling. "It has high
+authority, however. Think it over at your leisure. Have you finished?
+Come, then, and let me show you the pictures. We have the whole
+afternoon before us."
+
+They explored the fine old house well-nigh from roof to basement,
+while St Aubyn recounted all the associations connected with the
+different rooms. Then they went into the picture-gallery. Austin,
+breathless with interest, hung upon St Aubyn's lips as he pointed out
+the peculiarities of each great master represented, and explained how,
+for instance, by a fold of the drapery or the crook of a finger, the
+characteristic mannerisms of the painter could be detected, and the
+school to which a given work belonged could approximately be
+determined; drew attention to the unifying and grouping of the
+different features of a composition; spoke learnedly of textures,
+qualities, and tactile values; and laid stress on the importance of
+colour, light, atmosphere, and the sense of motion, as contrasted with
+the undue preponderance too often attached by critics to mere outline.
+All this was new to Austin, who had really never seen any good
+pictures before, and his enthusiasm grew with what it fed on. St Aubyn
+was an admirable cicerone; he loved his pictures, and he knew
+them--knew everything that could be known about them--and, inspired by
+the intelligent appreciation of his guest, spared no pains to do them
+justice. A good half-hour was then spent over the engravings, which
+were kept in a quaint old room by themselves; and afterwards they
+adjourned to the garden. St Aubyn's conservatories were famous, and
+his orchids of great variety and beauty. Austin seemed transported
+into a world where everything was so arranged as to gratify his
+craving for harmony and fitness, and he moved almost silently beside
+his host in a dream of satisfaction and delight.
+
+"By the way, there's still one room you haven't seen," remarked St
+Aubyn, as they were strolling at their leisure through the grounds.
+"We call it the Banqueting Hall--in that wing between the two old
+towers. Queen Elizabeth was entertained there once, and it contains
+some rather beautiful tapestries. I should like to have them moved
+into the main building, only there's really no place where they'd fit,
+and perhaps it's better they should remain where they were originally
+intended for. Are you fond of tapestry?"
+
+"I've never seen any," said Austin, "but of course I've read about
+it--Gobelin, Bayeux, and so on. I should love to see what it looks
+like in reality."
+
+"Come, then," said St Aubyn, crossing the lawn. "I have the key in my
+pocket."
+
+He flung open the door. Austin found himself in the vast apartment,
+groined and vaulted, measuring about a hundred and twenty feet by
+fifty, and lighted by exquisite pointed windows enriched with
+coats-of-arms and other heraldic devices in jewel-like stained glass.
+The walls were completely hidden by tapestries of rare beauty, woven
+into the semblance of gardens, palaces, arcades and bowers of clipped
+hedges and pleached trees with slender fountains set meetly in green
+shade; while some again were crowded with swaying Gothic figures of
+saints and kings and warriors and angels, all far too beautiful,
+thought Austin, to have ever lived. Yet surely there must be some
+prototypes of all these wonderful conceptions somewhere. There must be
+a world--if we could only find it--where loveliness that we only know
+as pictured exists in actual reality. What a dream-like hall it was,
+on that still summer afternoon. Yet there was something uncanny about
+it too. St Aubyn had stepped out of sight, and Austin left by himself
+began to experience a very extraordinary sensation. He felt that he
+was not alone. The immense chamber seemed _full of presences_. He
+could see nothing, but he felt them all about him. The place was
+thickly populated, but the population was invisible. Everything looked
+as empty as it had looked when the door was first thrown open, and yet
+it was really full of ghostly palpitating life, crowded with the
+spirits of bygone men and women who had held stately revels there
+three hundred years before. He was not frightened, but a sense of awe
+crept over him, rooting him to the spot and imparting a rapt
+expression to his face. Did he hear anything? Wasn't there a faint
+rustling sound somewhere in the air behind him? No. It must have been
+his fancy. Everything was as silent as the grave.
+
+He turned and saw St Aubyn close beside him. "The place is haunted!"
+he exclaimed in a husky voice.
+
+"What makes you think so?" asked St Aubyn, without any intonation of
+surprise.
+
+"I feel it," he replied.
+
+"Come out," said the other abruptly. "It's curious you should say
+that. Other people seem to have felt the same. I'm not so sensitive
+myself. You're looking pale. Let's go into the library and have a cup
+of tea."
+
+The hot stimulant revived him, and he was soon talking at his ease
+again. But the curious impression remained. It seemed to him as if he
+had had an experience whose effects would not be easily shaken off. He
+had seen no ghosts, but he had felt them, and that was quite enough.
+The sensation he had undergone was unmistakable; the hall was full of
+ghosts, and he had been conscious of their presence. This, then, was
+apparently what Lubin had alluded to. Oh, it was all real
+enough--there was no room left for any doubt whatever.
+
+It was a quarter to five when he took leave of his entertainer,
+responding warmly to an injunction to look in again whenever he felt
+disposed. He walked very thoughtfully homewards, revolving many
+questions in his busy brain. How much he had seen and learnt since he
+left home that morning! Worlds of beauty, of art, of intellect had
+dawned upon his consciousness; a world of mystery too. Even now,
+tramping along the road, he felt a different being. Even now he
+imagined the presence of unseen entities--walking by his side, it
+might be, but anyhow close to him. Was it so? Could it be that he
+really was surrounded by intelligences that eluded his physical senses
+and yet in some mysterious fashion made their existence _known_?
+
+At last he arrived at the stile leading into the meadow, and prepared
+to clamber over. Then he hesitated. Why? He could not tell. A queer,
+invincible repugnance to cross that stile suddenly came over him. The
+meadow looked fresh and green, and the road--hot, dusty, and
+white--was certainly not alluring; besides, he longed to saunter along
+the grass by the river and think over his experiences. But something
+prevented him. With a sense of irritation he took a few steps along
+the road; then the thought of the cool field reasserted itself, and
+with a determined effort he retraced his steps and threw one leg over
+the top bar of the stile. It was no use. Gently, but unmistakably,
+something pushed him back. He _could_ not cross. He wanted to, and he
+was in full possession of both his physical and mental faculties, but
+he simply could not do it.
+
+In great perplexity, not unmixed with some natural sense of umbrage,
+Austin set off again along the ugly road. The sun had come out once
+more, and it was very hot. What could be the matter with him? Why had
+he been so silly as to take the highway, with its horrid dust and
+glare, when the field and the lane would have been so much more
+pleasant? He felt puzzled and annoyed. How Mr St Aubyn would have
+laughed at him could he but have known. This long tramp along the
+disagreeable road was the only jarring incident that had befallen him
+that day. Well, it would soon be over. And what a day it had been,
+after all. How marvellous the pictures were, and the gardens; what an
+acquisition to his life was the friendship--not only the
+acquaintanceship--of St Aubyn; and then the tapestries, the great
+mysterious hall, and the strange revelations that had come upon him in
+the hall itself! At last his thoughts reverted, half in
+self-reproach, to Aunt Charlotte. How had she fared, meanwhile? Had
+she enjoyed her Cobbledicks and her MacTavishes as much as he had
+enjoyed his experiences at the Court?
+
+For all his theories about living his own life and developing his own
+individuality, Austin was not a selfish boy. Egoistic he might be, but
+selfish he was not. His impulses were always generous and kindly, and
+he was full of thought for others. He was for ever contriving delicate
+little gifts for those in want, planning pleasant little surprises for
+people whom he loved. And now he hoped most ardently that dear Aunt
+Charlotte had not been very dull, and for the moment felt quite kindly
+towards the Cobbledicks and the MacTavishes as he reflected that, no
+doubt, they had helped to make his auntie happy on that afternoon.
+
+At last he came to the entrance of the lane through which he had
+passed in the morning. At that moment a crowd of men and boys, most of
+them armed with heavy sticks and all looking terribly excited, rushed
+past him, and precipitated themselves into the narrow opening. He
+asked one of them what was the matter, but the man took no notice and
+ran panting after the others. So Austin pursued his way, and in a few
+minutes arrived at the garden gate, where to his great surprise he
+found Aunt Charlotte waiting for him--the picture of anxiety and
+terror.
+
+"Well, auntie!--why, what's the matter?" he exclaimed, as Aunt
+Charlotte with a cry of relief threw herself into his arms.
+
+"Oh, my dear boy!" she uttered in trembling agitation. "How thankful I
+am to see you! Which way did you come back?"
+
+"Which way? Along the road," said Austin, much astonished. "Why?"
+
+"Thank God!" ejaculated Aunt Charlotte. "Then you're really safe. I've
+been out of my mind with fear. A most dreadful thing has happened. Let
+us sit down a minute till I get my breath, and I'll tell you all about
+it."
+
+Austin led her to a garden seat which stood near, and sat down beside
+her. "Well, what is it all about?" he asked.
+
+"My dear, it was like this," began Aunt Charlotte, as she gradually
+recovered her composure. "Our friends were just going away--oh, I
+forgot to tell you that of course they came; we had a most delightful
+time, and dear Lottie--no, Lizzie--I always do forget which is
+which--I can't remember, but it doesn't matter--was the life and soul
+of the party; however, as I was saying, they were just going away, and
+I was there at the gate seeing them off, when the butcher's boy came
+running up and warned them on no account to venture into the road, as
+Hunt's dog--that's the butcher, you know--I mean Hunt is--had gone
+raving mad, and was loose upon the streets. Of course we were all most
+horribly alarmed, and wanted to know whether anybody had been bitten;
+but the boy was off like a shot, and two minutes afterwards the
+wretched dog itself came tearing past, as mad as a dog could be, its
+jaws a mass of foam, and snapping right and left. As soon as ever it
+was safe our friends took the opportunity of escaping--of course in
+the opposite direction; and then a crowd of villagers came along in
+pursuit, but not knowing which turning to take till some man or other
+told them that the dog had gone up the lane. Then imagine my terror!
+For I felt perfectly convinced that you'd be coming home that way, as
+the road was hot and dusty, and I know how fond you are of lanes and
+fields. Oh, my dear, I can't get over it even now. How was it you
+chose the road?"
+
+For a moment Austin did not speak. Then he said very slowly:
+
+"I don't know how to tell you. Of course I _could_ tell you easily
+enough, but I don't think you'd understand. Auntie, I intended to come
+home by the lane. Twice or three times I tried to cross the stile into
+the meadows, and each time I was prevented. Something stopped me.
+Something pushed me back. Naturally I wanted to come by the
+meadow--the road was horrid--and I wanted to stroll along on the grass
+and enjoy myself by the river. But there it was--I couldn't do it. So
+I gave up trying, and came by the road after all."
+
+"What _do_ you mean, Austin?" asked Aunt Charlotte. "I never heard
+such a thing in my life. What was it that pushed you back?"
+
+"I don't know," replied the boy deliberately. "I only know that
+something did. And as the lane is very narrow, and enclosed by
+excessively steep banks, the chances are that I should have met the
+dog in it, and that the dog would have bitten me and given me
+hydrophobia. And now you know as much as I do myself."
+
+"I can't tell what to think, I'm sure," said Aunt Charlotte. "Anyhow,
+it's most providential that you escaped, but as for your being
+prevented, as you say--as for anything pushing you back--why, my dear,
+of course that was only your fancy. What else could it have been? I'm
+far too practical to believe in presentiments, and warnings, and
+nonsense of that sort. I'd as soon believe in table-rapping. No, my
+dear; I thank God you've come back safe and sound, but don't go
+hinting at anything supernatural, because I simply don't believe in
+it."
+
+"Then why do you thank God?" asked Austin, "Isn't He supernatural?
+Why, He's the only really supernatural Being possible, it seems to
+me."
+
+That was a poser. Aunt Charlotte, having recovered her equanimity,
+began to feel argumentative. It was incumbent on her to prove that she
+was not inconsistent in attributing Austin's preservation to the
+intervention of God, while disclaiming any belief in what she called
+the supernatural. And for the moment she did not know how to do it.
+
+"By the supernatural, Austin," she said at last, in a very oracular
+tone, "I mean superstition. And I call that story of yours a piece of
+superstition and nothing else."
+
+"Auntie, you do talk the most delightful nonsense of any elderly lady
+of my acquaintance," cried Austin, as he laughingly patted her on the
+back. "It's no use arguing with you, because you never can see that
+two and two make four. It's very sad, isn't it? However, the thing to
+be thankful for is that I've got back safe and sound, and that we've
+both had a delightful afternoon. And now tell me all your adventures.
+I'm dying to hear about the vicar, and the Cobbledicks, and the
+ingenious Jock and Sandy. Did all your friends turn up?"
+
+"Indeed they did, and a most charming time we had," replied Aunt
+Charlotte briskly. "Of course they were astonished to find that you
+weren't here to welcome them, and I was obliged to say how unfortunate
+it was, but a most stupid mistake had arisen, and that you were
+dreadfully sorry, and all the rest of it. Ah, you don't know what you
+missed, Austin. The boys were full of fun as usual, and dear
+Lizzie--or was it Florrie? well, it doesn't matter--said she was sure
+you'd gone to the Court in preference because you were expecting to
+meet a lot of girls there who were much prettier than she was. Of
+course she was joking, but----"
+
+"The vulgar, disgusting brute!" cried Austin, in sudden anger. "And
+these are the creatures you torment me to associate with. Well----"
+
+"Austin, you've no right to call a young lady a brute; it's abominably
+rude of you," said Aunt Charlotte severely. "There was nothing vulgar
+in what she said; it was just a playful sally, such as any sprightly
+girl might indulge in. I assured her you were going to meet nobody but
+Mr St Aubyn himself, and then she said it was a shame that you should
+have been inveigled away to be bored by----"
+
+"I don't want to hear what the woman said," interrupted Austin, with a
+gesture of contempt. "Such people have no right to exist. They're not
+worthy for a man like St Aubyn to tread upon. It's a pity you know
+nothing of him yourself, auntie. You wouldn't appreciate your Lotties
+and your Florries quite so much as you do now, if you did."
+
+"Then you enjoyed yourself?" returned Aunt Charlotte, waiving the
+point. "Oh, I've no doubt he's an agreeable person in his way. And the
+gardens are quite pretty, I'm told. Hasn't he got a few rather nice
+pictures in his rooms? I'm very fond of pictures myself. Well, now,
+tell me all about it. How did you amuse yourself all the afternoon,
+and what did you talk to him about?"
+
+But before Austin could frame a fitting answer the butcher's boy
+looked over the gate to tell them that the rabid dog had been found in
+the lane and killed.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter the Fifth
+
+
+It will readily be understood that Austin was in no hurry to confide
+anything about his experiences in the Banqueting Hall to his Aunt
+Charlotte. The way in which she had received his straightforward,
+simple account of the curious impressions which had determined his
+choice of a route in coming home was enough, and more than enough, to
+seal his tongue. He was sensitive in the extreme, and any lack of
+sympathy or comprehension made him retire immediately into his shell.
+His aunt's demeanour imparted an air of reserve even to the
+description he gave her of the attractions of Moorcombe Court. Perhaps
+the good lady was a trifle sore at never having been invited there
+herself. One never knows. At any rate, her attitude was chilling. So
+as regarded the incident in the Banqueting Hall he preserved entire
+silence. Her scepticism was too complacent to be attacked.
+
+He was aroused next morning by the sweetest of country sounds--the
+sound of a scythe upon the lawn. Then there came the distant call of
+the street flower-seller, "All a-growing, all a-blowing," which he
+remembered as long as he could remember anything. The world was waking
+up, but it was yet early--not more than half-past six at the very
+latest. So he lay quietly and contentedly in his white bed, lazily
+wondering how it would feel in the Banqueting Hall at that early hour,
+and what it would be like there in the dead of night, and how soon it
+would be proper for him to go and leave a card on Mr St Aubyn, and
+what Lubin would think of it all, and how it was he had never before
+noticed that great crack in the ceiling just above his head. At last
+he slipped carefully out of bed without waiting for Martha to bring
+him his hot water, and hopped as best he could to the open window and
+looked out. There was Lubin, mowing vigorously away, and the air was
+full of sweet garden scents and the early twittering of birds. He
+could not go back to bed after that, but proceeded forthwith to dress.
+
+After a hurried toilet, he bumped his way downstairs; intercepted the
+dairyman, from whom he extorted a great draught of milk, and then
+went into the garden. How sweet it was, that breath of morning air!
+Lubin had just finished mowing the lawn, and the perfume of the cool
+grass, damp with the night's dew, seemed to pervade the world. No one
+else was stirring; there was nothing to jar his nerves; everything was
+harmonious, fresh, beautiful, and young. And the harmony of it all
+consisted in this, that Austin was fresh, and beautiful, and young
+himself.
+
+"Well, and how did ye fare at the Court?" asked Lubin, as Austin
+joined him. "Was it as fine a place as you reckoned it would be?"
+
+"Oh, Lubin, it was lovely!" cried Austin, enthusiastically. "I do wish
+you could see it. And the garden! Of course this one's lovely too, and
+I love it, but the garden at the Court is simply divine. It's on a
+great scale, you know, and there are huge orchid-houses, and flaming
+carnations, and stained tulips, and gilded lilies, and a wonderful
+grass terrace, and--"
+
+"Ay, ay, I've heard tell of all that," interrupted Lubin. "But how
+about the ghosts? Did you see any o' them, as you was so anxious
+about?"
+
+"No--I didn't see any; but they're there all the same," returned
+Austin. "I felt them, you know. But only in one place; that great
+room, they say, was a Banqueting Hall once upon a time. You know,
+Lubin, I'm going back there before long. Mr St Aubyn asked me to come
+again, and I intend to go into that room again to see if I feel
+anything more. It was the very queerest thing! I never felt so strange
+in my life. The place seemed actually full of them. I could feel them
+all round me, though I couldn't see a thing. And the strangest part of
+it is that I've never felt quite the same since."
+
+"How d'ye mean?" asked Lubin, looking up.
+
+"I don't know--but I fancy I may still be surrounded by them in some
+sort of way," replied Austin. "It's possibly nothing but imagination
+after all. However, we shall see. Now this morning I want to go a long
+ramp into the country--as far as the Beacon, if I can. It's going to
+be a splendid day, I'm sure."
+
+"I'm not," said Lubin. "The old goose was dancing for rain on the
+green last night, and that's a sure sign of a change."
+
+"Dancing for rain! What old goose?" asked Austin, astonished.
+
+"The geese always dance when they want rain," replied Lubin, "and what
+the goose asks for God sends. Did you never hear that before? It's a
+sure fact, that is. It'll rain within four-and-twenty hours, you mark
+my words."
+
+"I hope it won't," said Austin. "And so your mother keeps geese?"
+
+"Ay, that she does, and breeds 'em, and fattens 'em up against
+Michaelmas. And we've a fine noise o' ducks on the pond, too. They
+pays their way too, I reckon."
+
+"A noise o' ducks? What, do they quack so loud?"
+
+"Lor' bless you, Master Austin, where was you brought up? Everybody
+hereabouts know what a noise o' ducks is. Same as a flock o' geese,
+only one quacks and the other cackles. Well, now I'm off home, for its
+peckish work mowing on an empty belly, and the mother'll be looking
+out for me. Geese for me, ghosts for you, and in the end we'll see
+which pans out the best."
+
+So Lubin trudged away to his breakfast and left Austin to his
+reflections. The predicted rain held off in spite of the terpsichorean
+importunity of Lubin's geese, and Austin passed a lovely morning on
+the moors; but next day it came down with a vengeance, and for six
+hours there was a regular deluge. However, Austin didn't mind. When it
+was fine he spent his days in the fields and woods; if it rained, he
+sat at a window where he could watch the grey mists, and the driving
+clouds, and the straight arrows of water falling wonderfully through
+the air. His books, too, were a resource that never failed, and if he
+was unable personally to participate in beautiful scenes, he could
+always read about them, which was the next best thing after all.
+
+The weather continued unsettled for some days, and then it cleared up
+gloriously, so that Austin was able to lead what he called his Daphnis
+life once more. The rains had had rather a depressing effect upon his
+general health, and once or twice he had fancied that something was
+troubling him in his stump; but with the return of the sun all such
+symptoms disappeared as though by magic, and he felt younger and
+lighter than ever as he stepped forth again into the glittering air.
+More than a week had elapsed since his day at the Court, and he began
+to think that now he really might venture to go and call. So off he
+set one sunny afternoon, and with rather a beating heart presented
+himself at the park gates.
+
+Here, however, a disappointment awaited him. The lodge-keeper shook
+his head, and announced that Mr St Aubyn was away and wouldn't be back
+till night. Austin could do nothing but leave a card, and hope that he
+might be lucky enough to meet him by accident before long.
+
+So he turned back and made for the meadow by the river side, feeling
+sure that he would be safe from rabid dogs that time at any rate. And
+certainly no mysterious influences intervened to prevent him sitting
+on the stile for a rest, and indulging in pleasant thoughts. Then he
+pulled out his pocket-volume of the beloved Eclogues, and read the
+musical contest between Menalcas and Damaetas with great enjoyment.
+Why, he wondered, were there no delightful shepherd-boys now-a-days,
+who spent their time in lying under trees and singing one against the
+other? Lubin was much nicer than most country lads, but even Lubin was
+not equal to improvising songs about Phyllis, and Delia, and the
+Muses. Then he looked up, and saw a stranger approaching him across
+the field.
+
+He was a big, stoutish man, with a fat face, a frock-coat tightly
+buttoned up, a large umbrella, and a rather shabby hat of the shape
+called chimney-pot. A somewhat incongruous object, amid that rural
+scene, and not a very prepossessing one; but apparently a gentleman,
+though scarcely of the stamp of St Aubyn. At last he came quite near,
+and Austin moved as though to let him pass.
+
+"Don't trouble yourself, young gentleman," said the newcomer, in a
+good-humoured, offhand way. "Can you tell me whether I'm anywhere near
+a place called Moorcombe Court?"
+
+"Yes--it's not far off," replied Austin, immediately interested. "I've
+just come from there myself."
+
+"Really, now!" was the gentleman's rejoinder. "And how's me friend St
+Aubyn?"
+
+So he was Mr St Aubyn's friend--or claimed to be. "I really
+suspected," said Austin to himself, "that he must be a bailiff." From
+which it may be inferred that the youth's acquaintance with bailiffs
+was somewhat limited. Then he said, aloud:
+
+"I believe he's quite well, thank you, but I'm afraid you'll not be
+able to see him. He's gone out somewhere for the day."
+
+"Dear me, now, that's a pity!" exclaimed the stranger, taking off his
+hat and wiping his hot, bald head. "Dear old Roger--it's years since
+we met, and I was quite looking forward to enjoying a chat with him
+about old times. Well, well, another day will do, no doubt. You don't
+live at the Court, do you?"
+
+"I? Oh, no," said Austin. "I only visit there. It is such a charming
+place!"
+
+"Shouldn't wonder," remarked the other, nodding. "Our friend's a rich
+man, and can afford to gratify his tastes--which are rather expensive
+ones, or used to be when I knew him years ago. I must squeeze an hour
+to go and see him some time or other while I'm here, if I can only
+manage it."
+
+"Then you are not here for long?" asked Austin, wondering who the man
+could be.
+
+"Depends upon business, young gentleman," replied the stranger.
+"Depends upon how we draw. We shall have a week for certain, but after
+that----"
+
+"How you draw?" repeated Austin, politely mystified.
+
+"Yes, draw--what houses we draw, to be sure," explained the stranger.
+"What, haven't you seen the bills? I'm on tour with 'Sardanapalus'!"
+
+A ray of light flashed upon Austin's memory. "Oh! I think I
+understand," he ventured hesitatingly. "Are you--can you perhaps
+be--er--Mr Buckskin?"
+
+"For Buckskin read Buskin, and you may boast of having hazarded a
+particularly shrewd guess," replied the gentleman. "Bucephalus Buskin,
+at your service; and, of course, the public's."
+
+"Ah, now I know," exclaimed Austin. "The greatest actor in Europe, on
+or off the stage."
+
+"Oh come, now, come; spare my blushes, young gentleman, draw it a
+_little_ milder!" cried the delighted manager, almost bursting with
+mock modesty. "Greatest actor in Europe--oh, very funny, very good
+indeed! Off the stage, too! Oh dear, dear, dear, what wags there are
+in the world! And pray, young gentleman, from whom did you pick up
+that?"
+
+"I think it must have been the milkman," replied Austin simply.
+
+"The milkman, eh? A most discriminating milkman, 'pon my word. Well,
+it's always encouraging to find appreciation of high art, even among
+milkmen," observed Mr Buskin. "Only shows how much we owe the growing
+education of the masses to the drama. Talk of the press, the pulpit,
+the schoolroom----"
+
+"I believe he was quoting an advertisement," interpolated Austin.
+
+"An ad., eh?" said the mummer, somewhat disconcerted. "Oh, well, I
+shouldn't be surprised. Of course _I_ have nothing to do with such
+things. That's the business of the advance-agent. And did he really
+put in that? I positively must speak to him about it. A good fellow,
+you know, but rather inclined to let his zeal outrun his discretion.
+It's not good business to raise too great expectations, is it, now?"
+
+Austin, in his innocence, scarcely took in the meaning of all this.
+But it was clear enough that Mr Buskin was a great personage in his
+way, and extremely modest into the bargain. His interest was now very
+much excited, and he awaited eagerly what the communicative gentleman
+would say next.
+
+"I should think it would take," continued Mr Buskin, warming to his
+subject. "It's a most magnificent spectacle when it's properly done--as
+we do it. There's a scene in the third act--the Banquet in the Royal
+Palace--that's something you won't forget as long as you live. A
+gorgeous hall, brilliantly illuminated--the whole Court in glittering
+costumes--the tables covered with gold and silver plate. Peals of
+thunder, and a frightful tempest raging outside. In the midst of the
+revels a conspiracy breaks out--enter Pania, bloody--Sardanapalus
+assumes a suit of armour, and admires himself in a looking-glass--and
+then the rival armies burst in, and a terrific battle ensues----"
+
+"What, in the dining-room?" asked the astonished Austin.
+
+"Well, well, the poet allows himself a bit of licence there, I admit;
+but that only gives us an opportunity of showing what fine
+stage-management can do," said Mr Buskin complacently. "It's a
+magnificent situation. You'll say you never saw anything like it since
+you were born, you just mark my words."
+
+"It certainly must be very wonderful," remarked Austin. "But I'm
+afraid I'm rather ignorant of such matters. What _is_ 'Sardanapalus,'
+may I ask?"
+
+"What, never heard of Byron's 'Sardanapalus'?" exclaimed the actor,
+throwing up his hands. "Why, it's one of the finest things ever put
+upon the boards. Full of telling effects, and not too many bothering
+lengths, you know. The Poet Laureate, dear good man, worried my life
+out a year ago to let him write a play upon the subject especially for
+me. The part of Sardanapalus was to be devised so as to bring out all
+my particular--er--capabilities, and any little hints that might occur
+to me were to be acted upon and embodied in the text. But I wouldn't
+hear of it. 'Me dear Alfred,' I said, 'it isn't that I underrate your
+very well-known talents, but Byron's good enough for _me_. Hang it
+all, you know, an artist owes something to the classics of his
+country.' So now, if that uneasy spirit ever looks this way from the
+land of the eternal shades, he'll see something at least to comfort
+him. He'll see that one actor, at least, not unknown to Europe, has
+vindicated his reputation as a playwright in the face of the British
+public."
+
+Austin felt immensely flattered at such confidences being vouchsafed
+to him by the eminent exponent of Lord Byron, and said he was certain
+that the theatre would be crammed. Mr Buskin shrugged his shoulders,
+and replied he was sure he hoped so.
+
+"And now," he added, "I think I'll be walking back. And look you here,
+young gentleman. We've had a pleasant meeting, and I'd like to see
+you again. Just take this card"--scribbling a few words on it in
+pencil--"and the night you favour us with your presence in the house,
+come round and see me in me dressing-room between the acts. You've
+only to show that, and they'll let you in at once. I'd like your
+impressions of the thing while it's going on."
+
+Austin accepted the card with becoming courtesy, and offered his own
+in exchange. Mr Buskin shook hands in a very cordial manner, and the
+next moment was making his way rapidly in the direction of the town.
+
+"What a very singular gentleman," thought Austin, when he was once
+more alone. "I wonder whether all actors are like that. Scarcely, I
+suppose. Well, now I'm to have a glimpse of another new world. Mr St
+Aubyn has shown me one or two; what will Mr Buskin's be like? It's all
+extremely interesting, anyhow."
+
+Then he stumped along to the river side, giving a majestic twirl to
+his wooden leg with every step he took through the long grass. How he
+would have loved a bathe! The pool where he had so enjoyed himself
+with Lubin was not far off--the pool of Daphnis, as he had christened
+it; but he hesitated to venture in alone. So he lay down on the bank
+and watched the yellow water-lilies from afar, dreaming of many
+things. How clever Lubin was, and what a lot he knew! Why geese should
+dance for rain he couldn't even imagine; but the rain had actually
+come, and it was all a most suggestive mystery. How many other curious
+connections there must be among natural occurrences that nobody ever
+dreamt of! It was in the country one learnt about such things; in the
+fields and woods, and by the side of rivers. Nature was the great
+school, after all. History and geography were all very well in their
+way, but what food for the soul was there in knowing whether Norway
+was an island or a peninsula, or on what date some silly king had had
+his crown put on? What did it matter, after all? Those were the facts
+he despised; facts that had no significance for him whatever, that
+left him exactly as they found him first. The sky and the birds and
+the flowers taught him lessons that were worth more than all the
+histories and geographies that were ever written. The schoolroom was a
+desert, arid and unsatisfying; whereas the garden, the enclosed space
+which held stained cups of beauty and purple gold-eyed bells, that was
+a jewelled sanctuary. Lubin was nearer the heart of things than
+Freeman and Macaulay, though they would have disdained him as a clod.
+Virgil and Theocritus were greater philosophers than either Comte or
+Hegel. Daphnis and Corydon represented the finest flower, the purest
+type of human evolution, and Herbert Spencer was nothing better than a
+particularly silly old man.
+
+Having disposed of the education question thus conclusively, it
+occurred to Austin that it must be about time for tea; so he struggled
+to his legs and turned his footsteps homeward. Just as he arrived at
+the house he met Lubin outside the gate with a wheelbarrow.
+
+"Off already?" he asked.
+
+"Ay," said Lubin. "I say, Master Austin, there's something I want to
+tell you. I see a magpie not an hour ago!"
+
+"A magpie? I don't think I ever saw one in my life. What was it like?"
+enquired Austin.
+
+"Don't matter what it was like," replied Lubin, sententiously. "But it
+was just outside your bedroom window. You'd better be on the
+look-out."
+
+"What for?" asked Austin. "Did it say it was coming back?"
+
+"'Tain't nothing to laugh at," said Lubin, nodding his head. "A magpie
+bodes ill-luck. That's well known, that is. So you just keep your eye
+open, that's all I've got to say. It's a warning, you see. Did ye
+never hear that before?"
+
+Austin's first impulse was to laugh; then he remembered the dancing
+goose, and the rain which followed in due course. "All right, Lubin,"
+he said cheerfully. "I'm not afraid of magpies; I don't think they're
+very dangerous. But I _have_ heard that they've a fancy for silver
+spoons, so I'll tell Aunt Charlotte to lock the plate up safely before
+she goes to bed."
+
+As he had expected, Aunt Charlotte was much pleased at hearing of his
+encounter with Mr Buskin, who, she thought, must be a most delightful
+person. It would be so good, too, for Austin to see something of the
+gay world instead of always mooning about alone; and then he would be
+sure to meet other young people at the performance, friends from the
+neighbouring town, with whom he could talk and be sociable. Austin, on
+his side, was quite willing to go and be amused, though he felt,
+perhaps, more interested in what promised to be an entirely new
+experience than excited at the prospect of a treat. He wanted to see
+and to study, and then he would be able to judge.
+
+"By the way, Austin," said his aunt, as they were separating for the
+night a few hours later, "I want you to go into the town to-morrow and
+tell Snewin to send a man up at once to look at the roof. I'm afraid
+it's been in rather a bad state for some time past, and those heavy
+rains we had last week seem to have damaged it still more. Be sure you
+don't forget. It won't do to have a leaky roof over our heads; it
+might come tumbling down, and cost a mint of money to put right
+again."
