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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16692-8.txt b/16692-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9106fc4 --- /dev/null +++ b/16692-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8392 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Beyond The Rocks, by Elinor Glyn + +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: Beyond The Rocks + A Love Story + +Author: Elinor Glyn + +Release Date: September 14, 2005 [EBook #16692] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEYOND THE ROCKS *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Verity White and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +_Beyond the Rocks_ + + +[Illustration: Rodolph Valentino, as Lord Bracondale and Elinor Glyn, +the author.] + + +_Beyond the Rocks + +A Love Story + +by + +Elinor Glyn + +Author of +"Three Weeks" + +With illustrations +From the Paramount Photo-Play + +Produced by +Famous Players-Lasky Corp. + +starring +Gloria Swanson with Rodolph Valentino + +New York +The Macaulay Company_ +Printed in the U.S.A. + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE + +Rodolph Valentino, as Lord Bracondale and Elinor Glyn, the +author _Frontispiece_ + +"She Wondered What Love Was--" 8 + +"Once Upon a Time There Was a Fairy Prince and Princess--" 96 + +What Could He Say to Her-- 314 + + + + +_Beyond the Rocks_ + + + + +I + + +The hours were composed mostly of dull or rebellious moments during the +period of Theodora's engagement to Mr. Brown. From the very first she +had thought it hard that she should have had to take this situation, +instead of Sarah or Clementine, her elder step-sisters, so much nearer +his age than herself. To do them justice, either of these ladies would +have been glad to relieve her of the obligation to become Mrs. Brown, +but Mr. Brown thought otherwise. + +A young and beautiful wife was what he bargained for. + +To enter a family composed of three girls--two of the first family, one +almost thirty and a second very plain--a father with a habit of +accumulating debts and obliged to live at Bruges and inexpensive foreign +sea-side towns, required a strong motive; and this Josiah Brown found +in the deliciously rounded, white velvet cheek of Theodora, the third +daughter, to say nothing of her slender grace, the grace of a young +fawn, and a pair of gentian-blue eyes that said things to people in the +first glance. + +Poor, foolish, handsome Dominic Fitzgerald, light-hearted, débonair +Irish gentleman, gay and gallant on his miserable pension of a broken +and retired Guardsman, had had just sufficient sense to insist upon +magnificent settlements, certainly prompted thereto by Clementine, who +inherited the hard-headedness of the early defunct Scotch mother, as +well as her high cheek-bones. That affair had been a youthful +_mésalliance_. + +"You had better see we all gain something by it, papa," she had said. +"Make the old bore give Theodora a huge allowance, and have it all fixed +and settled by law beforehand. She is such a fool about money--just like +you--she will shower it upon us; and you make him pay you a sum down as +well." + +Captain Fitzgerald fortunately consulted an honest solicitor, and so +things were arranged to the satisfaction of all parties concerned except +Theodora herself, who found the whole affair far from her taste. + +That one must marry a rich man if one got the chance, to help poor, +darling papa, had always been part of her creed, more or less inspired +by papa himself. But when it came to the scratch, and Josiah Brown was +offered as a husband, Theodora had had to use every bit of her nerve and +self-control to prevent herself from refusing. + +She had not seen many men in her nineteen years of out-at-elbows life, +but she had imagination, and the one or two peeps at smart old friends +of papa's, landed from stray yachts now and then, at out-of-the-way +French watering-places, had given her an ideal far, far removed from the +personality of Josiah Brown. + +But, as Sarah explained to her, such men could never be husbands. They +might be lovers, if one was fortunate enough to move in their sphere, +but husbands--never! and there was no use Theodora protesting this +violent devotion to darling papa, if she could not do a small thing like +marrying Josiah Brown for him! + +Theodora's beautiful mother, dead in the first year of her runaway +marriage, had been the daughter of a stiff-necked, unforgiving old earl; +she had bequeathed her child, besides these gentian eyes and wonderful, +silvery blond hair, a warm, generous heart and a more or less romantic +temperament. + +The heart was touched by darling papa's needs, and the romantic +temperament revolted by Josiah Brown's personality. + +However, there it was! The marriage took place at the Consulate at +Dieppe, and a perfectly miserable little bride got into the train for +Paris, accompanied by a fat, short, prosperous, middle-class English +husband, who had accumulated a large fortune in Australia, quite by +accident, in a comparatively few years. + +Josiah Brown was only fifty-two, though his head was bald and his figure +far from slight. He had a liver, a chest, and a temper, and he adored +Theodora. + +Captain Fitzgerald had felt a few qualms when he had wished his little +daughter good-bye on the platform and had seen the blue stars swimming +with tears. The two daughters left to him were so plain, and he hated +plain people about him; but, on the other hand, women must marry, and +what chance had he, poor, unlucky devil, of establishing his Theodora +better in life? + +Josiah Brown was a good fellow, and he, Dominic Fitzgerald, had for the +first time for many years a comfortable balance at his bankers, and +could run up to Paris himself in a few days, and who knows, the American +widow, fabulously rich--Jane Anastasia McBride--might take him +seriously! + +Captain Dominic Fitzgerald was irresistible, and had that fortunate +knack of looking like a gentleman in the oldest clothes. If married for +the third time--but this time prosperously, to a fabulously rich +American--his well-born relations would once more welcome him with open +arms, he felt sure, and visions of the best pheasant shoots at old +Beechleigh, and partridge drives at Rothering Castle floated before his +eyes, quite obscuring the fading smoke of the Paris train. + +"A pretty tough, dull affair marriage," he said to himself, reminded +once more of Theodora by treading on a white rose in the station. "Hope +to Heavens Sarah prepared her for it a bit." Then he got into a _fiacre_ +and drove to the hotel, where he and the two remaining Misses Fitzgerald +were living in the style of their forefathers. + +Josiah Brown's valet, Mr. Toplington, who knew the world, had engaged +rooms for the happy couple at the Grand Hotel. "We'll go to the Ritz on +our way back," he decided, "but at first, in case there's scenes and +tears, it's better to be a number than a name." Mademoiselle Henriette, +the freshly engaged French maid, quite agreed with him. The Grand, she +said, was "_plus convenable pour une lune de Miel_--" Lune de Miel! + + + + +II + + +It was a year later before Theodora saw her family again. A very severe +attack of bronchitis, complicated by internal catarrh, prostrated Josiah +Brown in the first days of their marriage, and had turned her into a +superintendent nurse for the next three months; by that time a winter at +Hyères was recommended by the best physicians, and off they started. + +Hyères, with a semi-invalid, a hospital nurse, and quantities of +medicine bottles and draught-protectors, is not the ideal place one +reads of in guide-books. Theodora grew to hate the sky and the blue +Mediterranean. She used to sit on her balcony at Costebelle and gaze at +the olive-trees, and the deep-green velvet patch of firs beyond, towards +the sea, and wonder at life. + +She longed to go to the islands--anywhere beyond--and one day she read +_Jean d'Agrève_; and after that she wondered what Love was. It took a +mighty hold upon her imagination. It seemed to her it must mean Life. + +It was the beginning of May before Josiah Brown thought of leaving for +Paris. England would be their destination, but the doctors assured him a +month of Paris would break the change of climate with more safety than +if they crossed the Channel at once. + +Costebelle was a fairyland of roses as they drove to the station, and +peace had descended upon Theodora. She had fallen into her place, a +place occupied by many wives before her with irritable, hypochondriacal +husbands. + +She had often been to Paris in her maiden days; she knew it from the +point of view of a cheap boarding-house and snatched meals. But the +unchecked gayety of the air and the _façon_ had not been tarnished by +that. She had played in the Tuilleries Gardens and watched Ponchinello +at the Rond Point, and later been taken once or twice to dine at a cheap +café in the Bois by papa. And once she had gone to Robinson on a coach +with him and some aristocratic acquaintances of his, and eaten luncheon +up the tree, and that was a day of the gods and to be remembered. + +But now they were going to an expensive, well-managed private hotel in +the Avenue du Bois, suitable to invalids, and it poured with rain as +they drove from the Gare de Lyon. + +[Illustration: "She Wondered What Love Was."] + +All this time something in Theodora was developing. Her beautiful face +had an air of dignity. The set of her little Greek head would have +driven a sculptor wild--and Josiah Brown was very generous in money +matters, and she had always known how to wear her clothes, so it was no +wonder people stopped and turned their heads when she passed. + +Josiah Brown possessed certainly not less than forty thousand a year, +and so felt he could afford a carriage in Paris, and any other fancy he +pleased. His nerves had been too shaken by his illness to appreciate the +joys of an automobile. + +Thus, daily might be seen in the Avenue des Acacias this ill-assorted +pair, seated in a smart victoria with stepping horses, driving slowly up +and down. And a number of people took an interest in them. + +Towards the middle of May Captain Fitzgerald arrived at the Continental, +and Theodora felt her heart beat with joy when she saw his handsome, +well-groomed head. + +Oh yes, it had been indeed worth while to make papa look so prosperous +as that--so prosperous and happy--dear, gay papa! + +He was about the same age as her husband, but no one would think of +taking him for more than forty. And what a figure he had! and what +manners! And when he patted her cheek Theodora felt at once that thrill +of pride and gratification she had always experienced when he was +pleased with her, from her youngest days. + +She was almost glad Sarah and Clementine should have remained at Dieppe. +Thus she could have papa all to herself, and oh, what presents she would +send them back by him when he returned! + +Josiah Brown despised Dominic Fitzgerald, and yet stood in awe of him as +well. A man who could spend a fortune and be content to live on odds and +ends for the rest of his life must be a poor creature. But, on the other +hand, there was that uncomfortable sense of breeding about him which +once, when Captain Fitzgerald had risen to a situation of dignity during +their preliminary conversations about Theodora's hand, had made Josiah +Brown unconsciously say "Sir" to him. + +He had blushed and bitten his tongue for doing it, and had blustered and +patronized immoderately afterwards, but he never forgot the incident. +They were not birds of a feather, and never would be, though the +exquisite manners of Dominic Fitzgerald could carry any situation. + +Josiah was not altogether pleased to see his father-in-law. He even +experienced a little jealousy. Theodora's face, which generally wore a +mask of gentle, solicitous meekness for him, suddenly sparkled and +rippled with laughter, as she pinched her papa's ears, and pulled his +mustache, and purred into his neck, with joy at their meeting. + +It was that purring sound and those caressing tricks that Josiah Brown +objected to. He had never received any of them himself, and so why +should Dominic Fitzgerald? + +Captain Fitzgerald, for his part, was enchanted to clasp his beautiful +daughter once more in his arms; he had always loved Theodora, and when +he saw her so quite too desirable-looking in her exquisite clothes, he +felt a very fine fellow himself, thinking what he had done for her. + +It was not an unnatural circumstance that he should look upon the idea +of a dinner at the respectable private hotel, with his son-in-law and +daughter, as a trifle dull for Paris, or that he should have suggested a +meal at the Ritz would do them both good. + +"Come and dine with me instead, my dear child," he said, with his grand +air. "Josiah, you must begin to go out a little and shake off your +illness, my dear fellow." + +But Josiah was peevish. + +Not to-night--certainly not to-night. It was the evening he was to take +the two doses of his new medicine, one half an hour after the other, and +he could not leave the hotel. Then he saw how poor Theodora's face fell, +and one of his sparks of consideration for the feelings of others came +to him, and he announced gruffly that his wife might go with her father, +if she pleased, provided she crept into her room, which was next door to +his own, without the least noise on her return. + +"I must not be disturbed in my first sleep," he said; and Theodora +thanked him rapturously. + +It was so good of him to let her go--she would, indeed, make not the +least noise, and she danced out of the room to get ready in a way Josiah +Brown had never seen her do before. And after she had gone--Captain +Fitzgerald came back to fetch her--this fact rankled with him and +prevented his sleep for more than twenty minutes. + +"My sweet child," said Captain Fitzgerald, when he was seated beside his +daughter in her brougham, rolling down the Champs-Elysées, "you must not +be so grateful; he won't let you out again if you are." + +"Oh, papa!" said Theodora. + +They arrived at the Ritz just at the right moment. It was a lovely +night, but rather cold, so there were no diners in the garden, and the +crowd from the restaurant extended even into the hall. + +It was an immense satisfaction to Dominic Fitzgerald to walk through +them all with this singularly beautiful young woman, and to remark the +effect she produced, and his cup of happiness was full when they came +upon a party at the lower end by the door; prominent, as hostess, being +Jane Anastasia McBride--the fabulously rich American widow. + +In a second of time he reviewed the situation; a faint coldness in his +manner would be the thing to draw--and it was; for when he had greeted +Mrs. McBride without gush, and presented his daughter with the air of +just passing on, the widow implored them with great cordiality to leave +their solitary meal and join her party. Nor would she hear of any +refusal. + +The whole scene was so novel and delightful to Theodora she cared not at +all whether her father accepted or no, so long as she might sit quietly +and observe the world. + +Mrs. McBride had perceived immediately that the string of pearls round +Mrs. Josiah Brown's neck could not have cost less than nine thousand +pounds, and that her frock, although so simple, was the last and most +expensive creation of Callot Soeurs. She had always been horribly +attracted by Captain Fitzgerald, ever since that race week at Trouville +two summers ago, and fate had sent them here to-night, and she meant to +enjoy herself. + +Captain Fitzgerald acceded to her request with his usual polished ease, +and the radiant widow presented the rest of her guests to the two +new-comers. + +The tall man with the fierce beard was Prince Worrzoff, married to her +niece, Saidie Butcher. Saidie Butcher was short, and had a voice you +could hear across the room. The sleek, fair youth with the twinkling +gray eyes was an Englishman from the Embassy. The disagreeable-looking +woman in the badly made mauve silk was his sister, Lady Hildon. The +stout, hook-nosed bird of prey with the heavy gold chain was a Western +millionaire, and the smiling girl was his daughter. Then, last of all, +came Lord Bracondale--and it was when he was presented that Theodora +first began to take an interest in the party. + +Hector, fourteenth Lord Bracondale of Bracondale (as she later that +night read in the _Peerage_) was aged thirty-one years. He had been +educated at Eton and Oxford, served for some time in the Fourth +Lifeguards, been unpaid attaché at St. Petersburg, was patron of five +livings, and sat in the House of Lords as Baron Bracondale; creation, +1505; seat, Bracondale Chase. Brothers, none. Sister living, Anne +Charlotte, married to the fourth Earl of Anningford. + +Theodora read all this over twice, and also even the predecessors and +collateral branches--but that was while she burned the midnight oil and +listened to the snorts and coughs of Josiah Brown, slumbering next door. + +For the time being she raised her eyes and looked into Lord +Bracondale's, and something told her they were the nicest eyes she had +ever seen in this world. + +Then when a voluble French count had rushed up, with garrulous apologies +for being late, the party was complete, and they swept into the +restaurant. + +Theodora sat between the Western millionaire and the Russian Prince, but +beyond--it was a round table, only just big enough to hold them--came +her hostess and Lord Bracondale, and two or three times at dinner they +spoke, and very often she felt his eyes fixed upon her. + +Mrs. McBride, like all American widows, was an admirable hostess; the +conversation never flagged, or the gayety for one moment. + +The Western millionaire was shrewd, and announced some quaint truths +while he picked his teeth with an audible sound. + +"This is his first visit to Europe," Princess Worrzoff said afterwards +to Theodora by way of explanation. "He is so colossally rich he don't +need to worry about such things at his time of life; but it does make me +turn to hear him." + +Captain Fitzgerald was in his element. No guest shone so brilliantly as +he. His wit was delicate, his sallies were daring, his looks were +insinuating, and his appearance was perfection. + +Theodora had every reason to tingle with pride in him, and the widow +felt her heart beat. + +"Isn't he just too bright--your father, Mrs. Brown?" she said as they +left the restaurant to have their coffee in the hall. "You must let me +see quantities of you while we are all in Paris together. It is a lovely +city; don't you agree with me?" + +And Theodora did. + +Lord Bracondale was of the same breed as Captain Fitzgerald--that is, +they neither of them permitted themselves to be superseded by any other +man with the object of their wishes. When they wanted to talk to a woman +they did, if twenty French counts or Russian princes stood in the way! +Thus it was that for the rest of the evening Theodora found herself +seated upon a sofa in close proximity to the man who had interested her +at dinner, and Mrs. McBride and Captain Fitzgerald occupied two +arm-chairs equally well placed, while the rest of the party made general +conversation. + +Hector Bracondale, among other attractions, had a charming voice; it was +deep and arresting, and he had a way of looking straight into the eyes +of the person he was talking to. + +Theodora knew at once he belonged to the tribe whom Sarah had told her +could never be husbands. + +She wondered vaguely why, all the time she was talking to him. Why had +husbands always to be bores and unattractive, and sometimes even simply +revolting, like hers? Was it because these beautiful creatures could not +be bound to any one woman? It seemed to her unsophisticated mind that +it could be very nice to be married to one of them; but there was no use +fighting against fate, and she personally was wedded to Josiah Brown. + +Lord Bracondale's conversation pleased her. He seemed to understand +exactly what she wanted to talk about; he saw all the things she saw +and--he had read _Jean d'Agrève_!--they got to that at the end of the +first half-hour, and then she froze up a little; some instinct told her +it was dangerous ground, so she spoke suddenly of the weather, in a +banal voice. + +Meanwhile, from the beginning of dinner, Lord Bracondale had been saying +to himself she was the loveliest white flower he had yet struck in a +path of varied experiences. Her eyes so innocent and true, with the +tender expression of a fawn; the perfect turn of her head and slender +pillar of a throat; her grace and gentleness, all appealed to him in a +maddening way. + +"She is asleep to the whole of life's possibilities," he thought. "What +can her husband be about, and _what_ an intoxicatingly agreeable task to +wake her up!" + +He had lived among the world where the awaking of young wives, or old +wives, or any woman who could please man, was the natural course of the +day. It never even struck him then it might be a cruel thing to do. A +woman once married was always fair game; if the husband could not retain +her affections that was his lookout. + +Hector Bracondale was not a brute, just an ordinary Englishman of the +world, who had lived and loved and seen many lands. + +He read Theodora like an open book: he knew exactly why she had talked +about the weather after _Jean d'Agrève_. It thrilled him to see her soft +eyes dreamy and luminous when they first spoke of the book, and it +flattered him when she changed the conversation. + +As for Theodora, she analyzed nothing, she only felt that perhaps she +ought not to speak about love to one of those people who could never be +husbands. + +Captain Fitzgerald, meanwhile, was making tremendous headway with the +widow. He flattered her vanity, he entertained her intelligence, and he +even ended by letting her see she was causing him, personally, great +emotion. + +At last this promising evening came to an end. The Russian Prince, with +his American Princess, got up to say good-night, and gradually the party +broke up, but not before Captain Fitzgerald had arranged to meet Mrs. +McBride at Doucet's in the morning, and give her the benefit of his +taste and experience in a further shopping expedition to buy old +bronzes. + +"We can all breakfast together at Henry's," he said, with his grand +manner, which included the whole party; and for one instant force of +habit made Theodora's heart sink with fear at the prospect of the bill, +as it had often had to do in olden days when her father gave these royal +invitations. Then she remembered she had not been sacrificed to Josiah +Brown for nothing, and that even if dear, generous papa should happen to +be a little hard up again, a few hundred francs would be nothing to her +to slip into his hand before starting. + +The rest of the party, however, declined. They were all busy elsewhere, +except Lord Bracondale and the French Count--they would come, with +pleasure, they said. + +Theodora wondered what Josiah would say. Would he go? and if not, would +he let her go? This was more important. + +"Then we shall meet at breakfast to-morrow," Lord Bracondale said, as he +helped her on with her cloak. "That will give me something to look +forward to." + +"Will it?" she said, and there was trouble in the two blue stars which +looked up at him. "Perhaps I shall not be able to come; my husband is +rather an invalid, and--" + +But he interrupted her. + +"Something tells me you will come; it is fate," he said, and his voice +was grave and tender. + +And Theodora, who had never before had the opportunity of talking about +destiny, and other agreeable subjects, with beautiful Englishmen who +could only be--lovers--felt the red blood rush to her cheeks and a +thrill flutter her heart. So she quickened her steps and kept close to +her father, who could have dispensed with this mark of affection. + +"Dearest child," he said, when they were seated in the brougham, "you +are married now and should be able to look after yourself, without +staying glued to my side so much--it is rather bourgeois." + +Poor Theodora was crushed and did not try to excuse herself. + +"I am afraid Josiah won't go, papa dear," she said, timidly; "and in +case he does not allow me to either, I want you to have these few louis, +just for the breakfast. I know how generous you are, and how difficult +things have been made for you, darling." And she nestled to his side +and slipped about eight gold pieces, which she had fortunately found in +her purse, into his hand. + +Captain Fitzgerald was still a gentleman, although a good many edges of +his sensitive perceptions had been rubbed off. + +He kissed his daughter fondly while he murmured: "Merely a loan, my pet, +merely a loan. You were always a jewel to your old father!" + +Whenever her parent accused himself of being "old," Theodora knew he was +deeply touched, and her tender heart overflowed with gladness that she +was able to smooth the path of such a darling papa. + +"I will come and see you in the morning, my child," he said, as they +stopped at the door of her hotel, "and I will manage Josiah." + +So Theodora crept up to her apartment, comforted; and in the salon it +was she caught sight of the _Peerage_. + +Josiah Brown bought one every year and travelled with it, although until +he met the Fitzgerald family he had not known a single person connected +with it; but it pleased him to be able to look up his wife's name, and +to read that her mother was the daughter of a real live earl and her +father the brother of a baronet. + +"Hector! I like the name of Hector," were the last coherent thoughts +which floated through the brain of Theodora before sleep closed her +broad, white lids. + +Meanwhile, Lord Bracondale had gone on to sup at the Café de Paris, with +Marion de Beauvoison and Esclarmonde de Chartres; and among the diamonds +and pearls and scents and feathers he suddenly felt a burning disgust, +and a longing to be out again in the moonlight--alone with his thoughts. + +"Mais qu'as tu, mon vieux chou?" they said. "Ce bel Hector chéri--il a +un béguin pour quelqu'un--mais ce n'est pas pour nous autres!" + + + + +III + + +Josiah Brown cut the top off his _oeuf à la coque_ with a knife at his +_premier déjeuner_ next day. The knife grated on the shell in a +determined way, and Theodora felt her heart sink at the prospect of +broaching the subject of the breakfast at the Café Henry. + +"I am so glad the rain has stopped," she said, nervously. "It was +raining when I woke this morning." + +"Indeed," replied Josiah. "And what kind of an evening did you pass with +that father of yours?" + +"A very pleasant one," said Theodora, crumbling her roll. "Papa met some +old friends, and we all dined together at the Ritz. I wish you had been +able to come, it might have done you good, it was so gay!" + +"I am not fit for gayety," said her husband, peevishly, scooping out +spoonfuls of yolk. "And who were the party, pray?" + +Theodora obediently enumerated them all, and the high-sounding title of +the Russian Prince, to say nothing of the English lord and lady, had a +mollifying effect on Josiah Brown. He even remembered the name of +Bracondale--had he not been a grocer's assistant in the small town of +Bracondale for a whole year in his apprenticeship days? + +"Papa wants us to breakfast to-day with him at Henry's for you to meet +some of them," Theodora said, with more confidence. + +Josiah had taken a second egg and his frown was gone. + +"We'll see about it, we'll see about it," he grunted; but his wife felt +more hopeful, and was even unusually solicitous of his wants in the way +of coffee and marmalade and cream. Josiah was shrewd if he did happen to +be deeply self-absorbed in his health, and he noticed that Theodora's +eyes were brighter and her step more elastic than usual. + +He knew he had bought "one of them there aristocrats," as his old aunt, +who had kept a public-house at New Norton, would have said. Bought her +with solid gold--he had no illusions on this subject, and he quite +realized if the solid gold had not been amassed out of England, so that +to her family he could be represented as "something from the +colonies--rather rough, but such a good fellow"--even Captain +Fitzgerald's impecuniosity and rapacity would not have risen to his +bait. + +He was also grateful to Theodora--she had been so meek always, and such +a kind and unselfish nurse. With his impaired constitution and delicate +chest he had given up all hopes of looking on her as a wife again, just +yet; but, as a nurse and an ornament--a peg to hang the evidences of his +wealth upon--she was little short of perfection. He could have been +frantically in love with her if she had only been the girl from the +station bar in Melbourne. Josiah Brown was not a bad fellow. + +By the time Mr. Toplington advanced in his dignified way with the +accurately measured tonic on a silver tray and the single acid drop to +remove the taste, Josiah Brown had decided to go and partake food with +his father-in-law at Henry's. If he had been good enough to entertain +the Governor of Australia, he was quite good enough for Russian princes +or English lords, he told himself. Thus it was that Captain Fitzgerald, +who came in person in a few minutes to indorse his invitation, found an +unusually cordial reception awaiting him. + +"I am too delighted, my dear Josiah," he said, "that you have decided to +come out of your shell. Moping would kill a cat; and I shall order you +the plainest chicken and soufflé aux fraises." + +"Josiah can eat almost anything, papa. I don't think you need worry +about that," said Theodora, who hoped to make her husband enjoy himself. +And then Captain Fitzgerald left to meet his widow. + +All the morning, while she walked up and down under the trees in the +Avenue du Bois beside her husband, who leaned upon her arm, Theodora's +thoughts were miles away. She felt stimulated, excited, intensely +interested in the hour, afraid they would be late. Twice she answered at +random, and Josiah got quite cross. + +"I asked you which you considered would do me most good when we return +to England, to continue seeing Sir Baldwin once a week or to have Dr. +Wilton permanently in the house with us, and you answer that you quite +agree with me! Agree with what? Agree with which? You are talking +nonsense, girl!" + +Theodora apologized gently, and her white velvet cheeks became tinged +with wild roses. It seemed as if the victoria, with its high-steppers, +would never come and pick them up; and it must be at least quarter of an +hour's drive to Henry's. She did not understand where it was exactly, +but papa had said the coachman would know. + +If some one had told her, as Clementine certainly would have done had +she been there, that she was simply thus interested and excited because +she wished to see again Lord Bracondale, she would have been horrified. +She never had analyzed sensations herself, and the day had not yet +arrived when she would begin to do so. + +At last they were rolling down the Champs-Elysées. The mass of chestnut +blooms in full glory, the tender green still fresh and springlike, the +sky as blue as blue, and every creature in the street with an air of +gayety--that Paris alone seems to inspire in the human race. It entered +into her blood, this rush of spring and hope and laughter and life, and +a radiant creature got out of the carriage at Henry's door. + +The two men were waiting for them--Lord Bracondale and the French +Count--her father and Mrs. McBride had not yet appeared. + +Theodora introduced them to her husband, and Lord Bracondale said: + +"Mrs. McBride is always late. I have found out which is your father's +table; don't you think we might go and sit down?" + +And they did. Theodora got well into the corner of the velvet sofa, the +Count on one side and Lord Bracondale on the other, with Josiah beyond +the Count. + +They made conversation. The Frenchman was voluble and agreeable, and the +next ten minutes passed without incident. + +Josiah, not quite at ease, perhaps, but on the whole not ill-pleased +with his situation. The Count took all ups and downs as of the day's +work, sure of a good breakfast, sooner or later, unpaid for by himself. +And Lord Bracondale's thoughts ran somewhat thus: + +"She is even more beautiful in daylight than at night. She can't be more +than twenty--what a skin! like a white gardenia petal--and, good Lord, +what a husband! How revolting, how infamous! I suppose that old schemer, +her father, sold her to him. Her eyes remind one of forgotten fairy +tales of angels. Can anything be so sweet as that little nose and those +baby-red lips. She has a soul, too, peeping out of the blue when she +looks up at one. She reminds me of Praxiteles' Psyche when she looks +down. Why did I not meet her long ago? I believe I ought not to stay +now--something tells me I shall fall deeply into this. And what a +voice!--as gentle and caressing as a tender dove. A man would give his +soul for such a woman. As guileless as an infant saint, too--and +sensitive and human and understanding. I wish to God I had the strength +of mind to get up and go this minute--but I haven't--it is fate." + +"Oh, how naughty of papa," said Theodora, "to be so late! Are you very +hungry, Josiah? Shall we begin without them?" + +But at that moment, with rustling silks and delicate perfume, the widow +and Captain Fitzgerald came in at the door and joined the party. + +"I am just too sorry," the lady said, gayly. "It is all Captain +Fitzgerald's fault--he would try to restrain me from buying what I +wanted, and so it made me obstinate and I had to stay right there and +order half the shop." + +"How I understand you!" sympathized Lord Bracondale. "I know just that +feeling of wanting forbidden fruit. It makes the zest of life." + +He had foreseen the disposition of the party, and by sitting in the +outside corner seat at the end knew he would have Theodora almost _en +tête-à-tête_, once they were all seated along the velvet sofa beyond +Josiah Brown. + +"What do you do with yourself all the time here?" he asked, lowering his +voice to that deep note which only carries to the ear it is intended +for. "May one ever see you again except at a chance meal like this?" + +"I don't know," said Theodora. "I walk up and down in the side allées of +the Bois in the morning with my husband, and when he has had his sleep, +after déjeuner, we drive nearly all the afternoon, and we have tea, at +the Pré Catalan and drive again until about seven, and then we come in +and dine, and I go to bed very early. Josiah is not strong enough yet +for late hours or theatres." + +"It sounds supernaturally gay for Paris!" said Lord Bracondale; and then +he felt a brute when he saw the cloud in the blue eyes. + +"No, it is not gay," she said, simply. "But the flowers are beautiful, +and the green trees and the chestnut blossoms and the fine air here, and +there is a little stream among the trees which laughs to itself as it +runs, and all these things say something to me." + +He felt rebuked--rebuked and interested. + +"I would like to see them all with you," he said. + +That was one of his charms--directness. He did not insinuate often; he +stated facts. + +"You would find it all much too monotonous," she answered. "You would +tire of them after the first time. And you could if you liked, too, +because I suppose you are free, being a man, and can choose your own +life," and she sighed unconsciously. + +And there came to Hector Bracondale the picture of her life--sacrificed, +no doubt, to others' needs. He seemed to see the long years tied to +Josiah Brown, the cramping of her soul, the dreary desolation of it. +Then a tenderness came over him, a chivalrous tenderness unfelt by him +towards women now for many a long day. + +"I wonder if I can choose my life," he said, and he looked into her +eyes. + +"Why can you not?" She hesitated. "And may I ask you, too, what you do +with yourself here?" + +He evaded the question; he suddenly realized that his days were not more +amusing than hers, although they were filled up with racing and varied +employments--while the thought of his nights sickened him. + +"I think I am going to make an immense change and learn to take pleasure +in the running brooks," he said. "Will you help me?" + +"I know so little, and you know so much," and her sweet eyes became soft +and dreamy. "I could not help you in any way, I fear." + +"Yes, you could--you could teach me to see all things with fresh eyes. +You could open the door into a new world." + +"Do you know," she said, irrelevantly, "Sarah--my eldest sister--Sarah +told me it was unwise ever to talk to strangers except in the +abstract--and here are you and I conversing about our own interests and +feelings--are not we foolish!" She laughed a little nervously. + +"No, we are not foolish because we are not strangers--we never were--and +we never will be." + +"Are not strangers--?" + +"No--do you not feel that sometimes in life one's friendships begin by +antipathy--sometimes by indifference--and sometimes by that sudden +magnetism of sympathy as if in some former life we had been very near +and dear, and were only picking up the threads again, and to such two +souls there is no feeling that they are strangers." + +Theodora was too entirely unsophisticated to remain unmoved by this +reasoning. She felt a little thrill--she longed to continue the subject, +and yet dared not. She turned hesitatingly to the Count, and for the +next ten minutes Lord Bracondale only saw the soft outline of her +cheek. + +He wondered if he had been too sudden. She was quite the youngest person +he had ever met--he realized that, and perhaps he had acted with too +much precipitation. He would change his tactics. + +The Count was only too pleased to engage the attention of Theodora. He +was voluble; she had very little to reply. Things went smoothly. Josiah +was appreciating an exceedingly good breakfast, and the playful sallies +of the fair widow. All, in fact, was _couleur de rose_. + +"Won't you talk to me any more?" Lord Bracondale said, after about a +quarter of an hour. He felt that was ample time for her to have become +calm, and, beautiful as the outline of her cheek was, he preferred her +full face. + +"But of course," said Theodora. She had not heard more than half what +the Count had been saying; she wished vaguely that she might continue +the subject of friendship, but she dared not. + +"Do you ever go to Versailles?" he asked. This, at least, was a safe +subject. + +"I have been there--but not since--not this time," she answered. "I +loved it: so full of memories and sentiment, and Old-World charm." + +"It would give me much pleasure to take you to see it again," he said, +with grave politeness. "I must devise some plan--that is, if you wish to +go." + +She smiled. + +"It is a favorite spot of mine, and there are some alleés in the park +more full of the story of spring than your Bois even." + +"I do not see how we can go," said Theodora. "Josiah would find it too +long a day." + +"I must discuss it with your father; one can generally arrange what one +wishes," said Lord Bracondale. + +At this moment Mrs. McBride leaned over and spoke to Theodora. She had, +she said, quite converted Mr. Brown. He only wanted a little cheering up +to be perfectly well, and she had got him to promise to dine that +evening at Armenonville and listen to the Tziganes. It was going to be a +glorious night, but if they felt cold they could have their table inside +out of the draught. What did Theodora think about it? + +Theodora thought it would be a delicious plan. What else could she +think? + +"I have a large party coming," Mrs. McBride said, "and among them a +compatriot of mine who saw you last night and is dying to meet you." + +"Really," said Theodora, unmoved. + +Lord Bracondale experienced a sensation of annoyance. + +"I shall not ask you, Bracondale," the widow continued, playfully. "Just +to assert British superiority, you would try to monopolize Mrs. Brown, +and my poor Herryman Hoggenwater would have to come in a long, long +second!" + +Josiah felt a rush of pride. This brilliant woman was making much of his +meek little wife. + +Lord Bracondale smiled the most genial smile, with rage in his heart. + +"I could not have accepted in any case, dear lady," he said, "as I have +some people dining with me, and, oddly enough, they rather suggested +they wanted Armenonville too, so perhaps I shall have the pleasure of +looking at you from the distance." + +The conversation then became general, and soon after this coffee +arrived, and eventually the adieux were said. + +Mrs. McBride insisted upon Theodora accompanying her in her smart +automobile. + +"You leave your wife to me for an hour," she said, imperiously, to +Josiah, "and go and see the world with Captain Fitzgerald. He knows +Paris." + +"My dear, you are just the sweetest thing I have come across this side +of the Atlantic," she said, when they were whizzing along in her car. +"But you look as if you wanted cheering too. I expect your husband's +illness has worried you a good deal." + +Theodora froze a little. Then she glanced at the widow's face and its +honest kindliness melted her. + +"Yes, I have been anxious about him," she said, simply, "but he is +nearly well now, and we shall soon be going to England." + +Mrs. McBride had not taken a companion on this drive for nothing, and +she obtained all the information she wanted during their tour in the +Bois. How Josiah Brown had bought a colossal place in the eastern +counties, and intended to have parties and shoot there in the autumn. +How Theodora hoped to see more of her sisters than she had done since +her marriage. The question of these sisters interested Mrs. McBride a +good deal. + +For a man to have two unmarried daughters was rather an undertaking. + +What were their ages--their habits--their ambitions? Theodora told her +simply. She guessed why she was being interrogated. She wished to assist +her father, and to say the truth seemed to her the best way. Sarah was +kind and humorous, while Clementine had the brains. + +"And they are both dears," she said, lovingly, "and have always been so +good to me." + +Mrs. McBride was a shrewd woman, full of American quickness, lightning +deduction, and a phenomenal insight into character. Theodora seemed to +her to be too tender a flower for this world of east wind. She felt sure +she only thought good of every one, and how could one get on in life if +one took that view habitually! The appallingly hard knocks fate would +give one if one was so trusting! But as the drive went on that gentle +something that seemed to emanate from Theodora, the something of pure +sweetness and light, affected her, too, as it affected other people. She +felt she was looking into a deep pool of crystal water, so deep that she +could see no bottom or fathom the distance of it, but which reflected in +brilliant blue God's sky and the sun. + +"And she is by no means stupid," the widow summed up to herself. "Her +mind is as bright as an American's! And she is just too pretty and sweet +to be eaten up by these wolves of men she will meet in England, with +that unromantic, unattractive husband along. I must do what I can for +her." + +By the time she had dropped Theodora at her hotel the situation was +quite clear. Of course the girl had been sacrificed to Josiah Brown; she +was sound asleep in the great forces of life; she was bound to be +hideously unhappy, and it was all an abominable shame, and ought to have +been prevented. + +But Mrs. McBride never cried over spilled milk. + +"If I decide to marry her father," she thought, as she drove off, "I +shall keep my eye on her, and meanwhile I can make her life smile a +little perhaps!" + + + + +IV + + +Theodora did not wonder why she felt in no exalted state of spirits as +she dressed for dinner. She seldom thought of herself at all, or what +her emotions were, but the fact remained there was none of the +excitement there had been over the prospect of breakfast. Her husband, +on the contrary, seemed quite fussy. + +"A devilish fine woman," he had described Mrs. McBride. "Acts like a +tonic upon me; does me more good than a pint of champagne!" + +"Is she not delightful?" agreed Theodora; "so very kind and gay. I am +sure the dinner will do you good, Josiah, and perhaps we might give one +in return. What do you say?" + +Josiah said, "Certainly!" He could give a meal with the best of them! +They would consult that father of hers, who knew Paris so well, and ask +him to help them to arrange a regular "slap-up treat." + +And so they arrived at Armenonville. It was a divine night, quite warm, +and a soft three-quarter moon. + +Mrs. McBride had everything arranged to perfection. Their table was just +where it should be, the menu was all that heart of gourmet could desire, +and the company sparkling. + +Theodora found herself seated beside Mr. Harryman Hoggenwater and an +elderly Austrian, and before the _hors d'oeuvres_ were cleared away +both gentlemen had decided to make love to her. + +It was when the _bisque d'écrevisses_ was being handed she became +conscious that, not two tables off, there was an empty one simply +arranged with flowers, and almost at the same instant Lord Bracondale +and his party arrived upon the scene. + +All Theodora's perceptions seemed to be sharpened. She knew without +turning her head the table was for them, and that they were advancing +towards it. She had felt their arrival almost before their automobile +stopped; and now she would not look up. + +A strange sensation, as of excitement, tingled through her. She longed +to ascertain if the woman was good-looking who made the third in this +party of three. She peeped eventually--with the corner of her eye. Lord +Bracondale had so placed his guests that he himself faced Theodora, and +the lady had her back turned to her. + +Thus Theodora's curiosity could not be gratified. + +"She is English," she decided; "that round shaped back always is--and +very well-bred looking, and not much taste in dress. I wonder if she is +old or young--and if that is the husband. Yes, he is unattractive--it +must be the husband--and oh, I wonder what they are talking about! Lord +Bracondale seems so interested!" + +And if she had known it was-- + +"Really, Monica, how fortunate to have secured you at short notice like +this," Lord Bracondale was saying. "I only found I had a free evening at +breakfast, and I met Jack on my way to the polo-ground just in the nick +of time." + +"We love coming," Mrs. Ellerwood replied. "For unsophisticated English +people it is a great treat. We go back on Saturday--every one will be +asking what is keeping you here so long." + +"My plans are vague," Lord Bracondale said, casually. "I might come back +any day, or I may stay until well into June--it quite depends upon how +amused I am. I rather love Paris." + +And to himself he was thinking-- + +"How I wish that atrocious woman over there with the paradise plume +would keep her hat out of the way. Ah, that is better! How lovely she +looks to-night! What an exquisite pose of head! And what are those two +damned foreigners saying to her, I wonder. Underbred brute, the +American, Herryman Hoggenwater! What a name! She is laughing--she +evidently finds him amusing. Abominably cattish of the widow not to ask +me. I wonder if she has seen me yet. I want to make her bow to me. Ah!" +For just then magnetism was too strong for Theodora, and, in spite of +her determination, their eyes met. + +A thrill, little short of passion, ran through Lord Bracondale as he saw +the wild roses flushing her white cheeks--the exquisite flattery to his +vanity. Yes, she had seen him, and it already meant something to her. + +He raised his champagne glass and sipped a sip, while his eyes, more +ardent than they had ever been, sought her face. + +And Theodora, for her part, felt a flutter too. She was angry with +herself for blushing, such a school-girlish thing to do, Sarah had +always told her. She hoped he had not noticed it at that +distance--probably not. And what did he mean by drinking her health +like that? He--oh, he was-- + +"Now, truly, Mrs. Brown, you are cruel," Mr. Herryman Hoggenwater said, +pathetically, interrupting her thoughts. "I tell you I am simply longing +to know if you will come for a drive in my automobile, and you do not +answer, but stare into space." + +Theodora turned, and then the young American understood that for all her +gentle looks it would be wiser not to take this tone with her. + +He admired her frantically, he was just "crazy" about her, he told Mrs. +McBride later. And so now he exerted himself to please and amuse her +with all the vivacity of his brilliant nation. + +Theodora was enjoying herself. Environment and atmosphere affected her +strongly. The bright pink lights, the sense of night and the soft moon +beyond the wide open balcony windows, the scents of flowers, the gayety, +and, above all, the knowledge that Lord Bracondale was there, gazing at +her whenever opportunity offered, with eyes in which she, unlearned as +she was in such things, could read plainly admiration and unrest. + +It all went to her head a little, and she became quite animated and full +of repartee and sparkle, so that Josiah Brown could hardly believe his +eyes and ears when he glanced across at her. This his meek and quiet +mouse! + +His heart swelled with pride when Mrs. McBride leaned over and said to +him: + +"You know, Mr. Brown, you have got the most beautiful wife in the world, +and I hope you value her properly." + +It was this daring quality in his hostess Josiah appreciated so much. +"She's not afraid to say anything, 'pon my soul," he said to himself. "I +rather think I know my own possession's value!" he answered aloud, with +a pompous puffing out of chest, and a cough to clear the throat. + +The Austrian Prince on Theodora's right hand pleased her. He had a quiet +manner, and the freemasonry of breeding in two people, even of different +nations, drew her to talk naturally to him in a friendly way. + +He was a fatalist, he told her; what would be would be, and mortals like +himself and herself were just scattered leaves, like barks floating down +a current where were mostly rocks ahead. + +"Then must we strike the rocks whether we wish it or no?" asked +Theodora. "Cannot we help ourselves?" + +"Ah, madame, for that," he said, "we can strive a little and avoid this +one and that, but if it is our fate we will crash against them in the +end." + +"What a sad philosophy!" said Theodora. "I would rather believe that if +one does one's best some kind angel will guide one's bark past the rocks +and safely into the smooth waters of the pool beyond." + +"You are young," he said, "and I hope you will find it so, but I fear +you will have to try very hard, and circumstances may even then be too +strong for you." + +"In that case I must go under altogether," said Theodora; but her eyes +smiled, and that night at least such a possibility seemed far enough +away from her. + +The Austrian looked across at her husband. Such marriages were rare in +his country, and he had thought so too in England. He wondered what +their story could be. He wondered how soon she would take a lover--and +he realized how infinitely worth while that lover would find his +situation. + +He wished he were not so old. If she must break up her bark on the +rocks, he could take the place of steersman with pleasure. But he was a +courteous gentleman and he said none of these things aloud. + +Meanwhile, Lord Bracondale was not enjoying his dinner. For the first +time for several years he found himself jealous! He, unlike Theodora, +knew the meaning of every one of his sensations. + +"She is certainly interested in Prince Carolstein," he thought, as he +watched her; "he has a European reputation for fascination. She has not +looked this way once since the entrées. I wish I could hear what they +are talking about. As for that young puppy Hoggenwater, I would like to +kick him round the room! Lord, look how he is leaning over her! It +sickens me! The young fool!" + +Mrs. Ellerwood turned round in her seat and surveyed the room. They had +almost come to the end of dinner, and could move their chairs a little. +She had the true Englishwoman's feeling when among foreigners--that they +were all there as puppets for her entertainment. + +"Look, Hector," she said--they were cousins--"did you ever see such a +lovely woman as that one over there among the large party, in the black +chiffon dress?" + +Then Hector committed a _bêtise_. + +"Where?" said he, his eyes persistently fixed in another direction. + +"There; you can't mistake her, she looks so pure white, and fair, among +all these Frenchwomen The one with the blue eyes and the lovely hat +with those sweeping feathers. She is exquisitely dressed, and both those +men look fearfully devoted to her. Can't you see? Oh, you are stupid!" + +"My dear Monica," said Jack Ellerwood, who joined rarely in the +conversation, "Hector has been sitting facing this way all through +dinner. He is a man who can appreciate what he sees, and I do not fancy +has missed much--have you, Hector?" and he smiled a quiet smile. + +Mrs. Ellerwood looked at Lord Bracondale and laughed. + +"It is I who am stupid," she said. "Naturally you have seen her all the +time, and know her probably. Are they cocottes, or Americans, or Russian +princesses, or what?--the whole collection?" + +"If you mean that large party in the corner, they are most of them +friends and acquaintances of mine," he said, rather icily--she had +annoyed him--"and they belong to the aristocracies of various nations. +Does that satisfy you? I am afraid they are none of them demimondaines, +so you will be disappointed this time!" + +Mrs. Ellerwood looked at him; she understood now. + +"He is in love with the white woman," she thought; "that is why he was +so anxious to dine here to-night, when Jack suggested Madrid; that is +why he stays in Paris. It is not Esclarmonde de Chartres after all! How +excited Aunt Milly will be! I must find out her name." + +"She is a beautiful creature," said Jack Ellerwood, as if to himself, +while he carefully surveyed Theodora from his position at the side of +the table. + +Hector Bracondale's irritation rose. Relations were tactless, and he +felt sorry he had asked them. + +"You must tell me her name, Hector," pleaded Mrs. Ellerwood; "the very +white, pretty one I mean." + +"Now just to punish your curiosity I shall do no such thing." + +"Hector, you are a pig." + +"Probably." + +"And so selfish." + +"Possibly." + +"Why mayn't I know? You set a light to all sorts of suspicions." + +"Doubly interesting for you, then." + +"Provoking wretch!" + +"Don't you think you would like some coffee? The waiter is trying to +hand you a cup." + +Mrs. Ellerwood laughed. She knew there was no use teasing him further; +but there were other means, and she must employ them. Theodora had +become the pivot upon which some of her world might turn. + +The object of this solicitude was quite unconscious of the interest she +had created. She did not naturally think she could be of importance to +any one. Had she not been the youngest and snubbed always? + +The same thought came to her that was conjuring the brain of Lord +Bracondale: would there be a chance to speak to-night, or must they each +go their way in silence? He meant to assist fate if he could, but having +Monica Ellerwood there was a considerable drawback. + +Mrs. McBride's party were to take their coffee in one of the _bosquets_ +outside, and all got up from their table in a few minutes to go out. +They would have to pass the _partie à trois_, who were nearer the door. +Monica would take her most searching look at them, Lord Bracondale +thought; now was the time for action. So as Mrs. McBride came past with +Captain Fitzgerald, he rose from his seat and greeted her. + +"You have been exceedingly mean," he whispered. "What are you going to +do for me to make up for it?" + +The widow had a very soft spot in her heart for "Ce beau Bracondale," as +she called him, and when he pleaded like that she found him hard to +resist. + +"Come and see me to-morrow at twelve, and we will talk about it," she +said. + +"To-morrow!" exclaimed Lord Bracondale; "but I want to talk to her +to-night!" + +"Get rid of your party, then, and join us for coffee," and the widow +smiled archly as she passed on. + +Theodora bowed with grave sweetness as she also went by, and most of the +others greeted Hector, while one woman stopped and told him she was +going to have an automobile party in a day or two, and she hoped he +would come. + +When they had all gone on Mrs. Ellerwood said: + +"I wonder why Americans are so much smarter than we poor English? I +can't bear them as a nation though, can you?" + +"Yes," said Lord Bracondale. "I think the best friends I have in the +world are American. The women particularly are perfectly charming. You +feel all the time you are playing a game with really experienced +adversaries, and it makes it interesting. They are full of resource, +and you know underneath you could never break their hearts. I am not +sure if they have any in their own country, but if so they turn into the +most wonderful and exquisite bits of mechanism when they come to +Europe." + +"And you admire that." + +"Certainly--hearts are a great bore." + +"You were always a cynic, Hector; that is perhaps what makes you so +attractive." + +"Am I attractive?" + +"I can't judge," said Mrs. Ellerwood, nettled for a moment. "I have +known you too long, but I hear other women saying so." + +"That is comforting, at all events," said Lord Bracondale. "I always +have adored women." + +"No, you never have, that is just it. You have let them adore you, and +utterly spoil you; so now sometimes, Hector, you are insupportable." + +"You just said I was attractive." + +"I shall not argue further with you," said Mrs. Ellerwood, pettishly. + +"And I think we ought to be saying good-night, Hector," interrupted the +silent Jack. "We are making an early start for Fontainebleau to-morrow, +and Monica likes any amount of sleep." + +This did not suit Mrs. Ellerwood at all; but if Jack spoke seldom he +spoke to some purpose when he did, and she knew there was no use +arguing. + +So with a heart full of ungratified curiosity, she at last allowed +herself to be packed into Hector's automobile and driven away. + +"Of course he'll go and join that other party now, Jack! What _did_ you +make me come away for, you tiresome thing!" she said to her husband. + +"He has done me many a turn in the past," said Jack, laconically. + +"Then you think--?" + +But Jack refused to think. + + + + +V + + +Theodora was sitting rather on the outskirts of the party in the +_bosquet_, her two devoted admirers still on either side of her. All the +chairs were arranged informally, and hers was against the opening, so +that it proved easy for Lord Bracondale to come up behind her +unperceived. + +She believed he had gone. She could not see distinctly from where she +was, but she had thought she saw the automobile whizzing by. She +recognized Mrs. Ellerwood's hat. An unconscious feeling of blankness +came over her. She grew more silent. + +A lady beyond the Prince spoke to him, and at that moment Mr. +Hoggenwater rose to put down her coffee-cup, and in this second of +loneliness a deep voice said in her ear: + +"I could not go--I wanted to say good-night to you!" + +Then Theodora experienced a new emotion; she could not have told herself +what it was, but suddenly a gladness spread through her spirit; the +moon looked more softly bright, and her sweet eyes dilated and glowed, +while that voice, gentle as a dove's, trembled a little as she said: + +"Lord Bracondale! Oh, you startled me!" + +He drew a chair and sat down behind her. + +"How shall we get rid of your Hogginheimer millionaire?" he whispered. +"I feel as if I wanted to kill every one who speaks to you to-night." + +The half light, the moon, Paris, and the spring-time! Theodora spent the +next hour in a dream--a dream of bliss. + +Mrs. McBride, with her all-seeing eye, perceived the turn events had +taken. She was full of enjoyment herself; she had quite--almost +quite--decided to listen to the addresses of Captain Fitzgerald, +therefore her heart, not her common-sense, was uppermost this night. + +It could not hurt Theodora to have one evening of agreeable +conversation, and it would do Herryman Hoggenwater a great deal of good +to be obstacled; thus she expressed it to herself. That last success +with Princess Waldersheim had turned his empty head. So she called him +and planted him in a safe place by an American girl, who would know how +to keep him, and then turned to her own affairs again. + +The Prince was a man of the world, and understood life. So Theodora and +Lord Bracondale were left in peace. + +The latter soon moved his chair to a position where he could see her +face, rather behind her still, which entailed a slightly leaning over +attitude. They were beyond the radius of the lights in the _bosquet_. + +Lord Bracondale was perfectly conversant with all moves in the game; he +knew how to talk to a woman so that she alone could feel the strength of +his devotion, while his demeanor to the world seemed the least +compromising. + +Theodora had not spoken for a moment after his first speech. It made her +heart beat too fast. + +"I have been watching you all through dinner," he continued, with only a +little pause. "You look immensely beautiful to-night, and those two told +you so, I suppose." + +"Perhaps they did!" she said. This was her first gentle essay at +fencing. She would try to be as the rest were, gay and full of badinage. + +"And you liked it?" with resentment. + +"Of course I did; you see, I never have heard any of these nice things +much. Josiah has always been too ill to go out, and when I was a girl I +never saw any people who knew how to say them." + +She had turned to look at him as she said this, and his eyes spoke a +number of things to her. They were passionate, and resentful, and +jealous, and full of something disturbing. Thrills ran through poor +Theodora. + +His eyes had been capable of looking most of these things before to +other women, when he had not meant any of them, but she did not know +that. + +"Well," he said, "they had better not return or recommence their +compliments, because I am not in the mood to be polite to them +to-night." + +"What is your mood?" asked Theodora, and then felt a little frightened +at her own daring. + +"My mood is one of unrest--I would like to be away alone with you, where +we could talk in peace," and he leaned over her so that his lips were +fairly close to her ear. "These people jar upon me. I would like to be +sitting in the garden at Amalfi, or in a gondola in Venice, and I want +to talk about all your beautiful thoughts. You are a new white flower +for me, as different as an angel from the other women in the world." + +"Am I?" said she, in her tender tones. "I would wish that you should +always keep that good thought of me. We shall soon go our different +ways. Josiah has decided to leave next week, and we are not likely to +meet in England." + +"Yes, we are likely to meet--I will arrange it," he said. + +There was nothing hesitating about Hector Bracondale--his way with women +had always been masterful--and this quality, when mixed with a sudden +bending to their desires, was peculiarly attractive. To-night he was +drifting--drifting into a current which might carry him beyond his +control. + +It was now several years since he had been in love even slightly. His +position, his appearance, his personal charm, had all combined to spoil +a nature capable of great things. Life had always been too smooth. His +mother adored him. He had an ample fortune. Every marriageable girl in +his world almost had been flung at his head. Women of all classes with +one consent had done their best to turn him into a coxcomb and a beast. +But he continued to be a man for all that, and went his own way; only as +no one can remain stationary, the crust of selfishness and cynicism was +perhaps thickening with years, and his soul was growing hidden still +deeper beneath it all. From the beginning something in Theodora had +spoken to the best in him. He was conscious of feelings of +dissatisfaction with himself when he left her, of disgust with the days +of unmeaning aims. + +He had begun out of idle admiration; he had continued from inclination; +but to-night it was _plus fort que lui_, and he knew he was in love. + +The habit of indulging any emotion which gave him pleasure was still +strong upon him; it was not yet he would begin to analyze where this +passion might lead him--might lead them both. + +It was too deliciously sweet to sit there and whisper to her sophistries +and reasonings, to take her sensitive fancy into new worlds, to play +upon her feelings--those feelings which he realized were as fine and as +full of tone as the sounds which could be drawn from a Stradivarius +violin. + +It was a night of new worlds for them both, for if Theodora had never +looked into any world at all, he also had never even imagined one which +could be so quite divine as this--this shared with her in the moonlight, +with the magic of the Tzigane music and the soft spring night. + +He had just sufficient mastery over himself left not to overstep the +bounds of respectful and deep interest in her. He did not speak a word +of love. There was no actual sentence which Theodora felt obliged to +resent--and yet through it all was the subtle insinuation that they were +more than friends--or would be more than friends. + +And when it was all over, and Theodora's pulses were calmer as she lay +alone on her pillow, she had a sudden thrill of fear. But she put it +aside--it was not her nature to think herself the object of passions. "I +would be a very silly woman to flatter myself so," she said to herself, +and then she went to sleep. + +Lord Bracondale stayed awake for hours, but he did not sup with +Esclarmonde de Chartres or Marion de Beauvoison. And the Café de +Paris--and Maxims--and the afterwards--saw him no more. + +Once again these houris asked each other, "Mais qu'est-ce qu'il a! Ce +bel Hector? Oú se cache-t-il?" + + + + +VI + + +Before she went to bed in her hotel in the Rue de Rivoli, Monica +Ellerwood wrote to her aunt. + + "PARIS, _May 15th_. + + "MY DEAR AUNT MILLY,--We have had a delicious little week, + Jack and I, quite like an old honeymoon pair--and to-day we ran + across Hector, who has remained hidden until now. He is looking + splendid, just as handsome and full of life as ever, so it does not + tell upon his constitution, that is one mercy! Not like poor Ernest + Bretherton, who, if you remember, was quite broken up by her last + year. And I have one good piece of news for you, dear Aunt Milly. I + do not believe he is so frantically wrapped up in this Esclarmonde + de Chartres woman after all--in spite of that diamond chain at + Monte Carlo. For to-night he took us to dine at + Armenonville--although Jack particularly wanted to go to the + Madrid--and when we got there we saw at once why! There was a most + beautiful woman dining there with a party, and Hector never took + his eyes off her the whole of dinner, Jack says--I had my back that + way--and he got rid of us as soon as he could and went and joined + them. Very young she looked, but I suppose married, from her pearls + and clothes--American probably, as she was perhaps too well dressed + for one of us; but quite a lady and awfully pretty. Hector was so + snappish about it, and would not tell her name, that it makes me + sure he is very much in love with her, and Jack thinks so too. So, + dear Aunt Milly, you need have no more anxieties about him, as she + can't have been married long, she looks so young, and so must be + quite safe. Jack says Hector is thoroughly able to take care of + himself, anyway, but I know how all these things worry you. If I + can find out her name before I go I will, though perhaps you think + it is out of the frying-pan into the fire, as it makes him no more + in the mood to marry Morella Winmarleigh than before. Unless, of + course, this new one is unkind to him. We shall be home on + Saturday, dear Aunt Milly, and I will come round to lunch on Sunday + and give you all my news. + + + "Your affectionate niece, + "MONICA ELLERWOOD." + +Which epistle jarred upon Hector's mother when she read it over coffee +at her solitary dinner on the following night. + +"Poor dear Monica!" she said to herself. "I wonder where she got this +strain from--her father's family, I suppose--I wish she would not be +so--bald." + +Then she sat down and wrote to her son--she was not even going to the +opera that night. And if she had looked up in the tall mirror opposite, +she would have seen a beautiful, stately lady with a puckered, plaintive +frown on her face. + +If a woman absolutely worships a man, even if she is only his mother, +she is bound to spend many moments of unhappiness, and Lady Bracondale +was no exception to the general rule. Hector had always gone his own +way, and there were several aspects of his life she disapproved of. +These visits to Paris--his antipathy to matrimony--his boredom with +girls--such nice girls she knew, too, and had often thrown him +with!--his delight in big-game shooting in alarming and impossible +countries--and, above all, his absolute indifference to Morella +Winmarleigh, the only woman who really and truly in her heart of hearts +Lady Bracondale thought worthy of him, although she would have accepted +several other girls as choosing the lesser evil to bachelorhood. But +Morella Winmarleigh was perfection! She owned the enormous property +adjoining Bracondale; she was twenty-six years old, of unblemished +reputation, nice looking, and not--not one of those modern women who are +bound to cause anxieties. Under any circumstances one could count upon +Morella Winmarleigh behaving with absolute propriety. A girl born to be +a mother-in-law's joy. + +But Hector persistently remained at large. It was not that he openly +defied his mother--he simply made love to her whenever they were +together, twisted her round his finger, and was off again. + +"To see mother with Hector," Lady Annigford said, "is a wonderful sight. +Although I adore him myself, I am not at the stage she is! She sits +there beaming on him exactly like an exceedingly proud and fond cat with +new kittens. He treats her as if she were a young and beautiful woman, +caresses her, pets her, pays not the least attention to anything she +says, and does absolutely what he pleases!" + +Hector and Lady Bracondale together had often made the women who were in +love with him jealous. + +When she had finished her letter the stately lady read it over +carefully--she had a certain tact, and Hector must be cajoled to return, +not irritated. Monica's epistle, in spite of that touch of vulgarity +which she had deplored, had held out some grains of comfort. She had +been getting really anxious over this affair with the--French person. +Even to herself Lady Bracondale would not use any of the terms which +usually designate ladies of the type of Esclarmonde de Chartres. + +Since her brother-in-law Evermond had returned from Monte Carlo bringing +that disturbing story of the diamond chain, she had been on thorns--of +such a light mind and always so full of worldly gossip, Evermond! + +Hector had gone from Monte Carlo to Venice, and then to Paris, where he +had been for more than a month, and she had heard that men could become +quite infatuated and absolutely ruined by these creatures. So for him to +have taken a fancy to a married American was considerably better than +that. She had met several members of this nation herself in England, and +were they not always very discreet, with well-balanced heads! So +altogether the puckered frown soon left her smooth brow, and she was +able to resume the knitting of a tie she was doing for her son, with a +spirit more or less at rest, though she sighed now and then as she +remembered Morella Winmarleigh could not be expected to wait +forever--and her cherished vision of perfectly behaved, vigorously +healthy grandchildren was still a long way from being realized. For with +such a mother what perfect children they would be! This was always her +final reflection. + + + + +VII + + +At twelve o'clock punctually Lord Bracondale was ushered into Mrs. +McBride's sitting-room at the Ritz, the day after her dinner-party at +Armenonville. He expected she would not be ready to receive him for at +least half an hour; having said twelve he might have known she meant +half-past, but he was in a mood of impatience, and felt obliged to be +punctual. + +He was suffering more or less from a reaction. He had begun towards +morning to realize the manner in which he had spent the evening was not +altogether wise. Not that he had the least intention of not repeating +his folly--indeed, he was where he was at this hour for no other purpose +than to enlist the widow's sympathy, and her co-operation in arranging +as many opportunities for similar evenings as together they could +devise. + +After all, she only kept him waiting twenty minutes, and he had been +rather amused looking at the piles of bric-à-brac obsequious art dealers +had left for this rich lady's inspection. + +A number of spurious bronzes warranted pure antique, clocks, brocades, +what not, lying about on all the available space. + +"And I wonder what it will look like in her marble palace halls," he +thought, as he passed from one article to another. + +"I am just too sorry to keep you, mon cher Bracondale," Mrs. McBride +said, presently, suddenly opening the adjoining door a few inches, "but +it is a quite exasperating hat which has delayed me. I can't get the +thing on at the angle I want. I--" + +"Mayn't I come and help, dear lady?" interrupted Hector. "I know all +about the subject. I had to buy forty-seven at Monte Carlo, and see them +all tried on, too--and only lately! Do ask Marie to open that door a +little wider; I will decide in a minute how it should be." + +"Insolent!" said the widow, who spoke French with perfect fluency and a +quite marvellously pure American accent. But she permitted the giggling +and beaming Marie to open the door wide, and let Hector advance and kiss +her hand. + +He then took a chair by the dressing-table and inspected the situation. + +Seven or eight dainty bandboxes strewed the floor, some of their +contents peeping from them--feathers, aigrettes, flowers, impossible +birds--all had their place, and on the sofa were three _chef +d'oeuvres_ ruthlessly tossed aside. While in the widow's fair hands +was a gem of gray tulle and the most expensive feather heart of woman +could desire. + +"You see," she said, plaintively, "it is meant to go just so," and she +placed it once more upon her head, a handsome head of forty-five, fresh +and well preserved and comely. "But the vile-tempered thing refuses to +stay there once I let go, and no pin will correct it." + +"Base ingratitude," said Lord Bracondale, with feeling; "but couldn't +you stuff these in the hiatus," and he tenderly lifted a bunch of +nut-brown curls from the dressing-table. "They would fill up the gap and +keep the fractious thing steady." + +"Of course they would," said Mrs. McBride; "but I have a rooted +objection to auxiliary nature trimmings. That bunch was sent with the +hat, and Marie has been trying to persuade me to wear it ever since we +began this struggle. But I won't! My hair's my own, and I don't mean to +have any one else's alongside of it. There is my trouble." + +"If milor were to hold madame's 'at one side, while I de other, madame +might force her emerald parrot pin through him," suggested Marie, which +advice was followed, and the widow beamed with satisfaction at the +gratifying result. + +"There!" she exclaimed, with a sigh of relief, "that will do; and I am +just ready. Gloves, handkerchief--oh! and my purse, Marie." And in five +minutes more she was leading the way back into her sitting-room. + +"I have not ordered lunch until one o'clock," she said, "so we have +oceans of time to talk and tell each other secrets. Sit down, jeune +homme, and confess to me." She pointed to a _bergère_, but it was filled +with Italian embroideries. "Marie, take this rubbish away!" she called, +and presently some chairs were made clear. + +"And what must I confess?" asked Hector, when they were seated. "That I +am frantically in love with you, and your coldness is driving me wild?" + +"Certainly not!" said the widow, while she rose again and began to +arrange some giant roses in a wonderful basket which looked as if it had +just arrived--her shrewd eye had seen the card, "From Captain +Fitzgerald, with his best bonjour." "Certainly not! We are going to talk +truth, or, to punish you, I shall not ask you to meet her again, and I +shall warn her father of your strictly dishonorable intentions." + +"You would not be so cruel!" + +"Yes I would. And it is what I ought to do, anyway. She is as innocent +as a woolly lamb, and unsophisticated and guileless, and will probably +be falling in love with you. You take the wind out of the sails of that +husband of hers, you see!" + +"Do I?" said Hector, with overdone incredulity. + +She looked at him. His long, lithe limbs stretched out, every line +indicative of breeding and strength. She noted the shape of his head, +the perfect grooming, his lazy, insolent grace, his whimsical smile. +Englishmen of this class were certainly the most provokingly beautiful +creatures in the world. + +"It is because they have done nothing but order men, kill beasts, and +subjugate women for generations," she said to herself. "Lazy, naughty +darlings! If they came to our country and worked their brains a little, +they would soon lose that look. But it would be a pity," she +added--"yes, a pity." + +"What are you thinking of?" asked Lord Bracondale, while she gazed at +him. + +"I was thinking you are a beautiful, useless creature. Just like all +your nation. You think the world is made for you; in any case, all the +women and animals to kill are." + +"What an abominable libel! But I am fond of both things--women and +animals to kill." + +"And you class them equally--or perhaps the animals are ahead." + +"Indeed not always," said Hector, reassuringly. "Some women have quite +the first place." + +"You are too flattering!" retorted the widow. "Those sentiments are all +very well for your own poor-spirited, down-trodden women, but they won't +do for Americans! A man has to learn a number of lessons before he is +fitted to cope with them." + +"Oh, tell me," said Hector. + +"He has got to learn to wait, for one thing, to wait about for hours if +necessary, and not to lose his temper, because the woman can't make up +her mind to be in time for things, or to change it often as to where she +will dine. Then he has to learn to give up any pleasure of his own for +hers--and travel when she wants to travel, or stay home when she wants +to go alone. If he is an Englishman he don't have brains enough to make +the money, but he must let her spend what he has got how she likes, and +not interfere with her own." + +"And in return he gets?" + +"The woman he happens to want, I suppose." And the widow laughed, +showing her wonderfully preserved brilliant white teeth. + +"You enunciate great truths, belle dame!" said Hector, "and your last +sentence is the greatest of all--'_The woman he happens to want._'" + +"Which brings us back to our muttons--in this case only a defenceless +baby lamb. Now tell me what you are here for, trying to cajole me with +your good looks and mock humility." + +"I am here to ask you to help me to see her again, then," said Hector, +who knew when to be direct. "I have only met her three times, as you +know, but I have fallen in love, and she is going away next week, and +there is only one Paris in the world." + +"You can do a great deal of mischief in a week," Mrs. McBride said, +looking at him again critically. "I ought not to help you, but I can't +resist you--there! What can we devise?" + +It is possible the probability of Theodora's father making a fourth may +have had something thing to do with her complaisance. Anyway, it was +decided that if feasible the four should spend a day at Versailles. + +They should go in their two automobiles in time for breakfast at the +Réservoirs. They would start, Theodora in Mrs. McBride's with her, and +Captain Fitzgerald with Lord Bracondale, and each couple could spend the +afternoon as they pleased, dining again at the Réservoirs and whirling +back to Paris in the moonlight. A truly rural and refreshing programme, +good for the soul of man. + +"And I can rely upon you to get rid of the husband?" said Lord +Bracondale, finally. "I do not see the poetry of the affair with his +bald head and mutton-chop whiskers as an accessory." + +"Leave that to Captain Fitzgerald and myself," Mrs. McBride said, +proudly. "I have a scheme that Mr. Brown shall spend the day with +Clutterbuck R. Tubbs, examining some new machinery they are both +interested in. Leave it to me!" The part of _Deus ex machina_ was always +a rôle the widow loved. + +Then they descended to an agreeable lunch in the restaurant, with a +numerous party of her friends as usual, and Lord Bracondale felt +afterwards full of joy and hope, to continue his sinful path +unrepenting. + +The days that intervened before Theodora saw him again were uneventful +and full of blankness. The walks in the Bois appeared more tedious than +ever in the morning, the drives in the Acacias more exasperating. It was +a continual alertness to see if she caught sight of a familiar face, but +she never did. Fate was against them, as she sometimes is when she means +to compensate soon after by some glorious day of the gods. And although +Lord Bracondale called at her hotel and walked where he thought he +should see her, and even drove in the Acacias, they had no meeting. + +Josiah did not feel himself sufficiently strong to stand the air of +theatres, and they went nowhere in the evenings. He was keeping himself +for his own dinner-party, which was to take place at the Madrid on the +Monday. + +Captain Fitzgerald had arranged it, and besides Mrs. McBride several of +his friends were coming, and a special band of wonderfully talented +Tziganes, who were delighting Paris that year, had been engaged to play +to them. If only the weather should remain fine all would be well. + +A surprise awaited Theodora on Saturday morning. A friendly note from +Mrs. McBride arrived, asking her if she would spend the day with her at +Versailles, as she had asked her husband to do her a favor and lunch +with Mr. Clutterbuck R. Tubbs. + +Theodora awaited Josiah's presence at the _premier déjeuner_, which they +took in their salon, with absolute excitement. He came in, a pompous +smile on his face. + +"Good-day, my love," he said, blandly. "That charming widow writes me +this morning, asking if I will do her a favor, and take her friend, Mr. +Clutterbuck Tubbs, to examine that machinery for the separation of fats +we both have an interest in, and he suggests I should lunch with him, as +he is very anxious to have my opinion upon the merits of it." + +"Yes," said Theodora. + +"She also says," referring to the letter in his hand, "she will take +charge of you for the day, and take you to Versailles, which I know you +wish to go to. She wants an answer at once, as she will call for you at +twelve o'clock if we accept." + +"I have heard from her, too," said Theodora. "What shall you answer, +Josiah?" and she looked out of the window. + +"Oh, I may as well go, I think. There is money in the invention, or that +old gimlet-eye would not be so keen about it; I talked the matter over +with him at Armenonville the other night." + +"Then shall you write or shall I?" said Theodora, as evenly as she +could. "Her servant is waiting." + + + + +VIII + + +Theodora hummed to herself a glad little _chansonnette_ as she changed +her breakfast negligee for the freshest and loveliest of her spring +frocks. She did not know why she was so happy. There had been no word of +any one else being of the party, only she and Mrs. McBride, but +Versailles would be exquisite on such a day, and something whispered to +her that she might not yawn. + +The most radiant vision awaited the widow, when, with unusual +punctuality, her automobile stopped at the hotel door. She came in. She +was voluble, she flattered Josiah. So good of him to take Mr. Tubbs--and +she hoped it would not tire him. Theodora should be well looked after. +They might be late and even dine at Versailles, she said, and Mr. Brown +was not to be anxious--_she_ would be responsible for the safe return of +his beautiful little wife. (Theodora was five foot seven at least, but +her small head and extreme slenderness gave people the feeling she was +little--something to be protected and guarded always.) + +Josiah was affable. Mrs. McBride's words were so smooth and so many, he +had no time to feel Theodora was going to dine out without him, or that +anything had been arranged for ultimate ends. + +The automobile had almost reached Suresnes before the widow said to her +guest: + +"Your father and Lord Bracondale have promised to meet us at the +Réservoirs. Captain Fitzgerald told me how you wanted to go to +Versailles, and how your husband is not strong enough to take these +excursions, so I thought we might have this little day out there, while +he is engaged with Mr. Clutterbuck Tubbs." + +"How sweet of you!" said Theodora. + +As they rushed through the smiling country, both women's spirits rose, +and Mrs. McBride's were the spirits of experience and did not mount +without due cause. Since she had been a girl in Dakota and passionately +in love with her first husband--the defunct McBride was a second +venture--she had not met a man who could quicken her pulse like Captain +Fitzgerald. It was a curious coincidence that they both had already two +partners to regret. It was an extra link between them, and Jane +McBride, who was superstitious, read the omen to mean that this time +each had met his true mate. + +"If he is irresistible to-day, I think I shall clinch matters," she was +saying to herself. + +While Theodora's musings ran: + +"How beautiful Versailles will look, and I dare say he will know all +about its history, and be able to tell me interesting things; and oh! I +am so glad I put on this frock, and oh! I am so happy." + +And aloud they spoke of paradise plumes and the new gray, and the merits +and demerits of Callot and Doucet and Jeanne Valez. And the widow said +some bright American things about husbands and the world in general that +conveyed crisp truths. + +The drive seemed all too short, and there were their two cavaliers in +the court-yard awaiting them at the Réservoirs, having arrived just +before them. + +To the end of her life Theodora will remember that glorious May day. Its +even minutest detail, the color of the chestnut-trees, the tint of the +sky, the scent in the air, every line of his figure and turn of his +head, every look in his eyes--and they were many and varied--and also +and alas! every growing emotion in her own heart. But at the moment all +was gladness, and exquisite, young, irresponsible joy. _Sans +arrière-pensée_ or disquieting reflection. + +She wondered which of the two men was the handsomer as she got out of +the automobile--dear, darling papa or Lord Bracondale; both were quite +show creatures of their age, and both were of the same class and +knowledge of _savoir-vivre_. Every one said such polite and gracious +things, it was all so smooth and gay, and it seemed so natural that they +should take a turn up towards the château while breakfast was being +prepared. + +Half-past one o'clock was time enough to eat, the widow said. + +"I want to show you a number of spots I love," Hector announced, +choosing a different path to the other pair. "And it is a day we can be +happy in, can't we?" + +"I want to be happy," said Theodora. + +"Then we shall go no farther now; we shall sit on this seat and admire +the view. See, we are quite alone and undisturbed; all the world has +gone home to breakfast." + +Then he looked at her, and though he really did try at this stage to be +reasonable, something of the intense attraction he felt for her blazed +in his eyes. + +She was sufficiently delectable a picture to turn the sagest head. There +was something so absolutely pure white about that skin, it seemed good +to eat, flawless, unlined, unblemished, under this brilliant light. + +The way her silvery blond hair grew was just the right way a woman's +hair ought to grow, he thought; low on a high, broad brow, rippling and +soft, and quantities of it. What could it be like to caress it, to run +one's fingers through it, to bury one's face in it? Ah! and then there +were her tender eyes, dewy and shadowed with dark lashes, and so +intensely blue. His glance wandered farther afield. Such a figure! +slender and graceful and fine. There was something almost childish about +it all; the innocent look of a very young girl, with the polish of the +woman, garbed by an artist. It seemed the great pearls in her ears were +not more milkily white than her throat, and he was sure were also her +little slender hands, that did not fidget, but lay idly in her lap, +holding her blue parasol. He would like to have taken off her gloves to +see. + +Passionate devotion was surging up in his breast. + +And he was an Englishman, and it was still the morning. There was no +moon now and he had not even breakfasted! This shows sufficiently to +what state he had come. + +"I want you to tell me all about Versailles," she said, looking to the +left and the gray wing beyond the chapel. "Its histories and its +meanings. I used to read about it all after Sarah brought me here once +for our treat, but you probably are learned upon the subject, and I want +to know." + +"I would much rather hear what you did when Sarah brought you here for +your treat," he said. + +"Oh! it was a very simple day," and she leaned back and laughed softly +at the recollection. "Papa was very hard up at that time, you know, and +we were rather poor, so we came as cheaply as we could, Sarah, +Clementine, and I, and I remember there were some very snuffy men in the +train--we could not go first-class, you see--and one of them rather +frightened me." + +"The brute!" said Hector. + +"I think I was about fourteen." + +"And even then perfectly beautiful, I expect," he commented to himself. + +"We walked up from the station, and oh! we saw all the galleries and we +ran all over the park, but we missed the way to Trianon somehow and +never saw that, and when we got back here we were too tired to start +again. We had only had sandwiches, you see, that we brought with us, and +some funny little drinks at a café down there," and she pointed vaguely +towards the lake, "because we found we had only one franc fifty between +us all. But we were so happy, and Clementine knows a great deal, and +told us many things which were quite different from what was in the +guide-books--but it seems so long, long ago. Do you know it must be six +years." And she looked at him seriously. + +"Half a lifetime!" agreed Hector, with a whimsical smile. + +"Oh! you are laughing at me!" she said, and there was a cloud in the +blue stars which looked up at him. + +He made a movement nearer her--while his deep voice took every tone of +tenderness. + +"Indeed, indeed I am not--you dear little girl! I love to hear of your +day. I was only smiling to think that six years ago you were a baby +child, and I was then an old man in feeling--let me see, I was +twenty-five, and I was in Russia." + +He stopped suddenly; there were some circumstances which, sitting there +beside her, he would rather not remember connected with Russia. + +This was one of the peculiarities of Theodora. There was something about +her which seemed to wither up all low or vicious things. It was not that +she filled people with ascetic thoughts of saints and angels and their +mother in heaven, only she seemed suddenly to enhance simple joys with +beauty and charm. + +They talked on for half an hour, and with every moment he discovered +fresh qualities of sweetness and light in her gentle heart. + +She was not ill educated either, but she had never speculated upon +things, she took them for granted just as they were, and _Jean d'Agrève_ +was probably the only awakening book she had ever read. + +Hector all at once seemed to realize his mother's vision, and to +understand for the first time what marriage might mean. That to possess +this exquisite bit of God's finished work for his very own, to live with +her in the country, at old Bracondale, to see her honored and adored, +surrounded by little children--his children--would be a dream of bliss +far, far beyond any dream he had ever known. A domestic, tender dream of +sweetness that he had always laughed at before as a final thing when +life's other joys should be over, and now it seemed suddenly to be the +only heaven and completion of his soul's desire. + +Then he remembered Josiah Brown with a hideous pang of pain and +bitterness--and they went in to lunch. + + * * * * * + +Theodora was so gay! Captain Fitzgerald and Mrs. McBride were already +seated when they joined them in the restaurant. Most of the other +visitors had finished--it was almost two o'clock. + +There was a good deal of black middle in the widow's eyes, Theodora +noticed, and wondered to herself if she had had a happy and exciting +hour too. Papa looked complacent and handsomer than ever, she thought. +She did hope it was going well. And she wondered how they were to +dispose of their afternoon. + +The widow soon settled this. She had, she said, a wild desire to rush +through the air for a little--she _must_ have her chauffeur go at full +speed--somewhere--anywhere--her nerves needed calming! And Captain +Fitzgerald had agreed to accompany her. Their destination was unknown, +and they might not be back for tea, so Lord Bracondale must take the +greatest care of Theodora and give her some if they did not turn up. +They certainly would for dinner, but eight o'clock would be time enough +for that. + +When your destination is unknown you can never say how many hours it +will take to get there and back, she pointed out. And no one felt +inclined to argue with her about this obvious truth! + +Now if Theodora had been a free unmarried girl, or a freer widow, it is +highly probable fate would not have arranged this long afternoon in +blissful surroundings undisturbed by any one. As it was, who knows if +the goddess settled it with a smile on her lip or a tear in her eye? It +was settled, at all events, and looked as if it were going to contain +some moments worth remembering. + + + + +IX + + +"And what is your pleasure, fair queen?" Hector said, as they listened +to the diminishing noise of the widow's Mercédès. "We are alone, and we +have the world before us. Issue your commands." + +"No," said Theodora, and she pouted her red lips. "I want you to settle +that. I want you to arrange for whatever you think would give me the +greatest pleasure. Then I shall know if you understand me and guess what +I would like." + +This was the most daring speech she had ever made, and she was surprised +at her own temerity. + +"Very well," he said. "That means you belong to me until they return," +and a thrill ran through him. "Has not your father, has not your +hostess, given you into my charge? And, now you yourself have sealed the +compact, we shall see if I can make you happy." + +As he said the words "you belong to me," Theodora thrilled too--a +sensation as of an electric shock almost quivered through her. Belonged +to him--ah!--what would that mean? + +He called his chauffeur, who started the automobile and drove under the +covered _porte cochère_ where they stood. + +Lord Bracondale had not spoken all the time he was helping her in and +arranging rugs with the tenderest solicitude, but when they were settled +and started--it was a coupé with a great deal of glass about it, so that +they got plenty of air--he turned to her. + +"Now, do you know what I am going to do with you, madame? I shall only +unfold my plans bit by bit, and watch your face to see if I have chosen +well. I am going to take you first to the Petit Trianon, and we are +going to walk leisurely through the rooms. I am not going to worry you +with much sight-seeing and tourists and lessons of history, but I want +you to glance at this setting of the life picture of poor Marie +Antoinette, because it is full of sentiment and it will make you +appreciate more the _hameau_ and her playground afterwards. Something +tells me you would rather see these things than all the fine pictures +and salons of the stiff château." + +"Oh yes," said Theodora; "you have guessed well this time." + +"Then here we are, almost arrived," he said, presently. + +They had been going very fast, and could see the square, white house in +front of them, and when they alighted at the gates she found the +guardian was an old friend of Lord Bracondale's, and they were left free +to wander alone in the rooms between the batches of tourists. + +But every one knows the Petit Trianon, and can surmise how its beauties +appealed to Theodora. + +"Oh, the poor, poor queen!" she said, with a sad ring in her expressive +voice, when they came to the large salon; "and she sat here and played +on her harpsichord--and I wonder if she and Fersen were ever alone--and +I wonder if she really loved him--" + +Then she stopped suddenly; she had told herself she must never talk +about love to any one. It was a subject that she must have nothing to do +with. It could never come her way, now she was married to Josiah Brown, +and it would be unwise to discuss it, even in the abstract. + +The same beautiful, wild-rose tint tinged the white velvet as once +before when she had spoken of _Jean d'Agrève_, and again Lord Bracondale +experienced a sensation of satisfaction. + +But this time he would not let her talk about the weather. The subject +of love interested him, too. + +"Yes, I am sure she did," he said, "and I always shall believe Fersen +was her lover; no life, even a queen's, can escape one love." + +"I suppose not," said Theodora, very low, and she looked out of the +window. + +"Love is not a passion which asks our leave if he may come or no, you +see," Hector continued, trying to control his voice to sound +dispassionate and discursive--he knew he must not frighten her. "Love +comes in a thousand unknown, undreamed-of ways. And then he gilds the +world and makes it into heaven." + +"Does he?" almost whispered Theodora. + +"And think what it must have been to a queen, married to a tiresome, +unattractive Bourbon--and Fersen was young and gallant and thoughtful +for her slightest good, and, from what one hears and has read, he must +have understood her, and been her friend as well--and sometimes she must +have forgotten about being a queen for a few moments--in his arms--" + +Theodora drew a long, long breath, but she did not speak. + +"And perhaps, if we knew, the remembrance of those moments may have +been her glory and consolation in the last dark hours." + +"Oh! I hope so!" said Theodora. + +Then she walked on quickly into the quaint, little, low-ceilinged +bedroom. Oh, she must get out into the air--or she must talk of +furniture, or curtain stuffs, or where the bath had been! + +Love, love, love! And did it mean life after all?--since even this +far-off love of this poor dead queen had such power to move her. And +perhaps Fersen was like--but this last thought caused her heart to beat +too wildly. + +There were no roses now, she was very pale as she said: "It saddens me, +this. Let us go out into the sun." + +They descended the staircase again almost in silence, and on through the +little door in the court-yard wall into the beautiful garden beyond. + +"Show me where she was happy, where you know she was happy before any +troubles came. I want to be gay again," said Theodora. + +So they walked down the path towards the _hameau_. + +"What have I done?" Lord Bracondale wondered. "Her adorable face went +quite white. Her soul is no longer the open book I have found it. There +are depths and depths, but I must fathom them all." + +"Oh, how I love the spring-time!" exclaimed Theodora, and her voice was +full of relief. "Look at those greens, so tender and young, and that +peep of the sky! Oh, and those dear, pretty little dolls' houses! Let us +hasten; I want to go and play there, and make butter, too! Don't you?" + +"Ah, this is good," he said; "and I want just what you want." + +Her face was all sweet and joyous as she turned it to him. + +"Let's pretend we lived then," she said, "and I am the miller's daughter +of this dear little mill, and you are the bailiff's son who lives +opposite, and you have come with your corn to be ground. Oh, and I shall +make a bargain, and charge you dear!" and she laughed and swung her +parasol back, while the sun glorified her hair into burnished silver. + +"What bargain could you make that I would not agree to willingly?" he +asked. + +"Perhaps some day I shall make one with you--or want to--that you will +not like," she said, "and then I shall remind you of this day and your +gallant speech." + +"And I shall say then as I say now. I will make any bargain with you, +so long as it is a bargain which benefits us both." + +"Ah, you are a Normand, you hedge!" she laughed, but he was serious. + +They walked all around the _laiterie_, and all the time she was gay and +whimsical, and to herself she was saying, "I am unutterably happy, but +we must not talk of love." + +"Now you have had enough of this," Lord Bracondale said, when they were +again in view of the house, "and I am going to take you into a forest +like the babes in the woods, and we shall go and lose ourselves and +forget the world altogether. The very sight of these harmless tourists +in the distance jars upon me to-day. I want you alone and no one else. +Come." + +And she went. + +"I have never been here before," said Theodora, as they turned into the +Forest of Marly. "And you have been wise in your choice so far. I love +trees." + +"You see how I study and care for the things which belong to me," said +Hector. It gave him ridiculous pleasure to announce that sentence +again--ridiculous, unwarrantable pleasure. + +Theodora turned her head away a little. She would like to have continued +the subject, but she did not dare. + +Presently they came to a side _allée_, and after going up it about a +mile the automobile stopped, and they got out and walked down a green +glade to the right. + +Oh, and I wonder if any of you who read know the Forest of Marly, and +this one green glade that leads down to the centre of a star where five +avenues meet? It is all soft grass and splendid trees, and may have been +a _rendezvous de chasse_ in the good old days, when life--for the +great--was fair in France. + +It is very lonely now, and if you want to spend some hours in peace you +can almost count upon solitude there. + +"Now, is not this beautiful?" he asked her, as they neared the centre, +"and soon you will see why I carry this rug over my arm. I am going to +take you right to the middle of the star until you see five paths for +you to choose from, all green and full of glancing sunlight, and when +you have selected one we will penetrate down it and sit under a tree. Is +it good--my idea?" + +"Very good," said Theodora. Then she was silent until they reached the +_rond-point_. + +There was that wonderful sense of aloofness and silence--hardly even the +noise of a bird. Only the green, green trees, and here and there a +shaft of sunlight turning them into the shade of a lizard's back. + +An ideal spot for--poets and dreamers--and lovers--Theodora thought. + +"Now we are here! Look this way and that! Five paths for us to choose +from!" + +Then something made Theodora say, "Oh, let us stay in the centre, in +this one round place, where we can see them all and their +possibilities." + +"And do you think uncertain possibilities are more agreeable perhaps +than certain ends?" he asked. + +"I never speculate," said Theodora. + +"As you will, then," he said, while he looked into her eyes, and he +placed the rug up against a giant tree between two avenues, so that +their view really only extended down three others now. + +"We have turned our backs on the road we came," he said, "and on another +road that leads in a roundabout way to the Grande Avenue again. So now +we must look into the unknown and the future." + +"It seems all very green and fair," said Theodora, and she leaned back +against the tree and half closed her eyes. + +He lay on the grass at her feet, his hat thrown off beside him, and in +a desert island they could not have been more alone and undisturbed. + +The greatest temptation that Hector Bracondale had ever yet had in his +life came to him then. To make love to her, to tell her of all the new +thoughts she had planted in his soul, of the windows she had opened wide +to the sunlight. To tell her that he loved her, that he longed to touch +even the tips of her fingers, that the thought of caressing her lips and +her eyes and her hair drove the blood coursing madly through his veins. +That to dream of what life could be like, if she were really his own, +was a dream of intoxicating bliss. + +And something of all this gleamed in his eyes as he gazed up at her--and +Theodora, all unused to the turbulence of emotion, was troubled and +moved and yet wildly happy. She looked away down the centre avenue, and +she began to speak fast with a little catch in her breath, and Hector +clinched his hands together and gazed at a beetle in the grass, or +otherwise he would have taken her in his arms. + +"Tell me the story of all these avenues," she said; "tell me a fairy +story suitable to the day." + +And he fell in with her mood. So he began: + +[Illustration: "Once Upon a Time There Was a Fairy Prince and +Princess."] + +"Once upon a time there was a fairy prince and princess, and a witch +had enchanted them and put them in a green forest, but had set a +watch-dog over Love--so that the poor Cupid with his bow and arrows +might not shoot at them, and they were told they might live and enjoy +the green wood and find what they could of sport and joy. But Cupid +laughed. 'As if,' he said, 'there is anything in a green wood of good +without me--and my shafts!' So while the watch-dog slept--it was a warm, +warm day in May, just such as this--he shot an arrow at the prince and +it entered his heart. Then he ran off laughing. 'That is enough for one +day,' he said. And the poor prince suffered and suffered because he was +wounded and the princess had not received a dart, too--and could not +feel for him." + +"Was she not even sympathetic?" asked Theodora, and again there was that +catch in her breath. + +"Yes, she was sympathetic," he continued, "but this was not enough for +the prince; he wanted her to be wounded, too." + +"How very, very cruel of him," said Theodora. + +"But men are cruel, and the prince was only a man, you know, although he +was in a green forest with a lovely princess." + +"And what happened?" asked Theodora. + +"Well, the watch-dog slept on, so that a friendly zephyr could come, and +it whispered to the prince: 'At the end of all these allées, which lead +into the future, there is only one thing, and that is Love; he bars +their gates. As soon as you start down one, no matter which, you will +find him, and when he sees your princess he will shoot an arrow at her, +too.'" + +"Oh, then the princess of course never went down an allée," said +Theodora--and she smiled radiantly to hide how her heart was +beating--"did she?" + +"The end of the story I do not know," said Lord Bracondale; "the fairy +who told it to me would not say what happened to them, only that the +prince was wounded, deeply wounded, with Love's arrow. Aren't you sorry +for the prince, beautiful princess?" + +Theodora opened her blue parasol, although no ray of sunshine fell upon +her there. She was going through the first moment of this sort in her +life. She was quite unaccustomed to fencing, or to any intercourse with +men--especially men of his world. She understood this story had himself +and herself for hero and heroine; she felt she must continue the +badinage--anything to keep the tone as light as it could be, with all +these new emotions flooding her being and making her heart beat. It was +almost pain she experienced, the sensation was so intense, and Hector +read of these things in her eyes and was content. So he let his voice +grow softer still, and almost whispered again: + +"And aren't you sorry for the prince--beautiful princess?" + +"I am sorry for any one who suffers," said Theodora, gently, "even in a +fairy story." + +And as he looked at her he thought to himself, here was a rare thing, a +beautiful woman with a tender heart. He knew she would be gentle and +kind to the meanest of God's creatures. And again the vision of her at +Bracondale came to him--his mother would grow to love her perhaps even +more than Morella Winmarleigh! How she would glorify everything +commonplace with those tender ways of hers! To look at her was like +looking up into the vast, pure sky, with the light of heaven beyond. And +yet he lay on the grass at her feet with his mind full of thoughts and +plans and desires to drag this angel down from her high heaven--into his +arms! + +Because he was a man, you see, and the time of his awakening was not +yet. + + + + +X + + +Man is a hunter--a hunter always. He may be a poor thing and hunt only a +few puny aims, or he may be a strong man and choose big game. But he is +hunting, hunting--something--always. + +And primitive life seems like the spectrum of light--composed of three +primary colors, and white and black at the beginning and ending of it. +And the three colors of blue, red, and yellow have their counterparts in +the three great passions in man--to hunt his food, to continue his +species, and to kill his enemy. + +And white and black seem like birth and death--and there is the sun, +which is the soul and makes the colors, and allows of all combinations +and graduations of beautiful other shades from them for parallels to all +other qualities and instincts, only the original are those great primary +forces--to hunt his food, to continue his species, and to kill his +enemy. + +And if this is so to the end of time, man will be the same, I suppose, +until civilization has emasculated the whole of nature and so ends the +world! Or until this wonderful new scientist has perfected his +researches to the point of creating human life by chemical process, as +well as his present discovery of animating jellyfish! + +Who knows? But by that time it will not matter to any of us! + +Meanwhile, man is at the stage that when he loves a woman he wishes to +possess her, and, in a modified form, he wishes to steal her, if +necessary, from another, or kill the enemy who steals her from him. + +But the Sun of the Soul is there, too, so the poor old world is not in +such a very bad case after all. + +And how the _bon Dieu_ must smile sadly to Himself when He looks down on +priests and nuns and hermits and fanatics, and sees how they have +distorted His beautiful scheme of things with their narrow ideas. Trying +to eliminate the red out of His spectrum, instead of ennobling and +glorifying it all with the Sun of the Soul. + +And all of you who are great reasoners and arguers will laugh at this +ridiculous little simile of life drawn by a woman; but I do not care. I +have had my outburst, and said what I wanted to. So now we can get back +to the two--who were not yet lovers--under their green tree in the +Forest of Marly. + +"But you must be able to guess the end," Theodora was saying; "and oh, I +want to know, if all the roads were barred by love--how did they get out +of the wood?" + +"They took him with them," said Lord Bracondale, and he touched the edge +of her dress gently with a wild flower he had picked in the grass, while +into his eyes crept all the passion he felt and into his voice all the +tenderness. + +Now if Theodora had ever read _La Faute de L'Abbé Mouret_ she would have +known just what proximity and the spring-time was doing for them both. + +But she had not read, and did not know. All she was conscious of was a +wild thrilling of her pulses, an extraordinary magnetic force that +seemed to draw her--draw her nearer--nearer to what? Even that she did +not know or ask herself. Beyond that it was danger, and she must fly +from it. + +"I do not want to talk of any of those things to-day," she said, +suddenly dropping her parasol between them. "I only want to laugh and be +amused, and as you were to devise schemes for my happiness, you must +amuse me." + +He looked up at her again and he noticed, for all this brave speech, +that her hands were trembling as she clutched the handle of her blue +parasol. + +Triumph and joy ran through him. He could afford to wait a little longer +now, since he knew that he must mean something, even perhaps a great +deal, to her. + +And so for the next half-hour he played with her, he skimmed over the +surface of danger, he enthralled her fancy, and with every sentence he +threw the glamour of his love around her, and fascinated her soul. All +his powers of attraction--and they were many--were employed for her +undoing. + +And Theodora sat as one in a dream. + +At last she felt she _must_ wake--must realize that she was not a happy +princess, but Theodora, who must live her dull life--and this--and +this--where was it leading her to? + +So she clasped her hands together suddenly, and she said: + +"But do you know we have grown serious, and I asked you to amuse me, +Lord Bracondale!" + +"I cannot amuse you," he said, lazily, "but shall I tell you about my +home, which I should like to show you some day?" And again he began to +caress the farthest edge of her dress with his wild flower. Just the +smallest movement of smoothing it up and down that no one could resent, +but which was disturbing to Theodora. She did not wish him to stop, on +the contrary--and yet-- + +"Yes, I would like to hear of that," she said. "Is it an old, old +house?" + +"Oh, moderately so, and it has nooks and corners and views that might +appeal to you. I believe I should find them all endowed with fresh charm +myself, if I could see them with you"--and he made the turning-point of +his flower a few inches nearer her hand. + +Theodora said nothing; but she took courage and peeped at him again. And +she thought how powerful he looked, and how beautifully shaped; and she +liked the fineness of the silk of his socks and his shirt, and the cut +of his clothes, and the wave of his hair--and last of all, his brown, +strong, well-shaped hands. + +And then she fell to wondering what the general scheme of things could +be that made husbands possess none of these charms; when, if they did, +it could all be so good and so delicious, instead of a terribly irksome +duty to live with them and be their wives. + +"You are not listening to a word I am saying!" said Hector. "Where were +your thoughts, cruel lady?" + +She was confused a little, and laughed gently. "They were away in a land +where you can never come," she said. + +He raised himself on his elbow, and supported his head on his hand, +while he answered, eagerly: + +"But I must come! I want to know them, all your thoughts. Do you know +that since we met on Monday you have never been for one instant out of +my consciousness. And you would not listen then to what I told you of +friendship when it is born of instantaneous sympathy--it is because in +some other life two souls have been very near and dear. And that is our +case, and I want to make you feel it so, as I do. Tell me that you +do--?" + +"I do not know what I do feel," said Theodora. "But perhaps--could it be +true that we met when we lived before; and when was that? and who were +we?" + +"It matters not a jot," said he. "So long as you feel it too--that we +are not only of yesterday, you and I. There is some stronger link +between us." + +For one second they looked into each other's eyes, and each read the +other's thoughts mirrored there; and if his said, in conscious, +passionate words, "I love you," hers were troubled and misty with +possibilities. Then she jumped up from her seat suddenly, and her voice +trembled a little as she said: + +"And now I want to go out of the wood." + +He rose too and stood beside her, while he pointed to the glade to the +left of the centre they were facing. + +"We must penetrate into the future then," he said, "because I told my +chauffeur to meet us on the road where I think that will lead to. We +cannot go back by the way we have come." + +And she did not answer; she was afraid, because she remembered all those +avenues were barred by--love. + +As he walked beside her, Hector Bracondale knew that now he must be +very, very careful in what he said. He must lull her fears to sleep +again, or she would be off like a lark towards high heaven, and he would +be left upon earth. + +So he exerted himself to interest and amuse her in less agitating ways. +He talked of his home and his mother and his sister. He wanted Theodora +to meet them. She would like Anne, he said, and his mother would love +her, he knew. And again the impossible vision same to him, and he felt +he hated the face of Morella Winmarleigh. + +Usually when he had been greatly attracted by a married woman before, he +had unconsciously thought of her as having the qualities which would +make her an adorable mistress, a delicious friend, or a holiday +amusement. There had never been any reverence mixed up with the affair, +which usually had the zest of forbidden fruit, and was hurried along by +passion. It had always only depended upon the woman how far he had got +beyond these stages; but, as he thought of Theodora, unconsciously a +picture always came to him of what she would be were she his wife. And +it astonished him when he analyzed it; he, the scoffer at bonds, now to +find this picture the fairest in the world! + +And as yet he was hardly even dimly growing to realize that fate would +turn the anguish of this desire into a chastisement of scorpions for +him. + +Things had always been so within his grasp. + +"We shall go to England on Tuesday," Theodora said, as they sauntered +along down the green glade. "It is so strange, you know, but I have +never been there." + +"Never been to England!" Hector exclaimed, incredulously. + +"No!" and she smiled up at him. All was at peace now in her mind, and +she dared to look as much as she pleased. + +"No. Papa used to go sometimes, but it was too expensive to take the +whole family; so we were left at Bruges generally, or at Dieppe, or +where we chanced to be. If it was the summer, often we have spent it in +a Normandy farm-house." + +"Then how have you learned all the things you know?" he asked. + +"That was not difficult. I do not know much," she said, gently, "and +Sarah taught me in the beginning, and then I went to convents whenever +we were in towns, and dear papa was so kind and generous always; no +matter how hard up he was he always got the best masters available for +me--and for Clementine. Sarah is much older, and even Clementine five +years." + +"I wonder what on earth you will think of it--England, I mean?" He was +deeply interested. + +"I am sure I shall love it. We have always spoken of it as home, you +know. And papa has often described my grandfather's houses. Both my +grandfathers had beautiful houses, it seems, and he says, now that I am +rich and cannot ever be a trouble to them, the family might be pleased +to see me." + +She spoke quite simply. There never was room for bitterness or irony in +her tender heart. And Hector looked down upon her, a sort of worship in +his eyes. + +"Papa's father is dead long ago; it is his brother who owns Beechleigh +now," she continued--"Sir Patrick Fitzgerald. They are Irish, of course, +but the place is in Cambridgeshire, because it came from his +grandmother." + +"Yes, I know the old boy," said Hector. "I see him at the turf--a fiery, +vile-tempered, thin, old bird, about sixty." + +"That sounds like him," said Theodora. + +"And so you are going to make all these relations' acquaintance. What an +experience it will be, won't it?" His voice was full of sympathy. "But +you will stay in London. They are all there now, I suppose?" + +"My Grandfather Borringdon, my mother's father, never goes there, I +believe; he is very old and delicate, we have heard. But I have written +to him--papa wished me to do so; for myself I do not care, because I +think he was unkind to my mother, and I shall not like him. It was cruel +never to speak to her again--wasn't it?--just because she married papa, +whom she loved very much--papa, who is so handsome that he could never +have really been a husband, could he?" + +Then she blushed deeply, realizing what she had said. + +And the quaintness of it caused Hector to smile while he felt its +pathos. + +How _could_ they all have sacrificed this beautiful young life between +them! And he slashed off a tall green weed with his stick when he +thought of Josiah Brown--his short, stumpy, plebeian figure and bald, +shiny head, his common voice, and his pompousness--Josiah Brown, who had +now the ordering of her comings and goings, who paid for her clothes and +gave her those great pearls--who might touch her and kiss her--might +clasp and caress her--might hold her in his arms, his very own, any +moment of the day--or night! Ah, God! that last thought was +impossible--unbearable. + +And for one second Hector's eyes looked murderous as they glared into +the distance--and Theodora glanced up timidly, and asked, in a +sympathetic voice: What was it? What ailed him? + +"Some day I will tell you," he said. "But not yet." + +Then he asked her more about her family and her plans. + +They would stay in London at Claridge's for a week or so, and go down to +Bessington Hall for Whitsuntide. It would be ready for them then. Josiah +had had it all furnished magnificently by one of those people who had +taste and ordered well for those who could afford to pay for it. She was +rather longing to see it, she said--her future home--and she could have +wished she might have chosen the things herself. Not that it mattered +much either way. + +"I am very ignorant about houses," she explained, "because we never +really had one, you see, but I think, perhaps, I would know what was +pretty from museums and pictures--and I love all colors and forms." + +He felt sure she would know what was pretty. How delightful it would be +to watch her playing with his old home! The touches of her gentle +fingers would make everything sacred afterwards. + +At last they came to the end of the green glade--and temptation again +assailed him. He _must_ ruffle the peace of her soft eyes once more. + +"And here is the barrier," he said, pointing to a board with "_Terrain +réservé_" upon it--_Réserveé pour la chasse de Monsieur le Président_, +"The barrier which Love keeps--and I want to take him with us as the +prince and princess did in the fairy tale." + +"Then you must carry him all by yourself," laughed Theodora. "And he +will be heavy and tire you, long before we get to Versailles." + +This time she was on her guard--and besides they were walking--and he +was no longer caressing the edge of her dress with his wild flower; it +was almost easy to fence now. + +But when they reached the automobile and he bent over to tuck the rug +in--and she felt the touch of his hands and perceived the scent of +him--the subtle scent, not a perfume hardly, of his coat, or his hair, a +wild rush of that passionate disturbance came over her again, making her +heart beat and her eyes dilate. + +And Hector saw and understood, and bit his lips, and clinched his hands +together under the rug, because so great was his own emotion that he +feared what he should say or do. He dared not, dared not chance a +dismissal from the joy of her presence forever, after this one day. + +"I will wait until I know she loves me enough to certainly forgive +me--and then, and then--" he said to himself. + +But Fate, who was looking on, laughed while she chanted, "The hour is +now at hand when these steeds of passion whose reins you have left loose +so long will not ask your leave, noble friend, but will carry you +whither they will." + + + + +XI + + +They were both a little constrained upon the journey back to +Versailles--and both felt it. But when they turned into the Porte St. +Antoine Theodora woke up. + +"Do you know," she said, "something tells me that for a long, long time +I shall not again have such a happy day. It can't be more than half-past +five or six--need we go back to the Reservoirs yet? Could we not have +tea at the little café by the lake?" + +He gave the order to his chauffeur, and then he turned to her. + +"I, too, want to prolong it all," he said, "and I want to make you +happy--always." + +"It is only lately that I have begun to think about things," she said, +softly--"about happiness, I mean, and its possibilities and +impossibilities. I think before my marriage I must have been half +asleep, and very young." + +And Hector thought, "You are still, but I shall awake you." + +"You see," she continued, "I had never read any novels, or books about +life until _Jean d'Agrève_. And now I wonder sometimes if it is possible +to be really happy--really, really happy?" + +"I know it is," he said; "but only in one way." + +She did not dare to ask in what way. She looked down and clasped her +hands. + +"I once thought," she went on, hurriedly, "that I was perfectly happy +the first time Josiah gave me two thousand francs, and told me to go out +with my maid and buy just what I wished with it; and oh, we bought +everything I could think Sarah and Clementine could want, numbers and +numbers of things, and I remember I was fearfully excited when they were +sent off to Dieppe. But I never knew if I chose well or if they liked +them all quite, and now to do that does not give me nearly so much joy." + +Soon they drew up at the little café and ordered tea, which he guessed +probably would be very bad and they would not drink. But tea was +English, and more novel than coffee for Theodora, and that she must +have, she said. + +She was so gracious and sweet in the pouring of it out, when presently +it came, and the elderly waiter seemed so sympathetic, and it was all +gay and bright with the late afternoon sun streaming upon them. + +"The garçon takes us for a honeymoon couple," Hector said; "he sees you +have beautiful new clothes, and that we have not yet begun to yawn with +each other." + +But Theodora had not this view of honeymoons. To her a honeymoon meant a +nightmare, now happily a thing of the past, and almost forgotten. + +"Do not speak of it," she said, and she put out her hands as if to ward +off an ugly sight, and Hector bent over the table and touched her +fingers gently as he said: + +"Forgive me," and he raged within himself. How could he have been so +gauche, so clumsy and unlike himself. He had punished them both, and +destroyed an illusion. He meant that she should picture herself and him +as married lovers, and she had only seen--Josiah Brown. They both fell +into silence and so finished their repast. + +"I want you to walk now," Hector said, "through some delicious allées +where I will show you Enceladus after he was struck by the +thunders of Zeus. You will like him, I think, and there is fine +greensward around him where we can sit awhile." + +"I was always sorry for him," said Theodora; "and oh, how I would like +to go to Sicily and see Ætna and his fiery breath coming forth, and to +know when the island quakes it is the poor giant turning his weary +side!" + +To go to Sicily--and with her! The picture conjured up in Hector's +imagination made him thrill again. + +Then he told her about it all, he charmed her fancy and excited her +imagination, and by the time they came to their goal the feeling of jar +had departed, and the dangerous sense of attraction--of nearness--had +returned. + +It was nearly seven o'clock, and here among the trees all was in a soft +gloom of evening light. + +"Is not this still and far away?" he said, as they sat on an old stone +bench. "I often stay the whole morning here when I spend a week at +Versailles." + +"How peaceful and beautiful! Oh, I would like a week here, too!" and +Theodora sighed. + +"You must not sigh, beautiful princess," he implored, "on this our happy +day." + +The slender lines of her figure seemed all drooping. She reminded him +more than ever of the fragment of Psyche in the Naples Museum. + +"No, I must not sigh," she said. "But it seems suddenly to have grown +sad--the air--what does it mean? Tell me, you who know so many things?" +There was a pathos in her voice like a child in distress. + +It communicated itself to him, it touched some chords in his nature +hitherto silent. His whole being rushed out to her in tenderness. + +"It seems to me it is because the time grows nearer when we must go back +to the world. First to dinner with the others, and then--Paris. I would +like to stay thus always--just alone with you." + +She did not refute this solution of her sadness. She knew it was true. +And when he looked into her eyes, the blue was troubled with a mist as +of coming tears. + +Then passion--more mighty than ever--seized him once more. He only felt +a wild desire to comfort her, to kiss away the mist--to talk to her. Ah! + +"Theodora!" he said, and his voice vibrated with emotion, while he bent +forward and seized both her hands, which he lifted to his face--she had +not put on her gloves again after the tea--her cool, little, tender +hands! He kissed and kissed their palms. + +"Darling--darling," he said, incoherently, "what have I done to make +your dear eyes wet? Oh, I love you so, I love you so, and I have only +made you sad." + +She gave a little, inarticulate cry. If a wounded dove could sob, it +might have been the noise of a dove, so beseeching and so pathetic. "Oh, +please--you must not," she said. "Oh, what have you done!--you have +killed our happy day." + +And this was the beginning of his awakening. He sat for many moments +with his head buried in his hands. What, indeed, had he done!--and they +would be turned out of their garden of Eden--and all because he was a +brute, who could not control his passion, but must let it run riot on +the first opportunity. + +He suffered intensely. Suffered, perhaps, for the first time in his +life. + +She had not said one word of anger--only that tone in her voice reached +to his heart. + +He did not move and did not speak, and presently she touched his hands +softly with her slender fingers, it seemed like the caress of an angel's +wing. + +"Listen," she said, so gently. "Oh, you must not grieve--but it was too +good to be true, our day. I ought to have known to where we were +drifting, I am wicked to have let you say all you have said to-day, but +oh, I was asleep, I think, and I only knew that I was happy. But now you +have shown me--and oh, the dream is broken up. Come, let us go back to +the world." + +Then he raised his eyes to her face, and they were haggard and +miserable. + +How her simple speech, blaming herself who was all innocent, touched his +heart and filled him with shame at his unworthiness. + +"Oh, forgive me!" he pleaded. "Oh, please forgive me! I am mad, I think, +I love you so--and I had to tell you--and yes, I will say it all now, +and then you can punish me. From the first moment I looked into your +angel eyes it has been growing, you are so true and so sweet, and so +miles beyond all other women in the world. Each minute I have loved you +more--and all the time I thought to win you. Yes, you may well turn +away, and shrink from me now that you know the brute I am. I thought I +would make you love me, and you would forgive me then. But I have +suddenly seen your soul, my darling, and I am ashamed, and I can only +ask you to forgive me and let me worship you and be your slave--I will +not ask for any return--only to worship you and be your slave--that I +may show you I am not all brute and may earn your pardon." + +And then Theodora's blindness fell from her and she knew that she loved +him--she had faced the fact at last. And all over her being there +thrilled a mad, wild joy. It surged up and crushed out fear and +pain--for just one moment--and then she too, in her turn, covered her +face with her hands. + +"Oh, hush! hush!" she said. "What have you done--what have we both +done!" + +It was characteristic of her that now she realized she loved him she did +not fence any longer, she never thought of concealing it from him or of +blaming him. They were sinners both, he and she equally guilty. + +Another woman might have argued, "He is fooling me; perhaps he has said +these things before--I must at least hide my own heart," but not +Theodora. Her trust was complete--she loved him--therefore he was a +perfect knight--and if he was wicked she was wicked too. + +Her gentian eyes were full of tears as she let fall her hands and looked +at him. "Oh yes, I have been asleep--I should have known from the +beginning why, why I wanted to see you so much--I should never have +come--and I should have understood in the wood that we could not leave +it without bringing Love with us--and now we may not be happy any more." + +And then it was his turn to be exalted with wild joy. + +"Do you know what you have said," he whispered, breathless. "Your words +mean that you love me--Theodora--darling mine." And once again passion +blazed in his eyes, and he would have taken her in his arms; but she put +up her hands and gently pushed him from her. + +"Yes," she said, simply, "I love you, but that only makes it all the +harder--and we must say good-bye at once, and go our different ways. You +who are so strong and know so much--I trust you, dear--you must help me +to do what is right." + +She never thought of reproaching him, of telling him, as she very well +could have done, that he had taken cruel advantage of her +unsophistication. All her mind was full of the fact that they were both +very sad and wicked and must help each other. + +"I _cannot_ say good-bye," he said, "now that I know you love me, +darling; it is impossible. How can we part--what will the days be--how +could we get through our lives?" + +She looked at him, and her eyes were the eyes of a wounded thing--dumb +and pitiful, and asking for help. + +Then the something that was fine and noble in Hector Bracondale rose up +in him--the crust of selfishness and cynicism fell from him like a mask. +He suddenly saw himself as he was, and she--as she was--and a +determination came over him to grow worthy of her love, obey her +slightest wish, even if it must break his heart. + +He dropped upon his knees beside her on the greensward, and buried his +face in her lap. + +"Darling--my queen," he said. "I will do whatever you command--but oh, +it need not be good-bye. Don't let me sicken and die out of your +presence. I swear, on my word of honor, I will never trouble you. Let me +worship you and watch over you and make your life brighter. Oh, God! +there can be no sin in that." + +"I trust you!" she said, and she touched the waves of his hair. "And now +we must not linger--we must come at once out of this place. I--I cannot +bear it any more." + +And so they went--into an _allée_ of close, cropped trees, where the +gloom was almost twilight; but if there was pain there was joy too, and +almost peace in their hearts. + +All the anguish was for the afterwards. Love, who is a god, was too near +to his kingdom to admit of any rival. + +"Hector," she whispered, and as she said his name a wild thrill ran +through him again. "Hector--the Austrian Prince at Armenonville said +life was a current down which our barks floated, only to be broken up on +the rocks if it was our fate; and I said if we tried very hard some +angel would steer us past them into smooth waters beyond; and I want you +to help me to find the angel, dear--will you?" + +But all he could say was that she was the angel, the only angel in +heaven or earth. + +And so they came at last to the Bason de Neptune, and on through the +side door into the Réservoirs--and there was the widow's automobile that +moment arrived. + + + + +XII + + +Every one behaved with immense propriety--they said just what they +should have said, there was no _gêne_ at all. And when they went up the +stairs together to arrange their hair and their hats for dinner, the +elder woman slipped her arm through Theodora's. + +"I am going to marry your father, my dear," she said, "and I want you to +be the first to wish me joy." + +The dinner went off with great gayety. The widow especially was full of +bright sayings, and Captain Fitzgerald made the most devoted lover. Not +too elated by his good-fortune, and yet thoroughly happy and tender. He +continually told himself that fate had been uncommonly kind to mix +business and pleasure so dexterously, for if the widow had not possessed +a cent, he still would have been glad to marry her. + +He had been quite honest with her on their drive, explaining his +financial situation and his disadvantages, which he said could only be +slightly balanced by his devotion and affection--but of those he would +lay the whole at her feet. + +And the widow had said: + +"Now look here, I am old enough just to know what my money is worth--and +if you like to put it as a business speculation for me, I consider, in +buying the companion for the rest of my life who happens to suit me, I +am laying out the sum to my own advantage." + +After that there was no more to be said, and he had spent his time +making love to her like any Romeo of twenty, and both were content. + +All through dinner a certain strange excitement dominated Theodora. She +felt there would be more deep emotion yet to come for her before the day +should close. + +How were they going back to Paris? + +The moon had risen pure and full, she could see it through the windows. +The night was soft and warm, and when the last sips of coffee and +liqueurs were finished it was still only nine o'clock. + +On an occasion when no personal excitement was stirring Captain +Fitzgerald he probably would have hesitated about approving of Theodora +spending the entire evening alone with Lord Bracondale. She was married, +it was true--but to Josiah Brown--and Dominic Fitzgerald knew his +world. To-night, however, neither the widow nor he had outside thoughts +beyond themselves. Indeed, Mrs. McBride was so overflowing with joy she +had almost a feeling of satisfaction in the knowledge that the others +would possibly be happy too--when she thought of them at all! + +Again she decided the situation for every one, and again fate laughed. + +There was no use staying any longer at Versailles, because the park +gates were shut and they could not stroll in the moonlight, but a drive +back and a few turns in the Bois with a little supper at Madrid would be +a fitting ending to the day. + +"You must meet us at Madrid at half-past ten," she said; "and +Dominic"--the name came out as if from long habit--"telephone for a +table in the bosquet--Numero 3--I like that garçon best, he knows my +wants." + +And so they got into their separate automobiles. + +"Let us have all the windows down," said Theodora, "to get all the +beautiful air--it is such a lovely night." + +Her heart was beating as it had never beat before. How could she control +herself! How keep calm and ordinary during the enchanting drive! Her +hands were cold as ice, while flaming roses burned in the white velvet +cheeks. + +And Hector saw it all and understood, and passion surged madly in his +veins. For a mile or two there was silence--only the moonlight and the +swift rushing through the air, and the wild beating of their hearts. And +so they came to the long, dark stretch of wood by St. Cloud. And the +devil whispered sophistries and fate continued to laugh. Then passion +was too strong for him. + +"Darling," he said, and his fine resolutions fled to the winds, while +his deep voice was hoarse and broken. "My darling!