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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/34619-8.txt b/34619-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..86528a3 --- /dev/null +++ b/34619-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7123 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Gateless Barrier, by Lucas Malet + +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 Gateless Barrier + +Author: Lucas Malet + +Release Date: December 11, 2010 [EBook #34619] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GATELESS BARRIER *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, David Clarke, Mary Meehan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + The Gateless Barrier + + By LUCAS MALET + + + NEW YORK + DODD, MEAD & COMPANY + 1900 + + _Copyright, 1900_, by + DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY + + UNIVERSITY PRESS + JOHN WILSON AND SON + CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. + + + + +_Preface_ + + +"What is the book?" + +"According to the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese characters of +the title, we call it _Mu-Mon-Kwan_, which means 'The Gateless Barrier.' +It is one of the books especially studied by the Zen sect, or the sect +of Dhyâna. A peculiarity of some of the Dhyâna texts--this (story) being +a good example--is that they are not explanatory. They only suggest. +Questions are put, but the student must think out the answers for +himself. He must _think_ them out but not write them. You know that +Dhyâna represents human effort to reach, through meditation, zones of +thought beyond the range of verbal expression; and any thought narrowed +into utterance loses all Dhyâna quality.... Well, this story is supposed +to be true; but it is used only for a Dhyâna question...." + +LAFCADIO HEARN. + + "_Exotics and Retrospectives," pages 83, 84._ + + + + +_The Gateless Barrier_ + + + + +I + + +Laurence leaned his arms upon the broad wooden hand-rail of the +bulwarks. The water hissed away from the side. Immediately below it was +laced by shifting patterns of white foam, and stained pale green, +violet, and amber, by the light shining out through the rounds of the +port-poles. Further away it showed blue black, but for a glistening on +the hither side of the vast ridge and furrow. The smoke from the funnels +streamed afar, and was upturned by a following wind. The great ship +swung in the trough, and then lifted--as a horse lifts at a fence--while +the seas slid away from under her keel. As she lifted, her masts raked +the blue-black night sky, and the stars danced in the rigging. + +This was the first time since his marriage, nearly two years before, +that Laurence found himself alone and altogether his own master. His +marriage was a notable success--every one said so, and he himself had +never doubted the fact so far. Yet this solitary voyage, this temporary +return to bachelorhood, possessed compensations. He reproached himself, +as in duty bound, for being sensible of those compensations. He excused +himself to himself. He gave reasons. Doubtless his present sense of +freedom and content took its rise not in his enforced absence from +Virginia, from her bright continuous talk, her innumerable and perfectly +constructed dresses, her perpetual and skilful activities; but in his +escape from the highly artificial and materialised society in which she +lived and moved and had her being. Laurence had certainly no ostensible +cause of complaint against that society. Its members had recited his +verses, given a charming performance of his little comedy--in the +interests of a deserving charity--quoted his opinions on literature and +politics, and waxed enthusiastic over his strokes at golf and his style +at rackets and polo. He had, in fact, been the spoilt child of two New +York winters and two Newport summers. No Englishman, he was repeatedly +assured, had ever been so popular among the "smart set" of the great +republic. It had petted and _fêted_ him, and finally given him one of +its fairest daughters to wife. And for all this Laurence Rivers was +sincerely grateful. His vanity was most agreeably flattered. His natural +love both of pleasing and of pleasure was well satisfied. Yet--such is +the perversity of human nature--the very completeness of his success +tended to lessen the worth of it. He even questioned, at moments, +whether that success did not offer the measure of surrounding immaturity +of taste and judgment, rather than of the greatness of his personal +talent and merit. He was haunted by the conviction that he had never yet +given his best, the highest and strongest of his nature, either in +thought, or art, or adventure, or even--perhaps--he feared it--in love. +The demand had been for a thoroughly presentable and immediately +marketable article; and the Best is usually far from marketable, often +but doubtfully presentable either. It followed that Laurence had, almost +of necessity, kept the best of himself to himself--kept it to himself so +effectually that he had come uncommonly near forgetting its existence +altogether, and letting it perish for lack of air and exercise. + +Now leaning his arms upon the hand-rail of the bulwarks, while the stars +danced in the rigging, and the great ship ploughed her way eastward +across the mighty ridge and furrow of the Atlantic, gratified vanity +ceased to obtain in him. His thoughts travelled back to periods of his +career at once more obscure and more ambitious--to the few vital +raptures, the few fine failures, the few illuminating aspirations which +he had known. The bottom dropped out of the social side of things, so to +speak. He looked below superficial appearances into the heart of it all. +Life put off its cheap frippery of fancy dress, Death its cunningly +devised concealments and evasions. Backed by the immensities of sea and +sky, both stood before him naked and unashamed, in all their primitive +and eternal vigour, their uncompromising actuality, their inviolable +mystery; while, with a sudden and searching apprehension of the profound +import of the question, Rivers asked himself-- + +"What shall it profit a man--what in good truth--if he gain the whole +world and lose his own soul?" + +He had been summoned to England by the illness of an uncle whose estates +and considerable wealth he would inherit. That illness had been +pronounced incurable; but the approaching death of this near relation +made small demand upon his intimate feelings. A decent seriousness of +thought and speech, concerning the impending event, were all that could +reasonably be required of him; for the elder Mr. Rivers was both morose +and eccentric, and had given his nephew a handsome allowance on the +express understanding that he saw as little of him as possible. A +declared misogynist, he had received the announcement of Laurence's +proposed marriage with an exasperating mixture of contempt and approval. + +"I am sincerely sorry for you," he had written on this occasion. "The +more so that you appear to labour under the impression that the step you +have in contemplation is calculated to secure your happiness. This, you +must pardon my remarking, is obviously absurd. I grant that you are +under a moral obligation to perpetuate our family and secure the +succession to our estates in the direct line. I cannot, therefore, but +be glad that you should adopt the recognised means to attain the above +ends. I should, however, respect both your motives and your intelligence +more highly had you done this in a rational and scientific spirit, +without indulgence in sentimental illusions which every sane student of +human history has long since perceived to be as pernicious to the moral, +as they are enervating to the mental health. I could say much worthy of +your attention upon this point; but, in your present condition of +emotional inebriation, it would be a waste of energy on my part,--I +might add, a throwing of pearls before swine. Still, justice, my dear +Laurence, compels me to own that, even so, I must ever consider myself +in a measure your debtor, since the fact of your existence, your +remarkably sound physical condition, your normal and slightly +unintelligent outlook on life, have combined to relieve me of the odious +necessity of sacrificing my time and my personal liberty to the +interests of our family, by entering into those domestic relations, +which you appear to regard with as much thoughtless complacency as I +with reasoned repulsion and distrust." + +This being the attitude of the elder Mr. Rivers's mind, it followed that +when, by his request, Mr. Wormald, the family solicitor, summoned his +nephew and heir to attend his deathbed, the young man's wife was not +included in that gloomy invitation. And this Laurence could not by any +means honestly regret. Virginia at a disadvantage was an idea almost +inconceivable. Yet so immediate and concrete a being would not, he felt, +shade quite gracefully into the mortuary landscape. She would not suit +it, neither would it suit her. For she was almost amazingly in harmony +with her modern, mundane environment; and, save in the way of costly +mourning costumes, it seemed incredible that death should have any +dominion over her. It struck him, moreover, that if he gauged the +position aright, Virginia, notwithstanding her many charms and much +cleverness, would have to take a back seat in his eccentric uncle's +establishment. And Virginia in a back seat was again an idea almost +inconceivable. So he said-- + +"It's an awful nuisance to have to leave you like this, but this is +going to be a pretty dismal bit of business anyhow. I'd much better just +worry through it alone. You'll join me later when it's all over, and we +are free to take possession and knock the place in shape. Stoke Rivers +is really rather delightful, though it is not very large. There used to +be some good pictures and books and things in it I remember. I believe +my uncle is a virtuoso in his way, though he is such a cross-grained old +chap. You'll enjoy the place, at all events for a few months every year, +I think, Virginia. And you can have all your own people over in turn, +you know; and show them how the savage English do it in their savage +little island. You'll make the neighbourhood sit up, I fancy. It'll be +amusing." + +But as Laurence leaned his arms upon the broad hand-rail of the +bulwarks, in the chill of the March night, while the water hissed away +from the side, and the engines drummed and pounded, and the bows of the +great ship lifted against the far, blue-black horizon, he began to +wonder whether he had not been somewhat over hasty in proposing chronic +invasion of Stoke Rivers by all Virginia's smart friends in turn. They +were well-bred, hospitable, amusing, very much up-to-date. He owed them +thanks for a most uncommonly good time. But they seemed a trifle thin, a +trifle superficial and ephemeral just now, in face of the immensities of +ocean and sky, and of the ancient mysteries of Life and Death. + + + + +II + + +Not until after dinner, on the evening of his arrival, was Laurence +admitted to his uncle's presence. The aspect of the room was rich though +sombre. Long in proportion to its width, with a low, heavily-moulded +ceiling, the walls of it were panelled in black oak three parts of their +height. The space between the top of the panelling and the cornice was +hung with dark blue silk-damask, narrow diagonal lines of yellow +crossing the background of the raised pattern. The short, full curtains +drawn over the wide window were of the same handsome material. So were +the counterpane and hangings of the half-tester, ebony bed. This last +was elaborately carved. Two couchant sphinxes, the polished surface of +whose cup-like breasts glowed in the firelight, supported the footboard, +as did a couple of caryatides--naked to the loins--the canopy. Near the +fireplace stood an oaken table, on which lay a few well-bound books. The +further end of it was covered by a cloth of gold and crimson +embroidery--evidently fashioned from some priestly vestment--upon which +rested a _memento mori_, about four inches in height, cut out of a solid +block of rock crystal, the olive crown which encircled the brow being of +pale, green jade. + +In a deep-seated, high-backed armchair--placed between the table and the +outstanding pillars of the chimney piece--propped up by dark silken +pillows, his spare frame wrapped in a long, fur-lined, violet, cloth +dressing-gown, a violet, velvet skull-cap on his head, sat Mr. Rivers. + +Laurence, who had not seen his uncle for the last five or six years, was +conscious of receiving an almost painfully vivid impression at once of +physical feebleness and intellectual energy. The elder man's face and +hands appeared transparent as the crystal _memento mori_ on the table +beside him. His long, straight nose showed thin as a knife. His wide, +lip-less mouth seemed to shut with a spring, like a trap. The bone of +the face and hands was salient, as of one suffering starvation. Yet the +blue-grey eyes, though sunk in their cavernous sockets, were brilliant, +alert, full of an almost malevolent greed of observation. Laurence +noted that a spotless cleanliness and order pervaded the room and the +person of its occupant. The angular and attenuated face was shaven with +scrupulous nicety. The finger-nails were carefully polished and pointed. +An open collar and wristbands of fine lawn showed exquisitely white +against the purple cloth and fur of the dressing-gown. It was evident +that Mr. Rivers, whatever the peculiarities of his temper or of his +opinions, treated illness and approaching dissolution with an admirable +effect of stoicism and personal dignity. + +As Laurence--himself conspicuously well-groomed, in evening dress, no +mark of his long journey upon him, save in a complexion tanned by sun +and sea-wind, and by the directness of glance and vigour of movement +that remains, for a while, by every true sea-lover after he comes +ashore--crossed the space between the door and fireplace, the old man +raised himself a little in his chair. + +"Believe me, I am very sensible of the consideration you show in so +immediately gratifying my desire to see you, my dear Laurence." + +"I was very happy to come, sir," the younger man answered. But he was +not unconscious of a point of irony in the cold, level tones of the +voice, or in the persistent scrutiny of the brilliant eyes. These +appeared to regard him as they might some row of figures--mentally +casting up, subtracting, dividing, intent on arriving, with all possible +despatch, at a conclusive and final result. The effect was not precisely +encouraging, nor were the words which followed. + +"That is well," Mr. Rivers said. "But it is desirable you should +understand from the outset that which you have undertaken. You may be +detained here. The disease from which I suffer is, as you have been +informed, incurable; though it is, I am happy to say, neither offensive +or infectious. But though the final result is assured, the moment of its +advent is uncertain. Neither I, nor the physicians who amiably expend +their limited and somewhat empirical skill upon me, can determine the +date at which this disease will prove fatal. I shall regret to cause you +inconvenience, but the event is beyond my control. I may keep you +waiting." + +"The longer the better, sir," Laurence said, smiling, and his smile was +sincere and genial, of the sort which inspires confidence.--"That is," +he added, "if you do not suffer unduly." + +"When the mind has realised the greatness of its own powers, and trained +itself to their exercise, the will can almost invariably reduce +suffering to endurable proportions," Mr. Rivers replied contemptuously, +as dealing with a matter obvious, and so beneath discussion. He raised +one transparent hand, pointed towards a chair, and then let his wrist +drop again upon a supporting silken cushion. As he did so the two heavy +rings he wore--one an amethyst set in brilliants and engraved with +Arabic characters, the other a black scarab on a hoop of rough +gold--slipped up the long phalange of his second finger to the knotted +knuckle, and back again, with a dry rattle and chink. + +"Oblige me by sitting down, Laurence," he said. "I wish you to labour +under no misapprehension as to my intentions in sending for you. A +certain amount of business may need attention; but all that you can +discuss with my agent, Armstrong,--a very worthy, though prejudiced +person. My affairs are in order. I am not called upon to waste any of +the time remaining to me upon them. Let me explain myself. The +disease--for, to do so, I must refer to it once again--which is in +process of destroying certain organs, and consequently paralysing +certain functions of my body, has in no degree affected my mind. This +retains the completeness of its lucidity. Indeed, I am disposed to +believe that my enforced physical inactivity, and the small number of +objects presented to my sight--I never leave this room--tend to exalt +and stimulate my intellectual powers. You recall the legend of the +ancient philosopher who plucked out his eyes, that, undisturbed by the +vision of irrelevant objects, he might attain to greater concentration +of thought. Disease, in limiting my activities, has gone far to confer +upon me the boon which the philosopher in question strove, rather +violently, to bestow upon himself. I have ever been a student. I propose +to continue so to the last. My interest is unabated. My passion for +knowledge--the sole passion of my life--remains in full force." + +Laurence sat listening, nursing his knee. The speaker's attitude was +impressive, in a way admirable. His detachment, his calm, his acumen, +commanded his hearer's respect. + +"Yes, yes. I see--that's fine," Laurence said under his breath. + +A slightly ironical expression passed across the elder man's attenuated +face. + +"I am, of course, glad that my sentiments meet with your approval. But I +fear that approval may prove premature. I have not yet fully explained +myself." + +Laurence smiled at him good-temperedly. "All right, sir; I'm listening," +he said. + +"I must frankly admit I did not require your presence with a view to +having you endorse my opinions. These are, I trust, too much the outcome +of close and lengthened thought to stand in need of support from the +agreement of another mind. I have never desired disciples, having the +evidence of the history of all great religious, political, and +scientific movements to prove conclusively that it is the invariable +habit of the disciple to falsify his master's teaching, to attach +himself to the weak rather than the strong places of such teaching, to +betray intellectually with some emotional, some hysterical kiss. The +disciple resembles those parasitic plants of the tropic forests, that +strangle the tree upon which they climb upward toward the air and +light." + +He paused a moment, turned his head against the pillows, with a movement +of almost distressing weakness. Then, gathering himself together by a +perceptible exercise of will, he looked searchingly at Laurence again, +and resumed his speech. + +"Nor have I required your presence here during these last days or +weeks--as the case may be--with a view to offering to you, or receiving +from you, that which is usually termed affection. I am not aware of any +demand, or supply, in myself of that very much overrated commodity. I +deny the actuality, indeed, of its existence. Subjected to analysis, it +can always be resolved into workings of self-interest, or into the +gratification, more or less gross, of the animal passions. It is the +generator of all the practical folly and intellectual sloth which go to +retard the progress of science, and the rule of high philosophy among +men. As between ourselves, my dear Laurence, any pretence of affection +would be transparently ridiculous. We are barely acquainted. My +departure will very clearly be to your advantage. Moreover, our tastes +and characters are so divergent, that any real community of interests, +any real bond of sympathy, is clearly out of the question." + +During the course of this address the young man's pleasant smile had +broadened almost to the point of laughter. + +"I understand, I really do understand," he said. "And now that we've +cleared the decks for action in this very comprehensive manner, I +grow--if I may mention it--most uncommonly curious to learn what you did +send for me here for." + +"I sent for you because there is one matter regarding which my +information is conspicuously defective, and because your conversation, +your habits, your very appearance, and gestures may serve to enlighten +me. I have lived among books, and objects of art of no mean value. I +have enjoyed communion, both by letter and in speech, with many of the +most distinguished minds of the present century. But I never +associated, I have never cared to associate, with the average man of the +world, of the clubs and the racecourse, the man of intrigues, of, in +short, society. He appeared to me to weigh too lightly in the scale to +be a worthy object of study. I ignored him, and in so doing dropped an +important link out of the chain of being. For these persons breed, they +perpetuate tendencies, they influence and modify the history of the +race. Not to reckon with such persons, is not to reckon with a +persistent and active factor in intellectual and moral evolution." + +Laurence had risen to his feet. He stood with his hands behind him and +his back to the fire. He was amused, but he was also slightly nettled. + +"Ah!" he said, "exactly. And so you sent for me. You took for granted I +was that sort. You wanted to see how we do it." + +"Yes," Mr. Rivers answered, "it did appear to me that you were +calculated to fulfil the conditions. In any case you were the only +example of the type available. Our connection by blood, and the relation +in which you stand to my property, gave me certain claims upon your +time and your consideration. I wish very much to observe you. I wish to +study you from the psychological and other points of view. You need not +attempt to assist me. Be yourself, please. Be passive. I need no +co-operation on the part of my subject. This will really give you very +little trouble, while it will afford me interesting occupation during +the period--whether short or protracted, I know not--which must elapse +before disease has run its course and procured dissolution." + +Laurence listened in silence; and while he did so, he ceased to be +nettled, he ceased even to be inclined to treat these singular proposals +humorously. For there appeared to him a certain pathos in the earnest +desire of this recluse and student now, at the eleventh hour, to +acquaint himself with just that which he had so arrogantly despised, +namely the Commonplace. It was slightly wounding to personal vanity to +be thus selected, from among the millions of mankind, as a fine, +thorough-paced example and exponent of the Commonplace. But Laurence was +kind-hearted. He also possessed a fund of practical philosophy. +No--decidedly the position was not a flattering one! Yet it was rather +original, and, moreover, how could one in common charity refuse any +little pleasure to a dying man? + +"Very well, sir," he said. "I think I quite grasp the necessities of the +inquiry. I'm quite willing to be operated on, and I promise to play fair +and not let the evidence be faked. But I'm afraid you'll get bored +first. I am likely to be more illuminated than illuminating." + +"I am obliged to you," Mr. Rivers said. "To-night I will not further +detain you. Pray give any orders you please to Renshaw. He is a +well-trained and responsible servant. There are horses in the stable. +Good-night. I repeat that I am obliged to you." + + + + +III + + +Finding it unlikely that his uncle would ask for him before evening, and +that consequently he had plenty of time at his disposal, Laurence +embarked after breakfast upon a survey of the house. When a boy at +school he had occasionally passed a couple of nights at Stoke Rivers. +His recollections of these visits were not gay. He had been glad enough +to go away again. It followed that his impressions of the house itself +were vague and confused. He now found that it was constructed in the +shape of a capital L reversed. The base of the letter, facing east and +west, contained kitchens, offices, and servants' quarters. The main +building--at right angles to it--was two stories in height, and +consisted of suites of handsome rooms opening on to a wide corridor. The +windows of the latter looked south, those of the rooms north. The +colouring and furnishings resembled, in the main, those of Mr. Rivers' +bedroom. Dark panelled walls, rich, sombre hangings of dark blue, +crimson, or violet obtained throughout. In the drawing-rooms were some +noble landscapes by Cuyp, Ruysdael, and other Dutch masters of note. +There was also an admirable collection of Italian ivories, small figures +of exquisite workmanship; and several glass cases containing fine +antique and renaissance gems. The walls of the libraries were lined with +books--a curious and varied collection, ranging from ancient +black-letter volumes down to the latest German treatise, on natural +science or metaphysics, of the current year. Laurence promised himself +to make nearer acquaintance with these rather weighty joys at a more +convenient season. Meanwhile, in contrast to the otherwise distinctly +old-fashioned character of the house, he remarked a very complete +installation of electric light, and an ingenious system of hot-air +ventilation, by means of which a temperature of over seventy degrees was +maintained throughout the whole interior. This produced a heavy and +enervating atmosphere of which Laurence--fresh from the strong clean air +of the Atlantic--became increasingly and disagreeably sensible. It made +him at once restless and inert; and as he wandered, rather aimlessly +from room to room, he was annoyed by finding a slight nervousness gained +on him--he, whose nerves were usually of the steadiest, happily +conspicuous by their absence, indeed, rather than by their presence! + +"Upon my word, this beats the American abomination of steam heat," he +said to himself. + +His visit to the library, where the smell of old leather bindings added +to the deadness of the air, nearly finished him. He went out on to the +corridor, and paced the length of it, past the flying staircase of black +oak leading to the upper corridor, and back again. A broad strip of +deep-pile, crimson carpet was spread along the centre of the polished +floor. On one hand, between the doors of the living-rooms, hung a +collection of valuable copper-plate engravings, representing classic +ruins in Italy and Greece. While on the other, in the spaces between the +windows, were ranged a series of busts--Augustus, Tiberias, Nero, the +two Antonines, Caligula, and Commodus--set on tall columnar pedestals of +dark green or yellow marble. The blind, sculptured faces deepened the +general sense of oppression by their rigidity, their unalterable and +somewhat scornful repose. + +Out of doors the March morning was tumultuous with wind and wet, +offering marked contrast to the dry heat, the almost burdensome order +and stillness reigning within. The air of the corridor was perhaps a +degree fresher than that of the library he had just quitted. Laurence +leaned his arms on a stone window-sill, and glanced in a desultory way +at the day's _Times_, which he had picked up off the hall table in +passing. But Chinese railway concessions, plague reports from Bombay, +even the last racing fixtures, or rumours of fighting on the North-West +Indian Frontier, failed to arouse his interest. In his present humour, +these items of news from the outside world seemed curiously unimportant +and remote. He stared at the wide, well-wooded, rain-blurred landscape. +The scene at which he had assisted last night, the intimate drama moving +forward relentlessly even now to its close in that well-appointed room +upstairs--and the extraordinary character of the chief actor in that +drama--his over-stimulated brain and atrophied affections, his greed of +experiment and of acquiring information, even yet, in the very article +of death--depressed Laurence's imagination as the close atmosphere +depressed his body. It was all so painfully narrow, barren, hungry, +joyless, somehow. And meanwhile, he, Laurence, was required to play the +fool--not for the provocation of laughter, which would after all have +had a semblance of cheerful good-fellowship in it. But in cold blood, as +an object lesson in the manner and customs of the average man; a lesson +the result of which would be tabulated and pigeon-holed by that +unwearying intelligence, as might be the habits of some species of +obscure, unpleasant insect. The young man had developed slight +intolerance of the exclusively worldly side of things lately. It seemed +by no means improbable he might develop equal intolerance of the +exclusively intellectual side before long, at this rate. + +"I seem qualifying as a past-master in the highly unprofitable act of +quarrelling with my bread and butter," he said to himself. "If I chuck +society, and proceed to chuck brains as well, for a man like myself, +without genius and without a profession, what the devil is there left?" + +Meditating thus, he had left his station at the window, and walked to +the extreme end of the corridor farthest away from the servants' wing of +the house. It was closed by a splendid tapestry curtain, whereon a crowd +of round-limbed cupids drove a naked and reluctant woman, with gestures +of naughty haste, towards a satyr, seated beneath a shadowy grove of +trees upon a little monticule, who beckoned with one hand while with the +other he stopped the notes of his reed pipe. The tapestry was of great +beauty and indubitable worth; but the subject of it was slightly +displeasing to Laurence, a trifle gross in suggestion, as had been the +sphinxes and caryatides of the carven ebony bed. + +"Oh! of course there's that sort of thing left," he said to himself, +recurring to his recent train of thought. "But, no thank you, I flatter +myself I can hardly find satisfaction in those low latitudes at +present." + +Having, however, an appreciation of all fine artistic work, he laid hold +of the border of the curtain, wishing to feel its texture. To his +surprise, it was of very great weight, padded and lined with leather, as +are curtains covering the doors of certain Roman churches. + +Laurence pulled the corner of it towards him and passed behind it. The +curtain fell back into position with a muffled thud, leaving him +standing in a narrow, dark, cupboard-like space, closed by a door, of +which it took him some stifling seconds to find the handle. He fumbled +blindly in the dark, an almost childish sense of agitation upon him. He +felt as in dreams, when the place to be traversed grows more and more +contracted, walls closing down and in on every hand, while the means of +exit become more maddeningly impossible of discovery. To his surprise, +he turned faint and broke into a sweat. It was not in the least an +amusing experience. + +At last the handle gave, with a click, and the door opened, disclosing a +large and lofty room quite unlike any one which he had yet visited. It +was delicately fresh both in atmosphere and colouring. It wore a +gracious and friendly look, seeming to welcome the intruder with a +demure gladsomeness. A certain gaiety pervaded it even on this +unpropitious morning. The great bay-window, facing east, gave upon a +stately Italian garden, beyond the tall cypresses, white statues, and +fountains of which spread flat, high-lying lawns of brilliantly green +turf. These were crossed by a broad walk of golden gravel leading to an +avenue of enormous lime-trees, the domed heads of which were just +touched with the rose-pink buds of the opening spring. + +The furniture of the room was of satin-wood, highly polished and painted +with garlands of roses, true-lovers' knots of blue ribbon, dainty +landscapes, ladies and lovers, after the manner of Boucher. The chairs +and sofas were upholstered in brocade, the predominating colours of +which were white, pale yellow, and pale pink. An old-fashioned, square, +semi-grand piano--the case of it in satin-wood and painted like the +rest--stood out into the room. On a spindle-legged table beside it lay a +quantity of music, the printing very black, the pages brown with age. +Close against these was a violin case covered with faded, red velvet, +on which were stamped initials and a crest. + +Laurence's eyes dwelt on these things. And then--surely there should be +a harp in the further left-hand corner, the strings of it covered by a +gilded, stamped leather hood? Yes, it was there right enough.--And a +tall escritoire, with a miniature brass balustrade running along the top +of it, should stand at right angles to the chimney-piece, upon which +last, doubled by the looking-glass behind, should be tall azure and gold +_Sèvres_ jars, an Empire clock--the golden face of it set in a ring of +precious garnets--figures in Chelsea china and branched, gold +candlesticks. + +Laurence looked for and found these objects, a prey at once to surprise +and to a sense of happy familiarity. He was perfectly acquainted with +this room--but why or how he knew not. He was filled, too, by a singular +sense of expectation. It was to him as though some exquisite presence +had but lately quitted this apartment and might, at any instant, return +to it. He apprehended something tenderly, delectably feminine. The china +ornaments, and many little fanciful silver toys, spoke of a woman's +taste. So did a tambour frame, and an ivory work-box, the lid of it +open, disclosing dainty property of gold thimble, scissors, cottons, and +what not--and a half-finished frill of cobweb-like India muslin, a +little, gold-eyed needle sticking in the mimic hem. On the small table +beside the work-box lay a white vellum-bound copy of the _Vita Nuova_ of +Dante, and the _Introduction to the Devout Life_ of St. Francis de +Sales. + +Perplexed by his own sensations, possessed too by a sudden, gentle +reverence and longing which he could not explain, Laurence touched the +pretty trifles in the work-box; fitted the thimble on the tip of his +little finger; turned the pages of the Dante, and read how the poet came +near swooning at first sight of the maiden of eight years old whom, +though she was never destined to be his mistress or wife, he loved ever +after, and made immortal in immortal verse. He unlocked the worn +red-velvet violin case and drew the bow--not for the first time--he +could have sworn not--across the wailing strings. What did it all mean? +Yes, what, indeed,--in the name of common-sense, of New York and +Newport, of his golf and polo, and cotillions, of crowded opera-house +and shouting racecourse? In the name, too, of those hard, brilliant, +dying eyes, and that cold, hungry intellect upstairs, what did it mean? +He had no recollection of having been into this room on his former +visits to Stoke Rivers in his boyhood. And yet, of course, he must have +been here--otherwise? But then this overmastering sense of expectation, +this apprehension of an exquisite feminine presence, this-- + +"Upon my word, I'm playing the fool to some purpose," he said, half +aloud. + +He crossed the room, threw wide the French window and went onto the head +of the semicircular flight of stone steps without. The wind buffeted him +roughly. The rain spattered in his face. On the left, the lawns were +divided from the downward slope of rough park and woodland by a sunk +fence. Beyond was outspread an extensive tract of rolling, wooded +country--red and white hamlets half buried among trees, here and there +the spire of a village church, flat, green pastures lying along the +valleys, brown patches of hop-garden and ploughland, and uplifted +against the grey, storm-drifted horizon a windmill crowning some +conspicuous height. Suddenly the cry of hounds, running, saluted +Laurence's ear. Then the whole pack, breaking covert, crossed the open +park. The field followed, horses pulling, riders leaning forward, +squaring their shoulders to the wind--a flash of scarlet, chestnut, +black and bay, behind the dappled joy of the racing pack. + +For a moment the strange influences of this strange day made even the +merry hunt appear to Laurence as the pageant of an uneasy dream. But +soon the honest outdoor life claimed him again, forcing him back upon +unquestioned realities. He closed the French window behind him, stood on +the wet steps spending some anxious moments in the lighting of a cigar, +and then strolled, hatless, round to the stables to make inquiry as to +what his uncle might own in the matter of horseflesh. + + + + +IV + + +In the afternoon Laurence drove over to Bishop's Pudbury, some eight +miles distant from Stoke Rivers. An English soldier--by name +Bellingham--whom he had known in New York, and who had married a Miss +Van Renan, a cousin of Virginia--had taken a house there for the hunting +season. His wife had impressed upon Laurence the duty of making an early +call on these connections--he being the bearer of certain gifts to a +small daughter of the family, Virginia's godchild. A revulsion in favour +of the ordinary ways of ordinary modern life, in favour, indeed, of that +very Commonplace of which last evening he had supposed himself so +unwilling an exponent, was upon him. He wanted to get in with his +accustomed habits, his accustomed outlook, again. The last twenty-four +hours had been somewhat of a strain, and Laurence was as lazy as are +most healthy Englishmen. He hated energising, specially of the +super-induced, involuntary sort. And Mrs. Bellingham's society would be +helpful. She was an agreeable woman, of this world worldly. He could +have a good, square gossip with her. She was possessed, moreover, of a +cult for Virginia--for her beauty, her clothes, her social ability. And +in the back of his mind, somehow, Laurence was conscious that it would +be an excellent thing for him to hear Virginia's praises sounded loudly. +Mrs. Bellingham would count his blessings to him. That recital would be +at once humbling and bracing--altogether salutary. But, unfortunately, +neither the lady nor her husband were at home; so he could but deposit +Virginia's immaculate parcels, tied with flaring bows of amber ribbon, +and drive homeward through the rolling Sussex country--now engulfed in +its deep, narrow lanes, now climbing its breezy, wooded hills, catching +glimpses of the smooth, open downs ranging away to Beachy Head, and of +the grey turmoil of the dirty Channel sea. + +All this was not very exciting, it must be owned, but it afforded him +relief from the singular sensations he had experienced during the +morning. He came into the house in excellent spirits, bringing the clean +chill of the March evening along with him--came in to meet the same +dry, dead atmosphere, the same dark, glossy walls, and rich, sombre +colours, the same at once unemotional yet almost voluptuous suggestion +from objects of art. A lonely dinner followed, admirably served by two +silent, middle-aged men-servants. Their faces were sallow and without +expression, their manner was correct to the point of absolute nullity of +character, they moved as automata. The dinner itself was a little +_chef-d'oeuvre_, and was served on remarkably handsome silver plate. +As centre-piece, three dancing female figures in silver-gilt--copied +apparently from those on some Etruscan vase--supported a cut-glass bowl, +in which floated fantastic orchids, some mottled, dull, brown-green, +toad-like, some in long sprays of mauve, or tiger-colour, striped with +glossy black. These last gave off a thick musky scent. + +Towards the end of the meal Renshaw, the butler, delivered a note to +him, which Laurence read not without kindly amusement. It was from the +curate-in-charge--the Rector of Stoke Rivers preferring to dwell amid +the social excitements of Cheltenham, and but rarely, on the plea of +bad health, visiting the parish. Laurence judged the curate-in-charge to +be a very young man. His letter ran thus:-- + + "DEAR SIR,--I trust I am not presuming upon my official + connection with this parish by hastening to express to you the + great relief which I feel in learning that you have arrived at + the Courthouse. As representative of the incumbent of this + parish, I hold myself responsible for the spiritual welfare of + all persons resident in it, whether of exalted or humble + station. I have, therefore, suffered much anxiety regarding + your uncle's, Mr. Rivers, spiritual condition, in his present + very serious state of health. I know that his views are + regrettably latitudinarian, and that his attitude is far from + conciliatory towards the Church. These sad facts, however, far + from relieving me of responsibility, only increase it. I would + so gladly read and pray with him, and reason with him of those + things necessary to salvation. The time permitted him may, I + understand, be short. It is my duty first to warn, and then to + console. I cannot reproach myself with negligence in calling at + the Courthouse. I do so regularly three times a week. + Unhappily, Mr. Rivers is persistent in his refusal to receive + me. This is not only very shocking, as precluding the + possibility of my offering either the warnings or consolations + of religion to the invalid; but it injuriously affects my + position with my parishioners, who, seeing me thus slighted by + the principal landowner in the parish, show a painful + disposition to treat my ministrations with levity, and my + person with disrespect. I trust to your sense of justice to + obtain my admittance to the sickroom, both in the interests of + your uncle's eternal welfare and in those of the Church, of + which I am a humble, but, I trust, efficient minister.--I have + the honour to remain, dear Sir, yours obediently, + + "WALTER SAMUEL BEAL." + +Laurence finished his glass of claret and his cigarette with a smile. He +sat a minute or two, gazing at the dancing, golden figures and at the +rather malign loveliness of the orchids. + +"Poor little Padre Sahib!" he said to himself. "I'll go and see him +to-morrow and do my best to quiet his worthy conscience. Funny mixture +of soul and of self in that letter! But he's very much too mild a Daniel +to fling into the lion's den upstairs. He little imagines what he's +asking. Well, he won't get it anyhow, so that doesn't much matter. +Pah!--how hot this room is!" + +Laurence rose from the table, folded up the letter, and put it in his +pocket. + +"Now for processes of vivisection. It's the most original fashion of +paying succession duty I ever heard of. My word, if I ever do come into +possession, won't I just open the windows in this house!" + + + + +V + + +The conversation that evening did not move very smoothly. Laurence +brought all the good temper and practical philosophy at his command into +play. But the elder man was captious. His blank scepticism, his keen, +unsparing statements jarred on his companion. An inclination towards +revolt arose in Laurence. + +"I am half afraid, sir," he permitted himself to say at last, while his +eyes rested on the gleaming breasts of the ebony sphinxes,--"that we +have made a radical mistake and put the cart before the horse. To +understand the average man, and his relation to things in general, must +not you begin with the study of the average woman? Is not _cherchez la +femme_, after all, the keynote of our inquiry?" + +Mr. Rivers raised his thin hand almost as in warning, and the heavy +finger-rings chinked as he let it fall again on the arm of his chair. + +"The subject of sex in connection with human beings is distasteful to +me," he said. + +Laurence glanced at the speaker and then back at the carven sphinx +again. His eyes were a little merry--he could not help it. + +"Oh! no doubt," he said; "there are times when it is distasteful to many +of us, and most infernally inconvenient into the bargain. Only you see, +unluckily, it is the pivot on which the whole history of the race +turns." + +"A most objectionable pivot! An insult to the intellect, a degradation." + +"That may be so," Laurence answered. "Still the thing is there--always +has been, always will be, modern science notwithstanding, unless +humanity agrees to voluntary and universal suicide, a consummation which +does not seem immediately probable in any case.--'Male and female +created He them.' An error perhaps of judgment, but one the Creator has +never shown much sign of wishing to correct as yet. The most venerable +religious systems recognise this. I need not remind you that it lies at +the heart of their mysteries. Christianity too--Catholic +Christianity--the only form, that is, of Christianity worth considering +seriously--acknowledges the profound significance of it in the worship +of the divine motherhood and the perpetually renewed miracle of the +Incarnation." + +"You interest me," Mr. Rivers said slowly. + +"I am glad of that," Laurence answered. He had warmed up unexpectedly to +his subject. "I am glad of that, for I can't help seeing--" + +Mr. Rivers interrupted him. + +"Pardon me," he said. "I would not have you labour even temporarily +under a misapprehension. It is less your exposition that interests me +than yourself. I note indications of thought and feeling for which I was +not wholly prepared. Taking you as a fair example of the type, I +perceive that the mind of the average member of society is of an even +lower order than I had supposed. I had, in my ignorance, imagined that, +even in the class to which you belong, modern, scientific ideas had +taken sufficient root to oust such effete superstitions as those to +which you have alluded. A more or less stupid Agnosticism, an utter +indifference, would not have surprised me. From such a condition +development is still possible. But here I recognise traces of a return +to fetich worship, to savage standards--this indeed is hopeless, a +degeneration from which revival is impossible. I admit, of course, the +necessity of the existence of woman, since the perpetuation of the race +appears at present desirable. It would be childish to argue the matter. +She must be kept and cared for by qualified persons, as are the other +higher, domestic animals, but--" + +"But, but," Laurence said, laughing, "I must protest. Perhaps his type +of mind is too low for yours to be able to stoop to it; but, upon my +word, sir, even with so thorough-paced a specimen as myself before you, +you have not grasped the characteristics of the average man one bit. I +don't say we are conspicuously noble, or virtuous, or godly creatures, +and I don't say that the side of our lives which has to do with our +ambitions, with public affairs, our profession, or our art--the side, in +fact, in which woman counts least--may not give scope to that which is +best in us. I have no end of belief in the life a man lives among men. I +grant a good deal on your side of the question, you see. Only I know it +will be a precious bad day when we keep our women merely for breeding +purposes. We shall have degeneration in uncommonly full swing then. +There is an immense lot in the relation between man and woman beside the +physical one; and--and--I'm not ashamed to thank whatever gods there be +for that." + +"Your wife--" began Mr. Rivers. Laurence looked hard at him, while the +good temper, the geniality, died out of his face. + +"My wife does not enter into our contract, sir," he said shortly. + +The coldly brilliant eyes fastened on him with a certain voracity of +observation. Then the elder man bowed slightly, courteously, +contemptuously. + +"You interest me extremely," he said. "I am obliged to you. But I must +not presume upon your complaisance. You have supplied me with sufficient +subjects of meditation for to-night. I will not detain you further. I +thank you, my dear Laurence. Good-night." + +"I was a fool to let myself go, and a still bigger one to lose my +temper," the young man said to himself as he closed the door and passed +out on to the corridor. + +Save for a ticking of clocks, silence prevailed throughout the house. +The electric light, clear and steady, revealed every object in its +completeness. The temperature was some degrees higher than during the +day, and airless in proportion to its increased warmth. Half-way down +the shining oak staircase, Laurence was saluted by the musky odour of +the orchids. Clinging, enfolding, it seemed to meet him more as a +presence than a scent. The dining-room door stood wide open. The +under-butler came forth and went noiselessly towards the offices. There +followed a muffled sound of baize doors swinging to. Then +simultaneously, sharply, from all quarters, clocks struck the half hour. + +"Only half-past ten!" Laurence exclaimed. "How villainously early! I +wish to goodness I had not lost my temper though. It was slightly +imbecile. If the poor, old gentleman enjoys being offensive, why +shouldn't he be so? He has none too many opportunities of amusement." + +He paused, looking down the bright, vacant, silent corridor, past the +open doors of all the bright, vacant, silent rooms. + +"If it comes to that, nor have I," he added, "when I come to think of +it. There's a notable paucity of excitement in this existence, and this +beastly hot air makes one too muzzy to read." He yawned.--"What a mercy +Virginia didn't come! She would have been most extensively and +articulately bored." + +He sauntered aimlessly along the passage, past the fine, copper-plate +engravings, and the impassive, Roman emperors, and drew up before the +great, tapestry curtain. Again he looked curiously at the figures worked +so skilfully upon it. The light took the silken surface, bringing the +warm flesh-tints into high relief, against the dim, grey-green +background of shadowy hill and grove. + +"No wonder my uncle blasphemes if that represents his only idea of the +relation of the sexes." + +He sighed involuntarily. + +"Yes, but, thank God, there is more in it all than merely that," he +said. Then he repeated:--"It is a mercy Virginia did not come. It would +not have suited her from any point of view. She'd have been hideously +bored, and she would have been offended and a good deal shocked. It is +queer the way the Puritanic element survives over there, notwithstanding +their modernity." + +Laurence smiled to himself, becoming aware of the slight inconsistency +of his own attitude--his late heated championship of the claims of the +Eternal Feminine, his self-congratulation at the fact that his own +particular investment in the matter of womanhood was, at present, safely +away on the other side of the Atlantic. + +Then, taken by a sudden impulse--born in part of a desire of escape from +the suffocating atmosphere around him--he pulled the edge of the heavy +curtain outwards, passed round it, letting it drop into place behind +him. He stood a moment in a contracted, blind space. The place seemed +possessed of singular influences. Again he grew faint as he groped for +the door handle; while a conviction grew upon him that he had stood just +here, and so groped an innumerable number of times already, and that he +should so stand and grope--either in fact or in imagination, just as +long, indeed, as consciousness remained to him--an innumerable number of +times again. + +At last the handle was found and yielded. Breathing rather quickly, +Laurence entered the lofty, fair-coloured room. It too was bright with +electric light, but the air of it was sensibly purer than that of the +corridor; while, standing before the painted satin-wood escritoire, at +the further side of the fireplace, was a slender woman. Her back was +towards him. She wore a high-waisted, clinging, rose-pink, silken gown. +Her dark hair was gathered up in soft, yet elaborate, bows and curls +high on her small head, after the fashion prevalent in the early years +of the century. A cape of transparent muslin and lace veiled her bare +shoulders. + + + + +VI + + +The young man's astonishment was immense. Recovering from the first +shock of it, he was taken with reprehensible irreverence towards the +sick man upstairs. + +"The old sinner, how he has lied!" he said to himself. "A pretty ass he +has made of me with this card up his iniquitous, old sleeve all the +while!" + +He debated momentarily whether good manners demanded his retirement +before his presence was perceived; or whether he was free to go forward +and make acquaintance with this unacknowledged member of his uncle's +household. Strong curiosity, coupled with a spirit of mischief, provoked +him to adopt the latter course. He owed it to himself, surely, not to +neglect so handsome an opportunity of turning the tables upon old Mr. +Rivers. While, astonishment and levity, notwithstanding, Laurence was +aware of a strong attraction drawing him towards the slender, rose-clad +figure. He began to question, indeed, whether it, like the room and its +furnishings, was not in a degree familiar to him? Whether it was not the +embodiment of just all that of which he had been so singularly expectant +when visiting the room this same morning? + +Meanwhile the young lady's hands moved over the rounded cover of the +escritoire as though endeavouring to open it. The lace frills, edging +her muslin cape, flew upwards, showing her bare arms. These were thin, +but beautifully shaped; while the movement of her hands was singularly +graceful and rapid. She touched, yet seemed unable firmly to grasp the +gilded handles of the escritoire again and again; clasped her hands, as +it appeared to Laurence--for her back was still towards him--with a +baffled, despairing gesture, and then moved away across the room. She +appeared to flit rather than walk, so light and silent were her steps, +bird-like in their swift and dainty grace. Watching her, Laurence was +reminded of a certain Spanish _danseuse_, who, during the previous +winter, had excited the wild enthusiasm and considerably lightened the +pockets of the _jeunesse dorée_ of New York. But the charm of the +dancer had, for him at least, been spoilt by the somewhat unbridled +pride of success perceptible in her bearing. Whereas the flitting figure +now before him, notwithstanding the beguiling loveliness of its motions, +struck him as penetrated with the sorrow of failure, rather than the +arrogance of success. + +She wandered to and fro, regardless or unconscious of his presence, +searching--searching--as it seemed; passing her hands over the +work-table, sweeping them along the surface of the chimney-piece between +the ornaments and china, fingering the music upon the piano. He caught +sight of a delicate profile, a round and youthful cheek. But her +movements were so anxious and rapid that he could get no definite view +of her face. Indeed, her action was so quick that it was not without +effort Laurence followed it. + +At first the young man's attitude had been one of slightly irritated +amusement at the concealment practised on him by his host. But as the +rose-clad lady's search continued, the sense of amusement was merged in +one of sympathy. She was so graceful a creature. She appeared so sadly +baffled and perplexed. A subtle anxiety laid hold of him--an +apprehension that something momentous and of far-reaching consequence to +himself was in act of accomplishment--that he was himself deeply +involved, and pledged by a long train of antecedent circumstances to +assist those delicately framed and apparently so helpless hands in their +unceasing search. + +"Pardon me, but what have you lost?" he asked her at last, speaking +gently as to a timid and unhappy child. "Tell me, and let me try to help +you find it." + +At the sound of his voice the flitting figure paused, stood a moment +listening, as though striving to collect the purport of his address. +Then it turned to him. For the first time Laurence saw his companion's +face clearly, and he shrank back, penetrated at once by a great +admiration and a vague dread of her. For it was a very lovely face, but +shy and wild as no other human face he had ever beheld. The sweet mouth +drooped at the corners, as with some haunting, but half-comprehended +distress. The eyes were serious; blue-purple--as are deep, high-lying, +mountain tarns, set in a soft gloom of pine-trees and of heather. A +gentle distraction pervaded the young lady's aspect. And this was the +more arresting, that each bow and curl of her pretty hair was in place; +every detail of her dress fresh and finished, from the string of pearls +about her white throat, to the toes of her rose-pink, satin slippers, +sparkling with an embroidery of brilliants, which showed beneath the +small flounce edging her rose-pink skirt. + +Laurence had lived at least as virtuously as most men of his class; yet +it would be idle to declare Virginia his first and only flame. He had +married her, which constituted the difference between her and all those +other flames--and at times it occurred to him what a prodigiously great +difference that was! Since his marriage he had been guiltless of looking +to the right hand or to the left even in thought. But, before that +event, it must be owned, he had had his due share of affairs of the +heart. He was thoroughly conversant with the premonitory symptoms of +that fascinating disorder, commonly known as "falling in love." And, to +his dismay, as he looked on the sad and lovely person before him, he +was conscious that some of those premonitory symptoms were not entirely +absent. An immense pity and tenderness took him; a deepening conviction, +too, of recollection, as one who after a long lapse of years hears again +some almost forgotten melody, or sees again a once well-known and +well-beloved landscape. The sad face was new to him, not in itself, but +in its sadness only. The corners of the sweet mouth should not droop, +but tip upward in soft, discreet laughter. The serious eyes should +dance, as the surface of these same mountain tarns in sunlight under a +rippling breeze. The face, remembered thus, had indeed never been wholly +forgotten--he knew that. It formed part of inherent prenatal +impressions, of which, all his life, he had been potentially if not +actively aware. + +All this flashed through him in the space of a few seconds; while he +repeated, somewhat staggered by the fulness of emotion which the tones +of his own voice implied-- + +"Only tell me what you have lost--tell me; and let me help you find +it."--Then he added more lightly, smiling at her with his sincere and +kindly smile:--"Really, my services are worth enlisting. I've always +been a rather famous hand at finding things, you know." + +She gazed at the young man for a minute or more, a tremulous wonder in +her expression, while she fingered the string of pearls about her +rounded throat. Her lips moved, but no sound came from them. Her +attitude changed. She stood with her head raised, apparently listening. +Then reluctantly, as in obedience to some unwelcome summons, she moved +swiftly across the room to the outstanding, painted satin-wood +escritoire, passed at the back of it, and the young man found himself +alone. + + + + +VII + + +Though usually an excellent sleeper, Laurence passed a restless night. +Like most sane persons, he was disposed to resent that which he could +not account for; and, with the best will in the world to evolve +ingenious hypotheses explanatory of her disappearance, the manner of his +sweet companion's going remained a mystery. He had examined the +escritoire, and found it locked. He had also examined the wall-space in +its vicinity. This was hung, from cornice to wainscot, with pale +yellow-and-white brocade, as was all the room. But neither behind the +brocade, nor in the wainscot, was any door or sliding panel +discoverable. Indeed, when he came to think of it, remembering the +structure of the house as he had seen it on his way along the south +front to the stables, that side of the room consisted of a blank wall, +doorless and windowless. This fact, when he realised it, caused Laurence +something of a shock. It was unpleasant to him. And so he took refuge in +scepticism. He laughed at himself, declaring that the unwholesome +atmosphere of the house, and the lonely, uneventful life he was +compelled to lead, were breeding morbid fancies in him. All that talk +about woman and the relation of the sexes had stamped itself upon his +mind in an exaggerated way, thanks to his surroundings. The musky scent +of the orchids had a word to say in the matter too, no doubt. So had his +revulsion from the gross suggestions of the scene represented on the +tapestry curtain. Heavy sleep, amounting almost to torpor, induced by +the heavy atmosphere, had fallen upon him directly after he had entered +that strangely engaging and familiar room. And, in that sleep, +imagination had created a woman who should embody all that which the +room and its furnishings suggested--an ideal woman, far away alike from +the brilliant young leader of smart society whom he had married--but on +this clause Laurence refused to allow his thoughts to dwell--and from +the mere human brood-mare, whom his uncle pronounced to be the only +admissible exponent of the Eternal Feminine. He had dreamed a poem--one +of those poems he kept at the bottom of his despatch-box, and had never +felt any inclination to read aloud to Virginia--had dreamed instead of +writing it, that was all. + +Laurence got out of bed and threw open the window. Where the eastern +angle of the house stood out dark against the sky, he could see the +pallor of the dawn warming into rose, while overhead the stars died out +one by one as the light broadened. + +"Yes, the vision of a dream," he said to himself. "Only another of those +thousand exquisite things which belong to the language of symbol, and +possess, alas! no tally in reality--reality, that is, as most of us +hide-bound victims of conventionality are destined to know it."--He +laughed a little grimly.--"Reality, as we know it, being precisely the +biggest illusion of all!" + +He watched the fading stars, the deepening rose and gold of day, above +the woods and lawns, the black cypresses and white statues upon the +northern boundary of the Italian garden. Starlings chattered joyously +from the gutters under the eaves; and then swept down, with a rush of +passing wings, on to the grass. A keeper, gun on shoulder, with a busy, +little, black cocking-spaniel, and a long-limbed, red, Irish setter +behind him, crossed the rough downward slope of the park; and the wide, +blue-grey landscape began to grow definite, to assert itself right away +up to the horizon. The earth seemed to awake with a quiet smile from the +kindly sleep of night. + +Laurence drank in his fill of the moist, sharp air. + +"Poor dear Virginia!" he said suddenly. And it was probably the very +first time in her whole life that this popular, admirably finished, and +much admired young lady had ever excited pity. + +After breakfast Laurence set forth to visit his clerical correspondent, +and strive to ease the latter's conscience while refusing his request. +The rectory, distant about three-quarters of a mile, stood on the rising +ground across the valley, backed by a fringe of high-lying woods. The +church, a small but very perfect example of Norman architecture, closely +adjoined the house. There were good details of carving about the narrow, +round-headed windows of the chancel, and the low, heavy arch of the +porch--the floor of which was sunk several steps below the level of the +churchyard. The tower, square and solid, but little higher than the roof +of the nave, was surmounted by a squat, shingled spire. It struck +Laurence as a calm, self-contained, little building, on which the +centuries had set but slight mark of decay. The churchyard, +too--shadowed by a few ancient yew-trees--was singularly peaceful, full +for the most part of unnamed, grass-grown graves. Death, seen thus, had +nothing awful, nothing repulsive, about it--quiet "rest after toil," it +amounted to no more than that. + +But then the charm of spring was in the air, and the young man was +pleasantly beguiled by it. He sat down on the broad coping of the +churchyard wall, lighted a cigarette, and idly watched the rooks +streaming out from the rectory elms, and dropping on the fragrant, +fresh-turned earth of a plough-field in the valley. He listened idly to +the nimble wind that blew up from the ten-mile-distant sea, sang in the +woodland above, and whispered through the dark, plume-like branches of +the yews here in this sheltered piece of ground. The sky was a thin, +bright blue, and across it wandered little clouds, like flocks of white +sheep, herded by that same nimble wind up from the Channel. + +It seemed to Laurence that here, indeed, would be a pleasant enough +place to lie when life was over. But then that time had by no means +arrived for him yet. He felt again--as he had felt that night on board +ship--that he had never done complete justice to his own capacity. +Whether the fault lay in himself or in circumstance, he could not say; +but he knew that neither body, nor mind, nor heart, had worked up to +their full strength yet. Ambition of some notable and absorbing +undertaking stirred in him. He looked out over the goodly land. Would +this by no means contemptible inheritance, on the threshold of the +possession of which he now stood, afford him his great opportunity? And +then his thought harked back to the lovely and pathetic vision which had +blessed his sleep--for, of course, he was asleep--last night. A man +could find fulness of satisfaction in a great passion for such a +woman--if so be she actually existed, instead of being only the ideal +vision of an ideal dream. Yes, a man could go very far down that road +if--if--And there Laurence, being a decent fellow, laid strong hands on +his imagination. To indulge it was just simply not right, since whatever +woman's existence might belong to the land of fancy, his wife, +Virginia's, belonged, to the land of very positive fact. He got up, +shook himself, and walked away to the rectory house, through the +sunshine and shadow of the peaceful, country graveyard. + + + + +VIII + + +Mr. Beal received his guest with an agitation in which natural timidity +warred with professional pride. He laboured under the conviction that he +was called upon at all times and in all places to maintain the dignity +of the Anglican Church. He believed she was very much in the midst of +foes, Rome and Non-conformity alike perpetually plotting her downfall; +while Atheism cruised about in the offing ever ready to seize any who +escaped the machinations of these more declared enemies. And, +unfortunately, the young man, neither in appearance nor constitution, +was a born fighter, or even a born diplomatist. In appearance he was +mild, with sandy, down-like hair, a high narrow forehead and freckled +skin, pale, anxious eyes behind spectacles, and a moist white hand. He +opened the front door to Laurence himself; and it occurred to the latter +that his clothes were very black, and that he wore a great many of them. + +"Mr. Laurence Rivers, I presume?" he said, looking up nervously into +his guest's face. + +"Yes; I thought it would be simplest to answer your letter in person," +the other replied. He felt a certain kindly pity for the young +clergyman, whose existence he divined to be of a somewhat limited and +unproductive sort.--"I should have given myself the pleasure of calling +on you in any case in a day or two. But your letter seemed to require +attention at once. I am sorry you are having any bother about--" + +"Will you not come in?" Mr. Beal asked hurriedly. "Our conversation +might be overheard and commented upon. This way, please. You will excuse +the dining-room? I always occupy this room during the winter months. It +is both necessary and right that I should practise economy, and to +occupy this room exclusively saves a fire." + +In his nervousness Mr. Beal talked continuously. + +"Pray take a seat," he said, pushing forward an armchair, the leather +cover and springs of which were decidedly tired. "I at once begged you +to come in here, because in speaking of personal and parochial matters +one cannot, I feel, be too careful. Mr. Wingate--the rector of Stoke +Rivers, you know--wished, I am sure, to treat me with generosity when I +undertook the duty here. He not only placed the whole of this house at +my disposal, but he left two female servants--not on board wages--an +elderly woman and a younger person as her assistant. The intention was +generous, I feel sure; but I grieve to say they are not such staunch +church-women as I could desire, and this has led to difficulties between +us. I thought it my duty to admonish them, separately, of course, +suiting my remonstrances to their respective ages and dispositions. But +they did not receive my admonitions in a submissive spirit. Since then I +have found it necessary to exercise great caution. There has been much +gossip. Remarks of mine have been repeated, and that not in a manner +calculated to improve my position with the parishioners. My actions are +spied upon. There is a small, but bigoted, dissenting element in the +village, and----" + +"Ah! yes, they're a nuisance, I dare say," Laurence put in, smiling. +"Still, it's a charming place, all the same. I have just been poking +round the church. There are some wonderfully quaint bits about it. And I +like the churchyard." + +"I could wish to have the graves levelled, and the head and foot stones +placed neatly in line on the confines of the enclosure." + +"Oh! no, no; that would destroy the character of the place. We can't +carry anything away with us--granted--when we go. And so there's a +certain subjective comfort in knowing we leave a little mound of earth +and turf behind to mark our resting-place. That's hardly ostentatious, +considering our pretensions during life--do you think so?" + +Mr. Beal shifted the position of his spectacles. He braced himself. + +"The churchyard has been levelled at Bishop's Pudbury," he said. "I had +the privilege of being assistant priest there for five years. The +archdeacon is considered a man of great taste." + +"I should have thought the parishioners would have objected now," +Laurence remarked. + +"So they did," Mr. Beal replied. "I grieve to say some persons +displayed a most illiberal spirit. They called meetings, and behaved in +a really seditious manner. Many even became guilty of the sin of schism. +They ceased to attend the church services, and frequented dissenting +places of worship. The archdeacon was pained; but he felt a principle +was at stake. He has long contended that the churchyard is legally the +rector's freehold. He therefore felt it a duty to the Church to be +firm." + +Laurence contemplated the young clergyman with a touch of good-natured +amusement, wondering if, with that anæmic physique, he was capable of +emulating the militant virtues of the archdeacon-rector of Bishop's +Pudbury. + +"But about this letter of yours, Mr. Beal," he said. "That's what I came +to talk to you about." + +"I am afraid my conversation has been a little irrelevant. But--but--" +the young man sat opposite to Laurence, shifting his spectacles, and +washing his hands in an access of nervousness. "I confess I am not quite +myself this morning, Mr. Rivers. I was made an object of public ridicule +last night." + +"I am very sorry to hear it. How was that?" + +"I think I am at liberty to tell you, because the incident took its rise +in your uncle, the elder Mr. Rivers', refusal to receive me. You see it +is known how often I have been repulsed. Last night we had the weekly +choir practice at the school. While it was in progress, I was called and +informed by the pupil-teacher--whom I excuse of participation in the +unseemly jest--that Mr. Rivers had sent for me, and that his carriage +was waiting at the gate. This surprised me; but I supposed you might +have received, and immediately responded to, the request contained in my +note. I excused myself to the organist and choir, and hastily put on my +hat and coat. I hurried out, but some ill-disposed youths had placed +strings across the school door. I fell. The ground was exceedingly +muddy. My reappearance was greeted with hardly concealed derision. I +discovered the whole matter was a vulgar hoax." + +"Ah! that's very much too bad," Laurence said kindly, though the +picture suggested by the young clergyman's story provoked him to +internal mirth. "We must straighten this out somehow. And yet I tell you +frankly your letter placed me in a difficulty. Even when in good health +my uncle was not an easy person to approach, and now, as you know, he is +fatally ill----" + +"I would deal with him very gently," Mr. Beal remarked, bracing himself. + +"I am sure of that. But I am afraid he might deal anything but gently +with you." + +"I think--I believe--I am prepared to suffer for my faith." + +"I am sure of that," Laurence repeated consolingly. "But it appears to +me this would be both a superfluous and inglorious martyrdom. My uncle +is perfectly secure of his own position and opinions. The latter are +peculiar, and he has a very trenchant way of stating them." + +"You would convey to me that I should be worsted in argument?" Mr. Beal +inquired. + +"Yes, I really am more than half afraid you would. And so, you see, no +end would be gained. You would be pained, and possibly humiliated; while +my uncle's victory would render him more stubborn in the maintenance of +his own views. He would be irritated too, and that might accelerate the +action of the disease from which he suffers. Remember, he's both old and +ill. I own I think he must just go his own way. I hesitate to coerce +him." + +During this address Walter Beal had washed his moist hands in a very +agony of agitation. This handsome stranger impressed him greatly. He was +sympathetic, moreover, a patient and kindly listener. The young +clergyman could have found it in his heart to adore him with a humble +and dog-like devotion. But then his own professional dignity must be +asserted. So he whipped down his natural and wholesome inclination to +hero-worship, and whipped up his rather spavined, ecclesiastical valour; +and said, with all the sternness his tremulous voice could command-- + +"I fear you are not a true Christian, Mr. Rivers, or you would find no +room for hesitation where the salvation of a soul is involved." + +Laurence turned his chair sideways to the dinner-table, crossed his +legs, and rested his elbow on the bare, white cloth. Some crumbs +remained on it, left over from Walter Beal's breakfast; but happily they +were at the far corner. The young man deserved a snub, but he was an +innocent creature, a great sincerity in his foolishness. Laurence looked +out of window, across to the sunny peaceful churchyard. After all, why +be harsh? Why snub anybody? So he smiled again genially enough upon the +distracted Beal. + +"Oh! we must discuss the heights and depths of my Christianity some +other time," he said. "The point is to stop this impertinence of which +you are the victim. Look here, honestly I don't see my way to making a +meeting between you and my uncle at present. But as you can't get the +uncle, let me beg you to put up with the nephew. Let it be known that +you and I are on excellent terms. Come and see me. Let's see--to-morrow +evening I shall be free till half-past nine or ten. Come and dine with +me." + +But Mr. Beal shrunk back and raised his moist, white hands in protest. + +"Oh, no!" he exclaimed. "That is, I am sure your intentions are most +kind, most kind--indeed, indeed, really, I am sure of that. But except +professionally, except at the urgent call of duty--and then grace would +be given me--I felt that yesterday when I received the summons during +the choir practice--I prayed--I was praying when those strings +intercepted my passage and caused me to fall--I knew I should be +supported--but, except professionally, I could not make up my mind to +enter that house--Stoke Rivers. And after dark too! I could not. It +would be too dreadful." + +Laurence stared at him blankly. "Why, my good man," he said, laughing a +little, "what on earth is the matter with the house?" + +"I understand that it contains pictures and statues of an immoral +character. It is very frightful to think of a soul, the soul of a +scoffer, of one who speaks lightly of holy things, going forth to meet +its doom from among such heathenish surroundings.--But it is not that so +much which deters me. I ought to cope with that, strong in faith. But +from a child, I own it, I have suffered from the fear of the +supernatural." + +Laurence's eyebrows drew together. "The supernatural," he said. + +"Yes--yes--the supernatural." + +Laurence paused a moment, gazing down at the worn drugget between his +feet. + +"Look here," he said, "either you are talking great nonsense, or there +is something uncommonly serious at the bottom of all this, of which I +ought to be informed. Tell me plainly, what are you afraid of?" + +"There, there are lights all night." + +"Certainly there are. The electric light is left on. It is a fancy of my +uncle's--and not an unreasonable one in time of illness. If your fears +take their rise in nothing worse than that, why--" Laurence shrugged his +shoulders. + +"Oh! but--but--" Mr. Beal's voice sunk to a whisper, and his pale eyes +looked piteously upon his guest from behind his spectacles. "It is +commonly reported there is a female in the house----" + +Laurence shook his head.--"Oh, no, pardon me," he said. "That is a +mistake. There are only men-servants in the house. That I know. No lady +has stayed at Stoke Rivers--so my uncle informed me--since my mother +stayed there with me when I was quite a small boy." + +"But--but," poor Walter Beal almost wailed, "I don't mean any lady +visitor. The--the Scarlet Woman--you know. I understand the keepers have +frequently seen her at night at the windows downstairs. And I believe I +saw her once this winter myself----" + +"Saw her yourself?" + +"Yes; I had been to call and inquire for Mr. Rivers. It was dusk, and I +was much alarmed at going; but I would not permit myself to neglect a +duty. I was going back up the avenue, when I saw a person in a red dress +coming out from the bow-window. I--I--I--I--did not wait--" + +Laurence had risen. He stood for a moment speechless. Then a sudden +gladness took him. The sun was bright outside there, but the yew-trees +waved their dusky arms quaintly, making little shadows dance and flit +upon the churchyard grass. + +"No--I see. You ran away," he said. "Well, Mr. Beal, perhaps that was +the very best thing under the circumstances that you could have +done.--You can't make up your mind to dine with me? All right, I'll come +and see you then. We'll let the parish know you and I are on excellent +terms anyhow. I should be glad to have a talk with you about the schools +and charities. And, of course, if Mr. Rivers should soften and express +any willingness to receive your ministrations I'll not fail to let you +know." + +On reaching the house, Laurence went straight down the corridor, pulled +aside the tapestry curtain, and entered the room beyond. As yesterday, +it was fresher in atmosphere than the rest of the interior. The +furniture, the knick-knacks, even the little frill in the open work-box +were stationary, untouched, precisely in the same position as last +night. Again Laurence examined the room carefully. Very certainly there +was no exit from it save the door or the bay-window, and no human being +in it save himself. + + + + +IX + + +That afternoon Captain Bellingham called at Stoke Rivers. He was a +large, fair, fresh-coloured man of about five-and-thirty--extremely +well-groomed, addicted to field-sports, and an arrant gossip. This last +characteristic was much in evidence during his visit. He gossiped of +London, of New York, of Sussex, displaying a vast amount of knowledge of +other people's affairs. + +"Well, my dear fellow, it's uncommonly pleasant to forgather with you +again. Those presents your wife sent my small daughter were princely. +Sibyl will write to her. The child has a regular Yankee eye for +value--and, I tell you, she was impressed. My wife was awfully +disappointed at missing you yesterday. She's frightfully gone on Mrs. +Rivers. I think she wants to have a look at you to satisfy herself that +you're living up to your high privileges in that quarter. Come over +to-morrow, can't you, and dine and sleep?" + +Laurence explained that his evenings were bespoken. + +"Ah, really--by the way, how is the old gentleman? Making headway +towards--don't you know? Rather depressing business for you waiting on +like this. Pity you can't come and dine and sleep, it would make a +little break for you. I've never seen him, you know, but I hear he is +rather a formidable, old person. My wife intends asking you a number of +questions about him. Of course, you must know there are a whole lot of +queer stories current." + +"So I hear," Laurence said. + +"Oh, it's not for you to hear; it's for you to tell," Jack Bellingham +answered, his eyes twinkling. "Why, my dear fellow, your arrival is the +excitement of the hour. The whole neighbourhood is sitting on the edge +of its respective chairs just bursting for information about Stoke +Rivers. You wait a little. I warn you, you're going to be handed round +like a plate of cake at an old maid's tea-party; and my wife, in right +of her relationship to Mrs. Rivers, means to have the first slice. She +means to walk in, collar you, and then skilfully and economically retail +you to her whole local acquaintance. To tell the truth, I've been +rather worried about Louise lately. She has an idea--I've noticed +nothing to justify it myself--that she has rather missed fire down here. +She's taken that awfully to heart, you know. And I think she looks to +you to give her her opportunity. She thinks if she gets possession of +you and all these queer stories, she'll make the running--all the other +women will be nowhere, you know." + +Laurence laughed. He felt slightly embarrassed. + +"But what the dickens is it all about?" he said. + +"That's for you to tell us," Captain Bellingham repeated. "Perhaps +you'll be rather glad of an audience in a day or two. Anyhow, come over +and see my wife as soon as you can. She's great on spook-hunting, +psychical research, all that sort of thing. So give her the first +chance. Let her have a postcard in the morning. She'll be brokenhearted +if she misses you again." + +Laurence partook of another solitary dinner, admirably cooked and +served, in company with the dancing, Etruscan figures, and the +musky-scented orchids. Again, when the meal was finished, he went +upstairs through the steady light and close, dry atmosphere to that +stately and sombre sickroom. The last twenty-four hours had been very +full of disquieting episodes and suggestions. + +"I am inclined to reverse the order of proceedings to-night," he said to +himself, "and cross-question my uncle, instead of letting him +cross-question me. After all, that'll fit in to his scheme of +observation well enough. My questions, no doubt, will be indicative of +the depths of my native ignorance and the poverty of my powers. They'll +enable him to draw conclusions. Conclusions!" he added, smiling--"a +sufficiently fatuous occupation, when one thinks of the limited amount +of evidence obtainable and the breadth of the inquiry?" + +On the stairhead his uncle's valet, a thin, wiry man, long-armed, grey +of hair and of skin, met him, and preceded him silently along the +corridor. Laurence's relations with servants, and other persons in an +inferior position to his own, were usually of a kindly and cordial sort. +Such persons told him of their affairs; they admired and trusted him. +But the servants in this house, though caring for his comfort with +scrupulous forethought and punctuality, remained, so far, impossible of +approach. They seemed to him like so many machines, incapable of hopes +or fears, affections, even of sins, inhuman in their rigidity and +silence. Now the valet announced him, and stood aside to let him pass, +with a perfection of drill and an absence of individuality so complete, +that it was to Laurence quite actively unpleasant. Immediately after, he +met the hungry glance of those coldly brilliant eyes, looking out of the +face fixed in outline, transparent, as the crystal skull lying on the +table close by. And this house, so full of beings but half alive, of +paralysed activities, defective or one-sided development, seemed to the +young man, for the moment, terrible. The country churchyard, in which +the wind sang, and the sunshine played among the graves with flitting, +beckoning shadows, was gay by comparison. No wonder the place had an +evil reputation, and that people invented weird stories about it. + +A sensation of loneliness, such as he had not known since early +childhood, came over Laurence. Almost involuntarily he made an effort +towards closer, more sympathetic, intercourse with his host. + +"How are you this evening, sir?" he asked. "Better, I hope. It has been +a wonderfully charming day." + +"I am glad to learn you have found it so. Weather has always appeared to +me an accident, unworthy, save in its scientific aspects, of attention. +Yet I understand that it exercises strong influence on certain +temperaments--emotional temperaments, I apprehend, undisciplined by +reason. That the weather to-day has affected you agreeably is matter for +congratulation, since it will have helped to mitigate the tedium of a +small portion of this period of waiting." + +"Oh! there's not much tedium," Laurence answered. He looked across at +the elder man smiling very pleasantly.--"I'm beginning to find things +here a little too dramatic, if anything. You were good enough to tell me +that you found me interesting last night, sir. I only wish I could be +half as interesting to you, as you, and your house, and the whole state +of affairs here is to me." + +"You find it distinctly interesting?" Mr. Rivers inquired, but whether +in approval or disapproval Laurence could not determine. + +"Unquestionably," he answered. "The house is cram full of treasures. And +there are unexpected influences in it, which get hold of one's +imagination. It stands alone in my experience, unlike any place I have +ever known." + +The elder man sunk further back against the pillows, and, with one long, +thin hand, drew the violet, fur-lined dressing-gown closer across his +knees as though cold. + +"Indeed. Have I divorced myself and my surroundings so completely from +the ordinary habits of my contemporaries?" + +"You've been strong enough to follow your own tastes and lead your own +life, and that has produced something unique, something as finished as +it is apart. Of course, this provokes a lot of criticism. Other people, +I observe, recognise that it is unique too." + +"Other people?" Mr. Rivers said loftily. "I have never entertained." + +"Exactly," Laurence answered. "That's where part of the uniqueness comes +in. We mostly herd together like sheep in a pen, and can't be easy +unless we're rubbing sides."--He paused a moment. "Your refusal to rub +sides causes great searchings of heart, I assure you. The poor, little +parson here, for instance, is tormented by the idea that it is his duty +to the Almighty, and to the Church of England, and to his own abnormally +developed conscience, to raid you and do a little spiritual gardening in +the neglected flower-beds of your soul." + +"My soul is my own," Mr. Rivers observed. "That is, if the term soul is, +strictly speaking, admissible. Conscious consciousness is all that I can +predicate of my other than physical existence." + +"The little parson's point of view is quite different. He is by no means +backward in predication. He is quite sure you have a soul; but whether +it is your own, or whether it doesn't belong to him as curate-in-charge +of Stoke Rivers, he is not at all sure. He has strong leanings to the +latter belief, I fancy." + +"These are puerilities." + +"The average man is puerile," Laurence asserted cheerfully. "We carted +away Woman last night, sir, you remember, in deference to your slight +prejudice against her--though I still maintain she is by no means +foreign to our inquiry. But I really can't consent to the carting away +of puerility too, or you will never get hold of the average man at all. +Forbid his affections and his ineptitudes both, and you don't leave the +poor wretch a leg to stand on. Meanwhile, the little parson is not the +only person a good deal worked up by the unique character of your habits +and surroundings. These give rise, indirectly, to surprising legends." + +"Indeed!" + +"Yes, indeed. I think they would amuse you. And in connection with all +this, sir, there are one or two questions I should most uncommonly like +to ask you." + +"You may do so," Mr. Rivers said. His nephew's rapid speech and breezy +manner made him slightly breathless. He was unaccustomed to be treated +in this light and airy fashion. He moved uneasily in his chair, as one +who tries to avoid a draught. Laurence observing this, repented of his +purpose. + +"I don't tire you, sir, do I?" he asked kindly. + +"Exhaustion is a consequence of the failure of the will. My will is +still obedient to my mind, and my body to my will." + +Laurence looked at him with a certain admiration. He was true to his +creed, such as it was, and his pride had, consequently, rather a superb +quality. + +"Well, then," he said, "since I may ask you--I have found from +conversation with several of our neighbours that this house, which I +took to be a sort of Temple of Reason, is regarded with a good deal of +vulgar suspicion." + +Though the room was warm, the atmosphere of it close as that of a +thundering night in the tropics, Laurence instinctively leaned forward, +spreading out his hands to the glowing wood-fire on the hearth. + +"I am not superstitious," he continued; "and you very certainly, I take +it, are not so. We shall agree in that. Still, I confess, the whole +subject of the occult and supernatural is rather fascinating to me. I +can't quite keep my hands off it. I find an idea is prevalent that there +are manifestations here, queer things are seen, you know, which cannot +be put down to natural agency. I want to know if you--" + +But Mr. Rivers interrupted him with unaccustomed vehemence of speech and +manner. + +"Stop!" he said, "stop if you please. This subject is exceedingly +distasteful to me." + +"Then we won't pursue it," Laurence answered quickly. Yet he wondered; +his interest, already considerably aroused, being sensibly increased by +the violence displayed by his companion. It was singular; and he paused +a little, thinking, before embarking in further conversation. During +that pause, Mr. Rivers leaned sideways, slowly and with difficulty +raised the crystal skull from its place on the table beside him. He held +it in front of him in both hands, and gazed, as though performing some +religious rite, into the cavities of the empty eye-sockets. Then +stiffly, letting his hands sink, he rested it upon his knees. + +"Pardon me," he said, looking full at Laurence, while a shadow, rather +than a flush, seemed to pass over his attenuated face. "I was tempted to +act unworthily.--I agreed to answer such questions as you might put to +me. But perceiving those questions tended to revive a matter which has +caused me one of the few humiliations and regrets I have suffered during +my life, I shrank. I was tempted weakly to break faith with you and +retract my promise." + +"Pray, sir, don't take it so seriously," Laurence entreated. "Of course, +I should never have approached the subject had I known it was +disagreeable to you. It was just the idle curiosity of an idle man. What +on earth does it matter?" + +"To you very little, presumably, since you are, as you say, idle--your +days, that is, filled with a round of amusements deadening--as I +fear--to the intellectual and moral conscience. But with me the case is +otherwise. The judgment of no human being is of moment to me. But my +judgment of myself is of infinite moment." + +Mr. Rivers laid one transparent hand upon the dome of the crystal +skull, as though for support. His face had grown hard as steel. + +"It is therefore incumbent upon me, not in satisfaction of your +curiosity, my dear Laurence, but in satisfaction of my own sense of +rectitude, that I should accept this opportunity of stating the +following facts. I inherited this property--as you will shortly inherit +it--from an uncle, a man very much my senior. I had prosecuted my +studies abroad, in the learned centres of Germany and France, from an +early age. My acquaintance with my uncle was slight. I knew little of +his private life. But I had reason to believe him a person of an +undisciplined mind, imbued with the extravagant socialistic views +current during the French Revolution, unbridled alike in passions of +love and of hate. Questions of character have never interested me; I +therefore made no further inquiry regarding my predecessor's private +life. My own tastes and habits were already fixed. I settled myself here +and continued the studies in experimental physics, philology, and +metaphysics, in which I had already engaged. I also added to the +collection of pictures and objects of art that I found in the house. My +life has been blameless, as most men count blame. I can assert, without +fear of contradiction, that my moral and intellectual integrity have +been complete. Only in one connection have I been guilty, have I +failed--failed, as I now confess, miserably and grossly." + +Mr. Rivers paused a moment. His fingers twitched as they rested upon the +crystal skull. + +"Miserably and grossly," he repeated. "The vulgar gossip which you have +heard rests upon a basis of truth. I cannot deny the existence of +supernatural manifestations, so called, in one quarter of this house. +They are undeniable. I have witnessed them myself." + +Laurence felt a queer shiver of excitement run through him. He sat very +still.--"Then I wasn't asleep after all," he said to himself, "in that +room last night." + +"The said manifestations were not only disturbing and distasteful to me; +but I perceived that their existence threatened the validity of some of +my most carefully reasoned hypotheses, of some of my most ardently +cherished beliefs. Of vulgar physical fear, I need hardly tell you, I +was incapable; but I trembled before a dislocation of my thought. It +followed that I became guilty of an act of flagrant mental cowardice. I +refused to submit those manifestations to scientific investigation. I +never mentioned them to my correspondents. I took elaborate precautions +against ever witnessing them again myself. I made a determined effort to +erase the memory of them from my mind. I almost succeeded in forgetting +that I ever had witnessed them. Thus I tricked my own intelligence. I +lied to my own experience. I committed a crime against my own reason--a +crime which I can never hope to expiate." + +Moved by the passion of the elder man's self-denunciation, Laurence had +risen, and stood close to him. + +"Ah! surely you take it too hard--far too hard, sir," he said. + +But Mr. Rivers, looking up at him, answered sternly-- + +"A sin is heinous, not in itself, but in relation to the level of virtue +habitually maintained by whoso commits it. And so, even were I not +disabled, were I still capable of carrying out these investigations, the +unsparing prosecution of which could alone give proof of the sincerity +of my repentance, that could not really wipe out the iniquity of the +past. In morals I cannot logically admit the possibility of cancelling a +wrong once done. In the realm of physics we know that vibrations, once +generated, ring out everlastingly through space. To send forth a +contrary set of vibrations is not to limit, or cause the first generated +to cease. Their circles may intersect, yet they are practically +independent, and cannot neutralise one another. In the realm of morals +it is the same. The act once committed passes into the region of +persistent and indubitable fact. Of sins, both passive and active, this +is equally true. And consequently I am doomed--so long as I retain +conscious individuality--to remain hopelessly lowered in my +self-esteem." + +The sick man spoke with a fierceness of conviction, his voice usually +low and even swelling into full sonorous tones; his attenuated frame +vibrant with energy; his face illuminated, as though a lamp burned +behind that thin investiture of flesh and bone. Laurence saw in him, for +the moment, a great orator, more probably a great preacher, wasted. And +the thought of that waste of force, waste of power, stung him out of +indolence, out of mere easy good nature. He, at least, would +shilly-shally no more with life, but play the game--whatever the game +presenting itself--whole-heartedly. And again that queer shiver of +excitement ran through him; while again he reminded himself he had now +reliable testimony that he had met with something far stranger, more +incalculable and mysterious, than any vision of a dream, in that +clear-coloured room downstairs last night. He stood silent, thinking +intently, feeling keenly, his whole nature alert. But a small rustling +sound, as of a chill wind among dry leaves in a winter hedge, recalled +him to his immediate surroundings. Mr. Rivers had sunk back against the +silken cushions, which rustled under his weight. The light had died out +of his face, his hands clutched tremblingly at the crystal _memento +mori_ resting on his knees. For the first time Laurence realised how +very near--but for the indomitable strength of will which supported +him--he was to death. Laurence bent over him. + +"This is heavy, sir," he said, touching the crystal skull. "May I put it +back on the table?" + +Mr. Rivers bowed his head in assent. + +"We have talked too much. It would be wise, I think, for me to leave +you." + +"It would be so." + +"May I call your man before I go--I hardly like to leave you alone." + +"Thank you; he will come at the accustomed hour. I do not deviate from +habits once formed except under stress of necessity." + +Laurence was pushed by the desire to say something gentle, something +expressive of the honour in which he held his host's rectitude and +sincerity. But Mr. Rivers lay back motionless, his eyes closed. It was +difficult to find just the words he wished. He turned away towards the +door, when the elder man's voice recalled him. + +"Laurence," he said, "Laurence--one word before we part. If you should +see fit to undertake those investigations of which we have spoken, and +in face of which I showed myself unfaithful and a craven--remember I +press nothing upon you, I leave you free to undertake them or not as you +please--I have one request to make of you." + +"Yes, sir," he answered. + +"It is this--that you will under no circumstances communicate the result +of those investigations to any person save myself, and only to me should +I definitely ask you to do so. Will you give me your word?" + +"I give you my word, sir." + +And with the feeling that he had bound himself to an engagement of +unlooked-for solemnity, the young man went out into the steady +brightness of the corridor, while--as last night--the odour of the +orchids met him, enfolding him in their thick, musky sweetness, half-way +down the dark, shining, oaken-stairs. + + + + +X + + +As he pulled the edge of the heavy, leather-lined curtain towards him, +Laurence laughed a little, in part at his own eagerness, in part defiant +of scruples. Waking in the small hours, as a baby-child, he had often +imagined that, could he climb the high rails of his cot and steal back +unperceived to the day-nursery, he would find all his toys alive and +stirring, at play on their own account. And this conception of the +reversal of the natural order of things, while it frightened him, yet +enchanted his fancy. Something of that childish alarm and enchantment +arose in him now. He felt about to bid farewell to common-sense, +possibly--to usual established habits of thought, assuredly. He was +about to commit himself to an untried element; offering himself as sport +to seas unsounded as yet, to unknown forces which might prove malign and +merciless. While the promise, by which he had so lately bound himself, +introduced into the coming experience an element of secrecy that +made--as enforced secrecy so often does make--for a rather dangerous +degree of personal liberty. + +So he turned the door-handle not without expectation. And this time +expectation suffered no disappointment. In front of the tall, satin-wood +escritoire, her back towards him, her delicate hands wandering anxiously +over the painted and polished surface, he beheld once more the slender, +rose-clad figure. + +Laurence drew in his breath with a sigh of satisfaction. He crossed the +room boldly to-night and stood beside her; and her pale, ethereal +loveliness entranced him as he spoke. + +"Listen to me," he said. "We are strangers to one another--so strangely +strangers that I half distrust the evidence of my senses, as, only too +conceivably, you distrust the evidence of yours. I don't pretend to +understand what distance of time, or space, or conditions, separates us. +I only know that I see you, and that you are unhappy, and that you +search for something you are unable to find.--Look here, look +here--listen to me and try to lay hold of this idea--that I am a friend, +not an enemy; that I come to help, not to hinder you. Try to enter into +some sort of relation with me. Try to cross the gulf which seems to lie +between us. Try to believe that you have found some one who will keep +faith with you, and do his best to serve you; and believing that, put +sorrow out of your face--" + +He stopped suddenly. When he began speaking he might have been +addressing a sleep-walker or a person in a trance. There was no +speculation in her sweet eyes. They were wild with a wondering distress, +looking on him as though not seeing him. But as he continued to plead +with her--speaking slowly, pausing at the close of each sentence in the +hope that the sense of his words might so reach and arrest her--a +gradual change came over her aspect, as of one awakening from prolonged +and troubled slumber. There was a dawning of intelligence in her +expression, as in that of a little child first struggling to apprehend +and measure, not by means of its senses merely, but in obedience to the +conscious effort of its mind. The drooping corners of the mouth +straightened, turned upward, the lips breaking into a timid, questioning +smile. She stretched herself a little, clenched her fists gently, rubbed +her eyes with them in innocent, baby fashion, stretched again, and then +looked full at Laurence--a woman shy, diffident, but in possession of +her faculties, expectant, and alive. + +"Yes--yes--there, that's right. Now you look, as you used to, look as +you should," he exclaimed, his voice low, shaken with very vital +excitement. He felt as when--once or twice--bringing a racing yacht in +to the finish, a fair spread of blue water between her stern and her +competitor's bows, he had felt her pace quicken while the tiller +throbbed and danced under his hand. A buoyancy of heart, a delicious +conviction of successful attainment was upon him. Sportsman and poet +alike rejoiced in Laurence just then, and the spiritual side of his +nature was touched as well. He seemed to have witnessed a glad +resurrection, enforcing belief in the immortality of the soul, as he +gazed on this lovely face in which reason, hope, even gaiety, were so +visibly born anew. + +"Never mind about that which you have lost," he said. "Let it be for the +present. We will arrive at it in time sure enough--leave all that to me. +You want these drawers opened, their locks picked?--Well, that shall be +done all in good time. But whatever treasures we find there will be but +a trifle, it strikes me, compared with that which we have already found +to-night. For I have found you--found you once more--and you, thank God, +have found yourself." + +Again his companion stretched, and passed her hands across her eyes, +while her lips parted in a soundless sigh. Silence held her yet, but +that appeared to make singularly little difference in their intercourse. +For he perceived that she understood, that she sympathised, that she too +was penetrated with quick, intimate joy, and an exquisite and innocent +good-fellowship, as plainly as though a very torrent of eloquent +explanation and asseveration had issued from her mouth. Indeed, this +wordlessness had for him an extraordinary charm. Far from a power being +lacking, it was to him as though a new power had been granted, and that +the most subtle and convincing to the heart. + +Laurence stood tall, upright, in the full pride of his young manhood, of +his virile energy and strength, before this slender fairy-lady, with her +softly gleaming jewels, her dainty frills and laces, her clinging +rose-red, old-world, silken gown, and held out his hands to her. + +"Come," he said, "the night is fair and windless and full of stars. +Shall we go out into it and read the great poem of the sky and the +woodland while all men sleep, you and I--good comrades, old friends, +though as most mortals count meeting, we have met each other, it would +seem, but twice?