+
+Austin gave the required promise, and thought no more about it. He
+also forgot entirely to tell his aunt she had better lock up the
+spoons with particular care that night because Lubin had seen a magpie
+in suspicious proximity to his window. He went straight up to his
+room, feeling rather sleepy, and bent on getting between the sheets as
+soon as possible. But just as he was putting on his nightgown, a light
+pattering sound attracted his attention, and he immediately became all
+ears.
+
+"Rain?" he exclaimed. "Why, there wasn't a sign of it an hour ago!"
+
+He drew up the blind and looked out. The sky was perfectly clear, and
+a brilliant moon was shining.
+
+"That's queer!" he murmured. "I could have sworn I heard it raining.
+What in the world could it have been?"
+
+He turned away and put out the candle. As he approached the bed a
+curious disinclination to get into it came over him. Then he heard the
+same pattering noise again. He stopped short, and listened more
+attentively. It seemed to come from the walls.
+
+A shower of raps, rather like tiny explosions, now sounded all around
+him. He leant his head against the wall, and the sound became
+distincter. This time there was no mistake about it. He had never
+heard anything like it in his life. He was quite cool, not in the
+least frightened, and very much on the alert. The raps continued at
+intervals for about five minutes. Then, seeing that it was impossible
+to solve the mystery, he suddenly jumped into bed. At that moment the
+raps ceased.
+
+For nearly an hour he lay awake, wondering. Certainly he had not been
+the victim of hallucination. He was in perfect health, and in full
+possession of all his faculties. Indeed his faculties were
+particularly alive; he had been thinking of something else altogether
+when the raps first forced themselves upon his consciousness, and
+afterwards he had listened to them for several minutes with close and
+critical attention. No explanation of the strange phenomenon suggested
+itself in spite of endless theories and speculations. Could it be
+mice? But mice only gnawed and scuttled about; they did not rap. It
+was more like crackling than anything else; the noise produced by
+thousands of faint discharges. No, it was inexplicable, and he
+wondered more and more.
+
+Gradually he fell asleep. How long he slept he didn't know, but he
+awoke with a sensation of cold. Instinctively he put out his hand to
+pull the coverings closer over him, and found that they seemed to have
+slipped down somehow, leaving his chest exposed. Then, warm again, he
+dozed off once more and dreamt that he was at the pool of Daphnis with
+Lubin. How cool and blue the water looked, and how lovely the plunge
+would be! But when he was stripped the weather suddenly changed; a
+chill wind sprang up which made his teeth chatter; and then Lubin--who
+somehow wasn't Lubin but had unaccountably turned into Mr
+Buskin--insisted on throwing him into the water, which now looked cold
+and black. He struggled furiously, and awoke shivering.
+
+There was not a rag upon him. Again he stretched out his hand to feel
+for the clothes, but they had disappeared. Instinctively he threw
+himself out of bed and flung open the shutters. The moon had set, and
+the first faint gleams of approaching dawn filtered into the room,
+showing, to his amazement, the bedclothes drawn completely away from
+the mattress and hanging over the rail at the foot, so as to be quite
+out of the reach of his hand as he had lain there. What on earth was
+the matter with the bed? Was it bewitched? Who had uncovered him in
+that unceremonious way, leaving him perished with cold? No wonder he
+had dreamt of that chilly wind, numbing his body as he stood naked by
+the pool. Had he by any chance kicked the coverlet off in his sleep,
+as he engaged in that dream-struggle with the absurdly impossible
+Buskin-Lubin who had attempted to pitch him into the dark water?
+Clearly not; for that would not account for the sheet and blanket
+being dragged so carefully out of the range of his hands, and hung
+over the foot-rail so that they touched the floor.
+
+Such were the thoughts that flashed through his mind as he stood
+motionless by the window, with wide open eyes, in the chill morning
+light. Suddenly a rending, bursting noise was heard in the ceiling.
+The crack widened into a chasm, and then, with a heavy thud, down fell
+a confused mass of old bricks, crumbling mortar, and rotten,
+worm-eaten wood full on the mattress he had just relinquished,
+scattering pulverised rubble in all directions, and covering the bed
+with a layer of horrible dust and _debris_.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter the Sixth
+
+
+Had her very life depended on it, old Martha would have been totally
+unable to give any coherent account of what she felt, said, or did,
+when she came into Master Austin's room that morning at half-past
+seven with his hot water. She thought she must have screamed, but such
+was her bewilderment and terror she really could not remember whether
+she did or no. But she never had any doubt as to what she saw. Instead
+of a fair white bed with Austin lying in it, she was confronted by the
+sight of a gaping hole in the roof, something that looked like a
+rubbish heap in a brickfield immediately underneath, and the long
+slender form of Austin himself wrapped in a comfortable wadded
+dressing-gown fast asleep upon the sofa. "Bless us and save us!" she
+ejaculated under her breath. "And to think that the boy's lived
+through it!"
+
+Austin, roused by her entrance, yawned, stretched himself, and lazily
+opened his eyes. "Is that you already, Martha?" he said. "Oh, how
+sleepy I am. Is it really half-past seven?"
+
+"But what does it all mean--how it is you're not killed?" cried
+Martha, putting down the jug, and finding her voice at last. "The good
+Lord preserve us--here's the house tumbling down about our ears and
+never a one of us the wiser. And the man was to 'ave come this very
+day to see to that blessed roof. Come, wake up, do, Master Austin, and
+tell me how it happened."
+
+"Is Aunt Charlotte up yet?" asked Austin turning over on his side.
+
+"Ay, that she be, and making it lively for the maids downstairs.
+Whatever will she say when she hears about this to-do?" exclaimed
+Martha, with her hands upon her hips as she gazed at the desolation
+round her.
+
+"Well, please go down and ask her to come up here at once," said
+Austin. "I see I shall have to say something, and it really will be
+too much bother to go over it to everybody in turn. I've had rather a
+disturbed night, and feel most awfully tired. So just run down and
+bring her up as soon as ever you can, and then we'll get it over."
+
+"A pretty business--and me with forty-eleven things to do already
+to-day," muttered the old servant as she hurried out. "True it is that
+except the Lord builds the house they labour in vain as builds it. He
+didn't have no hand in building this one, that's as plain as I am--as
+never was a beauty at my best. Well, the child's safe, that's one
+mercy. Though what he was doing out of his bed when the roof came
+down's a mystery to _me_. Talking to the moon, I shouldn't wonder. The
+good Lord's got 'is own ways o' doing things, and it ain't for the
+likes of us to pick holes when they turn out better than the worst."
+
+Meanwhile Austin lay quietly and drowsily on his couch piecing things
+together. Seen from the distance of a few hours, now that he had
+leisure to reflect, how wonderfully they fitted in! First of all,
+there had been that sudden outburst of raps just as he was stepping
+into bed. That, evidently, was intended as a warning. It was as much
+as to say, "Don't! don't!" But of course he couldn't be expected to
+know this, and so he could only wonder where the raps came from, and
+get into bed as usual. Then, the instant he did so the raps ceased.
+That was because it wasn't any use to go on. The rappers, he
+supposed, had benevolently tried to frighten him away, and induce him
+to go and sleep on the sofa at the other end of the room where he was
+now; but the attempt had failed. So there was nothing for them to do,
+as he was actually in bed, but to get him out again; and this they had
+succeeded in doing by dragging all his clothes off. Now he saw it all.
+Nothing, it seemed to him, could possibly be clearer. But who were the
+unseen friends who had thus interposed to save his life? Ah, that was
+a secret still.
+
+Then footsteps were heard outside, and in bustled Aunt Charlotte, with
+Martha chattering in her wake. Austin raised himself upon his
+cushions, and then sank back again. "Lord save us!" cried Aunt
+Charlotte, coming to a dead stop, as she surveyed the ruins.
+
+"It's rather a mess, isn't it?" remarked Austin, folding a red
+table-cover round his single leg by way of counterpane.
+
+"A mess!" repeated Aunt Charlotte. "I should think it _was_ a mess.
+How in the world, Austin, did you manage to escape?"
+
+"Well--I happened to get out of bed a minute or two before the ceiling
+broke," said Austin, "and it's just as well I did. Otherwise my
+artless countenance would have got rather disfigured, and I might
+even have been hurt. You see all that raw material isn't composed of
+gossamer----"
+
+"What time did it occur?" asked Aunt Charlotte, shortly.
+
+"The dawn was just breaking. I suppose it must have been about four
+o'clock, but I didn't look at my watch," replied Austin. "I was too
+cold and sleepy."
+
+"Cold and sleepy!" exclaimed Aunt Charlotte. "And the house collapsing
+over your head. You seem to have had time to pull the bedclothes away,
+though. That's very curious. What did you do that for?"
+
+"I didn't," replied Austin.
+
+"Then who did?" asked Aunt Charlotte, getting more and more excited.
+"I do wish you'd be a little more communicative, Austin; I have to
+drag every word out of you as though you were trying to hide
+something. Who hung the bedclothes over the footrail if you didn't?"
+
+"I can't tell you. I don't know. All I know is that I found them where
+they are now when I woke up, and I woke up because I was so cold. Then
+I got out of bed, and a minute afterwards down came all the bricks."
+
+"Do you mean to tell me----" began Aunt Charlotte, in her most
+scathing tones.
+
+"Certainly I do. Exactly what I _have_ told you. Why?"
+
+"Do you expect me to believe," resumed his aunt, "that somebody came
+into the room when you were asleep, and deliberately pulled off all
+your bedclothes for the fun of doing it? Am I to understand----"
+
+"My dear auntie, I am not an idiot, nor am I in the habit of perjuring
+myself," interrupted Austin. "I saw nobody come into the room, and I
+saw nobody pull off the clothes. If you really want to know what I
+'expect you to believe,' I've already told you. I might tell you a
+little more, but then I shouldn't expect you to believe it, so what
+would be the good? It seems to me the best thing to do now is to send
+for Snewin to take away all this mess, move the furniture, and mend
+the hole in the ceiling. If once it begins to rain----"
+
+"Oh! You might tell me a little more, might you?" said Aunt Charlotte,
+bristling. "So you haven't told me everything after all. Now, then,
+never mind whether I believe it or not, that's my affair. What is
+there more to tell?"
+
+"Nothing," replied Austin. "Because it isn't only your affair whether
+you believe me or not; it's my affair as well. Why, you don't even
+believe what I've told you already! So I won't tax your credulity any
+further."
+
+Aunt Charlotte now began to get rather angry, "Look here, Austin," she
+said, "I intend to get to the bottom of this business, so it's not the
+slightest use trying to beat about the bush. I insist on your telling
+me how it was you happened to get out of bed just before the accident
+occurred, and how the bedclothes came to be pulled away and hung where
+they are now. There's a mystery about the whole thing, and I hate
+mysteries, so you'd better make a clean breast of it at once."
+
+"Had I?" said Austin, pretending to reflect. "I wonder whether it
+would be wise. You see, dear auntie, you're such a sensitive creature;
+your nerves are so highly strung, you're so easily frightened out of
+your dear old wits--"
+
+"Be done with all this nonsense!" snapped Aunt Charlotte brusquely.
+"Come, I can't stand here all day. Just tell me exactly what took
+place--why you woke up, and what you saw, and everything about it you
+remember."
+
+"Dear auntie, I don't want you to stand there all day; in fact I'd
+much rather you didn't stand there a minute longer, because I want to
+get up," Austin assured her earnestly. "I awoke because I had a horrid
+dream, caused by the cold which in its turn was produced by my being
+left with nothing on. And I didn't see anything, for the simple reason
+that the room was as dark as pitch. Is there anything else you want to
+know?"
+
+"Yes, there is. Everything that you haven't told me," said the
+uncompromising aunt.
+
+"Very well, then," said Austin, leaning upon his elbow and looking her
+full in the face. "But on one condition only--that you believe every
+word I say."
+
+"Of course, Austin, I should never dream of doubting your good faith,"
+replied Aunt Charlotte. "But don't romance. Now then."
+
+"It's very simple, after all," began Austin. "Just as I was getting
+into bed a strange noise, like a shower of little raps, broke out all
+around me. It went on for nearly five minutes, and I was listening all
+the time and trying to find out what it was and where it came from. At
+the moment I had no clue, but now I fancy I can guess. Those raps
+were warnings. They--the rappers--were trying to prevent me getting
+into bed. They didn't succeed, of course, and so, just as the ceiling
+was on the point of giving way, they compelled me to get out of bed by
+pulling all the clothes off. If they hadn't, I should have been half
+killed. Now, what do you make of that?"
+
+"I knew it must be some nonsense of the sort!" exclaimed Aunt
+Charlotte, in her most vigorous tones. "Raps, indeed! I never heard
+such twaddle. Of course I don't doubt your word, but it's clear enough
+that you dreamt the whole thing. You always were a dreamer, Austin,
+and you're getting worse than ever. I don't believe you know half the
+time whether you're asleep or awake."
+
+"Did I dream _that_?" asked Austin, pointing to the bedclothes as they
+hung.
+
+"You dragged them there in your sleep, of course," retorted Aunt
+Charlotte triumphantly. "I see the whole thing now. You had a dream,
+you kicked the clothes off in your sleep, and then you got out of bed,
+still in your sleep----"
+
+"I didn't do anything of the sort," interrupted Austin. "I was wide
+awake the whole time. You see, auntie, I was here and you weren't, so
+I ought to know something about it."
+
+"It's no use arguing with you," replied Aunt Charlotte, loftily. "It's
+a clear case of sleep-walking--as clear as any case I ever heard of.
+And then all that nonsense about raps! Of course, if you heard
+anything at all--which I only half believe--it was something beginning
+to give way in the roof. There! It only requires a little
+common-sense, you see, to explain the whole affair. And now, my
+dear----"
+
+"Hush!" whispered Austin suddenly.
+
+"What's the matter?" exclaimed Aunt Charlotte, not liking to be
+interrupted.
+
+"Listen!" said Austin, under his breath.
+
+A torrent of raps burst out in the wall immediately behind him,
+plainly audible in the silence. Then they stopped, as suddenly as they
+had begun.
+
+"Did you hear them?" said Austin. "Those were the raps I told you of.
+Hark! There they are again. I wish they would sound a little louder."
+A distinct increase in the sound was noticeable. "Oh, isn't it
+perfectly wonderful? Now, what have you to say?"
+
+Aunt Charlotte stood agape. It was no use pretending she didn't hear
+them. They were as unmistakable as knocks at a front door.
+
+"What jugglery is this?" she demanded, in an angry tone.
+
+"Really, dear auntie, I am not a conjurer," replied Austin, as he sank
+back upon his cushions. "That was what I heard last night. But of
+course _you_ don't believe in such absurdities. It's only your fancy
+after all, you know."
+
+"'Tain't _my_ fancy, anyhow," put in old Martha, speaking for the
+first time. "I heard 'em plain enough. 'Tis the 'good people,' for
+sure."
+
+"Hold your tongue, do!" cried Aunt Charlotte in sore perplexity. "Good
+people, indeed!--the devil himself, more likely. I tell you what it
+is, Austin----"
+
+"Why, I thought you weren't superstitious!" observed Austin, in a tone
+of most exasperating surprise. Three gentle knocks, running off into a
+ripple of pattering explosions, were then heard in a farther corner of
+the room. "There, don't you hear them laughing at you? Thank you, dear
+people, whoever you are, that was very kind. And it was awfully sweet
+of you to save me from those bricks last night. It _was_ good of them,
+wasn't it, auntie dear?"
+
+"If all this devilry goes on I shall take serious measures to stop
+it," gasped Aunt Charlotte, who was almost frightened to death. "I
+cannot and will not live in a haunted house. It's you who are haunted,
+Austin, and I shall go and see the vicar about it this very day. It's
+an awful state of things, positively awful. To think that you are
+actually holding communication with familiar spirits! The vicar shall
+come here at once, and I'll get him to hold a service of exorcism. I
+believe there is such a service, and----"
+
+"Oh, do, do, _do_!" screamed Austin, clapping his hands with delight.
+"What fun it would be! Fancy dear Mr Sheepshanks, in all his tippets
+and toggery, ambling and capering round poor me, and trying to drive
+the devil out of me with a broomful of holy water! That's a lovely
+idea of yours, auntie. Lubin shall come and be an acolyte, and we'll
+get Mr Buskin to be stage-manager, and you shall be the pew-opener.
+And then I'll empty the holy-water pot over dear Mr Sheepshanks' head
+when he's looking the other way. You _are_ a genius, auntie, though
+you're too modest to be conscious of it. But you're very ungrateful
+all the same, for if it hadn't been for----"
+
+"There, stop your ribaldry, Austin, and get up," said Aunt Charlotte,
+impatiently. "The sooner we're all out of this dreadful room the
+better. And let me tell you that you'd be better employed in thanking
+God for your deliverance than in turning sacred subjects into
+ridicule."
+
+"Thanking God? Why, not a moment ago you said it was the devil!"
+exclaimed Austin. "How you do chop and change about, auntie. You can't
+possibly expect me to be orthodox when you go on contradicting
+yourself at such a rate. However, if you really must go, I think I
+_will_ get up. It must be long past eight, and I want my breakfast
+awfully."
+
+The day so excitingly ushered in turned out a busy one. As soon as he
+had finished his meal, Austin pounded off to invoke the immediate
+presence of Mr Snewin the builder, and before long there was a mighty
+bustle in the house. The furniture had all to be removed from the
+scene of the disaster, the bed cleared of the _debris_, preparations
+made for the erection of light scaffolding for repairing the roof, and
+Austin himself installed, with all his books and treasures, in another
+bedroom overlooking a different part of the garden. It was all a most
+enjoyable adventure, and even Aunt Charlotte forgot her terrors in
+the more practical necessities of the occasion. Just before lunch
+Austin snatched a few minutes to run out and gossip with Lubin on the
+lawn. Lubin listened with keen interest to the boy's picturesque
+account of his experiences, and then remarked, sagely nodding his
+head:
+
+"I told you to be on the look-out, you know, Master Austin. Magpies
+don't perch on folks' window-sills for nothing. You'll believe me a
+little quicker next time, maybe."
+
+For once in his life Austin could think of nothing to say in reply. To
+ask Lubin to explain the connection between magpies and misadventures
+would have been useless; it evidently sufficed for him that such was
+the order of Nature, and only a magpie would have been able to clear
+up the mystery. Besides, there are many such mysteries in the world.
+Why do cats occasionally wash their heads behind the ear? Clearly, to
+tell us that we may expect bad weather; for the bad weather invariably
+follows. These are all providential arrangements intended for our
+personal convenience, and are not to be accounted for on any
+cut-and-dried scientific theory. Lubin's erudition was certainly very
+great, but there was something exasperating about it too.
+
+So Austin went in to lunch thoughtful and dispirited, wondering why
+there were so many absurdities in life that he could neither elucidate
+nor controvert. He decided not to say anything to Aunt Charlotte about
+Lubin's magpie sciolisms, lest he should provoke a further outburst of
+the discussion they had held in the morning; he had had the best of
+that, anyhow, and did not care to compromise his victory by dragging
+in extraneous considerations in which he did not feel sure of his
+ground. Aunt Charlotte, on her side, was inclined to be talkative,
+taking refuge in the excitement of having work-men in the house from
+the uneasy feelings which still oppressed her in consequence of those
+frightening raps. But now that the haunted room was to be invaded by
+friendly, commonplace artisans from the village, and turned inside
+out, and almost pulled to pieces, there was a chance that the ghosts
+would be got rid of without invoking the aid of Mr Sheepshanks; a
+reflection that inspired her with hope, and comforted her greatly.
+
+"You know you're a great anxiety to me, Austin," she said, as,
+refreshed by food and wine, she took up her knitting after lunch. "I
+wish you were more like other boys, indeed I do. I never could
+understand you, and I suppose I never shall."
+
+"But what does that matter, auntie?" asked Austin. "I don't understand
+_you_ sometimes, but that doesn't make me anxious in the very least.
+Why you should worry yourself about me I can't conceive. What do I do
+to make you anxious? I don't get tipsy, I don't gamble away vast
+fortunes at a sitting, and although I'm getting on for eighteen I
+haven't had a single action for breach of promise brought against me
+by anybody. Now _I_ think that's rather a creditable record. It isn't
+everybody who can say as much."
+
+"I want you to be more _serious_, Austin," replied his aunt, "and not
+to talk such nonsense as you're talking now. I want you to be
+sensible, practical, and alive to the sober facts of life. You're too
+dreamy a great deal. Soon you won't know the difference between dreams
+and realities----"
+
+"I don't even now. No more do you. No more does anybody," interrupted
+Austin, lighting a cigarette.
+
+"There you are again!" exclaimed Aunt Charlotte, clicking her needles
+energetically. "Did one ever hear such rubbish? It all comes from
+those outlandish books you're always poring over. If you'd only take
+_my_ advice, you'd read something solid, and sensible, and improving,
+like 'Self Help,' by Dr Smiles. That would be of some use to you, but
+these others----"
+
+"I read a whole chapter of it once," said Austin. "I can scarcely
+believe it myself, but I did. It's the most immoral, sordid, selfish
+book that was ever printed. It deifies Success--success in
+money-making--success of the coarsest and most materialistic kind. It
+is absolutely unspiritual and degrading. It nearly made me sick."
+
+"Be silent!" cried Aunt Charlotte, horrified. "How dare you talk like
+that? I will not sit still and hear you say such things. Few books
+have had a greater influence upon the age. Degrading? Why, it's been
+the making of thousands!"
+
+"Thousands of soulless money-grubbers," retorted Austin. "That's what
+it has made. Men without an idea or an aspiration above their horrible
+spinning-jennies and account-books. I hate your successful
+stockbrokers and shipowners and manufacturers. They are an odious
+race. Wasn't it a stockjobber who thought Botticelli was a cheese?
+Everyone knows the story, and I believe the hero of it was either a
+stockjobber or a man who made screws in Birmingham."
+
+Aunt Charlotte let her knitting fall on her lap in despair. "Austin,"
+she said, in her most solemn tones, "I never regretted your poor
+mother's death as I regret it at this moment."
+
+"Why, auntie?" he asked, surprised.
+
+"Perhaps she would have understood you better; perhaps she might even
+have been able to manage you," replied the poor lady. "I confess that
+you're beyond me altogether. Do you know what it was she said to me
+upon her death-bed? 'Charlotte,' she said, 'my only sorrow in dying is
+that I shall never be able to bring up my boy. Who will ever take such
+care of him as I should?' You were then two days old, and the very
+next day she died. I've never forgotten it. She passed away with that
+sorrow, that terrible anxiety, tearing at her heart. I took her place,
+as you know, but of course I was only a makeshift. I often wonder
+whether she is still as anxious about you as she was then."
+
+"My dearest auntie, you've been an angel in a lace cap to me all my
+life, and I'm sure my mother isn't worrying herself about me one bit.
+Why should she?" argued Austin. "I'm leading a lovely life, I'm as
+happy as the days are long, and if my tastes don't run in the
+direction of selling screws or posting ledgers, nothing that anybody
+can say will change them. And I tell you candidly that if they were so
+changed they would certainly be changed for the worse. I hate ugly
+things as intensely as I love beautiful ones, and I'm very thankful
+that I'm not ugly myself. Now don't look at me like that; it's so
+conventional! Of course I know I'm not ugly, but rather the reverse
+(that's a modest way of putting it), and I pray to beloved Pan that he
+will give me beauty in the inward soul so that the inward and the
+outward man may be at one. That's out of the 'Phaedrus,' you know--a
+very much superior composition to 'Self Help.' So cheer up, auntie,
+and don't look on me as a doomed soul because we're not both turned
+out of the same melting-pot. Now I'm just going upstairs to see to the
+arrangement of my new room, and then I shall go and help Lubin in the
+garden."
+
+So saying, he strolled out. But poor Aunt Charlotte only shook her
+head. She could not forget how Austin's mother had grieved at not
+living to bring up her boy, and wished more earnestly than ever that
+the responsibility had fallen into other hands than hers. There was
+something so dreadfully uncanny about Austin. His ignorance about the
+common facts of life was as extraordinary as his perfect familiarity
+with matters known only to great scholars. His views and tastes were
+strange to her, so strange as to be beyond her comprehension
+altogether. She found herself unable to argue with him because their
+minds were set on different planes, and her representations did not
+seem to touch him in the very least. And yet, after all, he was a very
+good boy, full of pure thoughts and kindly impulses and spiritual
+intuitions and intellectual proclivities which certainly no moralist
+would condemn. If only he were more practical, even more commonplace,
+and wouldn't talk such nonsense! Then there would not be such a gulf
+between them as there was at present; then she might have some
+influence over him for good, at any rate. Her thoughts recurred,
+uneasily, to the strange experiences of that morning. The mystery of
+the raps distracted her, puzzled her, frightened her; whereas Austin
+was not frightened at all--on the contrary, he accepted the whole
+thing with the serenest cheerfulness and _sang-froid_, finding it
+apparently quite natural that these unseen agencies, coming from
+nobody knew where, should take him under their protection and make
+friends with him. What could it all portend?
+
+Of course it was very foolish of the good lady to fret like this
+because Austin was so different from what she thought he should be.
+She did not see that his nature was infinitely finer and subtler than
+her own, and that it was no use in the world attempting to stifle his
+intellectual growth and drag him down to her own level. A burly,
+muscular boy, who played football and read 'Tom Brown,' would have
+been far more to her taste, for such a one she would at least have
+understood. But Austin, with his queer notions and audacious
+paradoxes, was utterly beyond her. Unluckily, too, she had no sense of
+humour, and instead of laughing at his occasionally preposterous
+sallies, she allowed them to irritate and worry her. A person with no
+sense of humour is handicapped from start to finish, and is as much to
+be pitied as one born blind or deaf.
+
+But Austin had his limitations too, and among them was a most
+deplorable want of tact. Otherwise he would never have said, as he
+was going to bed that night:
+
+"By the way, auntie, what day have you arranged for the vicar to come
+and cast all those devils out of me?"
+
+He might as well have let sleeping dogs lie. Aunt Charlotte turned
+round upon him in almost a rage, and solemnly forbade him, in any
+circumstances and under whatsoever provocation, ever to mention the
+subject in her presence again.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter the Seventh
+
+
+But by one of those curious coincidences that occur every now and
+then, who should happen to drop in the very next afternoon but the
+vicar himself, just as Austin and his aunt were having tea upon the
+lawn. Now Aunt Charlotte and the vicar were great friends. They had
+many interests in common--the same theological opinions, for example;
+and then Aunt Charlotte was indefatigable in all sorts of parish work,
+such as district-visiting, and the organisation of school teas,
+village clubs, and those rather formidable entertainments known as
+"treats"; so that the two had always something to talk about, and were
+very fond of meeting. Besides all this, there was another bond of
+union between them which scarcely anybody would have guessed. Mr
+Sheepshanks, though as unworldly a man as any in the county,
+considered himself unusually shrewd in business matters; and Aunt
+Charlotte, like many middle-aged ladies in her position, found it a
+great comfort to have a gentleman at her beck and call with whom she
+could talk confidentially about her investments, and who could be
+relied upon to give her much disinterested advice that he often acted
+on himself. On this particular afternoon the vicar hinted that he had
+something of special importance to communicate, and Aunt Charlotte was
+unusually gracious. He was a short gentleman, with a sloping forehead,
+a prominent nose, a clean-shaven, High-Church face, narrow, dogmatic
+views, and small, twinkling eyes; not the sort of person whom one
+would naturally associate with financial acumen, but endowed with an
+air of self-confidence, and a pretension to private information, which
+would have done credit to any stockbroker on 'Change.
+
+"I've been thinking over that little matter of yours that you
+mentioned to me the other day," he began, when he had finished his
+third cup, and Austin had strolled away. "You say your mortgage at
+Southport has just been paid off, and you want a new investment for
+your money. Well, I think I know the very thing to suit you."
+
+"Do you really? How kind of you!" exclaimed Aunt Charlotte. "What is
+it--shares or bonds?"
+
+"Shares," replied Mr Sheepshanks; "shares. Of course I know that very
+prudent people will tell you that bonds are safer. And no doubt, as a
+rule they are. If a concern fails, the bond-holder is a creditor,
+while the shareholder is a debtor--besides having lost his capital.
+But in this case there is no fear of failure."
+
+"Dear me," said Aunt Charlotte, beginning to feel impressed. "Is it an
+industrial undertaking?"
+
+"I suppose it might be so described," answered her adviser,
+cautiously. "But it is mainly scientific. It is the outcome of a great
+chemical analysis."
+
+"Oh, pray tell me all about it; I am so interested!" urged Aunt
+Charlotte, eagerly. "You know what confidence I have in your judgment.
+Has it anything to do with raw material? It isn't a plantation
+anywhere, is it?"
+
+"It's gold!" said Mr Sheepshanks.
+
+"Gold?" repeated Aunt Charlotte, rather taken aback. "A gold mine, I
+suppose you mean?"
+
+"The hugest gold-mine in the world," replied the vicar, enjoying her
+evident perplexity. "An inexhaustible gold mine. A gold mine without
+limits."
+
+"But where--whereabouts is it?" cried Aunt Charlotte.
+
+"All around you," said the vicar, waving his hands vaguely in the air.
+"Not in any country at all, but everywhere else. In the ocean."
+
+"Gold in the ocean!" ejaculated the puzzled lady, dropping her
+knitting on her lap, and gazing helplessly at her financial mentor.
+
+"Gold in the ocean--precisely," affirmed that gentleman in an
+impressive voice. "It has been discovered that sea-water holds a large
+quantity of gold in solution, and that by some most interesting
+process of precipitation any amount of it can be procured ready for
+coining. I got a prospectus of the scheme this morning from Shark,
+Picaroon & Co., Fleece Court, London, and I've brought it for you to
+read. A most enterprising firm they seem to be. You'll see that it's
+full of very elaborate scientific details--the results of the analyses
+that have been made, the cost of production, estimates for machinery,
+and I don't know what all. I can't say I follow it very clearly
+myself, for the clerical mind, as everybody knows, is not very well
+adapted to grasping scientific terminology, but I can understand the
+general tenor of it well enough. It seems to me that the enterprise is
+promising in a very high degree."
+
+"How very remarkable!" observed Aunt Charlotte, as she gazed at the
+tabulated figures and enumeration of chemical properties in bewildered
+awe. "And you think it a safe investment?"
+
+"_I_ do," replied Mr Sheepshanks, "but don't act on my opinion--judge
+for yourself. What's the amount you have to invest--two thousand
+pounds, isn't it? Well, I believe that you'd stand to get an income to
+that very amount by investing just that sum in the undertaking. Look
+what they say overleaf about the cost of working and the estimated
+returns. It all sounds fabulous, I admit, but there are the figures,
+my dear lady, in black and white, and figures cannot lie."
+
+"I'll write to my bankers about it this very night," said Aunt
+Charlotte, folding up the prospectus and putting it carefully into her
+pocket. "It's evidently not a chance to be missed, and I'm most
+grateful to you, dear Mr Sheepshanks, for putting it in my way."
+
+"Always delighted to be of service to you--as far as my poor judgment
+can avail," the vicar assured her with becoming modesty. "Ah, it's
+wonderful when one thinks of the teeming riches that lie around us,
+only waiting to be utilised. There _was_ another scheme I thought of
+for you--a scheme for raising the sunken galleons in the Spanish main,
+and recovering the immense treasures that are now lying, safe and
+sound, at the bottom of the sea. Curious that both enterprises should
+be connected with salt water, eh? And the prospectus was headed with a
+most appropriate text--'The Sea shall give up her Dead.' That rather
+appealed to me, do you know. It cast an air of solemnity over the
+undertaking, and seemed to sanctify it somehow. However, I think the
+other will be the best. Well, Austin, and what are you reading now?"
+
+"Aunt Charlotte's face," laughed Austin, sauntering up. "She looks as
+though you had been giving her absolution, Mr Sheepshanks--so beaming
+and refreshed. Why, what's it all about?"
+
+"I expect you want more absolution than your aunt," said the vicar,
+humorously. "A sad useless fellow you are, I'm afraid. You and I must
+have a little serious talk together some day, Austin. I really want
+you to do something--for your own sake, you know. Now, how would you
+like to take a class in the Sunday-school, for instance? I shall have
+a vacancy in a week or two."
