initial commit of ebook 21968HEADmain

328 files changed, 29181 insertions, 0 deletions

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/21968-0.txt b/21968-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9d466b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5573 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Finer Grain, by Henry James
+
+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: The Finer Grain
+
+Author: Henry James
+
+Release Date: June 29, 2007 [EBook #21968]
+Last Updated: September 18, 2016
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FINER GRAIN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+THE FINER GRAIN
+
+By Henry James
+
+
+1910
+
+
+[Transcriber’s Note: After posting it was discovered that there were several
+missing pages from the section titled “Mora Montravers�.  This section has been
+removed and will be replaced as soon as possible.]
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+     The Velvet Glove
+
+     [Mora Montravers]
+
+     A Round of Visits
+
+     Crapy Cornelia
+
+     The Bench of Desolation
+
+
+
+
+
+
+“THE VELVET GLOVE�
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+HE thought he had already, poor John Berridge, tasted in their fulness
+the sweets of success; but nothing yet had been more charming to him
+than when the young Lord, as he irresistibly and, for greater certitude,
+quite correctly figured him, fairly sought out, in Paris, the new
+literary star that had begun to hang, with a fresh red light, over
+the vast, even though rather confused, Anglo-Saxon horizon; positively
+approaching that celebrity with a shy and artless appeal. The young Lord
+invoked on this occasion the celebrity’s prized judgment of a special
+literary case; and Berridge could take the whole manner of it for one of
+the “quaintest� little acts displayed to his amused eyes, up to now, on
+the stage of European society--albeit these eyes were quite aware, in
+general, of missing everywhere no more of the human scene than possible,
+and of having of late been particularly awake to the large extensions of
+it spread before him (since so he could but fondly read his fate) under
+the omen of his prodigious “hit.� It was because of his hit that he
+was having rare opportunities--of which he was so honestly and humbly
+proposing, as he would have said, to make the most: it was because every
+one in the world (so far had the thing gone) was reading “The Heart of
+Gold� as just a slightly too fat volume, or sitting out the same as just
+a fifth-act too long play, that he found himself floated on a tide he
+would scarce have dared to show his favourite hero sustained by, found
+a hundred agreeable and interesting things happen to him which were all,
+one way or another, affluents of the golden stream.
+
+The great renewed resonance--renewed by the incredible luck of the
+play--was always in his ears without so much as a conscious turn of his
+head to listen; so that the queer world of his fame was not the mere
+usual field of the Anglo-Saxon boom, but positively the bottom of the
+whole theatric sea, unplumbed source of the wave that had borne him
+in the course of a year or two over German, French, Italian, Russian,
+Scandinavian foot-lights. Paris itself really appeared for the hour the
+centre of his cyclone, with reports and “returns,� to say nothing of
+agents and emissaries, converging from the minor capitals; though his
+impatience was scarce the less keen to get back to London, where his
+work had had no such critical excoriation to survive, no such lesson of
+anguish to learn, as it had received at the hand of supreme authority,
+of that French authority which was in such a matter the only one to be
+artistically reckoned with. If his spirit indeed had had to reckon with
+it his fourth act practically hadn’t: it continued to make him blush
+every night for the public more even than the inimitable _feuilleton_
+had made him blush for himself.
+
+This had figured, however, after all, the one bad drop in his cup;
+so that, for the rest, his high-water mark might well have been, that
+evening at Gloriani’s studio, the approach of his odd and charming
+applicant, vaguely introduced at the latter’s very own request by their
+hostess, who, with an honest, helpless, genial gesture, washed her fat
+begemmed hands of the name and identity of either, but left the fresh,
+fair, ever so habitually assured, yet ever so easily awkward Englishman
+with his plea to put forth. There was that in this pleasant personage
+which could still make Berridge wonder what conception of profit from
+him might have, all incalculably, taken form in such a head--these being
+truly the last intrenchments of our hero’s modesty. He wondered,
+the splendid young man, he wondered awfully, he wondered (it was
+unmistakable) quite nervously, he wondered, to John’s ardent and acute
+imagination, quite beautifully, if the author of “The Heart of Gold�
+ would mind just looking at a book by a friend of his, a great friend,
+which he himself believed rather clever, and had in fact found very
+charming, but as to which--if it really wouldn’t bore Mr. Berridge--he
+should so like the verdict of some one who knew. His friend was awfully
+ambitious, and he thought there was something in it--with all of which
+might he send the book to any address?
+
+Berridge thought of many things while the young Lord thus charged upon
+him, and it was odd that no one of them was any question of the possible
+worth of the offered achievement--which, for that matter, was certain to
+be of the quality of _all_ the books, to say nothing of the plays, and
+the projects for plays, with which, for some time past, he had seen his
+daily post-bag distended. He had made out, on looking at these things,
+no difference at all from one to the other. Here, however, was something
+more--something that made his fellow-guest’s overture _independently_
+interesting and, as he might imagine, important. He smiled, he was
+friendly and vague; said “A work of fiction, I suppose?� and that he
+didn’t pretend ever to pronounce, that he in fact quite hated, always,
+to have to, not “knowing,� as he felt, any better than any one else; but
+would gladly look at anything, under that demur, if it would give any
+pleasure. Perhaps the very brightest and most diamond-like twinkle he
+had yet seen the star of his renown emit was just the light brought into
+his young Lord’s eyes by this so easy consent to oblige. It was easy
+because the presence before him was from moment to moment, referring
+itself back to some recent observation or memory; something caught
+somewhere, within a few weeks or months, as he had moved about, and that
+seemed to flutter forth at this stir of the folded leaves of his recent
+experience very much as a gathered, faded flower, placed there for
+“pressing,� might drop from between the pages of a volume opened at
+hazard.
+
+He had seen him before, this splendid and sympathetic person--whose
+flattering appeal was by no means _all_ that made him sympathetic;
+he had met him, had noted, had wondered about him, had in fact
+imaginatively, intellectually, so to speak, quite yearned over him, in
+some conjunction lately, though ever so fleet-ingly, apprehended: which
+circumstance constituted precisely an association as tormenting, for
+the few minutes, as it was vague, and set him to sounding, intensely
+and vainly, the face that itself figured everything agreeable except
+recognition. He couldn’t remember, and the young man didn’t; distinctly,
+yes, they had been in presence, during the previous winter, by some
+chance of travel, through Sicily, through Italy, through the south of
+France, but his _Seigneurie_--so Berridge liked exotically to phrase
+it--had then (in ignorance of the present reasons) not noticed _him_. It
+was positive for the man of established identity, all the while too,
+and through the perfect lucidity of his sense of achievement in an air
+“conducting� nothing but the loudest bang, that this was fundamentally
+much less remarkable than the fact of his being made up to in such a
+quarter now. That was the disservice, in a manner, of one’s having so
+much imagination: the mysterious values of other types kept looming
+larger before you than the doubtless often higher but comparatively
+familiar ones of your own, and if you had anything of the artist’s
+real feeling for life the attraction and amusement of possibilities so
+projected were worth more to you, in nineteen moods out of twenty, than
+the sufficiency, the serenity, the felicity, whatever it might be,
+of your stale personal certitudes. You were intellectually, you were
+“artistically� rather abject, in fine, if your curiosity (in the grand
+sense of the term) wasn’t worth more to you than your dignity. What was
+your dignity, “anyway,� but just the consistency of your curiosity, and
+what moments were ever so ignoble for you as, under the blighting breath
+of the false gods, stupid conventions, traditions, examples, your lapses
+from that consistency? His _Seigneurie_, at all events, delightfully,
+hadn’t the least real idea of what any John Berridge was talking about,
+and the latter felt that if he had been less beautifully witless, and
+thereby less true to his right figure, it might scarce have been
+forgiven him.
+
+His right figure was that of life in irreflective joy and at the highest
+thinkable level of prepared security and unconscious insolence. What was
+the pale page of fiction compared with the intimately personal adventure
+that, in almost any direction, he would have been all so stupidly,
+all so gallantly, all so instinctively and, by every presumption,
+so prevailingly ready for? Berridge would have given six months’
+“royalties� for even an hour of his looser dormant consciousness--since
+one was oneself, after all, no worm, but an heir of all the ages
+too--and yet without being able to supply chapter and verse for the
+felt, the huge difference. His _Seigneurie_ was tall and straight, but
+so, thank goodness, was the author of “The Heart of Gold,� who had no
+such vulgar “mug� either; and there was no intrinsic inferiority in
+being a bit inordinately, and so it might have seemed a bit strikingly,
+black-browed instead of being fair as the morning. Again while his new
+friend delivered himself our own tried in vain to place him; he
+indulged in plenty of pleasant, if rather restlessly headlong sound, the
+confessed incoherence of a happy mortal who had always many things “on,�
+ and who, while waiting at any moment for connections and consummations,
+had fallen into the way of talking, as they said, all artlessly, and
+a trifle more betrayingly, against time. He would always be having
+appointments, and somehow of a high “romantic� order, to keep, and the
+imperfect punctualities of others to wait for--though who would be of
+a quality to make such a pampered personage wait very much our young
+analyst could only enjoy asking himself. There were women who might be
+of a quality--half a dozen of those perhaps, of those alone, about the
+world; our friend was as sure of this, by the end of four minutes, as if
+he knew all about it.
+
+After saying he would send him the book the young Lord indeed dropped
+that subject; he had asked where he might send it, and had had an “Oh,
+I shall remember!� on John’s mention of an hotel; but he had made no
+further dash into literature, and it was ten to one that this would be
+the last the distinguished author might hear of the volume. Such again
+was a note of these high existences--that made one content to ask
+of them no whit of other consistency than that of carrying off the
+particular occasion, whatever it might be, in a dazzle of amiability
+and felicity and leaving _that_ as a sufficient trace of their passage.
+Sought and achieved consistency was but an angular, a secondary motion;
+compared with the air of complete freedom it might have an effect
+of deformity. There was no placing this figure of radiant ease, for
+Berridge, in any relation that didn’t appear not good enough--that is
+among the relations that hadn’t been too good for Berridge himself. He
+was all right where he was; the great Gloriani somehow made that law;
+his house, with his supreme artistic position, was good enough for any
+one, and to-night in especial there were charming people, more charming
+than our friend could recall from any other scene, as the natural
+train or circle, as he might say, of such a presence. For an instant he
+thought he had got the face as a specimen of imperturbability watched,
+with wonder, across the hushed rattle of roulette at Monte-Carlo; but
+this quickly became as improbable as any question of a vulgar
+_table d’hote_, or a steam-boat deck, or a herd of fellow-pilgrims
+cicerone-led, or even an opera-box serving, during a performance, for
+frame of a type observed from the stalls. One placed young gods and
+goddesses only when one placed them on Olympus, and it met the case,
+always, that they were of Olympian race, and that they glimmered
+for one, at the best, through their silver cloud, like the visiting
+apparitions in an epic.
+
+This was brief and beautiful indeed till something happened that gave
+it, for Berridge, on the spot, a prodigious extension--an extension
+really as prodigious, after a little, as if he had suddenly seen the
+silver clouds multiply and then the whole of Olympus presently open.
+Music, breaking upon the large air, enjoined immediate attention, and in
+a moment he was listening, with the rest of the company, to an eminent
+tenor, who stood by the piano; and was aware, with it, that his
+Englishman had turned away and that in the vast, rich, tapestried room
+where, in spite of figures and objects so numerous, clear spaces, wide
+vistas, and, as they might be called, becoming situations abounded,
+there had been from elsewhere, at the signal of unmistakable song, a
+rapid accession of guests. At first he but took this in, and the way
+that several young women, for whom seats had been found, looked charming
+in the rapt attitude; while even the men, mostly standing and grouped,
+“composed,� in their stillness, scarce less impressively, under the sway
+of the divine voice. It ruled the scene, to the last intensity, and yet
+our young man’s fine sense found still a resource in the range of the
+eyes, without sound or motion, while all the rest of consciousness was
+held down as by a hand mailed in silver. It was better, in this way,
+than the opera--John alertly thought of that: the composition sung might
+be Wagnerian, but no Tristram, no Iseult, no Parsifal and, no Kundry of
+them all could ever show, could ever “act� to the music, as our friend
+had thus the power of seeing his dear contemporaries of either sex
+(armoured _they_ so otherwise than in cheap Teutonic tinsel!) just
+continuously and inscrutably sit to it.
+
+It made, the whole thing together, an enchantment amid which he had in
+truth, at a given moment, ceased to distinguish parts--so that he was
+himself certainly at last soaring as high as the singer’s voice and
+forgetting, in a lost gaze at the splendid ceiling, everything of the
+occasion but what his intelligence poured into it. This, as happened,
+was a flight so sublime that by the time he had dropped his eyes again
+a cluster of persons near the main door had just parted to give way to a
+belated lady who slipped in, through the gap made for her, and stood for
+some minutes full in his view. It was a proof of the perfect hush that
+no one stirred to offer her a seat, and her entrance, in her high
+grace, had yet been so noiseless that she could remain at once immensely
+exposed and completely unabashed. For Berridge, once more, if the scenic
+show before him so melted into the music, here precisely might have
+been the heroine herself advancing to the foot-lights at her cue. The
+interest deepened to a thrill, and everything, at the touch of his
+recognition of this personage, absolutely the most beautiful woman now
+present, fell exquisitely together and gave him what he had been wanting
+from the moment of his taking in his young Englishman.
+
+It was there, the missing connection: her arrival had on the instant
+lighted it by a flash. Olympian herself, supremely, divinely Olympian,
+she had arrived, could _only_ have arrived, for the one person present
+of really equal race, our young man’s late converser, whose flattering
+demonstration might now stand for one of the odd extravagant forms taken
+by nervous impatience. This charming, this dazzling woman had been one
+member of the couple disturbed, to his intimate conviction, the autumn
+previous, on his being pushed by the officials, at the last moment,
+into a compartment of the train that was to take him from Cremona to
+Mantua--where, failing a stop, he had had to keep his place. The other
+member, by whose felt but unseized identity he had been haunted, was
+the unconsciously insolent form of guaranteed happiness he had just been
+engaged with. The sense of the admirable intimacy that, having taken
+its precautions, had not reckoned with his irruption--this image had
+remained with him; to say nothing of the interest of aspect of the
+associated figures, so stamped somehow with rarity, so beautifully
+distinct from the common occupants of padded corners, and yet on the
+subject of whom, for the romantic structure he was immediately to raise,
+he had not had a scrap of evidence.
+
+If he had imputed to them conditions it was all his own doing: it came
+from his inveterate habit of abysmal imputation, the snatching of the
+ell wherever the inch peeped out, without which where would have been
+the tolerability of life? It didn’t matter now what he had imputed--and
+he always held that his expenses of imputation were, at the worst, a
+compliment to those inspiring them. It only mattered that each of the
+pair had been then what he really saw each now--full, that is, of the
+pride of their youth and beauty and fortune and freedom, though at
+the same time particularly preoccupied: preoccupied, that is, with the
+affairs, and above all with the passions, of Olympus. Who had they been,
+and what? Whence had they come, whither were they bound, what tie united
+them, what adventure engaged, what felicity, tempered by what peril,
+magnificently, dramatically attended? These had been his questions, all
+so inevitable and so impertinent, at the time, and to the exclusion of
+any scruples over his not postulating an inane honeymoon, his not taking
+the “tie,� as he should doubtless properly have done, for the mere blest
+matrimonial; and he now retracted not one of them, flushing as they did
+before him again with their old momentary life. To feel his two friends
+renewedly in presence--friends of the fleeting hour though they had but
+been, and with whom he had exchanged no sign save the vaguest of salutes
+on finally relieving them of his company--was only to be conscious that
+he hadn’t, on the spot, done them, so to speak, half justice, and that,
+for his superior entertainment, there would be ever so much more of them
+to come.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+It might already have been coming indeed, with an immense stride, when,
+scarce more than ten minutes later, he was aware that the distinguished
+stranger had brought the Princess straight across the room to speak
+to him. He had failed in the interval of any glimpse of their closer
+meeting; for the great tenor had sung another song and then stopped,
+immediately on which Madame Gloriani had made his pulse quicken to a
+different, if not to a finer, throb by hovering before him once more
+with the man in the world he most admired, as it were, looking at him
+over her shoulder. The man in the world he most admired, the greatest
+then of contemporary Dramatists--and bearing, independently, the name
+inscribed if not in deepest incision at least in thickest gilding on the
+rich recreative roll--this prodigious personage was actually to suffer
+“presentation� to him at the good lady’s generous but ineffectual hands,
+and had in fact the next instant, left alone with him, bowed, in formal
+salutation, the massive, curly, witty head, so “romantic� yet so modern,
+so “artistic� and ironic yet somehow so civic, so Gallic yet somehow so
+cosmic, his personal vision of which had not hitherto transcended that
+of the possessor of a signed and framed photograph in a consecrated
+quarter of a writing-table.
+
+It was positive, however, that poor John was afterward to remember
+of this conjunction nothing whatever but the fact of the great man’s
+looking at him very hard, straight in the eyes, and of his not having
+himself scrupled to do as much, and with a confessed intensity of
+appetite. It was improbable, he was to recognise, that they had, for the
+few minutes, only stared and grimaced, like pitted boxers or wrestlers;
+but what had abode with him later on, none the less, was just the
+cherished memory of his not having so lost presence of mind as to fail
+of feeding on his impression. It was precious and precarious, that was
+perhaps all there would be of it; and his subsequent consciousness was
+quite to cherish this queer view of the silence, neither awkward nor
+empty nor harsh, but on the contrary quite charged and brimming, that
+represented for him his use, his unforgettable enjoyment in fact, of his
+opportunity. Had nothing passed in words? Well, no misery of murmured
+“homage,� thank goodness; though something must have been said,
+certainly, to lead up, as they put it at the theatre, to John’s having
+asked the head of the profession, before they separated, if he by chance
+knew who the so radiantly handsome young woman might be, the one who
+had so lately come in and who wore the pale yellow dress, of the strange
+tone, and the magnificent pearls. They must have separated soon, it was
+further to have been noted; since it was before the advance of the pair,
+their wonderful dazzling charge upon him, that he had distinctly seen
+the great man, at a distance again, block out from his sight the harmony
+of the faded gold and the pearls--to speak only of that--and plant
+himself there (the mere high Atlas-back of renown to Berridge now) as
+for communion with them. He had blocked everything out, to this tune,
+effectually; with nothing of the matter left for our friend meanwhile
+but that, as he had said, the beautiful lady was the Princess. What
+Princess, or the Princess of what?--our young man had afterward
+wondered; his companion’s reply having lost itself in the prelude of an
+outburst by another vocalist who had approached the piano.
+
+It was after these things that she so incredibly came to him, attended
+by her adorer--since he took it for absolute that the young Lord was her
+adorer, as who indeed mightn’t be?--and scarce waiting, in her bright
+simplicity, for any form of introduction. It may thus be said in a word
+that this was the manner in which she made our hero’s acquaintance, a
+satisfaction that she on the spot described to him as really wanting of
+late to her felicity. “I’ve read everything, you know, and ‘The Heart of
+Gold’ three times�: she put it all immediately on that ground, while the
+young Lord now smiled, beside her, as if it were quite the sort of thing
+he had done too; and while, further, the author of the work yielded to
+the consciousness that whereas in general he had come at last scarce to
+be able to bear the iteration of those words, which affected him as
+a mere vain vocal convulsion, so not a breath of this association now
+attended them, so such a person as the Princess could make of them what
+she would.
+
+Unless it was to be really what _he_ would!--this occurred to him in the
+very thick of the prodigy, no single shade of possibility of which
+was less prodigious than any other. It was a declaration, simply, the
+admirable young woman was treating him to, a profession of “artistic
+sympathy�--for she was in a moment to use this very term that made for
+them a large, clear, common ether, an element all uplifted and rare, of
+which they could equally partake.
+
+If she was Olympian--as in her rich and regular young beauty, that of
+some divine Greek mask over-painted say by Titian, she more and more
+appeared to him--this offered air was that of the gods themselves:
+she might have been, with her long rustle across the room, Artemis
+decorated, hung with pearls, for her worshippers, yet disconcerting them
+by having, under an impulse just faintly fierce, snatched the cup of
+gold from Hebe. It was to him, John Berridge, she thus publicly offered
+it; and it was his over-topping _confrere_ of shortly before who was the
+worshipper most disconcerted. John had happened to catch, even at its
+distance, after these friends had joined him, the momentary deep,
+grave estimate, in the great Dramatist’s salient watching eyes, of the
+Princess’s so singular performance: the touch perhaps this, in the whole
+business, that made Berridge’s sense of it most sharp. The sense of it
+as _prodigy_ didn’t in the least entail his feeling abject--any more,
+that is, than in the due dazzled degree; for surely there would have
+been supreme wonder in the eagerness of her exchange of mature glory for
+thin notoriety, hadn’t it still exceeded everything that an Olympian of
+such race should have found herself bothered, as they said, to “read� at
+all--and most of all to read three times!
+
+With the turn the matter took as an effect of this meeting, Berridge was
+more than once to find himself almost ashamed for her--since it seemed
+never to occur to her to be so for herself: he was jealous of the
+type where she might have been taken as insolently careless of it;
+his advantage (unless indeed it had been his ruin) being that he could
+inordinately reflect upon it, could wander off thereby into kinds of
+licence of which she was incapable. He hadn’t, for himself, waited till
+now to be sure of what he would do were _he_ an Olympian: he would leave
+his own stuff snugly unread, to begin with; that would be a beautiful
+start for an Olympian career. He should have been as unable to write
+those works in short as to make anything else of them; and he
+should have had no more arithmetic for computing fingers than any
+perfect-headed marble Apollo mutilated at the wrists. He should have
+consented to know but the grand personal adventure on the grand
+personal basis: nothing short of this, no poor cognisance of confusable,
+pettifogging things, the sphere of earth-grubbing questions and
+two-penny issues, would begin to be, on any side, Olympian enough.
+
+Even the great Dramatist, with his tempered and tested steel and his
+immense “assured� position, even he was not Olympian: the look, full of
+the torment of earth, with which he had seen the Princess turn her back,
+and for such a purpose, on the prized privilege of his notice, testified
+sufficiently to that. Still, comparatively, it was to be said, the
+question of a personal relation with an authority so eminent on the
+subject of the passions--to say nothing of the rest of his charm--might
+have had for an ardent young woman (and the Princess was unmistakably
+ardent) the absolute attraction of romance: unless, again, prodigy of
+prodigies, she were looking for her romance very particularly elsewhere.
+Yet where could she have been looking for it, Berridge was to ask
+himself with private intensity, in a manner to leave her so at her ease
+for appearing to offer _him_ everything?--so free to be quite divinely
+gentle with him, to hover there before him in all her mild, bright,
+smooth sublimity and to say: “I should be so very grateful if you’d come
+to see me.�
+
+There succeeded this a space of time of which he was afterward to lose
+all account, was never to recover the history; his only coherent view
+of it being that an interruption, some incident that kept them a while
+separate, had then taken place, yet that during their separation, of
+half an hour or whatever, they had still somehow not lost sight of each
+other, but had found their eyes meeting, in deep communion, all across
+the great peopled room; meeting and wanting to meet, wanting--it was the
+most extraordinary thing in the world for the suppression of stages, for
+confessed precipitate intensity--to use together every instant of the
+hour that might be left them. Yet to use it for what?--unless, like
+beautiful fabulous figures in some old-world legend, for the frankest
+and almost the crudest avowal of the impression they had made on each
+other. He couldn’t have named, later on, any other person she had during
+this space been engaged with, any more than he was to remember in the
+least what he had himself ostensibly done, who had spoken to him, whom
+he had spoken to, or whether he hadn’t just stood and publicly gaped or
+languished.
+
+Ah, Olympians were unconventional indeed--that was a part of their
+high bravery and privilege; but what it also appeared to attest in this
+wondrous manner was that they could communicate to their chosen in three
+minutes, by the mere light of their eyes, the same shining cynicism. He
+was to wonder of course, tinglingly enough, whether he had really made
+an ass of himself, and there was this amount of evidence for it that
+there certainly _had_ been a series of moments each one of which glowed
+with the lucid sense that, as she couldn’t like him as much as _that_
+either for his acted clap-trap or for his printed verbiage, what it must
+come to was that she liked him, and to such a tune, just for himself
+and quite after no other fashion than that in which every goddess in
+the calendar had, when you came to look, sooner or later liked some
+prepossessing young shepherd. The question would thus have been, for
+him, with a still sharper eventual ache, of whether he positively _had_,
+as an effect of the miracle, been petrified, before fifty pair of eyes,
+to the posture of a prepossessing shepherd--and would perhaps have left
+him under the shadow of some such imputable fatuity if his consciousness
+hadn’t, at a given moment, cleared up to still stranger things.
+
+The agent of the change was, as quite congruously happened, none other
+than the shining youth whom he now seemed to himself to have been
+thinking of for ever so long, for a much longer time than he had ever in
+his life spent at an evening party, as the young Lord: which personage
+suddenly stood before him again, holding him up an odd object and
+smiling, as if in reference to it, with a gladness that at once struck
+our friend as almost too absurd for belief. The object was incongruous
+by reason of its being, to a second and less preoccupied glance, a book;
+and what had befallen Berridge within twenty minutes was that they--the
+Princess and he, that is--had got such millions of miles, or at least
+such thousands of years, away from _those_ platitudes. The book, he
+found himself assuming, could only be _his_ book (it seemed also to have
+a tawdry red cover); and there came to him memories, dreadfully false
+notes sounded so straight again by his new acquaintance, of certain
+altogether different persons who at certain altogether different parties
+had flourished volumes before him very much with that insinuating
+gesture, that arch expression, and that fell intention. The meaning of
+these things--of all possible breaks of the charm at such an hour!--was
+that he should “signature� the ugly thing, and with a characteristic
+quotation or sentiment: that was the way people simpered and squirmed,
+the way they mouthed and beckoned, when animated by such purposes; and
+it already, on the spot, almost broke his heart to see such a type as
+that of the young Lord brought, by the vulgarest of fashions, so low.
+This state of quick displeasure in Berridge, however, was founded on a
+deeper question--the question of how in the world he was to remain for
+himself a prepossessing shepherd if he should consent to come back to
+these base actualities. It was true that even while this wonderment held
+him, his aggressor’s perfect good conscience had placed the matter in a
+slightly different light.
+
+“By an extraordinary chance I’ve found a copy of my friend’s novel on
+one of the tables here--I see by the inscription that she has presented
+it to Gloriani. So if you’d like to glance at it--!� And the young Lord,
+in the pride of his association with the eminent thing, held it out to
+Berridge as artlessly as if it had been a striking natural specimen
+of some sort, a rosy round apple grown in his own orchard, or an
+exceptional precious stone, to be admired for its weight and lustre.
+Berridge accepted the offer mechanically--relieved at the prompt fading
+of his worst fear, yet feeling in himself a tell-tale facial blankness
+for the still absolutely anomalous character of his friend’s appeal. He
+was even tempted for a moment to lay the volume down without looking at
+it--only with some extemporised promise to borrow it of their host and
+take it home, to give himself to it at an easier moment. Then the very
+expression of his fellow-guests own countenance determined in him a
+different and a still more dreadful view; in fact an immediate collapse
+of the dream in which he had for the splendid previous space of time
+been living. The young Lord himself, in his radiant costly barbarism,
+figured far better than John Berridge could do the prepossessing
+shepherd, the beautiful mythological mortal “distinguished� by a
+goddess; for our hero now saw that his whole manner of dealing with
+his ridiculous tribute was marked exactly by the grand simplicity, the
+prehistoric good faith, as one might call it, of far-off romantic and
+“plastic� creatures, figures of exquisite Arcadian stamp, glorified
+rustics like those of the train of peasants in “A Winter’s Tale,� who
+thought nothing of such treasure-trove, on a Claude Lorrain sea-strand,
+as a royal infant wrapped in purple: something in that fabulous style of
+exhibition appearing exactly what his present demonstration might have
+been prompted by. “The Top of the Tree, by Amy Evans�--scarce credible
+words floating before Berridge after he had with an anguish of effort
+dropped his eyes on the importunate title-page--represented an object
+as alien to the careless grace of goddess-haunted Arcady as a washed-up
+“kodak� from a wrecked ship might have been to the appreciation of some
+islander of wholly unvisited seas. Nothing could have been more in the
+tone of an islander deplorably diverted from his native interests and
+dignities than the glibness with which John’s own child of nature went
+on. “It’s her pen-name, Amy Evans�--he couldn’t have said it otherwise
+had he been a blue-chinned penny-a-liner; yet marking it with a
+disconnectedness of intelligence that kept up all the poetry of his own
+situation and only crashed into that of other persons. The reference put
+the author of “The Heart of Gold� quite into _his_ place, but left the
+speaker absolutely free of Arcady. “Thanks awfully�--Berridge somehow
+clutched at that, to keep everything from swimming. “Yes, I should like
+to look at it,� he managed, horribly grimacing now, he believed, to say;
+and there was in fact a strange short interlude after this in which he
+scarce knew what had become of any one or of anything; in which he only
+seemed to himself to stand alone in a desolate place where even its
+desolation didn’t save him from having to stare at the greyest of
+printed pages. Nothing here helped anything else, since the stamped
+greyness didn’t even in itself make it impossible his eyes should follow
+such sentences as: “The loveliness of the face, which was that of the
+glorious period in which Pheidias reigned supreme, and which owed its
+most exquisite note to that shell-like curl of the upper lip which
+always somehow recalls for us the smile with which windblown Astarte
+must have risen from the salt sea to which she owed her birth and her
+terrible moods; or it was too much for all the passionate woman in her,
+and she let herself go, over the flowering land that had been, but was
+no longer their love, with an effect of blighting desolation that might
+have proceeded from one of the more physical, though not more awful,
+convulsions of nature.�
+
+He seemed to know later on that other and much more natural things
+had occurred; as that, for instance, with now at last a definite
+intermission of the rare music that for a long time past, save at the
+briefest intervals, had kept all participants ostensibly attentive
+and motionless, and that in spite of its high quality and the supposed
+privilege of listening to it he had allowed himself not to catch a note
+of, there was a great rustling and shifting and vociferous drop to a
+lower plane, more marked still with the quick clearance of a way to
+supper and a lively dispersal of most of the guests. Hadn’t he made out,
+through the queer glare of appearances, though they yet somehow all came
+to him as confused and unreal, that the Princess was no longer
+there, wasn’t even only crowded out of his range by the immediate
+multiplication of her court, the obsequious court that the change
+of pitch had at once permitted to close round her; that Gloriani had
+offered her his arm, in a gallant official way, as to the greatest lady
+present, and that he was left with half a dozen persons more knowing
+than the others, who had promptly taken, singly or in couples, to a
+closer inspection of the fine small scattered treasures of the studio?
+
+He himself stood there, rueful and stricken, nursing a silly red-bound
+book under his arm very much as if he might have been holding on tight
+to an upright stake, or to the nearest piece of furniture, during some
+impression of a sharp earthquake-shock or of an attack of dyspeptic
+dizziness; albeit indeed that he wasn’t conscious of this absurd, this
+instinctive nervous clutch till the thing that was to be more wonderful
+than any yet suddenly flared up for him--the sight of the Princess again
+on the threshold of the room, poised there an instant, in her
+exquisite grace, for recovery of some one or of something, and then, at
+recognition of him, coming straight to him across the empty place as if
+he alone, and nobody and nothing else, were what she incredibly wanted.
+She was there, she was radiantly _at_ him, as if she had known and loved
+him for ten years--ten years during which, however, she had never quite
+been able, in spite of undiscouraged attempts, to cure him, as goddesses
+_had_ to cure shepherds, of his mere mortal shyness.
+
+“Ah no, not _that_ one!� she said at once, with her divine familiarity;
+for she had in the flash of an eye “spotted� the particular literary
+production he seemed so very fondly to have possessed himself of and
+against which all the Amy Evans in her, as she would doubtless have put
+it, clearly wished on the spot to discriminate. She pulled it away from
+him; he let it go; he scarce knew what was happening--only made out that
+she distinguished the right one, the one that should have been shown
+him, as blue or green or purple, and intimated that her other friend,
+her fellow-Olympian, as Berridge had thought of him from the
+first, really did too clumsily bungle matters, poor dear, with his
+officiousness over the red one! She went on really as if she had come
+for that, some such rectification, some such eagerness of reunion with
+dear Mr. Berridge, some talk, after all the tiresome music, of questions
+really urgent; while, thanks to the supreme strangeness of it, the high
+tide of golden fable floated him afresh, and her pretext and her plea,
+the queerness of her offered motive, melted away after the fashion of
+the enveloping clouds that do their office in epics and idylls. “You
+didn’t perhaps know I’m Amy Evans,� she smiled, “or even perhaps that
+I write in English--which I love, I assure you, as much as you can
+yourself do, and which gives one (doesn’t it? for who should know if
+not you?) the biggest of publics. I ‘just love’--don’t they say?--your
+American millions; and all the more that they really _take_ me for Amy
+Evans, as I’ve just wanted to be taken, to be loved too for myself,
+don’t you know?--that they haven’t seemed to try at all to ‘go behind’
+(don’t you say?) my poor dear little _nom de guerre_. But it’s the new
+one, my last, ‘The Velvet Glove,’ that I should like you to judge me
+by--if such a _corvee_ isn’t too horrible for you to think of; though
+I admit it’s a move straight in the romantic direction--since after
+all (for I might as well make a clean breast of it) it’s dear old
+discredited romance that I’m most in sympathy with. I’ll send you ‘The
+Velvet Glove’ to-morrow, if you _can_ find half an hour for it; and
+then--and _then_--!� She paused as for the positive bright glory of her
+meaning.
+
+It could only be so extraordinary, her meaning, whatever it was,
+that the need in him that would--whatever it was again!--meet it most
+absolutely formed the syllables on his lips as: “Will you be very,
+_very_ kind to me?�
+
+“Ah ‘kind,’ dear Mr. Berridge? ‘Kind,’� she splendidly laughed, “is
+nothing to what--!� But she pulled herself up again an instant. “Well,
+to what I want to be! Just _see_,� she said, “how I want to be!� It
+was exactly, he felt, what he couldn’t _but_ see--in spite of books and
+publics and pen-names, in spite of the really “decadent� perversity,
+recalling that of the most irresponsibly insolent of the old Romans
+and Byzantines, that could lead a creature so formed for living and
+breathing her Romance, and so committed, up to the eyes, to the constant
+fact of her personal immersion in it and genius for it, the dreadful
+amateurish dance of ungrammatically scribbling it, with editions and
+advertisements and reviews and royalties and every other futile item:
+since what was more of the deep essence of throbbing intercourse itself
+than this very act of her having broken away from people, in the other
+room, to whom he was as nought, of her having, with her _crânerie_ of
+audacity and indifference, just turned her back on them all as soon as
+she had begun to miss him? What was more of it than her having forbidden
+them, by a sufficient curt ring of her own supremely silver tone, to
+attempt to check or criticise her freedom, than her having looked him
+up, at his distance, under all the noses he had put out of joint, so as
+to let them think whatever they might--not of herself (much she troubled
+to care!) but of the new champion to be reckoned with, the invincible
+young lion of the day? What was more of it in short than her having
+perhaps even positively snubbed for him the great mystified Sculptor and
+the great bewildered Dramatist, treated to this queer experience for the
+first time of their lives?
+
+It all came back again to the really great ease of really great ladies,
+and to the perfect facility of everything when once they were great
+enough. _That_ might become the delicious thing to him, he more and more
+felt, as soon as it should be supremely attested; it was ground he had
+ventured on, scenically, representation-ally, in the artistic sphere,
+but without ever dreaming he should “realise� it thus in the social.
+Handsomely, gallantly just now, moreover, he didn’t so much as let it
+occur to him that the social experience would perhaps on some future
+occasion richly profit further scenic efforts; he only lost himself in
+the consciousness of all she invited him to believe. It took licence,
+this consciousness, the next moment, for a tremendous further throb,
+from what she had gone on to say to him in so many words--though indeed
+the words were nothing and it was all a matter but of the implication
+that glimmered through them: “Do you _want_ very much your supper here?�
+ And then while he felt himself glare, for charmed response, almost to
+the point of his tears rising with it: “Because if you don’t----!�
+
+“Because if I don’t--?� She had paused, not from the faintest shade of
+timidity, but clearly for the pleasure of making him press.
+
+“Why shouldn’t we go together, letting me drive you home?�
+
+“You’ll come home with me?� gasped John Berridge while the perspiration
+on his brow might have been the morning dew on a high lawn of Mount Ida.
+
+“No--you had better come with _me_. That’s what I mean; but I certainly
+will come to you with pleasure some time if you’ll let me.�
+
+She made no more than that of the most fatuous of freedoms, as he felt
+directly he had spoken that it might have seemed to her; and before
+he had even time to welcome the relief of not having then himself, for
+beastly contrition, to make more of it, she had simply mentioned, with
+her affectionate ease, that she wanted to get away, that of the bores
+there she might easily, after a little, have too much, and that if he’d
+but say the word they’d nip straight out together by an independent door
+and be sure to find her motor in the court. What word he had found to
+say, he was afterward to reflect, must have little enough mattered;
+for he was to have kept, of what then occurred, but a single other
+impression, that of her great fragrant rustle beside him over the rest
+of the ample room and toward their nearest and friendliest resource, the
+door by which he had come in and which gave directly upon a staircase.
+This independent image was just that of the only other of his
+fellow-guests with whom he had been closely concerned; he had thought
+of him rather indeed, up to that moment, as the Princess’s
+fellow-Olympian--but a new momentary vision of him seemed now to qualify
+it.
+
+The young Lord had reappeared within a minute on the threshold, that
+of the passage from the supper-room, lately crossed by the Princess
+herself, and Berridge felt him there, saw him there, wondered about him
+there, all, for the first minute, without so much as a straight look
+at him. He would have come to learn the reason of his friend’s
+extraordinary public demonstration--having more right to his curiosity,
+or his anxiety or whatever, than any one else; he would be taking in
+the remarkable appearances that thus completed it, and would perhaps be
+showing quite a different face for them, at the point they had reached,
+than any that would have hitherto consorted with the beautiful security
+of his own position. So much, on our own young man’s part, for this
+first flush of a presumption that he might have stirred the germs of ire
+in a celestial breast; so much for the moment during which nothing
+would have induced him to betray, to a possibly rueful member of an
+old aristocracy, a vulgar elation or a tickled, unaccustomed glee. His
+inevitable second thought was, however, it has to be confessed, another
+matter, which took a different turn--for, frankly, all the conscious
+conqueror in him, as Amy Evans would again have said, couldn’t forego a
+probably supreme consecration. He treated himself to no prolonged reach
+of vision, but there was something he nevertheless fully measured for
+five seconds--the sharp truth of the fact, namely, of how the interested
+observer in the doorway must really have felt about him. Rather
+disconcertingly, hereupon, the sharp truth proved to be that the most
+amused, quite the most encouraging and the least invidious of smiles
+graced the young Lord’s handsome countenance--forming, in short, his
+final contribution to a display of high social candour unprecedented in
+our hero’s experience. No, he wasn’t jealous, didn’t do John Berridge
+the honour to be, to the extent of the least glimmer of a spark of it,
+but was so happy to see his immortal mistress do what she liked that he
+could positively beam at the odd circumstance of her almost lavishing
+public caresses on a gentleman not, after all, of negligible importance.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+Well, it was all confounding enough, but this indication in particular
+would have jostled our friend’s grasp of the presented cup had he
+had, during the next ten minutes, more independence of thought. That,
+however, was out of the question when one positively felt, as with a
+pang somewhere deep within, or even with a smothered cry for alarm,
+one’s whole sense of proportion shattered at a blow and ceasing to
+serve. “Not _straight_, and not too fast, shall we?� was the ineffable
+young woman’s appeal to him, a few minutes later, beneath the wide glass
+porch-cover that sheltered their brief wait for their chariot of fire.
+It was there even as she spoke; the capped charioteer, with a great
+clean curve, drew up at the steps of the porch, and the Princess’s
+footman, before rejoining him in front, held open the door of the car.
+She got in, and Berridge was the next instant beside her; he could only
+say: “As you like, Princess--where you will; certainly let us prolong
+it; let us prolong everything; don’t let us have it over--strange and
+beautiful as it can only be!--a moment sooner than we must.� So
+he spoke, in the security of their intimate English, while the
+perpendicular imperturbable _valet-de-pied_, white-faced in the electric
+light, closed them in and then took his place on the box where the rigid
+liveried backs of the two men, presented through the glass, were like a
+protecting wall; such a guarantee of privacy as might come--it occurred
+to Berridge’s inexpugnable fancy--from a vision of tall guards erect
+round Eastern seraglios.
+
+His companion had said something, by the time they started, about their
+taking a turn, their looking out for a few of the night-views of Paris
+that were so wonderful; and after that, in spite of his constantly
+prized sense of knowing his enchanted city and his way about, he ceased
+to follow or measure their course, content as he was with the particular
+exquisite assurance it gave him. _That_ was knowing Paris, of a wondrous
+bland April night; that was hanging over it from vague consecrated
+lamp-studded heights and taking in, spread below and afar, the great
+scroll of all its irresistible story, pricked out, across river and
+bridge and radiant _place_, and along quays and boulevards and avenues,
+and around monumental circles and squares, in syllables of fire, and
+sketched and summarised, further and further, in the dim fire-dust of
+endless avenues; that was all of the essence of fond and thrilled and
+throbbing recognition, with a thousand things understood and a flood of
+response conveyed, a whole familiar possessive feeling appealed to and
+attested.
+
+“From you, you know, it _would_ be such a pleasure, and I think--in fact
+I’m sure--it would do so much for the thing in America.� Had she gone
+on as they went, or had there been pauses of easy and of charmed and
+of natural silence, breaks and drops from talk, but only into greater
+confidence and sweetness?--such as her very gesture now seemed a part
+of; her laying her gloved hand, for emphasis, on the back of his own,
+which rested on his knee and which took in from the act he scarce knew
+what melting assurance. The emphasis, it was true--this came to him even
+while for a minute he held his breath--seemed rather that of Amy Evans;
+and if her talk, while they rolled, had been in the sense of these words
+(he had really but felt that they were shut intimately in together, all
+his consciousness, all his discrimination of meanings and indications
+being so deeply and so exquisitely merged in that) the case wasn’t as
+surely and sublimely, as extravagantly, as fabulously romantic for him
+as his excited pulses had been seeming to certify. Her hand was there on
+his own, in precious living proof, and splendid Paris hung over them,
+as a consecrating canopy, her purple night embroidered with gold; yet he
+waited, something stranger still having glimmered for him, waited though
+she left her hand, which expressed emphasis and homage and tenderness,
+and anything else she liked indeed--since it was all then a matter of
+what he next heard and what he slowly grew cold as he took from her.
+
+“You know they do it here so charmingly--it’s a compliment a clever man
+is always so glad to pay a literary friend, and sometimes, in the case
+of a great name like yours, it renders such a service to a poor little
+book like mine!� She spoke ever so humbly and yet ever so gaily--and
+still more than before with this confidence of the sincere admirer and
+the comrade. That, yes, through his sudden sharpening chill, was
+what first became distinct for him; she was mentioning somehow her
+explanation and her conditions--her motive, in fine, disconcerting,
+deplorable, dreadful, in respect to the experience, otherwise so
+boundless, that he had taken her as having opened to him; and she
+was doing it, above all, with the clearest coolness of her general
+privilege. What in particular she was talking about he as yet, still
+holding his breath, wondered; it was something she wanted him to do for
+her--which was exactly what he had hoped, but something of what trivial
+and, heaven forgive them both, of what dismal order? Most of all,
+meanwhile, he felt the dire penetration of two or three of the words
+she had used; so that after a painful minute the quaver with which he
+repeated them resembled his-drawing, slowly, carefully, timidly, some
+barbed dart out of his flesh.
+
+“A ‘literary friend’?� he echoed as he turned his face more to her; so
+that, as they sat, the whites of her eyes, near to his own, gleamed in
+the dusk like some silver setting of deep sapphires.
+
+It made her smile--which in their relation now was like the breaking
+of a cool air-wave over the conscious sore flush that maintained itself
+through his general chill. “Ah, of course you don’t allow that I
+_am_ literary--and of course if you’re awfully cruel and critical and
+incorruptible you won’t let it say for me what I so want it should!�
+
+“Where are we, where, in the name of all that’s damnably, of all that’s
+grotesquely delusive, are we?� he said, without a sign, to himself;
+which was the form of his really being quite at sea as to what she was
+talking about. That uncertainty indeed he could but frankly betray by
+taking her up, as he cast about him, on the particular ambiguity that
+his voice perhaps already showed him to find most irritating. “Let it
+show? ‘It,’ dear Princess----?�
+
+“Why, my dear man, let your Preface show, the lovely, friendly,
+irresistible log-rolling Preface that I’ve been asking you if you
+wouldn’t be an angel and write for me.�
+
+He took it in with a deep long gulp--he had never, it seemed to him,
+had to swallow anything so bitter. “You’ve been asking me if I wouldn’t
+write you a Preface?�
+
+“To ‘The Velvet Glove’--after I’ve sent it to you and you’ve judged
+if you really can. Of course I don’t want you to perjure yourself;
+but�--and she fairly brushed him again, at their close quarters, with
+her fresh fragrant smile--“I do want you so to like me, and to say it
+all out beautifully and publicly.� “You want me to like you, Princess?�
+ “But, heaven help us, haven’t you understood?� Nothing stranger could
+conceivably have been, it struck him--if he was right now--than this
+exquisite intimacy of her manner of setting him down on the other side
+of an abyss. It was as if she had lifted him first in her beautiful
+arms, had raised him up high, high, high, to do it, pressing him to
+her immortal young breast while he let himself go, and then, by some
+extraordinary effect of her native force and her alien quality, setting
+him down exactly where she wanted him to be--which was a thousand miles
+away from her. Once more, so preposterously face to face with her for
+these base issues, he took it all in; after which he felt his eyes
+close, for amazement, despair and shame, and his head, which he had some
+time before, baring his brow to the mild night, eased of its crush-hat,
+sink to confounded rest on the upholstered back of the seat. The act,
+the ceasing to see, and if possible to hear, was for the moment a
+retreat, an escape from a state that he felt himself fairly flatter
+by thinking of it as “awkward�; the state of really wishing that his
+humiliation might end, and of wondering in fact if the most decent
+course open to him mightn’t be to ask her to stop the motor and let him
+down.
+
+He spoke no word for a long minute, or for considerably more than that;
+during which time the motor went and went, now even somewhat faster,
+and he knew, through his closed eyes, that the outer lights had begun to
+multiply and that they were getting back somewhere into the spacious and
+decorative quarters. He knew this, and also that his retreat, for all
+his attitude as of accommodating thought, his air--_that_ presently
+and quickly came to him--of having perhaps gathered himself in, for
+an instant, at her behest, to turn over, in his high ingenuity, some
+humbugging “rotten� phrase or formula that he might place at her service
+and make the note of such an effort; he became aware, I say, that
+his lapse was but a half-retreat, with her strenuous presence and
+her earnest pressure and the close cool respiration of her good faith
+absolutely timing the moments of his stillness and the progress of the
+car. Yes, it was wondrous well, he had all but made the biggest of
+all fools of himself, almost as big a one as _she_ was still, to every
+appearance, in her perfect serenity, trying to make of him; and the one
+straight answer to it _would_ be that he should reach forward and touch
+the footman’s shoulder and demand that the vehicle itself should make an
+end.
+
+That would be an answer, however, he continued intensely to see, only to
+inanely importunate, to utterly superfluous Amy Evans--not a bit to his
+at last exquisitely patient companion, who was clearly now quite taking
+it from him that what kept him in his attitude was the spring of the
+quick desire to oblige her, the charming loyal impulse to consider a
+little what he could do for her, say “handsomely yet conscientiously�
+ (oh the loveliness!) before he should commit himself. She was
+enchanted--_that_ seemed to breathe upon him; she waited, she hung
+there, she quite bent over him, as Diana over the sleeping Endymion,
+while all the conscientious man of letters in him, as she might so
+supremely have phrased it, struggled with the more peccable, the more
+muddled and “squared,� though, for her own ideal, the so much more
+_banal_ comrade. Yes, he could keep it up now--that is he could hold out
+for his real reply, could meet the rather marked tension of the rest of
+their passage as well as she; he should be able somehow or other to
+make his wordless detachment, the tribute of his ostensibly deep
+consideration of her request, a retreat in good order. She _was_, for
+herself, to the last point of her guileless fatuity, Amy Evans and an
+asker for “lifts,� a conceiver of twaddle both in herself and in him;
+or at least, so far as she fell short of all this platitude, it was
+no fault of the really affecting folly of her attempt to become a
+mere magazine mortal after the only fashion she had made out, to the
+intensification of her self-complacency, that she might.
+
+Nothing might thus have touched him more--if to be touched, beyond a
+certain point, hadn’t been to be squared--than the way she failed to
+divine the bearing of his thoughts; so that she had probably at no one
+small crisis of her life felt so much a promise in the flutter of her
+own as on the occasion of the beautiful act she indulged in at the very
+moment, he was afterward to recognise, of their sweeping into her
+great smooth, empty, costly street--a desert, at that hour, of lavish
+lamplight and sculptured stone. She raised to her lips the hand she
+had never yet released and kept it there a moment pressed close against
+them; he himself closing his eyes to the deepest detachment he was
+capable of while he took in with a smothered sound of pain that this
+was the conferred bounty by which Amy Evans sought most expressively to
+encourage, to sustain and to reward. The motor had slackened and in a
+moment would stop; and meanwhile even after lowering his hand again
+she hadn’t let it go. This enabled it, while he after a further moment
+roused himself to a more confessed consciousness, to form with his
+friend’s a more active relation, to possess him of hers, in turn, and
+with an intention the straighter that her glove had by this time somehow
+come off. Bending over it without hinderance, he returned as firmly
+and fully as the application of all his recovered wholeness of feeling,
+under his moustache, might express, the consecration the bareness of
+his own knuckles had received; only after which it was that, still thus
+drawing out his grasp of her, and having let down their front glass by
+his free hand, he signified to the footman his view of their stopping
+short.
+
+They had arrived; the high, closed _porte-cochere_, in its crested
+stretch of wall, awaited their approach; but his gesture took effect,
+the car pulled up at the edge of the pavement, the man, in an instant,
+was at the door and had opened it; quickly moving across the walk, the
+next moment, to press the bell at the gate. Berridge, as his hand now
+broke away, felt he had cut his cable; with which, after he had stepped
+out, he raised again the glass he had lowered and closed, its own being
+already down, the door that had released him. During these motions he
+had the sense of his companion, still radiant and splendid, but somehow
+momentarily suppressed, suspended, silvered over and celestially
+blurred, even as a summer moon by the loose veil of a cloud. So it was
+he saw her while he leaned for farewell on the open window-ledge; he
+took her in as her visible intensity of bright vagueness filled the
+circle that the interior of the car made for her. It was such a state as
+she would have been reduced to--he felt this, was certain of it--for the
+first time in her life; and it was he, poor John Berridge, after all,
+who would have created the condition.
+
+“Good-night, Princess. I sha’n’t see you again.�
+
+Vague was indeed no word for it--shine though she might, in her screened
+narrow niche, as with the liquefaction of her pearls, the glimmer of her
+tears, the freshness of her surprise. “You won’t come in--when you’ve
+had no supper?�
+
+He smiled at her with a purpose of kindness that could never in his life
+have been greater; and at first but smiled without a word. He presently
+shook his head, however--doubtless also with as great a sadness. “I seem
+to have supped to my fill, Princess. Thank you, I won’t come in.�
+
+It drew from her, while she looked at him, a long low anxious wail. “And
+you won’t do my Preface?�
+
+“No, Princess, I won’t do your Preface. Nothing would induce me to say
+a word in print about you. I’m in fact not sure I shall ever mention you
+in any manner at all as long as ever I live.�
+
+He had felt for an instant as if he were speaking to some miraculously
+humanised idol, all sacred, all jewelled, all votively hung about, but
+made mysterious, in the recess of its shrine, by the very thickness
+of the accumulated lustre. And “Then you don’t like me--?� was the
+marvellous sound from the image.
+
+“Princess,� was in response the sound of the worshipper, “Princess, I
+adore you. But I’m ashamed for you.�
+
+“Ashamed----?�
+
+“You _are_ Romance--as everything, and by what I make out every one,
+about you is; so what more do you want? Your Preface--the only one worth
+speaking of--was written long ages ago by the most beautiful imagination
+of man.�
+
+Humanised at least for these moments, she could understand enough to
+declare that she didn’t. “I don’t, I don’t!�
+
+“You don’t need to understand. Don’t attempt such base things. Leave
+those to us. Only live. Only be. _We’ll_ do the rest.�
+
+She moved over--she had come close to the window. “Ah, but Mr.
+Berridge----!�
+
+He raised both hands; he shook them at her gently, in deep and soft
+deprecation. “Don’t sound my dreadful name. Fortunately, however, you
+can’t help yourself.�
+
+“Ah, _voyons!_ I so want-----!�
+
+He repeated his gesture, and when he brought down his hands they closed
+together on both of hers, which now quite convulsively grasped the
+window-ledge. “Don’t speak, because when you speak you really say
+things--!� “You _are_ Romance,� he pronounced afresh and with the last
+intensity of conviction and persuasion. “That’s all you have to do with
+it,� he continued while his hands, for emphasis, pressed hard on her
+own.
+
+Their faces, in this way, were nearer together than ever, but with the
+effect of only adding to the vividness of that dire non-intelligence
+from which, all perversely and incalculably, her very beauty now
+appeared to gain relief. This made for him a pang and almost an anguish;
+the fear of her saying something yet again that would wretchedly prove
+how little he moved her perception. So his eyes, of remonstrant, of
+suppliant intention, met hers close, at the same time that these, so far
+from shrinking, but with their quite other swimming plea all bedimmed
+now, seemed almost to wash him with the tears of her failure. He
+soothed, he stroked, he reassured her hands, for tender conveyance of
+his meaning, quite as she had just before dealt with his own for brave
+demonstration of hers. It was during these instants as if the question
+had been which of them _could_ most candidly and fraternally plead.
+Full but of that she kept it up. “Ah, if you’d only think, if you’d only
+try----!�
+
+He couldn’t stand it--she was capable of believing he had edged away,
+excusing himself and trumping up a factitious theory, because he hadn’t
+the wit, hadn’t the hand, to knock off the few pleasant pages she asked
+him for and that any proper Frenchman, master of the _metier_, would
+so easily and gallantly have promised. Should she so begin to commit
+herself he’d, by the immortal gods, anticipate it in the manner most
+admirably effective--in fact he’d even thus make her further derogation
+impossible. Their faces were so close that he could practise any rich
+freedom--even though for an instant, while the back of the chauffeur
+guarded them on that side and his own presented breadth, amplified
+by his loose mantle, filled the whole window-space, leaving him no
+observation from any quarter to heed, he uttered, in a deep-drawn final
+groan, an irrepressible echo of his pang for what might have been,
+the muffled cry of his insistence. “You _are_ Romance!�--he drove it
+intimately, inordinately home, his lips, for a long moment, sealing
+it, with the fullest force of authority, on her own; after which, as
+he broke away and the car, starting again, turned powerfully across
+the pavement, he had no further sound from her than if, all divinely
+indulgent but all humanly defeated, she had given the question up,
+falling back to infinite wonder. He too fell back, but could still wave
+his hat for her as she passed to disappearance in the great floridly
+framed aperture whose wings at once came together behind her.
+
+
+
+
+
+A ROUND OF VISITS
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+HE had been out but once since his arrival, Mark Monteith; that was
+the next day after--he had disembarked by night on the previous; then
+everything had come at once, as he would have said, everything had
+changed. He had got in on Tuesday; he had spent Wednesday for the most
+part down town, looking into the dismal subject of his anxiety--the
+anxiety that, under a sudden decision, had brought him across the
+unfriendly sea at mid-winter, and it was through information reaching
+him on Wednesday evening that he had measured his loss, measured above
+all his pain. These were two distinct things, he felt, and, though both
+bad, one much worse than the other. It wasn’t till the next three
+days had pretty well ebbed, in fact, that he knew himself for so badly
+wounded. He had waked up on Thursday morning, so far as he had slept at
+all, with the sense, together, of a blinding New York blizzard and of a
+deep sore inward ache. The great white savage storm would have kept him
+at the best within doors, but his stricken state was by itself quite
+reason enough.
+
+He so felt the blow indeed, so gasped, before what had happened to him,
+at the ugliness, the bitterness, and, beyond these things, the sinister
+strangeness, that, the matter of his dismay little by little detaching
+and projecting itself, settling there face to face with him as something
+he must now live with always, he might have been in charge of some
+horrid alien thing, some violent, scared, unhappy creature whom there
+was small joy, of a truth, in remaining with, but whose behaviour
+wouldn’t perhaps bring him under notice, nor otherwise compromise him,
+so long as he should stay to watch it. A young jibbering ape of one of
+the more formidable sorts, or an ominous infant panther, smuggled into
+the great gaudy hotel and whom it might yet be important he shouldn’t
+advertise, couldn’t have affected him as needing more domestic
+attention. The great gaudy hotel--The Pocahontas, but carried out
+largely on “Du Barry� lines--made all about him, beside, behind, below,
+above, in blocks and tiers and superpositions, a sufficient defensive
+hugeness; so that, between the massive labyrinth and the New York
+weather, life in a lighthouse during a gale would scarce have kept
+him more apart. Even when in the course of that worse Thursday it
+had occurred to him for vague relief that the odious certified facts
+couldn’t be all his misery, and that, with his throat and a probable
+temperature, a brush of the epidemic, which was for ever brushing him,
+accounted for something, even then he couldn’t resign himself to bed and
+broth and dimness, but only circled and prowled the more within his
+high cage, only watched the more from his tenth story the rage of the
+elements.
+
+In the afternoon he had a doctor--the caravanserai, which supplied
+everything in quantities, had one for each group of so many rooms--just
+in order to be assured that he was _grippé_ enough for anything. What
+his visitor, making light of his attack, perversely told him was that
+he was, much rather, “blue� enough, and from causes doubtless known
+to himself--which didn’t come to the same thing; but he “gave him
+something,� prescribed him warmth and quiet and broth and courage,
+and came back the next day as to readminister this last dose. He then
+pronounced him better, and on Saturday pronounced him well--all the more
+that the storm had abated and the snow had been dealt with as New York,
+at a push, knew how to deal with things. Oh, how New York knew how to
+deal--to deal, that is, with other accumulations lying passive to its
+hand--was exactly what Mark now ached with his impression of; so that,
+still threshing about in this consciousness, he had on the Saturday
+come near to breaking out as to what was the matter with him. The
+Doctor brought in somehow the air of the hotel--which, cheerfully
+and conscientiously, by his simple philosophy, the good man wished to
+diffuse; breathing forth all the echoes of other woes and worries and
+pointing the honest moral that, especially with such a thermometer,
+there were enough of these to go round.
+
+Our sufferer, by that time, would have liked to tell some one;
+extracting, to the last acid strain of it, the full strength of his
+sorrow, taking it all in as he could only do by himself and with the
+conditions favourable at least to this, had been his natural first need.
+But now, he supposed, he _must_ be better; there was something of his
+heart’s heaviness he wanted so to give out. He had rummaged forth on the
+Thursday night half a dozen old photographs stuck into a leather frame,
+a small show-case that formed part of his usual equipage of travel--he
+mostly set it up on a table when he stayed anywhere long enough; and in
+one of the neat gilt-edged squares of this convenient portable array,
+as familiar as his shaving-glass or the hair-brushes, of backs and
+monograms now so beautifully toned and wasted, long ago given him by his
+mother, Phil Blood-good handsomely faced him. Not contemporaneous, and
+a little faded, but so saying what it said only the more dreadfully,
+the image seemed to sit there, at an immemorial window, like some long
+effective and only at last exposed “decoy� of fate. It was _because_ he
+was so beautifully good-looking, because he was so charming and clever
+and frank--besides being one’s third cousin, or whatever it was, one’s
+early schoolfellow and one’s later college classmate--that one had
+abjectly trusted him. To live thus with his unremoved, undestroyed,
+engaging, treacherous face, had been, as our traveller desired, to live
+with all of the felt pang; had been to consume it in such a single hot,
+sore mouthful as would so far as possible dispose of it and leave but
+cold dregs. Thus, if the Doctor, casting about for pleasantness, had
+happened to notice him there, salient since he was, and possibly by the
+same stroke even to know him, as New York--and more or less to its cost
+now, mightn’t one say?--so abundantly and agreeable had, the cup would
+have overflowed and Monteith, for all he could be sure of the contrary,
+would have relieved himself positively in tears.
+
+“Oh _he’s_ what’s the matter with me--that, looking after some of my
+poor dividends, as he for the ten years of my absence had served me by
+doing, he has simply jockeyed me out of the whole little collection,
+such as it was, and taken the opportunity of my return, inevitably at
+last bewildered and uneasy, to ‘sail,’ ten days ago, for parts unknown
+and as yet unguessable. It isn’t the beastly values themselves, however;
+that’s only awkward and I can still live, though I don’t quite know how
+I shall turn round; it’s the horror of _his_ having done it, and done it
+to _me_--without a mitigation or, so to speak, a warning or an excuse.�
+ That, at a hint or a jog, is what he would have brought out--only to
+feel afterward, no doubt, that he had wasted his impulse and profaned
+even a little his sincerity. The Doctor didn’t in the event so much
+as glance at his cluster of portraits--which fact quite put before our
+friend the essentially more vivid range of imagery that a pair of eyes
+transferred from room to room and from one queer case to another, in
+such a place as that, would mainly be adjusted to. It wasn’t for _him_
+to relieve himself touchingly, strikingly or whatever, to such a
+man: such a man might much more pertinently--save for professional
+discretion--have emptied out there his own bag of wonders; prodigies
+of observation, flowers of oddity, flowers of misery, flowers of the
+monstrous, gathered in current hotel practice. Countless possibilities,
+making doctors perfunctory, Mark felt, swarmed and seethed at their
+doors; it showed for an incalculable world, and at last, on Sunday, he
+decided to leave his room.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+Everything, as he passed through the place, went on--all the offices of
+life, the whole bustle of the market, and withal, surprisingly, scarce
+less that of the nursery and the playground; the whole sprawl in
+especial of the great gregarious fireside: it was a complete social
+scene in itself, on which types might figure and passions rage and plots
+thicken and dramas develop, without reference to any other sphere, or
+perhaps even to anything at all outside. The signs of this met him at
+every turn as he threaded the labyrinth, passing from one extraordinary
+masquerade of expensive objects, one portentous “period� of decoration,
+one violent phase of publicity, to another: the heavy heat, the
+luxuriance, the extravagance, the quantity, the colour, gave the
+impression of some wondrous tropical forest, where vociferous,
+bright-eyed, and feathered creatures, of every variety of size and hue,
+were half smothered between undergrowths of velvet and tapestry and
+ramifications of marble and bronze. The fauna and the flora startled him
+alike, and among them his bruised spirit drew in and folded its wings.
+But he roamed and rested, exploring and in a manner enjoying the vast
+rankness--in the depth of which he suddenly encountered Mrs. Folliott,
+whom he had last seen, six months before, in London, and who had spoken
+to him then, precisely, of Phil Bloodgood, for several years previous
+her confidential American agent and factotum too, as she might say, but
+at that time so little in her good books, for the extraordinary things
+he seemed to be doing, that she was just hurrying home, she had made no
+scruple of mentioning, to take everything out of his hands.
+
+Mark remembered how uneasy she had made him--how that very talk with
+her had wound him up to fear, as so acute and intent a little person she
+affected him; though he had affirmed with all emphasis and flourish his
+own confidence and defended, to iteration, his old friend. This passage
+had remained with him for a certain pleasant heat of intimacy, his
+partner, of the charming appearance, being what she was; he liked to
+think how they had fraternised over their difference and called each
+other idiots, or almost, without offence. It was always a link to have
+scuffled, failing a real scratch, with such a character; and he had at
+present the flutter of feeling that something of this would abide. _He_
+hadn’t been hurrying home, at the London time, in any case; he was doing
+nothing then, and had continued to do it; he would want, before showing
+suspicion--that had been his attitude--to have more, after all, to go
+upon. Mrs. Folliott also, and with a great actual profession of it,
+remembered and rejoiced; and, also staying in the house as she was, sat
+with him, under a spreading palm, in a wondrous rococo salon, surrounded
+by the pinkest, that is the fleshiest, imitation Boucher panels, and
+wanted to know if he _now_ stood up for his swindler. She would herself
+have tumbled on a cloud, very passably, in a fleshy Boucher manner,
+hadn’t she been over-dressed for such an exercise; but she was quite
+realistically aware of what had so naturally happened--she was prompt
+about Bloodgood’s “flight.�
+
+She had acted with energy, on getting back--she had saved what she
+could; which hadn’t, however, prevented her losing all disgustedly some
+ten thousand dollars. She was lovely, lively, friendly, interested, she
+connected Monteith perfectly with their discussion that day during the
+water-party on the Thames; but, sitting here with him half an hour, she
+talked only of her peculiar, her cruel sacrifice--since she should
+never get a penny back. He had felt himself, on their meeting, quite
+yearningly reach out to her--so decidedly, by the morning’s end,
+and that of his scattered sombre stations, had he been sated with
+meaningless contacts, with the sense of people all about him intensely,
+though harmlessly, animated, yet at the same time raspingly indifferent.
+_They_ would have, he and she at least, their common pang--through which
+fact, somehow, he should feel less stranded. It wasn’t that he wanted to
+be pitied--he fairly didn’t pity himself; he winced, rather, and even
+to vicarious anguish, as it rose again, for poor shamed Bloodgood’s
+doom-ridden figure. But he wanted, as with a desperate charity, to give
+some easier turn to the mere ugliness of the main facts; to work off his
+obsession from them by mixing with it some other blame, some other pity,
+it scarce mattered what--if it might be some other experience; as an
+effect of which larger ventilation it would have, after a fashion and
+for a man of free sensibility, a diluted and less poisonous taste.
+
+By the end of five minutes of Mrs. Folliott, however, he felt his dry
+lips seal themselves to a makeshift simper. She could _take_ nothing--no
+better, no broader perception of anything than fitted her own small
+faculty; so that though she must have recalled or imagined that he had
+still, up to lately, had interests at stake, the rapid result of her
+egotistical little chatter was to make him wish he might rather have
+conversed with the French waiter dangling in the long vista that showed
+the oriental café as a climax, or with the policeman, outside, the top
+of whose helmet peeped above the ledge of a window. She bewailed her
+wretched money to excess--she who, he was sure, had quantities more; she
+pawed and tossed her bare bone, with her little extraordinarily gemmed
+and manicured hands, till it acted on his nerves; she rang all the
+changes on the story, the dire fatality, of her having wavered and
+muddled, thought of this and but done that, of her stupid failure to
+have pounced, when she had first meant to, in season. She abused the
+author of their wrongs--recognising thus too Monteith’s right to loathe
+him--for the desperado he assuredly had proved, but with a vulgarity
+of analysis and an incapacity for the higher criticism, as her listener
+felt it to be, which made him determine resentfully, almost grimly,
+that she shouldn’t have the benefit of a grain of _his_ vision or _his_
+version of what had befallen them, and of how, in particular, it had
+come; and should never dream thereby (though much would she suffer from
+that!) of how interesting he might have been. She had, in a finer sense,
+no manners, and to be concerned with her in any retrospect was--since
+their discourse was of losses--to feel the dignity of history incur
+the very gravest. It was true that such fantasies, or that any shade
+of inward irony, would be Greek to Mrs. Folliott. It was also true,
+however, and not much more strange, when she had presently the
+comparatively happy thought of “Lunch with _us_, you poor dear!� and
+mentioned three or four of her “crowd�--a new crowd, rather, for her,
+all great Sunday lunchers there and immense fun, who would in a moment
+be turning up--that this seemed to him as easy as anything else; so that
+after a little, deeper in the jungle and while, under the temperature
+as of high noon, with the crowd complete and “ordering,� he wiped the
+perspiration from his brow, he felt he was letting himself go. He did
+that certainly to the extent of leaving far behind any question of Mrs.
+Folliott’s manners. They didn’t matter there--nobody’s did; and if she
+ceased to lament her ten thousand it was only because, among higher
+voices, she couldn’t make herself heard. Poor Blood-good didn’t have
+a show, as they might have said, didn’t get through at any point; the
+crowd was so new that--there either having been no hue and cry for
+him, or having been too many others, for other absconders, in the
+intervals--they had never so much as heard of him and would have no more
+of Mrs. Folliott’s true inwardness, on that subject at least, than she
+had lately cared to have of Monteith’s.
+
+There was nothing like a crowd, this unfortunate knew, for making one
+feel lonely, and he felt so increasingly during the meal; but he got
+thus at least in a measure away from the terrible little lady; after
+which, and before the end of the hour, he wanted still more to get away
+from every one else. He was in fact about to perform this manoeuvre when
+he was checked by the jolly young woman he had been having on his left
+and who had more to say about the Hotels, up and down the town, than he
+had ever known a young woman to have to say on any subject at all;
+she expressed herself in hotel terms exclusively, the names of those
+establishments playing through her speech as the _leit-motif_ might have
+recurrently flashed and romped through a piece of profane modern music.
+She wanted to present him to the pretty girl she had brought with her,
+and who had apparently signified to her that she must do so.
+
+“I think you know my brother-in-law, Mr. Newton Winch,� the pretty girl
+had immediately said; she moved her head and shoulders together, as by
+a common spring, the effect of a stiff neck or of something loosened in
+her back hair; but becoming, queerly enough, all the prettier for
+doing so. He had seen in the papers, her brother-in-law, Mr. Monteith’s
+arrival--Mr. Mark P. Monteith, wasn’t it?--and where he was, and she
+had been with him, three days before, at the time; whereupon he had
+said “Hullo, what can have brought old Mark back?� He seemed to have
+believed--Newton had seemed--that that shirker, as he called him, never
+_would_ come; and she guessed that if she had known she was going to
+meet such a former friend (“Which he claims you are, sir,� said the
+pretty girl) he would have asked her to find out what the trouble could
+be. But the real satisfaction would just be, she went on, if his former
+friend would himself go and see him and tell him; he had appeared of
+late so down.
+
+“Oh, I remember him�--Mark didn’t repudiate the friendship, placing him
+easily; only then he wasn’t married and the pretty girl’s sister must
+have come in later: which showed, his not knowing such things, how they
+had lost touch. The pretty girl was sorry to have to say in return to
+this that her sister wasn’t living--had died two years after marrying;
+so that Newton was up there in Fiftieth Street alone; where (in
+explanation of his being “down�) he had been shut up for days with bad
+_grippe_; though now on the mend, or she wouldn’t have gone to him, not
+she, who had had it nineteen times and didn’t want to have it again. But
+the horrid poison just seemed to have entered into poor Newton’s soul.
+
+“That’s the way it _can_ take you, don’t you know?� And then as, with
+her single twist, she just charmingly hunched her eyes at our friend,
+“Don’t you want to go to see him?�
+
+Mark bethought himself: “Well, I’m going to see a lady-----�
+
+She took the words from his mouth. “Of course you’re going to see a
+lady--every man in New York is. But Newton isn’t a lady, unfortunately
+for him, to-day; and Sunday afternoon in this place, in this weather,
+alone-----!�
+
+“Yes, isn’t it awful?�--he was quite drawn to her.
+
+“Oh, _you’ve_ got your lady!�
+
+“Yes, I’ve got my lady, thank goodness!� The fervour of which was his
+sincere tribute to the note he had had on Friday morning from Mrs. Ash,
+the only thing that had a little tempered his gloom.
+
+“Well then, feel for others. Fit him in. Tell him why!�
+
+“Why I’ve come back? I’m glad I _have_--since it was to see _you_!�
+ Monteith made brave enough answer, promising to do what he could.
+He liked the pretty girl, with her straight attack and her free
+awkwardness--also with her difference from the others through something
+of a sense and a distinction given her by so clearly having Newton on
+her mind. Yet it was odd to him, and it showed the lapse of the years,
+that Winch--as he had known him of old--could _be_ to that degree on any
+one’s mind.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+Outside in the intensity of the cold--it was a jump from the Tropics to
+the Pole--he felt afresh the force of what he had just been saying;
+that if it weren’t for the fact of Mrs. Ash’s good letter of welcome,
+despatched, characteristically, as soon as she had, like the faithful
+sufferer in Fiftieth Street, observed his name, in a newspaper, on one
+of the hotel-lists, he should verily, for want of a connection and an
+abutment, have scarce dared to face the void and the chill together, but
+have sneaked back into the jungle and there tried to lose himself. He
+made, as it was, the opposite effort, resolute to walk, though hovering
+now and then at vague crossways, radiations of roads to nothing, or
+taking cold counsel of the long but still sketchy vista, as it struck
+him, of the northward Avenue, bright and bleak, fresh and harsh,
+rich and evident somehow, a perspective like a page of florid
+modern platitudes. He didn’t quite know what he had expected for his
+return--not certainly serenades and deputations; but without Mrs.
+Ash his mail would have quite lacked geniality, and it was as if Phil
+Blood-good had gone off not only with so large a slice of his small
+_peculium_, but with all the broken bits of the past, the loose ends of
+old relationships, that he had supposed he might pick up again. Well,
+perhaps he should still pick up a few--by the sweat of his brow; no
+motion of their own at least, he by this time judged, would send them
+fluttering into his hand.
+
+Which reflections but quickened his forecast of this charm of the old
+Paris inveteracy renewed--the so-prized custom of nine years before,
+when he still believed in results from his fond frequentation of the
+Beaux Arts; that of walking over the river to the Rue de Marignan,
+precisely, every Sunday without exception, and sitting at her fireside,
+and often all offensively, no doubt, outstaying every one. How he
+had used to want those hours then, and how again, after a little, at
+present, the Rue de Marignan might have been before him! He had gone to
+her there at that time with his troubles, such as they were, and they
+had always worked for her amusement--which had been her happy, her
+clever way of taking them: she couldn’t have done anything better for
+them in that phase, poor innocent things compared with what they might
+have been, than be amused by them. Perhaps that was what she would still
+be--with those of his present hour; now too they might inspire her with
+the touch she best applied and was most instinctive mistress of: this
+didn’t at all events strike him as what he should most resent. It wasn’t
+as if Mrs. Folliott, to make up for boring him with her own plaint, for
+example, had had so much as a gleam of conscious diversion over his.
+
+“I’m _so_ delighted to see you, I’ve such immensities to tell you!�--it
+began with the highest animation twenty minutes later, the very moment
+he stood there, the sense of the Rue de Marignan in the charming room
+and in the things about all reconstituted, regrouped, wonderfully
+preserved, down to the very sitting-places in the same relations, and
+down to the faint sweet mustiness of generations of cigarettes; but
+everything else different, and even vaguely alien, and by a measure
+still other than that of their own stretched interval and of the dear
+delightful woman’s just a little pathetic alteration of face. He had
+allowed for the nine years, and so, it was to be hoped, had she; but
+the last thing, otherwise, that would have been touched, he immediately
+felt, was the quality, the intensity, of her care to see him. She cared,
+oh so visibly and touchingly and almost radiantly--save for her being,
+yes, distinctly, a little _more_ battered than from even a good nine
+years’ worth; nothing could in fact have perched with so crowning an
+impatience on the heap of what she had to “tell� as that special shade
+of revived consciousness of having him in particular to tell it to. It
+wasn’t perhaps much to matter how soon she brought out and caused to
+ring, as it were, on the little recognised marqueterie table between
+them (such an anciently envied treasure), the heaviest gold-piece of
+current history she was to pay him with for having just so felicitously
+come back: he knew already, without the telling, that intimate domestic
+tension must lately, within those walls, have reached a climax and that
+he could serve supremely--oh how he was going to serve!--as the most
+sympathetic of all pairs of ears.
+
+The whole thing was upon him, in any case, with the minimum of delay:
+Bob had had it from her, definitely, the first of the week, and it
+was absolutely final now, that they must set up avowedly separate
+lives--without horrible “proceedings� of any sort, but with her own
+situation, her independence, secured to her once for all. She had been
+coming to it, taking her time, and she had gone through--well, so old a
+friend would guess enough what; but she was at the point, oh blessedly
+now, where she meant to stay, he’d see if she didn’t; with which, in
+this wonderful way, he himself had arrived for the cream of it and
+she was just selfishly glad. Bob had gone to Washington--ostensibly
+on business, but really to recover breath; she had, speaking vulgarly,
+knocked the wind out of him and was allowing him time to turn round.
+Mrs. Folliott moreover, she was sure, would have gone--was certainly
+believed to have been seen there five days ago; and of course his first
+necessity, for public use, would be to patch up something with Mrs.
+Folliott. Mark knew about Mrs. Folliott?--who was only, for that matter,
+one of a regular “bevy.� Not that it signified, however, if he didn’t:
+she would tell him about _her_ later.
+
+He took occasion from the first fraction of a break not quite to know
+what he knew about Mrs. Folliott--though perhaps he could imagine a
+little; and it was probably at this minute that, having definitely
+settled to a position, and precisely in his very own tapestry _bergère_,
+the one with the delicious little spectral “subjects� on the back and
+seat, he partly exhaled, and yet managed partly to keep to himself, the
+deep resigned sigh of a general comprehension. He knew what he was “in�
+ for, he heard her go on--she said it again and again, seemed constantly
+to be saying it while she smiled at him with her peculiar fine charm,
+her positive gaiety of sensibility, scarce dimmed: “I’m just selfishly
+glad, just selfishly glad!� Well, she was going to have reason to be;
+she was going to put the whole case to him, all her troubles and plans,
+and each act of the tragi-comedy of her recent existence, as to the
+dearest and safest sympathiser in all the world. There would be no
+chance for _his_ case, though it was so much for his case he had
+come; yet there took place within him but a mild, dumb convulsion,
+the momentary strain of his substituting, by the turn of a hand, one
+prospect of interest for another.
+
+Squaring himself in his old _bergère_, and with his lips, during the
+effort, compressed to the same passive grimace that had an hour or two
+before operated for the encouragement of Mrs. Folliott--just as it
+was to clear the stage completely for the present more prolonged
+performance--he shut straight down, as he even in the act called it to
+himself, on any personal claim for social consideration and rendered
+a perfect little agony of justice to the grounds of his friend’s
+vividness. For it was all the justice that could be expected of him
+that, though, secretly, he wasn’t going to be interested in her being
+interesting, she was yet going to be so, all the same, by the very force
+of her lovely material (Bob Ash _was_ such a pure pearl of a donkey!)
+and he was going to keep on knowing she was--yes, to the very end. When
+after the lapse of an hour he rose to go, the rich fact that she
+_had_ been was there between them, and with an effect of the frankly,
+fearlessly, harmlessly intimate fireside passage for it that went beyond
+even the best memories of the pleasant past. He hadn’t “amused� her, no,
+in quite the same way as in the Rue de Marignan time--it had then been
+he who for the most part took frequent turns, emphatic, explosive,
+elocutionary, over that wonderful waxed parquet while she laughed as for
+the young perversity of him from the depths of the second, the matching
+_bergère_. To-day she herself held and swept the floor, putting him
+merely to the trouble of his perpetual “Brava!� But that was all through
+the change of basis--the amusement, another name only for the thrilled
+absorption, having been inevitably for _him_; as how could it have
+failed to be with such a regular “treat� to his curiosity? With the
+tea-hour now other callers were turning up, and he got away on the plea
+of his wanting so to think it all over. He hoped again he hadn’t too
+queer a grin with his assurance to her, as if she would quite know what
+he meant, that he had been thrilled to the core. But she returned, quite
+radiantly, that he had carried _her_ completely away; and her sincerity
+was proved by the final frankness of their temporary parting. “My
+pleasure of you is selfish, horribly, I admit; so that if _that_ doesn’t
+suit you--!� Her faded beauty flushed again as she said it.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+In the street again, as he resumed his walk, he saw how perfectly it
+would _have_ to suit him and how he probably for a long time wouldn’t
+be suited otherwise. Between them and that time, however, what mightn’t,
+for him, poor devil, on his new basis, have happened? She wasn’t at any
+rate within any calculable period going to care so much for anything
+as for the so quaintly droll terms in which her rearrangement with her
+husband--thanks to that gentleman’s inimitable fatuity--would have to
+be made. This was what it was to own, exactly, her special grace--the
+brightest gaiety in the finest sensibility; _such_ a display of which
+combination, Mark felt as he went (if he could but have done it still
+more justice) she must have regaled him with! That exquisite last flush
+of her fadedness could only remain with him; yet while he presently
+stopped at a street-corner in a district redeemed from desolation but by
+the passage just then of a choked trolley-car that howled, as he paused
+for it, beneath the weight of its human accretions, he seemed to know
+the inward “sinking� that had been determined in a hungry man by some
+extravagant sight of the preparation of somebody else’s dinner. Florence
+Ash was dining, so to speak, off the feast of appreciation, appreciation
+of what she had to “tell� him, that he had left her seated at; and
+she was welcome, assuredly--welcome, welcome, welcome, he musingly, he
+wistfully, and yet at the same time a trifle mechanically, repeated,
+stayed as he was a moment longer by the suffering shriek of another
+public vehicle and a sudden odd automatic return of his mind to the
+pretty girl, the flower of Mrs. Folliott’s crowd, who had spoken to
+him of Newton Winch. It was extraordinarily as if, on the instant, she
+reminded him, from across the town, that she had offered him dinner: it
+was really quite strangely, while he stood there, as if she had told
+him where he could go and get it. With which, none the less, it was
+apparently where he wouldn’t find her--and what was there, after all, of
+nutritive in the image of Newton Winch? He made up his mind in a moment
+that it owed that property, which the pretty girl had somehow made
+imputable, to the fact of its simply being just then the one image of
+anything known to him that the terrible place had to offer. Nothing,
+he a minute later reflected, could have been so “rum� as that, sick and
+sore, of a bleak New York eventide, he should have had nowhere to turn
+if not to the said Fiftieth Street.
+
+That was the direction he accordingly took, for when he found the number
+given him by the same remarkable agent of fate also present to his
+memory he recognised the direct intervention of Providence and how it
+absolutely required a miracle to explain his so precipitately embracing
+this loosest of connections. The miracle indeed soon grew clearer:
+Providence had, on some obscure system, chosen this very ridiculous hour
+to save him from cultivation of the sin of selfishness, the obsession
+of egotism, and was breaking him to its will by constantly directing his
+attention to the claims of others. Who could say what at that critical
+moment mightn’t have become of Mrs. Folliott (otherwise too then so
+sadly embroiled!) if she hadn’t been enabled to air to him her grievance
+and her rage?--just as who could deny that it must have done Florence
+Ash a world of good to have put her thoughts about Bob in order by the
+aid of a person to whom the vision of Bob in the light of those thoughts
+(or in other words to whom _her_ vision of Bob and nothing else) would
+mean so delightfully much? It was on the same general lines that poor
+Newton Winch, bereft, alone, ill, perhaps dying, and with the drawback
+of a not very sympathetic personality--as Mark remembered it at
+least--to contend against in almost any conceivable appeal to human
+furtherance, it was on these lines, very much, that the luckless case in
+Fiftieth Street was offered him as a source of salutary discipline. The
+moment for such a lesson might strike him as strange, in view of the
+quite special and independent opportunity for exercise that his spirit
+had during the last three days enjoyed there in his hotel bedroom; but
+evidently his languor of charity needed some admonition finer than
+any it might trust to chance for, and by the time he at last, Winch’s
+residence recognised, was duly elevated to his level and had pressed
+the electric button at his door, he felt himself acting indeed as under
+stimulus of a sharp poke in the side.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+Within the apartment to which he had been admitted, moreover, the fine
+intelligence we have imputed to him was in the course of three minutes
+confirmed; since it took him no longer than that to say to himself,
+facing his old acquaintance, that he had never seen any one so improved.
+The place, which had the semblance of a high studio light as well as a
+general air of other profusions and amplitudes, might have put him off
+a little by its several rather glaringly false accents, those of
+contemporary domestic “art� striking a little wild. The scene was
+smaller, but the rich confused complexion of the Pocahontas, showing
+through Du Barry paint and patches, might have set the example--which
+had been followed with the costliest candour--so that, clearly, Winch
+was in these days rich, as most people in New York seemed rich; as, in
+spite of Bob’s depredations, Florence Ash was, as even Mrs. Folliott was
+in spite of Phil Bloodgood’s, as even Phil Bloodgood himself must have
+been for reasons too obvious; as in fine every one had a secret for
+being, or for feeling, or for looking, every one at least but Mark
+Monteith.
+
+These facts were as nothing, however, in presence of his quick and
+strong impression that his pale, nervous, smiling, clean-shaven host
+had undergone since their last meeting some extraordinary process of
+refinement. He had been ill, unmistakably, and the effects of a plunge
+into plain clean living, where any fineness had remained, were often
+startling, sometimes almost charming. But independently of this, and for
+a much longer time, some principle of intelligence, some art of life,
+would discernibly have worked in him. Remembered from college years and
+from those two or three luckless and faithless ones of the Law School
+as constitutionally common, as consistently and thereby doubtless even
+rather powerfully coarse, clever only for uncouth and questionable
+things, he yet presented himself now as if he had suddenly and
+mysteriously been educated. There was a charm in his wide, “drawn,�
+ convalescent smile, in the way his fine fingers--had he anything like
+fine fingers of old?--played, and just fidgeted, over the prompt and
+perhaps a trifle incoherent offer of cigars, cordials, ashtrays,
+over the question of his visitor’s hat, stick, fur coat, general best
+accommodation and ease; and how the deuce, accordingly, had charm, for
+coming out so on top, Mark wondered, “squared� the other old elements?
+For the short interval so to have dealt with him what force had it
+turned on, what patented process, of the portentous New York order
+in which there were so many, had it skilfully applied? Were these the
+things New York did when you just gave her all her head, and that he
+himself then had perhaps too complacently missed? Strange almost to the
+point of putting him positively off at first--quite as an exhibition of
+the uncanny--this sense of Newton’s having all the while neither missed
+nor muffed anything, and having, as with an eye to the _coup de théâtre_
+to come, lowered one’s expectations, at the start, to that abject pitch.
+It might have been taken verily for an act of bad faith--really for
+such a rare stroke of subtlety as could scarce have been achieved by a
+straight or natural aim.
+
+So much as this at least came and went in Monteith’s agitated mind; the
+oddest intensity of apprehension, admiration, mystification, which the
+high north-light of the March afternoon and the quite splendidly
+vulgar appeal of fifty overdone decorative effects somehow fostered and
+sharpened. Everything had already gone, however, the next moment,
+for wasn’t the man he had come so much too intelligently himself to
+patronise absolutely bowling him over with the extraordinary speech:
+“See here, you know--you must be ill, or have had a bad shock, or some
+beastly upset: are you very sure you ought to have come out?� Yes, he
+after an instant believed his ears; coarse common Newton Winch, whom
+he had called on because he could, as a gentleman, after all afford to,
+coarse common Newton Winch, who had had troubles and been epidemically
+poisoned, lamentably sick, who bore in his face and in the very tension,
+quite exactly the “charm,� of his manner, the traces of his late ordeal,
+and, for that matter, of scarce completed gallant emergence--this
+astonishing ex-comrade was simply writing himself at a stroke (into our
+friend’s excited imagination at all events) the most distinguished of
+men. Oh, _he_ was going to be interesting, if Florence Ash had been
+going to be; but Mark felt how, under the law of a lively present
+difference, that would be as an effect of one’s having one’s self
+thoroughly rallied. He knew within the minute that the tears stood in
+his eyes; he stared through them at his friend with a sharp “Why, how do
+you know? How _can_ you?� To which he added before Winch could speak: “I
+met your charming sister-in-law a couple of hours since--at luncheon, at
+the Pocahontas; and heard from her that you were badly laid up and had
+spoken of me. So I came to minister to you.�
+
+The object of this design hovered there again, considerably restless,
+shifting from foot to foot, changing his place, beginning and giving up
+motions, striking matches for a fresh cigarette, offering them again,
+redundantly, to his guest and then not lighting himself--but all the
+while with the smile of another creature than the creature known to
+Mark; all the while with the history of something that had happened to
+him ever so handsomely shining out. Mark was conscious within himself
+from this time on of two quite distinct processes of notation--that
+of his practically instant surrender to the consequences of the act of
+perception in his host of which the two women trained suppos-ably in the
+art of pleasing had been altogether incapable; and that of some other
+condition on Newton’s part that left his own poor power of divination
+nothing less than shamed. This last was signally the case on the
+former’s saying, ever so responsively, almost radiantly, in answer to
+his account of how he happened to come: “Oh then it’s very interesting!�
+ _That_ was the astonishing note, after what he had been through: neither
+Mrs. Folliott nor Florence Ash had so much as hinted or breathed to him
+that _he_ might have incurred that praise. No wonder therefore he was
+now taken--with this fresh party’s instant suspicion and imputation of
+it; though it was indeed for some minutes next as if each tried to see
+which could accuse the other of the greater miracle of penetration. Mark
+was so struck, in a word, with the extraordinarily straight guess Winch
+had had there in reserve for him that, other quick impressions helping,
+there was nothing for him but to bring out, himself: “There must be,
+my dear man, something rather wonderful the matter with you!� The quite
+more intensely and more irresistibly drawn grin, the quite unmistakably
+deeper consciousness in the dark, wide eye, that accompanied the not
+quite immediate answer to which remark he was afterward to remember.
+“How do you know that--or why do you think it?� “Because there _must_
+be--for you to see! I shouldn’t have expected it.�
+
+“Then you take me for a damned fool?� laughed wonderful Newton Winch.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+He could say nothing that, whether as to the sense of it or as to the
+way of it, didn’t so enrich Mark’s vision of him that our friend, after
+a little, as this effect proceeded, caught himself in the act of
+almost too curiously gaping. Everything, from moment to moment, fed his
+curiosity; such a question, for instance, as whether the quite ordinary
+peepers of the Newton Winch of their earlier youth could have looked,
+under any provocation, either dark or wide; such a question, above all,
+as how _this_ incalculable apparition came by the whole startling power
+of play of its extravagantly sensitive labial connections--exposed, so
+to its advantage (he now jumped at one explanation) by the removal of
+what had probably been one of the vulgar-est of moustaches. With this,
+at the same time, the oddity of that particular consequence was vivid to
+him; the glare of his curiosity fairly lasting while he remembered how
+he had once noted the very opposite turn of the experiment for Phil
+Bloodgood. He would have said in advance that poor Winch couldn’t have
+afforded to risk showing his “real� mouth; just as he would have said
+that in spite of the fine ornament that so considerably muffled it Phil
+could only have gained by showing his. But to have seen Phil shorn--as
+he once had done--was earnestly to pray that he might promptly again
+bristle; beneath Phil’s moustache lurked nothing to “make up� for it in
+case of removal. While he thought of which things the line of grimace,
+as he could only have called it, the mobile, interesting, ironic line
+the great double curve of which connected, in the face before him, the
+strong nostril with the lower cheek, became the very key to his first
+idea of Newton’s capture of refinement. He had shaved and was happily
+transfigured. Phil Bloodgood had shaved and been wellnigh lost; though
+why should he just now too precipitately drag the reminiscence in?
+
+That question too, at the queer touch of association, played up for Mark
+even under so much proof that the state of his own soul was being with
+the lapse of every instant registered. Phil Bloodgood had brought about
+the state of his soul--there was accordingly that amount of connection;
+only it became further remarkable that from the moment his companion had
+sounded him, and sounded him, he knew, down to the last truth of things,
+his disposition, his necessity to talk, the desire that had in the
+morning broken the spell of his confinement, the impulse that had thrown
+him so defeatedly into Mrs. Folliott’s arms and into Florence Ash’s,
+these forces seemed to feel their impatience ebb and their discretion
+suddenly grow. His companion was talking again, but just then,
+incongruously, made his need to communicate lose itself. It was as if
+his personal case had already been touched by some tender hand--and
+that, after all, was the modest limit of its greed. “I know now why
+you came back--did Lottie mention how I had wondered? But sit down, sit
+down--only let me, nervous beast as I am, take it standing!--and believe
+me when I tell you that I’ve now ceased to wonder. My dear chap, I
+_have_ it! It can’t but have been for poor Phil Blood-good. He sticks
+out of you, the brute--as how, with what he has done to you, shouldn’t
+he? There was a man to see me yesterday--Tim Slater, whom I don’t think
+you know, but who’s ‘on’ everything within about two minutes of its
+happening (I never saw such a fellow!) and who confirmed my supposition,
+all my own, however, mind you, at first, that you’re one of the
+sufferers. So how the devil can you _not_ feel knocked? Why _should_
+you look as if you were having the time of your life? What a hog to
+have played it on _you_, on _you_, of all his friends!� So Newton Winch
+continued, and so the air between the two men might have been, for a
+momentary watcher--which is indeed what I can but invite the reader to
+become--that of a nervously displayed, but all considerate, as well as
+most acute, curiosity on the one side, and that on the other, after a
+little, of an eventually fascinated acceptance of so much free and
+in especial of so much right attention. “Do you _mind_ my asking
+you? Because if you do I won’t press; but as a man whose own
+responsibilities, some of ‘em at least, don’t differ much, I gather,
+from some of his, one would like to know how he was ever allowed to get
+to the point--! But I _do_ plough you up?�
+
+Mark sat back in his chair, moved but holding himself, his elbows
+squared on each arm, his hands a bit convulsively interlocked across
+him--very much in fact as he had appeared an hour ago in the old
+tapestry _bergère_; but as his rigour was all then that of the grinding
+effort to profess and to give, so it was considerably now for the fear
+of too hysterically gushing. Somehow too--since his wound was to that
+extent open--he winced at hearing the author of it branded. He hadn’t so
+much minded the epithets Mrs. Folliott had applied, for they were to
+the appropriator of _her_ securities. As the appropriator of his own he
+didn’t so much want to brand him as--just more “amusingly� even, if one
+would.--to make out, perhaps, with intelligent help, how such a man, in
+such a relation, _could_ come to tread such a path: which was exactly
+the interesting light that Winch’s curiosity and sympathy were there
+to assist him to. He pleaded at any rate immediately his advertising
+no grievance. “I feel sore, I admit, and it’s a horrid sort of thing
+to have had happen; but when you call him a brute and a hog I rather
+squirm, for brutes and hogs never live, I guess, in the sort of hell in
+which he now must be.�
+
+Newton Winch, before the fireplace, his hands deep in his pockets, where
+his guest could see his long fingers beat a tattoo on his thighs, Newton
+Winch dangled and swung himself, and threw back his head and laughed.
+“Well, I must say you take it amazingly!--all the more that to see you
+again this way is to feel that if, all along, there was a man whose
+delicacy and confidence and general attitude might have marked him for
+a particular consideration, you’d have been the man.� And they were
+more directly face to face again; with Newton smiling and smiling _so_
+appreciatively; making our friend in fact almost ask himself when before
+a man had ever grinned from ear to ear to the effect of its so becoming
+him. What he replied, however, was that Newton described in those
+flattering terms a client temptingly fatuous; after which, and the
+exchange of another protest or two in the interest of justice and
+decency, and another plea or two in that of the still finer contention
+that even the basest misdeeds had always somewhere or other, could one
+get at it, their propitiatory side, our hero found himself on his
+feet again, under the influence of a sudden failure of everything but
+horror--a horror determined by some turn of their talk and indeed by the
+very fact of the freedom of it. It was as if a far-borne sound of the
+hue and cry, a vision of his old friend hunted and at bay, had suddenly
+broken in--this other friend’s, this irresistibly intelligent other
+companion’s, practically vivid projection of that making the worst
+ugliness real. “Oh, it’s just making my wry face to somebody, and your
+letting me and caring and wanting to know: that,� Mark said, “is what
+does me good; not any other hideous question. I mean I don’t take any
+interest in _my_ case--what one wonders about, you see, is what can be
+done for him. I mean, that is�--for he floundered a little, not knowing
+at last quite what he did mean, a great rush of mere memories, a great
+humming sound as of thick, thick echoes, rising now to an assault that
+he met with his face indeed contorted. If he didn’t take care he should
+howl; so he more or less successfully took care--yet with his host
+vividly watching him while he shook the danger temporarily off. “I don’t
+mind--though it’s rather _that_; my having felt this morning, after
+three dismal dumb bad days, that one’s friends perhaps would be thinking
+of one. All I’m conscious of now--I give you my word--is that I’d like
+to see him.�
+
+“You’d like to see him?�
+
+“Oh, I don’t say,� Mark ruefully smiled, “that I should like him to see
+_me_--!�
+
+Newton Winch, from where he stood--and they were together now, on the
+great hearth-rug that was a triumph of modern orientalism--put out one
+of the noted fine hands and, with an expressive headshake, laid it on
+his shoulder. “Don’t wish him that, Monteith--don’t wish him that!�
+
+“Well, but,�--and Mark raised his eyebrows still higher--“he’d see I
+bear up; pretty well!�
+
+“God forbid he should see, my dear fellow!� Newton cried as for the pang
+of it.
+
+Mark had for his idea, at any rate, the oddest sense of an exaltation
+that grew by this use of frankness. “I’d go to him. Hanged if I
+wouldn’t--anywhere!�
+
+His companion’s hand still rested on him. “You’d go to him?�
+
+Mark stood up to it--though trying to sink solemnity as pretentious.
+“I’d go like a shot.� And then he added: “And it’s probably what--when
+we’ve turned round--I _shall_ do.�
+
+“When ‘we’ have turned round?�
+
+“Well�--he was a trifle disconcerted at the tone--“I say that because
+you’ll have helped me.�
+
+“Oh, I do nothing but want to help you!� Winch replied--which made it
+right again; especially as our friend still felt himself reassuringly
+and sustainingly grasped. But Winch went on: “You _would_ go to him--in
+kindness?�
+
+“Well--to understand.�
+
+“To understand how he could swindle you?�
+
+“Well,� Mark kept on, “to try and make out with him how, after such
+things--!� But he stopped; he couldn’t name them.
+
+It was as if his companion knew. “Such things as you’ve done for him of
+course--such services as you’ve rendered him.�
+
+“Ah, from far back. If I could tell you,� our friend vainly wailed--“if
+I could tell you!�
+
+Newton Winch patted his shoulder. “Tell me--tell me!�
+
+“The sort of relation, I mean; ever so many things of a kind--!� Again,
+however, he pulled up; he felt the tremor of his voice.
+
+“Tell me, tell me,� Winch repeated with the same movement.
+
+The tone in it now made their eyes meet again, and with this
+presentation of the altered face Mark measured as not before, for
+some reason, the extent of the recent ravage. “You must have been ill
+indeed.�
+
+“Pretty bad. But I’m better. And you do me good�--with which the light
+of convalescence came back.
+
+“I don’t awfully bore you?�
+
+Winch shook his head. “You keep me up--and you see how no one else comes
+near me.�
+
+Mark’s eyes made out that he was better--though it wasn’t yet that
+nothing was the matter with him. If there was ever a man with whom there
+was still something the matter--! Yet one couldn’t insist on that, and
+meanwhile he clearly did want company. “Then there we are. I myself had
+no one to go to.�
+
+“You save my life,� Newton renewedly grinned.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+“Well, it’s your own fault,� Mark replied to that, “if you make me
+take advantage of you.� Winch had withdrawn his hand, which was back,
+violently shaking keys or money, in his trousers pocket; and in this
+position he had abruptly a pause, a sensible, absence, that might have
+represented either some odd drop of attention, some turn-off to another
+thought, or just simply the sudden act of listening. His guest had
+indeed himself--under suggestion--the impression of a sound. “Mayn’t you
+perhaps--if you hear something--have a call?�
+
+Mark had said it so lightly, however, that he was the more struck with
+his host’s appearing to turn just paler; and, with it, the latter now
+_was_ listening. “You hear something?�
+
+“I thought _you_ did.� Winch himself, on Mark’s own pressure of the
+outside bell, had opened the door of the apartment--an indication then,
+it sufficiently appeared, that Sunday afternoons were servants’, or
+attendants’, or even trained nurses’ holidays. It had also marked the
+stage of his convalescence, and to that extent--after his first flush
+of surprise--had but smoothed Monteith’s way. At present he barely gave
+further attention; detaching himself as under some odd cross-impulse,
+he had quitted the spot and then taken, in the wide room, a restless
+turn--only, however, to revert in a moment to his friend’s just-uttered
+deprecation of the danger of boring him. “If I make you take advantage
+of me--that is blessedly talk to me--it’s exactly what I want to do.
+Talk to me--talk to me!� He positively waved it on; pulling up again,
+however, in his own talk, to say with a certain urgency: “Hadn’t you
+better sit down?�
+
+Mark, who stayed before the fire, couldn’t but excuse himself.
+“Thanks--I’m very well so. I think of things and I fidget.�
+
+Winch stood a moment with his eyes on the ground. “Are you very sure?�
+
+“Quite--I’m all right if you don’t mind.�
+
+“Then as you like!� With which, shaking to extravagance again his long
+legs, Newton had swung off--only with a movement that, now his back was
+turned, affected his visitor as the most whimsical of all the forms of
+his rather unnatural manner. He was curiously different with his back
+turned, as Mark now for the first time saw it--dangling and somewhat
+wavering, as from an excess of uncertainty of gait; and this impression
+was so strange, it created in our friend, uneasily and on the spot, such
+a need of explanation, that his speech was stayed long enough to give
+Winch time to turn round again. The latter had indeed by this moment
+reached one of the limits of the place, the wide studio bay, where he
+paused, his back to the light and his face afresh presented, to let his
+just passingly depressed and quickened eyes take in as much as possible
+of the large floor, range over it with such brief freedom of search
+as the disposition of the furniture permitted. He was looking for
+something, though the betrayed reach of vision was but of an instant.
+Mark caught it, however, and with his own sensibility all in vibration,
+found himself feeling at once that it meant something and that what it
+meant was connected with his entertainer’s slightly marked appeal to
+him, the appeal of a moment before, not to remain standing. Winch knew
+by this time quite easily enough that he was hanging fire; which meant
+that they were suddenly facing each other across the wide space with a
+new consciousness.
+
+Everything had changed--changed extraordinarily with the mere turning
+of that gentleman’s back, the treacherous aspect of which its owner
+couldn’t surely have suspected. If the question was of the pitch of
+their sensibility, at all events, it wouldn’t be Mark’s that should
+vibrate to least purpose. Visibly it had come to his host that something
+had within the few instants remarkably happened, but there glimmered on
+him an induction that still made him keep his own manner. Newton himself
+might now resort to any manner he liked. His eyes had raked the floor to
+recover the position of something dropped or misplaced, and something,
+above all, awkward or compromising; and he had wanted his companion not
+to command this scene from the hearth-rug, the hearthrug where he had
+been just before holding him, hypnotising him to blindness, _because_
+the object in question would there be most exposed to sight Mark
+embraced this with a further drop--while the apprehension penetrated--of
+his power to go on, and with an immense desire at the same time that his
+eyes should seem only to look at his friend; who broke out now, for that
+matter, with a fresh appeal. “Aren’t you going to take advantage of me,
+man--aren’t you going to _take_ it?�
+
+Everything had changed, we have noted, and nothing could more have
+proved it than the fact that, by the same turn, sincerity of desire
+had dropped out of Winch’s chords, while irritation, sharp and almost
+imperious, had come in. “That’s because he sees I see something!� Mark
+said to himself; but he had no need to add that it shouldn’t prevent his
+seeing more--for the simple reason that, in a miraculous fashion, this
+was exactly what he did do in glaring out the harder. It was beyond
+explanation, but the very act of blinking thus in an attempt at showy
+steadiness became one and the same thing with an optical excursion
+lasting the millionth of a minute and making him aware that the edge of
+a rug, at the point where an arm-chair, pushed a little out of position,
+over-straddled it, happened just not wholly to have covered in something
+small and queer, neat and bright, crooked and compact, in spite of the
+strong toe-tip surreptitiously applied to giving it the right lift Our
+gentleman, from where he hovered, and while looking straight at the
+master of the scene, yet saw, as by the tiny flash of a reflection from
+fine metal, _under_ the chair. What he recognised, or at least guessed
+at, as sinister, made him for a moment turn cold, and that chill was on
+him while Winch again addressed him--as differently as possible from any
+manner yet used. “I beg of you in God’s name to talk to me--to _talk_ to
+me!�
+
+It had the ring of pure alarm and anguish, but was by this turn at least
+more human than the dazzling glitter of intelligence to which the poor
+man had up to now been treating him. “It’s you, my good friend, who are
+in deep trouble,� Mark was accordingly quick to reply, “and I ask your
+pardon for being so taken up with my own sorry business.�
+
+“Of course I’m in deep trouble�--with which Winch came nearer again;
+“but turning you on was exactly what I wanted.�
+
+Mark Monteith, at this, couldn’t, for all his rising dismay, but
+laugh out; his sense of the ridiculous so swallowed up, for that brief
+convulsion, his sense of the sinister. Of such conivence in pain,
+it seemed, was the fact of another’s pain, and of so much worth again
+disinterested sympathy! “Your interest was then----?�
+
+“My interest was in your being interesting. For you _are!_ And my
+nerves--!� said Newton Winch with a face from which the mystifying
+smile had vanished, yet in which distinction, as Mark so persistently
+appreciated it, still sat in the midst of ravage.
+
+Mark wondered and wondered--he made strange things out. “Your nerves
+have needed company.� He could lay his hand on him now, even as shortly
+before he had felt Winch’s own pressure of possession and detention. “As
+good for you yourself, that--or still better,� he went on--“than I and
+my grievance were to have found you. Talk to we, talk to we, Newton
+Winch!� he added with an immense inspiration of charity.
+
+“That’s a different matter--that others but too much can do! But I’ll
+say this. If you want to go to Phil Bloodgood----!�
+
+“Well?� said Mark as he stopped. He stopped, and Mark had now a hand on
+each of his shoulders and held him at arm’s-length, held him with a fine
+idea that was not disconnected from the sight of the small neat weapon
+he had been fingering in the low luxurious morocco chair--it was of the
+finest orange colour--and then had laid beside him on the carpet; where,
+after he had admitted his visitor, his presence of mind coming back to
+it and suggesting that he couldn’t pick it up without making it more
+conspicuous, he had thought, by some swing of the foot or other casual
+manoeuvre, to dissimulate its visibility.
+
+They were at close quarters now as not before and Winch perfectly
+passive, with eyes that somehow had no shadow of a secret left and with
+the betrayal to the sentient hands that grasped him of an intense, an
+extraordinary general tremor. To Mark’s challenge he opposed afresh a
+brief silence, but the very quality of it, with his face speaking, was
+that of a gaping wound. “Well, you needn’t take _that_ trouble. You see
+I’m such another.�
+
+“Such another as Phil-----?�
+
+He didn’t blink. “I don’t know for sure, but I guess I’m worse.�
+
+“Do you mean you’re guilty-----?�
+
+“I mean I shall be wanted. Only I’ve stayed to take it.�
+
+Mark threw back his head, but only tightened his hands. He inexpressibly
+understood, and nothing in life had ever been so strange and dreadful to
+him as his thus helping himself by a longer and straighter stretch,
+as it were, to the monstrous sense of his friend’s “education.� It had
+been, in its immeasurable action, the education of business, of which
+the fruits were all around them. Yet prodigious was the interest, for
+prodigious truly--it seemed to loom before Mark--must have been the
+system. “To ‘take’ it?� he echoed; and then, though faltering a little,
+“To take what?�
+
+He had scarce spoken when a long sharp sound shrilled in from the outer
+door, seeming of so high and peremptory a pitch that with the start it
+gave him his grasp of his host’s shoulders relaxed an instant, though to
+the effect of no movement in _them_ but what came from just a sensibly
+intenser vibration of the whole man. “For _that_!� said Newton Winch.
+
+“Then you’ve known-----?�
+
+“I’ve expected. You’ve helped me to wait.� And then as Mark gave an
+ironic wail: “You’ve tided me over. My condition has _wanted_ somebody
+or something. Therefore, to complete this service, will you be so good
+as to open the door?�
+
+Deep in the eyes Mark looked him, and still to the detection of no
+glimmer of the earlier man in the depths. The earlier man had been what
+he invidiously remembered--yet would _he_ had been the whole simpler
+story! Then he moved his own eyes straight to the chair under which
+the revolver lay and which was but a couple of yards away. He felt his
+companion take this consciousness in, and it determined in them another
+long, mute exchange. “What do you mean to do?�
+
+“Nothing.�
+
+“On your honour?�
+
+“_My_ ‘honour’?� his host returned with an accent that he felt even as
+it sounded he should never forget.
+
+It brought to his own face a crimson flush--he dropped his guarding
+hands. Then as for a last look at him: “You’re wonderful!�
+
+“We _are_ wonderful,� said Newton Winch, while, simultaneously with the
+words, the pressed electric bell again and for a longer time pierced the
+warm cigaretted air.
+
+Mark turned, threw up his arms, and it was only when he had passed
+through the vestibule and laid his hand on the door-knob that the
+horrible noise dropped. The next moment he was face to face with two
+visitors, a nondescript personage in a high hat and an astrakhan collar
+and cuffs, and a great belted constable, a splendid massive New York
+“officer� of the type he had had occasion to wonder at much again in the
+course of his walk, the type so by itself--his wide observation quite
+suggested--among those of the peacemakers of the earth. The pair stepped
+straight in--no word was said; but as he closed the door behind them
+Mark heard the infallible crack of a discharged pistol and, so nearly
+with it as to make all one violence, the sound of a great fall; things
+the effect of which was to lift him, as it were, with his company,
+across the threshold of the room in a shorter time than that taken
+by this record of the fact. But their rush availed little; Newton was
+stretched on his back before the fire; he had held the weapon horribly
+to his temple, and his upturned face was disfigured. The emissaries
+of the law, looking down at him, exhaled simultaneously a gruff
+imprecation, and then while the worthy in the high hat bent over the
+subject of their visit the one in the helmet raised a severe pair of
+eyes to Mark. “Don’t you think, sir, you might have prevented it?�
+
+Mark took a hundred things in, it seemed to him--things of the scene,
+of the moment, and of all the strange moments before; but one appearance
+more vividly even than the others stared out at him. “I really think I
+must practically have caused it.�
+
+
+
+
+
+CRAPY CORNELIA
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+THREE times within a quarter of an hour--shifting the while his posture
+on his chair of contemplation--had he looked at his watch as for its
+final sharp hint that he should decide, that he should get up. His
+seat was one of a group fairly sequestered, unoccupied save for his own
+presence, and from where he lingered he looked off at a stretch of lawn
+freshened by recent April showers and on which sundry small children
+were at play. The trees, the shrubs, the plants, every stem and twig
+just ruffled as by the first touch of the light finger of the relenting
+year, struck him as standing still in the blest hope of more of the same
+caress; the quarter about him held its breath after the fashion of the
+child who waits with the rigour of an open mouth and shut eyes for the
+promised sensible effect of his having been good. So, in the windless,
+sun-warmed air of the beautiful afternoon, the Park of the winter’s
+end had struck White-Mason as waiting; even New York, under such an
+impression, was “good,� good enough--for _him_; its very sounds were
+faint, were almost sweet, as they reached him from so seemingly far
+beyond the wooded horizon that formed the remoter limit of his large
+shallow glade. The tones of the frolic infants ceased to be nondescript
+and harsh--were in fact almost as fresh and decent as the frilled and
+puckered and ribboned garb of the little girls, which had always a
+way, in those parts, of so portentously flaunting the daughters of the
+strange native--that is of the overwhelmingly alien--populace at him.
+
+Not that these things in particular were his matter of meditation
+now; he had wanted, at the end of his walk, to sit apart a little and
+think--and had been doing that for twenty minutes, even though as yet
+to no break in the charm of procrastination. But he had looked without
+seeing and listened without hearing: all that had been positive for
+him was that he hadn’t failed vaguely to feel. He had felt in the first
+place, and he continued to feel--yes, at forty-eight quite as much as at
+any point of the supposed reign of younger intensities--the great spirit
+of the air, the fine sense of the season, the supreme appeal of
+Nature, he might have said, to his time of life; quite as if she, easy,
+indulgent, indifferent, cynical Power, were offering him the last chance
+it would rest with his wit or his blood to embrace. Then with that he
+had been entertaining, to the point and with the prolonged consequence
+of accepted immobilization, the certitude that if he did call on Mrs.
+Worthingham and find her at home he couldn’t in justice to himself not
+put to her the question that had lapsed the other time, the last time,
+through the irritating and persistent, even if accidental, presence of
+others. What friends she had--the people who so stupidly, so wantonly
+stuck! If they _should_, he and she, come to an understanding, that
+would presumably have to include certain members of her singularly
+ill-composed circle, in whom it was incredible to him that he should
+ever take an interest. This defeat, to do himself justice--he had bent
+rather predominantly on _that_, you see; ideal justice to _her_, with
+her possible conception of what it should consist of, being another and
+quite a different matter--he had had the fact of the Sunday afternoon to
+thank for; she didn’t “keep� that day for him, since they hadn’t, up to
+now, quite begun to cultivate the appointment or assignation founded
+on explicit sacrifices. He might at any rate look to find this pleasant
+practical Wednesday--should he indeed, at his actual rate, stay it
+before it ebbed--more liberally and intendingly given him.
+
+The sound he at last most wittingly distinguished in his nook was the
+single deep note of half-past five borne to him from some high-perched
+public clock. He finally got up with the sense that the time from then
+on _ought_ at least to be felt as sacred to him. At this juncture it
+was--while he stood there shaking his garments, settling his hat, his
+necktie, his shirt-cuffs, fixing the high polish of his fine shoes as
+if for some reflection in it of his straight and spare and grizzled, his
+refined and trimmed and dressed, his altogether distinguished person,
+that of a gentleman abundantly settled, but of a bachelor markedly
+nervous--at this crisis it was, doubtless, that he at once most measured
+and least resented his predicament. If he should go he would almost to
+a certainty find her, and if he should find her he would almost to a
+certainty come to the point. He wouldn’t put it off again--there was
+that high consideration for him of justice at least to himself. He
+had never yet denied himself anything so apparently fraught with
+possibilities as the idea of proposing to Mrs. Worthingham--never yet,
+in other words, denied himself anything he had so distinctly wanted to
+do; and the results of that wisdom had remained for him precisely the
+precious parts of experience. Counting only the offers of his honourable
+hand, these had been on three remembered occasions at least the
+consequence of an impulse as sharp and a self-respect as reasoned;
+a self-respect that hadn’t in the least suffered, moreover, from the
+failure of each appeal. He had been met in the three cases--the only
+ones he at all compared with his present case--by the frank confession
+that he didn’t somehow, charming as he was, cause himself to be
+superstitiously believed in; and the lapse of life, afterward, had
+cleared up many doubts.
+
+It _wouldn’t_ have done, he eventually, he lucidly saw, each time he had
+been refused; and the candour of his nature was such that he could
+live to think of these very passages as a proof of how right he had
+been--right, that is, to have put himself forward always, by the
+happiest instinct, only in impossible conditions. He had the happy
+consciousness of having exposed the important question to the crucial
+test, and of having escaped, by that persistent logic, a grave mistake.
+What better proof of his escape than the fact that he was now free to
+renew the all-interesting inquiry, and should be exactly, about to do
+so in different and better conditions? The conditions were better by as
+much more--as much more of his career and character, of his situation,
+his reputation he could even have called it, of his knowledge of life,
+of his somewhat extended means, of his possibly augmented charm, of
+his certainly improved mind and temper--as was involved in the actual
+impending settlement. Once he had got into motion, once he had crossed
+the Park and passed out of it, entering, with very little space to
+traverse, one of the short new streets that abutted on its east side,
+his step became that of a man young enough to find confidence, quite to
+find felicity, in the sense, in almost any sense, of action. He could
+still enjoy almost anything, absolutely an unpleasant thing, in default
+of a better, that might still remind him he wasn’t so old. The standing
+newness of everything about him would, it was true, have weakened this
+cheer by too much presuming on it; Mrs. Worthingham’s house, before
+which he stopped, had that gloss of new money, that glare of a piece
+fresh from the mint and ringing for the first time on any counter,
+which seems to claim for it, in any transaction, something more than the
+“face� value.
+
+This could but be yet more the case for the impression of the observer
+introduced and committed. On our friend’s part I mean, after his
+admission and while still in the hall, the sense of the general shining
+immediacy, of the still unhushed clamour of the shock, was perhaps
+stronger than he had ever known it. That broke out from every corner as
+the high pitch of interest, and with a candour that--no, certainly--he
+had never seen equalled; every particular expensive object shrieking at
+him in its artless pride that it had just “come home.� He met the whole
+vision with something of the grimace produced on persons without goggles
+by the passage from a shelter to a blinding light; and if he had--by a
+perfectly possible chance--been “snap-shotted� on the spot, would
+have struck you as showing for his first tribute to the temple of Mrs.
+Worthingham’s charming presence a scowl almost of anguish. He wasn’t
+constitutionally, it may at once be explained for him, a goggled
+person; and he was condemned, in New York, to this frequent violence of
+transition--having to reckon with it whenever he went out, as who should
+say, from himself. The high pitch of interest, to his taste, was the
+pitch of history, the pitch of acquired and earned suggestion, the
+pitch of association, in a word; so that he lived by preference,
+incontestably, if not in a rich gloom, which would have been beyond his
+means and spirits, at least amid objects and images that confessed to
+the tone of time.
+
+He had ever felt that an indispensable presence--with a need of it
+moreover that interfered at no point with his gentle habit, not to say
+his subtle art, of drawing out what was left him of his youth, of
+thinly and thriftily spreading the rest of that choicest jam-pot of the
+cupboard of consciousness over the remainder of a slice of life still
+possibly thick enough to bear it; or in other words of moving the
+melancholy limits, the significant signs, constantly a little further
+on, very much as property-marks or staked boundaries are sometimes
+stealthily shifted at night. He positively cherished in fact, as against
+the too inveterate gesture of distressfully guarding his eyeballs--so
+many New York aspects seemed to keep him at it--an ideal of adjusted
+appreciation, of courageous curiosity, of fairly letting the world
+about him, a world of constant breathless renewals and merciless
+substitutions, make its flaring assault on its own inordinate terms.
+Newness was value in the piece--for the acquisitor, or at least
+sometimes might be, even though the act of “blowing� hard, the act
+marking a heated freshness of arrival, or other form of irruption, could
+never minister to the peace of those already and long on the field; and
+this if only because maturer tone was after all most appreciable
+and most consoling when one staggered back to it, wounded, bleeding,
+blinded, from the riot of the raw--or, to put the whole experience more
+prettily, no doubt, from excesses of light.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+If he went in, however, with something of his more or less inevitable
+scowl, there were really, at the moment, two rather valid reasons for
+screened observation; the first of these being that the whole place
+seemed to reflect as never before the lustre of Mrs. Worthingham’s own
+polished and prosperous little person--to smile, it struck him, with her
+smile, to twinkle not only with the gleam of her lovely teeth, but with
+that of all her rings and brooches and bangles and other gewgaws,
+to curl and spasmodically cluster as in emulation of her charming
+complicated yellow tresses, to surround the most animated of
+pink-and-white, of ruffled and ribboned, of frilled and festooned
+Dresden china shepherdesses with exactly the right system of rococo
+curves and convolutions and other flourishes, a perfect bower of painted
+and gilded and moulded conceits. The second ground of this immediate
+impression of scenic extravagance, almost as if the curtain rose for him
+to the first act of some small and expensively mounted comic opera,
+was that she hadn’t, after all, awaited him in fond singleness, but
+had again just a trifle inconsiderately exposed him to the drawback of
+having to reckon, for whatever design he might amiably entertain, with
+the presence of a third and quite superfluous person, a small black
+insignificant but none the less oppressive stranger. It was odd how,
+on the instant, the little lady engaged with her did affect him as
+comparatively black--very much as if that had absolutely, in such a
+medium, to be the graceless appearance of any item not positively of
+some fresh shade of a light colour or of some pretty pretension to a
+charming twist. Any witness of their meeting, his hostess should surely
+have felt, would have been a false note in the whole rosy glow; but
+what note so false as that of the dingy little presence that she might
+actually, by a refinement of her perhaps always too visible study of
+effect, have provided as a positive contrast or foil? whose name and
+intervention, moreover, she appeared to be no more moved to mention and
+account for than she might have been to “present�--whether as stretched
+at her feet or erect upon disciplined haunches--some shaggy old
+domesticated terrier or poodle.
+
+Extraordinarily, after he had been in the room five minutes--a space of
+time during which his fellow-visitor had neither budged nor uttered a
+sound--he had made Mrs. Worthingham out as all at once perfectly pleased
+to see him, completely aware of what he had most in mind, and singularly
+serene in face of his sense of their impediment. It was as if for all
+the world she didn’t take it for one, the immobility, to say nothing of
+the seeming equanimity, of their tactless companion; at whom meanwhile
+indeed our friend himself, after his first ruffled perception, no more
+adventured a look than if advised by his constitutional kindness that
+to notice her in any degree would perforce be ungraciously to glower.
+He talked after a fashion with the woman as to whose power to please and
+amuse and serve him, as to whose really quite organised and indicated
+fitness for lighting up his autumn afternoon of life his conviction had
+lately strained itself so clear; but he was all the while carrying on
+an intenser exchange with his own spirit and trying to read into
+the charming creature’s behaviour, as he could only call it, some
+confirmation of his theory that she also had her inward flutter and
+anxiously counted on him. He found support, happily for the conviction
+just named, in the idea, at no moment as yet really repugnant to him,
+the idea bound up in fact with the finer essence of her appeal, that she
+had her own vision too of her quality and her price, and that the
+last appearance she would have liked to bristle with was that of being
+forewarned and eager.
+
+He had, if he came to think of it, scarce definitely warned her, and he
+probably wouldn’t have taken to her so consciously in the first instance
+without an appreciative sense that, as she was a little person of twenty
+superficial graces, so she was also a little person with her secret
+pride. She might just have planted her mangy lion--not to say her
+muzzled house-dog--there in his path as a symbol that she wasn’t cheap
+and easy; which would be a thing he couldn’t possibly wish his future
+wife to have shown herself in advance, even if to him alone. That she
+could make him put himself such questions was precisely part of the
+attaching play of her iridescent surface, the shimmering interfusion
+of her various aspects; that of her youth with her independence--her
+pecuniary perhaps in particular, that of her vivacity with her beauty,
+that of her facility above all with her odd novelty; the high modernity,
+as people appeared to have come to call it, that made her so much
+more “knowing� in some directions than even he, man of the world as he
+certainly was, could pretend to be, though all on a basis of the most
+unconscious and instinctive and luxurious assumption. She was “up� to
+everything, aware of everything--if one counted from a short enough time
+back (from week before last, say, and as if quantities of history had
+burst upon the world within the fortnight); she was likewise surprised
+at nothing, and in that direction one might reckon as far ahead as the
+rest of her lifetime, or at any rate as the rest of his, which was all
+that would concern him: it was as if the suitability of the future
+to her personal and rather pampered tastes was what she most took for
+granted, so that he could see her, for all her Dresden-china shoes and
+her flutter of wondrous befrilled contemporary skirts, skip by the side
+of the coming age as over the floor of a ball-room, keeping step with
+its monstrous stride and prepared for every figure of the dance. Her
+outlook took form to him suddenly as a great square sunny window that
+hung in assured fashion over the immensity of life. There rose toward it
+as from a vast swarming _plaza_ a high tide of emotion and sound; yet it
+was at the same time as if even while he looked her light gemmed hand,
+flashing on him in addition to those other things the perfect polish of
+the prettiest pink finger-nails in the world, had touched a spring, the
+most ingenious of ecent devices for instant ease, which dropped half
+across the scene a soft-coloured mechanical blind, a fluttered, fringed
+awning of charmingly toned silk, such as would make a bath of cool shade
+for the favoured friend leaning with her there--that is for the happy
+couple itself--on the balcony. The great view would be the prospect and
+privilege of the very state he coveted--since didn’t he covet it?--the
+state of being so securely at her side; while the wash of privacy, as
+one might count it, the broad fine brush dipped into clear umber and
+passed, full and wet, straight across the strong scheme of colour, would
+represent the security itself, all the uplifted inner elegance, the
+condition, so ideal, of being shut out from nothing and yet of having,
+so gaily and breezily aloft, none of the burden or worry of anything.
+Thus, as I say, for our friend, the place itself, while his vivid
+impression lasted, portentously opened and spread, and what was before
+him took, to his vision, though indeed at so other a crisis, the form
+of the “glimmering square� of the poet; yet, for a still more remarkable
+fact, with an incongruous object usurping at a given instant the
+privilege of the frame and seeming, even as he looked, to block the
+view.
+
+The incongruous object was a woman’s head, crowned with a little
+sparsely feathered black hat, an ornament quite unlike those the women
+mostly noticed by White-Mason were now “wearing,� and that grew and
+grew, that came nearer and nearer, while it met his eyes, after the
+manner of images in the kinematograph. It had presently loomed so large
+that he saw nothing else--not only among the things at a considerable
+distance, the things Mrs. Worthingham would eventually, yet
+unmistakably, introduce him to, but among those of this lady’s various
+attributes and appurtenances as to which he had been in the very act of
+cultivating his consciousness. It was in the course of another minute
+the most extraordinary thing in the world: everything had altered,
+dropped, darkened, disappeared; his imagination had spread its wings
+only to feel them flop all grotesquely at its sides as he recognised in
+his hostess’s quiet companion, the oppressive alien who hadn’t indeed
+interfered with his fanciful flight, though she had prevented his
+immediate declaration and brought about the thud, not to say the felt
+violent shock, of his fall to earth, the perfectly plain identity of
+Cornelia Rasch. It was she who had remained there at attention; it was
+she their companion hadn’t introduced; it was she he had forborne to
+face with his fear of incivility. He stared at her--everything else
+went.
+
+“Why it has been _you_ all this time?�
+
+Miss Rasch fairly turned pale. “I was waiting to see if you’d know me.�
+
+“Ah, my dear Cornelia�--he came straight out with it--“rather!�
+
+“Well, it isn’t,� she returned with a quick change to red now, “from
+having taken much time to look at me!�
+
+She smiled, she even laughed, but he could see how she had felt his
+unconsciousness, poor thing; the acquaintance, quite the friend of his
+youth, as she had been, the associate of his childhood, of his early
+manhood, of his middle age in fact, up to a few years back, not more
+than ten at the most; the associate too of so many of his associates and
+of almost all of his relations, those of the other time, those who had
+mainly gone for ever; the person in short whose noted disappearance,
+though it might have seemed final, had been only of recent seasons. She
+was present again now, all unexpectedly--he had heard of her having
+at last, left alone after successive deaths and with scant resources,
+sought economic salvation in Europe, the promised land of American
+thrift--she was present as this almost ancient and this oddly
+unassertive little rotund figure whom one seemed no more obliged to
+address than if she had been a black satin ottoman “treated� with
+buttons and gimp; a class of object as to which the policy of blindness
+was imperative. He felt the need of some explanatory plea, and before he
+could think had uttered one at Mrs. Worthingham’s expense. “Why, you see
+we weren’t introduced----!�
+
+“No--but I didn’t suppose I should have to be named to you.�
+
+“Well, my dear woman, you haven’t--do me that justice!� He could at
+least make this point. “I felt all the while--!� However, it would have
+taken him long to say what he had been feeling; and he was aware now of
+the pretty projected light of Mrs. Worthingham’s wonder. She looked as
+if, out for a walk with her, he had put her to the inconvenience of his
+stopping to speak to a strange woman in the street.
+
+“I never supposed you knew her!�--it was to him his hostess excused
+herself.
+
+This made Miss Rasch spring up, distinctly flushed, distinctly strange
+to behold, but not vulgarly nettled--Cornelia was incapable of that;
+only rather funnily bridling and laughing, only showing that this was
+all she had waited for, only saying just the right thing, the thing
+she could make so clearly a jest. “Of course if you _had_ you’d have
+presented him.�
+
+Mrs. Worthingham looked while answering at White-Mason. “I didn’t want
+you to go--which you see you do as soon as he speaks to you. But I never
+dreamed----!�
+
+“That there was anything between us? Ah, there are no end of things!�
+ He, on his side, though addressing the younger and prettier woman,
+looked at his fellow-guest; to whom he even continued: “When did you get
+back? May I come and see you the very first thing?�
+
+Cornelia gasped and wriggled--she practically giggled; she had
+lost every atom of her little old, her little young, though always
+unaccountable prettiness, which used to peep so, on the bare chance of
+a shot, from behind indefensible features, that it almost made watching
+her a form of sport. He had heard vaguely of her, it came back to
+him (for there had been no letters; their later acquaintance, thank
+goodness, hadn’t involved that) as experimenting, for economy, and then
+as settling, to the same rather dismal end, somewhere in England, “at
+one of those intensely English places, St. Leonards, Cheltenham, Bognor,
+Dawlish--which, awfully, _was_ it?�--and she now affected him for all
+the world as some small squirming, exclaiming, genteelly conversing old
+maid of a type vaguely associated with the three-volume novels he used
+to feed on (besides his so often encountering it in “real life,�) during
+a far-away stay of his own at Brighton. Odder than any element of his
+ex-gossip’s identity itself, however, was the fact that she somehow,
+with it all, rejoiced his sight. Indeed the supreme oddity was that
+the manner of her reply to his request for leave to call should have
+absolutely charmed his attention. She didn’t look at him; she only, from
+under her frumpy, crapy, curiously exotic hat, and with her good little
+near-sighted insinuating glare, expressed to Mrs. Worthingham, while she
+answered him, wonderful arch things, the overdone things of a shy woman.
+“Yes, you may call--but only when this dear lovely lady has done with
+you!� The moment after which she had gone.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+Forty minutes later he was taking his way back from the queer
+miscarriage of his adventure; taking it, with no conscious positive
+felicity, through the very spaces that had witnessed shortly before the
+considerable serenity of his assurance. He had said to himself then, or
+had as good as said it, that, since he might do perfectly as he liked,
+it couldn’t fail for him that he must soon retrace those steps, humming,
+to all intents, the first bars of a wedding-march; so beautifully had it
+cleared up that he was “going to like� letting Mrs. Worthingham accept
+him. He was to have hummed no wedding-march, as it seemed to be turning
+out--he had none, up to now, to hum; and yet, extraordinarily, it wasn’t
+in the least because she had refused him. Why then hadn’t he liked as
+much as he had intended to like it putting the pleasant act, the act of
+not refusing him, in her power? Could it all have come from the awkward
+minute of his failure to decide sharply, on Cornelia’s departure,
+whether or no he would attend her to the door? He hadn’t decided at
+all--what the deuce had been in him?--but had danced to and fro in the
+room, thinking better of each impulse and then thinking worse. He had
+hesitated like an ass erect on absurd hind legs between two bundles
+of hay; the upshot of which must have been his giving the falsest
+impression. In what way that was to be for an instant considered had
+their common past committed him to crapy Cornelia? He repudiated with a
+whack on the gravel any ghost of an obligation.
+
+What he could get rid of with scanter success, unfortunately, was the
+peculiar sharpness of his sense that, though mystified by his visible
+flurry--and yet not mystified enough for a sympathetic question
+either--his hostess had been, on the whole, even more frankly diverted:
+which was precisely an example of that newest, freshest, finest freedom
+in her, the air and the candour of assuming, not “heartlessly,� not
+viciously, not even very consciously, but with a bright pampered
+confidence which would probably end by affecting one’s nerves as the
+most impertinent stroke in the world, that every blest thing coming up
+for her in any connection was somehow matter for her general recreation.
+There she was again with the innocent egotism, the gilded and
+overflowing anarchism, really, of her doubtless quite unwitting but none
+the less rabid modern note. Her grace of ease was perfect, but it was
+all grace of ease, not a single shred of it grace of uncertainty or
+of difficulty--which meant, when you came to see, that, for its happy
+working, not a grain of provision was left by it to mere manners. This
+was clearly going to be the music of the future--that if people were but
+rich enough and furnished enough and fed enough, exercised and sanitated
+and manicured and generally advised and advertised and made “knowing�
+ enough, _avertis_ enough, as the term appeared to be nowadays in Paris,
+all they had to do for civility was to take the amused ironic view of
+those who might be less initiated. In _his_ time, when he was young or
+even when he was only but a little less middle-aged, the best manners
+had been the best kindness, and the best kindness had mostly been some
+art of not insisting on one’s luxurious differences, of concealing
+rather, for common humanity, if not for common decency, a part at least
+of the intensity or the ferocity with which one might be “in the know.�
+
+Oh, the “know�--Mrs. Worthingham was in it, all instinctively,
+inevitably, and as a matter of course, up to her eyes; which didn’t,
+however, the least little bit prevent her being as ignorant as a fish of
+everything that really and intimately and fundamentally concerned _him_,
+poor dear old White-Mason. She didn’t, in the first place, so much as
+know who he was--by which he meant know who and what it was to _be_
+a White-Mason, even a poor and a dear and old one, “anyway.� That
+indeed--he did her perfect justice--was of the very essence of the
+newness and freshness and beautiful, brave, social irresponsibility by
+which she had originally dazzled him: just exactly that circumstance of
+her having no instinct for any old quality or quantity or identity, a
+single historic or social value, as he might say, of the New York of his
+already almost legendary past; and that additional one of his, on his
+side, having, so far as this went, cultivated blankness, cultivated
+positive prudence, as to her own personal background--the vagueness,
+at the best, with which all honest gentlefolk, the New Yorkers of his
+approved stock and conservative generation, were content, as for the
+most part they were indubitably wise, to surround the origins and
+antecedents and queer unimaginable early influences of persons swimming
+into their ken from those parts of the country that quite necessarily
+and naturally figured to their view as “Godforsaken� and generally
+impossible.
+
+The few scattered surviving representatives of a society once
+“good�--_rari nantes in gurgite vasto_--were liable, at the pass things
+had come to, to meet, and even amid old shades once sacred, or what was
+left of such, every form of social impossibility, and, more irresistibly
+still, to find these apparitions often carry themselves (often at
+least in the case of the women) with a wondrous wild gallantry, equally
+imperturbable and inimitable, the sort of thing that reached its maximum
+in Mrs. Worthingham. Beyond that who ever wanted to look up their
+annals, to reconstruct their steps and stages, to dot their i’s in fine,
+or to “go behind� anything that was theirs? One wouldn’t do that for
+the world--a rudimentary discretion forbade it; and yet this check from
+elementary undiscussable taste quite consorted with a due respect for
+them, or at any rate with a due respect for oneself in connection with
+them; as was just exemplified in what would be his own, what would be
+poor dear old White-Mason’s, insurmountable aversion to having, on any
+pretext, the doubtless very queer spectre of the late Mr. Worthingham
+presented to him. No question had he asked, or would he ever ask, should
+his life--that is should the success of his courtship--even intimately
+depend on it, either about that obscure agent of his mistress’s actual
+affluence or about the happy head-spring itself, and the apparently
+copious tributaries, of the golden stream.
+
+From all which marked anomalies, at any rate, what was the moral to
+draw? He dropped into a Park chair again with that question, he lost
+himself in the wonder of why he had come away with his homage so very
+much unpaid. Yet it didn’t seem at all, actually, as if he could say
+or conclude, as if he could do anything but keep on worrying--just in
+conformity with his being a person who, whether or no familiar with the
+need to make his conduct square with his conscience and his taste, was
+never wholly exempt from that of making his taste and his conscience
+square with his conduct. To this latter occupation he further abandoned
+himself, and it didn’t release him from his second brooding session
+till the sweet spring sunset had begun to gather and he had more or less
+cleared up, in the deepening dusk, the effective relation between the
+various parts of his ridiculously agitating experience. There were vital
+facts he seemed thus to catch, to seize, with a nervous hand, and the
+twilight helping, by their vaguely whisked tails; unquiet truths that
+swarmed out after the fashion of creatures bold only at eventide,
+creatures that hovered and circled, that verily brushed his nose, in
+spite of their shyness. Yes, he had practically just sat on with his
+“mistress�--heaven save the mark!--as if not to come to the point; as
+if it had absolutely come up that there would be something rather vulgar
+and awful in doing so. The whole stretch of his stay after Cornelia’s
+withdrawal had been consumed by his almost ostentatiously treating
+himself to the opportunity of which he was to make nothing. It was as
+if he had sat and watched himself--that came back to him: Shall I now or
+sha’n’t I? Will I now or won’t I? “Say within the next three minutes,
+say by a quarter past six, or by twenty minutes past, at the
+furthest--always if nothing more comes up to prevent.�
+
+What had already come up to prevent was, in the strangest and drollest,
+or at least in the most preposterous, way in the world, that not
+Cornelia’s presence, but her very absence, with its distraction of his
+thoughts, the thoughts that lumbered after her, had made the difference;
+and without his being the least able to tell why and how. He put it
+to himself after a fashion by the image that, this distraction once
+created, his working round to his hostess again, his reverting to the
+matter of his errand, began suddenly to represent a return from so far.
+That was simply all--or rather a little less than all; for something
+else had contributed. “I never dreamed you knew her,� and “I never
+dreamed _you_ did,� were inevitably what had been exchanged between
+them--supplemented by Mrs. Worthingham’s mere scrap of an explanation:
+“Oh yes--to the small extent you see. Two years ago in Switzerland
+when I was at a high place for an ‘aftercure,’ during twenty days of
+incessant rain, she was the only person in an hotel full of roaring,
+gorging, smoking Germans with whom I could have a word of talk. She
+and I were the only speakers of English, and were thrown together like
+castaways on a desert island and in a raging storm. She was ill besides,
+and she had no maid, and mine looked after her, and she was very
+grateful--writing to me later on and saying she should certainly come to
+see me if she ever returned to New York. She has returned, you see--and
+there she was, poor little creature!� Such was Mrs. Worthingham’s
+tribute--to which even his asking her if Miss Rasch had ever happened
+to speak of him caused her practically to add nothing. Visibly she had
+never thought again of any one Miss Rasch had spoken of or anything Miss
+Rasch had said; right as she was, naturally, about her being a
+little clever queer creature. This was perfectly true, and yet it
+was probably--by being _all_ she could dream of about her--what had
+paralysed his proper gallantry. Its effect had been not in what it
+simply stated, but in what, under his secretly disintegrating criticism,
+it almost luridly symbolised.
+
+He had quitted his seat in the Louis Quinze drawing-room without having,
+as he would have described it, done anything but give the lady of the
+scene a superior chance not to betray a defeated hope--not, that is,
+to fail of the famous “pride� mostly supposed to prop even the most
+infatuated women at such junctures; by which chance, to do her justice,
+she had thoroughly seemed to profit. But he finally rose from his later
+station with a feeling of better success. He had by a happy turn of his
+hand got hold of the most precious, the least obscure of the flitting,
+circling things that brushed his ears. What he wanted--as justifying for
+him a little further consideration--was there before him from the moment
+he could put it that Mrs. Worthingham had no data. He almost hugged that
+word,--it suddenly came to mean so much to him. No data, he felt, for a
+conception of the sort of thing the New York of “his time� had been in
+his personal life--the New York so unexpectedly, so vividly and, as he
+might say, so perversely called back to all his senses by its identity
+with that of poor Cornelia’s time: since even she had had a time, small
+show as it was likely to make now, and his time and hers had been the
+same. Cornelia figured to him while he walked away as, by contrast and
+opposition, a massive little bundle of data; his impatience to go to see
+her sharpened as he thought of this: so certainly should he find out
+that wherever he might touch her, with a gentle though firm pressure, he
+would, as the fond visitor of old houses taps and fingers a disfeatured,
+overpapered wall with the conviction of a wainscot-edge beneath,
+recognise some small extrusion of history.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+There would have been a wonder for us meanwhile in his continued use, as
+it were, of his happy formula--brought out to Cornelia Rasch within ten
+minutes, or perhaps only within twenty, of his having settled into the
+quite comfortable chair that, two days later, she indicated to him by
+her fireside. He had arrived at her address through the fortunate chance
+of his having noticed her card, as he went out, deposited, in the good
+old New York fashion, on one of the rococo tables of Mrs. Worthingham’s
+hall. His eye had been caught by the pencilled indication that was to
+affect him, the next instant, as fairly placed there for his sake. This
+had really been his luck, for he shouldn’t have liked to write to Mrs.
+Worthingham for guidance--_that_ he felt, though too impatient just
+now to analyze the reluctance. There was nobody else he could have
+approached for a clue, and with this reflection he was already aware
+of how it testified to their rare little position, his and
+Cornelia’s--position as conscious, ironic, pathetic survivors together
+of a dead and buried society--that there would have been, in all the
+town, under such stress, not a member of their old circle left to turn
+to. Mrs. Worthingham had practically, even if accidentally, helped him
+to knowledge; the last nail in the coffin of the poor dear extinct
+past had been planted for him by his having thus to reach his antique
+contemporary through perforation of the newest newness. The note of this
+particular recognition was in fact the more prescribed to him that
+the ground of Cornelia’s return to a scene swept so bare of the
+associational charm was certainly inconspicuous. What had she then come
+back for?--he had asked himself that; with the effect of deciding that
+it probably would have been, a little, to “look after� her remnant of
+property. Perhaps she had come to save what little might still remain of
+that shrivelled interest; perhaps she had been, by those who took care
+of it for her, further swindled and despoiled, so that she wished to
+get at the facts. Perhaps on the other hand--it was a more cheerful
+chance--her investments, decently administered, were making larger
+returns, so that the rigorous thrift of Bognor could be finally relaxed.
+
+He had little to learn about the attraction of Europe, and rather
+expected that in the event of his union with Mrs Worthingham he should
+find himself pleading for it with the competence of one more in the
+“know� about Paris and Rome, about Venice and Florence, than even she
+could be. He could have lived on in _his_ New York, that is in the
+sentimental, the spiritual, the more or less romantic visitation of it;
+but had it been positive for him that he could live on in hers?--unless
+indeed the possibility of this had been just (like the famous _vertige
+de l’abîme_, like the solicitation of danger, or otherwise of the
+dreadful) the very hinge of his whole dream. However that might be,
+his curiosity was occupied rather with the conceivable hinge of poor
+Cornelia’s: it was perhaps thinkable that even Mrs. Worthingham’s New
+York, once it should have become possible again at all, might have
+put forth to this lone exile a plea that wouldn’t be in the chords of
+Bognor. For himself, after all, too, the attraction had been much
+more of the Europe over which one might move at one’s ease, and which
+therefore could but cost, and cost much, right and left, than of the
+Europe adapted to scrimping. He saw himself on the whole scrimping with
+more zest even in Mrs. Worthingham’s New York than under the inspiration
+of Bognor. Apart from which it was yet again odd, not to say perceptibly
+pleasing to him, to note where the emphasis of his interest fell in this
+fumble of fancy over such felt oppositions as the new, the latest, the
+luridest power of money and the ancient reserves and moderations and
+mediocrities. These last struck him as showing by contrast the old brown
+surface and tone as of velvet rubbed and worn, shabby, and even a bit
+dingy, but all soft and subtle and still velvety--which meant still
+dignified; whereas the angular facts of current finance were as harsh
+and metallic and bewildering as some stacked “exhibit� of ugly patented
+inventions, things his mediaeval mind forbade his taking in. He had
+for instance the sense of knowing the pleasant little old Rasch
+fortune--pleasant as far as it went; blurred memories and impressions
+of what it had been and what it hadn’t, of how it had grown and how
+languished and how melted; they came back to him and put on such
+vividness that he could almost have figured himself testify for them
+before a bland and encouraging Board. The idea of taking the field in
+any manner on the subject of Mrs. Worthingham’s resources would have
+affected him on the other hand as an odious ordeal, some glare of
+embarrassment and exposure in a circle of hard unhelpful attention, of
+converging, derisive, unsuggestive eyes.
+
+In Cornelia’s small and quite cynically modern flat--the house had
+a grotesque name, “The Gainsborough,� but at least wasn’t an awful
+boarding-house, as he had feared, and she could receive him quite
+honourably, which was so much to the good--he would have been ready to
+use at once to her the greatest freedom of friendly allusion: “Have
+you still your old ‘family interest’ in those two houses in Seventh
+Avenue?--one of which was next to a corner grocery, don’t you know? and
+was occupied as to its lower part by a candy-shop where the proportion
+of the stock of suspectedly stale popcorn to that of rarer and stickier
+joys betrayed perhaps a modest capital on the part of your father’s,
+your grandfather’s, or whoever’s tenant, but out of which I nevertheless
+remember once to have come as out of a bath of sweets, with my very
+garments, and even the separate hairs of my head, glued together.
+The other of the pair, a tobacconist’s, further down, had before it a
+wonderful huge Indian who thrust out wooden cigars at an indifferent
+world--you could buy candy cigars too, at the pop-corn shop, and I
+greatly preferred them to the wooden; I remember well how I used to gape
+in fascination at the Indian and wonder if the last of the Mohicans was
+like him; besides admiring so the resources of a family whose ‘property’
+was in such forms. I haven’t been round there lately--we must go round
+together; but don’t tell me the forms have utterly perished!� It was
+after _that_ fashion he might easily have been moved, and with almost
+no transition, to break out to Cornelia--quite as if taking up some old
+talk, some old community of gossip, just where they had left it; even
+with the consciousness perhaps of overdoing a little, of putting at its
+maximum, for the present harmony, recovery, recapture (what should he
+call it?) the pitch and quantity of what the past had held for them.
+
+He didn’t in fact, no doubt, dart straight off to Seventh Avenue, there
+being too many other old things and much nearer and long subsequent;
+the point was only that for everything they spoke of after he had fairly
+begun to lean back and stretch his legs, and after she had let him,
+above all, light the first of a succession of cigarettes--for everything
+they spoke of he positively cultivated extravagance and excess, piling
+up the crackling twigs as on the very altar of memory; and that by the
+end of half an hour she had lent herself, all gallantly, to their game.
+It was the game of feeding the beautiful iridescent flame, ruddy and
+green and gold, blue and pink and amber and silver, with anything they
+could pick up, anything that would burn and flicker. Thick-strown with
+such gleanings the occasion seemed indeed, in spite of the truth that
+they perhaps wouldn’t have proved, under cross-examination, to have
+rubbed shoulders in the other life so very hard. Casual contacts,
+qualified communities enough, there had doubtless been, but not
+particular “passages,� nothing that counted, as he might think of it,
+for their “very own� together, for nobody’s else at all. These shades of
+historic exactitude didn’t signify; the more and the less that there
+had been made perfect terms--and just by his being there and by her
+rejoicing in it--with their present need to have _had_ all their past
+could be made to appear to have given them. It was to this tune they
+proceeded, the least little bit as if they knowingly pretended--he
+giving her the example and setting her the pace of it, and she, poor
+dear, after a first inevitable shyness, an uncertainty of wonder, a
+breathlessness of courage, falling into step and going whatever length
+he would.
+
+She showed herself ready for it, grasping gladly at the perception of
+what he must mean; and if she didn’t immediately and completely fall
+in--not in the first half-hour, not even in the three or four others
+that his visit, even whenever he consulted his watch, still made nothing
+of--she yet understood enough as soon as she understood that, if their
+finer economy hadn’t so beautifully served, he might have been conveying
+this, that, and the other incoherent and easy thing by the comparatively
+clumsy method of sound and statement. “No, I never made love to you; it
+would in fact have been absurd, and I don’t care--though I almost know,
+in the sense of almost remembering!--who did and who didn’t; but you
+were always about, and so was I, and, little as you may yourself care
+who I did it to, I dare say you remember (in the sense of having known
+of it!) any old appearances that told. But we can’t afford at this time
+of day not to help each other to have had--well, everything there was,
+since there’s no more of it now, nor any way of coming by it except so;
+and therefore let us make together, let us make over and recreate, our
+lost world; for which we have after all and at the worst such a lot
+of material. You were in particular my poor dear sisters’ friend--they
+thought you the funniest little brown thing possible; so isn’t that
+again to the good? You were mine only to the extent that you were so
+much in and out of the house--as how much, if we come to that, wasn’t
+one in and out, south of Thirtieth Street and north of Washington
+Square, in those days, those spacious, sociable, Arcadian days, that we
+flattered ourselves we filled with the modern fever, but that were so
+different from any of these arrangements of pretended hourly Time
+that dash themselves forever to pieces as from the fiftieth floors of
+sky-scrapers.�
+
+This was the kind of thing that was in the air, whether he said it or
+not, and that could hang there even with such quite other things as
+more crudely came out; came in spite of its being perhaps calculated to
+strike us that these last would have been rather and most the unspoken
+and the indirect. They were Cornelia’s contribution, and as soon as she
+had begun to talk of Mrs. Worthingham--_he_ didn’t begin it!--they had
+taken their place bravely in the centre of the circle. There they made,
+the while, their considerable little figure, but all within the ring
+formed by fifty other allusions, fitful but really intenser irruptions
+that hovered and wavered and came and went, joining hands at moments
+and whirling round as in chorus, only then again to dash at the slightly
+huddled centre with a free twitch or peck or push or other taken
+liberty, after the fashion of irregular frolic motions in a country
+dance or a Christmas game.
+
+“You’re so in love with her and want to marry her!�--she said it all
+sympathetically and yearningly, poor crapy Cornelia; as if it were to be
+quite taken for granted that she knew all about it. And then when he had
+asked how she knew--why she took so informed a tone about it; all on
+the wonder of her seeming so much more “in� it just at that hour than
+he himself quite felt he could figure for: “Ah, how but from the dear
+lovely thing herself? Don’t you suppose _she_ knows it?�
+
+“Oh, she absolutely ‘knows’ it, does she?�--he fairly heard himself ask
+that; and with the oddest sense at once of sharply wanting the certitude
+and yet of seeing the question, of hearing himself say the words,
+through several thicknesses of some wrong medium. He came back to it
+from a distance; as he would have had to come back (this was again vivid
+to him) should he have got round again to his ripe intention three days
+before--after his now present but then absent friend, that is, had left
+him planted before his now absent but then present one for the purpose.
+“Do you mean she--at all confidently!--expects?� he went on, not much
+minding if it couldn’t but sound foolish; the time being given it for
+him meanwhile by the sigh, the wondering gasp, all charged with the
+unutterable, that the tone of his appeal set in motion. He saw his
+companion look at him, but it might have been with the eyes of thirty
+years ago; when--very likely.--he had put her some such question about
+some girl long since dead. Dimly at first, then more distinctly, didn’t
+it surge back on him for the very strangeness that there had been some
+such passage as this between them--yes, about Mary Cardew!--in the
+autumn of ‘68?
+
+“Why, don’t you realise your situation?� Miss Rasch struck him as quite
+beautifully wailing--above all to such an effect of deep interest, that
+is, on her own part and in him.
+
+“My situation?�--he echoed, he considered; but reminded afresh, by
+the note of the detached, the far-projected in it, of what he had
+last remembered of his sentient state on his once taking ether at the
+dentist’s.
+
+“Yours and hers--the situation of her adoring you. I suppose you at
+least know it,� Cornelia smiled.
+
+Yes, it was like the other time and yet it wasn’t. She was like--poor
+Cornelia was--everything that used to be; that somehow was most definite
+to him. Still he could quite reply “Do you call it--her adoring me--_my_
+situation?�
+
+“Well, it’s a part of yours, surely--if you’re in love with her.�
+
+“Am I, ridiculous old person! in love with her?� White-Mason asked.
+
+“I may be a ridiculous old person,� Cornelia returned--“and, for that
+matter, of course I am! But she’s young and lovely and rich and clever:
+so what could be more natural?�
+
+“Oh, I was applying that opprobrious epithet--!� He didn’t finish,
+though he meant he had applied it to himself. He had got up from his
+seat; he turned about and, taking in, as his eyes also roamed, several
+objects in the room, serene and sturdy, not a bit cheap-looking, little
+old New York objects of ‘68, he made, with an inner art, as if to
+recognise them--made so, that is, for himself; had quite the sense for
+the moment of asking them, of imploring them, to recognise _him_, to be
+for him things of his own past. Which they truly were, he could have
+the next instant cried out; for it meant that if three or four of
+them, small sallow carte-de-visite photographs, faithfully framed but
+spectrally faded, hadn’t in every particular, frames and balloon skirts
+and false “property� balustrades of unimaginable terraces and all,
+the tone of time, the secret for warding and easing off the perpetual
+imminent ache of one’s protective scowl, one would verily but have to
+let the scowl stiffen, or to take up seriously the question of blue
+goggles, during what might remain of life.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+What he actually took up from a little old Twelfth-Street table that
+piously preserved the plain mahogany circle, with never a curl nor a
+crook nor a hint of a brazen flourish, what he paused there a moment for
+commerce with, his back presented to crapy Cornelia, who sat taking that
+view of him, during this opportunity, very protrusively and frankly and
+fondly, was one of the wasted mementos just mentioned, over which he
+both uttered and suppressed a small comprehensive cry. He stood there
+another minute to look at it, and when he turned about still kept it in
+his hand, only holding it now a litde behind him. “You _must_ have come
+back to stay--with all your beautiful things. What else does it mean?�
+
+“‘Beautiful’?� his old friend commented with her brow all wrinkled and
+her lips thrust out in expressive dispraise. They might at that rate
+have been scarce more beautiful than she herself. “Oh, don’t talk
+so--after Mrs. Worthingham’s! _They’re_ wonderful, if you will: such
+things, such things! But one’s own poor relics and odds and ends are
+one’s own at least; and one _has_--yes--come back to them. They’re all
+I have in the world to come back to. They were stored, and what I was
+paying--!� Miss Rasch wofully added.
+
+He had possession of the small old picture; he hovered there; he put his
+eyes again to it intently; then again held it a little behind him as if
+it might have been snatched away or the very feel of it, pressed against
+him, was good to his palm. “Mrs. Worthingham’s things? You think them
+beautiful?�
+
+Cornelia did now, if ever, show an odd face. “Why certainly prodigious,
+or whatever. Isn’t that conceded?�
+
+“No doubt every horror, at the pass we’ve come to, is conceded. That’s
+just what I complain of.�
+
+“Do you _complain?_�--she drew it out as for surprise: she couldn’t have
+imagined such a thing.
+
+“To me her things are awful. They’re the newest of the new.�
+
+“Ah, but the old forms!�
+
+“Those are the most blatant. I mean the swaggering reproductions.�
+
+“Oh but,� she pleaded, “we can’t all be _really_ old.�
+
+“No, we can’t, Cornelia. But _you_ can--!� said White-Mason with the
+frankest appreciation.
+
+She looked up at him from where she sat as he could imagine her
+looking up at the curate at Bognor. “Thank you, sir! If that’s all you
+want----!�
+
+“It _is_� he said, “all I want--or almost.�
+
+“Then no wonder such a creature as that,� she lightly moralised, “won’t
+suit you!�
+
+He bent upon her, for all the weight of his question, his smoothest
+stare. “You hold she certainly won’t suit me?�
+
+“Why, what can I tell about it? Haven’t you by this time found out?�
+
+“No, but I think I’m finding.� With which he began again to explore.
+
+Miss Rasch immensely wondered. “You mean you don’t expect to come to an
+understanding with her?� And then as even to this straight challenge he
+made at first no answer: “Do you mean you give it up?�
+
+He waited some instants more, but not meeting her eyes--only looking
+again about the room. “What do you think of my chance?�
+
+“Oh,� his companion cried, “what has what I think to do with it? How can
+I think anything but that she must like you?�
+
+“Yes--of course. But how much?�
+
+“Then don’t you really know?� Cornelia asked.
+
+He kept up his walk, oddly preoccupied and still not looking at her. “Do
+you, my dear?�
+
+She waited a little. “If you haven’t really put it to her I don’t
+suppose she knows.�
+
+This at last arrested him again. “My dear Cornelia, she doesn’t
+know----!�
+
+He had paused as for the desperate tone, or at least the large emphasis
+of it, so that she took him up. “The more reason then to help her to
+find it out.�
+
+“I mean,� he explained, “that she doesn’t know anything.�
+
+“Anything?�
+
+“Anything else, I mean--even if she does know _that_.�
+
+Cornelia considered of it. “But what else need she--in particular--know?
+Isn’t that the principal thing?�
+
+“Well�--and he resumed his circuit--“she doesn’t know anything that we
+know. But nothing,� he re-emphasised--“nothing whatever!�
+
+“Well, can’t she do without that?�
+
+“Evidently she can--and evidently she does, beautifully. But the
+question is whether _I_ can!�
+
+He had paused once more with his point--but she glared, poor Cornelia,
+with her wonder. “Surely if you know for yourself----!�
+
+“Ah, it doesn’t seem enough for me to know for myself! One wants a
+woman,� he argued--but still, in his prolonged tour, quite without his
+scowl--“to know _for_ one, to know _with_ one. That’s what you do now,�
+ he candidly put to her.
+
+It made her again gape. “Do you mean you want to marry _me?_�
+
+He was so full of what he did mean, however, that he failed even to
+notice it. “She doesn’t in the least know, for instance, how old I am.�
+
+“That’s because you’re so young!�
+
+“Ah, there you are!�--and he turned off afresh and as if almost in
+disgust. It left her visibly perplexed--though even the perplexed
+Cornelia was still the exceedingly pointed; but he had come to her aid
+after another turn. “Remember, please, that I’m pretty well as old as
+you.�
+
+She had all her point at least, while she bridled and blinked, for this.
+“You’re exactly a year and ten months older.�
+
+It checked him there for delight. “You remember my birthday?�
+
+She twinkled indeed like some far-off light of home. “I remember every
+one’s. It’s a little way I’ve always had--and that I’ve never lost.�
+
+He looked at her accomplishment, across the room, as at some striking,
+some charming phenomenon. “Well, _that’s_ the sort of thing I want!� All
+the ripe candour of his eyes confirmed it.
+
+What could she do therefore, she seemed to ask him, but repeat her
+question of a moment before?--which indeed presently she made up her
+mind to. “Do you want to marry _me?_�
+
+It had this time better success--if the term may be felt in any degree
+to apply. All his candour, or more of it at least, was in his slow,
+mild, kind, considering head-shake. “No, Cornelia--not to _marry_ you.�
+
+His discrimination was a wonder; but since she was clearly treating him
+now as if everything about him was, so she could as exquisitely meet it.
+“Not at least,� she convulsively smiled, “until you’ve honourably tried
+Mrs. Worthingham. Don’t you really _mean_ to?� she gallantly insisted.
+
+He waited again a little; then he brought out: “I’ll tell you
+presently.� He came back, and as by still another mere glance over
+the room, to what seemed to him so much nearer. “That table was old
+Twelfth-Street?�
+
+“Everything here was.�
+
+“Oh, the pure blessings! With you, ah, with you, I haven’t to wear a
+green shade.� And he had retained meanwhile his small photograph, which
+he again showed himself. “Didn’t we talk of Mary Cardew?�
+
+“Why, do you remember it?� She marvelled to extravagance.
+
+“You make me. You connect me with it. You connect it with we.� He liked
+to display to her this excellent use she thus had, the service she
+rendered. “There are so many connections--there will be so many. I
+feel how, with you, they must all come up again for me: in fact you’re
+bringing them out already, just while I look at you, as fast as ever you
+can. The fact that you knew every one--!� he went on; yet as if there
+were more in that too than he could quite trust himself about.
+
+“Yes, I knew every one,� said Cornelia Rasch; but this time with perfect
+simplicity. “I knew, I imagine, more than you do--or more than you did.�
+
+It kept him there, it made him wonder with his eyes on her. “Things
+about _them_--our people?�
+
+“Our people. Ours only now.�
+
+Ah, such an interest as he felt in this--taking from her while, so far
+from scowling, he almost gaped, all it might mean! “Ours indeed--and it’s
+awfully good they are; or that we’re still here for them! Nobody else
+is--nobody but you: not a cat!�
+
+“Well, I _am_ a cat!� Cornelia grinned.
+
+“Do you mean you can tell me things--?� It was too beautiful to believe.
+
+“About what really _was?_� she artfully considered, holding him
+immensely now. “Well, unless they’ve come to you with time; unless
+you’ve learned--or found out.�
+
+“Oh,� he reassuringly cried--reassuringly, it most seemed, for
+himself--“nothing has come to me with time, everything has gone from me.
+How can I find out now! What creature has an idea----?�
+
+She threw up her hands with the shrug of old days--the sharp little
+shrug his sisters used to imitate and that she hadn’t had to go to
+Europe for. The only thing was that he blessed her for bringing it back.
+
+“Ah, the ideas of people now----!�
+
+“Yes, their ideas are certainly not about us� But he ruefully faced it.
+“We’ve none the less, however, to live with them.�
+
+“With their ideas--?� Cornelia questioned.
+
+“With _them_--these modern wonders; such as they are!� Then he went on:
+“It must have been to help me you’ve come back.�
+
+She said nothing for an instant about that, only nodding instead at his
+photograph. “What has become of yours? I mean of _her_.�
+
+This time it made him turn pale. “You remember I _have_ one?�
+
+She kept her eyes on him. “In a ‘pork-pie’ hat, with her hair in a long
+net. That was so ‘smart’ then; especially with one’s skirt looped up,
+over one’s hooped magenta petticoat, in little festoons, and a row of
+very big onyx beads over one’s braided velveteen sack--braided quite
+plain and very broad, don’t you know?�
+
+He smiled for her extraordinary possession of these things--she was as
+prompt as if she had had them before her. “Oh, rather--‘don’t I know?’
+You wore brown velveteen, and, on those remarkably small hands, funny
+gauntlets--like mine.�
+
+“Oh, do _you_ remember? But like yours?� she wondered.
+
+“I mean like hers in my photograph.� But he came back to the present
+picture. “This is better, however, for really showing her lovely head.�
+
+“Mary’s head was a perfection!� Cornelia testified.
+
+“Yes--it was better than her heart.�
+
+“Ah, don’t say that!� she pleaded. “You weren’t fair.�
+
+“Don’t you think I was fair?� It interested him immensely--and the more
+that he indeed mightn’t have been; which he seemed somehow almost to
+hope.
+
+“She didn’t think so--to the very end.�
+
+“She didn’t?�--ah the right things Cornelia said to him! But before she
+could answer he was studying again closely the small faded face. “No,
+she doesn’t, she doesn’t. Oh, her charming sad eyes and the way they say
+that, across the years, straight into mine! But I don’t know, I don’t
+know!� White-Mason quite comfortably sighed.
+
+His companion appeared to appreciate this effect. “That’s just the way
+you used to flirt with her, poor thing. Wouldn’t you like to have it?�
+ she asked.
+
+“This--for my very own?� He looked up delighted. “I really may?�
+
+“Well, if you’ll give me yours. We’ll exchange.�
+
+“That’s a charming idea. We’ll exchange. But you must come and get it at
+my rooms--where you’ll see my things.�
+
+For a little she made no answer--as if for some feeling. Then she said:
+“You asked me just now why I’ve come back.�
+
+He stared as for the connection; after which with a smile: “Not to do
+_that_----?�
+
+She waited briefly again, but with a queer little look. “I can do those
+things now; and--yes!--that’s in a manner why. I came,� she then said,
+“because I knew of a sudden one day--knew as never before--that I was
+old.�
+
+“I see. I see.� He quite understood--she had notes that so struck him.
+“And how did you like it?�
+
+She hesitated--she decided. “Well, if I liked it, it was on the
+principle perhaps on which some people like high game!�
+
+“High game--that’s good!� he laughed. “Ah, my dear, we’re ‘high’!�
+
+She shook her head. “No, not you--yet. I at any rate didn’t want any
+more adventures,� Cornelia said.
+
+He showed their small relic again with assurance. “You wanted _us_. Then
+here we are. Oh how we can talk!--with all those things you know! You
+are an invention. And you’ll see there are things J know. I shall turn
+up here--well, daily.�
+
+She took it in, but only after a moment answered. “There was something
+you said just now you’d tell me. Don’t you mean to try----?�
+
+“Mrs. Worthingham?� He drew from within his coat his pocket-book and
+carefully found a place in it for Mary Cardew’s carte-de-visite, folding
+it together with deliberation over which he put it back. Finally he
+spoke. “No--I’ve decided. I can’t--I don’t want to.�
+
+Cornelia marvelled--or looked as if she did. “Not for all she has?�
+
+“Yes--I know all she has. But I also know all she hasn’t. And, as I told
+you, she herself doesn’t--hasn’t a glimmer of a suspicion of it; and
+never will have.�
+
+Cornelia magnanimously thought “No--but she knows other things.�
+
+He shook his head as at the portentous heap of them. “Too many--too
+many. And other indeed--_so_ other! Do you know,� he went on, “that it’s
+as if _you_--by turning up for me--had brought that home to me?�
+
+“‘For you,’� she candidly considered. “But what--since you can’t marry
+me!--can you do with me?�
+
+Well, he seemed to have it all. “Everything. I can live with you--just
+this way.� To illustrate which he dropped into the other chair by her
+fire; where, leaning back, he gazed at the flame. “I can’t give you
+up. It’s very curious. It has come over me as it did over you when you
+renounced Bognor. That’s it--I know it at last, and I see one can like
+it. I’m ‘high.’ You needn’t deny it. That’s my taste. I’m old.� And in
+spite of the considerable glow there of her little household altar he
+said it without the scowl.
+
+
+
+
+THE BENCH OF DESOLATION
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+SHE had practically, he believed, conveyed the intimation, the
+horrid, brutal, vulgar menace, in the course of their last
+dreadful conversation, when, for whatever was left him of pluck or
+confidence--confidence in what he would fain have called a little more
+aggressively the strength of his position--he had judged best not to
+take it up. But this time there was no question of not understanding, or
+of pretending he didn’t; the ugly, the awful words, ruthlessly formed
+by her lips, were like the fingers of a hand that she might have thrust
+into her pocket for extraction of the monstrous object that would serve
+best for--what should he call it?--a gage of battle.
+
+“If I haven’t a very different answer from you within the next three
+days I shall put the matter into the hands of my solicitor, whom it
+may interest you to know I’ve already seen. I shall bring an action for
+‘breach’ against you, Herbert Dodd, as sure as my name’s Kate Cookham.�
+
+There it was, straight and strong--yet he felt he could say for himself,
+when once it had come, or even, already, just as it was coming, that it
+turned on, as if she had moved an electric switch, the very brightest
+light of his own very reasons. There _she_ was, in all the grossness
+of her native indelicacy, in all her essential excess of will and
+destitution of scruple; and it was the woman capable of that ignoble
+threat who, his sharper sense of her quality having become so quite
+deterrent, was now making for him a crime of it that he shouldn’t wish
+to tie himself to her for life. The vivid, lurid thing was the reality,
+all unmistakable, of her purpose; she had thought her case well out;
+had measured its odious, specious presentability; had taken, he might
+be sure, the very best advice obtainable at Properley, where there
+was always a first-rate promptitude of everything fourth-rate; it was
+disgustingly certain, in short, that she’d proceed. She was sharp
+and adroit, moreover--distinctly in certain ways a master-hand; how
+otherwise, with her so limited mere attractiveness, should she have
+entangled him? He couldn’t shut his eyes to the very probable truth that
+if she should try it she’d pull it off. She _knew_ she would--precisely;
+and her assurance was thus the very proof of her cruelty. That she
+had pretended she loved him was comparatively nothing; other women had
+pretended it, and other women too had really done it; but that she had
+pretended he could possibly have been right and safe and blest in
+loving _her_, a creature of the kind who could sniff that squalor of the
+law-court, of claimed damages and brazen lies and published kisses,
+of love-letters read amid obscene guffaws, as a positive tonic to
+resentment, as a high incentive to her course--this was what put him
+so beautifully in the right It was what might signify in a woman all
+through, he said to himself, the mere imagination of such machinery.
+Truly what a devilish conception and what an appalling nature!
+
+But there was no doubt, luckily, either, that he _could_ plant his feet
+the firmer for his now intensified sense of these things. He was to
+live, it appeared, abominably worried, he was to live consciously
+rueful, he was to live perhaps even what a scoffing world would call
+abjectly exposed; but at least he was to live saved. In spite of his
+clutch of which steadying truth, however, and in spite of his declaring
+to her, with many other angry protests and pleas, that the line of
+conduct she announced was worthy of a vindictive barmaid, a lurking fear
+in him, too deep to counsel mere defiance, made him appear to keep open
+a little, till he could somehow turn round again, the door of possible
+composition. He had scoffed at her claim, at her threat, at her thinking
+she could hustle and bully him--“Such a way, my eye, to call back
+to life a dead love!�--yet his instinct was ever, prudentially but
+helplessly, for gaining time, even if time only more wofully to quake,
+and he gained it now by not absolutely giving for his ultimatum that he
+wouldn’t think of coming round. He didn’t in the smallest degree mean to
+come round, but it was characteristic of him that he could for three
+or four days breathe a little easier by having left her under the
+impression that he perhaps might. At the same time he couldn’t not have
+said--what had conduced to bring out, in retort, her own last word, the
+word on which they had parted--“Do you mean to say you yourself would
+now be _willing_ to marry and live with a man of whom you could feel,
+the thing done, that he’d be all the while thinking of you in the light
+of a hideous coercion?� “Never you mind about _my_ willingness,� Kate
+had answered; “you’ve known what that has been for the last six months.
+Leave that to me, my willingness--I’ll take care of it all right; and
+just see what conclusion you can come to about your own.�
+
+He was to remember afterward how he had wondered whether, turned upon
+her in silence while her odious lucidity reigned unchecked, his face had
+shown her anything like the quantity of hate he felt. Probably not at
+all; no man’s face _could_ express that immense amount; especially the
+fair, refined, intellectual, gentlemanlike face which had had--and by
+her own more than once repeated avowal--so much to do with the enormous
+fancy she had originally taken to him. “Which--frankly now--would you
+personally _rather_ I should do,� he had at any rate asked her with an
+intention of supreme irony: “just sordidly marry you on top of this, or
+leave you the pleasure of your lovely appearance in court and of your so
+assured (since that’s how you feel it) big haul of damages? Sha’n’t
+you be awfully disappointed, in fact, if I don’t let you get something
+better out of me than a poor plain ten-shilling gold ring and the rest
+of the blasphemous rubbish, as we should make it between us, pronounced
+at the altar? I take it of course,� he had swaggered on, “that your
+pretension wouldn’t be for a moment that I should--after the act of
+profanity--take up my life with you.�
+
+“It’s just as much my dream as it ever was, Herbert Dodd, to take up
+mine with _you!_ Remember for me that I can do with it, my dear, that my
+idea is for even as much as that of you!� she had cried; “remember that
+for me, Herbert Dodd; remember, remember!�
+
+It was on this she had left him--left him frankly under a mortal chill.
+There might have been the last ring of an appeal or a show of persistent
+and perverse tenderness in it, however preposterous any such matter; but
+in point of fact her large, clean, plain, brown face--so much too big
+for her head, he now more than ever felt it to be, just as her head was
+so much too big for her body, and just as her hats had an irritating way
+of appearing to decline choice and conformity in respect to _any_ of her
+dimensions--presented itself with about as much expression as his own
+shop-window when the broad, blank, sallow blind was down. He was fond of
+his shop-window with some good show on; he had a fancy for a good show
+and was master of twenty different schemes of taking arrangement for the
+old books and prints, “high-class rarities� his modest catalogue called
+them, in which he dealt and which his maternal uncle, David Geddes, had,
+as he liked to say, “handed down� to him. His widowed mother had screwed
+the whole thing, the stock and the connection and the rather bad little
+house in the rather bad little street, out of the ancient worthy,
+shortly before his death, in the name of the youngest and most
+interesting, the “delicate� one and the literary, of her five scattered
+and struggling children. He could enjoy his happiest collocations and
+contrasts and effects, his harmonies and varieties of toned and faded
+leather and cloth, his sought color-notes and the high clearnesses,
+here and there, of his white and beautifully figured price-labels, which
+pleased him enough in themselves almost to console him for not
+oftener having to break, on a customer’s insistence, into the balanced
+composition. But the dropped expanse of time-soiled canvas, the thing
+of Sundays and holidays, with just his name, “Herbert Dodd, Successor,�
+ painted on below his uncle’s antique style, the feeble penlike
+flourishes already quite archaic--this ugly vacant mask, which might
+so easily be taken for the mask of failure, somehow always gave him a
+chill.
+
+That had been just the sort of chill--the analogy was complete--of Kate
+Cookham’s last look. He supposed people doing an awfully good and sure
+and steady business, in whatever line, could see a whole front turned
+to vacancy that way and merely think of the hours off represented by it.
+Only for this--nervously to bear it, in other words, and Herbert Dodd,
+quite with the literary temperament himself, was capable of that amount
+of play of fancy, or even of morbid analysis--you had to be on some
+footing, you had to feel some confidence, pretty different from his own
+up to now. He had never _not_ enjoyed passing his show on the other side
+of the street and taking it in thence with a casual obliquity; but he
+had never held optical commerce with the drawn blind for a moment longer
+than he could help. It _always_ looked horribly final and as if it never
+would come up again. Big and bare, with his name staring at him from the
+middle, it thus offered in its grimness a turn of comparison for Miss
+Cookham’s ominous visage. She never wore pretty, dotty, transparent
+veils, as Nan Drury did, and the words “Herbert Dodd�--save that she had
+sounded them at him there two or three times more like a Meg Merrilies
+or the bold bad woman in one of the melodramas of high life given during
+the fine season in the pavilion at the end of Properley Pier--were
+dreadfully, were permanently, seated on her lips. _She_ was grim, no
+mistake.