--You have known sad things. Well, forget them. You have +searched vainly for lost things. Well, forget them too. The finest house +at best remains somewhat of a prison, and this room is pervaded by +melancholy memories. Leave it. Let us give the past, give convention, +give reason even, the slip for once--and go." + +For a minute or more she hesitated, looking at Laurence profoundly, as +though trying to read his inmost thought. Then she laid her hand in his. +It had neither weight nor substance, but touched his palm as a light +summer wind might have touched his cheek, or a butterfly's wings might +have fluttered, with a just perceptible pulsation, within the hollow of +his hands. + +And so Laurence threw open the high French window, and together they +passed out onto the grey, semicircular flight of steps. Immediately +below lay the Italian garden--its formal flower-borders, its faintly +dripping fountains, its black, spire-like cypresses, white balustrades +and statues, vague, mysterious, in the starlight. The great lawns +stretched away beyond, crossed by the broad gravel walk, which showed +pale for some fifty yards, and then was lost in the dusky shadow of the +grove of lime-trees. In the north was a wide, white light +travelling--since the March nights now grew short--along the horizon, +through the quiet hours, from the last death-flush of sunset to the +first birth-flush of the dawn. + +Lawrence watched his companion anxiously as her little feet in their +diamond-powdered slippers crossed the window-sill. With that impalpable +hand in his, that scarcely perceptible flutter--as of a captive +butterfly--against his fingers, he could not but entertain fears that +the strong open air might work some change in her; that she might be +drawn up and absorbed by the sharp, glittering starlight; that she +might be resolved into nothingness by the keen breath of the night, or +that some sturdy sea-breeze might arise and blow her quite away. But +such as she was--woman, or sprite, or visitant from beyond the gates of +the grave--she remained by his side. And together they passed down the +garden alleys, and lingered by the dripping fountains watching the +sleepless fish that moved--silent as the dainty lady herself--through +the water of the lichen-encrusted, stone basins. They stood together +beneath the dark cypresses which, even on winter nights, smell dry and +warm of the south, and talk in husky, whispering accents of classic +lands--of marble columns mellow with age, and saffron-plastered walls, +over which great vines hang, and in the hot cracks of which scorpions +breed, and light-footed lizards glance and scamper. And, still together, +they went on--the unspoken sympathy between them growing, +deepening--down the second flight of steps and along the broad, +gravelled way. Here, in the open space, the whole panorama of the +heavens was disclosed; and then, almost in spite of himself, Laurence +broke into utterance. He talked, as never, even in his most brilliant +moments, he had talked before. The scene was so majestic, and moreover +he had so perfect a listener, every movement of whose graceful body, +every glance of whose profound and gentle eyes expressed comprehension, +accord--as when the violin strings answer, in exquisite melody, to the +skilfully handled bow. + +And so forgetting himself, ceasing to exercise that +reticence--half-humorous, half-reverent--with which, as with a cloak, +modern, civilised man strives to hide the noblest and purest of his +thought, Laurence laid bare his heart and soul to his sweet companion. +He told her tender, trivial incidents of his youth and childhood--in +themselves of little moment, yet such as leave an indelible mark on the +imagination and character. He told her of the splendid hopes of his +opening manhood, when, with the magnificent self-confidence of +inexperience, the whole world seemed his to conquer if he pleased. He +told her of those plays and poems, so full of promise that, could he +have realised the fulness of his own conceptions, they must have +rendered his name famous through all the coming years. He told her, +too, of those brief, fugitive moments of spiritual illumination, when he +had felt himself draw very near to the ultimate meaning and purpose of +things; when he had apprehended God as the Eternal Lover, the soul of +man as the Eternal Bride, and how, in the light of that blessed +apprehension, all confusion had ceased, all life, all death, becoming at +once very simple and very holy, guiltless alike of suffering and of +shame. + +Then--as they wandered yet further into the thin shadow of the still +leafless lime-trees, and, sitting for a while upon the stone bench +beside the broad, dim walk, looked forth under the down-sweeping +branches, to the vast expanse of the distant country--he descended from +discourse of these high matters. He told her of the joys of manly sports +and pastimes, and of the still greater joys of travel and adventure, in +far countries, among alien peoples, by land and sea. + +Thus did the hours pass in glad and fearless communion of heart with +heart, and soul with soul, while upon the horizon the white light walked +slowly, surely eastward. And then, at last, it seemed as though some +disturbing thought invaded his fairy-lady's mind, causing her attention +to waver, her gentle gaiety to wane. The purport of that thought +Laurence failed to read, and this troubled him with a sensation of +helplessness, as though a gulf was once again opening between his state +of being and hers, which he was powerless to cross. She rose from her +place beside him and moved restlessly to and fro. And when he pleaded +with and questioned her, she moved yet further from him, and stood with +one hand raised as imploring silence. She appeared to listen for some +call, some summons, quite other than welcome, for he could see the +corners of her dear mouth droop once more, while her eyes grew shy and +wild. Unwillingly as though constrained by some force she did not love +yet must obey, she passed out on to the clear, smooth spaces of the +great lawns. The grass blades were touched with a whiteness of frost; +but Laurence observed that neither her footsteps, nor the little frills +bordering her gown as they swept it, left any track upon the spangled +turf. + +Sheep bells sounded plaintively from some far-off fold. Rabbits slipped +out timorously from the edge of the wood to take their morning feed, +and, perceiving no threatening presence, waxed bold, skipping and +gambolling upon the frosty grass. Then with a sullen roar, breaking up +the gracious quiet of nature with the hoarse voice of man's business, +man's necessity of labour, and unappeasable unrest, a train thundered +along the valley, leaving a long trail of pale smoke hanging among the +grey-brown masses of the indistinguishable trees. + +The roar died out as it had come, sullen and imperative to the last. +There followed a pause as though for a minute or two all nature, all +living creatures, held their breath. And then from the near stables, and +from distant homestead and farm, cocks challenged one another--some in +tones high and shrill, some faint and low--heralding the sunrise and +telling all the world that day was once more born. + +Immediately, to his consternation, Laurence beheld his lovely companion +and friend turn away; and, without farewell, without smallest apparent +recollection of his presence, flit--as some bird, or rather as some +rose-red rose-leaf driven by a storm wind--across the lawns, past the +dripping fountains and sighing cypresses of the Italian garden, back, +back, up the grey steps and in at the open window of the silent house. + +He followed her rapidly. The sun-rays shot up into the eastern sky as he +crossed the window-sill. Within, the glory of the sunrise struggled with +the unyielding glare of the electric light. Every object, every corner +and recess, was clearly seen. But the room was vacant. Once again his +fairy-lady had vanished leaving no trace, her sweet presence was removed +and Laurence found himself alone. + + + + +XI + + +Something drummed and drummed; and, in obedience to that sound, it +appeared to Laurence that he returned--whence he knew not--across the +most prodigious spaces ever traversed by the spirit of man. Then the +matter explained itself. He was on board ship once again, awakened to +the familiar pounding of the engines and drum of the screw. Opening his +eyes, they would rest on the white iron and wooden walls of his +state-room, and the alert figure of his bedroom steward, +announcing--"Fair morning, sir; bath ready, sir." And this impression +was so distinct that it took him some seconds to focus his actual +whereabouts--the stately and serious bed-chamber at Stoke Rivers, and +the portly person of Watkins, the under-butler, standing at the bedside, +a silver tea-tray in his large, soft hands. + +"I beg your pardon, sir, but I have been up twice already and received +no answer," he said, his manner correct and respectful as ever, but his +face wearing, for once, an expression of quite human solicitude--or was +it curiosity? "I spoke to Mr. Renshaw and Mr. Lowndes, and they +considered it advisable that I should enter, sir. Mr. Renshaw and Mr. +Lowndes felt, with me, not quite comfortable, sir, knowing your habit of +early rising." + +Watkins set down the tray carefully, turning out the corners of the fine +napkin which covered it. + +"Your tea, your letters, sir," he added, and then paused. + +Laurence tried to rouse himself. Shipboard and the pounding engines were +a delusion clearly. But was the night of sweet converse, and the +flitting away of a rose-clad, slender figure at the first flush of dawn, +a delusion likewise? + +"Oh yes, thanks, Watkins, I am all right," he said absently. "I've slept +late, have I? What time is it?" + +"Between ten minutes and a quarter past eleven when I passed through the +hall," the man answered. "Any orders for the stables, sir?" + +Laurence was tearing open his letters. One was addressed in his wife's +large and elaborate hand. Laughing at her, one day before their +marriage, he had declared that did she possess half the amount of +character suggested by these opulent hieroglyphics, there would +positively be no getting to the end of it, so that his work clearly was +cut out for him for the rest of his natural life. Now the sight of that +handwriting--though he had possibly ceased to regard it as a perfectly +trustworthy index to its writer's personality--affected him with a +movement of vague self-reproach. For, as sleep left him, Laurence +entertained less and less doubt of the actuality of the existence of his +rose-clad fairy-lady; or of the fact that he had spent hours with +her--hours, blameless it is true, yet beautiful beyond all remembered +hours of his experience. And though he had done no wrong, yet the very +beauty of those hours--since she had not shared it--constituted a +certain subtle, subjective infidelity towards his wife. This pricked his +conscience the more, that he perceived Virginia must have written to him +by the very next mail, but three days after he had sailed. And that was +rather charming and thoughtful of her, for she had innumerable +engagements claiming her time and attention, and was by no means +addicted to anxiety regarding the absent. "Why should she worry," as she +remarked at parting, "everybody was always crossing now, and you hardly +ever heard of any one not getting to the other side safely enough." +Therefore it seemed to Laurence it would be a duty, perhaps also a +little salve to his conscience, to do something pleasing--however +remotely--to Virginia. He had an order for the stables. He would ride +over to luncheon with her friend and admirer, Mrs. Bellingham, at +Bishop's Pudbury. + +Once on his feet, Laurence was somewhat surprised at his own sensations. +He found himself singularly tired, as a man may be by some prolonged +concentration of brain or of will. He felt as though he had made some +tremendous mental effort; and, now that it was over, depression held +both his mind and body. His spirits were not as buoyant as usual, nor +was his thought clear. He felt dazed, and incapable of grappling with +the strange problems raised by the events of the last twenty-four hours. +The swing of possibility they suggested was too great. The average, the +_banal_ attracted him, as a narcotic attracts one in pain. For the +moment he suffered something approaching repulsion towards his recent +exaltation and amazing, half-realised discoveries. He wanted to get back +on to the ordinary lines of things--be amused, be a trifle stupid, +laugh, gossip, forget. + +The sun had long since burnt up that sprinkling of frost upon the grass. +The air was fragrant and mild. Catkins fringed the hazel twigs, while in +the shelter of the deep lanes leaves showed tenderly green. The sap had +risen in the trees, so that a broken branch bled. Indications of +fertility and growth were everywhere, Nature sensibly putting forth her +strength after the sleep of winter. The road which Laurence followed, +after crossing the park, turned upward under overhanging trees, and +skirted the low, stone wall of the churchyard. And the contrast between +this last resting-place of human corpses and the perpetual and so +evident fecundity of Nature struck home to him, yet not distressfully. +He was not wholly unwilling, in his present mood, to welcome the thought +of eventual rest. + +He checked his horse, and waited, looking at the place again,--at its +dark, feathery yew-trees, its narrow mounds, ranged decently in line--on +the surface of which the spring grass raised innumerable blades of vivid +green--at its simple monuments, that showed not merely a name and date +of departure, but time-honoured words of faith in the justice and mercy +of Almighty God. There was an unoccupied space on the hither side of the +enclosure, lying pleasantly open to the sun. The grey wall of the +chancel, pierced by low, round-headed windows, backed it. A bush of +_Pyrus Japonica_ was trained around and between these windows; and the +flowers, showing up against their black stems, spread garlands of pure, +hot colour over the face of the rough stone. Laurence, to whom the +disposal of his body after death had, heretofore, appeared a matter of +extreme unimportance, was overtaken by a sudden eagerness to secure for +himself rights of burial in this serene and sun-visited spot. + +"After all, it must come to me, sooner or later, as to all the rest," he +thought; "and why shouldn't I provide for the event according to my +fancy? I'll talk to the poor little parson about it. Perhaps he'll be +easier regarding the state of my soul and my prospects of salvation if I +make provision for my latter end by staking out a burial-plot. I wonder +what Virginia would say to that? Probably she's a little transatlantic +weakness for embalmers and mausoleums. Mother Earth's lap is best, +though, I think!" + +And then riding onward, all in the fair spring weather, though he tried +to put the thought from him, his heart was somewhat troubled by that +flitting, rose-clad figure once again--by the lovely, speechless lips, +to which he had brought gentle gaiety, and the profound and serious +eyes, to which he had brought human sympathy and trust. Silent or not, +woman or disembodied spirit, she was a little too captivating for +safety. Should he inquire no further? But, in renouncing all further +intercourse with her, would he perpetrate an act of high moral courage, +or merely commit one of intellectual cowardice, such as that already +committed by his uncle? Here was a problem not easy of solution. +Laurence straightened himself in the saddle, and pressed his horse a +little. Bishop's Pudbury would be a relief, and should be reached with +as small delay as possible. He would try to be amused, a little stupid, +to laugh, gossip, and forget--for a time at all events. + +Mrs. Bellingham, certainly, offered an excellent contrast to the spirit +of his present perturbations. She was a notable example of modern +civilisation, guiltless of all mysterious or primitive suggestion. Her +prettiness was considerable, according to a neat and unaccentuated type. +Her manner was vivacious, her attitudes many but sincere. She wore +these--so to speak--to bring out the value of her conversation, as she +wore her irreproachably constructed clothes to bring out those of her +plump and carefully preserved figure. Her light-brown hair was parted in +the middle, waved, and puffed out over the ears--this in imitation of +the fashion lately patronised by Virginia Rivers. The set of her purple, +boxcloth coat and skirt pleased Laurence's eye, as did that of her white +satin and lace blouse. She was really admirably turned out--according to +current standards of fashion. She greeted her guest, moreover, with that +happy combination of self-consciousness and self-assurance, which has in +it at once a flavour of compliment and promise of worthy entertainment. +Mrs. Jack Bellingham would never do anything very great; but she aspired +and succeeded in doing the small things of life remarkably well. + +"Why, Mr. Rivers, this is quite too charming for anything," she said. +"But, unfortunately, I am alone here with my children. I devote a great +deal of time now to my children. My husband has gone up to town for the +day." + +"So much the better," Laurence answered cheerfully. "I didn't come to +see Jack, dear Mrs. Bellingham, but wholly and solely to see you. +Virginia charged me with innumerable messages. And then there are a +whole lot of people we both know I want to talk to you about--a few +multiplications, subtractions, and divisions, you know, not without a +humorous side to them here and there. Will you keep me to luncheon? Oh! +that's awfully good of you." + +The Pudbury manor-house had lately undergone reconstruction, thereby +gaining in convenience what it lost in distinction. It was now as well +designed to meet modern requirements, as finished, as generally +presentable and as little of an enigma, as its present hostess. Laurence +contemplated the elegant, if slightly unhomelike, room with a movement +of ironical satisfaction. Its contents were as agreeably obvious and +unrecondite as the style and plot of a current magazine story. It made +no demand upon the intelligence or the emotions. And Laurence had been +in contact with quite other literary subject-matter lately--problems of +love, morals, metaphysics, not unworthy to inspire the magnificent +obscurities of Browning, or the fine frenzies of Shelley's lyrics. +Therefore he hailed the emotional limitations of his existing +environment. The indolent side of his nature was paramount. He settled +down to chatter genially about Tom, Dick, and Harry, and the fair ladies +interested in those worthies, or in whom those worthies were interested. +He was amused and amusing, relished his luncheon, his hostess's smart +talk, and enjoyed countless reminiscences of Newport and New York. And, +as the ease of this attitude of mind began to grow on him, the question +very forcibly presented itself:--why strain? Why not always drift thus +pleasantly and comfortably down the smooth stream of worldly prosperity? +Why try to plumb the depths lying below that smiling surface? For does +not this, in the majority of cases, involve an expenditure of energy out +of all proportion to the worth of the result? To be light-in-hand and +light-of-heart--was not that after all the truest philosophy? To what a +hopelessly dreary pass had not the elder Mr. Rivers brought himself by +thinking otherwise; and taking his studies, his opinions, himself, in +short, so seriously! + +So, sipping his coffee in the drawing-room after luncheon, while Mrs. +Bellingham maintained the flow of conversation in penetrating and +emphatic tones, Laurence thought--yes, on the whole, he did think--it +would be wiser and better, to retire upon the former lines of his +life,--to eschew high ambitions of sorts, and fall back upon the works +and ways of _l'homme moyen sensuel_, upon the great, good-natured, +uninspired Commonplace, of which his uncle had accredited him with being +so oblivious and complete an exponent. He thought--notwithstanding the +tightening of some cord at his heart, perhaps moral, perhaps merely +physical--yes, honestly he did think he had better do that, and make his +decision here and now. Judging by past experience, he was doomed in all +departments to be second, not to say third-rate. Well, then, best accept +that doom smiling. To do so might hurt vanity a bit, yet undoubtedly +there would be consolations. Laurence set down his coffee-cup with a +little lift of the eyebrows and shoulders, and an expression of +countenance somewhat cynical. He would coquet no longer with fairy, +rose-clad ladies--he would decline the so strangely offered adventure. + +"The truth is, I'm not big enough for it," he thought to himself +ruefully. + +"You know just how I feel about Virginia," his hostess was saying. "She +is a perfectly lovely woman in every way, and her social sense amounts +to genius. The thought of her being over makes it possible for me to +contemplate spending another winter here in the country. I look forward +to seeing Virginia lay hold of this neighbourhood and just put it +through. Her brightness, and _verve_, and _savoir faire_ will be a +perfect revelation. She will positively electrify every person within a +fifteen mile radius. But--" + +And there the speaker paused. For along the carriage-drive, all in the +pleasant sunshine, the children of the house, a trifle inebriated by +recent dinner of chicken and rice pudding, by freedom, and the open air, +went forth with shoutings and laughter for their afternoon walk. First +Sybil and her younger sister, arrayed in straight, scarlet jackets, +beneath which showed a long length of tan boot and tan stocking, +encasing very active legs. Then the portly coachman, leading a donkey, +upon which the three-year-old son and heir of the Bellingham family, +also scarlet-coated, made a first essay in horsemanship. Finally, two +nurses clothed in white. The little girls ran wildly, their gay figures +backed by a bank of shrubbery--rusty red of berberis and glinting green +of laurels--while the pink and azure balloon-balls they carried were +whisked heavenward by the wind to the uttermost length of each tethering +string. Around the procession, barking, circling, jumping high in air +after the floating balls, and even threatening assault of the donkey's +nose, skirmished a couple of rough Irish terriers. The donkey shied, +the coachman admonished, a laughing nurse ran forward and clutched the +small cavalier by the outstanding skirt of his coat and by the seat of +his nether garments. The little girls shrieked and capered, and in such +hilarious fashion the company passed out of sight. + +Laurence Rivers's eyes rested rather wistfully upon the scene. It +belonged to the great, good-natured, uninspired Commonplace upon which +he was just agreeing with himself to retire; and it offered a comely and +wholesome enough example of the same. Mrs. Bellingham also had turned +towards the window, and the expression of her neat face had softened. +The self-consciousness, the worldliness therein usually displayed, were +in abeyance, while the beautiful content of motherhood was regnant, +visibly enthroned. Laurence had never supposed she could look so +charming, and he could have found it in his heart to envy his friend +Jack Bellingham. Very early in their connection Virginia had pointed out +to him, with consummate tact but entire lucidity, that the modern +husband, who marries a fascinating woman of society and really +appreciates her, will give proof of such appreciation by relegating the +matter of child-bearing to a dim and distant future. It will come all in +good time no doubt, but it can wait. For is not it really a little too +much, in these days of enlightened equality between man and woman, to +require the latter to forego amusement, to endure serious discomfort, +risk her freshness and her figure, even come within measurable +distance--in not infrequent cases--of the supremely foolish calamity of +death?--Political economy and the health of the race notwithstanding, +let the poor breed; let the obscure breed; let that innumerable company +of women, to whom life offers so much of a trial and so little of a +pastime, that in the sum-total of their infelicity one pain or peril the +more cannot make any appreciable difference--let these breed. But spare +the fair Virginias, those fine flowers of wealth and worldly +circumstance, to whom Fortune shows so radiant a face! It is simple +justice and reason so to do--at least such had been Virginia's argument. + +But as Laurence now reflected--wiser by some year and a half's +experience of woman and matrimony--if life on the lines of the +Commonplace is to afford its legitimate compensations, it must not be +trained too fine, or jockeyed too carefully. The man's ear must not be +too ready to hear specious arguments, nor his imagination to entertain +too elaborate sympathies. He must compel those said fine flowers to bow +their heads to the common yoke. All his life he--Laurence--had been +liable to stultify himself by permitting his imagination to turn up in +the wrong place. What good luck to have been born, like his friend +cheery Jack Bellingham, devoid of that embarrassing faculty! Good luck +for Jack himself, and for his wife--who just looked so delightfully +pretty--and for those three nice, shouting, scarlet-coated, small +Bellinghams, otherwise only too probably non-existent. + +Laurence had ceased suddenly to be much amused; had ceased to relish +discussion of mutual friends, reminiscence or anecdote. He rose with the +intention of bidding his hostess farewell; but her self-consciousness, +her manner and manners, came back with a snap. + +"Why, Mr. Rivers, you do not propose to leave yet," she protested. "I am +not half through with our conversation, I assure you. We have not yet +approached the subject upon which I am most keen for first-hand +information. I am perfectly wild to hear on what terms you believe +Virginia, with her bright, fearless, highly-developed, modern +temperament, will be with your family spectre." + + + + +XII + + +Laurence drew himself up with a sharp sensation of annoyance, geniality +and wistfulness alike departing from his aspect. The matter had never +presented itself to him in this combination before, and it offended his +taste, even, in a degree, his sense of decency. He paused a moment, and +then took refuge in slight insincerity. + +"Always assuming, dear Mrs. Bellingham, that there is a family spectre +for Virginia, or anybody else, to be on terms with?" + +"Why, you do not really propose to call that thrilling fact in +question?" the lady answered, very brightly. "That would be too +mortifying. It would constitute the climax of the _ennui_ from which I +have suffered during the many months of this English winter. I had +promised myself at least one vital sensation when you and I should meet, +and you should tell me the true, inward history of that romantic, old +house of yours, Stoke Rivers." + +She sat in an attitude, arranged the folds of her boxcloth shirt, +patted the lace into place about her neck. + +"You make me feel very badly," she said. + +Laurence objected to soiling his conscience by lying at least as much as +most men. But surely, he argued, there are cases of justifiable perjury, +as of justifiable homicide. + +"I am awfully sorry," he said, "to dash your hopes of a sensation. But, +you see, neither the romantic, old house or its inward history are my +property as yet, so I can't give either away however much I may desire +to do so." + +"I know it. I do not ask you to commit any indiscretion. I do not ask +you to tell me anything." + +Laurence braced himself. + +"How fortunate, since there's nothing to tell!" he said. + +His hostess looked hard at him for a moment, and then at the floor. + +"There was a time, before I lived among them, when I believed the +English to be a simple and undiplomatic nation," she said. "I know +better now." + +Laurence was half-amused, half-irritated. + +"Oh, come!" he retorted, "it's too bad to make it an international +question." + +"I had promised myself such a fine time in that house," she continued, +still gazing abstractedly at the floor. "Virginia is, I consider--and I +believe you know that--the most perfectly lovely woman of my +acquaintance. She represents the last word of our American culture; and +I would advise every young girl, who was ambitious of social success, to +study her as a model. She catches right on to everything new at once, +and her power of repartee is great. My admiration for Virginia is so +overpowering, that it would really be a wonderful encouragement to my +self-respect to get a step ahead of her for once. Well, I concluded I +could do that in a perfectly legitimate manner. I planned to ask you to +let me go right around that house from cellar to garret, and acquaint +myself with the whole interior. I wanted to see it before Virginia had +brought our younger and more complex Western civilisation to bear upon +it. I promised myself great gratification from doing that." + +As she finished speaking, Mrs. Bellingham raised her eyes. That she was +in earnest, keenly inquisitive, there could be no doubt. + +"But, unhappily, in asking that you would be asking me to commit the +greatest possible indiscretion," Laurence answered, laughing a little. +"You see, my uncle is alive as yet. And while he lives I must obey +orders." + +"Orders?" + +"Yes; and they are such preposterously unchivalrous orders that I +tremble to mention them to you." + +Mrs. Bellingham looked away. She grew a trifle anxious, having the +greatest fear of hearing anything even remotely, morally or socially, +incorrect. But the young man's manner tended to reassure her. He +appeared particularly engaging at that moment. + +"Yes, it will shock you," he said, "shock you outrageously, coming as +you do from a country where no member of your delightful sex is ever +requested to take a back seat. My uncle is a brilliantly clever person, +but on some points he is a little mad. And simply at Stoke Rivers--I +blush to mention it--no woman is admitted, no woman is permitted to +exist." + +Mrs. Bellingham's eyes positively flashed, her face went extremely pink. + +"But this is the most unparalleled country!" she exclaimed. "Mr. Rivers, +do you seriously intend me to believe that no lady may enter that house? +Why, I ask you, how is it possible to conduct a domestic establishment +under such circumstances?" + +"Ah! that's the worst of it," Laurence said. He was beginning to be +amused again. "I tell you, the condition of that house suggests the most +awful reflections." + +"I am glad to hear it." + +"Yes, awful," he repeated. "For it is the best mounted, the best served, +the best kept house I have ever stayed in. It is as clean as a new pin. +The whole thing moves on wheels--and yet never the trace of a petticoat! +It follows that one is assailed by the unholy suspicion that woman may +be, after all, a quite superfluous luxury; and that the work of the +world, even in its humble, domestic aspects, can get along just as well +without her. My uncle entertains this opinion anyhow, and gives the most +convincing practical exposition of it. He has supplied me with a large +amount of information under this head; and, upon my word, I'm afraid I +am beginning to see the force of his arguments. After that, I'd better +go, hadn't I?" + +"Well, I really believe perhaps you had," she answered. For once she +looked perplexed, almost flurried. Her face was still decidedly pink. +But she rallied herself, and fired a parting shot.--"Unless," she added, +"to make amends for having told me so very plainly that my presence +would not be tolerated at Stoke Rivers, you relent and give me the whole +story of that family spectre." + +Laurence raised his head sharply, and once more his sense of amusement +evaporated. The return to this theme jarred on him. The lady's +persistence appeared to him in singularly bad taste. The reiteration of +that word angered him moreover. In hearing it he was sensible of a turn +in his blood, as though an insult were being offered to one very dear to +him. + +"Spectre?" he said slowly. "Pardon me--I--I don't quite follow you. What +spectre?" + +His hostess was roused in her turn. + +"Why, Mr. Rivers, what has happened to you?" she inquired. "What have I +said to disturb your equanimity? I had not supposed you to be so +sensitive." + +Whereupon the folly of his anger became extremely apparent to Laurence; +the more so that he had so recently concluded to eschew ambitious +adventures and decline upon the large and unexciting levels of the +Commonplace. In those regions hasty resentments, hot blood, the +fine-gentleman-duelling-spirit, in short, is clearly out of the picture. +And then, why quarrel with Mrs. Bellingham of all people? She was a very +charming, little person, specially when--as just now--her glance dwelt +fondly upon her red-coated babies and their escort of nurses, donkey, +and dogs. If she had trodden on his toes, it was unwittingly, and +without any intention of malice. So he proceeded to make _amende +honorable_ with proper despatch. + +"Forgive me," he said; "I am an idiot. But the legends to which my poor +old uncle's crankiness have given rise really begin to get upon my +brain. Wherever I go they crop up. You can understand it becomes a +little exasperating.--Good-bye. I have had a delightful time. Love to +Jack." + +The lady smiled upon him, yet with an air of criticism and slight +reserve. + +"Oh yes," she said, "certainly, Mr. Rivers, love to Jack. But I am going +to write to Virginia and report on our interview. I believe it is +incumbent on me as a true friend to do that.--Yes, you may come again +just as soon as you like. Now, do I not display a perfectly lovely +spirit in inviting you here after you have done just all you know to +explode my romance? Mr. Rivers, this day will leave a scar. I know it. I +do regret that spectre." + +Laurence smiled back, looking down at her. + +"Yes, it's a pity, isn't it," he said, "ever to explode a romance? There +aren't too many of them about. Perhaps I too could find it in my heart +to regret that spectre." + +And there, at least, the young man spoke truth, for regrets pursued him +on his homeward way. All this talk, moreover, was a nuisance, an +intolerable nuisance. And, though he did not stay to analyse the +probabilities of when and how, he apprehended up-croppings, +developments, and ramifications of the said nuisance in the future. Mrs. +Bellingham's question, as to the attitude Virginia might adopt towards +the occult element in her husband's fine inheritance, was more +uncomfortably pertinent than the questioner could by any means have +imagined. It suggested most disturbing complications. Thus Laurence rode +onward heedlessly, harassed by vexatious and perplexing thoughts. + +"What a confounded bother it all is!" he exclaimed impatiently. "I wish +to goodness the poor old man would live for ever--outlive me anyhow. +That would be the simplest solution of the situation." + +He raised his head and looked about him, then became aware that he must +have taken some wrong turn in the labyrinth of cross-country roads +between Bishop's Pudbury and Stoke Rivers, that he must have struck too +far southward and so lost his way. The mouth of the steep, rutted lane, +shut in by copse on either hand, which he had been following, now +debouched on a high-lying table-land. Small, rough fields bordered the +road, their crumbling, ill-kept banks bare of trees. Some fifty yards +ahead, where four roads crossed, stood a lonely, one-story, turnpike +house; it was six-sided, white-washed, and had a slated roof, rising +extinguisher-like to a single central chimney. Placed in an angle of the +intersecting roads, it was without garden ground. The turnpike-gate had +long ago disappeared; and the house, a thing that had lost its use and +become obsolete, was in a half-ruinous condition. An air of cheap +desolation pervaded it. Bundles of rags bulged from the broken +window-panes. Long-legged, high-shouldered fowls pecked and squatted in +the dust before the half-open door. Yet, seeing it, Laurence was +sensible that this unsightly building had a tally somewhere in his +memory, and claimed recognition. And this impression received unexpected +reinforcement when suddenly its squalid walls changed from dirty-white +to warm primrose, while the surviving glass in its rickety windows gave +off dazzling splendours of light. + +Anxious to learn the cause of this transformation, the young man drew +up, and, laying his right hand upon his horse's sleek quarters, turned +half round in the saddle, and stayed thus, looking and listening. + +The view was very noble. Southward the fall of the ground was +sufficiently abrupt to exclude all middle distance, with the result that +the rough grasses, withered bents and sorrel-stalks of the near +pasture-field were outlined against the immense sweep of the flat +coastline far below--this last, mauve, and russet, and dim green, was +broken here and there by a pallor of sandhills and the shimmer of +seaward-tending streams. Looking west, the suave contours of the Downs +and Beachy Head rose, in indigo and purple, against a great space of +saffron-coloured sky. Above them, but with a bar of strong light +between, heavy masses of purple-grey cloud gathered, from out which the +freshening wind blew chill. The sea, steel-blue and dashed with +white-capped waves, lifted a hard, serrated edge against the horizon. + +All this Laurence saw. It made a rather splendid picture, big with the +drama of approaching storm. Yet he was persuaded something was lacking. +As three days ago upon first entering the yellow drawing-room at Stoke +Rivers, he had, after the first moment of surprise, instinctively looked +for certain ornaments and pieces of furniture, and derived a singular +satisfaction from the conviction that they still occupied their +accustomed place--so now and here, though to his knowledge he had never +before ridden across this piece of exposed and but half-reclaimed +common-land, or seen the great view under its existing aspect,--he +instinctively gazed seaward in search of that which should support his +half-awakened memory, and complete the scene to his satisfaction. For +surely--yes, surely--bowling up Channel, under crowded canvas, before +the freshening breeze, he should behold a fleet of some eight or ten +square-rigged East Indiamen, their carven poops standing high out of the +water,--vessels of about a thousand tons' burden, laden with tea and +spices, bales of delicate muslins and silks, flasks of utter, porcelain, +ivory fans, bright-hued parrots, and unseemly, little apes. + +And as convoy of these rich cargoes, to secure them, their merchant +captains and bronzed and sturdy crews, against the rapacity of +privateers sweeping out from St. Malo and other ports of Northern +France, he should behold--yes, surely he should--a couple of smart +English frigates, square-rigged too, whose clean scrubbed decks and the +black mouths of whose port holes displayed grim argument of cannon, +ready for action should occasion so demand. The ships, hugging the land +for greater safety from alert and hungry foes, seemed--while the wind +filled the bellying sails, straining their tall masts, as they heeled +upon that uneasy, blue-grey sea--like some flight of huge, +golden-plumage birds; for all the saffron glory now streaming from +beneath the gathering storm-clouds in the west must lie full on them. + +For such gallant sight Laurence watched, singularly moved, and with a +singular eagerness. And so clear was the vision to his mind, so +necessary to the completion of the scene upon which his eyes rested, +that for some moments he failed to distinguish where actuality ended +and hallucination began. He contemplated the creation of his own brain +in absorbed interest; then turned and looked at the rough road and +dilapidated turnpike house, and then again out to sea. Only a +black-hulled, ocean-going tramp, her deckhouses piled up amidships close +against her reeking funnel, laboured slowly down channel in the teeth of +the gusty breeze. This was all; and then the young man understood, not +without amazement, that the gallant show had been a thing of the +imagination only,--at most a thing remembered, but how and whence +remembered he could not tell. For how, upon any reasonable hypothesis, +could the memory of a man like himself of but just over thirty, put back +the clock by close upon a century, and disport itself with incidents +belonging by rights to, at least, two generations ago? It was all most +exceedingly strange. It amounted to being disquieting. Really he did not +half like it. Yet the imagined spectacle had been very inspiring all the +same. It had made his blood tingle, and had effectually (or +disastrously) exorcised that spirit of indolence and _laisser aller_ +which he had solicited to take up its abode with him. He sent his horse +forward at a sharp trot, while once again he proceeded to revise the +situation. + +For the idea presented itself that perhaps he had been over +self-confident, arrogating to himself a far greater freedom of will than +he, in point of fact, possessed. It was all very fine to foreswear +adventure, but what if adventure refused to be foresworn? He might +easily propose to decline upon modernity, mediocrity, and the +Commonplace; but what if these, as seemed just now highly probable, +asserted in unmistakable language their determination to have none of +him? He reflected that temperament may constitute your genius or your +fate, your opportunity or your ruin, as you have the wit to deal with +it; but that temperament is indestructible, and that escape from +it,--however inconvenient and contrary to your desire that temperament +may be,--is obviously and inherently impossible. + +As he meditated thus, the road he followed dipped slightly, leaving the +bare upland and passing along the under side of a thick belt of wood, +which cut off the seaward view. On the left, between the interspaces of +the hedgerow trees, the inland country now lay disclosed for many miles. +Clouds had gathered so rapidly in the last ten minutes that the sun was +obscured, and all the wide expanse was drowned in heavy violet and +indigo shadow. Only a ridge of hill, some three-quarters of a mile +distant, was caught by long shafts of wild, rainbow light, so that it +floated as a narrow, fish-shaped island upon the ocean of stormy colour. +And upon that island, uplifted, transmuted, etherealised, rendered at +once unreal yet insistent, vividly defined by the unnatural and +searching light, Laurence beheld Stoke Rivers--the long, low house, and +its double range of windows, its avenues, and carriage-ways, the block +of stable buildings; every detail of the Italian garden, its cypress +spires as of full-toned amethyst, its white balustrades and statues +iridescent as though made of long-buried Roman glass, its great lawns +green as malachite, the dome of its lime-grove touched by a dim glow as +of uncut rubies. In this strange and unearthly radiance, Stoke Rivers +seemed to call upon Laurence, to challenge his admiration, to assert its +existence and its claim upon his heart, with a singular power. It was +part of him, and he of it. It laid hands on his past and his future +alike. It refused to be taken lightly. As a woman wears her jewels to +startle and enthral a desired lover, so this dwelling-place of his +people arrayed itself in marvellous wise to conquer his wavering +allegiance and command his thought. It would force him not to disregard +its secrets. It wooed him to intimacy, to discovery. It cried to him +out, as it seemed, of some unplumbed depth of experience in himself. + +That night Mr. Rivers engaged his nephew until past midnight. His manner +was gracious, his mind, apparently, unusually at peace. His conversation +was remarkably brilliant, both in range of subject and readiness of +expression. First dealing with the earliest known examples of art, and +displaying critical acquaintance with Chaldean cylinders and stelæ, he +passed on to the persistent influence of Eastern ideas upon Western +religious thought. He discoursed of Hindu sacred literature and the +crowded pantheon of Hindu gods, noting how certain practices connected +with their worship and certain symbols pertaining to it have passed into +the common use of the Catholic Church. He discoursed of the Gnostic +sects, and their influence upon African and Syrian Christianity. Then, +invading the Spanish peninsular in the train of the Moors, he delivered +himself of a spirited disquisition upon Averrhoes, the lawyer +philosopher of Cordova, his doctrine of the Universal Reason and denial +of the immortality of the individual soul. + +Laurence went forth onto the bright, hot corridor, and paused at the +stairhead. He was honestly tired both in mind and body. He needed, and +would take, an honest night's rest. But one thing was sure. Whether he +had decided or merely yielded, whether he represented the positive or +negative element, he knew not; but this he did know, that the +Commonplace, and all the ease of it, might wait. He was not ready for +that just yet. + + + + +XIII + + +Of the first twelve keys, some slipped round without effect, some stuck +and were withdrawn with difficulty. But the wards of the thirteenth bit +into the lock, and the bolt gave with a click. Laying hold of the +cylindrical front of the escritoire, Laurence pushed it up and back. +Within, a row of arcaded pigeon-holes was disclosed; and on either side +these, a range of little drawers, the pale, bright wood of which +retained its pristine polish, while the colours of the painted +medallions adorning them were very fresh though frail. The cupids, the +little figures of lover and mistress, courtier and prince, were instinct +with vivacity and grace--the heedless vivacity, the artificial grace of +those over-ripe, luxurious periods which carry in their womb the seeds +of revolution and social catastrophe. Laurence was moved, observing it +all. Evidently the bolt had not been shot, the rounded front run back, +and this mimic world of fine-fanciful elegance displayed for many years. +And then this pretty toy of a thing seemed so slight and incongruous a +receptacle for the storage of momentous secrets. Yet that the secrets it +held were momentous, dealing with problems of life and death, subtle +transformations of flesh and spirit, the young man--notwithstanding the +soothing influences of a healthy night's rest, and the pre-eminently +unexciting ones of a grey, wet, March afternoon--felt no doubt. For he +had given in, as he believed, finally, to the adventure; and with that +giving in, his faith in the magnitude of it suffered, by natural +rebound, serious increase. + +So reverently, and as one who approaches a long disused shrine +containing promise of strange and precious relics, he opened the shallow +drawers and examined their contents. The first three were filled with +packets of letters, written on thin, discoloured paper, and tied, some +with pink, some with yellow, sarsenet ribbon. Each packet was neatly +dated, the dates ranging, as Laurence gathered in a first hasty survey, +from the year 1802 to the year 1805. The remaining drawers contained a +collection of objects, miscellaneous in character but united in the +thought (as he divined) of whoso placed them there, side by side, by +some exquisitely tender sentiment.--A man's paste shoe-buckles, square +and bowed, the silver settings of them tarnished to blackness, reposed +beside a woman's striped, waist ribbon, cinnamon and white, embroidered +in buds and scattered full-blown roses. Here were seals cut from +envelopes, the cracked and blistered wax of them impressed with the +Rivers's arms and crest; and a store of semi-transparent, delicately +tinted shells, spoils of some far-distant, southern coast. There were +trinkets, too, rings and bracelets of intricate Indian workmanship; and +a cluster of coral charms, of Neapolitan origin, with the tiny golden +hand, first and fourth fingers stiffly extended, which keeps off the +Evil Eye. Next, little posies, such as a lover might pluck and his +mistress might wear for an evening, pinned, to please him, in the bosom +of her dress. These last were pressed and flattened, the several hues of +the once radiant blossoms faded to an ashen uniformity of tint. They +were sadly brittle, too; and though Laurence raised them with careful +fingers, crumbled to nothingness under his touch. Then he lighted on a +man's watch, a great, gold warming-pan of a thing, with a guard of +black lustre ribbon and a bunch of heavy seals attached. The back of the +case bore the Rivers's crest--a bird of doubtful lineage, its wings +extended for flight, its talons holding something, which to Laurence +always appeared to bear humorous relation to a fool's cap. The case was +also engraved with the initials L. R. in flowing and ornate lettering. + +And over these initials Laurence paused. They piqued his curiosity. They +also, somewhat to his own amusement, provoked in him a feeling +suspiciously akin to jealousy. They were his own; yet he could not but +imagine that they were also those of a person closely connected with the +sweet and mysterious companion, who had walked the lawns and garden +alleys with him during the small hours, fled and vanished at cock-crow, +two nights back. A very definite purpose of learning more about this +same person--of whom, he divined, this pathetic store of objects to be +gifts or memorials--possessed Laurence. Had he wronged the gentle lady +in life, so causing her after sorrow? Or had some tragic happening +parted him from her, without fault of his? And what manner of man had +he been, while a dweller here, in ordinary fashion, upon earth? It +became of great moment to Laurence to answer these questions. Perhaps +those packets of discoloured letters would tell. Meanwhile, there +remained another shallow, painted drawer to be searched. + +It contained, wrapped face to face, in a lace and lawn handkerchief, two +very exquisite miniatures by Cosway. And then, though he courted +surprises, agreeing with himself to expect nothing save the unexpected, +and to accept all possible extravagance of improbability that might +arise with as little dislocation of mind as one accepts the +extravagancies of a dream, Laurence stood for a moment speechless, +absolutely confounded. + +For one miniature represented his fairy-lady, her lovely eyes and lips +smiling with discreet gladsomeness, her expression an enchanting union +of sprightliness and of content. An azure ribbon was threaded through +the soft masses of her elaborately-dressed hair, little curls of which +strayed down on to her forehead. The string of pearls was clasped around +her throat. She wore her transparent, white, frilled cape and rose-red, +silken gown. Her graceful head and slender figure--to the waist--were +seen against a background of faint dove-coloured cloud. The painter had +painted fondly as a friend, it would seem, as well as a master of his +craft.--And the other miniature, by the same hand, showing the same +delightful sympathy of artist with his subject, touched by the same +poetic insight and grace, was a portrait of whom? Well, of +himself--himself, Laurence Rivers, not as he was to-day, but as he had +been, ten years ago, at one-and-twenty. With astonishment, bordering +very closely on alarm, he observed that colouring, features, the square +cutting of the nostrils, a certain softness in the lines of the mouth, +the shape of the head, the straight set of the shoulders, all these were +perfectly exact. While the countenance was instinct with that inimitable +charm of unsullied youth, that fearlessness and happy self-confidence, +the attractive power of which he had only fully realised as they had +begun to fade out of his aspect in the course of his passage from early +to maturer manhood, while the boundlessly generous aspirations of +inexperience were in course of being discredited by increasing knowledge +of the standards and habits of this not altogether noble or virtuous +world. + +Laurence took the miniature in his hand, and considered it closely, with +a twinge of self-abasement. Endowed with so ingratiating a personality, +so admirable a physical equipment, he ought surely to have made a +definite name and place for himself in contemporary history! And what of +moment had he to show, after all, for his thirty-one years of living? +Practically nothing, he feared. And the young man of the miniature made +better play with his handsome person, and the qualities and talents +which might be expected to accompany it? He had been a sailor +apparently, for he wore the dark-blue, naval uniform of the early years +of the century, his brown hair being tied back into a queue. But for +these details the resemblance to himself was absolute. And then, +suddenly, with a sense of faintness as though his identity were slipping +away from him, and his hold on actuality loosening as he imagined it +might loosen in the moments immediately preceding death, Laurence +remembered that he had worn a precisely similar costume--that of a +naval lieutenant of the time of Nelson--at a fancy dress ball given in +his honour, at the country house of certain of his mother's relations, +on the eve of his twenty-first birthday. He had been mightily chaffed +about his good looks and air of assured conquest upon the occasion in +question; and had laughingly replied that he, too, intended to fight his +battle of Trafalgar and win it, only that he should take jolly good care +not to fall in the hour of success, but to survive and thoroughly enjoy +the fruits of victory. + +The miniatures were oval, each set in a plain gold band. Laurence turned +them over in search of a possible inscription. Upon the reverse of the +one were engraved the words--"Agnes, a gift to her dear cousin," and the +date, "August 1803." Upon the other--"Laurence, a gift to his dear +love," and the same date. + +Rain had followed on the stormy splendours of the preceding evening; and +as the young man raised his eyes absently and stared out of the great +bay-window, he became sensible that the outlook was comfortless enough. +The gardens and the distant view were blurred and blotted by driving +mist; while, in the room itself, there reigned a singularly blear and +cheerless light. A damp, earthy odour, moreover, pervaded the +atmosphere, as though the moisture prevailing out of doors had gained +access to the house. Carefully, rather sadly, Laurence laid the two +miniatures side by side upon the filmy handkerchief. The radiant, +pictured faces, the two graceful, young heads turned slightly towards +each other as in mutual tenderness and sympathy, offered, he thought, +pathetic contrast to the melancholy of this tearful morning. That this +young man had in no way wronged the fair and gentle woman, he now felt +assured. But that assurance, so perverse is human nature, did not serve +to elate him. Far from it. As he looked first at the charming pair, and +then at the driving mist, a sense of great loneliness, almost of +desolation, came over him; while the word spectre--which, when employed +yesterday by his lively hostess Mrs. Bellingham, had seemed of such +meagre and even vulgar significance--now occurred to him with a new and +immediate meaning. Spectral--that this room was in the present dreary +light. While, if the idea called for further and concrete presentiment, +he could--looking on the fearless and hopeful countenance of that other +Laurence Rivers--offer it in his own person. Involuntarily he shivered, +since, for the moment, his tenure of name, person and individuality, +seemed so questionable, a matter of sufferance merely--amounting to no +more, in fact, than a remote reversionary interest in another man's +goods. + +At random he picked up a couple of packets of letters off the top of the +escritoire, where he had laid them, and moved across to the window. It +was not wholesome to look at those happy faces--one his own--any longer. +The letters tied with a pink ribbon were in a woman's hand, sloped and +pointed, but with a peculiar elegance of lettering and evenness of line. +Then for an instant he debated, questioning whether he could without +breach of honour, and of the respect in which all decent-minded persons +hold the dead, open and read these letters. The position was +extraordinary to the point of abrogating accustomed rules of conduct; +yet he felt a certain delicacy in reading a woman's letters and +surprising the secrets of her heart. But as he turned them over, +glancing at the first page of each, he perceived that in every case they +were addressed to himself; for at the top corner of each was +written--"To Laurence Rivers, Esq.," and below either "Dear cousin" or +"Dear love." Then the irony of the thing taking him, he smiled to +himself and said: + +"Oh, well, come along, surely I have a right to the smooth as well as +the rough. If I am such a very second-hand affair any way, with not so +much as a name or face of my own to be proud of, I'll at least have the +advantages of my disabilities. I will know how my other, first-hand, +self was made love to and made love." + +Yet no sooner had he begun to read, than he became aware that he knew +that already. For as he perused the thin, deeply-creased pages, he felt, +with a certainty independent of and passing all proof, that he had read +these sweet effusions, these innocent chronicles of home life, of +meetings and partings, pretty pleasures and junketings, not once but +many times already. He remembered them. He could almost tell what words +would meet his eye as he straightened and turned the fluttering sheets +of paper. + +"--I am much concerned," wrote Agnes Rivers, "that so many months must +elapse before I can again receive news of you. I preach Patience to +myself; but that virtue, though a good servant, is but a sorrowful +master. I am pursued by fears on your account, which often move me to +tears when I am alone, or have retired to my chamber at night. You will +reprove my feminine weakness and bid me take courage. Yet I defy you to +maintain such fears are wholly misplaced, in face of the wild scenes of +tempest and of battle which you may be called upon to witness." + +Again--"It grieves me that I cannot write to you of my affection with +the freedom dictated by my heart. But my means of communicating with you +amid the convulsions of the present terrible war are so uncertain, that +I constantly tremble lest my letters should fall into other hands than +yours. My good Mrs. Lambert, who, as you will remember, is ever +solicitous for the maintenance of propriety, impresses this danger upon +me, and urges reticence and circumspection. I therefore entreat you, +dear Laurence, not to measure the depth of my regard by my present +expression of it. Recall, rather, all the happy and unclouded hours we +have enjoyed together, and let them speak for me." + +And again--"Your brother Dudley, though, I grieve to say, not less harsh +and imperious towards others, continues to treat me with all brotherly +consideration and courtesy. He is very thoughtful of the improvement of +my mind, and we still follow our studies in the Italian and Spanish +languages. His great knowledge and intelligence are of incalculable +advantage to me, and I trust that I prove a docile, if not a very +brilliant, pupil. I own my thoughts at times wander, though I strive, in +gratitude to my kind preceptor, to keep them fixed upon my tasks. Mrs. +Lambert is, unfortunately, as much alarmed by Dudley's opinions and +conversation as ever. I could myself wish that he would express himself +with less violence on the subject of politics and of religion. But his +early travels in the unfortunate country of France, and his intimate +association with Mr. Robespierre and other leaders of her sanguinary +revolution, have, I much fear, permanently warped his mind and +prejudiced his judgment. Yesterday, at dinner, he entered into a +discussion with our new rector, Mr. Burkinshaw--a scholarly and +estimable person--upon the Rights of Man, and the nature and attributes +of the Deity, asserting subversive and atheistical views with so much +heat and intemperance of language, that Mrs. Lambert fled from table in +tears, while Mr. Burkinshaw was, I could not but see, seriously offended +and hurt." + +Once more--"The weather recently has been continuously wet and stormy. +Dudley reports great destruction of timber in the park. I have been +unable to leave the house, and have spent many hours in the east +parlour, which your brother kindly bids me regard as my exclusive +property. I have read much, I trust with profit. Nor have I neglected my +music, though the melancholy character of the season and ever-present +fears for your safety have rendered me but a joyless performer. For the +songs you most admire, I cannot find voice. Indeed, I struggle with my +weakness, and make every effort to present a serene exterior. But Memory +is never, perhaps, a more sorry companion than when she speaks of happy +scenes." + +And finally--"My own dear love, your packet from Madalena has at last +reached us. What can I say to you save that my heart dances with +rapture? I cannot sit still, but must needs run from place to place for +very gladness. Mrs. Lambert reproves my lack of occupation. But she is +mistaken. I am fully occupied in reading and re-reading your letter, and +in thanking our Merciful Creator for this unhoped-for assurance of your +safety. I have retired to the stone bench beneath the lime-trees. They +are in blossom now, and their agreeable fragrance fills the air. Here I +write to you, while the sun shines, and summer winds play lightly with +the leaves. Do you remember our sitting here the evening you stole the +new black ribbon from my embroidered bag with which to tie your hair? +Dear love, now I am convinced that you will be permitted to return to +me, and that we shall add yet other happy hours to those already +treasured in our hearts. All will be well. Nay--what am I writing?--all +is well already. But for my past anxiety and all my cruel fears, I +could not have known the rapture of the present. My heart overflows. I +would not have one unhappy creature breathe to-day. I have emptied my +purse to a beggar; and have expended unpermitted dainties upon my +cage-birds, and Dudley's horses and dogs. The servants smile upon me, +rejoicing in my joy. Ah! my love, I am half ashamed to wear so gay a +face. Dudley has withdrawn to the library. He is preoccupied and silent. +Mrs. Lambert, for all her affection, regards me, I fear, with +disapproval. But how can I feign indifference? You are safe. You will +return to me. In six months I shall attain my majority, and then your +brother Dudley can no longer, as my guardian, legally prohibit our +marriage. Of that dear union, the consummation of all our prayers and +hopes, I can scarcely dare trust myself to--" + +And here Laurence found himself forced to cease reading. The page was +blotted, the writing obliterated, by rusty stains of the nature of which +he could be in no doubt. The further record of Agnes Rivers's pure +passion was smothered in blood. + +He folded the letters together, tied them up, put them back in the +drawer, closed and locked the escritoire. Well, it must have been worth +while to have been loved like that! Did women ever love so still, he +wondered? He opened the tall French window, and once again went out, +hatless, into the driving wet. + + + + +XIV + + +"Mr. Rivers regrets that he is unable to receive you to-night, sir." + +Laurence looked round with something approaching a start at Renshaw, the +butler, whose respectful, colourless voice broke in thus upon his +meditations. The dining-room struck him as hotter and more oppressive +than ever--by contrast probably with the buffeting wind and driving mist +in which he had paced the lime-tree walk for a good hour before the +dressing-bell rang. To-night the glass bowl, supported by the wanton, +dancing, Etruscan figures, was filled with tuberoses and carmine-stained +Japanese lilies; and the odour given off by these acted on the young +man's brain as opium or hashish might have acted--at least so it +appeared to him. The longer he meditated, the less could he distinguish +between real and unreal, fact and phantasy. The best accredited articles +of his moral and scientific creed had passed into the region of the open +question. Speculation ran riot, all the accustomed landmarks of his +thought being for the time submerged; while the wildest and most +extravagant ideas presented themselves as within the range of practical +action. That last read letter of Agnes Rivers, and his own resemblance +to her lover, had inflamed his imagination and his heart. Even in their +one night's intercourse, he had seen intelligence, purpose, gaiety, +return to her. Now the daring conception that such a process might be +continued, until his sweet and mysterious companion recovered all the +senses and attributes of living womanhood, formed itself in his mind. +Was it not conceivable that this appearance might be materialised, so +that the fair and gracious spirit should once again inhabit a human +body, and know all those dear joys of love and motherhood which had +been--by some evil fortune, some catastrophe, as he supposed--denied to +her? An immense ambition to be the instrument of this restoration, this +recovery, grew within him. He would work a miracle, he would be as God, +clothing the soul with flesh, raising the dead. And this by no exercise +of charlatanism, by no dabbling in old-world superstitions, or dealings +in folly of White Magic or of Black; but simply by force of will, by the +action of mind on mind, by the incalculable power of a great love. It +was impious, perhaps. Morally it was doubtful--circumstanced as he, +Laurence, was. But it was the most magnificent experiment ever offered +either to man of science, or to poet. Here was the opportunity he had +desired, had waited for. Here was his chance in life! + +Then the butler's voice cut in, bringing him down to the everyday level. +No wonder he looked round a little dazed. + +"Mr. Rivers regrets that he will be unable to receive you to-night, +sir," it said. + +And Laurence asked in answer-- + +"Is my uncle ill? Is he worse?" + +"Mr. Lowndes has brought down word that he is tired, sir. Mr. Armstrong, +the agent, arrived from Scotland this afternoon while you were out. Mr. +Rivers has had a long interview with him--too long an interview in Mr. +Lowndes's opinion." + +"I am sorry," Laurence said absently. He fell to caressing his wonderful +idea again, but the butler waited. + +"Mr. Armstrong requested me to add, sir, that if convenient to you, as +you will not be engaged with Mr. Rivers, he would be obliged if you +would allow him to speak to you in the course of the evening." + +"Oh, by all means," the young man said, rising. Then he added--"Tell Mr. +Armstrong I will see him at once. Later I may be occupied. Where? In the +small library--yes." + +Laurence betook himself to the library, prepared to be bored with a good +grace. But he might have spared himself such preparation, for looking on +the new-comer, he liked him. The man, in age about sixty, was of barely +middle height, broad-shouldered and lean about the flanks. He carried +his head forward, stooping slightly, in observant, meditative fashion. +He was slow of movement, calm, one capable of having his joke and +keeping it to himself. His face was shaped like a kite, remarkable in +the breadth of the lower part of the forehead and the high cheek-bones, +narrowing down to a long, flat chin. The upper lip was long too, a +somewhat pragmatical and self-righteous upper lip. While the eyes, set +far apart under the wide brow, showed a clear, kindly blue between the +narrow lids that ended in a fan-like system of wrinkles at the outward +corners. The nose was thin and straight at the bridge, with wide-winged, +open nostrils. The hair, formerly sandy, was now grey, smooth on the low +dome of the head, and thickly waved above and behind the flat-set, +long-lobed ears. In all a shrewd, humorous, sober countenance, ruddy, +moreover, as a well-ripened, autumn apple. + +At first the agent's talk was professional, dealing in matters of leases +and rights-of-way; of draining operations and the breeding and rearing +of cattle; of the iniquitous heaviness of road rates, the culture of +hops, and the cutting of copses. But gradually it began to take on a +more personal and racial character, since the Scotchman is yet to be +born who can go very long in conversation without blowing--be it never +so discreetly--the trumpet of his own unrivalled nation. So he fell to +dilating upon the superiority of the Scotch to the English system of +national education; upon the indolence and general incapacity of the +south-country labourer; upon the glaring futilities and imbecilities of +district and parish councils; and upon the congenital incapacity of the +Anglican clergy--every man-Jack of them--to deliver a sermon which would +satisfy the intelligence and theological acumen of the most ordinary +congregation north of Tweed. + +Laurence listened, amused by the exhibition of the speaker's both +conscious and unconscious prejudices. The man was alive; he was +self-secure and dependable. Laurence saw he would be a pleasant fellow +to work with. And the thought of that work began to occupy his mind, +opium dreams giving place before practical interests and activities. +Laurence talked in his turn, showing a keenness in business and a +knowledge of it, which Armstrong, with pursed-up lips and slow noddings +of the head, evidently relished. + +"Aweel," he remarked at last, after the younger man had given a +particularly lucid description of certain labour-saving farm-implements +employed in the wheat-growing states of Western America,--"I trust it is +no disrespect to an old master, whom it pleases the Almighty to +withdraw to some other sphere of usefulness--or the contrary, for it +would be overbold to prophesy largely on that subject of utility in the +case of your uncle, Mr. Rivers--it is no disrespect, I say, I trust, for +a man who has served such an one for over thirty years to the best of +his ability, to feel himself not indisposed to welcome the new master. I +am constrained to tell you, Mr. Laurence Rivers, that I looked to find +in you some flighty, flimsy, modern run-about of a creature. I +acknowledge my error with thanksgiving. The impression you make on my +mind is far from unfavourable." + +"That's right," Laurence said genially. "I am new to all these landed +property concerns as yet; but I expect I shall be able to get round them +pretty smartly when the time comes." + +"I think you will, I think you will." The agent's blue eyes twinkled +with a certain quiet humour, upon the young man, from between their +narrow lids. "Your uncle, I must admit, is but a feeble body in the +practical domain. His great understanding has, so to speak, not +infrequently got between his legs and thrown him down. It is pitiful to +see any person so clever that he cannot condescend to take advantage of +the handsome position the Almighty has allowed him. I own there have +been times when I have felt rebellious against the Lord's too great +generosity in the goods of this world--perishable, I know, yet deserving +of consideration--to one constitutionally incapable of drawing full +profit out of them. Therefore I perceive with thankfulness, Mr. Rivers, +you are of a different make." + +Laurence leaned back in his chair, and lighted another cigarette. It was +early yet--and he liked the man. He would encourage him to talk on for a +while longer. + +"Oh yes," he said, "you needn't be worried under that head, Armstrong. +I've the reputation of by no means quarrelling with my bread and butter, +or despising the goodly fruits of this admittedly naughty world, in +whatever form I find them." + +"Temperance is a canny virtue; and I would recommend moderation in all +things, after the teaching of the Apostle Paul. Yet I am glad to find, +Mr. Rivers, you have your feet upon the floor. It will be well for your +estates, at the preservation and improvement of which I and my kin have +laboured--not unfaithfully--for three generations." + +"So long as that?" the young man ejaculated. The statement indirectly +suggested a former strain of thought. + +"Yes, for three generations--and not without trials. For I would have +you understand that a certain impracticability runs in your family, Mr. +Rivers--a perversity, not sinful altogether, but very wearing to those +that have your temporal interests at heart." + +Gently Laurence blew a little cloud out of his nostrils, and watched it +float upward across the dark, warm-hued landscape by Nicholas Poussin +hanging over the chimney-piece. Against the windows the rain beat, while +the heavy folds of the crimson, damask curtains, covering them, swayed +just perceptibly in the draught. + +"I can believe it," he said. "My people have been afflicted with ideas; +and ideas play the very mischief with business, don't they, Armstrong?" + +"In their degree, and subject to a thrifty discretion in their +application, I would not wholly condemn them," the agent replied. His +shrewd glance dwelt on the younger man with undisguised pleasure. He was +so handsome, well bred, well made, and apparently so able a +fellow.--"But ideas are kittle cattle, Mr. Rivers," he continued, +"needing strenuous supervision if you would not have them break out of +pasture and run mad, sairly to the dislocation of all legitimate +traffic. And it has been the affliction of more than one member of your +family to let his ideas run abroad to a length of pernicious +extravagance. For instance, my grandfather, a person of capacity and +circumspection beyond the average, was factor to your great uncle, Mr. +Dudley Rivers, and--" + +Laurence kept his eyes fixed on the last blue of the little smoke-cloud +curling about the intricate foliations of the upper corner of the +picture frame; yet his voice had a certain quickness and vibration in it +as he exclaimed-- + +"Ah! Dudley Rivers--yes. Well, how about him, Armstrong?" + +"Not much good, not much good. Like the foolish body recorded by the +Psalmist, he had 'said in his heart, There is no God.' And having made +that very impious and lying observation, and so disposed of the Deity, +he proceeded to supersede the latter in his own person, and attempt the +reorganisation of society according to his own hare-brained fancies. +Regarding his deliverance from dangerous delusions my grandfather could +do but little, being himself a godly man, and holding firmly by the +doctrine of Election. If the poor misguided creature would go to the +devil, Mr. Rivers, it was--so my grandfather held--because to the devil +he was righteously foredoomed and predestined to go. And so my +grandfather, relieved of all responsibility in that respect, felt free +to apply the whole of his abilities to saving the poor, erring person's +treasure on earth, since it was manifestly not the intention of +Providence that he should inherit any treasure in heaven. He had long +taken entire charge of those estates in the county of Fife, which +belonged to Mr. Dudley's young cousin and ward, Miss Agnes Rivers--" + +"Ah!" Laurence ejaculated softly. + +"And many a time did my grandfather undertake the tedious journey down +here, from the north, to lend a seasonable hand in restraining Mr. +Dudley from committing some ruinous foolishness in respect of Miss +Agnes, or of his own southern property. For Mr. Dudley was just +completely saturated with pernicious opinions derived from the writings +of Rousseau, and Tom Paine, and other such seditious persons; and Satan +entering into him at intervals, and blinding his small surviving modicum +of reason, he proposed to reduce them to practice--poor, demented body." + +"Yes," Laurence said, "he had graduated in a rather impossible school, +no doubt. But--but--Armstrong, what about his private life--his morals?" + +"Blameless--blameless--more's the pity, since his virtues could but come +under the head of works of supererogation--so my grandfather +held--profitless alike in this world and in the next. Indeed, though a +strict man himself, I am constrained to believe he would have +experienced relief in seeing Mr. Dudley enjoy the pleasures of sin--they +are real, very real while they last, unfortunately--for a season." + +Laurence flung away the stump of his cigarette, and turned sideways in +his chair. + +"Now, as we're on the subject," he said, "and as you seem to know all +about these people of mine, what sort of fellow was Dudley's younger +brother, my namesake, Laurence Rivers?" + +"Weel, I have reason to believe he was a very promising sprig--a likely +young gentleman, high-spirited, clean-living, and not without a show of +capacity for affairs. My grandparents, both of them, entertained a warm +affection for him."--The man paused in his slow sing-song talk, +smiling.--"I should surmise him to have been much such a person as +yourself, Mr. Rivers, with a natural gift of winning the hearts of those +brought into contact with him. But he fell at Trafalgar, shot through +the lungs, as no doubt you have heard--cut off before he had opportunity +to acquaint the world with the worth of the talents that might reside in +him. It was a grievous misfortune, for his death took place but three +months before the day appointed for his and his cousin's marriage. And +often, as a soft-hearted bit of a laddie, I have cried to hear my +grandmother tell of the coming of the awful news and the grief of the +poor young lady. She was a gracious, winsome thing, as bright as a +sunbeam on a running brook; very pious, too, and charitable, so that no +mortal soul could but wish her well that looked on her. But she was +shivered by the stroke of her sorrow, as you might shiver some fragile +trifle of an ornament with a careless blow. She would not eat or speak +for many days, and her sleep departed from her. And, indeed, during the +few months of life that remained to her she rarely uttered a word. Her +poor bits of wits seemed to drain out of her with her tears, for all +that she was highly educated, and an accomplished musician and sweet +singer." + +Laurence had risen to his feet. He stood with his back to the fire, his +hands behind him, and his head bent. + +"Poor child!" he said softly. "Well, she knew how to love, anyway." + +"No woman better; but I am thinking, Mr. Rivers, she introduced into her +affections a touch of that same extravagance which pertains to so many +members of your family. For my grandmother used to tell me that, though +altogether gentle and docile, she studied nothing but to turn over her +dead love's letters, and play with the various gifts he had bestowed +upon her, as a little lass plays with its puppets and toys. It was the +pitifulest spectacle under the dome of the sky, that of her affliction; +and Mr. Dudley, notwithstanding his reprehensible opinions and infamous +heresies, watched over her like a father. His patience knew no bounds, +poor body. He would have laid himself down as the ground for her to walk +on, could that have accelerated her recovery. He spared no expense of +doctors, both foreign and English, to prescribe for her; and carried her +away to Bath, by their advice, to drink the waters there. But all the +medicinal waters that ever welled up through the length and breadth of +God Almighty's curious earth are powerless to ease the ache of a broken +heart. She wanted but one thing, and that no mortal soul could give her. +And so, poor, white lily of a thing, she just sickened, and faded, and +died." + +Laurence stood very still, looking down at the hearthrug between his +feet, while the rain beat against the windows. The agent watched him for +a little space, and then rose, a trifle stiffly and carefully, from his +chair. + +"I am keeping you over long with my family histories, Mr. Rivers," he +said. "But it comes to me that we are about to see great changes in this +place very speedily; and our conversation to-night has been a +valediction to the old dynasty and a recognition of the new. There has +been no lady at Stoke Rivers since Miss Agnes died, and you, so I learn, +are a married man." + +Laurence left his contemplation of the hearthrug, and drew himself up +rather sharply. + +"Yes," he said, "my wife is much interested in the prospect of this +English property." + +He turned his back, and stared into the fire. + +"Look here, Armstrong," he said, "where was she--Agnes Rivers, I +mean--where was she buried?" + +A singularly acute expression came over the agent's countenance. He +looked hard at the young man, but the latter did not move or turn his +head. The wind, increasing in force broke, as in great waves, against +the house front and the curtains swayed sullenly in the draught. +Armstrong cleared his throat. + +"I am thinking it's a calamitous night for too many poor folks at sea," +he remarked; and then added:--"Buried? Weel, presumably at Bath, where +she died, Mr. Rivers. A grand funeral took place there, to my +grandfather's knowledge, for he was called upon to journey the whole +long way from Cupar to attend it, and the snow lay some foot deep in the +North. A grand funeral, truly, in appearance, with black horses, and +plumes, and lumbering black coaches, and all signs of respect and +customary outward manifestations of woe." + +Still Laurence did not move; but the gusty wind was so loud that it +obliged him to raise his voice in asking-- + +"Well, well, if there was all this display about the funeral, why +_presumably_ then?" + +"Because I am constrained to admit that a certain mystery surrounded +that transaction. My grandparents would never speak directly of it, +being prudent persons, and knowing, conceivably, more than it was +becoming for them to tell. But there were tongues that said, Mr. Rivers, +that no sweet lassie's corpse lay in that coffin; but only books, and +cast clothes, and bricks, and rubbish, to make up the weight." + +Laurence turned round suddenly. His face was keen, his eyes alight. + +"But why?" he asked. + +"Partly, I surmise, on account of Mr. Dudley's atheistical views, which +caused him to hate and scorn all decent Christian rites and ceremonies. +And partly because of the feelings he entertained towards his +cousin--for it was well known she was the only human creature that had +ever moved him to love--it was apprehended he refused to part with her +body even in death." + +For a few moments the two men looked hard at each other. + +"And what then?" Laurence demanded. Armstrong raised his hands, almost +as in repudiation of his own thought. + +"The Lord only knows," he said. "As the poet says, 'There are more +things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our philosophy.' But +I, being a practical man, do not concern myself with such, Mr. Rivers. I +would not learn more of hidden matters than is strictly necessary to +salvation. If it is the intention of the Deity that further revelation +of laws, either natural or spiritual, should be granted us, such +revelation will, without doubt, come at the time appointed. And so I, +personally, would not force the hand of Providence or be over forward in +pushing myself into its secret counsels." + +He paused, regarding the younger man with much friendliness and some +anxiety. But Laurence did not speak. He merely smiled, holding out his +hand. + +"Aweel, good night to you then, Mr. Rivers," the agent said, taking the +outstretched hand and holding it awhile.--"I must repeat, I am glad to +carry away so favourable an impression of our first meeting. But, as a +word at parting having in mind the tendencies of your family +constitution, I would earnestly commend to you those canny virtues, +moderation and temperance, in all your undertakings.--I will be resident +here for the coming week, or longer should a more protracted stay be +incumbent on me, in the interests of your affairs or your uncle's. My +sons are good, steady lads, and will mind our northern business for +me--a business not unprosperous or decreasing. And so you can notify me +at any time should you feel an inclination to acquaint yourself further +with the workings of this estate, or other items of poor Mr. Rivers's by +no means inconsiderable property." + + + + +XV + + +For some minutes Laurence remained in the same position before the +library fireplace, while the rush and wail of the storm without offered +marked contrast to the silence and close warmth reigning within. He knew +all the facts of the case now, as far as they were attainable by +tradition. They proved to be very simple; but, as he reflected, the +simplicity of the symbol by no means invalidates the profound character +of the mystery of which it may be the outward and visible sign. Nay, the +very simplicity, the tender, human pathos, of this story of love and +sorrow, only engaged his heart and provoked his enterprise the more. +Counsels of self-saving moderation he waved aside with a smile. Of +danger, material, moral, or spiritual, he was defiant. With the Veil of +Isis there, visibly confronting him and inviting--in gentlest, most +confiding fashion--his hand to lift it, would it not be unpardonably +poor-spirited, callous, and unfaithful to draw back? + +But Virginia? Laurence moved impatiently from his place. He wished to +goodness Armstrong had not referred to Virginia, or rather to that +circumscription of his personal liberty which Virginia presented--to his +marriage, in short! He was very fond of her. Of course, he was very fond +of her--not for a moment did he doubt that. But must it be a matter of +primary duty and honour that he should relinquish the part of hero in +this piece--this noble and enthralling piece, which made vibrant his +whole being, and stirred the finest of him into activity--simply because +Virginia's name did not happen to be in the bill? Marriage came +perilously near a disaster if it clipped your wings as much as all that! +And he would, indeed, be a bigoted moralist who should maintain that no +circumstances can be so extraordinary, no opportunities of knowledge or +spiritual advancement so rare, that they justify a neglect of +conventional rules of conduct, or permit the relegation of ordinary +obligations--for a time at least--to the second place! + +Thus did the young man argue--ambition, chivalry, and those hereditary +tendencies towards a rather violent reduction of theory to practice +against which he had so lately been warned, all conspiring to one +result. And so, at last, his head erect, and--though he knew it +not--that air of assured conquest about him which had sat so charmingly +upon his namesake--perhaps his rival--the Laurence Rivers of the Cosway +miniature, he swung down the still, crimson-carpeted corridor, pulled +the stiff tapestry curtain forward, passed behind it, and entered the +room beyond. He laughed a little to himself, he was all of a white heat, +he would be as the Gods, working miracles, righting wrong, conquering +death. + +Sharp disappointment awaited him. The yellow drawing-room was +brilliantly lighted. The atmosphere of it was fresh, almost to the point +of chill. The miniatures lay side by side upon the escritoire, where he +had placed them some four or five hours earlier; but his sweet +fairy-lady was not there to receive him. The room was vacant of all +human, all visible, presence save his own. + +The hours which followed were among the most poignant that Laurence had +ever experienced. He had made so certain that he needed but to open that +door to regain the unreal world, yet world--as he believed--of +profoundest reality, which enchanted, while it baffled and perplexed +him. He found himself compelled to admit, moreover, not without a sense +of humiliation, that his attitude was not exclusively pathological or +scientific. A good deal of the natural man, and the natural man's +affections and vanities, entered into it. He craved once again to see +that slender, flitting figure, to feel the vibration of that otherwise +impalpable hand, to read the trust and exquisite sympathy of those +lovely eyes; he craved again to be aware of the fervour of his own +eloquence, the rush and spring of his own thought. Moreover, he felt +jealous, absurdly but increasingly jealous, of that other Laurence +Rivers, of whom, for all his vitality and immediate consciousness of +living energy and active will, he seemed to be but a second edition. The +man had forestalled him in face and semblance, forestalled him too in +the heart of the woman it would be--it was, he feared--only too easy for +him to love. + +And so he wandered aimlessly, restlessly about the bright, empty room, +almost as his sweet rose-clad lady had wandered on the night he first +met her, searching, searching for some lost good; while, as time +lengthened and his nerves grew strained by impatient waiting and want of +sleep, fears that by his own action he had procured this disappointment +began to assail him. He was always over-confident, blundering from too +great self-belief. For might it not be that in opening her little +treasure-chest, in touching those objects so dear to her dead fingers +and dead eyes, in reading her letters--nay, in striving to approach her +and establish relations with her at all--he had outraged her delicacy, +had, in a sense, assaulted her soul, had been guilty of spiritual +insult, as in grosser, material existence a man might assault or insult +a woman's person? Had he, unwittingly, transgressed some law obtaining +in the world of spirits, in the state of being which lies outside and +beyond the Gates of Death, and of which human beings, bound by the +conditions of their earthly environment, have as yet no +cognisance?--Why should not the mind and heart be sublimated to as +exquisite a fineness of texture, in her case, as the body had been? This +idea of possible outrage, of unwitting grossness towards her, was +horrible to Laurence. It stabbed him with shame, and provoked in him a +passionate desire for absolution. If she would only come--only come, +that he might implore her pardon, gain forgiveness, or--still +better--receive comfortable assurance that he had not sinned! + +His restless wanderings brought him at length to the bay-window, and he +looked out into the night. The storm had not abated. Dimly he could +perceive, in the light streaming outward from the window, the +rain-washed steps, the pale balustrades and statues of the garden; the +near cypresses, too, bowed and straining in the gale which shrieked +across the open lawns and bellowed hoarsely in the woodland like some +fierce beast let loose. And Laurence, viewing this tumult and listening +to it, suffered further humiliation. He became but a small thing in his +own estimation, weak, futile, incapable. For to what, after all, did his +force of will and power of compelling events amount? He thought of +Armstrong, the level-headed and circumspect Scotch agent; of his uncle, +dignified, and even in mortal illness faithful to the clear purposes of +his long life. He thought of Virginia, strong in virtue of her very +limitations, glittering as a well-cut jewel, concrete, complete. All +these persons occupied a definite place, served, in their degree, a +definite end. Whereas, for himself, was he not the veriest sport of +nature and of circumstance, endowed with just sufficient wit, sufficient +talent, to court failure in any and every direction? His initiative, +that had lately showed god-like, now shrivelled to microscopic +proportions; while a further unwelcome question presented itself. For +had the gracious spectre--he no longer quarrelled with that +definition--lived, as he had fondly supposed, through his life, regained +reason and glad, human sympathy through the influence of his will, or +had the case, in very truth, been precisely the reverse? Had not she +been the active, he the merely passive principle? Had he not reached a +higher development, and gloried--for a little space--in conscious +possession of genius, had he not lived, in short, through her--and this +not by exercise of direct intention on her part, but merely in obedience +to the might of her love for another man--a man long dead, but whose +name he chanced to bear, and whose appearance he chanced to resemble? + +And thereupon a hideous persuasion of his own nullity and emptiness took +hold of Laurence. Individuality fled away, disintegrated, dissolved, and +was not. The component parts of his physical being returned to their +original elements--flesh to earth, gases to air, heat to fire, blood to +water. While all the qualities of his mind, his tastes and affections, +suffered like dispersal, being claimed and absorbed by the members of +those many generations, whose earthly existence had contributed to the +eventual production of his own. And the terror of this was augmented, in +that, although every atom of his being was thus scattered and +appropriated, every smallest fraction of that which had gone to compose +his personality was dispersed, yet annihilation of thought did not +follow. He was reduced to absolute nothingness; but knowledge of +disintegration, knowledge of loss, knowledge--rebellious and +despairing--of that same nothingness remained. + +Appalled, with the instinct of flight upon him as from some menacing and +immeasurable danger, Laurence turned and groped his way back--as a blind +man gropes--into the centre of the brightly lighted room. The +persuasion of his own nothingness seemed to extend itself to his +surroundings. All partook of the nature of illusion, from which sense of +sight and touch alike seemed powerless to redeem them. And this begot in +the young man an immense desolation and a corresponding need of comfort +and of quick human sympathy. Involuntarily, in his extremity, his +thought fixed itself, stayed itself, upon Agnes Rivers. Ah! if she would +but show herself--she, his well-beloved fairy-lady--he was convinced +peace and clear-seeing would follow in her train, that this terror of +nothingness would depart, and that sanely, calmly, he should enter into +possession of himself once more! + +And then, presently, as he moved to and fro in restless search for her, +it appeared to him that a rose-red gleam of silk, a just perceptible +whiteness of muslin and lace, the faintest vision of a vision of her +sweet and lovely face, moved beside him as he moved. It was as though an +indefinable tenderness yearned towards him from out some impassable +distance, striving to declare itself, to make itself seen and felt, yet +without force to master some opposing influence and accomplish its +object. And this awoke in Laurence not only an answering tenderness, but +an answering struggle. He stood quite still, yet with every nerve, every +faculty strained to attain and overcome. He felt braced by a sudden +exhilaration of battle. Silently, fiercely, he fought with some awful, +unseen enemy,--with dimly apprehended powers of time and place, of +death, of things spiritual and things material, which intervened between +him and the love which sought to reach him. Never had he desired +anything as he desired this love. His individuality was actual enough +now; and his whole body ached with the effort to penetrate that +resistant medium, to be face to face with that love, and look on it, and +so doing to read the riddle both of his future and his past. + +But when the warfare was at its height, and the unseen enemy seemed to +yield a little, while the slender form of his rose-clad lady grew more +distinct to Laurence's eyes, unaccustomed noise and confusion arose +within the dead-quiet house. Doors opened and slammed, as with the +hurry of panic. Men's footsteps echoed imperatively down the corridors +and upon the stairs.--Another moment and he would overcome all +resistance, and his dear companion would stand before him, smiling, +gracious, full of consolation and of help; but just then voices were +raised in quick discussion without. Suddenly the door was thrown open. +Upon the threshold was Renshaw the butler, bereft of his usual +correctness of demeanour, his eyes starting, his skin mottled with +purple stains. Behind him stood Watkins holding back the leather-lined +curtain to the utmost of its length, thereby disclosing a triangular +vista of dark-panelled passage and the proud heads and arrogant, +impassive faces of the rulers of Imperial Rome. + +Evidently both men dreaded to venture one step further into the room. + +"Will you please to come at once, sir," Renshaw called hoarsely. "Excuse +me, sir, you are wanted. Mr. Rivers is very ill. He has asked for you. +Mr. Lowndes fears he is dying." + + + + +XVI + + +The agitation pervading the house was sinister. Laurence felt as though +witnessing the convulsions of some human body, seen only heretofore amid +the restraints and graceful amenities of society; but now abandoned and +indecently torn in its last agony. If indeed Mr. Rivers was dying, his +soul was not merely quitting its fragile, fleshly tabernacle; but was +also, very sensibly, quitting this larger tabernacle of house and +household which it had informed through a long course of years, and +moulded to express its tastes, flatter its idiosyncrasies, and forestall +its every wish. It was fitting, therefore, though fearful, that this +outer envelope of the owner's life should be shaken, and lose its +habitual immutability and impervious calm; while his well-drilled +servants, usually obedient as machines to the direction of his hand, ran +distracted, scared and helpless as a flock of frightened sheep. + +The men hurried aimlessly, spoke in whispers. Members of the +establishment with whom Laurence was unacquainted invaded the corridor +from the direction of the offices. At the foot of the staircase were +grouped the stout, French _chef_, in spotless, linen cap and jacket, his +attendant scullions, and a couple of men arrayed in long, green baize +aprons and black, calico blouses, the full sleeves of which buttoned +tight around the wrist. The coachman was there too, a stable helper, and +the groom who had accompanied Laurence on his first visit to Bishop's +Pudbury. All these persons were well on in middle life, some old, +white-haired, and bent. All appeared deeply moved, an inarticulate +confusion in their looks, as though finding themselves suddenly +confronted by dire calamity. Laurence had seen men look thus in the +breathless pause, between recurrent earthquake shocks, among the rocking +buildings of a far-away, Spanish-American city. As he passed them, +coming from that light, clear-coloured room, they stared at him, and +slunk aside as though a fresh terror was added to those which already so +unmanned them. In their present state of feeling the seemly decorum of +respectful service was relaxed; and to Laurence, overwrought by his +recent and strange experiences, it appeared that they shrunk from him +as from one unclean and outcast. + +He turned rather sternly upon Renshaw. "What is the meaning of all this +commotion? If I was wanted, why on earth was I not called sooner?" + +The butler's large, smooth, egg-shaped face turned from purple to +something approaching grey. + +"We had looked for you everywhere, sir, both myself and Mr. Watkins," he +answered. "But until Mr. Lowndes suggested it, in consequence of some +remark passed by Mr. Rivers, it had never occurred to us that you would +be in the yellow drawing-room, sir."--Renshaw cleared his throat, +recovering some of his accustomed dignity of bearing. "The electric +light is switched on from the corridor outside, you will observe, sir. +It has always been understood that no one--neither the upper or the +under servants, sir--are ever required to go into the yellow +drawing-room after dusk." + +And with these words, and their implication of commerce on his part with +something unlawful and malign, sounding in his ears, Laurence passed +into his uncle's bed-chamber. + +As he did so, a blast of air, hot and dry as from the mouth of a +furnace, met him. The fire upon the hearth was piled up into a mountain +of blazing coal and wood. The light of it filled the room with a fitful, +lurid brilliance such as is produced by a great conflagration. In it, +the breasts of the couchant sphinxes glowed, seeming to rise and fall as +though they breathed. The caryatides supporting the ebony canopy +likewise appeared imbued with life. Their smooth arms and bowed +shoulders strained under the weight resting upon them; while the wreaths +of fruit and blossom, girding their naked loins, heaved from the +painfully sustained effort of nerve and muscle. The snake-locks of the +Medusa's head, carved in high relief upon the circular, central panel of +the back of the bedstead, writhed, twisted, interlaced and again slid +asunder, as in frustrated desire and ceaseless suffering. + +And along the middle of the great bed, surrounded by these opulent +forms, and, at first sight, far less alive than they, lay Mr. Rivers. +His face was so blanched, so unsubstantial, that, but for the glittering +eyes still greedy of knowledge, it would have hardly been +distinguishable from the white pillows supporting him. His shoulders and +chest were muffled in a costly, sable cape; from beneath the lower edge +of which his hands, thin as reeds, protruded, lying inert upon the +thickly-wadded, blue-and-gold, damask coverlet. On the oak table--moved +from its place by the armchair to the bedside--were the few handsomely +bound books, the crystal _memento mori_ resting on its strip of crimson +embroidery, and a silver bell, the handle of it shaped as a slender, +winged Mercury, elegantly poised for flight. + +Behind the table stood Lowndes, the long-armed, hard-featured valet. He +apparently remained untouched by the spirit of anarchy let loose in the +house. Laurence, drawing near, looked at him, silently asking +instructions. The man fetched a chair and placed it close against the +bedside. + +"Be so good as to lean down, sir," he said. "Mr. Rivers wishes to +converse with you; but he has had a seizure, which has slightly affected +both his speech and hearing. He cannot raise his voice." + +Laurence did as he was bidden. He leaned towards the old man, resting +his right hand upon the haunches of the ebony sphinx, which felt +singularly warm to his touch. + +"The term of your probation and of mine alike draws to its close," Mr. +Rivers said in a small, thin voice; and, for almost the first time in +their intercourse, Laurence saw him smile. + +"I hope this is only a passing attack, sir, and that you may rally," he +answered.--He looked up at Lowndes. "Has everything been done that can +be? Have you telegraphed for the doctors?" + +"I have administered the prescribed restoratives. But Mr. Rivers ordered +that no further measures should be attempted until after his interview +with you, sir." + +The sick man raised his hand feebly, yet with an imperious gesture. + +"I do not propose to ask further advice of physicians," he said. "Their +science is but a mockery at this juncture; at least, in the estimation +of a person of my habit of mind. That by the employment of drugs and of +stimulants they might prolong a semblance of animation in this physical +husk of me, I do not deny. But what advantage can accrue from that, when +my mental activity is becoming paralysed, and the action of my brain +grows sluggish and intermittent? When all that differentiates a human +being from the brute beasts has perished, let the animal part perish +also. The sooner, the better; for, in itself, it is far from precious." + +His voice had become very faint, and he waited, making a determined +effort, as Laurence perceived, to rally his ebbing powers. + +"Tell Lowndes to go," he whispered. "I wish to be alone with you." + +Then as the man-servant noiselessly withdrew, the thin, but barely +audible accents again stole out upon the fiercely heated air. + +"The body, its necessities, its passions, its perpetually impeding +grossness throughout life, is an insult to the mind. But the final act +of this long course of insult, namely, the decay of this vile associate, +is the culminating insolence, the most unpardonable insult of all. I +have trained myself to ignore these thoughts, to disregard them as a +proud man disregards some mutilation or personal disfigurement. But +they crowd in upon me, refusing to be disregarded, to-night. Here lies +the sting of the insult! For as the strength of this vile, animal part +of me lessens, far from setting the intellect free, it infects this last +with its own increasing degradation. The lower drags the higher down +along with it. They grovel together. Contemptible doubts and fears +assail me. Discredited traditions press themselves upon my remembrance. +And the burden of it all is this, that I have laboured in vain. As the +body dies, so dies the mind. All the garnered knowledge of years will be +lost, will drop infertile, into the void--the insatiable void which +yawns alike for high philosopher and for drivelling pothouse sot." + +His voice sank, in uttering the last few words, into a whisper of +concentrated bitterness. His eyes closed, and for some minutes the dying +man lay motionless. + +Laurence could not bring himself to speak. The words to which he had +just listened so nearly reproduced and rendered articulate those +sensations he had himself so lately endured. The vision of all-absorbing +Nothingness again arose before him, as background to those opulent +forms, classic and pagan, upon which his eyes immediately rested. An +unholy and voluptuous life seemed to move in those forms still. A smile +curved the heavy lips of the sphinxes. The rounded, glistening arms of +the caryatides appeared outstretched less in support than in +solicitation; while the snake-locks of Medusa writhed, pushing upon each +other amorously. The flesh, triumphant in vigour and in carnal +invitation, seemed, indeed, to flout the intellect; as though the animal +functions of mankind and the symbols of these alone had power to survive +from age to age, were alone arbiters and architects of human fate. And +yet, yet, somewhere--could he but have reached it--Laurence knew there +was a way of escape. That he had come very near reaching it in the final +moments of that silent struggle downstairs, when the sweet figure of his +dear fairy-lady grew increasingly clear to his sight, he could not +doubt. And once again, with a great desiring, he desired her; for his +faith was strong that of all these things she somehow--how he could not +say as yet--held the key. + +Just then Mr. Rivers raised his eyelids slightly and turned his head +upon the pillow. + +"It is very horrible," he said slowly, speaking to himself rather than +to his companion. "The quantity of matter is stable. It for ever seeks +its own, and finding it re-unites. The destruction of one form is but +the necessary prelude to the development of others, and in this process +of perpetual redistribution not a fraction of the sum total is lost. +There is no waste save in the higher aspects of man's constitution--" + +But here Laurence roused himself to protest. + +"Matter returns to matter, sir, granted," he said. "Then why not spirit +to spirit? Are you not assuming a waste which you cannot prove? And if +spirit does return to spirit, what better than that, after all, can we +ask?" + +"Spirit?" Mr. Rivers retorted, with a fine inflection of irony, and +momentary brightening of those half-closed eyes. "You, my dear Laurence, +employ words glibly enough which I hesitate to pronounce! Matter I know. +It is evident to the senses. Its actual existence--Berkeley, certain +Oriental and other philosophers notwithstanding--is, within certain +limits, susceptible of proof. And intellect I know. Its existence, +though on other lines, is equally susceptible of proof. Its action can +be registered and ratified. But spirit?--I will thank you to inform +me--what is spirit?" + +The young man bowed himself together, resting his elbows on his knees. +He smiled with a half-humorous air of apology. + +"That I cannot tell you, sir," he said. "I'm better at conviction than +at explanation, I'm afraid. I only know--not with my reason, but with my +heart--that spirit is, and has been, and must be everlastingly." + +"And its mode of expression, its mode of self-revelation?" the other +inquired drily. + +Laurence straightened himself up, laughing a little. + +"One way, the old why--childish, perhaps, yet really rather charming. In +and by love, sir--only so, by love." + +Tremulously Mr. Rivers drew the rich, sable cape closer about him, +though the heat of the room was intense. + +"I become very abject," he said at last. "I procrastinate and risk +letting slip the opportunity still permitted me. For in my abjection, I +own I clutch at straws, miserably anxious for support. I am ashamed that +any other human being should witness the mental prostration to which +physical illness has reduced me. But time presses, and compels me to +delay no longer in confessing my object in calling you to me to-night. +Tell me, Laurence, have you investigated those abnormal phenomena of +which we spoke, and have your investigations yielded any result?" + +The question took the listener somewhat by surprise, and he hesitated +before replying. The whole matter had become of such vital importance to +him, personal, intimate, among the dearest and most reverently-held +secrets of his heart. So he shrank, as before an act of profanation, +from submitting the history of his fairy-lady and of his strange +relation to her to the criticism of this cold-blooded, sceptical +intelligence. Yet he was bound by his promise to report, if called on to +do so--bound, too, in mere humanity towards one lying at the point of +death, and to whom that history might, conceivably, bring solace and +enlightenment. + +"Yes, I have investigated the phenomena in part," he answered. + +"And the result?" + +"Briefly, I think, that which I ventured to state to you just now--that +love is the language of the spirit, the only medium through which spirit +can declare itself and be apprehended, the one element of our poor human +constitution which promises to continue and to preserve to us a measure +of coherence and individuality even after death." + +The young man leaned forward again, and laid his hand on the warm +haunches of the ebony sphinx with a movement of slight defiance. + +"Listen," he said, "please, sir, and I'll do my best to tell you exactly +what has happened since we spoke of this subject last." + +He steadied himself to his task, trying to keep his narrative +circumstantial and restrained, to offer nothing more than a bald +statement of fact. But the charm of it, once he had started, was a +little too much for him. His speech grew lyrical against his will. And +Mr. Rivers listened, his eyes closed, his brow drawn into hard lines by +the effort of attention. Once he held up his hand. + +"Did you question this appearance?" he asked. + +"It was useless," Laurence answered, with a queer break in his voice. +"She never spoke--that is in words. She was dumb." + +"That is unfortunate," Mr. Rivers said coldly. "Well, pray, go on." + +And Laurence obeyed; recounting, with but slight reservation, all, even +to the events of the last few hours, when he and his sweet companion had +vainly sought to reach each other in defiance of some mighty, opposing +force, and how, at the crucial moment of the struggle, Mr. Rivers's +summons had come. + +"There, sir," said he finally--"now you have it all as far as I can give +it you. I don't attempt to explain, though I may have my own ideas on +the subject. I've tried to put it quite honestly before you, and must +leave you to thrash the meaning out of it for yourself." + +For some little space the sick man remained silent; then he raised both +hands and let them sink back upon the coverlet with the gesture of one +who bids farewell to hope. + +"Fables!" he said bitterly; "fables! I ask bread of you and you give me +a stone. I offer you an unprecedented opportunity of psychological +study, and you approach it in the spirit of a ballad-monger or a +mountebank! I require from you close observation, scientific acumen, an +unrelenting pursuit of truth; and you put me off with some old wives' +tale of lost letters, the ravings of an hysterical girl, of +re-incarnation, multiple identity, and I know not what farrago of sickly +sentiment and outworn superstition! You trouble me with rubbish, which +it would be an impertinence to offer as material for serious +consideration to a peasant's child, of ordinary mental capacity, in a +modern board-school. Nor can I, my dear Laurence, acquit you of +insincerity, since you trick out this unworthy stuff in the extravagant +language of an erotic poem, while claiming for yourself an attitude +wholly platonic and superior to animal passion." + +"You are harsh, sir," Laurence was permitted to remark. + +Mr. Rivers turned his head on the pillow. His expression was distinctly +malevolent. + +"I begin to gauge the average man," he replied calmly. "I begin to +recognise that he is a willing, probably wilful, self-deceiver--that he +is incapable of mental advance, that he will never expunge the +mythological element from his religious outlook, or learn to +discriminate between emotion, the product of the senses, and accurate +knowledge, the product of laborious enquiry and elevated thought." + +"Perhaps he is wiser so," Laurence said. "Perhaps--I speak subject to +correction, sir--but perhaps he gets into touch, that way, with things +not altogether unimportant in the long history of the human race." + +"Here, within measurable distance of dissolution, I grow somewhat weary +of _perhaps_. Yet I deserve that you should answer me this, since I have +shown myself very weak. I had not courage to embrace the remarkable +opportunity of investigating the phenomena of which we have spoken when +it was offered me in my prime. Now, in my decadence, surreptitiously and +at second hand, I try to acquire the knowledge I then repudiated. I +clutch at straws, and the straws sink with me. It is just. For the +second time I am untrue to my principles. I accept the rebuke." + +During the last half hour there had been a lull in the storm; but now +the wind, shifting to a point north of west, hurled itself against the +house-front with renewed fury, and screamed against the shuddering +casements as though determined to gain entrance. The effect was that of +personal violence intended, and, with difficulty, repulsed. To Laurence +an inrush of the tempest would have been hardly unwelcome, for the heat +of the atmosphere oppressed him to the point of distress. Nor was this +all. Once more he became aware, so it seemed to him, of the tremendous, +unseen presence with which he had struggled earlier this same evening in +the yellow drawing-room below. He was aware that it stood on the far +side of the great, ebony bed, waiting, and the young man's heart stood +still. He saw Mr. Rivers gather the sable cape more closely about him, +as he lay staring out into the austere yet luxurious room; and he +recognised that for all his mortal weakness there was a certain +magnificence in the dying man's aspect. + +"And beyond the superb, and always unredeemed, promise of human life, a +blank," Mr. Rivers said at last, his voice hollow, and, though so +small, asserting itself strangely against the tumult of the storm. +"Reason, learning, the senses, carry us thus far, only to project us +against a gateless barrier at the last!" + +But Laurence's whole nature arose in fierce revolt. Again he renewed +that awful struggle, but this time in articulate speech. + +"No, no, sir," he cried sharply, authoritatively, "the barrier is not +gateless--that is, to any one of us who has ever, even dimly and +passingly, known true-love, and that of which true-love is the +everlasting exponent and blessed symbol, namely, Almighty God." + +"And I have known neither," Mr. Rivers answered. "Love I have never +felt. God I have never needed, either as an object of worship, or as +incentive to prayer. Therefore, for me, on your own showing, the barrier +needs must remain gateless." + +He bowed his head slightly, smiling upon the young man with a fine, +ironical courtesy. + +"I will ask your pardon for any weariness I may have caused you, +Laurence," he added. "And now I think we have nothing further to say to +one another. I have no quarrel with your fulfilment of your part of the +contract. It has been only--possibly--too complete. So I will detain you +no longer. You can leave me. I bid you good-night." + +The young man would have answered with some kindly words of farewell; +but as the other ceased speaking, he became aware that, under the +glistening, outstretched arms of the caryatides, that tremendous unseen +presence bent downwards, extending itself sensibly over the bed. +Suddenly, and with a surprising effect of strength, Mr. Rivers started +into a sitting position. + +"Lowndes," he called imperatively, and reached out for the handle of the +silver bell. + +But before Laurence could render him any help he sunk down sideways--as +though under the weight of a heavy blow--the upper part of his body +hanging over the edge of the bed, and his thin, reed-like hands, with +their ancient and mysterious rings, dragging upon the carpet--dead. + + + + +XVII + + +The afternoon was fair and mild, a pensive charm upon it of misty +sunshine and light fugitive shadows--one of those tender, silvery +afternoons very characteristic of an English spring. It was as though +nature, repentant of the violence of the past night, would disarm +resentment by softness of mood, pretty invitations, and all manner of +insinuating caresses. Thrushes piped among the high branches, and on the +house-roofs starlings whistled and chattered, their crops filled with +succulent comfort of worms and slugs. Upon the wide lawns two pairs of +grey wag-tails scampered, with interludes of love-making and rapid +upward flutterings after young gnats and flies--born out of due time and +paying speedy and final penalty of too precocious an advent. The year +had fairly turned its back on winter at last, and a promise of genial +days, warm, lingering twilights, and tranquil nights was in the air. + +Yet the late storm had not departed altogether without witness. For +Laurence, pacing the broad walk from the last steps of the Italian +garden to the confines of the lime-grove, could hear the hushing of +birch-brooms and the ring of an axe. One of the tall cypresses had +fallen right across the central alley, and gardeners were still busy +chopping it up, carting away blocks of red wood and barrow-loads of +scented branches, and obliterating the traces of its downfall. + +Laurence paced the walk in a state of dreamy abstraction. The influences +of the hour and the place were soothing to him. Their last interview and +the final scene in his uncle's bed-chamber had affected him deeply. +To-day had been full of detail. He had spent great part of the morning +at the little, grey, Norman church, in company with Armstrong, Mr. Beal, +and the estate mason, superintending the opening of the Rivers's vault, +and such alteration of the position of the coffins it contained as to +render possible the addition of another to their number. Upon the +coffin-plates he read the names of many members of his family--of Dudley +Rivers and others; and that of his own father, Denbigh Rivers, who had +died on foreign service in Malta, when he--Laurence--was a child, and +whose body had been sent home, not without cost and difficulty, to lie +among his kindred in this quiet place. Of Agnes Rivers's coffin--though +he closely examined all such as were still intact--he discovered no +trace. + +"There won't be room for me or mine down there, Armstrong," he said to +the agent, as the two stood in the sunny churchyard, flicking the +clinging cobwebs of the vault from off their clothes. "Not that I'm +particularly sorry for that. Look here, you see the vacant space there +by the chancel wall? Just try if you can arrange to have it staked out +and reserved, without encroaching on the rights or hurting the feelings +of any of the parishioners. I rather fancy lying there--unless I'm lucky +enough to die at sea, and be dropped over the ship's side into the +clear, blue water, with a shot at my feet." + +"Every man to his humour, no doubt, Mr. Rivers," the other answered, in +his slow sing-song. "Though I could find it in my heart to wish you a +less uneasy resting-place than the swaying deeps of the ocean. Yet I +suppose it was just there, and in the manner you have indicated, that +your namesake and great-uncle, Laurence Rivers, found burial after the +glorious battle of Trafalgar." + +Laurence had stopped beating the clinging cobwebs from his sleeve, and +turned to the speaker with a look of quick intelligence. + +"Why, of course it was," he said, presently adding--"Upon my word, I +wonder--will history repeat itself in that particular also!" + +Subsequently, there had been letters to write, telegrams to despatch, +the disorganised household gently, but firmly, to lay hold on. And now +he paced the broad walk in an interval of leisure, listening till the +grinding of carriage-wheels upon the gravel of the chestnut avenue +should advise him that Mr. Wormald, his uncle's lawyer--whom he had +summoned from town--had arrived at Stoke Rivers Road, and completed the +transit from that station. And as he thus paced, while the silvery +sunshine and shadow gently followed one another across the face of the +fair, woodland landscape, a little of the pride of possession awoke in +the young man. He had hardly had time to think of that before; nor did +it seem quite fitting or seemly to do so when the breath had but so +lately left the body lying in that stately room upstairs. Yet it was +indisputable, this was precisely the event which, consciously or +unconsciously, he had waited for ever since his boyhood. The prospect of +one day succeeding to this property had handicapped him; he felt that. +It had placed him in a position, socially, slightly beyond his means. It +had taken from him the incentive and inclination to carve out an +independent career. So far it had been the reverse of an advantage, from +the more serious standpoint. But now all that was changed. He had a very +definite "name and local habitation." He was absolutely his own +master--no longer heir-apparent, but recognised owner and ruler of a by +no means contemptible territory. This was as the step from boyhood to +manhood--from the last of a public school to the freedom and personal +responsibility of youth no longer subject to tutelage. Laurence smiled +to himself. It occurred to him he had really got to grow up at last. +Well--he had been a precious long time about it! And then, somehow, it +occurred to him that this change in his fortunes altered and modified +his relation to Virginia. He had lived in Virginia's country, and among +her friends, almost exclusively, since his marriage. He had, he was +aware, ranked somewhat as Virginia's husband. Now the state of affairs +was reversed. He was in a position to claim full masculine +prerogatives--those of an old country, of a ripe and finished +civilisation, well understood. In future Virginia--she was very +charming, very, he'd no quarrel with her of course--only, in future, +Virginia would have to rank as his wife. + +And, thereupon, involuntarily his eyes sought the bay-window of the +yellow drawing-room. At the foot of the semicircular stone steps, on to +which that window opened, the gardeners still moved to and fro--slow, +brown-clad figures--collecting and wheeling away the _débris_ of the +fallen cypress. Laurence refused to formulate further the thoughts that +arose in his mind. Only one thing was clear to him--clear as the songs +and whistlings of the birds, clear as the tinkle and plash of the +fountains, the spray of which glittered so brightly silver in the +silvery light--Virginia could not come to Stoke Rivers just yet. It was +better--better in every way--that her coming should be postponed for a +while--till the period of mourning for his uncle was over--till he, +Laurence, had mastered all the business, and organised the existent +masculine household upon a new basis--till he had thoroughly acquainted +himself not only with the working of this, but of the Scotch +estate--till he and Virginia were free to keep open house--till--till-- + +At that moment, perhaps fortunately, the dogcart emerged from the +shelter of the great chestnut-trees, and swung round the carriage sweep +to the front door. Laurence crossed the lawns and the angle of the +Italian garden quickly.