--God! I love you +so--beyond all words or sense--Oh, let us be happy for this one +night--we must part afterwards I know, and I will accept that--but just +for to-night there can be no sin and no harm in being a little +happy--when we are going to pay for it with all the rest of our lives. +Let us have the memory of one hour of bliss--the angels themselves could +not grudge us that." + +One hour of bliss out of a lifetime! Would it be a terrible sin, +Theodora wondered, a terrible, unforgivable sin to let him kiss her--to +let him hold her just once in his arms. + +There was no light in the coupé--he had seen to that--only the great +lamps flaring in the road and the moonlight. + +She clasped her hands in an agony of emotion. She was but a dove in the +net of an experienced fowler, but she did not know or think of that, nor +he either. They only knew they loved each other passionately, and this +situation was more than they could bear. + +"Oh, I trust you!" she said. "If you tell me it is not a terrible sin I +will believe you--I do not know--I cannot think--I--" + +But she could speak no more because she was in his arms. + +The intense, unutterable joy--the maddening, intoxicating bliss of the +next hour! To have her there, unresisting--to caress her lips and eyes +and hair--to murmur love words--to call her his very own! Nothing in +heaven could equal this, and no hell was a price too great to pay--so it +seemed to him. It was the supremest moment of his life; and how much +more of hers who knew none other, who had never received the kisses of +men or thrilled to any touch but his! + +After a little she drew herself away and shivered. She knew she was +wicked now--very, very wicked--but it was again characteristic of her +that having made her decision there was no vacillation about her. The +die was cast--for that night they were to be happy, and all the rest of +her life should be penitence and atonement. + +But to-night there was no room for anything but joy. She had never +dreamed in her most secret thoughts of moments so gloriously sweet as +these--to have a lover--and such a lover! And it was true--it must be +true--that they had lived before, and all this passion was not the +growth of one short week. + +It seemed as if it was all her life, all her being--it could mean +nothing now but Hector--Hector--Hector! And over and over again he made +her whisper in his ear that she loved him--nor could she ever tire of +hearing him say he worshipped her. + +Oh, they were foolish and tender and wonderful, as lovers always are. + +He had given his orders beforehand and the chauffeur was a man of +intelligence. They drove in the most beautiful _allée_ when they came to +the Bois--and no incident ruffled the exquisite peace and bliss of their +time. + +Suddenly Hector became aware of the fact it was just upon half-past ten, +and they were almost in sight of Madrid, which would end it all. + +And a pang of hideous pain shot through him, and he did not speak. + +In the distance the lights blazed into the night, and the sight of them +froze Theodora to ice. + +It was finished then--their hour of joy. + +"My darling," he exclaimed, passionately, "good-bye, and remember all my +life is in your hands, and I will spend it in worship of you and +thankfulness for this hour of yourself you have given to me. I am yours +to do with as you will until death do us part." + +"And I," said Theodora, "will never love another man--and if we have +sinned we have sinned together--and now, oh, Hector, we must face our +fates." + +Her voice tore his very heartstrings in its unutterable pathos. + +And in that last passionate kiss it seemed as if they exchanged their +very souls. + +Then they drove into the glare of the restaurant lights, having tasted +of the knowledge of good and evil. + + + + +XIII + + +"What have I done? What have I done?" Hector groaned to himself in +anguish as he paced up and down his room at the Ritz an hour after the +party had broken up, and he had driven Mrs. McBride back in his +automobile, leaving hers to father and daughter. + +All through supper Theodora had sat limp and white as death, and every +time she had looked at him her eyes had reminded him of a fawn he had +wounded once at Bracondale, in the park, with his bow and arrow, when he +was a little boy. He remembered how fearfully proud he had been as he +saw it fall, and then how it had lain in his arms and bled and bled, and +its tender eyes had gazed at him in no reproach, only sorrow and pain, +and a dumb asking why he had hurt it. + +All the light of the stars seemed quenched, no eyes in the world had +ever looked so unutterably pathetic as Theodora's eyes, and gradually as +they sat and talked platitudes and chaffed with the elderly fiancées, it +had come to him how cruel he had been--he who had deliberately used +every art to make her love him--and now, having gained his end, what +could he do for her? What for himself? Nothing but sorrow faced them +both. He had taken brutal advantage of her gentleness and +innocence--when chivalry alone should have made him refrain. + +He saw himself as he was--the hunter and she the hunted--and the +knowledge that he would pay with all the anguish and regret of a +passionate, hopeless love--perhaps for the rest of his life--did not +balance things to his awakened soul. If his years should be one long, +gnawing ache for her, what of hers? And she was so young. His life, at +all events, was a free one; but hers tied to Josiah Brown! And this +thought drove him to madness. She belonged to Josiah Brown--not to him +whom she loved--but to Josiah Brown, plebeian and middle-aged and +exacting. He knew now that he ought to have gone away at once, the next +day after they had met. His whole course of conduct had been weak and +absolutely self-indulgent and wicked. + +Who was he to dare to have raised his eyes to this angel, and try to +scorch even the hem of her clothing! And now he had only brought +suffering upon her and dimmed the light in God's two stars, which were +her eyes. + +And then wild passion shook him, and he could only live again the divine +moments when she had nestled unresisting in his arms. Would it have made +things better or worse if he had not yielded to the temptation of that +hour of night and solitude? + +After all, the sin was in making her love him, not in just holding her +and kissing her lips. And at least, at least, they would have that +exquisite memory of moments of unutterable bliss to keep for the rest of +their lives. + +His windows were wide open, and he leaned upon the balcony and gazed out +at the moon. What good had all his life been? What benefit had he +brought to any one? Then he seemed to see a clear vision of Theodora's +short existence. Every picture she had unconsciously shown him was of +some gentle thought of unselfishness for others. + +And now he had laid a burden upon her shoulders, when he would not hurt +a hair of her head--that dear, exquisite head which had lain upon his +breast only two hours ago, and could never lie there again. He knew this +was the end. + +Then anguish and remorse seized him, and he buried his face on his +crossed arms. + +And Theodora staggered up to her room like one half dead. Mercifully +Josiah Brown, had gone to bed, leaving a message with Henriette, +Theodora's maid, that on no account was she to make any noise or disturb +him. + +Henriette adored her mistress--as who did not who served her?--and she +felt distressed to see madame so pale. Doubtless madame had had a most +tiring day. Madame had, and was thankful when at last she was left alone +with her thoughts. Then she, too, opened wide the windows and gazed at +the moon. + +She had no cause for remorse for evil conduct like Hector. She had made +no plans for the entrapping of any soul, and yet she felt forlorn and +wicked. Oh yes, she was awake now and knew where she had been drifting. +And so love had come at last, and indeed, indeed it meant life. This +blast had struck her, and she had been blind in not recognizing it at +once. + +But oh, how sweet it was!--love--and it seemed as if it could make +everything good and fair. If he and she who loved each other could have +belonged to each other, surely they might have shed joy and gladness +and kindness on all around. + +Then she lay on her bed and did not try to reason any more; she only +knew she loved Hector Bracondale with all her heart and being, and that +she was married to Josiah Brown. + +And what would the days be when she never saw him? And he, too, he would +be sad--and then there was poor Josiah--who was so generous to her. He +could not help being vulgar and unsympathetic, and her duty was to make +him happy. Well, she could do that, she would try her very best to do +that. + +But thrills ran through her with the recollection of the moments in the +drive to Paris--oh, why had no one told her or warned her all her life +about this good thing love? At last, worn out with all emotions, sleep +gently closed her eyes. + +And fate up above laughed no more. Her sport was over for a time, she +had made a sorry ending to their happy day. + + + + +XIV + + +Josiah had been too much fatigued on his machinery hunt with Mr. +Clutterbuck R. Tubbs. They had lunched too richly, he said, and stood +about too long, and so all the Sunday he was peevish and fretful, and +required Theodora's constant attention. She must sit by his bedside all +the morning, and drive round and round all the afternoon. + +He told her she was not looking well. These excursions did not suit +either of them, and he would be glad to get to England. + +He asked a few questions about Versailles, and Theodora vouchsafed no +unnecessary information. Nor did she tell him of her father's +good-fortune. The widow had expressly asked her not to. She wished it to +appear in the New York _Herald_ first of all, she said. And they could +have a regular rejoicing at the banquet on Monday night. + +"Men are all bad," she had told Theodora during their ante-dinner chat. +"Selfish brutes most of them; but nature has arranged that we happen to +want them, and it is not for me to go against nature. Your father is a +gentleman and he keeps me from yawning, and I have enough money to be +able to indulge that and whatever other caprices I may have acquired; so +I think we shall be happy. But a man in the abstract--don't amount to +much!" And Theodora had laughed, but now she wondered if ever she would +think it was true. Would Hector ever appear in the light of a caprice +she could afford, to keep her from yawning? Could she ever truly say, +"He don't amount to much!" Alas! he seemed now to amount to everything +in the world. + +The unspeakable flatness of the day! The weariness! The sense of all +being finished! She did not even allow herself to speculate as to what +Hector was doing with himself. She must never let her thoughts turn that +way at all if she could help it. She must devote herself to Josiah and +to getting through the time. But something had gone out of her life +which could never come back, and also something had come in. She was +awake--she, too, had lived for one moment like in _Jean d'Agrève_--and +it seemed as if the whole world were changed. + +Captain Fitzgerald did not appear all day, so the Sunday was composed +of unadulterated Josiah. But it was only when Theodora was alone at last +late at night, and had opened wide her windows and again looked out on +the moon, that a little cry of anguish escaped her, and she remembered +she would see Hector to-morrow at the dinner-party. See him casually, as +the rest of the guests, and this is how it would be forever--for ever +and ever. + + * * * * * + +Lord Bracondale had passed what he termed a dog's day. He had gone +racing, and there had met, and been bitterly reproached by, Esclarmonde +de Chartres for his neglect. + +_Qu'est-ce qu'il a eu pour toute une semaine?_ + +He had important business in England, he said, and was going off at +once; but she would find the bracelet she had wished for waiting for her +at her apartment, and so they parted friends. + +He felt utterly revolted with all that part of his life. + +He wanted nothing in the world but Theodora. Theodora to worship and +cherish and hold for his own. And each hour that came made all else seem +more empty and unmeaning. + +Just before dinner he went into the widow's sitting-room. She was +alone, Marie had said in the passage--resting, she thought, but madame +would certainly see milord. She had given orders for him to be admitted +should he come. + +"Now sit down near me, beau jeune homme," Mrs. McBride commanded from +the depths of her sofa, where she was reclining, arrayed in exquisite +billows of chiffon and lace. "I have been expecting you. It is not +because I have been indulging in a little sentiment myself that my eyes +are glued shut--you have a great deal to confess--and I hope we have not +done too much harm between us." + +Hector wanted sympathy, and there was something in the widow's +directness which he felt would soothe him. He knew her good heart. He +could speak freely to her, too, without being troubled by an +over-delicacy of _mauvaise honte_, as he would have been with an +Englishwoman. It would not have seemed sacrilege to the widow to discuss +with him--who was a friend--the finest and most tender sentiments of her +own, or any one else's, heart. He drew up a _bergère_ and kissed her +hand. + +"I have been behaving like a damned scoundrel," he said. + +"My gracious!" exclaimed Mrs. McBride, with a violent jerk into a +sitting position. "You don't say--" + +Then, for the first time for many years, a deep scarlet blush overspread +Hector's face, even up to his forehead--as he realized how she had read +his speech--how most people of the world would have read it. He got up +from his chair and walked to the window. + +"Oh, good God!" he said, "I don't mean that." + +The widow fell back into her pillows with a sigh of relief. + +"I mean I have deliberately tried to make her unhappy, and I have +succeeded--and myself, too." + +"That is not so bad then," and she settled a cushion. "Because +unhappiness is only a thing for a time. You are crazy for the moon, and +you can't get it, and you grieve and curse for a little, and then a new +moon arises. What else?" + +"Well, I want you to sympathize with me, and tell me what I had better +do. Shall I go back to England to-morrow morning, or stay for the +dinner-party?" + +"You got as far, then, as telling each other you loved each other +madly--and are both suffering from broken hearts, after one week's +acquaintance." + +"Don't be so brutal!" pleaded Hector. + +And she noticed that his face looked haggard and changed. So her shrewd, +kind eyes beamed upon him. + +"Yes, I dare say it hurts; but having broken up your cake, you can't go +on eating it. Why, in Heaven's name, did you let affairs get to a +climax?" + +"Because I am mad," said Hector, and he stretched out his arms. "I +cannot tell you how much I love her. Haven't you seen for yourself what +a darling she is? Every dear word she speaks shows her beautiful soul, +and it all creeps right into my heart. I worship her as I might an +angel, but I want her in my arms." + +Mrs. McBride knew the English. They were not emotional or _poseurs_ like +some other nations, and Hector Bracondale was essentially a man of the +world, and rather a whimsical cynic as well. So to see him thus moved +must mean great things. She was guilty, too, for helping to create the +situation. She must do what she could for him, she felt. + +"You should pull yourself together, mon cher Bracondale," she said; "it +is not like you to be limp and undecided. You had better stay for the +party, and make yourself behave like a gentleman, and how you mean to +continue. We have passed the days when 'Oh no, we never mention him' is +the order, and 'never meeting,' and that sort of thing. You are bound to +meet unless you go into the wilds. And you must face it and try to +forget her." + +"I can never forget her," he said, in a deep voice; "but, as you say, I +must face it and do my best." + +"You see," continued the widow, "the girl has only been married a year, +and her husband is the most unattractive human being you could find +along a sidewalk of miles; but he is her husband, anyway, and she may +have children." + +Hector clinched his hands in a convulsive movement of anguish and rage. + +"And you must realize all these possibilities, and settle a path for +yourself and stick to it." + +"Oh, I couldn't bear that!" he said. "It would be better I should take +her away myself now, to-day." + +"You will do no such thing!" said the widow, sternly, and she sat up +again. "You forget I am going to marry her father, and I shall look upon +her as my daughter and protect her from wolves--do you hear? And what is +more, she is too good and true to go with you. She has a backbone if +you haven't; and she'll see it her duty to stick to that lump of +middle-class meat she is bound to--and she'll do her best, if she +suffers to heart-break. It is she, the poor, little white dove, that you +and I have wounded between us, that I pity, not you--great, strong man!" + +Mrs. McBride's eyes flashed. + +"Oh, you are all the same, you Englishmen. Beasts to kill and women to +subjugate--the only aims in life!" + +"Don't!" said Hector. "I am not the animal you think me. I worship +Theodora, and I would devote my life and its best aims to secure her +happiness and do her honor; but don't you see you have drawn a picture +that would drive any man mad--" + +"I said you had to face the worst, and I calculate the worst for you +would be to see her with some little Browns along. My! How it makes you +wince! Well, face it then and be a man." + +He sat for a moment, his head buried in his hands--then-- + +"I will," he said, "I will do what I can; but oh, when you have the +chance you will be good to her, won't you, dear friend?" + +"There, there!" said the widow, and she patted his hand. "I had to +scold you, because I see you have got the attack very badly and only +strong measures are any good; but you know I am sorry for you both, and +feel dreadfully, because I helped you to it without enough thought as to +consequences." + +There was silence for a few minutes, and she continued to stroke his +hand. + +"Dominic has run down to Dieppe to see those daughters of his," she +said, presently, "and won't be back to-night. I meant to be all alone +and meditate and go to bed early; but you can dine with me, if you wish, +up here, and we will talk everything over. Our plans for the future, I +mean, and what will be best to do; I kind of feel like your +mother-in-law, you know." Which sentence comforted him. + +This woman was his friend, and so kind of heart, if sometimes a little +plain-spoken. + + * * * * * + +And late that night he wrote to Theodora. + +"My darling," he began. "I must call you that even though I have no +right to. _My_ darling--I want to tell you these my thoughts to-night, +before I see you to-morrow as an ordinary guest at your dinner-party. I +want you to know how utterly I love you, and how I am going to do my +best with the rest of my life to show you how I honor you and revered +you as an angel, and something to live for and shape my aims to be +worthy of the recollection of that hour of bliss you granted me. Dearest +love, does it not give you joy--just a little--to remember those moments +of heaven? I do not regret anything, though I am all to blame, for I +knew from the beginning I loved you, and just where love would lead us. +But it was not until I saw the peep into your soul, when you never +reproached me, that I began to understand what a brute I had been--how +unworthy of you or your love. Darling, I don't ask you to try and forget +me--indeed, I implore you not to do so. I think and believe you are of +the nature which only loves once in a lifetime, and I am world-worn and +experienced enough to know I have never really loved before. How +passionately I do now I cannot put into words. So let us keep our love +sacred in our hearts, my darling, and the knowledge of it will comfort +and soothe the anguish of separation. Beloved one, I am always thinking +of you, and I want to tell you my vision of heaven would be to possess +you for my wife. My happiest dream will always be that you are there--at +Bracondale--queen of my home and my heart, darling. _My_ darling! But +however it may be, whether you decide to chase away every thought of me +or not, I want you to know I will go on worshipping you, and doing my +utmost to serve you with my life.--For ever and ever your devoted +lover." + +And then he signed it "Hector," and not "Bracondale." + +The widow had promised to give it into Theodora's own hand on the +morrow. + +He added a postscript: + +"I want you to meet my mother and my sister in London. Will you let me +arrange it? I think you will like Anne. And oh, more than all I want you +to come to Bracondale. Write me your answer that I may have your words +to keep always." + + * * * * * + +Mrs. McBride came round in the morning to the private hotel in the +Avenue du Bois, to ask the exact time of the dinner-party, she said. She +wanted to see for herself how things were going. And the look in +Theodora's eyes grieved her. + +"I am afraid it has gone rather deeply with her," she mused. "Now what +can I do?" + +Theodora was unusually sweet and gentle, and talked brightly of how +glad she was for her father's happiness, and of their plans about +England; but all the time Jane McBride was conscious that the something +which had made her eyes those stars of gracious happiness was +changed--instead there was a deep pathos in them, and it made her +uncomfortable. + +"I wish to goodness I had let well alone, and not tried to give her a +happy day," she said to herself. + +Just before leaving, she slipped Hector's letter into Theodora's hand. +"Lord Bracondale asked me to give you this, my child," she said, and she +kissed her. "And if you will write the answer, will you post it to him +to the Ritz." + +All over Theodora there rushed an emotion when she took the letter. Her +hands trembled, and she slipped it into the bodice of her dress. She +would not be able to read it yet. She was waiting, all ready dressed, +for Josiah to enter any moment, to take their usual walk in the Bois. + +Then she wondered what would the widow think of her action, slipping it +into her dress--but it was done now, and too late to alter. And their +eyes met, and she understood that her future step-mother was wide awake +and knew a good many things. But the kind woman put her arm round her +and kissed her soft cheek. + +"I want you to be my little daughter, Theodora," she said. "And if you +have a heartache, dear, why I have had them, too--and I'd like to +comfort you. There!" + + + + +XV + + +The dinner-party went off with great éclat. Had not all the guests read +in the New York _Herald_ that morning of Captain Fitzgerald's +good-fortune? He with his usual _savoir-vivre_ had arranged matters to +perfection. The company was chosen from among the nicest of his and Mrs. +McBride's friends. + +The invitations had been couched in this form: "I want you to meet my +daughter, Mrs. Josiah Brown, my dear lady," or "dear fellow," as the +case might be. "She is having a little dinner at Madrid on Monday night, +and so hopes you will let me persuade you to come." + +And the French Count, and Mr. Clutterbuck R. Tubbs and his daughter, +Theodora had asked herself. Also the Austrian Prince. The party +consisted of about twenty people--and the menu and the Tziganes were as +perfect as they could be, while the night might have been a night of +July--it happened to be that year when Paris was blessed with a +gloriously warm May. + +Lord Bracondale was late: had not the post come in just as he was +starting, and brought him a letter, whose writing, although he had never +seen it before, filled him with thrills of joy. + +Theodora had found time during the day to read and reread his epistle, +and to kiss it more than once with a guilty blush. + +And she had written this answer: + + "I have received your letter, and it says many things to me--and, + Hector, it will comfort me always, this dear letter, and to know + you love me. + + "I have led a very ordinary life, you see, and the great blast of + love has never come my way, or to any one whom I knew. I did not + realize, quite, it was a real thing out of books--but now I know it + is; and oh, I can believe, if circumstances were different, it + could be heaven. But this cannot alter the fact that for me to + think of you much would be very wrong now. I do love you--I do not + deny it--though I am going to try my utmost to put the thought away + from me and to live my life as best I can. I do not regret anything + either, dear, because, but for you, I would never have known what + life's meaning is at all--I should have stayed asleep always; and + you have opened my eyes and taught me to see new beauties in all + nature. And oh, we must not grieve, we must thank fate for giving + us this one peep into paradise--and we must try and find the angel + to steer our barks for us beyond the rocks. Listen--I want you to + do something for me to-night. I want you not to look at me much, or + tempt me with your dear voice. It will be terribly hard in any + case, but if you will be kind you will help me to get through with + it, and then, and then--I hardly dare to look ahead--but I leave it + all in your hands. I would like to meet your mother and sister--but + when, and where? I feel inclined to say, not yet, only I know that + is just cowardice, and a shrinking from possible pain in seeing + you. So I leave it to you to do what is best, and I trust to your + honor and your love not to tempt me beyond bearing-point--and + remember, I am trying, trying hard, to do what is right--and trying + not to love you. + + "And so, good-bye. I must never say this again--or even think it + unsaid; but to-night, oh! Yes, Hector, know that I love you! + THEODORA." + +And all the way to Madrid, as he flew along in his automobile, his heart +rejoiced at this one sentence--"Yes, Hector, know that I love you!" + +The rest of the world did not seem to matter very much. How fortunate it +is that so often Providence lets us live on the pleasure of the moment! + +He sat on her left hand--the Austrian Prince was on her right--and +studiously all through the repast he tried to follow her wishes and the +law he had laid down for himself as the pattern of his future conduct. + +He was gravely polite, he never turned the conversation away from the +general company, including her neighbors in it all the time, and only +when he was certain she was not noticing did he feast his eyes upon her +face. + +She was looking supremely beautiful. If possible, whiter than usual, and +there was a shadow in her eyes as of mystery, which had not been there +before--and while their pathos wrung his heart, he could not help +perceiving their added beauty. And he had planted this change there--he, +and he alone. He admired her perfect taste in dress--she was all in pure +white, muslin and laces, and he knew it was of the best, and the +creation of the greatest artist. + +She looked just what _his_ wife ought to look, infinitely refined and +slender and stately and fair. + +Morella Winmarleigh would seem as a large dun cow beside her. + +Then suddenly they both remembered it was only a week this night since +they had met. Only seven days in which fate had altered all their lives. + +The Austrian Prince wondered to himself what had happened. He had not +been blind to the situation at Armenonville, and here they seemed like +polite hostess and guest, nothing more. + +"They are English, and they are very well bred, and they are very good +actors," he thought. "But, mon Dieu! were I ce beau jeune homme!" + +And so it had come to an end--the feast and the Tziganes playing, and +Theodora will always be haunted by that last wild Hungarian tune. Music, +which moved every fibre of her being at all times, to-night was a +torture of pain and longing. And he was so near, so near and yet so far, +and it seemed as if the music meant love and separation and passionate +regret, and the last air most passionate of all, and before the final +notes died away Hector bent over to her, and he whispered: + +"I have got your letter, and I love you, and I will obey its every wish. +You must trust me unto death. Darling, good-night, but never good-bye!" + +And she had not answered, but her breath had come quickly, and she had +looked once in his eyes and then away into the night. + +And so they shook hands politely and parted. And next day Mr. and Mrs. +Josiah Brown crossed over to England. + + + + +XVI + + +It was pouring with rain the evening Lord Bracondale arrived from Paris +at the family mansion in St. James's Square. He had only wired at the +last moment to his mother, too late to change her plans; she was +unfortunately engaged to take Morella Winmarleigh to the opera, and was +dining early at that lady's house, so she could only see him for a few +moments in her dressing-room before she started. + +"My darling, darling boy!" she exclaimed, as he opened the door and +peeped in. "Streatfield, bring that chair for his lordship, and--oh, you +can go for a few minutes." + +Then she folded him in her arms, and almost sobbed with joy to see him +again. + +"Well, mother," he said, when she had kissed him and murmured over him +as much as she wished. "Here I am, and what a sickening climate! And +where are you off to?" + +"I am going to dine with Morella Winmarleigh," said Lady Bracondale, +"early, to go to the opera, and then I shall take her on to the +Brantingham's ball. Won't you join us at either place, Hector? I feel it +so dreadfully, having to rush off like this, your first evening, +darling." + +She stood back and looked at him. She must see for herself whether he +was well, and if this riotous life she feared he had been leading lately +had not too greatly told upon him. Her fond eyes detected an air of +weariness: he looked haggard, and not so full of spirits as he usually +was. Alas! if he would only stay in England! + +"I am rather tired, mother; I may look in at the opera, but I can't face +a ball. How is Anne, and what is she doing to-night?" he said. + +"Anne has a bad cold. We have had such weather--nothing but rain since +Sunday night! She is dining at home and going to bed early. I have just +had a telephone message from her; she is longing to see you, too." + +"I think I shall go round and dine with her then," said Hector, "and +join you later." + +They talked on for about ten minutes before he left her to dress, +running against Streatfield in the passage. She had known him since his +birth, and beamed with joy at his return. + +He chaffed her about growing fat, and went on his way to telephone to +his sister. + +"His lordship looks pale, my lady," said the demure woman, as she +fastened Lady Bracondale's bracelet. She, too, disapproved of Paris and +bachelorhood, but she did not love Morella Winmarleigh. + +"Oh, you think so, Streatfield?" Lady Bracondale exclaimed, in a worried +voice. "Now that we have got him back we must take great care of him. +His lordship will join me at the opera. Are you sure he likes those +aigrettes in my hair?" + +"Why, it's one of his lordship's favorite styles, my lady. You need have +no fears," said the maid. + +And thus comforted, Lady Bracondale descended the great staircase to her +carriage. + +She was still a beautiful woman, though well past fifty. Her splendid, +dark hair had hardly a thread of gray in it, and grew luxuriantly, but +she insisted upon wearing it simply parted in the middle and coiled in a +mass of plaits behind, while one braid stood up coronet fashion well at +the back of her head. She was addicted to rich satins and velvets, and +had a general air of Victorian repose and decorum. There was no attempt +to retain departed youth; no golden wigs or red and white paint +disfigured her person, which had an immense natural dignity and +stateliness. It made her shiver to see some of her contemporaries +dressed and arranged to represent not more than twenty years of age. But +so many modern ways of thought and life jarred upon her! + +"Mother is still in the early seventies; she has never advanced a step +since she came out," Anne always said, "and I dare say she was behind +the times even then." + +Meanwhile, Hector was dressing in his luxurious mahogany-panelled room. +Everything in the house was solid and prosperous, as befitted a family +who had had few reverses and sufficient perspicacity to marry a rich +heiress now and then at right moments in their history. + +This early Georgian house had been in the then Lady Bracondale's dower, +and still retained its fine carvings and Old-World state. + +"How shall I see her again?" was all the thought which ran in Lord +Bracondale's head. + +"She won't be at a ball, but she might chance to have thought of the +opera. It would be a place Mr. Brown would like to exhibit her at. I +shall certainly go." + +Lady Anningford was tucked up on a sofa in her little sitting-room when +her brother arrived at her charming house in Charles Street. Her husband +had been sent off to a dinner without her, and she was expecting her +brother with impatience. She loved Hector as many sisters do a handsome, +popular brother, but rather more than that, and she had fine senses and +understood him. + +She did not cover him with caresses and endearments when she saw him; +she never did. + +"Poor Hector has enough of them from mother," she explained, when Monica +Ellerwood asked her once why she was so cold. "And men don't care for +those sort of things, except from some one else's sister or wife." + +"Dear old boy!" was all she said as he came in. "I am glad to see you +back." + +Then in a moment or two they went down to dinner, talking of various +things. And all through it, while the servants were in the room, she +prattled about Paris and their friends and the gossip of the day; and +she had a shocking cold in her head, too, and might well have been +forgiven for being dull. + +But when they were at last alone, back in the little sitting-room, she +looked at him hard, and her voice, which was rather deep like his, grew +full of tenderness as she asked: "What is it, Hector? Tell me about it +if I can help you." + +He got up and stood with his back to the wood fire, which sparkled in +the grate, comforting the eye with its brightness, while the wind and +rain moaned outside. + +"You can't help me, Anne; no one can," he said. "I have been rather +badly burned, but there is nothing to be done. It is my own fault--so +one must just bear it." + +"Is it the--eh--the Frenchwoman?" his sister asked, gently. + +"Good Lord, no!" + +"Or the American Monica came back so full of?" + +"The American? What American? Surely she did not mean my dear Mrs. +McBride?" + +"I don't know her name," Anne said, "and I don't want you to say a thing +about it, dear, if I can't help you; only it just grieves me to see you +looking so sad and distrait, so I felt I must try if there is anything I +can do for you. Mother has been on thorns and dying of fuss over this +Frenchwoman and the diamond chain--("How the devil did she hear about +that?" thought Hector)--until Monica came back with a tale of your +devotion to an American." + +"One would think I was eighteen years old and in leading-strings still, +upon my word," he interrupted, with an irritated laugh. "When will she +realize I can take care of myself?" + +"Never," said Lady Anningford, "until you have married Morella +Winmarleigh; then she would feel you were in good hands." + +He laughed again--bitterly this time. + +"Morella Winmarleigh! I would not be faithful to her for a week!" + +"I wonder if you would be faithful to any woman, Hector? I have often +thought you do not know what it means to love--really to love." + +"You were perfectly right once. I did not know," he said; "and perhaps I +don't now, unless to feel the whole world is a sickening blank without +one woman is to love--really to love." + +Anne noticed the weariness of his pose and the vibration in his deep +voice. She was stirred and interested as she had never been. This dear +brother of hers was not wont to care very much. In the past it had +always been the women who had sighed and longed and he who had been +amused and pleased. She could not remember a single occasion in the last +ten years when he had seemed to suffer, although she had seen him +apparently devoted to numbers of women. + +"And what are you going to do?" she asked, with sympathy, "She is +married, of course?" + +"Yes." + +"Hector, don't you want me to speak about it?" + +He took a chair now by his sister's sofa, and he began to turn over the +papers rather fast which lay on a table near by. + +"Yes, I do," he said, "because, after all, you can do something for me. +I want you to be particularly kind to her, will you, Anne, dear?" + +"But, of course; only you must tell me who she is and where I shall find +her." + +"You will find her at Claridge's, and she is only the wife of an +impossible Australian millionaire called Brown--Josiah Brown." + +"Poor dear Hector, how terrible!" thought Anne. "It is not the American, +then?" she said, aloud. + +"There never was any American," he exclaimed. "Monica is the most +ridiculous gossip, and always sees wrong. If she had not Jack to keep +her from talking so much she would not leave one of us with a rag of +character." + +"I will go to-morrow and call there, Hector," Lady Anningford said. "My +cold is sure to be better; and if she is not in, shall I write a note +and ask her to lunch? The husband, too, I suppose?" + +"I fear so. Anne, you are a brick." + +Then he said good-night, and went to the opera. + +Left to herself, Lady Anningford thought: "I suppose she is some flashy, +pretty creature who has caught Hector's fancy, the poor darling. One +never has chanced to find an Australian quite, quite a lady. I almost +wish he would marry Morella and have done with it." + +Then she lay on her sofa and pondered many things. + +She was a year older than her brother, and they had always been the +closest friends and comrades. + +Lady Anningford was more or less a happy and contented woman now, but +there had been moments in her life scorched by passion and infinite +pain. Long ago in the beginning when she first came out she had had the +misfortune to fall in love with Cyril Lamont, married and bad and +attractive. It had given him great pleasure to evade the eye of Lady +Bracondale, pure dragon and strict disciplinarian. Anne was a good girl, +but she was eighteen years old and had tasted no joy. She was not an +easy prey, and her first year had passed in storms of emotion suppressed +to the best of her powers. + +The situation had been full of shades and contrasts. The outward, a +strictly guarded lamb, the life of the world and aristocratic propriety; +and the inward, a daily growing mad love for an impossible person, +snatched and secret meetings after tea in country-houses, walks in +Kensington Gardens, rides along lonely lanes out hunting, and, finally, +the brink of complete ruin and catastrophe--but for Hector. + +"Where should I be now but for Hector?" her thoughts ran. + +Hector was just leaving Eton in those days, and had come up and +discovered matters, while she sobbed in his arms, at the beginning of +her second season. He had comforted her and never scolded a word, and +then he had gone out armed with a heavy hunting-crop, found Cyril +Lamont, and had thrashed the man within an inch of his life. It was one +of Hector's pleasantest recollections, the thought of his cowering form, +his green silk smoking-jacket all torn, and his eyes sightless. Cyril +Lamont's talents had not run in the art of self-defence, and he had been +very soon powerless in the hands of this young athlete. + +The Lamonts went abroad that night, and stayed there for quite six +months, during which time Anne mended her broken heart and saw the folly +of her ways. + +Hector and she had never alluded to the matter all these years, only +they were intimate friends and understood each other. + +Lady Bracondale adored Hector and was fond of Anne, but had no +comprehension of either. Anne was a _frondeuse_, while her mother's mind +was fashioned in carved lines and strict boundaries of thought and +action. + + + + +XVII + + +Meanwhile, Hector reached the opera, and made his way to the omnibus box +where he had his seat. + +He felt he could not stand Morella Winmarleigh just yet. The second act +of "Faust" was almost over, and with his glass he swept the rows of +boxes in vain to find Theodora. He sat a few minutes, but restlessness +seized him. He must go to the other side and ascertain if she could be +discovered from there. Morella Winmarleigh's box commanded a good view +for this purpose, so after all he would face her. + +He looked up at her opposite. She sat there with his mother, and she +seemed more thoroughly wholesomely unattractive than ever to him. + +He hated that shade of turquoise blue she was so fond of, and those +unmeaning bits and bows she had stuck about. She was a large young woman +with a stolid English fairness. + +Her hair had the flaxen ends and sandy roots one so often sees in those +women whose locks have been golden as children. It was a thin, dank kind +of hair, too, with no glints anywhere. Her eyes were blue and large and +meaningless and rather prominent, and her lightish eyelashes seemed to +give no shade to them. + +Morella's orbs just looked out at you like the bow-windows of a sea-side +villa--staring and commonplace. Her features were regular, and her +complexion, if somewhat all too red, was fresh withal; so that, +possessing an income of many thousands, she passed for a beauty of +exceptional merit. + +She had a good maid who used her fingers dexterously, and did what she +could with a mistress devoid of all sense of form or color. + +Miss Winmarleigh went to the opera regularly and sat solidly through it. +The music said nothing to her, but it was the right place for her to be, +and she could talk to her friends before going on to the numerous balls +she attended. + +If she loved anything in the world she loved Hector Bracondale, but her +feelings gave her no anxieties. He would certainly marry her presently, +the affair would be so suitable to all parties; meanwhile, there was +plenty of time, and all was in order. The perfect method of her +account-books, in which the last sixpence she spent in the day was duly +entered, translated itself to her life. Method and order were its +watchwords; and if the people who knew her intimately--such as her +chaperon, Mrs. Herrick, and her maid, Gibson--thought her mean, she was +not aware of their opinion, and went her way in solid rejoicing. + +Lady Bracondale was really attached to her. Morella's decorum, her +absence of all daring thought in conversation, pleased her so. She had +none of that feeling when with Miss Winmarleigh she suffered in the +company of her daughter Anne, who said things so often she did not quite +understand, yet which she dimly felt might have two meanings, and one of +them a meaning she most probably would disapprove of. + +She loved Anne, of course, but oh, that she could have been more like +herself or Morella Winmarleigh! + +Both women saw Hector in the omnibus box, and saw him leave it, and were +quite ready with their greetings when he joined them. + +Miss Winmarleigh had a slight air of proprietorship about her, which +every one knew when Hector was there. And most people thought as she +did, that he would certainly marry her in the near future. + +He was glad it was not between the acts--there was no excuse for +conversation after their greeting, so he searched the house in peace +with his glasses. + +And although he was hoping to see Theodora, his heart gave a great bound +of surprised joy when, on the pit tier, almost next the box he had just +left, he discovered her. He supposed it was a box often let to strangers +that season, as he could not remember whose the name was as he had +passed. He got back into the shadow, that his gaze should not be too +remarkable. She had not caught sight of him yet, or so it seemed. + +There she sat with her husband and another woman, whom he recognized as +one of those kind creatures who go everywhere in society and help +strangers when suitably compensated for their trouble. + +Where on earth could she have come across Mrs. Devlyn? he wondered. A +poisonous woman, who would fill her ears with tales of all the world. +Then he guessed, and rightly, the introduction had been effected by +Captain Fitzgerald, who would probably have known her in his own day. + +Theodora appeared wrapped in the music, and was an enthralling picture +of loveliness; her fineness seemed to make all the women's faces who +were near look coarse, and her whiteness turned them into gypsies. She +wore a gown of black velvet with no relief whatever, only her dazzling +skin and her great pearls. He feasted his eyes upon her--eyes hungry +with a week's abstinence; for he had felt it more prudent to remain in +Paris for some days after she had left. + +He looked round the rest of the house, and understood all the other men +could, and probably would, gaze too. And then he began to feel hot and +jealous! This was different from Paris, where she was more or less a +tourist; but here, how long would she be left in peace without siege +being laid to her? He knew his world and the men it contained. Yes, at +that moment the door at the back of the box opened and Delaval Stirling +came in, Josiah Brown making way for him to sit in front. Delaval +Stirling--this was too much! + +And Theodora turned with her adorable smile and greeted him, so it +showed they had met before--greeted him with pleasure. Good God! How +much could happen in a week! Why had he stayed in Paris? + +If Morella Winmarleigh had glanced round at his face, even her thick +perceptions must have grasped the disturbance which was marked there, as +he stood back in the shadow and gazed with angry eyes. + +The moment she had seen him come into the box Mrs. Devlyn had said, "I +want you to notice a man over there, Mrs. Brown, in the box exactly +opposite; on the grand tier--do you see?" + +"Yes," said Theodora, and she perceived him shaking hands with Miss +Winmarleigh before he caught sight of her, so she was forearmed and +turned to the stage. + +"He is nice-looking, don't you think so?" continued Mrs. Devlyn, without +a pause. "He is going to marry that girl in the box; she is one of the +richest heiresses of the day--Miss Winmarleigh. I always point out +Hector Bracondale to strangers or foreigners; he is quite a show +Englishman." + +"Bracondale? Lord Bracondale?" interrupted Josiah Brown. "We met him in +Paris, did we not, my love?" turning to Theodora. "He dined with us our +last evening. Where is he?" + +"Oh, you know him, then!" said Mrs. Devlyn, disappointed. "I wanted to +be the first to point him out to you. They will make a handsome pair, +won't they--he and Miss Winmarleigh?" + +"Very," said Theodora, listlessly, with an air of dragging her thoughts +from the music with difficulty, while she suddenly felt sick and cold. + +"And are they to be married soon?" + +"I don't know exactly; but it has been going on for years, and we all +look upon it as a settled thing. She is always about with his mother." + +"Is that Lord Bracondale's mother--the lady with the coronet of plaits +and the huge white aigrette with the diamond drops in it?" Theodora +asked. Her voice was schooled, and had no special tones in it. But oh, +how she was thrilling with interest and excitement underneath! + +"Yes, that is Lady Bracondale. She is quite a type; always dresses in +that old-fashioned way, and won't know a soul who is not of her own set. +She is a cousin of one of my husband's aunts. I must introduce you to +her." + +"She looks pretty haughty," announced Josiah Brown. "I should not care +to tread on her toes much." And then he remembered he had seen her years +ago driving through the little town of Bracondale. + +Theodora asked no more questions. She kept her eyes fixed on the stage, +but she knew Hector had raised his glasses now and was scanning the box, +and had probably seen her. + +What ought it to matter to her that he should be going to marry Miss +Winmarleigh? He could be nothing to her--only--only--but perhaps it was +not true. This woman, Mrs. Devlyn, whom she began to feel she should +dislike very much, had said it was looked upon as settled, not that it +was a fact. How could a man be going to marry one woman and make +desperate love to another at the same time? It was impossible--and +yet--she would _not_ look in any case. She would not once raise her eyes +that way. + +And so in these two boxes green jealousy held sway, and while Hector +glared across at Theodora she smiled at Delaval Stirling, and spoke +softly of the music and the voices, though her heart was torn with pain. + +"Do you see Hector Bracondale is back again, Delaval?" Mrs. Devlyn said. +"Do you know why he stayed in Paris so long? I heard--" And she +whispered low, so that Theodora only caught the name "Esclarmonde de +Chartres" and their modulated mocking laughter. + +How they jarred upon her! How she felt she should hate London among all +these people whose ways she did not know! She turned a little, and +Josiah's vulgar familiar face seemed a relief to her, and her tender +eyes melted in kindliness as she looked at him. + +"You are very pale to-night, my love," he said. "Would you like to go +home?" + +But this she would not agree to, and pulled herself together and tried +to talk gayly when the curtain went down. + +And Hector blamed his own folly for having come up to this box at all. +Here he must be glued certainly for a few moments; now that they could +talk, politeness could not permit him to fly off at once. + +"The house is very full," Miss Winmarleigh said--it was a remark she +always made on big nights--"and yet hardly any new faces about." + +"Yes," said Hector. + +"Does it compare with the Opera-House in Paris, Hector?" Miss +Winmarleigh hardly ever went abroad. + +"No," said Hector.--Not only had Delaval Stirling retained his seat, but +Chris Harford, Mrs. Devlyn's brother, had entered the box now and was +assiduously paying his court. "Damned impertinence of the woman, +forcing her relations upon them like that," he +thought.--"Oh--er--no--that is, I think the Paris Opera-House is a +beastly place," he said, absently, "a dull, heavy drab brown and dirty +gilding, and all the women look hideous in it." + +"Really," said Morella. "I thought everything in Paris was lovely." + +"You should go over and see for yourself," he said, "then you could +judge. I think most things there are lovely, though." + +Miss Winmarleigh raised her glasses now and examined the house. Her eyes +lighted at last on Theodora. + +"Dear Lady Bracondale," she said, "do look at that woman in black +velvet. What splendid pearls! Do you think they are real? Who is it, I +wonder, with Florence Devlyn?" + +But Hector felt he could not stay and hear their remarks about his +darling, so he got up, and, murmuring he must have a talk to his friends +in the house, left the box. + +He was thankful at least Theodora was sitting on the pit tier--he could +walk along the gangway and talk to her from the front. + +She saw him coming and was prepared, so no wild roses tinged her cheeks, +and her greeting was gravely courteous, that was all. + +An icy feeling crept over him. What was the change, this subtle change +in voice and eyes? He suddenly had the agonizing sensation of being a +great way off from her, shut out of paradise--a stranger. What had +happened? What had he done? + +Every one knows the Opera-House, and where he would be standing, and the +impossibility of saying anything but the most banal commonplaces, +looking up like that. + +Then Josiah leaned forward, proud of his acquaintanceship with a peer, +and said in a distinct voice: + +"Won't you come into the box, Lord Bracondale? There is plenty of room." +He had not taken to either Delaval Stirling or Chris Harford, and +thought a change of company would not come amiss. They had ignored him, +and should pay for it. + +Hector made his way joyfully to the back, and, entering, was greeted +affably by his host, so the other two men got up to leave to make room +for him. + +He sat down behind Theodora, and Mrs. Devlyn saw it would be wiser to +conciliate Josiah by her interested conversation. + +She hoped to make a good thing out of this millionaire and his unknown +wife, and it would not do to ruffle him at this stage of the affair. + +Theodora hardly turned, thus Hector was obliged to lean quite forward to +speak to her. + +"I have seen my sister to-night," he said, "and she wants so much to +meet you. I said perhaps she would find you to-morrow. Will you be at +home in the afternoon any time?" + +"I expect so," replied Theodora. She was longing to face him, to ask him +if it was true he was going to marry that large, pink-faced young woman +opposite, who was now staring down upon them with fixed opera-glasses; +but she felt frozen, and her voice was a frozen voice. + +Hector became more and more unhappy. He tried several subjects. He told +her the last news of her father and Mrs. McBride. She answered them all +with the same politeness, until, maddened beyond bearing, he leaned +still farther forward and whispered in her ear: + +"For God's sake, what is it? What have I done?" + +"Nothing," said Theodora. What right had she to ask him any question, +when for these seven nights and days since they had parted she had been +disciplining herself not to think of him in any way? She must never let +him know it could matter to her now. + +"Nothing? Then why are you so changed? Ah, how it hurts!" he whispered, +passionately. And she turned and looked at him, and he saw that her +beautiful eyes were no longer those pure depths of blue sky in which he +could read love and faith, but were full of mist, as of a curtain +between them. + +He put his hand up to touch the little gold case he carried always now +in his waistcoat-pocket, which contained her letter. He wanted to assure +himself it was there, and she had written it--and it was not all a +dream. + +Theodora's tender heart was wrung by the passionate distress in his +eyes. + +"Is that your mother over there you were with?" she asked, more gently. +"How beautiful she is!" + +"Yes," he said, "my mother and Morella Winmarleigh, whom the world in +general and my mother in particular have decided I am going to marry." + +She did not speak. She felt suddenly ashamed she could ever have doubted +him; it must be the warping atmosphere of Mrs. Devlyn's society for +these last days which had planted thoughts, so foreign to her nature, in +her. She did not yet know it was jealousy pure and simple, which attacks +the sweetest, as well, as the bitterest, soul among us all. But a +thrill of gladness ran through her as well as shame. + +"And aren't you going to marry her, then?" she said, at last. "She is +very handsome." + +Hector looked at her, and a wave of joy chased out the pain he had +suffered. That was it, then! They had told her this already, and she +hated it--she cared for him still. + +"Surely you need not ask me," he said, deep reproach in his eyes. "You +must be very changed in seven days to even have thought it possible." + +The shame deepened in Theodora. She was, indeed, unlike herself to have +been moved at all by Mrs. Devlyn's words, but she would never doubt +again, and she must tell him that. + +"Forgive me," she said, quite low, while she looked away. "I--of course +I ought to be pleased at anything which made you happy, but--oh, I hated +it!" + +"Theodora," he said, "I ask you--do not act with me ever--to what end? +We know each other's hearts, and I hope it would pain you were I to +marry any other woman, as much as in like circumstances it would pain +me." + +"Yes, it would pain me," she said, simply. "But, oh, we must not speak +thus! Please, please talk of the music, or the--the--oh, anything but +ourselves." + +And he tried hard for the few moments which remained before the curtain +rose again. Tried hard, but it was all dust and ashes; and as he left +the box and returned to his own seat next door his heart felt like lead. +How would he be able to follow the rules he had laid down for himself +during his week of meditations in Paris alone? + +"You see, dear Lady Bracondale," Morella Winmarleigh had been saying, +"Hector knows that woman with the pearls. He is sitting talking to her +now." + +"Hector knows every one, Morella. Lend me your glasses, mine do not seem +to work to-night. Yes, I suppose by some she would be considered +pretty," Lady Bracondale continued, when the lorgnette was fixed to her +focus. "What do you think, dear?" + +"Pretty!" exclaimed Miss Winmarleigh. "Oh no! Much too white, and, +oh--er--foreign-looking. We must find out who she is." + +The matter was not difficult. Half the house had been interested in the +new-comer, the beautiful new-comer with the wonderful pearls, who must +be worth while in some way, or she would not be under the wing of +Florence Devlyn. + +By the time Hector again entered their box in the last act, Miss +Winmarleigh had obtained all the information she wanted from one of the +many visitors who came to pay their court to the heiress. And the +information reassured her. Only the wife of a colonial millionaire; no +one of her world or who could trouble her. + +Early next morning, while she sat in her white flannel dressing-gown, +her hair screwed in curling-pins, after the Brantinghams' ball, she +wrote in her journal the customary summary of her day, and ended with: +"H.B. returned--same as usual, running after a new woman, nobody of +importance; but I had better watch it, and clinch matters between him +and me before Goodwood. Ordered the pink silk after all, from the new +little dressmaker, and beat her down three pounds as to price. Begun +Marvaloso hair tonic." + +Then, as it was broad daylight, after carefully replacing in its drawer +this locked chronicle of her maiden thoughts, she retired to bed, to +sleep the sleep of those just persons whose digestions are as strong as +their absence of imagination. + + + + +XVIII + + +Next day Lady Anningford called, as she had promised, at Claridge's, and +found Mrs. Brown at home, although it was only three o'clock in the +afternoon. + +She had not two minutes to wait in the well-furnished first-floor +sitting-room, but during that time she noticed there were one or two +things about which showed the present occupant was a woman of taste, and +there were such quantities of flowers. Flowers, flowers, everywhere. + +Theodora entered already dressed for her afternoon drive. She came +forward with that perfect grace which characterized her every movement. + +If she felt very timid and nervous it did not show in her sweet face, +and Lady Anningford perceived Hector had every excuse for his +infatuation. + +"I am so fortunate to find you at home, Mrs. Brown," she said. "My +brother has told me so much about you, and I was longing to meet you. +May we sit down on this sofa and talk a little, or were you just +starting for your drive?" + +"Of course we may sit down," said Theodora. "My drive does not matter in +the least. It was so good of you to come." + +And her inward thought was that she would like Hector's sister. Anne's +frankness and _sans gêne_ were so pleasing. + +They exchanged a few agreeable sentences while each measured the other, +and then Lady Anningford said: + +"You come from Australia, don't you?" + +"Australia!" smiled Theodora, while her eyes opened wide. "Oh no! I have +never been out of France and Belgium and places like that. My husband +lived in Melbourne for some years, though." + +"I thought it could not be possible," quoth Anne to herself. + +"Then you don't know much of England yet?" she said, aloud. + +"It is my first visit; and it seems very dull and rainy. This is the +only really fine day we have had since we arrived." + +Anne soon dexterously elicited an outline of Theodora's plans and what +she was doing. They would only remain in town until Whitsuntide, +perhaps returning later for a week or two; and Mrs. Devlyn, to whom her +father had sent her an introduction, had been kind enough to tell them +what to do and how to see a little of London. She was going to a ball +to-night. The first real ball she had ever been to in her life, she +said, ingenuously. + +And Lady Anningford looked at her and each moment fell more under her +charm. + +"The ball at Harrowfield House, I expect, to meet the King of +Guatemala," she said, knowing Lady Harrowfield was Florence Devlyn's +cousin. + +"That is it," said Theodora. + +"Then you must dance with Hector--my brother," she said. + +She launched his name suddenly; she wanted to see what effect it would +have on Theodora. "He is sure to be there, and he dances divinely." + +She was rewarded for her thrust: just the faintest pink came into the +white velvet cheeks, and the blue eyes melted softly. To dance with +Hector! Ah! Then the radiance was replaced by a look of sadness, and she +said, quietly: + +"Oh, I do not think I shall dance at all. My husband is rather an +invalid, and we shall only go in for a little while." + +No, she must not dance with Hector. Those joys were not for her--she +must not even think of it. + +"How extraordinarily beautiful she is!" Anne thought, when presently, +the visit ended, she found herself rolling along in her electric +brougham towards the park. "And I feel I shall love her. I wonder what +her Christian name is?" + +Theodora had promised they would lunch in Charles Street with her the +next day if her husband should be well enough after the ball. And Anne +decided to collect as many nice people to meet them as she could in the +time. + +At the corner of Grosvenor Square she met an old friend, one Colonel +Lowerby, commonly called the Crow, and stopped to pick him up and take +him on with her. + +He was the one person she wanted to talk to at this juncture. She had +known him all her life, and was accustomed to prattle to him on all +subjects. He was always safe, and gruff, and honest. + +"I have just done something so interesting, Crow," she told him, as they +went along towards Regent's Park, to which sylvan spot she had directed +her chauffeur, to be more free to talk in peace to her companion. Some +of her friends were capable of making scandals, even about the dear old +Crow, she knew. + +"And what have you done?" he asked. + +"Of course you have heard the tale from Uncle Evermond, of Hector and +the lady at Monte Carlo?" + +He nodded. + +"Well, there is not a word of truth in it; he is in love, though, with +the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life--and I have just +been to call upon her. And to-morrow you have got to come to lunch to +meet her--and tell me what you think." + +"Very well," said the Crow. "I was feeding elsewhere, but I always obey +you. Continue your narrative." + +"I want you to tell me what to do, and how I can help them." + +"My dear child," said the Crow, sententiously, as was his habit, "help +them to what? She is married, of course, or Hector would not be in love +with her. Do you want to help them to part or to meet? or to go to +heaven or to hell? or to spend what Monica Ellerwood calls 'a Saturday +to Monday amid rural scenery,' which means both of those things one +after the other!" + +"Crow, dear, you are disagreeable," said Lady Anningford, "and I have a +cold in my head and cannot compete with you in words to-day." + +"Then say what you want, and I'll listen." + +"Hector met them in Paris, it seems, and must have fallen wildly in +love, because I have never seen him as he is now." + +"How is he?--and who is 'them'?" + +"Why, she and the husband, of course, and Hector is looking sad and +distrait--and has really begun to feel at last." + +"Serve him right!" + +"Crow, you are insupportable! Can you not see I am serious and want your +help?" + +"Fire away, then, my good child, and explain matters. You are too +vague!" + +So she told him all she knew--which was little enough; but she was +eloquent upon Theodora's beauty. + +"She has the face of an angel," she ended her description with. + +"Always mistrust 'em," interjected the Crow. + +"Such a figure and the nicest manner, and she is in love with Hector, +too, of course--because she could not possibly help herself--could +she?--if he is being lovely to her." + +"I have not your prejudiced eyes for him--though Hector certainly is a +decent fellow enough to look at," allowed Colonel Lowerby. "But all +this does not get to what you want to do for them." + +"I want them to be happy." + +"Permanently, or for the moment?" + +"Both." + +"An impossible combination, with these abominably inconsiderate marriage +laws we suffer under in this country, my child." + +"Then what ought I to do?" + +"You can do nothing but accelerate or hinder matters for a little. If +Hector is really in love, and the woman, too, they are bound to dree +their weird, one way or the other, themselves. You will be doing the +greatest kindness if you can keep them apart, and avoid a scandal if +possible." + +"My dear Crow, I have never heard of your being so thoroughly +unsympathetic before." + +"And I have never heard of Hector being really in love before, and with +an angel, too--deuced dangerous folk at the best of times!" + +"Then there are mother and Morella Winmarleigh to be counted with." + +"Neither of them can see beyond their noses. Miss Winmarleigh is sure of +him, she thinks--and your mother, too." + +"No; mother has her doubts." + +"They will both be anti?" + +"Extremely anti." + +"To get back to facts, then, your plan is to assist your brother to see +this 'angel,' and smooth the path to the final catastrophe." + +"You worry me, Crow. Why should there be a catastrophe?" + +"Is she a young woman?" + +"A mere baby. Certainly not more than twenty or so." + +"Then it is inevitable, if the husband don't count. You have not +described him yet." + +"Because I have never seen him," said Lady Anningford. "Hector did say +last night, though, that he was an impossible Australian millionaire." + +"These people have a strong sense of personal rights--they are even +blood-thirsty sometimes, and expect virtue in their women. If he had +been just an English snob, the social bauble might have proved an +immense eye-duster; but when you say Australian it gives me hope. He'll +take her away, or break Hector's head, before things become too +embarrassing." + +"Crow, you are brutal." + +"And a good thing, too. That is what we all want, a little more +brutality. The whole of the blessed show here is being ruined with this +sickly sentimentality. Flogging done away with; every silly nerve +pandered to. By Jove! the next time we have to fight any country we +shall have an anæsthetic served round with the rations to keep Tommy +Atkins's delicate nerves from suffering from the consciousness of the +slaughter he inflicts upon the enemy." + +"Crow, you are violent." + +"Yes, I am. I am sick of the whole thing. I would reintroduce +prize-fighting and bear-baiting and gladiatorial shows to brace the +nation up a bit. We'll get jammed full of rotten vices like those +beastly foreigners soon." + +"I did not bring you into Regent's Park to hear a tirade upon the +nation's needs, Crow," Anne reminded him, smiling, "but to get your +sympathy and advice upon this affair of Hector. You know you are the +only person in the world I ever talk to about intimate things." + +"Dear Queen Anne," he said, "I will always do what I can for you. But I +tell you seriously, when a man like Hector loves a woman really, you +might as well try to direct Niagara Falls as to turn him any way but the +one he means to go." + +"He wants me to be kind to her. Do you advise me just to let the thing +drop, then?" + +"No; be as kind as you like--only don't assist them to destruction." + +"She goes into the country on Saturday for Whitsuntide, as we all do. +Hector is going down to Bracondale alone." + +"That looks desperate. I shall see Hector, and judge for myself." + +"You must be sure to go to the ball at Harrowfield House to-night, +then," Anne said. "They are both going. I say both because I know she +is, and so, of course, Hector will be there too. I shall go, naturally, +and then we can decide what we can do about it after we have seen them +together." + +And all this time Theodora was thinking how charming Anne was, and how +kind, and that she felt a little happier because of her kindness. And, +hard as it would be, she would not leave Josiah's side that night or +dance with Hector. + +And Hector was thinking-- + +"What is the good of anything in this wide world without her? I _must_ +see her. For good or ill, I cannot keep away." + +He was deep in the toils of desire and passionate love for a woman +belonging to someone else and out of his reach, and for whom he was +hungry. Thus the primitive forces of nature were in violent activity, +and his soul was having a hard fight. + +It was the first time in his life that a woman had really mattered or +had been impossible to obtain. + +He had always looked upon them as delightful accessories: sport first, +and woman, who was only another form of sport, second. + +He had not neglected the obligations of his great position, but they +came naturally to him as of the day's work. They were not real interests +in his life. And when stripped of the veneer of civilization he was but +a passionate, primitive creature, like numbers of others of his class +and age. + +While the elevation of Theodora's pure soul was an actual influence upon +him, he had thought it would be possible--difficult, perhaps--but +possible to obey her--to keep from troubling her--to regulate his +passion into worship at a distance. But since then new influences had +begun to work--prominent among them being jealousy. + +To see her surrounded by others--who were men and would desire her, +too--drove him mad. + +Josiah was difficult enough to bear. The thought that he was her +husband, and had the rights of this position, always turned him sick +with raging disgust; but that was the law, and a law accepted since the +beginning of time. These others were not of the law--they were the same +as himself--and would all try to win her. + +He had no fear of their succeeding, but, to watch them trying, and he +himself unable to prevent them, was a thought he could not tolerate. + +He had no settled plan. He did not deliberately say to himself: "I will +possess her at all costs. I will be her lover, and take her by force +from the bonds of this world." His whole mind was in a ferment and +chaos. There was no time to think of the position in cold blood. His +passion hurried him on from hour to hour. + +This day after the opera, when the hideous impossibility of the +situation had come upon him with full force, he felt as Lancelot-- + + + "His mood was often like a fiend, and rose and + drove him into wastes and solitudes for agony, + Who was yet a living soul." + + +There are all sorts of loves in life, but when it is the real great +passion, nor fear of hell nor hope of heaven can stem the tide--for +long! + +He had gone out in his automobile, and was racing ahead considerably +above the speed limit. He felt he must do something. Had it been winter +and hunting-time, he would have taken any fences--any risks. He returned +and got to Ranelagh, and played a game of polo as hard as he could, and +then he felt a little calmer. The idea came to him as it had done to +Anne. Lady Harrowfield was Florence Devlyn's cousin; she would probably +have squeezed an invitation for her protégées for the royal ball +to-night. He would go--he must see Theodora. He must hold her in his +arms, if only in the mazes of the waltz. + +And the thought of that sent the blood whirling madly once more in his +veins. + +Everything he had looked upon so lightly up to now had taken a new +significance in reference to Theodora. Florence Devlyn, for instance, +was no fit companion for her--Florence Devlyn, whom he met at every +decent house and had never before disapproved of, except as a bore and a +sycophant. + + + + +XIX + + +Harrowfield House, as every one knows, is one of the finest in London; +and with the worst manners, and an inordinate insolence, Lady +Harrowfield ruled her section of society with a rod of iron. Indeed, all +sections coveted the invitations of this disagreeable lady. + +Her path was strewn with lovers, and protected by a proud and complacent +husband, who had realized early he never would be master of the +situation, and had preferred peace to open scandal. + +She was a woman of sixty now, and, report said, still had her lapses. +But every incident was carried off with a high-handed, brazen daring, +and an assumption of right and might and prerogative which paralyzed +criticism. + +So it was that with the record of a _demimondaine_--and not one kind +action to her credit--Lady Harrowfield still held her place among the +spotless, and ruled as a queen. + +There was not above two years' difference between her age and Lady +Bracondale's; indeed, the latter had been one of her bridesmaids; but +no one to look at them at a distance could have credited it for a +minute. + +Lady Harrowfield had golden hair and pink cheeks, and her _embonpoint_ +retained in the most fashionable outline. And if towards two in the +morning, or when she lost at bridge, her face did remind on-lookers of a +hideous colored mask of death and old age--one can't have everything in +life; and Lady Harrowfield had already obtained more than the lion's +share. + +This night in June she stood at the top of her splendid staircase, +blazing with jewels, receiving her guests, among whom more than one +august personage, English and foreign, was expected to arrive; and an +unusually sour frown disfigured the thick paint of her face. + +It all seemed like fairy-land to Theodora as, accompanied by Josiah, and +preceded by Mrs. Devlyn, she early mounted the marble steps with the +rest of the throng. + +She noticed the insolent stare of her hostess as she shook hands and +then passed on in the crowd. + +She felt a little shy and nervous and excited withal. Every one around +seemed to have so many friends, and to be so gay and joyous, and only +she and Josiah stood alone. For Mrs. Devlyn felt she had done enough +for one night in bringing them there. + +It was an immense crowd. At a smaller ball Theodora's exquisite beauty +must have commanded instant attention, but this was a special occasion, +and the world was too occupied with a desire to gape at the foreign king +to trouble about any new-comers. Certainly for the first hour or so. + +Josiah was feeling humiliated. Not a creature spoke to them, and they +were hustled along like sheep into the ballroom. + +A certain number of men stared--stared with deep interest, and made +plans for introductions as soon as the crowd should subside a little. + +Theodora was perfectly dressed, and her jewels caused envy in numbers of +breasts. + +She was too little occupied with herself to feel any of Josiah's +humiliation. This society was hers by right of birth, and did not +disconcert her; only no one could help being lonely when quite +neglected, while others danced. + +Presently, a thin, ill-tempered-looking old man made his way with +difficulty up to their corner; he had been speaking to Mrs. Devlyn +across the room. + +"I must introduce myself," he said, graciously, to Theodora. "I am your +uncle, Patrick Fitzgerald, and I am so delighted to meet you and make +your acquaintance." + +Theodora bowed without _empressement_. She had no feeling for these +relations who had been so indifferent to her while she was poor and who +had treated darling papa so badly. + +"I only got back to town last night, or I and my wife would have called +at Claridge's before this," he continued. And then he said something +affable to Josiah, who looked strangely out of place among this +brilliant throng. + +For whatever may compose the elements of the highest London society, the +atoms all acquire a certain air after a little, and if within this _fine +fleur_ of the aristocracy there lurked some Jews and Philistines and +infidels of the middle classes, they were not quite new to the game, and +had all received their gloss. So poor Josiah stood out rather by +himself, and Sir Patrick Fitzgerald felt a good deal ashamed of him. + +Theodora's fine senses had perceived all this long ago--the contrast her +husband presented to the rest of the world--and it had made her stand +closer to him and treat him with more deference than usual; her generous +heart always responded to any one or anything in an unhappy position. + +And through all his thick skin Josiah felt something of her tenderness, +and glowed with pride in her. + +Sir Patrick Fitzgerald continued to talk, and even paid his niece some +bluff compliments. Her manner was so perfect, he decided! Gad! he could +be proud of his new-found relation. And though the husband was nothing +but a grocer still, and looked it every inch, by Jove, he was rich +enough to gild his vulgarity and be tolerated among the highest. + +Thus the uncle was gushing and lavish in his invitations and offers of +friendship. They must come to Beechleigh for Whitsuntide. He would hear +of no refusal. Going home! Oh, what nonsense! Home was a place one could +go to at any time. And he would so like to show them Beechleigh at its +best, where her father had lived all his young life. + +Josiah was caught by his affable suggestions. Why should they not go? +Only that morning he had received a letter from his agent at Bessington +Hall to say the place, unfortunately, would not be completely ready for +them. Why, then, should they not accept this pleasant invitation? + +Theodora hesitated--but he cut her short. + +"I am sure it is very good of you, Sir Patrick, and my wife and I will +be delighted to come," he said. + +By this time the excitement of the royal entrance and quadrille had +somewhat subsided, and several people felt themselves drawn to be +presented to the beautiful young woman in white with the really fine +jewels, and before she knew where she was, Theodora found herself +waltzing with a wonderfully groomed, ugly young marquis. + +She had meant not to dance--not to leave her husband's side; but fate +and Josiah had ordered otherwise. + +"Not dance! What nonsense, my love! Go at once with his lordship," he +had said, when Sir Patrick had presented Lord Wensleydown. And wincing +at the sentence, Theodora had allowed herself to be whirled away. + +Her partner was not more than nine-and-twenty; but he had all the blasé +airs of a man of forty. He began to say _entreprenant_ things to +Theodora after three turns round the room. + +She was far too unsophisticated to understand their ultimate meaning, +but they made her uncomfortable. + +He gazed at her loveliness with that insulting look of sensual +admiration which some men think the highest compliment they can pay to a +woman. And just in the middle of all this, Hector Bracondale arrived +upon the scene. He had been searching for her everywhere; in that crowd +one could miss any one with ease. He stood and watched her before she +caught sight of him--watched her pure whiteness in the clutches of this +beast of prey. Saw his burning looks; noted his attitude; imagined his +whisperings--and murderous feelings leaped to his brain. + +How dared Wensleydown! How dared any one! Ah, God! and he was powerless +to prevent it. She was the wife of Josiah Brown over there, smiling and +complacent to see _his_ belonging dancing with a marquis! + +"Hector, dearest, what is the matter?" exclaimed Lady Anningford, coming +up at that moment to her brother's side. She was with Colonel Lowerby, +and they had made a tour of the rooms on purpose to see Theodora. "You +appear ready to murder some one. What has happened?" + +Hector looked straight at her. She was a very tall woman, almost his +height, and she saw pain and rage and passion were swimming in his eyes, +while his deep voice vibrated as he answered: + +"Yes, I want to murder some one--and possibly will before the evening is +over." + +"Hector! Crow, leave me with him, like the dear you always are," she +whispered to Colonel Lowerby, "and come and find me again in a few +minutes." + +"Hector, what is it?" she asked, anxiously, when they stood alone. + +"Look!" said Lord Bracondale. "Look at Wensleydown leaning over +Theodora." He was so moved that he uttered the name without being aware +of it. "Did you ever see such a damned cad as he is? Good God, I cannot +bear it!" + +"He--he is only dancing with her," said Anne, soothingly. What had come +to her brother, her whimsical, cynical brother, who troubled not at all, +as a rule, over anything in the world? + +"Only dancing with her! I tell you I will not bear it. Where is the +Crow? Why did you send him off? I can't stay with you; I must go and +speak to her, and take her away from this." + +"Hector, for Heaven's sake do not be so mad," said Lady Anningford, now +really alarmed. "You can't go up and seize a woman from her partner in +the middle of a waltz. You must be completely crazy! Dear boy, let us +stay here by the door until the music finishes, and then I will speak to +her before they can leave the room to sit out." + +She put her hand on his arm to detain him, and started to feel how it +trembled. + +What passion was this? Surely the Crow was right, after all, and it +could only lead to some inevitable catastrophe. Anne's heart sank; the +lights and the splendor seemed all a gilded mockery. + +At that moment Morella Winmarleigh advanced with Evermond Le +Mesurier--their uncle Evermond--who, having other views for his own +amusement, left her instantly at Anne's side and disappeared among the +crowd. + +"How impossible to find any one in this crush!" Miss Winmarleigh said. +There was a cackly tone in her voice, especially when raised above the +din of the music, which was peculiarly irritating to sensitive ears. + +Hector felt he hated her. + +Anne still kept her hand on his arm, and flight was hopeless. + +Just then a Royalty passed with their hostess, and claimed Lady +Anningford's attention, so Hector was left sole guardian of Morella +Winmarleigh. + +She cackled on about nothing, while his every sense was strained +watching Theodora, to see that she did not leave the room without his +knowledge. + +She was whirling still in the maze of the waltz, and each time she +passed fresh waves of rage surged in Hector's breast, as he perceived +the way in which Lord Wensleydown held her. + +"Why, there is the woman who was at the opera last night," exclaimed +Morella, at last. "How in the world did an outsider like that get here, +I wonder? She is quite pretty, close--don't you think so, Hector? Oh, I +forgot, you know her, of course; you talked to her last night, I +remember." + +Hector did not answer; he was afraid to let himself speak. + +Morella Winmarleigh was looking her best. A tonged, laced, flounced +best; and she was perfectly conscious of it, and pleased with herself +and her attractions. + +She meant to keep Lord Bracondale with her for the rest of the evening +if possible, even if she had to descend to tricks scarcely flattering to +her own vanity. + +"Do let us go for a walk," she said. "I have not yet seen the flower +decorations in the yellow salon, and I hear they are particularly +fine." + +Hector by this time was beside himself at seeing Theodora converging +with her partner towards the large doors at the other end of the +ballroom. + +"No," he said. "I am very sorry, but I am engaged for the next dance, +and must go and hunt up my partner. Where can I take you?" + +Hector engaged for a dance? An unknown thing, and of course untrue. What +could this mean? Who would he dance with? That colonial creature? This +must be looked into and stopped at once. + +Miss Winmarleigh's thin under-lip contracted, and a deeper red suffused +her blooming cheeks. + +"I really don't know," she said. "I am quite lost, and I am afraid you +can't leave me until I find some one to take care of me." And she +giggled girlishly. + +That such a large cow of a woman should want protection of any sort +seemed quite ridiculous to Hector--maddeningly ridiculous at the present +moment. Theodora had disappeared, having seen him standing there with +Morella Winmarleigh, who she had been told he was going to marry. + +He was literally white with suppressed rage. The Royalty had +commandeered Anne, and among the dozens of people he knew there was not +one in sight with whom he could plant Morella Winmarleigh; so he gave +her his arm, and hurried along the way Theodora had disappeared. + +"Are you going to Beechleigh for Whitsuntide?" Morella asked. "I am, and +I think we shall have a delightful party." + +Hector was not paying the least attention. Theodora was completely out +of sight now, and might be lost altogether, for all they were likely to +overtake her among this crowd and the numberless exits and entrances. + +"Beechleigh!" he mumbled, absently. "Who lives there? I don't even know. +I am going home." + +"Why, Hector, of course you know! The Fitzgeralds--Sir Patrick and Lady +Ada. Every one does." + +Then it came to him. These were Theodora's uncle and aunt. Was it +possible she could be going there, too? He recollected she had told him +in Paris her father had written to this brother of his about her coming +to London. She might be going. It was a chance, and he must ascertain at +once. + +Sir Patrick Fitzgerald he knew at the Turf, and now that he thought of +it he knew Lady Ada by sight quite well, and he was aware he would be a +welcome guest at any house. If Theodora was going, he expected the thing +could be managed. Meanwhile, he must find her, and get rid of Morella +Winmarleigh. He hurried her on through the blue salon and the yellow +salon and out into the gallery beyond. Theodora had completely +disappeared. + +Miss Winmarleigh kept up a constant chatter of commonplaces, to which, +when he replied at all, he gave random answers. + +And every moment she became more annoyed and uneasy. + +She had known Hector since she was a child. Their places adjoined in the +country, and she saw him constantly when there. Her stolid vanity had +never permitted the suggestion to come to her that he had always been +completely indifferent to her. She intended to marry him. His mother +shared her wishes. They were continually thrown together, and the +thought of her as a probable ending to his life when all pleasures +should be over had often entered his head. + +Before he met Theodora, if he had ever analyzed his views about Morella, +they probably would have been that she was a safe bore with a great +many worldly advantages. A woman who you could be sure would not take a +lover a few years after you had married her, and whom he would probably +marry if she were still free when the time came. + +His flittings from one pretty matron to another had not caused her grave +anxieties. He could not marry them, and he never talked with girls or +possible rivals. So she had always felt safe and certain that fate would +ultimately make him her husband. + +But this was different--he had never been like this before. And +uneasiness grabbed at her well-regulated heart. + +"Ah, there is my mother!" he exclaimed, at last, with such evident +relief that Morella began to feel spiteful. + +They made their way to where Lady Bracondale was standing. She beamed +upon them like a pleased pussy-cat. It looked so suitable to see them +thus together! + +"Dearest," she said to Morella, "is not this a lovely ball? And I can +see you are enjoying yourself." + +Miss Winmarleigh replied suitably, and her stolid face betrayed none of +her emotion. + +"Mother," said Hector, "I wish you would introduce me to Lady Ada +Fitzgerald when you get the chance. I see her over there." + +This was so obvious that Morella, who never saw between the lines, +preened with pleasure. After all, he wished to spend Whitsuntide with +her, and this anxiety to find Lady Bracondale had been all on that +account. Lady Bracondale, who was acquainted with Miss Winmarleigh's +plans, made the same interruption, and joy warmed her being. + +She was only too pleased to do whatever he wished. And the affair was +soon accomplished. + +Hector made himself especially attractive, and Lady Ada Fitzgerald +decided he was charming. + +The way paved for possible contingencies, he escaped from this crowd of +women, and once more began his search for Theodora. She would certainly +return to Josiah some time. To go straight to him would be the best +plan. + +Josiah was standing absolutely alone by one of the windows in the +ballroom, and looked pitiably uncomfortable and ill at ease in his +knee-breeches and silk stockings. + +He had experienced such pleasure when he had tried them on, and had +enjoyed walking through the hall at Claridge's to his carriage, knowing +the people there would be aware it meant he was going to meet the most +august Royalty. + +But now he felt uncomfortable, and kept standing first on one leg, then +on the other. Theodora had not returned to him yet: the next dance had +not begun. + +This great world contained discomfort as well as pleasure, he decided. + +Hector walked straight over to him and was excessively polite and +agreeable, and Josiah's equanimity was somewhat restored. + +What could have happened to Theodora? Where had that beast Wensleydown +taken her? Not to supper--surely not to supper?--were Lord Bracondale's +thoughts. + +And then with the first notes of the next dance she reappeared. It +seemed to him she was looking superbly lovely: a faint pink suffused her +cheeks, and her eyes were shining with the excitement of the scene. + +A mad rush of passion surged over Hector; his turn had come, he thought. + +Lord Wensleydown seemed loath to release her, and showed signs of +staying to talk awhile. So Hector interposed at once. + +"May I not have this dance? I have been looking for you everywhere," he +said. + +Theodora told him she was tired, and she stood close to her husband; +tired--and also she was quite sure Josiah would be bored left all alone, +so she wished to stay with him. + +But Mrs. Devlyn made a reappearance just then, and as they spoke they +saw Josiah give her his arm and lead her away. + +Thus Theodora was left standing alone with Lord Bracondale. + +Fate seemed always to nullify her good intentions. + +It was an exquisite waltz, and the music mounted to both their brains. + +For one moment the room appeared to reel in front of her, and then she +found herself whirling in his arms. Oh, what bliss it was, after this +long week of separation! What folly and maddening bliss! + +Her senses were tingling; her lithe, exquisite, willowy body thrilled +and quivered in his embrace. And they both realized what a waltz could +be, as a medium for joy. + +"We will only have two turns until the crowd gets impossible again," he +whispered, "and then I will take you to supper." + +Lady Anningford had been rejoined by the Crow, and now stood watching +them. She and her companion were silent for a moment, and then: + +"By Jove!" Colonel Lowerby said. "She is certainly worth going to hell +for, to look at even--and they don't appear as if they would take long +on the road." + + + + +XX + + +"Oh, Crow, dear, what are we to do, then?" said Lady Anningford. +"Surely, surely you don't anticipate any sudden catastrophe? In these +days people never run away--" + +"No," said the Crow. "They stay at home until the footman, or the man's +last mistress, or the woman's dearest friend, send anonymous letters to +the husband." + +"But--" + +"Well, I tell you, Queen Anne, to me this appears serious. I know Hector +pretty well, and I have never seen him as far gone as this before. The +woman--she is a mere child--looks as unsophisticated as a baby, and +probably is. She won't have the least idea of managing the affair. She +will tumble headlong into it." + +"Well, what is to be done, then?" exclaimed Anne, piteously. + +"You had better talk to him quietly. He is very fond of you. Though +nothing, I am afraid, will be of the least use," said the Crow. + +"But if she is going into the country they won't meet," reasoned Anne. +"You saw the dreadful-looking husband just now. Will he be the colonial +who will object, do you think, or the English snob who won't?" + +But the Crow refused to give any more opinions except in general. + +It all came, he said, from the ridiculous marriage laws in this +over-civilized country. Why should not people eminently suited to each +other be allowed to be happy? + +"It is too bad, Crow," said Anne. "You take it for granted that Hector +has the most dishonorable intentions towards Mrs. Brown. He may worship +her quite in the abstract." + +"Fiddle-dee-dee, my child!" said Colonel Lowerby. "Look at him! You +don't understand the fundamental principles of human nature if you say +that. When a man is madly in love with a woman, nature says, 'This is +your mate,' not a saint of alabaster on a church altar. There are +numbers of animals about who find a 'mate' in every woman they come +across. But Hector is not that sort. Look at his face--look at him now +they are passing us, and tell me if you see any abstract about it?" + +Anne was forced to admit she did not; and it was with intense uneasiness +she saw her brother and his partner stop, and disappear through one of +the doors towards the supper-room. + +When her mother perceived the situation--or Morella--disagreeable +moments would begin at once for everybody! + +Meanwhile, the culprits were extremely happy. + +With the finest and noblest intention in the world, Theodora was too +young, and too healthy, not to have become exhilarated with the dance +and the scene. Something whispered, Why should she not enjoy herself +to-night? What harm could there be in dancing? Every one danced--and +Josiah, himself, had left her alone. + +Hector had not said a word that she must rebuke him for; they had just +waltzed and thrilled, and been--happy! + +And now she was going to eat some supper with him, and forget there were +any to-morrows. + +They found a secluded corner, and spent half an hour in perfect peace. +Hector was an artist in pleasing women--and to-night, though he never +once transgressed in words, she could feel through it all that he loved +her--loved her madly. His voice was so tender and deep, and his thought +for her slightest wish and comfort so evident; he was masterful, too, +and settled what she was to do--where to sit, and now and then he made +her look at him. + +He was just so wildly happy he could not stop to count the cost; and +while he worshipped her more deeply than when they had sat on the soft +greensward at Versailles, even the whole sight of her pure soul now +could not stop him--now he knew she loved him, and that there were +possible others on the scene. She had trusted him--had appealed to his +superior strength; he did not forget that fact quite--but here at a ball +was not the place to analyze what it would mean. They were just two +guests dancing and supping like the rest, and were supremely content. + +He found out where she was going for Whitsuntide, but said nothing of +his own intentions. + + +The blindness and madness of love was upon him and held him in complete +bondage. The first shock, which her look of the wounded fawn had given +him, was over. They had suffered, and made good resolutions, and parted, +and now they had met again. And he could not, and would not, think where +they might drift to. + +To be near her, to look into her eyes, to be conscious of her +personality was what he asked at the moment, what he must have. The +rest of time was a blank, and meaningless. It is not every man who +loves in this way--fortunately for the rest of the world! Many go +through life with now and then a different woman merely as an episode, +as far as anything but a physical emotion is concerned. Sport, or their +own ambitions, fill up their real interests, and no woman could break +their hearts. + +But Hector was not of these. And this woman had it in her power to make +his heaven or hell. + +They had both passed through moments of exalted sentiment, even a little +dramatic in their tragedy and renunciation, but circumstance is stronger +always than any highly strung emotion of good or evil. At the end of +their good-bye at Madrid their story should have closed, as the stories +in books so often do, with the hero and heroine worked up to some +wonderful pitch of self-sacrifice and drama. They so seldom tell of the +flatness of the afterwards. The impossibility of retaining a balance on +this high pinnacle of moral valor, where circumstance, which is a +commonplace and often material thing, decrees that the lights shall not +be turned out with the ring-down of the curtain. + +Unless death finishes what is apparently the last act, there is always +the to-morrow to be reckoned with--out of the story-book. So while +exalted--he by his sudden worship of that pure sweetness of soul in +Theodora which he had discovered, she by her innocence and desire to do +right--they had been able to tune their minds to an idea of a tender +good-bye, full of sentiment and vows of abstract devotion, and adherence +to duty. + +And if he had gone to the ends of the earth that night the exaltation, +as a memory, might have continued, and time might have healed their +hurts--time and the starvation of absence and separation. But fate had +decreed they should meet again, and soon; and all the forces which +precipitate matters should be employed for their undoing. + +For all else in life Hector was no weakling. He had always been a strong +man, physically and morally. + +His views were the views of the world. It seemed no great sin to him to +love another man's wife. All his friends did the same at one period or +another. + +It was only when Theodora had awakened him that he had begun even to +think of controlling himself. + +It was to please her, not because he was really convinced of the right +and necessity of their course of action, that he had said good-bye and +agreed to worship her in the abstract. + +He had been highly moved and elevated by her that night in Paris. And +when he wrote the letter his honest intention had been to follow its +words. + +He did not recognize the fact that without the zeal of blind faith as to +the right, human nature must always yield to inclination. + +So they sat there and ate their supper, and forgot to-morrow, and were +radiantly happy. + +As they had gone down the stairs Monica Ellerwood had joined Lady +Bracondale in the gallery above. + +"Oh! Look, Aunt Milly!" she had said. "Hector is with the American I +told you about in Paris. Do you see, going down to supper. Oh, isn't she +pretty! and what jewels--look!" + +And Lady Bracondale had moved forward in a manner quite foreign to her +usual dignity to catch sight of them. + +"It is the same woman he talked to at the opera last night," she said. +"She is not an American, but a Mrs. Brown, an Australian millionaire's +wife, we were told. She is certainly pretty. Oh--eh--you said Hector +was devoted to her in Paris?" + +"Why, of course! You can ask Jack." + +"I do not think we need worry, though, dear, because I am happy to say +Hector shows great signs of wishing to be with Morella." + +And with this pleasing thought she had turned the conversation. + +"I think we must go back now," said Theodora, after she had finished the +last monster strawberry on her plate. "Josiah may be waiting for me." + +Oh, she had been so happy! There was that sense vibrating through +everything that he loved her, and they were together--but now it must +end. + +So they made their way up the stairs and back to the ballroom. + +Mrs. Devlyn had abandoned Josiah, and he stood once more alone and +supremely uncomfortable. A pang of remorse seized Theodora; she wished +she had not stayed so long; she would not leave him again for a moment. + +He had supped, it appeared, been hurried over it because Mrs. Devlyn +wished to return, and was now feeling cross and tired. He was quite +ready to leave when Theodora suggested it, and they said good-night to +Hector and descended to find their carriage. But in that crowd it was +not such an easy matter. + +There was a long wait in the hall, where they were joined by the +assiduous Marquis and Delaval Stirling. And Hector, from a place on the +stairs, had all his feelings of jealous rage aroused again in watching +them while he was detained where he was by his hostess. + +Meanwhile, Sir Patrick Fitzgerald had gone about telling every one of +the beauty of his new-found niece, and had brought his wife to be +introduced to her just after Theodora had left. + +Since his scapegrace brother was going to make such an advantageous +marriage, and this niece had proved a lovely woman, and rich withal, he +quite admitted the ties of blood were thicker than water. + +Lady Ada was not of like opinion; she had enough relations of her own, +and resented his having asked the Browns to Beechleigh for Whitsuntide. + +"My party was all made up but for one extra man," she said, "whom I +think I have found; and we did not need these people." + + + + +XXI + + +Lord Bracondale arrived at his sister's house in Charles Street about a +quarter of an hour before her luncheon guests were due. + +Anne rushed down to see him, meeting her husband on the stairs. + +"Oh, don't come in yet, Billy, like a darling," she said, "I want to +talk to Hector alone." + +And the meek and fond Lord Anningford had obediently retired to his +smoking-room. + +"Well, Hector," she said, when she had greeted him, "and so you are +going to the Fitzgeralds' for Whitsuntide, and not to Bracondale, mother +tells me this morning. She is in the seventh heaven, taking it for a +sign, as you had to manoeuvre so to be asked, that things are coming +to a climax between you and Morella." + +"Morella? Is she going?" said Hector, absently. He had quite forgotten +that fact, so perfectly indifferent was he to her movements, and so +completely had his own aims engrossed him. + +"Why--dear boy!" Anne gasped. The whole scene, highly colored by +repetition, had been recounted to her. How Morella had told him of her +plans, and how he had at once got introduced to Lady Ada, and played his +cards so skilfully that the end of the evening produced the invitation. + +"Oh yes, of course, I remember she is going," he said, impatiently. +"Anne, you haven't asked that beast Wensleydown to-day, have you?" + +"No, dear. What made you think so?" + +"I saw you talking to him in the park this morning, and I feared you +might have. I shall certainly quarrel with him one of these days." + +"You will have an opportunity, then, at Beechleigh, as he will be there. +He is always with the Fitzgeralds," Anne said, and she tried to laugh. +"But don't make a scandal, Hector." + +She saw his eyes blaze. + +"He is going there, is he?" he said, and then he stared out of the +window. + +Anne knew nothing of the relationship between Theodora and Sir Patrick. +She never for a moment imagined the humble Browns would be invited to +this exceptionally smart party. And yet she was uneasy. Why was Hector +going? What plan was in his head? Not Morella, evidently. But she had +never believed that would be his attraction. + +And Hector was too preoccupied to enlighten her. + +"Is mother coming to lunch?" he asked. + +"Yes, by her own request. I had not meant to ask her--Oh, well, you +know, she is never very pleased at your having new friends, and I +thought she might fix Mrs. Brown with that stony stare she has +sometimes, and we would be happier without her; but she was determined +to come." + +"It is just as well," he said, "because she will have to get accustomed +to it. I shall ask my friends the Browns down to Bracondale on every +occasion, and as she is hostess there the stony stare won't answer." + +"Manage her as best you may," said Anne. "But you know how she can be +now and then--perfectly annihilating to unfortunate strangers." + +Hector's finely chiselled lips shut like a vise. + +"We shall see," he said. "And who else have you got? None of the +Harrowfield-Devlyn crew, I hope--" + +"Hector, how strange you are! I thought you and Lady Harrowfield were +the greatest friends, so of course I asked her. No one in London can +make a woman's success as she can." + +"Or mar it so completely if she takes a dislike! Have you ever heard of +her doing a kindness to any one? I haven't!" he said, irritably. + +Then he walked to the window and back quickly. + +"I tell you I am sick of it all, Anne. Last night, whoever I spoke to +had something vile to impute or insinuate about every one they +mentioned; and Lady Harrowfield, with a record of her own worse than the +lowest, rode a high horse of virtue, and was more spiteful than all the +rest put together. I loathe them, the whole crew. What do they know of +anything good or pure or fine? Painted Jezebels, the lot of them!" + +"Hector!" almost screamed Lady Anningford. "What has come over you, my +dear boy?" + +"I will tell you," he said; and his voice, which had been full of +passion, now melted into a tone of deep tenderness. "I love a woman +whose pure goodness has taught me there are other possibilities in life +beyond the aims of these vile harpies of our world--a woman whose very +presence makes one long to be better and nobler, whose dear soul has +not room for anything but kind and loving thoughts of sweetness and +light. Oh, Anne, if I might have her for my own, and live away down at +Bracondale far from all this, I think--I think I, too, could learn what +heaven would mean on earth." + +"Dear Hector!" said Anne, who was greatly moved. "Oh, I am so sorry for +you! But what is to be done? She is married to somebody else, and you +will only injure her and yourself if you see too much of her." + +"I know," he said. "I realize it sometimes--this morning, for +instance--and then--and then--" + +He did not add that the thought of Lord Wensleydown and the rest +swarming round Theodora drove him mad, deprived him of his power of +reasoning, and filled him with a wild desire to protect her, to be near +her, to keep her always for himself, always in his sight. + +"Anne," he said, at last, "promise me you will go out of your way to be +kind to her. Don't let these other odious women put pin-points into her, +because she is so innocent, and all unused to this society. She is just +my queen and my darling. Will you remember that?" + +And as Anne looked she saw there were two great tears in his eyes--his +deep-gray eyes which always wore a smile of whimsical mockery--and she +felt a lump in her throat. + +This dear, dear brother! And she could do nothing to comfort him--one +way or another. + +"Hector, I will promise--always," she said, and her voice trembled. "I +am sure she is sweet and good; and she is so lovely and fascinating--and +oh, I wish--I wish--too!" + +Then he bent down and kissed her, just as his mother and Lady +Harrowfield came into the room. + +Anne felt glad she had not informed them they were to meet the Browns, +as was her first intention. She seemed suddenly to see with Hector's +eyes, and to realize how narrow and spiteful Lady Harrowfield could be. + +Most of the guests arrived one after the other, and were talking about +the intimate things they all knew, when "Mr. and Mrs. Brown" were +announced, and the whole party turned to look at them, while Lady +Harrowfield tittered, and whispered almost audibly to her neighbor: + +"These are the creatures Florence insisted upon my giving an invitation +to last night. I did it for her sake, of course, so wretchedly poor she +is, dear Florence, and she hopes to make a good thing out of them. Look +at the man!" she added. "Has one ever sees such a person, except in a +pork-butcher's shop!" + +"I have never been in one," said Hector, agreeably, a dangerous flash in +his eyes; "but I hear things are too wonderfully managed at Harrowfield +House--though I had no idea you did the shopping yourself, dear Lady +Harrowfield." + +She looked up at him, rage in her heart. Hector had long been a hopeless +passion of hers--so good-looking, so whimsical, and, above all, so +indifferent! She had never been able to dominate and ride rough-shod +ever him. When she was rude and spiteful he answered her back, and then +neglected her for the rest of the evening. + +But why should he defend these people, whom, probably, he did not even +know? + +She would watch and see. + +Then they went in to luncheon, without waiting for two or three stray +young men who were always late. + +And Theodora found herself sitting between the Crow and a sleek-looking +politician; while poor Josiah, extremely ill at ease, sat at the left +hand of his hostess. + +Anne had purposely not put Hector near Theodora; with her mother there +she thought it was wiser not to run any risks. + +Lady Bracondale was sufficiently soothed by her happy dream of the cause +of Hector's visit to Beechleigh to be coldly polite to Theodora, whom +Anne had presented to her before luncheon. She sat at the turn of the +long, oval table just one off, and was consequently able to observe her +very carefully. + +"She is extremely pretty and looks well bred--quite too extraordinary," +she said to herself, in a running commentary. "Grandfather a convict, no +doubt. She reminds me of poor Minnie Borringdon, who ran off with that +charming scapegrace brother of Patrick Fitzgerald. I wonder what became +of them?" + +Lady Bracondale deplored the ways of many of the set she was obliged to +move in--Delicia Harrowfield, for instance. But what was one to do? One +must know one's old friends, especially those to whom one had been a +bridesmaid! + +The Crow, who had begun by being determined to find Theodora as cunning +as other angels he was acquainted with, before the second course had +fallen completely under her spell. + +No one to look into her tender eyes could form an adverse opinion about +her; and her gentle voice, which only said kind things, was pleasing to +the ear. + +"'Pon my soul, Hector is not such a fool as I thought," Colonel Lowerby +said to himself. "This seems a bit of pure gold--poor little white lady! +What will be the end of her?" + +And opposite, Hector, with great caution, devoured her with his eyes. + +Theodora herself was quite happy, though her delicate intuition told her +Lady Harrowfield was antagonistic to her, and Hector's mother +exceedingly stiff, while most of the other women eyed her clothes and +talked over her head. But they all seemed of very little consequence to +her, somehow. + +She was like the sun, who continues to shine and give warmth and light +no matter how much ugly imps may look up and make faces at him. + +Theodora was never ill at ease. It would grieve her sensitive heart to +the core if those she loved made the faintest shade of difference in +their treatment of her--but strangers! They counted not at all, she had +too little vanity. + +Both her neighbors, the young politician and the Crow, were completely +fascinated by her. She had not the slightest accent in speaking +English, but now and then her phrasing had a quaint turn which was +original and attractive. + +Anne was not enjoying her luncheon-party. The impression of sorrow and +calamity which the conversation with her brother had left upon her +deepened rather than wore off. + +Josiah's commonplace and sometimes impossible remarks perhaps helped it. + +She seemed to realize how it must all jar on Hector. To know his loved +one belonged to this worthy grocer--to understand the hopelessness of +the position! + +Anne was proud of her family and her old name. It was grief, too, to +think that after Hector the title would go to Evermond Le Mesurier, the +unmarried and dissolute uncle, if he survived his nephew, and then would +die out altogether. There would be no more Baron Bracondales of +Bracondale, unless Hector chose to marry and have sons. Oh, life was a +topsy-turvy affair at the best of times, she sighed to herself. + +Just before the ladies left the table, Josiah had announced their +intended visit to Beechleigh, and his wife's relationship to Sir Patrick +Fitzgerald and the old Earl Borringdon. + +It came as a thunderclap to Lady Anningford. This accounted for +Hector's eagerness to obtain the invitation--accounted for Theodora's +exceeding look of breeding--accounted for many things. + +She only trusted her mother had not heard the news also. So much better +to leave her in her fool's paradise about Morella. + +If Lady Harrowfield knew, she said nothing about it. She absolutely +ignored Theodora, as though she had never shaken hands with her in her +own house the night before. Theodora wondered at her manners--she did +not yet know Mayfair. + +The conversation turned upon some of the wonderful charities they were +all interested in, and Theodora thought how good and kind of them to +help the poor and crippled. And she said some gentle, sympathetic things +to a lady who was near her. And Anne thought to herself how sweet and +beautiful her nature must be, and it made her sadder and sadder. + +Presently they all began to discuss the ball at Harrowfield House. It +had been too lovely, they said, and Lady Harrowfield joined in with one +of her sharp thrusts. + +"Of course it could not be just as one would have wished. I was obliged +to ask all sorts of people I had never even heard of," she said. "The +usual grabbing for invitations, you know, to see the Royalties. Really, +the quaint creatures who came up the stairs! I almost laughed in their +faces once or twice." + +"But don't you like to feel what pleasure you gave them, the poor +things?" Theodora said, quite simply, without the least sarcasm. "You +see, I know you gave them pleasure, because my husband and I were some +of them--and we enjoyed it, oh, so much!" + +And she smiled one of her adorable smiles which melted the heart of +every one else in the room. But of Lady Harrowfield she made an enemy +for life. The venomous woman reddened violently--under her paint--while +she looked this upstart through and through. But Theodora was quite +unconscious of her anger. To her Lady Harrowfield seemed a poor, soured +old woman very much painted and ridiculous, and she felt sorry for +unlovely old age and ill-temper. + +Meanwhile, Lady Bracondale was being favorably impressed. She was a most +presentable young person, this wife of the Australian millionaire, she +decided. + +Anne took the greatest pains to be charming to Theodora. They were +sitting together on a sofa when the men came into the room. + +Hector could keep away no longer. He joined them in their corner, while +his face beamed with joy to see the two people he loved best in the +world apparently getting on so well together. + +"What have you been talking about?" he asked. + +"Nothing very learned," said Anne. "Only the children. I was telling +Mrs. Brown how Fordy's pony ran away in the park this morning, and how +plucky he had been about it." + +"They are rather nice infants," said Hector. "I should like you to see +them," and he looked at Theodora. "Mayn't we have them down, Anne?" + +Lady Anningford adored her offspring, and was only too pleased to show +them; but she said: + +"Oh, wait a moment, Hector, until some of these people have gone. Lady +Harrowfield hates children, and Fordy made some terrible remarks about +her wig last time." + +"I wish he would do it again," said Hector. "She took the skin off every +one the whole way through lunch." + +"But Colonel Lowerby told me she was one of the cleverest women in +London!" exclaimed Theodora; "and surely it is not very clever just to +be bitter and spiteful!" + +"Yes, she is clever," said Anne, with a peculiar smile, "and we are all +rather under her thumb." + +"It is perfectly ridiculous how you pander to her!" Hector said, +impatiently. "I should never allow my wife to have anything but a +distant acquaintance with her if I were married," and he glanced at +Theodora. + +Lady Anningford's duties as hostess took her away from them then, and he +sat down on the sofa in her place. + +"Oh, how I hate all this!" he said. "How different it is to Paris! It +grates and jars and brings out the worst in one. These odious women and +their little, narrow ways! You will never stay much in London--will you, +Theodora?" + +"I have always to do what Josiah wishes, you know; he rather likes it, +and means us to come back after Whitsuntide, I think." + +Hector seemed to have lost the power of looking ahead. Whitsuntide, and +to be with her in the country for that time, appeared to him the +boundary of his outlook. + +What would happen after Whitsuntide? Who could say? + +He longed to tell her how his thoughts were forever going back to the +day at Versailles, and the peace and beauty of those woods--how all +seemed here as though something were dragging him down to the +commonplace, away out of their exalted dream, to a dull earth. But he +dared not--he must keep to subjects less moving. So there was silence +for some moments. + +Theodora, since coming to London, had begun to understand it was +possible for beautiful Englishmen to be husbands now and then, and that +the term is not necessarily synonymous with "bore" and "duty"--as she +had always thought it from her meagre experience. + +She could not help picturing what a position of exquisite happiness some +nice girl might have--some day--as Hector's wife. And she looked out of +the window, and her eyes were sad. While the vision which floated to him +at the same moment was of her at his side at Bracondale, and the +delicious joy of possessing for their own some gay and merry babies like +Fordy and his little brother and sister. And each saw a wistful longing +in the other's eyes, and they talked quickly of banal things. + + + + +XXII + + +The Crow stayed on after all the other guests had left. He knew his +hostess wished to talk to him. + +It had begun to pour with rain, and the dripping streets held out no +inducement to them to go out. + +They pulled up their two comfortable arm-chairs to the sparkling wood +fire, and then Colonel Lowerby said: + +"You look sad, Queen Anne. Tell me about it." + +"Yes, I am sad," said Anne. "The position is so hopeless. Hector loves +her--loves her really--and I do not wonder at it; and she seems just +everything that one could wish for him. A thousand times above Morella +in intellect and understanding. All the things Hector and I like she +sees at once. No need of explaining to her, as one has to to mother and +Morella always." + +"Yes," said the Crow. He did not argue with her as usual. + +"It seems so fearful to think of her forever bound to that dreadful old +grocer, whom she treats with so much deference and gentleness. The whole +thing has made me sad. Hector is perfectly miserable; and, do you know, +they are going to Beechleigh for Whitsuntide. Sir Patrick Fitzgerald is +her uncle--and, of course, Hector is going, too, and--" + +She did not finish her sentence. Her voice died away in a pathetic note +as she gazed into the fire. + +The Crow fidgeted; he had been devoted to Anne since she was a child of +ten, and he hated to see her troubled. + +"Look here," he said. "I investigated her thoroughly at luncheon, and I +don't often make a mistake, do I?" + +"No," said Anne. "Well--?" + +"Well, she appeared to me to have some particular quality of +sweetness--you were right about her looking like an angel--and I think +she has got an angel's nature more or less; and when people are really +like that there is some one up above looks after them, and I don't think +we need worry much--you and I." + +"Dear old Crow!" said Anne; "you do comfort me. But all the same, angel +or not, Hector is so attractive--and he is a man, you know, not one of +these anæmic, artistic, æsthetic things we see about so often now; and +thrown together like that--how on earth will they be able to help +themselves?" + +The Crow was silent. + +"You see," she continued, "beyond Morella, who is too absolutely +unalluring and respectable to come to harm anywhere, and Miss Linwood, +who only cares for bridge, there will hardly be another woman in the +house who has not got a lover, and the atmosphere of those things is +catching--don't you think so?" + +"It is nature," said Colonel Lowerby. "A woman in possession of her +health and faculties requires a mate, and when her husband is attending +to sport or some other man's wife, she is bound to find one somewhere. I +don't blame the poor things." + +"Oh, nor I!" said Anne. "I don't ever blame any one. And just one, +because you love him, seems all right, perhaps. It is six different ones +in a year, and a seventh to pay the bills, that I find vulgar." + +"Dans les premières passions, les femmes aiment l'amant; et dans les +autres, elles aiment l'amour," quoted the Crow. "It was ever the same, +you see. It is the seventh to pay the bills that seems vulgar and +modern." + +"Billy and I stayed there for the pheasant shoot last November, and I +assure you we felt quite out of it, having no little adventures at night +like the rest. Lady Ada is the picture of washed-out respectability +herself, and so--to give her some reflected color, I suppose--she asks +always the most go-ahead, advanced section of her acquaintances." + +"Well, I shall be there this time," said the Crow; "she invited me last +week." + +This piece of news comforted Lady Anningford greatly. She felt here +would be some one to help matters if he could. + +"Morella will be perfectly furious when she gets there and finds she was +not the reason of Hector's empressement for the invitation. And in her +stolid way she can be just as spiteful as Lady Harrowfield." + +"Yes, I know." + +Then they were both silent for a while--Anne's thoughts busy with the +mournful idea of the end of the House of Bracondale should Hector never +marry, and the Crow's of her in sympathy, his eyes watching her face. + +At last she spoke. + +"I believe it would be best for Hector to go right away for a year or +so," she sighed. "But, however it may be, I fear, alas! it can only end +in tears." + + + + +XXIII + + +Beechleigh was really a fine place, built by Vanbrugh in his best days. + +Three tiers of fifteen tall windows looked to the north in a front and +two short wings, while colonnades led down to splendid wrought-iron +gates, and blocks of buildings constructed in the same stately style. +Fifteen more windows faced the south; and the centre one of the first +floor led, with sweeping steps, to a terrace, while seven casements +adorned each of the eastern and western sides. + +On the southern side the view, for that rather flat country, was superb. + +It gave, from a considerable elevation--through a wide opening of giant +oaks and elms--a peep of the lake a mile below, and on in a long avenue +of turf to a vista of smiling country. + +On the splendid terrace peacocks spread their tails, and vases of carved +stone broke at intervals the gray old balustrade. + +Inside the house was equally nobly planned: all the rooms of great +height and perfect proportion, and filled with pictures and tapestries +and bronzes and antiques of immense value. + +It had come to these spendthrift Irish Fitzgeralds through their +grandmother, the last of an old ducal race. And two generations of +Hibernian influence had curtailed the fine fortune which went with it, +until Sir Patrick often felt it no easy matter to make both ends meet in +the luxurious and gilded fashion which was necessary to himself and his +friends. + +If he and Lady Ada pinched and scraped when alone, keeping few servants +on board wages, the parties, at all events, were done with all their +wonted regal splendor. + +"I shall stay with you, Patrick, as long as you can afford this cook," +Lady Harrowfield said once to him; "but when you begin to economize, +don't trouble to ask me. I hate poor people, when it shows." + +A promising son, on the true Fitzgerald lines, was at Oxford now, and +gave many anxious crows'-feet full opportunity of developing round his +mother's faded eyes. + +A plain daughter, Barbara, was pushed into corners and left much to +herself. And a brilliant, flashing, up-to-date niece of Lady Ada's took +always the first place. + +Mildred was so clever, and her lovers were so well chosen, and so +thoroughly of the right set or of great wealth; while a puny husband was +helped to something in South Africa, when the man in possession was a +Jew--or as agent for tea and jam in the colonies--when he happened to be +only a colossally successful Englishman. And once, during a prominent +politician's reign, poor Willie Verner enjoyed a few months in his own +land as secretary to a newly started Radical club. + +This Whitsuntide party was perhaps the smartest of the year. + +By Saturday evening over thirty people would be gathered together under +the Beechleigh roof. + +Josiah, though exceedingly proud and pleased at the invitation, felt +nervous at the thought of the visit. Not so Mr. Toplington, who, +although he knew he should probably have to blush for his master, and +might get a very secondary place in the "room," still felt he would hold +his own when he could let it be known what magnificent wages he received +from Mr. Brown. + +"A long sight more than I'd get out of any lord," he thought. "And money +is money. And all classes feels it." + +Theodora, on the contrary, was neither proud nor pleased. She looked +forward to the visit with excitement and dread. + +Hector would be there, among all these people whom she did not know. And +her awakened heart had begun to tell her that she loved him wildly, and +to see him could only be alternate mad joy and remorse and anguish. + +It was still drizzling on the Saturday afternoon when they arrived. So +tea awaited them in the great saloon which made the centre of the north +side of the house. Several of the rest of the guests had come down in +the same train, but they did not know them, nor did any of them trouble +themselves much to speak to them on the short drive from the station. A +few words, that was all, addressed to Theodora. Josiah was ignored. + +Sir Patrick had always been an excellent host. His genial Irish smile, +when in action, concealed the ill-tempered lines of his thin old face. +He greeted his guests cordially, and made them welcome to his home. + +Lady Ada had the inherited bad manners of her family, the De +Baronsvilles, who had come over with the Conqueror, and when one has a +_cachet_ like that there is no need to trouble one's self further. Thus, +while Mildred flashed brilliant witticisms about, plain Barbara saw +after the guests' tea and sugar, and if they took cream or lemon, and +tiresome things like that. And as every one knew every one else, and the +same party met continuously all over England, things were very gay and +friendly. + +Only Theodora and Josiah were completely out of it all, and several of +the guests, who resented the intrusion of these strangers into their +charmed circle, would take care on every opportunity to make them feel +it. + +Hector did not get there until half an hour later, in his automobile, +which was the mode of arrival with more than two-thirds of the company. + +And until the dressing-gong sounded, a continuous teuf-teuf-teuf might +have been heard as, one after another, the cars whizzed up to the door. + +Of course, in a troop of over thirty people, naturally some had kind +hearts and good manners, but the prevailing tone of this coterie of +_crème de la crème_ was one of pure selfishness and blunt and material +brutality. + +If you were rich and suited them, you were given a nickname probably, +and were allowed to play cards with them, and lose your money for their +benefit. If you were non-congenial you did not exist--that was all. You +might be sitting in a chair, but they only saw it and an empty +space--you did not even cumber their ground. + +To do them justice, they preferred people of their own exalted station; +outsiders seldom made their way into this holy of holies, however rich +they were--unless, of course, they happened to be Mildred's lovers. That +situation for a man held special prerogatives, and was greatly coveted +by pretenders to this circle of grace. + +Intellectual intelligence was not important. Some of the women of this +select company had been described by an agricultural duke who had stayed +there as having just enough sense to come in out of the rain. + +Sir Patrick Fitzgerald occasionally departed from the strict limits of +this set in the big parties--especially lately, when money was becoming +scarcer, several financial friends who could put him on to good things +had been included, the result being that Lady Harrowfield had not always +shed the light of her countenance upon the festivities. + +Lord Harrowfield drew most of his income from a great, populous +manufacturing city in the north, so neither he nor his countess had need +to smile at mere wealth. + +And Lady Harrowfield had said, frankly, "Let me know if it is a utility +party, Patrick, or for just ourselves, because if you are going to have +these creatures I sha'n't come." + +This time, however, she had not been so exigent. It happened to suit +some other arrangements of hers to spend Whitsuntide at Beechleigh, so +she consented to chaperon Morella Winmarleigh without asking for a list +of the guests. + +Hector had never conformed to any special set; he went here, there, and +everywhere, and was welcomed by all. But somehow, until this occasion, +Beechleigh had never seen him within its gates, although Lady +Harrowfield had praised him, and Mildred had sighed for him in vain. + +He saw the situation at a glance when he came into the saloon: Josiah +and Theodora sitting together, neglected by every one but Barbara. They +could not have been more than half an hour in the house, he knew, for he +had found out when the trains got in. + +Barbara was a good sort; he remembered now he had met her before +somewhere. She had evidently taken to the new cousin; but Mildred had +not. + +Hitherto Mildred had been the undisputed and acknowledged beauty of +every party, and she resented Theodora's presence because she was +clever enough not to have any illusions upon the matter of their mutual +looks. She saw Theodora was beautiful and young and charming, and had +every advantage of perfect Paris clothes. Uncle Patrick had been a fool +to ask her, and she must take measures to suppress her at once. + +Sir Patrick, on the other hand, was very pleased with himself for having +given the invitation. He had made inquiries, and found that Josiah was a +man of great and solid wealth, with interests in several things which +could be of particular use to himself, and he meant to obtain what he +could out of him. + +As for Theodora, no living man could do anything but admire her, and Sir +Patrick was not an Irishman for nothing. + +Hector behaved with tact; he did not at once fly to his darling, but +presently she found him beside her. And the now habitual thrill ran over +her when he came near. + +He saw the sudden, convulsive clasp of her little hands together; he +knew how he moved her, and it gave him joy. + +The next batch of arrivals contained Lord Wensleydown, who showed no +hesitation as to his desired destination in the saloon. He made a +bee-line for Theodora, and took a low seat at her feet. + +Hector, with more caution, was rather to one side. Rage surged up in +him, although his common-sense told him as yet there was nothing he +could openly object to in Wensleydown's behavior. + +The little picture of these five people--Barbara engaging Josiah, and +the two men vying with each other to please Theodora--was gall and +wormwood to Mildred. Freddy Wensleydown had always been one of her most +valued friends, and for Hector she had often felt she could experience a +passion. + +Lord Wensleydown had an immense _cachet_. He was exceedingly ugly and +exceedingly smart, and was known to have quite specially attractive +methods of his own in the art of pleasing beautiful ladies. He was +always unfaithful, too, and they had to make particular efforts to +retain him for even a week. + +Hector knew him intimately, of course; they had been in the same house +at Eton, and were comrades of many years' standing, and until Theodora's +entrance upon the scene, Hector had always thought of him as a coarse, +jolly beast of extremely good company and quaintness. But now! He had no +words adequate in his vocabulary to express his opinion about him! + +To Theodora he appeared an ugly little man, who reminded her of the +statue of a satyr she knew in the Louvre. That was all! + +At this juncture Lady Harrowfield, accompanied by Morella Winmarleigh, +her lord, and one of her _âmes damnées_, a certain Captain Forester, +appeared upon the scene. + +Their entrance was the important one of the afternoon, and Lady Ada and +Sir Patrick could not do enough to greet and make them welcome. + +The saloon was so large and the screens so well arranged, that for the +first few seconds neither of the ladies perceived the fact of Theodora's +presence. But when it burst upon them, both experienced unpleasant +sensations. + +Lady Harrowfield's temper was bad in any case on account of the weather, +and here, on her arrival, that she should find the impertinent upstart +who had made her look foolish at the Anningford luncheon, was an extra +straw. + +Morella felt furious. It began to dawn upon her this might be Hector's +reason in coming, not herself at all; and one of those slow, internal +rages which she seldom indulged in began to creep in her veins. + +Thus it was that poor Theodora, all unconscious of any evil, was already +surrounded by three bitter enemies--Mildred, Lady Harrowfield, and +Morella Winmarleigh. It did not look as though her Whitsuntide could be +going to contain much joy. + +It was a good deal after six o'clock by now. Bridge-tables had already +appeared, and most of the company had commenced to play. Barbara saw the +look in Mildred's eye as she came across, and, ignoring Theodora quite, +tried to carry off Lord Wensleydown. + +"You must come, Freddy," she said. "Lady Harrowfield wants to begin her +rubber." + +Barbara, knowing what this move meant, and blushing for her cousin's +rudeness, nervously introduced Theodora to her. + +"How d' do," said Mildred, staring over her head. "Don't detain Lord +Wensleydown, please, because Lady Harrowfield hates to be kept waiting." + +Theodora rose and smiled, while she said to Barbara: "I am rather tired. +Mayn't I go to my room for a little rest before dinner?" + +"Take him, Lady Mildred, do," said Hector; "we don't want him," and he +laughed gayly. His beautiful, tender angel might be a match for these +people after all. At any rate, he would be at her side to protect her +from their claws. + +Lord Wensleydown frowned. Mildred was being a damned nuisance, he said +to himself, and he insisted upon accompanying Theodora to the bottom of +the great staircase, which rose to magnificent galleries in the hall +adjoining the saloon. + +Sir Patrick had advanced and engaged Josiah in conversation. + +He knew his guests' ways and how they would boycott him, and, with a +serious question like those Australian shares on the _tapis_, he was not +going to have Josiah insulted and ruffled just yet. + +"Don't stay up-stairs all the time," Hector had managed to whisper, +while Mildred and Lord Wensleydown stood arguing; "they are sure not to +dine till nine; there are two hours before you need dress, and we can +certainly find some nice sitting-room to talk in." + +But Theodora, with immense self-denial, had answered: "No, I want to +write a long letter to papa and my sisters. I won't come down again +until dinner." + +And he was forced to be content with the memory of her soft smile and +the evident regret in her eyes. + + + + +XXIV + + +Theodora was greatly interested in Beechleigh. To her the home of her +fathers was full of sentiment, and the thought that her grandfather had +ruled there pleased her. How she would love and cherish it were it her +home now! Every one of these fine things must have some memory. + +Then the pictures of as far back as she could remember came to her, and +she saw again their poor lodgings in the cheap foreign towns and their +often scanty fare. And with a fresh burst of love and pride in him, she +remembered her father's invariable cheerfulness--cheerfulness and +gayety--in such poverty! And after he had been used to--this! For all +the descriptions of Captain Fitzgerald had given her no idea of the +reality. + +Now she knew what love meant, and could realize her mother's story. Oh, +she would have acted just in the same way, too. + +Dominic had been forgiven by his brother after his first wife's death, +and had come back to enjoy a short spell of peace and prosperity. And +who could wonder that Lady Minnie Borringdon, in her first season, and +full of romance, should fall headlong in love with his wonderfully +handsome face, and be only too ready to run off with him from an angry +and unreasonable parent! She was a spoiled and only child who had never +been crossed. Then came that fatal Derby, and the final extinction of +all sympathy with the scapegrace. The Fitzgeralds had done enough for +him already, and Lord Borringdon had no intention of doing anything at +all, so the married lovers crept away in high disgrace, and spent a few +months of bliss in a southern town, where the sun shone and the food was +cheap, and there poor, pretty Minnie died, leaving Theodora a few hours +old. + +And now at Beechleigh Theodora looked out of her window on the north +side--the southern rooms were kept for greater than she--and from there +she could see a vast stretch of park, with the deer cropping the fine +turf, and the lions frowning while they supported the ducal coronet over +the great gates at the end of the court-yard and colonnade. + +It was truly a splendid inheritance, and she glowed with pride to think +she was of this house. + +So she wrote a long letter to her dear ones--her sisters at Dieppe, and +papa, still in Paris, and even one to Mrs. McBride. And then she read +until her maid came to dress her for dinner. + +Her room was a large one, and numberless modern touches of comfort +brought up-to-date the early Georgian furniture and the shabby silk +hangings. A room stamped with that something which the most luxurious +apartments of the wealthiest millionaire can never acquire. + +Josiah looked in upon her as she finished dressing. He was, he said, +most pleased with everything, and if they were a little unused to such +company, still nothing could be more cordial than Sir Patrick's +treatment of him. + +Meanwhile, on their way up to dress, Mildred had gone in to Morella's +room, and the two had agreed that Mrs. Brown should be suppressed. + +It was with extra displeasure Miss Winmarleigh had learned of Theodora's +relationship to Sir Patrick, and that after all she could not be called +a common colonial. + +There was no question about the Fitzgerald and Borringdon families, +unfortunately, while Morella's grandfather had been merely a coal +merchant. + +"I don't think she is so wonderfully pretty, do you, Mildred?" she +said. + +But Mildred was a clever woman, and could see with her eyes. + +"Yes, I do," she answered. "Don't be such a fool as to delude yourself +about that, Morella. She is perfectly lovely, and she has the most +deevie Paris clothes, and Lord Bracondale is wildly in love with her." + +"And apparently Freddy Wensleydown, too," snapped Morella, who was now +boiling with rage. + +"Well, she is not likely to enjoy herself here," said Mildred, with her +vicious laugh, which showed all her splendid, sharp teeth, as she went +off to dress, her head full of plans for the interloper's suppression. + +First she must have a few words with Barbara. There must be none of her +partisanship. Poor, timid Barbara would not dare to disobey her, she +knew. That settled, she did not fear that she would be able to make +Theodora suffer considerably during the five days she would be at +Beechleigh. + +Sir Patrick was busy with some new arrivals who had come while they were +dressing, so not a soul spoke to Theodora or Josiah when they got down +to the great, white drawing-room, from which immensely high mahogany +doors opened into an anteroom hung with priceless tapestry and +containing cabinets of rare china. From thence another set of splendid +carved doors gave access to the dining-room. + +Neither Lord Wensleydown or Hector was in the room at first, so there +was no man even to talk to them. Lady Ada had not introduced them to any +one. And there they stood: Josiah ill at ease and uncomfortable, and +Theodora quite apparently unconscious of neglect, while she looked at a +picture. + +All the younger women were thinking to themselves: "Who are these +people? We don't want any strangers here--poaching on our preserves. And +what perfect clothes! and what pearls! Why on earth did Ada ask them?" + +And soon the party was complete, and Theodora found herself going in to +dinner with her cousin Pat, who arrived upon the scene at the very last +minute, having come from Oxford by a late train. + +Mildred had taken care that neither Lord Wensleydown or Hector should