+
+"Austin teach in the Sunday-school! He'd be more in his place if he
+went there as a scholar than as a teacher," said Aunt Charlotte,
+derisively.
+
+"I don't know why you should say that," remarked Austin, with perfect
+gravity. "I think it would be delightful. I should make a beautiful
+Sunday-school teacher, I'm convinced."
+
+"There, now!" exclaimed the vicar, approvingly.
+
+Austin was standing under an apple-tree, and over him stretched a
+horizontal branch laden with ripening fruit. He raised his hands on
+either side of his head and clasped it, and then began swinging his
+wooden leg round and round in a way that bade fair to get on Aunt
+Charlotte's nerves. He was so proud of that leg of his, while his aunt
+abhorred the very sight of it.
+
+"No doubt they're all very charming boys, and I should love to tell
+them things," he went on. "I think I'd begin with 'The Gods of
+Greece'--Louis Dyer, you know--and then I'd read them a few
+carefully-selected passages from the 'Phaedrus.' Then, by way of
+something lighter, and more appropriate to their circumstances, I'd
+give them a course of Virgil--the 'Georgics', because, I suppose,
+most of them are connected with farming, and the 'Eclogues,' to
+initiate them into the poetical side of country life. When once I'd
+brought out all their latent sense of the Beautiful--for I'm afraid it
+_is_ latent----"
+
+"But it's a _Sunday_-school!" interrupted the vicar, horrified.
+"Virgil and the Phaedrus indeed! My dear boy, have you taken leave of
+your senses? What in the world can you be thinking of?"
+
+"Then what would you suggest?" enquired Austin, mildly.
+
+"You'd have to teach them the Bible and the Catechism, of course,"
+said Mr Sheepshanks, with an air of slight bewilderment.
+
+"H'm--that seems to me rather a limited curriculum," replied Austin,
+dubiously. "I only remember one passage in the Catechism, beginning,
+'My good child, know this.' I forget what it was he had to know, but
+it was something very dull. The Bible, of course, has more
+possibilities. There is some ravishing poetry in the Bible. Well, I
+can begin with the Bible, if you really prefer it, of course. The Song
+of Solomon, for instance. Oh, yes, that would be lovely! I'll divide
+it up into characters, and make each boy learn his part--the
+shepherd, the Shulamite, King Solomon, and all the rest of them. The
+Spring Song might even be set to music. And then all those lovely
+metaphors, about the two roes that were twins, and something else that
+was like a heap of wheat set about with lilies. Though, to be sure, I
+never could see any very striking resemblance between the objects
+typified and----"
+
+"Hold your tongue, do, Austin!" cried Aunt Charlotte, scandalised.
+"And for mercy's sake, keep that leg of yours quiet, if you can. You
+are fidgeting me out of my wits."
+
+Mr Sheepshanks, his mouth pursed up in a deprecating and uneasy smile,
+sat gazing vaguely in front of him. "I think it might be wise to defer
+the Song of Solomon," he suggested. "A few simple stories from the
+Book of Genesis, perhaps, would be better suited to the minds of your
+young pupils. And then the sublime opening chapters----"
+
+"Oh, dear Mr Sheepshanks! Those stories in Genesis are some of them
+too _risques_ altogether," protested Austin. "One must draw the line
+somewhere, you see. We should be sure to come upon something improper,
+and just think how I should blush. Really, you can't expect me to read
+such things to boys actually younger than myself, and probably be
+asked to explain them into the bargain. There's the Creation part,
+it's true, but surely when one considers how occult all that is one
+wants to be familiar with the Kabbala and all sorts of mystical works
+to discover the hidden meaning. Now I should propose 'The Art of
+Creation'--do you know it? It shows that the only possible creator is
+Thought, and explains how everything exists in idea before it takes
+tangible shape. This applies to the universe at large, as well as to
+everything we make ourselves. I'd tell the boys that whenever they
+_think_, they are really _creating_, so that----"
+
+"I should vastly like to know where you pick up all these
+extraordinary notions!" interrupted the vicar, who could not for the
+life of him make out whether Austin was in jest or earnest. "They're
+most dangerous notions, let me tell you, and entirely opposed to sound
+orthodox Church teaching. It's clear to me that your reading wants to
+be supervised, Austin, by some judicious friend. There's an excellent
+little work I got a few days ago that I think you would like to see.
+It's called 'The Mission-field in Africa.' There you'll find a most
+remarkable account of all those heathen superstitions----"
+
+"Where is Africa?" asked Austin, munching a leaf.
+
+"There!" exclaimed Aunt Charlotte. "That's Austin all over. He'll talk
+by the hour together about a lot of outlandish nonsense that no
+sensible person ever heard of, and all the time he doesn't even know
+where Africa is upon the map. What is to be done with such a boy?"
+
+"Well, I think we'll postpone the question of his teaching in the
+Sunday-school, at all events," remarked the vicar, who began to feel
+rather sorry that he had ever suggested it. "It's more than probable
+that his ideas would be over the children's heads, and come into
+collision with what they heard in church. Well, now I must be going.
+You'll think over that little matter we were speaking of?" he said, as
+he took a neighbourly leave of his parishioner and ally.
+
+"Indeed I will, and I'll write to my bankers to-night," replied that
+lady cordially.
+
+Then the vicar ambled across the lawn, and Austin accompanied him, as
+in duty bound, to the garden gate. Meanwhile, Aunt Charlotte leant
+comfortably back in her wicker chair, absorbed in pleasant meditation.
+The repairs to the roof would, no doubt, run into a little money, but
+the vicar's tip about this wonderful company for extracting gold from
+sea-water made up for any anxiety she might otherwise have experienced
+upon that score. What a kind, good man he was--and _so_ clever in
+business matters, which, of course, were out of her range altogether.
+She took the prospectus out of her pocket, and ran her eyes over it
+again. Capital, L500,000, in shares of L100 each. Solicitors, Messrs
+Somebody Something & Co., Fetter Lane, E.C. Bankers, The Shoreditch &
+Houndsditch Amalgamated Banking Corporation, St Mary Axe. Acquisition
+of machinery, so much. Cost of working, so much. Estimated
+returns--something perfectly enormous. It all looked wonderful, quite
+wonderful. She again determined to write to her bankers that very
+evening before dinner.
+
+"You're going to the theatre to-night, aren't you, Austin?" she said,
+as he returned from seeing Mr Sheepshanks courteously off the
+premises. "I want you to post a letter for me on your way. Post it at
+the Central Office, so as to be sure it catches the night mail. It's a
+business letter of importance."
+
+"All right, auntie," he replied, arranging his trouser so that it
+should fall gracefully over his wooden leg.
+
+"And I do wish, Austin, that you'd behave rather more like other
+people when Mr Sheepshanks comes to see us. There really is no
+necessity for talking to him in the way you do. Of course it was a
+great compliment, his asking you to take a class in the Sunday-school,
+though I could have told him that he couldn't possibly have made an
+absurder choice, and you might very well have contented yourself with
+regretting your utter unfitness for such a post without exposing your
+ignorance in the way you did. The idea of telling a clergyman, too,
+that the Book of Genesis was too improper for boys to read, when he
+had just been recommending it! I thought you'd have had more respect
+for his position, whatever silly notions you may have yourself."
+
+"I do respect the vicar; he's quite a nice little thing," replied
+Austin, in a conciliatory tone. "And of course he thinks just what a
+vicar ought to think, and I suppose what all vicars do think. But as
+I'm not a vicar myself I don't see that I am bound to think as they
+do."
+
+"You a vicar, indeed!" sniffed Aunt Charlotte. "A remarkable sort of
+vicar you'd make, and pretty sermons you'd preach if you had the
+chance. What time does this performance of yours begin to-night?"
+
+"At eight, I believe."
+
+"Well, then, I'll just go in and tell cook to let us have dinner a
+quarter of an hour earlier than usual," said Aunt Charlotte, as she
+folded up her work. "The omnibus from the 'Peacock' will get you into
+town in plenty of time, and the walk back afterwards will do you
+good."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The town in question was about a couple of miles from the village
+where Austin lived--a clean, cheerful, prosperous little borough, with
+plenty of good shops, a commodious theatre, several churches and
+chapels, and a fine market. Dinner was soon disposed of, and as the
+omnibus which plied between the two places clattered and rattled along
+at a good speed--having to meet the seven-fifty down-train at the
+railway station--he was able to post his aunt's precious letter and
+slip into his stall in the dress-circle before the curtain rose. The
+orchestra was rioting through a composition called 'The Clang o' the
+Wooden Shoon,' as an appropriate introduction to a tragedy the scene
+of which was laid in Nineveh; the house seemed fairly full, and the
+air was heavy with that peculiar smell, a sort of doubtfully aromatic
+stuffiness, which is so grateful to the nostrils of playgoers. Austin
+gazed around him with keen interest. He had not been inside a theatre
+for years, and the vivid description that Mr Buskin had given him of
+the show he was about to witness filled him with pleasurable
+anticipation. To all intents and purposes, the experience that awaited
+him was something entirely new; how, he wondered, would it fit into
+his scheme of life? What room would there be, in his idealistic
+philosophy, for the stage?
+
+Then the music came to an end in a series of defiant bangs, the
+curtain rolled itself out of sight, and a brilliant spectacle
+appeared. The only occupant of the scene at first was a gentleman in a
+thick black beard and fantastic garb who seemed to have acquired the
+habit of talking very loudly to himself. In this way the audience
+discovered that the gentleman, who was no less a personage than the
+Queen's brother, was seriously dissatisfied with his royal
+brother-in-law, whose habits were of a nature which did not make for
+the harmony of his domestic circle. Then soft music was heard, and in
+lounged Sardanapalus himself--a glittering figure in flowing robes of
+silver and pale blue, garlanded with flowers, and surrounded by a
+crowd of slaves and women all very elegantly dressed; and it really
+was quite wonderful to notice how his Majesty lolled and languished
+about the stage, how beautifully affected all his gestures were, and
+with what a high-bred supercilious drawl he rolled out his behests
+that a supper should be served at midnight in the pavilion that
+commanded a view of the Euphrates. And this magnificent, absurd
+creature--this mouthing, grimacing, attitudinising popinjay, thought
+Austin, was no other than Mr Bucephalus Buskin, with whom he had
+chatted on easy terms in a common field only a few days previously!
+The memory of the umbrella, the tight frock-coat, the bald head, the
+fat, reddish face, and the rather rusty "chimney-pot" here recurred to
+him, and he nearly giggled out loud in thinking how irresistibly funny
+Mr Buskin would look if he were now going through all these fanciful
+gesticulations in his walking dress. The fact was that the man himself
+was perfectly unrecognisable, and Austin was mightily impressed by
+what was really a signal triumph in the art of making up.
+
+The play went on, and Sardanapalus showed no signs of moral
+improvement. In fact, it soon became evident that his code of ethics
+was deplorable, and Austin could only console himself with the
+thought that the real Mr Buskin was, no doubt, a most virtuous and
+respectable person who never gave Mrs Buskin--if there was one--any
+grounds for jealousy. Then the first act came to an end, the lights
+went up, and a subdued buzz of conversation broke out all over the
+theatre. The second act was even more exciting, as Sardanapalus,
+having previously confessed himself unable to go on multiplying
+empires, was forced to interfere in a scuffle between his
+brother-in-law and Arbaces--who was by way of being a traitor; but the
+most sensational scene of all was the banquet in act the third, of
+which so glowing an account had been given to Austin by the great
+tragedian himself. That, indeed, was something to remember.
+
+                      "Guests, to my pledge!
+    Down on your knees, and drink a measure to
+    The safety of the King--the monarch, say I?
+    The god Sardanapalus! mightier than
+    His father Baal, the god Sardanapalus!"
+                             [_Thunder. Confusion._]
+
+Ah, that was thrilling, if you like, in spite of the halting rhythm.
+And yet, even at that supreme moment, the vision of the umbrella and
+the rather shabby hat would crop up again, and Austin didn't quite
+know whether to let himself be thrilled or to lean back and roar. The
+conspiracy burst out a few minutes afterwards, and then there ensued
+a most terrifying and portentous battle, rioters and loyalists
+furiously attempting to kill each other by the singular expedient of
+clattering their swords together so as to make as much noise as
+possible, and then passing them under their antagonists' armpits, till
+the stage was heaped with corpses; and all this bloody work entirely
+irrespective of the valuable glass and china on the supper-table, and
+the costly hearthrugs strewn about the floor. Even Sardanapalus,
+having first looked in the glass to make sure that his helmet was
+straight, performed prodigies of valour, and the curtain descended to
+his insatiable shouting for fresh weapons and a torrent of tumultuous
+applause from the gallery.
+
+"Now for it!" said Austin to himself, when another act had been got
+through, in the course of which Sardanapalus had suffered from a
+distressing nightmare. He took Mr Buskin's card out of his pocket,
+and, hurrying out as fast as he could manage, stumped his way round to
+the stage door. Cerberus would fain have stopped him, but Austin
+flourished his card in passing, and enquired of the first
+civil-looking man he met where the manager was to be found. He was
+piloted through devious ways and under strange scaffoldings, to the
+foot of a steep and very dirty flight of steps--luckily there were
+only seven--at the top of which was dimly visible a door; and at this,
+having screwed his courage to the sticking-place, he knocked.
+
+"Come in!" cried a voice inside.
+
+He found himself on the threshold of a room such as he had never seen
+before. There was no carpet, and the little furniture it contained was
+heaped with masses of heterogeneous clothes. Two looking-glasses were
+fixed against the walls, and in front of one of them was a sort of
+shelf, or dresser, covered with small pots of some ungodly looking
+materials of a pasty appearance--rouge, grease-paint, cocoa-butter,
+and heaven knows what beside--with black stuff, white stuff, yellow
+stuff, paint-brushes, gum-pots, powder-puffs, and discoloured rags
+spread about in not very picturesque confusion. In a corner of this
+engaging boudoir, sitting in an armchair with a glass of liquor beside
+him and smoking a strong cigar, was the most extraordinary and
+repulsive object he had ever clapped his eyes on. The face, daubed and
+glistening with an unsightly coating of red, white, and yellow-ochre
+paint, and adorned with protuberant bristles by way of eyebrows,
+appeared twice its natural dimensions. The throat was bare to the
+collar-bones. A huge wig covered the head, falling over the shoulders;
+while the whole was encircled by a great wreath of pink calico roses,
+the back of which, just under the nape of the neck, was fastened by a
+glittering pinchbeck tassel. The arms were nude, their natural growth
+of dark hair being plastered over with white chalk, which had a
+singularly ghastly effect; a short-skirted, low-necked gold frock, cut
+like a little girl's, partly covered the body, and over this were
+draped coarse folds of scarlet, purple, and white, with tinsel stars
+along the seams, and so disposed as to display to fullest advantage
+the brawny calves of the tragedian.
+
+"Great Scott, if it isn't young Dot-and-carry-One!" exclaimed Mr
+Sardanapalus Buskin, as the slim figure of Austin, in his simple
+evening-dress, appeared at the entrance. "Come in, young gentleman,
+come in. So you've come to beard the lion in his den, have you? Well,
+it's kind of you not to have forgotten. You're welcome, very welcome.
+That was a very pleasant little meeting we had the other day, over
+there in the fields. And what do you think of the performance? Been in
+front?"
+
+"Oh, yes--thank you so very much," said Austin, hesitatingly. "It is
+awfully kind of you to let me come and see you like this. I've never
+seen anything of the sort in all my life."
+
+"Ah, I daresay it's a sort of revelation to you," said Sardanapalus,
+with good-humoured condescension. "Have a drop of whiskey-and-water?
+Well, well, I won't press you. And so you've enjoyed the play?"
+
+"The whole thing has interested me enormously," replied Austin. "It
+has given me any amount to think of."
+
+"Ah, that's good; that's very good, indeed," said the actor, nodding
+sagely. "Do you remember what I was saying to you the other day about
+the educative power of the stage? That's what it is, you see; the
+greatest educative power in the land. How did that last scene go? Made
+the people in the stalls sit up a bit, I reckon. Ah, it's a great
+life, this. Talk of art! I tell you, young gentleman, acting's the
+only art worthy of the name. The actor's all the artists in creation
+rolled into one. Every art that exists conspires to produce him and to
+perfect him. Painting, for instance; did you ever see anything to
+compare with that Banqueting Scene in the Palace? Why, it's a triumph
+of pictorial art, and, by Jove, of architecture too. And the actor
+doesn't only paint scenes--or get them painted for him, it comes to
+the same thing--he paints himself. Look at me, for instance. Why, I
+could paint you, young gentleman, so that your own mother wouldn't
+know you. With a few strokes of the brush I could transform you into a
+beautiful young girl, or a wrinkled old Jew, or an Artful Dodger, or
+anything else you had a fancy for. Music, again--think of the effect
+of that slow music in the first act. There was pathos for you, if you
+like. Oratory--talk of Demosthenes or Cicero, Mr Gladstone or John
+Bright! Why, they're nowhere, my dear young friend, literally nowhere.
+Didn't my description of the dream just _fetch_ you? Be honest now; by
+George, Sir, it thrilled the house. Look here, young man"--and
+Sardanapalus began to speak very slowly, with tremendous emphasis and
+solemnity--"and remember what I'm going to say until your dying day.
+If I were to drink too much of this, I should be intoxicated; but what
+is the intoxication produced by whiskey compared with the intoxication
+of applause? Just think of it, as soberly and calmly as you
+can--hundreds of people, all in their right minds, stamping and
+shouting and yelling for you to come and show yourself before the
+curtain; the entire house at your feet. Why, it's worship, Sir, sheer
+worship; and worship is a very sacred thing. Show me the man who's
+superior to _that_, and I'll show you a man who's either above or
+below the level of human nature. Whatever he may be, I don't envy him.
+To-morrow morning I shall be an ordinary citizen in a frock-coat and a
+tall hat. To-night I'm a king, a god. What other artist can say as
+much?"
+
+So saying, Sardanapalus puffed up his cigar and swallowed another
+half-glass of liquor. The pungent smoke made Austin cough and blink.
+"It must indeed be an exciting life," he ventured; "quite delirious,
+to judge from what you say."
+
+"It requires a cool head," replied Sardanapalus, with a stoical shrug.
+"Ah! there's the bell," he added, as a loud ting was heard outside.
+"The curtain's going up. Now hurry away to the front, and see the last
+act. The scene where I'm burnt on the top of all my treasures isn't to
+be missed. It's the grandest and most moving scene in any play upon
+the stage. And watch the expression of my face," said Mr Buskin, as he
+applied the powder-puff to his cheeks and nose. "Gestures are all very
+well--any fool can be taught to act with his arms and legs. But
+expression! That's where the heaven-born genius comes in. However, I
+must be off. Good-night, young gentleman, good-night."
+
+He shook Austin warmly by the hand, and precipitated himself down the
+wooden steps. Austin followed, regained the stage-door, and was soon
+back in the dress-circle. But he felt that really he had seen almost
+enough. The last act seemed to drag, and it was only for the sake of
+witnessing the holocaust at the end that he sat it out. Even the
+varying "expressions" assumed by Sardanapalus failed to arouse his
+enthusiasm. He reproached himself for this, for poor Buskin rolled his
+eyes and twisted his mouth and pulled such lugubrious faces that
+Austin felt how pathetic it all was, and how hard the man was trying
+to work upon the feelings of the audience. But the flare-up at the end
+was really very creditable. Blue fire, red fire, and clouds of smoke
+filled the entire stage, and when Myrrha clambered up the burning pile
+to share the fate of her paramour the enthusiasm of the spectators
+knew no bounds. Calls for Sardanapalus and all his company resounded
+from every part of the house, and it was a tremendous moment when the
+curtain was drawn aside, and the great actor, apparently not a penny
+the worse for having just been burnt alive, advanced majestically to
+the footlights. Then all the other performers were generously
+permitted to approach and share in the ovation, bowing again and again
+in acknowledgment of the approbation of their patrons, and looking,
+thought Austin rather cruelly, exactly like a row of lacqueys in
+masquerade. This marked the close of the proceedings, and Austin, with
+a sigh of relief, soon found himself once more in the cool streets,
+walking briskly in the direction of the country.
+
+Well, he had had his experience, and now his curiosity was satisfied.
+What was the net result? He began sifting his sensations, and trying
+to discover what effect the things he had seen and heard had really
+had upon him. It was all very brilliant, very interesting; in a
+certain way, very exciting. He began to understand what it was that
+made so many people fond of theatre-going. But he felt at the same
+time that he himself was not one of them. For some reason or other he
+had escaped the spell. He was more inclined to criticise than to
+enjoy. There was something wanting in it all. What could that
+something be?
+
+The sound of footsteps behind him, echoing in the quiet street, just
+then reached his ears. The steps came nearer, and the next moment a
+well-known voice exclaimed:
+
+"Well, Austin! I hoped I should catch you up!"
+
+"Oh, Mr St Aubyn, is that you? How glad I am to see you!" cried the
+boy, grasping the other's hand. "This is a delightful surprise. Have
+you been to the theatre, too?"
+
+"I have," replied St Aubyn. "You didn't notice me, I daresay, but I
+was watching you most of the time. It amused me to speculate what
+impression the thing was making on you. Were you very much carried
+away?"
+
+"I certainly was not," said Austin, "though I was immensely
+interested. It gave me a lot to think about, as I told Mr Buskin
+himself when I went to see him for a few minutes behind the scenes.
+You know I happened to meet him a few days ago, and he asked me to--it
+really was most kind of him. By the way, he was just on his way to
+call upon you at the Court."
+
+"Well--and now tell me what you thought of it all. What impressed you
+most about the whole affair?"
+
+"I think," said Austin, speaking very slowly, as though weighing every
+word, "that the general impression made upon me was that of utter
+unreality. I cannot conceive of anything more essentially artificial.
+The music was pretty, the scenery was very fine, and the costumes were
+dazzling enough--from a distance; but when you've said that you've
+said everything. The situations were impossible and absurd. The
+speeches were bombast. The sentiment was silly and untrue. And
+Sardanapalus himself was none so distraught by his unpleasant dream
+and all his other troubles but that he was looking forward to his
+glass of whiskey-and-water between the acts. No, he didn't impose on
+me one bit. I didn't believe in Sardanapalus for a moment, even before
+I had the privilege of seeing and hearing him as Mr Buskin in his
+dressing-room. The entire business was a sham."
+
+"But surely it doesn't pretend to be anything else?" suggested St
+Aubyn, surprised.
+
+"Be it so. I don't like shams, I suppose," returned the boy.
+
+"Still, you shouldn't generalise too widely," urged the other. "There
+are plays where one's sensibilities are really touched, where the
+situations are not forced, where the performers move and speak like
+living, ordinary human beings, and, in the case of great actors, work
+upon the feelings of the audience to such an extent----"
+
+"And there the artificiality is all the greater!" chipped in Austin,
+tersely. "The more perfect the illusion, the hollower the
+artificiality. Of course, no one could take Sardanapalus seriously,
+any more than if he were a marionette pulled by strings instead of the
+sort of live marionette he really is. But where the acting and the
+situations are so perfect, as you say, as to cause real emotion, the
+unreality of the whole business is more flagrantly conspicuous than
+ever. The emotions pourtrayed are not real, and nobody pretends they
+are. The art, therefore, of making them appear real, and even
+communicating them to the audience, must of necessity involve greater
+artificiality than where the acting is bad and the situations
+ridiculous. There's a person I know, near where I live--you never
+heard of him, of course, but he's called Jock MacTavish--and he told
+me he once went to see a really very great actress do some part or
+other in which she had to die a most pathetic death. It was said to be
+simply heart-rending, and everybody used to cry. Well, the night Jock
+MacTavish was there something went wrong--a sofa was out of its place,
+or a bolster had been forgotten, or a rope wouldn't work, I don't know
+what it was--and the language that woman indulged in while she was in
+the act of dying would have disgraced a bargee. Jock was in a
+stage-box and heard every filthy word of it. Of course _he_ told me
+the story as a joke, and I was rather disgusted, but I'm glad he did
+so now. That was an extreme case, I know--such things don't occur one
+time in ten thousand, no doubt--but it's an illustration of what I
+mean when I say that the finer the illusion produced the hollower the
+sham that produces it."
+
+"You're a mighty subtle-minded young person for your age," exclaimed
+St Aubyn, with a good-humoured laugh. "I confess that your theory is
+new to me; it had never occurred to me before. For one who has only
+been inside a theatre two or three times in his life you seem to have
+elaborated your conclusions pretty quickly. I may infer, then, that
+you're not exactly hankering to go on the stage yourself?"
+
+"_I_?" said Austin, drawing himself up. "I, disguise myself in paint
+and feathers to be a public gazing-stock? Of course you mean it as a
+joke."
+
+"And yet there _are_ gentlemen upon the stage," observed St Aubyn, in
+order to draw him on.
+
+"So much the better for the stage, perhaps; so much the worse for the
+gentlemen," replied Austin haughtily.
+
+A pause. They were now well out in the open country, with the moonlit
+road stretching far in front of them. Then St Aubyn said, in a
+different tone altogether:
+
+"You surprise me beyond measure by what you say. I should have thought
+that a boy of your poetical and artistic temperament would have had
+his imagination somewhat fired, even by the efforts of the poor
+showman whom we've seen to-night. Now I will make you a confession. At
+the bottom of my heart I agree with every word you've said. I may be
+one-sided, prejudiced, what you will, but I cannot help looking upon a
+public performer as I look upon no other human being. And I pity the
+performer, too; he takes himself so seriously, he fails so completely
+to realise what he really is. And the danger of going on the stage is
+that, once an actor, always an actor. Let a man once get bitten by the
+craze, and there's no hope for him. Only the very finest natures can
+escape. The fascination is too strong. He's ruined for any other
+career, however honourable and brilliant."
+
+"Is that so, really?" asked Austin. "I cannot see where all this
+wonderful fascination comes in. I should think it must be a dreadful
+trade myself."
+
+"So it is. Because they don't know it. Because of the very fascination
+which exists, although you can't understand it. Let me tell you a
+story. I knew a man once upon a time--he was a great friend of
+mine--in the navy. Although he was quite young, not more than
+twenty-six, he was already a distinguished officer; he had seen active
+service, been mentioned in despatches, and all the rest of it. He was
+also, curiously enough, a most accomplished botanist, and had written
+papers on the flora of Cambodia and Yucatan that had been accepted
+with marked appreciation by the Linnaean Society. Well--that man, who
+had a brilliant career before him, and would probably have been an
+admiral and a K.C.B. if he had stuck to it, got attacked by the
+theatrical microbe. He chucked everything, and devoted his whole life
+to acting. He is acting still. He cares for nothing else. It is the
+one and only thing in the universe he lives for. The service of his
+country, the pure fame of scientific research and authorship, are as
+nothing to him, the merest dust in the balance, as compared with the
+cheap notoriety of the footlights."
+
+"He must be mad. And is he a success?" asked Austin.
+
+"Judge for yourself--you've just been seeing him," replied St Aubyn.
+"Though, of course, his name is no more Buskin than yours or mine."
+
+"Good Heavens!" cried the boy. "And Mr Buskin was--all that?"
+
+"He was all that," responded the other. "It was rather painful for me
+to see him this evening in his present state, as you may imagine. As
+to his being successful in a monetary sense, I really cannot tell you.
+But, to do him justice, I don't think he cares for money in the very
+least. So long as he makes two ends meet he's quite satisfied. All he
+cares about is painting his face, and dressing himself up, and
+ranting, and getting rounds of applause. And, so far, he certainly has
+his reward. His highest ambition, it is true, he has not yet attained.
+If he could only get his portrait published in a halfpenny paper
+wearing some new-shaped stock or collar that the hosiers were anxious
+to bring into fashion, he would feel that there was little left to
+live for. But that is a distinction reserved for actors who stand at
+the tip-top of their profession, and I'm afraid that poor Buskin has
+but little chance of ever realising his aspiration."
+
+"Are you serious?" said Austin, open-eyed.
+
+"Absolutely," replied St Aubyn. "I know it for a fact."
+
+"Well," exclaimed Austin, fetching a deep breath, "of course if a man
+has to do this sort of thing for a living--if it's his only way of
+making money--I don't think I despise him so much. But if he does it
+because he loves it, loves it better than any other earthly thing,
+then I despise him with all my heart and soul. I cannot conceive a
+more utterly unworthy existence."
+
+"And to such an existence our friend Buskin has sacrificed his whole
+career," replied St Aubyn, gravely.
+
+"What a tragedy," observed the boy.
+
+"Yes; a tragedy," agreed the other. "A truer tragedy than the
+imitation one that he's been acting in, if he could only see it. Well,
+here is my turning. Good-night! I'm very glad we met. Come and see me
+soon. I'm not going away again."
+
+Then Austin, left alone, stumped thoughtfully along the country road.
+The sweet smell of the flowery hedges pervaded the night air, and from
+the fields on either side was heard ever and anon the bleating of some
+wakeful sheep. How peaceful, how reposeful, everything was! How strong
+and solemn the great trees looked, standing here and there in the wide
+meadows under the moonlight and the stars! And what a contrast--oh,
+_what_ a contrast--was the beauty of these calm pastoral scenes to
+the tawdry gorgeousness of those other "scenes" he had been witnessing,
+with their false effects, and coloured fires, and painted, spouting
+occupants! There was no need for him to argue the question any more,
+even with himself. It was as clear as the moon in the steel-blue sky
+above him that the associations of the theatre were totally, hopelessly,
+and radically incompatible with the ideals of the Daphnis life.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter the Eighth
+
+
+It is scarcely necessary to say that Austin knew nothing whatever
+about his aunt's preoccupation, and that even if she had taken him
+into her confidence, he would have paid little or no attention to the
+matter. I am afraid that his ideas about finance were crude in the
+extreme, being limited to a sort of vague impression that capital was
+what you put into a bank, and interest was what you took out; while
+the difference between the par value of a security and the price you
+could get for it on the market, would have been to him a hopelessly
+unfathomable mystery. Aunt Charlotte, therefore, was very wise in
+abstaining from any reference, in conversation, to the great
+enterprise for extracting gold from sea-water, in which she hoped to
+purchase shares; for one could never have told what foolish remark he
+might have made, though it was quite certain that he would have said
+something foolish, and probably very exasperating. So she kept her
+secret locked up in her own breast, and silently counted the hours
+till she could get a reply from her bankers.
+
+Of course Austin had to give his aunt an account, at breakfast-time
+next morning, of the pageant of the previous night; and as he confined
+himself to saying that the scenery and dresses were very fine, and
+that Mr Buskin was quite unrecognisable, and that all the performers
+knew their parts, and that he had walked part of the way home with
+Roger St Aubyn afterwards, the impression left on the good lady's mind
+was that he had enjoyed himself very much. This inevitable duty
+accomplished, Austin straightway banished the whole subject from his
+memory and gave himself up more unreservedly than ever to his garden
+and his thoughts. How fresh and sweet and welcoming the garden looked
+on that calm, lovely summer day! How brightly the morning dewdrops
+twinkled on the leaves, like a sprinkling of liquid diamonds! Every
+flower seemed to greet him with silent laughter: "Aha, you've been
+playing truant, have you? Straying into alien precincts, roving in
+search of something newer and gaudier than anything you have here?
+Sunlight palls on you; gas is so much more festive! The scents of the
+fields are vulgar; finer the hot smells of the playhouse, more meet
+for a cultured nostril!" Of course Austin made all this nonsense up
+himself, but he felt so happy that it amused him to attribute the
+words to the dear flower-friends who were all around him, and to whom
+he could never be really faithless. Faugh! that playhouse! He would
+never enter one again. Be an actor! Lubin was a cleaner gentleman than
+any painted Buskin on the stage. Here, in the clear, pure splendour of
+the sunlit air, the place where he had been last night loomed up in
+his consciousness as something meretricious and unwholesome. Yet he
+was glad he had been, for it made everything so much purer and sweeter
+by contrast. Never had the garden looked more meetly set, never had
+the sun shone more genially, and the air impelled the blood and sent
+it coursing more joyously through his veins, than on that morning of
+the rejuvenescence of all his high ideals.