--What a pity that cypress had fallen! It broke +the line, destroying the symmetry of the garden; and it was almost the +tallest and finest grown of the lot. + +In the hall Mr. Wormald discoursed affably with the men-servants, while +the latter divested him of more than one overcoat. He was a small, +withered man, his back bowed and his hands sadly crippled by rheumatic +gout, by much handling of pens, and leaning over lengthy legal +documents; yet his movements were noticeably alert. His clean-shaven, +busy, little face was enlightened by nimble, red-brown, squirrel-like +eyes. + +"Thank ye, Renshaw," he said. "Gently--ah, yes, you remember! These +damp, spring days get into my joints, I promise you. Ah! there you are, +Watkins. Yes, sad affair this, and sudden. Great shock to you all, no +doubt. Quite so--but I observe that so frequently is the case. A +lingering illness, the termination of which grows to seem more and more +remote, and then the end with unlooked-for rapidity. Yes, very sad." + +Disengaging himself from the sleeves of his second coat, he perceived +Laurence's arrival, and his squirrel-like eyes scampered, so to speak, +over the young man from head to foot. Like the agent, he appeared to +receive an agreeable impression, for he gave a subdued squeak evidently +indicative of satisfaction. + +"Ah! Mr. Rivers," he exclaimed, "you will not remember me. It is many +years since we met. You were a little shaver in an Eton-jacket and round +collar. And your poor uncle passed away quite suddenly at last?--Not a +matter for regret, I venture to think. Few men would have been more +fretted by a consciousness of failing powers. Remarkable intellect"--Mr. +Wormald keckled softly, as he passed with the young man into the +library--"quite beyond me, out of my humble range altogether, you know, +Mr. Rivers. I admired his conversation; yet I cannot venture to pretend +I attached any intelligible meaning to one-half of what your uncle said. +But our business relations were very simple. He disliked business too +much to wish to prolong the discussion of it. You will find all legal +arrangements very direct. The death duties will be heavy; but, otherwise +there are no deductions, I believe, save one or two small legacies to +the servants.--Dinner, yes, Mr. Rivers, the earlier the better for me. I +should be glad to put in a long evening with Armstrong; then we will +have everything ready for you in the morning. I have an appointment with +a client at five to-morrow afternoon, so I will ask you to let me go up +by the two o'clock. I shall not need to encroach on your time to-night." + +Therefore it happened, that, comparatively early Laurence found himself +free to go down the red-carpeted corridor, pull back the heavy, +leather-lined curtain, and enter the room of strange and delectable +meetings once again. What fortune, good or bad, awaited him, he could +not even surmise. He had learned one thing at least, that, in this +connection, nothing was certain save the unforeseen. Nevertheless, he +was sensible of slight surprise on finding the room shrouded in vague +gloom. By some oversight the electric light had not been turned on. But +the March evenings were long, and he had come to the trysting-place +before the accustomed hour. The day was not wholly dead yet, and +twilight lingered in the neighbourhood of the bay-window. After his +first movement of surprise, Laurence found a restful charm in the soft +obscurity surrounding him. Once again the room had resumed its effect of +friendliness; and if his fairy-lady was not there as yet, no more were +malign and opposing powers. The place was kindly and peaceful. It, like +the weather, had settled back into a mild and engaging mood. + +The young man felt his way across to the window, and sat down in one of +the gilt-framed, brocade-covered armchairs on the right of the bay. +There he waited, looking out now at the garden, growing mysterious and +shadowy in the deepening dusk; now at the tall, satin-wood escritoire, +the highly polished surfaces of which, reflecting the expiring light, +glistened so that the shape of it remained visible after surrounding +objects had faded from sight. + +How long he waited Laurence did not know, nor did he greatly care. He +had been very actively employed for the better part of the last +six-and-thirty hours, and both as to mind and body he was in an +unusually quiescent state. His energies were in pleasant suspension. The +dimly seen room swam before his eyes. He made no effort of resistance. A +mist clouded his vision, clouded all his faculties, and he slept. + +When he awoke it was high noon. He lay on the stone bench beneath the +lime-trees, the innumerable leaves of which rustled and danced in the +warm, summer wind. He awoke laughing from a wholly delicious dream--a +young man's dream of very lovely love, which after long denial and delay +had found perfect fulfilment. He felt very light and content. Life was +sweet, this smiling, summer world infinitely hopeful and sympathetic. +Then he stretched himself, smoothed the revers of his flowered, silk +waistcoat, and straightened his lawn cravat, which had been somewhat +displaced during the pleasant relaxation of slumber. He rubbed a trifle +of dust, too, from the knee of his plumb-coloured breeches with his +handkerchief. Then he stood up still laughing, yet with a growing hunger +in his heart, since he began to realise that those delights were his, as +yet, only within the gates of sleep and of dreams. He stretched again, a +sigh mingling with his laughter; and then discovered that through the +shifting, dappled sunlight and shadow Agnes Rivers approached him with +her pretty, flitting, bird-like grace. To-day she wore a pale, +lemon-yellow, India-muslin dress, spotted with cinnamon-coloured sprigs, +and a white and cinnamon coloured waist ribbon embroidered in blown +roses and tiny buds. A black, velvet work-bag, with long yellow and +black strings to it, hung upon her arm; while her charming head and neck +showed up in high relief against the open blue-grey sunshade she +carried tilted over her right shoulder. Laurence went forward to meet +her, all aglow from his recent sleep and from the fond imaginations of +that delicious dream. Half playfully, half in sharp desire of mastery, +he took away her sunshade and work-bag, and threw them down upon the +turf. Then grasping both her hands in his, he kissed and kissed them, +holding them high and bending his head so that his eyes were on a level +with hers. And there must have been something in his eyes fearful, +though enchanting, to her perfect maidenliness, for she flushed and +tried to withdraw her hands, moving back a step from him with an air of +questioning and innocent dignity. + +"Laurence, Laurence," she said chidingly, "what does this mean? What has +taken you?" + +"Only happiness," he answered, "of which, having seen the dear vision, I +very badly need the still dearer reality." + +"Ah!" she said, "and yet you will go away--how soon we do not know--to +this most unhappy war, and leave me desolate." + +"Yes, and it is best so, sweetheart," he replied; serious, though still +smiling--she was so pure, so trustful, and so very fair. Her gentle +beauty racked him--"Best so," he repeated--"best pass the time +honourably, fighting for king and country, until your twenty-first +birthday is past, and Dudley can no longer forbid our marriage, and I +can claim you, make and keep you mine forever and a day--" + +And thereupon he stopped abruptly, for his elder brother had come upon +them unperceived--Dudley, thin and tall, clothed in sad-coloured, +brown-grey coat and vest, the locks of his long, pale hair stirred by +the summer wind, in his hand a bundle of papers--Dudley, whose high, +narrow head, refined features, and deep-set, fanatical eyes reminded +Laurence strangely of his uncle, Montagu Rivers, lying upstairs in the +carven, ebony bed, with the crystal _memento mori_ and the silver bell +of the elegantly poised Mercury handle on the table beside him.--But how +was that? How could it be? He confused two generations. Dudley Rivers's +coffin he had seen, in the vault of the little, Norman church, only this +morning. The dust lay thick on it. For more than half a century it had +reposed there undisturbed; whereas his uncle, Montagu Rivers, died but +last night! + +Yet even while he thus reasoned, the scene suffered change. All around +him was the roar of cannon; and beneath him the screaming of two ships, +grinding into one another, side to side, upon the lift and fall of the +Atlantic, where the sea grows short towards Gibraltar and the Straits. +They screamed, those ships, as fighting stallions scream--a fierce and +terrible sound. And all their decks were slippery with blood, through +which half-naked men ran red-footed, or falling, wallowed, while the +yell of battle went up hoarse from many hundred throats. The white +sails, torn and streaming, were dyed wild, lurid colours by the flash of +musketry and up-rolling volumes of smoke from the heavy guns. It was as +hell let loose. Yet discipline prevailed, as did a desperate and +persistent purpose, through all the tumult and slaughter. Laurence +himself felt cool, light-hearted even, as he shouted orders and rallied +his men in no mild language. His courage was high and his life strong +in him. He laughed, notwithstanding the murderous noise, the sickening +and brutal sights. But, to his fury, just in the turn of the engagement, +when victory seemed assured at last, he felt a shattering blow at the +top of his chest, and the blood welled up from his pierced lungs, and +all the world about him grew black. He staggered back against the +splintered bulwarks, putting his left hand upon the thin packet of +letters buttoned inside his uniform against his heart, and called +aloud--"Agnes, Agnes." + +And out of the blackness a sweet voice, speaking as from some far +distance, answered, crying--"Laurence, Laurence"--in accents of +tremulous but very exquisite joy. Then within his palm he felt once more +that just perceptible pulsation, as of the fluttering wings of a captive +butterfly; while, in the ghostly twilight still glimmering in through +the great bay-window, he beheld the slender form and rose-red, silken +dress of his sweet fairy-lady, there, close at his side. + + + + +XVIII + + +For some moments the young man dared not move. The anguish of his +shattered ribs, the choking up-rush of blood from his lungs, was so +present to him, that he turned deadly faint. By degrees he realised that +all these sensations were illusory; or rather memory of that which had, +long ago, befallen him. Then he asked himself--was the cry which had +just now answered his cry illusory, a matter of memory, likewise? This +he must ascertain. He began speaking slowly and softly; and the +conviction of his identity with that other Laurence Rivers, his +namesake, was so complete, that in speaking as he did he had no sense of +practising any deceit upon his hearer. + +"Agnes," he said, "do you remember the summer morning when, like a lazy +fellow, I fell asleep under the lime-trees, and how you came to me just +as I woke up, and how we spoke to one another, and how my brother Dudley +interrupted our conversation." + +A pause followed, during which he listened with almost feverish anxiety, +looking up into the sweet, dimly-seen face. Was it possible that she +had already gained in physical attributes and powers to the point of +audible speech? He almost prayed it might be so; and yet what tremendous +issues such development opened up! + +At last the low, far-away voice began to answer him. The words came +lispingly, at first, with a pathetic effort and hesitancy. It was as the +utterance of a baby child but just learning to articulate. + +"How could I fail to remember that morning, since the joy of it proved +the prelude to the sorrow of your departure?" + +Laurence could barely control his excitement; but he just managed to +remain very still and to continue speaking slowly and softly. + +"Was that so?" he said. "I had forgotten." + +"Surely it was so," she answered. "For Dudley brought you the orders, +which had just been delivered by a despatch-rider, requiring your +immediate return to your ship." + +"Yes, yes--of course. I begin to recollect," he rejoined. "Lord Nelson +had news of the whereabouts of the French fleet, and we put to sea at a +few hours' notice. Recollect, dear me, I should rather think I did! It +was an awful rush to get one's kit together, and get through, and there +was no end of a bother about post-horses." + +Laurence rose to his feet. It was impossible to him to sit still any +longer. This strange awakening of memory, and the miracle of his sweet, +phantom companion's recovered speech, moved him too deeply. He went +across to the escritoire. + +"Come here, Agnes," he said. "I want to look at you. I must see you +clearly. And I--I want you to look at me. Come." + +While speaking he struck a match, and lighted, first the tall wax +candles standing upon the escritoire, and then those in the candelabra +upon the chimney-piece. Beheld in their mellow light, the room assumed a +more than ever familiar and friendly aspect. Laurence felt that he was +at home--at home, consciously, and with a security and content upon him +such as he had never experienced before. It was singularly pleasant to +feel thus. Moving back he stood in front of the slender, rose-clad +figure. His manner was serious, though very gentle, and his voice +somewhat broken by the emotion under which he laboured. + +"See, I have opened your little treasure-chest for you," he said. "And I +have read your dear letters--that constituted no breach of faith, or act +of presumption, considering how often I have read them already. I have +put everything carefully back in its place, save our two miniatures, +which lie here side by side. I tell you honestly, I am perplexed. I +can't fit in the bits of the puzzle, or piece out the story as yet; but +that, to my mind, doesn't matter very much. For we are here together, +once again, you and I." + +He shifted the position of the candles so that their full light should +fall upon her. + +"Now let me look at you," he said. + +And as he looked his eyes grew somewhat moist, for he perceived that +which he had blindly desired, blindly sought all his days, that which +had been as an ache at his heart even in his gayest hours, because he +needed it and had it not--though he had had no knowledge of what indeed +it was he needed--now stood visibly before him. Sweet phantom, old-time +love, exquisite companion--having found her, how could he ever again let +her go? Listening to her pretty, halting speech the flattering belief +had once more grown strong in him that he had the power--had he also the +will--to restore her to complete and living womanhood. The ambition of +so doing possessed him with redoubled force; and the love of her, rooted +so deeply in that mysterious former life and former personality of his, +possessed him too. Considerations of right and wrong, of duty, even of +honour, he brushed aside. The peace and content of the present, the +daring effort, the triumph and delight of the future should that effort +succeed, rendered him callous to all things beside. Then a touch of +self-distrust took him. Did he please, as he was pleased? He wondered. + +"Agnes," he asked her almost wistfully, "tell me, have I changed very +much?" + +Her eyes, which had grown somewhat shy beneath his searching scrutiny, +regained their serenity. She replied more readily, and in more assured +accents, while a gentle playfulness was perceptible in her bearing. + +"You appear older," she said; "but I will not reproach you with that, +since I think you have matured in character rather than greatly +increased in years. I could fancy you taller, were not such a +supposition absurd. The fashion of your clothes is much altered--you +affect very sober colours now." + +But suddenly her expression changed. A wide-eyed, haunting sadness came +back into her lovely face, and she spread abroad her hands in mingled +apology and appeal. + +"Ah! indeed," she cried, "I fear a long, long period has elapsed during +my illness and alienation of mind. You have had time and to spare in +which to grow older, to acquire new habits of thought, perchance--but +that idea I cannot tolerate--to form fresh ties. I bitterly deplore my +weakness, but they assured me of your death. Their purpose was not +cruel, I am sure; but when I refused to believe their statements, your +brother Dudley and Mrs. Lambart sent for our rector, Mr. Burkinshaw, to +talk with me and preach resignation. He preached to deaf ears, poor man! +How could I be resigned to see all the joy of my life cut down as grass +under the sweep of a scythe? I did not believe them, yet their +reiterated assertions so worked on me that they killed hope in me, and, +in so doing, killed reason likewise. Yet in my heart of hearts, +Laurence, I have always known that you would come again." + +She clasped her hands high on her bosom and smiled upon him. + +"And you have come, oh! my love," she said; "you have come!" + +"Yes, in good truth," he answered, while a sense of fear took him--"I +have come." + +For he was filled with pity and with wonder concerning the end of this +adventure; while her innocent passion softened his whole nature to a +great tenderness, as the sun softens the frozen earth in spring. Then he +held out his hand to her in invitation, and led her across to the +brocade-covered sofa, set corner-wise between the piano and the +fireplace, and for a while they both remained silent, sitting there side +by side. And as the minutes slid away, the young man's fears departed, +and content returned to him. It was so natural to sit with her thus! Yet +his content had an underlying pathos in it, since their situation--his +and hers--though immediately happy was so very strange. + +At last he asked her:--"Did you know me from the first?" + +And she replied with an air of gracious diffidence infinitely +engaging:--"I can hardly tell you. For so long confusion has reigned in +my poor mind that all had become to me vague and undetermined. I was so +very tired that even that which I most craved, I, in a measure, shrank +from. I seemed to wander everlastingly in blank and desolate places. I +seemed to move in an interspace between the confines of two worlds, to +neither of which could I gain admittance. I could not go forward, +neither could I go back. Everything baffled me; everything was so +difficult to understand." + +"But now you have left those blank and desolate places? Now you +understand?" Laurence asked, keenly interested in, yet a little dreading +her answer. + +"I think so. Still joy has been too long a stranger, for me wholly to +trust it even yet. And I fear there are still lapses and deficiencies in +my intelligence. I could fancy--but doubtless these are but silly +fancies, born of illness--that I am not as I used to be, and that I +feel the miss of much I once had and now have not." + +She looked up at him, her eyes troubled once more to their very depths. + +"In what am I lacking, Laurence?" she inquired piteously. "I feel that I +am lacking, and I tremble lest I should disappoint you. Indeed, I will +strive to remedy my fault, whatever it may be, if you will but be +patient with me and tell me plainly of it, and give me opportunity to +effect a cure." + +But he answered her soothingly, stung by the humility and innocence of +her attitude. + +"You are wanting in nothing that time will not set right. But we must +make haste slowly, sweetheart. So put all these sick fancies out of your +head. We will worry neither about past or future; but, like true +economists, will enjoy the present. Now let us talk of the time before I +left you to rejoin my ship. Of that other melancholy time, after I left +you and before I came back, and of the changes it has brought along with +it, we will talk some other day--I trust there are many days for us +ahead." + +And so they remained speaking of the incidents of that mysterious former +life, of which Laurence's recollection became momentarily more +circumstantial and coherent--speaking of little things, merry and +tender, such as lovers love--until, more than once, gusts of gentle +laughter swept through the yellow drawing-room, which, for such a length +of years, had been empty of all sound of human mirth. And not until the +rose-red fingers of the dawn--in colour matching his fairy-lady's +rose-red gown--first touched the eastern sky above the dome of the lime +grove and the broken outline of the woods, did Laurence and Agnes Rivers +cease to talk. Then she got up from her place in pretty haste. + +"Ah!" she said, smiling, "I must go. Good Mrs. Lambart will reprove my +indiscretion in having remained here so late." + +But Laurence was bound to ask her one question, which had been in his +mind during the whole course of their interview, yet had not so far +dared put to her. + +"Tell me," he said, "I waited for you--why did you not meet me here last +night?" + +"Ah!" she replied, "do not let us closely inquire into that. Something +terrible was abroad in the house. I think it was the Shadow of Death. It +stood between us--or I dreamed it did so.--But we fought against it. We +conquered it--at least I dreamed that we did. And it is gone.--But now, +dear love, indeed I too must go. Good-night, or rather good-morrow. +Carry happy thoughts away with you, even as I do, to sweeten rest." + +And, without more ado, she flitted across the room, as though her little +feet in their diamond-powdered slippers could not go soberly, but must +dance for very joy, and, passing behind the tall escritoire, Laurence +once again was aware that she had disappeared and left no trace. + + + + +XIX + + +The disposition of Montagu Rivers's property proved--as Mr. Wormald had +already advised Laurence it would prove--of a simple and straightforward +description. All the servants connected with the house and stables would +receive a couple of years' wages. Lowndes, the valet, would in addition +draw a substantial pension. Outside these provisions, Laurence inherited +wholly and solely. A single clause in the brief will revealed somewhat +of the eccentric character of its maker. Mr. Rivers directed that within +forty-eight hours of his reported death a London surgeon of acknowledged +eminence should use means to ascertain, beyond all possibility of doubt, +that death had veritably and indeed taken place. He further directed +that Armstrong, the agent, and a local practitioner who had attended him +at intervals during his illness, should be present at this rather +ghastly demonstration. It was added that the corpse should receive +Christian burial not less than twenty-four hours after the autopsy had +been carried out. The clause concluded with the following words:-- + +"I desire these measures to be taken--childish and superstitious though +they may appear--as a precaution against that happening, in my own case, +which would appear to have happened in the case of a former inhabitant +of Stoke Rivers." + +The eminent surgeon in question, hastily summoned from amid a press of +work, could spare but one evening for his visit. He proved to be a +courtly and agreeable person, an amateur of the fine arts, with a turn +for copper-plate engravings, a weakness for Italian ivories, and an +enthusiasm for antique and renaissance gems. His work in the +death-chamber accomplished, he readily turned his attention to more +pleasing investigations; and during the hour after dinner, before the +coming of the carriage to take him to catch the up-express at Stoke +Rivers Road, he examined the contents of certain glass cases in the +library, and looked at the engravings hanging in the lower corridor. + +"I little imagined, when I left town this afternoon," he said, +addressing Laurence with a peculiarly charming smile, "that such +delectable entertainment was in store for me. I am proud of my +profession--no man more so; but I am not sorry to put it aside for a +time and forget injury and disease, and even successful dealing with +them, in favour of art. This collection of your uncle's, though not +large, is remarkable. It reflects great credit upon his judgment and +taste. It contains absolutely no rubbish, hardly, indeed, a single +object which it would be just to qualify as second-rate.--Ah! here is +another admirable thing, though less in my line than those delightful +gems." + +The two men had reached the end of the corridor, and the doctor paused +in front of the tapestry curtain. + +"This is a very fine example," he continued, "though I could not, off +hand, be sure of the date. How broad and yet how harmonious in +colouring! Just a trifle broad in subject, too, perhaps; but our +forefathers were blessed or cursed--I am often at a loss to decide +which--with a more robust taste in sentiment than ourselves. A witty +modern writer has spoken of 'the saving grace of coarseness.' There +have been times when I have been tempted to endorse his phrase." + +As he spoke, he laid hold of the edge of the curtain. + +"Dear me, how singularly weighty!" He looked at his host quickly, +inquiringly, and with heightened interest. "Singularly weighty," he +repeated. "This house enjoys a reputation for a certain originality, I +understand. Would it be indiscreet to inquire to what this splendid +_portière_ either gives, or denies, access?" + +Just for a moment Laurence hesitated, staring his guest very full in the +face. So far this new acquaintance had interested him greatly. His +conversation had been refreshingly varied; moreover, Laurence, in +listening to it, had become increasingly and pleasingly impressed with +the value and distinction of his lately acquired possessions. He +recognised a steadiness and sanity in the great surgeon's outlook; an +appreciation of things rare and beautiful, combined with a wisdom born +of wide practical experience; a large compassion, too, for the foibles, +and sufferings, and sins of poor human nature, unembittered by any +flavour of contempt. And so it happened that, during that moment of +hesitation, Laurence was sorely disposed to lay bare to this man--whom +he would in all probability never meet again--the abnormal situation in +which he, at the present time, found himself. If any one could grasp +that situation, and deal with it at once justly and sympathetically, he +thought this man could do so; since he appeared to have passed the +limits of denial and scepticism, and reached that composure and poise of +mind wherein revolt ceases and the capacity of acceptance and belief +becomes almost unlimited. But--perhaps unfortunately--Laurence put the +inclination towards free speech from him as a temptation. Was he not +bound by his promise to the dead? He was bound still more, perhaps, by +personal pride. It appeared to him free speech would be a yielding, a +weakness; so he answered suavely, yet with a sufficient loftiness to +leave no room for further question-- + +"Behind the curtain is that which, indirectly, has procured me the great +pleasure of receiving you here to-day." + +As he spoke he turned, and led the way in the direction of the hall +again. + +"I'm uncommonly glad," he added, "that you have such a high opinion of +my uncle's little collection. Perhaps it may induce you to come down +here again sometime, from Saturday to Monday, and overhaul the contents +of these cases at your leisure. I am afraid I'm a bit of a barbarian, +and don't reckon with them as reverently as I ought. I am a good deal +better up in the points of polo ponies than in those of Popes' rings, I +know." + +"That is no matter for regret," the doctor replied, in his most courtly +manner. "My esteem for the barbarian increases rather than diminishes as +I grow older. And I never forget that these delicacies of art are, after +all, the refuge of those who have outlived or injured their digestion +of, and appetite for, simpler and more wholesome diet. Such dyspeptics +are to be commiserated rather than commended. As long as the romance of +sport and travel holds you, as long as you still 'love the bright eyes +of danger,' you can very well afford to leave the consolations offered +by gems, and ivories, and such like sweepings from the ruins of departed +civilisations, to the physically and emotionally decrepit." + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Ah, youth," he said, "immortal youth, and the rather savage joys of +it!--I congratulate you far more profoundly upon the possession of +these, and upon the magnificent health which I cannot but perceive to be +yours, than upon your extremely interesting house and both its seen"--he +paused, looking rather hard at Laurence and smiling--"and unseen +treasures.--A cigar? Yes, thanks, I think I will permit myself that +indulgence on my way down to the station.--But to return to my +contention. Remember we only take to sweet-sop when our teeth are no +longer sound enough for ship's biscuit. Eat ship's biscuit and relish it +just as long as a merciful Providence permits you to do so, my dear +young gentleman. The days of sweet-sop, of the armchair, of what we are +pleased to call 'the judicial attitude of mind,' but which is really +nothing save the natural consequence of a sluggish and defective +circulation, will come all too soon in any case. Adieu to you--" + +A flash of carriage lamps at the open hall door, the two +men-servants--restored to their habitual correctness of bearing--armed +with rugs, greatcoat, and narrow leather bag of slightly sinister +aspect--the snort of a horse in the night air, fresh from the +comfortable warmth of the stable--and, after further farewells, Laurence +went back into the hot, bright, silent house. + +"No one need sit up, Renshaw," he said to the waiting butler. "I shall +watch in Mr. Rivers's room alone to-night." + +For this was to be a night of abstinence, so the young man had decided, +from the dear sight of his fairy-lady and the delight of her +miraculously recovered speech. He had a duty to perform to the dead man, +lying solitary upstairs--though hardly more solitary now, than during +the long years past in which he had repudiated all solace of human +affection. To Laurence himself life had become almost terribly well +worth living since he had set foot in Stoke Rivers little more than a +week ago; and it was to this man, of cold and narrow nature, that, after +all, he owed this notable enlargement of interests and opportunity--not +to mention those material advantages of houses, lands, and costly +furnishings which had come to him. Gratitude was very much in place; and +it seemed to him that a silent vigil in that stately bed-chamber would +be only fitting, both as an act of piety, and as testimony to the +gratitude now no longer permitted expression either in spoken word or +kindly act. Nor could Laurence help hoping that during those solemn +hours he might arrive at a clear determination regarding the +future--ceasing merely to drift passive and acquiescent to the push of +circumstance, as a rudderless boat to the push of the tide. He would +direct his own course, be master of his own action, prepared to +take--for good or ill--all the consequences that action might involve. +For, all the while--and it was worse than useless to shirk remembrance +of that--all the while, across the Atlantic, under the bright American +skies, bright as they, immediate and modern as the civilisation on which +they look down, was the vivacious, young, society beauty, whom he had +believed he loved, whom he very certainly had married, and to whom--in +the opinion of both her world and his own--his honour and his whole +future stood pledged. The question of Virginia--for the whole situation +resolved itself fundamentally into that--the question of Virginia must +be reckoned with, and the results of such reckoning accepted once and +for all. + +He had not visited that upstairs room since the night of his uncle's +death. The impression then received of the furnace-like fire, and the +apparent life and motion of those figures of enslaved and half-bestial +womanhood supporting the bed, were still present to his recollection. +But now, as he passed into the room, he found the change worked there +very arresting. All trace of that which had gone forward, earlier in the +evening, under the hands of the eminent surgeon, had been obliterated. +The room was orderly, stately as ever; but it was very cold. The hearth +was swept and empty. One casement stood wide open, and by it entered a +continuous breathing of bleak wind. A single electric burner was turned +on, and, in the low steady light shed by it, the carven figures of the +ebony bed offered no illusion of life or motion; they showed rigid as +the long, narrow body they guarded, the angular outline of which was +perceptible beneath the fine linen sheet--upon the surface of which +sprigs of rosemary and box lay scattered. + +Laurence moved across, intending to turn back the upper part of the +sheet and look on the face of the dead; but as he did so a bent form +rose silently from the armchair, set at right angles to the fireless +hearth, and took up its position on the far side of the bed opposite to +him. Though by no means addicted to nervous alarms, Laurence felt a +chill run through him, right up to the roots of his hair. Was it +conceivable that he beheld the Umbra or Corporeal Soul, of which Ovid +speaks, and that this phantom would keep watch with him over its own +unburied corpse during the coming hours? His sweet fairy-lady was one +thing, and this quite another, in the line of disembodied spirits. Stoke +Rivers, apparently, was not a comfortable place to die in. Laurence +registered a hasty vow that he, for one, would take precious good care +to arrange to die somewhere else! But as he gazed, somewhat fearfully, +at the intruder, it declared itself pathetically and pitifully +human--nothing more recondite, indeed, than Lowndes, the wiry, +long-armed, grey-faced valet. + +"I thought it proper to wait till you should come, sir," he said, under +his breath. "Though Mr. Rivers has no need of my services now, I have +attended on him too constantly to feel it fitting I should be out of +call."--His voice quavered, and he cleared his throat.--"He was a +gentleman that rarely praised, sir. Some might have thought him harsh; +but that was because his mind was so engaged with study. In all the +forty years I waited on him, he never gave me an uncivil word; and it is +not many gentlemen of whom you can say that." + +He lent across, carefully removed some sprigs of box lying high on the +sheet, then folded it down quickly and skilfully across the chest. +Laurence was aware of a jealous devotion in his attitude. No hands save +his own should again touch his dead master. But the sheet once arranged +to his satisfaction, he stepped back, a pace or two, into the shadow of +the damask curtains. + +Then the young man looked long and silently upon the dead. +Notwithstanding its extreme emaciation, the face was gentler than in +life. This was not merely owing to the closing of the brilliant eyes. An +immense calm rested on it. The hunger of the intellect was stayed at +last; and the face was majestic in its composure--the face of one who +has passed, for ever, beyond the tyranny of desire. Looking on it, +Laurence bowed himself reverently in spirit, while the conviction rooted +itself in him, that of all virtues the most fertile, the most admirable, +is courage. For the weak, the dismayed, for skulkers, liars, and +dastards, in whatever department of action or of thought, there is small +hope--so he told himself--either here or hereafter. The battle is to the +strong; and, therefore, to be strong is the one and only thing which +really signifies. + +And then it came to him, with a sense of sudden satisfaction, that this +most desirable thing, strength, was altogether part of his own +inheritance, did he choose to claim it. For the first time he +appreciated the value of that strain of fanaticism resident in his +blood. He had feared it a little, and apologised to himself for its +existence heretofore. He had made a prodigious mistake; for now that +strain of fanaticism revealed itself as among the most excellent things +of his birthright. He remained motionless, gazing, no longer at the +carven bed and its rigid burden, but away to the open casement--in at +which came the breathing of the bleak night-wind--his head held high, +and a singular compression about the corners of his mouth. +Virginia?--Just now Virginia, and all and any obligation he might have +contracted towards her, went for very little. He stood apart, complete +in himself, regardless of custom, regardless even of so-called morality, +should these interfere between him and his purpose. His sense of humour +in regard to himself--humour, eternal enemy of all exaggerations and +fixed ideas--was in abeyance. He knew that, knew it was dangerous. But +then, as the courtly surgeon had so lately reminded him, what so +adorable, after all, as those same "bright eyes of danger"--let danger +come, how and when it may?--Conventionalities? He bade them pack, all +the sort of them. Their day was over. The day of scruples was over +likewise. His position was unexampled. He took the risks, along with the +joys, of it. As his forefathers had been, so would he be. He felt an +extraordinary exaltation and freedom of spirit. And feeling this he +laughed a little, just as he had laughed when rallying his men amid the +roar of cannon and scream of the grinding ships, in the famous sea-fight +off the southern Spanish coast at Trafalgar. + +But the old valet, hearing that most unexpected, and to him unseemly, +sound, emerged from the discreet shadow of the damask curtains and +stretched his long arms to draw the sheet again up over the face of the +corpse. + +"You have done, sir?" he asked in accents of severity. + +"No," Laurence answered, the excitement of his thoughts still strong +upon him--"I have only just begun; but, thank God, or devil, or what you +will, I have begun at last." + + + + +XX + + +The funeral was over. Those few gentlemen of the neighbourhood who had +felt it incumbent upon them to appear in person, had departed. So had +the empty broughams of their more numerous neighbours, who proposed to +offer a maximum of respect to the dead with a minimum of trouble to +themselves. The Archdeacon also had started on his homeward journey to +Bishop's Pudbury. At Mr. Beal's earnest entreaty he had been invited by +Laurence Rivers to take part in the function. The young clergyman had +been sadly exercised by scruples regarding the propriety of consigning +the mortal remains of an admitted sceptic and scoffer to the grave, with +words of Christian hope and blessing. What was left for believers if +unbelievers thus benefited? The conscience of his superior officer was +happily of less flabby texture. + +"Charity before all things, my dear Walter," the latter had said, in his +full, sonorous voice, when the ingenuous young man had unfolded his +difficulties. "It is not for you, or even for me, to judge and condemn +a fellow-creature. If not an active churchman, remember Mr. Rivers +displayed no leanings towards Rome or any other schismatic body. For +this we must be very thankful. There are occasions, moreover, as you +will learn in time, when the purely ecclesiastical attitude may fitly be +modified by the knowledge of the man of the world. We yield no point, +mark you; but we abstain from pressing a wrong point at a wrong time. +Judgment, statesmanship--therein lies the practical application of the +sacred injunction, 'Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves.' To +raise objections in the present case would be to increase rather than +mitigate the possibility of scandal--probably, moreover, it would be to +alienate the sympathies of young Mr. Rivers. We must learn never to +sacrifice the future to the present, my dear Walter. To do so is to fall +into errors of misplaced zeal--a very dangerous thing. Much, I cannot +but think, may be done with young Mr. Rivers. Wisely handled, he should +prove of considerable local service to the Church." + +So the good young man's soul received comfort. + +"What a privilege it is to talk with you, sir!" he said. "I always learn +so much." + +Last to go, as he had been first to arrive at Stoke Rivers, was Captain +Bellingham. + +"Poor old chap, I tell you, I've had him very much on my mind, Louise, +these last few days," he had said to his wife, that morning, at +breakfast. "It's only decent charity to see him through. I hear he's +looking uncommonly hipped. You thought him rather queer, you know, the +day he had luncheon here. Mercy for him the old gentleman died as soon +as he did--perfectly mad, too, I hear, and an infernal temper. It's +enough to make any one jumpy to be dancing attendance on such a deathbed +as that day after day; and in that gloomy, ghostly house too. I couldn't +have done it, I know, without getting most frightfully broken up. We +must try to get him over here for a day or two. Write him a nice note, +will you, Louise; it would be awfully good of you, and I will do my best +to bring him back with me to-night. Ought to be quiet to-morrow, I +suppose, for the sake of appearances; but the day after let's have +General Powys and the Westons to dinner. I want to rattle him up a bit." + +But neither Mrs. Bellingham's neatly worded note, nor her husband's +hospitable entreaties, moved Laurence Rivers. He had quite other fish to +fry. All he asked for was solitude and sunset; and his courtesy was +slightly perfunctory and formal in consequence--so much so, indeed, that +on his return Jack Bellingham remarked to his wife:-- + +"Rivers always was such a good-hearted, sensible sort of fellow, that +it's hardly likely coming into this property would turn his head. He's +above any vulgarity of that kind. All the same, he really was curiously +stand-offish to everybody to-day. The Archdeacon meant to make an +afternoon of it, and was a little bit huffed, I think. Rivers was +perfectly civil, only he gave us pretty clearly to understand there was +no call for any of us to dawdle. I don't know, but somehow I tell you, +Louise, I don't quite like his look. We shall see. It would be an awful +pity if he followed in the footsteps of the late lamented and turned out +a crank." + +"I know it," Mrs. Bellingham replied calmly. "But you omit Virginia. I +have never seen a woman less likely to tolerate a crank as her husband +than Virginia." + +And so at length the accustomed quiet settled down on Stoke Rivers. +Dinner was over, and the unwelcome daylight fairly flown. Abstinence had +gone to sharpen the edge of hunger, and Laurence made his way down the +corridor, pulled the curtain towards him, and entered the room of +mysterious meetings in a humour to venture much. At the escritoire stood +his fairy-lady, and at the sound of the closing door she turned and +extended her arms, a world of delicate welcome in her gesture and her +face. Then, as he came towards her, she drew back a little, as though +penitent of the fervour of her greeting. Her lips moved, but no sound +issued from them; and a quick fear went through the young man that, +through the action of some malign influence, she had declined upon her +former condition and once again become dumb. This raised the spirit of +battle in him, and reinforced his resolution to effect her emancipation +from the control of whatever opposing power--physical or +spiritual--might hold her in its grasp. The more so that, for all her +gladness, there was a hint of trouble, a little cloud of distress upon +her face, which provoked him to indignation. He hated that--be it what +it might--which held her sweet being in thrall. + +"Agnes, why is this? Why don't you speak to me?" he demanded. + +Whereat she smiled, as one who loves yet deprecates another's +unreasoning heat. + +"How can I speak," she asked, "until you have first spoken to me?" + +"But why not? I don't understand," he said. + +"Nor I," she answered; "only I know that so it is. I cannot explain the +why and wherefore of this, or of much besides, to myself. I am to myself +at once real and unreal--as an echo, a shadow, the reflection in a +mirror, is at once real and unreal." + +She looked at him seriously, wonderingly, as though trying to take +counsel with him against herself. + +"I see with your eyes, I speak with your voice, I comprehend with your +mind when you are present. When you are absent, I become as the echo +unevoked by any sound, as the shadow when neither sun or moon look +forth to cast it, as the reflection in the mirror when that of which it +was the image has moved away. Only my heart remains to me; and it, when +you are absent, longs and searches, journeying from place to place, +formless, wordless, and blind, sensible only of its own infelicity, +while seeking that which alone can bring it ease and light." + +"My poor love!" Laurence said gently, greatly moved; "my poor love!" + +For a space he was silent, pondering upon her words, almost staggered by +the intensity of her innocent passion. He was not worthy to inspire such +devotion. Had that other Laurence Rivers, his predecessor and namesake, +been more worthy, he wondered. Shame covered him in face of the +deception he was in process of practising upon her. But he put the +thought of that from him fiercely. For was he not prepared to take all +the risks? Surely his action was justified--was it not a work of mercy +to rescue and restore this gentle and homeless ghost? And then, since +the air was mild and the young moon lent an added charm to the formal +alleys of the Italian garden, Laurence, hoping thereby both to allay his +own perturbation of spirit and dissipate the melancholy which still sat +in the clear depths of Agnes Rivers's lovely eyes, engaged her to come +out, once more, and walk. But though the charm of the garden was great, +he almost regretted that he had invited her to leave the shelter of the +house, she appeared so anxiously elusive and fragile a creature. +Watching her, though his courage was stubborn and his will fiercely set, +the task he had undertaken appeared hopeless of accomplishment. But if +the task was hopeless, all the more must it be fulfilled--that had been +the way of his people, and henceforth it was to be his way. And so he +talked to her with a certain lightness, looking at her and smiling. + +"Are you happy, Agnes?" he asked her at last. + +And she answered with a return to her daintily demure and old-world +manner-- + +"I should, indeed, be ungrateful were I not so, dear Laurence. Yet, +since you question me, I must own a distrust of the future works a black +thread through all the glad pattern of the present." + +She paused, glancing back somewhat timidly at the house. Every window of +it was lighted, save those of Mr. Rivers's bed-chamber. These last were +dark and blank, producing an arresting effect, and recalling to Laurence +the empty eye-sockets of the crystal _memento mori_. + +"You are here with me," she continued, "and again I taste happiness. Yet +I am oppressed by the persuasion that, as before, in some hour of +peculiar promise and security you will be called from my side. And that +this time--ah! I fear you may justly reproach my weakness and deride my +far-fetched alarms--this time, going, you will not return; or returning, +you will no longer find me here to greet you." + +"Then very certainly I will never go--that is unless you yourself send +me," Laurence said. He walked on a few paces, and then added, speaking +almost sullenly, answering his own thoughts rather than her +words--"Thank Heaven, I am my own master at last. No one can compel me. +I can do as I think fit; and since I think fit to stay, stay I most +assuredly will, here among my own people, and in my own house." + +He looked at his companion, instinctively desiring to read approval in +her eyes; but her expression was one of startled inquiry. + +"Forgive me," she said, "either Mrs. Lambart has omitted to tell me, +fearing to shock me, or in my heedlessness I have forgotten. Are you +indeed master here, dear Laurence? How is that? Can it be that your +brother Dudley is dead?" + +"Yes," he answered, "the old order has changed--and yet not changed +perhaps so very much after all, for it appears the owners of Stoke +Rivers, ancient and modern, are very much of one blood. But, in truth, +Dudley is gone, and others have gone--God rest both him and them--and I +reign in their stead." + +"Yes, God rest his soul," she said; and then repeated softly--"Poor +Dudley! poor unhappy Dudley!" + +But Laurence, noting her pensive bearing, and hearing the gently +regretful tones of her voice, was pricked pretty sharply by a point of +jealousy from out the long past. + +"Is it a matter of so very much grief to you, Agnes," he asked, "to hear +the news of your cousin Dudley's death?" + +Whereupon she turned on him eyes very reassuringly full of love; +while--after a little space--her lips curved into a delicious and almost +saucy smile. + +"Ah! I feared you had grown old and wise," she exclaimed. "I was foolish +to vex myself. I see you are indubitably the same Laurence as ever." + +She laughed very sweetly, sweeping him a delicate curtsey. + +"The very same Laurence as ever," she repeated exultingly. + +Then she flitted away--as though, child-like, joy of heart must needs +find relief in movement--down the long alley across the oblique shadows +cast by the sentinel cypresses, until she reached the great, stone basin +of the terminal fountain. Here she paused, gazing down at the smooth, +slow movements of the sleepless fish. + +The borders on either side the walk were set out with bulbs and early +flowering plants. As yet the majority of these showed but bud, or +upstanding sheaths of leaf. The gilly-stocks only were fully in blossom. +The clean, homely fragrance of them hung in the still air; but the +moonlight had bleached their honest orange and russet faces, making +them, like all else of the scene, but varying degrees of light and dark. +Alone in this colourless world, frail though it was and ethereal, had +the sweet figure of Agnes Rivers retained its actual hues. The brown of +her hair, the warm pallor of her skin, the blue of her profound and now +laughing eyes, the soft rose-red of her silken gown, defied the chill of +the moonlight. And this, as Laurence moved towards her, deepened alike +the charm and the mystery of her appearance. It captivated his +imagination. It stimulated his ambition. It challenged the deep places +of his love. The hopeless task must indeed be accomplished. The +impossible must come to pass. Daring that which no other man had dared, +he would earn a reward such as no other man had dreamed. But he must be +cautious, and discreet, and very gentle. The diplomatist, for a long +while to come, must hold the lover in check if the end was to be gained. + +And just then Agnes Rivers's voice broke into a little song, hardly +articulate, but clear and instinct with delight, even as the songs of +birds, very early in spring, when pairing time has but just begun. Yet +enchanting as the tones were, there was in them something remote and +beyond the compass of human thought, piercing the young man to the very +heart, so that he cried to her-- + +"Ah! my dear, come down, come near. Leave your singing, it is too sweet. +It has too much to do with spirit and too little with flesh. It cuts +like a knife. There--there--I am not blaming you, God forbid. Only, you +have lived so long on the borderland between those two worlds, of which +you once spoke, that you have a little lost touch with ordinary mortals +such as I. Come down, come near. Don't you see what I mean? Don't you +know what I want?" + +And after gentle converse, when that morning the dawn broke and with +words of tender farewell, his fairy-lady crossed the yellow drawing-room +and passed at the back of the outstanding satin-wood escritoire, as her +habit was, it appeared to Laurence that, for the first time, a faint +shadow followed her little feet. And this filled him with great and +far-reaching hope--as the first dim greyness of land along the horizon +fills the sailor after long voyaging upon the open sea. Nevertheless, +she vanished as before, leaving him solitary, while of the manner of her +going there remained no sign. + + + + +XXI + + +Days multiplied into weeks, March passed into April, April into May, +June came with all its roses, the lime-trees flowered once again, and +the scent of them was wafted across the broad lawns and in at the open +windows, yet Laurence stayed on at Stoke Rivers. He had ceased to +apologise for, or seek to justify his action. The fanatical, extravagant +element of his character was fully in the ascendant, and it was +conveniently contemptuous of criticism. He had become a law unto +himself. He stayed because he intended to stay--there was the beginning +and end of the matter. Meanwhile, he made discovery of pleasures subtle +and subjective, hitherto unimagined. Living the life of the recluse, he +enjoyed that sense of inward harmony and freedom of spirit known only to +those who dare divorce themselves from society, with its many tyrannies, +and from familiar commerce with their fellowmen. He experienced the +sensible increase of will-power, and the mental elation, that are born +of solitude, silence, and whole-hearted devotion to a single idea. The +values shifted, and many worldly matters, many amusements, which had +formerly appeared to him of vital importance, now began to appear +slightly absurd. He ate and drank sparingly, since meat and liquor tend +to render the action of the brain sluggish, and the imagination somewhat +gross. His dear fairy-lady should regain the completeness of her +humanity; but he would fit himself to meet her half way on her +mysterious return journey from the regions of the dead, by purging +himself of all superfluous animality. + +And his environment lent itself to these practices and experiments. The +household had settled back into its accustomed decorum and regularity. +It asked no questions, it obeyed in respectful silence. And, if certain +tremors shook it at times in face of its new master's supposed dealings +with things occult and supernatural, it accepted them as a necessary +part of its service. Indeed, it may be questioned whether Lowndes, the +grey-faced, long-armed valet, Renshaw, and Watkins, irreproachably +correct of demeanour, would not have suffered far greater inconvenience +and perturbation had they been called upon to adapt themselves to the +ordinary ways of the ordinary, English country-gentleman. Their pride +would have suffered likewise, since eccentricity had been so long +enthroned in their midst, that its absence would have seemed a loss of +_prestige_, a regrettable coming down in the social scale. They +displayed much solicitude for Laurence's comfort, and much grim alacrity +in turning guests from his door. Captain Bellingham's fears that his +friend might develop into a crank appeared to be in very fair road to +fulfilment; but the household rejoiced silently and grimly thereat. + +So did not Armstrong, the shrewd and kindly Scotch agent. + +"Whether the place induces a whimsicality in the family, or the family +in the place, I would not presume to declare," he lamented one day, when +having a crack with a trusted friend and fellow-countryman. "It is like +the matter of priority between the owl and the egg, a hidden thing, +transcending human wit. But a certain impracticability is assuredly bred +in their bones, poor bodies, which needs must eventually come out in the +flesh of every one of them. They're over proud of the intelligence of +which it has pleased the Almighty to bestow on them so handsome a +portion--as the intelligence of Saxons and Southerners go, you +understand. And being puffed up with conceit of themselves they proceed +to apply their bit of unusual reason in wild and impolitic speculations, +to the endangering of their own and other persons' peace and security. A +sair pity, a sair pity! Not that I would deny degrees in the natural +wrong-headedness of the poor, misguided creatures. The present +representative of the family is a young man of excellent parts and +practical ability; and though I fear he is going astray in some +particulars, I find in him a praiseworthy application to business, by +times." + +For in good truth, notwithstanding the dominion of his fixed idea, +Laurence was determined on the improvement of his somewhat neglected +estate. Every afternoon saw him ride forth to visit farm or distant +hamlet, to superintend operations of fencing, draining, or building, to +mark wood and copse-land for future cutting. Specially was he interested +in the construction of a light railway from Stoke Rivers Road to some +gypsum quarries at Hazledown, about three miles distant, the worth of +which would be doubled by direct and permanent means of transport. +Silent and self-absorbed for the most part, he rode about the charming +Sussex country while the gay, spring weather matured into the glow and +heat of summer. And all the while against his heart lay the poignant +delight of a great romance, and in his eyes sat the light of a great +adventure. He was very happy, so happy that, while he longed for the +attainment of his purpose and strained every nerve to accomplish it, he +almost dreaded that accomplishment since it must rob him of the sweet +and gracious present. + +And that such accomplishment drew on as the summer went forward he could +not doubt. For his fairy-lady had grown less timid than of old, braving +now the earlier dusk, now the later dawn, as the fancy took her; while a +veritable shadow clung unquestionably to her little feet, and lengthened +behind or beside her. Though no less slender and graceful than before, +her person was less ethereal. It appeared to gain a certain substance, a +greater opacity; while her movements were more measured. Once or twice +Laurence had fancied he saw her pale face flush under sudden emotion, as +though blood once more began to course beneath the clear, smooth skin. +Her talk, moreover, was less of the past than of the present. At times +she would ask questions, not wholly easy for him to answer without +revealing those things regarding which he had agreed with himself to +keep silence. But on many matters he had come to speak to her freely, +telling her of his daily occupations and affairs, of the books he read, +even of passing events of public interest. And to all his talk she +listened now thoughtfully, now with pretty mirth, offering not only +sympathy, but discreet counsel, while sometimes a touch of far-reaching +and singularly mature wisdom gave a significant value to her speech. +There were moments, indeed, when Laurence gazed at her in wonder, for +she betrayed a depth and daring of thought impossible to a young girl, +however good her training and notable her natural talents--thought only +possible to one who had discounted the many subterfuges and illusions of +life, as most mortals see and live it, by apprehension of things +supramundane, eternal, and so of infinite moment to the conscience and +the heart. + +She grew in womanhood, and she grew in the charm of distinction and of a +fine equality. Yet the mystery surrounding her was to Laurence in no +wise lessened. For he began to perceive that, if he held back somewhat +from her knowledge concerning himself, she, notwithstanding her +transparent sincerity and the perfection of her love, held back somewhat +from him. She played with him, she eluded him; and he perceived that her +lovely soul--did he dwell with her for a thousand years--would still +have its surprises for him, and its secret places, adorably difficult of +access. Then, too, for all her increasing humanity, the way of her +coming at sundown, and going at sunrise remained unexplained as ever. + +One morning in late June, standing in the bay-window, with the fragrance +of the blossoming garden and the songs of awakening birds saluting them, +he questioned her on this matter. Her hand rested in his--no longer +perceptible as a mere pulsation, such as might be caused by the +fluttering wings of a captive butterfly. It had substance now, actual, +though very delicate, weight. And feeling this, amazement and ecstasy +invaded Laurence. His eyes were alight and his blood hot. + +"You are going?" he asked. "But why should you go? Stay and see the day +in its beauty." + +But she smiled on him, a serious and enigmatic smile, though very full +of tenderness. + +"The day does not belong to me yet," she answered. "I cannot take that +which is not mine." + +"Everything is ours if we dare take it," Laurence said. "Possession is +in the act, not in the fact. You create law by believing in and +submitting to it. Cease to believe, cease to submit, the prohibition, +the obligation, vanishes into fine air. The day is yours, dear love, and +all the vigorous life and joy of it, if you will but venture. Have just +a little courage. Try--" + +But she shook her pretty head, still smiling, though, as it seemed to +Laurence, rather mournfully. + +"Then tell me where you go," he said. "Tell me where you pass all the +hours when you are not here? See, I have been very patient, I have +asked you no questions. And yet, loving you as I do, I have a right to +hear." + +"Ah!" she answered playfully, though with a touch of sadness--"what an +importunate being you have suddenly become! Yet why?--Half your life is +hidden from me, dear Laurence, and I do not ask to have it otherwise. +Why, then, should not half of mine be hidden from you? Indeed, it is +always so between man and woman, I think, whether they know it--as we +do--or know it not." + +But Laurence was not in the humour to have his inquiry put aside thus +lightly. + +"Still tell me--tell me," he insisted. "Look here, really I am not +unreasonable." He laughed a little, looking at her very charmingly in +mingled eagerness and command,--"For your exits and entrances are not as +those of other women, Agnes, so tell me. Or let me go with you +wheresoever you go. Or just--it is very simple--don't go--stay right +here, and brave the glory of the sunrise. Stay!--" + +As he spoke, long shafts of pale, golden light shot through the openings +between the high-standing trees of the eastern woodland, and lay in +misty radiance along the dewy lawns, touching the heads of the +cypresses, and flashing upon the upspringing waters of the fountains. + +"Ah, have patience--but a little trifle of patience yet, dearest love," +Agnes Rivers pleaded. "Only wait, and that which is to be will surely +declare itself. I would so gladly stay--or gladly take you with me, +going; but I can do neither, though why, I do not at present fully +comprehend." + +She turned, and for a moment stood facing the sunlight, bright in its +royal brightness, looking out on the fair, summer landscape, an infinite +hope and yearning in her lovely face. Then she folded her hands high +upon her bosom--slightly ruffling the smooth surface of her dainty, +muslin cape--bowed her head meekly as in worship, and moved away. As she +passed, Laurence--standing a little behind her--for the first time heard +the soft sound of her rapid footfall, and the whisper of her silken +gown. + +The young man, too, worshipped the rising sun after his manner--a +manner, it must be admitted, by no means of the meekest. The room was +empty, but he did not greatly care, for his great purpose seemed so +close upon consummation. The crisis was very near now. Before that +splendid, June sun rose to-morrow--so he told himself--his work would be +complete. She was so nearly human, his dear fairy-lady; her pure spirit +so strangely, yet sensibly, in process of clothing itself with sweet, +living flesh. He would set bread and wine before her, in the small hours +when this bright day was dead. She should eat and drink of a sacramental +feast, designed to secure, not eternal life to the soul, in this case, +but mortal life to the beautiful, young body which he so desired and +loved. + +Thus did Laurence Rivers hail the sunrise, filled with an immense pride +of his own action, his own will, and the powers of his race, deeming +himself a worker of miracles and equal of the immortal gods. + + + + +XXII + + +Laurence swung himself down from the high, two-wheeled dogcart at the +front door. The sky was lowering, the evening sultry after a burning +day. Down in the south-east a storm was brewing, with low mutterings of +thunder. The air was curiously still, yet now and again, among the thick +foliage of the limes and chestnuts, a few leaves would flutter +tumultuously as though stricken with panic, and then become motionless +as suddenly and causelessly as they had become agitated. Laurence was +late and had driven home rapidly, not sparing his horse--a young, +thorough-bred brown, which he had bought about a fortnight before, and +which was new as yet to harness. It was all of a lather and sweat, and +stood with outstretched neck and open, heavily-breathing nostrils. He +looked at it with a slight sense of compunction, and gave some orders to +the groom. It was a little hard to have pressed the poor beast; but he +had been out all the afternoon, mapping out the projected course of the +light railway to the Hazledown quarries, with Armstrong and an +engineering expert, and he had been kept later than he anticipated. As +it was, he had barely time for a bath, and to dress, before dinner at a +quarter-past eight. His mind still ran upon questions of gradients and +detail of expenditure. He had thrown himself energetically into +practical work. It was best to do so, with the climax of his great +adventure looming so large just ahead. All day he had been conscious of +a quiet, sustained excitement engendered by the double life he was +leading. It stimulated the action of his brain. The engineer had warmly +approved some of his suggestions and adopted them. This pleased +Laurence. It was not a little satisfactory to find himself thus capable +and "on the spot," while interests of so very different a character +formed the under-current of his thought. It fed self-confidence, and +justified his determination of daring action. + +After a look, first at the sweating horse and then at the lowering sky, +he hurried into the hall. The storm, if it came up at all, would not +break yet. Probably it would travel along the northern horizon following +the line of the Downs. How hot it was, though! The house felt cool by +comparison with the atmosphere outside. Then, just inside the door, the +two men-servants met him, Renshaw with a salver in his hand. + +"A telegram for you, sir," he said--adding--"do you wish dinner put off +for a quarter-of-an-hour or so, sir?" + +"No--no," Laurence answered absently, "I shall be down in plenty of +time." + +As he spoke he tore open the ugly, orange-coloured envelope. The sheet +of dirty-pink paper within contained but a few words. + +"Wanted here immediately. Return next steamer. Virginia." + +Laurence bathed, dressed, dined, while at intervals the thunder muttered +far away in the east, and the dark came swiftly as with great strides. +In the centre of the table the cut-glass bowl, upheld by the dancing, +golden figures, again to-night, as on the second night of Laurence's +visit to Stoke Rivers--which now seemed such an incredibly long time +ago--held fantastic, single flowers and sprays of orchids, some mottled, +warty, toad-like, some tiger-coloured striped with black. These last +gave off a heavy, musky scent. The oppressive heat, too, was suggestive +of that earlier evening,--though the windows now stood wide open. But +then, whatever the discomfort of his physical sensations, Laurence had +been light-hearted enough. His life, if not particularly full of +purpose, had at least been free of entanglement. He had neither climbed +heights nor sounded depths. His honour was untarnished, by so much as a +questionable thought. Now the splendour of life had got him, he was in +the full swing of his great opportunity; but his conscience was not +clear as at that former period, and that--which seemed not a little +ironical--though he had lived more austerely than of old, abjuring all +frivolity and denying himself all bodily indulgence. + +Laurence juggled neither with himself or with the facts of the case. He +did not whimper or grumble. In accepting the risks of his own action, he +had of necessity accepted this one. It was just the fortune of war--not +an altogether pretty fortune for a man who plumed himself on a nice +taste in matters of honour, perhaps, but that was hardly to the point. +The present position was an inevitable consequence of all which had +preceded it, and was bound to present itself sooner or later. Remorse +and anger were alike futile and out of place. The question resolved +itself into this--what to do next? + +Laurence dropped the stump of his cigarette into his finger-bowl, and +sat resting his elbows on the table and his forehead in his hands, +thinking.--For Virginia meant what she said. Of course she did. Virginia +always meant what she said, sometimes a little more--certainly never +less. And her reasons for saying that which she said were always +perfectly convincing to herself. Virginia was never impulsive; her +action was always the outcome of intention. Therefore it was useless to +temporise or ask explanations by means of that far-flashing cable. In +her letters Virginia had lately commented upon the length of his +absence--quite good-temperedly. Virginia was always good-tempered; +partly, perhaps, because she had never had occasion to learn what +opposition meant. This telegram was her ultimatum; but whether delivered +of her own free will and initiative, or in deference to some unusual +circumstance, illness, accident, or sudden financial crisis, he could +not, of course, divine. Yet even so, the position remained very simple. +There were but two paths. One or other he must choose. Either he must +obey her, and that unquestioningly and directly--this was Thursday, the +next American mail left Liverpool at the end of the week--or he must +refuse; and that, he believed, meant a break with Virginia. + +Laurence remained very still for a time. A break with Virginia?--Yes; +the storm was working round by the north as he had anticipated.--He had +no complaint to make against Virginia, Heaven forbid! She was just +precisely that which she had always been--in her own sphere and +connection, from the modern and mundane point of view, an eminently and +admirably clever person. He agreed with her disciple, Mrs. Bellingham, +that in social affairs she possessed a _savoir faire_ and intelligence +amounting to positive genius. She was absolutely self-reliant. She had +never been surprised or nonplussed in all her life, and--and-- + +Laurence rose to his feet, crossed the room and rang the bell. His face +had grown singularly hard. It bore but slight resemblance to that of his +namesake, the gallant and debonair young Laurence Rivers of the Cosway +miniature. Indeed, his eyes were coldly brilliant, his lips almost as +thin as those of Montagu Rivers, his uncle, but lately dead.--Well, he +proposed to enlarge Virginia's experience. He proposed to surprise, to +nonplus her. It was a blackguardly thing to do, and she, of all women, +would be the last to forgive it. So much the better, he did not want her +to forgive it. He proposed to repudiate Virginia, he proposed to desert +her--and then, fortunately, the American divorce laws are easy. + +When Renshaw answered the bell he said-- + +"Leave the fruit and wine on the table, and bring an uncut loaf of new, +white bread. Don't sit up. I shall be late, and I wish to have the house +to myself to-night." + + + + +XXIII + + +Pulling out the heavy curtain, Laurence paused, for an unwonted sound +saluted his ears, to which, at first, they refused credence. He opened +the door quietly. The sound continued. The keys of the piano were struck +so softly that they gave forth little more than the echo of a melody. +His fairy-lady sat at the instrument; and, so absorbed was she in the +making of this dainty music, that the young man had crossed the room and +leaned his elbows on the edge of the flat piano-case opposite to her +before she looked up at him. Nor, meeting his eyes, did she leave +playing, but let her fingers still draw forth that procession of slender +phrases from the discoloured, ivory notes--phrases not only exquisitely +refined, but with a tremulous _coquetterie_ in them, the music of some +polite and graceful minuet, in which Boucher's fine fanciful, little +figures of lover and mistress, courtier and prince, painted upon the +satin-wood escritoire, might have moved and postured, with a hundred +pretty arts and invitations at the court of Louis the Fifteenth, over a +century ago. + +The fine-drawn, little melody, and all its suggestions of past +intrigues, heart-burnings, elegant if questionable joys, and luxurious +living, knocked at the door of the listener's heart with rather perilous +pathos, notwithstanding his stern humour. Agnes Rivers's eyes too, as +she looked steadily at him, were at once grave with thought and +beseeching as those of a child, covetous of a possible pleasure, yet +ready to swallow its poor tears should that pleasure be denied. Her lips +were parted, but she did not speak. She only gazed and gazed at +him--while still calling forth those frail and courteous harmonies--as +though she sought to penetrate the most hidden recesses of his nature. + +And all this worked strongly upon Laurence, stirring in him memories of +just such hot evenings, when, with windows set wide upon the fragrant +garden, and the wild brightness of the summer lightning pulsing--as +now--upon the far horizon, they had sat together making music, she and +he, nearly a hundred years back. That first love of theirs had been +shattered by cruel calamity of wounds and death. It had never found its +consummation; and now the ache of its frustration was added to the ache +of the present--of his passion so strongly held in check during the last +many weeks; of his long-sustained effort, now touching on attainment; of +his so recently made resolution to let honour go by the wall rather than +again be defrauded of his love. + +At length he could no longer endure the playful, yet in a way tragical, +music, nor the sustained scrutiny of those grave yet wistful eyes. + +"That's enough, Agnes; that's enough," he cried, and, leaning across the +case of the piano, laid hold on her hands and raised them off the +keyboard. And as he did so the blood leapt in his veins, for the fact +was no longer open to question--those hands were firm and softly warm as +a living woman's hand should be, and the clasp of them met and clung in +his. He drew her up, making the sweet musician stand opposite to him, +while, bending down, he kissed and kissed those dear, warm hands, +looking at her, his face on a level with hers. And as he did so her +cheeks lost their waxen pallor and became beautifully flushed with clear +colour, while--so it seemed to him--he could hear the beating of her +heart. And thus for a space they stood speechless, consumed by a very +ecstasy of love. + +Laurence was the first to break that enchanted silence. For he was +feverish to complete the working of the miracle--to establish her in +this earthly life upon which she was re-entering, to chain her spirit to +this recovered human body by some corporeal act. He was feverish to set +a seal upon her new condition, which it should not be possible for her +to evade or to break. + +"The perfect hour has come," he said, with fierce exultation. "Do you +understand what has happened? You asked me once what was lacking. Well, +that which was lacking has been restored to you. But it won't do to rest +here. We must go on, go forward, so as to make security doubly secure." + +Yet she sighed, turning her face away and gently releasing her hands +from his grasp. + +"Ah! the perfect hour has come--yes," she said. "But, dear Laurence, it +came once before, and, remember, along with it came the call for you to +depart. Sorrow trod hard on the heels of joy; and I fear--how can I do +otherwise?--lest it should do so again to-night." + +Laurence felt his throat go dry and his lips stiffen, so that speech did +not come quite readily. + +"It lies with you to prevent that catastrophe," he answered. "Only be +brave. Do as I ask you, and we can put all fear behind us for ever and a +day. All the world may call me; I shall not go. It may howl at me, even, +using foul names; but what does that matter? I have chosen. I abide by +my choice." + +As he spoke she moved a little further from him, while the thunder +growled and muttered in the north, and the lightning showed fitfully, as +with the glare of a burning town, low down in the night sky. + +"What has taken you, Laurence?" she asked. "You are strange in manner +and in voice. I hardly know you thus. Yet indeed I would do anything you +ask, however difficult, if that which you would have me do is not in +itself sinful or wrong." + +"And this is right," he declared; "incontestably, everlastingly right. +Indeed, it is little more than bare justice--the restitution of that +which was once ours, the paying of a long-owed debt. In past years +happiness was snatched from us by jealous fate. Fate has +repented--though late--and gives us back our happiness. We should be +fools not to take it." + +He stood by her holding out his hand, his eyes alight as with a dull +flame, the determination of conquest very forceful in him. + +"See," he said hoarsely, "I have loved you back into life again, Agnes; +and so your life belongs to me as no woman's life has ever belonged to a +man before. That which I ask, you must do; for, believe me, I comprehend +this matter and all the issues of it best." + +He led her towards the door and she came meekly, yet with a certain +wonder and reserve in her bearing, as one who ponders and questions +silently even while they obey. He threw the door wide open revealing +the back of the leather-lined curtain. But on the threshold she +hesitated and drew back. + +"I have never crossed this," she said with gentle decision. "I cannot +cross it." + +"But you must cross it," he answered, "or all is lost." + +A strong shuddering ran through her. The corners of her sweet mouth +turned down and quivered, while her hand grew very cold. + +"Ah, me! ah, me! my love," she cried, "then I fear indeed all must needs +be lost. For to cross this threshold is to force some barrier which I +have neither the strength or the right to force. I do not know its name, +but it is ancient and venerable, and forbids my passage with authority." + +"All the more shall you force it then," Laurence replied. "Just now, +sweetheart, I tell you I admit no authority but my own. And barriers are +made to be forced, that's the use of them. The more apparently ancient +and venerable, the more must they go; so that the new may supersede the +decrepit and old, truth may supersede superstition, hope fear, and the +living the dead." + +He laughed a little, partly in defiance of that more sane and modest +self of his, with whom for the time being he had parted company, partly +to rally his dear companion's courage, and compel her faltering steps. + +"Come," he said; "don't I love you better than my own soul? Would I, of +all men, do you any injury, do you think? Surely you can trust +me--come." + +But still that strong shuddering ran through her and she hung back. Then +Laurence lost patience. + +"You foolish child," he said, "you are very much a woman. Your words are +so wise; yet you prove so weak in action and scare yourself with +self-invented terrors." + +He set his back against the heavy curtain, pushing it outward. Then he +took her delicate body in his arms, lifted her over the threshold, and +set her feet on the crimson carpet of the sombre and stately corridor +without. The curtain swept back into its place across the door with a +dull thud, which mingled ominously with the muttering thunder. Against +the panes of the long range of windows the lightning peeped and +flickered, as in malicious curiosity of that going forward within, +while the Roman emperors looked on, supercilious, impassive, with +sightless, marble eyes. His fairy-lady's delicate body had been light as +a feather, so light that, lifting it, Laurence had trembled lest it +should slip out of his encircling arms, as the little summer winds might +slip should one strive to embrace them; and yet that same lifting of her +had taxed every muscle in his frame, and set his heart thumping like a +steam hammer. It was the very oddest sensation, suggesting that there +was something very much more than a narrow piece of polished, oak +flooring and deep, pile carpet to lift her across. He stood now, +breathless, singularly shaken by the effort, notwithstanding his natural +vigour and physical strength--shaken, yet triumphant. + +"There, my beloved," he cried, "there! It's not such a very dangerous +experiment after all, you see, to go out at an open door!--And now you +are redeemed from slavery, free to range the pleasant earth at will and +accept all the glad chances of it." + +But she shrunk against him, trembling, all her pretty pride humbled, +like that of a little child detected in a fault. Her countenance had +become shy and wild, moreover, and clear reason had ceased to sit +enthroned in her serious and lovely eyes. She looked now, as she had +looked on the night he first found her flitting to and fro in the yellow +parlour, searching, searching, vainly and hopelessly, for the lost key +of the satin-wood escritoire. And Laurence, seeing her thus, was smitten +with self-reproach and alarm. Was it possible that, along with the +restoration of her body, had returned that alienation of mind from +which--as he had learned from her own testimony, and from the +well-authenticated tradition of Armstrong, the agent--she had formerly +and so pitifully suffered? As more than once before, an immense +compassion filled the young man; so that, coaxing her, and using tender +and endearing names--such as even the wisest of lovers weakly decline +upon at times--he half-led, half-carried her past the doorways of all +those brightly-lighted, silent rooms, through the square hall--its +flying staircase gleaming upward step above step--until finally the +dining-room was reached. + +Here the musky odour of the tiger-coloured orchids met them, with the +effect, as it seemed, of a presence rather than a scent. It was full of +subtle suggestions, that seeming presence, wooing them with insidious +provocations of sense to partake of the mysterious, sacramental feast +set out before them--a feast designed to wed, irrevocably, the sweet +spirit to its so lately recovered body, and rivet upon it once again not +only the natural joys, but the inevitable cares and pains, all the +grievous burdens of mortal life. + +The cloth had been withdrawn and upon the dark surface of the bare +table, doubled by vertical reflections, a service of costly china, +antique silver, and fine glass, was spread. Rare wines filled the +long-necked bottles and quaint high-shouldered decanters; while the +painted and gilded dishes held velvet-skinned, hot-house peaches, +red-gold nectarines, little black Italian figs, and pyramids of fragrant +strawberries set in a fringe of fresh and lustrous leaves. The loaf of +white bread was there also, a simple and humble item offering something +of contrast to its ornate surroundings. + +Laurence placed his fairy-lady in the carven armchair at the head of the +table. Seated there, her slight figure, in its high-waisted, rose-red, +silken gown and transparent lace and muslin cape, looked singularly +youthful and fragile. Her graceful head and white throat showed up +against the dark panelling of the wall. Her hands rested languidly upon +the arms of her chair. The corners of her mouth still quivered, and her +eyes were wide with inarticulate distress. And all the while, opposite +to her, in at the windows at the far end of the room, the lightning, +away there in the north, peeped evilly and flickered, and sometimes +glared, a broad sheet of pale flame, behind the blackness of the distant +woods crowning the rounded hills. + +Laurence stood close beside her. He filled her glass with wine and +placed fruit upon her plate, speaking to her very gently; possessed, +meanwhile, by an adoration of her extreme and pensive beauty, a great +resolution to complete his work in respect of her, and a distrust lest +that work was going sorely amiss. But though he did his best to secure +her attention, for many minutes she neither moved nor uttered any sound. + +"See, dear love," the young man pleaded--"see, I have made you a dainty +supper. Remember, this is the first time I ask you to eat a meal in my +house. You were Dudley's guest often enough in old days, and did not +refuse what was set before you. Surely it is pleasanter to you to be my +guest than his? So do not wander off, even for a little while, to walk +those dim and dreary interspaces between two worlds. All that is over. +Don't become intangible and remote, or yield yourself to malign +influences which would enthrall you and draw you away. Lay hold of your +womanhood, sweetheart; and let human love wrap you about, and keep you +safe and warm. There is nothing, nothing in all this to fear, if you +will but believe me. Eat, my beloved, you have fasted long. You have +come from very far--how far heaven only knows! You are faint and weary +with the length of the way. Therefore eat, drink--let your body be +refreshed and let your heart grow glad." + +And presently, while he thus encouraged her, slowly, as one who shakes +off the torpor of exhaustion, she stretched, sitting very upright in the +great, high-backed chair. The distress and desolation of her expression +began to give place to a gentle curiosity. She looked at the costly +furnishings of the table, the dancing, golden figures in their flowing +robes, the fantastic flowers, the delicious fruits; fingered a silver +spoon, and seeing her own reflection in the bowl of it, quaintly +distorted, smiled. Then suddenly putting up both hands and covering her +face she gave a quick, little sneeze--sign in the East of Life, but in +the West precursor of Death. Of whichever the sign in the present case, +incontestible it was, that, with this same little sneeze a change was +perceptible in her, which her lover noting, hailed as indicative of +success. So he urged her yet more. + +"Yes, my beloved, you are tired," he said; "and it is so long since you +have sat at table in this room, that very simple things appear +perplexing to you. But that's a small matter. The old habits will soon +re-assert themselves, and all be natural and obvious enough. For in the +coming days I intend we shall very constantly sit here together, you and +I; and perhaps others will sit here with us as time goes on"--Laurence +paused, his voice shook a little--"our children, fair girls and handsome +lads, whom we shall greatly love, and in whose youth our own youth will +live again. But to secure all that, Agnes, you must eat and drink now in +plain, honest fashion, sleep sound of nights, wake in the kindly +sunshine, put morbid fears and fancies far from you and grow strong. You +are compounded of too tenuous and sublimated stuff for motherhood as +yet. Therefore eat, dear love. Delay no longer. The hours run on towards +the morning and this matter must be assured before the morning comes. Do +not be wayward. In the name of your love for me, and of all your +sorrows, I entreat you, eat and be strong!" + +Once again she covered her face with her hand and gave a quick, little +sneeze. Then looking full at him, she smiled, though somewhat sadly. + +"Let it be even as you wish," she said very meekly. "Give me bread." + +Laurence, mightily rejoicing, cut the loaf, and placed the bread upon +her plate. Tremblingly, as though putting a great force upon herself, +she broke it into little pieces, carried one to her lips, then laid it +back beside the others on her plate; next stretched out her hand for +the glass of wine her lover held towards her, but shook her head, and +set it down untasted. While he, eager to the point of desperation, yet +dreading in any way to affright her and so defeat his own ends, fell to +coaxing her once more, with a certain playful seriousness. + +"See here," he said, "learn by experience. The threshold which you +declared impassable was very easily crossed. And this affair of your +little supper is exactly parallel. You are the victim of your own +imagination. What after all holds you back?" + +Once more she essayed valiantly to obey him; but once more laid the +morsel of bread down on her plate. The thunder rolled from east to west +along the northern heights, and the lightning flickered; but both had +grown faint and very distant, while a soft, cool air wandered in at the +open window, dispelling the clinging and insidious odour of the orchids, +purifying the heavy atmosphere of the room, and lightly stirring the +little lace frills of Agnes Rivers's muslin cape. + +"What after all holds you back?" he demanded, with some agitation. For +that cool draw of air, though pleasant, affected him unexpectedly. It +appeared to blow across the valley from Stoke Rivers churchyard, where, +in the spring morning three months before, he had watched the little +shadows cast by the feathery branches of the age-old yew-trees dance and +beckon among the grass-grown graves. + +But his fairy-lady pushed her plate aside. All her gentle dignity had +returned to her, and a wisdom born of knowledge more profound than that +granted to most human creatures sat once again enthroned in her eyes. +There was an effulgence in her loveliness which almost awed him, yet she +did that which during all their intercourse she had never done before. +Calmly, fearlessly, and as of right, she put up her sweet lips and +kissed him. + +"This holds me back," she said, "that at last all the confusion which +oppressed my mind is gone, and that I understand who and what I am. I +have striven, and ah! how gladly would I have proved victorious in that +strife, for all my heart goes forth in natural desire, not only to obey +your dear wishes, but to secure to myself those things which your wishes +would bring. I perceive that to eat is to live, not the shadowy, +unrelated life of a disembodied spirit, divorced from the activities of +earth, yet--by some inherent wilfulness--still so wedded to earth that +it cannot enter the peaceful regions of the Faithful Departed. To eat is +to live, as you live--and rightly--in the shock and tumult of the world; +to love as you love--needs must, dear heart--with all the passions of +the unstable flesh, as well as the pure and immutable passion of the +soul. I have dallied too long with temptation, and in my weakness +brought sorrow on you--perhaps worse than sorrow, disgrace. But the +temptation was so potent, the promise of it so enchanting, that, until +to-night, I had not grasped its full significance and scope. As to our +first mother Eve, ages back, in the mystic garden, so to me to-night to +eat, O my love, is sin!" + +Laurence straightened himself up, and all the fierceness, the +relentlessness of his race, stiffened itself within him; yet he kept +himself in hand because love still was paramount to all other emotions. + +"And if it be sin, it is too late to vex ourselves about that. You have +forced the barrier after all. The curtain, which closes the entrance to +your not very cheerful Eden, has swung back into place. I have you, and +I keep you. I have fought for you, won you, not wholly without personal +loss. So you are to me as the spoils of battle, which a man having +taken, is very certainly in no humour hurriedly to give up. And even +were this so, had I not these claims on your obedience, to eat, my dear, +couldn't be sin. On the contrary, it is bare common-sense--just the next +move, logically necessary, in the particularly delicious game which you +and I, for cause unknown, are ordained to play together. With logic and +common-sense as backers, how can sin have a word to say in the matter?" + +"Thus," she answered--"because now as once before, when the perfect hour +had come, and things showed so fair that to better them appeared almost +impossible, the call has come for you to leave me, and leave me you +surely must." + +"You are mistaken," Laurence answered hoarsely. "You confuse both the +events and obligations of the past with those of the present. The call +has not come." + +Then Agnes Rivers rose up, pushing the carven chair away from her, and +standing with a certain graceful independence before the sumptuously +spread table, in the centre of the highly-lighted room, between the open +window and the open door. Her person, thus seen, suggested some clear +jewel of infinite value in a dark and heavy though splendid setting; or +some tender, solitary flower amid the lifeless magnificence of a desert +city, rich with the tombs of long-dead kings. A gentle daring, a +self-assertion strong as steel yet soft as a silken thread, seemed to +animate her whole being. + +"Rather is it you that are mistaken," she answered; "but whether with +your consent or against it, I cannot tell. It is you that dream just +now, my love, and suffer, perhaps subscribe to, delusion--strong man +though you are--and I that wake. For the call has come to you; and +though you should employ all the eloquence of all the sages to convince +me it is otherwise, I could not be convinced." + +"You are very stubborn," he said. + +"And yet, I spare you," she replied, in a tone of half mirthful, half +tender, reproach; "for I only assert the fact. The exact nature of the +call I do not know, and I do not ask you to tell it me. I am +sufficiently human--you have brought me so far on the backward road, +which my naughty feet were only too willing to tread--to greatly long to +know the exact nature of that call. Yet, did I know it, I fear it might +provoke a wicked spirit of jealousy in me, and of envy towards one who +has, in the natural sequence of things, that which I have not, yet fain +would have. Therefore do not try me too far, lest my courage fail and I +decline from right, and break the perfect circle of our dealings with +one another, so painting both past and future with the ugly colours of +remorseful regret. You told me you would never leave me again unless I +bade you do so. Well, now, the time has come. Redeem your word." + +Laurence would have spoken; but, still with that air of almost heavenly +mirth, she laid her hand upon his mouth. There was hardly perceptible +substance or weight in it; and once again--now with despair, though the +sensation was in itself delicious--he felt that fluttering, as of the +wings of a captive butterfly, against his lips. + +"No, no," she protested, "do not speak, for I am woman enough to be +resolved to have the last word. Put away delusion and all +extravagance.--Think, after all, what do you leave? Not much, believe +me. For I am but a ghost. I have no right to any earthly dwelling-place, +no right to lie in the arms of living man. It would be monstrous, a +thing abhorrent to nature, an insult to the awful and unbroken order of +cause and effect that has operated from the beginning of being and of +time, that I should force the barrier completely, and project myself, at +once unburied and unborn, for a second time into the arena of earthly +life. It would be an act of rebellion, of self-seeking, beside which +that of Lucifer grows pale--for he at least was an archangel, which +might give reasonable cause of pride--whereas I?--No, God in His +infinite mercy has granted me fulness of understanding just in time; and +I have no fear but that, since I voluntarily resign myself, curb my +imperious will and forego the desire of my heart, He will further grant +me access to that place of refreshment, light, and peace, in which souls +wait until their final beatitude. In God's hands are all things, and I +now see that behind the loves of earth, just in proportion as those +loves are noble and have in them a seed of permanence, stands for ever +the love of God Himself, sure and faithful, full of a satisfaction that +can never lessen or pass away. I have been blind and very wilful, loving +Him too little, loving you too much. But He who made all men and sees +how beautiful they are, so that in loving them--they being made in His +image--we unconsciously all the while but love His image evident in +them--He will surely understand me and forgive." + +There Laurence broke in madly--"Ah, stop talking, stop talking! What are +words at such a time as this? You are mine by right of conquest, as I +have already told you. For God and the eternities I care not, just now, +one little bit. You belong to me. I have bought you at a great price. I +love you and will enter into possession of my own." + +And he essayed to lay hold of her, his blood on fire, for the moment, +with frustrated pride, the agony of relinquishment, and passion baulked. + +"And I love you too," she answered fearlessly, "so greatly, so +absorbingly, that I have broken all bonds of time and space, and defied +all laws of life and death, to find you, and behold you, and speak with +you again--" + +Yet even as she made this declaration, she slipped away from his urgent +embrace, even as a rosy snow-wreath slips from the cliff edge, when the +sun climbs high in heaven, drawing back to itself, by the power of its +strength and heat, snow and vapours, dews and fair, dissolving mists, +such as cling at dawn along the water-courses and haunt the quiet +underspaces of the woods. There were tears in her sweet eyes, and that +airy frame of hers was shaken by sobs; yet her face very brave and of a +marvellous brightness. + +"Go back to the world, dear love," she said, "and play your part in the +great game finely to the close. Let no shame touch you, or breath of +dishonour smirch any page of your record. I will go back too--yet rather +go forward--reaching a fairer world than yours, a world which in my +folly I disdained, being blinded by the things of sense. There I shall +await your coming; and we shall be one at last, being one with Almighty +and Eternal God." + +She passed from the room; but, though Laurence followed her swiftly, he +found the corridor empty. The yellow drawing-room, when he entered it, +was vacant too, though retaining its gracious and friendly aspect. A +cool wind blew through it, laden with the scent of the rose borders of +the Italian garden. The storm was over, and the night sky was clear and +very full of stars. + + + + +XXIV + + +Quite a number of people had come to luncheon. Quite a number still +remained, though it was past four o'clock, upon the great, deep-eaved +verandah, in attendance on Virginia. There was a babel of clear, +penetrating voices, occasionally an outbreak of laughter, though, in +point of fact, notwithstanding its ready verbal wit, the New World is +less addicted to laughter than the Old. Laurence had listened, had put +in a lazy sentence here and there; but now the entertainment began to +pall on him slightly. It was too continuous. They were all so young, so +emphatic, so tireless in the business of pleasure, these bright, +clear-cut, young people. He remembered it was mail day. The English +letters and newspapers should have arrived by now. He got up and +sauntered, cigarette in mouth, into the great, pale living-room. The +Venetian shutters were closed, and the room, with its spare though +elegant furniture, and butter-coloured, parquet floor, was full of a +clear, green light, quiet, and excellently cool. Sure enough, on one of +the tables lay, in goodly array, lately arrived letters and papers. +Laurence began opening these in desultory fashion. The glass doors, +standing wide on to the verandah, framed Virginia's perfectly finished +person lying back in a rocking-chair. Her profile was outlined against a +soft, sea-green cushion. She was talking, others were listening, as was +usually the case in respect of Virginia. Beyond the hand-rail and +uprights of the verandah, could be seen a long sweep of rather coarse +grass, and the waters of the river, white in the brilliant, afternoon +light, whereon lay some trim rowing-boats and smart pleasure-yachts at +anchor. The water was absolutely still, even and gleaming as the surface +of a silver mirror; yet it lapped with a just audible gurgle and suck +against the indentations of the low, green banks. And this cool, liquid +sound formed an agreeable undertone to those clear, penetrating voices, +the ceaseless chirrup of crickets and strident fiddlings of countless +grasshoppers. + +Behind the ample, wide-ranging, wooden house--spotless in its purity of +white paint, dignified by its ranges of dark-green, slatted shutters, +its grey-brown, shingled roofs, and many gables--a certain puritan +simplicity pervading it, somewhat quaintly at variance with its +highly-developed appliances of modern comfort, and the almost +surprisingly civilised examples of modern humanity now domiciled within +it--behind it the ground trended upward, through pleasant orchards of +apple, pear, and peach trees, past commodious wooden barns and stables, +long, grey snake-fences, and corn patches, where the pumpkins began to +grow golden beneath the wide, glistening leaves, the giant cobs and +silken tassels of the maize. Down to meet this spacious foreground +unencumbered by superfluous detail, wandered the sparse, untamed, +ubiquitous woodland of the New England States. Everywhere slender, +long-limbed trees, endless scrub, festooning vines, heavy with bunches +of little fox-grapes, and below outcroppings of grey rock. Some two +months hence, the edge of the woodland would be fringed by spires of +golden-rod and processions of purple asters, while the maples set forth +an amazement of verdigris green, lemon-colour, and all manner of radiant +pinks and scarlets, and sumach dyed the hollows blood-red; but as yet +the woods retained their summer tints. There was a slight want of +atmosphere no doubt. The landscape was oddly lacking in values of +distance; while the sky was blue to the point of crudity, and the sun +blazed, had blazed, would blaze, with a youthful and tireless +energy--not unsuggestive of the conversation of Virginia and all those +friends of hers--throughout the unshadowed and unmitigated day. + +To right and left were other hospitable mansions, the limits of their +private grounds unmarked by jealous wall or paling. A wide-ranging +spirit of good-nature and confidence appeared to reign; yet, in point of +fact, the inhabitants of these agreeable country houses formed a +distinctly close corporation. The Van Reenan property had been broken up +into building lots on the death of its first owner, old Erasmus Van +Reenan, merchant and financier of New York, nearly seventy years ago. +But the said lots had been acquired by members of his numerous family; +and still Van Reenans, direct and collateral, their children and their +children's children, found relaxation at times in this amiable, American +Capua. But woe to any intruder from the outer world, unless furnished +with irreproachable passport and the very highest of high-class +references, who should venture to set sacrilegious foot on this thrice +sacred ground! For, as Laurence had frequently reflected--not without a +measure of amusement--nothing is so essentially aristocratic as a +democratic country, nothing so socially exclusive as an immature +civilisation. + +It was the first time since her marriage that Virginia had honoured the +Van Reenan property with her presence; but being debarred, by the fact +of her mourning for her husband's uncle, from participation in the gay +life of those summer resorts where the _élite_ of the smart world do +mostly congregate, she had elected to retire upon one of these +many-gabled, ancestral mansions. She was explaining all this--and really +it appeared to require a surprising amount of explanation--to Mr. Horace +Greener, a young man of distinguished, social pretensions, the constant +frequenter of her entertainments both in Newport and New York, who, +finding himself obliged to visit the city on business, had sought at +once physical refreshment and satisfaction of the emotion of friendship +by running out by train, to-day, to visit her. + +Virginia's clear intonations rose superior to the chorus of feminine +voices around her, their singular vivacity and singular composure alike +offering an unconscious challenge to Laurence's mental attitude as he +lazily tore open his English letters and newspapers. He had left Stoke +Rivers just three weeks, and all that time he had been a prey to +vacuity, to a sort of gnawing emptiness. At moments a blind rage took +him, but only at moments. In the main his attitude was cynical. +Disappointment had embittered him. Nothing mattered much, nothing ever +would matter much again. He had had his great chance and lost it, +muddled it somehow. A bigger man would have over-ridden the difficulties +of the affair. But he was a bungler, a poor creature. He was profoundly +contemptuous of himself, and not a little contemptuous also of men and +things. + +But here was a thick packet from Armstrong, and that awoke an unexpected +interest in him. It would be quite pleasant to have news of the light +railway, and the gypsum quarries.--Nice fellow, that young engineer, +and not at all conceited. Most experts have such a confoundedly good +opinion of themselves!--Laurence fell to whistling softly, and +involuntarily he recalled the slender, courtly music of a certain +eighteenth century minuet. Then he stopped suddenly, an immense +nostalgia taking him for a very different scene and place, and--well, a +general outlook less secure and circumscribed, and, he had almost said, +trivial. He didn't want to be censorious--who was he, after all, in good +truth, to be that?--but Horace Greener's trim, light-clad person, +leaning against a pillar of the verandah close to Virginia's +rocking-chair, caught his eye. The young man was excellently got up, he +was well-bred, agreeable, would pass muster in any society; yet Laurence +wearied mightily of him just then--of his neatly handsome features, +which would photograph so well and paint so poorly, and of his alert and +civil manner. + +"No, I imagined you would be surprised to find me so at home in this +idyllic and patriarchal _milieu_, Mr. Greener," Virginia was saying. "I +rather counted upon that. You did not accredit me with so much +adaptability. Some other of my friends have observed upon that also. And +I assure you I am rewarded; for I find it the most recuperative process +a woman can go through to retire upon herself and upon nature in this +way. My parents had been anxious to come out here all summer this year, +and when I concluded to join them we worked out a regular scheme. I +assure you it has called forth a quite affecting display of family +affection. There are nine houses on the place. They are all full. We all +meet daily. Even my cousin, Mrs. Bellingham, has come over with her +children from Europe.--Yes, I am very glad you should have met Louise +again, Mr. Greener. The English life does not altogether suit her. I +observed she was wanting at first in animation. It does her good to see +old friends. I apprehend she feels rather exiled. I wonder if I shall +feel rather exiled? But I don't propose to take it that way. I propose +every one there shall feel exiled because they have not had the +inestimable advantage of being born on this side. Do you not think that +is the true patriotic platform, now, Mr. Greener?"-- + +There was another letter. Laurence knew the handwriting, but he could +couple no name with it. Yet certainly he knew it, and the sight of it +conveyed to him an impression vaguely amusing. He laid aside the agent's +voluminous packet and opened the envelope. + +"Why, the poor little Padre Sahib, to be sure," he exclaimed, half +aloud. "Have they been tripping him up with strings again across the +school door?" + +But as he read, amusement gave place to quite other sentiments. His +eyebrows drew together, and his face, for all its healthy sunburn, +blanched to the indistinct, dusty grey of his well-cut flannels. + +"This very shocking discovery has, as you will, I feel sure, readily +conceive, quite unnerved me," wrote Walter Samuel Beal. "But for the +support and invaluable advice of the Archdeacon I should have sunk under +the burden of responsibility thrown upon me. A case so extraordinary has +rarely, if ever, arisen, I should suppose, during the whole history of +the Christian ministry. I should add that the oak coffin was so charred +at one corner as to reveal a second coffin, composed of lead, within. As +the inscription upon the coffin plate was quite legible, and as Mr. +Armstrong was in possession of information bearing upon this very +painful matter, I abstained from further investigation myself and +entreated others also to do so." + +"Thank God for that," Laurence muttered. + +There was a drawing back of chairs upon the verandah, an outbreak of +rapid question and answer, of laughter, reiterated and extensive +farewells. Virginia's clear voice still rose dominant. She was +marshalling her forces, arranging future meetings, making appointments, +ordering her plan of campaign--and outside, all the while, the sun +blazed on the surface of the white waters of the river, the ripple +lapped against the green, indented banks, the crickets and grasshoppers +kept up their strident serenade. + +"I felt that neither my courage nor my judgment was equal to the +ordeal," wrote the worthy young clergyman. "I dreaded to entangle myself +in legal questions of which I virtually know nothing. I can never +express the gratitude I owe to the Archdeacon. He advised that the +coffin should be placed provisionally in the plot of ground reserved by +you in our parish churchyard. He even came over the considerable +distance from Bishop's Pudbury, and himself read the shortened form +which he had selected from the burial service. For this I was deeply +thankful, as agitation might, I fear, have prevented my performing the +last solemn rites in a suitably impressive manner--" + +"Why, certainly, Mr. Greener, I will go and put on my golfing suit," +this vivaciously from Virginia. "It will be cooler in an hour. We shall +have the wind off the river.--Willie Van Reenan's theatricals? Yes, I +know it, Louise; I am coming to that directly. Now, Mr. Greener, if you +will walk over to her house with Mrs. Bellingham, I will drive around +and take you on to the links. I will arrange to have Laurence meet us at +the club pavilion. And, Louise, when you see Willie tell him he can come +right on here after dinner, and I will cast the play with him. We can +count on you for Lord Follington, Mr. Greener? Yes--you really are very +kind." + +Laurence still stood by the table littered with envelopes and papers. He +was reading the agent's missive, or rather trying to do so, for the +words were not wholly easy to focus. His eyes had a mist before them, +and a singular sensation gained upon him--that of the inherent duality +of his being. For some time now he had only been conscious of the +existence of the modern Laurence Rivers, wholly and solely the modern +Laurence Rivers, and he, baffled and discomfited, by no means at his +best. Now that earlier life, the strong emotions and steady purposes of +it, crowded in on him calling to and claiming him, until his actual +circumstances and surroundings became singularly incredible. The heels +of Virginia's very pretty shoes tapped lightly upon the butter-coloured +boards of the verandah. She straightened a chair or two, replaced some +magazines which slipped from a basket-work lounge on to the floor. Her +movements were direct and deliberate; and all the while her trailing +skirts made a dragging sound like the wheels of a little cart. In a +moment more she would come into the house. The young man tried to pull +himself together; but it was so unbelievable to him, just now, this +whole matter of Virginia. + +He looked across at her, as he might have looked at the merest +acquaintance, and found her extremely effective as she came through the +cool, green light of the great living-room, her tall, slight, yet +rounded figure backed by the untempered brightness of sky and water. Her +transparent, black muslin dress was thick with beautiful hand-embroidery +upon the tight-fitting sleeves and the shoulders of the bodice. It was +girt with a soft, black, chiffon girdle, knotted low down, emphasising +the length of the waist, and the spring of the hips--around which her +dress fitted very closely. Below the knees her skirts stood away +fanwise, over a bewildering arrangement of white, silk kiltings and +flounces, which hid her feet and gave a slightly Japanese effect to her +costume. Her fair, brown hair was loosely waved and puffed out over the +ears. Her eyes, a light hazel, harmonized charmingly with the even tint +of her rather sallow skin. Her neck was noticeably long, and her face in +shape, colouring, and feature bore an arresting resemblance to that of +certain of Botticelli's Madonnas. This, taken in connection with her +extremely fashionable attire and her otherwise declared and complete +modernity, had in it great piquancy, an element trenching on actual, +though unconscious profanity. + +To Laurence, looking at her through the eyes of that elder personality +of his, these details and these suggestions were conspicuous. She +presented a perfect example of an immensely effective type. He +recognised that; yet he stared at it in almost desperate wonder, and +something approaching hopelessness. + +"Why, you are there!" she exclaimed. "I am glad. I wanted you." + +"Your people have all cleared out, haven't they?" + +"Yes, they have gone. They had a grand time, I believe. I really think +it was very well your uncle's death put me into mourning. It has +afforded me the opportunity of giving my family a lovely summer. It +might have been a catastrophe; I have made it into an occasion. They +appreciate that." + +Virginia made these statements with evident self-complacency. + +"Of course," Laurence said. He still stared at her. She placed her +hands on her hips, smoothing down her close-fitting skirt. Her hands +were very small. Much art had been expended upon the finger nails. + +"I think it was perfectly sweet of Horace Greener to come right on and +see me," she continued. "It was like a breath of air from the outside. +And I was glad he should know how finely everything was going. I think +they all thought I might feel a little left over. He knows now it is +they who are left over.