be +anywhere near Theodora. She had secured Lord Bracondale for herself, and +did her best all through the repast to fascinate him. + +And while he answered gallantly and paid her the grossest compliments, +she knew he was laughing in his sleeve all the time, and it made her +venom rise higher and higher. + +Patrick Fitzgerald, the younger, was a dissipated, vicious youth, with +his mother's faded coloring and none of the Fitzgerald charm. How +infinitely her father surpassed any of the family she had seen yet, +Theodora thought. + +She did not enjoy her dinner. The youth's conversation was not +interesting. But it was not until the ladies left the dining-room that +her real penance began. + +It seemed as if all the women crowded to one end of the drawing-room +round Lady Harrowfield, and talked and whispered to one another, not one +making way for Theodora or showing any knowledge of her presence. +Barbara had gone off up to her room. She was too frightened of Mildred +to disobey her, and she felt she would rather not be there to see their +hateful ways to the dear, little, gentle cousin whom she thought she +could love so much. + +Theodora subsided on a sofa, wondering to herself if these were the +manners of the great world in general. She hoped not; but although no +human creature could be quite happy under the circumstances, she was not +greatly distressed until she distinctly caught the name of "Mr. Brown" +from the woman Josiah had taken in amid a burst of laughter, and saw +Mildred, with a glance at her, ostentatiously suppress the speaker, who +then continued her narration in almost a whisper, amid mocking titters +of mirth. + +Then anger burned in Theodora's gentle soul. They were talking about +Josiah, of course, and turning him into ridicule. + +She wondered, what would be the best to do. She was too far away to +attempt to join in the conversation, or to be even able to swear she had +heard aright, although there was no doubt in her own mind about it. + +So she sat perfectly still on her great sofa, her hands folded in her +lap, while two bright spots of wild rose flushed her cheeks. + +She did not even pick up a book. There she sat like an alabaster statue, +and most of the women were conscious of the exquisitely beautiful +picture she made. + +They could not stand in this packed group all the time, the whole dozen +or more of them, and they gradually broke up into twos and threes about +the large room. + +They were delightfully friendly with one another, and all seemed in the +best of spirits and tempers. + +Most of them had no ulterior motive in their behavior to Theodora; it +was merely the feeling that they were not the hostess and responsible. +It was none of their business if Ada neglected her guests, and they all +knew plenty of people and did not care to enlarge their acquaintance +gratuitously. + +So when they came in from the dining-room more than one of the men +understood the picture they saw, of the beautiful, little, strange lady +seated alone, while the other women chatted together in groups. + +Hector was feeling irritated and excited, and longing to get near +Theodora. He guessed Lord Wensleydown would have the same desire, and +had no intention of being interfered with. He felt he could not bear to +spend an evening watching the little brute daring to lean over her. He +should kill him, or commit some violence, he knew. + +Thus prudence, which at another time would have held him--would have +made him remember what was best for her among this crowd of hostile +women--flew to the winds. He must go to her--must show her he loved and +would protect her, and, above all, that he would permit no other man to +usurp his place. + +And Theodora, who had been suffering silently a miserable feeling of +loneliness and neglect, felt her heart bound with joy at the sight of +his loved, familiar face, and she welcomed him more warmly than she had +ever done before. + +"Have these demons of women been odious to you, darling?" he whispered, +hardly conscious of the term of endearment he had used. "Do not mind +them; it is only jealousy because you are so beautiful and young." + +"They have not been anything at all," she said, softly; "they have just +left me alone and kept to themselves, and--and laughed at Josiah, and +that has made me very angry, because--what has he done to them?" + +"I loathe them all!" said Hector. "They are hardly fit to be in the same +room with you, dear queen--and if you really belonged to me I would take +you away from them now--to-night." + +His voice was a caress, and that sentence, "belonged to me," always made +her heart beat with its pictured possibilities. Oh, how she loved him! +Could anything else in the world really matter while he could sit there +and she could feel his presence and hear his tender words? + +And so they talked awhile, and then they looked up and surveyed the +scene. Josiah had been joined by Sir Patrick, and they were earnestly +conversing by the fireplace. One or two pairs sat about on the sofas; +but the general company showed signs of flocking off to the +bridge-tables, which were laid out in another drawing-room beyond. And +the couples joined them gradually, until only Lord Wensleydown and +Morella Winmarleigh remained near and watched them with mocking eyes. + +Hector had never before realized that Morella could have so much +expression in her face. + +How could he ever have thought under any conceivable circumstances, even +at the end of his life, it would be possible to marry her! How thankful +he felt he had never paid her any attention, or from his behavior given +color to his mother's hopes. + +He remembered a fairy story he had read in his youth, where a magic +power was given to the hero of discovering what beast each human being +was growing into by grasping their hands. And he wondered, if the gift +had been his, what he should now find was the destiny of those two in +front of him! + +Wensleydown, no doubt, would be a great, sensual goat and Morella a +vicious mule. And the idea made him laugh as he turned to Theodora +again, to feast his eyes on her pure loveliness. + +The Crow, who had arrived late and been among the last to enter the +drawing-room before dinner, had not yet had an opportunity of speaking +to Mrs. Brown, as he had been dragged off among the first of the +bridge-players. + +Presently Mildred looked through the door from the room beyond and +called: "Freddy and Morella, come and play; we must have two more to +make up the numbers. Uncle Patrick will bring Lord Bracondale +presently." + +Josiah and Theodora did not count at all, it seemed! + +"What intolerable insolence!" said Hector, through his teeth. "I shall +not play bridge or stir from here." + +And Lord Wensleydown called back: "Do give one a moment to digest one's +dinner, dear Lady Mildred. Miss Winmarleigh does not want to come yet, +either. We are very--interested--and happy here." + +Morella tittered and played with her fan. The dull, slow rage was +simmering within her. Even her vanity could not misinterpret the meaning +of Hector's devotion to Mrs. Brown. He was deeply in love, of course, +and she, Morella, was robbed of her hopes of being Lady Bracondale. Her +usually phlegmatic nature was roused in all its narrow strength. She was +like some silent, vengeful beast waiting a chance to spring. + +And so the evening wore away. Sir Patrick drew Josiah into the +bridge-room, and made him join one of the tables where they were waiting +for a fourth--Josiah, who was a very bad player, and did not really care +for cards! But luck favored him, and the woman opposite restrained the +irritable things she had ready to say to him when she first perceived +how he played his hand. + +And all the while Hector sat by Theodora, and learned more and more of +her fair, clear mind. All the thoughts she had upon every subject he +found were just and quaint and in some way illuminating. It was her +natural sweetness of nature which made the great charm--that quality +which Mrs. McBride had remarked upon, and which every one felt sooner or +later. + +Nothing of the ascetic saint or goody _poseuse_. She did not walk about +with a book of poems under her arm, and wear floppy clothes and talk +about her own and other people's souls. She was just human and true and +attractive. + +Theodora had perhaps no religion at all from the orthodox point of view; +but had she been a Mohommedan or a Confucian or a Buddhist, she would +still have been Theodora, full of gentleness and goodness and grace. + +The entire absence of vanity and self-consciousness in her prevented her +from feeling hurt or ruffled even with these ill-mannered women. She +thought them rude and unpleasant, but they could not really hurt her +except by humiliating Josiah. Her generosity instantly fired at that. + +Both she and Hector perceived that Morella and Lord Wensleydown sat +there watching them for no other reason but to disconcert and tease +them, and it roused a spirit of resistance in both. While this was going +on they would not move. + +And Hector employed the whole of his self-control to keep himself from +making actual love to her, and they talked of many things, and she +understood and was grateful. + +Presently, apparently, Morella could stand it no longer, for she rose +rather abruptly and said to Lord Wensleydown: + +"Come, let us play bridge." + +They went on into the other room, and Theodora and Lord Bracondale were +left quite alone. + +"I should like to find Josiah," said Theodora. "Shall we not go, too?" + +And they also followed upon the others' heels. Lady Ada happened to be +out at her table, and some tardy sense of her duties as a hostess came +to her, for she crossed over to where Theodora stood by the door and +made some ordinary remark about hoping it would be fine on the morrow so +they could enjoy the gardens. + +And while she talked and looked into the blue eyes something attracted +and softened her. She was very gentle and pretty, after all, the new +niece, she decided, and Mildred had been quite wrong in saying she was +an upstart and must be snubbed. + +Lady Ada had a nervous way of blinking her light lashes in a fashion +which suggested she might suffer from headache. + +To Theodora she seemed a sad woman, full of cares, and she felt a kindly +pity for her and no resentment for her rudeness. + +Mildred looked up, and a frown of annoyance darkened her face. + +The "creature" should certainly not make a conquest of her hostess if +she could help it! + +It was the first time Theodora had ever been into a company of people +like this, and her eyes wandered over the scene when Lady Ada had to go +back to her place. + +"Tell me what you are thinking of?" said Hector, in her ear. + +"I was thinking," she answered, "it is so interesting to watch people's +faces. It seems to me so queer a way to spend one's time, the whole of +one's intelligence set upon a game of cards and a few pieces of money +for hours and hours together." + +"They don't look attractive, do they?" he laughed. + +"No, they look haggard, and worried, and old," she said. "Even the young +ones look old and watchful, and so intent and solemn." + +Lady Harrowfield had been losing heavily, and a deep mauve shade glowed +through all her paint. She was a bad loser, and made all at her table +feel some of her chagrin and wrath. In fact, candidates for the light of +her smile found it advisable to let her win when things became too +unpleasant. + +There was a dreary silence over the room, broken by the scoring and +remarks upon the games, and those who were out wandered into the saloon +beyond, where iced drinks of all sorts were awaiting the weary. + +"Every one must enjoy themselves how they can, of course," said +Theodora. "It is absurd to try and make any one else happy in one's own +way, but oh, I hope I shall not have to pass the time like that, ever! I +don't think I could bear it." + +The voices became raised at the table where Josiah sat. He had made some +gross mistake in the game and his partner was being fretful over it. Her +complaints amounted to real rudeness when the counting began. She had +lost twenty pounds on this rubber, all through his last foolish play, +she let it be known. + +Josiah was angry with himself and deeply humiliated. He apologized as +well as he could, but to no purpose with the wrathful dame. + +And Theodora slipped behind his chair, and laid her hand upon his +shoulder in what was almost a caress, and said, in a sweet and playful +voice: + +"You are a naughty, stupid fellow, Josiah, and of course you must pay +the losses of both sides to make up for being such a wicked thing," and +she patted his shoulders and smiled her gentle smile at the angry lady, +as though they were children playing for counters or sweets, and the +twenty pounds was a nothing to her husband, as indeed it was not. +Josiah would cheerfully have paid a hundred to finish the unpleasant +scene. + +He was intensely grateful to her--grateful for her thought for him and +for her public caress. + +And the lady was so surprised at the turn affairs had taken that she +said no more, and, allowing him to pay without too great protest, meekly +suggested another rubber. But Josiah was not to be caught again. He +rose, and, saying good-night, followed his wife and Lord Bracondale into +the saloon. + + + + +XXV + + +After the rain and gloom of the week, Sunday dawned gloriously fine. +There was to be a polo match on Monday in the park, which contained an +excellent ground--Patrick and his Oxford friends against a scratch team. +The neighborhood would watch them with interest. But the Sunday was for +rest and peace, so all the morning the company played croquet, or lay +about in hammocks, and more than half of them again began bridge in the +great Egyptian tent which served as an out-door lounge on the lawn. It +was reached from the western side down wide steps from the terrace, and +beautiful rose gardens stretched away beyond. + +Theodora had spent a sleepless night. There was no more illusion left to +her on the subject of her feelings. She knew that each day, each hour, +she was growing more deeply to love Hector Bracondale. He absorbed her +thoughts, he dominated her imagination. He seemed to mean the only thing +in life. The situation was impossible, and must end in some way. How +could she face the long months with Josiah down at their new home, with +the feverish hopes and fears of meetings! It was too cruel, too +terrible; and she could not lead such a life. She had thought in Paris +it would be possible, and even afford a certain amount of quiet +happiness, if they could be strong enough to remain just friends. But +now she knew this was not in human nature. Sooner or later fate would +land them in some situation of temptation too strong for either to +resist--and then--and then--She refused to face that picture. Only she +writhed as she lay there and buried her face in the fine pillows. She +did not permit herself any day-dreams of what might have been. Romauld +himself, as he took his vows, never fought harder to regain his soul +from the keeping of Claremonde than did Theodora to suppress her love +for Hector Bracondale. Towards morning, worn out with fatigue, she fell +asleep, and in her dreams, released from the control of her will, she +spent moments of passionate bliss in his arms, only to wake and find she +must face again the terrible reality. And cruellest thought of all was +the thought of Josiah. + +She had so much common-sense she realized the position exactly about +him. She had not married him under any false impression. There had been +no question of love--she had frankly been bought, and had as frankly +detested him. But his illness and suffering had appealed to her tender +heart--and afterwards his generosity. He was not unselfish, but, +according to his lights, he heaped her with kindness. He could not help +being common and ridiculous. And he had paid with solid gold for her, +gold to make papa comfortable and happy, and she must fulfil her part of +the bargain and remain a faithful wife at all costs. + +This visit must be the last time she should meet her love. She must tell +him, implore him--he who was free and master of his life; he must go +away, must promise not to follow her, must help her to do what was right +and just. She had no sentimental feeling of personal wickedness now. How +could it be wicked to love--to love truly and tenderly? She had not +sought love; he had come upon her. It would be wicked to give way to her +feelings, to take Hector for a lover; but she had no sense of being a +wicked woman as things were, any more than if she had badly burned her +hand and was suffering deeply from the wound; she would have considered +herself wicked for having had the mischance thus to injure herself. She +was intensely unhappy, and she was going to try and do what was right. +That was all. And God and those kind angels who steered the barks beyond +the rocks would perhaps help her. + +Hector for his part, had retired to rest boiling with passion and rage, +the subtle, odious insinuations of Mildred ringing in his ears. The +remembrance of the menace on Morella's dull face as she had watched +Theodora depart, and, above all, Wensleydown's behavior as they all said +good-night: nothing for him actually to take hold of, and yet enough to +convulse him with jealous fury. + +Oh, if she were only his own! No man should dare to look at her like +that. But Josiah had stood by and not even noticed it. + +Passionate jealousy is not a good foster-parent for prudence. + +The Sunday came, and with it a wild, mad longing to be near her +again--never to leave her, to prevent any one else from so much as +saying a word. Others besides Wensleydown had begun to experience the +attraction of her beauty and charm. If considerations of wisdom should +keep him from her side, he would have the anguish of seeing these +others take his place, and that he could not suffer. + +And as passion in a man rages higher than in the average woman, +especially passion when accelerated by the knowledge of another's desire +to rob it of its own, so Hector's conclusions were not so clear as +Theodora's. + +He dared not look ahead. All he was conscious of was the absolute +determination to protect her from Wensleydown--to keep her for himself. + +And fate was gathering all the threads together for an inevitable +catastrophe, or so it seemed to the Crow when the long, exquisite June +Sunday evening was drawing to a close and he looked back on the day. + +He would have to report to Anne that the two had spent it practically +together; that Morella had a sullen red look on her face which boded ill +for the part she would play, when she should be asked to play some part; +that Mildred had done her best to render Theodora uncomfortable and +unhappy, and thus had thrown her more into Hector's protection. The +other women had been indifferent or mocking or amused, and Lady +Harrowfield had let it be seen she would have no mercy. Her comments +had been vitriolic. + +Hector and Theodora had not gone out of sight, or been any different to +the others; only he had never left her, and there could be no mistaking +the devotion in his face. + +For the whole day Sir Patrick had more or less taken charge of Josiah. +He was finding him more difficult to manipulate over money matters than +he had anticipated. Josiah's vulgar, round face and snub nose gave no +index to his shrewdness; with his mutton-chop whiskers and bald head, +Josiah was the personification of the smug grocer. + +As she went to dress for dinner it seemed to Theodora that her heart was +breaking. She was only flesh and blood after all, and she, too, had felt +her pulses throbbing wildly as they had walked along by the lake, when +all the color and lights of the evening helped to excite her imagination +and exalt her spirit. They had been almost alone, for the other pair who +composed the _partie carrée_ of this walk were several yards ahead of +them. + +Each minute she had been on the verge of imploring him to say +good-bye--to leave her--to let their lives part, to try to forget, and +the words froze on her lips in the passionate, unspoken cry which +seemed to rise from her heart that she loved him. Oh, she loved him! And +so she had not spoken. + +There had been long silences, and each was growing almost to know the +other's thoughts--so near had they become in spirit. + +When she got to her room her knees were trembling. She fell into a chair +and buried her face in her hands. She shivered as if from cold. + +Josiah was almost angry with her for being so late for dinner. Theodora +hardly realized with whom she went in; she was dazed and numb. She got +through it somehow, and this night determined to go straight to her room +rather than be treated as she had been the night before. But one of the +women whom the intercourse of the day had drawn into conversation with +her showed signs of friendliness as they went through the anteroom, and +drew her towards a sofa to talk. She was fascinated by Theodora's beauty +and grace, and wanted to know, too, just where her clothes came from, as +she did not recognize absolutely the models of any of the well-known +_couturières_, and they were certainly the loveliest garments worn by +any one in the party. + +One person draws another, and soon Theodora had three or four around +her--all purring and talking frocks. And as she answered their questions +with gentle frankness, she wondered what everything meant. Did any of +them feel--did any of them love passionately as she did?--or were they +all dolls more or less bored and getting through life? And would she, +too, grow like them in time, and be able to play bridge with interest +until the small hours? + +Later some of the party danced in the ballroom, which was beyond the +saloon the other way, and now a definite idea came to Hector as he held +Theodora in his arms in the waltz. They could not possibly bear this +life. Why should he not take her away--away from the smug grocer, and +then they could live their life in a dream of bliss in Italy, perhaps, +and later at Bracondale. He had a great position, and people soon forget +nowadays. + +His pulses were bounding with these wild thoughts, born of their +nearness and the long hours of strain. To-morrow he would tell her of +them, but to-night--they would dance. + +And Theodora felt her very soul melt within her. She was worn out with +conflicting emotions. She could not fight with inclination any longer. +Whatever he should say she would have to listen to--and agree with. She +felt almost faint. And so at the end of the first dance she managed to +whisper: + +"Hector, I am tired. I shall go to bed." And in truth when he looked at +her she was deadly white. + +She stopped by her husband. + +"Josiah," she said, "will you make my excuses to Lady Ada and Uncle +Patrick? I do not feel well; I am going to my room." + +Hector's distress was intense. He could not carry her up in his arms as +he would have wished, he could not soothe and pet and caress her, or do +anything in the world but stand by and see Josiah fussing and +accompanying her to the stairs and on to her room. She hardly said the +word good-night to him, and her very lips were white. Wensleydown's +face, as he stood with Mildred, drove him mad with its mocking leer, and +if he had heard their conversation there might have been bloodshed. + +Josiah returned to the saloon, and made his way to the bridge-room to +Sir Patrick and his hostess; but Hector still leaned against the door. + +"He'll probably go out on the terrace and walk in the night by himself," +thought the Crow, who had watched the scene, "and these dear people +will say he has gone to meet her, and it is a ruse her being ill. They +could not let such a chance slip, if they are both absent together." + +So he walked over to Hector and engaged him in conversation. + +Hector would have thought of this aspect himself at another time, but +to-night he was dazed with passion and pain. + +"Come and smoke a cigar on the terrace, Crow," he said. "One wants a +little quiet and peace sometimes." + +And then the Crow looked at him with his head on one side in that wise +way which had earned for him his sobriquet. + +"Hector, old boy, you know these damned people here and their ways. Just +keep yourself in evidence, my son," he said, as he walked away. + +And Hector thanked him in his heart, and went across and asked Morella +to dance. + +Up in her room Theodora lay prostrate. She could reason no more--she +could only sob in the dark. + +Next day she did not appear until luncheon-time. But the guests at +Beechleigh always rose when they pleased, and no one remarked her +absence even, each pair busy with their own affairs. Only Barbara crept +up to her room to see how she was, and if she wanted anything. Theodora +wondered why her cousin should have been so changed from the afternoon +of their arrival. And Barbara longed to tell her. She moved about, and +looked out of the window, and admired Theodora's beautiful hair spread +over the pillows. Then she said: + +"Oh, I wish you came here often and Mildred didn't. She is a brute, and +she hates you for being so beautiful. She made me keep away, you know. +Do you think me a mean coward?" Her poor, plain, timid face was pitiful +as she looked at Theodora, and to her came the thought of what Barbara's +life was probably among them all, and she said, gently: + +"No, indeed, I don't. It was much better for you not to annoy her +further; she might have been nastier to me than even she has been. But +why don't you stand up for yourself generally? After all, you are Uncle +Patrick's daughter, and she is only your mother's niece." + +"They both love her far more than they do me," said Barbara, with +hanging head. + +And then they talked of other things. Barbara adored her home, but her +family had no sentiment for it, she told Theodora; and Pat, she +believed, would like to sell the whole thing and gamble away the money. + +Just before luncheon-time, when Theodora was dressed and going down, +Josiah came up again to see her. He had fussed in once or twice before +during the morning. This time it was to tell her a special messenger had +come from his agent in London to inform him his presence was absolutely +necessary there the first thing on Tuesday morning. Some turn of deep +importance to his affairs had transpired during the holiday. So he would +go up by an early train. He had settled it all with Sir Patrick, who, +however, would not hear of Theodora's leaving. + +"The party does not break up until Wednesday or Thursday, and we cannot +lose our greatest ornament," he had said. + +"I do not wish to stay alone," Theodora pleaded. "I will come with you, +Josiah." + +But Josiah was quite cross with her. + +"Nothing of the kind," he said. These people were her own relations, and +if he could not leave her with them it was a strange thing! He did not +want her in London, and she could join him again at Claridge's on +Thursday. It would give him time to run down to Bessington to see that +all was ready for her reception. He was so well now he looked forward to +a summer of pleasure and peace. + +"A second honeymoon, my love!" he chuckled, as he kissed her, and would +hear no more. + +And having planted this comforting thought for her consolation he had +quitted the room. + +Left alone Theodora sank down on the sofa. Her trembling limbs refused +to support her; she felt cold and sick and faint. + +A second honeymoon. Oh, God! + + + + +XXVI + + +At luncheon, when Theodora descended from her room, the whole party were +assembled and already seated at the several little tables. The only +vacant place left was just opposite Hector. + +And there they faced each other during the meal, and all the time her +eyes reminded him of the wounded fawn again, only they were sadder, if +possible, and her face was pinched and pale, not the exquisite natural +white of its usual fresh, soft velvet. + +Something clutched at his heart-strings. What extra sorrow had happened +to her since last night? What could he do to comfort and protect her? +There was only one way--to take her with him out of it all. + +After the first nine days' wonder, people would forget. It would be an +undefended suit when Josiah should divorce her, and then he would marry +her and have her for his very own. And what would they care for the +world's sneers? + +His whole being was thrilled and exalted with these thoughts; his brain +was excited as with strong wine. + +To have her for his own! + +Even the memory of his mother only caused him a momentary pang. No one +could help loving Theodora, and she--his mother--would get over it, too, +and learn her sweetness and worth. + +He was wildly happy now that he had made up his mind--so surely can +passionate desire block out every other feeling. + +The guests at their table were all more or less civil. Theodora's +unassuming manner had disarmed them, and as savage beasts had been +charmed of old by Orpheus and his lute, so perhaps her gentle voice had +soothed this company--the women, of course; there had been no question +of the men from the beginning. + +Mildred's programme to make Mrs. Brown suffer was not having the success +her zeal in promoting it deserved. + +The weather was still glorious, and after lunch the whole party flocked +out on the terrace. + +A terrible nervous fear was dominating Theodora. She could not be alone +with Hector, she did not dare to trust herself. And there would be the +to-morrow and the Wednesday--without Josiah--and the soft warmth of the +evenings and the glamour of the nights. + +Oh, everything was too cruel and impossible! And wherever she turned she +seemed to see in blazing letters, "A second honeymoon!" + +The first was a horrible, fearsome memory which was over long ago, but +the thought of a second--now that she knew what love meant, and what +life with the loved one might mean--Oh, it was +unbearable--terrible--impossible! better, much better, to die and have +done with it all. + +She kept close to Barbara, and when Barbara moved she feverishly engaged +the Crow in conversation--any one--something to save her from any chance +of listening to Hector's persuasive words. And the Crow's kind heart was +pained by the hunted expression in her eyes. They seemed to ask for help +and sanctuary. + +"Shall we walk down to the polo-field, Mrs. Brown?" he said, and she +gladly acquiesced and started with him. + +If she had been a practised coquette she could not have done anything +more to fan the flame of Hector's passion. + +Lady Harrowfield had detained him on the top of the steps, and he saw +her go off with the Crow and was unable to rush after them. + +And when at last he was free he felt almost drunk with passion. + +He had learned of Josiah's intended departure on the morrow, and that +Theodora would join him again on the Thursday, and his mind was made up. +On Wednesday night he would take her away with him to Italy. She should +never belong to Josiah any more. She was his in soul and mind already, +he knew, and she should be his in body, too, and he would cherish and +love and protect her to the end of his life. + +Every detail of his plan matured itself in his brain. It only wanted her +consent, and that, when opportunity should be given him to plead his +cause, he did not greatly fear would be refused. + +Hitherto he had ever restrained himself when alone with her, had +dominated his desire to make love to her; had never once, since Paris, +given way to passion or tender words during their moments together. + +But he remembered that hour of bliss on the way from Versailles; he +remembered how she had thrilled, too, how he had made her feel and +respond to his every caress. + +Yes--she was not cold, his white angel! + +He was playing in the scratch team of the polo match, and the wild +excitement of his thoughts, coursing through his blood, caused him to +ride like a mad thing. + +Never had he done so brilliantly. + +And Theodora, while she was every now and then convulsed with fear for +him, had moments of passionate admiration. + +The Crow remained at her side in the tent. He knew Hector would not be +jealous of him, and the instinct of the brink of calamity was strong +upon him, from the look in Theodora's eyes. + +He used great tact--he turned the conversation to Anne and the children, +and then to Lady Bracondale and Hector's home, all in a casual, abstract +way, and he told her of Lady Bracondale's great love for her son, and of +her hopes that he would marry soon, and how that Hector would be the +last of his race--for Evermond Le Mesurier did not count--and many +little tales about Bracondale and its people. + +It was all done so wisely and well; not in the least as a note of +warning. And all he said sank deep into Theodora's heart. She had never +even dreamed of the plan which was now matured in Hector's brain--of +going away with him. He, as really a lover, was not for her, that was a +foregone conclusion. It was the fear of she knew not what which troubled +her. She was too unsophisticated and innocent to really know--only that +to be with him now was a continual danger; soon she knew she would not +be able to control herself, she must be clasped in his arms. + +And then--and then--there was the picture in front of her of Josiah and +the "second honeymoon." + +Thus while she sat there gazing at the man she passionately loved +playing polo, she was silently suffering all the anguish of which a +woman's heart is capable. + +The only possible way was to part from Hector forever--to say the last +good-bye before she should go, like a sheep, to the slaughter. + +When she was once more the wife of Josiah she could never look upon his +face again. + +And if Hector had known the prospect that awaited her at Bessington +Hall, it would have driven him--already mad--to frenzy. + +The day wore on, and still Theodora's fears kept her from allowing a +tête-à-tête when he dismounted and joined them for tea. + +But fate had determined otherwise. And as the soft evening came several +of the party walked down by the river--which ran on the western side +below the rose-gardens and the wood of firs--to see Barbara's many +breeds of ducks and water-fowl. + +Then Hector's determination to be alone with her conquered for the time. +Theodora found herself strolling with him in a path of meeting willows, +with a summer-house at the end, by the water's bank. + +They were quite separated from the others by now. They, with affairs of +their own to pursue, had spread in different directions. + +And it was evening, and warm, and June. + +There was a strange, weird silence between them, and both their hearts +were beating to suffocation--hers with the thought of the anguish of +parting forever, his with the exaltation of the picture of parting no +more. + +They came to the little summer-house, and there they sat down and +surveyed the scene. The evening lights were all opalescent on the water, +there was peace in the air and brilliant fresh green on the trees, and +soft and liquid rose the nightingale's note. So at last Hector broke the +silence. + +"Darling," he said, "I love you--I love you so utterly this cannot go +on. I must have you for my own--" and then, as she gasped, he continued +in a torrent of passionate words. + +He told her of his infinite love for her; of the happiness he would fill +her life with; of his plan that they should go away together when she +should leave Beechleigh; of the joy of their days; of the tender care he +would take of her; and every and each sentence ended with a passionate +avowal of his love and devotion. + +Then a terrible temptation seized Theodora. She had never even dreamed +of this ending to the situation; and it would mean no second honeymoon +of loathsome hours, but a glorious fulfilment of all possible joy. + +For one moment the whole world seemed golden with happiness; but it was +only of short duration. The next instant she remembered Josiah and her +given word. + +No, happiness was not for her. Death and sleep were all she could hope +for; but she must not even hope for them. She must do what was right, +and be true to herself, _advienne que pourra_. And perhaps some angel +would give her oblivion or let her drink of Lethe, though she should +never reach those waters beyond the rocks. + +He saw the exaltation in her beautiful face as he spoke, and wild joy +seized him. Then he saw the sudden droop of her whole body and the +light die out of her eyes, and in a voice of anguish he implored her: + +"Darling, darling! Won't you listen to what I say to you? Won't you +answer me, and come with me?" + +"No, Hector," she said, and her voice was so low he had to bend closer +to hear. + +He clasped her to his side, he covered her face with kisses, murmuring +the tenderest love-words. + +She did not resist him or seek to escape from his sheltering, strong +arms. This was the end of her living life, why should she rob herself of +a last joy? + +She laid her head on his shoulder, and there she whispered in a voice he +hardly recognized, so dominated it was by sorrow and pain: "It must be +good-bye, beloved; we must not meet. Ah! never any more. I have been +meaning to say this to you all the day. I cannot bear it either. Oh, we +must part, and it must end; but oh, not--not in that way!" + +He tried to persuade her, he pleaded with her, drew pictures of their +happiness that surely would be, talked of Italy and eternal summer and +exquisite pleasure and bliss. + +And all the time he felt her quiver in his arms and respond to each +thought, as her imagination took fire at the beautiful pictures of love +and joy. But nothing shook her determination. + +At last she said: "Dearest, if I were different perhaps, stronger and +braver, I could go away and live with you like that, and keep it all a +glorious thing; but I am not--only a weak creature, and the memory of my +broken word, and Josiah's sorrow, and your mother's anguish, would kill +all joy. We could have blissful moments of forgetfulness, but the great +ghost of remorse would chase for me all happiness away. Dearest, I love +you so; but oh, I could not live, haunted like that; I should +just--die." + +Then he knew all hope was over, and the mad passion went out of him, and +his arms dropped to his sides as if half life had fled. She looked up in +his face in fear at its ghastly whiteness. + +And at this moment, through the parted willows, there appeared the +sullen, mocking eyes of Morella Winmarleigh. + +She pushed the bushes aside, and, followed by Lord Wensleydown, she came +towards the summer-house. + +Her slow senses had taken in the scene. Hector was evidently very +unhappy, she thought, and that hateful woman had been teasing him, no +doubt. + +Thus her banal mind read the tragedy of these two human lives. + + + + +XXVII + + +Morella Winmarleigh had been taking an evening stroll with Lord +Wensleydown. They had come upon the two in the summer-house quite by +accident, but now they had caught them they would stick to them, and +make their walk as tiresome as possible, they both decided to +themselves. + +After very great emotion such as Hector and Theodora had been +experiencing, to have this uncongenial and hateful pair as companions +was impossible to bear. + +Neither Hector or Theodora stirred or made room for them on the seat. + +"Isn't this a sweet place, Lord Wensleydown?" Miss Winmarleigh said. +"Why have you never brought me here before? How did you find it, +Hector?" turning to him in a determined fashion. "You will have to show +us the way back, as we are quite lost!" and she giggled irritatingly. + +"The first turn to the right at the end of the willows," said Hector, +with what politeness he could summon up, "and I am sure you will be +able to get to the house quite safely. As you are in such a hurry, don't +let us keep you. Mrs. Brown and I are going the other way by the river, +when we do start." + +"Oh, we are not in a hurry at all," said Lord Wensleydown. "Do come with +us, Mrs. Brown, we are feeling so lonely." + +Theodora rose. She could bear no more of this. + +"Let us go," she said to Hector, and they started, leading the way. And +for a while they heard the others in mocking titters behind them, but +presently, when near the house, they quickened their pace, and were +again alone and free from their tormentors. + +They had not spoken at all in this hateful walk, and now he turned to +her. + +"My darling," he said, "life seems over for me." + +"And for me, too, Hector," she said. "And when we come to this dark +piece of wood I want you to kiss me once more and say good-bye forever, +and go out of my life." There was a passionate sob in her voice. "And +oh! _Bien-aimé_, please promise me you will leave to-morrow. Do not make +it more impossible to bear than it already is." + +But he was silent with pain. A mad, reckless revolt at fate flooded all +his being. + +It was past eight o'clock now, and when they came to the soothing gloom +of the dark firs he crushed her in his arms, and a great sob broke from +him and rent her heart. + +"My darling, my darling! Good-bye," he said, brokenly. "You have taught +me all that life means; all that it can hold of pleasure and pain. +Henceforth, it is the gray path of shadows; and oh, God take care of you +and grant us some peace." + +But she was sobbing on his breast and could not speak. + +"And remember," he went on, "I shall never forget you or cease to +worship and adore you. Always know you have only to send me a message, a +word, and I will come to you and do what you ask, to my last drop of +blood. I love you! Oh, God! I love you, and you were made for me, and we +could have been happy together and glorified the world." + +Then he folded her again in his arms and held her so close it seemed the +breath must leave her body, and then they walked on silently, and +silently entered the house by the western garden door. + +The evening was a blank to Theodora. She dressed in her satins and +laces, and let her maid fasten her wonderful emeralds on throat and +breast and hair. She descended to the drawing-room and walked in to +dinner with some strange man--all as one in a dream. She answered as an +automaton, and the man thought how beautiful she was, and what a pity +for so beautiful a woman to be so stupid and silent and dull. + +"Almost wanting," was his last comment to himself as the ladies left the +dining-room. + +Then Theodora forced herself to speak--to chatter to a now complacent +group of women who gathered round her. Those emeralds, and the way the +diamonds were set round them, proved too strong an attraction for even +Lady Harrowfield to keep far away. + +She was going to have her rubies remounted, and this seemed just the +pattern she would like. + +So the time passed, and the men came into the room. But Hector was not +with them. He had found a telegram, it transpired, which had been +waiting for him on his return, and it would oblige him to go to +Bracondale immediately, so he was motoring up to London that night. He +had acted his part to the end, and no one guessed he was leaving the +best of his life behind him. When Theodora realized he was gone she +suddenly felt very faint; but she, too, was not of common clay, and +breeding will tell in crises of this sort, so she sat up and talked +gayly. The evening passed, and at last she was alone for the night. + +There are moralists who will assure us the knowledge of having done +right brings its own consolation. And in good books, about good women, +the heroine experiences a sense of peace and satisfaction after having +resigned the forbidden joy of her life. But Theodora was only a human +being, so she spent the night in wild, passionate regret. + +She had done right with no stern sense of the word "Right" written up in +front of her, but because she was so true and so sweet that she must +keep her word and not betray Josiah. She did not analyze anything. Life +was over for her, whatever came now could only find her numb. By an +early train Josiah left for London. + +"Take care of yourself, my love," he had said, as he looked in at her +door, "and write to me this afternoon as to what train you decide to +leave by on Thursday." + +She promised she would, and he departed, thoroughly satisfied with his +visit among the great world. + +The day was spent as the other days, and after lunch Theodora escaped to +her room. She must write her letter to Josiah for the afternoon's post. +She had discovered the train left at eleven o'clock. It did not take her +long, this little note to her husband, and then she sat and stared into +space for a while. + +The terrible reaction had begun. There was no more excitement, only the +flatness, the blank of the days to look forward to, and that unspeakable +sense of loss and void. And oh, she had let Hector go without one word +of her passionate love! She had been too unnerved to answer him when he +had said his last good-bye to her in the wood. + +She seized the pen again which had dropped from her hand. She would +write to him. She would tell him her thoughts--in a final farewell. It +might comfort him, and herself, too. + +So she wrote and wrote on, straight out from her heart, then she found +she had only just time to take the letters to the hall. + +She closed Hector's with a sigh, and picking up Josiah's, already +fastened, she ran with them quickly down the stairs. + +There was an immense pile of correspondence--the accumulation of +Whitsuntide. + +The box that usually received it was quite full, and several letters lay +about on the table. + +She placed her two with the rest, and turned to leave the hall. She +could not face all the company on the lawn just yet, and went back to +her room, meeting Morella Winmarleigh bringing some of her own to be +posted as she passed through the saloon. + +When Miss Winmarleigh reached the table curiosity seized her. She +guessed what had been Theodora's errand. She would like to see her +writing and to whom the letters were addressed. + +No one was about anywhere. All the correspondence was already there, as +in five minutes or less the post would go. + +She had no time to lose, so she picked up the last two envelopes which +lay on the top of the pile and read the first: + +To + Josiah Brown, Esq., + Claridge's Hotel, + Brook Street, + London, W. + +and the other: + +The Lord Bracondale, + Bracondale Chase, + Bracondale. + +"The husband and--the lover!" she said to herself. And a sudden +temptation came over her, swift and strong and not to be resisted. + +Here would be revenge--revenge she had always longed for! while her +sullen rage had been gathering all these last days. She heard the groom +of the chambers approaching to collect the letters; she must decide at +once. So she slipped Theodora's two missives into her blouse and walked +towards the door. + +"There is another post which goes at seven, isn't there, Edgarson?" she +asked, "and the letters are delivered in London to-morrow morning just +the same?" + +"Yes, ma'am, they arrive by the second post in London," said the man, +politely, and she passed on to her room. + +Arrived there, excitement and triumph burned all over her. Here, without +a chance of detection, she could crush her rival and see her thoroughly +punished, and--who knows?--Hector might yet be caught in the rebound. + +She would not hesitate a second. She rang for her maid. + +"Bring me my little kettle and the spirit-lamp. I want to sip some +boiling water," she said. "I have indigestion. And then you need not +wait--I shall read until tea." + +She was innocently settled on her sofa with a book when the maid +returned. She was a well-bred servant, and silently placed the kettle +and glass and left the room noiselessly. Morella sprang to her feet with +unusual agility. Her heavy form was slow of movement as a rule. + +The door once locked, she returned to the sofa and began operations. + +The kettle soon boiled, and the steam puffed out and achieved its +purpose. + +The thin, hand-made paper of the envelope curled up, and with no +difficulty she opened the flap. + +Hector's letter first and then Josiah's. All her pent-up, concentrated +rage was having its outlet, and almost joy was animating her being. + +Hector's was a long letter; probably very loving, but that did not +concern her. + +It would be most unladylike to read it, she decided--a sort of thing +only the housemaids would do. What she intended was to place them in the +wrong envelopes--Hector's to Josiah, and Josiah's to Hector. It was a +mistake any one might make themselves when they were writing, and +Theodora, when it should be discovered, could only blame her own +supposed carelessness. Even if the letter was an innocent one, which was +not at all likely. Oh, dear, no! She knew the world, however little +girls were supposed to understand. She had kept her eyes open, thank +goodness; and it would certainly not be an epistle a husband would care +to read--a great thing of pages and pages like that. But even if it were +innocent, it was bound to cause some trouble and annoyance; and the +thought of that was honey and balm to her. + +She slipped them into the covers she had destined for them and pressed +down the damp gum. So all was as it had been to outward appearance, and +she felt perfectly happy. Then when she descended to tea she placed them +securely in the box under some more of her own for the seven-o'clock +post, and went her way rejoicing. + + + + +XXVIII + + +Next morning, over a rather late breakfast in his sitting-room at +Claridge's, Josiah's second post came in. + +All had gone well with his business in the City the day before, and in +the afternoon he had run down to Bessington Hall, returning late at +night. + +He was feeling unusually well and self-important, and his thoughts +turned to pleasant things: To the delight of having Theodora once more +as a wife; of his hope of founding a family--the Browns of +Bessington--why not? Had not a boy at the gate called him squire? + +"Good-day to 'e, squire," he had said, and that was pleasant to hear. + +If only his tiresome cough would keep off in the autumn, he might +himself shoot the extensive coverts he had ordered to be stocked on the +estate. He had heard there were schools for would-be sportsmen to learn +the art of handling a gun, and he would make inquiries. + +All the prospect was fair. + +He picked up his letters and turned them over. Nothing of importance. +Ah, yes! there was Theodora's. The first letter she had ever written +him, and such a long one! What could the girl have to say? Surely not +all that about trains! He opened the envelope with a knife which lay by +his plate, and this is what he read--read with whitening face and +sinking heart: + + "BEECHLEIGH, _June 5th_. + + HECTOR, MY BELOVED!--Oh, for this last time I must think + of you as that! Dearest, we are parted now and may never meet + again, and the pain of it all kept me silent yesterday, when my + heart was breaking with the anguish and longing to tell you how I + loved you, how you were not going away suffering alone. Oh, it has + all crept upon us, this great, great love! It was fate, and it was + useless to struggle against it. Only we must not let it be the + reason of our doing wrong--that would be to degrade it, and love + should not live in an atmosphere of degradation. I could not go + away with you, could not have you for my lover without breaking a + bargain--a bargain over which I have given my word. Of course I did + not know what love meant when I was married. In France one does not + think of that as connected with a husband. It was just a duty to be + got through to help papa and my sisters. But my part of the bargain + was myself, and in return for giving that I have money and a home, + and papa and Sarah and Clementine are comfortable and happy. And as + Josiah has kept his side of it, so I must keep mine, and be + faithful to him always in word and deed. Dearest, it is too + terrible to think of this material aspect to a bond which now I + know should only be one of love and faith and tenderness. But it + _is_ a bond, and I have given my word, and no happiness could come + to us if I should break it, _as Josiah has not broken his_. And oh, + Hector, you do not know how good he has always been to me, and + generous and indulgent! It is not his fault that he is not of our + class, and I must do my utmost to make him happy, and atone for + this wound which I have unwittingly given him, and which he is, and + must always remain, unconscious of. Oh, if something could have + warned me, after that first time we met, that I would love you--had + begun to love you--even then there would have been time to draw + back, to save us both, perhaps, from suffering. And yet, and yet, I + do not know, we might have missed the greatest and noblest good of + all our lives. Dearest, I want you to keep the memory of me as + something happy. Each year, when the spring-time comes and the + young fresh green, I want you to look back on our day at + Versailles, and to say to yourself, 'Life cannot be all sad, + because nature gave the earth the returning spring.' And some + spring must come for us, too--if only in our hearts. + + "And now, O my beloved, good-bye! I cannot even tell to you the + anguish which is wringing my heart. It is all summed up in this. I + love you! I love you! and we must say forever a farewell! + + "THEODORA. + + "P.S.--I am sending this to your home." + +As he read the last words the paper slipped from Josiah's nerveless +hands, and for many minutes he sat as one stricken blind and dumb. Then +his poor, plebeian figure seemed to crumple up, and with an inarticulate +cry of rage and despair he fell forward, with his head upon his +out-stretched arms across the breakfast-table. + +How long he remained there he never knew. It seemed a whole lifetime +later when he began to realize things--to know where he was--to +remember. + +"Oh, God!" he said. "Oh, God!" + +He picked up the letter and read it all over again, weighing every word. + +Who was this thief who had stolen his wife? Hector? Hector? Yes, it was +Lord Bracondale; he remembered now he had heard him called that at +Beechleigh. He would like to kill him. But was he a thief, after all? or +was not--he--Josiah the thief? To have stolen her happiness, and her +life. Her young life that might have been so fair, though how did he +know that at the time! He had never thought of such things. She was what +he desired, and he had bought her with gold. No, he was not a thief, he +had bought her with gold, and because of that she was going to keep to +her bargain, and make him a true and faithful wife. + +"Oh, God!" he said again. "Oh, God!" + +Presently the business method of his life came back to him and helped +him. He must think this matter over carefully and see if there was any +way out. It all looked black enough--his future, that but an hour ago +had seemed so full of promise. He rang for the waiter and gave orders to +have the breakfast things taken away. That accomplished, he requested +that he should not be disturbed upon any pretext whatsoever. And then, +drawn up to his writing-table, he began deliberately to think. + +Yes, from the beginning Theodora had been good and meek and docile. He +remembered a thousand gentle, unselfish things she had done for him. Her +patience, her kindness, her unfailing sympathy in all his ills, the +consideration and respect with which she treated him. When--when could +this thing have begun? In Paris? Only these short weeks ago--was love so +sudden a passion as that? Then he turned to the letter again and once +more read it through. Poor Theodora, poor little girl, he thought. His +anger was gone now; nothing remained but an intolerable pain. And this +lord--of her own class--her own class! How that thought hurt. What of +him? He was handsome and young, and just the mate for Theodora. And she +had said good-bye to him, and was going to do her best to make +him--Josiah--happy. He gave a wild laugh. Oh, the mockery of it all, the +mockery of it all! Well, if she could renounce happiness to keep her +word, what could he do for her in return? She must never know of the +mistake she had made in putting the letters into the wrong envelopes. +That he could save her from. But the man? He would know--for he must +have got the note intended for him--Josiah. What must be done about +that? He thought and thought. And at last he drew a sheet of paper +forward and wrote, in his neat, clerklike hand, just a few lines. + +And these were they: + + "MY LORD,--You will have received, I presume, a + communication addressed to you and intended for me. The enclosed + speaks for itself. I send it to you because it is my duty to do so. + If I were a young man, though I am not of your class, I would kill + you. But I am growing old, and my day is over. All I ask of you is + never, _under any circumstances_, to let my wife know of her + mistake about the letters. I do not wish to grieve her, or cause + her more suffering than you have already brought upon her. + "Believe me, + "Yours faithfully, + "JOSIAH BROWN." + +Then he got down the _Peerage_ and found the correct form of +superscription he must place upon the envelope. + +He folded the two letters, his own and Theodora's, and, slipping them +in, sealed the packet with his great seal which was graven with a deep +J.B. And lest he should change his mind, he rang the bell for the +waiter, and had it despatched to the post at once--to be sent by +express. If possible it must reach Lord Bracondale at the same time as +the other letter--Theodora's letter to himself in the wrong envelope. + +And then poor Josiah subsided into his chair again, and suffered and +suffered. He was conscious of nothing else--just intense, overwhelming +suffering. + +When his secretary, from his office in the City, came in about +luncheon-time to transact some important business, he was horrified and +distressed to see the change in his patron; for Josiah looked crumpled +and shrivelled and old. + +"I caught a chill coming from Bessington last night," he explained, "and +I will send for Toplington to give me a draught if you will kindly touch +the bell." + +Then he tried to concentrate his mind on his affairs and get through the +day. But the gray look kept growing and growing, and the secretary +decided towards evening to suggest sending for Theodora. Josiah, +however, would not hear of this. He was not ill, he said, it was merely +a chill; he would be quite restored by a night's rest, and Mrs. Brown +would be with him, anyway, in the morning. Of what use to alarm her +unnecessarily. But he had unfortunately mislaid her letter with the +exact time of her train, so he had better telegraph to her before six +o'clock to make sure. He wrote it out himself. Just: + + "Stupidly mislaid your letter. What time did you say for the + carriage to meet your train? + "JOSIAH." + +And about eight o'clock her reply came, and then he went to bed, +wondering if he had reached the summit of human suffering or if there +would be more to come. + + + + +XXIX + + +Late that night, in the old panelled library at Bracondale, Hector +walked up and down. He, too, was suffering, suffering intensely, his +only grain of comfort being that he was alone. His mother was away in +the north with Anne, and he had the place to himself. In his hand was +Theodora's letter. As Josiah had calculated, knowing cross-country +posts, both his and hers had arrived at the same time. + +Hector paced and paced up and down, his thoughts maddening him. + +And so three people were unhappy now--not he and his beloved one alone. +This was the greater calamity. + +But how he had misjudged Josiah! The common, impossible husband had +behaved with a nobility, a justice, and forbearance which he knew his +own passionate nature would not have been capable of. It had touched him +to the core, and he had written at once in reply, enclosing Theodora's +letter about the arrival of the train. + + "DEAR SIR,--I am overcome with your generosity and your + justice. I thank you for your letter and for your magnanimity in + forwarding the enclosure it contained. I understand and appreciate + the sentiment you express when you say, had you been younger you + would have killed me, and I on my side would have been happy to + offer you any satisfaction you might have wished, and am ready to + do so now if you desire it. At the same time, I would like you to + know, in deed, I have never injured you. My deep and everlasting + grief will be that I have brought pain and sorrow into the life of + a lady who is very dear to us both. My own life is darkened forever + as well, and I am going away out of England for a long time as soon + as I can make my arrangements. I will respect your desire never to + inform your wife of her mistake, and I will not trouble either of + you again. Only, by a later post, I intend to answer her letter and + say farewell. + "Believe me, + "Yours truly, + "BRACONDALE." + +This he had despatched some hours ago, but his last good-bye to Theodora +was not yet written. What could he say to her? How could he tell her of +all the misery and anguish, all the pain which was racking his being; +he, who knew life and most things it could hold, and so could judge of +the fact that nothing, nothing, counted now but herself--and they should +meet no more, and it was the end. A blank, absolute end to all joy. +Nothing to exist upon but the remembrance of an hour or two's bliss and +a few tender kisses. + +And as Josiah had done, he could only say: "Oh, God! Oh, God!" + +On top of his large escritoire there stood a minute and very perfect +copy of the fragment of Psyche, which he had so intensely admired. He +turned to it now as his only consolation; the likeness to Theodora was +strong; the exact same form of face, and the way her hair grew; the pure +line of the cheek, and the angle which the head was set on to the column +of her throat--all might have been chiselled from her. How often had he +seen her looking down like that. Perhaps the only difference at all was +that Theodora's nose was fine, and not so heavy and Greek; otherwise he +had her there in front of him--his Theodora, his gift of the gods, his +Psyche, his soul. And wherever he should wander--if in wildest Africa or +furthest India, in Alaska or Tibet--this little fragment of white marble +should bear him company. + +It calmed him to look at it--the beautiful Greek thing. + +And he sat down and wrote to his loved one his good-bye. + +[Illustration: What Could He Say to Her.] + +He told her of his sorrow and his love, and how he was going away +from England, he did not yet know where, and should be absent many +months, and how forever his thoughts from distant lands would bridge the +space between them, and surround her with tenderness and worship. + +And her letter, he said, should never leave him--her two letters; they +should be dearer to him than his life. He prayed her to take care of +herself, and if at any time she should want him to send for him from the +ends of the earth. Bracondale would always find him, sooner or later, +and he was hers to order as she willed. + +And as he had ended his letter before, so he ended this one now: + + +"For ever and ever your devoted + "LOVER." + + +After this he sat a long time and gazed out upon the night. It was very +dark and cloudy, but in one space above his head two stars shone forth +for a moment in a clear peep of sky, and they seemed to send him a +message of hope. What hope? Was it, as she had said, the thought that +there would be a returning spring--even for them? + + + + +XXX + + +And the summer wore away and the dripping autumn came, and with each +week, each day almost, Josiah seemed to shrivel. + +It was not very noticeable at first, after the ten days of sharp illness +which had prostrated him when he received the fatal letter. + +He appeared to recover almost from that, and they went down to +Bessington Hall at the beginning of July. But there was no further talk +of a second honeymoon. + +Theodora's tenderness and devotion never flagged. If her heart was +broken she could at least keep her word, and try to make her husband +happy. And so each one acted a part, with much zeal for the other's +welfare. + +It was anguish to Josiah to see his wife's sweet face grow whiter and +thinner; she was so invariably bright and cheerful with him, so +considerate of his slightest wish. + +His pride and affection for her had turned into a sort of adoration as +the days wore on. He used to watch her silently from behind a paper, or +when she thought he slept. Then the mask of smiles fell from her, and he +saw the pathetic droop of her young, fair head and the mournful gloom +that would creep into her great, blue eyes. + +And he was the stumbling-block to her happiness. She had sent away the +man she loved in order to stay and be true to him, to minister to his +wants, and do her utmost to render him happy. Oh, what could he do for +her in return? What possible thing? + +He lavished gifts upon her; he lavished gifts upon her sisters, upon her +father; their welfare, he remembered, was part of the bargain. At least +she would know these--her dear ones--had gained by it, and, so far, her +sacrifice had not been in vain. + +This thought comforted him a little. But the constant gnawing ache at +his heart, and the withdrawal of all object to live for, soon began to +tell upon his always feeble constitution. + +Of what use was anything at all? His house or his lands! His pride in +his position--even his title of "squire," which he often heard now. All +were dead-sea fruit, dust and ashes; there never would be any Browns of +Bessington in the years to come. There never would be anything for him, +never any more. + +For a week in September Captain and Mrs. Dominic Fitzgerald had paid +them a visit, and the brilliant bride had cheered them up for a little +and seemed to bring new life with her. She expressed herself as +completely satisfied with her purchase in the way of a husband; it was +just as she had known, three was a lucky number for her, and Dominic was +her soul's mate, and they were going to lead the life they both loved, +of continual movement and change and gayety. + +But the situation at Bessington distressed her. + +"Why, my dear, they are just like a couple of sick paroquets," she said +to her husband. "Mr. Brown don't look long for this world, and Theodora +is a shadow! What in the Lord's name has been happening to them?" + +But Dominic could not enlighten her. Before they left she determined to +ascertain for herself. + +The last evening she said to Theodora, who was bidding her good-night in +her room: + +"I had a letter from your friend Lord Bracondale last week, from Alaska. +He asks for news of you. Did you see him after he came from Paris? He +was only a short while in England, I understand." + +"Yes, we saw him once or twice," said Theodora, "and we made the +acquaintance of his sister." + +"He always seemed to be very fond of her. Is she a nice sort of woman?" + +"Very nice." + +"I hear the mother is clean crazy with him for going off again and not +marrying that heiress they are so set upon. But why should he? He don't +want the money." + +"No," said Theodora. + +"Was he at Beechleigh when you were there?" + +"Yes." + +"And Miss Winmarleigh, too?" + +"Yes, she was there." + +"Oh!" said Mrs. Fitzgerald. "A great lump of a woman, isn't she?" + +"She is rather large." + +This was hopeless--a conversation of this sort--Jane Fitzgerald decided. +It told her nothing. + +Theodora's face had become so schooled it did not, even to her +step-mother's sharp eyes, betray any emotion. + +"I am glad if the folly is over," she thought to herself. "But I +shouldn't wonder if it Wasn't something to do with it still, after all. +If it is not that, what can it be?" Then she said aloud: "He is going +through America, and we shall meet him when we get back in November, +most likely. I shall persuade him to come down to Florida with us, if I +can. He seems to be aimlessly wandering round, I suppose, shooting +things; but Florida is the loveliest place in the world, and I wish you +and Josiah would come, too, my dear." + +"That would be beautiful," said Theodora, "but Josiah is not fit for a +long journey. We shall go to the Riviera, most probably, when the +weather gets cold." + +"Have you no message for him then, Theodora, when I see him?" + +And now there was some sign. Theodora clasped her hands together, and +she said in a constrained voice: + +"Yes. Tell him I hope he is well--and I am well--just that," and she +walked ever to the dressing-table and picked up a brush, and put it down +again nervously. + +"I shall tell him no such thing," said her step-mother, kindly, "because +I don't believe it is true. You are not well, dear child, and I am +worried about you." + +But Theodora assured her that she was, and all was as it should be, and +nothing further could be got out of her; so they kissed and wished each +other good-night. And Jane Fitzgerald, left to herself, heaved a great +sigh. + +Next day, after this cheery pair had gone, things seemed to take a +deeper gloom. + +The mention of Hector's name and whereabouts had roused Theodora's +dormant sorrows into activity again; and with all her will and +determination to hide her anguish, Josiah could perceive an added note +of pathos in her voice at times and less and less elasticity in her +step. + +Once he would have noticed none of these things, but now each shade of +difference in her made its impression upon him. + +And so the time wore on, their hearts full of an abiding grief. + +When October set in Josiah caught a bad cold, which obliged him to keep +to his bed for days and days. He did not seem very ill, and assured his +wife he would be all right soon; but by November, Sir Baldwin Evans, who +was sent for hurriedly from London, broke it gently to Theodora that her +husband could not live through the winter. He might not even live for +many days. Then she wept bitter tears. Had she been remiss in anything? +What could she do for him? Oh, poor Josiah! + +And Josiah knew that his day was done, as he lay there in his splendid, +silk-curtained bed. But life had become of such small worth to him that +he was almost glad. + +"Now, soon she can be happy--my little girl," he said to himself, "with +the one of her class. It does not do to mix them, and I was a fool to +try. But her heart is too kind ever to quite forget poor old Josiah +Brown." + +And this thought comforted him. And that night he died. + +Then Theodora wept her heart out as she kissed his cold, thin hand. + +When they got the telegram in New York at Mrs. Fitzgerald's mansion, +Hector was just leaving the house, and Captain Fitzgerald ran after him +down the steps. + +"My son-in-law, Josiah Brown, is dead," he said. "My wife thought you +would be interested to hear. Poor fellow, he was not very old +either--only fifty-two." + +Hector almost staggered for a moment, and leaned against the gilded +balustrade. Then he took off his hat reverently, while he said, in his +deep, expressive voice: + +"There lived no greater gentleman." + +And Captain Fitzgerald wondered if he were mad or what he could mean, +as he watched him stride away down the street. + +But when he told his wife, she understood, for she had just learned from +Hector the whole story. + +And perhaps--who knows? Far away in Shadowland Josiah heard those words, +"There lived no greater gentleman." And if he did--they fell like balm +on his sad soul. + + + + +XXXI + + +It was eighteen months after this before they met again--Hector and +Theodora; and now it was May, and the flowers bloomed and the birds +sang, and all the world was young and fair--only Morella Winmarleigh was +growing into a bitter old maid. + +At twenty-eight people might have taken her for a matron of ten years +older. + +She had wondered for weeks what was the result of her action with the +letters. She hoped daily to hear of some catastrophe and scandal falling +upon the head of Theodora. But she heard nothing. It was only after +Josiah's death that details were wafted to her through the Fitzgeralds. + +How poor Mr. Brown had never really recovered from a slight stroke he +had had on leaving Beechleigh, and of Theodora's goodness and devotion +to him, and of his worship of her. And Morella had the maddening feeling +that if she had left well alone this death might never have occurred, +and her hated rival might not now be a free and beautiful widow, with +no impediment between herself and Hector when they should choose to +meet. + +She had meant to be revenged and punish them, and it seemed she had only +cleared their path to happiness. There was really no justice in this +world! + +Theodora had gone to meet her father and step-mother in Paris. + +Her sisters were married and very happy, she hoped. Prosperity had +wonderfully embellished their attractions, and even Sarah had found a +mate. + +And Lady Bracondale remained her placid, stately self. Her grief and +disappointment over Hector's departure from England had passed away by +now, as so had her treasured dream of receiving Morella Winmarleigh as a +daughter. But Anne whispered to her that she need not worry forever, and +some day soon her brother might choose a bride whom even she would love. + +Hector had continued his wanderings over the world for many months after +Josiah's death. He felt, should he return to England, nothing could keep +him from Theodora. + +And she, too, had travelled and explored fresh scenes, and was now a +supremely beautiful and experienced woman--courted and flattered, and +besieged by many adorers. + +But she was still Theodora, with only one love in her heart and one +dream in her soul--to meet Hector again and spend the rest of her life +in the shelter of his arms. + +She heard of him often through her step-mother; and sometimes she saw +Anne--and both Hector and she understood, and knew the time would come +when they could be happy. + +Jane Anastasia Fitzgerald had romantic notions. This pretty pair, whom +she looked upon as of her own producing, must meet again under her +auspices in like circumstances as they had done on the happy and +never-to-be-forgotten day when she herself had promised her heart and +hand to Dominic Fitzgerald. + +"There is something lucky about Versailles," she said, "and they shall +experience it, too!" + +So she planned a picnic, and arranged it with Hector before he reached +Paris. He was not to show himself or communicate with Theodora; he was +just to be there at the Réservoirs and wait for their arrival. + +And the gods smiled--and the day was fine--and the trees were green--as +had been another day, two years ago. + +And oh, the wild, mad joy that surged up in their hearts when their eyes +met once more! + +They could not speak, it seemed, even the words of politeness; so they +wandered away into the spring woods, silent and glad; and it was not +until they reached the shrine of old Enceladus that Hector clasped +Theodora again in his arms, and gave rein to all the passionate love and +delirious happiness which was flooding his being. + +There one can leave them--together--for always--looking out upon the +realization of that fair dream of life. + +Safe in each other's arms, in those smooth waters, beyond the rocks. + +THE END + + + + * * * * * + + +A beautifully illustrated edition of + +THREE WEEKS + +The Famous Romantic Novel + +By Elinor Glyn + +Now ready at the same price as "Beyond the Rocks" + +The world has felt upon its hot lips the perfumed kisses of the +beautiful heroine of "Three Weeks." The brilliant flame that was her +life has blazed a path into every corner of the globe. It is a +world-renowned novel of consuming emotion that has made the name of its +author, Elinor Glyn, the most discussed of all writers of modern +fiction. + +WHAT THE CRITICS HAVE SAID ABOUT IT + +Percival Pollard in _Town Topics_: + +"It is a book to make one forget that the world is gray. Be as sad, as +sane as you like, for all the other days of your life, but steal one mad +day, I adjure you, and read 'Three Weeks.'" + +_The Western Christian Advocate_: + +"The power and beauty of its descriptions and the pathos of its scenes +are undeniable." + +_The Brooklyn Eagle_: + +"A cleverly told tale, full of dainty sentiment, of poetic dreaming and +dramatic incident." + +_The San Francisco Argonaut_: + +"We feel inclined to throw at her (the heroine) neither stones nor +laurels, but rather to congratulate the author upon a powerful story +that lays a grip upon the mind and heart." + +_The Detroit Free Press_: + +"No wonder that 'Three Weeks' is one of the best sellers." + + + ++They Were Alone....+ + +The magic of the desert night had closed about them. Cairo, +friends,--civilization as she knew it--were left far behind. She, an +unbeliever, was in the heart of the trackless wastes with a man whose +word was more than law. + +And yet, he was her slave! + +"I shall ask nothing of you until you shall love me," he promised. "You +shall draw your curtains, and until you call, you shall go undisturbed." + +And she believed him! + +Do you want to see luxury beyond your imagination to conjure,--feel the +softness of silks finer than the gossamer web of the spider--hear the +night voices of the throbbing desert, or sway to the jolting of the +clanking caravan? + +Egypt, Arabia pass before your eyes. The impatient cursing of the camel +men comes to your ears. Your nostrils quiver in the acrid smoke of the +little fires of dung that flare in the darkness when the caravan halts. +The night has shut off prying eyes. Yashmaks are lowered. White flesh +gleams against burnished bands of gold. The children of Allah are at +home. + +And the promise he had given her?... let Joan Conquest, who knows and +loves the East, tell you in + ++DESERT LOVE+ + +_For sale wherever books are sold, or from_ + ++The Macaulay Company+ + ++PUBLISHERS+ + ++15-17 W. 38th St.+ +New York+ + + + +_+"I have owned a hundred women!"+_ he answered defiantly. + +The girl recoiled as from a blow. Was this man who paraded his conquests +before her the same one who had feasted so freely on her lips that +moonlit night in Grand Canary? + +She was his prisoner now. He had stolen her and brought her to his +stronghold in the desert. Her father was also a captive. Pansy Langham's +life had crashed in ruins about her. What good were her millions now? +The mask had been removed. Raoul Le-Breton was the Sultan Casim El +Ammeh!--a Mohammedan! + +And yet she wanted no man's kisses but his. Love for him consumed her, +but race and religion stood between them. + +Little did she guess that the Arab had foreseen this minute, that he had +trailed her father, Sir George for fifteen years. The Englishman, a +captain at the time, had killed his father. Casim El Ammeh had not +forgotten. Revenge was his at last! + +He had intended having his way with her and then selling her as a +slave--a fate more cruel than a white man could conceive. But love--an +emotion an Arab scoffs at--had come to thwart him. Was he to forego his +oath of an eye for an eye, or open the doors of his harem and seek +forgetfulness? + +_Read_ + ++A Son of the Sahara+ + ++By Louise Gerard+ + +Who gives you the real thrill of the Great Desert + +_For Sale wherever books are sold or from_ + ++THE MACAULAY COMPANY+ + ++PUBLISHERS+ + ++15-17 W. 38th Street+ +New York+ + + + ++FAMOUS NOVELS BY VICTORIA CROSS+ + ++LIFE'S SHOP WINDOW+ + +It tears the garments of conventionality from woman, presenting her as +she must appear to the Divine Eye. + ++HILDA AGAINST THE WORLD+ + +Fancy a married man, denied divorce by law, falling desperately in love +with a charming maiden waiting for love. + ++A GIRL OF THE KLONDIKE+ + +A stirring story of love, intrigue and adventure, woven about a proud, +reckless heroine. + ++SIX WOMEN+ + +A half-dozen of the most vivid love stories that ever lit up the dusk of +a tired civilization. + ++THE NIGHT OF TEMPTATION+ + +The self-sacrifice of woman in love. Regina, the heroine, gives herself +to a man for his own sake. The world, however, exacts a severe price for +her unconventional conduct. + ++SIX CHAPTERS OF A MAN'S LIFE+ + +A bold, brilliant, defiant presentation of the relations of men and +women who find themselves in situations never before conceived. + ++TO-MORROW+ + +A daring innovation of great strength and almost photographic intensity, +that appeals to the lovers of sensational fiction; wise, witty, yet +touchingly pathetic. + ++DAUGHTERS OF HEAVEN+ + +As life cannot be described, but must be lived, so this book cannot be +revealed--it must be read. Its daring situations and tense moments will +thrill you. + ++OVER LIFE'S EDGE+ + +No one but Victoria Cross could have written this thrilling tale of a +girl who left the gayeties of London to dwell in a lonely cavern until +the man, who loved her with the passion of impetuous youth, found her. + ++THE LIFE SENTENCE+ + +A beautifully written story, full of life, nature, passion and pathos. +The weaknesses of a proud, cultured woman lead to a strange climax. + ++THE MACAULAY COMPANY+ + ++15-17 West 38th Street+ +New York+ + ++Send for Free Illustrated Catalog+ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Beyond The Rocks, by Elinor Glyn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEYOND THE ROCKS *** + +***** This file should be named 16692-8.txt or 16692-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/9/16692/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Verity White and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Beyond The Rocks + A Love Story + +Author: Elinor Glyn + +Release Date: September 14, 2005 [EBook #16692] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEYOND THE ROCKS *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Verity White and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<p><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a></p><p><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a></p><p><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a></p><p><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a></p><p><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a></p><p><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a></p><p><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a></p><p><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a></p><p><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a></p><p><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a></p><p><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a></p> + +<p><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a></p> +<p><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a></p> + + +<h1><i>Beyond the Rocks</i></h1> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 347px;"> +<img src="images/illus1.png" width="347" height="550" alt="Rodolph Valentino, as Lord Bracondale and Elinor Glyn, +the author." title="Rodolph Valentino, as Lord Bracondale and Elinor Glyn, +the author." /> +<span class="caption">Rodolph Valentino, as Lord Bracondale and Elinor Glyn, +the author.</span> +</div> +<p><a name="illus1"></a></p> + + +<h2><i>Beyond the Rocks</i></h2> + +<h3><i>A Love Story</i></h3> + +<h4><i>by</i></h4> + +<h2><i>Elinor Glyn</i></h2> + +<p class="center"><i>Author of +"Three Weeks"</i></p> + +<p class="center"><i>With illustrations +From the Paramount Photo-Play</i></p> + +<p class="center"><i>Produced by<a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a> +Famous Players-Lasky Corp.</i></p> + +<p class="center"><i>starring +Gloria Swanson with Rodolph Valentino</i></p> + +<p class="center"><i>New York +The Macaulay Company</i></p> +<p class="center">Printed in the U.S.A.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ILLUSTRATIONS" id="ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + + + +<table cellpadding="1" cellspacing="5"> +<tr> +<td></td> +<td>FACING PAGE</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Rodolph Valentino, as Lord Bracondale and Elinor Glyn, the +author</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#illus1"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>"She Wondered What Love Was—"</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#illus2">8</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>"Once Upon a Time There Was a Fairy Prince and Princess—"</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#illus3">96</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>What Could He Say to Her—</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#illus4">314</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Beyond_the_Rocks" id="Beyond_the_Rocks"></a><i>Beyond the Rocks</i></h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2> + + +<p>The hours were composed mostly of dull or rebellious moments during the +period of Theodora's engagement to Mr. Brown. From the very first she +had thought it hard that she should have had to take this situation, +instead of Sarah or Clementine, her elder step-sisters, so much nearer +his age than herself. To do them justice, either of these ladies would +have been glad to relieve her of the obligation to become Mrs. Brown, +but Mr. Brown thought otherwise.</p> + +<p>A young and beautiful wife was what he bargained for.</p> + +<p>To enter a family composed of three girls—two of the first f<a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>amily, one +almost thirty and a second very plain—a father with a habit of +accumulating debts and obliged to live at Bruges and inexpensive foreign +sea-side towns, required a strong motive; and this Josiah Brown found +in the deliciously rounded, white velvet cheek of Theodora, the third +daughter, to say nothing of her slender grace, the grace of a young +fawn, and a pair of gentian-blue eyes that said things to people in the +first glance.</p> + +<p>Poor, foolish, handsome Dominic Fitzgerald, light-hearted, débonair +Irish gentleman, gay and gallant on his miserable pension of a broken +and retired Guardsman, had had just sufficient sense to insist upon +magnificent settlements, certainly prompted thereto by Clementine, who +inherited the hard-headedness of the early defunct Scotch mother, as +well as her high cheek-bones. That affair had been a youthful +<i>mésalliance</i>.</p> + +<p>"You had better see we all gain something by it, papa," she had said. +"Make the old bore give Theodora a huge allowance, and have it all fixed +and settled by law beforehand. She is such a fool about money—just like +you—she will shower it upon us; and you make him pay you a sum down as +well."</p> + +<p>Captain Fitzgerald fortunately<a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a> consulted an honest solicitor, and so +things were arranged to the satisfaction of all parties concerned except +Theodora herself, who found the whole affair <a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>far from her taste.</p> + +<p>That one must marry a rich man if one got the chance, to help poor, +darling papa, had always been part of her creed, more or less inspired +by papa himself. But when it came to the scratch, and Josiah Brown was +offered as a husband, Theodora had had to use every bit of her nerve and +self-control to prevent herself from refusing.</p> + +<p>She had not seen many men in her nineteen years of out-at-elbows life, +but she had imagination, and the one or two peeps at smart old friends +of papa's, landed from stray yachts now and then, at out-of-the-way +French watering-places, had given her an ideal far, far removed from the +personality of Josiah Brown.</p> + +<p>But, as Sarah explained to her, such men could never be husbands. They +might be lovers, if one was fortunate enough to move in their sphere, +but husbands—never! and there was no use Theodora protesting this +violent devotion to darling papa, if she could not do a small thing like +marrying Josiah Brown for him!</p> + +<p>Theodora's beautiful mother, dead in the first year of her runaway +marriage, had been the daughter of a stiff-necked, unforgiving old earl; +she had bequeathed her child, besides these gentian eyes and wonderful, +silvery blond hair, a warm, generous heart and a more or less romantic +temperament.</p> +<p><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a></p> +<p>The heart was touched by darling papa's needs, and the romantic +temperament revolted by Josiah Brown's personality.</p> + +<p>However, there it was! The marriage took place at the Consulate at +Dieppe, and a perfectly miserable little bride got into the train for +Paris, accompanied by a fat, short, prosperous, middle-class English +husband, who had accumulated a large fortune in Australia, quite by +accident, in a comparatively few years.</p> + +<p>Josiah Brown was only fifty-two, though his head was bald and his figure +far from slight. He had a liver, a chest, and a temper, and he adored +Theodora.</p> + +<p>Captain Fitzgerald had felt a few qualms when he had wished his little +daughter good-bye on the platform and had seen the blue stars swimming +with tears. The two daughters left to him were so plain, and he hated +plain people about him; but, on the other hand, women must marry, and +what chance had he, poor, unlucky devil, of establishing his Theodora +better in life?</p> +<p><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a></p> +<p>Josiah Brown was a good fellow, and he, Dominic Fitzgerald, had for the +first time for many years a comfortable balance at his bankers, and +could run up to Paris himself in a few days, and who knows, the American +widow, fabulously rich—Jane Anastasia McBride—might take him +seriously!</p> + +<p>Captain Dominic Fitzgerald was irresistible, and had that fortunate +knack of looking like a gentleman in the oldest clothes. If married for +the third time—but this time prosperously, to a fabulously rich +American—his well-born relations would once more welcome him with open +arms, he felt sure, and visions of the best pheasant shoots at old +Beechleigh, and partridge drives at Rothering Castle floated before his +eyes, quite obscuring the fading smoke of the Paris train.</p> + +<p>"A pretty tough, dull affair marriage," he said to himself, reminded +once more of Theodora by treading on a white rose in the station. "Hope +to Heavens Sarah prepared her for it a bit." Then he got into a <i>fiacre</i> +and drove to the hotel, where he and the two remaining Misses Fitzgerald +were living in the style of their forefathers.</p> + +<p>Josiah Brown's valet, Mr. Toplington, who knew the world, had engaged +rooms for the happy couple at the Grand Hotel. "We'll go to the Ritz on +our way back," he decided, "but at first, in case there's scenes and +tears, it's better to be <a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>a number than a name." Mademoiselle Henriette, +the freshly engaged French maid, quite agreed with him. The Grand, she +said, was "<i>plus convenable pour une lune de Miel</i>—" Lune de Miel!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2> + + +<p>It was a year later before Theodora saw her family again. A very severe +attack of bronchitis, complicated by internal catarrh, prostrated Josiah +Brown in the first days of their marriage, and had turned her into a +superintendent nurse for the next three months; by that time a winter at +Hyères was recommended by the best physicians, and off they started.</p> + +<p>Hyères, with a semi-invalid, a hospital nurse, and quantities of +medicine bottles and draught-protectors, is not the ideal place one +reads of in guide-books. Theodora grew to hate the sky and the blue +Mediterranean. She used to sit on her balcony at Costebelle and gaze at +the olive-trees, and the deep-green velvet patch of firs beyond, towards +the sea, and wonder at life.</p> + +<p>She longed to go to the islands—anywhere beyon<a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>d—and one day she read +<i>Jean d'Agrève</i>; and after that she wondered what Love was. It took a +mighty hold upon her imagination. It seemed to her it must mean Life.</p> + +<p>It was the beginning of May before Josiah Brown thought of leaving for +Paris. England would be their destination, but the doctors assured him a +month of Paris would break the change of climate with more safety than +if they crossed the Channel at once.</p> + +<p>Costebelle was a fairyland of roses as they drove to the station, and +peace had descended upon Theodora. She had fallen into her place, a +place occupied by many wives before her with irritable, hypochondriacal +husbands.</p> + +<p>She had often been to Paris in her maiden days; she knew it from the +point of view of a cheap boarding-house and snatched meals. But the +unchecked gayety of the air and the <i>façon</i> had not been tarnished by +that. She had played in the Tuilleries Gardens and watched Ponchinello +at the Rond Point, and later been taken once or twice to dine at a cheap +café in the Bois by papa. And once she had gone to Robinson on a coach +with him and some aristocratic acquaintances of his, and eaten luncheon +up the tree, and that was a day of the gods and to be remembered.</p> + +<p>But now they were going to an expensive, well-managed private hotel in +the Avenue du Bois, suitable to invalids, and it poured with rain as +they drove from the Gare de Lyon.</p><p><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 347px;"> +<img src="images/illus2.png" width="347" height="547" alt=""She Wondered What Love Was."" title=""She Wondered What Love Was."" /> +<span class="caption">"She Wondered What Love Was."</span> +</div> +<p><a name="illus2"></a></p> + +<p>All this time something in Theodora was developing. Her beautiful face +had an air of dignity. The set of her little Greek head would have +driven a sculptor wild—and Josiah Brown was very generous in money +matters, and she had always known how to wear her clothes, so it was no +wonder people stopped and turned their heads when she passed.</p> + +<p>Josiah Brown possessed certainly not less than forty thousand a year, +and so felt he could afford a carriage in Paris, and any other fancy he +pleased. His nerves had been too shaken by his illness to appreciate the +joys of an automobile.</p> + +<p>Thus, daily might be seen in the Avenue des Acacias this ill-assorted +pair, seated in a smart victoria with stepping horses, driving slowly up +and down. And a number of people took an interest in them.</p> + +<p>Towards the middle of May Captain Fitzgerald arrived at the Continental, +and Theodora felt her heart beat with joy when she saw his handsome, +well-groomed head.</p> +<p><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a></p> +<p>Oh yes, it had been indeed worth while to make papa look so prosperous +as that—so prosperous and happy—dear, gay papa!</p> + +<p>He was about the same age as her husband, but no one would think of +taking him for more than forty. And what a figure he had! and what +manners! And when he patted her cheek Theodora felt at once that thrill +of pride and gratification she had always experienced when he was +pleased with her, from her youngest days.</p> + +<p>She was almost glad Sarah and Clementine should have remained at Dieppe. +Thus she could have papa all to herself, and oh, what presents she would +send them back by him when he returned!</p> + +<p>Josiah Brown despised Dominic Fitzgerald, and yet stood in awe of him as +well. A man who could spend a fortune and be content to live on odds and +ends for the rest of his life must be a poor creature. But, on the other +hand, there was that uncomfortable sense of breeding about him which +once, when Captain Fitzgerald had risen to a situation of dignity during +their preliminary conversations about Theodora's hand, had made Josiah +Brown unconsciously say "Sir" to him.</p> + +<p>He had blushed and bitten his tongue for doing it, and had blustered and +patron<a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a>ized immoderately afterwards, but he never forgot the incident. +They were not birds of a feather, and never would be, though the +exquisite manners of Dominic Fitzgerald could carry any situation.</p> + +<p>Josiah was not altogether pleased to see his father-in-law. He even +experienced a little jealousy. Theodora's face, which generally wore a +mask of gentle, solicitous meekness for him, suddenly sparkled and +rippled with laughter, as she pinched her papa's ears, and pulled his +mustache, and purred into his neck, with joy at their meeting.</p> + +<p>It was that purring sound and those caressing tricks that Josiah Brown +objected to. He had never received any of them himself, and so why +should Dominic Fitzgerald?</p> + +<p>Captain Fitzgerald, for his part, was enchanted to clasp his beautiful +daughter once more in his arms; he had always loved Theodora, and when +he saw her so quite too desirable-looking in her exquisite clothes, he +felt a very fine fellow himself, thinking what he had done for her.</p> + +<p>It was not an unnatural circumstance that he should look upon the idea +of a dinner at the respectable private hotel, with his son-in-law and +daughter, as a trifle dull for Paris, or that he should have suggested a +meal at the Ritz would do them both good.</p> +<p><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a></p> +<p>"Come and dine with me instead, my dear child," he said, with his grand +air. "Josiah, you must begin to go out a little and shake off your +illness, my dear fellow."</p> + +<p>But Josiah was peevish.</p> + +<p>Not to-night—certainly not to-night. It was the evening he was to take +the two doses of his new medicine, one half an hour after the other, and +he could not leave the hotel. Then he saw how poor Theodora's face fell, +and one of his sparks of consideration for the feelings of others came +to him, and he announced gruffly that his wife might go with her father, +if she pleased, provided she crept into her room, which was next door to +his own, without the least noise on her return.</p> + +<p>"I must not be disturbed in my first sleep," he said; and Theodora +thanked him rapturously.</p> + +<p>It was so good of him to let her go—she would, indeed, make not the +least noise, and she danced out of the room to get ready in a way Josiah +Brown had never seen her do before. And after she had gone—Captain +Fitzgerald came back to fetch her—this fact rankled with him and +prevented his sleep for more than twenty minutes.</p> + +<p>"My sweet child," said Captain Fitzgeral<a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>d, when he was seated beside his +daughter in her brougham, rolling down the Champs-Elysées, "you must not +be so grateful; he won't let you out again if you are."</p> + +<p>"Oh, papa!" said Theodora.</p> + +<p>They arrived at the Ritz just at the right moment. It was a lovely +night, but rather cold, so there were no diners in the garden, and the +crowd from the restaurant extended even into the hall.</p> + +<p>It was an immense satisfaction to Dominic Fitzgerald to walk through +them all with this singularly beautiful young woman, and to remark the +effect she produced, and his cup of happiness was full when they came +upon a party at the lower end by the door; prominent, as hostess, being +Jane Anastasia McBride—the fabulously rich American widow.</p> + +<p>In a second of time he reviewed the situation; a faint coldness in his +manner would be the thing to draw—and it was; for when he had greeted +Mrs. McBride without gush, and presented his daughter with the air of +just passing on, the widow implored them with great cordiality to leave +their solitary meal and join her party. Nor would she hear of any +refusal.</p> + +<p>The whole scene was so novel and delightful to Theodor<a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>a she cared not at +all whether her father accepted or no, so long as she might sit quietly +and observe the world.</p> + +<p>Mrs. McBride had perceived immediately that the string of pearls round +Mrs. Josiah Brown's neck could not have cost less than nine thousand +pounds, and that her frock, although so simple, was the last and most +expensive creation of Callot Sœurs. She had always been horribly +attracted by Captain Fitzgerald, ever since that race week at Trouville +two summers ago, and fate had sent them here to-night, and she meant to +enjoy herself.</p> + +<p>Captain Fitzgerald acceded to her request with his usual polished ease, +and the radiant widow presented the rest of her guests to the two +new-comers.</p> + +<p>The tall man with the fierce beard was Prince Worrzoff, married to her +niece, Saidie Butcher. Saidie Butcher was short, and had a voice you +could hear across the room. The sleek, fair youth with the twinkling +gray eyes was an Englishman from the Embassy. The disagreeable-looking +woman in the badly made mauve silk was his sister, Lady Hildon. The +stout, hook-nosed bird of prey with the heavy gold chain was a Western +millionaire, and the smiling girl was his daughter. Then, last of all, +came Lord Bracondale—and it was when he was presented that Theodora +first began to take an i<a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a>nterest in the party.</p> + +<p>Hector, fourteenth Lord Bracondale of Bracondale (as she later that +night read in the <i>Peerage</i>) was aged thirty-one years. He had been +educated at Eton and Oxford, served for some time in the Fourth +Lifeguards, been unpaid attaché at St. Petersburg, was patron of five +livings, and sat in the House of Lords as Baron Bracondale; creation, +1505; seat, Bracondale Chase. Brothers, none. Sister living, Anne +Charlotte, married to the fourth Earl of Anningford.</p> + +<p>Theodora read all this over twice, and also even the predecessors and +collateral branches—but that was while she burned the midnight oil and +listened to the snorts and coughs of Josiah Brown, slumbering next door.</p> + +<p>For the time being she raised her eyes and looked into Lord +Bracondale's, and something told her they were the nicest eyes she had +ever seen in this world.</p> + +<p>Then when a voluble French count had rushed up, with garrulous apologies +for being late, the party was complete, and they swept into the +restaurant.</p> + +<p>Theodora sat between the Western millionaire and the Russian Prince, but +beyond—it was a round table, only just big enough to hold them—came +her hostess and Lord Bracondale, and two or three times at dinner they +spoke, and very often she felt his eyes fixed<a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a> upon her.</p> + +<p>Mrs. McBride, like all American widows, was an admirable hostess; the +conversation never flagged, or the gayety for one moment.</p> + +<p>The Western millionaire was shrewd, and announced some quaint truths +while he picked his teeth with an audible sound.</p> + +<p>"This is his first visit to Europe," Princess Worrzoff said afterwards +to Theodora by way of explanation. "He is so colossally rich he don't +need to worry about such things at his time of life; but it does make me +turn to hear him."</p> + +<p>Captain Fitzgerald was in his element. No guest shone so brilliantly as +he. His wit was delicate, his sallies were daring, his looks were +insinuating, and his appearance was perfection.</p> + +<p>Theodora had every reason to tingle with pride in him, and the widow +felt her heart beat.</p> + +<p>"Isn't he just too bright—your father, Mrs. Brown?" she said as they +left the restaurant to have their coffee in the hall. "You must let me +see quantities of you while we are all in Paris together. It is a lovely +city; don't you agree with me?"</p> +<p><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a></p> +<p>And Theodora did.</p> + +<p>Lord Bracondale was of the same breed as Captain Fitzgerald—that is, +they neither of them permitted themselves to be superseded by any other +man with the object of their wishes. When they wanted to talk to a woman +they did, if twenty French counts or Russian princes stood in the way! +Thus it was that for the rest of the evening Theodora found herself +seated upon a sofa in close proximity to the man who had interested her +at dinner, and Mrs. McBride and Captain Fitzgerald occupied two +arm-chairs equally well placed, while the rest of the party made general +conversation.</p> + +<p>Hector Bracondale, among other attractions, had a charming voice; it was +deep and arresting, and he had a way of looking straight into the eyes +of the person he was talking to.</p> + +<p>Theodora knew at once he belonged to the tribe whom Sarah had told her +could never be husbands.</p> + +<p>She wondered vaguely why, all the time she was talking to him. Why had +husbands always to be bores and unattractive, and sometimes even simply +revolting, like hers? Was it because these beautiful creatures could not +be bound to any one woman? It seemed to her unsophisticated mind that +it could be very nice to be marr<a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a>ied to one of them; but there was no use +fighting against fate, and she personally was wedded to Josiah Brown.</p> + +<p>Lord Bracondale's conversation pleased her. He seemed to understand +exactly what she wanted to talk about; he saw all the things she saw +and—he had read <i>Jean d'Agrève</i>!—they got to that at the end of the +first half-hour, and then she froze up a little; some instinct told her +it was dangerous ground, so she spoke suddenly of the weather, in a +banal voice.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, from the beginning of dinner, Lord Bracondale had been saying +to himself she was the loveliest white flower he had yet struck in a +path of varied experiences. Her eyes so innocent and true, wit<a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a>h the +tender expression of a fawn; the perfect turn of her head and slender +pillar of a throat; her grace and gentleness, all appealed to him in a +maddening way.</p> + +<p>"She is asleep to the whole of life's possibilities," he thought. "What +can her husband be about, and <i>what</i> an intoxicatingly agreeable task to +wake her up!"</p> + +<p>He had lived among the world where the awaking of young wives, or old +wives, or any woman who could please man, was the natural course of the +day. It never even struck him then it might be a cruel thing to do. A +woman once married was always fair game; if the husband could not retain +her affections that was his lookout.</p> + +<p>Hector Bracondale was not a brute, just an ordinary Englishman of the +world, who had lived and loved and seen many lands.</p> + +<p>He read Theodora like an open book: he knew exactly why she had talked +about the weather after <i>Jean d'Agrève</i>. It thrilled him to see her soft +eyes dreamy and luminous when they first spoke of the book, and it +flattered him when she changed the conversation.</p> + +<p>As for Theodora, she analyzed nothing, she only felt that perhaps she +ought not to speak about love to one of those people who could never be +husbands.</p> + +<p>Captain <a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>Fitzgerald, meanwhile, was making tremendous headway with the +widow. He flattered her vanity, he entertained her intelligence, and he +even ended by letting her see she was causing him, personally, great +emotion.</p> + +<p>At last this promising evening came to an end. The Russian Prince, with +his American Princess, got up to say good-night, and gradually the party +broke up, but not before Captain Fitzgerald had arranged to meet Mrs. +McBride at Doucet's in the morning, and give her the benefit of his +taste and experience in a further shopping expedition to buy old +bronzes.</p> + +<p>"We can all breakfast together at Henry's," he said, with his grand +manner, which included the whole party; and for one instant force of +habit made Theodora's heart sink with fear at the prospect of the bill, +as it had often had to do in olden days when her father gave these royal +invitations. Then she remembered she had not been sacrificed to Josiah +Brown for nothing, and that even if dear, generous papa should happen to +be a little hard up again, a few hundred francs would be nothing to her +to slip into his hand before starting.</p> + +<p>The rest of the party, however, declined. They wer<a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>e all busy elsewhere, +except Lord Bracondale and the French Count—they would come, with +pleasure, they said.</p> + +<p>Theodora wondered what Josiah would say. Would he go? and if not, would +he let her go? This was more important.</p> + +<p>"Then we shall meet at breakfast to-morrow," Lord Bracondale said, as he +helped her on with her cloak. "That will give me something to look +forward to."</p> + +<p>"Will it?" she said, and there was trouble in the two blue stars which +looked up at him. "Perhaps I shall not be able to come; my husband is +rather an invalid, and—"</p> + +<p>But he interrupted her.</p> + +<p>"Something tells me you will come; it is fate," he said, and his voice +was grave and tender.</p> + +<p>And Theodora, who had never before had the opportunity of talking about +destiny, and other agreeable subjects, with beautiful Englishmen who +could only be—lovers—felt the red blood ru<a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>sh to her cheeks and a +thrill flutter her heart. So she quickened her steps and kept close to +her father, who could have dispensed with this mark of affection.</p> + +<p>"Dearest child," he said, when they were seated in the brougham, "you +are married now and should be able to look after yourself, without +staying glued to my side so much—it is rather bourgeois."</p> + +<p>Poor Theodora was crushed and did not try to excuse herself.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid Josiah won't go, papa dear," she said, timidly; "and in +case he does not allow me to either, I want you to have these few louis, +just for the breakfast. I know how generous you are, and how difficult +things have been made for you, darling." And she nestled to his side +and slipped about eight gold pieces, which she had fortunately found in +her purse, into his hand.</p> + +<p>Captain Fitzgerald was still a gentleman, although a good many edges of +his sensitive perceptions had been rubbed off.</p> + +<p>He kissed his daughter fondly while he murmured: "Merely a loan, my pet, +merely a loan. You were always a jewel to your old father!"</p> +<p><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a></p> +<p>Whenever her parent accused himself of being "old," Theodora knew he was +deeply touched, and her tender heart overflowed with gladness that she +was able to smooth the path of such a darling papa.</p> + +<p>"I will come and see you in the morning, my child," he said, as they +stopped at the door of her hotel, "and I will manage Josiah."</p> + +<p>So Theodora crept up to her apartment, comforted; and in the salon it +was she caught sight of the <i>Peerage</i>.</p> + +<p>Josiah Brown bought one every year and travelled with it, although until +he met the Fitzgerald family he had not known a single person connected +with it; but it pleased him to be able to look up his wife's name, and +to read that her mother was the daughter of a real live earl and her +father the brother of a baronet.</p> + +<p>"Hector! I like the name of Hector," were the last coherent thoughts +which floated through the brain of Theodora before sleep closed her +broad, white lids.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Lord Bracondale had gone on to sup at the Café de Paris, with +Marion de Beauvoison and Esclarmonde de Chartres; and among the diamonds +and pearls and scents and feathers he suddenly felt a burning disgust, +and a longing to be out again in the moo<a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>nlight—alone with his thoughts.</p> + +<p>"Mais qu'as tu, mon vieux chou?" they said. "Ce bel Hector chéri—il a +un béguin pour quelqu'un—mais ce n'est pas pour nous autres!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2> + + +<p>Josiah Brown cut the top off his <i>œuf à la coque</i> with a knife at his +<i>premier déjeuner</i> next day. The knife grated on the shell in a +determined way, and Theodora felt her heart sink at the prospect of +broaching the subject of the breakfast at the Café Henry.</p> + +<p>"I am so glad the rain has stopped," she said, nervously. "It was +raining when I woke this morning."</p> + +<p>"Indeed," replied Josiah. "And what kind of an evening did you pass with +that father of yours?"</p> + +<p>"A ve<a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>ry pleasant one," said Theodora, crumbling her roll. "Papa met some +old friends, and we all dined together at the Ritz. I wish you had been +able to come, it might have done you good, it was so gay!"</p> + +<p>"I am not fit for gayety," said her husband, peevishly, scooping out +spoonfuls of yolk. "And who were the party, pray?"</p> + +<p>Theodora obediently enumerated them all, and the high-sounding title of +the Russian Prince, to say nothing of the English lord and lady, had a +mollifying effect on Josiah Brown. He even remembered the name of +Bracondale—had he not been a grocer's assistant in the small town of +Bracondale for a whole year in his apprenticeship days?</p> + +<p>"Papa wants us to breakfast to-day with him at Henry's for you to meet +some of them," Theodora said, with more confidence.</p> + +<p>Josiah had taken a second egg and his frown was gone.</p> + +<p>"We'll see about it, we'll see about it," he grunted; but his wife felt +more hopeful, and was even unusually solicitous of his wants in the way +of coffee and marmalade and cream. Josiah was shrewd if he did happen to +be deeply self-absorbed in his health, and he noticed that Theodora's +eyes were brighter and her step more elastic than usual.</p> + +<p>He knew he had bought "one of them there aristocrats," as his old<a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a> aunt, +who had kept a public-house at New Norton, would have said. Bought her +with solid gold—he had no illusions on this subject, and he quite +realized if the solid gold had not been amassed out of England, so that +to her family he could be represented as "something from the +colonies—rather rough, but such a good fellow"—even Captain +Fitzgerald's impecuniosity and rapacity would not have risen to his +bait.</p> + +<p>He was also grateful to Theodora—she had been so meek always, and such +a kind and unselfish nurse. With his impaired constitution and delicate +chest he had given up all hopes of looking on her as a wife again, just +yet; but, as a nurse and an ornament—a peg to hang the evidences of his +wealth upon—she was little short of perfection. He could have been +frantically in love with her if she had only been the girl from the +station bar in Melbourne. Josiah Brown was not a bad fellow.</p> + +<p>By the time Mr. Toplington advanced in his dignified way with the +accurately measured tonic on a silver tray and the single acid drop to +remove the taste, Josiah Brown had decided to go and partake food with +his father-in-law at Henry's. If he had been good enough to entertain +the Governor of Australia, he was quite good enough for Russian princes +or English lords, he told himself. Thus it was that Captain Fitzgerald, +who came in person in a few minutes to indorse his invitation, found an +unusually cordial reception awaiting him.</p> + +<p>"I am too delighted, my dear Josiah," he said, "<a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a>that you have decided to +come out of your shell. Moping would kill a cat; and I shall order you +the plainest chicken and soufflé aux fraises."</p> + +<p>"Josiah can eat almost anything, papa. I don't think you need worry +about that," said Theodora, who hoped to make her husband enjoy himself. +And then Captain Fitzgerald left to meet his widow.</p> + +<p>All the morning, while she walked up and down under the trees in the +Avenue du Bois beside her husband, who leaned upon her arm, Theodora's +thoughts were miles away. She felt stimulated, excited, intensely +interested in the hour, afraid they would be late. Twice she answered at +random, and Josiah got quite cross.</p> + +<p>"I asked you which you considered would do me most good when we return +to England, to continue seeing Sir Baldwin once a week or to have Dr. +Wilton permanently in the house with us, and you answer that you quite +agree with me! Agree with what? Agree with which? You are talking +nonsense, girl!"</p> + +<p>Theodora apologized gently, and her white velvet cheeks became tinged +with wild roses. It seemed as if the victoria, with its high-steppers, +would never come and pick them up; and it must be at least quarter of an +hour's drive to Henry's. She did not understand where it was exactly, +but papa had said the coachman would know.</p> + +<p>If some one had told her, as Clementine<a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a> certainly would have done had +she been there, that she was simply thus interested and excited because +she wished to see again Lord Bracondale, she would have been horrified. +She never had analyzed sensations herself, and the day had not yet +arrived when she would begin to do so.</p> + +<p>At last they were rolling down the Champs-Elysées. The mass of chestnut +blooms in full glory, the tender green still fresh and springlike, the +sky as blue as blue, and every creature in the street with an air of +gayety—that Paris alone seems to inspire in the human race. It entered +into her blood, this rush of spring and hope and laughter and life, and +a radiant creature got out of the carriage at Henry's door.</p> + +<p>The two men were waiting for them—Lord Bracondale and the French +Count—her father and Mrs. McBride had not yet appeared.</p> + +<p>Theodora introduced them to her husband, and Lord Bracondale said:</p> + +<p>"Mrs. McBride is always late. I have found out which is your father's +table; don't you think we might go and sit down?"</p> + +<p>And they did. Theodora got well into the corner of the velvet sofa, the +Count on one side and Lord Bracondale on the other, with Josiah beyond +the Co<a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a>unt.</p> + +<p>They made conversation. The Frenchman was voluble and agreeable, and the +next ten minutes passed without incident.</p> + +<p>Josiah, not quite at ease, perhaps, but on the whole not ill-pleased +with his situation. The Count took all ups and downs as of the day's +work, sure of a good breakfast, sooner or later, unpaid for by himself. +And Lord Bracondale's thoughts ran somewhat thus:</p> + +<p>"She is even more beautiful in daylight than at night. She can't be more +than twenty—what a skin! like a white gardenia petal—and, good Lord, +what a husband! How revolting, how infamous! I suppose that old schemer, +her father, sold her to him. Her eyes remind one of forgotten fairy +tales of angels. Can anything be so sweet as that little nose and those +baby-red lips. She has a soul, too, peeping out of the blue when she +looks up at one. She reminds me of Praxiteles' Psyche when she looks +down. Why did I not meet her long ago? I believe I ought not to stay +now—something tells me I shall fall deeply into this. And what a +voice!—as gentle and caressing as a tender dove. A man would give his +soul for such a woman. As guileless as an infant saint, too—and +sensitive and human and understanding. I wish to God I had the strength +of mind to get up and go this minute—but I haven't—it is fate."</p> + +<p>"Oh, how naughty of papa," said Theodora, "to be so late! Are you very +hungry, Josiah? Shall we begin without them?"</p> +<p><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a></p> +<p>But at that moment, with rustling silks and delicate perfume, the widow +and Captain Fitzgerald came in at the door and joined the party.</p> + +<p>"I am just too sorry," the lady said, gayly. "It is all Captain +Fitzgerald's fault—he would try to restrain me from buying what I +wanted, and so it made me obstinate and I had to stay right there and +order half the shop."</p> + +<p>"How I understand you!" sympathized Lord Bracondale. "I know just that +feeling of wanting forbidden fruit. It makes the zest of life."</p> + +<p>He had foreseen the disposition of the party, and by sitting in the +outside corner seat at the end knew he would have Theodora almost <i>en +tête-à-tête</i>, once they were all seated along the velvet sofa beyond +Josiah Brown.</p> + +<p>"What do you do with yourself all the time here?" he asked, lowering his +voice to that deep note which only carries to the ear it is intended +for. "May one ever see you again except at a chance meal like this?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Theodora. "I walk up and down in the side allées of +the Bois in the morning with my husband, and when he has had his sleep, +after déjeuner, we drive nearly all the afternoon, and we have tea, at +the Pré Catalan and drive again until about seven, and then we come in +and dine, and I go to bed very early. Josiah is not strong enough yet +for late hours or theatres."</p><p><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a></p> + +<p>"It sounds supernaturally gay for Paris!" said Lord Bracondale; and then +he felt a brute when he saw the cloud in the blue eyes.</p> + +<p>"No, it is not gay," she said, simply. "But the flowers are beautiful, +and the green trees and the chestnut blossoms and the fine air here, and +there is a little stream among the trees which laughs to itself as it +runs, and all these things say something to me."</p> + +<p>He felt rebuked—rebuked and interested.</p> + +<p>"I would like to see them all with you," he said.</p> + +<p>That was one of his charms—directness. He did not insinuate often; he +stated facts.</p> + +<p>"You would find it all much too monotonous," she answered. "You would +tire of them after the first time. And you could if you liked, too, +because I suppose you are free, being a man, and can choose your own +life," and she sighed unconsciously.</p> + +<p>And there came to Hector Bracondale the picture of her life—sacrificed, +no doubt, to others' needs. He seemed to see the long years tied to +Josiah Brown, the cramping of her soul, the dreary desolation of it. +Then a tenderness came over him, a chivalrous tenderness unfelt by him +towards women now for many a long day.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if I can choose my life," he said, and he looked into her +eyes.<a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a></p> + +<p>"Why can you not?" She hesitated. "And may I ask you, too, what you do +with yourself here?"</p> + +<p>He evaded the question; he suddenly realized that his days were not more +amusing than hers, although they were filled up with racing and varied +employments—while the thought of his nights sickened him.</p> + +<p>"I think I am going to make an immense change and learn to take pleasure +in the running brooks," he said. "Will you help me?"</p> + +<p>"I know so little, and you know so much," and her sweet eyes became soft +and dreamy. "I could not help you in any way, I fear."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you could—you could teach me to see all things with fresh eyes. +You could open the door into a new world."</p> + +<p>"Do you know," she said, irrelevantly, "Sarah—my eldest sister—Sarah +told me it was unwise ever to talk to strangers except in the +abstract—and here are you and I conversing about our own interests and +feelings—are not we foolish!" She laughed a little nervously.</p> + +<p>"No, we are not foolish because we are not strangers—we never were—and +we never will be."</p> +<p><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a></p> +<p>"Are not strangers—?"</p> + +<p>"No—do you not feel that sometimes in life one's friendships begin by +antipathy—sometimes by indifference—and sometimes by that sudden +magnetism of sympathy as if in some former life we had been very near +and dear, and were only picking up the threads again, and to such two +souls there is no feeling that they are strangers."</p> + +<p>Theodora was too entirely unsophisticated to remain unmoved by this +reasoning. She felt a little thrill—she longed to continue the subject, +and yet dared not. She turned hesitatingly to the Count, and for the +next ten minutes Lord Bracondale only saw the soft outline of her +cheek.</p> + +<p>He wondered if he had been too sudden. She was quite the youngest person +he had ever met—he realized that, and perhaps he had acted with too +much precipitation. He would change his tactics.</p> + +<p>The Count was only too pleased to engage the attention of Theodora. He +was voluble; she had very little to reply. Things went smoothly. Jos<a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>iah +was appreciating an exceedingly good breakfast, and the playful sallies +of the fair widow. All, in fact, was <i>couleur de rose</i>.</p> + +<p>"Won't you talk to me any more?" Lord Bracondale said, after about a +quarter of an hour. He felt that was ample time for her to have become +calm, and, beautiful as the outline of her cheek was, he preferred her +full face.</p> + +<p>"But of course," said Theodora. She had not heard more than half what +the Count had been saying; she wished vaguely that she might continue +the subject of friendship, but she dared not.</p> + +<p>"Do you ever go to Versailles?" he asked. This, at least, was a safe +subject.</p><p><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a></p> + +<p>"I have been there—but not since—not this time," she answered. "I +loved it: so full of memories and sentiment, and Old-World charm."</p> + +<p>"It would give me much pleasure to take you to see it again," he said, +with grave politeness. "I must devise some plan—that is, if you wish to +go."</p> + +<p>She smiled.</p> + +<p>"It is a favorite spot of mine, and there are some alleés in the park +more full of the story of spring than your Bois even."</p> + +<p>"I do not see how we can go," said Theodora. "Josiah would find it too +long a day."</p> + +<p>"I must discuss it with your father; one can generally arrange what one +wishes," said Lord Bracondale.</p> + +<p>At this moment Mrs. McBride leaned over and spoke to Theodora. She had, +she said, quite converted Mr. Brown. He only wanted a little cheering up +to be perfectly well, and she had got him to promise to dine that +evening at Armenonville and listen to the Tziganes. It was going to be a +glorious night, but if they felt cold they could have their table inside +out of the draught. What did Theodora think about it?</p> +<p><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a></p> +<p>Theodora thought it would be a delicious plan. What else could she +think?</p> + +<p>"I have a large party coming," Mrs. McBride said, "and among them a +compatriot of mine who saw you last night and is dying to meet you."</p> + +<p>"Really," said Theodora, unmoved.</p> + +<p>Lord Bracondale experienced a sensation of annoyance.</p> + +<p>"I shall not ask you, Bracondale," the widow continued, playfully. "Just +to assert British superiority, you would try to monopolize Mrs. Brown, +and my poor Herryman Hoggenwater would have to come in a long, long +second!"</p> + +<p>Josiah felt a rush of pride. This brilliant woman was making much of his +meek little wife.</p> + +<p>Lord Bracondale smiled the most genial smile, with rage in his heart.</p> + +<p>"I could not have accepted in any case, dear lady," he said, "as I have +some people dining with me, and, oddly enough, they rather suggested +they wanted Armenonville too, so perhaps I shall ha<a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a>ve the pleasure of +looking at you from the distance."</p> + +<p>The conversation then became general, and soon after this coffee +arrived, and eventually the adieux were said.</p> + +<p>Mrs. McBride insisted upon Theodora accompanying her in her smart +automobile.</p> + +<p>"You leave your wife to me for an hour," she said, imperiously, to +Josiah, "and go and see the world with Captain Fitzgerald. He knows +Paris."</p> + +<p>"My dear, you are just the sweetest thing I have come across this side +of the Atlantic," she said, when they were whizzing along in her car. +"But you look as if you wanted cheering too. I expect your husband's +illness has worried you a good deal."</p> + +<p>Theodora froze a little. Then she glanced at the widow's face and its +honest kindliness melted her.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have been anxious about him," she said, simply, "but he is +nearly well now, and we shall soon be going to England."</p> + +<p>Mrs. McBride had not taken a co<a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a>mpanion on this drive for nothing, and +she obtained all the information she wanted during their tour in the +Bois. How Josiah Brown had bought a colossal place in the eastern +counties, and intended to have parties and shoot there in the autumn. +How Theodora hoped to see more of her sisters than she had done since +her marriage. The question of these sisters interested Mrs. McBride a +good deal.</p> + +<p>For a man to have two unmarried daughters was rather an undertaking.</p> + +<p>What were their ages—their habits—their ambitions? Theodora told her +simply. She guessed why she was being interrogated. She wished to assist +her father, and to say the truth seemed to her the best way. Sarah was +kind and humorous, while Clementine had the brains.</p> + +<p>"And they are both dears," she said, lovingly, "and have always been so +good to me."</p> + +<p>Mrs. McBride was a shrewd woman, full of American quickness, lightning +deduction, and a phenomenal insight into character. Theodora seemed to +her to be too tender a flower for this world of east wind. She felt sure +she only thought good of every one, and how could one get on in life if +one took that view habitually! The appallingly hard knocks fate would +give one if one was so trusting! But as the drive went on that gentle +something that seemed to emanate from T<a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>heodora, the something of pure +sweetness and light, affected her, too, as it affected other people. She +felt she was looking into a deep pool of crystal water, so deep that she +could see no bottom or fathom the distance of it, but which reflected in +brilliant blue God's sky and the sun.</p> + +<p>"And she is by no means stupid," the widow summed up to herself. "Her +mind is as bright as an American's! And she is just too pretty and sweet +to be eaten up by these wolves of men she will meet in England, with +that unromantic, unattractive husband along. I must do what I can for +her."</p> + +<p>By the time she had dropped Theodora at her hotel the situation was +quite clear. Of course the girl had been sacrificed to Josiah Brown; she +was sound asleep in the great forces of life; she was bound to be +hideously unhappy, and it was all an abominable shame, and ought to have +been prevented.</p> + +<p>But Mrs. McBride never cried over spilled milk.</p> + +<p>"If I decide to marry her father," she thought, as she drove off, "I +shall keep my eye on her, and meanwhile I can make her life smile a +little perhaps!"</p> +<p><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2> + + +<p>Theodora did not wonder why she felt in no exalted state of spirits as +she dressed for dinner. She seldom thought of herself at all, or what +her emotions were, but the fact remained there was none of the +excitement there had been over the prospect of breakfast. Her husband, +on the contrary, seemed quite fussy.</p> + +<p>"A devilish fine woman," he had described Mrs. McBride. "Acts like a +tonic upon me; does me more good than a pint of champagne!"</p> + +<p>"Is she not delightful?" agreed Theodora; "so very kind and gay. I am +sure the dinner will do you good, Josiah, and perhaps we might give one +in return. What do you say?"</p> + +<p>Josiah said, "Certainly!" He could give a meal with the best of them! +They would consult that father of hers, who knew Paris so well, and ask +him to help them to arrange a regular "slap-up treat."</p> + +<p>And so they arrived at Armenonville. It was a divine night, quite warm, +and a soft three-quarter moon.</p> +<p><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a></p> +<p>Mrs. McBride had everything arranged to perfection. Their table was just +where it should be, the menu was all that heart of gourmet could desire, +and the company sparkling.</p> + +<p>Theodora found herself seated beside Mr. Harryman Hoggenwater and an +elderly Austrian, and before the <i>hors d'œuvres</i> were cleared away +both gentlemen had decided to make love to her.</p> + +<p>It was when the <i>bisque d'écrevisses</i> was being handed she became +conscious that, not two tables off, there was an empty one simply +arranged with flowers, and almost at the same instant Lord Bracondale +and his party arrived upon the scene.</p> + +<p>All Theodora's perceptions seemed to be sharpened. She knew without +turning her head the table was for them, and that they were advancing +towards it. She had felt their arrival almost before their automobile +stopped; and now she would not look up.</p> + +<p>A strange sensation, as of excitement, tingled through her. She longed +to ascertain if the woman was good-looking who made the third in this +party of three. She peeped eventually—with the corner of her eye. Lord +Bracondale had so placed his guests that he himself faced Theodora, and +the lady had her back turned to her.</p> + +<p>Thus Theodora's curiosity could not be gratified.</p> +<p><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a></p> +<p>"She is English," she decided; "that round shaped back always is—and +very well-bred looking, and not much taste in dress. I wonder if she is +old or young—and if that is the husband. Yes, he is unattractive—it +must be the husband—and oh, I wonder what they are talking about! Lord +Bracondale seems so interested!"</p> + +<p>And if she had known it was—</p> + +<p>"Really, Monica, how fortunate to have secured you at short notice like +this," Lord Bracondale was saying. "I only found I had a free evening at +breakfast, and I met Jack on my way to the polo-ground just in the nick +of time."</p> + +<p>"We love coming," Mrs. Ellerwood replied. "For unsophisticated English +people it is a great treat. We go back on Saturday—every one will be +asking what is keeping you here so long."</p> + +<p>"My plans are vague," Lord Bracondale said, casually. "I might come back +any day, or I may stay until well into June—it quite depends upon how +amused I am. I rather love Paris."</p> + +<p>And to himself he was thinking—</p> + +<p>"How I wish that atrocious woman over there with the paradise plume +would keep her hat ou<a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a>t of the way. Ah, that is better! How lovely she +looks to-night! What an exquisite pose of head! And what are those two +damned foreigners saying to her, I wonder. Underbred brute, the +American, Herryman Hoggenwater! What a name! She is laughing—she +evidently finds him amusing. Abominably cattish of the widow not to ask +me. I wonder if she has seen me yet. I want to make her bow to me. Ah!" +For just then magnetism was too strong for Theodora, and, in spite of +her determination, their eyes met.</p> + +<p>A thrill, little short of passion, ran through Lord Bracondale as he saw +the wild roses flushing her white cheeks—the exquisite flattery to his +vanity. Yes, she had seen him, and it already meant something to her.</p> + +<p>He raised his champagne glass and sipped a sip, while his eyes, more +ardent than they had ever been, sought her face.</p> + +<p>And Theodora, for her part, felt a flutter too. She was angry with +herself for blushing, such a school-girlish thing to do, Sarah had +always told her. She hoped he had not noticed it at that +distance—probably not. And what did he mean by drinking her health +like that? He—oh, he was—</p> +<p><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a></p> +<p>"Now, truly, Mrs. Brown, you are cruel," Mr. Herryman Hoggenwater said, +pathetically, interrupting her thoughts. "I tell you I am simply longing +to know if you will come for a drive in my automobile, and you do not +answer, but stare into space."</p> + +<p>Theodora turned, and then the young American understood that for all her +gentle looks it would be wiser not to take this tone with her.</p> + +<p>He admired her frantically, he was just "crazy" about her, he told Mrs. +McBride later. And so now he exerted himself to please and amuse her +with all the vivacity of his brilliant nation.</p> + +<p>Theodora was enjoying herself. Environment and atmosphere affected her +strongly. The bright pink lights, the sense of night and the soft moon +beyond the wide open balcony windows, the scents of flowers, the gayety, +and, above all, the knowledge that Lord Bracondale was there, gazing at +her whenever opportunity offered, with eyes in which she, unlearned as +she was in such things, could read plainly admiration and unrest.</p> + +<p>It all went to her head a little, and she became quite animated and full +of repartee and sparkle, so that Josiah Brown could hardly believe his +eyes and ears when he glanced across at her. This his meek and quiet +mouse!</p> + +<p>His heart swelled with pride when Mrs. McBride leaned over and said to +him:</p> + +<p>"You know, Mr. Brown, you have got the most beautiful wife in the world, +and I hope you value her properly."</p> + +<p>It was this daring quality in his hostess Josiah appreciated so much. +"She's not afraid to say anything, 'pon my soul," he said to himself. "I +rather think I know my own possession's valu<a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>e!" he answered aloud, with +a pompous puffing out of chest, and a cough to clear the throat.</p> + +<p>The Austrian Prince on Theodora's right hand pleased her. He had a quiet +manner, and the freemasonry of breeding in two people, even of different +nations, drew her to talk naturally to him in a friendly way.</p> + +<p>He was a fatalist, he told her; what would be would be, and mortals like +himself and herself were just scattered leaves, like barks floating down +a current where were mostly rocks ahead.</p> + +<p>"Then must we strike the rocks whether we wish it or no?" asked +Theodora. "Cannot we help ourselves?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, madame, for that," he said, "we can strive a little and avoid this +one and that, but if it is our fate we will crash against them in the +end."</p> + +<p>"What a sad philosophy!" said Theodora. "I would rather believe that if +one does one's best some kind angel will guide one's bark past the rocks +and safely into the smooth waters of the pool beyond."</p> + +<p>"You are young," he said, "and I hope you will find it so, but I fear +you will have to try very hard, and circumstanc<a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>es may even then be too +strong for you."</p> + +<p>"In that case I must go under altogether," said Theodora; but her eyes +smiled, and that night at least such a possibility seemed far enough +away from her.</p> + +<p>The Austrian looked across at her husband. Such marriages were rare in +his country, and he had thought so too in England. He wondered what +their story could be. He wondered how soon she would take a lover—and +he realized how infinitely worth while that lover would find his +situation.</p> + +<p>He wished he were not so old. If she must break up her bark on the +rocks, he could take the place of steersman with pleasure. But he was a +courteous gentleman and he said none of these things aloud.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Lord Bracondale was not enjoying his dinner. For the first +time for several years he found himself jealous! He, unlike Theodora, +knew the meaning of every one of his sensations.</p> + +<p>"She is certainly interested in Prince Carolstein," he thought, as he +watched her; "he has a European reputation for fascination. She has not +looked this way once since the entrées. I wish I could hear what they +are talking about. As for that young puppy Hoggenwater, I would like to +kick him round the room! Lord, look how he is leaning over her! It +sickens me! The young fool!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ellerwood turned round in her seat and surveyed the room. They had +almost come to t<a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a>he end of dinner, and could move their chairs a little. +She had the true Englishwoman's feeling when among foreigners—that they +were all there as puppets for her entertainment.</p> + +<p>"Look, Hector," she said—they were cousins—"did you ever see such a +lovely woman as that one over there among the large party, in the black +chiffon dress?"</p> + +<p>Then Hector committed a <i>bêtise</i>.</p> + +<p>"Where?" said he, his eyes persistently fixed in another direction.