+
+Then he drew a small blue volume out of his pocket, and lay down on
+the grass with his back against the trunk of an apple-tree. Austin's
+theory--or one of his theories, for he had hundreds--was that one's
+literature should always be in harmony with one's surroundings; and
+so, intending to pass his morning in the garden, he had chosen 'The
+Garden of Cyrus' as an appropriate study. He opened it reverently, for
+it was compact of jewelled thoughts that had been set to words by one
+of the princes of prose. He, the young garden-lover, sat at the feet
+of the great garden-mystic, and began to pore wonderingly over the
+inscrutable secrets of the quincunx. His fine ear was charmed by the
+rhythm of the sumptuous and stately sentences, and his pulses throbbed
+in response to every measured phrase in which the lore of garden
+symmetry and the principles of garden science were set forth. He read
+of the hanging gardens of Babylon, first made by Queen Semiramis,
+third or fourth from Nimrod, and magnificently renewed by
+Nabuchodonosor, according to Josephus: "_from whence, overlooking
+Babylon, and all the region about it, he found no circumscription to
+the eye of his ambition; till, over-delighted with the bravery of this
+Paradise, in his melancholy metamorphosis he found the folly of that
+delight, and a proper punishment in the contrary habitation--in wild
+plantations and wanderings of the fields_." Austin shook his head over
+this; he did not think it possible to love a garden too much, and
+demurred to the idea that such a love deserved any punishment at all.
+But that was theology, and he had no taste for theological
+dissertations. So he dipped into the pages where the quincunx is
+"naturally" considered, and here he admired the encyclopaedic learning
+of the author, which appeared to have been as wide as that attributed
+to Solomon; then glanced at the "mystic" part, which he reserved for
+later study. But one paragraph riveted his attention, as he turned
+over the leaves. Here was a mine of gold, a treasure-house of
+suggestiveness and wisdom.
+
+_"Light, that makes things seen, makes some things invisible; were it
+not for darkness and the shadow of the earth, the noblest part of the
+creation had remained unseen, and the stars in heaven as invisible as
+on the fourth day, when they were created above the horizon with the
+sun, or there was not an eye to behold them. The greatest mystery of
+religion is expressed by adumbration, and in the noblest part of
+Jewish types, we find the cherubim shadowing the mercy-seat. Life
+itself is but the shadow of death, and souls departed but the shadows
+of the living. All things fall under this name. The sun itself is but
+the dark simulacrum, and light but the shadow of God."_
+
+Austin delighted in symbolism, and these apparent paradoxes fascinated
+him. But was it all true? He loved to think that life was the shadow,
+and death--what we call death--the substance; he had always felt that
+the reality of everything was to be sought for on the other side. But
+he could not see why departed souls should be regarded as the shadows
+of living men. Rather it was we who lived in a vain show, and would
+continue to do so until the spirit, the true substance of us, should
+be set free. Well, whatever the truth of it might be, it was all a
+charming puzzle, and we should learn all about it some day, and
+meantime he had been furnished with an entirely new idea--the
+revealing power of darkness. He loved the light because it was
+beautiful, and now he loved the darkness because it was mysterious,
+and held such wondrous secrets in its folds. He had never been afraid
+of the dark even when a child. It had always been associated in his
+mind with sleep and dreams, and he was very fond of both.
+
+Of course it would have been no use attempting to instruct Lubin in
+the cryptic properties of the quincunx, or any other theories of
+garden arrangement propounded by Sir Thomas Browne. And Aunt Charlotte
+would have proved a still more hopeless subject. She had no head for
+mysticism, poor dear, and Austin often told her she was one of the
+greatest sceptics he had ever known. "You believe in nothing but your
+dinner, your bank-book, and your Bible, auntie; I declare it's
+perfectly shocking," he said to her one day. "And a very good creed
+too," she replied; "it wouldn't be a bad thing for you either, if you
+had a little more sound religion and practical common-sense." Just now
+it was the bank-book phase that was uppermost, and when a letter was
+brought in to her at breakfast-time next morning bearing the London
+postmark, she clutched it eagerly and opened it with evident
+anticipation. But as she read the contents her brow clouded and her
+face fell. Clearly she was disappointed and surprised, but made no
+remark to Austin.
+
+A couple of days passed without anything of importance happening,
+except that she wrote again to her bankers and looked out anxiously
+for their reply. But none came, and she grew irritable and disturbed.
+It really was most extraordinary; she had always thought that bankers
+were so shrewd, and prompt, and business-like, and yet here they were,
+treating her as though she were of no account whatever, and actually
+leaving her second letter without an answer. The affair was pressing,
+too. There was certain to be a perfect rush for shares in so
+exceptional an undertaking, and when once they were all allotted, of
+course up they'd go to an enormous premium, and all her chances of
+investing would be lost. It was too exasperating for words. What were
+the men thinking of? Why were they so neglectful of her interests? She
+had always been an excellent customer, and had never overdrawn her
+account--never. And now they were leaving her in the lurch. However,
+she determined she would not submit. She fumed in silence for yet
+another day, and then, at dinner in the evening, came out with a most
+unexpected declaration.
+
+"Austin," she said suddenly, after a long pause, "I'm going to town
+to-morrow by the 10.27 train."
+
+Austin was peeling an apple, intent on seeing how long a strip he
+could pare off without breaking it. "Won't it be very hot?" he asked
+absently.
+
+"Hot? Well, perhaps it will," said Aunt Charlotte, rather nettled at
+his indifference. "But I can't help that. The fact is that my bankers
+are giving me a great deal of annoyance just now, and I'm going up to
+London to have it out with them."
+
+"Really?" replied Austin, politely interested. "I hope they haven't
+been embezzling your money?"
+
+"Do, for goodness sake, pull yourself together and try not to talk
+nonsense for once in your life," retorted Aunt Charlotte, tartly.
+"Embezzling my money, indeed!--I should just like to catch them at it.
+Of course it's nothing of the kind. But I've lately given them certain
+instructions which they virtually refuse to carry out, and in a case
+of that sort it's always better to discuss the affair in person."
+
+"I see," said Austin, beginning to munch his apple. "I wonder why they
+won't do what you want them to. Isn't it very rude of them?"
+
+"Rude? Well--I can't say they've been exactly rude," acknowledged Aunt
+Charlotte. "But they're making all sorts of difficulties, and hint
+that they know better than I do----"
+
+"Which is absurd, of course," put in Austin, with his very simplest
+air.
+
+Aunt Charlotte glanced sharply at him, but there was not the faintest
+trace of irony in his expression. "I fancy they don't quite understand
+the question," she said, "so I intend to run up and explain it to
+them. One can do these things so much better in conversation than by
+writing. I shall get lunch in town, and then there'll be time for me
+to do a little shopping, perhaps, before catching the 4.40 back. That
+will get me here in ample time for dinner at half-past seven."
+
+"And what train do you go by in the morning?" enquired Austin.
+
+"The 10.27," replied his aunt. "I shall take the omnibus from the
+Peacock that starts at a quarter to ten."
+
+It cannot be said that Aunt Charlotte's projected trip to town
+interested Austin much. Business of any sort was a profound mystery to
+him, and with regard to speculations, investments, and such-like
+matters his mind was a perfect blank. He had a vague notion that
+perhaps Aunt Charlotte wanted some money, and that the bankers had
+refused to give her any; though whether she had a right to demand it,
+or they a right to withhold it, he had no more idea than the man in
+the moon. So he dismissed the whole affair from his mind as something
+with which he had nothing whatever to do, and spent the evening in the
+company of Sir Thomas Browne. At ten o'clock he went forth into the
+garden, and became absorbed in an attempt to identify the different
+colours of the flowers in the moonlight. It proved a fascinating
+occupation, for the pale, cold brightness imparted hues to the
+flowers that were strange and weird, so that it was a matter of real
+difficulty to say what the colours actually were. Then he wondered how
+it was he had never before discovered what an inspiring thing it was
+to wander all alone at night about a garden illuminated by a brilliant
+moon. The shadows were so black and secret, the radiance so spiritual,
+the shapes so startlingly fantastic, it was like being in another
+world. And then the silence. That was the most compelling charm of
+all. It helped him to feel. And he felt that he was not alone, though
+he heard nothing and saw nobody. The garden was full of
+flower-fairies, invisible elves and sprites whose mission it was to
+guard the flowers, and who loved the moonlight more than they loved
+the day; dainty, diaphanous creatures who were wafted across the
+smooth lawns on summer breezes, and washed the thirsty petals and
+drooping leaves in the dew which the clear blue air of night diffuses
+so abundantly. He had a sense--almost a knowledge--that the garden he
+was in was a dream-garden, a sort of panoramic phantasm, and that the
+real garden lay _behind_ it somehow, hidden from material eyesight,
+eluding material touch, but there all the same, unearthly and elysian,
+more beautiful a great deal than the one in which he was standing,
+and teeming with gracious presences. It seemed a revelation to him,
+this sudden perception of a real world underlying the apparent one;
+and for nearly half-an-hour he sauntered to and fro in a reverie,
+leaning sometimes against the old stone fountain, and sometimes
+watching the pale clouds as they began flitting together as though to
+keep a rendezvous in space, until they concealed the face of the moon
+entirely from view and left the garden dark.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Whether Austin had strange dreams that night or no, certain it is that
+when he came down to breakfast in the morning his face was set and
+there was a look of unusual preoccupation in his eyes. Aunt Charlotte,
+being considerably preoccupied with her own affairs, noticed nothing,
+and busied herself with the teapot as was her wont. Austin chipped his
+egg in silence, while his auntie, helping herself generously to fried
+bacon, made some remark about the desirability of laying a good
+foundation in view of her journey up to town. Thereupon Austin said:
+
+"Is it absolutely necessary for you to go to town this morning,
+auntie?"
+
+"Of course it is," replied Aunt Charlotte, munching heartily. "I told
+you so last night."
+
+"Why can't you go to-morrow instead?" asked Austin, tentatively.
+"Would it be too late?"
+
+"I've arranged to go _to-day_," said Aunt Charlotte, with decision.
+"The sooner this business is settled the better. What should I gain by
+waiting?"
+
+"I don't see any particular hurry," said Austin. "It's only giving
+yourself trouble for nothing. If I were you I'd write what you want to
+say, and then go up to see these people if their answer was still
+unsatisfactory."
+
+"But you see you don't know anything about the matter," retorted Aunt
+Charlotte, beginning to wonder at the boy's persistency. "What in the
+world makes you want me not to go?"
+
+"Oh--I only thought it might prove unnecessary," replied he, rather
+lamely. "It's going to be very hot, and after all----"
+
+"It'll be quite as hot to-morrow," said Aunt Charlotte, as she stirred
+her tea.
+
+"Well, why not go by a later train, then?" suggested Austin. "Look
+here; go by the 4.20 this afternoon, and take me with you. We'll go to
+a nice quiet hotel, and have a beautiful dinner, and see some of the
+sights, and then you'd have all to-morrow morning to do your business
+with these horrid old gentlemen at the bank. Now don't you think
+that's rather a good idea?"
+
+"I--dare--_say_!" cried Aunt Charlotte, in her highest key. "So that's
+what you're aiming at, is it? Oh, you're a cunning boy, my dear, if
+ever there was one. But your little project would cost at least four
+times as much as I propose to spend to-day, and for that reason alone
+it's not to be thought of for a moment. What in creation ever put such
+an idea into your head?"
+
+"I don't want to come with you in the very least, really--especially
+as you don't want to have me," replied Austin. "But I do wish you'd
+give up your idea of going to London by the 10.27 this morning. If
+you'll only do that I don't care for anything else. Take the same
+train to-morrow, if you like, but not to-day. That's all I have to ask
+you."
+
+"But why--why--why?" demanded Aunt Charlotte, in not unnatural
+amazement.
+
+"I can't tell you why," said Austin. "It wouldn't be any use."
+
+"You are the very absurdest child I ever came across!" exclaimed Aunt
+Charlotte. "I've often had to put up with your fancies, but never with
+any so outrageously unreasonable as this. Now not another word. I'm
+going to travel by the 10.27 this morning, and if you like to come and
+see me off, you're at perfect liberty to do so."
+
+Austin made no reply, and breakfast proceeded in silence. Then he
+glanced at the clock, and saw that it was ten minutes to nine. As soon
+as the meal was finished, he rose from his chair and moved slowly
+towards the door.
+
+"You still intend to go by the----"
+
+"Hold your tongue!" snapped his aunt. Whereupon Austin left the room
+without another word. Then he stumped his way upstairs and was not
+seen again. Aunt Charlotte, meanwhile, began preparations for her
+journey. It was now close on nine o'clock, and she had to order the
+dinner, see that she had sufficient money for her expenses, choose a
+bonnet for travelling in, and look after half-a-dozen other important
+trifles before setting out to catch the railway omnibus at the
+Peacock. At last Austin, waiting behind a door, heard her enter her
+room to dress. Very gently he stole out with something in his pocket,
+and two minutes afterwards was standing on the lawn with his straw
+hat tilted over his eyes, chattering with Lubin about tubers, corms,
+and bulbs, potting and bedding-out, and other pleasant mysteries of
+garden-craft.
+
+It was not very long, however, before a singular bustle was heard on
+the first floor. Maids ran scuttling up and down stairs, voices
+resounded through the open windows, and then came the sound of thumps,
+as of somebody vigorously battering at a door. Austin turned round,
+and began walking towards the house. He was met by old Martha, who
+seemed to be in a tremendous fluster about something.
+
+"Master Austin! Master Austin! Oh, here you are. What in the world is
+to be done? Your aunt's locked up in her bedroom, and nobody can find
+the key!"
+
+"Is that all?" answered Austin calmly. "Then she'll have to stay there
+till it turns up, evidently."
+
+"But the mistress says she's sure you know all about it," panted
+Martha, in great distress, "and she's in a most terrible taking. Now,
+Master Austin, I do beseech you--'tain't no laughing matter, for the
+omnibus starts in a few minutes, and your aunt----"
+
+A terrific banging was now heard from the locked-up room, accompanied
+by shouts and cries from the imprisoned lady. Austin advanced to the
+foot of the staircase, looking rather white, and listened.
+
+"Austin! Austin! Where are you? What have you done with the key?"
+shrieked Aunt Charlotte, in a tempest of despair and rage. "Let me
+out, I say, let me out at once! It's you who have done this, I know it
+is. Open the door, or I shall lose the train!" A fresh bombardment
+from the lady's fists here followed. "Where _is_ Austin, Martha? Can't
+you find him anywhere?"
+
+"He's here, ma'am," cried back Martha, in quavering tones, "but he
+don't seem as if----"
+
+"Call Lubin with a ladder!" interrupted the desperate lady. "I must
+catch the omnibus, if I break all my bones in getting out of the
+window. Where's Lubin? Isn't there a ladder tall enough? Austin!
+Austin! Where _is_ Austin, and why doesn't he open the door?"
+
+"He was here not a moment ago," replied Martha, tremulously, "but
+where he's got to now, or where he's put the key, the Lord only knows.
+Perhaps he's gone to see about a ladder. Lubin! have you seen Master
+Austin anywhere?"
+
+But Austin, unobserved in the confusion, having stealthily glanced at
+his watch, had slipped out at the garden gate, and now stood looking
+down the road. The omnibus had just started, and for about thirty
+seconds he remained watching it as it lumbered and clattered along in
+a cloud of dust until it was lost to view. Then he went back to the
+house, and handed the key to Martha. "There's the key," he said. "Tell
+Aunt Charlotte I'm going for a walk, and I'll let her know all about
+it when I come back to lunch."
+
+He was out of the house in a twinkling, stumping along as hard as he
+could go until he reached the moors. He had played a daring game, but
+felt quite satisfied with the result so far, as he knew that there
+were no cabs to be had in the village, and that, even if his aunt were
+mad enough to brave a two-mile tramp along the broiling road, she
+could not possibly reach the station in time to catch the train. Now
+that the deed was done, a sensation of fatigue stole over him, and
+with a sigh of relief he flung himself down on the soft tussocks of
+purple heather, and covered his eyes with his straw hat. For
+half-an-hour he lay there motionless and deep in thought. No suspicion
+that he had acted wrongly disturbed him for a moment. Of course it was
+a pity that poor Aunt Charlotte should have been disappointed, and
+certainly that locking of her up in her bedroom had been a very
+painful duty; but if it was necessary--as it was--what else could he
+have done? No doubt she would forgive him when she understood his
+reasons; and, after all, it was really her own fault for having been
+so obstinate.
+
+It was now half-past ten, and Austin had no intention of getting home
+before it was time for lunch. He had thus the whole morning before
+him, and he spent it rambling about the moors, struggling up hills,
+revelling in the heat tempered by cool grass, and wondering how
+Daphnis would have behaved if he had had an unreasonable old aunt to
+take care of; for Aunt Charlotte was really a great responsibility,
+and dreadfully difficult to manage. Then, coming on a deep, clear
+rivulet which ran between two meadows, he yielded to a sudden impulse,
+and, stripping himself to the skin, plunged into it, wooden leg and
+all. There he floated luxuriously for a while, the sun blazing
+fiercely overhead, and the cool waters playing over his white body.
+When he emerged, covered with sparkling drops, he remembered that he
+had no towel; so there was nothing to be done but to stagger about and
+disport himself like a naked faun among the buttercups and bulrushes,
+until the sun had dried him. As soon as he was dressed, he looked at
+his watch, and found that it was nearly twelve. Then he consulted a
+little time-table, and made a rapid calculation. It would take him
+just half-an-hour to reach the station from where he was, and
+therefore it was high time to start.
+
+Off he set, and arrived there, as it seemed, at a moment of great
+excitement. The station-master was on the platform, in the act of
+posting up a telegram, around which a number of people--travellers,
+porters, and errand-boys--were crowding eagerly. Austin joined the
+group, and read the message carefully and deliberately twice through.
+He asked no questions, but listened to the remarks he heard around
+him. Then he passed rapidly through the booking-office, and struck out
+on his way home.
+
+Meantime Aunt Charlotte had passed the hours fuming. To her, Austin's
+extraordinary behaviour was absolutely unaccountable, except on the
+hypothesis that he was not responsible for his actions. Her rage was
+beyond control. That the boy should have had the unheard-of audacity
+to lock her up in her own bedroom in order to gratify some mad whim,
+and so have upset her plans for the entire day, was an outrage
+impossible to forgive. If he was not out of his mind he ought to be,
+for there was no other excuse for him that she could think of. What
+_was_ to be done with such a boy? He was too old to be whipped, too
+young to be sent to college, too delicate to be placed under
+restraint. But she would let him feel the full force of her
+indignation when he returned. He should apologise, he should eat his
+fill of humble pie, he should beg for mercy on his knees. She had put
+up with a good deal, but this last escapade was not to be overlooked.
+Even Martha, when she came in to lay the cloth for lunch, could think
+of nothing to say in extenuation of his offence.
+
+It was certainly two hours before her excitement allowed her to sit
+down and begin to knit. Even then--and naturally enough--while she was
+musing the fire burned. It never occurred to her to reflect that there
+must have been some _reason_ for Austin's extraordinary prank, and
+that the first thing to be done was to discover what that was. She was
+too angry to take this obvious fact into consideration, and so, when
+Austin at last appeared, his eyes full of suppressed excitement and
+his forehead bathed in sweat, her pent-up wrath found vent and she
+flamed out at him in a rage.
+
+For some minutes Austin stood quite silent while she stormed. If it
+made her feel better to storm, well, let her do it. Half-a-dozen times
+she demanded what he meant by his behaviour, and how he dared, and
+whether he had suddenly gone crazy, and then went on storming without
+waiting for his reply. Once, when he opened his mouth to speak, she
+sharply told him to shut it again. It was clear, even to Martha, that
+if Austin's conduct had been inexplicable, his aunt's was utterly
+absurd.
+
+"You've asked me several times what made me lock you up this morning,"
+he said at last, when she paused for breath, "and each time you've
+refused to let me answer you. That's not very reasonable, you know.
+Now I've got something to tell you, but if you want to do any more
+raving please do it at once and get it over, and then I'll have my
+turn."
+
+"Will you go to your room this instant and stay there?" cried Aunt
+Charlotte, pointing to the door.
+
+"Certainly not," replied Austin. "And now I'll ask you to listen to me
+for a minute, for you must be tired with all that shouting." Aunt
+Charlotte took up her work with trembling hands, ostentatiously
+pretending that Austin was no longer in the room. "You wanted to go to
+town by the 10.27 train, and I took forcible measures to prevent you.
+It may therefore interest you to know what became of that train, and
+what you have escaped. There's been a frightful collision. The down
+express ran into it at the curve just beyond the signal station at
+Colebridge Junction, owing to some mistake of the signalman, I
+believe. Anyhow, in the train you wanted to go by there were five
+people killed outright, and fourteen others crunched up and mangled in
+a most inartistic style. And if I hadn't locked you up as I did you'd
+probably be in the County Hospital at this moment in an exceedingly
+unpleasant predicament."
+
+Dead silence. Then, "The Lord preserve us!" ejaculated Martha, who
+stood by, in awe-struck tones. Aunt Charlotte slowly raised her eyes
+from her knitting, and fixed them on Austin's face. "A collision!" she
+exclaimed. "Why, what do you know about it?"
+
+"I called at the station and read the telegram myself. There was a
+crowd of people on the platform all discussing it," returned Austin,
+briefly.
+
+"Your life has been saved by a miracle, ma'am, and it's Master Austin
+as you've got to thank for it," cried Martha, her eyes full of tears,
+"though how it came about, the good Lord only knows," she added,
+turning as though for enlightenment to the boy himself.
+
+Then Aunt Charlotte sank back in her chair, looking very white. "I
+don't understand it, Austin," she said tremulously. "It's terrible to
+think of such a catastrophe, and all those poor creatures being
+killed--and it's most providential, of course, that--that--I was kept
+from going. But all that doesn't explain what share _you_ had in it.
+You don't expect me to believe that you knew what was going to happen
+and kept me at home on purpose? The very idea is ridiculous. It was a
+coincidence, of course, though a most remarkable one, I must admit. A
+collision! Thank God for all His mercies!"
+
+"If it was only a coincidence I don't exactly see what there is to
+thank God for," remarked Austin, very drily.
+
+"'Twarn't no coincidence," averred old Martha, solemnly. "On that I'll
+stake my soul."
+
+"What was it, then?" retorted Aunt Charlotte. "Anyhow, Austin, there
+seems no doubt that, under God, it was what you did that saved my life
+to-day. But what made you do it? How could you possibly tell that you
+were preventing me from getting killed?"
+
+"I should have told you all that long ago if you weren't so hopelessly
+illogical, auntie," he replied. "But you never can see the connection
+between cause and effect. That was the reason I couldn't explain why I
+didn't want you to go, even before I locked you up. It wouldn't have
+been any use. You'd have simply laughed in my face, and have gone to
+London all the same."
+
+"I don't know what you mean. Don't beat about the bush, Austin, and
+worry my head with all this vague talk about cause and effect and such
+like. What has my being illogical got to do with it?"
+
+"Well--if you want me to explain, of course I'll do so; but I don't
+suppose it'll make any difference," said Austin. "Some time ago, I
+told you that just as I was going to get over a stile, I felt
+something push me back, and so I came home another way. You'll
+recollect that if I _had_ got over that stile I should have come
+across a rabid dog where there was no possibility of escape, and no
+doubt have got frightfully bitten. But when I told you how I was
+prevented, you scoffed at the whole story, and said that I was
+superstitious.--Stop a minute! I haven't finished yet.--Then, only
+the other day, my life was saved from all those bricks tumbling on me
+when I was asleep by just the same sort of interposition. Again you
+jeered at me, and when I told you I had heard raps in the wall you
+ridiculed the idea, and--do you remember?--the words were scarcely out
+of your mouth when you heard the raps yourself, and then you got
+nearly beside yourself with fright and anger, and said it was the
+devil. And now for the third time the same sort of thing has happened.
+What is the good of telling you about it? You'd only scoff and jeer as
+you did before, although on this occasion it is your own life that has
+been saved, not mine."
+
+Certainly Master Austin was having his revenge on Aunt Charlotte for
+the torrent of abuse she had poured upon him a few minutes previously.
+For a short time she sat quite still, the picture of perplexity and
+irritation. The facts as Austin stated them were incontrovertible, and
+yet--probably because she lacked the instinct of causality--she could
+not accept his explanation of them. There are some people in the world
+who are constituted like this. They create a mental atmosphere around
+them which is as impenetrable to conviction in certain matters as a
+brick wall is to a parched pea. They will fall back on any loophole
+of a theory, however imbecile and far-fetched, rather than accept some
+simple and self-evident solution that they start out by regarding as
+impossible. And Aunt Charlotte was a very apposite specimen of the
+class.
+
+"I'll not scoff, at anyrate, Austin," she said at last. "I cannot
+forget--and I never will forget--that it's to you I owe it that I am
+sitting here this moment. Tell me what moved you to act as you did
+this morning. I may not share your belief, but I will not ridicule it.
+Of that you may rest assured."
+
+"It is all simple enough," he said. "I had a horrid dream just before
+I woke--nothing circumstantial, but a general sense of the most awful
+confusion, and disaster, and terror. I fancy it was that that woke me.
+And as I was opening my eyes, a voice said to me quite distinctly, as
+distinctly as I am speaking now, '_Keep auntie at home this morning._'
+The words dinned themselves into my ears all the time I was dressing,
+and then I acted upon them as you know. But what would have been the
+good of telling you? None whatever. So I tried persuasion, and when
+that failed I simply locked you in."
+
+Now there are two sorts of superstition, each of which is the very
+antithesis of the other. The victim of one believes all kinds of
+absurdities blindfold, oblivious of evidence or causality. The
+upsetting of a salt-cellar or the fall of a mirror is to him a
+harbinger of disaster, entirely irrespective of any possible
+connection between the cause and the effect. A bit of stalk floating
+on his tea presages an unlooked-for visitor, and the guttering of a
+candle is a sign of impending death. All this he believes firmly, and
+acts upon, although he would candidly acknowledge his inability to
+explain the principle supposed to underlie the sequence between the
+omen and its fulfilment. It is the irrationality of the belief that
+constitutes its superstitious character, the contented acquiescence in
+some inconceivable and impossible law, whether physical or
+metaphysical, in virtue of which the predicted event is expected to
+follow the wholly unrelated augury. The other sort of superstition is
+that of which, as we have seen, Aunt Charlotte was an exemplification.
+Here, again, there is a splendid disregard of evidence, testimony, and
+causal laws. But it takes the form of scepticism, and a scepticism so
+blindly partial as to sink into the most abject credulity. The wildest
+sophistries are dragged in to account for an unfamiliar happening, and
+scientific students are accused, now of idiocy, now of fraud, rather
+than the fact should be confessed that our knowledge of the universe
+is limited. If Aunt Charlotte, for instance, had seen a table rise
+into the air of itself in broad daylight she would have said, "I
+certainly saw it happen, and as an honest woman I can't deny it; but I
+don't believe it for all that." The succession of abnormal
+occurrences, however, of which Austin had been the subject, had begun
+to undermine her dogmatism; and this last event, the interposition of
+something, she knew not what, to save her from a horrible accident,
+appealed to her very strongly. There was a pathos, too, about the part
+played in it by Austin which touched her to the quick, and she
+reproached herself keenly for the injustice with which she had treated
+him in her unreasoning anger.
+
+She felt a great lump come in her throat as he ceased speaking, and
+for a moment or two found it impossible to answer. "A voice!" she
+uttered at last. "What sort of a voice, Austin?"
+
+"It sounded like a woman's," he replied.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter the Ninth
+
+
+From this time forward Austin seemed to live a double life. Perhaps it
+would be more accurate to say that he inhabited two worlds. Around him
+the flowers bloomed in the garden, Lubin worked and whistled, Aunt
+Charlotte bustled about her duties, and everything went on as usual.
+But beyond and behind all this there was something else. The dreams
+and reveries that had hitherto invaded him became felt realities; he
+no longer had any doubt that he was encircled by beings whom he could
+not see, but who were none the less actual for that. And the curious
+feature of the case was that it all seemed perfectly natural to him,
+and so far from feeling frightened, or suffering from any sense of
+being haunted, he experienced a sort of pleasure in it, a grateful
+consciousness of friendly though unseen companionship that heightened
+his joy in life. Who these invisible guardians could be, of course he
+had no idea; it was enough for him just then to know that they were
+there, and that, by their timely intervention on no fewer than three
+ocasions, they had given ample proof that they both loved and trusted
+him.
+
+Aunt Charlotte, on her side, could not but acknowledge that there must
+be "something in it," as she said; it could not all be nothing but
+Austin's fancy. She remembered that people who wrote hymns and poems
+talked sometimes of guardian angels, and it was possible that a belief
+in guardian angels might be orthodox. It was even conceivable that it
+was a benevolent functionary of this class who had let St Peter out of
+prison; and if the institution had existed then, why, there was
+nothing unreasonable in the conclusion that it might possibly exist
+now. She revolved these questionings in her mind during her journey up
+to town the day after Austin's escapade, when, as she told herself,
+she would be perfectly safe from accident; for it was not in the
+nature of things that two collisions should happen so close together.
+And she had reason to be glad she went, seeing that her bankers
+received her with perfect cordiality, and convinced her that she would
+certainly lose all her money if she insisted on investing it in any
+such wild-cat scheme as the one she had set her heart upon. They
+suggested, instead, certain foreign bonds on which she would receive a
+perfectly safe four-and-a-half per cent.; and so pleased was she at
+having been preserved from risking her two thousand pounds that she
+not only indulged in a modest half-bottle of Beaune with her lunch,
+but bought a pretty pencil-case for Austin. She determined at the same
+time to let the vicar know what her bankers had said about the
+investment he had urged upon her, and promised herself that she would
+take the opportunity--of course without mentioning names--of
+consulting him about the orthodoxy of guardian angels. He might be
+expected to prove a safer guide in such a matter as that than in
+questions of high finance.
+
+A few days afterwards, Austin went to call upon his friend St Aubyn.
+He longed to see the beautiful gardens at the Court again, now that he
+had obtained a glimpse into the mystic side of garden-craft through
+the writings of Sir Thomas Browne; he felt intensely curious to pay
+another visit to the haunted Banqueting Hall, which had a special
+fascination for him since his own abnormal experiences; and he felt
+that a confidential talk with Mr St Aubyn himself would do him no end
+of good. _There_ was a man, at anyrate, to whom he could open his
+heart; a man of high culture, wide sympathies, and great knowledge of
+life. He was shown into the big, dim drawing-room, where a faint
+perfume of lavender seemed to hang about, imparting to him a sense of
+quiet and repose that was very soothing; through the half-closed
+shutters the colours of the garden again gleamed brilliantly in the
+sunshine, and there was heard a faint liquid sound, as of the plashing
+of an adjacent fountain. St Aubyn entered in a few minutes, and
+greeted him very cordially.
+
+"Well, and what have you been about?" he said, after a few
+preliminaries had been exchanged. "Reading and dreaming, I suppose, as
+usual?"
+
+"I'm afraid I've done both, and very little else to speak of," replied
+Austin, laughing. "I'm always reading, off and on, without much
+system, you know. But if I'm rather desultory I always enjoy reading,
+because books give me so many new ideas, and it's delightful to have
+always something fresh to think about."
+
+"Yes, yes," rejoined St Aubyn. "I don't know what you read, of course,
+but it's clear you don't read many novels."
+
+"Novels!" exclaimed Austin scornfully. "How _can_ people read novels,
+when there are so many other books in the world?"
+
+"Well, what have you been reading, then?" enquired St Aubyn, lighting
+a cigarette.
+
+"I've been dipping into one of the most puzzling, fascinating,
+bothering books I ever came across," replied Austin, following his
+example. "I mean 'The Garden of Cyrus,' by Sir Thomas Browne. I can't
+follow him a bit, and yet, somehow, he drags me along with him. All
+that about the quincunx is most baffling. He seems to begin with the
+arrangement of a garden, and then to lead one on through a maze of
+arithmetical progressions till one finds oneself landed in a mystical
+philosophy of life and creation, and I don't know what all. If I could
+only understand him better I should probably enjoy him more."