--Laurence, you must hurry. I arranged you should +be at the club pavilion in an hour. I have to change my dress; but if it +should still be very hot I will not play. I will have you take my +place." + +"Horace Greener is a charming fellow," he answered, "all the same I'm +afraid I can't play golf with him this afternoon." + +"But I told him you would do so," Virginia rejoined, with absolute +assurance. "It is settled. I never go back on an engagement." + +"Ah! but I'm afraid I do," Laurence said. "Specially in the case of +engagements about the making of which I have not been consulted." + +So far the young lady had been occupied with her own conversation and +her own person to the exclusion of any particular observation of her +companion. Now she deigned to regard him more closely. + +"Dear me!" she exclaimed, "you appear to me to be looking pretty +wretched." + +"Upon my word I believe I am pretty wretched," Laurence answered, +smiling. "My home letters have brought me some news I don't in the very +least like. It entails a journey to England. And instead of playing golf +with Horace Greener, I must take the seven o'clock train to New York, +and see if there is a decent state-room vacant on any of the +outward-bound liners." + +It was, in a way, characteristic of Virginia that her face, +notwithstanding her natural vivacity, possessed no great mobility or +range of expression. There were such a number of emotions she had never +been called upon to entertain. And now no movement of appeal or regret +crossed it. It merely hardened a little, becoming as serenely obstinate +as heretofore it had been serenely complacent. She spoke with exactly +the same conviction and assurance. + +"But you cannot do that," she said. + +"Oh, yes, but indeed I can," Laurence replied quite good-temperedly. He +felt so singularly unrelated to her, that assertion was sufficient. It +did not enter his head to protest or argue. + +"You misunderstand," she said; "it is that I do not intend to have you +do it." + +He paused a moment, making an honest effort to range himself in line +with her thought. + +"Oh, come along," he began. But the young lady interrupted him with the +same unwavering composure-- + +"You place me in an objectionable position," she declared, "by forcing +me to explain. That is not considerate. You should meet me half-way; you +should be beforehand so as to secure me against the annoyance of +referring to all that. I had determined to sink it. But you make that +impossible. It is derogatory to me to explain." + +Laurence sat down on the arm of the nearest chair. He felt curiously +helpless, and yet all the while he was getting the bit between his +teeth. If obstinacy was about, well, he had his share of it. Across the +Atlantic matters of such profound moment were awaiting him. It was +difficult to reckon seriously and courteously with this unlooked-for +opposition, and not to brush it impatiently aside. It seemed little +short of ridiculous. + +"I give you my word, Virginia, I don't know what you are talking about," +he said. "I have the most cogent reasons for going over--you haven't +given me an opportunity of stating them yet, but that doesn't alter the +fact. It is necessary I should go; and after all, you know, I am not +such a conceited ass as to imagine you can't do without me for three +weeks or so." + +"I am not thinking of myself, I am thinking of others," she remarked, +with a certain _naïveté_. + +Laurence smiled. + +"Oh, in that case I can book my passage with a clear conscience," he +said. + +But the young lady continued:-- + +"It is extraordinary to me how little regard you have for appearances. +Comments were made upon the length of your former absence. They came +round to me. That was not to be endured in the case of my husband. I +put a stop to all that by cabling for you." + +"Ah! yes, I see," Laurence said slowly. "When I arrived there certainly +seemed no very obvious reason for the sending of that cable. That was +unlike you. When I thought of it I confess I was puzzled." + +"If you leave again after so short a stay, it will give colour to those +comments." Virginia spoke with emphasis, almost with solemnity. "I do +not propose to submit to that. So you must choose, Laurence. Either you +must give up going, or you must wait till it is convenient to me to go +with you. I do not care for a summer voyage; it is dull. Between the +seasons nobody one ever heard of is crossing. One may meet the wrong +people. My leaving would cause great disappointment here. It would break +up their summer. Still I would risk that to avoid the other. It would be +a scramble too, and nothing is more annoying than a scramble, but I dare +say I could arrange to be ready in two weeks from now." + +"That's very good of you," Laurence replied. "But unfortunately I must +go at once, and, pardon my saying so, it will be better for me to go +alone. Everything is at sixes and sevens. Confusion reigns at Stoke +Rivers. I would not take you there under existing circumstances. You'd +receive a quite wrong impression. Oh, it would be utterly disastrous!" +he exclaimed. + +For the first time he beheld Virginia depart from her faultless +self-complacency, lose herself a little and display signs of anger. Her +chin went up with a quick jerk, her eyes flashed, her features seemed +for the moment swollen. This shocked him, it was so wholly +unprecedented. He felt very sorry, as though he had been careless and +clumsy, as though he had broken something hitherto flawless, and +therefore charming, if not of supreme intrinsic value. + +"I begin to believe," she cried, "you have an intention I shall never +see Stoke Rivers at all." + +"No, no, my dear," he answered rapidly, rising as he spoke. "Nothing of +the kind. You are very distinctly mistaken. I have never been more ready +that you should see Stoke Rivers than within the last hour--that is, +when Stoke Rivers is fit to be seen. The poor, old house seems to have +been in jeopardy of final disappearance about a week ago. There's where +my bad news comes in. They write me word of a nasty fire there. Nobody's +fault--an electric light wire heated, and not being properly cased +charred some of the panelling which finally caught alight. The house has +been kept at such a high temperature for years, that the woodwork is +like so much tinder." + +Virginia's chin was still in the air, but she had in great measure +recovered her self-control. Her manner was rather elaborately cold. + +"That is a pity," she said calmly. "But, of course, the house and its +contents are insured." + +"Oh, yes, the loss is more a matter of sentiment than of money. Only one +room is burnt out, as far as I can gather; and it didn't contain any +very valuable pictures, or any part of my uncle's collection." + +"Probably it is as well this fire occurred, then," Virginia observed. "I +have always supposed Stoke Rivers would need some reconstruction before +it came up to the level of modern requirements." + +"Possibly--" he spoke rather drily. "Only, you see, I happened to +entertain a peculiar fondness for this particular room, and I am sorry +to part with the outward and visible signs of certain memories." + +The young lady did not answer immediately, but examined the dial-plate +of the little watch, set in diamonds, upon her wrist. + +"The carriage will be here," she said. "I have not time to change my +dress. I cannot play golf with Horace Greener. It is very embarrassing. +I have no valid excuse to offer him." + +"Oh, the heat, my dear, the heat," Laurence said, smiling. "Any excuse +is valid if you make it with sufficient conviction." + +Virginia looked hard at him.--"I wonder just what you mean by that," she +retorted. She put up her hand, puffing her hair out a little more over +her ears. "That fire was not very serious on your own admission," she +continued, "I cannot see that it necessitates your hurrying over with +this frantic haste. And if I am to live in it it would be desirable I +should overlook the reconstruction of the house myself." + +Her tone was meditative. Her statements were concise. Laurence felt his +back against the wall. He must take the consequences of his own action +however distasteful and disagreeable. His course would have been very +obvious had his record been quite clean in regard to Virginia; but, he +was an honest man. Something of exquisite, of incalculable value had +tempted him; and the peculiarities of his temperament had heightened +that temptation. He had been saved from falling, not by his own virtue, +but by the virtue and self-sacrifice of one adorably his superior. He +could not plume himself upon the achievement. He acknowledged that his +conscience was not clear in respect of Virginia; and this necessitated +the payment of a heavy penalty in connection with his own self-esteem. +His pride rebelled against "giving himself away," against further +self-revelation; only, the logic of the situation prevailed. It cut him +to the quick, yet it had to be done. + +"You're quite right," he said. "The matter of the fire could have waited +a little, I dare say, though it isn't exactly satisfactory to know part +of one's house is roofless under a wet, English, July sky; but I had +other bad news to-day." He paused a moment. "I heard of the funeral of a +very dear connection of mine." + +Virginia moved slightly, sweeping those fanwise-cut flounces to one +side. + +"Funeral?" she said quickly. "Really you have the very oddest manner of +statement. Had you not already heard of his death, then?" + +The young man moved too. He turned away, and a poignant sensation tore +and hacked at him, so to speak. It hurt him physically. He gazed out +over the dazzling whiteness of the smooth river seeing nothing, his +whole being tense with the effort to resist the showing of that pain. + +"Yes, yes, I have heard of her death, but I refused to believe it," he +answered. + +There was a moment of ominous silence, save for the shrilling of the +insects, and lapping of the stream. + +"Oh, a woman!" she said, with an almost alarming calm. "Have I ever +heard of her?" + +"I think not," Laurence answered. + +"Then Louise had grounds for her assertions," she said, still with that +deadly calm. "I thought it unworthy to listen. I forbade her to write or +speak to me upon the subject. I--" + +Laurence wheeled round. His eyes were dangerous. All the fanaticism of +his race, and something finer than that, looked out of them. + +"Think what you please of me," he cried; "but of her, think no evil. +Never dare to think any evil. She was one of the saints of God; and you, +of all women, have no cause to misjudge her. She saved me from +committing a great sin." + +A singular expression crossed the young lady's face, an imperious desire +to ask, to search out the ultimate of the matter. But it was momentary. +Spoilt child of fortune, she was too unaccustomed to vital drama to know +how to deal with it. It staggered, it also slightly disgusted her. She +could not rise to it. So conventionality proved stronger than even this +very legitimate curiosity. Virginia remained true to her somewhat +artificial traditions, to her own canons of good taste and +self-respect, to that singular clause of the social creed which +declares the thing unsaid also non-existent. Virginia appeared, in a +way, admirable just then, yet she gave the measure of her nature. It was +not great. She turned aside, with a movement of well-defined and lofty +superiority. + +"Are you aware that you become very indelicate?" she asked. + +"Most men are indelicate at times, unfortunately." + +"But not over here," she said. "American women do not permit that. You +must remember whom you have married."--She waited a little. "The English +standards are different, I presume," she added, not without a touch of +sarcasm. + +"I begin to think they are," Laurence answered.--He was paying, paying +abominably; yet there was a sensible relief in so doing.--"They are +based on the logic of fact," he continued. "And fact is more often +indelicate than not. It has never yet, you see, learned to be a +respecter of persons." + +There was a pause, in which once again the fiddlings of the grasshoppers +and soothing lap of the water became audible. + +"Do you still propose to go to England?" + +Laurence nodded. "Yes," he said. + +"Then"--began Virginia; but the young man held up his hand, partly in +warning, partly demanding a cessation of hostilities. His thought had +taken a new departure in regard to his wife. Somehow she had destroyed +her own legend. She was more slight and shallow a creature than he had +supposed, and he would never really stand in awe of her again. His smile +was sad yet wholly friendly. + +"Then--in a couple of weeks or so--I shall come back and fetch you," he +declared. "And then, like wise and politic human beings, we will eschew +controversy, each giving the other as much room as possible. I fancy +you'll find we shall shake down pretty easily, and rub along like most +other married people.--Meanwhile what's becoming of poor, neglected +Horace Greener? Go and amuse both yourself and him, my dear. If you're +not in before I start--well--for the moment, _addio_." + + + + +XXV + + +It was all very much in keeping with his mood--the reposeful landscape, +heavy with the solid green of the August foliage, the sweep of the low, +grey sky, the warm, still rain which drew forth an indefinable fragrance +from the pastures and hedgerows, the wayside flowers, and the underwood. +Already the evenings had begun to shorten. The rambling village-street +and its inevitable commotion of boys and dogs left behind, Laurence +looked away, with a stirring of the heart, over this goodly land of +which he was owner, as the brown thorough-bred breasted the hilly road +leading up from the station to Stoke Rivers house. The prospect at once +soothed and stimulated him. Emotion had been conspicuous principally by +its absence lately; it was pleasant to feel again. + +At the hall-door the two men-servants met him; and Renshaw's large, +egg-shaped countenance bore an expression almost paternal. + +"Excuse me, sir," he said, his complexion ripening to mulberry with the +effort of speech--"I do not wish to put myself forward, or go beyond my +place, but I must express the pleasure we take in welcoming you home, +sir. I speak not only for myself, but for Mr. Lowndes and Mr. Watkins, +and all the other servants--both upper and under, sir." + +Lowndes, the grey-haired, long-armed valet, subsequently gave vent to +even more cordial sentiments. + +"Excepting for the fire, we have been very dull during your absence, +sir," he said, as he laid out the young man's dress clothes, with a +critical eye to their packing which did not evidently quite commend +itself to his taste. "Living in this house has been like living inside a +run-down clock. I hope you have returned to make some stay, sir. We want +a head; we have forgotten how to take a holiday and amuse ourselves. Our +habits have been so very regular for so many years, you see, sir, we +feel lost without our accustomed duties." + +This too was pleasant. To be precious in the sight of those who serve +you lends a singular graciousness to the conduct of daily life. Laurence +felt at harmony with himself and his surroundings, and with that sense +of harmony arose certain stirrings of hope. During the days and nights +of the past week, while the great ship ploughed her way eastward across +the mighty ridge and furrow of the Atlantic, he had not been wholly +unconscious of that hope--the hope that even now all might not be over, +and that he might once again be blessed by the vision, for however brief +a space, of his dear fairy-lady. Yet he had kept that hope under with a +stern hand. It was present, but at the postern gate, so to speak, of the +castle of his reason and his will. He kept it there, doing his heart +much violence by refusing it admittance and entertainment, since he knew +that, once admitted, it would have proved so dangerously absorbing and +alluring a guest. He tried to deny it admittance still; yet he shuffled +a little with his own conscience, permitting himself a renewing of the +routine which had marked his former sojourn at Stoke Rivers. He dressed, +dined, and waited until the twilight had very sensibly closed in before +visiting that which might remain of the room of mysterious and enchanted +meetings. + +The near end of the corridor offered no noticeable signs of disturbance +or injury. Still it appeared to Laurence that, as on a former occasion, +a spirit of disorder, the winnowing wings of a profound and elemental +fear, had but lately swept through it. He could have imagined the +sightless, marble faces of the Roman emperors less impassive, less +wholly scornful, their heads carried with something less of arrogant and +invincible pride. An acrid odour of burned stuffs, burned woodwork, +pervaded the place. He had cabled instructions that nothing might be +removed, nothing renovated before his arrival. The tapestry curtain +still hung in its accustomed position; but it was blackened and +shrivelled to the obliteration of the figures wrought upon it. The satyr +no longer leered, from his monticule, upon the naked and reluctant woman +hurried towards him by the company of naughty loves. Tongues of fire had +licked away that pictured wantonness and purged its offence. + +Behind the wreck of the _portière_, the door--its panels split and +tormented by flame--stood wide open, as on the night when, straining +every muscle to carry that apparently so light and fragile burden, +Laurence had lifted Agnes Rivers across the threshold. Once within the +yellow drawing-room the desolation of that heretofore gracious and +friendly apartment touched hard on tragedy, seen, as now, in the +furtive, evening light. The rain had ceased, and through the remaining +sheets of glass, in the partially boarded and barricaded bay-window, the +flower-beds of the Italian garden showed in rich variety of leaf and +blossom. The statues gleamed calm and graceful from their white +pedestals. The spires of the cypresses rose with a certain velvet +softness of density towards the pensive and slowly clearing sky. But the +room itself was ruined in most unsightly fashion, stained by smoke, +rendered clammy and dank in places by water. Wreckage of the pretty, +costly furniture lay scattered in formless heaps upon the blackened +floor--with here and there a shred of fine porcelain, the gilt handle of +a drawer, the pages of a book reduced to tinder, or the unlovely remnant +of carpet or hanging. It was as a place that has suffered siege, and +which relentless foemen have sacked and trodden underfoot. So that it +came to Laurence, very surely, that not here would he find his sweet +fairy-lady, were he indeed destined, in this life, ever to find her +again. Her gentle spirit could never be subjected to the indignity of +dwelling amid this scene of destruction. Some incongruities are +inadmissible to the imagination. They are too violent, too gross. +Therefore the days of his beloved companion's pilgrimage were ended--it +could not be otherwise--in respect of this once so comely place. + +But though convinced that here it was useless to await her presence, +there remained somewhat for Laurence in all tenderness and reverence to +see. Since the electric light was now unavailable, he had ordered +candles to be placed upon the chimney-piece, which, though yellow and +disfigured, still remained practically intact. He moved across from the +neighbourhood of the doorway--sad, little clouds of corpse-coloured +ashes arising about his feet as he stepped--and put a match to the +candles. Then, as the light of them strengthened and steadied, he +looked, shading his eyes with his hand, towards that portion of the wall +at right angles to which the painted, satin-wood escritoire, with all +its pathetic store of cherished love-tokens, had formerly stood. The +high wainscot and brocade-covered panels masking this space had been +entirely burned away, disclosing a low, vaulted chamber hollowed out of +the thickness of the outer wall. This chamber had been roughly and +somewhat clumsily ceiled. The whole construction showed unmistakeable +traces of hasty and unskilled labour. + +Yet Laurence looked at this rough-hewn place of sepulture with an +infinite tenderness, a chastened reverence, while a very vital emotion +clutched at his throat, and far-reaching questions of life past, life +future, and the august purposes of being through the abysm of the ages +and on to the ultimate goal of things, held and sifted his intelligence +and his heart. For it was here, upon the morning following the fire, +that Agnes Rivers's coffin had been found. And it was from here, from +this hard and narrow bed--by what alchemy and agency he knew not--it +transcended his powers to conceive--that her sweet ghost had come forth +nightly, through all those long and dreary years of which it sickened +him to think, flitting impalpable, in vain endeavour to find the key to +her little treasure chest, that was also the key to the love she had so +pathetically lost. And it was here also, to this same hard and narrow +bed, that she had returned with quick and innocently gladsome farewells +in the first flush of returning day, when that love, by unprecedented +circumstance--circumstance trenching on actual miracle--had been +restored to her. + +Viewing that harsh and meagre resting-place which for the better part of +a century had held all that remained of her dear body, Laurence felt +himself strangely reconciled to actual happenings. For it was better, +ten thousand times better, that all now subsisting of her mortal +investiture should rest in Mother Earth's lap--blessed and set apart by +the faith and piety of ages as was that pleasant plot of sun-visited +grass, where the little shadows danced and beckoned, in the age-old +quiet of Stoke Rivers's churchyard. There he would go and watch for her +possible coming, and pay her the homage of his devotion, when the small +hours drew on towards to-morrow's dawn. + +Meanwhile there was time to be passed, and he did not care to leave this +spot, though its present desolation tore at his very vitals, with +memories of incalculable promise, and of unconsummated delight. As, +awakening from his dream of satisfied love long ago, during that strange +former existence, in the summer noon under the light, sibilant shelter +of the lime grove, so now he hungered for completeness of possession, +for the crowning of desire. Yet he kept himself in hand, even as he had +kept the young, brown, thorough-bred horse in hand, when, finding the +level, would have broken its pace and run riot more than once on the +road up from the station. He moved away and sat down on the defaced and +ragged sill of the bay-window. The moon had risen, but its mild light +was often obscured by softly-moving floats of thin, opalescent vapour. +These crossed its face in apparently endless procession, herded up from +southward and the narrow Channel sea. Laurence watched them, at first +almost unconsciously, his mind occupied with other, and, to himself, +more immediate and vital interests. But at length their slow and stately +progress began to work upon his imagination, and insinuate itself into +the very substance and foundation of his thought. He began to see in +them a procession of the souls of all those generations of men and +women, whose efforts and emotions, power of intellect, fiercely pursued +ambitions, passionate devotions, passionate revolts, had gone to +generate his own constitution, mental and physical, and determine his +ultimate fate. And so he came to regard them with a sustained and +deepening attention, since their aspect seemed pregnant with suggestion +of admonition, of encouragement, of warning, or restraint. Once again he +decided to keep vigil in this house, to watch with the unnumbered and +unrecorded dead whose offspring and inheritor he was. Not until all of +them should have passed by, and the moon ride solitary in the heavens, +would he go across the valley--himself now somewhat bitterly +solitary--and visit Agnes Rivers's grave. + +But that procession of low-floating vapours proved long in passing. More +than once a break came in it, making the young man suppose that the +whole of them was gone by. And then again, out of the south, now one +alone, now in close ranged companies, strangely shaped, as though draped +in dragging shrouds, that interminable procession crossed the vault of +the sky. A terror of incalculable number, of unthinkable multitude, +began to lay hold on him, as still they came, and came. Was it +conceivable that each human life had this almost appalling vista of +human lives behind it, of which it was the outcome and result, and in +which it had, consciously or unconsciously, taken part? There was a +certain splendour in the thought, though it left but little room for +personal vanity. Yet even while watching, and pondering of all this, the +personal note remained--for he pondered also, not without profound +discouragement, of his great adventure which just now appeared so +signally to have failed. At the half hours and hours the striking clocks +warned him that the night was far spent, but still that endless and +mystic procession passed before his watching eyes. As once before, in +this same room, his individuality seemed to sink away from him, while a +horrible sense of his own nullity and nothingness prevailed. But at +last, at last, when the first chill grey of the dawn began just +perceptibly to lighten the horizon behind the lime grove, the last of +these trailing vapours arose, passed over and disappeared. The moon +declined towards her setting, yet, though she hung low, the whole field +of heaven was at length her own. + +Then Laurence rose, and went away across the quiet park and up the deep, +tree-shadowed lane to the churchyard, on the hillside across the valley, +sheltered by the bank of high-lying woods. The grass was long, starred +with tall-growing buttercups, blue speedwell, and ox-eye daisies, heavy +and hanging with wet. Only the plot beneath the grey wall of the little +chancel was neatly mown, while, on the near side of it, conspicuous from +the smooth surface of the turf rising immediately surrounding it, was a +new-made grave. The sods covering it were kept in place by a cage of +osier rods. Some one--and Laurence found it in his heart to bless that +unknown ministrant--had laid a spray of pink wild-rose upon the head of +the grave, twisted into a little crown, at once of blossom and of +thorns. + +Laurence stood at the foot of the long, narrow mound, and again he kept +vigil--hearing the breathing of the moist earth, the quick sounds of the +woodland, and that strange, indeterminate, stirring of awakening +life--beast, bird, insect, herb, and tree--which immediately precedes +the birth of day. More than once his heart thumped against his ribs, and +the love-light sprang into his eyes, for, deceived by the growing colour +of the east, he fancied for an instant he again beheld the dear rose-red +of his fairy-lady's clinging, old-world, silken gown. But that fond +delusion was soon dissipated. Wherever her light footsteps might now +tread, they would never, in visible fashion, tend earthwards again. + +Then on a sudden, from the stables up at the house, came the crowing of +a cock, answered in gallant challenge from cottage and from +farmyard--growing faint in the far distance, ringing out again close at +hand, lusty and vigorous, full of the joy of living. Stung by the merry +sound, Laurence straightened himself up, looked away from the +osier-bound, rose-crowned grave, over the fertile, peaceful landscape. +The hops hung heavy upon the poles. The corn warmed to ruddy yellow. The +grass and hedgerows, as the sun's rays touched them, glittered with a +thousand diamond points, even as his lost love's little, embroidered +slippers had glittered when he first led her forth along the alleys of +the Italian garden. A glad wind swept up landward, from that great +thoroughfare of the nations, that highway of stately ships, the narrow +Channel sea. It raced through the woodland, swayed the sombre, +plume-like branches of the ancient yew-trees, and passed, exultant, to +fulfil its cleanly, life-giving mission elsewhere. Laurence took a long +breath, filling his lungs with it. It was good to taste, sane and +wholesome. And then, somehow, those divine words came to him, spoken in +the far Syrian country nearly two thousand years ago.--"The wind bloweth +where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell +whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of +the Spirit." + +Laurence stood erect and very still, his head held high, his face keen, +his lips parted in silent laughter, his whole being vibrant with the +surprise of a great conviction, a great discovery. For at length he too +saw and understood. He perceived that his love far from being lost was +his, close and intimately, as she had never been before, in either this +life, or that other half-remembered life, in both of which he had loved +her so well. He perceived that his amazing and desperate experiment, far +from being a failure, was on a high-road to a success hitherto undreamed +of. He perceived that his splendid adventure, far from being ended, had +but just begun; and that, could he but keep faith with his present +seeing, it would not end until he too had pushed back the heavy curtain, +and finally crossed the threshold of so-called death. Nor would it end +even then, were light lived in the light of this his present seeing. The +future was illimitable, since the goal of it was nothing less than union +with the Divine Principle itself. However innumerable the company of +human lives that had gone to produce his own, his individuality was +secure henceforth, since he had recognised and embraced the life which +alone eternally exists and subsists--the life in, and of, God. + +Five months ago, crossing the Atlantic, in the chill of the March night, +while the big ship steamed eastward and the stars danced in the rigging +as she sunk and swung in the trough and then rose--as a horse at a +fence--at the coming wave, he had asked himself the question as to the +profit of gaining the whole world, if in so doing a man should lose his +own soul. All his experience since then had been a setting of that vital +question at rest for ever. For he had found his soul. The matter was +simply to the point of laughter, when once apprehended. In bidding him +farewell, his sweet companion had promised him that she and he would at +last be made one, being one with Almighty God. He had heard that as he +might mere rhetoric, idle though pretty words, placing it in some +unimaginable future, his mind still in bondage to human conception of +time and space. Now he beheld this consummation as already accomplished, +immediately present, constant, here, now, permanent. All that it needed +was just an attitude and habit of mind, and then work. Work, not so much +for any great benefit derivable by others from that work (though the +desire of the welfare of others must be a fundamental element in that +work); but for the maintenance of the said all-important attitude and +habit of mind in himself. Almost any work would do. There was his +property; and, happily, sufficient of the feudal idea still remains in +England to make the possession of a great landed-estate fruitful in +humane relations between class and class. There was the dear earth, too, +to till and sow, and render more fertile, and more useful to man. There +were politics and public affairs. In the light of his present +illumination he dare approach these things, strong to carve out a career +for himself, yet for ever keeping his secret against his heart. +Salvation is for the individual, each individual must find it for him or +herself. Souls cannot be saved in batches. But to each and all it may, +and will, come, if they have courage, and fortitude, and the single eye +which refuses illusion. + +"And so farewell, yet never farewell, my first, and last, and only +love," he said, looking at the osier-bound grave, while the shadows of +the feathery yew-trees danced and beckoned upon the churchyard grass. +"There have been partings before, cruel to be born; there may be +partings again, but they will be transitory. I am not afraid that I +shall ever lose you, or you me. I am secure in that. Meanwhile for your +sake, O dear soul of me--for so indeed you are--I will make the best use +of the years I may still have to live here on earth. And since you once +were woman, no woman shall ever suffer at my hands--all womanhood being +sacred thenceforth since you once were woman.--Now the work of the world +calls, and, God helping me, I will help to do it. After all, dear love, +we go forth together,--amen." + + * * * * * + +There are things Virginia does not quite comprehend in her husband. She +tells the Van Reenan family, that "the English character is very +obscure." But she has had no more dramatic moments in respect of that +character. She pays a long visit yearly to "the other side," and is as +popular as ever. On this side too she has had her social triumphs. The +yellow drawing-room at Stoke Rivers has been rebuilt, but Laurence keeps +it for his own use. He has moved the books into it from the libraries, +thus giving Virginia a large suite of rooms for social entertainments. +Lately, when the red flame of war threatened the integrity of the +British Empire, Laurence went south; and for a time lived that larger +life--in which woman takes her place, perhaps her safest one, as a hope +or a memory merely--the life a man lives among men. Jack Bellingham +volunteered also. He thinks Laurence a better fellow than ever; yet is +perplexed at moments as to whether he has, or has not, developed--like +so many of his family--into a thorough-paced crank. + + +THE END + + + + +_By the same author_ + + + THE WAGES OF SIN + THE CARISSIMA + MRS. LORIMER + A COUNSEL OF PERFECTION + COLONEL ENDERBY'S WIFE + LITTLE PETER + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Gateless Barrier, by Lucas Malet + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GATELESS BARRIER *** + +***** This file should be named 34619-8.txt or 34619-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/6/1/34619/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, David Clarke, Mary Meehan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Gateless Barrier + +Author: Lucas Malet + +Release Date: December 11, 2010 [EBook #34619] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GATELESS BARRIER *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, David Clarke, Mary Meehan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<h1>The Gateless Barrier</h1> + +<h2>By LUCAS MALET</h2> + + +<h3>NEW YORK<br /> +DODD, MEAD & COMPANY<br /> +1900</h3> + +<h3><i>Copyright, 1900</i>, by<br /> +<span class="smcap">Dodd, Mead and Company</span></h3> + +<h3>UNIVERSITY PRESS<br /> +JOHN WILSON AND SON<br /> +CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.</h3> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#Preface">Preface</a><br /> +<a href="#I">I</a><br /> +<a href="#II">II</a><br /> +<a href="#III">III</a><br /> +<a href="#IV">IV</a><br /> +<a href="#V">V</a><br /> +<a href="#VI">VI</a><br /> +<a href="#VII">VII</a><br /> +<a href="#VIII">VIII</a><br /> +<a href="#IX">IX</a><br /> +<a href="#X">X</a><br /> +<a href="#XI">XI</a><br /> +<a href="#XII">XII</a><br /> +<a href="#XIII">XIII</a><br /> +<a href="#XIV">XIV</a><br /> +<a href="#XV">XV</a><br /> +<a href="#XVI">XVI</a><br /> +<a href="#XVII">XVII</a><br /> +<a href="#XVIII">XVIII</a><br /> +<a href="#XIX">XIX</a><br /> +<a href="#XX">XX</a><br /> +<a href="#XXI">XXI</a><br /> +<a href="#XXII">XXII</a><br /> +<a href="#XXIII">XXIII</a><br /> +<a href="#XXIV">XXIV</a><br /> +<a href="#XXV">XXV</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#By_the_same_author">By the same author</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Preface" id="Preface"></a><i>Preface</i></h2> + + +<p>"What is the book?"</p> + +<p>"According to the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese characters of +the title, we call it <i>Mu-Mon-Kwan</i>, which means 'The Gateless Barrier.' +It is one of the books especially studied by the Zen sect, or the sect +of Dhyâna. A peculiarity of some of the Dhyâna texts—this (story) being +a good example—is that they are not explanatory. They only suggest. +Questions are put, but the student must think out the answers for +himself. He must <i>think</i> them out but not write them. You know that +Dhyâna represents human effort to reach, through meditation, zones of +thought beyond the range of verbal expression; and any thought narrowed +into utterance loses all Dhyâna quality.... Well, this story is supposed +to be true; but it is used only for a Dhyâna question...."</p> + +<p>LAFCADIO HEARN.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"<i>Exotics and Retrospectives," pages 83, 84.</i></p></blockquote> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="The_Gateless_Barrier" id="The_Gateless_Barrier"></a><i>The Gateless Barrier</i></h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2> + + +<p>Laurence leaned his arms upon the broad wooden hand-rail of the +bulwarks. The water hissed away from the side. Immediately below it was +laced by shifting patterns of white foam, and stained pale green, +violet, and amber, by the light shining out through the rounds of the +port-poles. Further away it showed blue black, but for a glistening on +the hither side of the vast ridge and furrow. The smoke from the funnels +streamed afar, and was upturned by a following wind. The great ship +swung in the trough, and then lifted—as a horse lifts at a fence—while +the seas slid away from under her keel. As she lifted, her masts raked +the blue-black night sky, and the stars danced in the rigging.</p> + +<p>This was the first time since his marriage, nearly two years before, +that Laurence found himself alone and altogether his own master. His +marriage was a notable success—every one said so, and he himself had +never doubted the fact so far. Yet this solitary voyage, this temporary +return to bachelorhood, possessed compensations. He reproached himself, +as in duty bound, for being sensible of those compensations. He excused +himself to himself. He gave reasons. Doubtless his present sense of +freedom and content took its rise not in his enforced absence from +Virginia, from her bright continuous talk, her innumerable and perfectly +constructed dresses, her perpetual and skilful activities; but in his +escape from the highly artificial and materialised society in which she +lived and moved and had her being. Laurence had certainly no ostensible +cause of complaint against that society. Its members had recited his +verses, given a charming performance of his little comedy—in the +interests of a deserving charity—quoted his opinions on literature and +politics, and waxed enthusiastic over his strokes at golf and his style +at rackets and polo. He had, in fact, been the spoilt child of two New +York winters and two Newport summers. No Englishman, he was repeatedly +assured, had ever been so popular among the "smart set" of the great +republic. It had petted and <i>fêted</i> him, and finally given him one of +its fairest daughters to wife. And for all this Laurence Rivers was +sincerely grateful. His vanity was most agreeably flattered. His natural +love both of pleasing and of pleasure was well satisfied. Yet—such is +the perversity of human nature—the very completeness of his success +tended to lessen the worth of it. He even questioned, at moments, +whether that success did not offer the measure of surrounding immaturity +of taste and judgment, rather than of the greatness of his personal +talent and merit. He was haunted by the conviction that he had never yet +given his best, the highest and strongest of his nature, either in +thought, or art, or adventure, or even—perhaps—he feared it—in love. +The demand had been for a thoroughly presentable and immediately +marketable article; and the Best is usually far from marketable, often +but doubtfully presentable either. It followed that Laurence had, almost +of necessity, kept the best of himself to himself—kept it to himself so +effectually that he had come uncommonly near forgetting its existence +altogether, and letting it perish for lack of air and exercise.</p> + +<p>Now leaning his arms upon the hand-rail of the bulwarks, while the stars +danced in the rigging, and the great ship ploughed her way eastward +across the mighty ridge and furrow of the Atlantic, gratified vanity +ceased to obtain in him. His thoughts travelled back to periods of his +career at once more obscure and more ambitious—to the few vital +raptures, the few fine failures, the few illuminating aspirations which +he had known. The bottom dropped out of the social side of things, so to +speak. He looked below superficial appearances into the heart of it all. +Life put off its cheap frippery of fancy dress, Death its cunningly +devised concealments and evasions. Backed by the immensities of sea and +sky, both stood before him naked and unashamed, in all their primitive +and eternal vigour, their uncompromising actuality, their inviolable +mystery; while, with a sudden and searching apprehension of the profound +import of the question, Rivers asked himself—</p> + +<p>"What shall it profit a man—what in good truth—if he gain the whole +world and lose his own soul?"</p> + +<p>He had been summoned to England by the illness of an uncle whose estates +and considerable wealth he would inherit. That illness had been +pronounced incurable; but the approaching death of this near relation +made small demand upon his intimate feelings. A decent seriousness of +thought and speech, concerning the impending event, were all that could +reasonably be required of him; for the elder Mr. Rivers was both morose +and eccentric, and had given his nephew a handsome allowance on the +express understanding that he saw as little of him as possible. A +declared misogynist, he had received the announcement of Laurence's +proposed marriage with an exasperating mixture of contempt and approval.</p> + +<p>"I am sincerely sorry for you," he had written on this occasion. "The +more so that you appear to labour under the impression that the step you +have in contemplation is calculated to secure your happiness. This, you +must pardon my remarking, is obviously absurd. I grant that you are +under a moral obligation to perpetuate our family and secure the +succession to our estates in the direct line. I cannot, therefore, but +be glad that you should adopt the recognised means to attain the above +ends. I should, however, respect both your motives and your intelligence +more highly had you done this in a rational and scientific spirit, +without indulgence in sentimental illusions which every sane student of +human history has long since perceived to be as pernicious to the moral, +as they are enervating to the mental health. I could say much worthy of +your attention upon this point; but, in your present condition of +emotional inebriation, it would be a waste of energy on my part,—I +might add, a throwing of pearls before swine. Still, justice, my dear +Laurence, compels me to own that, even so, I must ever consider myself +in a measure your debtor, since the fact of your existence, your +remarkably sound physical condition, your normal and slightly +unintelligent outlook on life, have combined to relieve me of the odious +necessity of sacrificing my time and my personal liberty to the +interests of our family, by entering into those domestic relations, +which you appear to regard with as much thoughtless complacency as I +with reasoned repulsion and distrust."</p> + +<p>This being the attitude of the elder Mr. Rivers's mind, it followed that +when, by his request, Mr. Wormald, the family solicitor, summoned his +nephew and heir to attend his deathbed, the young man's wife was not +included in that gloomy invitation. And this Laurence could not by any +means honestly regret. Virginia at a disadvantage was an idea almost +inconceivable. Yet so immediate and concrete a being would not, he felt, +shade quite gracefully into the mortuary landscape. She would not suit +it, neither would it suit her. For she was almost amazingly in harmony +with her modern, mundane environment; and, save in the way of costly +mourning costumes, it seemed incredible that death should have any +dominion over her. It struck him, moreover, that if he gauged the +position aright, Virginia, notwithstanding her many charms and much +cleverness, would have to take a back seat in his eccentric uncle's +establishment. And Virginia in a back seat was again an idea almost +inconceivable. So he said—</p> + +<p>"It's an awful nuisance to have to leave you like this, but this is +going to be a pretty dismal bit of business anyhow. I'd much better just +worry through it alone. You'll join me later when it's all over, and we +are free to take possession and knock the place in shape. Stoke Rivers +is really rather delightful, though it is not very large. There used to +be some good pictures and books and things in it I remember. I believe +my uncle is a virtuoso in his way, though he is such a cross-grained old +chap. You'll enjoy the place, at all events for a few months every year, +I think, Virginia. And you can have all your own people over in turn, +you know; and show them how the savage English do it in their savage +little island. You'll make the neighbourhood sit up, I fancy. It'll be +amusing."</p> + +<p>But as Laurence leaned his arms upon the broad hand-rail of the +bulwarks, in the chill of the March night, while the water hissed away +from the side, and the engines drummed and pounded, and the bows of the +great ship lifted against the far, blue-black horizon, he began to +wonder whether he had not been somewhat over hasty in proposing chronic +invasion of Stoke Rivers by all Virginia's smart friends in turn. They +were well-bred, hospitable, amusing, very much up-to-date. He owed them +thanks for a most uncommonly good time. But they seemed a trifle thin, a +trifle superficial and ephemeral just now, in face of the immensities of +ocean and sky, and of the ancient mysteries of Life and Death.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2> + + +<p>Not until after dinner, on the evening of his arrival, was Laurence +admitted to his uncle's presence. The aspect of the room was rich though +sombre. Long in proportion to its width, with a low, heavily-moulded +ceiling, the walls of it were panelled in black oak three parts of their +height. The space between the top of the panelling and the cornice was +hung with dark blue silk-damask, narrow diagonal lines of yellow +crossing the background of the raised pattern. The short, full curtains +drawn over the wide window were of the same handsome material. So were +the counterpane and hangings of the half-tester, ebony bed. This last +was elaborately carved. Two couchant sphinxes, the polished surface of +whose cup-like breasts glowed in the firelight, supported the footboard, +as did a couple of caryatides—naked to the loins—the canopy. Near the +fireplace stood an oaken table, on which lay a few well-bound books. The +further end of it was covered by a cloth of gold and crimson +embroidery—evidently fashioned from some priestly vestment—upon which +rested a <i>memento mori</i>, about four inches in height, cut out of a solid +block of rock crystal, the olive crown which encircled the brow being of +pale, green jade.</p> + +<p>In a deep-seated, high-backed armchair—placed between the table and the +outstanding pillars of the chimney piece—propped up by dark silken +pillows, his spare frame wrapped in a long, fur-lined, violet, cloth +dressing-gown, a violet, velvet skull-cap on his head, sat Mr. Rivers.</p> + +<p>Laurence, who had not seen his uncle for the last five or six years, was +conscious of receiving an almost painfully vivid impression at once of +physical feebleness and intellectual energy. The elder man's face and +hands appeared transparent as the crystal <i>memento mori</i> on the table +beside him. His long, straight nose showed thin as a knife. His wide, +lip-less mouth seemed to shut with a spring, like a trap. The bone of +the face and hands was salient, as of one suffering starvation. Yet the +blue-grey eyes, though sunk in their cavernous sockets, were brilliant, +alert, full of an almost malevolent greed of observation. Laurence +noted that a spotless cleanliness and order pervaded the room and the +person of its occupant. The angular and attenuated face was shaven with +scrupulous nicety. The finger-nails were carefully polished and pointed. +An open collar and wristbands of fine lawn showed exquisitely white +against the purple cloth and fur of the dressing-gown. It was evident +that Mr. Rivers, whatever the peculiarities of his temper or of his +opinions, treated illness and approaching dissolution with an admirable +effect of stoicism and personal dignity.</p> + +<p>As Laurence—himself conspicuously well-groomed, in evening dress, no +mark of his long journey upon him, save in a complexion tanned by sun +and sea-wind, and by the directness of glance and vigour of movement +that remains, for a while, by every true sea-lover after he comes +ashore—crossed the space between the door and fireplace, the old man +raised himself a little in his chair.</p> + +<p>"Believe me, I am very sensible of the consideration you show in so +immediately gratifying my desire to see you, my dear Laurence."</p> + +<p>"I was very happy to come, sir," the younger man answered. But he was +not unconscious of a point of irony in the cold, level tones of the +voice, or in the persistent scrutiny of the brilliant eyes. These +appeared to regard him as they might some row of figures—mentally +casting up, subtracting, dividing, intent on arriving, with all possible +despatch, at a conclusive and final result. The effect was not precisely +encouraging, nor were the words which followed.</p> + +<p>"That is well," Mr. Rivers said. "But it is desirable you should +understand from the outset that which you have undertaken. You may be +detained here. The disease from which I suffer is, as you have been +informed, incurable; though it is, I am happy to say, neither offensive +or infectious. But though the final result is assured, the moment of its +advent is uncertain. Neither I, nor the physicians who amiably expend +their limited and somewhat empirical skill upon me, can determine the +date at which this disease will prove fatal. I shall regret to cause you +inconvenience, but the event is beyond my control. I may keep you +waiting."</p> + +<p>"The longer the better, sir," Laurence said, smiling, and his smile was +sincere and genial, of the sort which inspires confidence.—"That is," +he added, "if you do not suffer unduly."</p> + +<p>"When the mind has realised the greatness of its own powers, and trained +itself to their exercise, the will can almost invariably reduce +suffering to endurable proportions," Mr. Rivers replied contemptuously, +as dealing with a matter obvious, and so beneath discussion. He raised +one transparent hand, pointed towards a chair, and then let his wrist +drop again upon a supporting silken cushion. As he did so the two heavy +rings he wore—one an amethyst set in brilliants and engraved with +Arabic characters, the other a black scarab on a hoop of rough +gold—slipped up the long phalange of his second finger to the knotted +knuckle, and back again, with a dry rattle and chink.</p> + +<p>"Oblige me by sitting down, Laurence," he said. "I wish you to labour +under no misapprehension as to my intentions in sending for you. A +certain amount of business may need attention; but all that you can +discuss with my agent, Armstrong,—a very worthy, though prejudiced +person. My affairs are in order. I am not called upon to waste any of +the time remaining to me upon them. Let me explain myself. The +disease—for, to do so, I must refer to it once again—which is in +process of destroying certain organs, and consequently paralysing +certain functions of my body, has in no degree affected my mind. This +retains the completeness of its lucidity. Indeed, I am disposed to +believe that my enforced physical inactivity, and the small number of +objects presented to my sight—I never leave this room—tend to exalt +and stimulate my intellectual powers. You recall the legend of the +ancient philosopher who plucked out his eyes, that, undisturbed by the +vision of irrelevant objects, he might attain to greater concentration +of thought. Disease, in limiting my activities, has gone far to confer +upon me the boon which the philosopher in question strove, rather +violently, to bestow upon himself. I have ever been a student. I propose +to continue so to the last. My interest is unabated. My passion for +knowledge—the sole passion of my life—remains in full force."</p> + +<p>Laurence sat listening, nursing his knee. The speaker's attitude was +impressive, in a way admirable. His detachment, his calm, his acumen, +commanded his hearer's respect.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes. I see—that's fine," Laurence said under his breath.</p> + +<p>A slightly ironical expression passed across the elder man's attenuated +face.</p> + +<p>"I am, of course, glad that my sentiments meet with your approval. But I +fear that approval may prove premature. I have not yet fully explained +myself."</p> + +<p>Laurence smiled at him good-temperedly. "All right, sir; I'm listening," +he said.</p> + +<p>"I must frankly admit I did not require your presence with a view to +having you endorse my opinions. These are, I trust, too much the outcome +of close and lengthened thought to stand in need of support from the +agreement of another mind. I have never desired disciples, having the +evidence of the history of all great religious, political, and +scientific movements to prove conclusively that it is the invariable +habit of the disciple to falsify his master's teaching, to attach +himself to the weak rather than the strong places of such teaching, to +betray intellectually with some emotional, some hysterical kiss. The +disciple resembles those parasitic plants of the tropic forests, that +strangle the tree upon which they climb upward toward the air and +light."</p> + +<p>He paused a moment, turned his head against the pillows, with a movement +of almost distressing weakness. Then, gathering himself together by a +perceptible exercise of will, he looked searchingly at Laurence again, +and resumed his speech.</p> + +<p>"Nor have I required your presence here during these last days or +weeks—as the case may be—with a view to offering to you, or receiving +from you, that which is usually termed affection. I am not aware of any +demand, or supply, in myself of that very much overrated commodity. I +deny the actuality, indeed, of its existence. Subjected to analysis, it +can always be resolved into workings of self-interest, or into the +gratification, more or less gross, of the animal passions. It is the +generator of all the practical folly and intellectual sloth which go to +retard the progress of science, and the rule of high philosophy among +men. As between ourselves, my dear Laurence, any pretence of affection +would be transparently ridiculous. We are barely acquainted. My +departure will very clearly be to your advantage. Moreover, our tastes +and characters are so divergent, that any real community of interests, +any real bond of sympathy, is clearly out of the question."</p> + +<p>During the course of this address the young man's pleasant smile had +broadened almost to the point of laughter.</p> + +<p>"I understand, I really do understand," he said. "And now that we've +cleared the decks for action in this very comprehensive manner, I +grow—if I may mention it—most uncommonly curious to learn what you did +send for me here for."</p> + +<p>"I sent for you because there is one matter regarding which my +information is conspicuously defective, and because your conversation, +your habits, your very appearance, and gestures may serve to enlighten +me. I have lived among books, and objects of art of no mean value. I +have enjoyed communion, both by letter and in speech, with many of the +most distinguished minds of the present century. But I never +associated, I have never cared to associate, with the average man of the +world, of the clubs and the racecourse, the man of intrigues, of, in +short, society. He appeared to me to weigh too lightly in the scale to +be a worthy object of study. I ignored him, and in so doing dropped an +important link out of the chain of being. For these persons breed, they +perpetuate tendencies, they influence and modify the history of the +race. Not to reckon with such persons, is not to reckon with a +persistent and active factor in intellectual and moral evolution."</p> + +<p>Laurence had risen to his feet. He stood with his hands behind him and +his back to the fire. He was amused, but he was also slightly nettled.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" he said, "exactly. And so you sent for me. You took for granted I +was that sort. You wanted to see how we do it."</p> + +<p>"Yes," Mr. Rivers answered, "it did appear to me that you were +calculated to fulfil the conditions. In any case you were the only +example of the type available. Our connection by blood, and the relation +in which you stand to my property, gave me certain claims upon your +time and your consideration. I wish very much to observe you. I wish to +study you from the psychological and other points of view. You need not +attempt to assist me. Be yourself, please. Be passive. I need no +co-operation on the part of my subject. This will really give you very +little trouble, while it will afford me interesting occupation during +the period—whether short or protracted, I know not—which must elapse +before disease has run its course and procured dissolution."</p> + +<p>Laurence listened in silence; and while he did so, he ceased to be +nettled, he ceased even to be inclined to treat these singular proposals +humorously. For there appeared to him a certain pathos in the earnest +desire of this recluse and student now, at the eleventh hour, to +acquaint himself with just that which he had so arrogantly despised, +namely the Commonplace. It was slightly wounding to personal vanity to +be thus selected, from among the millions of mankind, as a fine, +thorough-paced example and exponent of the Commonplace. But Laurence was +kind-hearted. He also possessed a fund of practical philosophy. +No—decidedly the position was not a flattering one! Yet it was rather +original, and, moreover, how could one in common charity refuse any +little pleasure to a dying man?</p> + +<p>"Very well, sir," he said. "I think I quite grasp the necessities of the +inquiry. I'm quite willing to be operated on, and I promise to play fair +and not let the evidence be faked. But I'm afraid you'll get bored +first. I am likely to be more illuminated than illuminating."</p> + +<p>"I am obliged to you," Mr. Rivers said. "To-night I will not further +detain you. Pray give any orders you please to Renshaw. He is a +well-trained and responsible servant. There are horses in the stable. +Good-night. I repeat that I am obliged to you."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2> + + +<p>Finding it unlikely that his uncle would ask for him before evening, and +that consequently he had plenty of time at his disposal, Laurence +embarked after breakfast upon a survey of the house. When a boy at +school he had occasionally passed a couple of nights at Stoke Rivers. +His recollections of these visits were not gay. He had been glad enough +to go away again. It followed that his impressions of the house itself +were vague and confused. He now found that it was constructed in the +shape of a capital L reversed. The base of the letter, facing east and +west, contained kitchens, offices, and servants' quarters. The main +building—at right angles to it—was two stories in height, and +consisted of suites of handsome rooms opening on to a wide corridor. The +windows of the latter looked south, those of the rooms north. The +colouring and furnishings resembled, in the main, those of Mr. Rivers' +bedroom. Dark panelled walls, rich, sombre hangings of dark blue, +crimson, or violet obtained throughout. In the drawing-rooms were some +noble landscapes by Cuyp, Ruysdael, and other Dutch masters of note. +There was also an admirable collection of Italian ivories, small figures +of exquisite workmanship; and several glass cases containing fine +antique and renaissance gems. The walls of the libraries were lined with +books—a curious and varied collection, ranging from ancient +black-letter volumes down to the latest German treatise, on natural +science or metaphysics, of the current year. Laurence promised himself +to make nearer acquaintance with these rather weighty joys at a more +convenient season. Meanwhile, in contrast to the otherwise distinctly +old-fashioned character of the house, he remarked a very complete +installation of electric light, and an ingenious system of hot-air +ventilation, by means of which a temperature of over seventy degrees was +maintained throughout the whole interior. This produced a heavy and +enervating atmosphere of which Laurence—fresh from the strong clean air +of the Atlantic—became increasingly and disagreeably sensible. It made +him at once restless and inert; and as he wandered, rather aimlessly +from room to room, he was annoyed by finding a slight nervousness gained +on him—he, whose nerves were usually of the steadiest, happily +conspicuous by their absence, indeed, rather than by their presence!</p> + +<p>"Upon my word, this beats the American abomination of steam heat," he +said to himself.</p> + +<p>His visit to the library, where the smell of old leather bindings added +to the deadness of the air, nearly finished him. He went out on to the +corridor, and paced the length of it, past the flying staircase of black +oak leading to the upper corridor, and back again. A broad strip of +deep-pile, crimson carpet was spread along the centre of the polished +floor. On one hand, between the doors of the living-rooms, hung a +collection of valuable copper-plate engravings, representing classic +ruins in Italy and Greece. While on the other, in the spaces between the +windows, were ranged a series of busts—Augustus, Tiberias, Nero, the +two Antonines, Caligula, and Commodus—set on tall columnar pedestals of +dark green or yellow marble. The blind, sculptured faces deepened the +general sense of oppression by their rigidity, their unalterable and +somewhat scornful repose.</p> + +<p>Out of doors the March morning was tumultuous with wind and wet, +offering marked contrast to the dry heat, the almost burdensome order +and stillness reigning within. The air of the corridor was perhaps a +degree fresher than that of the library he had just quitted. Laurence +leaned his arms on a stone window-sill, and glanced in a desultory way +at the day's <i>Times</i>, which he had picked up off the hall table in +passing. But Chinese railway concessions, plague reports from Bombay, +even the last racing fixtures, or rumours of fighting on the North-West +Indian Frontier, failed to arouse his interest. In his present humour, +these items of news from the outside world seemed curiously unimportant +and remote. He stared at the wide, well-wooded, rain-blurred landscape. +The scene at which he had assisted last night, the intimate drama moving +forward relentlessly even now to its close in that well-appointed room +upstairs—and the extraordinary character of the chief actor in that +drama—his over-stimulated brain and atrophied affections, his greed of +experiment and of acquiring information, even yet, in the very article +of death—depressed Laurence's imagination as the close atmosphere +depressed his body. It was all so painfully narrow, barren, hungry, +joyless, somehow. And meanwhile, he, Laurence, was required to play the +fool—not for the provocation of laughter, which would after all have +had a semblance of cheerful good-fellowship in it. But in cold blood, as +an object lesson in the manner and customs of the average man; a lesson +the result of which would be tabulated and pigeon-holed by that +unwearying intelligence, as might be the habits of some species of +obscure, unpleasant insect. The young man had developed slight +intolerance of the exclusively worldly side of things lately. It seemed +by no means improbable he might develop equal intolerance of the +exclusively intellectual side before long, at this rate.</p> + +<p>"I seem qualifying as a past-master in the highly unprofitable act of +quarrelling with my bread and butter," he said to himself. "If I chuck +society, and proceed to chuck brains as well, for a man like myself, +without genius and without a profession, what the devil is there left?"</p> + +<p>Meditating thus, he had left his station at the window, and walked to +the extreme end of the corridor farthest away from the servants' wing of +the house. It was closed by a splendid tapestry curtain, whereon a crowd +of round-limbed cupids drove a naked and reluctant woman, with gestures +of naughty haste, towards a satyr, seated beneath a shadowy grove of +trees upon a little monticule, who beckoned with one hand while with the +other he stopped the notes of his reed pipe. The tapestry was of great +beauty and indubitable worth; but the subject of it was slightly +displeasing to Laurence, a trifle gross in suggestion, as had been the +sphinxes and caryatides of the carven ebony bed.</p> + +<p>"Oh! of course there's that sort of thing left," he said to himself, +recurring to his recent train of thought. "But, no thank you, I flatter +myself I can hardly find satisfaction in those low latitudes at +present."</p> + +<p>Having, however, an appreciation of all fine artistic work, he laid hold +of the border of the curtain, wishing to feel its texture. To his +surprise, it was of very great weight, padded and lined with leather, as +are curtains covering the doors of certain Roman churches.</p> + +<p>Laurence pulled the corner of it towards him and passed behind it. The +curtain fell back into position with a muffled thud, leaving him +standing in a narrow, dark, cupboard-like space, closed by a door, of +which it took him some stifling seconds to find the handle. He fumbled +blindly in the dark, an almost childish sense of agitation upon him. He +felt as in dreams, when the place to be traversed grows more and more +contracted, walls closing down and in on every hand, while the means of +exit become more maddeningly impossible of discovery. To his surprise, +he turned faint and broke into a sweat. It was not in the least an +amusing experience.</p> + +<p>At last the handle gave, with a click, and the door opened, disclosing a +large and lofty room quite unlike any one which he had yet visited. It +was delicately fresh both in atmosphere and colouring. It wore a +gracious and friendly look, seeming to welcome the intruder with a +demure gladsomeness. A certain gaiety pervaded it even on this +unpropitious morning. The great bay-window, facing east, gave upon a +stately Italian garden, beyond the tall cypresses, white statues, and +fountains of which spread flat, high-lying lawns of brilliantly green +turf. These were crossed by a broad walk of golden gravel leading to an +avenue of enormous lime-trees, the domed heads of which were just +touched with the rose-pink buds of the opening spring.</p> + +<p>The furniture of the room was of satin-wood, highly polished and painted +with garlands of roses, true-lovers' knots of blue ribbon, dainty +landscapes, ladies and lovers, after the manner of Boucher. The chairs +and sofas were upholstered in brocade, the predominating colours of +which were white, pale yellow, and pale pink. An old-fashioned, square, +semi-grand piano—the case of it in satin-wood and painted like the +rest—stood out into the room. On a spindle-legged table beside it lay a +quantity of music, the printing very black, the pages brown with age. +Close against these was a violin case covered with faded, red velvet, +on which were stamped initials and a crest.</p> + +<p>Laurence's eyes dwelt on these things. And then—surely there should be +a harp in the further left-hand corner, the strings of it covered by a +gilded, stamped leather hood? Yes, it was there right enough.—And a +tall escritoire, with a miniature brass balustrade running along the top +of it, should stand at right angles to the chimney-piece, upon which +last, doubled by the looking-glass behind, should be tall azure and gold +<i>Sèvres</i> jars, an Empire clock—the golden face of it set in a ring of +precious garnets—figures in Chelsea china and branched, gold +candlesticks.</p> + +<p>Laurence looked for and found these objects, a prey at once to surprise +and to a sense of happy familiarity. He was perfectly acquainted with +this room—but why or how he knew not. He was filled, too, by a singular +sense of expectation. It was to him as though some exquisite presence +had but lately quitted this apartment and might, at any instant, return +to it. He apprehended something tenderly, delectably feminine. The china +ornaments, and many little fanciful silver toys, spoke of a woman's +taste. So did a tambour frame, and an ivory work-box, the lid of it +open, disclosing dainty property of gold thimble, scissors, cottons, and +what not—and a half-finished frill of cobweb-like India muslin, a +little, gold-eyed needle sticking in the mimic hem. On the small table +beside the work-box lay a white vellum-bound copy of the <i>Vita Nuova</i> of +Dante, and the <i>Introduction to the Devout Life</i> of St. Francis de +Sales.</p> + +<p>Perplexed by his own sensations, possessed too by a sudden, gentle +reverence and longing which he could not explain, Laurence touched the +pretty trifles in the work-box; fitted the thimble on the tip of his +little finger; turned the pages of the Dante, and read how the poet came +near swooning at first sight of the maiden of eight years old whom, +though she was never destined to be his mistress or wife, he loved ever +after, and made immortal in immortal verse. He unlocked the worn +red-velvet violin case and drew the bow—not for the first time—he +could have sworn not—across the wailing strings. What did it all mean? +Yes, what, indeed,—in the name of common-sense, of New York and +Newport, of his golf and polo, and cotillions, of crowded opera-house +and shouting racecourse? In the name, too, of those hard, brilliant, +dying eyes, and that cold, hungry intellect upstairs, what did it mean? +He had no recollection of having been into this room on his former +visits to Stoke Rivers in his boyhood. And yet, of course, he must have +been here—otherwise? But then this overmastering sense of expectation, +this apprehension of an exquisite feminine presence, this—</p> + +<p>"Upon my word, I'm playing the fool to some purpose," he said, half +aloud.</p> + +<p>He crossed the room, threw wide the French window and went onto the head +of the semicircular flight of stone steps without. The wind buffeted him +roughly. The rain spattered in his face. On the left, the lawns were +divided from the downward slope of rough park and woodland by a sunk +fence. Beyond was outspread an extensive tract of rolling, wooded +country—red and white hamlets half buried among trees, here and there +the spire of a village church, flat, green pastures lying along the +valleys, brown patches of hop-garden and ploughland, and uplifted +against the grey, storm-drifted horizon a windmill crowning some +conspicuous height. Suddenly the cry of hounds, running, saluted +Laurence's ear. Then the whole pack, breaking covert, crossed the open +park. The field followed, horses pulling, riders leaning forward, +squaring their shoulders to the wind—a flash of scarlet, chestnut, +black and bay, behind the dappled joy of the racing pack.</p> + +<p>For a moment the strange influences of this strange day made even the +merry hunt appear to Laurence as the pageant of an uneasy dream. But +soon the honest outdoor life claimed him again, forcing him back upon +unquestioned realities. He closed the French window behind him, stood on +the wet steps spending some anxious moments in the lighting of a cigar, +and then strolled, hatless, round to the stables to make inquiry as to +what his uncle might own in the matter of horseflesh.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2> + + +<p>In the afternoon Laurence drove over to Bishop's Pudbury, some eight +miles distant from Stoke Rivers. An English soldier—by name +Bellingham—whom he had known in New York, and who had married a Miss +Van Renan, a cousin of Virginia—had taken a house there for the hunting +season. His wife had impressed upon Laurence the duty of making an early +call on these connections—he being the bearer of certain gifts to a +small daughter of the family, Virginia's godchild. A revulsion in favour +of the ordinary ways of ordinary modern life, in favour, indeed, of that +very Commonplace of which last evening he had supposed himself so +unwilling an exponent, was upon him. He wanted to get in with his +accustomed habits, his accustomed outlook, again. The last twenty-four +hours had been somewhat of a strain, and Laurence was as lazy as are +most healthy Englishmen. He hated energising, specially of the +super-induced, involuntary sort. And Mrs. Bellingham's society would be +helpful. She was an agreeable woman, of this world worldly. He could +have a good, square gossip with her. She was possessed, moreover, of a +cult for Virginia—for her beauty, her clothes, her social ability. And +in the back of his mind, somehow, Laurence was conscious that it would +be an excellent thing for him to hear Virginia's praises sounded loudly. +Mrs. Bellingham would count his blessings to him. That recital would be +at once humbling and bracing—altogether salutary. But, unfortunately, +neither the lady nor her husband were at home; so he could but deposit +Virginia's immaculate parcels, tied with flaring bows of amber ribbon, +and drive homeward through the rolling Sussex country—now engulfed in +its deep, narrow lanes, now climbing its breezy, wooded hills, catching +glimpses of the smooth, open downs ranging away to Beachy Head, and of +the grey turmoil of the dirty Channel sea.</p> + +<p>All this was not very exciting, it must be owned, but it afforded him +relief from the singular sensations he had experienced during the +morning. He came into the house in excellent spirits, bringing the clean +chill of the March evening along with him—came in to meet the same +dry, dead atmosphere, the same dark, glossy walls, and rich, sombre +colours, the same at once unemotional yet almost voluptuous suggestion +from objects of art. A lonely dinner followed, admirably served by two +silent, middle-aged men-servants. Their faces were sallow and without +expression, their manner was correct to the point of absolute nullity of +character, they moved as automata. The dinner itself was a little +<i>chef-d'œuvre</i>, and was served on remarkably handsome silver plate. +As centre-piece, three dancing female figures in silver-gilt—copied +apparently from those on some Etruscan vase—supported a cut-glass bowl, +in which floated fantastic orchids, some mottled, dull, brown-green, +toad-like, some in long sprays of mauve, or tiger-colour, striped with +glossy black. These last gave off a thick musky scent.</p> + +<p>Towards the end of the meal Renshaw, the butler, delivered a note to +him, which Laurence read not without kindly amusement. It was from the +curate-in-charge—the Rector of Stoke Rivers preferring to dwell amid +the social excitements of Cheltenham, and but rarely, on the plea of +bad health, visiting the parish. Laurence judged the curate-in-charge to +be a very young man. His letter ran thus:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>,—I trust I am not presuming upon my official +connection with this parish by hastening to express to you the +great relief which I feel in learning that you have arrived at +the Courthouse. As representative of the incumbent of this +parish, I hold myself responsible for the spiritual welfare of +all persons resident in it, whether of exalted or humble +station. I have, therefore, suffered much anxiety regarding +your uncle's, Mr. Rivers, spiritual condition, in his present +very serious state of health. I know that his views are +regrettably latitudinarian, and that his attitude is far from +conciliatory towards the Church. These sad facts, however, far +from relieving me of responsibility, only increase it. I would +so gladly read and pray with him, and reason with him of those +things necessary to salvation. The time permitted him may, I +understand, be short. It is my duty first to warn, and then to +console. I cannot reproach myself with negligence in calling at +the Courthouse. I do so regularly three times a week. +Unhappily, Mr. Rivers is persistent in his refusal to receive +me. This is not only very shocking, as precluding the +possibility of my offering either the warnings or consolations +of religion to the invalid; but it injuriously affects my +position with my parishioners, who, seeing me thus slighted by +the principal landowner in the parish, show a painful +disposition to treat my ministrations with levity, and my +person with disrespect. I trust to your sense of justice to +obtain my admittance to the sickroom, both in the interests of +your uncle's eternal welfare and in those of the Church, of +which I am a humble, but, I trust, efficient minister.—I have +the honour to remain, dear Sir, yours obediently,</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Walter Samuel Beal</span>."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Laurence finished his glass of claret and his cigarette with a smile. He +sat a minute or two, gazing at the dancing, golden figures and at the +rather malign loveliness of the orchids.</p> + +<p>"Poor little Padre Sahib!" he said to himself. "I'll go and see him +to-morrow and do my best to quiet his worthy conscience. Funny mixture +of soul and of self in that letter! But he's very much too mild a Daniel +to fling into the lion's den upstairs. He little imagines what he's +asking. Well, he won't get it anyhow, so that doesn't much matter. +Pah!—how hot this room is!"</p> + +<p>Laurence rose from the table, folded up the letter, and put it in his +pocket.</p> + +<p>"Now for processes of vivisection. It's the most original fashion of +paying succession duty I ever heard of. My word, if I ever do come into +possession, won't I just open the windows in this house!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2> + + +<p>The conversation that evening did not move very smoothly. Laurence +brought all the good temper and practical philosophy at his command into +play. But the elder man was captious. His blank scepticism, his keen, +unsparing statements jarred on his companion. An inclination towards +revolt arose in Laurence.</p> + +<p>"I am half afraid, sir," he permitted himself to say at last, while his +eyes rested on the gleaming breasts of the ebony sphinxes,—"that we +have made a radical mistake and put the cart before the horse. To +understand the average man, and his relation to things in general, must +not you begin with the study of the average woman? Is not <i>cherchez la +femme</i>, after all, the keynote of our inquiry?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Rivers raised his thin hand almost as in warning, and the heavy +finger-rings chinked as he let it fall again on the arm of his chair.</p> + +<p>"The subject of sex in connection with human beings is distasteful to +me," he said.</p> + +<p>Laurence glanced at the speaker and then back at the carven sphinx +again. His eyes were a little merry—he could not help it.</p> + +<p>"Oh! no doubt," he said; "there are times when it is distasteful to many +of us, and most infernally inconvenient into the bargain. Only you see, +unluckily, it is the pivot on which the whole history of the race +turns."</p> + +<p>"A most objectionable pivot! An insult to the intellect, a degradation."</p> + +<p>"That may be so," Laurence answered. "Still the thing is there—always +has been, always will be, modern science notwithstanding, unless +humanity agrees to voluntary and universal suicide, a consummation which +does not seem immediately probable in any case.—'Male and female +created He them.' An error perhaps of judgment, but one the Creator has +never shown much sign of wishing to correct as yet. The most venerable +religious systems recognise this. I need not remind you that it lies at +the heart of their mysteries. Christianity too—Catholic +Christianity—the only form, that is, of Christianity worth considering +seriously—acknowledges the profound significance of it in the worship +of the divine motherhood and the perpetually renewed miracle of the +Incarnation."</p> + +<p>"You interest me," Mr. Rivers said slowly.</p> + +<p>"I am glad of that," Laurence answered. He had warmed up unexpectedly to +his subject. "I am glad of that, for I can't help seeing—"</p> + +<p>Mr. Rivers interrupted him.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me," he said. "I would not have you labour even temporarily +under a misapprehension. It is less your exposition that interests me +than yourself. I note indications of thought and feeling for which I was +not wholly prepared. Taking you as a fair example of the type, I +perceive that the mind of the average member of society is of an even +lower order than I had supposed. I had, in my ignorance, imagined that, +even in the class to which you belong, modern, scientific ideas had +taken sufficient root to oust such effete superstitions as those to +which you have alluded. A more or less stupid Agnosticism, an utter +indifference, would not have surprised me. From such a condition +development is still possible. But here I recognise traces of a return +to fetich worship, to savage standards—this indeed is hopeless, a +degeneration from which revival is impossible. I admit, of course, the +necessity of the existence of woman, since the perpetuation of the race +appears at present desirable. It would be childish to argue the matter. +She must be kept and cared for by qualified persons, as are the other +higher, domestic animals, but—"</p> + +<p>"But, but," Laurence said, laughing, "I must protest. Perhaps his type +of mind is too low for yours to be able to stoop to it; but, upon my +word, sir, even with so thorough-paced a specimen as myself before you, +you have not grasped the characteristics of the average man one bit. I +don't say we are conspicuously noble, or virtuous, or godly creatures, +and I don't say that the side of our lives which has to do with our +ambitions, with public affairs, our profession, or our art—the side, in +fact, in which woman counts least—may not give scope to that which is +best in us. I have no end of belief in the life a man lives among men. I +grant a good deal on your side of the question, you see. Only I know it +will be a precious bad day when we keep our women merely for breeding +purposes. We shall have degeneration in uncommonly full swing then. +There is an immense lot in the relation between man and woman beside the +physical one; and—and—I'm not ashamed to thank whatever gods there be +for that."</p> + +<p>"Your wife—" began Mr. Rivers. Laurence looked hard at him, while the +good temper, the geniality, died out of his face.</p> + +<p>"My wife does not enter into our contract, sir," he said shortly.</p> + +<p>The coldly brilliant eyes fastened on him with a certain voracity of +observation. Then the elder man bowed slightly, courteously, +contemptuously.</p> + +<p>"You interest me extremely," he said. "I am obliged to you. But I must +not presume upon your complaisance. You have supplied me with sufficient +subjects of meditation for to-night. I will not detain you further. I +thank you, my dear Laurence. Good-night."</p> + +<p>"I was a fool to let myself go, and a still bigger one to lose my +temper," the young man said to himself as he closed the door and passed +out on to the corridor.</p> + +<p>Save for a ticking of clocks, silence prevailed throughout the house. +The electric light, clear and steady, revealed every object in its +completeness. The temperature was some degrees higher than during the +day, and airless in proportion to its increased warmth. Half-way down +the shining oak staircase, Laurence was saluted by the musky odour of +the orchids. Clinging, enfolding, it seemed to meet him more as a +presence than a scent. The dining-room door stood wide open. The +under-butler came forth and went noiselessly towards the offices. There +followed a muffled sound of baize doors swinging to. Then +simultaneously, sharply, from all quarters, clocks struck the half hour.</p> + +<p>"Only half-past ten!" Laurence exclaimed. "How villainously early! I +wish to goodness I had not lost my temper though. It was slightly +imbecile. If the poor, old gentleman enjoys being offensive, why +shouldn't he be so? He has none too many opportunities of amusement."</p> + +<p>He paused, looking down the bright, vacant, silent corridor, past the +open doors of all the bright, vacant, silent rooms.</p> + +<p>"If it comes to that, nor have I," he added, "when I come to think of +it. There's a notable paucity of excitement in this existence, and this +beastly hot air makes one too muzzy to read." He yawned.—"What a mercy +Virginia didn't come! She would have been most extensively and +articulately bored."</p> + +<p>He sauntered aimlessly along the passage, past the fine, copper-plate +engravings, and the impassive, Roman emperors, and drew up before the +great, tapestry curtain. Again he looked curiously at the figures worked +so skilfully upon it. The light took the silken surface, bringing the +warm flesh-tints into high relief, against the dim, grey-green +background of shadowy hill and grove.</p> + +<p>"No wonder my uncle blasphemes if that represents his only idea of the +relation of the sexes."</p> + +<p>He sighed involuntarily.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but, thank God, there is more in it all than merely that," he +said. Then he repeated:—"It is a mercy Virginia did not come. It would +not have suited her from any point of view. She'd have been hideously +bored, and she would have been offended and a good deal shocked. It is +queer the way the Puritanic element survives over there, notwithstanding +their modernity."</p> + +<p>Laurence smiled to himself, becoming aware of the slight inconsistency +of his own attitude—his late heated championship of the claims of the +Eternal Feminine, his self-congratulation at the fact that his own +particular investment in the matter of womanhood was, at present, safely +away on the other side of the Atlantic.</p> + +<p>Then, taken by a sudden impulse—born in part of a desire of escape from +the suffocating atmosphere around him—he pulled the edge of the heavy +curtain outwards, passed round it, letting it drop into place behind +him. He stood a moment in a contracted, blind space. The place seemed +possessed of singular influences. Again he grew faint as he groped for +the door handle; while a conviction grew upon him that he had stood just +here, and so groped an innumerable number of times already, and that he +should so stand and grope—either in fact or in imagination, just as +long, indeed, as consciousness remained to him—an innumerable number of +times again.</p> + +<p>At last the handle was found and yielded. Breathing rather quickly, +Laurence entered the lofty, fair-coloured room. It too was bright with +electric light, but the air of it was sensibly purer than that of the +corridor; while, standing before the painted satin-wood escritoire, at +the further side of the fireplace, was a slender woman. Her back was +towards him. She wore a high-waisted, clinging, rose-pink, silken gown. +Her dark hair was gathered up in soft, yet elaborate, bows and curls +high on her small head, after the fashion prevalent in the early years +of the century. A cape of transparent muslin and lace veiled her bare +shoulders.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2> + + +<p>The young man's astonishment was immense. Recovering from the first +shock of it, he was taken with reprehensible irreverence towards the +sick man upstairs.</p> + +<p>"The old sinner, how he has lied!" he said to himself. "A pretty ass he +has made of me with this card up his iniquitous, old sleeve all the +while!"</p> + +<p>He debated momentarily whether good manners demanded his retirement +before his presence was perceived; or whether he was free to go forward +and make acquaintance with this unacknowledged member of his uncle's +household. Strong curiosity, coupled with a spirit of mischief, provoked +him to adopt the latter course. He owed it to himself, surely, not to +neglect so handsome an opportunity of turning the tables upon old Mr. +Rivers. While, astonishment and levity, notwithstanding, Laurence was +aware of a strong attraction drawing him towards the slender, rose-clad +figure. He began to question, indeed, whether it, like the room and its +furnishings, was not in a degree familiar to him? Whether it was not the +embodiment of just all that of which he had been so singularly expectant +when visiting the room this same morning?</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the young lady's hands moved over the rounded cover of the +escritoire as though endeavouring to open it. The lace frills, edging +her muslin cape, flew upwards, showing her bare arms. These were thin, +but beautifully shaped; while the movement of her hands was singularly +graceful and rapid. She touched, yet seemed unable firmly to grasp the +gilded handles of the escritoire again and again; clasped her hands, as +it appeared to Laurence—for her back was still towards him—with a +baffled, despairing gesture, and then moved away across the room. She +appeared to flit rather than walk, so light and silent were her steps, +bird-like in their swift and dainty grace. Watching her, Laurence was +reminded of a certain Spanish <i>danseuse</i>, who, during the previous +winter, had excited the wild enthusiasm and considerably lightened the +pockets of the <i>jeunesse dorée</i> of New York. But the charm of the +dancer had, for him at least, been spoilt by the somewhat unbridled +pride of success perceptible in her bearing. Whereas the flitting figure +now before him, notwithstanding the beguiling loveliness of its motions, +struck him as penetrated with the sorrow of failure, rather than the +arrogance of success.</p> + +<p>She wandered to and fro, regardless or unconscious of his presence, +searching—searching—as it seemed; passing her hands over the +work-table, sweeping them along the surface of the chimney-piece between +the ornaments and china, fingering the music upon the piano. He caught +sight of a delicate profile, a round and youthful cheek. But her +movements were so anxious and rapid that he could get no definite view +of her face. Indeed, her action was so quick that it was not without +effort Laurence followed it.</p> + +<p>At first the young man's attitude had been one of slightly irritated +amusement at the concealment practised on him by his host. But as the +rose-clad lady's search continued, the sense of amusement was merged in +one of sympathy. She was so graceful a creature. She appeared so sadly +baffled and perplexed. A subtle anxiety laid hold of him—an +apprehension that something momentous and of far-reaching consequence to +himself was in act of accomplishment—that he was himself deeply +involved, and pledged by a long train of antecedent circumstances to +assist those delicately framed and apparently so helpless hands in their +unceasing search.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, but what have you lost?" he asked her at last, speaking +gently as to a timid and unhappy child. "Tell me, and let me try to help +you find it."</p> + +<p>At the sound of his voice the flitting figure paused, stood a moment +listening, as though striving to collect the purport of his address. +Then it turned to him. For the first time Laurence saw his companion's +face clearly, and he shrank back, penetrated at once by a great +admiration and a vague dread of her. For it was a very lovely face, but +shy and wild as no other human face he had ever beheld. The sweet mouth +drooped at the corners, as with some haunting, but half-comprehended +distress. The eyes were serious; blue-purple—as are deep, high-lying, +mountain tarns, set in a soft gloom of pine-trees and of heather. A +gentle distraction pervaded the young lady's aspect. And this was the +more arresting, that each bow and curl of her pretty hair was in place; +every detail of her dress fresh and finished, from the string of pearls +about her white throat, to the toes of her rose-pink, satin slippers, +sparkling with an embroidery of brilliants, which showed beneath the +small flounce edging her rose-pink skirt.</p> + +<p>Laurence had lived at least as virtuously as most men of his class; yet +it would be idle to declare Virginia his first and only flame. He had +married her, which constituted the difference between her and all those +other flames—and at times it occurred to him what a prodigiously great +difference that was! Since his marriage he had been guiltless of looking +to the right hand or to the left even in thought. But, before that +event, it must be owned, he had had his due share of affairs of the +heart. He was thoroughly conversant with the premonitory symptoms of +that fascinating disorder, commonly known as "falling in love." And, to +his dismay, as he looked on the sad and lovely person before him, he +was conscious that some of those premonitory symptoms were not entirely +absent. An immense pity and tenderness took him; a deepening conviction, +too, of recollection, as one who after a long lapse of years hears again +some almost forgotten melody, or sees again a once well-known and +well-beloved landscape. The sad face was new to him, not in itself, but +in its sadness only. The corners of the sweet mouth should not droop, +but tip upward in soft, discreet laughter. The serious eyes should +dance, as the surface of these same mountain tarns in sunlight under a +rippling breeze. The face, remembered thus, had indeed never been wholly +forgotten—he knew that. It formed part of inherent prenatal +impressions, of which, all his life, he had been potentially if not +actively aware.</p> + +<p>All this flashed through him in the space of a few seconds; while he +repeated, somewhat staggered by the fulness of emotion which the tones +of his own voice implied—</p> + +<p>"Only tell me what you have lost—tell me; and let me help you find +it."—Then he added more lightly, smiling at her with his sincere and +kindly smile:—"Really, my services are worth enlisting. I've always +been a rather famous hand at finding things, you know."</p> + +<p>She gazed at the young man for a minute or more, a tremulous wonder in +her expression, while she fingered the string of pearls about her +rounded throat. Her lips moved, but no sound came from them. Her +attitude changed. She stood with her head raised, apparently listening. +Then reluctantly, as in obedience to some unwelcome summons, she moved +swiftly across the room to the outstanding, painted satin-wood +escritoire, passed at the back of it, and the young man found himself +alone.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2> + + +<p>Though usually an excellent sleeper, Laurence passed a restless night. +Like most sane persons, he was disposed to resent that which he could +not account for; and, with the best will in the world to evolve +ingenious hypotheses explanatory of her disappearance, the manner of his +sweet companion's going remained a mystery. He had examined the +escritoire, and found it locked. He had also examined the wall-space in +its vicinity. This was hung, from cornice to wainscot, with pale +yellow-and-white brocade, as was all the room. But neither behind the +brocade, nor in the wainscot, was any door or sliding panel +discoverable. Indeed, when he came to think of it, remembering the +structure of the house as he had seen it on his way along the south +front to the stables, that side of the room consisted of a blank wall, +doorless and windowless. This fact, when he realised it, caused Laurence +something of a shock. It was unpleasant to him. And so he took refuge in +scepticism. He laughed at himself, declaring that the unwholesome +atmosphere of the house, and the lonely, uneventful life he was +compelled to lead, were breeding morbid fancies in him. All that talk +about woman and the relation of the sexes had stamped itself upon his +mind in an exaggerated way, thanks to his surroundings. The musky scent +of the orchids had a word to say in the matter too, no doubt. So had his +revulsion from the gross suggestions of the scene represented on the +tapestry curtain. Heavy sleep, amounting almost to torpor, induced by +the heavy atmosphere, had fallen upon him directly after he had entered +that strangely engaging and familiar room. And, in that sleep, +imagination had created a woman who should embody all that which the +room and its furnishings suggested—an ideal woman, far away alike from +the brilliant young leader of smart society whom he had married—but on +this clause Laurence refused to allow his thoughts to dwell—and from +the mere human brood-mare, whom his uncle pronounced to be the only +admissible exponent of the Eternal Feminine. He had dreamed a poem—one +of those poems he kept at the bottom of his despatch-box, and had never +felt any inclination to read aloud to Virginia—had dreamed instead of +writing it, that was all.</p> + +<p>Laurence got out of bed and threw open the window. Where the eastern +angle of the house stood out dark against the sky, he could see the +pallor of the dawn warming into rose, while overhead the stars died out +one by one as the light broadened.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the vision of a dream," he said to himself. "Only another of those +thousand exquisite things which belong to the language of symbol, and +possess, alas! no tally in reality—reality, that is, as most of us +hide-bound victims of conventionality are destined to know it."—He +laughed a little grimly.—"Reality, as we know it, being precisely the +biggest illusion of all!"</p> + +<p>He watched the fading stars, the deepening rose and gold of day, above +the woods and lawns, the black cypresses and white statues upon the +northern boundary of the Italian garden. Starlings chattered joyously +from the gutters under the eaves; and then swept down, with a rush of +passing wings, on to the grass. A keeper, gun on shoulder, with a busy, +little, black cocking-spaniel, and a long-limbed, red, Irish setter +behind him, crossed the rough downward slope of the park; and the wide, +blue-grey landscape began to grow definite, to assert itself right away +up to the horizon. The earth seemed to awake with a quiet smile from the +kindly sleep of night.</p> + +<p>Laurence drank in his fill of the moist, sharp air.</p> + +<p>"Poor dear Virginia!" he said suddenly. And it was probably the very +first time in her whole life that this popular, admirably finished, and +much admired young lady had ever excited pity.</p> + +<p>After breakfast Laurence set forth to visit his clerical correspondent, +and strive to ease the latter's conscience while refusing his request. +The rectory, distant about three-quarters of a mile, stood on the rising +ground across the valley, backed by a fringe of high-lying woods. The +church, a small but very perfect example of Norman architecture, closely +adjoined the house. There were good details of carving about the narrow, +round-headed windows of the chancel, and the low, heavy arch of the +porch—the floor of which was sunk several steps below the level of the +churchyard. The tower, square and solid, but little higher than the roof +of the nave, was surmounted by a squat, shingled spire. It struck +Laurence as a calm, self-contained, little building, on which the +centuries had set but slight mark of decay. The churchyard, +too—shadowed by a few ancient yew-trees—was singularly peaceful, full +for the most part of unnamed, grass-grown graves. Death, seen thus, had +nothing awful, nothing repulsive, about it—quiet "rest after toil," it +amounted to no more than that.</p> + +<p>But then the charm of spring was in the air, and the young man was +pleasantly beguiled by it. He sat down on the broad coping of the +churchyard wall, lighted a cigarette, and idly watched the rooks +streaming out from the rectory elms, and dropping on the fragrant, +fresh-turned earth of a plough-field in the valley. He listened idly to +the nimble wind that blew up from the ten-mile-distant sea, sang in the +woodland above, and whispered through the dark, plume-like branches of +the yews here in this sheltered piece of ground. The sky was a thin, +bright blue, and across it wandered little clouds, like flocks of white +sheep, herded by that same nimble wind up from the Channel.</p> + +<p>It seemed to Laurence that here, indeed, would be a pleasant enough +place to lie when life was over. But then that time had by no means +arrived for him yet. He felt again—as he had felt that night on board +ship—that he had never done complete justice to his own capacity. +Whether the fault lay in himself or in circumstance, he could not say; +but he knew that neither body, nor mind, nor heart, had worked up to +their full strength yet. Ambition of some notable and absorbing +undertaking stirred in him. He looked out over the goodly land. Would +this by no means contemptible inheritance, on the threshold of the +possession of which he now stood, afford him his great opportunity? And +then his thought harked back to the lovely and pathetic vision which had +blessed his sleep—for, of course, he was asleep—last night. A man +could find fulness of satisfaction in a great passion for such a +woman—if so be she actually existed, instead of being only the ideal +vision of an ideal dream. Yes, a man could go very far down that road +if—if—And there Laurence, being a decent fellow, laid strong hands on +his imagination. To indulge it was just simply not right, since whatever +woman's existence might belong to the land of fancy, his wife, +Virginia's, belonged, to the land of very positive fact. He got up, +shook himself, and walked away to the rectory house, through the +sunshine and shadow of the peaceful, country graveyard.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2> + + +<p>Mr. Beal received his guest with an agitation in which natural timidity +warred with professional pride. He laboured under the conviction that he +was called upon at all times and in all places to maintain the dignity +of the Anglican Church. He believed she was very much in the midst of +foes, Rome and Non-conformity alike perpetually plotting her downfall; +while Atheism cruised about in the offing ever ready to seize any who +escaped the machinations of these more declared enemies. And, +unfortunately, the young man, neither in appearance nor constitution, +was a born fighter, or even a born diplomatist. In appearance he was +mild, with sandy, down-like hair, a high narrow forehead and freckled +skin, pale, anxious eyes behind spectacles, and a moist white hand. He +opened the front door to Laurence himself; and it occurred to the latter +that his clothes were very black, and that he wore a great many of them.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Laurence Rivers, I presume?" he said, looking up nervously into +his guest's face.</p> + +<p>"Yes; I thought it would be simplest to answer your letter in person," +the other replied. He felt a certain kindly pity for the young +clergyman, whose existence he divined to be of a somewhat limited and +unproductive sort.—"I should have given myself the pleasure of calling +on you in any case in a day or two. But your letter seemed to require +attention at once. I am sorry you are having any bother about—"</p> + +<p>"Will you not come in?" Mr. Beal asked hurriedly. "Our conversation +might be overheard and commented upon. This way, please. You will excuse +the dining-room? I always occupy this room during the winter months. It +is both necessary and right that I should practise economy, and to +occupy this room exclusively saves a fire."</p> + +<p>In his nervousness Mr. Beal talked continuously.</p> + +<p>"Pray take a seat," he said, pushing forward an armchair, the leather +cover and springs of which were decidedly tired. "I at once begged you +to come in here, because in speaking of personal and parochial matters +one cannot, I feel, be too careful. Mr. Wingate—the rector of Stoke +Rivers, you know—wished, I am sure, to treat me with generosity when I +undertook the duty here. He not only placed the whole of this house at +my disposal, but he left two female servants—not on board wages—an +elderly woman and a younger person as her assistant. The intention was +generous, I feel sure; but I grieve to say they are not such staunch +church-women as I could desire, and this has led to difficulties between +us. I thought it my duty to admonish them, separately, of course, +suiting my remonstrances to their respective ages and dispositions. But +they did not receive my admonitions in a submissive spirit. Since then I +have found it necessary to exercise great caution. There has been much +gossip. Remarks of mine have been repeated, and that not in a manner +calculated to improve my position with the parishioners. My actions are +spied upon. There is a small, but bigoted, dissenting element in the +village, and——"</p> + +<p>"Ah! yes, they're a nuisance, I dare say," Laurence put in, smiling. +"Still, it's a charming place, all the same. I have just been poking +round the church. There are some wonderfully quaint bits about it. And I +like the churchyard."</p> + +<p>"I could wish to have the graves levelled, and the head and foot stones +placed neatly in line on the confines of the enclosure."</p> + +<p>"Oh! no, no; that would destroy the character of the place. We can't +carry anything away with us—granted—when we go. And so there's a +certain subjective comfort in knowing we leave a little mound of earth +and turf behind to mark our resting-place. That's hardly ostentatious, +considering our pretensions during life—do you think so?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Beal shifted the position of his spectacles. He braced himself.</p> + +<p>"The churchyard has been levelled at Bishop's Pudbury," he said. "I had +the privilege of being assistant priest there for five years. The +archdeacon is considered a man of great taste."</p> + +<p>"I should have thought the parishioners would have objected now," +Laurence remarked.</p> + +<p>"So they did," Mr. Beal replied. "I grieve to say some persons +displayed a most illiberal spirit. They called meetings, and behaved in +a really seditious manner. Many even became guilty of the sin of schism. +They ceased to attend the church services, and frequented dissenting +places of worship. The archdeacon was pained; but he felt a principle +was at stake. He has long contended that the churchyard is legally the +rector's freehold. He therefore felt it a duty to the Church to be +firm."</p> + +<p>Laurence contemplated the young clergyman with a touch of good-natured +amusement, wondering if, with that anæmic physique, he was capable of +emulating the militant virtues of the archdeacon-rector of Bishop's +Pudbury.</p> + +<p>"But about this letter of yours, Mr. Beal," he said. "That's what I came +to talk to you about."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid my conversation has been a little irrelevant. But—but—" +the young man sat opposite to Laurence, shifting his spectacles, and +washing his hands in an access of nervousness. "I confess I am not quite +myself this morning, Mr. Rivers. I was made an object of public ridicule +last night."</p> + +<p>"I am very sorry to hear it. How was that?"</p> + +<p>"I think I am at liberty to tell you, because the incident took its rise +in your uncle, the elder Mr. Rivers', refusal to receive me. You see it +is known how often I have been repulsed. Last night we had the weekly +choir practice at the school. While it was in progress, I was called and +informed by the pupil-teacher—whom I excuse of participation in the +unseemly jest—that Mr. Rivers had sent for me, and that his carriage +was waiting at the gate. This surprised me; but I supposed you might +have received, and immediately responded to, the request contained in my +note. I excused myself to the organist and choir, and hastily put on my +hat and coat. I hurried out, but some ill-disposed youths had placed +strings across the school door. I fell. The ground was exceedingly +muddy. My reappearance was greeted with hardly concealed derision. I +discovered the whole matter was a vulgar hoax."</p> + +<p>"Ah! that's very much too bad," Laurence said kindly, though the +picture suggested by the young clergyman's story provoked him to +internal mirth. "We must straighten this out somehow. And yet I tell you +frankly your letter placed me in a difficulty. Even when in good health +my uncle was not an easy person to approach, and now, as you know, he is +fatally ill——"</p> + +<p>"I would deal with him very gently," Mr. Beal remarked, bracing himself.</p> + +<p>"I am sure of that. But I am afraid he might deal anything but gently +with you."</p> + +<p>"I think—I believe—I am prepared to suffer for my faith."</p> + +<p>"I am sure of that," Laurence repeated consolingly. "But it appears to +me this would be both a superfluous and inglorious martyrdom. My uncle +is perfectly secure of his own position and opinions. The latter are +peculiar, and he has a very trenchant way of stating them."</p> + +<p>"You would convey to me that I should be worsted in argument?" Mr. Beal +inquired.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I really am more than half afraid you would. And so, you see, no +end would be gained. You would be pained, and possibly humiliated; while +my uncle's victory would render him more stubborn in the maintenance of +his own views. He would be irritated too, and that might accelerate the +action of the disease from which he suffers. Remember, he's both old and +ill. I own I think he must just go his own way. I hesitate to coerce +him."</p> + +<p>During this address Walter Beal had washed his moist hands in a very +agony of agitation. This handsome stranger impressed him greatly. He was +sympathetic, moreover, a patient and kindly listener. The young +clergyman could have found it in his heart to adore him with a humble +and dog-like devotion. But then his own professional dignity must be +asserted. So he whipped down his natural and wholesome inclination to +hero-worship, and whipped up his rather spavined, ecclesiastical valour; +and said, with all the sternness his tremulous voice could command—</p> + +<p>"I fear you are not a true Christian, Mr. Rivers, or you would find no +room for hesitation where the salvation of a soul is involved."</p> + +<p>Laurence turned his chair sideways to the dinner-table, crossed his +legs, and rested his elbow on the bare, white cloth. Some crumbs +remained on it, left over from Walter Beal's breakfast; but happily they +were at the far corner. The young man deserved a snub, but he was an +innocent creature, a great sincerity in his foolishness. Laurence looked +out of window, across to the sunny peaceful churchyard. After all, why +be harsh? Why snub anybody? So he smiled again genially enough upon the +distracted Beal.</p> + +<p>"Oh! we must discuss the heights and depths of my Christianity some +other time," he said. "The point is to stop this impertinence of which +you are the victim. Look here, honestly I don't see my way to making a +meeting between you and my uncle at present. But as you can't get the +uncle, let me beg you to put up with the nephew. Let it be known that +you and I are on excellent terms. Come and see me. Let's see—to-morrow +evening I shall be free till half-past nine or ten. Come and dine with +me."</p> + +<p>But Mr. Beal shrunk back and raised his moist, white hands in protest.