+
+That evening, alone in the back room above the shop, he saw so little
+what he could do that, consciously demoralised for the hour, he gave way
+to tears about it. Her taking a stand so incredibly “low,� that was
+what he couldn’t get over. The particular bitterness of his cup was
+his having let himself in for a struggle on such terms--the use, on
+her side, of the vulgarest process known to the law: the vulgarest, the
+vulgarest, he kept repeating that, clinging to the help rendered him by
+this imputation to his terrorist of the vice he sincerely believed he
+had ever, among difficulties (for oh he recognised the difficulties!)
+sought to keep most alien to him. He knew what he was, in a dismal,
+down-trodden sphere enough--the lean young proprietor of an old business
+that had itself rather shrivelled with age than ever grown fat, the
+purchase and sale of second-hand books and prints, with the back street
+of a long-fronted south-coast watering-place (Old Town by good luck) for
+the dusky field of his life. But he had gone in for all the education he
+could get--his educated customers would often hang about for more talk
+by the half-hour at a time, he actually feeling himself, and almost with
+a scruple, hold them there; which meant that he had had (he couldn’t be
+blind to that) natural taste and had lovingly cultivated and formed it.
+Thus, from as far back as he could remember, there had been things all
+round him that he suffered from when other people didn’t; and he had
+kept most of his suffering to himself--which had taught him, in a
+manner, _how_ to suffer, and how almost to like to.
+
+So, at any rate, he had never let go his sense of certain differences,
+he had done everything he could to keep it up--whereby everything that
+was vulgar was on the wrong side of his line. He had believed, for a
+series of strange, oppressed months, that Kate Cookham’s manners
+and tone were on the right side; she had been governess--for young
+children--in two very good private families, and now had classes in
+literature and history for bigger girls who were sometimes brought by
+their mammas; in fact, coming in one day to look over his collection of
+students’ manuals, and drawing it out, as so many did, for the evident
+sake of his conversation, she had appealed to him that very first time
+by her apparently pronounced intellectual side--goodness knew she didn’t
+even then by the physical!--which she had artfully kept in view till she
+had entangled him past undoing. And it had all been but the cheapest of
+traps--when he came to take the pieces apart a bit--laid over a brazen
+avidity. What he now collapsed for, none the less--what he sank down on
+a chair at a table and nursed his weak, scared sobs in his resting arms
+for--was the fact that, whatever the trap, it held him as with the grip
+of sharp murderous steel. There he was, there he was; alone in the brown
+summer dusk--brown through _his_ windows--he cried and he cried. He
+shouldn’t get out without losing a limb. The only question was which of
+his limbs it should be.
+
+Before he went out, later on--for he at last felt the need to--he could,
+however, but seek to remove from his face and his betraying eyes, over
+his washing-stand, the traces of his want of fortitude. He brushed
+himself up; with which, catching his stricken image a bit spectrally
+in an old dim toilet-glass, he knew again, in a flash, the glow of
+righteous resentment. Who should be assured against coarse usage if
+a man of his really elegant, perhaps in fact a trifle over-refined or
+“effete� appearance, his absolutely gentlemanlike type, couldn’t be?
+He never went so far as to rate himself, with exaggeration, a gentleman;
+but he would have maintained against all comers, with perfect candour
+and as claiming a high advantage, that he was, in spite of that
+liability to blubber, “like� one; which he _was_ no doubt, for that
+matter, at several points. Like what lady then, who could ever possibly
+have been taken for one, was Kate Cookham, and therefore how could one
+have anything--anything of the intimate and private order--out with her
+fairly and on the plane, the only possible one, of common equality? He
+might find himself crippled for life; he believed verily, the more he
+thought, that that was what was before him. But be ended by seeing this
+doom in the almost redeeming light of the fact that it would all have
+been because he was, comparatively, too aristocratic. Yes, a man in his
+station couldn’t afford to carry that so far--it must sooner or later,
+in one way or another, spell ruin. Never mind--it was the only thing
+he could be. Of course he should exquisitely suffer--but when hadn’t
+he exquisitely suffered? How was he going to get through life by _any_
+arrangement without that? No wonder such a woman as Kate Cookham had
+been keen to annex so rare a value. The right thing would have been that
+the highest price should be paid for it--by such a different sort of
+logic from this nightmare of _his_ having to pay.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+Which was the way, of course, he talked to Nan Drury--as he had felt the
+immediate wild need to do; for he should perhaps be able to bear it
+all somehow or other with _her_--while they sat together, when time and
+freedom served, on one of the very last, the far westward, benches
+of the interminable sea-front. It wasn’t every one who walked so far,
+especially at that flat season--the only ghost of a bustle now, save for
+the gregarious, the obstreperous haunters of the fluttering, far-shining
+Pier, being reserved for the sunny Parade of midwinter. It wasn’t every
+one who cared for the sunsets (which you got awfully well from there
+and which were a particular strong point of the lower, the more
+“sympathetic,� as Herbert Dodd liked to call it, Properley horizon) as
+he had always intensely cared, and as he had found Nan Drury care; to
+say nothing of his having also observed how little they directly spoke
+to Miss Cookham. He had taught this oppressive companion to notice
+them a bit, as he had taught her plenty of other things, but that was
+a different matter; for the reason that the “land’s end� (stretching a
+point it carried off that name) had been, and had had to be, by their
+lack of more sequestered resorts and conveniences, the scene of so much
+of what she styled their wooing-time--or, to put it more properly, of
+the time during which she had made the straightest and most unabashed
+love to _him_: just as it could henceforth but render possible, under
+an equal rigour, that he should enjoy there periods of consolation from
+beautiful, gentle, tender-souled Nan, to whom he was now at last, after
+the wonderful way they had helped each other to behave, going to make
+love, absolutely unreserved and abandoned, absolutely reckless and
+romantic love, a refuge from poisonous reality, as hard as ever he
+might.
+
+The league-long, paved, lighted, garden-plotted, seated and refuged
+Marina renounced its more or less celebrated attractions to break off
+short here; and an inward curve of the kindly westward shore almost made
+a wide-armed bay, with all the ugliness between town and country, and
+the further casual fringe of the coast, turning, as the day waned, to
+rich afternoon blooms of grey and brown and distant--it might fairly
+have been beautiful Hampshire--blue. Here it was that, all that blighted
+summer, with Nan--from the dreadful May-day on--he gave himself up to
+the reaction of intimacy with the _kind_ of woman, at least, that he
+liked; even if of everything else that might make life possible he was
+to be, by what he could make out, forever starved. Here it was that--as
+well as on whatever other scraps of occasions they could manage--Nan
+began to take off and fold up and put away in her pocket her pretty,
+dotty, becoming veil; as under the logic of his having so tremendously
+ceased, in the shake of his dark storm-gust, to be engaged to another
+woman. Her removal of that obstacle to a trusted friend’s assuring
+himself whether the peachlike bloom’ of her finer facial curves bore
+the test of such further inquiry into their cool sweetness as might
+reinforce a mere baffled gaze--her momentous, complete surrender of so
+much of her charm, let us say, both marked the change in the situation
+of the pair and established the record of their perfect observance of
+every propriety for so long before. They afterward in fact could have
+dated it, their full clutch of their freedom and the bliss of their
+having so little henceforth to consider save their impotence, their
+poverty, their ruin; dated it from the hour of his recital to her
+of the--at the first blush--quite appalling upshot of his second and
+conclusive “scene of violence� with the mistress of his fortune,
+when the dire terms of his release had had to be formally, and oh!
+so abjectly, acceded to. She “compromised,� the cruel brute, for Four
+Hundred Pounds down--for not a farthing less would she stay her strength
+from “proceedings.� No jury in the land but would give her six, on the
+nail (“Oh she knew quite where she was, thank you!�) and he might feel
+lucky to get off with so whole a skin. This was the sum, then, for which
+he had grovellingly compounded--under an agreement sealed by a supreme
+exchange of remarks.
+
+“‘Where in the name of lifelong ruin are you to _find_ Four Hundred?’�
+ Miss Cookham had mockingly repeated after him while he gasped as from
+the twist of her grip on his collar. “That’s _your_ look-out, and I
+should have thought you’d have made sure you knew before you decided on
+your base perfidy.� And then she had mouthed and minced, with ever
+so false a gentility, her consistent, her sickening conclusion. “Of
+course--I may mention again--if you too distinctly object to the trouble
+of looking, you know where to find _me_.�
+
+“I had rather starve to death than ever go within a mile of you!�
+ Herbert described himself as having sweetly answered; and that was
+accordingly where _they_ devotedly but desperately were--he and she,
+penniless Nan Drury. Her father, of Drury & Dean, was, like so far
+too many other of the anxious characters who peered through the dull
+window-glass of dusty offices at Properley, an Estate and House Agent,
+Surveyor, Valuer and Auctioneer; she was the prettiest of six, with two
+brothers, neither of the least use, but, thanks to the manner in which
+their main natural protector appeared to languish under the accumulation
+of his attributes, they couldn’t be said very particularly or positively
+to live. Their continued collective existence was a good deal of a
+miracle even to themselves, though they had fallen into the way of not
+unnecessarily, or too nervously, exchanging remarks upon it, and had
+even in a sort, from year to year, got used to it. Nan’s brooding
+pinkness when he talked to her, her so very parted lips, considering her
+pretty teeth, her so very parted eyelids, considering her pretty eyes,
+all of which might have been those of some waxen image of uncritical
+faith, cooled the heat of his helplessness very much as if he were
+laying his head on a tense silk pillow. She had, it was true, forms
+of speech, familiar watchwords, that affected him as small scratchy
+perforations of the smooth surface from within; but his pleasure in
+her and need of her were independent of such things and really almost
+altogether determined by the fact of the happy, even if all so lonely,
+forms and instincts in her which claimed kinship with his own. With
+her natural elegance stamped on her as by a die, with her dim and
+disinherited individual refinement of grace, which would have made any
+one wonder who she was anywhere--hat and veil and feather-boa and smart
+umbrella-knob and all--with her regular God-given distinction of type,
+in fine, she couldn’t abide vulgarity much more than he could.
+
+Therefore it didn’t seem to him, under his stress, to matter
+particularly, for instance, if she _would_ keep on referring so many
+things to the time, as she called it, when she came into his life--his
+own great insistence and contention being that she hadn’t in the least
+entered there till his mind was wholly made up to eliminate his other
+friend. What that methodical fury was so fierce to bring home to him was
+the falsity to herself involved in the later acquaintance; whereas just
+his precious right to hold up his head to everything--before himself at
+least--sprang from the fact that she couldn’t make dates fit anyhow.
+He hadn’t so much as heard of his true beauty’s existence (she had come
+back but a few weeks before from her two years with her terribly trying
+deceased aunt at Swindon, previous to which absence she had been an
+unnoticeable chit) till days and days, ever so many, upon his honour,
+after he had struck for freedom by his great first backing-out
+letter--the precious document, the treat for a British jury, in which,
+by itself, Miss Cookham’s firm instructed her to recognise the prospect
+of a fortune. The way the ruffians had been “her� ruffians--it appeared
+as if she had posted them behind her from the first of her beginning
+her game!--and the way “instructions� bounced out, with it, at a touch,
+larger than life, as if she had arrived with her pocket full of them!
+The date of the letter, taken with its other connections, and the date
+of _her_ first give-away for himself, his seeing her get out of the
+Brighton train with Bill Frankle that day he had gone to make the row
+at the Station parcels’ office about the miscarriage of the box from
+Wales--those were the facts it sufficed him to point to, as he had
+pointed to them for Nan Drury’s benefit, goodness knew, often and often
+enough. If he didn’t seek occasion to do so for any one else’s--in open
+court as they said--that was his own affair, or at least his and Nan’s.
+
+It little mattered, meanwhile, if on their bench of desolation, all that
+summer--and it may be added for summers and summers, to say nothing of
+winters, there and elsewhere, to come--she did give way to her artless
+habit of not contradicting him enough, which led to her often trailing
+up and down before him, too complacently, the untimely shreds and
+patches of his own glooms and desperations. “Well, I’m glad I _am_ in
+your life, terrible as it is, however or whenever I did come in!� and
+“_Of course_ you’d rather have starved--and it seems pretty well as if
+we shall, doesn’t it?--than have bought her off by a false, abhorrent
+love, wouldn’t you?� and “It isn’t as if she hadn’t made up to you the
+way she did before you had so much as looked at her, is it? or as if you
+hadn’t shown her what you felt her really to be before you had so much
+as looked at _me_, is it either?� and “Yes, how on earth, pawning the
+shoes on your feet, you’re going to raise another shilling--_that’s_
+what you want to know, poor darling, don’t you?�
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+His creditor, at the hour it suited her, transferred her base of
+operations to town, to which impenetrable scene she had also herself
+retired; and his raising of the first Two Hundred, during five
+exasperated and miserable months, and then of another Seventy piecemeal,
+bleedingly, after long delays and under the epistolary whiplash cracked
+by the London solicitor in his wretched ear even to an effect of the
+very report of Miss Cookham’s tongue--these melancholy efforts formed
+a scramble up an arduous steep where steps were planted and missed, and
+bared knees were excoriated, and clutches at wayside tufts succeeded and
+failed, on a system to which poor Nan could have intelligently entered
+only if she had been somehow less ladylike. She kept putting into his
+mouth the sick quaver of where he should find the rest, the always
+inextinguishable rest, long after he had in silent rage fallen away from
+any further payment at all--at first, he had but too blackly felt, for
+himself, to the still quite possible non-exclusion of some penetrating
+ray of “exposure.� He didn’t care a tuppenny damn now, and in point
+of fact, after he had by hook and by crook succeeded in being able to
+unload to the tune of Two-Hundred-and-Seventy, and then simply returned
+the newest reminder of his outstanding obligation unopened, this latter
+belated but real sign of fight, the first he had risked, remarkably
+caused nothing at all to happen; nothing at least but his being moved
+to quite tragically rueful wonder as to whether exactly some such
+demonstration mightn’t have served his turn at an earlier stage.
+
+He could by this time at any rate measure his ruin--with three fantastic
+mortgages on his house, his shop, his stock, and a burden of interest
+to carry under which his business simply stretched itself inanimate,
+without strength for a protesting kick, without breath for an appealing
+groan. Customers lingering for further enjoyment of the tasteful remarks
+he had cultivated the unobstrusive art of throwing in, would at this
+crisis have found plenty to repay them, might his wit have strayed a
+little more widely still, toward a circuitous egotistical outbreak, from
+the immediate question of the merits of this and that author or of the
+condition of this and that volume. He had come to be conscious through
+it all of strangely glaring at people when they tried to haggle--and
+not, as formerly, with the glare of derisive comment on their overdone
+humour, but with that of fairly idiotised surrender--as if they were
+much mistaken in supposing, for the sake of conversation, that he might
+take himself for saveable by the difference between sevenpence and
+ninepence. He watched everything impossible and deplorable happen as in
+an endless prolongation of his nightmare; watched himself proceed, that
+is, with the finest, richest incoherence, to the due preparation of his
+catastrophe. Everything came to seem _equally_ part of this--in complete
+defiance of proportion; even his final command of detachment, on
+the bench of desolation (where each successive fact of his dire case
+regularly cut itself out black, yet of senseless silhouette, against the
+red west) in respect to poor Nan’s flat infelicities, which for the most
+part kept no pace with the years or with change, but only shook like
+hard peas in a child’s rattle, the same peas a ways, of course, so long
+as the rattle didn’t split open with usage or from somebody’s act of
+irritation. They represented, or they had long done so, her contribution
+to the more superficial of the two branches of intimacy--the
+intellectual alternative, the one that didn’t merely consist of her
+preparing herself for his putting his arm round her waist.
+
+There were to have been moments, nevertheless, all the first couple of
+years, when she did touch in him, though to his actively dissimulating
+it, a more or less sensitive nerve--moments as they were too, to do
+her justice, when she treated him not to his own wisdom, or even folly,
+served up cold, but to a certain small bitter fruit of her personal,
+her unnatural, plucking. “I wonder that since _she_ took legal advice
+so freely, to come down on you, you didn’t take it yourself, a little,
+before being so sure you stood no chance. Perhaps _your_ people would
+have been sure of something quite different--_perhaps_, I only say, you
+know.� She “only� said it, but she said it, none the less, in the early
+time, about once a fortnight. In the later, and especially after their
+marriage, it had a way of coming up again to the exclusion, as it seemed
+to him, of almost everything else; in fact during the most dismal years,
+the three of the loss of their two children, the long stretch of sordid
+embarrassment ending in her death, he was afterward to think of her
+as having generally said it several times a day. He was then also to
+remember that his answer, before she had learnt to discount it, had been
+inveterately at hand: “What would any solicitor have done or wanted to
+do but drag me just into the hideous public arena�--he had always so put
+it--“that it has been at any rate my pride and my honour, the one rag
+of self-respect covering my nakedness, to have loathed and avoided from
+every point of view?�
+
+That had disposed of it so long as he cared, and by the time he had
+ceased to care for anything it had also lost itself in the rest of the
+vain babble of home. After his wife’s death, during his year of mortal
+solitude, it awoke again as an echo of far-off things--far-off, very
+far-off, because he felt then not ten but twenty years older. That was
+by reason simply of the dead weight with which his load of debt had
+settled--the persistence of his misery dragging itself out. With all
+that had come and gone the bench of desolation was still there, just as
+the immortal flush of the westward sky kept hanging its indestructible
+curtain. He had never got away--everything had left him, but he himself
+had been able to turn his back on nothing--and now, his day’s labour
+before a dirty desk at the Gas Works ended, he more often than not,
+almost any season at temperate Properley serving his turn, took his slow
+straight way to the Land’s End and, collapsing there to rest, sat often
+for an hour at a time staring before him. He might in these sessions,
+with his eyes on the grey-green sea, have been counting again and
+still recounting the beads, almost all worn smooth, of his rosary of
+pain--which had for the fingers of memory and the recurrences of wonder
+the same felt break of the smaller ones by the larger that would have
+aided a pious mumble in some dusky altar-chapel.
+
+If it has been said of him that when once full submersion, as from far
+back, had visibly begun to await him, he watched himself, in a cold
+lucidity, _do_ punctually and necessarily each of the deplorable things
+that were inconsistent with his keeping afloat, so at present again he
+might have been held agaze just by the presented grotesqueness of that
+vigil. Such ghosts of dead seasons were all he _had_ now to watch--such
+a recaptured sense for instance as that of the dismal unavailing
+awareness that had attended his act of marriage. He had let submersion
+final and absolute become the signal for it--a mere minor determinant
+having been the more or less contemporaneously unfavourable effect on
+the business of Drury & Dean of the sudden disappearance of Mr. Dean
+with the single small tin box into which the certificates of the
+firm’s credit had been found to be compressible. That had been his
+only form--or had at any rate seemed his only one. He couldn’t not have
+married, no doubt, just as he couldn’t not have suffered the last degree
+of humiliation and almost of want, or just as his wife and children
+couldn’t not have died of the little he was able, under dire reiterated
+pinches, to do for them; but it was “rum,� for final solitary brooding,
+that he hadn’t appeared to see his way definitely to undertake the
+support of a family till the last scrap of his little low-browed,
+high-toned business, and the last figment of “property� in the old tiled
+and timbered shell that housed it, had been sacrificed to creditors
+mustering six rows deep.
+
+Of course what had counted too in the odd order was that even at the
+end of the two or three years he had “allowed� her, Kate Cookham, gorged
+with his unholy tribute, had become the subject of no successful siege
+on the part either of Bill Frankle or, by what he could make out, of any
+one else. She had judged decent--he could do her that justice--to take
+herself personally out of his world, as he called it, for good and all,
+as soon as he had begun regularly to bleed; and, to whatever lucrative
+practice she might be devoting her great talents in London or elsewhere,
+he felt his conscious curiosity about her as cold, with time, as the
+passion of vain protest that she had originally left him to. He could
+recall but two direct echoes of her in all the bitter years--both
+communicated by Bill Frankle, disappointed and exposed and at last
+quite remarkably ingenuous sneak, who had also, from far back, taken to
+roaming the world, but who, during a period, used fitfully and
+ruefully to reappear. Herbert Dodd had quickly seen, at their first
+meeting--every one met every one sooner or later at Properley, if
+meeting it could always be called, either in the glare or the gloom of
+the explodedly attractive Embankment--that no silver stream of which he
+himself had been the remoter source could have played over the career of
+this all but repudiated acquaintance. That hadn’t fitted with his first,
+his quite primitive raw vision of the probabilities, and he had further
+been puzzled when, much later on, it had come to him in a roundabout way
+that Miss Cookham was supposed to be, or to have been, among them for
+a few days “on the quiet,� and that Frankle, who had seen her and who
+claimed to know more about it than he said, was cited as authority for
+the fact. But he hadn’t himself at this juncture seen Frankle; he had
+only wondered, and a degree of mystification had even remained.
+
+That memory referred itself to the dark days of old Drury’s smash,
+the few weeks between his partner’s dastardly flight and Herbert’s own
+comment on it in the form of his standing up with Nan for the nuptial
+benediction of the Vicar of St. Bernard’s on a very cold, bleak December
+morning and amid a circle of seven or eight long-faced, red-nosed and
+altogether dowdy persons. Poor Nan herself had come to affect him as
+scarce other than red-nosed and dowdy by that time, but this only added,
+in his then, and indeed in his lasting view, to his general and his
+particular morbid bravery. He had cultivated ignorance, there were small
+inward immaterial luxuries he could scrap-pily cherish even among other,
+and the harshest, destitutions; and one of them was represented by
+this easy refusal of his mind to render to certain passages of his
+experience, to various ugly images, names, associations, the homage of
+continued attention. That served him, that helped him; but what happened
+when, a dozen dismal years having worn themselves away, he sat single
+and scraped bare again, as if his long wave of misfortune had washed him
+far beyond everything and then conspicuously retreated, was that, thus
+stranded by tidal action, deposited in the lonely hollow of his fate, he
+felt even sustaining pride turn to nought and heard no challenge from
+it when old mystifications, stealing forth in the dusk of the day’s work
+done, scratched at the door of speculation and hung about, through the
+idle hours, for irritated notice.
+
+The evenings of his squalid clerkship were all leisure now, but there
+was nothing at all near home on the other hand, for his imagination,
+numb and stiff from its long chill, to begin to play with. Voices from
+far off would quaver to him therefore in the stillness; where he knew
+for the most recurrent, little by little, the faint wail of his wife.
+He had become deaf to it in life, but at present, after so great an
+interval, he listened again, listened and listened, and seemed to hear
+it sound as by the pressure of some weak broken spring. It phrased for
+his ear her perpetual question, the one she had come to at the last as
+under the obsession of a discovered and resented wrong, a wrong withal
+that had its source much more in his own action than anywhere else.
+“That you didn’t make _sure_ she could have done anything, that you
+didn’t make sure and that you were too afraid!�--this commemoration
+had ended by playing such a part of Nan’s finally quite contracted
+consciousness as to exclude everything else.
+
+At the time, somehow, he had made his terms with it; he had then more
+urgent questions to meet than that of the poor creature’s taste in
+worrying pain; but actually it struck him--not the question, but the
+fact itself of the taste--as the one thing left over from all that had
+come and gone. So it was; nothing remained to him in the world, on the
+bench of desolation, but the option of taking up that echo--together
+with an abundance of free time for doing so. That he hadn’t made sure of
+what might and what mightn’t have been done to him, that he had been
+too afraid--had the proposition a possible bearing on his present
+apprehension of things? To reply indeed he would have had to be able to
+say what his present apprehension of things, left to itself, amounted
+to; an uninspiring effort indeed he judged it, sunk to so poor a pitch
+was his material of thought--though it might at last have been the feat
+he sought to perform as he stared at the grey-green sea.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+It was seldom he was disturbed in any form of sequestered speculation,
+or that at his times of predilection, especially that of the long autumn
+blankness between the season of trippers and the season of Bath-chairs,
+there were westward stragglers enough to jar upon his settled sense of
+priority. For himself his seat, the term of his walk, was consecrated;
+it had figured to him for years as the last (though there were others,
+not immediately near it, and differently disposed, that might have
+aspired to the title); so that he could invidiously distinguish as he
+approached, make out from a distance any accident of occupation, and
+never draw nearer while that unpleasantness lasted. What he disliked
+was to compromise on his tradition, whether for a man, a woman or a
+connoodling couple; it was to idiots of this last composition he most
+objected, he having sat there, in the past, alone, having sat there
+interminably with Nan, having sat there with--well, with other women
+when women, at hours of ease, could still care or count for him, but
+having never shared the place with any shuffling or snuffling stranger.
+It was a world of fidgets and starts, however, the world of his present
+dreariness--he alone possessed in it, he seemed to make out, of the
+secret, of the dignity of sitting still with one’s fate; so that if
+he took a turn about or rested briefly elsewhere even foolish
+philanderers--though this would never have been his and Nan’s way--ended
+soon by some adjournment as visibly pointless as their sprawl.
+Then, their backs turned, he would drop down on it, the bench of
+desolation--which was what he, and he only, made it by sad adoption;
+where, for that matter, moreover, once he had settled at his end, it
+was marked that nobody else ever came to sit. He saw people, along the
+Marina, take this liberty with other resting presences; but his own
+struck them perhaps in general as either of too grim or just of too
+dingy a vicinage. He might have affected the fellow-lounger as a man
+evil, unsociable, possibly engaged in working out the idea of a
+crime; or otherwise, more probably--for on the whole he surely looked
+harmless--devoted to the worship of some absolutely unpractical remorse.
+
+On a certain October Saturday he had got off, as usual, early; but the
+afternoon light, his pilgrimage drawing to its aim, could still show
+him, at long range, the rare case of an established usurper. His impulse
+was then, as by custom, to deviate a little and wait, all the more
+that the occupant of the bench was a lady, and that ladies, when alone,
+were--at that austere end of the varied frontal stretch--markedly
+discontinuous; but he kept on at sight of this person’s rising, while he
+was still fifty yards off, and proceeding, her back turned, to the edge
+of the broad terrace, the outer line of which followed the interspaced
+succession of seats and was guarded by an iron rail from the abruptly
+lower level of the beach. Here she stood before the sea, while our
+friend on his side, recognising no reason to the contrary, sank into the
+place she had quitted. There were other benches, eastward and off by the
+course of the drive, for vague ladies. The lady indeed thus thrust upon
+Herbert’s vision might have struck an observer either as not quite vague
+or as vague with a perverse intensity suggesting design.
+
+Not that our own observer at once thought of these things; he only took
+in, and with no great interest, that the obtruded presence was a “real�
+ lady; that she was dressed--he noticed such matters--with a certain
+elegance of propriety or intention of harmony; and that she remained
+perfectly still for a good many minutes; so many in fact that he
+presently ceased to heed her, and that as she wasn’t straight before
+him, but as far to the left as was consistent with his missing her
+profile, he had turned himself to one of his sunsets again (though
+it wasn’t quite one of his best) and let it hold him for a time that
+enabled her to alter her attitude and present a fuller view. Without
+other movement, but her back now to the sea and her face to the odd
+person who had appropriated her corner, she had taken a sustained
+look at him before he was aware she had stirred. On that apprehension,
+however, he became also promptly aware of her direct, her applied
+observation. As his sense of this quickly increased he wondered who she
+was and what she wanted--what, as it were, was the matter with her; it
+suggested to him, the next thing, that she had, under some strange idea,
+actually been waiting for him. Any idea about him to-day on the part of
+any one could only be strange.
+
+Yes, she stood there with the ample width of the Marina between them,
+but turned to him, for all the world, as to show frankly that she was
+concerned with him. And she _was_--oh yes--a real lady: a middle-aged
+person, of good appearance and of the best condition, in quiet but
+“handsome� black, save for very fresh white kid gloves, and with a
+pretty, dotty, becoming veil, predominantly white, adjusted to her
+countenance; which through it somehow, even to his imperfect sight,
+showed strong fine black brows and what he would have called on the spot
+character. But she was pale; her black brows were the blacker behind
+the flattering tissue; she still kept a hand, for support, on the
+terrace-rail, while the other, at the end of an extended arm that had
+an effect of rigidity, clearly pressed hard on the knob of a small and
+shining umbrella, the lower extremity of whose stick was equally, was
+sustainingly, firm on the walk. So this mature, qualified, important
+person stood and looked at the limp, undistinguished--oh his values of
+aspect now!--shabby man on the bench.
+
+It was extraordinary, but the fact of her interest, by immensely
+surprising, by immediately agitating him, blinded him at first to her
+identity and, for the space of his long stare, diverted him from it;
+with which even then, when recognition did break, the sense of the
+shock, striking inward, simply consumed itself in gaping stillness. He
+sat there motionless and weak, fairly faint with surprise, and there
+was no instant, in all the succession of so many, at which Kate Cookham
+could have caught the special sign of his intelligence. Yet that she
+did catch something he saw--for he saw her steady herself, by her
+two supported hands, to meet it; while, after she had done so, a very
+wonderful thing happened, of which he could scarce, later on, have made
+a clear statement, though he was to think it over again and again. She
+moved toward him, she reached him, she stood there, she sat down near
+him, he merely passive and wonderstruck, unresentfully “impressed,�
+ gaping and taking it in--and all as with an open allowance on the part
+of each, so that they positively and quite intimately met in it, o the
+impertinence for their case, this case that brought them again,
+after horrible years, face to face, of the vanity, the profanity, the
+impossibility, of anything between them but silence.
+
+Nearer to him, beside him at a considerable interval (oh she was
+immensely considerate!) she presented him, in the sharp terms of
+her transformed state--but thus the more amply, formally,
+ceremoniously--with the reasons that would serve him best for not having
+precipitately known her. She was simply another and a totally different
+person, and the exhibition of it to which she had proceeded with this
+solemn anxiety was all, obviously, for his benefit--once he had, as
+he appeared to be doing, provisionally accepted her approach. He had
+remembered her as inclined to the massive and disowned by the graceful;
+but this was a spare, fine, worn, almost wasted lady--who had repaired
+waste, it was true, however, with something he could only appreciate as
+a rich accumulation of manner. She was strangely older, so far as that
+went--marked by experience and as if many things had happened to
+her; her face had suffered, to its improvement, contraction and
+concentration; and if he had granted, of old and from the first, that
+her eyes were remarkable, had they yet ever had for him this sombre
+glow? Withal, something said, she had flourished--he felt it, wincing at
+it, as that; she had had a life, a career, a history--something that
+her present waiting air and nervous consciousness couldn’t prevent his
+noting there as a deeply latent assurance. She had flourished, she had
+flourished--though to learn it after this fashion was somehow at the
+same time not to feel she flaunted it. It wasn’t thus execration that
+she revived in him; she made in fact, exhibitively, as he could only
+have put it, the matter of long ago irrelevant, and these extraordinary
+minutes of their reconstituted relation--how many? how few?--addressed
+themselves altogether to new possibilities.
+
+Still it after a little awoke in him as with the throb of a touched
+nerve that his own very attitude was supplying a connection; he knew
+presently that he wouldn’t have had her go, _couldn’t_ have made a
+sign to her for it--which was what she had been uncertain of--without
+speaking to him; and that therefore he was, as at the other, the hideous
+time, passive to whatever she might do. She was even yet, she was
+always, in possession of him; she had known how and where to find him
+and had appointed that he should see her, and, though he had never
+dreamed it was again to happen to him, he was meeting it already as if
+it might have been the only thing that the least humanly _could_.
+Yes, he had come back there to flop, by long custom, upon the bench of
+desolation _as_ the man in the whole place, precisely, to whom nothing
+worth more than tuppence could happen; whereupon, in the grey desert of
+his consciousness, the very earth had suddenly opened and flamed. With
+this, further, it came over him that he hadn’t been prepared and
+that his wretched appearance must show it. He wasn’t fit to receive
+a visit--any visit; a flush for his felt misery, in the light of her
+opulence, broke out in his lean cheeks. But if he coloured he sat as he
+was--she should at least, as a visitor, be satisfied. His eyes only, at
+last, turned from her and resumed a little their gaze at the sea. That,
+however, didn’t relieve him, and he perpetrated in the course of another
+moment the odd desperate gesture of raising both his hands to his face
+and letting them, while he pressed it to them, cover and guard it. It
+was as he held them there that she at last spoke.
+
+“I’ll go away if you wish me to.� And then she waited a moment. “I
+mean now--now that you’ve seen I’m here. I wanted you to know it, and I
+thought of writing--I was afraid of our meeting accidentally. Then I was
+afraid that if I wrote you might refuse. So I thought of this way--as
+I knew you must come out here.� She went on with pauses, giving him a
+chance to make a sign. “I’ve waited several days. But I’ll do what you
+wish. Only I should like in that case to come back.� Again she stopped;
+but strange was it to him that he wouldn’t have made her break off. She
+held him in boundless wonder. “I came down--I mean I came from town--on
+purpose. I’m staying on still, and I’ve a great patience and will give
+you time. Only may I say it’s important? Now that I do see you,� she
+brought out in the same way, “I see how inevitable it was--I mean that I
+should have wanted to come. But you must feel about it as you can,� she
+wound up--“till you get used to the idea.�
+
+She spoke so for accommodation, for discretion, for some ulterior view
+already expressed in her manner, that, after taking well in, from behind
+his hands, that this was her very voice--oh ladylike!--heard, and heard
+in deprecation of displeasure, after long years again, he uncovered his
+face and freshly met her eyes. More than ever he couldn’t have known
+her. Less and less remained of the figure all the facts of which had
+long ago so hardened for him. She was a handsome, grave, authoritative,
+but refined and, as it were, physically rearranged person--she, the
+outrageous vulgarity of whose prime assault had kept him shuddering so
+long as a shudder was in him. That atrocity in her was what everything
+had been built on, but somehow, all strangely, it was slipping from him;
+so that, after the oddest fashion conceivable, when he felt he mustn’t
+let her go, it was as if he were putting out his hand to save the past,
+the hideous real unalterable past, exactly as she had been the cause of
+its being and the cause of his undergoing it. He should have been too
+awfully “sold� if he wasn’t going to have been right about her.
+
+“I don’t mind,� he heard himself at last say. Not to mind had seemed for
+the instant the length he was prepared to go; but he was afterward aware
+of how soon he must have added: “You’ve come on purpose to see me?� He
+was on the point of putting to her further: “What then do you want of
+me?� But he would keep--yes, in time--from appearing to show he cared.
+If he showed he cared, where then would be his revenge? So he was
+already, within five minutes, thinking his revenge uncomfortably over
+instead of just comfortably knowing it. What came to him, at any
+rate, as they actually fell to talk, was that, with such precautions,
+considerations, reduplications of consciousness, almost avowed feelings
+of her way on her own part, and light fingerings of his chords of
+sensibility, she was understanding, she _had_ understood, more things
+than all the years, up to this strange eventide, had given him an
+inkling of. They talked, they went on--he hadn’t let her retreat, to
+whatever it committed him and however abjectly it did so; yet keeping
+off and off, dealing with such surface facts as involved ancient
+acquaintance but held abominations at bay. The recognition, the
+attestation that she _had_ come down for him, that there would be
+reasons, that she had even hovered and watched, assured herself a little
+of his habits (which she managed to speak of as if, on their present
+ampler development, they were much to be deferred to), detained them
+enough to make vivid how, listen as stiffly or as serenely as he might,
+she sat there in fear, just as she had so stood there at first, and that
+her fear had really to do with her calculation of some sort of chance
+with him. What chance could it possibly be? Whatever it might have
+done, on this prodigious showing, with Kate Cookham, it made the present
+witness to the state of his fortunes simply exquisite: he ground his
+teeth secretly together as he saw he should have to take _that_. For
+what did it mean but that she would have liked to pity him if she could
+have done it with safety? Ah, however, he must give her no measure of
+safety!
+
+By the time he had remarked, with that idea, that she probably saw few
+changes about them there that weren’t for the worse--the place was going
+down, down and down, so fast that goodness knew where it would stop--and
+had also mentioned that in spite of this he himself remained faithful,
+with all its faults loving it still; by the time he had, after that
+fashion, superficially indulged her, adding a few further light and
+just sufficiently dry reflections on local matters, the disappearance of
+landmarks and important persons, the frequency of gales, the low policy
+of the town-council in playing down to cheap excursionists: by the time
+he had so acquitted himself, and she had observed, of her own motion,
+that she was staying at the Royal, which he knew for the time-honoured,
+the conservative and exclusive hotel, he had made out for himself
+one thing at least, the amazing fact that he had been landed by his
+troubles, at the end of time, in a “social relation,� of all things
+in the world, and how of that luxury he was now having unprecedented
+experience. He had but once in his life had his nose in the Royal, on
+the occasion of his himself delivering a parcel during some hiatus in
+his succession of impossible small boys and meeting in the hall the
+lady who had bought of him, in the morning, a set of Crabbe, largely, he
+flattered himself, under the artful persuasion of his acute remarks
+on that author, gracefully associated by him, in this colloquy, he
+remembered, with a glance at Charles Lamb as well, and who went off in
+a day or two without settling, though he received her cheque from London
+three or four months later.
+
+_That_ hadn’t been a social relation; and truly, deep within his appeal
+to himself to be remarkable, to be imperturbable and impenetrable, to
+be in fact quite incomparable now, throbbed the intense vision of his
+drawing out and draining dry the sensation he had begun to taste. He
+would do it, moreover--that would be the refinement of his art--not only
+without the betraying anxiety of a single question, but just even by
+seeing her flounder (since she must, in a vagueness deeply disconcerting
+to her) as to her real effect on him. She was distinctly floundering
+by the time he had brought her--it had taken ten minutes--down to a
+consciousness of absurd and twaddling topics, to the reported precarious
+state, for instance, of the syndicate running the Bijou Theatre at the
+Pierhead--all as an admonition that she might want him to want to know
+why she was thus waiting on him, might want it for all she was
+worth, before he had ceased to be so remarkable as not to ask her. He
+didn’t--and this assuredly was wondrous enough--want to do anything
+worse to her than let her flounder; but he was willing to do that so
+long as it mightn’t prevent his seeing at least where _he_ was. He
+seemed still to see where he was even at the minute that followed her
+final break-off, clearly intended to be resolute, from make-believe
+talk.
+
+“I wonder if I might prevail on you to come to tea with me to-morrow at
+five.�
+
+He didn’t so much as answer it--though he could scarcely believe his
+ears. To-morrow was Sunday, and the proposal referred, clearly, to the
+custom of “five-o’clock� tea, known to him only by the contemporary
+novel of manners and the catchy advertisement of table-linen. He had
+never in his life been present at any such luxurious rite, but he was
+offering practical indifference to it as a false mark of his sense that
+his social relation had already risen to his chin. “I gave up my very
+modest, but rather interesting little old book business, perhaps you
+know, ever so long ago.�
+
+She floundered so that she could say nothing--meet _that_ with no
+possible word; all the less too that his tone, casual and colourless,
+wholly defied any apprehension of it as a reverse. Silence only came;
+but after a moment she returned to her effort. “If you _can_ come I
+shall be at home. To see you otherwise than thus was in fact what, as
+I tell you, I came down for. But I leave it,� she returned, “to your
+feeling.�
+
+He had at this, it struck him, an inspiration; which he required however
+a minute or two to decide to carry out; a minute or two during which
+the shake of his foot over his knee became an intensity of fidget. “Of
+course I know I still owe you a large sum of money. If it’s about _that_
+you wish to see me,� he went on, “I may as well tell you just here that
+I shall be able to meet my full obligation in the future as little as
+I’ve met it in the past. I can never,� said Herbert Dodd, “pay up that
+balance.�
+
+He had looked at her while he spoke, but on finishing looked off at the
+sea again and continued to agitate his foot. He knew now what he had
+done and why; and the sense of her fixed dark eyes on him during his
+speech and after didn’t alter his small contentment. Yet even when she
+still said nothing he didn’t turn round; he simply kept his corner as
+if _that_ were his point made, should it even be the last word between
+them. It might have been, for that matter, from the way in which she
+presently rose, gathering herself, her fine umbrella and her very small
+smart reticule, in the construction of which shining gilt much figured,
+well together, and, after standing another instant, moved across to the
+rail of the terrace as she had done before and remained, as before, with
+her back to him, though this time, it well might be, under a different
+fear. A quarter of an hour ago she hadn’t tried him, and had had that
+anxiety; now that she had tried him it wasn’t easier--but she was
+thinking what she still could do. He left her to think--nothing in fact
+more interesting than the way she might decide had ever happened to him;
+but it was a part of this also that as she turned round and came nearer
+again he didn’t rise, he gave her no help. If she got any, at least,
+from his looking up at her only, meeting her fixed eyes once more in
+silence, that was her own affair. “You must think,� she said--“you
+must take all your time, but I shall be at home.� She left it to him
+thus--she insisted, with her idea, on leaving him something too. And
+on her side as well she showed an art--which resulted, after another
+instant, in his having to rise to his feet. He flushed afresh as he did
+it--it exposed him so shabbily the more; and now if she took him in,
+with each of his seedy items, from head to foot, he didn’t and couldn’t
+and wouldn’t know it, attaching his eyes hard and straight to something
+quite away from them.
+
+It stuck in his throat to say he’d come, but she had so curious a way
+with her that he still less could say he wouldn’t, and in a moment had
+taken refuge in something that was neither. “Are you married?�--he put
+it to her with that plainness, though it had seemed before he said it to
+do more for him than while she waited before replying.
+
+“No, I’m not married,� she said; and then had another wait that might
+have amounted to a question of what this had to do with it.
+
+He surely couldn’t have told her; so that he had recourse, a little
+poorly as he felt, but to an “Oh!� that still left them opposed. He
+turned away for it--that is for the poorness, which, lingering in the
+air, had almost a vulgar platitude; and when he presently again wheeled
+about she had fallen off as for quitting him, only with a pause, once
+more, for a last look. It was all a bit awkward, but he had another
+happy thought, which consisted in his silently raising his hat as for a
+sign of dignified dismissal. He had cultivated of old, for the occasions
+of life, the right, the discriminated bow, and now, out of the grey
+limbo of the time when he could care for such things, this flicker of
+propriety leaped and worked She might, for that matter, herself have
+liked it; since, receding further, only with her white face toward him,
+she paid it the homage of submission. He remained dignified, and she
+almost humbly went.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+Nothing in the world, on the Sunday afternoon, could have prevented
+him from going; he was not after all destitute of three or four such
+articles of clothing as, if they wouldn’t particularly grace the
+occasion, wouldn’t positively dishonour it. That deficiency might have
+kept him away, but no voice of the spirit, no consideration of pride. It
+sweetened his impatience in fact--for he fairly felt it a long time
+to wait--that his pride would really most find its account in his
+acceptance of these conciliatory steps. From the moment he could put
+it in that way--that he couldn’t refuse to hear what she might have, so
+very elaborately, to say for herself--he ought certainly to be at his
+ease; in illustration of which he whistled odd snatches to himself as
+he hung about on that cloud-dappled autumn Sunday, a mild private
+minstrelsy that his lips hadn’t known since when? The interval of the
+twenty-four hours, made longer by a night of many more revivals than
+oblivions, had in fact dragged not a little; in spite of which, however,
+our extremely brushed-up and trimmed and polished friend knew an
+unprecedented flutter as he was ushered, at the Royal Hotel, into Miss
+Cookham’s sitting-room. Yes, it was an adventure, and he had never had
+an adventure in his life; the term, for him, was essentially a term
+of high appreciation--such as disqualified for that figure, under due
+criticism, every single passage of his past career.
+
+What struck him at the moment as qualifying in the highest degree this
+actual passage was the fact that at no great distance from his hostess
+in the luxurious room, as he apprehended it, in which the close of day
+had begun to hang a few shadows, sat a gentleman who rose as she rose,
+and whose name she at once mentioned to him. He had for Herbert Dodd all
+the air of a swell, the gentleman--rather red-faced and bald-headed, but
+moustachioed, waistcoated, necktied to the highest pitch, with an effect
+of chains and rings, of shining teeth in a glassily monocular smile; a
+wondrous apparition to have been asked to “meet� him, as in contemporary
+fiction, or for him to have been asked to meet. “Captain Roper, Mr.
+Herbert Dodd�--their entertainer introduced them, yes; but with a sequel
+immediately afterward more disconcerting apparently to Captain Roper
+himself even than to her second and more breathless visitor; a “Well
+then, good-bye till the next time,� with a hand thrust straight out,
+which allowed the personage so addressed no alternative but to lay aside
+his teacup, even though Herbert saw there was a good deal left in it,
+and glare about him for his hat. Miss Cookham had had her tea-tray on a
+small table before her, she had served Captain Roper while waiting
+for Mr. Dodd; but she simply dismissed him now, with a high sweet
+unmistakable decision, a knowledge of what she was about, as our hero
+would have called it, which enlarged at a stroke the latter’s view of
+the number of different things and sorts of things, in the sphere of the
+manners and ways of those living at their ease, that a social relation
+would put before one. Captain Roper would have liked to remain, would
+have liked more tea, but Kate signified in this direct fashion that
+she had had enough of him. Herbert had seen things, in his walk of
+life--rough things, plenty; but never things smoothed with that especial
+smoothness, carried out as it were by the fine form of Captain Roper’s
+own retreat, which included even a bright convulsed leave-taking
+cognisance of the plain, vague individual, of no lustre at all and with
+the very low-class guard of an old silver watch buttoned away under an
+ill-made coat, to whom he was sacrificed.
+
+It came to Herbert as he left the place a shade less remarkable--though
+there was still wonder enough and to spare--that he had been even
+publicly and designedly sacrificed; exactly so that, as the door closed
+behind him, Kate Cookham, standing there to wait for it, could seem to
+say, across the room, to the friend of her youth, only by the expression
+of her fine eyes: “There--see what I do for you!� “For� him--that was
+the extraordinary thing, and not less so that he was already, within
+three minutes, after this fashion, taking it in as by the intensity of a
+new light; a light that was one somehow with this rich inner air of
+the plush-draped and much-mirrored hotel, where the fire-glow and
+the approach of evening confirmed together the privacy, and the loose
+curtains at the wide window were parted for a command of his old
+lifelong Parade--the field of life so familiar to him from below and in
+the wind and the wet, but which he had never in all the long years hung
+over at this vantage.
+
+“He’s an acquaintance, but a bore,� his hostess explained in respect to
+Captain Roper. “He turned up yesterday, but I didn’t invite him, and I
+had said to him before you came in that I was expecting a gentleman with
+whom I should wish to be alone. I go quite straight at my idea that way,
+as a rule; but you know,� she now strikingly went on, “how straight I
+go. And he had had,� she added, “his tea.�
+
+Dodd had been looking all round--had taken in, with the rest, the
+brightness, the distinguished elegance, as he supposed it, of the
+tea-service with which she was dealing and the variously tinted appeal
+of certain savoury edibles on plates. “Oh but he _hadn’t_ had his tea!�
+ he heard himself the next moment earnestly reply; which speech had at
+once betrayed, he was then quickly aware, the candour of his interest,
+the unsophisticated state that had survived so many troubles. If he was
+so interested how could he be proud, and if he was proud how could he be
+so interested?
+
+He had made her at any rate laugh outright, and was further conscious,
+for this, both that it was the first time of that since their new
+meeting, and that it didn’t affect him as harsh. It affected him,
+however, as free, for she replied at once, still smiling and as a part
+of it: “Oh, I think we shall get on!�
+
+This told him he had made some difference for her, shown her the way,
+or something like it, that she hadn’t been sure of yesterday; which
+moreover wasn’t what he had intended--he had come armed for showing her
+nothing; so that after she had gone on with the same gain of gaiety,
+“You must at any rate comfortably have yours,� there was but one answer
+for him to make.
+
+His eyes played again over the tea-things--they seemed strangely to help
+him; but he didn’t sit down.
+
+“I’ve come, as you see--but I’ve come, please, to understand; and if you
+require to be alone with me, and if I break bread with you, it seems to
+me I should first know exactly where I am and to what you suppose I so
+commit myself.� He had thought it out and over and over, particularly
+the turn about breaking bread; though perhaps he didn’t give it, in
+her presence--this was impossible, her presence altered so many
+things--quite the full sound or the weight he had planned.
+
+But it had none the less come to his aid--it had made her perfectly
+grave. “You commit yourself to nothing. You’re perfectly free. It’s only
+I who commit myself.�
+
+On which, while she stood there as if all handsomely and deferentially
+waiting for him to consider and decide, he would have been naturally
+moved to ask her what she committed herself then _to_--so moved, that
+is, if he hadn’t, before saying it, thought more sharply still of
+something better. “Oh, that’s another thing.�
+
+“Yes, that’s another thing,� Kate Cookham returned. To which she added,
+“So _now_ won’t you sit down?� He sank with deliberation into the seat
+from which Captain Roper had risen; she went back to her own and while
+she did so spoke again. “I’m _not_ free. At least,� she said over her
+tea-tray, “I’m free only for this.�
+
+Everything was there before them and around them, everything massive and
+shining, so that he had instinctively fallen back in his chair as for
+the wondering, the resigned acceptance of it; where her last words
+stirred in him a sense of odd deprecation. Only for “that�? “That� was
+everything, at this moment, to his long inanition, and the effect, as if
+she had suddenly and perversely mocked him, was to press the spring of a
+protest. “Isn’t ‘this’ then riches?�
+
+“Riches?� she smiled over, handing him his cup--for she had triumphed in
+having struck from him a question.
+
+“I mean haven’t you a lot of money?� He didn’t care now that it was out;
+his cup was in his hand, and what was that but proved interest? He had
+succumbed to the social relation.
+
+“Yes, I’ve money. Of course you wonder--but I’ve wanted you to wonder.
+It was to make you take that in that I came. So now you know,� she said,
+leaning back where she faced him, but in a straighter chair and with her
+arms closely folded, after a fashion characteristic of her, as for some
+control of her nerves.
+
+“You came to show you’ve money?�
+
+“That’s one of the things. Not a lot--not even very much. But enough,�
+ said Kate Cookham.
+
+“Enough? I should think so!� he again couldn’t help a bit crudely
+exhaling.
+
+“Enough for what I wanted. I don’t always live like this--not at all.
+But I came to the best hotel on purpose. I wanted to show you I could.
+Now,� she asked, “do you understand?�
+
+“Understand?� He only gaped.
+
+She threw up her loosed arms, which dropped again beside her. “I did it
+_for_ you--I did it _for_ you!�
+
+“‘For’ me----?�
+
+“What I did--what I did here of old.�
+
+He stared, trying to see it. “When you made me pay you?�
+
+“The Two Hundred and Seventy--all I could get from you, as you reminded
+me yesterday, so that I had to give up the rest It was my idea,� she
+went on--“it was my idea.�
+
+“To bleed me quite to death?� Oh, his ice was broken now!
+
+“To make you raise money--since you could, you _could_. You did, you
+did--so what better proof?�
+
+His hands fell from what he had touched; he could only stare--her own
+manner for it was different now too. “I did. I did indeed--!� And the
+woful weak simplicity of it, which seemed somehow all that was left him,
+fell even on his own ear.
+
+“Well then, here it is--it isn’t lost!� she returned with a graver face.
+
+“‘Here’ it is,� he gasped, “my poor agonised old money--my blood?�
+
+“Oh, it’s _my_ blood too, you must know now!� She held up her head as
+not before--as for her right to speak of the thing to-day most precious
+to her. “I took it, but this--my being here this way--is what I’ve made
+of it! That was the idea I had!�
+
+Her “ideas,� as things to boast of, staggered him. “To have everything
+in the world, like this, at my wretched expense?�
+
+She had folded her arms back again--grasping each elbow she sat firm;
+she knew he could see, and had known well from the first, what she had
+wanted to say, difficult, monstrous though it might be. “No more than
+at my own--but to do something with your money that you’d never do
+yourself.�
+
+“Myself, myself?� he wonderingly wailed. “Do you know--or don’t
+you?--what my life has been?�
+
+She waited, and for an instant, though the light in the room had failed
+a little more and would soon be mainly that of the flaring lamps on the
+windy Parade, he caught from her dark eye a silver gleam of impatience.
+“You’ve suffered and you’ve worked--which, God knows, is what I’ve done!
+_Of course_ you’ve suffered,� she said--“you inevitably had to! We have
+to,� she went on, “to do or to be or to get anything.�
+
+“And pray what have I done or been or got?� Herbert Dodd found it almost
+desolately natural to demand.
+
+It made her cover him again as with all she was thinking of. “Can you
+imagine nothing, or can’t you conceive--?� And then as her challenge
+struck deeper in, deeper down than it had yet reached, and with the
+effect of a rush of the blood to his face, “It was _for_ you, it was
+_for_ you!� she again broke out--“and for what or whom else could it
+have been?�
+
+He saw things to a tune now that made him answer straight: “I thought at
+one time it might be for Bill Frankle.�
+
+“Yes--that was the way you treated me,� Miss Cookham as plainly replied.
+
+But he let this pass; his thought had already got away from it. “What
+good then--its having been for me--has that ever done me?�
+
+“Doesn’t it do you any good _now?_� his friend returned. To which she
+added, with another dim play of her tormented brightness, before he
+could speak: “But if you won’t even have your tea----!�
+
+He had in fact touched nothing and, if he could have explained, would
+have pleaded very veraciously that his appetite, keen when he came in,
+had somehow suddenly failed. It was beyond eating or drinking, what she
+seemed to want him to take from her. So if he looked, before him, over
+the array, it was to say, very grave and graceless: “Am I to understand
+that you offer to repay me?�
+
+“I offer to repay you with interest, Herbert Dodd�--and her emphasis of
+the great word was wonderful.
+
+It held him in his place a minute, and held his eyes upon her; after
+which, agitated too sharply to sit still, he pushed back his chair and
+stood up. It was as if mere distress or dismay at first worked in him,
+and was in fact a wave of deep and irresistible emotion which made him,
+on his feet, sway as in a great trouble and then, to correct it,
+throw himself stiffly toward the window, where he stood and looked out
+unseeing. The road, the wide terrace beyond, the seats, the eternal sea
+beyond that, the lighted lamps now flaring in the October night-wind,
+with the few dispersed people abroad at the tea-hour; these things,
+meeting and melting into the firelit hospitality at his elbow--or was it
+that portentous amenity that melted into _them?_--seemed to form round
+him and to put before him, all together, the strangest of circles
+and the newest of experiences, in which the unforgettable and the
+unimaginable were confoundingly mixed. “Oh, oh, oh!�--he could only
+almost howl for it.
+
+And then, while a thick blur for some moments mantled everything,
+he knew she had got up, that she stood watching him, allowing for
+everything, again all “cleverly� patient with him, and he heard her
+speak again as with studied quietness and clearness. “I wanted to take
+care of you--it was what I first wanted--and what you first consented
+to. I’d have done it, oh I’d have done it, I’d have loved you and helped
+you and guarded you, and you’d have had no trouble, no bad blighting
+ruin, in all your easy, yes, just your quite jolly and comfortable life.
+I showed you and proved to you this--I brought it home to you, as I
+fondly fancied, and it made me briefly happy. You swore you cared for
+me, you wrote it and made me believe it--you pledged me your honour
+and your faith. Then you turned and changed suddenly from one day to
+another; everything altered, you broke your vows, you as good as told me
+you only wanted it off. You faced me with dislike, and in fact tried not
+to face me at all; you behaved as if you hated me--you had seen a girl,
+of great beauty, I admit, who made me a fright and a bore.�
+
+This brought him straight round. “No, Kate Cookham.�
+
+“Yes, Herbert Dodd.� She but shook her head, calmly and nobly, in the
+now gathered dusk, and her memories and her cause and her character--or
+was it only her arch-subtlety, her line and her “idea�?--gave her an
+extraordinary large assurance.
+
+She had touched, however, the treasure of his own case--his terrible
+own case that began to live again at once by the force of her talking of
+hers, and which could always all cluster about his great asseveration.
+“No, no, never, never; I had never seen her then and didn’t dream of
+her; so that when you yourself began to be harsh and sharp with me,
+and to seem to want to quarrel, I could have but one idea--which was
+an appearance you didn’t in the least, as I saw it then, account for or
+disprove.�
+
+“An appearance--?� Kate desired, as with high astonishment, to know
+which one.
+
+“How _shouldn’t_ I have supposed you really to care for Bill
+Frankle?--as thoroughly believing the motive of your claim for my money
+to be its help to your marrying him, since you couldn’t marry me. I was
+only surprised when, time passing, I made out that that hadn’t happened;
+and perhaps,� he added the next instant with something of a conscious
+lapse from the finer style, “hadn’t been in question.�
+
+She had listened to this only staring, and she was silent after he
+had said it, so silent for some instants that while he considered her
+something seemed to fail him, much as if he had thrown out his foot for
+a step and not found the place to rest it. He jerked round to the window
+again, and then she answered, but without passion unless it was that of
+her weariness for something stupid and forgiven in him, “Oh, the blind,
+the pitiful folly!�--to which, as it might perfectly have applied to her
+own behaviour, he returned nothing. She had moreover at once gone on.
+“Have it then that there wasn’t much to do--between your finding that
+you loathed me for another woman or discovering only, when it came to
+the point, that you loathed me quite enough for myself.�
+
+Which, as she put it in that immensely effective fashion, he recognised
+that he must just unprotestingly and not so very awkwardly--not so
+_very!_--take from her; since, whatever he had thus come to her for, it
+wasn’t to perjure himself with any pretence that, “another woman� or no
+other woman, he hadn’t, for years and years, abhorred her. Now he was
+taking tea with her--or rather, literally, seemed not to be; but this
+made no difference, and he let her express it as she would while he
+distinguished a man he knew, Charley Coote, outside on the Parade, under
+favour of the empty hour and one of the flaring lamps, making up to a
+young woman with whom (it stuck out grotesquely in his manner) he had
+never before conversed. Dodd’s own position was that of acquiescing in
+this recall of what had so bitterly been--but he hadn’t come back to
+her, of himself, to stir up, to recall or to recriminate, and for _her_
+it could but be the very lesson of her whole present act that if she
+touched anything she touched everything. Soon enough she _was_ indeed,
+and all overwhelmingly, touching everything--with a hand of which the
+boldness grew.
+
+“But I didn’t let _that_, even, make a difference in what I
+wanted--which was all,� she said, “and had only and passionately been,
+to take care of you. I had _no_ money whatever--nothing then of my own,
+not a penny to come by anyhow; so it wasn’t with mine I could do it. But
+I could do it with yours,� she amazingly wound up--“if I could once get
+yours out of you.�
+
+He faced straight about again--his eyebrows higher than they had ever
+been in his life. “Mine? What penny of it was mine? What scrap beyond a
+bare, mean little living had I ever pretended to have?�
+
+She held herself still a minute, visibly with force; only her eyes
+consciously attached to the seat of a chair the back of which her
+hands, making it tilt toward her a little, grasped as for support.
+“You pretended to have enough to marry me--and that was all I afterward
+claimed of you when you wouldn’t.�
+
+He was on the point of retorting that he had absolutely pretended to
+nothing--least of all to the primary desire that such a way of stating
+it fastened on him; he was on the point for ten seconds of giving
+her full in the face: “I never _had_ any such dream till you
+yourself--infatuated with me as, frankly, you on the whole appeared to
+be--got round me and muddled me up and made me behave as if in a way
+that went against the evidence of my senses.� But he was to feel as
+quickly that, whatever the ugly, the spent, the irrecoverable truth, he
+might better have bitten his tongue off: there beat on him there this
+strange and other, this so prodigiously different beautiful and dreadful
+truth that no far remembrance and no abiding ache of his own could
+wholly falsify, and that was indeed all out with her next words.
+“That--_using_ it for you and using you yourself for your own
+future--was my motive. I’ve led my life, which has been an affair,
+I assure you; and, as I’ve told you without your quite seeming to
+understand, I’ve brought everything fivefold back to you.�
+
+The perspiration broke out on his forehead. “Everything’s mine?� he
+quavered as for the deep piercing pain of it.
+
+“Everything!� said Kate Cookham.
+
+So it told him how she had loved him--but with the tremendous effect
+at once of its only glaring out at him from the whole thing that it was
+verily she, a thousand times over, who, in the exposure of his youth and
+his vanity, had, on the bench of desolation, the scene of yesterday’s
+own renewal, left for him no forward steps to take. It hung there for
+him tragically vivid again, the hour she had first found him sequestered
+and accessible after making his acquaintance at his shop. And from this,
+by a succession of links that fairly clicked to his ear as with their
+perfect fitting, the fate and the pain and the payment of others stood
+together in a great grim order. Everything there then was _his_--to
+make him ask what had been Nan’s, poor Nan’s of the constant question
+of whether he need have collapsed. She was before him, she was between
+them, his little dead dissatisfied wife; across all whose final woe and
+whose lowly grave he was to reach out, it appeared, to take gifts. He
+saw them too, the gifts; saw them--she bristled with them--in his actual
+companion’s brave and sincere and authoritative figure, her strangest of
+demonstrations. But the other appearance was intenser, as if their ghost
+had waved wild arms; so that half a minute hadn’t passed before the one
+poor thing that remained of Nan, and that yet thus became a quite
+mighty and momentous poor thing, was sitting on his lips as for its sole
+opportunity.
+
+“Can you give me your word of honour that I mightn’t, under decent
+advice, have defied you?�
+
+It made her turn very white; but now that she had said what she _had_
+said she could still hold up her head. “Certainly you might have defied
+me, Herbert Dodd.�
+
+“They would have told me you had no legal case?�
+
+Well, if she was pale she was bold. “You talk of decent advice--!� She
+broke off, there was too much to say, and all needless. What she said
+instead was: “They would have told you I had nothing.�
+
+“I didn’t so much as ask,� her sad visitor remarked.
+
+“Of course you didn’t so much as ask.�
+
+“I couldn’t be so outrageously vulgar,� he went on.
+
+“_I_ could, by God’s help!� said Kate Cookham.
+
+“Thank you.� He had found at his command a tone that made him feel more
+gentlemanlike than he had ever felt in his life or should doubtless ever
+feel again. It might have been enough--but somehow as they stood there
+with this immense clearance between them it wasn’t. The clearance was
+like a sudden gap or great bleak opening through which there blew upon
+them a deadly chill. Too many things had fallen away, too many new
+rolled up and over him, and they made something within shake him to his
+base. It upset the full vessel, and though she kept her eyes on him
+he let that consequence come, bursting into tears, weakly crying there
+before her even as he had cried to himself in the hour of his youth when
+she had made him groundlessly fear. She turned away then--_that_ she
+couldn’t watch, and had presently flung herself on the sofa and, all
+responsively wailing, buried her own face on the cushioned arm. So for
+a minute their smothered sobs only filled the room. But he made out,
+through this disorder, where he had put down his hat; his stick and his
+new tan-coloured gloves--they had cost two-and-thruppence and would
+have represented sacrifices--were on the chair beside it He picked these
+articles up and all silently and softly--gasping, that is, but quite on
+tiptoe--reached the door and let himself out.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+Off there on the bench of desolation a week later she made him a more
+particular statement, which it had taken the remarkably tense interval
+to render possible. After leaving her at the hotel that last Sunday he
+had gone forth in his reaggravated trouble and walked straight before
+him, in the teeth of the west wind, close to the iron rails of the
+stretched Marina and with his telltale face turned from persons
+occasionally met, and toward the surging sea. At the Land’s End, even in
+the confirmed darkness and the perhaps imminent big blow, his immemorial
+nook, small shelter as it yielded, had again received him; and it was
+in the course of this heedless session, no doubt, where the agitated air
+had nothing to add to the commotion within him, that he began to look
+his extraordinary fortune a bit straighter in the face and see it
+confess itself at once a fairy-tale and a nightmare That, visibly,
+confoundingly, she was still attached to him (attached in fact was a
+mild word!) and that the unquestionable proof of it was in this offered
+pecuniary salve, of the thickest composition, for his wounds and sores
+and shames--these things were the fantastic fable, the tale of money
+in handfuls, that he seemed to have only to stand there and swallow
+and digest and feel himself full-fed by; but the whole of the rest
+was nightmare, and most of all nightmare his having thus to thank one
+through whom Nan and his little girls had known torture.
+
+He didn’t care for himself now, and this unextinguished and apparently
+inextinguishable charm by which he had held her was a fact incredibly
+romantic; but he gazed with a longer face than he had ever had for
+anything in the world at his potential acceptance of a great bouncing
+benefit from the person he intimately, if even in a manner indirectly,
+associated with the conditions to which his lovely wife and his children
+(who would have been so lovely too) had pitifully succumbed. He had
+accepted the social relation--which meant he had taken even that on
+trial--without knowing what it so dazzlingly masked; for a social
+relation it had become with a vengeance when it drove him about the
+place as now at his hours of freedom (and he actually and recklessly
+took, all demoralised and unstrung and unfit either for work or for
+anything else, other liberties that would get him into trouble) under
+this queer torment of irreconcilable things, a bewildered consciousness
+of tenderness and patience and cruelty, of great evident mystifying
+facts that were as little to be questioned as to be conceived or
+explained, and that were yet least, withal, to be lost sight of.
+
+On that Sunday night he had wandered wild, incoherently ranging and
+throbbing, but this became the law of his next days as well, since he
+lacked more than ever all other resort or refuge and had nowhere to
+carry, to deposit, or contractedly let loose and lock up, as it were,
+his swollen consciousness, which fairly split in twain the raw shell of
+his sordid little boarding-place. The arch of the sky and the spread of
+sea and shore alone gave him space; he could roam with himself anywhere,
+in short, far or near--he could only never take himself back. That
+certitude--that this was impossible to him even should she wait there
+among her plushes and bronzes ten years--was the thing he kept
+closest clutch of; it did wonders for what he would have called his
+self-respect. Exactly as he had left her so he would stand off--even
+though at moments when he pulled up sharp somewhere to put himself an
+intensest question his heart almost stood still. The days of the week
+went by, and as he had left her she stayed; to the extent, that is, of
+his having neither sight nor sound of her, and of the failure of
+every sign. It took nerve, he said, not to return to her, even for
+curiosity--since how, after all, in the name of wonder, had she invested
+the fruits of her extortion to such advantage, there being no chapter
+of all the obscurity of the years to beat that for queer-ness? But
+he dropped, tired to death, on benches, half a dozen times an
+evening--exactly on purpose to recognise that the nerve required was
+just the nerve he had.
+
+As the days without a token from her multiplied he came in as well for
+hours--and these indeed mainly on the bench of desolation--of sitting
+stiff and stark in presence of the probability that he had lost
+everything for ever. When he passed the Royal he never turned an
+eyelash, and when he met Captain Roper on the Front, three days after
+having been introduced to him, he “cut him dead�--another privileged
+consequence of a social relation--rather than seem to himself to make
+the remotest approach to the question of whether Miss Cookham had left
+Properley. He had cut people in the days of his life before, just as
+he had come to being himself cut--since there had been no time for
+him wholly without one or other face of that necessity--but had never
+effected such a severance as of this rare connection, which helped to
+give him thus the measure of his really precious sincerity. If he had
+lost what had hovered before him he had lost it, his only tribute to
+which proposition was to grind his teeth with one of those “scrunches,�
+ as he would have said, of which the violence fairly reached his ear. It
+wouldn’t make him lift a finger, and in fact if Kate had simply
+taken herself off on the Tuesday or the Wednesday she would have been
+reabsorbed again into the darkness from which she had emerged--and
+no lifting of fingers, the unspeakable chapter closed, would evermore
+avail. That at any rate was the kind of man he still was--even after all
+that had come and gone, and even if for a few dazed hours certain things
+had seemed pleasant. The dazed hours had passed, the surge of the old
+bitterness had dished him (shouldn’t he have been shamed if it hadn’t?),
+and he might sit there as before, as always, with nothing at all on
+earth to look to. He had therefore wrongfully believed himself to be
+degraded; and the last word about him would be that he _couldn’t_ then,
+it appeared, sink to vulgarity as he had tried to let his miseries make
+him.
+
+And yet on the next Sunday morning, face to face with him again at the
+Land’s End, what she very soon came to was: “As if I believed you didn’t
+_know_ by what cord you hold me!� Absolutely too, and just that morning
+in fact, above all, he wouldn’t, he quite couldn’t have taken his solemn
+oath that he hadn’t a sneaking remnant, as he might have put it to
+himself--a remnant of faith in tremendous things still to come of their
+interview. The day was sunny and breezy, the sea of a cold purple; he
+wouldn’t go to church as he mostly went of Sunday mornings, that being
+in its way too a social relation--and not least when two-and-thruppenny
+tan-coloured gloves were new; which indeed he had the art of keeping
+them for ages. Yet he would dress himself as he scarce mustered
+resources for even to figure on the fringe of Society, local and
+transient, at St. Bernard’s, and in this trim he took his way westward;
+occupied largely, as he went, it might have seemed to any person
+pursuing the same course and happening to observe him, in a fascinated
+study of the motions of his shadow, the more or less grotesque shape
+projected, in front of him and mostly a bit to the right, over the
+blanched asphalt of the Parade and dandling and dancing at such a rate,
+shooting out and then contracting, that, viewed in themselves, its
+eccentricities might have formed the basis of an interesting challenge:
+“Find the state of mind, guess the nature of the agitation, possessing
+the person so remarkably represented!� Herbert Dodd, for that matter,
+might have been himself attempting to make by the sun’s sharp aid some
+approach to his immediate horoscope.
+
+It had at any rate been thus put before him that the dandling and
+dancing of his image occasionally gave way to perfect immobility, when
+he stopped and kept his eyes on it. “Suppose she should come, suppose
+she _should!_� it is revealed at least to ourselves that he had at
+these moments audibly breathed--breathed with the intensity of an arrest
+between hope and fear. It had glimmered upon him from early, with the
+look of the day, that, given all else that could happen, this would be
+rather, as he put it, in her line; and the possibility lived for him, as
+he proceeded, to the tune of a suspense almost sickening. It was, from
+one small stage of his pilgrimage to another, the “For ever, never!�
+ of the sentimental case the playmates of his youth used to pretend
+to settle by plucking the petals of a daisy. But it came to his truly
+turning faint--so “queer� he felt--when, at the gained point of the
+long stretch from which he could always tell, he arrived within positive
+sight of his immemorial goal. His seat was taken and she was keeping it
+for him--it could only be _she_ there in possession; whereby it shone
+out for Herbert Dodd that if he hadn’t been quite sure of her recurrence
+she had at least been quite sure of his. _That_ pulled him up to some
+purpose, where recognition began for them--or to the effect, in other
+words, of his pausing to judge if he could bear, for the sharpest note
+of their intercourse, this inveterate demonstration of her making him do
+what she liked. What settled the question for him then--and just
+while they avowedly watched each other, over the long interval, before
+closing, as if, on either side, for the major advantage--what settled it
+was this very fact that what she liked she liked so terribly. If it were
+simply to “use� him, as she had said the last time, and no matter to
+the profit of which of them she called it, one might let it go for that;
+since it could make her wait over, day after day, in that fashion, and
+with such a spending of money, on the hazard of their meeting again. How
+could she be the least sure he would ever again consent to it after the
+proved action on him, a week ago, of her last monstrous honesty? It was
+indeed positively as if he were now himself putting this influence--and
+for their common edification--to the supreme, to the finest test. He had
+a sublime, an ideal flight, which lasted about a minute. “Suppose, now
+that I see her there and what she has taken so characteristically for
+granted, suppose I just show her that she _hasn’t_ only confidently to
+wait or whistle for me, and that the length of my leash is greater
+than she measures, and that everything’s impossible always?--show it by
+turning my back on her now and walking straight away. She won’t be able
+not to understand _that!_�
+
+Nothing had passed, across their distance, but the mute apprehension
+of each on the part of each; the whole expanse, at the church hour, was
+void of other life (he had scarce met a creature on his way from end
+to end), and the sun-seasoned gusts kept brushing the air and all the
+larger prospect clean. It was through this beautiful lucidity that
+he watched her watch him, as it were--watch him for what he would do.
+Neither moved at this high tension; Kate Cookham, her face fixed on
+him, only waited with a stiff appearance of leaving him, not for dignity
+but--to an effect of even deeper perversity--for kindness, free to
+choose. It yet somehow affected him at present, this attitude, as a gage
+of her _knowing too_--knowing, that is, that he wasn’t really free, that
+this was the thinnest of vain parades, the poorest of hollow heroics,
+that his need, his solitude, his suffered wrong, his exhausted rancour,
+his foredoomed submission to any shown interest, all hung together too
+heavy on him to let the weak wings of his pride do more than vaguely
+tremble. They couldn’t, they didn’t carry him a single beat further
+away; according to which he stood rooted, neither retreating nor
+advancing, but presently correcting his own share of the bleak exchange
+by looking off at the sea. Deeply conscious of the awkwardness this
+posture gave him, he yet clung to it as the last shred of his honour,
+to the clear argument that it was one thing for him to have felt beneath
+all others, the previous days, that she was to be counted on, but quite
+a different for her to have felt that _he_ was. His checked approach,
+arriving thus at no term, could in these odd conditions have established
+that he wasn’t only if Kate Cookham had, as either of them might have
+said, taken it so--if she had given up the game at last by rising, by
+walking away and adding to the distance between them, and he had then
+definitely let her vanish into space. It became a fact that when she did
+finally rise--though after how long our record scarce takes on itself to
+say--it was not to confirm their separation but to put an end to it; and
+this by slowly approaching him till she had come within earshot He had
+wondered, once aware of it in spite of his averted face, what she would
+say and on what note, as it were, she would break their week’s
+silence; so that he had to recognise anew, her voice reaching him, that
+remarkable quality in her which again and again came up for him as her
+art.
+
+“There are twelve hundred and sixty pounds, to be definite, but I have
+it all down for you--and you’ve only to draw.�
+
+They lost themselves, these words, rare and exquisite, in the wide
+bright genial medium and the Sunday stillness, but even while that
+occurred and he was gaping for it she was herself there, in her battered
+ladylike truth, to answer for them, to represent them, and, if a further
+grace than their simple syllabled beauty were conceivable, almost
+embarrassingly to cause them to materialise. Yes, she let her smart and
+tight little reticule hang as if it bulged, beneath its clasp, with the
+whole portentous sum, and he felt himself glare again at this vividest
+of her attested claims. She might have been ready, on the spot, to open
+the store to the plunge of his hand, or, with the situation otherwise
+conceived, to impose on his pauperised state an acceptance of alms on
+a scale unprecedented in the annals of street charity. Nothing so much
+counted for him, however, neither grave numeral nor elegant fraction,
+as the short, rich, rounded word that the breeze had picked up as it
+dropped and seemed now to blow about between them. “To draw--to draw?�
+ Yes, he gaped it as if it had no sense; the fact being that even while
+he did so he was reading into her use of the term more romance than any
+word in the language had ever had for him. He, Herbert Dodd, was to live
+to “draw,� like people, scarce hampered by the conditions of earth,
+whom he had remotely and circuitously heard about, and in fact when he
+walked back with her to where she had been sitting it was very much, for
+his strained nerves, as if the very bench of desolation itself were to
+be the scene of that exploit and he mightn’t really live till he reached
+it.
+
+When they had sat down together she did press the spring of her
+reticule, from which she took, not a handful of gold nor a packet of
+crisp notes, but an oblong sealed letter, which she had thus waited on
+him, she remarked, on purpose to deliver, and which would certify, with
+sundry particulars, to the credit she had opened for him at a London
+bank. He received it without looking at it--he held it, in the same
+manner, conspicuous and unassimilated, for most of the rest of the
+immediate time, appearing embarrassed with it, nervously twisting and
+flapping it, yet thus publicly retaining it even while aware, beneath
+everything, of the strange, the quite dreadful, wouldn’t it be?
+engagement that such inaction practically stood for. He could accept
+money to that amount, yes--but not for nothing in return. For what then
+in return? He kept asking himself for what, while she said other things
+and made above all, in her high, shrewd, successful way the point that,
+no, he needn’t pretend that his conviction of her continued personal
+interest in him wouldn’t have tided him oyer any question besetting
+him since their separation. She put it to him that the deep instinct of
+where he should at last find her must confidently have worked for him,
+since she confessed to her instinct of where she should find _him_;
+which meant--oh it came home to him as he fingered his sealed
+treasure!--neither more nor less than that she had now created
+between them an equality of experience. He wasn’t to have done all the
+suffering, _she_ was to have “been through� things he couldn’t even
+guess at; and, since he was bargaining away his right ever again to
+allude to the unforgettable, so much there was of it, what her tacit
+proposition came to was that they were “square� and might start afresh.
+
+He didn’t take up her charge, as his so compromised “pride� yet in a
+manner prompted him, that he had enjoyed all the week all those elements
+of ease about her; the most he achieved for that was to declare, with an
+ingenuity contributing to float him no small distance further, that of
+course he had turned up at their old place of tryst, which had been,
+through the years, the haunt of his solitude and the goal of his walk
+any Sunday morning that seemed too beautiful for church; but that he
+hadn’t in the least built on her presence there--since that supposition
+gave him, she would understand, wouldn’t she? the air, disagreeable to
+him, of having come in search of her. Her quest of himself, once he
+had been seated there, would have been another matter--but in short
+“Of course after all you did come to me, just now, didn’t you?� He felt
+himself, too, lamely and gracelessly grin, as for the final kick of his
+honour, in confirmation of the record that he had then yielded but to
+her humility. Her humility became for him at this hour and to this tune,
+on the bench of desolation, a quantity more prodigious and even more
+mysterious than that other guaranteed quantity the finger-tips of his
+left hand could feel the tap by the action of his right; though what was
+in especial extraordinary was the manner in which she could keep making
+him such allowances and yet meet him again, at some turn, as with her
+residuum for her clever self so great.
+
+“Come to you, Herbert Dodd?� she imperturbably echoed. “I’ve been coming
+to you for the last ten years!�
+
+There had been for him just before this sixty supreme seconds of
+intensest aspiration--a minute of his keeping his certificate poised
+for a sharp thrust back at her, the thrust of the wild freedom of his
+saying: “No, no, I _can’t_ give them up; I can’t simply sink them deep
+down in my soul forever, with no cross in all my future to mark _that_
+burial; so that if this is what our arrangement means I must decline to
+have anything to do with it.� The words none the less hadn’t come, and
+when she had herself, a couple of minutes later, spoken those
+others, the blood rose to his face as if, given his stiffness and her
+extravagance, he had just indeed saved himself.
+
+Everything in fact stopped, even his fidget with his paper; she imposed
+a hush, she imposed at any rate the conscious decent form of one, and
+he couldn’t afterward have told how long, at this juncture, he must have
+sat simply gazing before him. It was so long, at any rate, that Kate
+herself got up--and quite indeed, presently, as if her own forms were
+now at an end. He had returned her nothing--so what was she waiting for?
+She had been on the two other occasions momentarily at a loss, but never
+so much so, no doubt, as was thus testified to by her leaving the bench
+and moving over once more to the rail of the terrace. She could carry
+it off, in a manner, with her resources, that she was waiting with so
+little to wait for; she could face him again, after looking off at
+the sea, as if this slightly stiff delay, not wholly exempt from
+awkwardness, had been but a fine scruple of her courtesy. She had
+gathered herself in; after giving him time to appeal she could take
+it that he had decided and that nothing was left for her to do. “Well
+then,� she clearly launched at him across the broad walk--“well then,
+good-bye.�
+
+She had come nearer with it, as if he might rise for some show of
+express separation; but he only leaned back motionless, his eyes on her
+now--he kept her a moment before him. “Do you mean that we don’t--that
+we don’t--?� But he broke down.
+
+“Do I ‘mean’--?� She remained as for questions he might ask, but it
+was wellnigh as if there played through her dotty veil an irrepressible
+irony for that particular one. “I’ve meant, for long years, I think, all
+I’m capable of meaning. I’ve meant so much that I can’t mean more. So
+there it is.�
+
+“But if you go,� he appealed--and with a sense as of final flatness,
+however he arranged it, for his own attitude--“but if you go sha’n’t I
+see you again?�
+
+She waited a little, and it was strangely for him now as if--though at
+last so much more gorged with her tribute than she had ever been with
+his--something still depended on her. “Do you _like_ to see me?� she
+very simply asked.
+
+At this he did get up; that was easier than to say--at least with
+responsive simplicity; and again for a little he looked hard and in
+silence at his letter; which at last, however, raising his eyes to her
+own for the act, while he masked their conscious ruefulness, to his
+utmost, in some air of assurance, he slipped into the inner pocket of
+his coat, letting it settle there securely. “You’re too wonderful.� But
+he frowned at her with it as never in his life. “Where does it all come
+from?�
+
+“The wonder of poor me?� Kate Cookham said. “It comes from _you_.�
+
+He shook his head slowly--feeling, with his letter there against his
+heart, such a new agility, almost such a new range of interest. “I mean
+so _much_ money--so extraordinarily much.�
+
+Well, she held him a while blank. “Does it seem to you extraordinarily
+much--twelve-hundred-and-sixty? Because, you know,� she added, “it’s
+all.�
+
+“It’s enough!� he returned with a slight thoughtful droop of his head to
+the right and his eyes attached to the far horizon as through a shade of
+shyness for what he was saying. He felt all her own lingering nearness
+somehow on his cheek.
+
+“It’s enough? Thank you then!� she rather oddly went on.
+
+He shifted a little his posture. “It was more than a hundred a year--for
+you to get together.�
+
+“Yes,� she assented, “that was what year by year I tried for.�
+
+“But that you could live all the while and save that--!� Yes, he was
+at liberty, as he hadn’t been, quite pleasantly to marvel. All his
+wonderments in life had been hitherto unanswered--and didn’t the change
+mean that here again was the social relation?
+
+“Ah, I didn’t live as you saw me the other day.�
+
+“Yes,� he answered--and didn’t he the next instant feel he must fairly
+have smiled with it?--“the other day you _were_ going it!�
+
+“For once in my life,� said Kate Cookham. “I’ve left the hotel,� she
+after a moment added.
+
+“Ah, you’re in--a--lodgings?� he found himself inquiring as for positive
+sociability.
+
+She had apparently a slight shade of hesitation, but in an instant it
+was all right; as what he showed he wanted to know she seemed mostly to
+give him. “Yes--but far of course from here. Up on the hill.� To which,
+after another instant, “At The Mount, Castle Terrace,� she subjoined.
+
+“Oh, I _know_ The Mount. And Castle Terrace is awfully sunny and nice.�
+
+“Awfully sunny and nice,� Kate Cookham took from him.
+
+“So that if it isn’t,� he pursued, “like the Royal, why you’re at least
+comfortable.�
+
+“I shall be comfortable anywhere now,� she replied with a certain
+dryness.
+
+It was astonishing, however, what had become of his own. “Because I’ve
+accepted----?�
+
+“Call it that!� she dimly smiled.
+
+“I hope then at any rate,� he returned, “you can now thoroughly rest� He
+spoke as for a cheerful conclusion and moved again also to smile, though
+as with a poor grimace, no doubt; since what he seemed most clearly to
+feel was that since he “accepted� he mustn’t, for his last note, have
+accepted in sulkiness or gloom. With that, at the same time, he couldn’t
+but know, in all his fibres, that with such a still-watching face as the
+dotty veil didn’t disguise for him there was no possible concluding, at
+least on his part On hers, on hers it was--as he had so often for a week
+had reflectively to pronounce things--another affair. Ah, somehow,
+both formidably and helpfully, her face concluded--yet in a sense so
+strangely enshrouded in things she didn’t tell him. What _must_ she,
+what mustn’t she, have done? What she had said--and she had really told
+him nothing--was no account of her life; in the midst of which conflict
+of opposed recognitions, at any rate, it was as if, for all he could
+do, he himself now considerably floundered. “But I can’t think--I can’t
+think----!�
+
+“You can’t think I can have made so much money in the time and been
+honest?�
+
+“Oh, you’ve been _honest!_� Herbert Dodd distinctly allowed.
+
+It moved her stillness to a gesture--which, however, she had as promptly
+checked; and she went on the next instant as for further generosity to
+his failure of thought. “Everything was possible, under my stress, with
+my hatred.�
+
+“Your hatred--?� For she had paused as if it were after all too
+difficult.
+
+“Of what I should for so long have been doing to you.�
+
+With this, for all his failures, a greater light than any yet shone upon
+him. “It made you think of ways----?�
+
+“It made me think of everything. It made me work,� said Kate Cookham.
+She added, however, the next moment: “But that’s my story.�
+
+“And I mayn’t hear it?�
+
+“No--because I mayn’t hear yours.�
+
+“Oh, mine--!� he said with the strangest, saddest, yet after all most
+resigned sense of surrender of it; which he tried to make sound as if he
+couldn’t have told it, for its splendor of sacrifice and of misery, even
+if he would.
+
+It seemed to move in her a little, exactly, that sense of the invidious.
+“Ah, mine too, I assure you----!�
+
+He rallied at once to the interest. “Oh, we _can_ talk then?�
+
+“Never,� she all oddly replied. “Never,� said Kate Cookham.
+
+They remained so, face to face; the effect of which for him was that he
+had after a little understood why. That was fundamental. “Well, I see.�
+
+Thus confronted they stayed; and then, as he saw with a contentment that
+came up from deeper still, it was indeed she who, with her worn fine
+face, would conclude. “But I can take care of you.�
+
+“You _have!_� he said as with nothing left of him but a beautiful
+appreciative candour.
+
+“Oh, but you’ll want it now in a way--!� she responsibly answered.
+
+He waited a moment, dropping again on the seat. So, while she still
+stood, he looked up at her; with the sense somehow that there were too
+many things and that they were all together, terribly, irresistibly,
+doubtless blessedly, in her eyes and her whole person; which thus
+affected him for the moment as more than he could bear. He leaned
+forward, dropping his elbows to his knees and pressing his head on his
+hands. So he stayed, saying nothing; only, with the sense of her own
+sustained, renewed and wonderful action, knowing that an arm had passed
+round him and that he was held. She was beside him on the bench of
+desolation.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Finer Grain, by Henry James
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FINER GRAIN ***
+
+***** This file should be named 21968-0.txt or 21968-0.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/9/6/21968/
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+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.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project
+Gutenberg�), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  “Project Gutenberg� is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation�
+ or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase “Project Gutenberg� appears, or with which the phrase “Project
+Gutenberg� is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+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
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase “Project Gutenberg� associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+“Plain Vanilla ASCII� or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII� or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.�
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+“Defects,� such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right
+of Replacement or Refund� described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’ WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm’s
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws.
+
+The Foundation’s principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation’s web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/21968-0.zip b/21968-0.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b8aed96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-0.zip
diff --git a/21968-8.txt b/21968-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..989d246
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5573 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Finer Grain, by Henry James
+
+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: The Finer Grain
+
+Author: Henry James
+
+Release Date: June 29, 2007 [EBook #21968]
+[File last updated on December 12, 2007]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FINER GRAIN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+THE FINER GRAIN
+
+By Henry James
+
+
+1910
+
+
+[Transcriber's Note: After posting it was discovered that there were several
+missing pages from the section titled "Mora Montravers".  This section has been
+removed and will be replaced as soon as possible.]
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+     The Velvet Glove
+
+     [Mora Montravers]
+
+     A Round of Visits
+
+     Crapy Cornelia
+
+     The Bench of Desolation
+
+
+
+
+
+
+"THE VELVET GLOVE"
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+HE thought he had already, poor John Berridge, tasted in their fulness
+the sweets of success; but nothing yet had been more charming to him
+than when the young Lord, as he irresistibly and, for greater certitude,
+quite correctly figured him, fairly sought out, in Paris, the new
+literary star that had begun to hang, with a fresh red light, over
+the vast, even though rather confused, Anglo-Saxon horizon; positively
+approaching that celebrity with a shy and artless appeal. The young Lord
+invoked on this occasion the celebrity's prized judgment of a special
+literary case; and Berridge could take the whole manner of it for one of
+the "quaintest" little acts displayed to his amused eyes, up to now, on
+the stage of European society--albeit these eyes were quite aware, in
+general, of missing everywhere no more of the human scene than possible,
+and of having of late been particularly awake to the large extensions of
+it spread before him (since so he could but fondly read his fate) under
+the omen of his prodigious "hit." It was because of his hit that he
+was having rare opportunities--of which he was so honestly and humbly
+proposing, as he would have said, to make the most: it was because every
+one in the world (so far had the thing gone) was reading "The Heart of
+Gold" as just a slightly too fat volume, or sitting out the same as just
+a fifth-act too long play, that he found himself floated on a tide he
+would scarce have dared to show his favourite hero sustained by, found
+a hundred agreeable and interesting things happen to him which were all,
+one way or another, affluents of the golden stream.
+
+The great renewed resonance--renewed by the incredible luck of the
+play--was always in his ears without so much as a conscious turn of his
+head to listen; so that the queer world of his fame was not the mere
+usual field of the Anglo-Saxon boom, but positively the bottom of the
+whole theatric sea, unplumbed source of the wave that had borne him
+in the course of a year or two over German, French, Italian, Russian,
+Scandinavian foot-lights. Paris itself really appeared for the hour the
+centre of his cyclone, with reports and "returns," to say nothing of
+agents and emissaries, converging from the minor capitals; though his
+impatience was scarce the less keen to get back to London, where his
+work had had no such critical excoriation to survive, no such lesson of
+anguish to learn, as it had received at the hand of supreme authority,
+of that French authority which was in such a matter the only one to be
+artistically reckoned with. If his spirit indeed had had to reckon with
+it his fourth act practically hadn't: it continued to make him blush
+every night for the public more even than the inimitable _feuilleton_
+had made him blush for himself.
+
+This had figured, however, after all, the one bad drop in his cup;
+so that, for the rest, his high-water mark might well have been, that
+evening at Gloriani's studio, the approach of his odd and charming
+applicant, vaguely introduced at the latter's very own request by their
+hostess, who, with an honest, helpless, genial gesture, washed her fat
+begemmed hands of the name and identity of either, but left the fresh,
+fair, ever so habitually assured, yet ever so easily awkward Englishman
+with his plea to put forth. There was that in this pleasant personage
+which could still make Berridge wonder what conception of profit from
+him might have, all incalculably, taken form in such a head--these being
+truly the last intrenchments of our hero's modesty. He wondered,
+the splendid young man, he wondered awfully, he wondered (it was
+unmistakable) quite nervously, he wondered, to John's ardent and acute
+imagination, quite beautifully, if the author of "The Heart of Gold"
+would mind just looking at a book by a friend of his, a great friend,
+which he himself believed rather clever, and had in fact found very
+charming, but as to which--if it really wouldn't bore Mr. Berridge--he
+should so like the verdict of some one who knew. His friend was awfully
+ambitious, and he thought there was something in it--with all of which
+might he send the book to any address?
+
+Berridge thought of many things while the young Lord thus charged upon
+him, and it was odd that no one of them was any question of the possible
+worth of the offered achievement--which, for that matter, was certain to
+be of the quality of _all_ the books, to say nothing of the plays, and
+the projects for plays, with which, for some time past, he had seen his
+daily post-bag distended. He had made out, on looking at these things,
+no difference at all from one to the other. Here, however, was something
+more--something that made his fellow-guest's overture _independently_
+interesting and, as he might imagine, important. He smiled, he was
+friendly and vague; said "A work of fiction, I suppose?" and that he
+didn't pretend ever to pronounce, that he in fact quite hated, always,
+to have to, not "knowing," as he felt, any better than any one else; but
+would gladly look at anything, under that demur, if it would give any
+pleasure. Perhaps the very brightest and most diamond-like twinkle he
+had yet seen the star of his renown emit was just the light brought into
+his young Lord's eyes by this so easy consent to oblige. It was easy
+because the presence before him was from moment to moment, referring
+itself back to some recent observation or memory; something caught
+somewhere, within a few weeks or months, as he had moved about, and that
+seemed to flutter forth at this stir of the folded leaves of his recent
+experience very much as a gathered, faded flower, placed there for
+"pressing," might drop from between the pages of a volume opened at
+hazard.
+
+He had seen him before, this splendid and sympathetic person--whose
+flattering appeal was by no means _all_ that made him sympathetic;
+he had met him, had noted, had wondered about him, had in fact
+imaginatively, intellectually, so to speak, quite yearned over him, in
+some conjunction lately, though ever so fleet-ingly, apprehended: which
+circumstance constituted precisely an association as tormenting, for
+the few minutes, as it was vague, and set him to sounding, intensely
+and vainly, the face that itself figured everything agreeable except
+recognition. He couldn't remember, and the young man didn't; distinctly,
+yes, they had been in presence, during the previous winter, by some
+chance of travel, through Sicily, through Italy, through the south of
+France, but his _Seigneurie_--so Berridge liked exotically to phrase
+it--had then (in ignorance of the present reasons) not noticed _him_. It
+was positive for the man of established identity, all the while too,
+and through the perfect lucidity of his sense of achievement in an air
+"conducting" nothing but the loudest bang, that this was fundamentally
+much less remarkable than the fact of his being made up to in such a
+quarter now. That was the disservice, in a manner, of one's having so
+much imagination: the mysterious values of other types kept looming
+larger before you than the doubtless often higher but comparatively
+familiar ones of your own, and if you had anything of the artist's
+real feeling for life the attraction and amusement of possibilities so
+projected were worth more to you, in nineteen moods out of twenty, than
+the sufficiency, the serenity, the felicity, whatever it might be,
+of your stale personal certitudes. You were intellectually, you were
+"artistically" rather abject, in fine, if your curiosity (in the grand
+sense of the term) wasn't worth more to you than your dignity. What was
+your dignity, "anyway," but just the consistency of your curiosity, and
+what moments were ever so ignoble for you as, under the blighting breath
+of the false gods, stupid conventions, traditions, examples, your lapses
+from that consistency? His _Seigneurie_, at all events, delightfully,
+hadn't the least real idea of what any John Berridge was talking about,
+and the latter felt that if he had been less beautifully witless, and
+thereby less true to his right figure, it might scarce have been
+forgiven him.
+
+His right figure was that of life in irreflective joy and at the highest
+thinkable level of prepared security and unconscious insolence. What was
+the pale page of fiction compared with the intimately personal adventure
+that, in almost any direction, he would have been all so stupidly,
+all so gallantly, all so instinctively and, by every presumption,
+so prevailingly ready for? Berridge would have given six months'
+"royalties" for even an hour of his looser dormant consciousness--since
+one was oneself, after all, no worm, but an heir of all the ages
+too--and yet without being able to supply chapter and verse for the
+felt, the huge difference. His _Seigneurie_ was tall and straight, but
+so, thank goodness, was the author of "The Heart of Gold," who had no
+such vulgar "mug" either; and there was no intrinsic inferiority in
+being a bit inordinately, and so it might have seemed a bit strikingly,
+black-browed instead of being fair as the morning. Again while his new
+friend delivered himself our own tried in vain to place him; he
+indulged in plenty of pleasant, if rather restlessly headlong sound, the
+confessed incoherence of a happy mortal who had always many things "on,"
+and who, while waiting at any moment for connections and consummations,
+had fallen into the way of talking, as they said, all artlessly, and
+a trifle more betrayingly, against time. He would always be having
+appointments, and somehow of a high "romantic" order, to keep, and the
+imperfect punctualities of others to wait for--though who would be of
+a quality to make such a pampered personage wait very much our young
+analyst could only enjoy asking himself. There were women who might be
+of a quality--half a dozen of those perhaps, of those alone, about the
+world; our friend was as sure of this, by the end of four minutes, as if
+he knew all about it.
+
+After saying he would send him the book the young Lord indeed dropped
+that subject; he had asked where he might send it, and had had an "Oh,
+I shall remember!" on John's mention of an hotel; but he had made no
+further dash into literature, and it was ten to one that this would be
+the last the distinguished author might hear of the volume. Such again
+was a note of these high existences--that made one content to ask
+of them no whit of other consistency than that of carrying off the
+particular occasion, whatever it might be, in a dazzle of amiability
+and felicity and leaving _that_ as a sufficient trace of their passage.
+Sought and achieved consistency was but an angular, a secondary motion;
+compared with the air of complete freedom it might have an effect
+of deformity. There was no placing this figure of radiant ease, for
+Berridge, in any relation that didn't appear not good enough--that is
+among the relations that hadn't been too good for Berridge himself. He
+was all right where he was; the great Gloriani somehow made that law;
+his house, with his supreme artistic position, was good enough for any
+one, and to-night in especial there were charming people, more charming
+than our friend could recall from any other scene, as the natural
+train or circle, as he might say, of such a presence. For an instant he
+thought he had got the face as a specimen of imperturbability watched,
+with wonder, across the hushed rattle of roulette at Monte-Carlo; but
+this quickly became as improbable as any question of a vulgar
+_table d'hote_, or a steam-boat deck, or a herd of fellow-pilgrims
+cicerone-led, or even an opera-box serving, during a performance, for
+frame of a type observed from the stalls. One placed young gods and
+goddesses only when one placed them on Olympus, and it met the case,
+always, that they were of Olympian race, and that they glimmered
+for one, at the best, through their silver cloud, like the visiting
+apparitions in an epic.
+
+This was brief and beautiful indeed till something happened that gave
+it, for Berridge, on the spot, a prodigious extension--an extension
+really as prodigious, after a little, as if he had suddenly seen the
+silver clouds multiply and then the whole of Olympus presently open.
+Music, breaking upon the large air, enjoined immediate attention, and in
+a moment he was listening, with the rest of the company, to an eminent
+tenor, who stood by the piano; and was aware, with it, that his
+Englishman had turned away and that in the vast, rich, tapestried room
+where, in spite of figures and objects so numerous, clear spaces, wide
+vistas, and, as they might be called, becoming situations abounded,
+there had been from elsewhere, at the signal of unmistakable song, a
+rapid accession of guests. At first he but took this in, and the way
+that several young women, for whom seats had been found, looked charming
+in the rapt attitude; while even the men, mostly standing and grouped,
+"composed," in their stillness, scarce less impressively, under the sway
+of the divine voice. It ruled the scene, to the last intensity, and yet
+our young man's fine sense found still a resource in the range of the
+eyes, without sound or motion, while all the rest of consciousness was
+held down as by a hand mailed in silver. It was better, in this way,
+than the opera--John alertly thought of that: the composition sung might
+be Wagnerian, but no Tristram, no Iseult, no Parsifal and, no Kundry of
+them all could ever show, could ever "act" to the music, as our friend
+had thus the power of seeing his dear contemporaries of either sex
+(armoured _they_ so otherwise than in cheap Teutonic tinsel!) just
+continuously and inscrutably sit to it.
+
+It made, the whole thing together, an enchantment amid which he had in
+truth, at a given moment, ceased to distinguish parts--so that he was
+himself certainly at last soaring as high as the singer's voice and
+forgetting, in a lost gaze at the splendid ceiling, everything of the
+occasion but what his intelligence poured into it. This, as happened,
+was a flight so sublime that by the time he had dropped his eyes again
+a cluster of persons near the main door had just parted to give way to a
+belated lady who slipped in, through the gap made for her, and stood for
+some minutes full in his view. It was a proof of the perfect hush that
+no one stirred to offer her a seat, and her entrance, in her high
+grace, had yet been so noiseless that she could remain at once immensely
+exposed and completely unabashed. For Berridge, once more, if the scenic
+show before him so melted into the music, here precisely might have
+been the heroine herself advancing to the foot-lights at her cue. The
+interest deepened to a thrill, and everything, at the touch of his
+recognition of this personage, absolutely the most beautiful woman now
+present, fell exquisitely together and gave him what he had been wanting
+from the moment of his taking in his young Englishman.
+
+It was there, the missing connection: her arrival had on the instant
+lighted it by a flash. Olympian herself, supremely, divinely Olympian,
+she had arrived, could _only_ have arrived, for the one person present
+of really equal race, our young man's late converser, whose flattering
+demonstration might now stand for one of the odd extravagant forms taken
+by nervous impatience. This charming, this dazzling woman had been one
+member of the couple disturbed, to his intimate conviction, the autumn
+previous, on his being pushed by the officials, at the last moment,
+into a compartment of the train that was to take him from Cremona to
+Mantua--where, failing a stop, he had had to keep his place. The other
+member, by whose felt but unseized identity he had been haunted, was
+the unconsciously insolent form of guaranteed happiness he had just been
+engaged with. The sense of the admirable intimacy that, having taken
+its precautions, had not reckoned with his irruption--this image had
+remained with him; to say nothing of the interest of aspect of the
+associated figures, so stamped somehow with rarity, so beautifully
+distinct from the common occupants of padded corners, and yet on the
+subject of whom, for the romantic structure he was immediately to raise,
+he had not had a scrap of evidence.
+
+If he had imputed to them conditions it was all his own doing: it came
+from his inveterate habit of abysmal imputation, the snatching of the
+ell wherever the inch peeped out, without which where would have been
+the tolerability of life? It didn't matter now what he had imputed--and
+he always held that his expenses of imputation were, at the worst, a
+compliment to those inspiring them. It only mattered that each of the
+pair had been then what he really saw each now--full, that is, of the
+pride of their youth and beauty and fortune and freedom, though at
+the same time particularly preoccupied: preoccupied, that is, with the
+affairs, and above all with the passions, of Olympus. Who had they been,
+and what? Whence had they come, whither were they bound, what tie united
+them, what adventure engaged, what felicity, tempered by what peril,
+magnificently, dramatically attended? These had been his questions, all
+so inevitable and so impertinent, at the time, and to the exclusion of
+any scruples over his not postulating an inane honeymoon, his not taking
+the "tie," as he should doubtless properly have done, for the mere blest
+matrimonial; and he now retracted not one of them, flushing as they did
+before him again with their old momentary life. To feel his two friends
+renewedly in presence--friends of the fleeting hour though they had but
+been, and with whom he had exchanged no sign save the vaguest of salutes
+on finally relieving them of his company--was only to be conscious that
+he hadn't, on the spot, done them, so to speak, half justice, and that,
+for his superior entertainment, there would be ever so much more of them
+to come.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+It might already have been coming indeed, with an immense stride, when,
+scarce more than ten minutes later, he was aware that the distinguished
+stranger had brought the Princess straight across the room to speak
+to him. He had failed in the interval of any glimpse of their closer
+meeting; for the great tenor had sung another song and then stopped,
+immediately on which Madame Gloriani had made his pulse quicken to a
+different, if not to a finer, throb by hovering before him once more
+with the man in the world he most admired, as it were, looking at him
+over her shoulder. The man in the world he most admired, the greatest
+then of contemporary Dramatists--and bearing, independently, the name
+inscribed if not in deepest incision at least in thickest gilding on the
+rich recreative roll--this prodigious personage was actually to suffer
+"presentation" to him at the good lady's generous but ineffectual hands,
+and had in fact the next instant, left alone with him, bowed, in formal
+salutation, the massive, curly, witty head, so "romantic" yet so modern,
+so "artistic" and ironic yet somehow so civic, so Gallic yet somehow so
+cosmic, his personal vision of which had not hitherto transcended that
+of the possessor of a signed and framed photograph in a consecrated
+quarter of a writing-table.
+
+It was positive, however, that poor John was afterward to remember
+of this conjunction nothing whatever but the fact of the great man's
+looking at him very hard, straight in the eyes, and of his not having
+himself scrupled to do as much, and with a confessed intensity of
+appetite. It was improbable, he was to recognise, that they had, for the
+few minutes, only stared and grimaced, like pitted boxers or wrestlers;
+but what had abode with him later on, none the less, was just the
+cherished memory of his not having so lost presence of mind as to fail
+of feeding on his impression. It was precious and precarious, that was
+perhaps all there would be of it; and his subsequent consciousness was
+quite to cherish this queer view of the silence, neither awkward nor
+empty nor harsh, but on the contrary quite charged and brimming, that
+represented for him his use, his unforgettable enjoyment in fact, of his
+opportunity. Had nothing passed in words? Well, no misery of murmured
+"homage," thank goodness; though something must have been said,
+certainly, to lead up, as they put it at the theatre, to John's having
+asked the head of the profession, before they separated, if he by chance
+knew who the so radiantly handsome young woman might be, the one who
+had so lately come in and who wore the pale yellow dress, of the strange
+tone, and the magnificent pearls. They must have separated soon, it was
+further to have been noted; since it was before the advance of the pair,
+their wonderful dazzling charge upon him, that he had distinctly seen
+the great man, at a distance again, block out from his sight the harmony
+of the faded gold and the pearls--to speak only of that--and plant
+himself there (the mere high Atlas-back of renown to Berridge now) as
+for communion with them. He had blocked everything out, to this tune,
+effectually; with nothing of the matter left for our friend meanwhile
+but that, as he had said, the beautiful lady was the Princess. What
+Princess, or the Princess of what?--our young man had afterward
+wondered; his companion's reply having lost itself in the prelude of an
+outburst by another vocalist who had approached the piano.
+
+It was after these things that she so incredibly came to him, attended
+by her adorer--since he took it for absolute that the young Lord was her
+adorer, as who indeed mightn't be?--and scarce waiting, in her bright
+simplicity, for any form of introduction. It may thus be said in a word
+that this was the manner in which she made our hero's acquaintance, a
+satisfaction that she on the spot described to him as really wanting of
+late to her felicity. "I've read everything, you know, and 'The Heart of
+Gold' three times": she put it all immediately on that ground, while the
+young Lord now smiled, beside her, as if it were quite the sort of thing
+he had done too; and while, further, the author of the work yielded to
+the consciousness that whereas in general he had come at last scarce to
+be able to bear the iteration of those words, which affected him as
+a mere vain vocal convulsion, so not a breath of this association now
+attended them, so such a person as the Princess could make of them what
+she would.
+
+Unless it was to be really what _he_ would!--this occurred to him in the
+very thick of the prodigy, no single shade of possibility of which
+was less prodigious than any other. It was a declaration, simply, the
+admirable young woman was treating him to, a profession of "artistic
+sympathy"--for she was in a moment to use this very term that made for
+them a large, clear, common ether, an element all uplifted and rare, of
+which they could equally partake.
+
+If she was Olympian--as in her rich and regular young beauty, that of
+some divine Greek mask over-painted say by Titian, she more and more
+appeared to him--this offered air was that of the gods themselves:
+she might have been, with her long rustle across the room, Artemis
+decorated, hung with pearls, for her worshippers, yet disconcerting them
+by having, under an impulse just faintly fierce, snatched the cup of
+gold from Hebe. It was to him, John Berridge, she thus publicly offered
+it; and it was his over-topping _confrere_ of shortly before who was the
+worshipper most disconcerted. John had happened to catch, even at its
+distance, after these friends had joined him, the momentary deep,
+grave estimate, in the great Dramatist's salient watching eyes, of the
+Princess's so singular performance: the touch perhaps this, in the whole
+business, that made Berridge's sense of it most sharp. The sense of it
+as _prodigy_ didn't in the least entail his feeling abject--any more,
+that is, than in the due dazzled degree; for surely there would have
+been supreme wonder in the eagerness of her exchange of mature glory for
+thin notoriety, hadn't it still exceeded everything that an Olympian of
+such race should have found herself bothered, as they said, to "read" at
+all--and most of all to read three times!
+
+With the turn the matter took as an effect of this meeting, Berridge was
+more than once to find himself almost ashamed for her--since it seemed
+never to occur to her to be so for herself: he was jealous of the
+type where she might have been taken as insolently careless of it;
+his advantage (unless indeed it had been his ruin) being that he could
+inordinately reflect upon it, could wander off thereby into kinds of
+licence of which she was incapable. He hadn't, for himself, waited till
+now to be sure of what he would do were _he_ an Olympian: he would leave
+his own stuff snugly unread, to begin with; that would be a beautiful
+start for an Olympian career. He should have been as unable to write
+those works in short as to make anything else of them; and he
+should have had no more arithmetic for computing fingers than any
+perfect-headed marble Apollo mutilated at the wrists. He should have
+consented to know but the grand personal adventure on the grand
+personal basis: nothing short of this, no poor cognisance of confusable,
+pettifogging things, the sphere of earth-grubbing questions and
+two-penny issues, would begin to be, on any side, Olympian enough.
+
+Even the great Dramatist, with his tempered and tested steel and his
+immense "assured" position, even he was not Olympian: the look, full of
+the torment of earth, with which he had seen the Princess turn her back,
+and for such a purpose, on the prized privilege of his notice, testified
+sufficiently to that. Still, comparatively, it was to be said, the
+question of a personal relation with an authority so eminent on the
+subject of the passions--to say nothing of the rest of his charm--might
+have had for an ardent young woman (and the Princess was unmistakably
+ardent) the absolute attraction of romance: unless, again, prodigy of
+prodigies, she were looking for her romance very particularly elsewhere.
+Yet where could she have been looking for it, Berridge was to ask
+himself with private intensity, in a manner to leave her so at her ease
+for appearing to offer _him_ everything?--so free to be quite divinely
+gentle with him, to hover there before him in all her mild, bright,
+smooth sublimity and to say: "I should be so very grateful if you'd come
+to see me."
+
+There succeeded this a space of time of which he was afterward to lose
+all account, was never to recover the history; his only coherent view
+of it being that an interruption, some incident that kept them a while
+separate, had then taken place, yet that during their separation, of
+half an hour or whatever, they had still somehow not lost sight of each
+other, but had found their eyes meeting, in deep communion, all across
+the great peopled room; meeting and wanting to meet, wanting--it was the
+most extraordinary thing in the world for the suppression of stages, for
+confessed precipitate intensity--to use together every instant of the
+hour that might be left them. Yet to use it for what?--unless, like
+beautiful fabulous figures in some old-world legend, for the frankest
+and almost the crudest avowal of the impression they had made on each
+other. He couldn't have named, later on, any other person she had during
+this space been engaged with, any more than he was to remember in the
+least what he had himself ostensibly done, who had spoken to him, whom
+he had spoken to, or whether he hadn't just stood and publicly gaped or
+languished.
+
+Ah, Olympians were unconventional indeed--that was a part of their
+high bravery and privilege; but what it also appeared to attest in this
+wondrous manner was that they could communicate to their chosen in three
+minutes, by the mere light of their eyes, the same shining cynicism. He
+was to wonder of course, tinglingly enough, whether he had really made
+an ass of himself, and there was this amount of evidence for it that
+there certainly _had_ been a series of moments each one of which glowed
+with the lucid sense that, as she couldn't like him as much as _that_
+either for his acted clap-trap or for his printed verbiage, what it must
+come to was that she liked him, and to such a tune, just for himself
+and quite after no other fashion than that in which every goddess in
+the calendar had, when you came to look, sooner or later liked some
+prepossessing young shepherd. The question would thus have been, for
+him, with a still sharper eventual ache, of whether he positively _had_,
+as an effect of the miracle, been petrified, before fifty pair of eyes,
+to the posture of a prepossessing shepherd--and would perhaps have left
+him under the shadow of some such imputable fatuity if his consciousness
+hadn't, at a given moment, cleared up to still stranger things.
+
+The agent of the change was, as quite congruously happened, none other
+than the shining youth whom he now seemed to himself to have been
+thinking of for ever so long, for a much longer time than he had ever in
+his life spent at an evening party, as the young Lord: which personage
+suddenly stood before him again, holding him up an odd object and
+smiling, as if in reference to it, with a gladness that at once struck
+our friend as almost too absurd for belief. The object was incongruous
+by reason of its being, to a second and less preoccupied glance, a book;
+and what had befallen Berridge within twenty minutes was that they--the
+Princess and he, that is--had got such millions of miles, or at least
+such thousands of years, away from _those_ platitudes. The book, he
+found himself assuming, could only be _his_ book (it seemed also to have
+a tawdry red cover); and there came to him memories, dreadfully false
+notes sounded so straight again by his new acquaintance, of certain
+altogether different persons who at certain altogether different parties
+had flourished volumes before him very much with that insinuating
+gesture, that arch expression, and that fell intention. The meaning of
+these things--of all possible breaks of the charm at such an hour!--was
+that he should "signature" the ugly thing, and with a characteristic
+quotation or sentiment: that was the way people simpered and squirmed,
+the way they mouthed and beckoned, when animated by such purposes; and
+it already, on the spot, almost broke his heart to see such a type as
+that of the young Lord brought, by the vulgarest of fashions, so low.
+This state of quick displeasure in Berridge, however, was founded on a
+deeper question--the question of how in the world he was to remain for
+himself a prepossessing shepherd if he should consent to come back to
+these base actualities. It was true that even while this wonderment held
+him, his aggressor's perfect good conscience had placed the matter in a
+slightly different light.
+
+"By an extraordinary chance I've found a copy of my friend's novel on
+one of the tables here--I see by the inscription that she has presented
+it to Gloriani. So if you'd like to glance at it--!" And the young Lord,
+in the pride of his association with the eminent thing, held it out to
+Berridge as artlessly as if it had been a striking natural specimen
+of some sort, a rosy round apple grown in his own orchard, or an
+exceptional precious stone, to be admired for its weight and lustre.
+Berridge accepted the offer mechanically--relieved at the prompt fading
+of his worst fear, yet feeling in himself a tell-tale facial blankness
+for the still absolutely anomalous character of his friend's appeal. He
+was even tempted for a moment to lay the volume down without looking at
+it--only with some extemporised promise to borrow it of their host and
+take it home, to give himself to it at an easier moment. Then the very
+expression of his fellow-guests own countenance determined in him a
+different and a still more dreadful view; in fact an immediate collapse
+of the dream in which he had for the splendid previous space of time
+been living. The young Lord himself, in his radiant costly barbarism,
+figured far better than John Berridge could do the prepossessing
+shepherd, the beautiful mythological mortal "distinguished" by a
+goddess; for our hero now saw that his whole manner of dealing with
+his ridiculous tribute was marked exactly by the grand simplicity, the
+prehistoric good faith, as one might call it, of far-off romantic and
+"plastic" creatures, figures of exquisite Arcadian stamp, glorified
+rustics like those of the train of peasants in "A Winter's Tale," who
+thought nothing of such treasure-trove, on a Claude Lorrain sea-strand,
+as a royal infant wrapped in purple: something in that fabulous style of
+exhibition appearing exactly what his present demonstration might have
+been prompted by. "The Top of the Tree, by Amy Evans"--scarce credible
+words floating before Berridge after he had with an anguish of effort
+dropped his eyes on the importunate title-page--represented an object
+as alien to the careless grace of goddess-haunted Arcady as a washed-up
+"kodak" from a wrecked ship might have been to the appreciation of some
+islander of wholly unvisited seas. Nothing could have been more in the
+tone of an islander deplorably diverted from his native interests and
+dignities than the glibness with which John's own child of nature went
+on. "It's her pen-name, Amy Evans"--he couldn't have said it otherwise
+had he been a blue-chinned penny-a-liner; yet marking it with a
+disconnectedness of intelligence that kept up all the poetry of his own
+situation and only crashed into that of other persons. The reference put
+the author of "The Heart of Gold" quite into _his_ place, but left the
+speaker absolutely free of Arcady. "Thanks awfully"--Berridge somehow
+clutched at that, to keep everything from swimming. "Yes, I should like
+to look at it," he managed, horribly grimacing now, he believed, to say;
+and there was in fact a strange short interlude after this in which he
+scarce knew what had become of any one or of anything; in which he only
+seemed to himself to stand alone in a desolate place where even its
+desolation didn't save him from having to stare at the greyest of
+printed pages. Nothing here helped anything else, since the stamped
+greyness didn't even in itself make it impossible his eyes should follow
+such sentences as: "The loveliness of the face, which was that of the
+glorious period in which Pheidias reigned supreme, and which owed its
+most exquisite note to that shell-like curl of the upper lip which
+always somehow recalls for us the smile with which windblown Astarte
+must have risen from the salt sea to which she owed her birth and her
+terrible moods; or it was too much for all the passionate woman in her,
+and she let herself go, over the flowering land that had been, but was
+no longer their love, with an effect of blighting desolation that might
+have proceeded from one of the more physical, though not more awful,
+convulsions of nature."
+
+He seemed to know later on that other and much more natural things
+had occurred; as that, for instance, with now at last a definite
+intermission of the rare music that for a long time past, save at the
+briefest intervals, had kept all participants ostensibly attentive
+and motionless, and that in spite of its high quality and the supposed
+privilege of listening to it he had allowed himself not to catch a note
+of, there was a great rustling and shifting and vociferous drop to a
+lower plane, more marked still with the quick clearance of a way to
+supper and a lively dispersal of most of the guests. Hadn't he made out,
+through the queer glare of appearances, though they yet somehow all came
+to him as confused and unreal, that the Princess was no longer
+there, wasn't even only crowded out of his range by the immediate
+multiplication of her court, the obsequious court that the change
+of pitch had at once permitted to close round her; that Gloriani had
+offered her his arm, in a gallant official way, as to the greatest lady
+present, and that he was left with half a dozen persons more knowing
+than the others, who had promptly taken, singly or in couples, to a
+closer inspection of the fine small scattered treasures of the studio?
+
+He himself stood there, rueful and stricken, nursing a silly red-bound
+book under his arm very much as if he might have been holding on tight
+to an upright stake, or to the nearest piece of furniture, during some
+impression of a sharp earthquake-shock or of an attack of dyspeptic
+dizziness; albeit indeed that he wasn't conscious of this absurd, this
+instinctive nervous clutch till the thing that was to be more wonderful
+than any yet suddenly flared up for him--the sight of the Princess again
+on the threshold of the room, poised there an instant, in her
+exquisite grace, for recovery of some one or of something, and then, at
+recognition of him, coming straight to him across the empty place as if
+he alone, and nobody and nothing else, were what she incredibly wanted.
+She was there, she was radiantly _at_ him, as if she had known and loved
+him for ten years--ten years during which, however, she had never quite
+been able, in spite of undiscouraged attempts, to cure him, as goddesses
+_had_ to cure shepherds, of his mere mortal shyness.
+
+"Ah no, not _that_ one!" she said at once, with her divine familiarity;
+for she had in the flash of an eye "spotted" the particular literary
+production he seemed so very fondly to have possessed himself of and
+against which all the Amy Evans in her, as she would doubtless have put
+it, clearly wished on the spot to discriminate. She pulled it away from
+him; he let it go; he scarce knew what was happening--only made out that
+she distinguished the right one, the one that should have been shown
+him, as blue or green or purple, and intimated that her other friend,
+her fellow-Olympian, as Berridge had thought of him from the
+first, really did too clumsily bungle matters, poor dear, with his
+officiousness over the red one! She went on really as if she had come
+for that, some such rectification, some such eagerness of reunion with
+dear Mr. Berridge, some talk, after all the tiresome music, of questions
+really urgent; while, thanks to the supreme strangeness of it, the high
+tide of golden fable floated him afresh, and her pretext and her plea,
+the queerness of her offered motive, melted away after the fashion of
+the enveloping clouds that do their office in epics and idylls. "You
+didn't perhaps know I'm Amy Evans," she smiled, "or even perhaps that
+I write in English--which I love, I assure you, as much as you can
+yourself do, and which gives one (doesn't it? for who should know if
+not you?) the biggest of publics. I 'just love'--don't they say?--your
+American millions; and all the more that they really _take_ me for Amy
+Evans, as I've just wanted to be taken, to be loved too for myself,
+don't you know?--that they haven't seemed to try at all to 'go behind'
+(don't you say?) my poor dear little _nom de guerre_. But it's the new
+one, my last, 'The Velvet Glove,' that I should like you to judge me
+by--if such a _corvee_ isn't too horrible for you to think of; though
+I admit it's a move straight in the romantic direction--since after
+all (for I might as well make a clean breast of it) it's dear old
+discredited romance that I'm most in sympathy with. I'll send you 'The
+Velvet Glove' to-morrow, if you _can_ find half an hour for it; and
+then--and _then_--!" She paused as for the positive bright glory of her
+meaning.
+
+It could only be so extraordinary, her meaning, whatever it was,
+that the need in him that would--whatever it was again!--meet it most
+absolutely formed the syllables on his lips as: "Will you be very,
+_very_ kind to me?"
+
+"Ah 'kind,' dear Mr. Berridge? 'Kind,'" she splendidly laughed, "is
+nothing to what--!" But she pulled herself up again an instant. "Well,
+to what I want to be! Just _see_," she said, "how I want to be!" It
+was exactly, he felt, what he couldn't _but_ see--in spite of books and
+publics and pen-names, in spite of the really "decadent" perversity,
+recalling that of the most irresponsibly insolent of the old Romans
+and Byzantines, that could lead a creature so formed for living and
+breathing her Romance, and so committed, up to the eyes, to the constant
+fact of her personal immersion in it and genius for it, the dreadful
+amateurish dance of ungrammatically scribbling it, with editions and
+advertisements and reviews and royalties and every other futile item:
+since what was more of the deep essence of throbbing intercourse itself
+than this very act of her having broken away from people, in the other
+room, to whom he was as nought, of her having, with her _crânerie_ of
+audacity and indifference, just turned her back on them all as soon as
+she had begun to miss him? What was more of it than her having forbidden
+them, by a sufficient curt ring of her own supremely silver tone, to
+attempt to check or criticise her freedom, than her having looked him
+up, at his distance, under all the noses he had put out of joint, so as
+to let them think whatever they might--not of herself (much she troubled
+to care!) but of the new champion to be reckoned with, the invincible
+young lion of the day? What was more of it in short than her having
+perhaps even positively snubbed for him the great mystified Sculptor and
+the great bewildered Dramatist, treated to this queer experience for the
+first time of their lives?
+
+It all came back again to the really great ease of really great ladies,
+and to the perfect facility of everything when once they were great
+enough. _That_ might become the delicious thing to him, he more and more
+felt, as soon as it should be supremely attested; it was ground he had
+ventured on, scenically, representation-ally, in the artistic sphere,
+but without ever dreaming he should "realise" it thus in the social.
+Handsomely, gallantly just now, moreover, he didn't so much as let it
+occur to him that the social experience would perhaps on some future
+occasion richly profit further scenic efforts; he only lost himself in
+the consciousness of all she invited him to believe. It took licence,
+this consciousness, the next moment, for a tremendous further throb,
+from what she had gone on to say to him in so many words--though indeed
+the words were nothing and it was all a matter but of the implication
+that glimmered through them: "Do you _want_ very much your supper here?"
+And then while he felt himself glare, for charmed response, almost to
+the point of his tears rising with it: "Because if you don't----!"
+
+"Because if I don't--?" She had paused, not from the faintest shade of
+timidity, but clearly for the pleasure of making him press.
+
+"Why shouldn't we go together, letting me drive you home?"
+
+"You'll come home with me?" gasped John Berridge while the perspiration
+on his brow might have been the morning dew on a high lawn of Mount Ida.
+
+"No--you had better come with _me_. That's what I mean; but I certainly
+will come to you with pleasure some time if you'll let me."
+
+She made no more than that of the most fatuous of freedoms, as he felt
+directly he had spoken that it might have seemed to her; and before
+he had even time to welcome the relief of not having then himself, for
+beastly contrition, to make more of it, she had simply mentioned, with
+her affectionate ease, that she wanted to get away, that of the bores
+there she might easily, after a little, have too much, and that if he'd
+but say the word they'd nip straight out together by an independent door
+and be sure to find her motor in the court. What word he had found to
+say, he was afterward to reflect, must have little enough mattered;
+for he was to have kept, of what then occurred, but a single other
+impression, that of her great fragrant rustle beside him over the rest
+of the ample room and toward their nearest and friendliest resource, the
+door by which he had come in and which gave directly upon a staircase.
+This independent image was just that of the only other of his
+fellow-guests with whom he had been closely concerned; he had thought
+of him rather indeed, up to that moment, as the Princess's
+fellow-Olympian--but a new momentary vision of him seemed now to qualify
+it.
+
+The young Lord had reappeared within a minute on the threshold, that
+of the passage from the supper-room, lately crossed by the Princess
+herself, and Berridge felt him there, saw him there, wondered about him
+there, all, for the first minute, without so much as a straight look
+at him. He would have come to learn the reason of his friend's
+extraordinary public demonstration--having more right to his curiosity,
+or his anxiety or whatever, than any one else; he would be taking in
+the remarkable appearances that thus completed it, and would perhaps be
+showing quite a different face for them, at the point they had reached,
+than any that would have hitherto consorted with the beautiful security
+of his own position. So much, on our own young man's part, for this
+first flush of a presumption that he might have stirred the germs of ire
+in a celestial breast; so much for the moment during which nothing
+would have induced him to betray, to a possibly rueful member of an
+old aristocracy, a vulgar elation or a tickled, unaccustomed glee. His
+inevitable second thought was, however, it has to be confessed, another
+matter, which took a different turn--for, frankly, all the conscious
+conqueror in him, as Amy Evans would again have said, couldn't forego a
+probably supreme consecration. He treated himself to no prolonged reach
+of vision, but there was something he nevertheless fully measured for
+five seconds--the sharp truth of the fact, namely, of how the interested
+observer in the doorway must really have felt about him. Rather
+disconcertingly, hereupon, the sharp truth proved to be that the most
+amused, quite the most encouraging and the least invidious of smiles
+graced the young Lord's handsome countenance--forming, in short, his
+final contribution to a display of high social candour unprecedented in
+our hero's experience. No, he wasn't jealous, didn't do John Berridge
+the honour to be, to the extent of the least glimmer of a spark of it,
+but was so happy to see his immortal mistress do what she liked that he
+could positively beam at the odd circumstance of her almost lavishing
+public caresses on a gentleman not, after all, of negligible importance.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+Well, it was all confounding enough, but this indication in particular
+would have jostled our friend's grasp of the presented cup had he
+had, during the next ten minutes, more independence of thought. That,
+however, was out of the question when one positively felt, as with a
+pang somewhere deep within, or even with a smothered cry for alarm,
+one's whole sense of proportion shattered at a blow and ceasing to
+serve. "Not _straight_, and not too fast, shall we?" was the ineffable
+young woman's appeal to him, a few minutes later, beneath the wide glass
+porch-cover that sheltered their brief wait for their chariot of fire.
+It was there even as she spoke; the capped charioteer, with a great
+clean curve, drew up at the steps of the porch, and the Princess's
+footman, before rejoining him in front, held open the door of the car.
+She got in, and Berridge was the next instant beside her; he could only
+say: "As you like, Princess--where you will; certainly let us prolong
+it; let us prolong everything; don't let us have it over--strange and
+beautiful as it can only be!--a moment sooner than we must." So
+he spoke, in the security of their intimate English, while the
+perpendicular imperturbable _valet-de-pied_, white-faced in the electric
+light, closed them in and then took his place on the box where the rigid
+liveried backs of the two men, presented through the glass, were like a
+protecting wall; such a guarantee of privacy as might come--it occurred
+to Berridge's inexpugnable fancy--from a vision of tall guards erect
+round Eastern seraglios.
+
+His companion had said something, by the time they started, about their
+taking a turn, their looking out for a few of the night-views of Paris
+that were so wonderful; and after that, in spite of his constantly
+prized sense of knowing his enchanted city and his way about, he ceased
+to follow or measure their course, content as he was with the particular
+exquisite assurance it gave him. _That_ was knowing Paris, of a wondrous
+bland April night; that was hanging over it from vague consecrated
+lamp-studded heights and taking in, spread below and afar, the great
+scroll of all its irresistible story, pricked out, across river and
+bridge and radiant _place_, and along quays and boulevards and avenues,
+and around monumental circles and squares, in syllables of fire, and
+sketched and summarised, further and further, in the dim fire-dust of
+endless avenues; that was all of the essence of fond and thrilled and
+throbbing recognition, with a thousand things understood and a flood of
+response conveyed, a whole familiar possessive feeling appealed to and
+attested.
+
+"From you, you know, it _would_ be such a pleasure, and I think--in fact
+I'm sure--it would do so much for the thing in America." Had she gone
+on as they went, or had there been pauses of easy and of charmed and
+of natural silence, breaks and drops from talk, but only into greater
+confidence and sweetness?--such as her very gesture now seemed a part
+of; her laying her gloved hand, for emphasis, on the back of his own,
+which rested on his knee and which took in from the act he scarce knew
+what melting assurance. The emphasis, it was true--this came to him even
+while for a minute he held his breath--seemed rather that of Amy Evans;
+and if her talk, while they rolled, had been in the sense of these words
+(he had really but felt that they were shut intimately in together, all
+his consciousness, all his discrimination of meanings and indications
+being so deeply and so exquisitely merged in that) the case wasn't as
+surely and sublimely, as extravagantly, as fabulously romantic for him
+as his excited pulses had been seeming to certify. Her hand was there on
+his own, in precious living proof, and splendid Paris hung over them,
+as a consecrating canopy, her purple night embroidered with gold; yet he
+waited, something stranger still having glimmered for him, waited though
+she left her hand, which expressed emphasis and homage and tenderness,
+and anything else she liked indeed--since it was all then a matter of
+what he next heard and what he slowly grew cold as he took from her.
+
+"You know they do it here so charmingly--it's a compliment a clever man
+is always so glad to pay a literary friend, and sometimes, in the case
+of a great name like yours, it renders such a service to a poor little
+book like mine!" She spoke ever so humbly and yet ever so gaily--and
+still more than before with this confidence of the sincere admirer and
+the comrade. That, yes, through his sudden sharpening chill, was
+what first became distinct for him; she was mentioning somehow her
+explanation and her conditions--her motive, in fine, disconcerting,
+deplorable, dreadful, in respect to the experience, otherwise so
+boundless, that he had taken her as having opened to him; and she
+was doing it, above all, with the clearest coolness of her general
+privilege. What in particular she was talking about he as yet, still
+holding his breath, wondered; it was something she wanted him to do for
+her--which was exactly what he had hoped, but something of what trivial
+and, heaven forgive them both, of what dismal order? Most of all,
+meanwhile, he felt the dire penetration of two or three of the words
+she had used; so that after a painful minute the quaver with which he
+repeated them resembled his-drawing, slowly, carefully, timidly, some
+barbed dart out of his flesh.
+
+"A 'literary friend'?" he echoed as he turned his face more to her; so
+that, as they sat, the whites of her eyes, near to his own, gleamed in
+the dusk like some silver setting of deep sapphires.
+
+It made her smile--which in their relation now was like the breaking
+of a cool air-wave over the conscious sore flush that maintained itself
+through his general chill. "Ah, of course you don't allow that I
+_am_ literary--and of course if you're awfully cruel and critical and
+incorruptible you won't let it say for me what I so want it should!"
+
+"Where are we, where, in the name of all that's damnably, of all that's
+grotesquely delusive, are we?" he said, without a sign, to himself;
+which was the form of his really being quite at sea as to what she was
+talking about. That uncertainty indeed he could but frankly betray by
+taking her up, as he cast about him, on the particular ambiguity that
+his voice perhaps already showed him to find most irritating. "Let it
+show? 'It,' dear Princess----?"
+
+"Why, my dear man, let your Preface show, the lovely, friendly,
+irresistible log-rolling Preface that I've been asking you if you
+wouldn't be an angel and write for me."
+
+He took it in with a deep long gulp--he had never, it seemed to him,
+had to swallow anything so bitter. "You've been asking me if I wouldn't
+write you a Preface?"
+
+"To 'The Velvet Glove'--after I've sent it to you and you've judged
+if you really can. Of course I don't want you to perjure yourself;
+but"--and she fairly brushed him again, at their close quarters, with
+her fresh fragrant smile--"I do want you so to like me, and to say it
+all out beautifully and publicly." "You want me to like you, Princess?"
+"But, heaven help us, haven't you understood?" Nothing stranger could
+conceivably have been, it struck him--if he was right now--than this
+exquisite intimacy of her manner of setting him down on the other side
+of an abyss. It was as if she had lifted him first in her beautiful
+arms, had raised him up high, high, high, to do it, pressing him to
+her immortal young breast while he let himself go, and then, by some
+extraordinary effect of her native force and her alien quality, setting
+him down exactly where she wanted him to be--which was a thousand miles
+away from her. Once more, so preposterously face to face with her for
+these base issues, he took it all in; after which he felt his eyes
+close, for amazement, despair and shame, and his head, which he had some
+time before, baring his brow to the mild night, eased of its crush-hat,
+sink to confounded rest on the upholstered back of the seat. The act,
+the ceasing to see, and if possible to hear, was for the moment a
+retreat, an escape from a state that he felt himself fairly flatter
+by thinking of it as "awkward"; the state of really wishing that his
+humiliation might end, and of wondering in fact if the most decent
+course open to him mightn't be to ask her to stop the motor and let him
+down.
+
+He spoke no word for a long minute, or for considerably more than that;
+during which time the motor went and went, now even somewhat faster,
+and he knew, through his closed eyes, that the outer lights had begun to
+multiply and that they were getting back somewhere into the spacious and
+decorative quarters. He knew this, and also that his retreat, for all
+his attitude as of accommodating thought, his air--_that_ presently
+and quickly came to him--of having perhaps gathered himself in, for
+an instant, at her behest, to turn over, in his high ingenuity, some
+humbugging "rotten" phrase or formula that he might place at her service
+and make the note of such an effort; he became aware, I say, that
+his lapse was but a half-retreat, with her strenuous presence and
+her earnest pressure and the close cool respiration of her good faith
+absolutely timing the moments of his stillness and the progress of the
+car. Yes, it was wondrous well, he had all but made the biggest of
+all fools of himself, almost as big a one as _she_ was still, to every
+appearance, in her perfect serenity, trying to make of him; and the one
+straight answer to it _would_ be that he should reach forward and touch
+the footman's shoulder and demand that the vehicle itself should make an
+end.
+
+That would be an answer, however, he continued intensely to see, only to
+inanely importunate, to utterly superfluous Amy Evans--not a bit to his
+at last exquisitely patient companion, who was clearly now quite taking
+it from him that what kept him in his attitude was the spring of the
+quick desire to oblige her, the charming loyal impulse to consider a
+little what he could do for her, say "handsomely yet conscientiously"
+(oh the loveliness!) before he should commit himself. She was
+enchanted--_that_ seemed to breathe upon him; she waited, she hung
+there, she quite bent over him, as Diana over the sleeping Endymion,
+while all the conscientious man of letters in him, as she might so
+supremely have phrased it, struggled with the more peccable, the more
+muddled and "squared," though, for her own ideal, the so much more
+_banal_ comrade. Yes, he could keep it up now--that is he could hold out
+for his real reply, could meet the rather marked tension of the rest of
+their passage as well as she; he should be able somehow or other to
+make his wordless detachment, the tribute of his ostensibly deep
+consideration of her request, a retreat in good order. She _was_, for
+herself, to the last point of her guileless fatuity, Amy Evans and an
+asker for "lifts," a conceiver of twaddle both in herself and in him;
+or at least, so far as she fell short of all this platitude, it was
+no fault of the really affecting folly of her attempt to become a
+mere magazine mortal after the only fashion she had made out, to the
+intensification of her self-complacency, that she might.
+
+Nothing might thus have touched him more--if to be touched, beyond a
+certain point, hadn't been to be squared--than the way she failed to
+divine the bearing of his thoughts; so that she had probably at no one
+small crisis of her life felt so much a promise in the flutter of her
+own as on the occasion of the beautiful act she indulged in at the very
+moment, he was afterward to recognise, of their sweeping into her
+great smooth, empty, costly street--a desert, at that hour, of lavish
+lamplight and sculptured stone. She raised to her lips the hand she
+had never yet released and kept it there a moment pressed close against
+them; he himself closing his eyes to the deepest detachment he was
+capable of while he took in with a smothered sound of pain that this
+was the conferred bounty by which Amy Evans sought most expressively to
+encourage, to sustain and to reward. The motor had slackened and in a
+moment would stop; and meanwhile even after lowering his hand again
+she hadn't let it go. This enabled it, while he after a further moment
+roused himself to a more confessed consciousness, to form with his
+friend's a more active relation, to possess him of hers, in turn, and
+with an intention the straighter that her glove had by this time somehow
+come off. Bending over it without hinderance, he returned as firmly
+and fully as the application of all his recovered wholeness of feeling,
+under his moustache, might express, the consecration the bareness of
+his own knuckles had received; only after which it was that, still thus
+drawing out his grasp of her, and having let down their front glass by
+his free hand, he signified to the footman his view of their stopping
+short.
+
+They had arrived; the high, closed _porte-cochere_, in its crested
+stretch of wall, awaited their approach; but his gesture took effect,
+the car pulled up at the edge of the pavement, the man, in an instant,
+was at the door and had opened it; quickly moving across the walk, the
+next moment, to press the bell at the gate. Berridge, as his hand now
+broke away, felt he had cut his cable; with which, after he had stepped
+out, he raised again the glass he had lowered and closed, its own being
+already down, the door that had released him. During these motions he
+had the sense of his companion, still radiant and splendid, but somehow
+momentarily suppressed, suspended, silvered over and celestially
+blurred, even as a summer moon by the loose veil of a cloud. So it was
+he saw her while he leaned for farewell on the open window-ledge; he
+took her in as her visible intensity of bright vagueness filled the
+circle that the interior of the car made for her. It was such a state as
+she would have been reduced to--he felt this, was certain of it--for the
+first time in her life; and it was he, poor John Berridge, after all,
+who would have created the condition.
+
+"Good-night, Princess. I sha'n't see you again."
+
+Vague was indeed no word for it--shine though she might, in her screened
+narrow niche, as with the liquefaction of her pearls, the glimmer of her
+tears, the freshness of her surprise. "You won't come in--when you've
+had no supper?"
+
+He smiled at her with a purpose of kindness that could never in his life
+have been greater; and at first but smiled without a word. He presently
+shook his head, however--doubtless also with as great a sadness. "I seem
+to have supped to my fill, Princess. Thank you, I won't come in."
+
+It drew from her, while she looked at him, a long low anxious wail. "And
+you won't do my Preface?"
+
+"No, Princess, I won't do your Preface. Nothing would induce me to say
+a word in print about you. I'm in fact not sure I shall ever mention you
+in any manner at all as long as ever I live."
+
+He had felt for an instant as if he were speaking to some miraculously
+humanised idol, all sacred, all jewelled, all votively hung about, but
+made mysterious, in the recess of its shrine, by the very thickness
+of the accumulated lustre. And "Then you don't like me--?" was the
+marvellous sound from the image.
+
+"Princess," was in response the sound of the worshipper, "Princess, I
+adore you. But I'm ashamed for you."
+
+"Ashamed----?"
+
+"You _are_ Romance--as everything, and by what I make out every one,
+about you is; so what more do you want? Your Preface--the only one worth
+speaking of--was written long ages ago by the most beautiful imagination
+of man."
+
+Humanised at least for these moments, she could understand enough to
+declare that she didn't. "I don't, I don't!"
+
+"You don't need to understand. Don't attempt such base things. Leave
+those to us. Only live. Only be. _We'll_ do the rest."
+
+She moved over--she had come close to the window. "Ah, but Mr.
+Berridge----!"
+
+He raised both hands; he shook them at her gently, in deep and soft
+deprecation. "Don't sound my dreadful name. Fortunately, however, you
+can't help yourself."
+
+"Ah, _voyons!_ I so want-----!"
+
+He repeated his gesture, and when he brought down his hands they closed
+together on both of hers, which now quite convulsively grasped the
+window-ledge. "Don't speak, because when you speak you really say
+things--!" "You _are_ Romance," he pronounced afresh and with the last
+intensity of conviction and persuasion. "That's all you have to do with
+it," he continued while his hands, for emphasis, pressed hard on her
+own.
+
+Their faces, in this way, were nearer together than ever, but with the
+effect of only adding to the vividness of that dire non-intelligence
+from which, all perversely and incalculably, her very beauty now
+appeared to gain relief. This made for him a pang and almost an anguish;
+the fear of her saying something yet again that would wretchedly prove
+how little he moved her perception. So his eyes, of remonstrant, of
+suppliant intention, met hers close, at the same time that these, so far
+from shrinking, but with their quite other swimming plea all bedimmed
+now, seemed almost to wash him with the tears of her failure. He
+soothed, he stroked, he reassured her hands, for tender conveyance of
+his meaning, quite as she had just before dealt with his own for brave
+demonstration of hers. It was during these instants as if the question
+had been which of them _could_ most candidly and fraternally plead.
+Full but of that she kept it up. "Ah, if you'd only think, if you'd only
+try----!"
+
+He couldn't stand it--she was capable of believing he had edged away,
+excusing himself and trumping up a factitious theory, because he hadn't
+the wit, hadn't the hand, to knock off the few pleasant pages she asked
+him for and that any proper Frenchman, master of the _metier_, would
+so easily and gallantly have promised. Should she so begin to commit
+herself he'd, by the immortal gods, anticipate it in the manner most
+admirably effective--in fact he'd even thus make her further derogation
+impossible. Their faces were so close that he could practise any rich
+freedom--even though for an instant, while the back of the chauffeur
+guarded them on that side and his own presented breadth, amplified
+by his loose mantle, filled the whole window-space, leaving him no
+observation from any quarter to heed, he uttered, in a deep-drawn final
+groan, an irrepressible echo of his pang for what might have been,
+the muffled cry of his insistence. "You _are_ Romance!"--he drove it
+intimately, inordinately home, his lips, for a long moment, sealing
+it, with the fullest force of authority, on her own; after which, as
+he broke away and the car, starting again, turned powerfully across
+the pavement, he had no further sound from her than if, all divinely
+indulgent but all humanly defeated, she had given the question up,
+falling back to infinite wonder. He too fell back, but could still wave
+his hat for her as she passed to disappearance in the great floridly
+framed aperture whose wings at once came together behind her.
+
+
+
+
+
+A ROUND OF VISITS
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+HE had been out but once since his arrival, Mark Monteith; that was
+the next day after--he had disembarked by night on the previous; then
+everything had come at once, as he would have said, everything had
+changed. He had got in on Tuesday; he had spent Wednesday for the most
+part down town, looking into the dismal subject of his anxiety--the
+anxiety that, under a sudden decision, had brought him across the
+unfriendly sea at mid-winter, and it was through information reaching
+him on Wednesday evening that he had measured his loss, measured above
+all his pain. These were two distinct things, he felt, and, though both
+bad, one much worse than the other. It wasn't till the next three
+days had pretty well ebbed, in fact, that he knew himself for so badly
+wounded. He had waked up on Thursday morning, so far as he had slept at
+all, with the sense, together, of a blinding New York blizzard and of a
+deep sore inward ache. The great white savage storm would have kept him
+at the best within doors, but his stricken state was by itself quite
+reason enough.
+
+He so felt the blow indeed, so gasped, before what had happened to him,
+at the ugliness, the bitterness, and, beyond these things, the sinister
+strangeness, that, the matter of his dismay little by little detaching
+and projecting itself, settling there face to face with him as something
+he must now live with always, he might have been in charge of some
+horrid alien thing, some violent, scared, unhappy creature whom there
+was small joy, of a truth, in remaining with, but whose behaviour
+wouldn't perhaps bring him under notice, nor otherwise compromise him,
+so long as he should stay to watch it. A young jibbering ape of one of
+the more formidable sorts, or an ominous infant panther, smuggled into
+the great gaudy hotel and whom it might yet be important he shouldn't
+advertise, couldn't have affected him as needing more domestic
+attention. The great gaudy hotel--The Pocahontas, but carried out
+largely on "Du Barry" lines--made all about him, beside, behind, below,
+above, in blocks and tiers and superpositions, a sufficient defensive
+hugeness; so that, between the massive labyrinth and the New York
+weather, life in a lighthouse during a gale would scarce have kept
+him more apart. Even when in the course of that worse Thursday it
+had occurred to him for vague relief that the odious certified facts
+couldn't be all his misery, and that, with his throat and a probable
+temperature, a brush of the epidemic, which was for ever brushing him,
+accounted for something, even then he couldn't resign himself to bed and
+broth and dimness, but only circled and prowled the more within his
+high cage, only watched the more from his tenth story the rage of the
+elements.
+
+In the afternoon he had a doctor--the caravanserai, which supplied
+everything in quantities, had one for each group of so many rooms--just
+in order to be assured that he was _grippé_ enough for anything. What
+his visitor, making light of his attack, perversely told him was that
+he was, much rather, "blue" enough, and from causes doubtless known
+to himself--which didn't come to the same thing; but he "gave him
+something," prescribed him warmth and quiet and broth and courage,
+and came back the next day as to readminister this last dose. He then
+pronounced him better, and on Saturday pronounced him well--all the more
+that the storm had abated and the snow had been dealt with as New York,
+at a push, knew how to deal with things. Oh, how New York knew how to
+deal--to deal, that is, with other accumulations lying passive to its
+hand--was exactly what Mark now ached with his impression of; so that,
+still threshing about in this consciousness, he had on the Saturday
+come near to breaking out as to what was the matter with him. The
+Doctor brought in somehow the air of the hotel--which, cheerfully
+and conscientiously, by his simple philosophy, the good man wished to
+diffuse; breathing forth all the echoes of other woes and worries and
+pointing the honest moral that, especially with such a thermometer,
+there were enough of these to go round.
+
+Our sufferer, by that time, would have liked to tell some one;
+extracting, to the last acid strain of it, the full strength of his
+sorrow, taking it all in as he could only do by himself and with the
+conditions favourable at least to this, had been his natural first need.
+But now, he supposed, he _must_ be better; there was something of his
+heart's heaviness he wanted so to give out. He had rummaged forth on the
+Thursday night half a dozen old photographs stuck into a leather frame,
+a small show-case that formed part of his usual equipage of travel--he
+mostly set it up on a table when he stayed anywhere long enough; and in
+one of the neat gilt-edged squares of this convenient portable array,
+as familiar as his shaving-glass or the hair-brushes, of backs and
+monograms now so beautifully toned and wasted, long ago given him by his
+mother, Phil Blood-good handsomely faced him. Not contemporaneous, and
+a little faded, but so saying what it said only the more dreadfully,
+the image seemed to sit there, at an immemorial window, like some long
+effective and only at last exposed "decoy" of fate. It was _because_ he
+was so beautifully good-looking, because he was so charming and clever
+and frank--besides being one's third cousin, or whatever it was, one's
+early schoolfellow and one's later college classmate--that one had
+abjectly trusted him. To live thus with his unremoved, undestroyed,
+engaging, treacherous face, had been, as our traveller desired, to live
+with all of the felt pang; had been to consume it in such a single hot,
+sore mouthful as would so far as possible dispose of it and leave but
+cold dregs. Thus, if the Doctor, casting about for pleasantness, had
+happened to notice him there, salient since he was, and possibly by the
+same stroke even to know him, as New York--and more or less to its cost
+now, mightn't one say?--so abundantly and agreeable had, the cup would
+have overflowed and Monteith, for all he could be sure of the contrary,
+would have relieved himself positively in tears.
+
+"Oh _he's_ what's the matter with me--that, looking after some of my
+poor dividends, as he for the ten years of my absence had served me by
+doing, he has simply jockeyed me out of the whole little collection,
+such as it was, and taken the opportunity of my return, inevitably at
+last bewildered and uneasy, to 'sail,' ten days ago, for parts unknown
+and as yet unguessable. It isn't the beastly values themselves, however;
+that's only awkward and I can still live, though I don't quite know how
+I shall turn round; it's the horror of _his_ having done it, and done it
+to _me_--without a mitigation or, so to speak, a warning or an excuse."
+That, at a hint or a jog, is what he would have brought out--only to
+feel afterward, no doubt, that he had wasted his impulse and profaned
+even a little his sincerity. The Doctor didn't in the event so much
+as glance at his cluster of portraits--which fact quite put before our
+friend the essentially more vivid range of imagery that a pair of eyes
+transferred from room to room and from one queer case to another, in
+such a place as that, would mainly be adjusted to. It wasn't for _him_
+to relieve himself touchingly, strikingly or whatever, to such a
+man: such a man might much more pertinently--save for professional
+discretion--have emptied out there his own bag of wonders; prodigies
+of observation, flowers of oddity, flowers of misery, flowers of the
+monstrous, gathered in current hotel practice. Countless possibilities,
+making doctors perfunctory, Mark felt, swarmed and seethed at their
+doors; it showed for an incalculable world, and at last, on Sunday, he
+decided to leave his room.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+Everything, as he passed through the place, went on--all the offices of
+life, the whole bustle of the market, and withal, surprisingly, scarce
+less that of the nursery and the playground; the whole sprawl in
+especial of the great gregarious fireside: it was a complete social
+scene in itself, on which types might figure and passions rage and plots
+thicken and dramas develop, without reference to any other sphere, or
+perhaps even to anything at all outside. The signs of this met him at
+every turn as he threaded the labyrinth, passing from one extraordinary
+masquerade of expensive objects, one portentous "period" of decoration,
+one violent phase of publicity, to another: the heavy heat, the
+luxuriance, the extravagance, the quantity, the colour, gave the
+impression of some wondrous tropical forest, where vociferous,
+bright-eyed, and feathered creatures, of every variety of size and hue,
+were half smothered between undergrowths of velvet and tapestry and
+ramifications of marble and bronze. The fauna and the flora startled him
+alike, and among them his bruised spirit drew in and folded its wings.
+But he roamed and rested, exploring and in a manner enjoying the vast
+rankness--in the depth of which he suddenly encountered Mrs. Folliott,
+whom he had last seen, six months before, in London, and who had spoken
+to him then, precisely, of Phil Bloodgood, for several years previous
+her confidential American agent and factotum too, as she might say, but
+at that time so little in her good books, for the extraordinary things
+he seemed to be doing, that she was just hurrying home, she had made no
+scruple of mentioning, to take everything out of his hands.
+
+Mark remembered how uneasy she had made him--how that very talk with
+her had wound him up to fear, as so acute and intent a little person she
+affected him; though he had affirmed with all emphasis and flourish his
+own confidence and defended, to iteration, his old friend. This passage
+had remained with him for a certain pleasant heat of intimacy, his
+partner, of the charming appearance, being what she was; he liked to
+think how they had fraternised over their difference and called each
+other idiots, or almost, without offence. It was always a link to have
+scuffled, failing a real scratch, with such a character; and he had at
+present the flutter of feeling that something of this would abide. _He_
+hadn't been hurrying home, at the London time, in any case; he was doing
+nothing then, and had continued to do it; he would want, before showing
+suspicion--that had been his attitude--to have more, after all, to go
+upon. Mrs. Folliott also, and with a great actual profession of it,
+remembered and rejoiced; and, also staying in the house as she was, sat
+with him, under a spreading palm, in a wondrous rococo salon, surrounded
+by the pinkest, that is the fleshiest, imitation Boucher panels, and
+wanted to know if he _now_ stood up for his swindler. She would herself
+have tumbled on a cloud, very passably, in a fleshy Boucher manner,
+hadn't she been over-dressed for such an exercise; but she was quite
+realistically aware of what had so naturally happened--she was prompt
+about Bloodgood's "flight."
+
+She had acted with energy, on getting back--she had saved what she
+could; which hadn't, however, prevented her losing all disgustedly some
+ten thousand dollars. She was lovely, lively, friendly, interested, she
+connected Monteith perfectly with their discussion that day during the
+water-party on the Thames; but, sitting here with him half an hour, she
+talked only of her peculiar, her cruel sacrifice--since she should
+never get a penny back. He had felt himself, on their meeting, quite
+yearningly reach out to her--so decidedly, by the morning's end,
+and that of his scattered sombre stations, had he been sated with
+meaningless contacts, with the sense of people all about him intensely,
+though harmlessly, animated, yet at the same time raspingly indifferent.
+_They_ would have, he and she at least, their common pang--through which
+fact, somehow, he should feel less stranded. It wasn't that he wanted to
+be pitied--he fairly didn't pity himself; he winced, rather, and even
+to vicarious anguish, as it rose again, for poor shamed Bloodgood's
+doom-ridden figure. But he wanted, as with a desperate charity, to give
+some easier turn to the mere ugliness of the main facts; to work off his
+obsession from them by mixing with it some other blame, some other pity,
+it scarce mattered what--if it might be some other experience; as an
+effect of which larger ventilation it would have, after a fashion and
+for a man of free sensibility, a diluted and less poisonous taste.
+
+By the end of five minutes of Mrs. Folliott, however, he felt his dry
+lips seal themselves to a makeshift simper. She could _take_ nothing--no
+better, no broader perception of anything than fitted her own small
+faculty; so that though she must have recalled or imagined that he had
+still, up to lately, had interests at stake, the rapid result of her
+egotistical little chatter was to make him wish he might rather have
+conversed with the French waiter dangling in the long vista that showed
+the oriental café as a climax, or with the policeman, outside, the top
+of whose helmet peeped above the ledge of a window. She bewailed her
+wretched money to excess--she who, he was sure, had quantities more; she
+pawed and tossed her bare bone, with her little extraordinarily gemmed
+and manicured hands, till it acted on his nerves; she rang all the
+changes on the story, the dire fatality, of her having wavered and
+muddled, thought of this and but done that, of her stupid failure to
+have pounced, when she had first meant to, in season. She abused the
+author of their wrongs--recognising thus too Monteith's right to loathe
+him--for the desperado he assuredly had proved, but with a vulgarity
+of analysis and an incapacity for the higher criticism, as her listener
+felt it to be, which made him determine resentfully, almost grimly,
+that she shouldn't have the benefit of a grain of _his_ vision or _his_
+version of what had befallen them, and of how, in particular, it had
+come; and should never dream thereby (though much would she suffer from
+that!) of how interesting he might have been. She had, in a finer sense,
+no manners, and to be concerned with her in any retrospect was--since
+their discourse was of losses--to feel the dignity of history incur
+the very gravest. It was true that such fantasies, or that any shade
+of inward irony, would be Greek to Mrs. Folliott. It was also true,
+however, and not much more strange, when she had presently the
+comparatively happy thought of "Lunch with _us_, you poor dear!" and
+mentioned three or four of her "crowd"--a new crowd, rather, for her,
+all great Sunday lunchers there and immense fun, who would in a moment
+be turning up--that this seemed to him as easy as anything else; so that
+after a little, deeper in the jungle and while, under the temperature
+as of high noon, with the crowd complete and "ordering," he wiped the
+perspiration from his brow, he felt he was letting himself go. He did
+that certainly to the extent of leaving far behind any question of Mrs.
+Folliott's manners. They didn't matter there--nobody's did; and if she
+ceased to lament her ten thousand it was only because, among higher
+voices, she couldn't make herself heard. Poor Blood-good didn't have
+a show, as they might have said, didn't get through at any point; the
+crowd was so new that--there either having been no hue and cry for
+him, or having been too many others, for other absconders, in the
+intervals--they had never so much as heard of him and would have no more
+of Mrs. Folliott's true inwardness, on that subject at least, than she
+had lately cared to have of Monteith's.
+
+There was nothing like a crowd, this unfortunate knew, for making one
+feel lonely, and he felt so increasingly during the meal; but he got
+thus at least in a measure away from the terrible little lady; after
+which, and before the end of the hour, he wanted still more to get away
+from every one else. He was in fact about to perform this manoeuvre when
+he was checked by the jolly young woman he had been having on his left
+and who had more to say about the Hotels, up and down the town, than he
+had ever known a young woman to have to say on any subject at all;
+she expressed herself in hotel terms exclusively, the names of those
+establishments playing through her speech as the _leit-motif_ might have
+recurrently flashed and romped through a piece of profane modern music.
+She wanted to present him to the pretty girl she had brought with her,
+and who had apparently signified to her that she must do so.
+
+"I think you know my brother-in-law, Mr. Newton Winch," the pretty girl
+had immediately said; she moved her head and shoulders together, as by
+a common spring, the effect of a stiff neck or of something loosened in
+her back hair; but becoming, queerly enough, all the prettier for
+doing so. He had seen in the papers, her brother-in-law, Mr. Monteith's
+arrival--Mr. Mark P. Monteith, wasn't it?--and where he was, and she
+had been with him, three days before, at the time; whereupon he had
+said "Hullo, what can have brought old Mark back?" He seemed to have
+believed--Newton had seemed--that that shirker, as he called him, never
+_would_ come; and she guessed that if she had known she was going to
+meet such a former friend ("Which he claims you are, sir," said the
+pretty girl) he would have asked her to find out what the trouble could
+be. But the real satisfaction would just be, she went on, if his former
+friend would himself go and see him and tell him; he had appeared of
+late so down.
+
+"Oh, I remember him"--Mark didn't repudiate the friendship, placing him
+easily; only then he wasn't married and the pretty girl's sister must
+have come in later: which showed, his not knowing such things, how they
+had lost touch. The pretty girl was sorry to have to say in return to
+this that her sister wasn't living--had died two years after marrying;
+so that Newton was up there in Fiftieth Street alone; where (in
+explanation of his being "down") he had been shut up for days with bad
+_grippe_; though now on the mend, or she wouldn't have gone to him, not
+she, who had had it nineteen times and didn't want to have it again. But
+the horrid poison just seemed to have entered into poor Newton's soul.
+
+"That's the way it _can_ take you, don't you know?" And then as, with
+her single twist, she just charmingly hunched her eyes at our friend,
+"Don't you want to go to see him?"
+
+Mark bethought himself: "Well, I'm going to see a lady-----"
+
+She took the words from his mouth. "Of course you're going to see a
+lady--every man in New York is. But Newton isn't a lady, unfortunately
+for him, to-day; and Sunday afternoon in this place, in this weather,
+alone-----!"
+
+"Yes, isn't it awful?"--he was quite drawn to her.
+
+"Oh, _you've_ got your lady!"
+
+"Yes, I've got my lady, thank goodness!" The fervour of which was his
+sincere tribute to the note he had had on Friday morning from Mrs. Ash,
+the only thing that had a little tempered his gloom.
+
+"Well then, feel for others. Fit him in. Tell him why!"
+
+"Why I've come back? I'm glad I _have_--since it was to see _you_!"
+Monteith made brave enough answer, promising to do what he could.
+He liked the pretty girl, with her straight attack and her free
+awkwardness--also with her difference from the others through something
+of a sense and a distinction given her by so clearly having Newton on
+her mind. Yet it was odd to him, and it showed the lapse of the years,
+that Winch--as he had known him of old--could _be_ to that degree on any
+one's mind.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+Outside in the intensity of the cold--it was a jump from the Tropics to
+the Pole--he felt afresh the force of what he had just been saying;
+that if it weren't for the fact of Mrs. Ash's good letter of welcome,
+despatched, characteristically, as soon as she had, like the faithful
+sufferer in Fiftieth Street, observed his name, in a newspaper, on one
+of the hotel-lists, he should verily, for want of a connection and an
+abutment, have scarce dared to face the void and the chill together, but
+have sneaked back into the jungle and there tried to lose himself. He
+made, as it was, the opposite effort, resolute to walk, though hovering
+now and then at vague crossways, radiations of roads to nothing, or
+taking cold counsel of the long but still sketchy vista, as it struck
+him, of the northward Avenue, bright and bleak, fresh and harsh,
+rich and evident somehow, a perspective like a page of florid
+modern platitudes. He didn't quite know what he had expected for his
+return--not certainly serenades and deputations; but without Mrs.
+Ash his mail would have quite lacked geniality, and it was as if Phil
+Blood-good had gone off not only with so large a slice of his small
+_peculium_, but with all the broken bits of the past, the loose ends of
+old relationships, that he had supposed he might pick up again. Well,
+perhaps he should still pick up a few--by the sweat of his brow; no
+motion of their own at least, he by this time judged, would send them
+fluttering into his hand.
+
+Which reflections but quickened his forecast of this charm of the old
+Paris inveteracy renewed--the so-prized custom of nine years before,
+when he still believed in results from his fond frequentation of the
+Beaux Arts; that of walking over the river to the Rue de Marignan,
+precisely, every Sunday without exception, and sitting at her fireside,
+and often all offensively, no doubt, outstaying every one. How he
+had used to want those hours then, and how again, after a little, at
+present, the Rue de Marignan might have been before him! He had gone to
+her there at that time with his troubles, such as they were, and they
+had always worked for her amusement--which had been her happy, her
+clever way of taking them: she couldn't have done anything better for
+them in that phase, poor innocent things compared with what they might
+have been, than be amused by them. Perhaps that was what she would still
+be--with those of his present hour; now too they might inspire her with
+the touch she best applied and was most instinctive mistress of: this
+didn't at all events strike him as what he should most resent. It wasn't
+as if Mrs. Folliott, to make up for boring him with her own plaint, for
+example, had had so much as a gleam of conscious diversion over his.
+
+"I'm _so_ delighted to see you, I've such immensities to tell you!"--it
+began with the highest animation twenty minutes later, the very moment
+he stood there, the sense of the Rue de Marignan in the charming room
+and in the things about all reconstituted, regrouped, wonderfully
+preserved, down to the very sitting-places in the same relations, and
+down to the faint sweet mustiness of generations of cigarettes; but
+everything else different, and even vaguely alien, and by a measure
+still other than that of their own stretched interval and of the dear
+delightful woman's just a little pathetic alteration of face. He had
+allowed for the nine years, and so, it was to be hoped, had she; but
+the last thing, otherwise, that would have been touched, he immediately
+felt, was the quality, the intensity, of her care to see him. She cared,
+oh so visibly and touchingly and almost radiantly--save for her being,
+yes, distinctly, a little _more_ battered than from even a good nine
+years' worth; nothing could in fact have perched with so crowning an
+impatience on the heap of what she had to "tell" as that special shade
+of revived consciousness of having him in particular to tell it to. It
+wasn't perhaps much to matter how soon she brought out and caused to
+ring, as it were, on the little recognised marqueterie table between
+them (such an anciently envied treasure), the heaviest gold-piece of
+current history she was to pay him with for having just so felicitously
+come back: he knew already, without the telling, that intimate domestic
+tension must lately, within those walls, have reached a climax and that
+he could serve supremely--oh how he was going to serve!--as the most
+sympathetic of all pairs of ears.
+
+The whole thing was upon him, in any case, with the minimum of delay:
+Bob had had it from her, definitely, the first of the week, and it
+was absolutely final now, that they must set up avowedly separate
+lives--without horrible "proceedings" of any sort, but with her own
+situation, her independence, secured to her once for all. She had been
+coming to it, taking her time, and she had gone through--well, so old a
+friend would guess enough what; but she was at the point, oh blessedly
+now, where she meant to stay, he'd see if she didn't; with which, in
+this wonderful way, he himself had arrived for the cream of it and
+she was just selfishly glad. Bob had gone to Washington--ostensibly
+on business, but really to recover breath; she had, speaking vulgarly,
+knocked the wind out of him and was allowing him time to turn round.
+Mrs. Folliott moreover, she was sure, would have gone--was certainly
+believed to have been seen there five days ago; and of course his first
+necessity, for public use, would be to patch up something with Mrs.
+Folliott. Mark knew about Mrs. Folliott?--who was only, for that matter,
+one of a regular "bevy." Not that it signified, however, if he didn't:
+she would tell him about _her_ later.
+
+He took occasion from the first fraction of a break not quite to know
+what he knew about Mrs. Folliott--though perhaps he could imagine a
+little; and it was probably at this minute that, having definitely
+settled to a position, and precisely in his very own tapestry _bergère_,
+the one with the delicious little spectral "subjects" on the back and
+seat, he partly exhaled, and yet managed partly to keep to himself, the
+deep resigned sigh of a general comprehension. He knew what he was "in"
+for, he heard her go on--she said it again and again, seemed constantly
+to be saying it while she smiled at him with her peculiar fine charm,
+her positive gaiety of sensibility, scarce dimmed: "I'm just selfishly
+glad, just selfishly glad!" Well, she was going to have reason to be;
+she was going to put the whole case to him, all her troubles and plans,
+and each act of the tragi-comedy of her recent existence, as to the
+dearest and safest sympathiser in all the world. There would be no
+chance for _his_ case, though it was so much for his case he had
+come; yet there took place within him but a mild, dumb convulsion,
+the momentary strain of his substituting, by the turn of a hand, one
+prospect of interest for another.
+
+Squaring himself in his old _bergère_, and with his lips, during the
+effort, compressed to the same passive grimace that had an hour or two
+before operated for the encouragement of Mrs. Folliott--just as it
+was to clear the stage completely for the present more prolonged
+performance--he shut straight down, as he even in the act called it to
+himself, on any personal claim for social consideration and rendered
+a perfect little agony of justice to the grounds of his friend's
+vividness. For it was all the justice that could be expected of him
+that, though, secretly, he wasn't going to be interested in her being
+interesting, she was yet going to be so, all the same, by the very force
+of her lovely material (Bob Ash _was_ such a pure pearl of a donkey!)
+and he was going to keep on knowing she was--yes, to the very end. When
+after the lapse of an hour he rose to go, the rich fact that she
+_had_ been was there between them, and with an effect of the frankly,
+fearlessly, harmlessly intimate fireside passage for it that went beyond
+even the best memories of the pleasant past. He hadn't "amused" her, no,
+in quite the same way as in the Rue de Marignan time--it had then been
+he who for the most part took frequent turns, emphatic, explosive,
+elocutionary, over that wonderful waxed parquet while she laughed as for
+the young perversity of him from the depths of the second, the matching
+_bergère_. To-day she herself held and swept the floor, putting him
+merely to the trouble of his perpetual "Brava!" But that was all through
+the change of basis--the amusement, another name only for the thrilled
+absorption, having been inevitably for _him_; as how could it have
+failed to be with such a regular "treat" to his curiosity? With the
+tea-hour now other callers were turning up, and he got away on the plea
+of his wanting so to think it all over. He hoped again he hadn't too
+queer a grin with his assurance to her, as if she would quite know what
+he meant, that he had been thrilled to the core. But she returned, quite
+radiantly, that he had carried _her_ completely away; and her sincerity
+was proved by the final frankness of their temporary parting. "My
+pleasure of you is selfish, horribly, I admit; so that if _that_ doesn't
+suit you--!" Her faded beauty flushed again as she said it.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+In the street again, as he resumed his walk, he saw how perfectly it
+would _have_ to suit him and how he probably for a long time wouldn't
+be suited otherwise. Between them and that time, however, what mightn't,
+for him, poor devil, on his new basis, have happened? She wasn't at any
+rate within any calculable period going to care so much for anything
+as for the so quaintly droll terms in which her rearrangement with her
+husband--thanks to that gentleman's inimitable fatuity--would have to
+be made. This was what it was to own, exactly, her special grace--the
+brightest gaiety in the finest sensibility; _such_ a display of which
+combination, Mark felt as he went (if he could but have done it still
+more justice) she must have regaled him with! That exquisite last flush
+of her fadedness could only remain with him; yet while he presently
+stopped at a street-corner in a district redeemed from desolation but by
+the passage just then of a choked trolley-car that howled, as he paused
+for it, beneath the weight of its human accretions, he seemed to know
+the inward "sinking" that had been determined in a hungry man by some
+extravagant sight of the preparation of somebody else's dinner. Florence
+Ash was dining, so to speak, off the feast of appreciation, appreciation
+of what she had to "tell" him, that he had left her seated at; and
+she was welcome, assuredly--welcome, welcome, welcome, he musingly, he
+wistfully, and yet at the same time a trifle mechanically, repeated,
+stayed as he was a moment longer by the suffering shriek of another
+public vehicle and a sudden odd automatic return of his mind to the
+pretty girl, the flower of Mrs. Folliott's crowd, who had spoken to
+him of Newton Winch. It was extraordinarily as if, on the instant, she
+reminded him, from across the town, that she had offered him dinner: it
+was really quite strangely, while he stood there, as if she had told
+him where he could go and get it. With which, none the less, it was
+apparently where he wouldn't find her--and what was there, after all, of
+nutritive in the image of Newton Winch? He made up his mind in a moment
+that it owed that property, which the pretty girl had somehow made
+imputable, to the fact of its simply being just then the one image of
+anything known to him that the terrible place had to offer. Nothing,
+he a minute later reflected, could have been so "rum" as that, sick and
+sore, of a bleak New York eventide, he should have had nowhere to turn
+if not to the said Fiftieth Street.
+
+That was the direction he accordingly took, for when he found the number
+given him by the same remarkable agent of fate also present to his
+memory he recognised the direct intervention of Providence and how it
+absolutely required a miracle to explain his so precipitately embracing
+this loosest of connections. The miracle indeed soon grew clearer:
+Providence had, on some obscure system, chosen this very ridiculous hour
+to save him from cultivation of the sin of selfishness, the obsession
+of egotism, and was breaking him to its will by constantly directing his
+attention to the claims of others. Who could say what at that critical
+moment mightn't have become of Mrs. Folliott (otherwise too then so
+sadly embroiled!) if she hadn't been enabled to air to him her grievance
+and her rage?--just as who could deny that it must have done Florence
+Ash a world of good to have put her thoughts about Bob in order by the
+aid of a person to whom the vision of Bob in the light of those thoughts
+(or in other words to whom _her_ vision of Bob and nothing else) would
+mean so delightfully much? It was on the same general lines that poor
+Newton Winch, bereft, alone, ill, perhaps dying, and with the drawback
+of a not very sympathetic personality--as Mark remembered it at
+least--to contend against in almost any conceivable appeal to human
+furtherance, it was on these lines, very much, that the luckless case in
+Fiftieth Street was offered him as a source of salutary discipline. The
+moment for such a lesson might strike him as strange, in view of the
+quite special and independent opportunity for exercise that his spirit
+had during the last three days enjoyed there in his hotel bedroom; but
+evidently his languor of charity needed some admonition finer than
+any it might trust to chance for, and by the time he at last, Winch's
+residence recognised, was duly elevated to his level and had pressed
+the electric button at his door, he felt himself acting indeed as under
+stimulus of a sharp poke in the side.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+Within the apartment to which he had been admitted, moreover, the fine
+intelligence we have imputed to him was in the course of three minutes
+confirmed; since it took him no longer than that to say to himself,
+facing his old acquaintance, that he had never seen any one so improved.
+The place, which had the semblance of a high studio light as well as a
+general air of other profusions and amplitudes, might have put him off
+a little by its several rather glaringly false accents, those of
+contemporary domestic "art" striking a little wild. The scene was
+smaller, but the rich confused complexion of the Pocahontas, showing
+through Du Barry paint and patches, might have set the example--which
+had been followed with the costliest candour--so that, clearly, Winch
+was in these days rich, as most people in New York seemed rich; as, in
+spite of Bob's depredations, Florence Ash was, as even Mrs. Folliott was
+in spite of Phil Bloodgood's, as even Phil Bloodgood himself must have
+been for reasons too obvious; as in fine every one had a secret for
+being, or for feeling, or for looking, every one at least but Mark
+Monteith.
+
+These facts were as nothing, however, in presence of his quick and
+strong impression that his pale, nervous, smiling, clean-shaven host
+had undergone since their last meeting some extraordinary process of
+refinement. He had been ill, unmistakably, and the effects of a plunge
+into plain clean living, where any fineness had remained, were often
+startling, sometimes almost charming. But independently of this, and for
+a much longer time, some principle of intelligence, some art of life,
+would discernibly have worked in him. Remembered from college years and
+from those two or three luckless and faithless ones of the Law School
+as constitutionally common, as consistently and thereby doubtless even
+rather powerfully coarse, clever only for uncouth and questionable
+things, he yet presented himself now as if he had suddenly and
+mysteriously been educated. There was a charm in his wide, "drawn,"
+convalescent smile, in the way his fine fingers--had he anything like
+fine fingers of old?--played, and just fidgeted, over the prompt and
+perhaps a trifle incoherent offer of cigars, cordials, ashtrays,
+over the question of his visitor's hat, stick, fur coat, general best
+accommodation and ease; and how the deuce, accordingly, had charm, for
+coming out so on top, Mark wondered, "squared" the other old elements?
+For the short interval so to have dealt with him what force had it
+turned on, what patented process, of the portentous New York order
+in which there were so many, had it skilfully applied? Were these the
+things New York did when you just gave her all her head, and that he
+himself then had perhaps too complacently missed? Strange almost to the
+point of putting him positively off at first--quite as an exhibition of
+the uncanny--this sense of Newton's having all the while neither missed
+nor muffed anything, and having, as with an eye to the _coup de théâtre_
+to come, lowered one's expectations, at the start, to that abject pitch.
+It might have been taken verily for an act of bad faith--really for
+such a rare stroke of subtlety as could scarce have been achieved by a
+straight or natural aim.
+
+So much as this at least came and went in Monteith's agitated mind; the
+oddest intensity of apprehension, admiration, mystification, which the
+high north-light of the March afternoon and the quite splendidly
+vulgar appeal of fifty overdone decorative effects somehow fostered and
+sharpened. Everything had already gone, however, the next moment,
+for wasn't the man he had come so much too intelligently himself to
+patronise absolutely bowling him over with the extraordinary speech:
+"See here, you know--you must be ill, or have had a bad shock, or some
+beastly upset: are you very sure you ought to have come out?" Yes, he
+after an instant believed his ears; coarse common Newton Winch, whom
+he had called on because he could, as a gentleman, after all afford to,
+coarse common Newton Winch, who had had troubles and been epidemically
+poisoned, lamentably sick, who bore in his face and in the very tension,
+quite exactly the "charm," of his manner, the traces of his late ordeal,
+and, for that matter, of scarce completed gallant emergence--this
+astonishing ex-comrade was simply writing himself at a stroke (into our
+friend's excited imagination at all events) the most distinguished of
+men. Oh, _he_ was going to be interesting, if Florence Ash had been
+going to be; but Mark felt how, under the law of a lively present
+difference, that would be as an effect of one's having one's self
+thoroughly rallied. He knew within the minute that the tears stood in
+his eyes; he stared through them at his friend with a sharp "Why, how do
+you know? How _can_ you?" To which he added before Winch could speak: "I
+met your charming sister-in-law a couple of hours since--at luncheon, at
+the Pocahontas; and heard from her that you were badly laid up and had
+spoken of me. So I came to minister to you."