+
+St Aubyn smiled. "Well, of course, it all sounds very fanciful," he
+said. "One must read him as one reads all those curious old mediaeval
+authors, who are full of pseudo-science and theories based on fables.
+His great charm to me is his style, which is singularly rich and
+chaste. But I've no doubt whatever, myself, that a great deal of this
+ancient lore, which we have been accustomed to regard as so much
+sciolism, not to say pure nonsense, had a germ of truth in it, and
+that truth I believe we are gradually beginning to re-discover. You
+see, one mustn't always take the formulas employed by these old
+writers in their literal sense. Many were purely symbolic, and
+concealed occult meanings. Now the philosopher's stone, to take a
+familiar example, was not a stone at all. The word was no more than a
+symbol, and covered a search for one of the great secrets--the origin
+of life, or the nature of matter, or the attainment of immortality.
+They seem to us to have taken a very roundabout route in their
+investigations, but their object was often very much the same as that
+of every chemist and biologist of the present day. Take alchemy,
+again, which is supposed by people generally to have been nothing but
+an attempt to turn the baser metals into gold. According to the
+Rosicrucians, who may be supposed to have known something about it,
+alchemy was the science of guiding the invisible processes of life for
+the purpose of attaining certain results in both the physical and
+spiritual spheres. Chemistry deals with inanimate substances, alchemy
+with the principle of life itself. The highest aim of the alchemist
+was the evolution of a divine and immortal being out of a mortal and
+semi-animal man; the development, in short, of all those hidden
+properties which lie latent in man's nature."
+
+"That is a very valuable thing to know," observed Austin, greatly
+interested. "Every day I live, the more I realise the truth that
+everything we see is on the surface, and that there's a whole world of
+machinery--I can't think of a better term--working at the back of it.
+It's like a clock. The face and the hands are all we see, but it's the
+works inside that we can't see that make it go."
+
+"Excellently put," returned St Aubyn. "There are influences and forces
+all round us of which we only notice the effects, and how far these
+forces are intelligent is a very curious question. I see nothing
+unscientific myself in the hypothesis that they may be."
+
+"I wonder!" exclaimed Austin. "Do you know--I have had some very funny
+experiences myself lately, that can't be explained on any other ground
+that I can think of. The first occurred the very day that I was here
+first. Would you mind if I told you about them? Would it bother you
+very much?"
+
+"On the contrary! I shall listen with the greatest interest, I assure
+you," replied St Aubyn, with a smile.
+
+So Austin began at the beginning, and gave his friend a clear, full,
+circumstantial account of the three occurrences which had made so deep
+an impression on his mind. The story of the bricks riveted the
+attention of his hearer, who questioned him closely about a number of
+significant details; then he went on to the incident of Aunt
+Charlotte's proposed journey, the mysterious warning he had received,
+and the desperate measures to which he had been driven to keep her
+from going out. St Aubyn shouted with laughter as Austin gravely
+described how he had locked her up in her bedroom, and how lustily she
+had banged and screamed to be released before it was too late to catch
+the train. The sequel seemed to astonish him, and he fell into a
+musing silence.
+
+"You tell your story remarkably well," he said at last, "and I don't
+mind confessing that the abnormal character of the whole thing strikes
+me as beyond question. Any attempt to explain such sequences by the
+worn-out old theory of imagination or coincidence would be manifestly
+futile. Such coincidences, like miracles, do not happen. Many things
+have happened that people call miracles, by which they mean a sort of
+divine conjuring-trick that is performed or brought about by violating
+or annihilating natural laws. That, of course, is absurd. Nothing
+happens but in virtue of natural laws, laws just as natural and
+inherent in the universal scheme of things as gravitation or the
+precession of the equinoxes, _only_ outside our extremely limited
+knowledge of the universe. That, under certain conditions, such
+interpositions affecting physical organisms may be produced by
+invisible agencies is, in my view, eminently conceivable. It is purely
+a question of evidence."
+
+"I am so glad you think so," replied Austin. "It makes things so much
+easier. And then it's so pleasant to think that one is really
+surrounded by unseen friends who are looking after one. I was never a
+bit afraid of ghosts, and _my_ ghosts are apparently a charming set of
+people. I wonder who they are?"
+
+"Ah, that is more than I can tell you," answered the other, laughing.
+"I'm not so favoured as you appear to be. But come, let's have a
+stroll round the garden. You don't mind the sun, I know."
+
+"And the Banqueting Hall! I insist on the Banqueting Hall," added
+Austin, who now began to feel quite at home with his genial host. "I
+long to be in there again. I'm sure it's full of wonders, if one only
+had eyes to see."
+
+"By all means," smiled St Aubyn, as they went out. "You shall take
+your fill of them, never fear. Don't forget your hat--the sun's pretty
+powerful to-day. Doesn't the lawn look well?"
+
+"Lovely," assented Austin, admiringly. "Like a great green velvet
+carpet. How do you manage to keep it in such good condition?"
+
+"By plenty of rolling and watering. That's the only secret. Let's walk
+this way, down to the pool where the lilies are. There'll be plenty of
+shade under the trees. Do you see that old statue, just over there by
+the wall? That's a great favourite of mine. It always looks to me like
+a petrified youth, a being that will never grow old in soul although
+its form has existed for centuries, and the stone it's made of for
+thousands of thousands of years. That's an illustration of the saying
+that whom the gods love die young. Not that they die in youth, but
+that they never really grow old, let them live for eighty years or
+more, as we count time. They remain always young in soul, however long
+their bodies last. Perhaps that's what Isaiah had in his mind when he
+talked about a child dying at a hundred. _You'll_ never grow old, you
+know."
+
+"Shan't I? How nice," exclaimed Austin, brightly. "I certainly can't
+fancy myself old a bit. How funny it would be if one always preserved
+one's youthful shape and features, while one's skin got all cracked
+and rough and wrinkled like that old youth over there! The effect
+would be rather ghastly. But I don't want to grow old in any sense. I
+should like to remain a boy all my life. I suppose that in the other
+world people may live a thousand years and always remain eighteen. I'm
+nearly eighteen myself."
+
+St Aubyn could not help casting a glance of keen interest at the boy
+as he said this. A presentiment shot through him that that might
+actually be the destiny of the pure-souled, enthusiastic young
+creature who had just uttered the suggestive words. Austin's long,
+pale face, slender form, and bright, far-away expression carried with
+them the idea that perhaps he might not stay very long where he was. A
+sudden pang made itself felt as the possibility occurred to him, and
+he rapidly changed the subject.
+
+"I don't think I'd let my thoughts run too much on mystical questions
+if I were you, Austin," he said. "I mean in connection with these
+curious experiences you've been having. You have enough joy in life,
+joy from the world around you, to dispense with speculations about the
+unseen. All that sort of thing is premature, and if it takes too great
+a hold upon you its tendency will be to make you morbid."
+
+"It hasn't done so yet," replied Austin. "As far as I can judge of the
+other world, it seems quite as joyous and lively as this one, and in
+reality I expect it's a good deal more so. I don't hanker after
+experiences, as you call them, but hitherto whenever they've come
+they've always been helpful and agreeable--never terrifying or ghastly
+in the very least. And I don't lay myself out for them, you know. I
+just feel that there _is_ something near me that I can't see, and that
+it's pleasant and friendly. The thought is a happy one, and makes me
+enjoy the world I live in all the more."
+
+"Well, then, let us enjoy it together, and talk about orchids and
+tulips, and things we can see and handle," said St Aubyn, cheerfully.
+"How's Aunt Charlotte, for instance? Has she quite forgiven you for
+having saved her life?"
+
+"Oh, quite, I think," replied Austin, his eyes twinkling. "I believe
+she's almost grateful, for when she came back from town she presented
+me with a gold pencil-case. She doesn't often do that sort of thing,
+poor dear, and I'm sure she meant it as a sign of reconciliation. It's
+pretty, isn't it?" he added, taking it out of his pocket.
+
+"Charming," assented St Aubyn. "That bit of lapis lazuli at the top,
+with a curious design upon it, is by way of being an amulet, I
+suppose?"
+
+"H'm! I don't believe in amulets, you know," said Austin, nodding
+sagely. "I consider that all nonsense."
+
+"Yet there's no doubt that some amulets have influence," remarked St
+Aubyn. "If a piece of amber, for example, has been highly magnetised
+by a 'sensitive,' as very psychic persons are called, it is quite
+possible that, worn next the skin, a certain amount of magnetic fluid
+may be transmitted to the wearer, producing a distinct effect upon his
+vitality. There's nothing occult about that. The most thoroughgoing
+materialist might acknowledge it. But when it comes to spells, and all
+that gibberish, there, of course, I part company. The magical power of
+certain precious stones may be a fact of nature, but I see no proof
+of its truth, and therefore I don't believe in it."
+
+"And now may we go and look at the flowers?" suggested Austin.
+
+"Come along," returned St Aubyn. "What a boy you are for flowers! Do
+you know much of botany?"
+
+"No--yes, a little--but not nearly as much as I ought," said Austin,
+as they strolled through the blaze of colour. "I love flowers for
+their beauty and suggestiveness, irrespective of the classifications
+to which they may happen to belong. A garden is to me the most
+beautiful thing in the world. There's something sacred about it.
+Everything that's beautiful is good, and if it isn't beautiful it
+can't be good, and when one realises beauty one is happy. That's why I
+feel so much happier in gardens than in church."
+
+"Why, aren't you fond of church?" asked St Aubyn, amused.
+
+"A garden makes me happier," said Austin. "Religion seems to encourage
+pain, and ugliness, and mourning. I don't know why it should, but
+nearly all the very religious people I know are solemn and melancholy,
+as though they hadn't wits enough to be anything else. They only
+understand what is uncomfortable, just as beasts of burden only
+understand threats and beatings. I suppose it's a question of culture.
+Now I learn more of what _I_ call religion from fields, and trees, and
+flowers than from anything else. I don't believe that if the world had
+consisted of nothing but cities any real religion would ever have been
+evolved at all."
+
+"Crude, my dear Austin, very crude!" remarked St Aubyn, patting his
+shoulder as they walked. "There's more in religion than that, a great
+deal. Beware of generalising too widely, and don't forget the personal
+equation. Now, come and have a look at the orchids. I've got one or
+two rather fine ones that you haven't seen."
+
+He led the way towards the orchid-houses. Here they spent a delightful
+quarter of an hour, and it was only the thought of his visit to the
+Banqueting Hall that reconciled Austin to tearing himself away. St
+Aubyn seemed much diverted at his insistence, and asked him whether he
+expected to find the figures on the tapestry endowed with life and
+disporting themselves about the room for his entertainment.
+
+"I wish they would!" laughed Austin. "What fun it would be. I'm sure
+they'd enjoy it too. How old is the tapestry, by the way?"
+
+"It's fifteenth century work, I believe," replied St Aubyn. "Here we
+are. It really is very good of its kind, and the colours are
+wonderfully preserved."
+
+"It's lovely!" sighed Austin, as he walked slowly up the hall,
+feasting his eyes once more on the beautiful fabrics. "What a thing to
+live with! Just think of having all these charming people as one's
+daily companions. I shouldn't want them to come to life, I like them
+just as they are. If they moved or spoke the charm would be broken.
+Why don't you spend hours every day in this wonderful place?"
+
+"My dear boy, I haven't such an imagination as you have," answered St
+Aubyn, laughing. "But as a mere artist, of course I appreciate them as
+much as anyone, just as I appreciate statuary or pictures. And I prize
+them for their historical value too."
+
+Austin made no reply. He began to look abstracted, as though listening
+to something else. The sun had begun to sink on the other side of the
+house, leaving the hall itself in comparative shadow.
+
+"Don't you feel anything?" he said at last, in an undertone.
+
+"Nothing whatever," replied St Aubyn. "Do you?"
+
+"Yes. Hush! No--it was nothing. But I feel it--all round me. The most
+curious sensation. The room's full. Some of them are behind me. Don't
+you feel a wind?"
+
+"Indeed I don't," said St Aubyn. "There's not a breath stirring
+anywhere."
+
+They were standing side by side. Austin gently put out his right hand
+and grasped St Aubyn's left.
+
+"_Now_ don't you feel anything?" he asked.
+
+"Yes--a sort of thrill. A tingling in my arm," replied St Aubyn.
+"That's rather strange. But it comes from you, not from----" He
+paused.
+
+"It comes _through_ me," said Austin.
+
+They stood for a few seconds in unbroken silence. Then St Aubyn
+suddenly withdrew his hand. "This is unhealthy!" he said, with a touch
+of abruptness. "You must be highly magnetic. Your organism is
+'sensitive,' and that's why you experience things that I don't."
+
+"Oh, why did you break the spell?" cried Austin, regretfully. "What
+harm could it have done you? You said yourself just now that nothing
+happens that isn't natural. And this is natural enough, if one could
+only understand the way it works."
+
+"Many things are natural that are not desirable," returned St Aubyn,
+walking up and down. "It's quite natural for people to go to sea, but
+it makes some of them sea-sick, nevertheless, and they had better stay
+on shore. It's all a matter of temperament, I suppose, and what is
+pleasant for you is something that my own instincts warn me very
+carefully to avoid."
+
+Austin drew his handkerchief across his eyes, as though beginning to
+come back to the realities of life. "I daresay," he said, vaguely.
+"But it's very restful here. The air seems to make me sleepy. I almost
+think--"
+
+At this point a servant appeared at the other end of the hall, and St
+Aubyn went to see what he wanted. The next moment he returned, with
+quickened steps.
+
+"Come away with you--you and your spooks!" he cried, cheerfully,
+taking Austin by the arm. "Here's an old aunt of mine suddenly dropped
+from the skies, and clamouring for a cup of tea. We must go in and
+entertain her. She's all by herself in the library."
+
+"I shall be very glad," said Austin. "You go on first, and I'll be
+with you in two minutes."
+
+So St Aubyn strode off to welcome his elderly relative, and when
+Austin came into the room he found his friend stooping over a very
+small, very dowdy old lady dressed in rusty black silk, with a large
+bonnet rather on one side, who was standing on tiptoe, the better to
+peck at St Aubyn's cheek by way of a salute. She had small, twinkling
+eyes, a wrinkled face, and the very honestest wig that Austin had ever
+seen; and yet there was an air and a style about the old body which
+somehow belied her quaint appearance, and suggested the idea that she
+was something more than the insignificant little creature that she
+looked at first sight. And so in fact she was, being no less a
+personage than the Dowager-Countess of Merthyr Tydvil, and a very
+great lady indeed.
+
+"But, my dear aunt, why did you never let me know that I might expect
+you?" St Aubyn was saying as Austin entered. "I might have been miles
+away, and you'd have had all your journey for nothing."
+
+"My dear, I'm staying with the people at Cleeve Castle, and I thought
+I'd just give 'em the slip for an hour or two and take you by
+surprise," answered the old lady as she sat down. "No, you needn't
+ring--I ordered tea as soon as I came in. They just bore me out of my
+life, you see, and they've got a pack o' riffraff staying with 'em
+that I don't know how to sit in the same room with. But who's your
+young friend over there? Why don't you introduce him?"
+
+"I beg your pardon!" said St Aubyn. "Mr Austin Trevor, a near
+neighbour of mine. Austin, my aunt, Lady Merthyr Tydvil."
+
+"Why, of course I know now," said the old lady, nodding briskly. "So
+you're Austin, are you? Roger was telling me about you not three weeks
+ago. Well, Austin, I like the looks of you, and that's more than I can
+say of most people, I can tell you. How long have you been living
+hereabouts?"
+
+"Ever since I can remember," Austin said.
+
+"Roger, do touch the bell, there's a good creature," said Lady Merthyr
+Tydvil. "That man of yours must be growing the tea-plants, I should
+think. Ah, here he is. I'm gasping for something to drink. Did the
+water boil, Richards? You're sure? How many spoonfuls of tea did you
+put in? H'm! Well, never mind now. I shall be better directly. What
+are those? Oh--Nebuchadnezzar sandwiches. Very good. That's all we
+want, I think."
+
+She dismissed the man with a gesture as though the house belonged to
+her, while St Aubyn looked on, amused.
+
+"I thought I should never get here," she continued. "The driver was a
+perfect imbecile, my dear--didn't know the country a bit. And it's not
+more than seven miles, you know, if it's as much. I was sure the
+wretch was going wrong, and if I hadn't insisted on pulling him up and
+asking a respectable-looking body where the house was I believe we
+should have been wandering about the next shire at this moment. I've
+no patience with such fools."
+
+"And how long are you staying at Cleeve?" asked St Aubyn, supplying
+her with sandwiches.
+
+"I've been there nearly a week already, and the trouble lasts three
+days more," replied his aunt, as she munched away. "The Duke's a fool,
+and she's worse. Haven't the ghost of an idea, either of 'em, how to
+mix people, you know. And what with their horrible charades, and their
+nonsensical round games, and their everlasting bridge, I'm pretty well
+at the end of my tether. Never was among such a beef-witted set of
+addlepates since I was born. The only man among 'em who isn't a
+hopeless booby's a Socialist, and he's been twice in gaol for inciting
+honest folks not to pay their taxes. Oh, they're a precious lot, I
+promise you. I don't know what we're coming to, I'm sure."
+
+"But it's so easy not to do things," observed St Aubyn, lazily. "Why
+on earth do you go there? I wouldn't, I know that."
+
+"Why does anybody do anything?" retorted the old lady. "We can't all
+stay at home and write books that nobody reads, as you do."
+
+Austin looked up enquiringly. He had no idea that St Aubyn was an
+author, and said so.
+
+"What, you didn't know that Roger wrote books?" said the old lady,
+turning to him. "Oh yes, he does, my dear, and very fine books
+too--only they're miles above the comprehension of stupid old women
+like me. Probably you've not a notion what a learned person he really
+is. I don't even know the names of the things he writes of."
+
+"And you never told me!" said Austin to his friend. "But you'll have
+to lend me some of your books now, you know. I'm dying to know what
+they're all about."
+
+"They're chiefly about antiquities," responded St Aubyn; "early
+Peruvian, Mexican, Egyptian, and so on. You're perfectly welcome to
+read them all if you care to. They're not at all deep, whatever my
+aunt may say."
+
+During this brief interchange of remarks, Lady Merthyr Tydvil had been
+gazing rather fixedly at Austin, with her head on one side like an
+enquiring old bird, and a puzzled expression on her face.
+
+"The most curious likeness!" she exclaimed. "Now, how is it that your
+face seems so familiar to me, I wonder? I've certainly never seen you
+anywhere before, and yet--and yet--who _is_ it you remind me of, for
+goodness' sake?"
+
+"I wish I could tell you," replied Austin, laughing. "Likenesses are
+often quite accidental, and it may be----"
+
+"Stuff and nonsense, my dear," interrupted the old lady, brusquely.
+"There's nothing accidental about this. You're the living image of
+somebody, but who it is I can't for the life of me imagine. What do
+you say your name is?"
+
+"My surname, you mean?--Trevor," replied Austin, beginning to be
+rather interested.
+
+"Trevor!" cried Lady Merthyr Tydvil, her voice rising almost to a
+squeak. "No relation to Geoffrey Trevor who was in the 16th Lancers?"
+
+"He was my father," said Austin, much surprised.
+
+"Why, my dear, my dear, he was a _great_ friend of mine!" exclaimed
+the old lady, raising both her hands. "I knew him twenty years ago and
+more, and was fonder of him than I ever let out to anybody. Of course
+it doesn't matter a bit now, but I always told him that if I'd been a
+single woman, and a quarter of a century younger, I'd have married him
+out of hand. That was a standing joke between us, for I was old enough
+to be his mother, and he was already engaged--ah, and a sweet pretty
+creature she was, too, and I don't wonder he fell in love with her. So
+you are Geoffrey's son! I can scarcely believe it, even now. But it's
+your mother you take after, not Geoffrey. She was a Miss--Miss----"
+
+"Her maiden name was Waterfield," interpolated Austin.
+
+"So it was, so it was!" assented the old lady, eagerly. "What a memory
+you've got, to be sure. One of Sir Philip Waterfield's daughters, down
+in Leicestershire. And her other name was Dorothea. Why, I remember it
+all now as though it had happened yesterday. Your father made me his
+confidante all through; such a state as he was in you never saw,
+wondering whether she'd have him, never able to screw up his courage
+to ask her, now all down in the dumps and the next day halfway up to
+the moon. Well, of course they were married at last, and then I
+somehow lost sight of them. They went abroad, I think, and when they
+came back they settled in some place on the other side of nowhere and
+I never saw them again. And you are their son Austin!"
+
+Interested as he was in these reminiscences, Austin could not help
+being struck with the wonderful grace of this curious old lady's
+gestures. In spite of her skimpy dress and antiquated bonnet, she was,
+he thought, the most exquisitely-bred old woman he had ever seen.
+Every movement was a charm, and he watched her, as she spoke, with
+growing fascination and delight.
+
+"It is quite marvellous to think you knew my parents," he said in
+reply, "while I have no recollection of either of them. My mother died
+when I was born, and my father a year or two later. What was my mother
+like? Did you know her well?"
+
+"She was a delicate-looking creature, with a pale face and dark-grey
+eyes," answered the old lady, "and you put me in mind of her very
+strongly. I didn't know her very well, but I remember your father
+bringing her to call on me when they were first engaged, and a
+wonderfully handsome couple they were. No doubt they were very happy,
+but their lives were cut short, as so often happens, leaving a lot of
+stupid people alive that the world could well dispense with. But I see
+you've lost one of your legs! How did that come about, I should like
+to know?"
+
+"Oh--something went wrong with the bone, and it had to be cut off,"
+said Austin, rather vaguely.
+
+"Dear, dear, what a pity," was the old lady's comment. "And are you
+very sorry for yourself?"
+
+"Not in the least," said Austin, smiling brightly. "I've got quite
+fond of my new one."
+
+"You're quite a philosopher, I see," said the old lady, nodding; "as
+great a philosopher as the fox who couldn't reach the grapes, and he
+was one of the wisest who ever lived. And now I think I'll have
+another cup of tea, Roger, if there's any left. Give me two lumps of
+sugar, and just enough cream to swear by."
+
+The conversation now became more general, and Austin, thinking that
+the countess would like to be alone with her nephew for a few minutes
+before returning to the Castle, watched for an opportunity of taking
+leave. He soon rose, and said he must be going home. The old lady
+shook hands with him in the most cordial manner, telling him that in
+no case must he ever forget his mother--oblivious, apparently, of the
+fact that by no earthly possibility could he remember her; and St
+Aubyn accompanied him to the door. "You've quite won her heart," he
+said, laughingly, as he bade the boy farewell. "If she was ever in
+love with your father, she seems to have transferred her affections to
+you. Good-bye--and don't let it be too long before you come again."
+
+Austin brandished his leg with more than usual haughtiness as he
+thudded his way home along the road. He always gave it a sort of
+additional swing when he was excited or pleased, and on this
+particular occasion his gait was almost defiant. It must be confessed
+that, never having known either of his parents, he had not hitherto
+thought much about them. There was one small and much-faded photograph
+of his father, which Aunt Charlotte kept locked up in a drawer, but
+of his mother there was no likeness at all, and he had no idea
+whatever of her appearance. But now he began to feel more interest in
+them, and a sense of longing, not unmixed with curiosity, took
+possession of him. What sort of a woman, he wondered, could that
+unknown mother have been? Well, physically he was himself like her--so
+Lady Merthyr Tydvil had said; and so much like her that it was through
+that very resemblance that all these interesting discoveries had been
+made. Then his thoughts reverted to what Aunt Charlotte had told him
+about his mother's dying words, and how bitterly she had grieved at
+not living to bring him up herself. And yet she was still
+alive--somewhere--though in a world removed. Of course he couldn't
+remember her, having never seen her, _but she had not forgotten
+him_--of that he felt convinced. That was a curious reflection. His
+mother was alive, and mindful of him. He could not prove it,
+naturally, but he knew it all the same. He realised it as though by
+instinct. And who could tell how near she might be to him? Distance,
+after all, is not necessarily a matter of miles. One may be only a few
+inches from another person, and yet if those inches are occupied by an
+impenetrable wall of solid steel, the two will be as much separated
+as though an ocean rolled between them. On the other hand, Austin had
+read of cases in which two friends were actually on the opposite sides
+of an ocean, and yet, through some mysterious channel, were sometimes
+conscious, in a sub-conscious way, of each other's thoughts and
+circumstances. Perhaps his mother could even see him, although he
+could not see her. It was all a very fascinating puzzle, but there was
+some truth underlying it somewhere, if he could only find it out.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter the Tenth
+
+
+Austin returned in plenty of time to spend a few minutes loitering in
+the garden after he had dressed for dinner. It was a favourite habit
+of his, and he said it gave him an appetite; but the truth was that he
+always loved to be in the open air to the very last moment of the day,
+watching the colours of the sky as they changed and melted into
+twilight. On this particular evening the heavens were streaked with
+primrose, and pale iris, and delicate limpid green; and so absorbed
+was he in gazing at this splendour of dissolving beauty that he forgot
+all about his appetite, and had to be called twice over before he
+could drag himself away.
+
+"Well, and did you have an interesting visit?" asked Aunt Charlotte,
+when dinner was halfway through. "You found Mr St Aubyn at home?"
+
+Austin had been unusually silent up till then, being somewhat
+preoccupied with the experiences of the afternoon. He wanted to ask
+his aunt all manner of questions, but scarcely liked to do so as long
+as the servant was waiting. But now he could hold out no longer.
+
+"Yes--even more interesting than I hoped," he answered. "I had plenty
+of delightful chat with St Aubyn, and then a visitor came in. It's
+that that I want to talk about."
+
+"A visitor, eh?" said Aunt Charlotte, her attention quickening. "What
+sort of a visitor? A lady?"
+
+"Yes, an old lady," replied Austin, "who----"
+
+"Did she come in an open fly?" pursued Aunt Charlotte, helping herself
+to sauce.
+
+"Why, how did you know? I believe she did," said Austin. "She had
+driven over from Cleeve."
+
+"Well, then, I must have seen her," said Aunt Charlotte. "A
+queer-looking old person in a great bonnet. I happened to be walking
+through the village, and she stopped the fly to ask me the way to the
+Court, and I remember wondering who she could possibly be. I suppose
+it was she whom you met there."
+
+"What, was it _you_ she asked?" exclaimed Austin, opening his eyes.
+"She told us the driver didn't know the way, and that she'd
+enquired--oh dear, oh dear, how funny!"
+
+"What's funny?" demanded Aunt Charlotte, abruptly.
+
+"Oh, never mind, I can't tell you, and it doesn't matter in the
+least," said Austin, beginning to giggle. "Only I shouldn't have known
+it was you from her description."
+
+"Why, what did she say?" Aunt Charlotte was getting suspicious.
+
+"My dear auntie, she didn't know who you were, of course," replied
+Austin, "and she bore high testimony to the respectability of your
+appearance, that's all. Only it's so funny to think it was you. It
+never occurred to me for a moment."
+
+"What did she _say_, Austin?" repeated Aunt Charlotte, sternly. "I
+insist upon knowing her exact words. Of course it doesn't really
+matter what a poor old thing like that may have said, but I always
+like to be precise, and it's just as well to know how one strikes a
+stranger. It wasn't anything rude, I hope, for I'm sure I answered her
+quite kindly."
+
+The servant was out of the room. "No, auntie, I don't think it was
+rude, but it was so comic----"
+
+"Do stop giggling, and tell me what it was," interrupted Aunt
+Charlotte, impatiently.
+
+"Well, she only said you were a respectable-looking body," replied
+Austin, as gravely as he could. "And so you are, you know, auntie,
+though, perhaps, if I had to describe you I should put it in rather
+different words. I'm sure she meant it as a compliment."
+
+"Upon my word, I feel extremely flattered!" exclaimed Aunt Charlotte,
+reddening. "A respectable-looking body, indeed! Well, it's something
+to know I look respectable. And who was this very patronising old
+person, pray? Some old nurse or other, I should say, to judge by her
+appearance."
+
+"She was the Countess of Merthyr Tydvil, St Aubyn's aunt," said
+Austin, enjoying the joke.
+
+"The Countess of Merthyr Tydvil!" echoed Aunt Charlotte, amazed.
+
+"And she's staying with the Duke at Cleeve Castle," added Austin. "But
+that's not the point. Just fancy, auntie, she actually knew my father!
+She knew him before he was married, and they were tremendous friends.
+It all came out because she said I was so like somebody, and she
+couldn't think who it could be, and then she asked what my surname
+was, and so on, till we found out all about it. Wasn't it curious? Did
+you ever hear of her before?"
+
+"Indeed I never knew of her existence till this moment," answered Aunt
+Charlotte, beginning to get interested. "Your father had any number of
+friends, and of course we didn't know them all. Well, it is curious, I
+must say. But she didn't say you were like your father, did she?"
+
+"No--my mother," replied Austin. "She didn't know her much, but she
+remembers her very well. She said she was a very lovely person, too."
+
+"Your father was good-looking in a way," said Aunt Charlotte, falling
+into a reminiscent mood, "but not in the least like you. He used to go
+a great deal into society, and no doubt it was there he met this Lady
+Merthyr Tydvil, and any number of others. Did she tell you anything
+about him--anything, I mean, that you didn't know before?"
+
+"No, I don't think she did, except that she was very fond of him and
+would like to have married him herself. But as she was married
+already, and he was engaged to somebody else, of course it was too
+late."
+
+"What! She told you that?" cried Aunt Charlotte, scandalized. "What a
+shameless old hussy she must be!"
+
+"Not a bit of it," retorted Austin. "She's a sweet old woman, and I
+love her very much. Besides, she only meant it in fun."
+
+"Fun, indeed!" sniffed Aunt Charlotte, primly. "She may call me a
+respectable-looking body as much as she likes now. It's more than I
+can say for her."
+
+"Auntie, you _are_ an old goose!" exclaimed Austin, with a burst of
+laughter. "You never could see a joke. She called you a
+respectable-looking body, and you called her a queer old woman like a
+nurse. Now you say she's a shameless old hussy, and so, on the whole,
+I think you've won the match."
+
+Aunt Charlotte relapsed into silence, and did not speak again until
+the dessert had been brought in. Austin helped himself to a plateful
+of black cherries, while his aunt toyed with a peach. At last she
+said, in rather a hesitating tone:
+
+"Well, you've told me your adventures, so there's an end of that. But
+I've had a little adventure of my own this afternoon; though whether
+it would interest you to hear it----"
+
+"Oh, do tell me!" said Austin, eagerly. "An adventure--you?"
+
+"I'm not sure whether adventure is quite the correct expression,"
+replied Aunt Charlotte, "and I don't quite know how to begin. You see,
+my dear Austin, that you are very young."
+
+"It isn't anything improper, is it?" asked Austin, innocently.
+
+"If you say such things as that I won't utter another word," rejoined
+his aunt. "I simply state the fact--that you are very young."
+
+"And I hope I shall always remain so," Austin said.
+
+"That being the case," resumed his aunt, impressively, "a great many
+things happened long before you were born."
+
+"I've never doubted that for a moment, even in my most sceptical
+moods," Austin assured her seriously.
+
+"Well, I once knew a gentleman," continued Aunt Charlotte, "of whom I
+used to see a great deal. Indeed I had reasons for believing that--the
+gentleman--rather appreciated my--conversation. Perhaps I was a little
+more sprightly in those days than I am now. Anyhow, he paid me
+considerable attention----"
+
+"Oh!" cried Austin, opening his eyes as wide as they would go. "Oh,
+auntie!"
+
+"Of course things never went any further," said Aunt Charlotte,
+"though I don't know what might have happened had it not been that I
+gave him no encouragement whatever."
+
+"But why didn't you? What was he like? Tell me all about him!"
+interrupted Austin, excitedly. "Was he a soldier, like father? I'm
+sure he was--a beautiful soldier in the Blues, whatever the Blues may
+be, with a grand uniform and clanking spurs. That's the sort of man
+that would have captivated you, auntie. Was he wounded? Had he a
+wooden leg? Oh, go on, go on! I'm dying to hear all about it."
+
+"That he had a uniform is possible, though I never saw him wear one,
+and it may have been blue for anything I know; but that wouldn't imply
+that he was in the Blues," replied his aunt, sedately. "No; the
+strange thing was that he suddenly went abroad, and for
+five-and-twenty years I never heard of him. And now he has written me
+a letter."