</p> + +<p>"There; you can't mistake her, she looks so pure white, and fair, among +all these Frenchwomen The one with the blue eyes and the lovely hat +with those sweeping feathers. She is exquisitely dressed, and both those +men look fearfully devoted to her. Can't you see? Oh, you are stupid!"</p> + +<p>"My dear Monica," said Jack Ellerwood, who joined rarely in the +conversation, "Hector has been sitting facing this way all through +dinner. He is a man who can appreciate what he sees, and I do not fancy +has missed much—have you, Hector?" and he smiled a quiet smile.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ellerwood looked at Lord Bracondale and laughed.</p> + +<p>"It is I who am stupid," she said. "Naturally you have seen her all the +time, and know her probably. Are they cocottes, or Americans, or Russian +princesses, or what?—the whole collection?"</p> + +<p>"If you mean that large party in the corner, they are most of them +friends and acquaintances of mine," he said, rather ici<a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a>ly—she had +annoyed him—"and they belong to the aristocracies of various nations. +Does that satisfy you? I am afraid they are none of them demimondaines, +so you will be disappointed this time!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ellerwood looked at him; she understood now.</p> + +<p>"He is in love with the white woman," she thought; "that is why he was +so anxious to dine here to-night, when Jack suggested Madrid; that is +why he stays in Paris. It is not Esclarmonde de Chartres after all! How +excited Aunt Milly will be! I must find out her name."</p> + +<p>"She is a beautiful creature," said Jack Ellerwood, as if to himself, +while he carefully surveyed Theodora from his position at the side of +the table.</p> + +<p>Hector Bracondale's irritation rose. Relations were tactless, and he +felt sorry he had asked th<a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a>em.</p> + +<p>"You must tell me her name, Hector," pleaded Mrs. Ellerwood; "the very +white, pretty one I mean."</p> + +<p>"Now just to punish your curiosity I shall do no such thing."</p> + +<p>"Hector, you are a pig."</p> + +<p>"Probably."</p> + +<p>"And so selfish."</p> + +<p>"Possibly."</p> + +<p>"Why mayn't I know? You set a light to all sorts of suspicions."</p> + +<p>"Doubly interesting for you, then."</p> + +<p>"Provoking wretch!"</p> + +<p>"Don't you think you would like some coffee? The waiter is trying to +hand you a cup."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ellerwood laughed. She knew there was no use teasing him further; +but there were other means, and she must employ them. Theodora had +become the pivot upon which some of her world might turn.</p><p><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a></p> + +<p>The object of this solicitude was quite unconscious of the interest she +had created. She did not naturally think she could be of importance to +any one. Had she not been the youngest and snubbed always?</p> + +<p>The same thought came to her that was conjuring the brain of Lord +Bracondale: would there be a chance to speak to-night, or must they each +go their way in silence? He meant to assist fate if he could, but having +Monica Ellerwood there was a considerable drawback.</p> + +<p>Mrs. McBride's party were to take their coffee in one of the <i>bosquets</i> +outside, and all got up from their table in a few minutes to go out. +They would have to pass the <i>partie à trois</i>, who were nearer the door. +Monica would take her most searching look at them, Lord Bracondale +thought; now was the time for action. So as Mrs. McBride came past with +Captain Fitzgerald, he rose from his seat and greeted her.</p> + +<p>"You have been exceedingly mean," he whispered. "What are you going to +do for me to make up for it?"</p> + +<p>The widow had a very soft spot in her heart for "Ce beau Bracondale," as +she called him, and when he pleaded like that she found him hard to +resist.</p> +<p><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a></p> +<p>"Come and see me to-morrow at twelve, and we will talk about it," she +said.</p> + +<p>"To-morrow!" exclaimed Lord Bracondale; "but I want to talk to her +to-night!"</p> + +<p>"Get rid of your party, then, and join us for coffee," and the widow +smiled archly as she passed on.</p> + +<p>Theodora bowed with grave sweetness as she also went by, and most of the +others greeted Hector, while one woman stopped and told him she was +going to have an automobile party in a day or two, and she hoped he +would come.</p> + +<p>When they had all gone on Mrs. Ellerwood said:</p> + +<p>"I wonder why Americans are so much smarter than we poor English? I +can't bear them as a nation though, can you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Lord Bracondale. "I think the best friends I have in the +world are American. The women particularly are perfectly charming. You +feel all the time you are playing a game with really experienced +adversaries, and it makes it interesting. They are full of resource, +and you know underneath you could never break their hearts. I am not +sure if they have any in their own country, but if so they turn into the +most wonderful and exquisite bits of mechanism when they come to +Europe."</p> +<p><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a></p> +<p>"And you admire that."</p> + +<p>"Certainly—hearts are a great bore."</p> + +<p>"You were always a cynic, Hector; that is perhaps what makes you so +attractive."</p> + +<p>"Am I attractive?"</p> + +<p>"I can't judge," said Mrs. Ellerwood, nettled for a moment. "I have +known you too long, but I hear other women saying so."</p> + +<p>"That is comforting, at all events," said Lord Bracondale. "I always +have adored women."</p> + +<p>"No, you never have, that is just it. You have let them adore you, and +utterly spoil you; so now sometimes, Hector, you are insupportable."</p> + +<p>"You just said I was attractive."</p> + +<p>"I shall not argue further with you," said Mrs. Ellerwood, pettishly.</p> + +<p>"And I think we ought to be saying good-night, Hector," interrupted the +silent Jack. "We are making an early start for Fontainebleau to-morrow, +and Monica likes any amount of sleep."</p> +<p><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a></p> +<p>This did not suit Mrs. Ellerwood at all; but if Jack spoke seldom he +spoke to some purpose when he did, and she knew there was no use +arguing.</p> + +<p>So with a heart full of ungratified curiosity, she at last allowed +herself to be packed into Hector's automobile and driven away.</p> + +<p>"Of course he'll go and join that other party now, Jack! What <i>did</i> you +make me come away for, you tiresome thing!" she said to her husband.</p> + +<p>"He has done me many a turn in the past," said Jack, laconically.</p> + +<p>"Then you think—?"</p> + +<p>But Jack refused to think.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2> +<p><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a></p> + +<p>Theodora was sitting rather on the outskirts of the party in the +<i>bosquet</i>, her two devoted admirers still on either side of her. All the +chairs were arranged informally, and hers was against the opening, so +that it proved easy for Lord Bracondale to come up behind her +unperceived.</p> + +<p>She believed he had gone. She could not see distinctly from where she +was, but she had thought she saw the automobile whizzing by. She +recognized Mrs. Ellerwood's hat. An unconscious feeling of blankness +came over her. She grew more silent.</p> + +<p>A lady beyond the Prince spoke to him, and at that moment Mr. +Hoggenwater rose to put down her coffee-cup, and in this second of +loneliness a deep voice said in her ear:</p> + +<p>"I could not go—I wanted to say good-night to you!"</p> + +<p>Then Theodora experienced a new emotion; she could not have told herself +what it was, but suddenly a gladness spread through her spirit; the +moon looked more softly bright, and her sweet eyes dilated and<a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a> glowed, +while that voice, gentle as a dove's, trembled a little as she said:</p> + +<p>"Lord Bracondale! Oh, you startled me!"</p> + +<p>He drew a chair and sat down behind her.</p> + +<p>"How shall we get rid of your Hogginheimer millionaire?" he whispered. +"I feel as if I wanted to kill every one who speaks to you to-night."</p> + +<p>The half light, the moon, Paris, and the spring-time! Theodora spent the +next hour in a dream—a dream of bliss.</p> + +<p>Mrs. McBride, with her all-seeing eye, perceived the turn events had +taken. She was full of enjoyment herself; she had quite—almost +quite—decided to listen to the addresses of Captain Fitzgerald, +therefore her heart, not her common-sense, was uppermost this night.</p> + +<p>It could not hurt Theodora to have one evening of agreeable +conversation, and it would do <a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a>Herryman Hoggenwater a great deal of good +to be obstacled; thus she expressed it to herself. That last success +with Princess Waldersheim had turned his empty head. So she called him +and planted him in a safe place by an American girl, who would know how +to keep him, and then turned to her own affairs again.</p> + +<p>The Prince was a man of the world, and understood life. So Theodora and +Lord Bracondale were left in peace.</p> + +<p>The latter soon moved his chair to a position where he could see her +face, rather behind her still, which entailed a slightly leaning over +attitude. They were beyond the radius of the lights in the <i>bosquet</i>.</p> + +<p>Lord Bracondale was perfectly conversant with all moves in the game; he +knew how to talk to a woman so that she alone could feel the strength of +his devotion, while his demeanor to the world seemed the least +compromising.</p> + +<p>Theodora had not spoken for a moment after his first speech. It made her +heart beat too fast.</p> + +<p>"I have been watching you all through dinner," he continued, with only a +little pause. "You look immensely beautiful to-night, and those two told +you so, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps they did!" she said. This was her first gentle essay at +fencing. She would try to be as the rest were, gay and full of badinage.</p> + +<p>"And you liked it?" with resentment.</p> + +<p>"Of course I did; you see, I never have heard any of these nice things +much. Josiah <a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a>has always been too ill to go out, and when I was a girl I +never saw any people who knew how to say them."</p> + +<p>She had turned to look at him as she said this, and his eyes spoke a +number of things to her. They were passionate, and resentful, and +jealous, and full of something disturbing. Thrills ran through poor +Theodora.</p> + +<p>His eyes had been capable of looking most of these things before to +other women, when he had not meant any of them, but she did not know +that.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "they had better not return or recommence their +compliments, because I am not in the mood to be polite to them +to-night."</p> + +<p>"What is your mood?" asked Theodora, and then felt a little frightened +at her own daring.</p> + +<p>"My mood is one of unrest—I would like to be away alone with you, where +we could talk in peace," and he leaned over her so that his lips were +fairly close to her ear. "These people jar upon me. I would like to be +sitting in the garden at Amalfi, or in a gondola in Venice, and I want +to talk about all your beautiful thoughts. You are a new white flower +for me, as different as an angel from the other women in the world."</p> + +<p>"Am I?" said she, in her tender tones. "I would wish that you should +always keep that g<a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a>ood thought of me. We shall soon go our different +ways. Josiah has decided to leave next week, and we are not likely to +meet in England."</p> + +<p>"Yes, we are likely to meet—I will arrange it," he said.</p> + +<p>There was nothing hesitating about Hector Bracondale—his way with women +had always been masterful—and this quality, when mixed with a sudden +bending to their desires, was peculiarly attractive. To-night he was +drifting—drifting into a current which might carry him beyond his +control.</p> + +<p>It was now several years since he had been in love even slightly. His +position, his appearance, his personal charm, had all combined to spoil +a nature capable of great things. Life had always been too smooth. His +mother adored him. He had an ample fortune. Every marriageable girl in +his world almost had been flung at his head. Women of all classes with +one consent had done their best to turn him into a coxcomb and a beast. +But he continued to be a man for all that, and went his own way; only as +no one can remain stationary, the crust of selfishness and cynicism was +perhaps thickening with years, and his soul was growing hidden still +deeper beneath it all<a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a>. From the beginning something in Theodora had +spoken to the best in him. He was conscious of feelings of +dissatisfaction with himself when he left her, of disgust with the days +of unmeaning aims.</p> + +<p>He had begun out of idle admiration; he had continued from inclination; +but to-night it was <i>plus fort que lui</i>, and he knew he was in love.</p> + +<p>The habit of indulging any emotion which gave him pleasure was still +strong upon him; it was not yet he would begin to analyze where this +passion might lead him—might lead them both.</p> + +<p>It was too deliciously sweet to sit there and whisper to her sophistries +and reasonings, to take her sensitive fancy into new worlds, to play +upon her feelings—those feelings which he realized were as fine and as +full of tone as the sounds which could be drawn from a Stradivarius +violin.</p> + +<p>It was a night of new worlds for them both, for if Theodora had never +looked into any world at all, he also had never even imagined one which +could be so quite divine as this—this shared with her in the moonlight, +with the magic of the Tzigane music and the soft spring night.</p> +<p><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a></p> +<p>He had just sufficient mastery over himself left not to overstep the +bounds of respectful and deep interest in her. He did not speak a word +of love. There was no actual sentence which Theodora felt obliged to +resent—and yet through it all was the subtle insinuation that they were +more than friends—or would be more than friends.</p> + +<p>And when it was all over, and Theodora's pulses were calmer as she lay +alone on her pillow, she had a sudden thrill of fear. But she put it +aside—it was not her nature to think herself the object of passions. "I +would be a very silly woman to flatter myself so," she said to herself, +and then she went to sleep.</p> + +<p>Lord Bracondale stayed awake for hours, but he did not sup with +Esclarmonde de Chartres or Marion de Beauvoison. And the Café de +Paris—and Maxims—and the afterwards—saw him no more.</p> +<p><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a></p> +<p>Once again these houris asked each other, "Mais qu'est-ce qu'il a! Ce +bel Hector? Oú se cache-t-il?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2> + + +<p>Before she went to bed in her hotel in the Rue de Rivoli, Monica +Ellerwood wrote to her aunt.</p> + +<p class="blockquot"><span class="smcap">Paris</span>, <i>May 15th</i>.</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"<span class="smcap">My dear Aunt Milly</span>,—We have had a delicious little week, +Jack and I, quite like an old honeymoon pair—and to-day we ran +across Hector, who has remained hidden until now. He is looking +splendid, just as handsome and full of life as ever, so it does not +tell upon his constitution, that is one mercy! Not like poor Ernest +Bretherton, who, if you remember, was quite broken up by her last +year. And I have one good piece of news for you, dear Aunt Milly. I +do not believe he is so frantically wrapped up in this Esclarmonde +de Chartres woman after all—in spite of that diamond chain at +Monte Carlo. For to-night he took us to dine at +Armenon<a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a>ville—although Jack particularly wanted to go to the +Madrid—and when we got there we saw at once why! There was a most +beautiful woman dining there with a party, and Hector never took +his eyes off her the whole of dinner, Jack says—I had my back that +way—and he got rid of us as soon as he could and went and joined +them. Very young she looked, but I suppose married, from her pearls +and clothes—American probably, as she was perhaps too well dressed +for one of us; but quite a lady and awfully pretty. Hector was so +snappish about it, and would not tell her name, that it makes me +sure he is very much in love with her, and Jack thinks so too. So, +dear Aunt Milly, you need have no more anxieties about him, as she +can't have been married long, she looks so young, and so must be +quite safe. Jack says Hector is thoroughly able to take care of +himself, anyway, but I know how all these things worry you. If I +can find out her name before I go I will, though perhaps you think +it is out of the frying-pan into the fire, as it makes him no more +in the mood to marry Morella Winmarleigh than before. Unless, of +course, this new one is unkind to him. We shall be home on +Saturday, dear Aunt Milly, and I will come round to lunch on Sunday +and give you all my news.</p> + + +<p><span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">"Your affectionate niece,</span></p> +<p><span style="margin-left: 8.5em;"><span class="smcap">"Monica Ellerwood".</span></span></p> + +<p>Which epistle jarred upon Hector's mother when she read it over coffee +at her solitary dinner on <a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>the following night.</p> + +<p>"Poor dear Monica!" she said to herself. "I wonder where she got this +strain from—her father's family, I suppose—I wish she would not be +so—bald."</p> + +<p>Then she sat down and wrote to her son—she was not even going to the +opera that night. And if she had looked up in the tall mirror opposite, +she would have seen a beautiful, stately lady with a puckered, plaintive +frown on her face.</p> + +<p>If a woman absolutely worships a man, even if she is only his mother, +she is bound to spend many moments of unhappiness, and Lady Bracondale +was no exception to the general rule. Hector had always gone his own +way, and there were several aspects of his life she disapproved of. +These visits to Paris—his antipathy to matrimony—his boredom with +girls—such nice girls she knew, too, and had often thrown him +with!—his delight in big-game shooting in alarming and impossible +countries—and, above all, his absolute indifference to Morella +Winmarleigh, the only woman who really and truly in her heart of hearts +Lady Bracondale thought worthy of him, although she would have accepted +several other girls as choosing the lesser evil to bachelorhood. But +Morella Winmarleigh was perfection! She owned the enormous property +adjoining Braco<a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a>ndale; she was twenty-six years old, of unblemished +reputation, nice looking, and not—not one of those modern women who are +bound to cause anxieties. Under any circumstances one could count upon +Morella Winmarleigh behaving with absolute propriety. A girl born to be +a mother-in-law's joy.</p> + +<p>But Hector persistently remained at large. It was not that he openly +defied his mother—he simply made love to her whenever they were +together, twisted her round his finger, and was off again.</p> + +<p>"To see mother with Hector," Lady Annigford said, "is a wonderful sight. +Although I adore him myself, I am not at the stage she is! She sits +there beaming on him exactly like an exceedingly proud and fond cat with +new kittens. He treats her as if she were a young and beautiful woman, +caresses her, pets her, pays not the least attention to anything she +says, and does absolutely what he pleases!"</p> + +<p>Hector and Lady Bracondale together had often made the women who were in +love with him jealous.</p> + +<p>When she had finished her letter the stately lady read it over +carefully—she had a certain tact, a<a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>nd Hector must be cajoled to return, +not irritated. Monica's epistle, in spite of that touch of vulgarity +which she had deplored, had held out some grains of comfort. She had +been getting really anxious over this affair with the—French person. +Even to herself Lady Bracondale would not use any of the terms which +usually designate ladies of the type of Esclarmonde de Chartres.</p> + +<p>Since her brother-in-law Evermond had returned from Monte Carlo bringing +that disturbing story of the diamond chain, she had been on thorns—of +such a light mind and always so full of worldly gossip, Evermond!</p> + +<p>Hector had gone from Monte Carlo to Venice, and then to Paris, where he +had been for more than a month, and she had heard that men could become +quite infatuated and absolutely ruined by these creatures. So for him to +have taken a fancy to a married American was considerably better than +that. She had met several members of this nation herself in England, and +were they not always very discreet, with well-balanced heads! So +altogether the puckered frown soon left her smooth brow, and she was +able to resume the knitting of a tie she was doing for her son, with a +spirit more or less at rest, though she sighed now and then as she +remembered Morella Winmarleigh could not be expected to wait +forever—and her cherished vision of perfectly behaved, vigorously +healthy grandchildren was still a long way from being realized. For with +such a mother what perfect children they would be! This was always her +final reflection.</p> + + +<p><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2> + + +<p>At twelve o'clock punctually Lord Bracondale was ushered into Mrs. +McBride's sitting-room at the Ritz, the day after her dinner-party at +Armenonville. He expected she would not be ready to receive him for at +least half an hour; having said twelve he might have known she meant +half-past, but he was in a mood of impatience, and felt obliged to be +punctual.</p> + +<p>He was suffering more or less from a reaction. He had begun towards +morning to realize the manner in which he had spent the evening was not +altogether wise. Not that he had the least intention of not repeating +his folly—indeed, he was where he was at this hour for no other purpose +than to enlist the widow's sympathy, and her co-operation in arranging +as many opportunities for similar evenings as together they could +devise.</p> + +<p>After all, she only kept him waiting twenty minutes, and he had been +rather amused looking at the piles of bric-à-brac obsequious art dealers +had left for this rich lady's inspection.</p> + +<p>A number of spurious bronzes warranted pure antique, clocks, brocades, +what not, lying about on all the available space.</p> +<p><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a></p> +<p>"And I wonder what it will look like in her marble palace halls," he +thought, as he passed from one article to another.</p> + +<p>"I am just too sorry to keep you, mon cher Bracondale," Mrs. McBride +said, presently, suddenly opening the adjoining door a few inches, "but +it is a quite exasperating hat which has delayed me. I can't get the +thing on at the angle I want. I—"</p> + +<p>"Mayn't I come and help, dear lady?" interrupted Hector. "I know all +about the subject. I had to buy forty-seven at Monte Carlo, and see them +all tried on, too—and only lately! Do ask Marie to open that door a +little wider; I will decide in a minute how it should be."</p> + +<p>"Insolent!" said the widow, who spoke French with perfect fluency and a +quite marvellously pure American accent. But she permitted the giggling +and beaming Marie to open the door wide, and let Hector advance and kiss +her hand.</p> + +<p>He then took a chair by the dressing-table and inspected the situation.</p> + +<p>Seven or eight dainty bandboxes strewed the floor, some of their +contents peeping from them—feathers, aigrettes, flowers, impossible +birds—all had their place, and on the sofa were three <i>chef +d'œuvres</i> ruthlessly tossed aside. While in the widow's fair hands +was a gem of gray tulle and the most expensive feather heart of wom<a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>an +could desire.</p> + +<p>"You see," she said, plaintively, "it is meant to go just so," and she +placed it once more upon her head, a handsome head of forty-five, fresh +and well preserved and comely. "But the vile-tempered thing refuses to +stay there once I let go, and no pin will correct it."</p> + +<p>"Base ingratitude," said Lord Bracondale, with feeling; "but couldn't +you stuff these in the hiatus," and he tenderly lifted a bunch of +nut-brown curls from the dressing-table. "They would fill up the gap and +keep the fractious thing steady."</p> + +<p>"Of course they would," said Mrs. McBride; "but I have a rooted +objection to auxiliary nature trimmings. That bunch was sent with the +hat, and Marie has been trying to persuade me to wear it ever since we +began this struggle. But I won't! My hair's my own, and I don't mean to +have any one else's alongside of it. There is my trouble."</p> + +<p>"If milor were to hold madame's 'at one side, while I de other, madame +might force her emerald parrot pin through him," suggested Marie, which +advice was followed, and the widow beamed with satisfaction at the +gratifying result.</p> + +<p>"There!" she exclaimed, with a sigh of relief, "that will do; and I am +just ready.<a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a> Gloves, handkerchief—oh! and my purse, Marie." And in five +minutes more she was leading the way back into her sitting-room.</p> + +<p>"I have not ordered lunch until one o'clock," she said, "so we have +oceans of time to talk and tell each other secrets. Sit down, jeune +homme, and confess to me." She pointed to a <i>bergère</i>, but it was filled +with Italian embroideries. "Marie, take this rubbish away!" she called, +and presently some chairs were made clear.</p> + +<p>"And what must I confess?" asked Hector, when they were seated. "That I +am frantically in love with you, and your coldness is driving me wild?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly not!" said the widow, while she rose again and began to +arrange some giant roses in a wonderful basket which looked as if it had +just arrived—her shrewd eye had seen the card, "From Captain +Fitzgerald, with his best bonjour." "Certainly not! We are going to talk +truth, or, to punish you, I shall not ask you to meet her again, and I +shall warn her father of your strictly dishonorable intentions."</p> + +<p>"You would not be so cruel!"</p> +<p><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a></p> +<p>"Yes I would. And it is what I ought to do, anyway. She is as innocent +as a woolly lamb, and unsophisticated and guileless, and will probably +be falling in love with you. You take the wind out of the sails of that +husband of hers, you see!"</p> + +<p>"Do I?" said Hector, with overdone incredulity.</p> + +<p>She looked at him. His long, lithe limbs stretched out, every line +indicative of breeding and strength. She noted the shape of his head, +the perfect grooming, his lazy, insolent grace, his whimsical smile. +Englishmen of this class were certainly the most provokingly beautiful +creatures in the world.</p> + +<p>"It is because they have done nothing but order men, kill beasts, and +subjugate women for generations," she said to herself. "Lazy, naughty +darlings! If they came to our country and worked their brains a little, +they would soon lose that look. But it would be a pity," she +added—"yes, a pity."</p> + +<p>"What are you thinking of?" asked Lord Bracondale, while she gazed at +him.</p> + +<p>"I was thinking you are a beautiful, useless creature. Just like all +your nation. You think the world is made for you; in any c<a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>ase, all the +women and animals to kill are."</p> + +<p>"What an abominable libel! But I am fond of both things—women and +animals to kill."</p><p><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a></p> + +<p>"And you class them equally—or perhaps the animals are ahead."</p> + +<p>"Indeed not always," said Hector, reassuringly. "Some women have quite +the first place."</p> + +<p>"You are too flattering!" retorted the widow. "Those sentiments are all +very well for your own poor-spirited, down-trodden women, but they won't +do for Americans! A man has to learn a number of lessons before he is +fitted to cope with them."</p> + +<p>"Oh, tell me," said Hector.</p> + +<p>"He has got to learn to wait, for one thing, to wait about for hours if +necessary, and not to lose his temper, because the woman can't make up +her mind to be in time for things, or to change it often as to where she +will dine. Then he has to learn to give up any pleasure of his own for +hers—and travel when she wants to travel, or stay home when she wants +to go alone. If he is an Englishman he don't have brains enough to make +the money, but he must let her spend what he has got how she likes, and +not interfere with her own."</p> +<p><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a></p> +<p>"And in return he gets?"</p> + +<p>"The woman he happens to want, I suppose." And the widow laughed, +showing her wonderfully preserved brilliant white teeth.</p> + +<p>"You enunciate great truths, belle dame!" said Hector, "and your last +sentence is the greatest of all—'<i>The woman he happens to want.</i>'"</p> + +<p>"Which brings us back to our muttons—in this case only a defenceless +baby lamb. Now tell me what you are here for, trying to cajole me with +your good looks and mock humility."</p> + +<p>"I am here to ask you to help me to see her again, then," said Hector, +who knew when to be direct. "I have only met her three times, as you +know, but I have fallen in love, and she is going away next week, and +there is only one Paris in the world."</p> + +<p>"You can do a great deal of mischief in a week," Mrs. McBride said, +looking at him again critically. "I ought not to help you, but I can't +resist you—there! What can we devise?"</p> + +<p>It is possible the probability of Theodora's father making a fourth may +have had something thing to do with her complaisance. Anyway, it was +decided that if feasible the <a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a>four should spend a day at Versailles.</p> + +<p>They should go in their two automobiles in time for breakfast at the +Réservoirs. They would start, Theodora in Mrs. McBride's with her, and +Captain Fitzgerald with Lord Bracondale, and each couple could spend the +afternoon as they pleased, dining again at the Réservoirs and whirling +back to Paris in the moonlight. A truly rural and refreshing programme, +good for the soul of man.</p> + +<p>"And I can rely upon you to get rid of the husband?" said Lord +Bracondale, finally. "I do not see the poetry of the affair with his +bald head and mutton-chop whiskers as an accessory."</p> + +<p>"Leave that to Captain Fitzgerald and myself," Mrs. McBride said, +proudly. "I have a scheme that Mr. Brown shall spend the day with +Clutterbuck R. Tubbs, examining some new machinery they are both +interested in. Leave it to me!" The part of <i>Deus ex machina</i> was always +a rôle the widow loved.</p> + +<p>Then they descended to an agreeable lunch in the restaurant, with a +numerous party of her friends as usual, and Lord Bracondale felt +afterwards full of joy and hope, to continue his sinful path +unrepenting.</p> + +<p>The days that intervened before Theodora saw him again were uneventful +and full of blankness. The walks in the Bois appeared more tedious than +ever in the morning, the drives in the<a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a> Acacias more exasperating. It was +a continual alertness to see if she caught sight of a familiar face, but +she never did. Fate was against them, as she sometimes is when she means +to compensate soon after by some glorious day of the gods. And although +Lord Bracondale called at her hotel and walked where he thought he +should see her, and even drove in the Acacias, they had no meeting.</p> + +<p>Josiah did not feel himself sufficiently strong to stand the air of +theatres, and they went nowhere in the evenings. He was keeping himself +for his own dinner-party, which was to take place at the Madrid on the +Monday.</p> + +<p>Captain Fitzgerald had arranged it, and besides Mrs. McBride several of +his friends were coming, and a special band of wonderfully talented +Tziganes, who were delighting Paris that year, had been engaged to play +to them. If only the weather should remain fine all would be well.</p> + +<p>A surprise awaited Theodora on Saturday morning. A friendly note from +Mrs. McBride arrived, asking her if she would spend the day with her at +Versailles, as she had asked her husband to do her a favor and lunch +with Mr. Clutterbuck R. Tubbs.</p> + +<p>Theodora awaited Josiah's presence at the <i>premier déjeuner</i>, which they +took in their salon, with absolute excitement. He came in, a pompous +smile on his face.</p> + +<p>"Good-day<a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a>, my love," he said, blandly. "That charming widow writes me +this morning, asking if I will do her a favor, and take her friend, Mr. +Clutterbuck Tubbs, to examine that machinery for the separation of fats +we both have an interest in, and he suggests I should lunch with him, as +he is very anxious to have my opinion upon the merits of it."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Theodora.</p> + +<p>"She also says," referring to the letter in his hand, "she will take +charge of you for the day, and take you to Versailles, which I know you +wish to go to. She wants an answer at once, as she will call for you at +twelve o'clock if we accept."</p> + +<p>"I have heard from her, too," said Theodora. "What shall you answer, +Josiah?" and she looked out of the window.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I may as well go, I think. There is money in the invention, or that +old gimlet-eye would not be so keen about it; I talked the matter over +with him at Armenonville the other night."</p> + +<p>"Then shall you write or shall I?" said Theodora, as evenly as she +could. "Her servant is waiting."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2> + + +<p>Theodora hummed to herself a glad little <i>chansonnette</i> as she changed +her breakfast negligee for the freshest and loveliest of her spring +frocks. She did not know why she was so happy. There had been no word of +any one else being of the party, only she and Mrs. McBride, but +Versailles would be exquisite on such a day, and something whispered to +her that she might not yawn.</p> + +<p>The most radiant vision awaited the widow, when, with unusual +punctuality, her automobile stopped at the hotel door. She came in. She +was voluble, she flattered Josiah. So good of him to take Mr. Tubbs—and +she hoped it would not tire him. Theodora should be well looked after. +They might be late and even dine at Versailles, she said, and Mr. Brown +was not to be anxious—<i>she</i> would be responsible for the safe return of +his beautiful little wife. (Theodora was five foot seven at least, but +her small head and extreme slenderness gave people the feeling she was +little—something to be protected and guarded always.)</p> + +<p>Josiah was affable. Mrs. McBride's words were so smooth and so many, he +had no time to feel Theodora was going to dine out without him, or that +anything had been arranged for ultimate ends.</p> +<p><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a></p> +<p>The automobile had almost reached Suresnes before the widow said to her +guest:</p> + +<p>"Your father and Lord Bracondale have promised to meet us at the +Réservoirs. Captain Fitzgerald told me how you wanted to go to +Versailles, and how your husband is not strong enough to take these +excursions, so I thought we might have this little day out there, while +he is engaged with Mr. Clutterbuck Tubbs."</p> + +<p>"How sweet of you!" said Theodora.</p> + +<p>As they rushed through the smiling country, both women's spirits rose, +and Mrs. McBride's were the spirits of experience and did not mount +without due cause. Since she had been a girl in Dakota and passionately +in love with her first husband—the defunct McBride was a second +venture—she had not met a man who could quicken her pulse like Captain +Fitzgerald. It was a curious coincidence that they both had already two +partners to regret. It was an extra link between them, and Jane +McBride, who was superstitious, read the omen to mean that this time +each had met his true mate.</p> + +<p>"If he is irresistible to-day, I think I shall clinch matters," she was +saying to herself.</p> +<p><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a></p> +<p>While Theodora's musings ran:</p> + +<p>"How beautiful Versailles will look, and I dare say he will know all +about its history, and be able to tell me interesting things; and oh! I +am so glad I put on this frock, and oh! I am so happy."</p> + +<p>And aloud they spoke of paradise plumes and the new gray, and the merits +and demerits of Callot and Doucet and Jeanne Valez. And the widow said +some bright American things about husbands and the world in general that +conveyed crisp truths.</p> + +<p>The drive seemed all too short, and there were their two cavaliers in +the court-yard awaiting them at the Réservoirs, having arrived just +before them.</p> + +<p>To the end of her life Theodora will remember that glorious May day. Its +even minutest detail, the color of the chestnut-trees, the tint of the +sky, the scent in the air, every line of his figure and turn of his +head, every look in his eyes—and they were many and varied—and also +and alas! every growing emotion in her own heart. But at the moment all +was gladness, and exquisite, young, irresponsible joy. <i>Sans +arrière-pensée</i> <a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a>or disquieting reflection.</p> + +<p>She wondered which of the two men was the handsomer as she got out of +the automobile—dear, darling papa or Lord Bracondale; both were quite +show creatures of their age, and both were of the same class and +knowledge of <i>savoir-vivre</i>. Every one said such polite and gracious +things, it was all so smooth and gay, and it seemed so natural that they +should take a turn up towards the château while breakfast was being +prepared.</p> + +<p>Half-past one o'clock was time enough to eat, the widow said.</p> + +<p>"I want to show you a number of spots I love," Hector announced, +choosing a different path to the other pair. "And it is a day we can be +happy in, can't we?"</p> + +<p>"I want to be happy," said Theodora.</p> + +<p>"Then we shall go no farther now; we shall sit on this seat and admire +the view. See, we are quite alone and undisturbed; all the world has +gone home to breakfast."</p> + +<p>Then he looked at her, and though he really did try at this stage to be +reasonable, something of the intense attraction he felt<a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a> for her blazed +in his eyes.</p> + +<p>She was sufficiently delectable a picture to turn the sagest head. There +was something so absolutely pure white about that skin, it seemed good +to eat, flawless, unlined, unblemished, under this brilliant light.</p> + +<p>The way her silvery blond hair grew was just the right way a woman's +hair ought to grow, he thought; low on a high, broad brow, rippling and +soft, and quantities of it. What could it be like to caress it, to run +one's fingers through it, to bury one's face in it? Ah! and then there +were her tender eyes, dewy and shadowed with dark lashes, and so +intensely blue. His glance wandered farther afield. Such a figure! +slender and graceful and fine. <a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a>There was something almost childish about +it all; the innocent look of a very young girl, with the polish of the +woman, garbed by an artist. It seemed the great pearls in her ears were +not more milkily white than her throat, and he was sure were also her +little slender hands, that did not fidget, but lay idly in her lap, +holding her blue parasol. He would like to have taken off her gloves to +see.</p> + +<p>Passionate devotion was surging up in his breast.</p> + +<p>And he was an Englishman, and it was still the morning. There was no +moon now and he had not even breakfasted! This shows sufficiently to +what state he had come.</p> + +<p>"I want you to tell me all about Versailles," she said, looking to the +left and the gray wing beyond the chapel. "Its histories and its +meanings. I used to read about it all after Sarah brought me here once +for our treat, but you probably are learned upon the subject, and I want +to know."</p> + +<p>"I would much rather hear what you did when Sarah brought you here for +your treat," he said.</p> + +<p>"Oh! it was a very simple day," and she leaned back and laughed softly +at the recollection. "Papa was very hard up at that time, you know, and +we were rather poor, so we came as cheaply as we could, Sarah, +Clementine, and I, and <a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>I remember there were some very snuffy men in the +train—we could not go first-class, you see—and one of them rather +frightened me."</p> + +<p>"The brute!" said Hector.</p> + +<p>"I think I was about fourteen."</p> + +<p>"And even then perfectly beautiful, I expect," he commented to himself.</p> + +<p>"We walked up from the station, and oh! we saw all the galleries and we +ran all over the park, but we missed the way to Trianon somehow and +never saw that, and when we got back here we were too tired to start +again. We had only had sandwiches, you see, that we brought with us, and +some funny little drinks at a café down there," and she pointed vaguely +towards the lake, "because we found we had only one franc fifty between +us all. But we were so happy, and Clementine knows a great deal, and +told us many things which were quite different from what was in the +guide-books—but it seems so long, long ago. Do you know it must be six +years." And she looked at him seriously.</p> + +<p>"Half a lifetime!" agreed Hector, with a whimsical smile.</p> +<p><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a></p> +<p>"Oh! you are laughing at me!" she said, and there was a cloud in the +blue stars which looked up at him.</p> + +<p>He made a movement nearer her—while his deep voice took every tone of +tenderness.</p> + +<p>"Indeed, indeed I am not—you dear little girl! I love to hear of your +day. I was only smiling to think that six years ago you were a baby +child, and I was then an old man in feeling—let me see, I was +twenty-five, and I was in Russia."</p> + +<p>He stopped suddenly; there were some circumstances which, sitting there +beside her, he would rather not remember connected with Russia.</p> + +<p>This was one of the peculiarities of Theodora. There was something about +her which seemed to wither up all low or vicious things. It was not that +she filled people with ascetic thoughts of saints and angels and their +mother in heaven, only she seemed suddenly to enhance simple joys with +beauty and charm.</p> + +<p>They talked on for half an hour, and with every moment he discovered +fresh qualities of sweetness and light in her gentle heart.</p> + +<p>She was not ill educated either, but <a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a>she had never speculated upon +things, she took them for granted just as they were, and <i>Jean d'Agrève</i> +was probably the only awakening book she had ever read.</p> + +<p>Hector all at once seemed to realize his mother's vision, and to +understand for the first time what marriage might mean. That to possess +this exquisite bit of God's finished work for his very own, to live with +her in the country, at old Bracondale, to see her honored and adored, +surrounded by little children—his children—would be a dream of bliss +far, far beyond any dream he had ever known. A domestic, tender dream of +sweetness that he had always laughed at before as a final thing when +life's other joys should be over, and now it seemed suddenly to be the +only heaven and completion of his soul's desire.</p> + +<p>Then he remembered Josiah Brown with a hideous pang of pain and +bitterness—and they went in to lunch.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Theodora was so gay! Captain Fitzgerald and Mrs. McBride were already +seated when they joined them in the restaurant. Most of the other +visitors had finished—it was almost two o'clock.</p> + +<p>There was a good deal of black middle in the widow's eyes, Theodora +noticed, and wondered to herself if she had had a happy and exciting +hour too. Papa looked complacent and handsomer than ever, she thought. +She did hope it was going well. And she wondered how they were to +dispose of their afternoon.</p><p><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a></p> + +<p>The widow soon settled this. She had, she said, a wild desire to rush +through the air for a little—she <i>must</i> have her chauffeur go at full +speed—somewhere—anywhere—her nerves needed calming! And Captain +Fitzgerald had agreed to accompany her. Their destination was unknown, +and they might not be back for tea, so Lord Bracondale must take the +greatest care of Theodora and give her some if they did not turn up. +They certainly would for dinner, but eight o'clock would be time enough +for that.</p> + +<p>When your destination is unknown you can never say how many hours it +will take to get there and back, she pointed out. And no one felt +inclined to argue with her about this obvious truth!</p> + +<p>Now if Theodora had been a free unmarried girl, or a freer widow, it is +highly probable fate would not have arranged this long afternoon in +blissful surroundings undisturbed by any one. As it was, who knows if +the goddess settled it with a smile on her lip or a tear in her eye? It +was settled, at all events, and looked as if it were going to contain +some moments worth remembering.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2> +<p><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a></p> + +<p>"And what is your pleasure, fair queen?" Hector said, as they listened +to the diminishing noise of the widow's Mercédès. "We are alone, and we +have the world before us. Issue your commands."</p> + +<p>"No," said Theodora, and she pouted her red lips. "I want you to settle +that. I want you to arrange for whatever you think would give me the +greatest pleasure. Then I shall know if you understand me and guess what +I would like."</p> + +<p>This was the most daring speech she had ever made, and she was surprised +at her own temerity.</p> + +<p>"Very well," he said. "That means you belong to me until they return," +and a thrill ran through him. "Has not your father, has not your +hostess, given you into my charge? And, now you yourself have sealed the +compact, we shall see if I can make you happy."</p> + +<p>As he said the words "you belong to me," Theodora thrilled too—a +sensation as of an electric shock almost quivered through her. Belonged +to him—ah!—what would that mean?</p> + +<p>He called his chauffeur, who started the automobile and drove under the +covered <i>porte cochère</i> where they stood.</p> +<p><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a></p> +<p>Lord Bracondale had not spoken all the time he was helping her in and +arranging rugs with the tenderest solicitude, but when they were settled +and started—it was a coupé with a great deal of glass about it, so that +they got plenty of air—he turned to her.</p> + +<p>"Now, do you know what I am going to do with you, madame? I shall only +unfold my plans bit by bit, and watch your face to see if I have chosen +well. I am going to take you first to the Petit Trianon, and we are +going to walk leisurely through the rooms. I am not going to worry you +with much sight-seeing and tourists and lessons of history, but I want +you to glance at this setting of the life picture of poor Marie +Antoinette, because it is full of sentiment and it will make you +appreciate more the <i>hameau</i> and her playground afterwards. Something +tells me you would rather see these things than all the fine pictures +and salons of the stiff château."</p> + +<p>"Oh yes," said Theodora; "you have guessed well this time."</p> + +<p>"Then here we are, almost arrived," he said, presently.</p> + +<p>They had been going very fast, and could see the square, white house in +front of them, and when they alighted at the gates she found the +guardian was an old friend of Lord Bracondale's, and they were left free +to wander alone in the rooms between the batches of tourists.</p> + +<p>But every one knows the Petit Trianon, and can surmise how its beauties +appealed to Theodora.</p><p><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a></p> + +<p>"Oh, the poor, poor queen!" she said, with a sad ring in her expressive +voice, when they came to the large salon; "and she sat here and played +on her harpsichord—and I wonder if she and Fersen were ever alone—and +I wonder if she really loved him—"</p> + +<p>Then she stopped suddenly; she had told herself she must never talk +about love to any one. It was a subject that she must have nothing to do +with. It could never come her way, now she was married to Josiah Brown, +and it would be unwise to discuss it, even in the abstract.</p> + +<p>The same beautiful, wild-rose tint tinged the white velvet as once +before when she had spoken of <i>Jean d'Agrève</i>, and again Lord Bracondale +experienced a sensation of satisfaction.</p> + +<p>But this time he would not let her talk about the weather. The subject +of love interested him, too.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am sure she did," he said, "and I always shall believe Fersen +was her lover; no life, even a queen's, can escape one love."</p> + +<p>"I suppose not," said Theodora, very low, and she looked out of the +window.</p> + +<p>"Love is not a passion which asks our leave if he may come or no, you +see," Hector continued, trying to control his voice to sound<a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a> +dispassionate and discursive—he knew he must not frighten her. "Love +comes in a thousand unknown, undreamed-of ways. And then he gilds the +world and makes it into heaven."</p> + +<p>"Does he?" almost whispered Theodora.</p> + +<p>"And think what it must have been to a queen, married to a tiresome, +unattractive Bourbon—and Fersen was young and gallant and thoughtful +for her slightest good, and, from what one hears and has read, he must +have understood her, and been her friend as well—and sometimes she must +have forgotten about being a queen for a few moments—in his arms—"</p> + +<p>Theodora drew a long, long breath, but she did not speak.</p> + +<p>"And perhaps, if we knew, the remembrance of those moments may have +been her glory and consolation in the last dark hours."</p> + +<p>"Oh! I hope so!" said Theodora.</p> + +<p>Then she walked on quickly into the quaint, little, low-ceilinged +bedroom. Oh, she must get out into the air—or she must talk of +furniture, or curtain stuffs, or where the bath had been!</p> + +<p>Love, love, love! And did it mean life after all?—since even this +far-off love of this poor dead queen had such power to move her. And +perhaps Fersen was like—but this last thought caused her heart to beat +too wildly.</p> +<p><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a></p> +<p>There were no roses now, she was very pale as she said: "It saddens me, +this. Let us go out into the sun."</p> + +<p>They descended the staircase again almost in silence, and on through the +little door in the court-yard wall into the beautiful garden beyond.</p> + +<p>"Show me where she was happy, where you know she was happy before any +troubles came. I want to be gay again," said Theodora.</p> + +<p>So they walked down the path towards the <i>hameau</i>.</p> + +<p>"What have I done?" Lord Bracondale wondered. "Her adorable face went +quite white. Her soul is no longer the open book I have found it. There +are depths and depths, but I must fathom them all."</p> + +<p>"Oh, how I love the spring-time!" exclaimed Theodora, and her voice was +full of relief. "Look at those greens, so tender and young, and that +peep of the sky! Oh, and those dear, pretty little dolls' houses! Let us +hasten; I want to go and play there, and make butter, too! Don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, this is good," he said; "and I want just what you want."</p> + +<p>Her face was all sweet and joyous as she turned it to him.</p> + +<p>"Let's pretend we lived then," she said, "and I am the miller's daughter +of this dear little mill, and you are the bailiff's son who lives +opposite, and you have come with your corn <a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a>to be ground. Oh, and I shall +make a bargain, and charge you dear!" and she laughed and swung her +parasol back, while the sun glorified her hair into burnished silver.</p> + +<p>"What bargain could you make that I would not agree to willingly?" he +asked.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps some day I shall make one with you—or want to—that you will +not like," she said, "and then I shall remind you of this day and your +gallant speech."</p> + +<p>"And I shall say then as I say now. I will make any bargain with you, +so long as it is a bargain which benefits us both."</p> + +<p>"Ah, you are a Normand, you hedge!" she laughed, but he was serious.</p> + +<p>They walked all around the <i>laiterie</i>, and all the time she was gay and +whimsical, and to herself she was saying, "I am unutterably happy, but +we must not talk of love."</p> + +<p>"Now you have had enough of this," Lord Bracondale said, when they were +again in view of the house, "and I am going to take you into a forest +like the babes in the woods, and we shall go a<a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a>nd lose ourselves and +forget the world altogether. The very sight of these harmless tourists +in the distance jars upon me to-day. I want you alone and no one else. +Come."</p> + +<p>And she went.</p> + +<p>"I have never been here before," said Theodora, as they turned into the +Forest of Marly. "And you have been wise in your choice so far. I love +trees."</p> + +<p>"You see how I study and care for the things which belong to me," said +Hector. It gave him ridiculous pleasure to announce that sentence +again—ridiculous, unwarrantable pleasure.</p> + +<p>Theodora turned her head away a little. She would like to have continued +the subject, but she did not dare.</p> + +<p>Presently they came to a side <i>allée</i>, and after going up it about a +mile the automobile stopped, and they got out and walked down a green +glade to the right.</p> + +<p>Oh, and I wonder if any of you who read know the Forest of Marly, and +this one green glade that leads down to the centre of a star where five +avenues meet? It is all soft grass and splendid trees, and may have been +a <i>rendezvous de chasse</i> in the good old days, when life—for the +great—was fair in France.</p> + +<p>It is very lonely now, and if you want to spend some hours in peace you +can almost count upon solitude there.</p> + +<p>"Now, is not this beautiful?" he asked her, as they neared the centre, +"and soon you will see why I carry this rug over my arm. I am going to +take you right to the middle of the star until you see five paths for +you to choose from, all green and full of glancing sunlight, and when +you have selected one we will penetrate down it and sit under a tree. Is +it good—my idea?"</p> + +<p>"Very good," said Theodora. Then she was silent until they reached the +<i>rond-point</i>.</p> + +<p>There was that wonderful sense of aloofness and silence—hardly even the +noise of a bird. Only the green, green trees, and here and there a +shaft of sunlight turning them into the shade of a lizard's back.</p> + +<p>An ideal spot for—poets and dreamers—and lovers—Theodora thought.</p> + +<p>"Now we are here! Look this way and that! Five paths for us to choose +from<a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a>!"</p> + +<p>Then something made Theodora say, "Oh, let us stay in the centre, in +this one round place, where we can see them all and their +possibilities."</p> + +<p>"And do you think uncertain possibilities are more agreeable perhaps +than certain ends?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I never speculate," said Theodora.</p> + +<p>"As you will, then," he said, while he looked into her eyes, and he +placed the rug up against a giant tree between two avenues, so that +their view really only extended down three others now.</p> + +<p>"We have turned our backs on the road we came," he said, "and on another +road that leads in a roundabout way to the Grande Avenue again. So now +we must look into the unknown and the future."</p> + +<p>"It seems all very green and fair," said Theodora, and she leaned back +against the tree and half closed her eyes.</p> + +<p>He lay on the grass at her feet, his hat thrown off beside him, and in +a desert island they could not have been more alone and undisturbed.</p> + +<p>The greatest temptation that Hector Bracondale had ever yet had in his +life came to him then.<a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a> To make love to her, to tell her of all the new +thoughts she had planted in his soul, of the windows she had opened wide +to the sunlight. To tell her that he loved her, that he longed to touch +even the tips of her fingers, that the thought of caressing her lips and +her eyes and her hair drove the blood coursing madly through his veins. +That to dream of what life could be like, if she were really his own, +was a dream of intoxicating bliss.</p> + +<p>And something of all this gleamed in his eyes as he gazed up at her—and +Theodora, all unused to the turbulence of emotion, was troubled and +moved and yet wildly happy. She looked away down the centre avenue, and +she began to speak fast with a little catch in her breath, and Hector +clinched his hands together and gazed at a beetle in the grass, or +otherwise he would have taken her in his arms.</p> + +<p>"Tell me the story of all these avenues," she said; "tell me a fairy +story suitable to the day."</p> + +<p>And he fell in with her mood. So he began:</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 347px;"> +<img src="images/illus3.png" width="347" height="545" alt=""Once Upon a Time There Was a Fairy Prince and +Princess."" title=""Once Upon a Time There Was a Fairy Prince and +Princess."" /> +<span class="caption">"Once Upon a Time There Was a Fairy Prince and +Princess."</span> +</div> +<p><a name="illus3"></a></p> + +<p><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a></p> +<p>"Once upon a time there was a fairy prince and princess, and a witch +had enchanted them and put them in a green forest, but had set a +watch-dog over Love—so that the poor Cupid with his bow and arrows +might not shoot at them, and they were told they might live and enjoy +the green wood and find what they could of sport and joy. But Cupid +laughed. 'As if,' he said, 'there is anything in a green wood of good +without me—and my shafts!' So while the watch-dog slept—it was a warm, +warm day in May, just such as this—he shot an arrow at the prince and +it entered his heart. Then he ran off laughing. 'That is enough for one +day,' he said. And the poor prince suffered and suffered because he was +wounded and the princess had not received a dart, too—and could not +feel for him."</p> + +<p>"Was she not even sympathetic?" asked Theodora, and again there was that +catch in her breath.</p> + +<p>"Yes, she was sympathetic," he continued, "but this was not enough for +the prince; he wanted her to be wounded, too."</p> + +<p>"How very, very cruel of him," said Theodora.</p> + +<p>"But men are cruel, and the prince was only a man, you know, although he +was in a green forest with a lovely princess."</p> + +<p>"And wh<a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a>at happened?" asked Theodora.</p> + +<p>"Well, the watch-dog slept on, so that a friendly zephyr could come, and +it whispered to the prince: 'At the end of all these allées, which lead +into the future, there is only one thing, and that is Love; he bars +their gates. As soon as you start down one, no matter which, you will +find him, and when he sees your princess he will shoot an arrow at her, +too.'"</p> + +<p>"Oh, then the princess of course never went down an allée," said +Theodora—and she smiled radiantly to hide how her heart was +beating—"did she?"</p> + +<p>"The end of the story I do not know," said Lord Bracondale; "the fairy +who told it to me would not say what happened to them, only that the +prince was wounded, deeply wounded, with Love's arrow. Aren't you sorry +for the prince, beautiful princess?"</p> + +<p>Theodora opened her blue parasol, although no ray of sunshine fell upon +her there. She was going through the first moment of this sort in her +life. She was quite unaccustomed to fencing, or to any intercourse with +men—especially men of his world. She understood this story had himself +and herself for hero and heroine; she felt she must continue the +badinage—anything to keep the tone as light as it could be, with all +these new emotions flooding her being and making her heart beat. It was +almost pain she experienced, the sensation was so intense, and Hector +read of these things in her eyes and was content. So he let his voice +grow softer still, and almost whispered again:</p> +<p><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a></p> +<p>"And aren't you sorry for the prince—beautiful princess?"</p> + +<p>"I am sorry for any one who suffers," said Theodora, gently, "even in a +fairy story."</p> + +<p>And as he looked at her he thought to himself, here was a rare thing, a +beautiful woman with a tender heart. He knew she would be gentle and +kind to the meanest of God's creatures. And again the vision of her at +Bracondale came to him—his mother would grow to love her perhaps even +more than Morella Winmarleigh! How she would glorify everything +commonplace with those tender ways of hers! To look at her was like +looking up into the vast, pure sky, with the light of heaven beyond. And +yet he lay on the grass at her feet with his mind full of thoughts and +plans and desires to drag this angel down from her high heaven—into his +arms!</p> + +<p>Because he was a man, you see, and the time of his awakening was not +yet.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h2> + +<p><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a></p> +<p>Man is a hunter—a hunter always. He may be a poor thing and hunt only a +few puny aims, or he may be a strong man and choose big game. But he is +hunting, hunting—something—always.</p> + +<p>And primitive life seems like the spectrum of light—composed of three +primary colors, and white and black at the beginning and ending of it. +And the three colors of blue, red, and yellow have their counterparts in +the three great passions in man—to hunt his food, to continue his +species, and to kill his enemy.</p> + +<p>And white and black seem like birth and death—and there is the sun, +which is the soul and makes the colors, and allows of all combinations +and graduations of beautiful other shades from them for parallels to all +other qualities and instincts, only the original are those great primary +forces—to hunt his food, to continue his species, and to kill his +enemy.</p> + +<p>And if this is so to the end of time, man will be the same, I suppose, +until civilization has emasculated the whole of nature and so ends the +world! Or until this wonderful new scientist has perfected his +researches to the point of creating human life by chemical process, as +well as his present discovery of animating jellyfish!</p> + +<p>Who knows? But by that time it will not matter to any of us!</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, man is<a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a> at the stage that when he loves a woman he wishes to +possess her, and, in a modified form, he wishes to steal her, if +necessary, from another, or kill the enemy who steals her from him.</p> + +<p>But the Sun of the Soul is there, too, so the poor old world is not in +such a very bad case after all.</p> + +<p>And how the <i>bon Dieu</i> must smile sadly to Himself when He looks down on +priests and nuns and hermits and fanatics, and sees how they have +distorted His beautiful scheme of things with their narrow ideas. Trying +to eliminate the red out of His spectrum, instead of ennobling and +glorifying it all with the Sun of the Soul.</p> + +<p>And all of you who are great reasoners and arguers will laugh at this +ridiculous little simile of life drawn by a woman; but I do not care. I +have had my outburst, and said what I wanted to. So now we can get back +to the two—who were not yet lovers—under their green tree in the +Forest of Marly.</p> + +<p>"But you must be able to guess the end," Theodora was saying; "and oh, I +want to know, if all the roads were barred by love—how did they get out +of the wood?"</p> + +<p>"They took him with them," said Lord Bracondale, and he touched the edge +of her dress gently with a wild flower he had picked in the grass, while +into his eyes crept all the passion he felt a<a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a>nd into his voice all the +tenderness.</p> + +<p>Now if Theodora had ever read <i>La Faute de L'Abbé Mouret</i> she would have +known just what proximity and the spring-time was doing for them both.</p> + +<p>But she had not read, and did not know. All she was conscious of was a +wild thrilling of her pulses, an extraordinary magnetic force that +seemed to draw her—draw her nearer—nearer to what? Even that she did +not know or ask herself. Beyond that it was danger, and she must fly +from it.</p> + +<p>"I do not want to talk of any of those things to-day," she said, +suddenly dropping her parasol between them. "I only want to laugh and be +amused, and as you were to devise schemes for my happiness, you must +amuse me."</p> + +<p>He looked up at her again and he noticed, for all this brave speech, +that her hands were trembling as she clutched the handle of her blue +parasol.</p> + +<p>Triumph and joy ran through him. He could afford to wait a little longer +now, since he knew<a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a> that he must mean something, even perhaps a great +deal, to her.</p> + +<p>And so for the next half-hour he played with her, he skimmed over the +surface of danger, he enthralled her fancy, and with every sentence he +threw the glamour of his love around her, and fascinated her soul. All +his powers of attraction—and they were many—were employed for her +undoing.</p> + +<p>And Theodora sat as one in a dream.</p> + +<p>At last she felt she <i>must</i> wake—must realize that she was not a happy +princess, but Theodora, who must live her dull life—and this—and +this—where was it leading her to?</p> + +<p>So she clasped her hands together suddenly, and she said:</p> + +<p>"But do you know we have grown serious, and I asked you to amuse me, +Lord Bracondale!"</p> + +<p>"I cannot amuse you," he said, lazily, "but shall I tell you about my +home, which I should like to show you some day?" And again he began to +caress the farthest edge of her dress with his wild flower. Just the +smallest movement of smoothing it up and down that no one could resent, +but which was disturbing to Theodora. She did not wish him to stop, on +the contrary—and yet—</p> +<p><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a></p> +<p>"Yes, I would like to hear of that," she said. "Is it an old, old +house?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, moderately so, and it has nooks and corners and views that might +appeal to you. I believe I should find them all endowed with fresh charm +myself, if I could see them with you"—and he made the turning-point of +his flower a few inches nearer her hand.</p> + +<p>Theodora said nothing; but she took courage and peeped at him again. And +she thought how powerful he looked, and how beautifully shaped; and she +liked the fineness of the silk of his socks and his shirt, and the cut +of his clothes, and the wave of his hair—and last of all, his brown, +strong, well-shaped hands.</p> + +<p>And then she fell to wondering what the general scheme of things could +be that made husbands possess none of these charms; when, if they did, +it could all be so good and so delicious, instead of a terribly irksome +duty to live with them and be their wives.</p> + +<p>"You are not listening to a word I am saying!" said Hector. "Where were +your thoughts, cruel lady?"</p> + +<p>She was confused a little, and laughed gently. "They were away in a land +where you can never come," she said.</p> + +<p>He raised himself on his elbow, <a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a>and supported his head on his hand, +while he answered, eagerly:</p> + +<p>"But I must come! I want to know them, all your thoughts. Do you know +that since we met on Monday you have never been for one instant out of +my consciousness. And you would not listen then to what I told you of +friendship when it is born of instantaneous sympathy—it is because in +some other life two souls have been very near and dear. And that is our +case, and I want to make you feel it so, as I do. Tell me that you +do—?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know what I do feel," said Theodora. "But perhaps—could it be +true that we met when we lived before; and when was that? and who were +we?"</p> + +<p>"It matters not a jot," said he. "So long as you feel it too—that we +are not only of yesterday, you and I. There is some stronger link +between us."</p> + +<p>For one second they looked into each other's eyes, and each read the +other's thoughts mirrored there; and if his said, in conscious, +passionate words, "I love you," hers were troubled and misty with +possibilities. Then she jumped up from her seat suddenly, and her voice +trembled a little as she said:</p><p><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a></p> + +<p>"And now I want to go out of the wood."</p> + +<p>He rose too and stood beside her, while he pointed to the glade to the +left of the centre they were facing.</p> + +<p>"We must penetrate into the future then," he said, "because I told my +chauffeur to meet us on the road where I think that will lead to. We +cannot go back by the way we have come."</p> + +<p>And she did not answer; she was afraid, because she remembered all those +avenues were barred by—love.</p> + +<p>As he walked beside her, Hector Bracondale knew that now he must be +very, very careful in what he said. He must lull her fears to sleep +again, or she would be off like a lark towards high heaven, and he would +be left upon earth.</p> + +<p>So he exerted himself to interest and amuse her in less agitating ways. +He talked of his home and his mother and his sister. He wanted Theodora +to meet them. She would like Anne, he said, and his mother would love +her, he knew. And again the impossible vision same to him, and he felt +he hated the face of Morella Winmarleigh.</p> +<p><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a></p> +<p>Usually when he had been greatly attracted by a married woman before, he +had unconsciously thought of her as having the qualities which would +make her an adorable mistress, a delicious friend, or a holiday +amusement. There had never been any reverence mixed up with the affair, +which usually had the zest of forbidden fruit, and was hurried along by +passion. It had always only depended upon the woman how far he had got +beyond these stages; but, as he thought of Theodora, unconsciously a +picture always came to him of what she would be were she his wife. And +it astonished him when he analyzed it; he, the scoffer at bonds, now to +find this picture the fairest in the world!</p> + +<p>And as yet he was hardly even dimly growing to realize that fate would +turn the anguish of this desire into a chastisement of scorpions for +him.</p> + +<p>Things had always been so within his grasp.</p> + +<p>"We shall go to England on Tuesday," Theodora said, as they sauntered +along down the green glade. "It is so strange, you know, but I have +never been there."</p> + +<p>"Never been to England!" Hector exclaimed, incredulously.</p> + +<p>"No!" and she smiled up at him. All was at peace now in her mind, and +she dared to look as much as she pleased.<a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a></p> + +<p>"No. Papa used to go sometimes, but it was too expensive to take the +whole family; so we<a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a> were left at Bruges generally, or at Dieppe, or +where we chanced to be. If it was the summer, often we have spent it in +a Normandy farm-house."</p> + +<p>"Then how have you learned all the things you know?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"That was not difficult. I do not know much," she said, gently, "and +Sarah taught me in the beginning, and then I went to convents whenever +we were in towns, and dear papa was so kind and generous always; no +matter how hard up he was he always got the best masters available for +me—and for Clementine. Sarah is much older, and even Clementine five +years."</p> + +<p>"I wonder what on earth you will think of it—England, I mean?" He was +deeply interested.</p> + +<p>"I am sure I shall love it. We have always spoken of it as home, you +know. And papa has often described my grandfather's houses. Both my +grandfathers had beautiful houses, it seems, and he says, now that I am +rich and cannot ever be a trouble to them, the family might be pleased +to see me."</p> + +<p>She spoke quite simply. There never was room for bitterness or irony in +her tender heart. And Hector looked down upon her, a sort of worship in +his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Papa's father is dead long ago; it is his brother who owns Beechleigh +now," she continued—"Sir Patrick Fitzgerald. They are Irish, of course, +but the place is in Cambridgeshire, because it came from his +grandmother."</p><p><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a></p> + +<p>"Yes, I know the old boy," said Hector. "I see him at the turf—a fiery, +vile-tempered, thin, old bird, about sixty."</p> + +<p>"That sounds like him," said Theodora.</p> + +<p>"And so you are going to make all these relations' acquaintance. What an +experience it will be, won't it?" His voice was full of sympathy. "But +you will stay in London. They are all there now, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"My Grandfather Borringdon, my mother's father, never goes there, I +believe; he is very old and delicate, we have heard. But I have written +to him—papa wished me to do so; for myself I do not care, because I +think he was unkind to my mother, and I shall not like him. It was cruel +never to speak to her again—wasn't it?—just because she married papa, +whom she loved very much—papa, who is so handsome that he could never +have really been a husband, could he?"</p> + +<p>Then she blushed deeply, realizing what she had said.</p> + +<p>And the quaintness of it caused Hector to smile while he felt its +pathos.</p> +<p><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a></p> +<p>How <i>could</i> they all have sacrificed this beautiful young life between +them! And he slashed off a tall green weed with his stick when he +thought of Josiah Brown—his short, stumpy, plebeian figure and bald, +shiny head, his common voice, and his pompousness—Josiah Brown, who had +now the ordering of her comings and goings, who paid for her clothes and +gave her those great pearls—who might touch her and kiss her—might +clasp and caress her—might hold her in his arms, his very own, any +moment of the day—or night! Ah, God! that last thought was +impossible—unbearable.</p> + +<p>And for one second Hector's eyes looked murderous as they glared into +the distance—and Theodora glanced up timidly, and asked, in a +sympathetic voice: What was it? What ailed him?</p> + +<p>"Some day I will tell you," he said. "But not yet."</p> + +<p>Then he asked her more about her family and her plans.</p> + +<p>They would stay in London at Claridge's for a week or so, and go down to +Bessington Hall for Whitsuntide. It would be ready for them then. Josiah +had had it all furnished magnificently by one of those people who had +taste and ordered well for those who could afford to pay for it. She was +rather longing to see it, she said—her fu<a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></a>ture home—and she could have +wished she might have chosen the things herself. Not that it mattered +much either way.</p> + +<p>"I am very ignorant about houses," she explained, "because we never +really had one, you see, but I think, perhaps, I would know what was +pretty from museums and pictures—and I love all colors and forms."</p> + +<p>He felt sure she would know what was pretty. How delightful it would be +to watch her playing with his old home! The touches of her gentle +fingers would make everything sacred afterwards.</p> + +<p>At last they came to the end of the green glade—and temptation again +assailed him. He <i>must</i> ruffle the peace of her soft eyes once more.</p> + +<p>"And here is the barrier," he said, pointing to a board with "<i>Terrain +réservé</i>" upon it—<i>Réserveé pour la chasse de Monsieur le Président</i>, +"The barrier which Love keeps—and I want to take him with us as the +prince and princess did in the fairy tale."</p> + +<p>"Then you must carry him all by yourself," laughed Theodora. "And he +will be heavy and tire you, long before we get to Versailles."</p> + +<p>This time she was on her guard—and besides they were walking—and he +was no longer caressing the edge of her dress with his wild flower; it +was almost easy to fence now.</p> + +<p>But when they reached the automobile and he bent over to tuck the rug +in—and she felt the touch of his hands and perceived the scent of +him—the subtle scent, not a perfume hardly, of his coat,<a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a> or his hair, a +wild rush of that passionate disturbance came over her again, making her +heart beat and her eyes dilate.</p> + +<p>And Hector saw and understood, and bit his lips, and clinched his hands +together under the rug, because so great was his own emotion that he +feared what he should say or do. He dared not, dared not chance a +dismissal from the joy of her presence forever, after this one day.</p> + +<p>"I will wait until I know she loves me enough to certainly forgive +me—and then, and then—" he said to himself.</p> + +<p>But Fate, who was looking on, laughed while she chanted, "The hour is +now at hand when these steeds of passion whose reins you have left loose +so long will not ask your leave, noble friend, but will carry you +whither they will."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI</h2> + + +<p>They were both a little constrained upon the journey back to +Versailles—and both felt it. But when they turned into the Porte St. +Antoine Theodora woke up.</p><p><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a></p> + +<p>"Do you know," she said, "something tells me that for a long, long time +I shall not again have such a happy day. It can't be more than half-past +five or six—need we go back to the Reservoirs yet? Could we not have +tea at the little café by the lake?"</p> + +<p>He gave the order to his chauffeur, and then he turned to her.</p> + +<p>"I, too, want to prolong it all," he said, "and I want to make you +happy—always."</p> + +<p>"It is only lately that I have begun to think about things," she said, +softly—"about happiness, I mean, and its possibilities and +impossibilities. I think before my marriage I must have been half +asleep, and very young."</p> + +<p>And Hector thought, "You are still, but I shall awake you."</p> + +<p>"You see," she continued, "I had never read any novels, or books about +life until <i>Jean d'Agrève</i>. And now I wonder sometimes if it is possible +to be really happy—really, really happy?"</p> + +<p>"I know it is," he said; "but only in one way."</p> + +<p>She did not dare to ask in what way. She looked down and clasped her +hands.</p> +<p><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a></p> +<p>"I once thought," she went on, hurriedly, "that I was perfectly happy +the first time Josiah gave me two thousand francs, and told me to go out +with my maid and buy just what I wished with it; and oh, we bought +everything I could think Sarah and Clementine could want, numbers and +numbers of things, and I remember I was fearfully excited when they were +sent off to Dieppe. But I never knew if I chose well or if they liked +them all quite, and now to do that does not give me nearly so much joy."</p> + +<p>Soon they drew up at the little café and ordered tea, which he guessed +probably would be very bad and they would not drink. But tea was +English, and more novel than coffee for Theodora, and that she must +have, she said.</p> + +<p>She was so gracious and sweet in the pouring of it out, when presently +it came, and the elderly waiter seemed so sympathetic, and it was all +gay and bright with the late afternoon sun streaming upon them.</p> + +<p>"The garçon takes us for a honeymoon couple," Hector said; "he sees you +have beautiful new clothes, and that we have not yet begun to yawn with +each other."</p> + +<p>But T<a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a>heodora had not this view of honeymoons. To her a honeymoon meant a +nightmare, now happily a thing of the past, and almost forgotten.</p> + +<p>"Do not speak of it," she said, and she put out her hands as if to ward +off an ugly sight, and Hector bent over the table and touched her +fingers gently as he said:</p> + +<p>"Forgive me," and he raged within himself. How could he have been so +gauche, so clumsy and unlike himself. He had punished them both, and +destroyed an illusion. He meant that she should picture herself and him +as married lovers, and she had only seen—Josiah Brown. They both fell +into silence and so finished their repast.</p> + +<p>"I want you to walk now," Hector said, "through some delicious allées +where I will show you Encĕlădus after he was struck by the +thunders of Zeus. You will like him, I think, and there is fine +greensward around him where we can sit awhile."</p> + +<p>"I was always sorry for him," said Theodora; "and oh, how I would like +to go to Sicily and see Ætna and his fiery breath coming forth, and to +know when the island quakes it is the poor giant turning his weary +side!"</p> + +<p>To go to<a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></a> Sicily—and with her! The picture conjured up in Hector's +imagination made him thrill again.</p> + +<p>Then he told her about it all, he charmed her fancy and excited her +imagination, and by the time they came to their goal the feeling of jar +had departed, and the dangerous sense of attraction—of nearness—had +returned.</p> + +<p>It was nearly seven o'clock, and here among the trees all was in a soft +gloom of evening light.</p> + +<p>"Is not this still and far away?" he said, as they sat on an old stone +bench. "I often stay the whole morning here when I spend a week at +Versailles."</p> + +<p>"How peaceful and beautiful! Oh, I would like a week here, too!" and +Theodora sighed.</p> + +<p>"You must not sigh, beautiful princess," he implored, "on this our happy +day."</p> + +<p>The slender lines of her figure seemed all drooping. She reminded him +more than ever of the fragment o<a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></a>f Psyche in the Naples Museum.</p> + +<p>"No, I must not sigh," she said. "But it seems suddenly to have grown +sad—the air—what does it mean? Tell me, you who know so many things?" +There was a pathos in her voice like a child in distress.</p> + +<p>It communicated itself to him, it touched some chords in his nature +hitherto silent. His whole being rushed out to her in tenderness.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me it is because the time grows nearer when we must go back +to the world. First to dinner with the others, and then—Paris. I would +like to stay thus always—just alone with you."</p> + +<p>She did not refute this solution of her sadness. She knew it was true. +And when he looked into her eyes, the blue was troubled with a mist as +of coming tears.</p> + +<p>Then passion—more mighty than ever—seized him once more. He only felt +a wild desire to comfort her, to kiss away the mist—to talk to her. Ah!</p> + +<p>"Theodora!" he said, and his voice vibrated with emotion, while he bent +forward and seized both her hands, which he lifted to his face—she had +not put on her gloves again after the tea—her cool, little, tender +hands! He kissed and kissed their palms.</p> + +<p>"Darling—darling," he said, incoherently, "what have I done to make +your dear eyes wet? Oh, I lov<a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a>e you so, I love you so, and I have only +made you sad."</p> + +<p>She gave a little, inarticulate cry. If a wounded dove could sob, it +might have been the noise of a dove, so beseeching and so pathetic. "Oh, +please—you must not," she said. "Oh, what have you done!—you have +killed our happy day."</p> + +<p>And this was the beginning of his awakening. He sat for many moments +with his head buried in his hands. What, indeed, had he done!—and they +would be turned out of their garden of Eden—and all because he was a +brute, who could not control his passion, but must let it run riot on +the first opportunity.</p> + +<p>He suffered intensely. Suffered, perhaps, for the first time in his +life.</p> + +<p>She had not <a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></a>said one word of anger—only that tone in her voice reached +to his heart.</p> + +<p>He did not move and did not speak, and presently she touched his hands +softly with her slender fingers, it seemed like the caress of an angel's +wing.</p> + +<p>"Listen," she said, so gently. "Oh, you must not grieve—but it was too +good to be true, our day. I ought to have known to where we were +drifting, I am wicked to have let you say all you have said to-day, but +oh, I was asleep, I think, and I only knew that I was happy. But now you +have shown me—and oh, the dream is broken up. Come, let us go back to +the world."</p> + +<p>Then he raised his eyes to her face, and they were haggard and +miserable.</p> + +<p>How her simple speech, blaming herself who was all innocent, touched his +heart and filled him with shame at his unworthiness.</p> + +<p>"Oh, forgive me!" he pleaded. "Oh, please forgive me! I am mad, I think, +I love you so—and I had to tell you—and yes, I will say it all now, +and then you can punish me. From the first moment I looked into your +angel eyes it has been growing, you are so true and so sweet, and so +miles beyond all other women in the world. Each minute I have loved yo<a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></a>u +more—and all the time I thought to win you. Yes, you may well turn +away, and shrink from me now that you know the brute I am. I thought I +would make you love me, and you would forgive me then. But I have +suddenly seen your soul, my darling, and I am ashamed, and I can only +ask you to forgive me and let me worship you and be your slave—I will +not ask for any return—only to worship you and be your slave—that I +may show you I am not all brute and may earn your pardon."</p> + +<p>And then Theodora's blindness fell from her and she knew that she loved +him—she had faced the fact at last. And all over her being there +thrilled a mad, wild joy. It surged up and crushed out fear and +pain—for just one moment—and then she too, in her turn, covered her +face with her hands.</p> + +<p>"Oh, hush! hush!" she said. "What have you done—what have we both +done!"</p> + +<p>It was characteristic of her that now she realized she loved him she did +not fence any longer, she never thought of concealing it from him or of +blaming him. They were sinners both, he and she equally guilty.</p> + +<p>Another woman might have argued, "He is fooling me; perhaps he has said +these things before—I must at least hide my own heart," but not +Theodora. Her trust was complete—she loved him—therefore he was a +perfect knight—and if he was wicked she was wicked too.</p> + +<p>Her gent<a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a>ian eyes were full of tears as she let fall her hands and looked +at him. "Oh yes, I have been asleep—I should have known from the +beginning why, why I wanted to see you so much—I should never have +come—and I should have understood in the wood that we could not leave +it without bringing Love with us—and now we may not be happy any more."</p> + +<p>And then it was his turn to be exalted with wild joy.</p> + +<p>"Do you know what you have said," he whispered, breathless. "Your words +mean that you love me—Theodora—darling mine." And once again passion +blazed in his eyes, and he would have taken her in his arms; but she put +up her hands and gently pushed him from her.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said, simply, "I love you, but that only makes it all the +harder—and we must say good-bye at once, and go our different ways. You +who are so strong and know so much—I trust you, dear—you must help me +to do what is right."</p> + +<p>She never thought of reproaching him, of telling him, as she very well +could have done, that he had taken cruel advantage of her +unsophistication. All her mind was full of the fact that they were both +very sad and wicked and must help each other.</p> + +<p>"I <i>cannot</i> say good-bye," he said, "now that I know you love me, +darling; it <a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></a>is impossible. How can we part—what will the days be—how +could we get through our lives?"</p> + +<p>She looked at him, and her eyes were the eyes of a wounded thing—dumb +and pitiful, and asking for help.</p> + +<p>Then the something that was fine and noble in Hector Bracondale rose up +in him—the crust of selfishness and cynicism fell from him like a mask. +He suddenly saw himself as he was, and she—as she was—and a +determination came over him to grow worthy of her love, obey her +slightest wish, even if it must break his heart.</p> + +<p>He dropped upon his knees beside her on the greensward, and buried his +face in her lap.</p> + +<p>"Darling—my queen," he said. "I will do whatever you command—but oh, +it need not be good-bye. Don't let me sicken and die out of your +presence. I swear, on my word of honor, I will never trouble you. Let me +worship you and watch over you and make your life brighter. Oh, God! +there can be no sin in that."</p> + +<p>"I trust you!" she said, and she touched the waves of his hair. "And now +we must not linger—we must come a<a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"></a>t once out of this place. I—I cannot +bear it any more."</p> + +<p>And so they went—into an <i>allée</i> of close, cropped trees, where the +gloom was almost twilight; but if there was pain there was joy too, and +almost peace in their hearts.</p> + +<p>All the anguish was for the afterwards. Love, who is a god, was too near +to his kingdom to admit of any rival.</p> + +<p>"Hector," she whispered, and as she said his name a wild thrill ran +through him again. "Hector—the Austrian Prince at Armenonville said +life was a current down which our barks floated, only to be broken up on +the rocks if it was our fate; and I said if we tried very hard some +angel would steer us past them into smooth waters beyond; and I want you +to help me to find the angel, dear—will you?"</p> + +<p>But all he could say was that she was the angel, the only angel in +heaven or earth.</p> + +<p>And so they came at last to the Bason de Neptune, and on through the +side door into the Réservoirs—and there was the widow's automobile that +moment arrived.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"></a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII</h2> + + +<p>Every one behaved with immense propriety—they said just what they +should have said, there was no <i>gêne</i> at all. And when they went up the +stairs together to arrange their hair and their hats for dinner, the +elder woman slipped her arm through Theodora's.</p> + +<p>"I am going to marry your father, my dear," she said, "and I want you to +be the first to wish me joy."</p> + +<p>The dinner went off with great gayety. The widow especially was full of +bright sayings, and Captain Fitzgerald made the most devoted lover. Not +too elated by his good-fortune, and yet thoroughly happy and tender. He +continually told himself that fate had been uncommonly kind to mix +business and pleasure so dexterously, for if the widow had not possessed +a cent, he still would have been glad to marry her.</p> + +<p>He had been quite honest with her on their drive, explaining his +financial situation and his disadvantages, which he said could only be +slightly balanced by his devotion and affection—but of those he would +lay the whole at her feet.</p><p><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a></p> + +<p>And the widow had said:</p> + +<p>"Now look here, I am old enough just to know what my money is worth—and +if you like to put it as a business speculation for me, I consider, in +buying the companion for the rest of my life who happens to suit me, I +am laying out the sum to my own advantage."</p> + +<p>After that there was no more to be said, and he had spent his time +making love to her like any Romeo of twenty, and both were content.</p> + +<p>All through dinner a certain strange excitement dominated Theodora. She +felt there would be more deep emotion yet to come for her before the day +should close.</p> + +<p>How were they going back to Paris?</p> + +<p>The moon had risen pure and full, she could see it through the windows. +The night was soft and warm, and when the last sips of coffee and +liqueurs were finished it was still only nine o'clock.</p> + +<p>On an occasion when no personal excitement was stirring Captain +Fitzgerald he probably would have hesitated about approving of Theodora +spending the entire evening alone <a name="Page_145" id="Page_145"></a>with Lord Bracondale. She was married, +it was true—but to Josiah Brown—and Dominic Fitzgerald knew his +world. To-night, however, neither the widow nor he had outside thoughts +beyond themselves. Indeed, Mrs. McBride was so overflowing with joy she +had almost a feeling of satisfaction in the knowledge that the others +would possibly be happy too—when she thought of them at all!</p> + +<p>Again she decided the situation for every one, and again fate laughed.</p> + +<p>There was no use staying any longer at Versailles, because the park +gates were shut and they could not stroll in the moonlight, but a drive +back and a few turns in the Bois with a little supper at Madrid would be +a fitting ending to the day.</p> + +<p>"You must meet us at Madrid at half-past ten," she said; "and +Dominic"—the name came out as if from long habit—"telephone for a +table in the bosquet—Numero 3—I like that garçon best, he knows my +wants."</p> + +<p>And so they got into their separate automobiles.</p> + +<p>"Let us have all the windows down," said Theodora, "to get all the +beautiful air—it is such a lovely night."</p> + +<p>Her h<a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a>eart was beating as it had never beat before. How could she control +herself! How keep calm and ordinary during the enchanting drive! Her +hands were cold as ice, while flaming roses burned in the white velvet +cheeks.</p> + +<p>And Hector saw it all and understood, and passion surged madly in his +veins. For a mile or two there was silence—only the moonlight and the +swift rushing through the air, and the wild beating of their hearts. And +so they came to the long, dark stretch of wood by St. Cloud. And the +devil whispered sophistries and fate continued to laugh. Then passion +was too strong for him.</p> + +<p>"Darling," he said, and his fine resolutions fled to the winds, while +his deep voice was hoarse and broken. "My darling!—God! I love you +so—beyond all words or sense—Oh, let us be happy for this one +night—we must part afterwards I know, and I will accept that—but just +for to-night there can be no sin and no harm in being a little +happy—when we are going to pay for it with all the rest of our lives. +Let us have the memory of one hour of bliss—the angels themselves could +not grudge us that."</p><p><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a></p> + +<p>One hour of bliss out of a lifetime! Would it be a terrible sin, +Theodora wondered, a terrible, unforgivable sin to let him kiss her—to +let him hold her just once in his arms.</p> + +<p>There was no light in the coupé—he had seen to that—only the great +lamps flaring in the road and the moonlight.</p> + +<p>She clasped her hands in an agony of emotion. She was but a dove in the +net of an experienced fowler, but she did not know or think of that, nor +he either. They only knew they loved each other passionately, and this +situation was more than they could bear.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I trust you!" she said. "If you tell me it is not a terrible sin I +will believe you—I do not know—I cannot think—I—"</p> + +<p>But she could speak no more because she was in his arms.</p> + +<p>The intense, unutterable joy—the maddening, intoxicating bliss of the +next hour! To have her there, unresisting—to caress her lips and eyes +and hair—to murmur love words—to call her his very own! Nothing in +heaven could equal this, and no hell was a price too great to pay—so it +seemed to hi<a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></a>m. It was the supremest moment of his life; and how much +more of hers who knew none other, who had never received the kisses of +men or thrilled to any touch but his!</p> + +<p>After a little she drew herself away and shivered. She knew she was +wicked now—very, very wicked—but it was again characteristic of her +that having made her decision there was no vacillation about her. The +die was cast—for that night they were to be happy, and all the rest of +her life should be penitence and atonement.</p> + +<p>But to-night there was no room for anything but joy. She had never +dreamed in her most secret thoughts of moments so gloriously sweet as +these—to have a lover—and such a lover! And it was true—it must be +true—that they had lived before, and all this passion was not the +growth of one short week.</p> + +<p>It seemed as if it was all her life, all her being—it could mean +nothing now but Hector—Hector—Hector! And over and over again he made +her whisper in his ear that she loved him—nor could she ever tire of +hearing him say he worshipped her.</p> + +<p>Oh, they were foolish and tender and wonderful, as lovers always are.</p> + +<p>He had given his orders beforehand and the chauffeur was a man of +intelligence. They drove in the most beautiful <i>allée</i> when they came to +the Bois—and no incident ruff<a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a>led the exquisite peace and bliss of their +time.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Hector became aware of the fact it was just upon half-past ten, +and they were almost in sight of Madrid, which would end it all.</p> + +<p>And a pang of hideous pain shot through him, and he did not speak.</p> + +<p>In the distance the lights blazed into the night, and the sight of them +froze Theodora to ice.</p> + +<p>It was finished then—their hour of joy.</p> + +<p>"My darling," he exclaimed, passionately, "good-bye, and remember all my +life is in your hands, and I will spend it in worship of you and +thankfulness for this hour of yourself you have given to me. I am yours +to do with as you will until death do us part."</p> + +<p>"And I," said Theodora, "will never love another man—and if we have +sinned we have sinned together—and no<a name="Page_150" id="Page_150"></a>w, oh, Hector, we must face our +fates."</p> + +<p>Her voice tore his very heartstrings in its unutterable pathos.</p> + +<p>And in that last passionate kiss it seemed as if they exchanged their +very souls.</p> + +<p>Then they drove into the glare of the restaurant lights, having tasted +of the knowledge of good and evil.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII</h2> + + +<p>"What have I done? What have I done?" Hector groaned to himself in +anguish as he paced up and down his room at the Ritz an hour after the +party had broken up, and he had driven Mrs. McBride back in his +automobile, leaving hers to father and daughter.</p> + +<p>All through supper Theodora had sat limp and white as death, and every +time she had looked at him her eyes had reminded him of a fawn he had +wounded once at Bracondale, in the park, with his bow and arr<a name="Page_151" id="Page_151"></a>ow, when he +was a little boy. He remembered how fearfully proud he had been as he +saw it fall, and then how it had lain in his arms and bled and bled, and +its tender eyes had gazed at him in no reproach, only sorrow and pain, +and a dumb asking why he had hurt it.</p> + +<p>All the light of the stars seemed quenched, no eyes in the world had +ever looked so unutterably pathetic as Theodora's eyes, and gradually as +they sat and talked platitudes and chaffed with the elderly fiancées, it +had come to him how cruel he had been—he who had deliberately used +every art to make her love him—and now, having gained his end, what +could he do for her? What for himself? Nothing but sorrow faced them +both. He had taken brutal advantage of her gentleness and +innocence—when chivalry alone should have made him refrain.</p> + +<p>He saw himself as he was—the hunter and she the hunted—and the +knowledge that he would pay with all the anguish and regret of a +passionate, hopeless love—perhaps for the rest of his life—did not +balance things to his awakened soul. If his years should be one long, +gnawing ache for her, what of hers? And she was so young. His life, at +all events, was a free one; but hers tied <a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></a>to Josiah Brown! And this +thought drove him to madness. She belonged to Josiah Brown—not to him +whom she loved—but to Josiah Brown, plebeian and middle-aged and +exacting. He knew now that he ought to have gone away at once, the next +day after they had met. His whole course of conduct had been weak and +absolutely self-indulgent and wicked.</p> + +<p>Who was he to dare to have raised his eyes to this angel, and try to +scorch even the hem of her clothing! And now he had only brought +suffering upon her and dimmed the light in God's two stars, which were +her eyes.</p> + +<p>And then wild passion shook him, and he could only live again the divine +moments when she had nestled unresisting in his arms. Would it have made +things better or worse if he had not yielded to the temptation of that +hour of night and solitude?</p> + +<p>After all, the sin was in making her love him, not in just holding her +and kissing her lips. And at least, at least, they would have that +exquisite memory of moments of unutterable bliss to keep for the rest of +their lives.</p> + +<p>His windows were wide open, and he leaned upon the balcony and gazed out +at the moon. What good had all his life been? What benefit had he +brought to any one? Then he seemed to see a clear vision of Theodora's +short existence. Every picture she had unconsciously shown him was of +some gentle thought of unselfishness for ot<a name="Page_153" id="Page_153"></a>hers.</p> + +<p>And now he had laid a burden upon her shoulders, when he would not hurt +a hair of her head—that dear, exquisite head which had lain upon his +breast only two hours ago, and could never lie there again. He knew this +was the end.</p> + +<p>Then anguish and remorse seized him, and he buried his face on his +crossed arms.</p> + +<p>And Theodora staggered up to her room like one half dead. Mercifully +Josiah Brown, had gone to bed, leaving a message with Henriette, +Theodora's maid, that on no account was she to make any noise or disturb +him.</p> + +<p>Henriette adored her mistress—as who did not who served her?—and she +felt distressed to see madame so pale. Doubtless madame had had a most +tiring day. Madame had, and was thankful when at last she was left alone +with her thoughts. Then she, too, opened wide the windows and gazed at +the moon.</p> + +<p>She had no cause for remorse for evil conduct like Hector. She had made +no plans for the entrapping of any soul, and yet she felt forlorn and +wicked. Oh yes, she was awake now and <a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></a>knew where she had been drifting. +And so love had come at last, and indeed, indeed it meant life. This +blast had struck her, and she had been blind in not recognizing it at +once.</p> + +<p>But oh, how sweet it was!—love—and it seemed as if it could make +everything good and fair. If he and she who loved each other could have +belonged to each other, surely they might have shed joy and gladness +and kindness on all around.</p> + +<p>Then she lay on her bed and did not try to reason any more; she only +knew she loved Hector Bracondale with all her heart and being, and that +she was married to Josiah Brown.</p> + +<p>And what would the days be when she never saw him? And he, too, he would +be sad—and then there was poor Josiah—who was so generous to her. He +could not help being vulgar and unsympathetic, and her duty was to make +him happy. Well, she could do that, she would try her very best to do +that.</p> + +<p>But thrills ran through her with the recollection of the moments in the +drive to Paris—oh, why had no one told her or warned her all her life +about this good thing love? At last, worn out with all emotions, sleep +gently closed her eyes.</p> + +<p>And fate up above laughed no more. Her sport was over for a time, she +had made a sor<a name="Page_155" id="Page_155"></a>ry ending to their happy day.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV</h2> + + +<p>Josiah had been too much fatigued on his machinery hunt with Mr. +Clutterbuck R. Tubbs. They had lunched too richly, he said, and stood +about too long, and so all the Sunday he was peevish and fretful, and +required Theodora's constant attention. She must sit by his bedside all +the morning, and drive round and round all the afternoon.</p> + +<p>He told her she was not looking well. These excursions did not suit +either of them, and he would be glad to get to England.</p> + +<p>He asked a few questions about Versailles, and Theodora vouchsafed no +unnecessary information. Nor did she tell him of her father's +good-fortune. The widow had expressly asked her not to. She wished it to +appear in the New York <i>Herald</i> first of all, she said. And they could +have a regular rejoicing at the banquet on Monday night.</p> + +<p>"Men are all bad," she had told Theodora during their ante-dinner chat. +"Selfish brutes most of them; but nature has arranged that we happen to +want them, and it is not for me<a name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></a> to go against nature. Your father is a +gentleman and he keeps me from yawning, and I have enough money to be +able to indulge that and whatever other caprices I may have acquired; so +I think we shall be happy. But a man in the abstract—don't amount to +much!" And Theodora had laughed, but now she wondered if ever she would +think it was true. Would Hector ever appear in the light of a caprice +she could afford, to keep her from yawning? Could she ever truly say, +"He don't amount to much!" Alas! he seemed now to amount to everything +in the world.</p> + +<p>The unspeakable flatness of the day! The weariness! The sense of all +being finished! She did not even allow herself to speculate as to what +Hector was doing with himself. She must never let her thoughts turn that +way at all if she could help it. She must devote herself to Josiah and +to getting through the time. But something had gone out of her life +which could never come back, and also something had come in. She was +awake—she, too, had lived for one moment like in <i>Jean d'Agrève</i>—and +it seemed as if the whole world were changed.</p> + +<p>Captain Fitzgerald did not appear all day, so the Sunday was composed +of unadulterated Josiah. But it was only when Theodora was alone at last +late at night, and had opened wide her windows and again looked out on +the moon, that a little cry of anguish escaped her, and she remembered +she would see Hector to-morrow at the dinner-party. See him casually, as +the rest of the guests, and this is how it would be forever—for ever +and ever.</p><p><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157"></a></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Lord Bracondale had passed what he termed a dog's day. He had gone +racing, and there had met, and been bitterly reproached by, Esclarmonde +de Chartres for his neglect.</p> + +<p><i>Qu'est-ce qu'il a eu pour toute une semaine?</i></p> + +<p>He had important business in England, he said, and was going off at +once; but she would find the bracelet she had wished for waiting for her +at her apartment, and so they parted friends.</p> + +<p>He felt utterly revolted with all that part of his life.</p> + +<p>He wanted nothing in the world but Theodora. Theodora to worship and +cherish and hold for his own. And each hour that came made all else seem +more empty and unmeaning.</p> + +<p>Just before dinner he went into the widow's sitting-room. She was +alone, Marie had said in the passage—resting, she thought, but madame +would certainly see milord. She had given orders for him to be admitted +should he come.</p> + +<p>"Now sit down near me, beau jeune ho<a name="Page_158" id="Page_158"></a>mme," Mrs. McBride commanded from +the depths of her sofa, where she was reclining, arrayed in exquisite +billows of chiffon and lace. "I have been expecting you. It is not +because I have been indulging in a little sentiment myself that my eyes +are glued shut—you have a great deal to confess—and I hope we have not +done too much harm between us."</p> + +<p>Hector wanted sympathy, and there was something in the widow's +directness which he felt would soothe him. He knew her good heart. He +could speak freely to her, too, without being troubled by an +over-delicacy of <i>mauvaise honte</i>, as he would have been with an +Englishwoman. It would not have seemed sacrilege to the widow to discuss +with him—who was a friend—the finest and most tender sentiments of her +own, or any one else's, heart. He drew up a <i>bergère</i> and kissed her +hand.</p> + +<p>"I have been behaving like a damned scoundrel," he said.</p> + +<p>"My gracious!" exclaimed Mrs. McBride, with a violent jerk into a +sitting position. "You don't say—"</p> + +<p>Then, for the first time for many years, a deep scarlet blush overspread +Hector's face, even up to his forehead—as he realized how she had read +his speech—how most people of the world would have read it. He got up +from his chair and walked to the window.</p> + +<p>"Oh, good God!" he said, "I don't mean that."<a name="Page_159" id="Page_159"></a></p> + +<p>The widow fell back into her pillows with a sigh of relief.</p> + +<p>"I mean I have deliberately tried to make her unhappy, and I have +succeeded—and myself, too."</p> + +<p>"That is not so bad then," and she settled a cushion. "Because +unhappiness is only a thing for a time. You are crazy for the moon, and +you can't get it, and you grieve and curse for a little, and then a new +moon arises. What else?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I want you to sympathize with me, and tell me what I had better +do. Shall I go back to England to-morrow morning, or stay for the +dinner-party?"</p> + +<p>"You got as far, then, as telling each other you loved each other +madly—and are both suffering from broken hearts, after one week's +acquaintance."<a name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></a></p> + +<p>"Don't be so brutal!" pleaded Hector.</p> + +<p>And she noticed that his face looked haggard and changed. So her shrewd, +kind eyes beamed upon him.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I dare say it hurts; but having broken up your cake, you can't go +on eating it. Why, in Heaven's name, did you let affairs get to a +climax?"</p> + +<p>"Because I am mad," said Hector, and he stretched out his arms. "I +cannot tell you how much I love her. Haven't you seen for yourself what +a darling she is? Every dear word she speaks shows her beautiful soul, +and it all creeps right into my heart. I worship her as I might an +angel, but I want her in my arms."</p> + +<p>Mrs. McBride knew the English. They were not emotional or <i>poseurs</i> like +some other nations, and Hector Bracondale was essentially a man of the +world, and rather a whimsical cynic as well. So to see him thus moved +must mean great things. She was guilty, too, for helping to create the +situation. She must do what she could for him, she felt.</p> + +<p>"You should pull yourself together, mon cher Bracondale," she said; "it +is not like you to be limp and undecided. You had better stay for the +party, and make yourself behave like a gentleman, and how you mean to +continue. We have passed the days when 'Oh no, we never mention him' is +the order, and 'never meeting,' and that sort of thing. You are bound to +meet unless you go into the wilds. And y<a name="Page_161" id="Page_161"></a>ou must face it and try to +forget her."</p> + +<p>"I can never forget her," he said, in a deep voice; "but, as you say, I +must face it and do my best."</p> + +<p>"You see," continued the widow, "the girl has only been married a year, +and her husband is the most unattractive human being you could find +along a sidewalk of miles; but he is her husband, anyway, and she may +have children."</p> + +<p>Hector clinched his hands in a convulsive movement of anguish and rage.</p> + +<p>"And you must realize all these possibilities, and settle a path for +yourself and stick to it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I couldn't bear that!" he said. "It would be better I should take +her away myself now, to-day."</p> + +<p>"You will do no such thing!" said the widow, sternly, and she sat up +again. "You forget I am going to marry her father, and I shall look upon +her as my daughter and protect her from wolves—do you hear? And what is +more, she is too good and true to go with you. She has a backbone if +you<a name="Page_162" id="Page_162"></a> haven't; and she'll see it her duty to stick to that lump of +middle-class meat she is bound to—and she'll do her best, if she +suffers to heart-break. It is she, the poor, little white dove, that you +and I have wounded between us, that I pity, not you—great, strong man!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. McBride's ey<a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"></a>es flashed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you are all the same, you Englishmen. Beasts to kill and women to +subjugate—the only aims in life!"</p> + +<p>"Don't!" said Hector. "I am not the animal you think me. I worship +Theodora, and I would devote my life and its best aims to secure her +happiness and do her honor; but don't you see you have drawn a picture +that would drive any man mad—"</p> + +<p>"I said you had to face the worst, and I calculate the worst for you +would be to see her with some little Browns along. My! How it makes you +wince! Well, face it then and be a man."</p> + +<p>He sat for a moment, his head buried in his hands—then—</p> + +<p>"I will," he said, "I will do what I can; but oh, when you have the +chance you will be good to her, won't you, dear friend?"</p> + +<p>"There, there!" said the widow, and she patted his hand. "I had to +scold you, because I see you have got the attack very badly and only +strong measures are any good; but you know I am sorry for you both, and +feel dreadfully, because I helped you to it without enough thought as to +consequences."</p> +<p><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></a></p> +<p>There was silence for a few minutes, and she continued to stroke his +hand.</p> + +<p>"Dominic has run down to Dieppe to see those daughters of his," she +said, presently, "and won't be back to-night. I meant to be all alone +and meditate and go to bed early; but you can dine with me, if you wish, +up here, and we will talk everything over. Our plans for the future, I +mean, and what will be best to do; I kind of feel like your +mother-in-law, you know." Which sentence comforted him.</p> + +<p>This woman was his friend, and so kind of heart, if sometimes a little +plain-spoken.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>And late that night he wrote to Theodora.</p> + +<p>"My darling," he began. "I must call you that even though I have no +right to. <i>My</i> darling—I want to tell you these my thoughts to-night, +before I see you to-morrow as an ordinary guest at your dinner-party. I +want you to know how utterly I love you, and how I am going to do my +best with the rest of my life to show you how I honor you and revered +you as an angel, and something to live for and shape my aims to be +worthy of the recollection of that hour of bliss you granted me. Dearest +love, does it not give you joy—just a little—to remember those moments +of heaven? I do not regret anything, though I am all to blame, for I +knew from the beginning I loved you, and just where love would lead us. +But it was not until I saw the peep into your soul, when you never +reproached me, that I began to understand what a brute I had been—how +unworthy of you or your<a name="Page_165" id="Page_165"></a> love. Darling, I don't ask you to try and forget +me—indeed, I implore you not to do so. I think and believe you are of +the nature which only loves once in a lifetime, and I am world-worn and +experienced enough to know I have never really loved before. How +passionately I do now I cannot put into words. So let us keep our love +sacred in our hearts, my darling, and the knowledge of it will comfort +and soothe the anguish of separation. Beloved one, I am always thinking +of you, and I want to tell you my vision of heaven would be to possess +you for my wife. My happiest dream will always be that you are there—at +Bracondale—queen of my home and my heart, darling. <i>My</i> darling! But +however it may be, whether you decide to chase away every thought of me +or not, I want you to know I will go on worshipping you, and doing my +utmost to serve you with my life.—For ever and ever your devoted +lover."</p> + +<p>And then he signed it "Hector," and not "Bracondale."</p> + +<p>The widow had promised to give it into Theodora's own hand on the +morrow.</p> + +<p>He added a postscript:</p> + +<p>"I want you to meet my mother and my sister in London. Will you let me +arrange it? I think you will like Anne. And oh, more than all I want you +to come to Bracondale. Write me your answer that I may have your words +to keep always."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> +<p><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166"></a></p> +<p>Mrs. McBride came round in the morning to the private hotel in the +Avenue du Bois, to ask the exact time of the dinner-party, she said. She +wanted to see for herself how things were going. And the look in +Theodora's eyes grieved her.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid it has gone rather deeply with her," she mused. "Now what +can I do?"</p> + +<p>Theodora was unusually sweet and gentle, and talked brightly of how +glad she was for her father's happiness, and of their plans about +England; but all the time Jane McBride was conscious that the something +which had made her eyes those stars of gracious happiness was +changed—instead there was a deep pathos in them, and it made her +uncomfortable.</p> + +<p>"I wish to goodness I had let well alone, and not tried to give her a +happy day," she said to herself.</p> + +<p>Just before leaving, she slipped Hector's letter into Theodora's hand. +"Lord Bracondale asked me to give you this, my child," she said, and she +kissed her. "And if you will write the answer, will you post it to him +to the Ritz."</p> +<p><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167"></a></p> +<p>All over Theodora there rushed an emotion when she took the letter. Her +hands trembled, and she slipped it into the bodice of her dress. She +would not be able to read it yet. She was waiting, all ready dressed, +for Josiah to enter any moment, to take their usual walk in the Bois.</p> + +<p>Then she wondered what would the widow think of her action, slipping it +into her dress—but it was done now, and too late to alter. And their +eyes met, and she understood that her future step-mother was wide awake +and knew a good many things. But the kind woman put her arm round her +and kissed her soft cheek.</p> + +<p>"I want you to be my little daughter, Theodora," she said. "And if you +have a heartache, dear, why I have had them, too—and I'd like to +comfort you. There!"</p> + + +<p><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></a></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV</h2> + + +<p>The dinner-party went off with great éclat. Had not all the guests read +in the New York <i>Herald</i> that morning of Captain Fitzgerald's +good-fortune? He with his usual <i>savoir-vivre</i> had arranged matters to +perfection. The company was chosen from among the nicest of his and Mrs. +McBride's friends.</p> + +<p>The invitations had been couched in this form: "I want you to meet my +daughter, Mrs. Josiah Brown, my dear lady," or "dear fellow," as the +case might be. "She is having a little dinner at Madrid on Monday night, +and so hopes you will let me persuade you to come."</p> + +<p>And the French Count, and Mr. Clutterbuck R. Tubbs and his daughter, +Theodora had asked herself. Also the Austrian Prince. The party +consisted of about twenty people—and the menu and the Tziganes were as +perfect as they could be, while the night might have been a night of +July—it happened to be that year when Paris was blessed with a +gloriously warm May.</p> + +<p>Lord Bracondale was late: had not the post come in just as he was +starting, and brought him a letter, whose writing, although he had never +seen it before, filled him with thrills of joy.</p> + +<p>Theodora had found time during the day to read and reread his epistle, +and to kiss it more than once with a guilty blush.</p> + +<p>And sh<a name="Page_169" id="Page_169"></a>e had written this answer:</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"I have received your letter, and it says many things to me—and, +Hector, it will comfort me always, this dear letter, and to know +you love me.</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"I have led a very ordinary life, you see, and the great blast of +love has never come my way, or to any one whom I knew. I did not +realize, quite, it was a real thing out of books—but now I know it +is; and oh, I can believe, if circumstances were different, it +could be heaven. But this cannot alter the fact that for me to +think of you much would be very wrong now. I do love you—I do not +deny it—though I am going to try my utmost to put the thought away +from me and to live my life as best I can. I do not regret anything +either, dear, because, but for you, I would never have known what +life's meaning is at all—I should have stayed asleep always; and +you have opened my eyes and taught me to see new beauties in all +nature. And oh, we must not grieve, we must thank fate for giving +us this one peep into paradise—and we must try and find the angel +to steer our barks for us beyond the rocks. Listen—I want you to +do something for me to-night. I want you not to look at me much, or +tempt me with your dear voice. It will be terribly hard in any +case, but if you will be kind you will help me to get through with +<a name="Page_170" id="Page_170"></a>it, and then, and then—I hardly dare to look ahead—but I leave it +all in your hands. I would like to meet your mother and sister—but +when, and where? I feel inclined to say, not yet, only I know that +is just cowardice, and a shrinking from possible pain in seeing +you. So I leave it to you to do what is best, and I trust to your +honor and your love not to tempt me beyond bearing-point—and +remember, I am trying, trying hard, to do what is right—and trying +not to love you.</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"And so, good-bye. I must never say this again—or even think it +unsaid; but to-night, oh! Yes, Hector, know that I love you! +<span style="margin-left: 16em;"><span class="smcap">Theodora</span>."</span></p> + +<p>And all the way to Madrid, as he flew along +in his automobile, his heart rejoiced at this one +sentence—"Yes, Hector, know that I love +you!"</p> + +<p>The rest of the world did not seem to matter very much. How fortunate it +is that so often Providence lets us live on the pleasure of the moment!</p> + +<p>He sat on her left hand—the Austrian Prince was on her right—and +studiously all through the repast he tried to follow her wishes and the +law he had laid down for himself as the pattern of his future conduct.</p> + +<p>He was gravely polite, he never turned the conversation away from the +general company, including her neighbors in it all the time, and only +when he was certain she was not noticing did he feast hi<a name="Page_171" id="Page_171"></a>s eyes upon her +face.</p> + +<p>She was looking supremely beautiful. If possible, whiter than usual, and +there was a shadow in her eyes as of mystery, which had not been there +before—and while their pathos wrung his heart, he could not help +perceiving their added beauty. And he had planted this change there—he, +and he alone. He admired her perfect taste in dress—she was all in pure +white, muslin and laces, and he knew it was of the best, and the +creation of the greatest artist.</p> + +<p>She looked just what <i>his</i> wife ought to look, infinitely refined and +slender and stately and fair.</p> + +<p>Morella Winmarleigh would seem as a large dun cow beside her.</p> + +<p>Then suddenly they both remembered it was only a week this night since +they had met. Only seven days in which fate had altered all their lives.</p> + +<p>The Austrian Prince wondered to himself what had happened. He had not +been blind to the situation at Armenonville, and here they seemed like +polite hostess and guest, nothing more.</p> + +<p>"They are English, and they are very well bred, and they are very good +actors," he thought. "But, mon Dieu! were I ce beau jeune homme!"</p> + +<p>And so it ha<a name="Page_172" id="Page_172"></a>d come to an end—the feast and the Tziganes playing, and +Theodora will always be haunted by that last wild Hungarian tune. Music, +which moved every fibre of her being at all times, to-night was a +torture of pain and longing. And he was so near, so near and yet so far, +and it seemed as if the music meant love and separation and passionate +regret, and the last air most passionate of all, and before the final +notes died away Hector bent over to her, and he whispered:</p> + +<p>"I have got your letter, and I love you, and I will obey its every wish. +You must trust me unto death. Darling, good-night, but never good-bye!"</p> + +<p>And she had not answered, but her breath had come quickly, and she had +looked once in his eyes and then away into the night.</p> + +<p>And so they shook hands politely and parted. And next day Mr. and Mrs. +Josiah Brown crossed over to England.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>XVI</h2> + + +<p>It was pouring with rain the evening Lord Bracondale arrived from Paris +at the family mansion in St. James's Square. He had only wired at the +last moment to his m<a name="Page_173" id="Page_173"></a>other, too late to change her plans; she was +unfortunately engaged to take Morella Winmarleigh to the opera, and was +dining early at that lady's house, so she could only see him for a few +moments in her dressing-room before she started.</p> + +<p>"My darling, darling boy!" she exclaimed, as he opened the door and +peeped in. "Streatfield, bring that chair for his lordship, and—oh, you +can go for a few minutes."</p> + +<p>Then she folded him in her arms, and almost sobbed with joy to see him +again.</p> + +<p>"Well, mother," he said, when she had kissed him and murmured over him +as much as she wished. "Here I am, and what a sickening climate! And +where are you off to?"</p> + +<p>"I am going to dine with Morella Winmarleigh," said Lady Bracondale, +"early, to go to the opera, and then I shall take her on to the +Brantingham's ball. Won't you join us at either place, Hector? I feel it +so dreadfully, having to rush off like this, your first evening, +darling."</p> + +<p>She stood back and looked at him. She must see for herself whether he +was well, and if this riotous life she feared he had been leading lately +had not too greatly told upon him. Her fond eyes detected an air of +weariness: he looked haggard, and n<a name="Page_174" id="Page_174"></a>ot so full of spirits as he usually +was. Alas! if he would only stay in England!</p> + +<p>"I am rather tired, mother; I may look in at the opera, but I can't face +a ball. How is Anne, and what is she doing to-night?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Anne has a bad cold. We have had such weather—nothing but rain since +Sunday night! She is dining at home and going to bed early. I have just +had a telephone message from her; she is longing to see you, too."</p> + +<p>"I think I shall go round and dine with her then," said Hector, "and +join you later."</p> + +<p>They talked on for about ten minutes before he left her to dress, +running against Streatfield in the passage. She had known him since his +birth, and beamed with joy at his return.</p> + +<p>He chaffed her about growing fat, and went on his way to telephone to +his sister.</p> + +<p>"His lordship looks pale, my lady," said the demure woman, as she +fastened Lady Bracondale's bracelet. She, too, disapproved of Paris and +bachelorhood, but she did not love Morella Winmarleigh.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you think so, Streatfield?" Lady Bracondale exclaimed, in a worried +voice. "Now that we have got him back we must take great care of him. +His lordship will join me at the opera. Are you sure he likes those +aigret<a name="Page_175" id="Page_175"></a>tes in my hair?"</p> + +<p>"Why, it's one of his lordship's favorite styles, my lady. You need have +no fears," said the maid.</p> + +<p>And thus comforted, Lady Bracondale descended the great staircase to her +carriage.</p> + +<p>She was still a beautiful woman, though well past fifty. Her splendid, +dark hair had hardly a thread of gray in it, and grew luxuriantly, but +she insisted upon wearing it simply parted in the middle and coiled in a +mass of plaits behind, while one braid stood up coronet fashion well at +the back of her head. She was addicted to rich satins and velvets, and +had a general air of Victorian repose and decorum. There was no attempt +to retain departed youth; no golden wigs or red and white paint +disfigured her person, which had an immense natural dignity and +stateliness. It made her shiver to see some of her contemporaries +dressed and arranged to represent not more than twenty years of age. But +so many modern ways of thought and life jarred upon her!</p> + +<p>"Mother is still in the early seventies; she has never advanced a step +since she came out," Anne always said, "and I dare say she was behind +the times even then."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Hector was dressing in his luxurious mahogany-panelled room. +Everything in the house was solid and prosperous, as befitted a family +who had had few reverses and sufficient perspicacity to marry a rich +heiress now and then at right moments in their history.</p> +<p><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176"></a></p> +<p>This early Georgian house had been in the then Lady Bracondale's dower, +and still retained its fine carvings and Old-World state.</p> + +<p>"How shall I see her again?" was all the thought which ran in Lord +Bracondale's head.</p> + +<p>"She won't be at a ball, but she might chance to have thought of the +opera. It would be a place Mr. Brown would like to exhibit her at. I +shall certainly go."</p> + +<p>Lady Anningford was tucked up on a sofa in her little sitting-room when +her brother arrived at her charming house in Charles Street. Her husband +had been sent off to a dinner without her, and she was expecting her +brother with impatience. She loved Hector as many sisters do a handsome, +popular brother, but rather more than that, and she had fine senses and +understood him.</p> + +<p>She did not cover him with caresses and endearments when she saw him; +she never did.</p> + +<p>"Poor Hector has enough of them from mother," she explained, when Monica +Ellerwood asked her once why she was so cold. "And men don't care for +those sort of things, except from some one else's sister or wife."</p> + +<p>"Dear old boy!" was all she said as he came in. "I am glad to see you +back."</p> + +<p>Then in a moment or two they went down to dinner, talking of various +things. And all through it, while the servants were in the <a name="Page_177" id="Page_177"></a>room, she +prattled about Paris and their friends and the gossip of the day; and +she had a shocking cold in her head, too, and might well have been +forgiven for being dull.</p> + +<p>But when they were at last alone, back in the little sitting-room, she +looked at him hard, and her voice, which was rather deep like his, grew +full of tenderness as she asked: "What is it, Hector? Tell me about it +if I can help you."</p> + +<p>He got up and stood with his back to the wood fire, which sparkled in +the grate, comforting the eye with its brightness, while the wind and +rain moaned outside.</p> + +<p>"You can't help me, Anne; no one can," he said. "I have been rather +badly burned, but there is nothing to be done. It is my own fault—so +one must jus<a name="Page_178" id="Page_178"></a>t bear it."</p> + +<p>"Is it the—eh—the Frenchwoman?" his sister asked, gently.</p> + +<p>"Good Lord, no!"</p> + +<p>"Or the American Monica came back so full of?"</p> + +<p>"The<a name="Page_179" id="Page_179"></a> American? What American? Surely she did not mean my dear Mrs. +McBride?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know her name," Anne said, "and I don't want you to say a thing +about it, dear, if I can't help you; only it just grieves me to see you +looking so sad and distrait, so I felt I must try if there is anything I +can do for you. Mother has been on thorns and dying of fuss over this +Frenchwoman and the diamond chain—("How the devil did she hear about +that?" thought Hector)—until Monica came back with a tale of your +devotion to an American."</p> + +<p>"One would think I was eighteen years old and in leading-strings still, +upon my word," he interrupted, with an irritated laugh. "When will she +realize I can take care of myself?"</p> + +<p>"Never," said Lady Anningford, "until you have married Morella +Winmarleigh; then she would feel you were in good hands."</p> + +<p>He laughed again—bitterly this time.</p> + +<p>"Morella Winmarleigh! I would not be faithful to her for a week!"</p> + +<p>"I wonder if you would be faithful to any woman, Hector? I have often +thought you do not know what it means to love—really to love."</p> + +<p>"You were perfectly right once. I did not know," he said; "and perhaps I +don't now, unless to feel the whole world is a sickening blank without +one woman is to love—really to love."</p> + +<p>Anne noticed the we<a name="Page_180" id="Page_180"></a>ariness of his pose and the vibration in his deep +voice. She was stirred and interested as she had never been. This dear +brother of hers was not wont to care very much. In the past it had +always been the women who had sighed and longed and he who had been +amused and pleased. She could not remember a single occasion in the last +ten years when he had seemed to suffer, although she had seen him +apparently devoted to numbers of women.</p> + +<p>"And what are you going to do?" she asked, with sympathy, "She is +married, of course?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Hector, don't you want me to speak about it?"</p> + +<p>He took a chair now by his sister's sofa, and he began to turn over the +papers rather fast which lay on a table near by.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do," he said, "because, after all, you can do something for me. +I want you to be particularly kind to her, will you, Anne, dear?"</p> + +<p>"But, of course; only you must tell me who she is and where I shall find +her."</p> + +<p>"You will find her at Claridge's, and she is only the wife of<a name="Page_181" id="Page_181"></a> an +impossible Australian millionaire called Brown—Josiah Brown."</p> + +<p>"Poor dear Hector, how terrible!" thought Anne. "It is not the American, +then?" she said, aloud.</p> + +<p>"There never was any American," he exclaimed. "Monica is the most +ridiculous gossip, and always sees wrong. If she had not Jack to keep +her from talking so much she would not leave one of us with a rag of +character."</p> + +<p>"I will go to-morrow and call there, Hector," Lady Anningford said. "My +cold is sure to be better; and if she is not in, shall I write a note +and ask her to lunch? The husband, too, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"I fear so. Anne, you are a brick."</p> + +<p>Then he said good-night, and went to the opera.</p><p><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182"></a></p> + +<p>Left to herself, Lady Anningford thought: "I suppose she is some flashy, +pretty creature who has caught Hector's fancy, the poor darling. One +never has chanced to find an Australian quite, quite a lady. I almost +wish he would marry Morella and have done with it."</p> + +<p>Then she lay on her sofa and pondered many things.</p> + +<p>She was a year older than her brother, and they had always been the +closest friends and comrades.</p> + +<p>Lady Anningford was more or less a happy and contented woman now, but +there had been moments in her life scorched by passion and infinite +pain. Long ago in the beginning when she first came out she had had the +misfortune to fall in love with Cyril Lamont, married and bad and +attractive. It had given him great pleasure to evade the eye of Lady +Bracondale, pure dragon and strict disciplinarian. Anne was a good girl, +but she was eighteen years old and had tasted no joy. She was not an +easy prey, and her first year had passed in storms of emotion suppressed +to the best of her powers.</p><p><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183"></a></p> + +<p>The situation had been full of shades and contrasts. The outward, a +strictly guarded lamb, the life of the world and aristocratic propriety; +and the inward, a daily growing mad love for an impossible person, +snatched and secret meetings after tea in country-houses, walks in +Kensington Gardens, rides along lonely lanes out hunting, and, finally, +the brink of complete ruin and catastrophe—but for Hector.</p> + +<p>"Where should I be now but for Hector?" her thoughts ran.</p> + +<p>Hector was just leaving Eton in those days, and had come up and +discovered matters, while she sobbed in his arms, at the beginning of +her second season. He had comforted her and never scolded a word, and +then he had gone out armed with a heavy hunting-crop, found Cyril +Lamont, and had thrashed the man within an inch of his life. It was one +of Hector's pleasantest recollections, the thought of his cowering form, +his green silk smoking-jacket all torn, and his eyes sightless. Cyril +Lamont's talents had not run in the art of self-defence, and he had been +very soon powerless in the hands of this young athlete.</p> + +<p>The Lamonts went abroad that night, and stayed there <a name="Page_184" id="Page_184"></a>for quite six +months, during which time Anne mended her broken heart and saw the folly +of her ways.</p> + +<p>Hector and she had never alluded to the matter all these years, only +they were intimate friends and understood each other.</p> + +<p>Lady Bracondale adored Hector and was fond of Anne, but had no +comprehension of either. Anne was a <i>frondeuse</i>, while her mother's mind +was fashioned in carved lines and strict boundaries of thought and +action.