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" he exclaimed. "That is, I am sure your intentions are most +kind, most kind—indeed, indeed, really, I am sure of that. But except +professionally, except at the urgent call of duty—and then grace would +be given me—I felt that yesterday when I received the summons during +the choir practice—I prayed—I was praying when those strings +intercepted my passage and caused me to fall—I knew I should be +supported—but, except professionally, I could not make up my mind to +enter that house—Stoke Rivers. And after dark too! I could not. It +would be too dreadful."</p> + +<p>Laurence stared at him blankly. "Why, my good man," he said, laughing a +little, "what on earth is the matter with the house?"</p> + +<p>"I understand that it contains pictures and statues of an immoral +character. It is very frightful to think of a soul, the soul of a +scoffer, of one who speaks lightly of holy things, going forth to meet +its doom from among such heathenish surroundings.—But it is not that so +much which deters me. I ought to cope with that, strong in faith. But +from a child, I own it, I have suffered from the fear of the +supernatural."</p> + +<p>Laurence's eyebrows drew together. "The supernatural," he said.</p> + +<p>"Yes—yes—the supernatural."</p> + +<p>Laurence paused a moment, gazing down at the worn drugget between his +feet.</p> + +<p>"Look here," he said, "either you are talking great nonsense, or there +is something uncommonly serious at the bottom of all this, of which I +ought to be informed. Tell me plainly, what are you afraid of?"</p> + +<p>"There, there are lights all night."</p> + +<p>"Certainly there are. The electric light is left on. It is a fancy of my +uncle's—and not an unreasonable one in time of illness. If your fears +take their rise in nothing worse than that, why—" Laurence shrugged his +shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Oh! but—but—" Mr. Beal's voice sunk to a whisper, and his pale eyes +looked piteously upon his guest from behind his spectacles. "It is +commonly reported there is a female in the house——"</p> + +<p>Laurence shook his head.—"Oh, no, pardon me," he said. "That is a +mistake. There are only men-servants in the house. That I know. No lady +has stayed at Stoke Rivers—so my uncle informed me—since my mother +stayed there with me when I was quite a small boy."</p> + +<p>"But—but," poor Walter Beal almost wailed, "I don't mean any lady +visitor. The—the Scarlet Woman—you know. I understand the keepers have +frequently seen her at night at the windows downstairs. And I believe I +saw her once this winter myself——"</p> + +<p>"Saw her yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; I had been to call and inquire for Mr. Rivers. It was dusk, and I +was much alarmed at going; but I would not permit myself to neglect a +duty. I was going back up the avenue, when I saw a person in a red dress +coming out from the bow-window. I—I—I—I—did not wait—"</p> + +<p>Laurence had risen. He stood for a moment speechless. Then a sudden +gladness took him. The sun was bright outside there, but the yew-trees +waved their dusky arms quaintly, making little shadows dance and flit +upon the churchyard grass.</p> + +<p>"No—I see. You ran away," he said. "Well, Mr. Beal, perhaps that was +the very best thing under the circumstances that you could have +done.—You can't make up your mind to dine with me? All right, I'll come +and see you then. We'll let the parish know you and I are on excellent +terms anyhow. I should be glad to have a talk with you about the schools +and charities. And, of course, if Mr. Rivers should soften and express +any willingness to receive your ministrations I'll not fail to let you +know."</p> + +<p>On reaching the house, Laurence went straight down the corridor, pulled +aside the tapestry curtain, and entered the room beyond. As yesterday, +it was fresher in atmosphere than the rest of the interior. The +furniture, the knick-knacks, even the little frill in the open work-box +were stationary, untouched, precisely in the same position as last +night. Again Laurence examined the room carefully. Very certainly there +was no exit from it save the door or the bay-window, and no human being +in it save himself.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2> + + +<p>That afternoon Captain Bellingham called at Stoke Rivers. He was a +large, fair, fresh-coloured man of about five-and-thirty—extremely +well-groomed, addicted to field-sports, and an arrant gossip. This last +characteristic was much in evidence during his visit. He gossiped of +London, of New York, of Sussex, displaying a vast amount of knowledge of +other people's affairs.</p> + +<p>"Well, my dear fellow, it's uncommonly pleasant to forgather with you +again. Those presents your wife sent my small daughter were princely. +Sibyl will write to her. The child has a regular Yankee eye for +value—and, I tell you, she was impressed. My wife was awfully +disappointed at missing you yesterday. She's frightfully gone on Mrs. +Rivers. I think she wants to have a look at you to satisfy herself that +you're living up to your high privileges in that quarter. Come over +to-morrow, can't you, and dine and sleep?"</p> + +<p>Laurence explained that his evenings were bespoken.</p> + +<p>"Ah, really—by the way, how is the old gentleman? Making headway +towards—don't you know? Rather depressing business for you waiting on +like this. Pity you can't come and dine and sleep, it would make a +little break for you. I've never seen him, you know, but I hear he is +rather a formidable, old person. My wife intends asking you a number of +questions about him. Of course, you must know there are a whole lot of +queer stories current."</p> + +<p>"So I hear," Laurence said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's not for you to hear; it's for you to tell," Jack Bellingham +answered, his eyes twinkling. "Why, my dear fellow, your arrival is the +excitement of the hour. The whole neighbourhood is sitting on the edge +of its respective chairs just bursting for information about Stoke +Rivers. You wait a little. I warn you, you're going to be handed round +like a plate of cake at an old maid's tea-party; and my wife, in right +of her relationship to Mrs. Rivers, means to have the first slice. She +means to walk in, collar you, and then skilfully and economically retail +you to her whole local acquaintance. To tell the truth, I've been +rather worried about Louise lately. She has an idea—I've noticed +nothing to justify it myself—that she has rather missed fire down here. +She's taken that awfully to heart, you know. And I think she looks to +you to give her her opportunity. She thinks if she gets possession of +you and all these queer stories, she'll make the running—all the other +women will be nowhere, you know."</p> + +<p>Laurence laughed. He felt slightly embarrassed.</p> + +<p>"But what the dickens is it all about?" he said.</p> + +<p>"That's for you to tell us," Captain Bellingham repeated. "Perhaps +you'll be rather glad of an audience in a day or two. Anyhow, come over +and see my wife as soon as you can. She's great on spook-hunting, +psychical research, all that sort of thing. So give her the first +chance. Let her have a postcard in the morning. She'll be brokenhearted +if she misses you again."</p> + +<p>Laurence partook of another solitary dinner, admirably cooked and +served, in company with the dancing, Etruscan figures, and the +musky-scented orchids. Again, when the meal was finished, he went +upstairs through the steady light and close, dry atmosphere to that +stately and sombre sickroom. The last twenty-four hours had been very +full of disquieting episodes and suggestions.</p> + +<p>"I am inclined to reverse the order of proceedings to-night," he said to +himself, "and cross-question my uncle, instead of letting him +cross-question me. After all, that'll fit in to his scheme of +observation well enough. My questions, no doubt, will be indicative of +the depths of my native ignorance and the poverty of my powers. They'll +enable him to draw conclusions. Conclusions!" he added, smiling—"a +sufficiently fatuous occupation, when one thinks of the limited amount +of evidence obtainable and the breadth of the inquiry?"</p> + +<p>On the stairhead his uncle's valet, a thin, wiry man, long-armed, grey +of hair and of skin, met him, and preceded him silently along the +corridor. Laurence's relations with servants, and other persons in an +inferior position to his own, were usually of a kindly and cordial sort. +Such persons told him of their affairs; they admired and trusted him. +But the servants in this house, though caring for his comfort with +scrupulous forethought and punctuality, remained, so far, impossible of +approach. They seemed to him like so many machines, incapable of hopes +or fears, affections, even of sins, inhuman in their rigidity and +silence. Now the valet announced him, and stood aside to let him pass, +with a perfection of drill and an absence of individuality so complete, +that it was to Laurence quite actively unpleasant. Immediately after, he +met the hungry glance of those coldly brilliant eyes, looking out of the +face fixed in outline, transparent, as the crystal skull lying on the +table close by. And this house, so full of beings but half alive, of +paralysed activities, defective or one-sided development, seemed to the +young man, for the moment, terrible. The country churchyard, in which +the wind sang, and the sunshine played among the graves with flitting, +beckoning shadows, was gay by comparison. No wonder the place had an +evil reputation, and that people invented weird stories about it.</p> + +<p>A sensation of loneliness, such as he had not known since early +childhood, came over Laurence. Almost involuntarily he made an effort +towards closer, more sympathetic, intercourse with his host.</p> + +<p>"How are you this evening, sir?" he asked. "Better, I hope. It has been +a wonderfully charming day."</p> + +<p>"I am glad to learn you have found it so. Weather has always appeared to +me an accident, unworthy, save in its scientific aspects, of attention. +Yet I understand that it exercises strong influence on certain +temperaments—emotional temperaments, I apprehend, undisciplined by +reason. That the weather to-day has affected you agreeably is matter for +congratulation, since it will have helped to mitigate the tedium of a +small portion of this period of waiting."</p> + +<p>"Oh! there's not much tedium," Laurence answered. He looked across at +the elder man smiling very pleasantly.—"I'm beginning to find things +here a little too dramatic, if anything. You were good enough to tell me +that you found me interesting last night, sir. I only wish I could be +half as interesting to you, as you, and your house, and the whole state +of affairs here is to me."</p> + +<p>"You find it distinctly interesting?" Mr. Rivers inquired, but whether +in approval or disapproval Laurence could not determine.</p> + +<p>"Unquestionably," he answered. "The house is cram full of treasures. And +there are unexpected influences in it, which get hold of one's +imagination. It stands alone in my experience, unlike any place I have +ever known."</p> + +<p>The elder man sunk further back against the pillows, and, with one long, +thin hand, drew the violet, fur-lined dressing-gown closer across his +knees as though cold.</p> + +<p>"Indeed. Have I divorced myself and my surroundings so completely from +the ordinary habits of my contemporaries?"</p> + +<p>"You've been strong enough to follow your own tastes and lead your own +life, and that has produced something unique, something as finished as +it is apart. Of course, this provokes a lot of criticism. Other people, +I observe, recognise that it is unique too."</p> + +<p>"Other people?" Mr. Rivers said loftily. "I have never entertained."</p> + +<p>"Exactly," Laurence answered. "That's where part of the uniqueness comes +in. We mostly herd together like sheep in a pen, and can't be easy +unless we're rubbing sides."—He paused a moment. "Your refusal to rub +sides causes great searchings of heart, I assure you. The poor, little +parson here, for instance, is tormented by the idea that it is his duty +to the Almighty, and to the Church of England, and to his own abnormally +developed conscience, to raid you and do a little spiritual gardening in +the neglected flower-beds of your soul."</p> + +<p>"My soul is my own," Mr. Rivers observed. "That is, if the term soul is, +strictly speaking, admissible. Conscious consciousness is all that I can +predicate of my other than physical existence."</p> + +<p>"The little parson's point of view is quite different. He is by no means +backward in predication. He is quite sure you have a soul; but whether +it is your own, or whether it doesn't belong to him as curate-in-charge +of Stoke Rivers, he is not at all sure. He has strong leanings to the +latter belief, I fancy."</p> + +<p>"These are puerilities."</p> + +<p>"The average man is puerile," Laurence asserted cheerfully. "We carted +away Woman last night, sir, you remember, in deference to your slight +prejudice against her—though I still maintain she is by no means +foreign to our inquiry. But I really can't consent to the carting away +of puerility too, or you will never get hold of the average man at all. +Forbid his affections and his ineptitudes both, and you don't leave the +poor wretch a leg to stand on. Meanwhile, the little parson is not the +only person a good deal worked up by the unique character of your habits +and surroundings. These give rise, indirectly, to surprising legends."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed. I think they would amuse you. And in connection with all +this, sir, there are one or two questions I should most uncommonly like +to ask you."</p> + +<p>"You may do so," Mr. Rivers said. His nephew's rapid speech and breezy +manner made him slightly breathless. He was unaccustomed to be treated +in this light and airy fashion. He moved uneasily in his chair, as one +who tries to avoid a draught. Laurence observing this, repented of his +purpose.</p> + +<p>"I don't tire you, sir, do I?" he asked kindly.</p> + +<p>"Exhaustion is a consequence of the failure of the will. My will is +still obedient to my mind, and my body to my will."</p> + +<p>Laurence looked at him with a certain admiration. He was true to his +creed, such as it was, and his pride had, consequently, rather a superb +quality.</p> + +<p>"Well, then," he said, "since I may ask you—I have found from +conversation with several of our neighbours that this house, which I +took to be a sort of Temple of Reason, is regarded with a good deal of +vulgar suspicion."</p> + +<p>Though the room was warm, the atmosphere of it close as that of a +thundering night in the tropics, Laurence instinctively leaned forward, +spreading out his hands to the glowing wood-fire on the hearth.</p> + +<p>"I am not superstitious," he continued; "and you very certainly, I take +it, are not so. We shall agree in that. Still, I confess, the whole +subject of the occult and supernatural is rather fascinating to me. I +can't quite keep my hands off it. I find an idea is prevalent that there +are manifestations here, queer things are seen, you know, which cannot +be put down to natural agency. I want to know if you—"</p> + +<p>But Mr. Rivers interrupted him with unaccustomed vehemence of speech and +manner.</p> + +<p>"Stop!" he said, "stop if you please. This subject is exceedingly +distasteful to me."</p> + +<p>"Then we won't pursue it," Laurence answered quickly. Yet he wondered; +his interest, already considerably aroused, being sensibly increased by +the violence displayed by his companion. It was singular; and he paused +a little, thinking, before embarking in further conversation. During +that pause, Mr. Rivers leaned sideways, slowly and with difficulty +raised the crystal skull from its place on the table beside him. He held +it in front of him in both hands, and gazed, as though performing some +religious rite, into the cavities of the empty eye-sockets. Then +stiffly, letting his hands sink, he rested it upon his knees.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me," he said, looking full at Laurence, while a shadow, rather +than a flush, seemed to pass over his attenuated face. "I was tempted to +act unworthily.—I agreed to answer such questions as you might put to +me. But perceiving those questions tended to revive a matter which has +caused me one of the few humiliations and regrets I have suffered during +my life, I shrank. I was tempted weakly to break faith with you and +retract my promise."</p> + +<p>"Pray, sir, don't take it so seriously," Laurence entreated. "Of course, +I should never have approached the subject had I known it was +disagreeable to you. It was just the idle curiosity of an idle man. What +on earth does it matter?"</p> + +<p>"To you very little, presumably, since you are, as you say, idle—your +days, that is, filled with a round of amusements deadening—as I +fear—to the intellectual and moral conscience. But with me the case is +otherwise. The judgment of no human being is of moment to me. But my +judgment of myself is of infinite moment."</p> + +<p>Mr. Rivers laid one transparent hand upon the dome of the crystal +skull, as though for support. His face had grown hard as steel.</p> + +<p>"It is therefore incumbent upon me, not in satisfaction of your +curiosity, my dear Laurence, but in satisfaction of my own sense of +rectitude, that I should accept this opportunity of stating the +following facts. I inherited this property—as you will shortly inherit +it—from an uncle, a man very much my senior. I had prosecuted my +studies abroad, in the learned centres of Germany and France, from an +early age. My acquaintance with my uncle was slight. I knew little of +his private life. But I had reason to believe him a person of an +undisciplined mind, imbued with the extravagant socialistic views +current during the French Revolution, unbridled alike in passions of +love and of hate. Questions of character have never interested me; I +therefore made no further inquiry regarding my predecessor's private +life. My own tastes and habits were already fixed. I settled myself here +and continued the studies in experimental physics, philology, and +metaphysics, in which I had already engaged. I also added to the +collection of pictures and objects of art that I found in the house. My +life has been blameless, as most men count blame. I can assert, without +fear of contradiction, that my moral and intellectual integrity have +been complete. Only in one connection have I been guilty, have I +failed—failed, as I now confess, miserably and grossly."</p> + +<p>Mr. Rivers paused a moment. His fingers twitched as they rested upon the +crystal skull.</p> + +<p>"Miserably and grossly," he repeated. "The vulgar gossip which you have +heard rests upon a basis of truth. I cannot deny the existence of +supernatural manifestations, so called, in one quarter of this house. +They are undeniable. I have witnessed them myself."</p> + +<p>Laurence felt a queer shiver of excitement run through him. He sat very +still.—"Then I wasn't asleep after all," he said to himself, "in that +room last night."</p> + +<p>"The said manifestations were not only disturbing and distasteful to me; +but I perceived that their existence threatened the validity of some of +my most carefully reasoned hypotheses, of some of my most ardently +cherished beliefs. Of vulgar physical fear, I need hardly tell you, I +was incapable; but I trembled before a dislocation of my thought. It +followed that I became guilty of an act of flagrant mental cowardice. I +refused to submit those manifestations to scientific investigation. I +never mentioned them to my correspondents. I took elaborate precautions +against ever witnessing them again myself. I made a determined effort to +erase the memory of them from my mind. I almost succeeded in forgetting +that I ever had witnessed them. Thus I tricked my own intelligence. I +lied to my own experience. I committed a crime against my own reason—a +crime which I can never hope to expiate."</p> + +<p>Moved by the passion of the elder man's self-denunciation, Laurence had +risen, and stood close to him.</p> + +<p>"Ah! surely you take it too hard—far too hard, sir," he said.</p> + +<p>But Mr. Rivers, looking up at him, answered sternly—</p> + +<p>"A sin is heinous, not in itself, but in relation to the level of virtue +habitually maintained by whoso commits it. And so, even were I not +disabled, were I still capable of carrying out these investigations, the +unsparing prosecution of which could alone give proof of the sincerity +of my repentance, that could not really wipe out the iniquity of the +past. In morals I cannot logically admit the possibility of cancelling a +wrong once done. In the realm of physics we know that vibrations, once +generated, ring out everlastingly through space. To send forth a +contrary set of vibrations is not to limit, or cause the first generated +to cease. Their circles may intersect, yet they are practically +independent, and cannot neutralise one another. In the realm of morals +it is the same. The act once committed passes into the region of +persistent and indubitable fact. Of sins, both passive and active, this +is equally true. And consequently I am doomed—so long as I retain +conscious individuality—to remain hopelessly lowered in my +self-esteem."</p> + +<p>The sick man spoke with a fierceness of conviction, his voice usually +low and even swelling into full sonorous tones; his attenuated frame +vibrant with energy; his face illuminated, as though a lamp burned +behind that thin investiture of flesh and bone. Laurence saw in him, for +the moment, a great orator, more probably a great preacher, wasted. And +the thought of that waste of force, waste of power, stung him out of +indolence, out of mere easy good nature. He, at least, would +shilly-shally no more with life, but play the game—whatever the game +presenting itself—whole-heartedly. And again that queer shiver of +excitement ran through him; while again he reminded himself he had now +reliable testimony that he had met with something far stranger, more +incalculable and mysterious, than any vision of a dream, in that +clear-coloured room downstairs last night. He stood silent, thinking +intently, feeling keenly, his whole nature alert. But a small rustling +sound, as of a chill wind among dry leaves in a winter hedge, recalled +him to his immediate surroundings. Mr. Rivers had sunk back against the +silken cushions, which rustled under his weight. The light had died out +of his face, his hands clutched tremblingly at the crystal <i>memento +mori</i> resting on his knees. For the first time Laurence realised how +very near—but for the indomitable strength of will which supported +him—he was to death. Laurence bent over him.</p> + +<p>"This is heavy, sir," he said, touching the crystal skull. "May I put it +back on the table?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Rivers bowed his head in assent.</p> + +<p>"We have talked too much. It would be wise, I think, for me to leave +you."</p> + +<p>"It would be so."</p> + +<p>"May I call your man before I go—I hardly like to leave you alone."</p> + +<p>"Thank you; he will come at the accustomed hour. I do not deviate from +habits once formed except under stress of necessity."</p> + +<p>Laurence was pushed by the desire to say something gentle, something +expressive of the honour in which he held his host's rectitude and +sincerity. But Mr. Rivers lay back motionless, his eyes closed. It was +difficult to find just the words he wished. He turned away towards the +door, when the elder man's voice recalled him.</p> + +<p>"Laurence," he said, "Laurence—one word before we part. If you should +see fit to undertake those investigations of which we have spoken, and +in face of which I showed myself unfaithful and a craven—remember I +press nothing upon you, I leave you free to undertake them or not as you +please—I have one request to make of you."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," he answered.</p> + +<p>"It is this—that you will under no circumstances communicate the result +of those investigations to any person save myself, and only to me should +I definitely ask you to do so. Will you give me your word?"</p> + +<p>"I give you my word, sir."</p> + +<p>And with the feeling that he had bound himself to an engagement of +unlooked-for solemnity, the young man went out into the steady +brightness of the corridor, while—as last night—the odour of the +orchids met him, enfolding him in their thick, musky sweetness, half-way +down the dark, shining, oaken-stairs.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h2> + + +<p>As he pulled the edge of the heavy, leather-lined curtain towards him, +Laurence laughed a little, in part at his own eagerness, in part defiant +of scruples. Waking in the small hours, as a baby-child, he had often +imagined that, could he climb the high rails of his cot and steal back +unperceived to the day-nursery, he would find all his toys alive and +stirring, at play on their own account. And this conception of the +reversal of the natural order of things, while it frightened him, yet +enchanted his fancy. Something of that childish alarm and enchantment +arose in him now. He felt about to bid farewell to common-sense, +possibly—to usual established habits of thought, assuredly. He was +about to commit himself to an untried element; offering himself as sport +to seas unsounded as yet, to unknown forces which might prove malign and +merciless. While the promise, by which he had so lately bound himself, +introduced into the coming experience an element of secrecy that +made—as enforced secrecy so often does make—for a rather dangerous +degree of personal liberty.</p> + +<p>So he turned the door-handle not without expectation. And this time +expectation suffered no disappointment. In front of the tall, satin-wood +escritoire, her back towards him, her delicate hands wandering anxiously +over the painted and polished surface, he beheld once more the slender, +rose-clad figure.</p> + +<p>Laurence drew in his breath with a sigh of satisfaction. He crossed the +room boldly to-night and stood beside her; and her pale, ethereal +loveliness entranced him as he spoke.</p> + +<p>"Listen to me," he said. "We are strangers to one another—so strangely +strangers that I half distrust the evidence of my senses, as, only too +conceivably, you distrust the evidence of yours. I don't pretend to +understand what distance of time, or space, or conditions, separates us. +I only know that I see you, and that you are unhappy, and that you +search for something you are unable to find.—Look here, look +here—listen to me and try to lay hold of this idea—that I am a friend, +not an enemy; that I come to help, not to hinder you. Try to enter into +some sort of relation with me. Try to cross the gulf which seems to lie +between us. Try to believe that you have found some one who will keep +faith with you, and do his best to serve you; and believing that, put +sorrow out of your face—"</p> + +<p>He stopped suddenly. When he began speaking he might have been +addressing a sleep-walker or a person in a trance. There was no +speculation in her sweet eyes. They were wild with a wondering distress, +looking on him as though not seeing him. But as he continued to plead +with her—speaking slowly, pausing at the close of each sentence in the +hope that the sense of his words might so reach and arrest her—a +gradual change came over her aspect, as of one awakening from prolonged +and troubled slumber. There was a dawning of intelligence in her +expression, as in that of a little child first struggling to apprehend +and measure, not by means of its senses merely, but in obedience to the +conscious effort of its mind. The drooping corners of the mouth +straightened, turned upward, the lips breaking into a timid, questioning +smile. She stretched herself a little, clenched her fists gently, rubbed +her eyes with them in innocent, baby fashion, stretched again, and then +looked full at Laurence—a woman shy, diffident, but in possession of +her faculties, expectant, and alive.</p> + +<p>"Yes—yes—there, that's right. Now you look, as you used to, look as +you should," he exclaimed, his voice low, shaken with very vital +excitement. He felt as when—once or twice—bringing a racing yacht in +to the finish, a fair spread of blue water between her stern and her +competitor's bows, he had felt her pace quicken while the tiller +throbbed and danced under his hand. A buoyancy of heart, a delicious +conviction of successful attainment was upon him. Sportsman and poet +alike rejoiced in Laurence just then, and the spiritual side of his +nature was touched as well. He seemed to have witnessed a glad +resurrection, enforcing belief in the immortality of the soul, as he +gazed on this lovely face in which reason, hope, even gaiety, were so +visibly born anew.</p> + +<p>"Never mind about that which you have lost," he said. "Let it be for the +present. We will arrive at it in time sure enough—leave all that to me. +You want these drawers opened, their locks picked?—Well, that shall be +done all in good time. But whatever treasures we find there will be but +a trifle, it strikes me, compared with that which we have already found +to-night. For I have found you—found you once more—and you, thank God, +have found yourself."</p> + +<p>Again his companion stretched, and passed her hands across her eyes, +while her lips parted in a soundless sigh. Silence held her yet, but +that appeared to make singularly little difference in their intercourse. +For he perceived that she understood, that she sympathised, that she too +was penetrated with quick, intimate joy, and an exquisite and innocent +good-fellowship, as plainly as though a very torrent of eloquent +explanation and asseveration had issued from her mouth. Indeed, this +wordlessness had for him an extraordinary charm. Far from a power being +lacking, it was to him as though a new power had been granted, and that +the most subtle and convincing to the heart.</p> + +<p>Laurence stood tall, upright, in the full pride of his young manhood, of +his virile energy and strength, before this slender fairy-lady, with her +softly gleaming jewels, her dainty frills and laces, her clinging +rose-red, old-world, silken gown, and held out his hands to her.</p> + +<p>"Come," he said, "the night is fair and windless and full of stars. +Shall we go out into it and read the great poem of the sky and the +woodland while all men sleep, you and I—good comrades, old friends, +though as most mortals count meeting, we have met each other, it would +seem, but twice?—You have known sad things. Well, forget them. You have +searched vainly for lost things. Well, forget them too. The finest house +at best remains somewhat of a prison, and this room is pervaded by +melancholy memories. Leave it. Let us give the past, give convention, +give reason even, the slip for once—and go."</p> + +<p>For a minute or more she hesitated, looking at Laurence profoundly, as +though trying to read his inmost thought. Then she laid her hand in his. +It had neither weight nor substance, but touched his palm as a light +summer wind might have touched his cheek, or a butterfly's wings might +have fluttered, with a just perceptible pulsation, within the hollow of +his hands.</p> + +<p>And so Laurence threw open the high French window, and together they +passed out onto the grey, semicircular flight of steps. Immediately +below lay the Italian garden—its formal flower-borders, its faintly +dripping fountains, its black, spire-like cypresses, white balustrades +and statues, vague, mysterious, in the starlight. The great lawns +stretched away beyond, crossed by the broad gravel walk, which showed +pale for some fifty yards, and then was lost in the dusky shadow of the +grove of lime-trees. In the north was a wide, white light +travelling—since the March nights now grew short—along the horizon, +through the quiet hours, from the last death-flush of sunset to the +first birth-flush of the dawn.</p> + +<p>Lawrence watched his companion anxiously as her little feet in their +diamond-powdered slippers crossed the window-sill. With that impalpable +hand in his, that scarcely perceptible flutter—as of a captive +butterfly—against his fingers, he could not but entertain fears that +the strong open air might work some change in her; that she might be +drawn up and absorbed by the sharp, glittering starlight; that she +might be resolved into nothingness by the keen breath of the night, or +that some sturdy sea-breeze might arise and blow her quite away. But +such as she was—woman, or sprite, or visitant from beyond the gates of +the grave—she remained by his side. And together they passed down the +garden alleys, and lingered by the dripping fountains watching the +sleepless fish that moved—silent as the dainty lady herself—through +the water of the lichen-encrusted, stone basins. They stood together +beneath the dark cypresses which, even on winter nights, smell dry and +warm of the south, and talk in husky, whispering accents of classic +lands—of marble columns mellow with age, and saffron-plastered walls, +over which great vines hang, and in the hot cracks of which scorpions +breed, and light-footed lizards glance and scamper. And, still together, +they went on—the unspoken sympathy between them growing, +deepening—down the second flight of steps and along the broad, +gravelled way. Here, in the open space, the whole panorama of the +heavens was disclosed; and then, almost in spite of himself, Laurence +broke into utterance. He talked, as never, even in his most brilliant +moments, he had talked before. The scene was so majestic, and moreover +he had so perfect a listener, every movement of whose graceful body, +every glance of whose profound and gentle eyes expressed comprehension, +accord—as when the violin strings answer, in exquisite melody, to the +skilfully handled bow.</p> + +<p>And so forgetting himself, ceasing to exercise that +reticence—half-humorous, half-reverent—with which, as with a cloak, +modern, civilised man strives to hide the noblest and purest of his +thought, Laurence laid bare his heart and soul to his sweet companion. +He told her tender, trivial incidents of his youth and childhood—in +themselves of little moment, yet such as leave an indelible mark on the +imagination and character. He told her of the splendid hopes of his +opening manhood, when, with the magnificent self-confidence of +inexperience, the whole world seemed his to conquer if he pleased. He +told her of those plays and poems, so full of promise that, could he +have realised the fulness of his own conceptions, they must have +rendered his name famous through all the coming years. He told her, +too, of those brief, fugitive moments of spiritual illumination, when he +had felt himself draw very near to the ultimate meaning and purpose of +things; when he had apprehended God as the Eternal Lover, the soul of +man as the Eternal Bride, and how, in the light of that blessed +apprehension, all confusion had ceased, all life, all death, becoming at +once very simple and very holy, guiltless alike of suffering and of +shame.</p> + +<p>Then—as they wandered yet further into the thin shadow of the still +leafless lime-trees, and, sitting for a while upon the stone bench +beside the broad, dim walk, looked forth under the down-sweeping +branches, to the vast expanse of the distant country—he descended from +discourse of these high matters. He told her of the joys of manly sports +and pastimes, and of the still greater joys of travel and adventure, in +far countries, among alien peoples, by land and sea.</p> + +<p>Thus did the hours pass in glad and fearless communion of heart with +heart, and soul with soul, while upon the horizon the white light walked +slowly, surely eastward. And then, at last, it seemed as though some +disturbing thought invaded his fairy-lady's mind, causing her attention +to waver, her gentle gaiety to wane. The purport of that thought +Laurence failed to read, and this troubled him with a sensation of +helplessness, as though a gulf was once again opening between his state +of being and hers, which he was powerless to cross. She rose from her +place beside him and moved restlessly to and fro. And when he pleaded +with and questioned her, she moved yet further from him, and stood with +one hand raised as imploring silence. She appeared to listen for some +call, some summons, quite other than welcome, for he could see the +corners of her dear mouth droop once more, while her eyes grew shy and +wild. Unwillingly as though constrained by some force she did not love +yet must obey, she passed out on to the clear, smooth spaces of the +great lawns. The grass blades were touched with a whiteness of frost; +but Laurence observed that neither her footsteps, nor the little frills +bordering her gown as they swept it, left any track upon the spangled +turf.</p> + +<p>Sheep bells sounded plaintively from some far-off fold. Rabbits slipped +out timorously from the edge of the wood to take their morning feed, +and, perceiving no threatening presence, waxed bold, skipping and +gambolling upon the frosty grass. Then with a sullen roar, breaking up +the gracious quiet of nature with the hoarse voice of man's business, +man's necessity of labour, and unappeasable unrest, a train thundered +along the valley, leaving a long trail of pale smoke hanging among the +grey-brown masses of the indistinguishable trees.</p> + +<p>The roar died out as it had come, sullen and imperative to the last. +There followed a pause as though for a minute or two all nature, all +living creatures, held their breath. And then from the near stables, and +from distant homestead and farm, cocks challenged one another—some in +tones high and shrill, some faint and low—heralding the sunrise and +telling all the world that day was once more born.</p> + +<p>Immediately, to his consternation, Laurence beheld his lovely companion +and friend turn away; and, without farewell, without smallest apparent +recollection of his presence, flit—as some bird, or rather as some +rose-red rose-leaf driven by a storm wind—across the lawns, past the +dripping fountains and sighing cypresses of the Italian garden, back, +back, up the grey steps and in at the open window of the silent house.</p> + +<p>He followed her rapidly. The sun-rays shot up into the eastern sky as he +crossed the window-sill. Within, the glory of the sunrise struggled with +the unyielding glare of the electric light. Every object, every corner +and recess, was clearly seen. But the room was vacant. Once again his +fairy-lady had vanished leaving no trace, her sweet presence was removed +and Laurence found himself alone.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI</h2> + + +<p>Something drummed and drummed; and, in obedience to that sound, it +appeared to Laurence that he returned—whence he knew not—across the +most prodigious spaces ever traversed by the spirit of man. Then the +matter explained itself. He was on board ship once again, awakened to +the familiar pounding of the engines and drum of the screw. Opening his +eyes, they would rest on the white iron and wooden walls of his +state-room, and the alert figure of his bedroom steward, +announcing—"Fair morning, sir; bath ready, sir." And this impression +was so distinct that it took him some seconds to focus his actual +whereabouts—the stately and serious bed-chamber at Stoke Rivers, and +the portly person of Watkins, the under-butler, standing at the bedside, +a silver tea-tray in his large, soft hands.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, sir, but I have been up twice already and received +no answer," he said, his manner correct and respectful as ever, but his +face wearing, for once, an expression of quite human solicitude—or was +it curiosity? "I spoke to Mr. Renshaw and Mr. Lowndes, and they +considered it advisable that I should enter, sir. Mr. Renshaw and Mr. +Lowndes felt, with me, not quite comfortable, sir, knowing your habit of +early rising."</p> + +<p>Watkins set down the tray carefully, turning out the corners of the fine +napkin which covered it.</p> + +<p>"Your tea, your letters, sir," he added, and then paused.</p> + +<p>Laurence tried to rouse himself. Shipboard and the pounding engines were +a delusion clearly. But was the night of sweet converse, and the +flitting away of a rose-clad, slender figure at the first flush of dawn, +a delusion likewise?</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, thanks, Watkins, I am all right," he said absently. "I've slept +late, have I? What time is it?"</p> + +<p>"Between ten minutes and a quarter past eleven when I passed through the +hall," the man answered. "Any orders for the stables, sir?"</p> + +<p>Laurence was tearing open his letters. One was addressed in his wife's +large and elaborate hand. Laughing at her, one day before their +marriage, he had declared that did she possess half the amount of +character suggested by these opulent hieroglyphics, there would +positively be no getting to the end of it, so that his work clearly was +cut out for him for the rest of his natural life. Now the sight of that +handwriting—though he had possibly ceased to regard it as a perfectly +trustworthy index to its writer's personality—affected him with a +movement of vague self-reproach. For, as sleep left him, Laurence +entertained less and less doubt of the actuality of the existence of his +rose-clad fairy-lady; or of the fact that he had spent hours with +her—hours, blameless it is true, yet beautiful beyond all remembered +hours of his experience. And though he had done no wrong, yet the very +beauty of those hours—since she had not shared it—constituted a +certain subtle, subjective infidelity towards his wife. This pricked his +conscience the more, that he perceived Virginia must have written to him +by the very next mail, but three days after he had sailed. And that was +rather charming and thoughtful of her, for she had innumerable +engagements claiming her time and attention, and was by no means +addicted to anxiety regarding the absent. "Why should she worry," as she +remarked at parting, "everybody was always crossing now, and you hardly +ever heard of any one not getting to the other side safely enough." +Therefore it seemed to Laurence it would be a duty, perhaps also a +little salve to his conscience, to do something pleasing—however +remotely—to Virginia. He had an order for the stables. He would ride +over to luncheon with her friend and admirer, Mrs. Bellingham, at +Bishop's Pudbury.</p> + +<p>Once on his feet, Laurence was somewhat surprised at his own sensations. +He found himself singularly tired, as a man may be by some prolonged +concentration of brain or of will. He felt as though he had made some +tremendous mental effort; and, now that it was over, depression held +both his mind and body. His spirits were not as buoyant as usual, nor +was his thought clear. He felt dazed, and incapable of grappling with +the strange problems raised by the events of the last twenty-four hours. +The swing of possibility they suggested was too great. The average, the +<i>banal</i> attracted him, as a narcotic attracts one in pain. For the +moment he suffered something approaching repulsion towards his recent +exaltation and amazing, half-realised discoveries. He wanted to get back +on to the ordinary lines of things—be amused, be a trifle stupid, +laugh, gossip, forget.</p> + +<p>The sun had long since burnt up that sprinkling of frost upon the grass. +The air was fragrant and mild. Catkins fringed the hazel twigs, while in +the shelter of the deep lanes leaves showed tenderly green. The sap had +risen in the trees, so that a broken branch bled. Indications of +fertility and growth were everywhere, Nature sensibly putting forth her +strength after the sleep of winter. The road which Laurence followed, +after crossing the park, turned upward under overhanging trees, and +skirted the low, stone wall of the churchyard. And the contrast between +this last resting-place of human corpses and the perpetual and so +evident fecundity of Nature struck home to him, yet not distressfully. +He was not wholly unwilling, in his present mood, to welcome the thought +of eventual rest.</p> + +<p>He checked his horse, and waited, looking at the place again,—at its +dark, feathery yew-trees, its narrow mounds, ranged decently in line—on +the surface of which the spring grass raised innumerable blades of vivid +green—at its simple monuments, that showed not merely a name and date +of departure, but time-honoured words of faith in the justice and mercy +of Almighty God. There was an unoccupied space on the hither side of the +enclosure, lying pleasantly open to the sun. The grey wall of the +chancel, pierced by low, round-headed windows, backed it. A bush of +<i>Pyrus Japonica</i> was trained around and between these windows; and the +flowers, showing up against their black stems, spread garlands of pure, +hot colour over the face of the rough stone. Laurence, to whom the +disposal of his body after death had, heretofore, appeared a matter of +extreme unimportance, was overtaken by a sudden eagerness to secure for +himself rights of burial in this serene and sun-visited spot.</p> + +<p>"After all, it must come to me, sooner or later, as to all the rest," he +thought; "and why shouldn't I provide for the event according to my +fancy? I'll talk to the poor little parson about it. Perhaps he'll be +easier regarding the state of my soul and my prospects of salvation if I +make provision for my latter end by staking out a burial-plot. I wonder +what Virginia would say to that? Probably she's a little transatlantic +weakness for embalmers and mausoleums. Mother Earth's lap is best, +though, I think!"</p> + +<p>And then riding onward, all in the fair spring weather, though he tried +to put the thought from him, his heart was somewhat troubled by that +flitting, rose-clad figure once again—by the lovely, speechless lips, +to which he had brought gentle gaiety, and the profound and serious +eyes, to which he had brought human sympathy and trust. Silent or not, +woman or disembodied spirit, she was a little too captivating for +safety. Should he inquire no further? But, in renouncing all further +intercourse with her, would he perpetrate an act of high moral courage, +or merely commit one of intellectual cowardice, such as that already +committed by his uncle? Here was a problem not easy of solution. +Laurence straightened himself in the saddle, and pressed his horse a +little. Bishop's Pudbury would be a relief, and should be reached with +as small delay as possible. He would try to be amused, a little stupid, +to laugh, gossip, and forget—for a time at all events.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bellingham, certainly, offered an excellent contrast to the spirit +of his present perturbations. She was a notable example of modern +civilisation, guiltless of all mysterious or primitive suggestion. Her +prettiness was considerable, according to a neat and unaccentuated type. +Her manner was vivacious, her attitudes many but sincere. She wore +these—so to speak—to bring out the value of her conversation, as she +wore her irreproachably constructed clothes to bring out those of her +plump and carefully preserved figure. Her light-brown hair was parted in +the middle, waved, and puffed out over the ears—this in imitation of +the fashion lately patronised by Virginia Rivers. The set of her purple, +boxcloth coat and skirt pleased Laurence's eye, as did that of her white +satin and lace blouse. She was really admirably turned out—according to +current standards of fashion. She greeted her guest, moreover, with that +happy combination of self-consciousness and self-assurance, which has in +it at once a flavour of compliment and promise of worthy entertainment. +Mrs. Jack Bellingham would never do anything very great; but she aspired +and succeeded in doing the small things of life remarkably well.</p> + +<p>"Why, Mr. Rivers, this is quite too charming for anything," she said. +"But, unfortunately, I am alone here with my children. I devote a great +deal of time now to my children. My husband has gone up to town for the +day."</p> + +<p>"So much the better," Laurence answered cheerfully. "I didn't come to +see Jack, dear Mrs. Bellingham, but wholly and solely to see you. +Virginia charged me with innumerable messages. And then there are a +whole lot of people we both know I want to talk to you about—a few +multiplications, subtractions, and divisions, you know, not without a +humorous side to them here and there. Will you keep me to luncheon? Oh! +that's awfully good of you."</p> + +<p>The Pudbury manor-house had lately undergone reconstruction, thereby +gaining in convenience what it lost in distinction. It was now as well +designed to meet modern requirements, as finished, as generally +presentable and as little of an enigma, as its present hostess. Laurence +contemplated the elegant, if slightly unhomelike, room with a movement +of ironical satisfaction. Its contents were as agreeably obvious and +unrecondite as the style and plot of a current magazine story. It made +no demand upon the intelligence or the emotions. And Laurence had been +in contact with quite other literary subject-matter lately—problems of +love, morals, metaphysics, not unworthy to inspire the magnificent +obscurities of Browning, or the fine frenzies of Shelley's lyrics. +Therefore he hailed the emotional limitations of his existing +environment. The indolent side of his nature was paramount. He settled +down to chatter genially about Tom, Dick, and Harry, and the fair ladies +interested in those worthies, or in whom those worthies were interested. +He was amused and amusing, relished his luncheon, his hostess's smart +talk, and enjoyed countless reminiscences of Newport and New York. And, +as the ease of this attitude of mind began to grow on him, the question +very forcibly presented itself:—why strain? Why not always drift thus +pleasantly and comfortably down the smooth stream of worldly prosperity? +Why try to plumb the depths lying below that smiling surface? For does +not this, in the majority of cases, involve an expenditure of energy out +of all proportion to the worth of the result? To be light-in-hand and +light-of-heart—was not that after all the truest philosophy? To what a +hopelessly dreary pass had not the elder Mr. Rivers brought himself by +thinking otherwise; and taking his studies, his opinions, himself, in +short, so seriously!</p> + +<p>So, sipping his coffee in the drawing-room after luncheon, while Mrs. +Bellingham maintained the flow of conversation in penetrating and +emphatic tones, Laurence thought—yes, on the whole, he did think—it +would be wiser and better, to retire upon the former lines of his +life,—to eschew high ambitions of sorts, and fall back upon the works +and ways of <i>l'homme moyen sensuel</i>, upon the great, good-natured, +uninspired Commonplace, of which his uncle had accredited him with being +so oblivious and complete an exponent. He thought—notwithstanding the +tightening of some cord at his heart, perhaps moral, perhaps merely +physical—yes, honestly he did think he had better do that, and make his +decision here and now. Judging by past experience, he was doomed in all +departments to be second, not to say third-rate. Well, then, best accept +that doom smiling. To do so might hurt vanity a bit, yet undoubtedly +there would be consolations. Laurence set down his coffee-cup with a +little lift of the eyebrows and shoulders, and an expression of +countenance somewhat cynical. He would coquet no longer with fairy, +rose-clad ladies—he would decline the so strangely offered adventure.</p> + +<p>"The truth is, I'm not big enough for it," he thought to himself +ruefully.</p> + +<p>"You know just how I feel about Virginia," his hostess was saying. "She +is a perfectly lovely woman in every way, and her social sense amounts +to genius. The thought of her being over makes it possible for me to +contemplate spending another winter here in the country. I look forward +to seeing Virginia lay hold of this neighbourhood and just put it +through. Her brightness, and <i>verve</i>, and <i>savoir faire</i> will be a +perfect revelation. She will positively electrify every person within a +fifteen mile radius. But—"</p> + +<p>And there the speaker paused. For along the carriage-drive, all in the +pleasant sunshine, the children of the house, a trifle inebriated by +recent dinner of chicken and rice pudding, by freedom, and the open air, +went forth with shoutings and laughter for their afternoon walk. First +Sybil and her younger sister, arrayed in straight, scarlet jackets, +beneath which showed a long length of tan boot and tan stocking, +encasing very active legs. Then the portly coachman, leading a donkey, +upon which the three-year-old son and heir of the Bellingham family, +also scarlet-coated, made a first essay in horsemanship. Finally, two +nurses clothed in white. The little girls ran wildly, their gay figures +backed by a bank of shrubbery—rusty red of berberis and glinting green +of laurels—while the pink and azure balloon-balls they carried were +whisked heavenward by the wind to the uttermost length of each tethering +string. Around the procession, barking, circling, jumping high in air +after the floating balls, and even threatening assault of the donkey's +nose, skirmished a couple of rough Irish terriers. The donkey shied, +the coachman admonished, a laughing nurse ran forward and clutched the +small cavalier by the outstanding skirt of his coat and by the seat of +his nether garments. The little girls shrieked and capered, and in such +hilarious fashion the company passed out of sight.</p> + +<p>Laurence Rivers's eyes rested rather wistfully upon the scene. It +belonged to the great, good-natured, uninspired Commonplace upon which +he was just agreeing with himself to retire; and it offered a comely and +wholesome enough example of the same. Mrs. Bellingham also had turned +towards the window, and the expression of her neat face had softened. +The self-consciousness, the worldliness therein usually displayed, were +in abeyance, while the beautiful content of motherhood was regnant, +visibly enthroned. Laurence had never supposed she could look so +charming, and he could have found it in his heart to envy his friend +Jack Bellingham. Very early in their connection Virginia had pointed out +to him, with consummate tact but entire lucidity, that the modern +husband, who marries a fascinating woman of society and really +appreciates her, will give proof of such appreciation by relegating the +matter of child-bearing to a dim and distant future. It will come all in +good time no doubt, but it can wait. For is not it really a little too +much, in these days of enlightened equality between man and woman, to +require the latter to forego amusement, to endure serious discomfort, +risk her freshness and her figure, even come within measurable +distance—in not infrequent cases—of the supremely foolish calamity of +death?—Political economy and the health of the race notwithstanding, +let the poor breed; let the obscure breed; let that innumerable company +of women, to whom life offers so much of a trial and so little of a +pastime, that in the sum-total of their infelicity one pain or peril the +more cannot make any appreciable difference—let these breed. But spare +the fair Virginias, those fine flowers of wealth and worldly +circumstance, to whom Fortune shows so radiant a face! It is simple +justice and reason so to do—at least such had been Virginia's argument.</p> + +<p>But as Laurence now reflected—wiser by some year and a half's +experience of woman and matrimony—if life on the lines of the +Commonplace is to afford its legitimate compensations, it must not be +trained too fine, or jockeyed too carefully. The man's ear must not be +too ready to hear specious arguments, nor his imagination to entertain +too elaborate sympathies. He must compel those said fine flowers to bow +their heads to the common yoke. All his life he—Laurence—had been +liable to stultify himself by permitting his imagination to turn up in +the wrong place. What good luck to have been born, like his friend +cheery Jack Bellingham, devoid of that embarrassing faculty! Good luck +for Jack himself, and for his wife—who just looked so delightfully +pretty—and for those three nice, shouting, scarlet-coated, small +Bellinghams, otherwise only too probably non-existent.</p> + +<p>Laurence had ceased suddenly to be much amused; had ceased to relish +discussion of mutual friends, reminiscence or anecdote. He rose with the +intention of bidding his hostess farewell; but her self-consciousness, +her manner and manners, came back with a snap.</p> + +<p>"Why, Mr. Rivers, you do not propose to leave yet," she protested. "I am +not half through with our conversation, I assure you. We have not yet +approached the subject upon which I am most keen for first-hand +information. I am perfectly wild to hear on what terms you believe +Virginia, with her bright, fearless, highly-developed, modern +temperament, will be with your family spectre."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII</h2> + + +<p>Laurence drew himself up with a sharp sensation of annoyance, geniality +and wistfulness alike departing from his aspect. The matter had never +presented itself to him in this combination before, and it offended his +taste, even, in a degree, his sense of decency. He paused a moment, and +then took refuge in slight insincerity.</p> + +<p>"Always assuming, dear Mrs. Bellingham, that there is a family spectre +for Virginia, or anybody else, to be on terms with?"</p> + +<p>"Why, you do not really propose to call that thrilling fact in +question?" the lady answered, very brightly. "That would be too +mortifying. It would constitute the climax of the <i>ennui</i> from which I +have suffered during the many months of this English winter. I had +promised myself at least one vital sensation when you and I should meet, +and you should tell me the true, inward history of that romantic, old +house of yours, Stoke Rivers."</p> + +<p>She sat in an attitude, arranged the folds of her boxcloth shirt, +patted the lace into place about her neck.</p> + +<p>"You make me feel very badly," she said.</p> + +<p>Laurence objected to soiling his conscience by lying at least as much as +most men. But surely, he argued, there are cases of justifiable perjury, +as of justifiable homicide.</p> + +<p>"I am awfully sorry," he said, "to dash your hopes of a sensation. But, +you see, neither the romantic, old house or its inward history are my +property as yet, so I can't give either away however much I may desire +to do so."</p> + +<p>"I know it. I do not ask you to commit any indiscretion. I do not ask +you to tell me anything."</p> + +<p>Laurence braced himself.</p> + +<p>"How fortunate, since there's nothing to tell!" he said.</p> + +<p>His hostess looked hard at him for a moment, and then at the floor.</p> + +<p>"There was a time, before I lived among them, when I believed the +English to be a simple and undiplomatic nation," she said. "I know +better now."</p> + +<p>Laurence was half-amused, half-irritated.</p> + +<p>"Oh, come!" he retorted, "it's too bad to make it an international +question."</p> + +<p>"I had promised myself such a fine time in that house," she continued, +still gazing abstractedly at the floor. "Virginia is, I consider—and I +believe you know that—the most perfectly lovely woman of my +acquaintance. She represents the last word of our American culture; and +I would advise every young girl, who was ambitious of social success, to +study her as a model. She catches right on to everything new at once, +and her power of repartee is great. My admiration for Virginia is so +overpowering, that it would really be a wonderful encouragement to my +self-respect to get a step ahead of her for once. Well, I concluded I +could do that in a perfectly legitimate manner. I planned to ask you to +let me go right around that house from cellar to garret, and acquaint +myself with the whole interior. I wanted to see it before Virginia had +brought our younger and more complex Western civilisation to bear upon +it. I promised myself great gratification from doing that."</p> + +<p>As she finished speaking, Mrs. Bellingham raised her eyes. That she was +in earnest, keenly inquisitive, there could be no doubt.</p> + +<p>"But, unhappily, in asking that you would be asking me to commit the +greatest possible indiscretion," Laurence answered, laughing a little. +"You see, my uncle is alive as yet. And while he lives I must obey +orders."</p> + +<p>"Orders?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; and they are such preposterously unchivalrous orders that I +tremble to mention them to you."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bellingham looked away. She grew a trifle anxious, having the +greatest fear of hearing anything even remotely, morally or socially, +incorrect. But the young man's manner tended to reassure her. He +appeared particularly engaging at that moment.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it will shock you," he said, "shock you outrageously, coming as +you do from a country where no member of your delightful sex is ever +requested to take a back seat. My uncle is a brilliantly clever person, +but on some points he is a little mad. And simply at Stoke Rivers—I +blush to mention it—no woman is admitted, no woman is permitted to +exist."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bellingham's eyes positively flashed, her face went extremely pink.</p> + +<p>"But this is the most unparalleled country!" she exclaimed. "Mr. Rivers, +do you seriously intend me to believe that no lady may enter that house? +Why, I ask you, how is it possible to conduct a domestic establishment +under such circumstances?"</p> + +<p>"Ah! that's the worst of it," Laurence said. He was beginning to be +amused again. "I tell you, the condition of that house suggests the most +awful reflections."</p> + +<p>"I am glad to hear it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, awful," he repeated. "For it is the best mounted, the best served, +the best kept house I have ever stayed in. It is as clean as a new pin. +The whole thing moves on wheels—and yet never the trace of a petticoat! +It follows that one is assailed by the unholy suspicion that woman may +be, after all, a quite superfluous luxury; and that the work of the +world, even in its humble, domestic aspects, can get along just as well +without her. My uncle entertains this opinion anyhow, and gives the most +convincing practical exposition of it. He has supplied me with a large +amount of information under this head; and, upon my word, I'm afraid I +am beginning to see the force of his arguments. After that, I'd better +go, hadn't I?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I really believe perhaps you had," she answered. For once she +looked perplexed, almost flurried. Her face was still decidedly pink. +But she rallied herself, and fired a parting shot.—"Unless," she added, +"to make amends for having told me so very plainly that my presence +would not be tolerated at Stoke Rivers, you relent and give me the whole +story of that family spectre."</p> + +<p>Laurence raised his head sharply, and once more his sense of amusement +evaporated. The return to this theme jarred on him. The lady's +persistence appeared to him in singularly bad taste. The reiteration of +that word angered him moreover. In hearing it he was sensible of a turn +in his blood, as though an insult were being offered to one very dear to +him.</p> + +<p>"Spectre?" he said slowly. "Pardon me—I—I don't quite follow you. What +spectre?"</p> + +<p>His hostess was roused in her turn.</p> + +<p>"Why, Mr. Rivers, what has happened to you?" she inquired. "What have I +said to disturb your equanimity? I had not supposed you to be so +sensitive."</p> + +<p>Whereupon the folly of his anger became extremely apparent to Laurence; +the more so that he had so recently concluded to eschew ambitious +adventures and decline upon the large and unexciting levels of the +Commonplace. In those regions hasty resentments, hot blood, the +fine-gentleman-duelling-spirit, in short, is clearly out of the picture. +And then, why quarrel with Mrs. Bellingham of all people? She was a very +charming, little person, specially when—as just now—her glance dwelt +fondly upon her red-coated babies and their escort of nurses, donkey, +and dogs. If she had trodden on his toes, it was unwittingly, and +without any intention of malice. So he proceeded to make <i>amende +honorable</i> with proper despatch.</p> + +<p>"Forgive me," he said; "I am an idiot. But the legends to which my poor +old uncle's crankiness have given rise really begin to get upon my +brain. Wherever I go they crop up. You can understand it becomes a +little exasperating.—Good-bye. I have had a delightful time. Love to +Jack."</p> + +<p>The lady smiled upon him, yet with an air of criticism and slight +reserve.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes," she said, "certainly, Mr. Rivers, love to Jack. But I am going +to write to Virginia and report on our interview. I believe it is +incumbent on me as a true friend to do that.—Yes, you may come again +just as soon as you like. Now, do I not display a perfectly lovely +spirit in inviting you here after you have done just all you know to +explode my romance? Mr. Rivers, this day will leave a scar. I know it. I +do regret that spectre."</p> + +<p>Laurence smiled back, looking down at her.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it's a pity, isn't it," he said, "ever to explode a romance? There +aren't too many of them about. Perhaps I too could find it in my heart +to regret that spectre."</p> + +<p>And there, at least, the young man spoke truth, for regrets pursued him +on his homeward way. All this talk, moreover, was a nuisance, an +intolerable nuisance. And, though he did not stay to analyse the +probabilities of when and how, he apprehended up-croppings, +developments, and ramifications of the said nuisance in the future. Mrs. +Bellingham's question, as to the attitude Virginia might adopt towards +the occult element in her husband's fine inheritance, was more +uncomfortably pertinent than the questioner could by any means have +imagined. It suggested most disturbing complications. Thus Laurence rode +onward heedlessly, harassed by vexatious and perplexing thoughts.</p> + +<p>"What a confounded bother it all is!" he exclaimed impatiently. "I wish +to goodness the poor old man would live for ever—outlive me anyhow. +That would be the simplest solution of the situation."</p> + +<p>He raised his head and looked about him, then became aware that he must +have taken some wrong turn in the labyrinth of cross-country roads +between Bishop's Pudbury and Stoke Rivers, that he must have struck too +far southward and so lost his way. The mouth of the steep, rutted lane, +shut in by copse on either hand, which he had been following, now +debouched on a high-lying table-land. Small, rough fields bordered the +road, their crumbling, ill-kept banks bare of trees. Some fifty yards +ahead, where four roads crossed, stood a lonely, one-story, turnpike +house; it was six-sided, white-washed, and had a slated roof, rising +extinguisher-like to a single central chimney. Placed in an angle of the +intersecting roads, it was without garden ground. The turnpike-gate had +long ago disappeared; and the house, a thing that had lost its use and +become obsolete, was in a half-ruinous condition. An air of cheap +desolation pervaded it. Bundles of rags bulged from the broken +window-panes. Long-legged, high-shouldered fowls pecked and squatted in +the dust before the half-open door. Yet, seeing it, Laurence was +sensible that this unsightly building had a tally somewhere in his +memory, and claimed recognition. And this impression received unexpected +reinforcement when suddenly its squalid walls changed from dirty-white +to warm primrose, while the surviving glass in its rickety windows gave +off dazzling splendours of light.</p> + +<p>Anxious to learn the cause of this transformation, the young man drew +up, and, laying his right hand upon his horse's sleek quarters, turned +half round in the saddle, and stayed thus, looking and listening.</p> + +<p>The view was very noble. Southward the fall of the ground was +sufficiently abrupt to exclude all middle distance, with the result that +the rough grasses, withered bents and sorrel-stalks of the near +pasture-field were outlined against the immense sweep of the flat +coastline far below—this last, mauve, and russet, and dim green, was +broken here and there by a pallor of sandhills and the shimmer of +seaward-tending streams. Looking west, the suave contours of the Downs +and Beachy Head rose, in indigo and purple, against a great space of +saffron-coloured sky. Above them, but with a bar of strong light +between, heavy masses of purple-grey cloud gathered, from out which the +freshening wind blew chill. The sea, steel-blue and dashed with +white-capped waves, lifted a hard, serrated edge against the horizon.</p> + +<p>All this Laurence saw. It made a rather splendid picture, big with the +drama of approaching storm. Yet he was persuaded something was lacking. +As three days ago upon first entering the yellow drawing-room at Stoke +Rivers, he had, after the first moment of surprise, instinctively looked +for certain ornaments and pieces of furniture, and derived a singular +satisfaction from the conviction that they still occupied their +accustomed place—so now and here, though to his knowledge he had never +before ridden across this piece of exposed and but half-reclaimed +common-land, or seen the great view under its existing aspect,—he +instinctively gazed seaward in search of that which should support his +half-awakened memory, and complete the scene to his satisfaction. For +surely—yes, surely—bowling up Channel, under crowded canvas, before +the freshening breeze, he should behold a fleet of some eight or ten +square-rigged East Indiamen, their carven poops standing high out of the +water,—vessels of about a thousand tons' burden, laden with tea and +spices, bales of delicate muslins and silks, flasks of utter, porcelain, +ivory fans, bright-hued parrots, and unseemly, little apes.</p> + +<p>And as convoy of these rich cargoes, to secure them, their merchant +captains and bronzed and sturdy crews, against the rapacity of +privateers sweeping out from St. Malo and other ports of Northern +France, he should behold—yes, surely he should—a couple of smart +English frigates, square-rigged too, whose clean scrubbed decks and the +black mouths of whose port holes displayed grim argument of cannon, +ready for action should occasion so demand. The ships, hugging the land +for greater safety from alert and hungry foes, seemed—while the wind +filled the bellying sails, straining their tall masts, as they heeled +upon that uneasy, blue-grey sea—like some flight of huge, +golden-plumage birds; for all the saffron glory now streaming from +beneath the gathering storm-clouds in the west must lie full on them.</p> + +<p>For such gallant sight Laurence watched, singularly moved, and with a +singular eagerness. And so clear was the vision to his mind, so +necessary to the completion of the scene upon which his eyes rested, +that for some moments he failed to distinguish where actuality ended +and hallucination began. He contemplated the creation of his own brain +in absorbed interest; then turned and looked at the rough road and +dilapidated turnpike house, and then again out to sea. Only a +black-hulled, ocean-going tramp, her deckhouses piled up amidships close +against her reeking funnel, laboured slowly down channel in the teeth of +the gusty breeze. This was all; and then the young man understood, not +without amazement, that the gallant show had been a thing of the +imagination only,—at most a thing remembered, but how and whence +remembered he could not tell. For how, upon any reasonable hypothesis, +could the memory of a man like himself of but just over thirty, put back +the clock by close upon a century, and disport itself with incidents +belonging by rights to, at least, two generations ago? It was all most +exceedingly strange. It amounted to being disquieting. Really he did not +half like it. Yet the imagined spectacle had been very inspiring all the +same. It had made his blood tingle, and had effectually (or +disastrously) exorcised that spirit of indolence and <i>laisser aller</i> +which he had solicited to take up its abode with him. He sent his horse +forward at a sharp trot, while once again he proceeded to revise the +situation.</p> + +<p>For the idea presented itself that perhaps he had been over +self-confident, arrogating to himself a far greater freedom of will than +he, in point of fact, possessed. It was all very fine to foreswear +adventure, but what if adventure refused to be foresworn? He might +easily propose to decline upon modernity, mediocrity, and the +Commonplace; but what if these, as seemed just now highly probable, +asserted in unmistakable language their determination to have none of +him? He reflected that temperament may constitute your genius or your +fate, your opportunity or your ruin, as you have the wit to deal with +it; but that temperament is indestructible, and that escape from +it,—however inconvenient and contrary to your desire that temperament +may be,—is obviously and inherently impossible.</p> + +<p>As he meditated thus, the road he followed dipped slightly, leaving the +bare upland and passing along the under side of a thick belt of wood, +which cut off the seaward view. On the left, between the interspaces of +the hedgerow trees, the inland country now lay disclosed for many miles. +Clouds had gathered so rapidly in the last ten minutes that the sun was +obscured, and all the wide expanse was drowned in heavy violet and +indigo shadow. Only a ridge of hill, some three-quarters of a mile +distant, was caught by long shafts of wild, rainbow light, so that it +floated as a narrow, fish-shaped island upon the ocean of stormy colour. +And upon that island, uplifted, transmuted, etherealised, rendered at +once unreal yet insistent, vividly defined by the unnatural and +searching light, Laurence beheld Stoke Rivers—the long, low house, and +its double range of windows, its avenues, and carriage-ways, the block +of stable buildings; every detail of the Italian garden, its cypress +spires as of full-toned amethyst, its white balustrades and statues +iridescent as though made of long-buried Roman glass, its great lawns +green as malachite, the dome of its lime-grove touched by a dim glow as +of uncut rubies. In this strange and unearthly radiance, Stoke Rivers +seemed to call upon Laurence, to challenge his admiration, to assert its +existence and its claim upon his heart, with a singular power. It was +part of him, and he of it. It laid hands on his past and his future +alike. It refused to be taken lightly. As a woman wears her jewels to +startle and enthral a desired lover, so this dwelling-place of his +people arrayed itself in marvellous wise to conquer his wavering +allegiance and command his thought. It would force him not to disregard +its secrets. It wooed him to intimacy, to discovery. It cried to him +out, as it seemed, of some unplumbed depth of experience in himself.</p> + +<p>That night Mr. Rivers engaged his nephew until past midnight. His manner +was gracious, his mind, apparently, unusually at peace. His conversation +was remarkably brilliant, both in range of subject and readiness of +expression. First dealing with the earliest known examples of art, and +displaying critical acquaintance with Chaldean cylinders and stelæ, he +passed on to the persistent influence of Eastern ideas upon Western +religious thought. He discoursed of Hindu sacred literature and the +crowded pantheon of Hindu gods, noting how certain practices connected +with their worship and certain symbols pertaining to it have passed into +the common use of the Catholic Church. He discoursed of the Gnostic +sects, and their influence upon African and Syrian Christianity. Then, +invading the Spanish peninsular in the train of the Moors, he delivered +himself of a spirited disquisition upon Averrhoes, the lawyer +philosopher of Cordova, his doctrine of the Universal Reason and denial +of the immortality of the individual soul.</p> + +<p>Laurence went forth onto the bright, hot corridor, and paused at the +stairhead. He was honestly tired both in mind and body. He needed, and +would take, an honest night's rest. But one thing was sure. Whether he +had decided or merely yielded, whether he represented the positive or +negative element, he knew not; but this he did know, that the +Commonplace, and all the ease of it, might wait. He was not ready for +that just yet.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII</h2> + + +<p>Of the first twelve keys, some slipped round without effect, some stuck +and were withdrawn with difficulty. But the wards of the thirteenth bit +into the lock, and the bolt gave with a click. Laying hold of the +cylindrical front of the escritoire, Laurence pushed it up and back. +Within, a row of arcaded pigeon-holes was disclosed; and on either side +these, a range of little drawers, the pale, bright wood of which +retained its pristine polish, while the colours of the painted +medallions adorning them were very fresh though frail. The cupids, the +little figures of lover and mistress, courtier and prince, were instinct +with vivacity and grace—the heedless vivacity, the artificial grace of +those over-ripe, luxurious periods which carry in their womb the seeds +of revolution and social catastrophe. Laurence was moved, observing it +all. Evidently the bolt had not been shot, the rounded front run back, +and this mimic world of fine-fanciful elegance displayed for many years. +And then this pretty toy of a thing seemed so slight and incongruous a +receptacle for the storage of momentous secrets. Yet that the secrets it +held were momentous, dealing with problems of life and death, subtle +transformations of flesh and spirit, the young man—notwithstanding the +soothing influences of a healthy night's rest, and the pre-eminently +unexciting ones of a grey, wet, March afternoon—felt no doubt. For he +had given in, as he believed, finally, to the adventure; and with that +giving in, his faith in the magnitude of it suffered, by natural +rebound, serious increase.</p> + +<p>So reverently, and as one who approaches a long disused shrine +containing promise of strange and precious relics, he opened the shallow +drawers and examined their contents. The first three were filled with +packets of letters, written on thin, discoloured paper, and tied, some +with pink, some with yellow, sarsenet ribbon. Each packet was neatly +dated, the dates ranging, as Laurence gathered in a first hasty survey, +from the year 1802 to the year 1805. The remaining drawers contained a +collection of objects, miscellaneous in character but united in the +thought (as he divined) of whoso placed them there, side by side, by +some exquisitely tender sentiment.—A man's paste shoe-buckles, square +and bowed, the silver settings of them tarnished to blackness, reposed +beside a woman's striped, waist ribbon, cinnamon and white, embroidered +in buds and scattered full-blown roses. Here were seals cut from +envelopes, the cracked and blistered wax of them impressed with the +Rivers's arms and crest; and a store of semi-transparent, delicately +tinted shells, spoils of some far-distant, southern coast. There were +trinkets, too, rings and bracelets of intricate Indian workmanship; and +a cluster of coral charms, of Neapolitan origin, with the tiny golden +hand, first and fourth fingers stiffly extended, which keeps off the +Evil Eye. Next, little posies, such as a lover might pluck and his +mistress might wear for an evening, pinned, to please him, in the bosom +of her dress. These last were pressed and flattened, the several hues of +the once radiant blossoms faded to an ashen uniformity of tint. They +were sadly brittle, too; and though Laurence raised them with careful +fingers, crumbled to nothingness under his touch. Then he lighted on a +man's watch, a great, gold warming-pan of a thing, with a guard of +black lustre ribbon and a bunch of heavy seals attached. The back of the +case bore the Rivers's crest—a bird of doubtful lineage, its wings +extended for flight, its talons holding something, which to Laurence +always appeared to bear humorous relation to a fool's cap. The case was +also engraved with the initials L. R. in flowing and ornate lettering.</p> + +<p>And over these initials Laurence paused. They piqued his curiosity. They +also, somewhat to his own amusement, provoked in him a feeling +suspiciously akin to jealousy. They were his own; yet he could not but +imagine that they were also those of a person closely connected with the +sweet and mysterious companion, who had walked the lawns and garden +alleys with him during the small hours, fled and vanished at cock-crow, +two nights back. A very definite purpose of learning more about this +same person—of whom, he divined, this pathetic store of objects to be +gifts or memorials—possessed Laurence. Had he wronged the gentle lady +in life, so causing her after sorrow? Or had some tragic happening +parted him from her, without fault of his? And what manner of man had +he been, while a dweller here, in ordinary fashion, upon earth? It +became of great moment to Laurence to answer these questions. Perhaps +those packets of discoloured letters would tell. Meanwhile, there +remained another shallow, painted drawer to be searched.</p> + +<p>It contained, wrapped face to face, in a lace and lawn handkerchief, two +very exquisite miniatures by Cosway. And then, though he courted +surprises, agreeing with himself to expect nothing save the unexpected, +and to accept all possible extravagance of improbability that might +arise with as little dislocation of mind as one accepts the +extravagancies of a dream, Laurence stood for a moment speechless, +absolutely confounded.</p> + +<p>For one miniature represented his fairy-lady, her lovely eyes and lips +smiling with discreet gladsomeness, her expression an enchanting union +of sprightliness and of content. An azure ribbon was threaded through +the soft masses of her elaborately-dressed hair, little curls of which +strayed down on to her forehead. The string of pearls was clasped around +her throat. She wore her transparent, white, frilled cape and rose-red, +silken gown. Her graceful head and slender figure—to the waist—were +seen against a background of faint dove-coloured cloud. The painter had +painted fondly as a friend, it would seem, as well as a master of his +craft.—And the other miniature, by the same hand, showing the same +delightful sympathy of artist with his subject, touched by the same +poetic insight and grace, was a portrait of whom? Well, of +himself—himself, Laurence Rivers, not as he was to-day, but as he had +been, ten years ago, at one-and-twenty. With astonishment, bordering +very closely on alarm, he observed that colouring, features, the square +cutting of the nostrils, a certain softness in the lines of the mouth, +the shape of the head, the straight set of the shoulders, all these were +perfectly exact. While the countenance was instinct with that inimitable +charm of unsullied youth, that fearlessness and happy self-confidence, +the attractive power of which he had only fully realised as they had +begun to fade out of his aspect in the course of his passage from early +to maturer manhood, while the boundlessly generous aspirations of +inexperience were in course of being discredited by increasing knowledge +of the standards and habits of this not altogether noble or virtuous +world.</p> + +<p>Laurence took the miniature in his hand, and considered it closely, with +a twinge of self-abasement. Endowed with so ingratiating a personality, +so admirable a physical equipment, he ought surely to have made a +definite name and place for himself in contemporary history! And what of +moment had he to show, after all, for his thirty-one years of living? +Practically nothing, he feared. And the young man of the miniature made +better play with his handsome person, and the qualities and talents +which might be expected to accompany it? He had been a sailor +apparently, for he wore the dark-blue, naval uniform of the early years +of the century, his brown hair being tied back into a queue. But for +these details the resemblance to himself was absolute. And then, +suddenly, with a sense of faintness as though his identity were slipping +away from him, and his hold on actuality loosening as he imagined it +might loosen in the moments immediately preceding death, Laurence +remembered that he had worn a precisely similar costume—that of a +naval lieutenant of the time of Nelson—at a fancy dress ball given in +his honour, at the country house of certain of his mother's relations, +on the eve of his twenty-first birthday. He had been mightily chaffed +about his good looks and air of assured conquest upon the occasion in +question; and had laughingly replied that he, too, intended to fight his +battle of Trafalgar and win it, only that he should take jolly good care +not to fall in the hour of success, but to survive and thoroughly enjoy +the fruits of victory.</p> + +<p>The miniatures were oval, each set in a plain gold band. Laurence turned +them over in search of a possible inscription. Upon the reverse of the +one were engraved the words—"Agnes, a gift to her dear cousin," and the +date, "August 1803." Upon the other—"Laurence, a gift to his dear +love," and the same date.</p> + +<p>Rain had followed on the stormy splendours of the preceding evening; and +as the young man raised his eyes absently and stared out of the great +bay-window, he became sensible that the outlook was comfortless enough. +The gardens and the distant view were blurred and blotted by driving +mist; while, in the room itself, there reigned a singularly blear and +cheerless light. A damp, earthy odour, moreover, pervaded the +atmosphere, as though the moisture prevailing out of doors had gained +access to the house. Carefully, rather sadly, Laurence laid the two +miniatures side by side upon the filmy handkerchief. The radiant, +pictured faces, the two graceful, young heads turned slightly towards +each other as in mutual tenderness and sympathy, offered, he thought, +pathetic contrast to the melancholy of this tearful morning. That this +young man had in no way wronged the fair and gentle woman, he now felt +assured. But that assurance, so perverse is human nature, did not serve +to elate him. Far from it. As he looked first at the charming pair, and +then at the driving mist, a sense of great loneliness, almost of +desolation, came over him; while the word spectre—which, when employed +yesterday by his lively hostess Mrs. Bellingham, had seemed of such +meagre and even vulgar significance—now occurred to him with a new and +immediate meaning. Spectral—that this room was in the present dreary +light. While, if the idea called for further and concrete presentiment, +he could—looking on the fearless and hopeful countenance of that other +Laurence Rivers—offer it in his own person. Involuntarily he shivered, +since, for the moment, his tenure of name, person and individuality, +seemed so questionable, a matter of sufferance merely—amounting to no +more, in fact, than a remote reversionary interest in another man's +goods.</p> + +<p>At random he picked up a couple of packets of letters off the top of the +escritoire, where he had laid them, and moved across to the window. It +was not wholesome to look at those happy faces—one his own—any longer. +The letters tied with a pink ribbon were in a woman's hand, sloped and +pointed, but with a peculiar elegance of lettering and evenness of line. +Then for an instant he debated, questioning whether he could without +breach of honour, and of the respect in which all decent-minded persons +hold the dead, open and read these letters. The position was +extraordinary to the point of abrogating accustomed rules of conduct; +yet he felt a certain delicacy in reading a woman's letters and +surprising the secrets of her heart. But as he turned them over, +glancing at the first page of each, he perceived that in every case they +were addressed to himself; for at the top corner of each was +written—"To Laurence Rivers, Esq.," and below either "Dear cousin" or +"Dear love." Then the irony of the thing taking him, he smiled to +himself and said:</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, come along, surely I have a right to the smooth as well as +the rough. If I am such a very second-hand affair any way, with not so +much as a name or face of my own to be proud of, I'll at least have the +advantages of my disabilities. I will know how my other, first-hand, +self was made love to and made love."</p> + +<p>Yet no sooner had he begun to read, than he became aware that he knew +that already. For as he perused the thin, deeply-creased pages, he felt, +with a certainty independent of and passing all proof, that he had read +these sweet effusions, these innocent chronicles of home life, of +meetings and partings, pretty pleasures and junketings, not once but +many times already. He remembered them. He could almost tell what words +would meet his eye as he straightened and turned the fluttering sheets +of paper.</p> + +<p>"—I am much concerned," wrote Agnes Rivers, "that so many months must +elapse before I can again receive news of you. I preach Patience to +myself; but that virtue, though a good servant, is but a sorrowful +master. I am pursued by fears on your account, which often move me to +tears when I am alone, or have retired to my chamber at night. You will +reprove my feminine weakness and bid me take courage. Yet I defy you to +maintain such fears are wholly misplaced, in face of the wild scenes of +tempest and of battle which you may be called upon to witness."</p> + +<p>Again—"It grieves me that I cannot write to you of my affection with +the freedom dictated by my heart. But my means of communicating with you +amid the convulsions of the present terrible war are so uncertain, that +I constantly tremble lest my letters should fall into other hands than +yours. My good Mrs. Lambert, who, as you will remember, is ever +solicitous for the maintenance of propriety, impresses this danger upon +me, and urges reticence and circumspection. I therefore entreat you, +dear Laurence, not to measure the depth of my regard by my present +expression of it. Recall, rather, all the happy and unclouded hours we +have enjoyed together, and let them speak for me."</p> + +<p>And again—"Your brother Dudley, though, I grieve to say, not less harsh +and imperious towards others, continues to treat me with all brotherly +consideration and courtesy. He is very thoughtful of the improvement of +my mind, and we still follow our studies in the Italian and Spanish +languages. His great knowledge and intelligence are of incalculable +advantage to me, and I trust that I prove a docile, if not a very +brilliant, pupil. I own my thoughts at times wander, though I strive, in +gratitude to my kind preceptor, to keep them fixed upon my tasks. Mrs. +Lambert is, unfortunately, as much alarmed by Dudley's opinions and +conversation as ever. I could myself wish that he would express himself +with less violence on the subject of politics and of religion. But his +early travels in the unfortunate country of France, and his intimate +association with Mr. Robespierre and other leaders of her sanguinary +revolution, have, I much fear, permanently warped his mind and +prejudiced his judgment. Yesterday, at dinner, he entered into a +discussion with our new rector, Mr. Burkinshaw—a scholarly and +estimable person—upon the Rights of Man, and the nature and attributes +of the Deity, asserting subversive and atheistical views with so much +heat and intemperance of language, that Mrs. Lambert fled from table in +tears, while Mr. Burkinshaw was, I could not but see, seriously offended +and hurt."</p> + +<p>Once more—"The weather recently has been continuously wet and stormy. +Dudley reports great destruction of timber in the park. I have been +unable to leave the house, and have spent many hours in the east +parlour, which your brother kindly bids me regard as my exclusive +property. I have read much, I trust with profit. Nor have I neglected my +music, though the melancholy character of the season and ever-present +fears for your safety have rendered me but a joyless performer. For the +songs you most admire, I cannot find voice. Indeed, I struggle with my +weakness, and make every effort to present a serene exterior. But Memory +is never, perhaps, a more sorry companion than when she speaks of happy +scenes."</p> + +<p>And finally—"My own dear love, your packet from Madalena has at last +reached us. What can I say to you save that my heart dances with +rapture? I cannot sit still, but must needs run from place to place for +very gladness. Mrs. Lambert reproves my lack of occupation. But she is +mistaken. I am fully occupied in reading and re-reading your letter, and +in thanking our Merciful Creator for this unhoped-for assurance of your +safety. I have retired to the stone bench beneath the lime-trees. They +are in blossom now, and their agreeable fragrance fills the air. Here I +write to you, while the sun shines, and summer winds play lightly with +the leaves. Do you remember our sitting here the evening you stole the +new black ribbon from my embroidered bag with which to tie your hair? +Dear love, now I am convinced that you will be permitted to return to +me, and that we shall add yet other happy hours to those already +treasured in our hearts. All will be well. Nay—what am I writing?—all +is well already. But for my past anxiety and all my cruel fears, I +could not have known the rapture of the present. My heart overflows. I +would not have one unhappy creature breathe to-day. I have emptied my +purse to a beggar; and have expended unpermitted dainties upon my +cage-birds, and Dudley's horses and dogs. The servants smile upon me, +rejoicing in my joy. Ah! my love, I am half ashamed to wear so gay a +face. Dudley has withdrawn to the library. He is preoccupied and silent. +Mrs. Lambert, for all her affection, regards me, I fear, with +disapproval. But how can I feign indifference? You are safe. You will +return to me. In six months I shall attain my majority, and then your +brother Dudley can no longer, as my guardian, legally prohibit our +marriage. Of that dear union, the consummation of all our prayers and +hopes, I can scarcely dare trust myself to—"</p> + +<p>And here Laurence found himself forced to cease reading. The page was +blotted, the writing obliterated, by rusty stains of the nature of which +he could be in no doubt. The further record of Agnes Rivers's pure +passion was smothered in blood.</p> + +<p>He folded the letters together, tied them up, put them back in the +drawer, closed and locked the escritoire. Well, it must have been worth +while to have been loved like that! Did women ever love so still, he +wondered? He opened the tall French window, and once again went out, +hatless, into the driving wet.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV</h2> + + +<p>"Mr. Rivers regrets that he is unable to receive you to-night, sir."</p> + +<p>Laurence looked round with something approaching a start at Renshaw, the +butler, whose respectful, colourless voice broke in thus upon his +meditations. The dining-room struck him as hotter and more oppressive +than ever—by contrast probably with the buffeting wind and driving mist +in which he had paced the lime-tree walk for a good hour before the +dressing-bell rang. To-night the glass bowl, supported by the wanton, +dancing, Etruscan figures, was filled with tuberoses and carmine-stained +Japanese lilies; and the odour given off by these acted on the young +man's brain as opium or hashish might have acted—at least so it +appeared to him. The longer he meditated, the less could he distinguish +between real and unreal, fact and phantasy. The best accredited articles +of his moral and scientific creed had passed into the region of the open +question. Speculation ran riot, all the accustomed landmarks of his +thought being for the time submerged; while the wildest and most +extravagant ideas presented themselves as within the range of practical +action. That last read letter of Agnes Rivers, and his own resemblance +to her lover, had inflamed his imagination and his heart. Even in their +one night's intercourse, he had seen intelligence, purpose, gaiety, +return to her. Now the daring conception that such a process might be +continued, until his sweet and mysterious companion recovered all the +senses and attributes of living womanhood, formed itself in his mind. +Was it not conceivable that this appearance might be materialised, so +that the fair and gracious spirit should once again inhabit a human +body, and know all those dear joys of love and motherhood which had +been—by some evil fortune, some catastrophe, as he supposed—denied to +her? An immense ambition to be the instrument of this restoration, this +recovery, grew within him. He would work a miracle, he would be as God, +clothing the soul with flesh, raising the dead. And this by no exercise +of charlatanism, by no dabbling in old-world superstitions, or dealings +in folly of White Magic or of Black; but simply by force of will, by the +action of mind on mind, by the incalculable power of a great love. It +was impious, perhaps. Morally it was doubtful—circumstanced as he, +Laurence, was. But it was the most magnificent experiment ever offered +either to man of science, or to poet. Here was the opportunity he had +desired, had waited for. Here was his chance in life!</p> + +<p>Then the butler's voice cut in, bringing him down to the everyday level. +No wonder he looked round a little dazed.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Rivers regrets that he will be unable to receive you to-night, +sir," it said.</p> + +<p>And Laurence asked in answer—</p> + +<p>"Is my uncle ill? Is he worse?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Lowndes has brought down word that he is tired, sir. Mr. Armstrong, +the agent, arrived from Scotland this afternoon while you were out. Mr. +Rivers has had a long interview with him—too long an interview in Mr. +Lowndes's opinion."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry," Laurence said absently. He fell to caressing his wonderful +idea again, but the butler waited.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Armstrong requested me to add, sir, that if convenient to you, as +you will not be engaged with Mr. Rivers, he would be obliged if you +would allow him to speak to you in the course of the evening."</p> + +<p>"Oh, by all means," the young man said, rising. Then he added—"Tell Mr. +Armstrong I will see him at once. Later I may be occupied. Where? In the +small library—yes."</p> + +<p>Laurence betook himself to the library, prepared to be bored with a good +grace. But he might have spared himself such preparation, for looking on +the new-comer, he liked him. The man, in age about sixty, was of barely +middle height, broad-shouldered and lean about the flanks. He carried +his head forward, stooping slightly, in observant, meditative fashion. +He was slow of movement, calm, one capable of having his joke and +keeping it to himself. His face was shaped like a kite, remarkable in +the breadth of the lower part of the forehead and the high cheek-bones, +narrowing down to a long, flat chin. The upper lip was long too, a +somewhat pragmatical and self-righteous upper lip. While the eyes, set +far apart under the wide brow, showed a clear, kindly blue between the +narrow lids that ended in a fan-like system of wrinkles at the outward +corners. The nose was thin and straight at the bridge, with wide-winged, +open nostrils. The hair, formerly sandy, was now grey, smooth on the low +dome of the head, and thickly waved above and behind the flat-set, +long-lobed ears. In all a shrewd, humorous, sober countenance, ruddy, +moreover, as a well-ripened, autumn apple.</p> + +<p>At first the agent's talk was professional, dealing in matters of leases +and rights-of-way; of draining operations and the breeding and rearing +of cattle; of the iniquitous heaviness of road rates, the culture of +hops, and the cutting of copses. But gradually it began to take on a +more personal and racial character, since the Scotchman is yet to be +born who can go very long in conversation without blowing—be it never +so discreetly—the trumpet of his own unrivalled nation. So he fell to +dilating upon the superiority of the Scotch to the English system of +national education; upon the indolence and general incapacity of the +south-country labourer; upon the glaring futilities and imbecilities of +district and parish councils; and upon the congenital incapacity of the +Anglican clergy—every man-Jack of them—to deliver a sermon which would +satisfy the intelligence and theological acumen of the most ordinary +congregation north of Tweed.</p> + +<p>Laurence listened, amused by the exhibition of the speaker's both +conscious and unconscious prejudices. The man was alive; he was +self-secure and dependable. Laurence saw he would be a pleasant fellow +to work with. And the thought of that work began to occupy his mind, +opium dreams giving place before practical interests and activities. +Laurence talked in his turn, showing a keenness in business and a +knowledge of it, which Armstrong, with pursed-up lips and slow noddings +of the head, evidently relished.</p> + +<p>"Aweel," he remarked at last, after the younger man had given a +particularly lucid description of certain labour-saving farm-implements +employed in the wheat-growing states of Western America,—"I trust it is +no disrespect to an old master, whom it pleases the Almighty to +withdraw to some other sphere of usefulness—or the contrary, for it +would be overbold to prophesy largely on that subject of utility in the +case of your uncle, Mr. Rivers—it is no disrespect, I say, I trust, for +a man who has served such an one for over thirty years to the best of +his ability, to feel himself not indisposed to welcome the new master. I +am constrained to tell you, Mr. Laurence Rivers, that I looked to find +in you some flighty, flimsy, modern run-about of a creature. I +acknowledge my error with thanksgiving. The impression you make on my +mind is far from unfavourable."</p> + +<p>"That's right," Laurence said genially. "I am new to all these landed +property concerns as yet; but I expect I shall be able to get round them +pretty smartly when the time comes."</p> + +<p>"I think you will, I think you will." The agent's blue eyes twinkled +with a certain quiet humour, upon the young man, from between their +narrow lids. "Your uncle, I must admit, is but a feeble body in the +practical domain. His great understanding has, so to speak, not +infrequently got between his legs and thrown him down. It is pitiful to +see any person so clever that he cannot condescend to take advantage of +the handsome position the Almighty has allowed him. I own there have +been times when I have felt rebellious against the Lord's too great +generosity in the goods of this world—perishable, I know, yet deserving +of consideration—to one constitutionally incapable of drawing full +profit out of them. Therefore I perceive with thankfulness, Mr. Rivers, +you are of a different make."</p> + +<p>Laurence leaned back in his chair, and lighted another cigarette. It was +early yet—and he liked the man. He would encourage him to talk on for a +while longer.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes," he said, "you needn't be worried under that head, Armstrong. +I've the reputation of by no means quarrelling with my bread and butter, +or despising the goodly fruits of this admittedly naughty world, in +whatever form I find them."</p> + +<p>"Temperance is a canny virtue; and I would recommend moderation in all +things, after the teaching of the Apostle Paul. Yet I am glad to find, +Mr. Rivers, you have your feet upon the floor. It will be well for your +estates, at the preservation and improvement of which I and my kin have +laboured—not unfaithfully—for three generations."</p> + +<p>"So long as that?" the young man ejaculated. The statement indirectly +suggested a former strain of thought.</p> + +<p>"Yes, for three generations—and not without trials. For I would have +you understand that a certain impracticability runs in your family, Mr. +Rivers—a perversity, not sinful altogether, but very wearing to those +that have your temporal interests at heart."</p> + +<p>Gently Laurence blew a little cloud out of his nostrils, and watched it +float upward across the dark, warm-hued landscape by Nicholas Poussin +hanging over the chimney-piece. Against the windows the rain beat, while +the heavy folds of the crimson, damask curtains, covering them, swayed +just perceptibly in the draught.</p> + +<p>"I can believe it," he said. "My people have been afflicted with ideas; +and ideas play the very mischief with business, don't they, Armstrong?"</p> + +<p>"In their degree, and subject to a thrifty discretion in their +application, I would not wholly condemn them," the agent replied. His +shrewd glance dwelt on the younger man with undisguised pleasure. He was +so handsome, well bred, well made, and apparently so able a +fellow.—"But ideas are kittle cattle, Mr. Rivers," he continued, +"needing strenuous supervision if you would not have them break out of +pasture and run mad, sairly to the dislocation of all legitimate +traffic. And it has been the affliction of more than one member of your +family to let his ideas run abroad to a length of pernicious +extravagance. For instance, my grandfather, a person of capacity and +circumspection beyond the average, was factor to your great uncle, Mr. +Dudley Rivers, and—"</p> + +<p>Laurence kept his eyes fixed on the last blue of the little smoke-cloud +curling about the intricate foliations of the upper corner of the +picture frame; yet his voice had a certain quickness and vibration in it +as he exclaimed—</p> + +<p>"Ah! Dudley Rivers—yes. Well, how about him, Armstrong?"</p> + +<p>"Not much good, not much good. Like the foolish body recorded by the +Psalmist, he had 'said in his heart, There is no God.' And having made +that very impious and lying observation, and so disposed of the Deity, +he proceeded to supersede the latter in his own person, and attempt the +reorganisation of society according to his own hare-brained fancies. +Regarding his deliverance from dangerous delusions my grandfather could +do but little, being himself a godly man, and holding firmly by the +doctrine of Election. If the poor misguided creature would go to the +devil, Mr. Rivers, it was—so my grandfather held—because to the devil +he was righteously foredoomed and predestined to go. And so my +grandfather, relieved of all responsibility in that respect, felt free +to apply the whole of his abilities to saving the poor, erring person's +treasure on earth, since it was manifestly not the intention of +Providence that he should inherit any treasure in heaven. He had long +taken entire charge of those estates in the county of Fife, which +belonged to Mr. Dudley's young cousin and ward, Miss Agnes Rivers—"</p> + +<p>"Ah!" Laurence ejaculated softly.</p> + +<p>"And many a time did my grandfather undertake the tedious journey down +here, from the north, to lend a seasonable hand in restraining Mr. +Dudley from committing some ruinous foolishness in respect of Miss +Agnes, or of his own southern property. For Mr. Dudley was just +completely saturated with pernicious opinions derived from the writings +of Rousseau, and Tom Paine, and other such seditious persons; and Satan +entering into him at intervals, and blinding his small surviving modicum +of reason, he proposed to reduce them to practice—poor, demented body."</p> + +<p>"Yes," Laurence said, "he had graduated in a rather impossible school, +no doubt. But—but—Armstrong, what about his private life—his morals?"</p> + +<p>"Blameless—blameless—more's the pity, since his virtues could but come +under the head of works of supererogation—so my grandfather +held—profitless alike in this world and in the next. Indeed, though a +strict man himself, I am constrained to believe he would have +experienced relief in seeing Mr. Dudley enjoy the pleasures of sin—they +are real, very real while they last, unfortunately—for a season."</p> + +<p>Laurence flung away the stump of his cigarette, and turned sideways in +his chair.</p> + +<p>"Now, as we're on the subject," he said, "and as you seem to know all +about these people of mine, what sort of fellow was Dudley's younger +brother, my namesake, Laurence Rivers?"</p> + +<p>"Weel, I have reason to believe he was a very promising sprig—a likely +young gentleman, high-spirited, clean-living, and not without a show of +capacity for affairs. My grandparents, both of them, entertained a warm +affection for him."—The man paused in his slow sing-song talk, +smiling.—"I should surmise him to have been much such a person as +yourself, Mr. Rivers, with a natural gift of winning the hearts of those +brought into contact with him. But he fell at Trafalgar, shot through +the lungs, as no doubt you have heard—cut off before he had opportunity +to acquaint the world with the worth of the talents that might reside in +him. It was a grievous misfortune, for his death took place but three +months before the day appointed for his and his cousin's marriage. And +often, as a soft-hearted bit of a laddie, I have cried to hear my +grandmother tell of the coming of the awful news and the grief of the +poor young lady. She was a gracious, winsome thing, as bright as a +sunbeam on a running brook; very pious, too, and charitable, so that no +mortal soul could but wish her well that looked on her. But she was +shivered by the stroke of her sorrow, as you might shiver some fragile +trifle of an ornament with a careless blow. She would not eat or speak +for many days, and her sleep departed from her. And, indeed, during the +few months of life that remained to her she rarely uttered a word. Her +poor bits of wits seemed to drain out of her with her tears, for all +that she was highly educated, and an accomplished musician and sweet +singer."</p> + +<p>Laurence had risen to his feet. He stood with his back to the fire, his +hands behind him, and his head bent.</p> + +<p>"Poor child!" he said softly. "Well, she knew how to love, anyway."</p> + +<p>"No woman better; but I am thinking, Mr. Rivers, she introduced into her +affections a touch of that same extravagance which pertains to so many +members of your family. For my grandmother used to tell me that, though +altogether gentle and docile, she studied nothing but to turn over her +dead love's letters, and play with the various gifts he had bestowed +upon her, as a little lass plays with its puppets and toys. It was the +pitifulest spectacle under the dome of the sky, that of her affliction; +and Mr. Dudley, notwithstanding his reprehensible opinions and infamous +heresies, watched over her like a father. His patience knew no bounds, +poor body. He would have laid himself down as the ground for her to walk +on, could that have accelerated her recovery. He spared no expense of +doctors, both foreign and English, to prescribe for her; and carried her +away to Bath, by their advice, to drink the waters there. But all the +medicinal waters that ever welled up through the length and breadth of +God Almighty's curious earth are powerless to ease the ache of a broken +heart. She wanted but one thing, and that no mortal soul could give her. +And so, poor, white lily of a thing, she just sickened, and faded, and +died."</p> + +<p>Laurence stood very still, looking down at the hearthrug between his +feet, while the rain beat against the windows. The agent watched him for +a little space, and then rose, a trifle stiffly and carefully, from his +chair.</p> + +<p>"I am keeping you over long with my family histories, Mr. Rivers," he +said. "But it comes to me that we are about to see great changes in this +place very speedily; and our conversation to-night has been a +valediction to the old dynasty and a recognition of the new. There has +been no lady at Stoke Rivers since Miss Agnes died, and you, so I learn, +are a married man."</p> + +<p>Laurence left his contemplation of the hearthrug, and drew himself up +rather sharply.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, "my wife is much interested in the prospect of this +English property."</p> + +<p>He turned his back, and stared into the fire.</p> + +<p>"Look here, Armstrong," he said, "where was she—Agnes Rivers, I +mean—where was she buried?"</p> + +<p>A singularly acute expression came over the agent's countenance. He +looked hard at the young man, but the latter did not move or turn his +head. The wind, increasing in force broke, as in great waves, against +the house front and the curtains swayed sullenly in the draught. +Armstrong cleared his throat.</p> + +<p>"I am thinking it's a calamitous night for too many poor folks at sea," +he remarked; and then added:—"Buried? Weel, presumably at Bath, where +she died, Mr. Rivers. A grand funeral took place there, to my +grandfather's knowledge, for he was called upon to journey the whole +long way from Cupar to attend it, and the snow lay some foot deep in the +North. A grand funeral, truly, in appearance, with black horses, and +plumes, and lumbering black coaches, and all signs of respect and +customary outward manifestations of woe."</p> + +<p>Still Laurence did not move; but the gusty wind was so loud that it +obliged him to raise his voice in asking—</p> + +<p>"Well, well, if there was all this display about the funeral, why +<i>presumably</i> then?"</p> + +<p>"Because I am constrained to admit that a certain mystery surrounded +that transaction. My grandparents would never speak directly of it, +being prudent persons, and knowing, conceivably, more than it was +becoming for them to tell. But there were tongues that said, Mr. Rivers, +that no sweet lassie's corpse lay in that coffin; but only books, and +cast clothes, and bricks, and rubbish, to make up the weight."