+
+"A letter!" cried Austin. "This _is_ an adventure, and no mistake. But
+go on, go on."
+
+"I never was more astounded in my life," resumed his aunt. "A letter
+came from him this afternoon. He recalls himself to my remembrance,
+and says--this is the most singular part--that he was actually staying
+quite close to here only a short time ago, but had no idea that I was
+living here. Had he known it he would most certainly have called, but
+as he has only just discovered it, quite accidentally, he says he
+shall make a point of coming down again, when he hopes he may be
+permitted to renew our old acquaintance."
+
+"Now look here, auntie," said Austin, sitting bolt upright. "Let him
+call, by all means, and see how well you look after being deserted for
+five-and-twenty years; but I don't want a step-uncle, and you are not
+to give me one. Fancy me with an Uncle Charlotte! That wouldn't do,
+you know. You won't give me a step-uncle, will you? Please!"
+
+"Don't be absurd, my dear; and do, for goodness' sake, keep that
+dreadful leg of yours quiet if you can. It always gives me the jumps
+when you go on jerking it about like that. Of course I should never
+dream of marrying now; but I confess I do feel a little curious to see
+what my old friend looks like after all these years----"
+
+"Your old admirer, you mean," interpolated Austin. "To think of your
+having had a romance! You can't throw stones at Lady Merthyr Tydvil
+now, you know. I believe you're a regular flirt, auntie, I do indeed.
+This poor young man now; you say he disappeared, but _I_ believe you
+simply drove him away in despair by your cruelty. Were you a 'cruel
+maid' like the young women one reads about in poetry-books? Oh,
+auntie, auntie, I shall never have faith in you again."
+
+"You're a very disrespectful boy, that's what _you_ are," retorted
+Aunt Charlotte, turning as pink as her ribbons. "The gentleman we're
+speaking of must be quite elderly, several years older than I am, and,
+for all I know, he may have a wife and half-a-dozen grown-up children
+by this time. You let your tongue wag a very great deal too fast, I
+can tell you, Austin."
+
+"But what's his name?" asked Austin, not in the least abashed. "We
+can't go on for ever referring to him as 'the gentleman,' as though
+there were no other gentlemen in the world, can we now?"
+
+"His name is Ogilvie--Mr Granville Ogilvie," replied his aunt. "He
+belongs to a very fine old family in the north. There have been
+Ogilvies distinguished in many ways--in literature, in the services,
+and in politics. But there was always a mystery about Granville,
+somehow. However, I expect he'll be calling here in a few days, and
+then, no doubt, your curiosity will be gratified."
+
+"Oh, I know what he'll be like," said Austin. "A lean, brown
+traveller, with his face tanned by tropic suns and Arctic snows to the
+colour of an old saddle-bag. His hair, of course, prematurely grey. On
+his right cheek there'll be a lovely bright-blue scar, where a
+charming tiger scratched him just before he killed it with unerring
+aim. I know the sort of person exactly. And now he comes to say that
+he lays his battered, weather-worn old carcase at the feet of the
+cruel maid who spurned it when it was young and strong and beautiful.
+And the cruel maid, now in the full bloom of placid maternity--I mean
+maturity----"
+
+"Hold your tongue or I'll pull your ears!" exclaimed Aunt Charlotte,
+scarlet with confusion. "You'll make me sorry I ever said anything to
+you on the subject. Mr Ogilvie, as far as I can judge from his letter,
+is a most polished gentleman. There's a quaint, old-world courtesy
+about him which one scarcely ever meets with at the present day. Just
+remember, if you please, that we're simply two old friends, who are
+going to meet again after having lost sight of each other for
+five-and-twenty years; and what there is to laugh about in that I
+entirely fail to see."
+
+"Dear auntie, I won't laugh any more, I promise you," said Austin.
+"I'm sure he'll turn out a most courtly old personage, and perhaps
+he'll have an enormous fortune that he made by shaking pagoda-trees in
+India. How do pagodas grow on trees, I wonder? I always thought a
+pagoda was a sort of odalisque--isn't that right? Oh, I mean
+obelisk--with beautiful flounces all the way up to the top. It seems a
+funny way of making money, doesn't it. Where is India, by the bye?
+Anywhere near Peru?"
+
+"Your ignorance is positively disgraceful, Austin," said Aunt
+Charlotte, with great severity. "I only hope you won't talk like that
+in the presence of Mr Ogilvie. I expect you're right in surmising that
+he's been a great traveller, for he says himself that he has led a
+very wandering, restless life, and he would be shocked to think I had
+a nephew who didn't know how to find India upon the map. There, you've
+had quite as many cherries as are good for you, I'm sure. Let us go
+and see if it's dry enough to have our coffee on the lawn, while
+Martha clears away."
+
+Now although Austin was intensely tickled at the idea of Aunt Charlotte
+having had a love-affair, and a love-affair that appeared to threaten
+renewal, the fact was that he really felt just a little anxious. Not
+that he believed for a moment that she would be such a goose as to
+marry, at her age; that, he assured himself, was impossible. But it is
+often the very things we tell ourselves are impossible that we fear the
+most, and Austin, in spite of his curiosity to see his aunt's old flame,
+looked forward to his arrival with just a little apprehension. For some
+reason or other, he considered himself partly responsible for Aunt
+Charlotte. The poor lady had so many limitations, she was so hopelessly
+impervious to a joke, her views were so stereotyped and conventional--in
+a word, she was so terribly Early Victorian, that there was no knowing
+how she might be taken in and done for if he did not look after her a
+bit. But how to do it was the difficulty. Certainly he could not prevent
+the elderly swain from calling, and, of course, it would be only proper
+that he himself should be absent when the two first came together. A
+_tete-a-tete_ between them was inevitable, and was not likely to be
+decisive. But, this once over, he would appear upon the scene, take
+stock of the aspirant, and shape his policy accordingly. What sort of a
+man, he wondered, could Mr Ogilvie be? He had actually passed through
+the town not so very long ago; but then so had hundreds of strangers,
+and Austin had never noticed anyone in particular--certainly no one who
+was in the least likely to be the gentleman in question. There was
+nothing to be done, meanwhile, then, but to wait and watch. Perhaps the
+gentleman would not want to marry Aunt Charlotte after all. Perhaps, as
+she herself had suggested, he had a wife and family already. Neither of
+them knew anything at all about him. He might be a battered old
+traveller, or an Anglo-Indian nabob, or a needy haunter of Continental
+pensions, or a convict just emerged from a term of penal servitude. He
+might be as rich as Midas, or as poor as a church-mouse. But on one
+thing Austin was determined--Aunt Charlotte must be saved from herself,
+if necessary. They wanted no interloper in their peaceful home. And he,
+Austin, would go forth into the world, wooden leg and all, rather than
+submit to be saddled with a step-uncle.
+
+As for Aunt Charlotte, she, too, deemed it beyond the dreams of
+possibility that she would ever marry. In fact, it was only Austin's
+nonsense that had put so ridiculous a notion into her head. It was
+true that, in the years gone by, the attentions of young Granville
+Ogilvie had occasioned her heart a flutter. Perhaps some faint,
+far-off reverberation of that flutter was making itself felt in her
+heart now. It is so, no doubt, with many maiden ladies when they look
+back upon the past. But if she had ever felt a little sore at her
+sudden abandonment by the mercurial young man who had once touched her
+fancy, the tiny scratch had healed and been forgotten long ago. At the
+same time, although the idea of marriage after five-and-twenty years
+was too absurd to be dwelt on for a moment, the worthy lady could not
+help feeling how delightful it would be to be _asked_. Of course, that
+would involve the extremely painful process of refusing; and Aunt
+Charlotte, in spite of her rough tongue, was a merciful woman, and
+never willingly inflicted suffering upon anybody. Even blackbeetles,
+as she often told herself, were God's creatures, and Mr Ogilvie,
+although he had deserted her, no doubt had finer sensibilities than a
+blackbeetle. So she did not wish to hurt him if she could avoid it;
+still, a proposal of marriage at the age of forty-seven would be
+rather a feather in her cap, and she was too true a woman to be
+indifferent to that coveted decoration. But then, once more, it was
+quite possible that he would not propose at all.
+
+The next morning Austin put on his straw hat, and went and sat down by
+the old stone fountain in the full blaze of the sun, as was his
+custom. Lubin was somewhere in the shrubbery, and, unaware that anyone
+was within hearing, was warbling lustily to himself. Austin
+immediately pricked up his ears, for he had had no idea that Lubin was
+a vocalist. Away he carolled blithely enough, in a rough but not
+unmusical voice, and Austin was just able to catch some of the words
+of the quaint old west-country ballad that he was singing.
+
+    "Welcome to town, Tom Dove, Tom Dove,
+       The merriest man alive,
+     Thy company still we love, we love,
+       God grant thee still to thrive.
+     And never will we, depart from thee,
+       For better or worse, my joy!
+     For thou shalt still, have our good will,
+       God's blessing on my sweet boy."
+
+"Bravo, Lubin!" cried Austin, clapping his hands. "You do sing
+beautifully. And what a delightful old song! Where did you pick it
+up?"
+
+"Eh, Master Austin," said Lubin, emerging from among the
+rhododendrons, "if I'd known you was a-listening I'd 'a faked up
+something from a French opera for you. Why, that's an old song as I've
+known ever since I was that high--'Tom of Exeter' they calls it. It's
+a rare favourite wi' the maids down in the parts I come from."
+
+"Shows their good taste," said Austin. "It's awfully pretty. Who was
+Tom Dove, and why did he come to town?"
+
+"Nay, I can't tell," replied Lubin. "Tis some made-up tale, I doubt.
+They do say as how he was a tailor. But there is folks as'll say
+anything, you know."
+
+"A tailor!" exclaimed Austin, scornfully, "That I'm sure he wasn't.
+But oh, Lubin, there _is_ somebody coming to town in a day or
+two--somebody I want to find out about. Do you often go into the
+town?"
+
+"Eh, well, just o' times; when there's anything to take me there,"
+answered Lubin, vaguely. "On market-days, every now and again."
+
+"Oh yes, I know, when you go and sell ducks," put in Austin. "Now
+what I want to know is this. Have you, within the last three or four
+weeks, seen a stranger anywhere about?"
+
+"A stranger?" repeated Lubin. "Ay, that I certainly have. Any amount
+o' strangers."
+
+"Oh well, yes, of course, how stupid of me!" exclaimed Austin,
+impatiently. "There must have been scores and scores. But I mean a
+particular stranger--a certain person in particular, if you understand
+me. Anybody whose appearance struck you in any way."
+
+"Well, but what sort of a stranger?" asked Lubin. "Can't you tell me
+anything about him? What'd he look like, now?"
+
+"That's just what I want to find out," replied Austin. "If I could
+describe him I shouldn't want you to. All I know is that he's a sort
+of elderly gentleman, rather more than fifty. He may be fifty-five, or
+getting on for sixty. Now, isn't that near enough? Oh--and I'm almost
+sure that he's a traveller."
+
+"H'm," pondered Lubin, leaning on his broom reflectively. "Well, yes,
+I did see a sort of elderly gentleman some three or four weeks ago,
+standing at the bar o' the 'Coach-and-Horses.' What his age might be I
+couldn't exactly say, 'cause he was having a drink with his back
+turned to the door. But he was a traveller, that I know."
+
+"A traveller? I wonder whether that was the one!" exclaimed Austin.
+"Had he a dark-brown face? Or a wooden leg? Or a scar down one of his
+cheeks?"
+
+"Not as I see," answered Lubin, beginning to sweep the lawn. "But a
+traveller he was, because the barmaid told me so. Travelled all over
+the country in bonnets."
+
+"Travelled in bonnets?" cried Austin. "What _do_ you mean, Lubin? How
+can a man go travelling about the country in a bonnet? Had he a bonnet
+on when you saw him drinking in the bar?"
+
+"Lor', Master Austin, wherever was you brought up?" exclaimed Lubin,
+in grave amazement at the youth's ignorance. "When a gentleman
+'travels' in anything, it means he goes about getting orders for it.
+Now this here gentleman was agent, I take it, for some big millinery
+shop in London, and come down here wi' boxes an' boxes o' bonnets, an'
+tokes, and all sorts o' female headgear as women goes about in----"
+
+"In short, he was a commercial traveller," said Austin, very mildly.
+"You see, my dear Lubin, we have been talking of different things. I
+wasn't thinking of a gentleman who hawks haberdashery. When I said
+traveller, I meant a man who goes tramping across Africa, and shoots
+elephants, and gets snowed up at the North Pole, and has all sorts of
+uncomfortable and quite incredible adventures. They always have faces
+as brown as an old trunk, and generally limp when they walk. That's
+the sort of person I'm looking out for. You haven't seen anyone like
+that, have you?"
+
+"Nay--nary a one," said Lubin, shaking his head. "Would he have been
+putting up at one o' the inns, now, or staying long wi' some o' the
+gentry?"
+
+"I haven't the slightest idea," acknowledged Austin.
+
+"Might as well go about looking for a ram wi' five feet," remarked
+Lubin. "Some things you can't find 'cause they don't exist, and other
+things you can't find 'cause there's too many of 'em. And as you don't
+know nothing about this gentleman, and wouldn't know him if you met
+him in the street permiscuous, I take it you'll have to wait to see
+what he looks like till he turns up again of his own accord. 'Tain't
+in reason as you can go up to every old gentleman with a brown face
+as you never see before an' ask him if he's ever been snowed up at the
+North Pole and why he hasn't got a wooden leg. He'd think, as likely
+as not, as you was trying to get a rise out of him. Don't you know
+what the name may be, neither?"
+
+"Oh yes, I do, of course," responded Austin. "He's a Mr Ogilvie."
+
+"Never heard of 'im," said Lubin. "Might find out at one o' the inns
+if any party o' that name's been staying there, but I doubt they
+wouldn't remember. Folks don't generally stay more'n one night, you
+see, just to have a look at the old market-place and the church, and
+then off they go next morning and don't leave no addresses. Th' only
+sort as stays a day or two are the artists, and they'll stay painting
+here for more'n a week at a time. It may 'a been one o' them."
+
+"I wonder!" exclaimed Austin, struck by the idea. "Perhaps he's an
+artist, after all; artists do travel, I know. I never thought of that.
+However, it doesn't matter. It's only some old friend of Aunt
+Charlotte's, and he's coming to call on her soon, so it isn't worth
+bothering about meanwhile."
+
+He therefore dismissed the matter from his mind, and set about the far
+more profitable employment of fortifying himself by a morning's
+devotion to garden-craft, both manual and mental, against the
+martyrdom (as he called it) that he was to undergo that afternoon. For
+Aunt Charlotte had insisted on his accompanying her to tea at the
+vicarage, and this was a function he detested with all his heart. He
+never knew whom he might meet there, and always went in fear of
+Cobbledicks, MacTavishes, and others of the same sort. The vicar
+himself he did not mind so much--the vicar was not a bad little thing
+in his way; but Mrs Sheepshanks, with her patronising disapproval and
+affected airs of smartness, he couldn't endure, while the Socialistic
+curate was his aversion. The reason he hated the curate was partly
+because he always wore black knickerbockers, and partly because he was
+such chums with the MacTavish boys. How any self-respecting individual
+could put up with such savages as Jock and Sandy was a problem that
+Austin was wholly unable to solve, until it was suggested to him by
+somebody that the real attraction was neither Jock nor Sandy, but one
+of their screaming sisters--a Florrie, or a Lottie, or an Aggie--it
+really did not matter which, since they were all alike. When this
+once dawned upon him, Austin despised the knickerbockered curate more
+than ever.
+
+On the present occasion, however, the MacTavishes were happily not
+there; the only other guest (for of course the curate didn't count)
+being a friend of the curate's, who had come to spend a few days with
+him in the country. The friend was a harsh-featured, swarthy young
+man, belonging to what may be called the muscular variety of high
+Ritualism; much given to a sort of aggressive slang--he had been known
+to refer to the bishop of his diocese as "the sporting old jester that
+bosses our show"--and representing militant sacerdotalism in its most
+blusterous and rampant form. He was also in the habit of informing
+people that he was "nuts" on the Athanasian Creed, and expressing the
+somewhat arbitrary opinion that if the Rev. John Wesley had had his
+deserts he would have been exhibited in a pillory and used as a target
+for stale eggs. There are a few such interesting youths in Holy
+Orders, and the curate's friend was one of them.
+
+The party were assembled in the garden, where Mrs Sheepshanks's best
+tea-service was laid out. To say that the conversation was brilliant
+would be an exaggeration; but it was pleasant and decorous, as
+conversations at a vicarage ought to be. The two ladies compared notes
+about the weather and the parish; the curate asked Austin what he had
+been doing with himself lately; the friend kept silence, even from
+good words, while the vicar, one of the mildest of his cloth, sat
+blinking in furtive contemplation of the friend. Certainly it was not
+a very exhilarating entertainment, and Austin felt that if it went on
+much longer he should scream. What possible pleasure, he marvelled,
+could Aunt Charlotte find in such a vapid form of dissipation? Even
+the garden irritated him, for it was laid out in the silly Early
+Victorian style, with wriggling paths, and ribbon borders, and shrubs
+planted meaninglessly here and there about the lawn, and a dreadful
+piece of sham rockwork in one corner. Of course the vicar's wife
+thought it quite perfect, and always snubbed Austin in a very lofty
+way if he ever ventured to express his own views as to how a garden
+should be fitly ordered. Then his eye happened to fall upon the
+curate's friend; and he caught the curate's friend in the act of
+staring at him with a most offensive expression of undisguised
+contempt.
+
+Now, Austin was courteous to everyone; but to anybody he disliked his
+politeness was simply deadly. Of course he took no notice of the young
+parson's tacit insolence; he only longed, as fervently as he knew how
+to long, for an opportunity of being polite to him. And the occasion
+was soon forthcoming. The conversation growing more general by
+degrees, a reference was made by the vicar, in passing, to a certain
+clergyman of profound scholarship and enlightened views, whose
+recently published book upon the prophet Daniel had been painfully
+exercising the minds of the editor and readers of the _Church Times_;
+and it was then that the curate's friend, without moving a muscle of
+his face, suddenly leaned forward and said, in a rasping voice:
+
+"The man's an impostor and a heretic. He ought to be burned. I would
+gladly walk in the procession, singing the 'Te Deum,' and set fire to
+the faggots myself."[A]
+
+And there was no doubt he meant it. A dead silence fell upon the
+party. The curate looked horribly annoyed. The ladies exclaimed "Oh!"
+with a little shudder of dismay. The vicar started, fidgeted, and
+blinked more nervously than ever. Then Austin, with the most charming
+manner in the world, broke the spell.
+
+"Really!" he exclaimed, turning towards the speaker, a bright smile of
+interest upon his face. "That's a most delightfully original
+suggestion. May I ask what religion you belong to?"
+
+"What religion!" scowled the curate's friend, astounded at the
+enquiry.
+
+"Yes--it must be one I never heard of," replied Austin, sweetly. "I am
+so awfully ignorant, you know; I know nothing of geography, and
+scarcely anything about the religions of savage countries. Are you a
+Thug?"
+
+"Oh, Austin!" breathed Aunt Charlotte, faintly.
+
+"I always do make such mistakes," continued Austin, with his most
+engaging air; "I'm so sorry, please forgive me if I'm stupid. I
+forgot, of course Thugs don't burn people alive, they only strangle
+them. Perhaps I'm thinking of the Bosjesmans, or the Andaman
+Islanders, or the aborigines of New Guinea. I do get so mixed up! But
+I've often thought how lovely it would be to meet a cannibal. You
+aren't a cannibal, are you?" he added wistfully.
+
+"I'm a priest of the Church of England," replied the curate's friend,
+with crushing scorn, though his face was livid. "When you're a little
+older you'll probably understand all that that implies."
+
+"Fancy!" exclaimed Austin, with an air of innocent amazement. "I've
+heard of the Church of England, but I quite thought you must belong to
+one of those curious persuasions in Africa, isn't it--or is it
+Borneo?--where the services consist in skinning people alive and then
+roasting them for dinner. It occurred to me that you might have gone
+there as a missionary, and that the savages had converted you instead
+of you converting the savages. I'm sure I beg your pardon. And have
+you ever set fire to a bishop?"
+
+"Austin! Austin!" came still more faintly from Aunt Charlotte.
+
+The vicar, scandalised at first, was now in convulsions of silent
+laughter. Mrs Sheepshanks's parasol was lowered in a most suspicious
+manner, so as completely to hide her face; while the unfortunate
+curate, with his head almost between his knees, was working havoc in
+the vicarage lawn with the point of a heavy walking-stick. The only
+person who seemed perfectly at his ease was Austin, and he was
+enjoying himself hugely. Then the vicar, feeling it incumbent upon
+him, as host, to say something to relieve the strain, attempted to
+pull himself together.
+
+"My dear boy," he said, in rather a quavering voice, "you may be
+perfectly sure that our valued guest has no sympathy with any of the
+barbarous religions you allude to, but is a most loyal member of the
+Church of England; and that when he said he would like to 'burn' a
+brother clergyman--one of the greatest Talmudists and Hebrew scholars
+now alive--it was only his humorous way of intimating that he was
+inclined to differ from him on one or two obscure points of historical
+or verbal criticism which----"
+
+"It was not," said the curate's friend.
+
+Mrs Sheepshanks immediately turned to Aunt Charlotte, and remarked
+that feather boas were likely to be more than ever in fashion when the
+weather changed; and Aunt Charlotte said she had heard from a most
+authoritative source that pleated corselets were to be the rage that
+autumn. Both ladies then agreed that the days were certainly beginning
+to draw in, and asked the curate if he didn't think so too. The curate
+fumbled in his pocket, and offered Austin a cigarette, and Austin,
+noticing the unconcealed annoyance of the unfortunate young man, who
+was really not a bad fellow in the main, felt kindly towards him, and
+accepted the cigarette with effusion. The vicar relapsed into silence,
+making no attempt to complete his unfinished sentence; then he stole a
+glance at the saturnine face of the stranger, and from that moment
+became an almost liberal-minded theologian; He had had an
+object-lesson that was to last him all his life, and he never forgot
+it.
+
+"Well, Austin," said Aunt Charlotte, when they were walking home, a
+few minutes later, "of course you _ought_ to have a severe scolding
+for your behaviour this afternoon; but the fact is, my dear, that on
+this occasion I do not feel inclined to give you one. That man was
+perfectly horrible, and deserved everything he got. I only hope it may
+have done him good. I couldn't have believed such people existed at
+the present day. The most charitable view to take of him is that he
+can scarcely be in his right mind."
+
+"What, because he wanted to burn somebody alive?" said Austin. "Oh,
+that was natural enough. I thought it rather an amusing idea, to tell
+the truth. The reason I went for him was that I caught him making
+faces at me when he thought I wasn't looking. I saw at once that he
+was a beast, so the instant he gave me an opportunity of settling
+accounts with him I took it. Oh, what a blessing it is to be at home
+again! Dear auntie, let's make a virtuous resolution. We'll neither of
+us go to the vicarage again as long as we both shall live."
+
+He strolled into the garden--the good garden, with straight walks, and
+clipped hedges, and fair formal shape--and threw himself down upon a
+long chair. He had already begun to forget the incidents of the
+afternoon. Here was rest, and peace, and beauty. How tired he was! Why
+did he feel so tired? He could not tell. A deep sense of satisfaction
+and repose stole over him. Lubin was there, tidying up, but he did not
+feel any inclination to talk to Lubin or anybody else. He liked
+watching Lubin, however, for Lubin was part of the garden, and all his
+associations with him were pleasant. The scent of the flowers and the
+grass possessed him. The sun was far from setting, and a young
+crescent moon was hovering high in the heavens, looking like a silver
+sickle against the blue. From the distant church came the sound of
+bells ringing for even-song, faint as horns of elf-land, through the
+still air. He felt that he would like to lie there always--just
+resting, and drinking in the beauty of the world.
+
+Suddenly he half-rose. "Lubin!" he called out quickly, in an
+undertone.
+
+"Sir," responded Lubin, turning round.
+
+"Who was that lady looking over the garden-gate just now?"
+
+"Lady?" repeated Lubin. "I never saw no lady. Whereabouts was she?"
+
+"On the path of course, outside. A second ago. She stood looking at me
+over the gate, and then went on. Run to the gate and see how far she's
+got--quick!"
+
+Lubin did as he was bidden without delay, looking up and down the
+road. Then he returned, and soberly picked up his broom.
+
+"There ain't no lady there," he said. "No one in sight either way.
+Must 'a been your fancy, Master Austin, I expect."
+
+"Fancy, indeed!" retorted Austin, excitedly. "You'll tell me next it's
+my fancy that I'm looking at you now. A lady in a large hat and a sort
+of light-coloured dress. She _must_ be there. There's nowhere else for
+her to be, unless the earth has swallowed her up. I'll go and look
+myself."
+
+He struggled up and staggered as fast as he could go to the gate. Then
+he pushed it open and went out as far as the middle of the road from
+which he could see at least a hundred yards each way. But not a living
+creature was in sight.
+
+"It's enough to make one's hair stand on end!" he exclaimed, as he
+came slowly back. "Where can she have got to? She was here--here, by
+the gate--not twenty seconds ago, only a few yards from where I was
+sitting. Don't talk to me about fancy; that's sheer nonsense. I saw
+her as distinctly as I see you now, and I should know her again
+directly if I saw her a year hence. Of all inexplicable things!"
+
+There was no more lying down. He was too much puzzled and excited to
+keep still. Up and down he paced, cudgelling his brains in search of
+an explanation, wondering what it could all mean, and longing for
+another glimpse of the mysterious visitor. For one brief moment he had
+had a full, clear view of her face, and in that moment he had been
+struck by her unmistakable resemblance to himself.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[A] A fact. Said in the writer's presence by a young clergyman of the
+same breed as the one here described.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter the Eleventh
+
+
+The repairs to the ceiling in Austin's room were now finished, and it
+was with great satisfaction that he resumed possession of his old
+quarters. The mysterious events that had befallen him when he slept
+there last, some weeks before, recurred very vividly to his mind as he
+found himself once more amid the familiar surroundings, and although
+he heard no more raps or anything else of an abnormal nature, he felt
+that, whatever dangers might threaten him in the future, he would
+always be protected by those he thought of as his unseen friends. Aunt
+Charlotte, meanwhile, had taken an opportunity of consulting the vicar
+as to the orthodoxy of a belief in guardian angels, and the vicar had
+reassured her at once by referring her to the Collect for St Michael
+and All Angels, in which we are invited to pray that they may succour
+and defend us upon earth; so that there really was nothing
+superstitious in the conclusion that, as Austin had undoubtedly been
+succoured and defended in a very remarkable manner on more than one
+occasion, some benevolent entity from a better world might have had a
+hand in it. The worthy lady, of course, could not resist the
+temptation of informing Mr Sheepshanks of what her bankers had said
+about the investment he had so earnestly urged upon her, and the vicar
+seemed greatly surprised. He had not put any money into it himself, it
+was true, but was being sorely tempted by another prospectus he had
+just received of an enterprise for recovering the baggage which King
+John lost some centuries ago in the Wash. The only consideration that
+made him hesitate was the uncertainty whether, in view of the
+perishable nature of the things themselves, they would be worth very
+much to anybody if ever they were fished up.
+
+"Austin," said Aunt Charlotte, two days afterwards at breakfast, "I
+have had another letter from Mr Ogilvie. Of course I wrote to him when
+I heard first, saying how pleased I should be to see him whenever he
+was in the neighbourhood again; and now I have his reply. He proposes
+to call here to-morrow afternoon, and have a cup of tea with us."
+
+"So the fateful day has come at last," remarked Austin. "Very well,
+auntie, I'll make myself scarce while you're talking over old times
+together, but I insist on coming in before he goes, remember. I'm
+awfully curious to see what he's like. Do you think he wears a wig?"
+
+"I really haven't thought about it," replied his aunt. "It's nothing
+to me whether he does or not--or to you either, for the matter of
+that. Of course you must present yourself to him some time or other;
+it would be most discourteous not to. And do, if you can, try and
+behave rather more like other people. Don't parade your terrible
+ignorance of geography, for instance, as you do sometimes. He would
+think that I had neglected your education disgracefully, and seeing
+what a traveller he's been himself--"
+
+"All right, auntie, I won't give you away," Austin assured her. "You'd
+better tell him what a horrid dunce I am before I come in, and then he
+won't be so surprised if I do put my foot in it. After all, we're not
+sure that he's been a traveller. He may be a painter. Lubin says that
+lots of painters come down here sometimes. My own idea is that he'll
+turn out to be nothing but a bank manager, or perhaps a stockbroker. I
+expect he's rolling in money."
+
+Austin had said nothing to his aunt about the lady who had looked over
+the gate for one brief moment and then so unaccountably disappeared.
+What would have been the use? He felt baffled and perplexed, but it
+was not likely that Aunt Charlotte would be able to throw any light
+upon the mystery. She would probably say that he had been dreaming, or
+that he only imagined it, or that it was an old gipsy woman, or one of
+the MacTavish girls playing a trick, or something equally fatuous and
+absurd. But the more he thought of it the more he was convinced of the
+reality of the whole thing, and of the existence of some great marvel.
+That he had seen the lady was beyond question. That she had vanished
+the next moment was also beyond question. That she had hidden behind a
+tree or gone crouching in a ditch was inconceivable, to say the least
+of it; so fair and gracious a person would scarcely descend to such
+undignified manoeuvres, worthy only of a hoydenish peasant girl. And
+yet, what could possibly have become of her? The enigma was quite
+unsolvable.
+
+The next morning brought with it a surprise. Aunt Charlotte had some
+very important documents that she wanted to deposit with her
+bankers--so important, indeed, that she did not like to entrust them
+to the post; so Austin, half in jest, proposed that he should go to
+town himself by an early train, and leave them at the bank in person.
+To his no small astonishment, Aunt Charlotte took him at his word,
+though not without some misgivings; instructed him to send her a
+telegram as soon as ever the papers were in safe custody, and assured
+him that she would not have a moment's peace until she got it. Austin,
+much excited at the prospect of a change, packed the documents away in
+the pistol-pocket of his trousers, and started off immediately after
+breakfast in high spirits. The journey was a great delight to him, as
+he had not travelled by railway for nearly a couple of years, and he
+derived immense amusement from watching his fellow-passengers and
+listening to their conversation. There was a party of very
+serious-minded American tourists, with an accent reverberant enough to
+have cracked the windows of the carriage had they not, luckily, been
+open; and from the talk of these good people he learnt that they came
+from a place called New Jerusalem, that they intended to do London in
+two days, and that they answered to the names of Mr Thwing, Mr Moment,
+and Mr and Mrs Skull. The gentlemen were arrayed in shiny
+broad-cloth, with narrow black ties, tied in a careless bow; the lady
+wore long curls all down her back and a brown alpaca gown; and they
+all seemed under the impression that the most important sights which
+awaited them were the Metropolitan Tabernacle and some tunnel under
+the Thames. The only other passenger was a rather smart-looking
+gentleman with a flower in his buttonhole, who made himself very
+pleasant; engaged Austin in conversation, gave him hints as to how
+best to enjoy himself in London, asked him a number of questions about
+where he lived and how he spent his time, and finished up by inviting
+him to lunch. But Austin, never having seen the man before, declined;
+and no amount of persuasion availed to make him alter his decision.
+
+On arrival in London, he got into an omnibus--not daring to call a
+cab, lest he should pay the cabman a great deal too much or a great
+deal too little--and in a short time was set down near Waterloo Place,
+where the bank was situated. His first care was to relieve himself of
+the precious documents, and this he did at once; but he thought the
+clerk looked at him in a disagreeably sharp and suspicious manner, and
+wondered whether it was possible he might be accused of forgery and
+given in charge to a policeman. The papers consisted of some
+dividend-warrants payable to bearer, and an endorsed cheque, and the
+clerk examined them with a most formidable and inquisitorial frown.