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a>XVII</h2> + + +<p>Meanwhile, Hector reached the opera, and made his way to the omnibus box +where he had his seat.</p> + +<p>He felt he could not stand Morella Winmarleigh just yet. The second act +of "Faust" was almost over, and with his glass he swept the rows of +boxes in vain to find Theodora. He sat a few minutes, but restlessness +seized him. He must go to the other side and ascertain if she could be +discovered from there. Morella Winmarleigh's box comma<a name="Page_185" id="Page_185"></a>nded a good view +for this purpose, so after all he would face her.</p> + +<p>He looked up at her opposite. She sat there with his mother, and she +seemed more thoroughly wholesomely unattractive than ever to him.</p> + +<p>He hated that shade of turquoise blue she was so fond of, and those +unmeaning bits and bows she had stuck about. She was a large young woman +with a stolid English fairness.</p> + +<p>Her hair had the flaxen ends and sandy roots one so often sees in those +women whose locks have been golden as children. It was a thin, dank kind +of hair, too, with no glints anywhere. Her eyes were blue and large and +meaningless and rather prominent, and her lightish eyelashes seemed to +give no shade to them.</p> + +<p>Morella's orbs just looked out at you like the bow-windows of a sea-side +villa—staring and commonplace. Her features were regular, and her +complexion, if somewhat all too red, was fresh withal; so that, +possessing an income of many thousands, she passed for a beauty of +exceptional merit.</p> + +<p>She had a good maid who used her fingers dexterously, and did what she +could with a mistress devoid of all sense of form <a name="Page_186" id="Page_186"></a>or color.</p> + +<p>Miss Winmarleigh went to the opera regularly and sat solidly through it. +The music said nothing to her, but it was the right place for her to be, +and she could talk to her friends before going on to the numerous balls +she attended.</p> + +<p>If she loved anything in the world she loved Hector Bracondale, but her +feelings gave her no anxieties. He would certainly marry her presently, +the affair would be so suitable to all parties; meanwhile, there was +plenty of time, and all was in order. The perfect method of her +account-books, in which the last sixpence she spent in the day was duly +entered, translated itself to her life. Method and order were its +watchwords; and if the people who knew her intimately—such as her +chaperon, Mrs. Herrick, and her maid, Gibson—thought her mean, she was +not aware of their opinion, and went her way in solid rejoicing.</p> + +<p>Lady Bracondale was really attached to her. Morella's decorum, her +absence of all daring thought in conversation, pleased her so. She had +none of that feeling when with Miss Winmarleigh she suffered in the +company of her daughter Anne, who said things so often she did not quite +understand, yet which she dimly felt might have two meanings, and one of +them a meaning she most probably would disappro<a name="Page_187" id="Page_187"></a>ve of.</p> + +<p>She loved Anne, of course, but oh, that she could have been more like +herself or Morella Winmarleigh!</p> + +<p>Both women saw Hector in the omnibus box, and saw him leave it, and were +quite ready with their greetings when he joined them.</p> + +<p>Miss Winmarleigh had a slight air of proprietorship about her, which +every one knew when Hector was there. And most people thought as she +did, that he would certainly marry her in the near future.</p> + +<p>He was glad it was not between the acts—there was no excuse for +conversation after their greeting, so he searched the house in peace +with his glasses.</p> + +<p>And although he was hoping to see Theodora, his heart gave a great bound +of surprised joy when, on the pit tier, almost next the box he had just +left, he discovered her. He supposed it was a box often let to strangers +that season, as he could not remember whose the name was as he had +passed. He got back into the shadow, that his gaze should not be too +remarkable. She had not caught sight of him yet, or so it seemed.</p> + +<p>There she sat with her husband and another woman, whom he recognized as +one of those kind creatures who go everywhere in society and help +strangers when suitably compensated for their trouble.</p> + +<p>Where on earth could she have come across Mrs. Devlyn? he wondered. A +poisono<a name="Page_188" id="Page_188"></a>us woman, who would fill her ears with tales of all the world. +Then he guessed, and rightly, the introduction had been effected by +Captain Fitzgerald, who would probably have known her in his own day.</p> + +<p>Theodora appeared wrapped in the music, and was an enthralling picture +of loveliness; her fineness seemed to make all the women's faces who +were near look coarse, and her whiteness turned them into gypsies. She +wore a gown of black velvet with no relief whatever, only her dazzling +skin and her great pearls. He feasted his eyes upon her—eyes hungry +with a week's abstinence; for he had felt it more prudent to remain in +Paris for some days after she had left.</p> + +<p>He looked round the rest of the house, and understood all the other men +could, and probably would, gaze too. And then he began to feel hot and +jealous! This was different from Paris, where she was more or less a +tourist; but here, how long would she be left in peace without siege +being laid to her? He knew his world and the men it contained. Yes, at +that moment the door at the back of the box opened and Delaval Stirling +came in, Josiah Brown making way for him to sit in front. Delaval +Stirling—this was too much!</p> + +<p>And Theodora turned with her adorable smile and greeted him, so it +showed they had met before—greeted him with pleasure. Good God! How +much could happen in a week! Why had he stayed in Paris?</p> + +<p>If Morella Winmarleigh had glanced round at his face, even her thick +perceptions must have grasped the disturbance which was marked there, as +he stood back in the shadow and gazed w<a name="Page_189" id="Page_189"></a>ith angry eyes.</p> + +<p>The moment she had seen him come into the box Mrs. Devlyn had said, "I +want you to notice a man over there, Mrs. Brown, in the box exactly +opposite; on the grand tier—do you see?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Theodora, and she perceived him shaking hands with Miss +Winmarleigh before he caught sight of her, so she was forearmed and +turned to the stage.</p> + +<p>"He is nice-looking, don't you think so?" continued Mrs. Devlyn, without +a pause. "He is going to marry that girl in the box; she is one of the +richest heiresses of the day—Miss Winmarleigh. I always point out +Hector Bracondale to strangers or foreigners; he is quite a show +Englishman."</p> + +<p>"Bracondale? Lord Bracondale?" interrupted Josiah Brown. "We met him in +Paris, did we not, my love?" turning to Theodora. "He dined with us our +last evening. Where is he?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you know him, then!" said Mrs. Devlyn, disappointed. "I wanted to +be the first to point him out to you. They will make a handsome pair, +won't they—he and Miss Winmarleigh?"</p> + +<p>"Very," said Theodora, listlessly, with an air of dragging her thoughts +from the music with difficulty, while she suddenly felt sick and col<a name="Page_190" id="Page_190"></a>d.</p> + +<p>"And are they to be married soon?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know exactly; but it has been going on for years, and we all +look upon it as a settled thing. She is always about with his mother."</p> + +<p>"Is that Lord Bracondale's mother—the lady with the coronet of plaits +and the huge white aigrette with the diamond drops in it?" Theodora +asked. Her voice was schooled, and had no special tones in it. But oh, +how she was thrilling with interest and excitement underneath!</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is Lady Bracondale. She is quite a type; always dresses in +that old-fashioned way, and won't know a soul who is not of her own set. +She is a cousin of one of my husband's aunts. I must introduce you to +her."</p> + +<p>"She looks pretty haughty," announced Josiah Brown. "I should not care +to tread on her toes much." And then he remembered he had seen her years +ago driving through the little town of Bracondale.</p> + +<p>Theodora asked no more questions. She kept her eyes fixed on the stage, +but she knew Hector had raised his glasses now and was scanning the box, +and had probably seen her.</p> + +<p>What ought it to matter to her that he should be going to marry Miss +Winmarleigh? He could be nothing to he<a name="Page_191" id="Page_191"></a>r—only—only—but perhaps it was +not true. This woman, Mrs. Devlyn, whom she began to feel she should +dislike very much, had said it was looked upon as settled, not that it +was a fact. How could a man be going to marry one woman and make +desperate love to another at the same time? It was impossible—and +yet—she would <i>not</i> look in any case. She would not once raise her eyes +that way.</p> + +<p>And so in these two boxes green jealousy held sway, and while Hector +glared across at Theodora she smiled at Delaval Stirling, and spoke +softly of the music and the voices, though her heart was torn with pain.</p> + +<p>"Do you see Hector Bracondale is back again, Delaval?" Mrs. Devlyn said. +"Do you know why he stayed in Paris so long? I heard—" And she +whispered low, so that Theodora only caught the name "Esclarmonde de +Chartres" and their modulated mocking laughter.</p> + +<p>How they jarred upon her! How she felt she should hate London among all +these people whose ways she did not know! She turned a little, and +Josiah's vulgar familiar face seemed a relief to her, and her tender +eyes melted in kindliness as she looked at him.</p> + +<p>"You are very pale to-night, my love," he said. "Would you like to go +home?"</p> +<p><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192"></a></p> +<p>But this she would not agree to, and pulled herself together and tried +to talk gayly when the curtain went down.</p> + +<p>And Hector blamed his own folly for having come up to this box at all. +Here he must be glued certainly for a few moments; now that they could +talk, politeness could not permit him to fly off at once.</p> + +<p>"The house is very full," Miss Winmarleigh said—it was a remark she +always made on big nights—"and yet hardly any new faces about."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Hector.</p> + +<p>"Does it compare with the Opera-House in Paris, Hector?" Miss +Winmarleigh hardly ever went abroad.</p> + +<p>"No," said Hector.—Not only had Delaval Stirling retained his seat, but +Chris Harford, Mrs. Devlyn's brother, had entered the box now and was +assiduously paying his court. "Damned impertinence of the woman, +forcing her relations upon them like that," he +thought.—"Oh—er—no—that is, I think the Paris Opera-House is a +beastly place," he said, absently, "a dull, heavy drab brown and dirty +gilding, and all the women look hideous in it."</p> + +<p>"Really," said Morella. "I thought everything in Paris was lovely."</p> + +<p>"You should go over and see for yourself," he said, "then you could +judge. I thin<a name="Page_193" id="Page_193"></a>k most things there are lovely, though."</p> + +<p>Miss Winmarleigh raised her glasses now and examined the house. Her eyes +lighted at last on Theodora.</p> + +<p>"Dear Lady Bracondale," she said, "do look at that woman in black +velvet. What splendid pearls! Do you think they are real? Who is it, I +wonder, with Florence Devlyn?"</p> + +<p>But Hector felt he could not stay and hear their remarks about his +darling, so he got up, and, murmuring he must have a talk to his friends +in the house, left the box.</p> + +<p>He was thankful at least Theodora was sitting on the pit tier—he could +walk along the gangway and talk to her from the front.</p> + +<p>She saw him coming and was prepared, so no wild roses tinged her cheeks, +and her greeting was gravely courteous, that was all.</p> + +<p>An icy feeling crept over him. What was the change, this subtle change +in voice and eyes? He suddenly had the agonizing sensation of being a +great way off from her, shut out of paradise—a stranger. What had +happened? What had he done?</p> + +<p>Every one kno<a name="Page_194" id="Page_194"></a>ws the Opera-House, and where he would be standing, and the +impossibility of saying anything but the most banal commonplaces, +looking up like that.</p> + +<p>Then Josiah leaned forward, proud of his acquaintanceship with a peer, +and said in a distinct voice:</p> + +<p>"Won't you come into the box, Lord Bracondale? There is plenty of room." +He had not taken to either Delaval Stirling or Chris Harford, and +thought a change of company would not come amiss. They had ignored him, +and should pay for it.</p> + +<p>Hector made his way joyfully to the back, and, entering, was greeted +affably by his host, so the other two men got up to leave to make room +for him.</p> + +<p>He sat down behind Theodora, and Mrs. Devlyn saw it would be wiser to +conciliate Josiah by her interested conversation.</p> + +<p>She hoped to make a good thing out of this millionaire and his unknown +wife, and it would not do to <a name="Page_195" id="Page_195"></a>ruffle him at this stage of the affair.</p> + +<p>Theodora hardly turned, thus Hector was obliged to lean quite forward to +speak to her.</p> + +<p>"I have seen my sister to-night," he said, "and she wants so much to +meet you. I said perhaps she would find you to-morrow. Will you be at +home in the afternoon any time?"</p> + +<p>"I expect so," replied Theodora. She was longing to face him, to ask him +if it was true he was going to marry that large, pink-faced young woman +opposite, who was now staring down upon them with fixed opera-glasses; +but she felt frozen, and her voice was a frozen voice.</p> + +<p>Hector became more and more unhappy. He tried several subjects. He told +her the last news of her father and Mrs. McBride. She answered them all +with the same politeness, until, maddened beyond bearing, he leaned +still farther forward and whispered in her ear:</p> + +<p>"For God's sake, what is it? What have I done?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing," said Theodora. What right had she to ask him any question, +when for these seven nights and days since they had parted she had been +disciplining herself not to think of him in any way? She must never let +him know it could matter to her now.</p> +<p><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196"></a></p> +<p>"Nothing? Then why are you so changed? Ah, how it hurts!" he whispered, +passionately. And she turned and looked at him, and he saw that her +beautiful eyes were no longer those pure depths of blue sky in which he +could read love and faith, but were full of mist, as of a curtain +between them.</p> + +<p>He put his hand up to touch the little gold case he carried always now +in his waistcoat-pocket, which contained her letter. He wanted to assure +himself it was there, and she had written it—and it was not all a +dream.</p> + +<p>Theodora's tender heart was wrung by the passionate distress in his +eyes.</p> + +<p>"Is that your mother over there you were with?" she asked, more gently. +"How beautiful she is!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, "my mother and Morella Winmarleigh, whom the world in +general and my mother in particular have decided I am going to marry."</p> + +<p>She did not speak. She felt suddenly ashamed she could ever have doubted +him; it must be the warping atmosphere of Mrs. Devlyn's society for +these last days which had planted thoughts, so foreign to her nature, in +her. She did not yet know it was jealousy pure and simple, which attacks +the sweetest, as well, as the bitterest, soul among us all. But a +thrill of gladness ran through her as well as shame.</p> +<p><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197"></a></p> +<p>"And aren't you going to marry her, then?" she said, at last. "She is +very handsome."</p> + +<p>Hector looked at her, and a wave of joy chased out the pain he had +suffered. That was it, then! They had told her this already, and she +hated it—she cared for him still.</p> + +<p>"Surely you need not ask me," he said, deep reproach in his eyes. "You +must be very changed in seven days to even have thought it possible."</p> + +<p>The shame deepened in Theodora. She was, indeed, unlike herself to have +been moved at all by Mrs. Devlyn's words, but she would never doubt +again, and she must tell him that.</p> + +<p>"Forgive me," she said, quite low, while she looked away. "I—of course +I ought to be pleased at anything which made you happy, but—oh, I hated +it!"</p> + +<p>"Theodora," he said, "I ask you—do not act with me ever—to what end? +We know each other's hearts, and I hope it would pain you were I to +marry any other woman, as much as in like circumstances it would pain +me."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it would pain me," she said, simply. "But, oh, we must not speak +thus! Please, please talk of the music, or the—the—oh, anything but +ourselves."</p> +<p><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198"></a></p> +<p>And he tried hard for the few moments which remained before the curtain +rose again. Tried hard, but it was all dust and ashes; and as he left +the box and returned to his own seat next door his heart felt like lead. +How would he be able to follow the rules he had laid down for himself +during his week of meditations in Paris alone?</p> + +<p>"You see, dear Lady Bracondale," Morella Winmarleigh had been saying, +"Hector knows that woman with the pearls. He is sitting talking to her +now."</p> + +<p>"Hector knows every one, Morella. Lend me your glasses, mine do not seem +to work to-night. Yes, I suppose by some she would be considered +pretty," Lady Bracondale continued, when the lorgnette was fixed to her +focus. "What do you think, dear?"</p> + +<p>"Pretty!" exclaimed Miss Winmarleigh. "Oh no! Much too white, and, +oh—er—foreign-looking. We must find out who she is."</p> + +<p>The matter was not difficult. Half the house had been interested in the +new-comer, the beautiful new-comer with the wonderful pearls, who must +be worth while in some way, or she would not be under the wing of +Florence Devlyn.</p> + +<p>By the time Hector again entered their box in the last act, Miss +Winmarleigh had obtained all the information she wanted from one of the +many v<a name="Page_199" id="Page_199"></a>isitors who came to pay their court to the heiress. And the +information reassured her. Only the wife of a colonial millionaire; no +one of her world or who could trouble her.</p> + +<p>Early next morning, while she sat in her white flannel dressing-gown, +her hair screwed in curling-pins, after the Brantinghams' ball, she +wrote in her journal the customary summary of her day, and ended with: +"H.B. returned—same as usual, running after a new woman, nobody of +importance; but I had better watch it, and clinch matters between him +and me before Goodwood. Ordered the pink silk after all, from the new +little dressmaker, and beat her down three pounds as to price. Begun +Marvaloso hair tonic."</p> + +<p>Then, as it was broad daylight, after carefully replacing in its drawer +this locked chronicle of her maiden thoughts, she retired to bed, to +sleep the sleep of those just persons whose digestions are as strong as +their absence of imagination.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII"></a>XVIII</h2> + + +<p>Next day Lady Anningford called, as she had promised, at Claridge's, and +found Mrs. Brown at home, although it was only three o'clock in the +afternoon.</p> +<p><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200"></a></p> +<p>She had not two minutes to wait in the well-furnished first-floor +sitting-room, but during that time she noticed there were one or two +things about which showed the present occupant was a woman of taste, and +there were such quantities of flowers. Flowers, flowers, everywhere.</p> + +<p>Theodora entered already dressed for her afternoon drive. She came +forward with that perfect grace which characterized her every movement.</p> + +<p>If she felt very timid and nervous it did not show in her sweet face, +and Lady Anningford perceived Hector had every excuse for his +infatuation.</p> + +<p>"I am so fortunate to find you at home, Mrs. Brown," she said. "My +brother has told me so much about you, and I was longing to meet you. +May we sit down on this sofa and talk a little, or were you just +starting for your drive?"</p> + +<p>"Of course we may sit down," said Theodora. "My drive does not matter in +the least. It was so good of you to come."</p> + +<p>And her inward thought was that she would like Hector's sister. Anne's +frankness and <i>sans gêne</i> were so pleasing.</p> + +<p>They exchanged a few agreeable sentences while each measured the other, +and then Lady Anningford said:</p> + +<p>"You come from Australia, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Australia!" smiled Theodora, while her eyes opened wide. "Oh no! I have +never been out of France and Belgium and places like that. My husband +lived in Melbourne for some years, though."</p> + +<p>"I thought<a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"></a> it could not be possible," quoth Anne to herself.</p> + +<p>"Then you don't know much of England yet?" she said, aloud.</p> + +<p>"It is my first visit; and it seems very dull and rainy. This is the +only really fine day we have had since we arrived."</p> + +<p>Anne soon dexterously elicited an outline of Theodora's plans and what +she was doing. They would only remain in town until Whitsuntide, +perhaps returning later for a week or two; and Mrs. Devlyn, to whom her +father had sent her an introduction, had been kind enough to tell them +what to do and how to see a little of London. She was going to a ball +to-night. The first real ball she had ever been to in her life, she +said, ingenuously.</p> + +<p>And Lady Anningford looked at her and each moment fell more under her +charm.</p> + +<p>"The ball at Harrowfield House, I expect, to meet the King of +Guatemala," she said, knowing Lady Harrowfield was Florence Devlyn's +cousin.</p> + +<p>"That is it," said Theodora.</p> + +<p>"Then you must dance with Hector—my brother," she said.</p> + +<p>She launched his name suddenly; she wanted to see what effect it would +have on Theodora. "He is sure to be there, and he dances divinely."</p> + +<p>She was rewarded for her thrust: just the faintest pink came into the +white velvet cheeks, and the blue eyes melted softly. To dance with +Hector! Ah! Then the radianc<a name="Page_202" id="Page_202"></a>e was replaced by a look of sadness, and she +said, quietly:</p> + +<p>"Oh, I do not think I shall dance at all. My husband is rather an +invalid, and we shall only go in for a little while."</p> + +<p>No, she must not dance with Hector. Those joys were not for her—she +must not even think of it.</p> + +<p>"How extraordinarily beautiful she is!" Anne thought, when presently, +the visit ended, she found herself rolling along in her electric +brougham towards the park. "And I feel I shall love her. I wonder what +her Christian name is?"</p> + +<p>Theodora had promised they would lunch in Charles Street with her the +next day if her husband should be well enough after the ball. And Anne +decided to collect as many nice people to meet them as she could in the +time.</p> + +<p>At the corner of Grosvenor Square she met an old friend, one Colonel +Lowerby, commonly called the Crow, and stopped to pick him up and take +him on with her.</p> + +<p>He was the one person she wanted to talk to at this juncture. She had +known him all her life, and was accustomed to prattle to him on all +subjects. He was always safe, and gruff, and honest.</p> + +<p>"I have just done something so interesting, Crow," she told him, as they +went along towards Regent's Park, to which sylvan spot she had directed +her chauffeur, to be more free to talk in peace to her companion. Some +of her friends were capable of making scandals, even about the dear old +Crow, she knew.</p><p><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203"></a></p> + +<p>"And what have you done?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Of course you have heard the tale from Uncle Evermond, of Hector and +the lady at Monte Carlo?"</p> + +<p>He nodded.</p> + +<p>"Well, there is not a word of truth in it; he is in love, though, with +the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life—and I have just +been to call upon her. And to-morrow you have got to come to lunch to +meet her—and tell me what you think."</p> + +<p>"Very well," said the Crow. "I was feeding elsewhere, but I always obey +you. Continue your narrative."</p> + +<p>"I want you to tell me what to do, and how I can help them."</p> + +<p>"My dear child," said the Crow, sententiously, as was his habit, "help +them to what? She is married, of course, or Hector would not be in love +with her. Do you want to help them to part or to meet? or to go to +heaven or to hell? or to spend what Monica Ellerwood calls 'a Saturday +to Monday amid rural scenery,' which means both of those things one +after the other!"</p> +<p><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204"></a></p> +<p>"Crow, dear, you are disagreeable," said Lady Anningford, "and I have a +cold in my head and cannot compete with you in words to-day."</p> + +<p>"Then say what you want, and I'll listen."</p> + +<p>"Hector met them in Paris, it seems, and must have fallen wildly in +love, because I have never seen him as he is now."</p> + +<p>"How is he?—and who is 'them'?"</p> + +<p>"Why, she and the husband, of course, and Hector is looking sad and +distrait—and has really begun to feel at last."</p> + +<p>"Serve him right!"</p> + +<p>"Crow, you are insupportable! Can you not see I am serious and want your +help?"</p> + +<p>"Fire away, then, my good child, and explain matters. You are too +vague!"</p> + +<p>So she told him all she knew—which was little enough; but she was +eloquent upon Theodora's beauty.</p> + +<p>"She has the face of an angel," she ended her description with.</p> + +<p>"Always mistrust 'em," interjecte<a name="Page_205" id="Page_205"></a>d the Crow.</p> + +<p>"Such a figure and the nicest manner, and she is in love with Hector, +too, of course—because she could not possibly help herself—could +she?—if he is being lovely to her."</p> + +<p>"I have not your prejudiced eyes for him—though Hector certainly is a +decent fellow enough to look at," allowed Colonel Lowerby. "But all +this does not get to what you want to do for them."</p> + +<p>"I want them to be happy."</p> + +<p>"Permanently, or for the moment?"</p> + +<p>"Both."</p> + +<p>"An impossible combination, with these abominably inconsiderate marriage +laws we suffer under in this country, my child."</p> + +<p>"Then what ought I to do?"</p> + +<p>"You can do nothing but accelerate or hinder matters for a little. If +Hector is really in love, and the woman, too, they are bound to dree +their weird, one way or the other, themselves. You will be doing the +greatest kindness if you can keep them apart, and avoid a scandal if +possible."</p><p><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206"></a></p> + +<p>"My dear Crow, I have never heard of your being so thoroughly +unsympathetic before."</p> + +<p>"And I have never heard of Hector being really in love before, and with +an angel, too—deuced dangerous folk at the best of times!"</p> + +<p>"Then there are mother and Morella Winmarleigh to be counted with."</p> + +<p>"Neither of them can see beyond their noses. Miss Winmarleigh is sure of +him, she thinks—and your mother, too."</p> + +<p>"No; mother has her doubts."</p> + +<p>"They will both be anti?"</p> + +<p>"Extremely anti."</p> + +<p>"To get back to facts, then, your plan is to assist your brother to see +this 'angel,' and smooth the path to the final catastrophe."</p> + +<p>"You worry me, Crow. Why should there be a catastrophe?"</p> + +<p>"Is she a young woman?"</p> + +<p>"A mere baby. Certainly not more than twenty or so."</p> +<p><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207"></a></p> +<p>"Then it is inevitable, if the husband don't count. You have not +described him yet."</p> + +<p>"Because I have never seen him," said Lady Anningford. "Hector did say +last night, though, that he was an impossible Australian millionaire."</p> + +<p>"These people have a strong sense of personal rights—they are even +blood-thirsty sometimes, and expect virtue in their women. If he had +been just an English snob, the social bauble might have proved an +immense eye-duster; but when you say Australian it gives me hope. He'll +take her away, or break Hector's head, before things become too +embarrassing."</p> + +<p>"Crow, you are brutal."</p> + +<p>"And a good thing, too. That is what we all want, a little more +brutality.<a name="Page_208" id="Page_208"></a> The whole of the blessed show here is being ruined with this +sickly sentimentality. Flogging done away with; every silly nerve +pandered to. By Jove! the next time we have to fight any country we +shall have an anæsthetic served round with the rations to keep Tommy +Atkins's delicate nerves from suffering from the consciousness of the +slaughter he inflicts upon the enemy."</p> + +<p>"Crow, you are violent."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am. I am sick of the whole thing. I would reintroduce +prize-fighting and bear-baiting and gladiatorial shows to brace the +nation up a bit. We'll get jammed full of rotten vices like those +beastly foreigners soon."</p> + +<p>"I did not bring you into Regent's Park to hear a tirade upon the +nation's needs, Crow," Anne reminded him, smiling, "but to get your +sympathy and advice upon this affair of Hector. You know you are the +only person in the world I ever talk to about intimate things."</p> + +<p>"Dear Queen Anne," he said, "I will always do what I can for you. But I +tell you seriously, when a man like Hector loves a woman really, you +might as well try to direct Niagara Falls as to turn him any way but the +one he means to go."</p> + +<p>"He wants me to be kind to her. Do you advise me just to let the thing +drop, then?"</p> + +<p>"No; be as ki<a name="Page_209" id="Page_209"></a>nd as you like—only don't assist them to destruction."</p> + +<p>"She goes into the country on Saturday for Whitsuntide, as we all do. +Hector is going down to Bracondale alone."</p> + +<p>"That looks desperate. I shall see Hector, and judge for myself."</p> + +<p>"You must be sure to go to the ball at Harrowfield House to-night, +then," Anne said. "They are both going. I say both because I know she +is, and so, of course, Hector will be there too. I shall go, naturally, +and then we can decide what we can do about it after we have seen them +together."</p> + +<p>And all this time Theodora was thinking how charming Anne was, and how +kind, and that she felt a little happier because of her kindness. And, +hard as it would be, she would not leave Josiah's side that night or +dance with Hector.</p> + +<p>And Hector was thinking—</p> + +<p>"What is the good of anything in this wide world without her? I <i>must</i> +see her. For good or ill, I cannot keep away."</p> + +<p>He was deep in the toils of desire and passionate love for a woman +belonging to someone else and out of his reach, and for whom he was +hungry. Thus the primitive forces of<a name="Page_210" id="Page_210"></a> nature were in violent activity, +and his soul was having a hard fight.</p> + +<p>It was the first time in his life that a woman had really mattered or +had been impossible to obtain.</p> + +<p>He had always looked upon them as delightful accessories: sport first, +and woman, who was only another form of sport, second.</p> + +<p>He had not neglected the obligations of his great position, but they +came naturally to him as of the day's work. They were not real interests +in his life. And when stripped of the veneer of civilization he was but +a passionate, primitive creature, like numbers of others of his class +and age.</p> + +<p>While the elevation of Theodora's pure soul was an actual influence upon +him, he had thought it would be possible—difficult, perhaps—but +possible to obey her—to keep from troubling her—to regulate his +passion into worship at a distance. But since then new influences had +begun to work—prominent among them being jealousy.</p> + +<p>To see her surrounded by others—who were men and would desire her, +too—drove him mad.</p> + +<p>Josiah was difficult enough to bear. The thought that he was her +husband, and had the rights of this position, always turned him sick +with raging disgust; but that was the law, a<a name="Page_211" id="Page_211"></a>nd a law accepted since the +beginning of time. These others were not of the law—they were the same +as himself—and would all try to win her.</p> + +<p>He had no fear of their succeeding, but, to watch them trying, and he +himself unable to prevent them, was a thought he could not tolerate.</p> + +<p>He had no settled plan. He did not deliberately say to himself: "I will +possess her at all costs. I will be her lover, and take her by force +from the bonds of this world." His whole mind was in a ferment and +chaos. There was no time to think of the position in cold blood. His +passion hurried him on from hour to hour.</p> + +<p>This day after the opera, when the hideous impossibility of the +situation had come upon him with full force, he felt as Lancelot—</p> + + +<p>"His mood was often like a fiend, and rose and drove him into wastes and solitudes for agony,<br /> +Who was yet a living soul."</p> + + +<p>There are all sorts of loves in life, but when it is the real great +passion,<a name="Page_212" id="Page_212"></a> nor fear of hell nor hope of heaven can stem the tide—for +long!</p> + +<p>He had gone out in his automobile, and was racing ahead considerably +above the speed limit. He felt he must do something. Had it been winter +and hunting-time, he would have taken any fences—any risks. He returned +and got to Ranelagh, and played a game of polo as hard as he could, and +then he felt a little calmer. The idea came to him as it had done to +Anne. Lady Harrowfield was Florence Devlyn's cousin; she would probably +have squeezed an invitation for her protégées for the royal ball +to-night. He would go—he must see Theodora. He must hold her in his +arms, if only in the mazes of the waltz.</p> + +<p>And the thought of that sent the blood whirling madly once more in his +veins.</p> + +<p>Everything he had looked upon so lightly up to now had taken a new +significance in reference to Theodora. Florence Devlyn, for instance, +was no fit companion for her—Florence Devlyn, whom he met at every +decent house and had never before disapproved of, except as a bore and a +sycophant.</p><p><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213"></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIX" id="XIX"></a>XIX</h2> + + +<p>Harrowfield House, as every one knows, is one of the finest in London; +and with the worst manners, and an inordinate insolence, Lady +Harrowfield ruled her section of society with a rod of iron. Indeed, all +sections coveted the invitations of this disagreeable lady.</p> + +<p>Her path was strewn with lovers, and protected by a proud and complacent +husband, who had realized early he never would be master of the +situation, and had preferred peace to open scandal.</p> + +<p>She was a woman of sixty now, and, report said, still had her lapses. +But every incident was carried off with a high-handed, brazen daring, +and an assumption of right and might and prerogative which paralyzed +criticism.</p> + +<p>So it was that with the record of a <i>demimondaine</i>—and not one kind +action to her credit—Lady Harrowfield still held her place among the +spotless, and ruled as a queen.</p> + +<p>There was not above two years' difference between her age and Lady +Bracondale's; indeed, the latter had been o<a name="Page_214" id="Page_214"></a>ne of her bridesmaids; but +no one to look at them at a distance could have credited it for a +minute.</p> + +<p>Lady Harrowfield had golden hair and pink cheeks, and her <i>embonpoint</i> +retained in the most fashionable outline. And if towards two in the +morning, or when she lost at bridge, her face did remind on-lookers of a +hideous colored mask of death and old age—one can't have everything in +life; and Lady Harrowfield had already obtained more than the lion's +share.</p> + +<p>This night in June she stood at the top of her splendid staircase, +blazing with jewels, receiving her guests, among whom more than one +august personage, English and foreign, was expected to arrive; and an +unusually sour frown disfigured the thick paint of her face.</p> + +<p>It all seemed like fairy-land to Theodora as, accompanied by Josiah, and +preceded by Mrs. Devlyn, she early mounted the marble steps with the +rest of the throng.</p> + +<p>She noticed the insolent stare of her host<a name="Page_215" id="Page_215"></a>ess as she shook hands and +then passed on in the crowd.</p> + +<p>She felt a little shy and nervous and excited withal. Every one around +seemed to have so many friends, and to be so gay and joyous, and only +she and Josiah stood alone. For Mrs. Devlyn felt she had done enough +for one night in bringing them there.</p> + +<p>It was an immense crowd. At a smaller ball Theodora's exquisite beauty +must have commanded instant attention, but this was a special occasion, +and the world was too occupied with a desire to gape at the foreign king +to trouble about any new-comers. Certainly for the first hour or so.</p> + +<p>Josiah was feeling humiliated. Not a creature spoke to them, and they +were hustled along like sheep into the ballroom.</p> + +<p>A certain number of men stared—stared with deep interest, and made +plans for introductions as soon as the crowd should subside a little.</p> + +<p>Theodora was perfectly dressed, and her jewels caused envy in numbers of +breasts.</p> + +<p>She was too little occupied with herself to feel any of Josiah's +humiliation. This society was hers by right of birth, and did not +disconcert her; only no one could help being lonely when quite +neglected, while others danced.</p> +<p><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216"></a></p> +<p>Presently, a thin, ill-tempered-looking old man made his way with +difficulty up to their corner; he had been speaking to Mrs. Devlyn +across the room.</p> + +<p>"I must introduce myself," he said, graciously, to Theodora. "I am your +uncle, Patrick Fitzgerald, and I am so delighted to meet you and make +your acquaintance."</p> + +<p>Theodora bowed without <i>empressement</i>. She had no feeling for these +relations who had been so indifferent to her while she was poor and who +had treated darling papa so badly.</p> + +<p>"I only got back to town last night, or I and my wife would have called +at Claridge's before this," he continued. And then he said something +affable to Josiah, who looked strangely out of place among this +brilliant throng.</p> + +<p>For whatever may compose the elements of the highest London society, the +atoms all acquire a certain air after a little, and if within this <i>fine +fleur</i> of the aristocracy there lurked some Jews and Philistines and +infidels of the middle classes, they were not quite new to the game, and +had all received their gloss. So poor Josiah stood out rather by +himself, and Sir Patrick Fitzgerald felt a good deal ashamed of him.</p> + +<p>Theodora's fine senses had perceived all this long ago—the contrast her +husband pres<a name="Page_217" id="Page_217"></a>ented to the rest of the world—and it had made her stand +closer to him and treat him with more deference than usual; her generous +heart always responded to any one or anything in an unhappy position.</p> + +<p>And through all his thick skin Josiah felt something of her tenderness, +and glowed with pride in her.</p> + +<p>Sir Patrick Fitzgerald continued to talk, and even paid his niece some +bluff compliments. Her manner was so perfect, he decided! Gad! he could +be proud of his new-found relation. And though the husband was nothing +but a grocer still, and looked it every inch, by Jove, he was rich +enough to gild his vulgarity and be tolerated among the highest.</p> + +<p>Thus the uncle was gushing and lavish in his invitations and offers of +friendship. They must come to Beechleigh for Whitsuntide. He would hear +of no refusal. Going home! Oh, what nonsense! Home was a place one could +go to at any time. And he would so like to show them Beechleigh at its +best, where her father had lived all his young life.</p> + +<p>Josiah was caught by his affable suggestions. Why should they not go? +Only that morning he had received a letter from his agent at Bessington +Hall to say the place, unfortunately, would not be completely ready for +them. Why, then, should they not accept this pleasant invitation?</p> + +<p>Theodora hesitated—but he cut her short.</p> + +<p>"I am sure it is very good of you, Sir Patrick, and my wife and I will +be delighted to co<a name="Page_218" id="Page_218"></a>me," he said.</p> + +<p>By this time the excitement of the royal entrance and quadrille had +somewhat subsided, and several people felt themselves drawn to be +presented to the beautiful young woman in white with the really fine +jewels, and before she knew where she was, Theodora found herself +waltzing with a wonderfully groomed, ugly young marquis.</p> + +<p>She had meant not to dance—not to leave her husband's side; but fate +and Josiah had ordered otherwise.</p> + +<p>"Not dance! What nonsense, my love! Go at once with his lordship," he +had said, when Sir Patrick had presented Lord Wensleydown. And wincing +at the sentence, Theodora had allowed herself to be whirled away.</p> + +<p>Her partner was not more than nine-and-twenty; but he had all the blasé +airs of a man of forty. He began to say <i>entreprenant</i> things to +Theodora after three turns round the room.</p> + +<p>She was far too unsophisticated to understand their ultimate meaning, +but they made her uncomfortable.</p> + +<p>He gazed at her loveliness with that insulting look of sensual +admiration which some men think the highest compliment they can pay to a +woman. And just in the middle of all this, Hector Bracondale arri<a name="Page_219" id="Page_219"></a>ved +upon the scene. He had been searching for her everywhere; in that crowd +one could miss any one with ease. He stood and watched her before she +caught sight of him—watched her pure whiteness in the clutches of this +beast of prey. Saw his burning looks; noted his attitude; imagined his +whisperings—and murderous feelings leaped to his brain.</p> + +<p>How dared Wensleydown! How dared any one! Ah, God! and he was powerless +to prevent it. She was the wife of Josiah Brown over there, smiling and +complacent to see <i>his</i> belonging dancing with a marquis!</p> + +<p>"Hector, dearest, what is the matter?" exclaimed Lady Anningford, coming +up at that moment to her brother's side. She was with Colonel Lowerby, +and they had made a tour of the rooms on purpose to see Theodora. "You +appear ready to murder some one. What has happened?"</p> + +<p>Hector looked straight at her. She was a very tall woman, almost his +height, and she saw pain and rage and passion were swimming in his eyes, +while his deep voice vibrated as he answered:</p> + +<p>"Yes, I want to murder some one—and possibly will before the evening is +over."</p> + +<p>"Hector! Crow, leave me with him, like the dear you always are," she +whisp<a name="Page_220" id="Page_220"></a>ered to Colonel Lowerby, "and come and find me again in a few +minutes."</p> + +<p>"Hector, what is it?" she asked, anxiously, when they stood alone.</p> + +<p>"Look!" said Lord Bracondale. "Look at Wensleydown leaning over +Theodora." He was so moved that he uttered the name without being aware +of it. "Did you ever see such a damned cad as he is? Good God, I cannot +bear it!"</p> + +<p>"He—he is only dancing with her," said Anne, soothingly. What had come +to her brother, her whimsical, cynical brother, who troubled not at all, +as a rule, over anything in the world?</p> + +<p>"Only dancing with her! I tell you I will not bear it. Where is the +Crow? Why did you send him off? I can't stay with you; I must go and +speak to her, and take her away from this."</p> + +<p>"Hector, for Heaven's sake do not be so mad," said Lady Anningford, now +really alarmed. "You can't go up and seize a woman from her partner in +the middle of a waltz. You must be completely crazy! Dear boy, let us +stay here by the door until the music finishes, and then I will speak to +her before they can leave the room to sit out."</p> + +<p>She pu<a name="Page_221" id="Page_221"></a>t her hand on his arm to detain him, and started to feel how it +trembled.</p> + +<p>What passion was this? Surely the Crow was right, after all, and it +could only lead to some inevitable catastrophe. Anne's heart sank; the +lights and the splendor seemed all a gilded mockery.</p> + +<p>At that moment Morella Winmarleigh advanced with Evermond Le +Mesurier—their uncle Evermond—who, having other views for his own +amusement, left her instantly at Anne's side and disappeared among the +crowd.</p> + +<p>"How impossible to find any one in this crush!" Miss Winmarleigh said. +There was a cackly tone in her voice, especially when raised above the +din of the music, which was peculiarly irritating to sensitive ears.</p> + +<p>Hector felt he hated her.</p> + +<p>Anne still kept her hand on his arm, and flight was hopeless.</p> + +<p>Just then a Royalty passed with their hostess, and claimed Lady +Anningford's attention, so Hector was left sole guardian of Morella +Winmarleigh.</p> + +<p>She cackled on about nothing, while his every sense was strained +watching Theodora, to see that she did not leave the room without his +knowledge.</p><p><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222"></a></p> + +<p>She was whirling still in the maze of the waltz, and each time she +passed fresh waves of rage surged in Hector's breast, as he perceived +the way in which Lord Wensleydown held her.</p> + +<p>"Why, there is the woman who was at the opera last night," exclaimed +Morella, at last. "How in the world did an outsider like that get here, +I wonder? She is quite pretty, close—don't you think so, Hector? Oh, I +forgot, you know her, of course; you talked to her last night, I +remember."</p> + +<p>Hector did not answer; he was afraid to let himself speak.</p> + +<p>Morella Winmarleigh was looking her best. A tonged, laced, flounced +best; and she was perfectly conscious of it, and pleased with herself +and her attractions.</p> + +<p>She meant to keep Lord Bracondale with her for the rest of the evening +if possible, even if she had to descend to tricks scarcely flattering to +her own vanity.</p> + +<p>"Do let us go for a walk," she said. "I have not yet seen the flower +decorations in the yellow salon, and I hear they are particularly +fine."</p> +<p><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223"></a></p> +<p>Hector by this time was beside himself at seeing Theodora converging +with her partner towards the large doors at the other end of the +ballroom.</p> + +<p>"No," he said. "I am very sorry, but I am engaged for the next dance, +and must go and hunt up my partner. Where can I take you?"</p> + +<p>Hector engaged for a dance? An unknown thing, and of course untrue. What +could this mean? Who would he dance with? That colonial creature? This +must be looked into and stopped at once.</p> + +<p>Miss Winmarleigh's thin under-lip contracted, and a deeper red suffused +her blooming cheeks.</p> + +<p>"I really don't know," she said. "I am quite lost, and I am afraid you +can't leave me until I find some one to take care of me." And she +giggled girlishly.</p> + +<p>That such a large cow of a woman should want protection of any sort +seemed quite ridiculous to Hector—maddeningly ridiculous at the present +moment. Theodora had disappeared, having seen him standing there with +Morella Winmarleigh, who she had been told he was going to marry.</p> + +<p>He was literally white with suppressed rage. The Royalty had +commandeered Anne, and among the dozens of people he knew there was not +one in sight with whom he could plant Morella Winmarleigh; so he gave +her h<a name="Page_224" id="Page_224"></a>is arm, and hurried along the way Theodora had disappeared.</p> + +<p>"Are you going to Beechleigh for Whitsuntide?" Morella asked. "I am, and +I think we shall have a delightful party."</p> + +<p>Hector was not paying the least attention. Theodora was completely out +of sight now, and might be lost altogether, for all they were likely to +overtake her among this crowd and the numberless exits and entrances.</p> + +<p>"Beechleigh!" he mumbled, absently. "Who lives there? I don't even know. +I am going home."</p> + +<p>"Why, Hector, of course you know! The Fitzgeralds—Sir Patrick and Lady +Ada. Every one does."</p> + +<p>Then it came to him. These were Theodora's uncle and aunt. Was it +possible she could be going there, too? He recollected she had told him +in Paris her father had written to this brother of his about her coming +to London. She might be going. It was a chance, and he must ascertain at +once.</p> + +<p>Sir Patrick Fitzgerald he knew at the Turf, and now that he thought of +it he knew Lady Ada by sight quite well, and he was aware he would be a +welcome guest at any house. If Theodora was going, he expected the thing +could be managed. Meanwhile, he must find her, and get rid of Morella +Winmarleigh. He hurried her on through the blue salon and the yellow +salon and out into the gallery beyond. Theodora had completely +disappear<a name="Page_225" id="Page_225"></a>ed.</p> + +<p>Miss Winmarleigh kept up a constant chatter of commonplaces, to which, +when he replied at all, he gave random answers.</p> +<p><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226"></a></p> +<p>And every moment she became more annoyed and uneasy.</p> + +<p>She had known Hector since she was a child. Their places adjoined in the +country, and she saw him constantly when there. Her stolid vanity had +never permitted the suggestion to come to her that he had always been +completely indifferent to her. She intended to marry him. His mother +shared her wishes. They were continually thrown together, and the +thought of her as a probable ending to his life when all pleasures +should be over had often entered his head.</p> + +<p>Before he met Theodora, if he had ever analyzed his views about Morella, +they probably would have been that she was a safe bore with a great +many worldly advantages. A woman who you could be sure would not take a +lover a few years after you had married her, and whom he would probably +marry if she were still free when the time came.</p> + +<p>His flittings from one pretty matron to another had not caused her grave +anxieties. He could not marry them, and he never talked with girls or +possible rivals. So she had always felt safe and certain that fate would +ultimately make him her husband.</p> + +<p>But this was different—he had never been like this before. And +uneasiness grabbed at her well-regulated heart.</p> + +<p>"Ah, there is my mother!" he exclaimed, at last, with such evident +relief that Morella began to feel spiteful.</p> +<p><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227"></a></p> +<p>They made their way to where Lady Bracondale was standing. She beamed +upon them like a pleased pussy-cat. It looked so suitable to see them +thus together!</p> + +<p>"Dearest," she said to Morella, "is not this a lovely ball? And I can +see you are enjoying yourself."</p> + +<p>Miss Winmarleigh replied suitably, and her stolid face betrayed none of +her emotion.</p> + +<p>"Mother," said Hector, "I wish you would introduce me to Lady Ada +Fitzgerald when you get the chance. I see her over there."</p> + +<p>This was so obvious that Morella, who never saw between the lines, +preened with pleasure. After all, he wished to spend Whitsuntide with +her, and this anxiety to find Lady Bracondale had been all on that +account. Lady Bracondale, who was acquainted with Miss Winmarleigh's +plans, made the same interruption, and joy warmed her being.</p> + +<p>She was only too pleased to do whatever he wished. And the affair was +soon accomplished.</p> + +<p>Hector made himself especially attractive, and Lady Ada Fitzgerald +decided he was charming.</p> +<p><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228"></a></p> +<p>The way paved for possible contingencies, he escaped from this crowd of +women, and once more began his search for Theodora. She would certainly +return to Josiah some time. To go straight to him would be the best +plan.</p> + +<p>Josiah was standing absolutely alone by one of the windows in the +ballroom, and looked pitiably uncomfortable and ill at ease in his +knee-breeches and silk stockings.</p> + +<p>He had experienced such pleasure when he had tried them on, and had +enjoyed walking through the hall at Claridge's to his carriage, knowing +the people there would be aware it meant he was going to meet the most +august Royalty.</p> + +<p>But now he felt uncomfortable, and kept standing first on one leg, then +on the other. Theodora had not returned to him yet: the next dance had +not begun.</p> + +<p>This great world contained discomfort as well as pleasure, he decided.</p> + +<p>Hector walked straight over to him and was excessively polite and +agreeable, and Josiah's equanimity was somewhat restored.</p> + +<p>What could have happened to Theodora? Where had that beast Wensleydown +taken her? <a name="Page_229" id="Page_229"></a>Not to supper—surely not to supper?—were Lord Bracondale's +thoughts.</p> + +<p>And then with the first notes of the next dance she reappeared. It +seemed to him she was looking superbly lovely: a faint pink suffused her +cheeks, and her eyes were shining with the excitement of the scene.</p> + +<p>A mad rush of passion surged over Hector; his turn had come, he thought.</p> + +<p>Lord Wensleydown seemed loath to release her, and showed signs of +staying to talk awhile. So Hector interposed at once.</p> + +<p>"May I not have this dance? I have been looking for you everywhere," he +said.</p> + +<p>Theodora told him she was tired, and she stood close to her husband; +tired—and also she was quite sure Josiah would be bored left all alone, +so she wished to stay with him.</p> + +<p>But Mrs. Devlyn made a reappearance just then, and as they spoke they +saw Josiah give her his arm and lead her away.</p> + +<p>Thus Theodora was left standing alone with Lord Bracondale.</p> + +<p>F<a name="Page_230" id="Page_230"></a>ate seemed always to nullify her good intentions.</p> + +<p>It was an exquisite waltz, and the music mounted to both their brains.</p> + +<p>For one moment the room appeared to reel in front of her, and then she +found herself whirling in his arms. Oh, what bliss it was, after this +long week of separation! What folly and maddening bliss!</p> + +<p>Her senses were tingling; her lithe, exquisite, willowy body thrilled +and quivered in his embrace. And they both realized what a waltz could +be, as a medium for joy.</p> + +<p>"We will only have two turns until the crowd gets impossible again," he +whispered, "and then I will take you to supper."</p> + +<p>Lady Anningford had been rejoined by the Crow, and now stood watching +them. She and her companion were silent for a moment, and then:</p> + +<p>"By Jove!" Colonel Lowerby said. "She is certainly worth going to hell +for, to look at even—and they don't appear<a name="Page_231" id="Page_231"></a> as if they would take long +on the road."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XX" id="XX"></a>XX</h2> + + +<p>"Oh, Crow, dear, what are we to do, then?" said Lady Anningford. +"Surely, surely you don't anticipate any sudden catastrophe? In these +days people never run away—"</p> + +<p>"No," said the Crow. "They stay at home until the footman, or the man's +last mistress, or the woman's dearest friend, send anonymous letters to +the husband."</p> + +<p>"But—"</p> + +<p>"Well, I tell you, Queen Anne, to me this appears serious. I know Hector +pretty well, and I have never seen him as far gone as this before. The +woman—she is a mere child—looks as unsophisticated as a baby, and +probably is. She won't have the least idea of managing the affair. She +will tumble headlong into it."</p> +<p><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232"></a></p> +<p>"Well, what is to be done, then?" exclaimed Anne, piteously.</p> + +<p>"You had better talk to him quietly. He is very fond of you. Though +nothing, I am afraid, will be of the least use," said the Crow.</p> + +<p>"But if she is going into the country they won't meet," reasoned Anne. +"You saw the dreadful-looking husband just now. Will he be the colonial +who will object, do you think, or the English snob who won't?"</p> + +<p>But the Crow refused to give any more opinions except in general.</p> + +<p>It all came, he said, from the ridiculous marriage laws in this +over-civilized country. Why should not people eminently suited to each +other be allowed to be happy?</p> + +<p>"It is too bad, Crow," said Anne. "You take it for granted that Hector +has the most dishonorable intentions towards Mrs. Brown. He may worship +her quite in the abstract."</p> + +<p>"Fiddle-dee-dee, my child!" said Colonel Lowerby. "Look at him! You +don't understand the fundamental principles of human nature if you say +that. When a man is madly in love with a woman, nature says, 'This is +your mate,' not a saint of alabaster on a church altar. There are +numbers of animals about who find a 'mate' in every woman they come +across. But Hector is not that sort. Look at his face—look at him now +they are passing us, and tell me if you see any abstract about it?"</p> + +<p>Anne was forced to admit sh<a name="Page_233" id="Page_233"></a>e did not; and it was with intense uneasiness +she saw her brother and his partner stop, and disappear through one of +the doors towards the supper-room.</p> + +<p>When her mother perceived the situation—or Morella—disagreeable +moments would begin at once for everybody!</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the culprits were extremely happy.</p> + +<p>With the finest and noblest intention in the world, Theodora was too +young, and too healthy, not to have become exhilarated with the dance +and the scene. Something whispered, Why should she not enjoy herself +to-night? What harm could there be in dancing? Every one danced—and +Josiah, himself, had left her alone.</p> + +<p>Hector had not said a word that she must rebuke him for; they had just +waltzed and thrilled, and been—happy!</p> + +<p>And now she was going to eat some supper with him, and forget there were +any to-morrows.</p> + +<p>They found a secluded corner, and spent half an hour in perfect peace. +Hector was an artist in pleasing women—and to-night, though he never +once transgressed in words, she could feel through it all that he loved +her—loved her madly. His voice was so tender and deep, and his thought +for her slightest wish and comfort so evident; he was masterful, too, +and settle<a name="Page_234" id="Page_234"></a>d what she was to do—where to sit, and now and then he made +her look at him.</p> + +<p>He was just so wildly happy he could not stop to count the cost; and +while he worshipped her more deeply than when they had sat on the soft +greensward at Versailles, even the whole sight of her pure soul now +could not stop him—now he knew she loved him, and that there were +possible others on the scene. She had trusted him—had appealed to his +superior strength; he did not forget that fact quite—but here at a ball +was not the place to analyze what it would mean. They were just two +guests dancing and supping like the rest, and were supremely content.</p> + +<p>He found out where she was going for Whitsuntide, but said nothing of +his own intentions.</p> + + +<p>The blindness and madness of love was upon him and held him in complete +bondage. The first shock, which her look of the wounded fawn had given +him, was over. They had suffered, and made good resolutions, and parted, +and now they had met again. And he could not, and would not, think where +they might drift to.</p><p><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235"></a></p> + +<p>To be near her, to look into her eyes, to be conscious of her +personality was what he asked at the moment, what he must have. The +rest of time was a blank, and meaningless. It is not every man who +loves in this way—fortunately for the rest of the world! Many go +through life with now and then a different woman merely as an episode, +as far as anything but a physical emotion is concerned. Sport, or their +own ambitions, fill up their real interests, and no woman could break +their hearts.</p> + +<p>But Hector was not of these. And this woman had it in her power to make +his heaven or hell.</p> + +<p>They had both passed through moments of exalted sentiment, even a little +dramatic in their tragedy and renunciation, but circumstance is stronger +always than any highly strung emotion of good or evil. At the end of +their good-bye at Madrid their story should have closed, as the stories +in books so often do, with the hero and heroine worked up to some +wonderful pitch of self-sacrifice and drama. They so seldom tell of the +flatness of the afterwards. The impossibility of retaining a balance on +this high pinnacle of moral valor, where circumstance, which is a +commonplace and often material thing, decrees that the lights shall not +be turned out with the ring-down of the curtain.</p> + +<p>Unless death finishes what is apparently the last act, there is always +the to-morrow to be reckoned with—out of the story-book. So while +exalted—he by his sudden worship of <a name="Page_236" id="Page_236"></a>that pure sweetness of soul in +Theodora which he had discovered, she by her innocence and desire to do +right—they had been able to tune their minds to an idea of a tender +good-bye, full of sentiment and vows of abstract devotion, and adherence +to duty.</p> + +<p>And if he had gone to the ends of the earth that night the exaltation, +as a memory, might have continued, and time might have healed their +hurts—time and the starvation of absence and separation. But fate had +decreed they should meet again, and soon; and all the forces which +precipitate matters should be employed for their undoing.</p> + +<p>For all else in life Hector was no weakling. He had always been a strong +man, physically and morally.</p> + +<p>His views were the views of the world. It seemed no great sin to him to +love another man's wife. All his friends did the same at one period or +another.</p> + +<p>It was only when Theodora had awakened him that he had begun even to +think of controlling himself.</p> + +<p>It was to please her, not because he was really convinced of the right +and necessity of their course of action, that he had said good-bye and +agreed to worship her in the abstract.</p> + +<p>He had been highly moved and elevated by her that night in Paris. And +when he wrote the letter his hone<a name="Page_237" id="Page_237"></a>st intention had been to follow its +words.</p> + +<p>He did not recognize the fact that without the zeal of blind faith as to +the right, human nature must always yield to inclination.</p> + +<p>So they sat there and ate their supper, and forgot to-morrow, and were +radiantly happy.</p> + +<p>As they had gone down the stairs Monica Ellerwood had joined Lady +Bracondale in the gallery above.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Look, Aunt Milly!" she had said. "Hector is with the American I +told you about in Paris. Do you see, going down to supper. Oh, isn't she +pretty! and what jewels—look!"</p> + +<p>And Lady Bracondale had moved forward in a manner quite foreign to her +usual dignity to catch sight of them.</p> + +<p>"It is the same woman he talked to at the opera last night," she said. +"She is not an American, but a Mrs. Brown, an Australian millionaire's +wife, we were told. She is certainly pretty. Oh—eh—you said Hector +was devoted to her in Paris?"</p> + +<p>"Why, of course! You can ask Jack."</p> + +<p>"I do not think we need worry, though, dear, because I<a name="Page_238" id="Page_238"></a> am happy to say +Hector shows great signs of wishing to be with Morella."</p> + +<p>And with this pleasing thought she had turned the conversation.</p> + +<p>"I think we must go back now," said Theodora, after she had finished the +last monster strawberry on her plate. "Josiah may be waiting for me."</p> + +<p>Oh, she had been so happy! There was that sense vibrating through +everything that he loved her, and they were together—but now it must +end.</p> + +<p>So they made their way up the stairs and back to the ballroom.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Devlyn had abandoned Josiah, and he stood once more alone and +supremely uncomfortable. A pang of remorse seized Theodora; she wished +she had not stayed so long; she would not leave him again for a moment.</p> + +<p>He had supped, it appeared, been hurried over it because Mrs. Devlyn +wished to return, and was now feeling cross and tired. He was quite +ready to leave when Theodora suggested it, and they said good-night to +Hector and descended to find their carriage. But in that crowd it was +not such an easy matter.</p><p><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239"></a></p> + +<p>There was a long wait in the hall, where they were joined by the +assiduous Marquis and Delaval Stirling. And Hector, from a place on the +stairs, had all his feelings of jealous rage aroused again in watching +them while he was detained where he was by his hostess.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Sir Patrick Fitzgerald had gone about telling every one of +the beauty of his new-found niece, and had brought his wife to be +introduced to her just after Theodora had left.</p> + +<p>Since his scapegrace brother was going to make such an advantageous +marriage, and this niece had proved a lovely woman, and rich withal, he +quite admitted the ties of blood were thicker than water.</p> + +<p>Lady Ada was not of like opinion; she had enough relations of her own, +and resented his having asked the Browns to Beechleigh for Whitsuntide.</p> + +<p>"My party was all made up but for one extra man," she said, "whom I +think I have found; and we did not need these people."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240"></a></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXI" id="XXI"></a>XXI</h2> + + +<p>Lord Bracondale arrived at his sister's house in Charles Street about a +quarter of an hour before her luncheon guests were due.</p> + +<p>Anne rushed down to see him, meeting her husband on the stairs.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't come in yet, Billy, like a darling," she said, "I want to +talk to Hector alone."</p> + +<p>And the meek and fond Lord Anningford had obediently retired to his +smoking-room.</p> + +<p>"Well, Hector," she said, when she had greeted him, "and so you are +going to the Fitzgeralds' for Whitsuntide, and not to Bracondale, mother +tells me this morning. She is in the seventh heaven, taking it for a +sign, as you had to manœuvre so to be asked, that things are coming +to a climax between you and Morella."</p> + +<p>"Morella? Is she going?" said Hector, absently. He had quite forgotten +that fact, so perfectly indifferent was he to her movements, and so +completely had his own aims engrossed him.</p> +<p><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241"></a></p> +<p>"Why—dear boy!" Anne gasped. The whole scene, highly colored by +repetition, had been recounted to her. How Morella had told him of her +plans, and how he had at once got introduced to Lady Ada, and played his +cards so skilfully that the end of the evening produced the invitation.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, of course, I remember she is going," he said, impatiently. +"Anne, you haven't asked that beast Wensleydown to-day, have you?"</p> + +<p>"No, dear. What made you think so?"</p> + +<p>"I saw you talking to him in the park this morning, and I feared you +might have. I shall certainly quarrel with him one of these days."</p> + +<p>"You will have an opportunity, then, at Beechleigh, as he will be there. +He is always with the Fitzgeralds," Anne said, and she tried to laugh. +"But don't make a scandal, Hector."</p> + +<p>She saw his eyes blaze.</p> + +<p>"He is going there, is he?" he said, and then he stared out of the +window.</p> + +<p>Anne knew nothing of the relationship between Theodora and Sir Patrick. +She never for a moment imagined the humble Browns would be invited to +this exceptionally smart party. And yet she was uneasy. Why was Hector +going? What plan was<a name="Page_242" id="Page_242"></a> in his head? Not Morella, evidently. But she had +never believed that would be his attraction.</p> + +<p>And Hector was too preoccupied to enlighten her.</p> + +<p>"Is mother coming to lunch?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, by her own request. I had not meant to ask her—Oh, well, you +know, she is never very pleased at your having new friends, and I +thought she might fix Mrs. Brown with that stony stare she has +sometimes, and we would be happier without her; but she was determined +to come."</p> + +<p>"It is just as well," he said, "because she will have to get accustomed +to it. I shall ask my friends the Browns down to Bracondale on every +occasion, and as she is hostess there the stony stare won't answer."</p> + +<p>"Manage her as best you may," said Anne. "But you know how she can be +now and then—perfectly annihilating to unfortunate strangers."</p> + +<p>Hector's finely chiselled lips shut like a vise.</p> + +<p>"We shall see," he said. "And who else have you got? None of the +Harrowfield-Devlyn crew, I hope—"</p> +<p><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243"></a></p> +<p>"Hector, how strange you are! I thought you and Lady Harrowfield were +the greatest friends, so of course I asked her. No one in London can +make a woman's success as she can."</p> + +<p>"Or mar it so completely if she takes a dislike! Have you ever heard of +her doing a kindness to any one? I haven't!" he said, irritably.</p> + +<p>Then he walked to the window and back quickly.</p> + +<p>"I tell you I am sick of it all, Anne. Last night, whoever I spoke to +had something vile to impute or insinuate about every one they +mentioned; and Lady Harrowfield, with a record of her own worse than the +lowest, rode a high horse of virtue, and was more spiteful than all the +rest put together. I loathe them, the whole crew. What do they know of +anything good or pure or fine? Painted Jezebels, the lot of them!"</p> + +<p>"Hector!" almost screamed Lady Anningford. "What has come over you, my +dear boy?"</p> + +<p>"I will tell you," he said; and his voice, which had been full of +passion, now melted into a tone of deep tenderness. "I love a woman +whose pure goodness has taught me there are other possibilities in life +beyond the aims of these vile harpies of our world—a woman whose very +presence makes one long to be better and nobler, whose dear soul has +not room for anything but kind and loving thoughts of sweetness and +light. Oh, Anne, if I might have her for my own, and live away down at +Bracondale far fro<a name="Page_244" id="Page_244"></a>m all this, I think—I think I, too, could learn what +heaven would mean on earth."</p> + +<p>"Dear Hector!" said Anne, who was greatly moved. "Oh, I am so sorry for +you! But what is to be done? She is married to somebody else, and you +will only injure her and yourself if you see too much of her."</p> + +<p>"I know," he said. "I realize it sometimes—this morning, for +instance—and then—and then—"</p> + +<p>He did not add that the thought of Lord Wensleydown and the rest +swarming round Theodora drove him mad, deprived him of his power of +reasoning, and filled him with a wild desire to protect her, to be near +her, to keep her always for himself, always in his sight.</p> + +<p>"Anne," he said, at last, "promise me you will go out of your way to be +kind to her. Don't let these other odious women put pin-points into her, +because she is so innocent, and all unused to this society. She is just +my queen and my darling. Will you remember that?"</p> + +<p>And as Anne looked she saw there were two great tears in his eyes—his +deep-gray eyes which always wore a smile of whimsical mockery—and she +felt a lump in her throat.</p> + +<p>This dear, dear brother! And she could do nothing to comfort him—one +way or another.</p><p><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245"></a></p> + +<p>"Hector, I will promise—always," she said, and her voice trembled. "I +am sure she is sweet and good; and she is so lovely and fascinating—and +oh, I wish—I wish—too!"</p> + +<p>Then he bent down and kissed her, just as his mother and Lady +Harrowfield came into the room.</p> + +<p>Anne felt glad she had not informed them they were to meet the Browns, +as was her first intention. She seemed suddenly to see with Hector's +eyes, and to realize how narrow and spiteful Lady Harrowfield could be.</p> + +<p>Most of the guests arrived one after the other, and were talking about +the intimate things they all knew, when "Mr. and Mrs. Brown" were +announced, and the whole party turned to look at them, while Lady +Harrowfield tittered, and whispered almost audibly to her neighbor:</p> + +<p>"These are the creatures Florence insisted upon my giving an invitation +to last night. I did it for her sake, of course, so wretchedly poor she +is, dear Florence, and she hopes to make a good thing out of them. Look +at the man!" she added. "Has one ever sees such a person, except in a +pork-butcher's shop!"</p> +<p><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246"></a></p> +<p>"I have never been in one," said Hector, agreeably, a dangerous flash in +his eyes; "but I hear things are too wonderfully managed at Harrowfield +House—though I had no idea you did the shopping yourself, dear Lady +Harrowfield."</p> + +<p>She looked up at him, rage in her heart. Hector had long been a hopeless +passion of hers—so good-looking, so whimsical, and, above all, so +indifferent! She had never been able to dominate and ride rough-shod +ever him. When she was rude and spiteful he answered her back, and then +neglected her for the rest of the evening.</p> + +<p>But why should he defend these people, whom, probably, he did not even +know?</p> + +<p>She would watch and see.</p> + +<p>Then they went in to luncheon, without waiting for two or three stray +young men who were always late.</p> + +<p>And Theodora found herself sitting between the Crow and a sleek-looking +politician; while poor Josiah, extremely ill at ease, sat at the left +hand of his hostess.</p> +<p><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247"></a></p> +<p>Anne had purposely not put Hector near Theodora; with her mother there +she thought it was wiser not to run any risks.</p> + +<p>Lady Bracondale was sufficiently soothed by her happy dream of the cause +of Hector's visit to Beechleigh to be coldly polite to Theodora, whom +Anne had presented to her before luncheon. She sat at the turn of the +long, oval table just one off, and was consequently able to observe her +very carefully.</p> + +<p>"She is extremely pretty and looks well bred—quite too extraordinary," +she said to herself, in a running commentary. "Grandfather a convict, no +doubt. She reminds me of poor Minnie Borringdon, who ran off with that +charming scapegrace brother of Patrick Fitzgerald. I wonder what became +of them?"</p> + +<p>Lady Bracondale deplored the ways of many of the set she was obliged to +move in—Delicia Harrowfield, for instance. But what was one to do? One +must know one's old friends, especially those to whom one had been a +bridesmaid!</p> + +<p>The Crow, who had begun by being determined to find Theodora as cunning +as other angels he was acquainted with, before the second course had +fallen completely under her spell.</p> + +<p>No one to look into her tender eyes could form an adverse opinion about +her; and her gentl<a name="Page_248" id="Page_248"></a>e voice, which only said kind things, was pleasing to +the ear.</p> + +<p>"'Pon my soul, Hector is not such a fool as I thought," Colonel Lowerby +said to himself. "This seems a bit of pure gold—poor little white lady! +What will be the end of her?"</p> + +<p>And opposite, Hector, with great caution, devoured her with his eyes.</p> + +<p>Theodora herself was quite happy, though her delicate intuition told her +Lady Harrowfield was antagonistic to her, and Hector's mother +exceedingly stiff, while most of the other women eyed her clothes and +talked over her head. But they all seemed of very little consequence to +her, somehow.</p> + +<p>She was like the sun, who continues to shine and give warmth and light +no matter how much ugly imps may look up and make faces at him.</p> + +<p>Theodora was never ill at ease. It would grieve her sensitive heart to +the core if those she loved made the faintest shade of difference in +their treatment of her—but strangers! They counted not at all, she had +too little vanity.</p> + +<p>Both her neighbors, the young politician and the Crow, were completely +fascinated by her. She had not the slightest accent in speaking +English, but now and then her phrasing had a quaint turn which was +original and attractive.</p><p><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249"></a></p> + +<p>Anne was not enjoying her luncheon-party. The impression of sorrow and +calamity which the conversation with her brother had left upon her +deepened rather than wore off.</p> + +<p>Josiah's commonplace and sometimes impossible remarks perhaps helped it.</p> + +<p>She seemed to realize how it must all jar on Hector. To know his loved +one belonged to this worthy grocer—to understand the hopelessness of +the position!</p> + +<p>Anne was proud of her family and her old name. It was grief, too, to +think that after Hector the title would go to Evermond Le Mesurier, the +unmarried and dissolute uncle, if he survived his nephew, and then would +die out altogether. There would be no more Baron Bracondales of +Bracondale, unless Hector chose to marry and have sons. Oh, life was a +topsy-turvy affair at the best of times, she sighed to herself.</p> + +<p>Just before the ladies left the table, Josiah had announced their +intended visit to Beechleigh, and his wife's relationship to <a name="Page_250" id="Page_250"></a>Sir Patrick +Fitzgerald and the old Earl Borringdon.</p> + +<p>It came as a thunderclap to Lady Anningford. This accounted for +Hector's eagerness to obtain the invitation—accounted for Theodora's +exceeding look of breeding—accounted for many things.</p> + +<p>She only trusted her mother had not heard the news also. So much better +to leave her in her fool's paradise about Morella.</p> + +<p>If Lady Harrowfield knew, she said nothing about it. She absolutely +ignored Theodora, as though she had never shaken hands with her in her +own house the night before. Theodora wondered at her manners—she did +not yet know Mayfair.</p> + +<p>The conversation turned upon some of the wonderful charities they were +all interested in, and Theodora thought how good and kind of them to +help the poor and crippled. And she said some gentle, sympathetic things +to a lady who was near her. And Anne thought to herself how sweet and +beautiful her nature must be, and it made her sadder and sadder.</p> + +<p>Presently they all began to discuss the ball at Harrowfield House. It +had been too lovely, they said, and Lady Harrowfield joined in with one +of her sharp thrusts.</p> + +<p>"Of course it could not be just as one would have wished. I was obliged +to ask all sorts of people I had never even heard of," sh<a name="Page_251" id="Page_251"></a>e said. "The +usual grabbing for invitations, you know, to see the Royalties. Really, +the quaint creatures who came up the stairs! I almost laughed in their +faces once or twice."</p> + +<p>"But don't you like to feel what pleasure you gave them, the poor +things?" Theodora said, quite simply, without the least sarcasm. "You +see, I know you gave them pleasure, because my husband and I were some +of them—and we enjoyed it, oh, so much!"</p> + +<p>And she smiled one of her adorable smiles which melted the heart of +every one else in the room. But of Lady Harrowfield she made an enemy +for life. The venomous woman reddened violently—under her paint—while +she looked this upstart through and through. But Theodora was quite +unconscious of her anger. To her Lady Harrowfield seemed a poor, soured +old woman very much painted and ridiculous, and she felt sorry for +unlovely old age and ill-temper.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Lady Bracondale was being favorably impressed. She was a most +presentable young person, this wife of the Australian millionaire, she +decided.</p> + +<p>Anne took the greatest pains to be charming to Theodora. They were +sitting together on a sofa when the men came into the room.</p> + +<p>Hector could keep away no longer. He joined them in their corner, while +his face beamed with joy to see the two people he loved best in the +world apparently gettin<a name="Page_252" id="Page_252"></a>g on so well together.</p> + +<p>"What have you been talking about?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Nothing very learned," said Anne. "Only the children. I was telling +Mrs. Brown how Fordy's pony ran away in the park this morning, and how +plucky he had been about it."</p> + +<p>"They are rather nice infants," said Hector. "I should like you to see +them," and he looked at Theodora. "Mayn't we have them down, Anne?"</p> + +<p>Lady Anningford adored her offspring, and was only too pleased to show +them; but she said:</p> + +<p>"Oh, wait a moment, Hector, until some of these people have gone. Lady +Harrowfield hates children, and Fordy made some terrible remarks about +her wig last time."</p> + +<p>"I wish he would do it again," said Hector. "She took the skin off every +one the whole way through lunch."</p> + +<p>"But Colonel Lowerby told me she was one of the cleverest women in +London!" exclaimed Theodora; "and surely it is not very clever just to +be bitter and spiteful!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, she is clever," said Anne, with a peculiar smile, "and we are all +rather under her thumb."</p><p><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253"></a></p> + +<p>"It is perfectly ridiculous how you pander to her!" Hector said, +impatiently. "I should never allow my wife to have anything but a +distant acquaintance with her if I were married," and he glanced at +Theodora.</p> + +<p>Lady Anningford's duties as hostess took her away from them then, and he +sat down on the sofa in her place.</p> + +<p>"Oh, how I hate all this!" he said. "How different it is to Paris! It +grates and jars and brings out the worst in one. These odious women and +their little, narrow ways! You will never stay much in London—will you, +Theodora?"</p> + +<p>"I have always to do what Josiah wishes, you know; he rather likes it, +and means us to come back after Whitsuntide, I think."</p> + +<p>Hector seemed to have lost the power of looking ahead. Whitsuntide, and +to be with her in the country for that time, appeared to him the +boundary of his outlook.</p> + +<p>What would happen after Whitsuntide? Who could say?</p> + +<p>He longed to tell her how his thoughts were forever going back to the +day at Versailles, and the peace and beauty of those woods—how all +seemed her<a name="Page_254" id="Page_254"></a>e as though something were dragging him down to the +commonplace, away out of their exalted dream, to a dull earth. But he +dared not—he must keep to subjects less moving. So there was silence +for some moments.</p> + +<p>Theodora, since coming to London, had begun to understand it was +possible for beautiful Englishmen to be husbands now and then, and that +the term is not necessarily synonymous with "bore" and "duty"—as she +had always thought it from her meagre experience.</p> + +<p>She could not help picturing what a position of exquisite happiness some +nice girl might have—some day—as Hector's wife. And she looked out of +the window, and her eyes were sad. While the vision which floated to him +at the same moment was of her at his side at Bracondale, and the +delicious joy of possessing for their own some gay and merry babies like +Fordy and his little brother and sister. And each saw a wistful longing +in the other's eyes, and they talked quickly of banal things.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXII" id="XXII"></a>XXII</h2> + + +<p>The Crow stayed on after all the other guests had left. He knew his +hostess wished to talk to him.</p> + +<p>It had begun to pou<a name="Page_255" id="Page_255"></a>r with rain, and the dripping streets held out no +inducement to them to go out.</p> + +<p>They pulled up their two comfortable arm-chairs to the sparkling wood +fire, and then Colonel Lowerby said:</p> + +<p>"You look sad, Queen Anne. Tell me about it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am sad," said Anne. "The position is so hopeless. Hector loves +her—loves her really—and I do not wonder at it; and she seems just +everything that one could wish for him. A thousand times above Morella +in intellect and understanding. All the things Hector and I like she +sees at once. No need of explaining to her, as one has to to mother and +Morella always."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the Crow. He did not argue with her as usual.</p> + +<p>"It seems so fearful to think of her forever bound to that dreadful old +grocer, whom she treats with so much deference and gentleness. The whole +thing has made me sad. Hector is perfectly miserable; and, do you know, +they are going to Beechleigh for Whitsuntide. Sir Patrick Fitzgerald is +her uncle—and, of course, Hector is going, too, and—"</p> + +<p>She did not finish her sentence. Her voice died away in a pathetic note +as she gazed into the fire.</p> + +<p>The Crow fidgeted; he had been devoted to <a name="Page_256" id="Page_256"></a>Anne since she was a child of +ten, and he hated to see her troubled.</p> + +<p>"Look here," he said. "I investigated her thoroughly at luncheon, and I +don't often make a mistake, do I?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Anne. "Well—?"</p> + +<p>"Well, she appeared to me to have some particular quality of +sweetness—you were right about her looking like an angel—and I think +she has got an angel's nature more or less; and when people are really +like that there is some one up above looks after them, and I don't think +we need worry much—you and I."</p> + +<p>"Dear old Crow!" said Anne; "you do comfort me. But all the same, angel +or not, Hector is so attractive—and he is a man, you know, not one of +these anæmic, artistic, æsthetic things we see about so often now; and +thrown together like that—how on earth will they be able to help +themselves?"</p> + +<p>The Crow was silent.</p> + +<p>"You see," she continued, "beyond Morella, who is too absolutely +unalluring and respectable to come to harm anywhere, and Miss Linwood, +who only cares for bridge, there will hardly be<a name="Page_257" id="Page_257"></a> another woman in the +house who has not got a lover, and the atmosphere of those things is +catching—don't you think so?"</p> + +<p>"It is nature," said Colonel Lowerby. "A woman in possession of her +health and faculties requires a mate, and when her husband is attending +to sport or some other man's wife, she is bound to find one somewhere. I +don't blame the poor things."</p> + +<p>"Oh, nor I!" said Anne. "I don't ever blame any one. And just one, +because you love him, seems all right, perhaps. It is six different ones +in a year, and a seventh to pay the bills, that I find vulgar."</p> + +<p>"Dans les premières passions, les femmes aiment l'amant; et dans les +autres, elles aiment l'amour," quoted the Crow. "It was ever the same, +you see. It is the seventh to pay the bills that seems vulgar and +modern."</p> + +<p>"Billy and I stayed there for the pheasant shoot last November, and I +assure you we felt quite out of it, having no little adventures at night +like the rest. Lady Ada is the picture of washed-out respectability +herself, and so—to give her some reflected <a name="Page_258" id="Page_258"></a>color, I suppose—she asks +always the most go-ahead, advanced section of her acquaintances."</p> + +<p>"Well, I shall be there this time," said the Crow; "she invited me last +week."</p> + +<p>This piece of news comforted Lady Anningford greatly. She felt here +would be some one to help matters if he could.</p> + +<p>"Morella will be perfectly furious when she gets there and finds she was +not the reason of Hector's empressement for the invitation. And in her +stolid way she can be just as spiteful as Lady Harrowfield."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know."</p> + +<p>Then they were both silent for a while—Anne's thoughts busy with the +mournful idea of the end of the House of Bracondale should Hector never +marry, and the Crow's of her in sympathy, his eyes watching her face.</p> + +<p>At last she spoke.</p> + +<p>"I believe it would be best for Hector to go right away for a year or +so," she sighed. "But, however it may be, I fear, alas! it can only end +in tears."</p> +<p><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259"></a></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXIII" id="XXIII"></a>XXIII</h2> + + +<p>Beechleigh was really a fine place, built by Vanbrugh in his best days.</p> + +<p>Three tiers of fifteen tall windows looked to the north in a front and +two short wings, while colonnades led down to splendid wrought-iron +gates, and blocks of buildings constructed in the same stately style. +Fifteen more windows faced the south; and the centre one of the first +floor led, with sweeping steps, to a terrace, while seven casements +adorned each of the eastern and western sides.</p> + +<p>On the southern side the view, for that rather flat country, was superb.</p> + +<p>It gave, from a considerable elevation—through a wide opening of giant +oaks and elms—a peep of the lake a mile below, and on in a long avenue +of turf to a vista of smiling country.</p> + +<p>On the splendid terrace peacocks spread their tails, and vases of carved +stone broke at intervals the gray old b<a name="Page_260" id="Page_260"></a>alustrade.</p> + +<p>Inside the house was equally nobly planned: all the rooms of great +height and perfect proportion, and filled with pictures and tapestries +and bronzes and antiques of immense value.</p> + +<p>It had come to these spendthrift Irish Fitzgeralds through their +grandmother, the last of an old ducal race. And two generations of +Hibernian influence had curtailed the fine fortune which went with it, +until Sir Patrick often felt it no easy matter to make both ends meet in +the luxurious and gilded fashion which was necessary to himself and his +friends.</p> + +<p>If he and Lady Ada pinched and scraped when alone, keeping few servants +on board wages, the parties, at all events, were done with all their +wonted regal splendor.</p> + +<p>"I shall stay with you, Patrick, as long as you can afford this cook," +Lady Harrowfield said once to him; "but when you begin to economize, +don't trouble to ask me. I hate poor people, when it shows."</p> + +<p>A promising son, on the true Fitzgerald lines, was at Oxford now, and +gave many anxious crows'-feet full opportunity of developing round his +mother's faded eyes.</p> +<p><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261"></a></p> +<p>A plain daughter, Barbara, was pushed into corners and left much to +herself. And a brilliant, flashing, up-to-date niece of Lady Ada's took +always the first place.</p> + +<p>Mildred was so clever, and her lovers were so well chosen, and so +thoroughly of the right set or of great wealth; while a puny husband was +helped to something in South Africa, when the man in possession was a +Jew—or as agent for tea and jam in the colonies—when he happened to be +only a colossally successful Englishman. And once, during a prominent +politician's reign, poor Willie Verner enjoyed a few months in his own +land as secretary to a newly started Radical club.</p> + +<p>This Whitsuntide party was perhaps the smartest of the year.</p> + +<p>By Saturday evening over thirty people would be gathered together under +the Beechleigh roof.</p> + +<p>Josiah, though exceedingly proud and pleased at the invitation, felt +nervous at the thought of the visit. Not so Mr. Toplington, who, +although he knew he should probably have to blush for his master, and +might get a very secondary place in the "room," still felt he would hold +his own when he could let it be known what magnificent wages he received +from Mr. Brown.</p><p><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262"></a></p> + +<p>"A long sight more than I'd get out of any lord," he thought. "And money +is money. And all classes feels it."</p> + +<p>Theodora, on the contrary, was neither proud nor pleased. She looked +forward to the visit with excitement and dread.</p> + +<p>Hector would be there, among all these people whom she did not know. And +her awakened heart had begun to tell her that she loved him wildly, and +to see him could only be alternate mad joy and remorse and anguish.</p> + +<p>It was still drizzling on the Saturday afternoon when they arrived. So +tea awaited them in the great saloon which made the centre of the north +side of the house. Several of the rest of the guests had come down in +the same train, but they did not know them, nor did any of them trouble +themselves much to speak to them on the short drive from the station. A +few words, that was all, addressed to Theodora. Josiah was ignored.</p> + +<p>Sir Patrick had always been an excellent host. His genial Irish smile, +when in action, concealed the ill-tempered lines of his thin old face. +He greeted his guests cordially, and made them welcome to his home.</p> + +<p>Lady Ada ha<a name="Page_263" id="Page_263"></a>d the inherited bad manners of her family, the De +Baronsvilles, who had come over with the Conqueror, and when one has a +<i>cachet</i> like that there is no need to trouble one's self further. Thus, +while Mildred flashed brilliant witticisms about, plain Barbara saw +after the guests' tea and sugar, and if they took cream or lemon, and +tiresome things like that. And as every one knew every one else, and the +same party met continuously all over England, things were very gay and +friendly.</p> + +<p>Only Theodora and Josiah were completely out of it all, and several of +the guests, who resented the intrusion of these strangers into their +charmed circle, would take care on every opportunity to make them feel +it.</p> + +<p>Hector did not get there until half an hour later, in his automobile, +which was the mode of arrival with more than two-thirds of the company.</p> + +<p>And until the dressing-gong sounded, a continuous teuf-teuf-teuf might +have been heard as, one after another, the cars whizzed up to the door.</p> + +<p>Of course, in a troop of over thirty people, naturally some had kind +hearts and good manners, but the prevailing tone of this coterie of +<i>crème de la crème</i> was one of pure selfishness and blunt and material +brutality.</p> +<p><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264"></a></p> +<p>If you were rich and suited them, you were given a nickname probably, +and were allowed to play cards with them, and lose your money for their +benefit. If you were non-congenial you did not exist—that was all. You +might be sitting in a chair, but they only saw it and an empty +space—you did not even cumber their ground.</p> + +<p>To do them justice, they preferred people of their own exalted station; +outsiders seldom made their way into this holy of holies, however rich +they were—unless, of course, they happened to be Mildred's lovers. That +situation for a man held special prerogatives, and was greatly coveted +by pretenders to this circle of grace.</p> + +<p>Intellectual intelligence was not important. Some of the women of this +select company had been described by an agricultural duke who had stayed +there as having just enough sense to come in out of the rain.</p> + +<p>Sir Patrick Fitzgerald occasionally departed from the strict limits of +this set in the big parties—especially lately, when money was becoming +scarcer, several financial friends who could put him on to good things +had been included, the result being that Lady Harrowfield had not always +shed the light of her countenance upon the festivities.</p> + +<p>Lord Harrowfield drew most of his income from a great, populous +manufacturing city in the north, so neither he nor his countess had need +to smile at mere wealth.</p> +<p><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265"></a></p> +<p>And Lady Harrowfield had said, frankly, "Let me know if it is a utility +party, Patrick, or for just ourselves, because if you are going to have +these creatures I sha'n't come."</p> + +<p>This time, however, she had not been so exigent. It happened to suit +some other arrangements of hers to spend Whitsuntide at Beechleigh, so +she consented to chaperon Morella Winmarleigh without asking for a list +of the guests.</p> + +<p>Hector had never conformed to any special set; he went here, there, and +everywhere, and was welcomed by all. But somehow, until this occasion, +Beechleigh had never seen him within its gates, although Lady +Harrowfield had praised him, and Mildred had sighed for him in vain.</p> + +<p>He saw the situation at a glance when he came into the saloon: Josiah +and Theodora sitting together, neglected by every one but Barbara. They +could not have been more than half an hour in the house, he knew, for he +had found out when the trains got in.</p> + +<p>Barbara was a good sort; he remembered now he had met her before +somewhere. She had evidently taken to the new cousin; but Mildred had +not.</p> + +<p>Hitherto Mildred had been th<a name="Page_266" id="Page_266"></a>e undisputed and acknowledged beauty of +every party, and she resented Theodora's presence because she was +clever enough not to have any illusions upon the matter of their mutual +looks. She saw Theodora was beautiful and young and charming, and had +every advantage of perfect Paris clothes. Uncle Patrick had been a fool +to ask her, and she must take measures to suppress her at once.</p> + +<p>Sir Patrick, on the other hand, was very pleased with himself for having +given the invitation. He had made inquiries, and found that Josiah was a +man of great and solid wealth, with interests in several things which +could be of particular use to himself, and he meant to obtain what he +could out of him.</p> + +<p>As for Theodora, no living man could do anything but admire her, and Sir +Patrick was not an Irishman for nothing.</p> + +<p>Hector behaved with tact; he did not at once fly to his darling, but +presently she found him beside her. And the now habitual thrill ran over +her when he came near.</p> + +<p>He saw the sudden, convulsive clasp of her little hands together; he +knew how he moved her, and it gave him joy.</p> + +<p>The next batch of arrivals contained Lord Wensleydown, who showed no +hesitation as to his desired destination in the saloon. He made a +bee-line for Theo<a name="Page_267" id="Page_267"></a>dora, and took a low seat at her feet.</p> + +<p>Hector, with more caution, was rather to one side. Rage surged up in +him, although his common-sense told him as yet there was nothing he +could openly object to in Wensleydown's behavior.</p> + +<p>The little picture of these five people—Barbara engaging Josiah, and +the two men vying with each other to please Theodora—was gall and +wormwood to Mildred. Freddy Wensleydown had always been one of her most +valued friends, and for Hector she had often felt she could experience a +passion.</p> + +<p>Lord Wensleydown had an immense <i>cachet</i>. He was exceedingly ugly and +exceedingly smart, and was known to have quite specially attractive +methods of his own in the art of pleasing beautiful ladies. He was +always unfaithful, too, and they had to make particular efforts to +retain him for even a week.</p> + +<p>Hector knew him intimately, of course; they had been in the same house +at Eton, and were comrades of many years' standing, and until Theodora's +entrance upon the scen<a name="Page_268" id="Page_268"></a>e, Hector had always thought of him as a coarse, +jolly beast of extremely good company and quaintness. But now! He had no +words adequate in his vocabulary to express his opinion about him!</p> + +<p>To Theodora he appeared an ugly little man, who reminded her of the +statue of a satyr she knew in the Louvre. That was all!</p> + +<p>At this juncture Lady Harrowfield, accompanied by Morella Winmarleigh, +her lord, and one of her <i>âmes damnées</i>, a certain Captain Forester, +appeared upon the scene.</p> + +<p>Their entrance was the important one of the afternoon, and Lady Ada and +Sir Patrick could not do enough to greet and make them welcome.</p> + +<p>The saloon was so large and the screens so well arranged, that for the +first few seconds neither of the ladies perceived the fact of Theodora's +presence. But when it burst upon them, both experienced unpleasant +sensations.</p> + +<p>Lady Harrowfield's temper was bad in any case on account of the weather, +and here, on her arrival, that she should find the impertinent upstart +who had made her look foolish at the Anningford luncheon, was an extra +straw.</p> + +<p>Morella felt furious. It began to dawn upon her this might be Hector's +reason in coming, not herself at all; and one of those slow, internal +rages which she seldom indulged in began to creep in her veins.</p> + +<p>Th<a name="Page_269" id="Page_269"></a>us it was that poor Theodora, all unconscious of any evil, was already +surrounded by three bitter enemies—Mildred, Lady Harrowfield, and +Morella Winmarleigh. It did not look as though her Whitsuntide could be +going to contain much joy.</p> + +<p>It was a good deal after six o'clock by now. Bridge-tables had already +appeared, and most of the company had commenced to play. Barbara saw the +look in Mildred's eye as she came across, and, ignoring Theodora quite, +tried to carry off Lord Wensleydown.</p> + +<p>"You must come, Freddy," she said. "Lady Harrowfield wants to begin her +rubber."</p> + +<p>Barbara, knowing what this move meant, and blushing for her cousin's +rudeness, nervously introduced Theodora to her.</p> + +<p>"How d' do," said Mildred, staring over her head. "Don't detain Lord +Wensleydown, please, because Lady Harrowfield hates to be kept waiting."</p> + +<p>Theodora rose and smiled, while she said to Barbara: "I am rather tired. +Mayn't I go to my room for a little rest before dinner?"</p> + +<p>"Take him, Lady Mildred, do," said Hector; "we don't want him," and he +laughed gayly. His beautiful, tender angel might be a match for these +people after all. At any rate, he would be at her<a name="Page_270" id="Page_270"></a> side to protect her +from their claws.</p> + +<p>Lord Wensleydown frowned. Mildred was being a damned nuisance, he said +to himself, and he insisted upon accompanying Theodora to the bottom of +the great staircase, which rose to magnificent galleries in the hall +adjoining the saloon.</p> + +<p>Sir Patrick had advanced and engaged Josiah in conversation.</p> + +<p>He knew his guests' ways and how they would boycott him, and, with a +serious question like those Australian shares on the <i>tapis</i>, he was not +going to have Josiah insulted and ruffled just yet.</p> + +<p>"Don't stay up-stairs all the time," Hector had managed to whisper, +while Mildred and Lord Wensleydown stood arguing; "they are sure not to +dine till nine; there are two hours before you need dress, and we can +certainly find some nice sitting-room to talk in."</p> + +<p>But Theodora, with immense self-denial, had answered: "No, I want to +write a long letter to papa and my sisters. I won't come down again +until dinner."</p> + +<p>And he was f<a name="Page_271" id="Page_271"></a>orced to be content with the memory of her soft smile and +the evident regret in her eyes.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXIV" id="XXIV"></a>XXIV</h2> + + +<p>Theodora was greatly interested in Beechleigh. To her the home of her +fathers was full of sentiment, and the thought that her grandfather had +ruled there pleased her. How she would love and cherish it were it her +home now! Every one of these fine things must have some memory.</p> + +<p>Then the pictures of as far back as she could remember came to her, and +she saw again their poor lodgings in the cheap foreign towns and their +often scanty fare. And with a fresh burst of love and pride in him, she +remembered her father's invariable cheerfulness—cheerfulness and +gayety—in such poverty! And after he had been used to—this! For all +the descriptions of Captain Fitzgerald had given her no idea of the +reality.</p> + +<p>Now she knew what love meant, and could realize her mother's story. Oh, +she would have acted just in the same way, too.</p> +<p><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272"></a></p> +<p>Dominic had been forgiven by his brother after his first wife's death, +and had come back to enjoy a short spell of peace and prosperity. And +who could wonder that Lady Minnie Borringdon, in her first season, and +full of romance, should fall headlong in love with his wonderfully +handsome face, and be only too ready to run off with him from an angry +and unreasonable parent! She was a spoiled and only child who had never +been crossed. Then came that fatal Derby, and the final extinction of +all sympathy with the scapegrace. The Fitzgeralds had done enough for +him already, and Lord Borringdon had no intention of doing anything at +all, so the married lovers crept away in high disgrace, and spent a few +months of bliss in a southern town, where the sun shone and the food was +cheap, and there poor, pretty Minnie died, leaving Theodora a few hours +old.</p> + +<p>And now at Beechleigh Theodora looked out of her window on the north +side—the southern rooms were kept for greater than she—and from there +she could see a vast stretch of park, with the deer cropping the fine +turf, and the lions frowning while they supported the ducal coronet over +the great gates at the end of the court-yard and colonnade.</p> + +<p>It was truly a splendid inheritance, and she glowed with pride to think +she was of this house.</p> + +<p>So she wrote a long letter to her dear ones—her sisters at Dieppe, and +papa, still in Paris, and even one to Mrs. McBride. And then she read +until her maid came to dress her for dinner.<a name="Page_273" id="Page_273"></a></p> + +<p>Her room was a large one, and numberless modern touches of comfort +brought up-to-date the early Georgian furniture and the shabby silk +hangings. A room stamped with that something which the most luxurious +apartments of the wealthiest millionaire can never acquire.</p> + +<p>Josiah looked in upon her as she finished dressing. He was, he said, +most pleased with everything, and if they were a little unused to such +company, still nothing could be more cordial than Sir Patrick's +treatment of him.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, on their way up to dress, Mildred had gone in to Morella's +room, and the two had agreed that Mrs. Brown should be suppressed.</p> + +<p>It was with extra displeasure Miss Winmarleigh had learned of Theodora's +relationship to Sir Patrick, and that after all she could not be called +a common colonial.</p> + +<p>There was no question about the Fitzgerald and Borringdon families, +unfortunately, while Morella's grandfather had been merely a coal +merchant.</p> + +<p>"I don't th<a name="Page_274" id="Page_274"></a>ink she is so wonderfully pretty, do you, Mildred?" she +said.</p> + +<p>But Mildred was a clever woman, and could see with her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do," she answered. "Don't be such a fool as to delude yourself +about that, Morella. She is perfectly lovely, and she has the most +deevie Paris clothes, and Lord Bracondale is wildly in love with her."</p> + +<p>"And apparently Freddy Wensleydown, too," snapped Morella, who was now +boiling with rage.</p> + +<p>"Well, she is not likely to enjoy herself here," said Mildred, with her +vicious laugh, which showed all her splendid, sharp teeth, as she went +off to dress, her head full of plans for the interloper's suppression.</p> + +<p>First she must have a few words with Barbara. There must be none of her +partisanship. Poor, timid Barbara would not dare to disobey her, she +knew. That settled, she did not fear that she would be able to make +Theodora suffer considerably during the five days she would be at +Beechleigh.</p> + +<p>Sir Patric<a name="Page_275" id="Page_275"></a>k was busy with some new arrivals who had come while they were +dressing, so not a soul spoke to Theodora or Josiah when they got down +to the great, white drawing-room, from which immensely high mahogany +doors opened into an anteroom hung with priceless tapestry and +containing cabinets of rare china. From thence another set of splendid +carved doors gave access to the dining-room.</p> + +<p>Neither Lord Wensleydown or Hector was in the room at first, so there +was no man even to talk to them. Lady Ada had not introduced them to any +one. And there they stood: Josiah ill at ease and uncomfortable, and +Theodora quite apparently unconscious of neglect, while she looked at a +picture.</p> + +<p>All the younger women were thinking to themselves: "Who are these +people? We don't want any strangers here—poaching on our preserves. And +what perfect clothes! and what pearls! Why on earth did Ada ask them?"</p> + +<p>And soon the party was complete, and Theodora found herself going in to +dinner with her cousin Pat, who arrived upon the scene at the very last +minute, having come from Oxford by a late train.</p> + +<p>Mildred had taken care that neither Lord Wensleydown or Hector should be +anywhere near Theodora. She had secured Lord Bracondale for he<a name="Page_276" id="Page_276"></a>rself, and +did her best all through the repast to fascinate him.</p> + +<p>And while he answered gallantly and paid her the grossest compliments, +she knew he was laughing in his sleeve all the time, and it made her +venom rise higher and higher.</p> + +<p>Patrick Fitzgerald, the younger, was a dissipated, vicious youth, with +his mother's faded coloring and none of the Fitzgerald charm. How +infinitely her father surpassed any of the family she had seen yet, +Theodora thought.</p> + +<p>She did not enjoy her dinner. The youth's conversation was not +interesting. But it was not until the ladies left the dining-room that +her real penance began.</p> + +<p>It seemed as if all the women crowded to one end of the drawing-room +round Lady Harrowfield, and talked and whispered to one another, not one +making way for Theodora or showing any knowledge of her presence. +Barbara had gone off up to her room. She was too frightened of Mildred +to disobey her, and she felt she would rather not be there to see their +hateful ways to the dear, little, gentle cousin whom she thought she +could love so much.</p> + +<p>Theodora subsided on a sofa, wondering to herself if these were the +manners <a name="Page_277" id="Page_277"></a>of the great world in general. She hoped not; but although no +human creature could be quite happy under the circumstances, she was not +greatly distressed until she distinctly caught the name of "Mr. Brown" +from the woman Josiah had taken in amid a burst of laughter, and saw +Mildred, with a glance at her, ostentatiously suppress the speaker, who +then continued her narration in almost a whisper, amid mocking titters +of mirth.</p> + +<p>Then anger burned in Theodora's gentle soul. They were talking about +Josiah, of course, and turning him into ridicule.</p> + +<p>She wondered, what would be the best to do. She was too far away to +attempt to join in the conversation, or to be even able to swear she had +heard aright, although there was no doubt in her own mind about it.</p> + +<p>So she sat perfectly still on her great sofa, her hands folded in her +lap, while two bright spots of wild rose flushed her cheeks.</p> + +<p>She did not even pick up a book. There she sat like an alabaster statue, +and most of the women were conscious of the exquisitely beautiful +picture she made.</p> +<p><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278"></a></p> +<p>They could not stand in this packed group all the time, the whole dozen +or more of them, and they gradually broke up into twos and threes about +the large room.</p> + +<p>They were delightfully friendly with one another, and all seemed in the +best of spirits and tempers.</p> + +<p>Most of them had no ulterior motive in their behavior to Theodora; it +was merely the feeling that they were not the hostess and responsible. +It was none of their business if Ada neglected her guests, and they all +knew plenty of people and did not care to enlarge their acquaintance +gratuitously.</p> + +<p>So when they came in from the dining-room more than one of the men +understood the picture they saw, of the beautiful, little, strange lady +seated alone, while the other women chatted together in groups.</p> + +<p>Hector was feeling irritated and excited, and longing to get near +Theodora. He guessed Lord Wensleydown would have the same desire, and +had no intention of being interfered with. He felt he could not bear to +spend an evening watching the little brute daring to lean over her. He +should kill him, or commit some violence, he knew.</p> + +<p>Thus prudence, which at another time would have held him—would have +made him remember what was best for her among this crowd of hostile +women—flew <a name="Page_279" id="Page_279"></a>to the winds. He must go to her—must show her he loved and +would protect her, and, above all, that he would permit no other man to +usurp his place.</p> + +<p>And Theodora, who had been suffering silently a miserable feeling of +loneliness and neglect, felt her heart bound with joy at the sight of +his loved, familiar face, and she welcomed him more warmly than she had +ever done before.</p> + +<p>"Have these demons of women been odious to you, darling?" he whispered, +hardly conscious of the term of endearment he had used. "Do not mind +them; it is only jealousy because you are so beautiful and young."</p> + +<p>"They have not been anything at all," she said, softly; "they have just +left me alone and kept to themselves, and—and laughed at Josiah, and +that has made me very angry, because—what has he done to them?"</p> + +<p>"I loathe them all!" said Hector. "They are hardly fit to be in the same +room with you, dear queen—and if you really belonged to me I would take +you away from them now—to-night."</p> + +<p>His voice was a caress, and that sentence, "belonged to me," always made +her heart beat with its pictured possibilities. Oh, how she loved him! +Could anything else in the world really matter while he could sit there +and she could feel his presence and hear his tender words?</p> + +<p>And so they talked awhile, and then they looked up and surveyed the +scene. Josiah had been <a name="Page_280" id="Page_280"></a>joined by Sir Patrick, and they were earnestly +conversing by the fireplace. One or two pairs sat about on the sofas; +but the general company showed signs of flocking off to the +bridge-tables, which were laid out in another drawing-room beyond. And +the couples joined them gradually, until only Lord Wensleydown and +Morella Winmarleigh remained near and watched them with mocking eyes.</p> + +<p>Hector had never before realized that Morella could have so much +expression in her face.</p> + +<p>How could he ever have thought under any conceivable circumstances, even +at the end of his life, it would be possible to marry her! How thankful +he felt he had never paid her any attention, or from his behavior given +color to his mother's hopes.</p> + +<p>He remembered a fairy story he had read in his youth, where a magic +power was given to the hero of discovering what beast each human being +was growing into by grasping their hands. And he wondered, if the gift +had been his, what he should now find was the destiny of those two in +front of him!</p> + +<p>Wensleydown, no doubt, would be a great, sensual goat and Morella a +vicious mule. And the idea made him laugh as he turned to Theodora +again, to feast his eyes on her pure loveliness.</p> + +<p>The Crow, who had arrived late an<a name="Page_281" id="Page_281"></a>d been among the last to enter the +drawing-room before dinner, had not yet had an opportunity of speaking +to Mrs. Brown, as he had been dragged off among the first of the +bridge-players.</p> + +<p>Presently Mildred looked through the door from the room beyond and +called: "Freddy and Morella, come and play; we must have two more to +make up the numbers. Uncle Patrick will bring Lord Bracondale +presently."</p> + +<p>Josiah and Theodora did not count at all, it seemed!</p> + +<p>"What intolerable insolence!" said Hector, through his teeth. "I shall +not play bridge or stir from here."</p> + +<p>And Lord Wensleydown called back: "Do give one a moment to digest one's +dinner, dear Lady Mildred. Miss Winmarleigh does not want to come yet, +either. We are very—interested—and happy here."</p> + +<p>Morella tittered and played with her fan. The dull, slow rage was +simmering within her. Even her vanity could not misinterpret the meaning +of Hector's devotion to Mrs. Brown. He was deeply in love, of course, +and she, Morella, was robbed of her hopes of being Lady Bracondale. Her +usuall<a name="Page_282" id="Page_282"></a>y phlegmatic nature was roused in all its narrow strength. She was +like some silent, vengeful beast waiting a chance to spring.</p> + +<p>And so the evening wore away. Sir Patrick drew Josiah into the +bridge-room, and made him join one of the tables where they were waiting +for a fourth—Josiah, who was a very bad player, and did not really care +for cards! But luck favored him, and the woman opposite restrained the +irritable things she had ready to say to him when she first perceived +how he played his hand.</p> + +<p>And all <a name="Page_283" id="Page_283"></a>the while Hector sat by Theodora, and learned more and more of +her fair, clear mind. All the thoughts she had upon every subject he +found were just and quaint and in some way illuminating. It was her +natural sweetness of nature which made the great charm—that quality +which Mrs. McBride had remarked upon, and which every one felt sooner or +later.</p> + +<p>Nothing of the ascetic saint or goody <i>poseuse</i>. She did not walk about +with a book of poems under her arm, and wear floppy clothes and talk +about her own and other people's souls. She was just human and true and +attractive.</p> + +<p>Theodora had perhaps no religion at all from the orthodox point of view; +but had she been a Mohommedan or a Confucian or a Buddhist, she would +still have been Theodora, full of gentleness and goodness and grace.</p> + +<p>The entire absence of vanity and self-consciousness in her prevented her +from feeling hurt or ruffled even with these ill-mannered women. She +thought them rude and unpleasant, but they could not really hurt her +except by humiliating Josiah. Her generosity instantly fired at that.</p> + +<p>Both she and Hector perceived that Morella and Lord Wensleydown sat +there watching them for no<a name="Page_284" id="Page_284"></a> other reason but to disconcert and tease +them, and it roused a spirit of resistance in both. While this was going +on they would not move.</p> + +<p>And Hector employed the whole of his self-control to keep himself from +making actual love to her, and they talked of many things, and she +understood and was grateful.</p> + +<p>Presently, apparently, Morella could stand it no longer, for she rose +rather abruptly and said to Lord Wensleydown:</p> + +<p>"Come, let us play bridge."</p> + +<p>They went on into the other room, and Theodora and Lord Bracondale were +left quite alone.</p> + +<p>"I should like to find Josiah," said Theodora. "Shall we not go, too?"</p> + +<p>And they also followed upon the others' heels. Lady Ada happened to be +out at her table, and some tardy sense of<a name="Page_285" id="Page_285"></a> her duties as a hostess came +to her, for she crossed over to where Theodora stood by the door and +made some ordinary remark about hoping it would be fine on the morrow so +they could enjoy the gardens.</p> + +<p>And while she talked and looked into the blue eyes something attracted +and softened her. She was very gentle and pretty, after all, the new +niece, she decided, and Mildred had been quite wrong in saying she was +an upstart and must be snubbed.</p> + +<p>Lady Ada had a nervous way of blinking her light lashes in a fashion +which suggested she might suffer from headache.</p> + +<p>To Theodora she seemed a sad woman, full of cares, and she felt a kindly +pity for her and no resentment for her rudeness.</p> + +<p>Mildred looked up, and a frown of annoyance darkened her face.</p> + +<p>The "creature" should certainly not make a conquest of her hostess if +she could help it!<a name="Page_286" id="Page_286"></a></p> + +<p>It was the first time Theodora had ever been into a company of people +like this, and her eyes wandered over the scene when Lady Ada had to go +back to her place.</p> + +<p>"Tell me what you are thinking of?" said Hector, in her ear.</p> + +<p>"I was thinking," she answered, "it is so interesting to watch people's +faces. It seems to me so queer a way to spend one's time, the whole of +one's intelligence set upon a game of cards and a few pieces of money +for hours and hours together."</p> + +<p>"They don't look attractive, do they?" he laughed.</p> + +<p>"No, they look haggard, and worried, and old," she said. "Even the young +ones look old and watchful, and so intent and solemn."</p> + +<p>Lady Harrowfield had been losing heavily, and a deep mauve shade glowed +through all her paint. She was a bad loser, and made all at her table +feel some of her chagrin and wrath. In fact, candidates for the light of +her smile found it advisable to <a name="Page_287" id="Page_287"></a>let her win when things became too +unpleasant.</p> + +<p>There was a dreary silence over the room, broken by the scoring and +remarks upon the games, and those who were out wandered into the saloon +beyond, where iced drinks of all sorts were awaiting the weary.</p> + +<p>"Every one must enjoy themselves how they can, of course," said +Theodora. "It is absurd to try and make any one else happy in one's own +way, but oh, I hope I shall not have to pass the time like that, ever! I +don't think I could bear it."</p> + +<p>The voices became raised at the table where Josiah sat. He had made some +gross mistake in the game and his partner was being fretful over it. Her +complaints amounted to real rudeness when the counting began. She had +lost twenty pounds on this rubber, all through his last foolish play, +she let it be known.</p> + +<p>Josiah was angry with himself and deeply humiliated. He apologized as +well as he could, but to no purpose with the wrathful dame.</p> + +<p>And Theodora slipped behind his chair<a name="Page_288" id="Page_288"></a>, and laid her hand upon his +shoulder in what was almost a caress, and said, in a sweet and playful +voice:</p> + +<p>"You are a naughty, stupid fellow, Josiah, and of course you must pay +the losses of both sides to make up for being such a wicked thing," and +she patted his shoulders and smiled her gentle smile at the angry lady, +as though they were children playing for counters or sweets, and the +twenty pounds was a nothing to her husband, as indeed it was not. +Josiah would cheerfully have paid a hundred to finish the unpleasant +scene.</p> + +<p>He was intensely grateful to her—grateful for her thought for him and +for her public caress.</p> + +<p>And the lady was so surprised at the turn affairs had taken that she +said no more, and, allowing him to pay without too great protest, meekly +suggested another rubber. But Josiah was not to be caught again. He +rose, and, saying good-night, followed his wife and Lord Bracondale into +the saloon.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XXV" id="XXV"></a>XXV</h2> + + +<p>After the rain and gloom of the week, Sunday dawned gloriously fine. +There was to be a polo match on Monday in the park, which contained an +excellent ground—Patrick and his Oxford friends against a scratch team. +The neighborhood would watch them with interest. But the Sunday was for +rest and peace, so all the morning the company played croquet, or lay +about in hammocks, and more than half of them again began bridge in the +great Egyptian tent which served as an out-door lounge on the lawn. It +was reached from the western side down wide steps from the terrace, and +beautiful rose gardens stretched away beyond.</p> + +<p>Theodora had spent a sleepless night. There was no more illusion left to +her on the subject of her feelings. She knew that each day, each hour, +she was growing more deeply to love Hector Bracondale. He absorbed her +thoughts, he dominated her imagination. He seemed to mean the only thing +in life. The situation was impossible, and must end in some way. How +could she face the long months with Josiah down at their new home, with +the feverish hopes and fears of meetings! It was too cruel, too +terrible; and she could not lead such a life. She had thought in Paris +it would be possible, and even afford a<a name="Page_290" id="Page_290"></a> certain amount of quiet +happiness, if they could be strong enough to remain just friends. But +now she knew this was not in human nature. Sooner or later fate would +land them in some situation of temptation too strong for either to +resist—and then—and then—She refused to face that picture. Only she +writhed as she lay there and buried her face in the fine pillows. She +did not permit herself any day-dreams of what might have been. Romauld +himself, as he took his vows, never fought harder to regain his soul +from the keeping of Claremonde than did Theodora to suppress her love +for Hector Bracondale. Towards morning, worn out with fatigue, she fell +asleep, and in her dreams, released from the control of her will, she +spent moments of passionate bliss in his arms, only to wake and find she +must face again the terrible reality. And cruellest thought of all was +the thought of Josiah.</p> + +<p>She had so much common-sense she realized the position exactly about +him. She had not married him under any false impression. There had been +no question of love—she had frankly been bought, and had as frankly +detested him. But his illness and suffering had appealed to her tender +heart—and afterwards his generosity. He was not unselfish, but, +according to his lights, he heaped her with kindness. He could not help +being common and ridiculous. And he had paid with solid gold for her, +gold to make papa comforta<a name="Page_291" id="Page_291"></a>ble and happy, and she must fulfil her part of +the bargain and remain a faithful wife at all costs.</p> + +<p>This visit must be the last time she should meet her love. She must tell +him, implore him—he who was free and master of his life; he must go +away, must promise not to follow her, must help her to do what was right +and just. She had no sentimental feeling of personal wickedness now. How +could it be wicked to love—to love truly and tenderly? She had not +sought love; he had come upon her. It would be wicked to give way to her +feelings, to take Hector for a lover; but she had no sense of being a +wicked woman as things were, any more than if she had badly burned her +hand and was suffering deeply from the wound; she would have considered +herself wicked for having had the mischance thus to injure herself. She +was intensely unhappy, and she was going to try and do what was right. +That was all. And God and those kind angels who steered the barks beyond +the rocks would perhaps help her.</p> + +<p>Hector for his part, had retired to rest boiling with passion and rage, +the subtle, odious insinuations of Mildred ringing in his ears. The +remembrance of the menace on Morella's dull face as she had watched +Theodora depart, and, above all, Wensleydown's behavior as they all said +good-night: nothing for him actually to take hold of, and yet enough to +convulse him with jealous fury.</p> + +<p>Oh, if she were only his own! No man should dare to <a name="Page_292" id="Page_292"></a>look at her like +that. But Josiah had stood by and not even noticed it.</p> + +<p>Passionate jealousy is not a good foster-parent for prudence.</p> + +<p>The Sunday came, and with it a wild, mad longing to be near her +again—never to leave her, to prevent any one else from so much as +saying a word. Others besides Wensleydown had begun to experience the +attraction of her beauty and charm. If considerations of wisdom should +keep him from her side, he would have the anguish of seeing these +others take his place, and that he could not suffer.</p> + +<p>And as passion in a man rages higher than in the average woman, +especially passion when accelerated by the knowledge of another's desire +to rob it of its own, so Hector's conclusions were not so clear as +Theodora's.</p> + +<p>He dared not look ahead. All he was conscious of was the absolute +determination to protect her from Wensleydown—to keep her for himself.</p> + +<p>And fate was gathering all the threads together for an inevitable +catastrophe, or so it seemed to the Crow when the long, exquisite June +Sunday evening was drawing to a close and he looked back on the day.</p> + +<p>He would have to report to Anne that the two had spent it practically +together; that Morella had a sullen red look on her face which boded ill +for the part she would play, when she s<a name="Page_293" id="Page_293"></a>hould be asked to play some part; +that Mildred had done her best to render Theodora uncomfortable and +unhappy, and thus had thrown her more into Hector's protection. The +other women had been indifferent or mocking or amused, and Lady +Harrowfield had let it be seen she would have no mercy. Her comments +had been vitriolic.</p> + +<p>Hector and Theodora had not gone out of sight, or been any different to +the others; only he had never left her, and there could be no mistaking +the devotion in his face.</p> + +<p>For the whole day Sir Patrick had more or less taken charge of Josiah. +He was finding him more difficult to manipulate over money matters than +he had anticipated. Josiah's vulgar, round face and snub nose gave no +index to his shrewdness; with his mutton-chop whiskers and bald head, +Josiah was the personification of the smug grocer.</p> + +<p>As she went to dress for dinner it seemed to Theodora that her heart was +breaking. She was only flesh and blood after all, and she, too, had felt +her pulses throbbing wildly as they had walked along by the lake, when +all the color and lights of the evening helped to excite her imagination +and exalt her spirit. They had been almost alone, for the other pair who +composed the <a name="Page_294" id="Page_294"></a><i>partie carrée</i> of this walk were several yards ahead of +them.</p> + +<p>Each minute she had been on the verge of imploring him to say +good-bye—to leave her—to let their lives part, to try to forget, and +the words froze on her lips in the passionate, unspoken cry which +seemed to rise from her heart that she loved him. Oh, she loved him! And +so she had not spoken.</p> + +<p>There had been long silences, and each was growing almost to know the +other's thoughts—so near had they become in spirit.</p> + +<p>When she got to her room her knees were trembling. She fell into a chair +and buried her face in her hands. She shivered as if from cold.</p> + +<p>Josiah was almost angry with her for being so late for dinner. Theodora +hardly realized with whom she went in; she was dazed and numb. She got +through it somehow, and this night determined to go straight to her room +rather than be treated as she had been the night before. But one of the +women whom the intercourse of the day had drawn into conversation with +her showed signs of friendliness as they went through the anteroom, and +drew her towards a sofa to talk. She was fascinated by Theodora's beauty +and grace, and wanted to know, too, just where her clothes came from, as +she did not recognize absolutely the models of any of t<a name="Page_295" id="Page_295"></a>he well-known +<i>couturières</i>, and they were certainly the loveliest garments worn by +any one in the party.</p> + +<p>One person draws another, and soon Theodora had three or four around +her—all purring and talking frocks. And as she answered their questions +with gentle frankness, she wondered what everything meant. Did any of +them feel—did any of them love passionately as she did?—or were they +all dolls more or less bored and getting through life? And would she, +too, grow like them in time, and be able to play bridge with interest +until the small hours?</p> + +<p>Later some of the party danced in the ballroom, which was beyond the +saloon the other way, and no<a name="Page_296" id="Page_296"></a>w a definite idea came to Hector as he held +Theodora in his arms in the waltz. They could not possibly bear this +life. Why should he not take her away—away from the smug grocer, and +then they could live their life in a dream of bliss in Italy, perhaps, +and later at Bracondale. He had a great position, and people soon forget +nowadays.</p> + +<p>His pulses were bounding with these wild thoughts, born of their +nearness and the long hours of strain. To-morrow he would tell her of +them, but to-night—they would dance.</p> + +<p>And Theodora felt her very soul melt within her. She was worn out with +conflicting emotions. She could not fight with inclination any longer. +Whatever he should say she would have to listen to—and agree with. She +felt almost faint. And so at the end of the first dance she managed to +whisper:</p> + +<p>"Hector, I am tired. I shall go to bed." And in truth when he looked at +her she was deadly white.</p> + +<p>She stopped by her husband.</p> + +<p>"Josiah," she said, "will you make my excuses to Lady Ada and Uncle +Patrick? I do not feel well; I am going to my room."</p> +<p><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297"></a></p> +<p>Hector's distress was intense. He could not carry her up in his arms as +he would have wished, he could not soothe and pet and caress her, or do +anything in the world but stand by and see Josiah fussing and +accompanying her to the stairs and on to her room. She hardly said the +word good-night to him, and her very lips were white. Wensleydown's +face, as he stood with Mildred, drove him mad with its mocking leer, and +if he had heard their conversation there might have been bloodshed.</p> + +<p>Josiah returned to the saloon, and made his way to the bridge-room to +Sir Patrick and his hostess; but Hector still leaned against the door.</p> + +<p>"He'll probably go out on the terrace and walk in the night by himself," +thought the Crow, who had watched the scene, "and these dear people +will say he has gone to meet her, and it is a ruse her being ill. They +could not let such a chance slip, if they are both absent together."</p> + +<p>So he walked over to Hector and engaged him in conversation.</p> + +<p>Hector would have thought of this aspect himself at another time, but +to-night he was dazed with passion and pain.</p> + +<p>"Come and smoke a cigar on the terrace, Crow," he said. "One wants a +little quiet and peace sometimes."</p> + +<p>And then the Crow looked at him with his head on one side in that wise +way which had earned for him his sobriquet.</p> +<p><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298"></a></p> +<p>"Hector, old boy, you know these damned people here and their ways. Just +keep yourself in evidence, my son," he said, as he walked away.</p> + +<p>And Hector thanked him in his heart, and went across and asked Morella +to dance.</p> + +<p>Up in her room Theodora lay prostrate. She could reason no more—she +could only sob in the dark.</p> + +<p>Next day she did not appear until luncheon-time. But the guests at +Beechleigh always rose when they pleased, and no one remarked her +absence even, each pair busy with their own affairs. Only Barbara crept +up to her room to see how she was, and if she wanted anything. Theodora +wondered why her cousin should have been so changed from the afternoon +of their arrival. And Barbara longed to tell her. She moved about, and +looked out of the window, and admired Theodora's beautiful hair spread +over the pillows. Then she said:</p> + +<p>"Oh, I wish you came here often and Mildred didn't. She is a brute, and +she hates you for being so beautiful. She made me keep away, you know. +Do you think me a mean coward?" Her poor, plain, timid face was pitiful +as she looked at Theodora, and to her came the thought of what Barbara's +life was probably among them all, and she said, gently:</p> + +<p>"No, indeed, I don't. It was much bet<a name="Page_299" id="Page_299"></a>ter for you not to annoy her +further; she might have been nastier to me than even she has been. But +why don't you stand up for yourself generally? After all, you are Uncle +Patrick's daughter, and she is only your mother's niece."</p> + +<p>"They both love her far more than they do me," said Barbara, with +hanging head.</p> + +<p>And then they talked of other things. Barbara adored her home, but her +family had no sentiment for it, she told Theodora; and Pat, she +believed, would like to sell the whole thing and gamble away the money.</p> + +<p>Just before luncheon-time, when Theodora was dressed and going down, +Josiah came up again to see her. He had fussed in once or twice before +during the morning. This time it was to tell her a special messenger had +come from his agent in London to inform him his presence was absolutely +necessary there the first thing on Tuesday morning. Some turn of deep +importance to his affairs had transpired during the holiday. So he would +go up by an early train. He had settled it all with Sir Patrick, who, +however, would not hear of Theodora's leaving.</p> + +<p>"The party does not break up until Wednesday or Thursday, and we cannot +lose our greatest ornament,"<a name="Page_300" id="Page_300"></a> he had said.</p> + +<p>"I do not wish to stay alone," Theodora pleaded. "I will come with you, +Josiah."</p> + +<p>But Josiah was quite cross with her.</p> + +<p>"Nothing of the kind," he said. These people were her own relations, and +if he could not leave her with them it was a strange thing! He did not +want her in London, and she could join him again at Claridge's on +Thursday. It would give him time to run down to Bessington to see that +all was ready for her reception. He was so well now he looked forward to +a summer of pleasure and peace.</p> + +<p>"A second honeymoon, my love!" he chuckled, as he kissed her, and would +hear no more.</p> + +<p>And having planted this comforting thought for her consolation he had +quitted the room.</p> + +<p>Left alone Theodora sank down on the sofa. Her trembling limbs refused +to support her; she felt cold and sick and faint.</p> + +<p>A second honeymoon. Oh, God!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XXVI" id="XXVI"></a>XXVI</h2> + + +<p>At luncheon, when Theodora descended from her room, the whole party were +assembled and already seated at the several little tables. The only +vacant place left was just opposite Hector.</p> + +<p>And there they faced each other during the meal, and all the time her +eyes reminded him of the wounded fawn again, only they were sadder, if +possible, and her face was pinched and pale, not the exquisite natural +white of its usual fresh, soft velvet.</p> + +<p>Something clutched at his heart-strings. What extra sorrow had happened +to her since last night? What could he do to comfort and protect her? +There was only one way—to take her with him out of it all.</p> + +<p>After the first nine days' wonder, people would forget. It would be an +undefended suit when Josiah should divorce her, and then he would marry +her and have her for his very own. And what would they care for the +world's sneers?</p> + +<p>His whole being was thrilled and exalted with these thoughts; his brain +was excited as with strong wine.</p> + +<p>To have her for his own!