</p> + +<p>Laurence turned round suddenly. His face was keen, his eyes alight.</p> + +<p>"But why?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Partly, I surmise, on account of Mr. Dudley's atheistical views, which +caused him to hate and scorn all decent Christian rites and ceremonies. +And partly because of the feelings he entertained towards his +cousin—for it was well known she was the only human creature that had +ever moved him to love—it was apprehended he refused to part with her +body even in death."</p> + +<p>For a few moments the two men looked hard at each other.</p> + +<p>"And what then?" Laurence demanded. Armstrong raised his hands, almost +as in repudiation of his own thought.</p> + +<p>"The Lord only knows," he said. "As the poet says, 'There are more +things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our philosophy.' But +I, being a practical man, do not concern myself with such, Mr. Rivers. I +would not learn more of hidden matters than is strictly necessary to +salvation. If it is the intention of the Deity that further revelation +of laws, either natural or spiritual, should be granted us, such +revelation will, without doubt, come at the time appointed. And so I, +personally, would not force the hand of Providence or be over forward in +pushing myself into its secret counsels."</p> + +<p>He paused, regarding the younger man with much friendliness and some +anxiety. But Laurence did not speak. He merely smiled, holding out his +hand.</p> + +<p>"Aweel, good night to you then, Mr. Rivers," the agent said, taking the +outstretched hand and holding it awhile.—"I must repeat, I am glad to +carry away so favourable an impression of our first meeting. But, as a +word at parting having in mind the tendencies of your family +constitution, I would earnestly commend to you those canny virtues, +moderation and temperance, in all your undertakings.—I will be resident +here for the coming week, or longer should a more protracted stay be +incumbent on me, in the interests of your affairs or your uncle's. My +sons are good, steady lads, and will mind our northern business for +me—a business not unprosperous or decreasing. And so you can notify me +at any time should you feel an inclination to acquaint yourself further +with the workings of this estate, or other items of poor Mr. Rivers's by +no means inconsiderable property."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV</h2> + + +<p>For some minutes Laurence remained in the same position before the +library fireplace, while the rush and wail of the storm without offered +marked contrast to the silence and close warmth reigning within. He knew +all the facts of the case now, as far as they were attainable by +tradition. They proved to be very simple; but, as he reflected, the +simplicity of the symbol by no means invalidates the profound character +of the mystery of which it may be the outward and visible sign. Nay, the +very simplicity, the tender, human pathos, of this story of love and +sorrow, only engaged his heart and provoked his enterprise the more. +Counsels of self-saving moderation he waved aside with a smile. Of +danger, material, moral, or spiritual, he was defiant. With the Veil of +Isis there, visibly confronting him and inviting—in gentlest, most +confiding fashion—his hand to lift it, would it not be unpardonably +poor-spirited, callous, and unfaithful to draw back?</p> + +<p>But Virginia? Laurence moved impatiently from his place. He wished to +goodness Armstrong had not referred to Virginia, or rather to that +circumscription of his personal liberty which Virginia presented—to his +marriage, in short! He was very fond of her. Of course, he was very fond +of her—not for a moment did he doubt that. But must it be a matter of +primary duty and honour that he should relinquish the part of hero in +this piece—this noble and enthralling piece, which made vibrant his +whole being, and stirred the finest of him into activity—simply because +Virginia's name did not happen to be in the bill? Marriage came +perilously near a disaster if it clipped your wings as much as all that! +And he would, indeed, be a bigoted moralist who should maintain that no +circumstances can be so extraordinary, no opportunities of knowledge or +spiritual advancement so rare, that they justify a neglect of +conventional rules of conduct, or permit the relegation of ordinary +obligations—for a time at least—to the second place!</p> + +<p>Thus did the young man argue—ambition, chivalry, and those hereditary +tendencies towards a rather violent reduction of theory to practice +against which he had so lately been warned, all conspiring to one +result. And so, at last, his head erect, and—though he knew it +not—that air of assured conquest about him which had sat so charmingly +upon his namesake—perhaps his rival—the Laurence Rivers of the Cosway +miniature, he swung down the still, crimson-carpeted corridor, pulled +the stiff tapestry curtain forward, passed behind it, and entered the +room beyond. He laughed a little to himself, he was all of a white heat, +he would be as the Gods, working miracles, righting wrong, conquering +death.</p> + +<p>Sharp disappointment awaited him. The yellow drawing-room was +brilliantly lighted. The atmosphere of it was fresh, almost to the point +of chill. The miniatures lay side by side upon the escritoire, where he +had placed them some four or five hours earlier; but his sweet +fairy-lady was not there to receive him. The room was vacant of all +human, all visible, presence save his own.</p> + +<p>The hours which followed were among the most poignant that Laurence had +ever experienced. He had made so certain that he needed but to open that +door to regain the unreal world, yet world—as he believed—of +profoundest reality, which enchanted, while it baffled and perplexed +him. He found himself compelled to admit, moreover, not without a sense +of humiliation, that his attitude was not exclusively pathological or +scientific. A good deal of the natural man, and the natural man's +affections and vanities, entered into it. He craved once again to see +that slender, flitting figure, to feel the vibration of that otherwise +impalpable hand, to read the trust and exquisite sympathy of those +lovely eyes; he craved again to be aware of the fervour of his own +eloquence, the rush and spring of his own thought. Moreover, he felt +jealous, absurdly but increasingly jealous, of that other Laurence +Rivers, of whom, for all his vitality and immediate consciousness of +living energy and active will, he seemed to be but a second edition. The +man had forestalled him in face and semblance, forestalled him too in +the heart of the woman it would be—it was, he feared—only too easy for +him to love.</p> + +<p>And so he wandered aimlessly, restlessly about the bright, empty room, +almost as his sweet rose-clad lady had wandered on the night he first +met her, searching, searching for some lost good; while, as time +lengthened and his nerves grew strained by impatient waiting and want of +sleep, fears that by his own action he had procured this disappointment +began to assail him. He was always over-confident, blundering from too +great self-belief. For might it not be that in opening her little +treasure-chest, in touching those objects so dear to her dead fingers +and dead eyes, in reading her letters—nay, in striving to approach her +and establish relations with her at all—he had outraged her delicacy, +had, in a sense, assaulted her soul, had been guilty of spiritual +insult, as in grosser, material existence a man might assault or insult +a woman's person? Had he, unwittingly, transgressed some law obtaining +in the world of spirits, in the state of being which lies outside and +beyond the Gates of Death, and of which human beings, bound by the +conditions of their earthly environment, have as yet no +cognisance?—Why should not the mind and heart be sublimated to as +exquisite a fineness of texture, in her case, as the body had been? This +idea of possible outrage, of unwitting grossness towards her, was +horrible to Laurence. It stabbed him with shame, and provoked in him a +passionate desire for absolution. If she would only come—only come, +that he might implore her pardon, gain forgiveness, or—still +better—receive comfortable assurance that he had not sinned!</p> + +<p>His restless wanderings brought him at length to the bay-window, and he +looked out into the night. The storm had not abated. Dimly he could +perceive, in the light streaming outward from the window, the +rain-washed steps, the pale balustrades and statues of the garden; the +near cypresses, too, bowed and straining in the gale which shrieked +across the open lawns and bellowed hoarsely in the woodland like some +fierce beast let loose. And Laurence, viewing this tumult and listening +to it, suffered further humiliation. He became but a small thing in his +own estimation, weak, futile, incapable. For to what, after all, did his +force of will and power of compelling events amount? He thought of +Armstrong, the level-headed and circumspect Scotch agent; of his uncle, +dignified, and even in mortal illness faithful to the clear purposes of +his long life. He thought of Virginia, strong in virtue of her very +limitations, glittering as a well-cut jewel, concrete, complete. All +these persons occupied a definite place, served, in their degree, a +definite end. Whereas, for himself, was he not the veriest sport of +nature and of circumstance, endowed with just sufficient wit, sufficient +talent, to court failure in any and every direction? His initiative, +that had lately showed god-like, now shrivelled to microscopic +proportions; while a further unwelcome question presented itself. For +had the gracious spectre—he no longer quarrelled with that +definition—lived, as he had fondly supposed, through his life, regained +reason and glad, human sympathy through the influence of his will, or +had the case, in very truth, been precisely the reverse? Had not she +been the active, he the merely passive principle? Had he not reached a +higher development, and gloried—for a little space—in conscious +possession of genius, had he not lived, in short, through her—and this +not by exercise of direct intention on her part, but merely in obedience +to the might of her love for another man—a man long dead, but whose +name he chanced to bear, and whose appearance he chanced to resemble?</p> + +<p>And thereupon a hideous persuasion of his own nullity and emptiness took +hold of Laurence. Individuality fled away, disintegrated, dissolved, and +was not. The component parts of his physical being returned to their +original elements—flesh to earth, gases to air, heat to fire, blood to +water. While all the qualities of his mind, his tastes and affections, +suffered like dispersal, being claimed and absorbed by the members of +those many generations, whose earthly existence had contributed to the +eventual production of his own. And the terror of this was augmented, in +that, although every atom of his being was thus scattered and +appropriated, every smallest fraction of that which had gone to compose +his personality was dispersed, yet annihilation of thought did not +follow. He was reduced to absolute nothingness; but knowledge of +disintegration, knowledge of loss, knowledge—rebellious and +despairing—of that same nothingness remained.</p> + +<p>Appalled, with the instinct of flight upon him as from some menacing and +immeasurable danger, Laurence turned and groped his way back—as a blind +man gropes—into the centre of the brightly lighted room. The +persuasion of his own nothingness seemed to extend itself to his +surroundings. All partook of the nature of illusion, from which sense of +sight and touch alike seemed powerless to redeem them. And this begot in +the young man an immense desolation and a corresponding need of comfort +and of quick human sympathy. Involuntarily, in his extremity, his +thought fixed itself, stayed itself, upon Agnes Rivers. Ah! if she would +but show herself—she, his well-beloved fairy-lady—he was convinced +peace and clear-seeing would follow in her train, that this terror of +nothingness would depart, and that sanely, calmly, he should enter into +possession of himself once more!</p> + +<p>And then, presently, as he moved to and fro in restless search for her, +it appeared to him that a rose-red gleam of silk, a just perceptible +whiteness of muslin and lace, the faintest vision of a vision of her +sweet and lovely face, moved beside him as he moved. It was as though an +indefinable tenderness yearned towards him from out some impassable +distance, striving to declare itself, to make itself seen and felt, yet +without force to master some opposing influence and accomplish its +object. And this awoke in Laurence not only an answering tenderness, but +an answering struggle. He stood quite still, yet with every nerve, every +faculty strained to attain and overcome. He felt braced by a sudden +exhilaration of battle. Silently, fiercely, he fought with some awful, +unseen enemy,—with dimly apprehended powers of time and place, of +death, of things spiritual and things material, which intervened between +him and the love which sought to reach him. Never had he desired +anything as he desired this love. His individuality was actual enough +now; and his whole body ached with the effort to penetrate that +resistant medium, to be face to face with that love, and look on it, and +so doing to read the riddle both of his future and his past.</p> + +<p>But when the warfare was at its height, and the unseen enemy seemed to +yield a little, while the slender form of his rose-clad lady grew more +distinct to Laurence's eyes, unaccustomed noise and confusion arose +within the dead-quiet house. Doors opened and slammed, as with the +hurry of panic. Men's footsteps echoed imperatively down the corridors +and upon the stairs.—Another moment and he would overcome all +resistance, and his dear companion would stand before him, smiling, +gracious, full of consolation and of help; but just then voices were +raised in quick discussion without. Suddenly the door was thrown open. +Upon the threshold was Renshaw the butler, bereft of his usual +correctness of demeanour, his eyes starting, his skin mottled with +purple stains. Behind him stood Watkins holding back the leather-lined +curtain to the utmost of its length, thereby disclosing a triangular +vista of dark-panelled passage and the proud heads and arrogant, +impassive faces of the rulers of Imperial Rome.</p> + +<p>Evidently both men dreaded to venture one step further into the room.</p> + +<p>"Will you please to come at once, sir," Renshaw called hoarsely. "Excuse +me, sir, you are wanted. Mr. Rivers is very ill. He has asked for you. +Mr. Lowndes fears he is dying."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>XVI</h2> + + +<p>The agitation pervading the house was sinister. Laurence felt as though +witnessing the convulsions of some human body, seen only heretofore amid +the restraints and graceful amenities of society; but now abandoned and +indecently torn in its last agony. If indeed Mr. Rivers was dying, his +soul was not merely quitting its fragile, fleshly tabernacle; but was +also, very sensibly, quitting this larger tabernacle of house and +household which it had informed through a long course of years, and +moulded to express its tastes, flatter its idiosyncrasies, and forestall +its every wish. It was fitting, therefore, though fearful, that this +outer envelope of the owner's life should be shaken, and lose its +habitual immutability and impervious calm; while his well-drilled +servants, usually obedient as machines to the direction of his hand, ran +distracted, scared and helpless as a flock of frightened sheep.</p> + +<p>The men hurried aimlessly, spoke in whispers. Members of the +establishment with whom Laurence was unacquainted invaded the corridor +from the direction of the offices. At the foot of the staircase were +grouped the stout, French <i>chef</i>, in spotless, linen cap and jacket, his +attendant scullions, and a couple of men arrayed in long, green baize +aprons and black, calico blouses, the full sleeves of which buttoned +tight around the wrist. The coachman was there too, a stable helper, and +the groom who had accompanied Laurence on his first visit to Bishop's +Pudbury. All these persons were well on in middle life, some old, +white-haired, and bent. All appeared deeply moved, an inarticulate +confusion in their looks, as though finding themselves suddenly +confronted by dire calamity. Laurence had seen men look thus in the +breathless pause, between recurrent earthquake shocks, among the rocking +buildings of a far-away, Spanish-American city. As he passed them, +coming from that light, clear-coloured room, they stared at him, and +slunk aside as though a fresh terror was added to those which already so +unmanned them. In their present state of feeling the seemly decorum of +respectful service was relaxed; and to Laurence, overwrought by his +recent and strange experiences, it appeared that they shrunk from him +as from one unclean and outcast.</p> + +<p>He turned rather sternly upon Renshaw. "What is the meaning of all this +commotion? If I was wanted, why on earth was I not called sooner?"</p> + +<p>The butler's large, smooth, egg-shaped face turned from purple to +something approaching grey.</p> + +<p>"We had looked for you everywhere, sir, both myself and Mr. Watkins," he +answered. "But until Mr. Lowndes suggested it, in consequence of some +remark passed by Mr. Rivers, it had never occurred to us that you would +be in the yellow drawing-room, sir."—Renshaw cleared his throat, +recovering some of his accustomed dignity of bearing. "The electric +light is switched on from the corridor outside, you will observe, sir. +It has always been understood that no one—neither the upper or the +under servants, sir—are ever required to go into the yellow +drawing-room after dusk."</p> + +<p>And with these words, and their implication of commerce on his part with +something unlawful and malign, sounding in his ears, Laurence passed +into his uncle's bed-chamber.</p> + +<p>As he did so, a blast of air, hot and dry as from the mouth of a +furnace, met him. The fire upon the hearth was piled up into a mountain +of blazing coal and wood. The light of it filled the room with a fitful, +lurid brilliance such as is produced by a great conflagration. In it, +the breasts of the couchant sphinxes glowed, seeming to rise and fall as +though they breathed. The caryatides supporting the ebony canopy +likewise appeared imbued with life. Their smooth arms and bowed +shoulders strained under the weight resting upon them; while the wreaths +of fruit and blossom, girding their naked loins, heaved from the +painfully sustained effort of nerve and muscle. The snake-locks of the +Medusa's head, carved in high relief upon the circular, central panel of +the back of the bedstead, writhed, twisted, interlaced and again slid +asunder, as in frustrated desire and ceaseless suffering.</p> + +<p>And along the middle of the great bed, surrounded by these opulent +forms, and, at first sight, far less alive than they, lay Mr. Rivers. +His face was so blanched, so unsubstantial, that, but for the glittering +eyes still greedy of knowledge, it would have hardly been +distinguishable from the white pillows supporting him. His shoulders and +chest were muffled in a costly, sable cape; from beneath the lower edge +of which his hands, thin as reeds, protruded, lying inert upon the +thickly-wadded, blue-and-gold, damask coverlet. On the oak table—moved +from its place by the armchair to the bedside—were the few handsomely +bound books, the crystal <i>memento mori</i> resting on its strip of crimson +embroidery, and a silver bell, the handle of it shaped as a slender, +winged Mercury, elegantly poised for flight.</p> + +<p>Behind the table stood Lowndes, the long-armed, hard-featured valet. He +apparently remained untouched by the spirit of anarchy let loose in the +house. Laurence, drawing near, looked at him, silently asking +instructions. The man fetched a chair and placed it close against the +bedside.</p> + +<p>"Be so good as to lean down, sir," he said. "Mr. Rivers wishes to +converse with you; but he has had a seizure, which has slightly affected +both his speech and hearing. He cannot raise his voice."</p> + +<p>Laurence did as he was bidden. He leaned towards the old man, resting +his right hand upon the haunches of the ebony sphinx, which felt +singularly warm to his touch.</p> + +<p>"The term of your probation and of mine alike draws to its close," Mr. +Rivers said in a small, thin voice; and, for almost the first time in +their intercourse, Laurence saw him smile.</p> + +<p>"I hope this is only a passing attack, sir, and that you may rally," he +answered.—He looked up at Lowndes. "Has everything been done that can +be? Have you telegraphed for the doctors?"</p> + +<p>"I have administered the prescribed restoratives. But Mr. Rivers ordered +that no further measures should be attempted until after his interview +with you, sir."</p> + +<p>The sick man raised his hand feebly, yet with an imperious gesture.</p> + +<p>"I do not propose to ask further advice of physicians," he said. "Their +science is but a mockery at this juncture; at least, in the estimation +of a person of my habit of mind. That by the employment of drugs and of +stimulants they might prolong a semblance of animation in this physical +husk of me, I do not deny. But what advantage can accrue from that, when +my mental activity is becoming paralysed, and the action of my brain +grows sluggish and intermittent? When all that differentiates a human +being from the brute beasts has perished, let the animal part perish +also. The sooner, the better; for, in itself, it is far from precious."</p> + +<p>His voice had become very faint, and he waited, making a determined +effort, as Laurence perceived, to rally his ebbing powers.</p> + +<p>"Tell Lowndes to go," he whispered. "I wish to be alone with you."</p> + +<p>Then as the man-servant noiselessly withdrew, the thin, but barely +audible accents again stole out upon the fiercely heated air.</p> + +<p>"The body, its necessities, its passions, its perpetually impeding +grossness throughout life, is an insult to the mind. But the final act +of this long course of insult, namely, the decay of this vile associate, +is the culminating insolence, the most unpardonable insult of all. I +have trained myself to ignore these thoughts, to disregard them as a +proud man disregards some mutilation or personal disfigurement. But +they crowd in upon me, refusing to be disregarded, to-night. Here lies +the sting of the insult! For as the strength of this vile, animal part +of me lessens, far from setting the intellect free, it infects this last +with its own increasing degradation. The lower drags the higher down +along with it. They grovel together. Contemptible doubts and fears +assail me. Discredited traditions press themselves upon my remembrance. +And the burden of it all is this, that I have laboured in vain. As the +body dies, so dies the mind. All the garnered knowledge of years will be +lost, will drop infertile, into the void—the insatiable void which +yawns alike for high philosopher and for drivelling pothouse sot."</p> + +<p>His voice sank, in uttering the last few words, into a whisper of +concentrated bitterness. His eyes closed, and for some minutes the dying +man lay motionless.</p> + +<p>Laurence could not bring himself to speak. The words to which he had +just listened so nearly reproduced and rendered articulate those +sensations he had himself so lately endured. The vision of all-absorbing +Nothingness again arose before him, as background to those opulent +forms, classic and pagan, upon which his eyes immediately rested. An +unholy and voluptuous life seemed to move in those forms still. A smile +curved the heavy lips of the sphinxes. The rounded, glistening arms of +the caryatides appeared outstretched less in support than in +solicitation; while the snake-locks of Medusa writhed, pushing upon each +other amorously. The flesh, triumphant in vigour and in carnal +invitation, seemed, indeed, to flout the intellect; as though the animal +functions of mankind and the symbols of these alone had power to survive +from age to age, were alone arbiters and architects of human fate. And +yet, yet, somewhere—could he but have reached it—Laurence knew there +was a way of escape. That he had come very near reaching it in the final +moments of that silent struggle downstairs, when the sweet figure of his +dear fairy-lady grew increasingly clear to his sight, he could not +doubt. And once again, with a great desiring, he desired her; for his +faith was strong that of all these things she somehow—how he could not +say as yet—held the key.</p> + +<p>Just then Mr. Rivers raised his eyelids slightly and turned his head +upon the pillow.</p> + +<p>"It is very horrible," he said slowly, speaking to himself rather than +to his companion. "The quantity of matter is stable. It for ever seeks +its own, and finding it re-unites. The destruction of one form is but +the necessary prelude to the development of others, and in this process +of perpetual redistribution not a fraction of the sum total is lost. +There is no waste save in the higher aspects of man's constitution—"</p> + +<p>But here Laurence roused himself to protest.</p> + +<p>"Matter returns to matter, sir, granted," he said. "Then why not spirit +to spirit? Are you not assuming a waste which you cannot prove? And if +spirit does return to spirit, what better than that, after all, can we +ask?"</p> + +<p>"Spirit?" Mr. Rivers retorted, with a fine inflection of irony, and +momentary brightening of those half-closed eyes. "You, my dear Laurence, +employ words glibly enough which I hesitate to pronounce! Matter I know. +It is evident to the senses. Its actual existence—Berkeley, certain +Oriental and other philosophers notwithstanding—is, within certain +limits, susceptible of proof. And intellect I know. Its existence, +though on other lines, is equally susceptible of proof. Its action can +be registered and ratified. But spirit?—I will thank you to inform +me—what is spirit?"</p> + +<p>The young man bowed himself together, resting his elbows on his knees. +He smiled with a half-humorous air of apology.</p> + +<p>"That I cannot tell you, sir," he said. "I'm better at conviction than +at explanation, I'm afraid. I only know—not with my reason, but with my +heart—that spirit is, and has been, and must be everlastingly."</p> + +<p>"And its mode of expression, its mode of self-revelation?" the other +inquired drily.</p> + +<p>Laurence straightened himself up, laughing a little.</p> + +<p>"One way, the old why—childish, perhaps, yet really rather charming. In +and by love, sir—only so, by love."</p> + +<p>Tremulously Mr. Rivers drew the rich, sable cape closer about him, +though the heat of the room was intense.</p> + +<p>"I become very abject," he said at last. "I procrastinate and risk +letting slip the opportunity still permitted me. For in my abjection, I +own I clutch at straws, miserably anxious for support. I am ashamed that +any other human being should witness the mental prostration to which +physical illness has reduced me. But time presses, and compels me to +delay no longer in confessing my object in calling you to me to-night. +Tell me, Laurence, have you investigated those abnormal phenomena of +which we spoke, and have your investigations yielded any result?"</p> + +<p>The question took the listener somewhat by surprise, and he hesitated +before replying. The whole matter had become of such vital importance to +him, personal, intimate, among the dearest and most reverently-held +secrets of his heart. So he shrank, as before an act of profanation, +from submitting the history of his fairy-lady and of his strange +relation to her to the criticism of this cold-blooded, sceptical +intelligence. Yet he was bound by his promise to report, if called on to +do so—bound, too, in mere humanity towards one lying at the point of +death, and to whom that history might, conceivably, bring solace and +enlightenment.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have investigated the phenomena in part," he answered.</p> + +<p>"And the result?"</p> + +<p>"Briefly, I think, that which I ventured to state to you just now—that +love is the language of the spirit, the only medium through which spirit +can declare itself and be apprehended, the one element of our poor human +constitution which promises to continue and to preserve to us a measure +of coherence and individuality even after death."</p> + +<p>The young man leaned forward again, and laid his hand on the warm +haunches of the ebony sphinx with a movement of slight defiance.</p> + +<p>"Listen," he said, "please, sir, and I'll do my best to tell you exactly +what has happened since we spoke of this subject last."</p> + +<p>He steadied himself to his task, trying to keep his narrative +circumstantial and restrained, to offer nothing more than a bald +statement of fact. But the charm of it, once he had started, was a +little too much for him. His speech grew lyrical against his will. And +Mr. Rivers listened, his eyes closed, his brow drawn into hard lines by +the effort of attention. Once he held up his hand.</p> + +<p>"Did you question this appearance?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"It was useless," Laurence answered, with a queer break in his voice. +"She never spoke—that is in words. She was dumb."</p> + +<p>"That is unfortunate," Mr. Rivers said coldly. "Well, pray, go on."</p> + +<p>And Laurence obeyed; recounting, with but slight reservation, all, even +to the events of the last few hours, when he and his sweet companion had +vainly sought to reach each other in defiance of some mighty, opposing +force, and how, at the crucial moment of the struggle, Mr. Rivers's +summons had come.</p> + +<p>"There, sir," said he finally—"now you have it all as far as I can give +it you. I don't attempt to explain, though I may have my own ideas on +the subject. I've tried to put it quite honestly before you, and must +leave you to thrash the meaning out of it for yourself."</p> + +<p>For some little space the sick man remained silent; then he raised both +hands and let them sink back upon the coverlet with the gesture of one +who bids farewell to hope.</p> + +<p>"Fables!" he said bitterly; "fables! I ask bread of you and you give me +a stone. I offer you an unprecedented opportunity of psychological +study, and you approach it in the spirit of a ballad-monger or a +mountebank! I require from you close observation, scientific acumen, an +unrelenting pursuit of truth; and you put me off with some old wives' +tale of lost letters, the ravings of an hysterical girl, of +re-incarnation, multiple identity, and I know not what farrago of sickly +sentiment and outworn superstition! You trouble me with rubbish, which +it would be an impertinence to offer as material for serious +consideration to a peasant's child, of ordinary mental capacity, in a +modern board-school. Nor can I, my dear Laurence, acquit you of +insincerity, since you trick out this unworthy stuff in the extravagant +language of an erotic poem, while claiming for yourself an attitude +wholly platonic and superior to animal passion."</p> + +<p>"You are harsh, sir," Laurence was permitted to remark.</p> + +<p>Mr. Rivers turned his head on the pillow. His expression was distinctly +malevolent.</p> + +<p>"I begin to gauge the average man," he replied calmly. "I begin to +recognise that he is a willing, probably wilful, self-deceiver—that he +is incapable of mental advance, that he will never expunge the +mythological element from his religious outlook, or learn to +discriminate between emotion, the product of the senses, and accurate +knowledge, the product of laborious enquiry and elevated thought."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he is wiser so," Laurence said. "Perhaps—I speak subject to +correction, sir—but perhaps he gets into touch, that way, with things +not altogether unimportant in the long history of the human race."</p> + +<p>"Here, within measurable distance of dissolution, I grow somewhat weary +of <i>perhaps</i>. Yet I deserve that you should answer me this, since I have +shown myself very weak. I had not courage to embrace the remarkable +opportunity of investigating the phenomena of which we have spoken when +it was offered me in my prime. Now, in my decadence, surreptitiously and +at second hand, I try to acquire the knowledge I then repudiated. I +clutch at straws, and the straws sink with me. It is just. For the +second time I am untrue to my principles. I accept the rebuke."</p> + +<p>During the last half hour there had been a lull in the storm; but now +the wind, shifting to a point north of west, hurled itself against the +house-front with renewed fury, and screamed against the shuddering +casements as though determined to gain entrance. The effect was that of +personal violence intended, and, with difficulty, repulsed. To Laurence +an inrush of the tempest would have been hardly unwelcome, for the heat +of the atmosphere oppressed him to the point of distress. Nor was this +all. Once more he became aware, so it seemed to him, of the tremendous, +unseen presence with which he had struggled earlier this same evening in +the yellow drawing-room below. He was aware that it stood on the far +side of the great, ebony bed, waiting, and the young man's heart stood +still. He saw Mr. Rivers gather the sable cape more closely about him, +as he lay staring out into the austere yet luxurious room; and he +recognised that for all his mortal weakness there was a certain +magnificence in the dying man's aspect.</p> + +<p>"And beyond the superb, and always unredeemed, promise of human life, a +blank," Mr. Rivers said at last, his voice hollow, and, though so +small, asserting itself strangely against the tumult of the storm. +"Reason, learning, the senses, carry us thus far, only to project us +against a gateless barrier at the last!"</p> + +<p>But Laurence's whole nature arose in fierce revolt. Again he renewed +that awful struggle, but this time in articulate speech.</p> + +<p>"No, no, sir," he cried sharply, authoritatively, "the barrier is not +gateless—that is, to any one of us who has ever, even dimly and +passingly, known true-love, and that of which true-love is the +everlasting exponent and blessed symbol, namely, Almighty God."</p> + +<p>"And I have known neither," Mr. Rivers answered. "Love I have never +felt. God I have never needed, either as an object of worship, or as +incentive to prayer. Therefore, for me, on your own showing, the barrier +needs must remain gateless."</p> + +<p>He bowed his head slightly, smiling upon the young man with a fine, +ironical courtesy.</p> + +<p>"I will ask your pardon for any weariness I may have caused you, +Laurence," he added. "And now I think we have nothing further to say to +one another. I have no quarrel with your fulfilment of your part of the +contract. It has been only—possibly—too complete. So I will detain you +no longer. You can leave me. I bid you good-night."</p> + +<p>The young man would have answered with some kindly words of farewell; +but as the other ceased speaking, he became aware that, under the +glistening, outstretched arms of the caryatides, that tremendous unseen +presence bent downwards, extending itself sensibly over the bed. +Suddenly, and with a surprising effect of strength, Mr. Rivers started +into a sitting position.</p> + +<p>"Lowndes," he called imperatively, and reached out for the handle of the +silver bell.</p> + +<p>But before Laurence could render him any help he sunk down sideways—as +though under the weight of a heavy blow—the upper part of his body +hanging over the edge of the bed, and his thin, reed-like hands, with +their ancient and mysterious rings, dragging upon the carpet—dead.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a>XVII</h2> + + +<p>The afternoon was fair and mild, a pensive charm upon it of misty +sunshine and light fugitive shadows—one of those tender, silvery +afternoons very characteristic of an English spring. It was as though +nature, repentant of the violence of the past night, would disarm +resentment by softness of mood, pretty invitations, and all manner of +insinuating caresses. Thrushes piped among the high branches, and on the +house-roofs starlings whistled and chattered, their crops filled with +succulent comfort of worms and slugs. Upon the wide lawns two pairs of +grey wag-tails scampered, with interludes of love-making and rapid +upward flutterings after young gnats and flies—born out of due time and +paying speedy and final penalty of too precocious an advent. The year +had fairly turned its back on winter at last, and a promise of genial +days, warm, lingering twilights, and tranquil nights was in the air.</p> + +<p>Yet the late storm had not departed altogether without witness. For +Laurence, pacing the broad walk from the last steps of the Italian +garden to the confines of the lime-grove, could hear the hushing of +birch-brooms and the ring of an axe. One of the tall cypresses had +fallen right across the central alley, and gardeners were still busy +chopping it up, carting away blocks of red wood and barrow-loads of +scented branches, and obliterating the traces of its downfall.</p> + +<p>Laurence paced the walk in a state of dreamy abstraction. The influences +of the hour and the place were soothing to him. Their last interview and +the final scene in his uncle's bed-chamber had affected him deeply. +To-day had been full of detail. He had spent great part of the morning +at the little, grey, Norman church, in company with Armstrong, Mr. Beal, +and the estate mason, superintending the opening of the Rivers's vault, +and such alteration of the position of the coffins it contained as to +render possible the addition of another to their number. Upon the +coffin-plates he read the names of many members of his family—of Dudley +Rivers and others; and that of his own father, Denbigh Rivers, who had +died on foreign service in Malta, when he—Laurence—was a child, and +whose body had been sent home, not without cost and difficulty, to lie +among his kindred in this quiet place. Of Agnes Rivers's coffin—though +he closely examined all such as were still intact—he discovered no +trace.</p> + +<p>"There won't be room for me or mine down there, Armstrong," he said to +the agent, as the two stood in the sunny churchyard, flicking the +clinging cobwebs of the vault from off their clothes. "Not that I'm +particularly sorry for that. Look here, you see the vacant space there +by the chancel wall? Just try if you can arrange to have it staked out +and reserved, without encroaching on the rights or hurting the feelings +of any of the parishioners. I rather fancy lying there—unless I'm lucky +enough to die at sea, and be dropped over the ship's side into the +clear, blue water, with a shot at my feet."</p> + +<p>"Every man to his humour, no doubt, Mr. Rivers," the other answered, in +his slow sing-song. "Though I could find it in my heart to wish you a +less uneasy resting-place than the swaying deeps of the ocean. Yet I +suppose it was just there, and in the manner you have indicated, that +your namesake and great-uncle, Laurence Rivers, found burial after the +glorious battle of Trafalgar."</p> + +<p>Laurence had stopped beating the clinging cobwebs from his sleeve, and +turned to the speaker with a look of quick intelligence.</p> + +<p>"Why, of course it was," he said, presently adding—"Upon my word, I +wonder—will history repeat itself in that particular also!"</p> + +<p>Subsequently, there had been letters to write, telegrams to despatch, +the disorganised household gently, but firmly, to lay hold on. And now +he paced the broad walk in an interval of leisure, listening till the +grinding of carriage-wheels upon the gravel of the chestnut avenue +should advise him that Mr. Wormald, his uncle's lawyer—whom he had +summoned from town—had arrived at Stoke Rivers Road, and completed the +transit from that station. And as he thus paced, while the silvery +sunshine and shadow gently followed one another across the face of the +fair, woodland landscape, a little of the pride of possession awoke in +the young man. He had hardly had time to think of that before; nor did +it seem quite fitting or seemly to do so when the breath had but so +lately left the body lying in that stately room upstairs. Yet it was +indisputable, this was precisely the event which, consciously or +unconsciously, he had waited for ever since his boyhood. The prospect of +one day succeeding to this property had handicapped him; he felt that. +It had placed him in a position, socially, slightly beyond his means. It +had taken from him the incentive and inclination to carve out an +independent career. So far it had been the reverse of an advantage, from +the more serious standpoint. But now all that was changed. He had a very +definite "name and local habitation." He was absolutely his own +master—no longer heir-apparent, but recognised owner and ruler of a by +no means contemptible territory. This was as the step from boyhood to +manhood—from the last of a public school to the freedom and personal +responsibility of youth no longer subject to tutelage. Laurence smiled +to himself. It occurred to him he had really got to grow up at last. +Well—he had been a precious long time about it! And then, somehow, it +occurred to him that this change in his fortunes altered and modified +his relation to Virginia. He had lived in Virginia's country, and among +her friends, almost exclusively, since his marriage. He had, he was +aware, ranked somewhat as Virginia's husband. Now the state of affairs +was reversed. He was in a position to claim full masculine +prerogatives—those of an old country, of a ripe and finished +civilisation, well understood. In future Virginia—she was very +charming, very, he'd no quarrel with her of course—only, in future, +Virginia would have to rank as his wife.</p> + +<p>And, thereupon, involuntarily his eyes sought the bay-window of the +yellow drawing-room. At the foot of the semicircular stone steps, on to +which that window opened, the gardeners still moved to and fro—slow, +brown-clad figures—collecting and wheeling away the <i>débris</i> of the +fallen cypress. Laurence refused to formulate further the thoughts that +arose in his mind. Only one thing was clear to him—clear as the songs +and whistlings of the birds, clear as the tinkle and plash of the +fountains, the spray of which glittered so brightly silver in the +silvery light—Virginia could not come to Stoke Rivers just yet. It was +better—better in every way—that her coming should be postponed for a +while—till the period of mourning for his uncle was over—till he, +Laurence, had mastered all the business, and organised the existent +masculine household upon a new basis—till he had thoroughly acquainted +himself not only with the working of this, but of the Scotch +estate—till he and Virginia were free to keep open house—till—till—</p> + +<p>At that moment, perhaps fortunately, the dogcart emerged from the +shelter of the great chestnut-trees, and swung round the carriage sweep +to the front door. Laurence crossed the lawns and the angle of the +Italian garden quickly.—What a pity that cypress had fallen! It broke +the line, destroying the symmetry of the garden; and it was almost the +tallest and finest grown of the lot.</p> + +<p>In the hall Mr. Wormald discoursed affably with the men-servants, while +the latter divested him of more than one overcoat. He was a small, +withered man, his back bowed and his hands sadly crippled by rheumatic +gout, by much handling of pens, and leaning over lengthy legal +documents; yet his movements were noticeably alert. His clean-shaven, +busy, little face was enlightened by nimble, red-brown, squirrel-like +eyes.</p> + +<p>"Thank ye, Renshaw," he said. "Gently—ah, yes, you remember! These +damp, spring days get into my joints, I promise you. Ah! there you are, +Watkins. Yes, sad affair this, and sudden. Great shock to you all, no +doubt. Quite so—but I observe that so frequently is the case. A +lingering illness, the termination of which grows to seem more and more +remote, and then the end with unlooked-for rapidity. Yes, very sad."</p> + +<p>Disengaging himself from the sleeves of his second coat, he perceived +Laurence's arrival, and his squirrel-like eyes scampered, so to speak, +over the young man from head to foot. Like the agent, he appeared to +receive an agreeable impression, for he gave a subdued squeak evidently +indicative of satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Mr. Rivers," he exclaimed, "you will not remember me. It is many +years since we met. You were a little shaver in an Eton-jacket and round +collar. And your poor uncle passed away quite suddenly at last?—Not a +matter for regret, I venture to think. Few men would have been more +fretted by a consciousness of failing powers. Remarkable intellect"—Mr. +Wormald keckled softly, as he passed with the young man into the +library—"quite beyond me, out of my humble range altogether, you know, +Mr. Rivers. I admired his conversation; yet I cannot venture to pretend +I attached any intelligible meaning to one-half of what your uncle said. +But our business relations were very simple. He disliked business too +much to wish to prolong the discussion of it. You will find all legal +arrangements very direct. The death duties will be heavy; but, otherwise +there are no deductions, I believe, save one or two small legacies to +the servants.—Dinner, yes, Mr. Rivers, the earlier the better for me. I +should be glad to put in a long evening with Armstrong; then we will +have everything ready for you in the morning. I have an appointment with +a client at five to-morrow afternoon, so I will ask you to let me go up +by the two o'clock. I shall not need to encroach on your time to-night."</p> + +<p>Therefore it happened, that, comparatively early Laurence found himself +free to go down the red-carpeted corridor, pull back the heavy, +leather-lined curtain, and enter the room of strange and delectable +meetings once again. What fortune, good or bad, awaited him, he could +not even surmise. He had learned one thing at least, that, in this +connection, nothing was certain save the unforeseen. Nevertheless, he +was sensible of slight surprise on finding the room shrouded in vague +gloom. By some oversight the electric light had not been turned on. But +the March evenings were long, and he had come to the trysting-place +before the accustomed hour. The day was not wholly dead yet, and +twilight lingered in the neighbourhood of the bay-window. After his +first movement of surprise, Laurence found a restful charm in the soft +obscurity surrounding him. Once again the room had resumed its effect of +friendliness; and if his fairy-lady was not there as yet, no more were +malign and opposing powers. The place was kindly and peaceful. It, like +the weather, had settled back into a mild and engaging mood.</p> + +<p>The young man felt his way across to the window, and sat down in one of +the gilt-framed, brocade-covered armchairs on the right of the bay. +There he waited, looking out now at the garden, growing mysterious and +shadowy in the deepening dusk; now at the tall, satin-wood escritoire, +the highly polished surfaces of which, reflecting the expiring light, +glistened so that the shape of it remained visible after surrounding +objects had faded from sight.</p> + +<p>How long he waited Laurence did not know, nor did he greatly care. He +had been very actively employed for the better part of the last +six-and-thirty hours, and both as to mind and body he was in an +unusually quiescent state. His energies were in pleasant suspension. The +dimly seen room swam before his eyes. He made no effort of resistance. A +mist clouded his vision, clouded all his faculties, and he slept.</p> + +<p>When he awoke it was high noon. He lay on the stone bench beneath the +lime-trees, the innumerable leaves of which rustled and danced in the +warm, summer wind. He awoke laughing from a wholly delicious dream—a +young man's dream of very lovely love, which after long denial and delay +had found perfect fulfilment. He felt very light and content. Life was +sweet, this smiling, summer world infinitely hopeful and sympathetic. +Then he stretched himself, smoothed the revers of his flowered, silk +waistcoat, and straightened his lawn cravat, which had been somewhat +displaced during the pleasant relaxation of slumber. He rubbed a trifle +of dust, too, from the knee of his plumb-coloured breeches with his +handkerchief. Then he stood up still laughing, yet with a growing hunger +in his heart, since he began to realise that those delights were his, as +yet, only within the gates of sleep and of dreams. He stretched again, a +sigh mingling with his laughter; and then discovered that through the +shifting, dappled sunlight and shadow Agnes Rivers approached him with +her pretty, flitting, bird-like grace. To-day she wore a pale, +lemon-yellow, India-muslin dress, spotted with cinnamon-coloured sprigs, +and a white and cinnamon coloured waist ribbon embroidered in blown +roses and tiny buds. A black, velvet work-bag, with long yellow and +black strings to it, hung upon her arm; while her charming head and neck +showed up in high relief against the open blue-grey sunshade she +carried tilted over her right shoulder. Laurence went forward to meet +her, all aglow from his recent sleep and from the fond imaginations of +that delicious dream. Half playfully, half in sharp desire of mastery, +he took away her sunshade and work-bag, and threw them down upon the +turf. Then grasping both her hands in his, he kissed and kissed them, +holding them high and bending his head so that his eyes were on a level +with hers. And there must have been something in his eyes fearful, +though enchanting, to her perfect maidenliness, for she flushed and +tried to withdraw her hands, moving back a step from him with an air of +questioning and innocent dignity.</p> + +<p>"Laurence, Laurence," she said chidingly, "what does this mean? What has +taken you?"</p> + +<p>"Only happiness," he answered, "of which, having seen the dear vision, I +very badly need the still dearer reality."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" she said, "and yet you will go away—how soon we do not know—to +this most unhappy war, and leave me desolate."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and it is best so, sweetheart," he replied; serious, though still +smiling—she was so pure, so trustful, and so very fair. Her gentle +beauty racked him—"Best so," he repeated—"best pass the time +honourably, fighting for king and country, until your twenty-first +birthday is past, and Dudley can no longer forbid our marriage, and I +can claim you, make and keep you mine forever and a day—"</p> + +<p>And thereupon he stopped abruptly, for his elder brother had come upon +them unperceived—Dudley, thin and tall, clothed in sad-coloured, +brown-grey coat and vest, the locks of his long, pale hair stirred by +the summer wind, in his hand a bundle of papers—Dudley, whose high, +narrow head, refined features, and deep-set, fanatical eyes reminded +Laurence strangely of his uncle, Montagu Rivers, lying upstairs in the +carven, ebony bed, with the crystal <i>memento mori</i> and the silver bell +of the elegantly poised Mercury handle on the table beside him.—But how +was that? How could it be? He confused two generations. Dudley Rivers's +coffin he had seen, in the vault of the little, Norman church, only this +morning. The dust lay thick on it. For more than half a century it had +reposed there undisturbed; whereas his uncle, Montagu Rivers, died but +last night!</p> + +<p>Yet even while he thus reasoned, the scene suffered change. All around +him was the roar of cannon; and beneath him the screaming of two ships, +grinding into one another, side to side, upon the lift and fall of the +Atlantic, where the sea grows short towards Gibraltar and the Straits. +They screamed, those ships, as fighting stallions scream—a fierce and +terrible sound. And all their decks were slippery with blood, through +which half-naked men ran red-footed, or falling, wallowed, while the +yell of battle went up hoarse from many hundred throats. The white +sails, torn and streaming, were dyed wild, lurid colours by the flash of +musketry and up-rolling volumes of smoke from the heavy guns. It was as +hell let loose. Yet discipline prevailed, as did a desperate and +persistent purpose, through all the tumult and slaughter. Laurence +himself felt cool, light-hearted even, as he shouted orders and rallied +his men in no mild language. His courage was high and his life strong +in him. He laughed, notwithstanding the murderous noise, the sickening +and brutal sights. But, to his fury, just in the turn of the engagement, +when victory seemed assured at last, he felt a shattering blow at the +top of his chest, and the blood welled up from his pierced lungs, and +all the world about him grew black. He staggered back against the +splintered bulwarks, putting his left hand upon the thin packet of +letters buttoned inside his uniform against his heart, and called +aloud—"Agnes, Agnes."</p> + +<p>And out of the blackness a sweet voice, speaking as from some far +distance, answered, crying—"Laurence, Laurence"—in accents of +tremulous but very exquisite joy. Then within his palm he felt once more +that just perceptible pulsation, as of the fluttering wings of a captive +butterfly; while, in the ghostly twilight still glimmering in through +the great bay-window, he beheld the slender form and rose-red, silken +dress of his sweet fairy-lady, there, close at his side.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII"></a>XVIII</h2> + + +<p>For some moments the young man dared not move. The anguish of his +shattered ribs, the choking up-rush of blood from his lungs, was so +present to him, that he turned deadly faint. By degrees he realised that +all these sensations were illusory; or rather memory of that which had, +long ago, befallen him. Then he asked himself—was the cry which had +just now answered his cry illusory, a matter of memory, likewise? This +he must ascertain. He began speaking slowly and softly; and the +conviction of his identity with that other Laurence Rivers, his +namesake, was so complete, that in speaking as he did he had no sense of +practising any deceit upon his hearer.</p> + +<p>"Agnes," he said, "do you remember the summer morning when, like a lazy +fellow, I fell asleep under the lime-trees, and how you came to me just +as I woke up, and how we spoke to one another, and how my brother Dudley +interrupted our conversation."</p> + +<p>A pause followed, during which he listened with almost feverish anxiety, +looking up into the sweet, dimly-seen face. Was it possible that she +had already gained in physical attributes and powers to the point of +audible speech? He almost prayed it might be so; and yet what tremendous +issues such development opened up!</p> + +<p>At last the low, far-away voice began to answer him. The words came +lispingly, at first, with a pathetic effort and hesitancy. It was as the +utterance of a baby child but just learning to articulate.</p> + +<p>"How could I fail to remember that morning, since the joy of it proved +the prelude to the sorrow of your departure?"</p> + +<p>Laurence could barely control his excitement; but he just managed to +remain very still and to continue speaking slowly and softly.</p> + +<p>"Was that so?" he said. "I had forgotten."</p> + +<p>"Surely it was so," she answered. "For Dudley brought you the orders, +which had just been delivered by a despatch-rider, requiring your +immediate return to your ship."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes—of course. I begin to recollect," he rejoined. "Lord Nelson +had news of the whereabouts of the French fleet, and we put to sea at a +few hours' notice. Recollect, dear me, I should rather think I did! It +was an awful rush to get one's kit together, and get through, and there +was no end of a bother about post-horses."</p> + +<p>Laurence rose to his feet. It was impossible to him to sit still any +longer. This strange awakening of memory, and the miracle of his sweet, +phantom companion's recovered speech, moved him too deeply. He went +across to the escritoire.</p> + +<p>"Come here, Agnes," he said. "I want to look at you. I must see you +clearly. And I—I want you to look at me. Come."</p> + +<p>While speaking he struck a match, and lighted, first the tall wax +candles standing upon the escritoire, and then those in the candelabra +upon the chimney-piece. Beheld in their mellow light, the room assumed a +more than ever familiar and friendly aspect. Laurence felt that he was +at home—at home, consciously, and with a security and content upon him +such as he had never experienced before. It was singularly pleasant to +feel thus. Moving back he stood in front of the slender, rose-clad +figure. His manner was serious, though very gentle, and his voice +somewhat broken by the emotion under which he laboured.</p> + +<p>"See, I have opened your little treasure-chest for you," he said. "And I +have read your dear letters—that constituted no breach of faith, or act +of presumption, considering how often I have read them already. I have +put everything carefully back in its place, save our two miniatures, +which lie here side by side. I tell you honestly, I am perplexed. I +can't fit in the bits of the puzzle, or piece out the story as yet; but +that, to my mind, doesn't matter very much. For we are here together, +once again, you and I."</p> + +<p>He shifted the position of the candles so that their full light should +fall upon her.</p> + +<p>"Now let me look at you," he said.</p> + +<p>And as he looked his eyes grew somewhat moist, for he perceived that +which he had blindly desired, blindly sought all his days, that which +had been as an ache at his heart even in his gayest hours, because he +needed it and had it not—though he had had no knowledge of what indeed +it was he needed—now stood visibly before him. Sweet phantom, old-time +love, exquisite companion—having found her, how could he ever again let +her go? Listening to her pretty, halting speech the flattering belief +had once more grown strong in him that he had the power—had he also the +will—to restore her to complete and living womanhood. The ambition of +so doing possessed him with redoubled force; and the love of her, rooted +so deeply in that mysterious former life and former personality of his, +possessed him too. Considerations of right and wrong, of duty, even of +honour, he brushed aside. The peace and content of the present, the +daring effort, the triumph and delight of the future should that effort +succeed, rendered him callous to all things beside. Then a touch of +self-distrust took him. Did he please, as he was pleased? He wondered.</p> + +<p>"Agnes," he asked her almost wistfully, "tell me, have I changed very +much?"</p> + +<p>Her eyes, which had grown somewhat shy beneath his searching scrutiny, +regained their serenity. She replied more readily, and in more assured +accents, while a gentle playfulness was perceptible in her bearing.</p> + +<p>"You appear older," she said; "but I will not reproach you with that, +since I think you have matured in character rather than greatly +increased in years. I could fancy you taller, were not such a +supposition absurd. The fashion of your clothes is much altered—you +affect very sober colours now."</p> + +<p>But suddenly her expression changed. A wide-eyed, haunting sadness came +back into her lovely face, and she spread abroad her hands in mingled +apology and appeal.</p> + +<p>"Ah! indeed," she cried, "I fear a long, long period has elapsed during +my illness and alienation of mind. You have had time and to spare in +which to grow older, to acquire new habits of thought, perchance—but +that idea I cannot tolerate—to form fresh ties. I bitterly deplore my +weakness, but they assured me of your death. Their purpose was not +cruel, I am sure; but when I refused to believe their statements, your +brother Dudley and Mrs. Lambart sent for our rector, Mr. Burkinshaw, to +talk with me and preach resignation. He preached to deaf ears, poor man! +How could I be resigned to see all the joy of my life cut down as grass +under the sweep of a scythe? I did not believe them, yet their +reiterated assertions so worked on me that they killed hope in me, and, +in so doing, killed reason likewise. Yet in my heart of hearts, +Laurence, I have always known that you would come again."</p> + +<p>She clasped her hands high on her bosom and smiled upon him.</p> + +<p>"And you have come, oh! my love," she said; "you have come!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, in good truth," he answered, while a sense of fear took him—"I +have come."</p> + +<p>For he was filled with pity and with wonder concerning the end of this +adventure; while her innocent passion softened his whole nature to a +great tenderness, as the sun softens the frozen earth in spring. Then he +held out his hand to her in invitation, and led her across to the +brocade-covered sofa, set corner-wise between the piano and the +fireplace, and for a while they both remained silent, sitting there side +by side. And as the minutes slid away, the young man's fears departed, +and content returned to him. It was so natural to sit with her thus! Yet +his content had an underlying pathos in it, since their situation—his +and hers—though immediately happy was so very strange.</p> + +<p>At last he asked her:—"Did you know me from the first?"</p> + +<p>And she replied with an air of gracious diffidence infinitely +engaging:—"I can hardly tell you. For so long confusion has reigned in +my poor mind that all had become to me vague and undetermined. I was so +very tired that even that which I most craved, I, in a measure, shrank +from. I seemed to wander everlastingly in blank and desolate places. I +seemed to move in an interspace between the confines of two worlds, to +neither of which could I gain admittance. I could not go forward, +neither could I go back. Everything baffled me; everything was so +difficult to understand."</p> + +<p>"But now you have left those blank and desolate places? Now you +understand?" Laurence asked, keenly interested in, yet a little dreading +her answer.</p> + +<p>"I think so. Still joy has been too long a stranger, for me wholly to +trust it even yet. And I fear there are still lapses and deficiencies in +my intelligence. I could fancy—but doubtless these are but silly +fancies, born of illness—that I am not as I used to be, and that I +feel the miss of much I once had and now have not."</p> + +<p>She looked up at him, her eyes troubled once more to their very depths.</p> + +<p>"In what am I lacking, Laurence?" she inquired piteously. "I feel that I +am lacking, and I tremble lest I should disappoint you. Indeed, I will +strive to remedy my fault, whatever it may be, if you will but be +patient with me and tell me plainly of it, and give me opportunity to +effect a cure."</p> + +<p>But he answered her soothingly, stung by the humility and innocence of +her attitude.</p> + +<p>"You are wanting in nothing that time will not set right. But we must +make haste slowly, sweetheart. So put all these sick fancies out of your +head. We will worry neither about past or future; but, like true +economists, will enjoy the present. Now let us talk of the time before I +left you to rejoin my ship. Of that other melancholy time, after I left +you and before I came back, and of the changes it has brought along with +it, we will talk some other day—I trust there are many days for us +ahead."</p> + +<p>And so they remained speaking of the incidents of that mysterious former +life, of which Laurence's recollection became momentarily more +circumstantial and coherent—speaking of little things, merry and +tender, such as lovers love—until, more than once, gusts of gentle +laughter swept through the yellow drawing-room, which, for such a length +of years, had been empty of all sound of human mirth. And not until the +rose-red fingers of the dawn—in colour matching his fairy-lady's +rose-red gown—first touched the eastern sky above the dome of the lime +grove and the broken outline of the woods, did Laurence and Agnes Rivers +cease to talk. Then she got up from her place in pretty haste.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" she said, smiling, "I must go. Good Mrs. Lambart will reprove my +indiscretion in having remained here so late."</p> + +<p>But Laurence was bound to ask her one question, which had been in his +mind during the whole course of their interview, yet had not so far +dared put to her.</p> + +<p>"Tell me," he said, "I waited for you—why did you not meet me here last +night?"</p> + +<p>"Ah!" she replied, "do not let us closely inquire into that. Something +terrible was abroad in the house. I think it was the Shadow of Death. It +stood between us—or I dreamed it did so.—But we fought against it. We +conquered it—at least I dreamed that we did. And it is gone.—But now, +dear love, indeed I too must go. Good-night, or rather good-morrow. +Carry happy thoughts away with you, even as I do, to sweeten rest."</p> + +<p>And, without more ado, she flitted across the room, as though her little +feet in their diamond-powdered slippers could not go soberly, but must +dance for very joy, and, passing behind the tall escritoire, Laurence +once again was aware that she had disappeared and left no trace.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIX" id="XIX"></a>XIX</h2> + + +<p>The disposition of Montagu Rivers's property proved—as Mr. Wormald had +already advised Laurence it would prove—of a simple and straightforward +description. All the servants connected with the house and stables would +receive a couple of years' wages. Lowndes, the valet, would in addition +draw a substantial pension. Outside these provisions, Laurence inherited +wholly and solely. A single clause in the brief will revealed somewhat +of the eccentric character of its maker. Mr. Rivers directed that within +forty-eight hours of his reported death a London surgeon of acknowledged +eminence should use means to ascertain, beyond all possibility of doubt, +that death had veritably and indeed taken place. He further directed +that Armstrong, the agent, and a local practitioner who had attended him +at intervals during his illness, should be present at this rather +ghastly demonstration. It was added that the corpse should receive +Christian burial not less than twenty-four hours after the autopsy had +been carried out. The clause concluded with the following words:—</p> + +<p>"I desire these measures to be taken—childish and superstitious though +they may appear—as a precaution against that happening, in my own case, +which would appear to have happened in the case of a former inhabitant +of Stoke Rivers."</p> + +<p>The eminent surgeon in question, hastily summoned from amid a press of +work, could spare but one evening for his visit. He proved to be a +courtly and agreeable person, an amateur of the fine arts, with a turn +for copper-plate engravings, a weakness for Italian ivories, and an +enthusiasm for antique and renaissance gems. His work in the +death-chamber accomplished, he readily turned his attention to more +pleasing investigations; and during the hour after dinner, before the +coming of the carriage to take him to catch the up-express at Stoke +Rivers Road, he examined the contents of certain glass cases in the +library, and looked at the engravings hanging in the lower corridor.</p> + +<p>"I little imagined, when I left town this afternoon," he said, +addressing Laurence with a peculiarly charming smile, "that such +delectable entertainment was in store for me. I am proud of my +profession—no man more so; but I am not sorry to put it aside for a +time and forget injury and disease, and even successful dealing with +them, in favour of art. This collection of your uncle's, though not +large, is remarkable. It reflects great credit upon his judgment and +taste. It contains absolutely no rubbish, hardly, indeed, a single +object which it would be just to qualify as second-rate.—Ah! here is +another admirable thing, though less in my line than those delightful +gems."</p> + +<p>The two men had reached the end of the corridor, and the doctor paused +in front of the tapestry curtain.</p> + +<p>"This is a very fine example," he continued, "though I could not, off +hand, be sure of the date. How broad and yet how harmonious in +colouring! Just a trifle broad in subject, too, perhaps; but our +forefathers were blessed or cursed—I am often at a loss to decide +which—with a more robust taste in sentiment than ourselves. A witty +modern writer has spoken of 'the saving grace of coarseness.' There +have been times when I have been tempted to endorse his phrase."</p> + +<p>As he spoke, he laid hold of the edge of the curtain.</p> + +<p>"Dear me, how singularly weighty!" He looked at his host quickly, +inquiringly, and with heightened interest. "Singularly weighty," he +repeated. "This house enjoys a reputation for a certain originality, I +understand. Would it be indiscreet to inquire to what this splendid +<i>portière</i> either gives, or denies, access?"</p> + +<p>Just for a moment Laurence hesitated, staring his guest very full in the +face. So far this new acquaintance had interested him greatly. His +conversation had been refreshingly varied; moreover, Laurence, in +listening to it, had become increasingly and pleasingly impressed with +the value and distinction of his lately acquired possessions. He +recognised a steadiness and sanity in the great surgeon's outlook; an +appreciation of things rare and beautiful, combined with a wisdom born +of wide practical experience; a large compassion, too, for the foibles, +and sufferings, and sins of poor human nature, unembittered by any +flavour of contempt. And so it happened that, during that moment of +hesitation, Laurence was sorely disposed to lay bare to this man—whom +he would in all probability never meet again—the abnormal situation in +which he, at the present time, found himself. If any one could grasp +that situation, and deal with it at once justly and sympathetically, he +thought this man could do so; since he appeared to have passed the +limits of denial and scepticism, and reached that composure and poise of +mind wherein revolt ceases and the capacity of acceptance and belief +becomes almost unlimited. But—perhaps unfortunately—Laurence put the +inclination towards free speech from him as a temptation. Was he not +bound by his promise to the dead? He was bound still more, perhaps, by +personal pride. It appeared to him free speech would be a yielding, a +weakness; so he answered suavely, yet with a sufficient loftiness to +leave no room for further question—</p> + +<p>"Behind the curtain is that which, indirectly, has procured me the great +pleasure of receiving you here to-day."</p> + +<p>As he spoke he turned, and led the way in the direction of the hall +again.</p> + +<p>"I'm uncommonly glad," he added, "that you have such a high opinion of +my uncle's little collection. Perhaps it may induce you to come down +here again sometime, from Saturday to Monday, and overhaul the contents +of these cases at your leisure. I am afraid I'm a bit of a barbarian, +and don't reckon with them as reverently as I ought. I am a good deal +better up in the points of polo ponies than in those of Popes' rings, I +know."</p> + +<p>"That is no matter for regret," the doctor replied, in his most courtly +manner. "My esteem for the barbarian increases rather than diminishes as +I grow older. And I never forget that these delicacies of art are, after +all, the refuge of those who have outlived or injured their digestion +of, and appetite for, simpler and more wholesome diet. Such dyspeptics +are to be commiserated rather than commended. As long as the romance of +sport and travel holds you, as long as you still 'love the bright eyes +of danger,' you can very well afford to leave the consolations offered +by gems, and ivories, and such like sweepings from the ruins of departed +civilisations, to the physically and emotionally decrepit."</p> + +<p>He shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Ah, youth," he said, "immortal youth, and the rather savage joys of +it!—I congratulate you far more profoundly upon the possession of +these, and upon the magnificent health which I cannot but perceive to be +yours, than upon your extremely interesting house and both its seen"—he +paused, looking rather hard at Laurence and smiling—"and unseen +treasures.—A cigar? Yes, thanks, I think I will permit myself that +indulgence on my way down to the station.—But to return to my +contention. Remember we only take to sweet-sop when our teeth are no +longer sound enough for ship's biscuit. Eat ship's biscuit and relish it +just as long as a merciful Providence permits you to do so, my dear +young gentleman. The days of sweet-sop, of the armchair, of what we are +pleased to call 'the judicial attitude of mind,' but which is really +nothing save the natural consequence of a sluggish and defective +circulation, will come all too soon in any case. Adieu to you—"</p> + +<p>A flash of carriage lamps at the open hall door, the two +men-servants—restored to their habitual correctness of bearing—armed +with rugs, greatcoat, and narrow leather bag of slightly sinister +aspect—the snort of a horse in the night air, fresh from the +comfortable warmth of the stable—and, after further farewells, Laurence +went back into the hot, bright, silent house.</p> + +<p>"No one need sit up, Renshaw," he said to the waiting butler. "I shall +watch in Mr. Rivers's room alone to-night."</p> + +<p>For this was to be a night of abstinence, so the young man had decided, +from the dear sight of his fairy-lady and the delight of her +miraculously recovered speech. He had a duty to perform to the dead man, +lying solitary upstairs—though hardly more solitary now, than during +the long years past in which he had repudiated all solace of human +affection. To Laurence himself life had become almost terribly well +worth living since he had set foot in Stoke Rivers little more than a +week ago; and it was to this man, of cold and narrow nature, that, after +all, he owed this notable enlargement of interests and opportunity—not +to mention those material advantages of houses, lands, and costly +furnishings which had come to him. Gratitude was very much in place; and +it seemed to him that a silent vigil in that stately bed-chamber would +be only fitting, both as an act of piety, and as testimony to the +gratitude now no longer permitted expression either in spoken word or +kindly act. Nor could Laurence help hoping that during those solemn +hours he might arrive at a clear determination regarding the +future—ceasing merely to drift passive and acquiescent to the push of +circumstance, as a rudderless boat to the push of the tide. He would +direct his own course, be master of his own action, prepared to +take—for good or ill—all the consequences that action might involve. +For, all the while—and it was worse than useless to shirk remembrance +of that—all the while, across the Atlantic, under the bright American +skies, bright as they, immediate and modern as the civilisation on which +they look down, was the vivacious, young, society beauty, whom he had +believed he loved, whom he very certainly had married, and to whom—in +the opinion of both her world and his own—his honour and his whole +future stood pledged. The question of Virginia—for the whole situation +resolved itself fundamentally into that—the question of Virginia must +be reckoned with, and the results of such reckoning accepted once and +for all.</p> + +<p>He had not visited that upstairs room since the night of his uncle's +death. The impression then received of the furnace-like fire, and the +apparent life and motion of those figures of enslaved and half-bestial +womanhood supporting the bed, were still present to his recollection. +But now, as he passed into the room, he found the change worked there +very arresting. All trace of that which had gone forward, earlier in the +evening, under the hands of the eminent surgeon, had been obliterated. +The room was orderly, stately as ever; but it was very cold. The hearth +was swept and empty. One casement stood wide open, and by it entered a +continuous breathing of bleak wind. A single electric burner was turned +on, and, in the low steady light shed by it, the carven figures of the +ebony bed offered no illusion of life or motion; they showed rigid as +the long, narrow body they guarded, the angular outline of which was +perceptible beneath the fine linen sheet—upon the surface of which +sprigs of rosemary and box lay scattered.</p> + +<p>Laurence moved across, intending to turn back the upper part of the +sheet and look on the face of the dead; but as he did so a bent form +rose silently from the armchair, set at right angles to the fireless +hearth, and took up its position on the far side of the bed opposite to +him. Though by no means addicted to nervous alarms, Laurence felt a +chill run through him, right up to the roots of his hair. Was it +conceivable that he beheld the Umbra or Corporeal Soul, of which Ovid +speaks, and that this phantom would keep watch with him over its own +unburied corpse during the coming hours? His sweet fairy-lady was one +thing, and this quite another, in the line of disembodied spirits. Stoke +Rivers, apparently, was not a comfortable place to die in. Laurence +registered a hasty vow that he, for one, would take precious good care +to arrange to die somewhere else! But as he gazed, somewhat fearfully, +at the intruder, it declared itself pathetically and pitifully +human—nothing more recondite, indeed, than Lowndes, the wiry, +long-armed, grey-faced valet.</p> + +<p>"I thought it proper to wait till you should come, sir," he said, under +his breath. "Though Mr. Rivers has no need of my services now, I have +attended on him too constantly to feel it fitting I should be out of +call."—His voice quavered, and he cleared his throat.—"He was a +gentleman that rarely praised, sir. Some might have thought him harsh; +but that was because his mind was so engaged with study. In all the +forty years I waited on him, he never gave me an uncivil word; and it is +not many gentlemen of whom you can say that."</p> + +<p>He lent across, carefully removed some sprigs of box lying high on the +sheet, then folded it down quickly and skilfully across the chest. +Laurence was aware of a jealous devotion in his attitude. No hands save +his own should again touch his dead master. But the sheet once arranged +to his satisfaction, he stepped back, a pace or two, into the shadow of +the damask curtains.</p> + +<p>Then the young man looked long and silently upon the dead. +Notwithstanding its extreme emaciation, the face was gentler than in +life. This was not merely owing to the closing of the brilliant eyes. An +immense calm rested on it. The hunger of the intellect was stayed at +last; and the face was majestic in its composure—the face of one who +has passed, for ever, beyond the tyranny of desire. Looking on it, +Laurence bowed himself reverently in spirit, while the conviction rooted +itself in him, that of all virtues the most fertile, the most admirable, +is courage. For the weak, the dismayed, for skulkers, liars, and +dastards, in whatever department of action or of thought, there is small +hope—so he told himself—either here or hereafter. The battle is to the +strong; and, therefore, to be strong is the one and only thing which +really signifies.</p> + +<p>And then it came to him, with a sense of sudden satisfaction, that this +most desirable thing, strength, was altogether part of his own +inheritance, did he choose to claim it. For the first time he +appreciated the value of that strain of fanaticism resident in his +blood. He had feared it a little, and apologised to himself for its +existence heretofore. He had made a prodigious mistake; for now that +strain of fanaticism revealed itself as among the most excellent things +of his birthright. He remained motionless, gazing, no longer at the +carven bed and its rigid burden, but away to the open casement—in at +which came the breathing of the bleak night-wind—his head held high, +and a singular compression about the corners of his mouth. +Virginia?—Just now Virginia, and all and any obligation he might have +contracted towards her, went for very little. He stood apart, complete +in himself, regardless of custom, regardless even of so-called morality, +should these interfere between him and his purpose. His sense of humour +in regard to himself—humour, eternal enemy of all exaggerations and +fixed ideas—was in abeyance. He knew that, knew it was dangerous. But +then, as the courtly surgeon had so lately reminded him, what so +adorable, after all, as those same "bright eyes of danger"—let danger +come, how and when it may?—Conventionalities? He bade them pack, all +the sort of them. Their day was over. The day of scruples was over +likewise. His position was unexampled. He took the risks, along with the +joys, of it. As his forefathers had been, so would he be. He felt an +extraordinary exaltation and freedom of spirit. And feeling this he +laughed a little, just as he had laughed when rallying his men amid the +roar of cannon and scream of the grinding ships, in the famous sea-fight +off the southern Spanish coast at Trafalgar.</p> + +<p>But the old valet, hearing that most unexpected, and to him unseemly, +sound, emerged from the discreet shadow of the damask curtains and +stretched his long arms to draw the sheet again up over the face of the +corpse.</p> + +<p>"You have done, sir?" he asked in accents of severity.</p> + +<p>"No," Laurence answered, the excitement of his thoughts still strong +upon him—"I have only just begun; but, thank God, or devil, or what you +will, I have begun at last."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XX" id="XX"></a>XX</h2> + + +<p>The funeral was over. Those few gentlemen of the neighbourhood who had +felt it incumbent upon them to appear in person, had departed. So had +the empty broughams of their more numerous neighbours, who proposed to +offer a maximum of respect to the dead with a minimum of trouble to +themselves. The Archdeacon also had started on his homeward journey to +Bishop's Pudbury. At Mr. Beal's earnest entreaty he had been invited by +Laurence Rivers to take part in the function. The young clergyman had +been sadly exercised by scruples regarding the propriety of consigning +the mortal remains of an admitted sceptic and scoffer to the grave, with +words of Christian hope and blessing. What was left for believers if +unbelievers thus benefited? The conscience of his superior officer was +happily of less flabby texture.</p> + +<p>"Charity before all things, my dear Walter," the latter had said, in his +full, sonorous voice, when the ingenuous young man had unfolded his +difficulties. "It is not for you, or even for me, to judge and condemn +a fellow-creature. If not an active churchman, remember Mr. Rivers +displayed no leanings towards Rome or any other schismatic body. For +this we must be very thankful. There are occasions, moreover, as you +will learn in time, when the purely ecclesiastical attitude may fitly be +modified by the knowledge of the man of the world. We yield no point, +mark you; but we abstain from pressing a wrong point at a wrong time. +Judgment, statesmanship—therein lies the practical application of the +sacred injunction, 'Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves.' To +raise objections in the present case would be to increase rather than +mitigate the possibility of scandal—probably, moreover, it would be to +alienate the sympathies of young Mr. Rivers. We must learn never to +sacrifice the future to the present, my dear Walter. To do so is to fall +into errors of misplaced zeal—a very dangerous thing. Much, I cannot +but think, may be done with young Mr. Rivers. Wisely handled, he should +prove of considerable local service to the Church."</p> + +<p>So the good young man's soul received comfort.</p> + +<p>"What a privilege it is to talk with you, sir!" he said. "I always learn +so much."</p> + +<p>Last to go, as he had been first to arrive at Stoke Rivers, was Captain +Bellingham.</p> + +<p>"Poor old chap, I tell you, I've had him very much on my mind, Louise, +these last few days," he had said to his wife, that morning, at +breakfast. "It's only decent charity to see him through. I hear he's +looking uncommonly hipped. You thought him rather queer, you know, the +day he had luncheon here. Mercy for him the old gentleman died as soon +as he did—perfectly mad, too, I hear, and an infernal temper. It's +enough to make any one jumpy to be dancing attendance on such a deathbed +as that day after day; and in that gloomy, ghostly house too. I couldn't +have done it, I know, without getting most frightfully broken up. We +must try to get him over here for a day or two. Write him a nice note, +will you, Louise; it would be awfully good of you, and I will do my best +to bring him back with me to-night. Ought to be quiet to-morrow, I +suppose, for the sake of appearances; but the day after let's have +General Powys and the Westons to dinner. I want to rattle him up a bit."</p> + +<p>But neither Mrs. Bellingham's neatly worded note, nor her husband's +hospitable entreaties, moved Laurence Rivers. He had quite other fish to +fry. All he asked for was solitude and sunset; and his courtesy was +slightly perfunctory and formal in consequence—so much so, indeed, that +on his return Jack Bellingham remarked to his wife:—</p> + +<p>"Rivers always was such a good-hearted, sensible sort of fellow, that +it's hardly likely coming into this property would turn his head. He's +above any vulgarity of that kind. All the same, he really was curiously +stand-offish to everybody to-day. The Archdeacon meant to make an +afternoon of it, and was a little bit huffed, I think. Rivers was +perfectly civil, only he gave us pretty clearly to understand there was +no call for any of us to dawdle. I don't know, but somehow I tell you, +Louise, I don't quite like his look. We shall see. It would be an awful +pity if he followed in the footsteps of the late lamented and turned out +a crank."</p> + +<p>"I know it," Mrs. Bellingham replied calmly. "But you omit Virginia. I +have never seen a woman less likely to tolerate a crank as her husband +than Virginia."</p> + +<p>And so at length the accustomed quiet settled down on Stoke Rivers. +Dinner was over, and the unwelcome daylight fairly flown. Abstinence had +gone to sharpen the edge of hunger, and Laurence made his way down the +corridor, pulled the curtain towards him, and entered the room of +mysterious meetings in a humour to venture much. At the escritoire stood +his fairy-lady, and at the sound of the closing door she turned and +extended her arms, a world of delicate welcome in her gesture and her +face. Then, as he came towards her, she drew back a little, as though +penitent of the fervour of her greeting. Her lips moved, but no sound +issued from them; and a quick fear went through the young man that, +through the action of some malign influence, she had declined upon her +former condition and once again become dumb. This raised the spirit of +battle in him, and reinforced his resolution to effect her emancipation +from the control of whatever opposing power—physical or +spiritual—might hold her in its grasp. The more so that, for all her +gladness, there was a hint of trouble, a little cloud of distress upon +her face, which provoked him to indignation. He hated that—be it what +it might—which held her sweet being in thrall.</p> + +<p>"Agnes, why is this? Why don't you speak to me?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>Whereat she smiled, as one who loves yet deprecates another's +unreasoning heat.</p> + +<p>"How can I speak," she asked, "until you have first spoken to me?"</p> + +<p>"But why not? I don't understand," he said.</p> + +<p>"Nor I," she answered; "only I know that so it is. I cannot explain the +why and wherefore of this, or of much besides, to myself. I am to myself +at once real and unreal—as an echo, a shadow, the reflection in a +mirror, is at once real and unreal."</p> + +<p>She looked at him seriously, wonderingly, as though trying to take +counsel with him against herself.</p> + +<p>"I see with your eyes, I speak with your voice, I comprehend with your +mind when you are present. When you are absent, I become as the echo +unevoked by any sound, as the shadow when neither sun or moon look +forth to cast it, as the reflection in the mirror when that of which it +was the image has moved away. Only my heart remains to me; and it, when +you are absent, longs and searches, journeying from place to place, +formless, wordless, and blind, sensible only of its own infelicity, +while seeking that which alone can bring it ease and light."</p> + +<p>"My poor love!" Laurence said gently, greatly moved; "my poor love!"</p> + +<p>For a space he was silent, pondering upon her words, almost staggered by +the intensity of her innocent passion. He was not worthy to inspire such +devotion. Had that other Laurence Rivers, his predecessor and namesake, +been more worthy, he wondered. Shame covered him in face of the +deception he was in process of practising upon her. But he put the +thought of that from him fiercely. For was he not prepared to take all +the risks? Surely his action was justified—was it not a work of mercy +to rescue and restore this gentle and homeless ghost? And then, since +the air was mild and the young moon lent an added charm to the formal +alleys of the Italian garden, Laurence, hoping thereby both to allay his +own perturbation of spirit and dissipate the melancholy which still sat +in the clear depths of Agnes Rivers's lovely eyes, engaged her to come +out, once more, and walk. But though the charm of the garden was great, +he almost regretted that he had invited her to leave the shelter of the +house, she appeared so anxiously elusive and fragile a creature. +Watching her, though his courage was stubborn and his will fiercely set, +the task he had undertaken appeared hopeless of accomplishment. But if +the task was hopeless, all the more must it be fulfilled—that had been +the way of his people, and henceforth it was to be his way. And so he +talked to her with a certain lightness, looking at her and smiling.</p> + +<p>"Are you happy, Agnes?" he asked her at last.</p> + +<p>And she answered with a return to her daintily demure and old-world +manner—</p> + +<p>"I should, indeed, be ungrateful were I not so, dear Laurence. Yet, +since you question me, I must own a distrust of the future works a black +thread through all the glad pattern of the present."</p> + +<p>She paused, glancing back somewhat timidly at the house. Every window of +it was lighted, save those of Mr. Rivers's bed-chamber. These last were +dark and blank, producing an arresting effect, and recalling to Laurence +the empty eye-sockets of the crystal <i>memento mori</i>.</p> + +<p>"You are here with me," she continued, "and again I taste happiness. Yet +I am oppressed by the persuasion that, as before, in some hour of +peculiar promise and security you will be called from my side. And that +this time—ah! I fear you may justly reproach my weakness and deride my +far-fetched alarms—this time, going, you will not return; or returning, +you will no longer find me here to greet you."</p> + +<p>"Then very certainly I will never go—that is unless you yourself send +me," Laurence said. He walked on a few paces, and then added, speaking +almost sullenly, answering his own thoughts rather than her +words—"Thank Heaven, I am my own master at last. No one can compel me. +I can do as I think fit; and since I think fit to stay, stay I most +assuredly will, here among my own people, and in my own house."</p> + +<p>He looked at his companion, instinctively desiring to read approval in +her eyes; but her expression was one of startled inquiry.</p> + +<p>"Forgive me," she said, "either Mrs. Lambart has omitted to tell me, +fearing to shock me, or in my heedlessness I have forgotten. Are you +indeed master here, dear Laurence? How is that? Can it be that your +brother Dudley is dead?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he answered, "the old order has changed—and yet not changed +perhaps so very much after all, for it appears the owners of Stoke +Rivers, ancient and modern, are very much of one blood. But, in truth, +Dudley is gone, and others have gone—God rest both him and them—and I +reign in their stead."</p> + +<p>"Yes, God rest his soul," she said; and then repeated softly—"Poor +Dudley! poor unhappy Dudley!"</p> + +<p>But Laurence, noting her pensive bearing, and hearing the gently +regretful tones of her voice, was pricked pretty sharply by a point of +jealousy from out the long past.</p> + +<p>"Is it a matter of so very much grief to you, Agnes," he asked, "to hear +the news of your cousin Dudley's death?"</p> + +<p>Whereupon she turned on him eyes very reassuringly full of love; +while—after a little space—her lips curved into a delicious and almost +saucy smile.</p> + +<p>"Ah! I feared you had grown old and wise," she exclaimed. "I was foolish +to vex myself. I see you are indubitably the same Laurence as ever."</p> + +<p>She laughed very sweetly, sweeping him a delicate curtsey.</p> + +<p>"The very same Laurence as ever," she repeated exultingly.</p> + +<p>Then she flitted away—as though, child-like, joy of heart must needs +find relief in movement—down the long alley across the oblique shadows +cast by the sentinel cypresses, until she reached the great, stone basin +of the terminal fountain. Here she paused, gazing down at the smooth, +slow movements of the sleepless fish.</p> + +<p>The borders on either side the walk were set out with bulbs and early +flowering plants. As yet the majority of these showed but bud, or +upstanding sheaths of leaf. The gilly-stocks only were fully in blossom. +The clean, homely fragrance of them hung in the still air; but the +moonlight had bleached their honest orange and russet faces, making +them, like all else of the scene, but varying degrees of light and dark. +Alone in this colourless world, frail though it was and ethereal, had +the sweet figure of Agnes Rivers retained its actual hues. The brown of +her hair, the warm pallor of her skin, the blue of her profound and now +laughing eyes, the soft rose-red of her silken gown, defied the chill of +the moonlight. And this, as Laurence moved towards her, deepened alike +the charm and the mystery of her appearance. It captivated his +imagination. It stimulated his ambition. It challenged the deep places +of his love. The hopeless task must indeed be accomplished. The +impossible must come to pass. Daring that which no other man had dared, +he would earn a reward such as no other man had dreamed. But he must be +cautious, and discreet, and very gentle. The diplomatist, for a long +while to come, must hold the lover in check if the end was to be gained.</p> + +<p>And just then Agnes Rivers's voice broke into a little song, hardly +articulate, but clear and instinct with delight, even as the songs of +birds, very early in spring, when pairing time has but just begun. Yet +enchanting as the tones were, there was in them something remote and +beyond the compass of human thought, piercing the young man to the very +heart, so that he cried to her—</p> + +<p>"Ah! my dear, come down, come near. Leave your singing, it is too sweet. +It has too much to do with spirit and too little with flesh. It cuts +like a knife. There—there—I am not blaming you, God forbid. Only, you +have lived so long on the borderland between those two worlds, of which +you once spoke, that you have a little lost touch with ordinary mortals +such as I. Come down, come near. Don't you see what I mean? Don't you +know what I want?"</p> + +<p>And after gentle converse, when that morning the dawn broke and with +words of tender farewell, his fairy-lady crossed the yellow drawing-room +and passed at the back of the outstanding satin-wood escritoire, as her +habit was, it appeared to Laurence that, for the first time, a faint +shadow followed her little feet. And this filled him with great and +far-reaching hope—as the first dim greyness of land along the horizon +fills the sailor after long voyaging upon the open sea. Nevertheless, +she vanished as before, leaving him solitary, while of the manner of her +going there remained no sign.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXI" id="XXI"></a>XXI</h2> + + +<p>Days multiplied into weeks, March passed into April, April into May, +June came with all its roses, the lime-trees flowered once again, and +the scent of them was wafted across the broad lawns and in at the open +windows, yet Laurence stayed on at Stoke Rivers. He had ceased to +apologise for, or seek to justify his action. The fanatical, extravagant +element of his character was fully in the ascendant, and it was +conveniently contemptuous of criticism. He had become a law unto +himself. He stayed because he intended to stay—there was the beginning +and end of the matter. Meanwhile, he made discovery of pleasures subtle +and subjective, hitherto unimagined. Living the life of the recluse, he +enjoyed that sense of inward harmony and freedom of spirit known only to +those who dare divorce themselves from society, with its many tyrannies, +and from familiar commerce with their fellowmen. He experienced the +sensible increase of will-power, and the mental elation, that are born +of solitude, silence, and whole-hearted devotion to a single idea. The +values shifted, and many worldly matters, many amusements, which had +formerly appeared to him of vital importance, now began to appear +slightly absurd. He ate and drank sparingly, since meat and liquor tend +to render the action of the brain sluggish, and the imagination somewhat +gross. His dear fairy-lady should regain the completeness of her +humanity; but he would fit himself to meet her half way on her +mysterious return journey from the regions of the dead, by purging +himself of all superfluous animality.</p> + +<p>And his environment lent itself to these practices and experiments. The +household had settled back into its accustomed decorum and regularity. +It asked no questions, it obeyed in respectful silence. And, if certain +tremors shook it at times in face of its new master's supposed dealings +with things occult and supernatural, it accepted them as a necessary +part of its service. Indeed, it may be questioned whether Lowndes, the +grey-faced, long-armed valet, Renshaw, and Watkins, irreproachably +correct of demeanour, would not have suffered far greater inconvenience +and perturbation had they been called upon to adapt themselves to the +ordinary ways of the ordinary, English country-gentleman. Their pride +would have suffered likewise, since eccentricity had been so long +enthroned in their midst, that its absence would have seemed a loss of +<i>prestige</i>, a regrettable coming down in the social scale. They +displayed much solicitude for Laurence's comfort, and much grim alacrity +in turning guests from his door. Captain Bellingham's fears that his +friend might develop into a crank appeared to be in very fair road to +fulfilment; but the household rejoiced silently and grimly thereat.</p> + +<p>So did not Armstrong, the shrewd and kindly Scotch agent.</p> + +<p>"Whether the place induces a whimsicality in the family, or the family +in the place, I would not presume to declare," he lamented one day, when +having a crack with a trusted friend and fellow-countryman. "It is like +the matter of priority between the owl and the egg, a hidden thing, +transcending human wit. But a certain impracticability is assuredly bred +in their bones, poor bodies, which needs must eventually come out in the +flesh of every one of them. They're over proud of the intelligence of +which it has pleased the Almighty to bestow on them so handsome a +portion—as the intelligence of Saxons and Southerners go, you +understand. And being puffed up with conceit of themselves they proceed +to apply their bit of unusual reason in wild and impolitic speculations, +to the endangering of their own and other persons' peace and security. A +sair pity, a sair pity! Not that I would deny degrees in the natural +wrong-headedness of the poor, misguided creatures. The present +representative of the family is a young man of excellent parts and +practical ability; and though I fear he is going astray in some +particulars, I find in him a praiseworthy application to business, by +times."</p> + +<p>For in good truth, notwithstanding the dominion of his fixed idea, +Laurence was determined on the improvement of his somewhat neglected +estate. Every afternoon saw him ride forth to visit farm or distant +hamlet, to superintend operations of fencing, draining, or building, to +mark wood and copse-land for future cutting. Specially was he interested +in the construction of a light railway from Stoke Rivers Road to some +gypsum quarries at Hazledown, about three miles distant, the worth of +which would be doubled by direct and permanent means of transport. +Silent and self-absorbed for the most part, he rode about the charming +Sussex country while the gay, spring weather matured into the glow and +heat of summer. And all the while against his heart lay the poignant +delight of a great romance, and in his eyes sat the light of a great +adventure. He was very happy, so happy that, while he longed for the +attainment of his purpose and strained every nerve to accomplish it, he +almost dreaded that accomplishment since it must rob him of the sweet +and gracious present.</p> + +<p>And that such accomplishment drew on as the summer went forward he could +not doubt. For his fairy-lady had grown less timid than of old, braving +now the earlier dusk, now the later dawn, as the fancy took her; while a +veritable shadow clung unquestionably to her little feet, and lengthened +behind or beside her. Though no less slender and graceful than before, +her person was less ethereal. It appeared to gain a certain substance, a +greater opacity; while her movements were more measured. Once or twice +Laurence had fancied he saw her pale face flush under sudden emotion, as +though blood once more began to course beneath the clear, smooth skin. +Her talk, moreover, was less of the past than of the present. At times +she would ask questions, not wholly easy for him to answer without +revealing those things regarding which he had agreed with himself to +keep silence. But on many matters he had come to speak to her freely, +telling her of his daily occupations and affairs, of the books he read, +even of passing events of public interest. And to all his talk she +listened now thoughtfully, now with pretty mirth, offering not only +sympathy, but discreet counsel, while sometimes a touch of far-reaching +and singularly mature wisdom gave a significant value to her speech. +There were moments, indeed, when Laurence gazed at her in wonder, for +she betrayed a depth and daring of thought impossible to a young girl, +however good her training and notable her natural talents—thought only +possible to one who had discounted the many subterfuges and illusions of +life, as most mortals see and live it, by apprehension of things +supramundane, eternal, and so of infinite moment to the conscience and +the heart.</p> + +<p>She grew in womanhood, and she grew in the charm of distinction and of a +fine equality. Yet the mystery surrounding her was to Laurence in no +wise lessened. For he began to perceive that, if he held back somewhat +from her knowledge concerning himself, she, notwithstanding her +transparent sincerity and the perfection of her love, held back somewhat +from him. She played with him, she eluded him; and he perceived that her +lovely soul—did he dwell with her for a thousand years—would still +have its surprises for him, and its secret places, adorably difficult of +access. Then, too, for all her increasing humanity, the way of her +coming at sundown, and going at sunrise remained unexplained as ever.</p> + +<p>One morning in late June, standing in the bay-window, with the fragrance +of the blossoming garden and the songs of awakening birds saluting them, +he questioned her on this matter. Her hand rested in his—no longer +perceptible as a mere pulsation, such as might be caused by the +fluttering wings of a captive butterfly. It had substance now, actual, +though very delicate, weight. And feeling this, amazement and ecstasy +invaded Laurence. His eyes were alight and his blood hot.</p> + +<p>"You are going?" he asked. "But why should you go? Stay and see the day +in its beauty."</p> + +<p>But she smiled on him, a serious and enigmatic smile, though very full +of tenderness.</p> + +<p>"The day does not belong to me yet," she answered. "I cannot take that +which is not mine."</p> + +<p>"Everything is ours if we dare take it," Laurence said. "Possession is +in the act, not in the fact. You create law by believing in and +submitting to it. Cease to believe, cease to submit, the prohibition, +the obligation, vanishes into fine air. The day is yours, dear love, and +all the vigorous life and joy of it, if you will but venture. Have just +a little courage. Try—"</p> + +<p>But she shook her pretty head, still smiling, though, as it seemed to +Laurence, rather mournfully.</p> + +<p>"Then tell me where you go," he said. "Tell me where you pass all the +hours when you are not here? See, I have been very patient, I have +asked you no questions. And yet, loving you as I do, I have a right to +hear."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" she answered playfully, though with a touch of sadness—"what an +importunate being you have suddenly become! Yet why?—Half your life is +hidden from me, dear Laurence, and I do not ask to have it otherwise. +Why, then, should not half of mine be hidden from you? Indeed, it is +always so between man and woman, I think, whether they know it—as we +do—or know it not."</p> + +<p>But Laurence was not in the humour to have his inquiry put aside thus +lightly.</p> + +<p>"Still tell me—tell me," he insisted. "Look here, really I am not +unreasonable." He laughed a little, looking at her very charmingly in +mingled eagerness and command,—"For your exits and entrances are not as +those of other women, Agnes, so tell me. Or let me go with you +wheresoever you go. Or just—it is very simple—don't go—stay right +here, and brave the glory of the sunrise. Stay!—"</p> + +<p>As he spoke, long shafts of pale, golden light shot through the openings +between the high-standing trees of the eastern woodland, and lay in +misty radiance along the dewy lawns, touching the heads of the +cypresses, and flashing upon the upspringing waters of the fountains.</p> + +<p>"Ah, have patience—but a little trifle of patience yet, dearest love," +Agnes Rivers pleaded. "Only wait, and that which is to be will surely +declare itself. I would so gladly stay—or gladly take you with me, +going; but I can do neither, though why, I do not at present fully +comprehend."</p> + +<p>She turned, and for a moment stood facing the sunlight, bright in its +royal brightness, looking out on the fair, summer landscape, an infinite +hope and yearning in her lovely face. Then she folded her hands high +upon her bosom—slightly ruffling the smooth surface of her dainty, +muslin cape—bowed her head meekly as in worship, and moved away. As she +passed, Laurence—standing a little behind her—for the first time heard +the soft sound of her rapid footfall, and the whisper of her silken +gown.</p> + +<p>The young man, too, worshipped the rising sun after his manner—a +manner, it must be admitted, by no means of the meekest. The room was +empty, but he did not greatly care, for his great purpose seemed so +close upon consummation. The crisis was very near now. Before that +splendid, June sun rose to-morrow—so he told himself—his work would be +complete. She was so nearly human, his dear fairy-lady; her pure spirit +so strangely, yet sensibly, in process of clothing itself with sweet, +living flesh. He would set bread and wine before her, in the small hours +when this bright day was dead. She should eat and drink of a sacramental +feast, designed to secure, not eternal life to the soul, in this case, +but mortal life to the beautiful, young body which he so desired and +loved.</p> + +<p>Thus did Laurence Rivers hail the sunrise, filled with an immense pride +of his own action, his own will, and the powers of his race, deeming +himself a worker of miracles and equal of the immortal gods.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXII" id="XXII"></a>XXII</h2> + + +<p>Laurence swung himself down from the high, two-wheeled dogcart at the +front door. The sky was lowering, the evening sultry after a burning +day. Down in the south-east a storm was brewing, with low mutterings of +thunder. The air was curiously still, yet now and again, among the thick +foliage of the limes and chestnuts, a few leaves would flutter +tumultuously as though stricken with panic, and then become motionless +as suddenly and causelessly as they had become agitated. Laurence was +late and had driven home rapidly, not sparing his horse—a young, +thorough-bred brown, which he had bought about a fortnight before, and +which was new as yet to harness. It was all of a lather and sweat, and +stood with outstretched neck and open, heavily-breathing nostrils. He +looked at it with a slight sense of compunction, and gave some orders to +the groom. It was a little hard to have pressed the poor beast; but he +had been out all the afternoon, mapping out the projected course of the +light railway to the Hazledown quarries, with Armstrong and an +engineering expert, and he had been kept later than he anticipated. As +it was, he had barely time for a bath, and to dress, before dinner at a +quarter-past eight. His mind still ran upon questions of gradients and +detail of expenditure. He had thrown himself energetically into +practical work. It was best to do so, with the climax of his great +adventure looming so large just ahead. All day he had been conscious of +a quiet, sustained excitement engendered by the double life he was +leading. It stimulated the action of his brain. The engineer had warmly +approved some of his suggestions and adopted them. This pleased +Laurence. It was not a little satisfactory to find himself thus capable +and "on the spot," while interests of so very different a character +formed the under-current of his thought. It fed self-confidence, and +justified his determination of daring action.</p> + +<p>After a look, first at the sweating horse and then at the lowering sky, +he hurried into the hall. The storm, if it came up at all, would not +break yet. Probably it would travel along the northern horizon following +the line of the Downs. How hot it was, though! The house felt cool by +comparison with the atmosphere outside. Then, just inside the door, the +two men-servants met him, Renshaw with a salver in his hand.</p> + +<p>"A telegram for you, sir," he said—adding—"do you wish dinner put off +for a quarter-of-an-hour or so, sir?"</p> + +<p>"No—no," Laurence answered absently, "I shall be down in plenty of +time."</p> + +<p>As he spoke he tore open the ugly, orange-coloured envelope. The sheet +of dirty-pink paper within contained but a few words.</p> + +<p>"Wanted here immediately. Return next steamer. Virginia."</p> + +<p>Laurence bathed, dressed, dined, while at intervals the thunder muttered +far away in the east, and the dark came swiftly as with great strides. +In the centre of the table the cut-glass bowl, upheld by the dancing, +golden figures, again to-night, as on the second night of Laurence's +visit to Stoke Rivers—which now seemed such an incredibly long time +ago—held fantastic, single flowers and sprays of orchids, some mottled, +warty, toad-like, some tiger-coloured striped with black. These last +gave off a heavy, musky scent. The oppressive heat, too, was suggestive +of that earlier evening,—though the windows now stood wide open. But +then, whatever the discomfort of his physical sensations, Laurence had +been light-hearted enough. His life, if not particularly full of +purpose, had at least been free of entanglement. He had neither climbed +heights nor sounded depths. His honour was untarnished, by so much as a +questionable thought. Now the splendour of life had got him, he was in +the full swing of his great opportunity; but his conscience was not +clear as at that former period, and that—which seemed not a little +ironical—though he had lived more austerely than of old, abjuring all +frivolity and denying himself all bodily indulgence.</p> + +<p>Laurence juggled neither with himself or with the facts of the case. He +did not whimper or grumble. In accepting the risks of his own action, he +had of necessity accepted this one. It was just the fortune of war—not +an altogether pretty fortune for a man who plumed himself on a nice +taste in matters of honour, perhaps, but that was hardly to the point. +The present position was an inevitable consequence of all which had +preceded it, and was bound to present itself sooner or later. Remorse +and anger were alike futile and out of place. The question resolved +itself into this—what to do next?</p> + +<p>Laurence dropped the stump of his cigarette into his finger-bowl, and +sat resting his elbows on the table and his forehead in his hands, +thinking.