+
+The object of this design hovered there again, considerably restless,
+shifting from foot to foot, changing his place, beginning and giving up
+motions, striking matches for a fresh cigarette, offering them again,
+redundantly, to his guest and then not lighting himself--but all the
+while with the smile of another creature than the creature known to
+Mark; all the while with the history of something that had happened to
+him ever so handsomely shining out. Mark was conscious within himself
+from this time on of two quite distinct processes of notation--that
+of his practically instant surrender to the consequences of the act of
+perception in his host of which the two women trained suppos-ably in the
+art of pleasing had been altogether incapable; and that of some other
+condition on Newton's part that left his own poor power of divination
+nothing less than shamed. This last was signally the case on the
+former's saying, ever so responsively, almost radiantly, in answer to
+his account of how he happened to come: "Oh then it's very interesting!"
+_That_ was the astonishing note, after what he had been through: neither
+Mrs. Folliott nor Florence Ash had so much as hinted or breathed to him
+that _he_ might have incurred that praise. No wonder therefore he was
+now taken--with this fresh party's instant suspicion and imputation of
+it; though it was indeed for some minutes next as if each tried to see
+which could accuse the other of the greater miracle of penetration. Mark
+was so struck, in a word, with the extraordinarily straight guess Winch
+had had there in reserve for him that, other quick impressions helping,
+there was nothing for him but to bring out, himself: "There must be,
+my dear man, something rather wonderful the matter with you!" The quite
+more intensely and more irresistibly drawn grin, the quite unmistakably
+deeper consciousness in the dark, wide eye, that accompanied the not
+quite immediate answer to which remark he was afterward to remember.
+"How do you know that--or why do you think it?" "Because there _must_
+be--for you to see! I shouldn't have expected it."
+
+"Then you take me for a damned fool?" laughed wonderful Newton Winch.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+He could say nothing that, whether as to the sense of it or as to the
+way of it, didn't so enrich Mark's vision of him that our friend, after
+a little, as this effect proceeded, caught himself in the act of
+almost too curiously gaping. Everything, from moment to moment, fed his
+curiosity; such a question, for instance, as whether the quite ordinary
+peepers of the Newton Winch of their earlier youth could have looked,
+under any provocation, either dark or wide; such a question, above all,
+as how _this_ incalculable apparition came by the whole startling power
+of play of its extravagantly sensitive labial connections--exposed, so
+to its advantage (he now jumped at one explanation) by the removal of
+what had probably been one of the vulgar-est of moustaches. With this,
+at the same time, the oddity of that particular consequence was vivid to
+him; the glare of his curiosity fairly lasting while he remembered how
+he had once noted the very opposite turn of the experiment for Phil
+Bloodgood. He would have said in advance that poor Winch couldn't have
+afforded to risk showing his "real" mouth; just as he would have said
+that in spite of the fine ornament that so considerably muffled it Phil
+could only have gained by showing his. But to have seen Phil shorn--as
+he once had done--was earnestly to pray that he might promptly again
+bristle; beneath Phil's moustache lurked nothing to "make up" for it in
+case of removal. While he thought of which things the line of grimace,
+as he could only have called it, the mobile, interesting, ironic line
+the great double curve of which connected, in the face before him, the
+strong nostril with the lower cheek, became the very key to his first
+idea of Newton's capture of refinement. He had shaved and was happily
+transfigured. Phil Bloodgood had shaved and been wellnigh lost; though
+why should he just now too precipitately drag the reminiscence in?
+
+That question too, at the queer touch of association, played up for Mark
+even under so much proof that the state of his own soul was being with
+the lapse of every instant registered. Phil Bloodgood had brought about
+the state of his soul--there was accordingly that amount of connection;
+only it became further remarkable that from the moment his companion had
+sounded him, and sounded him, he knew, down to the last truth of things,
+his disposition, his necessity to talk, the desire that had in the
+morning broken the spell of his confinement, the impulse that had thrown
+him so defeatedly into Mrs. Folliott's arms and into Florence Ash's,
+these forces seemed to feel their impatience ebb and their discretion
+suddenly grow. His companion was talking again, but just then,
+incongruously, made his need to communicate lose itself. It was as if
+his personal case had already been touched by some tender hand--and
+that, after all, was the modest limit of its greed. "I know now why
+you came back--did Lottie mention how I had wondered? But sit down, sit
+down--only let me, nervous beast as I am, take it standing!--and believe
+me when I tell you that I've now ceased to wonder. My dear chap, I
+_have_ it! It can't but have been for poor Phil Blood-good. He sticks
+out of you, the brute--as how, with what he has done to you, shouldn't
+he? There was a man to see me yesterday--Tim Slater, whom I don't think
+you know, but who's 'on' everything within about two minutes of its
+happening (I never saw such a fellow!) and who confirmed my supposition,
+all my own, however, mind you, at first, that you're one of the
+sufferers. So how the devil can you _not_ feel knocked? Why _should_
+you look as if you were having the time of your life? What a hog to
+have played it on _you_, on _you_, of all his friends!" So Newton Winch
+continued, and so the air between the two men might have been, for a
+momentary watcher--which is indeed what I can but invite the reader to
+become--that of a nervously displayed, but all considerate, as well as
+most acute, curiosity on the one side, and that on the other, after a
+little, of an eventually fascinated acceptance of so much free and
+in especial of so much right attention. "Do you _mind_ my asking
+you? Because if you do I won't press; but as a man whose own
+responsibilities, some of 'em at least, don't differ much, I gather,
+from some of his, one would like to know how he was ever allowed to get
+to the point--! But I _do_ plough you up?"
+
+Mark sat back in his chair, moved but holding himself, his elbows
+squared on each arm, his hands a bit convulsively interlocked across
+him--very much in fact as he had appeared an hour ago in the old
+tapestry _bergère_; but as his rigour was all then that of the grinding
+effort to profess and to give, so it was considerably now for the fear
+of too hysterically gushing. Somehow too--since his wound was to that
+extent open--he winced at hearing the author of it branded. He hadn't so
+much minded the epithets Mrs. Folliott had applied, for they were to
+the appropriator of _her_ securities. As the appropriator of his own he
+didn't so much want to brand him as--just more "amusingly" even, if one
+would.--to make out, perhaps, with intelligent help, how such a man, in
+such a relation, _could_ come to tread such a path: which was exactly
+the interesting light that Winch's curiosity and sympathy were there
+to assist him to. He pleaded at any rate immediately his advertising
+no grievance. "I feel sore, I admit, and it's a horrid sort of thing
+to have had happen; but when you call him a brute and a hog I rather
+squirm, for brutes and hogs never live, I guess, in the sort of hell in
+which he now must be."
+
+Newton Winch, before the fireplace, his hands deep in his pockets, where
+his guest could see his long fingers beat a tattoo on his thighs, Newton
+Winch dangled and swung himself, and threw back his head and laughed.
+"Well, I must say you take it amazingly!--all the more that to see you
+again this way is to feel that if, all along, there was a man whose
+delicacy and confidence and general attitude might have marked him for
+a particular consideration, you'd have been the man." And they were
+more directly face to face again; with Newton smiling and smiling _so_
+appreciatively; making our friend in fact almost ask himself when before
+a man had ever grinned from ear to ear to the effect of its so becoming
+him. What he replied, however, was that Newton described in those
+flattering terms a client temptingly fatuous; after which, and the
+exchange of another protest or two in the interest of justice and
+decency, and another plea or two in that of the still finer contention
+that even the basest misdeeds had always somewhere or other, could one
+get at it, their propitiatory side, our hero found himself on his
+feet again, under the influence of a sudden failure of everything but
+horror--a horror determined by some turn of their talk and indeed by the
+very fact of the freedom of it. It was as if a far-borne sound of the
+hue and cry, a vision of his old friend hunted and at bay, had suddenly
+broken in--this other friend's, this irresistibly intelligent other
+companion's, practically vivid projection of that making the worst
+ugliness real. "Oh, it's just making my wry face to somebody, and your
+letting me and caring and wanting to know: that," Mark said, "is what
+does me good; not any other hideous question. I mean I don't take any
+interest in _my_ case--what one wonders about, you see, is what can be
+done for him. I mean, that is"--for he floundered a little, not knowing
+at last quite what he did mean, a great rush of mere memories, a great
+humming sound as of thick, thick echoes, rising now to an assault that
+he met with his face indeed contorted. If he didn't take care he should
+howl; so he more or less successfully took care--yet with his host
+vividly watching him while he shook the danger temporarily off. "I don't
+mind--though it's rather _that_; my having felt this morning, after
+three dismal dumb bad days, that one's friends perhaps would be thinking
+of one. All I'm conscious of now--I give you my word--is that I'd like
+to see him."
+
+"You'd like to see him?"
+
+"Oh, I don't say," Mark ruefully smiled, "that I should like him to see
+_me_--!"
+
+Newton Winch, from where he stood--and they were together now, on the
+great hearth-rug that was a triumph of modern orientalism--put out one
+of the noted fine hands and, with an expressive headshake, laid it on
+his shoulder. "Don't wish him that, Monteith--don't wish him that!"
+
+"Well, but,"--and Mark raised his eyebrows still higher--"he'd see I
+bear up; pretty well!"
+
+"God forbid he should see, my dear fellow!" Newton cried as for the pang
+of it.
+
+Mark had for his idea, at any rate, the oddest sense of an exaltation
+that grew by this use of frankness. "I'd go to him. Hanged if I
+wouldn't--anywhere!"
+
+His companion's hand still rested on him. "You'd go to him?"
+
+Mark stood up to it--though trying to sink solemnity as pretentious.
+"I'd go like a shot." And then he added: "And it's probably what--when
+we've turned round--I _shall_ do."
+
+"When 'we' have turned round?"
+
+"Well"--he was a trifle disconcerted at the tone--"I say that because
+you'll have helped me."
+
+"Oh, I do nothing but want to help you!" Winch replied--which made it
+right again; especially as our friend still felt himself reassuringly
+and sustainingly grasped. But Winch went on: "You _would_ go to him--in
+kindness?"
+
+"Well--to understand."
+
+"To understand how he could swindle you?"
+
+"Well," Mark kept on, "to try and make out with him how, after such
+things--!" But he stopped; he couldn't name them.
+
+It was as if his companion knew. "Such things as you've done for him of
+course--such services as you've rendered him."
+
+"Ah, from far back. If I could tell you," our friend vainly wailed--"if
+I could tell you!"
+
+Newton Winch patted his shoulder. "Tell me--tell me!"
+
+"The sort of relation, I mean; ever so many things of a kind--!" Again,
+however, he pulled up; he felt the tremor of his voice.
+
+"Tell me, tell me," Winch repeated with the same movement.
+
+The tone in it now made their eyes meet again, and with this
+presentation of the altered face Mark measured as not before, for
+some reason, the extent of the recent ravage. "You must have been ill
+indeed."
+
+"Pretty bad. But I'm better. And you do me good"--with which the light
+of convalescence came back.
+
+"I don't awfully bore you?"
+
+Winch shook his head. "You keep me up--and you see how no one else comes
+near me."
+
+Mark's eyes made out that he was better--though it wasn't yet that
+nothing was the matter with him. If there was ever a man with whom there
+was still something the matter--! Yet one couldn't insist on that, and
+meanwhile he clearly did want company. "Then there we are. I myself had
+no one to go to."
+
+"You save my life," Newton renewedly grinned.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+"Well, it's your own fault," Mark replied to that, "if you make me
+take advantage of you." Winch had withdrawn his hand, which was back,
+violently shaking keys or money, in his trousers pocket; and in this
+position he had abruptly a pause, a sensible, absence, that might have
+represented either some odd drop of attention, some turn-off to another
+thought, or just simply the sudden act of listening. His guest had
+indeed himself--under suggestion--the impression of a sound. "Mayn't you
+perhaps--if you hear something--have a call?"
+
+Mark had said it so lightly, however, that he was the more struck with
+his host's appearing to turn just paler; and, with it, the latter now
+_was_ listening. "You hear something?"
+
+"I thought _you_ did." Winch himself, on Mark's own pressure of the
+outside bell, had opened the door of the apartment--an indication then,
+it sufficiently appeared, that Sunday afternoons were servants', or
+attendants', or even trained nurses' holidays. It had also marked the
+stage of his convalescence, and to that extent--after his first flush
+of surprise--had but smoothed Monteith's way. At present he barely gave
+further attention; detaching himself as under some odd cross-impulse,
+he had quitted the spot and then taken, in the wide room, a restless
+turn--only, however, to revert in a moment to his friend's just-uttered
+deprecation of the danger of boring him. "If I make you take advantage
+of me--that is blessedly talk to me--it's exactly what I want to do.
+Talk to me--talk to me!" He positively waved it on; pulling up again,
+however, in his own talk, to say with a certain urgency: "Hadn't you
+better sit down?"
+
+Mark, who stayed before the fire, couldn't but excuse himself.
+"Thanks--I'm very well so. I think of things and I fidget."
+
+Winch stood a moment with his eyes on the ground. "Are you very sure?"
+
+"Quite--I'm all right if you don't mind."
+
+"Then as you like!" With which, shaking to extravagance again his long
+legs, Newton had swung off--only with a movement that, now his back was
+turned, affected his visitor as the most whimsical of all the forms of
+his rather unnatural manner. He was curiously different with his back
+turned, as Mark now for the first time saw it--dangling and somewhat
+wavering, as from an excess of uncertainty of gait; and this impression
+was so strange, it created in our friend, uneasily and on the spot, such
+a need of explanation, that his speech was stayed long enough to give
+Winch time to turn round again. The latter had indeed by this moment
+reached one of the limits of the place, the wide studio bay, where he
+paused, his back to the light and his face afresh presented, to let his
+just passingly depressed and quickened eyes take in as much as possible
+of the large floor, range over it with such brief freedom of search
+as the disposition of the furniture permitted. He was looking for
+something, though the betrayed reach of vision was but of an instant.
+Mark caught it, however, and with his own sensibility all in vibration,
+found himself feeling at once that it meant something and that what it
+meant was connected with his entertainer's slightly marked appeal to
+him, the appeal of a moment before, not to remain standing. Winch knew
+by this time quite easily enough that he was hanging fire; which meant
+that they were suddenly facing each other across the wide space with a
+new consciousness.
+
+Everything had changed--changed extraordinarily with the mere turning
+of that gentleman's back, the treacherous aspect of which its owner
+couldn't surely have suspected. If the question was of the pitch of
+their sensibility, at all events, it wouldn't be Mark's that should
+vibrate to least purpose. Visibly it had come to his host that something
+had within the few instants remarkably happened, but there glimmered on
+him an induction that still made him keep his own manner. Newton himself
+might now resort to any manner he liked. His eyes had raked the floor to
+recover the position of something dropped or misplaced, and something,
+above all, awkward or compromising; and he had wanted his companion not
+to command this scene from the hearth-rug, the hearthrug where he had
+been just before holding him, hypnotising him to blindness, _because_
+the object in question would there be most exposed to sight Mark
+embraced this with a further drop--while the apprehension penetrated--of
+his power to go on, and with an immense desire at the same time that his
+eyes should seem only to look at his friend; who broke out now, for that
+matter, with a fresh appeal. "Aren't you going to take advantage of me,
+man--aren't you going to _take_ it?"
+
+Everything had changed, we have noted, and nothing could more have
+proved it than the fact that, by the same turn, sincerity of desire
+had dropped out of Winch's chords, while irritation, sharp and almost
+imperious, had come in. "That's because he sees I see something!" Mark
+said to himself; but he had no need to add that it shouldn't prevent his
+seeing more--for the simple reason that, in a miraculous fashion, this
+was exactly what he did do in glaring out the harder. It was beyond
+explanation, but the very act of blinking thus in an attempt at showy
+steadiness became one and the same thing with an optical excursion
+lasting the millionth of a minute and making him aware that the edge of
+a rug, at the point where an arm-chair, pushed a little out of position,
+over-straddled it, happened just not wholly to have covered in something
+small and queer, neat and bright, crooked and compact, in spite of the
+strong toe-tip surreptitiously applied to giving it the right lift Our
+gentleman, from where he hovered, and while looking straight at the
+master of the scene, yet saw, as by the tiny flash of a reflection from
+fine metal, _under_ the chair. What he recognised, or at least guessed
+at, as sinister, made him for a moment turn cold, and that chill was on
+him while Winch again addressed him--as differently as possible from any
+manner yet used. "I beg of you in God's name to talk to me--to _talk_ to
+me!"
+
+It had the ring of pure alarm and anguish, but was by this turn at least
+more human than the dazzling glitter of intelligence to which the poor
+man had up to now been treating him. "It's you, my good friend, who are
+in deep trouble," Mark was accordingly quick to reply, "and I ask your
+pardon for being so taken up with my own sorry business."
+
+"Of course I'm in deep trouble"--with which Winch came nearer again;
+"but turning you on was exactly what I wanted."
+
+Mark Monteith, at this, couldn't, for all his rising dismay, but
+laugh out; his sense of the ridiculous so swallowed up, for that brief
+convulsion, his sense of the sinister. Of such conivence in pain,
+it seemed, was the fact of another's pain, and of so much worth again
+disinterested sympathy! "Your interest was then----?"
+
+"My interest was in your being interesting. For you _are!_ And my
+nerves--!" said Newton Winch with a face from which the mystifying
+smile had vanished, yet in which distinction, as Mark so persistently
+appreciated it, still sat in the midst of ravage.
+
+Mark wondered and wondered--he made strange things out. "Your nerves
+have needed company." He could lay his hand on him now, even as shortly
+before he had felt Winch's own pressure of possession and detention. "As
+good for you yourself, that--or still better," he went on--"than I and
+my grievance were to have found you. Talk to we, talk to we, Newton
+Winch!" he added with an immense inspiration of charity.
+
+"That's a different matter--that others but too much can do! But I'll
+say this. If you want to go to Phil Bloodgood----!"
+
+"Well?" said Mark as he stopped. He stopped, and Mark had now a hand on
+each of his shoulders and held him at arm's-length, held him with a fine
+idea that was not disconnected from the sight of the small neat weapon
+he had been fingering in the low luxurious morocco chair--it was of the
+finest orange colour--and then had laid beside him on the carpet; where,
+after he had admitted his visitor, his presence of mind coming back to
+it and suggesting that he couldn't pick it up without making it more
+conspicuous, he had thought, by some swing of the foot or other casual
+manoeuvre, to dissimulate its visibility.
+
+They were at close quarters now as not before and Winch perfectly
+passive, with eyes that somehow had no shadow of a secret left and with
+the betrayal to the sentient hands that grasped him of an intense, an
+extraordinary general tremor. To Mark's challenge he opposed afresh a
+brief silence, but the very quality of it, with his face speaking, was
+that of a gaping wound. "Well, you needn't take _that_ trouble. You see
+I'm such another."
+
+"Such another as Phil-----?"
+
+He didn't blink. "I don't know for sure, but I guess I'm worse."
+
+"Do you mean you're guilty-----?"
+
+"I mean I shall be wanted. Only I've stayed to take it."
+
+Mark threw back his head, but only tightened his hands. He inexpressibly
+understood, and nothing in life had ever been so strange and dreadful to
+him as his thus helping himself by a longer and straighter stretch,
+as it were, to the monstrous sense of his friend's "education." It had
+been, in its immeasurable action, the education of business, of which
+the fruits were all around them. Yet prodigious was the interest, for
+prodigious truly--it seemed to loom before Mark--must have been the
+system. "To 'take' it?" he echoed; and then, though faltering a little,
+"To take what?"
+
+He had scarce spoken when a long sharp sound shrilled in from the outer
+door, seeming of so high and peremptory a pitch that with the start it
+gave him his grasp of his host's shoulders relaxed an instant, though to
+the effect of no movement in _them_ but what came from just a sensibly
+intenser vibration of the whole man. "For _that_!" said Newton Winch.
+
+"Then you've known-----?"
+
+"I've expected. You've helped me to wait." And then as Mark gave an
+ironic wail: "You've tided me over. My condition has _wanted_ somebody
+or something. Therefore, to complete this service, will you be so good
+as to open the door?"
+
+Deep in the eyes Mark looked him, and still to the detection of no
+glimmer of the earlier man in the depths. The earlier man had been what
+he invidiously remembered--yet would _he_ had been the whole simpler
+story! Then he moved his own eyes straight to the chair under which
+the revolver lay and which was but a couple of yards away. He felt his
+companion take this consciousness in, and it determined in them another
+long, mute exchange. "What do you mean to do?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"On your honour?"
+
+"_My_ 'honour'?" his host returned with an accent that he felt even as
+it sounded he should never forget.
+
+It brought to his own face a crimson flush--he dropped his guarding
+hands. Then as for a last look at him: "You're wonderful!"
+
+"We _are_ wonderful," said Newton Winch, while, simultaneously with the
+words, the pressed electric bell again and for a longer time pierced the
+warm cigaretted air.
+
+Mark turned, threw up his arms, and it was only when he had passed
+through the vestibule and laid his hand on the door-knob that the
+horrible noise dropped. The next moment he was face to face with two
+visitors, a nondescript personage in a high hat and an astrakhan collar
+and cuffs, and a great belted constable, a splendid massive New York
+"officer" of the type he had had occasion to wonder at much again in the
+course of his walk, the type so by itself--his wide observation quite
+suggested--among those of the peacemakers of the earth. The pair stepped
+straight in--no word was said; but as he closed the door behind them
+Mark heard the infallible crack of a discharged pistol and, so nearly
+with it as to make all one violence, the sound of a great fall; things
+the effect of which was to lift him, as it were, with his company,
+across the threshold of the room in a shorter time than that taken
+by this record of the fact. But their rush availed little; Newton was
+stretched on his back before the fire; he had held the weapon horribly
+to his temple, and his upturned face was disfigured. The emissaries
+of the law, looking down at him, exhaled simultaneously a gruff
+imprecation, and then while the worthy in the high hat bent over the
+subject of their visit the one in the helmet raised a severe pair of
+eyes to Mark. "Don't you think, sir, you might have prevented it?"
+
+Mark took a hundred things in, it seemed to him--things of the scene,
+of the moment, and of all the strange moments before; but one appearance
+more vividly even than the others stared out at him. "I really think I
+must practically have caused it."
+
+
+
+
+
+CRAPY CORNELIA
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+THREE times within a quarter of an hour--shifting the while his posture
+on his chair of contemplation--had he looked at his watch as for its
+final sharp hint that he should decide, that he should get up. His
+seat was one of a group fairly sequestered, unoccupied save for his own
+presence, and from where he lingered he looked off at a stretch of lawn
+freshened by recent April showers and on which sundry small children
+were at play. The trees, the shrubs, the plants, every stem and twig
+just ruffled as by the first touch of the light finger of the relenting
+year, struck him as standing still in the blest hope of more of the same
+caress; the quarter about him held its breath after the fashion of the
+child who waits with the rigour of an open mouth and shut eyes for the
+promised sensible effect of his having been good. So, in the windless,
+sun-warmed air of the beautiful afternoon, the Park of the winter's
+end had struck White-Mason as waiting; even New York, under such an
+impression, was "good," good enough--for _him_; its very sounds were
+faint, were almost sweet, as they reached him from so seemingly far
+beyond the wooded horizon that formed the remoter limit of his large
+shallow glade. The tones of the frolic infants ceased to be nondescript
+and harsh--were in fact almost as fresh and decent as the frilled and
+puckered and ribboned garb of the little girls, which had always a
+way, in those parts, of so portentously flaunting the daughters of the
+strange native--that is of the overwhelmingly alien--populace at him.
+
+Not that these things in particular were his matter of meditation
+now; he had wanted, at the end of his walk, to sit apart a little and
+think--and had been doing that for twenty minutes, even though as yet
+to no break in the charm of procrastination. But he had looked without
+seeing and listened without hearing: all that had been positive for
+him was that he hadn't failed vaguely to feel. He had felt in the first
+place, and he continued to feel--yes, at forty-eight quite as much as at
+any point of the supposed reign of younger intensities--the great spirit
+of the air, the fine sense of the season, the supreme appeal of
+Nature, he might have said, to his time of life; quite as if she, easy,
+indulgent, indifferent, cynical Power, were offering him the last chance
+it would rest with his wit or his blood to embrace. Then with that he
+had been entertaining, to the point and with the prolonged consequence
+of accepted immobilization, the certitude that if he did call on Mrs.
+Worthingham and find her at home he couldn't in justice to himself not
+put to her the question that had lapsed the other time, the last time,
+through the irritating and persistent, even if accidental, presence of
+others. What friends she had--the people who so stupidly, so wantonly
+stuck! If they _should_, he and she, come to an understanding, that
+would presumably have to include certain members of her singularly
+ill-composed circle, in whom it was incredible to him that he should
+ever take an interest. This defeat, to do himself justice--he had bent
+rather predominantly on _that_, you see; ideal justice to _her_, with
+her possible conception of what it should consist of, being another and
+quite a different matter--he had had the fact of the Sunday afternoon to
+thank for; she didn't "keep" that day for him, since they hadn't, up to
+now, quite begun to cultivate the appointment or assignation founded
+on explicit sacrifices. He might at any rate look to find this pleasant
+practical Wednesday--should he indeed, at his actual rate, stay it
+before it ebbed--more liberally and intendingly given him.
+
+The sound he at last most wittingly distinguished in his nook was the
+single deep note of half-past five borne to him from some high-perched
+public clock. He finally got up with the sense that the time from then
+on _ought_ at least to be felt as sacred to him. At this juncture it
+was--while he stood there shaking his garments, settling his hat, his
+necktie, his shirt-cuffs, fixing the high polish of his fine shoes as
+if for some reflection in it of his straight and spare and grizzled, his
+refined and trimmed and dressed, his altogether distinguished person,
+that of a gentleman abundantly settled, but of a bachelor markedly
+nervous--at this crisis it was, doubtless, that he at once most measured
+and least resented his predicament. If he should go he would almost to
+a certainty find her, and if he should find her he would almost to a
+certainty come to the point. He wouldn't put it off again--there was
+that high consideration for him of justice at least to himself. He
+had never yet denied himself anything so apparently fraught with
+possibilities as the idea of proposing to Mrs. Worthingham--never yet,
+in other words, denied himself anything he had so distinctly wanted to
+do; and the results of that wisdom had remained for him precisely the
+precious parts of experience. Counting only the offers of his honourable
+hand, these had been on three remembered occasions at least the
+consequence of an impulse as sharp and a self-respect as reasoned;
+a self-respect that hadn't in the least suffered, moreover, from the
+failure of each appeal. He had been met in the three cases--the only
+ones he at all compared with his present case--by the frank confession
+that he didn't somehow, charming as he was, cause himself to be
+superstitiously believed in; and the lapse of life, afterward, had
+cleared up many doubts.
+
+It _wouldn't_ have done, he eventually, he lucidly saw, each time he had
+been refused; and the candour of his nature was such that he could
+live to think of these very passages as a proof of how right he had
+been--right, that is, to have put himself forward always, by the
+happiest instinct, only in impossible conditions. He had the happy
+consciousness of having exposed the important question to the crucial
+test, and of having escaped, by that persistent logic, a grave mistake.
+What better proof of his escape than the fact that he was now free to
+renew the all-interesting inquiry, and should be exactly, about to do
+so in different and better conditions? The conditions were better by as
+much more--as much more of his career and character, of his situation,
+his reputation he could even have called it, of his knowledge of life,
+of his somewhat extended means, of his possibly augmented charm, of
+his certainly improved mind and temper--as was involved in the actual
+impending settlement. Once he had got into motion, once he had crossed
+the Park and passed out of it, entering, with very little space to
+traverse, one of the short new streets that abutted on its east side,
+his step became that of a man young enough to find confidence, quite to
+find felicity, in the sense, in almost any sense, of action. He could
+still enjoy almost anything, absolutely an unpleasant thing, in default
+of a better, that might still remind him he wasn't so old. The standing
+newness of everything about him would, it was true, have weakened this
+cheer by too much presuming on it; Mrs. Worthingham's house, before
+which he stopped, had that gloss of new money, that glare of a piece
+fresh from the mint and ringing for the first time on any counter,
+which seems to claim for it, in any transaction, something more than the
+"face" value.
+
+This could but be yet more the case for the impression of the observer
+introduced and committed. On our friend's part I mean, after his
+admission and while still in the hall, the sense of the general shining
+immediacy, of the still unhushed clamour of the shock, was perhaps
+stronger than he had ever known it. That broke out from every corner as
+the high pitch of interest, and with a candour that--no, certainly--he
+had never seen equalled; every particular expensive object shrieking at
+him in its artless pride that it had just "come home." He met the whole
+vision with something of the grimace produced on persons without goggles
+by the passage from a shelter to a blinding light; and if he had--by a
+perfectly possible chance--been "snap-shotted" on the spot, would
+have struck you as showing for his first tribute to the temple of Mrs.
+Worthingham's charming presence a scowl almost of anguish. He wasn't
+constitutionally, it may at once be explained for him, a goggled
+person; and he was condemned, in New York, to this frequent violence of
+transition--having to reckon with it whenever he went out, as who should
+say, from himself. The high pitch of interest, to his taste, was the
+pitch of history, the pitch of acquired and earned suggestion, the
+pitch of association, in a word; so that he lived by preference,
+incontestably, if not in a rich gloom, which would have been beyond his
+means and spirits, at least amid objects and images that confessed to
+the tone of time.
+
+He had ever felt that an indispensable presence--with a need of it
+moreover that interfered at no point with his gentle habit, not to say
+his subtle art, of drawing out what was left him of his youth, of
+thinly and thriftily spreading the rest of that choicest jam-pot of the
+cupboard of consciousness over the remainder of a slice of life still
+possibly thick enough to bear it; or in other words of moving the
+melancholy limits, the significant signs, constantly a little further
+on, very much as property-marks or staked boundaries are sometimes
+stealthily shifted at night. He positively cherished in fact, as against
+the too inveterate gesture of distressfully guarding his eyeballs--so
+many New York aspects seemed to keep him at it--an ideal of adjusted
+appreciation, of courageous curiosity, of fairly letting the world
+about him, a world of constant breathless renewals and merciless
+substitutions, make its flaring assault on its own inordinate terms.
+Newness was value in the piece--for the acquisitor, or at least
+sometimes might be, even though the act of "blowing" hard, the act
+marking a heated freshness of arrival, or other form of irruption, could
+never minister to the peace of those already and long on the field; and
+this if only because maturer tone was after all most appreciable
+and most consoling when one staggered back to it, wounded, bleeding,
+blinded, from the riot of the raw--or, to put the whole experience more
+prettily, no doubt, from excesses of light.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+If he went in, however, with something of his more or less inevitable
+scowl, there were really, at the moment, two rather valid reasons for
+screened observation; the first of these being that the whole place
+seemed to reflect as never before the lustre of Mrs. Worthingham's own
+polished and prosperous little person--to smile, it struck him, with her
+smile, to twinkle not only with the gleam of her lovely teeth, but with
+that of all her rings and brooches and bangles and other gewgaws,
+to curl and spasmodically cluster as in emulation of her charming
+complicated yellow tresses, to surround the most animated of
+pink-and-white, of ruffled and ribboned, of frilled and festooned
+Dresden china shepherdesses with exactly the right system of rococo
+curves and convolutions and other flourishes, a perfect bower of painted
+and gilded and moulded conceits. The second ground of this immediate
+impression of scenic extravagance, almost as if the curtain rose for him
+to the first act of some small and expensively mounted comic opera,
+was that she hadn't, after all, awaited him in fond singleness, but
+had again just a trifle inconsiderately exposed him to the drawback of
+having to reckon, for whatever design he might amiably entertain, with
+the presence of a third and quite superfluous person, a small black
+insignificant but none the less oppressive stranger. It was odd how,
+on the instant, the little lady engaged with her did affect him as
+comparatively black--very much as if that had absolutely, in such a
+medium, to be the graceless appearance of any item not positively of
+some fresh shade of a light colour or of some pretty pretension to a
+charming twist. Any witness of their meeting, his hostess should surely
+have felt, would have been a false note in the whole rosy glow; but
+what note so false as that of the dingy little presence that she might
+actually, by a refinement of her perhaps always too visible study of
+effect, have provided as a positive contrast or foil? whose name and
+intervention, moreover, she appeared to be no more moved to mention and
+account for than she might have been to "present"--whether as stretched
+at her feet or erect upon disciplined haunches--some shaggy old
+domesticated terrier or poodle.
+
+Extraordinarily, after he had been in the room five minutes--a space of
+time during which his fellow-visitor had neither budged nor uttered a
+sound--he had made Mrs. Worthingham out as all at once perfectly pleased
+to see him, completely aware of what he had most in mind, and singularly
+serene in face of his sense of their impediment. It was as if for all
+the world she didn't take it for one, the immobility, to say nothing of
+the seeming equanimity, of their tactless companion; at whom meanwhile
+indeed our friend himself, after his first ruffled perception, no more
+adventured a look than if advised by his constitutional kindness that
+to notice her in any degree would perforce be ungraciously to glower.
+He talked after a fashion with the woman as to whose power to please and
+amuse and serve him, as to whose really quite organised and indicated
+fitness for lighting up his autumn afternoon of life his conviction had
+lately strained itself so clear; but he was all the while carrying on
+an intenser exchange with his own spirit and trying to read into
+the charming creature's behaviour, as he could only call it, some
+confirmation of his theory that she also had her inward flutter and
+anxiously counted on him. He found support, happily for the conviction
+just named, in the idea, at no moment as yet really repugnant to him,
+the idea bound up in fact with the finer essence of her appeal, that she
+had her own vision too of her quality and her price, and that the
+last appearance she would have liked to bristle with was that of being
+forewarned and eager.
+
+He had, if he came to think of it, scarce definitely warned her, and he
+probably wouldn't have taken to her so consciously in the first instance
+without an appreciative sense that, as she was a little person of twenty
+superficial graces, so she was also a little person with her secret
+pride. She might just have planted her mangy lion--not to say her
+muzzled house-dog--there in his path as a symbol that she wasn't cheap
+and easy; which would be a thing he couldn't possibly wish his future
+wife to have shown herself in advance, even if to him alone. That she
+could make him put himself such questions was precisely part of the
+attaching play of her iridescent surface, the shimmering interfusion
+of her various aspects; that of her youth with her independence--her
+pecuniary perhaps in particular, that of her vivacity with her beauty,
+that of her facility above all with her odd novelty; the high modernity,
+as people appeared to have come to call it, that made her so much
+more "knowing" in some directions than even he, man of the world as he
+certainly was, could pretend to be, though all on a basis of the most
+unconscious and instinctive and luxurious assumption. She was "up" to
+everything, aware of everything--if one counted from a short enough time
+back (from week before last, say, and as if quantities of history had
+burst upon the world within the fortnight); she was likewise surprised
+at nothing, and in that direction one might reckon as far ahead as the
+rest of her lifetime, or at any rate as the rest of his, which was all
+that would concern him: it was as if the suitability of the future
+to her personal and rather pampered tastes was what she most took for
+granted, so that he could see her, for all her Dresden-china shoes and
+her flutter of wondrous befrilled contemporary skirts, skip by the side
+of the coming age as over the floor of a ball-room, keeping step with
+its monstrous stride and prepared for every figure of the dance. Her
+outlook took form to him suddenly as a great square sunny window that
+hung in assured fashion over the immensity of life. There rose toward it
+as from a vast swarming _plaza_ a high tide of emotion and sound; yet it
+was at the same time as if even while he looked her light gemmed hand,
+flashing on him in addition to those other things the perfect polish of
+the prettiest pink finger-nails in the world, had touched a spring, the
+most ingenious of ecent devices for instant ease, which dropped half
+across the scene a soft-coloured mechanical blind, a fluttered, fringed
+awning of charmingly toned silk, such as would make a bath of cool shade
+for the favoured friend leaning with her there--that is for the happy
+couple itself--on the balcony. The great view would be the prospect and
+privilege of the very state he coveted--since didn't he covet it?--the
+state of being so securely at her side; while the wash of privacy, as
+one might count it, the broad fine brush dipped into clear umber and
+passed, full and wet, straight across the strong scheme of colour, would
+represent the security itself, all the uplifted inner elegance, the
+condition, so ideal, of being shut out from nothing and yet of having,
+so gaily and breezily aloft, none of the burden or worry of anything.
+Thus, as I say, for our friend, the place itself, while his vivid
+impression lasted, portentously opened and spread, and what was before
+him took, to his vision, though indeed at so other a crisis, the form
+of the "glimmering square" of the poet; yet, for a still more remarkable
+fact, with an incongruous object usurping at a given instant the
+privilege of the frame and seeming, even as he looked, to block the
+view.
+
+The incongruous object was a woman's head, crowned with a little
+sparsely feathered black hat, an ornament quite unlike those the women
+mostly noticed by White-Mason were now "wearing," and that grew and
+grew, that came nearer and nearer, while it met his eyes, after the
+manner of images in the kinematograph. It had presently loomed so large
+that he saw nothing else--not only among the things at a considerable
+distance, the things Mrs. Worthingham would eventually, yet
+unmistakably, introduce him to, but among those of this lady's various
+attributes and appurtenances as to which he had been in the very act of
+cultivating his consciousness. It was in the course of another minute
+the most extraordinary thing in the world: everything had altered,
+dropped, darkened, disappeared; his imagination had spread its wings
+only to feel them flop all grotesquely at its sides as he recognised in
+his hostess's quiet companion, the oppressive alien who hadn't indeed
+interfered with his fanciful flight, though she had prevented his
+immediate declaration and brought about the thud, not to say the felt
+violent shock, of his fall to earth, the perfectly plain identity of
+Cornelia Rasch. It was she who had remained there at attention; it was
+she their companion hadn't introduced; it was she he had forborne to
+face with his fear of incivility. He stared at her--everything else
+went.
+
+"Why it has been _you_ all this time?"
+
+Miss Rasch fairly turned pale. "I was waiting to see if you'd know me."
+
+"Ah, my dear Cornelia"--he came straight out with it--"rather!"
+
+"Well, it isn't," she returned with a quick change to red now, "from
+having taken much time to look at me!"
+
+She smiled, she even laughed, but he could see how she had felt his
+unconsciousness, poor thing; the acquaintance, quite the friend of his
+youth, as she had been, the associate of his childhood, of his early
+manhood, of his middle age in fact, up to a few years back, not more
+than ten at the most; the associate too of so many of his associates and
+of almost all of his relations, those of the other time, those who had
+mainly gone for ever; the person in short whose noted disappearance,
+though it might have seemed final, had been only of recent seasons. She
+was present again now, all unexpectedly--he had heard of her having
+at last, left alone after successive deaths and with scant resources,
+sought economic salvation in Europe, the promised land of American
+thrift--she was present as this almost ancient and this oddly
+unassertive little rotund figure whom one seemed no more obliged to
+address than if she had been a black satin ottoman "treated" with
+buttons and gimp; a class of object as to which the policy of blindness
+was imperative. He felt the need of some explanatory plea, and before he
+could think had uttered one at Mrs. Worthingham's expense. "Why, you see
+we weren't introduced----!"
+
+"No--but I didn't suppose I should have to be named to you."
+
+"Well, my dear woman, you haven't--do me that justice!" He could at
+least make this point. "I felt all the while--!" However, it would have
+taken him long to say what he had been feeling; and he was aware now of
+the pretty projected light of Mrs. Worthingham's wonder. She looked as
+if, out for a walk with her, he had put her to the inconvenience of his
+stopping to speak to a strange woman in the street.
+
+"I never supposed you knew her!"--it was to him his hostess excused
+herself.
+
+This made Miss Rasch spring up, distinctly flushed, distinctly strange
+to behold, but not vulgarly nettled--Cornelia was incapable of that;
+only rather funnily bridling and laughing, only showing that this was
+all she had waited for, only saying just the right thing, the thing
+she could make so clearly a jest. "Of course if you _had_ you'd have
+presented him."
+
+Mrs. Worthingham looked while answering at White-Mason. "I didn't want
+you to go--which you see you do as soon as he speaks to you. But I never
+dreamed----!"
+
+"That there was anything between us? Ah, there are no end of things!"
+He, on his side, though addressing the younger and prettier woman,
+looked at his fellow-guest; to whom he even continued: "When did you get
+back? May I come and see you the very first thing?"
+
+Cornelia gasped and wriggled--she practically giggled; she had
+lost every atom of her little old, her little young, though always
+unaccountable prettiness, which used to peep so, on the bare chance of
+a shot, from behind indefensible features, that it almost made watching
+her a form of sport. He had heard vaguely of her, it came back to
+him (for there had been no letters; their later acquaintance, thank
+goodness, hadn't involved that) as experimenting, for economy, and then
+as settling, to the same rather dismal end, somewhere in England, "at
+one of those intensely English places, St. Leonards, Cheltenham, Bognor,
+Dawlish--which, awfully, _was_ it?"--and she now affected him for all
+the world as some small squirming, exclaiming, genteelly conversing old
+maid of a type vaguely associated with the three-volume novels he used
+to feed on (besides his so often encountering it in "real life,") during
+a far-away stay of his own at Brighton. Odder than any element of his
+ex-gossip's identity itself, however, was the fact that she somehow,
+with it all, rejoiced his sight. Indeed the supreme oddity was that
+the manner of her reply to his request for leave to call should have
+absolutely charmed his attention. She didn't look at him; she only, from
+under her frumpy, crapy, curiously exotic hat, and with her good little
+near-sighted insinuating glare, expressed to Mrs. Worthingham, while she
+answered him, wonderful arch things, the overdone things of a shy woman.
+"Yes, you may call--but only when this dear lovely lady has done with
+you!" The moment after which she had gone.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+Forty minutes later he was taking his way back from the queer
+miscarriage of his adventure; taking it, with no conscious positive
+felicity, through the very spaces that had witnessed shortly before the
+considerable serenity of his assurance. He had said to himself then, or
+had as good as said it, that, since he might do perfectly as he liked,
+it couldn't fail for him that he must soon retrace those steps, humming,
+to all intents, the first bars of a wedding-march; so beautifully had it
+cleared up that he was "going to like" letting Mrs. Worthingham accept
+him. He was to have hummed no wedding-march, as it seemed to be turning
+out--he had none, up to now, to hum; and yet, extraordinarily, it wasn't
+in the least because she had refused him. Why then hadn't he liked as
+much as he had intended to like it putting the pleasant act, the act of
+not refusing him, in her power? Could it all have come from the awkward
+minute of his failure to decide sharply, on Cornelia's departure,
+whether or no he would attend her to the door? He hadn't decided at
+all--what the deuce had been in him?--but had danced to and fro in the
+room, thinking better of each impulse and then thinking worse. He had
+hesitated like an ass erect on absurd hind legs between two bundles
+of hay; the upshot of which must have been his giving the falsest
+impression. In what way that was to be for an instant considered had
+their common past committed him to crapy Cornelia? He repudiated with a
+whack on the gravel any ghost of an obligation.
+
+What he could get rid of with scanter success, unfortunately, was the
+peculiar sharpness of his sense that, though mystified by his visible
+flurry--and yet not mystified enough for a sympathetic question
+either--his hostess had been, on the whole, even more frankly diverted:
+which was precisely an example of that newest, freshest, finest freedom
+in her, the air and the candour of assuming, not "heartlessly," not
+viciously, not even very consciously, but with a bright pampered
+confidence which would probably end by affecting one's nerves as the
+most impertinent stroke in the world, that every blest thing coming up
+for her in any connection was somehow matter for her general recreation.
+There she was again with the innocent egotism, the gilded and
+overflowing anarchism, really, of her doubtless quite unwitting but none
+the less rabid modern note. Her grace of ease was perfect, but it was
+all grace of ease, not a single shred of it grace of uncertainty or
+of difficulty--which meant, when you came to see, that, for its happy
+working, not a grain of provision was left by it to mere manners. This
+was clearly going to be the music of the future--that if people were but
+rich enough and furnished enough and fed enough, exercised and sanitated
+and manicured and generally advised and advertised and made "knowing"
+enough, _avertis_ enough, as the term appeared to be nowadays in Paris,
+all they had to do for civility was to take the amused ironic view of
+those who might be less initiated. In _his_ time, when he was young or
+even when he was only but a little less middle-aged, the best manners
+had been the best kindness, and the best kindness had mostly been some
+art of not insisting on one's luxurious differences, of concealing
+rather, for common humanity, if not for common decency, a part at least
+of the intensity or the ferocity with which one might be "in the know."
+
+Oh, the "know"--Mrs. Worthingham was in it, all instinctively,
+inevitably, and as a matter of course, up to her eyes; which didn't,
+however, the least little bit prevent her being as ignorant as a fish of
+everything that really and intimately and fundamentally concerned _him_,
+poor dear old White-Mason. She didn't, in the first place, so much as
+know who he was--by which he meant know who and what it was to _be_
+a White-Mason, even a poor and a dear and old one, "anyway." That
+indeed--he did her perfect justice--was of the very essence of the
+newness and freshness and beautiful, brave, social irresponsibility by
+which she had originally dazzled him: just exactly that circumstance of
+her having no instinct for any old quality or quantity or identity, a
+single historic or social value, as he might say, of the New York of his
+already almost legendary past; and that additional one of his, on his
+side, having, so far as this went, cultivated blankness, cultivated
+positive prudence, as to her own personal background--the vagueness,
+at the best, with which all honest gentlefolk, the New Yorkers of his
+approved stock and conservative generation, were content, as for the
+most part they were indubitably wise, to surround the origins and
+antecedents and queer unimaginable early influences of persons swimming
+into their ken from those parts of the country that quite necessarily
+and naturally figured to their view as "Godforsaken" and generally
+impossible.
+
+The few scattered surviving representatives of a society once
+"good"--_rari nantes in gurgite vasto_--were liable, at the pass things
+had come to, to meet, and even amid old shades once sacred, or what was
+left of such, every form of social impossibility, and, more irresistibly
+still, to find these apparitions often carry themselves (often at
+least in the case of the women) with a wondrous wild gallantry, equally
+imperturbable and inimitable, the sort of thing that reached its maximum
+in Mrs. Worthingham. Beyond that who ever wanted to look up their
+annals, to reconstruct their steps and stages, to dot their i's in fine,
+or to "go behind" anything that was theirs? One wouldn't do that for
+the world--a rudimentary discretion forbade it; and yet this check from
+elementary undiscussable taste quite consorted with a due respect for
+them, or at any rate with a due respect for oneself in connection with
+them; as was just exemplified in what would be his own, what would be
+poor dear old White-Mason's, insurmountable aversion to having, on any
+pretext, the doubtless very queer spectre of the late Mr. Worthingham
+presented to him. No question had he asked, or would he ever ask, should
+his life--that is should the success of his courtship--even intimately
+depend on it, either about that obscure agent of his mistress's actual
+affluence or about the happy head-spring itself, and the apparently
+copious tributaries, of the golden stream.
+
+From all which marked anomalies, at any rate, what was the moral to
+draw? He dropped into a Park chair again with that question, he lost
+himself in the wonder of why he had come away with his homage so very
+much unpaid. Yet it didn't seem at all, actually, as if he could say
+or conclude, as if he could do anything but keep on worrying--just in
+conformity with his being a person who, whether or no familiar with the
+need to make his conduct square with his conscience and his taste, was
+never wholly exempt from that of making his taste and his conscience
+square with his conduct. To this latter occupation he further abandoned
+himself, and it didn't release him from his second brooding session
+till the sweet spring sunset had begun to gather and he had more or less
+cleared up, in the deepening dusk, the effective relation between the
+various parts of his ridiculously agitating experience. There were vital
+facts he seemed thus to catch, to seize, with a nervous hand, and the
+twilight helping, by their vaguely whisked tails; unquiet truths that
+swarmed out after the fashion of creatures bold only at eventide,
+creatures that hovered and circled, that verily brushed his nose, in
+spite of their shyness. Yes, he had practically just sat on with his
+"mistress"--heaven save the mark!--as if not to come to the point; as
+if it had absolutely come up that there would be something rather vulgar
+and awful in doing so. The whole stretch of his stay after Cornelia's
+withdrawal had been consumed by his almost ostentatiously treating
+himself to the opportunity of which he was to make nothing. It was as
+if he had sat and watched himself--that came back to him: Shall I now or
+sha'n't I? Will I now or won't I? "Say within the next three minutes,
+say by a quarter past six, or by twenty minutes past, at the
+furthest--always if nothing more comes up to prevent."
+
+What had already come up to prevent was, in the strangest and drollest,
+or at least in the most preposterous, way in the world, that not
+Cornelia's presence, but her very absence, with its distraction of his
+thoughts, the thoughts that lumbered after her, had made the difference;
+and without his being the least able to tell why and how. He put it
+to himself after a fashion by the image that, this distraction once
+created, his working round to his hostess again, his reverting to the
+matter of his errand, began suddenly to represent a return from so far.
+That was simply all--or rather a little less than all; for something
+else had contributed. "I never dreamed you knew her," and "I never
+dreamed _you_ did," were inevitably what had been exchanged between
+them--supplemented by Mrs. Worthingham's mere scrap of an explanation:
+"Oh yes--to the small extent you see. Two years ago in Switzerland
+when I was at a high place for an 'aftercure,' during twenty days of
+incessant rain, she was the only person in an hotel full of roaring,
+gorging, smoking Germans with whom I could have a word of talk. She
+and I were the only speakers of English, and were thrown together like
+castaways on a desert island and in a raging storm. She was ill besides,
+and she had no maid, and mine looked after her, and she was very
+grateful--writing to me later on and saying she should certainly come to
+see me if she ever returned to New York. She has returned, you see--and
+there she was, poor little creature!" Such was Mrs. Worthingham's
+tribute--to which even his asking her if Miss Rasch had ever happened
+to speak of him caused her practically to add nothing. Visibly she had
+never thought again of any one Miss Rasch had spoken of or anything Miss
+Rasch had said; right as she was, naturally, about her being a
+little clever queer creature. This was perfectly true, and yet it
+was probably--by being _all_ she could dream of about her--what had
+paralysed his proper gallantry. Its effect had been not in what it
+simply stated, but in what, under his secretly disintegrating criticism,
+it almost luridly symbolised.
+
+He had quitted his seat in the Louis Quinze drawing-room without having,
+as he would have described it, done anything but give the lady of the
+scene a superior chance not to betray a defeated hope--not, that is,
+to fail of the famous "pride" mostly supposed to prop even the most
+infatuated women at such junctures; by which chance, to do her justice,
+she had thoroughly seemed to profit. But he finally rose from his later
+station with a feeling of better success. He had by a happy turn of his
+hand got hold of the most precious, the least obscure of the flitting,
+circling things that brushed his ears. What he wanted--as justifying for
+him a little further consideration--was there before him from the moment
+he could put it that Mrs. Worthingham had no data. He almost hugged that
+word,--it suddenly came to mean so much to him. No data, he felt, for a
+conception of the sort of thing the New York of "his time" had been in
+his personal life--the New York so unexpectedly, so vividly and, as he
+might say, so perversely called back to all his senses by its identity
+with that of poor Cornelia's time: since even she had had a time, small
+show as it was likely to make now, and his time and hers had been the
+same. Cornelia figured to him while he walked away as, by contrast and
+opposition, a massive little bundle of data; his impatience to go to see
+her sharpened as he thought of this: so certainly should he find out
+that wherever he might touch her, with a gentle though firm pressure, he
+would, as the fond visitor of old houses taps and fingers a disfeatured,
+overpapered wall with the conviction of a wainscot-edge beneath,
+recognise some small extrusion of history.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+There would have been a wonder for us meanwhile in his continued use, as
+it were, of his happy formula--brought out to Cornelia Rasch within ten
+minutes, or perhaps only within twenty, of his having settled into the
+quite comfortable chair that, two days later, she indicated to him by
+her fireside. He had arrived at her address through the fortunate chance
+of his having noticed her card, as he went out, deposited, in the good
+old New York fashion, on one of the rococo tables of Mrs. Worthingham's
+hall. His eye had been caught by the pencilled indication that was to
+affect him, the next instant, as fairly placed there for his sake. This
+had really been his luck, for he shouldn't have liked to write to Mrs.
+Worthingham for guidance--_that_ he felt, though too impatient just
+now to analyze the reluctance. There was nobody else he could have
+approached for a clue, and with this reflection he was already aware
+of how it testified to their rare little position, his and
+Cornelia's--position as conscious, ironic, pathetic survivors together
+of a dead and buried society--that there would have been, in all the
+town, under such stress, not a member of their old circle left to turn
+to. Mrs. Worthingham had practically, even if accidentally, helped him
+to knowledge; the last nail in the coffin of the poor dear extinct
+past had been planted for him by his having thus to reach his antique
+contemporary through perforation of the newest newness. The note of this
+particular recognition was in fact the more prescribed to him that
+the ground of Cornelia's return to a scene swept so bare of the
+associational charm was certainly inconspicuous. What had she then come
+back for?--he had asked himself that; with the effect of deciding that
+it probably would have been, a little, to "look after" her remnant of
+property. Perhaps she had come to save what little might still remain of
+that shrivelled interest; perhaps she had been, by those who took care
+of it for her, further swindled and despoiled, so that she wished to
+get at the facts. Perhaps on the other hand--it was a more cheerful
+chance--her investments, decently administered, were making larger
+returns, so that the rigorous thrift of Bognor could be finally relaxed.
+
+He had little to learn about the attraction of Europe, and rather
+expected that in the event of his union with Mrs Worthingham he should
+find himself pleading for it with the competence of one more in the
+"know" about Paris and Rome, about Venice and Florence, than even she
+could be. He could have lived on in _his_ New York, that is in the
+sentimental, the spiritual, the more or less romantic visitation of it;
+but had it been positive for him that he could live on in hers?--unless
+indeed the possibility of this had been just (like the famous _vertige
+de l'abîme_, like the solicitation of danger, or otherwise of the
+dreadful) the very hinge of his whole dream. However that might be,
+his curiosity was occupied rather with the conceivable hinge of poor
+Cornelia's: it was perhaps thinkable that even Mrs. Worthingham's New
+York, once it should have become possible again at all, might have
+put forth to this lone exile a plea that wouldn't be in the chords of
+Bognor. For himself, after all, too, the attraction had been much
+more of the Europe over which one might move at one's ease, and which
+therefore could but cost, and cost much, right and left, than of the
+Europe adapted to scrimping. He saw himself on the whole scrimping with
+more zest even in Mrs. Worthingham's New York than under the inspiration
+of Bognor. Apart from which it was yet again odd, not to say perceptibly
+pleasing to him, to note where the emphasis of his interest fell in this
+fumble of fancy over such felt oppositions as the new, the latest, the
+luridest power of money and the ancient reserves and moderations and
+mediocrities. These last struck him as showing by contrast the old brown
+surface and tone as of velvet rubbed and worn, shabby, and even a bit
+dingy, but all soft and subtle and still velvety--which meant still
+dignified; whereas the angular facts of current finance were as harsh
+and metallic and bewildering as some stacked "exhibit" of ugly patented
+inventions, things his mediaeval mind forbade his taking in. He had
+for instance the sense of knowing the pleasant little old Rasch
+fortune--pleasant as far as it went; blurred memories and impressions
+of what it had been and what it hadn't, of how it had grown and how
+languished and how melted; they came back to him and put on such
+vividness that he could almost have figured himself testify for them
+before a bland and encouraging Board. The idea of taking the field in
+any manner on the subject of Mrs. Worthingham's resources would have
+affected him on the other hand as an odious ordeal, some glare of
+embarrassment and exposure in a circle of hard unhelpful attention, of
+converging, derisive, unsuggestive eyes.
+
+In Cornelia's small and quite cynically modern flat--the house had
+a grotesque name, "The Gainsborough," but at least wasn't an awful
+boarding-house, as he had feared, and she could receive him quite
+honourably, which was so much to the good--he would have been ready to
+use at once to her the greatest freedom of friendly allusion: "Have
+you still your old 'family interest' in those two houses in Seventh
+Avenue?--one of which was next to a corner grocery, don't you know? and
+was occupied as to its lower part by a candy-shop where the proportion
+of the stock of suspectedly stale popcorn to that of rarer and stickier
+joys betrayed perhaps a modest capital on the part of your father's,
+your grandfather's, or whoever's tenant, but out of which I nevertheless
+remember once to have come as out of a bath of sweets, with my very
+garments, and even the separate hairs of my head, glued together.
+The other of the pair, a tobacconist's, further down, had before it a
+wonderful huge Indian who thrust out wooden cigars at an indifferent
+world--you could buy candy cigars too, at the pop-corn shop, and I
+greatly preferred them to the wooden; I remember well how I used to gape
+in fascination at the Indian and wonder if the last of the Mohicans was
+like him; besides admiring so the resources of a family whose 'property'
+was in such forms. I haven't been round there lately--we must go round
+together; but don't tell me the forms have utterly perished!" It was
+after _that_ fashion he might easily have been moved, and with almost
+no transition, to break out to Cornelia--quite as if taking up some old
+talk, some old community of gossip, just where they had left it; even
+with the consciousness perhaps of overdoing a little, of putting at its
+maximum, for the present harmony, recovery, recapture (what should he
+call it?) the pitch and quantity of what the past had held for them.
+
+He didn't in fact, no doubt, dart straight off to Seventh Avenue, there
+being too many other old things and much nearer and long subsequent;
+the point was only that for everything they spoke of after he had fairly
+begun to lean back and stretch his legs, and after she had let him,
+above all, light the first of a succession of cigarettes--for everything
+they spoke of he positively cultivated extravagance and excess, piling
+up the crackling twigs as on the very altar of memory; and that by the
+end of half an hour she had lent herself, all gallantly, to their game.
+It was the game of feeding the beautiful iridescent flame, ruddy and
+green and gold, blue and pink and amber and silver, with anything they
+could pick up, anything that would burn and flicker. Thick-strown with
+such gleanings the occasion seemed indeed, in spite of the truth that
+they perhaps wouldn't have proved, under cross-examination, to have
+rubbed shoulders in the other life so very hard. Casual contacts,
+qualified communities enough, there had doubtless been, but not
+particular "passages," nothing that counted, as he might think of it,
+for their "very own" together, for nobody's else at all. These shades of
+historic exactitude didn't signify; the more and the less that there
+had been made perfect terms--and just by his being there and by her
+rejoicing in it--with their present need to have _had_ all their past
+could be made to appear to have given them. It was to this tune they
+proceeded, the least little bit as if they knowingly pretended--he
+giving her the example and setting her the pace of it, and she, poor
+dear, after a first inevitable shyness, an uncertainty of wonder, a
+breathlessness of courage, falling into step and going whatever length
+he would.
+
+She showed herself ready for it, grasping gladly at the perception of
+what he must mean; and if she didn't immediately and completely fall
+in--not in the first half-hour, not even in the three or four others
+that his visit, even whenever he consulted his watch, still made nothing
+of--she yet understood enough as soon as she understood that, if their
+finer economy hadn't so beautifully served, he might have been conveying
+this, that, and the other incoherent and easy thing by the comparatively
+clumsy method of sound and statement. "No, I never made love to you; it
+would in fact have been absurd, and I don't care--though I almost know,
+in the sense of almost remembering!--who did and who didn't; but you
+were always about, and so was I, and, little as you may yourself care
+who I did it to, I dare say you remember (in the sense of having known
+of it!) any old appearances that told. But we can't afford at this time
+of day not to help each other to have had--well, everything there was,
+since there's no more of it now, nor any way of coming by it except so;
+and therefore let us make together, let us make over and recreate, our
+lost world; for which we have after all and at the worst such a lot
+of material. You were in particular my poor dear sisters' friend--they
+thought you the funniest little brown thing possible; so isn't that
+again to the good? You were mine only to the extent that you were so
+much in and out of the house--as how much, if we come to that, wasn't
+one in and out, south of Thirtieth Street and north of Washington
+Square, in those days, those spacious, sociable, Arcadian days, that we
+flattered ourselves we filled with the modern fever, but that were so
+different from any of these arrangements of pretended hourly Time
+that dash themselves forever to pieces as from the fiftieth floors of
+sky-scrapers."
+
+This was the kind of thing that was in the air, whether he said it or
+not, and that could hang there even with such quite other things as
+more crudely came out; came in spite of its being perhaps calculated to
+strike us that these last would have been rather and most the unspoken
+and the indirect. They were Cornelia's contribution, and as soon as she
+had begun to talk of Mrs. Worthingham--_he_ didn't begin it!--they had
+taken their place bravely in the centre of the circle. There they made,
+the while, their considerable little figure, but all within the ring
+formed by fifty other allusions, fitful but really intenser irruptions
+that hovered and wavered and came and went, joining hands at moments
+and whirling round as in chorus, only then again to dash at the slightly
+huddled centre with a free twitch or peck or push or other taken
+liberty, after the fashion of irregular frolic motions in a country
+dance or a Christmas game.
+
+"You're so in love with her and want to marry her!"--she said it all
+sympathetically and yearningly, poor crapy Cornelia; as if it were to be
+quite taken for granted that she knew all about it. And then when he had
+asked how she knew--why she took so informed a tone about it; all on
+the wonder of her seeming so much more "in" it just at that hour than
+he himself quite felt he could figure for: "Ah, how but from the dear
+lovely thing herself? Don't you suppose _she_ knows it?"
+
+"Oh, she absolutely 'knows' it, does she?"--he fairly heard himself ask
+that; and with the oddest sense at once of sharply wanting the certitude
+and yet of seeing the question, of hearing himself say the words,
+through several thicknesses of some wrong medium. He came back to it
+from a distance; as he would have had to come back (this was again vivid
+to him) should he have got round again to his ripe intention three days
+before--after his now present but then absent friend, that is, had left
+him planted before his now absent but then present one for the purpose.
+"Do you mean she--at all confidently!--expects?" he went on, not much
+minding if it couldn't but sound foolish; the time being given it for
+him meanwhile by the sigh, the wondering gasp, all charged with the
+unutterable, that the tone of his appeal set in motion. He saw his
+companion look at him, but it might have been with the eyes of thirty
+years ago; when--very likely.--he had put her some such question about
+some girl long since dead. Dimly at first, then more distinctly, didn't
+it surge back on him for the very strangeness that there had been some
+such passage as this between them--yes, about Mary Cardew!--in the
+autumn of '68?
+
+"Why, don't you realise your situation?" Miss Rasch struck him as quite
+beautifully wailing--above all to such an effect of deep interest, that
+is, on her own part and in him.
+
+"My situation?"--he echoed, he considered; but reminded afresh, by
+the note of the detached, the far-projected in it, of what he had
+last remembered of his sentient state on his once taking ether at the
+dentist's.
+
+"Yours and hers--the situation of her adoring you. I suppose you at
+least know it," Cornelia smiled.
+
+Yes, it was like the other time and yet it wasn't. She was like--poor
+Cornelia was--everything that used to be; that somehow was most definite
+to him. Still he could quite reply "Do you call it--her adoring me--_my_
+situation?"
+
+"Well, it's a part of yours, surely--if you're in love with her."
+
+"Am I, ridiculous old person! in love with her?" White-Mason asked.
+
+"I may be a ridiculous old person," Cornelia returned--"and, for that
+matter, of course I am! But she's young and lovely and rich and clever:
+so what could be more natural?"
+
+"Oh, I was applying that opprobrious epithet--!" He didn't finish,
+though he meant he had applied it to himself. He had got up from his
+seat; he turned about and, taking in, as his eyes also roamed, several
+objects in the room, serene and sturdy, not a bit cheap-looking, little
+old New York objects of '68, he made, with an inner art, as if to
+recognise them--made so, that is, for himself; had quite the sense for
+the moment of asking them, of imploring them, to recognise _him_, to be
+for him things of his own past. Which they truly were, he could have
+the next instant cried out; for it meant that if three or four of
+them, small sallow carte-de-visite photographs, faithfully framed but
+spectrally faded, hadn't in every particular, frames and balloon skirts
+and false "property" balustrades of unimaginable terraces and all,
+the tone of time, the secret for warding and easing off the perpetual
+imminent ache of one's protective scowl, one would verily but have to
+let the scowl stiffen, or to take up seriously the question of blue
+goggles, during what might remain of life.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+What he actually took up from a little old Twelfth-Street table that
+piously preserved the plain mahogany circle, with never a curl nor a
+crook nor a hint of a brazen flourish, what he paused there a moment for
+commerce with, his back presented to crapy Cornelia, who sat taking that
+view of him, during this opportunity, very protrusively and frankly and
+fondly, was one of the wasted mementos just mentioned, over which he
+both uttered and suppressed a small comprehensive cry. He stood there
+another minute to look at it, and when he turned about still kept it in
+his hand, only holding it now a litde behind him. "You _must_ have come
+back to stay--with all your beautiful things. What else does it mean?"
+
+"'Beautiful'?" his old friend commented with her brow all wrinkled and
+her lips thrust out in expressive dispraise. They might at that rate
+have been scarce more beautiful than she herself. "Oh, don't talk
+so--after Mrs. Worthingham's! _They're_ wonderful, if you will: such
+things, such things! But one's own poor relics and odds and ends are
+one's own at least; and one _has_--yes--come back to them. They're all
+I have in the world to come back to. They were stored, and what I was
+paying--!" Miss Rasch wofully added.
+
+He had possession of the small old picture; he hovered there; he put his
+eyes again to it intently; then again held it a little behind him as if
+it might have been snatched away or the very feel of it, pressed against
+him, was good to his palm. "Mrs. Worthingham's things? You think them
+beautiful?"
+
+Cornelia did now, if ever, show an odd face. "Why certainly prodigious,
+or whatever. Isn't that conceded?"
+
+"No doubt every horror, at the pass we've come to, is conceded. That's
+just what I complain of."
+
+"Do you _complain?_"--she drew it out as for surprise: she couldn't have
+imagined such a thing.
+
+"To me her things are awful. They're the newest of the new."
+
+"Ah, but the old forms!"
+
+"Those are the most blatant. I mean the swaggering reproductions."
+
+"Oh but," she pleaded, "we can't all be _really_ old."
+
+"No, we can't, Cornelia. But _you_ can--!" said White-Mason with the
+frankest appreciation.
+
+She looked up at him from where she sat as he could imagine her
+looking up at the curate at Bognor. "Thank you, sir! If that's all you
+want----!"
+
+"It _is_" he said, "all I want--or almost."
+
+"Then no wonder such a creature as that," she lightly moralised, "won't
+suit you!"
+
+He bent upon her, for all the weight of his question, his smoothest
+stare. "You hold she certainly won't suit me?"
+
+"Why, what can I tell about it? Haven't you by this time found out?"
+
+"No, but I think I'm finding." With which he began again to explore.
+
+Miss Rasch immensely wondered. "You mean you don't expect to come to an
+understanding with her?" And then as even to this straight challenge he
+made at first no answer: "Do you mean you give it up?"
+
+He waited some instants more, but not meeting her eyes--only looking
+again about the room. "What do you think of my chance?"
+
+"Oh," his companion cried, "what has what I think to do with it? How can
+I think anything but that she must like you?"
+
+"Yes--of course. But how much?"
+
+"Then don't you really know?" Cornelia asked.
+
+He kept up his walk, oddly preoccupied and still not looking at her. "Do
+you, my dear?"
+
+She waited a little. "If you haven't really put it to her I don't
+suppose she knows."
+
+This at last arrested him again. "My dear Cornelia, she doesn't
+know----!"
+
+He had paused as for the desperate tone, or at least the large emphasis
+of it, so that she took him up. "The more reason then to help her to
+find it out."
+
+"I mean," he explained, "that she doesn't know anything."
+
+"Anything?"
+
+"Anything else, I mean--even if she does know _that_."
+
+Cornelia considered of it. "But what else need she--in particular--know?
+Isn't that the principal thing?"
+
+"Well"--and he resumed his circuit--"she doesn't know anything that we
+know. But nothing," he re-emphasised--"nothing whatever!"
+
+"Well, can't she do without that?"
+
+"Evidently she can--and evidently she does, beautifully. But the
+question is whether _I_ can!"
+
+He had paused once more with his point--but she glared, poor Cornelia,
+with her wonder. "Surely if you know for yourself----!"
+
+"Ah, it doesn't seem enough for me to know for myself! One wants a
+woman," he argued--but still, in his prolonged tour, quite without his
+scowl--"to know _for_ one, to know _with_ one. That's what you do now,"
+he candidly put to her.
+
+It made her again gape. "Do you mean you want to marry _me?_"
+
+He was so full of what he did mean, however, that he failed even to
+notice it. "She doesn't in the least know, for instance, how old I am."
+
+"That's because you're so young!"
+
+"Ah, there you are!"--and he turned off afresh and as if almost in
+disgust. It left her visibly perplexed--though even the perplexed
+Cornelia was still the exceedingly pointed; but he had come to her aid
+after another turn. "Remember, please, that I'm pretty well as old as
+you."
+
+She had all her point at least, while she bridled and blinked, for this.
+"You're exactly a year and ten months older."
+
+It checked him there for delight. "You remember my birthday?"
+
+She twinkled indeed like some far-off light of home. "I remember every
+one's. It's a little way I've always had--and that I've never lost."
+
+He looked at her accomplishment, across the room, as at some striking,
+some charming phenomenon. "Well, _that's_ the sort of thing I want!" All
+the ripe candour of his eyes confirmed it.
+
+What could she do therefore, she seemed to ask him, but repeat her
+question of a moment before?--which indeed presently she made up her
+mind to. "Do you want to marry _me?_"
+
+It had this time better success--if the term may be felt in any degree
+to apply. All his candour, or more of it at least, was in his slow,
+mild, kind, considering head-shake. "No, Cornelia--not to _marry_ you."
+
+His discrimination was a wonder; but since she was clearly treating him
+now as if everything about him was, so she could as exquisitely meet it.
+"Not at least," she convulsively smiled, "until you've honourably tried
+Mrs. Worthingham. Don't you really _mean_ to?" she gallantly insisted.
+
+He waited again a little; then he brought out: "I'll tell you
+presently." He came back, and as by still another mere glance over
+the room, to what seemed to him so much nearer. "That table was old
+Twelfth-Street?"
+
+"Everything here was."
+
+"Oh, the pure blessings! With you, ah, with you, I haven't to wear a
+green shade." And he had retained meanwhile his small photograph, which
+he again showed himself. "Didn't we talk of Mary Cardew?"
+
+"Why, do you remember it?" She marvelled to extravagance.
+
+"You make me. You connect me with it. You connect it with we." He liked
+to display to her this excellent use she thus had, the service she
+rendered. "There are so many connections--there will be so many. I
+feel how, with you, they must all come up again for me: in fact you're
+bringing them out already, just while I look at you, as fast as ever you
+can. The fact that you knew every one--!" he went on; yet as if there
+were more in that too than he could quite trust himself about.
+
+"Yes, I knew every one," said Cornelia Rasch; but this time with perfect
+simplicity. "I knew, I imagine, more than you do--or more than you did."
+
+It kept him there, it made him wonder with his eyes on her. "Things
+about _them_--our people?"
+
+"Our people. Ours only now."
+
+Ah, such an interest as he felt in this--taking from her while, so far
+from scowling, he almost gaped, all it might mean! "Ours indeed--and it's
+awfully good they are; or that we're still here for them! Nobody else
+is--nobody but you: not a cat!"
+
+"Well, I _am_ a cat!" Cornelia grinned.
+
+"Do you mean you can tell me things--?" It was too beautiful to believe.
+
+"About what really _was?_" she artfully considered, holding him
+immensely now. "Well, unless they've come to you with time; unless
+you've learned--or found out."
+
+"Oh," he reassuringly cried--reassuringly, it most seemed, for
+himself--"nothing has come to me with time, everything has gone from me.
+How can I find out now! What creature has an idea----?"
+
+She threw up her hands with the shrug of old days--the sharp little
+shrug his sisters used to imitate and that she hadn't had to go to
+Europe for. The only thing was that he blessed her for bringing it back.
+
+"Ah, the ideas of people now----!"
+
+"Yes, their ideas are certainly not about us" But he ruefully faced it.
+"We've none the less, however, to live with them."
+
+"With their ideas--?" Cornelia questioned.
+
+"With _them_--these modern wonders; such as they are!" Then he went on:
+"It must have been to help me you've come back."
+
+She said nothing for an instant about that, only nodding instead at his
+photograph. "What has become of yours? I mean of _her_."
+
+This time it made him turn pale. "You remember I _have_ one?"
+
+She kept her eyes on him. "In a 'pork-pie' hat, with her hair in a long
+net. That was so 'smart' then; especially with one's skirt looped up,
+over one's hooped magenta petticoat, in little festoons, and a row of
+very big onyx beads over one's braided velveteen sack--braided quite
+plain and very broad, don't you know?"
+
+He smiled for her extraordinary possession of these things--she was as
+prompt as if she had had them before her. "Oh, rather--'don't I know?'
+You wore brown velveteen, and, on those remarkably small hands, funny
+gauntlets--like mine."
+
+"Oh, do _you_ remember? But like yours?" she wondered.
+
+"I mean like hers in my photograph." But he came back to the present
+picture. "This is better, however, for really showing her lovely head."
+
+"Mary's head was a perfection!" Cornelia testified.
+
+"Yes--it was better than her heart."
+
+"Ah, don't say that!" she pleaded. "You weren't fair."
+
+"Don't you think I was fair?" It interested him immensely--and the more
+that he indeed mightn't have been; which he seemed somehow almost to
+hope.
+
+"She didn't think so--to the very end."
+
+"She didn't?"--ah the right things Cornelia said to him! But before she
+could answer he was studying again closely the small faded face. "No,
+she doesn't, she doesn't. Oh, her charming sad eyes and the way they say
+that, across the years, straight into mine! But I don't know, I don't
+know!" White-Mason quite comfortably sighed.
+
+His companion appeared to appreciate this effect. "That's just the way
+you used to flirt with her, poor thing. Wouldn't you like to have it?"
+she asked.
+
+"This--for my very own?" He looked up delighted. "I really may?"
+
+"Well, if you'll give me yours. We'll exchange."
+
+"That's a charming idea. We'll exchange. But you must come and get it at
+my rooms--where you'll see my things."
+
+For a little she made no answer--as if for some feeling. Then she said:
+"You asked me just now why I've come back."
+
+He stared as for the connection; after which with a smile: "Not to do
+_that_----?"
+
+She waited briefly again, but with a queer little look. "I can do those
+things now; and--yes!--that's in a manner why. I came," she then said,
+"because I knew of a sudden one day--knew as never before--that I was
+old."
+
+"I see. I see." He quite understood--she had notes that so struck him.
+"And how did you like it?"
+
+She hesitated--she decided. "Well, if I liked it, it was on the
+principle perhaps on which some people like high game!"
+
+"High game--that's good!" he laughed. "Ah, my dear, we're 'high'!"
+
+She shook her head. "No, not you--yet. I at any rate didn't want any
+more adventures," Cornelia said.
+
+He showed their small relic again with assurance. "You wanted _us_. Then
+here we are. Oh how we can talk!--with all those things you know! You
+are an invention. And you'll see there are things J know. I shall turn
+up here--well, daily."
+
+She took it in, but only after a moment answered. "There was something
+you said just now you'd tell me. Don't you mean to try----?"
+
+"Mrs. Worthingham?" He drew from within his coat his pocket-book and
+carefully found a place in it for Mary Cardew's carte-de-visite, folding
+it together with deliberation over which he put it back. Finally he
+spoke. "No--I've decided. I can't--I don't want to."
+
+Cornelia marvelled--or looked as if she did. "Not for all she has?"
+
+"Yes--I know all she has. But I also know all she hasn't. And, as I told
+you, she herself doesn't--hasn't a glimmer of a suspicion of it; and
+never will have."
+
+Cornelia magnanimously thought "No--but she knows other things."
+
+He shook his head as at the portentous heap of them. "Too many--too
+many. And other indeed--_so_ other! Do you know," he went on, "that it's
+as if _you_--by turning up for me--had brought that home to me?"
+
+"'For you,'" she candidly considered. "But what--since you can't marry
+me!--can you do with me?"
+
+Well, he seemed to have it all. "Everything. I can live with you--just
+this way." To illustrate which he dropped into the other chair by her
+fire; where, leaning back, he gazed at the flame. "I can't give you
+up. It's very curious. It has come over me as it did over you when you
+renounced Bognor. That's it--I know it at last, and I see one can like
+it. I'm 'high.' You needn't deny it. That's my taste. I'm old." And in
+spite of the considerable glow there of her little household altar he
+said it without the scowl.
+
+
+
+
+THE BENCH OF DESOLATION
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+SHE had practically, he believed, conveyed the intimation, the
+horrid, brutal, vulgar menace, in the course of their last
+dreadful conversation, when, for whatever was left him of pluck or
+confidence--confidence in what he would fain have called a little more
+aggressively the strength of his position--he had judged best not to
+take it up. But this time there was no question of not understanding, or
+of pretending he didn't; the ugly, the awful words, ruthlessly formed
+by her lips, were like the fingers of a hand that she might have thrust
+into her pocket for extraction of the monstrous object that would serve
+best for--what should he call it?--a gage of battle.
+
+"If I haven't a very different answer from you within the next three
+days I shall put the matter into the hands of my solicitor, whom it
+may interest you to know I've already seen. I shall bring an action for
+'breach' against you, Herbert Dodd, as sure as my name's Kate Cookham."
+
+There it was, straight and strong--yet he felt he could say for himself,
+when once it had come, or even, already, just as it was coming, that it
+turned on, as if she had moved an electric switch, the very brightest
+light of his own very reasons. There _she_ was, in all the grossness
+of her native indelicacy, in all her essential excess of will and
+destitution of scruple; and it was the woman capable of that ignoble
+threat who, his sharper sense of her quality having become so quite
+deterrent, was now making for him a crime of it that he shouldn't wish
+to tie himself to her for life. The vivid, lurid thing was the reality,
+all unmistakable, of her purpose; she had thought her case well out;
+had measured its odious, specious presentability; had taken, he might
+be sure, the very best advice obtainable at Properley, where there
+was always a first-rate promptitude of everything fourth-rate; it was
+disgustingly certain, in short, that she'd proceed. She was sharp
+and adroit, moreover--distinctly in certain ways a master-hand; how
+otherwise, with her so limited mere attractiveness, should she have
+entangled him? He couldn't shut his eyes to the very probable truth that
+if she should try it she'd pull it off. She _knew_ she would--precisely;
+and her assurance was thus the very proof of her cruelty. That she
+had pretended she loved him was comparatively nothing; other women had
+pretended it, and other women too had really done it; but that she had
+pretended he could possibly have been right and safe and blest in
+loving _her_, a creature of the kind who could sniff that squalor of the
+law-court, of claimed damages and brazen lies and published kisses,
+of love-letters read amid obscene guffaws, as a positive tonic to
+resentment, as a high incentive to her course--this was what put him
+so beautifully in the right It was what might signify in a woman all
+through, he said to himself, the mere imagination of such machinery.
+Truly what a devilish conception and what an appalling nature!
+
+But there was no doubt, luckily, either, that he _could_ plant his feet
+the firmer for his now intensified sense of these things. He was to
+live, it appeared, abominably worried, he was to live consciously
+rueful, he was to live perhaps even what a scoffing world would call
+abjectly exposed; but at least he was to live saved. In spite of his
+clutch of which steadying truth, however, and in spite of his declaring
+to her, with many other angry protests and pleas, that the line of
+conduct she announced was worthy of a vindictive barmaid, a lurking fear
+in him, too deep to counsel mere defiance, made him appear to keep open
+a little, till he could somehow turn round again, the door of possible
+composition. He had scoffed at her claim, at her threat, at her thinking
+she could hustle and bully him--"Such a way, my eye, to call back
+to life a dead love!"--yet his instinct was ever, prudentially but
+helplessly, for gaining time, even if time only more wofully to quake,
+and he gained it now by not absolutely giving for his ultimatum that he
+wouldn't think of coming round. He didn't in the smallest degree mean to
+come round, but it was characteristic of him that he could for three
+or four days breathe a little easier by having left her under the
+impression that he perhaps might. At the same time he couldn't not have
+said--what had conduced to bring out, in retort, her own last word, the
+word on which they had parted--"Do you mean to say you yourself would
+now be _willing_ to marry and live with a man of whom you could feel,
+the thing done, that he'd be all the while thinking of you in the light
+of a hideous coercion?" "Never you mind about _my_ willingness," Kate
+had answered; "you've known what that has been for the last six months.
+Leave that to me, my willingness--I'll take care of it all right; and
+just see what conclusion you can come to about your own."
+
+He was to remember afterward how he had wondered whether, turned upon
+her in silence while her odious lucidity reigned unchecked, his face had
+shown her anything like the quantity of hate he felt. Probably not at
+all; no man's face _could_ express that immense amount; especially the
+fair, refined, intellectual, gentlemanlike face which had had--and by
+her own more than once repeated avowal--so much to do with the enormous
+fancy she had originally taken to him. "Which--frankly now--would you
+personally _rather_ I should do," he had at any rate asked her with an
+intention of supreme irony: "just sordidly marry you on top of this, or
+leave you the pleasure of your lovely appearance in court and of your so
+assured (since that's how you feel it) big haul of damages? Sha'n't
+you be awfully disappointed, in fact, if I don't let you get something
+better out of me than a poor plain ten-shilling gold ring and the rest
+of the blasphemous rubbish, as we should make it between us, pronounced
+at the altar? I take it of course," he had swaggered on, "that your
+pretension wouldn't be for a moment that I should--after the act of
+profanity--take up my life with you."
+
+"It's just as much my dream as it ever was, Herbert Dodd, to take up
+mine with _you!_ Remember for me that I can do with it, my dear, that my
+idea is for even as much as that of you!" she had cried; "remember that
+for me, Herbert Dodd; remember, remember!"
+
+It was on this she had left him--left him frankly under a mortal chill.
+There might have been the last ring of an appeal or a show of persistent
+and perverse tenderness in it, however preposterous any such matter; but
+in point of fact her large, clean, plain, brown face--so much too big
+for her head, he now more than ever felt it to be, just as her head was
+so much too big for her body, and just as her hats had an irritating way
+of appearing to decline choice and conformity in respect to _any_ of her
+dimensions--presented itself with about as much expression as his own
+shop-window when the broad, blank, sallow blind was down. He was fond of
+his shop-window with some good show on; he had a fancy for a good show
+and was master of twenty different schemes of taking arrangement for the
+old books and prints, "high-class rarities" his modest catalogue called
+them, in which he dealt and which his maternal uncle, David Geddes, had,
+as he liked to say, "handed down" to him. His widowed mother had screwed
+the whole thing, the stock and the connection and the rather bad little
+house in the rather bad little street, out of the ancient worthy,
+shortly before his death, in the name of the youngest and most
+interesting, the "delicate" one and the literary, of her five scattered
+and struggling children. He could enjoy his happiest collocations and
+contrasts and effects, his harmonies and varieties of toned and faded
+leather and cloth, his sought color-notes and the high clearnesses,
+here and there, of his white and beautifully figured price-labels, which
+pleased him enough in themselves almost to console him for not
+oftener having to break, on a customer's insistence, into the balanced
+composition. But the dropped expanse of time-soiled canvas, the thing
+of Sundays and holidays, with just his name, "Herbert Dodd, Successor,"
+painted on below his uncle's antique style, the feeble penlike
+flourishes already quite archaic--this ugly vacant mask, which might
+so easily be taken for the mask of failure, somehow always gave him a
+chill.
+
+That had been just the sort of chill--the analogy was complete--of Kate
+Cookham's last look. He supposed people doing an awfully good and sure
+and steady business, in whatever line, could see a whole front turned
+to vacancy that way and merely think of the hours off represented by it.
+Only for this--nervously to bear it, in other words, and Herbert Dodd,
+quite with the literary temperament himself, was capable of that amount
+of play of fancy, or even of morbid analysis--you had to be on some
+footing, you had to feel some confidence, pretty different from his own
+up to now. He had never _not_ enjoyed passing his show on the other side
+of the street and taking it in thence with a casual obliquity; but he
+had never held optical commerce with the drawn blind for a moment longer
+than he could help. It _always_ looked horribly final and as if it never
+would come up again. Big and bare, with his name staring at him from the
+middle, it thus offered in its grimness a turn of comparison for Miss
+Cookham's ominous visage. She never wore pretty, dotty, transparent
+veils, as Nan Drury did, and the words "Herbert Dodd"--save that she had
+sounded them at him there two or three times more like a Meg Merrilies
+or the bold bad woman in one of the melodramas of high life given during
+the fine season in the pavilion at the end of Properley Pier--were
+dreadfully, were permanently, seated on her lips. _She_ was grim, no
+mistake.
+
+That evening, alone in the back room above the shop, he saw so little
+what he could do that, consciously demoralised for the hour, he gave way
+to tears about it. Her taking a stand so incredibly "low," that was
+what he couldn't get over. The particular bitterness of his cup was
+his having let himself in for a struggle on such terms--the use, on
+her side, of the vulgarest process known to the law: the vulgarest, the
+vulgarest, he kept repeating that, clinging to the help rendered him by
+this imputation to his terrorist of the vice he sincerely believed he
+had ever, among difficulties (for oh he recognised the difficulties!)
+sought to keep most alien to him. He knew what he was, in a dismal,
+down-trodden sphere enough--the lean young proprietor of an old business
+that had itself rather shrivelled with age than ever grown fat, the
+purchase and sale of second-hand books and prints, with the back street
+of a long-fronted south-coast watering-place (Old Town by good luck) for
+the dusky field of his life. But he had gone in for all the education he
+could get--his educated customers would often hang about for more talk
+by the half-hour at a time, he actually feeling himself, and almost with
+a scruple, hold them there; which meant that he had had (he couldn't be
+blind to that) natural taste and had lovingly cultivated and formed it.
+Thus, from as far back as he could remember, there had been things all
+round him that he suffered from when other people didn't; and he had
+kept most of his suffering to himself--which had taught him, in a
+manner, _how_ to suffer, and how almost to like to.
+
+So, at any rate, he had never let go his sense of certain differences,
+he had done everything he could to keep it up--whereby everything that
+was vulgar was on the wrong side of his line. He had believed, for a
+series of strange, oppressed months, that Kate Cookham's manners
+and tone were on the right side; she had been governess--for young
+children--in two very good private families, and now had classes in
+literature and history for bigger girls who were sometimes brought by
+their mammas; in fact, coming in one day to look over his collection of
+students' manuals, and drawing it out, as so many did, for the evident
+sake of his conversation, she had appealed to him that very first time
+by her apparently pronounced intellectual side--goodness knew she didn't
+even then by the physical!--which she had artfully kept in view till she
+had entangled him past undoing. And it had all been but the cheapest of
+traps--when he came to take the pieces apart a bit--laid over a brazen
+avidity. What he now collapsed for, none the less--what he sank down on
+a chair at a table and nursed his weak, scared sobs in his resting arms
+for--was the fact that, whatever the trap, it held him as with the grip
+of sharp murderous steel. There he was, there he was; alone in the brown
+summer dusk--brown through _his_ windows--he cried and he cried. He
+shouldn't get out without losing a limb. The only question was which of
+his limbs it should be.
+
+Before he went out, later on--for he at last felt the need to--he could,
+however, but seek to remove from his face and his betraying eyes, over
+his washing-stand, the traces of his want of fortitude. He brushed
+himself up; with which, catching his stricken image a bit spectrally
+in an old dim toilet-glass, he knew again, in a flash, the glow of
+righteous resentment. Who should be assured against coarse usage if
+a man of his really elegant, perhaps in fact a trifle over-refined or
+"effete" appearance, his absolutely gentlemanlike type, couldn't be?
+He never went so far as to rate himself, with exaggeration, a gentleman;
+but he would have maintained against all comers, with perfect candour
+and as claiming a high advantage, that he was, in spite of that
+liability to blubber, "like" one; which he _was_ no doubt, for that
+matter, at several points. Like what lady then, who could ever possibly
+have been taken for one, was Kate Cookham, and therefore how could one
+have anything--anything of the intimate and private order--out with her
+fairly and on the plane, the only possible one, of common equality? He
+might find himself crippled for life; he believed verily, the more he
+thought, that that was what was before him. But be ended by seeing this
+doom in the almost redeeming light of the fact that it would all have
+been because he was, comparatively, too aristocratic. Yes, a man in his
+station couldn't afford to carry that so far--it must sooner or later,
+in one way or another, spell ruin. Never mind--it was the only thing
+he could be. Of course he should exquisitely suffer--but when hadn't
+he exquisitely suffered? How was he going to get through life by _any_
+arrangement without that? No wonder such a woman as Kate Cookham had
+been keen to annex so rare a value. The right thing would have been that
+the highest price should be paid for it--by such a different sort of
+logic from this nightmare of _his_ having to pay.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+Which was the way, of course, he talked to Nan Drury--as he had felt the
+immediate wild need to do; for he should perhaps be able to bear it
+all somehow or other with _her_--while they sat together, when time and
+freedom served, on one of the very last, the far westward, benches
+of the interminable sea-front. It wasn't every one who walked so far,
+especially at that flat season--the only ghost of a bustle now, save for
+the gregarious, the obstreperous haunters of the fluttering, far-shining
+Pier, being reserved for the sunny Parade of midwinter. It wasn't every
+one who cared for the sunsets (which you got awfully well from there
+and which were a particular strong point of the lower, the more
+"sympathetic," as Herbert Dodd liked to call it, Properley horizon) as
+he had always intensely cared, and as he had found Nan Drury care; to
+say nothing of his having also observed how little they directly spoke
+to Miss Cookham. He had taught this oppressive companion to notice
+them a bit, as he had taught her plenty of other things, but that was
+a different matter; for the reason that the "land's end" (stretching a
+point it carried off that name) had been, and had had to be, by their
+lack of more sequestered resorts and conveniences, the scene of so much
+of what she styled their wooing-time--or, to put it more properly, of
+the time during which she had made the straightest and most unabashed
+love to _him_: just as it could henceforth but render possible, under
+an equal rigour, that he should enjoy there periods of consolation from
+beautiful, gentle, tender-souled Nan, to whom he was now at last, after
+the wonderful way they had helped each other to behave, going to make
+love, absolutely unreserved and abandoned, absolutely reckless and
+romantic love, a refuge from poisonous reality, as hard as ever he
+might.
+
+The league-long, paved, lighted, garden-plotted, seated and refuged
+Marina renounced its more or less celebrated attractions to break off
+short here; and an inward curve of the kindly westward shore almost made
+a wide-armed bay, with all the ugliness between town and country, and
+the further casual fringe of the coast, turning, as the day waned, to
+rich afternoon blooms of grey and brown and distant--it might fairly
+have been beautiful Hampshire--blue. Here it was that, all that blighted
+summer, with Nan--from the dreadful May-day on--he gave himself up to
+the reaction of intimacy with the _kind_ of woman, at least, that he
+liked; even if of everything else that might make life possible he was
+to be, by what he could make out, forever starved. Here it was that--as
+well as on whatever other scraps of occasions they could manage--Nan
+began to take off and fold up and put away in her pocket her pretty,
+dotty, becoming veil; as under the logic of his having so tremendously
+ceased, in the shake of his dark storm-gust, to be engaged to another
+woman. Her removal of that obstacle to a trusted friend's assuring
+himself whether the peachlike bloom' of her finer facial curves bore
+the test of such further inquiry into their cool sweetness as might
+reinforce a mere baffled gaze--her momentous, complete surrender of so
+much of her charm, let us say, both marked the change in the situation
+of the pair and established the record of their perfect observance of
+every propriety for so long before. They afterward in fact could have
+dated it, their full clutch of their freedom and the bliss of their
+having so little henceforth to consider save their impotence, their
+poverty, their ruin; dated it from the hour of his recital to her
+of the--at the first blush--quite appalling upshot of his second and
+conclusive "scene of violence" with the mistress of his fortune,
+when the dire terms of his release had had to be formally, and oh!
+so abjectly, acceded to. She "compromised," the cruel brute, for Four
+Hundred Pounds down--for not a farthing less would she stay her strength
+from "proceedings." No jury in the land but would give her six, on the
+nail ("Oh she knew quite where she was, thank you!") and he might feel
+lucky to get off with so whole a skin. This was the sum, then, for which
+he had grovellingly compounded--under an agreement sealed by a supreme
+exchange of remarks.
+
+"'Where in the name of lifelong ruin are you to _find_ Four Hundred?'"
+Miss Cookham had mockingly repeated after him while he gasped as from
+the twist of her grip on his collar. "That's _your_ look-out, and I
+should have thought you'd have made sure you knew before you decided on
+your base perfidy." And then she had mouthed and minced, with ever
+so false a gentility, her consistent, her sickening conclusion. "Of
+course--I may mention again--if you too distinctly object to the trouble
+of looking, you know where to find _me_."
+
+"I had rather starve to death than ever go within a mile of you!"
+Herbert described himself as having sweetly answered; and that was
+accordingly where _they_ devotedly but desperately were--he and she,
+penniless Nan Drury. Her father, of Drury & Dean, was, like so far
+too many other of the anxious characters who peered through the dull
+window-glass of dusty offices at Properley, an Estate and House Agent,
+Surveyor, Valuer and Auctioneer; she was the prettiest of six, with two
+brothers, neither of the least use, but, thanks to the manner in which
+their main natural protector appeared to languish under the accumulation
+of his attributes, they couldn't be said very particularly or positively
+to live. Their continued collective existence was a good deal of a
+miracle even to themselves, though they had fallen into the way of not
+unnecessarily, or too nervously, exchanging remarks upon it, and had
+even in a sort, from year to year, got used to it. Nan's brooding
+pinkness when he talked to her, her so very parted lips, considering her
+pretty teeth, her so very parted eyelids, considering her pretty eyes,
+all of which might have been those of some waxen image of uncritical
+faith, cooled the heat of his helplessness very much as if he were
+laying his head on a tense silk pillow. She had, it was true, forms
+of speech, familiar watchwords, that affected him as small scratchy
+perforations of the smooth surface from within; but his pleasure in
+her and need of her were independent of such things and really almost
+altogether determined by the fact of the happy, even if all so lonely,
+forms and instincts in her which claimed kinship with his own. With
+her natural elegance stamped on her as by a die, with her dim and
+disinherited individual refinement of grace, which would have made any
+one wonder who she was anywhere--hat and veil and feather-boa and smart
+umbrella-knob and all--with her regular God-given distinction of type,
+in fine, she couldn't abide vulgarity much more than he could.
+
+Therefore it didn't seem to him, under his stress, to matter
+particularly, for instance, if she _would_ keep on referring so many
+things to the time, as she called it, when she came into his life--his
+own great insistence and contention being that she hadn't in the least
+entered there till his mind was wholly made up to eliminate his other
+friend. What that methodical fury was so fierce to bring home to him was
+the falsity to herself involved in the later acquaintance; whereas just
+his precious right to hold up his head to everything--before himself at
+least--sprang from the fact that she couldn't make dates fit anyhow.
+He hadn't so much as heard of his true beauty's existence (she had come
+back but a few weeks before from her two years with her terribly trying
+deceased aunt at Swindon, previous to which absence she had been an
+unnoticeable chit) till days and days, ever so many, upon his honour,
+after he had struck for freedom by his great first backing-out
+letter--the precious document, the treat for a British jury, in which,
+by itself, Miss Cookham's firm instructed her to recognise the prospect
+of a fortune. The way the ruffians had been "her" ruffians--it appeared
+as if she had posted them behind her from the first of her beginning
+her game!--and the way "instructions" bounced out, with it, at a touch,
+larger than life, as if she had arrived with her pocket full of them!
+The date of the letter, taken with its other connections, and the date
+of _her_ first give-away for himself, his seeing her get out of the
+Brighton train with Bill Frankle that day he had gone to make the row
+at the Station parcels' office about the miscarriage of the box from
+Wales--those were the facts it sufficed him to point to, as he had
+pointed to them for Nan Drury's benefit, goodness knew, often and often
+enough. If he didn't seek occasion to do so for any one else's--in open
+court as they said--that was his own affair, or at least his and Nan's.
+
+It little mattered, meanwhile, if on their bench of desolation, all that
+summer--and it may be added for summers and summers, to say nothing of
+winters, there and elsewhere, to come--she did give way to her artless
+habit of not contradicting him enough, which led to her often trailing
+up and down before him, too complacently, the untimely shreds and
+patches of his own glooms and desperations. "Well, I'm glad I _am_ in
+your life, terrible as it is, however or whenever I did come in!" and
+"_Of course_ you'd rather have starved--and it seems pretty well as if
+we shall, doesn't it?--than have bought her off by a false, abhorrent
+love, wouldn't you?" and "It isn't as if she hadn't made up to you the
+way she did before you had so much as looked at her, is it? or as if you
+hadn't shown her what you felt her really to be before you had so much
+as looked at _me_, is it either?" and "Yes, how on earth, pawning the
+shoes on your feet, you're going to raise another shilling--_that's_
+what you want to know, poor darling, don't you?"
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+His creditor, at the hour it suited her, transferred her base of
+operations to town, to which impenetrable scene she had also herself
+retired; and his raising of the first Two Hundred, during five
+exasperated and miserable months, and then of another Seventy piecemeal,
+bleedingly, after long delays and under the epistolary whiplash cracked
+by the London solicitor in his wretched ear even to an effect of the
+very report of Miss Cookham's tongue--these melancholy efforts formed
+a scramble up an arduous steep where steps were planted and missed, and
+bared knees were excoriated, and clutches at wayside tufts succeeded and
+failed, on a system to which poor Nan could have intelligently entered
+only if she had been somehow less ladylike. She kept putting into his
+mouth the sick quaver of where he should find the rest, the always
+inextinguishable rest, long after he had in silent rage fallen away from
+any further payment at all--at first, he had but too blackly felt, for
+himself, to the still quite possible non-exclusion of some penetrating
+ray of "exposure." He didn't care a tuppenny damn now, and in point
+of fact, after he had by hook and by crook succeeded in being able to
+unload to the tune of Two-Hundred-and-Seventy, and then simply returned
+the newest reminder of his outstanding obligation unopened, this latter
+belated but real sign of fight, the first he had risked, remarkably
+caused nothing at all to happen; nothing at least but his being moved
+to quite tragically rueful wonder as to whether exactly some such
+demonstration mightn't have served his turn at an earlier stage.
+
+He could by this time at any rate measure his ruin--with three fantastic
+mortgages on his house, his shop, his stock, and a burden of interest
+to carry under which his business simply stretched itself inanimate,
+without strength for a protesting kick, without breath for an appealing
+groan. Customers lingering for further enjoyment of the tasteful remarks
+he had cultivated the unobstrusive art of throwing in, would at this
+crisis have found plenty to repay them, might his wit have strayed a
+little more widely still, toward a circuitous egotistical outbreak, from
+the immediate question of the merits of this and that author or of the
+condition of this and that volume. He had come to be conscious through
+it all of strangely glaring at people when they tried to haggle--and
+not, as formerly, with the glare of derisive comment on their overdone
+humour, but with that of fairly idiotised surrender--as if they were
+much mistaken in supposing, for the sake of conversation, that he might
+take himself for saveable by the difference between sevenpence and
+ninepence. He watched everything impossible and deplorable happen as in
+an endless prolongation of his nightmare; watched himself proceed, that
+is, with the finest, richest incoherence, to the due preparation of his
+catastrophe. Everything came to seem _equally_ part of this--in complete
+defiance of proportion; even his final command of detachment, on
+the bench of desolation (where each successive fact of his dire case
+regularly cut itself out black, yet of senseless silhouette, against the
+red west) in respect to poor Nan's flat infelicities, which for the most
+part kept no pace with the years or with change, but only shook like
+hard peas in a child's rattle, the same peas a ways, of course, so long
+as the rattle didn't split open with usage or from somebody's act of
+irritation. They represented, or they had long done so, her contribution
+to the more superficial of the two branches of intimacy--the
+intellectual alternative, the one that didn't merely consist of her
+preparing herself for his putting his arm round her waist.
+
+There were to have been moments, nevertheless, all the first couple of
+years, when she did touch in him, though to his actively dissimulating
+it, a more or less sensitive nerve--moments as they were too, to do
+her justice, when she treated him not to his own wisdom, or even folly,
+served up cold, but to a certain small bitter fruit of her personal,
+her unnatural, plucking. "I wonder that since _she_ took legal advice
+so freely, to come down on you, you didn't take it yourself, a little,
+before being so sure you stood no chance. Perhaps _your_ people would
+have been sure of something quite different--_perhaps_, I only say, you
+know." She "only" said it, but she said it, none the less, in the early
+time, about once a fortnight. In the later, and especially after their
+marriage, it had a way of coming up again to the exclusion, as it seemed
+to him, of almost everything else; in fact during the most dismal years,
+the three of the loss of their two children, the long stretch of sordid
+embarrassment ending in her death, he was afterward to think of her
+as having generally said it several times a day. He was then also to
+remember that his answer, before she had learnt to discount it, had been
+inveterately at hand: "What would any solicitor have done or wanted to
+do but drag me just into the hideous public arena"--he had always so put
+it--"that it has been at any rate my pride and my honour, the one rag
+of self-respect covering my nakedness, to have loathed and avoided from
+every point of view?"
+
+That had disposed of it so long as he cared, and by the time he had
+ceased to care for anything it had also lost itself in the rest of the
+vain babble of home. After his wife's death, during his year of mortal
+solitude, it awoke again as an echo of far-off things--far-off, very
+far-off, because he felt then not ten but twenty years older. That was
+by reason simply of the dead weight with which his load of debt had
+settled--the persistence of his misery dragging itself out. With all
+that had come and gone the bench of desolation was still there, just as
+the immortal flush of the westward sky kept hanging its indestructible
+curtain. He had never got away--everything had left him, but he himself
+had been able to turn his back on nothing--and now, his day's labour
+before a dirty desk at the Gas Works ended, he more often than not,
+almost any season at temperate Properley serving his turn, took his slow
+straight way to the Land's End and, collapsing there to rest, sat often
+for an hour at a time staring before him. He might in these sessions,
+with his eyes on the grey-green sea, have been counting again and
+still recounting the beads, almost all worn smooth, of his rosary of
+pain--which had for the fingers of memory and the recurrences of wonder
+the same felt break of the smaller ones by the larger that would have
+aided a pious mumble in some dusky altar-chapel.
+
+If it has been said of him that when once full submersion, as from far
+back, had visibly begun to await him, he watched himself, in a cold
+lucidity, _do_ punctually and necessarily each of the deplorable things
+that were inconsistent with his keeping afloat, so at present again he
+might have been held agaze just by the presented grotesqueness of that
+vigil. Such ghosts of dead seasons were all he _had_ now to watch--such
+a recaptured sense for instance as that of the dismal unavailing
+awareness that had attended his act of marriage. He had let submersion
+final and absolute become the signal for it--a mere minor determinant
+having been the more or less contemporaneously unfavourable effect on
+the business of Drury & Dean of the sudden disappearance of Mr. Dean
+with the single small tin box into which the certificates of the
+firm's credit had been found to be compressible. That had been his
+only form--or had at any rate seemed his only one. He couldn't not have
+married, no doubt, just as he couldn't not have suffered the last degree
+of humiliation and almost of want, or just as his wife and children
+couldn't not have died of the little he was able, under dire reiterated
+pinches, to do for them; but it was "rum," for final solitary brooding,
+that he hadn't appeared to see his way definitely to undertake the
+support of a family till the last scrap of his little low-browed,
+high-toned business, and the last figment of "property" in the old tiled
+and timbered shell that housed it, had been sacrificed to creditors
+mustering six rows deep.
+
+Of course what had counted too in the odd order was that even at the
+end of the two or three years he had "allowed" her, Kate Cookham, gorged
+with his unholy tribute, had become the subject of no successful siege
+on the part either of Bill Frankle or, by what he could make out, of any
+one else. She had judged decent--he could do her that justice--to take
+herself personally out of his world, as he called it, for good and all,
+as soon as he had begun regularly to bleed; and, to whatever lucrative
+practice she might be devoting her great talents in London or elsewhere,
+he felt his conscious curiosity about her as cold, with time, as the
+passion of vain protest that she had originally left him to. He could
+recall but two direct echoes of her in all the bitter years--both
+communicated by Bill Frankle, disappointed and exposed and at last
+quite remarkably ingenuous sneak, who had also, from far back, taken to
+roaming the world, but who, during a period, used fitfully and
+ruefully to reappear. Herbert Dodd had quickly seen, at their first
+meeting--every one met every one sooner or later at Properley, if
+meeting it could always be called, either in the glare or the gloom of
+the explodedly attractive Embankment--that no silver stream of which he
+himself had been the remoter source could have played over the career of
+this all but repudiated acquaintance. That hadn't fitted with his first,
+his quite primitive raw vision of the probabilities, and he had further
+been puzzled when, much later on, it had come to him in a roundabout way
+that Miss Cookham was supposed to be, or to have been, among them for
+a few days "on the quiet," and that Frankle, who had seen her and who
+claimed to know more about it than he said, was cited as authority for
+the fact. But he hadn't himself at this juncture seen Frankle; he had
+only wondered, and a degree of mystification had even remained.
+
+That memory referred itself to the dark days of old Drury's smash,
+the few weeks between his partner's dastardly flight and Herbert's own
+comment on it in the form of his standing up with Nan for the nuptial
+benediction of the Vicar of St. Bernard's on a very cold, bleak December
+morning and amid a circle of seven or eight long-faced, red-nosed and
+altogether dowdy persons. Poor Nan herself had come to affect him as
+scarce other than red-nosed and dowdy by that time, but this only added,
+in his then, and indeed in his lasting view, to his general and his
+particular morbid bravery. He had cultivated ignorance, there were small
+inward immaterial luxuries he could scrap-pily cherish even among other,
+and the harshest, destitutions; and one of them was represented by
+this easy refusal of his mind to render to certain passages of his
+experience, to various ugly images, names, associations, the homage of
+continued attention. That served him, that helped him; but what happened
+when, a dozen dismal years having worn themselves away, he sat single
+and scraped bare again, as if his long wave of misfortune had washed him
+far beyond everything and then conspicuously retreated, was that, thus
+stranded by tidal action, deposited in the lonely hollow of his fate, he
+felt even sustaining pride turn to nought and heard no challenge from
+it when old mystifications, stealing forth in the dusk of the day's work
+done, scratched at the door of speculation and hung about, through the
+idle hours, for irritated notice.
+
+The evenings of his squalid clerkship were all leisure now, but there
+was nothing at all near home on the other hand, for his imagination,
+numb and stiff from its long chill, to begin to play with. Voices from
+far off would quaver to him therefore in the stillness; where he knew
+for the most recurrent, little by little, the faint wail of his wife.
+He had become deaf to it in life, but at present, after so great an
+interval, he listened again, listened and listened, and seemed to hear
+it sound as by the pressure of some weak broken spring. It phrased for
+his ear her perpetual question, the one she had come to at the last as
+under the obsession of a discovered and resented wrong, a wrong withal
+that had its source much more in his own action than anywhere else.
+"That you didn't make _sure_ she could have done anything, that you
+didn't make sure and that you were too afraid!"--this commemoration
+had ended by playing such a part of Nan's finally quite contracted
+consciousness as to exclude everything else.
+
+At the time, somehow, he had made his terms with it; he had then more
+urgent questions to meet than that of the poor creature's taste in
+worrying pain; but actually it struck him--not the question, but the
+fact itself of the taste--as the one thing left over from all that had
+come and gone. So it was; nothing remained to him in the world, on the
+bench of desolation, but the option of taking up that echo--together
+with an abundance of free time for doing so. That he hadn't made sure of
+what might and what mightn't have been done to him, that he had been
+too afraid--had the proposition a possible bearing on his present
+apprehension of things? To reply indeed he would have had to be able to
+say what his present apprehension of things, left to itself, amounted
+to; an uninspiring effort indeed he judged it, sunk to so poor a pitch
+was his material of thought--though it might at last have been the feat
+he sought to perform as he stared at the grey-green sea.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+It was seldom he was disturbed in any form of sequestered speculation,
+or that at his times of predilection, especially that of the long autumn
+blankness between the season of trippers and the season of Bath-chairs,
+there were westward stragglers enough to jar upon his settled sense of
+priority. For himself his seat, the term of his walk, was consecrated;
+it had figured to him for years as the last (though there were others,
+not immediately near it, and differently disposed, that might have
+aspired to the title); so that he could invidiously distinguish as he
+approached, make out from a distance any accident of occupation, and
+never draw nearer while that unpleasantness lasted. What he disliked
+was to compromise on his tradition, whether for a man, a woman or a
+connoodling couple; it was to idiots of this last composition he most
+objected, he having sat there, in the past, alone, having sat there
+interminably with Nan, having sat there with--well, with other women
+when women, at hours of ease, could still care or count for him, but
+having never shared the place with any shuffling or snuffling stranger.
+It was a world of fidgets and starts, however, the world of his present
+dreariness--he alone possessed in it, he seemed to make out, of the
+secret, of the dignity of sitting still with one's fate; so that if
+he took a turn about or rested briefly elsewhere even foolish
+philanderers--though this would never have been his and Nan's way--ended
+soon by some adjournment as visibly pointless as their sprawl.
+Then, their backs turned, he would drop down on it, the bench of
+desolation--which was what he, and he only, made it by sad adoption;
+where, for that matter, moreover, once he had settled at his end, it
+was marked that nobody else ever came to sit. He saw people, along the
+Marina, take this liberty with other resting presences; but his own
+struck them perhaps in general as either of too grim or just of too
+dingy a vicinage. He might have affected the fellow-lounger as a man
+evil, unsociable, possibly engaged in working out the idea of a
+crime; or otherwise, more probably--for on the whole he surely looked
+harmless--devoted to the worship of some absolutely unpractical remorse.
+
+On a certain October Saturday he had got off, as usual, early; but the
+afternoon light, his pilgrimage drawing to its aim, could still show
+him, at long range, the rare case of an established usurper. His impulse
+was then, as by custom, to deviate a little and wait, all the more
+that the occupant of the bench was a lady, and that ladies, when alone,
+were--at that austere end of the varied frontal stretch--markedly
+discontinuous; but he kept on at sight of this person's rising, while he
+was still fifty yards off, and proceeding, her back turned, to the edge
+of the broad terrace, the outer line of which followed the interspaced
+succession of seats and was guarded by an iron rail from the abruptly
+lower level of the beach. Here she stood before the sea, while our
+friend on his side, recognising no reason to the contrary, sank into the
+place she had quitted. There were other benches, eastward and off by the
+course of the drive, for vague ladies. The lady indeed thus thrust upon
+Herbert's vision might have struck an observer either as not quite vague
+or as vague with a perverse intensity suggesting design.
+
+Not that our own observer at once thought of these things; he only took
+in, and with no great interest, that the obtruded presence was a "real"
+lady; that she was dressed--he noticed such matters--with a certain
+elegance of propriety or intention of harmony; and that she remained
+perfectly still for a good many minutes; so many in fact that he
+presently ceased to heed her, and that as she wasn't straight before
+him, but as far to the left as was consistent with his missing her
+profile, he had turned himself to one of his sunsets again (though
+it wasn't quite one of his best) and let it hold him for a time that
+enabled her to alter her attitude and present a fuller view. Without
+other movement, but her back now to the sea and her face to the odd
+person who had appropriated her corner, she had taken a sustained
+look at him before he was aware she had stirred. On that apprehension,
+however, he became also promptly aware of her direct, her applied
+observation. As his sense of this quickly increased he wondered who she
+was and what she wanted--what, as it were, was the matter with her; it
+suggested to him, the next thing, that she had, under some strange idea,
+actually been waiting for him. Any idea about him to-day on the part of
+any one could only be strange.
+
+Yes, she stood there with the ample width of the Marina between them,
+but turned to him, for all the world, as to show frankly that she was
+concerned with him. And she _was_--oh yes--a real lady: a middle-aged
+person, of good appearance and of the best condition, in quiet but
+"handsome" black, save for very fresh white kid gloves, and with a
+pretty, dotty, becoming veil, predominantly white, adjusted to her
+countenance; which through it somehow, even to his imperfect sight,
+showed strong fine black brows and what he would have called on the spot
+character. But she was pale; her black brows were the blacker behind
+the flattering tissue; she still kept a hand, for support, on the
+terrace-rail, while the other, at the end of an extended arm that had
+an effect of rigidity, clearly pressed hard on the knob of a small and
+shining umbrella, the lower extremity of whose stick was equally, was
+sustainingly, firm on the walk. So this mature, qualified, important
+person stood and looked at the limp, undistinguished--oh his values of
+aspect now!--shabby man on the bench.
+
+It was extraordinary, but the fact of her interest, by immensely
+surprising, by immediately agitating him, blinded him at first to her
+identity and, for the space of his long stare, diverted him from it;
+with which even then, when recognition did break, the sense of the
+shock, striking inward, simply consumed itself in gaping stillness. He
+sat there motionless and weak, fairly faint with surprise, and there
+was no instant, in all the succession of so many, at which Kate Cookham
+could have caught the special sign of his intelligence. Yet that she
+did catch something he saw--for he saw her steady herself, by her
+two supported hands, to meet it; while, after she had done so, a very
+wonderful thing happened, of which he could scarce, later on, have made
+a clear statement, though he was to think it over again and again. She
+moved toward him, she reached him, she stood there, she sat down near
+him, he merely passive and wonderstruck, unresentfully "impressed,"
+gaping and taking it in--and all as with an open allowance on the part
+of each, so that they positively and quite intimately met in it, o the
+impertinence for their case, this case that brought them again,
+after horrible years, face to face, of the vanity, the profanity, the
+impossibility, of anything between them but silence.
+
+Nearer to him, beside him at a considerable interval (oh she was
+immensely considerate!) she presented him, in the sharp terms of
+her transformed state--but thus the more amply, formally,
+ceremoniously--with the reasons that would serve him best for not having
+precipitately known her. She was simply another and a totally different
+person, and the exhibition of it to which she had proceeded with this
+solemn anxiety was all, obviously, for his benefit--once he had, as
+he appeared to be doing, provisionally accepted her approach. He had
+remembered her as inclined to the massive and disowned by the graceful;
+but this was a spare, fine, worn, almost wasted lady--who had repaired
+waste, it was true, however, with something he could only appreciate as
+a rich accumulation of manner. She was strangely older, so far as that
+went--marked by experience and as if many things had happened to
+her; her face had suffered, to its improvement, contraction and
+concentration; and if he had granted, of old and from the first, that
+her eyes were remarkable, had they yet ever had for him this sombre
+glow? Withal, something said, she had flourished--he felt it, wincing at
+it, as that; she had had a life, a career, a history--something that
+her present waiting air and nervous consciousness couldn't prevent his
+noting there as a deeply latent assurance. She had flourished, she had
+flourished--though to learn it after this fashion was somehow at the
+same time not to feel she flaunted it. It wasn't thus execration that
+she revived in him; she made in fact, exhibitively, as he could only
+have put it, the matter of long ago irrelevant, and these extraordinary
+minutes of their reconstituted relation--how many? how few?--addressed
+themselves altogether to new possibilities.
+
+Still it after a little awoke in him as with the throb of a touched
+nerve that his own very attitude was supplying a connection; he knew
+presently that he wouldn't have had her go, _couldn't_ have made a
+sign to her for it--which was what she had been uncertain of--without
+speaking to him; and that therefore he was, as at the other, the hideous
+time, passive to whatever she might do. She was even yet, she was
+always, in possession of him; she had known how and where to find him
+and had appointed that he should see her, and, though he had never
+dreamed it was again to happen to him, he was meeting it already as if
+it might have been the only thing that the least humanly _could_.
+Yes, he had come back there to flop, by long custom, upon the bench of
+desolation _as_ the man in the whole place, precisely, to whom nothing
+worth more than tuppence could happen; whereupon, in the grey desert of
+his consciousness, the very earth had suddenly opened and flamed. With
+this, further, it came over him that he hadn't been prepared and
+that his wretched appearance must show it. He wasn't fit to receive
+a visit--any visit; a flush for his felt misery, in the light of her
+opulence, broke out in his lean cheeks. But if he coloured he sat as he
+was--she should at least, as a visitor, be satisfied. His eyes only, at
+last, turned from her and resumed a little their gaze at the sea. That,
+however, didn't relieve him, and he perpetrated in the course of another
+moment the odd desperate gesture of raising both his hands to his face
+and letting them, while he pressed it to them, cover and guard it. It
+was as he held them there that she at last spoke.
+
+"I'll go away if you wish me to." And then she waited a moment. "I
+mean now--now that you've seen I'm here. I wanted you to know it, and I
+thought of writing--I was afraid of our meeting accidentally. Then I was
+afraid that if I wrote you might refuse. So I thought of this way--as
+I knew you must come out here." She went on with pauses, giving him a
+chance to make a sign. "I've waited several days. But I'll do what you
+wish. Only I should like in that case to come back." Again she stopped;
+but strange was it to him that he wouldn't have made her break off. She
+held him in boundless wonder. "I came down--I mean I came from town--on
+purpose. I'm staying on still, and I've a great patience and will give
+you time. Only may I say it's important? Now that I do see you," she
+brought out in the same way, "I see how inevitable it was--I mean that I
+should have wanted to come. But you must feel about it as you can," she
+wound up--"till you get used to the idea."
+
+She spoke so for accommodation, for discretion, for some ulterior view
+already expressed in her manner, that, after taking well in, from behind
+his hands, that this was her very voice--oh ladylike!--heard, and heard
+in deprecation of displeasure, after long years again, he uncovered his
+face and freshly met her eyes. More than ever he couldn't have known
+her. Less and less remained of the figure all the facts of which had
+long ago so hardened for him. She was a handsome, grave, authoritative,
+but refined and, as it were, physically rearranged person--she, the
+outrageous vulgarity of whose prime assault had kept him shuddering so
+long as a shudder was in him. That atrocity in her was what everything
+had been built on, but somehow, all strangely, it was slipping from him;
+so that, after the oddest fashion conceivable, when he felt he mustn't
+let her go, it was as if he were putting out his hand to save the past,
+the hideous real unalterable past, exactly as she had been the cause of
+its being and the cause of his undergoing it. He should have been too
+awfully "sold" if he wasn't going to have been right about her.
+
+"I don't mind," he heard himself at last say. Not to mind had seemed for
+the instant the length he was prepared to go; but he was afterward aware
+of how soon he must have added: "You've come on purpose to see me?" He
+was on the point of putting to her further: "What then do you want of
+me?" But he would keep--yes, in time--from appearing to show he cared.
+If he showed he cared, where then would be his revenge? So he was
+already, within five minutes, thinking his revenge uncomfortably over
+instead of just comfortably knowing it. What came to him, at any
+rate, as they actually fell to talk, was that, with such precautions,
+considerations, reduplications of consciousness, almost avowed feelings
+of her way on her own part, and light fingerings of his chords of
+sensibility, she was understanding, she _had_ understood, more things
+than all the years, up to this strange eventide, had given him an
+inkling of. They talked, they went on--he hadn't let her retreat, to
+whatever it committed him and however abjectly it did so; yet keeping
+off and off, dealing with such surface facts as involved ancient
+acquaintance but held abominations at bay. The recognition, the
+attestation that she _had_ come down for him, that there would be
+reasons, that she had even hovered and watched, assured herself a little
+of his habits (which she managed to speak of as if, on their present
+ampler development, they were much to be deferred to), detained them
+enough to make vivid how, listen as stiffly or as serenely as he might,
+she sat there in fear, just as she had so stood there at first, and that
+her fear had really to do with her calculation of some sort of chance
+with him. What chance could it possibly be? Whatever it might have
+done, on this prodigious showing, with Kate Cookham, it made the present
+witness to the state of his fortunes simply exquisite: he ground his
+teeth secretly together as he saw he should have to take _that_. For
+what did it mean but that she would have liked to pity him if she could
+have done it with safety? Ah, however, he must give her no measure of
+safety!
+
+By the time he had remarked, with that idea, that she probably saw few
+changes about them there that weren't for the worse--the place was going
+down, down and down, so fast that goodness knew where it would stop--and
+had also mentioned that in spite of this he himself remained faithful,
+with all its faults loving it still; by the time he had, after that
+fashion, superficially indulged her, adding a few further light and
+just sufficiently dry reflections on local matters, the disappearance of
+landmarks and important persons, the frequency of gales, the low policy
+of the town-council in playing down to cheap excursionists: by the time
+he had so acquitted himself, and she had observed, of her own motion,
+that she was staying at the Royal, which he knew for the time-honoured,
+the conservative and exclusive hotel, he had made out for himself
+one thing at least, the amazing fact that he had been landed by his
+troubles, at the end of time, in a "social relation," of all things
+in the world, and how of that luxury he was now having unprecedented
+experience. He had but once in his life had his nose in the Royal, on
+the occasion of his himself delivering a parcel during some hiatus in
+his succession of impossible small boys and meeting in the hall the
+lady who had bought of him, in the morning, a set of Crabbe, largely, he
+flattered himself, under the artful persuasion of his acute remarks
+on that author, gracefully associated by him, in this colloquy, he
+remembered, with a glance at Charles Lamb as well, and who went off in
+a day or two without settling, though he received her cheque from London
+three or four months later.
+
+_That_ hadn't been a social relation; and truly, deep within his appeal
+to himself to be remarkable, to be imperturbable and impenetrable, to
+be in fact quite incomparable now, throbbed the intense vision of his
+drawing out and draining dry the sensation he had begun to taste. He
+would do it, moreover--that would be the refinement of his art--not only
+without the betraying anxiety of a single question, but just even by
+seeing her flounder (since she must, in a vagueness deeply disconcerting
+to her) as to her real effect on him. She was distinctly floundering
+by the time he had brought her--it had taken ten minutes--down to a
+consciousness of absurd and twaddling topics, to the reported precarious
+state, for instance, of the syndicate running the Bijou Theatre at the
+Pierhead--all as an admonition that she might want him to want to know
+why she was thus waiting on him, might want it for all she was
+worth, before he had ceased to be so remarkable as not to ask her. He
+didn't--and this assuredly was wondrous enough--want to do anything
+worse to her than let her flounder; but he was willing to do that so
+long as it mightn't prevent his seeing at least where _he_ was. He
+seemed still to see where he was even at the minute that followed her
+final break-off, clearly intended to be resolute, from make-believe
+talk.
+
+"I wonder if I might prevail on you to come to tea with me to-morrow at
+five."
+
+He didn't so much as answer it--though he could scarcely believe his
+ears. To-morrow was Sunday, and the proposal referred, clearly, to the
+custom of "five-o'clock" tea, known to him only by the contemporary
+novel of manners and the catchy advertisement of table-linen. He had
+never in his life been present at any such luxurious rite, but he was
+offering practical indifference to it as a false mark of his sense that
+his social relation had already risen to his chin. "I gave up my very
+modest, but rather interesting little old book business, perhaps you
+know, ever so long ago."
+
+She floundered so that she could say nothing--meet _that_ with no
+possible word; all the less too that his tone, casual and colourless,
+wholly defied any apprehension of it as a reverse. Silence only came;
+but after a moment she returned to her effort. "If you _can_ come I
+shall be at home. To see you otherwise than thus was in fact what, as
+I tell you, I came down for. But I leave it," she returned, "to your
+feeling."
+
+He had at this, it struck him, an inspiration; which he required however
+a minute or two to decide to carry out; a minute or two during which
+the shake of his foot over his knee became an intensity of fidget. "Of
+course I know I still owe you a large sum of money. If it's about _that_
+you wish to see me," he went on, "I may as well tell you just here that
+I shall be able to meet my full obligation in the future as little as
+I've met it in the past. I can never," said Herbert Dodd, "pay up that
+balance."
+
+He had looked at her while he spoke, but on finishing looked off at the
+sea again and continued to agitate his foot. He knew now what he had
+done and why; and the sense of her fixed dark eyes on him during his
+speech and after didn't alter his small contentment. Yet even when she
+still said nothing he didn't turn round; he simply kept his corner as
+if _that_ were his point made, should it even be the last word between
+them. It might have been, for that matter, from the way in which she
+presently rose, gathering herself, her fine umbrella and her very small
+smart reticule, in the construction of which shining gilt much figured,
+well together, and, after standing another instant, moved across to the
+rail of the terrace as she had done before and remained, as before, with
+her back to him, though this time, it well might be, under a different
+fear. A quarter of an hour ago she hadn't tried him, and had had that
+anxiety; now that she had tried him it wasn't easier--but she was
+thinking what she still could do. He left her to think--nothing in fact
+more interesting than the way she might decide had ever happened to him;
+but it was a part of this also that as she turned round and came nearer
+again he didn't rise, he gave her no help. If she got any, at least,
+from his looking up at her only, meeting her fixed eyes once more in
+silence, that was her own affair. "You must think," she said--"you
+must take all your time, but I shall be at home." She left it to him
+thus--she insisted, with her idea, on leaving him something too. And
+on her side as well she showed an art--which resulted, after another
+instant, in his having to rise to his feet. He flushed afresh as he did
+it--it exposed him so shabbily the more; and now if she took him in,
+with each of his seedy items, from head to foot, he didn't and couldn't
+and wouldn't know it, attaching his eyes hard and straight to something
+quite away from them.
+
+It stuck in his throat to say he'd come, but she had so curious a way
+with her that he still less could say he wouldn't, and in a moment had
+taken refuge in something that was neither. "Are you married?"--he put
+it to her with that plainness, though it had seemed before he said it to
+do more for him than while she waited before replying.
+
+"No, I'm not married," she said; and then had another wait that might
+have amounted to a question of what this had to do with it.
+
+He surely couldn't have told her; so that he had recourse, a little
+poorly as he felt, but to an "Oh!" that still left them opposed. He
+turned away for it--that is for the poorness, which, lingering in the
+air, had almost a vulgar platitude; and when he presently again wheeled
+about she had fallen off as for quitting him, only with a pause, once
+more, for a last look. It was all a bit awkward, but he had another
+happy thought, which consisted in his silently raising his hat as for a
+sign of dignified dismissal. He had cultivated of old, for the occasions
+of life, the right, the discriminated bow, and now, out of the grey
+limbo of the time when he could care for such things, this flicker of
+propriety leaped and worked She might, for that matter, herself have
+liked it; since, receding further, only with her white face toward him,
+she paid it the homage of submission. He remained dignified, and she
+almost humbly went.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+Nothing in the world, on the Sunday afternoon, could have prevented
+him from going; he was not after all destitute of three or four such
+articles of clothing as, if they wouldn't particularly grace the
+occasion, wouldn't positively dishonour it. That deficiency might have
+kept him away, but no voice of the spirit, no consideration of pride. It
+sweetened his impatience in fact--for he fairly felt it a long time
+to wait--that his pride would really most find its account in his
+acceptance of these conciliatory steps. From the moment he could put
+it in that way--that he couldn't refuse to hear what she might have, so
+very elaborately, to say for herself--he ought certainly to be at his
+ease; in illustration of which he whistled odd snatches to himself as
+he hung about on that cloud-dappled autumn Sunday, a mild private
+minstrelsy that his lips hadn't known since when? The interval of the
+twenty-four hours, made longer by a night of many more revivals than
+oblivions, had in fact dragged not a little; in spite of which, however,
+our extremely brushed-up and trimmed and polished friend knew an
+unprecedented flutter as he was ushered, at the Royal Hotel, into Miss
+Cookham's sitting-room. Yes, it was an adventure, and he had never had
+an adventure in his life; the term, for him, was essentially a term
+of high appreciation--such as disqualified for that figure, under due
+criticism, every single passage of his past career.
+
+What struck him at the moment as qualifying in the highest degree this
+actual passage was the fact that at no great distance from his hostess
+in the luxurious room, as he apprehended it, in which the close of day
+had begun to hang a few shadows, sat a gentleman who rose as she rose,
+and whose name she at once mentioned to him. He had for Herbert Dodd all
+the air of a swell, the gentleman--rather red-faced and bald-headed, but
+moustachioed, waistcoated, necktied to the highest pitch, with an effect
+of chains and rings, of shining teeth in a glassily monocular smile; a
+wondrous apparition to have been asked to "meet" him, as in contemporary
+fiction, or for him to have been asked to meet. "Captain Roper, Mr.
+Herbert Dodd"--their entertainer introduced them, yes; but with a sequel
+immediately afterward more disconcerting apparently to Captain Roper
+himself even than to her second and more breathless visitor; a "Well
+then, good-bye till the next time," with a hand thrust straight out,
+which allowed the personage so addressed no alternative but to lay aside
+his teacup, even though Herbert saw there was a good deal left in it,
+and glare about him for his hat. Miss Cookham had had her tea-tray on a
+small table before her, she had served Captain Roper while waiting
+for Mr. Dodd; but she simply dismissed him now, with a high sweet
+unmistakable decision, a knowledge of what she was about, as our hero
+would have called it, which enlarged at a stroke the latter's view of
+the number of different things and sorts of things, in the sphere of the
+manners and ways of those living at their ease, that a social relation
+would put before one. Captain Roper would have liked to remain, would
+have liked more tea, but Kate signified in this direct fashion that
+she had had enough of him. Herbert had seen things, in his walk of
+life--rough things, plenty; but never things smoothed with that especial
+smoothness, carried out as it were by the fine form of Captain Roper's
+own retreat, which included even a bright convulsed leave-taking
+cognisance of the plain, vague individual, of no lustre at all and with
+the very low-class guard of an old silver watch buttoned away under an
+ill-made coat, to whom he was sacrificed.
+
+It came to Herbert as he left the place a shade less remarkable--though
+there was still wonder enough and to spare--that he had been even
+publicly and designedly sacrificed; exactly so that, as the door closed
+behind him, Kate Cookham, standing there to wait for it, could seem to
+say, across the room, to the friend of her youth, only by the expression
+of her fine eyes: "There--see what I do for you!" "For" him--that was
+the extraordinary thing, and not less so that he was already, within
+three minutes, after this fashion, taking it in as by the intensity of a
+new light; a light that was one somehow with this rich inner air of
+the plush-draped and much-mirrored hotel, where the fire-glow and
+the approach of evening confirmed together the privacy, and the loose
+curtains at the wide window were parted for a command of his old
+lifelong Parade--the field of life so familiar to him from below and in
+the wind and the wet, but which he had never in all the long years hung
+over at this vantage.
+
+"He's an acquaintance, but a bore," his hostess explained in respect to
+Captain Roper. "He turned up yesterday, but I didn't invite him, and I
+had said to him before you came in that I was expecting a gentleman with
+whom I should wish to be alone. I go quite straight at my idea that way,
+as a rule; but you know," she now strikingly went on, "how straight I
+go. And he had had," she added, "his tea."
+
+Dodd had been looking all round--had taken in, with the rest, the
+brightness, the distinguished elegance, as he supposed it, of the
+tea-service with which she was dealing and the variously tinted appeal
+of certain savoury edibles on plates. "Oh but he _hadn't_ had his tea!"
+he heard himself the next moment earnestly reply; which speech had at
+once betrayed, he was then quickly aware, the candour of his interest,
+the unsophisticated state that had survived so many troubles. If he was
+so interested how could he be proud, and if he was proud how could he be
+so interested?
+
+He had made her at any rate laugh outright, and was further conscious,
+for this, both that it was the first time of that since their new
+meeting, and that it didn't affect him as harsh. It affected him,
+however, as free, for she replied at once, still smiling and as a part
+of it: "Oh, I think we shall get on!"
+
+This told him he had made some difference for her, shown her the way,
+or something like it, that she hadn't been sure of yesterday; which
+moreover wasn't what he had intended--he had come armed for showing her
+nothing; so that after she had gone on with the same gain of gaiety,
+"You must at any rate comfortably have yours," there was but one answer
+for him to make.
+
+His eyes played again over the tea-things--they seemed strangely to help
+him; but he didn't sit down.
+
+"I've come, as you see--but I've come, please, to understand; and if you
+require to be alone with me, and if I break bread with you, it seems to
+me I should first know exactly where I am and to what you suppose I so
+commit myself." He had thought it out and over and over, particularly
+the turn about breaking bread; though perhaps he didn't give it, in
+her presence--this was impossible, her presence altered so many
+things--quite the full sound or the weight he had planned.
+
+But it had none the less come to his aid--it had made her perfectly
+grave. "You commit yourself to nothing. You're perfectly free. It's only
+I who commit myself."
+
+On which, while she stood there as if all handsomely and deferentially
+waiting for him to consider and decide, he would have been naturally
+moved to ask her what she committed herself then _to_--so moved, that
+is, if he hadn't, before saying it, thought more sharply still of
+something better. "Oh, that's another thing."
+
+"Yes, that's another thing," Kate Cookham returned. To which she added,
+"So _now_ won't you sit down?" He sank with deliberation into the seat
+from which Captain Roper had risen; she went back to her own and while
+she did so spoke again. "I'm _not_ free. At least," she said over her
+tea-tray, "I'm free only for this."
+
+Everything was there before them and around them, everything massive and
+shining, so that he had instinctively fallen back in his chair as for
+the wondering, the resigned acceptance of it; where her last words
+stirred in him a sense of odd deprecation. Only for "that"? "That" was
+everything, at this moment, to his long inanition, and the effect, as if
+she had suddenly and perversely mocked him, was to press the spring of a
+protest. "Isn't 'this' then riches?"
+
+"Riches?" she smiled over, handing him his cup--for she had triumphed in
+having struck from him a question.
+
+"I mean haven't you a lot of money?" He didn't care now that it was out;
+his cup was in his hand, and what was that but proved interest? He had
+succumbed to the social relation.
+
+"Yes, I've money. Of course you wonder--but I've wanted you to wonder.
+It was to make you take that in that I came. So now you know," she said,
+leaning back where she faced him, but in a straighter chair and with her
+arms closely folded, after a fashion characteristic of her, as for some
+control of her nerves.
+
+"You came to show you've money?"
+
+"That's one of the things. Not a lot--not even very much. But enough,"
+said Kate Cookham.
+
+"Enough? I should think so!" he again couldn't help a bit crudely
+exhaling.
+
+"Enough for what I wanted. I don't always live like this--not at all.
+But I came to the best hotel on purpose. I wanted to show you I could.
+Now," she asked, "do you understand?"
+
+"Understand?" He only gaped.
+
+She threw up her loosed arms, which dropped again beside her. "I did it
+_for_ you--I did it _for_ you!"
+
+"'For' me----?"
+
+"What I did--what I did here of old."
+
+He stared, trying to see it. "When you made me pay you?"
+
+"The Two Hundred and Seventy--all I could get from you, as you reminded
+me yesterday, so that I had to give up the rest It was my idea," she
+went on--"it was my idea."
+
+"To bleed me quite to death?" Oh, his ice was broken now!
+
+"To make you raise money--since you could, you _could_. You did, you
+did--so what better proof?"
+
+His hands fell from what he had touched; he could only stare--her own
+manner for it was different now too. "I did. I did indeed--!" And the
+woful weak simplicity of it, which seemed somehow all that was left him,
+fell even on his own ear.
+
+"Well then, here it is--it isn't lost!" she returned with a graver face.
+
+"'Here' it is," he gasped, "my poor agonised old money--my blood?"
+
+"Oh, it's _my_ blood too, you must know now!" She held up her head as
+not before--as for her right to speak of the thing to-day most precious
+to her. "I took it, but this--my being here this way--is what I've made
+of it! That was the idea I had!"
+
+Her "ideas," as things to boast of, staggered him. "To have everything
+in the world, like this, at my wretched expense?"
+
+She had folded her arms back again--grasping each elbow she sat firm;
+she knew he could see, and had known well from the first, what she had
+wanted to say, difficult, monstrous though it might be. "No more than
+at my own--but to do something with your money that you'd never do
+yourself."
+
+"Myself, myself?" he wonderingly wailed. "Do you know--or don't
+you?--what my life has been?"
+
+She waited, and for an instant, though the light in the room had failed
+a little more and would soon be mainly that of the flaring lamps on the
+windy Parade, he caught from her dark eye a silver gleam of impatience.
+"You've suffered and you've worked--which, God knows, is what I've done!
+_Of course_ you've suffered," she said--"you inevitably had to! We have
+to," she went on, "to do or to be or to get anything."
+
+"And pray what have I done or been or got?" Herbert Dodd found it almost
+desolately natural to demand.
+
+It made her cover him again as with all she was thinking of. "Can you
+imagine nothing, or can't you conceive--?" And then as her challenge
+struck deeper in, deeper down than it had yet reached, and with the
+effect of a rush of the blood to his face, "It was _for_ you, it was
+_for_ you!" she again broke out--"and for what or whom else could it
+have been?"
+
+He saw things to a tune now that made him answer straight: "I thought at
+one time it might be for Bill Frankle."
+
+"Yes--that was the way you treated me," Miss Cookham as plainly replied.
+
+But he let this pass; his thought had already got away from it. "What
+good then--its having been for me--has that ever done me?"
+
+"Doesn't it do you any good _now?_" his friend returned. To which she
+added, with another dim play of her tormented brightness, before he
+could speak: "But if you won't even have your tea----!"
+
+He had in fact touched nothing and, if he could have explained, would
+have pleaded very veraciously that his appetite, keen when he came in,
+had somehow suddenly failed. It was beyond eating or drinking, what she
+seemed to want him to take from her. So if he looked, before him, over
+the array, it was to say, very grave and graceless: "Am I to understand
+that you offer to repay me?"
+
+"I offer to repay you with interest, Herbert Dodd"--and her emphasis of
+the great word was wonderful.
+
+It held him in his place a minute, and held his eyes upon her; after
+which, agitated too sharply to sit still, he pushed back his chair and
+stood up. It was as if mere distress or dismay at first worked in him,
+and was in fact a wave of deep and irresistible emotion which made him,
+on his feet, sway as in a great trouble and then, to correct it,
+throw himself stiffly toward the window, where he stood and looked out
+unseeing. The road, the wide terrace beyond, the seats, the eternal sea
+beyond that, the lighted lamps now flaring in the October night-wind,
+with the few dispersed people abroad at the tea-hour; these things,
+meeting and melting into the firelit hospitality at his elbow--or was it
+that portentous amenity that melted into _them?_--seemed to form round
+him and to put before him, all together, the strangest of circles
+and the newest of experiences, in which the unforgettable and the
+unimaginable were confoundingly mixed. "Oh, oh, oh!"--he could only
+almost howl for it.
+
+And then, while a thick blur for some moments mantled everything,
+he knew she had got up, that she stood watching him, allowing for
+everything, again all "cleverly" patient with him, and he heard her
+speak again as with studied quietness and clearness. "I wanted to take
+care of you--it was what I first wanted--and what you first consented
+to. I'd have done it, oh I'd have done it, I'd have loved you and helped
+you and guarded you, and you'd have had no trouble, no bad blighting
+ruin, in all your easy, yes, just your quite jolly and comfortable life.
+I showed you and proved to you this--I brought it home to you, as I
+fondly fancied, and it made me briefly happy. You swore you cared for
+me, you wrote it and made me believe it--you pledged me your honour
+and your faith. Then you turned and changed suddenly from one day to
+another; everything altered, you broke your vows, you as good as told me
+you only wanted it off. You faced me with dislike, and in fact tried not
+to face me at all; you behaved as if you hated me--you had seen a girl,
+of great beauty, I admit, who made me a fright and a bore."
+
+This brought him straight round. "No, Kate Cookham."
+
+"Yes, Herbert Dodd." She but shook her head, calmly and nobly, in the
+now gathered dusk, and her memories and her cause and her character--or
+was it only her arch-subtlety, her line and her "idea"?--gave her an
+extraordinary large assurance.
+
+She had touched, however, the treasure of his own case--his terrible
+own case that began to live again at once by the force of her talking of
+hers, and which could always all cluster about his great asseveration.
+"No, no, never, never; I had never seen her then and didn't dream of
+her; so that when you yourself began to be harsh and sharp with me,
+and to seem to want to quarrel, I could have but one idea--which was
+an appearance you didn't in the least, as I saw it then, account for or
+disprove."
+
+"An appearance--?" Kate desired, as with high astonishment, to know
+which one.
+
+"How _shouldn't_ I have supposed you really to care for Bill
+Frankle?--as thoroughly believing the motive of your claim for my money
+to be its help to your marrying him, since you couldn't marry me. I was
+only surprised when, time passing, I made out that that hadn't happened;
+and perhaps," he added the next instant with something of a conscious
+lapse from the finer style, "hadn't been in question."
+
+She had listened to this only staring, and she was silent after he
+had said it, so silent for some instants that while he considered her
+something seemed to fail him, much as if he had thrown out his foot for
+a step and not found the place to rest it. He jerked round to the window
+again, and then she answered, but without passion unless it was that of
+her weariness for something stupid and forgiven in him, "Oh, the blind,
+the pitiful folly!"--to which, as it might perfectly have applied to her
+own behaviour, he returned nothing. She had moreover at once gone on.
+"Have it then that there wasn't much to do--between your finding that
+you loathed me for another woman or discovering only, when it came to
+the point, that you loathed me quite enough for myself."
+
+Which, as she put it in that immensely effective fashion, he recognised
+that he must just unprotestingly and not so very awkwardly--not so
+_very!_--take from her; since, whatever he had thus come to her for, it
+wasn't to perjure himself with any pretence that, "another woman" or no
+other woman, he hadn't, for years and years, abhorred her. Now he was
+taking tea with her--or rather, literally, seemed not to be; but this
+made no difference, and he let her express it as she would while he
+distinguished a man he knew, Charley Coote, outside on the Parade, under
+favour of the empty hour and one of the flaring lamps, making up to a
+young woman with whom (it stuck out grotesquely in his manner) he had
+never before conversed. Dodd's own position was that of acquiescing in
+this recall of what had so bitterly been--but he hadn't come back to
+her, of himself, to stir up, to recall or to recriminate, and for _her_
+it could but be the very lesson of her whole present act that if she
+touched anything she touched everything. Soon enough she _was_ indeed,
+and all overwhelmingly, touching everything--with a hand of which the
+boldness grew.
+
+"But I didn't let _that_, even, make a difference in what I
+wanted--which was all," she said, "and had only and passionately been,
+to take care of you. I had _no_ money whatever--nothing then of my own,
+not a penny to come by anyhow; so it wasn't with mine I could do it. But
+I could do it with yours," she amazingly wound up--"if I could once get
+yours out of you."
+
+He faced straight about again--his eyebrows higher than they had ever
+been in his life. "Mine? What penny of it was mine? What scrap beyond a
+bare, mean little living had I ever pretended to have?"
+
+She held herself still a minute, visibly with force; only her eyes
+consciously attached to the seat of a chair the back of which her
+hands, making it tilt toward her a little, grasped as for support.
+"You pretended to have enough to marry me--and that was all I afterward
+claimed of you when you wouldn't."
+
+He was on the point of retorting that he had absolutely pretended to
+nothing--least of all to the primary desire that such a way of stating
+it fastened on him; he was on the point for ten seconds of giving
+her full in the face: "I never _had_ any such dream till you
+yourself--infatuated with me as, frankly, you on the whole appeared to
+be--got round me and muddled me up and made me behave as if in a way
+that went against the evidence of my senses." But he was to feel as
+quickly that, whatever the ugly, the spent, the irrecoverable truth, he
+might better have bitten his tongue off: there beat on him there this
+strange and other, this so prodigiously different beautiful and dreadful
+truth that no far remembrance and no abiding ache of his own could
+wholly falsify, and that was indeed all out with her next words.
+"That--_using_ it for you and using you yourself for your own
+future--was my motive. I've led my life, which has been an affair,
+I assure you; and, as I've told you without your quite seeming to
+understand, I've brought everything fivefold back to you."
+
+The perspiration broke out on his forehead. "Everything's mine?" he
+quavered as for the deep piercing pain of it.
+
+"Everything!" said Kate Cookham.
+
+So it told him how she had loved him--but with the tremendous effect
+at once of its only glaring out at him from the whole thing that it was
+verily she, a thousand times over, who, in the exposure of his youth and
+his vanity, had, on the bench of desolation, the scene of yesterday's
+own renewal, left for him no forward steps to take. It hung there for
+him tragically vivid again, the hour she had first found him sequestered
+and accessible after making his acquaintance at his shop. And from this,
+by a succession of links that fairly clicked to his ear as with their
+perfect fitting, the fate and the pain and the payment of others stood
+together in a great grim order. Everything there then was _his_--to
+make him ask what had been Nan's, poor Nan's of the constant question
+of whether he need have collapsed. She was before him, she was between
+them, his little dead dissatisfied wife; across all whose final woe and
+whose lowly grave he was to reach out, it appeared, to take gifts. He
+saw them too, the gifts; saw them--she bristled with them--in his actual
+companion's brave and sincere and authoritative figure, her strangest of
+demonstrations. But the other appearance was intenser, as if their ghost
+had waved wild arms; so that half a minute hadn't passed before the one
+poor thing that remained of Nan, and that yet thus became a quite
+mighty and momentous poor thing, was sitting on his lips as for its sole
+opportunity.
+
+"Can you give me your word of honour that I mightn't, under decent
+advice, have defied you?"
+
+It made her turn very white; but now that she had said what she _had_
+said she could still hold up her head. "Certainly you might have defied
+me, Herbert Dodd."
+
+"They would have told me you had no legal case?"
+
+Well, if she was pale she was bold. "You talk of decent advice--!" She
+broke off, there was too much to say, and all needless. What she said
+instead was: "They would have told you I had nothing."
+
+"I didn't so much as ask," her sad visitor remarked.
+
+"Of course you didn't so much as ask."
+
+"I couldn't be so outrageously vulgar," he went on.
+
+"_I_ could, by God's help!" said Kate Cookham.
+
+"Thank you." He had found at his command a tone that made him feel more
+gentlemanlike than he had ever felt in his life or should doubtless ever
+feel again. It might have been enough--but somehow as they stood there
+with this immense clearance between them it wasn't. The clearance was
+like a sudden gap or great bleak opening through which there blew upon
+them a deadly chill. Too many things had fallen away, too many new
+rolled up and over him, and they made something within shake him to his
+base. It upset the full vessel, and though she kept her eyes on him
+he let that consequence come, bursting into tears, weakly crying there
+before her even as he had cried to himself in the hour of his youth when
+she had made him groundlessly fear. She turned away then--_that_ she
+couldn't watch, and had presently flung herself on the sofa and, all
+responsively wailing, buried her own face on the cushioned arm. So for
+a minute their smothered sobs only filled the room. But he made out,
+through this disorder, where he had put down his hat; his stick and his
+new tan-coloured gloves--they had cost two-and-thruppence and would
+have represented sacrifices--were on the chair beside it He picked these
+articles up and all silently and softly--gasping, that is, but quite on
+tiptoe--reached the door and let himself out.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+Off there on the bench of desolation a week later she made him a more
+particular statement, which it had taken the remarkably tense interval
+to render possible. After leaving her at the hotel that last Sunday he
+had gone forth in his reaggravated trouble and walked straight before
+him, in the teeth of the west wind, close to the iron rails of the
+stretched Marina and with his telltale face turned from persons
+occasionally met, and toward the surging sea. At the Land's End, even in
+the confirmed darkness and the perhaps imminent big blow, his immemorial
+nook, small shelter as it yielded, had again received him; and it was
+in the course of this heedless session, no doubt, where the agitated air
+had nothing to add to the commotion within him, that he began to look
+his extraordinary fortune a bit straighter in the face and see it
+confess itself at once a fairy-tale and a nightmare That, visibly,
+confoundingly, she was still attached to him (attached in fact was a
+mild word!) and that the unquestionable proof of it was in this offered
+pecuniary salve, of the thickest composition, for his wounds and sores
+and shames--these things were the fantastic fable, the tale of money
+in handfuls, that he seemed to have only to stand there and swallow
+and digest and feel himself full-fed by; but the whole of the rest
+was nightmare, and most of all nightmare his having thus to thank one
+through whom Nan and his little girls had known torture.
+
+He didn't care for himself now, and this unextinguished and apparently
+inextinguishable charm by which he had held her was a fact incredibly
+romantic; but he gazed with a longer face than he had ever had for
+anything in the world at his potential acceptance of a great bouncing
+benefit from the person he intimately, if even in a manner indirectly,
+associated with the conditions to which his lovely wife and his children
+(who would have been so lovely too) had pitifully succumbed. He had
+accepted the social relation--which meant he had taken even that on
+trial--without knowing what it so dazzlingly masked; for a social
+relation it had become with a vengeance when it drove him about the
+place as now at his hours of freedom (and he actually and recklessly
+took, all demoralised and unstrung and unfit either for work or for
+anything else, other liberties that would get him into trouble) under
+this queer torment of irreconcilable things, a bewildered consciousness
+of tenderness and patience and cruelty, of great evident mystifying
+facts that were as little to be questioned as to be conceived or
+explained, and that were yet least, withal, to be lost sight of.
+
+On that Sunday night he had wandered wild, incoherently ranging and
+throbbing, but this became the law of his next days as well, since he
+lacked more than ever all other resort or refuge and had nowhere to
+carry, to deposit, or contractedly let loose and lock up, as it were,
+his swollen consciousness, which fairly split in twain the raw shell of
+his sordid little boarding-place. The arch of the sky and the spread of
+sea and shore alone gave him space; he could roam with himself anywhere,
+in short, far or near--he could only never take himself back. That
+certitude--that this was impossible to him even should she wait there
+among her plushes and bronzes ten years--was the thing he kept
+closest clutch of; it did wonders for what he would have called his
+self-respect. Exactly as he had left her so he would stand off--even
+though at moments when he pulled up sharp somewhere to put himself an
+intensest question his heart almost stood still. The days of the week
+went by, and as he had left her she stayed; to the extent, that is, of
+his having neither sight nor sound of her, and of the failure of
+every sign. It took nerve, he said, not to return to her, even for
+curiosity--since how, after all, in the name of wonder, had she invested
+the fruits of her extortion to such advantage, there being no chapter
+of all the obscurity of the years to beat that for queer-ness? But
+he dropped, tired to death, on benches, half a dozen times an
+evening--exactly on purpose to recognise that the nerve required was
+just the nerve he had.
+
+As the days without a token from her multiplied he came in as well for
+hours--and these indeed mainly on the bench of desolation--of sitting
+stiff and stark in presence of the probability that he had lost
+everything for ever. When he passed the Royal he never turned an
+eyelash, and when he met Captain Roper on the Front, three days after
+having been introduced to him, he "cut him dead"--another privileged
+consequence of a social relation--rather than seem to himself to make
+the remotest approach to the question of whether Miss Cookham had left
+Properley. He had cut people in the days of his life before, just as
+he had come to being himself cut--since there had been no time for
+him wholly without one or other face of that necessity--but had never
+effected such a severance as of this rare connection, which helped to
+give him thus the measure of his really precious sincerity. If he had
+lost what had hovered before him he had lost it, his only tribute to
+which proposition was to grind his teeth with one of those "scrunches,"
+as he would have said, of which the violence fairly reached his ear. It
+wouldn't make him lift a finger, and in fact if Kate had simply
+taken herself off on the Tuesday or the Wednesday she would have been
+reabsorbed again into the darkness from which she had emerged--and
+no lifting of fingers, the unspeakable chapter closed, would evermore
+avail. That at any rate was the kind of man he still was--even after all
+that had come and gone, and even if for a few dazed hours certain things
+had seemed pleasant. The dazed hours had passed, the surge of the old
+bitterness had dished him (shouldn't he have been shamed if it hadn't?),
+and he might sit there as before, as always, with nothing at all on
+earth to look to. He had therefore wrongfully believed himself to be
+degraded; and the last word about him would be that he _couldn't_ then,
+it appeared, sink to vulgarity as he had tried to let his miseries make
+him.
+
+And yet on the next Sunday morning, face to face with him again at the
+Land's End, what she very soon came to was: "As if I believed you didn't
+_know_ by what cord you hold me!" Absolutely too, and just that morning
+in fact, above all, he wouldn't, he quite couldn't have taken his solemn
+oath that he hadn't a sneaking remnant, as he might have put it to
+himself--a remnant of faith in tremendous things still to come of their
+interview. The day was sunny and breezy, the sea of a cold purple; he
+wouldn't go to church as he mostly went of Sunday mornings, that being
+in its way too a social relation--and not least when two-and-thruppenny
+tan-coloured gloves were new; which indeed he had the art of keeping
+them for ages. Yet he would dress himself as he scarce mustered
+resources for even to figure on the fringe of Society, local and
+transient, at St. Bernard's, and in this trim he took his way westward;
+occupied largely, as he went, it might have seemed to any person
+pursuing the same course and happening to observe him, in a fascinated
+study of the motions of his shadow, the more or less grotesque shape
+projected, in front of him and mostly a bit to the right, over the
+blanched asphalt of the Parade and dandling and dancing at such a rate,
+shooting out and then contracting, that, viewed in themselves, its
+eccentricities might have formed the basis of an interesting challenge:
+"Find the state of mind, guess the nature of the agitation, possessing
+the person so remarkably represented!" Herbert Dodd, for that matter,
+might have been himself attempting to make by the sun's sharp aid some
+approach to his immediate horoscope.
+
+It had at any rate been thus put before him that the dandling and
+dancing of his image occasionally gave way to perfect immobility, when
+he stopped and kept his eyes on it. "Suppose she should come, suppose
+she _should!_" it is revealed at least to ourselves that he had at
+these moments audibly breathed--breathed with the intensity of an arrest
+between hope and fear. It had glimmered upon him from early, with the
+look of the day, that, given all else that could happen, this would be
+rather, as he put it, in her line; and the possibility lived for him, as
+he proceeded, to the tune of a suspense almost sickening. It was, from
+one small stage of his pilgrimage to another, the "For ever, never!"
+of the sentimental case the playmates of his youth used to pretend
+to settle by plucking the petals of a daisy. But it came to his truly
+turning faint--so "queer" he felt--when, at the gained point of the
+long stretch from which he could always tell, he arrived within positive
+sight of his immemorial goal. His seat was taken and she was keeping it
+for him--it could only be _she_ there in possession; whereby it shone
+out for Herbert Dodd that if he hadn't been quite sure of her recurrence
+she had at least been quite sure of his. _That_ pulled him up to some
+purpose, where recognition began for them--or to the effect, in other
+words, of his pausing to judge if he could bear, for the sharpest note
+of their intercourse, this inveterate demonstration of her making him do
+what she liked. What settled the question for him then--and just
+while they avowedly watched each other, over the long interval, before
+closing, as if, on either side, for the major advantage--what settled it
+was this very fact that what she liked she liked so terribly. If it were
+simply to "use" him, as she had said the last time, and no matter to
+the profit of which of them she called it, one might let it go for that;
+since it could make her wait over, day after day, in that fashion, and
+with such a spending of money, on the hazard of their meeting again. How
+could she be the least sure he would ever again consent to it after the
+proved action on him, a week ago, of her last monstrous honesty? It was
+indeed positively as if he were now himself putting this influence--and
+for their common edification--to the supreme, to the finest test. He had
+a sublime, an ideal flight, which lasted about a minute. "Suppose, now
+that I see her there and what she has taken so characteristically for
+granted, suppose I just show her that she _hasn't_ only confidently to
+wait or whistle for me, and that the length of my leash is greater
+than she measures, and that everything's impossible always?--show it by
+turning my back on her now and walking straight away. She won't be able
+not to understand _that!_"
+
+Nothing had passed, across their distance, but the mute apprehension
+of each on the part of each; the whole expanse, at the church hour, was
+void of other life (he had scarce met a creature on his way from end
+to end), and the sun-seasoned gusts kept brushing the air and all the
+larger prospect clean. It was through this beautiful lucidity that
+he watched her watch him, as it were--watch him for what he would do.
+Neither moved at this high tension; Kate Cookham, her face fixed on
+him, only waited with a stiff appearance of leaving him, not for dignity
+but--to an effect of even deeper perversity--for kindness, free to
+choose. It yet somehow affected him at present, this attitude, as a gage
+of her _knowing too_--knowing, that is, that he wasn't really free, that
+this was the thinnest of vain parades, the poorest of hollow heroics,
+that his need, his solitude, his suffered wrong, his exhausted rancour,
+his foredoomed submission to any shown interest, all hung together too
+heavy on him to let the weak wings of his pride do more than vaguely
+tremble. They couldn't, they didn't carry him a single beat further
+away; according to which he stood rooted, neither retreating nor
+advancing, but presently correcting his own share of the bleak exchange
+by looking off at the sea. Deeply conscious of the awkwardness this
+posture gave him, he yet clung to it as the last shred of his honour,
+to the clear argument that it was one thing for him to have felt beneath
+all others, the previous days, that she was to be counted on, but quite
+a different for her to have felt that _he_ was. His checked approach,
+arriving thus at no term, could in these odd conditions have established
+that he wasn't only if Kate Cookham had, as either of them might have
+said, taken it so--if she had given up the game at last by rising, by
+walking away and adding to the distance between them, and he had then
+definitely let her vanish into space. It became a fact that when she did
+finally rise--though after how long our record scarce takes on itself to
+say--it was not to confirm their separation but to put an end to it; and
+this by slowly approaching him till she had come within earshot He had
+wondered, once aware of it in spite of his averted face, what she would
+say and on what note, as it were, she would break their week's
+silence; so that he had to recognise anew, her voice reaching him, that
+remarkable quality in her which again and again came up for him as her
+art.
+
+"There are twelve hundred and sixty pounds, to be definite, but I have
+it all down for you--and you've only to draw."
+
+They lost themselves, these words, rare and exquisite, in the wide
+bright genial medium and the Sunday stillness, but even while that
+occurred and he was gaping for it she was herself there, in her battered
+ladylike truth, to answer for them, to represent them, and, if a further
+grace than their simple syllabled beauty were conceivable, almost
+embarrassingly to cause them to materialise. Yes, she let her smart and
+tight little reticule hang as if it bulged, beneath its clasp, with the
+whole portentous sum, and he felt himself glare again at this vividest
+of her attested claims. She might have been ready, on the spot, to open
+the store to the plunge of his hand, or, with the situation otherwise
+conceived, to impose on his pauperised state an acceptance of alms on
+a scale unprecedented in the annals of street charity. Nothing so much
+counted for him, however, neither grave numeral nor elegant fraction,
+as the short, rich, rounded word that the breeze had picked up as it
+dropped and seemed now to blow about between them. "To draw--to draw?"
+Yes, he gaped it as if it had no sense; the fact being that even while
+he did so he was reading into her use of the term more romance than any
+word in the language had ever had for him. He, Herbert Dodd, was to live
+to "draw," like people, scarce hampered by the conditions of earth,
+whom he had remotely and circuitously heard about, and in fact when he
+walked back with her to where she had been sitting it was very much, for
+his strained nerves, as if the very bench of desolation itself were to
+be the scene of that exploit and he mightn't really live till he reached
+it.
+
+When they had sat down together she did press the spring of her
+reticule, from which she took, not a handful of gold nor a packet of
+crisp notes, but an oblong sealed letter, which she had thus waited on
+him, she remarked, on purpose to deliver, and which would certify, with
+sundry particulars, to the credit she had opened for him at a London
+bank. He received it without looking at it--he held it, in the same
+manner, conspicuous and unassimilated, for most of the rest of the
+immediate time, appearing embarrassed with it, nervously twisting and
+flapping it, yet thus publicly retaining it even while aware, beneath
+everything, of the strange, the quite dreadful, wouldn't it be?
+engagement that such inaction practically stood for. He could accept
+money to that amount, yes--but not for nothing in return. For what then
+in return? He kept asking himself for what, while she said other things
+and made above all, in her high, shrewd, successful way the point that,
+no, he needn't pretend that his conviction of her continued personal
+interest in him wouldn't have tided him oyer any question besetting
+him since their separation. She put it to him that the deep instinct of
+where he should at last find her must confidently have worked for him,
+since she confessed to her instinct of where she should find _him_;
+which meant--oh it came home to him as he fingered his sealed
+treasure!--neither more nor less than that she had now created
+between them an equality of experience. He wasn't to have done all the
+suffering, _she_ was to have "been through" things he couldn't even
+guess at; and, since he was bargaining away his right ever again to
+allude to the unforgettable, so much there was of it, what her tacit
+proposition came to was that they were "square" and might start afresh.
+
+He didn't take up her charge, as his so compromised "pride" yet in a
+manner prompted him, that he had enjoyed all the week all those elements
+of ease about her; the most he achieved for that was to declare, with an
+ingenuity contributing to float him no small distance further, that of
+course he had turned up at their old place of tryst, which had been,
+through the years, the haunt of his solitude and the goal of his walk
+any Sunday morning that seemed too beautiful for church; but that he
+hadn't in the least built on her presence there--since that supposition
+gave him, she would understand, wouldn't she? the air, disagreeable to
+him, of having come in search of her. Her quest of himself, once he
+had been seated there, would have been another matter--but in short
+"Of course after all you did come to me, just now, didn't you?" He felt
+himself, too, lamely and gracelessly grin, as for the final kick of his
+honour, in confirmation of the record that he had then yielded but to
+her humility. Her humility became for him at this hour and to this tune,
+on the bench of desolation, a quantity more prodigious and even more
+mysterious than that other guaranteed quantity the finger-tips of his
+left hand could feel the tap by the action of his right; though what was
+in especial extraordinary was the manner in which she could keep making
+him such allowances and yet meet him again, at some turn, as with her
+residuum for her clever self so great.
+
+"Come to you, Herbert Dodd?" she imperturbably echoed. "I've been coming
+to you for the last ten years!"
+
+There had been for him just before this sixty supreme seconds of
+intensest aspiration--a minute of his keeping his certificate poised
+for a sharp thrust back at her, the thrust of the wild freedom of his
+saying: "No, no, I _can't_ give them up; I can't simply sink them deep
+down in my soul forever, with no cross in all my future to mark _that_
+burial; so that if this is what our arrangement means I must decline to
+have anything to do with it." The words none the less hadn't come, and
+when she had herself, a couple of minutes later, spoken those
+others, the blood rose to his face as if, given his stiffness and her
+extravagance, he had just indeed saved himself.
+
+Everything in fact stopped, even his fidget with his paper; she imposed
+a hush, she imposed at any rate the conscious decent form of one, and
+he couldn't afterward have told how long, at this juncture, he must have
+sat simply gazing before him. It was so long, at any rate, that Kate
+herself got up--and quite indeed, presently, as if her own forms were
+now at an end. He had returned her nothing--so what was she waiting for?
+She had been on the two other occasions momentarily at a loss, but never
+so much so, no doubt, as was thus testified to by her leaving the bench
+and moving over once more to the rail of the terrace. She could carry
+it off, in a manner, with her resources, that she was waiting with so
+little to wait for; she could face him again, after looking off at
+the sea, as if this slightly stiff delay, not wholly exempt from
+awkwardness, had been but a fine scruple of her courtesy. She had
+gathered herself in; after giving him time to appeal she could take
+it that he had decided and that nothing was left for her to do. "Well
+then," she clearly launched at him across the broad walk--"well then,
+good-bye."
+
+She had come nearer with it, as if he might rise for some show of
+express separation; but he only leaned back motionless, his eyes on her
+now--he kept her a moment before him. "Do you mean that we don't--that
+we don't--?" But he broke down.
+
+"Do I 'mean'--?" She remained as for questions he might ask, but it
+was wellnigh as if there played through her dotty veil an irrepressible
+irony for that particular one. "I've meant, for long years, I think, all
+I'm capable of meaning. I've meant so much that I can't mean more. So
+there it is."
+
+"But if you go," he appealed--and with a sense as of final flatness,
+however he arranged it, for his own attitude--"but if you go sha'n't I
+see you again?"
+
+She waited a little, and it was strangely for him now as if--though at
+last so much more gorged with her tribute than she had ever been with
+his--something still depended on her. "Do you _like_ to see me?" she
+very simply asked.
+
+At this he did get up; that was easier than to say--at least with
+responsive simplicity; and again for a little he looked hard and in
+silence at his letter; which at last, however, raising his eyes to her
+own for the act, while he masked their conscious ruefulness, to his
+utmost, in some air of assurance, he slipped into the inner pocket of
+his coat, letting it settle there securely. "You're too wonderful." But
+he frowned at her with it as never in his life. "Where does it all come
+from?"
+
+"The wonder of poor me?" Kate Cookham said. "It comes from _you_."
+
+He shook his head slowly--feeling, with his letter there against his
+heart, such a new agility, almost such a new range of interest. "I mean
+so _much_ money--so extraordinarily much."
+
+Well, she held him a while blank. "Does it seem to you extraordinarily
+much--twelve-hundred-and-sixty? Because, you know," she added, "it's
+all."
+
+"It's enough!" he returned with a slight thoughtful droop of his head to
+the right and his eyes attached to the far horizon as through a shade of
+shyness for what he was saying. He felt all her own lingering nearness
+somehow on his cheek.
+
+"It's enough? Thank you then!" she rather oddly went on.
+
+He shifted a little his posture. "It was more than a hundred a year--for
+you to get together."
+
+"Yes," she assented, "that was what year by year I tried for."
+
+"But that you could live all the while and save that--!" Yes, he was
+at liberty, as he hadn't been, quite pleasantly to marvel. All his
+wonderments in life had been hitherto unanswered--and didn't the change
+mean that here again was the social relation?
+
+"Ah, I didn't live as you saw me the other day."
+
+"Yes," he answered--and didn't he the next instant feel he must fairly
+have smiled with it?--"the other day you _were_ going it!"
+
+"For once in my life," said Kate Cookham. "I've left the hotel," she
+after a moment added.
+
+"Ah, you're in--a--lodgings?" he found himself inquiring as for positive
+sociability.
+
+She had apparently a slight shade of hesitation, but in an instant it
+was all right; as what he showed he wanted to know she seemed mostly to
+give him. "Yes--but far of course from here. Up on the hill." To which,
+after another instant, "At The Mount, Castle Terrace," she subjoined.
+
+"Oh, I _know_ The Mount. And Castle Terrace is awfully sunny and nice."
+
+"Awfully sunny and nice," Kate Cookham took from him.
+
+"So that if it isn't," he pursued, "like the Royal, why you're at least
+comfortable."
+
+"I shall be comfortable anywhere now," she replied with a certain
+dryness.
+
+It was astonishing, however, what had become of his own. "Because I've
+accepted----?"
+
+"Call it that!" she dimly smiled.
+
+"I hope then at any rate," he returned, "you can now thoroughly rest" He
+spoke as for a cheerful conclusion and moved again also to smile, though
+as with a poor grimace, no doubt; since what he seemed most clearly to
+feel was that since he "accepted" he mustn't, for his last note, have
+accepted in sulkiness or gloom. With that, at the same time, he couldn't
+but know, in all his fibres, that with such a still-watching face as the
+dotty veil didn't disguise for him there was no possible concluding, at
+least on his part On hers, on hers it was--as he had so often for a week
+had reflectively to pronounce things--another affair. Ah, somehow,
+both formidably and helpfully, her face concluded--yet in a sense so
+strangely enshrouded in things she didn't tell him. What _must_ she,
+what mustn't she, have done? What she had said--and she had really told
+him nothing--was no account of her life; in the midst of which conflict
+of opposed recognitions, at any rate, it was as if, for all he could
+do, he himself now considerably floundered. "But I can't think--I can't
+think----!"
+
+"You can't think I can have made so much money in the time and been
+honest?"
+
+"Oh, you've been _honest!_" Herbert Dodd distinctly allowed.
+
+It moved her stillness to a gesture--which, however, she had as promptly
+checked; and she went on the next instant as for further generosity to
+his failure of thought. "Everything was possible, under my stress, with
+my hatred."
+
+"Your hatred--?" For she had paused as if it were after all too
+difficult.
+
+"Of what I should for so long have been doing to you."
+
+With this, for all his failures, a greater light than any yet shone upon
+him. "It made you think of ways----?"
+
+"It made me think of everything. It made me work," said Kate Cookham.
+She added, however, the next moment: "But that's my story."
+
+"And I mayn't hear it?"
+
+"No--because I mayn't hear yours."
+
+"Oh, mine--!" he said with the strangest, saddest, yet after all most
+resigned sense of surrender of it; which he tried to make sound as if he
+couldn't have told it, for its splendor of sacrifice and of misery, even
+if he would.
+
+It seemed to move in her a little, exactly, that sense of the invidious.
+"Ah, mine too, I assure you----!"
+
+He rallied at once to the interest. "Oh, we _can_ talk then?"
+
+"Never," she all oddly replied. "Never," said Kate Cookham.
+
+They remained so, face to face; the effect of which for him was that he
+had after a little understood why. That was fundamental. "Well, I see."
+
+Thus confronted they stayed; and then, as he saw with a contentment that
+came up from deeper still, it was indeed she who, with her worn fine
+face, would conclude. "But I can take care of you."
+
+"You _have!_" he said as with nothing left of him but a beautiful
+appreciative candour.
+
+"Oh, but you'll want it now in a way--!" she responsibly answered.
+
+He waited a moment, dropping again on the seat. So, while she still
+stood, he looked up at her; with the sense somehow that there were too
+many things and that they were all together, terribly, irresistibly,
+doubtless blessedly, in her eyes and her whole person; which thus
+affected him for the moment as more than he could bear. He leaned
+forward, dropping his elbows to his knees and pressing his head on his
+hands. So he stayed, saying nothing; only, with the sense of her own
+sustained, renewed and wonderful action, knowing that an arm had passed
+round him and that he was held. She was beside him on the bench of
+desolation.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Finer Grain, by Henry James
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FINER GRAIN ***
+
+***** This file should be named 21968-8.txt or 21968-8.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/9/6/21968/
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+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.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+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
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/21968-8.zip b/21968-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..feaad00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-8.zip
diff --git a/21968-h.zip b/21968-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e4afd10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-h.zip
diff --git a/21968-h/21968-h.htm b/21968-h/21968-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..598e14a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-h/21968-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,6224 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+
+<!DOCTYPE html
+   PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" />
+    <title>
+      The Finer Grain, by Henry James
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+
+</style>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Finer Grain, by Henry James
+
+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: The Finer Grain
+
+Author: Henry James
+
+Release Date: June 29, 2007 [EBook #21968]
+Last Updated: September 18, 2016
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FINER GRAIN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE FINER GRAIN
+    </h1>
+    <h2>
+      By Henry James <br /> <br /> <br /> 1910
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      [Transcriber&rsquo;s Note: After posting it was discovered that there were
+      several missing pages from the section titled &ldquo;Mora Montravers&rdquo;. This
+      section has been removed and will be replaced as soon as possible.]