</p> +<p><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302"></a></p> +<p>Even the memory of his mother only caused him a momentary pang. No one +could help loving Theodora, and she—his mother—would get over it, too, +and learn her sweetness and worth.</p> + +<p>He was wildly happy now that he had made up his mind—so surely can +passionate desire block out every other feeling.</p> + +<p>The guests at their table were all more or less civil. Theodora's +unassuming manner had disarmed them, and as savage beasts had been +charmed of old by Orpheus and his lute, so perhaps her gentle voice had +soothed this company—the women, of course; there had been no question +of the men from the beginning.</p> + +<p>Mildred's programme to make Mrs. Brown suffer was not having the success +her zeal in promoting it deserved.</p> + +<p>The weather was still glorious, and after lunch the whole party flocked +out on the terrace.</p> + +<p>A terrible nervous fear was dominating Theodora. She could not be alone +with Hector, she did not dare to trust herself. And there would be the +to-morrow and the Wednesday—without Josiah—and the soft warmth of the +evenings and the glamour of the nights.</p> + +<p>Oh, everything was too cruel and impossible! An<a name="Page_303" id="Page_303"></a>d wherever she turned she +seemed to see in blazing letters, "A second honeymoon!"</p> + +<p>The first was a horrible, fearsome memory which was over long ago, but +the thought of a second—now that she knew what love meant, and what +life with the loved one might mean—Oh, it was +unbearable—terrible—impossible! better, much better, to die and have +done with it all.</p> + +<p>She kept close to Barbara, and when Barbara moved she feverishly engaged +the Crow in conversation—any one—something to save her from any chance +of listening to Hector's persuasive words. And the Crow's kind heart was +pained by the hunted expression in her eyes. They seemed to ask for help +and sanctuary.</p> + +<p>"Shall we walk down to the polo-field, Mrs. Brown?" he said, and she +gladly acquiesced and started with him.</p> + +<p>If she had been a practised coquette she could not have done anything +more to fan the flame of Hector's passion.</p> + +<p>Lady Harrowfield had detained him on the top of the steps, and he saw +her go off with the Crow and was unable to rush after them.</p> + +<p>And when at last<a name="Page_304" id="Page_304"></a> he was free he felt almost drunk with passion.</p> + +<p>He had learned of Josiah's intended departure on the morrow, and that +Theodora would join him again on the Thursday, and his mind was made up. +On Wednesday night he would take her away with him to Italy. She should +never belong to Josiah any more. She was his in soul and mind already, +he knew, and she should be his in body, too, and he would cherish and +love and protect her to the end of his life.</p> + +<p>Every detail of his plan matured itself in his brain. It only wanted her +consent, and that, when opportunity should be given him to plead his +cause, he did not greatly fear would be refused.</p> + +<p>Hitherto he had ever restrained himself when alone with her, had +dominated his desire to make love to her; had never once, since Paris, +given way to passion or tender words during their moments together.</p> + +<p>But he remembered that hour of bliss on the way from Versailles; he +remembered how she had thrilled, too, how he had made her feel and +respond to his every caress.</p> + +<p>Yes—she was not cold, his white angel!</p> + +<p>He was playing in the scratch team of the polo match, and the wild +excitement of his thoughts, coursing through his blood, caused him to +ride like a mad thing.</p> +<p><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305"></a></p> +<p>Never had he done so brilliantly.</p> + +<p>And Theodora, while she was every now and then convulsed with fear for +him, had moments of passionate admiration.</p> + +<p>The Crow remained at her side in the tent. He knew Hector would not be +jealous of him, and the instinct of the brink of calamity was strong +upon him, from the look in Theodora's eyes.</p> + +<p>He used great tact—he turned the conversation to Anne and the children, +and then to Lady Bracondale and Hector's home, all in a casual, abstract +way, and he told her of Lady Bracondale's great love for her son, and of +her hopes that he would marry soon, and how that Hector would be the +last of his race—for Evermond Le Mesurier did not count—and many +little tales about Bracondale and its people.</p> + +<p>It was all done so wisely and well; not in the least as a note of +warning. And all he said sank deep into Theodora's heart. She had never +even dreamed of the plan which was now matured in Hector's brain—of +going away with him. He, as really a lover, was not for her, that was a +foregone conclusion. It was the fear of she knew not what which troubled +her. She was too unsophisticated and innocent to really know—only that +to be with him now was a continual dang<a name="Page_306" id="Page_306"></a>er; soon she knew she would not +be able to control herself, she must be clasped in his arms.</p> + +<p>And then—and then—there was the picture in front of her of Josiah and +the "second honeymoon."</p><p><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307"></a></p> + +<p>Thus while she sat there gazing at the man she passionately loved +playing polo, she was silently suffering all the anguish of which a +woman's heart is capable.</p> + +<p>The only possible way was to part from Hector forever—to say the last +good-bye before she should go, like a sheep, to the slaughter.</p> + +<p>When she was once more the wife of Josiah she could never look upon his +face again.</p> + +<p>And if Hector had known the prospect that awaited her at Bessington +Hall, it would have driven him—already mad—to frenzy.</p> + +<p>The day wore on, and still Theodora's fears kept her from allowing a +tête-à-tête when he dismounted and joined them for tea.</p> + +<p>But fate had determined otherwise. And as the soft evening came several +of the party walked down by the river—which ran on the western side +below the rose-gardens and the wood of firs—to see Barbara's many +breeds of ducks and water-fowl.</p> + +<p>Then Hector's determination to be alone with her conquered for the time. +Theodora found herself strolling with him in a path of meeting willows, +with a summer-house at the end, by the water's bank.</p> +<p><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308"></a></p> +<p>They were quite separated from the others by now. They, with affairs of +their own to pursue, had spread in different directions.</p> + +<p>And it was evening, and warm, and June.</p> + +<p>There was a strange, weird silence between them, and both their hearts +were beating to suffocation—hers with the thought of the anguish of +parting forever, his with the exaltation of the picture of parting no +more.</p> + +<p>They came to the little summer-house, and there they sat down and +surveyed the scene. The evening lights were all opalescent on the water, +there was peace in the air and brilliant fresh green on the trees, and +soft and liquid rose the nightingale's note. So at last Hector broke the +silence.</p> + +<p>"Darling," he said, "I love you—I love you so utterly this cannot go +on. I must have you for my own—" and then, as she gasped, he continued +in a torrent of passionate words.</p> + +<p>He told her of his infinite love for her; of the happiness he would fill +her life with; of his plan that they should go away together when she +should leave Beechleigh; of the joy of their days; of the tender care he +would take of her; and every and each sentence <a name="Page_309" id="Page_309"></a>ended with a passionate +avowal of his love and devotion.</p> + +<p>Then a terrible temptation seized Theodora. She had never even dreamed +of this ending to the situation; and it would mean no second honeymoon +of loathsome hours, but a glorious fulfilment of all possible joy.</p> + +<p>For one moment the whole world seemed golden with happiness; but it was +only of short duration. The next instant she remembered Josiah and her +given word.</p> + +<p>No, happiness was not for her. Death and sleep were all she could hope +for; but she must not even hope for them. She must do what was right, +and be true to herself, <i>advienne que pourra</i>. And perhaps some angel +would give her oblivion or let her drink of Lethe, though she should +never reach those waters beyond the rocks.</p> + +<p>He saw the exaltation in her beautiful face as he spoke, and wild joy +seized him. Then he saw the sudden droop of her whole body and the +light die out of her eyes, and in a voice of anguish he implored her:</p> + +<p>"Darling, darling! Won't you listen to what I say to you? Won't you +answer me, and come with me?"</p> + +<p>"No, Hector," she said, and her voice was so low he had to bend closer +to hear.</p> +<p><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310"></a></p> +<p>He clasped her to his side, he covered her face with kisses, murmuring +the tenderest love-words.</p> + +<p>She did not resist him or seek to escape from his sheltering, strong +arms. This was the end of her living life, why should she rob herself of +a last joy?</p> + +<p>She laid her head on his shoulder, and there she whispered in a voice he +hardly recognized, so dominated it was by sorrow and pain: "It must be +good-bye, beloved; we must not meet. Ah! never any more. I have been +meaning to say this to you all the day. I cannot bear it either. Oh, we +must part, and it must end; but oh, not—not in that way!"</p> + +<p>He tried to persuade her, he pleaded with her, drew pictures of their +happiness that surely would be, talked of Italy and eternal summer and +exquisite pleasure and bliss.</p> + +<p>And all the time he felt her quiver in his arms and respond to each +thought, as her imagination took fire at the beautiful pictures of love +and joy. But nothing shook her determination.</p> + +<p>At last she said: "Dearest, if I were different perhaps, stronger and +braver, I could go away and live with you like that, a<a name="Page_311" id="Page_311"></a>nd keep it all a +glorious thing; but I am not—only a weak creature, and the memory of my +broken word, and Josiah's sorrow, and your mother's anguish, would kill +all joy. We could have blissful moments of forgetfulness, but the great +ghost of remorse would chase for me all happiness away. Dearest, I love +you so; but oh, I could not live, haunted like that; I should +just—die."</p> + +<p>Then he knew all hope was over, and the mad passion went out of him, and +his arms dropped to his sides as if half life had fled. She looked up in +his face in fear at its ghastly whiteness.</p> + +<p>And at this moment, through the parted willows, there appeared the +sullen, mocking eyes of Morella Winmarleigh.</p> + +<p>She pushed the bushes aside, and, followed by Lord Wensleydown, she came +towards the summer-house.</p> + +<p>Her slow senses had taken in the scene. Hector was evidently very +unhappy, she thought, and that hateful woman had been teasing him, no +doubt.</p> + +<p>Thus her banal mind read <a name="Page_312" id="Page_312"></a>the tragedy of these two human lives.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXVII" id="XXVII"></a>XXVII</h2> + + +<p>Morella Winmarleigh had been taking an evening stroll with Lord +Wensleydown. They had come upon the two in the summer-house quite by +accident, but now they had caught them they would stick to them, and +make their walk as tiresome as possible, they both decided to +themselves.</p> + +<p>After very great emotion such as Hector and Theodora had been +experiencing, to have this uncongenial and hateful pair as companions +was impossible to bear.</p> + +<p>Neither Hector or Theodora stirred or made room for them on the seat.</p> + +<p>"Isn't this a sweet place, Lord Wensleydown?" Miss Winmarleigh said. +"Why have you never brought me here before? How did you find it, +Hector?" turning to him in a determined fashion. "You will have to show +us the way back, as we are quite lost!" and she giggled irritatingly.</p> + +<p>"The firs<a name="Page_313" id="Page_313"></a>t turn to the right at the end of the willows," said Hector, +with what politeness he could summon up, "and I am sure you will be +able to get to the house quite safely. As you are in such a hurry, don't +let us keep you. Mrs. Brown and I are going the other way by the river, +when we do start."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we are not in a hurry at all," said Lord Wensleydown. "Do come with +us, Mrs. Brown, we are feeling so lonely."</p> + +<p>Theodora rose. She could bear no more of this.</p> + +<p>"Let us go," she said to Hector, and they started, leading the way. And +for a while they heard the others in mocking titters behind them, but +presently, when near the house, they quickened their pace, and were +again alone and free from their tormentors.</p> + +<p>They had not spoken at all in this hateful walk, and now he turned to +her.</p> + +<p>"My darling," he said, "life seems over for me."</p> + +<p>"And for me, too, Hector," she said. "And when we come to this dark +piece of wood I want you to kiss me once more and say good-bye forever, +and go out of my life." There was a passionate sob in her voice. "And +oh! <i>Bien-aimé</i>, please promise me you will leave to-morrow. Do not make +it more impossible to bear than it already is."</p> + +<p>But he was silent with pain. A mad, reckless revolt at fate flooded all +his being.</p> + +<p>It was past eight o'clock now, and when they came to the soothing gloom +of the dark firs he crushed her in his arms, and a great sob broke from +<a name="Page_314" id="Page_314"></a>him and rent her heart.</p> + +<p>"My darling, my darling! Good-bye," he said, brokenly. "You have taught +me all that life means; all that it can hold of pleasure and pain. +Henceforth, it is the gray path of shadows; and oh, God take care of you +and grant us some peace."</p> + +<p>But she was sobbing on his breast and could not speak.</p> + +<p>"And remember," he went on, "I shall never forget you or cease to +worship and adore you. Always know you have only to send me a message, a +word, and I will come to you and do what you ask, to my last drop of +blood. I love you! Oh, God! I love you, and you were made for me, and we +could have been happy together and glorified the world."</p> + +<p>Then he folded her again in his arms and held her so close it seemed the +breath must leave her body, and then they walked on silently, and +silently entered the house by the western garden door.</p> + +<p>The evening was a blank to Theodora. She dressed in her satins and +laces, and let her maid fasten her wonderful emeralds on throat and +breast and hair. She descended to the drawing-room and walked in to +dinner with some strange man—all as one in a dream. She answered as an +automaton, and the man thought how beautiful she was, and what a pity +for so beautiful a woman to be<a name="Page_315" id="Page_315"></a> so stupid and silent and dull.</p> + +<p>"Almost wanting," was his last comment to himself as the ladies left the +dining-room.</p> + +<p>Then Theodora forced herself to speak—to chatter to a now complacent +group of women who gathered round her. Those emeralds, and the way the +diamonds were set round them, proved too strong an attraction for even +Lady Harrowfield to keep far away.</p> + +<p>She was going to have her rubies remounted, and this seemed just the +pattern she would like.</p> + +<p>So the time passed, and the men came into the room. But Hector was not +with them. He had found a telegram, it transpired, which had been +waiting for him on his return, and it would oblige him to go to +Bracondale immediately, so he was motoring up to London that night. He +had acted his part to the end, and no one guessed he was leaving the +best of his life behind him. When Theodora realized he was gone she +suddenly felt very faint; but she, too, was not of common clay, and +breeding will tell in crises of this sort, so she sat up and talked +gayly. The evening passed, and at last she was alone for the night.</p> + +<p>There are moralists who will assure us the knowledge of having done +right brings its own consolation. And in good books, about good women, +the heroine experiences a sense of peace and satisfaction after having +resigned the forbidden joy of her life. But Theodora was only a human +being, so <a name="Page_316" id="Page_316"></a>she spent the night in wild, passionate regret.</p> + +<p>She had done right with no stern sense of the word "Right" written up in +front of her, but because she was so true and so sweet that she must +keep her word and not betray Josiah. She did not analyze anything. Life +was over for her, whatever came now could only find her numb. By an +early train Josiah left for London.</p> + +<p>"Take care of yourself, my love," he had said, as he looked in at her +door, "and write to me this afternoon as to what train you decide to +leave by on Thursday."</p> +<p><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317"></a></p> +<p>She promised she would, and he departed, thoroughly satisfied with his +visit among the great world.</p> + +<p>The day was spent as the other days, and after lunch Theodora escaped to +her room. She must write her letter to Josiah for the afternoon's post. +She had discovered the train left at eleven o'clock. It did not take her +long, this little note to her husband, and then she sat and stared into +space for a while.</p> + +<p>The terrible reaction had begun. There was no more excitement, only the +flatness, the blank of the days to look forward to, and that unspeakable +sense of loss and void. And oh, she had let Hector go without one word +of her passionate love! She had been too unnerved to answer him when he +had said his last good-bye to her in the wood.</p> + +<p>She seized the pen again which had dropped from her hand. She would +write to him. She would tell him her thoughts—in a final farewell. It +might comfort him, and herself, too.</p> + +<p>So she wrote and wrote on, straight out from her heart, then she found +she had only just time to take the letters to the hall.</p> + +<p>She closed Hector's with a sigh, and picking up Josiah's, already +fastened, she ran with them quickly down the stairs.</p> +<p><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318"></a></p> +<p>There was an immense pile of correspondence—the accumulation of +Whitsuntide.</p> + +<p>The box that usually received it was quite full, and several letters lay +about on the table.</p> + +<p>She placed her two with the rest, and turned to leave the hall. She +could not face all the company on the lawn just yet, and went back to +her room, meeting Morella Winmarleigh bringing some of her own to be +posted as she passed through the saloon.</p> + +<p>When Miss Winmarleigh reached the table curiosity seized her. She +guessed what had been Theodora's errand. She would like to see her +writing and to whom the letters were addressed.</p> + +<p>No one was about anywhere. All the correspondence was already there, as +in five minutes or less the post would go.</p> + +<p>She had no time to lose, so she picked up the last two envelopes which +lay on the top of the pile and read the first:</p> + +<p>To<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Josiah Brown, Esq.,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Claridge's Hotel,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Brook Street,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">London, W.</span><br /></p> + +<p>and the other:</p> +<p><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319"></a></p> +<p>The Lord Bracondale,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Bracondale Chase,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Bracondale.</span><br /></p> + +<p>"The husband and—the lover!" she said to herself. And a sudden +temptation came over her, swift and strong and not to be resisted.</p> + +<p>Here would be revenge—revenge she had always longed for! while her +sullen rage had been gathering all these last days. She heard the groom +of the chambers approaching to collect the letters; she must decide at +once. So she slipped Theodora's two missives into her blouse and walked +towards the door.</p> + +<p>"There is another post which goes at seven, isn't there, Edgarson?" she +asked, "and the letters are delivered in London to-morrow morning just +the same?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, ma'am, they arrive by the second post in London," said the man, +politely, and she passed on to her room.</p> + +<p>Arrived there, excitement and triumph burned all over her. Here, without +a chance of detection, she could crush her rival and see her thoroughly +punished, and—who knows?—Hector might yet be caught in the rebound.</p> + +<p>She would not hesitate a second. She rang for her maid.</p> + +<p>"Bring me my little kettle and the spirit-lamp. I want to sip some +boiling water," she said. "I have indigestion. And then you need not +wait—I shall read until tea."</p> + +<p>She was innocent<a name="Page_320" id="Page_320"></a>ly settled on her sofa with a book when the maid +returned. She was a well-bred servant, and silently placed the kettle +and glass and left the room noiselessly. Morella sprang to her feet with +unusual agility. Her heavy form was slow of movement as a rule.</p> + +<p>The door once locked, she returned to the sofa and began operations.</p> + +<p>The kettle soon boiled, and the steam puffed out and achieved its +purpose.</p> + +<p>The thin, hand-made paper of the envelope curled up, and with no +difficulty she opened the flap.</p> + +<p>Hector's letter first and then Josiah's. All her pent-up, concentrated +rage was having its outlet, and almost joy was animating her being.</p> + +<p>Hector's was a long letter; probably very loving, but that did not +concern her.</p> + +<p>It would be most unladylike to read it, she decided—a sort of thing +only the housemaids would do. What she intended was to place them in the +wrong envelopes—Hector's to Josiah, and Josia<a name="Page_321" id="Page_321"></a>h's to Hector. It was a +mistake any one might make themselves when they were writing, and +Theodora, when it should be discovered, could only blame her own +supposed carelessness. Even if the letter was an innocent one, which was +not at all likely. Oh, dear, no! She knew the world, however little +girls were supposed to understand. She had kept her eyes open, thank +goodness; and it would certainly not be an epistle a husband would care +to read—a great thing of pages and pages like that. But even if it were +innocent, it was bound to cause some trouble and annoyance; and the +thought of that was honey and balm to her.</p> + +<p>She slipped them into the covers she had destined for them and pressed +down the damp gum. So all was as it had been to outward appearance, and +she felt perfectly happy. Then when she descended to tea she placed them +securely in the box under some more of her own for the seven-o'clock +post, and went her way rejoicing.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXVIII" id="XXVIII"></a>XXVIII</h2> +<p><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322"></a></p> + +<p>Next morning, over a rather late breakfast in his sitting-room at +Claridge's, Josiah's second post came in.</p> + +<p>All had gone well with his business in the City the day before, and in +the afternoon he had run down to Bessington Hall, returning late at +night.</p> + +<p>He was feeling unusually well and self-important, and his thoughts +turned to pleasant things: To the delight of having Theodora once more +as a wife; of his hope of founding a family—the Browns of +Bessington—why not? Had not a boy at the gate called him squire?</p> + +<p>"Good-day to 'e, squire," he had said, and that was pleasant to hear.</p> + +<p>If only his tiresome cough would keep off in the autumn, he might +himself shoot the extensive coverts he had ordered to be stocked on the +estate. He had heard there were schools for would-be sportsmen to learn +the art of handling a gun, and he would make inquiries.</p> + +<p>All the prospect was fair.</p> + +<p>He picked up his letters and turned them over. Nothing of importance. +<a name="Page_323" id="Page_323"></a>Ah, yes! there was Theodora's. The first letter she had ever written +him, and such a long one! What could the girl have to say? Surely not +all that about trains! He opened the envelope with a knife which lay by +his plate, and this is what he read—read with whitening face and +sinking heart:</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"<span class="smcap">Beechleigh</span>, <i>June 5th</i>.</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"<span class="smcap">Hector, my beloved!</span>—Oh, for this last time I must think +of you as that! Dearest, we are parted now and may never meet +again, and the pain of it all kept me silent yesterday, when my +heart was breaking with the anguish and longing to tell you how I +loved you, how you were not going away suffering alone. Oh, it has +all crept upon us, this great, great love! It was fate, and it was +useless to struggle against it. Only we must not let it be the +reason of our doing wrong—that would be to degrade it, and love +should not live in an atmosphere of degradation. I could not go +away with you, could not have you for my lover without breaking a +bargain—a bargain over which I have given my word. Of course I did +not know what love meant when I was married. In France one does not +think of that as connected with a husband. It was just a duty to be +got through to help papa and my sisters. But my part of the bargain +was myself, and in return for giving that I have money and a home, +and papa and Sarah and Clementine are comfortable and happy. And as +Josiah has kept his side of it, so I must keep mine, and be +<a name="Page_324" id="Page_324"></a>faithful to him always in word and deed. Dearest, it is too +terrible to think of this material aspect to a bond which now I +know should only be one of love and faith and tenderness. But it +<i>is</i> a bond, and I have given my word, and no happiness could come +to us if I should break it, <i>as Josiah has not broken his</i>. And oh, +Hector, you do not know how good he has always been to me, and +generous and indulgent! It is not his fault that he is not of our +class, and I must do my utmost to make him happy, and atone for +this wound which I have unwittingly given him, and which he is, and +must always remain, unconscious of. Oh, if something could have +warned me, after that first time we met, that I would love you—had +begun to love you—even then there would have been time to draw +back, to save us both, perhaps, from suffering. And yet, and yet, I +do not know, we might have missed the greatest and noblest good of +all our lives. Dearest, I want you to keep the memory of me as +<a name="Page_325" id="Page_325"></a>something happy. Each year, when the spring-time comes and the +young fresh green, I want you to look back on our day at +Versailles, and to say to yourself, 'Life cannot be all sad, +because nature gave the earth the returning spring.' And some> +spring must come for us, too—if only in our hearts.</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"And now, O my beloved, good-bye! I cannot even tell to you the +anguish which is wringing my heart. It is all summed up in this. I +love you! I love you! and we must say forever a farewell!</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"<span class="smcap">Theodora.</span></p> + +<p class="blockquot">"P.S.—I am sending this to your home."</p> + +<p>As he read the last words the paper slipped from Josiah's nerveless +hands, and for many minutes he sat as one stricken blind and dumb. Then +his poor, plebeian figure seemed to crumple up, and with an inarticulate +cry of rage and despair he fell forward, with his head upon his +out-stretched arms across the breakfast-table.</p> + +<p>How long he remained there he never knew. It seemed a whole lifetime +later when he began to realize things—to know where he was—to +remember.</p> + +<p>"Oh, God!" he said. "Oh, God!"</p> +<p><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326"></a></p> +<p>He picked up the letter and read it all over again, weighing every word.</p> + +<p>Who was this thief who had stolen his wife? Hector? Hector? Yes, it was +Lord Bracondale; he remembered now he had heard him called that at +Beechleigh. He would like to kill him. But was he a thief, after all? or +was not—he—Josiah the thief? To have stolen her happiness, and her +life. Her young life that might have been so fair, though how did he +know that at the time! He had never thought of such things. She was what +he desired, and he had bought her with gold. No, he was not a thief, he +had bought her with gold, and because of that she was going to keep to +her bargain, and make him a true and faithful wife.</p> + +<p>"Oh, God!" he said again. "Oh, God!"</p> + +<p>Presently the business method of his life came back to him and helped +him. He must think this matter over carefully and see if there was any +way out. It all looked black enough—his future, that but an hour ago +had seemed so full of promise. He rang for the waiter and gave orders to +have the breakfast things taken away. That accomplished, he requested +that he should not be disturbed upon any pretext whatsoever. And then, +drawn up to his writing-table, he began deliberately to think.</p> + +<p>Yes, from the beginning Theodora had been good and meek and docile. He +remembered a thousand gentle, unselfish things she had done for him. Her +patience, her kindness, her unfailing sympathy in all his ills, the +considerat<a name="Page_327" id="Page_327"></a>ion and respect with which she treated him. When—when could +this thing have begun? In Paris? Only these short weeks ago—was love so +sudden a passion as that? Then he turned to the letter again and once +more read it through. Poor Theodora, poor little girl, he thought. His +anger was gone now; nothing remained but an intolerable pain. And this +lord—of her own class—her own class! How that thought hurt. What of +him? He was handsome and young, and just the mate for Theodora. And she +had said good-bye to him, and was going to do her best to make +him—Josiah—happy. He gave a wild laugh. Oh, the mockery of it all, the +mockery of it all! Well, if she could renounce happiness to keep her +word, what could he do for her in return? She must never know of the +mistake she had made in putting the letters into the wrong envelopes. +That he could save her from. But the man? He would know—for he must +have got the note intended for him—Josiah. What must be done about +that? He thought and thought. And at last he drew a sheet of paper +forward and wrote, in his neat, clerklike hand, just a few lines.</p> + +<p>And these were they:</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"<span class="smcap">My Lord</span>,—You will have received, I presume, a +communication addressed to you and intended for me. The enclosed +speaks for itself. I send it to you because it is my duty to do so. +If I were a young man, though I am not of your class, I would kill +you. But I am growing old, and my day is over. All I ask of you is +never, <i><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328"></a><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329"></a><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330"></a>under any circumstances</i>, to let my wife know of her +mistake about the letters. I do not wish to grieve her, or cause +her more suffering than you have already brought upon her.</p> +<p><span style="margin-left: 12em;">"Believe me,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 15.5em;">"Yours faithfully,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 20.5em;">"<span class="smcap">Josiah Brown</span>."</span><br /></p> + +<p>Then he got down the <i>Peerage</i> and found the correct form of +superscription he must place upon the envelope.</p> + +<p>He folded the two letters, his own and Theodora's, and, slipping them +in, sealed the packet with his great seal which was graven with a deep +J.B. And lest he should change his mind, he rang the bell for the +waiter, and had it despatched to the post at once—to be sent by +express. If possible it must reach Lord Bracondale at the same time as +the other letter—Theodora's letter to himself in the wrong envelope.</p> + +<p>And then poor Josiah subsided into his chair again, and suffered and +suffered. He was conscious of nothing else—just intense, overwhelming +suffering.</p> + +<p>When his secretary, from his office in the City, came in about +luncheon-time to transact some important business<a name="Page_331" id="Page_331"></a>, he was horrified and +distressed to see the change in his patron; for Josiah looked crumpled +and shrivelled and old.</p> + +<p>"I caught a chill coming from Bessington last night," he explained, "and +I will send for Toplington to give me a draught if you will kindly touch +the bell."</p> + +<p>Then he tried to concentrate his mind on his affairs and get through the +day. But the gray look kept growing and growing, and the secretary +decided towards evening to suggest sending for Theodora. Josiah, +however, would not hear of this. He was not ill, he said, it was merely +a chill; he would be quite restored by a night's rest, and Mrs. Brown +would be with him, anyway, in the morning. Of what use to alarm her +unnecessarily. But he had unfortunately mislaid her letter with the +exact time of her train, so he had better telegraph to her before six +o'clock to make sure. He wrote it out himself. Just:</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"Stupidly mislaid your letter. What time did you say for the +carriage to meet your train? +<span style="margin-left: 15.5em;">"<span class="smcap">Josiah</span>."</span></p> + +<p>And about eight o'clock her reply came, and then he went to bed, +wondering if he had reached the summit of human suffering or if there +would be more to come.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332"></a></p> +<h2><a name="XXIX" id="XXIX"></a>XXIX</h2> + + +<p>Late that night, in the old panelled library at Bracondale, Hector +walked up and down. He, too, was suffering, suffering intensely, his +only grain of comfort being that he was alone. His mother was away in +the north with Anne, and he had the place to himself. In his hand was +Theodora's letter. As Josiah had calculated, knowing cross-country +posts, both his and hers had arrived at the same time.</p> + +<p>Hector paced and paced up and down, his thoughts maddening him.</p> + +<p>And so three people were unhappy now—not he and his beloved one alone. +This was the greater calamity.</p> + +<p>But how he had misjudged Josiah! The common, impossible husband had +behaved with a nobility, a justice, and forbearance which he knew his +own passionate nature would not have been capable of. It had touched him +to the core, and he had written at once in reply, enclosing Theodora's +letter about the arrival of the train.</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>,—I am overcome with your generosity and your +<a name="Page_333" id="Page_333"></a>justice. I thank you for your letter and for your magnanimity in +forwarding the enclosure it contained. I understand and appreciate +the sentiment you express when you say, had you been younger you +would have killed me, and I on my side would have been happy to +offer you any satisfaction you might have wished, and am ready to +do so now if you desire it. At the same time, I would like you to +know, in deed, I have never injured you. My deep and everlasting +grief will be that I have brought pain and sorrow into the life of +a lady who is very dear to us both. My own life is darkened forever +as well, and I am going away out of England for a long time as soon +as I can make my arrangements. I will respect your desire never to +inform your wife of her mistake, and I will not trouble either of +you again. Only, by a later post, I intend to answer her letter and +say farewell.</p> +<p><span style="margin-left: 14em;">"Believe me,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 17em;">"Yours truly,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 18.5em;">"<span class="smcap">Bracondale</span>."</span><br /></p> + +<p>This he had despatched some hours ago, but his last good-bye to Theodora +was not yet written. What could he say to her? How could he tell her of +all the misery and anguish, all the pain which was racking his being; +he, who knew life and most things it could hold, and so could judge of +the fact that nothing, nothing, counted now but herself—and they should +meet no more, and it was the end. A blank, absolute end to all joy. +Nothing to exist upon but the remembrance of an h<a name="Page_334" id="Page_334"></a>our or two's bliss and +a few tender kisses.</p> + +<p>And as Josiah had done, he could only say: "Oh, God! Oh, God!"</p> + +<p>On top of his large escritoire there stood a minute and very perfect +copy of the fragment of Psyche, which he had so intensely admired. He +turned to it now as his only consolation; the likeness to Theodora was +strong; the exact same form of face, and the way her hair grew; the pure +line of the cheek, and the angle which the head was set on to the column +of her throat—all might have been chiselled from her. How often had he +seen her looking down like that. Perhaps the only difference at all was +that Theodora's nose was fine, and not so heavy and Greek; otherwise he +had her there in front of him—his Theodora, his gift of the gods, his +Psyche, his soul. And wherever he should wander—if in wildest Africa or +furthest India, in Alaska or Tibet—this little fragment of white marble +should bear him company.</p> + +<p>It calmed him to look at it—the beautiful Greek thing.</p> + +<p>And he sat down and wrote to his loved one his good-bye.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 347px;"> +<img src="images/illus4.png" width="347" height="558" alt="What Could He Say to Her." title="What Could He Say to Her." /> +<span class="caption">What Could He Say to Her.</span> +</div> +<p><a name="illus4"></a></p> + +<p>He told her of his sorrow and his love, and how he was going away +from England, he did not yet know where, and should be absent many +months, and how forever his thoughts from distant lands would bridge the +space between them, and surround her with tenderness and worship.</p> + +<p>And her letter, he said, should never leave him—her two letters; they +should be dearer to him than his life. He prayed her to take care of +herself, and if at any time she should want him to send for him from the +ends of the earth. Bracondale would always find him, sooner or later, +and he was hers to order as she willed.</p> +<p><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335"></a></p> +<p>And as he had ended his letter before, so he ended this one now:</p> + + +<p>"For ever and ever your devoted<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">"<span class="smcap">Lover</span>."</span><br /></p> + + +<p>After this he sat a long time and gazed out upon the night. It was very +dark and cloudy, but in one space above his head two stars shone forth +for a moment in a clear peep of sky, and they seemed to send him a +message of hope. What hope? Was it, as she had said, the thought that +there would be a returning spring—even for them?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXX" id="XXX"></a>XXX</h2> + + +<p>And the summer wore away and the dripping autumn came, and with each +week, each day almost, Josiah seemed to shrivel.</p> + +<p>It was not very noticeable at first, after the ten days of sharp illness +which had prostrated him when he received the fatal letter.</p> + +<p>He appeared <a name="Page_336" id="Page_336"></a>to recover almost from that, and they went down to +Bessington Hall at the beginning of July. But there was no further talk +of a second honeymoon.</p> + +<p>Theodora's tenderness and devotion never flagged. If her heart was +broken she could at least keep her word, and try to make her husband +happy. And so each one acted a part, with much zeal for the other's +welfare.</p> + +<p>It was anguish to Josiah to see his wife's sweet face grow whiter and +thinner; she was so invariably bright and cheerful with him, so +considerate of his slightest wish.</p> + +<p>His pride and affection for her had turned into a sort of adoration as +the days wore on. He used to watch her silently from behind a paper, or +when she thought he slept. Then the mask of smiles fell from her, and he +saw the pathetic droop of her young, fair head and the mournful gloom +that would creep into her great, blue eyes.</p> + +<p>And he was the stumbling-block to her happiness. She had sent away the +man she loved in order to stay and be true to him, to minister to his +wants, and do her utmost to render him happy. Oh, what could he do for +her in return? What possible thing?</p> + +<p>He lavished gifts upon her; he lavished <a name="Page_337" id="Page_337"></a>gifts upon her sisters, upon her +father; their welfare, he remembered, was part of the bargain. At least +she would know these—her dear ones—had gained by it, and, so far, her +sacrifice had not been in vain.</p> + +<p>This thought comforted him a little. But the constant gnawing ache at +his heart, and the withdrawal of all object to live for, soon began to +tell upon his always feeble constitution.</p> + +<p>Of what use was anything at all? His house or his lands! His pride in +his position—even his title of "squire," which he often heard now. All +were dead-sea fruit, dust and ashes; there never would be any Browns of +Bessington in the years to come. There never would be anything for him, +never any more.</p> + +<p>For a week in September Captain and Mrs. Dominic Fitzgerald had paid +them a visit, and the brilliant bride had cheered them up for a little +and seemed to bring new life with her. She expressed herself as +completely satisfied with her purchase in the way of a husband; it was +just as she had known, three was a lucky number for her, and Dominic was +her soul's mate, and they were going to lead the life they both loved, +of continual movement and change and gayety.</p> + +<p>But the situation at Bessington distressed her.</p> + +<p>"Why, my dear, they are just like a couple of sick paroquets," she said +to her husband. "Mr. Brown don't look long for this world, and Theodora +is a shadow! What in the Lord's name has been happening to them?"</p> + +<p>But Dominic could not enlighten her. Be<a name="Page_338" id="Page_338"></a>fore they left she determined to +ascertain for herself.</p> + +<p>The last evening she said to Theodora, who was bidding her good-night in +her room:</p> + +<p>"I had a letter from your friend Lord Bracondale last week, from Alaska. +He asks for news of you. Did you see him after he came from Paris? He +was only a short<a name="Page_339" id="Page_339"></a> while in England, I understand."</p> + +<p>"Yes, we saw him once or twice," said Theodora, "and we made the +acquaintance of his sister."</p> + +<p>"He always seemed to be very fond of her. Is she a nice sort of woman?"</p> + +<p>"Very nice."</p> + +<p>"I hear the mother is clean crazy with him for going off again and not +marrying that heiress they are so set upon. But why should he? He don't +want the money."</p> + +<p>"No," said Theodora.</p> + +<p>"Was he at Beechleigh when you were there?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And Miss Winmarleigh, too?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, she was there."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Mrs. Fitzgerald. "A great lump of a woman, isn't she?"</p> + +<p>"She is rather large."</p><p><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340"></a></p> + +<p>This was hopeless—a conversation of this sort—Jane Fitzgerald decided. +It told her nothing.</p> + +<p>Theodora's face had become so schooled it did not, even to her +step-mother's sharp eyes, betray any emotion.</p> + +<p>"I am glad if the folly is over," she thought to herself. "But I +shouldn't wonder if it Wasn't something to do with it still, after all. +If it is not that, what can it be?" Then she said aloud: "He is going +through America, and we shall meet him when we get back in November, +most likely. I shall persuade him to come down to Florida with us, if I +can. He seems to be aimlessly wandering round, I suppose, shooting +things; but Florida is the loveliest place in the world, and I wish you +and Josiah would come, too, my dear."</p> + +<p>"That would be beautiful," said Theodora, "but Josiah is not fit for a +long journey. We shall go to the Riviera, most probably, when the +weather gets cold."</p> + +<p>"Have you no message for him then, Theodora, when I see him?"</p> + +<p>And now there was some sign. Theodora clasped her hands together, and +she said in a constrained voice:</p> +<p><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341"></a></p> +<p>"Yes. Tell him I hope he is well—and I am well—just that," and she +walked ever to the dressing-table and picked up a brush, and put it down +again nervously.</p> + +<p>"I shall tell him no such thing," said her step-mother, kindly, "because +I don't believe it is true. You are not well, dear child, and I am +worried about you."</p> + +<p>But Theodora assured her that she was, and all was as it should be, and +nothing further could be got out of her; so they kissed and wished each +other good-night. And Jane Fitzgerald, left to herself, heaved a great +sigh.</p> + +<p>Next day, after this cheery pair had gone, things seemed to take a +deeper gloom.</p> + +<p>The mention of Hector's name and whereabouts had roused Theodora's +dormant sorrows into activity again; and with all her will and +determination to hide her anguish, Josiah could perceive an added note +of pathos in her voice at times and less and less elasticity in her +step.</p> + +<p>Once he would have noticed none of these things, but now each shade of +difference in her made its impression upon him.</p> +<p><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342"></a></p> +<p>And so the time wore on, their hearts full of an abiding grief.</p> + +<p>When October set in Josiah caught a bad cold, which obliged him to keep +to his bed for days and days. He did not seem very ill, and assured his +wife he would be all right soon; but by November, Sir Baldwin Evans, who +was sent for hurriedly from London, broke it gently to Theodora that her +husband could not live through the winter. He might not even live for +many days. Then she wept bitter tears. Had she been remiss in anything? +What could she do for him? Oh, poor Josiah!</p> + +<p>And Josiah knew that his day was done, as he lay there in his splendid, +silk-curtained bed. But life had become of such small worth to him that +he was almost glad.</p> + +<p>"Now, soon she can be happy—my little girl," he said to himself, "with +the one of her class. It does not do to mix them, and I was a fool to +try. But her heart is too kind ever to quite forget poor old Josiah +Brown."</p> + +<p>And this thought comforted him. And that night he died.</p> + +<p>Then Theodora wept her heart out as she kissed his cold, thin hand.</p> + +<p>When they got the telegram in New York at Mrs. Fitzgerald's mansion, +Hector was just leaving the house, and Captain Fitzgerald ran after him +down the steps.</p> + +<p>"My son-in-law, Josiah Brown, is dead," he said. "My wife thought you +would be interested to hear. Poor fellow, he was not very old +either—only fifty-two."</p> + +<p>Hector almost staggered for a moment, and leaned against the gilded +balustrade. Then he took off his hat reverently, while he said, in his +deep, expressive voice:</p> + +<p>"There lived no greater gentleman."</p> + +<p>And Captain Fitzgerald wondered if he were mad or what he could mean, +as he watched him stride away down the street.</p> + +<p>But when he told his wife, she understood, for she had just learned from +Hector the whole story.</p> + +<p>And perhaps—who knows? Far away in Shadowland Josiah heard those words, +"There lived no greater gentleman." And if he did—they fell like balm +on his sad soul.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXXI" id="XXXI"></a>XXXI</h2> + + +<p>It was eighteen months after this before they met again—Hector and +Theodora; and now it was May, and the flowers bloomed and the birds +sang, and all the world was young and fair—only Morella Winmarleigh was +growing into a bitter old maid.</p> + +<p>At twenty-eight people might have taken her for a matron of ten years +older.</p> + +<p>She had wondered for weeks what was the result of her action with the +letters. She hoped daily to hear of some catastrophe and scandal falling +upon the head of Theodora. But she heard nothing. It was only after +Josiah's death that details were wafted to her through the Fitzgeralds.</p> +<p><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343"></a></p> +<p>How poor Mr. Brown had never really recovered from a slight stroke he +had had on leaving Beechleigh, and of Theodora's goodness and devotion +to him, and of his worship of her. And Morella had the maddening feeling +that if she had left well alone this death might never have occurred, +and her hated rival might not now be a free and beautiful widow, with +no impediment between herself and Hector when they should choose to +meet.</p> + +<p>She had meant to be revenged and punish them, and it seemed she had only +cleared their path to happiness. There was really no justice in this +world!</p> + +<p>Theodora had gone to meet her father and step-mother in Paris.</p> + +<p>Her sisters were married and very happy, she hoped. Prosperity had +wonderfully embellished their attractions, and even Sarah had found a +mate.</p> + +<p>And Lady Bracondale remained her placid, stately self. Her grief and +disappointment over Hector's departure from England had passed away by +now, as so had her treasured dream of receiving Morella Winmarleigh as a +daughter. But Anne whispered to her that she need not worry forever, and +some day soon her brother might choose a bride whom even she would love.</p> + +<p>Hector had continued his wanderings over the world for many months after +Josiah's death. He felt, should he return to England, nothing could keep +him from Theodora.</p> + +<p>And she, too, had travelled and explored fresh scenes, and was now a +supremely beautiful and experienced woman—courted and flattered, and +besieged by many adorers.</p> + +<p>But she was still Theodora, with only one love in her heart and one +dream in her soul—to meet Hector again and spend the rest of her life +in the shelter of his arms.</p> + +<p>She heard of him often through her step-mother; and sometimes she saw +Anne—and both Hector and she understood, and knew the time would come +when they could be happy.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344"></a></p><p>Jane Anastasia Fitzgerald had romantic notions. This pretty pair, whom +she looked upon as of her own producing, must meet again under her +auspices in like circumstances as they had done on the happy and +never-to-be-forgotten day when she herself had promised her heart and +hand to Dominic Fitzgerald.</p> + +<p>"There is something lucky about Versailles," she said, "and they shall +experience it, too!"</p> + +<p>So she planned a picnic, and arranged it with Hector before he reached +Paris. He was not to show himself or communicate with Theodora; he was +just to be there at the Réservoirs and wait for their arrival.</p> + +<p>And the gods smiled—and the day was fine—and the trees were green—as +had been another day, two years ago.</p> + +<p>And oh, the wild, mad joy that surged up in their hearts when their eyes +met once more!</p> + +<p>They could not speak, it seemed, even the words of politeness; so they +wandered away into the spring woods, silent and glad; and it was not +until they reached the shrine of old Enceladus that Hector clasped +Theodora again in his arms, and gave rein to all the passionate love and +delirious happiness which was flooding his being.</p> + +<p>There one can leave them—together—for always—looking out upon the +realization of that fair dream of life.</p> + +<p>Safe in each other's arms, in those smooth waters, beyond the rocks.</p> + +<p class="center">THE END</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="A_beautifully_illustrated_edition_of" id="A_beautifully_illustrated_edition_of"></a>A beautifully illustrated edition of</h2> + +<h3>THREE WEEKS</h3> + +<h5>The Famous Romantic Novel</h5> + +<h4>By Elinor Glyn</h4> + +<p>Now ready at the same price as "Beyond the Rocks"</p> +<p><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345"></a></p> +<p>The world has felt upon its hot lips the perfumed kisses of the +beautiful heroine of "Three Weeks." The brilliant flame that was her +life has blazed a path into every corner of the globe. It is a +world-renowned novel of consuming emotion that has made the name of its +author, Elinor Glyn, the most discussed of all writers of modern +fiction.</p> + +<p>WHAT THE CRITICS HAVE SAID ABOUT IT</p> + +<p>Percival Pollard in <i>Town Topics</i>:</p> + +<p>"It is a book to make one forget that the world is gray. Be as sad, as +sane as you like, for all the other days of your life, but steal one mad +day, I adjure you, and read 'Three Weeks.'"</p> + +<p><i>The Western Christian Advocate</i>:</p> + +<p>"The power and beauty of its descriptions and the pathos of its scenes +are undeniable."</p> + +<p><i>The Brooklyn Eagle</i>:</p> + +<p>"A cleverly told tale, full of dainty sentiment, of poetic dreaming and +dramatic incident."</p> + +<p><i>The San Francisco Argonaut</i>:</p> + +<p>"We feel inclined to throw at her (the heroine) neither stones nor +laurels, but rather to congratulate the author upon a powerful story +that lays a grip upon the mind and heart."</p> + +<p><i>The Detroit Free Press</i>:</p> + +<p>"No wonder that 'Three Weeks' is one of the best sellers."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><b>They Were Alone....</b></p> + +<p>The magic of the desert night had closed about them. Cairo, +friends,—civilization as she knew it—were left far behind. She, an +unbeliever, was in the heart of the trackless wastes with a man whose +word was more than law.</p> + +<p>And yet, he was her slave!</p> + +<p>"I shall ask nothing of you until you shall love me," he promised. "You +shall draw your curtains, and until you call, you shall go undisturbed."</p> + +<p>And she believed him!</p> + +<p>Do you want to see luxury beyond your imagination to conjure,—feel the +softness of silks finer than the gossamer web of the spider—hear the +night voices of the throbbing desert, or sway to the jolting of the +clanking caravan?</p> + +<p>Egypt, Arabia pass before your eyes. The impatient cursing of the camel +men comes to your ears. Your nostrils quiver in the acrid smoke of the +little fires of dung that flare in the darkness when the caravan halts. +The night has shut off prying eyes. Yashmaks are lowered. White flesh +gleams against burnished bands of gold. The children of Allah are at +home.</p><p><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346"></a></p> + +<p>And the promise he had given her?...let Joan Conquest, who knows and +loves the East, tell you in</p> + +<p><b>DESERT LOVE</b></p> + +<p><i>For sale wherever books are sold, or from</i></p> + +<p><b>The Macaulay Company</b></p> + +<p><b>PUBLISHERS</b></p> + +<p><b>15-17 W. 38th St.</b> <b>New York</b></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><i><b>"I have owned a hundred women!"</b></i> he answered defiantly.</p> + +<p>The girl recoiled as from a blow. Was this man who paraded his conquests +before her the same one who had feasted so freely on her lips that +moonlit night in Grand Canary?</p> + +<p>She was his prisoner now. He had stolen her and brought her to his +stronghold in the desert. Her father was also a captive. Pansy Langham's +life had crashed in ruins about her. What good were her millions now? +The mask had been removed. Raoul Le-Breton was the Sultan Casim El +Ammeh!—a Mohammedan!</p> + +<p>And yet she wanted no man's kisses but his. Love for him consumed her, +but race and religion stood between them.</p> + +<p>Little did she guess that the Arab had foreseen this minute, that he had +trailed her father, Sir George for fifteen years. The Englishman, a +captain at the time, had killed his father. Casim El Ammeh had not +forgotten. Revenge was his at last!</p> + +<p>He had intended having his way with her and then selling her as a +slave—a fate more cruel than a white man could conceive. But love—an +emotion an Arab scoffs at—had come to thwart him. Was he to forego his +oath of an eye for an eye, or open the doors of his harem and seek +forgetfulness?</p> + +<p><i>Read</i></p> + +<p><b>A Son of the Sahara</b></p> + +<p><b>By Louise Gerard</b></p> + +<p>Who gives you the real thrill of the Great Desert</p> + +<p><i>For Sale wherever books are sold or from</i></p> + +<p><b>THE MACAULAY COMPANY</b></p> + +<p><b>PUBLISHERS</b></p> + +<p><b>15-17 W. 38th Street</b> <b>New York</b></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3>FAMOUS NOVELS BY VICTORIA CROSS</h3> + +<p><b>LIFE'S SHOP WINDOW</b></p> + +<p>It tears the garments of conventionality from woman, presenting her as +she must appear to the Divine Eye.</p> + +<p><b>HILDA AGAINST THE WORLD</b></p> + +<p>Fancy a married man, denied divorce by law, falling desperately in love +with a charming maiden waiting for love.</p> + +<p><b>A GIRL OF THE KLONDIKE</b></p> + +<p>A stirring story of love, intrigue and adventure, woven about a proud, +reckless heroine.</p> + +<p><b>SIX WOMEN</b></p> + +<p>A half-dozen of the most vivid love stories that ever lit up the dusk of +a tired civilization.</p> + +<p><b>THE NIGHT OF TEMPTATION</b></p> + +<p>The self-sacrifice of woman in love. Regina, the heroine, gives herself +to a man for his own sake. The world, however, exacts a severe price for +her unconventional conduct.</p> + +<p><b>SIX CHAPTERS OF A MAN'S LIFE</b></p> + +<p>A bold, brilliant, defiant presentation of the relations of men and +women who find themselves in situations never before conceived.</p> + +<p><b>TO-MORROW</b></p> + +<p>A daring innovation of great strength and almost photographic intensity, +that appeals to the lovers of sensational fiction; wise, witty, yet +touchingly pathetic.</p> + +<p><b>DAUGHTERS OF HEAVEN</b></p> + +<p>As life cannot be described, but must be lived, so this book cannot be +revealed—it must be read. Its daring situations and tense moments will +thrill you.</p> + +<p><b>OVER LIFE'S EDGE</b></p> + +<p>No one but Victoria Cross could have written this thrilling tale of a +girl who left the gayeties of London to dwell in a lonely cavern until +the man, who loved her with the passion of impetuous youth, found her.</p> + +<p><b>THE LIFE SENTENCE</b></p> + +<p>A beautifully written story, full of life, nature, passion and pathos. +The weaknesses of a proud, cultured woman lead to a strange climax.</p> + +<p><b>THE MACAULAY COMPANY</b></p> + +<p><b>15-17 West 38th Street</b> <b>New York</b></p> + +<p><b>Send for Free Illustrated Catalog</b></p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Beyond The Rocks, by Elinor Glyn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEYOND THE ROCKS *** + +***** This file should be named 16692-h.htm or 16692-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/9/16692/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Verity White and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Beyond The Rocks + A Love Story + +Author: Elinor Glyn + +Release Date: September 14, 2005 [EBook #16692] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEYOND THE ROCKS *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Verity White and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +_Beyond the Rocks_ + + +[Illustration: Rodolph Valentino, as Lord Bracondale and Elinor Glyn, +the author.] + + +_Beyond the Rocks + +A Love Story + +by + +Elinor Glyn + +Author of +"Three Weeks" + +With illustrations +From the Paramount Photo-Play + +Produced by +Famous Players-Lasky Corp. + +starring +Gloria Swanson with Rodolph Valentino + +New York +The Macaulay Company_ +Printed in the U.S.A. + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE + +Rodolph Valentino, as Lord Bracondale and Elinor Glyn, the +author _Frontispiece_ + +"She Wondered What Love Was--" 8 + +"Once Upon a Time There Was a Fairy Prince and Princess--" 96 + +What Could He Say to Her-- 314 + + + + +_Beyond the Rocks_ + + + + +I + + +The hours were composed mostly of dull or rebellious moments during the +period of Theodora's engagement to Mr. Brown. From the very first she +had thought it hard that she should have had to take this situation, +instead of Sarah or Clementine, her elder step-sisters, so much nearer +his age than herself. To do them justice, either of these ladies would +have been glad to relieve her of the obligation to become Mrs. Brown, +but Mr. Brown thought otherwise. + +A young and beautiful wife was what he bargained for. + +To enter a family composed of three girls--two of the first family, one +almost thirty and a second very plain--a father with a habit of +accumulating debts and obliged to live at Bruges and inexpensive foreign +sea-side towns, required a strong motive; and this Josiah Brown found +in the deliciously rounded, white velvet cheek of Theodora, the third +daughter, to say nothing of her slender grace, the grace of a young +fawn, and a pair of gentian-blue eyes that said things to people in the +first glance. + +Poor, foolish, handsome Dominic Fitzgerald, light-hearted, debonair +Irish gentleman, gay and gallant on his miserable pension of a broken +and retired Guardsman, had had just sufficient sense to insist upon +magnificent settlements, certainly prompted thereto by Clementine, who +inherited the hard-headedness of the early defunct Scotch mother, as +well as her high cheek-bones. That affair had been a youthful +_mesalliance_. + +"You had better see we all gain something by it, papa," she had said. +"Make the old bore give Theodora a huge allowance, and have it all fixed +and settled by law beforehand. She is such a fool about money--just like +you--she will shower it upon us; and you make him pay you a sum down as +well." + +Captain Fitzgerald fortunately consulted an honest solicitor, and so +things were arranged to the satisfaction of all parties concerned except +Theodora herself, who found the whole affair far from her taste. + +That one must marry a rich man if one got the chance, to help poor, +darling papa, had always been part of her creed, more or less inspired +by papa himself. But when it came to the scratch, and Josiah Brown was +offered as a husband, Theodora had had to use every bit of her nerve and +self-control to prevent herself from refusing. + +She had not seen many men in her nineteen years of out-at-elbows life, +but she had imagination, and the one or two peeps at smart old friends +of papa's, landed from stray yachts now and then, at out-of-the-way +French watering-places, had given her an ideal far, far removed from the +personality of Josiah Brown. + +But, as Sarah explained to her, such men could never be husbands. They +might be lovers, if one was fortunate enough to move in their sphere, +but husbands--never! and there was no use Theodora protesting this +violent devotion to darling papa, if she could not do a small thing like +marrying Josiah Brown for him! + +Theodora's beautiful mother, dead in the first year of her runaway +marriage, had been the daughter of a stiff-necked, unforgiving old earl; +she had bequeathed her child, besides these gentian eyes and wonderful, +silvery blond hair, a warm, generous heart and a more or less romantic +temperament. + +The heart was touched by darling papa's needs, and the romantic +temperament revolted by Josiah Brown's personality. + +However, there it was! The marriage took place at the Consulate at +Dieppe, and a perfectly miserable little bride got into the train for +Paris, accompanied by a fat, short, prosperous, middle-class English +husband, who had accumulated a large fortune in Australia, quite by +accident, in a comparatively few years. + +Josiah Brown was only fifty-two, though his head was bald and his figure +far from slight. He had a liver, a chest, and a temper, and he adored +Theodora. + +Captain Fitzgerald had felt a few qualms when he had wished his little +daughter good-bye on the platform and had seen the blue stars swimming +with tears. The two daughters left to him were so plain, and he hated +plain people about him; but, on the other hand, women must marry, and +what chance had he, poor, unlucky devil, of establishing his Theodora +better in life? + +Josiah Brown was a good fellow, and he, Dominic Fitzgerald, had for the +first time for many years a comfortable balance at his bankers, and +could run up to Paris himself in a few days, and who knows, the American +widow, fabulously rich--Jane Anastasia McBride--might take him +seriously! + +Captain Dominic Fitzgerald was irresistible, and had that fortunate +knack of looking like a gentleman in the oldest clothes. If married for +the third time--but this time prosperously, to a fabulously rich +American--his well-born relations would once more welcome him with open +arms, he felt sure, and visions of the best pheasant shoots at old +Beechleigh, and partridge drives at Rothering Castle floated before his +eyes, quite obscuring the fading smoke of the Paris train. + +"A pretty tough, dull affair marriage," he said to himself, reminded +once more of Theodora by treading on a white rose in the station. "Hope +to Heavens Sarah prepared her for it a bit." Then he got into a _fiacre_ +and drove to the hotel, where he and the two remaining Misses Fitzgerald +were living in the style of their forefathers. + +Josiah Brown's valet, Mr. Toplington, who knew the world, had engaged +rooms for the happy couple at the Grand Hotel. "We'll go to the Ritz on +our way back," he decided, "but at first, in case there's scenes and +tears, it's better to be a number than a name." Mademoiselle Henriette, +the freshly engaged French maid, quite agreed with him. The Grand, she +said, was "_plus convenable pour une lune de Miel_--" Lune de Miel! + + + + +II + + +It was a year later before Theodora saw her family again. A very severe +attack of bronchitis, complicated by internal catarrh, prostrated Josiah +Brown in the first days of their marriage, and had turned her into a +superintendent nurse for the next three months; by that time a winter at +Hyeres was recommended by the best physicians, and off they started. + +Hyeres, with a semi-invalid, a hospital nurse, and quantities of +medicine bottles and draught-protectors, is not the ideal place one +reads of in guide-books. Theodora grew to hate the sky and the blue +Mediterranean. She used to sit on her balcony at Costebelle and gaze at +the olive-trees, and the deep-green velvet patch of firs beyond, towards +the sea, and wonder at life. + +She longed to go to the islands--anywhere beyond--and one day she read +_Jean d'Agreve_; and after that she wondered what Love was. It took a +mighty hold upon her imagination. It seemed to her it must mean Life. + +It was the beginning of May before Josiah Brown thought of leaving for +Paris. England would be their destination, but the doctors assured him a +month of Paris would break the change of climate with more safety than +if they crossed the Channel at once. + +Costebelle was a fairyland of roses as they drove to the station, and +peace had descended upon Theodora. She had fallen into her place, a +place occupied by many wives before her with irritable, hypochondriacal +husbands. + +She had often been to Paris in her maiden days; she knew it from the +point of view of a cheap boarding-house and snatched meals. But the +unchecked gayety of the air and the _facon_ had not been tarnished by +that. She had played in the Tuilleries Gardens and watched Ponchinello +at the Rond Point, and later been taken once or twice to dine at a cheap +cafe in the Bois by papa. And once she had gone to Robinson on a coach +with him and some aristocratic acquaintances of his, and eaten luncheon +up the tree, and that was a day of the gods and to be remembered. + +But now they were going to an expensive, well-managed private hotel in +the Avenue du Bois, suitable to invalids, and it poured with rain as +they drove from the Gare de Lyon. + +[Illustration: "She Wondered What Love Was."] + +All this time something in Theodora was developing. Her beautiful face +had an air of dignity. The set of her little Greek head would have +driven a sculptor wild--and Josiah Brown was very generous in money +matters, and she had always known how to wear her clothes, so it was no +wonder people stopped and turned their heads when she passed. + +Josiah Brown possessed certainly not less than forty thousand a year, +and so felt he could afford a carriage in Paris, and any other fancy he +pleased. His nerves had been too shaken by his illness to appreciate the +joys of an automobile. + +Thus, daily might be seen in the Avenue des Acacias this ill-assorted +pair, seated in a smart victoria with stepping horses, driving slowly up +and down. And a number of people took an interest in them. + +Towards the middle of May Captain Fitzgerald arrived at the Continental, +and Theodora felt her heart beat with joy when she saw his handsome, +well-groomed head. + +Oh yes, it had been indeed worth while to make papa look so prosperous +as that--so prosperous and happy--dear, gay papa! + +He was about the same age as her husband, but no one would think of +taking him for more than forty. And what a figure he had! and what +manners! And when he patted her cheek Theodora felt at once that thrill +of pride and gratification she had always experienced when he was +pleased with her, from her youngest days. + +She was almost glad Sarah and Clementine should have remained at Dieppe. +Thus she could have papa all to herself, and oh, what presents she would +send them back by him when he returned! + +Josiah Brown despised Dominic Fitzgerald, and yet stood in awe of him as +well. A man who could spend a fortune and be content to live on odds and +ends for the rest of his life must be a poor creature. But, on the other +hand, there was that uncomfortable sense of breeding about him which +once, when Captain Fitzgerald had risen to a situation of dignity during +their preliminary conversations about Theodora's hand, had made Josiah +Brown unconsciously say "Sir" to him. + +He had blushed and bitten his tongue for doing it, and had blustered and +patronized immoderately afterwards, but he never forgot the incident. +They were not birds of a feather, and never would be, though the +exquisite manners of Dominic Fitzgerald could carry any situation. + +Josiah was not altogether pleased to see his father-in-law. He even +experienced a little jealousy. Theodora's face, which generally wore a +mask of gentle, solicitous meekness for him, suddenly sparkled and +rippled with laughter, as she pinched her papa's ears, and pulled his +mustache, and purred into his neck, with joy at their meeting. + +It was that purring sound and those caressing tricks that Josiah Brown +objected to. He had never received any of them himself, and so why +should Dominic Fitzgerald? + +Captain Fitzgerald, for his part, was enchanted to clasp his beautiful +daughter once more in his arms; he had always loved Theodora, and when +he saw her so quite too desirable-looking in her exquisite clothes, he +felt a very fine fellow himself, thinking what he had done for her. + +It was not an unnatural circumstance that he should look upon the idea +of a dinner at the respectable private hotel, with his son-in-law and +daughter, as a trifle dull for Paris, or that he should have suggested a +meal at the Ritz would do them both good. + +"Come and dine with me instead, my dear child," he said, with his grand +air. "Josiah, you must begin to go out a little and shake off your +illness, my dear fellow." + +But Josiah was peevish. + +Not to-night--certainly not to-night. It was the evening he was to take +the two doses of his new medicine, one half an hour after the other, and +he could not leave the hotel. Then he saw how poor Theodora's face fell, +and one of his sparks of consideration for the feelings of others came +to him, and he announced gruffly that his wife might go with her father, +if she pleased, provided she crept into her room, which was next door to +his own, without the least noise on her return. + +"I must not be disturbed in my first sleep," he said; and Theodora +thanked him rapturously. + +It was so good of him to let her go--she would, indeed, make not the +least noise, and she danced out of the room to get ready in a way Josiah +Brown had never seen her do before. And after she had gone--Captain +Fitzgerald came back to fetch her--this fact rankled with him and +prevented his sleep for more than twenty minutes. + +"My sweet child," said Captain Fitzgerald, when he was seated beside his +daughter in her brougham, rolling down the Champs-Elysees, "you must not +be so grateful; he won't let you out again if you are." + +"Oh, papa!" said Theodora. + +They arrived at the Ritz just at the right moment. It was a lovely +night, but rather cold, so there were no diners in the garden, and the +crowd from the restaurant extended even into the hall. + +It was an immense satisfaction to Dominic Fitzgerald to walk through +them all with this singularly beautiful young woman, and to remark the +effect she produced, and his cup of happiness was full when they came +upon a party at the lower end by the door; prominent, as hostess, being +Jane Anastasia McBride--the fabulously rich American widow. + +In a second of time he reviewed the situation; a faint coldness in his +manner would be the thing to draw--and it was; for when he had greeted +Mrs. McBride without gush, and presented his daughter with the air of +just passing on, the widow implored them with great cordiality to leave +their solitary meal and join her party. Nor would she hear of any +refusal. + +The whole scene was so novel and delightful to Theodora she cared not at +all whether her father accepted or no, so long as she might sit quietly +and observe the world. + +Mrs. McBride had perceived immediately that the string of pearls round +Mrs. Josiah Brown's neck could not have cost less than nine thousand +pounds, and that her frock, although so simple, was the last and most +expensive creation of Callot Soeurs. She had always been horribly +attracted by Captain Fitzgerald, ever since that race week at Trouville +two summers ago, and fate had sent them here to-night, and she meant to +enjoy herself. + +Captain Fitzgerald acceded to her request with his usual polished ease, +and the radiant widow presented the rest of her guests to the two +new-comers. + +The tall man with the fierce beard was Prince Worrzoff, married to her +niece, Saidie Butcher. Saidie Butcher was short, and had a voice you +could hear across the room. The sleek, fair youth with the twinkling +gray eyes was an Englishman from the Embassy. The disagreeable-looking +woman in the badly made mauve silk was his sister, Lady Hildon. The +stout, hook-nosed bird of prey with the heavy gold chain was a Western +millionaire, and the smiling girl was his daughter. Then, last of all, +came Lord Bracondale--and it was when he was presented that Theodora +first began to take an interest in the party. + +Hector, fourteenth Lord Bracondale of Bracondale (as she later that +night read in the _Peerage_) was aged thirty-one years. He had been +educated at Eton and Oxford, served for some time in the Fourth +Lifeguards, been unpaid attache at St. Petersburg, was patron of five +livings, and sat in the House of Lords as Baron Bracondale; creation, +1505; seat, Bracondale Chase. Brothers, none. Sister living, Anne +Charlotte, married to the fourth Earl of Anningford. + +Theodora read all this over twice, and also even the predecessors and +collateral branches--but that was while she burned the midnight oil and +listened to the snorts and coughs of Josiah Brown, slumbering next door. + +For the time being she raised her eyes and looked into Lord +Bracondale's, and something told her they were the nicest eyes she had +ever seen in this world. + +Then when a voluble French count had rushed up, with garrulous apologies +for being late, the party was complete, and they swept into the +restaurant. + +Theodora sat between the Western millionaire and the Russian Prince, but +beyond--it was a round table, only just big enough to hold them--came +her hostess and Lord Bracondale, and two or three times at dinner they +spoke, and very often she felt his eyes fixed upon her. + +Mrs. McBride, like all American widows, was an admirable hostess; the +conversation never flagged, or the gayety for one moment. + +The Western millionaire was shrewd, and announced some quaint truths +while he picked his teeth with an audible sound. + +"This is his first visit to Europe," Princess Worrzoff said afterwards +to Theodora by way of explanation. "He is so colossally rich he don't +need to worry about such things at his time of life; but it does make me +turn to hear him." + +Captain Fitzgerald was in his element. No guest shone so brilliantly as +he. His wit was delicate, his sallies were daring, his looks were +insinuating, and his appearance was perfection. + +Theodora had every reason to tingle with pride in him, and the widow +felt her heart beat. + +"Isn't he just too bright--your father, Mrs. Brown?" she said as they +left the restaurant to have their coffee in the hall. "You must let me +see quantities of you while we are all in Paris together. It is a lovely +city; don't you agree with me?" + +And Theodora did. + +Lord Bracondale was of the same breed as Captain Fitzgerald--that is, +they neither of them permitted themselves to be superseded by any other +man with the object of their wishes. When they wanted to talk to a woman +they did, if twenty French counts or Russian princes stood in the way! +Thus it was that for the rest of the evening Theodora found herself +seated upon a sofa in close proximity to the man who had interested her +at dinner, and Mrs. McBride and Captain Fitzgerald occupied two +arm-chairs equally well placed, while the rest of the party made general +conversation. + +Hector Bracondale, among other attractions, had a charming voice; it was +deep and arresting, and he had a way of looking straight into the eyes +of the person he was talking to. + +Theodora knew at once he belonged to the tribe whom Sarah had told her +could never be husbands. + +She wondered vaguely why, all the time she was talking to him. Why had +husbands always to be bores and unattractive, and sometimes even simply +revolting, like hers? Was it because these beautiful creatures could not +be bound to any one woman? It seemed to her unsophisticated mind that +it could be very nice to be married to one of them; but there was no use +fighting against fate, and she personally was wedded to Josiah Brown. + +Lord Bracondale's conversation pleased her. He seemed to understand +exactly what she wanted to talk about; he saw all the things she saw +and--he had read _Jean d'Agreve_!--they got to that at the end of the +first half-hour, and then she froze up a little; some instinct told her +it was dangerous ground, so she spoke suddenly of the weather, in a +banal voice. + +Meanwhile, from the beginning of dinner, Lord Bracondale had been saying +to himself she was the loveliest white flower he had yet struck in a +path of varied experiences. Her eyes so innocent and true, with the +tender expression of a fawn; the perfect turn of her head and slender +pillar of a throat; her grace and gentleness, all appealed to him in a +maddening way. + +"She is asleep to the whole of life's possibilities," he thought. "What +can her husband be about, and _what_ an intoxicatingly agreeable task to +wake her up!" + +He had lived among the world where the awaking of young wives, or old +wives, or any woman who could please man, was the natural course of the +day. It never even struck him then it might be a cruel thing to do. A +woman once married was always fair game; if the husband could not retain +her affections that was his lookout. + +Hector Bracondale was not a brute, just an ordinary Englishman of the +world, who had lived and loved and seen many lands. + +He read Theodora like an open book: he knew exactly why she had talked +about the weather after _Jean d'Agreve_. It thrilled him to see her soft +eyes dreamy and luminous when they first spoke of the book, and it +flattered him when she changed the conversation. + +As for Theodora, she analyzed nothing, she only felt that perhaps she +ought not to speak about love to one of those people who could never be +husbands. + +Captain Fitzgerald, meanwhile, was making tremendous headway with the +widow. He flattered her vanity, he entertained her intelligence, and he +even ended by letting her see she was causing him, personally, great +emotion. + +At last this promising evening came to an end. The Russian Prince, with +his American Princess, got up to say good-night, and gradually the party +broke up, but not before Captain Fitzgerald had arranged to meet Mrs. +McBride at Doucet's in the morning, and give her the benefit of his +taste and experience in a further shopping expedition to buy old +bronzes. + +"We can all breakfast together at Henry's," he said, with his grand +manner, which included the whole party; and for one instant force of +habit made Theodora's heart sink with fear at the prospect of the bill, +as it had often had to do in olden days when her father gave these royal +invitations. Then she remembered she had not been sacrificed to Josiah +Brown for nothing, and that even if dear, generous papa should happen to +be a little hard up again, a few hundred francs would be nothing to her +to slip into his hand before starting. + +The rest of the party, however, declined. They were all busy elsewhere, +except Lord Bracondale and the French Count--they would come, with +pleasure, they said. + +Theodora wondered what Josiah would say. Would he go? and if not, would +he let her go? This was more important. + +"Then we shall meet at breakfast to-morrow," Lord Bracondale said, as he +helped her on with her cloak. "That will give me something to look +forward to." + +"Will it?" she said, and there was trouble in the two blue stars which +looked up at him. "Perhaps I shall not be able to come; my husband is +rather an invalid, and--" + +But he interrupted her. + +"Something tells me you will come; it is fate," he said, and his voice +was grave and tender. + +And Theodora, who had never before had the opportunity of talking about +destiny, and other agreeable subjects, with beautiful Englishmen who +could only be--lovers--felt the red blood rush to her cheeks and a +thrill flutter her heart. So she quickened her steps and kept close to +her father, who could have dispensed with this mark of affection. + +"Dearest child," he said, when they were seated in the brougham, "you +are married now and should be able to look after yourself, without +staying glued to my side so much--it is rather bourgeois." + +Poor Theodora was crushed and did not try to excuse herself. + +"I am afraid Josiah won't go, papa dear," she said, timidly; "and in +case he does not allow me to either, I want you to have these few louis, +just for the breakfast. I know how generous you are, and how difficult +things have been made for you, darling." And she nestled to his side +and slipped about eight gold pieces, which she had fortunately found in +her purse, into his hand. + +Captain Fitzgerald was still a gentleman, although a good many edges of +his sensitive perceptions had been rubbed off. + +He kissed his daughter fondly while he murmured: "Merely a loan, my pet, +merely a loan. You were always a jewel to your old father!" + +Whenever her parent accused himself of being "old," Theodora knew he was +deeply touched, and her tender heart overflowed with gladness that she +was able to smooth the path of such a darling papa. + +"I will come and see you in the morning, my child," he said, as they +stopped at the door of her hotel, "and I will manage Josiah." + +So Theodora crept up to her apartment, comforted; and in the salon it +was she caught sight of the _Peerage_. + +Josiah Brown bought one every year and travelled with it, although until +he met the Fitzgerald family he had not known a single person connected +with it; but it pleased him to be able to look up his wife's name, and +to read that her mother was the daughter of a real live earl and her +father the brother of a baronet. + +"Hector! I like the name of Hector," were the last coherent thoughts +which floated through the brain of Theodora before sleep closed her +broad, white lids. + +Meanwhile, Lord Bracondale had gone on to sup at the Cafe de Paris, with +Marion de Beauvoison and Esclarmonde de Chartres; and among the diamonds +and pearls and scents and feathers he suddenly felt a burning disgust, +and a longing to be out again in the moonlight--alone with his thoughts. + +"Mais qu'as tu, mon vieux chou?" they said. "Ce bel Hector cheri--il a +un beguin pour quelqu'un--mais ce n'est pas pour nous autres!" + + + + +III + + +Josiah Brown cut the top off his _oeuf a la coque_ with a knife at his +_premier dejeuner_ next day. The knife grated on the shell in a +determined way, and Theodora felt her heart sink at the prospect of +broaching the subject of the breakfast at the Cafe Henry. + +"I am so glad the rain has stopped," she said, nervously. "It was +raining when I woke this morning." + +"Indeed," replied Josiah. "And what kind of an evening did you pass with +that father of yours?" + +"A very pleasant one," said Theodora, crumbling her roll. "Papa met some +old friends, and we all dined together at the Ritz. I wish you had been +able to come, it might have done you good, it was so gay!" + +"I am not fit for gayety," said her husband, peevishly, scooping out +spoonfuls of yolk. "And who were the party, pray?" + +Theodora obediently enumerated them all, and the high-sounding title of +the Russian Prince, to say nothing of the English lord and lady, had a +mollifying effect on Josiah Brown. He even remembered the name of +Bracondale--had he not been a grocer's assistant in the small town of +Bracondale for a whole year in his apprenticeship days? + +"Papa wants us to breakfast to-day with him at Henry's for you to meet +some of them," Theodora said, with more confidence. + +Josiah had taken a second egg and his frown was gone. + +"We'll see about it, we'll see about it," he grunted; but his wife felt +more hopeful, and was even unusually solicitous of his wants in the way +of coffee and marmalade and cream. Josiah was shrewd if he did happen to +be deeply self-absorbed in his health, and he noticed that Theodora's +eyes were brighter and her step more elastic than usual. + +He knew he had bought "one of them there aristocrats," as his old aunt, +who had kept a public-house at New Norton, would have said. Bought her +with solid gold--he had no illusions on this subject, and he quite +realized if the solid gold had not been amassed out of England, so that +to her family he could be represented as "something from the +colonies--rather rough, but such a good fellow"--even Captain +Fitzgerald's impecuniosity and rapacity would not have risen to his +bait. + +He was also grateful to Theodora--she had been so meek always, and such +a kind and unselfish nurse. With his impaired constitution and delicate +chest he had given up all hopes of looking on her as a wife again, just +yet; but, as a nurse and an ornament--a peg to hang the evidences of his +wealth upon--she was little short of perfection. He could have been +frantically in love with her if she had only been the girl from the +station bar in Melbourne. Josiah Brown was not a bad fellow. + +By the time Mr. Toplington advanced in his dignified way with the +accurately measured tonic on a silver tray and the single acid drop to +remove the taste, Josiah Brown had decided to go and partake food with +his father-in-law at Henry's. If he had been good enough to entertain +the Governor of Australia, he was quite good enough for Russian princes +or English lords, he told himself. Thus it was that Captain Fitzgerald, +who came in person in a few minutes to indorse his invitation, found an +unusually cordial reception awaiting him. + +"I am too delighted, my dear Josiah," he said, "that you have decided to +come out of your shell. Moping would kill a cat; and I shall order you +the plainest chicken and souffle aux fraises." + +"Josiah can eat almost anything, papa. I don't think you need worry +about that," said Theodora, who hoped to make her husband enjoy himself. +And then Captain Fitzgerald left to meet his widow. + +All the morning, while she walked up and down under the trees in the +Avenue du Bois beside her husband, who leaned upon her arm, Theodora's +thoughts were miles away. She felt stimulated, excited, intensely +interested in the hour, afraid they would be late. Twice she answered at +random, and Josiah got quite cross. + +"I asked you which you considered would do me most good when we return +to England, to continue seeing Sir Baldwin once a week or to have Dr. +Wilton permanently in the house with us, and you answer that you quite +agree with me! Agree with what? Agree with which? You are talking +nonsense, girl!" + +Theodora apologized gently, and her white velvet cheeks became tinged +with wild roses. It seemed as if the victoria, with its high-steppers, +would never come and pick them up; and it must be at least quarter of an +hour's drive to Henry's. She did not understand where it was exactly, +but papa had said the coachman would know. + +If some one had told her, as Clementine certainly would have done had +she been there, that she was simply thus interested and excited because +she wished to see again Lord Bracondale, she would have been horrified. +She never had analyzed sensations herself, and the day had not yet +arrived when she would begin to do so. + +At last they were rolling down the Champs-Elysees. The mass of chestnut +blooms in full glory, the tender green still fresh and springlike, the +sky as blue as blue, and every creature in the street with an air of +gayety--that Paris alone seems to inspire in the human race. It entered +into her blood, this rush of spring and hope and laughter and life, and +a radiant creature got out of the carriage at Henry's door. + +The two men were waiting for them--Lord Bracondale and the French +Count--her father and Mrs. McBride had not yet appeared. + +Theodora introduced them to her husband, and Lord Bracondale said: + +"Mrs. McBride is always late. I have found out which is your father's +table; don't you think we might go and sit down?" + +And they did. Theodora got well into the corner of the velvet sofa, the +Count on one side and Lord Bracondale on the other, with Josiah beyond +the Count. + +They made conversation. The Frenchman was voluble and agreeable, and the +next ten minutes passed without incident. + +Josiah, not quite at ease, perhaps, but on the whole not ill-pleased +with his situation. The Count took all ups and downs as of the day's +work, sure of a good breakfast, sooner or later, unpaid for by himself. +And Lord Bracondale's thoughts ran somewhat thus: + +"She is even more beautiful in daylight than at night. She can't be more +than twenty--what a skin! like a white gardenia petal--and, good Lord, +what a husband! How revolting, how infamous! I suppose that old schemer, +her father, sold her to him. Her eyes remind one of forgotten fairy +tales of angels. Can anything be so sweet as that little nose and those +baby-red lips. She has a soul, too, peeping out of the blue when she +looks up at one. She reminds me of Praxiteles' Psyche when she looks +down. Why did I not meet her long ago? I believe I ought not to stay +now--something tells me I shall fall deeply into this. And what a +voice!--as gentle and caressing as a tender dove. A man would give his +soul for such a woman. As guileless as an infant saint, too--and +sensitive and human and understanding. I wish to God I had the strength +of mind to get up and go this minute--but I haven't--it is fate." + +"Oh, how naughty of papa," said Theodora, "to be so late! Are you very +hungry, Josiah? Shall we begin without them?" + +But at that moment, with rustling silks and delicate perfume, the widow +and Captain Fitzgerald came in at the door and joined the party. + +"I am just too sorry," the lady said, gayly. "It is all Captain +Fitzgerald's fault--he would try to restrain me from buying what I +wanted, and so it made me obstinate and I had to stay right there and +order half the shop." + +"How I understand you!" sympathized Lord Bracondale. "I know just that +feeling of wanting forbidden fruit. It makes the zest of life." + +He had foreseen the disposition of the party, and by sitting in the +outside corner seat at the end knew he would have Theodora almost _en +tete-a-tete_, once they were all seated along the velvet sofa beyond +Josiah Brown. + +"What do you do with yourself all the time here?" he asked, lowering his +voice to that deep note which only carries to the ear it is intended +for. "May one ever see you again except at a chance meal like this?" + +"I don't know," said Theodora. "I walk up and down in the side allees of +the Bois in the morning with my husband, and when he has had his sleep, +after dejeuner, we drive nearly all the afternoon, and we have tea, at +the Pre Catalan and drive again until about seven, and then we come in +and dine, and I go to bed very early. Josiah is not strong enough yet +for late hours or theatres." + +"It sounds supernaturally gay for Paris!" said Lord Bracondale; and then +he felt a brute when he saw the cloud in the blue eyes. + +"No, it is not gay," she said, simply. "But the flowers are beautiful, +and the green trees and the chestnut blossoms and the fine air here, and +there is a little stream among the trees which laughs to itself as it +runs, and all these things say something to me." + +He felt rebuked--rebuked and interested. + +"I would like to see them all with you," he said. + +That was one of his charms--directness. He did not insinuate often; he +stated facts. + +"You would find it all much too monotonous," she answered. "You would +tire of them after the first time. And you could if you liked, too, +because I suppose you are free, being a man, and can choose your own +life," and she sighed unconsciously. + +And there came to Hector Bracondale the picture of her life--sacrificed, +no doubt, to others' needs. He seemed to see the long years tied to +Josiah Brown, the cramping of her soul, the dreary desolation of it. +Then a tenderness came over him, a chivalrous tenderness unfelt by him +towards women now for many a long day. + +"I wonder if I can choose my life," he said, and he looked into her +eyes. + +"Why can you not?" She hesitated. "And may I ask you, too, what you do +with yourself here?" + +He evaded the question; he suddenly realized that his days were not more +amusing than hers, although they were filled up with racing and varied +employments--while the thought of his nights sickened him. + +"I think I am going to make an immense change and learn to take pleasure +in the running brooks," he said. "Will you help me?" + +"I know so little, and you know so much," and her sweet eyes became soft +and dreamy. "I could not help you in any way, I fear." + +"Yes, you could--you could teach me to see all things with fresh eyes. +You could open the door into a new world." + +"Do you know," she said, irrelevantly, "Sarah--my eldest sister--Sarah +told me it was unwise ever to talk to strangers except in the +abstract--and here are you and I conversing about our own interests and +feelings--are not we foolish!" She laughed a little nervously. + +"No, we are not foolish because we are not strangers--we never were--and +we never will be." + +"Are not strangers--?" + +"No--do you not feel that sometimes in life one's friendships begin by +antipathy--sometimes by indifference--and sometimes by that sudden +magnetism of sympathy as if in some former life we had been very near +and dear, and were only picking up the threads again, and to such two +souls there is no feeling that they are strangers." + +Theodora was too entirely unsophisticated to remain unmoved by this +reasoning. She felt a little thrill--she longed to continue the subject, +and yet dared not. She turned hesitatingly to the Count, and for the +next ten minutes Lord Bracondale only saw the soft outline of her +cheek. + +He wondered if he had been too sudden. She was quite the youngest person +he had ever met--he realized that, and perhaps he had acted with too +much precipitation. He would change his tactics. + +The Count was only too pleased to engage the attention of Theodora. He +was voluble; she had very little to reply. Things went smoothly. Josiah +was appreciating an exceedingly good breakfast, and the playful sallies +of the fair widow. All, in fact, was _couleur de rose_. + +"Won't you talk to me any more?" Lord Bracondale said, after about a +quarter of an hour. He felt that was ample time for her to have become +calm, and, beautiful as the outline of her cheek was, he preferred her +full face. + +"But of course," said Theodora. She had not heard more than half what +the Count had been saying; she wished vaguely that she might continue +the subject of friendship, but she dared not. + +"Do you ever go to Versailles?" he asked. This, at least, was a safe +subject. + +"I have been there--but not since--not this time," she answered. "I +loved it: so full of memories and sentiment, and Old-World charm." + +"It would give me much pleasure to take you to see it again," he said, +with grave politeness. "I must devise some plan--that is, if you wish to +go." + +She smiled. + +"It is a favorite spot of mine, and there are some allees in the park +more full of the story of spring than your Bois even." + +"I do not see how we can go," said Theodora. "Josiah would find it too +long a day." + +"I must discuss it with your father; one can generally arrange what one +wishes," said Lord Bracondale. + +At this moment Mrs. McBride leaned over and spoke to Theodora. She had, +she said, quite converted Mr. Brown. He only wanted a little cheering up +to be perfectly well, and she had got him to promise to dine that +evening at Armenonville and listen to the Tziganes. It was going to be a +glorious night, but if they felt cold they could have their table inside +out of the draught. What did Theodora think about it? + +Theodora thought it would be a delicious plan. What else could she +think? + +"I have a large party coming," Mrs. McBride said, "and among them a +compatriot of mine who saw you last night and is dying to meet you." + +"Really," said Theodora, unmoved. + +Lord Bracondale experienced a sensation of annoyance. + +"I shall not ask you, Bracondale," the widow continued, playfully. "Just +to assert British superiority, you would try to monopolize Mrs. Brown, +and my poor Herryman Hoggenwater would have to come in a long, long +second!" + +Josiah felt a rush of pride. This brilliant woman was making much of his +meek little wife. + +Lord Bracondale smiled the most genial smile, with rage in his heart. + +"I could not have accepted in any case, dear lady," he said, "as I have +some people dining with me, and, oddly enough, they rather suggested +they wanted Armenonville too, so perhaps I shall have the pleasure of +looking at you from the distance." + +The conversation then became general, and soon after this coffee +arrived, and eventually the adieux were said. + +Mrs. McBride insisted upon Theodora accompanying her in her smart +automobile. + +"You leave your wife to me for an hour," she said, imperiously, to +Josiah, "and go and see the world with Captain Fitzgerald. He knows +Paris." + +"My dear, you are just the sweetest thing I have come across this side +of the Atlantic," she said, when they were whizzing along in her car. +"But you look as if you wanted cheering too. I expect your husband's +illness has worried you a good deal." + +Theodora froze a little. Then she glanced at the widow's face and its +honest kindliness melted her. + +"Yes, I have been anxious about him," she said, simply, "but he is +nearly well now, and we shall soon be going to England." + +Mrs. McBride had not taken a companion on this drive for nothing, and +she obtained all the information she wanted during their tour in the +Bois. How Josiah Brown had bought a colossal place in the eastern +counties, and intended to have parties and shoot there in the autumn. +How Theodora hoped to see more of her sisters than she had done since +her marriage. The question of these sisters interested Mrs. McBride a +good deal. + +For a man to have two unmarried daughters was rather an undertaking. + +What were their ages--their habits--their ambitions? Theodora told her +simply. She guessed why she was being interrogated. She wished to assist +her father, and to say the truth seemed to her the best way. Sarah was +kind and humorous, while Clementine had the brains. + +"And they are both dears," she said, lovingly, "and have always been so +good to me." + +Mrs. McBride was a shrewd woman, full of American quickness, lightning +deduction, and a phenomenal insight into character. Theodora seemed to +her to be too tender a flower for this world of east wind. She felt sure +she only thought good of every one, and how could one get on in life if +one took that view habitually! The appallingly hard knocks fate would +give one if one was so trusting! But as the drive went on that gentle +something that seemed to emanate from Theodora, the something of pure +sweetness and light, affected her, too, as it affected other people. She +felt she was looking into a deep pool of crystal water, so deep that she +could see no bottom or fathom the distance of it, but which reflected in +brilliant blue God's sky and the sun. + +"And she is by no means stupid," the widow summed up to herself. "Her +mind is as bright as an American's! And she is just too pretty and sweet +to be eaten up by these wolves of men she will meet in England, with +that unromantic, unattractive husband along. I must do what I can for +her." + +By the time she had dropped Theodora at her hotel the situation was +quite clear. Of course the girl had been sacrificed to Josiah Brown; she +was sound asleep in the great forces of life; she was bound to be +hideously unhappy, and it was all an abominable shame, and ought to have +been prevented. + +But Mrs. McBride never cried over spilled milk. + +"If I decide to marry her father," she thought, as she drove off, "I +shall keep my eye on her, and meanwhile I can make her life smile a +little perhaps!" + + + + +IV + + +Theodora did not wonder why she felt in no exalted state of spirits as +she dressed for dinner. She seldom thought of herself at all, or what +her emotions were, but the fact remained there was none of the +excitement there had been over the prospect of breakfast. Her husband, +on the contrary, seemed quite fussy. + +"A devilish fine woman," he had described Mrs. McBride. "Acts like a +tonic upon me; does me more good than a pint of champagne!" + +"Is she not delightful?" agreed Theodora; "so very kind and gay. I am +sure the dinner will do you good, Josiah, and perhaps we might give one +in return. What do you say?" + +Josiah said, "Certainly!" He could give a meal with the best of them! +They would consult that father of hers, who knew Paris so well, and ask +him to help them to arrange a regular "slap-up treat." + +And so they arrived at Armenonville. It was a divine night, quite warm, +and a soft three-quarter moon. + +Mrs. McBride had everything arranged to perfection. Their table was just +where it should be, the menu was all that heart of gourmet could desire, +and the company sparkling. + +Theodora found herself seated beside Mr. Harryman Hoggenwater and an +elderly Austrian, and before the _hors d'oeuvres_ were cleared away +both gentlemen had decided to make love to her. + +It was when the _bisque d'ecrevisses_ was being handed she became +conscious that, not two tables off, there was an empty one simply +arranged with flowers, and almost at the same instant Lord Bracondale +and his party arrived upon the scene. + +All Theodora's perceptions seemed to be sharpened. She knew without +turning her head the table was for them, and that they were advancing +towards it. She had felt their arrival almost before their automobile +stopped; and now she would not look up. + +A strange sensation, as of excitement, tingled through her. She longed +to ascertain if the woman was good-looking who made the third in this +party of three. She peeped eventually--with the corner of her eye. Lord +Bracondale had so placed his guests that he himself faced Theodora, and +the lady had her back turned to her. + +Thus Theodora's curiosity could not be gratified. + +"She is English," she decided; "that round shaped back always is--and +very well-bred looking, and not much taste in dress. I wonder if she is +old or young--and if that is the husband. Yes, he is unattractive--it +must be the husband--and oh, I wonder what they are talking about! Lord +Bracondale seems so interested!" + +And if she had known it was-- + +"Really, Monica, how fortunate to have secured you at short notice like +this," Lord Bracondale was saying. "I only found I had a free evening at +breakfast, and I met Jack on my way to the polo-ground just in the nick +of time." + +"We love coming," Mrs. Ellerwood replied. "For unsophisticated English +people it is a great treat. We go back on Saturday--every one will be +asking what is keeping you here so long." + +"My plans are vague," Lord Bracondale said, casually. "I might come back +any day, or I may stay until well into June--it quite depends upon how +amused I am. I rather love Paris." + +And to himself he was thinking-- + +"How I wish that atrocious woman over there with the paradise plume +would keep her hat out of the way. Ah, that is better! How lovely she +looks to-night! What an exquisite pose of head! And what are those two +damned foreigners saying to her, I wonder. Underbred brute, the +American, Herryman Hoggenwater! What a name! She is laughing--she +evidently finds him amusing. Abominably cattish of the widow not to ask +me. I wonder if she has seen me yet. I want to make her bow to me. Ah!" +For just then magnetism was too strong for Theodora, and, in spite of +her determination, their eyes met. + +A thrill, little short of passion, ran through Lord Bracondale as he saw +the wild roses flushing her white cheeks--the exquisite flattery to his +vanity. Yes, she had seen him, and it already meant something to her. + +He raised his champagne glass and sipped a sip, while his eyes, more +ardent than they had ever been, sought her face. + +And Theodora, for her part, felt a flutter too. She was angry with +herself for blushing, such a school-girlish thing to do, Sarah had +always told her. She hoped he had not noticed it at that +distance--probably not. And what did he mean by drinking her health +like that? He--oh, he was-- + +"Now, truly, Mrs. Brown, you are cruel," Mr. Herryman Hoggenwater said, +pathetically, interrupting her thoughts. "I tell you I am simply longing +to know if you will come for a drive in my automobile, and you do not +answer, but stare into space." + +Theodora turned, and then the young American understood that for all her +gentle looks it would be wiser not to take this tone with her. + +He admired her frantically, he was just "crazy" about her, he told Mrs. +McBride later. And so now he exerted himself to please and amuse her +with all the vivacity of his brilliant nation. + +Theodora was enjoying herself. Environment and atmosphere affected her +strongly. The bright pink lights, the sense of night and the soft moon +beyond the wide open balcony windows, the scents of flowers, the gayety, +and, above all, the knowledge that Lord Bracondale was there, gazing at +her whenever opportunity offered, with eyes in which she, unlearned as +she was in such things, could read plainly admiration and unrest. + +It all went to her head a little, and she became quite animated and full +of repartee and sparkle, so that Josiah Brown could hardly believe his +eyes and ears when he glanced across at her. This his meek and quiet +mouse! + +His heart swelled with pride when Mrs. McBride leaned over and said to +him: + +"You know, Mr. Brown, you have got the most beautiful wife in the world, +and I hope you value her properly." + +It was this daring quality in his hostess Josiah appreciated so much. +"She's not afraid to say anything, 'pon my soul," he said to himself. "I +rather think I know my own possession's value!" he answered aloud, with +a pompous puffing out of chest, and a cough to clear the throat. + +The Austrian Prince on Theodora's right hand pleased her. He had a quiet +manner, and the freemasonry of breeding in two people, even of different +nations, drew her to talk naturally to him in a friendly way. + +He was a fatalist, he told her; what would be would be, and mortals like +himself and herself were just scattered leaves, like barks floating down +a current where were mostly rocks ahead. + +"Then must we strike the rocks whether we wish it or no?" asked +Theodora. "Cannot we help ourselves?" + +"Ah, madame, for that," he said, "we can strive a little and avoid this +one and that, but if it is our fate we will crash against them in the +end." + +"What a sad philosophy!" said Theodora. "I would rather believe that if +one does one's best some kind angel will guide one's bark past the rocks +and safely into the smooth waters of the pool beyond." + +"You are young," he said, "and I hope you will find it so, but I fear +you will have to try very hard, and circumstances may even then be too +strong for you." + +"In that case I must go under altogether," said Theodora; but her eyes +smiled, and that night at least such a possibility seemed far enough +away from her. + +The Austrian looked across at her husband. Such marriages were rare in +his country, and he had thought so too in England. He wondered what +their story could be. He wondered how soon she would take a lover--and +he realized how infinitely worth while that lover would find his +situation. + +He wished he were not so old. If she must break up her bark on the +rocks, he could take the place of steersman with pleasure. But he was a +courteous gentleman and he said none of these things aloud. + +Meanwhile, Lord Bracondale was not enjoying his dinner. For the first +time for several years he found himself jealous! He, unlike Theodora, +knew the meaning of every one of his sensations. + +"She is certainly interested in Prince Carolstein," he thought, as he +watched her; "he has a European reputation for fascination. She has not +looked this way once since the entrees. I wish I could hear what they +are talking about. As for that young puppy Hoggenwater, I would like to +kick him round the room! Lord, look how he is leaning over her! It +sickens me! The young fool!" + +Mrs. Ellerwood turned round in her seat and surveyed the room. They had +almost come to the end of dinner, and could move their chairs a little. +She had the true Englishwoman's feeling when among foreigners--that they +were all there as puppets for her entertainment. + +"Look, Hector," she said--they were cousins--"did you ever see such a +lovely woman as that one over there among the large party, in the black +chiffon dress?" + +Then Hector committed a _betise_. + +"Where?" said he, his eyes persistently fixed in another direction. + +"There; you can't mistake her, she looks so pure white, and fair, among +all these Frenchwomen The one with the blue eyes and the lovely hat +with those sweeping feathers. She is exquisitely dressed, and both those +men look fearfully devoted to her. Can't you see? Oh, you are stupid!" + +"My dear Monica," said Jack Ellerwood, who joined rarely in the +conversation, "Hector has been sitting facing this way all through +dinner. He is a man who can appreciate what he sees, and I do not fancy +has missed much--have you, Hector?" and he smiled a quiet smile. + +Mrs. Ellerwood looked at Lord Bracondale and laughed. + +"It is I who am stupid," she said. "Naturally you have seen her all the +time, and know her probably. Are they cocottes, or Americans, or Russian +princesses, or what?--the whole collection?" + +"If you mean that large party in the corner, they are most of them +friends and acquaintances of mine," he said, rather icily--she had +annoyed him--"and they belong to the aristocracies of various nations. +Does that satisfy you? I am afraid they are none of them demimondaines, +so you will be disappointed this time!" + +Mrs. Ellerwood looked at him; she understood now. + +"He is in love with the white woman," she thought; "that is why he was +so anxious to dine here to-night, when Jack suggested Madrid; that is +why he stays in Paris. It is not Esclarmonde de Chartres after all! How +excited Aunt Milly will be! I must find out her name." + +"She is a beautiful creature," said Jack Ellerwood, as if to himself, +while he carefully surveyed Theodora from his position at the side of +the table. + +Hector Bracondale's irritation rose. Relations were tactless, and he +felt sorry he had asked them. + +"You must tell me her name, Hector," pleaded Mrs. Ellerwood; "the very +white, pretty one I mean." + +"Now just to punish your curiosity I shall do no such thing." + +"Hector, you are a pig." + +"Probably." + +"And so selfish." + +"Possibly." + +"Why mayn't I know? You set a light to all sorts of suspicions." + +"Doubly interesting for you, then." + +"Provoking wretch!" + +"Don't you think you would like some coffee? The waiter is trying to +hand you a cup." + +Mrs. Ellerwood laughed. She knew there was no use teasing him further; +but there were other means, and she must employ them. Theodora had +become the pivot upon which some of her world might turn. + +The object of this solicitude was quite unconscious of the interest she +had created. She did not naturally think she could be of importance to +any one. Had she not been the youngest and snubbed always? + +The same thought came to her that was conjuring the brain of Lord +Bracondale: would there be a chance to speak to-night, or must they each +go their way in silence? He meant to assist fate if he could, but having +Monica Ellerwood there was a considerable drawback. + +Mrs. McBride's party were to take their coffee in one of the _bosquets_ +outside, and all got up from their table in a few minutes to go out. +They would have to pass the _partie a trois_, who were nearer the door. +Monica would take her most searching look at them, Lord Bracondale +thought; now was the time for action. So as Mrs. McBride came past with +Captain Fitzgerald, he rose from his seat and greeted her. + +"You have been exceedingly mean," he whispered. "What are you going to +do for me to make up for it?" + +The widow had a very soft spot in her heart for "Ce beau Bracondale," as +she called him, and when he pleaded like that she found him hard to +resist. + +"Come and see me to-morrow at twelve, and we will talk about it," she +said. + +"To-morrow!" exclaimed Lord Bracondale; "but I want to talk to her +to-night!" + +"Get rid of your party, then, and join us for coffee," and the widow +smiled archly as she passed on. + +Theodora bowed with grave sweetness as she also went by, and most of the +others greeted Hector, while one woman stopped and told him she was +going to have an automobile party in a day or two, and she hoped he +would come. + +When they had all gone on Mrs. Ellerwood said: + +"I wonder why Americans are so much smarter than we poor English? I +can't bear them as a nation though, can you?" + +"Yes," said Lord Bracondale. "I think the best friends I have in the +world are American. The women particularly are perfectly charming. You +feel all the time you are playing a game with really experienced +adversaries, and it makes it interesting. They are full of resource, +and you know underneath you could never break their hearts. I am not +sure if they have any in their own country, but if so they turn into the +most wonderful and exquisite bits of mechanism when they come to +Europe." + +"And you admire that." + +"Certainly--hearts are a great bore." + +"You were always a cynic, Hector; that is perhaps what makes you so +attractive." + +"Am I attractive?" + +"I can't judge," said Mrs. Ellerwood, nettled for a moment. "I have +known you too long, but I hear other women saying so." + +"That is comforting, at all events," said Lord Bracondale. "I always +have adored women." + +"No, you never have, that is just it. You have let them adore you, and +utterly spoil you; so now sometimes, Hector, you are insupportable." + +"You just said I was attractive." + +"I shall not argue further with you," said Mrs. Ellerwood, pettishly. + +"And I think we ought to be saying good-night, Hector," interrupted the +silent Jack. "We are making an early start for Fontainebleau to-morrow, +and Monica likes any amount of sleep." + +This did not suit Mrs. Ellerwood at all; but if Jack spoke seldom he +spoke to some purpose when he did, and she knew there was no use +arguing. + +So with a heart full of ungratified curiosity, she at last allowed +herself to be packed into Hector's automobile and driven away. + +"Of course he'll go and join that other party now, Jack! What _did_ you +make me come away for, you tiresome thing!" she said to her husband. + +"He has done me many a turn in the past," said Jack, laconically. + +"Then you think--?" + +But Jack refused to think. + + + + +V + + +Theodora was sitting rather on the outskirts of the party in the +_bosquet_, her two devoted admirers still on either side of her. All the +chairs were arranged informally, and hers was against the opening, so +that it proved easy for Lord Bracondale to come up behind her +unperceived. + +She believed he had gone. She could not see distinctly from where she +was, but she had thought she saw the automobile whizzing by. She +recognized Mrs. Ellerwood's hat. An unconscious feeling of blankness +came over her. She grew more silent. + +A lady beyond the Prince spoke to him, and at that moment Mr. +Hoggenwater rose to put down her coffee-cup, and in this second of +loneliness a deep voice said in her ear: + +"I could not go--I wanted to say good-night to you!" + +Then Theodora experienced a new emotion; she could not have told herself +what it was, but suddenly a gladness spread through her spirit; the +moon looked more softly bright, and her sweet eyes dilated and glowed, +while that voice, gentle as a dove's, trembled a little as she said: + +"Lord Bracondale! Oh, you startled me!" + +He drew a chair and sat down behind her. + +"How shall we get rid of your Hogginheimer millionaire?" he whispered. +"I feel as if I wanted to kill every one who speaks to you to-night." + +The half light, the moon, Paris, and the spring-time! Theodora spent the +next hour in a dream--a dream of bliss. + +Mrs. McBride, with her all-seeing eye, perceived the turn events had +taken. She was full of enjoyment herself; she had quite--almost +quite--decided to listen to the addresses of Captain Fitzgerald, +therefore her heart, not her common-sense, was uppermost this night. + +It could not hurt Theodora to have one evening of agreeable +conversation, and it would do Herryman Hoggenwater a great deal of good +to be obstacled; thus she expressed it to herself. That last success +with Princess Waldersheim had turned his empty head. So she called him +and planted him in a safe place by an American girl, who would know how +to keep him, and then turned to her own affairs again. + +The Prince was a man of the world, and understood life. So Theodora and +Lord Bracondale were left in peace. + +The latter soon moved his chair to a position where he could see her +face, rather behind her still, which entailed a slightly leaning over +attitude. They were beyond the radius of the lights in the _bosquet_. + +Lord Bracondale was perfectly conversant with all moves in the game; he +knew how to talk to a woman so that she alone could feel the strength of +his devotion, while his demeanor to the world seemed the least +compromising. + +Theodora had not spoken for a moment after his first speech. It made her +heart beat too fast. + +"I have been watching you all through dinner," he continued, with only a +little pause. "You look immensely beautiful to-night, and those two told +you so, I suppose." + +"Perhaps they did!" she said. This was her first gentle essay at +fencing. She would try to be as the rest were, gay and full of badinage. + +"And you liked it?" with resentment. + +"Of course I did; you see, I never have heard any of these nice things +much. Josiah has always been too ill to go out, and when I was a girl I +never saw any people who knew how to say them." + +She had turned to look at him as she said this, and his eyes spoke a +number of things to her. They were passionate, and resentful, and +jealous, and full of something disturbing. Thrills ran through poor +Theodora. + +His eyes had been capable of looking most of these things before to +other women, when he had not meant any of them, but she did not know +that. + +"Well," he said, "they had better not return or recommence their +compliments, because I am not in the mood to be polite to them +to-night." + +"What is your mood?" asked Theodora, and then felt a little frightened +at her own daring. + +"My mood is one of unrest--I would like to be away alone with you, where +we could talk in peace," and he leaned over her so that his lips were +fairly close to her ear. "These people jar upon me. I would like to be +sitting in the garden at Amalfi, or in a gondola in Venice, and I want +to talk about all your beautiful thoughts. You are a new white flower +for me, as different as an angel from the other women in the world." + +"Am I?" said she, in her tender tones. "I would wish that you should +always keep that good thought of me. We shall soon go our different +ways. Josiah has decided to leave next week, and we are not likely to +meet in England." + +"Yes, we are likely to meet--I will arrange it," he said. + +There was nothing hesitating about Hector Bracondale--his way with women +had always been masterful--and this quality, when mixed with a sudden +bending to their desires, was peculiarly attractive. To-night he was +drifting--drifting into a current which might carry him beyond his +control. + +It was now several years since he had been in love even slightly. His +position, his appearance, his personal charm, had all combined to spoil +a nature capable of great things. Life had always been too smooth. His +mother adored him. He had an ample fortune. Every marriageable girl in +his world almost had been flung at his head. Women of all classes with +one consent had done their best to turn him into a coxcomb and a beast. +But he continued to be a man for all that, and went his own way; only as +no one can remain stationary, the crust of selfishness and cynicism was +perhaps thickening with years, and his soul was growing hidden still +deeper beneath it all. From the beginning something in Theodora had +spoken to the best in him. He was conscious of feelings of +dissatisfaction with himself when he left her, of disgust with the days +of unmeaning aims. + +He had begun out of idle admiration; he had continued from inclination; +but to-night it was _plus fort que lui_, and he knew he was in love. + +The habit of indulging any emotion which gave him pleasure was still +strong upon him; it was not yet he would begin to analyze where this +passion might lead him--might lead them both. + +It was too deliciously sweet to sit there and whisper to her sophistries +and reasonings, to take her sensitive fancy into new worlds, to play +upon her feelings--those feelings which he realized were as fine and as +full of tone as the sounds which could be drawn from a Stradivarius +violin. + +It was a night of new worlds for them both, for if Theodora had never +looked into any world at all, he also had never even imagined one which +could be so quite divine as this--this shared with her in the moonlight, +with the magic of the Tzigane music and the soft spring night. + +He had just sufficient mastery over himself left not to overstep the +bounds of respectful and deep interest in her. He did not speak a word +of love. There was no actual sentence which Theodora felt obliged to +resent--and yet through it all was the subtle insinuation that they were +more than friends--or would be more than friends. + +And when it was all over, and Theodora's pulses were calmer as she lay +alone on her pillow, she had a sudden thrill of fear. But she put it +aside--it was not her nature to think herself the object of passions. "I +would be a very silly woman to flatter myself so," she said to herself, +and then she went to sleep. + +Lord Bracondale stayed awake for hours, but he did not sup with +Esclarmonde de Chartres or Marion de Beauvoison. And the Cafe de +Paris--and Maxims--and the afterwards--saw him no more. + +Once again these houris asked each other, "Mais qu'est-ce qu'il a! Ce +bel Hector? Ou se cache-t-il?" + + + + +VI + + +Before she went to bed in her hotel in the Rue de Rivoli, Monica +Ellerwood wrote to her aunt. + + "PARIS, _May 15th_. + + "MY DEAR AUNT MILLY,--We have had a delicious little week, + Jack and I, quite like an old honeymoon pair--and to-day we ran + across Hector, who has remained hidden until now. He is looking + splendid, just as handsome and full of life as ever, so it does not + tell upon his constitution, that is one mercy! Not like poor Ernest + Bretherton, who, if you remember, was quite broken up by her last + year. And I have one good piece of news for you, dear Aunt Milly. I + do not believe he is so frantically wrapped up in this Esclarmonde + de Chartres woman after all--in spite of that diamond chain at + Monte Carlo. For to-night he took us to dine at + Armenonville--although Jack particularly wanted to go to the + Madrid--and when we got there we saw at once why! There was a most + beautiful woman dining there with a party, and Hector never took + his eyes off her the whole of dinner, Jack says--I had my back that + way--and he got rid of us as soon as he could and went and joined + them. Very young she looked, but I suppose married, from her pearls + and clothes--American probably, as she was perhaps too well dressed + for one of us; but quite a lady and awfully pretty. Hector was so + snappish about it, and would not tell her name, that it makes me + sure he is very much in love with her, and Jack thinks so too. So, + dear Aunt Milly, you need have no more anxieties about him, as she + can't have been married long, she looks so young, and so must be + quite safe. Jack says Hector is thoroughly able to take care of + himself, anyway, but I know how all these things worry you. If I + can find out her name before I go I will, though perhaps you think + it is out of the frying-pan into the fire, as it makes him no more + in the mood to marry Morella Winmarleigh than before. Unless, of + course, this new one is unkind to him. We shall be home on + Saturday, dear Aunt Milly, and I will come round to lunch on Sunday + and give you all my news. + + + "Your affectionate niece, + "MONICA ELLERWOOD." + +Which epistle jarred upon Hector's mother when she read it over coffee +at her solitary dinner on the following night. + +"Poor dear Monica!" she said to herself. "I wonder where she got this +strain from--her father's family, I suppose--I wish she would not be +so--bald." + +Then she sat down and wrote to her son--she was not even going to the +opera that night. And if she had looked up in the tall mirror opposite, +she would have seen a beautiful, stately lady with a puckered, plaintive +frown on her face. + +If a woman absolutely worships a man, even if she is only his mother, +she is bound to spend many moments of unhappiness, and Lady Bracondale +was no exception to the general rule. Hector had always gone his own +way, and there were several aspects of his life she disapproved of. +These visits to Paris--his antipathy to matrimony--his boredom with +girls--such nice girls she knew, too, and had often thrown him +with!