—For Virginia meant what she said. Of course she did. Virginia +always meant what she said, sometimes a little more—certainly never +less. And her reasons for saying that which she said were always +perfectly convincing to herself. Virginia was never impulsive; her +action was always the outcome of intention. Therefore it was useless to +temporise or ask explanations by means of that far-flashing cable. In +her letters Virginia had lately commented upon the length of his +absence—quite good-temperedly. Virginia was always good-tempered; +partly, perhaps, because she had never had occasion to learn what +opposition meant. This telegram was her ultimatum; but whether delivered +of her own free will and initiative, or in deference to some unusual +circumstance, illness, accident, or sudden financial crisis, he could +not, of course, divine. Yet even so, the position remained very simple. +There were but two paths. One or other he must choose. Either he must +obey her, and that unquestioningly and directly—this was Thursday, the +next American mail left Liverpool at the end of the week—or he must +refuse; and that, he believed, meant a break with Virginia.</p> + +<p>Laurence remained very still for a time. A break with Virginia?—Yes; +the storm was working round by the north as he had anticipated.—He had +no complaint to make against Virginia, Heaven forbid! She was just +precisely that which she had always been—in her own sphere and +connection, from the modern and mundane point of view, an eminently and +admirably clever person. He agreed with her disciple, Mrs. Bellingham, +that in social affairs she possessed a <i>savoir faire</i> and intelligence +amounting to positive genius. She was absolutely self-reliant. She had +never been surprised or nonplussed in all her life, and—and—</p> + +<p>Laurence rose to his feet, crossed the room and rang the bell. His face +had grown singularly hard. It bore but slight resemblance to that of his +namesake, the gallant and debonair young Laurence Rivers of the Cosway +miniature. Indeed, his eyes were coldly brilliant, his lips almost as +thin as those of Montagu Rivers, his uncle, but lately dead.—Well, he +proposed to enlarge Virginia's experience. He proposed to surprise, to +nonplus her. It was a blackguardly thing to do, and she, of all women, +would be the last to forgive it. So much the better, he did not want her +to forgive it. He proposed to repudiate Virginia, he proposed to desert +her—and then, fortunately, the American divorce laws are easy.</p> + +<p>When Renshaw answered the bell he said—</p> + +<p>"Leave the fruit and wine on the table, and bring an uncut loaf of new, +white bread. Don't sit up. I shall be late, and I wish to have the house +to myself to-night."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXIII" id="XXIII"></a>XXIII</h2> + + +<p>Pulling out the heavy curtain, Laurence paused, for an unwonted sound +saluted his ears, to which, at first, they refused credence. He opened +the door quietly. The sound continued. The keys of the piano were struck +so softly that they gave forth little more than the echo of a melody. +His fairy-lady sat at the instrument; and, so absorbed was she in the +making of this dainty music, that the young man had crossed the room and +leaned his elbows on the edge of the flat piano-case opposite to her +before she looked up at him. Nor, meeting his eyes, did she leave +playing, but let her fingers still draw forth that procession of slender +phrases from the discoloured, ivory notes—phrases not only exquisitely +refined, but with a tremulous <i>coquetterie</i> in them, the music of some +polite and graceful minuet, in which Boucher's fine fanciful, little +figures of lover and mistress, courtier and prince, painted upon the +satin-wood escritoire, might have moved and postured, with a hundred +pretty arts and invitations at the court of Louis the Fifteenth, over a +century ago.</p> + +<p>The fine-drawn, little melody, and all its suggestions of past +intrigues, heart-burnings, elegant if questionable joys, and luxurious +living, knocked at the door of the listener's heart with rather perilous +pathos, notwithstanding his stern humour. Agnes Rivers's eyes too, as +she looked steadily at him, were at once grave with thought and +beseeching as those of a child, covetous of a possible pleasure, yet +ready to swallow its poor tears should that pleasure be denied. Her lips +were parted, but she did not speak. She only gazed and gazed at +him—while still calling forth those frail and courteous harmonies—as +though she sought to penetrate the most hidden recesses of his nature.</p> + +<p>And all this worked strongly upon Laurence, stirring in him memories of +just such hot evenings, when, with windows set wide upon the fragrant +garden, and the wild brightness of the summer lightning pulsing—as +now—upon the far horizon, they had sat together making music, she and +he, nearly a hundred years back. That first love of theirs had been +shattered by cruel calamity of wounds and death. It had never found its +consummation; and now the ache of its frustration was added to the ache +of the present—of his passion so strongly held in check during the last +many weeks; of his long-sustained effort, now touching on attainment; of +his so recently made resolution to let honour go by the wall rather than +again be defrauded of his love.</p> + +<p>At length he could no longer endure the playful, yet in a way tragical, +music, nor the sustained scrutiny of those grave yet wistful eyes.</p> + +<p>"That's enough, Agnes; that's enough," he cried, and, leaning across the +case of the piano, laid hold on her hands and raised them off the +keyboard. And as he did so the blood leapt in his veins, for the fact +was no longer open to question—those hands were firm and softly warm as +a living woman's hand should be, and the clasp of them met and clung in +his. He drew her up, making the sweet musician stand opposite to him, +while, bending down, he kissed and kissed those dear, warm hands, +looking at her, his face on a level with hers. And as he did so her +cheeks lost their waxen pallor and became beautifully flushed with clear +colour, while—so it seemed to him—he could hear the beating of her +heart. And thus for a space they stood speechless, consumed by a very +ecstasy of love.</p> + +<p>Laurence was the first to break that enchanted silence. For he was +feverish to complete the working of the miracle—to establish her in +this earthly life upon which she was re-entering, to chain her spirit to +this recovered human body by some corporeal act. He was feverish to set +a seal upon her new condition, which it should not be possible for her +to evade or to break.</p> + +<p>"The perfect hour has come," he said, with fierce exultation. "Do you +understand what has happened? You asked me once what was lacking. Well, +that which was lacking has been restored to you. But it won't do to rest +here. We must go on, go forward, so as to make security doubly secure."</p> + +<p>Yet she sighed, turning her face away and gently releasing her hands +from his grasp.</p> + +<p>"Ah! the perfect hour has come—yes," she said. "But, dear Laurence, it +came once before, and, remember, along with it came the call for you to +depart. Sorrow trod hard on the heels of joy; and I fear—how can I do +otherwise?—lest it should do so again to-night."</p> + +<p>Laurence felt his throat go dry and his lips stiffen, so that speech did +not come quite readily.</p> + +<p>"It lies with you to prevent that catastrophe," he answered. "Only be +brave. Do as I ask you, and we can put all fear behind us for ever and a +day. All the world may call me; I shall not go. It may howl at me, even, +using foul names; but what does that matter? I have chosen. I abide by +my choice."</p> + +<p>As he spoke she moved a little further from him, while the thunder +growled and muttered in the north, and the lightning showed fitfully, as +with the glare of a burning town, low down in the night sky.</p> + +<p>"What has taken you, Laurence?" she asked. "You are strange in manner +and in voice. I hardly know you thus. Yet indeed I would do anything you +ask, however difficult, if that which you would have me do is not in +itself sinful or wrong."</p> + +<p>"And this is right," he declared; "incontestably, everlastingly right. +Indeed, it is little more than bare justice—the restitution of that +which was once ours, the paying of a long-owed debt. In past years +happiness was snatched from us by jealous fate. Fate has +repented—though late—and gives us back our happiness. We should be +fools not to take it."</p> + +<p>He stood by her holding out his hand, his eyes alight as with a dull +flame, the determination of conquest very forceful in him.</p> + +<p>"See," he said hoarsely, "I have loved you back into life again, Agnes; +and so your life belongs to me as no woman's life has ever belonged to a +man before. That which I ask, you must do; for, believe me, I comprehend +this matter and all the issues of it best."</p> + +<p>He led her towards the door and she came meekly, yet with a certain +wonder and reserve in her bearing, as one who ponders and questions +silently even while they obey. He threw the door wide open revealing +the back of the leather-lined curtain. But on the threshold she +hesitated and drew back.</p> + +<p>"I have never crossed this," she said with gentle decision. "I cannot +cross it."</p> + +<p>"But you must cross it," he answered, "or all is lost."</p> + +<p>A strong shuddering ran through her. The corners of her sweet mouth +turned down and quivered, while her hand grew very cold.</p> + +<p>"Ah, me! ah, me! my love," she cried, "then I fear indeed all must needs +be lost. For to cross this threshold is to force some barrier which I +have neither the strength or the right to force. I do not know its name, +but it is ancient and venerable, and forbids my passage with authority."</p> + +<p>"All the more shall you force it then," Laurence replied. "Just now, +sweetheart, I tell you I admit no authority but my own. And barriers are +made to be forced, that's the use of them. The more apparently ancient +and venerable, the more must they go; so that the new may supersede the +decrepit and old, truth may supersede superstition, hope fear, and the +living the dead."</p> + +<p>He laughed a little, partly in defiance of that more sane and modest +self of his, with whom for the time being he had parted company, partly +to rally his dear companion's courage, and compel her faltering steps.</p> + +<p>"Come," he said; "don't I love you better than my own soul? Would I, of +all men, do you any injury, do you think? Surely you can trust +me—come."</p> + +<p>But still that strong shuddering ran through her and she hung back. Then +Laurence lost patience.</p> + +<p>"You foolish child," he said, "you are very much a woman. Your words are +so wise; yet you prove so weak in action and scare yourself with +self-invented terrors."</p> + +<p>He set his back against the heavy curtain, pushing it outward. Then he +took her delicate body in his arms, lifted her over the threshold, and +set her feet on the crimson carpet of the sombre and stately corridor +without. The curtain swept back into its place across the door with a +dull thud, which mingled ominously with the muttering thunder. Against +the panes of the long range of windows the lightning peeped and +flickered, as in malicious curiosity of that going forward within, +while the Roman emperors looked on, supercilious, impassive, with +sightless, marble eyes. His fairy-lady's delicate body had been light as +a feather, so light that, lifting it, Laurence had trembled lest it +should slip out of his encircling arms, as the little summer winds might +slip should one strive to embrace them; and yet that same lifting of her +had taxed every muscle in his frame, and set his heart thumping like a +steam hammer. It was the very oddest sensation, suggesting that there +was something very much more than a narrow piece of polished, oak +flooring and deep, pile carpet to lift her across. He stood now, +breathless, singularly shaken by the effort, notwithstanding his natural +vigour and physical strength—shaken, yet triumphant.</p> + +<p>"There, my beloved," he cried, "there! It's not such a very dangerous +experiment after all, you see, to go out at an open door!—And now you +are redeemed from slavery, free to range the pleasant earth at will and +accept all the glad chances of it."</p> + +<p>But she shrunk against him, trembling, all her pretty pride humbled, +like that of a little child detected in a fault. Her countenance had +become shy and wild, moreover, and clear reason had ceased to sit +enthroned in her serious and lovely eyes. She looked now, as she had +looked on the night he first found her flitting to and fro in the yellow +parlour, searching, searching, vainly and hopelessly, for the lost key +of the satin-wood escritoire. And Laurence, seeing her thus, was smitten +with self-reproach and alarm. Was it possible that, along with the +restoration of her body, had returned that alienation of mind from +which—as he had learned from her own testimony, and from the +well-authenticated tradition of Armstrong, the agent—she had formerly +and so pitifully suffered? As more than once before, an immense +compassion filled the young man; so that, coaxing her, and using tender +and endearing names—such as even the wisest of lovers weakly decline +upon at times—he half-led, half-carried her past the doorways of all +those brightly-lighted, silent rooms, through the square hall—its +flying staircase gleaming upward step above step—until finally the +dining-room was reached.</p> + +<p>Here the musky odour of the tiger-coloured orchids met them, with the +effect, as it seemed, of a presence rather than a scent. It was full of +subtle suggestions, that seeming presence, wooing them with insidious +provocations of sense to partake of the mysterious, sacramental feast +set out before them—a feast designed to wed, irrevocably, the sweet +spirit to its so lately recovered body, and rivet upon it once again not +only the natural joys, but the inevitable cares and pains, all the +grievous burdens of mortal life.</p> + +<p>The cloth had been withdrawn and upon the dark surface of the bare +table, doubled by vertical reflections, a service of costly china, +antique silver, and fine glass, was spread. Rare wines filled the +long-necked bottles and quaint high-shouldered decanters; while the +painted and gilded dishes held velvet-skinned, hot-house peaches, +red-gold nectarines, little black Italian figs, and pyramids of fragrant +strawberries set in a fringe of fresh and lustrous leaves. The loaf of +white bread was there also, a simple and humble item offering something +of contrast to its ornate surroundings.</p> + +<p>Laurence placed his fairy-lady in the carven armchair at the head of the +table. Seated there, her slight figure, in its high-waisted, rose-red, +silken gown and transparent lace and muslin cape, looked singularly +youthful and fragile. Her graceful head and white throat showed up +against the dark panelling of the wall. Her hands rested languidly upon +the arms of her chair. The corners of her mouth still quivered, and her +eyes were wide with inarticulate distress. And all the while, opposite +to her, in at the windows at the far end of the room, the lightning, +away there in the north, peeped evilly and flickered, and sometimes +glared, a broad sheet of pale flame, behind the blackness of the distant +woods crowning the rounded hills.</p> + +<p>Laurence stood close beside her. He filled her glass with wine and +placed fruit upon her plate, speaking to her very gently; possessed, +meanwhile, by an adoration of her extreme and pensive beauty, a great +resolution to complete his work in respect of her, and a distrust lest +that work was going sorely amiss. But though he did his best to secure +her attention, for many minutes she neither moved nor uttered any sound.</p> + +<p>"See, dear love," the young man pleaded—"see, I have made you a dainty +supper. Remember, this is the first time I ask you to eat a meal in my +house. You were Dudley's guest often enough in old days, and did not +refuse what was set before you. Surely it is pleasanter to you to be my +guest than his? So do not wander off, even for a little while, to walk +those dim and dreary interspaces between two worlds. All that is over. +Don't become intangible and remote, or yield yourself to malign +influences which would enthrall you and draw you away. Lay hold of your +womanhood, sweetheart; and let human love wrap you about, and keep you +safe and warm. There is nothing, nothing in all this to fear, if you +will but believe me. Eat, my beloved, you have fasted long. You have +come from very far—how far heaven only knows! You are faint and weary +with the length of the way. Therefore eat, drink—let your body be +refreshed and let your heart grow glad."</p> + +<p>And presently, while he thus encouraged her, slowly, as one who shakes +off the torpor of exhaustion, she stretched, sitting very upright in the +great, high-backed chair. The distress and desolation of her expression +began to give place to a gentle curiosity. She looked at the costly +furnishings of the table, the dancing, golden figures in their flowing +robes, the fantastic flowers, the delicious fruits; fingered a silver +spoon, and seeing her own reflection in the bowl of it, quaintly +distorted, smiled. Then suddenly putting up both hands and covering her +face she gave a quick, little sneeze—sign in the East of Life, but in +the West precursor of Death. Of whichever the sign in the present case, +incontestible it was, that, with this same little sneeze a change was +perceptible in her, which her lover noting, hailed as indicative of +success. So he urged her yet more.</p> + +<p>"Yes, my beloved, you are tired," he said; "and it is so long since you +have sat at table in this room, that very simple things appear +perplexing to you. But that's a small matter. The old habits will soon +re-assert themselves, and all be natural and obvious enough. For in the +coming days I intend we shall very constantly sit here together, you and +I; and perhaps others will sit here with us as time goes on"—Laurence +paused, his voice shook a little—"our children, fair girls and handsome +lads, whom we shall greatly love, and in whose youth our own youth will +live again. But to secure all that, Agnes, you must eat and drink now in +plain, honest fashion, sleep sound of nights, wake in the kindly +sunshine, put morbid fears and fancies far from you and grow strong. You +are compounded of too tenuous and sublimated stuff for motherhood as +yet. Therefore eat, dear love. Delay no longer. The hours run on towards +the morning and this matter must be assured before the morning comes. Do +not be wayward. In the name of your love for me, and of all your +sorrows, I entreat you, eat and be strong!"</p> + +<p>Once again she covered her face with her hand and gave a quick, little +sneeze. Then looking full at him, she smiled, though somewhat sadly.</p> + +<p>"Let it be even as you wish," she said very meekly. "Give me bread."</p> + +<p>Laurence, mightily rejoicing, cut the loaf, and placed the bread upon +her plate. Tremblingly, as though putting a great force upon herself, +she broke it into little pieces, carried one to her lips, then laid it +back beside the others on her plate; next stretched out her hand for +the glass of wine her lover held towards her, but shook her head, and +set it down untasted. While he, eager to the point of desperation, yet +dreading in any way to affright her and so defeat his own ends, fell to +coaxing her once more, with a certain playful seriousness.</p> + +<p>"See here," he said, "learn by experience. The threshold which you +declared impassable was very easily crossed. And this affair of your +little supper is exactly parallel. You are the victim of your own +imagination. What after all holds you back?"</p> + +<p>Once more she essayed valiantly to obey him; but once more laid the +morsel of bread down on her plate. The thunder rolled from east to west +along the northern heights, and the lightning flickered; but both had +grown faint and very distant, while a soft, cool air wandered in at the +open window, dispelling the clinging and insidious odour of the orchids, +purifying the heavy atmosphere of the room, and lightly stirring the +little lace frills of Agnes Rivers's muslin cape.</p> + +<p>"What after all holds you back?" he demanded, with some agitation. For +that cool draw of air, though pleasant, affected him unexpectedly. It +appeared to blow across the valley from Stoke Rivers churchyard, where, +in the spring morning three months before, he had watched the little +shadows cast by the feathery branches of the age-old yew-trees dance and +beckon among the grass-grown graves.</p> + +<p>But his fairy-lady pushed her plate aside. All her gentle dignity had +returned to her, and a wisdom born of knowledge more profound than that +granted to most human creatures sat once again enthroned in her eyes. +There was an effulgence in her loveliness which almost awed him, yet she +did that which during all their intercourse she had never done before. +Calmly, fearlessly, and as of right, she put up her sweet lips and +kissed him.</p> + +<p>"This holds me back," she said, "that at last all the confusion which +oppressed my mind is gone, and that I understand who and what I am. I +have striven, and ah! how gladly would I have proved victorious in that +strife, for all my heart goes forth in natural desire, not only to obey +your dear wishes, but to secure to myself those things which your wishes +would bring. I perceive that to eat is to live, not the shadowy, +unrelated life of a disembodied spirit, divorced from the activities of +earth, yet—by some inherent wilfulness—still so wedded to earth that +it cannot enter the peaceful regions of the Faithful Departed. To eat is +to live, as you live—and rightly—in the shock and tumult of the world; +to love as you love—needs must, dear heart—with all the passions of +the unstable flesh, as well as the pure and immutable passion of the +soul. I have dallied too long with temptation, and in my weakness +brought sorrow on you—perhaps worse than sorrow, disgrace. But the +temptation was so potent, the promise of it so enchanting, that, until +to-night, I had not grasped its full significance and scope. As to our +first mother Eve, ages back, in the mystic garden, so to me to-night to +eat, O my love, is sin!"</p> + +<p>Laurence straightened himself up, and all the fierceness, the +relentlessness of his race, stiffened itself within him; yet he kept +himself in hand because love still was paramount to all other emotions.</p> + +<p>"And if it be sin, it is too late to vex ourselves about that. You have +forced the barrier after all. The curtain, which closes the entrance to +your not very cheerful Eden, has swung back into place. I have you, and +I keep you. I have fought for you, won you, not wholly without personal +loss. So you are to me as the spoils of battle, which a man having +taken, is very certainly in no humour hurriedly to give up. And even +were this so, had I not these claims on your obedience, to eat, my dear, +couldn't be sin. On the contrary, it is bare common-sense—just the next +move, logically necessary, in the particularly delicious game which you +and I, for cause unknown, are ordained to play together. With logic and +common-sense as backers, how can sin have a word to say in the matter?"</p> + +<p>"Thus," she answered—"because now as once before, when the perfect hour +had come, and things showed so fair that to better them appeared almost +impossible, the call has come for you to leave me, and leave me you +surely must."</p> + +<p>"You are mistaken," Laurence answered hoarsely. "You confuse both the +events and obligations of the past with those of the present. The call +has not come."</p> + +<p>Then Agnes Rivers rose up, pushing the carven chair away from her, and +standing with a certain graceful independence before the sumptuously +spread table, in the centre of the highly-lighted room, between the open +window and the open door. Her person, thus seen, suggested some clear +jewel of infinite value in a dark and heavy though splendid setting; or +some tender, solitary flower amid the lifeless magnificence of a desert +city, rich with the tombs of long-dead kings. A gentle daring, a +self-assertion strong as steel yet soft as a silken thread, seemed to +animate her whole being.</p> + +<p>"Rather is it you that are mistaken," she answered; "but whether with +your consent or against it, I cannot tell. It is you that dream just +now, my love, and suffer, perhaps subscribe to, delusion—strong man +though you are—and I that wake. For the call has come to you; and +though you should employ all the eloquence of all the sages to convince +me it is otherwise, I could not be convinced."</p> + +<p>"You are very stubborn," he said.</p> + +<p>"And yet, I spare you," she replied, in a tone of half mirthful, half +tender, reproach; "for I only assert the fact. The exact nature of the +call I do not know, and I do not ask you to tell it me. I am +sufficiently human—you have brought me so far on the backward road, +which my naughty feet were only too willing to tread—to greatly long to +know the exact nature of that call. Yet, did I know it, I fear it might +provoke a wicked spirit of jealousy in me, and of envy towards one who +has, in the natural sequence of things, that which I have not, yet fain +would have. Therefore do not try me too far, lest my courage fail and I +decline from right, and break the perfect circle of our dealings with +one another, so painting both past and future with the ugly colours of +remorseful regret. You told me you would never leave me again unless I +bade you do so. Well, now, the time has come. Redeem your word."</p> + +<p>Laurence would have spoken; but, still with that air of almost heavenly +mirth, she laid her hand upon his mouth. There was hardly perceptible +substance or weight in it; and once again—now with despair, though the +sensation was in itself delicious—he felt that fluttering, as of the +wings of a captive butterfly, against his lips.</p> + +<p>"No, no," she protested, "do not speak, for I am woman enough to be +resolved to have the last word. Put away delusion and all +extravagance.—Think, after all, what do you leave? Not much, believe +me. For I am but a ghost. I have no right to any earthly dwelling-place, +no right to lie in the arms of living man. It would be monstrous, a +thing abhorrent to nature, an insult to the awful and unbroken order of +cause and effect that has operated from the beginning of being and of +time, that I should force the barrier completely, and project myself, at +once unburied and unborn, for a second time into the arena of earthly +life. It would be an act of rebellion, of self-seeking, beside which +that of Lucifer grows pale—for he at least was an archangel, which +might give reasonable cause of pride—whereas I?—No, God in His +infinite mercy has granted me fulness of understanding just in time; and +I have no fear but that, since I voluntarily resign myself, curb my +imperious will and forego the desire of my heart, He will further grant +me access to that place of refreshment, light, and peace, in which souls +wait until their final beatitude. In God's hands are all things, and I +now see that behind the loves of earth, just in proportion as those +loves are noble and have in them a seed of permanence, stands for ever +the love of God Himself, sure and faithful, full of a satisfaction that +can never lessen or pass away. I have been blind and very wilful, loving +Him too little, loving you too much. But He who made all men and sees +how beautiful they are, so that in loving them—they being made in His +image—we unconsciously all the while but love His image evident in +them—He will surely understand me and forgive."</p> + +<p>There Laurence broke in madly—"Ah, stop talking, stop talking! What are +words at such a time as this? You are mine by right of conquest, as I +have already told you. For God and the eternities I care not, just now, +one little bit. You belong to me. I have bought you at a great price. I +love you and will enter into possession of my own."</p> + +<p>And he essayed to lay hold of her, his blood on fire, for the moment, +with frustrated pride, the agony of relinquishment, and passion baulked.</p> + +<p>"And I love you too," she answered fearlessly, "so greatly, so +absorbingly, that I have broken all bonds of time and space, and defied +all laws of life and death, to find you, and behold you, and speak with +you again—"</p> + +<p>Yet even as she made this declaration, she slipped away from his urgent +embrace, even as a rosy snow-wreath slips from the cliff edge, when the +sun climbs high in heaven, drawing back to itself, by the power of its +strength and heat, snow and vapours, dews and fair, dissolving mists, +such as cling at dawn along the water-courses and haunt the quiet +underspaces of the woods. There were tears in her sweet eyes, and that +airy frame of hers was shaken by sobs; yet her face very brave and of a +marvellous brightness.</p> + +<p>"Go back to the world, dear love," she said, "and play your part in the +great game finely to the close. Let no shame touch you, or breath of +dishonour smirch any page of your record. I will go back too—yet rather +go forward—reaching a fairer world than yours, a world which in my +folly I disdained, being blinded by the things of sense. There I shall +await your coming; and we shall be one at last, being one with Almighty +and Eternal God."</p> + +<p>She passed from the room; but, though Laurence followed her swiftly, he +found the corridor empty. The yellow drawing-room, when he entered it, +was vacant too, though retaining its gracious and friendly aspect. A +cool wind blew through it, laden with the scent of the rose borders of +the Italian garden. The storm was over, and the night sky was clear and +very full of stars.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXIV" id="XXIV"></a>XXIV</h2> + + +<p>Quite a number of people had come to luncheon. Quite a number still +remained, though it was past four o'clock, upon the great, deep-eaved +verandah, in attendance on Virginia. There was a babel of clear, +penetrating voices, occasionally an outbreak of laughter, though, in +point of fact, notwithstanding its ready verbal wit, the New World is +less addicted to laughter than the Old. Laurence had listened, had put +in a lazy sentence here and there; but now the entertainment began to +pall on him slightly. It was too continuous. They were all so young, so +emphatic, so tireless in the business of pleasure, these bright, +clear-cut, young people. He remembered it was mail day. The English +letters and newspapers should have arrived by now. He got up and +sauntered, cigarette in mouth, into the great, pale living-room. The +Venetian shutters were closed, and the room, with its spare though +elegant furniture, and butter-coloured, parquet floor, was full of a +clear, green light, quiet, and excellently cool. Sure enough, on one of +the tables lay, in goodly array, lately arrived letters and papers. +Laurence began opening these in desultory fashion. The glass doors, +standing wide on to the verandah, framed Virginia's perfectly finished +person lying back in a rocking-chair. Her profile was outlined against a +soft, sea-green cushion. She was talking, others were listening, as was +usually the case in respect of Virginia. Beyond the hand-rail and +uprights of the verandah, could be seen a long sweep of rather coarse +grass, and the waters of the river, white in the brilliant, afternoon +light, whereon lay some trim rowing-boats and smart pleasure-yachts at +anchor. The water was absolutely still, even and gleaming as the surface +of a silver mirror; yet it lapped with a just audible gurgle and suck +against the indentations of the low, green banks. And this cool, liquid +sound formed an agreeable undertone to those clear, penetrating voices, +the ceaseless chirrup of crickets and strident fiddlings of countless +grasshoppers.</p> + +<p>Behind the ample, wide-ranging, wooden house—spotless in its purity of +white paint, dignified by its ranges of dark-green, slatted shutters, +its grey-brown, shingled roofs, and many gables—a certain puritan +simplicity pervading it, somewhat quaintly at variance with its +highly-developed appliances of modern comfort, and the almost +surprisingly civilised examples of modern humanity now domiciled within +it—behind it the ground trended upward, through pleasant orchards of +apple, pear, and peach trees, past commodious wooden barns and stables, +long, grey snake-fences, and corn patches, where the pumpkins began to +grow golden beneath the wide, glistening leaves, the giant cobs and +silken tassels of the maize. Down to meet this spacious foreground +unencumbered by superfluous detail, wandered the sparse, untamed, +ubiquitous woodland of the New England States. Everywhere slender, +long-limbed trees, endless scrub, festooning vines, heavy with bunches +of little fox-grapes, and below outcroppings of grey rock. Some two +months hence, the edge of the woodland would be fringed by spires of +golden-rod and processions of purple asters, while the maples set forth +an amazement of verdigris green, lemon-colour, and all manner of radiant +pinks and scarlets, and sumach dyed the hollows blood-red; but as yet +the woods retained their summer tints. There was a slight want of +atmosphere no doubt. The landscape was oddly lacking in values of +distance; while the sky was blue to the point of crudity, and the sun +blazed, had blazed, would blaze, with a youthful and tireless +energy—not unsuggestive of the conversation of Virginia and all those +friends of hers—throughout the unshadowed and unmitigated day.</p> + +<p>To right and left were other hospitable mansions, the limits of their +private grounds unmarked by jealous wall or paling. A wide-ranging +spirit of good-nature and confidence appeared to reign; yet, in point of +fact, the inhabitants of these agreeable country houses formed a +distinctly close corporation. The Van Reenan property had been broken up +into building lots on the death of its first owner, old Erasmus Van +Reenan, merchant and financier of New York, nearly seventy years ago. +But the said lots had been acquired by members of his numerous family; +and still Van Reenans, direct and collateral, their children and their +children's children, found relaxation at times in this amiable, American +Capua. But woe to any intruder from the outer world, unless furnished +with irreproachable passport and the very highest of high-class +references, who should venture to set sacrilegious foot on this thrice +sacred ground! For, as Laurence had frequently reflected—not without a +measure of amusement—nothing is so essentially aristocratic as a +democratic country, nothing so socially exclusive as an immature +civilisation.</p> + +<p>It was the first time since her marriage that Virginia had honoured the +Van Reenan property with her presence; but being debarred, by the fact +of her mourning for her husband's uncle, from participation in the gay +life of those summer resorts where the <i>élite</i> of the smart world do +mostly congregate, she had elected to retire upon one of these +many-gabled, ancestral mansions. She was explaining all this—and really +it appeared to require a surprising amount of explanation—to Mr. Horace +Greener, a young man of distinguished, social pretensions, the constant +frequenter of her entertainments both in Newport and New York, who, +finding himself obliged to visit the city on business, had sought at +once physical refreshment and satisfaction of the emotion of friendship +by running out by train, to-day, to visit her.</p> + +<p>Virginia's clear intonations rose superior to the chorus of feminine +voices around her, their singular vivacity and singular composure alike +offering an unconscious challenge to Laurence's mental attitude as he +lazily tore open his English letters and newspapers. He had left Stoke +Rivers just three weeks, and all that time he had been a prey to +vacuity, to a sort of gnawing emptiness. At moments a blind rage took +him, but only at moments. In the main his attitude was cynical. +Disappointment had embittered him. Nothing mattered much, nothing ever +would matter much again. He had had his great chance and lost it, +muddled it somehow. A bigger man would have over-ridden the difficulties +of the affair. But he was a bungler, a poor creature. He was profoundly +contemptuous of himself, and not a little contemptuous also of men and +things.</p> + +<p>But here was a thick packet from Armstrong, and that awoke an unexpected +interest in him. It would be quite pleasant to have news of the light +railway, and the gypsum quarries.—Nice fellow, that young engineer, +and not at all conceited. Most experts have such a confoundedly good +opinion of themselves!—Laurence fell to whistling softly, and +involuntarily he recalled the slender, courtly music of a certain +eighteenth century minuet. Then he stopped suddenly, an immense +nostalgia taking him for a very different scene and place, and—well, a +general outlook less secure and circumscribed, and, he had almost said, +trivial. He didn't want to be censorious—who was he, after all, in good +truth, to be that?—but Horace Greener's trim, light-clad person, +leaning against a pillar of the verandah close to Virginia's +rocking-chair, caught his eye. The young man was excellently got up, he +was well-bred, agreeable, would pass muster in any society; yet Laurence +wearied mightily of him just then—of his neatly handsome features, +which would photograph so well and paint so poorly, and of his alert and +civil manner.</p> + +<p>"No, I imagined you would be surprised to find me so at home in this +idyllic and patriarchal <i>milieu</i>, Mr. Greener," Virginia was saying. "I +rather counted upon that. You did not accredit me with so much +adaptability. Some other of my friends have observed upon that also. And +I assure you I am rewarded; for I find it the most recuperative process +a woman can go through to retire upon herself and upon nature in this +way. My parents had been anxious to come out here all summer this year, +and when I concluded to join them we worked out a regular scheme. I +assure you it has called forth a quite affecting display of family +affection. There are nine houses on the place. They are all full. We all +meet daily. Even my cousin, Mrs. Bellingham, has come over with her +children from Europe.—Yes, I am very glad you should have met Louise +again, Mr. Greener. The English life does not altogether suit her. I +observed she was wanting at first in animation. It does her good to see +old friends. I apprehend she feels rather exiled. I wonder if I shall +feel rather exiled? But I don't propose to take it that way. I propose +every one there shall feel exiled because they have not had the +inestimable advantage of being born on this side. Do you not think that +is the true patriotic platform, now, Mr. Greener?"—</p> + +<p>There was another letter. Laurence knew the handwriting, but he could +couple no name with it. Yet certainly he knew it, and the sight of it +conveyed to him an impression vaguely amusing. He laid aside the agent's +voluminous packet and opened the envelope.</p> + +<p>"Why, the poor little Padre Sahib, to be sure," he exclaimed, half +aloud. "Have they been tripping him up with strings again across the +school door?"</p> + +<p>But as he read, amusement gave place to quite other sentiments. His +eyebrows drew together, and his face, for all its healthy sunburn, +blanched to the indistinct, dusty grey of his well-cut flannels.</p> + +<p>"This very shocking discovery has, as you will, I feel sure, readily +conceive, quite unnerved me," wrote Walter Samuel Beal. "But for the +support and invaluable advice of the Archdeacon I should have sunk under +the burden of responsibility thrown upon me. A case so extraordinary has +rarely, if ever, arisen, I should suppose, during the whole history of +the Christian ministry. I should add that the oak coffin was so charred +at one corner as to reveal a second coffin, composed of lead, within. As +the inscription upon the coffin plate was quite legible, and as Mr. +Armstrong was in possession of information bearing upon this very +painful matter, I abstained from further investigation myself and +entreated others also to do so."</p> + +<p>"Thank God for that," Laurence muttered.</p> + +<p>There was a drawing back of chairs upon the verandah, an outbreak of +rapid question and answer, of laughter, reiterated and extensive +farewells. Virginia's clear voice still rose dominant. She was +marshalling her forces, arranging future meetings, making appointments, +ordering her plan of campaign—and outside, all the while, the sun +blazed on the surface of the white waters of the river, the ripple +lapped against the green, indented banks, the crickets and grasshoppers +kept up their strident serenade.</p> + +<p>"I felt that neither my courage nor my judgment was equal to the +ordeal," wrote the worthy young clergyman. "I dreaded to entangle myself +in legal questions of which I virtually know nothing. I can never +express the gratitude I owe to the Archdeacon. He advised that the +coffin should be placed provisionally in the plot of ground reserved by +you in our parish churchyard. He even came over the considerable +distance from Bishop's Pudbury, and himself read the shortened form +which he had selected from the burial service. For this I was deeply +thankful, as agitation might, I fear, have prevented my performing the +last solemn rites in a suitably impressive manner—"</p> + +<p>"Why, certainly, Mr. Greener, I will go and put on my golfing suit," +this vivaciously from Virginia. "It will be cooler in an hour. We shall +have the wind off the river.—Willie Van Reenan's theatricals? Yes, I +know it, Louise; I am coming to that directly. Now, Mr. Greener, if you +will walk over to her house with Mrs. Bellingham, I will drive around +and take you on to the links. I will arrange to have Laurence meet us at +the club pavilion. And, Louise, when you see Willie tell him he can come +right on here after dinner, and I will cast the play with him. We can +count on you for Lord Follington, Mr. Greener? Yes—you really are very +kind."</p> + +<p>Laurence still stood by the table littered with envelopes and papers. He +was reading the agent's missive, or rather trying to do so, for the +words were not wholly easy to focus. His eyes had a mist before them, +and a singular sensation gained upon him—that of the inherent duality +of his being. For some time now he had only been conscious of the +existence of the modern Laurence Rivers, wholly and solely the modern +Laurence Rivers, and he, baffled and discomfited, by no means at his +best. Now that earlier life, the strong emotions and steady purposes of +it, crowded in on him calling to and claiming him, until his actual +circumstances and surroundings became singularly incredible. The heels +of Virginia's very pretty shoes tapped lightly upon the butter-coloured +boards of the verandah. She straightened a chair or two, replaced some +magazines which slipped from a basket-work lounge on to the floor. Her +movements were direct and deliberate; and all the while her trailing +skirts made a dragging sound like the wheels of a little cart. In a +moment more she would come into the house. The young man tried to pull +himself together; but it was so unbelievable to him, just now, this +whole matter of Virginia.</p> + +<p>He looked across at her, as he might have looked at the merest +acquaintance, and found her extremely effective as she came through the +cool, green light of the great living-room, her tall, slight, yet +rounded figure backed by the untempered brightness of sky and water. Her +transparent, black muslin dress was thick with beautiful hand-embroidery +upon the tight-fitting sleeves and the shoulders of the bodice. It was +girt with a soft, black, chiffon girdle, knotted low down, emphasising +the length of the waist, and the spring of the hips—around which her +dress fitted very closely. Below the knees her skirts stood away +fanwise, over a bewildering arrangement of white, silk kiltings and +flounces, which hid her feet and gave a slightly Japanese effect to her +costume. Her fair, brown hair was loosely waved and puffed out over the +ears. Her eyes, a light hazel, harmonized charmingly with the even tint +of her rather sallow skin. Her neck was noticeably long, and her face in +shape, colouring, and feature bore an arresting resemblance to that of +certain of Botticelli's Madonnas. This, taken in connection with her +extremely fashionable attire and her otherwise declared and complete +modernity, had in it great piquancy, an element trenching on actual, +though unconscious profanity.</p> + +<p>To Laurence, looking at her through the eyes of that elder personality +of his, these details and these suggestions were conspicuous. She +presented a perfect example of an immensely effective type. He +recognised that; yet he stared at it in almost desperate wonder, and +something approaching hopelessness.</p> + +<p>"Why, you are there!" she exclaimed. "I am glad. I wanted you."</p> + +<p>"Your people have all cleared out, haven't they?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, they have gone. They had a grand time, I believe. I really think +it was very well your uncle's death put me into mourning. It has +afforded me the opportunity of giving my family a lovely summer. It +might have been a catastrophe; I have made it into an occasion. They +appreciate that."</p> + +<p>Virginia made these statements with evident self-complacency.</p> + +<p>"Of course," Laurence said. He still stared at her. She placed her +hands on her hips, smoothing down her close-fitting skirt. Her hands +were very small. Much art had been expended upon the finger nails.</p> + +<p>"I think it was perfectly sweet of Horace Greener to come right on and +see me," she continued. "It was like a breath of air from the outside. +And I was glad he should know how finely everything was going. I think +they all thought I might feel a little left over. He knows now it is +they who are left over.—Laurence, you must hurry. I arranged you should +be at the club pavilion in an hour. I have to change my dress; but if it +should still be very hot I will not play. I will have you take my +place."</p> + +<p>"Horace Greener is a charming fellow," he answered, "all the same I'm +afraid I can't play golf with him this afternoon."</p> + +<p>"But I told him you would do so," Virginia rejoined, with absolute +assurance. "It is settled. I never go back on an engagement."</p> + +<p>"Ah! but I'm afraid I do," Laurence said. "Specially in the case of +engagements about the making of which I have not been consulted."</p> + +<p>So far the young lady had been occupied with her own conversation and +her own person to the exclusion of any particular observation of her +companion. Now she deigned to regard him more closely.</p> + +<p>"Dear me!" she exclaimed, "you appear to me to be looking pretty +wretched."</p> + +<p>"Upon my word I believe I am pretty wretched," Laurence answered, +smiling. "My home letters have brought me some news I don't in the very +least like. It entails a journey to England. And instead of playing golf +with Horace Greener, I must take the seven o'clock train to New York, +and see if there is a decent state-room vacant on any of the +outward-bound liners."</p> + +<p>It was, in a way, characteristic of Virginia that her face, +notwithstanding her natural vivacity, possessed no great mobility or +range of expression. There were such a number of emotions she had never +been called upon to entertain. And now no movement of appeal or regret +crossed it. It merely hardened a little, becoming as serenely obstinate +as heretofore it had been serenely complacent. She spoke with exactly +the same conviction and assurance.</p> + +<p>"But you cannot do that," she said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, but indeed I can," Laurence replied quite good-temperedly. He +felt so singularly unrelated to her, that assertion was sufficient. It +did not enter his head to protest or argue.</p> + +<p>"You misunderstand," she said; "it is that I do not intend to have you +do it."</p> + +<p>He paused a moment, making an honest effort to range himself in line +with her thought.</p> + +<p>"Oh, come along," he began. But the young lady interrupted him with the +same unwavering composure—</p> + +<p>"You place me in an objectionable position," she declared, "by forcing +me to explain. That is not considerate. You should meet me half-way; you +should be beforehand so as to secure me against the annoyance of +referring to all that. I had determined to sink it. But you make that +impossible. It is derogatory to me to explain."</p> + +<p>Laurence sat down on the arm of the nearest chair. He felt curiously +helpless, and yet all the while he was getting the bit between his +teeth. If obstinacy was about, well, he had his share of it. Across the +Atlantic matters of such profound moment were awaiting him. It was +difficult to reckon seriously and courteously with this unlooked-for +opposition, and not to brush it impatiently aside. It seemed little +short of ridiculous.</p> + +<p>"I give you my word, Virginia, I don't know what you are talking about," +he said. "I have the most cogent reasons for going over—you haven't +given me an opportunity of stating them yet, but that doesn't alter the +fact. It is necessary I should go; and after all, you know, I am not +such a conceited ass as to imagine you can't do without me for three +weeks or so."</p> + +<p>"I am not thinking of myself, I am thinking of others," she remarked, +with a certain <i>naïveté</i>.</p> + +<p>Laurence smiled.</p> + +<p>"Oh, in that case I can book my passage with a clear conscience," he +said.</p> + +<p>But the young lady continued:—</p> + +<p>"It is extraordinary to me how little regard you have for appearances. +Comments were made upon the length of your former absence. They came +round to me. That was not to be endured in the case of my husband. I +put a stop to all that by cabling for you."</p> + +<p>"Ah! yes, I see," Laurence said slowly. "When I arrived there certainly +seemed no very obvious reason for the sending of that cable. That was +unlike you. When I thought of it I confess I was puzzled."</p> + +<p>"If you leave again after so short a stay, it will give colour to those +comments." Virginia spoke with emphasis, almost with solemnity. "I do +not propose to submit to that. So you must choose, Laurence. Either you +must give up going, or you must wait till it is convenient to me to go +with you. I do not care for a summer voyage; it is dull. Between the +seasons nobody one ever heard of is crossing. One may meet the wrong +people. My leaving would cause great disappointment here. It would break +up their summer. Still I would risk that to avoid the other. It would be +a scramble too, and nothing is more annoying than a scramble, but I dare +say I could arrange to be ready in two weeks from now."</p> + +<p>"That's very good of you," Laurence replied. "But unfortunately I must +go at once, and, pardon my saying so, it will be better for me to go +alone. Everything is at sixes and sevens. Confusion reigns at Stoke +Rivers. I would not take you there under existing circumstances. You'd +receive a quite wrong impression. Oh, it would be utterly disastrous!" +he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>For the first time he beheld Virginia depart from her faultless +self-complacency, lose herself a little and display signs of anger. Her +chin went up with a quick jerk, her eyes flashed, her features seemed +for the moment swollen. This shocked him, it was so wholly +unprecedented. He felt very sorry, as though he had been careless and +clumsy, as though he had broken something hitherto flawless, and +therefore charming, if not of supreme intrinsic value.</p> + +<p>"I begin to believe," she cried, "you have an intention I shall never +see Stoke Rivers at all."</p> + +<p>"No, no, my dear," he answered rapidly, rising as he spoke. "Nothing of +the kind. You are very distinctly mistaken. I have never been more ready +that you should see Stoke Rivers than within the last hour—that is, +when Stoke Rivers is fit to be seen. The poor, old house seems to have +been in jeopardy of final disappearance about a week ago. There's where +my bad news comes in. They write me word of a nasty fire there. Nobody's +fault—an electric light wire heated, and not being properly cased +charred some of the panelling which finally caught alight. The house has +been kept at such a high temperature for years, that the woodwork is +like so much tinder."</p> + +<p>Virginia's chin was still in the air, but she had in great measure +recovered her self-control. Her manner was rather elaborately cold.</p> + +<p>"That is a pity," she said calmly. "But, of course, the house and its +contents are insured."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, the loss is more a matter of sentiment than of money. Only one +room is burnt out, as far as I can gather; and it didn't contain any +very valuable pictures, or any part of my uncle's collection."</p> + +<p>"Probably it is as well this fire occurred, then," Virginia observed. "I +have always supposed Stoke Rivers would need some reconstruction before +it came up to the level of modern requirements."</p> + +<p>"Possibly—" he spoke rather drily. "Only, you see, I happened to +entertain a peculiar fondness for this particular room, and I am sorry +to part with the outward and visible signs of certain memories."</p> + +<p>The young lady did not answer immediately, but examined the dial-plate +of the little watch, set in diamonds, upon her wrist.</p> + +<p>"The carriage will be here," she said. "I have not time to change my +dress. I cannot play golf with Horace Greener. It is very embarrassing. +I have no valid excuse to offer him."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the heat, my dear, the heat," Laurence said, smiling. "Any excuse +is valid if you make it with sufficient conviction."</p> + +<p>Virginia looked hard at him.—"I wonder just what you mean by that," she +retorted. She put up her hand, puffing her hair out a little more over +her ears. "That fire was not very serious on your own admission," she +continued, "I cannot see that it necessitates your hurrying over with +this frantic haste. And if I am to live in it it would be desirable I +should overlook the reconstruction of the house myself."</p> + +<p>Her tone was meditative. Her statements were concise. Laurence felt his +back against the wall. He must take the consequences of his own action +however distasteful and disagreeable. His course would have been very +obvious had his record been quite clean in regard to Virginia; but, he +was an honest man. Something of exquisite, of incalculable value had +tempted him; and the peculiarities of his temperament had heightened +that temptation. He had been saved from falling, not by his own virtue, +but by the virtue and self-sacrifice of one adorably his superior. He +could not plume himself upon the achievement. He acknowledged that his +conscience was not clear in respect of Virginia; and this necessitated +the payment of a heavy penalty in connection with his own self-esteem. +His pride rebelled against "giving himself away," against further +self-revelation; only, the logic of the situation prevailed. It cut him +to the quick, yet it had to be done.</p> + +<p>"You're quite right," he said. "The matter of the fire could have waited +a little, I dare say, though it isn't exactly satisfactory to know part +of one's house is roofless under a wet, English, July sky; but I had +other bad news to-day." He paused a moment. "I heard of the funeral of a +very dear connection of mine."</p> + +<p>Virginia moved slightly, sweeping those fanwise-cut flounces to one +side.</p> + +<p>"Funeral?" she said quickly. "Really you have the very oddest manner of +statement. Had you not already heard of his death, then?"</p> + +<p>The young man moved too. He turned away, and a poignant sensation tore +and hacked at him, so to speak. It hurt him physically. He gazed out +over the dazzling whiteness of the smooth river seeing nothing, his +whole being tense with the effort to resist the showing of that pain.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, I have heard of her death, but I refused to believe it," he +answered.</p> + +<p>There was a moment of ominous silence, save for the shrilling of the +insects, and lapping of the stream.</p> + +<p>"Oh, a woman!" she said, with an almost alarming calm. "Have I ever +heard of her?"</p> + +<p>"I think not," Laurence answered.</p> + +<p>"Then Louise had grounds for her assertions," she said, still with that +deadly calm. "I thought it unworthy to listen. I forbade her to write or +speak to me upon the subject. I—"</p> + +<p>Laurence wheeled round. His eyes were dangerous. All the fanaticism of +his race, and something finer than that, looked out of them.</p> + +<p>"Think what you please of me," he cried; "but of her, think no evil. +Never dare to think any evil. She was one of the saints of God; and you, +of all women, have no cause to misjudge her. She saved me from +committing a great sin."</p> + +<p>A singular expression crossed the young lady's face, an imperious desire +to ask, to search out the ultimate of the matter. But it was momentary. +Spoilt child of fortune, she was too unaccustomed to vital drama to know +how to deal with it. It staggered, it also slightly disgusted her. She +could not rise to it. So conventionality proved stronger than even this +very legitimate curiosity. Virginia remained true to her somewhat +artificial traditions, to her own canons of good taste and +self-respect, to that singular clause of the social creed which +declares the thing unsaid also non-existent. Virginia appeared, in a +way, admirable just then, yet she gave the measure of her nature. It was +not great. She turned aside, with a movement of well-defined and lofty +superiority.</p> + +<p>"Are you aware that you become very indelicate?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Most men are indelicate at times, unfortunately."</p> + +<p>"But not over here," she said. "American women do not permit that. You +must remember whom you have married."—She waited a little. "The English +standards are different, I presume," she added, not without a touch of +sarcasm.</p> + +<p>"I begin to think they are," Laurence answered.—He was paying, paying +abominably; yet there was a sensible relief in so doing.—"They are +based on the logic of fact," he continued. "And fact is more often +indelicate than not. It has never yet, you see, learned to be a +respecter of persons."</p> + +<p>There was a pause, in which once again the fiddlings of the grasshoppers +and soothing lap of the water became audible.</p> + +<p>"Do you still propose to go to England?"</p> + +<p>Laurence nodded. "Yes," he said.</p> + +<p>"Then"—began Virginia; but the young man held up his hand, partly in +warning, partly demanding a cessation of hostilities. His thought had +taken a new departure in regard to his wife. Somehow she had destroyed +her own legend. She was more slight and shallow a creature than he had +supposed, and he would never really stand in awe of her again. His smile +was sad yet wholly friendly.</p> + +<p>"Then—in a couple of weeks or so—I shall come back and fetch you," he +declared. "And then, like wise and politic human beings, we will eschew +controversy, each giving the other as much room as possible. I fancy +you'll find we shall shake down pretty easily, and rub along like most +other married people.—Meanwhile what's becoming of poor, neglected +Horace Greener? Go and amuse both yourself and him, my dear. If you're +not in before I start—well—for the moment, <i>addio</i>."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXV" id="XXV"></a>XXV</h2> + + +<p>It was all very much in keeping with his mood—the reposeful landscape, +heavy with the solid green of the August foliage, the sweep of the low, +grey sky, the warm, still rain which drew forth an indefinable fragrance +from the pastures and hedgerows, the wayside flowers, and the underwood. +Already the evenings had begun to shorten. The rambling village-street +and its inevitable commotion of boys and dogs left behind, Laurence +looked away, with a stirring of the heart, over this goodly land of +which he was owner, as the brown thorough-bred breasted the hilly road +leading up from the station to Stoke Rivers house. The prospect at once +soothed and stimulated him. Emotion had been conspicuous principally by +its absence lately; it was pleasant to feel again.</p> + +<p>At the hall-door the two men-servants met him; and Renshaw's large, +egg-shaped countenance bore an expression almost paternal.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me, sir," he said, his complexion ripening to mulberry with the +effort of speech—"I do not wish to put myself forward, or go beyond my +place, but I must express the pleasure we take in welcoming you home, +sir. I speak not only for myself, but for Mr. Lowndes and Mr. Watkins, +and all the other servants—both upper and under, sir."</p> + +<p>Lowndes, the grey-haired, long-armed valet, subsequently gave vent to +even more cordial sentiments.</p> + +<p>"Excepting for the fire, we have been very dull during your absence, +sir," he said, as he laid out the young man's dress clothes, with a +critical eye to their packing which did not evidently quite commend +itself to his taste. "Living in this house has been like living inside a +run-down clock. I hope you have returned to make some stay, sir. We want +a head; we have forgotten how to take a holiday and amuse ourselves. Our +habits have been so very regular for so many years, you see, sir, we +feel lost without our accustomed duties."</p> + +<p>This too was pleasant. To be precious in the sight of those who serve +you lends a singular graciousness to the conduct of daily life. Laurence +felt at harmony with himself and his surroundings, and with that sense +of harmony arose certain stirrings of hope. During the days and nights +of the past week, while the great ship ploughed her way eastward across +the mighty ridge and furrow of the Atlantic, he had not been wholly +unconscious of that hope—the hope that even now all might not be over, +and that he might once again be blessed by the vision, for however brief +a space, of his dear fairy-lady. Yet he had kept that hope under with a +stern hand. It was present, but at the postern gate, so to speak, of the +castle of his reason and his will. He kept it there, doing his heart +much violence by refusing it admittance and entertainment, since he knew +that, once admitted, it would have proved so dangerously absorbing and +alluring a guest. He tried to deny it admittance still; yet he shuffled +a little with his own conscience, permitting himself a renewing of the +routine which had marked his former sojourn at Stoke Rivers. He dressed, +dined, and waited until the twilight had very sensibly closed in before +visiting that which might remain of the room of mysterious and enchanted +meetings.</p> + +<p>The near end of the corridor offered no noticeable signs of disturbance +or injury. Still it appeared to Laurence that, as on a former occasion, +a spirit of disorder, the winnowing wings of a profound and elemental +fear, had but lately swept through it. He could have imagined the +sightless, marble faces of the Roman emperors less impassive, less +wholly scornful, their heads carried with something less of arrogant and +invincible pride. An acrid odour of burned stuffs, burned woodwork, +pervaded the place. He had cabled instructions that nothing might be +removed, nothing renovated before his arrival. The tapestry curtain +still hung in its accustomed position; but it was blackened and +shrivelled to the obliteration of the figures wrought upon it. The satyr +no longer leered, from his monticule, upon the naked and reluctant woman +hurried towards him by the company of naughty loves. Tongues of fire had +licked away that pictured wantonness and purged its offence.</p> + +<p>Behind the wreck of the <i>portière</i>, the door—its panels split and +tormented by flame—stood wide open, as on the night when, straining +every muscle to carry that apparently so light and fragile burden, +Laurence had lifted Agnes Rivers across the threshold. Once within the +yellow drawing-room the desolation of that heretofore gracious and +friendly apartment touched hard on tragedy, seen, as now, in the +furtive, evening light. The rain had ceased, and through the remaining +sheets of glass, in the partially boarded and barricaded bay-window, the +flower-beds of the Italian garden showed in rich variety of leaf and +blossom. The statues gleamed calm and graceful from their white +pedestals. The spires of the cypresses rose with a certain velvet +softness of density towards the pensive and slowly clearing sky. But the +room itself was ruined in most unsightly fashion, stained by smoke, +rendered clammy and dank in places by water. Wreckage of the pretty, +costly furniture lay scattered in formless heaps upon the blackened +floor—with here and there a shred of fine porcelain, the gilt handle of +a drawer, the pages of a book reduced to tinder, or the unlovely remnant +of carpet or hanging. It was as a place that has suffered siege, and +which relentless foemen have sacked and trodden underfoot. So that it +came to Laurence, very surely, that not here would he find his sweet +fairy-lady, were he indeed destined, in this life, ever to find her +again. Her gentle spirit could never be subjected to the indignity of +dwelling amid this scene of destruction. Some incongruities are +inadmissible to the imagination. They are too violent, too gross. +Therefore the days of his beloved companion's pilgrimage were ended—it +could not be otherwise—in respect of this once so comely place.</p> + +<p>But though convinced that here it was useless to await her presence, +there remained somewhat for Laurence in all tenderness and reverence to +see. Since the electric light was now unavailable, he had ordered +candles to be placed upon the chimney-piece, which, though yellow and +disfigured, still remained practically intact. He moved across from the +neighbourhood of the doorway—sad, little clouds of corpse-coloured +ashes arising about his feet as he stepped—and put a match to the +candles. Then, as the light of them strengthened and steadied, he +looked, shading his eyes with his hand, towards that portion of the wall +at right angles to which the painted, satin-wood escritoire, with all +its pathetic store of cherished love-tokens, had formerly stood. The +high wainscot and brocade-covered panels masking this space had been +entirely burned away, disclosing a low, vaulted chamber hollowed out of +the thickness of the outer wall. This chamber had been roughly and +somewhat clumsily ceiled. The whole construction showed unmistakeable +traces of hasty and unskilled labour.</p> + +<p>Yet Laurence looked at this rough-hewn place of sepulture with an +infinite tenderness, a chastened reverence, while a very vital emotion +clutched at his throat, and far-reaching questions of life past, life +future, and the august purposes of being through the abysm of the ages +and on to the ultimate goal of things, held and sifted his intelligence +and his heart. For it was here, upon the morning following the fire, +that Agnes Rivers's coffin had been found. And it was from here, from +this hard and narrow bed—by what alchemy and agency he knew not—it +transcended his powers to conceive—that her sweet ghost had come forth +nightly, through all those long and dreary years of which it sickened +him to think, flitting impalpable, in vain endeavour to find the key to +her little treasure chest, that was also the key to the love she had so +pathetically lost. And it was here also, to this same hard and narrow +bed, that she had returned with quick and innocently gladsome farewells +in the first flush of returning day, when that love, by unprecedented +circumstance—circumstance trenching on actual miracle—had been +restored to her.</p> + +<p>Viewing that harsh and meagre resting-place which for the better part of +a century had held all that remained of her dear body, Laurence felt +himself strangely reconciled to actual happenings. For it was better, +ten thousand times better, that all now subsisting of her mortal +investiture should rest in Mother Earth's lap—blessed and set apart by +the faith and piety of ages as was that pleasant plot of sun-visited +grass, where the little shadows danced and beckoned, in the age-old +quiet of Stoke Rivers's churchyard. There he would go and watch for her +possible coming, and pay her the homage of his devotion, when the small +hours drew on towards to-morrow's dawn.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile there was time to be passed, and he did not care to leave this +spot, though its present desolation tore at his very vitals, with +memories of incalculable promise, and of unconsummated delight. As, +awakening from his dream of satisfied love long ago, during that strange +former existence, in the summer noon under the light, sibilant shelter +of the lime grove, so now he hungered for completeness of possession, +for the crowning of desire. Yet he kept himself in hand, even as he had +kept the young, brown, thorough-bred horse in hand, when, finding the +level, would have broken its pace and run riot more than once on the +road up from the station. He moved away and sat down on the defaced and +ragged sill of the bay-window. The moon had risen, but its mild light +was often obscured by softly-moving floats of thin, opalescent vapour. +These crossed its face in apparently endless procession, herded up from +southward and the narrow Channel sea. Laurence watched them, at first +almost unconsciously, his mind occupied with other, and, to himself, +more immediate and vital interests. But at length their slow and stately +progress began to work upon his imagination, and insinuate itself into +the very substance and foundation of his thought. He began to see in +them a procession of the souls of all those generations of men and +women, whose efforts and emotions, power of intellect, fiercely pursued +ambitions, passionate devotions, passionate revolts, had gone to +generate his own constitution, mental and physical, and determine his +ultimate fate. And so he came to regard them with a sustained and +deepening attention, since their aspect seemed pregnant with suggestion +of admonition, of encouragement, of warning, or restraint. Once again he +decided to keep vigil in this house, to watch with the unnumbered and +unrecorded dead whose offspring and inheritor he was. Not until all of +them should have passed by, and the moon ride solitary in the heavens, +would he go across the valley—himself now somewhat bitterly +solitary—and visit Agnes Rivers's grave.</p> + +<p>But that procession of low-floating vapours proved long in passing. More +than once a break came in it, making the young man suppose that the +whole of them was gone by. And then again, out of the south, now one +alone, now in close ranged companies, strangely shaped, as though draped +in dragging shrouds, that interminable procession crossed the vault of +the sky. A terror of incalculable number, of unthinkable multitude, +began to lay hold on him, as still they came, and came. Was it +conceivable that each human life had this almost appalling vista of +human lives behind it, of which it was the outcome and result, and in +which it had, consciously or unconsciously, taken part? There was a +certain splendour in the thought, though it left but little room for +personal vanity. Yet even while watching, and pondering of all this, the +personal note remained—for he pondered also, not without profound +discouragement, of his great adventure which just now appeared so +signally to have failed. At the half hours and hours the striking clocks +warned him that the night was far spent, but still that endless and +mystic procession passed before his watching eyes. As once before, in +this same room, his individuality seemed to sink away from him, while a +horrible sense of his own nullity and nothingness prevailed. But at +last, at last, when the first chill grey of the dawn began just +perceptibly to lighten the horizon behind the lime grove, the last of +these trailing vapours arose, passed over and disappeared. The moon +declined towards her setting, yet, though she hung low, the whole field +of heaven was at length her own.</p> + +<p>Then Laurence rose, and went away across the quiet park and up the deep, +tree-shadowed lane to the churchyard, on the hillside across the valley, +sheltered by the bank of high-lying woods. The grass was long, starred +with tall-growing buttercups, blue speedwell, and ox-eye daisies, heavy +and hanging with wet. Only the plot beneath the grey wall of the little +chancel was neatly mown, while, on the near side of it, conspicuous from +the smooth surface of the turf rising immediately surrounding it, was a +new-made grave. The sods covering it were kept in place by a cage of +osier rods. Some one—and Laurence found it in his heart to bless that +unknown ministrant—had laid a spray of pink wild-rose upon the head of +the grave, twisted into a little crown, at once of blossom and of +thorns.</p> + +<p>Laurence stood at the foot of the long, narrow mound, and again he kept +vigil—hearing the breathing of the moist earth, the quick sounds of the +woodland, and that strange, indeterminate, stirring of awakening +life—beast, bird, insect, herb, and tree—which immediately precedes +the birth of day. More than once his heart thumped against his ribs, and +the love-light sprang into his eyes, for, deceived by the growing colour +of the east, he fancied for an instant he again beheld the dear rose-red +of his fairy-lady's clinging, old-world, silken gown. But that fond +delusion was soon dissipated. Wherever her light footsteps might now +tread, they would never, in visible fashion, tend earthwards again.</p> + +<p>Then on a sudden, from the stables up at the house, came the crowing of +a cock, answered in gallant challenge from cottage and from +farmyard—growing faint in the far distance, ringing out again close at +hand, lusty and vigorous, full of the joy of living. Stung by the merry +sound, Laurence straightened himself up, looked away from the +osier-bound, rose-crowned grave, over the fertile, peaceful landscape. +The hops hung heavy upon the poles. The corn warmed to ruddy yellow. The +grass and hedgerows, as the sun's rays touched them, glittered with a +thousand diamond points, even as his lost love's little, embroidered +slippers had glittered when he first led her forth along the alleys of +the Italian garden. A glad wind swept up landward, from that great +thoroughfare of the nations, that highway of stately ships, the narrow +Channel sea. It raced through the woodland, swayed the sombre, +plume-like branches of the ancient yew-trees, and passed, exultant, to +fulfil its cleanly, life-giving mission elsewhere. Laurence took a long +breath, filling his lungs with it. It was good to taste, sane and +wholesome. And then, somehow, those divine words came to him, spoken in +the far Syrian country nearly two thousand years ago.—"The wind bloweth +where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell +whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of +the Spirit."</p> + +<p>Laurence stood erect and very still, his head held high, his face keen, +his lips parted in silent laughter, his whole being vibrant with the +surprise of a great conviction, a great discovery. For at length he too +saw and understood. He perceived that his love far from being lost was +his, close and intimately, as she had never been before, in either this +life, or that other half-remembered life, in both of which he had loved +her so well. He perceived that his amazing and desperate experiment, far +from being a failure, was on a high-road to a success hitherto undreamed +of. He perceived that his splendid adventure, far from being ended, had +but just begun; and that, could he but keep faith with his present +seeing, it would not end until he too had pushed back the heavy curtain, +and finally crossed the threshold of so-called death. Nor would it end +even then, were light lived in the light of this his present seeing. The +future was illimitable, since the goal of it was nothing less than union +with the Divine Principle itself. However innumerable the company of +human lives that had gone to produce his own, his individuality was +secure henceforth, since he had recognised and embraced the life which +alone eternally exists and subsists—the life in, and of, God.</p> + +<p>Five months ago, crossing the Atlantic, in the chill of the March night, +while the big ship steamed eastward and the stars danced in the rigging +as she sunk and swung in the trough and then rose—as a horse at a +fence—at the coming wave, he had asked himself the question as to the +profit of gaining the whole world, if in so doing a man should lose his +own soul. All his experience since then had been a setting of that vital +question at rest for ever. For he had found his soul. The matter was +simply to the point of laughter, when once apprehended. In bidding him +farewell, his sweet companion had promised him that she and he would at +last be made one, being one with Almighty God. He had heard that as he +might mere rhetoric, idle though pretty words, placing it in some +unimaginable future, his mind still in bondage to human conception of +time and space. Now he beheld this consummation as already accomplished, +immediately present, constant, here, now, permanent. All that it needed +was just an attitude and habit of mind, and then work. Work, not so much +for any great benefit derivable by others from that work (though the +desire of the welfare of others must be a fundamental element in that +work); but for the maintenance of the said all-important attitude and +habit of mind in himself. Almost any work would do. There was his +property; and, happily, sufficient of the feudal idea still remains in +England to make the possession of a great landed-estate fruitful in +humane relations between class and class. There was the dear earth, too, +to till and sow, and render more fertile, and more useful to man. There +were politics and public affairs. In the light of his present +illumination he dare approach these things, strong to carve out a career +for himself, yet for ever keeping his secret against his heart. +Salvation is for the individual, each individual must find it for him or +herself. Souls cannot be saved in batches. But to each and all it may, +and will, come, if they have courage, and fortitude, and the single eye +which refuses illusion.</p> + +<p>"And so farewell, yet never farewell, my first, and last, and only +love," he said, looking at the osier-bound grave, while the shadows of +the feathery yew-trees danced and beckoned upon the churchyard grass. +"There have been partings before, cruel to be born; there may be +partings again, but they will be transitory. I am not afraid that I +shall ever lose you, or you me. I am secure in that. Meanwhile for your +sake, O dear soul of me—for so indeed you are—I will make the best use +of the years I may still have to live here on earth. And since you once +were woman, no woman shall ever suffer at my hands—all womanhood being +sacred thenceforth since you once were woman.—Now the work of the world +calls, and, God helping me, I will help to do it. After all, dear love, +we go forth together,—amen."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>There are things Virginia does not quite comprehend in her husband. She +tells the Van Reenan family, that "the English character is very +obscure." But she has had no more dramatic moments in respect of that +character. She pays a long visit yearly to "the other side," and is as +popular as ever. On this side too she has had her social triumphs. The +yellow drawing-room at Stoke Rivers has been rebuilt, but Laurence keeps +it for his own use. He has moved the books into it from the libraries, +thus giving Virginia a large suite of rooms for social entertainments. +Lately, when the red flame of war threatened the integrity of the +British Empire, Laurence went south; and for a time lived that larger +life—in which woman takes her place, perhaps her safest one, as a hope +or a memory merely—the life a man lives among men. Jack Bellingham +volunteered also. He thinks Laurence a better fellow than ever; yet is +perplexed at moments as to whether he has, or has not, developed—like +so many of his family—into a thorough-paced crank.</p> + + +<h3>THE END</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="By_the_same_author" id="By_the_same_author"></a><i>By the same author</i></h2> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">THE WAGES OF SIN<br /></span> +<span class="i0">THE CARISSIMA<br /></span> +<span class="i0">MRS. LORIMER<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A COUNSEL OF PERFECTION<br /></span> +<span class="i0">COLONEL ENDERBY'S WIFE<br /></span> +<span class="i0">LITTLE PETER<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Gateless Barrier, by Lucas Malet + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GATELESS BARRIER *** + +***** This file should be named 34619-h.htm or 34619-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/6/1/34619/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, David Clarke, Mary Meehan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Gateless Barrier + +Author: Lucas Malet + +Release Date: December 11, 2010 [EBook #34619] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GATELESS BARRIER *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, David Clarke, Mary Meehan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + The Gateless Barrier + + By LUCAS MALET + + + NEW YORK + DODD, MEAD & COMPANY + 1900 + + _Copyright, 1900_, by + DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY + + UNIVERSITY PRESS + JOHN WILSON AND SON + CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. + + + + +_Preface_ + + +"What is the book?" + +"According to the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese characters of +the title, we call it _Mu-Mon-Kwan_, which means 'The Gateless Barrier.' +It is one of the books especially studied by the Zen sect, or the sect +of Dhyana. A peculiarity of some of the Dhyana texts--this (story) being +a good example--is that they are not explanatory. They only suggest. +Questions are put, but the student must think out the answers for +himself. He must _think_ them out but not write them. You know that +Dhyana represents human effort to reach, through meditation, zones of +thought beyond the range of verbal expression; and any thought narrowed +into utterance loses all Dhyana quality.... Well, this story is supposed +to be true; but it is used only for a Dhyana question...." + +LAFCADIO HEARN. + + "_Exotics and Retrospectives," pages 83, 84._ + + + + +_The Gateless Barrier_ + + + + +I + + +Laurence leaned his arms upon the broad wooden hand-rail of the +bulwarks. The water hissed away from the side. Immediately below it was +laced by shifting patterns of white foam, and stained pale green, +violet, and amber, by the light shining out through the rounds of the +port-poles. Further away it showed blue black, but for a glistening on +the hither side of the vast ridge and furrow. The smoke from the funnels +streamed afar, and was upturned by a following wind. The great ship +swung in the trough, and then lifted--as a horse lifts at a fence--while +the seas slid away from under her keel. As she lifted, her masts raked +the blue-black night sky, and the stars danced in the rigging. + +This was the first time since his marriage, nearly two years before, +that Laurence found himself alone and altogether his own master. His +marriage was a notable success--every one said so, and he himself had +never doubted the fact so far. Yet this solitary voyage, this temporary +return to bachelorhood, possessed compensations. He reproached himself, +as in duty bound, for being sensible of those compensations. He excused +himself to himself. He gave reasons. Doubtless his present sense of +freedom and content took its rise not in his enforced absence from +Virginia, from her bright continuous talk, her innumerable and perfectly +constructed dresses, her perpetual and skilful activities; but in his +escape from the highly artificial and materialised society in which she +lived and moved and had her being. Laurence had certainly no ostensible +cause of complaint against that society. Its members had recited his +verses, given a charming performance of his little comedy--in the +interests of a deserving charity--quoted his opinions on literature and +politics, and waxed enthusiastic over his strokes at golf and his style +at rackets and polo. He had, in fact, been the spoilt child of two New +York winters and two Newport summers. No Englishman, he was repeatedly +assured, had ever been so popular among the "smart set" of the great +republic. It had petted and _feted_ him, and finally given him one of +its fairest daughters to wife. And for all this Laurence Rivers was +sincerely grateful. His vanity was most agreeably flattered. His natural +love both of pleasing and of pleasure was well satisfied. Yet--such is +the perversity of human nature--the very completeness of his success +tended to lessen the worth of it. He even questioned, at moments, +whether that success did not offer the measure of surrounding immaturity +of taste and judgment, rather than of the greatness of his personal +talent and merit. He was haunted by the conviction that he had never yet +given his best, the highest and strongest of his nature, either in +thought, or art, or adventure, or even--perhaps--he feared it--in love. +The demand had been for a thoroughly presentable and immediately +marketable article; and the Best is usually far from marketable, often +but doubtfully presentable either. It followed that Laurence had, almost +of necessity, kept the best of himself to himself--kept it to himself so +effectually that he had come uncommonly near forgetting its existence +altogether, and letting it perish for lack of air and exercise. + +Now leaning his arms upon the hand-rail of the bulwarks, while the stars +danced in the rigging, and the great ship ploughed her way eastward +across the mighty ridge and furrow of the Atlantic, gratified vanity +ceased to obtain in him. His thoughts travelled back to periods of his +career at once more obscure and more ambitious--to the few vital +raptures, the few fine failures, the few illuminating aspirations which +he had known. The bottom dropped out of the social side of things, so to +speak. He looked below superficial appearances into the heart of it all. +Life put off its cheap frippery of fancy dress, Death its cunningly +devised concealments and evasions. Backed by the immensities of sea and +sky, both stood before him naked and unashamed, in all their primitive +and eternal vigour, their uncompromising actuality, their inviolable +mystery; while, with a sudden and searching apprehension of the profound +import of the question, Rivers asked himself-- + +"What shall it profit a man--what in good truth--if he gain the whole +world and lose his own soul?" + +He had been summoned to England by the illness of an uncle whose estates +and considerable wealth he would inherit. That illness had been +pronounced incurable; but the approaching death of this near relation +made small demand upon his intimate feelings. A decent seriousness of +thought and speech, concerning the impending event, were all that could +reasonably be required of him; for the elder Mr. Rivers was both morose +and eccentric, and had given his nephew a handsome allowance on the +express understanding that he saw as little of him as possible. A +declared misogynist, he had received the announcement of Laurence's +proposed marriage with an exasperating mixture of contempt and approval. + +"I am sincerely sorry for you," he had written on this occasion. "The +more so that you appear to labour under the impression that the step you +have in contemplation is calculated to secure your happiness. This, you +must pardon my remarking, is obviously absurd. I grant that you are +under a moral obligation to perpetuate our family and secure the +succession to our estates in the direct line. I cannot, therefore, but +be glad that you should adopt the recognised means to attain the above +ends. I should, however, respect both your motives and your intelligence +more highly had you done this in a rational and scientific spirit, +without indulgence in sentimental illusions which every sane student of +human history has long since perceived to be as pernicious to the moral, +as they are enervating to the mental health. I could say much worthy of +your attention upon this point; but, in your present condition of +emotional inebriation, it would be a waste of energy on my part,--I +might add, a throwing of pearls before swine. Still, justice, my dear +Laurence, compels me to own that, even so, I must ever consider myself +in a measure your debtor, since the fact of your existence, your +remarkably sound physical condition, your normal and slightly +unintelligent outlook on life, have combined to relieve me of the odious +necessity of sacrificing my time and my personal liberty to the +interests of our family, by entering into those domestic relations, +which you appear to regard with as much thoughtless complacency as I +with reasoned repulsion and distrust." + +This being the attitude of the elder Mr. Rivers's mind, it followed that +when, by his request, Mr. Wormald, the family solicitor, summoned his +nephew and heir to attend his deathbed, the young man's wife was not +included in that gloomy invitation. And this Laurence could not by any +means honestly regret. Virginia at a disadvantage was an idea almost +inconceivable. Yet so immediate and concrete a being would not, he felt, +shade quite gracefully into the mortuary landscape. She would not suit +it, neither would it suit her. For she was almost amazingly in harmony +with her modern, mundane environment; and, save in the way of costly +mourning costumes, it seemed incredible that death should have any +dominion over her. It struck him, moreover, that if he gauged the +position aright, Virginia, notwithstanding her many charms and much +cleverness, would have to take a back seat in his eccentric uncle's +establishment. And Virginia in a back seat was again an idea almost +inconceivable. So he said-- + +"It's an awful nuisance to have to leave you like this, but this is +going to be a pretty dismal bit of business anyhow. I'd much better just +worry through it alone. You'll join me later when it's all over, and we +are free to take possession and knock the place in shape. Stoke Rivers +is really rather delightful, though it is not very large. There used to +be some good pictures and books and things in it I remember. I believe +my uncle is a virtuoso in his way, though he is such a cross-grained old +chap. You'll enjoy the place, at all events for a few months every year, +I think, Virginia. And you can have all your own people over in turn, +you know; and show them how the savage English do it in their savage +little island. You'll make the neighbourhood sit up, I fancy. It'll be +amusing." + +But as Laurence leaned his arms upon the broad hand-rail of the +bulwarks, in the chill of the March night, while the water hissed away +from the side, and the engines drummed and pounded, and the bows of the +great ship lifted against the far, blue-black horizon, he began to +wonder whether he had not been somewhat over hasty in proposing chronic +invasion of Stoke Rivers by all Virginia's smart friends in turn. They +were well-bred, hospitable, amusing, very much up-to-date. He owed them +thanks for a most uncommonly good time. But they seemed a trifle thin, a +trifle superficial and ephemeral just now, in face of the immensities of +ocean and sky, and of the ancient mysteries of Life and Death. + + + + +II + + +Not until after dinner, on the evening of his arrival, was Laurence +admitted to his uncle's presence. The aspect of the room was rich though +sombre. Long in proportion to its width, with a low, heavily-moulded +ceiling, the walls of it were panelled in black oak three parts of their +height. The space between the top of the panelling and the cornice was +hung with dark blue silk-damask, narrow diagonal lines of yellow +crossing the background of the raised pattern. The short, full curtains +drawn over the wide window were of the same handsome material. So were +the counterpane and hangings of the half-tester, ebony bed. This last +was elaborately carved. Two couchant sphinxes, the polished surface of +whose cup-like breasts glowed in the firelight, supported the footboard, +as did a couple of caryatides--naked to the loins--the canopy. Near the +fireplace stood an oaken table, on which lay a few well-bound books. The +further end of it was covered by a cloth of gold and crimson +embroidery--evidently fashioned from some priestly vestment--upon which +rested a _memento mori_, about four inches in height, cut out of a solid +block of rock crystal, the olive crown which encircled the brow being of +pale, green jade. + +In a deep-seated, high-backed armchair--placed between the table and the +outstanding pillars of the chimney piece--propped up by dark silken +pillows, his spare frame wrapped in a long, fur-lined, violet, cloth +dressing-gown, a violet, velvet skull-cap on his head, sat Mr. Rivers. + +Laurence, who had not seen his uncle for the last five or six years, was +conscious of receiving an almost painfully vivid impression at once of +physical feebleness and intellectual energy. The elder man's face and +hands appeared transparent as the crystal _memento mori_ on the table +beside him. His long, straight nose showed thin as a knife. His wide, +lip-less mouth seemed to shut with a spring, like a trap. The bone of +the face and hands was salient, as of one suffering starvation. Yet the +blue-grey eyes, though sunk in their cavernous sockets, were brilliant, +alert, full of an almost malevolent greed of observation. Laurence +noted that a spotless cleanliness and order pervaded the room and the +person of its occupant. The angular and attenuated face was shaven with +scrupulous nicety. The finger-nails were carefully polished and pointed. +An open collar and wristbands of fine lawn showed exquisitely white +against the purple cloth and fur of the dressing-gown. It was evident +that Mr. Rivers, whatever the peculiarities of his temper or of his +opinions, treated illness and approaching dissolution with an admirable +effect of stoicism and personal dignity. + +As Laurence--himself conspicuously well-groomed, in evening dress, no +mark of his long journey upon him, save in a complexion tanned by sun +and sea-wind, and by the directness of glance and vigour of movement +that remains, for a while, by every true sea-lover after he comes +ashore--crossed the space between the door and fireplace, the old man +raised himself a little in his chair. + +"Believe me, I am very sensible of the consideration you show in so +immediately gratifying my desire to see you, my dear Laurence." + +"I was very happy to come, sir," the younger man answered. But he was +not unconscious of a point of irony in the cold, level tones of the +voice, or in the persistent scrutiny of the brilliant eyes. These +appeared to regard him as they might some row of figures--mentally +casting up, subtracting, dividing, intent on arriving, with all possible +despatch, at a conclusive and final result. The effect was not precisely +encouraging, nor were the words which followed. + +"That is well," Mr. Rivers said. "But it is desirable you should +understand from the outset that which you have undertaken. You may be +detained here. The disease from which I suffer is, as you have been +informed, incurable; though it is, I am happy to say, neither offensive +or infectious. But though the final result is assured, the moment of its +advent is uncertain. Neither I, nor the physicians who amiably expend +their limited and somewhat empirical skill upon me, can determine the +date at which this disease will prove fatal. I shall regret to cause you +inconvenience, but the event is beyond my control. I may keep you +waiting." + +"The longer the better, sir," Laurence said, smiling, and his smile was +sincere and genial, of the sort which inspires confidence.--"That is," +he added, "if you do not suffer unduly." + +"When the mind has realised the greatness of its own powers, and trained +itself to their exercise, the will can almost invariably reduce +suffering to endurable proportions," Mr. Rivers replied contemptuously, +as dealing with a matter obvious, and so beneath discussion. He raised +one transparent hand, pointed towards a chair, and then let his wrist +drop again upon a supporting silken cushion. As he did so the two heavy +rings he wore--one an amethyst set in brilliants and engraved with +Arabic characters, the other a black scarab on a hoop of rough +gold--slipped up the long phalange of his second finger to the knotted +knuckle, and back again, with a dry rattle and chink. + +"Oblige me by sitting down, Laurence," he said. "I wish you to labour +under no misapprehension as to my intentions in sending for you. A +certain amount of business may need attention; but all that you can +discuss with my agent, Armstrong,--a very worthy, though prejudiced +person. My affairs are in order. I am not called upon to waste any of +the time remaining to me upon them. Let me explain myself. The +disease--for, to do so, I must refer to it once again--which is in +process of destroying certain organs, and consequently paralysing +certain functions of my body, has in no degree affected my mind. This +retains the completeness of its lucidity. Indeed, I am disposed to +believe that my enforced physical inactivity, and the small number of +objects presented to my sight--I never leave this room--tend to exalt +and stimulate my intellectual powers. You recall the legend of the +ancient philosopher who plucked out his eyes, that, undisturbed by the +vision of irrelevant objects, he might attain to greater concentration +of thought. Disease, in limiting my activities, has gone far to confer +upon me the boon which the philosopher in question strove, rather +violently, to bestow upon himself. I have ever been a student. I propose +to continue so to the last. My interest is unabated. My passion for +knowledge--the sole passion of my life--remains in full force." + +Laurence sat listening, nursing his knee. The speaker's attitude was +impressive, in a way admirable. His detachment, his calm, his acumen, +commanded his hearer's respect. + +"Yes, yes. I see--that's fine," Laurence said under his breath. + +A slightly ironical expression passed across the elder man's attenuated +face. + +"I am, of course, glad that my sentiments meet with your approval. But I +fear that approval may prove premature. I have not yet fully explained +myself." + +Laurence smiled at him good-temperedly. "All right, sir; I'm listening," +he said. + +"I must frankly admit I did not require your presence with a view to +having you endorse my opinions. These are, I trust, too much the outcome +of close and lengthened thought to stand in need of support from the +agreement of another mind. I have never desired disciples, having the +evidence of the history of all great religious, political, and +scientific movements to prove conclusively that it is the invariable +habit of the disciple to falsify his master's teaching, to attach +himself to the weak rather than the strong places of such teaching, to +betray intellectually with some emotional, some hysterical kiss. The +disciple resembles those parasitic plants of the tropic forests, that +strangle the tree upon which they climb upward toward the air and +light." + +He paused a moment, turned his head against the pillows, with a movement +of almost distressing weakness. Then, gathering himself together by a +perceptible exercise of will, he looked searchingly at Laurence again, +and resumed his speech. + +"Nor have I required your presence here during these last days or +weeks--as the case may be--with a view to offering to you, or receiving +from you, that which is usually termed affection. I am not aware of any +demand, or supply, in myself of that very much overrated commodity. I +deny the actuality, indeed, of its existence. Subjected to analysis, it +can always be resolved into workings of self-interest, or into the +gratification, more or less gross, of the animal passions. It is the +generator of all the practical folly and intellectual sloth which go to +retard the progress of science, and the rule of high philosophy among +men. As between ourselves, my dear Laurence, any pretence of affection +would be transparently ridiculous. We are barely acquainted. My +departure will very clearly be to your advantage. Moreover, our tastes +and characters are so divergent, that any real community of interests, +any real bond of sympathy, is clearly out of the question." + +During the course of this address the young man's pleasant smile had +broadened almost to the point of laughter. + +"I understand, I really do understand," he said. "And now that we've +cleared the decks for action in this very comprehensive manner, I +grow--if I may mention it--most uncommonly curious to learn what you did +send for me here for." + +"I sent for you because there is one matter regarding which my +information is conspicuously defective, and because your conversation, +your habits, your very appearance, and gestures may serve to enlighten +me. I have lived among books, and objects of art of no mean value. I +have enjoyed communion, both by letter and in speech, with many of the +most distinguished minds of the present century. But I never +associated, I have never cared to associate, with the average man of the +world, of the clubs and the racecourse, the man of intrigues, of, in +short, society. He appeared to me to weigh too lightly in the scale to +be a worthy object of study. I ignored him, and in so doing dropped an +important link out of the chain of being. For these persons breed, they +perpetuate tendencies, they influence and modify the history of the +race. Not to reckon with such persons, is not to reckon with a +persistent and active factor in intellectual and moral evolution." + +Laurence had risen to his feet. He stood with his hands behind him and +his back to the fire. He was amused, but he was also slightly nettled. + +"Ah!" he said, "exactly. And so you sent for me. You took for granted I +was that sort. You wanted to see how we do it." + +"Yes," Mr. Rivers answered, "it did appear to me that you were +calculated to fulfil the conditions. In any case you were the only +example of the type available. Our connection by blood, and the relation +in which you stand to my property, gave me certain claims upon your +time and your consideration. I wish very much to observe you. I wish to +study you from the psychological and other points of view. You need not +attempt to assist me. Be yourself, please. Be passive. I need no +co-operation on the part of my subject. This will really give you very +little trouble, while it will afford me interesting occupation during +the period--whether short or protracted, I know not--which must elapse +before disease has run its course and procured dissolution." + +Laurence listened in silence; and while he did so, he ceased to be +nettled, he ceased even to be inclined to treat these singular proposals +humorously. For there appeared to him a certain pathos in the earnest +desire of this recluse and student now, at the eleventh hour, to +acquaint himself with just that which he had so arrogantly despised, +namely the Commonplace. It was slightly wounding to personal vanity to +be thus selected, from among the millions of mankind, as a fine, +thorough-paced example and exponent of the Commonplace. But Laurence was +kind-hearted. He also possessed a fund of practical philosophy. +No--decidedly the position was not a flattering one! Yet it was rather +original, and, moreover, how could one in common charity refuse any +little pleasure to a dying man? + +"Very well, sir," he said. "I think I quite grasp the necessities of the +inquiry. I'm quite willing to be operated on, and I promise to play fair +and not let the evidence be faked. But I'm afraid you'll get bored +first. I am likely to be more illuminated than illuminating." + +"I am obliged to you," Mr. Rivers said. "To-night I will not further +detain you. Pray give any orders you please to Renshaw. He is a +well-trained and responsible servant. There are horses in the stable. +Good-night. I repeat that I am obliged to you." + + + + +III + + +Finding it unlikely that his uncle would ask for him before evening, and +that consequently he had plenty of time at his disposal, Laurence +embarked after breakfast upon a survey of the house. When a boy at +school he had occasionally passed a couple of nights at Stoke Rivers. +His recollections of these visits were not gay. He had been glad enough +to go away again. It followed that his impressions of the house itself +were vague and confused. He now found that it was constructed in the +shape of a capital L reversed. The base of the letter, facing east and +west, contained kitchens, offices, and servants' quarters. The main +building--at right angles to it--was two stories in height, and +consisted of suites of handsome rooms opening on to a wide corridor. The +windows of the latter looked south, those of the rooms north. The +colouring and furnishings resembled, in the main, those of Mr. Rivers' +bedroom. Dark panelled walls, rich, sombre hangings of dark blue, +crimson, or violet obtained throughout. In the drawing-rooms were some +noble landscapes by Cuyp, Ruysdael, and other Dutch masters of note. +There was also an admirable collection of Italian ivories, small figures +of exquisite workmanship; and several glass cases containing fine +antique and renaissance gems. The walls of the libraries were lined with +books--a curious and varied collection, ranging from ancient +black-letter volumes down to the latest German treatise, on natural +science or metaphysics, of the current year. Laurence promised himself +to make nearer acquaintance with these rather weighty joys at a more +convenient season. Meanwhile, in contrast to the otherwise distinctly +old-fashioned character of the house, he remarked a very complete +installation of electric light, and an ingenious system of hot-air +ventilation, by means of which a temperature of over seventy degrees was +maintained throughout the whole interior. This produced a heavy and +enervating atmosphere of which Laurence--fresh from the strong clean air +of the Atlantic--became increasingly and disagreeably sensible. It made +him at once restless and inert; and as he wandered, rather aimlessly +from room to room, he was annoyed by finding a slight nervousness gained +on him--he, whose nerves were usually of the steadiest, happily +conspicuous by their absence, indeed, rather than by their presence! + +"Upon my word, this beats the American abomination of steam heat," he +said to himself. + +His visit to the library, where the smell of old leather bindings added +to the deadness of the air, nearly finished him. He went out on to the +corridor, and paced the length of it, past the flying staircase of black +oak leading to the upper corridor, and back again. A broad strip of +deep-pile, crimson carpet was spread along the centre of the polished +floor. On one hand, between the doors of the living-rooms, hung a +collection of valuable copper-plate engravings, representing classic +ruins in Italy and Greece. While on the other, in the spaces between the +windows, were ranged a series of busts--Augustus, Tiberias, Nero, the +two Antonines, Caligula, and Commodus--set on tall columnar pedestals of +dark green or yellow marble. The blind, sculptured faces deepened the +general sense of oppression by their rigidity, their unalterable and +somewhat scornful repose. + +Out of doors the March morning was tumultuous with wind and wet, +offering marked contrast to the dry heat, the almost burdensome order +and stillness reigning within. The air of the corridor was perhaps a +degree fresher than that of the library he had just quitted. Laurence +leaned his arms on a stone window-sill, and glanced in a desultory way +at the day's _Times_, which he had picked up off the hall table in +passing. But Chinese railway concessions, plague reports from Bombay, +even the last racing fixtures, or rumours of fighting on the North-West +Indian Frontier, failed to arouse his interest. In his present humour, +these items of news from the outside world seemed curiously unimportant +and remote. He stared at the wide, well-wooded, rain-blurred landscape. +The scene at which he had assisted last night, the intimate drama moving +forward relentlessly even now to its close in that well-appointed room +upstairs--and the extraordinary character of the chief actor in that +drama--his over-stimulated brain and atrophied affections, his greed of +experiment and of acquiring information, even yet, in the very article +of death--depressed Laurence's imagination as the close atmosphere +depressed his body. It was all so painfully narrow, barren, hungry, +joyless, somehow. And meanwhile, he, Laurence, was required to play the +fool--not for the provocation of laughter, which would after all have +had a semblance of cheerful good-fellowship in it. But in cold blood, as +an object lesson in the manner and customs of the average man; a lesson +the result of which would be tabulated and pigeon-holed by that +unwearying intelligence, as might be the habits of some species of +obscure, unpleasant insect. The young man had developed slight +intolerance of the exclusively worldly side of things lately. It seemed +by no means improbable he might develop equal intolerance of the +exclusively intellectual side before long, at this rate. + +"I seem qualifying as a past-master in the highly unprofitable act of +quarrelling with my bread and butter," he said to himself. "If I chuck +society, and proceed to chuck brains as well, for a man like myself, +without genius and without a profession, what the devil is there left?" + +Meditating thus, he had left his station at the window, and walked to +the extreme end of the corridor farthest away from the servants' wing of +the house. It was closed by a splendid tapestry curtain, whereon a crowd +of round-limbed cupids drove a naked and reluctant woman, with gestures +of naughty haste, towards a satyr, seated beneath a shadowy grove of +trees upon a little monticule, who beckoned with one hand while with the +other he stopped the notes of his reed pipe. The tapestry was of great +beauty and indubitable worth; but the subject of it was slightly +displeasing to Laurence, a trifle gross in suggestion, as had been the +sphinxes and caryatides of the carven ebony bed. + +"Oh! of course there's that sort of thing left," he said to himself, +recurring to his recent train of thought. "But, no thank you, I flatter +myself I can hardly find satisfaction in those low latitudes at +present." + +Having, however, an appreciation of all fine artistic work, he laid hold +of the border of the curtain, wishing to feel its texture. To his +surprise, it was of very great weight, padded and lined with leather, as +are curtains covering the doors of certain Roman churches. + +Laurence pulled the corner of it towards him and passed behind it. The +curtain fell back into position with a muffled thud, leaving him +standing in a narrow, dark, cupboard-like space, closed by a door, of +which it took him some stifling seconds to find the handle. He fumbled +blindly in the dark, an almost childish sense of agitation upon him. He +felt as in dreams, when the place to be traversed grows more and more +contracted, walls closing down and in on every hand, while the means of +exit become more maddeningly impossible of discovery. To his surprise, +he turned faint and broke into a sweat. It was not in the least an +amusing experience. + +At last the handle gave, with a click, and the door opened, disclosing a +large and lofty room quite unlike any one which he had yet visited. It +was delicately fresh both in atmosphere and colouring. It wore a +gracious and friendly look, seeming to welcome the intruder with a +demure gladsomeness. A certain gaiety pervaded it even on this +unpropitious morning. The great bay-window, facing east, gave upon a +stately Italian garden, beyond the tall cypresses, white statues, and +fountains of which spread flat, high-lying lawns of brilliantly green +turf. These were crossed by a broad walk of golden gravel leading to an +avenue of enormous lime-trees, the domed heads of which were just +touched with the rose-pink buds of the opening spring. + +The furniture of the room was of satin-wood, highly polished and painted +with garlands of roses, true-lovers' knots of blue ribbon, dainty +landscapes, ladies and lovers, after the manner of Boucher. The chairs +and sofas were upholstered in brocade, the predominating colours of +which were white, pale yellow, and pale pink. An old-fashioned, square, +semi-grand piano--the case of it in satin-wood and painted like the +rest--stood out into the room. On a spindle-legged table beside it lay a +quantity of music, the printing very black, the pages brown with age. +Close against these was a violin case covered with faded, red velvet, +on which were stamped initials and a crest. + +Laurence's eyes dwelt on these things. And then--surely there should be +a harp in the further left-hand corner, the strings of it covered by a +gilded, stamped leather hood? Yes, it was there right enough.