+    </p>
+    <blockquote>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br />
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <b>"THE VELVET GLOVE"</b> </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> I </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> II </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> III </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> <b>A ROUND OF VISITS</b> </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> I </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0014"> II </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0015"> III </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0016"> IV </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0017"> V </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0018"> VI </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0019"> VII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0020"> <b>CRAPY CORNELIA</b> </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0021"> I </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0022"> II </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0023"> III </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0024"> IV </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0025"> V </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0026"> <b>THE BENCH OF DESOLATION</b> </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0027"> I </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0028"> II </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0029"> III </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0030"> IV </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0031"> V </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0032"> VI </a>
+      </p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      &ldquo;THE VELVET GLOVE&rdquo;
+     </h2>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      I
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      HE thought he had already, poor John Berridge, tasted in their fulness the
+      sweets of success; but nothing yet had been more charming to him than when
+      the young Lord, as he irresistibly and, for greater certitude, quite
+      correctly figured him, fairly sought out, in Paris, the new literary star
+      that had begun to hang, with a fresh red light, over the vast, even though
+      rather confused, Anglo-Saxon horizon; positively approaching that
+      celebrity with a shy and artless appeal. The young Lord invoked on this
+      occasion the celebrity&rsquo;s prized judgment of a special literary case; and
+      Berridge could take the whole manner of it for one of the &ldquo;quaintest&rdquo;
+       little acts displayed to his amused eyes, up to now, on the stage of
+      European society&mdash;albeit these eyes were quite aware, in general, of
+      missing everywhere no more of the human scene than possible, and of having
+      of late been particularly awake to the large extensions of it spread
+      before him (since so he could but fondly read his fate) under the omen of
+      his prodigious &ldquo;hit.&rdquo; It was because of his hit that he was having rare
+      opportunities&mdash;of which he was so honestly and humbly proposing, as
+      he would have said, to make the most: it was because every one in the
+      world (so far had the thing gone) was reading &ldquo;The Heart of Gold&rdquo; as just
+      a slightly too fat volume, or sitting out the same as just a fifth-act too
+      long play, that he found himself floated on a tide he would scarce have
+      dared to show his favourite hero sustained by, found a hundred agreeable
+      and interesting things happen to him which were all, one way or another,
+      affluents of the golden stream.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The great renewed resonance&mdash;renewed by the incredible luck of the
+      play&mdash;was always in his ears without so much as a conscious turn of
+      his head to listen; so that the queer world of his fame was not the mere
+      usual field of the Anglo-Saxon boom, but positively the bottom of the
+      whole theatric sea, unplumbed source of the wave that had borne him in the
+      course of a year or two over German, French, Italian, Russian,
+      Scandinavian foot-lights. Paris itself really appeared for the hour the
+      centre of his cyclone, with reports and &ldquo;returns,&rdquo; to say nothing of
+      agents and emissaries, converging from the minor capitals; though his
+      impatience was scarce the less keen to get back to London, where his work
+      had had no such critical excoriation to survive, no such lesson of anguish
+      to learn, as it had received at the hand of supreme authority, of that
+      French authority which was in such a matter the only one to be
+      artistically reckoned with. If his spirit indeed had had to reckon with it
+      his fourth act practically hadn&rsquo;t: it continued to make him blush every
+      night for the public more even than the inimitable <i>feuilleton</i> had
+      made him blush for himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This had figured, however, after all, the one bad drop in his cup; so
+      that, for the rest, his high-water mark might well have been, that evening
+      at Gloriani&rsquo;s studio, the approach of his odd and charming applicant,
+      vaguely introduced at the latter&rsquo;s very own request by their hostess, who,
+      with an honest, helpless, genial gesture, washed her fat begemmed hands of
+      the name and identity of either, but left the fresh, fair, ever so
+      habitually assured, yet ever so easily awkward Englishman with his plea to
+      put forth. There was that in this pleasant personage which could still
+      make Berridge wonder what conception of profit from him might have, all
+      incalculably, taken form in such a head&mdash;these being truly the last
+      intrenchments of our hero&rsquo;s modesty. He wondered, the splendid young man,
+      he wondered awfully, he wondered (it was unmistakable) quite nervously, he
+      wondered, to John&rsquo;s ardent and acute imagination, quite beautifully, if
+      the author of &ldquo;The Heart of Gold&rdquo; would mind just looking at a book by a
+      friend of his, a great friend, which he himself believed rather clever,
+      and had in fact found very charming, but as to which&mdash;if it really
+      wouldn&rsquo;t bore Mr. Berridge&mdash;he should so like the verdict of some one
+      who knew. His friend was awfully ambitious, and he thought there was
+      something in it&mdash;with all of which might he send the book to any
+      address?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Berridge thought of many things while the young Lord thus charged upon
+      him, and it was odd that no one of them was any question of the possible
+      worth of the offered achievement&mdash;which, for that matter, was certain
+      to be of the quality of <i>all</i> the books, to say nothing of the plays,
+      and the projects for plays, with which, for some time past, he had seen
+      his daily post-bag distended. He had made out, on looking at these things,
+      no difference at all from one to the other. Here, however, was something
+      more&mdash;something that made his fellow-guest&rsquo;s overture <i>independently</i>
+      interesting and, as he might imagine, important. He smiled, he was
+      friendly and vague; said &ldquo;A work of fiction, I suppose?&rdquo; and that he
+      didn&rsquo;t pretend ever to pronounce, that he in fact quite hated, always, to
+      have to, not &ldquo;knowing,&rdquo; as he felt, any better than any one else; but
+      would gladly look at anything, under that demur, if it would give any
+      pleasure. Perhaps the very brightest and most diamond-like twinkle he had
+      yet seen the star of his renown emit was just the light brought into his
+      young Lord&rsquo;s eyes by this so easy consent to oblige. It was easy because
+      the presence before him was from moment to moment, referring itself back
+      to some recent observation or memory; something caught somewhere, within a
+      few weeks or months, as he had moved about, and that seemed to flutter
+      forth at this stir of the folded leaves of his recent experience very much
+      as a gathered, faded flower, placed there for &ldquo;pressing,&rdquo; might drop from
+      between the pages of a volume opened at hazard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had seen him before, this splendid and sympathetic person&mdash;whose
+      flattering appeal was by no means <i>all</i> that made him sympathetic; he
+      had met him, had noted, had wondered about him, had in fact imaginatively,
+      intellectually, so to speak, quite yearned over him, in some conjunction
+      lately, though ever so fleet-ingly, apprehended: which circumstance
+      constituted precisely an association as tormenting, for the few minutes,
+      as it was vague, and set him to sounding, intensely and vainly, the face
+      that itself figured everything agreeable except recognition. He couldn&rsquo;t
+      remember, and the young man didn&rsquo;t; distinctly, yes, they had been in
+      presence, during the previous winter, by some chance of travel, through
+      Sicily, through Italy, through the south of France, but his <i>Seigneurie</i>&mdash;so
+      Berridge liked exotically to phrase it&mdash;had then (in ignorance of the
+      present reasons) not noticed <i>him</i>. It was positive for the man of
+      established identity, all the while too, and through the perfect lucidity
+      of his sense of achievement in an air &ldquo;conducting&rdquo; nothing but the loudest
+      bang, that this was fundamentally much less remarkable than the fact of
+      his being made up to in such a quarter now. That was the disservice, in a
+      manner, of one&rsquo;s having so much imagination: the mysterious values of
+      other types kept looming larger before you than the doubtless often higher
+      but comparatively familiar ones of your own, and if you had anything of
+      the artist&rsquo;s real feeling for life the attraction and amusement of
+      possibilities so projected were worth more to you, in nineteen moods out
+      of twenty, than the sufficiency, the serenity, the felicity, whatever it
+      might be, of your stale personal certitudes. You were intellectually, you
+      were &ldquo;artistically&rdquo; rather abject, in fine, if your curiosity (in the
+      grand sense of the term) wasn&rsquo;t worth more to you than your dignity. What
+      was your dignity, &ldquo;anyway,&rdquo; but just the consistency of your curiosity,
+      and what moments were ever so ignoble for you as, under the blighting
+      breath of the false gods, stupid conventions, traditions, examples, your
+      lapses from that consistency? His <i>Seigneurie</i>, at all events,
+      delightfully, hadn&rsquo;t the least real idea of what any John Berridge was
+      talking about, and the latter felt that if he had been less beautifully
+      witless, and thereby less true to his right figure, it might scarce have
+      been forgiven him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His right figure was that of life in irreflective joy and at the highest
+      thinkable level of prepared security and unconscious insolence. What was
+      the pale page of fiction compared with the intimately personal adventure
+      that, in almost any direction, he would have been all so stupidly, all so
+      gallantly, all so instinctively and, by every presumption, so prevailingly
+      ready for? Berridge would have given six months&rsquo; &ldquo;royalties&rdquo; for even an
+      hour of his looser dormant consciousness&mdash;since one was oneself,
+      after all, no worm, but an heir of all the ages too&mdash;and yet without
+      being able to supply chapter and verse for the felt, the huge difference.
+      His <i>Seigneurie</i> was tall and straight, but so, thank goodness, was
+      the author of &ldquo;The Heart of Gold,&rdquo; who had no such vulgar &ldquo;mug&rdquo; either;
+      and there was no intrinsic inferiority in being a bit inordinately, and so
+      it might have seemed a bit strikingly, black-browed instead of being fair
+      as the morning. Again while his new friend delivered himself our own tried
+      in vain to place him; he indulged in plenty of pleasant, if rather
+      restlessly headlong sound, the confessed incoherence of a happy mortal who
+      had always many things &ldquo;on,&rdquo; and who, while waiting at any moment for
+      connections and consummations, had fallen into the way of talking, as they
+      said, all artlessly, and a trifle more betrayingly, against time. He would
+      always be having appointments, and somehow of a high &ldquo;romantic&rdquo; order, to
+      keep, and the imperfect punctualities of others to wait for&mdash;though
+      who would be of a quality to make such a pampered personage wait very much
+      our young analyst could only enjoy asking himself. There were women who
+      might be of a quality&mdash;half a dozen of those perhaps, of those alone,
+      about the world; our friend was as sure of this, by the end of four
+      minutes, as if he knew all about it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After saying he would send him the book the young Lord indeed dropped that
+      subject; he had asked where he might send it, and had had an &ldquo;Oh, I shall
+      remember!&rdquo; on John&rsquo;s mention of an hotel; but he had made no further dash
+      into literature, and it was ten to one that this would be the last the
+      distinguished author might hear of the volume. Such again was a note of
+      these high existences&mdash;that made one content to ask of them no whit
+      of other consistency than that of carrying off the particular occasion,
+      whatever it might be, in a dazzle of amiability and felicity and leaving
+      <i>that</i> as a sufficient trace of their passage. Sought and achieved
+      consistency was but an angular, a secondary motion; compared with the air
+      of complete freedom it might have an effect of deformity. There was no
+      placing this figure of radiant ease, for Berridge, in any relation that
+      didn&rsquo;t appear not good enough&mdash;that is among the relations that
+      hadn&rsquo;t been too good for Berridge himself. He was all right where he was;
+      the great Gloriani somehow made that law; his house, with his supreme
+      artistic position, was good enough for any one, and to-night in especial
+      there were charming people, more charming than our friend could recall
+      from any other scene, as the natural train or circle, as he might say, of
+      such a presence. For an instant he thought he had got the face as a
+      specimen of imperturbability watched, with wonder, across the hushed
+      rattle of roulette at Monte-Carlo; but this quickly became as improbable
+      as any question of a vulgar <i>table d&rsquo;hote</i>, or a steam-boat deck, or
+      a herd of fellow-pilgrims cicerone-led, or even an opera-box serving,
+      during a performance, for frame of a type observed from the stalls. One
+      placed young gods and goddesses only when one placed them on Olympus, and
+      it met the case, always, that they were of Olympian race, and that they
+      glimmered for one, at the best, through their silver cloud, like the
+      visiting apparitions in an epic.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was brief and beautiful indeed till something happened that gave it,
+      for Berridge, on the spot, a prodigious extension&mdash;an extension
+      really as prodigious, after a little, as if he had suddenly seen the
+      silver clouds multiply and then the whole of Olympus presently open.
+      Music, breaking upon the large air, enjoined immediate attention, and in a
+      moment he was listening, with the rest of the company, to an eminent
+      tenor, who stood by the piano; and was aware, with it, that his Englishman
+      had turned away and that in the vast, rich, tapestried room where, in
+      spite of figures and objects so numerous, clear spaces, wide vistas, and,
+      as they might be called, becoming situations abounded, there had been from
+      elsewhere, at the signal of unmistakable song, a rapid accession of
+      guests. At first he but took this in, and the way that several young
+      women, for whom seats had been found, looked charming in the rapt
+      attitude; while even the men, mostly standing and grouped, &ldquo;composed,&rdquo; in
+      their stillness, scarce less impressively, under the sway of the divine
+      voice. It ruled the scene, to the last intensity, and yet our young man&rsquo;s
+      fine sense found still a resource in the range of the eyes, without sound
+      or motion, while all the rest of consciousness was held down as by a hand
+      mailed in silver. It was better, in this way, than the opera&mdash;John
+      alertly thought of that: the composition sung might be Wagnerian, but no
+      Tristram, no Iseult, no Parsifal and, no Kundry of them all could ever
+      show, could ever &ldquo;act&rdquo; to the music, as our friend had thus the power of
+      seeing his dear contemporaries of either sex (armoured <i>they</i> so
+      otherwise than in cheap Teutonic tinsel!) just continuously and
+      inscrutably sit to it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It made, the whole thing together, an enchantment amid which he had in
+      truth, at a given moment, ceased to distinguish parts&mdash;so that he was
+      himself certainly at last soaring as high as the singer&rsquo;s voice and
+      forgetting, in a lost gaze at the splendid ceiling, everything of the
+      occasion but what his intelligence poured into it. This, as happened, was
+      a flight so sublime that by the time he had dropped his eyes again a
+      cluster of persons near the main door had just parted to give way to a
+      belated lady who slipped in, through the gap made for her, and stood for
+      some minutes full in his view. It was a proof of the perfect hush that no
+      one stirred to offer her a seat, and her entrance, in her high grace, had
+      yet been so noiseless that she could remain at once immensely exposed and
+      completely unabashed. For Berridge, once more, if the scenic show before
+      him so melted into the music, here precisely might have been the heroine
+      herself advancing to the foot-lights at her cue. The interest deepened to
+      a thrill, and everything, at the touch of his recognition of this
+      personage, absolutely the most beautiful woman now present, fell
+      exquisitely together and gave him what he had been wanting from the moment
+      of his taking in his young Englishman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was there, the missing connection: her arrival had on the instant
+      lighted it by a flash. Olympian herself, supremely, divinely Olympian, she
+      had arrived, could <i>only</i> have arrived, for the one person present of
+      really equal race, our young man&rsquo;s late converser, whose flattering
+      demonstration might now stand for one of the odd extravagant forms taken
+      by nervous impatience. This charming, this dazzling woman had been one
+      member of the couple disturbed, to his intimate conviction, the autumn
+      previous, on his being pushed by the officials, at the last moment, into a
+      compartment of the train that was to take him from Cremona to Mantua&mdash;where,
+      failing a stop, he had had to keep his place. The other member, by whose
+      felt but unseized identity he had been haunted, was the unconsciously
+      insolent form of guaranteed happiness he had just been engaged with. The
+      sense of the admirable intimacy that, having taken its precautions, had
+      not reckoned with his irruption&mdash;this image had remained with him; to
+      say nothing of the interest of aspect of the associated figures, so
+      stamped somehow with rarity, so beautifully distinct from the common
+      occupants of padded corners, and yet on the subject of whom, for the
+      romantic structure he was immediately to raise, he had not had a scrap of
+      evidence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If he had imputed to them conditions it was all his own doing: it came
+      from his inveterate habit of abysmal imputation, the snatching of the ell
+      wherever the inch peeped out, without which where would have been the
+      tolerability of life? It didn&rsquo;t matter now what he had imputed&mdash;and
+      he always held that his expenses of imputation were, at the worst, a
+      compliment to those inspiring them. It only mattered that each of the pair
+      had been then what he really saw each now&mdash;full, that is, of the
+      pride of their youth and beauty and fortune and freedom, though at the
+      same time particularly preoccupied: preoccupied, that is, with the
+      affairs, and above all with the passions, of Olympus. Who had they been,
+      and what? Whence had they come, whither were they bound, what tie united
+      them, what adventure engaged, what felicity, tempered by what peril,
+      magnificently, dramatically attended? These had been his questions, all so
+      inevitable and so impertinent, at the time, and to the exclusion of any
+      scruples over his not postulating an inane honeymoon, his not taking the
+      &ldquo;tie,&rdquo; as he should doubtless properly have done, for the mere blest
+      matrimonial; and he now retracted not one of them, flushing as they did
+      before him again with their old momentary life. To feel his two friends
+      renewedly in presence&mdash;friends of the fleeting hour though they had
+      but been, and with whom he had exchanged no sign save the vaguest of
+      salutes on finally relieving them of his company&mdash;was only to be
+      conscious that he hadn&rsquo;t, on the spot, done them, so to speak, half
+      justice, and that, for his superior entertainment, there would be ever so
+      much more of them to come.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      II
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      It might already have been coming indeed, with an immense stride, when,
+      scarce more than ten minutes later, he was aware that the distinguished
+      stranger had brought the Princess straight across the room to speak to
+      him. He had failed in the interval of any glimpse of their closer meeting;
+      for the great tenor had sung another song and then stopped, immediately on
+      which Madame Gloriani had made his pulse quicken to a different, if not to
+      a finer, throb by hovering before him once more with the man in the world
+      he most admired, as it were, looking at him over her shoulder. The man in
+      the world he most admired, the greatest then of contemporary Dramatists&mdash;and
+      bearing, independently, the name inscribed if not in deepest incision at
+      least in thickest gilding on the rich recreative roll&mdash;this
+      prodigious personage was actually to suffer &ldquo;presentation&rdquo; to him at the
+      good lady&rsquo;s generous but ineffectual hands, and had in fact the next
+      instant, left alone with him, bowed, in formal salutation, the massive,
+      curly, witty head, so &ldquo;romantic&rdquo; yet so modern, so &ldquo;artistic&rdquo; and ironic
+      yet somehow so civic, so Gallic yet somehow so cosmic, his personal vision
+      of which had not hitherto transcended that of the possessor of a signed
+      and framed photograph in a consecrated quarter of a writing-table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was positive, however, that poor John was afterward to remember of this
+      conjunction nothing whatever but the fact of the great man&rsquo;s looking at
+      him very hard, straight in the eyes, and of his not having himself
+      scrupled to do as much, and with a confessed intensity of appetite. It was
+      improbable, he was to recognise, that they had, for the few minutes, only
+      stared and grimaced, like pitted boxers or wrestlers; but what had abode
+      with him later on, none the less, was just the cherished memory of his not
+      having so lost presence of mind as to fail of feeding on his impression.
+      It was precious and precarious, that was perhaps all there would be of it;
+      and his subsequent consciousness was quite to cherish this queer view of
+      the silence, neither awkward nor empty nor harsh, but on the contrary
+      quite charged and brimming, that represented for him his use, his
+      unforgettable enjoyment in fact, of his opportunity. Had nothing passed in
+      words? Well, no misery of murmured &ldquo;homage,&rdquo; thank goodness; though
+      something must have been said, certainly, to lead up, as they put it at
+      the theatre, to John&rsquo;s having asked the head of the profession, before
+      they separated, if he by chance knew who the so radiantly handsome young
+      woman might be, the one who had so lately come in and who wore the pale
+      yellow dress, of the strange tone, and the magnificent pearls. They must
+      have separated soon, it was further to have been noted; since it was
+      before the advance of the pair, their wonderful dazzling charge upon him,
+      that he had distinctly seen the great man, at a distance again, block out
+      from his sight the harmony of the faded gold and the pearls&mdash;to speak
+      only of that&mdash;and plant himself there (the mere high Atlas-back of
+      renown to Berridge now) as for communion with them. He had blocked
+      everything out, to this tune, effectually; with nothing of the matter left
+      for our friend meanwhile but that, as he had said, the beautiful lady was
+      the Princess. What Princess, or the Princess of what?&mdash;our young man
+      had afterward wondered; his companion&rsquo;s reply having lost itself in the
+      prelude of an outburst by another vocalist who had approached the piano.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was after these things that she so incredibly came to him, attended by
+      her adorer&mdash;since he took it for absolute that the young Lord was her
+      adorer, as who indeed mightn&rsquo;t be?&mdash;and scarce waiting, in her bright
+      simplicity, for any form of introduction. It may thus be said in a word
+      that this was the manner in which she made our hero&rsquo;s acquaintance, a
+      satisfaction that she on the spot described to him as really wanting of
+      late to her felicity. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve read everything, you know, and &lsquo;The Heart of
+      Gold&rsquo; three times&rdquo;: she put it all immediately on that ground, while the
+      young Lord now smiled, beside her, as if it were quite the sort of thing
+      he had done too; and while, further, the author of the work yielded to the
+      consciousness that whereas in general he had come at last scarce to be
+      able to bear the iteration of those words, which affected him as a mere
+      vain vocal convulsion, so not a breath of this association now attended
+      them, so such a person as the Princess could make of them what she would.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Unless it was to be really what <i>he</i> would!&mdash;this occurred to
+      him in the very thick of the prodigy, no single shade of possibility of
+      which was less prodigious than any other. It was a declaration, simply,
+      the admirable young woman was treating him to, a profession of &ldquo;artistic
+      sympathy&rdquo;&mdash;for she was in a moment to use this very term that made
+      for them a large, clear, common ether, an element all uplifted and rare,
+      of which they could equally partake.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If she was Olympian&mdash;as in her rich and regular young beauty, that of
+      some divine Greek mask over-painted say by Titian, she more and more
+      appeared to him&mdash;this offered air was that of the gods themselves:
+      she might have been, with her long rustle across the room, Artemis
+      decorated, hung with pearls, for her worshippers, yet disconcerting them
+      by having, under an impulse just faintly fierce, snatched the cup of gold
+      from Hebe. It was to him, John Berridge, she thus publicly offered it; and
+      it was his over-topping <i>confrere</i> of shortly before who was the
+      worshipper most disconcerted. John had happened to catch, even at its
+      distance, after these friends had joined him, the momentary deep, grave
+      estimate, in the great Dramatist&rsquo;s salient watching eyes, of the
+      Princess&rsquo;s so singular performance: the touch perhaps this, in the whole
+      business, that made Berridge&rsquo;s sense of it most sharp. The sense of it as
+      <i>prodigy</i> didn&rsquo;t in the least entail his feeling abject&mdash;any
+      more, that is, than in the due dazzled degree; for surely there would have
+      been supreme wonder in the eagerness of her exchange of mature glory for
+      thin notoriety, hadn&rsquo;t it still exceeded everything that an Olympian of
+      such race should have found herself bothered, as they said, to &ldquo;read&rdquo; at
+      all&mdash;and most of all to read three times!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With the turn the matter took as an effect of this meeting, Berridge was
+      more than once to find himself almost ashamed for her&mdash;since it
+      seemed never to occur to her to be so for herself: he was jealous of the
+      type where she might have been taken as insolently careless of it; his
+      advantage (unless indeed it had been his ruin) being that he could
+      inordinately reflect upon it, could wander off thereby into kinds of
+      licence of which she was incapable. He hadn&rsquo;t, for himself, waited till
+      now to be sure of what he would do were <i>he</i> an Olympian: he would
+      leave his own stuff snugly unread, to begin with; that would be a
+      beautiful start for an Olympian career. He should have been as unable to
+      write those works in short as to make anything else of them; and he should
+      have had no more arithmetic for computing fingers than any perfect-headed
+      marble Apollo mutilated at the wrists. He should have consented to know
+      but the grand personal adventure on the grand personal basis: nothing
+      short of this, no poor cognisance of confusable, pettifogging things, the
+      sphere of earth-grubbing questions and two-penny issues, would begin to
+      be, on any side, Olympian enough.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Even the great Dramatist, with his tempered and tested steel and his
+      immense &ldquo;assured&rdquo; position, even he was not Olympian: the look, full of
+      the torment of earth, with which he had seen the Princess turn her back,
+      and for such a purpose, on the prized privilege of his notice, testified
+      sufficiently to that. Still, comparatively, it was to be said, the
+      question of a personal relation with an authority so eminent on the
+      subject of the passions&mdash;to say nothing of the rest of his charm&mdash;might
+      have had for an ardent young woman (and the Princess was unmistakably
+      ardent) the absolute attraction of romance: unless, again, prodigy of
+      prodigies, she were looking for her romance very particularly elsewhere.
+      Yet where could she have been looking for it, Berridge was to ask himself
+      with private intensity, in a manner to leave her so at her ease for
+      appearing to offer <i>him</i> everything?&mdash;so free to be quite
+      divinely gentle with him, to hover there before him in all her mild,
+      bright, smooth sublimity and to say: &ldquo;I should be so very grateful if
+      you&rsquo;d come to see me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There succeeded this a space of time of which he was afterward to lose all
+      account, was never to recover the history; his only coherent view of it
+      being that an interruption, some incident that kept them a while separate,
+      had then taken place, yet that during their separation, of half an hour or
+      whatever, they had still somehow not lost sight of each other, but had
+      found their eyes meeting, in deep communion, all across the great peopled
+      room; meeting and wanting to meet, wanting&mdash;it was the most
+      extraordinary thing in the world for the suppression of stages, for
+      confessed precipitate intensity&mdash;to use together every instant of the
+      hour that might be left them. Yet to use it for what?&mdash;unless, like
+      beautiful fabulous figures in some old-world legend, for the frankest and
+      almost the crudest avowal of the impression they had made on each other.
+      He couldn&rsquo;t have named, later on, any other person she had during this
+      space been engaged with, any more than he was to remember in the least
+      what he had himself ostensibly done, who had spoken to him, whom he had
+      spoken to, or whether he hadn&rsquo;t just stood and publicly gaped or
+      languished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Ah, Olympians were unconventional indeed&mdash;that was a part of their
+      high bravery and privilege; but what it also appeared to attest in this
+      wondrous manner was that they could communicate to their chosen in three
+      minutes, by the mere light of their eyes, the same shining cynicism. He
+      was to wonder of course, tinglingly enough, whether he had really made an
+      ass of himself, and there was this amount of evidence for it that there
+      certainly <i>had</i> been a series of moments each one of which glowed
+      with the lucid sense that, as she couldn&rsquo;t like him as much as <i>that</i>
+      either for his acted clap-trap or for his printed verbiage, what it must
+      come to was that she liked him, and to such a tune, just for himself and
+      quite after no other fashion than that in which every goddess in the
+      calendar had, when you came to look, sooner or later liked some
+      prepossessing young shepherd. The question would thus have been, for him,
+      with a still sharper eventual ache, of whether he positively <i>had</i>,
+      as an effect of the miracle, been petrified, before fifty pair of eyes, to
+      the posture of a prepossessing shepherd&mdash;and would perhaps have left
+      him under the shadow of some such imputable fatuity if his consciousness
+      hadn&rsquo;t, at a given moment, cleared up to still stranger things.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The agent of the change was, as quite congruously happened, none other
+      than the shining youth whom he now seemed to himself to have been thinking
+      of for ever so long, for a much longer time than he had ever in his life
+      spent at an evening party, as the young Lord: which personage suddenly
+      stood before him again, holding him up an odd object and smiling, as if in
+      reference to it, with a gladness that at once struck our friend as almost
+      too absurd for belief. The object was incongruous by reason of its being,
+      to a second and less preoccupied glance, a book; and what had befallen
+      Berridge within twenty minutes was that they&mdash;the Princess and he,
+      that is&mdash;had got such millions of miles, or at least such thousands
+      of years, away from <i>those</i> platitudes. The book, he found himself
+      assuming, could only be <i>his</i> book (it seemed also to have a tawdry
+      red cover); and there came to him memories, dreadfully false notes sounded
+      so straight again by his new acquaintance, of certain altogether different
+      persons who at certain altogether different parties had flourished volumes
+      before him very much with that insinuating gesture, that arch expression,
+      and that fell intention. The meaning of these things&mdash;of all possible
+      breaks of the charm at such an hour!&mdash;was that he should &ldquo;signature&rdquo;
+       the ugly thing, and with a characteristic quotation or sentiment: that was
+      the way people simpered and squirmed, the way they mouthed and beckoned,
+      when animated by such purposes; and it already, on the spot, almost broke
+      his heart to see such a type as that of the young Lord brought, by the
+      vulgarest of fashions, so low. This state of quick displeasure in
+      Berridge, however, was founded on a deeper question&mdash;the question of
+      how in the world he was to remain for himself a prepossessing shepherd if
+      he should consent to come back to these base actualities. It was true that
+      even while this wonderment held him, his aggressor&rsquo;s perfect good
+      conscience had placed the matter in a slightly different light.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By an extraordinary chance I&rsquo;ve found a copy of my friend&rsquo;s novel on one
+      of the tables here&mdash;I see by the inscription that she has presented
+      it to Gloriani. So if you&rsquo;d like to glance at it&mdash;!&rdquo; And the young
+      Lord, in the pride of his association with the eminent thing, held it out
+      to Berridge as artlessly as if it had been a striking natural specimen of
+      some sort, a rosy round apple grown in his own orchard, or an exceptional
+      precious stone, to be admired for its weight and lustre. Berridge accepted
+      the offer mechanically&mdash;relieved at the prompt fading of his worst
+      fear, yet feeling in himself a tell-tale facial blankness for the still
+      absolutely anomalous character of his friend&rsquo;s appeal. He was even tempted
+      for a moment to lay the volume down without looking at it&mdash;only with
+      some extemporised promise to borrow it of their host and take it home, to
+      give himself to it at an easier moment. Then the very expression of his
+      fellow-guests own countenance determined in him a different and a still
+      more dreadful view; in fact an immediate collapse of the dream in which he
+      had for the splendid previous space of time been living. The young Lord
+      himself, in his radiant costly barbarism, figured far better than John
+      Berridge could do the prepossessing shepherd, the beautiful mythological
+      mortal &ldquo;distinguished&rdquo; by a goddess; for our hero now saw that his whole
+      manner of dealing with his ridiculous tribute was marked exactly by the
+      grand simplicity, the prehistoric good faith, as one might call it, of
+      far-off romantic and &ldquo;plastic&rdquo; creatures, figures of exquisite Arcadian
+      stamp, glorified rustics like those of the train of peasants in &ldquo;A
+      Winter&rsquo;s Tale,&rdquo; who thought nothing of such treasure-trove, on a Claude
+      Lorrain sea-strand, as a royal infant wrapped in purple: something in that
+      fabulous style of exhibition appearing exactly what his present
+      demonstration might have been prompted by. &ldquo;The Top of the Tree, by Amy
+      Evans&rdquo;&mdash;scarce credible words floating before Berridge after he had
+      with an anguish of effort dropped his eyes on the importunate title-page&mdash;represented
+      an object as alien to the careless grace of goddess-haunted Arcady as a
+      washed-up &ldquo;kodak&rdquo; from a wrecked ship might have been to the appreciation
+      of some islander of wholly unvisited seas. Nothing could have been more in
+      the tone of an islander deplorably diverted from his native interests and
+      dignities than the glibness with which John&rsquo;s own child of nature went on.
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s her pen-name, Amy Evans&rdquo;&mdash;he couldn&rsquo;t have said it otherwise
+      had he been a blue-chinned penny-a-liner; yet marking it with a
+      disconnectedness of intelligence that kept up all the poetry of his own
+      situation and only crashed into that of other persons. The reference put
+      the author of &ldquo;The Heart of Gold&rdquo; quite into <i>his</i> place, but left
+      the speaker absolutely free of Arcady. &ldquo;Thanks awfully&rdquo;&mdash;Berridge
+      somehow clutched at that, to keep everything from swimming. &ldquo;Yes, I should
+      like to look at it,&rdquo; he managed, horribly grimacing now, he believed, to
+      say; and there was in fact a strange short interlude after this in which
+      he scarce knew what had become of any one or of anything; in which he only
+      seemed to himself to stand alone in a desolate place where even its
+      desolation didn&rsquo;t save him from having to stare at the greyest of printed
+      pages. Nothing here helped anything else, since the stamped greyness
+      didn&rsquo;t even in itself make it impossible his eyes should follow such
+      sentences as: &ldquo;The loveliness of the face, which was that of the glorious
+      period in which Pheidias reigned supreme, and which owed its most
+      exquisite note to that shell-like curl of the upper lip which always
+      somehow recalls for us the smile with which windblown Astarte must have
+      risen from the salt sea to which she owed her birth and her terrible
+      moods; or it was too much for all the passionate woman in her, and she let
+      herself go, over the flowering land that had been, but was no longer their
+      love, with an effect of blighting desolation that might have proceeded
+      from one of the more physical, though not more awful, convulsions of
+      nature.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He seemed to know later on that other and much more natural things had
+      occurred; as that, for instance, with now at last a definite intermission
+      of the rare music that for a long time past, save at the briefest
+      intervals, had kept all participants ostensibly attentive and motionless,
+      and that in spite of its high quality and the supposed privilege of
+      listening to it he had allowed himself not to catch a note of, there was a
+      great rustling and shifting and vociferous drop to a lower plane, more
+      marked still with the quick clearance of a way to supper and a lively
+      dispersal of most of the guests. Hadn&rsquo;t he made out, through the queer
+      glare of appearances, though they yet somehow all came to him as confused
+      and unreal, that the Princess was no longer there, wasn&rsquo;t even only
+      crowded out of his range by the immediate multiplication of her court, the
+      obsequious court that the change of pitch had at once permitted to close
+      round her; that Gloriani had offered her his arm, in a gallant official
+      way, as to the greatest lady present, and that he was left with half a
+      dozen persons more knowing than the others, who had promptly taken, singly
+      or in couples, to a closer inspection of the fine small scattered
+      treasures of the studio?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He himself stood there, rueful and stricken, nursing a silly red-bound
+      book under his arm very much as if he might have been holding on tight to
+      an upright stake, or to the nearest piece of furniture, during some
+      impression of a sharp earthquake-shock or of an attack of dyspeptic
+      dizziness; albeit indeed that he wasn&rsquo;t conscious of this absurd, this
+      instinctive nervous clutch till the thing that was to be more wonderful
+      than any yet suddenly flared up for him&mdash;the sight of the Princess
+      again on the threshold of the room, poised there an instant, in her
+      exquisite grace, for recovery of some one or of something, and then, at
+      recognition of him, coming straight to him across the empty place as if he
+      alone, and nobody and nothing else, were what she incredibly wanted. She
+      was there, she was radiantly <i>at</i> him, as if she had known and loved
+      him for ten years&mdash;ten years during which, however, she had never
+      quite been able, in spite of undiscouraged attempts, to cure him, as
+      goddesses <i>had</i> to cure shepherds, of his mere mortal shyness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah no, not <i>that</i> one!&rdquo; she said at once, with her divine
+      familiarity; for she had in the flash of an eye &ldquo;spotted&rdquo; the particular
+      literary production he seemed so very fondly to have possessed himself of
+      and against which all the Amy Evans in her, as she would doubtless have
+      put it, clearly wished on the spot to discriminate. She pulled it away
+      from him; he let it go; he scarce knew what was happening&mdash;only made
+      out that she distinguished the right one, the one that should have been
+      shown him, as blue or green or purple, and intimated that her other
+      friend, her fellow-Olympian, as Berridge had thought of him from the
+      first, really did too clumsily bungle matters, poor dear, with his
+      officiousness over the red one! She went on really as if she had come for
+      that, some such rectification, some such eagerness of reunion with dear
+      Mr. Berridge, some talk, after all the tiresome music, of questions really
+      urgent; while, thanks to the supreme strangeness of it, the high tide of
+      golden fable floated him afresh, and her pretext and her plea, the
+      queerness of her offered motive, melted away after the fashion of the
+      enveloping clouds that do their office in epics and idylls. &ldquo;You didn&rsquo;t
+      perhaps know I&rsquo;m Amy Evans,&rdquo; she smiled, &ldquo;or even perhaps that I write in
+      English&mdash;which I love, I assure you, as much as you can yourself do,
+      and which gives one (doesn&rsquo;t it? for who should know if not you?) the
+      biggest of publics. I &lsquo;just love&rsquo;&mdash;don&rsquo;t they say?&mdash;your
+      American millions; and all the more that they really <i>take</i> me for
+      Amy Evans, as I&rsquo;ve just wanted to be taken, to be loved too for myself,
+      don&rsquo;t you know?&mdash;that they haven&rsquo;t seemed to try at all to &lsquo;go
+      behind&rsquo; (don&rsquo;t you say?) my poor dear little <i>nom de guerre</i>. But
+      it&rsquo;s the new one, my last, &lsquo;The Velvet Glove,&rsquo; that I should like you to
+      judge me by&mdash;if such a <i>corvee</i> isn&rsquo;t too horrible for you to
+      think of; though I admit it&rsquo;s a move straight in the romantic direction&mdash;since
+      after all (for I might as well make a clean breast of it) it&rsquo;s dear old
+      discredited romance that I&rsquo;m most in sympathy with. I&rsquo;ll send you &lsquo;The
+      Velvet Glove&rsquo; to-morrow, if you <i>can</i> find half an hour for it; and
+      then&mdash;and <i>then</i>&mdash;!&rdquo; She paused as for the positive bright
+      glory of her meaning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It could only be so extraordinary, her meaning, whatever it was, that the
+      need in him that would&mdash;whatever it was again!&mdash;meet it most
+      absolutely formed the syllables on his lips as: &ldquo;Will you be very, <i>very</i>
+      kind to me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah &lsquo;kind,&rsquo; dear Mr. Berridge? &lsquo;Kind,&rsquo;&rdquo; she splendidly laughed, &ldquo;is
+      nothing to what&mdash;!&rdquo; But she pulled herself up again an instant.
+      &ldquo;Well, to what I want to be! Just <i>see</i>,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;how I want to
+      be!&rdquo; It was exactly, he felt, what he couldn&rsquo;t <i>but</i> see&mdash;in
+      spite of books and publics and pen-names, in spite of the really
+      &ldquo;decadent&rdquo; perversity, recalling that of the most irresponsibly insolent
+      of the old Romans and Byzantines, that could lead a creature so formed for
+      living and breathing her Romance, and so committed, up to the eyes, to the
+      constant fact of her personal immersion in it and genius for it, the
+      dreadful amateurish dance of ungrammatically scribbling it, with editions
+      and advertisements and reviews and royalties and every other futile item:
+      since what was more of the deep essence of throbbing intercourse itself
+      than this very act of her having broken away from people, in the other
+      room, to whom he was as nought, of her having, with her <i>crânerie</i> of
+      audacity and indifference, just turned her back on them all as soon as she
+      had begun to miss him? What was more of it than her having forbidden them,
+      by a sufficient curt ring of her own supremely silver tone, to attempt to
+      check or criticise her freedom, than her having looked him up, at his
+      distance, under all the noses he had put out of joint, so as to let them
+      think whatever they might&mdash;not of herself (much she troubled to
+      care!) but of the new champion to be reckoned with, the invincible young
+      lion of the day? What was more of it in short than her having perhaps even
+      positively snubbed for him the great mystified Sculptor and the great
+      bewildered Dramatist, treated to this queer experience for the first time
+      of their lives?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It all came back again to the really great ease of really great ladies,
+      and to the perfect facility of everything when once they were great
+      enough. <i>That</i> might become the delicious thing to him, he more and
+      more felt, as soon as it should be supremely attested; it was ground he
+      had ventured on, scenically, representation-ally, in the artistic sphere,
+      but without ever dreaming he should &ldquo;realise&rdquo; it thus in the social.
+      Handsomely, gallantly just now, moreover, he didn&rsquo;t so much as let it
+      occur to him that the social experience would perhaps on some future
+      occasion richly profit further scenic efforts; he only lost himself in the
+      consciousness of all she invited him to believe. It took licence, this
+      consciousness, the next moment, for a tremendous further throb, from what
+      she had gone on to say to him in so many words&mdash;though indeed the
+      words were nothing and it was all a matter but of the implication that
+      glimmered through them: &ldquo;Do you <i>want</i> very much your supper here?&rdquo;
+       And then while he felt himself glare, for charmed response, almost to the
+      point of his tears rising with it: &ldquo;Because if you don&rsquo;t&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because if I don&rsquo;t&mdash;?&rdquo; She had paused, not from the faintest shade
+      of timidity, but clearly for the pleasure of making him press.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why shouldn&rsquo;t we go together, letting me drive you home?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll come home with me?&rdquo; gasped John Berridge while the perspiration on
+      his brow might have been the morning dew on a high lawn of Mount Ida.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No&mdash;you had better come with <i>me</i>. That&rsquo;s what I mean; but I
+      certainly will come to you with pleasure some time if you&rsquo;ll let me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She made no more than that of the most fatuous of freedoms, as he felt
+      directly he had spoken that it might have seemed to her; and before he had
+      even time to welcome the relief of not having then himself, for beastly
+      contrition, to make more of it, she had simply mentioned, with her
+      affectionate ease, that she wanted to get away, that of the bores there
+      she might easily, after a little, have too much, and that if he&rsquo;d but say
+      the word they&rsquo;d nip straight out together by an independent door and be
+      sure to find her motor in the court. What word he had found to say, he was
+      afterward to reflect, must have little enough mattered; for he was to have
+      kept, of what then occurred, but a single other impression, that of her
+      great fragrant rustle beside him over the rest of the ample room and
+      toward their nearest and friendliest resource, the door by which he had
+      come in and which gave directly upon a staircase. This independent image
+      was just that of the only other of his fellow-guests with whom he had been
+      closely concerned; he had thought of him rather indeed, up to that moment,
+      as the Princess&rsquo;s fellow-Olympian&mdash;but a new momentary vision of him
+      seemed now to qualify it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The young Lord had reappeared within a minute on the threshold, that of
+      the passage from the supper-room, lately crossed by the Princess herself,
+      and Berridge felt him there, saw him there, wondered about him there, all,
+      for the first minute, without so much as a straight look at him. He would
+      have come to learn the reason of his friend&rsquo;s extraordinary public
+      demonstration&mdash;having more right to his curiosity, or his anxiety or
+      whatever, than any one else; he would be taking in the remarkable
+      appearances that thus completed it, and would perhaps be showing quite a
+      different face for them, at the point they had reached, than any that
+      would have hitherto consorted with the beautiful security of his own
+      position. So much, on our own young man&rsquo;s part, for this first flush of a
+      presumption that he might have stirred the germs of ire in a celestial
+      breast; so much for the moment during which nothing would have induced him
+      to betray, to a possibly rueful member of an old aristocracy, a vulgar
+      elation or a tickled, unaccustomed glee. His inevitable second thought
+      was, however, it has to be confessed, another matter, which took a
+      different turn&mdash;for, frankly, all the conscious conqueror in him, as
+      Amy Evans would again have said, couldn&rsquo;t forego a probably supreme
+      consecration. He treated himself to no prolonged reach of vision, but
+      there was something he nevertheless fully measured for five seconds&mdash;the
+      sharp truth of the fact, namely, of how the interested observer in the
+      doorway must really have felt about him. Rather disconcertingly, hereupon,
+      the sharp truth proved to be that the most amused, quite the most
+      encouraging and the least invidious of smiles graced the young Lord&rsquo;s
+      handsome countenance&mdash;forming, in short, his final contribution to a
+      display of high social candour unprecedented in our hero&rsquo;s experience. No,
+      he wasn&rsquo;t jealous, didn&rsquo;t do John Berridge the honour to be, to the extent
+      of the least glimmer of a spark of it, but was so happy to see his
+      immortal mistress do what she liked that he could positively beam at the
+      odd circumstance of her almost lavishing public caresses on a gentleman
+      not, after all, of negligible importance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      III
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Well, it was all confounding enough, but this indication in particular
+      would have jostled our friend&rsquo;s grasp of the presented cup had he had,
+      during the next ten minutes, more independence of thought. That, however,
+      was out of the question when one positively felt, as with a pang somewhere
+      deep within, or even with a smothered cry for alarm, one&rsquo;s whole sense of
+      proportion shattered at a blow and ceasing to serve. &ldquo;Not <i>straight</i>,
+      and not too fast, shall we?&rdquo; was the ineffable young woman&rsquo;s appeal to
+      him, a few minutes later, beneath the wide glass porch-cover that
+      sheltered their brief wait for their chariot of fire. It was there even as
+      she spoke; the capped charioteer, with a great clean curve, drew up at the
+      steps of the porch, and the Princess&rsquo;s footman, before rejoining him in
+      front, held open the door of the car. She got in, and Berridge was the
+      next instant beside her; he could only say: &ldquo;As you like, Princess&mdash;where
+      you will; certainly let us prolong it; let us prolong everything; don&rsquo;t
+      let us have it over&mdash;strange and beautiful as it can only be!&mdash;a
+      moment sooner than we must.&rdquo; So he spoke, in the security of their
+      intimate English, while the perpendicular imperturbable <i>valet-de-pied</i>,
+      white-faced in the electric light, closed them in and then took his place
+      on the box where the rigid liveried backs of the two men, presented
+      through the glass, were like a protecting wall; such a guarantee of
+      privacy as might come&mdash;it occurred to Berridge&rsquo;s inexpugnable fancy&mdash;from
+      a vision of tall guards erect round Eastern seraglios.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His companion had said something, by the time they started, about their
+      taking a turn, their looking out for a few of the night-views of Paris
+      that were so wonderful; and after that, in spite of his constantly prized
+      sense of knowing his enchanted city and his way about, he ceased to follow
+      or measure their course, content as he was with the particular exquisite
+      assurance it gave him. <i>That</i> was knowing Paris, of a wondrous bland
+      April night; that was hanging over it from vague consecrated lamp-studded
+      heights and taking in, spread below and afar, the great scroll of all its
+      irresistible story, pricked out, across river and bridge and radiant <i>place</i>,
+      and along quays and boulevards and avenues, and around monumental circles
+      and squares, in syllables of fire, and sketched and summarised, further
+      and further, in the dim fire-dust of endless avenues; that was all of the
+      essence of fond and thrilled and throbbing recognition, with a thousand
+      things understood and a flood of response conveyed, a whole familiar
+      possessive feeling appealed to and attested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From you, you know, it <i>would</i> be such a pleasure, and I think&mdash;in
+      fact I&rsquo;m sure&mdash;it would do so much for the thing in America.&rdquo; Had she
+      gone on as they went, or had there been pauses of easy and of charmed and
+      of natural silence, breaks and drops from talk, but only into greater
+      confidence and sweetness?&mdash;such as her very gesture now seemed a part
+      of; her laying her gloved hand, for emphasis, on the back of his own,
+      which rested on his knee and which took in from the act he scarce knew
+      what melting assurance. The emphasis, it was true&mdash;this came to him
+      even while for a minute he held his breath&mdash;seemed rather that of Amy
+      Evans; and if her talk, while they rolled, had been in the sense of these
+      words (he had really but felt that they were shut intimately in together,
+      all his consciousness, all his discrimination of meanings and indications
+      being so deeply and so exquisitely merged in that) the case wasn&rsquo;t as
+      surely and sublimely, as extravagantly, as fabulously romantic for him as
+      his excited pulses had been seeming to certify. Her hand was there on his
+      own, in precious living proof, and splendid Paris hung over them, as a
+      consecrating canopy, her purple night embroidered with gold; yet he
+      waited, something stranger still having glimmered for him, waited though
+      she left her hand, which expressed emphasis and homage and tenderness, and
+      anything else she liked indeed&mdash;since it was all then a matter of
+      what he next heard and what he slowly grew cold as he took from her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know they do it here so charmingly&mdash;it&rsquo;s a compliment a clever
+      man is always so glad to pay a literary friend, and sometimes, in the case
+      of a great name like yours, it renders such a service to a poor little
+      book like mine!&rdquo; She spoke ever so humbly and yet ever so gaily&mdash;and
+      still more than before with this confidence of the sincere admirer and the
+      comrade. That, yes, through his sudden sharpening chill, was what first
+      became distinct for him; she was mentioning somehow her explanation and
+      her conditions&mdash;her motive, in fine, disconcerting, deplorable,
+      dreadful, in respect to the experience, otherwise so boundless, that he
+      had taken her as having opened to him; and she was doing it, above all,
+      with the clearest coolness of her general privilege. What in particular
+      she was talking about he as yet, still holding his breath, wondered; it
+      was something she wanted him to do for her&mdash;which was exactly what he
+      had hoped, but something of what trivial and, heaven forgive them both, of
+      what dismal order? Most of all, meanwhile, he felt the dire penetration of
+      two or three of the words she had used; so that after a painful minute the
+      quaver with which he repeated them resembled his-drawing, slowly,
+      carefully, timidly, some barbed dart out of his flesh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A &lsquo;literary friend&rsquo;?&rdquo; he echoed as he turned his face more to her; so
+      that, as they sat, the whites of her eyes, near to his own, gleamed in the
+      dusk like some silver setting of deep sapphires.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It made her smile&mdash;which in their relation now was like the breaking
+      of a cool air-wave over the conscious sore flush that maintained itself
+      through his general chill. &ldquo;Ah, of course you don&rsquo;t allow that I <i>am</i>
+      literary&mdash;and of course if you&rsquo;re awfully cruel and critical and
+      incorruptible you won&rsquo;t let it say for me what I so want it should!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where are we, where, in the name of all that&rsquo;s damnably, of all that&rsquo;s
+      grotesquely delusive, are we?&rdquo; he said, without a sign, to himself; which
+      was the form of his really being quite at sea as to what she was talking
+      about. That uncertainty indeed he could but frankly betray by taking her
+      up, as he cast about him, on the particular ambiguity that his voice
+      perhaps already showed him to find most irritating. &ldquo;Let it show? &lsquo;It,&rsquo; 
+      dear Princess&mdash;&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, my dear man, let your Preface show, the lovely, friendly,
+      irresistible log-rolling Preface that I&rsquo;ve been asking you if you wouldn&rsquo;t
+      be an angel and write for me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He took it in with a deep long gulp&mdash;he had never, it seemed to him,
+      had to swallow anything so bitter. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve been asking me if I wouldn&rsquo;t
+      write you a Preface?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To &lsquo;The Velvet Glove&rsquo;&mdash;after I&rsquo;ve sent it to you and you&rsquo;ve judged
+      if you really can. Of course I don&rsquo;t want you to perjure yourself; but&rdquo;&mdash;and
+      she fairly brushed him again, at their close quarters, with her fresh
+      fragrant smile&mdash;&ldquo;I do want you so to like me, and to say it all out
+      beautifully and publicly.&rdquo; &ldquo;You want me to like you, Princess?&rdquo; &ldquo;But,
+      heaven help us, haven&rsquo;t you understood?&rdquo; Nothing stranger could
+      conceivably have been, it struck him&mdash;if he was right now&mdash;than
+      this exquisite intimacy of her manner of setting him down on the other
+      side of an abyss. It was as if she had lifted him first in her beautiful
+      arms, had raised him up high, high, high, to do it, pressing him to her
+      immortal young breast while he let himself go, and then, by some
+      extraordinary effect of her native force and her alien quality, setting
+      him down exactly where she wanted him to be&mdash;which was a thousand
+      miles away from her. Once more, so preposterously face to face with her
+      for these base issues, he took it all in; after which he felt his eyes
+      close, for amazement, despair and shame, and his head, which he had some
+      time before, baring his brow to the mild night, eased of its crush-hat,
+      sink to confounded rest on the upholstered back of the seat. The act, the
+      ceasing to see, and if possible to hear, was for the moment a retreat, an
+      escape from a state that he felt himself fairly flatter by thinking of it
+      as &ldquo;awkward&rdquo;; the state of really wishing that his humiliation might end,
+      and of wondering in fact if the most decent course open to him mightn&rsquo;t be
+      to ask her to stop the motor and let him down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He spoke no word for a long minute, or for considerably more than that;
+      during which time the motor went and went, now even somewhat faster, and
+      he knew, through his closed eyes, that the outer lights had begun to
+      multiply and that they were getting back somewhere into the spacious and
+      decorative quarters. He knew this, and also that his retreat, for all his
+      attitude as of accommodating thought, his air&mdash;<i>that</i> presently
+      and quickly came to him&mdash;of having perhaps gathered himself in, for
+      an instant, at her behest, to turn over, in his high ingenuity, some
+      humbugging &ldquo;rotten&rdquo; phrase or formula that he might place at her service
+      and make the note of such an effort; he became aware, I say, that his
+      lapse was but a half-retreat, with her strenuous presence and her earnest
+      pressure and the close cool respiration of her good faith absolutely
+      timing the moments of his stillness and the progress of the car. Yes, it
+      was wondrous well, he had all but made the biggest of all fools of
+      himself, almost as big a one as <i>she</i> was still, to every appearance,
+      in her perfect serenity, trying to make of him; and the one straight
+      answer to it <i>would</i> be that he should reach forward and touch the
+      footman&rsquo;s shoulder and demand that the vehicle itself should make an end.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That would be an answer, however, he continued intensely to see, only to
+      inanely importunate, to utterly superfluous Amy Evans&mdash;not a bit to
+      his at last exquisitely patient companion, who was clearly now quite
+      taking it from him that what kept him in his attitude was the spring of
+      the quick desire to oblige her, the charming loyal impulse to consider a
+      little what he could do for her, say &ldquo;handsomely yet conscientiously&rdquo; (oh
+      the loveliness!) before he should commit himself. She was enchanted&mdash;<i>that</i>
+      seemed to breathe upon him; she waited, she hung there, she quite bent
+      over him, as Diana over the sleeping Endymion, while all the conscientious
+      man of letters in him, as she might so supremely have phrased it,
+      struggled with the more peccable, the more muddled and &ldquo;squared,&rdquo; though,
+      for her own ideal, the so much more <i>banal</i> comrade. Yes, he could
+      keep it up now&mdash;that is he could hold out for his real reply, could
+      meet the rather marked tension of the rest of their passage as well as
+      she; he should be able somehow or other to make his wordless detachment,
+      the tribute of his ostensibly deep consideration of her request, a retreat
+      in good order. She <i>was</i>, for herself, to the last point of her
+      guileless fatuity, Amy Evans and an asker for &ldquo;lifts,&rdquo; a conceiver of
+      twaddle both in herself and in him; or at least, so far as she fell short
+      of all this platitude, it was no fault of the really affecting folly of
+      her attempt to become a mere magazine mortal after the only fashion she
+      had made out, to the intensification of her self-complacency, that she
+      might.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nothing might thus have touched him more&mdash;if to be touched, beyond a
+      certain point, hadn&rsquo;t been to be squared&mdash;than the way she failed to
+      divine the bearing of his thoughts; so that she had probably at no one
+      small crisis of her life felt so much a promise in the flutter of her own
+      as on the occasion of the beautiful act she indulged in at the very
+      moment, he was afterward to recognise, of their sweeping into her great
+      smooth, empty, costly street&mdash;a desert, at that hour, of lavish
+      lamplight and sculptured stone. She raised to her lips the hand she had
+      never yet released and kept it there a moment pressed close against them;
+      he himself closing his eyes to the deepest detachment he was capable of
+      while he took in with a smothered sound of pain that this was the
+      conferred bounty by which Amy Evans sought most expressively to encourage,
+      to sustain and to reward. The motor had slackened and in a moment would
+      stop; and meanwhile even after lowering his hand again she hadn&rsquo;t let it
+      go. This enabled it, while he after a further moment roused himself to a
+      more confessed consciousness, to form with his friend&rsquo;s a more active
+      relation, to possess him of hers, in turn, and with an intention the
+      straighter that her glove had by this time somehow come off. Bending over
+      it without hinderance, he returned as firmly and fully as the application
+      of all his recovered wholeness of feeling, under his moustache, might
+      express, the consecration the bareness of his own knuckles had received;
+      only after which it was that, still thus drawing out his grasp of her, and
+      having let down their front glass by his free hand, he signified to the
+      footman his view of their stopping short.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They had arrived; the high, closed <i>porte-cochere</i>, in its crested
+      stretch of wall, awaited their approach; but his gesture took effect, the
+      car pulled up at the edge of the pavement, the man, in an instant, was at
+      the door and had opened it; quickly moving across the walk, the next
+      moment, to press the bell at the gate. Berridge, as his hand now broke
+      away, felt he had cut his cable; with which, after he had stepped out, he
+      raised again the glass he had lowered and closed, its own being already
+      down, the door that had released him. During these motions he had the
+      sense of his companion, still radiant and splendid, but somehow
+      momentarily suppressed, suspended, silvered over and celestially blurred,
+      even as a summer moon by the loose veil of a cloud. So it was he saw her
+      while he leaned for farewell on the open window-ledge; he took her in as
+      her visible intensity of bright vagueness filled the circle that the
+      interior of the car made for her. It was such a state as she would have
+      been reduced to&mdash;he felt this, was certain of it&mdash;for the first
+      time in her life; and it was he, poor John Berridge, after all, who would
+      have created the condition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good-night, Princess. I sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t see you again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Vague was indeed no word for it&mdash;shine though she might, in her
+      screened narrow niche, as with the liquefaction of her pearls, the glimmer
+      of her tears, the freshness of her surprise. &ldquo;You won&rsquo;t come in&mdash;when
+      you&rsquo;ve had no supper?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He smiled at her with a purpose of kindness that could never in his life
+      have been greater; and at first but smiled without a word. He presently
+      shook his head, however&mdash;doubtless also with as great a sadness. &ldquo;I
+      seem to have supped to my fill, Princess. Thank you, I won&rsquo;t come in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It drew from her, while she looked at him, a long low anxious wail. &ldquo;And
+      you won&rsquo;t do my Preface?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Princess, I won&rsquo;t do your Preface. Nothing would induce me to say a
+      word in print about you. I&rsquo;m in fact not sure I shall ever mention you in
+      any manner at all as long as ever I live.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had felt for an instant as if he were speaking to some miraculously
+      humanised idol, all sacred, all jewelled, all votively hung about, but
+      made mysterious, in the recess of its shrine, by the very thickness of the
+      accumulated lustre. And &ldquo;Then you don&rsquo;t like me&mdash;?&rdquo; was the
+      marvellous sound from the image.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Princess,&rdquo; was in response the sound of the worshipper, &ldquo;Princess, I
+      adore you. But I&rsquo;m ashamed for you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ashamed&mdash;&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You <i>are</i> Romance&mdash;as everything, and by what I make out every
+      one, about you is; so what more do you want? Your Preface&mdash;the only
+      one worth speaking of&mdash;was written long ages ago by the most
+      beautiful imagination of man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Humanised at least for these moments, she could understand enough to
+      declare that she didn&rsquo;t. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t, I don&rsquo;t!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t need to understand. Don&rsquo;t attempt such base things. Leave those
+      to us. Only live. Only be. <i>We&rsquo;ll</i> do the rest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She moved over&mdash;she had come close to the window. &ldquo;Ah, but Mr.
+      Berridge&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He raised both hands; he shook them at her gently, in deep and soft
+      deprecation. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t sound my dreadful name. Fortunately, however, you
+      can&rsquo;t help yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, <i>voyons!</i> I so want&mdash;&mdash;-!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He repeated his gesture, and when he brought down his hands they closed
+      together on both of hers, which now quite convulsively grasped the
+      window-ledge. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t speak, because when you speak you really say things&mdash;!&rdquo;
+       &ldquo;You <i>are</i> Romance,&rdquo; he pronounced afresh and with the last intensity
+      of conviction and persuasion. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s all you have to do with it,&rdquo; he
+      continued while his hands, for emphasis, pressed hard on her own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their faces, in this way, were nearer together than ever, but with the
+      effect of only adding to the vividness of that dire non-intelligence from
+      which, all perversely and incalculably, her very beauty now appeared to
+      gain relief. This made for him a pang and almost an anguish; the fear of
+      her saying something yet again that would wretchedly prove how little he
+      moved her perception. So his eyes, of remonstrant, of suppliant intention,
+      met hers close, at the same time that these, so far from shrinking, but
+      with their quite other swimming plea all bedimmed now, seemed almost to
+      wash him with the tears of her failure. He soothed, he stroked, he
+      reassured her hands, for tender conveyance of his meaning, quite as she
+      had just before dealt with his own for brave demonstration of hers. It was
+      during these instants as if the question had been which of them <i>could</i>
+      most candidly and fraternally plead. Full but of that she kept it up. &ldquo;Ah,
+      if you&rsquo;d only think, if you&rsquo;d only try&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He couldn&rsquo;t stand it&mdash;she was capable of believing he had edged away,
+      excusing himself and trumping up a factitious theory, because he hadn&rsquo;t
+      the wit, hadn&rsquo;t the hand, to knock off the few pleasant pages she asked
+      him for and that any proper Frenchman, master of the <i>metier</i>, would
+      so easily and gallantly have promised. Should she so begin to commit
+      herself he&rsquo;d, by the immortal gods, anticipate it in the manner most
+      admirably effective&mdash;in fact he&rsquo;d even thus make her further
+      derogation impossible. Their faces were so close that he could practise
+      any rich freedom&mdash;even though for an instant, while the back of the
+      chauffeur guarded them on that side and his own presented breadth,
+      amplified by his loose mantle, filled the whole window-space, leaving him
+      no observation from any quarter to heed, he uttered, in a deep-drawn final
+      groan, an irrepressible echo of his pang for what might have been, the
+      muffled cry of his insistence. &ldquo;You <i>are</i> Romance!&rdquo;&mdash;he drove it
+      intimately, inordinately home, his lips, for a long moment, sealing it,
+      with the fullest force of authority, on her own; after which, as he broke
+      away and the car, starting again, turned powerfully across the pavement,
+      he had no further sound from her than if, all divinely indulgent but all
+      humanly defeated, she had given the question up, falling back to infinite
+      wonder. He too fell back, but could still wave his hat for her as she
+      passed to disappearance in the great floridly framed aperture whose wings
+      at once came together behind her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      A ROUND OF VISITS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      I
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      HE had been out but once since his arrival, Mark Monteith; that was the
+      next day after&mdash;he had disembarked by night on the previous; then
+      everything had come at once, as he would have said, everything had
+      changed. He had got in on Tuesday; he had spent Wednesday for the most
+      part down town, looking into the dismal subject of his anxiety&mdash;the
+      anxiety that, under a sudden decision, had brought him across the
+      unfriendly sea at mid-winter, and it was through information reaching him
+      on Wednesday evening that he had measured his loss, measured above all his
+      pain. These were two distinct things, he felt, and, though both bad, one
+      much worse than the other. It wasn&rsquo;t till the next three days had pretty
+      well ebbed, in fact, that he knew himself for so badly wounded. He had
+      waked up on Thursday morning, so far as he had slept at all, with the
+      sense, together, of a blinding New York blizzard and of a deep sore inward
+      ache. The great white savage storm would have kept him at the best within
+      doors, but his stricken state was by itself quite reason enough.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He so felt the blow indeed, so gasped, before what had happened to him, at
+      the ugliness, the bitterness, and, beyond these things, the sinister
+      strangeness, that, the matter of his dismay little by little detaching and
+      projecting itself, settling there face to face with him as something he
+      must now live with always, he might have been in charge of some horrid
+      alien thing, some violent, scared, unhappy creature whom there was small
+      joy, of a truth, in remaining with, but whose behaviour wouldn&rsquo;t perhaps
+      bring him under notice, nor otherwise compromise him, so long as he should
+      stay to watch it. A young jibbering ape of one of the more formidable
+      sorts, or an ominous infant panther, smuggled into the great gaudy hotel
+      and whom it might yet be important he shouldn&rsquo;t advertise, couldn&rsquo;t have
+      affected him as needing more domestic attention. The great gaudy hotel&mdash;The
+      Pocahontas, but carried out largely on &ldquo;Du Barry&rdquo; lines&mdash;made all
+      about him, beside, behind, below, above, in blocks and tiers and
+      superpositions, a sufficient defensive hugeness; so that, between the
+      massive labyrinth and the New York weather, life in a lighthouse during a
+      gale would scarce have kept him more apart. Even when in the course of
+      that worse Thursday it had occurred to him for vague relief that the
+      odious certified facts couldn&rsquo;t be all his misery, and that, with his
+      throat and a probable temperature, a brush of the epidemic, which was for
+      ever brushing him, accounted for something, even then he couldn&rsquo;t resign
+      himself to bed and broth and dimness, but only circled and prowled the
+      more within his high cage, only watched the more from his tenth story the
+      rage of the elements.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the afternoon he had a doctor&mdash;the caravanserai, which supplied
+      everything in quantities, had one for each group of so many rooms&mdash;just
+      in order to be assured that he was <i>grippé</i> enough for anything. What
+      his visitor, making light of his attack, perversely told him was that he
+      was, much rather, &ldquo;blue&rdquo; enough, and from causes doubtless known to
+      himself&mdash;which didn&rsquo;t come to the same thing; but he &ldquo;gave him
+      something,&rdquo; prescribed him warmth and quiet and broth and courage, and
+      came back the next day as to readminister this last dose. He then
+      pronounced him better, and on Saturday pronounced him well&mdash;all the
+      more that the storm had abated and the snow had been dealt with as New
+      York, at a push, knew how to deal with things. Oh, how New York knew how
+      to deal&mdash;to deal, that is, with other accumulations lying passive to
+      its hand&mdash;was exactly what Mark now ached with his impression of; so
+      that, still threshing about in this consciousness, he had on the Saturday
+      come near to breaking out as to what was the matter with him. The Doctor
+      brought in somehow the air of the hotel&mdash;which, cheerfully and
+      conscientiously, by his simple philosophy, the good man wished to diffuse;
+      breathing forth all the echoes of other woes and worries and pointing the
+      honest moral that, especially with such a thermometer, there were enough
+      of these to go round.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our sufferer, by that time, would have liked to tell some one; extracting,
+      to the last acid strain of it, the full strength of his sorrow, taking it
+      all in as he could only do by himself and with the conditions favourable
+      at least to this, had been his natural first need. But now, he supposed,
+      he <i>must</i> be better; there was something of his heart&rsquo;s heaviness he
+      wanted so to give out. He had rummaged forth on the Thursday night half a
+      dozen old photographs stuck into a leather frame, a small show-case that
+      formed part of his usual equipage of travel&mdash;he mostly set it up on a
+      table when he stayed anywhere long enough; and in one of the neat
+      gilt-edged squares of this convenient portable array, as familiar as his
+      shaving-glass or the hair-brushes, of backs and monograms now so
+      beautifully toned and wasted, long ago given him by his mother, Phil
+      Blood-good handsomely faced him. Not contemporaneous, and a little faded,
+      but so saying what it said only the more dreadfully, the image seemed to
+      sit there, at an immemorial window, like some long effective and only at
+      last exposed &ldquo;decoy&rdquo; of fate. It was <i>because</i> he was so beautifully
+      good-looking, because he was so charming and clever and frank&mdash;besides
+      being one&rsquo;s third cousin, or whatever it was, one&rsquo;s early schoolfellow and
+      one&rsquo;s later college classmate&mdash;that one had abjectly trusted him. To
+      live thus with his unremoved, undestroyed, engaging, treacherous face, had
+      been, as our traveller desired, to live with all of the felt pang; had
+      been to consume it in such a single hot, sore mouthful as would so far as
+      possible dispose of it and leave but cold dregs. Thus, if the Doctor,
+      casting about for pleasantness, had happened to notice him there, salient
+      since he was, and possibly by the same stroke even to know him, as New
+      York&mdash;and more or less to its cost now, mightn&rsquo;t one say?&mdash;so
+      abundantly and agreeable had, the cup would have overflowed and Monteith,
+      for all he could be sure of the contrary, would have relieved himself
+      positively in tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh <i>he&rsquo;s</i> what&rsquo;s the matter with me&mdash;that, looking after some
+      of my poor dividends, as he for the ten years of my absence had served me
+      by doing, he has simply jockeyed me out of the whole little collection,
+      such as it was, and taken the opportunity of my return, inevitably at last
+      bewildered and uneasy, to &lsquo;sail,&rsquo; ten days ago, for parts unknown and as
+      yet unguessable. It isn&rsquo;t the beastly values themselves, however; that&rsquo;s
+      only awkward and I can still live, though I don&rsquo;t quite know how I shall
+      turn round; it&rsquo;s the horror of <i>his</i> having done it, and done it to
+      <i>me</i>&mdash;without a mitigation or, so to speak, a warning or an
+      excuse.&rdquo; That, at a hint or a jog, is what he would have brought out&mdash;only
+      to feel afterward, no doubt, that he had wasted his impulse and profaned
+      even a little his sincerity. The Doctor didn&rsquo;t in the event so much as
+      glance at his cluster of portraits&mdash;which fact quite put before our
+      friend the essentially more vivid range of imagery that a pair of eyes
+      transferred from room to room and from one queer case to another, in such
+      a place as that, would mainly be adjusted to. It wasn&rsquo;t for <i>him</i> to
+      relieve himself touchingly, strikingly or whatever, to such a man: such a
+      man might much more pertinently&mdash;save for professional discretion&mdash;have
+      emptied out there his own bag of wonders; prodigies of observation,
+      flowers of oddity, flowers of misery, flowers of the monstrous, gathered
+      in current hotel practice. Countless possibilities, making doctors
+      perfunctory, Mark felt, swarmed and seethed at their doors; it showed for
+      an incalculable world, and at last, on Sunday, he decided to leave his
+      room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      II
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Everything, as he passed through the place, went on&mdash;all the offices
+      of life, the whole bustle of the market, and withal, surprisingly, scarce
+      less that of the nursery and the playground; the whole sprawl in especial
+      of the great gregarious fireside: it was a complete social scene in
+      itself, on which types might figure and passions rage and plots thicken
+      and dramas develop, without reference to any other sphere, or perhaps even
+      to anything at all outside. The signs of this met him at every turn as he
+      threaded the labyrinth, passing from one extraordinary masquerade of
+      expensive objects, one portentous &ldquo;period&rdquo; of decoration, one violent
+      phase of publicity, to another: the heavy heat, the luxuriance, the
+      extravagance, the quantity, the colour, gave the impression of some
+      wondrous tropical forest, where vociferous, bright-eyed, and feathered
+      creatures, of every variety of size and hue, were half smothered between
+      undergrowths of velvet and tapestry and ramifications of marble and
+      bronze. The fauna and the flora startled him alike, and among them his
+      bruised spirit drew in and folded its wings. But he roamed and rested,
+      exploring and in a manner enjoying the vast rankness&mdash;in the depth of
+      which he suddenly encountered Mrs. Folliott, whom he had last seen, six
+      months before, in London, and who had spoken to him then, precisely, of
+      Phil Bloodgood, for several years previous her confidential American agent
+      and factotum too, as she might say, but at that time so little in her good
+      books, for the extraordinary things he seemed to be doing, that she was
+      just hurrying home, she had made no scruple of mentioning, to take
+      everything out of his hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark remembered how uneasy she had made him&mdash;how that very talk with
+      her had wound him up to fear, as so acute and intent a little person she
+      affected him; though he had affirmed with all emphasis and flourish his
+      own confidence and defended, to iteration, his old friend. This passage
+      had remained with him for a certain pleasant heat of intimacy, his
+      partner, of the charming appearance, being what she was; he liked to think
+      how they had fraternised over their difference and called each other
+      idiots, or almost, without offence. It was always a link to have scuffled,
+      failing a real scratch, with such a character; and he had at present the
+      flutter of feeling that something of this would abide. <i>He</i> hadn&rsquo;t
+      been hurrying home, at the London time, in any case; he was doing nothing
+      then, and had continued to do it; he would want, before showing suspicion&mdash;that
+      had been his attitude&mdash;to have more, after all, to go upon. Mrs.
+      Folliott also, and with a great actual profession of it, remembered and
+      rejoiced; and, also staying in the house as she was, sat with him, under a
+      spreading palm, in a wondrous rococo salon, surrounded by the pinkest,
+      that is the fleshiest, imitation Boucher panels, and wanted to know if he
+      <i>now</i> stood up for his swindler. She would herself have tumbled on a
+      cloud, very passably, in a fleshy Boucher manner, hadn&rsquo;t she been
+      over-dressed for such an exercise; but she was quite realistically aware
+      of what had so naturally happened&mdash;she was prompt about Bloodgood&rsquo;s
+      &ldquo;flight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She had acted with energy, on getting back&mdash;she had saved what she
+      could; which hadn&rsquo;t, however, prevented her losing all disgustedly some
+      ten thousand dollars. She was lovely, lively, friendly, interested, she
+      connected Monteith perfectly with their discussion that day during the
+      water-party on the Thames; but, sitting here with him half an hour, she
+      talked only of her peculiar, her cruel sacrifice&mdash;since she should
+      never get a penny back. He had felt himself, on their meeting, quite
+      yearningly reach out to her&mdash;so decidedly, by the morning&rsquo;s end, and
+      that of his scattered sombre stations, had he been sated with meaningless
+      contacts, with the sense of people all about him intensely, though
+      harmlessly, animated, yet at the same time raspingly indifferent. <i>They</i>
+      would have, he and she at least, their common pang&mdash;through which
+      fact, somehow, he should feel less stranded. It wasn&rsquo;t that he wanted to
+      be pitied&mdash;he fairly didn&rsquo;t pity himself; he winced, rather, and even
+      to vicarious anguish, as it rose again, for poor shamed Bloodgood&rsquo;s
+      doom-ridden figure. But he wanted, as with a desperate charity, to give
+      some easier turn to the mere ugliness of the main facts; to work off his
+      obsession from them by mixing with it some other blame, some other pity,
+      it scarce mattered what&mdash;if it might be some other experience; as an
+      effect of which larger ventilation it would have, after a fashion and for
+      a man of free sensibility, a diluted and less poisonous taste.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By the end of five minutes of Mrs. Folliott, however, he felt his dry lips
+      seal themselves to a makeshift simper. She could <i>take</i> nothing&mdash;no
+      better, no broader perception of anything than fitted her own small
+      faculty; so that though she must have recalled or imagined that he had
+      still, up to lately, had interests at stake, the rapid result of her
+      egotistical little chatter was to make him wish he might rather have
+      conversed with the French waiter dangling in the long vista that showed
+      the oriental café as a climax, or with the policeman, outside, the top of
+      whose helmet peeped above the ledge of a window. She bewailed her wretched
+      money to excess&mdash;she who, he was sure, had quantities more; she pawed
+      and tossed her bare bone, with her little extraordinarily gemmed and
+      manicured hands, till it acted on his nerves; she rang all the changes on
+      the story, the dire fatality, of her having wavered and muddled, thought
+      of this and but done that, of her stupid failure to have pounced, when she
+      had first meant to, in season. She abused the author of their wrongs&mdash;recognising
+      thus too Monteith&rsquo;s right to loathe him&mdash;for the desperado he
+      assuredly had proved, but with a vulgarity of analysis and an incapacity
+      for the higher criticism, as her listener felt it to be, which made him
+      determine resentfully, almost grimly, that she shouldn&rsquo;t have the benefit
+      of a grain of <i>his</i> vision or <i>his</i> version of what had befallen
+      them, and of how, in particular, it had come; and should never dream
+      thereby (though much would she suffer from that!) of how interesting he
+      might have been. She had, in a finer sense, no manners, and to be
+      concerned with her in any retrospect was&mdash;since their discourse was
+      of losses&mdash;to feel the dignity of history incur the very gravest. It
+      was true that such fantasies, or that any shade of inward irony, would be
+      Greek to Mrs. Folliott. It was also true, however, and not much more
+      strange, when she had presently the comparatively happy thought of &ldquo;Lunch
+      with <i>us</i>, you poor dear!&rdquo; and mentioned three or four of her &ldquo;crowd&rdquo;&mdash;a
+      new crowd, rather, for her, all great Sunday lunchers there and immense
+      fun, who would in a moment be turning up&mdash;that this seemed to him as
+      easy as anything else; so that after a little, deeper in the jungle and
+      while, under the temperature as of high noon, with the crowd complete and
+      &ldquo;ordering,&rdquo; he wiped the perspiration from his brow, he felt he was
+      letting himself go. He did that certainly to the extent of leaving far
+      behind any question of Mrs. Folliott&rsquo;s manners. They didn&rsquo;t matter there&mdash;nobody&rsquo;s
+      did; and if she ceased to lament her ten thousand it was only because,
+      among higher voices, she couldn&rsquo;t make herself heard. Poor Blood-good
+      didn&rsquo;t have a show, as they might have said, didn&rsquo;t get through at any
+      point; the crowd was so new that&mdash;there either having been no hue and
+      cry for him, or having been too many others, for other absconders, in the
+      intervals&mdash;they had never so much as heard of him and would have no
+      more of Mrs. Folliott&rsquo;s true inwardness, on that subject at least, than
+      she had lately cared to have of Monteith&rsquo;s.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was nothing like a crowd, this unfortunate knew, for making one feel
+      lonely, and he felt so increasingly during the meal; but he got thus at
+      least in a measure away from the terrible little lady; after which, and
+      before the end of the hour, he wanted still more to get away from every
+      one else. He was in fact about to perform this manoeuvre when he was
+      checked by the jolly young woman he had been having on his left and who
+      had more to say about the Hotels, up and down the town, than he had ever
+      known a young woman to have to say on any subject at all; she expressed
+      herself in hotel terms exclusively, the names of those establishments
+      playing through her speech as the <i>leit-motif</i> might have recurrently
+      flashed and romped through a piece of profane modern music. She wanted to
+      present him to the pretty girl she had brought with her, and who had
+      apparently signified to her that she must do so.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think you know my brother-in-law, Mr. Newton Winch,&rdquo; the pretty girl
+      had immediately said; she moved her head and shoulders together, as by a
+      common spring, the effect of a stiff neck or of something loosened in her
+      back hair; but becoming, queerly enough, all the prettier for doing so. He
+      had seen in the papers, her brother-in-law, Mr. Monteith&rsquo;s arrival&mdash;Mr.
+      Mark P. Monteith, wasn&rsquo;t it?&mdash;and where he was, and she had been with
+      him, three days before, at the time; whereupon he had said &ldquo;Hullo, what
+      can have brought old Mark back?&rdquo; He seemed to have believed&mdash;Newton
+      had seemed&mdash;that that shirker, as he called him, never <i>would</i>
+      come; and she guessed that if she had known she was going to meet such a
+      former friend (&ldquo;Which he claims you are, sir,&rdquo; said the pretty girl) he
+      would have asked her to find out what the trouble could be. But the real
+      satisfaction would just be, she went on, if his former friend would
+      himself go and see him and tell him; he had appeared of late so down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I remember him&rdquo;&mdash;Mark didn&rsquo;t repudiate the friendship, placing
+      him easily; only then he wasn&rsquo;t married and the pretty girl&rsquo;s sister must
+      have come in later: which showed, his not knowing such things, how they
+      had lost touch. The pretty girl was sorry to have to say in return to this
+      that her sister wasn&rsquo;t living&mdash;had died two years after marrying; so
+      that Newton was up there in Fiftieth Street alone; where (in explanation
+      of his being &ldquo;down&rdquo;) he had been shut up for days with bad <i>grippe</i>;
+      though now on the mend, or she wouldn&rsquo;t have gone to him, not she, who had
+      had it nineteen times and didn&rsquo;t want to have it again. But the horrid
+      poison just seemed to have entered into poor Newton&rsquo;s soul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the way it <i>can</i> take you, don&rsquo;t you know?&rdquo; And then as, with
+      her single twist, she just charmingly hunched her eyes at our friend,
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you want to go to see him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark bethought himself: &ldquo;Well, I&rsquo;m going to see a lady&mdash;&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She took the words from his mouth. &ldquo;Of course you&rsquo;re going to see a lady&mdash;every
+      man in New York is. But Newton isn&rsquo;t a lady, unfortunately for him,
+      to-day; and Sunday afternoon in this place, in this weather, alone&mdash;&mdash;-!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, isn&rsquo;t it awful?&rdquo;&mdash;he was quite drawn to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, <i>you&rsquo;ve</i> got your lady!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I&rsquo;ve got my lady, thank goodness!&rdquo; The fervour of which was his
+      sincere tribute to the note he had had on Friday morning from Mrs. Ash,
+      the only thing that had a little tempered his gloom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well then, feel for others. Fit him in. Tell him why!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why I&rsquo;ve come back? I&rsquo;m glad I <i>have</i>&mdash;since it was to see <i>you</i>!&rdquo;
+       Monteith made brave enough answer, promising to do what he could. He liked
+      the pretty girl, with her straight attack and her free awkwardness&mdash;also
+      with her difference from the others through something of a sense and a
+      distinction given her by so clearly having Newton on her mind. Yet it was
+      odd to him, and it showed the lapse of the years, that Winch&mdash;as he
+      had known him of old&mdash;could <i>be</i> to that degree on any one&rsquo;s
+      mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      III
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Outside in the intensity of the cold&mdash;it was a jump from the Tropics
+      to the Pole&mdash;he felt afresh the force of what he had just been
+      saying; that if it weren&rsquo;t for the fact of Mrs. Ash&rsquo;s good letter of
+      welcome, despatched, characteristically, as soon as she had, like the
+      faithful sufferer in Fiftieth Street, observed his name, in a newspaper,
+      on one of the hotel-lists, he should verily, for want of a connection and
+      an abutment, have scarce dared to face the void and the chill together,
+      but have sneaked back into the jungle and there tried to lose himself. He
+      made, as it was, the opposite effort, resolute to walk, though hovering
+      now and then at vague crossways, radiations of roads to nothing, or taking
+      cold counsel of the long but still sketchy vista, as it struck him, of the
+      northward Avenue, bright and bleak, fresh and harsh, rich and evident
+      somehow, a perspective like a page of florid modern platitudes. He didn&rsquo;t
+      quite know what he had expected for his return&mdash;not certainly
+      serenades and deputations; but without Mrs. Ash his mail would have quite
+      lacked geniality, and it was as if Phil Blood-good had gone off not only
+      with so large a slice of his small <i>peculium</i>, but with all the
+      broken bits of the past, the loose ends of old relationships, that he had
+      supposed he might pick up again. Well, perhaps he should still pick up a
+      few&mdash;by the sweat of his brow; no motion of their own at least, he by
+      this time judged, would send them fluttering into his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Which reflections but quickened his forecast of this charm of the old
+      Paris inveteracy renewed&mdash;the so-prized custom of nine years before,
+      when he still believed in results from his fond frequentation of the Beaux
+      Arts; that of walking over the river to the Rue de Marignan, precisely,
+      every Sunday without exception, and sitting at her fireside, and often all
+      offensively, no doubt, outstaying every one. How he had used to want those
+      hours then, and how again, after a little, at present, the Rue de Marignan
+      might have been before him! He had gone to her there at that time with his
+      troubles, such as they were, and they had always worked for her amusement&mdash;which
+      had been her happy, her clever way of taking them: she couldn&rsquo;t have done
+      anything better for them in that phase, poor innocent things compared with
+      what they might have been, than be amused by them. Perhaps that was what
+      she would still be&mdash;with those of his present hour; now too they
+      might inspire her with the touch she best applied and was most instinctive
+      mistress of: this didn&rsquo;t at all events strike him as what he should most
+      resent. It wasn&rsquo;t as if Mrs. Folliott, to make up for boring him with her
+      own plaint, for example, had had so much as a gleam of conscious diversion
+      over his.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;m <i>so</i> delighted to see you, I&rsquo;ve such immensities to tell you!&rdquo;&mdash;it
+      began with the highest animation twenty minutes later, the very moment he
+      stood there, the sense of the Rue de Marignan in the charming room and in
+      the things about all reconstituted, regrouped, wonderfully preserved, down
+      to the very sitting-places in the same relations, and down to the faint
+      sweet mustiness of generations of cigarettes; but everything else
+      different, and even vaguely alien, and by a measure still other than that
+      of their own stretched interval and of the dear delightful woman&rsquo;s just a
+      little pathetic alteration of face. He had allowed for the nine years, and
+      so, it was to be hoped, had she; but the last thing, otherwise, that would
+      have been touched, he immediately felt, was the quality, the intensity, of
+      her care to see him. She cared, oh so visibly and touchingly and almost
+      radiantly&mdash;save for her being, yes, distinctly, a little <i>more</i>
+      battered than from even a good nine years&rsquo; worth; nothing could in fact
+      have perched with so crowning an impatience on the heap of what she had to
+      &ldquo;tell&rdquo; as that special shade of revived consciousness of having him in
+      particular to tell it to. It wasn&rsquo;t perhaps much to matter how soon she
+      brought out and caused to ring, as it were, on the little recognised
+      marqueterie table between them (such an anciently envied treasure), the
+      heaviest gold-piece of current history she was to pay him with for having
+      just so felicitously come back: he knew already, without the telling, that
+      intimate domestic tension must lately, within those walls, have reached a
+      climax and that he could serve supremely&mdash;oh how he was going to
+      serve!&mdash;as the most sympathetic of all pairs of ears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The whole thing was upon him, in any case, with the minimum of delay: Bob
+      had had it from her, definitely, the first of the week, and it was
+      absolutely final now, that they must set up avowedly separate lives&mdash;without
+      horrible &ldquo;proceedings&rdquo; of any sort, but with her own situation, her
+      independence, secured to her once for all. She had been coming to it,
+      taking her time, and she had gone through&mdash;well, so old a friend
+      would guess enough what; but she was at the point, oh blessedly now, where
+      she meant to stay, he&rsquo;d see if she didn&rsquo;t; with which, in this wonderful
+      way, he himself had arrived for the cream of it and she was just selfishly
+      glad. Bob had gone to Washington&mdash;ostensibly on business, but really
+      to recover breath; she had, speaking vulgarly, knocked the wind out of him
+      and was allowing him time to turn round. Mrs. Folliott moreover, she was
+      sure, would have gone&mdash;was certainly believed to have been seen there
+      five days ago; and of course his first necessity, for public use, would be
+      to patch up something with Mrs. Folliott. Mark knew about Mrs. Folliott?&mdash;who
+      was only, for that matter, one of a regular &ldquo;bevy.&rdquo; Not that it signified,
+      however, if he didn&rsquo;t: she would tell him about <i>her</i> later.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He took occasion from the first fraction of a break not quite to know what
+      he knew about Mrs. Folliott&mdash;though perhaps he could imagine a
+      little; and it was probably at this minute that, having definitely settled
+      to a position, and precisely in his very own tapestry <i>bergère</i>, the
+      one with the delicious little spectral &ldquo;subjects&rdquo; on the back and seat, he
+      partly exhaled, and yet managed partly to keep to himself, the deep
+      resigned sigh of a general comprehension. He knew what he was &ldquo;in&rdquo; for, he
+      heard her go on&mdash;she said it again and again, seemed constantly to be
+      saying it while she smiled at him with her peculiar fine charm, her
+      positive gaiety of sensibility, scarce dimmed: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just selfishly glad,
+      just selfishly glad!&rdquo; Well, she was going to have reason to be; she was
+      going to put the whole case to him, all her troubles and plans, and each
+      act of the tragi-comedy of her recent existence, as to the dearest and
+      safest sympathiser in all the world. There would be no chance for <i>his</i>
+      case, though it was so much for his case he had come; yet there took place
+      within him but a mild, dumb convulsion, the momentary strain of his
+      substituting, by the turn of a hand, one prospect of interest for another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Squaring himself in his old <i>bergère</i>, and with his lips, during the
+      effort, compressed to the same passive grimace that had an hour or two
+      before operated for the encouragement of Mrs. Folliott&mdash;just as it
+      was to clear the stage completely for the present more prolonged
+      performance&mdash;he shut straight down, as he even in the act called it
+      to himself, on any personal claim for social consideration and rendered a
+      perfect little agony of justice to the grounds of his friend&rsquo;s vividness.
+      For it was all the justice that could be expected of him that, though,
+      secretly, he wasn&rsquo;t going to be interested in her being interesting, she
+      was yet going to be so, all the same, by the very force of her lovely
+      material (Bob Ash <i>was</i> such a pure pearl of a donkey!) and he was
+      going to keep on knowing she was&mdash;yes, to the very end. When after
+      the lapse of an hour he rose to go, the rich fact that she <i>had</i> been
+      was there between them, and with an effect of the frankly, fearlessly,
+      harmlessly intimate fireside passage for it that went beyond even the best
+      memories of the pleasant past. He hadn&rsquo;t &ldquo;amused&rdquo; her, no, in quite the
+      same way as in the Rue de Marignan time&mdash;it had then been he who for
+      the most part took frequent turns, emphatic, explosive, elocutionary, over
+      that wonderful waxed parquet while she laughed as for the young perversity
+      of him from the depths of the second, the matching <i>bergère</i>. To-day
+      she herself held and swept the floor, putting him merely to the trouble of
+      his perpetual &ldquo;Brava!&rdquo; But that was all through the change of basis&mdash;the
+      amusement, another name only for the thrilled absorption, having been
+      inevitably for <i>him</i>; as how could it have failed to be with such a
+      regular &ldquo;treat&rdquo; to his curiosity? With the tea-hour now other callers were
+      turning up, and he got away on the plea of his wanting so to think it all
+      over. He hoped again he hadn&rsquo;t too queer a grin with his assurance to her,
+      as if she would quite know what he meant, that he had been thrilled to the
+      core. But she returned, quite radiantly, that he had carried <i>her</i>
+      completely away; and her sincerity was proved by the final frankness of
+      their temporary parting. &ldquo;My pleasure of you is selfish, horribly, I
+      admit; so that if <i>that</i> doesn&rsquo;t suit you&mdash;!&rdquo; Her faded beauty
+      flushed again as she said it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0016" id="link2H_4_0016">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      IV
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      In the street again, as he resumed his walk, he saw how perfectly it would
+      <i>have</i> to suit him and how he probably for a long time wouldn&rsquo;t be
+      suited otherwise. Between them and that time, however, what mightn&rsquo;t, for
+      him, poor devil, on his new basis, have happened? She wasn&rsquo;t at any rate
+      within any calculable period going to care so much for anything as for the
+      so quaintly droll terms in which her rearrangement with her husband&mdash;thanks
+      to that gentleman&rsquo;s inimitable fatuity&mdash;would have to be made. This
+      was what it was to own, exactly, her special grace&mdash;the brightest
+      gaiety in the finest sensibility; <i>such</i> a display of which
+      combination, Mark felt as he went (if he could but have done it still more
+      justice) she must have regaled him with! That exquisite last flush of her
+      fadedness could only remain with him; yet while he presently stopped at a
+      street-corner in a district redeemed from desolation but by the passage
+      just then of a choked trolley-car that howled, as he paused for it,
+      beneath the weight of its human accretions, he seemed to know the inward
+      &ldquo;sinking&rdquo; that had been determined in a hungry man by some extravagant
+      sight of the preparation of somebody else&rsquo;s dinner. Florence Ash was
+      dining, so to speak, off the feast of appreciation, appreciation of what
+      she had to &ldquo;tell&rdquo; him, that he had left her seated at; and she was
+      welcome, assuredly&mdash;welcome, welcome, welcome, he musingly, he
+      wistfully, and yet at the same time a trifle mechanically, repeated,
+      stayed as he was a moment longer by the suffering shriek of another public
+      vehicle and a sudden odd automatic return of his mind to the pretty girl,
+      the flower of Mrs. Folliott&rsquo;s crowd, who had spoken to him of Newton
+      Winch. It was extraordinarily as if, on the instant, she reminded him,
+      from across the town, that she had offered him dinner: it was really quite
+      strangely, while he stood there, as if she had told him where he could go
+      and get it. With which, none the less, it was apparently where he wouldn&rsquo;t
+      find her&mdash;and what was there, after all, of nutritive in the image of
+      Newton Winch? He made up his mind in a moment that it owed that property,
+      which the pretty girl had somehow made imputable, to the fact of its
+      simply being just then the one image of anything known to him that the
+      terrible place had to offer. Nothing, he a minute later reflected, could
+      have been so &ldquo;rum&rdquo; as that, sick and sore, of a bleak New York eventide,
+      he should have had nowhere to turn if not to the said Fiftieth Street.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That was the direction he accordingly took, for when he found the number
+      given him by the same remarkable agent of fate also present to his memory
+      he recognised the direct intervention of Providence and how it absolutely
+      required a miracle to explain his so precipitately embracing this loosest
+      of connections. The miracle indeed soon grew clearer: Providence had, on
+      some obscure system, chosen this very ridiculous hour to save him from
+      cultivation of the sin of selfishness, the obsession of egotism, and was
+      breaking him to its will by constantly directing his attention to the
+      claims of others. Who could say what at that critical moment mightn&rsquo;t have
+      become of Mrs. Folliott (otherwise too then so sadly embroiled!) if she
+      hadn&rsquo;t been enabled to air to him her grievance and her rage?&mdash;just
+      as who could deny that it must have done Florence Ash a world of good to
+      have put her thoughts about Bob in order by the aid of a person to whom
+      the vision of Bob in the light of those thoughts (or in other words to
+      whom <i>her</i> vision of Bob and nothing else) would mean so delightfully
+      much? It was on the same general lines that poor Newton Winch, bereft,
+      alone, ill, perhaps dying, and with the drawback of a not very sympathetic
+      personality&mdash;as Mark remembered it at least&mdash;to contend against
+      in almost any conceivable appeal to human furtherance, it was on these
+      lines, very much, that the luckless case in Fiftieth Street was offered
+      him as a source of salutary discipline. The moment for such a lesson might
+      strike him as strange, in view of the quite special and independent
+      opportunity for exercise that his spirit had during the last three days
+      enjoyed there in his hotel bedroom; but evidently his languor of charity
+      needed some admonition finer than any it might trust to chance for, and by
+      the time he at last, Winch&rsquo;s residence recognised, was duly elevated to
+      his level and had pressed the electric button at his door, he felt himself
+      acting indeed as under stimulus of a sharp poke in the side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0017" id="link2H_4_0017">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      V
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Within the apartment to which he had been admitted, moreover, the fine
+      intelligence we have imputed to him was in the course of three minutes
+      confirmed; since it took him no longer than that to say to himself, facing
+      his old acquaintance, that he had never seen any one so improved. The
+      place, which had the semblance of a high studio light as well as a general
+      air of other profusions and amplitudes, might have put him off a little by
+      its several rather glaringly false accents, those of contemporary domestic
+      &ldquo;art&rdquo; striking a little wild. The scene was smaller, but the rich confused
+      complexion of the Pocahontas, showing through Du Barry paint and patches,
+      might have set the example&mdash;which had been followed with the
+      costliest candour&mdash;so that, clearly, Winch was in these days rich, as
+      most people in New York seemed rich; as, in spite of Bob&rsquo;s depredations,
+      Florence Ash was, as even Mrs. Folliott was in spite of Phil Bloodgood&rsquo;s,
+      as even Phil Bloodgood himself must have been for reasons too obvious; as
+      in fine every one had a secret for being, or for feeling, or for looking,
+      every one at least but Mark Monteith.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These facts were as nothing, however, in presence of his quick and strong
+      impression that his pale, nervous, smiling, clean-shaven host had
+      undergone since their last meeting some extraordinary process of
+      refinement. He had been ill, unmistakably, and the effects of a plunge
+      into plain clean living, where any fineness had remained, were often
+      startling, sometimes almost charming. But independently of this, and for a
+      much longer time, some principle of intelligence, some art of life, would
+      discernibly have worked in him. Remembered from college years and from
+      those two or three luckless and faithless ones of the Law School as
+      constitutionally common, as consistently and thereby doubtless even rather
+      powerfully coarse, clever only for uncouth and questionable things, he yet
+      presented himself now as if he had suddenly and mysteriously been
+      educated. There was a charm in his wide, &ldquo;drawn,&rdquo; convalescent smile, in
+      the way his fine fingers&mdash;had he anything like fine fingers of old?&mdash;played,
+      and just fidgeted, over the prompt and perhaps a trifle incoherent offer
+      of cigars, cordials, ashtrays, over the question of his visitor&rsquo;s hat,
+      stick, fur coat, general best accommodation and ease; and how the deuce,
+      accordingly, had charm, for coming out so on top, Mark wondered, &ldquo;squared&rdquo;
+       the other old elements? For the short interval so to have dealt with him
+      what force had it turned on, what patented process, of the portentous New
+      York order in which there were so many, had it skilfully applied? Were
+      these the things New York did when you just gave her all her head, and
+      that he himself then had perhaps too complacently missed? Strange almost
+      to the point of putting him positively off at first&mdash;quite as an
+      exhibition of the uncanny&mdash;this sense of Newton&rsquo;s having all the
+      while neither missed nor muffed anything, and having, as with an eye to
+      the <i>coup de théâtre</i> to come, lowered one&rsquo;s expectations, at the
+      start, to that abject pitch. It might have been taken verily for an act of
+      bad faith&mdash;really for such a rare stroke of subtlety as could scarce
+      have been achieved by a straight or natural aim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So much as this at least came and went in Monteith&rsquo;s agitated mind; the
+      oddest intensity of apprehension, admiration, mystification, which the
+      high north-light of the March afternoon and the quite splendidly vulgar
+      appeal of fifty overdone decorative effects somehow fostered and
+      sharpened. Everything had already gone, however, the next moment, for
+      wasn&rsquo;t the man he had come so much too intelligently himself to patronise
+      absolutely bowling him over with the extraordinary speech: &ldquo;See here, you
+      know&mdash;you must be ill, or have had a bad shock, or some beastly
+      upset: are you very sure you ought to have come out?&rdquo; Yes, he after an
+      instant believed his ears; coarse common Newton Winch, whom he had called
+      on because he could, as a gentleman, after all afford to, coarse common
+      Newton Winch, who had had troubles and been epidemically poisoned,
+      lamentably sick, who bore in his face and in the very tension, quite
+      exactly the &ldquo;charm,&rdquo; of his manner, the traces of his late ordeal, and,
+      for that matter, of scarce completed gallant emergence&mdash;this
+      astonishing ex-comrade was simply writing himself at a stroke (into our
+      friend&rsquo;s excited imagination at all events) the most distinguished of men.
+      Oh, <i>he</i> was going to be interesting, if Florence Ash had been going
+      to be; but Mark felt how, under the law of a lively present difference,
+      that would be as an effect of one&rsquo;s having one&rsquo;s self thoroughly rallied.
+      He knew within the minute that the tears stood in his eyes; he stared
+      through them at his friend with a sharp &ldquo;Why, how do you know? How <i>can</i>
+      you?&rdquo; To which he added before Winch could speak: &ldquo;I met your charming
+      sister-in-law a couple of hours since&mdash;at luncheon, at the
+      Pocahontas; and heard from her that you were badly laid up and had spoken
+      of me. So I came to minister to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The object of this design hovered there again, considerably restless,
+      shifting from foot to foot, changing his place, beginning and giving up
+      motions, striking matches for a fresh cigarette, offering them again,
+      redundantly, to his guest and then not lighting himself&mdash;but all the
+      while with the smile of another creature than the creature known to Mark;
+      all the while with the history of something that had happened to him ever
+      so handsomely shining out. Mark was conscious within himself from this
+      time on of two quite distinct processes of notation&mdash;that of his
+      practically instant surrender to the consequences of the act of perception
+      in his host of which the two women trained suppos-ably in the art of
+      pleasing had been altogether incapable; and that of some other condition
+      on Newton&rsquo;s part that left his own poor power of divination nothing less
+      than shamed. This last was signally the case on the former&rsquo;s saying, ever
+      so responsively, almost radiantly, in answer to his account of how he
+      happened to come: &ldquo;Oh then it&rsquo;s very interesting!&rdquo; <i>That</i> was the
+      astonishing note, after what he had been through: neither Mrs. Folliott
+      nor Florence Ash had so much as hinted or breathed to him that <i>he</i>
+      might have incurred that praise. No wonder therefore he was now taken&mdash;with
+      this fresh party&rsquo;s instant suspicion and imputation of it; though it was
+      indeed for some minutes next as if each tried to see which could accuse
+      the other of the greater miracle of penetration. Mark was so struck, in a
+      word, with the extraordinarily straight guess Winch had had there in
+      reserve for him that, other quick impressions helping, there was nothing
+      for him but to bring out, himself: &ldquo;There must be, my dear man, something
+      rather wonderful the matter with you!&rdquo; The quite more intensely and more
+      irresistibly drawn grin, the quite unmistakably deeper consciousness in
+      the dark, wide eye, that accompanied the not quite immediate answer to
+      which remark he was afterward to remember. &ldquo;How do you know that&mdash;or
+      why do you think it?&rdquo; &ldquo;Because there <i>must</i> be&mdash;for you to see!
+      I shouldn&rsquo;t have expected it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you take me for a damned fool?&rdquo; laughed wonderful Newton Winch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0018" id="link2H_4_0018">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      VI
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      He could say nothing that, whether as to the sense of it or as to the way
+      of it, didn&rsquo;t so enrich Mark&rsquo;s vision of him that our friend, after a
+      little, as this effect proceeded, caught himself in the act of almost too
+      curiously gaping. Everything, from moment to moment, fed his curiosity;
+      such a question, for instance, as whether the quite ordinary peepers of
+      the Newton Winch of their earlier youth could have looked, under any
+      provocation, either dark or wide; such a question, above all, as how <i>this</i>
+      incalculable apparition came by the whole startling power of play of its
+      extravagantly sensitive labial connections&mdash;exposed, so to its
+      advantage (he now jumped at one explanation) by the removal of what had
+      probably been one of the vulgar-est of moustaches. With this, at the same
+      time, the oddity of that particular consequence was vivid to him; the
+      glare of his curiosity fairly lasting while he remembered how he had once
+      noted the very opposite turn of the experiment for Phil Bloodgood. He
+      would have said in advance that poor Winch couldn&rsquo;t have afforded to risk
+      showing his &ldquo;real&rdquo; mouth; just as he would have said that in spite of the
+      fine ornament that so considerably muffled it Phil could only have gained
+      by showing his. But to have seen Phil shorn&mdash;as he once had done&mdash;was
+      earnestly to pray that he might promptly again bristle; beneath Phil&rsquo;s
+      moustache lurked nothing to &ldquo;make up&rdquo; for it in case of removal. While he
+      thought of which things the line of grimace, as he could only have called
+      it, the mobile, interesting, ironic line the great double curve of which
+      connected, in the face before him, the strong nostril with the lower
+      cheek, became the very key to his first idea of Newton&rsquo;s capture of
+      refinement. He had shaved and was happily transfigured. Phil Bloodgood had
+      shaved and been wellnigh lost; though why should he just now too
+      precipitately drag the reminiscence in?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That question too, at the queer touch of association, played up for Mark
+      even under so much proof that the state of his own soul was being with the
+      lapse of every instant registered. Phil Bloodgood had brought about the
+      state of his soul&mdash;there was accordingly that amount of connection;
+      only it became further remarkable that from the moment his companion had
+      sounded him, and sounded him, he knew, down to the last truth of things,
+      his disposition, his necessity to talk, the desire that had in the morning
+      broken the spell of his confinement, the impulse that had thrown him so
+      defeatedly into Mrs. Folliott&rsquo;s arms and into Florence Ash&rsquo;s, these forces
+      seemed to feel their impatience ebb and their discretion suddenly grow.
+      His companion was talking again, but just then, incongruously, made his
+      need to communicate lose itself. It was as if his personal case had
+      already been touched by some tender hand&mdash;and that, after all, was
+      the modest limit of its greed. &ldquo;I know now why you came back&mdash;did
+      Lottie mention how I had wondered? But sit down, sit down&mdash;only let
+      me, nervous beast as I am, take it standing!&mdash;and believe me when I
+      tell you that I&rsquo;ve now ceased to wonder. My dear chap, I <i>have</i> it!
+      It can&rsquo;t but have been for poor Phil Blood-good. He sticks out of you, the
+      brute&mdash;as how, with what he has done to you, shouldn&rsquo;t he? There was
+      a man to see me yesterday&mdash;Tim Slater, whom I don&rsquo;t think you know,
+      but who&rsquo;s &lsquo;on&rsquo; everything within about two minutes of its happening (I
+      never saw such a fellow!) and who confirmed my supposition, all my own,
+      however, mind you, at first, that you&rsquo;re one of the sufferers. So how the
+      devil can you <i>not</i> feel knocked? Why <i>should</i> you look as if
+      you were having the time of your life? What a hog to have played it on <i>you</i>,
+      on <i>you</i>, of all his friends!&rdquo; So Newton Winch continued, and so the
+      air between the two men might have been, for a momentary watcher&mdash;which
+      is indeed what I can but invite the reader to become&mdash;that of a
+      nervously displayed, but all considerate, as well as most acute, curiosity
+      on the one side, and that on the other, after a little, of an eventually
+      fascinated acceptance of so much free and in especial of so much right
+      attention. &ldquo;Do you <i>mind</i> my asking you? Because if you do I won&rsquo;t
+      press; but as a man whose own responsibilities, some of &lsquo;em at least,
+      don&rsquo;t differ much, I gather, from some of his, one would like to know how
+      he was ever allowed to get to the point&mdash;! But I <i>do</i> plough you
+      up?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark sat back in his chair, moved but holding himself, his elbows squared
+      on each arm, his hands a bit convulsively interlocked across him&mdash;very
+      much in fact as he had appeared an hour ago in the old tapestry <i>bergère</i>;
+      but as his rigour was all then that of the grinding effort to profess and
+      to give, so it was considerably now for the fear of too hysterically
+      gushing. Somehow too&mdash;since his wound was to that extent open&mdash;he
+      winced at hearing the author of it branded. He hadn&rsquo;t so much minded the
+      epithets Mrs. Folliott had applied, for they were to the appropriator of
+      <i>her</i> securities. As the appropriator of his own he didn&rsquo;t so much
+      want to brand him as&mdash;just more &ldquo;amusingly&rdquo; even, if one would.&mdash;to
+      make out, perhaps, with intelligent help, how such a man, in such a
+      relation, <i>could</i> come to tread such a path: which was exactly the
+      interesting light that Winch&rsquo;s curiosity and sympathy were there to assist
+      him to. He pleaded at any rate immediately his advertising no grievance.
+      &ldquo;I feel sore, I admit, and it&rsquo;s a horrid sort of thing to have had happen;
+      but when you call him a brute and a hog I rather squirm, for brutes and
+      hogs never live, I guess, in the sort of hell in which he now must be.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Newton Winch, before the fireplace, his hands deep in his pockets, where
+      his guest could see his long fingers beat a tattoo on his thighs, Newton
+      Winch dangled and swung himself, and threw back his head and laughed.
+      &ldquo;Well, I must say you take it amazingly!&mdash;all the more that to see
+      you again this way is to feel that if, all along, there was a man whose
+      delicacy and confidence and general attitude might have marked him for a
+      particular consideration, you&rsquo;d have been the man.&rdquo; And they were more
+      directly face to face again; with Newton smiling and smiling <i>so</i>
+      appreciatively; making our friend in fact almost ask himself when before a
+      man had ever grinned from ear to ear to the effect of its so becoming him.
+      What he replied, however, was that Newton described in those flattering
+      terms a client temptingly fatuous; after which, and the exchange of
+      another protest or two in the interest of justice and decency, and another
+      plea or two in that of the still finer contention that even the basest
+      misdeeds had always somewhere or other, could one get at it, their
+      propitiatory side, our hero found himself on his feet again, under the
+      influence of a sudden failure of everything but horror&mdash;a horror
+      determined by some turn of their talk and indeed by the very fact of the
+      freedom of it. It was as if a far-borne sound of the hue and cry, a vision
+      of his old friend hunted and at bay, had suddenly broken in&mdash;this
+      other friend&rsquo;s, this irresistibly intelligent other companion&rsquo;s,
+      practically vivid projection of that making the worst ugliness real. &ldquo;Oh,
+      it&rsquo;s just making my wry face to somebody, and your letting me and caring
+      and wanting to know: that,&rdquo; Mark said, &ldquo;is what does me good; not any
+      other hideous question. I mean I don&rsquo;t take any interest in <i>my</i> case&mdash;what
+      one wonders about, you see, is what can be done for him. I mean, that is&rdquo;&mdash;for
+      he floundered a little, not knowing at last quite what he did mean, a
+      great rush of mere memories, a great humming sound as of thick, thick
+      echoes, rising now to an assault that he met with his face indeed
+      contorted. If he didn&rsquo;t take care he should howl; so he more or less
+      successfully took care&mdash;yet with his host vividly watching him while
+      he shook the danger temporarily off. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind&mdash;though it&rsquo;s
+      rather <i>that</i>; my having felt this morning, after three dismal dumb
+      bad days, that one&rsquo;s friends perhaps would be thinking of one. All I&rsquo;m
+      conscious of now&mdash;I give you my word&mdash;is that I&rsquo;d like to see
+      him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You&rsquo;d like to see him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I don&rsquo;t say,&rdquo; Mark ruefully smiled, &ldquo;that I should like him to see <i>me</i>&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Newton Winch, from where he stood&mdash;and they were together now, on the
+      great hearth-rug that was a triumph of modern orientalism&mdash;put out
+      one of the noted fine hands and, with an expressive headshake, laid it on
+      his shoulder. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t wish him that, Monteith&mdash;don&rsquo;t wish him that!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, but,&rdquo;&mdash;and Mark raised his eyebrows still higher&mdash;&ldquo;he&rsquo;d
+      see I bear up; pretty well!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;God forbid he should see, my dear fellow!&rdquo; Newton cried as for the pang
+      of it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark had for his idea, at any rate, the oddest sense of an exaltation that
+      grew by this use of frankness. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d go to him. Hanged if I wouldn&rsquo;t&mdash;anywhere!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His companion&rsquo;s hand still rested on him. &ldquo;You&rsquo;d go to him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark stood up to it&mdash;though trying to sink solemnity as pretentious.
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;d go like a shot.&rdquo; And then he added: &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s probably what&mdash;when
+      we&rsquo;ve turned round&mdash;I <i>shall</i> do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When &lsquo;we&rsquo; have turned round?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well&rdquo;&mdash;he was a trifle disconcerted at the tone&mdash;&ldquo;I say that
+      because you&rsquo;ll have helped me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I do nothing but want to help you!&rdquo; Winch replied&mdash;which made it
+      right again; especially as our friend still felt himself reassuringly and
+      sustainingly grasped. But Winch went on: &ldquo;You <i>would</i> go to him&mdash;in
+      kindness?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well&mdash;to understand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To understand how he could swindle you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; Mark kept on, &ldquo;to try and make out with him how, after such things&mdash;!&rdquo;
+       But he stopped; he couldn&rsquo;t name them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was as if his companion knew. &ldquo;Such things as you&rsquo;ve done for him of
+      course&mdash;such services as you&rsquo;ve rendered him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, from far back. If I could tell you,&rdquo; our friend vainly wailed&mdash;&ldquo;if
+      I could tell you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Newton Winch patted his shoulder. &ldquo;Tell me&mdash;tell me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The sort of relation, I mean; ever so many things of a kind&mdash;!&rdquo;
+       Again, however, he pulled up; he felt the tremor of his voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me, tell me,&rdquo; Winch repeated with the same movement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tone in it now made their eyes meet again, and with this presentation
+      of the altered face Mark measured as not before, for some reason, the
+      extent of the recent ravage. &ldquo;You must have been ill indeed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pretty bad. But I&rsquo;m better. And you do me good&rdquo;&mdash;with which the
+      light of convalescence came back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t awfully bore you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Winch shook his head. &ldquo;You keep me up&mdash;and you see how no one else
+      comes near me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark&rsquo;s eyes made out that he was better&mdash;though it wasn&rsquo;t yet that
+      nothing was the matter with him. If there was ever a man with whom there
+      was still something the matter&mdash;! Yet one couldn&rsquo;t insist on that,
+      and meanwhile he clearly did want company. &ldquo;Then there we are. I myself
+      had no one to go to.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You save my life,&rdquo; Newton renewedly grinned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0019" id="link2H_4_0019">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      VII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it&rsquo;s your own fault,&rdquo; Mark replied to that, &ldquo;if you make me take
+      advantage of you.&rdquo; Winch had withdrawn his hand, which was back, violently
+      shaking keys or money, in his trousers pocket; and in this position he had
+      abruptly a pause, a sensible, absence, that might have represented either
+      some odd drop of attention, some turn-off to another thought, or just
+      simply the sudden act of listening. His guest had indeed himself&mdash;under
+      suggestion&mdash;the impression of a sound. &ldquo;Mayn&rsquo;t you perhaps&mdash;if
+      you hear something&mdash;have a call?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark had said it so lightly, however, that he was the more struck with his
+      host&rsquo;s appearing to turn just paler; and, with it, the latter now <i>was</i>
+      listening. &ldquo;You hear something?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought <i>you</i> did.&rdquo; Winch himself, on Mark&rsquo;s own pressure of the
+      outside bell, had opened the door of the apartment&mdash;an indication
+      then, it sufficiently appeared, that Sunday afternoons were servants&rsquo;, or
+      attendants&rsquo;, or even trained nurses&rsquo; holidays. It had also marked the
+      stage of his convalescence, and to that extent&mdash;after his first flush
+      of surprise&mdash;had but smoothed Monteith&rsquo;s way. At present he barely
+      gave further attention; detaching himself as under some odd cross-impulse,
+      he had quitted the spot and then taken, in the wide room, a restless turn&mdash;only,
+      however, to revert in a moment to his friend&rsquo;s just-uttered deprecation of
+      the danger of boring him. &ldquo;If I make you take advantage of me&mdash;that
+      is blessedly talk to me&mdash;it&rsquo;s exactly what I want to do. Talk to me&mdash;talk
+      to me!&rdquo; He positively waved it on; pulling up again, however, in his own
+      talk, to say with a certain urgency: &ldquo;Hadn&rsquo;t you better sit down?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark, who stayed before the fire, couldn&rsquo;t but excuse himself. &ldquo;Thanks&mdash;I&rsquo;m
+      very well so. I think of things and I fidget.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Winch stood a moment with his eyes on the ground. &ldquo;Are you very sure?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite&mdash;I&rsquo;m all right if you don&rsquo;t mind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then as you like!&rdquo; With which, shaking to extravagance again his long
+      legs, Newton had swung off&mdash;only with a movement that, now his back
+      was turned, affected his visitor as the most whimsical of all the forms of
+      his rather unnatural manner. He was curiously different with his back
+      turned, as Mark now for the first time saw it&mdash;dangling and somewhat
+      wavering, as from an excess of uncertainty of gait; and this impression
+      was so strange, it created in our friend, uneasily and on the spot, such a
+      need of explanation, that his speech was stayed long enough to give Winch
+      time to turn round again. The latter had indeed by this moment reached one
+      of the limits of the place, the wide studio bay, where he paused, his back
+      to the light and his face afresh presented, to let his just passingly
+      depressed and quickened eyes take in as much as possible of the large
+      floor, range over it with such brief freedom of search as the disposition
+      of the furniture permitted. He was looking for something, though the
+      betrayed reach of vision was but of an instant. Mark caught it, however,
+      and with his own sensibility all in vibration, found himself feeling at
+      once that it meant something and that what it meant was connected with his
+      entertainer&rsquo;s slightly marked appeal to him, the appeal of a moment
+      before, not to remain standing. Winch knew by this time quite easily
+      enough that he was hanging fire; which meant that they were suddenly
+      facing each other across the wide space with a new consciousness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Everything had changed&mdash;changed extraordinarily with the mere turning
+      of that gentleman&rsquo;s back, the treacherous aspect of which its owner
+      couldn&rsquo;t surely have suspected. If the question was of the pitch of their
+      sensibility, at all events, it wouldn&rsquo;t be Mark&rsquo;s that should vibrate to
+      least purpose. Visibly it had come to his host that something had within
+      the few instants remarkably happened, but there glimmered on him an
+      induction that still made him keep his own manner. Newton himself might
+      now resort to any manner he liked. His eyes had raked the floor to recover
+      the position of something dropped or misplaced, and something, above all,
+      awkward or compromising; and he had wanted his companion not to command
+      this scene from the hearth-rug, the hearthrug where he had been just
+      before holding him, hypnotising him to blindness, <i>because</i> the
+      object in question would there be most exposed to sight Mark embraced this
+      with a further drop&mdash;while the apprehension penetrated&mdash;of his
+      power to go on, and with an immense desire at the same time that his eyes
+      should seem only to look at his friend; who broke out now, for that
+      matter, with a fresh appeal. &ldquo;Aren&rsquo;t you going to take advantage of me,
+      man&mdash;aren&rsquo;t you going to <i>take</i> it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Everything had changed, we have noted, and nothing could more have proved
+      it than the fact that, by the same turn, sincerity of desire had dropped
+      out of Winch&rsquo;s chords, while irritation, sharp and almost imperious, had
+      come in. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s because he sees I see something!&rdquo; Mark said to himself;
+      but he had no need to add that it shouldn&rsquo;t prevent his seeing more&mdash;for
+      the simple reason that, in a miraculous fashion, this was exactly what he
+      did do in glaring out the harder. It was beyond explanation, but the very
+      act of blinking thus in an attempt at showy steadiness became one and the
+      same thing with an optical excursion lasting the millionth of a minute and
+      making him aware that the edge of a rug, at the point where an arm-chair,
+      pushed a little out of position, over-straddled it, happened just not
+      wholly to have covered in something small and queer, neat and bright,
+      crooked and compact, in spite of the strong toe-tip surreptitiously
+      applied to giving it the right lift Our gentleman, from where he hovered,
+      and while looking straight at the master of the scene, yet saw, as by the
+      tiny flash of a reflection from fine metal, <i>under</i> the chair. What
+      he recognised, or at least guessed at, as sinister, made him for a moment
+      turn cold, and that chill was on him while Winch again addressed him&mdash;as
+      differently as possible from any manner yet used. &ldquo;I beg of you in God&rsquo;s
+      name to talk to me&mdash;to <i>talk</i> to me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It had the ring of pure alarm and anguish, but was by this turn at least
+      more human than the dazzling glitter of intelligence to which the poor man
+      had up to now been treating him. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s you, my good friend, who are in
+      deep trouble,&rdquo; Mark was accordingly quick to reply, &ldquo;and I ask your pardon
+      for being so taken up with my own sorry business.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course I&rsquo;m in deep trouble&rdquo;&mdash;with which Winch came nearer again;
+      &ldquo;but turning you on was exactly what I wanted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark Monteith, at this, couldn&rsquo;t, for all his rising dismay, but laugh
+      out; his sense of the ridiculous so swallowed up, for that brief
+      convulsion, his sense of the sinister. Of such conivence in pain, it
+      seemed, was the fact of another&rsquo;s pain, and of so much worth again
+      disinterested sympathy! &ldquo;Your interest was then&mdash;&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My interest was in your being interesting. For you <i>are!</i> And my
+      nerves&mdash;!&rdquo; said Newton Winch with a face from which the mystifying
+      smile had vanished, yet in which distinction, as Mark so persistently
+      appreciated it, still sat in the midst of ravage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark wondered and wondered&mdash;he made strange things out. &ldquo;Your nerves
+      have needed company.&rdquo; He could lay his hand on him now, even as shortly
+      before he had felt Winch&rsquo;s own pressure of possession and detention. &ldquo;As
+      good for you yourself, that&mdash;or still better,&rdquo; he went on&mdash;&ldquo;than
+      I and my grievance were to have found you. Talk to we, talk to we, Newton
+      Winch!&rdquo; he added with an immense inspiration of charity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a different matter&mdash;that others but too much can do! But I&rsquo;ll
+      say this. If you want to go to Phil Bloodgood&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well?&rdquo; said Mark as he stopped. He stopped, and Mark had now a hand on
+      each of his shoulders and held him at arm&rsquo;s-length, held him with a fine
+      idea that was not disconnected from the sight of the small neat weapon he
+      had been fingering in the low luxurious morocco chair&mdash;it was of the
+      finest orange colour&mdash;and then had laid beside him on the carpet;
+      where, after he had admitted his visitor, his presence of mind coming back
+      to it and suggesting that he couldn&rsquo;t pick it up without making it more
+      conspicuous, he had thought, by some swing of the foot or other casual
+      manoeuvre, to dissimulate its visibility.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were at close quarters now as not before and Winch perfectly passive,
+      with eyes that somehow had no shadow of a secret left and with the
+      betrayal to the sentient hands that grasped him of an intense, an
+      extraordinary general tremor. To Mark&rsquo;s challenge he opposed afresh a
+      brief silence, but the very quality of it, with his face speaking, was
+      that of a gaping wound. &ldquo;Well, you needn&rsquo;t take <i>that</i> trouble. You
+      see I&rsquo;m such another.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Such another as Phil&mdash;&mdash;-?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He didn&rsquo;t blink. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know for sure, but I guess I&rsquo;m worse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean you&rsquo;re guilty&mdash;&mdash;-?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean I shall be wanted. Only I&rsquo;ve stayed to take it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark threw back his head, but only tightened his hands. He inexpressibly
+      understood, and nothing in life had ever been so strange and dreadful to
+      him as his thus helping himself by a longer and straighter stretch, as it
+      were, to the monstrous sense of his friend&rsquo;s &ldquo;education.&rdquo; It had been, in
+      its immeasurable action, the education of business, of which the fruits
+      were all around them. Yet prodigious was the interest, for prodigious
+      truly&mdash;it seemed to loom before Mark&mdash;must have been the system.
+      &ldquo;To &lsquo;take&rsquo; it?&rdquo; he echoed; and then, though faltering a little, &ldquo;To take
+      what?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had scarce spoken when a long sharp sound shrilled in from the outer
+      door, seeming of so high and peremptory a pitch that with the start it
+      gave him his grasp of his host&rsquo;s shoulders relaxed an instant, though to
+      the effect of no movement in <i>them</i> but what came from just a
+      sensibly intenser vibration of the whole man. &ldquo;For <i>that</i>!&rdquo; said
+      Newton Winch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you&rsquo;ve known&mdash;&mdash;-?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve expected. You&rsquo;ve helped me to wait.&rdquo; And then as Mark gave an ironic
+      wail: &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve tided me over. My condition has <i>wanted</i> somebody or
+      something. Therefore, to complete this service, will you be so good as to
+      open the door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Deep in the eyes Mark looked him, and still to the detection of no glimmer
+      of the earlier man in the depths. The earlier man had been what he
+      invidiously remembered&mdash;yet would <i>he</i> had been the whole
+      simpler story! Then he moved his own eyes straight to the chair under
+      which the revolver lay and which was but a couple of yards away. He felt
+      his companion take this consciousness in, and it determined in them
+      another long, mute exchange. &ldquo;What do you mean to do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On your honour?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>My</i> &lsquo;honour&rsquo;?&rdquo; his host returned with an accent that he felt even
+      as it sounded he should never forget.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It brought to his own face a crimson flush&mdash;he dropped his guarding
+      hands. Then as for a last look at him: &ldquo;You&rsquo;re wonderful!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We <i>are</i> wonderful,&rdquo; said Newton Winch, while, simultaneously with
+      the words, the pressed electric bell again and for a longer time pierced
+      the warm cigaretted air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark turned, threw up his arms, and it was only when he had passed through
+      the vestibule and laid his hand on the door-knob that the horrible noise
+      dropped. The next moment he was face to face with two visitors, a
+      nondescript personage in a high hat and an astrakhan collar and cuffs, and
+      a great belted constable, a splendid massive New York &ldquo;officer&rdquo; of the
+      type he had had occasion to wonder at much again in the course of his
+      walk, the type so by itself&mdash;his wide observation quite suggested&mdash;among
+      those of the peacemakers of the earth. The pair stepped straight in&mdash;no
+      word was said; but as he closed the door behind them Mark heard the
+      infallible crack of a discharged pistol and, so nearly with it as to make
+      all one violence, the sound of a great fall; things the effect of which
+      was to lift him, as it were, with his company, across the threshold of the
+      room in a shorter time than that taken by this record of the fact. But
+      their rush availed little; Newton was stretched on his back before the
+      fire; he had held the weapon horribly to his temple, and his upturned face
+      was disfigured. The emissaries of the law, looking down at him, exhaled
+      simultaneously a gruff imprecation, and then while the worthy in the high
+      hat bent over the subject of their visit the one in the helmet raised a
+      severe pair of eyes to Mark. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you think, sir, you might have
+      prevented it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark took a hundred things in, it seemed to him&mdash;things of the scene,
+      of the moment, and of all the strange moments before; but one appearance
+      more vividly even than the others stared out at him. &ldquo;I really think I
+      must practically have caused it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0020" id="link2H_4_0020">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CRAPY CORNELIA
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0021" id="link2H_4_0021">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      I
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      THREE times within a quarter of an hour&mdash;shifting the while his
+      posture on his chair of contemplation&mdash;had he looked at his watch as
+      for its final sharp hint that he should decide, that he should get up. His
+      seat was one of a group fairly sequestered, unoccupied save for his own
+      presence, and from where he lingered he looked off at a stretch of lawn
+      freshened by recent April showers and on which sundry small children were
+      at play. The trees, the shrubs, the plants, every stem and twig just
+      ruffled as by the first touch of the light finger of the relenting year,
+      struck him as standing still in the blest hope of more of the same caress;
+      the quarter about him held its breath after the fashion of the child who
+      waits with the rigour of an open mouth and shut eyes for the promised
+      sensible effect of his having been good. So, in the windless, sun-warmed
+      air of the beautiful afternoon, the Park of the winter&rsquo;s end had struck
+      White-Mason as waiting; even New York, under such an impression, was
+      &ldquo;good,&rdquo; good enough&mdash;for <i>him</i>; its very sounds were faint, were
+      almost sweet, as they reached him from so seemingly far beyond the wooded
+      horizon that formed the remoter limit of his large shallow glade. The
+      tones of the frolic infants ceased to be nondescript and harsh&mdash;were
+      in fact almost as fresh and decent as the frilled and puckered and
+      ribboned garb of the little girls, which had always a way, in those parts,
+      of so portentously flaunting the daughters of the strange native&mdash;that
+      is of the overwhelmingly alien&mdash;populace at him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not that these things in particular were his matter of meditation now; he
+      had wanted, at the end of his walk, to sit apart a little and think&mdash;and
+      had been doing that for twenty minutes, even though as yet to no break in
+      the charm of procrastination. But he had looked without seeing and
+      listened without hearing: all that had been positive for him was that he
+      hadn&rsquo;t failed vaguely to feel. He had felt in the first place, and he
+      continued to feel&mdash;yes, at forty-eight quite as much as at any point
+      of the supposed reign of younger intensities&mdash;the great spirit of the
+      air, the fine sense of the season, the supreme appeal of Nature, he might
+      have said, to his time of life; quite as if she, easy, indulgent,
+      indifferent, cynical Power, were offering him the last chance it would
+      rest with his wit or his blood to embrace. Then with that he had been
+      entertaining, to the point and with the prolonged consequence of accepted
+      immobilization, the certitude that if he did call on Mrs. Worthingham and
+      find her at home he couldn&rsquo;t in justice to himself not put to her the
+      question that had lapsed the other time, the last time, through the
+      irritating and persistent, even if accidental, presence of others. What
+      friends she had&mdash;the people who so stupidly, so wantonly stuck! If
+      they <i>should</i>, he and she, come to an understanding, that would
+      presumably have to include certain members of her singularly ill-composed
+      circle, in whom it was incredible to him that he should ever take an
+      interest. This defeat, to do himself justice&mdash;he had bent rather
+      predominantly on <i>that</i>, you see; ideal justice to <i>her</i>, with
+      her possible conception of what it should consist of, being another and
+      quite a different matter&mdash;he had had the fact of the Sunday afternoon
+      to thank for; she didn&rsquo;t &ldquo;keep&rdquo; that day for him, since they hadn&rsquo;t, up to
+      now, quite begun to cultivate the appointment or assignation founded on
+      explicit sacrifices. He might at any rate look to find this pleasant
+      practical Wednesday&mdash;should he indeed, at his actual rate, stay it
+      before it ebbed&mdash;more liberally and intendingly given him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sound he at last most wittingly distinguished in his nook was the
+      single deep note of half-past five borne to him from some high-perched
+      public clock. He finally got up with the sense that the time from then on
+      <i>ought</i> at least to be felt as sacred to him. At this juncture it was&mdash;while
+      he stood there shaking his garments, settling his hat, his necktie, his
+      shirt-cuffs, fixing the high polish of his fine shoes as if for some
+      reflection in it of his straight and spare and grizzled, his refined and
+      trimmed and dressed, his altogether distinguished person, that of a
+      gentleman abundantly settled, but of a bachelor markedly nervous&mdash;at
+      this crisis it was, doubtless, that he at once most measured and least
+      resented his predicament. If he should go he would almost to a certainty
+      find her, and if he should find her he would almost to a certainty come to
+      the point. He wouldn&rsquo;t put it off again&mdash;there was that high
+      consideration for him of justice at least to himself. He had never yet
+      denied himself anything so apparently fraught with possibilities as the
+      idea of proposing to Mrs. Worthingham&mdash;never yet, in other words,
+      denied himself anything he had so distinctly wanted to do; and the results
+      of that wisdom had remained for him precisely the precious parts of
+      experience. Counting only the offers of his honourable hand, these had
+      been on three remembered occasions at least the consequence of an impulse
+      as sharp and a self-respect as reasoned; a self-respect that hadn&rsquo;t in the
+      least suffered, moreover, from the failure of each appeal. He had been met
+      in the three cases&mdash;the only ones he at all compared with his present
+      case&mdash;by the frank confession that he didn&rsquo;t somehow, charming as he
+      was, cause himself to be superstitiously believed in; and the lapse of
+      life, afterward, had cleared up many doubts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It <i>wouldn&rsquo;t</i> have done, he eventually, he lucidly saw, each time he
+      had been refused; and the candour of his nature was such that he could
+      live to think of these very passages as a proof of how right he had been&mdash;right,
+      that is, to have put himself forward always, by the happiest instinct,
+      only in impossible conditions. He had the happy consciousness of having
+      exposed the important question to the crucial test, and of having escaped,
+      by that persistent logic, a grave mistake. What better proof of his escape
+      than the fact that he was now free to renew the all-interesting inquiry,
+      and should be exactly, about to do so in different and better conditions?
+      The conditions were better by as much more&mdash;as much more of his
+      career and character, of his situation, his reputation he could even have
+      called it, of his knowledge of life, of his somewhat extended means, of
+      his possibly augmented charm, of his certainly improved mind and temper&mdash;as
+      was involved in the actual impending settlement. Once he had got into
+      motion, once he had crossed the Park and passed out of it, entering, with
+      very little space to traverse, one of the short new streets that abutted
+      on its east side, his step became that of a man young enough to find
+      confidence, quite to find felicity, in the sense, in almost any sense, of
+      action. He could still enjoy almost anything, absolutely an unpleasant
+      thing, in default of a better, that might still remind him he wasn&rsquo;t so
+      old. The standing newness of everything about him would, it was true, have
+      weakened this cheer by too much presuming on it; Mrs. Worthingham&rsquo;s house,
+      before which he stopped, had that gloss of new money, that glare of a
+      piece fresh from the mint and ringing for the first time on any counter,
+      which seems to claim for it, in any transaction, something more than the
+      &ldquo;face&rdquo; value.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This could but be yet more the case for the impression of the observer
+      introduced and committed. On our friend&rsquo;s part I mean, after his admission
+      and while still in the hall, the sense of the general shining immediacy,
+      of the still unhushed clamour of the shock, was perhaps stronger than he
+      had ever known it. That broke out from every corner as the high pitch of
+      interest, and with a candour that&mdash;no, certainly&mdash;he had never
+      seen equalled; every particular expensive object shrieking at him in its
+      artless pride that it had just &ldquo;come home.&rdquo; He met the whole vision with
+      something of the grimace produced on persons without goggles by the
+      passage from a shelter to a blinding light; and if he had&mdash;by a
+      perfectly possible chance&mdash;been &ldquo;snap-shotted&rdquo; on the spot, would
+      have struck you as showing for his first tribute to the temple of Mrs.
+      Worthingham&rsquo;s charming presence a scowl almost of anguish. He wasn&rsquo;t
+      constitutionally, it may at once be explained for him, a goggled person;
+      and he was condemned, in New York, to this frequent violence of transition&mdash;having
+      to reckon with it whenever he went out, as who should say, from himself.
+      The high pitch of interest, to his taste, was the pitch of history, the
+      pitch of acquired and earned suggestion, the pitch of association, in a
+      word; so that he lived by preference, incontestably, if not in a rich
+      gloom, which would have been beyond his means and spirits, at least amid
+      objects and images that confessed to the tone of time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had ever felt that an indispensable presence&mdash;with a need of it
+      moreover that interfered at no point with his gentle habit, not to say his
+      subtle art, of drawing out what was left him of his youth, of thinly and
+      thriftily spreading the rest of that choicest jam-pot of the cupboard of
+      consciousness over the remainder of a slice of life still possibly thick
+      enough to bear it; or in other words of moving the melancholy limits, the
+      significant signs, constantly a little further on, very much as
+      property-marks or staked boundaries are sometimes stealthily shifted at
+      night. He positively cherished in fact, as against the too inveterate
+      gesture of distressfully guarding his eyeballs&mdash;so many New York
+      aspects seemed to keep him at it&mdash;an ideal of adjusted appreciation,
+      of courageous curiosity, of fairly letting the world about him, a world of
+      constant breathless renewals and merciless substitutions, make its flaring
+      assault on its own inordinate terms. Newness was value in the piece&mdash;for
+      the acquisitor, or at least sometimes might be, even though the act of
+      &ldquo;blowing&rdquo; hard, the act marking a heated freshness of arrival, or other
+      form of irruption, could never minister to the peace of those already and
+      long on the field; and this if only because maturer tone was after all
+      most appreciable and most consoling when one staggered back to it,
+      wounded, bleeding, blinded, from the riot of the raw&mdash;or, to put the
+      whole experience more prettily, no doubt, from excesses of light.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0022" id="link2H_4_0022">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      II
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      If he went in, however, with something of his more or less inevitable
+      scowl, there were really, at the moment, two rather valid reasons for
+      screened observation; the first of these being that the whole place seemed
+      to reflect as never before the lustre of Mrs. Worthingham&rsquo;s own polished
+      and prosperous little person&mdash;to smile, it struck him, with her
+      smile, to twinkle not only with the gleam of her lovely teeth, but with
+      that of all her rings and brooches and bangles and other gewgaws, to curl
+      and spasmodically cluster as in emulation of her charming complicated
+      yellow tresses, to surround the most animated of pink-and-white, of
+      ruffled and ribboned, of frilled and festooned Dresden china shepherdesses
+      with exactly the right system of rococo curves and convolutions and other
+      flourishes, a perfect bower of painted and gilded and moulded conceits.
+      The second ground of this immediate impression of scenic extravagance,
+      almost as if the curtain rose for him to the first act of some small and
+      expensively mounted comic opera, was that she hadn&rsquo;t, after all, awaited
+      him in fond singleness, but had again just a trifle inconsiderately
+      exposed him to the drawback of having to reckon, for whatever design he
+      might amiably entertain, with the presence of a third and quite
+      superfluous person, a small black insignificant but none the less
+      oppressive stranger. It was odd how, on the instant, the little lady
+      engaged with her did affect him as comparatively black&mdash;very much as
+      if that had absolutely, in such a medium, to be the graceless appearance
+      of any item not positively of some fresh shade of a light colour or of
+      some pretty pretension to a charming twist. Any witness of their meeting,
+      his hostess should surely have felt, would have been a false note in the
+      whole rosy glow; but what note so false as that of the dingy little
+      presence that she might actually, by a refinement of her perhaps always
+      too visible study of effect, have provided as a positive contrast or foil?
+      whose name and intervention, moreover, she appeared to be no more moved to
+      mention and account for than she might have been to &ldquo;present&rdquo;&mdash;whether
+      as stretched at her feet or erect upon disciplined haunches&mdash;some
+      shaggy old domesticated terrier or poodle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Extraordinarily, after he had been in the room five minutes&mdash;a space
+      of time during which his fellow-visitor had neither budged nor uttered a
+      sound&mdash;he had made Mrs. Worthingham out as all at once perfectly
+      pleased to see him, completely aware of what he had most in mind, and
+      singularly serene in face of his sense of their impediment. It was as if
+      for all the world she didn&rsquo;t take it for one, the immobility, to say
+      nothing of the seeming equanimity, of their tactless companion; at whom
+      meanwhile indeed our friend himself, after his first ruffled perception,
+      no more adventured a look than if advised by his constitutional kindness
+      that to notice her in any degree would perforce be ungraciously to glower.
+      He talked after a fashion with the woman as to whose power to please and
+      amuse and serve him, as to whose really quite organised and indicated
+      fitness for lighting up his autumn afternoon of life his conviction had
+      lately strained itself so clear; but he was all the while carrying on an
+      intenser exchange with his own spirit and trying to read into the charming
+      creature&rsquo;s behaviour, as he could only call it, some confirmation of his
+      theory that she also had her inward flutter and anxiously counted on him.
+      He found support, happily for the conviction just named, in the idea, at
+      no moment as yet really repugnant to him, the idea bound up in fact with
+      the finer essence of her appeal, that she had her own vision too of her
+      quality and her price, and that the last appearance she would have liked
+      to bristle with was that of being forewarned and eager.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had, if he came to think of it, scarce definitely warned her, and he
+      probably wouldn&rsquo;t have taken to her so consciously in the first instance
+      without an appreciative sense that, as she was a little person of twenty
+      superficial graces, so she was also a little person with her secret pride.
+      She might just have planted her mangy lion&mdash;not to say her muzzled
+      house-dog&mdash;there in his path as a symbol that she wasn&rsquo;t cheap and
+      easy; which would be a thing he couldn&rsquo;t possibly wish his future wife to
+      have shown herself in advance, even if to him alone. That she could make
+      him put himself such questions was precisely part of the attaching play of
+      her iridescent surface, the shimmering interfusion of her various aspects;
+      that of her youth with her independence&mdash;her pecuniary perhaps in
+      particular, that of her vivacity with her beauty, that of her facility
+      above all with her odd novelty; the high modernity, as people appeared to
+      have come to call it, that made her so much more &ldquo;knowing&rdquo; in some
+      directions than even he, man of the world as he certainly was, could
+      pretend to be, though all on a basis of the most unconscious and
+      instinctive and luxurious assumption. She was &ldquo;up&rdquo; to everything, aware of
+      everything&mdash;if one counted from a short enough time back (from week
+      before last, say, and as if quantities of history had burst upon the world
+      within the fortnight); she was likewise surprised at nothing, and in that
+      direction one might reckon as far ahead as the rest of her lifetime, or at
+      any rate as the rest of his, which was all that would concern him: it was
+      as if the suitability of the future to her personal and rather pampered
+      tastes was what she most took for granted, so that he could see her, for
+      all her Dresden-china shoes and her flutter of wondrous befrilled
+      contemporary skirts, skip by the side of the coming age as over the floor
+      of a ball-room, keeping step with its monstrous stride and prepared for
+      every figure of the dance. Her outlook took form to him suddenly as a
+      great square sunny window that hung in assured fashion over the immensity
+      of life. There rose toward it as from a vast swarming <i>plaza</i> a high
+      tide of emotion and sound; yet it was at the same time as if even while he
+      looked her light gemmed hand, flashing on him in addition to those other
+      things the perfect polish of the prettiest pink finger-nails in the world,
+      had touched a spring, the most ingenious of ecent devices for instant
+      ease, which dropped half across the scene a soft-coloured mechanical
+      blind, a fluttered, fringed awning of charmingly toned silk, such as would
+      make a bath of cool shade for the favoured friend leaning with her there&mdash;that
+      is for the happy couple itself&mdash;on the balcony. The great view would
+      be the prospect and privilege of the very state he coveted&mdash;since
+      didn&rsquo;t he covet it?&mdash;the state of being so securely at her side;
+      while the wash of privacy, as one might count it, the broad fine brush
+      dipped into clear umber and passed, full and wet, straight across the
+      strong scheme of colour, would represent the security itself, all the
+      uplifted inner elegance, the condition, so ideal, of being shut out from
+      nothing and yet of having, so gaily and breezily aloft, none of the burden
+      or worry of anything. Thus, as I say, for our friend, the place itself,
+      while his vivid impression lasted, portentously opened and spread, and
+      what was before him took, to his vision, though indeed at so other a
+      crisis, the form of the &ldquo;glimmering square&rdquo; of the poet; yet, for a still
+      more remarkable fact, with an incongruous object usurping at a given
+      instant the privilege of the frame and seeming, even as he looked, to
+      block the view.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The incongruous object was a woman&rsquo;s head, crowned with a little sparsely
+      feathered black hat, an ornament quite unlike those the women mostly
+      noticed by White-Mason were now &ldquo;wearing,&rdquo; and that grew and grew, that
+      came nearer and nearer, while it met his eyes, after the manner of images
+      in the kinematograph. It had presently loomed so large that he saw nothing
+      else&mdash;not only among the things at a considerable distance, the
+      things Mrs. Worthingham would eventually, yet unmistakably, introduce him
+      to, but among those of this lady&rsquo;s various attributes and appurtenances as
+      to which he had been in the very act of cultivating his consciousness. It
+      was in the course of another minute the most extraordinary thing in the
+      world: everything had altered, dropped, darkened, disappeared; his
+      imagination had spread its wings only to feel them flop all grotesquely at
+      its sides as he recognised in his hostess&rsquo;s quiet companion, the
+      oppressive alien who hadn&rsquo;t indeed interfered with his fanciful flight,
+      though she had prevented his immediate declaration and brought about the
+      thud, not to say the felt violent shock, of his fall to earth, the
+      perfectly plain identity of Cornelia Rasch. It was she who had remained
+      there at attention; it was she their companion hadn&rsquo;t introduced; it was
+      she he had forborne to face with his fear of incivility. He stared at her&mdash;everything
+      else went.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why it has been <i>you</i> all this time?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Miss Rasch fairly turned pale. &ldquo;I was waiting to see if you&rsquo;d know me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, my dear Cornelia&rdquo;&mdash;he came straight out with it&mdash;&ldquo;rather!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it isn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she returned with a quick change to red now, &ldquo;from
+      having taken much time to look at me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She smiled, she even laughed, but he could see how she had felt his
+      unconsciousness, poor thing; the acquaintance, quite the friend of his
+      youth, as she had been, the associate of his childhood, of his early
+      manhood, of his middle age in fact, up to a few years back, not more than
+      ten at the most; the associate too of so many of his associates and of
+      almost all of his relations, those of the other time, those who had mainly
+      gone for ever; the person in short whose noted disappearance, though it
+      might have seemed final, had been only of recent seasons. She was present
+      again now, all unexpectedly&mdash;he had heard of her having at last, left
+      alone after successive deaths and with scant resources, sought economic
+      salvation in Europe, the promised land of American thrift&mdash;she was
+      present as this almost ancient and this oddly unassertive little rotund
+      figure whom one seemed no more obliged to address than if she had been a
+      black satin ottoman &ldquo;treated&rdquo; with buttons and gimp; a class of object as
+      to which the policy of blindness was imperative. He felt the need of some
+      explanatory plea, and before he could think had uttered one at Mrs.
+      Worthingham&rsquo;s expense. &ldquo;Why, you see we weren&rsquo;t introduced&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No&mdash;but I didn&rsquo;t suppose I should have to be named to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, my dear woman, you haven&rsquo;t&mdash;do me that justice!&rdquo; He could at
+      least make this point. &ldquo;I felt all the while&mdash;!&rdquo; However, it would
+      have taken him long to say what he had been feeling; and he was aware now
+      of the pretty projected light of Mrs. Worthingham&rsquo;s wonder. She looked as
+      if, out for a walk with her, he had put her to the inconvenience of his
+      stopping to speak to a strange woman in the street.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never supposed you knew her!&rdquo;&mdash;it was to him his hostess excused
+      herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This made Miss Rasch spring up, distinctly flushed, distinctly strange to
+      behold, but not vulgarly nettled&mdash;Cornelia was incapable of that;
+      only rather funnily bridling and laughing, only showing that this was all
+      she had waited for, only saying just the right thing, the thing she could
+      make so clearly a jest. &ldquo;Of course if you <i>had</i> you&rsquo;d have presented
+      him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs. Worthingham looked while answering at White-Mason. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want you
+      to go&mdash;which you see you do as soon as he speaks to you. But I never
+      dreamed&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That there was anything between us? Ah, there are no end of things!&rdquo; He,
+      on his side, though addressing the younger and prettier woman, looked at
+      his fellow-guest; to whom he even continued: &ldquo;When did you get back? May I
+      come and see you the very first thing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cornelia gasped and wriggled&mdash;she practically giggled; she had lost
+      every atom of her little old, her little young, though always
+      unaccountable prettiness, which used to peep so, on the bare chance of a
+      shot, from behind indefensible features, that it almost made watching her
+      a form of sport. He had heard vaguely of her, it came back to him (for
+      there had been no letters; their later acquaintance, thank goodness,
+      hadn&rsquo;t involved that) as experimenting, for economy, and then as settling,
+      to the same rather dismal end, somewhere in England, &ldquo;at one of those
+      intensely English places, St. Leonards, Cheltenham, Bognor, Dawlish&mdash;which,
+      awfully, <i>was</i> it?&rdquo;&mdash;and she now affected him for all the world
+      as some small squirming, exclaiming, genteelly conversing old maid of a
+      type vaguely associated with the three-volume novels he used to feed on
+      (besides his so often encountering it in &ldquo;real life,&rdquo;) during a far-away
+      stay of his own at Brighton. Odder than any element of his ex-gossip&rsquo;s
+      identity itself, however, was the fact that she somehow, with it all,
+      rejoiced his sight. Indeed the supreme oddity was that the manner of her
+      reply to his request for leave to call should have absolutely charmed his
+      attention. She didn&rsquo;t look at him; she only, from under her frumpy, crapy,
+      curiously exotic hat, and with her good little near-sighted insinuating
+      glare, expressed to Mrs. Worthingham, while she answered him, wonderful
+      arch things, the overdone things of a shy woman. &ldquo;Yes, you may call&mdash;but
+      only when this dear lovely lady has done with you!&rdquo; The moment after which
+      she had gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0023" id="link2H_4_0023">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      III
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Forty minutes later he was taking his way back from the queer miscarriage
+      of his adventure; taking it, with no conscious positive felicity, through
+      the very spaces that had witnessed shortly before the considerable
+      serenity of his assurance. He had said to himself then, or had as good as
+      said it, that, since he might do perfectly as he liked, it couldn&rsquo;t fail
+      for him that he must soon retrace those steps, humming, to all intents,
+      the first bars of a wedding-march; so beautifully had it cleared up that
+      he was &ldquo;going to like&rdquo; letting Mrs. Worthingham accept him. He was to have
+      hummed no wedding-march, as it seemed to be turning out&mdash;he had none,
+      up to now, to hum; and yet, extraordinarily, it wasn&rsquo;t in the least
+      because she had refused him. Why then hadn&rsquo;t he liked as much as he had
+      intended to like it putting the pleasant act, the act of not refusing him,
+      in her power? Could it all have come from the awkward minute of his
+      failure to decide sharply, on Cornelia&rsquo;s departure, whether or no he would
+      attend her to the door? He hadn&rsquo;t decided at all&mdash;what the deuce had
+      been in him?&mdash;but had danced to and fro in the room, thinking better
+      of each impulse and then thinking worse. He had hesitated like an ass
+      erect on absurd hind legs between two bundles of hay; the upshot of which
+      must have been his giving the falsest impression. In what way that was to
+      be for an instant considered had their common past committed him to crapy
+      Cornelia? He repudiated with a whack on the gravel any ghost of an
+      obligation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What he could get rid of with scanter success, unfortunately, was the
+      peculiar sharpness of his sense that, though mystified by his visible
+      flurry&mdash;and yet not mystified enough for a sympathetic question
+      either&mdash;his hostess had been, on the whole, even more frankly
+      diverted: which was precisely an example of that newest, freshest, finest
+      freedom in her, the air and the candour of assuming, not &ldquo;heartlessly,&rdquo;
+       not viciously, not even very consciously, but with a bright pampered
+      confidence which would probably end by affecting one&rsquo;s nerves as the most
+      impertinent stroke in the world, that every blest thing coming up for her
+      in any connection was somehow matter for her general recreation. There she
+      was again with the innocent egotism, the gilded and overflowing anarchism,
+      really, of her doubtless quite unwitting but none the less rabid modern
+      note. Her grace of ease was perfect, but it was all grace of ease, not a
+      single shred of it grace of uncertainty or of difficulty&mdash;which
+      meant, when you came to see, that, for its happy working, not a grain of
+      provision was left by it to mere manners. This was clearly going to be the
+      music of the future&mdash;that if people were but rich enough and
+      furnished enough and fed enough, exercised and sanitated and manicured and
+      generally advised and advertised and made &ldquo;knowing&rdquo; enough, <i>avertis</i>
+      enough, as the term appeared to be nowadays in Paris, all they had to do
+      for civility was to take the amused ironic view of those who might be less
+      initiated. In <i>his</i> time, when he was young or even when he was only
+      but a little less middle-aged, the best manners had been the best
+      kindness, and the best kindness had mostly been some art of not insisting
+      on one&rsquo;s luxurious differences, of concealing rather, for common humanity,
+      if not for common decency, a part at least of the intensity or the
+      ferocity with which one might be &ldquo;in the know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Oh, the &ldquo;know&rdquo;&mdash;Mrs. Worthingham was in it, all instinctively,
+      inevitably, and as a matter of course, up to her eyes; which didn&rsquo;t,
+      however, the least little bit prevent her being as ignorant as a fish of
+      everything that really and intimately and fundamentally concerned <i>him</i>,
+      poor dear old White-Mason. She didn&rsquo;t, in the first place, so much as know
+      who he was&mdash;by which he meant know who and what it was to <i>be</i> a
+      White-Mason, even a poor and a dear and old one, &ldquo;anyway.&rdquo; That indeed&mdash;he
+      did her perfect justice&mdash;was of the very essence of the newness and
+      freshness and beautiful, brave, social irresponsibility by which she had
+      originally dazzled him: just exactly that circumstance of her having no
+      instinct for any old quality or quantity or identity, a single historic or
+      social value, as he might say, of the New York of his already almost
+      legendary past; and that additional one of his, on his side, having, so
+      far as this went, cultivated blankness, cultivated positive prudence, as
+      to her own personal background&mdash;the vagueness, at the best, with
+      which all honest gentlefolk, the New Yorkers of his approved stock and
+      conservative generation, were content, as for the most part they were
+      indubitably wise, to surround the origins and antecedents and queer
+      unimaginable early influences of persons swimming into their ken from
+      those parts of the country that quite necessarily and naturally figured to
+      their view as &ldquo;Godforsaken&rdquo; and generally impossible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The few scattered surviving representatives of a society once &ldquo;good&rdquo;&mdash;<i>rari
+      nantes in gurgite vasto</i>&mdash;were liable, at the pass things had come
+      to, to meet, and even amid old shades once sacred, or what was left of
+      such, every form of social impossibility, and, more irresistibly still, to
+      find these apparitions often carry themselves (often at least in the case
+      of the women) with a wondrous wild gallantry, equally imperturbable and
+      inimitable, the sort of thing that reached its maximum in Mrs.
+      Worthingham. Beyond that who ever wanted to look up their annals, to
+      reconstruct their steps and stages, to dot their i&rsquo;s in fine, or to &ldquo;go
+      behind&rdquo; anything that was theirs? One wouldn&rsquo;t do that for the world&mdash;a
+      rudimentary discretion forbade it; and yet this check from elementary
+      undiscussable taste quite consorted with a due respect for them, or at any
+      rate with a due respect for oneself in connection with them; as was just
+      exemplified in what would be his own, what would be poor dear old
+      White-Mason&rsquo;s, insurmountable aversion to having, on any pretext, the
+      doubtless very queer spectre of the late Mr. Worthingham presented to him.
+      No question had he asked, or would he ever ask, should his life&mdash;that
+      is should the success of his courtship&mdash;even intimately depend on it,
+      either about that obscure agent of his mistress&rsquo;s actual affluence or
+      about the happy head-spring itself, and the apparently copious
+      tributaries, of the golden stream.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From all which marked anomalies, at any rate, what was the moral to draw?
+      He dropped into a Park chair again with that question, he lost himself in
+      the wonder of why he had come away with his homage so very much unpaid.
+      Yet it didn&rsquo;t seem at all, actually, as if he could say or conclude, as if
+      he could do anything but keep on worrying&mdash;just in conformity with
+      his being a person who, whether or no familiar with the need to make his
+      conduct square with his conscience and his taste, was never wholly exempt
+      from that of making his taste and his conscience square with his conduct.
+      To this latter occupation he further abandoned himself, and it didn&rsquo;t
+      release him from his second brooding session till the sweet spring sunset
+      had begun to gather and he had more or less cleared up, in the deepening
+      dusk, the effective relation between the various parts of his ridiculously
+      agitating experience. There were vital facts he seemed thus to catch, to
+      seize, with a nervous hand, and the twilight helping, by their vaguely
+      whisked tails; unquiet truths that swarmed out after the fashion of
+      creatures bold only at eventide, creatures that hovered and circled, that
+      verily brushed his nose, in spite of their shyness. Yes, he had
+      practically just sat on with his &ldquo;mistress&rdquo;&mdash;heaven save the mark!&mdash;as
+      if not to come to the point; as if it had absolutely come up that there
+      would be something rather vulgar and awful in doing so. The whole stretch
+      of his stay after Cornelia&rsquo;s withdrawal had been consumed by his almost
+      ostentatiously treating himself to the opportunity of which he was to make
+      nothing. It was as if he had sat and watched himself&mdash;that came back
+      to him: Shall I now or sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t I? Will I now or won&rsquo;t I? &ldquo;Say within the
+      next three minutes, say by a quarter past six, or by twenty minutes past,
+      at the furthest&mdash;always if nothing more comes up to prevent.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      What had already come up to prevent was, in the strangest and drollest, or
+      at least in the most preposterous, way in the world, that not Cornelia&rsquo;s
+      presence, but her very absence, with its distraction of his thoughts, the
+      thoughts that lumbered after her, had made the difference; and without his
+      being the least able to tell why and how. He put it to himself after a
+      fashion by the image that, this distraction once created, his working
+      round to his hostess again, his reverting to the matter of his errand,
+      began suddenly to represent a return from so far. That was simply all&mdash;or
+      rather a little less than all; for something else had contributed. &ldquo;I
+      never dreamed you knew her,&rdquo; and &ldquo;I never dreamed <i>you</i> did,&rdquo; were
+      inevitably what had been exchanged between them&mdash;supplemented by Mrs.
+      Worthingham&rsquo;s mere scrap of an explanation: &ldquo;Oh yes&mdash;to the small
+      extent you see. Two years ago in Switzerland when I was at a high place
+      for an &lsquo;aftercure,&rsquo; during twenty days of incessant rain, she was the only
+      person in an hotel full of roaring, gorging, smoking Germans with whom I
+      could have a word of talk. She and I were the only speakers of English,
+      and were thrown together like castaways on a desert island and in a raging
+      storm. She was ill besides, and she had no maid, and mine looked after
+      her, and she was very grateful&mdash;writing to me later on and saying she
+      should certainly come to see me if she ever returned to New York. She has
+      returned, you see&mdash;and there she was, poor little creature!&rdquo; Such was
+      Mrs. Worthingham&rsquo;s tribute&mdash;to which even his asking her if Miss
+      Rasch had ever happened to speak of him caused her practically to add
+      nothing. Visibly she had never thought again of any one Miss Rasch had
+      spoken of or anything Miss Rasch had said; right as she was, naturally,
+      about her being a little clever queer creature. This was perfectly true,
+      and yet it was probably&mdash;by being <i>all</i> she could dream of about
+      her&mdash;what had paralysed his proper gallantry. Its effect had been not
+      in what it simply stated, but in what, under his secretly disintegrating
+      criticism, it almost luridly symbolised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had quitted his seat in the Louis Quinze drawing-room without having,
+      as he would have described it, done anything but give the lady of the
+      scene a superior chance not to betray a defeated hope&mdash;not, that is,
+      to fail of the famous &ldquo;pride&rdquo; mostly supposed to prop even the most
+      infatuated women at such junctures; by which chance, to do her justice,
+      she had thoroughly seemed to profit. But he finally rose from his later
+      station with a feeling of better success. He had by a happy turn of his
+      hand got hold of the most precious, the least obscure of the flitting,
+      circling things that brushed his ears. What he wanted&mdash;as justifying
+      for him a little further consideration&mdash;was there before him from the
+      moment he could put it that Mrs. Worthingham had no data. He almost hugged
+      that word,&mdash;it suddenly came to mean so much to him. No data, he
+      felt, for a conception of the sort of thing the New York of &ldquo;his time&rdquo; had
+      been in his personal life&mdash;the New York so unexpectedly, so vividly
+      and, as he might say, so perversely called back to all his senses by its
+      identity with that of poor Cornelia&rsquo;s time: since even she had had a time,
+      small show as it was likely to make now, and his time and hers had been
+      the same. Cornelia figured to him while he walked away as, by contrast and
+      opposition, a massive little bundle of data; his impatience to go to see
+      her sharpened as he thought of this: so certainly should he find out that
+      wherever he might touch her, with a gentle though firm pressure, he would,
+      as the fond visitor of old houses taps and fingers a disfeatured,
+      overpapered wall with the conviction of a wainscot-edge beneath, recognise
+      some small extrusion of history.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0024" id="link2H_4_0024">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      IV
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      There would have been a wonder for us meanwhile in his continued use, as
+      it were, of his happy formula&mdash;brought out to Cornelia Rasch within
+      ten minutes, or perhaps only within twenty, of his having settled into the
+      quite comfortable chair that, two days later, she indicated to him by her
+      fireside. He had arrived at her address through the fortunate chance of
+      his having noticed her card, as he went out, deposited, in the good old
+      New York fashion, on one of the rococo tables of Mrs. Worthingham&rsquo;s hall.
+      His eye had been caught by the pencilled indication that was to affect
+      him, the next instant, as fairly placed there for his sake. This had
+      really been his luck, for he shouldn&rsquo;t have liked to write to Mrs.
+      Worthingham for guidance&mdash;<i>that</i> he felt, though too impatient
+      just now to analyze the reluctance. There was nobody else he could have
+      approached for a clue, and with this reflection he was already aware of
+      how it testified to their rare little position, his and Cornelia&rsquo;s&mdash;position
+      as conscious, ironic, pathetic survivors together of a dead and buried
+      society&mdash;that there would have been, in all the town, under such
+      stress, not a member of their old circle left to turn to. Mrs. Worthingham
+      had practically, even if accidentally, helped him to knowledge; the last
+      nail in the coffin of the poor dear extinct past had been planted for him
+      by his having thus to reach his antique contemporary through perforation
+      of the newest newness. The note of this particular recognition was in fact
+      the more prescribed to him that the ground of Cornelia&rsquo;s return to a scene
+      swept so bare of the associational charm was certainly inconspicuous. What
+      had she then come back for?&mdash;he had asked himself that; with the
+      effect of deciding that it probably would have been, a little, to &ldquo;look
+      after&rdquo; her remnant of property. Perhaps she had come to save what little
+      might still remain of that shrivelled interest; perhaps she had been, by
+      those who took care of it for her, further swindled and despoiled, so that
+      she wished to get at the facts. Perhaps on the other hand&mdash;it was a
+      more cheerful chance&mdash;her investments, decently administered, were
+      making larger returns, so that the rigorous thrift of Bognor could be
+      finally relaxed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had little to learn about the attraction of Europe, and rather expected
+      that in the event of his union with Mrs Worthingham he should find himself
+      pleading for it with the competence of one more in the &ldquo;know&rdquo; about Paris
+      and Rome, about Venice and Florence, than even she could be. He could have
+      lived on in <i>his</i> New York, that is in the sentimental, the
+      spiritual, the more or less romantic visitation of it; but had it been
+      positive for him that he could live on in hers?&mdash;unless indeed the
+      possibility of this had been just (like the famous <i>vertige de l&rsquo;abîme</i>,
+      like the solicitation of danger, or otherwise of the dreadful) the very
+      hinge of his whole dream. However that might be, his curiosity was
+      occupied rather with the conceivable hinge of poor Cornelia&rsquo;s: it was
+      perhaps thinkable that even Mrs. Worthingham&rsquo;s New York, once it should
+      have become possible again at all, might have put forth to this lone exile
+      a plea that wouldn&rsquo;t be in the chords of Bognor. For himself, after all,
+      too, the attraction had been much more of the Europe over which one might
+      move at one&rsquo;s ease, and which therefore could but cost, and cost much,
+      right and left, than of the Europe adapted to scrimping. He saw himself on
+      the whole scrimping with more zest even in Mrs. Worthingham&rsquo;s New York
+      than under the inspiration of Bognor. Apart from which it was yet again
+      odd, not to say perceptibly pleasing to him, to note where the emphasis of
+      his interest fell in this fumble of fancy over such felt oppositions as
+      the new, the latest, the luridest power of money and the ancient reserves
+      and moderations and mediocrities. These last struck him as showing by
+      contrast the old brown surface and tone as of velvet rubbed and worn,
+      shabby, and even a bit dingy, but all soft and subtle and still velvety&mdash;which
+      meant still dignified; whereas the angular facts of current finance were
+      as harsh and metallic and bewildering as some stacked &ldquo;exhibit&rdquo; of ugly
+      patented inventions, things his mediaeval mind forbade his taking in. He
+      had for instance the sense of knowing the pleasant little old Rasch
+      fortune&mdash;pleasant as far as it went; blurred memories and impressions
+      of what it had been and what it hadn&rsquo;t, of how it had grown and how
+      languished and how melted; they came back to him and put on such vividness
+      that he could almost have figured himself testify for them before a bland
+      and encouraging Board. The idea of taking the field in any manner on the
+      subject of Mrs. Worthingham&rsquo;s resources would have affected him on the
+      other hand as an odious ordeal, some glare of embarrassment and exposure
+      in a circle of hard unhelpful attention, of converging, derisive,
+      unsuggestive eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In Cornelia&rsquo;s small and quite cynically modern flat&mdash;the house had a
+      grotesque name, &ldquo;The Gainsborough,&rdquo; but at least wasn&rsquo;t an awful
+      boarding-house, as he had feared, and she could receive him quite
+      honourably, which was so much to the good&mdash;he would have been ready
+      to use at once to her the greatest freedom of friendly allusion: &ldquo;Have you
+      still your old &lsquo;family interest&rsquo; in those two houses in Seventh Avenue?&mdash;one
+      of which was next to a corner grocery, don&rsquo;t you know? and was occupied as
+      to its lower part by a candy-shop where the proportion of the stock of
+      suspectedly stale popcorn to that of rarer and stickier joys betrayed
+      perhaps a modest capital on the part of your father&rsquo;s, your grandfather&rsquo;s,
+      or whoever&rsquo;s tenant, but out of which I nevertheless remember once to have
+      come as out of a bath of sweets, with my very garments, and even the
+      separate hairs of my head, glued together. The other of the pair, a
+      tobacconist&rsquo;s, further down, had before it a wonderful huge Indian who
+      thrust out wooden cigars at an indifferent world&mdash;you could buy candy
+      cigars too, at the pop-corn shop, and I greatly preferred them to the
+      wooden; I remember well how I used to gape in fascination at the Indian
+      and wonder if the last of the Mohicans was like him; besides admiring so
+      the resources of a family whose &lsquo;property&rsquo; was in such forms. I haven&rsquo;t
+      been round there lately&mdash;we must go round together; but don&rsquo;t tell me
+      the forms have utterly perished!&rdquo; It was after <i>that</i> fashion he
+      might easily have been moved, and with almost no transition, to break out
+      to Cornelia&mdash;quite as if taking up some old talk, some old community
+      of gossip, just where they had left it; even with the consciousness
+      perhaps of overdoing a little, of putting at its maximum, for the present
+      harmony, recovery, recapture (what should he call it?) the pitch and
+      quantity of what the past had held for them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He didn&rsquo;t in fact, no doubt, dart straight off to Seventh Avenue, there
+      being too many other old things and much nearer and long subsequent; the
+      point was only that for everything they spoke of after he had fairly begun
+      to lean back and stretch his legs, and after she had let him, above all,
+      light the first of a succession of cigarettes&mdash;for everything they
+      spoke of he positively cultivated extravagance and excess, piling up the
+      crackling twigs as on the very altar of memory; and that by the end of
+      half an hour she had lent herself, all gallantly, to their game. It was
+      the game of feeding the beautiful iridescent flame, ruddy and green and
+      gold, blue and pink and amber and silver, with anything they could pick
+      up, anything that would burn and flicker. Thick-strown with such gleanings
+      the occasion seemed indeed, in spite of the truth that they perhaps
+      wouldn&rsquo;t have proved, under cross-examination, to have rubbed shoulders in
+      the other life so very hard. Casual contacts, qualified communities
+      enough, there had doubtless been, but not particular &ldquo;passages,&rdquo; nothing
+      that counted, as he might think of it, for their &ldquo;very own&rdquo; together, for
+      nobody&rsquo;s else at all. These shades of historic exactitude didn&rsquo;t signify;
+      the more and the less that there had been made perfect terms&mdash;and
+      just by his being there and by her rejoicing in it&mdash;with their
+      present need to have <i>had</i> all their past could be made to appear to
+      have given them. It was to this tune they proceeded, the least little bit
+      as if they knowingly pretended&mdash;he giving her the example and setting
+      her the pace of it, and she, poor dear, after a first inevitable shyness,
+      an uncertainty of wonder, a breathlessness of courage, falling into step
+      and going whatever length he would.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She showed herself ready for it, grasping gladly at the perception of what
+      he must mean; and if she didn&rsquo;t immediately and completely fall in&mdash;not
+      in the first half-hour, not even in the three or four others that his
+      visit, even whenever he consulted his watch, still made nothing of&mdash;she
+      yet understood enough as soon as she understood that, if their finer
+      economy hadn&rsquo;t so beautifully served, he might have been conveying this,
+      that, and the other incoherent and easy thing by the comparatively clumsy
+      method of sound and statement. &ldquo;No, I never made love to you; it would in
+      fact have been absurd, and I don&rsquo;t care&mdash;though I almost know, in the
+      sense of almost remembering!&mdash;who did and who didn&rsquo;t; but you were
+      always about, and so was I, and, little as you may yourself care who I did
+      it to, I dare say you remember (in the sense of having known of it!) any
+      old appearances that told. But we can&rsquo;t afford at this time of day not to
+      help each other to have had&mdash;well, everything there was, since
+      there&rsquo;s no more of it now, nor any way of coming by it except so; and
+      therefore let us make together, let us make over and recreate, our lost
+      world; for which we have after all and at the worst such a lot of
+      material. You were in particular my poor dear sisters&rsquo; friend&mdash;they
+      thought you the funniest little brown thing possible; so isn&rsquo;t that again
+      to the good? You were mine only to the extent that you were so much in and
+      out of the house&mdash;as how much, if we come to that, wasn&rsquo;t one in and
+      out, south of Thirtieth Street and north of Washington Square, in those
+      days, those spacious, sociable, Arcadian days, that we flattered ourselves
+      we filled with the modern fever, but that were so different from any of
+      these arrangements of pretended hourly Time that dash themselves forever
+      to pieces as from the fiftieth floors of sky-scrapers.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This was the kind of thing that was in the air, whether he said it or not,
+      and that could hang there even with such quite other things as more
+      crudely came out; came in spite of its being perhaps calculated to strike
+      us that these last would have been rather and most the unspoken and the
+      indirect. They were Cornelia&rsquo;s contribution, and as soon as she had begun
+      to talk of Mrs. Worthingham&mdash;<i>he</i> didn&rsquo;t begin it!&mdash;they
+      had taken their place bravely in the centre of the circle. There they
+      made, the while, their considerable little figure, but all within the ring
+      formed by fifty other allusions, fitful but really intenser irruptions
+      that hovered and wavered and came and went, joining hands at moments and
+      whirling round as in chorus, only then again to dash at the slightly
+      huddled centre with a free twitch or peck or push or other taken liberty,
+      after the fashion of irregular frolic motions in a country dance or a
+      Christmas game.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You&rsquo;re so in love with her and want to marry her!&rdquo;&mdash;she said it all
+      sympathetically and yearningly, poor crapy Cornelia; as if it were to be
+      quite taken for granted that she knew all about it. And then when he had
+      asked how she knew&mdash;why she took so informed a tone about it; all on
+      the wonder of her seeming so much more &ldquo;in&rdquo; it just at that hour than he
+      himself quite felt he could figure for: &ldquo;Ah, how but from the dear lovely
+      thing herself? Don&rsquo;t you suppose <i>she</i> knows it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, she absolutely &lsquo;knows&rsquo; it, does she?&rdquo;&mdash;he fairly heard himself
+      ask that; and with the oddest sense at once of sharply wanting the
+      certitude and yet of seeing the question, of hearing himself say the
+      words, through several thicknesses of some wrong medium. He came back to
+      it from a distance; as he would have had to come back (this was again
+      vivid to him) should he have got round again to his ripe intention three
+      days before&mdash;after his now present but then absent friend, that is,
+      had left him planted before his now absent but then present one for the
+      purpose. &ldquo;Do you mean she&mdash;at all confidently!&mdash;expects?&rdquo; he
+      went on, not much minding if it couldn&rsquo;t but sound foolish; the time being
+      given it for him meanwhile by the sigh, the wondering gasp, all charged
+      with the unutterable, that the tone of his appeal set in motion. He saw
+      his companion look at him, but it might have been with the eyes of thirty
+      years ago; when&mdash;very likely.&mdash;he had put her some such question
+      about some girl long since dead. Dimly at first, then more distinctly,
+      didn&rsquo;t it surge back on him for the very strangeness that there had been
+      some such passage as this between them&mdash;yes, about Mary Cardew!&mdash;in
+      the autumn of &lsquo;68?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, don&rsquo;t you realise your situation?&rdquo; Miss Rasch struck him as quite
+      beautifully wailing&mdash;above all to such an effect of deep interest,
+      that is, on her own part and in him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My situation?&rdquo;&mdash;he echoed, he considered; but reminded afresh, by
+      the note of the detached, the far-projected in it, of what he had last
+      remembered of his sentient state on his once taking ether at the
+      dentist&rsquo;s.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yours and hers&mdash;the situation of her adoring you. I suppose you at
+      least know it,&rdquo; Cornelia smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yes, it was like the other time and yet it wasn&rsquo;t. She was like&mdash;poor
+      Cornelia was&mdash;everything that used to be; that somehow was most
+      definite to him. Still he could quite reply &ldquo;Do you call it&mdash;her
+      adoring me&mdash;<i>my</i> situation?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it&rsquo;s a part of yours, surely&mdash;if you&rsquo;re in love with her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Am I, ridiculous old person! in love with her?&rdquo; White-Mason asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I may be a ridiculous old person,&rdquo; Cornelia returned&mdash;&ldquo;and, for that
+      matter, of course I am! But she&rsquo;s young and lovely and rich and clever: so
+      what could be more natural?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I was applying that opprobrious epithet&mdash;!&rdquo; He didn&rsquo;t finish,
+      though he meant he had applied it to himself. He had got up from his seat;
+      he turned about and, taking in, as his eyes also roamed, several objects
+      in the room, serene and sturdy, not a bit cheap-looking, little old New
+      York objects of &lsquo;68, he made, with an inner art, as if to recognise them&mdash;made
+      so, that is, for himself; had quite the sense for the moment of asking
+      them, of imploring them, to recognise <i>him</i>, to be for him things of
+      his own past. Which they truly were, he could have the next instant cried
+      out; for it meant that if three or four of them, small sallow
+      carte-de-visite photographs, faithfully framed but spectrally faded,
+      hadn&rsquo;t in every particular, frames and balloon skirts and false &ldquo;property&rdquo;
+       balustrades of unimaginable terraces and all, the tone of time, the secret
+      for warding and easing off the perpetual imminent ache of one&rsquo;s protective
+      scowl, one would verily but have to let the scowl stiffen, or to take up
+      seriously the question of blue goggles, during what might remain of life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0025" id="link2H_4_0025">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      V
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      What he actually took up from a little old Twelfth-Street table that
+      piously preserved the plain mahogany circle, with never a curl nor a crook
+      nor a hint of a brazen flourish, what he paused there a moment for
+      commerce with, his back presented to crapy Cornelia, who sat taking that
+      view of him, during this opportunity, very protrusively and frankly and
+      fondly, was one of the wasted mementos just mentioned, over which he both
+      uttered and suppressed a small comprehensive cry. He stood there another
+      minute to look at it, and when he turned about still kept it in his hand,
+      only holding it now a litde behind him. &ldquo;You <i>must</i> have come back to
+      stay&mdash;with all your beautiful things. What else does it mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;Beautiful&rsquo;?&rdquo; his old friend commented with her brow all wrinkled and her
+      lips thrust out in expressive dispraise. They might at that rate have been
+      scarce more beautiful than she herself. &ldquo;Oh, don&rsquo;t talk so&mdash;after
+      Mrs. Worthingham&rsquo;s! <i>They&rsquo;re</i> wonderful, if you will: such things,
+      such things! But one&rsquo;s own poor relics and odds and ends are one&rsquo;s own at
+      least; and one <i>has</i>&mdash;yes&mdash;come back to them. They&rsquo;re all I
+      have in the world to come back to. They were stored, and what I was paying&mdash;!&rdquo;
+       Miss Rasch wofully added.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had possession of the small old picture; he hovered there; he put his
+      eyes again to it intently; then again held it a little behind him as if it
+      might have been snatched away or the very feel of it, pressed against him,
+      was good to his palm. &ldquo;Mrs. Worthingham&rsquo;s things? You think them
+      beautiful?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cornelia did now, if ever, show an odd face. &ldquo;Why certainly prodigious, or
+      whatever. Isn&rsquo;t that conceded?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No doubt every horror, at the pass we&rsquo;ve come to, is conceded. That&rsquo;s
+      just what I complain of.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you <i>complain?</i>&rdquo;&mdash;she drew it out as for surprise: she
+      couldn&rsquo;t have imagined such a thing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To me her things are awful. They&rsquo;re the newest of the new.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, but the old forms!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Those are the most blatant. I mean the swaggering reproductions.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh but,&rdquo; she pleaded, &ldquo;we can&rsquo;t all be <i>really</i> old.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, we can&rsquo;t, Cornelia. But <i>you</i> can&mdash;!&rdquo; said White-Mason with
+      the frankest appreciation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked up at him from where she sat as he could imagine her looking up
+      at the curate at Bognor. &ldquo;Thank you, sir! If that&rsquo;s all you want&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It <i>is</i>&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;all I want&mdash;or almost.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then no wonder such a creature as that,&rdquo; she lightly moralised, &ldquo;won&rsquo;t
+      suit you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He bent upon her, for all the weight of his question, his smoothest stare.
+      &ldquo;You hold she certainly won&rsquo;t suit me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, what can I tell about it? Haven&rsquo;t you by this time found out?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, but I think I&rsquo;m finding.&rdquo; With which he began again to explore.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Miss Rasch immensely wondered. &ldquo;You mean you don&rsquo;t expect to come to an
+      understanding with her?&rdquo; And then as even to this straight challenge he
+      made at first no answer: &ldquo;Do you mean you give it up?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He waited some instants more, but not meeting her eyes&mdash;only looking
+      again about the room. &ldquo;What do you think of my chance?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; his companion cried, &ldquo;what has what I think to do with it? How can I
+      think anything but that she must like you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes&mdash;of course. But how much?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then don&rsquo;t you really know?&rdquo; Cornelia asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He kept up his walk, oddly preoccupied and still not looking at her. &ldquo;Do
+      you, my dear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She waited a little. &ldquo;If you haven&rsquo;t really put it to her I don&rsquo;t suppose
+      she knows.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This at last arrested him again. &ldquo;My dear Cornelia, she doesn&rsquo;t know&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had paused as for the desperate tone, or at least the large emphasis of
+      it, so that she took him up. &ldquo;The more reason then to help her to find it
+      out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean,&rdquo; he explained, &ldquo;that she doesn&rsquo;t know anything.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anything?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anything else, I mean&mdash;even if she does know <i>that</i>.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cornelia considered of it. &ldquo;But what else need she&mdash;in particular&mdash;know?