+Then he asked Austin what his name was, and where he lived; and Austin
+blushed and stammered to such an extent and made such confused replies
+that the clerk looked more suspiciously at him than ever, and Austin
+had it on the tip of his tongue to assure him that he really had not
+stolen the documents, or forged Aunt Charlotte's name, or infringed
+the laws in any way whatever that he could think of. But just then the
+clerk, who had been holding a muttered consultation with another
+gentleman of equally threatening aspect, turned to him again with a
+less aggressive expression, as much as to say that he'd let him off
+this time if he promised never to do it any more, and intimated, with
+a sort of grudging nod, that he was free to go if he liked. Which
+Austin, much relieved, forthwith proceeded to do.
+
+Then he stumped off as hard as he could go to the Post-Office near by,
+to despatch the telegram which should set Aunt Charlotte's mind at
+ease; and by dint of carefully observing what all the other people did
+managed to get hold of a telegraph-form and write his message.
+"Documents all safe in the Bank.--Your affectionate Austin." That
+would do beautifully, he thought. Then he offered it to a
+proud-looking young lady who lived behind a barricade of brass
+palings, and the young lady, having read it through (rather to his
+indignation) and rapidly counted the words, gave him a couple of
+stamps. But he explained, with great politeness, that he did not wish
+it to go by post, as it was most important that it should reach its
+destination before lunch-time; whereupon the young lady burst into a
+hearty laugh, and asked him how soon he was going back to school.
+Austin coloured furiously, rectified his mistake, and bolted.
+
+In Piccadilly Circus his attention was immediately attracted by a
+number of stout, florid, elderly ladies who were selling some most
+lovely bouquets for the buttonhole. This was a temptation impossible
+to resist, and he lost no time in choosing one. It cost fourpence, and
+Austin was so charmed at the skilful way in which the florid lady he
+had patronised pinned it into the lapel of his jacket that he raised
+his hat to her on parting with as much ceremony as though she had been
+a duchess at the very least. Then, observing that his shoe was dusty,
+he submitted it to a merry-looking shoeblack, who not only cleaned it
+and creamed it to perfection but polished up his wooden leg as well;
+Austin, in his usual absent-minded way, humming to himself the while.
+During the operation there suddenly rushed up a drove of very
+ungainly-looking objects, who, in point of fact, were persons lately
+arrived from Lancashire to play a football match at the Alexandra
+Palace--though Austin, of course, could not be expected to know that;
+and two of these, staring at him as though he were a wild animal that
+they had never seen before, enquired with much solicitude how his
+mother was, and whether he was having a happy day. Austin took no more
+notice of them than if they had been flies, but as soon as the
+shoeblack had finished, and been generously rewarded, he presented
+them each with a penny.
+
+"Wot's this for?" growled the foremost. "We ain't beggars, we ain't.
+Wot d'ye mean by it?"
+
+"Aren't you? I thought you were," said Austin. "However, you can keep
+the pennies. They will buy you bread, you know."
+
+The fellows edged off, muttering resentfully, and Austin prepared to
+cross the road to Piccadilly. The next moment he received a violent
+blow on the shoulder from an advancing horse, and was knocked clean
+off his legs. He was in the act of half-consciously taking off his hat
+and begging the horse's pardon when a stout policeman, coming to the
+rescue, lifted him bodily up in one arm, and, carrying him over the
+crossing, deposited him safely on the pavement. He recovered his
+breath in a minute or two, and then began to walk down Piccadilly
+towards the Park.
+
+The streets were gay and crowded, partly with black and grey people
+who seemed to be going about some business or other, but starred
+beautifully here and there with bright-eyed, clear-skinned, slender
+youths in straw hats, something like Austin himself, enjoying their
+release from school. Phalanxes of smartly-dressed ladies impeded the
+traffic outside the windows of all the millinery shops, omnibuses
+rattled up and down in a never-ending procession, and strident urchins
+with little pink newspapers under their arms yelled for all they were
+worth. Austin, absorbed in the cheerful spectacle, sauntered hither
+and thither, now attracted by the fresh verdure of the Green Park, now
+gazing with vivid interest at the ever-varying types of humanity that
+surged around him; blissfully unconscious that every one was staring
+at him, as though wondering who the pale-faced boy with eager eyes and
+a shiny black wooden leg could be, and why he went zigzagging to and
+fro and peering so excitedly about as though he had never seen any
+shops or people in his life before. At last he arrived at the Corner,
+and, turning into the Park, spent a quarter of an hour watching the
+riders in Rotten Row; then he crossed to the Marble Arch, passing a
+vast array of gorgeous flowers in full bloom, listened wonderingly to
+an untidy orator demolishing Christianity for the benefit of a little
+knot of errand-boys and nursemaids, took another omnibus along Oxford
+Street to the Circus, and, after an enchanting walk down Regent
+Street, entered a bright little Italian restaurant in the Quadrant,
+where he had a delightful lunch. This disposed of, he found that he
+could afford a full hour to have a look at the National Gallery
+without danger of losing his train, and off he plodded towards
+Trafalgar Square to make the most of his opportunity.
+
+Meanwhile Aunt Charlotte received her telegram, and, greatly relieved
+by its contents, spent an agreeable day. It was not to be wondered at
+if she felt a little fluttering excitement at the prospect of seeing
+her old suitor, and was more than usually fastidious in the
+arrangement of her modest toilet. Lubin had been requisitioned to
+provide a special supply of the freshest and finest flowers for the
+drawing-room, and she had herself gone to the pastrycook's to order
+the cheese-cakes and cream-tarts on which the expected visitor was to
+be regaled. Of course she kept on telling herself all the time what a
+foolish old woman she was, and how silly Mr Ogilvie would think her if
+he only knew of all her little fussy preparations; men who had knocked
+about the world hated to be fidgeted over and made much of, and no
+doubt it was quite natural they should. And then she went bustling off
+to impress on Martha the expediency of giving the silver tea-service
+an extra polish, and to be sure and see that the toast was crisp and
+fresh. When at last she sat down with a book in front of her in order
+to pass the time she found her attention wandering, and her thoughts
+recurring to the last occasion on which she had seen Granville
+Ogilvie. He had been rather a fine-looking young man in those
+days--tall, straight, and well set up; and well she remembered the
+whimsical way he had of speaking, the humorous glance of his eye, and
+those baffling intonations of voice that made it so difficult for her
+to be sure whether he were in jest or earnest. That he had
+confessedly been attracted by her was a matter of common knowledge.
+Why had she given him no encouragement? Perhaps it was because she had
+never understood him; because she had never been able to feel any real
+rapport between them, because their minds moved on different planes,
+and never seemed to meet. She had no sense of humour, and no insight;
+he was elusive, difficult to get into touch with; all she knew of him
+was his exterior, and that, for her, was no guide to the man beneath.
+Then he had dropped out of her life, and for five and twenty years she
+had never heard of him. Whatever chance she may have had was gone, and
+gone for ever. Did she regret it, now that she was able to look back
+upon the past so calmly? She thought not. And yet, as she meditated on
+those far-off days when she was young and pretty, the intervening
+years seemed to be annihilated, and she felt herself once more a girl
+of twenty-two, with a young man hovering around her, always on the
+verge of a proposal that she herself staved off.
+
+She was not agitated, but she was very curious to see what he would
+look like, and just a little anxious lest there should be any
+awkwardness about their meeting. But eventually it came about in the
+most natural manner in the world, and if anybody had peeped into the
+shady drawing-room just at the time when Austin's train was steaming
+into the station, there would certainly have been nothing in the scene
+to suggest any tragedy or romance whatever. Aunt Charlotte, in a
+pretty white lace _fichu_ set off with rose-coloured bows, was
+dispensing tea with hospitable smiles, while Martha handed cakes and
+poured a fresh supply of hot water into the teapot. Opposite, sat the
+long expected visitor; no lean, brown adventurer, no Indian nabob, and
+certainly no artist, but a tallish, large-featured, and somewhat
+portly gentleman, with a ruddy complexion, good teeth, and a general
+air of prosperity. His fashionable pale-grey frock-coat, evidently the
+work of a good tailor, fitted him like a glove; he wore, also, a white
+waistcoat, a gold eye-glass, and patent leather shoes. His appearance,
+in short, was that of a thoroughly well-groomed, though slightly
+over-dressed, London man; and he impressed both Martha and Aunt
+Charlotte with being a very fine gentleman indeed, for his manners
+were simply perfect, if perhaps a little studied. He dropped his
+gloves into his hat with a graceful gesture as he accepted a cup of
+tea, and then, turning to his hostess, said----
+
+"It is indeed delightful to meet you after all these years; it seems
+to bring back old times so vividly. And the years have dealt very
+gently with you, my dear friend. I should have known you anywhere."
+
+It was not quite certain to Aunt Charlotte whether she could
+truthfully have returned the compliment. There are some elderly people
+in whom it is the easiest thing in the world to recognise the features
+of their youth. Allow for a little accentuation of facial lines, a
+little roughening of the skin, a little modification in the
+arrangement of the hair, and the face is virtually the same. Aunt
+Charlotte herself was one of these, but Granville Ogilvie was not. She
+might even have passed him in the street. That he was the man she had
+known was beyond question, but there was a puffiness under the eyes
+and a fulness about the cheeks that altered the general effect of his
+appearance, and in spite of his modish dress and elaborate manners he
+seemed to have grown just a little coarse. Still, remembering what a
+bird of passage he had been, and the many experiences he must have had
+by land and sea, all that was not to be wondered at. It was really
+remarkable, everything considered, that he had managed to preserve
+himself so well.
+
+"Oh, I'm an old woman now," replied Aunt Charlotte with an almost
+youthful blush. "But I've had a peaceful life if rather a monotonous
+one, and I've nothing to complain of. It is very good of you to have
+remembered me, and I'm more glad than I can say to see you again. It's
+a quarter of a century since we met!"
+
+"It seems like yesterday," Mr Ogilvie assured her. "And yet how many
+things have happened in the meantime! This charming house of yours is
+a perfect haven of rest. Why do people knock about the world as they
+do, when they might stay quietly at home?"
+
+"Nay, it is rather I who should ask you that," laughed Aunt Charlotte.
+"It is you who have been knocking about, you know, not I. Men are so
+fond of adventures, while we women have to content ourselves with a
+very humdrum sort of life. You've been a great traveller, have you
+not?"
+
+This was a mild attempt at pumping on the part of Aunt Charlotte, for
+Mr Ogilvie certainly did not give one the idea of an explorer. But she
+was consumed with curiosity to knew where he had spent the years
+since she had seen him last, and now brought all her artless ingenuity
+into play in order to find out.
+
+"Yes, I was always a roving, restless sort of fellow," said Mr
+Ogilvie. "Never could stay long in the same place, you know. I often
+wonder how long it will be before I settle down for good."
+
+"Well, I almost envy you," confessed Aunt Charlotte, nibbling a
+cheese-cake. "I love travels and adventures; in books, of course, I
+mean. I've been reading Captain Burnaby's 'Ride to Khiva' lately, and
+that wonderful 'Life of Sir Richard Burton.' What marvellous nerve
+such men must have! To think of the disguises, for instance, they were
+forced to adopt, when detection would have cost them their lives! You
+should write your travels too, you know; I'm sure they'd be most
+exciting. Were you ever compelled to disguise yourself when you were
+travelling?"
+
+"I should rather think so," replied Mr Ogilvie, nodding his head
+impressively. "And that, my dear lady, under circumstances in which
+disguise was absolutely imperative. The most serious results would
+have followed if I hadn't done so; not death, perhaps, but utter and
+irretrievable ruin. However, here I am, you see, safe and sound, and
+none the worse for it after all. What delicious cream-tarts these are,
+to be sure! They remind one of the Arabian Nights. In Persia, by the
+way, they put pepper in them."
+
+"Oh dear! I don't think I should like that at all," exclaimed Aunt
+Charlotte, naively. "And have you really been in Persia? You must have
+enjoyed that very much. I suppose you saw some magnificent scenery in
+your wanderings?"
+
+"Oh, magnificent, magnificent," assented the great traveller.
+"Mountains, forests, castles, glaciers, and everything you can think
+of. But I've never got quite as far as Persia, you understand, and
+just at present I feel more interested in England. I sometimes think
+that I shall never leave English shores again."
+
+"And you are not married?" ventured the lady, with a tremor of
+hesitation in her voice. She had rushed on her destruction unawares.
+
+"No--no," replied the man who had once wanted to marry her. "And at
+this moment I'm very glad I'm not."
+
+"Oh, are you? Why?" exclaimed the foolish woman. "Don't you believe in
+marriage?"
+
+"In the abstract--oh, yes," said Mr Ogilvie, with meaning. "But my
+chance of married happiness escaped me years ago."
+
+Aunt Charlotte blushed hotly. She felt angry with herself for having
+given him an opening for such a remark, and annoyed with him for
+taking advantage of it. "Let me give you some more tea," she said.
+
+"Thank you so much, but I never exceed two cups," replied Mr Ogilvie,
+who did not particularly care for tea. "And yet there comes a time,
+you know, when the sight of so peaceful and attractive a home as this
+makes one wish that one had one like it of one's own. Of course a man
+has his tastes, his hobbies, his ambitions--every man, I mean, of
+character. And I am a man of character. But indulgence in a hobby is
+not incompatible with the love of a fireside, and the blessings of
+_dulce domum_, to say nothing of the _placens uxor_, who is the only
+true goddess of the hearth. Yes, dear friend, I confess that I should
+like--that I positively long--to marry. That is why, paradoxical as it
+may appear, I congratulate myself on not being married already. But,
+of course, in all such cases, the man himself is not the only factor
+to be reckoned with. The lady must be found, and the lady's consent
+obtained. And there we have the rub."
+
+"Dear me! how very unfortunate!" was all Aunt Charlotte could think of
+to remark. "And can't you find the lady?"
+
+"I thought I had found her once," said Mr Ogilvie.
+
+Then he deliberately rose from his chair, brushed a few crumbs from his
+coat, and took a few steps up and down the room. "Listen to me, dear
+friend," he began, in low, earnest tones. "There was a time--far be it
+from me to take undue advantage of these reminiscences--when you and I
+were thrown considerably together. At that time, that far-off, happy,
+and yet most tantalising time, I was bold enough to cherish certain
+aspirations." Here he took up his position behind a chair, resting his
+hands lightly on the back of it. "That those aspirations were not wholly
+unsuspected by you I had reason to believe. I may, of course, have been
+mistaken; love, or vanity if you prefer it, may blind the wisest of us.
+In any case, if I was vain, my pride came to the rescue, and sooner than
+incur the humiliation of a refusal--possibly a scornful refusal--I kept
+my secret locked in the inmost sanctuary of my heart, and went away."
+Mr Ogilvie illustrated his disappearance into vacancy by a slight but
+most expressive gesture of his arms. "I simply went away. And now I have
+come back. I have unburdened myself before you. In the years that are
+past, I was silent. Now I have spoken. And I am here to know what answer
+you have in your heart to give me."
+
+It had actually come. She remembered how she had told herself that,
+though she could never dream of marrying, it really would be very
+pleasant to be asked. But now that the proposal had been made she felt
+most horribly embarrassed. What in the world was she to say to the
+man? She knew him not one bit better than she had done when she saw
+him last. He puzzled her more than ever. He did not look like a
+despairing lover, but a singularly plump and prosperous gentleman; and
+certainly the silver-grey frock-coat, and gold eye-glass, and
+varnished shoes struck her as singularly out of harmony with the
+extraordinary speech he had just delivered. Yet it was evidently
+impromptu, and possibly would never have been delivered at all had not
+she herself so blunderingly led up to it. And it was not a bad speech
+in its way. There was something really effective about it--or perhaps
+it was in the manner of its delivery. So she sat in silence, most
+dreadfully ill at ease, and not finding a single word wherewith to
+answer him.
+
+"Charlotte," said Mr Ogilvie in a low voice, bending over her,
+"Charlotte."
+
+"Mr Ogilvie!" gasped the unhappy lady, almost frightened out of her
+wits.
+
+"You _once_ called me Granville," he murmured, trying to take her
+hand.
+
+"But I can't do it again!" cried Aunt Charlotte, shaking her head
+vigorously. "It wouldn't be proper. We are just two old people, you
+see, and--and----"
+
+"H'm!" Mr Ogilvie straightened himself again. "It is true I am no
+longer in my first youth, and time has certainly left its mark upon my
+lineaments; but you, dear friend, are one of those whose charms
+intensify with years." Here he took out a white pocket-handkerchief,
+and passed it lightly across his eyes. "But I have startled you, and I
+am sorry. I have sprung upon you, suddenly and thoughtlessly, what I
+ought to have only hinted at. I have erred from lack of delicacy.
+Forgive me my impulsiveness, my ardour. I was ever a blunt man, little
+versed in the arts of diplomacy and _finesse_. For years I have
+looked forward to this moment; in my dreams, in my waking hours,
+in----"
+
+"Pardon me one moment," said Aunt Charlotte, starting to her feet. "I
+know I'm sadly rude to interrupt you, but I hear my nephew in the
+hall, and I must just say a word to him before he comes in. I'll be
+back immediately. You will forgive me--won't you?"
+
+She floundered to the door, leaving Mr Ogilvie no little disconcerted
+at his appeal being thus cut short. Austin had just come in, and was
+in the act of hanging up his hat when his aunt appeared.
+
+"Well, auntie!" he said. "And has the gentleman arrived?"
+
+"Hush!" breathed Aunt Charlotte, as she pointed a warning finger to
+the door. "He's in the drawing-room. Austin, you've come back in the
+very nick of time. Don't ask me any questions. My dear, you were right
+after all."
+
+"Ah!" was all Austin said. "Well?"
+
+"Come in with me at once, we can't keep him waiting," said Aunt
+Charlotte hastily. "I'll explain everything to you afterwards. Never
+mind your hair--you look quite nice enough. And mind--your very
+prettiest manners, for my sake."
+
+What in the world she meant by this Austin couldn't imagine, but
+instantly took up the cue. The two entered the room together. Mr
+Ogilvie was standing a little distance off in an attitude of
+expectancy, his eyes turned towards the door. Aunt Charlotte took a
+step forward, and prepared to introduce her nephew. Austin suddenly
+paused; gazed at the visitor for one instant with an expression that
+no one had ever seen upon his face before; and then, falling flop upon
+the nearest easy-chair, went straightway into a paroxysm of hysterical
+and frantic laughter.
+
+"Austin! Austin! Have you gone out of your mind?" cried his aunt,
+almost beside herself with stupefaction. "Is this your good behaviour?
+What in the world's the matter with the boy now?"
+
+"It's _Mr Buskin!_" shrieked Austin, hammering his leg upon the floor
+in a perfect ecstasy of delight. "The step-uncle! Oh, do slap me,
+auntie, or I shall go on laughing till I die!"
+
+"_Who's_ Mr Buskin?" gasped his aunt, bewildered. "This is Mr
+Granville Ogilvie. What Buskin are you raving about, for Heaven's
+sake?"
+
+"It's Mr Buskin the actor," panted Austin breathlessly, as he began to
+recover himself. "He was at the theatre here, some time ago. How do
+you do, Mr Buskin? Oh, please forgive me for being so rude. I hope
+you're pretty well?"
+
+Mr Ogilvie had not budged an inch. But when Austin came in he had
+started violently. "Great Scott! Young Dot-and-carry-One!" he
+muttered, but so low that no one heard him. He now advanced a pace or
+two, and cleared his throat.
+
+"I have certainly had the honour of meeting this young gentleman
+before," he said, in his most stately manner. "He was even kind enough
+to present me with his card, but I fear I did not pay as much
+attention to the name as it deserved. It is true, my dear lady, that I
+am known to Europe under the designation he ascribes to me; but to you
+I am what I have always been and always shall be--Granville Ogilvie,
+and your most humble slave."
+
+"Is it possible?" ejaculated Aunt Charlotte faintly.
+
+"You will, no doubt, attribute to its true source the concealment I
+have exercised towards you respecting my life for the last
+five-and-twenty years," resumed Mr Ogilvie, with a candid air. "I was
+ever the most modest of men, and the modesty which, from a gross and
+worldly point of view, has always been the most formidable obstacle in
+my path, prohibited my avowing to you the secret of my profession.
+Still, I practised no deceit; indeed, I confessed in the most artless
+fashion that, in my wanderings--in other words, on tour--I was
+compelled to assume disguises, and that some of my scenery was
+magnificent. But why should I defend myself? _Qui s'excuse s'accuse_;
+and now that this very engaging young gentleman has saved me the
+trouble of revealing the position in life that I am proud to occupy,
+there is nothing more to be said. We were interrupted, you remember,
+at a crisis of our conversation. I crave your permission to add, at a
+crisis of our lives. Far be it from me to----"
+
+"I am afraid I am scarcely equal to renewing the conversation at the
+point where we broke off," said Aunt Charlotte, who now felt her wits
+getting more under control. "Indeed, Mr Ogilvie, I have nothing to
+reproach you with. I had no right to enquire what your profession was,
+and still less have I a right to criticise it. But of course you will
+understand that the subject we were speaking of must never be
+mentioned again."
+
+The lover sighed. It was not a bad situation, and his long experience
+enabled him to make it quite effective. Silently he took his gloves
+out of his hat, paused, and then dropped them in again, with the very
+faintest and most dramatic gesture of despair. The action was trifling
+in the extreme, but it was performed by a play-actor who knew his
+business, and Aunt Charlotte felt as though cold water were running
+down her back. Then he turned, quite beautifully, to Austin.
+
+"And you, young gentleman. And what have _you_ to say?" he asked in a
+carefully choking voice.
+
+"That I like you even better in your present part than as
+Sardanapalus," replied Austin, cordially.
+
+"The tribute is two-edged," observed the actor with a shrug. And
+certainly he had acted well, and dressed the character to perfection.
+But the takings of the performance, alas, had not paid expenses. He
+really had a sentiment for the lady he had been wooing, and the
+prospect of a solid additional income--for it was clear she was in
+very easy circumstances--had smiled upon him not unpleasantly. And
+why should she not have married him? He was her equal in birth, they
+had been possible lovers in their youth, he had made a name for
+himself meanwhile, and, after all, there was no stain upon his honour.
+But she had now definitely refused. The little comedy had been played
+out. There was nothing for him to do but to make a graceful exit, and
+this he did in a way that brought tears to the lady's eyes. "Oh, need
+you go?" she urged with fatuous politeness. Austin was more friendly
+still; he reminded Mr Ogilvie that having returned so late he had had
+no opportunity of enjoying a renewal of their acquaintance, and begged
+him to remain a little longer for a chat and a cigarette. But Mr
+Ogilvie was too much of an artist to permit an anti-climax. The
+catastrophe had come off, and the curtain must be run down quick. So
+he wrenched himself away with what dignity he might, and, relapsing
+into his natural or Buskin phase as soon as he got outside, comforted
+himself with a glass of stiff whiskey and water at the refreshment bar
+of the railway station before getting into the train for London.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter the Twelfth
+
+
+As the weeks rolled on the days began perceptibly to draw in, and the
+leaves turned gradually from green to golden brown. It was the fall of
+the year, when the wind acquires an edge, and blue sky disappears behind
+purple clouds, and the world is reminded that ere very long all nature
+will be wrapped in a shroud of grey and silver. Rain fell with greater
+frequency, the uplands were often veiled in a damp mist, the hours of
+basking in noontide suns by the old stone fountain were gone, and Austin
+was fain to relinquish, one by one, those summer fantasies that for so
+many happy months had made the gladness of his life. There is always
+something sad about the autumn. It is associated, undeniably, with
+golden harvests and purple vintages, the crimson and yellow magnificence
+of foliage, and a few gorgeous blooms; but these, after all, are no more
+than indications that the glory of the year has reached its zenith,
+that its labours have attained fruition, and that the death of winter
+must be passed through before the resurrection-time of spring.
+
+    "Ihr Matten lebt wohl,
+        Ihr sonnigen Waiden,
+        Der Senne muss scheiden,
+    Die Sommer ist bin."
+
+And yet the summer did not carry everything away with it. As the year
+ripened and decayed, other fantasies arose to take the place of those
+he was losing--or rather, he grew more and more under the obsession of
+ideas not wholly of this world, ideas and phases of consciousness
+that, as we have seen, had for some time past been gradually gaining
+an entrance into his soul. As the beauties of the material world
+faded, the wonders of a higher world superseded them. He still lived
+much in the open air, drinking in all the influences of the scenery in
+earth and sky, and marvelling at the loveliness of the year's
+decadence; but, as though in subtle sympathy with nature's phases, it
+seemed to him as though his own body had less vitality, and that,
+while his mind was as keen and vigorous as ever, he felt less and less
+inclined to explore his beloved, fields and woods. Aunt Charlotte
+looked first critically and then anxiously at his face, which
+appeared to her paler and thinner than before. His stump began to
+trouble him again, and once or twice he confessed, in a reluctant sort
+of way, that his back did not feel quite comfortable. Of course he
+thought it was very silly of his back, and was annoyed that it did not
+behave more sensibly. But he didn't let it trouble him over-much, for
+he was always very philosophical about pain. Once, when he had a
+toothache, somebody expressed surprise that he bore it with such
+stoicism, and asked him jokingly for the secret. "Oh," he replied, "I
+just fix my attention on my great toe, or any other part of my body,
+and think how nice it is that I haven't got a toothache there."
+
+Aunt Charlotte had meanwhile grown to have much more respect for
+Austin than she had ever felt previously. He was now nearly eighteen,
+and his character and mental force had developed very rapidly of late.
+In spite of his inconceivable ignorance in some respects--geography,
+for instance--he had shown a shrewdness for which she had been totally
+unprepared, and a quiet persistence in matters where he felt that he
+was right and she was wrong that had begun to impress her very
+seriously. Many instances had arisen in which there had been a
+struggle for the mastery between them, and in every case not only had
+Austin had his own way but she had been compelled to acknowledge to
+herself that the wisdom had been on his side and not on hers. It was
+not so much that his reasoning powers were exceptionally acute as that
+he seemed to have a mysterious instinct, a sort of sub-conscious
+intuition, that never led him astray. And then there were those
+baffling, inexplicable premonitions that on three occasions had
+intervened to prevent some great disaster. The thought of these made
+her very pensive, and now that the vicar had set her mind at rest upon
+the abstract theory of invisible protectors she felt that she could
+harbour speculations about them without danger to her soul's welfare.
+That the power at work could scarcely emanate from the devil was now
+clear even to her, timid and narrow-minded as she was. Still, with
+that illogical shrinking from any tangible proof that her creed was
+true that is so characteristic of the orthodox, the whole thing gave
+her rather an uncomfortable sensation, and she would vastly have
+preferred to believe in spiritual or angelic ministrations as a pious
+opinion or casual article of faith than to have it brought home to her
+in the guise of knocks and raps. There are millions like her in the
+world to-day. Her religion, like everything else about her, was
+conventional, though not a whit the less sincere for that.
+
+And so it came about that she felt very much more dependent upon
+Austin than Austin did on her, although neither of them was conscious
+of the fact. The chief result was that, now they had fallen into their
+proper positions, they got on together much better than they had done
+before. Austin had really accomplished something towards "educating"
+his aunt, as he used humorously to say, and as he represented the
+newer and fresher thought it was well that it should be so. I do not
+know that he troubled himself very much about the future. In spite of
+his delicate health he was full of the joy of life, and he accepted it
+as a matter of course that wherever his future might be spent it would
+be a happy and a joyous one. What was the use of worrying about a
+matter over which he had absolutely no control? The universe was very
+beautiful, and he was a part of it. And as the universe would
+certainly endure, so would he endure. Why, then, should he concern
+himself about what might be in store for him?
+
+"You must take care of yourself, Austin," said Aunt Charlotte to him
+one day. "I'm afraid you've been overtaxing your strength, you know.
+You never would remain quiet even on the hottest days, and we've had
+rather a trying summer, you must remember."
+
+"It's been a lovely summer," replied Austin, who was lying down.
+
+"And how are you feeling, my dear?" asked Aunt Charlotte, anxiously.
+
+"Splendid!" he assured her. "I never felt better in my life."
+
+"But those little pains you spoke of; that weakness in your back----"
+
+"Oh, _that_!" said Austin, slightingly. "I wasn't thinking of my body.
+What does one's body matter? I meant _myself_. I'm all right. I
+daresay my bones may be doing something silly, but really I'm not
+responsible for their vagaries, am I now?"
+
+Aunt Charlotte sighed, and dropped the subject for the time being. But
+she was not quite easy in her mind.
+
+One day a great joy came to Austin. He was hobbling about the garden
+with his aunt, when all of a sudden he saw Roger St Aubyn approaching
+them across the lawn. It was with immense pride that he presented his
+friend to Aunt Charlotte, who, as may be remembered, had been just a
+little huffy that St Aubyn had never called on her before; but now
+that he had actually come the small grievance was forgotten in a
+moment, and she welcomed him with charming cordiality.
+
+"It is all the pleasanter to meet you," she said, "as I have now an
+opportunity of thanking you for all your kindness to Austin. He is
+never tired of telling me how much he has enjoyed himself with you."
+
+"The pleasure has been divided; he certainly has given me quite as
+much as ever I have been fortunate enough to give him," replied St
+Aubyn, smiling, "What a very dear old garden you have here; I don't
+wonder that he's so fond of it. It seems a place one might spend one's
+life in without ever growing old."
+
+"That's what I mean to do," said Austin, laughing.
+
+"But yours is magnificent, I'm told," observed Aunt Charlotte. "A
+little place like this is nothing in comparison, of course. Still, you
+are right; we are both extremely fond of it, and have spent many happy
+hours in it during the years that we've lived here."
+
+"And is that Lubin?" asked St Aubyn, noticing the young gardener a
+little distance off.
+
+"Yes, that's Lubin," replied Austin, delighted that St Aubyn should
+have remembered him. Then Lubin looked up with a respectful smile, and
+bashfully touched his cap. "Lubin's awfully clever," he continued, as
+they sauntered out of hearing, "and _so_ nice every way. He's what I
+call a real gentleman, and knows all sorts of curious things. It's
+perfectly wonderful how much more country people know than townsfolk.
+Of course I mean about _real_ things--nature, and all that--not silly
+stuff you find in history-books, which is of no consequence to anybody
+in the world."
+
+"Now, Austin," began Aunt Charlotte, warningly.
+
+"Oh, you needn't be afraid," laughed St Aubyn; "Austin's heresies are
+no novelty to me. And a heresy, you must recollect, has always some
+forgotten truth at the bottom of it."
+
+"I'm sure I hope so," replied Aunt Charlotte. "But the wind's getting
+a trifle chilly, and I think it's about time for tea. Austin isn't
+very strong just now, and mustn't run any risks."
+
+So they went indoors and had their tea in the drawing-room, when St
+Aubyn let fall the information that he was starting in a few days for
+a short tour in Italy. It would not be long, however, before he was
+back, and then of course he should look forward to seeing a great deal
+of Austin at the Court. Then Aunt Charlotte had to promise that she
+would honour the Court with a visit too; whereupon Austin launched out
+into a most glowing and picturesque description of the orchid-houses,
+and the pool of water-lilies, and the tapestry in the Banqueting Hall,
+being extremely curious to know whether his prosaic relative would
+experience any of those queer sensations that had so greatly impressed
+himself. This suggested a reference to Lady Merthyr Tydvil, who had
+taken so great an interest in Austin when last he had been at the
+Court; and here Aunt Charlotte chimed in, being naturally anxious to
+hear all about the wonderful old lady who had known Austin's father so
+well in years gone by, and remembered his mother too. Of course St
+Aubyn said, as in duty bound, that he hoped the countess would have
+the pleasure of meeting Austin's aunt some day under his own roof, and
+Aunt Charlotte acknowledged the courtesy in fitting terms.
+
+So the visit was quite a success, and Austin felt much more at his
+ease now that he could talk to his aunt about St Aubyn as one whom
+they both knew. She, on her side, was delighted with her new
+acquaintance, particularly as he seemed quite familiar with Austin's
+ethical and intellectual eccentricities, and did not seem horrified at
+them in the very least. The only thing that disturbed her just a
+little was the state of the boy's health. His spirits were as good as
+ever, and he seemed quite indifferent to the fact that he was not
+robust and hale; but there could be no doubt that he was paler and
+more fragile than he ought to have been, and the uneasiness he was
+fain to acknowledge in his hip and back worried her not a
+little--more, in fact, a great deal than it worried Austin himself.