--his delight in big-game shooting in alarming and impossible +countries--and, above all, his absolute indifference to Morella +Winmarleigh, the only woman who really and truly in her heart of hearts +Lady Bracondale thought worthy of him, although she would have accepted +several other girls as choosing the lesser evil to bachelorhood. But +Morella Winmarleigh was perfection! She owned the enormous property +adjoining Bracondale; she was twenty-six years old, of unblemished +reputation, nice looking, and not--not one of those modern women who are +bound to cause anxieties. Under any circumstances one could count upon +Morella Winmarleigh behaving with absolute propriety. A girl born to be +a mother-in-law's joy. + +But Hector persistently remained at large. It was not that he openly +defied his mother--he simply made love to her whenever they were +together, twisted her round his finger, and was off again. + +"To see mother with Hector," Lady Annigford said, "is a wonderful sight. +Although I adore him myself, I am not at the stage she is! She sits +there beaming on him exactly like an exceedingly proud and fond cat with +new kittens. He treats her as if she were a young and beautiful woman, +caresses her, pets her, pays not the least attention to anything she +says, and does absolutely what he pleases!" + +Hector and Lady Bracondale together had often made the women who were in +love with him jealous. + +When she had finished her letter the stately lady read it over +carefully--she had a certain tact, and Hector must be cajoled to return, +not irritated. Monica's epistle, in spite of that touch of vulgarity +which she had deplored, had held out some grains of comfort. She had +been getting really anxious over this affair with the--French person. +Even to herself Lady Bracondale would not use any of the terms which +usually designate ladies of the type of Esclarmonde de Chartres. + +Since her brother-in-law Evermond had returned from Monte Carlo bringing +that disturbing story of the diamond chain, she had been on thorns--of +such a light mind and always so full of worldly gossip, Evermond! + +Hector had gone from Monte Carlo to Venice, and then to Paris, where he +had been for more than a month, and she had heard that men could become +quite infatuated and absolutely ruined by these creatures. So for him to +have taken a fancy to a married American was considerably better than +that. She had met several members of this nation herself in England, and +were they not always very discreet, with well-balanced heads! So +altogether the puckered frown soon left her smooth brow, and she was +able to resume the knitting of a tie she was doing for her son, with a +spirit more or less at rest, though she sighed now and then as she +remembered Morella Winmarleigh could not be expected to wait +forever--and her cherished vision of perfectly behaved, vigorously +healthy grandchildren was still a long way from being realized. For with +such a mother what perfect children they would be! This was always her +final reflection. + + + + +VII + + +At twelve o'clock punctually Lord Bracondale was ushered into Mrs. +McBride's sitting-room at the Ritz, the day after her dinner-party at +Armenonville. He expected she would not be ready to receive him for at +least half an hour; having said twelve he might have known she meant +half-past, but he was in a mood of impatience, and felt obliged to be +punctual. + +He was suffering more or less from a reaction. He had begun towards +morning to realize the manner in which he had spent the evening was not +altogether wise. Not that he had the least intention of not repeating +his folly--indeed, he was where he was at this hour for no other purpose +than to enlist the widow's sympathy, and her co-operation in arranging +as many opportunities for similar evenings as together they could +devise. + +After all, she only kept him waiting twenty minutes, and he had been +rather amused looking at the piles of bric-a-brac obsequious art dealers +had left for this rich lady's inspection. + +A number of spurious bronzes warranted pure antique, clocks, brocades, +what not, lying about on all the available space. + +"And I wonder what it will look like in her marble palace halls," he +thought, as he passed from one article to another. + +"I am just too sorry to keep you, mon cher Bracondale," Mrs. McBride +said, presently, suddenly opening the adjoining door a few inches, "but +it is a quite exasperating hat which has delayed me. I can't get the +thing on at the angle I want. I--" + +"Mayn't I come and help, dear lady?" interrupted Hector. "I know all +about the subject. I had to buy forty-seven at Monte Carlo, and see them +all tried on, too--and only lately! Do ask Marie to open that door a +little wider; I will decide in a minute how it should be." + +"Insolent!" said the widow, who spoke French with perfect fluency and a +quite marvellously pure American accent. But she permitted the giggling +and beaming Marie to open the door wide, and let Hector advance and kiss +her hand. + +He then took a chair by the dressing-table and inspected the situation. + +Seven or eight dainty bandboxes strewed the floor, some of their +contents peeping from them--feathers, aigrettes, flowers, impossible +birds--all had their place, and on the sofa were three _chef +d'oeuvres_ ruthlessly tossed aside. While in the widow's fair hands +was a gem of gray tulle and the most expensive feather heart of woman +could desire. + +"You see," she said, plaintively, "it is meant to go just so," and she +placed it once more upon her head, a handsome head of forty-five, fresh +and well preserved and comely. "But the vile-tempered thing refuses to +stay there once I let go, and no pin will correct it." + +"Base ingratitude," said Lord Bracondale, with feeling; "but couldn't +you stuff these in the hiatus," and he tenderly lifted a bunch of +nut-brown curls from the dressing-table. "They would fill up the gap and +keep the fractious thing steady." + +"Of course they would," said Mrs. McBride; "but I have a rooted +objection to auxiliary nature trimmings. That bunch was sent with the +hat, and Marie has been trying to persuade me to wear it ever since we +began this struggle. But I won't! My hair's my own, and I don't mean to +have any one else's alongside of it. There is my trouble." + +"If milor were to hold madame's 'at one side, while I de other, madame +might force her emerald parrot pin through him," suggested Marie, which +advice was followed, and the widow beamed with satisfaction at the +gratifying result. + +"There!" she exclaimed, with a sigh of relief, "that will do; and I am +just ready. Gloves, handkerchief--oh! and my purse, Marie." And in five +minutes more she was leading the way back into her sitting-room. + +"I have not ordered lunch until one o'clock," she said, "so we have +oceans of time to talk and tell each other secrets. Sit down, jeune +homme, and confess to me." She pointed to a _bergere_, but it was filled +with Italian embroideries. "Marie, take this rubbish away!" she called, +and presently some chairs were made clear. + +"And what must I confess?" asked Hector, when they were seated. "That I +am frantically in love with you, and your coldness is driving me wild?" + +"Certainly not!" said the widow, while she rose again and began to +arrange some giant roses in a wonderful basket which looked as if it had +just arrived--her shrewd eye had seen the card, "From Captain +Fitzgerald, with his best bonjour." "Certainly not! We are going to talk +truth, or, to punish you, I shall not ask you to meet her again, and I +shall warn her father of your strictly dishonorable intentions." + +"You would not be so cruel!" + +"Yes I would. And it is what I ought to do, anyway. She is as innocent +as a woolly lamb, and unsophisticated and guileless, and will probably +be falling in love with you. You take the wind out of the sails of that +husband of hers, you see!" + +"Do I?" said Hector, with overdone incredulity. + +She looked at him. His long, lithe limbs stretched out, every line +indicative of breeding and strength. She noted the shape of his head, +the perfect grooming, his lazy, insolent grace, his whimsical smile. +Englishmen of this class were certainly the most provokingly beautiful +creatures in the world. + +"It is because they have done nothing but order men, kill beasts, and +subjugate women for generations," she said to herself. "Lazy, naughty +darlings! If they came to our country and worked their brains a little, +they would soon lose that look. But it would be a pity," she +added--"yes, a pity." + +"What are you thinking of?" asked Lord Bracondale, while she gazed at +him. + +"I was thinking you are a beautiful, useless creature. Just like all +your nation. You think the world is made for you; in any case, all the +women and animals to kill are." + +"What an abominable libel! But I am fond of both things--women and +animals to kill." + +"And you class them equally--or perhaps the animals are ahead." + +"Indeed not always," said Hector, reassuringly. "Some women have quite +the first place." + +"You are too flattering!" retorted the widow. "Those sentiments are all +very well for your own poor-spirited, down-trodden women, but they won't +do for Americans! A man has to learn a number of lessons before he is +fitted to cope with them." + +"Oh, tell me," said Hector. + +"He has got to learn to wait, for one thing, to wait about for hours if +necessary, and not to lose his temper, because the woman can't make up +her mind to be in time for things, or to change it often as to where she +will dine. Then he has to learn to give up any pleasure of his own for +hers--and travel when she wants to travel, or stay home when she wants +to go alone. If he is an Englishman he don't have brains enough to make +the money, but he must let her spend what he has got how she likes, and +not interfere with her own." + +"And in return he gets?" + +"The woman he happens to want, I suppose." And the widow laughed, +showing her wonderfully preserved brilliant white teeth. + +"You enunciate great truths, belle dame!" said Hector, "and your last +sentence is the greatest of all--'_The woman he happens to want._'" + +"Which brings us back to our muttons--in this case only a defenceless +baby lamb. Now tell me what you are here for, trying to cajole me with +your good looks and mock humility." + +"I am here to ask you to help me to see her again, then," said Hector, +who knew when to be direct. "I have only met her three times, as you +know, but I have fallen in love, and she is going away next week, and +there is only one Paris in the world." + +"You can do a great deal of mischief in a week," Mrs. McBride said, +looking at him again critically. "I ought not to help you, but I can't +resist you--there! What can we devise?" + +It is possible the probability of Theodora's father making a fourth may +have had something thing to do with her complaisance. Anyway, it was +decided that if feasible the four should spend a day at Versailles. + +They should go in their two automobiles in time for breakfast at the +Reservoirs. They would start, Theodora in Mrs. McBride's with her, and +Captain Fitzgerald with Lord Bracondale, and each couple could spend the +afternoon as they pleased, dining again at the Reservoirs and whirling +back to Paris in the moonlight. A truly rural and refreshing programme, +good for the soul of man. + +"And I can rely upon you to get rid of the husband?" said Lord +Bracondale, finally. "I do not see the poetry of the affair with his +bald head and mutton-chop whiskers as an accessory." + +"Leave that to Captain Fitzgerald and myself," Mrs. McBride said, +proudly. "I have a scheme that Mr. Brown shall spend the day with +Clutterbuck R. Tubbs, examining some new machinery they are both +interested in. Leave it to me!" The part of _Deus ex machina_ was always +a role the widow loved. + +Then they descended to an agreeable lunch in the restaurant, with a +numerous party of her friends as usual, and Lord Bracondale felt +afterwards full of joy and hope, to continue his sinful path +unrepenting. + +The days that intervened before Theodora saw him again were uneventful +and full of blankness. The walks in the Bois appeared more tedious than +ever in the morning, the drives in the Acacias more exasperating. It was +a continual alertness to see if she caught sight of a familiar face, but +she never did. Fate was against them, as she sometimes is when she means +to compensate soon after by some glorious day of the gods. And although +Lord Bracondale called at her hotel and walked where he thought he +should see her, and even drove in the Acacias, they had no meeting. + +Josiah did not feel himself sufficiently strong to stand the air of +theatres, and they went nowhere in the evenings. He was keeping himself +for his own dinner-party, which was to take place at the Madrid on the +Monday. + +Captain Fitzgerald had arranged it, and besides Mrs. McBride several of +his friends were coming, and a special band of wonderfully talented +Tziganes, who were delighting Paris that year, had been engaged to play +to them. If only the weather should remain fine all would be well. + +A surprise awaited Theodora on Saturday morning. A friendly note from +Mrs. McBride arrived, asking her if she would spend the day with her at +Versailles, as she had asked her husband to do her a favor and lunch +with Mr. Clutterbuck R. Tubbs. + +Theodora awaited Josiah's presence at the _premier dejeuner_, which they +took in their salon, with absolute excitement. He came in, a pompous +smile on his face. + +"Good-day, my love," he said, blandly. "That charming widow writes me +this morning, asking if I will do her a favor, and take her friend, Mr. +Clutterbuck Tubbs, to examine that machinery for the separation of fats +we both have an interest in, and he suggests I should lunch with him, as +he is very anxious to have my opinion upon the merits of it." + +"Yes," said Theodora. + +"She also says," referring to the letter in his hand, "she will take +charge of you for the day, and take you to Versailles, which I know you +wish to go to. She wants an answer at once, as she will call for you at +twelve o'clock if we accept." + +"I have heard from her, too," said Theodora. "What shall you answer, +Josiah?" and she looked out of the window. + +"Oh, I may as well go, I think. There is money in the invention, or that +old gimlet-eye would not be so keen about it; I talked the matter over +with him at Armenonville the other night." + +"Then shall you write or shall I?" said Theodora, as evenly as she +could. "Her servant is waiting." + + + + +VIII + + +Theodora hummed to herself a glad little _chansonnette_ as she changed +her breakfast negligee for the freshest and loveliest of her spring +frocks. She did not know why she was so happy. There had been no word of +any one else being of the party, only she and Mrs. McBride, but +Versailles would be exquisite on such a day, and something whispered to +her that she might not yawn. + +The most radiant vision awaited the widow, when, with unusual +punctuality, her automobile stopped at the hotel door. She came in. She +was voluble, she flattered Josiah. So good of him to take Mr. Tubbs--and +she hoped it would not tire him. Theodora should be well looked after. +They might be late and even dine at Versailles, she said, and Mr. Brown +was not to be anxious--_she_ would be responsible for the safe return of +his beautiful little wife. (Theodora was five foot seven at least, but +her small head and extreme slenderness gave people the feeling she was +little--something to be protected and guarded always.) + +Josiah was affable. Mrs. McBride's words were so smooth and so many, he +had no time to feel Theodora was going to dine out without him, or that +anything had been arranged for ultimate ends. + +The automobile had almost reached Suresnes before the widow said to her +guest: + +"Your father and Lord Bracondale have promised to meet us at the +Reservoirs. Captain Fitzgerald told me how you wanted to go to +Versailles, and how your husband is not strong enough to take these +excursions, so I thought we might have this little day out there, while +he is engaged with Mr. Clutterbuck Tubbs." + +"How sweet of you!" said Theodora. + +As they rushed through the smiling country, both women's spirits rose, +and Mrs. McBride's were the spirits of experience and did not mount +without due cause. Since she had been a girl in Dakota and passionately +in love with her first husband--the defunct McBride was a second +venture--she had not met a man who could quicken her pulse like Captain +Fitzgerald. It was a curious coincidence that they both had already two +partners to regret. It was an extra link between them, and Jane +McBride, who was superstitious, read the omen to mean that this time +each had met his true mate. + +"If he is irresistible to-day, I think I shall clinch matters," she was +saying to herself. + +While Theodora's musings ran: + +"How beautiful Versailles will look, and I dare say he will know all +about its history, and be able to tell me interesting things; and oh! I +am so glad I put on this frock, and oh! I am so happy." + +And aloud they spoke of paradise plumes and the new gray, and the merits +and demerits of Callot and Doucet and Jeanne Valez. And the widow said +some bright American things about husbands and the world in general that +conveyed crisp truths. + +The drive seemed all too short, and there were their two cavaliers in +the court-yard awaiting them at the Reservoirs, having arrived just +before them. + +To the end of her life Theodora will remember that glorious May day. Its +even minutest detail, the color of the chestnut-trees, the tint of the +sky, the scent in the air, every line of his figure and turn of his +head, every look in his eyes--and they were many and varied--and also +and alas! every growing emotion in her own heart. But at the moment all +was gladness, and exquisite, young, irresponsible joy. _Sans +arriere-pensee_ or disquieting reflection. + +She wondered which of the two men was the handsomer as she got out of +the automobile--dear, darling papa or Lord Bracondale; both were quite +show creatures of their age, and both were of the same class and +knowledge of _savoir-vivre_. Every one said such polite and gracious +things, it was all so smooth and gay, and it seemed so natural that they +should take a turn up towards the chateau while breakfast was being +prepared. + +Half-past one o'clock was time enough to eat, the widow said. + +"I want to show you a number of spots I love," Hector announced, +choosing a different path to the other pair. "And it is a day we can be +happy in, can't we?" + +"I want to be happy," said Theodora. + +"Then we shall go no farther now; we shall sit on this seat and admire +the view. See, we are quite alone and undisturbed; all the world has +gone home to breakfast." + +Then he looked at her, and though he really did try at this stage to be +reasonable, something of the intense attraction he felt for her blazed +in his eyes. + +She was sufficiently delectable a picture to turn the sagest head. There +was something so absolutely pure white about that skin, it seemed good +to eat, flawless, unlined, unblemished, under this brilliant light. + +The way her silvery blond hair grew was just the right way a woman's +hair ought to grow, he thought; low on a high, broad brow, rippling and +soft, and quantities of it. What could it be like to caress it, to run +one's fingers through it, to bury one's face in it? Ah! and then there +were her tender eyes, dewy and shadowed with dark lashes, and so +intensely blue. His glance wandered farther afield. Such a figure! +slender and graceful and fine. There was something almost childish about +it all; the innocent look of a very young girl, with the polish of the +woman, garbed by an artist. It seemed the great pearls in her ears were +not more milkily white than her throat, and he was sure were also her +little slender hands, that did not fidget, but lay idly in her lap, +holding her blue parasol. He would like to have taken off her gloves to +see. + +Passionate devotion was surging up in his breast. + +And he was an Englishman, and it was still the morning. There was no +moon now and he had not even breakfasted! This shows sufficiently to +what state he had come. + +"I want you to tell me all about Versailles," she said, looking to the +left and the gray wing beyond the chapel. "Its histories and its +meanings. I used to read about it all after Sarah brought me here once +for our treat, but you probably are learned upon the subject, and I want +to know." + +"I would much rather hear what you did when Sarah brought you here for +your treat," he said. + +"Oh! it was a very simple day," and she leaned back and laughed softly +at the recollection. "Papa was very hard up at that time, you know, and +we were rather poor, so we came as cheaply as we could, Sarah, +Clementine, and I, and I remember there were some very snuffy men in the +train--we could not go first-class, you see--and one of them rather +frightened me." + +"The brute!" said Hector. + +"I think I was about fourteen." + +"And even then perfectly beautiful, I expect," he commented to himself. + +"We walked up from the station, and oh! we saw all the galleries and we +ran all over the park, but we missed the way to Trianon somehow and +never saw that, and when we got back here we were too tired to start +again. We had only had sandwiches, you see, that we brought with us, and +some funny little drinks at a cafe down there," and she pointed vaguely +towards the lake, "because we found we had only one franc fifty between +us all. But we were so happy, and Clementine knows a great deal, and +told us many things which were quite different from what was in the +guide-books--but it seems so long, long ago. Do you know it must be six +years." And she looked at him seriously. + +"Half a lifetime!" agreed Hector, with a whimsical smile. + +"Oh! you are laughing at me!" she said, and there was a cloud in the +blue stars which looked up at him. + +He made a movement nearer her--while his deep voice took every tone of +tenderness. + +"Indeed, indeed I am not--you dear little girl! I love to hear of your +day. I was only smiling to think that six years ago you were a baby +child, and I was then an old man in feeling--let me see, I was +twenty-five, and I was in Russia." + +He stopped suddenly; there were some circumstances which, sitting there +beside her, he would rather not remember connected with Russia. + +This was one of the peculiarities of Theodora. There was something about +her which seemed to wither up all low or vicious things. It was not that +she filled people with ascetic thoughts of saints and angels and their +mother in heaven, only she seemed suddenly to enhance simple joys with +beauty and charm. + +They talked on for half an hour, and with every moment he discovered +fresh qualities of sweetness and light in her gentle heart. + +She was not ill educated either, but she had never speculated upon +things, she took them for granted just as they were, and _Jean d'Agreve_ +was probably the only awakening book she had ever read. + +Hector all at once seemed to realize his mother's vision, and to +understand for the first time what marriage might mean. That to possess +this exquisite bit of God's finished work for his very own, to live with +her in the country, at old Bracondale, to see her honored and adored, +surrounded by little children--his children--would be a dream of bliss +far, far beyond any dream he had ever known. A domestic, tender dream of +sweetness that he had always laughed at before as a final thing when +life's other joys should be over, and now it seemed suddenly to be the +only heaven and completion of his soul's desire. + +Then he remembered Josiah Brown with a hideous pang of pain and +bitterness--and they went in to lunch. + + * * * * * + +Theodora was so gay! Captain Fitzgerald and Mrs. McBride were already +seated when they joined them in the restaurant. Most of the other +visitors had finished--it was almost two o'clock. + +There was a good deal of black middle in the widow's eyes, Theodora +noticed, and wondered to herself if she had had a happy and exciting +hour too. Papa looked complacent and handsomer than ever, she thought. +She did hope it was going well. And she wondered how they were to +dispose of their afternoon. + +The widow soon settled this. She had, she said, a wild desire to rush +through the air for a little--she _must_ have her chauffeur go at full +speed--somewhere--anywhere--her nerves needed calming! And Captain +Fitzgerald had agreed to accompany her. Their destination was unknown, +and they might not be back for tea, so Lord Bracondale must take the +greatest care of Theodora and give her some if they did not turn up. +They certainly would for dinner, but eight o'clock would be time enough +for that. + +When your destination is unknown you can never say how many hours it +will take to get there and back, she pointed out. And no one felt +inclined to argue with her about this obvious truth! + +Now if Theodora had been a free unmarried girl, or a freer widow, it is +highly probable fate would not have arranged this long afternoon in +blissful surroundings undisturbed by any one. As it was, who knows if +the goddess settled it with a smile on her lip or a tear in her eye? It +was settled, at all events, and looked as if it were going to contain +some moments worth remembering. + + + + +IX + + +"And what is your pleasure, fair queen?" Hector said, as they listened +to the diminishing noise of the widow's Mercedes. "We are alone, and we +have the world before us. Issue your commands." + +"No," said Theodora, and she pouted her red lips. "I want you to settle +that. I want you to arrange for whatever you think would give me the +greatest pleasure. Then I shall know if you understand me and guess what +I would like." + +This was the most daring speech she had ever made, and she was surprised +at her own temerity. + +"Very well," he said. "That means you belong to me until they return," +and a thrill ran through him. "Has not your father, has not your +hostess, given you into my charge? And, now you yourself have sealed the +compact, we shall see if I can make you happy." + +As he said the words "you belong to me," Theodora thrilled too--a +sensation as of an electric shock almost quivered through her. Belonged +to him--ah!--what would that mean? + +He called his chauffeur, who started the automobile and drove under the +covered _porte cochere_ where they stood. + +Lord Bracondale had not spoken all the time he was helping her in and +arranging rugs with the tenderest solicitude, but when they were settled +and started--it was a coupe with a great deal of glass about it, so that +they got plenty of air--he turned to her. + +"Now, do you know what I am going to do with you, madame? I shall only +unfold my plans bit by bit, and watch your face to see if I have chosen +well. I am going to take you first to the Petit Trianon, and we are +going to walk leisurely through the rooms. I am not going to worry you +with much sight-seeing and tourists and lessons of history, but I want +you to glance at this setting of the life picture of poor Marie +Antoinette, because it is full of sentiment and it will make you +appreciate more the _hameau_ and her playground afterwards. Something +tells me you would rather see these things than all the fine pictures +and salons of the stiff chateau." + +"Oh yes," said Theodora; "you have guessed well this time." + +"Then here we are, almost arrived," he said, presently. + +They had been going very fast, and could see the square, white house in +front of them, and when they alighted at the gates she found the +guardian was an old friend of Lord Bracondale's, and they were left free +to wander alone in the rooms between the batches of tourists. + +But every one knows the Petit Trianon, and can surmise how its beauties +appealed to Theodora. + +"Oh, the poor, poor queen!" she said, with a sad ring in her expressive +voice, when they came to the large salon; "and she sat here and played +on her harpsichord--and I wonder if she and Fersen were ever alone--and +I wonder if she really loved him--" + +Then she stopped suddenly; she had told herself she must never talk +about love to any one. It was a subject that she must have nothing to do +with. It could never come her way, now she was married to Josiah Brown, +and it would be unwise to discuss it, even in the abstract. + +The same beautiful, wild-rose tint tinged the white velvet as once +before when she had spoken of _Jean d'Agreve_, and again Lord Bracondale +experienced a sensation of satisfaction. + +But this time he would not let her talk about the weather. The subject +of love interested him, too. + +"Yes, I am sure she did," he said, "and I always shall believe Fersen +was her lover; no life, even a queen's, can escape one love." + +"I suppose not," said Theodora, very low, and she looked out of the +window. + +"Love is not a passion which asks our leave if he may come or no, you +see," Hector continued, trying to control his voice to sound +dispassionate and discursive--he knew he must not frighten her. "Love +comes in a thousand unknown, undreamed-of ways. And then he gilds the +world and makes it into heaven." + +"Does he?" almost whispered Theodora. + +"And think what it must have been to a queen, married to a tiresome, +unattractive Bourbon--and Fersen was young and gallant and thoughtful +for her slightest good, and, from what one hears and has read, he must +have understood her, and been her friend as well--and sometimes she must +have forgotten about being a queen for a few moments--in his arms--" + +Theodora drew a long, long breath, but she did not speak. + +"And perhaps, if we knew, the remembrance of those moments may have +been her glory and consolation in the last dark hours." + +"Oh! I hope so!" said Theodora. + +Then she walked on quickly into the quaint, little, low-ceilinged +bedroom. Oh, she must get out into the air--or she must talk of +furniture, or curtain stuffs, or where the bath had been! + +Love, love, love! And did it mean life after all?--since even this +far-off love of this poor dead queen had such power to move her. And +perhaps Fersen was like--but this last thought caused her heart to beat +too wildly. + +There were no roses now, she was very pale as she said: "It saddens me, +this. Let us go out into the sun." + +They descended the staircase again almost in silence, and on through the +little door in the court-yard wall into the beautiful garden beyond. + +"Show me where she was happy, where you know she was happy before any +troubles came. I want to be gay again," said Theodora. + +So they walked down the path towards the _hameau_. + +"What have I done?" Lord Bracondale wondered. "Her adorable face went +quite white. Her soul is no longer the open book I have found it. There +are depths and depths, but I must fathom them all." + +"Oh, how I love the spring-time!" exclaimed Theodora, and her voice was +full of relief. "Look at those greens, so tender and young, and that +peep of the sky! Oh, and those dear, pretty little dolls' houses! Let us +hasten; I want to go and play there, and make butter, too! Don't you?" + +"Ah, this is good," he said; "and I want just what you want." + +Her face was all sweet and joyous as she turned it to him. + +"Let's pretend we lived then," she said, "and I am the miller's daughter +of this dear little mill, and you are the bailiff's son who lives +opposite, and you have come with your corn to be ground. Oh, and I shall +make a bargain, and charge you dear!" and she laughed and swung her +parasol back, while the sun glorified her hair into burnished silver. + +"What bargain could you make that I would not agree to willingly?" he +asked. + +"Perhaps some day I shall make one with you--or want to--that you will +not like," she said, "and then I shall remind you of this day and your +gallant speech." + +"And I shall say then as I say now. I will make any bargain with you, +so long as it is a bargain which benefits us both." + +"Ah, you are a Normand, you hedge!" she laughed, but he was serious. + +They walked all around the _laiterie_, and all the time she was gay and +whimsical, and to herself she was saying, "I am unutterably happy, but +we must not talk of love." + +"Now you have had enough of this," Lord Bracondale said, when they were +again in view of the house, "and I am going to take you into a forest +like the babes in the woods, and we shall go and lose ourselves and +forget the world altogether. The very sight of these harmless tourists +in the distance jars upon me to-day. I want you alone and no one else. +Come." + +And she went. + +"I have never been here before," said Theodora, as they turned into the +Forest of Marly. "And you have been wise in your choice so far. I love +trees." + +"You see how I study and care for the things which belong to me," said +Hector. It gave him ridiculous pleasure to announce that sentence +again--ridiculous, unwarrantable pleasure. + +Theodora turned her head away a little. She would like to have continued +the subject, but she did not dare. + +Presently they came to a side _allee_, and after going up it about a +mile the automobile stopped, and they got out and walked down a green +glade to the right. + +Oh, and I wonder if any of you who read know the Forest of Marly, and +this one green glade that leads down to the centre of a star where five +avenues meet? It is all soft grass and splendid trees, and may have been +a _rendezvous de chasse_ in the good old days, when life--for the +great--was fair in France. + +It is very lonely now, and if you want to spend some hours in peace you +can almost count upon solitude there. + +"Now, is not this beautiful?" he asked her, as they neared the centre, +"and soon you will see why I carry this rug over my arm. I am going to +take you right to the middle of the star until you see five paths for +you to choose from, all green and full of glancing sunlight, and when +you have selected one we will penetrate down it and sit under a tree. Is +it good--my idea?" + +"Very good," said Theodora. Then she was silent until they reached the +_rond-point_. + +There was that wonderful sense of aloofness and silence--hardly even the +noise of a bird. Only the green, green trees, and here and there a +shaft of sunlight turning them into the shade of a lizard's back. + +An ideal spot for--poets and dreamers--and lovers--Theodora thought. + +"Now we are here! Look this way and that! Five paths for us to choose +from!" + +Then something made Theodora say, "Oh, let us stay in the centre, in +this one round place, where we can see them all and their +possibilities." + +"And do you think uncertain possibilities are more agreeable perhaps +than certain ends?" he asked. + +"I never speculate," said Theodora. + +"As you will, then," he said, while he looked into her eyes, and he +placed the rug up against a giant tree between two avenues, so that +their view really only extended down three others now. + +"We have turned our backs on the road we came," he said, "and on another +road that leads in a roundabout way to the Grande Avenue again. So now +we must look into the unknown and the future." + +"It seems all very green and fair," said Theodora, and she leaned back +against the tree and half closed her eyes. + +He lay on the grass at her feet, his hat thrown off beside him, and in +a desert island they could not have been more alone and undisturbed. + +The greatest temptation that Hector Bracondale had ever yet had in his +life came to him then. To make love to her, to tell her of all the new +thoughts she had planted in his soul, of the windows she had opened wide +to the sunlight. To tell her that he loved her, that he longed to touch +even the tips of her fingers, that the thought of caressing her lips and +her eyes and her hair drove the blood coursing madly through his veins. +That to dream of what life could be like, if she were really his own, +was a dream of intoxicating bliss. + +And something of all this gleamed in his eyes as he gazed up at her--and +Theodora, all unused to the turbulence of emotion, was troubled and +moved and yet wildly happy. She looked away down the centre avenue, and +she began to speak fast with a little catch in her breath, and Hector +clinched his hands together and gazed at a beetle in the grass, or +otherwise he would have taken her in his arms. + +"Tell me the story of all these avenues," she said; "tell me a fairy +story suitable to the day." + +And he fell in with her mood. So he began: + +[Illustration: "Once Upon a Time There Was a Fairy Prince and +Princess."] + +"Once upon a time there was a fairy prince and princess, and a witch +had enchanted them and put them in a green forest, but had set a +watch-dog over Love--so that the poor Cupid with his bow and arrows +might not shoot at them, and they were told they might live and enjoy +the green wood and find what they could of sport and joy. But Cupid +laughed. 'As if,' he said, 'there is anything in a green wood of good +without me--and my shafts!' So while the watch-dog slept--it was a warm, +warm day in May, just such as this--he shot an arrow at the prince and +it entered his heart. Then he ran off laughing. 'That is enough for one +day,' he said. And the poor prince suffered and suffered because he was +wounded and the princess had not received a dart, too--and could not +feel for him." + +"Was she not even sympathetic?" asked Theodora, and again there was that +catch in her breath. + +"Yes, she was sympathetic," he continued, "but this was not enough for +the prince; he wanted her to be wounded, too." + +"How very, very cruel of him," said Theodora. + +"But men are cruel, and the prince was only a man, you know, although he +was in a green forest with a lovely princess." + +"And what happened?" asked Theodora. + +"Well, the watch-dog slept on, so that a friendly zephyr could come, and +it whispered to the prince: 'At the end of all these allees, which lead +into the future, there is only one thing, and that is Love; he bars +their gates. As soon as you start down one, no matter which, you will +find him, and when he sees your princess he will shoot an arrow at her, +too.'" + +"Oh, then the princess of course never went down an allee," said +Theodora--and she smiled radiantly to hide how her heart was +beating--"did she?" + +"The end of the story I do not know," said Lord Bracondale; "the fairy +who told it to me would not say what happened to them, only that the +prince was wounded, deeply wounded, with Love's arrow. Aren't you sorry +for the prince, beautiful princess?" + +Theodora opened her blue parasol, although no ray of sunshine fell upon +her there. She was going through the first moment of this sort in her +life. She was quite unaccustomed to fencing, or to any intercourse with +men--especially men of his world. She understood this story had himself +and herself for hero and heroine; she felt she must continue the +badinage--anything to keep the tone as light as it could be, with all +these new emotions flooding her being and making her heart beat. It was +almost pain she experienced, the sensation was so intense, and Hector +read of these things in her eyes and was content. So he let his voice +grow softer still, and almost whispered again: + +"And aren't you sorry for the prince--beautiful princess?" + +"I am sorry for any one who suffers," said Theodora, gently, "even in a +fairy story." + +And as he looked at her he thought to himself, here was a rare thing, a +beautiful woman with a tender heart. He knew she would be gentle and +kind to the meanest of God's creatures. And again the vision of her at +Bracondale came to him--his mother would grow to love her perhaps even +more than Morella Winmarleigh! How she would glorify everything +commonplace with those tender ways of hers! To look at her was like +looking up into the vast, pure sky, with the light of heaven beyond. And +yet he lay on the grass at her feet with his mind full of thoughts and +plans and desires to drag this angel down from her high heaven--into his +arms! + +Because he was a man, you see, and the time of his awakening was not +yet. + + + + +X + + +Man is a hunter--a hunter always. He may be a poor thing and hunt only a +few puny aims, or he may be a strong man and choose big game. But he is +hunting, hunting--something--always. + +And primitive life seems like the spectrum of light--composed of three +primary colors, and white and black at the beginning and ending of it. +And the three colors of blue, red, and yellow have their counterparts in +the three great passions in man--to hunt his food, to continue his +species, and to kill his enemy. + +And white and black seem like birth and death--and there is the sun, +which is the soul and makes the colors, and allows of all combinations +and graduations of beautiful other shades from them for parallels to all +other qualities and instincts, only the original are those great primary +forces--to hunt his food, to continue his species, and to kill his +enemy. + +And if this is so to the end of time, man will be the same, I suppose, +until civilization has emasculated the whole of nature and so ends the +world! Or until this wonderful new scientist has perfected his +researches to the point of creating human life by chemical process, as +well as his present discovery of animating jellyfish! + +Who knows? But by that time it will not matter to any of us! + +Meanwhile, man is at the stage that when he loves a woman he wishes to +possess her, and, in a modified form, he wishes to steal her, if +necessary, from another, or kill the enemy who steals her from him. + +But the Sun of the Soul is there, too, so the poor old world is not in +such a very bad case after all. + +And how the _bon Dieu_ must smile sadly to Himself when He looks down on +priests and nuns and hermits and fanatics, and sees how they have +distorted His beautiful scheme of things with their narrow ideas. Trying +to eliminate the red out of His spectrum, instead of ennobling and +glorifying it all with the Sun of the Soul. + +And all of you who are great reasoners and arguers will laugh at this +ridiculous little simile of life drawn by a woman; but I do not care. I +have had my outburst, and said what I wanted to. So now we can get back +to the two--who were not yet lovers--under their green tree in the +Forest of Marly. + +"But you must be able to guess the end," Theodora was saying; "and oh, I +want to know, if all the roads were barred by love--how did they get out +of the wood?" + +"They took him with them," said Lord Bracondale, and he touched the edge +of her dress gently with a wild flower he had picked in the grass, while +into his eyes crept all the passion he felt and into his voice all the +tenderness. + +Now if Theodora had ever read _La Faute de L'Abbe Mouret_ she would have +known just what proximity and the spring-time was doing for them both. + +But she had not read, and did not know. All she was conscious of was a +wild thrilling of her pulses, an extraordinary magnetic force that +seemed to draw her--draw her nearer--nearer to what? Even that she did +not know or ask herself. Beyond that it was danger, and she must fly +from it. + +"I do not want to talk of any of those things to-day," she said, +suddenly dropping her parasol between them. "I only want to laugh and be +amused, and as you were to devise schemes for my happiness, you must +amuse me." + +He looked up at her again and he noticed, for all this brave speech, +that her hands were trembling as she clutched the handle of her blue +parasol. + +Triumph and joy ran through him. He could afford to wait a little longer +now, since he knew that he must mean something, even perhaps a great +deal, to her. + +And so for the next half-hour he played with her, he skimmed over the +surface of danger, he enthralled her fancy, and with every sentence he +threw the glamour of his love around her, and fascinated her soul. All +his powers of attraction--and they were many--were employed for her +undoing. + +And Theodora sat as one in a dream. + +At last she felt she _must_ wake--must realize that she was not a happy +princess, but Theodora, who must live her dull life--and this--and +this--where was it leading her to? + +So she clasped her hands together suddenly, and she said: + +"But do you know we have grown serious, and I asked you to amuse me, +Lord Bracondale!" + +"I cannot amuse you," he said, lazily, "but shall I tell you about my +home, which I should like to show you some day?" And again he began to +caress the farthest edge of her dress with his wild flower. Just the +smallest movement of smoothing it up and down that no one could resent, +but which was disturbing to Theodora. She did not wish him to stop, on +the contrary--and yet-- + +"Yes, I would like to hear of that," she said. "Is it an old, old +house?" + +"Oh, moderately so, and it has nooks and corners and views that might +appeal to you. I believe I should find them all endowed with fresh charm +myself, if I could see them with you"--and he made the turning-point of +his flower a few inches nearer her hand. + +Theodora said nothing; but she took courage and peeped at him again. And +she thought how powerful he looked, and how beautifully shaped; and she +liked the fineness of the silk of his socks and his shirt, and the cut +of his clothes, and the wave of his hair--and last of all, his brown, +strong, well-shaped hands. + +And then she fell to wondering what the general scheme of things could +be that made husbands possess none of these charms; when, if they did, +it could all be so good and so delicious, instead of a terribly irksome +duty to live with them and be their wives. + +"You are not listening to a word I am saying!" said Hector. "Where were +your thoughts, cruel lady?" + +She was confused a little, and laughed gently. "They were away in a land +where you can never come," she said. + +He raised himself on his elbow, and supported his head on his hand, +while he answered, eagerly: + +"But I must come! I want to know them, all your thoughts. Do you know +that since we met on Monday you have never been for one instant out of +my consciousness. And you would not listen then to what I told you of +friendship when it is born of instantaneous sympathy--it is because in +some other life two souls have been very near and dear. And that is our +case, and I want to make you feel it so, as I do. Tell me that you +do--?" + +"I do not know what I do feel," said Theodora. "But perhaps--could it be +true that we met when we lived before; and when was that? and who were +we?" + +"It matters not a jot," said he. "So long as you feel it too--that we +are not only of yesterday, you and I. There is some stronger link +between us." + +For one second they looked into each other's eyes, and each read the +other's thoughts mirrored there; and if his said, in conscious, +passionate words, "I love you," hers were troubled and misty with +possibilities. Then she jumped up from her seat suddenly, and her voice +trembled a little as she said: + +"And now I want to go out of the wood." + +He rose too and stood beside her, while he pointed to the glade to the +left of the centre they were facing. + +"We must penetrate into the future then," he said, "because I told my +chauffeur to meet us on the road where I think that will lead to. We +cannot go back by the way we have come." + +And she did not answer; she was afraid, because she remembered all those +avenues were barred by--love. + +As he walked beside her, Hector Bracondale knew that now he must be +very, very careful in what he said. He must lull her fears to sleep +again, or she would be off like a lark towards high heaven, and he would +be left upon earth. + +So he exerted himself to interest and amuse her in less agitating ways. +He talked of his home and his mother and his sister. He wanted Theodora +to meet them. She would like Anne, he said, and his mother would love +her, he knew. And again the impossible vision same to him, and he felt +he hated the face of Morella Winmarleigh. + +Usually when he had been greatly attracted by a married woman before, he +had unconsciously thought of her as having the qualities which would +make her an adorable mistress, a delicious friend, or a holiday +amusement. There had never been any reverence mixed up with the affair, +which usually had the zest of forbidden fruit, and was hurried along by +passion. It had always only depended upon the woman how far he had got +beyond these stages; but, as he thought of Theodora, unconsciously a +picture always came to him of what she would be were she his wife. And +it astonished him when he analyzed it; he, the scoffer at bonds, now to +find this picture the fairest in the world! + +And as yet he was hardly even dimly growing to realize that fate would +turn the anguish of this desire into a chastisement of scorpions for +him. + +Things had always been so within his grasp. + +"We shall go to England on Tuesday," Theodora said, as they sauntered +along down the green glade. "It is so strange, you know, but I have +never been there." + +"Never been to England!" Hector exclaimed, incredulously. + +"No!" and she smiled up at him. All was at peace now in her mind, and +she dared to look as much as she pleased. + +"No. Papa used to go sometimes, but it was too expensive to take the +whole family; so we were left at Bruges generally, or at Dieppe, or +where we chanced to be. If it was the summer, often we have spent it in +a Normandy farm-house." + +"Then how have you learned all the things you know?" he asked. + +"That was not difficult. I do not know much," she said, gently, "and +Sarah taught me in the beginning, and then I went to convents whenever +we were in towns, and dear papa was so kind and generous always; no +matter how hard up he was he always got the best masters available for +me--and for Clementine. Sarah is much older, and even Clementine five +years." + +"I wonder what on earth you will think of it--England, I mean?" He was +deeply interested. + +"I am sure I shall love it. We have always spoken of it as home, you +know. And papa has often described my grandfather's houses. Both my +grandfathers had beautiful houses, it seems, and he says, now that I am +rich and cannot ever be a trouble to them, the family might be pleased +to see me." + +She spoke quite simply. There never was room for bitterness or irony in +her tender heart. And Hector looked down upon her, a sort of worship in +his eyes. + +"Papa's father is dead long ago; it is his brother who owns Beechleigh +now," she continued--"Sir Patrick Fitzgerald. They are Irish, of course, +but the place is in Cambridgeshire, because it came from his +grandmother." + +"Yes, I know the old boy," said Hector. "I see him at the turf--a fiery, +vile-tempered, thin, old bird, about sixty." + +"That sounds like him," said Theodora. + +"And so you are going to make all these relations' acquaintance. What an +experience it will be, won't it?" His voice was full of sympathy. "But +you will stay in London. They are all there now, I suppose?" + +"My Grandfather Borringdon, my mother's father, never goes there, I +believe; he is very old and delicate, we have heard. But I have written +to him--papa wished me to do so; for myself I do not care, because I +think he was unkind to my mother, and I shall not like him. It was cruel +never to speak to her again--wasn't it?--just because she married papa, +whom she loved very much--papa, who is so handsome that he could never +have really been a husband, could he?" + +Then she blushed deeply, realizing what she had said. + +And the quaintness of it caused Hector to smile while he felt its +pathos. + +How _could_ they all have sacrificed this beautiful young life between +them! And he slashed off a tall green weed with his stick when he +thought of Josiah Brown--his short, stumpy, plebeian figure and bald, +shiny head, his common voice, and his pompousness--Josiah Brown, who had +now the ordering of her comings and goings, who paid for her clothes and +gave her those great pearls--who might touch her and kiss her--might +clasp and caress her--might hold her in his arms, his very own, any +moment of the day--or night! Ah, God! that last thought was +impossible--unbearable. + +And for one second Hector's eyes looked murderous as they glared into +the distance--and Theodora glanced up timidly, and asked, in a +sympathetic voice: What was it? What ailed him? + +"Some day I will tell you," he said. "But not yet." + +Then he asked her more about her family and her plans. + +They would stay in London at Claridge's for a week or so, and go down to +Bessington Hall for Whitsuntide. It would be ready for them then. Josiah +had had it all furnished magnificently by one of those people who had +taste and ordered well for those who could afford to pay for it. She was +rather longing to see it, she said--her future home--and she could have +wished she might have chosen the things herself. Not that it mattered +much either way. + +"I am very ignorant about houses," she explained, "because we never +really had one, you see, but I think, perhaps, I would know what was +pretty from museums and pictures--and I love all colors and forms." + +He felt sure she would know what was pretty. How delightful it would be +to watch her playing with his old home! The touches of her gentle +fingers would make everything sacred afterwards. + +At last they came to the end of the green glade--and temptation again +assailed him. He _must_ ruffle the peace of her soft eyes once more. + +"And here is the barrier," he said, pointing to a board with "_Terrain +reserve_" upon it--_Reservee pour la chasse de Monsieur le President_, +"The barrier which Love keeps--and I want to take him with us as the +prince and princess did in the fairy tale." + +"Then you must carry him all by yourself," laughed Theodora. "And he +will be heavy and tire you, long before we get to Versailles." + +This time she was on her guard--and besides they were walking--and he +was no longer caressing the edge of her dress with his wild flower; it +was almost easy to fence now. + +But when they reached the automobile and he bent over to tuck the rug +in--and she felt the touch of his hands and perceived the scent of +him--the subtle scent, not a perfume hardly, of his coat, or his hair, a +wild rush of that passionate disturbance came over her again, making her +heart beat and her eyes dilate. + +And Hector saw and understood, and bit his lips, and clinched his hands +together under the rug, because so great was his own emotion that he +feared what he should say or do. He dared not, dared not chance a +dismissal from the joy of her presence forever, after this one day. + +"I will wait until I know she loves me enough to certainly forgive +me--and then, and then--" he said to himself. + +But Fate, who was looking on, laughed while she chanted, "The hour is +now at hand when these steeds of passion whose reins you have left loose +so long will not ask your leave, noble friend, but will carry you +whither they will." + + + + +XI + + +They were both a little constrained upon the journey back to +Versailles--and both felt it. But when they turned into the Porte St. +Antoine Theodora woke up. + +"Do you know," she said, "something tells me that for a long, long time +I shall not again have such a happy day. It can't be more than half-past +five or six--need we go back to the Reservoirs yet? Could we not have +tea at the little cafe by the lake?" + +He gave the order to his chauffeur, and then he turned to her. + +"I, too, want to prolong it all," he said, "and I want to make you +happy--always." + +"It is only lately that I have begun to think about things," she said, +softly--"about happiness, I mean, and its possibilities and +impossibilities. I think before my marriage I must have been half +asleep, and very young." + +And Hector thought, "You are still, but I shall awake you." + +"You see," she continued, "I had never read any novels, or books about +life until _Jean d'Agreve_. And now I wonder sometimes if it is possible +to be really happy--really, really happy?" + +"I know it is," he said; "but only in one way." + +She did not dare to ask in what way. She looked down and clasped her +hands. + +"I once thought," she went on, hurriedly, "that I was perfectly happy +the first time Josiah gave me two thousand francs, and told me to go out +with my maid and buy just what I wished with it; and oh, we bought +everything I could think Sarah and Clementine could want, numbers and +numbers of things, and I remember I was fearfully excited when they were +sent off to Dieppe. But I never knew if I chose well or if they liked +them all quite, and now to do that does not give me nearly so much joy." + +Soon they drew up at the little cafe and ordered tea, which he guessed +probably would be very bad and they would not drink. But tea was +English, and more novel than coffee for Theodora, and that she must +have, she said. + +She was so gracious and sweet in the pouring of it out, when presently +it came, and the elderly waiter seemed so sympathetic, and it was all +gay and bright with the late afternoon sun streaming upon them. + +"The garcon takes us for a honeymoon couple," Hector said; "he sees you +have beautiful new clothes, and that we have not yet begun to yawn with +each other." + +But Theodora had not this view of honeymoons. To her a honeymoon meant a +nightmare, now happily a thing of the past, and almost forgotten. + +"Do not speak of it," she said, and she put out her hands as if to ward +off an ugly sight, and Hector bent over the table and touched her +fingers gently as he said: + +"Forgive me," and he raged within himself. How could he have been so +gauche, so clumsy and unlike himself. He had punished them both, and +destroyed an illusion. He meant that she should picture herself and him +as married lovers, and she had only seen--Josiah Brown. They both fell +into silence and so finished their repast. + +"I want you to walk now," Hector said, "through some delicious allees +where I will show you Enceladus after he was struck by the +thunders of Zeus. You will like him, I think, and there is fine +greensward around him where we can sit awhile." + +"I was always sorry for him," said Theodora; "and oh, how I would like +to go to Sicily and see AEtna and his fiery breath coming forth, and to +know when the island quakes it is the poor giant turning his weary +side!" + +To go to Sicily--and with her! The picture conjured up in Hector's +imagination made him thrill again. + +Then he told her about it all, he charmed her fancy and excited her +imagination, and by the time they came to their goal the feeling of jar +had departed, and the dangerous sense of attraction--of nearness--had +returned. + +It was nearly seven o'clock, and here among the trees all was in a soft +gloom of evening light. + +"Is not this still and far away?" he said, as they sat on an old stone +bench. "I often stay the whole morning here when I spend a week at +Versailles." + +"How peaceful and beautiful! Oh, I would like a week here, too!" and +Theodora sighed. + +"You must not sigh, beautiful princess," he implored, "on this our happy +day." + +The slender lines of her figure seemed all drooping. She reminded him +more than ever of the fragment of Psyche in the Naples Museum. + +"No, I must not sigh," she said. "But it seems suddenly to have grown +sad--the air--what does it mean? Tell me, you who know so many things?" +There was a pathos in her voice like a child in distress. + +It communicated itself to him, it touched some chords in his nature +hitherto silent. His whole being rushed out to her in tenderness. + +"It seems to me it is because the time grows nearer when we must go back +to the world. First to dinner with the others, and then--Paris. I would +like to stay thus always--just alone with you." + +She did not refute this solution of her sadness. She knew it was true. +And when he looked into her eyes, the blue was troubled with a mist as +of coming tears. + +Then passion--more mighty than ever--seized him once more. He only felt +a wild desire to comfort her, to kiss away the mist--to talk to her. Ah! + +"Theodora!" he said, and his voice vibrated with emotion, while he bent +forward and seized both her hands, which he lifted to his face--she had +not put on her gloves again after the tea--her cool, little, tender +hands! He kissed and kissed their palms. + +"Darling--darling," he said, incoherently, "what have I done to make +your dear eyes wet? Oh, I love you so, I love you so, and I have only +made you sad." + +She gave a little, inarticulate cry. If a wounded dove could sob, it +might have been the noise of a dove, so beseeching and so pathetic. "Oh, +please--you must not," she said. "Oh, what have you done!--you have +killed our happy day." + +And this was the beginning of his awakening. He sat for many moments +with his head buried in his hands. What, indeed, had he done!--and they +would be turned out of their garden of Eden--and all because he was a +brute, who could not control his passion, but must let it run riot on +the first opportunity. + +He suffered intensely. Suffered, perhaps, for the first time in his +life. + +She had not said one word of anger--only that tone in her voice reached +to his heart. + +He did not move and did not speak, and presently she touched his hands +softly with her slender fingers, it seemed like the caress of an angel's +wing. + +"Listen," she said, so gently. "Oh, you must not grieve--but it was too +good to be true, our day. I ought to have known to where we were +drifting, I am wicked to have let you say all you have said to-day, but +oh, I was asleep, I think, and I only knew that I was happy. But now you +have shown me--and oh, the dream is broken up. Come, let us go back to +the world." + +Then he raised his eyes to her face, and they were haggard and +miserable. + +How her simple speech, blaming herself who was all innocent, touched his +heart and filled him with shame at his unworthiness. + +"Oh, forgive me!" he pleaded. "Oh, please forgive me! I am mad, I think, +I love you so--and I had to tell you--and yes, I will say it all now, +and then you can punish me. From the first moment I looked into your +angel eyes it has been growing, you are so true and so sweet, and so +miles beyond all other women in the world. Each minute I have loved you +more--and all the time I thought to win you. Yes, you may well turn +away, and shrink from me now that you know the brute I am. I thought I +would make you love me, and you would forgive me then. But I have +suddenly seen your soul, my darling, and I am ashamed, and I can only +ask you to forgive me and let me worship you and be your slave--I will +not ask for any return--only to worship you and be your slave--that I +may show you I am not all brute and may earn your pardon." + +And then Theodora's blindness fell from her and she knew that she loved +him--she had faced the fact at last. And all over her being there +thrilled a mad, wild joy. It surged up and crushed out fear and +pain--for just one moment--and then she too, in her turn, covered her +face with her hands. + +"Oh, hush! hush!" she said. "What have you done--what have we both +done!" + +It was characteristic of her that now she realized she loved him she did +not fence any longer, she never thought of concealing it from him or of +blaming him. They were sinners both, he and she equally guilty. + +Another woman might have argued, "He is fooling me; perhaps he has said +these things before--I must at least hide my own heart," but not +Theodora. Her trust was complete--she loved him--therefore he was a +perfect knight--and if he was wicked she was wicked too. + +Her gentian eyes were full of tears as she let fall her hands and looked +at him. "Oh yes, I have been asleep--I should have known from the +beginning why, why I wanted to see you so much--I should never have +come--and I should have understood in the wood that we could not leave +it without bringing Love with us--and now we may not be happy any more." + +And then it was his turn to be exalted with wild joy. + +"Do you know what you have said," he whispered, breathless. "Your words +mean that you love me--Theodora--darling mine." And once again passion +blazed in his eyes, and he would have taken her in his arms; but she put +up her hands and gently pushed him from her. + +"Yes," she said, simply, "I love you, but that only makes it all the +harder--and we must say good-bye at once, and go our different ways. You +who are so strong and know so much--I trust you, dear--you must help me +to do what is right." + +She never thought of reproaching him, of telling him, as she very well +could have done, that he had taken cruel advantage of her +unsophistication. All her mind was full of the fact that they were both +very sad and wicked and must help each other. + +"I _cannot_ say good-bye," he said, "now that I know you love me, +darling; it is impossible. How can we part--what will the days be--how +could we get through our lives?" + +She looked at him, and her eyes were the eyes of a wounded thing--dumb +and pitiful, and asking for help. + +Then the something that was fine and noble in Hector Bracondale rose up +in him--the crust of selfishness and cynicism fell from him like a mask. +He suddenly saw himself as he was, and she--as she was--and a +determination came over him to grow worthy of her love, obey her +slightest wish, even if it must break his heart. + +He dropped upon his knees beside her on the greensward, and buried his +face in her lap. + +"Darling--my queen," he said. "I will do whatever you command--but oh, +it need not be good-bye. Don't let me sicken and die out of your +presence. I swear, on my word of honor, I will never trouble you. Let me +worship you and watch over you and make your life brighter. Oh, God! +there can be no sin in that." + +"I trust you!" she said, and she touched the waves of his hair. "And now +we must not linger--we must come at once out of this place. I--I cannot +bear it any more." + +And so they went--into an _allee_ of close, cropped trees, where the +gloom was almost twilight; but if there was pain there was joy too, and +almost peace in their hearts. + +All the anguish was for the afterwards. Love, who is a god, was too near +to his kingdom to admit of any rival. + +"Hector," she whispered, and as she said his name a wild thrill ran +through him again. "Hector--the Austrian Prince at Armenonville said +life was a current down which our barks floated, only to be broken up on +the rocks if it was our fate; and I said if we tried very hard some +angel would steer us past them into smooth waters beyond; and I want you +to help me to find the angel, dear--will you?" + +But all he could say was that she was the angel, the only angel in +heaven or earth. + +And so they came at last to the Bason de Neptune, and on through the +side door into the Reservoirs--and there was the widow's automobile that +moment arrived. + + + + +XII + + +Every one behaved with immense propriety--they said just what they +should have said, there was no _gene_ at all. And when they went up the +stairs together to arrange their hair and their hats for dinner, the +elder woman slipped her arm through Theodora's. + +"I am going to marry your father, my dear," she said, "and I want you to +be the first to wish me joy." + +The dinner went off with great gayety. The widow especially was full of +bright sayings, and Captain Fitzgerald made the most devoted lover. Not +too elated by his good-fortune, and yet thoroughly happy and tender. He +continually told himself that fate had been uncommonly kind to mix +business and pleasure so dexterously, for if the widow had not possessed +a cent, he still would have been glad to marry her. + +He had been quite honest with her on their drive, explaining his +financial situation and his disadvantages, which he said could only be +slightly balanced by his devotion and affection--but of those he would +lay the whole at her feet. + +And the widow had said: + +"Now look here, I am old enough just to know what my money is worth--and +if you like to put it as a business speculation for me, I consider, in +buying the companion for the rest of my life who happens to suit me, I +am laying out the sum to my own advantage." + +After that there was no more to be said, and he had spent his time +making love to her like any Romeo of twenty, and both were content. + +All through dinner a certain strange excitement dominated Theodora. She +felt there would be more deep emotion yet to come for her before the day +should close. + +How were they going back to Paris? + +The moon had risen pure and full, she could see it through the windows. +The night was soft and warm, and when the last sips of coffee and +liqueurs were finished it was still only nine o'clock. + +On an occasion when no personal excitement was stirring Captain +Fitzgerald he probably would have hesitated about approving of Theodora +spending the entire evening alone with Lord Bracondale. She was married, +it was true--but to Josiah Brown--and Dominic Fitzgerald knew his +world. To-night, however, neither the widow nor he had outside thoughts +beyond themselves. Indeed, Mrs. McBride was so overflowing with joy she +had almost a feeling of satisfaction in the knowledge that the others +would possibly be happy too--when she thought of them at all! + +Again she decided the situation for every one, and again fate laughed. + +There was no use staying any longer at Versailles, because the park +gates were shut and they could not stroll in the moonlight, but a drive +back and a few turns in the Bois with a little supper at Madrid would be +a fitting ending to the day. + +"You must meet us at Madrid at half-past ten," she said; "and +Dominic"--the name came out as if from long habit--"telephone for a +table in the bosquet--Numero 3--I like that garcon best, he knows my +wants." + +And so they got into their separate automobiles. + +"Let us have all the windows down," said Theodora, "to get all the +beautiful air--it is such a lovely night." + +Her heart was beating as it had never beat before. How could she control +herself! How keep calm and ordinary during the enchanting drive! Her +hands were cold as ice, while flaming roses burned in the white velvet +cheeks. + +And Hector saw it all and understood, and passion surged madly in his +veins. For a mile or two there was silence--only the moonlight and the +swift rushing through the air, and the wild beating of their hearts. And +so they came to the long, dark stretch of wood by St. Cloud. And the +devil whispered sophistries and fate continued to laugh. Then passion +was too strong for him. + +"Darling," he said, and his fine resolutions fled to the winds, while +his deep voice was hoarse and broken. "My darling!--God! I love you +so--beyond all words or sense--Oh, let us be happy for this one +night--we must part afterwards I know, and I will accept that--but just +for to-night there can be no sin and no harm in being a little +happy--when we are going to pay for it with all the rest of our lives. +Let us have the memory of one hour of bliss--the angels themselves could +not grudge us that." + +One hour of bliss out of a lifetime! Would it be a terrible sin, +Theodora wondered, a terrible, unforgivable sin to let him kiss her--to +let him hold her just once in his arms. + +There was no light in the coupe--he had seen to that--only the great +lamps flaring in the road and the moonlight. + +She clasped her hands in an agony of emotion. She was but a dove in the +net of an experienced fowler, but she did not know or think of that, nor +he either. They only knew they loved each other passionately, and this +situation was more than they could bear. + +"Oh, I trust you!" she said. "If you tell me it is not a terrible sin I +will believe you--I do not know--I cannot think--I--" + +But she could speak no more because she was in his arms. + +The intense, unutterable joy--the maddening, intoxicating bliss of the +next hour! To have her there, unresisting--to caress her lips and eyes +and hair--to murmur love words--to call her his very own! Nothing in +heaven could equal this, and no hell was a price too great to pay--so it +seemed to him. It was the supremest moment of his life; and how much +more of hers who knew none other, who had never received the kisses of +men or thrilled to any touch but his! + +After a little she drew herself away and shivered. She knew she was +wicked now--very, very wicked--but it was again characteristic of her +that having made her decision there was no vacillation about her. The +die was cast--for that night they were to be happy, and all the rest of +her life should be penitence and atonement. + +But to-night there was no room for anything but joy. She had never +dreamed in her most secret thoughts of moments so gloriously sweet as +these--to have a lover--and such a lover! And it was true--it must be +true--that they had lived before, and all this passion was not the +growth of one short week. + +It seemed as if it was all her life, all her being--it could mean +nothing now but Hector--Hector--Hector! And over and over again he made +her whisper in his ear that she loved him--nor could she ever tire of +hearing him say he worshipped her. + +Oh, they were foolish and tender and wonderful, as lovers always are. + +He had given his orders beforehand and the chauffeur was a man of +intelligence. They drove in the most beautiful _allee_ when they came to +the Bois--and no incident ruffled the exquisite peace and bliss of their +time. + +Suddenly Hector became aware of the fact it was just upon half-past ten, +and they were almost in sight of Madrid, which would end it all. + +And a pang of hideous pain shot through him, and he did not speak. + +In the distance the lights blazed into the night, and the sight of them +froze Theodora to ice. + +It was finished then--their hour of joy. + +"My darling," he exclaimed, passionately, "good-bye, and remember all my +life is in your hands, and I will spend it in worship of you and +thankfulness for this hour of yourself you have given to me. I am yours +to do with as you will until death do us part." + +"And I," said Theodora, "will never love another man--and if we have +sinned we have sinned together--and now, oh, Hector, we must face our +fates." + +Her voice tore his very heartstrings in its unutterable pathos. + +And in that last passionate kiss it seemed as if they exchanged their +very souls. + +Then they drove into the glare of the restaurant lights, having tasted +of the knowledge of good and evil. + + + + +XIII + + +"What have I done? What have I done?" Hector groaned to himself in +anguish as he paced up and down his room at the Ritz an hour after the +party had broken up, and he had driven Mrs. McBride back in his +automobile, leaving hers to father and daughter. + +All through supper Theodora had sat limp and white as death, and every +time she had looked at him her eyes had reminded him of a fawn he had +wounded once at Bracondale, in the park, with his bow and arrow, when he +was a little boy. He remembered how fearfully proud he had been as he +saw it fall, and then how it had lain in his arms and bled and bled, and +its tender eyes had gazed at him in no reproach, only sorrow and pain, +and a dumb asking why he had hurt it. + +All the light of the stars seemed quenched, no eyes in the world had +ever looked so unutterably pathetic as Theodora's eyes, and gradually as +they sat and talked platitudes and chaffed with the elderly fiancees, it +had come to him how cruel he had been--he who had deliberately used +every art to make her love him--and now, having gained his end, what +could he do for her? What for himself? Nothing but sorrow faced them +both. He had taken brutal advantage of her gentleness and +innocence--when chivalry alone should have made him refrain. + +He saw himself as he was--the hunter and she the hunted--and the +knowledge that he would pay with all the anguish and regret of a +passionate, hopeless love--perhaps for the rest of his life--did not +balance things to his awakened soul. If his years should be one long, +gnawing ache for her, what of hers? And she was so young. His life, at +all events, was a free one; but hers tied to Josiah Brown! And this +thought drove him to madness. She belonged to Josiah Brown--not to him +whom she loved--but to Josiah Brown, plebeian and middle-aged and +exacting. He knew now that he ought to have gone away at once, the next +day after they had met. His whole course of conduct had been weak and +absolutely self-indulgent and wicked. + +Who was he to dare to have raised his eyes to this angel, and try to +scorch even the hem of her clothing! And now he had only brought +suffering upon her and dimmed the light in God's two stars, which were +her eyes. + +And then wild passion shook him, and he could only live again the divine +moments when she had nestled unresisting in his arms. Would it have made +things better or worse if he had not yielded to the temptation of that +hour of night and solitude? + +After all, the sin was in making her love him, not in just holding her +and kissing her lips. And at least, at least, they would have that +exquisite memory of moments of unutterable bliss to keep for the rest of +their lives. + +His windows were wide open, and he leaned upon the balcony and gazed out +at the moon. What good had all his life been? What benefit had he +brought to any one? Then he seemed to see a clear vision of Theodora's +short existence. Every picture she had unconsciously shown him was of +some gentle thought of unselfishness for others. + +And now he had laid a burden upon her shoulders, when he would not hurt +a hair of her head--that dear, exquisite head which had lain upon his +breast only two hours ago, and could never lie there again. He knew this +was the end. + +Then anguish and remorse seized him, and he buried his face on his +crossed arms. + +And Theodora staggered up to her room like one half dead. Mercifully +Josiah Brown, had gone to bed, leaving a message with Henriette, +Theodora's maid, that on no account was she to make any noise or disturb +him. + +Henriette adored her mistress--as who did not who served her?--and she +felt distressed to see madame so pale. Doubtless madame had had a most +tiring day. Madame had, and was thankful when at last she was left alone +with her thoughts. Then she, too, opened wide the windows and gazed at +the moon. + +She had no cause for remorse for evil conduct like Hector. She had made +no plans for the entrapping of any soul, and yet she felt forlorn and +wicked. Oh yes, she was awake now and knew where she had been drifting. +And so love had come at last, and indeed, indeed it meant life. This +blast had struck her, and she had been blind in not recognizing it at +once. + +But oh, how sweet it was!--love--and it seemed as if it could make +everything good and fair. If he and she who loved each other could have +belonged to each other, surely they might have shed joy and gladness +and kindness on all around. + +Then she lay on her bed and did not try to reason any more; she only +knew she loved Hector Bracondale with all her heart and being, and that +she was married to Josiah Brown. + +And what would the days be when she never saw him? And he, too, he would +be sad--and then there was poor Josiah--who was so generous to her. He +could not help being vulgar and unsympathetic, and her duty was to make +him happy. Well, she could do that, she would try her very best to do +that. + +But thrills ran through her with the recollection of the moments in the +drive to Paris--oh, why had no one told her or warned her all her life +about this good thing love? At last, worn out with all emotions, sleep +gently closed her eyes. + +And fate up above laughed no more. Her sport was over for a time, she +had made a sorry ending to their happy day. + + + + +XIV + + +Josiah had been too much fatigued on his machinery hunt with Mr. +Clutterbuck R. Tubbs. They had lunched too richly, he said, and stood +about too long, and so all the Sunday he was peevish and fretful, and +required Theodora's constant attention. She must sit by his bedside all +the morning, and drive round and round all the afternoon. + +He told her she was not looking well. These excursions did not suit +either of them, and he would be glad to get to England. + +He asked a few questions about Versailles, and Theodora vouchsafed no +unnecessary information. Nor did she tell him of her father's +good-fortune. The widow had expressly asked her not to. She wished it to +appear in the New York _Herald_ first of all, she said. And they could +have a regular rejoicing at the banquet on Monday night. + +"Men are all bad," she had told Theodora during their ante-dinner chat. +"Selfish brutes most of them; but nature has arranged that we happen to +want them, and it is not for me to go against nature. Your father is a +gentleman and he keeps me from yawning, and I have enough money to be +able to indulge that and whatever other caprices I may have acquired; so +I think we shall be happy. But a man in the abstract--don't amount to +much!" And Theodora had laughed, but now she wondered if ever she would +think it was true. Would Hector ever appear in the light of a caprice +she could afford, to keep her from yawning? Could she ever truly say, +"He don't amount to much!" Alas! he seemed now to amount to everything +in the world. + +The unspeakable flatness of the day! The weariness! The sense of all +being finished! She did not even allow herself to speculate as to what +Hector was doing with himself. She must never let her thoughts turn that +way at all if she could help it. She must devote herself to Josiah and +to getting through the time. But something had gone out of her life +which could never come back, and also something had come in. She was +awake--she, too, had lived for one moment like in _Jean d'Agreve_--and +it seemed as if the whole world were changed. + +Captain Fitzgerald did not appear all day, so the Sunday was composed +of unadulterated Josiah. But it was only when Theodora was alone at last +late at night, and had opened wide her windows and again looked out on +the moon, that a little cry of anguish escaped her, and she remembered +she would see Hector to-morrow at the dinner-party. See him casually, as +the rest of the guests, and this is how it would be forever--for ever +and ever. + + * * * * * + +Lord Bracondale had passed what he termed a dog's day. He had gone +racing, and there had met, and been bitterly reproached by, Esclarmonde +de Chartres for his neglect. + +_Qu'est-ce qu'il a eu pour toute une semaine?_ + +He had important business in England, he said, and was going off at +once; but she would find the bracelet she had wished for waiting for her +at her apartment, and so they parted friends. + +He felt utterly revolted with all that part of his life. + +He wanted nothing in the world but Theodora. Theodora to worship and +cherish and hold for his own. And each hour that came made all else seem +more empty and unmeaning. + +Just before dinner he went into the widow's sitting-room. She was +alone, Marie had said in the passage--resting, she thought, but madame +would certainly see milord. She had given orders for him to be admitted +should he come. + +"Now sit down near me, beau jeune homme," Mrs. McBride commanded from +the depths of her sofa, where she was reclining, arrayed in exquisite +billows of chiffon and lace. "I have been expecting you. It is not +because I have been indulging in a little sentiment myself that my eyes +are glued shut--you have a great deal to confess--and I hope we have not +done too much harm between us." + +Hector wanted sympathy, and there was something in the widow's +directness which he felt would soothe him. He knew her good heart. He +could speak freely to her, too, without being troubled by an +over-delicacy of _mauvaise honte_, as he would have been with an +Englishwoman. It would not have seemed sacrilege to the widow to discuss +with him--who was a friend--the finest and most tender sentiments of her +own, or any one else's, heart. He drew up a _bergere_ and kissed her +hand. + +"I have been behaving like a damned scoundrel," he said. + +"My gracious!" exclaimed Mrs. McBride, with a violent jerk into a +sitting position. "You don't say--" + +Then, for the first time for many years, a deep scarlet blush overspread +Hector's face, even up to his forehead--as he realized how she had read +his speech--how most people of the world would have read it. He got up +from his chair and walked to the window. + +"Oh, good God!" he said, "I don't mean that." + +The widow fell back into her pillows with a sigh of relief. + +"I mean I have deliberately tried to make her unhappy, and I have +succeeded--and myself, too." + +"That is not so bad then," and she settled a cushion. "Because +unhappiness is only a thing for a time. You are crazy for the moon, and +you can't get it, and you grieve and curse for a little, and then a new +moon arises. What else?" + +"Well, I want you to sympathize with me, and tell me what I had better +do. Shall I go back to England to-morrow morning, or stay for the +dinner-party?" + +"You got as far, then, as telling each other you loved each other +madly--and are both suffering from broken hearts, after one week's +acquaintance." + +"Don't be so brutal!" pleaded Hector. + +And she noticed that his face looked haggard and changed. So her shrewd, +kind eyes beamed upon him. + +"Yes, I dare say it hurts; but having broken up your cake, you can't go +on eating it. Why, in Heaven's name, did you let affairs get to a +climax?" + +"Because I am mad," said Hector, and he stretched out his arms. "I +cannot tell you how much I love her. Haven't you seen for yourself what +a darling she is? Every dear word she speaks shows her beautiful soul, +and it all creeps right into my heart. I worship her as I might an +angel, but I want her in my arms." + +Mrs. McBride knew the English. They were not emotional or _poseurs_ like +some other nations, and Hector Bracondale was essentially a man of the +world, and rather a whimsical cynic as well. So to see him thus moved +must mean great things. She was guilty, too, for helping to create the +situation. She must do what she could for him, she felt. + +"You should pull yourself together, mon cher Bracondale," she said; "it +is not like you to be limp and undecided. You had better stay for the +party, and make yourself behave like a gentleman, and how you mean to +continue. We have passed the days when 'Oh no, we never mention him' is +the order, and 'never meeting,' and that sort of thing. You are bound to +meet unless you go into the wilds. And you must face it and try to +forget her." + +"I can never forget her," he said, in a deep voice; "but, as you say, I +must face it and do my best." + +"You see," continued the widow, "the girl has only been married a year, +and her husband is the most unattractive human being you could find +along a sidewalk of miles; but he is her husband, anyway, and she may +have children." + +Hector clinched his hands in a convulsive movement of anguish and rage. + +"And you must realize all these possibilities, and settle a path for +yourself and stick to it." + +"Oh, I couldn't bear that!" he said. "It would be better I should take +her away myself now, to-day." + +"You will do no such thing!" said the widow, sternly, and she sat up +again. "You forget I am going to marry her father, and I shall look upon +her as my daughter and protect her from wolves--do you hear? And what is +more, she is too good and true to go with you. She has a backbone if +you haven't; and she'll see it her duty to stick to that lump of +middle-class meat she is bound to--and she'll do her best, if she +suffers to heart-break. It is she, the poor, little white dove, that you +and I have wounded between us, that I pity, not you--great, strong man!" + +Mrs. McBride's eyes flashed. + +"Oh, you are all the same, you Englishmen. Beasts to kill and women to +subjugate--the only aims in life!" + +"Don't!" said Hector. "I am not the animal you think me. I worship +Theodora, and I would devote my life and its best aims to secure her +happiness and do her honor; but don't you see you have drawn a picture +that would drive any man mad--" + +"I said you had to face the worst, and I calculate the worst for you +would be to see her with some little Browns along. My! How it makes you +wince! Well, face it then and be a man." + +He sat for a moment, his head buried in his hands--then-- + +"I will," he said, "I will do what I can; but oh, when you have the +chance you will be good to her, won't you, dear friend?" + +"There, there!" said the widow, and she patted his hand. "I had to +scold you, because I see you have got the attack very badly and only +strong measures are any good; but you know I am sorry for you both, and +feel dreadfully, because I helped you to it without enough thought as to +consequences." + +There was silence for a few minutes, and she continued to stroke his +hand. + +"Dominic has run down to Dieppe to see those daughters of his," she +said, presently, "and won't be back to-night. I meant to be all alone +and meditate and go to bed early; but you can dine with me, if you wish, +up here, and we will talk everything over. Our plans for the future, I +mean, and what will be best to do; I kind of feel like your +mother-in-law, you know." Which sentence comforted him. + +This woman was his friend, and so kind of heart, if sometimes a little +plain-spoken. + + * * * * * + +And late that night he wrote to Theodora. + +"My darling," he began. "I must call you that even though I have no +right to. _My_ darling--I want to tell you these my thoughts to-night, +before I see you to-morrow as an ordinary guest at your dinner-party. I +want you to know how utterly I love you, and how I am going to do my +best with the rest of my life to show you how I honor you and revered +you as an angel, and something to live for and shape my aims to be +worthy of the recollection of that hour of bliss you granted me. Dearest +love, does it not give you joy--just a little--to remember those moments +of heaven? I do not regret anything, though I am all to blame, for I +knew from the beginning I loved you, and just where love would lead us. +But it was not until I saw the peep into your soul, when you never +reproached me, that I began to understand what a brute I had been--how +unworthy of you or your love. Darling, I don't ask you to try and forget +me--indeed, I implore you not to do so. I think and believe you are of +the nature which only loves once in a lifetime, and I am world-worn and +experienced enough to know I have never really loved before. How +passionately I do now I cannot put into words. So let us keep our love +sacred in our hearts, my darling, and the knowledge of it will comfort +and soothe the anguish of separation. Beloved one, I am always thinking +of you, and I want to tell you my vision of heaven would be to possess +you for my wife. My happiest dream will always be that you are there--at +Bracondale--queen of my home and my heart, darling. _My_ darling! But +however it may be, whether you decide to chase away every thought of me +or not, I want you to know I will go on worshipping you, and doing my +utmost to serve you with my life.--For ever and ever your devoted +lover." + +And then he signed it "Hector," and not "Bracondale." + +The widow had promised to give it into Theodora's own hand on the +morrow. + +He added a postscript: + +"I want you to meet my mother and my sister in London. Will you let me +arrange it? I think you will like Anne. And oh, more than all I want you +to come to Bracondale. Write me your answer that I may have your words +to keep always." + + * * * * * + +Mrs. McBride came round in the morning to the private hotel in the +Avenue du Bois, to ask the exact time of the dinner-party, she said. She +wanted to see for herself how things were going. And the look in +Theodora's eyes grieved her. + +"I am afraid it has gone rather deeply with her," she mused. "Now what +can I do?" + +Theodora was unusually sweet and gentle, and talked brightly of how +glad she was for her father's happiness, and of their plans about +England; but all the time Jane McBride was conscious that the something +which had made her eyes those stars of gracious happiness was +changed--instead there was a deep pathos in them, and it made her +uncomfortable. + +"I wish to goodness I had let well alone, and not tried to give her a +happy day," she said to herself. + +Just before leaving, she slipped Hector's letter into Theodora's hand. +"Lord Bracondale asked me to give you this, my child," she said, and she +kissed her. "And if you will write the answer, will you post it to him +to the Ritz." + +All over Theodora there rushed an emotion when she took the letter. Her +hands trembled, and she slipped it into the bodice of her dress. She +would not be able to read it yet. She was waiting, all ready dressed, +for Josiah to enter any moment, to take their usual walk in the Bois. + +Then she wondered what would the widow think of her action, slipping it +into her dress--but it was done now, and too late to alter. And their +eyes met, and she understood that her future step-mother was wide awake +and knew a good many things. But the kind woman put her arm round her +and kissed her soft cheek. + +"I want you to be my little daughter, Theodora," she said. "And if you +have a heartache, dear, why I have had them, too--and I'd like to +comfort you. There!" + + + + +XV + + +The dinner-party went off with great eclat. Had not all the guests read +in the New York _Herald_ that morning of Captain Fitzgerald's +good-fortune? He with his usual _savoir-vivre_ had arranged matters to +perfection. The company was chosen from among the nicest of his and Mrs. +McBride's friends. + +The invitations had been couched in this form: "I want you to meet my +daughter, Mrs. Josiah Brown, my dear lady," or "dear fellow," as the +case might be. "She is having a little dinner at Madrid on Monday night, +and so hopes you will let me persuade you to come." + +And the French Count, and Mr. Clutterbuck R. Tubbs and his daughter, +Theodora had asked herself. Also the Austrian Prince. The party +consisted of about twenty people--and the menu and the Tziganes were as +perfect as they could be, while the night might have been a night of +July--it happened to be that year when Paris was blessed with a +gloriously warm May. + +Lord Bracondale was late: had not the post come in just as he was +starting, and brought him a letter, whose writing, although he had never +seen it before, filled him with thrills of joy. + +Theodora had found time during the day to read and reread his epistle, +and to kiss it more than once with a guilty blush. + +And she had written this answer: + + "I have received your letter, and it says many things to me--and, + Hector, it will comfort me always, this dear letter, and to know + you love me. + + "I have led a very ordinary life, you see, and the great blast of + love has never come my way, or to any one whom I knew. I did not + realize, quite, it was a real thing out of books--but now I know it + is; and oh, I can believe, if circumstances were different, it + could be heaven. But this cannot alter the fact that for me to + think of you much would be very wrong now. I do love you--I do not + deny it--though I am going to try my utmost to put the thought away + from me and to live my life as best I can. I do not regret anything + either, dear, because, but for you, I would never have known what + life's meaning is at all--I should have stayed asleep always; and + you have opened my eyes and taught me to see new beauties in all + nature. And oh, we must not grieve, we must thank fate for giving + us this one peep into paradise--and we must try and find the angel + to steer our barks for us beyond the rocks. Listen--I want you to + do something for me to-night. I want you not to look at me much, or + tempt me with your dear voice. It will be terribly hard in any + case, but if you will be kind you will help me to get through with + it, and then, and then--I hardly dare to look ahead--but I leave it + all in your hands. I would like to meet your mother and sister--but + when, and where? I feel inclined to say, not yet, only I know that + is just cowardice, and a shrinking from possible pain in seeing + you. So I leave it to you to do what is best, and I trust to your + honor and your love not to tempt me beyond bearing-point--and + remember, I am trying, trying hard, to do what is right--and trying + not to love you. + + "And so, good-bye. I must never say this again--or even think it + unsaid; but to-night, oh! Yes, Hector, know that I love you! + THEODORA." + +And all the way to Madrid, as he flew along in his automobile, his heart +rejoiced at this one sentence--"Yes, Hector, know that I love you!" + +The rest of the world did not seem to matter very much. How fortunate it +is that so often Providence lets us live on the pleasure of the moment! + +He sat on her left hand--the Austrian Prince was on her right--and +studiously all through the repast he tried to follow her wishes and the +law he had laid down for himself as the pattern of his future conduct. + +He was gravely polite, he never turned the conversation away from the +general company, including her neighbors in it all the time, and only +when he was certain she was not noticing did he feast his eyes upon her +face. + +She was looking supremely beautiful. If possible, whiter than usual, and +there was a shadow in her eyes as of mystery, which had not been there +before--and while their pathos wrung his heart, he could not help +perceiving their added beauty. And he had planted this change there--he, +and he alone. He admired her perfect taste in dress--she was all in pure +white, muslin and laces, and he knew it was of the best, and the +creation of the greatest artist. + +She looked just what _his_ wife ought to look, infinitely refined and +slender and stately and fair. + +Morella Winmarleigh would seem as a large dun cow beside her. + +Then suddenly they both remembered it was only a week this night since +they had met. Only seven days in which fate had altered all their lives. + +The Austrian Prince wondered to himself what had happened. He had not +been blind to the situation at Armenonville, and here they seemed like +polite hostess and guest, nothing more. + +"They are English, and they are very well bred, and they are very good +actors," he thought. "But, mon Dieu! were I ce beau jeune homme!" + +And so it had come to an end--the feast and the Tziganes playing, and +Theodora will always be haunted by that last wild Hungarian tune. Music, +which moved every fibre of her being at all times, to-night was a +torture of pain and longing. And he was so near, so near and yet so far, +and it seemed as if the music meant love and separation and passionate +regret, and the last air most passionate of all, and before the final +notes died away Hector bent over to her, and he whispered: + +"I have got your letter, and I love you, and I will obey its every wish. +You must trust me unto death. Darling, good-night, but never good-bye!" + +And she had not answered, but her breath had come quickly, and she had +looked once in his eyes and then away into the night. + +And so they shook hands politely and parted. And next day Mr. and Mrs. +Josiah Brown crossed over to England. + + + + +XVI + + +It was pouring with rain the evening Lord Bracondale arrived from Paris +at the family mansion in St. James's Square. He had only wired at the +last moment to his mother, too late to change her plans; she was +unfortunately engaged to take Morella Winmarleigh to the opera, and was +dining early at that lady's house, so she could only see him for a few +moments in her dressing-room before she started. + +"My darling, darling boy!" she exclaimed, as he opened the door and +peeped in. "Streatfield, bring that chair for his lordship, and--oh, you +can go for a few minutes." + +Then she folded him in her arms, and almost sobbed with joy to see him +again. + +"Well, mother," he said, when she had kissed him and murmured over him +as much as she wished. "Here I am, and what a sickening climate! And +where are you off to?" + +"I am going to dine with Morella Winmarleigh," said Lady Bracondale, +"early, to go to the opera, and then I shall take her on to the +Brantingham's ball. Won't you join us at either place, Hector? I feel it +so dreadfully, having to rush off like this, your first evening, +darling." + +She stood back and looked at him. She must see for herself whether he +was well, and if this riotous life she feared he had been leading lately +had not too greatly told upon him. Her fond eyes detected an air of +weariness: he looked haggard, and not so full of spirits as he usually +was. Alas! if he would only stay in England! + +"I am rather tired, mother; I may look in at the opera, but I can't face +a ball. How is Anne, and what is she doing to-night?" he said. + +"Anne has a bad cold. We have had such weather--nothing but rain since +Sunday night! She is dining at home and going to bed early. I have just +had a telephone message from her; she is longing to see you, too." + +"I think I shall go round and dine with her then," said Hector, "and +join you later." + +They talked on for about ten minutes before he left her to dress, +running against Streatfield in the passage. She had known him since his +birth, and beamed with joy at his return. + +He chaffed her about growing fat, and went on his way to telephone to +his sister. + +"His lordship looks pale, my lady," said the demure woman, as she +fastened Lady Bracondale's bracelet. She, too, disapproved of Paris and +bachelorhood, but she did not love Morella Winmarleigh. + +"Oh, you think so, Streatfield?" Lady Bracondale exclaimed, in a worried +voice. "Now that we have got him back we must take great care of him. +His lordship will join me at the opera. Are you sure he likes those +aigrettes in my hair?" + +"Why, it's one of his lordship's favorite styles, my lady. You need have +no fears," said the maid. + +And thus comforted, Lady Bracondale descended the great staircase to her +carriage. + +She was still a beautiful woman, though well past fifty. Her splendid, +dark hair had hardly a thread of gray in it, and grew luxuriantly, but +she insisted upon wearing it simply parted in the middle and coiled in a +mass of plaits behind, while one braid stood up coronet fashion well at +the back of her head. She was addicted to rich satins and velvets, and +had a general air of Victorian repose and decorum. There was no attempt +to retain departed youth; no golden wigs or red and white paint +disfigured her person, which had an immense natural dignity and +stateliness. It made her shiver to see some of her contemporaries +dressed and arranged to represent not more than twenty years of age. But +so many modern ways of thought and life jarred upon her! + +"Mother is still in the early seventies; she has never advanced a step +since she came out," Anne always said, "and I dare say she was behind +the times even then." + +Meanwhile, Hector was dressing in his luxurious mahogany-panelled room. +Everything in the house was solid and prosperous, as befitted a family +who had had few reverses and sufficient perspicacity to marry a rich +heiress now and then at right moments in their history. + +This early Georgian house had been in the then Lady Bracondale's dower, +and still retained its fine carvings and Old-World state. + +"How shall I see her again?" was all the thought which ran in Lord +Bracondale's head. + +"She won't be at a ball, but she might chance to have thought of the +opera. It would be a place Mr. Brown would like to exhibit her at. I +shall certainly go." + +Lady Anningford was tucked up on a sofa in her little sitting-room when +her brother arrived at her charming house in Charles Street. Her husband +had been sent off to a dinner without her, and she was expecting her +brother with impatience. She loved Hector as many sisters do a handsome, +popular brother, but rather more than that, and she had fine senses and +understood him. + +She did not cover him with caresses and endearments when she saw him; +she never did. + +"Poor Hector has enough of them from mother," she explained, when Monica +Ellerwood asked her once why she was so cold. "And men don't care for +those sort of things, except from some one else's sister or wife." + +"Dear old boy!" was all she said as he came in. "I am glad to see you +back." + +Then in a moment or two they went down to dinner, talking of various +things. And all through it, while the servants were in the room, she +prattled about Paris and their friends and the gossip of the day; and +she had a shocking cold in her head, too, and might well have been +forgiven for being dull. + +But when they were at last alone, back in the little sitting-room, she +looked at him hard, and her voice, which was rather deep like his, grew +full of tenderness as she asked: "What is it, Hector? Tell me about it +if I can help you." + +He got up and stood with his back to the wood fire, which sparkled in +the grate, comforting the eye with its brightness, while the wind and +rain moaned outside. + +"You can't help me, Anne; no one can," he said. "I have been rather +badly burned, but there is nothing to be done. It is my own fault--so +one must just bear it." + +"Is it the--eh--the Frenchwoman?" his sister asked, gently. + +"Good Lord, no!" + +"Or the American Monica came back so full of?" + +"The American? What American? Surely she did not mean my dear Mrs. +McBride?" + +"I don't know her name," Anne said, "and I don't want you to say a thing +about it, dear, if I can't help you; only it just grieves me to see you +looking so sad and distrait, so I felt I must try if there is anything I +can do for you. Mother has been on thorns and dying of fuss over this +Frenchwoman and the diamond chain--("How the devil did she hear about +that?" thought Hector)--until Monica came back with a tale of your +devotion to an American." + +"One would think I was eighteen years old and in leading-strings still, +upon my word," he interrupted, with an irritated laugh. "When will she +realize I can take care of myself?" + +"Never," said Lady Anningford, "until you have married Morella +Winmarleigh; then she would feel you were in good hands." + +He laughed again--bitterly this time. + +"Morella Winmarleigh! I would not be faithful to her for a week!" + +"I wonder if you would be faithful to any woman, Hector? I have often +thought you do not know what it means to love--really to love." + +"You were perfectly right once. I did not know," he said; "and perhaps I +don't now, unless to feel the whole world is a sickening blank without +one woman is to love--really to love." + +Anne noticed the weariness of his pose and the vibration in his deep +voice. She was stirred and interested as she had never been. This dear +brother of hers was not wont to care very much. In the past it had +always been the women who had sighed and longed and he who had been +amused and pleased. She could not remember a single occasion in the last +ten years when he had seemed to suffer, although she had seen him +apparently devoted to numbers of women. + +"And what are you going to do?" she asked, with sympathy, "She is +married, of course?" + +"Yes." + +"Hector, don't you want me to speak about it?" + +He took a chair now by his sister's sofa, and he began to turn over the +papers rather fast which lay on a table near by. + +"Yes, I do," he said, "because, after all, you can do something for me. +I want you to be particularly kind to her, will you, Anne, dear?" + +"But, of course; only you must tell me who she is and where I shall find +her." + +"You will find her at Claridge's, and she is only the wife of an +impossible Australian millionaire called Brown--Josiah Brown." + +"Poor dear Hector, how terrible!" thought Anne. "It is not the American, +then?" she said, aloud. + +"There never was any American," he exclaimed. "Monica is the most +ridiculous gossip, and always sees wrong. If she had not Jack to keep +her from talking so much she would not leave one of us with a rag of +character." + +"I will go to-morrow and call there, Hector," Lady Anningford said. "My +cold is sure to be better; and if she is not in, shall I write a note +and ask her to lunch? The husband, too, I suppose?" + +"I fear so. Anne, you are a brick." + +Then he said good-night, and went to the opera. + +Left to herself, Lady Anningford thought: "I suppose she is some flashy, +pretty creature who has caught Hector's fancy, the poor darling. One +never has chanced to find an Australian quite, quite a lady. I almost +wish he would marry Morella and have done with it." + +Then she lay on her sofa and pondered many things. + +She was a year older than her brother, and they had always been the +closest friends and comrades. + +Lady Anningford was more or less a happy and contented woman now, but +there had been moments in her life scorched by passion and infinite +pain. Long ago in the beginning when she first came out she had had the +misfortune to fall in love with Cyril Lamont, married and bad and +attractive. It had given him great pleasure to evade the eye of Lady +Bracondale, pure dragon and strict disciplinarian. Anne was a good girl, +but she was eighteen years old and had tasted no joy. She was not an +easy prey, and her first year had passed in storms of emotion suppressed +to the best of her powers. + +The situation had been full of shades and contrasts. The outward, a +strictly guarded lamb, the life of the world and aristocratic propriety; +and the inward, a daily growing mad love for an impossible person, +snatched and secret meetings after tea in country-houses, walks in +Kensington Gardens, rides along lonely lanes out hunting, and, finally, +the brink of complete ruin and catastrophe--but for Hector. + +"Where should I be now but for Hector?" her thoughts ran. + +Hector was just leaving Eton in those days, and had come up and +discovered matters, while she sobbed in his arms, at the beginning of +her second season. He had comforted her and never scolded a word, and +then he had gone out armed with a heavy hunting-crop, found Cyril +Lamont, and had thrashed the man within an inch of his life. It was one +of Hector's pleasantest recollections, the thought of his cowering form, +his green silk smoking-jacket all torn, and his eyes sightless. Cyril +Lamont's talents had not run in the art of self-defence, and he had been +very soon powerless in the hands of this young athlete. + +The Lamonts went abroad that night, and stayed there for quite six +months, during which time Anne mended her broken heart and saw the folly +of her ways. + +Hector and she had never alluded to the matter all these years, only +they were intimate friends and understood each other. + +Lady Bracondale adored Hector and was fond of Anne, but had no +comprehension of either. Anne was a _frondeuse_, while her mother's mind +was fashioned in carved lines and strict boundaries of thought and +action. + + + + +XVII + + +Meanwhile, Hector reached the opera, and made his way to the omnibus box +where he had his seat. + +He felt he could not stand Morella Winmarleigh just yet. The second act +of "Faust" was almost over, and with his glass he swept the rows of +boxes in vain to find Theodora. He sat a few minutes, but restlessness +seized him. He must go to the other side and ascertain if she could be +discovered from there. Morella Winmarleigh's box commanded a good view +for this purpose, so after all he would face her. + +He looked up at her opposite. She sat there with his mother, and she +seemed more thoroughly wholesomely unattractive than ever to him. + +He hated that shade of turquoise blue she was so fond of, and those +unmeaning bits and bows she had stuck about. She was a large young woman +with a stolid English fairness. + +Her hair had the flaxen ends and sandy roots one so often sees in those +women whose locks have been golden as children. It was a thin, dank kind +of hair, too, with no glints anywhere. Her eyes were blue and large and +meaningless and rather prominent, and her lightish eyelashes seemed to +give no shade to them. + +Morella's orbs just looked out at you like the bow-windows of a sea-side +villa--staring and commonplace. Her features were regular, and her +complexion, if somewhat all too red, was fresh withal; so that, +possessing an income of many thousands, she passed for a beauty of +exceptional merit. + +She had a good maid who used her fingers dexterously, and did what she +could with a mistress devoid of all sense of form or color. + +Miss Winmarleigh went to the opera regularly and sat solidly through it. +The music said nothing to her, but it was the right place for her to be, +and she could talk to her friends before going on to the numerous balls +she attended. + +If she loved anything in the world she loved Hector Bracondale, but her +feelings gave her no anxieties. He would certainly marry her presently, +the affair would be so suitable to all parties; meanwhile, there was +plenty of time, and all was in order. The perfect method of her +account-books, in which the last sixpence she spent in the day was duly +entered, translated itself to her life. Method and order were its +watchwords; and if the people who knew her intimately--such as her +chaperon, Mrs. Herrick, and her maid, Gibson--thought her mean, she was +not aware of their opinion, and went her way in solid rejoicing. + +Lady Bracondale was really attached to her. Morella's decorum, her +absence of all daring thought in conversation, pleased her so. She had +none of that feeling when with Miss Winmarleigh she suffered in the +company of her daughter Anne, who said things so often she did not quite +understand, yet which she dimly felt might have two meanings, and one of +them a meaning she most probably would disapprove of. + +She loved Anne, of course, but oh, that she could have been more like +herself or Morella Winmarleigh! + +Both women saw Hector in the omnibus box, and saw him leave it, and were +quite ready with their greetings when he joined them. + +Miss Winmarleigh had a slight air of proprietorship about her, which +every one knew when Hector was there. And most people thought as she +did, that he would certainly marry her in the near future. + +He was glad it was not between the acts--there was no excuse for +conversation after their greeting, so he searched the house in peace +with his glasses. + +And although he was hoping to see Theodora, his heart gave a great bound +of surprised joy when, on the pit tier, almost next the box he had just +left, he discovered her. He supposed it was a box often let to strangers +that season, as he could not remember whose the name was as he had +passed. He got back into the shadow, that his gaze should not be too +remarkable. She had not caught sight of him yet, or so it seemed. + +There she sat with her husband and another woman, whom he recognized as +one of those kind creatures who go everywhere in society and help +strangers when suitably compensated for their trouble. + +Where on earth could she have come across Mrs. Devlyn? he wondered. A +poisonous woman, who would fill her ears with tales of all the world. +Then he guessed, and rightly, the introduction had been effected by +Captain Fitzgerald, who would probably have known her in his own day. + +Theodora appeared wrapped in the music, and was an enthralling picture +of loveliness; her fineness seemed to make all the women's faces who +were near look coarse, and her whiteness turned them into gypsies. She +wore a gown of black velvet with no relief whatever, only her dazzling +skin and her great pearls. He feasted his eyes upon her--eyes hungry +with a week's abstinence; for he had felt it more prudent to remain in +Paris for some days after she had left. + +He looked round the rest of the house, and understood all the other men +could, and probably would, gaze too. And then he began to feel hot and +jealous! This was different from Paris, where she was more or less a +tourist; but here, how long would she be left in peace without siege +being laid to her? He knew his world and the men it contained. Yes, at +that moment the door at the back of the box opened and Delaval Stirling +came in, Josiah Brown making way for him to sit in front. Delaval +Stirling--this was too much! + +And Theodora turned with her adorable smile and greeted him, so it +showed they had met before--greeted him with pleasure. Good God! How +much could happen in a week! Why had he stayed in Paris? + +If Morella Winmarleigh had glanced round at his face, even her thick +perceptions must have grasped the disturbance which was marked there, as +he stood back in the shadow and gazed with angry eyes. + +The moment she had seen him come into the box Mrs. Devlyn had said, "I +want you to notice a man over there, Mrs. Brown, in the box exactly +opposite; on the grand tier--do you see?" + +"Yes," said Theodora, and she perceived him shaking hands with Miss +Winmarleigh before he caught sight of her, so she was forearmed and +turned to the stage. + +"He is nice-looking, don't you think so?" continued Mrs. Devlyn, without +a pause. "He is going to marry that girl in the box; she is one of the +richest heiresses of the day--Miss Winmarleigh. I always point out +Hector Bracondale to strangers or foreigners; he is quite a show +Englishman." + +"Bracondale? Lord Bracondale?" interrupted Josiah Brown. "We met him in +Paris, did we not, my love?" turning to Theodora. "He dined with us our +last evening. Where is he?" + +"Oh, you know him, then!" said Mrs. Devlyn, disappointed. "I wanted to +be the first to point him out to you. They will make a handsome pair, +won't they--he and Miss Winmarleigh?" + +"Very," said Theodora, listlessly, with an air of dragging her thoughts +from the music with difficulty, while she suddenly felt sick and cold. + +"And are they to be married soon?" + +"I don't know exactly; but it has been going on for years, and we all +look upon it as a settled thing. She is always about with his mother." + +"Is that Lord Bracondale's mother--the lady with the coronet of plaits +and the huge white aigrette with the diamond drops in it?" Theodora +asked. Her voice was schooled, and had no special tones in it. But oh, +how she was thrilling with interest and excitement underneath! + +"Yes, that is Lady Bracondale. She is quite a type; always dresses in +that old-fashioned way, and won't know a soul who is not of her own set. +She is a cousin of one of my husband's aunts. I must introduce you to +her." + +"She looks pretty haughty," announced Josiah Brown. "I should not care +to tread on her toes much." And then he remembered he had seen her years +ago driving through the little town of Bracondale. + +Theodora asked no more questions. She kept her eyes fixed on the stage, +but she knew Hector had raised his glasses now and was scanning the box, +and had probably seen her. + +What ought it to matter to her that he should be going to marry Miss +Winmarleigh? He could be nothing to her--only--only--but perhaps it was +not true. This woman, Mrs. Devlyn, whom she began to feel she should +dislike very much, had said it was looked upon as settled, not that it +was a fact. How could a man be going to marry one woman and make +desperate love to another at the same time? It was impossible--and +yet--she would _not_ look in any case. She would not once raise her eyes +that way. + +And so in these two boxes green jealousy held sway, and while Hector +glared across at Theodora she smiled at Delaval Stirling, and spoke +softly of the music and the voices, though her heart was torn with pain. + +"Do you see Hector Bracondale is back again, Delaval?" Mrs. Devlyn said. +"Do you know why he stayed in Paris so long? I heard--" And she +whispered low, so that Theodora only caught the name "Esclarmonde de +Chartres" and their modulated mocking laughter. + +How they jarred upon her! How she felt she should hate London among all +these people whose ways she did not know! She turned a little, and +Josiah's vulgar familiar face seemed a relief to her, and her tender +eyes melted in kindliness as she looked at him. + +"You are very pale to-night, my love," he said. "Would you like to go +home?" + +But this she would not agree to, and pulled herself together and tried +to talk gayly when the curtain went down. + +And Hector blamed his own folly for having come up to this box at all. +Here he must be glued certainly for a few moments; now that they could +talk, politeness could not permit him to fly off at once. + +"The house is very full," Miss Winmarleigh said--it was a remark she +always made on big nights--"and yet hardly any new faces about." + +"Yes," said Hector. + +"Does it compare with the Opera-House in Paris, Hector?" Miss +Winmarleigh hardly ever went abroad. + +"No," said Hector.--Not only had Delaval Stirling retained his seat, but +Chris Harford, Mrs. Devlyn's brother, had entered the box now and was +assiduously paying his court. "Damned impertinence of the woman, +forcing her relations upon them like that," he +thought.--"Oh--er--no--that is, I think the Paris Opera-House is a +beastly place," he said, absently, "a dull, heavy drab brown and dirty +gilding, and all the women look hideous in it." + +"Really," said Morella. "I thought everything in Paris was lovely." + +"You should go over and see for yourself," he said, "then you could +judge. I think most things there are lovely, though." + +Miss Winmarleigh raised her glasses now and examined the house. Her eyes +lighted at last on Theodora. + +"Dear Lady Bracondale," she said, "do look at that woman in black +velvet. What splendid pearls! Do you think they are real? Who is it, I +wonder, with Florence Devlyn?" + +But Hector felt he could not stay and hear their remarks about his +darling, so he got up, and, murmuring he must have a talk to his friends +in the house, left the box. + +He was thankful at least Theodora was sitting on the pit tier--he could +walk along the gangway and talk to her from the front. + +She saw him coming and was prepared, so no wild roses tinged her cheeks, +and her greeting was gravely courteous, that was all. + +An icy feeling crept over him. What was the change, this subtle change +in voice and eyes? He suddenly had the agonizing sensation of being a +great way off from her, shut out of paradise--a stranger. What had +happened? What had he done? + +Every one knows the Opera-House, and where he would be standing, and the +impossibility of saying anything but the most banal commonplaces, +looking up like that. + +Then Josiah leaned forward, proud of his acquaintanceship with a peer, +and said in a distinct voice: + +"Won't you come into the box, Lord Bracondale? There is plenty of room." +He had not taken to either Delaval Stirling or Chris Harford, and +thought a change of company would not come amiss. They had ignored him, +and should pay for it. + +Hector made his way joyfully to the back, and, entering, was greeted +affably by his host, so the other two men got up to leave to make room +for him. + +He sat down behind Theodora, and Mrs. Devlyn saw it would be wiser to +conciliate Josiah by her interested conversation. + +She hoped to make a good thing out of this millionaire and his unknown +wife, and it would not do to ruffle him at this stage of the affair. + +Theodora hardly turned, thus Hector was obliged to lean quite forward to +speak to her. + +"I have seen my sister to-night," he said, "and she wants so much to +meet you. I said perhaps she would find you to-morrow. Will you be at +home in the afternoon any time?" + +"I expect so," replied Theodora. She was longing to face him, to ask him +if it was true he was going to marry that large, pink-faced young woman +opposite, who was now staring down upon them with fixed opera-glasses; +but she felt frozen, and her voice was a frozen voice. + +Hector became more and more unhappy. He tried several subjects. He told +her the last news of her father and Mrs. McBride. She answered them all +with the same politeness, until, maddened beyond bearing, he leaned +still farther forward and whispered in her ear: + +"For God's sake, what is it? What have I done?" + +"Nothing," said Theodora. What right had she to ask him any question, +when for these seven nights and days since they had parted she had been +disciplining herself not to think of him in any way? She must never let +him know it could matter to her now. + +"Nothing? Then why are you so changed? Ah, how it hurts!" he whispered, +passionately. And she turned and looked at him, and he saw that her +beautiful eyes were no longer those pure depths of blue sky in which he +could read love and faith, but were full of mist, as of a curtain +between them. + +He put his hand up to touch the little gold case he carried always now +in his waistcoat-pocket, which contained her letter. He wanted to assure +himself it was there, and she had written it--and it was not all a +dream. + +Theodora's tender heart was wrung by the passionate distress in his +eyes. + +"Is that your mother over there you were with?" she asked, more gently. +"How beautiful she is!" + +"Yes," he said, "my mother and Morella Winmarleigh, whom the world in +general and my mother in particular have decided I am going to marry." + +She did not speak. She felt suddenly ashamed she could ever have doubted +him; it must be the warping atmosphere of Mrs. Devlyn's society for +these last days which had planted thoughts, so foreign to her nature, in +her. She did not yet know it was jealousy pure and simple, which attacks +the sweetest, as well, as the bitterest, soul among us all. But a +thrill of gladness ran through her as well as shame. + +"And aren't you going to marry her, then?" she said, at last. "She is +very handsome." + +Hector looked at her, and a wave of joy chased out the pain he had +suffered. That was it, then! They had told her this already, and she +hated it--she cared for him still. + +"Surely you need not ask me," he said, deep reproach in his eyes. "You +must be very changed in seven days to even have thought it possible." + +The shame deepened in Theodora. She was, indeed, unlike herself to have +been moved at all by Mrs. Devlyn's words, but she would never doubt +again, and she must tell him that. + +"Forgive me," she said, quite low, while she looked away. "I--of course +I ought to be pleased at anything which made you happy, but--oh, I hated +it!" + +"Theodora," he said, "I ask you--do not act with me ever--to what end? +We know each other's hearts, and I hope it would pain you were I to +marry any other woman, as much as in like circumstances it would pain +me." + +"Yes, it would pain me," she said, simply. "But, oh, we must not speak +thus! Please, please talk of the music, or the--the--oh, anything but +ourselves." + +And he tried hard for the few moments which remained before the curtain +rose again. Tried hard, but it was all dust and ashes; and as he left +the box and returned to his own seat next door his heart felt like lead. +How would he be able to follow the rules he had laid down for himself +during his week of meditations in Paris alone? + +"You see, dear Lady Bracondale," Morella Winmarleigh had been saying, +"Hector knows that woman with the pearls. He is sitting talking to her +now." + +"Hector knows every one, Morella. Lend me your glasses, mine do not seem +to work to-night. Yes, I suppose by some she would be considered +pretty," Lady Bracondale continued, when the lorgnette was fixed to her +focus. "What do you think, dear?" + +"Pretty!" exclaimed Miss Winmarleigh. "Oh no! Much too white, and, +oh--er--foreign-looking. We must find out who she is." + +The matter was not difficult. Half the house had been interested in the +new-comer, the beautiful new-comer with the wonderful pearls, who must +be worth while in some way, or she would not be under the wing of +Florence Devlyn. + +By the time Hector again entered their box in the last act, Miss +Winmarleigh had obtained all the information she wanted from one of the +many visitors who came to pay their court to the heiress. And the +information reassured her. Only the wife of a colonial millionaire; no +one of her world or who could trouble her. + +Early next morning, while she sat in her white flannel dressing-gown, +her hair screwed in curling-pins, after the Brantinghams' ball, she +wrote in her journal the customary summary of her day, and ended with: +"H.B. returned--same as usual, running after a new woman, nobody of +importance; but I had better watch it, and clinch matters between him +and me before Goodwood. Ordered the pink silk after all, from the new +little dressmaker, and beat her down three pounds as to price. Begun +Marvaloso hair tonic." + +Then, as it was broad daylight, after carefully replacing in its drawer +this locked chronicle of her maiden thoughts, she retired to bed, to +sleep the sleep of those just persons whose digestions are as strong as +their absence of imagination. + + + + +XVIII + + +Next day Lady Anningford called, as she had promised, at Claridge's, and +found Mrs. Brown at home, although it was only three o'clock in the +afternoon. + +She had not two minutes to wait in the well-furnished first-floor +sitting-room, but during that time she noticed there were one or two +things about which showed the present occupant was a woman of taste, and +there were such quantities of flowers. Flowers, flowers, everywhere. + +Theodora entered already dressed for her afternoon drive. She came +forward with that perfect grace which characterized her every movement. + +If she felt very timid and nervous it did not show in her sweet face, +and Lady Anningford perceived Hector had every excuse for his +infatuation. + +"I am so fortunate to find you at home, Mrs. Brown," she said. "My +brother has told me so much about you, and I was longing to meet you. +May we sit down on this sofa and talk a little, or were you just +starting for your drive?" + +"Of course we may sit down," said Theodora. "My drive does not matter in +the least. It was so good of you to come." + +And her inward thought was that she would like Hector's sister. Anne's +frankness and _sans gene_ were so pleasing. + +They exchanged a few agreeable sentences while each measured the other, +and then Lady Anningford said: + +"You come from Australia, don't you?" + +"Australia!" smiled Theodora, while her eyes opened wide. "Oh no! I have +never been out of France and Belgium and places like that. My husband +lived in Melbourne for some years, though." + +"I thought it could not be possible," quoth Anne to herself. + +"Then you don't know much of England yet?" she said, aloud. + +"It is my first visit; and it seems very dull and rainy. This is the +only really fine day we have had since we arrived." + +Anne soon dexterously elicited an outline of Theodora's plans and what +she was doing. They would only remain in town until Whitsuntide, +perhaps returning later for a week or two; and Mrs. Devlyn, to whom her +father had sent her an introduction, had been kind enough to tell them +what to do and how to see a little of London. She was going to a ball +to-night. The first real ball she had ever been to in her life, she +said, ingenuously. + +And Lady Anningford looked at her and each moment fell more under her +charm. + +"The ball at Harrowfield House, I expect, to meet the King of +Guatemala," she said, knowing Lady Harrowfield was Florence Devlyn's +cousin. + +"That is it," said Theodora. + +"Then you must dance with Hector--my brother," she said. + +She launched his name suddenly; she wanted to see what effect it would +have on Theodora. "He is sure to be there, and he dances divinely." + +She was rewarded for her thrust: just the faintest pink came into the +white velvet cheeks, and the blue eyes melted softly. To dance with +Hector! Ah! Then the radiance was replaced by a look of sadness, and she +said, quietly: + +"Oh, I do not think I shall dance at all. My husband is rather an +invalid, and we shall only go in for a little while." + +No, she must not dance with Hector. Those joys were not for her--she +must not even think of it. + +"How extraordinarily beautiful she is!" Anne thought, when presently, +the visit ended, she found herself rolling along in her electric +brougham towards the park. "And I feel I shall love her. I wonder what +her Christian name is?" + +Theodora had promised they would lunch in Charles Street with her the +next day if her husband should be well enough after the ball. And Anne +decided to collect as many nice people to meet them as she could in the +time. + +At the corner of Grosvenor Square she met an old friend, one Colonel +Lowerby, commonly called the Crow, and stopped to pick him up and take +him on with her. + +He was the one person she wanted to talk to at this juncture. She had +known him all her life, and was accustomed to prattle to him on all +subjects. He was always safe, and gruff, and honest. + +"I have just done something so interesting, Crow," she told him, as they +went along towards Regent's Park, to which sylvan spot she had directed +her chauffeur, to be more free to talk in peace to her companion. Some +of her friends were capable of making scandals, even about the dear old +Crow, she knew. + +"And what have you done?" he asked. + +"Of course you have heard the tale from Uncle Evermond, of Hector and +the lady at Monte Carlo?" + +He nodded. + +"Well, there is not a word of truth in it; he is in love, though, with +the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life--and I have just +been to call upon her. And to-morrow you have got to come to lunch to +meet her--and tell me what you think." + +"Very well," said the Crow. "I was feeding elsewhere, but I always obey +you. Continue your narrative." + +"I want you to tell me what to do, and how I can help them." + +"My dear child," said the Crow, sententiously, as was his habit, "help +them to what? She is married, of course, or Hector would not be in love +with her. Do you want to help them to part or to meet? or to go to +heaven or to hell? or to spend what Monica Ellerwood calls 'a Saturday +to Monday amid rural scenery,' which means both of those things one +after the other!" + +"Crow, dear, you are disagreeable," said Lady Anningford, "and I have a +cold in my head and cannot compete with you in words to-day." + +"Then say what you want, and I'll listen." + +"Hector met them in Paris, it seems, and must have fallen wildly in +love, because I have never seen him as he is now." + +"How is he?--and who is 'them'?" + +"Why, she and the husband, of course, and Hector is looking sad and +distrait--and has really begun to feel at last." + +"Serve him right!" + +"Crow, you are insupportable! Can you not see I am serious and want your +help?" + +"Fire away, then, my good child, and explain matters. You are too +vague!" + +So she told him all she knew--which was little enough; but she was +eloquent upon Theodora's beauty. + +"She has the face of an angel," she ended her description with. + +"Always mistrust 'em," interjected the Crow. + +"Such a figure and the nicest manner, and she is in love with Hector, +too, of course--because she could not possibly help herself--could +she?--if he is being lovely to her." + +"I have not your prejudiced eyes for him--though Hector certainly is a +decent fellow enough to look at," allowed Colonel Lowerby. "But all +this does not get to what you want to do for them." + +"I want them to be happy." + +"Permanently, or for the moment?" + +"Both." + +"An impossible combination, with these abominably inconsiderate marriage +laws we suffer under in this country, my child." + +"Then what ought I to do?" + +"You can do nothing but accelerate or hinder matters for a little. If +Hector is really in love, and the woman, too, they are bound to dree +their weird, one way or the other, themselves. You will be doing the +greatest kindness if you can keep them apart, and avoid a scandal if +possible." + +"My dear Crow, I have never heard of your being so thoroughly +unsympathetic before." + +"And I have never heard of Hector being really in love before, and with +an angel, too--deuced dangerous folk at the best of times!" + +"Then there are mother and Morella Winmarleigh to be counted with." + +"Neither of them can see beyond their noses. Miss Winmarleigh is sure of +him, she thinks--and your mother, too." + +"No; mother has her doubts." + +"They will both be anti?" + +"Extremely anti." + +"To get back to facts, then, your plan is to assist your brother to see +this 'angel,' and smooth the path to the final catastrophe." + +"You worry me, Crow. Why should there be a catastrophe?" + +"Is she a young woman?" + +"A mere baby. Certainly not more than twenty or so." + +"Then it is inevitable, if the husband don't count. You have not +described him yet." + +"Because I have never seen him," said Lady Anningford. "Hector did say +last night, though, that he was an impossible Australian millionaire." + +"These people have a strong sense of personal rights--they are even +blood-thirsty sometimes, and expect virtue in their women. If he had +been just an English snob, the social bauble might have proved an +immense eye-duster; but when you say Australian it gives me hope. He'll +take her away, or break Hector's head, before things become too +embarrassing." + +"Crow, you are brutal." + +"And a good thing, too. That is what we all want, a little more +brutality. The whole of the blessed show here is being ruined with this +sickly sentimentality. Flogging done away with; every silly nerve +pandered to. By Jove! the next time we have to fight any country we +shall have an anaesthetic served round with the rations to keep Tommy +Atkins's delicate nerves from suffering from the consciousness of the +slaughter he inflicts upon the enemy." + +"Crow, you are violent." + +"Yes, I am. I am sick of the whole thing. I would reintroduce +prize-fighting and bear-baiting and gladiatorial shows to brace the +nation up a bit. We'll get jammed full of rotten vices like those +beastly foreigners soon." + +"I did not bring you into Regent's Park to hear a tirade upon the +nation's needs, Crow," Anne reminded him, smiling, "but to get your +sympathy and advice upon this affair of Hector. You know you are the +only person in the world I ever talk to about intimate things." + +"Dear Queen Anne," he said, "I will always do what I can for you. But I +tell you seriously, when a man like Hector loves a woman really, you +might as well try to direct Niagara Falls as to turn him any way but the +one he means to go." + +"He wants me to be kind to her. Do you advise me just to let the thing +drop, then?" + +"No; be as kind as you like--only don't assist them to destruction." + +"She goes into the country on Saturday for Whitsuntide, as we all do. +Hector is going down to Bracondale alone." + +"That looks desperate. I shall see Hector, and judge for myself." + +"You must be sure to go to the ball at Harrowfield House to-night, +then," Anne said. "They are both going. I say both because I know she +is, and so, of course, Hector will be there too. I shall go, naturally, +and then we can decide what we can do about it after we have seen them +together." + +And all this time Theodora was thinking how charming Anne was, and how +kind, and that she felt a little happier because of her kindness. And, +hard as it would be, she would not leave Josiah's side that night or +dance with Hector. + +And Hector was thinking-- + +"What is the good of anything in this wide world without her? I _must_ +see her. For good or ill, I cannot keep away." + +He was deep in the toils of desire and passionate love for a woman +belonging to someone else and out of his reach, and for whom he was +hungry. Thus the primitive forces of nature were in violent activity, +and his soul was having a hard fight. + +It was the first time in his life that a woman had really mattered or +had been impossible to obtain. + +He had always looked upon them as delightful accessories: sport first, +and woman, who was only another form of sport, second. + +He had not neglected the obligations of his great position, but they +came naturally to him as of the day's work. They were not real interests +in his life. And when stripped of the veneer of civilization he was but +a passionate, primitive creature, like numbers of others of his class +and age. + +While the elevation of Theodora's pure soul was an actual influence upon +him, he had thought it would be possible--difficult, perhaps--but +possible to obey her--to keep from troubling her--to regulate his +passion into worship at a distance. But since then new influences had +begun to work--prominent among them being jealousy. + +To see her surrounded by others--who were men and would desire her, +too--drove him mad. + +Josiah was difficult enough to bear. The thought that he was her +husband, and had the rights of this position, always turned him sick +with raging disgust; but that was the law, and a law accepted since the +beginning of time. These others were not of the law--they were the same +as himself--and would all try to win her. + +He had no fear of their succeeding, but, to watch them trying, and he +himself unable to prevent them, was a thought he could not tolerate. + +He had no settled plan. He did not deliberately say to himself: "I will +possess her at all costs. I will be her lover, and take her by force +from the bonds of this world." His whole mind was in a ferment and +chaos. There was no time to think of the position in cold blood. His +passion hurried him on from hour to hour. + +This day after the opera, when the hideous impossibility of the +situation had come upon him with full force, he felt as Lancelot-- + + + "His mood was often like a fiend, and rose and + drove him into wastes and solitudes for agony, + Who was yet a living soul." + + +There are all sorts of loves in life, but when it is the real great +passion, nor fear of hell nor hope of heaven can stem the tide--for +long! + +He had gone out in his automobile, and was racing ahead considerably +above the speed limit. He felt he must do something. Had it been winter +and hunting-time, he would have taken any fences--any risks. He returned +and got to Ranelagh, and played a game of polo as hard as he could, and +then he felt a little calmer. The idea came to him as it had done to +Anne. Lady Harrowfield was Florence Devlyn's cousin; she would probably +have squeezed an invitation for her protegees for the royal ball +to-night. He would go--he must see Theodora. He must hold her in his +arms, if only in the mazes of the waltz. + +And the thought of that sent the blood whirling madly once more in his +veins. + +Everything he had looked upon so lightly up to now had taken a new +significance in reference to Theodora. Florence Devlyn, for instance, +was no fit companion for her--Florence Devlyn, whom he met at every +decent house and had never before disapproved of, except as a bore and a +sycophant. + + + + +XIX + + +Harrowfield House, as every one knows, is one of the finest in London; +and with the worst manners, and an inordinate insolence, Lady +Harrowfield ruled her section of society with a rod of iron. Indeed, all +sections coveted the invitations of this disagreeable lady. + +Her path was strewn with lovers, and protected by a proud and complacent +husband, who had realized early he never would be master of the +situation, and had preferred peace to open scandal. + +She was a woman of sixty now, and, report said, still had her lapses. +But every incident was carried off with a high-handed, brazen daring, +and an assumption of right and might and prerogative which paralyzed +criticism. + +So it was that with the record of a _demimondaine_--and not one kind +action to her credit--Lady Harrowfield still held her place among the +spotless, and ruled as a queen. + +There was not above two years' difference between her age and Lady +Bracondale's; indeed, the latter had been one of her bridesmaids; but +no one to look at them at a distance could have credited it for a +minute. + +Lady Harrowfield had golden hair and pink cheeks, and her _embonpoint_ +retained in the most fashionable outline. And if towards two in the +morning, or when she lost at bridge, her face did remind on-lookers of a +hideous colored mask of death and old age--one can't have everything in +life; and Lady Harrowfield had already obtained more than the lion's +share. + +This night in June she stood at the top of her splendid staircase, +blazing with jewels, receiving her guests, among whom more than one +august personage, English and foreign, was expected to arrive; and an +unusually sour frown disfigured the thick paint of her face. + +It all seemed like fairy-land to Theodora as, accompanied by Josiah, and +preceded by Mrs. Devlyn, she early mounted the marble steps with the +rest of the throng. + +She noticed the insolent stare of her hostess as she shook hands and +then passed on in the crowd. + +She felt a little shy and nervous and excited withal. Every one around +seemed to have so many friends, and to be so gay and joyous, and only +she and Josiah stood alone. For Mrs. Devlyn felt she had done enough +for one night in bringing them there. + +It was an immense crowd. At a smaller ball Theodora's exquisite beauty +must have commanded instant attention, but this was a special occasion, +and the world was too occupied with a desire to gape at the foreign king +to trouble about any new-comers. Certainly for the first hour or so. + +Josiah was feeling humiliated. Not a creature spoke to them, and they +were hustled along like sheep into the ballroom. + +A certain number of men stared--stared with deep interest, and made +plans for introductions as soon as the crowd should subside a little. + +Theodora was perfectly dressed, and her jewels caused envy in numbers of +breasts. + +She was too little occupied with herself to feel any of Josiah's +humiliation. This society was hers by right of birth, and did not +disconcert her; only no one could help being lonely when quite +neglected, while others danced. + +Presently, a thin, ill-tempered-looking old man made his way with +difficulty up to their corner; he had been speaking to Mrs. Devlyn +across the room. + +"I must introduce myself," he said, graciously, to Theodora. "I am your +uncle, Patrick Fitzgerald, and I am so delighted to meet you and make +your acquaintance." + +Theodora bowed without _empressement_. She had no feeling for these +relations who had been so indifferent to her while she was poor and who +had treated darling papa so badly. + +"I only got back to town last night, or I and my wife would have called +at Claridge's before this," he continued. And then he said something +affable to Josiah, who looked strangely out of place among this +brilliant throng. + +For whatever may compose the elements of the highest London society, the +atoms all acquire a certain air after a little, and if within this _fine +fleur_ of the aristocracy there lurked some Jews and Philistines and +infidels of the middle classes, they were not quite new to the game, and +had all received their gloss. So poor Josiah stood out rather by +himself, and Sir Patrick Fitzgerald felt a good deal ashamed of him. + +Theodora's fine senses had perceived all this long ago--the contrast her +husband presented to the rest of the world--and it had made her stand +closer to him and treat him with more deference than usual; her generous +heart always responded to any one or anything in an unhappy position. + +And through all his thick skin Josiah felt something of her tenderness, +and glowed with pride in her. + +Sir Patrick Fitzgerald continued to talk, and even paid his niece some +bluff compliments. Her manner was so perfect, he decided! Gad! he could +be proud of his new-found relation. And though the husband was nothing +but a grocer still, and looked it every inch, by Jove, he was rich +enough to gild his vulgarity and be tolerated among the highest. + +Thus the uncle was gushing and lavish in his invitations and offers of +friendship. They must come to Beechleigh for Whitsuntide. He would hear +of no refusal. Going home! Oh, what nonsense! Home was a place one could +go to at any time. And he would so like to show them Beechleigh at its +best, where her father had lived all his young life. + +Josiah was caught by his affable suggestions. Why should they not go? +Only that morning he had received a letter from his agent at Bessington +Hall to say the place, unfortunately, would not be completely ready for +them. Why, then, should they not accept this pleasant invitation? + +Theodora hesitated--but he cut her short. + +"I am sure it is very good of you, Sir Patrick, and my wife and I will +be delighted to come," he said. + +By this time the excitement of the royal entrance and quadrille had +somewhat subsided, and several people felt themselves drawn to be +presented to the beautiful young woman in white with the really fine +jewels, and before she knew where she was, Theodora found herself +waltzing with a wonderfully groomed, ugly young marquis. + +She had meant not to dance--not to leave her husband's side; but fate +and Josiah had ordered otherwise. + +"Not dance! What nonsense, my love! Go at once with his lordship," he +had said, when Sir Patrick had presented Lord Wensleydown. And wincing +at the sentence, Theodora had allowed herself to be whirled away. + +Her partner was not more than nine-and-twenty; but he had all the blase +airs of a man of forty. He began to say _entreprenant_ things to +Theodora after three turns round the room. + +She was far too unsophisticated to understand their ultimate meaning, +but they made her uncomfortable. + +He gazed at her loveliness with that insulting look of sensual +admiration which some men think the highest compliment they can pay to a +woman. And just in the middle of all this, Hector Bracondale arrived +upon the scene. He had been searching for her everywhere; in that crowd +one could miss any one with ease. He stood and watched her before she +caught sight of him--watched her pure whiteness in the clutches of this +beast of prey. Saw his burning looks; noted his attitude; imagined his +whisperings--and murderous feelings leaped to his brain. + +How dared Wensleydown! How dared any one! Ah, God! and he was powerless +to prevent it. She was the wife of Josiah Brown over there, smiling and +complacent to see _his_ belonging dancing with a marquis! + +"Hector, dearest, what is the matter?" exclaimed Lady Anningford, coming +up at that moment to her brother's side. She was with Colonel Lowerby, +and they had made a tour of the rooms on purpose to see Theodora. "You +appear ready to murder some one. What has happened?" + +Hector looked straight at her. She was a very tall woman, almost his +height, and she saw pain and rage and passion were swimming in his eyes, +while his deep voice vibrated as he answered: + +"Yes, I want to murder some one--and possibly will before the evening is +over." + +"Hector! Crow, leave me with him, like the dear you always are," she +whispered to Colonel Lowerby, "and come and find me again in a few +minutes." + +"Hector, what is it?" she asked, anxiously, when they stood alone. + +"Look!" said Lord Bracondale. "Look at Wensleydown leaning over +Theodora." He was so moved that he uttered the name without being aware +of it. "Did you ever see such a damned cad as he is? Good God, I cannot +bear it!" + +"He--he is only dancing with her," said Anne, soothingly. What had come +to her brother, her whimsical, cynical brother, who troubled not at all, +as a rule, over anything in the world? + +"Only dancing with her! I tell you I will not bear it. Where is the +Crow? Why did you send him off? I can't stay with you; I must go and +speak to her, and take her away from this." + +"Hector, for Heaven's sake do not be so mad," said Lady Anningford, now +really alarmed. "You can't go up and seize a woman from her partner in +the middle of a waltz. You must be completely crazy! Dear boy, let us +stay here by the door until the music finishes, and then I will speak to +her before they can leave the room to sit out." + +She put her hand on his arm to detain him, and started to feel how it +trembled. + +What passion was this? Surely the Crow was right, after all, and it +could only lead to some inevitable catastrophe. Anne's heart sank; the +lights and the splendor seemed all a gilded mockery. + +At that moment Morella Winmarleigh advanced with Evermond Le +Mesurier--their uncle Evermond--who, having other views for his own +amusement, left her instantly at Anne's side and disappeared among the +crowd. + +"How impossible to find any one in this crush!" Miss Winmarleigh said. +There was a cackly tone in her voice, especially when raised above the +din of the music, which was peculiarly irritating to sensitive ears. + +Hector felt he hated her. + +Anne still kept her hand on his arm, and flight was hopeless. + +Just then a Royalty passed with their hostess, and claimed Lady +Anningford's attention, so Hector was left sole guardian of Morella +Winmarleigh. + +She cackled on about nothing, while his every sense was strained +watching Theodora, to see that she did not leave the room without his +knowledge. + +She was whirling still in the maze of the waltz, and each time she +passed fresh waves of rage surged in Hector's breast, as he perceived +the way in which Lord Wensleydown held her. + +"Why, there is the woman who was at the opera last night," exclaimed +Morella, at last. "How in the world did an outsider like that get here, +I wonder? She is quite pretty, close--don't you think so, Hector? Oh, I +forgot, you know her, of course; you talked to her last night, I +remember." + +Hector did not answer; he was afraid to let himself speak. + +Morella Winmarleigh was looking her best. A tonged, laced, flounced +best; and she was perfectly conscious of it, and pleased with herself +and her attractions. + +She meant to keep Lord Bracondale with her for the rest of the evening +if possible, even if she had to descend to tricks scarcely flattering to +her own vanity. + +"Do let us go for a walk," she said. "I have not yet seen the flower +decorations in the yellow salon, and I hear they are particularly +fine." + +Hector by this time was beside himself at seeing Theodora converging +with her partner towards the large doors at the other end of the +ballroom. + +"No," he said. "I am very sorry, but I am engaged for the next dance, +and must go and hunt up my partner. Where can I take you?" + +Hector engaged for a dance? An unknown thing, and of course untrue. What +could this mean? Who would he dance with? That colonial creature? This +must be looked into and stopped at once. + +Miss Winmarleigh's thin under-lip contracted, and a deeper red suffused +her blooming cheeks. + +"I really don't know," she said. "I am quite lost, and I am afraid you +can't leave me until I find some one to take care of me." And she +giggled girlishly. + +That such a large cow of a woman should want protection of any sort +seemed quite ridiculous to Hector--maddeningly ridiculous at the present +moment. Theodora had disappeared, having seen him standing there with +Morella Winmarleigh, who she had been told he was going to marry. + +He was literally white with suppressed rage. The Royalty had +commandeered Anne, and among the dozens of people he knew there was not +one in sight with whom he could plant Morella Winmarleigh; so he gave +her his arm, and hurried along the way Theodora had disappeared. + +"Are you going to Beechleigh for Whitsuntide?" Morella asked. "I am, and +I think we shall have a delightful party." + +Hector was not paying the least attention. Theodora was completely out +of sight now, and might be lost altogether, for all they were likely to +overtake her among this crowd and the numberless exits and entrances. + +"Beechleigh!" he mumbled, absently. "Who lives there? I don't even know. +I am going home." + +"Why, Hector, of course you know! The Fitzgeralds--Sir Patrick and Lady +Ada. Every one does." + +Then it came to him. These were Theodora's uncle and aunt. Was it +possible she could be going there, too? He recollected she had told him +in Paris her father had written to this brother of his about her coming +to London. She might be going. It was a chance, and he must ascertain at +once. + +Sir Patrick Fitzgerald he knew at the Turf, and now that he thought of +it he knew Lady Ada by sight quite well, and he was aware he would be a +welcome guest at any house. If Theodora was going, he expected the thing +could be managed. Meanwhile, he must find her, and get rid of Morella +Winmarleigh. He hurried her on through the blue salon and the yellow +salon and out into the gallery beyond. Theodora had completely +disappeared. + +Miss Winmarleigh kept up a constant chatter of commonplaces, to which, +when he replied at all, he gave random answers. + +And every moment she became more annoyed and uneasy. + +She had known Hector since she was a child. Their places adjoined in the +country, and she saw him constantly when there. Her stolid vanity had +never permitted the suggestion to come to her that he had always been +completely indifferent to her. She intended to marry him. His mother +shared her wishes. They were continually thrown together, and the +thought of her as a probable ending to his life when all pleasures +should be over had often entered his head. + +Before he met Theodora, if he had ever analyzed his views about Morella, +they probably would have been that she was a safe bore with a great +many worldly advantages. A woman who you could be sure would not take a +lover a few years after you had married her, and whom he would probably +marry if she were still free when the time came. + +His flittings from one pretty matron to another had not caused her grave +anxieties. He could not marry them, and he never talked with girls or +possible rivals. So she had always felt safe and certain that fate would +ultimately make him her husband. + +But this was different--he had never been like this before. And +uneasiness grabbed at her well-regulated heart. + +"Ah, there is my mother!" he exclaimed, at last, with such evident +relief that Morella began to feel spiteful. + +They made their way to where Lady Bracondale was standing. She beamed +upon them like a pleased pussy-cat. It looked so suitable to see them +thus together! + +"Dearest," she said to Morella, "is not this a lovely ball? And I can +see you are enjoying yourself." + +Miss Winmarleigh replied suitably, and her stolid face betrayed none of +her emotion. + +"Mother," said Hector, "I wish you would introduce me to Lady Ada +Fitzgerald when you get the chance. I see her over there." + +This was so obvious that Morella, who never saw between the lines, +preened with pleasure. After all, he wished to spend Whitsuntide with +her, and this anxiety to find Lady Bracondale had been all on that +account. Lady Bracondale, who was acquainted with Miss Winmarleigh's +plans, made the same interruption, and joy warmed her being. + +She was only too pleased to do whatever he wished. And the affair was +soon accomplished. + +Hector made himself especially attractive, and Lady Ada Fitzgerald +decided he was charming. + +The way paved for possible contingencies, he escaped from this crowd of +women, and once more began his search for Theodora. She would certainly +return to Josiah some time. To go straight to him would be the best +plan. + +Josiah was standing absolutely alone by one of the windows in the +ballroom, and looked pitiably uncomfortable and ill at ease in his +knee-breeches and silk stockings. + +He had experienced such pleasure when he had tried them on, and had +enjoyed walking through the hall at Claridge's to his carriage, knowing +the people there would be aware it meant he was going to meet the most +august Royalty. + +But now he felt uncomfortable, and kept standing first on one leg, then +on the other. Theodora had not returned to him yet: the next dance had +not begun. + +This great world contained discomfort as well as pleasure, he decided. + +Hector walked straight over to him and was excessively polite and +agreeable, and Josiah's equanimity was somewhat restored. + +What could have happened to Theodora? Where had that beast Wensleydown +taken her? Not to supper--surely not to supper?