+      Isn&rsquo;t that the principal thing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well&rdquo;&mdash;and he resumed his circuit&mdash;&ldquo;she doesn&rsquo;t know anything
+      that we know. But nothing,&rdquo; he re-emphasised&mdash;&ldquo;nothing whatever!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, can&rsquo;t she do without that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Evidently she can&mdash;and evidently she does, beautifully. But the
+      question is whether <i>I</i> can!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had paused once more with his point&mdash;but she glared, poor
+      Cornelia, with her wonder. &ldquo;Surely if you know for yourself&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, it doesn&rsquo;t seem enough for me to know for myself! One wants a woman,&rdquo;
+       he argued&mdash;but still, in his prolonged tour, quite without his scowl&mdash;&ldquo;to
+      know <i>for</i> one, to know <i>with</i> one. That&rsquo;s what you do now,&rdquo; he
+      candidly put to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It made her again gape. &ldquo;Do you mean you want to marry <i>me?</i>&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was so full of what he did mean, however, that he failed even to notice
+      it. &ldquo;She doesn&rsquo;t in the least know, for instance, how old I am.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s because you&rsquo;re so young!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, there you are!&rdquo;&mdash;and he turned off afresh and as if almost in
+      disgust. It left her visibly perplexed&mdash;though even the perplexed
+      Cornelia was still the exceedingly pointed; but he had come to her aid
+      after another turn. &ldquo;Remember, please, that I&rsquo;m pretty well as old as
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She had all her point at least, while she bridled and blinked, for this.
+      &ldquo;You&rsquo;re exactly a year and ten months older.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It checked him there for delight. &ldquo;You remember my birthday?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She twinkled indeed like some far-off light of home. &ldquo;I remember every
+      one&rsquo;s. It&rsquo;s a little way I&rsquo;ve always had&mdash;and that I&rsquo;ve never lost.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He looked at her accomplishment, across the room, as at some striking,
+      some charming phenomenon. &ldquo;Well, <i>that&rsquo;s</i> the sort of thing I want!&rdquo;
+       All the ripe candour of his eyes confirmed it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What could she do therefore, she seemed to ask him, but repeat her
+      question of a moment before?&mdash;which indeed presently she made up her
+      mind to. &ldquo;Do you want to marry <i>me?</i>&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It had this time better success&mdash;if the term may be felt in any
+      degree to apply. All his candour, or more of it at least, was in his slow,
+      mild, kind, considering head-shake. &ldquo;No, Cornelia&mdash;not to <i>marry</i>
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His discrimination was a wonder; but since she was clearly treating him
+      now as if everything about him was, so she could as exquisitely meet it.
+      &ldquo;Not at least,&rdquo; she convulsively smiled, &ldquo;until you&rsquo;ve honourably tried
+      Mrs. Worthingham. Don&rsquo;t you really <i>mean</i> to?&rdquo; she gallantly
+      insisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He waited again a little; then he brought out: &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you presently.&rdquo;
+       He came back, and as by still another mere glance over the room, to what
+      seemed to him so much nearer. &ldquo;That table was old Twelfth-Street?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Everything here was.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, the pure blessings! With you, ah, with you, I haven&rsquo;t to wear a green
+      shade.&rdquo; And he had retained meanwhile his small photograph, which he again
+      showed himself. &ldquo;Didn&rsquo;t we talk of Mary Cardew?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, do you remember it?&rdquo; She marvelled to extravagance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You make me. You connect me with it. You connect it with we.&rdquo; He liked to
+      display to her this excellent use she thus had, the service she rendered.
+      &ldquo;There are so many connections&mdash;there will be so many. I feel how,
+      with you, they must all come up again for me: in fact you&rsquo;re bringing them
+      out already, just while I look at you, as fast as ever you can. The fact
+      that you knew every one&mdash;!&rdquo; he went on; yet as if there were more in
+      that too than he could quite trust himself about.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I knew every one,&rdquo; said Cornelia Rasch; but this time with perfect
+      simplicity. &ldquo;I knew, I imagine, more than you do&mdash;or more than you
+      did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It kept him there, it made him wonder with his eyes on her. &ldquo;Things about
+      <i>them</i>&mdash;our people?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Our people. Ours only now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Ah, such an interest as he felt in this&mdash;taking from her while, so
+      far from scowling, he almost gaped, all it might mean! &ldquo;Ours indeed&mdash;and
+      it&rsquo;s awfully good they are; or that we&rsquo;re still here for them! Nobody else
+      is&mdash;nobody but you: not a cat!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I <i>am</i> a cat!&rdquo; Cornelia grinned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean you can tell me things&mdash;?&rdquo; It was too beautiful to
+      believe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;About what really <i>was?</i>&rdquo; she artfully considered, holding him
+      immensely now. &ldquo;Well, unless they&rsquo;ve come to you with time; unless you&rsquo;ve
+      learned&mdash;or found out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; he reassuringly cried&mdash;reassuringly, it most seemed, for
+      himself&mdash;&ldquo;nothing has come to me with time, everything has gone from
+      me. How can I find out now! What creature has an idea&mdash;&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She threw up her hands with the shrug of old days&mdash;the sharp little
+      shrug his sisters used to imitate and that she hadn&rsquo;t had to go to Europe
+      for. The only thing was that he blessed her for bringing it back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, the ideas of people now&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, their ideas are certainly not about us&rdquo; But he ruefully faced it.
+      &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve none the less, however, to live with them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With their ideas&mdash;?&rdquo; Cornelia questioned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With <i>them</i>&mdash;these modern wonders; such as they are!&rdquo; Then he
+      went on: &ldquo;It must have been to help me you&rsquo;ve come back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She said nothing for an instant about that, only nodding instead at his
+      photograph. &ldquo;What has become of yours? I mean of <i>her</i>.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This time it made him turn pale. &ldquo;You remember I <i>have</i> one?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She kept her eyes on him. &ldquo;In a &lsquo;pork-pie&rsquo; hat, with her hair in a long
+      net. That was so &lsquo;smart&rsquo; then; especially with one&rsquo;s skirt looped up, over
+      one&rsquo;s hooped magenta petticoat, in little festoons, and a row of very big
+      onyx beads over one&rsquo;s braided velveteen sack&mdash;braided quite plain and
+      very broad, don&rsquo;t you know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He smiled for her extraordinary possession of these things&mdash;she was
+      as prompt as if she had had them before her. &ldquo;Oh, rather&mdash;&lsquo;don&rsquo;t I
+      know?&rsquo; You wore brown velveteen, and, on those remarkably small hands,
+      funny gauntlets&mdash;like mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, do <i>you</i> remember? But like yours?&rdquo; she wondered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean like hers in my photograph.&rdquo; But he came back to the present
+      picture. &ldquo;This is better, however, for really showing her lovely head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mary&rsquo;s head was a perfection!&rdquo; Cornelia testified.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes&mdash;it was better than her heart.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, don&rsquo;t say that!&rdquo; she pleaded. &ldquo;You weren&rsquo;t fair.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you think I was fair?&rdquo; It interested him immensely&mdash;and the
+      more that he indeed mightn&rsquo;t have been; which he seemed somehow almost to
+      hope.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She didn&rsquo;t think so&mdash;to the very end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She didn&rsquo;t?&rdquo;&mdash;ah the right things Cornelia said to him! But before
+      she could answer he was studying again closely the small faded face. &ldquo;No,
+      she doesn&rsquo;t, she doesn&rsquo;t. Oh, her charming sad eyes and the way they say
+      that, across the years, straight into mine! But I don&rsquo;t know, I don&rsquo;t
+      know!&rdquo; White-Mason quite comfortably sighed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His companion appeared to appreciate this effect. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s just the way you
+      used to flirt with her, poor thing. Wouldn&rsquo;t you like to have it?&rdquo; she
+      asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This&mdash;for my very own?&rdquo; He looked up delighted. &ldquo;I really may?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, if you&rsquo;ll give me yours. We&rsquo;ll exchange.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a charming idea. We&rsquo;ll exchange. But you must come and get it at
+      my rooms&mdash;where you&rsquo;ll see my things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      For a little she made no answer&mdash;as if for some feeling. Then she
+      said: &ldquo;You asked me just now why I&rsquo;ve come back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stared as for the connection; after which with a smile: &ldquo;Not to do <i>that</i>&mdash;&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She waited briefly again, but with a queer little look. &ldquo;I can do those
+      things now; and&mdash;yes!&mdash;that&rsquo;s in a manner why. I came,&rdquo; she then
+      said, &ldquo;because I knew of a sudden one day&mdash;knew as never before&mdash;that
+      I was old.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see. I see.&rdquo; He quite understood&mdash;she had notes that so struck
+      him. &ldquo;And how did you like it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She hesitated&mdash;she decided. &ldquo;Well, if I liked it, it was on the
+      principle perhaps on which some people like high game!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;High game&mdash;that&rsquo;s good!&rdquo; he laughed. &ldquo;Ah, my dear, we&rsquo;re &lsquo;high&rsquo;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She shook her head. &ldquo;No, not you&mdash;yet. I at any rate didn&rsquo;t want any
+      more adventures,&rdquo; Cornelia said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He showed their small relic again with assurance. &ldquo;You wanted <i>us</i>.
+      Then here we are. Oh how we can talk!&mdash;with all those things you
+      know! You are an invention. And you&rsquo;ll see there are things J know. I
+      shall turn up here&mdash;well, daily.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She took it in, but only after a moment answered. &ldquo;There was something you
+      said just now you&rsquo;d tell me. Don&rsquo;t you mean to try&mdash;&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mrs. Worthingham?&rdquo; He drew from within his coat his pocket-book and
+      carefully found a place in it for Mary Cardew&rsquo;s carte-de-visite, folding
+      it together with deliberation over which he put it back. Finally he spoke.
+      &ldquo;No&mdash;I&rsquo;ve decided. I can&rsquo;t&mdash;I don&rsquo;t want to.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cornelia marvelled&mdash;or looked as if she did. &ldquo;Not for all she has?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes&mdash;I know all she has. But I also know all she hasn&rsquo;t. And, as I
+      told you, she herself doesn&rsquo;t&mdash;hasn&rsquo;t a glimmer of a suspicion of it;
+      and never will have.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cornelia magnanimously thought &ldquo;No&mdash;but she knows other things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He shook his head as at the portentous heap of them. &ldquo;Too many&mdash;too
+      many. And other indeed&mdash;<i>so</i> other! Do you know,&rdquo; he went on,
+      &ldquo;that it&rsquo;s as if <i>you</i>&mdash;by turning up for me&mdash;had brought
+      that home to me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;For you,&rsquo;&rdquo; she candidly considered. &ldquo;But what&mdash;since you can&rsquo;t
+      marry me!&mdash;can you do with me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Well, he seemed to have it all. &ldquo;Everything. I can live with you&mdash;just
+      this way.&rdquo; To illustrate which he dropped into the other chair by her
+      fire; where, leaning back, he gazed at the flame. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t give you up.
+      It&rsquo;s very curious. It has come over me as it did over you when you
+      renounced Bognor. That&rsquo;s it&mdash;I know it at last, and I see one can
+      like it. I&rsquo;m &lsquo;high.&rsquo; You needn&rsquo;t deny it. That&rsquo;s my taste. I&rsquo;m old.&rdquo; And
+      in spite of the considerable glow there of her little household altar he
+      said it without the scowl.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0026" id="link2H_4_0026">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE BENCH OF DESOLATION
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0027" id="link2H_4_0027">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      I
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      SHE had practically, he believed, conveyed the intimation, the horrid,
+      brutal, vulgar menace, in the course of their last dreadful conversation,
+      when, for whatever was left him of pluck or confidence&mdash;confidence in
+      what he would fain have called a little more aggressively the strength of
+      his position&mdash;he had judged best not to take it up. But this time
+      there was no question of not understanding, or of pretending he didn&rsquo;t;
+      the ugly, the awful words, ruthlessly formed by her lips, were like the
+      fingers of a hand that she might have thrust into her pocket for
+      extraction of the monstrous object that would serve best for&mdash;what
+      should he call it?&mdash;a gage of battle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I haven&rsquo;t a very different answer from you within the next three days
+      I shall put the matter into the hands of my solicitor, whom it may
+      interest you to know I&rsquo;ve already seen. I shall bring an action for
+      &lsquo;breach&rsquo; against you, Herbert Dodd, as sure as my name&rsquo;s Kate Cookham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There it was, straight and strong&mdash;yet he felt he could say for
+      himself, when once it had come, or even, already, just as it was coming,
+      that it turned on, as if she had moved an electric switch, the very
+      brightest light of his own very reasons. There <i>she</i> was, in all the
+      grossness of her native indelicacy, in all her essential excess of will
+      and destitution of scruple; and it was the woman capable of that ignoble
+      threat who, his sharper sense of her quality having become so quite
+      deterrent, was now making for him a crime of it that he shouldn&rsquo;t wish to
+      tie himself to her for life. The vivid, lurid thing was the reality, all
+      unmistakable, of her purpose; she had thought her case well out; had
+      measured its odious, specious presentability; had taken, he might be sure,
+      the very best advice obtainable at Properley, where there was always a
+      first-rate promptitude of everything fourth-rate; it was disgustingly
+      certain, in short, that she&rsquo;d proceed. She was sharp and adroit, moreover&mdash;distinctly
+      in certain ways a master-hand; how otherwise, with her so limited mere
+      attractiveness, should she have entangled him? He couldn&rsquo;t shut his eyes
+      to the very probable truth that if she should try it she&rsquo;d pull it off.
+      She <i>knew</i> she would&mdash;precisely; and her assurance was thus the
+      very proof of her cruelty. That she had pretended she loved him was
+      comparatively nothing; other women had pretended it, and other women too
+      had really done it; but that she had pretended he could possibly have been
+      right and safe and blest in loving <i>her</i>, a creature of the kind who
+      could sniff that squalor of the law-court, of claimed damages and brazen
+      lies and published kisses, of love-letters read amid obscene guffaws, as a
+      positive tonic to resentment, as a high incentive to her course&mdash;this
+      was what put him so beautifully in the right It was what might signify in
+      a woman all through, he said to himself, the mere imagination of such
+      machinery. Truly what a devilish conception and what an appalling nature!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But there was no doubt, luckily, either, that he <i>could</i> plant his
+      feet the firmer for his now intensified sense of these things. He was to
+      live, it appeared, abominably worried, he was to live consciously rueful,
+      he was to live perhaps even what a scoffing world would call abjectly
+      exposed; but at least he was to live saved. In spite of his clutch of
+      which steadying truth, however, and in spite of his declaring to her, with
+      many other angry protests and pleas, that the line of conduct she
+      announced was worthy of a vindictive barmaid, a lurking fear in him, too
+      deep to counsel mere defiance, made him appear to keep open a little, till
+      he could somehow turn round again, the door of possible composition. He
+      had scoffed at her claim, at her threat, at her thinking she could hustle
+      and bully him&mdash;&ldquo;Such a way, my eye, to call back to life a dead
+      love!&rdquo;&mdash;yet his instinct was ever, prudentially but helplessly, for
+      gaining time, even if time only more wofully to quake, and he gained it
+      now by not absolutely giving for his ultimatum that he wouldn&rsquo;t think of
+      coming round. He didn&rsquo;t in the smallest degree mean to come round, but it
+      was characteristic of him that he could for three or four days breathe a
+      little easier by having left her under the impression that he perhaps
+      might. At the same time he couldn&rsquo;t not have said&mdash;what had conduced
+      to bring out, in retort, her own last word, the word on which they had
+      parted&mdash;&ldquo;Do you mean to say you yourself would now be <i>willing</i>
+      to marry and live with a man of whom you could feel, the thing done, that
+      he&rsquo;d be all the while thinking of you in the light of a hideous coercion?&rdquo;
+       &ldquo;Never you mind about <i>my</i> willingness,&rdquo; Kate had answered; &ldquo;you&rsquo;ve
+      known what that has been for the last six months. Leave that to me, my
+      willingness&mdash;I&rsquo;ll take care of it all right; and just see what
+      conclusion you can come to about your own.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was to remember afterward how he had wondered whether, turned upon her
+      in silence while her odious lucidity reigned unchecked, his face had shown
+      her anything like the quantity of hate he felt. Probably not at all; no
+      man&rsquo;s face <i>could</i> express that immense amount; especially the fair,
+      refined, intellectual, gentlemanlike face which had had&mdash;and by her
+      own more than once repeated avowal&mdash;so much to do with the enormous
+      fancy she had originally taken to him. &ldquo;Which&mdash;frankly now&mdash;would
+      you personally <i>rather</i> I should do,&rdquo; he had at any rate asked her
+      with an intention of supreme irony: &ldquo;just sordidly marry you on top of
+      this, or leave you the pleasure of your lovely appearance in court and of
+      your so assured (since that&rsquo;s how you feel it) big haul of damages?
+      Sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t you be awfully disappointed, in fact, if I don&rsquo;t let you get
+      something better out of me than a poor plain ten-shilling gold ring and
+      the rest of the blasphemous rubbish, as we should make it between us,
+      pronounced at the altar? I take it of course,&rdquo; he had swaggered on, &ldquo;that
+      your pretension wouldn&rsquo;t be for a moment that I should&mdash;after the act
+      of profanity&mdash;take up my life with you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just as much my dream as it ever was, Herbert Dodd, to take up mine
+      with <i>you!</i> Remember for me that I can do with it, my dear, that my
+      idea is for even as much as that of you!&rdquo; she had cried; &ldquo;remember that
+      for me, Herbert Dodd; remember, remember!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was on this she had left him&mdash;left him frankly under a mortal
+      chill. There might have been the last ring of an appeal or a show of
+      persistent and perverse tenderness in it, however preposterous any such
+      matter; but in point of fact her large, clean, plain, brown face&mdash;so
+      much too big for her head, he now more than ever felt it to be, just as
+      her head was so much too big for her body, and just as her hats had an
+      irritating way of appearing to decline choice and conformity in respect to
+      <i>any</i> of her dimensions&mdash;presented itself with about as much
+      expression as his own shop-window when the broad, blank, sallow blind was
+      down. He was fond of his shop-window with some good show on; he had a
+      fancy for a good show and was master of twenty different schemes of taking
+      arrangement for the old books and prints, &ldquo;high-class rarities&rdquo; his modest
+      catalogue called them, in which he dealt and which his maternal uncle,
+      David Geddes, had, as he liked to say, &ldquo;handed down&rdquo; to him. His widowed
+      mother had screwed the whole thing, the stock and the connection and the
+      rather bad little house in the rather bad little street, out of the
+      ancient worthy, shortly before his death, in the name of the youngest and
+      most interesting, the &ldquo;delicate&rdquo; one and the literary, of her five
+      scattered and struggling children. He could enjoy his happiest
+      collocations and contrasts and effects, his harmonies and varieties of
+      toned and faded leather and cloth, his sought color-notes and the high
+      clearnesses, here and there, of his white and beautifully figured
+      price-labels, which pleased him enough in themselves almost to console him
+      for not oftener having to break, on a customer&rsquo;s insistence, into the
+      balanced composition. But the dropped expanse of time-soiled canvas, the
+      thing of Sundays and holidays, with just his name, &ldquo;Herbert Dodd,
+      Successor,&rdquo; painted on below his uncle&rsquo;s antique style, the feeble penlike
+      flourishes already quite archaic&mdash;this ugly vacant mask, which might
+      so easily be taken for the mask of failure, somehow always gave him a
+      chill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That had been just the sort of chill&mdash;the analogy was complete&mdash;of
+      Kate Cookham&rsquo;s last look. He supposed people doing an awfully good and
+      sure and steady business, in whatever line, could see a whole front turned
+      to vacancy that way and merely think of the hours off represented by it.
+      Only for this&mdash;nervously to bear it, in other words, and Herbert
+      Dodd, quite with the literary temperament himself, was capable of that
+      amount of play of fancy, or even of morbid analysis&mdash;you had to be on
+      some footing, you had to feel some confidence, pretty different from his
+      own up to now. He had never <i>not</i> enjoyed passing his show on the
+      other side of the street and taking it in thence with a casual obliquity;
+      but he had never held optical commerce with the drawn blind for a moment
+      longer than he could help. It <i>always</i> looked horribly final and as
+      if it never would come up again. Big and bare, with his name staring at
+      him from the middle, it thus offered in its grimness a turn of comparison
+      for Miss Cookham&rsquo;s ominous visage. She never wore pretty, dotty,
+      transparent veils, as Nan Drury did, and the words &ldquo;Herbert Dodd&rdquo;&mdash;save
+      that she had sounded them at him there two or three times more like a Meg
+      Merrilies or the bold bad woman in one of the melodramas of high life
+      given during the fine season in the pavilion at the end of Properley Pier&mdash;were
+      dreadfully, were permanently, seated on her lips. <i>She</i> was grim, no
+      mistake.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That evening, alone in the back room above the shop, he saw so little what
+      he could do that, consciously demoralised for the hour, he gave way to
+      tears about it. Her taking a stand so incredibly &ldquo;low,&rdquo; that was what he
+      couldn&rsquo;t get over. The particular bitterness of his cup was his having let
+      himself in for a struggle on such terms&mdash;the use, on her side, of the
+      vulgarest process known to the law: the vulgarest, the vulgarest, he kept
+      repeating that, clinging to the help rendered him by this imputation to
+      his terrorist of the vice he sincerely believed he had ever, among
+      difficulties (for oh he recognised the difficulties!) sought to keep most
+      alien to him. He knew what he was, in a dismal, down-trodden sphere enough&mdash;the
+      lean young proprietor of an old business that had itself rather shrivelled
+      with age than ever grown fat, the purchase and sale of second-hand books
+      and prints, with the back street of a long-fronted south-coast
+      watering-place (Old Town by good luck) for the dusky field of his life.
+      But he had gone in for all the education he could get&mdash;his educated
+      customers would often hang about for more talk by the half-hour at a time,
+      he actually feeling himself, and almost with a scruple, hold them there;
+      which meant that he had had (he couldn&rsquo;t be blind to that) natural taste
+      and had lovingly cultivated and formed it. Thus, from as far back as he
+      could remember, there had been things all round him that he suffered from
+      when other people didn&rsquo;t; and he had kept most of his suffering to himself&mdash;which
+      had taught him, in a manner, <i>how</i> to suffer, and how almost to like
+      to.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So, at any rate, he had never let go his sense of certain differences, he
+      had done everything he could to keep it up&mdash;whereby everything that
+      was vulgar was on the wrong side of his line. He had believed, for a
+      series of strange, oppressed months, that Kate Cookham&rsquo;s manners and tone
+      were on the right side; she had been governess&mdash;for young children&mdash;in
+      two very good private families, and now had classes in literature and
+      history for bigger girls who were sometimes brought by their mammas; in
+      fact, coming in one day to look over his collection of students&rsquo; manuals,
+      and drawing it out, as so many did, for the evident sake of his
+      conversation, she had appealed to him that very first time by her
+      apparently pronounced intellectual side&mdash;goodness knew she didn&rsquo;t
+      even then by the physical!&mdash;which she had artfully kept in view till
+      she had entangled him past undoing. And it had all been but the cheapest
+      of traps&mdash;when he came to take the pieces apart a bit&mdash;laid over
+      a brazen avidity. What he now collapsed for, none the less&mdash;what he
+      sank down on a chair at a table and nursed his weak, scared sobs in his
+      resting arms for&mdash;was the fact that, whatever the trap, it held him
+      as with the grip of sharp murderous steel. There he was, there he was;
+      alone in the brown summer dusk&mdash;brown through <i>his</i> windows&mdash;he
+      cried and he cried. He shouldn&rsquo;t get out without losing a limb. The only
+      question was which of his limbs it should be.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before he went out, later on&mdash;for he at last felt the need to&mdash;he
+      could, however, but seek to remove from his face and his betraying eyes,
+      over his washing-stand, the traces of his want of fortitude. He brushed
+      himself up; with which, catching his stricken image a bit spectrally in an
+      old dim toilet-glass, he knew again, in a flash, the glow of righteous
+      resentment. Who should be assured against coarse usage if a man of his
+      really elegant, perhaps in fact a trifle over-refined or &ldquo;effete&rdquo;
+       appearance, his absolutely gentlemanlike type, couldn&rsquo;t be? He never went
+      so far as to rate himself, with exaggeration, a gentleman; but he would
+      have maintained against all comers, with perfect candour and as claiming a
+      high advantage, that he was, in spite of that liability to blubber, &ldquo;like&rdquo;
+       one; which he <i>was</i> no doubt, for that matter, at several points.
+      Like what lady then, who could ever possibly have been taken for one, was
+      Kate Cookham, and therefore how could one have anything&mdash;anything of
+      the intimate and private order&mdash;out with her fairly and on the plane,
+      the only possible one, of common equality? He might find himself crippled
+      for life; he believed verily, the more he thought, that that was what was
+      before him. But be ended by seeing this doom in the almost redeeming light
+      of the fact that it would all have been because he was, comparatively, too
+      aristocratic. Yes, a man in his station couldn&rsquo;t afford to carry that so
+      far&mdash;it must sooner or later, in one way or another, spell ruin.
+      Never mind&mdash;it was the only thing he could be. Of course he should
+      exquisitely suffer&mdash;but when hadn&rsquo;t he exquisitely suffered? How was
+      he going to get through life by <i>any</i> arrangement without that? No
+      wonder such a woman as Kate Cookham had been keen to annex so rare a
+      value. The right thing would have been that the highest price should be
+      paid for it&mdash;by such a different sort of logic from this nightmare of
+      <i>his</i> having to pay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0028" id="link2H_4_0028">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      II
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Which was the way, of course, he talked to Nan Drury&mdash;as he had felt
+      the immediate wild need to do; for he should perhaps be able to bear it
+      all somehow or other with <i>her</i>&mdash;while they sat together, when
+      time and freedom served, on one of the very last, the far westward,
+      benches of the interminable sea-front. It wasn&rsquo;t every one who walked so
+      far, especially at that flat season&mdash;the only ghost of a bustle now,
+      save for the gregarious, the obstreperous haunters of the fluttering,
+      far-shining Pier, being reserved for the sunny Parade of midwinter. It
+      wasn&rsquo;t every one who cared for the sunsets (which you got awfully well
+      from there and which were a particular strong point of the lower, the more
+      &ldquo;sympathetic,&rdquo; as Herbert Dodd liked to call it, Properley horizon) as he
+      had always intensely cared, and as he had found Nan Drury care; to say
+      nothing of his having also observed how little they directly spoke to Miss
+      Cookham. He had taught this oppressive companion to notice them a bit, as
+      he had taught her plenty of other things, but that was a different matter;
+      for the reason that the &ldquo;land&rsquo;s end&rdquo; (stretching a point it carried off
+      that name) had been, and had had to be, by their lack of more sequestered
+      resorts and conveniences, the scene of so much of what she styled their
+      wooing-time&mdash;or, to put it more properly, of the time during which
+      she had made the straightest and most unabashed love to <i>him</i>: just
+      as it could henceforth but render possible, under an equal rigour, that he
+      should enjoy there periods of consolation from beautiful, gentle,
+      tender-souled Nan, to whom he was now at last, after the wonderful way
+      they had helped each other to behave, going to make love, absolutely
+      unreserved and abandoned, absolutely reckless and romantic love, a refuge
+      from poisonous reality, as hard as ever he might.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The league-long, paved, lighted, garden-plotted, seated and refuged Marina
+      renounced its more or less celebrated attractions to break off short here;
+      and an inward curve of the kindly westward shore almost made a wide-armed
+      bay, with all the ugliness between town and country, and the further
+      casual fringe of the coast, turning, as the day waned, to rich afternoon
+      blooms of grey and brown and distant&mdash;it might fairly have been
+      beautiful Hampshire&mdash;blue. Here it was that, all that blighted
+      summer, with Nan&mdash;from the dreadful May-day on&mdash;he gave himself
+      up to the reaction of intimacy with the <i>kind</i> of woman, at least,
+      that he liked; even if of everything else that might make life possible he
+      was to be, by what he could make out, forever starved. Here it was that&mdash;as
+      well as on whatever other scraps of occasions they could manage&mdash;Nan
+      began to take off and fold up and put away in her pocket her pretty,
+      dotty, becoming veil; as under the logic of his having so tremendously
+      ceased, in the shake of his dark storm-gust, to be engaged to another
+      woman. Her removal of that obstacle to a trusted friend&rsquo;s assuring himself
+      whether the peachlike bloom&rsquo; of her finer facial curves bore the test of
+      such further inquiry into their cool sweetness as might reinforce a mere
+      baffled gaze&mdash;her momentous, complete surrender of so much of her
+      charm, let us say, both marked the change in the situation of the pair and
+      established the record of their perfect observance of every propriety for
+      so long before. They afterward in fact could have dated it, their full
+      clutch of their freedom and the bliss of their having so little henceforth
+      to consider save their impotence, their poverty, their ruin; dated it from
+      the hour of his recital to her of the&mdash;at the first blush&mdash;quite
+      appalling upshot of his second and conclusive &ldquo;scene of violence&rdquo; with the
+      mistress of his fortune, when the dire terms of his release had had to be
+      formally, and oh! so abjectly, acceded to. She &ldquo;compromised,&rdquo; the cruel
+      brute, for Four Hundred Pounds down&mdash;for not a farthing less would
+      she stay her strength from &ldquo;proceedings.&rdquo; No jury in the land but would
+      give her six, on the nail (&ldquo;Oh she knew quite where she was, thank you!&rdquo;)
+      and he might feel lucky to get off with so whole a skin. This was the sum,
+      then, for which he had grovellingly compounded&mdash;under an agreement
+      sealed by a supreme exchange of remarks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;Where in the name of lifelong ruin are you to <i>find</i> Four
+      Hundred?&rsquo;&rdquo; Miss Cookham had mockingly repeated after him while he gasped
+      as from the twist of her grip on his collar. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s <i>your</i> look-out,
+      and I should have thought you&rsquo;d have made sure you knew before you decided
+      on your base perfidy.&rdquo; And then she had mouthed and minced, with ever so
+      false a gentility, her consistent, her sickening conclusion. &ldquo;Of course&mdash;I
+      may mention again&mdash;if you too distinctly object to the trouble of
+      looking, you know where to find <i>me</i>.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had rather starve to death than ever go within a mile of you!&rdquo; Herbert
+      described himself as having sweetly answered; and that was accordingly
+      where <i>they</i> devotedly but desperately were&mdash;he and she,
+      penniless Nan Drury. Her father, of Drury &amp; Dean, was, like so far too
+      many other of the anxious characters who peered through the dull
+      window-glass of dusty offices at Properley, an Estate and House Agent,
+      Surveyor, Valuer and Auctioneer; she was the prettiest of six, with two
+      brothers, neither of the least use, but, thanks to the manner in which
+      their main natural protector appeared to languish under the accumulation
+      of his attributes, they couldn&rsquo;t be said very particularly or positively
+      to live. Their continued collective existence was a good deal of a miracle
+      even to themselves, though they had fallen into the way of not
+      unnecessarily, or too nervously, exchanging remarks upon it, and had even
+      in a sort, from year to year, got used to it. Nan&rsquo;s brooding pinkness when
+      he talked to her, her so very parted lips, considering her pretty teeth,
+      her so very parted eyelids, considering her pretty eyes, all of which
+      might have been those of some waxen image of uncritical faith, cooled the
+      heat of his helplessness very much as if he were laying his head on a
+      tense silk pillow. She had, it was true, forms of speech, familiar
+      watchwords, that affected him as small scratchy perforations of the smooth
+      surface from within; but his pleasure in her and need of her were
+      independent of such things and really almost altogether determined by the
+      fact of the happy, even if all so lonely, forms and instincts in her which
+      claimed kinship with his own. With her natural elegance stamped on her as
+      by a die, with her dim and disinherited individual refinement of grace,
+      which would have made any one wonder who she was anywhere&mdash;hat and
+      veil and feather-boa and smart umbrella-knob and all&mdash;with her
+      regular God-given distinction of type, in fine, she couldn&rsquo;t abide
+      vulgarity much more than he could.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Therefore it didn&rsquo;t seem to him, under his stress, to matter particularly,
+      for instance, if she <i>would</i> keep on referring so many things to the
+      time, as she called it, when she came into his life&mdash;his own great
+      insistence and contention being that she hadn&rsquo;t in the least entered there
+      till his mind was wholly made up to eliminate his other friend. What that
+      methodical fury was so fierce to bring home to him was the falsity to
+      herself involved in the later acquaintance; whereas just his precious
+      right to hold up his head to everything&mdash;before himself at least&mdash;sprang
+      from the fact that she couldn&rsquo;t make dates fit anyhow. He hadn&rsquo;t so much
+      as heard of his true beauty&rsquo;s existence (she had come back but a few weeks
+      before from her two years with her terribly trying deceased aunt at
+      Swindon, previous to which absence she had been an unnoticeable chit) till
+      days and days, ever so many, upon his honour, after he had struck for
+      freedom by his great first backing-out letter&mdash;the precious document,
+      the treat for a British jury, in which, by itself, Miss Cookham&rsquo;s firm
+      instructed her to recognise the prospect of a fortune. The way the
+      ruffians had been &ldquo;her&rdquo; ruffians&mdash;it appeared as if she had posted
+      them behind her from the first of her beginning her game!&mdash;and the
+      way &ldquo;instructions&rdquo; bounced out, with it, at a touch, larger than life, as
+      if she had arrived with her pocket full of them! The date of the letter,
+      taken with its other connections, and the date of <i>her</i> first
+      give-away for himself, his seeing her get out of the Brighton train with
+      Bill Frankle that day he had gone to make the row at the Station parcels&rsquo; 
+      office about the miscarriage of the box from Wales&mdash;those were the
+      facts it sufficed him to point to, as he had pointed to them for Nan
+      Drury&rsquo;s benefit, goodness knew, often and often enough. If he didn&rsquo;t seek
+      occasion to do so for any one else&rsquo;s&mdash;in open court as they said&mdash;that
+      was his own affair, or at least his and Nan&rsquo;s.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It little mattered, meanwhile, if on their bench of desolation, all that
+      summer&mdash;and it may be added for summers and summers, to say nothing
+      of winters, there and elsewhere, to come&mdash;she did give way to her
+      artless habit of not contradicting him enough, which led to her often
+      trailing up and down before him, too complacently, the untimely shreds and
+      patches of his own glooms and desperations. &ldquo;Well, I&rsquo;m glad I <i>am</i> in
+      your life, terrible as it is, however or whenever I did come in!&rdquo; and &ldquo;<i>Of
+      course</i> you&rsquo;d rather have starved&mdash;and it seems pretty well as if
+      we shall, doesn&rsquo;t it?&mdash;than have bought her off by a false, abhorrent
+      love, wouldn&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; and &ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t as if she hadn&rsquo;t made up to you the way
+      she did before you had so much as looked at her, is it? or as if you
+      hadn&rsquo;t shown her what you felt her really to be before you had so much as
+      looked at <i>me</i>, is it either?&rdquo; and &ldquo;Yes, how on earth, pawning the
+      shoes on your feet, you&rsquo;re going to raise another shilling&mdash;<i>that&rsquo;s</i>
+      what you want to know, poor darling, don&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0029" id="link2H_4_0029">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      III
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      His creditor, at the hour it suited her, transferred her base of
+      operations to town, to which impenetrable scene she had also herself
+      retired; and his raising of the first Two Hundred, during five exasperated
+      and miserable months, and then of another Seventy piecemeal, bleedingly,
+      after long delays and under the epistolary whiplash cracked by the London
+      solicitor in his wretched ear even to an effect of the very report of Miss
+      Cookham&rsquo;s tongue&mdash;these melancholy efforts formed a scramble up an
+      arduous steep where steps were planted and missed, and bared knees were
+      excoriated, and clutches at wayside tufts succeeded and failed, on a
+      system to which poor Nan could have intelligently entered only if she had
+      been somehow less ladylike. She kept putting into his mouth the sick
+      quaver of where he should find the rest, the always inextinguishable rest,
+      long after he had in silent rage fallen away from any further payment at
+      all&mdash;at first, he had but too blackly felt, for himself, to the still
+      quite possible non-exclusion of some penetrating ray of &ldquo;exposure.&rdquo; He
+      didn&rsquo;t care a tuppenny damn now, and in point of fact, after he had by
+      hook and by crook succeeded in being able to unload to the tune of
+      Two-Hundred-and-Seventy, and then simply returned the newest reminder of
+      his outstanding obligation unopened, this latter belated but real sign of
+      fight, the first he had risked, remarkably caused nothing at all to
+      happen; nothing at least but his being moved to quite tragically rueful
+      wonder as to whether exactly some such demonstration mightn&rsquo;t have served
+      his turn at an earlier stage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He could by this time at any rate measure his ruin&mdash;with three
+      fantastic mortgages on his house, his shop, his stock, and a burden of
+      interest to carry under which his business simply stretched itself
+      inanimate, without strength for a protesting kick, without breath for an
+      appealing groan. Customers lingering for further enjoyment of the tasteful
+      remarks he had cultivated the unobstrusive art of throwing in, would at
+      this crisis have found plenty to repay them, might his wit have strayed a
+      little more widely still, toward a circuitous egotistical outbreak, from
+      the immediate question of the merits of this and that author or of the
+      condition of this and that volume. He had come to be conscious through it
+      all of strangely glaring at people when they tried to haggle&mdash;and
+      not, as formerly, with the glare of derisive comment on their overdone
+      humour, but with that of fairly idiotised surrender&mdash;as if they were
+      much mistaken in supposing, for the sake of conversation, that he might
+      take himself for saveable by the difference between sevenpence and
+      ninepence. He watched everything impossible and deplorable happen as in an
+      endless prolongation of his nightmare; watched himself proceed, that is,
+      with the finest, richest incoherence, to the due preparation of his
+      catastrophe. Everything came to seem <i>equally</i> part of this&mdash;in
+      complete defiance of proportion; even his final command of detachment, on
+      the bench of desolation (where each successive fact of his dire case
+      regularly cut itself out black, yet of senseless silhouette, against the
+      red west) in respect to poor Nan&rsquo;s flat infelicities, which for the most
+      part kept no pace with the years or with change, but only shook like hard
+      peas in a child&rsquo;s rattle, the same peas a ways, of course, so long as the
+      rattle didn&rsquo;t split open with usage or from somebody&rsquo;s act of irritation.
+      They represented, or they had long done so, her contribution to the more
+      superficial of the two branches of intimacy&mdash;the intellectual
+      alternative, the one that didn&rsquo;t merely consist of her preparing herself
+      for his putting his arm round her waist.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There were to have been moments, nevertheless, all the first couple of
+      years, when she did touch in him, though to his actively dissimulating it,
+      a more or less sensitive nerve&mdash;moments as they were too, to do her
+      justice, when she treated him not to his own wisdom, or even folly, served
+      up cold, but to a certain small bitter fruit of her personal, her
+      unnatural, plucking. &ldquo;I wonder that since <i>she</i> took legal advice so
+      freely, to come down on you, you didn&rsquo;t take it yourself, a little, before
+      being so sure you stood no chance. Perhaps <i>your</i> people would have
+      been sure of something quite different&mdash;<i>perhaps</i>, I only say,
+      you know.&rdquo; She &ldquo;only&rdquo; said it, but she said it, none the less, in the
+      early time, about once a fortnight. In the later, and especially after
+      their marriage, it had a way of coming up again to the exclusion, as it
+      seemed to him, of almost everything else; in fact during the most dismal
+      years, the three of the loss of their two children, the long stretch of
+      sordid embarrassment ending in her death, he was afterward to think of her
+      as having generally said it several times a day. He was then also to
+      remember that his answer, before she had learnt to discount it, had been
+      inveterately at hand: &ldquo;What would any solicitor have done or wanted to do
+      but drag me just into the hideous public arena&rdquo;&mdash;he had always so put
+      it&mdash;&ldquo;that it has been at any rate my pride and my honour, the one rag
+      of self-respect covering my nakedness, to have loathed and avoided from
+      every point of view?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      That had disposed of it so long as he cared, and by the time he had ceased
+      to care for anything it had also lost itself in the rest of the vain
+      babble of home. After his wife&rsquo;s death, during his year of mortal
+      solitude, it awoke again as an echo of far-off things&mdash;far-off, very
+      far-off, because he felt then not ten but twenty years older. That was by
+      reason simply of the dead weight with which his load of debt had settled&mdash;the
+      persistence of his misery dragging itself out. With all that had come and
+      gone the bench of desolation was still there, just as the immortal flush
+      of the westward sky kept hanging its indestructible curtain. He had never
+      got away&mdash;everything had left him, but he himself had been able to
+      turn his back on nothing&mdash;and now, his day&rsquo;s labour before a dirty
+      desk at the Gas Works ended, he more often than not, almost any season at
+      temperate Properley serving his turn, took his slow straight way to the
+      Land&rsquo;s End and, collapsing there to rest, sat often for an hour at a time
+      staring before him. He might in these sessions, with his eyes on the
+      grey-green sea, have been counting again and still recounting the beads,
+      almost all worn smooth, of his rosary of pain&mdash;which had for the
+      fingers of memory and the recurrences of wonder the same felt break of the
+      smaller ones by the larger that would have aided a pious mumble in some
+      dusky altar-chapel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If it has been said of him that when once full submersion, as from far
+      back, had visibly begun to await him, he watched himself, in a cold
+      lucidity, <i>do</i> punctually and necessarily each of the deplorable
+      things that were inconsistent with his keeping afloat, so at present again
+      he might have been held agaze just by the presented grotesqueness of that
+      vigil. Such ghosts of dead seasons were all he <i>had</i> now to watch&mdash;such
+      a recaptured sense for instance as that of the dismal unavailing awareness
+      that had attended his act of marriage. He had let submersion final and
+      absolute become the signal for it&mdash;a mere minor determinant having
+      been the more or less contemporaneously unfavourable effect on the
+      business of Drury &amp; Dean of the sudden disappearance of Mr. Dean with
+      the single small tin box into which the certificates of the firm&rsquo;s credit
+      had been found to be compressible. That had been his only form&mdash;or
+      had at any rate seemed his only one. He couldn&rsquo;t not have married, no
+      doubt, just as he couldn&rsquo;t not have suffered the last degree of
+      humiliation and almost of want, or just as his wife and children couldn&rsquo;t
+      not have died of the little he was able, under dire reiterated pinches, to
+      do for them; but it was &ldquo;rum,&rdquo; for final solitary brooding, that he hadn&rsquo;t
+      appeared to see his way definitely to undertake the support of a family
+      till the last scrap of his little low-browed, high-toned business, and the
+      last figment of &ldquo;property&rdquo; in the old tiled and timbered shell that housed
+      it, had been sacrificed to creditors mustering six rows deep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of course what had counted too in the odd order was that even at the end
+      of the two or three years he had &ldquo;allowed&rdquo; her, Kate Cookham, gorged with
+      his unholy tribute, had become the subject of no successful siege on the
+      part either of Bill Frankle or, by what he could make out, of any one
+      else. She had judged decent&mdash;he could do her that justice&mdash;to
+      take herself personally out of his world, as he called it, for good and
+      all, as soon as he had begun regularly to bleed; and, to whatever
+      lucrative practice she might be devoting her great talents in London or
+      elsewhere, he felt his conscious curiosity about her as cold, with time,
+      as the passion of vain protest that she had originally left him to. He
+      could recall but two direct echoes of her in all the bitter years&mdash;both
+      communicated by Bill Frankle, disappointed and exposed and at last quite
+      remarkably ingenuous sneak, who had also, from far back, taken to roaming
+      the world, but who, during a period, used fitfully and ruefully to
+      reappear. Herbert Dodd had quickly seen, at their first meeting&mdash;every
+      one met every one sooner or later at Properley, if meeting it could always
+      be called, either in the glare or the gloom of the explodedly attractive
+      Embankment&mdash;that no silver stream of which he himself had been the
+      remoter source could have played over the career of this all but
+      repudiated acquaintance. That hadn&rsquo;t fitted with his first, his quite
+      primitive raw vision of the probabilities, and he had further been puzzled
+      when, much later on, it had come to him in a roundabout way that Miss
+      Cookham was supposed to be, or to have been, among them for a few days &ldquo;on
+      the quiet,&rdquo; and that Frankle, who had seen her and who claimed to know
+      more about it than he said, was cited as authority for the fact. But he
+      hadn&rsquo;t himself at this juncture seen Frankle; he had only wondered, and a
+      degree of mystification had even remained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That memory referred itself to the dark days of old Drury&rsquo;s smash, the few
+      weeks between his partner&rsquo;s dastardly flight and Herbert&rsquo;s own comment on
+      it in the form of his standing up with Nan for the nuptial benediction of
+      the Vicar of St. Bernard&rsquo;s on a very cold, bleak December morning and amid
+      a circle of seven or eight long-faced, red-nosed and altogether dowdy
+      persons. Poor Nan herself had come to affect him as scarce other than
+      red-nosed and dowdy by that time, but this only added, in his then, and
+      indeed in his lasting view, to his general and his particular morbid
+      bravery. He had cultivated ignorance, there were small inward immaterial
+      luxuries he could scrap-pily cherish even among other, and the harshest,
+      destitutions; and one of them was represented by this easy refusal of his
+      mind to render to certain passages of his experience, to various ugly
+      images, names, associations, the homage of continued attention. That
+      served him, that helped him; but what happened when, a dozen dismal years
+      having worn themselves away, he sat single and scraped bare again, as if
+      his long wave of misfortune had washed him far beyond everything and then
+      conspicuously retreated, was that, thus stranded by tidal action,
+      deposited in the lonely hollow of his fate, he felt even sustaining pride
+      turn to nought and heard no challenge from it when old mystifications,
+      stealing forth in the dusk of the day&rsquo;s work done, scratched at the door
+      of speculation and hung about, through the idle hours, for irritated
+      notice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The evenings of his squalid clerkship were all leisure now, but there was
+      nothing at all near home on the other hand, for his imagination, numb and
+      stiff from its long chill, to begin to play with. Voices from far off
+      would quaver to him therefore in the stillness; where he knew for the most
+      recurrent, little by little, the faint wail of his wife. He had become
+      deaf to it in life, but at present, after so great an interval, he
+      listened again, listened and listened, and seemed to hear it sound as by
+      the pressure of some weak broken spring. It phrased for his ear her
+      perpetual question, the one she had come to at the last as under the
+      obsession of a discovered and resented wrong, a wrong withal that had its
+      source much more in his own action than anywhere else. &ldquo;That you didn&rsquo;t
+      make <i>sure</i> she could have done anything, that you didn&rsquo;t make sure
+      and that you were too afraid!&rdquo;&mdash;this commemoration had ended by
+      playing such a part of Nan&rsquo;s finally quite contracted consciousness as to
+      exclude everything else.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the time, somehow, he had made his terms with it; he had then more
+      urgent questions to meet than that of the poor creature&rsquo;s taste in
+      worrying pain; but actually it struck him&mdash;not the question, but the
+      fact itself of the taste&mdash;as the one thing left over from all that
+      had come and gone. So it was; nothing remained to him in the world, on the
+      bench of desolation, but the option of taking up that echo&mdash;together
+      with an abundance of free time for doing so. That he hadn&rsquo;t made sure of
+      what might and what mightn&rsquo;t have been done to him, that he had been too
+      afraid&mdash;had the proposition a possible bearing on his present
+      apprehension of things? To reply indeed he would have had to be able to
+      say what his present apprehension of things, left to itself, amounted to;
+      an uninspiring effort indeed he judged it, sunk to so poor a pitch was his
+      material of thought&mdash;though it might at last have been the feat he
+      sought to perform as he stared at the grey-green sea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0030" id="link2H_4_0030">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      IV
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      It was seldom he was disturbed in any form of sequestered speculation, or
+      that at his times of predilection, especially that of the long autumn
+      blankness between the season of trippers and the season of Bath-chairs,
+      there were westward stragglers enough to jar upon his settled sense of
+      priority. For himself his seat, the term of his walk, was consecrated; it
+      had figured to him for years as the last (though there were others, not
+      immediately near it, and differently disposed, that might have aspired to
+      the title); so that he could invidiously distinguish as he approached,
+      make out from a distance any accident of occupation, and never draw nearer
+      while that unpleasantness lasted. What he disliked was to compromise on
+      his tradition, whether for a man, a woman or a connoodling couple; it was
+      to idiots of this last composition he most objected, he having sat there,
+      in the past, alone, having sat there interminably with Nan, having sat
+      there with&mdash;well, with other women when women, at hours of ease,
+      could still care or count for him, but having never shared the place with
+      any shuffling or snuffling stranger. It was a world of fidgets and starts,
+      however, the world of his present dreariness&mdash;he alone possessed in
+      it, he seemed to make out, of the secret, of the dignity of sitting still
+      with one&rsquo;s fate; so that if he took a turn about or rested briefly
+      elsewhere even foolish philanderers&mdash;though this would never have
+      been his and Nan&rsquo;s way&mdash;ended soon by some adjournment as visibly
+      pointless as their sprawl. Then, their backs turned, he would drop down on
+      it, the bench of desolation&mdash;which was what he, and he only, made it
+      by sad adoption; where, for that matter, moreover, once he had settled at
+      his end, it was marked that nobody else ever came to sit. He saw people,
+      along the Marina, take this liberty with other resting presences; but his
+      own struck them perhaps in general as either of too grim or just of too
+      dingy a vicinage. He might have affected the fellow-lounger as a man evil,
+      unsociable, possibly engaged in working out the idea of a crime; or
+      otherwise, more probably&mdash;for on the whole he surely looked harmless&mdash;devoted
+      to the worship of some absolutely unpractical remorse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On a certain October Saturday he had got off, as usual, early; but the
+      afternoon light, his pilgrimage drawing to its aim, could still show him,
+      at long range, the rare case of an established usurper. His impulse was
+      then, as by custom, to deviate a little and wait, all the more that the
+      occupant of the bench was a lady, and that ladies, when alone, were&mdash;at
+      that austere end of the varied frontal stretch&mdash;markedly
+      discontinuous; but he kept on at sight of this person&rsquo;s rising, while he
+      was still fifty yards off, and proceeding, her back turned, to the edge of
+      the broad terrace, the outer line of which followed the interspaced
+      succession of seats and was guarded by an iron rail from the abruptly
+      lower level of the beach. Here she stood before the sea, while our friend
+      on his side, recognising no reason to the contrary, sank into the place
+      she had quitted. There were other benches, eastward and off by the course
+      of the drive, for vague ladies. The lady indeed thus thrust upon Herbert&rsquo;s
+      vision might have struck an observer either as not quite vague or as vague
+      with a perverse intensity suggesting design.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not that our own observer at once thought of these things; he only took
+      in, and with no great interest, that the obtruded presence was a &ldquo;real&rdquo;
+       lady; that she was dressed&mdash;he noticed such matters&mdash;with a
+      certain elegance of propriety or intention of harmony; and that she
+      remained perfectly still for a good many minutes; so many in fact that he
+      presently ceased to heed her, and that as she wasn&rsquo;t straight before him,
+      but as far to the left as was consistent with his missing her profile, he
+      had turned himself to one of his sunsets again (though it wasn&rsquo;t quite one
+      of his best) and let it hold him for a time that enabled her to alter her
+      attitude and present a fuller view. Without other movement, but her back
+      now to the sea and her face to the odd person who had appropriated her
+      corner, she had taken a sustained look at him before he was aware she had
+      stirred. On that apprehension, however, he became also promptly aware of
+      her direct, her applied observation. As his sense of this quickly
+      increased he wondered who she was and what she wanted&mdash;what, as it
+      were, was the matter with her; it suggested to him, the next thing, that
+      she had, under some strange idea, actually been waiting for him. Any idea
+      about him to-day on the part of any one could only be strange.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yes, she stood there with the ample width of the Marina between them, but
+      turned to him, for all the world, as to show frankly that she was
+      concerned with him. And she <i>was</i>&mdash;oh yes&mdash;a real lady: a
+      middle-aged person, of good appearance and of the best condition, in quiet
+      but &ldquo;handsome&rdquo; black, save for very fresh white kid gloves, and with a
+      pretty, dotty, becoming veil, predominantly white, adjusted to her
+      countenance; which through it somehow, even to his imperfect sight, showed
+      strong fine black brows and what he would have called on the spot
+      character. But she was pale; her black brows were the blacker behind the
+      flattering tissue; she still kept a hand, for support, on the
+      terrace-rail, while the other, at the end of an extended arm that had an
+      effect of rigidity, clearly pressed hard on the knob of a small and
+      shining umbrella, the lower extremity of whose stick was equally, was
+      sustainingly, firm on the walk. So this mature, qualified, important
+      person stood and looked at the limp, undistinguished&mdash;oh his values
+      of aspect now!&mdash;shabby man on the bench.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was extraordinary, but the fact of her interest, by immensely
+      surprising, by immediately agitating him, blinded him at first to her
+      identity and, for the space of his long stare, diverted him from it; with
+      which even then, when recognition did break, the sense of the shock,
+      striking inward, simply consumed itself in gaping stillness. He sat there
+      motionless and weak, fairly faint with surprise, and there was no instant,
+      in all the succession of so many, at which Kate Cookham could have caught
+      the special sign of his intelligence. Yet that she did catch something he
+      saw&mdash;for he saw her steady herself, by her two supported hands, to
+      meet it; while, after she had done so, a very wonderful thing happened, of
+      which he could scarce, later on, have made a clear statement, though he
+      was to think it over again and again. She moved toward him, she reached
+      him, she stood there, she sat down near him, he merely passive and
+      wonderstruck, unresentfully &ldquo;impressed,&rdquo; gaping and taking it in&mdash;and
+      all as with an open allowance on the part of each, so that they positively
+      and quite intimately met in it, o the impertinence for their case, this
+      case that brought them again, after horrible years, face to face, of the
+      vanity, the profanity, the impossibility, of anything between them but
+      silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nearer to him, beside him at a considerable interval (oh she was immensely
+      considerate!) she presented him, in the sharp terms of her transformed
+      state&mdash;but thus the more amply, formally, ceremoniously&mdash;with
+      the reasons that would serve him best for not having precipitately known
+      her. She was simply another and a totally different person, and the
+      exhibition of it to which she had proceeded with this solemn anxiety was
+      all, obviously, for his benefit&mdash;once he had, as he appeared to be
+      doing, provisionally accepted her approach. He had remembered her as
+      inclined to the massive and disowned by the graceful; but this was a
+      spare, fine, worn, almost wasted lady&mdash;who had repaired waste, it was
+      true, however, with something he could only appreciate as a rich
+      accumulation of manner. She was strangely older, so far as that went&mdash;marked
+      by experience and as if many things had happened to her; her face had
+      suffered, to its improvement, contraction and concentration; and if he had
+      granted, of old and from the first, that her eyes were remarkable, had
+      they yet ever had for him this sombre glow? Withal, something said, she
+      had flourished&mdash;he felt it, wincing at it, as that; she had had a
+      life, a career, a history&mdash;something that her present waiting air and
+      nervous consciousness couldn&rsquo;t prevent his noting there as a deeply latent
+      assurance. She had flourished, she had flourished&mdash;though to learn it
+      after this fashion was somehow at the same time not to feel she flaunted
+      it. It wasn&rsquo;t thus execration that she revived in him; she made in fact,
+      exhibitively, as he could only have put it, the matter of long ago
+      irrelevant, and these extraordinary minutes of their reconstituted
+      relation&mdash;how many? how few?&mdash;addressed themselves altogether to
+      new possibilities.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Still it after a little awoke in him as with the throb of a touched nerve
+      that his own very attitude was supplying a connection; he knew presently
+      that he wouldn&rsquo;t have had her go, <i>couldn&rsquo;t</i> have made a sign to her
+      for it&mdash;which was what she had been uncertain of&mdash;without
+      speaking to him; and that therefore he was, as at the other, the hideous
+      time, passive to whatever she might do. She was even yet, she was always,
+      in possession of him; she had known how and where to find him and had
+      appointed that he should see her, and, though he had never dreamed it was
+      again to happen to him, he was meeting it already as if it might have been
+      the only thing that the least humanly <i>could</i>. Yes, he had come back
+      there to flop, by long custom, upon the bench of desolation <i>as</i> the
+      man in the whole place, precisely, to whom nothing worth more than
+      tuppence could happen; whereupon, in the grey desert of his consciousness,
+      the very earth had suddenly opened and flamed. With this, further, it came
+      over him that he hadn&rsquo;t been prepared and that his wretched appearance
+      must show it. He wasn&rsquo;t fit to receive a visit&mdash;any visit; a flush
+      for his felt misery, in the light of her opulence, broke out in his lean
+      cheeks. But if he coloured he sat as he was&mdash;she should at least, as
+      a visitor, be satisfied. His eyes only, at last, turned from her and
+      resumed a little their gaze at the sea. That, however, didn&rsquo;t relieve him,
+      and he perpetrated in the course of another moment the odd desperate
+      gesture of raising both his hands to his face and letting them, while he
+      pressed it to them, cover and guard it. It was as he held them there that
+      she at last spoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll go away if you wish me to.&rdquo; And then she waited a moment. &ldquo;I mean
+      now&mdash;now that you&rsquo;ve seen I&rsquo;m here. I wanted you to know it, and I
+      thought of writing&mdash;I was afraid of our meeting accidentally. Then I
+      was afraid that if I wrote you might refuse. So I thought of this way&mdash;as
+      I knew you must come out here.&rdquo; She went on with pauses, giving him a
+      chance to make a sign. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve waited several days. But I&rsquo;ll do what you
+      wish. Only I should like in that case to come back.&rdquo; Again she stopped;
+      but strange was it to him that he wouldn&rsquo;t have made her break off. She
+      held him in boundless wonder. &ldquo;I came down&mdash;I mean I came from town&mdash;on
+      purpose. I&rsquo;m staying on still, and I&rsquo;ve a great patience and will give you
+      time. Only may I say it&rsquo;s important? Now that I do see you,&rdquo; she brought
+      out in the same way, &ldquo;I see how inevitable it was&mdash;I mean that I
+      should have wanted to come. But you must feel about it as you can,&rdquo; she
+      wound up&mdash;&ldquo;till you get used to the idea.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She spoke so for accommodation, for discretion, for some ulterior view
+      already expressed in her manner, that, after taking well in, from behind
+      his hands, that this was her very voice&mdash;oh ladylike!&mdash;heard,
+      and heard in deprecation of displeasure, after long years again, he
+      uncovered his face and freshly met her eyes. More than ever he couldn&rsquo;t
+      have known her. Less and less remained of the figure all the facts of
+      which had long ago so hardened for him. She was a handsome, grave,
+      authoritative, but refined and, as it were, physically rearranged person&mdash;she,
+      the outrageous vulgarity of whose prime assault had kept him shuddering so
+      long as a shudder was in him. That atrocity in her was what everything had
+      been built on, but somehow, all strangely, it was slipping from him; so
+      that, after the oddest fashion conceivable, when he felt he mustn&rsquo;t let
+      her go, it was as if he were putting out his hand to save the past, the
+      hideous real unalterable past, exactly as she had been the cause of its
+      being and the cause of his undergoing it. He should have been too awfully
+      &ldquo;sold&rdquo; if he wasn&rsquo;t going to have been right about her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind,&rdquo; he heard himself at last say. Not to mind had seemed for
+      the instant the length he was prepared to go; but he was afterward aware
+      of how soon he must have added: &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve come on purpose to see me?&rdquo; He was
+      on the point of putting to her further: &ldquo;What then do you want of me?&rdquo; But
+      he would keep&mdash;yes, in time&mdash;from appearing to show he cared. If
+      he showed he cared, where then would be his revenge? So he was already,
+      within five minutes, thinking his revenge uncomfortably over instead of
+      just comfortably knowing it. What came to him, at any rate, as they
+      actually fell to talk, was that, with such precautions, considerations,
+      reduplications of consciousness, almost avowed feelings of her way on her
+      own part, and light fingerings of his chords of sensibility, she was
+      understanding, she <i>had</i> understood, more things than all the years,
+      up to this strange eventide, had given him an inkling of. They talked,
+      they went on&mdash;he hadn&rsquo;t let her retreat, to whatever it committed him
+      and however abjectly it did so; yet keeping off and off, dealing with such
+      surface facts as involved ancient acquaintance but held abominations at
+      bay. The recognition, the attestation that she <i>had</i> come down for
+      him, that there would be reasons, that she had even hovered and watched,
+      assured herself a little of his habits (which she managed to speak of as
+      if, on their present ampler development, they were much to be deferred
+      to), detained them enough to make vivid how, listen as stiffly or as
+      serenely as he might, she sat there in fear, just as she had so stood
+      there at first, and that her fear had really to do with her calculation of
+      some sort of chance with him. What chance could it possibly be? Whatever
+      it might have done, on this prodigious showing, with Kate Cookham, it made
+      the present witness to the state of his fortunes simply exquisite: he
+      ground his teeth secretly together as he saw he should have to take <i>that</i>.
+      For what did it mean but that she would have liked to pity him if she
+      could have done it with safety? Ah, however, he must give her no measure
+      of safety!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By the time he had remarked, with that idea, that she probably saw few
+      changes about them there that weren&rsquo;t for the worse&mdash;the place was
+      going down, down and down, so fast that goodness knew where it would stop&mdash;and
+      had also mentioned that in spite of this he himself remained faithful,
+      with all its faults loving it still; by the time he had, after that
+      fashion, superficially indulged her, adding a few further light and just
+      sufficiently dry reflections on local matters, the disappearance of
+      landmarks and important persons, the frequency of gales, the low policy of
+      the town-council in playing down to cheap excursionists: by the time he
+      had so acquitted himself, and she had observed, of her own motion, that
+      she was staying at the Royal, which he knew for the time-honoured, the
+      conservative and exclusive hotel, he had made out for himself one thing at
+      least, the amazing fact that he had been landed by his troubles, at the
+      end of time, in a &ldquo;social relation,&rdquo; of all things in the world, and how
+      of that luxury he was now having unprecedented experience. He had but once
+      in his life had his nose in the Royal, on the occasion of his himself
+      delivering a parcel during some hiatus in his succession of impossible
+      small boys and meeting in the hall the lady who had bought of him, in the
+      morning, a set of Crabbe, largely, he flattered himself, under the artful
+      persuasion of his acute remarks on that author, gracefully associated by
+      him, in this colloquy, he remembered, with a glance at Charles Lamb as
+      well, and who went off in a day or two without settling, though he
+      received her cheque from London three or four months later.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>That</i> hadn&rsquo;t been a social relation; and truly, deep within his
+      appeal to himself to be remarkable, to be imperturbable and impenetrable,
+      to be in fact quite incomparable now, throbbed the intense vision of his
+      drawing out and draining dry the sensation he had begun to taste. He would
+      do it, moreover&mdash;that would be the refinement of his art&mdash;not
+      only without the betraying anxiety of a single question, but just even by
+      seeing her flounder (since she must, in a vagueness deeply disconcerting
+      to her) as to her real effect on him. She was distinctly floundering by
+      the time he had brought her&mdash;it had taken ten minutes&mdash;down to a
+      consciousness of absurd and twaddling topics, to the reported precarious
+      state, for instance, of the syndicate running the Bijou Theatre at the
+      Pierhead&mdash;all as an admonition that she might want him to want to
+      know why she was thus waiting on him, might want it for all she was worth,
+      before he had ceased to be so remarkable as not to ask her. He didn&rsquo;t&mdash;and
+      this assuredly was wondrous enough&mdash;want to do anything worse to her
+      than let her flounder; but he was willing to do that so long as it
+      mightn&rsquo;t prevent his seeing at least where <i>he</i> was. He seemed still
+      to see where he was even at the minute that followed her final break-off,
+      clearly intended to be resolute, from make-believe talk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder if I might prevail on you to come to tea with me to-morrow at
+      five.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He didn&rsquo;t so much as answer it&mdash;though he could scarcely believe his
+      ears. To-morrow was Sunday, and the proposal referred, clearly, to the
+      custom of &ldquo;five-o&rsquo;clock&rdquo; tea, known to him only by the contemporary novel
+      of manners and the catchy advertisement of table-linen. He had never in
+      his life been present at any such luxurious rite, but he was offering
+      practical indifference to it as a false mark of his sense that his social
+      relation had already risen to his chin. &ldquo;I gave up my very modest, but
+      rather interesting little old book business, perhaps you know, ever so
+      long ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She floundered so that she could say nothing&mdash;meet <i>that</i> with
+      no possible word; all the less too that his tone, casual and colourless,
+      wholly defied any apprehension of it as a reverse. Silence only came; but
+      after a moment she returned to her effort. &ldquo;If you <i>can</i> come I shall
+      be at home. To see you otherwise than thus was in fact what, as I tell
+      you, I came down for. But I leave it,&rdquo; she returned, &ldquo;to your feeling.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had at this, it struck him, an inspiration; which he required however a
+      minute or two to decide to carry out; a minute or two during which the
+      shake of his foot over his knee became an intensity of fidget. &ldquo;Of course
+      I know I still owe you a large sum of money. If it&rsquo;s about <i>that</i> you
+      wish to see me,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;I may as well tell you just here that I
+      shall be able to meet my full obligation in the future as little as I&rsquo;ve
+      met it in the past. I can never,&rdquo; said Herbert Dodd, &ldquo;pay up that
+      balance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had looked at her while he spoke, but on finishing looked off at the
+      sea again and continued to agitate his foot. He knew now what he had done
+      and why; and the sense of her fixed dark eyes on him during his speech and
+      after didn&rsquo;t alter his small contentment. Yet even when she still said
+      nothing he didn&rsquo;t turn round; he simply kept his corner as if <i>that</i>
+      were his point made, should it even be the last word between them. It
+      might have been, for that matter, from the way in which she presently
+      rose, gathering herself, her fine umbrella and her very small smart
+      reticule, in the construction of which shining gilt much figured, well
+      together, and, after standing another instant, moved across to the rail of
+      the terrace as she had done before and remained, as before, with her back
+      to him, though this time, it well might be, under a different fear. A
+      quarter of an hour ago she hadn&rsquo;t tried him, and had had that anxiety; now
+      that she had tried him it wasn&rsquo;t easier&mdash;but she was thinking what
+      she still could do. He left her to think&mdash;nothing in fact more
+      interesting than the way she might decide had ever happened to him; but it
+      was a part of this also that as she turned round and came nearer again he
+      didn&rsquo;t rise, he gave her no help. If she got any, at least, from his
+      looking up at her only, meeting her fixed eyes once more in silence, that
+      was her own affair. &ldquo;You must think,&rdquo; she said&mdash;&ldquo;you must take all
+      your time, but I shall be at home.&rdquo; She left it to him thus&mdash;she
+      insisted, with her idea, on leaving him something too. And on her side as
+      well she showed an art&mdash;which resulted, after another instant, in his
+      having to rise to his feet. He flushed afresh as he did it&mdash;it
+      exposed him so shabbily the more; and now if she took him in, with each of
+      his seedy items, from head to foot, he didn&rsquo;t and couldn&rsquo;t and wouldn&rsquo;t
+      know it, attaching his eyes hard and straight to something quite away from
+      them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It stuck in his throat to say he&rsquo;d come, but she had so curious a way with
+      her that he still less could say he wouldn&rsquo;t, and in a moment had taken
+      refuge in something that was neither. &ldquo;Are you married?&rdquo;&mdash;he put it
+      to her with that plainness, though it had seemed before he said it to do
+      more for him than while she waited before replying.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I&rsquo;m not married,&rdquo; she said; and then had another wait that might have
+      amounted to a question of what this had to do with it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He surely couldn&rsquo;t have told her; so that he had recourse, a little poorly
+      as he felt, but to an &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; that still left them opposed. He turned away
+      for it&mdash;that is for the poorness, which, lingering in the air, had
+      almost a vulgar platitude; and when he presently again wheeled about she
+      had fallen off as for quitting him, only with a pause, once more, for a
+      last look. It was all a bit awkward, but he had another happy thought,
+      which consisted in his silently raising his hat as for a sign of dignified
+      dismissal. He had cultivated of old, for the occasions of life, the right,
+      the discriminated bow, and now, out of the grey limbo of the time when he
+      could care for such things, this flicker of propriety leaped and worked
+      She might, for that matter, herself have liked it; since, receding
+      further, only with her white face toward him, she paid it the homage of
+      submission. He remained dignified, and she almost humbly went.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0031" id="link2H_4_0031">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      V
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Nothing in the world, on the Sunday afternoon, could have prevented him
+      from going; he was not after all destitute of three or four such articles
+      of clothing as, if they wouldn&rsquo;t particularly grace the occasion, wouldn&rsquo;t
+      positively dishonour it. That deficiency might have kept him away, but no
+      voice of the spirit, no consideration of pride. It sweetened his
+      impatience in fact&mdash;for he fairly felt it a long time to wait&mdash;that
+      his pride would really most find its account in his acceptance of these
+      conciliatory steps. From the moment he could put it in that way&mdash;that
+      he couldn&rsquo;t refuse to hear what she might have, so very elaborately, to
+      say for herself&mdash;he ought certainly to be at his ease; in
+      illustration of which he whistled odd snatches to himself as he hung about
+      on that cloud-dappled autumn Sunday, a mild private minstrelsy that his
+      lips hadn&rsquo;t known since when? The interval of the twenty-four hours, made
+      longer by a night of many more revivals than oblivions, had in fact
+      dragged not a little; in spite of which, however, our extremely brushed-up
+      and trimmed and polished friend knew an unprecedented flutter as he was
+      ushered, at the Royal Hotel, into Miss Cookham&rsquo;s sitting-room. Yes, it was
+      an adventure, and he had never had an adventure in his life; the term, for
+      him, was essentially a term of high appreciation&mdash;such as
+      disqualified for that figure, under due criticism, every single passage of
+      his past career.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What struck him at the moment as qualifying in the highest degree this
+      actual passage was the fact that at no great distance from his hostess in
+      the luxurious room, as he apprehended it, in which the close of day had
+      begun to hang a few shadows, sat a gentleman who rose as she rose, and
+      whose name she at once mentioned to him. He had for Herbert Dodd all the
+      air of a swell, the gentleman&mdash;rather red-faced and bald-headed, but
+      moustachioed, waistcoated, necktied to the highest pitch, with an effect
+      of chains and rings, of shining teeth in a glassily monocular smile; a
+      wondrous apparition to have been asked to &ldquo;meet&rdquo; him, as in contemporary
+      fiction, or for him to have been asked to meet. &ldquo;Captain Roper, Mr.
+      Herbert Dodd&rdquo;&mdash;their entertainer introduced them, yes; but with a
+      sequel immediately afterward more disconcerting apparently to Captain
+      Roper himself even than to her second and more breathless visitor; a &ldquo;Well
+      then, good-bye till the next time,&rdquo; with a hand thrust straight out, which
+      allowed the personage so addressed no alternative but to lay aside his
+      teacup, even though Herbert saw there was a good deal left in it, and
+      glare about him for his hat. Miss Cookham had had her tea-tray on a small
+      table before her, she had served Captain Roper while waiting for Mr. Dodd;
+      but she simply dismissed him now, with a high sweet unmistakable decision,
+      a knowledge of what she was about, as our hero would have called it, which
+      enlarged at a stroke the latter&rsquo;s view of the number of different things
+      and sorts of things, in the sphere of the manners and ways of those living
+      at their ease, that a social relation would put before one. Captain Roper
+      would have liked to remain, would have liked more tea, but Kate signified
+      in this direct fashion that she had had enough of him. Herbert had seen
+      things, in his walk of life&mdash;rough things, plenty; but never things
+      smoothed with that especial smoothness, carried out as it were by the fine
+      form of Captain Roper&rsquo;s own retreat, which included even a bright
+      convulsed leave-taking cognisance of the plain, vague individual, of no
+      lustre at all and with the very low-class guard of an old silver watch
+      buttoned away under an ill-made coat, to whom he was sacrificed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It came to Herbert as he left the place a shade less remarkable&mdash;though
+      there was still wonder enough and to spare&mdash;that he had been even
+      publicly and designedly sacrificed; exactly so that, as the door closed
+      behind him, Kate Cookham, standing there to wait for it, could seem to
+      say, across the room, to the friend of her youth, only by the expression
+      of her fine eyes: &ldquo;There&mdash;see what I do for you!&rdquo; &ldquo;For&rdquo; him&mdash;that
+      was the extraordinary thing, and not less so that he was already, within
+      three minutes, after this fashion, taking it in as by the intensity of a
+      new light; a light that was one somehow with this rich inner air of the
+      plush-draped and much-mirrored hotel, where the fire-glow and the approach
+      of evening confirmed together the privacy, and the loose curtains at the
+      wide window were parted for a command of his old lifelong Parade&mdash;the
+      field of life so familiar to him from below and in the wind and the wet,
+      but which he had never in all the long years hung over at this vantage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He&rsquo;s an acquaintance, but a bore,&rdquo; his hostess explained in respect to
+      Captain Roper. &ldquo;He turned up yesterday, but I didn&rsquo;t invite him, and I had
+      said to him before you came in that I was expecting a gentleman with whom
+      I should wish to be alone. I go quite straight at my idea that way, as a
+      rule; but you know,&rdquo; she now strikingly went on, &ldquo;how straight I go. And
+      he had had,&rdquo; she added, &ldquo;his tea.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dodd had been looking all round&mdash;had taken in, with the rest, the
+      brightness, the distinguished elegance, as he supposed it, of the
+      tea-service with which she was dealing and the variously tinted appeal of
+      certain savoury edibles on plates. &ldquo;Oh but he <i>hadn&rsquo;t</i> had his tea!&rdquo;
+       he heard himself the next moment earnestly reply; which speech had at once
+      betrayed, he was then quickly aware, the candour of his interest, the
+      unsophisticated state that had survived so many troubles. If he was so
+      interested how could he be proud, and if he was proud how could he be so
+      interested?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had made her at any rate laugh outright, and was further conscious, for
+      this, both that it was the first time of that since their new meeting, and
+      that it didn&rsquo;t affect him as harsh. It affected him, however, as free, for
+      she replied at once, still smiling and as a part of it: &ldquo;Oh, I think we
+      shall get on!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This told him he had made some difference for her, shown her the way, or
+      something like it, that she hadn&rsquo;t been sure of yesterday; which moreover
+      wasn&rsquo;t what he had intended&mdash;he had come armed for showing her
+      nothing; so that after she had gone on with the same gain of gaiety, &ldquo;You
+      must at any rate comfortably have yours,&rdquo; there was but one answer for him
+      to make.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His eyes played again over the tea-things&mdash;they seemed strangely to
+      help him; but he didn&rsquo;t sit down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve come, as you see&mdash;but I&rsquo;ve come, please, to understand; and if
+      you require to be alone with me, and if I break bread with you, it seems
+      to me I should first know exactly where I am and to what you suppose I so
+      commit myself.&rdquo; He had thought it out and over and over, particularly the
+      turn about breaking bread; though perhaps he didn&rsquo;t give it, in her
+      presence&mdash;this was impossible, her presence altered so many things&mdash;quite
+      the full sound or the weight he had planned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But it had none the less come to his aid&mdash;it had made her perfectly
+      grave. &ldquo;You commit yourself to nothing. You&rsquo;re perfectly free. It&rsquo;s only I
+      who commit myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      On which, while she stood there as if all handsomely and deferentially
+      waiting for him to consider and decide, he would have been naturally moved
+      to ask her what she committed herself then <i>to</i>&mdash;so moved, that
+      is, if he hadn&rsquo;t, before saying it, thought more sharply still of
+      something better. &ldquo;Oh, that&rsquo;s another thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, that&rsquo;s another thing,&rdquo; Kate Cookham returned. To which she added,
+      &ldquo;So <i>now</i> won&rsquo;t you sit down?&rdquo; He sank with deliberation into the
+      seat from which Captain Roper had risen; she went back to her own and
+      while she did so spoke again. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m <i>not</i> free. At least,&rdquo; she said
+      over her tea-tray, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m free only for this.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Everything was there before them and around them, everything massive and
+      shining, so that he had instinctively fallen back in his chair as for the
+      wondering, the resigned acceptance of it; where her last words stirred in
+      him a sense of odd deprecation. Only for &ldquo;that&rdquo;? &ldquo;That&rdquo; was everything, at
+      this moment, to his long inanition, and the effect, as if she had suddenly
+      and perversely mocked him, was to press the spring of a protest. &ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t
+      &lsquo;this&rsquo; then riches?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Riches?&rdquo; she smiled over, handing him his cup&mdash;for she had triumphed
+      in having struck from him a question.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean haven&rsquo;t you a lot of money?&rdquo; He didn&rsquo;t care now that it was out;
+      his cup was in his hand, and what was that but proved interest? He had
+      succumbed to the social relation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I&rsquo;ve money. Of course you wonder&mdash;but I&rsquo;ve wanted you to
+      wonder. It was to make you take that in that I came. So now you know,&rdquo; she
+      said, leaning back where she faced him, but in a straighter chair and with
+      her arms closely folded, after a fashion characteristic of her, as for
+      some control of her nerves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You came to show you&rsquo;ve money?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s one of the things. Not a lot&mdash;not even very much. But
+      enough,&rdquo; said Kate Cookham.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Enough? I should think so!&rdquo; he again couldn&rsquo;t help a bit crudely
+      exhaling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Enough for what I wanted. I don&rsquo;t always live like this&mdash;not at all.
+      But I came to the best hotel on purpose. I wanted to show you I could.
+      Now,&rdquo; she asked, &ldquo;do you understand?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Understand?&rdquo; He only gaped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She threw up her loosed arms, which dropped again beside her. &ldquo;I did it <i>for</i>
+      you&mdash;I did it <i>for</i> you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;For&rsquo; me&mdash;&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What I did&mdash;what I did here of old.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stared, trying to see it. &ldquo;When you made me pay you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Two Hundred and Seventy&mdash;all I could get from you, as you
+      reminded me yesterday, so that I had to give up the rest It was my idea,&rdquo;
+       she went on&mdash;&ldquo;it was my idea.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To bleed me quite to death?&rdquo; Oh, his ice was broken now!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To make you raise money&mdash;since you could, you <i>could</i>. You did,
+      you did&mdash;so what better proof?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His hands fell from what he had touched; he could only stare&mdash;her own
+      manner for it was different now too. &ldquo;I did. I did indeed&mdash;!&rdquo; And the
+      woful weak simplicity of it, which seemed somehow all that was left him,
+      fell even on his own ear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well then, here it is&mdash;it isn&rsquo;t lost!&rdquo; she returned with a graver
+      face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;Here&rsquo; it is,&rdquo; he gasped, &ldquo;my poor agonised old money&mdash;my blood?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, it&rsquo;s <i>my</i> blood too, you must know now!&rdquo; She held up her head as
+      not before&mdash;as for her right to speak of the thing to-day most
+      precious to her. &ldquo;I took it, but this&mdash;my being here this way&mdash;is
+      what I&rsquo;ve made of it! That was the idea I had!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her &ldquo;ideas,&rdquo; as things to boast of, staggered him. &ldquo;To have everything in
+      the world, like this, at my wretched expense?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She had folded her arms back again&mdash;grasping each elbow she sat firm;
+      she knew he could see, and had known well from the first, what she had
+      wanted to say, difficult, monstrous though it might be. &ldquo;No more than at
+      my own&mdash;but to do something with your money that you&rsquo;d never do
+      yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Myself, myself?&rdquo; he wonderingly wailed. &ldquo;Do you know&mdash;or don&rsquo;t you?&mdash;what
+      my life has been?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She waited, and for an instant, though the light in the room had failed a
+      little more and would soon be mainly that of the flaring lamps on the
+      windy Parade, he caught from her dark eye a silver gleam of impatience.
+      &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve suffered and you&rsquo;ve worked&mdash;which, God knows, is what I&rsquo;ve
+      done! <i>Of course</i> you&rsquo;ve suffered,&rdquo; she said&mdash;&ldquo;you inevitably
+      had to! We have to,&rdquo; she went on, &ldquo;to do or to be or to get anything.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And pray what have I done or been or got?&rdquo; Herbert Dodd found it almost
+      desolately natural to demand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It made her cover him again as with all she was thinking of. &ldquo;Can you
+      imagine nothing, or can&rsquo;t you conceive&mdash;?&rdquo; And then as her challenge
+      struck deeper in, deeper down than it had yet reached, and with the effect
+      of a rush of the blood to his face, &ldquo;It was <i>for</i> you, it was <i>for</i>
+      you!&rdquo; she again broke out&mdash;&ldquo;and for what or whom else could it have
+      been?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He saw things to a tune now that made him answer straight: &ldquo;I thought at
+      one time it might be for Bill Frankle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes&mdash;that was the way you treated me,&rdquo; Miss Cookham as plainly
+      replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But he let this pass; his thought had already got away from it. &ldquo;What good
+      then&mdash;its having been for me&mdash;has that ever done me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Doesn&rsquo;t it do you any good <i>now?</i>&rdquo; his friend returned. To which she
+      added, with another dim play of her tormented brightness, before he could
+      speak: &ldquo;But if you won&rsquo;t even have your tea&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had in fact touched nothing and, if he could have explained, would have
+      pleaded very veraciously that his appetite, keen when he came in, had
+      somehow suddenly failed. It was beyond eating or drinking, what she seemed
+      to want him to take from her. So if he looked, before him, over the array,
+      it was to say, very grave and graceless: &ldquo;Am I to understand that you
+      offer to repay me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I offer to repay you with interest, Herbert Dodd&rdquo;&mdash;and her emphasis
+      of the great word was wonderful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It held him in his place a minute, and held his eyes upon her; after
+      which, agitated too sharply to sit still, he pushed back his chair and
+      stood up. It was as if mere distress or dismay at first worked in him, and
+      was in fact a wave of deep and irresistible emotion which made him, on his
+      feet, sway as in a great trouble and then, to correct it, throw himself
+      stiffly toward the window, where he stood and looked out unseeing. The
+      road, the wide terrace beyond, the seats, the eternal sea beyond that, the
+      lighted lamps now flaring in the October night-wind, with the few
+      dispersed people abroad at the tea-hour; these things, meeting and melting
+      into the firelit hospitality at his elbow&mdash;or was it that portentous
+      amenity that melted into <i>them?</i>&mdash;seemed to form round him and
+      to put before him, all together, the strangest of circles and the newest
+      of experiences, in which the unforgettable and the unimaginable were
+      confoundingly mixed. &ldquo;Oh, oh, oh!&rdquo;&mdash;he could only almost howl for it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And then, while a thick blur for some moments mantled everything, he knew
+      she had got up, that she stood watching him, allowing for everything,
+      again all &ldquo;cleverly&rdquo; patient with him, and he heard her speak again as
+      with studied quietness and clearness. &ldquo;I wanted to take care of you&mdash;it
+      was what I first wanted&mdash;and what you first consented to. I&rsquo;d have
+      done it, oh I&rsquo;d have done it, I&rsquo;d have loved you and helped you and
+      guarded you, and you&rsquo;d have had no trouble, no bad blighting ruin, in all
+      your easy, yes, just your quite jolly and comfortable life. I showed you
+      and proved to you this&mdash;I brought it home to you, as I fondly
+      fancied, and it made me briefly happy. You swore you cared for me, you
+      wrote it and made me believe it&mdash;you pledged me your honour and your
+      faith. Then you turned and changed suddenly from one day to another;
+      everything altered, you broke your vows, you as good as told me you only
+      wanted it off. You faced me with dislike, and in fact tried not to face me
+      at all; you behaved as if you hated me&mdash;you had seen a girl, of great
+      beauty, I admit, who made me a fright and a bore.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This brought him straight round. &ldquo;No, Kate Cookham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Herbert Dodd.&rdquo; She but shook her head, calmly and nobly, in the now
+      gathered dusk, and her memories and her cause and her character&mdash;or
+      was it only her arch-subtlety, her line and her &ldquo;idea&rdquo;?&mdash;gave her an
+      extraordinary large assurance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had touched, however, the treasure of his own case&mdash;his terrible
+      own case that began to live again at once by the force of her talking of
+      hers, and which could always all cluster about his great asseveration.
+      &ldquo;No, no, never, never; I had never seen her then and didn&rsquo;t dream of her;
+      so that when you yourself began to be harsh and sharp with me, and to seem
+      to want to quarrel, I could have but one idea&mdash;which was an
+      appearance you didn&rsquo;t in the least, as I saw it then, account for or
+      disprove.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An appearance&mdash;?&rdquo; Kate desired, as with high astonishment, to know
+      which one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How <i>shouldn&rsquo;t</i> I have supposed you really to care for Bill Frankle?&mdash;as
+      thoroughly believing the motive of your claim for my money to be its help
+      to your marrying him, since you couldn&rsquo;t marry me. I was only surprised
+      when, time passing, I made out that that hadn&rsquo;t happened; and perhaps,&rdquo; he
+      added the next instant with something of a conscious lapse from the finer
+      style, &ldquo;hadn&rsquo;t been in question.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She had listened to this only staring, and she was silent after he had
+      said it, so silent for some instants that while he considered her
+      something seemed to fail him, much as if he had thrown out his foot for a
+      step and not found the place to rest it. He jerked round to the window
+      again, and then she answered, but without passion unless it was that of
+      her weariness for something stupid and forgiven in him, &ldquo;Oh, the blind,
+      the pitiful folly!&rdquo;&mdash;to which, as it might perfectly have applied to
+      her own behaviour, he returned nothing. She had moreover at once gone on.
+      &ldquo;Have it then that there wasn&rsquo;t much to do&mdash;between your finding that
+      you loathed me for another woman or discovering only, when it came to the
+      point, that you loathed me quite enough for myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Which, as she put it in that immensely effective fashion, he recognised
+      that he must just unprotestingly and not so very awkwardly&mdash;not so <i>very!</i>&mdash;take
+      from her; since, whatever he had thus come to her for, it wasn&rsquo;t to
+      perjure himself with any pretence that, &ldquo;another woman&rdquo; or no other woman,
+      he hadn&rsquo;t, for years and years, abhorred her. Now he was taking tea with
+      her&mdash;or rather, literally, seemed not to be; but this made no
+      difference, and he let her express it as she would while he distinguished
+      a man he knew, Charley Coote, outside on the Parade, under favour of the
+      empty hour and one of the flaring lamps, making up to a young woman with
+      whom (it stuck out grotesquely in his manner) he had never before
+      conversed. Dodd&rsquo;s own position was that of acquiescing in this recall of
+      what had so bitterly been&mdash;but he hadn&rsquo;t come back to her, of
+      himself, to stir up, to recall or to recriminate, and for <i>her</i> it
+      could but be the very lesson of her whole present act that if she touched
+      anything she touched everything. Soon enough she <i>was</i> indeed, and
+      all overwhelmingly, touching everything&mdash;with a hand of which the
+      boldness grew.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I didn&rsquo;t let <i>that</i>, even, make a difference in what I wanted&mdash;which
+      was all,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;and had only and passionately been, to take care of
+      you. I had <i>no</i> money whatever&mdash;nothing then of my own, not a
+      penny to come by anyhow; so it wasn&rsquo;t with mine I could do it. But I could
+      do it with yours,&rdquo; she amazingly wound up&mdash;&ldquo;if I could once get yours
+      out of you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He faced straight about again&mdash;his eyebrows higher than they had ever
+      been in his life. &ldquo;Mine? What penny of it was mine? What scrap beyond a
+      bare, mean little living had I ever pretended to have?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She held herself still a minute, visibly with force; only her eyes
+      consciously attached to the seat of a chair the back of which her hands,
+      making it tilt toward her a little, grasped as for support. &ldquo;You pretended
+      to have enough to marry me&mdash;and that was all I afterward claimed of
+      you when you wouldn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was on the point of retorting that he had absolutely pretended to
+      nothing&mdash;least of all to the primary desire that such a way of
+      stating it fastened on him; he was on the point for ten seconds of giving
+      her full in the face: &ldquo;I never <i>had</i> any such dream till you yourself&mdash;infatuated
+      with me as, frankly, you on the whole appeared to be&mdash;got round me
+      and muddled me up and made me behave as if in a way that went against the
+      evidence of my senses.&rdquo; But he was to feel as quickly that, whatever the
+      ugly, the spent, the irrecoverable truth, he might better have bitten his
+      tongue off: there beat on him there this strange and other, this so
+      prodigiously different beautiful and dreadful truth that no far
+      remembrance and no abiding ache of his own could wholly falsify, and that
+      was indeed all out with her next words. &ldquo;That&mdash;<i>using</i> it for
+      you and using you yourself for your own future&mdash;was my motive. I&rsquo;ve
+      led my life, which has been an affair, I assure you; and, as I&rsquo;ve told you
+      without your quite seeming to understand, I&rsquo;ve brought everything fivefold
+      back to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The perspiration broke out on his forehead. &ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s mine?&rdquo; he
+      quavered as for the deep piercing pain of it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Everything!&rdquo; said Kate Cookham.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So it told him how she had loved him&mdash;but with the tremendous effect
+      at once of its only glaring out at him from the whole thing that it was
+      verily she, a thousand times over, who, in the exposure of his youth and
+      his vanity, had, on the bench of desolation, the scene of yesterday&rsquo;s own
+      renewal, left for him no forward steps to take. It hung there for him
+      tragically vivid again, the hour she had first found him sequestered and
+      accessible after making his acquaintance at his shop. And from this, by a
+      succession of links that fairly clicked to his ear as with their perfect
+      fitting, the fate and the pain and the payment of others stood together in
+      a great grim order. Everything there then was <i>his</i>&mdash;to make him
+      ask what had been Nan&rsquo;s, poor Nan&rsquo;s of the constant question of whether he
+      need have collapsed. She was before him, she was between them, his little
+      dead dissatisfied wife; across all whose final woe and whose lowly grave
+      he was to reach out, it appeared, to take gifts. He saw them too, the
+      gifts; saw them&mdash;she bristled with them&mdash;in his actual
+      companion&rsquo;s brave and sincere and authoritative figure, her strangest of
+      demonstrations. But the other appearance was intenser, as if their ghost
+      had waved wild arms; so that half a minute hadn&rsquo;t passed before the one
+      poor thing that remained of Nan, and that yet thus became a quite mighty
+      and momentous poor thing, was sitting on his lips as for its sole
+      opportunity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you give me your word of honour that I mightn&rsquo;t, under decent advice,
+      have defied you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It made her turn very white; but now that she had said what she <i>had</i>
+      said she could still hold up her head. &ldquo;Certainly you might have defied
+      me, Herbert Dodd.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They would have told me you had no legal case?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Well, if she was pale she was bold. &ldquo;You talk of decent advice&mdash;!&rdquo;
+       She broke off, there was too much to say, and all needless. What she said
+      instead was: &ldquo;They would have told you I had nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t so much as ask,&rdquo; her sad visitor remarked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course you didn&rsquo;t so much as ask.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t be so outrageously vulgar,&rdquo; he went on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>I</i> could, by God&rsquo;s help!&rdquo; said Kate Cookham.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you.&rdquo; He had found at his command a tone that made him feel more
+      gentlemanlike than he had ever felt in his life or should doubtless ever
+      feel again. It might have been enough&mdash;but somehow as they stood
+      there with this immense clearance between them it wasn&rsquo;t. The clearance
+      was like a sudden gap or great bleak opening through which there blew upon
+      them a deadly chill. Too many things had fallen away, too many new rolled
+      up and over him, and they made something within shake him to his base. It
+      upset the full vessel, and though she kept her eyes on him he let that
+      consequence come, bursting into tears, weakly crying there before her even
+      as he had cried to himself in the hour of his youth when she had made him
+      groundlessly fear. She turned away then&mdash;<i>that</i> she couldn&rsquo;t
+      watch, and had presently flung herself on the sofa and, all responsively
+      wailing, buried her own face on the cushioned arm. So for a minute their
+      smothered sobs only filled the room. But he made out, through this
+      disorder, where he had put down his hat; his stick and his new
+      tan-coloured gloves&mdash;they had cost two-and-thruppence and would have
+      represented sacrifices&mdash;were on the chair beside it He picked these
+      articles up and all silently and softly&mdash;gasping, that is, but quite
+      on tiptoe&mdash;reached the door and let himself out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0032" id="link2H_4_0032">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      VI
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Off there on the bench of desolation a week later she made him a more
+      particular statement, which it had taken the remarkably tense interval to
+      render possible. After leaving her at the hotel that last Sunday he had
+      gone forth in his reaggravated trouble and walked straight before him, in
+      the teeth of the west wind, close to the iron rails of the stretched
+      Marina and with his telltale face turned from persons occasionally met,
+      and toward the surging sea. At the Land&rsquo;s End, even in the confirmed
+      darkness and the perhaps imminent big blow, his immemorial nook, small
+      shelter as it yielded, had again received him; and it was in the course of
+      this heedless session, no doubt, where the agitated air had nothing to add
+      to the commotion within him, that he began to look his extraordinary
+      fortune a bit straighter in the face and see it confess itself at once a
+      fairy-tale and a nightmare That, visibly, confoundingly, she was still
+      attached to him (attached in fact was a mild word!) and that the
+      unquestionable proof of it was in this offered pecuniary salve, of the
+      thickest composition, for his wounds and sores and shames&mdash;these
+      things were the fantastic fable, the tale of money in handfuls, that he
+      seemed to have only to stand there and swallow and digest and feel himself
+      full-fed by; but the whole of the rest was nightmare, and most of all
+      nightmare his having thus to thank one through whom Nan and his little
+      girls had known torture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He didn&rsquo;t care for himself now, and this unextinguished and apparently
+      inextinguishable charm by which he had held her was a fact incredibly
+      romantic; but he gazed with a longer face than he had ever had for
+      anything in the world at his potential acceptance of a great bouncing
+      benefit from the person he intimately, if even in a manner indirectly,
+      associated with the conditions to which his lovely wife and his children
+      (who would have been so lovely too) had pitifully succumbed. He had
+      accepted the social relation&mdash;which meant he had taken even that on
+      trial&mdash;without knowing what it so dazzlingly masked; for a social
+      relation it had become with a vengeance when it drove him about the place
+      as now at his hours of freedom (and he actually and recklessly took, all
+      demoralised and unstrung and unfit either for work or for anything else,
+      other liberties that would get him into trouble) under this queer torment
+      of irreconcilable things, a bewildered consciousness of tenderness and
+      patience and cruelty, of great evident mystifying facts that were as
+      little to be questioned as to be conceived or explained, and that were yet
+      least, withal, to be lost sight of.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On that Sunday night he had wandered wild, incoherently ranging and
+      throbbing, but this became the law of his next days as well, since he
+      lacked more than ever all other resort or refuge and had nowhere to carry,
+      to deposit, or contractedly let loose and lock up, as it were, his swollen
+      consciousness, which fairly split in twain the raw shell of his sordid
+      little boarding-place. The arch of the sky and the spread of sea and shore
+      alone gave him space; he could roam with himself anywhere, in short, far
+      or near&mdash;he could only never take himself back. That certitude&mdash;that
+      this was impossible to him even should she wait there among her plushes
+      and bronzes ten years&mdash;was the thing he kept closest clutch of; it
+      did wonders for what he would have called his self-respect. Exactly as he
+      had left her so he would stand off&mdash;even though at moments when he
+      pulled up sharp somewhere to put himself an intensest question his heart
+      almost stood still. The days of the week went by, and as he had left her
+      she stayed; to the extent, that is, of his having neither sight nor sound
+      of her, and of the failure of every sign. It took nerve, he said, not to
+      return to her, even for curiosity&mdash;since how, after all, in the name
+      of wonder, had she invested the fruits of her extortion to such advantage,
+      there being no chapter of all the obscurity of the years to beat that for
+      queer-ness? But he dropped, tired to death, on benches, half a dozen times
+      an evening&mdash;exactly on purpose to recognise that the nerve required
+      was just the nerve he had.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the days without a token from her multiplied he came in as well for
+      hours&mdash;and these indeed mainly on the bench of desolation&mdash;of
+      sitting stiff and stark in presence of the probability that he had lost
+      everything for ever. When he passed the Royal he never turned an eyelash,
+      and when he met Captain Roper on the Front, three days after having been
+      introduced to him, he &ldquo;cut him dead&rdquo;&mdash;another privileged consequence
+      of a social relation&mdash;rather than seem to himself to make the
+      remotest approach to the question of whether Miss Cookham had left
+      Properley. He had cut people in the days of his life before, just as he
+      had come to being himself cut&mdash;since there had been no time for him
+      wholly without one or other face of that necessity&mdash;but had never
+      effected such a severance as of this rare connection, which helped to give
+      him thus the measure of his really precious sincerity. If he had lost what
+      had hovered before him he had lost it, his only tribute to which
+      proposition was to grind his teeth with one of those &ldquo;scrunches,&rdquo; as he
+      would have said, of which the violence fairly reached his ear. It wouldn&rsquo;t
+      make him lift a finger, and in fact if Kate had simply taken herself off
+      on the Tuesday or the Wednesday she would have been reabsorbed again into
+      the darkness from which she had emerged&mdash;and no lifting of fingers,
+      the unspeakable chapter closed, would evermore avail. That at any rate was
+      the kind of man he still was&mdash;even after all that had come and gone,
+      and even if for a few dazed hours certain things had seemed pleasant. The
+      dazed hours had passed, the surge of the old bitterness had dished him
+      (shouldn&rsquo;t he have been shamed if it hadn&rsquo;t?), and he might sit there as
+      before, as always, with nothing at all on earth to look to. He had
+      therefore wrongfully believed himself to be degraded; and the last word
+      about him would be that he <i>couldn&rsquo;t</i> then, it appeared, sink to
+      vulgarity as he had tried to let his miseries make him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And yet on the next Sunday morning, face to face with him again at the
+      Land&rsquo;s End, what she very soon came to was: &ldquo;As if I believed you didn&rsquo;t
+      <i>know</i> by what cord you hold me!&rdquo; Absolutely too, and just that
+      morning in fact, above all, he wouldn&rsquo;t, he quite couldn&rsquo;t have taken his
+      solemn oath that he hadn&rsquo;t a sneaking remnant, as he might have put it to
+      himself&mdash;a remnant of faith in tremendous things still to come of
+      their interview. The day was sunny and breezy, the sea of a cold purple;
+      he wouldn&rsquo;t go to church as he mostly went of Sunday mornings, that being
+      in its way too a social relation&mdash;and not least when
+      two-and-thruppenny tan-coloured gloves were new; which indeed he had the
+      art of keeping them for ages. Yet he would dress himself as he scarce
+      mustered resources for even to figure on the fringe of Society, local and
+      transient, at St. Bernard&rsquo;s, and in this trim he took his way westward;
+      occupied largely, as he went, it might have seemed to any person pursuing
+      the same course and happening to observe him, in a fascinated study of the
+      motions of his shadow, the more or less grotesque shape projected, in
+      front of him and mostly a bit to the right, over the blanched asphalt of
+      the Parade and dandling and dancing at such a rate, shooting out and then
+      contracting, that, viewed in themselves, its eccentricities might have
+      formed the basis of an interesting challenge: &ldquo;Find the state of mind,
+      guess the nature of the agitation, possessing the person so remarkably
+      represented!&rdquo; Herbert Dodd, for that matter, might have been himself
+      attempting to make by the sun&rsquo;s sharp aid some approach to his immediate
+      horoscope.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It had at any rate been thus put before him that the dandling and dancing
+      of his image occasionally gave way to perfect immobility, when he stopped
+      and kept his eyes on it. &ldquo;Suppose she should come, suppose she <i>should!</i>&rdquo;
+       it is revealed at least to ourselves that he had at these moments audibly
+      breathed&mdash;breathed with the intensity of an arrest between hope and
+      fear. It had glimmered upon him from early, with the look of the day,
+      that, given all else that could happen, this would be rather, as he put
+      it, in her line; and the possibility lived for him, as he proceeded, to
+      the tune of a suspense almost sickening. It was, from one small stage of
+      his pilgrimage to another, the &ldquo;For ever, never!&rdquo; of the sentimental case
+      the playmates of his youth used to pretend to settle by plucking the
+      petals of a daisy. But it came to his truly turning faint&mdash;so &ldquo;queer&rdquo;
+       he felt&mdash;when, at the gained point of the long stretch from which he
+      could always tell, he arrived within positive sight of his immemorial
+      goal. His seat was taken and she was keeping it for him&mdash;it could
+      only be <i>she</i> there in possession; whereby it shone out for Herbert
+      Dodd that if he hadn&rsquo;t been quite sure of her recurrence she had at least
+      been quite sure of his. <i>That</i> pulled him up to some purpose, where
+      recognition began for them&mdash;or to the effect, in other words, of his
+      pausing to judge if he could bear, for the sharpest note of their
+      intercourse, this inveterate demonstration of her making him do what she
+      liked. What settled the question for him then&mdash;and just while they
+      avowedly watched each other, over the long interval, before closing, as
+      if, on either side, for the major advantage&mdash;what settled it was this
+      very fact that what she liked she liked so terribly. If it were simply to
+      &ldquo;use&rdquo; him, as she had said the last time, and no matter to the profit of
+      which of them she called it, one might let it go for that; since it could
+      make her wait over, day after day, in that fashion, and with such a
+      spending of money, on the hazard of their meeting again. How could she be
+      the least sure he would ever again consent to it after the proved action
+      on him, a week ago, of her last monstrous honesty? It was indeed
+      positively as if he were now himself putting this influence&mdash;and for
+      their common edification&mdash;to the supreme, to the finest test. He had
+      a sublime, an ideal flight, which lasted about a minute. &ldquo;Suppose, now
+      that I see her there and what she has taken so characteristically for
+      granted, suppose I just show her that she <i>hasn&rsquo;t</i> only confidently
+      to wait or whistle for me, and that the length of my leash is greater than
+      she measures, and that everything&rsquo;s impossible always?&mdash;show it by
+      turning my back on her now and walking straight away. She won&rsquo;t be able
+      not to understand <i>that!</i>&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Nothing had passed, across their distance, but the mute apprehension of
+      each on the part of each; the whole expanse, at the church hour, was void
+      of other life (he had scarce met a creature on his way from end to end),
+      and the sun-seasoned gusts kept brushing the air and all the larger
+      prospect clean. It was through this beautiful lucidity that he watched her
+      watch him, as it were&mdash;watch him for what he would do. Neither moved
+      at this high tension; Kate Cookham, her face fixed on him, only waited
+      with a stiff appearance of leaving him, not for dignity but&mdash;to an
+      effect of even deeper perversity&mdash;for kindness, free to choose. It
+      yet somehow affected him at present, this attitude, as a gage of her <i>knowing
+      too</i>&mdash;knowing, that is, that he wasn&rsquo;t really free, that this was
+      the thinnest of vain parades, the poorest of hollow heroics, that his
+      need, his solitude, his suffered wrong, his exhausted rancour, his
+      foredoomed submission to any shown interest, all hung together too heavy
+      on him to let the weak wings of his pride do more than vaguely tremble.
+      They couldn&rsquo;t, they didn&rsquo;t carry him a single beat further away; according
+      to which he stood rooted, neither retreating nor advancing, but presently
+      correcting his own share of the bleak exchange by looking off at the sea.
+      Deeply conscious of the awkwardness this posture gave him, he yet clung to
+      it as the last shred of his honour, to the clear argument that it was one
+      thing for him to have felt beneath all others, the previous days, that she
+      was to be counted on, but quite a different for her to have felt that <i>he</i>
+      was. His checked approach, arriving thus at no term, could in these odd
+      conditions have established that he wasn&rsquo;t only if Kate Cookham had, as
+      either of them might have said, taken it so&mdash;if she had given up the
+      game at last by rising, by walking away and adding to the distance between
+      them, and he had then definitely let her vanish into space. It became a
+      fact that when she did finally rise&mdash;though after how long our record
+      scarce takes on itself to say&mdash;it was not to confirm their separation
+      but to put an end to it; and this by slowly approaching him till she had
+      come within earshot He had wondered, once aware of it in spite of his
+      averted face, what she would say and on what note, as it were, she would
+      break their week&rsquo;s silence; so that he had to recognise anew, her voice
+      reaching him, that remarkable quality in her which again and again came up
+      for him as her art.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are twelve hundred and sixty pounds, to be definite, but I have it
+      all down for you&mdash;and you&rsquo;ve only to draw.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They lost themselves, these words, rare and exquisite, in the wide bright
+      genial medium and the Sunday stillness, but even while that occurred and
+      he was gaping for it she was herself there, in her battered ladylike
+      truth, to answer for them, to represent them, and, if a further grace than
+      their simple syllabled beauty were conceivable, almost embarrassingly to
+      cause them to materialise. Yes, she let her smart and tight little
+      reticule hang as if it bulged, beneath its clasp, with the whole
+      portentous sum, and he felt himself glare again at this vividest of her
+      attested claims. She might have been ready, on the spot, to open the store
+      to the plunge of his hand, or, with the situation otherwise conceived, to
+      impose on his pauperised state an acceptance of alms on a scale
+      unprecedented in the annals of street charity. Nothing so much counted for
+      him, however, neither grave numeral nor elegant fraction, as the short,
+      rich, rounded word that the breeze had picked up as it dropped and seemed
+      now to blow about between them. &ldquo;To draw&mdash;to draw?&rdquo; Yes, he gaped it
+      as if it had no sense; the fact being that even while he did so he was
+      reading into her use of the term more romance than any word in the
+      language had ever had for him. He, Herbert Dodd, was to live to &ldquo;draw,&rdquo;
+       like people, scarce hampered by the conditions of earth, whom he had
+      remotely and circuitously heard about, and in fact when he walked back
+      with her to where she had been sitting it was very much, for his strained
+      nerves, as if the very bench of desolation itself were to be the scene of
+      that exploit and he mightn&rsquo;t really live till he reached it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When they had sat down together she did press the spring of her reticule,
+      from which she took, not a handful of gold nor a packet of crisp notes,
+      but an oblong sealed letter, which she had thus waited on him, she
+      remarked, on purpose to deliver, and which would certify, with sundry
+      particulars, to the credit she had opened for him at a London bank. He
+      received it without looking at it&mdash;he held it, in the same manner,
+      conspicuous and unassimilated, for most of the rest of the immediate time,
+      appearing embarrassed with it, nervously twisting and flapping it, yet
+      thus publicly retaining it even while aware, beneath everything, of the
+      strange, the quite dreadful, wouldn&rsquo;t it be? engagement that such inaction
+      practically stood for. He could accept money to that amount, yes&mdash;but
+      not for nothing in return. For what then in return? He kept asking himself
+      for what, while she said other things and made above all, in her high,
+      shrewd, successful way the point that, no, he needn&rsquo;t pretend that his
+      conviction of her continued personal interest in him wouldn&rsquo;t have tided
+      him oyer any question besetting him since their separation. She put it to
+      him that the deep instinct of where he should at last find her must
+      confidently have worked for him, since she confessed to her instinct of
+      where she should find <i>him</i>; which meant&mdash;oh it came home to him
+      as he fingered his sealed treasure!&mdash;neither more nor less than that
+      she had now created between them an equality of experience. He wasn&rsquo;t to
+      have done all the suffering, <i>she</i> was to have &ldquo;been through&rdquo; things
+      he couldn&rsquo;t even guess at; and, since he was bargaining away his right
+      ever again to allude to the unforgettable, so much there was of it, what
+      her tacit proposition came to was that they were &ldquo;square&rdquo; and might start
+      afresh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He didn&rsquo;t take up her charge, as his so compromised &ldquo;pride&rdquo; yet in a
+      manner prompted him, that he had enjoyed all the week all those elements
+      of ease about her; the most he achieved for that was to declare, with an
+      ingenuity contributing to float him no small distance further, that of
+      course he had turned up at their old place of tryst, which had been,
+      through the years, the haunt of his solitude and the goal of his walk any
+      Sunday morning that seemed too beautiful for church; but that he hadn&rsquo;t in
+      the least built on her presence there&mdash;since that supposition gave
+      him, she would understand, wouldn&rsquo;t she? the air, disagreeable to him, of
+      having come in search of her. Her quest of himself, once he had been
+      seated there, would have been another matter&mdash;but in short &ldquo;Of course
+      after all you did come to me, just now, didn&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; He felt himself, too,
+      lamely and gracelessly grin, as for the final kick of his honour, in
+      confirmation of the record that he had then yielded but to her humility.
+      Her humility became for him at this hour and to this tune, on the bench of
+      desolation, a quantity more prodigious and even more mysterious than that
+      other guaranteed quantity the finger-tips of his left hand could feel the
+      tap by the action of his right; though what was in especial extraordinary
+      was the manner in which she could keep making him such allowances and yet
+      meet him again, at some turn, as with her residuum for her clever self so
+      great.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come to you, Herbert Dodd?&rdquo; she imperturbably echoed. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been coming
+      to you for the last ten years!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There had been for him just before this sixty supreme seconds of intensest
+      aspiration&mdash;a minute of his keeping his certificate poised for a
+      sharp thrust back at her, the thrust of the wild freedom of his saying:
+      &ldquo;No, no, I <i>can&rsquo;t</i> give them up; I can&rsquo;t simply sink them deep down
+      in my soul forever, with no cross in all my future to mark <i>that</i>
+      burial; so that if this is what our arrangement means I must decline to
+      have anything to do with it.&rdquo; The words none the less hadn&rsquo;t come, and
+      when she had herself, a couple of minutes later, spoken those others, the
+      blood rose to his face as if, given his stiffness and her extravagance, he
+      had just indeed saved himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Everything in fact stopped, even his fidget with his paper; she imposed a
+      hush, she imposed at any rate the conscious decent form of one, and he
+      couldn&rsquo;t afterward have told how long, at this juncture, he must have sat
+      simply gazing before him. It was so long, at any rate, that Kate herself
+      got up&mdash;and quite indeed, presently, as if her own forms were now at
+      an end. He had returned her nothing&mdash;so what was she waiting for? She
+      had been on the two other occasions momentarily at a loss, but never so
+      much so, no doubt, as was thus testified to by her leaving the bench and
+      moving over once more to the rail of the terrace. She could carry it off,
+      in a manner, with her resources, that she was waiting with so little to
+      wait for; she could face him again, after looking off at the sea, as if
+      this slightly stiff delay, not wholly exempt from awkwardness, had been
+      but a fine scruple of her courtesy. She had gathered herself in; after
+      giving him time to appeal she could take it that he had decided and that
+      nothing was left for her to do. &ldquo;Well then,&rdquo; she clearly launched at him
+      across the broad walk&mdash;&ldquo;well then, good-bye.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She had come nearer with it, as if he might rise for some show of express
+      separation; but he only leaned back motionless, his eyes on her now&mdash;he
+      kept her a moment before him. &ldquo;Do you mean that we don&rsquo;t&mdash;that we
+      don&rsquo;t&mdash;?&rdquo; But he broke down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do I &lsquo;mean&rsquo;&mdash;?&rdquo; She remained as for questions he might ask, but it
+      was wellnigh as if there played through her dotty veil an irrepressible
+      irony for that particular one. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve meant, for long years, I think, all
+      I&rsquo;m capable of meaning. I&rsquo;ve meant so much that I can&rsquo;t mean more. So
+      there it is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But if you go,&rdquo; he appealed&mdash;and with a sense as of final flatness,
+      however he arranged it, for his own attitude&mdash;&ldquo;but if you go sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t
+      I see you again?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She waited a little, and it was strangely for him now as if&mdash;though
+      at last so much more gorged with her tribute than she had ever been with
+      his&mdash;something still depended on her. &ldquo;Do you <i>like</i> to see me?&rdquo;
+       she very simply asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this he did get up; that was easier than to say&mdash;at least with
+      responsive simplicity; and again for a little he looked hard and in
+      silence at his letter; which at last, however, raising his eyes to her own
+      for the act, while he masked their conscious ruefulness, to his utmost, in
+      some air of assurance, he slipped into the inner pocket of his coat,
+      letting it settle there securely. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re too wonderful.&rdquo; But he frowned
+      at her with it as never in his life. &ldquo;Where does it all come from?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The wonder of poor me?&rdquo; Kate Cookham said. &ldquo;It comes from <i>you</i>.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He shook his head slowly&mdash;feeling, with his letter there against his
+      heart, such a new agility, almost such a new range of interest. &ldquo;I mean so
+      <i>much</i> money&mdash;so extraordinarily much.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Well, she held him a while blank. &ldquo;Does it seem to you extraordinarily
+      much&mdash;twelve-hundred-and-sixty? Because, you know,&rdquo; she added, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s
+      all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s enough!&rdquo; he returned with a slight thoughtful droop of his head to
+      the right and his eyes attached to the far horizon as through a shade of
+      shyness for what he was saying. He felt all her own lingering nearness
+      somehow on his cheek.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s enough? Thank you then!&rdquo; she rather oddly went on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He shifted a little his posture. &ldquo;It was more than a hundred a year&mdash;for
+      you to get together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she assented, &ldquo;that was what year by year I tried for.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But that you could live all the while and save that&mdash;!&rdquo; Yes, he was
+      at liberty, as he hadn&rsquo;t been, quite pleasantly to marvel. All his
+      wonderments in life had been hitherto unanswered&mdash;and didn&rsquo;t the
+      change mean that here again was the social relation?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, I didn&rsquo;t live as you saw me the other day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he answered&mdash;and didn&rsquo;t he the next instant feel he must
+      fairly have smiled with it?&mdash;&ldquo;the other day you <i>were</i> going
+      it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For once in my life,&rdquo; said Kate Cookham. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve left the hotel,&rdquo; she after
+      a moment added.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, you&rsquo;re in&mdash;a&mdash;lodgings?&rdquo; he found himself inquiring as for
+      positive sociability.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had apparently a slight shade of hesitation, but in an instant it was
+      all right; as what he showed he wanted to know she seemed mostly to give
+      him. &ldquo;Yes&mdash;but far of course from here. Up on the hill.&rdquo; To which,
+      after another instant, &ldquo;At The Mount, Castle Terrace,&rdquo; she subjoined.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I <i>know</i> The Mount. And Castle Terrace is awfully sunny and
+      nice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Awfully sunny and nice,&rdquo; Kate Cookham took from him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So that if it isn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; he pursued, &ldquo;like the Royal, why you&rsquo;re at least
+      comfortable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall be comfortable anywhere now,&rdquo; she replied with a certain dryness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was astonishing, however, what had become of his own. &ldquo;Because I&rsquo;ve
+      accepted&mdash;&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Call it that!&rdquo; she dimly smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope then at any rate,&rdquo; he returned, &ldquo;you can now thoroughly rest&rdquo; He
+      spoke as for a cheerful conclusion and moved again also to smile, though
+      as with a poor grimace, no doubt; since what he seemed most clearly to
+      feel was that since he &ldquo;accepted&rdquo; he mustn&rsquo;t, for his last note, have
+      accepted in sulkiness or gloom. With that, at the same time, he couldn&rsquo;t
+      but know, in all his fibres, that with such a still-watching face as the
+      dotty veil didn&rsquo;t disguise for him there was no possible concluding, at
+      least on his part On hers, on hers it was&mdash;as he had so often for a
+      week had reflectively to pronounce things&mdash;another affair. Ah,
+      somehow, both formidably and helpfully, her face concluded&mdash;yet in a
+      sense so strangely enshrouded in things she didn&rsquo;t tell him. What <i>must</i>
+      she, what mustn&rsquo;t she, have done? What she had said&mdash;and she had
+      really told him nothing&mdash;was no account of her life; in the midst of
+      which conflict of opposed recognitions, at any rate, it was as if, for all
+      he could do, he himself now considerably floundered. &ldquo;But I can&rsquo;t think&mdash;I
+      can&rsquo;t think&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t think I can have made so much money in the time and been
+      honest?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, you&rsquo;ve been <i>honest!</i>&rdquo; Herbert Dodd distinctly allowed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It moved her stillness to a gesture&mdash;which, however, she had as
+      promptly checked; and she went on the next instant as for further
+      generosity to his failure of thought. &ldquo;Everything was possible, under my
+      stress, with my hatred.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your hatred&mdash;?&rdquo; For she had paused as if it were after all too
+      difficult.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of what I should for so long have been doing to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      With this, for all his failures, a greater light than any yet shone upon
+      him. &ldquo;It made you think of ways&mdash;&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It made me think of everything. It made me work,&rdquo; said Kate Cookham. She
+      added, however, the next moment: &ldquo;But that&rsquo;s my story.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I mayn&rsquo;t hear it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No&mdash;because I mayn&rsquo;t hear yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, mine&mdash;!&rdquo; he said with the strangest, saddest, yet after all most
+      resigned sense of surrender of it; which he tried to make sound as if he
+      couldn&rsquo;t have told it, for its splendor of sacrifice and of misery, even
+      if he would.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It seemed to move in her a little, exactly, that sense of the invidious.
+      &ldquo;Ah, mine too, I assure you&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He rallied at once to the interest. &ldquo;Oh, we <i>can</i> talk then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never,&rdquo; she all oddly replied. &ldquo;Never,&rdquo; said Kate Cookham.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They remained so, face to face; the effect of which for him was that he
+      had after a little understood why. That was fundamental. &ldquo;Well, I see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus confronted they stayed; and then, as he saw with a contentment that
+      came up from deeper still, it was indeed she who, with her worn fine face,
+      would conclude. &ldquo;But I can take care of you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You <i>have!</i>&rdquo; he said as with nothing left of him but a beautiful
+      appreciative candour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, but you&rsquo;ll want it now in a way&mdash;!&rdquo; she responsibly answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He waited a moment, dropping again on the seat. So, while she still stood,
+      he looked up at her; with the sense somehow that there were too many
+      things and that they were all together, terribly, irresistibly, doubtless
+      blessedly, in her eyes and her whole person; which thus affected him for
+      the moment as more than he could bear. He leaned forward, dropping his
+      elbows to his knees and pressing his head on his hands. So he stayed,
+      saying nothing; only, with the sense of her own sustained, renewed and
+      wonderful action, knowing that an arm had passed round him and that he was
+      held. She was beside him on the bench of desolation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Finer Grain, by Henry James
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FINER GRAIN ***
+
+***** This file should be named 21968-h.htm or 21968-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/9/6/21968/
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+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.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase &ldquo;Project
+Gutenberg&rdquo;), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  &ldquo;Project Gutenberg&rdquo; is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (&ldquo;the Foundation&rdquo;
+ or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase &ldquo;Project Gutenberg&rdquo; appears, or with which the phrase &ldquo;Project
+Gutenberg&rdquo; is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+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
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase &ldquo;Project Gutenberg&rdquo; associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+&ldquo;Plain Vanilla ASCII&rdquo; or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original &ldquo;Plain Vanilla ASCII&rdquo; or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, &ldquo;Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.&rdquo;
+ 
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+&ldquo;Defects,&rdquo; such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the &ldquo;Right
+of Replacement or Refund&rdquo; described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you &lsquo;AS-IS&rsquo; WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm&rsquo;s
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation&rsquo;s EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state&rsquo;s laws.
+
+The Foundation&rsquo;s principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation&rsquo;s web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+
+</pre>
+  </body>
+</html>
diff --git a/21968-page-images/f001.png b/21968-page-images/f001.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..26071d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/f001.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/f002.png b/21968-page-images/f002.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3adf9fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/f002.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/f003.png b/21968-page-images/f003.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..606b3b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/f003.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/f004.png b/21968-page-images/f004.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b4623f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/f004.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/f005.png b/21968-page-images/f005.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8ea2294
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/f005.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p001.png b/21968-page-images/p001.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c6ac5cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p001.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p002.png b/21968-page-images/p002.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ba81993
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p002.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p003.png b/21968-page-images/p003.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2b9ae73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p003.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p004.png b/21968-page-images/p004.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d69c74e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p004.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p005.png b/21968-page-images/p005.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1ccd3c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p005.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p006.png b/21968-page-images/p006.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a6b9579
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p006.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p007.png b/21968-page-images/p007.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d015fca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p007.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p008.png b/21968-page-images/p008.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..577a6e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p008.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p009.png b/21968-page-images/p009.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5e0ec00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p009.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p010.png b/21968-page-images/p010.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9909e80
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p010.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p011.png b/21968-page-images/p011.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7c2dc9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p011.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p012.png b/21968-page-images/p012.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5ced12b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p012.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p013.png b/21968-page-images/p013.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..01936e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p013.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p014.png b/21968-page-images/p014.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5dd0a00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p014.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p015.png b/21968-page-images/p015.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f0b69d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p015.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p016.png b/21968-page-images/p016.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f4ac811
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p016.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p017.png b/21968-page-images/p017.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5e6c2ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p017.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p018.png b/21968-page-images/p018.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6e38ffc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p018.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p019.png b/21968-page-images/p019.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4fe86f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p019.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p020.png b/21968-page-images/p020.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e13c59d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p020.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p021.png b/21968-page-images/p021.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d942327
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p021.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p022.png b/21968-page-images/p022.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1e5c402
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p022.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p023.png b/21968-page-images/p023.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..88adc92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p023.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p024.png b/21968-page-images/p024.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..92ec12d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p024.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p025.png b/21968-page-images/p025.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b3d87f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p025.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p026.png b/21968-page-images/p026.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ef27955
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p026.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p027.png b/21968-page-images/p027.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c81e3db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p027.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p028.png b/21968-page-images/p028.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..404b201
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p028.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p029.png b/21968-page-images/p029.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fc78735
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p029.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p030.png b/21968-page-images/p030.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..564980e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p030.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p031.png b/21968-page-images/p031.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..857be8c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p031.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p032.png b/21968-page-images/p032.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..08b21ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p032.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p033.png b/21968-page-images/p033.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bdca5ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p033.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p034.png b/21968-page-images/p034.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0ba5d2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p034.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p035.png b/21968-page-images/p035.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ff4cd0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p035.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p036.png b/21968-page-images/p036.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f8a39c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p036.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p037.png b/21968-page-images/p037.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b368715
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p037.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p038.png b/21968-page-images/p038.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7c24cb4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p038.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p039.png b/21968-page-images/p039.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..26d89ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p039.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p040.png b/21968-page-images/p040.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4e50c23
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p040.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p041.png b/21968-page-images/p041.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..16c11db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p041.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p042.png b/21968-page-images/p042.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b3d033e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p042.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p043.png b/21968-page-images/p043.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3084a76
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p043.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p044.png b/21968-page-images/p044.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fbce36b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p044.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p045.png b/21968-page-images/p045.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2f8d4e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p045.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p046.png b/21968-page-images/p046.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b421bd4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p046.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p047.png b/21968-page-images/p047.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9a05f91
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p047.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p048.png b/21968-page-images/p048.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..147ae55
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p048.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p049.png b/21968-page-images/p049.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8a04585
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p049.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p051.png b/21968-page-images/p051.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a7eafc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p051.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p052.png b/21968-page-images/p052.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6c1521e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p052.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p053.png b/21968-page-images/p053.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c715806
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p053.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p054.png b/21968-page-images/p054.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ba7af13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p054.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p055.png b/21968-page-images/p055.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5490d8a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p055.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p056.png b/21968-page-images/p056.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d9abeb6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p056.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p057.png b/21968-page-images/p057.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..63c7562
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p057.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p058.png b/21968-page-images/p058.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c879d35
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p058.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p059.png b/21968-page-images/p059.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7621951
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p059.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p060.png b/21968-page-images/p060.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0f8160e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p060.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p061.png b/21968-page-images/p061.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..46a0ce0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p061.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p062.png b/21968-page-images/p062.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e502b51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p062.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p063.png b/21968-page-images/p063.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..28d9cdb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p063.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p064.png b/21968-page-images/p064.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..486f804
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p064.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p065.png b/21968-page-images/p065.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3c5a8d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p065.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p066.png b/21968-page-images/p066.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0c751ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p066.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p067.png b/21968-page-images/p067.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c33516f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p067.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p068.png b/21968-page-images/p068.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c01d702
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p068.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p069.png b/21968-page-images/p069.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..74fd333
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p069.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p070.png b/21968-page-images/p070.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb7c411
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p070.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p071.png b/21968-page-images/p071.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7326bae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p071.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p072.png b/21968-page-images/p072.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4653748
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p072.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p073.png b/21968-page-images/p073.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b7d6db1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p073.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p074.png b/21968-page-images/p074.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d87c1b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p074.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p075.png b/21968-page-images/p075.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..95e386d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p075.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p076.png b/21968-page-images/p076.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..48b305f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p076.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p077.png b/21968-page-images/p077.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..804b4fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p077.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p078.png b/21968-page-images/p078.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..883f572
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p078.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p079.png b/21968-page-images/p079.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..57bd0bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p079.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p080.png b/21968-page-images/p080.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bf63244
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p080.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p081.png b/21968-page-images/p081.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ee2331b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p081.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p082.png b/21968-page-images/p082.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d03c90a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p082.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p083.png b/21968-page-images/p083.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4842548
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p083.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p084.png b/21968-page-images/p084.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a1565a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p084.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p085.png b/21968-page-images/p085.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..61abbc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p085.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p086.png b/21968-page-images/p086.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b482b00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p086.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p087.png b/21968-page-images/p087.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c1d560a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p087.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p088.png b/21968-page-images/p088.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f639dc6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p088.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p089.png b/21968-page-images/p089.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b2fa709
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p089.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p090.png b/21968-page-images/p090.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..943e0ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p090.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p091.png b/21968-page-images/p091.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4024e97
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p091.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p092.png b/21968-page-images/p092.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..87cef9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p092.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p093.png b/21968-page-images/p093.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..807276b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p093.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p094.png b/21968-page-images/p094.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..357ff68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p094.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p095.png b/21968-page-images/p095.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a957944
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p095.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p096.png b/21968-page-images/p096.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a67b1ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p096.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p097.png b/21968-page-images/p097.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b535c87
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p097.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p098.png b/21968-page-images/p098.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b09fb1d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p098.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p099.png b/21968-page-images/p099.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c042555
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p099.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p100.png b/21968-page-images/p100.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f304b53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p100.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p101.png b/21968-page-images/p101.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ad779bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p101.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p102.png b/21968-page-images/p102.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ea87a4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p102.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p103.png b/21968-page-images/p103.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0971fd7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p103.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p104.png b/21968-page-images/p104.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2260b2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p104.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p105.png b/21968-page-images/p105.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..66b03d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p105.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p106.png b/21968-page-images/p106.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..38b5c5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p106.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p107.png b/21968-page-images/p107.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f576125
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p107.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p108.png b/21968-page-images/p108.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9030c62
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p108.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p109.png b/21968-page-images/p109.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d4fe6b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p109.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p110.png b/21968-page-images/p110.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..09e4b63
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p110.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p111.png b/21968-page-images/p111.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..613484c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p111.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p112.png b/21968-page-images/p112.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..41a38c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p112.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p113.png b/21968-page-images/p113.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..af15a98
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p113.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p114.png b/21968-page-images/p114.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..71e21f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p114.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p115.png b/21968-page-images/p115.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3828e46
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p115.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p116.png b/21968-page-images/p116.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb34945
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p116.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p117.png b/21968-page-images/p117.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aa00175
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p117.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p118.png b/21968-page-images/p118.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c1ff5ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p118.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p119.png b/21968-page-images/p119.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..087aebb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p119.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p120.png b/21968-page-images/p120.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2808964
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p120.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p121.png b/21968-page-images/p121.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4a7ce16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p121.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p122.png b/21968-page-images/p122.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0b38317
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p122.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p123.png b/21968-page-images/p123.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ee3d1f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p123.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p124.png b/21968-page-images/p124.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3fe7790
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p124.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p125.png b/21968-page-images/p125.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..364619b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p125.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p126.png b/21968-page-images/p126.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6c695bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p126.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p127.png b/21968-page-images/p127.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e2f4a68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p127.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p128.png b/21968-page-images/p128.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1041921
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p128.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p129.png b/21968-page-images/p129.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..892a141
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p129.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p130.png b/21968-page-images/p130.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a890a54
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p130.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p131.png b/21968-page-images/p131.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a5cbeaa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p131.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p132.png b/21968-page-images/p132.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3d3fbf8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p132.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p133.png b/21968-page-images/p133.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cb8161d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p133.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p134.png b/21968-page-images/p134.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7502f83
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p134.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p135.png b/21968-page-images/p135.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1f72986
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p135.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p136.png b/21968-page-images/p136.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d4c739c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p136.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p137.png b/21968-page-images/p137.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ff29edd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p137.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p138.png b/21968-page-images/p138.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d737049
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p138.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p139.png b/21968-page-images/p139.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4983887
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p139.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p140.png b/21968-page-images/p140.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..15c3338
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p140.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p141.png b/21968-page-images/p141.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6184a07
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p141.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p142.png b/21968-page-images/p142.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0f38b9c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p142.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p143.png b/21968-page-images/p143.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e5ced53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p143.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p144.png b/21968-page-images/p144.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0636d4f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p144.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p145.png b/21968-page-images/p145.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c411e2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p145.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p146.png b/21968-page-images/p146.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..873595d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p146.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p147.png b/21968-page-images/p147.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4fcd572
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p147.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p148.png b/21968-page-images/p148.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3ae7901
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p148.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p149.png b/21968-page-images/p149.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4867a29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p149.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p150.png b/21968-page-images/p150.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..56be526
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p150.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p151.png b/21968-page-images/p151.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..81f22e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p151.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p152.png b/21968-page-images/p152.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dc927e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p152.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p153.png b/21968-page-images/p153.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f7b0ffa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p153.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p154.png b/21968-page-images/p154.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dbcbdb6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p154.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p155.png b/21968-page-images/p155.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a31be9a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p155.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p156.png b/21968-page-images/p156.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dbfcb96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p156.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p157.png b/21968-page-images/p157.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8794457
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p157.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p158.png b/21968-page-images/p158.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a152530
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p158.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p159.png b/21968-page-images/p159.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cae55ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p159.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p160.png b/21968-page-images/p160.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dbd7dbb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p160.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p161.png b/21968-page-images/p161.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a4a6c03
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p161.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p162.png b/21968-page-images/p162.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..85e5e16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p162.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p163.png b/21968-page-images/p163.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cf1ec56
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p163.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p164.png b/21968-page-images/p164.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..81baceb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p164.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p165.png b/21968-page-images/p165.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1970767
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p165.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p166.png b/21968-page-images/p166.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..24bf856
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p166.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p167.png b/21968-page-images/p167.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..494a18f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p167.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p168.png b/21968-page-images/p168.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..09d9277
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p168.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p169.png b/21968-page-images/p169.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7c86c69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p169.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p170.png b/21968-page-images/p170.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..063ed51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p170.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p171.png b/21968-page-images/p171.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1ffbfec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p171.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p172.png b/21968-page-images/p172.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8dbe084
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p172.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p173.png b/21968-page-images/p173.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..56fedc3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p173.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p174.png b/21968-page-images/p174.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..db5a38e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p174.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p175.png b/21968-page-images/p175.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d0a364c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p175.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p176.png b/21968-page-images/p176.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..796b4c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p176.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p177.png b/21968-page-images/p177.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b985c83
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p177.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p178.png b/21968-page-images/p178.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3d37ce3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p178.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p179.png b/21968-page-images/p179.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..138c423
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p179.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p180.png b/21968-page-images/p180.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5d303f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p180.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p181.png b/21968-page-images/p181.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e847305
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p181.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p182.png b/21968-page-images/p182.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ee169ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p182.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p183.png b/21968-page-images/p183.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6e0a1e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p183.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p184.png b/21968-page-images/p184.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..be91d76
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p184.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p185.png b/21968-page-images/p185.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dd1d5d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p185.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p186.png b/21968-page-images/p186.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..36d9050
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p186.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p187.png b/21968-page-images/p187.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4bd9a69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p187.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p188.png b/21968-page-images/p188.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c489b1d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p188.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p189.png b/21968-page-images/p189.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..660a256
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p189.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p190.png b/21968-page-images/p190.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6a1cf49
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p190.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p191.png b/21968-page-images/p191.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..28c5774
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p191.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p192.png b/21968-page-images/p192.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..59f53a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p192.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p193.png b/21968-page-images/p193.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5ae2b05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p193.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p194.png b/21968-page-images/p194.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2b122fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p194.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p195.png b/21968-page-images/p195.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..67ab737
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p195.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p196.png b/21968-page-images/p196.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1abadb5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p196.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p197.png b/21968-page-images/p197.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..826b815
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p197.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p198.png b/21968-page-images/p198.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..37cb39c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p198.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p199.png b/21968-page-images/p199.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4524399
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p199.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p200.png b/21968-page-images/p200.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e5c8f52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p200.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p201.png b/21968-page-images/p201.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..12f6b5d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p201.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p202.png b/21968-page-images/p202.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6bc23ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p202.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p203.png b/21968-page-images/p203.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..036ac73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p203.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p204.png b/21968-page-images/p204.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..da84613
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p204.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p205.png b/21968-page-images/p205.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..275c96f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p205.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p206.png b/21968-page-images/p206.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bdd1591
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p206.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p207.png b/21968-page-images/p207.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..98df810
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p207.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p208.png b/21968-page-images/p208.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f9005bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p208.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p209.png b/21968-page-images/p209.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..21b6c0f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p209.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p210.png b/21968-page-images/p210.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8105e01
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p210.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p211.png b/21968-page-images/p211.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ce73b4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p211.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p212.png b/21968-page-images/p212.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..585ba4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p212.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p213.png b/21968-page-images/p213.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c91e15c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p213.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p214.png b/21968-page-images/p214.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1f37293
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p214.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p215.png b/21968-page-images/p215.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e3c8b15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p215.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p216.png b/21968-page-images/p216.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0d15265
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p216.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p217.png b/21968-page-images/p217.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c4ff708
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p217.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p218.png b/21968-page-images/p218.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fd2344f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p218.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p219.png b/21968-page-images/p219.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d5a468d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p219.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p220.png b/21968-page-images/p220.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0d9ab45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p220.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p221.png b/21968-page-images/p221.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e5998cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p221.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p222.png b/21968-page-images/p222.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d2196bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p222.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p223.png b/21968-page-images/p223.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6579129
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p223.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p224.png b/21968-page-images/p224.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c24aad7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p224.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p225.png b/21968-page-images/p225.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c51977d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p225.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p226.png b/21968-page-images/p226.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b86bde9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p226.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p227.png b/21968-page-images/p227.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aadd61e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p227.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p228.png b/21968-page-images/p228.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..00ef1c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p228.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p229.png b/21968-page-images/p229.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d3d71da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p229.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p230.png b/21968-page-images/p230.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5eecdb1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p230.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p231.png b/21968-page-images/p231.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d3bcc62
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p231.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p232.png b/21968-page-images/p232.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..52a32ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p232.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p233.png b/21968-page-images/p233.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d5a696a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p233.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p234.png b/21968-page-images/p234.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3385768
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p234.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p235.png b/21968-page-images/p235.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e361301
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p235.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p236.png b/21968-page-images/p236.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1ba6c44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p236.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p237.png b/21968-page-images/p237.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0909ca7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p237.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p238.png b/21968-page-images/p238.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3c991a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p238.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p239.png b/21968-page-images/p239.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f5658ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p239.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p240.png b/21968-page-images/p240.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6d87bcd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p240.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p241.png b/21968-page-images/p241.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9b5ebed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p241.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p242.png b/21968-page-images/p242.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c8db9b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p242.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p243.png b/21968-page-images/p243.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5804f3b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p243.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p244.png b/21968-page-images/p244.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5703c1c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p244.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p245.png b/21968-page-images/p245.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d888cc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p245.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p246.png b/21968-page-images/p246.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0073829
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p246.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p247.png b/21968-page-images/p247.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8eb100b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p247.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p248.png b/21968-page-images/p248.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a2a2e07
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p248.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p249.png b/21968-page-images/p249.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..74866ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p249.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p250.png b/21968-page-images/p250.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7bdaae6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p250.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p251.png b/21968-page-images/p251.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b0d8996
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p251.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p252.png b/21968-page-images/p252.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e5318d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p252.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p253.png b/21968-page-images/p253.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c4c3625
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p253.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p254.png b/21968-page-images/p254.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..02616e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p254.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p255.png b/21968-page-images/p255.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..35816c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p255.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p256.png b/21968-page-images/p256.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3edf91e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p256.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p257.png b/21968-page-images/p257.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ca97f21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p257.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p258.png b/21968-page-images/p258.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..40b4373
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p258.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p259.png b/21968-page-images/p259.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c242903
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p259.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p260.png b/21968-page-images/p260.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..49f9d4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p260.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p261.png b/21968-page-images/p261.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c042ff7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p261.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p262.png b/21968-page-images/p262.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7570547
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p262.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p263.png b/21968-page-images/p263.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4b8c5f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p263.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p264.png b/21968-page-images/p264.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..92919da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p264.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p265.png b/21968-page-images/p265.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8960f73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p265.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p266.png b/21968-page-images/p266.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6120f0b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p266.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p267.png b/21968-page-images/p267.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9916f86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p267.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p268.png b/21968-page-images/p268.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..62f3a22
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p268.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p269.png b/21968-page-images/p269.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d8388af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p269.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p270.png b/21968-page-images/p270.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5dd53f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p270.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p271.png b/21968-page-images/p271.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e55f53b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p271.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p272.png b/21968-page-images/p272.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..103c0f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p272.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p273.png b/21968-page-images/p273.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0701191
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p273.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p274.png b/21968-page-images/p274.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5c11ec0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p274.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p275.png b/21968-page-images/p275.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e5a9939
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p275.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p276.png b/21968-page-images/p276.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..770fc3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p276.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p277.png b/21968-page-images/p277.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b50e96e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p277.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p278.png b/21968-page-images/p278.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..74dc8b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p278.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p279.png b/21968-page-images/p279.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..15416cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p279.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p280.png b/21968-page-images/p280.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..811e356
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p280.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p281.png b/21968-page-images/p281.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bdea4f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p281.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p282.png b/21968-page-images/p282.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4520900
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p282.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p283.png b/21968-page-images/p283.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5ed8d4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p283.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p284.png b/21968-page-images/p284.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..012a592
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p284.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p285.png b/21968-page-images/p285.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8abdba5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p285.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p286.png b/21968-page-images/p286.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..acf894d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p286.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p287.png b/21968-page-images/p287.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..287a426
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p287.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p288.png b/21968-page-images/p288.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..04441fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p288.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p289.png b/21968-page-images/p289.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..45a839c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p289.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p290.png b/21968-page-images/p290.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c91a22e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p290.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p291.png b/21968-page-images/p291.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7694a65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p291.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p292.png b/21968-page-images/p292.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a118422
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p292.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p293.png b/21968-page-images/p293.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ec2fcf9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p293.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p294.png b/21968-page-images/p294.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b8814e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p294.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p295.png b/21968-page-images/p295.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1f58969
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p295.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p296.png b/21968-page-images/p296.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..be6b94b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p296.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p297.png b/21968-page-images/p297.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..72452dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p297.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p298.png b/21968-page-images/p298.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4cc75e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p298.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p299.png b/21968-page-images/p299.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cd6a6f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p299.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p300.png b/21968-page-images/p300.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8eee706
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p300.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p301.png b/21968-page-images/p301.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2b3f420
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p301.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p302.png b/21968-page-images/p302.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ea5aefa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p302.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p303.png b/21968-page-images/p303.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..68deed0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p303.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p304.png b/21968-page-images/p304.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..22541bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p304.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p305.png b/21968-page-images/p305.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f3f3ab5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p305.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p306.png b/21968-page-images/p306.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cd41ba1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p306.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p307.png b/21968-page-images/p307.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e0becd2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p307.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p308.png b/21968-page-images/p308.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..89d9441
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p308.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p309.png b/21968-page-images/p309.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d5feea0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p309.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p310.png b/21968-page-images/p310.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..76be327
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p310.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p311.png b/21968-page-images/p311.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a522cdc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p311.png
diff --git a/21968-page-images/p312.png b/21968-page-images/p312.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7d75cde
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968-page-images/p312.png
diff --git a/21968.txt b/21968.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c25ec21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5572 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Finer Grain, by Henry James
+
+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: The Finer Grain
+
+Author: Henry James
+
+Release Date: June 29, 2007 [EBook #21968]
+File last updated on December 12, 2007
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FINER GRAIN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+THE FINER GRAIN
+
+By Henry James
+
+
+1910
+
+
+[Transcriber's Note: After posting it was discovered that there were several
+missing pages from the section titled "Mora Montravers".  This section has been
+removed and will be replaced as soon as possible.]
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+     The Velvet Glove
+
+     [Mora Montravers]
+
+     A Round of Visits
+
+     Crapy Cornelia
+
+     The Bench of Desolation
+
+
+
+
+
+
+"THE VELVET GLOVE"
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+HE thought he had already, poor John Berridge, tasted in their fulness
+the sweets of success; but nothing yet had been more charming to him
+than when the young Lord, as he irresistibly and, for greater certitude,
+quite correctly figured him, fairly sought out, in Paris, the new
+literary star that had begun to hang, with a fresh red light, over
+the vast, even though rather confused, Anglo-Saxon horizon; positively
+approaching that celebrity with a shy and artless appeal. The young Lord
+invoked on this occasion the celebrity's prized judgment of a special
+literary case; and Berridge could take the whole manner of it for one of
+the "quaintest" little acts displayed to his amused eyes, up to now, on
+the stage of European society--albeit these eyes were quite aware, in
+general, of missing everywhere no more of the human scene than possible,
+and of having of late been particularly awake to the large extensions of
+it spread before him (since so he could but fondly read his fate) under
+the omen of his prodigious "hit." It was because of his hit that he
+was having rare opportunities--of which he was so honestly and humbly
+proposing, as he would have said, to make the most: it was because every
+one in the world (so far had the thing gone) was reading "The Heart of
+Gold" as just a slightly too fat volume, or sitting out the same as just
+a fifth-act too long play, that he found himself floated on a tide he
+would scarce have dared to show his favourite hero sustained by, found
+a hundred agreeable and interesting things happen to him which were all,
+one way or another, affluents of the golden stream.
+
+The great renewed resonance--renewed by the incredible luck of the
+play--was always in his ears without so much as a conscious turn of his
+head to listen; so that the queer world of his fame was not the mere
+usual field of the Anglo-Saxon boom, but positively the bottom of the
+whole theatric sea, unplumbed source of the wave that had borne him
+in the course of a year or two over German, French, Italian, Russian,
+Scandinavian foot-lights. Paris itself really appeared for the hour the
+centre of his cyclone, with reports and "returns," to say nothing of
+agents and emissaries, converging from the minor capitals; though his
+impatience was scarce the less keen to get back to London, where his
+work had had no such critical excoriation to survive, no such lesson of
+anguish to learn, as it had received at the hand of supreme authority,
+of that French authority which was in such a matter the only one to be
+artistically reckoned with. If his spirit indeed had had to reckon with
+it his fourth act practically hadn't: it continued to make him blush
+every night for the public more even than the inimitable _feuilleton_
+had made him blush for himself.
+
+This had figured, however, after all, the one bad drop in his cup;
+so that, for the rest, his high-water mark might well have been, that
+evening at Gloriani's studio, the approach of his odd and charming
+applicant, vaguely introduced at the latter's very own request by their
+hostess, who, with an honest, helpless, genial gesture, washed her fat
+begemmed hands of the name and identity of either, but left the fresh,
+fair, ever so habitually assured, yet ever so easily awkward Englishman
+with his plea to put forth. There was that in this pleasant personage
+which could still make Berridge wonder what conception of profit from
+him might have, all incalculably, taken form in such a head--these being
+truly the last intrenchments of our hero's modesty. He wondered,
+the splendid young man, he wondered awfully, he wondered (it was
+unmistakable) quite nervously, he wondered, to John's ardent and acute
+imagination, quite beautifully, if the author of "The Heart of Gold"
+would mind just looking at a book by a friend of his, a great friend,
+which he himself believed rather clever, and had in fact found very
+charming, but as to which--if it really wouldn't bore Mr. Berridge--he
+should so like the verdict of some one who knew. His friend was awfully
+ambitious, and he thought there was something in it--with all of which
+might he send the book to any address?
+
+Berridge thought of many things while the young Lord thus charged upon
+him, and it was odd that no one of them was any question of the possible
+worth of the offered achievement--which, for that matter, was certain to
+be of the quality of _all_ the books, to say nothing of the plays, and
+the projects for plays, with which, for some time past, he had seen his
+daily post-bag distended. He had made out, on looking at these things,
+no difference at all from one to the other. Here, however, was something
+more--something that made his fellow-guest's overture _independently_
+interesting and, as he might imagine, important. He smiled, he was
+friendly and vague; said "A work of fiction, I suppose?" and that he
+didn't pretend ever to pronounce, that he in fact quite hated, always,
+to have to, not "knowing," as he felt, any better than any one else; but
+would gladly look at anything, under that demur, if it would give any
+pleasure. Perhaps the very brightest and most diamond-like twinkle he
+had yet seen the star of his renown emit was just the light brought into
+his young Lord's eyes by this so easy consent to oblige. It was easy
+because the presence before him was from moment to moment, referring
+itself back to some recent observation or memory; something caught
+somewhere, within a few weeks or months, as he had moved about, and that
+seemed to flutter forth at this stir of the folded leaves of his recent
+experience very much as a gathered, faded flower, placed there for
+"pressing," might drop from between the pages of a volume opened at
+hazard.
+
+He had seen him before, this splendid and sympathetic person--whose
+flattering appeal was by no means _all_ that made him sympathetic;
+he had met him, had noted, had wondered about him, had in fact
+imaginatively, intellectually, so to speak, quite yearned over him, in
+some conjunction lately, though ever so fleet-ingly, apprehended: which
+circumstance constituted precisely an association as tormenting, for
+the few minutes, as it was vague, and set him to sounding, intensely
+and vainly, the face that itself figured everything agreeable except
+recognition. He couldn't remember, and the young man didn't; distinctly,
+yes, they had been in presence, during the previous winter, by some
+chance of travel, through Sicily, through Italy, through the south of
+France, but his _Seigneurie_--so Berridge liked exotically to phrase
+it--had then (in ignorance of the present reasons) not noticed _him_. It
+was positive for the man of established identity, all the while too,
+and through the perfect lucidity of his sense of achievement in an air
+"conducting" nothing but the loudest bang, that this was fundamentally
+much less remarkable than the fact of his being made up to in such a
+quarter now. That was the disservice, in a manner, of one's having so
+much imagination: the mysterious values of other types kept looming
+larger before you than the doubtless often higher but comparatively
+familiar ones of your own, and if you had anything of the artist's
+real feeling for life the attraction and amusement of possibilities so
+projected were worth more to you, in nineteen moods out of twenty, than
+the sufficiency, the serenity, the felicity, whatever it might be,
+of your stale personal certitudes. You were intellectually, you were
+"artistically" rather abject, in fine, if your curiosity (in the grand
+sense of the term) wasn't worth more to you than your dignity. What was
+your dignity, "anyway," but just the consistency of your curiosity, and
+what moments were ever so ignoble for you as, under the blighting breath
+of the false gods, stupid conventions, traditions, examples, your lapses
+from that consistency? His _Seigneurie_, at all events, delightfully,
+hadn't the least real idea of what any John Berridge was talking about,
+and the latter felt that if he had been less beautifully witless, and
+thereby less true to his right figure, it might scarce have been
+forgiven him.
+
+His right figure was that of life in irreflective joy and at the highest
+thinkable level of prepared security and unconscious insolence. What was
+the pale page of fiction compared with the intimately personal adventure
+that, in almost any direction, he would have been all so stupidly,
+all so gallantly, all so instinctively and, by every presumption,
+so prevailingly ready for? Berridge would have given six months'
+"royalties" for even an hour of his looser dormant consciousness--since
+one was oneself, after all, no worm, but an heir of all the ages
+too--and yet without being able to supply chapter and verse for the
+felt, the huge difference. His _Seigneurie_ was tall and straight, but
+so, thank goodness, was the author of "The Heart of Gold," who had no
+such vulgar "mug" either; and there was no intrinsic inferiority in
+being a bit inordinately, and so it might have seemed a bit strikingly,
+black-browed instead of being fair as the morning. Again while his new
+friend delivered himself our own tried in vain to place him; he
+indulged in plenty of pleasant, if rather restlessly headlong sound, the
+confessed incoherence of a happy mortal who had always many things "on,"
+and who, while waiting at any moment for connections and consummations,
+had fallen into the way of talking, as they said, all artlessly, and
+a trifle more betrayingly, against time. He would always be having
+appointments, and somehow of a high "romantic" order, to keep, and the
+imperfect punctualities of others to wait for--though who would be of
+a quality to make such a pampered personage wait very much our young
+analyst could only enjoy asking himself. There were women who might be
+of a quality--half a dozen of those perhaps, of those alone, about the
+world; our friend was as sure of this, by the end of four minutes, as if
+he knew all about it.
+
+After saying he would send him the book the young Lord indeed dropped
+that subject; he had asked where he might send it, and had had an "Oh,
+I shall remember!" on John's mention of an hotel; but he had made no
+further dash into literature, and it was ten to one that this would be
+the last the distinguished author might hear of the volume. Such again
+was a note of these high existences--that made one content to ask
+of them no whit of other consistency than that of carrying off the
+particular occasion, whatever it might be, in a dazzle of amiability
+and felicity and leaving _that_ as a sufficient trace of their passage.
+Sought and achieved consistency was but an angular, a secondary motion;
+compared with the air of complete freedom it might have an effect
+of deformity. There was no placing this figure of radiant ease, for
+Berridge, in any relation that didn't appear not good enough--that is
+among the relations that hadn't been too good for Berridge himself. He
+was all right where he was; the great Gloriani somehow made that law;
+his house, with his supreme artistic position, was good enough for any
+one, and to-night in especial there were charming people, more charming
+than our friend could recall from any other scene, as the natural
+train or circle, as he might say, of such a presence. For an instant he
+thought he had got the face as a specimen of imperturbability watched,
+with wonder, across the hushed rattle of roulette at Monte-Carlo; but
+this quickly became as improbable as any question of a vulgar
+_table d'hote_, or a steam-boat deck, or a herd of fellow-pilgrims
+cicerone-led, or even an opera-box serving, during a performance, for
+frame of a type observed from the stalls. One placed young gods and
+goddesses only when one placed them on Olympus, and it met the case,
+always, that they were of Olympian race, and that they glimmered
+for one, at the best, through their silver cloud, like the visiting
+apparitions in an epic.
+
+This was brief and beautiful indeed till something happened that gave
+it, for Berridge, on the spot, a prodigious extension--an extension
+really as prodigious, after a little, as if he had suddenly seen the
+silver clouds multiply and then the whole of Olympus presently open.
+Music, breaking upon the large air, enjoined immediate attention, and in
+a moment he was listening, with the rest of the company, to an eminent
+tenor, who stood by the piano; and was aware, with it, that his
+Englishman had turned away and that in the vast, rich, tapestried room
+where, in spite of figures and objects so numerous, clear spaces, wide
+vistas, and, as they might be called, becoming situations abounded,
+there had been from elsewhere, at the signal of unmistakable song, a
+rapid accession of guests. At first he but took this in, and the way
+that several young women, for whom seats had been found, looked charming
+in the rapt attitude; while even the men, mostly standing and grouped,
+"composed," in their stillness, scarce less impressively, under the sway
+of the divine voice. It ruled the scene, to the last intensity, and yet
+our young man's fine sense found still a resource in the range of the
+eyes, without sound or motion, while all the rest of consciousness was
+held down as by a hand mailed in silver. It was better, in this way,
+than the opera--John alertly thought of that: the composition sung might
+be Wagnerian, but no Tristram, no Iseult, no Parsifal and, no Kundry of
+them all could ever show, could ever "act" to the music, as our friend
+had thus the power of seeing his dear contemporaries of either sex
+(armoured _they_ so otherwise than in cheap Teutonic tinsel!) just
+continuously and inscrutably sit to it.
+
+It made, the whole thing together, an enchantment amid which he had in
+truth, at a given moment, ceased to distinguish parts--so that he was
+himself certainly at last soaring as high as the singer's voice and
+forgetting, in a lost gaze at the splendid ceiling, everything of the
+occasion but what his intelligence poured into it. This, as happened,
+was a flight so sublime that by the time he had dropped his eyes again
+a cluster of persons near the main door had just parted to give way to a
+belated lady who slipped in, through the gap made for her, and stood for
+some minutes full in his view. It was a proof of the perfect hush that
+no one stirred to offer her a seat, and her entrance, in her high
+grace, had yet been so noiseless that she could remain at once immensely
+exposed and completely unabashed. For Berridge, once more, if the scenic
+show before him so melted into the music, here precisely might have
+been the heroine herself advancing to the foot-lights at her cue. The
+interest deepened to a thrill, and everything, at the touch of his
+recognition of this personage, absolutely the most beautiful woman now
+present, fell exquisitely together and gave him what he had been wanting
+from the moment of his taking in his young Englishman.
+
+It was there, the missing connection: her arrival had on the instant
+lighted it by a flash. Olympian herself, supremely, divinely Olympian,
+she had arrived, could _only_ have arrived, for the one person present
+of really equal race, our young man's late converser, whose flattering
+demonstration might now stand for one of the odd extravagant forms taken
+by nervous impatience. This charming, this dazzling woman had been one
+member of the couple disturbed, to his intimate conviction, the autumn
+previous, on his being pushed by the officials, at the last moment,
+into a compartment of the train that was to take him from Cremona to
+Mantua--where, failing a stop, he had had to keep his place. The other
+member, by whose felt but unseized identity he had been haunted, was
+the unconsciously insolent form of guaranteed happiness he had just been
+engaged with. The sense of the admirable intimacy that, having taken
+its precautions, had not reckoned with his irruption--this image had
+remained with him; to say nothing of the interest of aspect of the
+associated figures, so stamped somehow with rarity, so beautifully
+distinct from the common occupants of padded corners, and yet on the
+subject of whom, for the romantic structure he was immediately to raise,
+he had not had a scrap of evidence.
+
+If he had imputed to them conditions it was all his own doing: it came
+from his inveterate habit of abysmal imputation, the snatching of the
+ell wherever the inch peeped out, without which where would have been
+the tolerability of life? It didn't matter now what he had imputed--and
+he always held that his expenses of imputation were, at the worst, a
+compliment to those inspiring them. It only mattered that each of the
+pair had been then what he really saw each now--full, that is, of the
+pride of their youth and beauty and fortune and freedom, though at
+the same time particularly preoccupied: preoccupied, that is, with the
+affairs, and above all with the passions, of Olympus. Who had they been,
+and what? Whence had they come, whither were they bound, what tie united
+them, what adventure engaged, what felicity, tempered by what peril,
+magnificently, dramatically attended? These had been his questions, all
+so inevitable and so impertinent, at the time, and to the exclusion of
+any scruples over his not postulating an inane honeymoon, his not taking
+the "tie," as he should doubtless properly have done, for the mere blest
+matrimonial; and he now retracted not one of them, flushing as they did
+before him again with their old momentary life. To feel his two friends
+renewedly in presence--friends of the fleeting hour though they had but
+been, and with whom he had exchanged no sign save the vaguest of salutes
+on finally relieving them of his company--was only to be conscious that
+he hadn't, on the spot, done them, so to speak, half justice, and that,
+for his superior entertainment, there would be ever so much more of them
+to come.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+It might already have been coming indeed, with an immense stride, when,
+scarce more than ten minutes later, he was aware that the distinguished
+stranger had brought the Princess straight across the room to speak
+to him. He had failed in the interval of any glimpse of their closer
+meeting; for the great tenor had sung another song and then stopped,
+immediately on which Madame Gloriani had made his pulse quicken to a
+different, if not to a finer, throb by hovering before him once more
+with the man in the world he most admired, as it were, looking at him
+over her shoulder. The man in the world he most admired, the greatest
+then of contemporary Dramatists--and bearing, independently, the name
+inscribed if not in deepest incision at least in thickest gilding on the
+rich recreative roll--this prodigious personage was actually to suffer
+"presentation" to him at the good lady's generous but ineffectual hands,
+and had in fact the next instant, left alone with him, bowed, in formal
+salutation, the massive, curly, witty head, so "romantic" yet so modern,
+so "artistic" and ironic yet somehow so civic, so Gallic yet somehow so
+cosmic, his personal vision of which had not hitherto transcended that
+of the possessor of a signed and framed photograph in a consecrated
+quarter of a writing-table.
+
+It was positive, however, that poor John was afterward to remember
+of this conjunction nothing whatever but the fact of the great man's
+looking at him very hard, straight in the eyes, and of his not having
+himself scrupled to do as much, and with a confessed intensity of
+appetite. It was improbable, he was to recognise, that they had, for the
+few minutes, only stared and grimaced, like pitted boxers or wrestlers;
+but what had abode with him later on, none the less, was just the
+cherished memory of his not having so lost presence of mind as to fail
+of feeding on his impression. It was precious and precarious, that was
+perhaps all there would be of it; and his subsequent consciousness was
+quite to cherish this queer view of the silence, neither awkward nor
+empty nor harsh, but on the contrary quite charged and brimming, that
+represented for him his use, his unforgettable enjoyment in fact, of his
+opportunity. Had nothing passed in words? Well, no misery of murmured
+"homage," thank goodness; though something must have been said,
+certainly, to lead up, as they put it at the theatre, to John's having
+asked the head of the profession, before they separated, if he by chance
+knew who the so radiantly handsome young woman might be, the one who
+had so lately come in and who wore the pale yellow dress, of the strange
+tone, and the magnificent pearls. They must have separated soon, it was
+further to have been noted; since it was before the advance of the pair,
+their wonderful dazzling charge upon him, that he had distinctly seen
+the great man, at a distance again, block out from his sight the harmony
+of the faded gold and the pearls--to speak only of that--and plant
+himself there (the mere high Atlas-back of renown to Berridge now) as
+for communion with them. He had blocked everything out, to this tune,
+effectually; with nothing of the matter left for our friend meanwhile
+but that, as he had said, the beautiful lady was the Princess. What
+Princess, or the Princess of what?--our young man had afterward
+wondered; his companion's reply having lost itself in the prelude of an
+outburst by another vocalist who had approached the piano.
+
+It was after these things that she so incredibly came to him, attended
+by her adorer--since he took it for absolute that the young Lord was her
+adorer, as who indeed mightn't be?--and scarce waiting, in her bright
+simplicity, for any form of introduction. It may thus be said in a word
+that this was the manner in which she made our hero's acquaintance, a
+satisfaction that she on the spot described to him as really wanting of
+late to her felicity. "I've read everything, you know, and 'The Heart of
+Gold' three times": she put it all immediately on that ground, while the
+young Lord now smiled, beside her, as if it were quite the sort of thing
+he had done too; and while, further, the author of the work yielded to
+the consciousness that whereas in general he had come at last scarce to
+be able to bear the iteration of those words, which affected him as
+a mere vain vocal convulsion, so not a breath of this association now
+attended them, so such a person as the Princess could make of them what
+she would.
+
+Unless it was to be really what _he_ would!--this occurred to him in the
+very thick of the prodigy, no single shade of possibility of which
+was less prodigious than any other. It was a declaration, simply, the
+admirable young woman was treating him to, a profession of "artistic
+sympathy"--for she was in a moment to use this very term that made for
+them a large, clear, common ether, an element all uplifted and rare, of
+which they could equally partake.
+
+If she was Olympian--as in her rich and regular young beauty, that of
+some divine Greek mask over-painted say by Titian, she more and more
+appeared to him--this offered air was that of the gods themselves:
+she might have been, with her long rustle across the room, Artemis
+decorated, hung with pearls, for her worshippers, yet disconcerting them
+by having, under an impulse just faintly fierce, snatched the cup of
+gold from Hebe. It was to him, John Berridge, she thus publicly offered
+it; and it was his over-topping _confrere_ of shortly before who was the
+worshipper most disconcerted. John had happened to catch, even at its
+distance, after these friends had joined him, the momentary deep,
+grave estimate, in the great Dramatist's salient watching eyes, of the
+Princess's so singular performance: the touch perhaps this, in the whole
+business, that made Berridge's sense of it most sharp. The sense of it
+as _prodigy_ didn't in the least entail his feeling abject--any more,
+that is, than in the due dazzled degree; for surely there would have
+been supreme wonder in the eagerness of her exchange of mature glory for
+thin notoriety, hadn't it still exceeded everything that an Olympian of
+such race should have found herself bothered, as they said, to "read" at
+all--and most of all to read three times!
+
+With the turn the matter took as an effect of this meeting, Berridge was
+more than once to find himself almost ashamed for her--since it seemed
+never to occur to her to be so for herself: he was jealous of the
+type where she might have been taken as insolently careless of it;
+his advantage (unless indeed it had been his ruin) being that he could
+inordinately reflect upon it, could wander off thereby into kinds of
+licence of which she was incapable. He hadn't, for himself, waited till
+now to be sure of what he would do were _he_ an Olympian: he would leave
+his own stuff snugly unread, to begin with; that would be a beautiful
+start for an Olympian career. He should have been as unable to write
+those works in short as to make anything else of them; and he
+should have had no more arithmetic for computing fingers than any
+perfect-headed marble Apollo mutilated at the wrists. He should have
+consented to know but the grand personal adventure on the grand
+personal basis: nothing short of this, no poor cognisance of confusable,
+pettifogging things, the sphere of earth-grubbing questions and
+two-penny issues, would begin to be, on any side, Olympian enough.
+
+Even the great Dramatist, with his tempered and tested steel and his
+immense "assured" position, even he was not Olympian: the look, full of
+the torment of earth, with which he had seen the Princess turn her back,
+and for such a purpose, on the prized privilege of his notice, testified
+sufficiently to that. Still, comparatively, it was to be said, the
+question of a personal relation with an authority so eminent on the
+subject of the passions--to say nothing of the rest of his charm--might
+have had for an ardent young woman (and the Princess was unmistakably
+ardent) the absolute attraction of romance: unless, again, prodigy of
+prodigies, she were looking for her romance very particularly elsewhere.
+Yet where could she have been looking for it, Berridge was to ask
+himself with private intensity, in a manner to leave her so at her ease
+for appearing to offer _him_ everything?--so free to be quite divinely
+gentle with him, to hover there before him in all her mild, bright,
+smooth sublimity and to say: "I should be so very grateful if you'd come
+to see me."
+
+There succeeded this a space of time of which he was afterward to lose
+all account, was never to recover the history; his only coherent view
+of it being that an interruption, some incident that kept them a while
+separate, had then taken place, yet that during their separation, of
+half an hour or whatever, they had still somehow not lost sight of each
+other, but had found their eyes meeting, in deep communion, all across
+the great peopled room; meeting and wanting to meet, wanting--it was the
+most extraordinary thing in the world for the suppression of stages, for
+confessed precipitate intensity--to use together every instant of the
+hour that might be left them. Yet to use it for what?--unless, like
+beautiful fabulous figures in some old-world legend, for the frankest
+and almost the crudest avowal of the impression they had made on each
+other. He couldn't have named, later on, any other person she had during
+this space been engaged with, any more than he was to remember in the
+least what he had himself ostensibly done, who had spoken to him, whom
+he had spoken to, or whether he hadn't just stood and publicly gaped or
+languished.
+
+Ah, Olympians were unconventional indeed--that was a part of their
+high bravery and privilege; but what it also appeared to attest in this
+wondrous manner was that they could communicate to their chosen in three
+minutes, by the mere light of their eyes, the same shining cynicism. He
+was to wonder of course, tinglingly enough, whether he had really made
+an ass of himself, and there was this amount of evidence for it that
+there certainly _had_ been a series of moments each one of which glowed
+with the lucid sense that, as she couldn't like him as much as _that_
+either for his acted clap-trap or for his printed verbiage, what it must
+come to was that she liked him, and to such a tune, just for himself
+and quite after no other fashion than that in which every goddess in
+the calendar had, when you came to look, sooner or later liked some
+prepossessing young shepherd. The question would thus have been, for
+him, with a still sharper eventual ache, of whether he positively _had_,
+as an effect of the miracle, been petrified, before fifty pair of eyes,
+to the posture of a prepossessing shepherd--and would perhaps have left
+him under the shadow of some such imputable fatuity if his consciousness
+hadn't, at a given moment, cleared up to still stranger things.
+
+The agent of the change was, as quite congruously happened, none other
+than the shining youth whom he now seemed to himself to have been
+thinking of for ever so long, for a much longer time than he had ever in
+his life spent at an evening party, as the young Lord: which personage
+suddenly stood before him again, holding him up an odd object and
+smiling, as if in reference to it, with a gladness that at once struck
+our friend as almost too absurd for belief. The object was incongruous
+by reason of its being, to a second and less preoccupied glance, a book;
+and what had befallen Berridge within twenty minutes was that they--the
+Princess and he, that is--had got such millions of miles, or at least
+such thousands of years, away from _those_ platitudes. The book, he
+found himself assuming, could only be _his_ book (it seemed also to have
+a tawdry red cover); and there came to him memories, dreadfully false
+notes sounded so straight again by his new acquaintance, of certain
+altogether different persons who at certain altogether different parties
+had flourished volumes before him very much with that insinuating
+gesture, that arch expression, and that fell intention. The meaning of
+these things--of all possible breaks of the charm at such an hour!--was
+that he should "signature" the ugly thing, and with a characteristic
+quotation or sentiment: that was the way people simpered and squirmed,
+the way they mouthed and beckoned, when animated by such purposes; and
+it already, on the spot, almost broke his heart to see such a type as
+that of the young Lord brought, by the vulgarest of fashions, so low.
+This state of quick displeasure in Berridge, however, was founded on a
+deeper question--the question of how in the world he was to remain for
+himself a prepossessing shepherd if he should consent to come back to
+these base actualities. It was true that even while this wonderment held
+him, his aggressor's perfect good conscience had placed the matter in a
+slightly different light.
+
+"By an extraordinary chance I've found a copy of my friend's novel on
+one of the tables here--I see by the inscription that she has presented
+it to Gloriani. So if you'd like to glance at it--!" And the young Lord,
+in the pride of his association with the eminent thing, held it out to
+Berridge as artlessly as if it had been a striking natural specimen
+of some sort, a rosy round apple grown in his own orchard, or an
+exceptional precious stone, to be admired for its weight and lustre.
+Berridge accepted the offer mechanically--relieved at the prompt fading
+of his worst fear, yet feeling in himself a tell-tale facial blankness
+for the still absolutely anomalous character of his friend's appeal. He
+was even tempted for a moment to lay the volume down without looking at
+it--only with some extemporised promise to borrow it of their host and
+take it home, to give himself to it at an easier moment. Then the very
+expression of his fellow-guests own countenance determined in him a
+different and a still more dreadful view; in fact an immediate collapse
+of the dream in which he had for the splendid previous space of time
+been living. The young Lord himself, in his radiant costly barbarism,
+figured far better than John Berridge could do the prepossessing
+shepherd, the beautiful mythological mortal "distinguished" by a
+goddess; for our hero now saw that his whole manner of dealing with
+his ridiculous tribute was marked exactly by the grand simplicity, the
+prehistoric good faith, as one might call it, of far-off romantic and
+"plastic" creatures, figures of exquisite Arcadian stamp, glorified
+rustics like those of the train of peasants in "A Winter's Tale," who
+thought nothing of such treasure-trove, on a Claude Lorrain sea-strand,
+as a royal infant wrapped in purple: something in that fabulous style of
+exhibition appearing exactly what his present demonstration might have
+been prompted by. "The Top of the Tree, by Amy Evans"--scarce credible
+words floating before Berridge after he had with an anguish of effort
+dropped his eyes on the importunate title-page--represented an object
+as alien to the careless grace of goddess-haunted Arcady as a washed-up
+"kodak" from a wrecked ship might have been to the appreciation of some
+islander of wholly unvisited seas. Nothing could have been more in the
+tone of an islander deplorably diverted from his native interests and
+dignities than the glibness with which John's own child of nature went
+on. "It's her pen-name, Amy Evans"--he couldn't have said it otherwise
+had he been a blue-chinned penny-a-liner; yet marking it with a
+disconnectedness of intelligence that kept up all the poetry of his own
+situation and only crashed into that of other persons. The reference put
+the author of "The Heart of Gold" quite into _his_ place, but left the
+speaker absolutely free of Arcady. "Thanks awfully"--Berridge somehow
+clutched at that, to keep everything from swimming. "Yes, I should like
+to look at it," he managed, horribly grimacing now, he believed, to say;
+and there was in fact a strange short interlude after this in which he
+scarce knew what had become of any one or of anything; in which he only
+seemed to himself to stand alone in a desolate place where even its
+desolation didn't save him from having to stare at the greyest of
+printed pages. Nothing here helped anything else, since the stamped
+greyness didn't even in itself make it impossible his eyes should follow
+such sentences as: "The loveliness of the face, which was that of the
+glorious period in which Pheidias reigned supreme, and which owed its
+most exquisite note to that shell-like curl of the upper lip which
+always somehow recalls for us the smile with which windblown Astarte
+must have risen from the salt sea to which she owed her birth and her
+terrible moods; or it was too much for all the passionate woman in her,
+and she let herself go, over the flowering land that had been, but was
+no longer their love, with an effect of blighting desolation that might
+have proceeded from one of the more physical, though not more awful,
+convulsions of nature."
+
+He seemed to know later on that other and much more natural things
+had occurred; as that, for instance, with now at last a definite
+intermission of the rare music that for a long time past, save at the
+briefest intervals, had kept all participants ostensibly attentive
+and motionless, and that in spite of its high quality and the supposed
+privilege of listening to it he had allowed himself not to catch a note
+of, there was a great rustling and shifting and vociferous drop to a
+lower plane, more marked still with the quick clearance of a way to
+supper and a lively dispersal of most of the guests. Hadn't he made out,
+through the queer glare of appearances, though they yet somehow all came
+to him as confused and unreal, that the Princess was no longer
+there, wasn't even only crowded out of his range by the immediate
+multiplication of her court, the obsequious court that the change
+of pitch had at once permitted to close round her; that Gloriani had
+offered her his arm, in a gallant official way, as to the greatest lady
+present, and that he was left with half a dozen persons more knowing
+than the others, who had promptly taken, singly or in couples, to a
+closer inspection of the fine small scattered treasures of the studio?
+
+He himself stood there, rueful and stricken, nursing a silly red-bound
+book under his arm very much as if he might have been holding on tight
+to an upright stake, or to the nearest piece of furniture, during some
+impression of a sharp earthquake-shock or of an attack of dyspeptic
+dizziness; albeit indeed that he wasn't conscious of this absurd, this
+instinctive nervous clutch till the thing that was to be more wonderful
+than any yet suddenly flared up for him--the sight of the Princess again
+on the threshold of the room, poised there an instant, in her
+exquisite grace, for recovery of some one or of something, and then, at
+recognition of him, coming straight to him across the empty place as if
+he alone, and nobody and nothing else, were what she incredibly wanted.
+She was there, she was radiantly _at_ him, as if she had known and loved
+him for ten years--ten years during which, however, she had never quite
+been able, in spite of undiscouraged attempts, to cure him, as goddesses
+_had_ to cure shepherds, of his mere mortal shyness.
+
+"Ah no, not _that_ one!" she said at once, with her divine familiarity;
+for she had in the flash of an eye "spotted" the particular literary
+production he seemed so very fondly to have possessed himself of and
+against which all the Amy Evans in her, as she would doubtless have put
+it, clearly wished on the spot to discriminate. She pulled it away from
+him; he let it go; he scarce knew what was happening--only made out that
+she distinguished the right one, the one that should have been shown
+him, as blue or green or purple, and intimated that her other friend,
+her fellow-Olympian, as Berridge had thought of him from the
+first, really did too clumsily bungle matters, poor dear, with his
+officiousness over the red one! She went on really as if she had come
+for that, some such rectification, some such eagerness of reunion with
+dear Mr. Berridge, some talk, after all the tiresome music, of questions
+really urgent; while, thanks to the supreme strangeness of it, the high
+tide of golden fable floated him afresh, and her pretext and her plea,
+the queerness of her offered motive, melted away after the fashion of
+the enveloping clouds that do their office in epics and idylls. "You
+didn't perhaps know I'm Amy Evans," she smiled, "or even perhaps that
+I write in English--which I love, I assure you, as much as you can
+yourself do, and which gives one (doesn't it? for who should know if
+not you?) the biggest of publics. I 'just love'--don't they say?--your
+American millions; and all the more that they really _take_ me for Amy
+Evans, as I've just wanted to be taken, to be loved too for myself,
+don't you know?--that they haven't seemed to try at all to 'go behind'
+(don't you say?) my poor dear little _nom de guerre_. But it's the new
+one, my last, 'The Velvet Glove,' that I should like you to judge me
+by--if such a _corvee_ isn't too horrible for you to think of; though
+I admit it's a move straight in the romantic direction--since after
+all (for I might as well make a clean breast of it) it's dear old
+discredited romance that I'm most in sympathy with. I'll send you 'The
+Velvet Glove' to-morrow, if you _can_ find half an hour for it; and
+then--and _then_--!" She paused as for the positive bright glory of her
+meaning.