+
+The truth was that his attention was taken up with something wholly
+different. The allusions to his unknown mother that had been made by
+Lady Merthyr Tydvil, and the cropping-up of the same subject during St
+Aubyn's visit, had somehow connected themselves in his mind with the
+mysterious appearance of the strange lady at the garden gate on the
+evening of the tea-party at the vicarage. Lady Merthyr Tydvil had
+recognised a strong resemblance between his mother as she had known
+her and himself, and he had noticed the very same thing in the
+strange lady. There were the same dark eyes, the same long, pale face,
+even (as far as he could judge) the same shade in colour of the hair.
+He would have thought little or nothing of this had it not been for
+the inexplicable and almost miraculous vanishing of the figure when
+there was absolutely nowhere for it to vanish to. Austin knew nothing
+of such happenings; with all his reading he had never chanced to open
+a single book that dealt with phenomena of this class, much less any
+written by scientific and sober investigators, so that the entire
+subject was an undiscovered country to him. Had he done so, his
+perplexity would not have been nearly so great, and very probably he
+might have recognised the fact of his own remarkable psychic powers.
+Still, in spite of this disadvantage, the conviction was slowly but
+surely forcing itself upon his mind that the lady he had seen was no
+one but his own mother. From this to a belief that it was she who had
+intervened to save both himself and his Aunt Charlotte from serious
+disasters was but a single step; and like Mary of old, in the presence
+of an even greater mystery, he revolved all these things silently in
+his heart.
+
+It was during the period when he was occupied with this train of
+thought that another strange thing occurred. One evening he strolled
+into the garden just as the sun was setting. It was one of those lurid
+sunsets peculiar to autumn, which look like a distant conflagration
+obscured by a veil of smoke. The western sky was aglow with a dull,
+murky crimson flecked by clouds of the deepest indigo, from behind
+which there seemed to shoot up luminous pulsations like the reflection
+of unseen flames. The effect of this red, throbbing light upon the
+garden in which he stood was almost unearthly, something resembling
+that of an eclipse viewed through warm-coloured glass; beautiful in
+itself, yet abnormal, fantastic, suggestive of weird imaginings.
+Austin, absorbed in contemplation, moved slowly through the shrubbery
+until he reached the lawn; then came to a dead stop. An astounding
+vision appeared before him. Standing by the old stone fountain,
+scarcely ten yards away, he saw the figure of a youth. The slender
+form was partly draped in a loose tunic of some dim, pale, reddish
+hue, descending halfway to his knees; on his feet were sandals of the
+old classic type; his golden hair was bound by a narrow fillet, and in
+his right hand he held a round, shallow cup, apparently of gold,
+towards which he was bending his head as though to drink from it.
+Austin stood transfixed. So exquisite a being he had never dreamt of
+or conceived. The contour of the limbs, the fall of the tunic, the
+pose of the head and throat, the ruddy lips, ever so slightly parted
+to meet the edge of the vessel he was in the act of raising to them,
+were something more than human. The whole thing stood out with
+stereoscopic clearness, and seemed as though self-luminous, although
+it shed no light on its surroundings. At that moment the youth turned
+his head, and met Austin's eyes with an expression that was not a
+smile, but something far more subtle, something that bore the same
+relation to a smile that a smile does to a laugh--thrilling,
+penetrating, indescribable. Austin flung out his hands in rapture.
+
+"Daphnis!" he ejaculated, with a flash of intuition.
+
+He threw himself forward impulsively, in a mad attempt to approach the
+wonderful phantasm. As he did so, the colours lost their sheen, and
+the figure faded into transparency. By the time he was near enough to
+touch it, it was no longer there, and the next instant he found
+himself clinging to the cold stone margin of the old fountain, all
+alone upon the lawn in the fast gathering twilight, shivering,
+panting, marvelling, but exultant in the consciousness of having been
+vouchsafed just one glimpse of the being who, so long unseen, had
+constituted for many years his cherished ideal of physical and
+spiritual beauty.
+
+He leant upon the fountain, in the spot that the vision had occupied.
+"And I believe he's always been here--all these many years," mused the
+boy, coming gradually to himself again. "He has stood beside me, often
+and often, inspiring me with beautiful ideas, though I never guessed
+it, never suspected it for a single moment. And now he has shown
+himself to me at last. The fountain is haunted, haunted by the
+beautiful earth-spirit that has been my guide, that I've dreamt of all
+my life without ever having seen him. It's a sacred fountain now--like
+the fountains of old Hellas, sacred with the hauntings of the gods.
+And he actually drank of the water--or was going to, if I hadn't
+frightened him away. Perhaps he's still here, although I can't see him
+any more. I wonder whether he knows my mother. It may be that they're
+great friends, and keep watch over me together. How wonderful it all
+is!"
+
+Then he walked slowly and rather painfully back to the house. He was
+in great spirits that night at dinner, though he ate no more than
+would have satisfied a bird, greatly to his aunt's disturbance. With
+much tact he abstained from saying anything to her about the
+extraordinary experience he had just gone through, feeling very justly
+that, though she seemed more or less reconciled to the ministry of
+angels, Daphnis was frankly a pagan spirit, and would, as such, be
+open to grave suspicion from the standpoint of his aunt's orthodoxy.
+But it didn't matter much, after all. He was happy in the
+consciousness that every day he was getting into nearer touch with a
+beautiful world that he could not see as yet, but in the existence of
+which he now believed as firmly as in that of his own garden. The
+spirit-land was fast becoming a reality to him, and although he had
+never beheld the glories of its scenery he had actually had a visit
+from two of its inhabitants. That, he thought, constituted the
+difference between Aunt Charlotte and himself. She believed in some
+place she called heaven, and had a vague notion that it was like a
+sort of religious transformation-scene, millions of miles away, up
+somewhere in the sky. He, on the contrary, knew that the spirit-world
+was all around him, because he had had ocular as well as intuitive
+demonstration of its proximity.
+
+It must not be supposed, however, that he sank into a state of mystic
+contemplation that unfitted him for every-day life. On the contrary,
+he took more interest in his physical surroundings than ever. It was
+now October, and he threw himself with almost feverish energy into the
+garden-work belonging to that month. There were potted carnations to
+be removed into warmth and shelter, hyacinths and tulips for the
+spring bloom to be planted in different beds, roses and honeysuckles
+to be carefully and scientifically pruned, and dead leaves to be
+plucked off everywhere. His fragile health prevented him from helping
+in the more onerous tasks, but he followed Lubin about indefatigably,
+watching everything he did with eager vigilance, whether he was
+planting ranunculuses and anemones, or clipping hedges, or trimming
+evergreens; while he himself was fain to be content with pruning and
+budding, and directing how the plants should be most fitly set. He
+said he wanted the show of flowers next year to be a triumph of
+gardencraft. The garden was a sort of holy of holies to him, and he
+tended it, and planned for it, and worked in it more enthusiastically
+than he had ever done before. This interest in common things was
+gratifying to Aunt Charlotte, who distrusted and discouraged his
+dwelling on what she called the uncanny side of life; but she was
+anxious, at the same time, that he should not overtax his strength,
+and gave secret orders to Lubin to see that the young master did not
+allow his ardour to outrun the dictates of discretion.
+
+One afternoon, Austin, who was feeling unusually tired, was lying in
+an easy-chair in the drawing-room with a book. He had been all the
+morning standing about in the garden, and after lunch Aunt Charlotte
+had put her foot down, and peremptorily forbidden him to go out any
+more that day. Austin had tried to get up a small rebellion,
+protesting that there were a lot of jonquils to be planted, and that
+Lubin would be sure to stick them too close together if he were not
+there to look after him; but his aunt was firm, and Austin was
+compelled on this occasion to submit. So there he lay, very calm and
+comfortable, while Aunt Charlotte knitted industriously, close by.
+
+"You see, my dear, you're not strong--not nearly so strong as you
+ought to be," she said, as she glanced at his drawn face. "I intend to
+take extra care of you this winter, and if you're not good about it I
+shall have to call in the doctor. I feel I have a great
+responsibility, you know, Austin. Oh, if only your poor mother were
+here, and could look after you herself!"
+
+"How do you know she doesn't?" asked Austin.
+
+"My dear!" exclaimed Aunt Charlotte, rather shocked.
+
+"Well, you can't be sure," retorted Austin, "and I believe myself she
+does. I'm sure of one thing, anyhow--and that is that if she came into
+the room at this moment I should recognise her at once."
+
+"You? Why, you never saw her in your life!" said Aunt Charlotte. "You
+shouldn't indulge such fancies, Austin. You could only think it might
+possibly be your mother, from the descriptions you've heard of her. Of
+course you could never be certain."
+
+"How is it she never had her likeness taken?" enquired Austin, laying
+his book aside.
+
+"She did have her likeness taken once; but she didn't care for it, and
+I don't think she kept any copies," replied Aunt Charlotte. "It was
+just a common cabinet photograph, you know, done by some man or other
+in a country town. There may be one or two in existence, but I've
+never come across any. I've often wished I could."
+
+"There are a lot of old trunks up in the attic, full of all sorts of
+rubbish," suggested Austin. "It might be amusing to go up and grub
+about among them some day. One might find wonderful heirlooms, and
+jewels, and forgotten wills. I should like to hunt there awfully. I'm
+sure they haven't been touched for a century."
+
+"In that case it isn't likely we should find your mother's photograph
+among them," retorted Aunt Charlotte briskly.
+
+Austin laughed. "But may I?" he persisted.
+
+"My dear, of course you may if you like," replied Aunt Charlotte. "I
+don't suppose there are any treasures or secrets to be unearthed;
+probably you'll find nothing but a lot of old bills, and school-books,
+and such-like useless lumber. There _may_ be some forgotten
+photographs--I couldn't swear there aren't; but if you do find
+anything of interest I shall be much surprised."
+
+Austin was on his legs in a moment. "Just the thing for an afternoon
+like this!" he cried impulsively. "I'll go up now, and have a look
+round. Don't worry, auntie; I won't fatigue myself, I promise you. I
+only want to see if there's anything that looks as though it might be
+worth examining."
+
+He hopped out of the room in some excitement, full of this new
+project. Aunt Charlotte, less enthusiastic, continued knitting
+placidly, her only anxiety being lest Austin should strain his back in
+leaning over the boxes. In about twenty minutes or so he returned,
+followed by Martha, the two carrying between them a battered green
+chest full of odds and ends, which she had carefully dusted before
+bringing into the drawing-room. "There!" he said, triumphantly;
+"here's treasure-trove, if you like. Put it on the chair, Martha,
+close by me, and then I can empty it at my leisure. Now for a plunge
+into the past. Isn't it going to be fun, auntie?"
+
+"I hope, my dear, that the entertainment will come up to your
+expectations," observed Aunt Charlotte, equably.
+
+"Sure to," said Austin, beginning to rummage about. "What are these?
+Old exercise-books, as I live! Oh, do look here; isn't this wonderful?
+Here's a translation: 'Horace, Liber I, Satire 5.' How brown the ink
+is. _Aricia a little town on the way to Appia received me coming from
+the magnificent city of Rome with poor accommodation. Heliodorus by far
+the most learned orator of the Greeks accompanied me. We came to the
+market-place of Appius filled with sailors and insolent brokers._--Were
+they stockbrokers, I wonder? Oh, auntie, these are exercises done by my
+grandfather when he was a little boy. Poor little grandfather; what
+pains he seems to have taken over it, and how beautifully it's written.
+I hope he got a lot of marks; do you think he did? _The sailor, soaked
+in poor wine, and the passenger, earnestly celebrate their absent
+mistresses._ Poor things! They don't seem to have had a very enjoyable
+excursion. However, I can't read it all through. Oh--here are a lot of
+letters. Not very interesting. All about contracts and sales, and silly
+things like that. Here's a funny book, though. Do look, auntie. It must
+have been printed centuries ago by the look of it. I wonder what it's
+all about. _A Sequel to the Antidote to the Miseries of Human Life,
+containing a Further Account of Mrs Placid and her daughter Rachel. By
+the Author of the Antidote._ What _does_ it all mean? 'Squire
+Bustle'--'Miss Finakin'--'Uncle Jeremiah'--used people to read books
+like this when grandfather was a little boy? It looks quite charming,
+but I think we'll put it by for the present. What's this? Oh, a
+daguerreotype, I suppose--an extraordinary-looking, smirking old
+person in a great bonnet with large roses all round her face, and tied
+with huge ribbons under her chin. Dear auntie, why don't you wear
+bonnets like that? You _would_ look so sweet! Pamphlets--tracts--oh
+dear, these are all dreadfully dry. What a mixture it all is, to be
+sure. The things seem to have been shot in anyhow. Hullo--an album.
+_Now_ we shall see. This is evidently of much later date than the other
+treasures, though it is at the bottom of them all."
+
+He dragged out an old, soiled, photographic album bound in purple
+morocco, and all falling to pieces. It proved to contain family
+portraits, none of them particularly attractive in themselves, but
+interesting enough to Austin. He turned over the pages one by one,
+slowly. Aunt Charlotte glanced curiously at them over her spectacles
+from where she sat.
+
+"I don't think I remember ever seeing that album," she said. "I wonder
+whom it can have belonged to. Ah! I expect it must have been your
+father's. Yes--there's a photograph of your Uncle Ernest, when he was
+just of age. You never saw him, he went to Australia before you were
+born. Those ladies I don't know. What a string of them there are, to
+be sure. I suppose they were----"
+
+"There she is!" cried Austin, suddenly bringing his hand down upon the
+page. "That's my mother. I told you I should know her, didn't I?"
+
+Aunt Charlotte jumped. "The very photograph!" she exclaimed. "I had no
+idea there was a copy in existence. But how in the wide world did you
+recognise it?"
+
+Austin continued examining it for some seconds without replying. "I
+don't think it quite does her justice," he said at last, thoughtfully.
+"The position isn't well arranged. It makes the chin too small."
+
+"Quite true!" assented Aunt Charlotte. "It's the way she's holding her
+head." Then, with another start: "But how can you know that?"
+
+"Because I saw her only the other day," said Austin.
+
+For a moment Aunt Charlotte thought he was wool-gathering. He spoke in
+such a perfectly calm, natural tone, that he might have been referring
+to someone who lived in the next street. But a glance at his face
+convinced her that he meant exactly what he said.
+
+"Austin!" she exclaimed. "What can you be thinking about?"
+
+"It's perfectly true," he assured her. "I saw her a few weeks ago in
+the garden. She stood and looked at me over the gate, and then
+suddenly disappeared."
+
+"And you really believe it?" cried Aunt Charlotte in amaze.
+
+"I don't believe it, I know it," he answered, laying down the
+photograph. "I saw her as distinctly as I see you now. It was that day
+we had been having tea at the vicarage, when we met the man who wanted
+to set fire to some bishop or other. Ask Lubin; he'll remember it fast
+enough."
+
+This time Aunt Charlotte fairly collapsed. It was no longer any use
+flouting Austin's statements; they were too calm, too collected, to be
+disposed of by mere derision. There could be no doubt that he firmly
+believed he had seen something or somebody, and whatever might be the
+explanation of that belief it had enabled him not only to recognise
+his mother's photograph but to criticise, and criticise correctly, a
+certain defect in the portrait. She could not deny that what he said
+was true. "Can such things really be?" she uttered under her breath.
+
+"Dear auntie, they _are_," said Austin. "I've been conscious of it for
+months, and lately I've had the proof. Indeed, I've had more than
+one. There are people all round us, only it isn't given to everybody
+to see them. And it isn't really very astonishing that it should be
+so, when one comes to think of it."
+
+From that day forward Aunt Charlotte watched Austin with a sense of
+something akin to awe. Certainly he was different from other folk.
+With all his love of life, his keen interest in his surroundings, and
+his wealth of boyish spirits, he seemed a being apart--a being who
+lived not only in this world but on the boundary between this world
+and another. As an orthodox Christian woman of course she believed in
+that other--"another and a better world," as she was accustomed to
+call it. But that that world was actually around her, hemming her in,
+within reach of her fingertips so to speak, that was quite a new idea.
+It gave her the creeps, and she strove to put it out of her head as
+much as possible. But ere many weeks elapsed, it was forced upon her
+in a very painful way, and she could no longer ignore the feeling
+which stole over her from time to time that not only was the boundary
+between the two worlds a very narrow one, but that her poor Austin
+would not be long before he crossed it altogether.
+
+For there was no doubt that he was beginning to fade. He got paler
+and thinner by degrees, and one day she found him in a dead faint upon
+the floor. The slight uneasiness in his hip had increased to actual
+pain, and the pain had spread to his back. In an agony of apprehension
+she summoned the doctor, and the doctor with hollow professional
+cheerfulness said that that sort of thing wouldn't do at all, and that
+Master Austin must make up his mind to lie up a bit. And so he was put
+to bed, and people smiled ghastly smiles which were far more
+heartrending than sobs, and talked about taking him away to some
+beautiful warm southern climate where he would soon grow strong and
+well again. Austin only said that he was very comfortable where he
+was, and that he wouldn't think of being taken away, because he knew
+how dreadfully poor Aunt Charlotte suffered at sea, and travelling was
+a sad nuisance after all. And indeed it would have been impossible to
+move him, for his sufferings were occasionally very great. Sometimes
+he would writhe in strange agonies all night long, till they used to
+wonder how he would live through it; but when morning came he scarcely
+ever remembered anything at all, and in answer to enquiries always
+said that he had had a very good night indeed, thank you. Once or
+twice he seemed to have a dim recollection of something--some "bustle
+and fluff," as he expressed it--during his troubled sleep; and then he
+would ask anxiously whether he really had been giving them any bother,
+and assure them that he was so very sorry, and hoped they would
+forgive him for having been so stupid. At which Aunt Charlotte had to
+smile and joke as heroically as she knew how.
+
+There were some days, however, when he was quite free from pain, and
+then he was as bright and cheerful as ever. He lay in his white bed
+surrounded by the books he loved, which he read intermittently; and
+every now and then, when Aunt Charlotte thought he was strong enough,
+a visitor would be admitted. Roger St Aubyn, now back from Italy,
+often dropped in to sit with him, and these were golden hours to
+Austin, who listened delightedly to his friend's absorbing
+descriptions of the beautiful places he had been to and the wonderful
+old legends that were attached to them. Then nothing would content him
+but that Lubin must come up occasionally and tell him how the garden
+was looking, and what he thought of the prospects for next summer, and
+answer all sorts of searching questions as to the operations in which
+he had been engaged since Austin had been a prisoner. Austin enjoyed
+these colloquies with Lubin; the very sight of him, he said, was like
+having a glimpse of the garden. But somehow Lubin's eyes always looked
+rather red and misty when he came out of the room, and it was noticed
+that he went about his work in a very half-hearted and listless
+manner.
+
+One day, however, a visitor called whose presence was not so
+sympathetic. This was Mr Sheepshanks, the vicar. Of course he was
+quite right to call--indeed it would have been an unpardonable
+omission had he not done so; at the same time his little furtive
+movements and professional air of solemnity got on Austin's nerves,
+and produced a sense of irritation that was certainly not conducive to
+his well-being. At last the point was reached to which the vicar had
+been gradually leading up, and he suggested that, now that it had
+pleased Providence to stretch Austin on a couch of pain, it was
+advisable that he should think about making his peace with God.
+
+"Make my peace with God?" repeated Austin, opening his eyes. "What
+about? We haven't quarrelled!"
+
+"My dear young friend, that is scarcely the way for a creature to
+speak of its relations with its Creator," said the vicar, gravely
+shocked.
+
+"Isn't it?" said Austin. "I'm very sorry; I thought you were hinting
+that I had some grudge against the Creator, and that I ought to make
+it up. Because I haven't, not in the very least. I've had a lovely
+life, and I'm more obliged to Him for it than I can say."
+
+"Ahem," coughed the vicar dubiously. "One scarcely speaks of being
+_obliged_ to the Almighty, my dear Austin. We owe Him our everlasting
+gratitude for His mercies to us, and when we think how utterly
+unworthy the best of us are of the very least attention on His
+part----"
+
+"I don't see that at all," interrupted Austin. "On the contrary,
+seeing that God brought us all into existence without consulting any
+one of us I think we have a right to expect a great deal of attention
+on His part. Surely He has more responsibility towards somebody He has
+made than that somebody has towards Him. That's only common sense, it
+seems to me."
+
+The vicar thought he had never had such an unmanageable penitent to
+deal with since he took orders. "But how about sin?" he suggested,
+shifting his ground. "Have you no sense of sin?"
+
+"I'm almost afraid not," acknowledged Austin, with well-bred concern.
+"Ought I to have?"
+
+"We all ought to have," replied the vicar sternly. "We have all
+sinned, and come short of the glory of God."
+
+"I don't see how we could have done otherwise," remarked Austin, who
+was getting rather bored. "Little people like us can't be expected to
+come up to a standard which I suppose implies divine perfection. I
+dare say I've done lots of sins, but for the life of me I've no idea
+what they were. I don't think I ever thought about it."
+
+"It's time you thought about it now, then," said the vicar, getting
+up. "I won't worry you any more to-day, because I see you're tired.
+But I shall pray for you, and when next I come I hope you'll
+understand my meaning more clearly than you do at present."
+
+"That is very kind of you," said Austin, putting out his almost
+transparent hand. "I'm awfully sorry to give you so much trouble.
+You'll see Aunt Charlotte before you go away? I know she'll expect
+you to go in for a cup of tea."
+
+So the vicar escaped, almost as glad to do so as Austin was to be left
+in peace. And the worst of it was that, though he cudgelled his brains
+for many hours that night, he could not think of any sins in
+particular that Austin had been in the habit of committing. He was
+kind, he was pure, and he was unselfish. His exaggerated abuse of
+people he didn't like was more than half humorous, and was rather a
+fault than a sin. Yet he must be a sinner somehow, because everybody
+was. Perhaps his sin consisted in his not being pious in the
+evangelical sense of the word. Yet he loved goodness, and the vicar
+had once heard a great Roman Catholic divine say that loving goodness
+was the same thing as loving God. But Austin had never said that he
+loved God; he had only said that he was much obliged to Him. The poor
+vicar worried himself about all this until he fell asleep, taking
+refuge in the reflection that if he couldn't understand the state of
+Austin's soul there was always the probability that God did.
+
+Aunt Charlotte, on her side, was too much absorbed in her anxiety and
+sorrow to trouble herself with such misgivings. The light of her life
+was burning very low, and bade fair to be extinguished altogether.
+What were theological conundrums to her now? It would be positively
+wicked to fear that anything dreadful could happen to Austin because
+he had forgotten his catechism and was not impressed by the vicar's
+prosy discourses in church. Face to face with the possibility of
+losing him, all her conventionality collapsed. The boy had been
+everything in the world to her, and now he was going elsewhere.
+
+The house was a very mournful place just then, and the servants moved
+noiselessly about as though in the presence of some strange mystery.
+The only person in it who seemed really happy was Austin himself. A
+great London surgeon came to see him once, and then there was talk of
+hiring a trained nurse. But Austin combatted this project with all the
+vigour at his command, protesting that trained nurses always scented
+themselves with chloroform and put him in mind of a hospital; he
+really could not have one in the room. Some assistance, however, was
+necessary, for the disease was making such rapid progress that he
+could no longer turn himself in bed; and Austin, recognising the fact,
+insisted that Lubin and no other should tend him. So Lubin, tearfully
+overjoyed at the distinction, exchanged the garden for the
+sick-chamber, into which, as Austin said, he seemed to bring the very
+scent of grass and flowers; and there he passed his time, day after
+day, raising the helpless boy in his strong arms, shifting his
+position, anticipating his slightest wish, and even sleeping in a low
+truckle-bed in a corner of the room at night.
+
+Sometimes Austin would lie, silent and motionless, for hours, with a
+perfectly calm and happy look upon his face. This was when the pain
+relaxed its grip upon him. At other times he would talk almost
+incessantly, apparently holding a conversation with people whom Lubin
+could not see. One would have thought that someone very dear to him
+had come to pay him a visit, and that he and this mysterious someone
+were deeply attached to each other, so bright and playful were the
+smiles that rippled upon his lips. He spoke in a low, rapid undertone,
+so that Lubin could only catch a word or two here and there; then
+there would be a pause, as though to allow for some unheard reply, to
+which Austin appeared to be listening intently; and then off he would
+go again as fast as ever. His eyes had a wistful, far-off look in
+them, and every now and then he seemed puzzled at Lubin's presence,
+not being quite able to reconcile the actual surroundings of the
+sick-room with those other scenes that were now dawning upon his
+sight, scenes in which Lubin had no place. There was a little
+confusion in his mind in consequence; but as the days went on things
+gradually became much clearer.
+
+Now Austin, in spite of his utter indifference to, or indeed aversion
+from, theological religion, had always loved his Sundays. To him they
+were as days of heaven upon earth, and in them he appeared to take an
+instinctive delight, as though the very atmosphere of the day filled
+him with spiritual aspirations, and thoughts which belonged not to
+this world. Above all, he loved Sunday evenings, which appeared to him
+a season hallowed in some special way, when all high and pure
+influences were felt in their greatest intensity. And now another
+Sunday came round, and, as had been the case all through his illness,
+he felt and knew by instinct what day it was. He lay quite still, as
+the distant chime of the church bells was wafted through the air,
+faint but just audible in the silent room. Aunt Charlotte smiled
+tenderly at him through her tears; she was going to church, poor soul,
+to pray for his recovery, though knowing quite well that what she
+called his recovery was beyond hope. Austin shot a brilliant smile at
+her in return, and Aunt Charlotte rushed out of the room choking.
+
+The day drew to its close, the darkness gathered, and Austin, who had
+been suffering considerably during the afternoon, was now easier. At
+about seven o'clock his aunt stole softly in, unable to keep away, and
+looked at him. His eyes were closed, and he appeared to be asleep.
+
+"How has he been this afternoon?" she asked of Lubin in an undertone.
+
+"Seemed to be sufferin' a bit about two hour ago, but nothing more 'n
+usual," said Lubin. "Then he got easier and sank asleep, quite
+quiet-like. He's breathin' regular enough."
+
+"He doesn't look worse--there's even a little colour in his cheeks,"
+observed Aunt Charlotte, as she watched the sleeping boy. "He's in
+quite a nice, natural slumber. If nursing could only bring him round!"
+
+"I'd nurse him all my life for that matter," replied Lubin huskily,
+standing on the other side of the bed.
+
+"I know you would, Lubin," cried Aunt Charlotte. "You've been
+goodness itself to my poor darling. What wouldn't I do--what wouldn't
+we all do--to save his precious life!"
+
+"Is he waking up?" whispered Lubin, bending over. "Nay--just turning
+his head a bit to one side. He's comfortable enough for the time
+being. If it wasn't for them crooel pains as seizes him----"
+
+"Ah, but they're only the symptoms of the disease!" sighed Aunt
+Charlotte, mournfully. "And the doctor says that if they were to leave
+him suddenly, it--wouldn't--be a good--sign." Here she began to sob
+under her breath. "It might mean that his poor body was no longer
+capable of feeling. Well, God knows what's best for all of us. Aren't
+you getting nearly worn out yourself, Lubin?"
+
+"I? Laws no, ma'am," answered Lubin almost scornfully. "I get a sort
+o' dog's snooze every now and again, and when Martha was here this
+morning I slept for four hour on end. No fear o' me caving in. Ah,
+would ye now?" observing some feeble attempt on Austin's part to shift
+his position. "There!" as he deftly slipped his hands under him, and
+turned him a little to one side. "That eases him a bit. It's stiff
+work, lying half the day with one's back in the same place."
+
+Then Martha appeared at the door, and insisted on Aunt Charlotte going
+downstairs and trying to take some nourishment. In the sick-room all
+was silent. Austin continued sleeping peacefully, an expression of
+absolute contentment and happiness upon his face, while Lubin sat by
+the bedside watching.
+
+But Austin did not go on sleeping all the night. There came a time
+when his deep unconsciousness was invaded by a very strange and
+wonderful sensation. He no longer felt himself lying motionless in
+bed, as he had been doing for so long. He seemed rather to be
+floating, as one might float along the current of a strong, swift
+stream. He felt no bed under him, though what it was that held him up
+he couldn't guess, and it never occurred to him to wonder. All he knew
+was that his pains had vanished, that his body was scarcely palpable,
+and that the smooth, gliding motion--if motion it could be called--was
+the most exquisite sensation he had ever felt. What _could_ be
+happening? Austin, his mind now wide awake, and thoroughly on the
+alert, lay for some time in rapt enjoyment of this new experience.
+Then he opened his eyes, and found that he was in bed after all; the
+nightlight was burning on a table by the window, the bookcase stood
+where it did, and he could even discern Lubin, who seemed to have
+dropped asleep, in an armchair three or four yards away. That made the
+mystery all the greater, and Austin waited in expectant silence to see
+what would happen next.
+
+Suddenly, as in a flash, the whole of his past life unrolled itself
+before his consciousness. He saw himself a toddling baby, a growing
+child, a schoolboy, a happy young rascal chasing sheep; then came a
+period of pain, a gradual convalescence, a joyful life in the country
+air, a life of reading, a life of pleasant dreams, a life into which
+entered his friendship with St Aubyn, his days with Lubin in the
+garden, his encounters with Mr Buskin, and those strange experiences
+that had reached him from another world. That other world was coming
+very near to him now, and he was coming very near to it! And all these
+recollections formed one marvellous panorama, one great simultaneous
+whole, with no appearance of succession, but just as though it had
+happened all at once. Austin seemed to be past reasoning; he had
+advanced to a stage where thinking and speculating were things gone by
+for ever, and his perceptions were wholly passive. There was his
+life, spread out in consciousness before him; and meanwhile he was
+undergoing a change.
+
+He looked up, and saw a dim, violet cloud hanging horizontally over
+him. It was in shape like a human form; his own form. At that moment a
+great tremor, a sort of convulsive thrill, passed through him as he
+lay, jarring every nerve, and awaking him, at that supreme crisis, to
+the existence of his body. A sense of confusion followed; and then he
+seemed to pass out of his own head, and found himself poised in the
+air immediately over the place where he had just been lying. He saw
+the violet cloud no more, though whether he had coalesced with it, or
+the cloud itself had become disintegrated, he could not tell; then, by
+a sort of instinct, he assumed an erect position, and saw that he was
+balanced, somehow, a little distance from the bed, looking down upon
+it. And on the bed, connected with him by a faintly luminous cord, lay
+the white, still, beautiful form of a dead boy. "And that was my
+body!" he cried, in awestruck wonder, though his words caused no
+vibration in the air.
+
+He looked at himself, and saw that he was glorious, encircled by a
+radiant fire-mist. And he was throbbing and pulsating with life, able
+to move hither and thither without effort, free from lameness, free
+from weight, strong, vigorous, full of energy, poised like a bird in
+the pure air of heaven, ready to take his flight in any conceivable
+direction at the faintest motion of his own will. Then the
+resplendence that enveloped him extended, until the whole room was
+full of it; and in the midst of it there stood a very sweet and
+gracious figure, robed in white drapery, and with eyes of intensest
+love, more beautiful to look at than anything that Austin had ever
+dreamed of. "Mother!" he whispered, as he glided swiftly towards her.
+
+The walls and ceiling of the room dissolved, and a wonderful
+landscape, the pageantry and splendour of the Spirit Land, revealed
+itself. It was bathed in a light that never was on land or sea, and
+there were sunny slopes, and jewelled meadows, and silvery streams,
+and flowers that only grow in Paradise. Austin was dazzled with its
+glory; here at last was the realisation of all he had dimly fancied,
+all he had ever longed for. And yet as he floated outwards and upwards
+into the heavenly realms, the crown and climax of his happiness lay in
+the thought that he could always, by the mere impulse of desire,
+revisit the sweet old garden he had loved, and watch Lubin at his
+work among the flowers, and stand, though all unseen, beside the old
+stone fountain where he had passed such happy times in the earth-life
+he was leaving.
+
+
+
+
+Edinburgh
+M'laren and Co., Limited
+Printers
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUSTIN AND HIS FRIENDS***
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