--were Lord Bracondale's +thoughts. + +And then with the first notes of the next dance she reappeared. It +seemed to him she was looking superbly lovely: a faint pink suffused her +cheeks, and her eyes were shining with the excitement of the scene. + +A mad rush of passion surged over Hector; his turn had come, he thought. + +Lord Wensleydown seemed loath to release her, and showed signs of +staying to talk awhile. So Hector interposed at once. + +"May I not have this dance? I have been looking for you everywhere," he +said. + +Theodora told him she was tired, and she stood close to her husband; +tired--and also she was quite sure Josiah would be bored left all alone, +so she wished to stay with him. + +But Mrs. Devlyn made a reappearance just then, and as they spoke they +saw Josiah give her his arm and lead her away. + +Thus Theodora was left standing alone with Lord Bracondale. + +Fate seemed always to nullify her good intentions. + +It was an exquisite waltz, and the music mounted to both their brains. + +For one moment the room appeared to reel in front of her, and then she +found herself whirling in his arms. Oh, what bliss it was, after this +long week of separation! What folly and maddening bliss! + +Her senses were tingling; her lithe, exquisite, willowy body thrilled +and quivered in his embrace. And they both realized what a waltz could +be, as a medium for joy. + +"We will only have two turns until the crowd gets impossible again," he +whispered, "and then I will take you to supper." + +Lady Anningford had been rejoined by the Crow, and now stood watching +them. She and her companion were silent for a moment, and then: + +"By Jove!" Colonel Lowerby said. "She is certainly worth going to hell +for, to look at even--and they don't appear as if they would take long +on the road." + + + + +XX + + +"Oh, Crow, dear, what are we to do, then?" said Lady Anningford. +"Surely, surely you don't anticipate any sudden catastrophe? In these +days people never run away--" + +"No," said the Crow. "They stay at home until the footman, or the man's +last mistress, or the woman's dearest friend, send anonymous letters to +the husband." + +"But--" + +"Well, I tell you, Queen Anne, to me this appears serious. I know Hector +pretty well, and I have never seen him as far gone as this before. The +woman--she is a mere child--looks as unsophisticated as a baby, and +probably is. She won't have the least idea of managing the affair. She +will tumble headlong into it." + +"Well, what is to be done, then?" exclaimed Anne, piteously. + +"You had better talk to him quietly. He is very fond of you. Though +nothing, I am afraid, will be of the least use," said the Crow. + +"But if she is going into the country they won't meet," reasoned Anne. +"You saw the dreadful-looking husband just now. Will he be the colonial +who will object, do you think, or the English snob who won't?" + +But the Crow refused to give any more opinions except in general. + +It all came, he said, from the ridiculous marriage laws in this +over-civilized country. Why should not people eminently suited to each +other be allowed to be happy? + +"It is too bad, Crow," said Anne. "You take it for granted that Hector +has the most dishonorable intentions towards Mrs. Brown. He may worship +her quite in the abstract." + +"Fiddle-dee-dee, my child!" said Colonel Lowerby. "Look at him! You +don't understand the fundamental principles of human nature if you say +that. When a man is madly in love with a woman, nature says, 'This is +your mate,' not a saint of alabaster on a church altar. There are +numbers of animals about who find a 'mate' in every woman they come +across. But Hector is not that sort. Look at his face--look at him now +they are passing us, and tell me if you see any abstract about it?" + +Anne was forced to admit she did not; and it was with intense uneasiness +she saw her brother and his partner stop, and disappear through one of +the doors towards the supper-room. + +When her mother perceived the situation--or Morella--disagreeable +moments would begin at once for everybody! + +Meanwhile, the culprits were extremely happy. + +With the finest and noblest intention in the world, Theodora was too +young, and too healthy, not to have become exhilarated with the dance +and the scene. Something whispered, Why should she not enjoy herself +to-night? What harm could there be in dancing? Every one danced--and +Josiah, himself, had left her alone. + +Hector had not said a word that she must rebuke him for; they had just +waltzed and thrilled, and been--happy! + +And now she was going to eat some supper with him, and forget there were +any to-morrows. + +They found a secluded corner, and spent half an hour in perfect peace. +Hector was an artist in pleasing women--and to-night, though he never +once transgressed in words, she could feel through it all that he loved +her--loved her madly. His voice was so tender and deep, and his thought +for her slightest wish and comfort so evident; he was masterful, too, +and settled what she was to do--where to sit, and now and then he made +her look at him. + +He was just so wildly happy he could not stop to count the cost; and +while he worshipped her more deeply than when they had sat on the soft +greensward at Versailles, even the whole sight of her pure soul now +could not stop him--now he knew she loved him, and that there were +possible others on the scene. She had trusted him--had appealed to his +superior strength; he did not forget that fact quite--but here at a ball +was not the place to analyze what it would mean. They were just two +guests dancing and supping like the rest, and were supremely content. + +He found out where she was going for Whitsuntide, but said nothing of +his own intentions. + + +The blindness and madness of love was upon him and held him in complete +bondage. The first shock, which her look of the wounded fawn had given +him, was over. They had suffered, and made good resolutions, and parted, +and now they had met again. And he could not, and would not, think where +they might drift to. + +To be near her, to look into her eyes, to be conscious of her +personality was what he asked at the moment, what he must have. The +rest of time was a blank, and meaningless. It is not every man who +loves in this way--fortunately for the rest of the world! Many go +through life with now and then a different woman merely as an episode, +as far as anything but a physical emotion is concerned. Sport, or their +own ambitions, fill up their real interests, and no woman could break +their hearts. + +But Hector was not of these. And this woman had it in her power to make +his heaven or hell. + +They had both passed through moments of exalted sentiment, even a little +dramatic in their tragedy and renunciation, but circumstance is stronger +always than any highly strung emotion of good or evil. At the end of +their good-bye at Madrid their story should have closed, as the stories +in books so often do, with the hero and heroine worked up to some +wonderful pitch of self-sacrifice and drama. They so seldom tell of the +flatness of the afterwards. The impossibility of retaining a balance on +this high pinnacle of moral valor, where circumstance, which is a +commonplace and often material thing, decrees that the lights shall not +be turned out with the ring-down of the curtain. + +Unless death finishes what is apparently the last act, there is always +the to-morrow to be reckoned with--out of the story-book. So while +exalted--he by his sudden worship of that pure sweetness of soul in +Theodora which he had discovered, she by her innocence and desire to do +right--they had been able to tune their minds to an idea of a tender +good-bye, full of sentiment and vows of abstract devotion, and adherence +to duty. + +And if he had gone to the ends of the earth that night the exaltation, +as a memory, might have continued, and time might have healed their +hurts--time and the starvation of absence and separation. But fate had +decreed they should meet again, and soon; and all the forces which +precipitate matters should be employed for their undoing. + +For all else in life Hector was no weakling. He had always been a strong +man, physically and morally. + +His views were the views of the world. It seemed no great sin to him to +love another man's wife. All his friends did the same at one period or +another. + +It was only when Theodora had awakened him that he had begun even to +think of controlling himself. + +It was to please her, not because he was really convinced of the right +and necessity of their course of action, that he had said good-bye and +agreed to worship her in the abstract. + +He had been highly moved and elevated by her that night in Paris. And +when he wrote the letter his honest intention had been to follow its +words. + +He did not recognize the fact that without the zeal of blind faith as to +the right, human nature must always yield to inclination. + +So they sat there and ate their supper, and forgot to-morrow, and were +radiantly happy. + +As they had gone down the stairs Monica Ellerwood had joined Lady +Bracondale in the gallery above. + +"Oh! Look, Aunt Milly!" she had said. "Hector is with the American I +told you about in Paris. Do you see, going down to supper. Oh, isn't she +pretty! and what jewels--look!" + +And Lady Bracondale had moved forward in a manner quite foreign to her +usual dignity to catch sight of them. + +"It is the same woman he talked to at the opera last night," she said. +"She is not an American, but a Mrs. Brown, an Australian millionaire's +wife, we were told. She is certainly pretty. Oh--eh--you said Hector +was devoted to her in Paris?" + +"Why, of course! You can ask Jack." + +"I do not think we need worry, though, dear, because I am happy to say +Hector shows great signs of wishing to be with Morella." + +And with this pleasing thought she had turned the conversation. + +"I think we must go back now," said Theodora, after she had finished the +last monster strawberry on her plate. "Josiah may be waiting for me." + +Oh, she had been so happy! There was that sense vibrating through +everything that he loved her, and they were together--but now it must +end. + +So they made their way up the stairs and back to the ballroom. + +Mrs. Devlyn had abandoned Josiah, and he stood once more alone and +supremely uncomfortable. A pang of remorse seized Theodora; she wished +she had not stayed so long; she would not leave him again for a moment. + +He had supped, it appeared, been hurried over it because Mrs. Devlyn +wished to return, and was now feeling cross and tired. He was quite +ready to leave when Theodora suggested it, and they said good-night to +Hector and descended to find their carriage. But in that crowd it was +not such an easy matter. + +There was a long wait in the hall, where they were joined by the +assiduous Marquis and Delaval Stirling. And Hector, from a place on the +stairs, had all his feelings of jealous rage aroused again in watching +them while he was detained where he was by his hostess. + +Meanwhile, Sir Patrick Fitzgerald had gone about telling every one of +the beauty of his new-found niece, and had brought his wife to be +introduced to her just after Theodora had left. + +Since his scapegrace brother was going to make such an advantageous +marriage, and this niece had proved a lovely woman, and rich withal, he +quite admitted the ties of blood were thicker than water. + +Lady Ada was not of like opinion; she had enough relations of her own, +and resented his having asked the Browns to Beechleigh for Whitsuntide. + +"My party was all made up but for one extra man," she said, "whom I +think I have found; and we did not need these people." + + + + +XXI + + +Lord Bracondale arrived at his sister's house in Charles Street about a +quarter of an hour before her luncheon guests were due. + +Anne rushed down to see him, meeting her husband on the stairs. + +"Oh, don't come in yet, Billy, like a darling," she said, "I want to +talk to Hector alone." + +And the meek and fond Lord Anningford had obediently retired to his +smoking-room. + +"Well, Hector," she said, when she had greeted him, "and so you are +going to the Fitzgeralds' for Whitsuntide, and not to Bracondale, mother +tells me this morning. She is in the seventh heaven, taking it for a +sign, as you had to manoeuvre so to be asked, that things are coming +to a climax between you and Morella." + +"Morella? Is she going?" said Hector, absently. He had quite forgotten +that fact, so perfectly indifferent was he to her movements, and so +completely had his own aims engrossed him. + +"Why--dear boy!" Anne gasped. The whole scene, highly colored by +repetition, had been recounted to her. How Morella had told him of her +plans, and how he had at once got introduced to Lady Ada, and played his +cards so skilfully that the end of the evening produced the invitation. + +"Oh yes, of course, I remember she is going," he said, impatiently. +"Anne, you haven't asked that beast Wensleydown to-day, have you?" + +"No, dear. What made you think so?" + +"I saw you talking to him in the park this morning, and I feared you +might have. I shall certainly quarrel with him one of these days." + +"You will have an opportunity, then, at Beechleigh, as he will be there. +He is always with the Fitzgeralds," Anne said, and she tried to laugh. +"But don't make a scandal, Hector." + +She saw his eyes blaze. + +"He is going there, is he?" he said, and then he stared out of the +window. + +Anne knew nothing of the relationship between Theodora and Sir Patrick. +She never for a moment imagined the humble Browns would be invited to +this exceptionally smart party. And yet she was uneasy. Why was Hector +going? What plan was in his head? Not Morella, evidently. But she had +never believed that would be his attraction. + +And Hector was too preoccupied to enlighten her. + +"Is mother coming to lunch?" he asked. + +"Yes, by her own request. I had not meant to ask her--Oh, well, you +know, she is never very pleased at your having new friends, and I +thought she might fix Mrs. Brown with that stony stare she has +sometimes, and we would be happier without her; but she was determined +to come." + +"It is just as well," he said, "because she will have to get accustomed +to it. I shall ask my friends the Browns down to Bracondale on every +occasion, and as she is hostess there the stony stare won't answer." + +"Manage her as best you may," said Anne. "But you know how she can be +now and then--perfectly annihilating to unfortunate strangers." + +Hector's finely chiselled lips shut like a vise. + +"We shall see," he said. "And who else have you got? None of the +Harrowfield-Devlyn crew, I hope--" + +"Hector, how strange you are! I thought you and Lady Harrowfield were +the greatest friends, so of course I asked her. No one in London can +make a woman's success as she can." + +"Or mar it so completely if she takes a dislike! Have you ever heard of +her doing a kindness to any one? I haven't!" he said, irritably. + +Then he walked to the window and back quickly. + +"I tell you I am sick of it all, Anne. Last night, whoever I spoke to +had something vile to impute or insinuate about every one they +mentioned; and Lady Harrowfield, with a record of her own worse than the +lowest, rode a high horse of virtue, and was more spiteful than all the +rest put together. I loathe them, the whole crew. What do they know of +anything good or pure or fine? Painted Jezebels, the lot of them!" + +"Hector!" almost screamed Lady Anningford. "What has come over you, my +dear boy?" + +"I will tell you," he said; and his voice, which had been full of +passion, now melted into a tone of deep tenderness. "I love a woman +whose pure goodness has taught me there are other possibilities in life +beyond the aims of these vile harpies of our world--a woman whose very +presence makes one long to be better and nobler, whose dear soul has +not room for anything but kind and loving thoughts of sweetness and +light. Oh, Anne, if I might have her for my own, and live away down at +Bracondale far from all this, I think--I think I, too, could learn what +heaven would mean on earth." + +"Dear Hector!" said Anne, who was greatly moved. "Oh, I am so sorry for +you! But what is to be done? She is married to somebody else, and you +will only injure her and yourself if you see too much of her." + +"I know," he said. "I realize it sometimes--this morning, for +instance--and then--and then--" + +He did not add that the thought of Lord Wensleydown and the rest +swarming round Theodora drove him mad, deprived him of his power of +reasoning, and filled him with a wild desire to protect her, to be near +her, to keep her always for himself, always in his sight. + +"Anne," he said, at last, "promise me you will go out of your way to be +kind to her. Don't let these other odious women put pin-points into her, +because she is so innocent, and all unused to this society. She is just +my queen and my darling. Will you remember that?" + +And as Anne looked she saw there were two great tears in his eyes--his +deep-gray eyes which always wore a smile of whimsical mockery--and she +felt a lump in her throat. + +This dear, dear brother! And she could do nothing to comfort him--one +way or another. + +"Hector, I will promise--always," she said, and her voice trembled. "I +am sure she is sweet and good; and she is so lovely and fascinating--and +oh, I wish--I wish--too!" + +Then he bent down and kissed her, just as his mother and Lady +Harrowfield came into the room. + +Anne felt glad she had not informed them they were to meet the Browns, +as was her first intention. She seemed suddenly to see with Hector's +eyes, and to realize how narrow and spiteful Lady Harrowfield could be. + +Most of the guests arrived one after the other, and were talking about +the intimate things they all knew, when "Mr. and Mrs. Brown" were +announced, and the whole party turned to look at them, while Lady +Harrowfield tittered, and whispered almost audibly to her neighbor: + +"These are the creatures Florence insisted upon my giving an invitation +to last night. I did it for her sake, of course, so wretchedly poor she +is, dear Florence, and she hopes to make a good thing out of them. Look +at the man!" she added. "Has one ever sees such a person, except in a +pork-butcher's shop!" + +"I have never been in one," said Hector, agreeably, a dangerous flash in +his eyes; "but I hear things are too wonderfully managed at Harrowfield +House--though I had no idea you did the shopping yourself, dear Lady +Harrowfield." + +She looked up at him, rage in her heart. Hector had long been a hopeless +passion of hers--so good-looking, so whimsical, and, above all, so +indifferent! She had never been able to dominate and ride rough-shod +ever him. When she was rude and spiteful he answered her back, and then +neglected her for the rest of the evening. + +But why should he defend these people, whom, probably, he did not even +know? + +She would watch and see. + +Then they went in to luncheon, without waiting for two or three stray +young men who were always late. + +And Theodora found herself sitting between the Crow and a sleek-looking +politician; while poor Josiah, extremely ill at ease, sat at the left +hand of his hostess. + +Anne had purposely not put Hector near Theodora; with her mother there +she thought it was wiser not to run any risks. + +Lady Bracondale was sufficiently soothed by her happy dream of the cause +of Hector's visit to Beechleigh to be coldly polite to Theodora, whom +Anne had presented to her before luncheon. She sat at the turn of the +long, oval table just one off, and was consequently able to observe her +very carefully. + +"She is extremely pretty and looks well bred--quite too extraordinary," +she said to herself, in a running commentary. "Grandfather a convict, no +doubt. She reminds me of poor Minnie Borringdon, who ran off with that +charming scapegrace brother of Patrick Fitzgerald. I wonder what became +of them?" + +Lady Bracondale deplored the ways of many of the set she was obliged to +move in--Delicia Harrowfield, for instance. But what was one to do? One +must know one's old friends, especially those to whom one had been a +bridesmaid! + +The Crow, who had begun by being determined to find Theodora as cunning +as other angels he was acquainted with, before the second course had +fallen completely under her spell. + +No one to look into her tender eyes could form an adverse opinion about +her; and her gentle voice, which only said kind things, was pleasing to +the ear. + +"'Pon my soul, Hector is not such a fool as I thought," Colonel Lowerby +said to himself. "This seems a bit of pure gold--poor little white lady! +What will be the end of her?" + +And opposite, Hector, with great caution, devoured her with his eyes. + +Theodora herself was quite happy, though her delicate intuition told her +Lady Harrowfield was antagonistic to her, and Hector's mother +exceedingly stiff, while most of the other women eyed her clothes and +talked over her head. But they all seemed of very little consequence to +her, somehow. + +She was like the sun, who continues to shine and give warmth and light +no matter how much ugly imps may look up and make faces at him. + +Theodora was never ill at ease. It would grieve her sensitive heart to +the core if those she loved made the faintest shade of difference in +their treatment of her--but strangers! They counted not at all, she had +too little vanity. + +Both her neighbors, the young politician and the Crow, were completely +fascinated by her. She had not the slightest accent in speaking +English, but now and then her phrasing had a quaint turn which was +original and attractive. + +Anne was not enjoying her luncheon-party. The impression of sorrow and +calamity which the conversation with her brother had left upon her +deepened rather than wore off. + +Josiah's commonplace and sometimes impossible remarks perhaps helped it. + +She seemed to realize how it must all jar on Hector. To know his loved +one belonged to this worthy grocer--to understand the hopelessness of +the position! + +Anne was proud of her family and her old name. It was grief, too, to +think that after Hector the title would go to Evermond Le Mesurier, the +unmarried and dissolute uncle, if he survived his nephew, and then would +die out altogether. There would be no more Baron Bracondales of +Bracondale, unless Hector chose to marry and have sons. Oh, life was a +topsy-turvy affair at the best of times, she sighed to herself. + +Just before the ladies left the table, Josiah had announced their +intended visit to Beechleigh, and his wife's relationship to Sir Patrick +Fitzgerald and the old Earl Borringdon. + +It came as a thunderclap to Lady Anningford. This accounted for +Hector's eagerness to obtain the invitation--accounted for Theodora's +exceeding look of breeding--accounted for many things. + +She only trusted her mother had not heard the news also. So much better +to leave her in her fool's paradise about Morella. + +If Lady Harrowfield knew, she said nothing about it. She absolutely +ignored Theodora, as though she had never shaken hands with her in her +own house the night before. Theodora wondered at her manners--she did +not yet know Mayfair. + +The conversation turned upon some of the wonderful charities they were +all interested in, and Theodora thought how good and kind of them to +help the poor and crippled. And she said some gentle, sympathetic things +to a lady who was near her. And Anne thought to herself how sweet and +beautiful her nature must be, and it made her sadder and sadder. + +Presently they all began to discuss the ball at Harrowfield House. It +had been too lovely, they said, and Lady Harrowfield joined in with one +of her sharp thrusts. + +"Of course it could not be just as one would have wished. I was obliged +to ask all sorts of people I had never even heard of," she said. "The +usual grabbing for invitations, you know, to see the Royalties. Really, +the quaint creatures who came up the stairs! I almost laughed in their +faces once or twice." + +"But don't you like to feel what pleasure you gave them, the poor +things?" Theodora said, quite simply, without the least sarcasm. "You +see, I know you gave them pleasure, because my husband and I were some +of them--and we enjoyed it, oh, so much!" + +And she smiled one of her adorable smiles which melted the heart of +every one else in the room. But of Lady Harrowfield she made an enemy +for life. The venomous woman reddened violently--under her paint--while +she looked this upstart through and through. But Theodora was quite +unconscious of her anger. To her Lady Harrowfield seemed a poor, soured +old woman very much painted and ridiculous, and she felt sorry for +unlovely old age and ill-temper. + +Meanwhile, Lady Bracondale was being favorably impressed. She was a most +presentable young person, this wife of the Australian millionaire, she +decided. + +Anne took the greatest pains to be charming to Theodora. They were +sitting together on a sofa when the men came into the room. + +Hector could keep away no longer. He joined them in their corner, while +his face beamed with joy to see the two people he loved best in the +world apparently getting on so well together. + +"What have you been talking about?" he asked. + +"Nothing very learned," said Anne. "Only the children. I was telling +Mrs. Brown how Fordy's pony ran away in the park this morning, and how +plucky he had been about it." + +"They are rather nice infants," said Hector. "I should like you to see +them," and he looked at Theodora. "Mayn't we have them down, Anne?" + +Lady Anningford adored her offspring, and was only too pleased to show +them; but she said: + +"Oh, wait a moment, Hector, until some of these people have gone. Lady +Harrowfield hates children, and Fordy made some terrible remarks about +her wig last time." + +"I wish he would do it again," said Hector. "She took the skin off every +one the whole way through lunch." + +"But Colonel Lowerby told me she was one of the cleverest women in +London!" exclaimed Theodora; "and surely it is not very clever just to +be bitter and spiteful!" + +"Yes, she is clever," said Anne, with a peculiar smile, "and we are all +rather under her thumb." + +"It is perfectly ridiculous how you pander to her!" Hector said, +impatiently. "I should never allow my wife to have anything but a +distant acquaintance with her if I were married," and he glanced at +Theodora. + +Lady Anningford's duties as hostess took her away from them then, and he +sat down on the sofa in her place. + +"Oh, how I hate all this!" he said. "How different it is to Paris! It +grates and jars and brings out the worst in one. These odious women and +their little, narrow ways! You will never stay much in London--will you, +Theodora?" + +"I have always to do what Josiah wishes, you know; he rather likes it, +and means us to come back after Whitsuntide, I think." + +Hector seemed to have lost the power of looking ahead. Whitsuntide, and +to be with her in the country for that time, appeared to him the +boundary of his outlook. + +What would happen after Whitsuntide? Who could say? + +He longed to tell her how his thoughts were forever going back to the +day at Versailles, and the peace and beauty of those woods--how all +seemed here as though something were dragging him down to the +commonplace, away out of their exalted dream, to a dull earth. But he +dared not--he must keep to subjects less moving. So there was silence +for some moments. + +Theodora, since coming to London, had begun to understand it was +possible for beautiful Englishmen to be husbands now and then, and that +the term is not necessarily synonymous with "bore" and "duty"--as she +had always thought it from her meagre experience. + +She could not help picturing what a position of exquisite happiness some +nice girl might have--some day--as Hector's wife. And she looked out of +the window, and her eyes were sad. While the vision which floated to him +at the same moment was of her at his side at Bracondale, and the +delicious joy of possessing for their own some gay and merry babies like +Fordy and his little brother and sister. And each saw a wistful longing +in the other's eyes, and they talked quickly of banal things. + + + + +XXII + + +The Crow stayed on after all the other guests had left. He knew his +hostess wished to talk to him. + +It had begun to pour with rain, and the dripping streets held out no +inducement to them to go out. + +They pulled up their two comfortable arm-chairs to the sparkling wood +fire, and then Colonel Lowerby said: + +"You look sad, Queen Anne. Tell me about it." + +"Yes, I am sad," said Anne. "The position is so hopeless. Hector loves +her--loves her really--and I do not wonder at it; and she seems just +everything that one could wish for him. A thousand times above Morella +in intellect and understanding. All the things Hector and I like she +sees at once. No need of explaining to her, as one has to to mother and +Morella always." + +"Yes," said the Crow. He did not argue with her as usual. + +"It seems so fearful to think of her forever bound to that dreadful old +grocer, whom she treats with so much deference and gentleness. The whole +thing has made me sad. Hector is perfectly miserable; and, do you know, +they are going to Beechleigh for Whitsuntide. Sir Patrick Fitzgerald is +her uncle--and, of course, Hector is going, too, and--" + +She did not finish her sentence. Her voice died away in a pathetic note +as she gazed into the fire. + +The Crow fidgeted; he had been devoted to Anne since she was a child of +ten, and he hated to see her troubled. + +"Look here," he said. "I investigated her thoroughly at luncheon, and I +don't often make a mistake, do I?" + +"No," said Anne. "Well--?" + +"Well, she appeared to me to have some particular quality of +sweetness--you were right about her looking like an angel--and I think +she has got an angel's nature more or less; and when people are really +like that there is some one up above looks after them, and I don't think +we need worry much--you and I." + +"Dear old Crow!" said Anne; "you do comfort me. But all the same, angel +or not, Hector is so attractive--and he is a man, you know, not one of +these anaemic, artistic, aesthetic things we see about so often now; and +thrown together like that--how on earth will they be able to help +themselves?" + +The Crow was silent. + +"You see," she continued, "beyond Morella, who is too absolutely +unalluring and respectable to come to harm anywhere, and Miss Linwood, +who only cares for bridge, there will hardly be another woman in the +house who has not got a lover, and the atmosphere of those things is +catching--don't you think so?" + +"It is nature," said Colonel Lowerby. "A woman in possession of her +health and faculties requires a mate, and when her husband is attending +to sport or some other man's wife, she is bound to find one somewhere. I +don't blame the poor things." + +"Oh, nor I!" said Anne. "I don't ever blame any one. And just one, +because you love him, seems all right, perhaps. It is six different ones +in a year, and a seventh to pay the bills, that I find vulgar." + +"Dans les premieres passions, les femmes aiment l'amant; et dans les +autres, elles aiment l'amour," quoted the Crow. "It was ever the same, +you see. It is the seventh to pay the bills that seems vulgar and +modern." + +"Billy and I stayed there for the pheasant shoot last November, and I +assure you we felt quite out of it, having no little adventures at night +like the rest. Lady Ada is the picture of washed-out respectability +herself, and so--to give her some reflected color, I suppose--she asks +always the most go-ahead, advanced section of her acquaintances." + +"Well, I shall be there this time," said the Crow; "she invited me last +week." + +This piece of news comforted Lady Anningford greatly. She felt here +would be some one to help matters if he could. + +"Morella will be perfectly furious when she gets there and finds she was +not the reason of Hector's empressement for the invitation. And in her +stolid way she can be just as spiteful as Lady Harrowfield." + +"Yes, I know." + +Then they were both silent for a while--Anne's thoughts busy with the +mournful idea of the end of the House of Bracondale should Hector never +marry, and the Crow's of her in sympathy, his eyes watching her face. + +At last she spoke. + +"I believe it would be best for Hector to go right away for a year or +so," she sighed. "But, however it may be, I fear, alas! it can only end +in tears." + + + + +XXIII + + +Beechleigh was really a fine place, built by Vanbrugh in his best days. + +Three tiers of fifteen tall windows looked to the north in a front and +two short wings, while colonnades led down to splendid wrought-iron +gates, and blocks of buildings constructed in the same stately style. +Fifteen more windows faced the south; and the centre one of the first +floor led, with sweeping steps, to a terrace, while seven casements +adorned each of the eastern and western sides. + +On the southern side the view, for that rather flat country, was superb. + +It gave, from a considerable elevation--through a wide opening of giant +oaks and elms--a peep of the lake a mile below, and on in a long avenue +of turf to a vista of smiling country. + +On the splendid terrace peacocks spread their tails, and vases of carved +stone broke at intervals the gray old balustrade. + +Inside the house was equally nobly planned: all the rooms of great +height and perfect proportion, and filled with pictures and tapestries +and bronzes and antiques of immense value. + +It had come to these spendthrift Irish Fitzgeralds through their +grandmother, the last of an old ducal race. And two generations of +Hibernian influence had curtailed the fine fortune which went with it, +until Sir Patrick often felt it no easy matter to make both ends meet in +the luxurious and gilded fashion which was necessary to himself and his +friends. + +If he and Lady Ada pinched and scraped when alone, keeping few servants +on board wages, the parties, at all events, were done with all their +wonted regal splendor. + +"I shall stay with you, Patrick, as long as you can afford this cook," +Lady Harrowfield said once to him; "but when you begin to economize, +don't trouble to ask me. I hate poor people, when it shows." + +A promising son, on the true Fitzgerald lines, was at Oxford now, and +gave many anxious crows'-feet full opportunity of developing round his +mother's faded eyes. + +A plain daughter, Barbara, was pushed into corners and left much to +herself. And a brilliant, flashing, up-to-date niece of Lady Ada's took +always the first place. + +Mildred was so clever, and her lovers were so well chosen, and so +thoroughly of the right set or of great wealth; while a puny husband was +helped to something in South Africa, when the man in possession was a +Jew--or as agent for tea and jam in the colonies--when he happened to be +only a colossally successful Englishman. And once, during a prominent +politician's reign, poor Willie Verner enjoyed a few months in his own +land as secretary to a newly started Radical club. + +This Whitsuntide party was perhaps the smartest of the year. + +By Saturday evening over thirty people would be gathered together under +the Beechleigh roof. + +Josiah, though exceedingly proud and pleased at the invitation, felt +nervous at the thought of the visit. Not so Mr. Toplington, who, +although he knew he should probably have to blush for his master, and +might get a very secondary place in the "room," still felt he would hold +his own when he could let it be known what magnificent wages he received +from Mr. Brown. + +"A long sight more than I'd get out of any lord," he thought. "And money +is money. And all classes feels it." + +Theodora, on the contrary, was neither proud nor pleased. She looked +forward to the visit with excitement and dread. + +Hector would be there, among all these people whom she did not know. And +her awakened heart had begun to tell her that she loved him wildly, and +to see him could only be alternate mad joy and remorse and anguish. + +It was still drizzling on the Saturday afternoon when they arrived. So +tea awaited them in the great saloon which made the centre of the north +side of the house. Several of the rest of the guests had come down in +the same train, but they did not know them, nor did any of them trouble +themselves much to speak to them on the short drive from the station. A +few words, that was all, addressed to Theodora. Josiah was ignored. + +Sir Patrick had always been an excellent host. His genial Irish smile, +when in action, concealed the ill-tempered lines of his thin old face. +He greeted his guests cordially, and made them welcome to his home. + +Lady Ada had the inherited bad manners of her family, the De +Baronsvilles, who had come over with the Conqueror, and when one has a +_cachet_ like that there is no need to trouble one's self further. Thus, +while Mildred flashed brilliant witticisms about, plain Barbara saw +after the guests' tea and sugar, and if they took cream or lemon, and +tiresome things like that. And as every one knew every one else, and the +same party met continuously all over England, things were very gay and +friendly. + +Only Theodora and Josiah were completely out of it all, and several of +the guests, who resented the intrusion of these strangers into their +charmed circle, would take care on every opportunity to make them feel +it. + +Hector did not get there until half an hour later, in his automobile, +which was the mode of arrival with more than two-thirds of the company. + +And until the dressing-gong sounded, a continuous teuf-teuf-teuf might +have been heard as, one after another, the cars whizzed up to the door. + +Of course, in a troop of over thirty people, naturally some had kind +hearts and good manners, but the prevailing tone of this coterie of +_creme de la creme_ was one of pure selfishness and blunt and material +brutality. + +If you were rich and suited them, you were given a nickname probably, +and were allowed to play cards with them, and lose your money for their +benefit. If you were non-congenial you did not exist--that was all. You +might be sitting in a chair, but they only saw it and an empty +space--you did not even cumber their ground. + +To do them justice, they preferred people of their own exalted station; +outsiders seldom made their way into this holy of holies, however rich +they were--unless, of course, they happened to be Mildred's lovers. That +situation for a man held special prerogatives, and was greatly coveted +by pretenders to this circle of grace. + +Intellectual intelligence was not important. Some of the women of this +select company had been described by an agricultural duke who had stayed +there as having just enough sense to come in out of the rain. + +Sir Patrick Fitzgerald occasionally departed from the strict limits of +this set in the big parties--especially lately, when money was becoming +scarcer, several financial friends who could put him on to good things +had been included, the result being that Lady Harrowfield had not always +shed the light of her countenance upon the festivities. + +Lord Harrowfield drew most of his income from a great, populous +manufacturing city in the north, so neither he nor his countess had need +to smile at mere wealth. + +And Lady Harrowfield had said, frankly, "Let me know if it is a utility +party, Patrick, or for just ourselves, because if you are going to have +these creatures I sha'n't come." + +This time, however, she had not been so exigent. It happened to suit +some other arrangements of hers to spend Whitsuntide at Beechleigh, so +she consented to chaperon Morella Winmarleigh without asking for a list +of the guests. + +Hector had never conformed to any special set; he went here, there, and +everywhere, and was welcomed by all. But somehow, until this occasion, +Beechleigh had never seen him within its gates, although Lady +Harrowfield had praised him, and Mildred had sighed for him in vain. + +He saw the situation at a glance when he came into the saloon: Josiah +and Theodora sitting together, neglected by every one but Barbara. They +could not have been more than half an hour in the house, he knew, for he +had found out when the trains got in. + +Barbara was a good sort; he remembered now he had met her before +somewhere. She had evidently taken to the new cousin; but Mildred had +not. + +Hitherto Mildred had been the undisputed and acknowledged beauty of +every party, and she resented Theodora's presence because she was +clever enough not to have any illusions upon the matter of their mutual +looks. She saw Theodora was beautiful and young and charming, and had +every advantage of perfect Paris clothes. Uncle Patrick had been a fool +to ask her, and she must take measures to suppress her at once. + +Sir Patrick, on the other hand, was very pleased with himself for having +given the invitation. He had made inquiries, and found that Josiah was a +man of great and solid wealth, with interests in several things which +could be of particular use to himself, and he meant to obtain what he +could out of him. + +As for Theodora, no living man could do anything but admire her, and Sir +Patrick was not an Irishman for nothing. + +Hector behaved with tact; he did not at once fly to his darling, but +presently she found him beside her. And the now habitual thrill ran over +her when he came near. + +He saw the sudden, convulsive clasp of her little hands together; he +knew how he moved her, and it gave him joy. + +The next batch of arrivals contained Lord Wensleydown, who showed no +hesitation as to his desired destination in the saloon. He made a +bee-line for Theodora, and took a low seat at her feet. + +Hector, with more caution, was rather to one side. Rage surged up in +him, although his common-sense told him as yet there was nothing he +could openly object to in Wensleydown's behavior. + +The little picture of these five people--Barbara engaging Josiah, and +the two men vying with each other to please Theodora--was gall and +wormwood to Mildred. Freddy Wensleydown had always been one of her most +valued friends, and for Hector she had often felt she could experience a +passion. + +Lord Wensleydown had an immense _cachet_. He was exceedingly ugly and +exceedingly smart, and was known to have quite specially attractive +methods of his own in the art of pleasing beautiful ladies. He was +always unfaithful, too, and they had to make particular efforts to +retain him for even a week. + +Hector knew him intimately, of course; they had been in the same house +at Eton, and were comrades of many years' standing, and until Theodora's +entrance upon the scene, Hector had always thought of him as a coarse, +jolly beast of extremely good company and quaintness. But now! He had no +words adequate in his vocabulary to express his opinion about him! + +To Theodora he appeared an ugly little man, who reminded her of the +statue of a satyr she knew in the Louvre. That was all! + +At this juncture Lady Harrowfield, accompanied by Morella Winmarleigh, +her lord, and one of her _ames damnees_, a certain Captain Forester, +appeared upon the scene. + +Their entrance was the important one of the afternoon, and Lady Ada and +Sir Patrick could not do enough to greet and make them welcome. + +The saloon was so large and the screens so well arranged, that for the +first few seconds neither of the ladies perceived the fact of Theodora's +presence. But when it burst upon them, both experienced unpleasant +sensations. + +Lady Harrowfield's temper was bad in any case on account of the weather, +and here, on her arrival, that she should find the impertinent upstart +who had made her look foolish at the Anningford luncheon, was an extra +straw. + +Morella felt furious. It began to dawn upon her this might be Hector's +reason in coming, not herself at all; and one of those slow, internal +rages which she seldom indulged in began to creep in her veins. + +Thus it was that poor Theodora, all unconscious of any evil, was already +surrounded by three bitter enemies--Mildred, Lady Harrowfield, and +Morella Winmarleigh. It did not look as though her Whitsuntide could be +going to contain much joy. + +It was a good deal after six o'clock by now. Bridge-tables had already +appeared, and most of the company had commenced to play. Barbara saw the +look in Mildred's eye as she came across, and, ignoring Theodora quite, +tried to carry off Lord Wensleydown. + +"You must come, Freddy," she said. "Lady Harrowfield wants to begin her +rubber." + +Barbara, knowing what this move meant, and blushing for her cousin's +rudeness, nervously introduced Theodora to her. + +"How d' do," said Mildred, staring over her head. "Don't detain Lord +Wensleydown, please, because Lady Harrowfield hates to be kept waiting." + +Theodora rose and smiled, while she said to Barbara: "I am rather tired. +Mayn't I go to my room for a little rest before dinner?" + +"Take him, Lady Mildred, do," said Hector; "we don't want him," and he +laughed gayly. His beautiful, tender angel might be a match for these +people after all. At any rate, he would be at her side to protect her +from their claws. + +Lord Wensleydown frowned. Mildred was being a damned nuisance, he said +to himself, and he insisted upon accompanying Theodora to the bottom of +the great staircase, which rose to magnificent galleries in the hall +adjoining the saloon. + +Sir Patrick had advanced and engaged Josiah in conversation. + +He knew his guests' ways and how they would boycott him, and, with a +serious question like those Australian shares on the _tapis_, he was not +going to have Josiah insulted and ruffled just yet. + +"Don't stay up-stairs all the time," Hector had managed to whisper, +while Mildred and Lord Wensleydown stood arguing; "they are sure not to +dine till nine; there are two hours before you need dress, and we can +certainly find some nice sitting-room to talk in." + +But Theodora, with immense self-denial, had answered: "No, I want to +write a long letter to papa and my sisters. I won't come down again +until dinner." + +And he was forced to be content with the memory of her soft smile and +the evident regret in her eyes. + + + + +XXIV + + +Theodora was greatly interested in Beechleigh. To her the home of her +fathers was full of sentiment, and the thought that her grandfather had +ruled there pleased her. How she would love and cherish it were it her +home now! Every one of these fine things must have some memory. + +Then the pictures of as far back as she could remember came to her, and +she saw again their poor lodgings in the cheap foreign towns and their +often scanty fare. And with a fresh burst of love and pride in him, she +remembered her father's invariable cheerfulness--cheerfulness and +gayety--in such poverty! And after he had been used to--this! For all +the descriptions of Captain Fitzgerald had given her no idea of the +reality. + +Now she knew what love meant, and could realize her mother's story. Oh, +she would have acted just in the same way, too. + +Dominic had been forgiven by his brother after his first wife's death, +and had come back to enjoy a short spell of peace and prosperity. And +who could wonder that Lady Minnie Borringdon, in her first season, and +full of romance, should fall headlong in love with his wonderfully +handsome face, and be only too ready to run off with him from an angry +and unreasonable parent! She was a spoiled and only child who had never +been crossed. Then came that fatal Derby, and the final extinction of +all sympathy with the scapegrace. The Fitzgeralds had done enough for +him already, and Lord Borringdon had no intention of doing anything at +all, so the married lovers crept away in high disgrace, and spent a few +months of bliss in a southern town, where the sun shone and the food was +cheap, and there poor, pretty Minnie died, leaving Theodora a few hours +old. + +And now at Beechleigh Theodora looked out of her window on the north +side--the southern rooms were kept for greater than she--and from there +she could see a vast stretch of park, with the deer cropping the fine +turf, and the lions frowning while they supported the ducal coronet over +the great gates at the end of the court-yard and colonnade. + +It was truly a splendid inheritance, and she glowed with pride to think +she was of this house. + +So she wrote a long letter to her dear ones--her sisters at Dieppe, and +papa, still in Paris, and even one to Mrs. McBride. And then she read +until her maid came to dress her for dinner. + +Her room was a large one, and numberless modern touches of comfort +brought up-to-date the early Georgian furniture and the shabby silk +hangings. A room stamped with that something which the most luxurious +apartments of the wealthiest millionaire can never acquire. + +Josiah looked in upon her as she finished dressing. He was, he said, +most pleased with everything, and if they were a little unused to such +company, still nothing could be more cordial than Sir Patrick's +treatment of him. + +Meanwhile, on their way up to dress, Mildred had gone in to Morella's +room, and the two had agreed that Mrs. Brown should be suppressed. + +It was with extra displeasure Miss Winmarleigh had learned of Theodora's +relationship to Sir Patrick, and that after all she could not be called +a common colonial. + +There was no question about the Fitzgerald and Borringdon families, +unfortunately, while Morella's grandfather had been merely a coal +merchant. + +"I don't think she is so wonderfully pretty, do you, Mildred?" she +said. + +But Mildred was a clever woman, and could see with her eyes. + +"Yes, I do," she answered. "Don't be such a fool as to delude yourself +about that, Morella. She is perfectly lovely, and she has the most +deevie Paris clothes, and Lord Bracondale is wildly in love with her." + +"And apparently Freddy Wensleydown, too," snapped Morella, who was now +boiling with rage. + +"Well, she is not likely to enjoy herself here," said Mildred, with her +vicious laugh, which showed all her splendid, sharp teeth, as she went +off to dress, her head full of plans for the interloper's suppression. + +First she must have a few words with Barbara. There must be none of her +partisanship. Poor, timid Barbara would not dare to disobey her, she +knew. That settled, she did not fear that she would be able to make +Theodora suffer considerably during the five days she would be at +Beechleigh. + +Sir Patrick was busy with some new arrivals who had come while they were +dressing, so not a soul spoke to Theodora or Josiah when they got down +to the great, white drawing-room, from which immensely high mahogany +doors opened into an anteroom hung with priceless tapestry and +containing cabinets of rare china. From thence another set of splendid +carved doors gave access to the dining-room. + +Neither Lord Wensleydown or Hector was in the room at first, so there +was no man even to talk to them. Lady Ada had not introduced them to any +one. And there they stood: Josiah ill at ease and uncomfortable, and +Theodora quite apparently unconscious of neglect, while she looked at a +picture. + +All the younger women were thinking to themselves: "Who are these +people? We don't want any strangers here--poaching on our preserves. And +what perfect clothes! and what pearls! Why on earth did Ada ask them?" + +And soon the party was complete, and Theodora found herself going in to +dinner with her cousin Pat, who arrived upon the scene at the very last +minute, having come from Oxford by a late train. + +Mildred had taken care that neither Lord Wensleydown or Hector should be +anywhere near Theodora. She had secured Lord Bracondale for herself, and +did her best all through the repast to fascinate him. + +And while he answered gallantly and paid her the grossest compliments, +she knew he was laughing in his sleeve all the time, and it made her +venom rise higher and higher. + +Patrick Fitzgerald, the younger, was a dissipated, vicious youth, with +his mother's faded coloring and none of the Fitzgerald charm. How +infinitely her father surpassed any of the family she had seen yet, +Theodora thought. + +She did not enjoy her dinner. The youth's conversation was not +interesting. But it was not until the ladies left the dining-room that +her real penance began. + +It seemed as if all the women crowded to one end of the drawing-room +round Lady Harrowfield, and talked and whispered to one another, not one +making way for Theodora or showing any knowledge of her presence. +Barbara had gone off up to her room. She was too frightened of Mildred +to disobey her, and she felt she would rather not be there to see their +hateful ways to the dear, little, gentle cousin whom she thought she +could love so much. + +Theodora subsided on a sofa, wondering to herself if these were the +manners of the great world in general. She hoped not; but although no +human creature could be quite happy under the circumstances, she was not +greatly distressed until she distinctly caught the name of "Mr. Brown" +from the woman Josiah had taken in amid a burst of laughter, and saw +Mildred, with a glance at her, ostentatiously suppress the speaker, who +then continued her narration in almost a whisper, amid mocking titters +of mirth. + +Then anger burned in Theodora's gentle soul. They were talking about +Josiah, of course, and turning him into ridicule. + +She wondered, what would be the best to do. She was too far away to +attempt to join in the conversation, or to be even able to swear she had +heard aright, although there was no doubt in her own mind about it. + +So she sat perfectly still on her great sofa, her hands folded in her +lap, while two bright spots of wild rose flushed her cheeks. + +She did not even pick up a book. There she sat like an alabaster statue, +and most of the women were conscious of the exquisitely beautiful +picture she made. + +They could not stand in this packed group all the time, the whole dozen +or more of them, and they gradually broke up into twos and threes about +the large room. + +They were delightfully friendly with one another, and all seemed in the +best of spirits and tempers. + +Most of them had no ulterior motive in their behavior to Theodora; it +was merely the feeling that they were not the hostess and responsible. +It was none of their business if Ada neglected her guests, and they all +knew plenty of people and did not care to enlarge their acquaintance +gratuitously. + +So when they came in from the dining-room more than one of the men +understood the picture they saw, of the beautiful, little, strange lady +seated alone, while the other women chatted together in groups. + +Hector was feeling irritated and excited, and longing to get near +Theodora. He guessed Lord Wensleydown would have the same desire, and +had no intention of being interfered with. He felt he could not bear to +spend an evening watching the little brute daring to lean over her. He +should kill him, or commit some violence, he knew. + +Thus prudence, which at another time would have held him--would have +made him remember what was best for her among this crowd of hostile +women--flew to the winds. He must go to her--must show her he loved and +would protect her, and, above all, that he would permit no other man to +usurp his place. + +And Theodora, who had been suffering silently a miserable feeling of +loneliness and neglect, felt her heart bound with joy at the sight of +his loved, familiar face, and she welcomed him more warmly than she had +ever done before. + +"Have these demons of women been odious to you, darling?" he whispered, +hardly conscious of the term of endearment he had used. "Do not mind +them; it is only jealousy because you are so beautiful and young." + +"They have not been anything at all," she said, softly; "they have just +left me alone and kept to themselves, and--and laughed at Josiah, and +that has made me very angry, because--what has he done to them?" + +"I loathe them all!" said Hector. "They are hardly fit to be in the same +room with you, dear queen--and if you really belonged to me I would take +you away from them now--to-night." + +His voice was a caress, and that sentence, "belonged to me," always made +her heart beat with its pictured possibilities. Oh, how she loved him! +Could anything else in the world really matter while he could sit there +and she could feel his presence and hear his tender words? + +And so they talked awhile, and then they looked up and surveyed the +scene. Josiah had been joined by Sir Patrick, and they were earnestly +conversing by the fireplace. One or two pairs sat about on the sofas; +but the general company showed signs of flocking off to the +bridge-tables, which were laid out in another drawing-room beyond. And +the couples joined them gradually, until only Lord Wensleydown and +Morella Winmarleigh remained near and watched them with mocking eyes. + +Hector had never before realized that Morella could have so much +expression in her face. + +How could he ever have thought under any conceivable circumstances, even +at the end of his life, it would be possible to marry her! How thankful +he felt he had never paid her any attention, or from his behavior given +color to his mother's hopes. + +He remembered a fairy story he had read in his youth, where a magic +power was given to the hero of discovering what beast each human being +was growing into by grasping their hands. And he wondered, if the gift +had been his, what he should now find was the destiny of those two in +front of him! + +Wensleydown, no doubt, would be a great, sensual goat and Morella a +vicious mule. And the idea made him laugh as he turned to Theodora +again, to feast his eyes on her pure loveliness. + +The Crow, who had arrived late and been among the last to enter the +drawing-room before dinner, had not yet had an opportunity of speaking +to Mrs. Brown, as he had been dragged off among the first of the +bridge-players. + +Presently Mildred looked through the door from the room beyond and +called: "Freddy and Morella, come and play; we must have two more to +make up the numbers. Uncle Patrick will bring Lord Bracondale +presently." + +Josiah and Theodora did not count at all, it seemed! + +"What intolerable insolence!" said Hector, through his teeth. "I shall +not play bridge or stir from here." + +And Lord Wensleydown called back: "Do give one a moment to digest one's +dinner, dear Lady Mildred. Miss Winmarleigh does not want to come yet, +either. We are very--interested--and happy here." + +Morella tittered and played with her fan. The dull, slow rage was +simmering within her. Even her vanity could not misinterpret the meaning +of Hector's devotion to Mrs. Brown. He was deeply in love, of course, +and she, Morella, was robbed of her hopes of being Lady Bracondale. Her +usually phlegmatic nature was roused in all its narrow strength. She was +like some silent, vengeful beast waiting a chance to spring. + +And so the evening wore away. Sir Patrick drew Josiah into the +bridge-room, and made him join one of the tables where they were waiting +for a fourth--Josiah, who was a very bad player, and did not really care +for cards! But luck favored him, and the woman opposite restrained the +irritable things she had ready to say to him when she first perceived +how he played his hand. + +And all the while Hector sat by Theodora, and learned more and more of +her fair, clear mind. All the thoughts she had upon every subject he +found were just and quaint and in some way illuminating. It was her +natural sweetness of nature which made the great charm--that quality +which Mrs. McBride had remarked upon, and which every one felt sooner or +later. + +Nothing of the ascetic saint or goody _poseuse_. She did not walk about +with a book of poems under her arm, and wear floppy clothes and talk +about her own and other people's souls. She was just human and true and +attractive. + +Theodora had perhaps no religion at all from the orthodox point of view; +but had she been a Mohommedan or a Confucian or a Buddhist, she would +still have been Theodora, full of gentleness and goodness and grace. + +The entire absence of vanity and self-consciousness in her prevented her +from feeling hurt or ruffled even with these ill-mannered women. She +thought them rude and unpleasant, but they could not really hurt her +except by humiliating Josiah. Her generosity instantly fired at that. + +Both she and Hector perceived that Morella and Lord Wensleydown sat +there watching them for no other reason but to disconcert and tease +them, and it roused a spirit of resistance in both. While this was going +on they would not move. + +And Hector employed the whole of his self-control to keep himself from +making actual love to her, and they talked of many things, and she +understood and was grateful. + +Presently, apparently, Morella could stand it no longer, for she rose +rather abruptly and said to Lord Wensleydown: + +"Come, let us play bridge." + +They went on into the other room, and Theodora and Lord Bracondale were +left quite alone. + +"I should like to find Josiah," said Theodora. "Shall we not go, too?" + +And they also followed upon the others' heels. Lady Ada happened to be +out at her table, and some tardy sense of her duties as a hostess came +to her, for she crossed over to where Theodora stood by the door and +made some ordinary remark about hoping it would be fine on the morrow so +they could enjoy the gardens. + +And while she talked and looked into the blue eyes something attracted +and softened her. She was very gentle and pretty, after all, the new +niece, she decided, and Mildred had been quite wrong in saying she was +an upstart and must be snubbed. + +Lady Ada had a nervous way of blinking her light lashes in a fashion +which suggested she might suffer from headache. + +To Theodora she seemed a sad woman, full of cares, and she felt a kindly +pity for her and no resentment for her rudeness. + +Mildred looked up, and a frown of annoyance darkened her face. + +The "creature" should certainly not make a conquest of her hostess if +she could help it! + +It was the first time Theodora had ever been into a company of people +like this, and her eyes wandered over the scene when Lady Ada had to go +back to her place. + +"Tell me what you are thinking of?" said Hector, in her ear. + +"I was thinking," she answered, "it is so interesting to watch people's +faces. It seems to me so queer a way to spend one's time, the whole of +one's intelligence set upon a game of cards and a few pieces of money +for hours and hours together." + +"They don't look attractive, do they?" he laughed. + +"No, they look haggard, and worried, and old," she said. "Even the young +ones look old and watchful, and so intent and solemn." + +Lady Harrowfield had been losing heavily, and a deep mauve shade glowed +through all her paint. She was a bad loser, and made all at her table +feel some of her chagrin and wrath. In fact, candidates for the light of +her smile found it advisable to let her win when things became too +unpleasant. + +There was a dreary silence over the room, broken by the scoring and +remarks upon the games, and those who were out wandered into the saloon +beyond, where iced drinks of all sorts were awaiting the weary. + +"Every one must enjoy themselves how they can, of course," said +Theodora. "It is absurd to try and make any one else happy in one's own +way, but oh, I hope I shall not have to pass the time like that, ever! I +don't think I could bear it." + +The voices became raised at the table where Josiah sat. He had made some +gross mistake in the game and his partner was being fretful over it. Her +complaints amounted to real rudeness when the counting began. She had +lost twenty pounds on this rubber, all through his last foolish play, +she let it be known. + +Josiah was angry with himself and deeply humiliated. He apologized as +well as he could, but to no purpose with the wrathful dame. + +And Theodora slipped behind his chair, and laid her hand upon his +shoulder in what was almost a caress, and said, in a sweet and playful +voice: + +"You are a naughty, stupid fellow, Josiah, and of course you must pay +the losses of both sides to make up for being such a wicked thing," and +she patted his shoulders and smiled her gentle smile at the angry lady, +as though they were children playing for counters or sweets, and the +twenty pounds was a nothing to her husband, as indeed it was not. +Josiah would cheerfully have paid a hundred to finish the unpleasant +scene. + +He was intensely grateful to her--grateful for her thought for him and +for her public caress. + +And the lady was so surprised at the turn affairs had taken that she +said no more, and, allowing him to pay without too great protest, meekly +suggested another rubber. But Josiah was not to be caught again. He +rose, and, saying good-night, followed his wife and Lord Bracondale into +the saloon. + + + + +XXV + + +After the rain and gloom of the week, Sunday dawned gloriously fine. +There was to be a polo match on Monday in the park, which contained an +excellent ground--Patrick and his Oxford friends against a scratch team. +The neighborhood would watch them with interest. But the Sunday was for +rest and peace, so all the morning the company played croquet, or lay +about in hammocks, and more than half of them again began bridge in the +great Egyptian tent which served as an out-door lounge on the lawn. It +was reached from the western side down wide steps from the terrace, and +beautiful rose gardens stretched away beyond. + +Theodora had spent a sleepless night. There was no more illusion left to +her on the subject of her feelings. She knew that each day, each hour, +she was growing more deeply to love Hector Bracondale. He absorbed her +thoughts, he dominated her imagination. He seemed to mean the only thing +in life. The situation was impossible, and must end in some way. How +could she face the long months with Josiah down at their new home, with +the feverish hopes and fears of meetings! It was too cruel, too +terrible; and she could not lead such a life. She had thought in Paris +it would be possible, and even afford a certain amount of quiet +happiness, if they could be strong enough to remain just friends. But +now she knew this was not in human nature. Sooner or later fate would +land them in some situation of temptation too strong for either to +resist--and then--and then--She refused to face that picture. Only she +writhed as she lay there and buried her face in the fine pillows. She +did not permit herself any day-dreams of what might have been. Romauld +himself, as he took his vows, never fought harder to regain his soul +from the keeping of Claremonde than did Theodora to suppress her love +for Hector Bracondale. Towards morning, worn out with fatigue, she fell +asleep, and in her dreams, released from the control of her will, she +spent moments of passionate bliss in his arms, only to wake and find she +must face again the terrible reality. And cruellest thought of all was +the thought of Josiah. + +She had so much common-sense she realized the position exactly about +him. She had not married him under any false impression. There had been +no question of love--she had frankly been bought, and had as frankly +detested him. But his illness and suffering had appealed to her tender +heart--and afterwards his generosity. He was not unselfish, but, +according to his lights, he heaped her with kindness. He could not help +being common and ridiculous. And he had paid with solid gold for her, +gold to make papa comfortable and happy, and she must fulfil her part of +the bargain and remain a faithful wife at all costs. + +This visit must be the last time she should meet her love. She must tell +him, implore him--he who was free and master of his life; he must go +away, must promise not to follow her, must help her to do what was right +and just. She had no sentimental feeling of personal wickedness now. How +could it be wicked to love--to love truly and tenderly? She had not +sought love; he had come upon her. It would be wicked to give way to her +feelings, to take Hector for a lover; but she had no sense of being a +wicked woman as things were, any more than if she had badly burned her +hand and was suffering deeply from the wound; she would have considered +herself wicked for having had the mischance thus to injure herself. She +was intensely unhappy, and she was going to try and do what was right. +That was all. And God and those kind angels who steered the barks beyond +the rocks would perhaps help her. + +Hector for his part, had retired to rest boiling with passion and rage, +the subtle, odious insinuations of Mildred ringing in his ears. The +remembrance of the menace on Morella's dull face as she had watched +Theodora depart, and, above all, Wensleydown's behavior as they all said +good-night: nothing for him actually to take hold of, and yet enough to +convulse him with jealous fury. + +Oh, if she were only his own! No man should dare to look at her like +that. But Josiah had stood by and not even noticed it. + +Passionate jealousy is not a good foster-parent for prudence. + +The Sunday came, and with it a wild, mad longing to be near her +again--never to leave her, to prevent any one else from so much as +saying a word. Others besides Wensleydown had begun to experience the +attraction of her beauty and charm. If considerations of wisdom should +keep him from her side, he would have the anguish of seeing these +others take his place, and that he could not suffer. + +And as passion in a man rages higher than in the average woman, +especially passion when accelerated by the knowledge of another's desire +to rob it of its own, so Hector's conclusions were not so clear as +Theodora's. + +He dared not look ahead. All he was conscious of was the absolute +determination to protect her from Wensleydown--to keep her for himself. + +And fate was gathering all the threads together for an inevitable +catastrophe, or so it seemed to the Crow when the long, exquisite June +Sunday evening was drawing to a close and he looked back on the day. + +He would have to report to Anne that the two had spent it practically +together; that Morella had a sullen red look on her face which boded ill +for the part she would play, when she should be asked to play some part; +that Mildred had done her best to render Theodora uncomfortable and +unhappy, and thus had thrown her more into Hector's protection. The +other women had been indifferent or mocking or amused, and Lady +Harrowfield had let it be seen she would have no mercy. Her comments +had been vitriolic. + +Hector and Theodora had not gone out of sight, or been any different to +the others; only he had never left her, and there could be no mistaking +the devotion in his face. + +For the whole day Sir Patrick had more or less taken charge of Josiah. +He was finding him more difficult to manipulate over money matters than +he had anticipated. Josiah's vulgar, round face and snub nose gave no +index to his shrewdness; with his mutton-chop whiskers and bald head, +Josiah was the personification of the smug grocer. + +As she went to dress for dinner it seemed to Theodora that her heart was +breaking. She was only flesh and blood after all, and she, too, had felt +her pulses throbbing wildly as they had walked along by the lake, when +all the color and lights of the evening helped to excite her imagination +and exalt her spirit. They had been almost alone, for the other pair who +composed the _partie carree_ of this walk were several yards ahead of +them. + +Each minute she had been on the verge of imploring him to say +good-bye--to leave her--to let their lives part, to try to forget, and +the words froze on her lips in the passionate, unspoken cry which +seemed to rise from her heart that she loved him. Oh, she loved him! And +so she had not spoken. + +There had been long silences, and each was growing almost to know the +other's thoughts--so near had they become in spirit. + +When she got to her room her knees were trembling. She fell into a chair +and buried her face in her hands. She shivered as if from cold. + +Josiah was almost angry with her for being so late for dinner. Theodora +hardly realized with whom she went in; she was dazed and numb. She got +through it somehow, and this night determined to go straight to her room +rather than be treated as she had been the night before. But one of the +women whom the intercourse of the day had drawn into conversation with +her showed signs of friendliness as they went through the anteroom, and +drew her towards a sofa to talk. She was fascinated by Theodora's beauty +and grace, and wanted to know, too, just where her clothes came from, as +she did not recognize absolutely the models of any of the well-known +_couturieres_, and they were certainly the loveliest garments worn by +any one in the party. + +One person draws another, and soon Theodora had three or four around +her--all purring and talking frocks. And as she answered their questions +with gentle frankness, she wondered what everything meant. Did any of +them feel--did any of them love passionately as she did?--or were they +all dolls more or less bored and getting through life? And would she, +too, grow like them in time, and be able to play bridge with interest +until the small hours? + +Later some of the party danced in the ballroom, which was beyond the +saloon the other way, and now a definite idea came to Hector as he held +Theodora in his arms in the waltz. They could not possibly bear this +life. Why should he not take her away--away from the smug grocer, and +then they could live their life in a dream of bliss in Italy, perhaps, +and later at Bracondale. He had a great position, and people soon forget +nowadays. + +His pulses were bounding with these wild thoughts, born of their +nearness and the long hours of strain. To-morrow he would tell her of +them, but to-night--they would dance. + +And Theodora felt her very soul melt within her. She was worn out with +conflicting emotions. She could not fight with inclination any longer. +Whatever he should say she would have to listen to--and agree with. She +felt almost faint. And so at the end of the first dance she managed to +whisper: + +"Hector, I am tired. I shall go to bed." And in truth when he looked at +her she was deadly white. + +She stopped by her husband. + +"Josiah," she said, "will you make my excuses to Lady Ada and Uncle +Patrick? I do not feel well; I am going to my room." + +Hector's distress was intense. He could not carry her up in his arms as +he would have wished, he could not soothe and pet and caress her, or do +anything in the world but stand by and see Josiah fussing and +accompanying her to the stairs and on to her room. She hardly said the +word good-night to him, and her very lips were white. Wensleydown's +face, as he stood with Mildred, drove him mad with its mocking leer, and +if he had heard their conversation there might have been bloodshed. + +Josiah returned to the saloon, and made his way to the bridge-room to +Sir Patrick and his hostess; but Hector still leaned against the door. + +"He'll probably go out on the terrace and walk in the night by himself," +thought the Crow, who had watched the scene, "and these dear people +will say he has gone to meet her, and it is a ruse her being ill. They +could not let such a chance slip, if they are both absent together." + +So he walked over to Hector and engaged him in conversation. + +Hector would have thought of this aspect himself at another time, but +to-night he was dazed with passion and pain. + +"Come and smoke a cigar on the terrace, Crow," he said. "One wants a +little quiet and peace sometimes." + +And then the Crow looked at him with his head on one side in that wise +way which had earned for him his sobriquet. + +"Hector, old boy, you know these damned people here and their ways. Just +keep yourself in evidence, my son," he said, as he walked away. + +And Hector thanked him in his heart, and went across and asked Morella +to dance. + +Up in her room Theodora lay prostrate. She could reason no more--she +could only sob in the dark. + +Next day she did not appear until luncheon-time. But the guests at +Beechleigh always rose when they pleased, and no one remarked her +absence even, each pair busy with their own affairs. Only Barbara crept +up to her room to see how she was, and if she wanted anything. Theodora +wondered why her cousin should have been so changed from the afternoon +of their arrival. And Barbara longed to tell her. She moved about, and +looked out of the window, and admired Theodora's beautiful hair spread +over the pillows. Then she said: + +"Oh, I wish you came here often and Mildred didn't. She is a brute, and +she hates you for being so beautiful. She made me keep away, you know. +Do you think me a mean coward?" Her poor, plain, timid face was pitiful +as she looked at Theodora, and to her came the thought of what Barbara's +life was probably among them all, and she said, gently: + +"No, indeed, I don't. It was much better for you not to annoy her +further; she might have been nastier to me than even she has been. But +why don't you stand up for yourself generally? After all, you are Uncle +Patrick's daughter, and she is only your mother's niece." + +"They both love her far more than they do me," said Barbara, with +hanging head. + +And then they talked of other things. Barbara adored her home, but her +family had no sentiment for it, she told Theodora; and Pat, she +believed, would like to sell the whole thing and gamble away the money. + +Just before luncheon-time, when Theodora was dressed and going down, +Josiah came up again to see her. He had fussed in once or twice before +during the morning. This time it was to tell her a special messenger had +come from his agent in London to inform him his presence was absolutely +necessary there the first thing on Tuesday morning. Some turn of deep +importance to his affairs had transpired during the holiday. So he would +go up by an early train. He had settled it all with Sir Patrick, who, +however, would not hear of Theodora's leaving. + +"The party does not break up until Wednesday or Thursday, and we cannot +lose our greatest ornament," he had said. + +"I do not wish to stay alone," Theodora pleaded. "I will come with you, +Josiah." + +But Josiah was quite cross with her. + +"Nothing of the kind," he said. These people were her own relations, and +if he could not leave her with them it was a strange thing! He did not +want her in London, and she could join him again at Claridge's on +Thursday. It would give him time to run down to Bessington to see that +all was ready for her reception. He was so well now he looked forward to +a summer of pleasure and peace. + +"A second honeymoon, my love!" he chuckled, as he kissed her, and would +hear no more. + +And having planted this comforting thought for her consolation he had +quitted the room. + +Left alone Theodora sank down on the sofa. Her trembling limbs refused +to support her; she felt cold and sick and faint. + +A second honeymoon. Oh, God! + + + + +XXVI + + +At luncheon, when Theodora descended from her room, the whole party were +assembled and already seated at the several little tables. The only +vacant place left was just opposite Hector. + +And there they faced each other during the meal, and all the time her +eyes reminded him of the wounded fawn again, only they were sadder, if +possible, and her face was pinched and pale, not the exquisite natural +white of its usual fresh, soft velvet. + +Something clutched at his heart-strings. What extra sorrow had happened +to her since last night? What could he do to comfort and protect her? +There was only one way--to take her with him out of it all. + +After the first nine days' wonder, people would forget. It would be an +undefended suit when Josiah should divorce her, and then he would marry +her and have her for his very own. And what would they care for the +world's sneers? + +His whole being was thrilled and exalted with these thoughts; his brain +was excited as with strong wine. + +To have her for his own! + +Even the memory of his mother only caused him a momentary pang. No one +could help loving Theodora, and she--his mother--would get over it, too, +and learn her sweetness and worth. + +He was wildly happy now that he had made up his mind--so surely can +passionate desire block out every other feeling. + +The guests at their table were all more or less civil. Theodora's +unassuming manner had disarmed them, and as savage beasts had been +charmed of old by Orpheus and his lute, so perhaps her gentle voice had +soothed this company--the women, of course; there had been no question +of the men from the beginning. + +Mildred's programme to make Mrs. Brown suffer was not having the success +her zeal in promoting it deserved. + +The weather was still glorious, and after lunch the whole party flocked +out on the terrace. + +A terrible nervous fear was dominating Theodora. She could not be alone +with Hector, she did not dare to trust herself. And there would be the +to-morrow and the Wednesday--without Josiah--and the soft warmth of the +evenings and the glamour of the nights. + +Oh, everything was too cruel and impossible! And wherever she turned she +seemed to see in blazing letters, "A second honeymoon!" + +The first was a horrible, fearsome memory which was over long ago, but +the thought of a second--now that she knew what love meant, and what +life with the loved one might mean--Oh, it was +unbearable--terrible--impossible! better, much better, to die and have +done with it all. + +She kept close to Barbara, and when Barbara moved she feverishly engaged +the Crow in conversation--any one--something to save her from any chance +of listening to Hector's persuasive words. And the Crow's kind heart was +pained by the hunted expression in her eyes. They seemed to ask for help +and sanctuary. + +"Shall we walk down to the polo-field, Mrs. Brown?" he said, and she +gladly acquiesced and started with him. + +If she had been a practised coquette she could not have done anything +more to fan the flame of Hector's passion. + +Lady Harrowfield had detained him on the top of the steps, and he saw +her go off with the Crow and was unable to rush after them. + +And when at last he was free he felt almost drunk with passion. + +He had learned of Josiah's intended departure on the morrow, and that +Theodora would join him again on the Thursday, and his mind was made up. +On Wednesday night he would take her away with him to Italy. She should +never belong to Josiah any more. She was his in soul and mind already, +he knew, and she should be his in body, too, and he would cherish and +love and protect her to the end of his life. + +Every detail of his plan matured itself in his brain. It only wanted her +consent, and that, when opportunity should be given him to plead his +cause, he did not greatly fear would be refused. + +Hitherto he had ever restrained himself when alone with her, had +dominated his desire to make love to her; had never once, since Paris, +given way to passion or tender words during their moments together. + +But he remembered that hour of bliss on the way from Versailles; he +remembered how she had thrilled, too, how he had made her feel and +respond to his every caress. + +Yes--she was not cold, his white angel! + +He was playing in the scratch team of the polo match, and the wild +excitement of his thoughts, coursing through his blood, caused him to +ride like a mad thing. + +Never had he done so brilliantly. + +And Theodora, while she was every now and then convulsed with fear for +him, had moments of passionate admiration. + +The Crow remained at her side in the tent. He knew Hector would not be +jealous of him, and the instinct of the brink of calamity was strong +upon him, from the look in Theodora's eyes. + +He used great tact--he turned the conversation to Anne and the children, +and then to Lady Bracondale and Hector's home, all in a casual, abstract +way, and he told her of Lady Bracondale's great love for her son, and of +her hopes that he would marry soon, and how that Hector would be the +last of his race--for Evermond Le Mesurier did not count--and many +little tales about Bracondale and its people. + +It was all done so wisely and well; not in the least as a note of +warning. And all he said sank deep into Theodora's heart. She had never +even dreamed of the plan which was now matured in Hector's brain--of +going away with him. He, as really a lover, was not for her, that was a +foregone conclusion. It was the fear of she knew not what which troubled +her. She was too unsophisticated and innocent to really know--only that +to be with him now was a continual danger; soon she knew she would not +be able to control herself, she must be clasped in his arms. + +And then--and then--there was the picture in front of her of Josiah and +the "second honeymoon." + +Thus while she sat there gazing at the man she passionately loved +playing polo, she was silently suffering all the anguish of which a +woman's heart is capable. + +The only possible way was to part from Hector forever--to say the last +good-bye before she should go, like a sheep, to the slaughter. + +When she was once more the wife of Josiah she could never look upon his +face again. + +And if Hector had known the prospect that awaited her at Bessington +Hall, it would have driven him--already mad--to frenzy. + +The day wore on, and still Theodora's fears kept her from allowing a +tete-a-tete when he dismounted and joined them for tea. + +But fate had determined otherwise. And as the soft evening came several +of the party walked down by the river--which ran on the western side +below the rose-gardens and the wood of firs--to see Barbara's many +breeds of ducks and water-fowl. + +Then Hector's determination to be alone with her conquered for the time. +Theodora found herself strolling with him in a path of meeting willows, +with a summer-house at the end, by the water's bank. + +They were quite separated from the others by now. They, with affairs of +their own to pursue, had spread in different directions. + +And it was evening, and warm, and June. + +There was a strange, weird silence between them, and both their hearts +were beating to suffocation--hers with the thought of the anguish of +parting forever, his with the exaltation of the picture of parting no +more. + +They came to the little summer-house, and there they sat down and +surveyed the scene. The evening lights were all opalescent on the water, +there was peace in the air and brilliant fresh green on the trees, and +soft and liquid rose the nightingale's note. So at last Hector broke the +silence. + +"Darling," he said, "I love you--I love you so utterly this cannot go +on. I must have you for my own--" and then, as she gasped, he continued +in a torrent of passionate words. + +He told her of his infinite love for her; of the happiness he would fill +her life with; of his plan that they should go away together when she +should leave Beechleigh; of the joy of their days; of the tender care he +would take of her; and every and each sentence ended with a passionate +avowal of his love and devotion. + +Then a terrible temptation seized Theodora. She had never even dreamed +of this ending to the situation; and it would mean no second honeymoon +of loathsome hours, but a glorious fulfilment of all possible joy. + +For one moment the whole world seemed golden with happiness; but it was +only of short duration. The next instant she remembered Josiah and her +given word. + +No, happiness was not for her. Death and sleep were all she could hope +for; but she must not even hope for them. She must do what was right, +and be true to herself, _advienne que pourra_. And perhaps some angel +would give her oblivion or let her drink of Lethe, though she should +never reach those waters beyond the rocks. + +He saw the exaltation in her beautiful face as he spoke, and wild joy +seized him. Then he saw the sudden droop of her whole body and the +light die out of her eyes, and in a voice of anguish he implored her: + +"Darling, darling! Won't you listen to what I say to you? Won't you +answer me, and come with me?" + +"No, Hector," she said, and her voice was so low he had to bend closer +to hear. + +He clasped her to his side, he covered her face with kisses, murmuring +the tenderest love-words. + +She did not resist him or seek to escape from his sheltering, strong +arms. This was the end of her living life, why should she rob herself of +a last joy? + +She laid her head on his shoulder, and there she whispered in a voice he +hardly recognized, so dominated it was by sorrow and pain: "It must be +good-bye, beloved; we must not meet. Ah! never any more. I have been +meaning to say this to you all the day. I cannot bear it either. Oh, we +must part, and it must end; but oh, not--not in that way!" + +He tried to persuade her, he pleaded with her, drew pictures of their +happiness that surely would be, talked of Italy and eternal summer and +exquisite pleasure and bliss. + +And all the time he felt her quiver in his arms and respond to each +thought, as her imagination took fire at the beautiful pictures of love +and joy. But nothing shook her determination. + +At last she said: "Dearest, if I were different perhaps, stronger and +braver, I could go away and live with you like that, and keep it all a +glorious thing; but I am not--only a weak creature, and the memory of my +broken word, and Josiah's sorrow, and your mother's anguish, would kill +all joy. We could have blissful moments of forgetfulness, but the great +ghost of remorse would chase for me all happiness away. Dearest, I love +you so; but oh, I could not live, haunted like that; I should +just--die." + +Then he knew all hope was over, and the mad passion went out of him, and +his arms dropped to his sides as if half life had fled. She looked up in +his face in fear at its ghastly whiteness. + +And at this moment, through the parted willows, there appeared the +sullen, mocking eyes of Morella Winmarleigh. + +She pushed the bushes aside, and, followed by Lord Wensleydown, she came +towards the summer-house. + +Her slow senses had taken in the scene. Hector was evidently very +unhappy, she thought, and that hateful woman had been teasing him, no +doubt. + +Thus her banal mind read the tragedy of these two human lives. + + + + +XXVII + + +Morella Winmarleigh had been taking an evening stroll with Lord +Wensleydown. They had come upon the two in the summer-house quite by +accident, but now they had caught them they would stick to them, and +make their walk as tiresome as possible, they both decided to +themselves. + +After very great emotion such as Hector and Theodora had been +experiencing, to have this uncongenial and hateful pair as companions +was impossible to bear. + +Neither Hector or Theodora stirred or made room for them on the seat. + +"Isn't this a sweet place, Lord Wensleydown?" Miss Winmarleigh said. +"Why have you never brought me here before? How did you find it, +Hector?" turning to him in a determined fashion. "You will have to show +us the way back, as we are quite lost!" and she giggled irritatingly. + +"The first turn to the right at the end of the willows," said Hector, +with what politeness he could summon up, "and I am sure you will be +able to get to the house quite safely. As you are in such a hurry, don't +let us keep you. Mrs. Brown and I are going the other way by the river, +when we do start." + +"Oh, we are not in a hurry at all," said Lord Wensleydown. "Do come with +us, Mrs. Brown, we are feeling so lonely." + +Theodora rose. She could bear no more of this. + +"Let us go," she said to Hector, and they started, leading the way. And +for a while they heard the others in mocking titters behind them, but +presently, when near the house, they quickened their pace, and were +again alone and free from their tormentors. + +They had not spoken at all in this hateful walk, and now he turned to +her. + +"My darling," he said, "life seems over for me." + +"And for me, too, Hector," she said. "And when we come to this dark +piece of wood I want you to kiss me once more and say good-bye forever, +and go out of my life." There was a passionate sob in her voice. "And +oh! _Bien-aime_, please promise me you will leave to-morrow. Do not make +it more impossible to bear than it already is." + +But he was silent with pain. A mad, reckless revolt at fate flooded all +his being. + +It was past eight o'clock now, and when they came to the soothing gloom +of the dark firs he crushed her in his arms, and a great sob broke from +him and rent her heart. + +"My darling, my darling! Good-bye," he said, brokenly. "You have taught +me all that life means; all that it can hold of pleasure and pain. +Henceforth, it is the gray path of shadows; and oh, God take care of you +and grant us some peace." + +But she was sobbing on his breast and could not speak. + +"And remember," he went on, "I shall never forget you or cease to +worship and adore you. Always know you have only to send me a message, a +word, and I will come to you and do what you ask, to my last drop of +blood. I love you! Oh, God! I love you, and you were made for me, and we +could have been happy together and glorified the world." + +Then he folded her again in his arms and held her so close it seemed the +breath must leave her body, and then they walked on silently, and +silently entered the house by the western garden door. + +The evening was a blank to Theodora. She dressed in her satins and +laces, and let her maid fasten her wonderful emeralds on throat and +breast and hair. She descended to the drawing-room and walked in to +dinner with some strange man--all as one in a dream. She answered as an +automaton, and the man thought how beautiful she was, and what a pity +for so beautiful a woman to be so stupid and silent and dull. + +"Almost wanting," was his last comment to himself as the ladies left the +dining-room. + +Then Theodora forced herself to speak--to chatter to a now complacent +group of women who gathered round her. Those emeralds, and the way the +diamonds were set round them, proved too strong an attraction for even +Lady Harrowfield to keep far away. + +She was going to have her rubies remounted, and this seemed just the +pattern she would like. + +So the time passed, and the men came into the room. But Hector was not +with them. He had found a telegram, it transpired, which had been +waiting for him on his return, and it would oblige him to go to +Bracondale immediately, so he was motoring up to London that night. He +had acted his part to the end, and no one guessed he was leaving the +best of his life behind him. When Theodora realized he was gone she +suddenly felt very faint; but she, too, was not of common clay, and +breeding will tell in crises of this sort, so she sat up and talked +gayly. The evening passed, and at last she was alone for the night. + +There are moralists who will assure us the knowledge of having done +right brings its own consolation. And in good books, about good women, +the heroine experiences a sense of peace and satisfaction after having +resigned the forbidden joy of her life. But Theodora was only a human +being, so she spent the night in wild, passionate regret. + +She had done right with no stern sense of the word "Right" written up in +front of her, but because she was so true and so sweet that she must +keep her word and not betray Josiah. She did not analyze anything. Life +was over for her, whatever came now could only find her numb. By an +early train Josiah left for London. + +"Take care of yourself, my love," he had said, as he looked in at her +door, "and write to me this afternoon as to what train you decide to +leave by on Thursday." + +She promised she would, and he departed, thoroughly satisfied with his +visit among the great world. + +The day was spent as the other days, and after lunch Theodora escaped to +her room. She must write her letter to Josiah for the afternoon's post. +She had discovered the train left at eleven o'clock. It did not take her +long, this little note to her husband, and then she sat and stared into +space for a while. + +The terrible reaction had begun. There was no more excitement, only the +flatness, the blank of the days to look forward to, and that unspeakable +sense of loss and void. And oh, she had let Hector go without one word +of her passionate love! She had been too unnerved to answer him when he +had said his last good-bye to her in the wood. + +She seized the pen again which had dropped from her hand. She would +write to him. She would tell him her thoughts--in a final farewell. It +might comfort him, and herself, too. + +So she wrote and wrote on, straight out from her heart, then she found +she had only just time to take the letters to the hall. + +She closed Hector's with a sigh, and picking up Josiah's, already +fastened, she ran with them quickly down the stairs. + +There was an immense pile of correspondence--the accumulation of +Whitsuntide. + +The box that usually received it was quite full, and several letters lay +about on the table. + +She placed her two with the rest, and turned to leave the hall. She +could not face all the company on the lawn just yet, and went back to +her room, meeting Morella Winmarleigh bringing some of her own to be +posted as she passed through the saloon. + +When Miss Winmarleigh reached the table curiosity seized her. She +guessed what had been Theodora's errand. She would like to see her +writing and to whom the letters were addressed. + +No one was about anywhere. All the correspondence was already there, as +in five minutes or less the post would go. + +She had no time to lose, so she picked up the last two envelopes which +lay on the top of the pile and read the first: + +To + Josiah Brown, Esq., + Claridge's Hotel, + Brook Street, + London, W. + +and the other: + +The Lord Bracondale, + Bracondale Chase, + Bracondale. + +"The husband and--the lover!" she said to herself. And a sudden +temptation came over her, swift and strong and not to be resisted. + +Here would be revenge--revenge she had always longed for! while her +sullen rage had been gathering all these last days. She heard the groom +of the chambers approaching to collect the letters; she must decide at +once. So she slipped Theodora's two missives into her blouse and walked +towards the door. + +"There is another post which goes at seven, isn't there, Edgarson?" she +asked, "and the letters are delivered in London to-morrow morning just +the same?" + +"Yes, ma'am, they arrive by the second post in London," said the man, +politely, and she passed on to her room. + +Arrived there, excitement and triumph burned all over her. Here, without +a chance of detection, she could crush her rival and see her thoroughly +punished, and--who knows?--Hector might yet be caught in the rebound. + +She would not hesitate a second. She rang for her maid. + +"Bring me my little kettle and the spirit-lamp. I want to sip some +boiling water," she said. "I have indigestion. And then you need not +wait--I shall read until tea." + +She was innocently settled on her sofa with a book when the maid +returned. She was a well-bred servant, and silently placed the kettle +and glass and left the room noiselessly. Morella sprang to her feet with +unusual agility. Her heavy form was slow of movement as a rule. + +The door once locked, she returned to the sofa and began operations. + +The kettle soon boiled, and the steam puffed out and achieved its +purpose. + +The thin, hand-made paper of the envelope curled up, and with no +difficulty she opened the flap. + +Hector's letter first and then Josiah's. All her pent-up, concentrated +rage was having its outlet, and almost joy was animating her being. + +Hector's was a long letter; probably very loving, but that did not +concern her. + +It would be most unladylike to read it, she decided--a sort of thing +only the housemaids would do. What she intended was to place them in the +wrong envelopes--Hector's to Josiah, and Josiah's to Hector. It was a +mistake any one might make themselves when they were writing, and +Theodora, when it should be discovered, could only blame her own +supposed carelessness. Even if the letter was an innocent one, which was +not at all likely. Oh, dear, no! She knew the world, however little +girls were supposed to understand. She had kept her eyes open, thank +goodness; and it would certainly not be an epistle a husband would care +to read--a great thing of pages and pages like that. But even if it were +innocent, it was bound to cause some trouble and annoyance; and the +thought of that was honey and balm to her. + +She slipped them into the covers she had destined for them and pressed +down the damp gum. So all was as it had been to outward appearance, and +she felt perfectly happy. Then when she descended to tea she placed them +securely in the box under some more of her own for the seven-o'clock +post, and went her way rejoicing. + + + + +XXVIII + + +Next morning, over a rather late breakfast in his sitting-room at +Claridge's, Josiah's second post came in. + +All had gone well with his business in the City the day before, and in +the afternoon he had run down to Bessington Hall, returning late at +night. + +He was feeling unusually well and self-important, and his thoughts +turned to pleasant things: To the delight of having Theodora once more +as a wife; of his hope of founding a family--the Browns of +Bessington--why not? Had not a boy at the gate called him squire? + +"Good-day to 'e, squire," he had said, and that was pleasant to hear. + +If only his tiresome cough would keep off in the autumn, he might +himself shoot the extensive coverts he had ordered to be stocked on the +estate. He had heard there were schools for would-be sportsmen to learn +the art of handling a gun, and he would make inquiries. + +All the prospect was fair. + +He picked up his letters and turned them over. Nothing of importance. +Ah, yes! there was Theodora's. The first letter she had ever written +him, and such a long one! What could the girl have to say? Surely not +all that about trains! He opened the envelope with a knife which lay by +his plate, and this is what he read--read with whitening face and +sinking heart: + + "BEECHLEIGH, _June 5th_. + + HECTOR, MY BELOVED!--Oh, for this last time I must think + of you as that! Dearest, we are parted now and may never meet + again, and the pain of it all kept me silent yesterday, when my + heart was breaking with the anguish and longing to tell you how I + loved you, how you were not going away suffering alone. Oh, it has + all crept upon us, this great, great love! It was fate, and it was + useless to struggle against it. Only we must not let it be the + reason of our doing wrong--that would be to degrade it, and love + should not live in an atmosphere of degradation. I could not go + away with you, could not have you for my lover without breaking a + bargain--a bargain over which I have given my word. Of course I did + not know what love meant when I was married. In France one does not + think of that as connected with a husband. It was just a duty to be + got through to help papa and my sisters. But my part of the bargain + was myself, and in return for giving that I have money and a home, + and papa and Sarah and Clementine are comfortable and happy. And as + Josiah has kept his side of it, so I must keep mine, and be + faithful to him always in word and deed. Dearest, it is too + terrible to think of this material aspect to a bond which now I + know should only be one of love and faith and tenderness. But it + _is_ a bond, and I have given my word, and no happiness could come + to us if I should break it, _as Josiah has not broken his_. And oh, + Hector, you do not know how good he has always been to me, and + generous and indulgent! It is not his fault that he is not of our + class, and I must do my utmost to make him happy, and atone for + this wound which I have unwittingly given him, and which he is, and + must always remain, unconscious of. Oh, if something could have + warned me, after that first time we met, that I would love you--had + begun to love you--even then there would have been time to draw + back, to save us both, perhaps, from suffering. And yet, and yet, I + do not know, we might have missed the greatest and noblest good of + all our lives. Dearest, I want you to keep the memory of me as + something happy. Each year, when the spring-time comes and the + young fresh green, I want you to look back on our day at + Versailles, and to say to yourself, 'Life cannot be all sad, + because nature gave the earth the returning spring.' And some + spring must come for us, too--if only in our hearts. + + "And now, O my beloved, good-bye! I cannot even tell to you the + anguish which is wringing my heart. It is all summed up in this. I + love you! I love you! and we must say forever a farewell! + + "THEODORA. + + "P.S.--I am sending this to your home." + +As he read the last words the paper slipped from Josiah's nerveless +hands, and for many minutes he sat as one stricken blind and dumb. Then +his poor, plebeian figure seemed to crumple up, and with an inarticulate +cry of rage and despair he fell forward, with his head upon his +out-stretched arms across the breakfast-table. + +How long he remained there he never knew. It seemed a whole lifetime +later when he began to realize things--to know where he was--to +remember. + +"Oh, God!" he said. "Oh, God!" + +He picked up the letter and read it all over again, weighing every word. + +Who was this thief who had stolen his wife? Hector? Hector? Yes, it was +Lord Bracondale; he remembered now he had heard him called that at +Beechleigh. He would like to kill him. But was he a thief, after all? or +was not--he--Josiah the thief? To have stolen her happiness, and her +life. Her young life that might have been so fair, though how did he +know that at the time! He had never thought of such things. She was what +he desired, and he had bought her with gold. No, he was not a thief, he +had bought her with gold, and because of that she was going to keep to +her bargain, and make him a true and faithful wife. + +"Oh, God!" he said again. "Oh, God!" + +Presently the business method of his life came back to him and helped +him. He must think this matter over carefully and see if there was any +way out. It all looked black enough--his future, that but an hour ago +had seemed so full of promise. He rang for the waiter and gave orders to +have the breakfast things taken away. That accomplished, he requested +that he should not be disturbed upon any pretext whatsoever. And then, +drawn up to his writing-table, he began deliberately to think. + +Yes, from the beginning Theodora had been good and meek and docile. He +remembered a thousand gentle, unselfish things she had done for him. Her +patience, her kindness, her unfailing sympathy in all his ills, the +consideration and respect with which she treated him. When--when could +this thing have begun? In Paris? Only these short weeks ago--was love so +sudden a passion as that? Then he turned to the letter again and once +more read it through. Poor Theodora, poor little girl, he thought. His +anger was gone now; nothing remained but an intolerable pain. And this +lord--of her own class--her own class! How that thought hurt. What of +him? He was handsome and young, and just the mate for Theodora. And she +had said good-bye to him, and was going to do her best to make +him--Josiah--happy. He gave a wild laugh. Oh, the mockery of it all, the +mockery of it all! Well, if she could renounce happiness to keep her +word, what could he do for her in return? She must never know of the +mistake she had made in putting the letters into the wrong envelopes. +That he could save her from. But the man? He would know--for he must +have got the note intended for him--Josiah. What must be done about +that? He thought and thought. And at last he drew a sheet of paper +forward and wrote, in his neat, clerklike hand, just a few lines. + +And these were they: + + "MY LORD,--You will have received, I presume, a + communication addressed to you and intended for me. The enclosed + speaks for itself. I send it to you because it is my duty to do so. + If I were a young man, though I am not of your class, I would kill + you. But I am growing old, and my day is over. All I ask of you is + never, _under any circumstances_, to let my wife know of her + mistake about the letters. I do not wish to grieve her, or cause + her more suffering than you have already brought upon her. + "Believe me, + "Yours faithfully, + "JOSIAH BROWN." + +Then he got down the _Peerage_ and found the correct form of +superscription he must place upon the envelope. + +He folded the two letters, his own and Theodora's, and, slipping them +in, sealed the packet with his great seal which was graven with a deep +J.B. And lest he should change his mind, he rang the bell for the +waiter, and had it despatched to the post at once--to be sent by +express. If possible it must reach Lord Bracondale at the same time as +the other letter--Theodora's letter to himself in the wrong envelope. + +And then poor Josiah subsided into his chair again, and suffered and +suffered. He was conscious of nothing else--just intense, overwhelming +suffering. + +When his secretary, from his office in the City, came in about +luncheon-time to transact some important business, he was horrified and +distressed to see the change in his patron; for Josiah looked crumpled +and shrivelled and old. + +"I caught a chill coming from Bessington last night," he explained, "and +I will send for Toplington to give me a draught if you will kindly touch +the bell." + +Then he tried to concentrate his mind on his affairs and get through the +day. But the gray look kept growing and growing, and the secretary +decided towards evening to suggest sending for Theodora. Josiah, +however, would not hear of this. He was not ill, he said, it was merely +a chill; he would be quite restored by a night's rest, and Mrs. Brown +would be with him, anyway, in the morning. Of what use to alarm her +unnecessarily. But he had unfortunately mislaid her letter with the +exact time of her train, so he had better telegraph to her before six +o'clock to make sure. He wrote it out himself. Just: + + "Stupidly mislaid your letter. What time did you say for the + carriage to meet your train? + "JOSIAH." + +And about eight o'clock her reply came, and then he went to bed, +wondering if he had reached the summit of human suffering or if there +would be more to come. + + + + +XXIX + + +Late that night, in the old panelled library at Bracondale, Hector +walked up and down. He, too, was suffering, suffering intensely, his +only grain of comfort being that he was alone. His mother was away in +the north with Anne, and he had the place to himself. In his hand was +Theodora's letter. As Josiah had calculated, knowing cross-country +posts, both his and hers had arrived at the same time. + +Hector paced and paced up and down, his thoughts maddening him. + +And so three people were unhappy now--not he and his beloved one alone. +This was the greater calamity. + +But how he had misjudged Josiah! The common, impossible husband had +behaved with a nobility, a justice, and forbearance which he knew his +own passionate nature would not have been capable of. It had touched him +to the core, and he had written at once in reply, enclosing Theodora's +letter about the arrival of the train. + + "DEAR SIR,--I am overcome with your generosity and your + justice. I thank you for your letter and for your magnanimity in + forwarding the enclosure it contained. I understand and appreciate + the sentiment you express when you say, had you been younger you + would have killed me, and I on my side would have been happy to + offer you any satisfaction you might have wished, and am ready to + do so now if you desire it. At the same time, I would like you to + know, in deed, I have never injured you. My deep and everlasting + grief will be that I have brought pain and sorrow into the life of + a lady who is very dear to us both. My own life is darkened forever + as well, and I am going away out of England for a long time as soon + as I can make my arrangements. I will respect your desire never to + inform your wife of her mistake, and I will not trouble either of + you again. Only, by a later post, I intend to answer her letter and + say farewell. + "Believe me, + "Yours truly, + "BRACONDALE." + +This he had despatched some hours ago, but his last good-bye to Theodora +was not yet written. What could he say to her? How could he tell her of +all the misery and anguish, all the pain which was racking his being; +he, who knew life and most things it could hold, and so could judge of +the fact that nothing, nothing, counted now but herself--and they should +meet no more, and it was the end. A blank, absolute end to all joy. +Nothing to exist upon but the remembrance of an hour or two's bliss and +a few tender kisses. + +And as Josiah had done, he could only say: "Oh, God! Oh, God!" + +On top of his large escritoire there stood a minute and very perfect +copy of the fragment of Psyche, which he had so intensely admired. He +turned to it now as his only consolation; the likeness to Theodora was +strong; the exact same form of face, and the way her hair grew; the pure +line of the cheek, and the angle which the head was set on to the column +of her throat--all might have been chiselled from her. How often had he +seen her looking down like that. Perhaps the only difference at all was +that Theodora's nose was fine, and not so heavy and Greek; otherwise he +had her there in front of him--his Theodora, his gift of the gods, his +Psyche, his soul. And wherever he should wander--if in wildest Africa or +furthest India, in Alaska or Tibet--this little fragment of white marble +should bear him company. + +It calmed him to look at it--the beautiful Greek thing. + +And he sat down and wrote to his loved one his good-bye. + +[Illustration: What Could He Say to Her.] + +He told her of his sorrow and his love, and how he was going away +from England, he did not yet know where, and should be absent many +months, and how forever his thoughts from distant lands would bridge the +space between them, and surround her with tenderness and worship. + +And her letter, he said, should never leave him--her two letters; they +should be dearer to him than his life. He prayed her to take care of +herself, and if at any time she should want him to send for him from the +ends of the earth. Bracondale would always find him, sooner or later, +and he was hers to order as she willed. + +And as he had ended his letter before, so he ended this one now: + + +"For ever and ever your devoted + "LOVER." + + +After this he sat a long time and gazed out upon the night. It was very +dark and cloudy, but in one space above his head two stars shone forth +for a moment in a clear peep of sky, and they seemed to send him a +message of hope. What hope? Was it, as she had said, the thought that +there would be a returning spring--even for them? + + + + +XXX + + +And the summer wore away and the dripping autumn came, and with each +week, each day almost, Josiah seemed to shrivel. + +It was not very noticeable at first, after the ten days of sharp illness +which had prostrated him when he received the fatal letter. + +He appeared to recover almost from that, and they went down to +Bessington Hall at the beginning of July. But there was no further talk +of a second honeymoon. + +Theodora's tenderness and devotion never flagged. If her heart was +broken she could at least keep her word, and try to make her husband +happy. And so each one acted a part, with much zeal for the other's +welfare. + +It was anguish to Josiah to see his wife's sweet face grow whiter and +thinner; she was so invariably bright and cheerful with him, so +considerate of his slightest wish. + +His pride and affection for her had turned into a sort of adoration as +the days wore on. He used to watch her silently from behind a paper, or +when she thought he slept. Then the mask of smiles fell from her, and he +saw the pathetic droop of her young, fair head and the mournful gloom +that would creep into her great, blue eyes. + +And he was the stumbling-block to her happiness. She had sent away the +man she loved in order to stay and be true to him, to minister to his +wants, and do her utmost to render him happy. Oh, what could he do for +her in return? What possible thing? + +He lavished gifts upon her; he lavished gifts upon her sisters, upon her +father; their welfare, he remembered, was part of the bargain. At least +she would know these--her dear ones--had gained by it, and, so far, her +sacrifice had not been in vain. + +This thought comforted him a little. But the constant gnawing ache at +his heart, and the withdrawal of all object to live for, soon began to +tell upon his always feeble constitution. + +Of what use was anything at all? His house or his lands! His pride in +his position--even his title of "squire," which he often heard now. All +were dead-sea fruit, dust and ashes; there never would be any Browns of +Bessington in the years to come. There never would be anything for him, +never any more. + +For a week in September Captain and Mrs. Dominic Fitzgerald had paid +them a visit, and the brilliant bride had cheered them up for a little +and seemed to bring new life with her. She expressed herself as +completely satisfied with her purchase in the way of a husband; it was +just as she had known, three was a lucky number for her, and Dominic was +her soul's mate, and they were going to lead the life they both loved, +of continual movement and change and gayety. + +But the situation at Bessington distressed her. + +"Why, my dear, they are just like a couple of sick paroquets," she said +to her husband. "Mr. Brown don't look long for this world, and Theodora +is a shadow! What in the Lord's name has been happening to them?" + +But Dominic could not enlighten her. Before they left she determined to +ascertain for herself. + +The last evening she said to Theodora, who was bidding her good-night in +her room: + +"I had a letter from your friend Lord Bracondale last week, from Alaska. +He asks for news of you. Did you see him after he came from Paris? He +was only a short while in England, I understand." + +"Yes, we saw him once or twice," said Theodora, "and we made the +acquaintance of his sister." + +"He always seemed to be very fond of her. Is she a nice sort of woman?" + +"Very nice." + +"I hear the mother is clean crazy with him for going off again and not +marrying that heiress they are so set upon. But why should he? He don't +want the money." + +"No," said Theodora. + +"Was he at Beechleigh when you were there?" + +"Yes." + +"And Miss Winmarleigh, too?" + +"Yes, she was there." + +"Oh!" said Mrs. Fitzgerald. "A great lump of a woman, isn't she?" + +"She is rather large." + +This was hopeless--a conversation of this sort--Jane Fitzgerald decided. +It told her nothing. + +Theodora's face had become so schooled it did not, even to her +step-mother's sharp eyes, betray any emotion. + +"I am glad if the folly is over," she thought to herself. "But I +shouldn't wonder if it Wasn't something to do with it still, after all. +If it is not that, what can it be?" Then she said aloud: "He is going +through America, and we shall meet him when we get back in November, +most likely. I shall persuade him to come down to Florida with us, if I +can. He seems to be aimlessly wandering round, I suppose, shooting +things; but Florida is the loveliest place in the world, and I wish you +and Josiah would come, too, my dear." + +"That would be beautiful," said Theodora, "but Josiah is not fit for a +long journey. We shall go to the Riviera, most probably, when the +weather gets cold." + +"Have you no message for him then, Theodora, when I see him?" + +And now there was some sign. Theodora clasped her hands together, and +she said in a constrained voice: + +"Yes. Tell him I hope he is well--and I am well--just that," and she +walked ever to the dressing-table and picked up a brush, and put it down +again nervously. + +"I shall tell him no such thing," said her step-mother, kindly, "because +I don't believe it is true. You are not well, dear child, and I am +worried about you." + +But Theodora assured her that she was, and all was as it should be, and +nothing further could be got out of her; so they kissed and wished each +other good-night. And Jane Fitzgerald, left to herself, heaved a great +sigh. + +Next day, after this cheery pair had gone, things seemed to take a +deeper gloom. + +The mention of Hector's name and whereabouts had roused Theodora's +dormant sorrows into activity again; and with all her will and +determination to hide her anguish, Josiah could perceive an added note +of pathos in her voice at times and less and less elasticity in her +step. + +Once he would have noticed none of these things, but now each shade of +difference in her made its impression upon him. + +And so the time wore on, their hearts full of an abiding grief. + +When October set in Josiah caught a bad cold, which obliged him to keep +to his bed for days and days. He did not seem very ill, and assured his +wife he would be all right soon; but by November, Sir Baldwin Evans, who +was sent for hurriedly from London, broke it gently to Theodora that her +husband could not live through the winter. He might not even live for +many days. Then she wept bitter tears. Had she been remiss in anything? +What could she do for him? Oh, poor Josiah! + +And Josiah knew that his day was done, as he lay there in his splendid, +silk-curtained bed. But life had become of such small worth to him that +he was almost glad. + +"Now, soon she can be happy--my little girl," he said to himself, "with +the one of her class. It does not do to mix them, and I was a fool to +try. But her heart is too kind ever to quite forget poor old Josiah +Brown." + +And this thought comforted him. And that night he died. + +Then Theodora wept her heart out as she kissed his cold, thin hand. + +When they got the telegram in New York at Mrs. Fitzgerald's mansion, +Hector was just leaving the house, and Captain Fitzgerald ran after him +down the steps. + +"My son-in-law, Josiah Brown, is dead," he said. "My wife thought you +would be interested to hear. Poor fellow, he was not very old +either--only fifty-two." + +Hector almost staggered for a moment, and leaned against the gilded +balustrade. Then he took off his hat reverently, while he said, in his +deep, expressive voice: + +"There lived no greater gentleman." + +And Captain Fitzgerald wondered if he were mad or what he could mean, +as he watched him stride away down the street. + +But when he told his wife, she understood, for she had just learned from +Hector the whole story. + +And perhaps--who knows? Far away in Shadowland Josiah heard those words, +"There lived no greater gentleman." And if he did--they fell like balm +on his sad soul. + + + + +XXXI + + +It was eighteen months after this before they met again--Hector and +Theodora; and now it was May, and the flowers bloomed and the birds +sang, and all the world was young and fair--only Morella Winmarleigh was +growing into a bitter old maid. + +At twenty-eight people might have taken her for a matron of ten years +older. + +She had wondered for weeks what was the result of her action with the +letters. She hoped daily to hear of some catastrophe and scandal falling +upon the head of Theodora. But she heard nothing. It was only after +Josiah's death that details were wafted to her through the Fitzgeralds. + +How poor Mr. Brown had never really recovered from a slight stroke he +had had on leaving Beechleigh, and of Theodora's goodness and devotion +to him, and of his worship of her. And Morella had the maddening feeling +that if she had left well alone this death might never have occurred, +and her hated rival might not now be a free and beautiful widow, with +no impediment between herself and Hector when they should choose to +meet. + +She had meant to be revenged and punish them, and it seemed she had only +cleared their path to happiness. There was really no justice in this +world! + +Theodora had gone to meet her father and step-mother in Paris. + +Her sisters were married and very happy, she hoped. Prosperity had +wonderfully embellished their attractions, and even Sarah had found a +mate. + +And Lady Bracondale remained her placid, stately self. Her grief and +disappointment over Hector's departure from England had passed away by +now, as so had her treasured dream of receiving Morella Winmarleigh as a +daughter. But Anne whispered to her that she need not worry forever, and +some day soon her brother might choose a bride whom even she would love. + +Hector had continued his wanderings over the world for many months after +Josiah's death. He felt, should he return to England, nothing could keep +him from Theodora. + +And she, too, had travelled and explored fresh scenes, and was now a +supremely beautiful and experienced woman--courted and flattered, and +besieged by many adorers. + +But she was still Theodora, with only one love in her heart and one +dream in her soul--to meet Hector again and spend the rest of her life +in the shelter of his arms. + +She heard of him often through her step-mother; and sometimes she saw +Anne--and both Hector and she understood, and knew the time would come +when they could be happy. + +Jane Anastasia Fitzgerald had romantic notions. This pretty pair, whom +she looked upon as of her own producing, must meet again under her +auspices in like circumstances as they had done on the happy and +never-to-be-forgotten day when she herself had promised her heart and +hand to Dominic Fitzgerald. + +"There is something lucky about Versailles," she said, "and they shall +experience it, too!" + +So she planned a picnic, and arranged it with Hector before he reached +Paris. He was not to show himself or communicate with Theodora; he was +just to be there at the Reservoirs and wait for their arrival. + +And the gods smiled--and the day was fine--and the trees were green--as +had been another day, two years ago. + +And oh, the wild, mad joy that surged up in their hearts when their eyes +met once more! + +They could not speak, it seemed, even the words of politeness; so they +wandered away into the spring woods, silent and glad; and it was not +until they reached the shrine of old Enceladus that Hector clasped +Theodora again in his arms, and gave rein to all the passionate love and +delirious happiness which was flooding his being. + +There one can leave them--together--for always--looking out upon the +realization of that fair dream of life. + +Safe in each other's arms, in those smooth waters, beyond the rocks. + +THE END + + + + * * * * * + + +A beautifully illustrated edition of + +THREE WEEKS + +The Famous Romantic Novel + +By Elinor Glyn + +Now ready at the same price as "Beyond the Rocks" + +The world has felt upon its hot lips the perfumed kisses of the +beautiful heroine of "Three Weeks." The brilliant flame that was her +life has blazed a path into every corner of the globe. It is a +world-renowned novel of consuming emotion that has made the name of its +author, Elinor Glyn, the most discussed of all writers of modern +fiction. + +WHAT THE CRITICS HAVE SAID ABOUT IT + +Percival Pollard in _Town Topics_: + +"It is a book to make one forget that the world is gray. Be as sad, as +sane as you like, for all the other days of your life, but steal one mad +day, I adjure you, and read 'Three Weeks.'" + +_The Western Christian Advocate_: + +"The power and beauty of its descriptions and the pathos of its scenes +are undeniable." + +_The Brooklyn Eagle_: + +"A cleverly told tale, full of dainty sentiment, of poetic dreaming and +dramatic incident." + +_The San Francisco Argonaut_: + +"We feel inclined to throw at her (the heroine) neither stones nor +laurels, but rather to congratulate the author upon a powerful story +that lays a grip upon the mind and heart." + +_The Detroit Free Press_: + +"No wonder that 'Three Weeks' is one of the best sellers." + + + ++They Were Alone....+ + +The magic of the desert night had closed about them. Cairo, +friends,--civilization as she knew it--were left far behind. She, an +unbeliever, was in the heart of the trackless wastes with a man whose +word was more than law. + +And yet, he was her slave! + +"I shall ask nothing of you until you shall love me," he promised. "You +shall draw your curtains, and until you call, you shall go undisturbed." + +And she believed him! + +Do you want to see luxury beyond your imagination to conjure,--feel the +softness of silks finer than the gossamer web of the spider--hear the +night voices of the throbbing desert, or sway to the jolting of the +clanking caravan? + +Egypt, Arabia pass before your eyes. The impatient cursing of the camel +men comes to your ears. Your nostrils quiver in the acrid smoke of the +little fires of dung that flare in the darkness when the caravan halts. +The night has shut off prying eyes. Yashmaks are lowered. White flesh +gleams against burnished bands of gold. The children of Allah are at +home. + +And the promise he had given her?... let Joan Conquest, who knows and +loves the East, tell you in + ++DESERT LOVE+ + +_For sale wherever books are sold, or from_ + ++The Macaulay Company+ + ++PUBLISHERS+ + ++15-17 W. 38th St.+ +New York+ + + + +_+"I have owned a hundred women!"+_ he answered defiantly. + +The girl recoiled as from a blow. Was this man who paraded his conquests +before her the same one who had feasted so freely on her lips that +moonlit night in Grand Canary? + +She was his prisoner now. He had stolen her and brought her to his +stronghold in the desert. Her father was also a captive. Pansy Langham's +life had crashed in ruins about her. What good were her millions now? +The mask had been removed. Raoul Le-Breton was the Sultan Casim El +Ammeh!--a Mohammedan! + +And yet she wanted no man's kisses but his. Love for him consumed her, +but race and religion stood between them. + +Little did she guess that the Arab had foreseen this minute, that he had +trailed her father, Sir George for fifteen years. The Englishman, a +captain at the time, had killed his father. Casim El Ammeh had not +forgotten. Revenge was his at last! + +He had intended having his way with her and then selling her as a +slave--a fate more cruel than a white man could conceive. But love--an +emotion an Arab scoffs at--had come to thwart him. Was he to forego his +oath of an eye for an eye, or open the doors of his harem and seek +forgetfulness? + +_Read_ + ++A Son of the Sahara+ + ++By Louise Gerard+ + +Who gives you the real thrill of the Great Desert + +_For Sale wherever books are sold or from_ + ++THE MACAULAY COMPANY+ + ++PUBLISHERS+ + ++15-17 W. 38th Street+ +New York+ + + + ++FAMOUS NOVELS BY VICTORIA CROSS+ + ++LIFE'S SHOP WINDOW+ + +It tears the garments of conventionality from woman, presenting her as +she must appear to the Divine Eye. + ++HILDA AGAINST THE WORLD+ + +Fancy a married man, denied divorce by law, falling desperately in love +with a charming maiden waiting for love. + ++A GIRL OF THE KLONDIKE+ + +A stirring story of love, intrigue and adventure, woven about a proud, +reckless heroine. + ++SIX WOMEN+ + +A half-dozen of the most vivid love stories that ever lit up the dusk of +a tired civilization. + ++THE NIGHT OF TEMPTATION+ + +The self-sacrifice of woman in love. Regina, the heroine, gives herself +to a man for his own sake. The world, however, exacts a severe price for +her unconventional conduct. + ++SIX CHAPTERS OF A MAN'S LIFE+ + +A bold, brilliant, defiant presentation of the relations of men and +women who find themselves in situations never before conceived. + ++TO-MORROW+ + +A daring innovation of great strength and almost photographic intensity, +that appeals to the lovers of sensational fiction; wise, witty, yet +touchingly pathetic. + ++DAUGHTERS OF HEAVEN+ + +As life cannot be described, but must be lived, so this book cannot be +revealed--it must be read. Its daring situations and tense moments will +thrill you. + ++OVER LIFE'S EDGE+ + +No one but Victoria Cross could have written this thrilling tale of a +girl who left the gayeties of London to dwell in a lonely cavern until +the man, who loved her with the passion of impetuous youth, found her. + ++THE LIFE SENTENCE+ + +A beautifully written story, full of life, nature, passion and pathos. +The weaknesses of a proud, cultured woman lead to a strange climax. + ++THE MACAULAY COMPANY+ + ++15-17 West 38th Street+ +New York+ + ++Send for Free Illustrated Catalog+ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Beyond The Rocks, by Elinor Glyn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEYOND THE ROCKS *** + +***** This file should be named 16692.txt or 16692.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/9/16692/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Verity White and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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