+
+It could only be so extraordinary, her meaning, whatever it was,
+that the need in him that would--whatever it was again!--meet it most
+absolutely formed the syllables on his lips as: "Will you be very,
+_very_ kind to me?"
+
+"Ah 'kind,' dear Mr. Berridge? 'Kind,'" she splendidly laughed, "is
+nothing to what--!" But she pulled herself up again an instant. "Well,
+to what I want to be! Just _see_," she said, "how I want to be!" It
+was exactly, he felt, what he couldn't _but_ see--in spite of books and
+publics and pen-names, in spite of the really "decadent" perversity,
+recalling that of the most irresponsibly insolent of the old Romans
+and Byzantines, that could lead a creature so formed for living and
+breathing her Romance, and so committed, up to the eyes, to the constant
+fact of her personal immersion in it and genius for it, the dreadful
+amateurish dance of ungrammatically scribbling it, with editions and
+advertisements and reviews and royalties and every other futile item:
+since what was more of the deep essence of throbbing intercourse itself
+than this very act of her having broken away from people, in the other
+room, to whom he was as nought, of her having, with her _cranerie_ of
+audacity and indifference, just turned her back on them all as soon as
+she had begun to miss him? What was more of it than her having forbidden
+them, by a sufficient curt ring of her own supremely silver tone, to
+attempt to check or criticise her freedom, than her having looked him
+up, at his distance, under all the noses he had put out of joint, so as
+to let them think whatever they might--not of herself (much she troubled
+to care!) but of the new champion to be reckoned with, the invincible
+young lion of the day? What was more of it in short than her having
+perhaps even positively snubbed for him the great mystified Sculptor and
+the great bewildered Dramatist, treated to this queer experience for the
+first time of their lives?
+
+It all came back again to the really great ease of really great ladies,
+and to the perfect facility of everything when once they were great
+enough. _That_ might become the delicious thing to him, he more and more
+felt, as soon as it should be supremely attested; it was ground he had
+ventured on, scenically, representation-ally, in the artistic sphere,
+but without ever dreaming he should "realise" it thus in the social.
+Handsomely, gallantly just now, moreover, he didn't so much as let it
+occur to him that the social experience would perhaps on some future
+occasion richly profit further scenic efforts; he only lost himself in
+the consciousness of all she invited him to believe. It took licence,
+this consciousness, the next moment, for a tremendous further throb,
+from what she had gone on to say to him in so many words--though indeed
+the words were nothing and it was all a matter but of the implication
+that glimmered through them: "Do you _want_ very much your supper here?"
+And then while he felt himself glare, for charmed response, almost to
+the point of his tears rising with it: "Because if you don't----!"
+
+"Because if I don't--?" She had paused, not from the faintest shade of
+timidity, but clearly for the pleasure of making him press.
+
+"Why shouldn't we go together, letting me drive you home?"
+
+"You'll come home with me?" gasped John Berridge while the perspiration
+on his brow might have been the morning dew on a high lawn of Mount Ida.
+
+"No--you had better come with _me_. That's what I mean; but I certainly
+will come to you with pleasure some time if you'll let me."
+
+She made no more than that of the most fatuous of freedoms, as he felt
+directly he had spoken that it might have seemed to her; and before
+he had even time to welcome the relief of not having then himself, for
+beastly contrition, to make more of it, she had simply mentioned, with
+her affectionate ease, that she wanted to get away, that of the bores
+there she might easily, after a little, have too much, and that if he'd
+but say the word they'd nip straight out together by an independent door
+and be sure to find her motor in the court. What word he had found to
+say, he was afterward to reflect, must have little enough mattered;
+for he was to have kept, of what then occurred, but a single other
+impression, that of her great fragrant rustle beside him over the rest
+of the ample room and toward their nearest and friendliest resource, the
+door by which he had come in and which gave directly upon a staircase.
+This independent image was just that of the only other of his
+fellow-guests with whom he had been closely concerned; he had thought
+of him rather indeed, up to that moment, as the Princess's
+fellow-Olympian--but a new momentary vision of him seemed now to qualify
+it.
+
+The young Lord had reappeared within a minute on the threshold, that
+of the passage from the supper-room, lately crossed by the Princess
+herself, and Berridge felt him there, saw him there, wondered about him
+there, all, for the first minute, without so much as a straight look
+at him. He would have come to learn the reason of his friend's
+extraordinary public demonstration--having more right to his curiosity,
+or his anxiety or whatever, than any one else; he would be taking in
+the remarkable appearances that thus completed it, and would perhaps be
+showing quite a different face for them, at the point they had reached,
+than any that would have hitherto consorted with the beautiful security
+of his own position. So much, on our own young man's part, for this
+first flush of a presumption that he might have stirred the germs of ire
+in a celestial breast; so much for the moment during which nothing
+would have induced him to betray, to a possibly rueful member of an
+old aristocracy, a vulgar elation or a tickled, unaccustomed glee. His
+inevitable second thought was, however, it has to be confessed, another
+matter, which took a different turn--for, frankly, all the conscious
+conqueror in him, as Amy Evans would again have said, couldn't forego a
+probably supreme consecration. He treated himself to no prolonged reach
+of vision, but there was something he nevertheless fully measured for
+five seconds--the sharp truth of the fact, namely, of how the interested
+observer in the doorway must really have felt about him. Rather
+disconcertingly, hereupon, the sharp truth proved to be that the most
+amused, quite the most encouraging and the least invidious of smiles
+graced the young Lord's handsome countenance--forming, in short, his
+final contribution to a display of high social candour unprecedented in
+our hero's experience. No, he wasn't jealous, didn't do John Berridge
+the honour to be, to the extent of the least glimmer of a spark of it,
+but was so happy to see his immortal mistress do what she liked that he
+could positively beam at the odd circumstance of her almost lavishing
+public caresses on a gentleman not, after all, of negligible importance.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+Well, it was all confounding enough, but this indication in particular
+would have jostled our friend's grasp of the presented cup had he
+had, during the next ten minutes, more independence of thought. That,
+however, was out of the question when one positively felt, as with a
+pang somewhere deep within, or even with a smothered cry for alarm,
+one's whole sense of proportion shattered at a blow and ceasing to
+serve. "Not _straight_, and not too fast, shall we?" was the ineffable
+young woman's appeal to him, a few minutes later, beneath the wide glass
+porch-cover that sheltered their brief wait for their chariot of fire.
+It was there even as she spoke; the capped charioteer, with a great
+clean curve, drew up at the steps of the porch, and the Princess's
+footman, before rejoining him in front, held open the door of the car.
+She got in, and Berridge was the next instant beside her; he could only
+say: "As you like, Princess--where you will; certainly let us prolong
+it; let us prolong everything; don't let us have it over--strange and
+beautiful as it can only be!--a moment sooner than we must." So
+he spoke, in the security of their intimate English, while the
+perpendicular imperturbable _valet-de-pied_, white-faced in the electric
+light, closed them in and then took his place on the box where the rigid
+liveried backs of the two men, presented through the glass, were like a
+protecting wall; such a guarantee of privacy as might come--it occurred
+to Berridge's inexpugnable fancy--from a vision of tall guards erect
+round Eastern seraglios.
+
+His companion had said something, by the time they started, about their
+taking a turn, their looking out for a few of the night-views of Paris
+that were so wonderful; and after that, in spite of his constantly
+prized sense of knowing his enchanted city and his way about, he ceased
+to follow or measure their course, content as he was with the particular
+exquisite assurance it gave him. _That_ was knowing Paris, of a wondrous
+bland April night; that was hanging over it from vague consecrated
+lamp-studded heights and taking in, spread below and afar, the great
+scroll of all its irresistible story, pricked out, across river and
+bridge and radiant _place_, and along quays and boulevards and avenues,
+and around monumental circles and squares, in syllables of fire, and
+sketched and summarised, further and further, in the dim fire-dust of
+endless avenues; that was all of the essence of fond and thrilled and
+throbbing recognition, with a thousand things understood and a flood of
+response conveyed, a whole familiar possessive feeling appealed to and
+attested.
+
+"From you, you know, it _would_ be such a pleasure, and I think--in fact
+I'm sure--it would do so much for the thing in America." Had she gone
+on as they went, or had there been pauses of easy and of charmed and
+of natural silence, breaks and drops from talk, but only into greater
+confidence and sweetness?--such as her very gesture now seemed a part
+of; her laying her gloved hand, for emphasis, on the back of his own,
+which rested on his knee and which took in from the act he scarce knew
+what melting assurance. The emphasis, it was true--this came to him even
+while for a minute he held his breath--seemed rather that of Amy Evans;
+and if her talk, while they rolled, had been in the sense of these words
+(he had really but felt that they were shut intimately in together, all
+his consciousness, all his discrimination of meanings and indications
+being so deeply and so exquisitely merged in that) the case wasn't as
+surely and sublimely, as extravagantly, as fabulously romantic for him
+as his excited pulses had been seeming to certify. Her hand was there on
+his own, in precious living proof, and splendid Paris hung over them,
+as a consecrating canopy, her purple night embroidered with gold; yet he
+waited, something stranger still having glimmered for him, waited though
+she left her hand, which expressed emphasis and homage and tenderness,
+and anything else she liked indeed--since it was all then a matter of
+what he next heard and what he slowly grew cold as he took from her.
+
+"You know they do it here so charmingly--it's a compliment a clever man
+is always so glad to pay a literary friend, and sometimes, in the case
+of a great name like yours, it renders such a service to a poor little
+book like mine!" She spoke ever so humbly and yet ever so gaily--and
+still more than before with this confidence of the sincere admirer and
+the comrade. That, yes, through his sudden sharpening chill, was
+what first became distinct for him; she was mentioning somehow her
+explanation and her conditions--her motive, in fine, disconcerting,
+deplorable, dreadful, in respect to the experience, otherwise so
+boundless, that he had taken her as having opened to him; and she
+was doing it, above all, with the clearest coolness of her general
+privilege. What in particular she was talking about he as yet, still
+holding his breath, wondered; it was something she wanted him to do for
+her--which was exactly what he had hoped, but something of what trivial
+and, heaven forgive them both, of what dismal order? Most of all,
+meanwhile, he felt the dire penetration of two or three of the words
+she had used; so that after a painful minute the quaver with which he
+repeated them resembled his-drawing, slowly, carefully, timidly, some
+barbed dart out of his flesh.
+
+"A 'literary friend'?" he echoed as he turned his face more to her; so
+that, as they sat, the whites of her eyes, near to his own, gleamed in
+the dusk like some silver setting of deep sapphires.
+
+It made her smile--which in their relation now was like the breaking
+of a cool air-wave over the conscious sore flush that maintained itself
+through his general chill. "Ah, of course you don't allow that I
+_am_ literary--and of course if you're awfully cruel and critical and
+incorruptible you won't let it say for me what I so want it should!"
+
+"Where are we, where, in the name of all that's damnably, of all that's
+grotesquely delusive, are we?" he said, without a sign, to himself;
+which was the form of his really being quite at sea as to what she was
+talking about. That uncertainty indeed he could but frankly betray by
+taking her up, as he cast about him, on the particular ambiguity that
+his voice perhaps already showed him to find most irritating. "Let it
+show? 'It,' dear Princess----?"
+
+"Why, my dear man, let your Preface show, the lovely, friendly,
+irresistible log-rolling Preface that I've been asking you if you
+wouldn't be an angel and write for me."
+
+He took it in with a deep long gulp--he had never, it seemed to him,
+had to swallow anything so bitter. "You've been asking me if I wouldn't
+write you a Preface?"
+
+"To 'The Velvet Glove'--after I've sent it to you and you've judged
+if you really can. Of course I don't want you to perjure yourself;
+but"--and she fairly brushed him again, at their close quarters, with
+her fresh fragrant smile--"I do want you so to like me, and to say it
+all out beautifully and publicly." "You want me to like you, Princess?"
+"But, heaven help us, haven't you understood?" Nothing stranger could
+conceivably have been, it struck him--if he was right now--than this
+exquisite intimacy of her manner of setting him down on the other side
+of an abyss. It was as if she had lifted him first in her beautiful
+arms, had raised him up high, high, high, to do it, pressing him to
+her immortal young breast while he let himself go, and then, by some
+extraordinary effect of her native force and her alien quality, setting
+him down exactly where she wanted him to be--which was a thousand miles
+away from her. Once more, so preposterously face to face with her for
+these base issues, he took it all in; after which he felt his eyes
+close, for amazement, despair and shame, and his head, which he had some
+time before, baring his brow to the mild night, eased of its crush-hat,
+sink to confounded rest on the upholstered back of the seat. The act,
+the ceasing to see, and if possible to hear, was for the moment a
+retreat, an escape from a state that he felt himself fairly flatter
+by thinking of it as "awkward"; the state of really wishing that his
+humiliation might end, and of wondering in fact if the most decent
+course open to him mightn't be to ask her to stop the motor and let him
+down.
+
+He spoke no word for a long minute, or for considerably more than that;
+during which time the motor went and went, now even somewhat faster,
+and he knew, through his closed eyes, that the outer lights had begun to
+multiply and that they were getting back somewhere into the spacious and
+decorative quarters. He knew this, and also that his retreat, for all
+his attitude as of accommodating thought, his air--_that_ presently
+and quickly came to him--of having perhaps gathered himself in, for
+an instant, at her behest, to turn over, in his high ingenuity, some
+humbugging "rotten" phrase or formula that he might place at her service
+and make the note of such an effort; he became aware, I say, that
+his lapse was but a half-retreat, with her strenuous presence and
+her earnest pressure and the close cool respiration of her good faith
+absolutely timing the moments of his stillness and the progress of the
+car. Yes, it was wondrous well, he had all but made the biggest of
+all fools of himself, almost as big a one as _she_ was still, to every
+appearance, in her perfect serenity, trying to make of him; and the one
+straight answer to it _would_ be that he should reach forward and touch
+the footman's shoulder and demand that the vehicle itself should make an
+end.
+
+That would be an answer, however, he continued intensely to see, only to
+inanely importunate, to utterly superfluous Amy Evans--not a bit to his
+at last exquisitely patient companion, who was clearly now quite taking
+it from him that what kept him in his attitude was the spring of the
+quick desire to oblige her, the charming loyal impulse to consider a
+little what he could do for her, say "handsomely yet conscientiously"
+(oh the loveliness!) before he should commit himself. She was
+enchanted--_that_ seemed to breathe upon him; she waited, she hung
+there, she quite bent over him, as Diana over the sleeping Endymion,
+while all the conscientious man of letters in him, as she might so
+supremely have phrased it, struggled with the more peccable, the more
+muddled and "squared," though, for her own ideal, the so much more
+_banal_ comrade. Yes, he could keep it up now--that is he could hold out
+for his real reply, could meet the rather marked tension of the rest of
+their passage as well as she; he should be able somehow or other to
+make his wordless detachment, the tribute of his ostensibly deep
+consideration of her request, a retreat in good order. She _was_, for
+herself, to the last point of her guileless fatuity, Amy Evans and an
+asker for "lifts," a conceiver of twaddle both in herself and in him;
+or at least, so far as she fell short of all this platitude, it was
+no fault of the really affecting folly of her attempt to become a
+mere magazine mortal after the only fashion she had made out, to the
+intensification of her self-complacency, that she might.
+
+Nothing might thus have touched him more--if to be touched, beyond a
+certain point, hadn't been to be squared--than the way she failed to
+divine the bearing of his thoughts; so that she had probably at no one
+small crisis of her life felt so much a promise in the flutter of her
+own as on the occasion of the beautiful act she indulged in at the very
+moment, he was afterward to recognise, of their sweeping into her
+great smooth, empty, costly street--a desert, at that hour, of lavish
+lamplight and sculptured stone. She raised to her lips the hand she
+had never yet released and kept it there a moment pressed close against
+them; he himself closing his eyes to the deepest detachment he was
+capable of while he took in with a smothered sound of pain that this
+was the conferred bounty by which Amy Evans sought most expressively to
+encourage, to sustain and to reward. The motor had slackened and in a
+moment would stop; and meanwhile even after lowering his hand again
+she hadn't let it go. This enabled it, while he after a further moment
+roused himself to a more confessed consciousness, to form with his
+friend's a more active relation, to possess him of hers, in turn, and
+with an intention the straighter that her glove had by this time somehow
+come off. Bending over it without hinderance, he returned as firmly
+and fully as the application of all his recovered wholeness of feeling,
+under his moustache, might express, the consecration the bareness of
+his own knuckles had received; only after which it was that, still thus
+drawing out his grasp of her, and having let down their front glass by
+his free hand, he signified to the footman his view of their stopping
+short.
+
+They had arrived; the high, closed _porte-cochere_, in its crested
+stretch of wall, awaited their approach; but his gesture took effect,
+the car pulled up at the edge of the pavement, the man, in an instant,
+was at the door and had opened it; quickly moving across the walk, the
+next moment, to press the bell at the gate. Berridge, as his hand now
+broke away, felt he had cut his cable; with which, after he had stepped
+out, he raised again the glass he had lowered and closed, its own being
+already down, the door that had released him. During these motions he
+had the sense of his companion, still radiant and splendid, but somehow
+momentarily suppressed, suspended, silvered over and celestially
+blurred, even as a summer moon by the loose veil of a cloud. So it was
+he saw her while he leaned for farewell on the open window-ledge; he
+took her in as her visible intensity of bright vagueness filled the
+circle that the interior of the car made for her. It was such a state as
+she would have been reduced to--he felt this, was certain of it--for the
+first time in her life; and it was he, poor John Berridge, after all,
+who would have created the condition.
+
+"Good-night, Princess. I sha'n't see you again."
+
+Vague was indeed no word for it--shine though she might, in her screened
+narrow niche, as with the liquefaction of her pearls, the glimmer of her
+tears, the freshness of her surprise. "You won't come in--when you've
+had no supper?"
+
+He smiled at her with a purpose of kindness that could never in his life
+have been greater; and at first but smiled without a word. He presently
+shook his head, however--doubtless also with as great a sadness. "I seem
+to have supped to my fill, Princess. Thank you, I won't come in."
+
+It drew from her, while she looked at him, a long low anxious wail. "And
+you won't do my Preface?"
+
+"No, Princess, I won't do your Preface. Nothing would induce me to say
+a word in print about you. I'm in fact not sure I shall ever mention you
+in any manner at all as long as ever I live."
+
+He had felt for an instant as if he were speaking to some miraculously
+humanised idol, all sacred, all jewelled, all votively hung about, but
+made mysterious, in the recess of its shrine, by the very thickness
+of the accumulated lustre. And "Then you don't like me--?" was the
+marvellous sound from the image.
+
+"Princess," was in response the sound of the worshipper, "Princess, I
+adore you. But I'm ashamed for you."
+
+"Ashamed----?"
+
+"You _are_ Romance--as everything, and by what I make out every one,
+about you is; so what more do you want? Your Preface--the only one worth
+speaking of--was written long ages ago by the most beautiful imagination
+of man."
+
+Humanised at least for these moments, she could understand enough to
+declare that she didn't. "I don't, I don't!"
+
+"You don't need to understand. Don't attempt such base things. Leave
+those to us. Only live. Only be. _We'll_ do the rest."
+
+She moved over--she had come close to the window. "Ah, but Mr.
+Berridge----!"
+
+He raised both hands; he shook them at her gently, in deep and soft
+deprecation. "Don't sound my dreadful name. Fortunately, however, you
+can't help yourself."
+
+"Ah, _voyons!_ I so want-----!"
+
+He repeated his gesture, and when he brought down his hands they closed
+together on both of hers, which now quite convulsively grasped the
+window-ledge. "Don't speak, because when you speak you really say
+things--!" "You _are_ Romance," he pronounced afresh and with the last
+intensity of conviction and persuasion. "That's all you have to do with
+it," he continued while his hands, for emphasis, pressed hard on her
+own.
+
+Their faces, in this way, were nearer together than ever, but with the
+effect of only adding to the vividness of that dire non-intelligence
+from which, all perversely and incalculably, her very beauty now
+appeared to gain relief. This made for him a pang and almost an anguish;
+the fear of her saying something yet again that would wretchedly prove
+how little he moved her perception. So his eyes, of remonstrant, of
+suppliant intention, met hers close, at the same time that these, so far
+from shrinking, but with their quite other swimming plea all bedimmed
+now, seemed almost to wash him with the tears of her failure. He
+soothed, he stroked, he reassured her hands, for tender conveyance of
+his meaning, quite as she had just before dealt with his own for brave
+demonstration of hers. It was during these instants as if the question
+had been which of them _could_ most candidly and fraternally plead.
+Full but of that she kept it up. "Ah, if you'd only think, if you'd only
+try----!"
+
+He couldn't stand it--she was capable of believing he had edged away,
+excusing himself and trumping up a factitious theory, because he hadn't
+the wit, hadn't the hand, to knock off the few pleasant pages she asked
+him for and that any proper Frenchman, master of the _metier_, would
+so easily and gallantly have promised. Should she so begin to commit
+herself he'd, by the immortal gods, anticipate it in the manner most
+admirably effective--in fact he'd even thus make her further derogation
+impossible. Their faces were so close that he could practise any rich
+freedom--even though for an instant, while the back of the chauffeur
+guarded them on that side and his own presented breadth, amplified
+by his loose mantle, filled the whole window-space, leaving him no
+observation from any quarter to heed, he uttered, in a deep-drawn final
+groan, an irrepressible echo of his pang for what might have been,
+the muffled cry of his insistence. "You _are_ Romance!"--he drove it
+intimately, inordinately home, his lips, for a long moment, sealing
+it, with the fullest force of authority, on her own; after which, as
+he broke away and the car, starting again, turned powerfully across
+the pavement, he had no further sound from her than if, all divinely
+indulgent but all humanly defeated, she had given the question up,
+falling back to infinite wonder. He too fell back, but could still wave
+his hat for her as she passed to disappearance in the great floridly
+framed aperture whose wings at once came together behind her.
+
+
+
+
+
+A ROUND OF VISITS
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+HE had been out but once since his arrival, Mark Monteith; that was
+the next day after--he had disembarked by night on the previous; then
+everything had come at once, as he would have said, everything had
+changed. He had got in on Tuesday; he had spent Wednesday for the most
+part down town, looking into the dismal subject of his anxiety--the
+anxiety that, under a sudden decision, had brought him across the
+unfriendly sea at mid-winter, and it was through information reaching
+him on Wednesday evening that he had measured his loss, measured above
+all his pain. These were two distinct things, he felt, and, though both
+bad, one much worse than the other. It wasn't till the next three
+days had pretty well ebbed, in fact, that he knew himself for so badly
+wounded. He had waked up on Thursday morning, so far as he had slept at
+all, with the sense, together, of a blinding New York blizzard and of a
+deep sore inward ache. The great white savage storm would have kept him
+at the best within doors, but his stricken state was by itself quite
+reason enough.
+
+He so felt the blow indeed, so gasped, before what had happened to him,
+at the ugliness, the bitterness, and, beyond these things, the sinister
+strangeness, that, the matter of his dismay little by little detaching
+and projecting itself, settling there face to face with him as something
+he must now live with always, he might have been in charge of some
+horrid alien thing, some violent, scared, unhappy creature whom there
+was small joy, of a truth, in remaining with, but whose behaviour
+wouldn't perhaps bring him under notice, nor otherwise compromise him,
+so long as he should stay to watch it. A young jibbering ape of one of
+the more formidable sorts, or an ominous infant panther, smuggled into
+the great gaudy hotel and whom it might yet be important he shouldn't
+advertise, couldn't have affected him as needing more domestic
+attention. The great gaudy hotel--The Pocahontas, but carried out
+largely on "Du Barry" lines--made all about him, beside, behind, below,
+above, in blocks and tiers and superpositions, a sufficient defensive
+hugeness; so that, between the massive labyrinth and the New York
+weather, life in a lighthouse during a gale would scarce have kept
+him more apart. Even when in the course of that worse Thursday it
+had occurred to him for vague relief that the odious certified facts
+couldn't be all his misery, and that, with his throat and a probable
+temperature, a brush of the epidemic, which was for ever brushing him,
+accounted for something, even then he couldn't resign himself to bed and
+broth and dimness, but only circled and prowled the more within his
+high cage, only watched the more from his tenth story the rage of the
+elements.
+
+In the afternoon he had a doctor--the caravanserai, which supplied
+everything in quantities, had one for each group of so many rooms--just
+in order to be assured that he was _grippe_ enough for anything. What
+his visitor, making light of his attack, perversely told him was that
+he was, much rather, "blue" enough, and from causes doubtless known
+to himself--which didn't come to the same thing; but he "gave him
+something," prescribed him warmth and quiet and broth and courage,
+and came back the next day as to readminister this last dose. He then
+pronounced him better, and on Saturday pronounced him well--all the more
+that the storm had abated and the snow had been dealt with as New York,
+at a push, knew how to deal with things. Oh, how New York knew how to
+deal--to deal, that is, with other accumulations lying passive to its
+hand--was exactly what Mark now ached with his impression of; so that,
+still threshing about in this consciousness, he had on the Saturday
+come near to breaking out as to what was the matter with him. The
+Doctor brought in somehow the air of the hotel--which, cheerfully
+and conscientiously, by his simple philosophy, the good man wished to
+diffuse; breathing forth all the echoes of other woes and worries and
+pointing the honest moral that, especially with such a thermometer,
+there were enough of these to go round.
+
+Our sufferer, by that time, would have liked to tell some one;
+extracting, to the last acid strain of it, the full strength of his
+sorrow, taking it all in as he could only do by himself and with the
+conditions favourable at least to this, had been his natural first need.
+But now, he supposed, he _must_ be better; there was something of his
+heart's heaviness he wanted so to give out. He had rummaged forth on the
+Thursday night half a dozen old photographs stuck into a leather frame,
+a small show-case that formed part of his usual equipage of travel--he
+mostly set it up on a table when he stayed anywhere long enough; and in
+one of the neat gilt-edged squares of this convenient portable array,
+as familiar as his shaving-glass or the hair-brushes, of backs and
+monograms now so beautifully toned and wasted, long ago given him by his
+mother, Phil Blood-good handsomely faced him. Not contemporaneous, and
+a little faded, but so saying what it said only the more dreadfully,
+the image seemed to sit there, at an immemorial window, like some long
+effective and only at last exposed "decoy" of fate. It was _because_ he
+was so beautifully good-looking, because he was so charming and clever
+and frank--besides being one's third cousin, or whatever it was, one's
+early schoolfellow and one's later college classmate--that one had
+abjectly trusted him. To live thus with his unremoved, undestroyed,
+engaging, treacherous face, had been, as our traveller desired, to live
+with all of the felt pang; had been to consume it in such a single hot,
+sore mouthful as would so far as possible dispose of it and leave but
+cold dregs. Thus, if the Doctor, casting about for pleasantness, had
+happened to notice him there, salient since he was, and possibly by the
+same stroke even to know him, as New York--and more or less to its cost
+now, mightn't one say?--so abundantly and agreeable had, the cup would
+have overflowed and Monteith, for all he could be sure of the contrary,
+would have relieved himself positively in tears.
+
+"Oh _he's_ what's the matter with me--that, looking after some of my
+poor dividends, as he for the ten years of my absence had served me by
+doing, he has simply jockeyed me out of the whole little collection,
+such as it was, and taken the opportunity of my return, inevitably at
+last bewildered and uneasy, to 'sail,' ten days ago, for parts unknown
+and as yet unguessable. It isn't the beastly values themselves, however;
+that's only awkward and I can still live, though I don't quite know how
+I shall turn round; it's the horror of _his_ having done it, and done it
+to _me_--without a mitigation or, so to speak, a warning or an excuse."
+That, at a hint or a jog, is what he would have brought out--only to
+feel afterward, no doubt, that he had wasted his impulse and profaned
+even a little his sincerity. The Doctor didn't in the event so much
+as glance at his cluster of portraits--which fact quite put before our
+friend the essentially more vivid range of imagery that a pair of eyes
+transferred from room to room and from one queer case to another, in
+such a place as that, would mainly be adjusted to. It wasn't for _him_
+to relieve himself touchingly, strikingly or whatever, to such a
+man: such a man might much more pertinently--save for professional
+discretion--have emptied out there his own bag of wonders; prodigies
+of observation, flowers of oddity, flowers of misery, flowers of the
+monstrous, gathered in current hotel practice. Countless possibilities,
+making doctors perfunctory, Mark felt, swarmed and seethed at their
+doors; it showed for an incalculable world, and at last, on Sunday, he
+decided to leave his room.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+Everything, as he passed through the place, went on--all the offices of
+life, the whole bustle of the market, and withal, surprisingly, scarce
+less that of the nursery and the playground; the whole sprawl in
+especial of the great gregarious fireside: it was a complete social
+scene in itself, on which types might figure and passions rage and plots
+thicken and dramas develop, without reference to any other sphere, or
+perhaps even to anything at all outside. The signs of this met him at
+every turn as he threaded the labyrinth, passing from one extraordinary
+masquerade of expensive objects, one portentous "period" of decoration,
+one violent phase of publicity, to another: the heavy heat, the
+luxuriance, the extravagance, the quantity, the colour, gave the
+impression of some wondrous tropical forest, where vociferous,
+bright-eyed, and feathered creatures, of every variety of size and hue,
+were half smothered between undergrowths of velvet and tapestry and
+ramifications of marble and bronze. The fauna and the flora startled him
+alike, and among them his bruised spirit drew in and folded its wings.
+But he roamed and rested, exploring and in a manner enjoying the vast
+rankness--in the depth of which he suddenly encountered Mrs. Folliott,
+whom he had last seen, six months before, in London, and who had spoken
+to him then, precisely, of Phil Bloodgood, for several years previous
+her confidential American agent and factotum too, as she might say, but
+at that time so little in her good books, for the extraordinary things
+he seemed to be doing, that she was just hurrying home, she had made no
+scruple of mentioning, to take everything out of his hands.
+
+Mark remembered how uneasy she had made him--how that very talk with
+her had wound him up to fear, as so acute and intent a little person she
+affected him; though he had affirmed with all emphasis and flourish his
+own confidence and defended, to iteration, his old friend. This passage
+had remained with him for a certain pleasant heat of intimacy, his
+partner, of the charming appearance, being what she was; he liked to
+think how they had fraternised over their difference and called each
+other idiots, or almost, without offence. It was always a link to have
+scuffled, failing a real scratch, with such a character; and he had at
+present the flutter of feeling that something of this would abide. _He_
+hadn't been hurrying home, at the London time, in any case; he was doing
+nothing then, and had continued to do it; he would want, before showing
+suspicion--that had been his attitude--to have more, after all, to go
+upon. Mrs. Folliott also, and with a great actual profession of it,
+remembered and rejoiced; and, also staying in the house as she was, sat
+with him, under a spreading palm, in a wondrous rococo salon, surrounded
+by the pinkest, that is the fleshiest, imitation Boucher panels, and
+wanted to know if he _now_ stood up for his swindler. She would herself
+have tumbled on a cloud, very passably, in a fleshy Boucher manner,
+hadn't she been over-dressed for such an exercise; but she was quite
+realistically aware of what had so naturally happened--she was prompt
+about Bloodgood's "flight."
+
+She had acted with energy, on getting back--she had saved what she
+could; which hadn't, however, prevented her losing all disgustedly some
+ten thousand dollars. She was lovely, lively, friendly, interested, she
+connected Monteith perfectly with their discussion that day during the
+water-party on the Thames; but, sitting here with him half an hour, she
+talked only of her peculiar, her cruel sacrifice--since she should
+never get a penny back. He had felt himself, on their meeting, quite
+yearningly reach out to her--so decidedly, by the morning's end,
+and that of his scattered sombre stations, had he been sated with
+meaningless contacts, with the sense of people all about him intensely,
+though harmlessly, animated, yet at the same time raspingly indifferent.
+_They_ would have, he and she at least, their common pang--through which
+fact, somehow, he should feel less stranded. It wasn't that he wanted to
+be pitied--he fairly didn't pity himself; he winced, rather, and even
+to vicarious anguish, as it rose again, for poor shamed Bloodgood's
+doom-ridden figure. But he wanted, as with a desperate charity, to give
+some easier turn to the mere ugliness of the main facts; to work off his
+obsession from them by mixing with it some other blame, some other pity,
+it scarce mattered what--if it might be some other experience; as an
+effect of which larger ventilation it would have, after a fashion and
+for a man of free sensibility, a diluted and less poisonous taste.
+
+By the end of five minutes of Mrs. Folliott, however, he felt his dry
+lips seal themselves to a makeshift simper. She could _take_ nothing--no
+better, no broader perception of anything than fitted her own small
+faculty; so that though she must have recalled or imagined that he had
+still, up to lately, had interests at stake, the rapid result of her
+egotistical little chatter was to make him wish he might rather have
+conversed with the French waiter dangling in the long vista that showed
+the oriental cafe as a climax, or with the policeman, outside, the top
+of whose helmet peeped above the ledge of a window. She bewailed her
+wretched money to excess--she who, he was sure, had quantities more; she
+pawed and tossed her bare bone, with her little extraordinarily gemmed
+and manicured hands, till it acted on his nerves; she rang all the
+changes on the story, the dire fatality, of her having wavered and
+muddled, thought of this and but done that, of her stupid failure to
+have pounced, when she had first meant to, in season. She abused the
+author of their wrongs--recognising thus too Monteith's right to loathe
+him--for the desperado he assuredly had proved, but with a vulgarity
+of analysis and an incapacity for the higher criticism, as her listener
+felt it to be, which made him determine resentfully, almost grimly,
+that she shouldn't have the benefit of a grain of _his_ vision or _his_
+version of what had befallen them, and of how, in particular, it had
+come; and should never dream thereby (though much would she suffer from
+that!) of how interesting he might have been. She had, in a finer sense,
+no manners, and to be concerned with her in any retrospect was--since
+their discourse was of losses--to feel the dignity of history incur
+the very gravest. It was true that such fantasies, or that any shade
+of inward irony, would be Greek to Mrs. Folliott. It was also true,
+however, and not much more strange, when she had presently the
+comparatively happy thought of "Lunch with _us_, you poor dear!" and
+mentioned three or four of her "crowd"--a new crowd, rather, for her,
+all great Sunday lunchers there and immense fun, who would in a moment
+be turning up--that this seemed to him as easy as anything else; so that
+after a little, deeper in the jungle and while, under the temperature
+as of high noon, with the crowd complete and "ordering," he wiped the
+perspiration from his brow, he felt he was letting himself go. He did
+that certainly to the extent of leaving far behind any question of Mrs.
+Folliott's manners. They didn't matter there--nobody's did; and if she
+ceased to lament her ten thousand it was only because, among higher
+voices, she couldn't make herself heard. Poor Blood-good didn't have
+a show, as they might have said, didn't get through at any point; the
+crowd was so new that--there either having been no hue and cry for
+him, or having been too many others, for other absconders, in the
+intervals--they had never so much as heard of him and would have no more
+of Mrs. Folliott's true inwardness, on that subject at least, than she
+had lately cared to have of Monteith's.
+
+There was nothing like a crowd, this unfortunate knew, for making one
+feel lonely, and he felt so increasingly during the meal; but he got
+thus at least in a measure away from the terrible little lady; after
+which, and before the end of the hour, he wanted still more to get away
+from every one else. He was in fact about to perform this manoeuvre when
+he was checked by the jolly young woman he had been having on his left
+and who had more to say about the Hotels, up and down the town, than he
+had ever known a young woman to have to say on any subject at all;
+she expressed herself in hotel terms exclusively, the names of those
+establishments playing through her speech as the _leit-motif_ might have
+recurrently flashed and romped through a piece of profane modern music.
+She wanted to present him to the pretty girl she had brought with her,
+and who had apparently signified to her that she must do so.
+
+"I think you know my brother-in-law, Mr. Newton Winch," the pretty girl
+had immediately said; she moved her head and shoulders together, as by
+a common spring, the effect of a stiff neck or of something loosened in
+her back hair; but becoming, queerly enough, all the prettier for
+doing so. He had seen in the papers, her brother-in-law, Mr. Monteith's
+arrival--Mr. Mark P. Monteith, wasn't it?--and where he was, and she
+had been with him, three days before, at the time; whereupon he had
+said "Hullo, what can have brought old Mark back?" He seemed to have
+believed--Newton had seemed--that that shirker, as he called him, never
+_would_ come; and she guessed that if she had known she was going to
+meet such a former friend ("Which he claims you are, sir," said the
+pretty girl) he would have asked her to find out what the trouble could
+be. But the real satisfaction would just be, she went on, if his former
+friend would himself go and see him and tell him; he had appeared of
+late so down.
+
+"Oh, I remember him"--Mark didn't repudiate the friendship, placing him
+easily; only then he wasn't married and the pretty girl's sister must
+have come in later: which showed, his not knowing such things, how they
+had lost touch. The pretty girl was sorry to have to say in return to
+this that her sister wasn't living--had died two years after marrying;
+so that Newton was up there in Fiftieth Street alone; where (in
+explanation of his being "down") he had been shut up for days with bad
+_grippe_; though now on the mend, or she wouldn't have gone to him, not
+she, who had had it nineteen times and didn't want to have it again. But
+the horrid poison just seemed to have entered into poor Newton's soul.
+
+"That's the way it _can_ take you, don't you know?" And then as, with
+her single twist, she just charmingly hunched her eyes at our friend,
+"Don't you want to go to see him?"
+
+Mark bethought himself: "Well, I'm going to see a lady-----"
+
+She took the words from his mouth. "Of course you're going to see a
+lady--every man in New York is. But Newton isn't a lady, unfortunately
+for him, to-day; and Sunday afternoon in this place, in this weather,
+alone-----!"
+
+"Yes, isn't it awful?"--he was quite drawn to her.
+
+"Oh, _you've_ got your lady!"
+
+"Yes, I've got my lady, thank goodness!" The fervour of which was his
+sincere tribute to the note he had had on Friday morning from Mrs. Ash,
+the only thing that had a little tempered his gloom.
+
+"Well then, feel for others. Fit him in. Tell him why!"
+
+"Why I've come back? I'm glad I _have_--since it was to see _you_!"
+Monteith made brave enough answer, promising to do what he could.
+He liked the pretty girl, with her straight attack and her free
+awkwardness--also with her difference from the others through something
+of a sense and a distinction given her by so clearly having Newton on
+her mind. Yet it was odd to him, and it showed the lapse of the years,
+that Winch--as he had known him of old--could _be_ to that degree on any
+one's mind.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+Outside in the intensity of the cold--it was a jump from the Tropics to
+the Pole--he felt afresh the force of what he had just been saying;
+that if it weren't for the fact of Mrs. Ash's good letter of welcome,
+despatched, characteristically, as soon as she had, like the faithful
+sufferer in Fiftieth Street, observed his name, in a newspaper, on one
+of the hotel-lists, he should verily, for want of a connection and an
+abutment, have scarce dared to face the void and the chill together, but
+have sneaked back into the jungle and there tried to lose himself. He
+made, as it was, the opposite effort, resolute to walk, though hovering
+now and then at vague crossways, radiations of roads to nothing, or
+taking cold counsel of the long but still sketchy vista, as it struck
+him, of the northward Avenue, bright and bleak, fresh and harsh,
+rich and evident somehow, a perspective like a page of florid
+modern platitudes. He didn't quite know what he had expected for his
+return--not certainly serenades and deputations; but without Mrs.
+Ash his mail would have quite lacked geniality, and it was as if Phil
+Blood-good had gone off not only with so large a slice of his small
+_peculium_, but with all the broken bits of the past, the loose ends of
+old relationships, that he had supposed he might pick up again. Well,
+perhaps he should still pick up a few--by the sweat of his brow; no
+motion of their own at least, he by this time judged, would send them
+fluttering into his hand.
+
+Which reflections but quickened his forecast of this charm of the old
+Paris inveteracy renewed--the so-prized custom of nine years before,
+when he still believed in results from his fond frequentation of the
+Beaux Arts; that of walking over the river to the Rue de Marignan,
+precisely, every Sunday without exception, and sitting at her fireside,
+and often all offensively, no doubt, outstaying every one. How he
+had used to want those hours then, and how again, after a little, at
+present, the Rue de Marignan might have been before him! He had gone to
+her there at that time with his troubles, such as they were, and they
+had always worked for her amusement--which had been her happy, her
+clever way of taking them: she couldn't have done anything better for
+them in that phase, poor innocent things compared with what they might
+have been, than be amused by them. Perhaps that was what she would still
+be--with those of his present hour; now too they might inspire her with
+the touch she best applied and was most instinctive mistress of: this
+didn't at all events strike him as what he should most resent. It wasn't
+as if Mrs. Folliott, to make up for boring him with her own plaint, for
+example, had had so much as a gleam of conscious diversion over his.
+
+"I'm _so_ delighted to see you, I've such immensities to tell you!"--it
+began with the highest animation twenty minutes later, the very moment
+he stood there, the sense of the Rue de Marignan in the charming room
+and in the things about all reconstituted, regrouped, wonderfully
+preserved, down to the very sitting-places in the same relations, and
+down to the faint sweet mustiness of generations of cigarettes; but
+everything else different, and even vaguely alien, and by a measure
+still other than that of their own stretched interval and of the dear
+delightful woman's just a little pathetic alteration of face. He had
+allowed for the nine years, and so, it was to be hoped, had she; but
+the last thing, otherwise, that would have been touched, he immediately
+felt, was the quality, the intensity, of her care to see him. She cared,
+oh so visibly and touchingly and almost radiantly--save for her being,
+yes, distinctly, a little _more_ battered than from even a good nine
+years' worth; nothing could in fact have perched with so crowning an
+impatience on the heap of what she had to "tell" as that special shade
+of revived consciousness of having him in particular to tell it to. It
+wasn't perhaps much to matter how soon she brought out and caused to
+ring, as it were, on the little recognised marqueterie table between
+them (such an anciently envied treasure), the heaviest gold-piece of
+current history she was to pay him with for having just so felicitously
+come back: he knew already, without the telling, that intimate domestic
+tension must lately, within those walls, have reached a climax and that
+he could serve supremely--oh how he was going to serve!--as the most
+sympathetic of all pairs of ears.
+
+The whole thing was upon him, in any case, with the minimum of delay:
+Bob had had it from her, definitely, the first of the week, and it
+was absolutely final now, that they must set up avowedly separate
+lives--without horrible "proceedings" of any sort, but with her own
+situation, her independence, secured to her once for all. She had been
+coming to it, taking her time, and she had gone through--well, so old a
+friend would guess enough what; but she was at the point, oh blessedly
+now, where she meant to stay, he'd see if she didn't; with which, in
+this wonderful way, he himself had arrived for the cream of it and
+she was just selfishly glad. Bob had gone to Washington--ostensibly
+on business, but really to recover breath; she had, speaking vulgarly,
+knocked the wind out of him and was allowing him time to turn round.
+Mrs. Folliott moreover, she was sure, would have gone--was certainly
+believed to have been seen there five days ago; and of course his first
+necessity, for public use, would be to patch up something with Mrs.
+Folliott. Mark knew about Mrs. Folliott?--who was only, for that matter,
+one of a regular "bevy." Not that it signified, however, if he didn't:
+she would tell him about _her_ later.
+
+He took occasion from the first fraction of a break not quite to know
+what he knew about Mrs. Folliott--though perhaps he could imagine a
+little; and it was probably at this minute that, having definitely
+settled to a position, and precisely in his very own tapestry _bergere_,
+the one with the delicious little spectral "subjects" on the back and
+seat, he partly exhaled, and yet managed partly to keep to himself, the
+deep resigned sigh of a general comprehension. He knew what he was "in"
+for, he heard her go on--she said it again and again, seemed constantly
+to be saying it while she smiled at him with her peculiar fine charm,
+her positive gaiety of sensibility, scarce dimmed: "I'm just selfishly
+glad, just selfishly glad!" Well, she was going to have reason to be;
+she was going to put the whole case to him, all her troubles and plans,
+and each act of the tragi-comedy of her recent existence, as to the
+dearest and safest sympathiser in all the world. There would be no
+chance for _his_ case, though it was so much for his case he had
+come; yet there took place within him but a mild, dumb convulsion,
+the momentary strain of his substituting, by the turn of a hand, one
+prospect of interest for another.
+
+Squaring himself in his old _bergere_, and with his lips, during the
+effort, compressed to the same passive grimace that had an hour or two
+before operated for the encouragement of Mrs. Folliott--just as it
+was to clear the stage completely for the present more prolonged
+performance--he shut straight down, as he even in the act called it to
+himself, on any personal claim for social consideration and rendered
+a perfect little agony of justice to the grounds of his friend's
+vividness. For it was all the justice that could be expected of him
+that, though, secretly, he wasn't going to be interested in her being
+interesting, she was yet going to be so, all the same, by the very force
+of her lovely material (Bob Ash _was_ such a pure pearl of a donkey!)
+and he was going to keep on knowing she was--yes, to the very end. When
+after the lapse of an hour he rose to go, the rich fact that she
+_had_ been was there between them, and with an effect of the frankly,
+fearlessly, harmlessly intimate fireside passage for it that went beyond
+even the best memories of the pleasant past. He hadn't "amused" her, no,
+in quite the same way as in the Rue de Marignan time--it had then been
+he who for the most part took frequent turns, emphatic, explosive,
+elocutionary, over that wonderful waxed parquet while she laughed as for
+the young perversity of him from the depths of the second, the matching
+_bergere_. To-day she herself held and swept the floor, putting him
+merely to the trouble of his perpetual "Brava!" But that was all through
+the change of basis--the amusement, another name only for the thrilled
+absorption, having been inevitably for _him_; as how could it have
+failed to be with such a regular "treat" to his curiosity? With the
+tea-hour now other callers were turning up, and he got away on the plea
+of his wanting so to think it all over. He hoped again he hadn't too
+queer a grin with his assurance to her, as if she would quite know what
+he meant, that he had been thrilled to the core. But she returned, quite
+radiantly, that he had carried _her_ completely away; and her sincerity
+was proved by the final frankness of their temporary parting. "My
+pleasure of you is selfish, horribly, I admit; so that if _that_ doesn't
+suit you--!" Her faded beauty flushed again as she said it.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+In the street again, as he resumed his walk, he saw how perfectly it
+would _have_ to suit him and how he probably for a long time wouldn't
+be suited otherwise. Between them and that time, however, what mightn't,
+for him, poor devil, on his new basis, have happened? She wasn't at any
+rate within any calculable period going to care so much for anything
+as for the so quaintly droll terms in which her rearrangement with her
+husband--thanks to that gentleman's inimitable fatuity--would have to
+be made. This was what it was to own, exactly, her special grace--the
+brightest gaiety in the finest sensibility; _such_ a display of which
+combination, Mark felt as he went (if he could but have done it still
+more justice) she must have regaled him with! That exquisite last flush
+of her fadedness could only remain with him; yet while he presently
+stopped at a street-corner in a district redeemed from desolation but by
+the passage just then of a choked trolley-car that howled, as he paused
+for it, beneath the weight of its human accretions, he seemed to know
+the inward "sinking" that had been determined in a hungry man by some
+extravagant sight of the preparation of somebody else's dinner. Florence
+Ash was dining, so to speak, off the feast of appreciation, appreciation
+of what she had to "tell" him, that he had left her seated at; and
+she was welcome, assuredly--welcome, welcome, welcome, he musingly, he
+wistfully, and yet at the same time a trifle mechanically, repeated,
+stayed as he was a moment longer by the suffering shriek of another
+public vehicle and a sudden odd automatic return of his mind to the
+pretty girl, the flower of Mrs. Folliott's crowd, who had spoken to
+him of Newton Winch. It was extraordinarily as if, on the instant, she
+reminded him, from across the town, that she had offered him dinner: it
+was really quite strangely, while he stood there, as if she had told
+him where he could go and get it. With which, none the less, it was
+apparently where he wouldn't find her--and what was there, after all, of
+nutritive in the image of Newton Winch? He made up his mind in a moment
+that it owed that property, which the pretty girl had somehow made
+imputable, to the fact of its simply being just then the one image of
+anything known to him that the terrible place had to offer. Nothing,
+he a minute later reflected, could have been so "rum" as that, sick and
+sore, of a bleak New York eventide, he should have had nowhere to turn
+if not to the said Fiftieth Street.
+
+That was the direction he accordingly took, for when he found the number
+given him by the same remarkable agent of fate also present to his
+memory he recognised the direct intervention of Providence and how it
+absolutely required a miracle to explain his so precipitately embracing
+this loosest of connections. The miracle indeed soon grew clearer:
+Providence had, on some obscure system, chosen this very ridiculous hour
+to save him from cultivation of the sin of selfishness, the obsession
+of egotism, and was breaking him to its will by constantly directing his
+attention to the claims of others. Who could say what at that critical
+moment mightn't have become of Mrs. Folliott (otherwise too then so
+sadly embroiled!) if she hadn't been enabled to air to him her grievance
+and her rage?--just as who could deny that it must have done Florence
+Ash a world of good to have put her thoughts about Bob in order by the
+aid of a person to whom the vision of Bob in the light of those thoughts
+(or in other words to whom _her_ vision of Bob and nothing else) would
+mean so delightfully much? It was on the same general lines that poor
+Newton Winch, bereft, alone, ill, perhaps dying, and with the drawback
+of a not very sympathetic personality--as Mark remembered it at
+least--to contend against in almost any conceivable appeal to human
+furtherance, it was on these lines, very much, that the luckless case in
+Fiftieth Street was offered him as a source of salutary discipline. The
+moment for such a lesson might strike him as strange, in view of the
+quite special and independent opportunity for exercise that his spirit
+had during the last three days enjoyed there in his hotel bedroom; but
+evidently his languor of charity needed some admonition finer than
+any it might trust to chance for, and by the time he at last, Winch's
+residence recognised, was duly elevated to his level and had pressed
+the electric button at his door, he felt himself acting indeed as under
+stimulus of a sharp poke in the side.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+Within the apartment to which he had been admitted, moreover, the fine
+intelligence we have imputed to him was in the course of three minutes
+confirmed; since it took him no longer than that to say to himself,
+facing his old acquaintance, that he had never seen any one so improved.
+The place, which had the semblance of a high studio light as well as a
+general air of other profusions and amplitudes, might have put him off
+a little by its several rather glaringly false accents, those of
+contemporary domestic "art" striking a little wild. The scene was
+smaller, but the rich confused complexion of the Pocahontas, showing
+through Du Barry paint and patches, might have set the example--which
+had been followed with the costliest candour--so that, clearly, Winch
+was in these days rich, as most people in New York seemed rich; as, in
+spite of Bob's depredations, Florence Ash was, as even Mrs. Folliott was
+in spite of Phil Bloodgood's, as even Phil Bloodgood himself must have
+been for reasons too obvious; as in fine every one had a secret for
+being, or for feeling, or for looking, every one at least but Mark
+Monteith.
+
+These facts were as nothing, however, in presence of his quick and
+strong impression that his pale, nervous, smiling, clean-shaven host
+had undergone since their last meeting some extraordinary process of
+refinement. He had been ill, unmistakably, and the effects of a plunge
+into plain clean living, where any fineness had remained, were often
+startling, sometimes almost charming. But independently of this, and for
+a much longer time, some principle of intelligence, some art of life,
+would discernibly have worked in him. Remembered from college years and
+from those two or three luckless and faithless ones of the Law School
+as constitutionally common, as consistently and thereby doubtless even
+rather powerfully coarse, clever only for uncouth and questionable
+things, he yet presented himself now as if he had suddenly and
+mysteriously been educated. There was a charm in his wide, "drawn,"
+convalescent smile, in the way his fine fingers--had he anything like
+fine fingers of old?--played, and just fidgeted, over the prompt and
+perhaps a trifle incoherent offer of cigars, cordials, ashtrays,
+over the question of his visitor's hat, stick, fur coat, general best
+accommodation and ease; and how the deuce, accordingly, had charm, for
+coming out so on top, Mark wondered, "squared" the other old elements?
+For the short interval so to have dealt with him what force had it
+turned on, what patented process, of the portentous New York order
+in which there were so many, had it skilfully applied? Were these the
+things New York did when you just gave her all her head, and that he
+himself then had perhaps too complacently missed? Strange almost to the
+point of putting him positively off at first--quite as an exhibition of
+the uncanny--this sense of Newton's having all the while neither missed
+nor muffed anything, and having, as with an eye to the _coup de theatre_
+to come, lowered one's expectations, at the start, to that abject pitch.
+It might have been taken verily for an act of bad faith--really for
+such a rare stroke of subtlety as could scarce have been achieved by a
+straight or natural aim.
+
+So much as this at least came and went in Monteith's agitated mind; the
+oddest intensity of apprehension, admiration, mystification, which the
+high north-light of the March afternoon and the quite splendidly
+vulgar appeal of fifty overdone decorative effects somehow fostered and
+sharpened. Everything had already gone, however, the next moment,
+for wasn't the man he had come so much too intelligently himself to
+patronise absolutely bowling him over with the extraordinary speech:
+"See here, you know--you must be ill, or have had a bad shock, or some
+beastly upset: are you very sure you ought to have come out?" Yes, he
+after an instant believed his ears; coarse common Newton Winch, whom
+he had called on because he could, as a gentleman, after all afford to,
+coarse common Newton Winch, who had had troubles and been epidemically
+poisoned, lamentably sick, who bore in his face and in the very tension,
+quite exactly the "charm," of his manner, the traces of his late ordeal,
+and, for that matter, of scarce completed gallant emergence--this
+astonishing ex-comrade was simply writing himself at a stroke (into our
+friend's excited imagination at all events) the most distinguished of
+men. Oh, _he_ was going to be interesting, if Florence Ash had been
+going to be; but Mark felt how, under the law of a lively present
+difference, that would be as an effect of one's having one's self
+thoroughly rallied. He knew within the minute that the tears stood in
+his eyes; he stared through them at his friend with a sharp "Why, how do
+you know? How _can_ you?" To which he added before Winch could speak: "I
+met your charming sister-in-law a couple of hours since--at luncheon, at
+the Pocahontas; and heard from her that you were badly laid up and had
+spoken of me. So I came to minister to you."
+
+The object of this design hovered there again, considerably restless,
+shifting from foot to foot, changing his place, beginning and giving up
+motions, striking matches for a fresh cigarette, offering them again,
+redundantly, to his guest and then not lighting himself--but all the
+while with the smile of another creature than the creature known to
+Mark; all the while with the history of something that had happened to
+him ever so handsomely shining out. Mark was conscious within himself
+from this time on of two quite distinct processes of notation--that
+of his practically instant surrender to the consequences of the act of
+perception in his host of which the two women trained suppos-ably in the
+art of pleasing had been altogether incapable; and that of some other
+condition on Newton's part that left his own poor power of divination
+nothing less than shamed. This last was signally the case on the
+former's saying, ever so responsively, almost radiantly, in answer to
+his account of how he happened to come: "Oh then it's very interesting!"
+_That_ was the astonishing note, after what he had been through: neither
+Mrs. Folliott nor Florence Ash had so much as hinted or breathed to him
+that _he_ might have incurred that praise. No wonder therefore he was
+now taken--with this fresh party's instant suspicion and imputation of
+it; though it was indeed for some minutes next as if each tried to see
+which could accuse the other of the greater miracle of penetration. Mark
+was so struck, in a word, with the extraordinarily straight guess Winch
+had had there in reserve for him that, other quick impressions helping,
+there was nothing for him but to bring out, himself: "There must be,
+my dear man, something rather wonderful the matter with you!" The quite
+more intensely and more irresistibly drawn grin, the quite unmistakably
+deeper consciousness in the dark, wide eye, that accompanied the not
+quite immediate answer to which remark he was afterward to remember.
+"How do you know that--or why do you think it?" "Because there _must_
+be--for you to see! I shouldn't have expected it."
+
+"Then you take me for a damned fool?" laughed wonderful Newton Winch.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+He could say nothing that, whether as to the sense of it or as to the
+way of it, didn't so enrich Mark's vision of him that our friend, after
+a little, as this effect proceeded, caught himself in the act of
+almost too curiously gaping. Everything, from moment to moment, fed his
+curiosity; such a question, for instance, as whether the quite ordinary
+peepers of the Newton Winch of their earlier youth could have looked,
+under any provocation, either dark or wide; such a question, above all,
+as how _this_ incalculable apparition came by the whole startling power
+of play of its extravagantly sensitive labial connections--exposed, so
+to its advantage (he now jumped at one explanation) by the removal of
+what had probably been one of the vulgar-est of moustaches. With this,
+at the same time, the oddity of that particular consequence was vivid to
+him; the glare of his curiosity fairly lasting while he remembered how
+he had once noted the very opposite turn of the experiment for Phil
+Bloodgood. He would have said in advance that poor Winch couldn't have
+afforded to risk showing his "real" mouth; just as he would have said
+that in spite of the fine ornament that so considerably muffled it Phil
+could only have gained by showing his. But to have seen Phil shorn--as
+he once had done--was earnestly to pray that he might promptly again
+bristle; beneath Phil's moustache lurked nothing to "make up" for it in
+case of removal. While he thought of which things the line of grimace,
+as he could only have called it, the mobile, interesting, ironic line
+the great double curve of which connected, in the face before him, the
+strong nostril with the lower cheek, became the very key to his first
+idea of Newton's capture of refinement. He had shaved and was happily
+transfigured. Phil Bloodgood had shaved and been wellnigh lost; though
+why should he just now too precipitately drag the reminiscence in?
+
+That question too, at the queer touch of association, played up for Mark
+even under so much proof that the state of his own soul was being with
+the lapse of every instant registered. Phil Bloodgood had brought about
+the state of his soul--there was accordingly that amount of connection;
+only it became further remarkable that from the moment his companion had
+sounded him, and sounded him, he knew, down to the last truth of things,
+his disposition, his necessity to talk, the desire that had in the
+morning broken the spell of his confinement, the impulse that had thrown
+him so defeatedly into Mrs. Folliott's arms and into Florence Ash's,
+these forces seemed to feel their impatience ebb and their discretion
+suddenly grow. His companion was talking again, but just then,
+incongruously, made his need to communicate lose itself. It was as if
+his personal case had already been touched by some tender hand--and
+that, after all, was the modest limit of its greed. "I know now why
+you came back--did Lottie mention how I had wondered? But sit down, sit
+down--only let me, nervous beast as I am, take it standing!--and believe
+me when I tell you that I've now ceased to wonder. My dear chap, I
+_have_ it! It can't but have been for poor Phil Blood-good. He sticks
+out of you, the brute--as how, with what he has done to you, shouldn't
+he? There was a man to see me yesterday--Tim Slater, whom I don't think
+you know, but who's 'on' everything within about two minutes of its
+happening (I never saw such a fellow!) and who confirmed my supposition,
+all my own, however, mind you, at first, that you're one of the
+sufferers. So how the devil can you _not_ feel knocked? Why _should_
+you look as if you were having the time of your life? What a hog to
+have played it on _you_, on _you_, of all his friends!" So Newton Winch
+continued, and so the air between the two men might have been, for a
+momentary watcher--which is indeed what I can but invite the reader to
+become--that of a nervously displayed, but all considerate, as well as
+most acute, curiosity on the one side, and that on the other, after a
+little, of an eventually fascinated acceptance of so much free and
+in especial of so much right attention. "Do you _mind_ my asking
+you? Because if you do I won't press; but as a man whose own
+responsibilities, some of 'em at least, don't differ much, I gather,
+from some of his, one would like to know how he was ever allowed to get
+to the point--! But I _do_ plough you up?"
+
+Mark sat back in his chair, moved but holding himself, his elbows
+squared on each arm, his hands a bit convulsively interlocked across
+him--very much in fact as he had appeared an hour ago in the old
+tapestry _bergere_; but as his rigour was all then that of the grinding
+effort to profess and to give, so it was considerably now for the fear
+of too hysterically gushing. Somehow too--since his wound was to that
+extent open--he winced at hearing the author of it branded. He hadn't so
+much minded the epithets Mrs. Folliott had applied, for they were to
+the appropriator of _her_ securities. As the appropriator of his own he
+didn't so much want to brand him as--just more "amusingly" even, if one
+would.--to make out, perhaps, with intelligent help, how such a man, in
+such a relation, _could_ come to tread such a path: which was exactly
+the interesting light that Winch's curiosity and sympathy were there
+to assist him to. He pleaded at any rate immediately his advertising
+no grievance. "I feel sore, I admit, and it's a horrid sort of thing
+to have had happen; but when you call him a brute and a hog I rather
+squirm, for brutes and hogs never live, I guess, in the sort of hell in
+which he now must be."
+
+Newton Winch, before the fireplace, his hands deep in his pockets, where
+his guest could see his long fingers beat a tattoo on his thighs, Newton
+Winch dangled and swung himself, and threw back his head and laughed.
+"Well, I must say you take it amazingly!--all the more that to see you
+again this way is to feel that if, all along, there was a man whose
+delicacy and confidence and general attitude might have marked him for
+a particular consideration, you'd have been the man." And they were
+more directly face to face again; with Newton smiling and smiling _so_
+appreciatively; making our friend in fact almost ask himself when before
+a man had ever grinned from ear to ear to the effect of its so becoming
+him. What he replied, however, was that Newton described in those
+flattering terms a client temptingly fatuous; after which, and the
+exchange of another protest or two in the interest of justice and
+decency, and another plea or two in that of the still finer contention
+that even the basest misdeeds had always somewhere or other, could one
+get at it, their propitiatory side, our hero found himself on his
+feet again, under the influence of a sudden failure of everything but
+horror--a horror determined by some turn of their talk and indeed by the
+very fact of the freedom of it. It was as if a far-borne sound of the
+hue and cry, a vision of his old friend hunted and at bay, had suddenly
+broken in--this other friend's, this irresistibly intelligent other
+companion's, practically vivid projection of that making the worst
+ugliness real. "Oh, it's just making my wry face to somebody, and your
+letting me and caring and wanting to know: that," Mark said, "is what
+does me good; not any other hideous question. I mean I don't take any
+interest in _my_ case--what one wonders about, you see, is what can be
+done for him. I mean, that is"--for he floundered a little, not knowing
+at last quite what he did mean, a great rush of mere memories, a great
+humming sound as of thick, thick echoes, rising now to an assault that
+he met with his face indeed contorted. If he didn't take care he should
+howl; so he more or less successfully took care--yet with his host
+vividly watching him while he shook the danger temporarily off. "I don't
+mind--though it's rather _that_; my having felt this morning, after
+three dismal dumb bad days, that one's friends perhaps would be thinking
+of one. All I'm conscious of now--I give you my word--is that I'd like
+to see him."
+
+"You'd like to see him?"
+
+"Oh, I don't say," Mark ruefully smiled, "that I should like him to see
+_me_--!"
+
+Newton Winch, from where he stood--and they were together now, on the
+great hearth-rug that was a triumph of modern orientalism--put out one
+of the noted fine hands and, with an expressive headshake, laid it on
+his shoulder. "Don't wish him that, Monteith--don't wish him that!"
+
+"Well, but,"--and Mark raised his eyebrows still higher--"he'd see I
+bear up; pretty well!"
+
+"God forbid he should see, my dear fellow!" Newton cried as for the pang
+of it.
+
+Mark had for his idea, at any rate, the oddest sense of an exaltation
+that grew by this use of frankness. "I'd go to him. Hanged if I
+wouldn't--anywhere!"
+
+His companion's hand still rested on him. "You'd go to him?"
+
+Mark stood up to it--though trying to sink solemnity as pretentious.
+"I'd go like a shot." And then he added: "And it's probably what--when
+we've turned round--I _shall_ do."
+
+"When 'we' have turned round?"
+
+"Well"--he was a trifle disconcerted at the tone--"I say that because
+you'll have helped me."
+
+"Oh, I do nothing but want to help you!" Winch replied--which made it
+right again; especially as our friend still felt himself reassuringly
+and sustainingly grasped. But Winch went on: "You _would_ go to him--in
+kindness?"
+
+"Well--to understand."
+
+"To understand how he could swindle you?"
+
+"Well," Mark kept on, "to try and make out with him how, after such
+things--!" But he stopped; he couldn't name them.
+
+It was as if his companion knew. "Such things as you've done for him of
+course--such services as you've rendered him."
+
+"Ah, from far back. If I could tell you," our friend vainly wailed--"if
+I could tell you!"
+
+Newton Winch patted his shoulder. "Tell me--tell me!"
+
+"The sort of relation, I mean; ever so many things of a kind--!" Again,
+however, he pulled up; he felt the tremor of his voice.
+
+"Tell me, tell me," Winch repeated with the same movement.
+
+The tone in it now made their eyes meet again, and with this
+presentation of the altered face Mark measured as not before, for
+some reason, the extent of the recent ravage. "You must have been ill
+indeed."
+
+"Pretty bad. But I'm better. And you do me good"--with which the light
+of convalescence came back.
+
+"I don't awfully bore you?"
+
+Winch shook his head. "You keep me up--and you see how no one else comes
+near me."
+
+Mark's eyes made out that he was better--though it wasn't yet that
+nothing was the matter with him. If there was ever a man with whom there
+was still something the matter--! Yet one couldn't insist on that, and
+meanwhile he clearly did want company. "Then there we are. I myself had
+no one to go to."
+
+"You save my life," Newton renewedly grinned.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+"Well, it's your own fault," Mark replied to that, "if you make me
+take advantage of you." Winch had withdrawn his hand, which was back,
+violently shaking keys or money, in his trousers pocket; and in this
+position he had abruptly a pause, a sensible, absence, that might have
+represented either some odd drop of attention, some turn-off to another
+thought, or just simply the sudden act of listening. His guest had
+indeed himself--under suggestion--the impression of a sound. "Mayn't you
+perhaps--if you hear something--have a call?"
+
+Mark had said it so lightly, however, that he was the more struck with
+his host's appearing to turn just paler; and, with it, the latter now
+_was_ listening. "You hear something?"
+
+"I thought _you_ did." Winch himself, on Mark's own pressure of the
+outside bell, had opened the door of the apartment--an indication then,
+it sufficiently appeared, that Sunday afternoons were servants', or
+attendants', or even trained nurses' holidays. It had also marked the
+stage of his convalescence, and to that extent--after his first flush
+of surprise--had but smoothed Monteith's way. At present he barely gave
+further attention; detaching himself as under some odd cross-impulse,
+he had quitted the spot and then taken, in the wide room, a restless
+turn--only, however, to revert in a moment to his friend's just-uttered
+deprecation of the danger of boring him. "If I make you take advantage
+of me--that is blessedly talk to me--it's exactly what I want to do.
+Talk to me--talk to me!" He positively waved it on; pulling up again,
+however, in his own talk, to say with a certain urgency: "Hadn't you
+better sit down?"
+
+Mark, who stayed before the fire, couldn't but excuse himself.
+"Thanks--I'm very well so. I think of things and I fidget."
+
+Winch stood a moment with his eyes on the ground. "Are you very sure?"
+
+"Quite--I'm all right if you don't mind."
+
+"Then as you like!" With which, shaking to extravagance again his long
+legs, Newton had swung off--only with a movement that, now his back was
+turned, affected his visitor as the most whimsical of all the forms of
+his rather unnatural manner. He was curiously different with his back
+turned, as Mark now for the first time saw it--dangling and somewhat
+wavering, as from an excess of uncertainty of gait; and this impression
+was so strange, it created in our friend, uneasily and on the spot, such
+a need of explanation, that his speech was stayed long enough to give
+Winch time to turn round again. The latter had indeed by this moment
+reached one of the limits of the place, the wide studio bay, where he
+paused, his back to the light and his face afresh presented, to let his
+just passingly depressed and quickened eyes take in as much as possible
+of the large floor, range over it with such brief freedom of search
+as the disposition of the furniture permitted. He was looking for
+something, though the betrayed reach of vision was but of an instant.
+Mark caught it, however, and with his own sensibility all in vibration,
+found himself feeling at once that it meant something and that what it
+meant was connected with his entertainer's slightly marked appeal to
+him, the appeal of a moment before, not to remain standing. Winch knew
+by this time quite easily enough that he was hanging fire; which meant
+that they were suddenly facing each other across the wide space with a
+new consciousness.
+
+Everything had changed--changed extraordinarily with the mere turning
+of that gentleman's back, the treacherous aspect of which its owner
+couldn't surely have suspected. If the question was of the pitch of
+their sensibility, at all events, it wouldn't be Mark's that should
+vibrate to least purpose. Visibly it had come to his host that something
+had within the few instants remarkably happened, but there glimmered on
+him an induction that still made him keep his own manner. Newton himself
+might now resort to any manner he liked. His eyes had raked the floor to
+recover the position of something dropped or misplaced, and something,
+above all, awkward or compromising; and he had wanted his companion not
+to command this scene from the hearth-rug, the hearthrug where he had
+been just before holding him, hypnotising him to blindness, _because_
+the object in question would there be most exposed to sight Mark
+embraced this with a further drop--while the apprehension penetrated--of
+his power to go on, and with an immense desire at the same time that his
+eyes should seem only to look at his friend; who broke out now, for that
+matter, with a fresh appeal. "Aren't you going to take advantage of me,
+man--aren't you going to _take_ it?"
+
+Everything had changed, we have noted, and nothing could more have
+proved it than the fact that, by the same turn, sincerity of desire
+had dropped out of Winch's chords, while irritation, sharp and almost
+imperious, had come in. "That's because he sees I see something!" Mark
+said to himself; but he had no need to add that it shouldn't prevent his
+seeing more--for the simple reason that, in a miraculous fashion, this
+was exactly what he did do in glaring out the harder. It was beyond
+explanation, but the very act of blinking thus in an attempt at showy
+steadiness became one and the same thing with an optical excursion
+lasting the millionth of a minute and making him aware that the edge of
+a rug, at the point where an arm-chair, pushed a little out of position,
+over-straddled it, happened just not wholly to have covered in something
+small and queer, neat and bright, crooked and compact, in spite of the
+strong toe-tip surreptitiously applied to giving it the right lift Our
+gentleman, from where he hovered, and while looking straight at the
+master of the scene, yet saw, as by the tiny flash of a reflection from
+fine metal, _under_ the chair. What he recognised, or at least guessed
+at, as sinister, made him for a moment turn cold, and that chill was on
+him while Winch again addressed him--as differently as possible from any
+manner yet used. "I beg of you in God's name to talk to me--to _talk_ to
+me!"
+
+It had the ring of pure alarm and anguish, but was by this turn at least
+more human than the dazzling glitter of intelligence to which the poor
+man had up to now been treating him. "It's you, my good friend, who are
+in deep trouble," Mark was accordingly quick to reply, "and I ask your
+pardon for being so taken up with my own sorry business."
+
+"Of course I'm in deep trouble"--with which Winch came nearer again;
+"but turning you on was exactly what I wanted."
+
+Mark Monteith, at this, couldn't, for all his rising dismay, but
+laugh out; his sense of the ridiculous so swallowed up, for that brief
+convulsion, his sense of the sinister. Of such conivence in pain,
+it seemed, was the fact of another's pain, and of so much worth again
+disinterested sympathy! "Your interest was then----?"
+
+"My interest was in your being interesting. For you _are!_ And my
+nerves--!" said Newton Winch with a face from which the mystifying
+smile had vanished, yet in which distinction, as Mark so persistently
+appreciated it, still sat in the midst of ravage.
+
+Mark wondered and wondered--he made strange things out. "Your nerves
+have needed company." He could lay his hand on him now, even as shortly
+before he had felt Winch's own pressure of possession and detention. "As
+good for you yourself, that--or still better," he went on--"than I and
+my grievance were to have found you. Talk to we, talk to we, Newton
+Winch!" he added with an immense inspiration of charity.
+
+"That's a different matter--that others but too much can do! But I'll
+say this. If you want to go to Phil Bloodgood----!"
+
+"Well?" said Mark as he stopped. He stopped, and Mark had now a hand on
+each of his shoulders and held him at arm's-length, held him with a fine
+idea that was not disconnected from the sight of the small neat weapon
+he had been fingering in the low luxurious morocco chair--it was of the
+finest orange colour--and then had laid beside him on the carpet; where,
+after he had admitted his visitor, his presence of mind coming back to
+it and suggesting that he couldn't pick it up without making it more
+conspicuous, he had thought, by some swing of the foot or other casual
+manoeuvre, to dissimulate its visibility.
+
+They were at close quarters now as not before and Winch perfectly
+passive, with eyes that somehow had no shadow of a secret left and with
+the betrayal to the sentient hands that grasped him of an intense, an
+extraordinary general tremor. To Mark's challenge he opposed afresh a
+brief silence, but the very quality of it, with his face speaking, was
+that of a gaping wound. "Well, you needn't take _that_ trouble. You see
+I'm such another."
+
+"Such another as Phil-----?"
+
+He didn't blink. "I don't know for sure, but I guess I'm worse."
+
+"Do you mean you're guilty-----?"
+
+"I mean I shall be wanted. Only I've stayed to take it."
+
+Mark threw back his head, but only tightened his hands. He inexpressibly
+understood, and nothing in life had ever been so strange and dreadful to
+him as his thus helping himself by a longer and straighter stretch,
+as it were, to the monstrous sense of his friend's "education." It had
+been, in its immeasurable action, the education of business, of which
+the fruits were all around them. Yet prodigious was the interest, for
+prodigious truly--it seemed to loom before Mark--must have been the
+system. "To 'take' it?" he echoed; and then, though faltering a little,
+"To take what?"
+
+He had scarce spoken when a long sharp sound shrilled in from the outer
+door, seeming of so high and peremptory a pitch that with the start it
+gave him his grasp of his host's shoulders relaxed an instant, though to
+the effect of no movement in _them_ but what came from just a sensibly
+intenser vibration of the whole man. "For _that_!" said Newton Winch.
+
+"Then you've known-----?"
+
+"I've expected. You've helped me to wait." And then as Mark gave an
+ironic wail: "You've tided me over. My condition has _wanted_ somebody
+or something. Therefore, to complete this service, will you be so good
+as to open the door?"
+
+Deep in the eyes Mark looked him, and still to the detection of no
+glimmer of the earlier man in the depths. The earlier man had been what
+he invidiously remembered--yet would _he_ had been the whole simpler
+story! Then he moved his own eyes straight to the chair under which
+the revolver lay and which was but a couple of yards away. He felt his
+companion take this consciousness in, and it determined in them another
+long, mute exchange. "What do you mean to do?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"On your honour?"
+
+"_My_ 'honour'?" his host returned with an accent that he felt even as
+it sounded he should never forget.
+
+It brought to his own face a crimson flush--he dropped his guarding
+hands. Then as for a last look at him: "You're wonderful!"
+
+"We _are_ wonderful," said Newton Winch, while, simultaneously with the
+words, the pressed electric bell again and for a longer time pierced the
+warm cigaretted air.
+
+Mark turned, threw up his arms, and it was only when he had passed
+through the vestibule and laid his hand on the door-knob that the
+horrible noise dropped. The next moment he was face to face with two
+visitors, a nondescript personage in a high hat and an astrakhan collar
+and cuffs, and a great belted constable, a splendid massive New York
+"officer" of the type he had had occasion to wonder at much again in the
+course of his walk, the type so by itself--his wide observation quite
+suggested--among those of the peacemakers of the earth. The pair stepped
+straight in--no word was said; but as he closed the door behind them
+Mark heard the infallible crack of a discharged pistol and, so nearly
+with it as to make all one violence, the sound of a great fall; things
+the effect of which was to lift him, as it were, with his company,
+across the threshold of the room in a shorter time than that taken
+by this record of the fact. But their rush availed little; Newton was
+stretched on his back before the fire; he had held the weapon horribly
+to his temple, and his upturned face was disfigured. The emissaries
+of the law, looking down at him, exhaled simultaneously a gruff
+imprecation, and then while the worthy in the high hat bent over the
+subject of their visit the one in the helmet raised a severe pair of
+eyes to Mark. "Don't you think, sir, you might have prevented it?"
+
+Mark took a hundred things in, it seemed to him--things of the scene,
+of the moment, and of all the strange moments before; but one appearance
+more vividly even than the others stared out at him. "I really think I
+must practically have caused it."
+
+
+
+
+
+CRAPY CORNELIA
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+THREE times within a quarter of an hour--shifting the while his posture
+on his chair of contemplation--had he looked at his watch as for its
+final sharp hint that he should decide, that he should get up. His
+seat was one of a group fairly sequestered, unoccupied save for his own
+presence, and from where he lingered he looked off at a stretch of lawn
+freshened by recent April showers and on which sundry small children
+were at play. The trees, the shrubs, the plants, every stem and twig
+just ruffled as by the first touch of the light finger of the relenting
+year, struck him as standing still in the blest hope of more of the same
+caress; the quarter about him held its breath after the fashion of the
+child who waits with the rigour of an open mouth and shut eyes for the
+promised sensible effect of his having been good. So, in the windless,
+sun-warmed air of the beautiful afternoon, the Park of the winter's
+end had struck White-Mason as waiting; even New York, under such an
+impression, was "good," good enough--for _him_; its very sounds were
+faint, were almost sweet, as they reached him from so seemingly far
+beyond the wooded horizon that formed the remoter limit of his large
+shallow glade. The tones of the frolic infants ceased to be nondescript
+and harsh--were in fact almost as fresh and decent as the frilled and
+puckered and ribboned garb of the little girls, which had always a
+way, in those parts, of so portentously flaunting the daughters of the
+strange native--that is of the overwhelmingly alien--populace at him.
+
+Not that these things in particular were his matter of meditation
+now; he had wanted, at the end of his walk, to sit apart a little and
+think--and had been doing that for twenty minutes, even though as yet
+to no break in the charm of procrastination. But he had looked without
+seeing and listened without hearing: all that had been positive for
+him was that he hadn't failed vaguely to feel. He had felt in the first
+place, and he continued to feel--yes, at forty-eight quite as much as at
+any point of the supposed reign of younger intensities--the great spirit
+of the air, the fine sense of the season, the supreme appeal of
+Nature, he might have said, to his time of life; quite as if she, easy,
+indulgent, indifferent, cynical Power, were offering him the last chance
+it would rest with his wit or his blood to embrace. Then with that he
+had been entertaining, to the point and with the prolonged consequence
+of accepted immobilization, the certitude that if he did call on Mrs.
+Worthingham and find her at home he couldn't in justice to himself not
+put to her the question that had lapsed the other time, the last time,
+through the irritating and persistent, even if accidental, presence of
+others. What friends she had--the people who so stupidly, so wantonly
+stuck! If they _should_, he and she, come to an understanding, that
+would presumably have to include certain members of her singularly
+ill-composed circle, in whom it was incredible to him that he should
+ever take an interest. This defeat, to do himself justice--he had bent
+rather predominantly on _that_, you see; ideal justice to _her_, with
+her possible conception of what it should consist of, being another and
+quite a different matter--he had had the fact of the Sunday afternoon to
+thank for; she didn't "keep" that day for him, since they hadn't, up to
+now, quite begun to cultivate the appointment or assignation founded
+on explicit sacrifices. He might at any rate look to find this pleasant
+practical Wednesday--should he indeed, at his actual rate, stay it
+before it ebbed--more liberally and intendingly given him.
+
+The sound he at last most wittingly distinguished in his nook was the
+single deep note of half-past five borne to him from some high-perched
+public clock. He finally got up with the sense that the time from then
+on _ought_ at least to be felt as sacred to him. At this juncture it
+was--while he stood there shaking his garments, settling his hat, his
+necktie, his shirt-cuffs, fixing the high polish of his fine shoes as
+if for some reflection in it of his straight and spare and grizzled, his
+refined and trimmed and dressed, his altogether distinguished person,
+that of a gentleman abundantly settled, but of a bachelor markedly
+nervous--at this crisis it was, doubtless, that he at once most measured
+and least resented his predicament. If he should go he would almost to
+a certainty find her, and if he should find her he would almost to a
+certainty come to the point. He wouldn't put it off again--there was
+that high consideration for him of justice at least to himself. He
+had never yet denied himself anything so apparently fraught with
+possibilities as the idea of proposing to Mrs. Worthingham--never yet,
+in other words, denied himself anything he had so distinctly wanted to
+do; and the results of that wisdom had remained for him precisely the
+precious parts of experience. Counting only the offers of his honourable
+hand, these had been on three remembered occasions at least the
+consequence of an impulse as sharp and a self-respect as reasoned;
+a self-respect that hadn't in the least suffered, moreover, from the
+failure of each appeal. He had been met in the three cases--the only
+ones he at all compared with his present case--by the frank confession
+that he didn't somehow, charming as he was, cause himself to be
+superstitiously believed in; and the lapse of life, afterward, had
+cleared up many doubts.
+
+It _wouldn't_ have done, he eventually, he lucidly saw, each time he had
+been refused; and the candour of his nature was such that he could
+live to think of these very passages as a proof of how right he had
+been--right, that is, to have put himself forward always, by the
+happiest instinct, only in impossible conditions. He had the happy
+consciousness of having exposed the important question to the crucial
+test, and of having escaped, by that persistent logic, a grave mistake.
+What better proof of his escape than the fact that he was now free to
+renew the all-interesting inquiry, and should be exactly, about to do
+so in different and better conditions? The conditions were better by as
+much more--as much more of his career and character, of his situation,
+his reputation he could even have called it, of his knowledge of life,
+of his somewhat extended means, of his possibly augmented charm, of
+his certainly improved mind and temper--as was involved in the actual
+impending settlement. Once he had got into motion, once he had crossed
+the Park and passed out of it, entering, with very little space to
+traverse, one of the short new streets that abutted on its east side,
+his step became that of a man young enough to find confidence, quite to
+find felicity, in the sense, in almost any sense, of action. He could
+still enjoy almost anything, absolutely an unpleasant thing, in default
+of a better, that might still remind him he wasn't so old. The standing
+newness of everything about him would, it was true, have weakened this
+cheer by too much presuming on it; Mrs. Worthingham's house, before
+which he stopped, had that gloss of new money, that glare of a piece
+fresh from the mint and ringing for the first time on any counter,
+which seems to claim for it, in any transaction, something more than the
+"face" value.
+
+This could but be yet more the case for the impression of the observer
+introduced and committed. On our friend's part I mean, after his
+admission and while still in the hall, the sense of the general shining
+immediacy, of the still unhushed clamour of the shock, was perhaps
+stronger than he had ever known it. That broke out from every corner as
+the high pitch of interest, and with a candour that--no, certainly--he
+had never seen equalled; every particular expensive object shrieking at
+him in its artless pride that it had just "come home." He met the whole
+vision with something of the grimace produced on persons without goggles
+by the passage from a shelter to a blinding light; and if he had--by a
+perfectly possible chance--been "snap-shotted" on the spot, would
+have struck you as showing for his first tribute to the temple of Mrs.
+Worthingham's charming presence a scowl almost of anguish. He wasn't
+constitutionally, it may at once be explained for him, a goggled
+person; and he was condemned, in New York, to this frequent violence of
+transition--having to reckon with it whenever he went out, as who should
+say, from himself. The high pitch of interest, to his taste, was the
+pitch of history, the pitch of acquired and earned suggestion, the
+pitch of association, in a word; so that he lived by preference,
+incontestably, if not in a rich gloom, which would have been beyond his
+means and spirits, at least amid objects and images that confessed to
+the tone of time.
+
+He had ever felt that an indispensable presence--with a need of it
+moreover that interfered at no point with his gentle habit, not to say
+his subtle art, of drawing out what was left him of his youth, of
+thinly and thriftily spreading the rest of that choicest jam-pot of the
+cupboard of consciousness over the remainder of a slice of life still
+possibly thick enough to bear it; or in other words of moving the
+melancholy limits, the significant signs, constantly a little further
+on, very much as property-marks or staked boundaries are sometimes
+stealthily shifted at night. He positively cherished in fact, as against
+the too inveterate gesture of distressfully guarding his eyeballs--so
+many New York aspects seemed to keep him at it--an ideal of adjusted
+appreciation, of courageous curiosity, of fairly letting the world
+about him, a world of constant breathless renewals and merciless
+substitutions, make its flaring assault on its own inordinate terms.
+Newness was value in the piece--for the acquisitor, or at least
+sometimes might be, even though the act of "blowing" hard, the act
+marking a heated freshness of arrival, or other form of irruption, could
+never minister to the peace of those already and long on the field; and
+this if only because maturer tone was after all most appreciable
+and most consoling when one staggered back to it, wounded, bleeding,
+blinded, from the riot of the raw--or, to put the whole experience more
+prettily, no doubt, from excesses of light.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+If he went in, however, with something of his more or less inevitable
+scowl, there were really, at the moment, two rather valid reasons for
+screened observation; the first of these being that the whole place
+seemed to reflect as never before the lustre of Mrs. Worthingham's own
+polished and prosperous little person--to smile, it struck him, with her
+smile, to twinkle not only with the gleam of her lovely teeth, but with
+that of all her rings and brooches and bangles and other gewgaws,
+to curl and spasmodically cluster as in emulation of her charming
+complicated yellow tresses, to surround the most animated of
+pink-and-white, of ruffled and ribboned, of frilled and festooned
+Dresden china shepherdesses with exactly the right system of rococo
+curves and convolutions and other flourishes, a perfect bower of painted
+and gilded and moulded conceits. The second ground of this immediate
+impression of scenic extravagance, almost as if the curtain rose for him
+to the first act of some small and expensively mounted comic opera,
+was that she hadn't, after all, awaited him in fond singleness, but
+had again just a trifle inconsiderately exposed him to the drawback of
+having to reckon, for whatever design he might amiably entertain, with
+the presence of a third and quite superfluous person, a small black
+insignificant but none the less oppressive stranger. It was odd how,
+on the instant, the little lady engaged with her did affect him as
+comparatively black--very much as if that had absolutely, in such a
+medium, to be the graceless appearance of any item not positively of
+some fresh shade of a light colour or of some pretty pretension to a
+charming twist. Any witness of their meeting, his hostess should surely
+have felt, would have been a false note in the whole rosy glow; but
+what note so false as that of the dingy little presence that she might
+actually, by a refinement of her perhaps always too visible study of
+effect, have provided as a positive contrast or foil? whose name and
+intervention, moreover, she appeared to be no more moved to mention and
+account for than she might have been to "present"--whether as stretched
+at her feet or erect upon disciplined haunches--some shaggy old
+domesticated terrier or poodle.
+
+Extraordinarily, after he had been in the room five minutes--a space of
+time during which his fellow-visitor had neither budged nor uttered a
+sound--he had made Mrs. Worthingham out as all at once perfectly pleased
+to see him, completely aware of what he had most in mind, and singularly
+serene in face of his sense of their impediment. It was as if for all
+the world she didn't take it for one, the immobility, to say nothing of
+the seeming equanimity, of their tactless companion; at whom meanwhile
+indeed our friend himself, after his first ruffled perception, no more
+adventured a look than if advised by his constitutional kindness that
+to notice her in any degree would perforce be ungraciously to glower.
+He talked after a fashion with the woman as to whose power to please and
+amuse and serve him, as to whose really quite organised and indicated
+fitness for lighting up his autumn afternoon of life his conviction had
+lately strained itself so clear; but he was all the while carrying on
+an intenser exchange with his own spirit and trying to read into
+the charming creature's behaviour, as he could only call it, some
+confirmation of his theory that she also had her inward flutter and
+anxiously counted on him. He found support, happily for the conviction
+just named, in the idea, at no moment as yet really repugnant to him,
+the idea bound up in fact with the finer essence of her appeal, that she
+had her own vision too of her quality and her price, and that the
+last appearance she would have liked to bristle with was that of being
+forewarned and eager.
+
+He had, if he came to think of it, scarce definitely warned her, and he
+probably wouldn't have taken to her so consciously in the first instance
+without an appreciative sense that, as she was a little person of twenty
+superficial graces, so she was also a little person with her secret
+pride. She might just have planted her mangy lion--not to say her
+muzzled house-dog--there in his path as a symbol that she wasn't cheap
+and easy; which would be a thing he couldn't possibly wish his future
+wife to have shown herself in advance, even if to him alone. That she
+could make him put himself such questions was precisely part of the
+attaching play of her iridescent surface, the shimmering interfusion
+of her various aspects; that of her youth with her independence--her
+pecuniary perhaps in particular, that of her vivacity with her beauty,
+that of her facility above all with her odd novelty; the high modernity,
+as people appeared to have come to call it, that made her so much
+more "knowing" in some directions than even he, man of the world as he
+certainly was, could pretend to be, though all on a basis of the most
+unconscious and instinctive and luxurious assumption. She was "up" to
+everything, aware of everything--if one counted from a short enough time
+back (from week before last, say, and as if quantities of history had
+burst upon the world within the fortnight); she was likewise surprised
+at nothing, and in that direction one might reckon as far ahead as the
+rest of her lifetime, or at any rate as the rest of his, which was all
+that would concern him: it was as if the suitability of the future
+to her personal and rather pampered tastes was what she most took for
+granted, so that he could see her, for all her Dresden-china shoes and
+her flutter of wondrous befrilled contemporary skirts, skip by the side
+of the coming age as over the floor of a ball-room, keeping step with
+its monstrous stride and prepared for every figure of the dance. Her
+outlook took form to him suddenly as a great square sunny window that
+hung in assured fashion over the immensity of life. There rose toward it
+as from a vast swarming _plaza_ a high tide of emotion and sound; yet it
+was at the same time as if even while he looked her light gemmed hand,
+flashing on him in addition to those other things the perfect polish of
+the prettiest pink finger-nails in the world, had touched a spring, the
+most ingenious of ecent devices for instant ease, which dropped half
+across the scene a soft-coloured mechanical blind, a fluttered, fringed
+awning of charmingly toned silk, such as would make a bath of cool shade
+for the favoured friend leaning with her there--that is for the happy
+couple itself--on the balcony. The great view would be the prospect and
+privilege of the very state he coveted--since didn't he covet it?--the
+state of being so securely at her side; while the wash of privacy, as
+one might count it, the broad fine brush dipped into clear umber and
+passed, full and wet, straight across the strong scheme of colour, would
+represent the security itself, all the uplifted inner elegance, the
+condition, so ideal, of being shut out from nothing and yet of having,
+so gaily and breezily aloft, none of the burden or worry of anything.
+Thus, as I say, for our friend, the place itself, while his vivid
+impression lasted, portentously opened and spread, and what was before
+him took, to his vision, though indeed at so other a crisis, the form
+of the "glimmering square" of the poet; yet, for a still more remarkable
+fact, with an incongruous object usurping at a given instant the
+privilege of the frame and seeming, even as he looked, to block the
+view.
+
+The incongruous object was a woman's head, crowned with a little
+sparsely feathered black hat, an ornament quite unlike those the women
+mostly noticed by White-Mason were now "wearing," and that grew and
+grew, that came nearer and nearer, while it met his eyes, after the
+manner of images in the kinematograph. It had presently loomed so large
+that he saw nothing else--not only among the things at a considerable
+distance, the things Mrs. Worthingham would eventually, yet
+unmistakably, introduce him to, but among those of this lady's various
+attributes and appurtenances as to which he had been in the very act of
+cultivating his consciousness. It was in the course of another minute
+the most extraordinary thing in the world: everything had altered,
+dropped, darkened, disappeared; his imagination had spread its wings
+only to feel them flop all grotesquely at its sides as he recognised in
+his hostess's quiet companion, the oppressive alien who hadn't indeed
+interfered with his fanciful flight, though she had prevented his
+immediate declaration and brought about the thud, not to say the felt
+violent shock, of his fall to earth, the perfectly plain identity of
+Cornelia Rasch. It was she who had remained there at attention; it was
+she their companion hadn't introduced; it was she he had forborne to
+face with his fear of incivility. He stared at her--everything else
+went.
+
+"Why it has been _you_ all this time?"
+
+Miss Rasch fairly turned pale. "I was waiting to see if you'd know me."
+
+"Ah, my dear Cornelia"--he came straight out with it--"rather!"
+
+"Well, it isn't," she returned with a quick change to red now, "from
+having taken much time to look at me!"
+
+She smiled, she even laughed, but he could see how she had felt his
+unconsciousness, poor thing; the acquaintance, quite the friend of his
+youth, as she had been, the associate of his childhood, of his early
+manhood, of his middle age in fact, up to a few years back, not more
+than ten at the most; the associate too of so many of his associates and
+of almost all of his relations, those of the other time, those who had
+mainly gone for ever; the person in short whose noted disappearance,
+though it might have seemed final, had been only of recent seasons. She
+was present again now, all unexpectedly--he had heard of her having
+at last, left alone after successive deaths and with scant resources,
+sought economic salvation in Europe, the promised land of American
+thrift--she was present as this almost ancient and this oddly
+unassertive little rotund figure whom one seemed no more obliged to
+address than if she had been a black satin ottoman "treated" with
+buttons and gimp; a class of object as to which the policy of blindness
+was imperative. He felt the need of some explanatory plea, and before he
+could think had uttered one at Mrs. Worthingham's expense. "Why, you see
+we weren't introduced----!"
+
+"No--but I didn't suppose I should have to be named to you."
+
+"Well, my dear woman, you haven't--do me that justice!" He could at
+least make this point. "I felt all the while--!" However, it would have
+taken him long to say what he had been feeling; and he was aware now of
+the pretty projected light of Mrs. Worthingham's wonder. She looked as
+if, out for a walk with her, he had put her to the inconvenience of his
+stopping to speak to a strange woman in the street.
+
+"I never supposed you knew her!"--it was to him his hostess excused
+herself.
+
+This made Miss Rasch spring up, distinctly flushed, distinctly strange
+to behold, but not vulgarly nettled--Cornelia was incapable of that;
+only rather funnily bridling and laughing, only showing that this was
+all she had waited for, only saying just the right thing, the thing
+she could make so clearly a jest. "Of course if you _had_ you'd have
+presented him."
+
+Mrs. Worthingham looked while answering at White-Mason. "I didn't want
+you to go--which you see you do as soon as he speaks to you. But I never
+dreamed----!"
+
+"That there was anything between us? Ah, there are no end of things!"
+He, on his side, though addressing the younger and prettier woman,
+looked at his fellow-guest; to whom he even continued: "When did you get
+back? May I come and see you the very first thing?"
+
+Cornelia gasped and wriggled--she practically giggled; she had
+lost every atom of her little old, her little young, though always
+unaccountable prettiness, which used to peep so, on the bare chance of
+a shot, from behind indefensible features, that it almost made watching
+her a form of sport. He had heard vaguely of her, it came back to
+him (for there had been no letters; their later acquaintance, thank
+goodness, hadn't involved that) as experimenting, for economy, and then
+as settling, to the same rather dismal end, somewhere in England, "at
+one of those intensely English places, St. Leonards, Cheltenham, Bognor,
+Dawlish--which, awfully, _was_ it?"--and she now affected him for all
+the world as some small squirming, exclaiming, genteelly conversing old
+maid of a type vaguely associated with the three-volume novels he used
+to feed on (besides his so often encountering it in "real life,") during
+a far-away stay of his own at Brighton. Odder than any element of his
+ex-gossip's identity itself, however, was the fact that she somehow,
+with it all, rejoiced his sight. Indeed the supreme oddity was that
+the manner of her reply to his request for leave to call should have
+absolutely charmed his attention. She didn't look at him; she only, from
+under her frumpy, crapy, curiously exotic hat, and with her good little
+near-sighted insinuating glare, expressed to Mrs. Worthingham, while she
+answered him, wonderful arch things, the overdone things of a shy woman.
+"Yes, you may call--but only when this dear lovely lady has done with
+you!" The moment after which she had gone.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+Forty minutes later he was taking his way back from the queer
+miscarriage of his adventure; taking it, with no conscious positive
+felicity, through the very spaces that had witnessed shortly before the
+considerable serenity of his assurance. He had said to himself then, or
+had as good as said it, that, since he might do perfectly as he liked,
+it couldn't fail for him that he must soon retrace those steps, humming,
+to all intents, the first bars of a wedding-march; so beautifully had it
+cleared up that he was "going to like" letting Mrs. Worthingham accept
+him. He was to have hummed no wedding-march, as it seemed to be turning
+out--he had none, up to now, to hum; and yet, extraordinarily, it wasn't
+in the least because she had refused him. Why then hadn't he liked as
+much as he had intended to like it putting the pleasant act, the act of
+not refusing him, in her power? Could it all have come from the awkward
+minute of his failure to decide sharply, on Cornelia's departure,
+whether or no he would attend her to the door? He hadn't decided at
+all--what the deuce had been in him?--but had danced to and fro in the
+room, thinking better of each impulse and then thinking worse. He had
+hesitated like an ass erect on absurd hind legs between two bundles
+of hay; the upshot of which must have been his giving the falsest
+impression. In what way that was to be for an instant considered had
+their common past committed him to crapy Cornelia? He repudiated with a
+whack on the gravel any ghost of an obligation.
+
+What he could get rid of with scanter success, unfortunately, was the
+peculiar sharpness of his sense that, though mystified by his visible
+flurry--and yet not mystified enough for a sympathetic question
+either--his hostess had been, on the whole, even more frankly diverted:
+which was precisely an example of that newest, freshest, finest freedom
+in her, the air and the candour of assuming, not "heartlessly," not
+viciously, not even very consciously, but with a bright pampered
+confidence which would probably end by affecting one's nerves as the
+most impertinent stroke in the world, that every blest thing coming up
+for her in any connection was somehow matter for her general recreation.
+There she was again with the innocent egotism, the gilded and
+overflowing anarchism, really, of her doubtless quite unwitting but none
+the less rabid modern note. Her grace of ease was perfect, but it was
+all grace of ease, not a single shred of it grace of uncertainty or
+of difficulty--which meant, when you came to see, that, for its happy
+working, not a grain of provision was left by it to mere manners. This
+was clearly going to be the music of the future--that if people were but
+rich enough and furnished enough and fed enough, exercised and sanitated
+and manicured and generally advised and advertised and made "knowing"
+enough, _avertis_ enough, as the term appeared to be nowadays in Paris,
+all they had to do for civility was to take the amused ironic view of
+those who might be less initiated. In _his_ time, when he was young or
+even when he was only but a little less middle-aged, the best manners
+had been the best kindness, and the best kindness had mostly been some
+art of not insisting on one's luxurious differences, of concealing
+rather, for common humanity, if not for common decency, a part at least
+of the intensity or the ferocity with which one might be "in the know."
+
+Oh, the "know"--Mrs. Worthingham was in it, all instinctively,
+inevitably, and as a matter of course, up to her eyes; which didn't,
+however, the least little bit prevent her being as ignorant as a fish of
+everything that really and intimately and fundamentally concerned _him_,
+poor dear old White-Mason. She didn't, in the first place, so much as
+know who he was--by which he meant know who and what it was to _be_
+a White-Mason, even a poor and a dear and old one, "anyway." That
+indeed--he did her perfect justice--was of the very essence of the
+newness and freshness and beautiful, brave, social irresponsibility by
+which she had originally dazzled him: just exactly that circumstance of
+her having no instinct for any old quality or quantity or identity, a
+single historic or social value, as he might say, of the New York of his
+already almost legendary past; and that additional one of his, on his
+side, having, so far as this went, cultivated blankness, cultivated
+positive prudence, as to her own personal background--the vagueness,
+at the best, with which all honest gentlefolk, the New Yorkers of his
+approved stock and conservative generation, were content, as for the
+most part they were indubitably wise, to surround the origins and
+antecedents and queer unimaginable early influences of persons swimming
+into their ken from those parts of the country that quite necessarily
+and naturally figured to their view as "Godforsaken" and generally
+impossible.
+
+The few scattered surviving representatives of a society once
+"good"--_rari nantes in gurgite vasto_--were liable, at the pass things
+had come to, to meet, and even amid old shades once sacred, or what was
+left of such, every form of social impossibility, and, more irresistibly
+still, to find these apparitions often carry themselves (often at
+least in the case of the women) with a wondrous wild gallantry, equally
+imperturbable and inimitable, the sort of thing that reached its maximum
+in Mrs. Worthingham. Beyond that who ever wanted to look up their
+annals, to reconstruct their steps and stages, to dot their i's in fine,
+or to "go behind" anything that was theirs? One wouldn't do that for
+the world--a rudimentary discretion forbade it; and yet this check from
+elementary undiscussable taste quite consorted with a due respect for
+them, or at any rate with a due respect for oneself in connection with
+them; as was just exemplified in what would be his own, what would be
+poor dear old White-Mason's, insurmountable aversion to having, on any
+pretext, the doubtless very queer spectre of the late Mr. Worthingham
+presented to him. No question had he asked, or would he ever ask, should
+his life--that is should the success of his courtship--even intimately
+depend on it, either about that obscure agent of his mistress's actual
+affluence or about the happy head-spring itself, and the apparently
+copious tributaries, of the golden stream.
+
+From all which marked anomalies, at any rate, what was the moral to
+draw? He dropped into a Park chair again with that question, he lost
+himself in the wonder of why he had come away with his homage so very
+much unpaid. Yet it didn't seem at all, actually, as if he could say
+or conclude, as if he could do anything but keep on worrying--just in
+conformity with his being a person who, whether or no familiar with the
+need to make his conduct square with his conscience and his taste, was
+never wholly exempt from that of making his taste and his conscience
+square with his conduct. To this latter occupation he further abandoned
+himself, and it didn't release him from his second brooding session
+till the sweet spring sunset had begun to gather and he had more or less
+cleared up, in the deepening dusk, the effective relation between the
+various parts of his ridiculously agitating experience. There were vital
+facts he seemed thus to catch, to seize, with a nervous hand, and the
+twilight helping, by their vaguely whisked tails; unquiet truths that
+swarmed out after the fashion of creatures bold only at eventide,
+creatures that hovered and circled, that verily brushed his nose, in
+spite of their shyness. Yes, he had practically just sat on with his
+"mistress"--heaven save the mark!--as if not to come to the point; as
+if it had absolutely come up that there would be something rather vulgar
+and awful in doing so. The whole stretch of his stay after Cornelia's
+withdrawal had been consumed by his almost ostentatiously treating
+himself to the opportunity of which he was to make nothing. It was as
+if he had sat and watched himself--that came back to him: Shall I now or
+sha'n't I? Will I now or won't I? "Say within the next three minutes,
+say by a quarter past six, or by twenty minutes past, at the
+furthest--always if nothing more comes up to prevent."
+
+What had already come up to prevent was, in the strangest and drollest,
+or at least in the most preposterous, way in the world, that not
+Cornelia's presence, but her very absence, with its distraction of his
+thoughts, the thoughts that lumbered after her, had made the difference;
+and without his being the least able to tell why and how. He put it
+to himself after a fashion by the image that, this distraction once
+created, his working round to his hostess again, his reverting to the
+matter of his errand, began suddenly to represent a return from so far.
+That was simply all--or rather a little less than all; for something
+else had contributed. "I never dreamed you knew her," and "I never
+dreamed _you_ did," were inevitably what had been exchanged between
+them--supplemented by Mrs. Worthingham's mere scrap of an explanation:
+"Oh yes--to the small extent you see. Two years ago in Switzerland
+when I was at a high place for an 'aftercure,' during twenty days of
+incessant rain, she was the only person in an hotel full of roaring,
+gorging, smoking Germans with whom I could have a word of talk. She
+and I were the only speakers of English, and were thrown together like
+castaways on a desert island and in a raging storm. She was ill besides,
+and she had no maid, and mine looked after her, and she was very
+grateful--writing to me later on and saying she should certainly come to
+see me if she ever returned to New York. She has returned, you see--and
+there she was, poor little creature!" Such was Mrs. Worthingham's
+tribute--to which even his asking her if Miss Rasch had ever happened
+to speak of him caused her practically to add nothing. Visibly she had
+never thought again of any one Miss Rasch had spoken of or anything Miss
+Rasch had said; right as she was, naturally, about her being a
+little clever queer creature. This was perfectly true, and yet it
+was probably--by being _all_ she could dream of about her--what had
+paralysed his proper gallantry. Its effect had been not in what it
+simply stated, but in what, under his secretly disintegrating criticism,
+it almost luridly symbolised.
+
+He had quitted his seat in the Louis Quinze drawing-room without having,
+as he would have described it, done anything but give the lady of the
+scene a superior chance not to betray a defeated hope--not, that is,
+to fail of the famous "pride" mostly supposed to prop even the most
+infatuated women at such junctures; by which chance, to do her justice,
+she had thoroughly seemed to profit. But he finally rose from his later
+station with a feeling of better success. He had by a happy turn of his
+hand got hold of the most precious, the least obscure of the flitting,
+circling things that brushed his ears. What he wanted--as justifying for
+him a little further consideration--was there before him from the moment
+he could put it that Mrs. Worthingham had no data. He almost hugged that
+word,--it suddenly came to mean so much to him. No data, he felt, for a
+conception of the sort of thing the New York of "his time" had been in
+his personal life--the New York so unexpectedly, so vividly and, as he
+might say, so perversely called back to all his senses by its identity
+with that of poor Cornelia's time: since even she had had a time, small
+show as it was likely to make now, and his time and hers had been the
+same. Cornelia figured to him while he walked away as, by contrast and
+opposition, a massive little bundle of data; his impatience to go to see
+her sharpened as he thought of this: so certainly should he find out
+that wherever he might touch her, with a gentle though firm pressure, he
+would, as the fond visitor of old houses taps and fingers a disfeatured,
+overpapered wall with the conviction of a wainscot-edge beneath,
+recognise some small extrusion of history.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+There would have been a wonder for us meanwhile in his continued use, as
+it were, of his happy formula--brought out to Cornelia Rasch within ten
+minutes, or perhaps only within twenty, of his having settled into the
+quite comfortable chair that, two days later, she indicated to him by
+her fireside. He had arrived at her address through the fortunate chance
+of his having noticed her card, as he went out, deposited, in the good
+old New York fashion, on one of the rococo tables of Mrs. Worthingham's
+hall. His eye had been caught by the pencilled indication that was to
+affect him, the next instant, as fairly placed there for his sake. This
+had really been his luck, for he shouldn't have liked to write to Mrs.
+Worthingham for guidance--_that_ he felt, though too impatient just
+now to analyze the reluctance. There was nobody else he could have
+approached for a clue, and with this reflection he was already aware
+of how it testified to their rare little position, his and
+Cornelia's--position as conscious, ironic, pathetic survivors together
+of a dead and buried society--that there would have been, in all the
+town, under such stress, not a member of their old circle left to turn
+to. Mrs. Worthingham had practically, even if accidentally, helped him
+to knowledge; the last nail in the coffin of the poor dear extinct
+past had been planted for him by his having thus to reach his antique
+contemporary through perforation of the newest newness. The note of this
+particular recognition was in fact the more prescribed to him that
+the ground of Cornelia's return to a scene swept so bare of the
+associational charm was certainly inconspicuous. What had she then come
+back for?--he had asked himself that; with the effect of deciding that
+it probably would have been, a little, to "look after" her remnant of
+property. Perhaps she had come to save what little might still remain of
+that shrivelled interest; perhaps she had been, by those who took care
+of it for her, further swindled and despoiled, so that she wished to
+get at the facts. Perhaps on the other hand--it was a more cheerful
+chance--her investments, decently administered, were making larger
+returns, so that the rigorous thrift of Bognor could be finally relaxed.
+
+He had little to learn about the attraction of Europe, and rather
+expected that in the event of his union with Mrs Worthingham he should
+find himself pleading for it with the competence of one more in the
+"know" about Paris and Rome, about Venice and Florence, than even she
+could be. He could have lived on in _his_ New York, that is in the
+sentimental, the spiritual, the more or less romantic visitation of it;
+but had it been positive for him that he could live on in hers?--unless
+indeed the possibility of this had been just (like the famous _vertige
+de l'abime_, like the solicitation of danger, or otherwise of the
+dreadful) the very hinge of his whole dream. However that might be,
+his curiosity was occupied rather with the conceivable hinge of poor
+Cornelia's: it was perhaps thinkable that even Mrs. Worthingham's New
+York, once it should have become possible again at all, might have
+put forth to this lone exile a plea that wouldn't be in the chords of
+Bognor. For himself, after all, too, the attraction had been much
+more of the Europe over which one might move at one's ease, and which
+therefore could but cost, and cost much, right and left, than of the
+Europe adapted to scrimping. He saw himself on the whole scrimping with
+more zest even in Mrs. Worthingham's New York than under the inspiration
+of Bognor. Apart from which it was yet again odd, not to say perceptibly
+pleasing to him, to note where the emphasis of his interest fell in this
+fumble of fancy over such felt oppositions as the new, the latest, the
+luridest power of money and the ancient reserves and moderations and
+mediocrities. These last struck him as showing by contrast the old brown
+surface and tone as of velvet rubbed and worn, shabby, and even a bit
+dingy, but all soft and subtle and still velvety--which meant still
+dignified; whereas the angular facts of current finance were as harsh
+and metallic and bewildering as some stacked "exhibit" of ugly patented
+inventions, things his mediaeval mind forbade his taking in. He had
+for instance the sense of knowing the pleasant little old Rasch
+fortune--pleasant as far as it went; blurred memories and impressions
+of what it had been and what it hadn't, of how it had grown and how
+languished and how melted; they came back to him and put on such
+vividness that he could almost have figured himself testify for them
+before a bland and encouraging Board. The idea of taking the field in
+any manner on the subject of Mrs. Worthingham's resources would have
+affected him on the other hand as an odious ordeal, some glare of
+embarrassment and exposure in a circle of hard unhelpful attention, of
+converging, derisive, unsuggestive eyes.
+
+In Cornelia's small and quite cynically modern flat--the house had
+a grotesque name, "The Gainsborough," but at least wasn't an awful
+boarding-house, as he had feared, and she could receive him quite
+honourably, which was so much to the good--he would have been ready to
+use at once to her the greatest freedom of friendly allusion: "Have
+you still your old 'family interest' in those two houses in Seventh
+Avenue?--one of which was next to a corner grocery, don't you know? and
+was occupied as to its lower part by a candy-shop where the proportion
+of the stock of suspectedly stale popcorn to that of rarer and stickier
+joys betrayed perhaps a modest capital on the part of your father's,
+your grandfather's, or whoever's tenant, but out of which I nevertheless
+remember once to have come as out of a bath of sweets, with my very
+garments, and even the separate hairs of my head, glued together.
+The other of the pair, a tobacconist's, further down, had before it a
+wonderful huge Indian who thrust out wooden cigars at an indifferent
+world--you could buy candy cigars too, at the pop-corn shop, and I
+greatly preferred them to the wooden; I remember well how I used to gape
+in fascination at the Indian and wonder if the last of the Mohicans was
+like him; besides admiring so the resources of a family whose 'property'
+was in such forms. I haven't been round there lately--we must go round
+together; but don't tell me the forms have utterly perished!" It was
+after _that_ fashion he might easily have been moved, and with almost
+no transition, to break out to Cornelia--quite as if taking up some old
+talk, some old community of gossip, just where they had left it; even
+with the consciousness perhaps of overdoing a little, of putting at its
+maximum, for the present harmony, recovery, recapture (what should he
+call it?) the pitch and quantity of what the past had held for them.
+
+He didn't in fact, no doubt, dart straight off to Seventh Avenue, there
+being too many other old things and much nearer and long subsequent;
+the point was only that for everything they spoke of after he had fairly
+begun to lean back and stretch his legs, and after she had let him,
+above all, light the first of a succession of cigarettes--for everything
+they spoke of he positively cultivated extravagance and excess, piling
+up the crackling twigs as on the very altar of memory; and that by the
+end of half an hour she had lent herself, all gallantly, to their game.
+It was the game of feeding the beautiful iridescent flame, ruddy and
+green and gold, blue and pink and amber and silver, with anything they
+could pick up, anything that would burn and flicker. Thick-strown with
+such gleanings the occasion seemed indeed, in spite of the truth that
+they perhaps wouldn't have proved, under cross-examination, to have
+rubbed shoulders in the other life so very hard. Casual contacts,
+qualified communities enough, there had doubtless been, but not
+particular "passages," nothing that counted, as he might think of it,
+for their "very own" together, for nobody's else at all. These shades of
+historic exactitude didn't signify; the more and the less that there
+had been made perfect terms--and just by his being there and by her
+rejoicing in it--with their present need to have _had_ all their past
+could be made to appear to have given them. It was to this tune they
+proceeded, the least little bit as if they knowingly pretended--he
+giving her the example and setting her the pace of it, and she, poor
+dear, after a first inevitable shyness, an uncertainty of wonder, a
+breathlessness of courage, falling into step and going whatever length
+he would.
+
+She showed herself ready for it, grasping gladly at the perception of
+what he must mean; and if she didn't immediately and completely fall
+in--not in the first half-hour, not even in the three or four others
+that his visit, even whenever he consulted his watch, still made nothing
+of--she yet understood enough as soon as she understood that, if their
+finer economy hadn't so beautifully served, he might have been conveying
+this, that, and the other incoherent and easy thing by the comparatively
+clumsy method of sound and statement. "No, I never made love to you; it
+would in fact have been absurd, and I don't care--though I almost know,
+in the sense of almost remembering!--who did and who didn't; but you
+were always about, and so was I, and, little as you may yourself care
+who I did it to, I dare say you remember (in the sense of having known
+of it!) any old appearances that told. But we can't afford at this time
+of day not to help each other to have had--well, everything there was,
+since there's no more of it now, nor any way of coming by it except so;
+and therefore let us make together, let us make over and recreate, our
+lost world; for which we have after all and at the worst such a lot
+of material. You were in particular my poor dear sisters' friend--they
+thought you the funniest little brown thing possible; so isn't that
+again to the good? You were mine only to the extent that you were so
+much in and out of the house--as how much, if we come to that, wasn't
+one in and out, south of Thirtieth Street and north of Washington
+Square, in those days, those spacious, sociable, Arcadian days, that we
+flattered ourselves we filled with the modern fever, but that were so
+different from any of these arrangements of pretended hourly Time
+that dash themselves forever to pieces as from the fiftieth floors of
+sky-scrapers."
+
+This was the kind of thing that was in the air, whether he said it or
+not, and that could hang there even with such quite other things as
+more crudely came out; came in spite of its being perhaps calculated to
+strike us that these last would have been rather and most the unspoken
+and the indirect. They were Cornelia's contribution, and as soon as she
+had begun to talk of Mrs. Worthingham--_he_ didn't begin it!--they had
+taken their place bravely in the centre of the circle. There they made,
+the while, their considerable little figure, but all within the ring
+formed by fifty other allusions, fitful but really intenser irruptions
+that hovered and wavered and came and went, joining hands at moments
+and whirling round as in chorus, only then again to dash at the slightly
+huddled centre with a free twitch or peck or push or other taken
+liberty, after the fashion of irregular frolic motions in a country
+dance or a Christmas game.
+
+"You're so in love with her and want to marry her!"--she said it all
+sympathetically and yearningly, poor crapy Cornelia; as if it were to be
+quite taken for granted that she knew all about it. And then when he had
+asked how she knew--why she took so informed a tone about it; all on
+the wonder of her seeming so much more "in" it just at that hour than
+he himself quite felt he could figure for: "Ah, how but from the dear
+lovely thing herself? Don't you suppose _she_ knows it?"
+
+"Oh, she absolutely 'knows' it, does she?"--he fairly heard himself ask
+that; and with the oddest sense at once of sharply wanting the certitude
+and yet of seeing the question, of hearing himself say the words,
+through several thicknesses of some wrong medium. He came back to it
+from a distance; as he would have had to come back (this was again vivid
+to him) should he have got round again to his ripe intention three days
+before--after his now present but then absent friend, that is, had left
+him planted before his now absent but then present one for the purpose.
+"Do you mean she--at all confidently!--expects?" he went on, not much
+minding if it couldn't but sound foolish; the time being given it for
+him meanwhile by the sigh, the wondering gasp, all charged with the
+unutterable, that the tone of his appeal set in motion. He saw his
+companion look at him, but it might have been with the eyes of thirty
+years ago; when--very likely.--he had put her some such question about
+some girl long since dead. Dimly at first, then more distinctly, didn't
+it surge back on him for the very strangeness that there had been some
+such passage as this between them--yes, about Mary Cardew!--in the
+autumn of '68?
+
+"Why, don't you realise your situation?" Miss Rasch struck him as quite
+beautifully wailing--above all to such an effect of deep interest, that
+is, on her own part and in him.
+
+"My situation?"--he echoed, he considered; but reminded afresh, by
+the note of the detached, the far-projected in it, of what he had
+last remembered of his sentient state on his once taking ether at the
+dentist's.
+
+"Yours and hers--the situation of her adoring you. I suppose you at
+least know it," Cornelia smiled.
+
+Yes, it was like the other time and yet it wasn't. She was like--poor
+Cornelia was--everything that used to be; that somehow was most definite
+to him. Still he could quite reply "Do you call it--her adoring me--_my_
+situation?"
+
+"Well, it's a part of yours, surely--if you're in love with her."
+
+"Am I, ridiculous old person! in love with her?" White-Mason asked.
+
+"I may be a ridiculous old person," Cornelia returned--"and, for that
+matter, of course I am! But she's young and lovely and rich and clever:
+so what could be more natural?"
+
+"Oh, I was applying that opprobrious epithet--!" He didn't finish,
+though he meant he had applied it to himself. He had got up from his
+seat; he turned about and, taking in, as his eyes also roamed, several
+objects in the room, serene and sturdy, not a bit cheap-looking, little
+old New York objects of '68, he made, with an inner art, as if to
+recognise them--made so, that is, for himself; had quite the sense for
+the moment of asking them, of imploring them, to recognise _him_, to be
+for him things of his own past. Which they truly were, he could have
+the next instant cried out; for it meant that if three or four of
+them, small sallow carte-de-visite photographs, faithfully framed but
+spectrally faded, hadn't in every particular, frames and balloon skirts
+and false "property" balustrades of unimaginable terraces and all,
+the tone of time, the secret for warding and easing off the perpetual
+imminent ache of one's protective scowl, one would verily but have to
+let the scowl stiffen, or to take up seriously the question of blue
+goggles, during what might remain of life.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+What he actually took up from a little old Twelfth-Street table that
+piously preserved the plain mahogany circle, with never a curl nor a
+crook nor a hint of a brazen flourish, what he paused there a moment for
+commerce with, his back presented to crapy Cornelia, who sat taking that
+view of him, during this opportunity, very protrusively and frankly and
+fondly, was one of the wasted mementos just mentioned, over which he
+both uttered and suppressed a small comprehensive cry. He stood there
+another minute to look at it, and when he turned about still kept it in
+his hand, only holding it now a litde behind him. "You _must_ have come
+back to stay--with all your beautiful things. What else does it mean?"
+
+"'Beautiful'?" his old friend commented with her brow all wrinkled and
+her lips thrust out in expressive dispraise. They might at that rate
+have been scarce more beautiful than she herself. "Oh, don't talk
+so--after Mrs. Worthingham's! _They're_ wonderful, if you will: such
+things, such things! But one's own poor relics and odds and ends are
+one's own at least; and one _has_--yes--come back to them. They're all
+I have in the world to come back to. They were stored, and what I was
+paying--!" Miss Rasch wofully added.
+
+He had possession of the small old picture; he hovered there; he put his
+eyes again to it intently; then again held it a little behind him as if
+it might have been snatched away or the very feel of it, pressed against
+him, was good to his palm. "Mrs. Worthingham's things? You think them
+beautiful?"
+
+Cornelia did now, if ever, show an odd face. "Why certainly prodigious,
+or whatever. Isn't that conceded?"
+
+"No doubt every horror, at the pass we've come to, is conceded. That's
+just what I complain of."
+
+"Do you _complain?_"--she drew it out as for surprise: she couldn't have
+imagined such a thing.
+
+"To me her things are awful. They're the newest of the new."
+
+"Ah, but the old forms!"
+
+"Those are the most blatant. I mean the swaggering reproductions."
+
+"Oh but," she pleaded, "we can't all be _really_ old."
+
+"No, we can't, Cornelia. But _you_ can--!" said White-Mason with the
+frankest appreciation.
+
+She looked up at him from where she sat as he could imagine her
+looking up at the curate at Bognor. "Thank you, sir! If that's all you
+want----!"
+
+"It _is_" he said, "all I want--or almost."
+
+"Then no wonder such a creature as that," she lightly moralised, "won't
+suit you!"
+
+He bent upon her, for all the weight of his question, his smoothest
+stare. "You hold she certainly won't suit me?"
+
+"Why, what can I tell about it? Haven't you by this time found out?"
+
+"No, but I think I'm finding." With which he began again to explore.
+
+Miss Rasch immensely wondered. "You mean you don't expect to come to an
+understanding with her?" And then as even to this straight challenge he
+made at first no answer: "Do you mean you give it up?"
+
+He waited some instants more, but not meeting her eyes--only looking
+again about the room. "What do you think of my chance?"
+
+"Oh," his companion cried, "what has what I think to do with it? How can
+I think anything but that she must like you?"
+
+"Yes--of course. But how much?"
+
+"Then don't you really know?" Cornelia asked.
+
+He kept up his walk, oddly preoccupied and still not looking at her. "Do
+you, my dear?"
+
+She waited a little. "If you haven't really put it to her I don't
+suppose she knows."
+
+This at last arrested him again. "My dear Cornelia, she doesn't
+know----!"
+
+He had paused as for the desperate tone, or at least the large emphasis
+of it, so that she took him up. "The more reason then to help her to
+find it out."
+
+"I mean," he explained, "that she doesn't know anything."
+
+"Anything?"
+
+"Anything else, I mean--even if she does know _that_."
+
+Cornelia considered of it. "But what else need she--in particular--know?
+Isn't that the principal thing?"
+
+"Well"--and he resumed his circuit--"she doesn't know anything that we
+know. But nothing," he re-emphasised--"nothing whatever!"
+
+"Well, can't she do without that?"
+
+"Evidently she can--and evidently she does, beautifully. But the
+question is whether _I_ can!"
+
+He had paused once more with his point--but she glared, poor Cornelia,
+with her wonder. "Surely if you know for yourself----!"
+
+"Ah, it doesn't seem enough for me to know for myself! One wants a
+woman," he argued--but still, in his prolonged tour, quite without his
+scowl--"to know _for_ one, to know _with_ one. That's what you do now,"
+he candidly put to her.
+
+It made her again gape. "Do you mean you want to marry _me?_"
+
+He was so full of what he did mean, however, that he failed even to
+notice it. "She doesn't in the least know, for instance, how old I am."
+
+"That's because you're so young!"
+
+"Ah, there you are!"--and he turned off afresh and as if almost in
+disgust. It left her visibly perplexed--though even the perplexed
+Cornelia was still the exceedingly pointed; but he had come to her aid
+after another turn. "Remember, please, that I'm pretty well as old as
+you."
+
+She had all her point at least, while she bridled and blinked, for this.
+"You're exactly a year and ten months older."
+
+It checked him there for delight. "You remember my birthday?"
+
+She twinkled indeed like some far-off light of home. "I remember every
+one's. It's a little way I've always had--and that I've never lost."
+
+He looked at her accomplishment, across the room, as at some striking,
+some charming phenomenon. "Well, _that's_ the sort of thing I want!" All
+the ripe candour of his eyes confirmed it.
+
+What could she do therefore, she seemed to ask him, but repeat her
+question of a moment before?--which indeed presently she made up her
+mind to. "Do you want to marry _me?_"
+
+It had this time better success--if the term may be felt in any degree
+to apply. All his candour, or more of it at least, was in his slow,
+mild, kind, considering head-shake. "No, Cornelia--not to _marry_ you."
+
+His discrimination was a wonder; but since she was clearly treating him
+now as if everything about him was, so she could as exquisitely meet it.
+"Not at least," she convulsively smiled, "until you've honourably tried
+Mrs. Worthingham. Don't you really _mean_ to?" she gallantly insisted.
+
+He waited again a little; then he brought out: "I'll tell you
+presently." He came back, and as by still another mere glance over
+the room, to what seemed to him so much nearer. "That table was old
+Twelfth-Street?"
+
+"Everything here was."
+
+"Oh, the pure blessings! With you, ah, with you, I haven't to wear a
+green shade." And he had retained meanwhile his small photograph, which
+he again showed himself. "Didn't we talk of Mary Cardew?"
+
+"Why, do you remember it?" She marvelled to extravagance.
+
+"You make me. You connect me with it. You connect it with we." He liked
+to display to her this excellent use she thus had, the service she
+rendered. "There are so many connections--there will be so many. I
+feel how, with you, they must all come up again for me: in fact you're
+bringing them out already, just while I look at you, as fast as ever you
+can. The fact that you knew every one--!" he went on; yet as if there
+were more in that too than he could quite trust himself about.
+
+"Yes, I knew every one," said Cornelia Rasch; but this time with perfect
+simplicity. "I knew, I imagine, more than you do--or more than you did."
+
+It kept him there, it made him wonder with his eyes on her. "Things
+about _them_--our people?"
+
+"Our people. Ours only now."
+
+Ah, such an interest as he felt in this--taking from her while, so far
+from scowling, he almost gaped, all it might mean! "Ours indeed--and it's
+awfully good they are; or that we're still here for them! Nobody else
+is--nobody but you: not a cat!"
+
+"Well, I _am_ a cat!" Cornelia grinned.
+
+"Do you mean you can tell me things--?" It was too beautiful to believe.
+
+"About what really _was?_" she artfully considered, holding him
+immensely now. "Well, unless they've come to you with time; unless
+you've learned--or found out."
+
+"Oh," he reassuringly cried--reassuringly, it most seemed, for
+himself--"nothing has come to me with time, everything has gone from me.
+How can I find out now! What creature has an idea----?"
+
+She threw up her hands with the shrug of old days--the sharp little
+shrug his sisters used to imitate and that she hadn't had to go to
+Europe for. The only thing was that he blessed her for bringing it back.
+
+"Ah, the ideas of people now----!"
+
+"Yes, their ideas are certainly not about us" But he ruefully faced it.
+"We've none the less, however, to live with them."
+
+"With their ideas--?" Cornelia questioned.
+
+"With _them_--these modern wonders; such as they are!" Then he went on:
+"It must have been to help me you've come back."
+
+She said nothing for an instant about that, only nodding instead at his
+photograph. "What has become of yours? I mean of _her_."
+
+This time it made him turn pale. "You remember I _have_ one?"
+
+She kept her eyes on him. "In a 'pork-pie' hat, with her hair in a long
+net. That was so 'smart' then; especially with one's skirt looped up,
+over one's hooped magenta petticoat, in little festoons, and a row of
+very big onyx beads over one's braided velveteen sack--braided quite
+plain and very broad, don't you know?"
+
+He smiled for her extraordinary possession of these things--she was as
+prompt as if she had had them before her. "Oh, rather--'don't I know?'
+You wore brown velveteen, and, on those remarkably small hands, funny
+gauntlets--like mine."
+
+"Oh, do _you_ remember? But like yours?" she wondered.
+
+"I mean like hers in my photograph." But he came back to the present
+picture. "This is better, however, for really showing her lovely head."
+
+"Mary's head was a perfection!" Cornelia testified.
+
+"Yes--it was better than her heart."
+
+"Ah, don't say that!" she pleaded. "You weren't fair."
+
+"Don't you think I was fair?" It interested him immensely--and the more
+that he indeed mightn't have been; which he seemed somehow almost to
+hope.
+
+"She didn't think so--to the very end."
+
+"She didn't?"--ah the right things Cornelia said to him! But before she
+could answer he was studying again closely the small faded face. "No,
+she doesn't, she doesn't. Oh, her charming sad eyes and the way they say
+that, across the years, straight into mine! But I don't know, I don't
+know!" White-Mason quite comfortably sighed.
+
+His companion appeared to appreciate this effect. "That's just the way
+you used to flirt with her, poor thing. Wouldn't you like to have it?"
+she asked.
+
+"This--for my very own?" He looked up delighted. "I really may?"
+
+"Well, if you'll give me yours. We'll exchange."
+
+"That's a charming idea. We'll exchange. But you must come and get it at
+my rooms--where you'll see my things."
+
+For a little she made no answer--as if for some feeling. Then she said:
+"You asked me just now why I've come back."
+
+He stared as for the connection; after which with a smile: "Not to do
+_that_----?"
+
+She waited briefly again, but with a queer little look. "I can do those
+things now; and--yes!--that's in a manner why. I came," she then said,
+"because I knew of a sudden one day--knew as never before--that I was
+old."
+
+"I see. I see." He quite understood--she had notes that so struck him.
+"And how did you like it?"
+
+She hesitated--she decided. "Well, if I liked it, it was on the
+principle perhaps on which some people like high game!"
+
+"High game--that's good!" he laughed. "Ah, my dear, we're 'high'!"
+
+She shook her head. "No, not you--yet. I at any rate didn't want any
+more adventures," Cornelia said.
+
+He showed their small relic again with assurance. "You wanted _us_. Then
+here we are. Oh how we can talk!--with all those things you know! You
+are an invention. And you'll see there are things J know. I shall turn
+up here--well, daily."
+
+She took it in, but only after a moment answered. "There was something
+you said just now you'd tell me. Don't you mean to try----?"
+
+"Mrs. Worthingham?" He drew from within his coat his pocket-book and
+carefully found a place in it for Mary Cardew's carte-de-visite, folding
+it together with deliberation over which he put it back. Finally he
+spoke. "No--I've decided. I can't--I don't want to."
+
+Cornelia marvelled--or looked as if she did. "Not for all she has?"
+
+"Yes--I know all she has. But I also know all she hasn't. And, as I told
+you, she herself doesn't--hasn't a glimmer of a suspicion of it; and
+never will have."
+
+Cornelia magnanimously thought "No--but she knows other things."
+
+He shook his head as at the portentous heap of them. "Too many--too
+many. And other indeed--_so_ other! Do you know," he went on, "that it's
+as if _you_--by turning up for me--had brought that home to me?"
+
+"'For you,'" she candidly considered. "But what--since you can't marry
+me!--can you do with me?"
+
+Well, he seemed to have it all. "Everything. I can live with you--just
+this way." To illustrate which he dropped into the other chair by her
+fire; where, leaning back, he gazed at the flame. "I can't give you
+up. It's very curious. It has come over me as it did over you when you
+renounced Bognor. That's it--I know it at last, and I see one can like
+it. I'm 'high.' You needn't deny it. That's my taste. I'm old." And in
+spite of the considerable glow there of her little household altar he
+said it without the scowl.
+
+
+
+
+THE BENCH OF DESOLATION
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+SHE had practically, he believed, conveyed the intimation, the
+horrid, brutal, vulgar menace, in the course of their last
+dreadful conversation, when, for whatever was left him of pluck or
+confidence--confidence in what he would fain have called a little more
+aggressively the strength of his position--he had judged best not to
+take it up. But this time there was no question of not understanding, or
+of pretending he didn't; the ugly, the awful words, ruthlessly formed
+by her lips, were like the fingers of a hand that she might have thrust
+into her pocket for extraction of the monstrous object that would serve
+best for--what should he call it?--a gage of battle.
+
+"If I haven't a very different answer from you within the next three
+days I shall put the matter into the hands of my solicitor, whom it
+may interest you to know I've already seen. I shall bring an action for
+'breach' against you, Herbert Dodd, as sure as my name's Kate Cookham."
+
+There it was, straight and strong--yet he felt he could say for himself,
+when once it had come, or even, already, just as it was coming, that it
+turned on, as if she had moved an electric switch, the very brightest
+light of his own very reasons. There _she_ was, in all the grossness
+of her native indelicacy, in all her essential excess of will and
+destitution of scruple; and it was the woman capable of that ignoble
+threat who, his sharper sense of her quality having become so quite
+deterrent, was now making for him a crime of it that he shouldn't wish
+to tie himself to her for life. The vivid, lurid thing was the reality,
+all unmistakable, of her purpose; she had thought her case well out;
+had measured its odious, specious presentability; had taken, he might
+be sure, the very best advice obtainable at Properley, where there
+was always a first-rate promptitude of everything fourth-rate; it was
+disgustingly certain, in short, that she'd proceed. She was sharp
+and adroit, moreover--distinctly in certain ways a master-hand; how
+otherwise, with her so limited mere attractiveness, should she have
+entangled him? He couldn't shut his eyes to the very probable truth that
+if she should try it she'd pull it off. She _knew_ she would--precisely;
+and her assurance was thus the very proof of her cruelty. That she
+had pretended she loved him was comparatively nothing; other women had
+pretended it, and other women too had really done it; but that she had
+pretended he could possibly have been right and safe and blest in
+loving _her_, a creature of the kind who could sniff that squalor of the
+law-court, of claimed damages and brazen lies and published kisses,
+of love-letters read amid obscene guffaws, as a positive tonic to
+resentment, as a high incentive to her course--this was what put him
+so beautifully in the right It was what might signify in a woman all
+through, he said to himself, the mere imagination of such machinery.
+Truly what a devilish conception and what an appalling nature!
+
+But there was no doubt, luckily, either, that he _could_ plant his feet
+the firmer for his now intensified sense of these things. He was to
+live, it appeared, abominably worried, he was to live consciously
+rueful, he was to live perhaps even what a scoffing world would call
+abjectly exposed; but at least he was to live saved. In spite of his
+clutch of which steadying truth, however, and in spite of his declaring
+to her, with many other angry protests and pleas, that the line of
+conduct she announced was worthy of a vindictive barmaid, a lurking fear
+in him, too deep to counsel mere defiance, made him appear to keep open
+a little, till he could somehow turn round again, the door of possible
+composition. He had scoffed at her claim, at her threat, at her thinking
+she could hustle and bully him--"Such a way, my eye, to call back
+to life a dead love!"--yet his instinct was ever, prudentially but
+helplessly, for gaining time, even if time only more wofully to quake,
+and he gained it now by not absolutely giving for his ultimatum that he
+wouldn't think of coming round. He didn't in the smallest degree mean to
+come round, but it was characteristic of him that he could for three
+or four days breathe a little easier by having left her under the
+impression that he perhaps might. At the same time he couldn't not have
+said--what had conduced to bring out, in retort, her own last word, the
+word on which they had parted--"Do you mean to say you yourself would
+now be _willing_ to marry and live with a man of whom you could feel,
+the thing done, that he'd be all the while thinking of you in the light
+of a hideous coercion?" "Never you mind about _my_ willingness," Kate
+had answered; "you've known what that has been for the last six months.
+Leave that to me, my willingness--I'll take care of it all right; and
+just see what conclusion you can come to about your own."
+
+He was to remember afterward how he had wondered whether, turned upon
+her in silence while her odious lucidity reigned unchecked, his face had
+shown her anything like the quantity of hate he felt. Probably not at
+all; no man's face _could_ express that immense amount; especially the
+fair, refined, intellectual, gentlemanlike face which had had--and by
+her own more than once repeated avowal--so much to do with the enormous
+fancy she had originally taken to him. "Which--frankly now--would you
+personally _rather_ I should do," he had at any rate asked her with an
+intention of supreme irony: "just sordidly marry you on top of this, or
+leave you the pleasure of your lovely appearance in court and of your so
+assured (since that's how you feel it) big haul of damages? Sha'n't
+you be awfully disappointed, in fact, if I don't let you get something
+better out of me than a poor plain ten-shilling gold ring and the rest
+of the blasphemous rubbish, as we should make it between us, pronounced
+at the altar? I take it of course," he had swaggered on, "that your
+pretension wouldn't be for a moment that I should--after the act of
+profanity--take up my life with you."
+
+"It's just as much my dream as it ever was, Herbert Dodd, to take up
+mine with _you!_ Remember for me that I can do with it, my dear, that my
+idea is for even as much as that of you!" she had cried; "remember that
+for me, Herbert Dodd; remember, remember!"
+
+It was on this she had left him--left him frankly under a mortal chill.
+There might have been the last ring of an appeal or a show of persistent
+and perverse tenderness in it, however preposterous any such matter; but
+in point of fact her large, clean, plain, brown face--so much too big
+for her head, he now more than ever felt it to be, just as her head was
+so much too big for her body, and just as her hats had an irritating way
+of appearing to decline choice and conformity in respect to _any_ of her
+dimensions--presented itself with about as much expression as his own
+shop-window when the broad, blank, sallow blind was down. He was fond of
+his shop-window with some good show on; he had a fancy for a good show
+and was master of twenty different schemes of taking arrangement for the
+old books and prints, "high-class rarities" his modest catalogue called
+them, in which he dealt and which his maternal uncle, David Geddes, had,
+as he liked to say, "handed down" to him. His widowed mother had screwed
+the whole thing, the stock and the connection and the rather bad little
+house in the rather bad little street, out of the ancient worthy,
+shortly before his death, in the name of the youngest and most
+interesting, the "delicate" one and the literary, of her five scattered
+and struggling children. He could enjoy his happiest collocations and
+contrasts and effects, his harmonies and varieties of toned and faded
+leather and cloth, his sought color-notes and the high clearnesses,
+here and there, of his white and beautifully figured price-labels, which
+pleased him enough in themselves almost to console him for not
+oftener having to break, on a customer's insistence, into the balanced
+composition. But the dropped expanse of time-soiled canvas, the thing
+of Sundays and holidays, with just his name, "Herbert Dodd, Successor,"
+painted on below his uncle's antique style, the feeble penlike
+flourishes already quite archaic--this ugly vacant mask, which might
+so easily be taken for the mask of failure, somehow always gave him a
+chill.
+
+That had been just the sort of chill--the analogy was complete--of Kate
+Cookham's last look. He supposed people doing an awfully good and sure
+and steady business, in whatever line, could see a whole front turned
+to vacancy that way and merely think of the hours off represented by it.
+Only for this--nervously to bear it, in other words, and Herbert Dodd,
+quite with the literary temperament himself, was capable of that amount
+of play of fancy, or even of morbid analysis--you had to be on some
+footing, you had to feel some confidence, pretty different from his own
+up to now. He had never _not_ enjoyed passing his show on the other side
+of the street and taking it in thence with a casual obliquity; but he
+had never held optical commerce with the drawn blind for a moment longer
+than he could help. It _always_ looked horribly final and as if it never
+would come up again. Big and bare, with his name staring at him from the
+middle, it thus offered in its grimness a turn of comparison for Miss
+Cookham's ominous visage. She never wore pretty, dotty, transparent
+veils, as Nan Drury did, and the words "Herbert Dodd"--save that she had
+sounded them at him there two or three times more like a Meg Merrilies
+or the bold bad woman in one of the melodramas of high life given during
+the fine season in the pavilion at the end of Properley Pier--were
+dreadfully, were permanently, seated on her lips. _She_ was grim, no
+mistake.
+
+That evening, alone in the back room above the shop, he saw so little
+what he could do that, consciously demoralised for the hour, he gave way
+to tears about it. Her taking a stand so incredibly "low," that was
+what he couldn't get over. The particular bitterness of his cup was
+his having let himself in for a struggle on such terms--the use, on
+her side, of the vulgarest process known to the law: the vulgarest, the
+vulgarest, he kept repeating that, clinging to the help rendered him by
+this imputation to his terrorist of the vice he sincerely believed he
+had ever, among difficulties (for oh he recognised the difficulties!)
+sought to keep most alien to him. He knew what he was, in a dismal,
+down-trodden sphere enough--the lean young proprietor of an old business
+that had itself rather shrivelled with age than ever grown fat, the
+purchase and sale of second-hand books and prints, with the back street
+of a long-fronted south-coast watering-place (Old Town by good luck) for
+the dusky field of his life. But he had gone in for all the education he
+could get--his educated customers would often hang about for more talk
+by the half-hour at a time, he actually feeling himself, and almost with
+a scruple, hold them there; which meant that he had had (he couldn't be
+blind to that) natural taste and had lovingly cultivated and formed it.
+Thus, from as far back as he could remember, there had been things all
+round him that he suffered from when other people didn't; and he had
+kept most of his suffering to himself--which had taught him, in a
+manner, _how_ to suffer, and how almost to like to.
+
+So, at any rate, he had never let go his sense of certain differences,
+he had done everything he could to keep it up--whereby everything that
+was vulgar was on the wrong side of his line. He had believed, for a
+series of strange, oppressed months, that Kate Cookham's manners
+and tone were on the right side; she had been governess--for young
+children--in two very good private families, and now had classes in
+literature and history for bigger girls who were sometimes brought by
+their mammas; in fact, coming in one day to look over his collection of
+students' manuals, and drawing it out, as so many did, for the evident
+sake of his conversation, she had appealed to him that very first time
+by her apparently pronounced intellectual side--goodness knew she didn't
+even then by the physical!--which she had artfully kept in view till she
+had entangled him past undoing. And it had all been but the cheapest of
+traps--when he came to take the pieces apart a bit--laid over a brazen
+avidity. What he now collapsed for, none the less--what he sank down on
+a chair at a table and nursed his weak, scared sobs in his resting arms
+for--was the fact that, whatever the trap, it held him as with the grip
+of sharp murderous steel. There he was, there he was; alone in the brown
+summer dusk--brown through _his_ windows--he cried and he cried. He
+shouldn't get out without losing a limb. The only question was which of
+his limbs it should be.
+
+Before he went out, later on--for he at last felt the need to--he could,
+however, but seek to remove from his face and his betraying eyes, over
+his washing-stand, the traces of his want of fortitude. He brushed
+himself up; with which, catching his stricken image a bit spectrally
+in an old dim toilet-glass, he knew again, in a flash, the glow of
+righteous resentment. Who should be assured against coarse usage if
+a man of his really elegant, perhaps in fact a trifle over-refined or
+"effete" appearance, his absolutely gentlemanlike type, couldn't be?
+He never went so far as to rate himself, with exaggeration, a gentleman;
+but he would have maintained against all comers, with perfect candour
+and as claiming a high advantage, that he was, in spite of that
+liability to blubber, "like" one; which he _was_ no doubt, for that
+matter, at several points. Like what lady then, who could ever possibly
+have been taken for one, was Kate Cookham, and therefore how could one
+have anything--anything of the intimate and private order--out with her
+fairly and on the plane, the only possible one, of common equality? He
+might find himself crippled for life; he believed verily, the more he
+thought, that that was what was before him. But be ended by seeing this
+doom in the almost redeeming light of the fact that it would all have
+been because he was, comparatively, too aristocratic. Yes, a man in his
+station couldn't afford to carry that so far--it must sooner or later,
+in one way or another, spell ruin. Never mind--it was the only thing
+he could be. Of course he should exquisitely suffer--but when hadn't
+he exquisitely suffered? How was he going to get through life by _any_
+arrangement without that? No wonder such a woman as Kate Cookham had
+been keen to annex so rare a value. The right thing would have been that
+the highest price should be paid for it--by such a different sort of
+logic from this nightmare of _his_ having to pay.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+Which was the way, of course, he talked to Nan Drury--as he had felt the
+immediate wild need to do; for he should perhaps be able to bear it
+all somehow or other with _her_--while they sat together, when time and
+freedom served, on one of the very last, the far westward, benches
+of the interminable sea-front. It wasn't every one who walked so far,
+especially at that flat season--the only ghost of a bustle now, save for
+the gregarious, the obstreperous haunters of the fluttering, far-shining
+Pier, being reserved for the sunny Parade of midwinter. It wasn't every
+one who cared for the sunsets (which you got awfully well from there
+and which were a particular strong point of the lower, the more
+"sympathetic," as Herbert Dodd liked to call it, Properley horizon) as
+he had always intensely cared, and as he had found Nan Drury care; to
+say nothing of his having also observed how little they directly spoke
+to Miss Cookham. He had taught this oppressive companion to notice
+them a bit, as he had taught her plenty of other things, but that was
+a different matter; for the reason that the "land's end" (stretching a
+point it carried off that name) had been, and had had to be, by their
+lack of more sequestered resorts and conveniences, the scene of so much
+of what she styled their wooing-time--or, to put it more properly, of
+the time during which she had made the straightest and most unabashed
+love to _him_: just as it could henceforth but render possible, under
+an equal rigour, that he should enjoy there periods of consolation from
+beautiful, gentle, tender-souled Nan, to whom he was now at last, after
+the wonderful way they had helped each other to behave, going to make
+love, absolutely unreserved and abandoned, absolutely reckless and
+romantic love, a refuge from poisonous reality, as hard as ever he
+might.
+
+The league-long, paved, lighted, garden-plotted, seated and refuged
+Marina renounced its more or less celebrated attractions to break off
+short here; and an inward curve of the kindly westward shore almost made
+a wide-armed bay, with all the ugliness between town and country, and
+the further casual fringe of the coast, turning, as the day waned, to
+rich afternoon blooms of grey and brown and distant--it might fairly
+have been beautiful Hampshire--blue. Here it was that, all that blighted
+summer, with Nan--from the dreadful May-day on--he gave himself up to
+the reaction of intimacy with the _kind_ of woman, at least, that he
+liked; even if of everything else that might make life possible he was
+to be, by what he could make out, forever starved. Here it was that--as
+well as on whatever other scraps of occasions they could manage--Nan
+began to take off and fold up and put away in her pocket her pretty,
+dotty, becoming veil; as under the logic of his having so tremendously
+ceased, in the shake of his dark storm-gust, to be engaged to another
+woman. Her removal of that obstacle to a trusted friend's assuring
+himself whether the peachlike bloom' of her finer facial curves bore
+the test of such further inquiry into their cool sweetness as might
+reinforce a mere baffled gaze--her momentous, complete surrender of so
+much of her charm, let us say, both marked the change in the situation
+of the pair and established the record of their perfect observance of
+every propriety for so long before. They afterward in fact could have
+dated it, their full clutch of their freedom and the bliss of their
+having so little henceforth to consider save their impotence, their
+poverty, their ruin; dated it from the hour of his recital to her
+of the--at the first blush--quite appalling upshot of his second and
+conclusive "scene of violence" with the mistress of his fortune,
+when the dire terms of his release had had to be formally, and oh!
+so abjectly, acceded to. She "compromised," the cruel brute, for Four
+Hundred Pounds down--for not a farthing less would she stay her strength
+from "proceedings." No jury in the land but would give her six, on the
+nail ("Oh she knew quite where she was, thank you!") and he might feel
+lucky to get off with so whole a skin. This was the sum, then, for which
+he had grovellingly compounded--under an agreement sealed by a supreme
+exchange of remarks.
+
+"'Where in the name of lifelong ruin are you to _find_ Four Hundred?'"
+Miss Cookham had mockingly repeated after him while he gasped as from
+the twist of her grip on his collar. "That's _your_ look-out, and I
+should have thought you'd have made sure you knew before you decided on
+your base perfidy." And then she had mouthed and minced, with ever
+so false a gentility, her consistent, her sickening conclusion. "Of
+course--I may mention again--if you too distinctly object to the trouble
+of looking, you know where to find _me_."
+
+"I had rather starve to death than ever go within a mile of you!"
+Herbert described himself as having sweetly answered; and that was
+accordingly where _they_ devotedly but desperately were--he and she,
+penniless Nan Drury. Her father, of Drury & Dean, was, like so far
+too many other of the anxious characters who peered through the dull
+window-glass of dusty offices at Properley, an Estate and House Agent,
+Surveyor, Valuer and Auctioneer; she was the prettiest of six, with two
+brothers, neither of the least use, but, thanks to the manner in which
+their main natural protector appeared to languish under the accumulation
+of his attributes, they couldn't be said very particularly or positively
+to live. Their continued collective existence was a good deal of a
+miracle even to themselves, though they had fallen into the way of not
+unnecessarily, or too nervously, exchanging remarks upon it, and had
+even in a sort, from year to year, got used to it. Nan's brooding
+pinkness when he talked to her, her so very parted lips, considering her
+pretty teeth, her so very parted eyelids, considering her pretty eyes,
+all of which might have been those of some waxen image of uncritical
+faith, cooled the heat of his helplessness very much as if he were
+laying his head on a tense silk pillow. She had, it was true, forms
+of speech, familiar watchwords, that affected him as small scratchy
+perforations of the smooth surface from within; but his pleasure in
+her and need of her were independent of such things and really almost
+altogether determined by the fact of the happy, even if all so lonely,
+forms and instincts in her which claimed kinship with his own. With
+her natural elegance stamped on her as by a die, with her dim and
+disinherited individual refinement of grace, which would have made any
+one wonder who she was anywhere--hat and veil and feather-boa and smart
+umbrella-knob and all--with her regular God-given distinction of type,
+in fine, she couldn't abide vulgarity much more than he could.
+
+Therefore it didn't seem to him, under his stress, to matter
+particularly, for instance, if she _would_ keep on referring so many
+things to the time, as she called it, when she came into his life--his
+own great insistence and contention being that she hadn't in the least
+entered there till his mind was wholly made up to eliminate his other
+friend. What that methodical fury was so fierce to bring home to him was
+the falsity to herself involved in the later acquaintance; whereas just
+his precious right to hold up his head to everything--before himself at
+least--sprang from the fact that she couldn't make dates fit anyhow.
+He hadn't so much as heard of his true beauty's existence (she had come
+back but a few weeks before from her two years with her terribly trying
+deceased aunt at Swindon, previous to which absence she had been an
+unnoticeable chit) till days and days, ever so many, upon his honour,
+after he had struck for freedom by his great first backing-out
+letter--the precious document, the treat for a British jury, in which,
+by itself, Miss Cookham's firm instructed her to recognise the prospect
+of a fortune. The way the ruffians had been "her" ruffians--it appeared
+as if she had posted them behind her from the first of her beginning
+her game!--and the way "instructions" bounced out, with it, at a touch,
+larger than life, as if she had arrived with her pocket full of them!
+The date of the letter, taken with its other connections, and the date
+of _her_ first give-away for himself, his seeing her get out of the
+Brighton train with Bill Frankle that day he had gone to make the row
+at the Station parcels' office about the miscarriage of the box from
+Wales--those were the facts it sufficed him to point to, as he had
+pointed to them for Nan Drury's benefit, goodness knew, often and often
+enough. If he didn't seek occasion to do so for any one else's--in open
+court as they said--that was his own affair, or at least his and Nan's.
+
+It little mattered, meanwhile, if on their bench of desolation, all that
+summer--and it may be added for summers and summers, to say nothing of
+winters, there and elsewhere, to come--she did give way to her artless
+habit of not contradicting him enough, which led to her often trailing
+up and down before him, too complacently, the untimely shreds and
+patches of his own glooms and desperations. "Well, I'm glad I _am_ in
+your life, terrible as it is, however or whenever I did come in!" and
+"_Of course_ you'd rather have starved--and it seems pretty well as if
+we shall, doesn't it?--than have bought her off by a false, abhorrent
+love, wouldn't you?" and "It isn't as if she hadn't made up to you the
+way she did before you had so much as looked at her, is it? or as if you
+hadn't shown her what you felt her really to be before you had so much
+as looked at _me_, is it either?" and "Yes, how on earth, pawning the
+shoes on your feet, you're going to raise another shilling--_that's_
+what you want to know, poor darling, don't you?"
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+His creditor, at the hour it suited her, transferred her base of
+operations to town, to which impenetrable scene she had also herself
+retired; and his raising of the first Two Hundred, during five
+exasperated and miserable months, and then of another Seventy piecemeal,
+bleedingly, after long delays and under the epistolary whiplash cracked
+by the London solicitor in his wretched ear even to an effect of the
+very report of Miss Cookham's tongue--these melancholy efforts formed
+a scramble up an arduous steep where steps were planted and missed, and
+bared knees were excoriated, and clutches at wayside tufts succeeded and
+failed, on a system to which poor Nan could have intelligently entered
+only if she had been somehow less ladylike. She kept putting into his
+mouth the sick quaver of where he should find the rest, the always
+inextinguishable rest, long after he had in silent rage fallen away from
+any further payment at all--at first, he had but too blackly felt, for
+himself, to the still quite possible non-exclusion of some penetrating
+ray of "exposure." He didn't care a tuppenny damn now, and in point
+of fact, after he had by hook and by crook succeeded in being able to
+unload to the tune of Two-Hundred-and-Seventy, and then simply returned
+the newest reminder of his outstanding obligation unopened, this latter
+belated but real sign of fight, the first he had risked, remarkably
+caused nothing at all to happen; nothing at least but his being moved
+to quite tragically rueful wonder as to whether exactly some such
+demonstration mightn't have served his turn at an earlier stage.
+
+He could by this time at any rate measure his ruin--with three fantastic
+mortgages on his house, his shop, his stock, and a burden of interest
+to carry under which his business simply stretched itself inanimate,
+without strength for a protesting kick, without breath for an appealing
+groan. Customers lingering for further enjoyment of the tasteful remarks
+he had cultivated the unobstrusive art of throwing in, would at this
+crisis have found plenty to repay them, might his wit have strayed a
+little more widely still, toward a circuitous egotistical outbreak, from
+the immediate question of the merits of this and that author or of the
+condition of this and that volume. He had come to be conscious through
+it all of strangely glaring at people when they tried to haggle--and
+not, as formerly, with the glare of derisive comment on their overdone
+humour, but with that of fairly idiotised surrender--as if they were
+much mistaken in supposing, for the sake of conversation, that he might
+take himself for saveable by the difference between sevenpence and
+ninepence. He watched everything impossible and deplorable happen as in
+an endless prolongation of his nightmare; watched himself proceed, that
+is, with the finest, richest incoherence, to the due preparation of his
+catastrophe. Everything came to seem _equally_ part of this--in complete
+defiance of proportion; even his final command of detachment, on
+the bench of desolation (where each successive fact of his dire case
+regularly cut itself out black, yet of senseless silhouette, against the
+red west) in respect to poor Nan's flat infelicities, which for the most
+part kept no pace with the years or with change, but only shook like
+hard peas in a child's rattle, the same peas a ways, of course, so long
+as the rattle didn't split open with usage or from somebody's act of
+irritation. They represented, or they had long done so, her contribution
+to the more superficial of the two branches of intimacy--the
+intellectual alternative, the one that didn't merely consist of her
+preparing herself for his putting his arm round her waist.
+
+There were to have been moments, nevertheless, all the first couple of
+years, when she did touch in him, though to his actively dissimulating
+it, a more or less sensitive nerve--moments as they were too, to do
+her justice, when she treated him not to his own wisdom, or even folly,
+served up cold, but to a certain small bitter fruit of her personal,
+her unnatural, plucking. "I wonder that since _she_ took legal advice
+so freely, to come down on you, you didn't take it yourself, a little,
+before being so sure you stood no chance. Perhaps _your_ people would
+have been sure of something quite different--_perhaps_, I only say, you
+know." She "only" said it, but she said it, none the less, in the early
+time, about once a fortnight. In the later, and especially after their
+marriage, it had a way of coming up again to the exclusion, as it seemed
+to him, of almost everything else; in fact during the most dismal years,
+the three of the loss of their two children, the long stretch of sordid
+embarrassment ending in her death, he was afterward to think of her
+as having generally said it several times a day. He was then also to
+remember that his answer, before she had learnt to discount it, had been
+inveterately at hand: "What would any solicitor have done or wanted to
+do but drag me just into the hideous public arena"--he had always so put
+it--"that it has been at any rate my pride and my honour, the one rag
+of self-respect covering my nakedness, to have loathed and avoided from
+every point of view?"
+
+That had disposed of it so long as he cared, and by the time he had
+ceased to care for anything it had also lost itself in the rest of the
+vain babble of home. After his wife's death, during his year of mortal
+solitude, it awoke again as an echo of far-off things--far-off, very
+far-off, because he felt then not ten but twenty years older. That was
+by reason simply of the dead weight with which his load of debt had
+settled--the persistence of his misery dragging itself out. With all
+that had come and gone the bench of desolation was still there, just as
+the immortal flush of the westward sky kept hanging its indestructible
+curtain. He had never got away--everything had left him, but he himself
+had been able to turn his back on nothing--and now, his day's labour
+before a dirty desk at the Gas Works ended, he more often than not,
+almost any season at temperate Properley serving his turn, took his slow
+straight way to the Land's End and, collapsing there to rest, sat often
+for an hour at a time staring before him. He might in these sessions,
+with his eyes on the grey-green sea, have been counting again and
+still recounting the beads, almost all worn smooth, of his rosary of
+pain--which had for the fingers of memory and the recurrences of wonder
+the same felt break of the smaller ones by the larger that would have
+aided a pious mumble in some dusky altar-chapel.
+
+If it has been said of him that when once full submersion, as from far
+back, had visibly begun to await him, he watched himself, in a cold
+lucidity, _do_ punctually and necessarily each of the deplorable things
+that were inconsistent with his keeping afloat, so at present again he
+might have been held agaze just by the presented grotesqueness of that
+vigil. Such ghosts of dead seasons were all he _had_ now to watch--such
+a recaptured sense for instance as that of the dismal unavailing
+awareness that had attended his act of marriage. He had let submersion
+final and absolute become the signal for it--a mere minor determinant
+having been the more or less contemporaneously unfavourable effect on
+the business of Drury & Dean of the sudden disappearance of Mr. Dean
+with the single small tin box into which the certificates of the
+firm's credit had been found to be compressible. That had been his
+only form--or had at any rate seemed his only one. He couldn't not have
+married, no doubt, just as he couldn't not have suffered the last degree
+of humiliation and almost of want, or just as his wife and children
+couldn't not have died of the little he was able, under dire reiterated
+pinches, to do for them; but it was "rum," for final solitary brooding,
+that he hadn't appeared to see his way definitely to undertake the
+support of a family till the last scrap of his little low-browed,
+high-toned business, and the last figment of "property" in the old tiled
+and timbered shell that housed it, had been sacrificed to creditors
+mustering six rows deep.
+
+Of course what had counted too in the odd order was that even at the
+end of the two or three years he had "allowed" her, Kate Cookham, gorged
+with his unholy tribute, had become the subject of no successful siege
+on the part either of Bill Frankle or, by what he could make out, of any
+one else. She had judged decent--he could do her that justice--to take
+herself personally out of his world, as he called it, for good and all,
+as soon as he had begun regularly to bleed; and, to whatever lucrative
+practice she might be devoting her great talents in London or elsewhere,
+he felt his conscious curiosity about her as cold, with time, as the
+passion of vain protest that she had originally left him to. He could
+recall but two direct echoes of her in all the bitter years--both
+communicated by Bill Frankle, disappointed and exposed and at last
+quite remarkably ingenuous sneak, who had also, from far back, taken to
+roaming the world, but who, during a period, used fitfully and
+ruefully to reappear. Herbert Dodd had quickly seen, at their first
+meeting--every one met every one sooner or later at Properley, if
+meeting it could always be called, either in the glare or the gloom of
+the explodedly attractive Embankment--that no silver stream of which he
+himself had been the remoter source could have played over the career of
+this all but repudiated acquaintance. That hadn't fitted with his first,
+his quite primitive raw vision of the probabilities, and he had further
+been puzzled when, much later on, it had come to him in a roundabout way
+that Miss Cookham was supposed to be, or to have been, among them for
+a few days "on the quiet," and that Frankle, who had seen her and who
+claimed to know more about it than he said, was cited as authority for
+the fact. But he hadn't himself at this juncture seen Frankle; he had
+only wondered, and a degree of mystification had even remained.
+
+That memory referred itself to the dark days of old Drury's smash,
+the few weeks between his partner's dastardly flight and Herbert's own
+comment on it in the form of his standing up with Nan for the nuptial
+benediction of the Vicar of St. Bernard's on a very cold, bleak December
+morning and amid a circle of seven or eight long-faced, red-nosed and
+altogether dowdy persons. Poor Nan herself had come to affect him as
+scarce other than red-nosed and dowdy by that time, but this only added,
+in his then, and indeed in his lasting view, to his general and his
+particular morbid bravery. He had cultivated ignorance, there were small
+inward immaterial luxuries he could scrap-pily cherish even among other,
+and the harshest, destitutions; and one of them was represented by
+this easy refusal of his mind to render to certain passages of his
+experience, to various ugly images, names, associations, the homage of
+continued attention. That served him, that helped him; but what happened
+when, a dozen dismal years having worn themselves away, he sat single
+and scraped bare again, as if his long wave of misfortune had washed him
+far beyond everything and then conspicuously retreated, was that, thus
+stranded by tidal action, deposited in the lonely hollow of his fate, he
+felt even sustaining pride turn to nought and heard no challenge from
+it when old mystifications, stealing forth in the dusk of the day's work
+done, scratched at the door of speculation and hung about, through the
+idle hours, for irritated notice.
+
+The evenings of his squalid clerkship were all leisure now, but there
+was nothing at all near home on the other hand, for his imagination,
+numb and stiff from its long chill, to begin to play with. Voices from
+far off would quaver to him therefore in the stillness; where he knew
+for the most recurrent, little by little, the faint wail of his wife.
+He had become deaf to it in life, but at present, after so great an
+interval, he listened again, listened and listened, and seemed to hear
+it sound as by the pressure of some weak broken spring. It phrased for
+his ear her perpetual question, the one she had come to at the last as
+under the obsession of a discovered and resented wrong, a wrong withal
+that had its source much more in his own action than anywhere else.
+"That you didn't make _sure_ she could have done anything, that you
+didn't make sure and that you were too afraid!"--this commemoration
+had ended by playing such a part of Nan's finally quite contracted
+consciousness as to exclude everything else.
+
+At the time, somehow, he had made his terms with it; he had then more
+urgent questions to meet than that of the poor creature's taste in
+worrying pain; but actually it struck him--not the question, but the
+fact itself of the taste--as the one thing left over from all that had
+come and gone. So it was; nothing remained to him in the world, on the
+bench of desolation, but the option of taking up that echo--together
+with an abundance of free time for doing so. That he hadn't made sure of
+what might and what mightn't have been done to him, that he had been
+too afraid--had the proposition a possible bearing on his present
+apprehension of things? To reply indeed he would have had to be able to
+say what his present apprehension of things, left to itself, amounted
+to; an uninspiring effort indeed he judged it, sunk to so poor a pitch
+was his material of thought--though it might at last have been the feat
+he sought to perform as he stared at the grey-green sea.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+It was seldom he was disturbed in any form of sequestered speculation,
+or that at his times of predilection, especially that of the long autumn
+blankness between the season of trippers and the season of Bath-chairs,
+there were westward stragglers enough to jar upon his settled sense of
+priority. For himself his seat, the term of his walk, was consecrated;
+it had figured to him for years as the last (though there were others,
+not immediately near it, and differently disposed, that might have
+aspired to the title); so that he could invidiously distinguish as he
+approached, make out from a distance any accident of occupation, and
+never draw nearer while that unpleasantness lasted. What he disliked
+was to compromise on his tradition, whether for a man, a woman or a
+connoodling couple; it was to idiots of this last composition he most
+objected, he having sat there, in the past, alone, having sat there
+interminably with Nan, having sat there with--well, with other women
+when women, at hours of ease, could still care or count for him, but
+having never shared the place with any shuffling or snuffling stranger.
+It was a world of fidgets and starts, however, the world of his present
+dreariness--he alone possessed in it, he seemed to make out, of the
+secret, of the dignity of sitting still with one's fate; so that if
+he took a turn about or rested briefly elsewhere even foolish
+philanderers--though this would never have been his and Nan's way--ended
+soon by some adjournment as visibly pointless as their sprawl.
+Then, their backs turned, he would drop down on it, the bench of
+desolation--which was what he, and he only, made it by sad adoption;
+where, for that matter, moreover, once he had settled at his end, it
+was marked that nobody else ever came to sit. He saw people, along the
+Marina, take this liberty with other resting presences; but his own
+struck them perhaps in general as either of too grim or just of too
+dingy a vicinage. He might have affected the fellow-lounger as a man
+evil, unsociable, possibly engaged in working out the idea of a
+crime; or otherwise, more probably--for on the whole he surely looked
+harmless--devoted to the worship of some absolutely unpractical remorse.
+
+On a certain October Saturday he had got off, as usual, early; but the
+afternoon light, his pilgrimage drawing to its aim, could still show
+him, at long range, the rare case of an established usurper. His impulse
+was then, as by custom, to deviate a little and wait, all the more
+that the occupant of the bench was a lady, and that ladies, when alone,
+were--at that austere end of the varied frontal stretch--markedly
+discontinuous; but he kept on at sight of this person's rising, while he
+was still fifty yards off, and proceeding, her back turned, to the edge
+of the broad terrace, the outer line of which followed the interspaced
+succession of seats and was guarded by an iron rail from the abruptly
+lower level of the beach. Here she stood before the sea, while our
+friend on his side, recognising no reason to the contrary, sank into the
+place she had quitted. There were other benches, eastward and off by the
+course of the drive, for vague ladies. The lady indeed thus thrust upon
+Herbert's vision might have struck an observer either as not quite vague
+or as vague with a perverse intensity suggesting design.
+
+Not that our own observer at once thought of these things; he only took
+in, and with no great interest, that the obtruded presence was a "real"
+lady; that she was dressed--he noticed such matters--with a certain
+elegance of propriety or intention of harmony; and that she remained
+perfectly still for a good many minutes; so many in fact that he
+presently ceased to heed her, and that as she wasn't straight before
+him, but as far to the left as was consistent with his missing her
+profile, he had turned himself to one of his sunsets again (though
+it wasn't quite one of his best) and let it hold him for a time that
+enabled her to alter her attitude and present a fuller view. Without
+other movement, but her back now to the sea and her face to the odd
+person who had appropriated her corner, she had taken a sustained
+look at him before he was aware she had stirred. On that apprehension,
+however, he became also promptly aware of her direct, her applied
+observation. As his sense of this quickly increased he wondered who she
+was and what she wanted--what, as it were, was the matter with her; it
+suggested to him, the next thing, that she had, under some strange idea,
+actually been waiting for him. Any idea about him to-day on the part of
+any one could only be strange.
+
+Yes, she stood there with the ample width of the Marina between them,
+but turned to him, for all the world, as to show frankly that she was
+concerned with him. And she _was_--oh yes--a real lady: a middle-aged
+person, of good appearance and of the best condition, in quiet but
+"handsome" black, save for very fresh white kid gloves, and with a
+pretty, dotty, becoming veil, predominantly white, adjusted to her
+countenance; which through it somehow, even to his imperfect sight,
+showed strong fine black brows and what he would have called on the spot
+character. But she was pale; her black brows were the blacker behind
+the flattering tissue; she still kept a hand, for support, on the
+terrace-rail, while the other, at the end of an extended arm that had
+an effect of rigidity, clearly pressed hard on the knob of a small and
+shining umbrella, the lower extremity of whose stick was equally, was
+sustainingly, firm on the walk. So this mature, qualified, important
+person stood and looked at the limp, undistinguished--oh his values of
+aspect now!--shabby man on the bench.
+
+It was extraordinary, but the fact of her interest, by immensely
+surprising, by immediately agitating him, blinded him at first to her
+identity and, for the space of his long stare, diverted him from it;
+with which even then, when recognition did break, the sense of the
+shock, striking inward, simply consumed itself in gaping stillness. He
+sat there motionless and weak, fairly faint with surprise, and there
+was no instant, in all the succession of so many, at which Kate Cookham
+could have caught the special sign of his intelligence. Yet that she
+did catch something he saw--for he saw her steady herself, by her
+two supported hands, to meet it; while, after she had done so, a very
+wonderful thing happened, of which he could scarce, later on, have made
+a clear statement, though he was to think it over again and again. She
+moved toward him, she reached him, she stood there, she sat down near
+him, he merely passive and wonderstruck, unresentfully "impressed,"
+gaping and taking it in--and all as with an open allowance on the part
+of each, so that they positively and quite intimately met in it, o the
+impertinence for their case, this case that brought them again,
+after horrible years, face to face, of the vanity, the profanity, the
+impossibility, of anything between them but silence.
+
+Nearer to him, beside him at a considerable interval (oh she was
+immensely considerate!) she presented him, in the sharp terms of
+her transformed state--but thus the more amply, formally,
+ceremoniously--with the reasons that would serve him best for not having
+precipitately known her. She was simply another and a totally different
+person, and the exhibition of it to which she had proceeded with this
+solemn anxiety was all, obviously, for his benefit--once he had, as
+he appeared to be doing, provisionally accepted her approach. He had
+remembered her as inclined to the massive and disowned by the graceful;
+but this was a spare, fine, worn, almost wasted lady--who had repaired
+waste, it was true, however, with something he could only appreciate as
+a rich accumulation of manner. She was strangely older, so far as that
+went--marked by experience and as if many things had happened to
+her; her face had suffered, to its improvement, contraction and
+concentration; and if he had granted, of old and from the first, that
+her eyes were remarkable, had they yet ever had for him this sombre
+glow? Withal, something said, she had flourished--he felt it, wincing at
+it, as that; she had had a life, a career, a history--something that
+her present waiting air and nervous consciousness couldn't prevent his
+noting there as a deeply latent assurance. She had flourished, she had
+flourished--though to learn it after this fashion was somehow at the
+same time not to feel she flaunted it. It wasn't thus execration that
+she revived in him; she made in fact, exhibitively, as he could only
+have put it, the matter of long ago irrelevant, and these extraordinary
+minutes of their reconstituted relation--how many? how few?--addressed
+themselves altogether to new possibilities.
+
+Still it after a little awoke in him as with the throb of a touched
+nerve that his own very attitude was supplying a connection; he knew
+presently that he wouldn't have had her go, _couldn't_ have made a
+sign to her for it--which was what she had been uncertain of--without
+speaking to him; and that therefore he was, as at the other, the hideous
+time, passive to whatever she might do. She was even yet, she was
+always, in possession of him; she had known how and where to find him
+and had appointed that he should see her, and, though he had never
+dreamed it was again to happen to him, he was meeting it already as if
+it might have been the only thing that the least humanly _could_.
+Yes, he had come back there to flop, by long custom, upon the bench of
+desolation _as_ the man in the whole place, precisely, to whom nothing
+worth more than tuppence could happen; whereupon, in the grey desert of
+his consciousness, the very earth had suddenly opened and flamed. With
+this, further, it came over him that he hadn't been prepared and
+that his wretched appearance must show it. He wasn't fit to receive
+a visit--any visit; a flush for his felt misery, in the light of her
+opulence, broke out in his lean cheeks. But if he coloured he sat as he
+was--she should at least, as a visitor, be satisfied. His eyes only, at
+last, turned from her and resumed a little their gaze at the sea. That,
+however, didn't relieve him, and he perpetrated in the course of another
+moment the odd desperate gesture of raising both his hands to his face
+and letting them, while he pressed it to them, cover and guard it. It
+was as he held them there that she at last spoke.
+
+"I'll go away if you wish me to." And then she waited a moment. "I
+mean now--now that you've seen I'm here. I wanted you to know it, and I
+thought of writing--I was afraid of our meeting accidentally. Then I was
+afraid that if I wrote you might refuse. So I thought of this way--as
+I knew you must come out here." She went on with pauses, giving him a
+chance to make a sign. "I've waited several days. But I'll do what you
+wish. Only I should like in that case to come back." Again she stopped;
+but strange was it to him that he wouldn't have made her break off. She
+held him in boundless wonder. "I came down--I mean I came from town--on
+purpose. I'm staying on still, and I've a great patience and will give
+you time. Only may I say it's important? Now that I do see you," she
+brought out in the same way, "I see how inevitable it was--I mean that I
+should have wanted to come. But you must feel about it as you can," she
+wound up--"till you get used to the idea."
+
+She spoke so for accommodation, for discretion, for some ulterior view
+already expressed in her manner, that, after taking well in, from behind
+his hands, that this was her very voice--oh ladylike!--heard, and heard
+in deprecation of displeasure, after long years again, he uncovered his
+face and freshly met her eyes. More than ever he couldn't have known
+her. Less and less remained of the figure all the facts of which had
+long ago so hardened for him. She was a handsome, grave, authoritative,
+but refined and, as it were, physically rearranged person--she, the
+outrageous vulgarity of whose prime assault had kept him shuddering so
+long as a shudder was in him. That atrocity in her was what everything
+had been built on, but somehow, all strangely, it was slipping from him;
+so that, after the oddest fashion conceivable, when he felt he mustn't
+let her go, it was as if he were putting out his hand to save the past,
+the hideous real unalterable past, exactly as she had been the cause of
+its being and the cause of his undergoing it. He should have been too
+awfully "sold" if he wasn't going to have been right about her.
+
+"I don't mind," he heard himself at last say. Not to mind had seemed for
+the instant the length he was prepared to go; but he was afterward aware
+of how soon he must have added: "You've come on purpose to see me?" He
+was on the point of putting to her further: "What then do you want of
+me?" But he would keep--yes, in time--from appearing to show he cared.
+If he showed he cared, where then would be his revenge? So he was
+already, within five minutes, thinking his revenge uncomfortably over
+instead of just comfortably knowing it. What came to him, at any
+rate, as they actually fell to talk, was that, with such precautions,
+considerations, reduplications of consciousness, almost avowed feelings
+of her way on her own part, and light fingerings of his chords of
+sensibility, she was understanding, she _had_ understood, more things
+than all the years, up to this strange eventide, had given him an
+inkling of. They talked, they went on--he hadn't let her retreat, to
+whatever it committed him and however abjectly it did so; yet keeping
+off and off, dealing with such surface facts as involved ancient
+acquaintance but held abominations at bay. The recognition, the
+attestation that she _had_ come down for him, that there would be
+reasons, that she had even hovered and watched, assured herself a little
+of his habits (which she managed to speak of as if, on their present
+ampler development, they were much to be deferred to), detained them
+enough to make vivid how, listen as stiffly or as serenely as he might,
+she sat there in fear, just as she had so stood there at first, and that
+her fear had really to do with her calculation of some sort of chance
+with him. What chance could it possibly be? Whatever it might have
+done, on this prodigious showing, with Kate Cookham, it made the present
+witness to the state of his fortunes simply exquisite: he ground his
+teeth secretly together as he saw he should have to take _that_. For
+what did it mean but that she would have liked to pity him if she could
+have done it with safety? Ah, however, he must give her no measure of
+safety!
+
+By the time he had remarked, with that idea, that she probably saw few
+changes about them there that weren't for the worse--the place was going
+down, down and down, so fast that goodness knew where it would stop--and
+had also mentioned that in spite of this he himself remained faithful,
+with all its faults loving it still; by the time he had, after that
+fashion, superficially indulged her, adding a few further light and
+just sufficiently dry reflections on local matters, the disappearance of
+landmarks and important persons, the frequency of gales, the low policy
+of the town-council in playing down to cheap excursionists: by the time
+he had so acquitted himself, and she had observed, of her own motion,
+that she was staying at the Royal, which he knew for the time-honoured,
+the conservative and exclusive hotel, he had made out for himself
+one thing at least, the amazing fact that he had been landed by his
+troubles, at the end of time, in a "social relation," of all things
+in the world, and how of that luxury he was now having unprecedented
+experience. He had but once in his life had his nose in the Royal, on
+the occasion of his himself delivering a parcel during some hiatus in
+his succession of impossible small boys and meeting in the hall the
+lady who had bought of him, in the morning, a set of Crabbe, largely, he
+flattered himself, under the artful persuasion of his acute remarks
+on that author, gracefully associated by him, in this colloquy, he
+remembered, with a glance at Charles Lamb as well, and who went off in
+a day or two without settling, though he received her cheque from London
+three or four months later.
+
+_That_ hadn't been a social relation; and truly, deep within his appeal
+to himself to be remarkable, to be imperturbable and impenetrable, to
+be in fact quite incomparable now, throbbed the intense vision of his
+drawing out and draining dry the sensation he had begun to taste. He
+would do it, moreover--that would be the refinement of his art--not only
+without the betraying anxiety of a single question, but just even by
+seeing her flounder (since she must, in a vagueness deeply disconcerting
+to her) as to her real effect on him. She was distinctly floundering
+by the time he had brought her--it had taken ten minutes--down to a
+consciousness of absurd and twaddling topics, to the reported precarious
+state, for instance, of the syndicate running the Bijou Theatre at the
+Pierhead--all as an admonition that she might want him to want to know
+why she was thus waiting on him, might want it for all she was
+worth, before he had ceased to be so remarkable as not to ask her. He
+didn't--and this assuredly was wondrous enough--want to do anything
+worse to her than let her flounder; but he was willing to do that so
+long as it mightn't prevent his seeing at least where _he_ was. He
+seemed still to see where he was even at the minute that followed her
+final break-off, clearly intended to be resolute, from make-believe
+talk.
+
+"I wonder if I might prevail on you to come to tea with me to-morrow at
+five."
+
+He didn't so much as answer it--though he could scarcely believe his
+ears. To-morrow was Sunday, and the proposal referred, clearly, to the
+custom of "five-o'clock" tea, known to him only by the contemporary
+novel of manners and the catchy advertisement of table-linen. He had
+never in his life been present at any such luxurious rite, but he was
+offering practical indifference to it as a false mark of his sense that
+his social relation had already risen to his chin. "I gave up my very
+modest, but rather interesting little old book business, perhaps you
+know, ever so long ago."
+
+She floundered so that she could say nothing--meet _that_ with no
+possible word; all the less too that his tone, casual and colourless,
+wholly defied any apprehension of it as a reverse. Silence only came;
+but after a moment she returned to her effort. "If you _can_ come I
+shall be at home. To see you otherwise than thus was in fact what, as
+I tell you, I came down for. But I leave it," she returned, "to your
+feeling."
+
+He had at this, it struck him, an inspiration; which he required however
+a minute or two to decide to carry out; a minute or two during which
+the shake of his foot over his knee became an intensity of fidget. "Of
+course I know I still owe you a large sum of money. If it's about _that_
+you wish to see me," he went on, "I may as well tell you just here that
+I shall be able to meet my full obligation in the future as little as
+I've met it in the past. I can never," said Herbert Dodd, "pay up that
+balance."
+
+He had looked at her while he spoke, but on finishing looked off at the
+sea again and continued to agitate his foot. He knew now what he had
+done and why; and the sense of her fixed dark eyes on him during his
+speech and after didn't alter his small contentment. Yet even when she
+still said nothing he didn't turn round; he simply kept his corner as
+if _that_ were his point made, should it even be the last word between
+them. It might have been, for that matter, from the way in which she
+presently rose, gathering herself, her fine umbrella and her very small
+smart reticule, in the construction of which shining gilt much figured,
+well together, and, after standing another instant, moved across to the
+rail of the terrace as she had done before and remained, as before, with
+her back to him, though this time, it well might be, under a different
+fear. A quarter of an hour ago she hadn't tried him, and had had that
+anxiety; now that she had tried him it wasn't easier--but she was
+thinking what she still could do. He left her to think--nothing in fact
+more interesting than the way she might decide had ever happened to him;
+but it was a part of this also that as she turned round and came nearer
+again he didn't rise, he gave her no help. If she got any, at least,
+from his looking up at her only, meeting her fixed eyes once more in
+silence, that was her own affair. "You must think," she said--"you
+must take all your time, but I shall be at home." She left it to him
+thus--she insisted, with her idea, on leaving him something too. And
+on her side as well she showed an art--which resulted, after another
+instant, in his having to rise to his feet. He flushed afresh as he did
+it--it exposed him so shabbily the more; and now if she took him in,
+with each of his seedy items, from head to foot, he didn't and couldn't
+and wouldn't know it, attaching his eyes hard and straight to something
+quite away from them.
+
+It stuck in his throat to say he'd come, but she had so curious a way
+with her that he still less could say he wouldn't, and in a moment had
+taken refuge in something that was neither. "Are you married?"--he put
+it to her with that plainness, though it had seemed before he said it to
+do more for him than while she waited before replying.
+
+"No, I'm not married," she said; and then had another wait that might
+have amounted to a question of what this had to do with it.
+
+He surely couldn't have told her; so that he had recourse, a little
+poorly as he felt, but to an "Oh!" that still left them opposed. He
+turned away for it--that is for the poorness, which, lingering in the
+air, had almost a vulgar platitude; and when he presently again wheeled
+about she had fallen off as for quitting him, only with a pause, once
+more, for a last look. It was all a bit awkward, but he had another
+happy thought, which consisted in his silently raising his hat as for a
+sign of dignified dismissal. He had cultivated of old, for the occasions
+of life, the right, the discriminated bow, and now, out of the grey
+limbo of the time when he could care for such things, this flicker of
+propriety leaped and worked She might, for that matter, herself have
+liked it; since, receding further, only with her white face toward him,
+she paid it the homage of submission. He remained dignified, and she
+almost humbly went.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+Nothing in the world, on the Sunday afternoon, could have prevented
+him from going; he was not after all destitute of three or four such
+articles of clothing as, if they wouldn't particularly grace the
+occasion, wouldn't positively dishonour it. That deficiency might have
+kept him away, but no voice of the spirit, no consideration of pride. It
+sweetened his impatience in fact--for he fairly felt it a long time
+to wait--that his pride would really most find its account in his
+acceptance of these conciliatory steps. From the moment he could put
+it in that way--that he couldn't refuse to hear what she might have, so
+very elaborately, to say for herself--he ought certainly to be at his
+ease; in illustration of which he whistled odd snatches to himself as
+he hung about on that cloud-dappled autumn Sunday, a mild private
+minstrelsy that his lips hadn't known since when? The interval of the
+twenty-four hours, made longer by a night of many more revivals than
+oblivions, had in fact dragged not a little; in spite of which, however,
+our extremely brushed-up and trimmed and polished friend knew an
+unprecedented flutter as he was ushered, at the Royal Hotel, into Miss
+Cookham's sitting-room. Yes, it was an adventure, and he had never had
+an adventure in his life; the term, for him, was essentially a term
+of high appreciation--such as disqualified for that figure, under due
+criticism, every single passage of his past career.
+
+What struck him at the moment as qualifying in the highest degree this
+actual passage was the fact that at no great distance from his hostess
+in the luxurious room, as he apprehended it, in which the close of day
+had begun to hang a few shadows, sat a gentleman who rose as she rose,
+and whose name she at once mentioned to him. He had for Herbert Dodd all
+the air of a swell, the gentleman--rather red-faced and bald-headed, but
+moustachioed, waistcoated, necktied to the highest pitch, with an effect
+of chains and rings, of shining teeth in a glassily monocular smile; a
+wondrous apparition to have been asked to "meet" him, as in contemporary
+fiction, or for him to have been asked to meet. "Captain Roper, Mr.
+Herbert Dodd"--their entertainer introduced them, yes; but with a sequel
+immediately afterward more disconcerting apparently to Captain Roper
+himself even than to her second and more breathless visitor; a "Well
+then, good-bye till the next time," with a hand thrust straight out,
+which allowed the personage so addressed no alternative but to lay aside
+his teacup, even though Herbert saw there was a good deal left in it,
+and glare about him for his hat. Miss Cookham had had her tea-tray on a
+small table before her, she had served Captain Roper while waiting
+for Mr. Dodd; but she simply dismissed him now, with a high sweet
+unmistakable decision, a knowledge of what she was about, as our hero
+would have called it, which enlarged at a stroke the latter's view of
+the number of different things and sorts of things, in the sphere of the
+manners and ways of those living at their ease, that a social relation
+would put before one. Captain Roper would have liked to remain, would
+have liked more tea, but Kate signified in this direct fashion that
+she had had enough of him. Herbert had seen things, in his walk of
+life--rough things, plenty; but never things smoothed with that especial
+smoothness, carried out as it were by the fine form of Captain Roper's
+own retreat, which included even a bright convulsed leave-taking
+cognisance of the plain, vague individual, of no lustre at all and with
+the very low-class guard of an old silver watch buttoned away under an
+ill-made coat, to whom he was sacrificed.
+
+It came to Herbert as he left the place a shade less remarkable--though
+there was still wonder enough and to spare--that he had been even
+publicly and designedly sacrificed; exactly so that, as the door closed
+behind him, Kate Cookham, standing there to wait for it, could seem to
+say, across the room, to the friend of her youth, only by the expression
+of her fine eyes: "There--see what I do for you!" "For" him--that was
+the extraordinary thing, and not less so that he was already, within
+three minutes, after this fashion, taking it in as by the intensity of a
+new light; a light that was one somehow with this rich inner air of
+the plush-draped and much-mirrored hotel, where the fire-glow and
+the approach of evening confirmed together the privacy, and the loose
+curtains at the wide window were parted for a command of his old
+lifelong Parade--the field of life so familiar to him from below and in
+the wind and the wet, but which he had never in all the long years hung
+over at this vantage.
+
+"He's an acquaintance, but a bore," his hostess explained in respect to
+Captain Roper. "He turned up yesterday, but I didn't invite him, and I
+had said to him before you came in that I was expecting a gentleman with
+whom I should wish to be alone. I go quite straight at my idea that way,
+as a rule; but you know," she now strikingly went on, "how straight I
+go. And he had had," she added, "his tea."
+
+Dodd had been looking all round--had taken in, with the rest, the
+brightness, the distinguished elegance, as he supposed it, of the
+tea-service with which she was dealing and the variously tinted appeal
+of certain savoury edibles on plates. "Oh but he _hadn't_ had his tea!"
+he heard himself the next moment earnestly reply; which speech had at
+once betrayed, he was then quickly aware, the candour of his interest,
+the unsophisticated state that had survived so many troubles. If he was
+so interested how could he be proud, and if he was proud how could he be
+so interested?
+
+He had made her at any rate laugh outright, and was further conscious,
+for this, both that it was the first time of that since their new
+meeting, and that it didn't affect him as harsh. It affected him,
+however, as free, for she replied at once, still smiling and as a part
+of it: "Oh, I think we shall get on!"
+
+This told him he had made some difference for her, shown her the way,
+or something like it, that she hadn't been sure of yesterday; which
+moreover wasn't what he had intended--he had come armed for showing her
+nothing; so that after she had gone on with the same gain of gaiety,
+"You must at any rate comfortably have yours," there was but one answer
+for him to make.
+
+His eyes played again over the tea-things--they seemed strangely to help
+him; but he didn't sit down.
+
+"I've come, as you see--but I've come, please, to understand; and if you
+require to be alone with me, and if I break bread with you, it seems to
+me I should first know exactly where I am and to what you suppose I so
+commit myself." He had thought it out and over and over, particularly
+the turn about breaking bread; though perhaps he didn't give it, in
+her presence--this was impossible, her presence altered so many
+things--quite the full sound or the weight he had planned.
+
+But it had none the less come to his aid--it had made her perfectly
+grave. "You commit yourself to nothing. You're perfectly free. It's only
+I who commit myself."
+
+On which, while she stood there as if all handsomely and deferentially
+waiting for him to consider and decide, he would have been naturally
+moved to ask her what she committed herself then _to_--so moved, that
+is, if he hadn't, before saying it, thought more sharply still of
+something better. "Oh, that's another thing."
+
+"Yes, that's another thing," Kate Cookham returned. To which she added,
+"So _now_ won't you sit down?" He sank with deliberation into the seat
+from which Captain Roper had risen; she went back to her own and while
+she did so spoke again. "I'm _not_ free. At least," she said over her
+tea-tray, "I'm free only for this."
+
+Everything was there before them and around them, everything massive and
+shining, so that he had instinctively fallen back in his chair as for
+the wondering, the resigned acceptance of it; where her last words
+stirred in him a sense of odd deprecation. Only for "that"? "That" was
+everything, at this moment, to his long inanition, and the effect, as if
+she had suddenly and perversely mocked him, was to press the spring of a
+protest. "Isn't 'this' then riches?"
+
+"Riches?" she smiled over, handing him his cup--for she had triumphed in
+having struck from him a question.
+
+"I mean haven't you a lot of money?" He didn't care now that it was out;
+his cup was in his hand, and what was that but proved interest? He had
+succumbed to the social relation.
+
+"Yes, I've money. Of course you wonder--but I've wanted you to wonder.
+It was to make you take that in that I came. So now you know," she said,
+leaning back where she faced him, but in a straighter chair and with her
+arms closely folded, after a fashion characteristic of her, as for some
+control of her nerves.
+
+"You came to show you've money?"
+
+"That's one of the things. Not a lot--not even very much. But enough,"
+said Kate Cookham.
+
+"Enough? I should think so!" he again couldn't help a bit crudely
+exhaling.
+
+"Enough for what I wanted. I don't always live like this--not at all.
+But I came to the best hotel on purpose. I wanted to show you I could.
+Now," she asked, "do you understand?"
+
+"Understand?" He only gaped.
+
+She threw up her loosed arms, which dropped again beside her. "I did it
+_for_ you--I did it _for_ you!"
+
+"'For' me----?"
+
+"What I did--what I did here of old."
+
+He stared, trying to see it. "When you made me pay you?"
+
+"The Two Hundred and Seventy--all I could get from you, as you reminded
+me yesterday, so that I had to give up the rest It was my idea," she
+went on--"it was my idea."
+
+"To bleed me quite to death?" Oh, his ice was broken now!
+
+"To make you raise money--since you could, you _could_. You did, you
+did--so what better proof?"
+
+His hands fell from what he had touched; he could only stare--her own
+manner for it was different now too. "I did. I did indeed--!" And the
+woful weak simplicity of it, which seemed somehow all that was left him,
+fell even on his own ear.
+
+"Well then, here it is--it isn't lost!" she returned with a graver face.
+
+"'Here' it is," he gasped, "my poor agonised old money--my blood?"
+
+"Oh, it's _my_ blood too, you must know now!" She held up her head as
+not before--as for her right to speak of the thing to-day most precious
+to her. "I took it, but this--my being here this way--is what I've made
+of it! That was the idea I had!"
+
+Her "ideas," as things to boast of, staggered him. "To have everything
+in the world, like this, at my wretched expense?"
+
+She had folded her arms back again--grasping each elbow she sat firm;
+she knew he could see, and had known well from the first, what she had
+wanted to say, difficult, monstrous though it might be. "No more than
+at my own--but to do something with your money that you'd never do
+yourself."
+
+"Myself, myself?" he wonderingly wailed. "Do you know--or don't
+you?--what my life has been?"
+
+She waited, and for an instant, though the light in the room had failed
+a little more and would soon be mainly that of the flaring lamps on the
+windy Parade, he caught from her dark eye a silver gleam of impatience.
+"You've suffered and you've worked--which, God knows, is what I've done!
+_Of course_ you've suffered," she said--"you inevitably had to! We have
+to," she went on, "to do or to be or to get anything."
+
+"And pray what have I done or been or got?" Herbert Dodd found it almost
+desolately natural to demand.
+
+It made her cover him again as with all she was thinking of. "Can you
+imagine nothing, or can't you conceive--?" And then as her challenge
+struck deeper in, deeper down than it had yet reached, and with the
+effect of a rush of the blood to his face, "It was _for_ you, it was
+_for_ you!" she again broke out--"and for what or whom else could it
+have been?"
+
+He saw things to a tune now that made him answer straight: "I thought at
+one time it might be for Bill Frankle."
+
+"Yes--that was the way you treated me," Miss Cookham as plainly replied.
+
+But he let this pass; his thought had already got away from it. "What
+good then--its having been for me--has that ever done me?"
+
+"Doesn't it do you any good _now?_" his friend returned. To which she
+added, with another dim play of her tormented brightness, before he
+could speak: "But if you won't even have your tea----!"
+
+He had in fact touched nothing and, if he could have explained, would
+have pleaded very veraciously that his appetite, keen when he came in,
+had somehow suddenly failed. It was beyond eating or drinking, what she
+seemed to want him to take from her. So if he looked, before him, over
+the array, it was to say, very grave and graceless: "Am I to understand
+that you offer to repay me?"
+
+"I offer to repay you with interest, Herbert Dodd"--and her emphasis of
+the great word was wonderful.
+
+It held him in his place a minute, and held his eyes upon her; after
+which, agitated too sharply to sit still, he pushed back his chair and
+stood up. It was as if mere distress or dismay at first worked in him,
+and was in fact a wave of deep and irresistible emotion which made him,
+on his feet, sway as in a great trouble and then, to correct it,
+throw himself stiffly toward the window, where he stood and looked out
+unseeing. The road, the wide terrace beyond, the seats, the eternal sea
+beyond that, the lighted lamps now flaring in the October night-wind,
+with the few dispersed people abroad at the tea-hour; these things,
+meeting and melting into the firelit hospitality at his elbow--or was it
+that portentous amenity that melted into _them?_--seemed to form round
+him and to put before him, all together, the strangest of circles
+and the newest of experiences, in which the unforgettable and the
+unimaginable were confoundingly mixed. "Oh, oh, oh!"--he could only
+almost howl for it.
+
+And then, while a thick blur for some moments mantled everything,
+he knew she had got up, that she stood watching him, allowing for
+everything, again all "cleverly" patient with him, and he heard her
+speak again as with studied quietness and clearness. "I wanted to take
+care of you--it was what I first wanted--and what you first consented
+to. I'd have done it, oh I'd have done it, I'd have loved you and helped
+you and guarded you, and you'd have had no trouble, no bad blighting
+ruin, in all your easy, yes, just your quite jolly and comfortable life.
+I showed you and proved to you this--I brought it home to you, as I
+fondly fancied, and it made me briefly happy. You swore you cared for
+me, you wrote it and made me believe it--you pledged me your honour
+and your faith. Then you turned and changed suddenly from one day to
+another; everything altered, you broke your vows, you as good as told me
+you only wanted it off. You faced me with dislike, and in fact tried not
+to face me at all; you behaved as if you hated me--you had seen a girl,
+of great beauty, I admit, who made me a fright and a bore."
+
+This brought him straight round. "No, Kate Cookham."
+
+"Yes, Herbert Dodd." She but shook her head, calmly and nobly, in the
+now gathered dusk, and her memories and her cause and her character--or
+was it only her arch-subtlety, her line and her "idea"?--gave her an
+extraordinary large assurance.
+
+She had touched, however, the treasure of his own case--his terrible
+own case that began to live again at once by the force of her talking of
+hers, and which could always all cluster about his great asseveration.
+"No, no, never, never; I had never seen her then and didn't dream of
+her; so that when you yourself began to be harsh and sharp with me,
+and to seem to want to quarrel, I could have but one idea--which was
+an appearance you didn't in the least, as I saw it then, account for or
+disprove."
+
+"An appearance--?" Kate desired, as with high astonishment, to know
+which one.
+
+"How _shouldn't_ I have supposed you really to care for Bill
+Frankle?--as thoroughly believing the motive of your claim for my money
+to be its help to your marrying him, since you couldn't marry me. I was
+only surprised when, time passing, I made out that that hadn't happened;
+and perhaps," he added the next instant with something of a conscious
+lapse from the finer style, "hadn't been in question."
+
+She had listened to this only staring, and she was silent after he
+had said it, so silent for some instants that while he considered her
+something seemed to fail him, much as if he had thrown out his foot for
+a step and not found the place to rest it. He jerked round to the window
+again, and then she answered, but without passion unless it was that of
+her weariness for something stupid and forgiven in him, "Oh, the blind,
+the pitiful folly!"--to which, as it might perfectly have applied to her
+own behaviour, he returned nothing. She had moreover at once gone on.
+"Have it then that there wasn't much to do--between your finding that
+you loathed me for another woman or discovering only, when it came to
+the point, that you loathed me quite enough for myself."
+
+Which, as she put it in that immensely effective fashion, he recognised
+that he must just unprotestingly and not so very awkwardly--not so
+_very!_--take from her; since, whatever he had thus come to her for, it
+wasn't to perjure himself with any pretence that, "another woman" or no
+other woman, he hadn't, for years and years, abhorred her. Now he was
+taking tea with her--or rather, literally, seemed not to be; but this
+made no difference, and he let her express it as she would while he
+distinguished a man he knew, Charley Coote, outside on the Parade, under
+favour of the empty hour and one of the flaring lamps, making up to a
+young woman with whom (it stuck out grotesquely in his manner) he had
+never before conversed. Dodd's own position was that of acquiescing in
+this recall of what had so bitterly been--but he hadn't come back to
+her, of himself, to stir up, to recall or to recriminate, and for _her_
+it could but be the very lesson of her whole present act that if she
+touched anything she touched everything. Soon enough she _was_ indeed,
+and all overwhelmingly, touching everything--with a hand of which the
+boldness grew.
+
+"But I didn't let _that_, even, make a difference in what I
+wanted--which was all," she said, "and had only and passionately been,
+to take care of you. I had _no_ money whatever--nothing then of my own,
+not a penny to come by anyhow; so it wasn't with mine I could do it. But
+I could do it with yours," she amazingly wound up--"if I could once get
+yours out of you."
+
+He faced straight about again--his eyebrows higher than they had ever
+been in his life. "Mine? What penny of it was mine? What scrap beyond a
+bare, mean little living had I ever pretended to have?"
+
+She held herself still a minute, visibly with force; only her eyes
+consciously attached to the seat of a chair the back of which her
+hands, making it tilt toward her a little, grasped as for support.
+"You pretended to have enough to marry me--and that was all I afterward
+claimed of you when you wouldn't."
+
+He was on the point of retorting that he had absolutely pretended to
+nothing--least of all to the primary desire that such a way of stating
+it fastened on him; he was on the point for ten seconds of giving
+her full in the face: "I never _had_ any such dream till you
+yourself--infatuated with me as, frankly, you on the whole appeared to
+be--got round me and muddled me up and made me behave as if in a way
+that went against the evidence of my senses." But he was to feel as
+quickly that, whatever the ugly, the spent, the irrecoverable truth, he
+might better have bitten his tongue off: there beat on him there this
+strange and other, this so prodigiously different beautiful and dreadful
+truth that no far remembrance and no abiding ache of his own could
+wholly falsify, and that was indeed all out with her next words.
+"That--_using_ it for you and using you yourself for your own
+future--was my motive. I've led my life, which has been an affair,
+I assure you; and, as I've told you without your quite seeming to
+understand, I've brought everything fivefold back to you."
+
+The perspiration broke out on his forehead. "Everything's mine?" he
+quavered as for the deep piercing pain of it.
+
+"Everything!" said Kate Cookham.
+
+So it told him how she had loved him--but with the tremendous effect
+at once of its only glaring out at him from the whole thing that it was
+verily she, a thousand times over, who, in the exposure of his youth and
+his vanity, had, on the bench of desolation, the scene of yesterday's
+own renewal, left for him no forward steps to take. It hung there for
+him tragically vivid again, the hour she had first found him sequestered
+and accessible after making his acquaintance at his shop. And from this,
+by a succession of links that fairly clicked to his ear as with their
+perfect fitting, the fate and the pain and the payment of others stood
+together in a great grim order. Everything there then was _his_--to
+make him ask what had been Nan's, poor Nan's of the constant question
+of whether he need have collapsed. She was before him, she was between
+them, his little dead dissatisfied wife; across all whose final woe and
+whose lowly grave he was to reach out, it appeared, to take gifts. He
+saw them too, the gifts; saw them--she bristled with them--in his actual
+companion's brave and sincere and authoritative figure, her strangest of
+demonstrations. But the other appearance was intenser, as if their ghost
+had waved wild arms; so that half a minute hadn't passed before the one
+poor thing that remained of Nan, and that yet thus became a quite
+mighty and momentous poor thing, was sitting on his lips as for its sole
+opportunity.
+
+"Can you give me your word of honour that I mightn't, under decent
+advice, have defied you?"
+
+It made her turn very white; but now that she had said what she _had_
+said she could still hold up her head. "Certainly you might have defied
+me, Herbert Dodd."
+
+"They would have told me you had no legal case?"
+
+Well, if she was pale she was bold. "You talk of decent advice--!" She
+broke off, there was too much to say, and all needless. What she said
+instead was: "They would have told you I had nothing."
+
+"I didn't so much as ask," her sad visitor remarked.
+
+"Of course you didn't so much as ask."
+
+"I couldn't be so outrageously vulgar," he went on.
+
+"_I_ could, by God's help!" said Kate Cookham.
+
+"Thank you." He had found at his command a tone that made him feel more
+gentlemanlike than he had ever felt in his life or should doubtless ever
+feel again. It might have been enough--but somehow as they stood there
+with this immense clearance between them it wasn't. The clearance was
+like a sudden gap or great bleak opening through which there blew upon
+them a deadly chill. Too many things had fallen away, too many new
+rolled up and over him, and they made something within shake him to his
+base. It upset the full vessel, and though she kept her eyes on him
+he let that consequence come, bursting into tears, weakly crying there
+before her even as he had cried to himself in the hour of his youth when
+she had made him groundlessly fear. She turned away then--_that_ she
+couldn't watch, and had presently flung herself on the sofa and, all
+responsively wailing, buried her own face on the cushioned arm. So for
+a minute their smothered sobs only filled the room. But he made out,
+through this disorder, where he had put down his hat; his stick and his
+new tan-coloured gloves--they had cost two-and-thruppence and would
+have represented sacrifices--were on the chair beside it He picked these
+articles up and all silently and softly--gasping, that is, but quite on
+tiptoe--reached the door and let himself out.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+Off there on the bench of desolation a week later she made him a more
+particular statement, which it had taken the remarkably tense interval
+to render possible. After leaving her at the hotel that last Sunday he
+had gone forth in his reaggravated trouble and walked straight before
+him, in the teeth of the west wind, close to the iron rails of the
+stretched Marina and with his telltale face turned from persons
+occasionally met, and toward the surging sea. At the Land's End, even in
+the confirmed darkness and the perhaps imminent big blow, his immemorial
+nook, small shelter as it yielded, had again received him; and it was
+in the course of this heedless session, no doubt, where the agitated air
+had nothing to add to the commotion within him, that he began to look
+his extraordinary fortune a bit straighter in the face and see it
+confess itself at once a fairy-tale and a nightmare That, visibly,
+confoundingly, she was still attached to him (attached in fact was a
+mild word!) and that the unquestionable proof of it was in this offered
+pecuniary salve, of the thickest composition, for his wounds and sores
+and shames--these things were the fantastic fable, the tale of money
+in handfuls, that he seemed to have only to stand there and swallow
+and digest and feel himself full-fed by; but the whole of the rest
+was nightmare, and most of all nightmare his having thus to thank one
+through whom Nan and his little girls had known torture.
+
+He didn't care for himself now, and this unextinguished and apparently
+inextinguishable charm by which he had held her was a fact incredibly
+romantic; but he gazed with a longer face than he had ever had for
+anything in the world at his potential acceptance of a great bouncing
+benefit from the person he intimately, if even in a manner indirectly,
+associated with the conditions to which his lovely wife and his children
+(who would have been so lovely too) had pitifully succumbed. He had
+accepted the social relation--which meant he had taken even that on
+trial--without knowing what it so dazzlingly masked; for a social
+relation it had become with a vengeance when it drove him about the
+place as now at his hours of freedom (and he actually and recklessly
+took, all demoralised and unstrung and unfit either for work or for
+anything else, other liberties that would get him into trouble) under
+this queer torment of irreconcilable things, a bewildered consciousness
+of tenderness and patience and cruelty, of great evident mystifying
+facts that were as little to be questioned as to be conceived or
+explained, and that were yet least, withal, to be lost sight of.
+
+On that Sunday night he had wandered wild, incoherently ranging and
+throbbing, but this became the law of his next days as well, since he
+lacked more than ever all other resort or refuge and had nowhere to
+carry, to deposit, or contractedly let loose and lock up, as it were,
+his swollen consciousness, which fairly split in twain the raw shell of
+his sordid little boarding-place. The arch of the sky and the spread of
+sea and shore alone gave him space; he could roam with himself anywhere,
+in short, far or near--he could only never take himself back. That
+certitude--that this was impossible to him even should she wait there
+among her plushes and bronzes ten years--was the thing he kept
+closest clutch of; it did wonders for what he would have called his
+self-respect. Exactly as he had left her so he would stand off--even
+though at moments when he pulled up sharp somewhere to put himself an
+intensest question his heart almost stood still. The days of the week
+went by, and as he had left her she stayed; to the extent, that is, of
+his having neither sight nor sound of her, and of the failure of
+every sign. It took nerve, he said, not to return to her, even for
+curiosity--since how, after all, in the name of wonder, had she invested
+the fruits of her extortion to such advantage, there being no chapter
+of all the obscurity of the years to beat that for queer-ness? But
+he dropped, tired to death, on benches, half a dozen times an
+evening--exactly on purpose to recognise that the nerve required was
+just the nerve he had.
+
+As the days without a token from her multiplied he came in as well for
+hours--and these indeed mainly on the bench of desolation--of sitting
+stiff and stark in presence of the probability that he had lost
+everything for ever. When he passed the Royal he never turned an
+eyelash, and when he met Captain Roper on the Front, three days after
+having been introduced to him, he "cut him dead"--another privileged
+consequence of a social relation--rather than seem to himself to make
+the remotest approach to the question of whether Miss Cookham had left
+Properley. He had cut people in the days of his life before, just as
+he had come to being himself cut--since there had been no time for
+him wholly without one or other face of that necessity--but had never
+effected such a severance as of this rare connection, which helped to
+give him thus the measure of his really precious sincerity. If he had
+lost what had hovered before him he had lost it, his only tribute to
+which proposition was to grind his teeth with one of those "scrunches,"
+as he would have said, of which the violence fairly reached his ear. It
+wouldn't make him lift a finger, and in fact if Kate had simply
+taken herself off on the Tuesday or the Wednesday she would have been
+reabsorbed again into the darkness from which she had emerged--and
+no lifting of fingers, the unspeakable chapter closed, would evermore
+avail. That at any rate was the kind of man he still was--even after all
+that had come and gone, and even if for a few dazed hours certain things
+had seemed pleasant. The dazed hours had passed, the surge of the old
+bitterness had dished him (shouldn't he have been shamed if it hadn't?),
+and he might sit there as before, as always, with nothing at all on
+earth to look to. He had therefore wrongfully believed himself to be
+degraded; and the last word about him would be that he _couldn't_ then,
+it appeared, sink to vulgarity as he had tried to let his miseries make
+him.
+
+And yet on the next Sunday morning, face to face with him again at the
+Land's End, what she very soon came to was: "As if I believed you didn't
+_know_ by what cord you hold me!" Absolutely too, and just that morning
+in fact, above all, he wouldn't, he quite couldn't have taken his solemn
+oath that he hadn't a sneaking remnant, as he might have put it to
+himself--a remnant of faith in tremendous things still to come of their
+interview. The day was sunny and breezy, the sea of a cold purple; he
+wouldn't go to church as he mostly went of Sunday mornings, that being
+in its way too a social relation--and not least when two-and-thruppenny
+tan-coloured gloves were new; which indeed he had the art of keeping
+them for ages. Yet he would dress himself as he scarce mustered
+resources for even to figure on the fringe of Society, local and
+transient, at St. Bernard's, and in this trim he took his way westward;
+occupied largely, as he went, it might have seemed to any person
+pursuing the same course and happening to observe him, in a fascinated
+study of the motions of his shadow, the more or less grotesque shape
+projected, in front of him and mostly a bit to the right, over the
+blanched asphalt of the Parade and dandling and dancing at such a rate,
+shooting out and then contracting, that, viewed in themselves, its
+eccentricities might have formed the basis of an interesting challenge:
+"Find the state of mind, guess the nature of the agitation, possessing
+the person so remarkably represented!" Herbert Dodd, for that matter,
+might have been himself attempting to make by the sun's sharp aid some
+approach to his immediate horoscope.
+
+It had at any rate been thus put before him that the dandling and
+dancing of his image occasionally gave way to perfect immobility, when
+he stopped and kept his eyes on it. "Suppose she should come, suppose
+she _should!_" it is revealed at least to ourselves that he had at
+these moments audibly breathed--breathed with the intensity of an arrest
+between hope and fear. It had glimmered upon him from early, with the
+look of the day, that, given all else that could happen, this would be
+rather, as he put it, in her line; and the possibility lived for him, as
+he proceeded, to the tune of a suspense almost sickening. It was, from
+one small stage of his pilgrimage to another, the "For ever, never!"
+of the sentimental case the playmates of his youth used to pretend
+to settle by plucking the petals of a daisy. But it came to his truly
+turning faint--so "queer" he felt--when, at the gained point of the
+long stretch from which he could always tell, he arrived within positive
+sight of his immemorial goal. His seat was taken and she was keeping it
+for him--it could only be _she_ there in possession; whereby it shone
+out for Herbert Dodd that if he hadn't been quite sure of her recurrence
+she had at least been quite sure of his. _That_ pulled him up to some
+purpose, where recognition began for them--or to the effect, in other
+words, of his pausing to judge if he could bear, for the sharpest note
+of their intercourse, this inveterate demonstration of her making him do
+what she liked. What settled the question for him then--and just
+while they avowedly watched each other, over the long interval, before
+closing, as if, on either side, for the major advantage--what settled it
+was this very fact that what she liked she liked so terribly. If it were
+simply to "use" him, as she had said the last time, and no matter to
+the profit of which of them she called it, one might let it go for that;
+since it could make her wait over, day after day, in that fashion, and
+with such a spending of money, on the hazard of their meeting again. How
+could she be the least sure he would ever again consent to it after the
+proved action on him, a week ago, of her last monstrous honesty? It was
+indeed positively as if he were now himself putting this influence--and
+for their common edification--to the supreme, to the finest test. He had
+a sublime, an ideal flight, which lasted about a minute. "Suppose, now
+that I see her there and what she has taken so characteristically for
+granted, suppose I just show her that she _hasn't_ only confidently to
+wait or whistle for me, and that the length of my leash is greater
+than she measures, and that everything's impossible always?--show it by
+turning my back on her now and walking straight away. She won't be able
+not to understand _that!_"
+
+Nothing had passed, across their distance, but the mute apprehension
+of each on the part of each; the whole expanse, at the church hour, was
+void of other life (he had scarce met a creature on his way from end
+to end), and the sun-seasoned gusts kept brushing the air and all the
+larger prospect clean. It was through this beautiful lucidity that
+he watched her watch him, as it were--watch him for what he would do.
+Neither moved at this high tension; Kate Cookham, her face fixed on
+him, only waited with a stiff appearance of leaving him, not for dignity
+but--to an effect of even deeper perversity--for kindness, free to
+choose. It yet somehow affected him at present, this attitude, as a gage
+of her _knowing too_--knowing, that is, that he wasn't really free, that
+this was the thinnest of vain parades, the poorest of hollow heroics,
+that his need, his solitude, his suffered wrong, his exhausted rancour,
+his foredoomed submission to any shown interest, all hung together too
+heavy on him to let the weak wings of his pride do more than vaguely
+tremble. They couldn't, they didn't carry him a single beat further
+away; according to which he stood rooted, neither retreating nor
+advancing, but presently correcting his own share of the bleak exchange
+by looking off at the sea. Deeply conscious of the awkwardness this
+posture gave him, he yet clung to it as the last shred of his honour,
+to the clear argument that it was one thing for him to have felt beneath
+all others, the previous days, that she was to be counted on, but quite
+a different for her to have felt that _he_ was. His checked approach,
+arriving thus at no term, could in these odd conditions have established
+that he wasn't only if Kate Cookham had, as either of them might have
+said, taken it so--if she had given up the game at last by rising, by
+walking away and adding to the distance between them, and he had then
+definitely let her vanish into space. It became a fact that when she did
+finally rise--though after how long our record scarce takes on itself to
+say--it was not to confirm their separation but to put an end to it; and
+this by slowly approaching him till she had come within earshot He had
+wondered, once aware of it in spite of his averted face, what she would
+say and on what note, as it were, she would break their week's
+silence; so that he had to recognise anew, her voice reaching him, that
+remarkable quality in her which again and again came up for him as her
+art.
+
+"There are twelve hundred and sixty pounds, to be definite, but I have
+it all down for you--and you've only to draw."
+
+They lost themselves, these words, rare and exquisite, in the wide
+bright genial medium and the Sunday stillness, but even while that
+occurred and he was gaping for it she was herself there, in her battered
+ladylike truth, to answer for them, to represent them, and, if a further
+grace than their simple syllabled beauty were conceivable, almost
+embarrassingly to cause them to materialise. Yes, she let her smart and
+tight little reticule hang as if it bulged, beneath its clasp, with the
+whole portentous sum, and he felt himself glare again at this vividest
+of her attested claims. She might have been ready, on the spot, to open
+the store to the plunge of his hand, or, with the situation otherwise
+conceived, to impose on his pauperised state an acceptance of alms on
+a scale unprecedented in the annals of street charity. Nothing so much
+counted for him, however, neither grave numeral nor elegant fraction,
+as the short, rich, rounded word that the breeze had picked up as it
+dropped and seemed now to blow about between them. "To draw--to draw?"
+Yes, he gaped it as if it had no sense; the fact being that even while
+he did so he was reading into her use of the term more romance than any
+word in the language had ever had for him. He, Herbert Dodd, was to live
+to "draw," like people, scarce hampered by the conditions of earth,
+whom he had remotely and circuitously heard about, and in fact when he
+walked back with her to where she had been sitting it was very much, for
+his strained nerves, as if the very bench of desolation itself were to
+be the scene of that exploit and he mightn't really live till he reached
+it.
+
+When they had sat down together she did press the spring of her
+reticule, from which she took, not a handful of gold nor a packet of
+crisp notes, but an oblong sealed letter, which she had thus waited on
+him, she remarked, on purpose to deliver, and which would certify, with
+sundry particulars, to the credit she had opened for him at a London
+bank. He received it without looking at it--he held it, in the same
+manner, conspicuous and unassimilated, for most of the rest of the
+immediate time, appearing embarrassed with it, nervously twisting and
+flapping it, yet thus publicly retaining it even while aware, beneath
+everything, of the strange, the quite dreadful, wouldn't it be?
+engagement that such inaction practically stood for. He could accept
+money to that amount, yes--but not for nothing in return. For what then
+in return? He kept asking himself for what, while she said other things
+and made above all, in her high, shrewd, successful way the point that,
+no, he needn't pretend that his conviction of her continued personal
+interest in him wouldn't have tided him oyer any question besetting
+him since their separation. She put it to him that the deep instinct of
+where he should at last find her must confidently have worked for him,
+since she confessed to her instinct of where she should find _him_;
+which meant--oh it came home to him as he fingered his sealed
+treasure!--neither more nor less than that she had now created
+between them an equality of experience. He wasn't to have done all the
+suffering, _she_ was to have "been through" things he couldn't even
+guess at; and, since he was bargaining away his right ever again to
+allude to the unforgettable, so much there was of it, what her tacit
+proposition came to was that they were "square" and might start afresh.
+
+He didn't take up her charge, as his so compromised "pride" yet in a
+manner prompted him, that he had enjoyed all the week all those elements
+of ease about her; the most he achieved for that was to declare, with an
+ingenuity contributing to float him no small distance further, that of
+course he had turned up at their old place of tryst, which had been,
+through the years, the haunt of his solitude and the goal of his walk
+any Sunday morning that seemed too beautiful for church; but that he
+hadn't in the least built on her presence there--since that supposition
+gave him, she would understand, wouldn't she? the air, disagreeable to
+him, of having come in search of her. Her quest of himself, once he
+had been seated there, would have been another matter--but in short
+"Of course after all you did come to me, just now, didn't you?" He felt
+himself, too, lamely and gracelessly grin, as for the final kick of his
+honour, in confirmation of the record that he had then yielded but to
+her humility. Her humility became for him at this hour and to this tune,
+on the bench of desolation, a quantity more prodigious and even more
+mysterious than that other guaranteed quantity the finger-tips of his
+left hand could feel the tap by the action of his right; though what was
+in especial extraordinary was the manner in which she could keep making
+him such allowances and yet meet him again, at some turn, as with her
+residuum for her clever self so great.
+
+"Come to you, Herbert Dodd?" she imperturbably echoed. "I've been coming
+to you for the last ten years!"
+
+There had been for him just before this sixty supreme seconds of
+intensest aspiration--a minute of his keeping his certificate poised
+for a sharp thrust back at her, the thrust of the wild freedom of his
+saying: "No, no, I _can't_ give them up; I can't simply sink them deep
+down in my soul forever, with no cross in all my future to mark _that_
+burial; so that if this is what our arrangement means I must decline to
+have anything to do with it." The words none the less hadn't come, and
+when she had herself, a couple of minutes later, spoken those
+others, the blood rose to his face as if, given his stiffness and her
+extravagance, he had just indeed saved himself.
+
+Everything in fact stopped, even his fidget with his paper; she imposed
+a hush, she imposed at any rate the conscious decent form of one, and
+he couldn't afterward have told how long, at this juncture, he must have
+sat simply gazing before him. It was so long, at any rate, that Kate
+herself got up--and quite indeed, presently, as if her own forms were
+now at an end. He had returned her nothing--so what was she waiting for?
+She had been on the two other occasions momentarily at a loss, but never
+so much so, no doubt, as was thus testified to by her leaving the bench
+and moving over once more to the rail of the terrace. She could carry
+it off, in a manner, with her resources, that she was waiting with so
+little to wait for; she could face him again, after looking off at
+the sea, as if this slightly stiff delay, not wholly exempt from
+awkwardness, had been but a fine scruple of her courtesy. She had
+gathered herself in; after giving him time to appeal she could take
+it that he had decided and that nothing was left for her to do. "Well
+then," she clearly launched at him across the broad walk--"well then,
+good-bye."
+
+She had come nearer with it, as if he might rise for some show of
+express separation; but he only leaned back motionless, his eyes on her
+now--he kept her a moment before him. "Do you mean that we don't--that
+we don't--?" But he broke down.
+
+"Do I 'mean'--?" She remained as for questions he might ask, but it
+was wellnigh as if there played through her dotty veil an irrepressible
+irony for that particular one. "I've meant, for long years, I think, all
+I'm capable of meaning. I've meant so much that I can't mean more. So
+there it is."
+
+"But if you go," he appealed--and with a sense as of final flatness,
+however he arranged it, for his own attitude--"but if you go sha'n't I
+see you again?"
+
+She waited a little, and it was strangely for him now as if--though at
+last so much more gorged with her tribute than she had ever been with
+his--something still depended on her. "Do you _like_ to see me?" she
+very simply asked.
+
+At this he did get up; that was easier than to say--at least with
+responsive simplicity; and again for a little he looked hard and in
+silence at his letter; which at last, however, raising his eyes to her
+own for the act, while he masked their conscious ruefulness, to his
+utmost, in some air of assurance, he slipped into the inner pocket of
+his coat, letting it settle there securely. "You're too wonderful." But
+he frowned at her with it as never in his life. "Where does it all come
+from?"
+
+"The wonder of poor me?" Kate Cookham said. "It comes from _you_."
+
+He shook his head slowly--feeling, with his letter there against his
+heart, such a new agility, almost such a new range of interest. "I mean
+so _much_ money--so extraordinarily much."
+
+Well, she held him a while blank. "Does it seem to you extraordinarily
+much--twelve-hundred-and-sixty? Because, you know," she added, "it's
+all."
+
+"It's enough!" he returned with a slight thoughtful droop of his head to
+the right and his eyes attached to the far horizon as through a shade of
+shyness for what he was saying. He felt all her own lingering nearness
+somehow on his cheek.
+
+"It's enough? Thank you then!" she rather oddly went on.
+
+He shifted a little his posture. "It was more than a hundred a year--for
+you to get together."
+
+"Yes," she assented, "that was what year by year I tried for."
+
+"But that you could live all the while and save that--!" Yes, he was
+at liberty, as he hadn't been, quite pleasantly to marvel. All his
+wonderments in life had been hitherto unanswered--and didn't the change
+mean that here again was the social relation?
+
+"Ah, I didn't live as you saw me the other day."
+
+"Yes," he answered--and didn't he the next instant feel he must fairly
+have smiled with it?--"the other day you _were_ going it!"
+
+"For once in my life," said Kate Cookham. "I've left the hotel," she
+after a moment added.
+
+"Ah, you're in--a--lodgings?" he found himself inquiring as for positive
+sociability.
+
+She had apparently a slight shade of hesitation, but in an instant it
+was all right; as what he showed he wanted to know she seemed mostly to
+give him. "Yes--but far of course from here. Up on the hill." To which,
+after another instant, "At The Mount, Castle Terrace," she subjoined.
+
+"Oh, I _know_ The Mount. And Castle Terrace is awfully sunny and nice."
+
+"Awfully sunny and nice," Kate Cookham took from him.
+
+"So that if it isn't," he pursued, "like the Royal, why you're at least
+comfortable."
+
+"I shall be comfortable anywhere now," she replied with a certain
+dryness.
+
+It was astonishing, however, what had become of his own. "Because I've
+accepted----?"
+
+"Call it that!" she dimly smiled.
+
+"I hope then at any rate," he returned, "you can now thoroughly rest" He
+spoke as for a cheerful conclusion and moved again also to smile, though
+as with a poor grimace, no doubt; since what he seemed most clearly to
+feel was that since he "accepted" he mustn't, for his last note, have
+accepted in sulkiness or gloom. With that, at the same time, he couldn't
+but know, in all his fibres, that with such a still-watching face as the
+dotty veil didn't disguise for him there was no possible concluding, at
+least on his part On hers, on hers it was--as he had so often for a week
+had reflectively to pronounce things--another affair. Ah, somehow,
+both formidably and helpfully, her face concluded--yet in a sense so
+strangely enshrouded in things she didn't tell him. What _must_ she,
+what mustn't she, have done? What she had said--and she had really told
+him nothing--was no account of her life; in the midst of which conflict
+of opposed recognitions, at any rate, it was as if, for all he could
+do, he himself now considerably floundered. "But I can't think--I can't
+think----!"
+
+"You can't think I can have made so much money in the time and been
+honest?"
+
+"Oh, you've been _honest!_" Herbert Dodd distinctly allowed.
+
+It moved her stillness to a gesture--which, however, she had as promptly
+checked; and she went on the next instant as for further generosity to
+his failure of thought. "Everything was possible, under my stress, with
+my hatred."
+
+"Your hatred--?" For she had paused as if it were after all too
+difficult.
+
+"Of what I should for so long have been doing to you."
+
+With this, for all his failures, a greater light than any yet shone upon
+him. "It made you think of ways----?"
+
+"It made me think of everything. It made me work," said Kate Cookham.
+She added, however, the next moment: "But that's my story."
+
+"And I mayn't hear it?"
+
+"No--because I mayn't hear yours."
+
+"Oh, mine--!" he said with the strangest, saddest, yet after all most
+resigned sense of surrender of it; which he tried to make sound as if he
+couldn't have told it, for its splendor of sacrifice and of misery, even
+if he would.
+
+It seemed to move in her a little, exactly, that sense of the invidious.
+"Ah, mine too, I assure you----!"
+
+He rallied at once to the interest. "Oh, we _can_ talk then?"
+
+"Never," she all oddly replied. "Never," said Kate Cookham.
+
+They remained so, face to face; the effect of which for him was that he
+had after a little understood why. That was fundamental. "Well, I see."
+
+Thus confronted they stayed; and then, as he saw with a contentment that
+came up from deeper still, it was indeed she who, with her worn fine
+face, would conclude. "But I can take care of you."
+
+"You _have!_" he said as with nothing left of him but a beautiful
+appreciative candour.
+
+"Oh, but you'll want it now in a way--!" she responsibly answered.
+
+He waited a moment, dropping again on the seat. So, while she still
+stood, he looked up at her; with the sense somehow that there were too
+many things and that they were all together, terribly, irresistibly,
+doubtless blessedly, in her eyes and her whole person; which thus
+affected him for the moment as more than he could bear. He leaned
+forward, dropping his elbows to his knees and pressing his head on his
+hands. So he stayed, saying nothing; only, with the sense of her own
+sustained, renewed and wonderful action, knowing that an arm had passed
+round him and that he was held. She was beside him on the bench of
+desolation.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Finer Grain, by Henry James
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FINER GRAIN ***
+
+***** This file should be named 21968.txt or 21968.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/9/6/21968/
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+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.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+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
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/21968.zip b/21968.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0044a47
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21968.zip
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aed52b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #21968 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21968)
diff --git a/old/21968-h.htm.2021-01-25 b/old/21968-h.htm.2021-01-25
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d6facfe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/21968-h.htm.2021-01-25
@@ -0,0 +1,6223 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+
+<!DOCTYPE html
+   PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      The Finer Grain, by Henry James
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+
+</style>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Finer Grain, by Henry James
+
+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: The Finer Grain
+
+Author: Henry James
+
+Release Date: June 29, 2007 [EBook #21968]
+Last Updated: September 18, 2016
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FINER GRAIN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE FINER GRAIN
+    </h1>
+    <h2>
+      By Henry James <br /> <br /> <br /> 1910
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      [Transcriber&rsquo;s Note: After posting it was discovered that there were
+      several missing pages from the section titled &ldquo;Mora Montravers&rdquo;. This
+      section has been removed and will be replaced as soon as possible.]
+    </p>
+    <blockquote>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br />
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <b>"THE VELVET GLOVE"</b> </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> I </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> II </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> III </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> <b>A ROUND OF VISITS</b> </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> I </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0014"> II </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0015"> III </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0016"> IV </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0017"> V </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0018"> VI </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0019"> VII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0020"> <b>CRAPY CORNELIA</b> </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0021"> I </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0022"> II </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0023"> III </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0024"> IV </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0025"> V </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0026"> <b>THE BENCH OF DESOLATION</b> </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0027"> I </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0028"> II </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0029"> III </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0030"> IV </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0031"> V </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0032"> VI </a>
+      </p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      &ldquo;THE VELVET GLOVE&rdquo;
+     </h2>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      I
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      HE thought he had already, poor John Berridge, tasted in their fulness the
+      sweets of success; but nothing yet had been more charming to him than when
+      the young Lord, as he irresistibly and, for greater certitude, quite
+      correctly figured him, fairly sought out, in Paris, the new literary star
+      that had begun to hang, with a fresh red light, over the vast, even though
+      rather confused, Anglo-Saxon horizon; positively approaching that
+      celebrity with a shy and artless appeal. The young Lord invoked on this
+      occasion the celebrity&rsquo;s prized judgment of a special literary case; and
+      Berridge could take the whole manner of it for one of the &ldquo;quaintest&rdquo;
+       little acts displayed to his amused eyes, up to now, on the stage of
+      European society&mdash;albeit these eyes were quite aware, in general, of
+      missing everywhere no more of the human scene than possible, and of having
+      of late been particularly awake to the large extensions of it spread
+      before him (since so he could but fondly read his fate) under the omen of
+      his prodigious &ldquo;hit.&rdquo; It was because of his hit that he was having rare
+      opportunities&mdash;of which he was so honestly and humbly proposing, as
+      he would have said, to make the most: it was because every one in the
+      world (so far had the thing gone) was reading &ldquo;The Heart of Gold&rdquo; as just
+      a slightly too fat volume, or sitting out the same as just a fifth-act too
+      long play, that he found himself floated on a tide he would scarce have
+      dared to show his favourite hero sustained by, found a hundred agreeable
+      and interesting things happen to him which were all, one way or another,
+      affluents of the golden stream.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The great renewed resonance&mdash;renewed by the incredible luck of the
+      play&mdash;was always in his ears without so much as a conscious turn of
+      his head to listen; so that the queer world of his fame was not the mere
+      usual field of the Anglo-Saxon boom, but positively the bottom of the
+      whole theatric sea, unplumbed source of the wave that had borne him in the
+      course of a year or two over German, French, Italian, Russian,
+      Scandinavian foot-lights. Paris itself really appeared for the hour the
+      centre of his cyclone, with reports and &ldquo;returns,&rdquo; to say nothing of
+      agents and emissaries, converging from the minor capitals; though his
+      impatience was scarce the less keen to get back to London, where his work
+      had had no such critical excoriation to survive, no such lesson of anguish
+      to learn, as it had received at the hand of supreme authority, of that
+      French authority which was in such a matter the only one to be
+      artistically reckoned with. If his spirit indeed had had to reckon with it
+      his fourth act practically hadn&rsquo;t: it continued to make him blush every
+      night for the public more even than the inimitable <i>feuilleton</i> had
+      made him blush for himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This had figured, however, after all, the one bad drop in his cup; so
+      that, for the rest, his high-water mark might well have been, that evening
+      at Gloriani&rsquo;s studio, the approach of his odd and charming applicant,
+      vaguely introduced at the latter&rsquo;s very own request by their hostess, who,
+      with an honest, helpless, genial gesture, washed her fat begemmed hands of
+      the name and identity of either, but left the fresh, fair, ever so
+      habitually assured, yet ever so easily awkward Englishman with his plea to
+      put forth. There was that in this pleasant personage which could still
+      make Berridge wonder what conception of profit from him might have, all
+      incalculably, taken form in such a head&mdash;these being truly the last
+      intrenchments of our hero&rsquo;s modesty. He wondered, the splendid young man,
+      he wondered awfully, he wondered (it was unmistakable) quite nervously, he
+      wondered, to John&rsquo;s ardent and acute imagination, quite beautifully, if
+      the author of &ldquo;The Heart of Gold&rdquo; would mind just looking at a book by a
+      friend of his, a great friend, which he himself believed rather clever,
+      and had in fact found very charming, but as to which&mdash;if it really
+      wouldn&rsquo;t bore Mr. Berridge&mdash;he should so like the verdict of some one
+      who knew. His friend was awfully ambitious, and he thought there was
+      something in it&mdash;with all of which might he send the book to any
+      address?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Berridge thought of many things while the young Lord thus charged upon
+      him, and it was odd that no one of them was any question of the possible
+      worth of the offered achievement&mdash;which, for that matter, was certain
+      to be of the quality of <i>all</i> the books, to say nothing of the plays,
+      and the projects for plays, with which, for some time past, he had seen
+      his daily post-bag distended. He had made out, on looking at these things,
+      no difference at all from one to the other. Here, however, was something
+      more&mdash;something that made his fellow-guest&rsquo;s overture <i>independently</i>
+      interesting and, as he might imagine, important. He smiled, he was
+      friendly and vague; said &ldquo;A work of fiction, I suppose?&rdquo; and that he
+      didn&rsquo;t pretend ever to pronounce, that he in fact quite hated, always, to
+      have to, not &ldquo;knowing,&rdquo; as he felt, any better than any one else; but
+      would gladly look at anything, under that demur, if it would give any
+      pleasure. Perhaps the very brightest and most diamond-like twinkle he had
+      yet seen the star of his renown emit was just the light brought into his
+      young Lord&rsquo;s eyes by this so easy consent to oblige. It was easy because
+      the presence before him was from moment to moment, referring itself back
+      to some recent observation or memory; something caught somewhere, within a
+      few weeks or months, as he had moved about, and that seemed to flutter
+      forth at this stir of the folded leaves of his recent experience very much
+      as a gathered, faded flower, placed there for &ldquo;pressing,&rdquo; might drop from
+      between the pages of a volume opened at hazard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had seen him before, this splendid and sympathetic person&mdash;whose
+      flattering appeal was by no means <i>all</i> that made him sympathetic; he
+      had met him, had noted, had wondered about him, had in fact imaginatively,
+      intellectually, so to speak, quite yearned over him, in some conjunction
+      lately, though ever so fleet-ingly, apprehended: which circumstance
+      constituted precisely an association as tormenting, for the few minutes,
+      as it was vague, and set him to sounding, intensely and vainly, the face
+      that itself figured everything agreeable except recognition. He couldn&rsquo;t
+      remember, and the young man didn&rsquo;t; distinctly, yes, they had been in
+      presence, during the previous winter, by some chance of travel, through
+      Sicily, through Italy, through the south of France, but his <i>Seigneurie</i>&mdash;so
+      Berridge liked exotically to phrase it&mdash;had then (in ignorance of the
+      present reasons) not noticed <i>him</i>. It was positive for the man of
+      established identity, all the while too, and through the perfect lucidity
+      of his sense of achievement in an air &ldquo;conducting&rdquo; nothing but the loudest
+      bang, that this was fundamentally much less remarkable than the fact of
+      his being made up to in such a quarter now. That was the disservice, in a
+      manner, of one&rsquo;s having so much imagination: the mysterious values of
+      other types kept looming larger before you than the doubtless often higher
+      but comparatively familiar ones of your own, and if you had anything of
+      the artist&rsquo;s real feeling for life the attraction and amusement of
+      possibilities so projected were worth more to you, in nineteen moods out
+      of twenty, than the sufficiency, the serenity, the felicity, whatever it
+      might be, of your stale personal certitudes. You were intellectually, you
+      were &ldquo;artistically&rdquo; rather abject, in fine, if your curiosity (in the
+      grand sense of the term) wasn&rsquo;t worth more to you than your dignity. What
+      was your dignity, &ldquo;anyway,&rdquo; but just the consistency of your curiosity,
+      and what moments were ever so ignoble for you as, under the blighting
+      breath of the false gods, stupid conventions, traditions, examples, your
+      lapses from that consistency? His <i>Seigneurie</i>, at all events,
+      delightfully, hadn&rsquo;t the least real idea of what any John Berridge was
+      talking about, and the latter felt that if he had been less beautifully
+      witless, and thereby less true to his right figure, it might scarce have
+      been forgiven him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His right figure was that of life in irreflective joy and at the highest
+      thinkable level of prepared security and unconscious insolence. What was
+      the pale page of fiction compared with the intimately personal adventure
+      that, in almost any direction, he would have been all so stupidly, all so
+      gallantly, all so instinctively and, by every presumption, so prevailingly
+      ready for? Berridge would have given six months&rsquo; &ldquo;royalties&rdquo; for even an
+      hour of his looser dormant consciousness&mdash;since one was oneself,
+      after all, no worm, but an heir of all the ages too&mdash;and yet without
+      being able to supply chapter and verse for the felt, the huge difference.
+      His <i>Seigneurie</i> was tall and straight, but so, thank goodness, was
+      the author of &ldquo;The Heart of Gold,&rdquo; who had no such vulgar &ldquo;mug&rdquo; either;
+      and there was no intrinsic inferiority in being a bit inordinately, and so
+      it might have seemed a bit strikingly, black-browed instead of being fair
+      as the morning. Again while his new friend delivered himself our own tried
+      in vain to place him; he indulged in plenty of pleasant, if rather
+      restlessly headlong sound, the confessed incoherence of a happy mortal who
+      had always many things &ldquo;on,&rdquo; and who, while waiting at any moment for
+      connections and consummations, had fallen into the way of talking, as they
+      said, all artlessly, and a trifle more betrayingly, against time. He would
+      always be having appointments, and somehow of a high &ldquo;romantic&rdquo; order, to
+      keep, and the imperfect punctualities of others to wait for&mdash;though
+      who would be of a quality to make such a pampered personage wait very much
+      our young analyst could only enjoy asking himself. There were women who
+      might be of a quality&mdash;half a dozen of those perhaps, of those alone,
+      about the world; our friend was as sure of this, by the end of four
+      minutes, as if he knew all about it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After saying he would send him the book the young Lord indeed dropped that
+      subject; he had asked where he might send it, and had had an &ldquo;Oh, I shall
+      remember!&rdquo; on John&rsquo;s mention of an hotel; but he had made no further dash
+      into literature, and it was ten to one that this would be the last the
+      distinguished author might hear of the volume. Such again was a note of
+      these high existences&mdash;that made one content to ask of them no whit
+      of other consistency than that of carrying off the particular occasion,
+      whatever it might be, in a dazzle of amiability and felicity and leaving
+      <i>that</i> as a sufficient trace of their passage. Sought and achieved
+      consistency was but an angular, a secondary motion; compared with the air
+      of complete freedom it might have an effect of deformity. There was no
+      placing this figure of radiant ease, for Berridge, in any relation that
+      didn&rsquo;t appear not good enough&mdash;that is among the relations that
+      hadn&rsquo;t been too good for Berridge himself. He was all right where he was;
+      the great Gloriani somehow made that law; his house, with his supreme
+      artistic position, was good enough for any one, and to-night in especial
+      there were charming people, more charming than our friend could recall
+      from any other scene, as the natural train or circle, as he might say, of
+      such a presence. For an instant he thought he had got the face as a
+      specimen of imperturbability watched, with wonder, across the hushed
+      rattle of roulette at Monte-Carlo; but this quickly became as improbable
+      as any question of a vulgar <i>table d&rsquo;hote</i>, or a steam-boat deck, or
+      a herd of fellow-pilgrims cicerone-led, or even an opera-box serving,
+      during a performance, for frame of a type observed from the stalls. One
+      placed young gods and goddesses only when one placed them on Olympus, and
+      it met the case, always, that they were of Olympian race, and that they
+      glimmered for one, at the best, through their silver cloud, like the
+      visiting apparitions in an epic.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was brief and beautiful indeed till something happened that gave it,
+      for Berridge, on the spot, a prodigious extension&mdash;an extension
+      really as prodigious, after a little, as if he had suddenly seen the
+      silver clouds multiply and then the whole of Olympus presently open.
+      Music, breaking upon the large air, enjoined immediate attention, and in a
+      moment he was listening, with the rest of the company, to an eminent
+      tenor, who stood by the piano; and was aware, with it, that his Englishman
+      had turned away and that in the vast, rich, tapestried room where, in
+      spite of figures and objects so numerous, clear spaces, wide vistas, and,
+      as they might be called, becoming situations abounded, there had been from
+      elsewhere, at the signal of unmistakable song, a rapid accession of
+      guests. At first he but took this in, and the way that several young
+      women, for whom seats had been found, looked charming in the rapt
+      attitude; while even the men, mostly standing and grouped, &ldquo;composed,&rdquo; in
+      their stillness, scarce less impressively, under the sway of the divine
+      voice. It ruled the scene, to the last intensity, and yet our young man&rsquo;s
+      fine sense found still a resource in the range of the eyes, without sound
+      or motion, while all the rest of consciousness was held down as by a hand
+      mailed in silver. It was better, in this way, than the opera&mdash;John
+      alertly thought of that: the composition sung might be Wagnerian, but no
+      Tristram, no Iseult, no Parsifal and, no Kundry of them all could ever
+      show, could ever &ldquo;act&rdquo; to the music, as our friend had thus the power of
+      seeing his dear contemporaries of either sex (armoured <i>they</i> so
+      otherwise than in cheap Teutonic tinsel!) just continuously and
+      inscrutably sit to it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It made, the whole thing together, an enchantment amid which he had in
+      truth, at a given moment, ceased to distinguish parts&mdash;so that he was
+      himself certainly at last soaring as high as the singer&rsquo;s voice and
+      forgetting, in a lost gaze at the splendid ceiling, everything of the
+      occasion but what his intelligence poured into it. This, as happened, was
+      a flight so sublime that by the time he had dropped his eyes again a
+      cluster of persons near the main door had just parted to give way to a
+      belated lady who slipped in, through the gap made for her, and stood for
+      some minutes full in his view. It was a proof of the perfect hush that no
+      one stirred to offer her a seat, and her entrance, in her high grace, had
+      yet been so noiseless that she could remain at once immensely exposed and
+      completely unabashed. For Berridge, once more, if the scenic show before
+      him so melted into the music, here precisely might have been the heroine
+      herself advancing to the foot-lights at her cue. The interest deepened to
+      a thrill, and everything, at the touch of his recognition of this
+      personage, absolutely the most beautiful woman now present, fell
+      exquisitely together and gave him what he had been wanting from the moment
+      of his taking in his young Englishman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was there, the missing connection: her arrival had on the instant
+      lighted it by a flash. Olympian herself, supremely, divinely Olympian, she
+      had arrived, could <i>only</i> have arrived, for the one person present of
+      really equal race, our young man&rsquo;s late converser, whose flattering
+      demonstration might now stand for one of the odd extravagant forms taken
+      by nervous impatience. This charming, this dazzling woman had been one
+      member of the couple disturbed, to his intimate conviction, the autumn
+      previous, on his being pushed by the officials, at the last moment, into a
+      compartment of the train that was to take him from Cremona to Mantua&mdash;where,
+      failing a stop, he had had to keep his place. The other member, by whose
+      felt but unseized identity he had been haunted, was the unconsciously
+      insolent form of guaranteed happiness he had just been engaged with. The
+      sense of the admirable intimacy that, having taken its precautions, had
+      not reckoned with his irruption&mdash;this image had remained with him; to
+      say nothing of the interest of aspect of the associated figures, so
+      stamped somehow with rarity, so beautifully distinct from the common
+      occupants of padded corners, and yet on the subject of whom, for the
+      romantic structure he was immediately to raise, he had not had a scrap of
+      evidence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If he had imputed to them conditions it was all his own doing: it came
+      from his inveterate habit of abysmal imputation, the snatching of the ell
+      wherever the inch peeped out, without which where would have been the
+      tolerability of life? It didn&rsquo;t matter now what he had imputed&mdash;and
+      he always held that his expenses of imputation were, at the worst, a
+      compliment to those inspiring them. It only mattered that each of the pair
+      had been then what he really saw each now&mdash;full, that is, of the
+      pride of their youth and beauty and fortune and freedom, though at the
+      same time particularly preoccupied: preoccupied, that is, with the
+      affairs, and above all with the passions, of Olympus. Who had they been,
+      and what? Whence had they come, whither were they bound, what tie united
+      them, what adventure engaged, what felicity, tempered by what peril,
+      magnificently, dramatically attended? These had been his questions, all so
+      inevitable and so impertinent, at the time, and to the exclusion of any
+      scruples over his not postulating an inane honeymoon, his not taking the
+      &ldquo;tie,&rdquo; as he should doubtless properly have done, for the mere blest
+      matrimonial; and he now retracted not one of them, flushing as they did
+      before him again with their old momentary life. To feel his two friends
+      renewedly in presence&mdash;friends of the fleeting hour though they had
+      but been, and with whom he had exchanged no sign save the vaguest of
+      salutes on finally relieving them of his company&mdash;was only to be
+      conscious that he hadn&rsquo;t, on the spot, done them, so to speak, half
+      justice, and that, for his superior entertainment, there would be ever so
+      much more of them to come.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      II
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      It might already have been coming indeed, with an immense stride, when,
+      scarce more than ten minutes later, he was aware that the distinguished
+      stranger had brought the Princess straight across the room to speak to
+      him. He had failed in the interval of any glimpse of their closer meeting;
+      for the great tenor had sung another song and then stopped, immediately on
+      which Madame Gloriani had made his pulse quicken to a different, if not to
+      a finer, throb by hovering before him once more with the man in the world
+      he most admired, as it were, looking at him over her shoulder. The man in
+      the world he most admired, the greatest then of contemporary Dramatists&mdash;and
+      bearing, independently, the name inscribed if not in deepest incision at
+      least in thickest gilding on the rich recreative roll&mdash;this
+      prodigious personage was actually to suffer &ldquo;presentation&rdquo; to him at the
+      good lady&rsquo;s generous but ineffectual hands, and had in fact the next
+      instant, left alone with him, bowed, in formal salutation, the massive,
+      curly, witty head, so &ldquo;romantic&rdquo; yet so modern, so &ldquo;artistic&rdquo; and ironic
+      yet somehow so civic, so Gallic yet somehow so cosmic, his personal vision
+      of which had not hitherto transcended that of the possessor of a signed
+      and framed photograph in a consecrated quarter of a writing-table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was positive, however, that poor John was afterward to remember of this
+      conjunction nothing whatever but the fact of the great man&rsquo;s looking at
+      him very hard, straight in the eyes, and of his not having himself
+      scrupled to do as much, and with a confessed intensity of appetite. It was
+      improbable, he was to recognise, that they had, for the few minutes, only
+      stared and grimaced, like pitted boxers or wrestlers; but what had abode
+      with him later on, none the less, was just the cherished memory of his not
+      having so lost presence of mind as to fail of feeding on his impression.
+      It was precious and precarious, that was perhaps all there would be of it;
+      and his subsequent consciousness was quite to cherish this queer view of
+      the silence, neither awkward nor empty nor harsh, but on the contrary
+      quite charged and brimming, that represented for him his use, his
+      unforgettable enjoyment in fact, of his opportunity. Had nothing passed in
+      words? Well, no misery of murmured &ldquo;homage,&rdquo; thank goodness; though
+      something must have been said, certainly, to lead up, as they put it at
+      the theatre, to John&rsquo;s having asked the head of the profession, before
+      they separated, if he by chance knew who the so radiantly handsome young
+      woman might be, the one who had so lately come in and who wore the pale
+      yellow dress, of the strange tone, and the magnificent pearls. They must
+      have separated soon, it was further to have been noted; since it was
+      before the advance of the pair, their wonderful dazzling charge upon him,
+      that he had distinctly seen the great man, at a distance again, block out
+      from his sight the harmony of the faded gold and the pearls&mdash;to speak
+      only of that&mdash;and plant himself there (the mere high Atlas-back of
+      renown to Berridge now) as for communion with them. He had blocked
+      everything out, to this tune, effectually; with nothing of the matter left
+      for our friend meanwhile but that, as he had said, the beautiful lady was
+      the Princess. What Princess, or the Princess of what?&mdash;our young man
+      had afterward wondered; his companion&rsquo;s reply having lost itself in the
+      prelude of an outburst by another vocalist who had approached the piano.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was after these things that she so incredibly came to him, attended by
+      her adorer&mdash;since he took it for absolute that the young Lord was her
+      adorer, as who indeed mightn&rsquo;t be?&mdash;and scarce waiting, in her bright
+      simplicity, for any form of introduction. It may thus be said in a word
+      that this was the manner in which she made our hero&rsquo;s acquaintance, a
+      satisfaction that she on the spot described to him as really wanting of
+      late to her felicity. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve read everything, you know, and &lsquo;The Heart of
+      Gold&rsquo; three times&rdquo;: she put it all immediately on that ground, while the
+      young Lord now smiled, beside her, as if it were quite the sort of thing
+      he had done too; and while, further, the author of the work yielded to the
+      consciousness that whereas in general he had come at last scarce to be
+      able to bear the iteration of those words, which affected him as a mere
+      vain vocal convulsion, so not a breath of this association now attended
+      them, so such a person as the Princess could make of them what she would.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Unless it was to be really what <i>he</i> would!&mdash;this occurred to
+      him in the very thick of the prodigy, no single shade of possibility of
+      which was less prodigious than any other. It was a declaration, simply,
+      the admirable young woman was treating him to, a profession of &ldquo;artistic
+      sympathy&rdquo;&mdash;for she was in a moment to use this very term that made
+      for them a large, clear, common ether, an element all uplifted and rare,
+      of which they could equally partake.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If she was Olympian&mdash;as in her rich and regular young beauty, that of
+      some divine Greek mask over-painted say by Titian, she more and more
+      appeared to him&mdash;this offered air was that of the gods themselves:
+      she might have been, with her long rustle across the room, Artemis
+      decorated, hung with pearls, for her worshippers, yet disconcerting them
+      by having, under an impulse just faintly fierce, snatched the cup of gold
+      from Hebe. It was to him, John Berridge, she thus publicly offered it; and
+      it was his over-topping <i>confrere</i> of shortly before who was the
+      worshipper most disconcerted. John had happened to catch, even at its
+      distance, after these friends had joined him, the momentary deep, grave
+      estimate, in the great Dramatist&rsquo;s salient watching eyes, of the
+      Princess&rsquo;s so singular performance: the touch perhaps this, in the whole
+      business, that made Berridge&rsquo;s sense of it most sharp. The sense of it as
+      <i>prodigy</i> didn&rsquo;t in the least entail his feeling abject&mdash;any
+      more, that is, than in the due dazzled degree; for surely there would have
+      been supreme wonder in the eagerness of her exchange of mature glory for
+      thin notoriety, hadn&rsquo;t it still exceeded everything that an Olympian of
+      such race should have found herself bothered, as they said, to &ldquo;read&rdquo; at
+      all&mdash;and most of all to read three times!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With the turn the matter took as an effect of this meeting, Berridge was
+      more than once to find himself almost ashamed for her&mdash;since it
+      seemed never to occur to her to be so for herself: he was jealous of the
+      type where she might have been taken as insolently careless of it; his
+      advantage (unless indeed it had been his ruin) being that he could
+      inordinately reflect upon it, could wander off thereby into kinds of
+      licence of which she was incapable. He hadn&rsquo;t, for himself, waited till
+      now to be sure of what he would do were <i>he</i> an Olympian: he would
+      leave his own stuff snugly unread, to begin with; that would be a
+      beautiful start for an Olympian career. He should have been as unable to
+      write those works in short as to make anything else of them; and he should
+      have had no more arithmetic for computing fingers than any perfect-headed
+      marble Apollo mutilated at the wrists. He should have consented to know
+      but the grand personal adventure on the grand personal basis: nothing
+      short of this, no poor cognisance of confusable, pettifogging things, the
+      sphere of earth-grubbing questions and two-penny issues, would begin to
+      be, on any side, Olympian enough.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Even the great Dramatist, with his tempered and tested steel and his
+      immense &ldquo;assured&rdquo; position, even he was not Olympian: the look, full of
+      the torment of earth, with which he had seen the Princess turn her back,
+      and for such a purpose, on the prized privilege of his notice, testified
+      sufficiently to that. Still, comparatively, it was to be said, the
+      question of a personal relation with an authority so eminent on the
+      subject of the passions&mdash;to say nothing of the rest of his charm&mdash;might
+      have had for an ardent young woman (and the Princess was unmistakably
+      ardent) the absolute attraction of romance: unless, again, prodigy of
+      prodigies, she were looking for her romance very particularly elsewhere.
+      Yet where could she have been looking for it, Berridge was to ask himself
+      with private intensity, in a manner to leave her so at her ease for
+      appearing to offer <i>him</i> everything?&mdash;so free to be quite
+      divinely gentle with him, to hover there before him in all her mild,
+      bright, smooth sublimity and to say: &ldquo;I should be so very grateful if
+      you&rsquo;d come to see me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There succeeded this a space of time of which he was afterward to lose all
+      account, was never to recover the history; his only coherent view of it
+      being that an interruption, some incident that kept them a while separate,
+      had then taken place, yet that during their separation, of half an hour or
+      whatever, they had still somehow not lost sight of each other, but had
+      found their eyes meeting, in deep communion, all across the great peopled
+      room; meeting and wanting to meet, wanting&mdash;it was the most
+      extraordinary thing in the world for the suppression of stages, for
+      confessed precipitate intensity&mdash;to use together every instant of the
+      hour that might be left them. Yet to use it for what?&mdash;unless, like
+      beautiful fabulous figures in some old-world legend, for the frankest and
+      almost the crudest avowal of the impression they had made on each other.
+      He couldn&rsquo;t have named, later on, any other person she had during this
+      space been engaged with, any more than he was to remember in the least
+      what he had himself ostensibly done, who had spoken to him, whom he had
+      spoken to, or whether he hadn&rsquo;t just stood and publicly gaped or
+      languished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Ah, Olympians were unconventional indeed&mdash;that was a part of their
+      high bravery and privilege; but what it also appeared to attest in this
+      wondrous manner was that they could communicate to their chosen in three
+      minutes, by the mere light of their eyes, the same shining cynicism. He
+      was to wonder of course, tinglingly enough, whether he had really made an
+      ass of himself, and there was this amount of evidence for it that there
+      certainly <i>had</i> been a series of moments each one of which glowed
+      with the lucid sense that, as she couldn&rsquo;t like him as much as <i>that</i>
+      either for his acted clap-trap or for his printed verbiage, what it must
+      come to was that she liked him, and to such a tune, just for himself and
+      quite after no other fashion than that in which every goddess in the
+      calendar had, when you came to look, sooner or later liked some
+      prepossessing young shepherd. The question would thus have been, for him,
+      with a still sharper eventual ache, of whether he positively <i>had</i>,
+      as an effect of the miracle, been petrified, before fifty pair of eyes, to
+      the posture of a prepossessing shepherd&mdash;and would perhaps have left
+      him under the shadow of some such imputable fatuity if his consciousness
+      hadn&rsquo;t, at a given moment, cleared up to still stranger things.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The agent of the change was, as quite congruously happened, none other
+      than the shining youth whom he now seemed to himself to have been thinking
+      of for ever so long, for a much longer time than he had ever in his life
+      spent at an evening party, as the young Lord: which personage suddenly
+      stood before him again, holding him up an odd object and smiling, as if in
+      reference to it, with a gladness that at once struck our friend as almost
+      too absurd for belief. The object was incongruous by reason of its being,
+      to a second and less preoccupied glance, a book; and what had befallen
+      Berridge within twenty minutes was that they&mdash;the Princess and he,
+      that is&mdash;had got such millions of miles, or at least such thousands
+      of years, away from <i>those</i> platitudes. The book, he found himself
+      assuming, could only be <i>his</i> book (it seemed also to have a tawdry
+      red cover); and there came to him memories, dreadfully false notes sounded
+      so straight again by his new acquaintance, of certain altogether different
+      persons who at certain altogether different parties had flourished volumes
+      before him very much with that insinuating gesture, that arch expression,
+      and that fell intention. The meaning of these things&mdash;of all possible
+      breaks of the charm at such an hour!&mdash;was that he should &ldquo;signature&rdquo;
+       the ugly thing, and with a characteristic quotation or sentiment: that was
+      the way people simpered and squirmed, the way they mouthed and beckoned,
+      when animated by such purposes; and it already, on the spot, almost broke
+      his heart to see such a type as that of the young Lord brought, by the
+      vulgarest of fashions, so low. This state of quick displeasure in
+      Berridge, however, was founded on a deeper question&mdash;the question of
+      how in the world he was to remain for himself a prepossessing shepherd if
+      he should consent to come back to these base actualities. It was true that
+      even while this wonderment held him, his aggressor&rsquo;s perfect good
+      conscience had placed the matter in a slightly different light.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By an extraordinary chance I&rsquo;ve found a copy of my friend&rsquo;s novel on one
+      of the tables here&mdash;I see by the inscription that she has presented
+      it to Gloriani. So if you&rsquo;d like to glance at it&mdash;!&rdquo; And the young
+      Lord, in the pride of his association with the eminent thing, held it out
+      to Berridge as artlessly as if it had been a striking natural specimen of
+      some sort, a rosy round apple grown in his own orchard, or an exceptional
+      precious stone, to be admired for its weight and lustre. Berridge accepted
+      the offer mechanically&mdash;relieved at the prompt fading of his worst
+      fear, yet feeling in himself a tell-tale facial blankness for the still
+      absolutely anomalous character of his friend&rsquo;s appeal. He was even tempted
+      for a moment to lay the volume down without looking at it&mdash;only with
+      some extemporised promise to borrow it of their host and take it home, to
+      give himself to it at an easier moment. Then the very expression of his
+      fellow-guests own countenance determined in him a different and a still
+      more dreadful view; in fact an immediate collapse of the dream in which he
+      had for the splendid previous space of time been living. The young Lord
+      himself, in his radiant costly barbarism, figured far better than John
+      Berridge could do the prepossessing shepherd, the beautiful mythological
+      mortal &ldquo;distinguished&rdquo; by a goddess; for our hero now saw that his whole
+      manner of dealing with his ridiculous tribute was marked exactly by the
+      grand simplicity, the prehistoric good faith, as one might call it, of
+      far-off romantic and &ldquo;plastic&rdquo; creatures, figures of exquisite Arcadian
+      stamp, glorified rustics like those of the train of peasants in &ldquo;A
+      Winter&rsquo;s Tale,&rdquo; who thought nothing of such treasure-trove, on a Claude
+      Lorrain sea-strand, as a royal infant wrapped in purple: something in that
+      fabulous style of exhibition appearing exactly what his present
+      demonstration might have been prompted by. &ldquo;The Top of the Tree, by Amy
+      Evans&rdquo;&mdash;scarce credible words floating before Berridge after he had
+      with an anguish of effort dropped his eyes on the importunate title-page&mdash;represented
+      an object as alien to the careless grace of goddess-haunted Arcady as a
+      washed-up &ldquo;kodak&rdquo; from a wrecked ship might have been to the appreciation
+      of some islander of wholly unvisited seas. Nothing could have been more in
+      the tone of an islander deplorably diverted from his native interests and
+      dignities than the glibness with which John&rsquo;s own child of nature went on.
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s her pen-name, Amy Evans&rdquo;&mdash;he couldn&rsquo;t have said it otherwise
+      had he been a blue-chinned penny-a-liner; yet marking it with a
+      disconnectedness of intelligence that kept up all the poetry of his own
+      situation and only crashed into that of other persons. The reference put
+      the author of &ldquo;The Heart of Gold&rdquo; quite into <i>his</i> place, but left
+      the speaker absolutely free of Arcady. &ldquo;Thanks awfully&rdquo;&mdash;Berridge
+      somehow clutched at that, to keep everything from swimming. &ldquo;Yes, I should
+      like to look at it,&rdquo; he managed, horribly grimacing now, he believed, to
+      say; and there was in fact a strange short interlude after this in which
+      he scarce knew what had become of any one or of anything; in which he only
+      seemed to himself to stand alone in a desolate place where even its
+      desolation didn&rsquo;t save him from having to stare at the greyest of printed
+      pages. Nothing here helped anything else, since the stamped greyness
+      didn&rsquo;t even in itself make it impossible his eyes should follow such
+      sentences as: &ldquo;The loveliness of the face, which was that of the glorious
+      period in which Pheidias reigned supreme, and which owed its most
+      exquisite note to that shell-like curl of the upper lip which always
+      somehow recalls for us the smile with which windblown Astarte must have
+      risen from the salt sea to which she owed her birth and her terrible
+      moods; or it was too much for all the passionate woman in her, and she let
+      herself go, over the flowering land that had been, but was no longer their
+      love, with an effect of blighting desolation that might have proceeded
+      from one of the more physical, though not more awful, convulsions of
+      nature.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He seemed to know later on that other and much more natural things had
+      occurred; as that, for instance, with now at last a definite intermission
+      of the rare music that for a long time past, save at the briefest
+      intervals, had kept all participants ostensibly attentive and motionless,
+      and that in spite of its high quality and the supposed privilege of
+      listening to it he had allowed himself not to catch a note of, there was a
+      great rustling and shifting and vociferous drop to a lower plane, more
+      marked still with the quick clearance of a way to supper and a lively
+      dispersal of most of the guests. Hadn&rsquo;t he made out, through the queer
+      glare of appearances, though they yet somehow all came to him as confused
+      and unreal, that the Princess was no longer there, wasn&rsquo;t even only
+      crowded out of his range by the immediate multiplication of her court, the
+      obsequious court that the change of pitch had at once permitted to close
+      round her; that Gloriani had offered her his arm, in a gallant official
+      way, as to the greatest lady present, and that he was left with half a
+      dozen persons more knowing than the others, who had promptly taken, singly
+      or in couples, to a closer inspection of the fine small scattered
+      treasures of the studio?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He himself stood there, rueful and stricken, nursing a silly red-bound
+      book under his arm very much as if he might have been holding on tight to
+      an upright stake, or to the nearest piece of furniture, during some
+      impression of a sharp earthquake-shock or of an attack of dyspeptic
+      dizziness; albeit indeed that he wasn&rsquo;t conscious of this absurd, this
+      instinctive nervous clutch till the thing that was to be more wonderful
+      than any yet suddenly flared up for him&mdash;the sight of the Princess
+      again on the threshold of the room, poised there an instant, in her
+      exquisite grace, for recovery of some one or of something, and then, at
+      recognition of him, coming straight to him across the empty place as if he
+      alone, and nobody and nothing else, were what she incredibly wanted. She
+      was there, she was radiantly <i>at</i> him, as if she had known and loved
+      him for ten years&mdash;ten years during which, however, she had never
+      quite been able, in spite of undiscouraged attempts, to cure him, as
+      goddesses <i>had</i> to cure shepherds, of his mere mortal shyness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah no, not <i>that</i> one!&rdquo; she said at once, with her divine
+      familiarity; for she had in the flash of an eye &ldquo;spotted&rdquo; the particular
+      literary production he seemed so very fondly to have possessed himself of
+      and against which all the Amy Evans in her, as she would doubtless have
+      put it, clearly wished on the spot to discriminate. She pulled it away
+      from him; he let it go; he scarce knew what was happening&mdash;only made
+      out that she distinguished the right one, the one that should have been
+      shown him, as blue or green or purple, and intimated that her other
+      friend, her fellow-Olympian, as Berridge had thought of him from the
+      first, really did too clumsily bungle matters, poor dear, with his
+      officiousness over the red one! She went on really as if she had come for
+      that, some such rectification, some such eagerness of reunion with dear
+      Mr. Berridge, some talk, after all the tiresome music, of questions really
+      urgent; while, thanks to the supreme strangeness of it, the high tide of
+      golden fable floated him afresh, and her pretext and her plea, the
+      queerness of her offered motive, melted away after the fashion of the
+      enveloping clouds that do their office in epics and idylls. &ldquo;You didn&rsquo;t
+      perhaps know I&rsquo;m Amy Evans,&rdquo; she smiled, &ldquo;or even perhaps that I write in
+      English&mdash;which I love, I assure you, as much as you can yourself do,
+      and which gives one (doesn&rsquo;t it? for who should know if not you?) the
+      biggest of publics. I &lsquo;just love&rsquo;&mdash;don&rsquo;t they say?&mdash;your
+      American millions; and all the more that they really <i>take</i> me for
+      Amy Evans, as I&rsquo;ve just wanted to be taken, to be loved too for myself,
+      don&rsquo;t you know?&mdash;that they haven&rsquo;t seemed to try at all to &lsquo;go
+      behind&rsquo; (don&rsquo;t you say?) my poor dear little <i>nom de guerre</i>. But
+      it&rsquo;s the new one, my last, &lsquo;The Velvet Glove,&rsquo; that I should like you to
+      judge me by&mdash;if such a <i>corvee</i> isn&rsquo;t too horrible for you to
+      think of; though I admit it&rsquo;s a move straight in the romantic direction&mdash;since
+      after all (for I might as well make a clean breast of it) it&rsquo;s dear old
+      discredited romance that I&rsquo;m most in sympathy with. I&rsquo;ll send you &lsquo;The
+      Velvet Glove&rsquo; to-morrow, if you <i>can</i> find half an hour for it; and
+      then&mdash;and <i>then</i>&mdash;!&rdquo; She paused as for the positive bright
+      glory of her meaning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It could only be so extraordinary, her meaning, whatever it was, that the
+      need in him that would&mdash;whatever it was again!&mdash;meet it most
+      absolutely formed the syllables on his lips as: &ldquo;Will you be very, <i>very</i>
+      kind to me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah &lsquo;kind,&rsquo; dear Mr. Berridge? &lsquo;Kind,&rsquo;&rdquo; she splendidly laughed, &ldquo;is
+      nothing to what&mdash;!&rdquo; But she pulled herself up again an instant.
+      &ldquo;Well, to what I want to be! Just <i>see</i>,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;how I want to
+      be!&rdquo; It was exactly, he felt, what he couldn&rsquo;t <i>but</i> see&mdash;in
+      spite of books and publics and pen-names, in spite of the really
+      &ldquo;decadent&rdquo; perversity, recalling that of the most irresponsibly insolent
+      of the old Romans and Byzantines, that could lead a creature so formed for
+      living and breathing her Romance, and so committed, up to the eyes, to the
+      constant fact of her personal immersion in it and genius for it, the
+      dreadful amateurish dance of ungrammatically scribbling it, with editions
+      and advertisements and reviews and royalties and every other futile item:
+      since what was more of the deep essence of throbbing intercourse itself
+      than this very act of her having broken away from people, in the other
+      room, to whom he was as nought, of her having, with her <i>crânerie</i> of
+      audacity and indifference, just turned her back on them all as soon as she
+      had begun to miss him? What was more of it than her having forbidden them,
+      by a sufficient curt ring of her own supremely silver tone, to attempt to
+      check or criticise her freedom, than her having looked him up, at his
+      distance, under all the noses he had put out of joint, so as to let them
+      think whatever they might&mdash;not of herself (much she troubled to
+      care!) but of the new champion to be reckoned with, the invincible young
+      lion of the day? What was more of it in short than her having perhaps even
+      positively snubbed for him the great mystified Sculptor and the great
+      bewildered Dramatist, treated to this queer experience for the first time
+      of their lives?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It all came back again to the really great ease of really great ladies,
+      and to the perfect facility of everything when once they were great
+      enough. <i>That</i> might become the delicious thing to him, he more and
+      more felt, as soon as it should be supremely attested; it was ground he
+      had ventured on, scenically, representation-ally, in the artistic sphere,
+      but without ever dreaming he should &ldquo;realise&rdquo; it thus in the social.
+      Handsomely, gallantly just now, moreover, he didn&rsquo;t so much as let it
+      occur to him that the social experience would perhaps on some future
+      occasion richly profit further scenic efforts; he only lost himself in the
+      consciousness of all she invited him to believe. It took licence, this
+      consciousness, the next moment, for a tremendous further throb, from what
+      she had gone on to say to him in so many words&mdash;though indeed the
+      words were nothing and it was all a matter but of the implication that
+      glimmered through them: &ldquo;Do you <i>want</i> very much your supper here?&rdquo;
+       And then while he felt himself glare, for charmed response, almost to the
+      point of his tears rising with it: &ldquo;Because if you don&rsquo;t&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because if I don&rsquo;t&mdash;?&rdquo; She had paused, not from the faintest shade
+      of timidity, but clearly for the pleasure of making him press.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why shouldn&rsquo;t we go together, letting me drive you home?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll come home with me?&rdquo; gasped John Berridge while the perspiration on
+      his brow might have been the morning dew on a high lawn of Mount Ida.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No&mdash;you had better come with <i>me</i>. That&rsquo;s what I mean; but I
+      certainly will come to you with pleasure some time if you&rsquo;ll let me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She made no more than that of the most fatuous of freedoms, as he felt
+      directly he had spoken that it might have seemed to her; and before he had
+      even time to welcome the relief of not having then himself, for beastly
+      contrition, to make more of it, she had simply mentioned, with her
+      affectionate ease, that she wanted to get away, that of the bores there
+      she might easily, after a little, have too much, and that if he&rsquo;d but say
+      the word they&rsquo;d nip straight out together by an independent door and be
+      sure to find her motor in the court. What word he had found to say, he was
+      afterward to reflect, must have little enough mattered; for he was to have
+      kept, of what then occurred, but a single other impression, that of her
+      great fragrant rustle beside him over the rest of the ample room and
+      toward their nearest and friendliest resource, the door by which he had
+      come in and which gave directly upon a staircase. This independent image
+      was just that of the only other of his fellow-guests with whom he had been
+      closely concerned; he had thought of him rather indeed, up to that moment,
+      as the Princess&rsquo;s fellow-Olympian&mdash;but a new momentary vision of him
+      seemed now to qualify it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The young Lord had reappeared within a minute on the threshold, that of
+      the passage from the supper-room, lately crossed by the Princess herself,
+      and Berridge felt him there, saw him there, wondered about him there, all,
+      for the first minute, without so much as a straight look at him. He would
+      have come to learn the reason of his friend&rsquo;s extraordinary public
+      demonstration&mdash;having more right to his curiosity, or his anxiety or
+      whatever, than any one else; he would be taking in the remarkable
+      appearances that thus completed it, and would perhaps be showing quite a
+      different face for them, at the point they had reached, than any that
+      would have hitherto consorted with the beautiful security of his own
+      position. So much, on our own young man&rsquo;s part, for this first flush of a
+      presumption that he might have stirred the germs of ire in a celestial
+      breast; so much for the moment during which nothing would have induced him
+      to betray, to a possibly rueful member of an old aristocracy, a vulgar
+      elation or a tickled, unaccustomed glee. His inevitable second thought
+      was, however, it has to be confessed, another matter, which took a
+      different turn&mdash;for, frankly, all the conscious conqueror in him, as
+      Amy Evans would again have said, couldn&rsquo;t forego a probably supreme
+      consecration. He treated himself to no prolonged reach of vision, but
+      there was something he nevertheless fully measured for five seconds&mdash;the
+      sharp truth of the fact, namely, of how the interested observer in the
+      doorway must really have felt about him. Rather disconcertingly, hereupon,
+      the sharp truth proved to be that the most amused, quite the most
+      encouraging and the least invidious of smiles graced the young Lord&rsquo;s
+      handsome countenance&mdash;forming, in short, his final contribution to a
+      display of high social candour unprecedented in our hero&rsquo;s experience. No,
+      he wasn&rsquo;t jealous, didn&rsquo;t do John Berridge the honour to be, to the extent
+      of the least glimmer of a spark of it, but was so happy to see his
+      immortal mistress do what she liked that he could positively beam at the
+      odd circumstance of her almost lavishing public caresses on a gentleman
+      not, after all, of negligible importance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      III
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Well, it was all confounding enough, but this indication in particular
+      would have jostled our friend&rsquo;s grasp of the presented cup had he had,
+      during the next ten minutes, more independence of thought. That, however,
+      was out of the question when one positively felt, as with a pang somewhere
+      deep within, or even with a smothered cry for alarm, one&rsquo;s whole sense of
+      proportion shattered at a blow and ceasing to serve. &ldquo;Not <i>straight</i>,
+      and not too fast, shall we?&rdquo; was the ineffable young woman&rsquo;s appeal to
+      him, a few minutes later, beneath the wide glass porch-cover that
+      sheltered their brief wait for their chariot of fire. It was there even as
+      she spoke; the capped charioteer, with a great clean curve, drew up at the
+      steps of the porch, and the Princess&rsquo;s footman, before rejoining him in
+      front, held open the door of the car. She got in, and Berridge was the
+      next instant beside her; he could only say: &ldquo;As you like, Princess&mdash;where
+      you will; certainly let us prolong it; let us prolong everything; don&rsquo;t
+      let us have it over&mdash;strange and beautiful as it can only be!&mdash;a
+      moment sooner than we must.&rdquo; So he spoke, in the security of their
+      intimate English, while the perpendicular imperturbable <i>valet-de-pied</i>,
+      white-faced in the electric light, closed them in and then took his place
+      on the box where the rigid liveried backs of the two men, presented
+      through the glass, were like a protecting wall; such a guarantee of
+      privacy as might come&mdash;it occurred to Berridge&rsquo;s inexpugnable fancy&mdash;from
+      a vision of tall guards erect round Eastern seraglios.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His companion had said something, by the time they started, about their
+      taking a turn, their looking out for a few of the night-views of Paris
+      that were so wonderful; and after that, in spite of his constantly prized
+      sense of knowing his enchanted city and his way about, he ceased to follow
+      or measure their course, content as he was with the particular exquisite
+      assurance it gave him. <i>That</i> was knowing Paris, of a wondrous bland
+      April night; that was hanging over it from vague consecrated lamp-studded
+      heights and taking in, spread below and afar, the great scroll of all its
+      irresistible story, pricked out, across river and bridge and radiant <i>place</i>,
+      and along quays and boulevards and avenues, and around monumental circles
+      and squares, in syllables of fire, and sketched and summarised, further
+      and further, in the dim fire-dust of endless avenues; that was all of the
+      essence of fond and thrilled and throbbing recognition, with a thousand
+      things understood and a flood of response conveyed, a whole familiar
+      possessive feeling appealed to and attested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From you, you know, it <i>would</i> be such a pleasure, and I think&mdash;in
+      fact I&rsquo;m sure&mdash;it would do so much for the thing in America.&rdquo; Had she
+      gone on as they went, or had there been pauses of easy and of charmed and
+      of natural silence, breaks and drops from talk, but only into greater
+      confidence and sweetness?&mdash;such as her very gesture now seemed a part
+      of; her laying her gloved hand, for emphasis, on the back of his own,
+      which rested on his knee and which took in from the act he scarce knew
+      what melting assurance. The emphasis, it was true&mdash;this came to him
+      even while for a minute he held his breath&mdash;seemed rather that of Amy
+      Evans; and if her talk, while they rolled, had been in the sense of these
+      words (he had really but felt that they were shut intimately in together,
+      all his consciousness, all his discrimination of meanings and indications
+      being so deeply and so exquisitely merged in that) the case wasn&rsquo;t as
+      surely and sublimely, as extravagantly, as fabulously romantic for him as
+      his excited pulses had been seeming to certify. Her hand was there on his
+      own, in precious living proof, and splendid Paris hung over them, as a
+      consecrating canopy, her purple night embroidered with gold; yet he
+      waited, something stranger still having glimmered for him, waited though
+      she left her hand, which expressed emphasis and homage and tenderness, and
+      anything else she liked indeed&mdash;since it was all then a matter of
+      what he next heard and what he slowly grew cold as he took from her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know they do it here so charmingly&mdash;it&rsquo;s a compliment a clever
+      man is always so glad to pay a literary friend, and sometimes, in the case
+      of a great name like yours, it renders such a service to a poor little
+      book like mine!&rdquo; She spoke ever so humbly and yet ever so gaily&mdash;and
+      still more than before with this confidence of the sincere admirer and the
+      comrade. That, yes, through his sudden sharpening chill, was what first
+      became distinct for him; she was mentioning somehow her explanation and
+      her conditions&mdash;her motive, in fine, disconcerting, deplorable,
+      dreadful, in respect to the experience, otherwise so boundless, that he
+      had taken her as having opened to him; and she was doing it, above all,
+      with the clearest coolness of her general privilege. What in particular
+      she was talking about he as yet, still holding his breath, wondered; it
+      was something she wanted him to do for her&mdash;which was exactly what he
+      had hoped, but something of what trivial and, heaven forgive them both, of
+      what dismal order? Most of all, meanwhile, he felt the dire penetration of
+      two or three of the words she had used; so that after a painful minute the
+      quaver with which he repeated them resembled his-drawing, slowly,
+      carefully, timidly, some barbed dart out of his flesh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A &lsquo;literary friend&rsquo;?&rdquo; he echoed as he turned his face more to her; so
+      that, as they sat, the whites of her eyes, near to his own, gleamed in the
+      dusk like some silver setting of deep sapphires.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It made her smile&mdash;which in their relation now was like the breaking
+      of a cool air-wave over the conscious sore flush that maintained itself
+      through his general chill. &ldquo;Ah, of course you don&rsquo;t allow that I <i>am</i>
+      literary&mdash;and of course if you&rsquo;re awfully cruel and critical and
+      incorruptible you won&rsquo;t let it say for me what I so want it should!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where are we, where, in the name of all that&rsquo;s damnably, of all that&rsquo;s
+      grotesquely delusive, are we?&rdquo; he said, without a sign, to himself; which
+      was the form of his really being quite at sea as to what she was talking
+      about. That uncertainty indeed he could but frankly betray by taking her
+      up, as he cast about him, on the particular ambiguity that his voice
+      perhaps already showed him to find most irritating. &ldquo;Let it show? &lsquo;It,&rsquo; 
+      dear Princess&mdash;&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, my dear man, let your Preface show, the lovely, friendly,
+      irresistible log-rolling Preface that I&rsquo;ve been asking you if you wouldn&rsquo;t
+      be an angel and write for me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He took it in with a deep long gulp&mdash;he had never, it seemed to him,
+      had to swallow anything so bitter. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve been asking me if I wouldn&rsquo;t
+      write you a Preface?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To &lsquo;The Velvet Glove&rsquo;&mdash;after I&rsquo;ve sent it to you and you&rsquo;ve judged
+      if you really can. Of course I don&rsquo;t want you to perjure yourself; but&rdquo;&mdash;and
+      she fairly brushed him again, at their close quarters, with her fresh
+      fragrant smile&mdash;&ldquo;I do want you so to like me, and to say it all out
+      beautifully and publicly.&rdquo; &ldquo;You want me to like you, Princess?&rdquo; &ldquo;But,
+      heaven help us, haven&rsquo;t you understood?&rdquo; Nothing stranger could
+      conceivably have been, it struck him&mdash;if he was right now&mdash;than
+      this exquisite intimacy of her manner of setting him down on the other
+      side of an abyss. It was as if she had lifted him first in her beautiful
+      arms, had raised him up high, high, high, to do it, pressing him to her
+      immortal young breast while he let himself go, and then, by some
+      extraordinary effect of her native force and her alien quality, setting
+      him down exactly where she wanted him to be&mdash;which was a thousand
+      miles away from her. Once more, so preposterously face to face with her
+      for these base issues, he took it all in; after which he felt his eyes
+      close, for amazement, despair and shame, and his head, which he had some
+      time before, baring his brow to the mild night, eased of its crush-hat,
+      sink to confounded rest on the upholstered back of the seat. The act, the
+      ceasing to see, and if possible to hear, was for the moment a retreat, an
+      escape from a state that he felt himself fairly flatter by thinking of it
+      as &ldquo;awkward&rdquo;; the state of really wishing that his humiliation might end,
+      and of wondering in fact if the most decent course open to him mightn&rsquo;t be
+      to ask her to stop the motor and let him down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He spoke no word for a long minute, or for considerably more than that;
+      during which time the motor went and went, now even somewhat faster, and
+      he knew, through his closed eyes, that the outer lights had begun to
+      multiply and that they were getting back somewhere into the spacious and
+      decorative quarters. He knew this, and also that his retreat, for all his
+      attitude as of accommodating thought, his air&mdash;<i>that</i> presently
+      and quickly came to him&mdash;of having perhaps gathered himself in, for
+      an instant, at her behest, to turn over, in his high ingenuity, some
+      humbugging &ldquo;rotten&rdquo; phrase or formula that he might place at her service
+      and make the note of such an effort; he became aware, I say, that his
+      lapse was but a half-retreat, with her strenuous presence and her earnest
+      pressure and the close cool respiration of her good faith absolutely
+      timing the moments of his stillness and the progress of the car. Yes, it
+      was wondrous well, he had all but made the biggest of all fools of
+      himself, almost as big a one as <i>she</i> was still, to every appearance,
+      in her perfect serenity, trying to make of him; and the one straight
+      answer to it <i>would</i> be that he should reach forward and touch the
+      footman&rsquo;s shoulder and demand that the vehicle itself should make an end.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That would be an answer, however, he continued intensely to see, only to
+      inanely importunate, to utterly superfluous Amy Evans&mdash;not a bit to
+      his at last exquisitely patient companion, who was clearly now quite
+      taking it from him that what kept him in his attitude was the spring of
+      the quick desire to oblige her, the charming loyal impulse to consider a
+      little what he could do for her, say &ldquo;handsomely yet conscientiously&rdquo; (oh
+      the loveliness!) before he should commit himself. She was enchanted&mdash;<i>that</i>
+      seemed to breathe upon him; she waited, she hung there, she quite bent
+      over him, as Diana over the sleeping Endymion, while all the conscientious
+      man of letters in him, as she might so supremely have phrased it,
+      struggled with the more peccable, the more muddled and &ldquo;squared,&rdquo; though,
+      for her own ideal, the so much more <i>banal</i> comrade. Yes, he could
+      keep it up now&mdash;that is he could hold out for his real reply, could
+      meet the rather marked tension of the rest of their passage as well as
+      she; he should be able somehow or other to make his wordless detachment,
+      the tribute of his ostensibly deep consideration of her request, a retreat
+      in good order. She <i>was</i>, for herself, to the last point of her
+      guileless fatuity, Amy Evans and an asker for &ldquo;lifts,&rdquo; a conceiver of
+      twaddle both in herself and in him; or at least, so far as she fell short
+      of all this platitude, it was no fault of the really affecting folly of
+      her attempt to become a mere magazine mortal after the only fashion she
+      had made out, to the intensification of her self-complacency, that she
+      might.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nothing might thus have touched him more&mdash;if to be touched, beyond a
+      certain point, hadn&rsquo;t been to be squared&mdash;than the way she failed to
+      divine the bearing of his thoughts; so that she had probably at no one
+      small crisis of her life felt so much a promise in the flutter of her own
+      as on the occasion of the beautiful act she indulged in at the very
+      moment, he was afterward to recognise, of their sweeping into her great
+      smooth, empty, costly street&mdash;a desert, at that hour, of lavish
+      lamplight and sculptured stone. She raised to her lips the hand she had
+      never yet released and kept it there a moment pressed close against them;
+      he himself closing his eyes to the deepest detachment he was capable of
+      while he took in with a smothered sound of pain that this was the
+      conferred bounty by which Amy Evans sought most expressively to encourage,
+      to sustain and to reward. The motor had slackened and in a moment would
+      stop; and meanwhile even after lowering his hand again she hadn&rsquo;t let it
+      go. This enabled it, while he after a further moment roused himself to a
+      more confessed consciousness, to form with his friend&rsquo;s a more active
+      relation, to possess him of hers, in turn, and with an intention the
+      straighter that her glove had by this time somehow come off. Bending over
+      it without hinderance, he returned as firmly and fully as the application
+      of all his recovered wholeness of feeling, under his moustache, might
+      express, the consecration the bareness of his own knuckles had received;
+      only after which it was that, still thus drawing out his grasp of her, and
+      having let down their front glass by his free hand, he signified to the
+      footman his view of their stopping short.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They had arrived; the high, closed <i>porte-cochere</i>, in its crested
+      stretch of wall, awaited their approach; but his gesture took effect, the
+      car pulled up at the edge of the pavement, the man, in an instant, was at
+      the door and had opened it; quickly moving across the walk, the next
+      moment, to press the bell at the gate. Berridge, as his hand now broke
+      away, felt he had cut his cable; with which, after he had stepped out, he
+      raised again the glass he had lowered and closed, its own being already
+      down, the door that had released him. During these motions he had the
+      sense of his companion, still radiant and splendid, but somehow
+      momentarily suppressed, suspended, silvered over and celestially blurred,
+      even as a summer moon by the loose veil of a cloud. So it was he saw her
+      while he leaned for farewell on the open window-ledge; he took her in as
+      her visible intensity of bright vagueness filled the circle that the
+      interior of the car made for her. It was such a state as she would have
+      been reduced to&mdash;he felt this, was certain of it&mdash;for the first
+      time in her life; and it was he, poor John Berridge, after all, who would
+      have created the condition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Good-night, Princess. I sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t see you again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Vague was indeed no word for it&mdash;shine though she might, in her
+      screened narrow niche, as with the liquefaction of her pearls, the glimmer
+      of her tears, the freshness of her surprise. &ldquo;You won&rsquo;t come in&mdash;when
+      you&rsquo;ve had no supper?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He smiled at her with a purpose of kindness that could never in his life
+      have been greater; and at first but smiled without a word. He presently
+      shook his head, however&mdash;doubtless also with as great a sadness. &ldquo;I
+      seem to have supped to my fill, Princess. Thank you, I won&rsquo;t come in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It drew from her, while she looked at him, a long low anxious wail. &ldquo;And
+      you won&rsquo;t do my Preface?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Princess, I won&rsquo;t do your Preface. Nothing would induce me to say a
+      word in print about you. I&rsquo;m in fact not sure I shall ever mention you in
+      any manner at all as long as ever I live.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had felt for an instant as if he were speaking to some miraculously
+      humanised idol, all sacred, all jewelled, all votively hung about, but
+      made mysterious, in the recess of its shrine, by the very thickness of the
+      accumulated lustre. And &ldquo;Then you don&rsquo;t like me&mdash;?&rdquo; was the
+      marvellous sound from the image.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Princess,&rdquo; was in response the sound of the worshipper, &ldquo;Princess, I
+      adore you. But I&rsquo;m ashamed for you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ashamed&mdash;&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You <i>are</i> Romance&mdash;as everything, and by what I make out every
+      one, about you is; so what more do you want? Your Preface&mdash;the only
+      one worth speaking of&mdash;was written long ages ago by the most
+      beautiful imagination of man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Humanised at least for these moments, she could understand enough to
+      declare that she didn&rsquo;t. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t, I don&rsquo;t!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t need to understand. Don&rsquo;t attempt such base things. Leave those
+      to us. Only live. Only be. <i>We&rsquo;ll</i> do the rest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She moved over&mdash;she had come close to the window. &ldquo;Ah, but Mr.
+      Berridge&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He raised both hands; he shook them at her gently, in deep and soft
+      deprecation. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t sound my dreadful name. Fortunately, however, you
+      can&rsquo;t help yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, <i>voyons!</i> I so want&mdash;&mdash;-!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He repeated his gesture, and when he brought down his hands they closed
+      together on both of hers, which now quite convulsively grasped the
+      window-ledge. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t speak, because when you speak you really say things&mdash;!&rdquo;
+       &ldquo;You <i>are</i> Romance,&rdquo; he pronounced afresh and with the last intensity
+      of conviction and persuasion. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s all you have to do with it,&rdquo; he
+      continued while his hands, for emphasis, pressed hard on her own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their faces, in this way, were nearer together than ever, but with the
+      effect of only adding to the vividness of that dire non-intelligence from
+      which, all perversely and incalculably, her very beauty now appeared to
+      gain relief. This made for him a pang and almost an anguish; the fear of
+      her saying something yet again that would wretchedly prove how little he
+      moved her perception. So his eyes, of remonstrant, of suppliant intention,
+      met hers close, at the same time that these, so far from shrinking, but
+      with their quite other swimming plea all bedimmed now, seemed almost to
+      wash him with the tears of her failure. He soothed, he stroked, he
+      reassured her hands, for tender conveyance of his meaning, quite as she
+      had just before dealt with his own for brave demonstration of hers. It was
+      during these instants as if the question had been which of them <i>could</i>
+      most candidly and fraternally plead. Full but of that she kept it up. &ldquo;Ah,
+      if you&rsquo;d only think, if you&rsquo;d only try&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He couldn&rsquo;t stand it&mdash;she was capable of believing he had edged away,
+      excusing himself and trumping up a factitious theory, because he hadn&rsquo;t
+      the wit, hadn&rsquo;t the hand, to knock off the few pleasant pages she asked
+      him for and that any proper Frenchman, master of the <i>metier</i>, would
+      so easily and gallantly have promised. Should she so begin to commit
+      herself he&rsquo;d, by the immortal gods, anticipate it in the manner most
+      admirably effective&mdash;in fact he&rsquo;d even thus make her further
+      derogation impossible. Their faces were so close that he could practise
+      any rich freedom&mdash;even though for an instant, while the back of the
+      chauffeur guarded them on that side and his own presented breadth,
+      amplified by his loose mantle, filled the whole window-space, leaving him
+      no observation from any quarter to heed, he uttered, in a deep-drawn final
+      groan, an irrepressible echo of his pang for what might have been, the
+      muffled cry of his insistence. &ldquo;You <i>are</i> Romance!&rdquo;&mdash;he drove it
+      intimately, inordinately home, his lips, for a long moment, sealing it,
+      with the fullest force of authority, on her own; after which, as he broke
+      away and the car, starting again, turned powerfully across the pavement,
+      he had no further sound from her than if, all divinely indulgent but all
+      humanly defeated, she had given the question up, falling back to infinite
+      wonder. He too fell back, but could still wave his hat for her as she
+      passed to disappearance in the great floridly framed aperture whose wings
+      at once came together behind her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      A ROUND OF VISITS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      I
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      HE had been out but once since his arrival, Mark Monteith; that was the
+      next day after&mdash;he had disembarked by night on the previous; then
+      everything had come at once, as he would have said, everything had
+      changed. He had got in on Tuesday; he had spent Wednesday for the most
+      part down town, looking into the dismal subject of his anxiety&mdash;the
+      anxiety that, under a sudden decision, had brought him across the
+      unfriendly sea at mid-winter, and it was through information reaching him
+      on Wednesday evening that he had measured his loss, measured above all his
+      pain. These were two distinct things, he felt, and, though both bad, one
+      much worse than the other. It wasn&rsquo;t till the next three days had pretty
+      well ebbed, in fact, that he knew himself for so badly wounded. He had
+      waked up on Thursday morning, so far as he had slept at all, with the
+      sense, together, of a blinding New York blizzard and of a deep sore inward
+      ache. The great white savage storm would have kept him at the best within
+      doors, but his stricken state was by itself quite reason enough.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He so felt the blow indeed, so gasped, before what had happened to him, at
+      the ugliness, the bitterness, and, beyond these things, the sinister
+      strangeness, that, the matter of his dismay little by little detaching and
+      projecting itself, settling there face to face with him as something he
+      must now live with always, he might have been in charge of some horrid
+      alien thing, some violent, scared, unhappy creature whom there was small
+      joy, of a truth, in remaining with, but whose behaviour wouldn&rsquo;t perhaps
+      bring him under notice, nor otherwise compromise him, so long as he should
+      stay to watch it. A young jibbering ape of one of the more formidable
+      sorts, or an ominous infant panther, smuggled into the great gaudy hotel
+      and whom it might yet be important he shouldn&rsquo;t advertise, couldn&rsquo;t have
+      affected him as needing more domestic attention. The great gaudy hotel&mdash;The
+      Pocahontas, but carried out largely on &ldquo;Du Barry&rdquo; lines&mdash;made all
+      about him, beside, behind, below, above, in blocks and tiers and
+      superpositions, a sufficient defensive hugeness; so that, between the
+      massive labyrinth and the New York weather, life in a lighthouse during a
+      gale would scarce have kept him more apart. Even when in the course of
+      that worse Thursday it had occurred to him for vague relief that the
+      odious certified facts couldn&rsquo;t be all his misery, and that, with his
+      throat and a probable temperature, a brush of the epidemic, which was for
+      ever brushing him, accounted for something, even then he couldn&rsquo;t resign
+      himself to bed and broth and dimness, but only circled and prowled the
+      more within his high cage, only watched the more from his tenth story the
+      rage of the elements.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the afternoon he had a doctor&mdash;the caravanserai, which supplied
+      everything in quantities, had one for each group of so many rooms&mdash;just
+      in order to be assured that he was <i>grippé</i> enough for anything. What
+      his visitor, making light of his attack, perversely told him was that he
+      was, much rather, &ldquo;blue&rdquo; enough, and from causes doubtless known to
+      himself&mdash;which didn&rsquo;t come to the same thing; but he &ldquo;gave him
+      something,&rdquo; prescribed him warmth and quiet and broth and courage, and
+      came back the next day as to readminister this last dose. He then
+      pronounced him better, and on Saturday pronounced him well&mdash;all the
+      more that the storm had abated and the snow had been dealt with as New
+      York, at a push, knew how to deal with things. Oh, how New York knew how
+      to deal&mdash;to deal, that is, with other accumulations lying passive to
+      its hand&mdash;was exactly what Mark now ached with his impression of; so
+      that, still threshing about in this consciousness, he had on the Saturday
+      come near to breaking out as to what was the matter with him. The Doctor
+      brought in somehow the air of the hotel&mdash;which, cheerfully and
+      conscientiously, by his simple philosophy, the good man wished to diffuse;
+      breathing forth all the echoes of other woes and worries and pointing the
+      honest moral that, especially with such a thermometer, there were enough
+      of these to go round.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our sufferer, by that time, would have liked to tell some one; extracting,
+      to the last acid strain of it, the full strength of his sorrow, taking it
+      all in as he could only do by himself and with the conditions favourable
+      at least to this, had been his natural first need. But now, he supposed,
+      he <i>must</i> be better; there was something of his heart&rsquo;s heaviness he
+      wanted so to give out. He had rummaged forth on the Thursday night half a
+      dozen old photographs stuck into a leather frame, a small show-case that
+      formed part of his usual equipage of travel&mdash;he mostly set it up on a
+      table when he stayed anywhere long enough; and in one of the neat
+      gilt-edged squares of this convenient portable array, as familiar as his
+      shaving-glass or the hair-brushes, of backs and monograms now so
+      beautifully toned and wasted, long ago given him by his mother, Phil
+      Blood-good handsomely faced him. Not contemporaneous, and a little faded,
+      but so saying what it said only the more dreadfully, the image seemed to
+      sit there, at an immemorial window, like some long effective and only at
+      last exposed &ldquo;decoy&rdquo; of fate. It was <i>because</i> he was so beautifully
+      good-looking, because he was so charming and clever and frank&mdash;besides
+      being one&rsquo;s third cousin, or whatever it was, one&rsquo;s early schoolfellow and
+      one&rsquo;s later college classmate&mdash;that one had abjectly trusted him. To
+      live thus with his unremoved, undestroyed, engaging, treacherous face, had
+      been, as our traveller desired, to live with all of the felt pang; had
+      been to consume it in such a single hot, sore mouthful as would so far as
+      possible dispose of it and leave but cold dregs. Thus, if the Doctor,
+      casting about for pleasantness, had happened to notice him there, salient
+      since he was, and possibly by the same stroke even to know him, as New
+      York&mdash;and more or less to its cost now, mightn&rsquo;t one say?&mdash;so
+      abundantly and agreeable had, the cup would have overflowed and Monteith,
+      for all he could be sure of the contrary, would have relieved himself
+      positively in tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh <i>he&rsquo;s</i> what&rsquo;s the matter with me&mdash;that, looking after some
+      of my poor dividends, as he for the ten years of my absence had served me
+      by doing, he has simply jockeyed me out of the whole little collection,
+      such as it was, and taken the opportunity of my return, inevitably at last
+      bewildered and uneasy, to &lsquo;sail,&rsquo; ten days ago, for parts unknown and as
+      yet unguessable. It isn&rsquo;t the beastly values themselves, however; that&rsquo;s
+      only awkward and I can still live, though I don&rsquo;t quite know how I shall
+      turn round; it&rsquo;s the horror of <i>his</i> having done it, and done it to
+      <i>me</i>&mdash;without a mitigation or, so to speak, a warning or an
+      excuse.&rdquo; That, at a hint or a jog, is what he would have brought out&mdash;only
+      to feel afterward, no doubt, that he had wasted his impulse and profaned
+      even a little his sincerity. The Doctor didn&rsquo;t in the event so much as
+      glance at his cluster of portraits&mdash;which fact quite put before our
+      friend the essentially more vivid range of imagery that a pair of eyes
+      transferred from room to room and from one queer case to another, in such
+      a place as that, would mainly be adjusted to. It wasn&rsquo;t for <i>him</i> to
+      relieve himself touchingly, strikingly or whatever, to such a man: such a
+      man might much more pertinently&mdash;save for professional discretion&mdash;have
+      emptied out there his own bag of wonders; prodigies of observation,
+      flowers of oddity, flowers of misery, flowers of the monstrous, gathered
+      in current hotel practice. Countless possibilities, making doctors
+      perfunctory, Mark felt, swarmed and seethed at their doors; it showed for
+      an incalculable world, and at last, on Sunday, he decided to leave his
+      room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      II
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Everything, as he passed through the place, went on&mdash;all the offices
+      of life, the whole bustle of the market, and withal, surprisingly, scarce
+      less that of the nursery and the playground; the whole sprawl in especial
+      of the great gregarious fireside: it was a complete social scene in
+      itself, on which types might figure and passions rage and plots thicken
+      and dramas develop, without reference to any other sphere, or perhaps even
+      to anything at all outside. The signs of this met him at every turn as he
+      threaded the labyrinth, passing from one extraordinary masquerade of
+      expensive objects, one portentous &ldquo;period&rdquo; of decoration, one violent
+      phase of publicity, to another: the heavy heat, the luxuriance, the
+      extravagance, the quantity, the colour, gave the impression of some
+      wondrous tropical forest, where vociferous, bright-eyed, and feathered
+      creatures, of every variety of size and hue, were half smothered between
+      undergrowths of velvet and tapestry and ramifications of marble and
+      bronze. The fauna and the flora startled him alike, and among them his
+      bruised spirit drew in and folded its wings. But he roamed and rested,
+      exploring and in a manner enjoying the vast rankness&mdash;in the depth of
+      which he suddenly encountered Mrs. Folliott, whom he had last seen, six
+      months before, in London, and who had spoken to him then, precisely, of
+      Phil Bloodgood, for several years previous her confidential American agent
+      and factotum too, as she might say, but at that time so little in her good
+      books, for the extraordinary things he seemed to be doing, that she was
+      just hurrying home, she had made no scruple of mentioning, to take
+      everything out of his hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark remembered how uneasy she had made him&mdash;how that very talk with
+      her had wound him up to fear, as so acute and intent a little person she
+      affected him; though he had affirmed with all emphasis and flourish his
+      own confidence and defended, to iteration, his old friend. This passage
+      had remained with him for a certain pleasant heat of intimacy, his
+      partner, of the charming appearance, being what she was; he liked to think
+      how they had fraternised over their difference and called each other
+      idiots, or almost, without offence. It was always a link to have scuffled,
+      failing a real scratch, with such a character; and he had at present the
+      flutter of feeling that something of this would abide. <i>He</i> hadn&rsquo;t
+      been hurrying home, at the London time, in any case; he was doing nothing
+      then, and had continued to do it; he would want, before showing suspicion&mdash;that
+      had been his attitude&mdash;to have more, after all, to go upon. Mrs.
+      Folliott also, and with a great actual profession of it, remembered and
+      rejoiced; and, also staying in the house as she was, sat with him, under a
+      spreading palm, in a wondrous rococo salon, surrounded by the pinkest,
+      that is the fleshiest, imitation Boucher panels, and wanted to know if he
+      <i>now</i> stood up for his swindler. She would herself have tumbled on a
+      cloud, very passably, in a fleshy Boucher manner, hadn&rsquo;t she been
+      over-dressed for such an exercise; but she was quite realistically aware
+      of what had so naturally happened&mdash;she was prompt about Bloodgood&rsquo;s
+      &ldquo;flight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She had acted with energy, on getting back&mdash;she had saved what she
+      could; which hadn&rsquo;t, however, prevented her losing all disgustedly some
+      ten thousand dollars. She was lovely, lively, friendly, interested, she
+      connected Monteith perfectly with their discussion that day during the
+      water-party on the Thames; but, sitting here with him half an hour, she
+      talked only of her peculiar, her cruel sacrifice&mdash;since she should
+      never get a penny back. He had felt himself, on their meeting, quite
+      yearningly reach out to her&mdash;so decidedly, by the morning&rsquo;s end, and
+      that of his scattered sombre stations, had he been sated with meaningless
+      contacts, with the sense of people all about him intensely, though
+      harmlessly, animated, yet at the same time raspingly indifferent. <i>They</i>
+      would have, he and she at least, their common pang&mdash;through which
+      fact, somehow, he should feel less stranded. It wasn&rsquo;t that he wanted to
+      be pitied&mdash;he fairly didn&rsquo;t pity himself; he winced, rather, and even
+      to vicarious anguish, as it rose again, for poor shamed Bloodgood&rsquo;s
+      doom-ridden figure. But he wanted, as with a desperate charity, to give
+      some easier turn to the mere ugliness of the main facts; to work off his
+      obsession from them by mixing with it some other blame, some other pity,
+      it scarce mattered what&mdash;if it might be some other experience; as an
+      effect of which larger ventilation it would have, after a fashion and for
+      a man of free sensibility, a diluted and less poisonous taste.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By the end of five minutes of Mrs. Folliott, however, he felt his dry lips
+      seal themselves to a makeshift simper. She could <i>take</i> nothing&mdash;no
+      better, no broader perception of anything than fitted her own small
+      faculty; so that though she must have recalled or imagined that he had
+      still, up to lately, had interests at stake, the rapid result of her
+      egotistical little chatter was to make him wish he might rather have
+      conversed with the French waiter dangling in the long vista that showed
+      the oriental café as a climax, or with the policeman, outside, the top of
+      whose helmet peeped above the ledge of a window. She bewailed her wretched
+      money to excess&mdash;she who, he was sure, had quantities more; she pawed
+      and tossed her bare bone, with her little extraordinarily gemmed and
+      manicured hands, till it acted on his nerves; she rang all the changes on
+      the story, the dire fatality, of her having wavered and muddled, thought
+      of this and but done that, of her stupid failure to have pounced, when she
+      had first meant to, in season. She abused the author of their wrongs&mdash;recognising
+      thus too Monteith&rsquo;s right to loathe him&mdash;for the desperado he
+      assuredly had proved, but with a vulgarity of analysis and an incapacity
+      for the higher criticism, as her listener felt it to be, which made him
+      determine resentfully, almost grimly, that she shouldn&rsquo;t have the benefit
+      of a grain of <i>his</i> vision or <i>his</i> version of what had befallen
+      them, and of how, in particular, it had come; and should never dream
+      thereby (though much would she suffer from that!) of how interesting he
+      might have been. She had, in a finer sense, no manners, and to be
+      concerned with her in any retrospect was&mdash;since their discourse was
+      of losses&mdash;to feel the dignity of history incur the very gravest. It
+      was true that such fantasies, or that any shade of inward irony, would be
+      Greek to Mrs. Folliott. It was also true, however, and not much more
+      strange, when she had presently the comparatively happy thought of &ldquo;Lunch
+      with <i>us</i>, you poor dear!&rdquo; and mentioned three or four of her &ldquo;crowd&rdquo;&mdash;a
+      new crowd, rather, for her, all great Sunday lunchers there and immense
+      fun, who would in a moment be turning up&mdash;that this seemed to him as
+      easy as anything else; so that after a little, deeper in the jungle and
+      while, under the temperature as of high noon, with the crowd complete and
+      &ldquo;ordering,&rdquo; he wiped the perspiration from his brow, he felt he was
+      letting himself go. He did that certainly to the extent of leaving far
+      behind any question of Mrs. Folliott&rsquo;s manners. They didn&rsquo;t matter there&mdash;nobody&rsquo;s
+      did; and if she ceased to lament her ten thousand it was only because,
+      among higher voices, she couldn&rsquo;t make herself heard. Poor Blood-good
+      didn&rsquo;t have a show, as they might have said, didn&rsquo;t get through at any
+      point; the crowd was so new that&mdash;there either having been no hue and
+      cry for him, or having been too many others, for other absconders, in the
+      intervals&mdash;they had never so much as heard of him and would have no
+      more of Mrs. Folliott&rsquo;s true inwardness, on that subject at least, than
+      she had lately cared to have of Monteith&rsquo;s.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was nothing like a crowd, this unfortunate knew, for making one feel
+      lonely, and he felt so increasingly during the meal; but he got thus at
+      least in a measure away from the terrible little lady; after which, and
+      before the end of the hour, he wanted still more to get away from every
+      one else. He was in fact about to perform this manoeuvre when he was
+      checked by the jolly young woman he had been having on his left and who
+      had more to say about the Hotels, up and down the town, than he had ever
+      known a young woman to have to say on any subject at all; she expressed
+      herself in hotel terms exclusively, the names of those establishments
+      playing through her speech as the <i>leit-motif</i> might have recurrently
+      flashed and romped through a piece of profane modern music. She wanted to
+      present him to the pretty girl she had brought with her, and who had
+      apparently signified to her that she must do so.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think you know my brother-in-law, Mr. Newton Winch,&rdquo; the pretty girl
+      had immediately said; she moved her head and shoulders together, as by a
+      common spring, the effect of a stiff neck or of something loosened in her
+      back hair; but becoming, queerly enough, all the prettier for doing so. He
+      had seen in the papers, her brother-in-law, Mr. Monteith&rsquo;s arrival&mdash;Mr.
+      Mark P. Monteith, wasn&rsquo;t it?&mdash;and where he was, and she had been with
+      him, three days before, at the time; whereupon he had said &ldquo;Hullo, what
+      can have brought old Mark back?&rdquo; He seemed to have believed&mdash;Newton
+      had seemed&mdash;that that shirker, as he called him, never <i>would</i>
+      come; and she guessed that if she had known she was going to meet such a
+      former friend (&ldquo;Which he claims you are, sir,&rdquo; said the pretty girl) he
+      would have asked her to find out what the trouble could be. But the real
+      satisfaction would just be, she went on, if his former friend would
+      himself go and see him and tell him; he had appeared of late so down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I remember him&rdquo;&mdash;Mark didn&rsquo;t repudiate the friendship, placing
+      him easily; only then he wasn&rsquo;t married and the pretty girl&rsquo;s sister must
+      have come in later: which showed, his not knowing such things, how they
+      had lost touch. The pretty girl was sorry to have to say in return to this
+      that her sister wasn&rsquo;t living&mdash;had died two years after marrying; so
+      that Newton was up there in Fiftieth Street alone; where (in explanation
+      of his being &ldquo;down&rdquo;) he had been shut up for days with bad <i>grippe</i>;
+      though now on the mend, or she wouldn&rsquo;t have gone to him, not she, who had
+      had it nineteen times and didn&rsquo;t want to have it again. But the horrid
+      poison just seemed to have entered into poor Newton&rsquo;s soul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the way it <i>can</i> take you, don&rsquo;t you know?&rdquo; And then as, with
+      her single twist, she just charmingly hunched her eyes at our friend,
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you want to go to see him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark bethought himself: &ldquo;Well, I&rsquo;m going to see a lady&mdash;&mdash;-&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She took the words from his mouth. &ldquo;Of course you&rsquo;re going to see a lady&mdash;every
+      man in New York is. But Newton isn&rsquo;t a lady, unfortunately for him,
+      to-day; and Sunday afternoon in this place, in this weather, alone&mdash;&mdash;-!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, isn&rsquo;t it awful?&rdquo;&mdash;he was quite drawn to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, <i>you&rsquo;ve</i> got your lady!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I&rsquo;ve got my lady, thank goodness!&rdquo; The fervour of which was his
+      sincere tribute to the note he had had on Friday morning from Mrs. Ash,
+      the only thing that had a little tempered his gloom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well then, feel for others. Fit him in. Tell him why!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why I&rsquo;ve come back? I&rsquo;m glad I <i>have</i>&mdash;since it was to see <i>you</i>!&rdquo;
+       Monteith made brave enough answer, promising to do what he could. He liked
+      the pretty girl, with her straight attack and her free awkwardness&mdash;also
+      with her difference from the others through something of a sense and a
+      distinction given her by so clearly having Newton on her mind. Yet it was
+      odd to him, and it showed the lapse of the years, that Winch&mdash;as he
+      had known him of old&mdash;could <i>be</i> to that degree on any one&rsquo;s
+      mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      III
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Outside in the intensity of the cold&mdash;it was a jump from the Tropics
+      to the Pole&mdash;he felt afresh the force of what he had just been
+      saying; that if it weren&rsquo;t for the fact of Mrs. Ash&rsquo;s good letter of
+      welcome, despatched, characteristically, as soon as she had, like the
+      faithful sufferer in Fiftieth Street, observed his name, in a newspaper,
+      on one of the hotel-lists, he should verily, for want of a connection and
+      an abutment, have scarce dared to face the void and the chill together,
+      but have sneaked back into the jungle and there tried to lose himself. He
+      made, as it was, the opposite effort, resolute to walk, though hovering
+      now and then at vague crossways, radiations of roads to nothing, or taking
+      cold counsel of the long but still sketchy vista, as it struck him, of the
+      northward Avenue, bright and bleak, fresh and harsh, rich and evident
+      somehow, a perspective like a page of florid modern platitudes. He didn&rsquo;t
+      quite know what he had expected for his return&mdash;not certainly
+      serenades and deputations; but without Mrs. Ash his mail would have quite
+      lacked geniality, and it was as if Phil Blood-good had gone off not only
+      with so large a slice of his small <i>peculium</i>, but with all the
+      broken bits of the past, the loose ends of old relationships, that he had
+      supposed he might pick up again. Well, perhaps he should still pick up a
+      few&mdash;by the sweat of his brow; no motion of their own at least, he by
+      this time judged, would send them fluttering into his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Which reflections but quickened his forecast of this charm of the old
+      Paris inveteracy renewed&mdash;the so-prized custom of nine years before,
+      when he still believed in results from his fond frequentation of the Beaux
+      Arts; that of walking over the river to the Rue de Marignan, precisely,
+      every Sunday without exception, and sitting at her fireside, and often all
+      offensively, no doubt, outstaying every one. How he had used to want those
+      hours then, and how again, after a little, at present, the Rue de Marignan
+      might have been before him! He had gone to her there at that time with his
+      troubles, such as they were, and they had always worked for her amusement&mdash;which
+      had been her happy, her clever way of taking them: she couldn&rsquo;t have done
+      anything better for them in that phase, poor innocent things compared with
+      what they might have been, than be amused by them. Perhaps that was what
+      she would still be&mdash;with those of his present hour; now too they
+      might inspire her with the touch she best applied and was most instinctive
+      mistress of: this didn&rsquo;t at all events strike him as what he should most
+      resent. It wasn&rsquo;t as if Mrs. Folliott, to make up for boring him with her
+      own plaint, for example, had had so much as a gleam of conscious diversion
+      over his.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;m <i>so</i> delighted to see you, I&rsquo;ve such immensities to tell you!&rdquo;&mdash;it
+      began with the highest animation twenty minutes later, the very moment he
+      stood there, the sense of the Rue de Marignan in the charming room and in
+      the things about all reconstituted, regrouped, wonderfully preserved, down
+      to the very sitting-places in the same relations, and down to the faint
+      sweet mustiness of generations of cigarettes; but everything else
+      different, and even vaguely alien, and by a measure still other than that
+      of their own stretched interval and of the dear delightful woman&rsquo;s just a
+      little pathetic alteration of face. He had allowed for the nine years, and
+      so, it was to be hoped, had she; but the last thing, otherwise, that would
+      have been touched, he immediately felt, was the quality, the intensity, of
+      her care to see him. She cared, oh so visibly and touchingly and almost
+      radiantly&mdash;save for her being, yes, distinctly, a little <i>more</i>
+      battered than from even a good nine years&rsquo; worth; nothing could in fact
+      have perched with so crowning an impatience on the heap of what she had to
+      &ldquo;tell&rdquo; as that special shade of revived consciousness of having him in
+      particular to tell it to. It wasn&rsquo;t perhaps much to matter how soon she
+      brought out and caused to ring, as it were, on the little recognised
+      marqueterie table between them (such an anciently envied treasure), the
+      heaviest gold-piece of current history she was to pay him with for having
+      just so felicitously come back: he knew already, without the telling, that
+      intimate domestic tension must lately, within those walls, have reached a
+      climax and that he could serve supremely&mdash;oh how he was going to
+      serve!&mdash;as the most sympathetic of all pairs of ears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The whole thing was upon him, in any case, with the minimum of delay: Bob
+      had had it from her, definitely, the first of the week, and it was
+      absolutely final now, that they must set up avowedly separate lives&mdash;without
+      horrible &ldquo;proceedings&rdquo; of any sort, but with her own situation, her
+      independence, secured to her once for all. She had been coming to it,
+      taking her time, and she had gone through&mdash;well, so old a friend
+      would guess enough what; but she was at the point, oh blessedly now, where
+      she meant to stay, he&rsquo;d see if she didn&rsquo;t; with which, in this wonderful
+      way, he himself had arrived for the cream of it and she was just selfishly
+      glad. Bob had gone to Washington&mdash;ostensibly on business, but really
+      to recover breath; she had, speaking vulgarly, knocked the wind out of him
+      and was allowing him time to turn round. Mrs. Folliott moreover, she was
+      sure, would have gone&mdash;was certainly believed to have been seen there
+      five days ago; and of course his first necessity, for public use, would be
+      to patch up something with Mrs. Folliott. Mark knew about Mrs. Folliott?&mdash;who
+      was only, for that matter, one of a regular &ldquo;bevy.&rdquo; Not that it signified,
+      however, if he didn&rsquo;t: she would tell him about <i>her</i> later.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He took occasion from the first fraction of a break not quite to know what
+      he knew about Mrs. Folliott&mdash;though perhaps he could imagine a
+      little; and it was probably at this minute that, having definitely settled
+      to a position, and precisely in his very own tapestry <i>bergère</i>, the
+      one with the delicious little spectral &ldquo;subjects&rdquo; on the back and seat, he
+      partly exhaled, and yet managed partly to keep to himself, the deep
+      resigned sigh of a general comprehension. He knew what he was &ldquo;in&rdquo; for, he
+      heard her go on&mdash;she said it again and again, seemed constantly to be
+      saying it while she smiled at him with her peculiar fine charm, her
+      positive gaiety of sensibility, scarce dimmed: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just selfishly glad,
+      just selfishly glad!&rdquo; Well, she was going to have reason to be; she was
+      going to put the whole case to him, all her troubles and plans, and each
+      act of the tragi-comedy of her recent existence, as to the dearest and
+      safest sympathiser in all the world. There would be no chance for <i>his</i>
+      case, though it was so much for his case he had come; yet there took place
+      within him but a mild, dumb convulsion, the momentary strain of his
+      substituting, by the turn of a hand, one prospect of interest for another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Squaring himself in his old <i>bergère</i>, and with his lips, during the
+      effort, compressed to the same passive grimace that had an hour or two
+      before operated for the encouragement of Mrs. Folliott&mdash;just as it
+      was to clear the stage completely for the present more prolonged
+      performance&mdash;he shut straight down, as he even in the act called it
+      to himself, on any personal claim for social consideration and rendered a
+      perfect little agony of justice to the grounds of his friend&rsquo;s vividness.
+      For it was all the justice that could be expected of him that, though,
+      secretly, he wasn&rsquo;t going to be interested in her being interesting, she
+      was yet going to be so, all the same, by the very force of her lovely
+      material (Bob Ash <i>was</i> such a pure pearl of a donkey!) and he was
+      going to keep on knowing she was&mdash;yes, to the very end. When after
+      the lapse of an hour he rose to go, the rich fact that she <i>had</i> been
+      was there between them, and with an effect of the frankly, fearlessly,
+      harmlessly intimate fireside passage for it that went beyond even the best
+      memories of the pleasant past. He hadn&rsquo;t &ldquo;amused&rdquo; her, no, in quite the
+      same way as in the Rue de Marignan time&mdash;it had then been he who for
+      the most part took frequent turns, emphatic, explosive, elocutionary, over
+      that wonderful waxed parquet while she laughed as for the young perversity
+      of him from the depths of the second, the matching <i>bergère</i>. To-day
+      she herself held and swept the floor, putting him merely to the trouble of
+      his perpetual &ldquo;Brava!&rdquo; But that was all through the change of basis&mdash;the
+      amusement, another name only for the thrilled absorption, having been
+      inevitably for <i>him</i>; as how could it have failed to be with such a
+      regular &ldquo;treat&rdquo; to his curiosity? With the tea-hour now other callers were
+      turning up, and he got away on the plea of his wanting so to think it all
+      over. He hoped again he hadn&rsquo;t too queer a grin with his assurance to her,
+      as if she would quite know what he meant, that he had been thrilled to the
+      core. But she returned, quite radiantly, that he had carried <i>her</i>
+      completely away; and her sincerity was proved by the final frankness of
+      their temporary parting. &ldquo;My pleasure of you is selfish, horribly, I
+      admit; so that if <i>that</i> doesn&rsquo;t suit you&mdash;!&rdquo; Her faded beauty
+      flushed again as she said it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0016" id="link2H_4_0016">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      IV
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      In the street again, as he resumed his walk, he saw how perfectly it would
+      <i>have</i> to suit him and how he probably for a long time wouldn&rsquo;t be
+      suited otherwise. Between them and that time, however, what mightn&rsquo;t, for
+      him, poor devil, on his new basis, have happened? She wasn&rsquo;t at any rate
+      within any calculable period going to care so much for anything as for the
+      so quaintly droll terms in which her rearrangement with her husband&mdash;thanks
+      to that gentleman&rsquo;s inimitable fatuity&mdash;would have to be made. This
+      was what it was to own, exactly, her special grace&mdash;the brightest
+      gaiety in the finest sensibility; <i>such</i> a display of which
+      combination, Mark felt as he went (if he could but have done it still more
+      justice) she must have regaled him with! That exquisite last flush of her
+      fadedness could only remain with him; yet while he presently stopped at a
+      street-corner in a district redeemed from desolation but by the passage
+      just then of a choked trolley-car that howled, as he paused for it,
+      beneath the weight of its human accretions, he seemed to know the inward
+      &ldquo;sinking&rdquo; that had been determined in a hungry man by some extravagant
+      sight of the preparation of somebody else&rsquo;s dinner. Florence Ash was
+      dining, so to speak, off the feast of appreciation, appreciation of what
+      she had to &ldquo;tell&rdquo; him, that he had left her seated at; and she was
+      welcome, assuredly&mdash;welcome, welcome, welcome, he musingly, he
+      wistfully, and yet at the same time a trifle mechanically, repeated,
+      stayed as he was a moment longer by the suffering shriek of another public
+      vehicle and a sudden odd automatic return of his mind to the pretty girl,
+      the flower of Mrs. Folliott&rsquo;s crowd, who had spoken to him of Newton
+      Winch. It was extraordinarily as if, on the instant, she reminded him,
+      from across the town, that she had offered him dinner: it was really quite
+      strangely, while he stood there, as if she had told him where he could go
+      and get it. With which, none the less, it was apparently where he wouldn&rsquo;t
+      find her&mdash;and what was there, after all, of nutritive in the image of
+      Newton Winch? He made up his mind in a moment that it owed that property,
+      which the pretty girl had somehow made imputable, to the fact of its
+      simply being just then the one image of anything known to him that the
+      terrible place had to offer. Nothing, he a minute later reflected, could
+      have been so &ldquo;rum&rdquo; as that, sick and sore, of a bleak New York eventide,
+      he should have had nowhere to turn if not to the said Fiftieth Street.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That was the direction he accordingly took, for when he found the number
+      given him by the same remarkable agent of fate also present to his memory
+      he recognised the direct intervention of Providence and how it absolutely
+      required a miracle to explain his so precipitately embracing this loosest
+      of connections. The miracle indeed soon grew clearer: Providence had, on
+      some obscure system, chosen this very ridiculous hour to save him from
+      cultivation of the sin of selfishness, the obsession of egotism, and was
+      breaking him to its will by constantly directing his attention to the
+      claims of others. Who could say what at that critical moment mightn&rsquo;t have
+      become of Mrs. Folliott (otherwise too then so sadly embroiled!) if she
+      hadn&rsquo;t been enabled to air to him her grievance and her rage?&mdash;just
+      as who could deny that it must have done Florence Ash a world of good to
+      have put her thoughts about Bob in order by the aid of a person to whom
+      the vision of Bob in the light of those thoughts (or in other words to
+      whom <i>her</i> vision of Bob and nothing else) would mean so delightfully
+      much? It was on the same general lines that poor Newton Winch, bereft,
+      alone, ill, perhaps dying, and with the drawback of a not very sympathetic
+      personality&mdash;as Mark remembered it at least&mdash;to contend against
+      in almost any conceivable appeal to human furtherance, it was on these
+      lines, very much, that the luckless case in Fiftieth Street was offered
+      him as a source of salutary discipline. The moment for such a lesson might
+      strike him as strange, in view of the quite special and independent
+      opportunity for exercise that his spirit had during the last three days
+      enjoyed there in his hotel bedroom; but evidently his languor of charity
+      needed some admonition finer than any it might trust to chance for, and by
+      the time he at last, Winch&rsquo;s residence recognised, was duly elevated to
+      his level and had pressed the electric button at his door, he felt himself
+      acting indeed as under stimulus of a sharp poke in the side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0017" id="link2H_4_0017">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      V
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Within the apartment to which he had been admitted, moreover, the fine
+      intelligence we have imputed to him was in the course of three minutes
+      confirmed; since it took him no longer than that to say to himself, facing
+      his old acquaintance, that he had never seen any one so improved. The
+      place, which had the semblance of a high studio light as well as a general
+      air of other profusions and amplitudes, might have put him off a little by
+      its several rather glaringly false accents, those of contemporary domestic
+      &ldquo;art&rdquo; striking a little wild. The scene was smaller, but the rich confused
+      complexion of the Pocahontas, showing through Du Barry paint and patches,
+      might have set the example&mdash;which had been followed with the
+      costliest candour&mdash;so that, clearly, Winch was in these days rich, as
+      most people in New York seemed rich; as, in spite of Bob&rsquo;s depredations,
+      Florence Ash was, as even Mrs. Folliott was in spite of Phil Bloodgood&rsquo;s,
+      as even Phil Bloodgood himself must have been for reasons too obvious; as
+      in fine every one had a secret for being, or for feeling, or for looking,
+      every one at least but Mark Monteith.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These facts were as nothing, however, in presence of his quick and strong
+      impression that his pale, nervous, smiling, clean-shaven host had
+      undergone since their last meeting some extraordinary process of
+      refinement. He had been ill, unmistakably, and the effects of a plunge
+      into plain clean living, where any fineness had remained, were often
+      startling, sometimes almost charming. But independently of this, and for a
+      much longer time, some principle of intelligence, some art of life, would
+      discernibly have worked in him. Remembered from college years and from
+      those two or three luckless and faithless ones of the Law School as
+      constitutionally common, as consistently and thereby doubtless even rather
+      powerfully coarse, clever only for uncouth and questionable things, he yet
+      presented himself now as if he had suddenly and mysteriously been
+      educated. There was a charm in his wide, &ldquo;drawn,&rdquo; convalescent smile, in
+      the way his fine fingers&mdash;had he anything like fine fingers of old?&mdash;played,
+      and just fidgeted, over the prompt and perhaps a trifle incoherent offer
+      of cigars, cordials, ashtrays, over the question of his visitor&rsquo;s hat,
+      stick, fur coat, general best accommodation and ease; and how the deuce,
+      accordingly, had charm, for coming out so on top, Mark wondered, &ldquo;squared&rdquo;
+       the other old elements? For the short interval so to have dealt with him
+      what force had it turned on, what patented process, of the portentous New
+      York order in which there were so many, had it skilfully applied? Were
+      these the things New York did when you just gave her all her head, and
+      that he himself then had perhaps too complacently missed? Strange almost
+      to the point of putting him positively off at first&mdash;quite as an
+      exhibition of the uncanny&mdash;this sense of Newton&rsquo;s having all the
+      while neither missed nor muffed anything, and having, as with an eye to
+      the <i>coup de théâtre</i> to come, lowered one&rsquo;s expectations, at the
+      start, to that abject pitch. It might have been taken verily for an act of
+      bad faith&mdash;really for such a rare stroke of subtlety as could scarce
+      have been achieved by a straight or natural aim.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So much as this at least came and went in Monteith&rsquo;s agitated mind; the
+      oddest intensity of apprehension, admiration, mystification, which the
+      high north-light of the March afternoon and the quite splendidly vulgar
+      appeal of fifty overdone decorative effects somehow fostered and
+      sharpened. Everything had already gone, however, the next moment, for
+      wasn&rsquo;t the man he had come so much too intelligently himself to patronise
+      absolutely bowling him over with the extraordinary speech: &ldquo;See here, you
+      know&mdash;you must be ill, or have had a bad shock, or some beastly
+      upset: are you very sure you ought to have come out?&rdquo; Yes, he after an
+      instant believed his ears; coarse common Newton Winch, whom he had called
+      on because he could, as a gentleman, after all afford to, coarse common
+      Newton Winch, who had had troubles and been epidemically poisoned,
+      lamentably sick, who bore in his face and in the very tension, quite
+      exactly the &ldquo;charm,&rdquo; of his manner, the traces of his late ordeal, and,
+      for that matter, of scarce completed gallant emergence&mdash;this
+      astonishing ex-comrade was simply writing himself at a stroke (into our
+      friend&rsquo;s excited imagination at all events) the most distinguished of men.
+      Oh, <i>he</i> was going to be interesting, if Florence Ash had been going
+      to be; but Mark felt how, under the law of a lively present difference,
+      that would be as an effect of one&rsquo;s having one&rsquo;s self thoroughly rallied.
+      He knew within the minute that the tears stood in his eyes; he stared
+      through them at his friend with a sharp &ldquo;Why, how do you know? How <i>can</i>
+      you?&rdquo; To which he added before Winch could speak: &ldquo;I met your charming
+      sister-in-law a couple of hours since&mdash;at luncheon, at the
+      Pocahontas; and heard from her that you were badly laid up and had spoken
+      of me. So I came to minister to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The object of this design hovered there again, considerably restless,
+      shifting from foot to foot, changing his place, beginning and giving up
+      motions, striking matches for a fresh cigarette, offering them again,
+      redundantly, to his guest and then not lighting himself&mdash;but all the
+      while with the smile of another creature than the creature known to Mark;
+      all the while with the history of something that had happened to him ever
+      so handsomely shining out. Mark was conscious within himself from this
+      time on of two quite distinct processes of notation&mdash;that of his
+      practically instant surrender to the consequences of the act of perception
+      in his host of which the two women trained suppos-ably in the art of
+      pleasing had been altogether incapable; and that of some other condition
+      on Newton&rsquo;s part that left his own poor power of divination nothing less
+      than shamed. This last was signally the case on the former&rsquo;s saying, ever
+      so responsively, almost radiantly, in answer to his account of how he
+      happened to come: &ldquo;Oh then it&rsquo;s very interesting!&rdquo; <i>That</i> was the
+      astonishing note, after what he had been through: neither Mrs. Folliott
+      nor Florence Ash had so much as hinted or breathed to him that <i>he</i>
+      might have incurred that praise. No wonder therefore he was now taken&mdash;with
+      this fresh party&rsquo;s instant suspicion and imputation of it; though it was
+      indeed for some minutes next as if each tried to see which could accuse
+      the other of the greater miracle of penetration. Mark was so struck, in a
+      word, with the extraordinarily straight guess Winch had had there in
+      reserve for him that, other quick impressions helping, there was nothing
+      for him but to bring out, himself: &ldquo;There must be, my dear man, something
+      rather wonderful the matter with you!&rdquo; The quite more intensely and more
+      irresistibly drawn grin, the quite unmistakably deeper consciousness in
+      the dark, wide eye, that accompanied the not quite immediate answer to
+      which remark he was afterward to remember. &ldquo;How do you know that&mdash;or
+      why do you think it?&rdquo; &ldquo;Because there <i>must</i> be&mdash;for you to see!
+      I shouldn&rsquo;t have expected it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you take me for a damned fool?&rdquo; laughed wonderful Newton Winch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0018" id="link2H_4_0018">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      VI
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      He could say nothing that, whether as to the sense of it or as to the way
+      of it, didn&rsquo;t so enrich Mark&rsquo;s vision of him that our friend, after a
+      little, as this effect proceeded, caught himself in the act of almost too
+      curiously gaping. Everything, from moment to moment, fed his curiosity;
+      such a question, for instance, as whether the quite ordinary peepers of
+      the Newton Winch of their earlier youth could have looked, under any
+      provocation, either dark or wide; such a question, above all, as how <i>this</i>
+      incalculable apparition came by the whole startling power of play of its
+      extravagantly sensitive labial connections&mdash;exposed, so to its
+      advantage (he now jumped at one explanation) by the removal of what had
+      probably been one of the vulgar-est of moustaches. With this, at the same
+      time, the oddity of that particular consequence was vivid to him; the
+      glare of his curiosity fairly lasting while he remembered how he had once
+      noted the very opposite turn of the experiment for Phil Bloodgood. He
+      would have said in advance that poor Winch couldn&rsquo;t have afforded to risk
+      showing his &ldquo;real&rdquo; mouth; just as he would have said that in spite of the
+      fine ornament that so considerably muffled it Phil could only have gained
+      by showing his. But to have seen Phil shorn&mdash;as he once had done&mdash;was
+      earnestly to pray that he might promptly again bristle; beneath Phil&rsquo;s
+      moustache lurked nothing to &ldquo;make up&rdquo; for it in case of removal. While he
+      thought of which things the line of grimace, as he could only have called
+      it, the mobile, interesting, ironic line the great double curve of which
+      connected, in the face before him, the strong nostril with the lower
+      cheek, became the very key to his first idea of Newton&rsquo;s capture of
+      refinement. He had shaved and was happily transfigured. Phil Bloodgood had
+      shaved and been wellnigh lost; though why should he just now too
+      precipitately drag the reminiscence in?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That question too, at the queer touch of association, played up for Mark
+      even under so much proof that the state of his own soul was being with the
+      lapse of every instant registered. Phil Bloodgood had brought about the
+      state of his soul&mdash;there was accordingly that amount of connection;
+      only it became further remarkable that from the moment his companion had
+      sounded him, and sounded him, he knew, down to the last truth of things,
+      his disposition, his necessity to talk, the desire that had in the morning
+      broken the spell of his confinement, the impulse that had thrown him so
+      defeatedly into Mrs. Folliott&rsquo;s arms and into Florence Ash&rsquo;s, these forces
+      seemed to feel their impatience ebb and their discretion suddenly grow.
+      His companion was talking again, but just then, incongruously, made his
+      need to communicate lose itself. It was as if his personal case had
+      already been touched by some tender hand&mdash;and that, after all, was
+      the modest limit of its greed. &ldquo;I know now why you came back&mdash;did
+      Lottie mention how I had wondered? But sit down, sit down&mdash;only let
+      me, nervous beast as I am, take it standing!&mdash;and believe me when I
+      tell you that I&rsquo;ve now ceased to wonder. My dear chap, I <i>have</i> it!
+      It can&rsquo;t but have been for poor Phil Blood-good. He sticks out of you, the
+      brute&mdash;as how, with what he has done to you, shouldn&rsquo;t he? There was
+      a man to see me yesterday&mdash;Tim Slater, whom I don&rsquo;t think you know,
+      but who&rsquo;s &lsquo;on&rsquo; everything within about two minutes of its happening (I
+      never saw such a fellow!) and who confirmed my supposition, all my own,
+      however, mind you, at first, that you&rsquo;re one of the sufferers. So how the
+      devil can you <i>not</i> feel knocked? Why <i>should</i> you look as if
+      you were having the time of your life? What a hog to have played it on <i>you</i>,
+      on <i>you</i>, of all his friends!&rdquo; So Newton Winch continued, and so the
+      air between the two men might have been, for a momentary watcher&mdash;which
+      is indeed what I can but invite the reader to become&mdash;that of a
+      nervously displayed, but all considerate, as well as most acute, curiosity
+      on the one side, and that on the other, after a little, of an eventually
+      fascinated acceptance of so much free and in especial of so much right
+      attention. &ldquo;Do you <i>mind</i> my asking you? Because if you do I won&rsquo;t
+      press; but as a man whose own responsibilities, some of &lsquo;em at least,
+      don&rsquo;t differ much, I gather, from some of his, one would like to know how
+      he was ever allowed to get to the point&mdash;! But I <i>do</i> plough you
+      up?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark sat back in his chair, moved but holding himself, his elbows squared
+      on each arm, his hands a bit convulsively interlocked across him&mdash;very
+      much in fact as he had appeared an hour ago in the old tapestry <i>bergère</i>;
+      but as his rigour was all then that of the grinding effort to profess and
+      to give, so it was considerably now for the fear of too hysterically
+      gushing. Somehow too&mdash;since his wound was to that extent open&mdash;he
+      winced at hearing the author of it branded. He hadn&rsquo;t so much minded the
+      epithets Mrs. Folliott had applied, for they were to the appropriator of
+      <i>her</i> securities. As the appropriator of his own he didn&rsquo;t so much
+      want to brand him as&mdash;just more &ldquo;amusingly&rdquo; even, if one would.&mdash;to
+      make out, perhaps, with intelligent help, how such a man, in such a
+      relation, <i>could</i> come to tread such a path: which was exactly the
+      interesting light that Winch&rsquo;s curiosity and sympathy were there to assist
+      him to. He pleaded at any rate immediately his advertising no grievance.
+      &ldquo;I feel sore, I admit, and it&rsquo;s a horrid sort of thing to have had happen;
+      but when you call him a brute and a hog I rather squirm, for brutes and
+      hogs never live, I guess, in the sort of hell in which he now must be.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Newton Winch, before the fireplace, his hands deep in his pockets, where
+      his guest could see his long fingers beat a tattoo on his thighs, Newton
+      Winch dangled and swung himself, and threw back his head and laughed.
+      &ldquo;Well, I must say you take it amazingly!&mdash;all the more that to see
+      you again this way is to feel that if, all along, there was a man whose
+      delicacy and confidence and general attitude might have marked him for a
+      particular consideration, you&rsquo;d have been the man.&rdquo; And they were more
+      directly face to face again; with Newton smiling and smiling <i>so</i>
+      appreciatively; making our friend in fact almost ask himself when before a
+      man had ever grinned from ear to ear to the effect of its so becoming him.
+      What he replied, however, was that Newton described in those flattering
+      terms a client temptingly fatuous; after which, and the exchange of
+      another protest or two in the interest of justice and decency, and another
+      plea or two in that of the still finer contention that even the basest
+      misdeeds had always somewhere or other, could one get at it, their
+      propitiatory side, our hero found himself on his feet again, under the
+      influence of a sudden failure of everything but horror&mdash;a horror
+      determined by some turn of their talk and indeed by the very fact of the
+      freedom of it. It was as if a far-borne sound of the hue and cry, a vision
+      of his old friend hunted and at bay, had suddenly broken in&mdash;this
+      other friend&rsquo;s, this irresistibly intelligent other companion&rsquo;s,
+      practically vivid projection of that making the worst ugliness real. &ldquo;Oh,
+      it&rsquo;s just making my wry face to somebody, and your letting me and caring
+      and wanting to know: that,&rdquo; Mark said, &ldquo;is what does me good; not any
+      other hideous question. I mean I don&rsquo;t take any interest in <i>my</i> case&mdash;what
+      one wonders about, you see, is what can be done for him. I mean, that is&rdquo;&mdash;for
+      he floundered a little, not knowing at last quite what he did mean, a
+      great rush of mere memories, a great humming sound as of thick, thick
+      echoes, rising now to an assault that he met with his face indeed
+      contorted. If he didn&rsquo;t take care he should howl; so he more or less
+      successfully took care&mdash;yet with his host vividly watching him while
+      he shook the danger temporarily off. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind&mdash;though it&rsquo;s
+      rather <i>that</i>; my having felt this morning, after three dismal dumb
+      bad days, that one&rsquo;s friends perhaps would be thinking of one. All I&rsquo;m
+      conscious of now&mdash;I give you my word&mdash;is that I&rsquo;d like to see
+      him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You&rsquo;d like to see him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I don&rsquo;t say,&rdquo; Mark ruefully smiled, &ldquo;that I should like him to see <i>me</i>&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Newton Winch, from where he stood&mdash;and they were together now, on the
+      great hearth-rug that was a triumph of modern orientalism&mdash;put out
+      one of the noted fine hands and, with an expressive headshake, laid it on
+      his shoulder. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t wish him that, Monteith&mdash;don&rsquo;t wish him that!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, but,&rdquo;&mdash;and Mark raised his eyebrows still higher&mdash;&ldquo;he&rsquo;d
+      see I bear up; pretty well!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;God forbid he should see, my dear fellow!&rdquo; Newton cried as for the pang
+      of it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark had for his idea, at any rate, the oddest sense of an exaltation that
+      grew by this use of frankness. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d go to him. Hanged if I wouldn&rsquo;t&mdash;anywhere!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His companion&rsquo;s hand still rested on him. &ldquo;You&rsquo;d go to him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark stood up to it&mdash;though trying to sink solemnity as pretentious.
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;d go like a shot.&rdquo; And then he added: &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s probably what&mdash;when
+      we&rsquo;ve turned round&mdash;I <i>shall</i> do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When &lsquo;we&rsquo; have turned round?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well&rdquo;&mdash;he was a trifle disconcerted at the tone&mdash;&ldquo;I say that
+      because you&rsquo;ll have helped me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I do nothing but want to help you!&rdquo; Winch replied&mdash;which made it
+      right again; especially as our friend still felt himself reassuringly and
+      sustainingly grasped. But Winch went on: &ldquo;You <i>would</i> go to him&mdash;in
+      kindness?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well&mdash;to understand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To understand how he could swindle you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; Mark kept on, &ldquo;to try and make out with him how, after such things&mdash;!&rdquo;
+       But he stopped; he couldn&rsquo;t name them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was as if his companion knew. &ldquo;Such things as you&rsquo;ve done for him of
+      course&mdash;such services as you&rsquo;ve rendered him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, from far back. If I could tell you,&rdquo; our friend vainly wailed&mdash;&ldquo;if
+      I could tell you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Newton Winch patted his shoulder. &ldquo;Tell me&mdash;tell me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The sort of relation, I mean; ever so many things of a kind&mdash;!&rdquo;
+       Again, however, he pulled up; he felt the tremor of his voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me, tell me,&rdquo; Winch repeated with the same movement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tone in it now made their eyes meet again, and with this presentation
+      of the altered face Mark measured as not before, for some reason, the
+      extent of the recent ravage. &ldquo;You must have been ill indeed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pretty bad. But I&rsquo;m better. And you do me good&rdquo;&mdash;with which the
+      light of convalescence came back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t awfully bore you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Winch shook his head. &ldquo;You keep me up&mdash;and you see how no one else
+      comes near me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark&rsquo;s eyes made out that he was better&mdash;though it wasn&rsquo;t yet that
+      nothing was the matter with him. If there was ever a man with whom there
+      was still something the matter&mdash;! Yet one couldn&rsquo;t insist on that,
+      and meanwhile he clearly did want company. &ldquo;Then there we are. I myself
+      had no one to go to.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You save my life,&rdquo; Newton renewedly grinned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0019" id="link2H_4_0019">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      VII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it&rsquo;s your own fault,&rdquo; Mark replied to that, &ldquo;if you make me take
+      advantage of you.&rdquo; Winch had withdrawn his hand, which was back, violently
+      shaking keys or money, in his trousers pocket; and in this position he had
+      abruptly a pause, a sensible, absence, that might have represented either
+      some odd drop of attention, some turn-off to another thought, or just
+      simply the sudden act of listening. His guest had indeed himself&mdash;under
+      suggestion&mdash;the impression of a sound. &ldquo;Mayn&rsquo;t you perhaps&mdash;if
+      you hear something&mdash;have a call?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark had said it so lightly, however, that he was the more struck with his
+      host&rsquo;s appearing to turn just paler; and, with it, the latter now <i>was</i>
+      listening. &ldquo;You hear something?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought <i>you</i> did.&rdquo; Winch himself, on Mark&rsquo;s own pressure of the
+      outside bell, had opened the door of the apartment&mdash;an indication
+      then, it sufficiently appeared, that Sunday afternoons were servants&rsquo;, or
+      attendants&rsquo;, or even trained nurses&rsquo; holidays. It had also marked the
+      stage of his convalescence, and to that extent&mdash;after his first flush
+      of surprise&mdash;had but smoothed Monteith&rsquo;s way. At present he barely
+      gave further attention; detaching himself as under some odd cross-impulse,
+      he had quitted the spot and then taken, in the wide room, a restless turn&mdash;only,
+      however, to revert in a moment to his friend&rsquo;s just-uttered deprecation of
+      the danger of boring him. &ldquo;If I make you take advantage of me&mdash;that
+      is blessedly talk to me&mdash;it&rsquo;s exactly what I want to do. Talk to me&mdash;talk
+      to me!&rdquo; He positively waved it on; pulling up again, however, in his own
+      talk, to say with a certain urgency: &ldquo;Hadn&rsquo;t you better sit down?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark, who stayed before the fire, couldn&rsquo;t but excuse himself. &ldquo;Thanks&mdash;I&rsquo;m
+      very well so. I think of things and I fidget.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Winch stood a moment with his eyes on the ground. &ldquo;Are you very sure?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite&mdash;I&rsquo;m all right if you don&rsquo;t mind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then as you like!&rdquo; With which, shaking to extravagance again his long
+      legs, Newton had swung off&mdash;only with a movement that, now his back
+      was turned, affected his visitor as the most whimsical of all the forms of
+      his rather unnatural manner. He was curiously different with his back
+      turned, as Mark now for the first time saw it&mdash;dangling and somewhat
+      wavering, as from an excess of uncertainty of gait; and this impression
+      was so strange, it created in our friend, uneasily and on the spot, such a
+      need of explanation, that his speech was stayed long enough to give Winch
+      time to turn round again. The latter had indeed by this moment reached one
+      of the limits of the place, the wide studio bay, where he paused, his back
+      to the light and his face afresh presented, to let his just passingly
+      depressed and quickened eyes take in as much as possible of the large
+      floor, range over it with such brief freedom of search as the disposition
+      of the furniture permitted. He was looking for something, though the
+      betrayed reach of vision was but of an instant. Mark caught it, however,
+      and with his own sensibility all in vibration, found himself feeling at
+      once that it meant something and that what it meant was connected with his
+      entertainer&rsquo;s slightly marked appeal to him, the appeal of a moment
+      before, not to remain standing. Winch knew by this time quite easily
+      enough that he was hanging fire; which meant that they were suddenly
+      facing each other across the wide space with a new consciousness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Everything had changed&mdash;changed extraordinarily with the mere turning
+      of that gentleman&rsquo;s back, the treacherous aspect of which its owner
+      couldn&rsquo;t surely have suspected. If the question was of the pitch of their
+      sensibility, at all events, it wouldn&rsquo;t be Mark&rsquo;s that should vibrate to
+      least purpose. Visibly it had come to his host that something had within
+      the few instants remarkably happened, but there glimmered on him an
+      induction that still made him keep his own manner. Newton himself might
+      now resort to any manner he liked. His eyes had raked the floor to recover
+      the position of something dropped or misplaced, and something, above all,
+      awkward or compromising; and he had wanted his companion not to command
+      this scene from the hearth-rug, the hearthrug where he had been just
+      before holding him, hypnotising him to blindness, <i>because</i> the
+      object in question would there be most exposed to sight Mark embraced this
+      with a further drop&mdash;while the apprehension penetrated&mdash;of his
+      power to go on, and with an immense desire at the same time that his eyes
+      should seem only to look at his friend; who broke out now, for that
+      matter, with a fresh appeal. &ldquo;Aren&rsquo;t you going to take advantage of me,
+      man&mdash;aren&rsquo;t you going to <i>take</i> it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Everything had changed, we have noted, and nothing could more have proved
+      it than the fact that, by the same turn, sincerity of desire had dropped
+      out of Winch&rsquo;s chords, while irritation, sharp and almost imperious, had
+      come in. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s because he sees I see something!&rdquo; Mark said to himself;
+      but he had no need to add that it shouldn&rsquo;t prevent his seeing more&mdash;for
+      the simple reason that, in a miraculous fashion, this was exactly what he
+      did do in glaring out the harder. It was beyond explanation, but the very
+      act of blinking thus in an attempt at showy steadiness became one and the
+      same thing with an optical excursion lasting the millionth of a minute and
+      making him aware that the edge of a rug, at the point where an arm-chair,
+      pushed a little out of position, over-straddled it, happened just not
+      wholly to have covered in something small and queer, neat and bright,
+      crooked and compact, in spite of the strong toe-tip surreptitiously
+      applied to giving it the right lift Our gentleman, from where he hovered,
+      and while looking straight at the master of the scene, yet saw, as by the
+      tiny flash of a reflection from fine metal, <i>under</i> the chair. What
+      he recognised, or at least guessed at, as sinister, made him for a moment
+      turn cold, and that chill was on him while Winch again addressed him&mdash;as
+      differently as possible from any manner yet used. &ldquo;I beg of you in God&rsquo;s
+      name to talk to me&mdash;to <i>talk</i> to me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It had the ring of pure alarm and anguish, but was by this turn at least
+      more human than the dazzling glitter of intelligence to which the poor man
+      had up to now been treating him. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s you, my good friend, who are in
+      deep trouble,&rdquo; Mark was accordingly quick to reply, &ldquo;and I ask your pardon
+      for being so taken up with my own sorry business.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course I&rsquo;m in deep trouble&rdquo;&mdash;with which Winch came nearer again;
+      &ldquo;but turning you on was exactly what I wanted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark Monteith, at this, couldn&rsquo;t, for all his rising dismay, but laugh
+      out; his sense of the ridiculous so swallowed up, for that brief
+      convulsion, his sense of the sinister. Of such conivence in pain, it
+      seemed, was the fact of another&rsquo;s pain, and of so much worth again
+      disinterested sympathy! &ldquo;Your interest was then&mdash;&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My interest was in your being interesting. For you <i>are!</i> And my
+      nerves&mdash;!&rdquo; said Newton Winch with a face from which the mystifying
+      smile had vanished, yet in which distinction, as Mark so persistently
+      appreciated it, still sat in the midst of ravage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark wondered and wondered&mdash;he made strange things out. &ldquo;Your nerves
+      have needed company.&rdquo; He could lay his hand on him now, even as shortly
+      before he had felt Winch&rsquo;s own pressure of possession and detention. &ldquo;As
+      good for you yourself, that&mdash;or still better,&rdquo; he went on&mdash;&ldquo;than
+      I and my grievance were to have found you. Talk to we, talk to we, Newton
+      Winch!&rdquo; he added with an immense inspiration of charity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a different matter&mdash;that others but too much can do! But I&rsquo;ll
+      say this. If you want to go to Phil Bloodgood&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well?&rdquo; said Mark as he stopped. He stopped, and Mark had now a hand on
+      each of his shoulders and held him at arm&rsquo;s-length, held him with a fine
+      idea that was not disconnected from the sight of the small neat weapon he
+      had been fingering in the low luxurious morocco chair&mdash;it was of the
+      finest orange colour&mdash;and then had laid beside him on the carpet;
+      where, after he had admitted his visitor, his presence of mind coming back
+      to it and suggesting that he couldn&rsquo;t pick it up without making it more
+      conspicuous, he had thought, by some swing of the foot or other casual
+      manoeuvre, to dissimulate its visibility.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were at close quarters now as not before and Winch perfectly passive,
+      with eyes that somehow had no shadow of a secret left and with the
+      betrayal to the sentient hands that grasped him of an intense, an
+      extraordinary general tremor. To Mark&rsquo;s challenge he opposed afresh a
+      brief silence, but the very quality of it, with his face speaking, was
+      that of a gaping wound. &ldquo;Well, you needn&rsquo;t take <i>that</i> trouble. You
+      see I&rsquo;m such another.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Such another as Phil&mdash;&mdash;-?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He didn&rsquo;t blink. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know for sure, but I guess I&rsquo;m worse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean you&rsquo;re guilty&mdash;&mdash;-?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean I shall be wanted. Only I&rsquo;ve stayed to take it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark threw back his head, but only tightened his hands. He inexpressibly
+      understood, and nothing in life had ever been so strange and dreadful to
+      him as his thus helping himself by a longer and straighter stretch, as it
+      were, to the monstrous sense of his friend&rsquo;s &ldquo;education.&rdquo; It had been, in
+      its immeasurable action, the education of business, of which the fruits
+      were all around them. Yet prodigious was the interest, for prodigious
+      truly&mdash;it seemed to loom before Mark&mdash;must have been the system.
+      &ldquo;To &lsquo;take&rsquo; it?&rdquo; he echoed; and then, though faltering a little, &ldquo;To take
+      what?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had scarce spoken when a long sharp sound shrilled in from the outer
+      door, seeming of so high and peremptory a pitch that with the start it
+      gave him his grasp of his host&rsquo;s shoulders relaxed an instant, though to
+      the effect of no movement in <i>them</i> but what came from just a
+      sensibly intenser vibration of the whole man. &ldquo;For <i>that</i>!&rdquo; said
+      Newton Winch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then you&rsquo;ve known&mdash;&mdash;-?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve expected. You&rsquo;ve helped me to wait.&rdquo; And then as Mark gave an ironic
+      wail: &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve tided me over. My condition has <i>wanted</i> somebody or
+      something. Therefore, to complete this service, will you be so good as to
+      open the door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Deep in the eyes Mark looked him, and still to the detection of no glimmer
+      of the earlier man in the depths. The earlier man had been what he
+      invidiously remembered&mdash;yet would <i>he</i> had been the whole
+      simpler story! Then he moved his own eyes straight to the chair under
+      which the revolver lay and which was but a couple of yards away. He felt
+      his companion take this consciousness in, and it determined in them
+      another long, mute exchange. &ldquo;What do you mean to do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On your honour?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>My</i> &lsquo;honour&rsquo;?&rdquo; his host returned with an accent that he felt even
+      as it sounded he should never forget.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It brought to his own face a crimson flush&mdash;he dropped his guarding
+      hands. Then as for a last look at him: &ldquo;You&rsquo;re wonderful!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We <i>are</i> wonderful,&rdquo; said Newton Winch, while, simultaneously with
+      the words, the pressed electric bell again and for a longer time pierced
+      the warm cigaretted air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark turned, threw up his arms, and it was only when he had passed through
+      the vestibule and laid his hand on the door-knob that the horrible noise
+      dropped. The next moment he was face to face with two visitors, a
+      nondescript personage in a high hat and an astrakhan collar and cuffs, and
+      a great belted constable, a splendid massive New York &ldquo;officer&rdquo; of the
+      type he had had occasion to wonder at much again in the course of his
+      walk, the type so by itself&mdash;his wide observation quite suggested&mdash;among
+      those of the peacemakers of the earth. The pair stepped straight in&mdash;no
+      word was said; but as he closed the door behind them Mark heard the
+      infallible crack of a discharged pistol and, so nearly with it as to make
+      all one violence, the sound of a great fall; things the effect of which
+      was to lift him, as it were, with his company, across the threshold of the
+      room in a shorter time than that taken by this record of the fact. But
+      their rush availed little; Newton was stretched on his back before the
+      fire; he had held the weapon horribly to his temple, and his upturned face
+      was disfigured. The emissaries of the law, looking down at him, exhaled
+      simultaneously a gruff imprecation, and then while the worthy in the high
+      hat bent over the subject of their visit the one in the helmet raised a
+      severe pair of eyes to Mark. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you think, sir, you might have
+      prevented it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mark took a hundred things in, it seemed to him&mdash;things of the scene,
+      of the moment, and of all the strange moments before; but one appearance
+      more vividly even than the others stared out at him. &ldquo;I really think I
+      must practically have caused it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0020" id="link2H_4_0020">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CRAPY CORNELIA
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0021" id="link2H_4_0021">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      I
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      THREE times within a quarter of an hour&mdash;shifting the while his
+      posture on his chair of contemplation&mdash;had he looked at his watch as
+      for its final sharp hint that he should decide, that he should get up. His
+      seat was one of a group fairly sequestered, unoccupied save for his own
+      presence, and from where he lingered he looked off at a stretch of lawn
+      freshened by recent April showers and on which sundry small children were
+      at play. The trees, the shrubs, the plants, every stem and twig just
+      ruffled as by the first touch of the light finger of the relenting year,
+      struck him as standing still in the blest hope of more of the same caress;
+      the quarter about him held its breath after the fashion of the child who
+      waits with the rigour of an open mouth and shut eyes for the promised
+      sensible effect of his having been good. So, in the windless, sun-warmed
+      air of the beautiful afternoon, the Park of the winter&rsquo;s end had struck
+      White-Mason as waiting; even New York, under such an impression, was
+      &ldquo;good,&rdquo; good enough&mdash;for <i>him</i>; its very sounds were faint, were
+      almost sweet, as they reached him from so seemingly far beyond the wooded
+      horizon that formed the remoter limit of his large shallow glade. The
+      tones of the frolic infants ceased to be nondescript and harsh&mdash;were
+      in fact almost as fresh and decent as the frilled and puckered and
+      ribboned garb of the little girls, which had always a way, in those parts,
+      of so portentously flaunting the daughters of the strange native&mdash;that
+      is of the overwhelmingly alien&mdash;populace at him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not that these things in particular were his matter of meditation now; he
+      had wanted, at the end of his walk, to sit apart a little and think&mdash;and
+      had been doing that for twenty minutes, even though as yet to no break in
+      the charm of procrastination. But he had looked without seeing and
+      listened without hearing: all that had been positive for him was that he
+      hadn&rsquo;t failed vaguely to feel. He had felt in the first place, and he
+      continued to feel&mdash;yes, at forty-eight quite as much as at any point
+      of the supposed reign of younger intensities&mdash;the great spirit of the
+      air, the fine sense of the season, the supreme appeal of Nature, he might
+      have said, to his time of life; quite as if she, easy, indulgent,
+      indifferent, cynical Power, were offering him the last chance it would
+      rest with his wit or his blood to embrace. Then with that he had been
+      entertaining, to the point and with the prolonged consequence of accepted
+      immobilization, the certitude that if he did call on Mrs. Worthingham and
+      find her at home he couldn&rsquo;t in justice to himself not put to her the
+      question that had lapsed the other time, the last time, through the
+      irritating and persistent, even if accidental, presence of others. What
+      friends she had&mdash;the people who so stupidly, so wantonly stuck! If
+      they <i>should</i>, he and she, come to an understanding, that would
+      presumably have to include certain members of her singularly ill-composed
+      circle, in whom it was incredible to him that he should ever take an
+      interest. This defeat, to do himself justice&mdash;he had bent rather
+      predominantly on <i>that</i>, you see; ideal justice to <i>her</i>, with
+      her possible conception of what it should consist of, being another and
+      quite a different matter&mdash;he had had the fact of the Sunday afternoon
+      to thank for; she didn&rsquo;t &ldquo;keep&rdquo; that day for him, since they hadn&rsquo;t, up to
+      now, quite begun to cultivate the appointment or assignation founded on
+      explicit sacrifices. He might at any rate look to find this pleasant
+      practical Wednesday&mdash;should he indeed, at his actual rate, stay it
+      before it ebbed&mdash;more liberally and intendingly given him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sound he at last most wittingly distinguished in his nook was the
+      single deep note of half-past five borne to him from some high-perched
+      public clock. He finally got up with the sense that the time from then on
+      <i>ought</i> at least to be felt as sacred to him. At this juncture it was&mdash;while
+      he stood there shaking his garments, settling his hat, his necktie, his
+      shirt-cuffs, fixing the high polish of his fine shoes as if for some
+      reflection in it of his straight and spare and grizzled, his refined and
+      trimmed and dressed, his altogether distinguished person, that of a
+      gentleman abundantly settled, but of a bachelor markedly nervous&mdash;at
+      this crisis it was, doubtless, that he at once most measured and least
+      resented his predicament. If he should go he would almost to a certainty
+      find her, and if he should find her he would almost to a certainty come to
+      the point. He wouldn&rsquo;t put it off again&mdash;there was that high
+      consideration for him of justice at least to himself. He had never yet
+      denied himself anything so apparently fraught with possibilities as the
+      idea of proposing to Mrs. Worthingham&mdash;never yet, in other words,
+      denied himself anything he had so distinctly wanted to do; and the results
+      of that wisdom had remained for him precisely the precious parts of
+      experience. Counting only the offers of his honourable hand, these had
+      been on three remembered occasions at least the consequence of an impulse
+      as sharp and a self-respect as reasoned; a self-respect that hadn&rsquo;t in the
+      least suffered, moreover, from the failure of each appeal. He had been met
+      in the three cases&mdash;the only ones he at all compared with his present
+      case&mdash;by the frank confession that he didn&rsquo;t somehow, charming as he
+      was, cause himself to be superstitiously believed in; and the lapse of
+      life, afterward, had cleared up many doubts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It <i>wouldn&rsquo;t</i> have done, he eventually, he lucidly saw, each time he
+      had been refused; and the candour of his nature was such that he could
+      live to think of these very passages as a proof of how right he had been&mdash;right,
+      that is, to have put himself forward always, by the happiest instinct,
+      only in impossible conditions. He had the happy consciousness of having
+      exposed the important question to the crucial test, and of having escaped,
+      by that persistent logic, a grave mistake. What better proof of his escape
+      than the fact that he was now free to renew the all-interesting inquiry,
+      and should be exactly, about to do so in different and better conditions?
+      The conditions were better by as much more&mdash;as much more of his
+      career and character, of his situation, his reputation he could even have
+      called it, of his knowledge of life, of his somewhat extended means, of
+      his possibly augmented charm, of his certainly improved mind and temper&mdash;as
+      was involved in the actual impending settlement. Once he had got into
+      motion, once he had crossed the Park and passed out of it, entering, with
+      very little space to traverse, one of the short new streets that abutted
+      on its east side, his step became that of a man young enough to find
+      confidence, quite to find felicity, in the sense, in almost any sense, of
+      action. He could still enjoy almost anything, absolutely an unpleasant
+      thing, in default of a better, that might still remind him he wasn&rsquo;t so
+      old. The standing newness of everything about him would, it was true, have
+      weakened this cheer by too much presuming on it; Mrs. Worthingham&rsquo;s house,
+      before which he stopped, had that gloss of new money, that glare of a
+      piece fresh from the mint and ringing for the first time on any counter,
+      which seems to claim for it, in any transaction, something more than the
+      &ldquo;face&rdquo; value.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This could but be yet more the case for the impression of the observer
+      introduced and committed. On our friend&rsquo;s part I mean, after his admission
+      and while still in the hall, the sense of the general shining immediacy,
+      of the still unhushed clamour of the shock, was perhaps stronger than he
+      had ever known it. That broke out from every corner as the high pitch of
+      interest, and with a candour that&mdash;no, certainly&mdash;he had never
+      seen equalled; every particular expensive object shrieking at him in its
+      artless pride that it had just &ldquo;come home.&rdquo; He met the whole vision with
+      something of the grimace produced on persons without goggles by the
+      passage from a shelter to a blinding light; and if he had&mdash;by a
+      perfectly possible chance&mdash;been &ldquo;snap-shotted&rdquo; on the spot, would
+      have struck you as showing for his first tribute to the temple of Mrs.
+      Worthingham&rsquo;s charming presence a scowl almost of anguish. He wasn&rsquo;t
+      constitutionally, it may at once be explained for him, a goggled person;
+      and he was condemned, in New York, to this frequent violence of transition&mdash;having
+      to reckon with it whenever he went out, as who should say, from himself.
+      The high pitch of interest, to his taste, was the pitch of history, the
+      pitch of acquired and earned suggestion, the pitch of association, in a
+      word; so that he lived by preference, incontestably, if not in a rich
+      gloom, which would have been beyond his means and spirits, at least amid
+      objects and images that confessed to the tone of time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had ever felt that an indispensable presence&mdash;with a need of it
+      moreover that interfered at no point with his gentle habit, not to say his
+      subtle art, of drawing out what was left him of his youth, of thinly and
+      thriftily spreading the rest of that choicest jam-pot of the cupboard of
+      consciousness over the remainder of a slice of life still possibly thick
+      enough to bear it; or in other words of moving the melancholy limits, the
+      significant signs, constantly a little further on, very much as
+      property-marks or staked boundaries are sometimes stealthily shifted at
+      night. He positively cherished in fact, as against the too inveterate
+      gesture of distressfully guarding his eyeballs&mdash;so many New York
+      aspects seemed to keep him at it&mdash;an ideal of adjusted appreciation,
+      of courageous curiosity, of fairly letting the world about him, a world of
+      constant breathless renewals and merciless substitutions, make its flaring
+      assault on its own inordinate terms. Newness was value in the piece&mdash;for
+      the acquisitor, or at least sometimes might be, even though the act of
+      &ldquo;blowing&rdquo; hard, the act marking a heated freshness of arrival, or other
+      form of irruption, could never minister to the peace of those already and
+      long on the field; and this if only because maturer tone was after all
+      most appreciable and most consoling when one staggered back to it,
+      wounded, bleeding, blinded, from the riot of the raw&mdash;or, to put the
+      whole experience more prettily, no doubt, from excesses of light.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0022" id="link2H_4_0022">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      II
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      If he went in, however, with something of his more or less inevitable
+      scowl, there were really, at the moment, two rather valid reasons for
+      screened observation; the first of these being that the whole place seemed
+      to reflect as never before the lustre of Mrs. Worthingham&rsquo;s own polished
+      and prosperous little person&mdash;to smile, it struck him, with her
+      smile, to twinkle not only with the gleam of her lovely teeth, but with
+      that of all her rings and brooches and bangles and other gewgaws, to curl
+      and spasmodically cluster as in emulation of her charming complicated
+      yellow tresses, to surround the most animated of pink-and-white, of
+      ruffled and ribboned, of frilled and festooned Dresden china shepherdesses
+      with exactly the right system of rococo curves and convolutions and other
+      flourishes, a perfect bower of painted and gilded and moulded conceits.
+      The second ground of this immediate impression of scenic extravagance,
+      almost as if the curtain rose for him to the first act of some small and
+      expensively mounted comic opera, was that she hadn&rsquo;t, after all, awaited
+      him in fond singleness, but had again just a trifle inconsiderately
+      exposed him to the drawback of having to reckon, for whatever design he
+      might amiably entertain, with the presence of a third and quite
+      superfluous person, a small black insignificant but none the less
+      oppressive stranger. It was odd how, on the instant, the little lady
+      engaged with her did affect him as comparatively black&mdash;very much as
+      if that had absolutely, in such a medium, to be the graceless appearance
+      of any item not positively of some fresh shade of a light colour or of
+      some pretty pretension to a charming twist. Any witness of their meeting,
+      his hostess should surely have felt, would have been a false note in the
+      whole rosy glow; but what note so false as that of the dingy little
+      presence that she might actually, by a refinement of her perhaps always
+      too visible study of effect, have provided as a positive contrast or foil?
+      whose name and intervention, moreover, she appeared to be no more moved to
+      mention and account for than she might have been to &ldquo;present&rdquo;&mdash;whether
+      as stretched at her feet or erect upon disciplined haunches&mdash;some
+      shaggy old domesticated terrier or poodle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Extraordinarily, after he had been in the room five minutes&mdash;a space
+      of time during which his fellow-visitor had neither budged nor uttered a
+      sound&mdash;he had made Mrs. Worthingham out as all at once perfectly
+      pleased to see him, completely aware of what he had most in mind, and
+      singularly serene in face of his sense of their impediment. It was as if
+      for all the world she didn&rsquo;t take it for one, the immobility, to say
+      nothing of the seeming equanimity, of their tactless companion; at whom
+      meanwhile indeed our friend himself, after his first ruffled perception,
+      no more adventured a look than if advised by his constitutional kindness
+      that to notice her in any degree would perforce be ungraciously to glower.
+      He talked after a fashion with the woman as to whose power to please and
+      amuse and serve him, as to whose really quite organised and indicated
+      fitness for lighting up his autumn afternoon of life his conviction had
+      lately strained itself so clear; but he was all the while carrying on an
+      intenser exchange with his own spirit and trying to read into the charming
+      creature&rsquo;s behaviour, as he could only call it, some confirmation of his
+      theory that she also had her inward flutter and anxiously counted on him.
+      He found support, happily for the conviction just named, in the idea, at
+      no moment as yet really repugnant to him, the idea bound up in fact with
+      the finer essence of her appeal, that she had her own vision too of her
+      quality and her price, and that the last appearance she would have liked
+      to bristle with was that of being forewarned and eager.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had, if he came to think of it, scarce definitely warned her, and he
+      probably wouldn&rsquo;t have taken to her so consciously in the first instance
+      without an appreciative sense that, as she was a little person of twenty
+      superficial graces, so she was also a little person with her secret pride.
+      She might just have planted her mangy lion&mdash;not to say her muzzled
+      house-dog&mdash;there in his path as a symbol that she wasn&rsquo;t cheap and
+      easy; which would be a thing he couldn&rsquo;t possibly wish his future wife to
+      have shown herself in advance, even if to him alone. That she could make
+      him put himself such questions was precisely part of the attaching play of
+      her iridescent surface, the shimmering interfusion of her various aspects;
+      that of her youth with her independence&mdash;her pecuniary perhaps in
+      particular, that of her vivacity with her beauty, that of her facility
+      above all with her odd novelty; the high modernity, as people appeared to
+      have come to call it, that made her so much more &ldquo;knowing&rdquo; in some
+      directions than even he, man of the world as he certainly was, could
+      pretend to be, though all on a basis of the most unconscious and
+      instinctive and luxurious assumption. She was &ldquo;up&rdquo; to everything, aware of
+      everything&mdash;if one counted from a short enough time back (from week
+      before last, say, and as if quantities of history had burst upon the world
+      within the fortnight); she was likewise surprised at nothing, and in that
+      direction one might reckon as far ahead as the rest of her lifetime, or at
+      any rate as the rest of his, which was all that would concern him: it was
+      as if the suitability of the future to her personal and rather pampered
+      tastes was what she most took for granted, so that he could see her, for
+      all her Dresden-china shoes and her flutter of wondrous befrilled
+      contemporary skirts, skip by the side of the coming age as over the floor
+      of a ball-room, keeping step with its monstrous stride and prepared for
+      every figure of the dance. Her outlook took form to him suddenly as a
+      great square sunny window that hung in assured fashion over the immensity
+      of life. There rose toward it as from a vast swarming <i>plaza</i> a high
+      tide of emotion and sound; yet it was at the same time as if even while he
+      looked her light gemmed hand, flashing on him in addition to those other
+      things the perfect polish of the prettiest pink finger-nails in the world,
+      had touched a spring, the most ingenious of ecent devices for instant
+      ease, which dropped half across the scene a soft-coloured mechanical
+      blind, a fluttered, fringed awning of charmingly toned silk, such as would
+      make a bath of cool shade for the favoured friend leaning with her there&mdash;that
+      is for the happy couple itself&mdash;on the balcony. The great view would
+      be the prospect and privilege of the very state he coveted&mdash;since
+      didn&rsquo;t he covet it?&mdash;the state of being so securely at her side;
+      while the wash of privacy, as one might count it, the broad fine brush
+      dipped into clear umber and passed, full and wet, straight across the
+      strong scheme of colour, would represent the security itself, all the
+      uplifted inner elegance, the condition, so ideal, of being shut out from
+      nothing and yet of having, so gaily and breezily aloft, none of the burden
+      or worry of anything. Thus, as I say, for our friend, the place itself,
+      while his vivid impression lasted, portentously opened and spread, and
+      what was before him took, to his vision, though indeed at so other a
+      crisis, the form of the &ldquo;glimmering square&rdquo; of the poet; yet, for a still
+      more remarkable fact, with an incongruous object usurping at a given
+      instant the privilege of the frame and seeming, even as he looked, to
+      block the view.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The incongruous object was a woman&rsquo;s head, crowned with a little sparsely
+      feathered black hat, an ornament quite unlike those the women mostly
+      noticed by White-Mason were now &ldquo;wearing,&rdquo; and that grew and grew, that
+      came nearer and nearer, while it met his eyes, after the manner of images
+      in the kinematograph. It had presently loomed so large that he saw nothing
+      else&mdash;not only among the things at a considerable distance, the
+      things Mrs. Worthingham would eventually, yet unmistakably, introduce him
+      to, but among those of this lady&rsquo;s various attributes and appurtenances as
+      to which he had been in the very act of cultivating his consciousness. It
+      was in the course of another minute the most extraordinary thing in the
+      world: everything had altered, dropped, darkened, disappeared; his
+      imagination had spread its wings only to feel them flop all grotesquely at
+      its sides as he recognised in his hostess&rsquo;s quiet companion, the
+      oppressive alien who hadn&rsquo;t indeed interfered with his fanciful flight,
+      though she had prevented his immediate declaration and brought about the
+      thud, not to say the felt violent shock, of his fall to earth, the
+      perfectly plain identity of Cornelia Rasch. It was she who had remained
+      there at attention; it was she their companion hadn&rsquo;t introduced; it was
+      she he had forborne to face with his fear of incivility. He stared at her&mdash;everything
+      else went.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why it has been <i>you</i> all this time?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Miss Rasch fairly turned pale. &ldquo;I was waiting to see if you&rsquo;d know me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, my dear Cornelia&rdquo;&mdash;he came straight out with it&mdash;&ldquo;rather!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it isn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; she returned with a quick change to red now, &ldquo;from
+      having taken much time to look at me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She smiled, she even laughed, but he could see how she had felt his
+      unconsciousness, poor thing; the acquaintance, quite the friend of his
+      youth, as she had been, the associate of his childhood, of his early
+      manhood, of his middle age in fact, up to a few years back, not more than
+      ten at the most; the associate too of so many of his associates and of
+      almost all of his relations, those of the other time, those who had mainly
+      gone for ever; the person in short whose noted disappearance, though it
+      might have seemed final, had been only of recent seasons. She was present
+      again now, all unexpectedly&mdash;he had heard of her having at last, left
+      alone after successive deaths and with scant resources, sought economic
+      salvation in Europe, the promised land of American thrift&mdash;she was
+      present as this almost ancient and this oddly unassertive little rotund
+      figure whom one seemed no more obliged to address than if she had been a
+      black satin ottoman &ldquo;treated&rdquo; with buttons and gimp; a class of object as
+      to which the policy of blindness was imperative. He felt the need of some
+      explanatory plea, and before he could think had uttered one at Mrs.
+      Worthingham&rsquo;s expense. &ldquo;Why, you see we weren&rsquo;t introduced&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No&mdash;but I didn&rsquo;t suppose I should have to be named to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, my dear woman, you haven&rsquo;t&mdash;do me that justice!&rdquo; He could at
+      least make this point. &ldquo;I felt all the while&mdash;!&rdquo; However, it would
+      have taken him long to say what he had been feeling; and he was aware now
+      of the pretty projected light of Mrs. Worthingham&rsquo;s wonder. She looked as
+      if, out for a walk with her, he had put her to the inconvenience of his
+      stopping to speak to a strange woman in the street.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never supposed you knew her!&rdquo;&mdash;it was to him his hostess excused
+      herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This made Miss Rasch spring up, distinctly flushed, distinctly strange to
+      behold, but not vulgarly nettled&mdash;Cornelia was incapable of that;
+      only rather funnily bridling and laughing, only showing that this was all
+      she had waited for, only saying just the right thing, the thing she could
+      make so clearly a jest. &ldquo;Of course if you <i>had</i> you&rsquo;d have presented
+      him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs. Worthingham looked while answering at White-Mason. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want you
+      to go&mdash;which you see you do as soon as he speaks to you. But I never
+      dreamed&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That there was anything between us? Ah, there are no end of things!&rdquo; He,
+      on his side, though addressing the younger and prettier woman, looked at
+      his fellow-guest; to whom he even continued: &ldquo;When did you get back? May I
+      come and see you the very first thing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cornelia gasped and wriggled&mdash;she practically giggled; she had lost
+      every atom of her little old, her little young, though always
+      unaccountable prettiness, which used to peep so, on the bare chance of a
+      shot, from behind indefensible features, that it almost made watching her
+      a form of sport. He had heard vaguely of her, it came back to him (for
+      there had been no letters; their later acquaintance, thank goodness,
+      hadn&rsquo;t involved that) as experimenting, for economy, and then as settling,
+      to the same rather dismal end, somewhere in England, &ldquo;at one of those
+      intensely English places, St. Leonards, Cheltenham, Bognor, Dawlish&mdash;which,
+      awfully, <i>was</i> it?&rdquo;&mdash;and she now affected him for all the world
+      as some small squirming, exclaiming, genteelly conversing old maid of a
+      type vaguely associated with the three-volume novels he used to feed on
+      (besides his so often encountering it in &ldquo;real life,&rdquo;) during a far-away
+      stay of his own at Brighton. Odder than any element of his ex-gossip&rsquo;s
+      identity itself, however, was the fact that she somehow, with it all,
+      rejoiced his sight. Indeed the supreme oddity was that the manner of her
+      reply to his request for leave to call should have absolutely charmed his
+      attention. She didn&rsquo;t look at him; she only, from under her frumpy, crapy,
+      curiously exotic hat, and with her good little near-sighted insinuating
+      glare, expressed to Mrs. Worthingham, while she answered him, wonderful
+      arch things, the overdone things of a shy woman. &ldquo;Yes, you may call&mdash;but
+      only when this dear lovely lady has done with you!&rdquo; The moment after which
+      she had gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0023" id="link2H_4_0023">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      III
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Forty minutes later he was taking his way back from the queer miscarriage
+      of his adventure; taking it, with no conscious positive felicity, through
+      the very spaces that had witnessed shortly before the considerable
+      serenity of his assurance. He had said to himself then, or had as good as
+      said it, that, since he might do perfectly as he liked, it couldn&rsquo;t fail
+      for him that he must soon retrace those steps, humming, to all intents,
+      the first bars of a wedding-march; so beautifully had it cleared up that
+      he was &ldquo;going to like&rdquo; letting Mrs. Worthingham accept him. He was to have
+      hummed no wedding-march, as it seemed to be turning out&mdash;he had none,
+      up to now, to hum; and yet, extraordinarily, it wasn&rsquo;t in the least
+      because she had refused him. Why then hadn&rsquo;t he liked as much as he had
+      intended to like it putting the pleasant act, the act of not refusing him,
+      in her power? Could it all have come from the awkward minute of his
+      failure to decide sharply, on Cornelia&rsquo;s departure, whether or no he would
+      attend her to the door? He hadn&rsquo;t decided at all&mdash;what the deuce had
+      been in him?&mdash;but had danced to and fro in the room, thinking better
+      of each impulse and then thinking worse. He had hesitated like an ass
+      erect on absurd hind legs between two bundles of hay; the upshot of which
+      must have been his giving the falsest impression. In what way that was to
+      be for an instant considered had their common past committed him to crapy
+      Cornelia? He repudiated with a whack on the gravel any ghost of an
+      obligation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What he could get rid of with scanter success, unfortunately, was the
+      peculiar sharpness of his sense that, though mystified by his visible
+      flurry&mdash;and yet not mystified enough for a sympathetic question
+      either&mdash;his hostess had been, on the whole, even more frankly
+      diverted: which was precisely an example of that newest, freshest, finest
+      freedom in her, the air and the candour of assuming, not &ldquo;heartlessly,&rdquo;
+       not viciously, not even very consciously, but with a bright pampered
+      confidence which would probably end by affecting one&rsquo;s nerves as the most
+      impertinent stroke in the world, that every blest thing coming up for her
+      in any connection was somehow matter for her general recreation. There she
+      was again with the innocent egotism, the gilded and overflowing anarchism,
+      really, of her doubtless quite unwitting but none the less rabid modern
+      note. Her grace of ease was perfect, but it was all grace of ease, not a
+      single shred of it grace of uncertainty or of difficulty&mdash;which
+      meant, when you came to see, that, for its happy working, not a grain of
+      provision was left by it to mere manners. This was clearly going to be the
+      music of the future&mdash;that if people were but rich enough and
+      furnished enough and fed enough, exercised and sanitated and manicured and
+      generally advised and advertised and made &ldquo;knowing&rdquo; enough, <i>avertis</i>
+      enough, as the term appeared to be nowadays in Paris, all they had to do
+      for civility was to take the amused ironic view of those who might be less
+      initiated. In <i>his</i> time, when he was young or even when he was only
+      but a little less middle-aged, the best manners had been the best
+      kindness, and the best kindness had mostly been some art of not insisting
+      on one&rsquo;s luxurious differences, of concealing rather, for common humanity,
+      if not for common decency, a part at least of the intensity or the
+      ferocity with which one might be &ldquo;in the know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Oh, the &ldquo;know&rdquo;&mdash;Mrs. Worthingham was in it, all instinctively,
+      inevitably, and as a matter of course, up to her eyes; which didn&rsquo;t,
+      however, the least little bit prevent her being as ignorant as a fish of
+      everything that really and intimately and fundamentally concerned <i>him</i>,
+      poor dear old White-Mason. She didn&rsquo;t, in the first place, so much as know
+      who he was&mdash;by which he meant know who and what it was to <i>be</i> a
+      White-Mason, even a poor and a dear and old one, &ldquo;anyway.&rdquo; That indeed&mdash;he
+      did her perfect justice&mdash;was of the very essence of the newness and
+      freshness and beautiful, brave, social irresponsibility by which she had
+      originally dazzled him: just exactly that circumstance of her having no
+      instinct for any old quality or quantity or identity, a single historic or
+      social value, as he might say, of the New York of his already almost
+      legendary past; and that additional one of his, on his side, having, so
+      far as this went, cultivated blankness, cultivated positive prudence, as
+      to her own personal background&mdash;the vagueness, at the best, with
+      which all honest gentlefolk, the New Yorkers of his approved stock and
+      conservative generation, were content, as for the most part they were
+      indubitably wise, to surround the origins and antecedents and queer
+      unimaginable early influences of persons swimming into their ken from
+      those parts of the country that quite necessarily and naturally figured to
+      their view as &ldquo;Godforsaken&rdquo; and generally impossible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The few scattered surviving representatives of a society once &ldquo;good&rdquo;&mdash;<i>rari
+      nantes in gurgite vasto</i>&mdash;were liable, at the pass things had come
+      to, to meet, and even amid old shades once sacred, or what was left of
+      such, every form of social impossibility, and, more irresistibly still, to
+      find these apparitions often carry themselves (often at least in the case
+      of the women) with a wondrous wild gallantry, equally imperturbable and
+      inimitable, the sort of thing that reached its maximum in Mrs.
+      Worthingham. Beyond that who ever wanted to look up their annals, to
+      reconstruct their steps and stages, to dot their i&rsquo;s in fine, or to &ldquo;go
+      behind&rdquo; anything that was theirs? One wouldn&rsquo;t do that for the world&mdash;a
+      rudimentary discretion forbade it; and yet this check from elementary
+      undiscussable taste quite consorted with a due respect for them, or at any
+      rate with a due respect for oneself in connection with them; as was just
+      exemplified in what would be his own, what would be poor dear old
+      White-Mason&rsquo;s, insurmountable aversion to having, on any pretext, the
+      doubtless very queer spectre of the late Mr. Worthingham presented to him.
+      No question had he asked, or would he ever ask, should his life&mdash;that
+      is should the success of his courtship&mdash;even intimately depend on it,
+      either about that obscure agent of his mistress&rsquo;s actual affluence or
+      about the happy head-spring itself, and the apparently copious
+      tributaries, of the golden stream.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From all which marked anomalies, at any rate, what was the moral to draw?
+      He dropped into a Park chair again with that question, he lost himself in
+      the wonder of why he had come away with his homage so very much unpaid.
+      Yet it didn&rsquo;t seem at all, actually, as if he could say or conclude, as if
+      he could do anything but keep on worrying&mdash;just in conformity with
+      his being a person who, whether or no familiar with the need to make his
+      conduct square with his conscience and his taste, was never wholly exempt
+      from that of making his taste and his conscience square with his conduct.
+      To this latter occupation he further abandoned himself, and it didn&rsquo;t
+      release him from his second brooding session till the sweet spring sunset
+      had begun to gather and he had more or less cleared up, in the deepening
+      dusk, the effective relation between the various parts of his ridiculously
+      agitating experience. There were vital facts he seemed thus to catch, to
+      seize, with a nervous hand, and the twilight helping, by their vaguely
+      whisked tails; unquiet truths that swarmed out after the fashion of
+      creatures bold only at eventide, creatures that hovered and circled, that
+      verily brushed his nose, in spite of their shyness. Yes, he had
+      practically just sat on with his &ldquo;mistress&rdquo;&mdash;heaven save the mark!&mdash;as
+      if not to come to the point; as if it had absolutely come up that there
+      would be something rather vulgar and awful in doing so. The whole stretch
+      of his stay after Cornelia&rsquo;s withdrawal had been consumed by his almost
+      ostentatiously treating himself to the opportunity of which he was to make
+      nothing. It was as if he had sat and watched himself&mdash;that came back
+      to him: Shall I now or sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t I? Will I now or won&rsquo;t I? &ldquo;Say within the
+      next three minutes, say by a quarter past six, or by twenty minutes past,
+      at the furthest&mdash;always if nothing more comes up to prevent.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      What had already come up to prevent was, in the strangest and drollest, or
+      at least in the most preposterous, way in the world, that not Cornelia&rsquo;s
+      presence, but her very absence, with its distraction of his thoughts, the
+      thoughts that lumbered after her, had made the difference; and without his
+      being the least able to tell why and how. He put it to himself after a
+      fashion by the image that, this distraction once created, his working
+      round to his hostess again, his reverting to the matter of his errand,
+      began suddenly to represent a return from so far. That was simply all&mdash;or
+      rather a little less than all; for something else had contributed. &ldquo;I
+      never dreamed you knew her,&rdquo; and &ldquo;I never dreamed <i>you</i> did,&rdquo; were
+      inevitably what had been exchanged between them&mdash;supplemented by Mrs.
+      Worthingham&rsquo;s mere scrap of an explanation: &ldquo;Oh yes&mdash;to the small
+      extent you see. Two years ago in Switzerland when I was at a high place
+      for an &lsquo;aftercure,&rsquo; during twenty days of incessant rain, she was the only
+      person in an hotel full of roaring, gorging, smoking Germans with whom I
+      could have a word of talk. She and I were the only speakers of English,
+      and were thrown together like castaways on a desert island and in a raging
+      storm. She was ill besides, and she had no maid, and mine looked after
+      her, and she was very grateful&mdash;writing to me later on and saying she
+      should certainly come to see me if she ever returned to New York. She has
+      returned, you see&mdash;and there she was, poor little creature!&rdquo; Such was
+      Mrs. Worthingham&rsquo;s tribute&mdash;to which even his asking her if Miss
+      Rasch had ever happened to speak of him caused her practically to add
+      nothing. Visibly she had never thought again of any one Miss Rasch had
+      spoken of or anything Miss Rasch had said; right as she was, naturally,
+      about her being a little clever queer creature. This was perfectly true,
+      and yet it was probably&mdash;by being <i>all</i> she could dream of about
+      her&mdash;what had paralysed his proper gallantry. Its effect had been not
+      in what it simply stated, but in what, under his secretly disintegrating
+      criticism, it almost luridly symbolised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had quitted his seat in the Louis Quinze drawing-room without having,
+      as he would have described it, done anything but give the lady of the
+      scene a superior chance not to betray a defeated hope&mdash;not, that is,
+      to fail of the famous &ldquo;pride&rdquo; mostly supposed to prop even the most
+      infatuated women at such junctures; by which chance, to do her justice,
+      she had thoroughly seemed to profit. But he finally rose from his later
+      station with a feeling of better success. He had by a happy turn of his
+      hand got hold of the most precious, the least obscure of the flitting,
+      circling things that brushed his ears. What he wanted&mdash;as justifying
+      for him a little further consideration&mdash;was there before him from the
+      moment he could put it that Mrs. Worthingham had no data. He almost hugged
+      that word,&mdash;it suddenly came to mean so much to him. No data, he
+      felt, for a conception of the sort of thing the New York of &ldquo;his time&rdquo; had
+      been in his personal life&mdash;the New York so unexpectedly, so vividly
+      and, as he might say, so perversely called back to all his senses by its
+      identity with that of poor Cornelia&rsquo;s time: since even she had had a time,
+      small show as it was likely to make now, and his time and hers had been
+      the same. Cornelia figured to him while he walked away as, by contrast and
+      opposition, a massive little bundle of data; his impatience to go to see
+      her sharpened as he thought of this: so certainly should he find out that
+      wherever he might touch her, with a gentle though firm pressure, he would,
+      as the fond visitor of old houses taps and fingers a disfeatured,
+      overpapered wall with the conviction of a wainscot-edge beneath, recognise
+      some small extrusion of history.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0024" id="link2H_4_0024">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      IV
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      There would have been a wonder for us meanwhile in his continued use, as
+      it were, of his happy formula&mdash;brought out to Cornelia Rasch within
+      ten minutes, or perhaps only within twenty, of his having settled into the
+      quite comfortable chair that, two days later, she indicated to him by her
+      fireside. He had arrived at her address through the fortunate chance of
+      his having noticed her card, as he went out, deposited, in the good old
+      New York fashion, on one of the rococo tables of Mrs. Worthingham&rsquo;s hall.
+      His eye had been caught by the pencilled indication that was to affect
+      him, the next instant, as fairly placed there for his sake. This had
+      really been his luck, for he shouldn&rsquo;t have liked to write to Mrs.
+      Worthingham for guidance&mdash;<i>that</i> he felt, though too impatient
+      just now to analyze the reluctance. There was nobody else he could have
+      approached for a clue, and with this reflection he was already aware of
+      how it testified to their rare little position, his and Cornelia&rsquo;s&mdash;position
+      as conscious, ironic, pathetic survivors together of a dead and buried
+      society&mdash;that there would have been, in all the town, under such
+      stress, not a member of their old circle left to turn to. Mrs. Worthingham
+      had practically, even if accidentally, helped him to knowledge; the last
+      nail in the coffin of the poor dear extinct past had been planted for him
+      by his having thus to reach his antique contemporary through perforation
+      of the newest newness. The note of this particular recognition was in fact
+      the more prescribed to him that the ground of Cornelia&rsquo;s return to a scene
+      swept so bare of the associational charm was certainly inconspicuous. What
+      had she then come back for?&mdash;he had asked himself that; with the
+      effect of deciding that it probably would have been, a little, to &ldquo;look
+      after&rdquo; her remnant of property. Perhaps she had come to save what little
+      might still remain of that shrivelled interest; perhaps she had been, by
+      those who took care of it for her, further swindled and despoiled, so that
+      she wished to get at the facts. Perhaps on the other hand&mdash;it was a
+      more cheerful chance&mdash;her investments, decently administered, were
+      making larger returns, so that the rigorous thrift of Bognor could be
+      finally relaxed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had little to learn about the attraction of Europe, and rather expected
+      that in the event of his union with Mrs Worthingham he should find himself
+      pleading for it with the competence of one more in the &ldquo;know&rdquo; about Paris
+      and Rome, about Venice and Florence, than even she could be. He could have
+      lived on in <i>his</i> New York, that is in the sentimental, the
+      spiritual, the more or less romantic visitation of it; but had it been
+      positive for him that he could live on in hers?&mdash;unless indeed the
+      possibility of this had been just (like the famous <i>vertige de l&rsquo;abîme</i>,
+      like the solicitation of danger, or otherwise of the dreadful) the very
+      hinge of his whole dream. However that might be, his curiosity was
+      occupied rather with the conceivable hinge of poor Cornelia&rsquo;s: it was
+      perhaps thinkable that even Mrs. Worthingham&rsquo;s New York, once it should
+      have become possible again at all, might have put forth to this lone exile
+      a plea that wouldn&rsquo;t be in the chords of Bognor. For himself, after all,
+      too, the attraction had been much more of the Europe over which one might
+      move at one&rsquo;s ease, and which therefore could but cost, and cost much,
+      right and left, than of the Europe adapted to scrimping. He saw himself on
+      the whole scrimping with more zest even in Mrs. Worthingham&rsquo;s New York
+      than under the inspiration of Bognor. Apart from which it was yet again
+      odd, not to say perceptibly pleasing to him, to note where the emphasis of
+      his interest fell in this fumble of fancy over such felt oppositions as
+      the new, the latest, the luridest power of money and the ancient reserves
+      and moderations and mediocrities. These last struck him as showing by
+      contrast the old brown surface and tone as of velvet rubbed and worn,
+      shabby, and even a bit dingy, but all soft and subtle and still velvety&mdash;which
+      meant still dignified; whereas the angular facts of current finance were
+      as harsh and metallic and bewildering as some stacked &ldquo;exhibit&rdquo; of ugly
+      patented inventions, things his mediaeval mind forbade his taking in. He
+      had for instance the sense of knowing the pleasant little old Rasch
+      fortune&mdash;pleasant as far as it went; blurred memories and impressions
+      of what it had been and what it hadn&rsquo;t, of how it had grown and how
+      languished and how melted; they came back to him and put on such vividness
+      that he could almost have figured himself testify for them before a bland
+      and encouraging Board. The idea of taking the field in any manner on the
+      subject of Mrs. Worthingham&rsquo;s resources would have affected him on the
+      other hand as an odious ordeal, some glare of embarrassment and exposure
+      in a circle of hard unhelpful attention, of converging, derisive,
+      unsuggestive eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In Cornelia&rsquo;s small and quite cynically modern flat&mdash;the house had a
+      grotesque name, &ldquo;The Gainsborough,&rdquo; but at least wasn&rsquo;t an awful
+      boarding-house, as he had feared, and she could receive him quite
+      honourably, which was so much to the good&mdash;he would have been ready
+      to use at once to her the greatest freedom of friendly allusion: &ldquo;Have you
+      still your old &lsquo;family interest&rsquo; in those two houses in Seventh Avenue?&mdash;one
+      of which was next to a corner grocery, don&rsquo;t you know? and was occupied as
+      to its lower part by a candy-shop where the proportion of the stock of
+      suspectedly stale popcorn to that of rarer and stickier joys betrayed
+      perhaps a modest capital on the part of your father&rsquo;s, your grandfather&rsquo;s,
+      or whoever&rsquo;s tenant, but out of which I nevertheless remember once to have
+      come as out of a bath of sweets, with my very garments, and even the
+      separate hairs of my head, glued together. The other of the pair, a
+      tobacconist&rsquo;s, further down, had before it a wonderful huge Indian who
+      thrust out wooden cigars at an indifferent world&mdash;you could buy candy
+      cigars too, at the pop-corn shop, and I greatly preferred them to the
+      wooden; I remember well how I used to gape in fascination at the Indian
+      and wonder if the last of the Mohicans was like him; besides admiring so
+      the resources of a family whose &lsquo;property&rsquo; was in such forms. I haven&rsquo;t
+      been round there lately&mdash;we must go round together; but don&rsquo;t tell me
+      the forms have utterly perished!&rdquo; It was after <i>that</i> fashion he
+      might easily have been moved, and with almost no transition, to break out
+      to Cornelia&mdash;quite as if taking up some old talk, some old community
+      of gossip, just where they had left it; even with the consciousness
+      perhaps of overdoing a little, of putting at its maximum, for the present
+      harmony, recovery, recapture (what should he call it?) the pitch and
+      quantity of what the past had held for them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He didn&rsquo;t in fact, no doubt, dart straight off to Seventh Avenue, there
+      being too many other old things and much nearer and long subsequent; the
+      point was only that for everything they spoke of after he had fairly begun
+      to lean back and stretch his legs, and after she had let him, above all,
+      light the first of a succession of cigarettes&mdash;for everything they
+      spoke of he positively cultivated extravagance and excess, piling up the
+      crackling twigs as on the very altar of memory; and that by the end of
+      half an hour she had lent herself, all gallantly, to their game. It was
+      the game of feeding the beautiful iridescent flame, ruddy and green and
+      gold, blue and pink and amber and silver, with anything they could pick
+      up, anything that would burn and flicker. Thick-strown with such gleanings
+      the occasion seemed indeed, in spite of the truth that they perhaps
+      wouldn&rsquo;t have proved, under cross-examination, to have rubbed shoulders in
+      the other life so very hard. Casual contacts, qualified communities
+      enough, there had doubtless been, but not particular &ldquo;passages,&rdquo; nothing
+      that counted, as he might think of it, for their &ldquo;very own&rdquo; together, for
+      nobody&rsquo;s else at all. These shades of historic exactitude didn&rsquo;t signify;
+      the more and the less that there had been made perfect terms&mdash;and
+      just by his being there and by her rejoicing in it&mdash;with their
+      present need to have <i>had</i> all their past could be made to appear to
+      have given them. It was to this tune they proceeded, the least little bit
+      as if they knowingly pretended&mdash;he giving her the example and setting
+      her the pace of it, and she, poor dear, after a first inevitable shyness,
+      an uncertainty of wonder, a breathlessness of courage, falling into step
+      and going whatever length he would.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She showed herself ready for it, grasping gladly at the perception of what
+      he must mean; and if she didn&rsquo;t immediately and completely fall in&mdash;not
+      in the first half-hour, not even in the three or four others that his
+      visit, even whenever he consulted his watch, still made nothing of&mdash;she
+      yet understood enough as soon as she understood that, if their finer
+      economy hadn&rsquo;t so beautifully served, he might have been conveying this,
+      that, and the other incoherent and easy thing by the comparatively clumsy
+      method of sound and statement. &ldquo;No, I never made love to you; it would in
+      fact have been absurd, and I don&rsquo;t care&mdash;though I almost know, in the
+      sense of almost remembering!&mdash;who did and who didn&rsquo;t; but you were
+      always about, and so was I, and, little as you may yourself care who I did
+      it to, I dare say you remember (in the sense of having known of it!) any
+      old appearances that told. But we can&rsquo;t afford at this time of day not to
+      help each other to have had&mdash;well, everything there was, since
+      there&rsquo;s no more of it now, nor any way of coming by it except so; and
+      therefore let us make together, let us make over and recreate, our lost
+      world; for which we have after all and at the worst such a lot of
+      material. You were in particular my poor dear sisters&rsquo; friend&mdash;they
+      thought you the funniest little brown thing possible; so isn&rsquo;t that again
+      to the good? You were mine only to the extent that you were so much in and
+      out of the house&mdash;as how much, if we come to that, wasn&rsquo;t one in and
+      out, south of Thirtieth Street and north of Washington Square, in those
+      days, those spacious, sociable, Arcadian days, that we flattered ourselves
+      we filled with the modern fever, but that were so different from any of
+      these arrangements of pretended hourly Time that dash themselves forever
+      to pieces as from the fiftieth floors of sky-scrapers.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This was the kind of thing that was in the air, whether he said it or not,
+      and that could hang there even with such quite other things as more
+      crudely came out; came in spite of its being perhaps calculated to strike
+      us that these last would have been rather and most the unspoken and the
+      indirect. They were Cornelia&rsquo;s contribution, and as soon as she had begun
+      to talk of Mrs. Worthingham&mdash;<i>he</i> didn&rsquo;t begin it!&mdash;they
+      had taken their place bravely in the centre of the circle. There they
+      made, the while, their considerable little figure, but all within the ring
+      formed by fifty other allusions, fitful but really intenser irruptions
+      that hovered and wavered and came and went, joining hands at moments and
+      whirling round as in chorus, only then again to dash at the slightly
+      huddled centre with a free twitch or peck or push or other taken liberty,
+      after the fashion of irregular frolic motions in a country dance or a
+      Christmas game.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You&rsquo;re so in love with her and want to marry her!&rdquo;&mdash;she said it all
+      sympathetically and yearningly, poor crapy Cornelia; as if it were to be
+      quite taken for granted that she knew all about it. And then when he had
+      asked how she knew&mdash;why she took so informed a tone about it; all on
+      the wonder of her seeming so much more &ldquo;in&rdquo; it just at that hour than he
+      himself quite felt he could figure for: &ldquo;Ah, how but from the dear lovely
+      thing herself? Don&rsquo;t you suppose <i>she</i> knows it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, she absolutely &lsquo;knows&rsquo; it, does she?&rdquo;&mdash;he fairly heard himself
+      ask that; and with the oddest sense at once of sharply wanting the
+      certitude and yet of seeing the question, of hearing himself say the
+      words, through several thicknesses of some wrong medium. He came back to
+      it from a distance; as he would have had to come back (this was again
+      vivid to him) should he have got round again to his ripe intention three
+      days before&mdash;after his now present but then absent friend, that is,
+      had left him planted before his now absent but then present one for the
+      purpose. &ldquo;Do you mean she&mdash;at all confidently!&mdash;expects?&rdquo; he
+      went on, not much minding if it couldn&rsquo;t but sound foolish; the time being
+      given it for him meanwhile by the sigh, the wondering gasp, all charged
+      with the unutterable, that the tone of his appeal set in motion. He saw
+      his companion look at him, but it might have been with the eyes of thirty
+      years ago; when&mdash;very likely.&mdash;he had put her some such question
+      about some girl long since dead. Dimly at first, then more distinctly,
+      didn&rsquo;t it surge back on him for the very strangeness that there had been
+      some such passage as this between them&mdash;yes, about Mary Cardew!&mdash;in
+      the autumn of &lsquo;68?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, don&rsquo;t you realise your situation?&rdquo; Miss Rasch struck him as quite
+      beautifully wailing&mdash;above all to such an effect of deep interest,
+      that is, on her own part and in him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My situation?&rdquo;&mdash;he echoed, he considered; but reminded afresh, by
+      the note of the detached, the far-projected in it, of what he had last
+      remembered of his sentient state on his once taking ether at the
+      dentist&rsquo;s.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yours and hers&mdash;the situation of her adoring you. I suppose you at
+      least know it,&rdquo; Cornelia smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yes, it was like the other time and yet it wasn&rsquo;t. She was like&mdash;poor
+      Cornelia was&mdash;everything that used to be; that somehow was most
+      definite to him. Still he could quite reply &ldquo;Do you call it&mdash;her
+      adoring me&mdash;<i>my</i> situation?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it&rsquo;s a part of yours, surely&mdash;if you&rsquo;re in love with her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Am I, ridiculous old person! in love with her?&rdquo; White-Mason asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I may be a ridiculous old person,&rdquo; Cornelia returned&mdash;&ldquo;and, for that
+      matter, of course I am! But she&rsquo;s young and lovely and rich and clever: so
+      what could be more natural?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I was applying that opprobrious epithet&mdash;!&rdquo; He didn&rsquo;t finish,
+      though he meant he had applied it to himself. He had got up from his seat;
+      he turned about and, taking in, as his eyes also roamed, several objects
+      in the room, serene and sturdy, not a bit cheap-looking, little old New
+      York objects of &lsquo;68, he made, with an inner art, as if to recognise them&mdash;made
+      so, that is, for himself; had quite the sense for the moment of asking
+      them, of imploring them, to recognise <i>him</i>, to be for him things of
+      his own past. Which they truly were, he could have the next instant cried
+      out; for it meant that if three or four of them, small sallow
+      carte-de-visite photographs, faithfully framed but spectrally faded,
+      hadn&rsquo;t in every particular, frames and balloon skirts and false &ldquo;property&rdquo;
+       balustrades of unimaginable terraces and all, the tone of time, the secret
+      for warding and easing off the perpetual imminent ache of one&rsquo;s protective
+      scowl, one would verily but have to let the scowl stiffen, or to take up
+      seriously the question of blue goggles, during what might remain of life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0025" id="link2H_4_0025">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      V
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      What he actually took up from a little old Twelfth-Street table that
+      piously preserved the plain mahogany circle, with never a curl nor a crook
+      nor a hint of a brazen flourish, what he paused there a moment for
+      commerce with, his back presented to crapy Cornelia, who sat taking that
+      view of him, during this opportunity, very protrusively and frankly and
+      fondly, was one of the wasted mementos just mentioned, over which he both
+      uttered and suppressed a small comprehensive cry. He stood there another
+      minute to look at it, and when he turned about still kept it in his hand,
+      only holding it now a litde behind him. &ldquo;You <i>must</i> have come back to
+      stay&mdash;with all your beautiful things. What else does it mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;Beautiful&rsquo;?&rdquo; his old friend commented with her brow all wrinkled and her
+      lips thrust out in expressive dispraise. They might at that rate have been
+      scarce more beautiful than she herself. &ldquo;Oh, don&rsquo;t talk so&mdash;after
+      Mrs. Worthingham&rsquo;s! <i>They&rsquo;re</i> wonderful, if you will: such things,
+      such things! But one&rsquo;s own poor relics and odds and ends are one&rsquo;s own at
+      least; and one <i>has</i>&mdash;yes&mdash;come back to them. They&rsquo;re all I
+      have in the world to come back to. They were stored, and what I was paying&mdash;!&rdquo;
+       Miss Rasch wofully added.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had possession of the small old picture; he hovered there; he put his
+      eyes again to it intently; then again held it a little behind him as if it
+      might have been snatched away or the very feel of it, pressed against him,
+      was good to his palm. &ldquo;Mrs. Worthingham&rsquo;s things? You think them
+      beautiful?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cornelia did now, if ever, show an odd face. &ldquo;Why certainly prodigious, or
+      whatever. Isn&rsquo;t that conceded?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No doubt every horror, at the pass we&rsquo;ve come to, is conceded. That&rsquo;s
+      just what I complain of.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you <i>complain?</i>&rdquo;&mdash;she drew it out as for surprise: she
+      couldn&rsquo;t have imagined such a thing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To me her things are awful. They&rsquo;re the newest of the new.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, but the old forms!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Those are the most blatant. I mean the swaggering reproductions.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh but,&rdquo; she pleaded, &ldquo;we can&rsquo;t all be <i>really</i> old.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, we can&rsquo;t, Cornelia. But <i>you</i> can&mdash;!&rdquo; said White-Mason with
+      the frankest appreciation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked up at him from where she sat as he could imagine her looking up
+      at the curate at Bognor. &ldquo;Thank you, sir! If that&rsquo;s all you want&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It <i>is</i>&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;all I want&mdash;or almost.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then no wonder such a creature as that,&rdquo; she lightly moralised, &ldquo;won&rsquo;t
+      suit you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He bent upon her, for all the weight of his question, his smoothest stare.
+      &ldquo;You hold she certainly won&rsquo;t suit me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, what can I tell about it? Haven&rsquo;t you by this time found out?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, but I think I&rsquo;m finding.&rdquo; With which he began again to explore.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Miss Rasch immensely wondered. &ldquo;You mean you don&rsquo;t expect to come to an
+      understanding with her?&rdquo; And then as even to this straight challenge he
+      made at first no answer: &ldquo;Do you mean you give it up?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He waited some instants more, but not meeting her eyes&mdash;only looking
+      again about the room. &ldquo;What do you think of my chance?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; his companion cried, &ldquo;what has what I think to do with it? How can I
+      think anything but that she must like you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes&mdash;of course. But how much?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then don&rsquo;t you really know?&rdquo; Cornelia asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He kept up his walk, oddly preoccupied and still not looking at her. &ldquo;Do
+      you, my dear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She waited a little. &ldquo;If you haven&rsquo;t really put it to her I don&rsquo;t suppose
+      she knows.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This at last arrested him again. &ldquo;My dear Cornelia, she doesn&rsquo;t know&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had paused as for the desperate tone, or at least the large emphasis of
+      it, so that she took him up. &ldquo;The more reason then to help her to find it
+      out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean,&rdquo; he explained, &ldquo;that she doesn&rsquo;t know anything.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anything?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anything else, I mean&mdash;even if she does know <i>that</i>.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cornelia considered of it. &ldquo;But what else need she&mdash;in particular&mdash;know?
+      Isn&rsquo;t that the principal thing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well&rdquo;&mdash;and he resumed his circuit&mdash;&ldquo;she doesn&rsquo;t know anything
+      that we know. But nothing,&rdquo; he re-emphasised&mdash;&ldquo;nothing whatever!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, can&rsquo;t she do without that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Evidently she can&mdash;and evidently she does, beautifully. But the
+      question is whether <i>I</i> can!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had paused once more with his point&mdash;but she glared, poor
+      Cornelia, with her wonder. &ldquo;Surely if you know for yourself&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, it doesn&rsquo;t seem enough for me to know for myself! One wants a woman,&rdquo;
+       he argued&mdash;but still, in his prolonged tour, quite without his scowl&mdash;&ldquo;to
+      know <i>for</i> one, to know <i>with</i> one. That&rsquo;s what you do now,&rdquo; he
+      candidly put to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It made her again gape. &ldquo;Do you mean you want to marry <i>me?</i>&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was so full of what he did mean, however, that he failed even to notice
+      it. &ldquo;She doesn&rsquo;t in the least know, for instance, how old I am.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s because you&rsquo;re so young!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, there you are!&rdquo;&mdash;and he turned off afresh and as if almost in
+      disgust. It left her visibly perplexed&mdash;though even the perplexed
+      Cornelia was still the exceedingly pointed; but he had come to her aid
+      after another turn. &ldquo;Remember, please, that I&rsquo;m pretty well as old as
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She had all her point at least, while she bridled and blinked, for this.
+      &ldquo;You&rsquo;re exactly a year and ten months older.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It checked him there for delight. &ldquo;You remember my birthday?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She twinkled indeed like some far-off light of home. &ldquo;I remember every
+      one&rsquo;s. It&rsquo;s a little way I&rsquo;ve always had&mdash;and that I&rsquo;ve never lost.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He looked at her accomplishment, across the room, as at some striking,
+      some charming phenomenon. &ldquo;Well, <i>that&rsquo;s</i> the sort of thing I want!&rdquo;
+       All the ripe candour of his eyes confirmed it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What could she do therefore, she seemed to ask him, but repeat her
+      question of a moment before?&mdash;which indeed presently she made up her
+      mind to. &ldquo;Do you want to marry <i>me?</i>&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It had this time better success&mdash;if the term may be felt in any
+      degree to apply. All his candour, or more of it at least, was in his slow,
+      mild, kind, considering head-shake. &ldquo;No, Cornelia&mdash;not to <i>marry</i>
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His discrimination was a wonder; but since she was clearly treating him
+      now as if everything about him was, so she could as exquisitely meet it.
+      &ldquo;Not at least,&rdquo; she convulsively smiled, &ldquo;until you&rsquo;ve honourably tried
+      Mrs. Worthingham. Don&rsquo;t you really <i>mean</i> to?&rdquo; she gallantly
+      insisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He waited again a little; then he brought out: &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you presently.&rdquo;
+       He came back, and as by still another mere glance over the room, to what
+      seemed to him so much nearer. &ldquo;That table was old Twelfth-Street?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Everything here was.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, the pure blessings! With you, ah, with you, I haven&rsquo;t to wear a green
+      shade.&rdquo; And he had retained meanwhile his small photograph, which he again
+      showed himself. &ldquo;Didn&rsquo;t we talk of Mary Cardew?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, do you remember it?&rdquo; She marvelled to extravagance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You make me. You connect me with it. You connect it with we.&rdquo; He liked to
+      display to her this excellent use she thus had, the service she rendered.
+      &ldquo;There are so many connections&mdash;there will be so many. I feel how,
+      with you, they must all come up again for me: in fact you&rsquo;re bringing them
+      out already, just while I look at you, as fast as ever you can. The fact
+      that you knew every one&mdash;!&rdquo; he went on; yet as if there were more in
+      that too than he could quite trust himself about.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I knew every one,&rdquo; said Cornelia Rasch; but this time with perfect
+      simplicity. &ldquo;I knew, I imagine, more than you do&mdash;or more than you
+      did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It kept him there, it made him wonder with his eyes on her. &ldquo;Things about
+      <i>them</i>&mdash;our people?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Our people. Ours only now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Ah, such an interest as he felt in this&mdash;taking from her while, so
+      far from scowling, he almost gaped, all it might mean! &ldquo;Ours indeed&mdash;and
+      it&rsquo;s awfully good they are; or that we&rsquo;re still here for them! Nobody else
+      is&mdash;nobody but you: not a cat!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I <i>am</i> a cat!&rdquo; Cornelia grinned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean you can tell me things&mdash;?&rdquo; It was too beautiful to
+      believe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;About what really <i>was?</i>&rdquo; she artfully considered, holding him
+      immensely now. &ldquo;Well, unless they&rsquo;ve come to you with time; unless you&rsquo;ve
+      learned&mdash;or found out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; he reassuringly cried&mdash;reassuringly, it most seemed, for
+      himself&mdash;&ldquo;nothing has come to me with time, everything has gone from
+      me. How can I find out now! What creature has an idea&mdash;&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She threw up her hands with the shrug of old days&mdash;the sharp little
+      shrug his sisters used to imitate and that she hadn&rsquo;t had to go to Europe
+      for. The only thing was that he blessed her for bringing it back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, the ideas of people now&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, their ideas are certainly not about us&rdquo; But he ruefully faced it.
+      &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve none the less, however, to live with them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With their ideas&mdash;?&rdquo; Cornelia questioned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With <i>them</i>&mdash;these modern wonders; such as they are!&rdquo; Then he
+      went on: &ldquo;It must have been to help me you&rsquo;ve come back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She said nothing for an instant about that, only nodding instead at his
+      photograph. &ldquo;What has become of yours? I mean of <i>her</i>.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This time it made him turn pale. &ldquo;You remember I <i>have</i> one?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She kept her eyes on him. &ldquo;In a &lsquo;pork-pie&rsquo; hat, with her hair in a long
+      net. That was so &lsquo;smart&rsquo; then; especially with one&rsquo;s skirt looped up, over
+      one&rsquo;s hooped magenta petticoat, in little festoons, and a row of very big
+      onyx beads over one&rsquo;s braided velveteen sack&mdash;braided quite plain and
+      very broad, don&rsquo;t you know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He smiled for her extraordinary possession of these things&mdash;she was
+      as prompt as if she had had them before her. &ldquo;Oh, rather&mdash;&lsquo;don&rsquo;t I
+      know?&rsquo; You wore brown velveteen, and, on those remarkably small hands,
+      funny gauntlets&mdash;like mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, do <i>you</i> remember? But like yours?&rdquo; she wondered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean like hers in my photograph.&rdquo; But he came back to the present
+      picture. &ldquo;This is better, however, for really showing her lovely head.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mary&rsquo;s head was a perfection!&rdquo; Cornelia testified.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes&mdash;it was better than her heart.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, don&rsquo;t say that!&rdquo; she pleaded. &ldquo;You weren&rsquo;t fair.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you think I was fair?&rdquo; It interested him immensely&mdash;and the
+      more that he indeed mightn&rsquo;t have been; which he seemed somehow almost to
+      hope.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She didn&rsquo;t think so&mdash;to the very end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She didn&rsquo;t?&rdquo;&mdash;ah the right things Cornelia said to him! But before
+      she could answer he was studying again closely the small faded face. &ldquo;No,
+      she doesn&rsquo;t, she doesn&rsquo;t. Oh, her charming sad eyes and the way they say
+      that, across the years, straight into mine! But I don&rsquo;t know, I don&rsquo;t
+      know!&rdquo; White-Mason quite comfortably sighed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His companion appeared to appreciate this effect. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s just the way you
+      used to flirt with her, poor thing. Wouldn&rsquo;t you like to have it?&rdquo; she
+      asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This&mdash;for my very own?&rdquo; He looked up delighted. &ldquo;I really may?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, if you&rsquo;ll give me yours. We&rsquo;ll exchange.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a charming idea. We&rsquo;ll exchange. But you must come and get it at
+      my rooms&mdash;where you&rsquo;ll see my things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      For a little she made no answer&mdash;as if for some feeling. Then she
+      said: &ldquo;You asked me just now why I&rsquo;ve come back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stared as for the connection; after which with a smile: &ldquo;Not to do <i>that</i>&mdash;&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She waited briefly again, but with a queer little look. &ldquo;I can do those
+      things now; and&mdash;yes!&mdash;that&rsquo;s in a manner why. I came,&rdquo; she then
+      said, &ldquo;because I knew of a sudden one day&mdash;knew as never before&mdash;that
+      I was old.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see. I see.&rdquo; He quite understood&mdash;she had notes that so struck
+      him. &ldquo;And how did you like it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She hesitated&mdash;she decided. &ldquo;Well, if I liked it, it was on the
+      principle perhaps on which some people like high game!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;High game&mdash;that&rsquo;s good!&rdquo; he laughed. &ldquo;Ah, my dear, we&rsquo;re &lsquo;high&rsquo;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She shook her head. &ldquo;No, not you&mdash;yet. I at any rate didn&rsquo;t want any
+      more adventures,&rdquo; Cornelia said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He showed their small relic again with assurance. &ldquo;You wanted <i>us</i>.
+      Then here we are. Oh how we can talk!&mdash;with all those things you
+      know! You are an invention. And you&rsquo;ll see there are things J know. I
+      shall turn up here&mdash;well, daily.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She took it in, but only after a moment answered. &ldquo;There was something you
+      said just now you&rsquo;d tell me. Don&rsquo;t you mean to try&mdash;&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mrs. Worthingham?&rdquo; He drew from within his coat his pocket-book and
+      carefully found a place in it for Mary Cardew&rsquo;s carte-de-visite, folding
+      it together with deliberation over which he put it back. Finally he spoke.
+      &ldquo;No&mdash;I&rsquo;ve decided. I can&rsquo;t&mdash;I don&rsquo;t want to.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cornelia marvelled&mdash;or looked as if she did. &ldquo;Not for all she has?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes&mdash;I know all she has. But I also know all she hasn&rsquo;t. And, as I
+      told you, she herself doesn&rsquo;t&mdash;hasn&rsquo;t a glimmer of a suspicion of it;
+      and never will have.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Cornelia magnanimously thought &ldquo;No&mdash;but she knows other things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He shook his head as at the portentous heap of them. &ldquo;Too many&mdash;too
+      many. And other indeed&mdash;<i>so</i> other! Do you know,&rdquo; he went on,
+      &ldquo;that it&rsquo;s as if <i>you</i>&mdash;by turning up for me&mdash;had brought
+      that home to me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;For you,&rsquo;&rdquo; she candidly considered. &ldquo;But what&mdash;since you can&rsquo;t
+      marry me!&mdash;can you do with me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Well, he seemed to have it all. &ldquo;Everything. I can live with you&mdash;just
+      this way.&rdquo; To illustrate which he dropped into the other chair by her
+      fire; where, leaning back, he gazed at the flame. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t give you up.
+      It&rsquo;s very curious. It has come over me as it did over you when you
+      renounced Bognor. That&rsquo;s it&mdash;I know it at last, and I see one can
+      like it. I&rsquo;m &lsquo;high.&rsquo; You needn&rsquo;t deny it. That&rsquo;s my taste. I&rsquo;m old.&rdquo; And
+      in spite of the considerable glow there of her little household altar he
+      said it without the scowl.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0026" id="link2H_4_0026">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE BENCH OF DESOLATION
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0027" id="link2H_4_0027">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      I
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      SHE had practically, he believed, conveyed the intimation, the horrid,
+      brutal, vulgar menace, in the course of their last dreadful conversation,
+      when, for whatever was left him of pluck or confidence&mdash;confidence in
+      what he would fain have called a little more aggressively the strength of
+      his position&mdash;he had judged best not to take it up. But this time
+      there was no question of not understanding, or of pretending he didn&rsquo;t;
+      the ugly, the awful words, ruthlessly formed by her lips, were like the
+      fingers of a hand that she might have thrust into her pocket for
+      extraction of the monstrous object that would serve best for&mdash;what
+      should he call it?&mdash;a gage of battle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I haven&rsquo;t a very different answer from you within the next three days
+      I shall put the matter into the hands of my solicitor, whom it may
+      interest you to know I&rsquo;ve already seen. I shall bring an action for
+      &lsquo;breach&rsquo; against you, Herbert Dodd, as sure as my name&rsquo;s Kate Cookham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There it was, straight and strong&mdash;yet he felt he could say for
+      himself, when once it had come, or even, already, just as it was coming,
+      that it turned on, as if she had moved an electric switch, the very
+      brightest light of his own very reasons. There <i>she</i> was, in all the
+      grossness of her native indelicacy, in all her essential excess of will
+      and destitution of scruple; and it was the woman capable of that ignoble
+      threat who, his sharper sense of her quality having become so quite
+      deterrent, was now making for him a crime of it that he shouldn&rsquo;t wish to
+      tie himself to her for life. The vivid, lurid thing was the reality, all
+      unmistakable, of her purpose; she had thought her case well out; had
+      measured its odious, specious presentability; had taken, he might be sure,
+      the very best advice obtainable at Properley, where there was always a
+      first-rate promptitude of everything fourth-rate; it was disgustingly
+      certain, in short, that she&rsquo;d proceed. She was sharp and adroit, moreover&mdash;distinctly
+      in certain ways a master-hand; how otherwise, with her so limited mere
+      attractiveness, should she have entangled him? He couldn&rsquo;t shut his eyes
+      to the very probable truth that if she should try it she&rsquo;d pull it off.
+      She <i>knew</i> she would&mdash;precisely; and her assurance was thus the
+      very proof of her cruelty. That she had pretended she loved him was
+      comparatively nothing; other women had pretended it, and other women too
+      had really done it; but that she had pretended he could possibly have been
+      right and safe and blest in loving <i>her</i>, a creature of the kind who
+      could sniff that squalor of the law-court, of claimed damages and brazen
+      lies and published kisses, of love-letters read amid obscene guffaws, as a
+      positive tonic to resentment, as a high incentive to her course&mdash;this
+      was what put him so beautifully in the right It was what might signify in
+      a woman all through, he said to himself, the mere imagination of such
+      machinery. Truly what a devilish conception and what an appalling nature!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But there was no doubt, luckily, either, that he <i>could</i> plant his
+      feet the firmer for his now intensified sense of these things. He was to
+      live, it appeared, abominably worried, he was to live consciously rueful,
+      he was to live perhaps even what a scoffing world would call abjectly
+      exposed; but at least he was to live saved. In spite of his clutch of
+      which steadying truth, however, and in spite of his declaring to her, with
+      many other angry protests and pleas, that the line of conduct she
+      announced was worthy of a vindictive barmaid, a lurking fear in him, too
+      deep to counsel mere defiance, made him appear to keep open a little, till
+      he could somehow turn round again, the door of possible composition. He
+      had scoffed at her claim, at her threat, at her thinking she could hustle
+      and bully him&mdash;&ldquo;Such a way, my eye, to call back to life a dead
+      love!&rdquo;&mdash;yet his instinct was ever, prudentially but helplessly, for
+      gaining time, even if time only more wofully to quake, and he gained it
+      now by not absolutely giving for his ultimatum that he wouldn&rsquo;t think of
+      coming round. He didn&rsquo;t in the smallest degree mean to come round, but it
+      was characteristic of him that he could for three or four days breathe a
+      little easier by having left her under the impression that he perhaps
+      might. At the same time he couldn&rsquo;t not have said&mdash;what had conduced
+      to bring out, in retort, her own last word, the word on which they had
+      parted&mdash;&ldquo;Do you mean to say you yourself would now be <i>willing</i>
+      to marry and live with a man of whom you could feel, the thing done, that
+      he&rsquo;d be all the while thinking of you in the light of a hideous coercion?&rdquo;
+       &ldquo;Never you mind about <i>my</i> willingness,&rdquo; Kate had answered; &ldquo;you&rsquo;ve
+      known what that has been for the last six months. Leave that to me, my
+      willingness&mdash;I&rsquo;ll take care of it all right; and just see what
+      conclusion you can come to about your own.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was to remember afterward how he had wondered whether, turned upon her
+      in silence while her odious lucidity reigned unchecked, his face had shown
+      her anything like the quantity of hate he felt. Probably not at all; no
+      man&rsquo;s face <i>could</i> express that immense amount; especially the fair,
+      refined, intellectual, gentlemanlike face which had had&mdash;and by her
+      own more than once repeated avowal&mdash;so much to do with the enormous
+      fancy she had originally taken to him. &ldquo;Which&mdash;frankly now&mdash;would
+      you personally <i>rather</i> I should do,&rdquo; he had at any rate asked her
+      with an intention of supreme irony: &ldquo;just sordidly marry you on top of
+      this, or leave you the pleasure of your lovely appearance in court and of
+      your so assured (since that&rsquo;s how you feel it) big haul of damages?
+      Sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t you be awfully disappointed, in fact, if I don&rsquo;t let you get
+      something better out of me than a poor plain ten-shilling gold ring and
+      the rest of the blasphemous rubbish, as we should make it between us,
+      pronounced at the altar? I take it of course,&rdquo; he had swaggered on, &ldquo;that
+      your pretension wouldn&rsquo;t be for a moment that I should&mdash;after the act
+      of profanity&mdash;take up my life with you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just as much my dream as it ever was, Herbert Dodd, to take up mine
+      with <i>you!</i> Remember for me that I can do with it, my dear, that my
+      idea is for even as much as that of you!&rdquo; she had cried; &ldquo;remember that
+      for me, Herbert Dodd; remember, remember!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was on this she had left him&mdash;left him frankly under a mortal
+      chill. There might have been the last ring of an appeal or a show of
+      persistent and perverse tenderness in it, however preposterous any such
+      matter; but in point of fact her large, clean, plain, brown face&mdash;so
+      much too big for her head, he now more than ever felt it to be, just as
+      her head was so much too big for her body, and just as her hats had an
+      irritating way of appearing to decline choice and conformity in respect to
+      <i>any</i> of her dimensions&mdash;presented itself with about as much
+      expression as his own shop-window when the broad, blank, sallow blind was
+      down. He was fond of his shop-window with some good show on; he had a
+      fancy for a good show and was master of twenty different schemes of taking
+      arrangement for the old books and prints, &ldquo;high-class rarities&rdquo; his modest
+      catalogue called them, in which he dealt and which his maternal uncle,
+      David Geddes, had, as he liked to say, &ldquo;handed down&rdquo; to him. His widowed
+      mother had screwed the whole thing, the stock and the connection and the
+      rather bad little house in the rather bad little street, out of the
+      ancient worthy, shortly before his death, in the name of the youngest and
+      most interesting, the &ldquo;delicate&rdquo; one and the literary, of her five
+      scattered and struggling children. He could enjoy his happiest
+      collocations and contrasts and effects, his harmonies and varieties of
+      toned and faded leather and cloth, his sought color-notes and the high
+      clearnesses, here and there, of his white and beautifully figured
+      price-labels, which pleased him enough in themselves almost to console him
+      for not oftener having to break, on a customer&rsquo;s insistence, into the
+      balanced composition. But the dropped expanse of time-soiled canvas, the
+      thing of Sundays and holidays, with just his name, &ldquo;Herbert Dodd,
+      Successor,&rdquo; painted on below his uncle&rsquo;s antique style, the feeble penlike
+      flourishes already quite archaic&mdash;this ugly vacant mask, which might
+      so easily be taken for the mask of failure, somehow always gave him a
+      chill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That had been just the sort of chill&mdash;the analogy was complete&mdash;of
+      Kate Cookham&rsquo;s last look. He supposed people doing an awfully good and
+      sure and steady business, in whatever line, could see a whole front turned
+      to vacancy that way and merely think of the hours off represented by it.
+      Only for this&mdash;nervously to bear it, in other words, and Herbert
+      Dodd, quite with the literary temperament himself, was capable of that
+      amount of play of fancy, or even of morbid analysis&mdash;you had to be on
+      some footing, you had to feel some confidence, pretty different from his
+      own up to now. He had never <i>not</i> enjoyed passing his show on the
+      other side of the street and taking it in thence with a casual obliquity;
+      but he had never held optical commerce with the drawn blind for a moment
+      longer than he could help. It <i>always</i> looked horribly final and as
+      if it never would come up again. Big and bare, with his name staring at
+      him from the middle, it thus offered in its grimness a turn of comparison
+      for Miss Cookham&rsquo;s ominous visage. She never wore pretty, dotty,
+      transparent veils, as Nan Drury did, and the words &ldquo;Herbert Dodd&rdquo;&mdash;save
+      that she had sounded them at him there two or three times more like a Meg
+      Merrilies or the bold bad woman in one of the melodramas of high life
+      given during the fine season in the pavilion at the end of Properley Pier&mdash;were
+      dreadfully, were permanently, seated on her lips. <i>She</i> was grim, no
+      mistake.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That evening, alone in the back room above the shop, he saw so little what
+      he could do that, consciously demoralised for the hour, he gave way to
+      tears about it. Her taking a stand so incredibly &ldquo;low,&rdquo; that was what he
+      couldn&rsquo;t get over. The particular bitterness of his cup was his having let
+      himself in for a struggle on such terms&mdash;the use, on her side, of the
+      vulgarest process known to the law: the vulgarest, the vulgarest, he kept
+      repeating that, clinging to the help rendered him by this imputation to
+      his terrorist of the vice he sincerely believed he had ever, among
+      difficulties (for oh he recognised the difficulties!) sought to keep most
+      alien to him. He knew what he was, in a dismal, down-trodden sphere enough&mdash;the
+      lean young proprietor of an old business that had itself rather shrivelled
+      with age than ever grown fat, the purchase and sale of second-hand books
+      and prints, with the back street of a long-fronted south-coast
+      watering-place (Old Town by good luck) for the dusky field of his life.
+      But he had gone in for all the education he could get&mdash;his educated
+      customers would often hang about for more talk by the half-hour at a time,
+      he actually feeling himself, and almost with a scruple, hold them there;
+      which meant that he had had (he couldn&rsquo;t be blind to that) natural taste
+      and had lovingly cultivated and formed it. Thus, from as far back as he
+      could remember, there had been things all round him that he suffered from
+      when other people didn&rsquo;t; and he had kept most of his suffering to himself&mdash;which
+      had taught him, in a manner, <i>how</i> to suffer, and how almost to like
+      to.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So, at any rate, he had never let go his sense of certain differences, he
+      had done everything he could to keep it up&mdash;whereby everything that
+      was vulgar was on the wrong side of his line. He had believed, for a
+      series of strange, oppressed months, that Kate Cookham&rsquo;s manners and tone
+      were on the right side; she had been governess&mdash;for young children&mdash;in
+      two very good private families, and now had classes in literature and
+      history for bigger girls who were sometimes brought by their mammas; in
+      fact, coming in one day to look over his collection of students&rsquo; manuals,
+      and drawing it out, as so many did, for the evident sake of his
+      conversation, she had appealed to him that very first time by her
+      apparently pronounced intellectual side&mdash;goodness knew she didn&rsquo;t
+      even then by the physical!&mdash;which she had artfully kept in view till
+      she had entangled him past undoing. And it had all been but the cheapest
+      of traps&mdash;when he came to take the pieces apart a bit&mdash;laid over
+      a brazen avidity. What he now collapsed for, none the less&mdash;what he
+      sank down on a chair at a table and nursed his weak, scared sobs in his
+      resting arms for&mdash;was the fact that, whatever the trap, it held him
+      as with the grip of sharp murderous steel. There he was, there he was;
+      alone in the brown summer dusk&mdash;brown through <i>his</i> windows&mdash;he
+      cried and he cried. He shouldn&rsquo;t get out without losing a limb. The only
+      question was which of his limbs it should be.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before he went out, later on&mdash;for he at last felt the need to&mdash;he
+      could, however, but seek to remove from his face and his betraying eyes,
+      over his washing-stand, the traces of his want of fortitude. He brushed
+      himself up; with which, catching his stricken image a bit spectrally in an
+      old dim toilet-glass, he knew again, in a flash, the glow of righteous
+      resentment. Who should be assured against coarse usage if a man of his
+      really elegant, perhaps in fact a trifle over-refined or &ldquo;effete&rdquo;
+       appearance, his absolutely gentlemanlike type, couldn&rsquo;t be? He never went
+      so far as to rate himself, with exaggeration, a gentleman; but he would
+      have maintained against all comers, with perfect candour and as claiming a
+      high advantage, that he was, in spite of that liability to blubber, &ldquo;like&rdquo;
+       one; which he <i>was</i> no doubt, for that matter, at several points.
+      Like what lady then, who could ever possibly have been taken for one, was
+      Kate Cookham, and therefore how could one have anything&mdash;anything of
+      the intimate and private order&mdash;out with her fairly and on the plane,
+      the only possible one, of common equality? He might find himself crippled
+      for life; he believed verily, the more he thought, that that was what was
+      before him. But be ended by seeing this doom in the almost redeeming light
+      of the fact that it would all have been because he was, comparatively, too
+      aristocratic. Yes, a man in his station couldn&rsquo;t afford to carry that so
+      far&mdash;it must sooner or later, in one way or another, spell ruin.
+      Never mind&mdash;it was the only thing he could be. Of course he should
+      exquisitely suffer&mdash;but when hadn&rsquo;t he exquisitely suffered? How was
+      he going to get through life by <i>any</i> arrangement without that? No
+      wonder such a woman as Kate Cookham had been keen to annex so rare a
+      value. The right thing would have been that the highest price should be
+      paid for it&mdash;by such a different sort of logic from this nightmare of
+      <i>his</i> having to pay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0028" id="link2H_4_0028">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      II
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Which was the way, of course, he talked to Nan Drury&mdash;as he had felt
+      the immediate wild need to do; for he should perhaps be able to bear it
+      all somehow or other with <i>her</i>&mdash;while they sat together, when
+      time and freedom served, on one of the very last, the far westward,
+      benches of the interminable sea-front. It wasn&rsquo;t every one who walked so
+      far, especially at that flat season&mdash;the only ghost of a bustle now,
+      save for the gregarious, the obstreperous haunters of the fluttering,
+      far-shining Pier, being reserved for the sunny Parade of midwinter. It
+      wasn&rsquo;t every one who cared for the sunsets (which you got awfully well
+      from there and which were a particular strong point of the lower, the more
+      &ldquo;sympathetic,&rdquo; as Herbert Dodd liked to call it, Properley horizon) as he
+      had always intensely cared, and as he had found Nan Drury care; to say
+      nothing of his having also observed how little they directly spoke to Miss
+      Cookham. He had taught this oppressive companion to notice them a bit, as
+      he had taught her plenty of other things, but that was a different matter;
+      for the reason that the &ldquo;land&rsquo;s end&rdquo; (stretching a point it carried off
+      that name) had been, and had had to be, by their lack of more sequestered
+      resorts and conveniences, the scene of so much of what she styled their
+      wooing-time&mdash;or, to put it more properly, of the time during which
+      she had made the straightest and most unabashed love to <i>him</i>: just
+      as it could henceforth but render possible, under an equal rigour, that he
+      should enjoy there periods of consolation from beautiful, gentle,
+      tender-souled Nan, to whom he was now at last, after the wonderful way
+      they had helped each other to behave, going to make love, absolutely
+      unreserved and abandoned, absolutely reckless and romantic love, a refuge
+      from poisonous reality, as hard as ever he might.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The league-long, paved, lighted, garden-plotted, seated and refuged Marina
+      renounced its more or less celebrated attractions to break off short here;
+      and an inward curve of the kindly westward shore almost made a wide-armed
+      bay, with all the ugliness between town and country, and the further
+      casual fringe of the coast, turning, as the day waned, to rich afternoon
+      blooms of grey and brown and distant&mdash;it might fairly have been
+      beautiful Hampshire&mdash;blue. Here it was that, all that blighted
+      summer, with Nan&mdash;from the dreadful May-day on&mdash;he gave himself
+      up to the reaction of intimacy with the <i>kind</i> of woman, at least,
+      that he liked; even if of everything else that might make life possible he
+      was to be, by what he could make out, forever starved. Here it was that&mdash;as
+      well as on whatever other scraps of occasions they could manage&mdash;Nan
+      began to take off and fold up and put away in her pocket her pretty,
+      dotty, becoming veil; as under the logic of his having so tremendously
+      ceased, in the shake of his dark storm-gust, to be engaged to another
+      woman. Her removal of that obstacle to a trusted friend&rsquo;s assuring himself
+      whether the peachlike bloom&rsquo; of her finer facial curves bore the test of
+      such further inquiry into their cool sweetness as might reinforce a mere
+      baffled gaze&mdash;her momentous, complete surrender of so much of her
+      charm, let us say, both marked the change in the situation of the pair and
+      established the record of their perfect observance of every propriety for
+      so long before. They afterward in fact could have dated it, their full
+      clutch of their freedom and the bliss of their having so little henceforth
+      to consider save their impotence, their poverty, their ruin; dated it from
+      the hour of his recital to her of the&mdash;at the first blush&mdash;quite
+      appalling upshot of his second and conclusive &ldquo;scene of violence&rdquo; with the
+      mistress of his fortune, when the dire terms of his release had had to be
+      formally, and oh! so abjectly, acceded to. She &ldquo;compromised,&rdquo; the cruel
+      brute, for Four Hundred Pounds down&mdash;for not a farthing less would
+      she stay her strength from &ldquo;proceedings.&rdquo; No jury in the land but would
+      give her six, on the nail (&ldquo;Oh she knew quite where she was, thank you!&rdquo;)
+      and he might feel lucky to get off with so whole a skin. This was the sum,
+      then, for which he had grovellingly compounded&mdash;under an agreement
+      sealed by a supreme exchange of remarks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;Where in the name of lifelong ruin are you to <i>find</i> Four
+      Hundred?&rsquo;&rdquo; Miss Cookham had mockingly repeated after him while he gasped
+      as from the twist of her grip on his collar. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s <i>your</i> look-out,
+      and I should have thought you&rsquo;d have made sure you knew before you decided
+      on your base perfidy.&rdquo; And then she had mouthed and minced, with ever so
+      false a gentility, her consistent, her sickening conclusion. &ldquo;Of course&mdash;I
+      may mention again&mdash;if you too distinctly object to the trouble of
+      looking, you know where to find <i>me</i>.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had rather starve to death than ever go within a mile of you!&rdquo; Herbert
+      described himself as having sweetly answered; and that was accordingly
+      where <i>they</i> devotedly but desperately were&mdash;he and she,
+      penniless Nan Drury. Her father, of Drury &amp; Dean, was, like so far too
+      many other of the anxious characters who peered through the dull
+      window-glass of dusty offices at Properley, an Estate and House Agent,
+      Surveyor, Valuer and Auctioneer; she was the prettiest of six, with two
+      brothers, neither of the least use, but, thanks to the manner in which
+      their main natural protector appeared to languish under the accumulation
+      of his attributes, they couldn&rsquo;t be said very particularly or positively
+      to live. Their continued collective existence was a good deal of a miracle
+      even to themselves, though they had fallen into the way of not
+      unnecessarily, or too nervously, exchanging remarks upon it, and had even
+      in a sort, from year to year, got used to it. Nan&rsquo;s brooding pinkness when
+      he talked to her, her so very parted lips, considering her pretty teeth,
+      her so very parted eyelids, considering her pretty eyes, all of which
+      might have been those of some waxen image of uncritical faith, cooled the
+      heat of his helplessness very much as if he were laying his head on a
+      tense silk pillow. She had, it was true, forms of speech, familiar
+      watchwords, that affected him as small scratchy perforations of the smooth
+      surface from within; but his pleasure in her and need of her were
+      independent of such things and really almost altogether determined by the
+      fact of the happy, even if all so lonely, forms and instincts in her which
+      claimed kinship with his own. With her natural elegance stamped on her as
+      by a die, with her dim and disinherited individual refinement of grace,
+      which would have made any one wonder who she was anywhere&mdash;hat and
+      veil and feather-boa and smart umbrella-knob and all&mdash;with her
+      regular God-given distinction of type, in fine, she couldn&rsquo;t abide
+      vulgarity much more than he could.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Therefore it didn&rsquo;t seem to him, under his stress, to matter particularly,
+      for instance, if she <i>would</i> keep on referring so many things to the
+      time, as she called it, when she came into his life&mdash;his own great
+      insistence and contention being that she hadn&rsquo;t in the least entered there
+      till his mind was wholly made up to eliminate his other friend. What that
+      methodical fury was so fierce to bring home to him was the falsity to
+      herself involved in the later acquaintance; whereas just his precious
+      right to hold up his head to everything&mdash;before himself at least&mdash;sprang
+      from the fact that she couldn&rsquo;t make dates fit anyhow. He hadn&rsquo;t so much
+      as heard of his true beauty&rsquo;s existence (she had come back but a few weeks
+      before from her two years with her terribly trying deceased aunt at
+      Swindon, previous to which absence she had been an unnoticeable chit) till
+      days and days, ever so many, upon his honour, after he had struck for
+      freedom by his great first backing-out letter&mdash;the precious document,
+      the treat for a British jury, in which, by itself, Miss Cookham&rsquo;s firm
+      instructed her to recognise the prospect of a fortune. The way the
+      ruffians had been &ldquo;her&rdquo; ruffians&mdash;it appeared as if she had posted
+      them behind her from the first of her beginning her game!&mdash;and the
+      way &ldquo;instructions&rdquo; bounced out, with it, at a touch, larger than life, as
+      if she had arrived with her pocket full of them! The date of the letter,
+      taken with its other connections, and the date of <i>her</i> first
+      give-away for himself, his seeing her get out of the Brighton train with
+      Bill Frankle that day he had gone to make the row at the Station parcels&rsquo; 
+      office about the miscarriage of the box from Wales&mdash;those were the
+      facts it sufficed him to point to, as he had pointed to them for Nan
+      Drury&rsquo;s benefit, goodness knew, often and often enough. If he didn&rsquo;t seek
+      occasion to do so for any one else&rsquo;s&mdash;in open court as they said&mdash;that
+      was his own affair, or at least his and Nan&rsquo;s.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It little mattered, meanwhile, if on their bench of desolation, all that
+      summer&mdash;and it may be added for summers and summers, to say nothing
+      of winters, there and elsewhere, to come&mdash;she did give way to her
+      artless habit of not contradicting him enough, which led to her often
+      trailing up and down before him, too complacently, the untimely shreds and
+      patches of his own glooms and desperations. &ldquo;Well, I&rsquo;m glad I <i>am</i> in
+      your life, terrible as it is, however or whenever I did come in!&rdquo; and &ldquo;<i>Of
+      course</i> you&rsquo;d rather have starved&mdash;and it seems pretty well as if
+      we shall, doesn&rsquo;t it?&mdash;than have bought her off by a false, abhorrent
+      love, wouldn&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; and &ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t as if she hadn&rsquo;t made up to you the way
+      she did before you had so much as looked at her, is it? or as if you
+      hadn&rsquo;t shown her what you felt her really to be before you had so much as
+      looked at <i>me</i>, is it either?&rdquo; and &ldquo;Yes, how on earth, pawning the
+      shoes on your feet, you&rsquo;re going to raise another shilling&mdash;<i>that&rsquo;s</i>
+      what you want to know, poor darling, don&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0029" id="link2H_4_0029">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      III
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      His creditor, at the hour it suited her, transferred her base of
+      operations to town, to which impenetrable scene she had also herself
+      retired; and his raising of the first Two Hundred, during five exasperated
+      and miserable months, and then of another Seventy piecemeal, bleedingly,
+      after long delays and under the epistolary whiplash cracked by the London
+      solicitor in his wretched ear even to an effect of the very report of Miss
+      Cookham&rsquo;s tongue&mdash;these melancholy efforts formed a scramble up an
+      arduous steep where steps were planted and missed, and bared knees were
+      excoriated, and clutches at wayside tufts succeeded and failed, on a
+      system to which poor Nan could have intelligently entered only if she had
+      been somehow less ladylike. She kept putting into his mouth the sick
+      quaver of where he should find the rest, the always inextinguishable rest,
+      long after he had in silent rage fallen away from any further payment at
+      all&mdash;at first, he had but too blackly felt, for himself, to the still
+      quite possible non-exclusion of some penetrating ray of &ldquo;exposure.&rdquo; He
+      didn&rsquo;t care a tuppenny damn now, and in point of fact, after he had by
+      hook and by crook succeeded in being able to unload to the tune of
+      Two-Hundred-and-Seventy, and then simply returned the newest reminder of
+      his outstanding obligation unopened, this latter belated but real sign of
+      fight, the first he had risked, remarkably caused nothing at all to
+      happen; nothing at least but his being moved to quite tragically rueful
+      wonder as to whether exactly some such demonstration mightn&rsquo;t have served
+      his turn at an earlier stage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He could by this time at any rate measure his ruin&mdash;with three
+      fantastic mortgages on his house, his shop, his stock, and a burden of
+      interest to carry under which his business simply stretched itself
+      inanimate, without strength for a protesting kick, without breath for an
+      appealing groan. Customers lingering for further enjoyment of the tasteful
+      remarks he had cultivated the unobstrusive art of throwing in, would at
+      this crisis have found plenty to repay them, might his wit have strayed a
+      little more widely still, toward a circuitous egotistical outbreak, from
+      the immediate question of the merits of this and that author or of the
+      condition of this and that volume. He had come to be conscious through it
+      all of strangely glaring at people when they tried to haggle&mdash;and
+      not, as formerly, with the glare of derisive comment on their overdone
+      humour, but with that of fairly idiotised surrender&mdash;as if they were
+      much mistaken in supposing, for the sake of conversation, that he might
+      take himself for saveable by the difference between sevenpence and
+      ninepence. He watched everything impossible and deplorable happen as in an
+      endless prolongation of his nightmare; watched himself proceed, that is,
+      with the finest, richest incoherence, to the due preparation of his
+      catastrophe. Everything came to seem <i>equally</i> part of this&mdash;in
+      complete defiance of proportion; even his final command of detachment, on
+      the bench of desolation (where each successive fact of his dire case
+      regularly cut itself out black, yet of senseless silhouette, against the
+      red west) in respect to poor Nan&rsquo;s flat infelicities, which for the most
+      part kept no pace with the years or with change, but only shook like hard
+      peas in a child&rsquo;s rattle, the same peas a ways, of course, so long as the
+      rattle didn&rsquo;t split open with usage or from somebody&rsquo;s act of irritation.
+      They represented, or they had long done so, her contribution to the more
+      superficial of the two branches of intimacy&mdash;the intellectual
+      alternative, the one that didn&rsquo;t merely consist of her preparing herself
+      for his putting his arm round her waist.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There were to have been moments, nevertheless, all the first couple of
+      years, when she did touch in him, though to his actively dissimulating it,
+      a more or less sensitive nerve&mdash;moments as they were too, to do her
+      justice, when she treated him not to his own wisdom, or even folly, served
+      up cold, but to a certain small bitter fruit of her personal, her
+      unnatural, plucking. &ldquo;I wonder that since <i>she</i> took legal advice so
+      freely, to come down on you, you didn&rsquo;t take it yourself, a little, before
+      being so sure you stood no chance. Perhaps <i>your</i> people would have
+      been sure of something quite different&mdash;<i>perhaps</i>, I only say,
+      you know.&rdquo; She &ldquo;only&rdquo; said it, but she said it, none the less, in the
+      early time, about once a fortnight. In the later, and especially after
+      their marriage, it had a way of coming up again to the exclusion, as it
+      seemed to him, of almost everything else; in fact during the most dismal
+      years, the three of the loss of their two children, the long stretch of
+      sordid embarrassment ending in her death, he was afterward to think of her
+      as having generally said it several times a day. He was then also to
+      remember that his answer, before she had learnt to discount it, had been
+      inveterately at hand: &ldquo;What would any solicitor have done or wanted to do
+      but drag me just into the hideous public arena&rdquo;&mdash;he had always so put
+      it&mdash;&ldquo;that it has been at any rate my pride and my honour, the one rag
+      of self-respect covering my nakedness, to have loathed and avoided from
+      every point of view?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      That had disposed of it so long as he cared, and by the time he had ceased
+      to care for anything it had also lost itself in the rest of the vain
+      babble of home. After his wife&rsquo;s death, during his year of mortal
+      solitude, it awoke again as an echo of far-off things&mdash;far-off, very
+      far-off, because he felt then not ten but twenty years older. That was by
+      reason simply of the dead weight with which his load of debt had settled&mdash;the
+      persistence of his misery dragging itself out. With all that had come and
+      gone the bench of desolation was still there, just as the immortal flush
+      of the westward sky kept hanging its indestructible curtain. He had never
+      got away&mdash;everything had left him, but he himself had been able to
+      turn his back on nothing&mdash;and now, his day&rsquo;s labour before a dirty
+      desk at the Gas Works ended, he more often than not, almost any season at
+      temperate Properley serving his turn, took his slow straight way to the
+      Land&rsquo;s End and, collapsing there to rest, sat often for an hour at a time
+      staring before him. He might in these sessions, with his eyes on the
+      grey-green sea, have been counting again and still recounting the beads,
+      almost all worn smooth, of his rosary of pain&mdash;which had for the
+      fingers of memory and the recurrences of wonder the same felt break of the
+      smaller ones by the larger that would have aided a pious mumble in some
+      dusky altar-chapel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If it has been said of him that when once full submersion, as from far
+      back, had visibly begun to await him, he watched himself, in a cold
+      lucidity, <i>do</i> punctually and necessarily each of the deplorable
+      things that were inconsistent with his keeping afloat, so at present again
+      he might have been held agaze just by the presented grotesqueness of that
+      vigil. Such ghosts of dead seasons were all he <i>had</i> now to watch&mdash;such
+      a recaptured sense for instance as that of the dismal unavailing awareness
+      that had attended his act of marriage. He had let submersion final and
+      absolute become the signal for it&mdash;a mere minor determinant having
+      been the more or less contemporaneously unfavourable effect on the
+      business of Drury &amp; Dean of the sudden disappearance of Mr. Dean with
+      the single small tin box into which the certificates of the firm&rsquo;s credit
+      had been found to be compressible. That had been his only form&mdash;or
+      had at any rate seemed his only one. He couldn&rsquo;t not have married, no
+      doubt, just as he couldn&rsquo;t not have suffered the last degree of
+      humiliation and almost of want, or just as his wife and children couldn&rsquo;t
+      not have died of the little he was able, under dire reiterated pinches, to
+      do for them; but it was &ldquo;rum,&rdquo; for final solitary brooding, that he hadn&rsquo;t
+      appeared to see his way definitely to undertake the support of a family
+      till the last scrap of his little low-browed, high-toned business, and the
+      last figment of &ldquo;property&rdquo; in the old tiled and timbered shell that housed
+      it, had been sacrificed to creditors mustering six rows deep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of course what had counted too in the odd order was that even at the end
+      of the two or three years he had &ldquo;allowed&rdquo; her, Kate Cookham, gorged with
+      his unholy tribute, had become the subject of no successful siege on the
+      part either of Bill Frankle or, by what he could make out, of any one
+      else. She had judged decent&mdash;he could do her that justice&mdash;to
+      take herself personally out of his world, as he called it, for good and
+      all, as soon as he had begun regularly to bleed; and, to whatever
+      lucrative practice she might be devoting her great talents in London or
+      elsewhere, he felt his conscious curiosity about her as cold, with time,
+      as the passion of vain protest that she had originally left him to. He
+      could recall but two direct echoes of her in all the bitter years&mdash;both
+      communicated by Bill Frankle, disappointed and exposed and at last quite
+      remarkably ingenuous sneak, who had also, from far back, taken to roaming
+      the world, but who, during a period, used fitfully and ruefully to
+      reappear. Herbert Dodd had quickly seen, at their first meeting&mdash;every
+      one met every one sooner or later at Properley, if meeting it could always
+      be called, either in the glare or the gloom of the explodedly attractive
+      Embankment&mdash;that no silver stream of which he himself had been the
+      remoter source could have played over the career of this all but
+      repudiated acquaintance. That hadn&rsquo;t fitted with his first, his quite
+      primitive raw vision of the probabilities, and he had further been puzzled
+      when, much later on, it had come to him in a roundabout way that Miss
+      Cookham was supposed to be, or to have been, among them for a few days &ldquo;on
+      the quiet,&rdquo; and that Frankle, who had seen her and who claimed to know
+      more about it than he said, was cited as authority for the fact. But he
+      hadn&rsquo;t himself at this juncture seen Frankle; he had only wondered, and a
+      degree of mystification had even remained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That memory referred itself to the dark days of old Drury&rsquo;s smash, the few
+      weeks between his partner&rsquo;s dastardly flight and Herbert&rsquo;s own comment on
+      it in the form of his standing up with Nan for the nuptial benediction of
+      the Vicar of St. Bernard&rsquo;s on a very cold, bleak December morning and amid
+      a circle of seven or eight long-faced, red-nosed and altogether dowdy
+      persons. Poor Nan herself had come to affect him as scarce other than
+      red-nosed and dowdy by that time, but this only added, in his then, and
+      indeed in his lasting view, to his general and his particular morbid
+      bravery. He had cultivated ignorance, there were small inward immaterial
+      luxuries he could scrap-pily cherish even among other, and the harshest,
+      destitutions; and one of them was represented by this easy refusal of his
+      mind to render to certain passages of his experience, to various ugly
+      images, names, associations, the homage of continued attention. That
+      served him, that helped him; but what happened when, a dozen dismal years
+      having worn themselves away, he sat single and scraped bare again, as if
+      his long wave of misfortune had washed him far beyond everything and then
+      conspicuously retreated, was that, thus stranded by tidal action,
+      deposited in the lonely hollow of his fate, he felt even sustaining pride
+      turn to nought and heard no challenge from it when old mystifications,
+      stealing forth in the dusk of the day&rsquo;s work done, scratched at the door
+      of speculation and hung about, through the idle hours, for irritated
+      notice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The evenings of his squalid clerkship were all leisure now, but there was
+      nothing at all near home on the other hand, for his imagination, numb and
+      stiff from its long chill, to begin to play with. Voices from far off
+      would quaver to him therefore in the stillness; where he knew for the most
+      recurrent, little by little, the faint wail of his wife. He had become
+      deaf to it in life, but at present, after so great an interval, he
+      listened again, listened and listened, and seemed to hear it sound as by
+      the pressure of some weak broken spring. It phrased for his ear her
+      perpetual question, the one she had come to at the last as under the
+      obsession of a discovered and resented wrong, a wrong withal that had its
+      source much more in his own action than anywhere else. &ldquo;That you didn&rsquo;t
+      make <i>sure</i> she could have done anything, that you didn&rsquo;t make sure
+      and that you were too afraid!&rdquo;&mdash;this commemoration had ended by
+      playing such a part of Nan&rsquo;s finally quite contracted consciousness as to
+      exclude everything else.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the time, somehow, he had made his terms with it; he had then more
+      urgent questions to meet than that of the poor creature&rsquo;s taste in
+      worrying pain; but actually it struck him&mdash;not the question, but the
+      fact itself of the taste&mdash;as the one thing left over from all that
+      had come and gone. So it was; nothing remained to him in the world, on the
+      bench of desolation, but the option of taking up that echo&mdash;together
+      with an abundance of free time for doing so. That he hadn&rsquo;t made sure of
+      what might and what mightn&rsquo;t have been done to him, that he had been too
+      afraid&mdash;had the proposition a possible bearing on his present
+      apprehension of things? To reply indeed he would have had to be able to
+      say what his present apprehension of things, left to itself, amounted to;
+      an uninspiring effort indeed he judged it, sunk to so poor a pitch was his
+      material of thought&mdash;though it might at last have been the feat he
+      sought to perform as he stared at the grey-green sea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0030" id="link2H_4_0030">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      IV
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      It was seldom he was disturbed in any form of sequestered speculation, or
+      that at his times of predilection, especially that of the long autumn
+      blankness between the season of trippers and the season of Bath-chairs,
+      there were westward stragglers enough to jar upon his settled sense of
+      priority. For himself his seat, the term of his walk, was consecrated; it
+      had figured to him for years as the last (though there were others, not
+      immediately near it, and differently disposed, that might have aspired to
+      the title); so that he could invidiously distinguish as he approached,
+      make out from a distance any accident of occupation, and never draw nearer
+      while that unpleasantness lasted. What he disliked was to compromise on
+      his tradition, whether for a man, a woman or a connoodling couple; it was
+      to idiots of this last composition he most objected, he having sat there,
+      in the past, alone, having sat there interminably with Nan, having sat
+      there with&mdash;well, with other women when women, at hours of ease,
+      could still care or count for him, but having never shared the place with
+      any shuffling or snuffling stranger. It was a world of fidgets and starts,
+      however, the world of his present dreariness&mdash;he alone possessed in
+      it, he seemed to make out, of the secret, of the dignity of sitting still
+      with one&rsquo;s fate; so that if he took a turn about or rested briefly
+      elsewhere even foolish philanderers&mdash;though this would never have
+      been his and Nan&rsquo;s way&mdash;ended soon by some adjournment as visibly
+      pointless as their sprawl. Then, their backs turned, he would drop down on
+      it, the bench of desolation&mdash;which was what he, and he only, made it
+      by sad adoption; where, for that matter, moreover, once he had settled at
+      his end, it was marked that nobody else ever came to sit. He saw people,
+      along the Marina, take this liberty with other resting presences; but his
+      own struck them perhaps in general as either of too grim or just of too
+      dingy a vicinage. He might have affected the fellow-lounger as a man evil,
+      unsociable, possibly engaged in working out the idea of a crime; or
+      otherwise, more probably&mdash;for on the whole he surely looked harmless&mdash;devoted
+      to the worship of some absolutely unpractical remorse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On a certain October Saturday he had got off, as usual, early; but the
+      afternoon light, his pilgrimage drawing to its aim, could still show him,
+      at long range, the rare case of an established usurper. His impulse was
+      then, as by custom, to deviate a little and wait, all the more that the
+      occupant of the bench was a lady, and that ladies, when alone, were&mdash;at
+      that austere end of the varied frontal stretch&mdash;markedly
+      discontinuous; but he kept on at sight of this person&rsquo;s rising, while he
+      was still fifty yards off, and proceeding, her back turned, to the edge of
+      the broad terrace, the outer line of which followed the interspaced
+      succession of seats and was guarded by an iron rail from the abruptly
+      lower level of the beach. Here she stood before the sea, while our friend
+      on his side, recognising no reason to the contrary, sank into the place
+      she had quitted. There were other benches, eastward and off by the course
+      of the drive, for vague ladies. The lady indeed thus thrust upon Herbert&rsquo;s
+      vision might have struck an observer either as not quite vague or as vague
+      with a perverse intensity suggesting design.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not that our own observer at once thought of these things; he only took
+      in, and with no great interest, that the obtruded presence was a &ldquo;real&rdquo;
+       lady; that she was dressed&mdash;he noticed such matters&mdash;with a
+      certain elegance of propriety or intention of harmony; and that she
+      remained perfectly still for a good many minutes; so many in fact that he
+      presently ceased to heed her, and that as she wasn&rsquo;t straight before him,
+      but as far to the left as was consistent with his missing her profile, he
+      had turned himself to one of his sunsets again (though it wasn&rsquo;t quite one
+      of his best) and let it hold him for a time that enabled her to alter her
+      attitude and present a fuller view. Without other movement, but her back
+      now to the sea and her face to the odd person who had appropriated her
+      corner, she had taken a sustained look at him before he was aware she had
+      stirred. On that apprehension, however, he became also promptly aware of
+      her direct, her applied observation. As his sense of this quickly
+      increased he wondered who she was and what she wanted&mdash;what, as it
+      were, was the matter with her; it suggested to him, the next thing, that
+      she had, under some strange idea, actually been waiting for him. Any idea
+      about him to-day on the part of any one could only be strange.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yes, she stood there with the ample width of the Marina between them, but
+      turned to him, for all the world, as to show frankly that she was
+      concerned with him. And she <i>was</i>&mdash;oh yes&mdash;a real lady: a
+      middle-aged person, of good appearance and of the best condition, in quiet
+      but &ldquo;handsome&rdquo; black, save for very fresh white kid gloves, and with a
+      pretty, dotty, becoming veil, predominantly white, adjusted to her
+      countenance; which through it somehow, even to his imperfect sight, showed
+      strong fine black brows and what he would have called on the spot
+      character. But she was pale; her black brows were the blacker behind the
+      flattering tissue; she still kept a hand, for support, on the
+      terrace-rail, while the other, at the end of an extended arm that had an
+      effect of rigidity, clearly pressed hard on the knob of a small and
+      shining umbrella, the lower extremity of whose stick was equally, was
+      sustainingly, firm on the walk. So this mature, qualified, important
+      person stood and looked at the limp, undistinguished&mdash;oh his values
+      of aspect now!&mdash;shabby man on the bench.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was extraordinary, but the fact of her interest, by immensely
+      surprising, by immediately agitating him, blinded him at first to her
+      identity and, for the space of his long stare, diverted him from it; with
+      which even then, when recognition did break, the sense of the shock,
+      striking inward, simply consumed itself in gaping stillness. He sat there
+      motionless and weak, fairly faint with surprise, and there was no instant,
+      in all the succession of so many, at which Kate Cookham could have caught
+      the special sign of his intelligence. Yet that she did catch something he
+      saw&mdash;for he saw her steady herself, by her two supported hands, to
+      meet it; while, after she had done so, a very wonderful thing happened, of
+      which he could scarce, later on, have made a clear statement, though he
+      was to think it over again and again. She moved toward him, she reached
+      him, she stood there, she sat down near him, he merely passive and
+      wonderstruck, unresentfully &ldquo;impressed,&rdquo; gaping and taking it in&mdash;and
+      all as with an open allowance on the part of each, so that they positively
+      and quite intimately met in it, o the impertinence for their case, this
+      case that brought them again, after horrible years, face to face, of the
+      vanity, the profanity, the impossibility, of anything between them but
+      silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nearer to him, beside him at a considerable interval (oh she was immensely
+      considerate!) she presented him, in the sharp terms of her transformed
+      state&mdash;but thus the more amply, formally, ceremoniously&mdash;with
+      the reasons that would serve him best for not having precipitately known
+      her. She was simply another and a totally different person, and the
+      exhibition of it to which she had proceeded with this solemn anxiety was
+      all, obviously, for his benefit&mdash;once he had, as he appeared to be
+      doing, provisionally accepted her approach. He had remembered her as
+      inclined to the massive and disowned by the graceful; but this was a
+      spare, fine, worn, almost wasted lady&mdash;who had repaired waste, it was
+      true, however, with something he could only appreciate as a rich
+      accumulation of manner. She was strangely older, so far as that went&mdash;marked
+      by experience and as if many things had happened to her; her face had
+      suffered, to its improvement, contraction and concentration; and if he had
+      granted, of old and from the first, that her eyes were remarkable, had
+      they yet ever had for him this sombre glow? Withal, something said, she
+      had flourished&mdash;he felt it, wincing at it, as that; she had had a
+      life, a career, a history&mdash;something that her present waiting air and
+      nervous consciousness couldn&rsquo;t prevent his noting there as a deeply latent
+      assurance. She had flourished, she had flourished&mdash;though to learn it
+      after this fashion was somehow at the same time not to feel she flaunted
+      it. It wasn&rsquo;t thus execration that she revived in him; she made in fact,
+      exhibitively, as he could only have put it, the matter of long ago
+      irrelevant, and these extraordinary minutes of their reconstituted
+      relation&mdash;how many? how few?&mdash;addressed themselves altogether to
+      new possibilities.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Still it after a little awoke in him as with the throb of a touched nerve
+      that his own very attitude was supplying a connection; he knew presently
+      that he wouldn&rsquo;t have had her go, <i>couldn&rsquo;t</i> have made a sign to her
+      for it&mdash;which was what she had been uncertain of&mdash;without
+      speaking to him; and that therefore he was, as at the other, the hideous
+      time, passive to whatever she might do. She was even yet, she was always,
+      in possession of him; she had known how and where to find him and had
+      appointed that he should see her, and, though he had never dreamed it was
+      again to happen to him, he was meeting it already as if it might have been
+      the only thing that the least humanly <i>could</i>. Yes, he had come back
+      there to flop, by long custom, upon the bench of desolation <i>as</i> the
+      man in the whole place, precisely, to whom nothing worth more than
+      tuppence could happen; whereupon, in the grey desert of his consciousness,
+      the very earth had suddenly opened and flamed. With this, further, it came
+      over him that he hadn&rsquo;t been prepared and that his wretched appearance
+      must show it. He wasn&rsquo;t fit to receive a visit&mdash;any visit; a flush
+      for his felt misery, in the light of her opulence, broke out in his lean
+      cheeks. But if he coloured he sat as he was&mdash;she should at least, as
+      a visitor, be satisfied. His eyes only, at last, turned from her and
+      resumed a little their gaze at the sea. That, however, didn&rsquo;t relieve him,
+      and he perpetrated in the course of another moment the odd desperate
+      gesture of raising both his hands to his face and letting them, while he
+      pressed it to them, cover and guard it. It was as he held them there that
+      she at last spoke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll go away if you wish me to.&rdquo; And then she waited a moment. &ldquo;I mean
+      now&mdash;now that you&rsquo;ve seen I&rsquo;m here. I wanted you to know it, and I
+      thought of writing&mdash;I was afraid of our meeting accidentally. Then I
+      was afraid that if I wrote you might refuse. So I thought of this way&mdash;as
+      I knew you must come out here.&rdquo; She went on with pauses, giving him a
+      chance to make a sign. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve waited several days. But I&rsquo;ll do what you
+      wish. Only I should like in that case to come back.&rdquo; Again she stopped;
+      but strange was it to him that he wouldn&rsquo;t have made her break off. She
+      held him in boundless wonder. &ldquo;I came down&mdash;I mean I came from town&mdash;on
+      purpose. I&rsquo;m staying on still, and I&rsquo;ve a great patience and will give you
+      time. Only may I say it&rsquo;s important? Now that I do see you,&rdquo; she brought
+      out in the same way, &ldquo;I see how inevitable it was&mdash;I mean that I
+      should have wanted to come. But you must feel about it as you can,&rdquo; she
+      wound up&mdash;&ldquo;till you get used to the idea.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She spoke so for accommodation, for discretion, for some ulterior view
+      already expressed in her manner, that, after taking well in, from behind
+      his hands, that this was her very voice&mdash;oh ladylike!&mdash;heard,
+      and heard in deprecation of displeasure, after long years again, he
+      uncovered his face and freshly met her eyes. More than ever he couldn&rsquo;t
+      have known her. Less and less remained of the figure all the facts of
+      which had long ago so hardened for him. She was a handsome, grave,
+      authoritative, but refined and, as it were, physically rearranged person&mdash;she,
+      the outrageous vulgarity of whose prime assault had kept him shuddering so
+      long as a shudder was in him. That atrocity in her was what everything had
+      been built on, but somehow, all strangely, it was slipping from him; so
+      that, after the oddest fashion conceivable, when he felt he mustn&rsquo;t let
+      her go, it was as if he were putting out his hand to save the past, the
+      hideous real unalterable past, exactly as she had been the cause of its
+      being and the cause of his undergoing it. He should have been too awfully
+      &ldquo;sold&rdquo; if he wasn&rsquo;t going to have been right about her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t mind,&rdquo; he heard himself at last say. Not to mind had seemed for
+      the instant the length he was prepared to go; but he was afterward aware
+      of how soon he must have added: &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve come on purpose to see me?&rdquo; He was
+      on the point of putting to her further: &ldquo;What then do you want of me?&rdquo; But
+      he would keep&mdash;yes, in time&mdash;from appearing to show he cared. If
+      he showed he cared, where then would be his revenge? So he was already,
+      within five minutes, thinking his revenge uncomfortably over instead of
+      just comfortably knowing it. What came to him, at any rate, as they
+      actually fell to talk, was that, with such precautions, considerations,
+      reduplications of consciousness, almost avowed feelings of her way on her
+      own part, and light fingerings of his chords of sensibility, she was
+      understanding, she <i>had</i> understood, more things than all the years,
+      up to this strange eventide, had given him an inkling of. They talked,
+      they went on&mdash;he hadn&rsquo;t let her retreat, to whatever it committed him
+      and however abjectly it did so; yet keeping off and off, dealing with such
+      surface facts as involved ancient acquaintance but held abominations at
+      bay. The recognition, the attestation that she <i>had</i> come down for
+      him, that there would be reasons, that she had even hovered and watched,
+      assured herself a little of his habits (which she managed to speak of as
+      if, on their present ampler development, they were much to be deferred
+      to), detained them enough to make vivid how, listen as stiffly or as
+      serenely as he might, she sat there in fear, just as she had so stood
+      there at first, and that her fear had really to do with her calculation of
+      some sort of chance with him. What chance could it possibly be? Whatever
+      it might have done, on this prodigious showing, with Kate Cookham, it made
+      the present witness to the state of his fortunes simply exquisite: he
+      ground his teeth secretly together as he saw he should have to take <i>that</i>.
+      For what did it mean but that she would have liked to pity him if she
+      could have done it with safety? Ah, however, he must give her no measure
+      of safety!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By the time he had remarked, with that idea, that she probably saw few
+      changes about them there that weren&rsquo;t for the worse&mdash;the place was
+      going down, down and down, so fast that goodness knew where it would stop&mdash;and
+      had also mentioned that in spite of this he himself remained faithful,
+      with all its faults loving it still; by the time he had, after that
+      fashion, superficially indulged her, adding a few further light and just
+      sufficiently dry reflections on local matters, the disappearance of
+      landmarks and important persons, the frequency of gales, the low policy of
+      the town-council in playing down to cheap excursionists: by the time he
+      had so acquitted himself, and she had observed, of her own motion, that
+      she was staying at the Royal, which he knew for the time-honoured, the
+      conservative and exclusive hotel, he had made out for himself one thing at
+      least, the amazing fact that he had been landed by his troubles, at the
+      end of time, in a &ldquo;social relation,&rdquo; of all things in the world, and how
+      of that luxury he was now having unprecedented experience. He had but once
+      in his life had his nose in the Royal, on the occasion of his himself
+      delivering a parcel during some hiatus in his succession of impossible
+      small boys and meeting in the hall the lady who had bought of him, in the
+      morning, a set of Crabbe, largely, he flattered himself, under the artful
+      persuasion of his acute remarks on that author, gracefully associated by
+      him, in this colloquy, he remembered, with a glance at Charles Lamb as
+      well, and who went off in a day or two without settling, though he
+      received her cheque from London three or four months later.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>That</i> hadn&rsquo;t been a social relation; and truly, deep within his
+      appeal to himself to be remarkable, to be imperturbable and impenetrable,
+      to be in fact quite incomparable now, throbbed the intense vision of his
+      drawing out and draining dry the sensation he had begun to taste. He would
+      do it, moreover&mdash;that would be the refinement of his art&mdash;not
+      only without the betraying anxiety of a single question, but just even by
+      seeing her flounder (since she must, in a vagueness deeply disconcerting
+      to her) as to her real effect on him. She was distinctly floundering by
+      the time he had brought her&mdash;it had taken ten minutes&mdash;down to a
+      consciousness of absurd and twaddling topics, to the reported precarious
+      state, for instance, of the syndicate running the Bijou Theatre at the
+      Pierhead&mdash;all as an admonition that she might want him to want to
+      know why she was thus waiting on him, might want it for all she was worth,
+      before he had ceased to be so remarkable as not to ask her. He didn&rsquo;t&mdash;and
+      this assuredly was wondrous enough&mdash;want to do anything worse to her
+      than let her flounder; but he was willing to do that so long as it
+      mightn&rsquo;t prevent his seeing at least where <i>he</i> was. He seemed still
+      to see where he was even at the minute that followed her final break-off,
+      clearly intended to be resolute, from make-believe talk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder if I might prevail on you to come to tea with me to-morrow at
+      five.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He didn&rsquo;t so much as answer it&mdash;though he could scarcely believe his
+      ears. To-morrow was Sunday, and the proposal referred, clearly, to the
+      custom of &ldquo;five-o&rsquo;clock&rdquo; tea, known to him only by the contemporary novel
+      of manners and the catchy advertisement of table-linen. He had never in
+      his life been present at any such luxurious rite, but he was offering
+      practical indifference to it as a false mark of his sense that his social
+      relation had already risen to his chin. &ldquo;I gave up my very modest, but
+      rather interesting little old book business, perhaps you know, ever so
+      long ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She floundered so that she could say nothing&mdash;meet <i>that</i> with
+      no possible word; all the less too that his tone, casual and colourless,
+      wholly defied any apprehension of it as a reverse. Silence only came; but
+      after a moment she returned to her effort. &ldquo;If you <i>can</i> come I shall
+      be at home. To see you otherwise than thus was in fact what, as I tell
+      you, I came down for. But I leave it,&rdquo; she returned, &ldquo;to your feeling.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had at this, it struck him, an inspiration; which he required however a
+      minute or two to decide to carry out; a minute or two during which the
+      shake of his foot over his knee became an intensity of fidget. &ldquo;Of course
+      I know I still owe you a large sum of money. If it&rsquo;s about <i>that</i> you
+      wish to see me,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;I may as well tell you just here that I
+      shall be able to meet my full obligation in the future as little as I&rsquo;ve
+      met it in the past. I can never,&rdquo; said Herbert Dodd, &ldquo;pay up that
+      balance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had looked at her while he spoke, but on finishing looked off at the
+      sea again and continued to agitate his foot. He knew now what he had done
+      and why; and the sense of her fixed dark eyes on him during his speech and
+      after didn&rsquo;t alter his small contentment. Yet even when she still said
+      nothing he didn&rsquo;t turn round; he simply kept his corner as if <i>that</i>
+      were his point made, should it even be the last word between them. It
+      might have been, for that matter, from the way in which she presently
+      rose, gathering herself, her fine umbrella and her very small smart
+      reticule, in the construction of which shining gilt much figured, well
+      together, and, after standing another instant, moved across to the rail of
+      the terrace as she had done before and remained, as before, with her back
+      to him, though this time, it well might be, under a different fear. A
+      quarter of an hour ago she hadn&rsquo;t tried him, and had had that anxiety; now
+      that she had tried him it wasn&rsquo;t easier&mdash;but she was thinking what
+      she still could do. He left her to think&mdash;nothing in fact more
+      interesting than the way she might decide had ever happened to him; but it
+      was a part of this also that as she turned round and came nearer again he
+      didn&rsquo;t rise, he gave her no help. If she got any, at least, from his
+      looking up at her only, meeting her fixed eyes once more in silence, that
+      was her own affair. &ldquo;You must think,&rdquo; she said&mdash;&ldquo;you must take all
+      your time, but I shall be at home.&rdquo; She left it to him thus&mdash;she
+      insisted, with her idea, on leaving him something too. And on her side as
+      well she showed an art&mdash;which resulted, after another instant, in his
+      having to rise to his feet. He flushed afresh as he did it&mdash;it
+      exposed him so shabbily the more; and now if she took him in, with each of
+      his seedy items, from head to foot, he didn&rsquo;t and couldn&rsquo;t and wouldn&rsquo;t
+      know it, attaching his eyes hard and straight to something quite away from
+      them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It stuck in his throat to say he&rsquo;d come, but she had so curious a way with
+      her that he still less could say he wouldn&rsquo;t, and in a moment had taken
+      refuge in something that was neither. &ldquo;Are you married?&rdquo;&mdash;he put it
+      to her with that plainness, though it had seemed before he said it to do
+      more for him than while she waited before replying.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I&rsquo;m not married,&rdquo; she said; and then had another wait that might have
+      amounted to a question of what this had to do with it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He surely couldn&rsquo;t have told her; so that he had recourse, a little poorly
+      as he felt, but to an &ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; that still left them opposed. He turned away
+      for it&mdash;that is for the poorness, which, lingering in the air, had
+      almost a vulgar platitude; and when he presently again wheeled about she
+      had fallen off as for quitting him, only with a pause, once more, for a
+      last look. It was all a bit awkward, but he had another happy thought,
+      which consisted in his silently raising his hat as for a sign of dignified
+      dismissal. He had cultivated of old, for the occasions of life, the right,
+      the discriminated bow, and now, out of the grey limbo of the time when he
+      could care for such things, this flicker of propriety leaped and worked
+      She might, for that matter, herself have liked it; since, receding
+      further, only with her white face toward him, she paid it the homage of
+      submission. He remained dignified, and she almost humbly went.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0031" id="link2H_4_0031">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      V
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Nothing in the world, on the Sunday afternoon, could have prevented him
+      from going; he was not after all destitute of three or four such articles
+      of clothing as, if they wouldn&rsquo;t particularly grace the occasion, wouldn&rsquo;t
+      positively dishonour it. That deficiency might have kept him away, but no
+      voice of the spirit, no consideration of pride. It sweetened his
+      impatience in fact&mdash;for he fairly felt it a long time to wait&mdash;that
+      his pride would really most find its account in his acceptance of these
+      conciliatory steps. From the moment he could put it in that way&mdash;that
+      he couldn&rsquo;t refuse to hear what she might have, so very elaborately, to
+      say for herself&mdash;he ought certainly to be at his ease; in
+      illustration of which he whistled odd snatches to himself as he hung about
+      on that cloud-dappled autumn Sunday, a mild private minstrelsy that his
+      lips hadn&rsquo;t known since when? The interval of the twenty-four hours, made
+      longer by a night of many more revivals than oblivions, had in fact
+      dragged not a little; in spite of which, however, our extremely brushed-up
+      and trimmed and polished friend knew an unprecedented flutter as he was
+      ushered, at the Royal Hotel, into Miss Cookham&rsquo;s sitting-room. Yes, it was
+      an adventure, and he had never had an adventure in his life; the term, for
+      him, was essentially a term of high appreciation&mdash;such as
+      disqualified for that figure, under due criticism, every single passage of
+      his past career.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What struck him at the moment as qualifying in the highest degree this
+      actual passage was the fact that at no great distance from his hostess in
+      the luxurious room, as he apprehended it, in which the close of day had
+      begun to hang a few shadows, sat a gentleman who rose as she rose, and
+      whose name she at once mentioned to him. He had for Herbert Dodd all the
+      air of a swell, the gentleman&mdash;rather red-faced and bald-headed, but
+      moustachioed, waistcoated, necktied to the highest pitch, with an effect
+      of chains and rings, of shining teeth in a glassily monocular smile; a
+      wondrous apparition to have been asked to &ldquo;meet&rdquo; him, as in contemporary
+      fiction, or for him to have been asked to meet. &ldquo;Captain Roper, Mr.
+      Herbert Dodd&rdquo;&mdash;their entertainer introduced them, yes; but with a
+      sequel immediately afterward more disconcerting apparently to Captain
+      Roper himself even than to her second and more breathless visitor; a &ldquo;Well
+      then, good-bye till the next time,&rdquo; with a hand thrust straight out, which
+      allowed the personage so addressed no alternative but to lay aside his
+      teacup, even though Herbert saw there was a good deal left in it, and
+      glare about him for his hat. Miss Cookham had had her tea-tray on a small
+      table before her, she had served Captain Roper while waiting for Mr. Dodd;
+      but she simply dismissed him now, with a high sweet unmistakable decision,
+      a knowledge of what she was about, as our hero would have called it, which
+      enlarged at a stroke the latter&rsquo;s view of the number of different things
+      and sorts of things, in the sphere of the manners and ways of those living
+      at their ease, that a social relation would put before one. Captain Roper
+      would have liked to remain, would have liked more tea, but Kate signified
+      in this direct fashion that she had had enough of him. Herbert had seen
+      things, in his walk of life&mdash;rough things, plenty; but never things
+      smoothed with that especial smoothness, carried out as it were by the fine
+      form of Captain Roper&rsquo;s own retreat, which included even a bright
+      convulsed leave-taking cognisance of the plain, vague individual, of no
+      lustre at all and with the very low-class guard of an old silver watch
+      buttoned away under an ill-made coat, to whom he was sacrificed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It came to Herbert as he left the place a shade less remarkable&mdash;though
+      there was still wonder enough and to spare&mdash;that he had been even
+      publicly and designedly sacrificed; exactly so that, as the door closed
+      behind him, Kate Cookham, standing there to wait for it, could seem to
+      say, across the room, to the friend of her youth, only by the expression
+      of her fine eyes: &ldquo;There&mdash;see what I do for you!&rdquo; &ldquo;For&rdquo; him&mdash;that
+      was the extraordinary thing, and not less so that he was already, within
+      three minutes, after this fashion, taking it in as by the intensity of a
+      new light; a light that was one somehow with this rich inner air of the
+      plush-draped and much-mirrored hotel, where the fire-glow and the approach
+      of evening confirmed together the privacy, and the loose curtains at the
+      wide window were parted for a command of his old lifelong Parade&mdash;the
+      field of life so familiar to him from below and in the wind and the wet,
+      but which he had never in all the long years hung over at this vantage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He&rsquo;s an acquaintance, but a bore,&rdquo; his hostess explained in respect to
+      Captain Roper. &ldquo;He turned up yesterday, but I didn&rsquo;t invite him, and I had
+      said to him before you came in that I was expecting a gentleman with whom
+      I should wish to be alone. I go quite straight at my idea that way, as a
+      rule; but you know,&rdquo; she now strikingly went on, &ldquo;how straight I go. And
+      he had had,&rdquo; she added, &ldquo;his tea.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dodd had been looking all round&mdash;had taken in, with the rest, the
+      brightness, the distinguished elegance, as he supposed it, of the
+      tea-service with which she was dealing and the variously tinted appeal of
+      certain savoury edibles on plates. &ldquo;Oh but he <i>hadn&rsquo;t</i> had his tea!&rdquo;
+       he heard himself the next moment earnestly reply; which speech had at once
+      betrayed, he was then quickly aware, the candour of his interest, the
+      unsophisticated state that had survived so many troubles. If he was so
+      interested how could he be proud, and if he was proud how could he be so
+      interested?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had made her at any rate laugh outright, and was further conscious, for
+      this, both that it was the first time of that since their new meeting, and
+      that it didn&rsquo;t affect him as harsh. It affected him, however, as free, for
+      she replied at once, still smiling and as a part of it: &ldquo;Oh, I think we
+      shall get on!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This told him he had made some difference for her, shown her the way, or
+      something like it, that she hadn&rsquo;t been sure of yesterday; which moreover
+      wasn&rsquo;t what he had intended&mdash;he had come armed for showing her
+      nothing; so that after she had gone on with the same gain of gaiety, &ldquo;You
+      must at any rate comfortably have yours,&rdquo; there was but one answer for him
+      to make.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His eyes played again over the tea-things&mdash;they seemed strangely to
+      help him; but he didn&rsquo;t sit down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve come, as you see&mdash;but I&rsquo;ve come, please, to understand; and if
+      you require to be alone with me, and if I break bread with you, it seems
+      to me I should first know exactly where I am and to what you suppose I so
+      commit myself.&rdquo; He had thought it out and over and over, particularly the
+      turn about breaking bread; though perhaps he didn&rsquo;t give it, in her
+      presence&mdash;this was impossible, her presence altered so many things&mdash;quite
+      the full sound or the weight he had planned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But it had none the less come to his aid&mdash;it had made her perfectly
+      grave. &ldquo;You commit yourself to nothing. You&rsquo;re perfectly free. It&rsquo;s only I
+      who commit myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      On which, while she stood there as if all handsomely and deferentially
+      waiting for him to consider and decide, he would have been naturally moved
+      to ask her what she committed herself then <i>to</i>&mdash;so moved, that
+      is, if he hadn&rsquo;t, before saying it, thought more sharply still of
+      something better. &ldquo;Oh, that&rsquo;s another thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, that&rsquo;s another thing,&rdquo; Kate Cookham returned. To which she added,
+      &ldquo;So <i>now</i> won&rsquo;t you sit down?&rdquo; He sank with deliberation into the
+      seat from which Captain Roper had risen; she went back to her own and
+      while she did so spoke again. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m <i>not</i> free. At least,&rdquo; she said
+      over her tea-tray, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m free only for this.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Everything was there before them and around them, everything massive and
+      shining, so that he had instinctively fallen back in his chair as for the
+      wondering, the resigned acceptance of it; where her last words stirred in
+      him a sense of odd deprecation. Only for &ldquo;that&rdquo;? &ldquo;That&rdquo; was everything, at
+      this moment, to his long inanition, and the effect, as if she had suddenly
+      and perversely mocked him, was to press the spring of a protest. &ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t
+      &lsquo;this&rsquo; then riches?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Riches?&rdquo; she smiled over, handing him his cup&mdash;for she had triumphed
+      in having struck from him a question.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean haven&rsquo;t you a lot of money?&rdquo; He didn&rsquo;t care now that it was out;
+      his cup was in his hand, and what was that but proved interest? He had
+      succumbed to the social relation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I&rsquo;ve money. Of course you wonder&mdash;but I&rsquo;ve wanted you to
+      wonder. It was to make you take that in that I came. So now you know,&rdquo; she
+      said, leaning back where she faced him, but in a straighter chair and with
+      her arms closely folded, after a fashion characteristic of her, as for
+      some control of her nerves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You came to show you&rsquo;ve money?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s one of the things. Not a lot&mdash;not even very much. But
+      enough,&rdquo; said Kate Cookham.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Enough? I should think so!&rdquo; he again couldn&rsquo;t help a bit crudely
+      exhaling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Enough for what I wanted. I don&rsquo;t always live like this&mdash;not at all.
+      But I came to the best hotel on purpose. I wanted to show you I could.
+      Now,&rdquo; she asked, &ldquo;do you understand?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Understand?&rdquo; He only gaped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She threw up her loosed arms, which dropped again beside her. &ldquo;I did it <i>for</i>
+      you&mdash;I did it <i>for</i> you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;For&rsquo; me&mdash;&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What I did&mdash;what I did here of old.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stared, trying to see it. &ldquo;When you made me pay you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Two Hundred and Seventy&mdash;all I could get from you, as you
+      reminded me yesterday, so that I had to give up the rest It was my idea,&rdquo;
+       she went on&mdash;&ldquo;it was my idea.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To bleed me quite to death?&rdquo; Oh, his ice was broken now!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To make you raise money&mdash;since you could, you <i>could</i>. You did,
+      you did&mdash;so what better proof?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His hands fell from what he had touched; he could only stare&mdash;her own
+      manner for it was different now too. &ldquo;I did. I did indeed&mdash;!&rdquo; And the
+      woful weak simplicity of it, which seemed somehow all that was left him,
+      fell even on his own ear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well then, here it is&mdash;it isn&rsquo;t lost!&rdquo; she returned with a graver
+      face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;Here&rsquo; it is,&rdquo; he gasped, &ldquo;my poor agonised old money&mdash;my blood?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, it&rsquo;s <i>my</i> blood too, you must know now!&rdquo; She held up her head as
+      not before&mdash;as for her right to speak of the thing to-day most
+      precious to her. &ldquo;I took it, but this&mdash;my being here this way&mdash;is
+      what I&rsquo;ve made of it! That was the idea I had!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her &ldquo;ideas,&rdquo; as things to boast of, staggered him. &ldquo;To have everything in
+      the world, like this, at my wretched expense?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She had folded her arms back again&mdash;grasping each elbow she sat firm;
+      she knew he could see, and had known well from the first, what she had
+      wanted to say, difficult, monstrous though it might be. &ldquo;No more than at
+      my own&mdash;but to do something with your money that you&rsquo;d never do
+      yourself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Myself, myself?&rdquo; he wonderingly wailed. &ldquo;Do you know&mdash;or don&rsquo;t you?&mdash;what
+      my life has been?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She waited, and for an instant, though the light in the room had failed a
+      little more and would soon be mainly that of the flaring lamps on the
+      windy Parade, he caught from her dark eye a silver gleam of impatience.
+      &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve suffered and you&rsquo;ve worked&mdash;which, God knows, is what I&rsquo;ve
+      done! <i>Of course</i> you&rsquo;ve suffered,&rdquo; she said&mdash;&ldquo;you inevitably
+      had to! We have to,&rdquo; she went on, &ldquo;to do or to be or to get anything.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And pray what have I done or been or got?&rdquo; Herbert Dodd found it almost
+      desolately natural to demand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It made her cover him again as with all she was thinking of. &ldquo;Can you
+      imagine nothing, or can&rsquo;t you conceive&mdash;?&rdquo; And then as her challenge
+      struck deeper in, deeper down than it had yet reached, and with the effect
+      of a rush of the blood to his face, &ldquo;It was <i>for</i> you, it was <i>for</i>
+      you!&rdquo; she again broke out&mdash;&ldquo;and for what or whom else could it have
+      been?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He saw things to a tune now that made him answer straight: &ldquo;I thought at
+      one time it might be for Bill Frankle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes&mdash;that was the way you treated me,&rdquo; Miss Cookham as plainly
+      replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But he let this pass; his thought had already got away from it. &ldquo;What good
+      then&mdash;its having been for me&mdash;has that ever done me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Doesn&rsquo;t it do you any good <i>now?</i>&rdquo; his friend returned. To which she
+      added, with another dim play of her tormented brightness, before he could
+      speak: &ldquo;But if you won&rsquo;t even have your tea&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had in fact touched nothing and, if he could have explained, would have
+      pleaded very veraciously that his appetite, keen when he came in, had
+      somehow suddenly failed. It was beyond eating or drinking, what she seemed
+      to want him to take from her. So if he looked, before him, over the array,
+      it was to say, very grave and graceless: &ldquo;Am I to understand that you
+      offer to repay me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I offer to repay you with interest, Herbert Dodd&rdquo;&mdash;and her emphasis
+      of the great word was wonderful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It held him in his place a minute, and held his eyes upon her; after
+      which, agitated too sharply to sit still, he pushed back his chair and
+      stood up. It was as if mere distress or dismay at first worked in him, and
+      was in fact a wave of deep and irresistible emotion which made him, on his
+      feet, sway as in a great trouble and then, to correct it, throw himself
+      stiffly toward the window, where he stood and looked out unseeing. The
+      road, the wide terrace beyond, the seats, the eternal sea beyond that, the
+      lighted lamps now flaring in the October night-wind, with the few
+      dispersed people abroad at the tea-hour; these things, meeting and melting
+      into the firelit hospitality at his elbow&mdash;or was it that portentous
+      amenity that melted into <i>them?</i>&mdash;seemed to form round him and
+      to put before him, all together, the strangest of circles and the newest
+      of experiences, in which the unforgettable and the unimaginable were
+      confoundingly mixed. &ldquo;Oh, oh, oh!&rdquo;&mdash;he could only almost howl for it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And then, while a thick blur for some moments mantled everything, he knew
+      she had got up, that she stood watching him, allowing for everything,
+      again all &ldquo;cleverly&rdquo; patient with him, and he heard her speak again as
+      with studied quietness and clearness. &ldquo;I wanted to take care of you&mdash;it
+      was what I first wanted&mdash;and what you first consented to. I&rsquo;d have
+      done it, oh I&rsquo;d have done it, I&rsquo;d have loved you and helped you and
+      guarded you, and you&rsquo;d have had no trouble, no bad blighting ruin, in all
+      your easy, yes, just your quite jolly and comfortable life. I showed you
+      and proved to you this&mdash;I brought it home to you, as I fondly
+      fancied, and it made me briefly happy. You swore you cared for me, you
+      wrote it and made me believe it&mdash;you pledged me your honour and your
+      faith. Then you turned and changed suddenly from one day to another;
+      everything altered, you broke your vows, you as good as told me you only
+      wanted it off. You faced me with dislike, and in fact tried not to face me
+      at all; you behaved as if you hated me&mdash;you had seen a girl, of great
+      beauty, I admit, who made me a fright and a bore.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This brought him straight round. &ldquo;No, Kate Cookham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Herbert Dodd.&rdquo; She but shook her head, calmly and nobly, in the now
+      gathered dusk, and her memories and her cause and her character&mdash;or
+      was it only her arch-subtlety, her line and her &ldquo;idea&rdquo;?&mdash;gave her an
+      extraordinary large assurance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had touched, however, the treasure of his own case&mdash;his terrible
+      own case that began to live again at once by the force of her talking of
+      hers, and which could always all cluster about his great asseveration.
+      &ldquo;No, no, never, never; I had never seen her then and didn&rsquo;t dream of her;
+      so that when you yourself began to be harsh and sharp with me, and to seem
+      to want to quarrel, I could have but one idea&mdash;which was an
+      appearance you didn&rsquo;t in the least, as I saw it then, account for or
+      disprove.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An appearance&mdash;?&rdquo; Kate desired, as with high astonishment, to know
+      which one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How <i>shouldn&rsquo;t</i> I have supposed you really to care for Bill Frankle?&mdash;as
+      thoroughly believing the motive of your claim for my money to be its help
+      to your marrying him, since you couldn&rsquo;t marry me. I was only surprised
+      when, time passing, I made out that that hadn&rsquo;t happened; and perhaps,&rdquo; he
+      added the next instant with something of a conscious lapse from the finer
+      style, &ldquo;hadn&rsquo;t been in question.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She had listened to this only staring, and she was silent after he had
+      said it, so silent for some instants that while he considered her
+      something seemed to fail him, much as if he had thrown out his foot for a
+      step and not found the place to rest it. He jerked round to the window
+      again, and then she answered, but without passion unless it was that of
+      her weariness for something stupid and forgiven in him, &ldquo;Oh, the blind,
+      the pitiful folly!&rdquo;&mdash;to which, as it might perfectly have applied to
+      her own behaviour, he returned nothing. She had moreover at once gone on.
+      &ldquo;Have it then that there wasn&rsquo;t much to do&mdash;between your finding that
+      you loathed me for another woman or discovering only, when it came to the
+      point, that you loathed me quite enough for myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Which, as she put it in that immensely effective fashion, he recognised
+      that he must just unprotestingly and not so very awkwardly&mdash;not so <i>very!</i>&mdash;take
+      from her; since, whatever he had thus come to her for, it wasn&rsquo;t to
+      perjure himself with any pretence that, &ldquo;another woman&rdquo; or no other woman,
+      he hadn&rsquo;t, for years and years, abhorred her. Now he was taking tea with
+      her&mdash;or rather, literally, seemed not to be; but this made no
+      difference, and he let her express it as she would while he distinguished
+      a man he knew, Charley Coote, outside on the Parade, under favour of the
+      empty hour and one of the flaring lamps, making up to a young woman with
+      whom (it stuck out grotesquely in his manner) he had never before
+      conversed. Dodd&rsquo;s own position was that of acquiescing in this recall of
+      what had so bitterly been&mdash;but he hadn&rsquo;t come back to her, of
+      himself, to stir up, to recall or to recriminate, and for <i>her</i> it
+      could but be the very lesson of her whole present act that if she touched
+      anything she touched everything. Soon enough she <i>was</i> indeed, and
+      all overwhelmingly, touching everything&mdash;with a hand of which the
+      boldness grew.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I didn&rsquo;t let <i>that</i>, even, make a difference in what I wanted&mdash;which
+      was all,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;and had only and passionately been, to take care of
+      you. I had <i>no</i> money whatever&mdash;nothing then of my own, not a
+      penny to come by anyhow; so it wasn&rsquo;t with mine I could do it. But I could
+      do it with yours,&rdquo; she amazingly wound up&mdash;&ldquo;if I could once get yours
+      out of you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He faced straight about again&mdash;his eyebrows higher than they had ever
+      been in his life. &ldquo;Mine? What penny of it was mine? What scrap beyond a
+      bare, mean little living had I ever pretended to have?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She held herself still a minute, visibly with force; only her eyes
+      consciously attached to the seat of a chair the back of which her hands,
+      making it tilt toward her a little, grasped as for support. &ldquo;You pretended
+      to have enough to marry me&mdash;and that was all I afterward claimed of
+      you when you wouldn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was on the point of retorting that he had absolutely pretended to
+      nothing&mdash;least of all to the primary desire that such a way of
+      stating it fastened on him; he was on the point for ten seconds of giving
+      her full in the face: &ldquo;I never <i>had</i> any such dream till you yourself&mdash;infatuated
+      with me as, frankly, you on the whole appeared to be&mdash;got round me
+      and muddled me up and made me behave as if in a way that went against the
+      evidence of my senses.&rdquo; But he was to feel as quickly that, whatever the
+      ugly, the spent, the irrecoverable truth, he might better have bitten his
+      tongue off: there beat on him there this strange and other, this so
+      prodigiously different beautiful and dreadful truth that no far
+      remembrance and no abiding ache of his own could wholly falsify, and that
+      was indeed all out with her next words. &ldquo;That&mdash;<i>using</i> it for
+      you and using you yourself for your own future&mdash;was my motive. I&rsquo;ve
+      led my life, which has been an affair, I assure you; and, as I&rsquo;ve told you
+      without your quite seeming to understand, I&rsquo;ve brought everything fivefold
+      back to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The perspiration broke out on his forehead. &ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s mine?&rdquo; he
+      quavered as for the deep piercing pain of it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Everything!&rdquo; said Kate Cookham.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So it told him how she had loved him&mdash;but with the tremendous effect
+      at once of its only glaring out at him from the whole thing that it was
+      verily she, a thousand times over, who, in the exposure of his youth and
+      his vanity, had, on the bench of desolation, the scene of yesterday&rsquo;s own
+      renewal, left for him no forward steps to take. It hung there for him
+      tragically vivid again, the hour she had first found him sequestered and
+      accessible after making his acquaintance at his shop. And from this, by a
+      succession of links that fairly clicked to his ear as with their perfect
+      fitting, the fate and the pain and the payment of others stood together in
+      a great grim order. Everything there then was <i>his</i>&mdash;to make him
+      ask what had been Nan&rsquo;s, poor Nan&rsquo;s of the constant question of whether he
+      need have collapsed. She was before him, she was between them, his little
+      dead dissatisfied wife; across all whose final woe and whose lowly grave
+      he was to reach out, it appeared, to take gifts. He saw them too, the
+      gifts; saw them&mdash;she bristled with them&mdash;in his actual
+      companion&rsquo;s brave and sincere and authoritative figure, her strangest of
+      demonstrations. But the other appearance was intenser, as if their ghost
+      had waved wild arms; so that half a minute hadn&rsquo;t passed before the one
+      poor thing that remained of Nan, and that yet thus became a quite mighty
+      and momentous poor thing, was sitting on his lips as for its sole
+      opportunity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you give me your word of honour that I mightn&rsquo;t, under decent advice,
+      have defied you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It made her turn very white; but now that she had said what she <i>had</i>
+      said she could still hold up her head. &ldquo;Certainly you might have defied
+      me, Herbert Dodd.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They would have told me you had no legal case?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Well, if she was pale she was bold. &ldquo;You talk of decent advice&mdash;!&rdquo;
+       She broke off, there was too much to say, and all needless. What she said
+      instead was: &ldquo;They would have told you I had nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t so much as ask,&rdquo; her sad visitor remarked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course you didn&rsquo;t so much as ask.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t be so outrageously vulgar,&rdquo; he went on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;<i>I</i> could, by God&rsquo;s help!&rdquo; said Kate Cookham.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you.&rdquo; He had found at his command a tone that made him feel more
+      gentlemanlike than he had ever felt in his life or should doubtless ever
+      feel again. It might have been enough&mdash;but somehow as they stood
+      there with this immense clearance between them it wasn&rsquo;t. The clearance
+      was like a sudden gap or great bleak opening through which there blew upon
+      them a deadly chill. Too many things had fallen away, too many new rolled
+      up and over him, and they made something within shake him to his base. It
+      upset the full vessel, and though she kept her eyes on him he let that
+      consequence come, bursting into tears, weakly crying there before her even
+      as he had cried to himself in the hour of his youth when she had made him
+      groundlessly fear. She turned away then&mdash;<i>that</i> she couldn&rsquo;t
+      watch, and had presently flung herself on the sofa and, all responsively
+      wailing, buried her own face on the cushioned arm. So for a minute their
+      smothered sobs only filled the room. But he made out, through this
+      disorder, where he had put down his hat; his stick and his new
+      tan-coloured gloves&mdash;they had cost two-and-thruppence and would have
+      represented sacrifices&mdash;were on the chair beside it He picked these
+      articles up and all silently and softly&mdash;gasping, that is, but quite
+      on tiptoe&mdash;reached the door and let himself out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0032" id="link2H_4_0032">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      VI
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Off there on the bench of desolation a week later she made him a more
+      particular statement, which it had taken the remarkably tense interval to
+      render possible. After leaving her at the hotel that last Sunday he had
+      gone forth in his reaggravated trouble and walked straight before him, in
+      the teeth of the west wind, close to the iron rails of the stretched
+      Marina and with his telltale face turned from persons occasionally met,
+      and toward the surging sea. At the Land&rsquo;s End, even in the confirmed
+      darkness and the perhaps imminent big blow, his immemorial nook, small
+      shelter as it yielded, had again received him; and it was in the course of
+      this heedless session, no doubt, where the agitated air had nothing to add
+      to the commotion within him, that he began to look his extraordinary
+      fortune a bit straighter in the face and see it confess itself at once a
+      fairy-tale and a nightmare That, visibly, confoundingly, she was still
+      attached to him (attached in fact was a mild word!) and that the
+      unquestionable proof of it was in this offered pecuniary salve, of the
+      thickest composition, for his wounds and sores and shames&mdash;these
+      things were the fantastic fable, the tale of money in handfuls, that he
+      seemed to have only to stand there and swallow and digest and feel himself
+      full-fed by; but the whole of the rest was nightmare, and most of all
+      nightmare his having thus to thank one through whom Nan and his little
+      girls had known torture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He didn&rsquo;t care for himself now, and this unextinguished and apparently
+      inextinguishable charm by which he had held her was a fact incredibly
+      romantic; but he gazed with a longer face than he had ever had for
+      anything in the world at his potential acceptance of a great bouncing
+      benefit from the person he intimately, if even in a manner indirectly,
+      associated with the conditions to which his lovely wife and his children
+      (who would have been so lovely too) had pitifully succumbed. He had
+      accepted the social relation&mdash;which meant he had taken even that on
+      trial&mdash;without knowing what it so dazzlingly masked; for a social
+      relation it had become with a vengeance when it drove him about the place
+      as now at his hours of freedom (and he actually and recklessly took, all
+      demoralised and unstrung and unfit either for work or for anything else,
+      other liberties that would get him into trouble) under this queer torment
+      of irreconcilable things, a bewildered consciousness of tenderness and
+      patience and cruelty, of great evident mystifying facts that were as
+      little to be questioned as to be conceived or explained, and that were yet
+      least, withal, to be lost sight of.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On that Sunday night he had wandered wild, incoherently ranging and
+      throbbing, but this became the law of his next days as well, since he
+      lacked more than ever all other resort or refuge and had nowhere to carry,
+      to deposit, or contractedly let loose and lock up, as it were, his swollen
+      consciousness, which fairly split in twain the raw shell of his sordid
+      little boarding-place. The arch of the sky and the spread of sea and shore
+      alone gave him space; he could roam with himself anywhere, in short, far
+      or near&mdash;he could only never take himself back. That certitude&mdash;that
+      this was impossible to him even should she wait there among her plushes
+      and bronzes ten years&mdash;was the thing he kept closest clutch of; it
+      did wonders for what he would have called his self-respect. Exactly as he
+      had left her so he would stand off&mdash;even though at moments when he
+      pulled up sharp somewhere to put himself an intensest question his heart
+      almost stood still. The days of the week went by, and as he had left her
+      she stayed; to the extent, that is, of his having neither sight nor sound
+      of her, and of the failure of every sign. It took nerve, he said, not to
+      return to her, even for curiosity&mdash;since how, after all, in the name
+      of wonder, had she invested the fruits of her extortion to such advantage,
+      there being no chapter of all the obscurity of the years to beat that for
+      queer-ness? But he dropped, tired to death, on benches, half a dozen times
+      an evening&mdash;exactly on purpose to recognise that the nerve required
+      was just the nerve he had.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the days without a token from her multiplied he came in as well for
+      hours&mdash;and these indeed mainly on the bench of desolation&mdash;of
+      sitting stiff and stark in presence of the probability that he had lost
+      everything for ever. When he passed the Royal he never turned an eyelash,
+      and when he met Captain Roper on the Front, three days after having been
+      introduced to him, he &ldquo;cut him dead&rdquo;&mdash;another privileged consequence
+      of a social relation&mdash;rather than seem to himself to make the
+      remotest approach to the question of whether Miss Cookham had left
+      Properley. He had cut people in the days of his life before, just as he
+      had come to being himself cut&mdash;since there had been no time for him
+      wholly without one or other face of that necessity&mdash;but had never
+      effected such a severance as of this rare connection, which helped to give
+      him thus the measure of his really precious sincerity. If he had lost what
+      had hovered before him he had lost it, his only tribute to which
+      proposition was to grind his teeth with one of those &ldquo;scrunches,&rdquo; as he
+      would have said, of which the violence fairly reached his ear. It wouldn&rsquo;t
+      make him lift a finger, and in fact if Kate had simply taken herself off
+      on the Tuesday or the Wednesday she would have been reabsorbed again into
+      the darkness from which she had emerged&mdash;and no lifting of fingers,
+      the unspeakable chapter closed, would evermore avail. That at any rate was
+      the kind of man he still was&mdash;even after all that had come and gone,
+      and even if for a few dazed hours certain things had seemed pleasant. The
+      dazed hours had passed, the surge of the old bitterness had dished him
+      (shouldn&rsquo;t he have been shamed if it hadn&rsquo;t?), and he might sit there as
+      before, as always, with nothing at all on earth to look to. He had
+      therefore wrongfully believed himself to be degraded; and the last word
+      about him would be that he <i>couldn&rsquo;t</i> then, it appeared, sink to
+      vulgarity as he had tried to let his miseries make him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And yet on the next Sunday morning, face to face with him again at the
+      Land&rsquo;s End, what she very soon came to was: &ldquo;As if I believed you didn&rsquo;t
+      <i>know</i> by what cord you hold me!&rdquo; Absolutely too, and just that
+      morning in fact, above all, he wouldn&rsquo;t, he quite couldn&rsquo;t have taken his
+      solemn oath that he hadn&rsquo;t a sneaking remnant, as he might have put it to
+      himself&mdash;a remnant of faith in tremendous things still to come of
+      their interview. The day was sunny and breezy, the sea of a cold purple;
+      he wouldn&rsquo;t go to church as he mostly went of Sunday mornings, that being
+      in its way too a social relation&mdash;and not least when
+      two-and-thruppenny tan-coloured gloves were new; which indeed he had the
+      art of keeping them for ages. Yet he would dress himself as he scarce
+      mustered resources for even to figure on the fringe of Society, local and
+      transient, at St. Bernard&rsquo;s, and in this trim he took his way westward;
+      occupied largely, as he went, it might have seemed to any person pursuing
+      the same course and happening to observe him, in a fascinated study of the
+      motions of his shadow, the more or less grotesque shape projected, in
+      front of him and mostly a bit to the right, over the blanched asphalt of
+      the Parade and dandling and dancing at such a rate, shooting out and then
+      contracting, that, viewed in themselves, its eccentricities might have
+      formed the basis of an interesting challenge: &ldquo;Find the state of mind,
+      guess the nature of the agitation, possessing the person so remarkably
+      represented!&rdquo; Herbert Dodd, for that matter, might have been himself
+      attempting to make by the sun&rsquo;s sharp aid some approach to his immediate
+      horoscope.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It had at any rate been thus put before him that the dandling and dancing
+      of his image occasionally gave way to perfect immobility, when he stopped
+      and kept his eyes on it. &ldquo;Suppose she should come, suppose she <i>should!</i>&rdquo;
+       it is revealed at least to ourselves that he had at these moments audibly
+      breathed&mdash;breathed with the intensity of an arrest between hope and
+      fear. It had glimmered upon him from early, with the look of the day,
+      that, given all else that could happen, this would be rather, as he put
+      it, in her line; and the possibility lived for him, as he proceeded, to
+      the tune of a suspense almost sickening. It was, from one small stage of
+      his pilgrimage to another, the &ldquo;For ever, never!&rdquo; of the sentimental case
+      the playmates of his youth used to pretend to settle by plucking the
+      petals of a daisy. But it came to his truly turning faint&mdash;so &ldquo;queer&rdquo;
+       he felt&mdash;when, at the gained point of the long stretch from which he
+      could always tell, he arrived within positive sight of his immemorial
+      goal. His seat was taken and she was keeping it for him&mdash;it could
+      only be <i>she</i> there in possession; whereby it shone out for Herbert
+      Dodd that if he hadn&rsquo;t been quite sure of her recurrence she had at least
+      been quite sure of his. <i>That</i> pulled him up to some purpose, where
+      recognition began for them&mdash;or to the effect, in other words, of his
+      pausing to judge if he could bear, for the sharpest note of their
+      intercourse, this inveterate demonstration of her making him do what she
+      liked. What settled the question for him then&mdash;and just while they
+      avowedly watched each other, over the long interval, before closing, as
+      if, on either side, for the major advantage&mdash;what settled it was this
+      very fact that what she liked she liked so terribly. If it were simply to
+      &ldquo;use&rdquo; him, as she had said the last time, and no matter to the profit of
+      which of them she called it, one might let it go for that; since it could
+      make her wait over, day after day, in that fashion, and with such a
+      spending of money, on the hazard of their meeting again. How could she be
+      the least sure he would ever again consent to it after the proved action
+      on him, a week ago, of her last monstrous honesty? It was indeed
+      positively as if he were now himself putting this influence&mdash;and for
+      their common edification&mdash;to the supreme, to the finest test. He had
+      a sublime, an ideal flight, which lasted about a minute. &ldquo;Suppose, now
+      that I see her there and what she has taken so characteristically for
+      granted, suppose I just show her that she <i>hasn&rsquo;t</i> only confidently
+      to wait or whistle for me, and that the length of my leash is greater than
+      she measures, and that everything&rsquo;s impossible always?&mdash;show it by
+      turning my back on her now and walking straight away. She won&rsquo;t be able
+      not to understand <i>that!</i>&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Nothing had passed, across their distance, but the mute apprehension of
+      each on the part of each; the whole expanse, at the church hour, was void
+      of other life (he had scarce met a creature on his way from end to end),
+      and the sun-seasoned gusts kept brushing the air and all the larger
+      prospect clean. It was through this beautiful lucidity that he watched her
+      watch him, as it were&mdash;watch him for what he would do. Neither moved
+      at this high tension; Kate Cookham, her face fixed on him, only waited
+      with a stiff appearance of leaving him, not for dignity but&mdash;to an
+      effect of even deeper perversity&mdash;for kindness, free to choose. It
+      yet somehow affected him at present, this attitude, as a gage of her <i>knowing
+      too</i>&mdash;knowing, that is, that he wasn&rsquo;t really free, that this was
+      the thinnest of vain parades, the poorest of hollow heroics, that his
+      need, his solitude, his suffered wrong, his exhausted rancour, his
+      foredoomed submission to any shown interest, all hung together too heavy
+      on him to let the weak wings of his pride do more than vaguely tremble.
+      They couldn&rsquo;t, they didn&rsquo;t carry him a single beat further away; according
+      to which he stood rooted, neither retreating nor advancing, but presently
+      correcting his own share of the bleak exchange by looking off at the sea.
+      Deeply conscious of the awkwardness this posture gave him, he yet clung to
+      it as the last shred of his honour, to the clear argument that it was one
+      thing for him to have felt beneath all others, the previous days, that she
+      was to be counted on, but quite a different for her to have felt that <i>he</i>
+      was. His checked approach, arriving thus at no term, could in these odd
+      conditions have established that he wasn&rsquo;t only if Kate Cookham had, as
+      either of them might have said, taken it so&mdash;if she had given up the
+      game at last by rising, by walking away and adding to the distance between
+      them, and he had then definitely let her vanish into space. It became a
+      fact that when she did finally rise&mdash;though after how long our record
+      scarce takes on itself to say&mdash;it was not to confirm their separation
+      but to put an end to it; and this by slowly approaching him till she had
+      come within earshot He had wondered, once aware of it in spite of his
+      averted face, what she would say and on what note, as it were, she would
+      break their week&rsquo;s silence; so that he had to recognise anew, her voice
+      reaching him, that remarkable quality in her which again and again came up
+      for him as her art.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are twelve hundred and sixty pounds, to be definite, but I have it
+      all down for you&mdash;and you&rsquo;ve only to draw.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They lost themselves, these words, rare and exquisite, in the wide bright
+      genial medium and the Sunday stillness, but even while that occurred and
+      he was gaping for it she was herself there, in her battered ladylike
+      truth, to answer for them, to represent them, and, if a further grace than
+      their simple syllabled beauty were conceivable, almost embarrassingly to
+      cause them to materialise. Yes, she let her smart and tight little
+      reticule hang as if it bulged, beneath its clasp, with the whole
+      portentous sum, and he felt himself glare again at this vividest of her
+      attested claims. She might have been ready, on the spot, to open the store
+      to the plunge of his hand, or, with the situation otherwise conceived, to
+      impose on his pauperised state an acceptance of alms on a scale
+      unprecedented in the annals of street charity. Nothing so much counted for
+      him, however, neither grave numeral nor elegant fraction, as the short,
+      rich, rounded word that the breeze had picked up as it dropped and seemed
+      now to blow about between them. &ldquo;To draw&mdash;to draw?&rdquo; Yes, he gaped it
+      as if it had no sense; the fact being that even while he did so he was
+      reading into her use of the term more romance than any word in the
+      language had ever had for him. He, Herbert Dodd, was to live to &ldquo;draw,&rdquo;
+       like people, scarce hampered by the conditions of earth, whom he had
+      remotely and circuitously heard about, and in fact when he walked back
+      with her to where she had been sitting it was very much, for his strained
+      nerves, as if the very bench of desolation itself were to be the scene of
+      that exploit and he mightn&rsquo;t really live till he reached it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When they had sat down together she did press the spring of her reticule,
+      from which she took, not a handful of gold nor a packet of crisp notes,
+      but an oblong sealed letter, which she had thus waited on him, she
+      remarked, on purpose to deliver, and which would certify, with sundry
+      particulars, to the credit she had opened for him at a London bank. He
+      received it without looking at it&mdash;he held it, in the same manner,
+      conspicuous and unassimilated, for most of the rest of the immediate time,
+      appearing embarrassed with it, nervously twisting and flapping it, yet
+      thus publicly retaining it even while aware, beneath everything, of the
+      strange, the quite dreadful, wouldn&rsquo;t it be? engagement that such inaction
+      practically stood for. He could accept money to that amount, yes&mdash;but
+      not for nothing in return. For what then in return? He kept asking himself
+      for what, while she said other things and made above all, in her high,
+      shrewd, successful way the point that, no, he needn&rsquo;t pretend that his
+      conviction of her continued personal interest in him wouldn&rsquo;t have tided
+      him oyer any question besetting him since their separation. She put it to
+      him that the deep instinct of where he should at last find her must
+      confidently have worked for him, since she confessed to her instinct of
+      where she should find <i>him</i>; which meant&mdash;oh it came home to him
+      as he fingered his sealed treasure!&mdash;neither more nor less than that
+      she had now created between them an equality of experience. He wasn&rsquo;t to
+      have done all the suffering, <i>she</i> was to have &ldquo;been through&rdquo; things
+      he couldn&rsquo;t even guess at; and, since he was bargaining away his right
+      ever again to allude to the unforgettable, so much there was of it, what
+      her tacit proposition came to was that they were &ldquo;square&rdquo; and might start
+      afresh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He didn&rsquo;t take up her charge, as his so compromised &ldquo;pride&rdquo; yet in a
+      manner prompted him, that he had enjoyed all the week all those elements
+      of ease about her; the most he achieved for that was to declare, with an
+      ingenuity contributing to float him no small distance further, that of
+      course he had turned up at their old place of tryst, which had been,
+      through the years, the haunt of his solitude and the goal of his walk any
+      Sunday morning that seemed too beautiful for church; but that he hadn&rsquo;t in
+      the least built on her presence there&mdash;since that supposition gave
+      him, she would understand, wouldn&rsquo;t she? the air, disagreeable to him, of
+      having come in search of her. Her quest of himself, once he had been
+      seated there, would have been another matter&mdash;but in short &ldquo;Of course
+      after all you did come to me, just now, didn&rsquo;t you?&rdquo; He felt himself, too,
+      lamely and gracelessly grin, as for the final kick of his honour, in
+      confirmation of the record that he had then yielded but to her humility.
+      Her humility became for him at this hour and to this tune, on the bench of
+      desolation, a quantity more prodigious and even more mysterious than that
+      other guaranteed quantity the finger-tips of his left hand could feel the
+      tap by the action of his right; though what was in especial extraordinary
+      was the manner in which she could keep making him such allowances and yet
+      meet him again, at some turn, as with her residuum for her clever self so
+      great.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come to you, Herbert Dodd?&rdquo; she imperturbably echoed. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been coming
+      to you for the last ten years!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There had been for him just before this sixty supreme seconds of intensest
+      aspiration&mdash;a minute of his keeping his certificate poised for a
+      sharp thrust back at her, the thrust of the wild freedom of his saying:
+      &ldquo;No, no, I <i>can&rsquo;t</i> give them up; I can&rsquo;t simply sink them deep down
+      in my soul forever, with no cross in all my future to mark <i>that</i>
+      burial; so that if this is what our arrangement means I must decline to
+      have anything to do with it.&rdquo; The words none the less hadn&rsquo;t come, and
+      when she had herself, a couple of minutes later, spoken those others, the
+      blood rose to his face as if, given his stiffness and her extravagance, he
+      had just indeed saved himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Everything in fact stopped, even his fidget with his paper; she imposed a
+      hush, she imposed at any rate the conscious decent form of one, and he
+      couldn&rsquo;t afterward have told how long, at this juncture, he must have sat
+      simply gazing before him. It was so long, at any rate, that Kate herself
+      got up&mdash;and quite indeed, presently, as if her own forms were now at
+      an end. He had returned her nothing&mdash;so what was she waiting for? She
+      had been on the two other occasions momentarily at a loss, but never so
+      much so, no doubt, as was thus testified to by her leaving the bench and
+      moving over once more to the rail of the terrace. She could carry it off,
+      in a manner, with her resources, that she was waiting with so little to
+      wait for; she could face him again, after looking off at the sea, as if
+      this slightly stiff delay, not wholly exempt from awkwardness, had been
+      but a fine scruple of her courtesy. She had gathered herself in; after
+      giving him time to appeal she could take it that he had decided and that
+      nothing was left for her to do. &ldquo;Well then,&rdquo; she clearly launched at him
+      across the broad walk&mdash;&ldquo;well then, good-bye.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She had come nearer with it, as if he might rise for some show of express
+      separation; but he only leaned back motionless, his eyes on her now&mdash;he
+      kept her a moment before him. &ldquo;Do you mean that we don&rsquo;t&mdash;that we
+      don&rsquo;t&mdash;?&rdquo; But he broke down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do I &lsquo;mean&rsquo;&mdash;?&rdquo; She remained as for questions he might ask, but it
+      was wellnigh as if there played through her dotty veil an irrepressible
+      irony for that particular one. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve meant, for long years, I think, all
+      I&rsquo;m capable of meaning. I&rsquo;ve meant so much that I can&rsquo;t mean more. So
+      there it is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But if you go,&rdquo; he appealed&mdash;and with a sense as of final flatness,
+      however he arranged it, for his own attitude&mdash;&ldquo;but if you go sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t
+      I see you again?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She waited a little, and it was strangely for him now as if&mdash;though
+      at last so much more gorged with her tribute than she had ever been with
+      his&mdash;something still depended on her. &ldquo;Do you <i>like</i> to see me?&rdquo;
+       she very simply asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this he did get up; that was easier than to say&mdash;at least with
+      responsive simplicity; and again for a little he looked hard and in
+      silence at his letter; which at last, however, raising his eyes to her own
+      for the act, while he masked their conscious ruefulness, to his utmost, in
+      some air of assurance, he slipped into the inner pocket of his coat,
+      letting it settle there securely. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re too wonderful.&rdquo; But he frowned
+      at her with it as never in his life. &ldquo;Where does it all come from?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The wonder of poor me?&rdquo; Kate Cookham said. &ldquo;It comes from <i>you</i>.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He shook his head slowly&mdash;feeling, with his letter there against his
+      heart, such a new agility, almost such a new range of interest. &ldquo;I mean so
+      <i>much</i> money&mdash;so extraordinarily much.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Well, she held him a while blank. &ldquo;Does it seem to you extraordinarily
+      much&mdash;twelve-hundred-and-sixty? Because, you know,&rdquo; she added, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s
+      all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s enough!&rdquo; he returned with a slight thoughtful droop of his head to
+      the right and his eyes attached to the far horizon as through a shade of
+      shyness for what he was saying. He felt all her own lingering nearness
+      somehow on his cheek.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s enough? Thank you then!&rdquo; she rather oddly went on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He shifted a little his posture. &ldquo;It was more than a hundred a year&mdash;for
+      you to get together.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she assented, &ldquo;that was what year by year I tried for.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But that you could live all the while and save that&mdash;!&rdquo; Yes, he was
+      at liberty, as he hadn&rsquo;t been, quite pleasantly to marvel. All his
+      wonderments in life had been hitherto unanswered&mdash;and didn&rsquo;t the
+      change mean that here again was the social relation?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, I didn&rsquo;t live as you saw me the other day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he answered&mdash;and didn&rsquo;t he the next instant feel he must
+      fairly have smiled with it?&mdash;&ldquo;the other day you <i>were</i> going
+      it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For once in my life,&rdquo; said Kate Cookham. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve left the hotel,&rdquo; she after
+      a moment added.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, you&rsquo;re in&mdash;a&mdash;lodgings?&rdquo; he found himself inquiring as for
+      positive sociability.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had apparently a slight shade of hesitation, but in an instant it was
+      all right; as what he showed he wanted to know she seemed mostly to give
+      him. &ldquo;Yes&mdash;but far of course from here. Up on the hill.&rdquo; To which,
+      after another instant, &ldquo;At The Mount, Castle Terrace,&rdquo; she subjoined.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I <i>know</i> The Mount. And Castle Terrace is awfully sunny and
+      nice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Awfully sunny and nice,&rdquo; Kate Cookham took from him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So that if it isn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; he pursued, &ldquo;like the Royal, why you&rsquo;re at least
+      comfortable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall be comfortable anywhere now,&rdquo; she replied with a certain dryness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was astonishing, however, what had become of his own. &ldquo;Because I&rsquo;ve
+      accepted&mdash;&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Call it that!&rdquo; she dimly smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope then at any rate,&rdquo; he returned, &ldquo;you can now thoroughly rest&rdquo; He
+      spoke as for a cheerful conclusion and moved again also to smile, though
+      as with a poor grimace, no doubt; since what he seemed most clearly to
+      feel was that since he &ldquo;accepted&rdquo; he mustn&rsquo;t, for his last note, have
+      accepted in sulkiness or gloom. With that, at the same time, he couldn&rsquo;t
+      but know, in all his fibres, that with such a still-watching face as the
+      dotty veil didn&rsquo;t disguise for him there was no possible concluding, at
+      least on his part On hers, on hers it was&mdash;as he had so often for a
+      week had reflectively to pronounce things&mdash;another affair. Ah,
+      somehow, both formidably and helpfully, her face concluded&mdash;yet in a
+      sense so strangely enshrouded in things she didn&rsquo;t tell him. What <i>must</i>
+      she, what mustn&rsquo;t she, have done? What she had said&mdash;and she had
+      really told him nothing&mdash;was no account of her life; in the midst of
+      which conflict of opposed recognitions, at any rate, it was as if, for all
+      he could do, he himself now considerably floundered. &ldquo;But I can&rsquo;t think&mdash;I
+      can&rsquo;t think&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t think I can have made so much money in the time and been
+      honest?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, you&rsquo;ve been <i>honest!</i>&rdquo; Herbert Dodd distinctly allowed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It moved her stillness to a gesture&mdash;which, however, she had as
+      promptly checked; and she went on the next instant as for further
+      generosity to his failure of thought. &ldquo;Everything was possible, under my
+      stress, with my hatred.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your hatred&mdash;?&rdquo; For she had paused as if it were after all too
+      difficult.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of what I should for so long have been doing to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      With this, for all his failures, a greater light than any yet shone upon
+      him. &ldquo;It made you think of ways&mdash;&mdash;?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It made me think of everything. It made me work,&rdquo; said Kate Cookham. She
+      added, however, the next moment: &ldquo;But that&rsquo;s my story.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I mayn&rsquo;t hear it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No&mdash;because I mayn&rsquo;t hear yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, mine&mdash;!&rdquo; he said with the strangest, saddest, yet after all most
+      resigned sense of surrender of it; which he tried to make sound as if he
+      couldn&rsquo;t have told it, for its splendor of sacrifice and of misery, even
+      if he would.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It seemed to move in her a little, exactly, that sense of the invidious.
+      &ldquo;Ah, mine too, I assure you&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He rallied at once to the interest. &ldquo;Oh, we <i>can</i> talk then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never,&rdquo; she all oddly replied. &ldquo;Never,&rdquo; said Kate Cookham.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They remained so, face to face; the effect of which for him was that he
+      had after a little understood why. That was fundamental. &ldquo;Well, I see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus confronted they stayed; and then, as he saw with a contentment that
+      came up from deeper still, it was indeed she who, with her worn fine face,
+      would conclude. &ldquo;But I can take care of you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You <i>have!</i>&rdquo; he said as with nothing left of him but a beautiful
+      appreciative candour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, but you&rsquo;ll want it now in a way&mdash;!&rdquo; she responsibly answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He waited a moment, dropping again on the seat. So, while she still stood,
+      he looked up at her; with the sense somehow that there were too many
+      things and that they were all together, terribly, irresistibly, doubtless
+      blessedly, in her eyes and her whole person; which thus affected him for
+      the moment as more than he could bear. He leaned forward, dropping his
+      elbows to his knees and pressing his head on his hands. So he stayed,
+      saying nothing; only, with the sense of her own sustained, renewed and
+      wonderful action, knowing that an arm had passed round him and that he was
+      held. She was beside him on the bench of desolation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Finer Grain, by Henry James
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FINER GRAIN ***
+
+***** This file should be named 21968-h.htm or 21968-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/9/6/21968/
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+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.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase &ldquo;Project
+Gutenberg&rdquo;), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  &ldquo;Project Gutenberg&rdquo; is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (&ldquo;the Foundation&rdquo;
+ or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase &ldquo;Project Gutenberg&rdquo; appears, or with which the phrase &ldquo;Project
+Gutenberg&rdquo; is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+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
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase &ldquo;Project Gutenberg&rdquo; associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+&ldquo;Plain Vanilla ASCII&rdquo; or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original &ldquo;Plain Vanilla ASCII&rdquo; or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, &ldquo;Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.&rdquo;
+ 
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+&ldquo;Defects,&rdquo; such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the &ldquo;Right
+of Replacement or Refund&rdquo; described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you &lsquo;AS-IS&rsquo; WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm&rsquo;s
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation&rsquo;s EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state&rsquo;s laws.
+
+The Foundation&rsquo;s principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation&rsquo;s web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+
+</pre>
+  </body>
+</html>