--And a +tall escritoire, with a miniature brass balustrade running along the top +of it, should stand at right angles to the chimney-piece, upon which +last, doubled by the looking-glass behind, should be tall azure and gold +_Sevres_ jars, an Empire clock--the golden face of it set in a ring of +precious garnets--figures in Chelsea china and branched, gold +candlesticks. + +Laurence looked for and found these objects, a prey at once to surprise +and to a sense of happy familiarity. He was perfectly acquainted with +this room--but why or how he knew not. He was filled, too, by a singular +sense of expectation. It was to him as though some exquisite presence +had but lately quitted this apartment and might, at any instant, return +to it. He apprehended something tenderly, delectably feminine. The china +ornaments, and many little fanciful silver toys, spoke of a woman's +taste. So did a tambour frame, and an ivory work-box, the lid of it +open, disclosing dainty property of gold thimble, scissors, cottons, and +what not--and a half-finished frill of cobweb-like India muslin, a +little, gold-eyed needle sticking in the mimic hem. On the small table +beside the work-box lay a white vellum-bound copy of the _Vita Nuova_ of +Dante, and the _Introduction to the Devout Life_ of St. Francis de +Sales. + +Perplexed by his own sensations, possessed too by a sudden, gentle +reverence and longing which he could not explain, Laurence touched the +pretty trifles in the work-box; fitted the thimble on the tip of his +little finger; turned the pages of the Dante, and read how the poet came +near swooning at first sight of the maiden of eight years old whom, +though she was never destined to be his mistress or wife, he loved ever +after, and made immortal in immortal verse. He unlocked the worn +red-velvet violin case and drew the bow--not for the first time--he +could have sworn not--across the wailing strings. What did it all mean? +Yes, what, indeed,--in the name of common-sense, of New York and +Newport, of his golf and polo, and cotillions, of crowded opera-house +and shouting racecourse? In the name, too, of those hard, brilliant, +dying eyes, and that cold, hungry intellect upstairs, what did it mean? +He had no recollection of having been into this room on his former +visits to Stoke Rivers in his boyhood. And yet, of course, he must have +been here--otherwise? But then this overmastering sense of expectation, +this apprehension of an exquisite feminine presence, this-- + +"Upon my word, I'm playing the fool to some purpose," he said, half +aloud. + +He crossed the room, threw wide the French window and went onto the head +of the semicircular flight of stone steps without. The wind buffeted him +roughly. The rain spattered in his face. On the left, the lawns were +divided from the downward slope of rough park and woodland by a sunk +fence. Beyond was outspread an extensive tract of rolling, wooded +country--red and white hamlets half buried among trees, here and there +the spire of a village church, flat, green pastures lying along the +valleys, brown patches of hop-garden and ploughland, and uplifted +against the grey, storm-drifted horizon a windmill crowning some +conspicuous height. Suddenly the cry of hounds, running, saluted +Laurence's ear. Then the whole pack, breaking covert, crossed the open +park. The field followed, horses pulling, riders leaning forward, +squaring their shoulders to the wind--a flash of scarlet, chestnut, +black and bay, behind the dappled joy of the racing pack. + +For a moment the strange influences of this strange day made even the +merry hunt appear to Laurence as the pageant of an uneasy dream. But +soon the honest outdoor life claimed him again, forcing him back upon +unquestioned realities. He closed the French window behind him, stood on +the wet steps spending some anxious moments in the lighting of a cigar, +and then strolled, hatless, round to the stables to make inquiry as to +what his uncle might own in the matter of horseflesh. + + + + +IV + + +In the afternoon Laurence drove over to Bishop's Pudbury, some eight +miles distant from Stoke Rivers. An English soldier--by name +Bellingham--whom he had known in New York, and who had married a Miss +Van Renan, a cousin of Virginia--had taken a house there for the hunting +season. His wife had impressed upon Laurence the duty of making an early +call on these connections--he being the bearer of certain gifts to a +small daughter of the family, Virginia's godchild. A revulsion in favour +of the ordinary ways of ordinary modern life, in favour, indeed, of that +very Commonplace of which last evening he had supposed himself so +unwilling an exponent, was upon him. He wanted to get in with his +accustomed habits, his accustomed outlook, again. The last twenty-four +hours had been somewhat of a strain, and Laurence was as lazy as are +most healthy Englishmen. He hated energising, specially of the +super-induced, involuntary sort. And Mrs. Bellingham's society would be +helpful. She was an agreeable woman, of this world worldly. He could +have a good, square gossip with her. She was possessed, moreover, of a +cult for Virginia--for her beauty, her clothes, her social ability. And +in the back of his mind, somehow, Laurence was conscious that it would +be an excellent thing for him to hear Virginia's praises sounded loudly. +Mrs. Bellingham would count his blessings to him. That recital would be +at once humbling and bracing--altogether salutary. But, unfortunately, +neither the lady nor her husband were at home; so he could but deposit +Virginia's immaculate parcels, tied with flaring bows of amber ribbon, +and drive homeward through the rolling Sussex country--now engulfed in +its deep, narrow lanes, now climbing its breezy, wooded hills, catching +glimpses of the smooth, open downs ranging away to Beachy Head, and of +the grey turmoil of the dirty Channel sea. + +All this was not very exciting, it must be owned, but it afforded him +relief from the singular sensations he had experienced during the +morning. He came into the house in excellent spirits, bringing the clean +chill of the March evening along with him--came in to meet the same +dry, dead atmosphere, the same dark, glossy walls, and rich, sombre +colours, the same at once unemotional yet almost voluptuous suggestion +from objects of art. A lonely dinner followed, admirably served by two +silent, middle-aged men-servants. Their faces were sallow and without +expression, their manner was correct to the point of absolute nullity of +character, they moved as automata. The dinner itself was a little +_chef-d'oeuvre_, and was served on remarkably handsome silver plate. +As centre-piece, three dancing female figures in silver-gilt--copied +apparently from those on some Etruscan vase--supported a cut-glass bowl, +in which floated fantastic orchids, some mottled, dull, brown-green, +toad-like, some in long sprays of mauve, or tiger-colour, striped with +glossy black. These last gave off a thick musky scent. + +Towards the end of the meal Renshaw, the butler, delivered a note to +him, which Laurence read not without kindly amusement. It was from the +curate-in-charge--the Rector of Stoke Rivers preferring to dwell amid +the social excitements of Cheltenham, and but rarely, on the plea of +bad health, visiting the parish. Laurence judged the curate-in-charge to +be a very young man. His letter ran thus:-- + + "DEAR SIR,--I trust I am not presuming upon my official + connection with this parish by hastening to express to you the + great relief which I feel in learning that you have arrived at + the Courthouse. As representative of the incumbent of this + parish, I hold myself responsible for the spiritual welfare of + all persons resident in it, whether of exalted or humble + station. I have, therefore, suffered much anxiety regarding + your uncle's, Mr. Rivers, spiritual condition, in his present + very serious state of health. I know that his views are + regrettably latitudinarian, and that his attitude is far from + conciliatory towards the Church. These sad facts, however, far + from relieving me of responsibility, only increase it. I would + so gladly read and pray with him, and reason with him of those + things necessary to salvation. The time permitted him may, I + understand, be short. It is my duty first to warn, and then to + console. I cannot reproach myself with negligence in calling at + the Courthouse. I do so regularly three times a week. + Unhappily, Mr. Rivers is persistent in his refusal to receive + me. This is not only very shocking, as precluding the + possibility of my offering either the warnings or consolations + of religion to the invalid; but it injuriously affects my + position with my parishioners, who, seeing me thus slighted by + the principal landowner in the parish, show a painful + disposition to treat my ministrations with levity, and my + person with disrespect. I trust to your sense of justice to + obtain my admittance to the sickroom, both in the interests of + your uncle's eternal welfare and in those of the Church, of + which I am a humble, but, I trust, efficient minister.--I have + the honour to remain, dear Sir, yours obediently, + + "WALTER SAMUEL BEAL." + +Laurence finished his glass of claret and his cigarette with a smile. He +sat a minute or two, gazing at the dancing, golden figures and at the +rather malign loveliness of the orchids. + +"Poor little Padre Sahib!" he said to himself. "I'll go and see him +to-morrow and do my best to quiet his worthy conscience. Funny mixture +of soul and of self in that letter! But he's very much too mild a Daniel +to fling into the lion's den upstairs. He little imagines what he's +asking. Well, he won't get it anyhow, so that doesn't much matter. +Pah!--how hot this room is!" + +Laurence rose from the table, folded up the letter, and put it in his +pocket. + +"Now for processes of vivisection. It's the most original fashion of +paying succession duty I ever heard of. My word, if I ever do come into +possession, won't I just open the windows in this house!" + + + + +V + + +The conversation that evening did not move very smoothly. Laurence +brought all the good temper and practical philosophy at his command into +play. But the elder man was captious. His blank scepticism, his keen, +unsparing statements jarred on his companion. An inclination towards +revolt arose in Laurence. + +"I am half afraid, sir," he permitted himself to say at last, while his +eyes rested on the gleaming breasts of the ebony sphinxes,--"that we +have made a radical mistake and put the cart before the horse. To +understand the average man, and his relation to things in general, must +not you begin with the study of the average woman? Is not _cherchez la +femme_, after all, the keynote of our inquiry?" + +Mr. Rivers raised his thin hand almost as in warning, and the heavy +finger-rings chinked as he let it fall again on the arm of his chair. + +"The subject of sex in connection with human beings is distasteful to +me," he said. + +Laurence glanced at the speaker and then back at the carven sphinx +again. His eyes were a little merry--he could not help it. + +"Oh! no doubt," he said; "there are times when it is distasteful to many +of us, and most infernally inconvenient into the bargain. Only you see, +unluckily, it is the pivot on which the whole history of the race +turns." + +"A most objectionable pivot! An insult to the intellect, a degradation." + +"That may be so," Laurence answered. "Still the thing is there--always +has been, always will be, modern science notwithstanding, unless +humanity agrees to voluntary and universal suicide, a consummation which +does not seem immediately probable in any case.--'Male and female +created He them.' An error perhaps of judgment, but one the Creator has +never shown much sign of wishing to correct as yet. The most venerable +religious systems recognise this. I need not remind you that it lies at +the heart of their mysteries. Christianity too--Catholic +Christianity--the only form, that is, of Christianity worth considering +seriously--acknowledges the profound significance of it in the worship +of the divine motherhood and the perpetually renewed miracle of the +Incarnation." + +"You interest me," Mr. Rivers said slowly. + +"I am glad of that," Laurence answered. He had warmed up unexpectedly to +his subject. "I am glad of that, for I can't help seeing--" + +Mr. Rivers interrupted him. + +"Pardon me," he said. "I would not have you labour even temporarily +under a misapprehension. It is less your exposition that interests me +than yourself. I note indications of thought and feeling for which I was +not wholly prepared. Taking you as a fair example of the type, I +perceive that the mind of the average member of society is of an even +lower order than I had supposed. I had, in my ignorance, imagined that, +even in the class to which you belong, modern, scientific ideas had +taken sufficient root to oust such effete superstitions as those to +which you have alluded. A more or less stupid Agnosticism, an utter +indifference, would not have surprised me. From such a condition +development is still possible. But here I recognise traces of a return +to fetich worship, to savage standards--this indeed is hopeless, a +degeneration from which revival is impossible. I admit, of course, the +necessity of the existence of woman, since the perpetuation of the race +appears at present desirable. It would be childish to argue the matter. +She must be kept and cared for by qualified persons, as are the other +higher, domestic animals, but--" + +"But, but," Laurence said, laughing, "I must protest. Perhaps his type +of mind is too low for yours to be able to stoop to it; but, upon my +word, sir, even with so thorough-paced a specimen as myself before you, +you have not grasped the characteristics of the average man one bit. I +don't say we are conspicuously noble, or virtuous, or godly creatures, +and I don't say that the side of our lives which has to do with our +ambitions, with public affairs, our profession, or our art--the side, in +fact, in which woman counts least--may not give scope to that which is +best in us. I have no end of belief in the life a man lives among men. I +grant a good deal on your side of the question, you see. Only I know it +will be a precious bad day when we keep our women merely for breeding +purposes. We shall have degeneration in uncommonly full swing then. +There is an immense lot in the relation between man and woman beside the +physical one; and--and--I'm not ashamed to thank whatever gods there be +for that." + +"Your wife--" began Mr. Rivers. Laurence looked hard at him, while the +good temper, the geniality, died out of his face. + +"My wife does not enter into our contract, sir," he said shortly. + +The coldly brilliant eyes fastened on him with a certain voracity of +observation. Then the elder man bowed slightly, courteously, +contemptuously. + +"You interest me extremely," he said. "I am obliged to you. But I must +not presume upon your complaisance. You have supplied me with sufficient +subjects of meditation for to-night. I will not detain you further. I +thank you, my dear Laurence. Good-night." + +"I was a fool to let myself go, and a still bigger one to lose my +temper," the young man said to himself as he closed the door and passed +out on to the corridor. + +Save for a ticking of clocks, silence prevailed throughout the house. +The electric light, clear and steady, revealed every object in its +completeness. The temperature was some degrees higher than during the +day, and airless in proportion to its increased warmth. Half-way down +the shining oak staircase, Laurence was saluted by the musky odour of +the orchids. Clinging, enfolding, it seemed to meet him more as a +presence than a scent. The dining-room door stood wide open. The +under-butler came forth and went noiselessly towards the offices. There +followed a muffled sound of baize doors swinging to. Then +simultaneously, sharply, from all quarters, clocks struck the half hour. + +"Only half-past ten!" Laurence exclaimed. "How villainously early! I +wish to goodness I had not lost my temper though. It was slightly +imbecile. If the poor, old gentleman enjoys being offensive, why +shouldn't he be so? He has none too many opportunities of amusement." + +He paused, looking down the bright, vacant, silent corridor, past the +open doors of all the bright, vacant, silent rooms. + +"If it comes to that, nor have I," he added, "when I come to think of +it. There's a notable paucity of excitement in this existence, and this +beastly hot air makes one too muzzy to read." He yawned.--"What a mercy +Virginia didn't come! She would have been most extensively and +articulately bored." + +He sauntered aimlessly along the passage, past the fine, copper-plate +engravings, and the impassive, Roman emperors, and drew up before the +great, tapestry curtain. Again he looked curiously at the figures worked +so skilfully upon it. The light took the silken surface, bringing the +warm flesh-tints into high relief, against the dim, grey-green +background of shadowy hill and grove. + +"No wonder my uncle blasphemes if that represents his only idea of the +relation of the sexes." + +He sighed involuntarily. + +"Yes, but, thank God, there is more in it all than merely that," he +said. Then he repeated:--"It is a mercy Virginia did not come. It would +not have suited her from any point of view. She'd have been hideously +bored, and she would have been offended and a good deal shocked. It is +queer the way the Puritanic element survives over there, notwithstanding +their modernity." + +Laurence smiled to himself, becoming aware of the slight inconsistency +of his own attitude--his late heated championship of the claims of the +Eternal Feminine, his self-congratulation at the fact that his own +particular investment in the matter of womanhood was, at present, safely +away on the other side of the Atlantic. + +Then, taken by a sudden impulse--born in part of a desire of escape from +the suffocating atmosphere around him--he pulled the edge of the heavy +curtain outwards, passed round it, letting it drop into place behind +him. He stood a moment in a contracted, blind space. The place seemed +possessed of singular influences. Again he grew faint as he groped for +the door handle; while a conviction grew upon him that he had stood just +here, and so groped an innumerable number of times already, and that he +should so stand and grope--either in fact or in imagination, just as +long, indeed, as consciousness remained to him--an innumerable number of +times again. + +At last the handle was found and yielded. Breathing rather quickly, +Laurence entered the lofty, fair-coloured room. It too was bright with +electric light, but the air of it was sensibly purer than that of the +corridor; while, standing before the painted satin-wood escritoire, at +the further side of the fireplace, was a slender woman. Her back was +towards him. She wore a high-waisted, clinging, rose-pink, silken gown. +Her dark hair was gathered up in soft, yet elaborate, bows and curls +high on her small head, after the fashion prevalent in the early years +of the century. A cape of transparent muslin and lace veiled her bare +shoulders. + + + + +VI + + +The young man's astonishment was immense. Recovering from the first +shock of it, he was taken with reprehensible irreverence towards the +sick man upstairs. + +"The old sinner, how he has lied!" he said to himself. "A pretty ass he +has made of me with this card up his iniquitous, old sleeve all the +while!" + +He debated momentarily whether good manners demanded his retirement +before his presence was perceived; or whether he was free to go forward +and make acquaintance with this unacknowledged member of his uncle's +household. Strong curiosity, coupled with a spirit of mischief, provoked +him to adopt the latter course. He owed it to himself, surely, not to +neglect so handsome an opportunity of turning the tables upon old Mr. +Rivers. While, astonishment and levity, notwithstanding, Laurence was +aware of a strong attraction drawing him towards the slender, rose-clad +figure. He began to question, indeed, whether it, like the room and its +furnishings, was not in a degree familiar to him? Whether it was not the +embodiment of just all that of which he had been so singularly expectant +when visiting the room this same morning? + +Meanwhile the young lady's hands moved over the rounded cover of the +escritoire as though endeavouring to open it. The lace frills, edging +her muslin cape, flew upwards, showing her bare arms. These were thin, +but beautifully shaped; while the movement of her hands was singularly +graceful and rapid. She touched, yet seemed unable firmly to grasp the +gilded handles of the escritoire again and again; clasped her hands, as +it appeared to Laurence--for her back was still towards him--with a +baffled, despairing gesture, and then moved away across the room. She +appeared to flit rather than walk, so light and silent were her steps, +bird-like in their swift and dainty grace. Watching her, Laurence was +reminded of a certain Spanish _danseuse_, who, during the previous +winter, had excited the wild enthusiasm and considerably lightened the +pockets of the _jeunesse doree_ of New York. But the charm of the +dancer had, for him at least, been spoilt by the somewhat unbridled +pride of success perceptible in her bearing. Whereas the flitting figure +now before him, notwithstanding the beguiling loveliness of its motions, +struck him as penetrated with the sorrow of failure, rather than the +arrogance of success. + +She wandered to and fro, regardless or unconscious of his presence, +searching--searching--as it seemed; passing her hands over the +work-table, sweeping them along the surface of the chimney-piece between +the ornaments and china, fingering the music upon the piano. He caught +sight of a delicate profile, a round and youthful cheek. But her +movements were so anxious and rapid that he could get no definite view +of her face. Indeed, her action was so quick that it was not without +effort Laurence followed it. + +At first the young man's attitude had been one of slightly irritated +amusement at the concealment practised on him by his host. But as the +rose-clad lady's search continued, the sense of amusement was merged in +one of sympathy. She was so graceful a creature. She appeared so sadly +baffled and perplexed. A subtle anxiety laid hold of him--an +apprehension that something momentous and of far-reaching consequence to +himself was in act of accomplishment--that he was himself deeply +involved, and pledged by a long train of antecedent circumstances to +assist those delicately framed and apparently so helpless hands in their +unceasing search. + +"Pardon me, but what have you lost?" he asked her at last, speaking +gently as to a timid and unhappy child. "Tell me, and let me try to help +you find it." + +At the sound of his voice the flitting figure paused, stood a moment +listening, as though striving to collect the purport of his address. +Then it turned to him. For the first time Laurence saw his companion's +face clearly, and he shrank back, penetrated at once by a great +admiration and a vague dread of her. For it was a very lovely face, but +shy and wild as no other human face he had ever beheld. The sweet mouth +drooped at the corners, as with some haunting, but half-comprehended +distress. The eyes were serious; blue-purple--as are deep, high-lying, +mountain tarns, set in a soft gloom of pine-trees and of heather. A +gentle distraction pervaded the young lady's aspect. And this was the +more arresting, that each bow and curl of her pretty hair was in place; +every detail of her dress fresh and finished, from the string of pearls +about her white throat, to the toes of her rose-pink, satin slippers, +sparkling with an embroidery of brilliants, which showed beneath the +small flounce edging her rose-pink skirt. + +Laurence had lived at least as virtuously as most men of his class; yet +it would be idle to declare Virginia his first and only flame. He had +married her, which constituted the difference between her and all those +other flames--and at times it occurred to him what a prodigiously great +difference that was! Since his marriage he had been guiltless of looking +to the right hand or to the left even in thought. But, before that +event, it must be owned, he had had his due share of affairs of the +heart. He was thoroughly conversant with the premonitory symptoms of +that fascinating disorder, commonly known as "falling in love." And, to +his dismay, as he looked on the sad and lovely person before him, he +was conscious that some of those premonitory symptoms were not entirely +absent. An immense pity and tenderness took him; a deepening conviction, +too, of recollection, as one who after a long lapse of years hears again +some almost forgotten melody, or sees again a once well-known and +well-beloved landscape. The sad face was new to him, not in itself, but +in its sadness only. The corners of the sweet mouth should not droop, +but tip upward in soft, discreet laughter. The serious eyes should +dance, as the surface of these same mountain tarns in sunlight under a +rippling breeze. The face, remembered thus, had indeed never been wholly +forgotten--he knew that. It formed part of inherent prenatal +impressions, of which, all his life, he had been potentially if not +actively aware. + +All this flashed through him in the space of a few seconds; while he +repeated, somewhat staggered by the fulness of emotion which the tones +of his own voice implied-- + +"Only tell me what you have lost--tell me; and let me help you find +it."--Then he added more lightly, smiling at her with his sincere and +kindly smile:--"Really, my services are worth enlisting. I've always +been a rather famous hand at finding things, you know." + +She gazed at the young man for a minute or more, a tremulous wonder in +her expression, while she fingered the string of pearls about her +rounded throat. Her lips moved, but no sound came from them. Her +attitude changed. She stood with her head raised, apparently listening. +Then reluctantly, as in obedience to some unwelcome summons, she moved +swiftly across the room to the outstanding, painted satin-wood +escritoire, passed at the back of it, and the young man found himself +alone. + + + + +VII + + +Though usually an excellent sleeper, Laurence passed a restless night. +Like most sane persons, he was disposed to resent that which he could +not account for; and, with the best will in the world to evolve +ingenious hypotheses explanatory of her disappearance, the manner of his +sweet companion's going remained a mystery. He had examined the +escritoire, and found it locked. He had also examined the wall-space in +its vicinity. This was hung, from cornice to wainscot, with pale +yellow-and-white brocade, as was all the room. But neither behind the +brocade, nor in the wainscot, was any door or sliding panel +discoverable. Indeed, when he came to think of it, remembering the +structure of the house as he had seen it on his way along the south +front to the stables, that side of the room consisted of a blank wall, +doorless and windowless. This fact, when he realised it, caused Laurence +something of a shock. It was unpleasant to him. And so he took refuge in +scepticism. He laughed at himself, declaring that the unwholesome +atmosphere of the house, and the lonely, uneventful life he was +compelled to lead, were breeding morbid fancies in him. All that talk +about woman and the relation of the sexes had stamped itself upon his +mind in an exaggerated way, thanks to his surroundings. The musky scent +of the orchids had a word to say in the matter too, no doubt. So had his +revulsion from the gross suggestions of the scene represented on the +tapestry curtain. Heavy sleep, amounting almost to torpor, induced by +the heavy atmosphere, had fallen upon him directly after he had entered +that strangely engaging and familiar room. And, in that sleep, +imagination had created a woman who should embody all that which the +room and its furnishings suggested--an ideal woman, far away alike from +the brilliant young leader of smart society whom he had married--but on +this clause Laurence refused to allow his thoughts to dwell--and from +the mere human brood-mare, whom his uncle pronounced to be the only +admissible exponent of the Eternal Feminine. He had dreamed a poem--one +of those poems he kept at the bottom of his despatch-box, and had never +felt any inclination to read aloud to Virginia--had dreamed instead of +writing it, that was all. + +Laurence got out of bed and threw open the window. Where the eastern +angle of the house stood out dark against the sky, he could see the +pallor of the dawn warming into rose, while overhead the stars died out +one by one as the light broadened. + +"Yes, the vision of a dream," he said to himself. "Only another of those +thousand exquisite things which belong to the language of symbol, and +possess, alas! no tally in reality--reality, that is, as most of us +hide-bound victims of conventionality are destined to know it."--He +laughed a little grimly.--"Reality, as we know it, being precisely the +biggest illusion of all!" + +He watched the fading stars, the deepening rose and gold of day, above +the woods and lawns, the black cypresses and white statues upon the +northern boundary of the Italian garden. Starlings chattered joyously +from the gutters under the eaves; and then swept down, with a rush of +passing wings, on to the grass. A keeper, gun on shoulder, with a busy, +little, black cocking-spaniel, and a long-limbed, red, Irish setter +behind him, crossed the rough downward slope of the park; and the wide, +blue-grey landscape began to grow definite, to assert itself right away +up to the horizon. The earth seemed to awake with a quiet smile from the +kindly sleep of night. + +Laurence drank in his fill of the moist, sharp air. + +"Poor dear Virginia!" he said suddenly. And it was probably the very +first time in her whole life that this popular, admirably finished, and +much admired young lady had ever excited pity. + +After breakfast Laurence set forth to visit his clerical correspondent, +and strive to ease the latter's conscience while refusing his request. +The rectory, distant about three-quarters of a mile, stood on the rising +ground across the valley, backed by a fringe of high-lying woods. The +church, a small but very perfect example of Norman architecture, closely +adjoined the house. There were good details of carving about the narrow, +round-headed windows of the chancel, and the low, heavy arch of the +porch--the floor of which was sunk several steps below the level of the +churchyard. The tower, square and solid, but little higher than the roof +of the nave, was surmounted by a squat, shingled spire. It struck +Laurence as a calm, self-contained, little building, on which the +centuries had set but slight mark of decay. The churchyard, +too--shadowed by a few ancient yew-trees--was singularly peaceful, full +for the most part of unnamed, grass-grown graves. Death, seen thus, had +nothing awful, nothing repulsive, about it--quiet "rest after toil," it +amounted to no more than that. + +But then the charm of spring was in the air, and the young man was +pleasantly beguiled by it. He sat down on the broad coping of the +churchyard wall, lighted a cigarette, and idly watched the rooks +streaming out from the rectory elms, and dropping on the fragrant, +fresh-turned earth of a plough-field in the valley. He listened idly to +the nimble wind that blew up from the ten-mile-distant sea, sang in the +woodland above, and whispered through the dark, plume-like branches of +the yews here in this sheltered piece of ground. The sky was a thin, +bright blue, and across it wandered little clouds, like flocks of white +sheep, herded by that same nimble wind up from the Channel. + +It seemed to Laurence that here, indeed, would be a pleasant enough +place to lie when life was over. But then that time had by no means +arrived for him yet. He felt again--as he had felt that night on board +ship--that he had never done complete justice to his own capacity. +Whether the fault lay in himself or in circumstance, he could not say; +but he knew that neither body, nor mind, nor heart, had worked up to +their full strength yet. Ambition of some notable and absorbing +undertaking stirred in him. He looked out over the goodly land. Would +this by no means contemptible inheritance, on the threshold of the +possession of which he now stood, afford him his great opportunity? And +then his thought harked back to the lovely and pathetic vision which had +blessed his sleep--for, of course, he was asleep--last night. A man +could find fulness of satisfaction in a great passion for such a +woman--if so be she actually existed, instead of being only the ideal +vision of an ideal dream. Yes, a man could go very far down that road +if--if--And there Laurence, being a decent fellow, laid strong hands on +his imagination. To indulge it was just simply not right, since whatever +woman's existence might belong to the land of fancy, his wife, +Virginia's, belonged, to the land of very positive fact. He got up, +shook himself, and walked away to the rectory house, through the +sunshine and shadow of the peaceful, country graveyard. + + + + +VIII + + +Mr. Beal received his guest with an agitation in which natural timidity +warred with professional pride. He laboured under the conviction that he +was called upon at all times and in all places to maintain the dignity +of the Anglican Church. He believed she was very much in the midst of +foes, Rome and Non-conformity alike perpetually plotting her downfall; +while Atheism cruised about in the offing ever ready to seize any who +escaped the machinations of these more declared enemies. And, +unfortunately, the young man, neither in appearance nor constitution, +was a born fighter, or even a born diplomatist. In appearance he was +mild, with sandy, down-like hair, a high narrow forehead and freckled +skin, pale, anxious eyes behind spectacles, and a moist white hand. He +opened the front door to Laurence himself; and it occurred to the latter +that his clothes were very black, and that he wore a great many of them. + +"Mr. Laurence Rivers, I presume?" he said, looking up nervously into +his guest's face. + +"Yes; I thought it would be simplest to answer your letter in person," +the other replied. He felt a certain kindly pity for the young +clergyman, whose existence he divined to be of a somewhat limited and +unproductive sort.--"I should have given myself the pleasure of calling +on you in any case in a day or two. But your letter seemed to require +attention at once. I am sorry you are having any bother about--" + +"Will you not come in?" Mr. Beal asked hurriedly. "Our conversation +might be overheard and commented upon. This way, please. You will excuse +the dining-room? I always occupy this room during the winter months. It +is both necessary and right that I should practise economy, and to +occupy this room exclusively saves a fire." + +In his nervousness Mr. Beal talked continuously. + +"Pray take a seat," he said, pushing forward an armchair, the leather +cover and springs of which were decidedly tired. "I at once begged you +to come in here, because in speaking of personal and parochial matters +one cannot, I feel, be too careful. Mr. Wingate--the rector of Stoke +Rivers, you know--wished, I am sure, to treat me with generosity when I +undertook the duty here. He not only placed the whole of this house at +my disposal, but he left two female servants--not on board wages--an +elderly woman and a younger person as her assistant. The intention was +generous, I feel sure; but I grieve to say they are not such staunch +church-women as I could desire, and this has led to difficulties between +us. I thought it my duty to admonish them, separately, of course, +suiting my remonstrances to their respective ages and dispositions. But +they did not receive my admonitions in a submissive spirit. Since then I +have found it necessary to exercise great caution. There has been much +gossip. Remarks of mine have been repeated, and that not in a manner +calculated to improve my position with the parishioners. My actions are +spied upon. There is a small, but bigoted, dissenting element in the +village, and----" + +"Ah! yes, they're a nuisance, I dare say," Laurence put in, smiling. +"Still, it's a charming place, all the same. I have just been poking +round the church. There are some wonderfully quaint bits about it. And I +like the churchyard." + +"I could wish to have the graves levelled, and the head and foot stones +placed neatly in line on the confines of the enclosure." + +"Oh! no, no; that would destroy the character of the place. We can't +carry anything away with us--granted--when we go. And so there's a +certain subjective comfort in knowing we leave a little mound of earth +and turf behind to mark our resting-place. That's hardly ostentatious, +considering our pretensions during life--do you think so?" + +Mr. Beal shifted the position of his spectacles. He braced himself. + +"The churchyard has been levelled at Bishop's Pudbury," he said. "I had +the privilege of being assistant priest there for five years. The +archdeacon is considered a man of great taste." + +"I should have thought the parishioners would have objected now," +Laurence remarked. + +"So they did," Mr. Beal replied. "I grieve to say some persons +displayed a most illiberal spirit. They called meetings, and behaved in +a really seditious manner. Many even became guilty of the sin of schism. +They ceased to attend the church services, and frequented dissenting +places of worship. The archdeacon was pained; but he felt a principle +was at stake. He has long contended that the churchyard is legally the +rector's freehold. He therefore felt it a duty to the Church to be +firm." + +Laurence contemplated the young clergyman with a touch of good-natured +amusement, wondering if, with that anaemic physique, he was capable of +emulating the militant virtues of the archdeacon-rector of Bishop's +Pudbury. + +"But about this letter of yours, Mr. Beal," he said. "That's what I came +to talk to you about." + +"I am afraid my conversation has been a little irrelevant. But--but--" +the young man sat opposite to Laurence, shifting his spectacles, and +washing his hands in an access of nervousness. "I confess I am not quite +myself this morning, Mr. Rivers. I was made an object of public ridicule +last night." + +"I am very sorry to hear it. How was that?" + +"I think I am at liberty to tell you, because the incident took its rise +in your uncle, the elder Mr. Rivers', refusal to receive me. You see it +is known how often I have been repulsed. Last night we had the weekly +choir practice at the school. While it was in progress, I was called and +informed by the pupil-teacher--whom I excuse of participation in the +unseemly jest--that Mr. Rivers had sent for me, and that his carriage +was waiting at the gate. This surprised me; but I supposed you might +have received, and immediately responded to, the request contained in my +note. I excused myself to the organist and choir, and hastily put on my +hat and coat. I hurried out, but some ill-disposed youths had placed +strings across the school door. I fell. The ground was exceedingly +muddy. My reappearance was greeted with hardly concealed derision. I +discovered the whole matter was a vulgar hoax." + +"Ah! that's very much too bad," Laurence said kindly, though the +picture suggested by the young clergyman's story provoked him to +internal mirth. "We must straighten this out somehow. And yet I tell you +frankly your letter placed me in a difficulty. Even when in good health +my uncle was not an easy person to approach, and now, as you know, he is +fatally ill----" + +"I would deal with him very gently," Mr. Beal remarked, bracing himself. + +"I am sure of that. But I am afraid he might deal anything but gently +with you." + +"I think--I believe--I am prepared to suffer for my faith." + +"I am sure of that," Laurence repeated consolingly. "But it appears to +me this would be both a superfluous and inglorious martyrdom. My uncle +is perfectly secure of his own position and opinions. The latter are +peculiar, and he has a very trenchant way of stating them." + +"You would convey to me that I should be worsted in argument?" Mr. Beal +inquired. + +"Yes, I really am more than half afraid you would. And so, you see, no +end would be gained. You would be pained, and possibly humiliated; while +my uncle's victory would render him more stubborn in the maintenance of +his own views. He would be irritated too, and that might accelerate the +action of the disease from which he suffers. Remember, he's both old and +ill. I own I think he must just go his own way. I hesitate to coerce +him." + +During this address Walter Beal had washed his moist hands in a very +agony of agitation. This handsome stranger impressed him greatly. He was +sympathetic, moreover, a patient and kindly listener. The young +clergyman could have found it in his heart to adore him with a humble +and dog-like devotion. But then his own professional dignity must be +asserted. So he whipped down his natural and wholesome inclination to +hero-worship, and whipped up his rather spavined, ecclesiastical valour; +and said, with all the sternness his tremulous voice could command-- + +"I fear you are not a true Christian, Mr. Rivers, or you would find no +room for hesitation where the salvation of a soul is involved." + +Laurence turned his chair sideways to the dinner-table, crossed his +legs, and rested his elbow on the bare, white cloth. Some crumbs +remained on it, left over from Walter Beal's breakfast; but happily they +were at the far corner. The young man deserved a snub, but he was an +innocent creature, a great sincerity in his foolishness. Laurence looked +out of window, across to the sunny peaceful churchyard. After all, why +be harsh? Why snub anybody? So he smiled again genially enough upon the +distracted Beal. + +"Oh! we must discuss the heights and depths of my Christianity some +other time," he said. "The point is to stop this impertinence of which +you are the victim. Look here, honestly I don't see my way to making a +meeting between you and my uncle at present. But as you can't get the +uncle, let me beg you to put up with the nephew. Let it be known that +you and I are on excellent terms. Come and see me. Let's see--to-morrow +evening I shall be free till half-past nine or ten. Come and dine with +me." + +But Mr. Beal shrunk back and raised his moist, white hands in protest. + +"Oh, no!" he exclaimed. "That is, I am sure your intentions are most +kind, most kind--indeed, indeed, really, I am sure of that. But except +professionally, except at the urgent call of duty--and then grace would +be given me--I felt that yesterday when I received the summons during +the choir practice--I prayed--I was praying when those strings +intercepted my passage and caused me to fall--I knew I should be +supported--but, except professionally, I could not make up my mind to +enter that house--Stoke Rivers. And after dark too! I could not. It +would be too dreadful." + +Laurence stared at him blankly. "Why, my good man," he said, laughing a +little, "what on earth is the matter with the house?" + +"I understand that it contains pictures and statues of an immoral +character. It is very frightful to think of a soul, the soul of a +scoffer, of one who speaks lightly of holy things, going forth to meet +its doom from among such heathenish surroundings.--But it is not that so +much which deters me. I ought to cope with that, strong in faith. But +from a child, I own it, I have suffered from the fear of the +supernatural." + +Laurence's eyebrows drew together. "The supernatural," he said. + +"Yes--yes--the supernatural." + +Laurence paused a moment, gazing down at the worn drugget between his +feet. + +"Look here," he said, "either you are talking great nonsense, or there +is something uncommonly serious at the bottom of all this, of which I +ought to be informed. Tell me plainly, what are you afraid of?" + +"There, there are lights all night." + +"Certainly there are. The electric light is left on. It is a fancy of my +uncle's--and not an unreasonable one in time of illness. If your fears +take their rise in nothing worse than that, why--" Laurence shrugged his +shoulders. + +"Oh! but--but--" Mr. Beal's voice sunk to a whisper, and his pale eyes +looked piteously upon his guest from behind his spectacles. "It is +commonly reported there is a female in the house----" + +Laurence shook his head.--"Oh, no, pardon me," he said. "That is a +mistake. There are only men-servants in the house. That I know. No lady +has stayed at Stoke Rivers--so my uncle informed me--since my mother +stayed there with me when I was quite a small boy." + +"But--but," poor Walter Beal almost wailed, "I don't mean any lady +visitor. The--the Scarlet Woman--you know. I understand the keepers have +frequently seen her at night at the windows downstairs. And I believe I +saw her once this winter myself----" + +"Saw her yourself?" + +"Yes; I had been to call and inquire for Mr. Rivers. It was dusk, and I +was much alarmed at going; but I would not permit myself to neglect a +duty. I was going back up the avenue, when I saw a person in a red dress +coming out from the bow-window. I--I--I--I--did not wait--" + +Laurence had risen. He stood for a moment speechless. Then a sudden +gladness took him. The sun was bright outside there, but the yew-trees +waved their dusky arms quaintly, making little shadows dance and flit +upon the churchyard grass. + +"No--I see. You ran away," he said. "Well, Mr. Beal, perhaps that was +the very best thing under the circumstances that you could have +done.--You can't make up your mind to dine with me? All right, I'll come +and see you then. We'll let the parish know you and I are on excellent +terms anyhow. I should be glad to have a talk with you about the schools +and charities. And, of course, if Mr. Rivers should soften and express +any willingness to receive your ministrations I'll not fail to let you +know." + +On reaching the house, Laurence went straight down the corridor, pulled +aside the tapestry curtain, and entered the room beyond. As yesterday, +it was fresher in atmosphere than the rest of the interior. The +furniture, the knick-knacks, even the little frill in the open work-box +were stationary, untouched, precisely in the same position as last +night. Again Laurence examined the room carefully. Very certainly there +was no exit from it save the door or the bay-window, and no human being +in it save himself. + + + + +IX + + +That afternoon Captain Bellingham called at Stoke Rivers. He was a +large, fair, fresh-coloured man of about five-and-thirty--extremely +well-groomed, addicted to field-sports, and an arrant gossip. This last +characteristic was much in evidence during his visit. He gossiped of +London, of New York, of Sussex, displaying a vast amount of knowledge of +other people's affairs. + +"Well, my dear fellow, it's uncommonly pleasant to forgather with you +again. Those presents your wife sent my small daughter were princely. +Sibyl will write to her. The child has a regular Yankee eye for +value--and, I tell you, she was impressed. My wife was awfully +disappointed at missing you yesterday. She's frightfully gone on Mrs. +Rivers. I think she wants to have a look at you to satisfy herself that +you're living up to your high privileges in that quarter. Come over +to-morrow, can't you, and dine and sleep?" + +Laurence explained that his evenings were bespoken. + +"Ah, really--by the way, how is the old gentleman? Making headway +towards--don't you know? Rather depressing business for you waiting on +like this. Pity you can't come and dine and sleep, it would make a +little break for you. I've never seen him, you know, but I hear he is +rather a formidable, old person. My wife intends asking you a number of +questions about him. Of course, you must know there are a whole lot of +queer stories current." + +"So I hear," Laurence said. + +"Oh, it's not for you to hear; it's for you to tell," Jack Bellingham +answered, his eyes twinkling. "Why, my dear fellow, your arrival is the +excitement of the hour. The whole neighbourhood is sitting on the edge +of its respective chairs just bursting for information about Stoke +Rivers. You wait a little. I warn you, you're going to be handed round +like a plate of cake at an old maid's tea-party; and my wife, in right +of her relationship to Mrs. Rivers, means to have the first slice. She +means to walk in, collar you, and then skilfully and economically retail +you to her whole local acquaintance. To tell the truth, I've been +rather worried about Louise lately. She has an idea--I've noticed +nothing to justify it myself--that she has rather missed fire down here. +She's taken that awfully to heart, you know. And I think she looks to +you to give her her opportunity. She thinks if she gets possession of +you and all these queer stories, she'll make the running--all the other +women will be nowhere, you know." + +Laurence laughed. He felt slightly embarrassed. + +"But what the dickens is it all about?" he said. + +"That's for you to tell us," Captain Bellingham repeated. "Perhaps +you'll be rather glad of an audience in a day or two. Anyhow, come over +and see my wife as soon as you can. She's great on spook-hunting, +psychical research, all that sort of thing. So give her the first +chance. Let her have a postcard in the morning. She'll be brokenhearted +if she misses you again." + +Laurence partook of another solitary dinner, admirably cooked and +served, in company with the dancing, Etruscan figures, and the +musky-scented orchids. Again, when the meal was finished, he went +upstairs through the steady light and close, dry atmosphere to that +stately and sombre sickroom. The last twenty-four hours had been very +full of disquieting episodes and suggestions. + +"I am inclined to reverse the order of proceedings to-night," he said to +himself, "and cross-question my uncle, instead of letting him +cross-question me. After all, that'll fit in to his scheme of +observation well enough. My questions, no doubt, will be indicative of +the depths of my native ignorance and the poverty of my powers. They'll +enable him to draw conclusions. Conclusions!" he added, smiling--"a +sufficiently fatuous occupation, when one thinks of the limited amount +of evidence obtainable and the breadth of the inquiry?" + +On the stairhead his uncle's valet, a thin, wiry man, long-armed, grey +of hair and of skin, met him, and preceded him silently along the +corridor. Laurence's relations with servants, and other persons in an +inferior position to his own, were usually of a kindly and cordial sort. +Such persons told him of their affairs; they admired and trusted him. +But the servants in this house, though caring for his comfort with +scrupulous forethought and punctuality, remained, so far, impossible of +approach. They seemed to him like so many machines, incapable of hopes +or fears, affections, even of sins, inhuman in their rigidity and +silence. Now the valet announced him, and stood aside to let him pass, +with a perfection of drill and an absence of individuality so complete, +that it was to Laurence quite actively unpleasant. Immediately after, he +met the hungry glance of those coldly brilliant eyes, looking out of the +face fixed in outline, transparent, as the crystal skull lying on the +table close by. And this house, so full of beings but half alive, of +paralysed activities, defective or one-sided development, seemed to the +young man, for the moment, terrible. The country churchyard, in which +the wind sang, and the sunshine played among the graves with flitting, +beckoning shadows, was gay by comparison. No wonder the place had an +evil reputation, and that people invented weird stories about it. + +A sensation of loneliness, such as he had not known since early +childhood, came over Laurence. Almost involuntarily he made an effort +towards closer, more sympathetic, intercourse with his host. + +"How are you this evening, sir?" he asked. "Better, I hope. It has been +a wonderfully charming day." + +"I am glad to learn you have found it so. Weather has always appeared to +me an accident, unworthy, save in its scientific aspects, of attention. +Yet I understand that it exercises strong influence on certain +temperaments--emotional temperaments, I apprehend, undisciplined by +reason. That the weather to-day has affected you agreeably is matter for +congratulation, since it will have helped to mitigate the tedium of a +small portion of this period of waiting." + +"Oh! there's not much tedium," Laurence answered. He looked across at +the elder man smiling very pleasantly.--"I'm beginning to find things +here a little too dramatic, if anything. You were good enough to tell me +that you found me interesting last night, sir. I only wish I could be +half as interesting to you, as you, and your house, and the whole state +of affairs here is to me." + +"You find it distinctly interesting?" Mr. Rivers inquired, but whether +in approval or disapproval Laurence could not determine. + +"Unquestionably," he answered. "The house is cram full of treasures. And +there are unexpected influences in it, which get hold of one's +imagination. It stands alone in my experience, unlike any place I have +ever known." + +The elder man sunk further back against the pillows, and, with one long, +thin hand, drew the violet, fur-lined dressing-gown closer across his +knees as though cold. + +"Indeed. Have I divorced myself and my surroundings so completely from +the ordinary habits of my contemporaries?" + +"You've been strong enough to follow your own tastes and lead your own +life, and that has produced something unique, something as finished as +it is apart. Of course, this provokes a lot of criticism. Other people, +I observe, recognise that it is unique too." + +"Other people?" Mr. Rivers said loftily. "I have never entertained." + +"Exactly," Laurence answered. "That's where part of the uniqueness comes +in. We mostly herd together like sheep in a pen, and can't be easy +unless we're rubbing sides."--He paused a moment. "Your refusal to rub +sides causes great searchings of heart, I assure you. The poor, little +parson here, for instance, is tormented by the idea that it is his duty +to the Almighty, and to the Church of England, and to his own abnormally +developed conscience, to raid you and do a little spiritual gardening in +the neglected flower-beds of your soul." + +"My soul is my own," Mr. Rivers observed. "That is, if the term soul is, +strictly speaking, admissible. Conscious consciousness is all that I can +predicate of my other than physical existence." + +"The little parson's point of view is quite different. He is by no means +backward in predication. He is quite sure you have a soul; but whether +it is your own, or whether it doesn't belong to him as curate-in-charge +of Stoke Rivers, he is not at all sure. He has strong leanings to the +latter belief, I fancy." + +"These are puerilities." + +"The average man is puerile," Laurence asserted cheerfully. "We carted +away Woman last night, sir, you remember, in deference to your slight +prejudice against her--though I still maintain she is by no means +foreign to our inquiry. But I really can't consent to the carting away +of puerility too, or you will never get hold of the average man at all. +Forbid his affections and his ineptitudes both, and you don't leave the +poor wretch a leg to stand on. Meanwhile, the little parson is not the +only person a good deal worked up by the unique character of your habits +and surroundings. These give rise, indirectly, to surprising legends." + +"Indeed!" + +"Yes, indeed. I think they would amuse you. And in connection with all +this, sir, there are one or two questions I should most uncommonly like +to ask you." + +"You may do so," Mr. Rivers said. His nephew's rapid speech and breezy +manner made him slightly breathless. He was unaccustomed to be treated +in this light and airy fashion. He moved uneasily in his chair, as one +who tries to avoid a draught. Laurence observing this, repented of his +purpose. + +"I don't tire you, sir, do I?" he asked kindly. + +"Exhaustion is a consequence of the failure of the will. My will is +still obedient to my mind, and my body to my will." + +Laurence looked at him with a certain admiration. He was true to his +creed, such as it was, and his pride had, consequently, rather a superb +quality. + +"Well, then," he said, "since I may ask you--I have found from +conversation with several of our neighbours that this house, which I +took to be a sort of Temple of Reason, is regarded with a good deal of +vulgar suspicion." + +Though the room was warm, the atmosphere of it close as that of a +thundering night in the tropics, Laurence instinctively leaned forward, +spreading out his hands to the glowing wood-fire on the hearth. + +"I am not superstitious," he continued; "and you very certainly, I take +it, are not so. We shall agree in that. Still, I confess, the whole +subject of the occult and supernatural is rather fascinating to me. I +can't quite keep my hands off it. I find an idea is prevalent that there +are manifestations here, queer things are seen, you know, which cannot +be put down to natural agency. I want to know if you--" + +But Mr. Rivers interrupted him with unaccustomed vehemence of speech and +manner. + +"Stop!" he said, "stop if you please. This subject is exceedingly +distasteful to me." + +"Then we won't pursue it," Laurence answered quickly. Yet he wondered; +his interest, already considerably aroused, being sensibly increased by +the violence displayed by his companion. It was singular; and he paused +a little, thinking, before embarking in further conversation. During +that pause, Mr. Rivers leaned sideways, slowly and with difficulty +raised the crystal skull from its place on the table beside him. He held +it in front of him in both hands, and gazed, as though performing some +religious rite, into the cavities of the empty eye-sockets. Then +stiffly, letting his hands sink, he rested it upon his knees. + +"Pardon me," he said, looking full at Laurence, while a shadow, rather +than a flush, seemed to pass over his attenuated face. "I was tempted to +act unworthily.--I agreed to answer such questions as you might put to +me. But perceiving those questions tended to revive a matter which has +caused me one of the few humiliations and regrets I have suffered during +my life, I shrank. I was tempted weakly to break faith with you and +retract my promise." + +"Pray, sir, don't take it so seriously," Laurence entreated. "Of course, +I should never have approached the subject had I known it was +disagreeable to you. It was just the idle curiosity of an idle man. What +on earth does it matter?" + +"To you very little, presumably, since you are, as you say, idle--your +days, that is, filled with a round of amusements deadening--as I +fear--to the intellectual and moral conscience. But with me the case is +otherwise. The judgment of no human being is of moment to me. But my +judgment of myself is of infinite moment." + +Mr. Rivers laid one transparent hand upon the dome of the crystal +skull, as though for support. His face had grown hard as steel. + +"It is therefore incumbent upon me, not in satisfaction of your +curiosity, my dear Laurence, but in satisfaction of my own sense of +rectitude, that I should accept this opportunity of stating the +following facts. I inherited this property--as you will shortly inherit +it--from an uncle, a man very much my senior. I had prosecuted my +studies abroad, in the learned centres of Germany and France, from an +early age. My acquaintance with my uncle was slight. I knew little of +his private life. But I had reason to believe him a person of an +undisciplined mind, imbued with the extravagant socialistic views +current during the French Revolution, unbridled alike in passions of +love and of hate. Questions of character have never interested me; I +therefore made no further inquiry regarding my predecessor's private +life. My own tastes and habits were already fixed. I settled myself here +and continued the studies in experimental physics, philology, and +metaphysics, in which I had already engaged. I also added to the +collection of pictures and objects of art that I found in the house. My +life has been blameless, as most men count blame. I can assert, without +fear of contradiction, that my moral and intellectual integrity have +been complete. Only in one connection have I been guilty, have I +failed--failed, as I now confess, miserably and grossly." + +Mr. Rivers paused a moment. His fingers twitched as they rested upon the +crystal skull. + +"Miserably and grossly," he repeated. "The vulgar gossip which you have +heard rests upon a basis of truth. I cannot deny the existence of +supernatural manifestations, so called, in one quarter of this house. +They are undeniable. I have witnessed them myself." + +Laurence felt a queer shiver of excitement run through him. He sat very +still.--"Then I wasn't asleep after all," he said to himself, "in that +room last night." + +"The said manifestations were not only disturbing and distasteful to me; +but I perceived that their existence threatened the validity of some of +my most carefully reasoned hypotheses, of some of my most ardently +cherished beliefs. Of vulgar physical fear, I need hardly tell you, I +was incapable; but I trembled before a dislocation of my thought. It +followed that I became guilty of an act of flagrant mental cowardice. I +refused to submit those manifestations to scientific investigation. I +never mentioned them to my correspondents. I took elaborate precautions +against ever witnessing them again myself. I made a determined effort to +erase the memory of them from my mind. I almost succeeded in forgetting +that I ever had witnessed them. Thus I tricked my own intelligence. I +lied to my own experience. I committed a crime against my own reason--a +crime which I can never hope to expiate." + +Moved by the passion of the elder man's self-denunciation, Laurence had +risen, and stood close to him. + +"Ah! surely you take it too hard--far too hard, sir," he said. + +But Mr. Rivers, looking up at him, answered sternly-- + +"A sin is heinous, not in itself, but in relation to the level of virtue +habitually maintained by whoso commits it. And so, even were I not +disabled, were I still capable of carrying out these investigations, the +unsparing prosecution of which could alone give proof of the sincerity +of my repentance, that could not really wipe out the iniquity of the +past. In morals I cannot logically admit the possibility of cancelling a +wrong once done. In the realm of physics we know that vibrations, once +generated, ring out everlastingly through space. To send forth a +contrary set of vibrations is not to limit, or cause the first generated +to cease. Their circles may intersect, yet they are practically +independent, and cannot neutralise one another. In the realm of morals +it is the same. The act once committed passes into the region of +persistent and indubitable fact. Of sins, both passive and active, this +is equally true. And consequently I am doomed--so long as I retain +conscious individuality--to remain hopelessly lowered in my +self-esteem." + +The sick man spoke with a fierceness of conviction, his voice usually +low and even swelling into full sonorous tones; his attenuated frame +vibrant with energy; his face illuminated, as though a lamp burned +behind that thin investiture of flesh and bone. Laurence saw in him, for +the moment, a great orator, more probably a great preacher, wasted. And +the thought of that waste of force, waste of power, stung him out of +indolence, out of mere easy good nature. He, at least, would +shilly-shally no more with life, but play the game--whatever the game +presenting itself--whole-heartedly. And again that queer shiver of +excitement ran through him; while again he reminded himself he had now +reliable testimony that he had met with something far stranger, more +incalculable and mysterious, than any vision of a dream, in that +clear-coloured room downstairs last night. He stood silent, thinking +intently, feeling keenly, his whole nature alert. But a small rustling +sound, as of a chill wind among dry leaves in a winter hedge, recalled +him to his immediate surroundings. Mr. Rivers had sunk back against the +silken cushions, which rustled under his weight. The light had died out +of his face, his hands clutched tremblingly at the crystal _memento +mori_ resting on his knees. For the first time Laurence realised how +very near--but for the indomitable strength of will which supported +him--he was to death. Laurence bent over him. + +"This is heavy, sir," he said, touching the crystal skull. "May I put it +back on the table?" + +Mr. Rivers bowed his head in assent. + +"We have talked too much. It would be wise, I think, for me to leave +you." + +"It would be so." + +"May I call your man before I go--I hardly like to leave you alone." + +"Thank you; he will come at the accustomed hour. I do not deviate from +habits once formed except under stress of necessity." + +Laurence was pushed by the desire to say something gentle, something +expressive of the honour in which he held his host's rectitude and +sincerity. But Mr. Rivers lay back motionless, his eyes closed. It was +difficult to find just the words he wished. He turned away towards the +door, when the elder man's voice recalled him. + +"Laurence," he said, "Laurence--one word before we part. If you should +see fit to undertake those investigations of which we have spoken, and +in face of which I showed myself unfaithful and a craven--remember I +press nothing upon you, I leave you free to undertake them or not as you +please--I have one request to make of you." + +"Yes, sir," he answered. + +"It is this--that you will under no circumstances communicate the result +of those investigations to any person save myself, and only to me should +I definitely ask you to do so. Will you give me your word?" + +"I give you my word, sir." + +And with the feeling that he had bound himself to an engagement of +unlooked-for solemnity, the young man went out into the steady +brightness of the corridor, while--as last night--the odour of the +orchids met him, enfolding him in their thick, musky sweetness, half-way +down the dark, shining, oaken-stairs. + + + + +X + + +As he pulled the edge of the heavy, leather-lined curtain towards him, +Laurence laughed a little, in part at his own eagerness, in part defiant +of scruples. Waking in the small hours, as a baby-child, he had often +imagined that, could he climb the high rails of his cot and steal back +unperceived to the day-nursery, he would find all his toys alive and +stirring, at play on their own account. And this conception of the +reversal of the natural order of things, while it frightened him, yet +enchanted his fancy. Something of that childish alarm and enchantment +arose in him now. He felt about to bid farewell to common-sense, +possibly--to usual established habits of thought, assuredly. He was +about to commit himself to an untried element; offering himself as sport +to seas unsounded as yet, to unknown forces which might prove malign and +merciless. While the promise, by which he had so lately bound himself, +introduced into the coming experience an element of secrecy that +made--as enforced secrecy so often does make--for a rather dangerous +degree of personal liberty. + +So he turned the door-handle not without expectation. And this time +expectation suffered no disappointment. In front of the tall, satin-wood +escritoire, her back towards him, her delicate hands wandering anxiously +over the painted and polished surface, he beheld once more the slender, +rose-clad figure. + +Laurence drew in his breath with a sigh of satisfaction. He crossed the +room boldly to-night and stood beside her; and her pale, ethereal +loveliness entranced him as he spoke. + +"Listen to me," he said. "We are strangers to one another--so strangely +strangers that I half distrust the evidence of my senses, as, only too +conceivably, you distrust the evidence of yours. I don't pretend to +understand what distance of time, or space, or conditions, separates us. +I only know that I see you, and that you are unhappy, and that you +search for something you are unable to find.--Look here, look +here--listen to me and try to lay hold of this idea--that I am a friend, +not an enemy; that I come to help, not to hinder you. Try to enter into +some sort of relation with me. Try to cross the gulf which seems to lie +between us. Try to believe that you have found some one who will keep +faith with you, and do his best to serve you; and believing that, put +sorrow out of your face--" + +He stopped suddenly. When he began speaking he might have been +addressing a sleep-walker or a person in a trance. There was no +speculation in her sweet eyes. They were wild with a wondering distress, +looking on him as though not seeing him. But as he continued to plead +with her--speaking slowly, pausing at the close of each sentence in the +hope that the sense of his words might so reach and arrest her--a +gradual change came over her aspect, as of one awakening from prolonged +and troubled slumber. There was a dawning of intelligence in her +expression, as in that of a little child first struggling to apprehend +and measure, not by means of its senses merely, but in obedience to the +conscious effort of its mind. The drooping corners of the mouth +straightened, turned upward, the lips breaking into a timid, questioning +smile. She stretched herself a little, clenched her fists gently, rubbed +her eyes with them in innocent, baby fashion, stretched again, and then +looked full at Laurence--a woman shy, diffident, but in possession of +her faculties, expectant, and alive. + +"Yes--yes--there, that's right. Now you look, as you used to, look as +you should," he exclaimed, his voice low, shaken with very vital +excitement. He felt as when--once or twice--bringing a racing yacht in +to the finish, a fair spread of blue water between her stern and her +competitor's bows, he had felt her pace quicken while the tiller +throbbed and danced under his hand. A buoyancy of heart, a delicious +conviction of successful attainment was upon him. Sportsman and poet +alike rejoiced in Laurence just then, and the spiritual side of his +nature was touched as well. He seemed to have witnessed a glad +resurrection, enforcing belief in the immortality of the soul, as he +gazed on this lovely face in which reason, hope, even gaiety, were so +visibly born anew. + +"Never mind about that which you have lost," he said. "Let it be for the +present. We will arrive at it in time sure enough--leave all that to me. +You want these drawers opened, their locks picked?--Well, that shall be +done all in good time. But whatever treasures we find there will be but +a trifle, it strikes me, compared with that which we have already found +to-night. For I have found you--found you once more--and you, thank God, +have found yourself." + +Again his companion stretched, and passed her hands across her eyes, +while her lips parted in a soundless sigh. Silence held her yet, but +that appeared to make singularly little difference in their intercourse. +For he perceived that she understood, that she sympathised, that she too +was penetrated with quick, intimate joy, and an exquisite and innocent +good-fellowship, as plainly as though a very torrent of eloquent +explanation and asseveration had issued from her mouth. Indeed, this +wordlessness had for him an extraordinary charm. Far from a power being +lacking, it was to him as though a new power had been granted, and that +the most subtle and convincing to the heart. + +Laurence stood tall, upright, in the full pride of his young manhood, of +his virile energy and strength, before this slender fairy-lady, with her +softly gleaming jewels, her dainty frills and laces, her clinging +rose-red, old-world, silken gown, and held out his hands to her. + +"Come," he said, "the night is fair and windless and full of stars. +Shall we go out into it and read the great poem of the sky and the +woodland while all men sleep, you and I--good comrades, old friends, +though as most mortals count meeting, we have met each other, it would +seem, but twice?--You have known sad things. Well, forget them. You have +searched vainly for lost things. Well, forget them too. The finest house +at best remains somewhat of a prison, and this room is pervaded by +melancholy memories. Leave it. Let us give the past, give convention, +give reason even, the slip for once--and go." + +For a minute or more she hesitated, looking at Laurence profoundly, as +though trying to read his inmost thought. Then she laid her hand in his. +It had neither weight nor substance, but touched his palm as a light +summer wind might have touched his cheek, or a butterfly's wings might +have fluttered, with a just perceptible pulsation, within the hollow of +his hands. + +And so Laurence threw open the high French window, and together they +passed out onto the grey, semicircular flight of steps. Immediately +below lay the Italian garden--its formal flower-borders, its faintly +dripping fountains, its black, spire-like cypresses, white balustrades +and statues, vague, mysterious, in the starlight. The great lawns +stretched away beyond, crossed by the broad gravel walk, which showed +pale for some fifty yards, and then was lost in the dusky shadow of the +grove of lime-trees. In the north was a wide, white light +travelling--since the March nights now grew short--along the horizon, +through the quiet hours, from the last death-flush of sunset to the +first birth-flush of the dawn. + +Lawrence watched his companion anxiously as her little feet in their +diamond-powdered slippers crossed the window-sill. With that impalpable +hand in his, that scarcely perceptible flutter--as of a captive +butterfly--against his fingers, he could not but entertain fears that +the strong open air might work some change in her; that she might be +drawn up and absorbed by the sharp, glittering starlight; that she +might be resolved into nothingness by the keen breath of the night, or +that some sturdy sea-breeze might arise and blow her quite away. But +such as she was--woman, or sprite, or visitant from beyond the gates of +the grave--she remained by his side. And together they passed down the +garden alleys, and lingered by the dripping fountains watching the +sleepless fish that moved--silent as the dainty lady herself--through +the water of the lichen-encrusted, stone basins. They stood together +beneath the dark cypresses which, even on winter nights, smell dry and +warm of the south, and talk in husky, whispering accents of classic +lands--of marble columns mellow with age, and saffron-plastered walls, +over which great vines hang, and in the hot cracks of which scorpions +breed, and light-footed lizards glance and scamper. And, still together, +they went on--the unspoken sympathy between them growing, +deepening--down the second flight of steps and along the broad, +gravelled way. Here, in the open space, the whole panorama of the +heavens was disclosed; and then, almost in spite of himself, Laurence +broke into utterance. He talked, as never, even in his most brilliant +moments, he had talked before. The scene was so majestic, and moreover +he had so perfect a listener, every movement of whose graceful body, +every glance of whose profound and gentle eyes expressed comprehension, +accord--as when the violin strings answer, in exquisite melody, to the +skilfully handled bow. + +And so forgetting himself, ceasing to exercise that +reticence--half-humorous, half-reverent--with which, as with a cloak, +modern, civilised man strives to hide the noblest and purest of his +thought, Laurence laid bare his heart and soul to his sweet companion. +He told her tender, trivial incidents of his youth and childhood--in +themselves of little moment, yet such as leave an indelible mark on the +imagination and character. He told her of the splendid hopes of his +opening manhood, when, with the magnificent self-confidence of +inexperience, the whole world seemed his to conquer if he pleased. He +told her of those plays and poems, so full of promise that, could he +have realised the fulness of his own conceptions, they must have +rendered his name famous through all the coming years. He told her, +too, of those brief, fugitive moments of spiritual illumination, when he +had felt himself draw very near to the ultimate meaning and purpose of +things; when he had apprehended God as the Eternal Lover, the soul of +man as the Eternal Bride, and how, in the light of that blessed +apprehension, all confusion had ceased, all life, all death, becoming at +once very simple and very holy, guiltless alike of suffering and of +shame. + +Then--as they wandered yet further into the thin shadow of the still +leafless lime-trees, and, sitting for a while upon the stone bench +beside the broad, dim walk, looked forth under the down-sweeping +branches, to the vast expanse of the distant country--he descended from +discourse of these high matters. He told her of the joys of manly sports +and pastimes, and of the still greater joys of travel and adventure, in +far countries, among alien peoples, by land and sea. + +Thus did the hours pass in glad and fearless communion of heart with +heart, and soul with soul, while upon the horizon the white light walked +slowly, surely eastward. And then, at last, it seemed as though some +disturbing thought invaded his fairy-lady's mind, causing her attention +to waver, her gentle gaiety to wane. The purport of that thought +Laurence failed to read, and this troubled him with a sensation of +helplessness, as though a gulf was once again opening between his state +of being and hers, which he was powerless to cross. She rose from her +place beside him and moved restlessly to and fro. And when he pleaded +with and questioned her, she moved yet further from him, and stood with +one hand raised as imploring silence. She appeared to listen for some +call, some summons, quite other than welcome, for he could see the +corners of her dear mouth droop once more, while her eyes grew shy and +wild. Unwillingly as though constrained by some force she did not love +yet must obey, she passed out on to the clear, smooth spaces of the +great lawns. The grass blades were touched with a whiteness of frost; +but Laurence observed that neither her footsteps, nor the little frills +bordering her gown as they swept it, left any track upon the spangled +turf. + +Sheep bells sounded plaintively from some far-off fold. Rabbits slipped +out timorously from the edge of the wood to take their morning feed, +and, perceiving no threatening presence, waxed bold, skipping and +gambolling upon the frosty grass. Then with a sullen roar, breaking up +the gracious quiet of nature with the hoarse voice of man's business, +man's necessity of labour, and unappeasable unrest, a train thundered +along the valley, leaving a long trail of pale smoke hanging among the +grey-brown masses of the indistinguishable trees. + +The roar died out as it had come, sullen and imperative to the last. +There followed a pause as though for a minute or two all nature, all +living creatures, held their breath. And then from the near stables, and +from distant homestead and farm, cocks challenged one another--some in +tones high and shrill, some faint and low--heralding the sunrise and +telling all the world that day was once more born. + +Immediately, to his consternation, Laurence beheld his lovely companion +and friend turn away; and, without farewell, without smallest apparent +recollection of his presence, flit--as some bird, or rather as some +rose-red rose-leaf driven by a storm wind--across the lawns, past the +dripping fountains and sighing cypresses of the Italian garden, back, +back, up the grey steps and in at the open window of the silent house. + +He followed her rapidly. The sun-rays shot up into the eastern sky as he +crossed the window-sill. Within, the glory of the sunrise struggled with +the unyielding glare of the electric light. Every object, every corner +and recess, was clearly seen. But the room was vacant. Once again his +fairy-lady had vanished leaving no trace, her sweet presence was removed +and Laurence found himself alone. + + + + +XI + + +Something drummed and drummed; and, in obedience to that sound, it +appeared to Laurence that he returned--whence he knew not--across the +most prodigious spaces ever traversed by the spirit of man. Then the +matter explained itself. He was on board ship once again, awakened to +the familiar pounding of the engines and drum of the screw. Opening his +eyes, they would rest on the white iron and wooden walls of his +state-room, and the alert figure of his bedroom steward, +announcing--"Fair morning, sir; bath ready, sir." And this impression +was so distinct that it took him some seconds to focus his actual +whereabouts--the stately and serious bed-chamber at Stoke Rivers, and +the portly person of Watkins, the under-butler, standing at the bedside, +a silver tea-tray in his large, soft hands. + +"I beg your pardon, sir, but I have been up twice already and received +no answer," he said, his manner correct and respectful as ever, but his +face wearing, for once, an expression of quite human solicitude--or was +it curiosity? "I spoke to Mr. Renshaw and Mr. Lowndes, and they +considered it advisable that I should enter, sir. Mr. Renshaw and Mr. +Lowndes felt, with me, not quite comfortable, sir, knowing your habit of +early rising." + +Watkins set down the tray carefully, turning out the corners of the fine +napkin which covered it. + +"Your tea, your letters, sir," he added, and then paused. + +Laurence tried to rouse himself. Shipboard and the pounding engines were +a delusion clearly. But was the night of sweet converse, and the +flitting away of a rose-clad, slender figure at the first flush of dawn, +a delusion likewise? + +"Oh yes, thanks, Watkins, I am all right," he said absently. "I've slept +late, have I? What time is it?" + +"Between ten minutes and a quarter past eleven when I passed through the +hall," the man answered. "Any orders for the stables, sir?" + +Laurence was tearing open his letters. One was addressed in his wife's +large and elaborate hand. Laughing at her, one day before their +marriage, he had declared that did she possess half the amount of +character suggested by these opulent hieroglyphics, there would +positively be no getting to the end of it, so that his work clearly was +cut out for him for the rest of his natural life. Now the sight of that +handwriting--though he had possibly ceased to regard it as a perfectly +trustworthy index to its writer's personality--affected him with a +movement of vague self-reproach. For, as sleep left him, Laurence +entertained less and less doubt of the actuality of the existence of his +rose-clad fairy-lady; or of the fact that he had spent hours with +her--hours, blameless it is true, yet beautiful beyond all remembered +hours of his experience. And though he had done no wrong, yet the very +beauty of those hours--since she had not shared it--constituted a +certain subtle, subjective infidelity towards his wife. This pricked his +conscience the more, that he perceived Virginia must have written to him +by the very next mail, but three days after he had sailed. And that was +rather charming and thoughtful of her, for she had innumerable +engagements claiming her time and attention, and was by no means +addicted to anxiety regarding the absent. "Why should she worry," as she +remarked at parting, "everybody was always crossing now, and you hardly +ever heard of any one not getting to the other side safely enough." +Therefore it seemed to Laurence it would be a duty, perhaps also a +little salve to his conscience, to do something pleasing--however +remotely--to Virginia. He had an order for the stables. He would ride +over to luncheon with her friend and admirer, Mrs. Bellingham, at +Bishop's Pudbury. + +Once on his feet, Laurence was somewhat surprised at his own sensations. +He found himself singularly tired, as a man may be by some prolonged +concentration of brain or of will. He felt as though he had made some +tremendous mental effort; and, now that it was over, depression held +both his mind and body. His spirits were not as buoyant as usual, nor +was his thought clear. He felt dazed, and incapable of grappling with +the strange problems raised by the events of the last twenty-four hours. +The swing of possibility they suggested was too great. The average, the +_banal_ attracted him, as a narcotic attracts one in pain. For the +moment he suffered something approaching repulsion towards his recent +exaltation and amazing, half-realised discoveries. He wanted to get back +on to the ordinary lines of things--be amused, be a trifle stupid, +laugh, gossip, forget. + +The sun had long since burnt up that sprinkling of frost upon the grass. +The air was fragrant and mild. Catkins fringed the hazel twigs, while in +the shelter of the deep lanes leaves showed tenderly green. The sap had +risen in the trees, so that a broken branch bled. Indications of +fertility and growth were everywhere, Nature sensibly putting forth her +strength after the sleep of winter. The road which Laurence followed, +after crossing the park, turned upward under overhanging trees, and +skirted the low, stone wall of the churchyard. And the contrast between +this last resting-place of human corpses and the perpetual and so +evident fecundity of Nature struck home to him, yet not distressfully. +He was not wholly unwilling, in his present mood, to welcome the thought +of eventual rest. + +He checked his horse, and waited, looking at the place again,--at its +dark, feathery yew-trees, its narrow mounds, ranged decently in line--on +the surface of which the spring grass raised innumerable blades of vivid +green--at its simple monuments, that showed not merely a name and date +of departure, but time-honoured words of faith in the justice and mercy +of Almighty God. There was an unoccupied space on the hither side of the +enclosure, lying pleasantly open to the sun. The grey wall of the +chancel, pierced by low, round-headed windows, backed it. A bush of +_Pyrus Japonica_ was trained around and between these windows; and the +flowers, showing up against their black stems, spread garlands of pure, +hot colour over the face of the rough stone. Laurence, to whom the +disposal of his body after death had, heretofore, appeared a matter of +extreme unimportance, was overtaken by a sudden eagerness to secure for +himself rights of burial in this serene and sun-visited spot. + +"After all, it must come to me, sooner or later, as to all the rest," he +thought; "and why shouldn't I provide for the event according to my +fancy? I'll talk to the poor little parson about it. Perhaps he'll be +easier regarding the state of my soul and my prospects of salvation if I +make provision for my latter end by staking out a burial-plot. I wonder +what Virginia would say to that? Probably she's a little transatlantic +weakness for embalmers and mausoleums. Mother Earth's lap is best, +though, I think!" + +And then riding onward, all in the fair spring weather, though he tried +to put the thought from him, his heart was somewhat troubled by that +flitting, rose-clad figure once again--by the lovely, speechless lips, +to which he had brought gentle gaiety, and the profound and serious +eyes, to which he had brought human sympathy and trust. Silent or not, +woman or disembodied spirit, she was a little too captivating for +safety. Should he inquire no further? But, in renouncing all further +intercourse with her, would he perpetrate an act of high moral courage, +or merely commit one of intellectual cowardice, such as that already +committed by his uncle? Here was a problem not easy of solution. +Laurence straightened himself in the saddle, and pressed his horse a +little. Bishop's Pudbury would be a relief, and should be reached with +as small delay as possible. He would try to be amused, a little stupid, +to laugh, gossip, and forget--for a time at all events. + +Mrs. Bellingham, certainly, offered an excellent contrast to the spirit +of his present perturbations. She was a notable example of modern +civilisation, guiltless of all mysterious or primitive suggestion. Her +prettiness was considerable, according to a neat and unaccentuated type. +Her manner was vivacious, her attitudes many but sincere. She wore +these--so to speak--to bring out the value of her conversation, as she +wore her irreproachably constructed clothes to bring out those of her +plump and carefully preserved figure. Her light-brown hair was parted in +the middle, waved, and puffed out over the ears--this in imitation of +the fashion lately patronised by Virginia Rivers. The set of her purple, +boxcloth coat and skirt pleased Laurence's eye, as did that of her white +satin and lace blouse. She was really admirably turned out--according to +current standards of fashion. She greeted her guest, moreover, with that +happy combination of self-consciousness and self-assurance, which has in +it at once a flavour of compliment and promise of worthy entertainment. +Mrs. Jack Bellingham would never do anything very great; but she aspired +and succeeded in doing the small things of life remarkably well. + +"Why, Mr. Rivers, this is quite too charming for anything," she said. +"But, unfortunately, I am alone here with my children. I devote a great +deal of time now to my children. My husband has gone up to town for the +day." + +"So much the better," Laurence answered cheerfully. "I didn't come to +see Jack, dear Mrs. Bellingham, but wholly and solely to see you. +Virginia charged me with innumerable messages. And then there are a +whole lot of people we both know I want to talk to you about--a few +multiplications, subtractions, and divisions, you know, not without a +humorous side to them here and there. Will you keep me to luncheon? Oh! +that's awfully good of you." + +The Pudbury manor-house had lately undergone reconstruction, thereby +gaining in convenience what it lost in distinction. It was now as well +designed to meet modern requirements, as finished, as generally +presentable and as little of an enigma, as its present hostess. Laurence +contemplated the elegant, if slightly unhomelike, room with a movement +of ironical satisfaction. Its contents were as agreeably obvious and +unrecondite as the style and plot of a current magazine story. It made +no demand upon the intelligence or the emotions. And Laurence had been +in contact with quite other literary subject-matter lately--problems of +love, morals, metaphysics, not unworthy to inspire the magnificent +obscurities of Browning, or the fine frenzies of Shelley's lyrics. +Therefore he hailed the emotional limitations of his existing +environment. The indolent side of his nature was paramount. He settled +down to chatter genially about Tom, Dick, and Harry, and the fair ladies +interested in those worthies, or in whom those worthies were interested. +He was amused and amusing, relished his luncheon, his hostess's smart +talk, and enjoyed countless reminiscences of Newport and New York. And, +as the ease of this attitude of mind began to grow on him, the question +very forcibly presented itself:--why strain? Why not always drift thus +pleasantly and comfortably down the smooth stream of worldly prosperity? +Why try to plumb the depths lying below that smiling surface? For does +not this, in the majority of cases, involve an expenditure of energy out +of all proportion to the worth of the result? To be light-in-hand and +light-of-heart--was not that after all the truest philosophy? To what a +hopelessly dreary pass had not the elder Mr. Rivers brought himself by +thinking otherwise; and taking his studies, his opinions, himself, in +short, so seriously! + +So, sipping his coffee in the drawing-room after luncheon, while Mrs. +Bellingham maintained the flow of conversation in penetrating and +emphatic tones, Laurence thought--yes, on the whole, he did think--it +would be wiser and better, to retire upon the former lines of his +life,--to eschew high ambitions of sorts, and fall back upon the works +and ways of _l'homme moyen sensuel_, upon the great, good-natured, +uninspired Commonplace, of which his uncle had accredited him with being +so oblivious and complete an exponent. He thought--notwithstanding the +tightening of some cord at his heart, perhaps moral, perhaps merely +physical--yes, honestly he did think he had better do that, and make his +decision here and now. Judging by past experience, he was doomed in all +departments to be second, not to say third-rate. Well, then, best accept +that doom smiling. To do so might hurt vanity a bit, yet undoubtedly +there would be consolations. Laurence set down his coffee-cup with a +little lift of the eyebrows and shoulders, and an expression of +countenance somewhat cynical. He would coquet no longer with fairy, +rose-clad ladies--he would decline the so strangely offered adventure. + +"The truth is, I'm not big enough for it," he thought to himself +ruefully. + +"You know just how I feel about Virginia," his hostess was saying. "She +is a perfectly lovely woman in every way, and her social sense amounts +to genius. The thought of her being over makes it possible for me to +contemplate spending another winter here in the country. I look forward +to seeing Virginia lay hold of this neighbourhood and just put it +through. Her brightness, and _verve_, and _savoir faire_ will be a +perfect revelation. She will positively electrify every person within a +fifteen mile radius. But--" + +And there the speaker paused. For along the carriage-drive, all in the +pleasant sunshine, the children of the house, a trifle inebriated by +recent dinner of chicken and rice pudding, by freedom, and the open air, +went forth with shoutings and laughter for their afternoon walk. First +Sybil and her younger sister, arrayed in straight, scarlet jackets, +beneath which showed a long length of tan boot and tan stocking, +encasing very active legs. Then the portly coachman, leading a donkey, +upon which the three-year-old son and heir of the Bellingham family, +also scarlet-coated, made a first essay in horsemanship. Finally, two +nurses clothed in white. The little girls ran wildly, their gay figures +backed by a bank of shrubbery--rusty red of berberis and glinting green +of laurels--while the pink and azure balloon-balls they carried were +whisked heavenward by the wind to the uttermost length of each tethering +string. Around the procession, barking, circling, jumping high in air +after the floating balls, and even threatening assault of the donkey's +nose, skirmished a couple of rough Irish terriers. The donkey shied, +the coachman admonished, a laughing nurse ran forward and clutched the +small cavalier by the outstanding skirt of his coat and by the seat of +his nether garments. The little girls shrieked and capered, and in such +hilarious fashion the company passed out of sight. + +Laurence Rivers's eyes rested rather wistfully upon the scene. It +belonged to the great, good-natured, uninspired Commonplace upon which +he was just agreeing with himself to retire; and it offered a comely and +wholesome enough example of the same. Mrs. Bellingham also had turned +towards the window, and the expression of her neat face had softened. +The self-consciousness, the worldliness therein usually displayed, were +in abeyance, while the beautiful content of motherhood was regnant, +visibly enthroned. Laurence had never supposed she could look so +charming, and he could have found it in his heart to envy his friend +Jack Bellingham. Very early in their connection Virginia had pointed out +to him, with consummate tact but entire lucidity, that the modern +husband, who marries a fascinating woman of society and really +appreciates her, will give proof of such appreciation by relegating the +matter of child-bearing to a dim and distant future. It will come all in +good time no doubt, but it can wait. For is not it really a little too +much, in these days of enlightened equality between man and woman, to +require the latter to forego amusement, to endure serious discomfort, +risk her freshness and her figure, even come within measurable +distance--in not infrequent cases--of the supremely foolish calamity of +death?--Political economy and the health of the race notwithstanding, +let the poor breed; let the obscure breed; let that innumerable company +of women, to whom life offers so much of a trial and so little of a +pastime, that in the sum-total of their infelicity one pain or peril the +more cannot make any appreciable difference--let these breed. But spare +the fair Virginias, those fine flowers of wealth and worldly +circumstance, to whom Fortune shows so radiant a face! It is simple +justice and reason so to do--at least such had been Virginia's argument. + +But as Laurence now reflected--wiser by some year and a half's +experience of woman and matrimony--if life on the lines of the +Commonplace is to afford its legitimate compensations, it must not be +trained too fine, or jockeyed too carefully. The man's ear must not be +too ready to hear specious arguments, nor his imagination to entertain +too elaborate sympathies. He must compel those said fine flowers to bow +their heads to the common yoke. All his life he--Laurence--had been +liable to stultify himself by permitting his imagination to turn up in +the wrong place. What good luck to have been born, like his friend +cheery Jack Bellingham, devoid of that embarrassing faculty! Good luck +for Jack himself, and for his wife--who just looked so delightfully +pretty--and for those three nice, shouting, scarlet-coated, small +Bellinghams, otherwise only too probably non-existent. + +Laurence had ceased suddenly to be much amused; had ceased to relish +discussion of mutual friends, reminiscence or anecdote. He rose with the +intention of bidding his hostess farewell; but her self-consciousness, +her manner and manners, came back with a snap. + +"Why, Mr. Rivers, you do not propose to leave yet," she protested. "I am +not half through with our conversation, I assure you. We have not yet +approached the subject upon which I am most keen for first-hand +information. I am perfectly wild to hear on what terms you believe +Virginia, with her bright, fearless, highly-developed, modern +temperament, will be with your family spectre." + + + + +XII + + +Laurence drew himself up with a sharp sensation of annoyance, geniality +and wistfulness alike departing from his aspect. The matter had never +presented itself to him in this combination before, and it offended his +taste, even, in a degree, his sense of decency. He paused a moment, and +then took refuge in slight insincerity. + +"Always assuming, dear Mrs. Bellingham, that there is a family spectre +for Virginia, or anybody else, to be on terms with?" + +"Why, you do not really propose to call that thrilling fact in +question?" the lady answered, very brightly. "That would be too +mortifying. It would constitute the climax of the _ennui_ from which I +have suffered during the many months of this English winter. I had +promised myself at least one vital sensation when you and I should meet, +and you should tell me the true, inward history of that romantic, old +house of yours, Stoke Rivers." + +She sat in an attitude, arranged the folds of her boxcloth shirt, +patted the lace into place about her neck. + +"You make me feel very badly," she said. + +Laurence objected to soiling his conscience by lying at least as much as +most men. But surely, he argued, there are cases of justifiable perjury, +as of justifiable homicide. + +"I am awfully sorry," he said, "to dash your hopes of a sensation. But, +you see, neither the romantic, old house or its inward history are my +property as yet, so I can't give either away however much I may desire +to do so." + +"I know it. I do not ask you to commit any indiscretion. I do not ask +you to tell me anything." + +Laurence braced himself. + +"How fortunate, since there's nothing to tell!" he said. + +His hostess looked hard at him for a moment, and then at the floor. + +"There was a time, before I lived among them, when I believed the +English to be a simple and undiplomatic nation," she said. "I know +better now." + +Laurence was half-amused, half-irritated. + +"Oh, come!" he retorted, "it's too bad to make it an international +question." + +"I had promised myself such a fine time in that house," she continued, +still gazing abstractedly at the floor. "Virginia is, I consider--and I +believe you know that--the most perfectly lovely woman of my +acquaintance. She represents the last word of our American culture; and +I would advise every young girl, who was ambitious of social success, to +study her as a model. She catches right on to everything new at once, +and her power of repartee is great. My admiration for Virginia is so +overpowering, that it would really be a wonderful encouragement to my +self-respect to get a step ahead of her for once. Well, I concluded I +could do that in a perfectly legitimate manner. I planned to ask you to +let me go right around that house from cellar to garret, and acquaint +myself with the whole interior. I wanted to see it before Virginia had +brought our younger and more complex Western civilisation to bear upon +it. I promised myself great gratification from doing that." + +As she finished speaking, Mrs. Bellingham raised her eyes. That she was +in earnest, keenly inquisitive, there could be no doubt. + +"But, unhappily, in asking that you would be asking me to commit the +greatest possible indiscretion," Laurence answered, laughing a little. +"You see, my uncle is alive as yet. And while he lives I must obey +orders." + +"Orders?" + +"Yes; and they are such preposterously unchivalrous orders that I +tremble to mention them to you." + +Mrs. Bellingham looked away. She grew a trifle anxious, having the +greatest fear of hearing anything even remotely, morally or socially, +incorrect. But the young man's manner tended to reassure her. He +appeared particularly engaging at that moment. + +"Yes, it will shock you," he said, "shock you outrageously, coming as +you do from a country where no member of your delightful sex is ever +requested to take a back seat. My uncle is a brilliantly clever person, +but on some points he is a little mad. And simply at Stoke Rivers--I +blush to mention it--no woman is admitted, no woman is permitted to +exist." + +Mrs. Bellingham's eyes positively flashed, her face went extremely pink. + +"But this is the most unparalleled country!" she exclaimed. "Mr. Rivers, +do you seriously intend me to believe that no lady may enter that house? +Why, I ask you, how is it possible to conduct a domestic establishment +under such circumstances?" + +"Ah! that's the worst of it," Laurence said. He was beginning to be +amused again. "I tell you, the condition of that house suggests the most +awful reflections." + +"I am glad to hear it." + +"Yes, awful," he repeated. "For it is the best mounted, the best served, +the best kept house I have ever stayed in. It is as clean as a new pin. +The whole thing moves on wheels--and yet never the trace of a petticoat! +It follows that one is assailed by the unholy suspicion that woman may +be, after all, a quite superfluous luxury; and that the work of the +world, even in its humble, domestic aspects, can get along just as well +without her. My uncle entertains this opinion anyhow, and gives the most +convincing practical exposition of it. He has supplied me with a large +amount of information under this head; and, upon my word, I'm afraid I +am beginning to see the force of his arguments. After that, I'd better +go, hadn't I?" + +"Well, I really believe perhaps you had," she answered. For once she +looked perplexed, almost flurried. Her face was still decidedly pink. +But she rallied herself, and fired a parting shot.--"Unless," she added, +"to make amends for having told me so very plainly that my presence +would not be tolerated at Stoke Rivers, you relent and give me the whole +story of that family spectre." + +Laurence raised his head sharply, and once more his sense of amusement +evaporated. The return to this theme jarred on him. The lady's +persistence appeared to him in singularly bad taste. The reiteration of +that word angered him moreover. In hearing it he was sensible of a turn +in his blood, as though an insult were being offered to one very dear to +him. + +"Spectre?" he said slowly. "Pardon me--I--I don't quite follow you. What +spectre?" + +His hostess was roused in her turn. + +"Why, Mr. Rivers, what has happened to you?" she inquired. "What have I +said to disturb your equanimity? I had not supposed you to be so +sensitive." + +Whereupon the folly of his anger became extremely apparent to Laurence; +the more so that he had so recently concluded to eschew ambitious +adventures and decline upon the large and unexciting levels of the +Commonplace. In those regions hasty resentments, hot blood, the +fine-gentleman-duelling-spirit, in short, is clearly out of the picture. +And then, why quarrel with Mrs. Bellingham of all people? She was a very +charming, little person, specially when--as just now--her glance dwelt +fondly upon her red-coated babies and their escort of nurses, donkey, +and dogs. If she had trodden on his toes, it was unwittingly, and +without any intention of malice. So he proceeded to make _amende +honorable_ with proper despatch. + +"Forgive me," he said; "I am an idiot. But the legends to which my poor +old uncle's crankiness have given rise really begin to get upon my +brain. Wherever I go they crop up. You can understand it becomes a +little exasperating.--Good-bye. I have had a delightful time. Love to +Jack." + +The lady smiled upon him, yet with an air of criticism and slight +reserve. + +"Oh yes," she said, "certainly, Mr. Rivers, love to Jack. But I am going +to write to Virginia and report on our interview. I believe it is +incumbent on me as a true friend to do that.--Yes, you may come again +just as soon as you like. Now, do I not display a perfectly lovely +spirit in inviting you here after you have done just all you know to +explode my romance? Mr. Rivers, this day will leave a scar. I know it. I +do regret that spectre." + +Laurence smiled back, looking down at her. + +"Yes, it's a pity, isn't it," he said, "ever to explode a romance? There +aren't too many of them about. Perhaps I too could find it in my heart +to regret that spectre." + +And there, at least, the young man spoke truth, for regrets pursued him +on his homeward way. All this talk, moreover, was a nuisance, an +intolerable nuisance. And, though he did not stay to analyse the +probabilities of when and how, he apprehended up-croppings, +developments, and ramifications of the said nuisance in the future. Mrs. +Bellingham's question, as to the attitude Virginia might adopt towards +the occult element in her husband's fine inheritance, was more +uncomfortably pertinent than the questioner could by any means have +imagined. It suggested most disturbing complications. Thus Laurence rode +onward heedlessly, harassed by vexatious and perplexing thoughts. + +"What a confounded bother it all is!" he exclaimed impatiently. "I wish +to goodness the poor old man would live for ever--outlive me anyhow. +That would be the simplest solution of the situation." + +He raised his head and looked about him, then became aware that he must +have taken some wrong turn in the labyrinth of cross-country roads +between Bishop's Pudbury and Stoke Rivers, that he must have struck too +far southward and so lost his way. The mouth of the steep, rutted lane, +shut in by copse on either hand, which he had been following, now +debouched on a high-lying table-land. Small, rough fields bordered the +road, their crumbling, ill-kept banks bare of trees. Some fifty yards +ahead, where four roads crossed, stood a lonely, one-story, turnpike +house; it was six-sided, white-washed, and had a slated roof, rising +extinguisher-like to a single central chimney. Placed in an angle of the +intersecting roads, it was without garden ground. The turnpike-gate had +long ago disappeared; and the house, a thing that had lost its use and +become obsolete, was in a half-ruinous condition. An air of cheap +desolation pervaded it. Bundles of rags bulged from the broken +window-panes. Long-legged, high-shouldered fowls pecked and squatted in +the dust before the half-open door. Yet, seeing it, Laurence was +sensible that this unsightly building had a tally somewhere in his +memory, and claimed recognition. And this impression received unexpected +reinforcement when suddenly its squalid walls changed from dirty-white +to warm primrose, while the surviving glass in its rickety windows gave +off dazzling splendours of light. + +Anxious to learn the cause of this transformation, the young man drew +up, and, laying his right hand upon his horse's sleek quarters, turned +half round in the saddle, and stayed thus, looking and listening. + +The view was very noble. Southward the fall of the ground was +sufficiently abrupt to exclude all middle distance, with the result that +the rough grasses, withered bents and sorrel-stalks of the near +pasture-field were outlined against the immense sweep of the flat +coastline far below--this last, mauve, and russet, and dim green, was +broken here and there by a pallor of sandhills and the shimmer of +seaward-tending streams. Looking west, the suave contours of the Downs +and Beachy Head rose, in indigo and purple, against a great space of +saffron-coloured sky. Above them, but with a bar of strong light +between, heavy masses of purple-grey cloud gathered, from out which the +freshening wind blew chill. The sea, steel-blue and dashed with +white-capped waves, lifted a hard, serrated edge against the horizon. + +All this Laurence saw. It made a rather splendid picture, big with the +drama of approaching storm. Yet he was persuaded something was lacking. +As three days ago upon first entering the yellow drawing-room at Stoke +Rivers, he had, after the first moment of surprise, instinctively looked +for certain ornaments and pieces of furniture, and derived a singular +satisfaction from the conviction that they still occupied their +accustomed place--so now and here, though to his knowledge he had never +before ridden across this piece of exposed and but half-reclaimed +common-land, or seen the great view under its existing aspect,--he +instinctively gazed seaward in search of that which should support his +half-awakened memory, and complete the scene to his satisfaction. For +surely--yes, surely--bowling up Channel, under crowded canvas, before +the freshening breeze, he should behold a fleet of some eight or ten +square-rigged East Indiamen, their carven poops standing high out of the +water,--vessels of about a thousand tons' burden, laden with tea and +spices, bales of delicate muslins and silks, flasks of utter, porcelain, +ivory fans, bright-hued parrots, and unseemly, little apes. + +And as convoy of these rich cargoes, to secure them, their merchant +captains and bronzed and sturdy crews, against the rapacity of +privateers sweeping out from St. Malo and other ports of Northern +France, he should behold--yes, surely he should--a couple of smart +English frigates, square-rigged too, whose clean scrubbed decks and the +black mouths of whose port holes displayed grim argument of cannon, +ready for action should occasion so demand. The ships, hugging the land +for greater safety from alert and hungry foes, seemed--while the wind +filled the bellying sails, straining their tall masts, as they heeled +upon that uneasy, blue-grey sea--like some flight of huge, +golden-plumage birds; for all the saffron glory now streaming from +beneath the gathering storm-clouds in the west must lie full on them. + +For such gallant sight Laurence watched, singularly moved, and with a +singular eagerness. And so clear was the vision to his mind, so +necessary to the completion of the scene upon which his eyes rested, +that for some moments he failed to distinguish where actuality ended +and hallucination began. He contemplated the creation of his own brain +in absorbed interest; then turned and looked at the rough road and +dilapidated turnpike house, and then again out to sea. Only a +black-hulled, ocean-going tramp, her deckhouses piled up amidships close +against her reeking funnel, laboured slowly down channel in the teeth of +the gusty breeze. This was all; and then the young man understood, not +without amazement, that the gallant show had been a thing of the +imagination only,--at most a thing remembered, but how and whence +remembered he could not tell. For how, upon any reasonable hypothesis, +could the memory of a man like himself of but just over thirty, put back +the clock by close upon a century, and disport itself with incidents +belonging by rights to, at least, two generations ago? It was all most +exceedingly strange. It amounted to being disquieting. Really he did not +half like it. Yet the imagined spectacle had been very inspiring all the +same. It had made his blood tingle, and had effectually (or +disastrously) exorcised that spirit of indolence and _laisser aller_ +which he had solicited to take up its abode with him. He sent his horse +forward at a sharp trot, while once again he proceeded to revise the +situation. + +For the idea presented itself that perhaps he had been over +self-confident, arrogating to himself a far greater freedom of will than +he, in point of fact, possessed. It was all very fine to foreswear +adventure, but what if adventure refused to be foresworn? He might +easily propose to decline upon modernity, mediocrity, and the +Commonplace; but what if these, as seemed just now highly probable, +asserted in unmistakable language their determination to have none of +him? He reflected that temperament may constitute your genius or your +fate, your opportunity or your ruin, as you have the wit to deal with +it; but that temperament is indestructible, and that escape from +it,--however inconvenient and contrary to your desire that temperament +may be,--is obviously and inherently impossible. + +As he meditated thus, the road he followed dipped slightly, leaving the +bare upland and passing along the under side of a thick belt of wood, +which cut off the seaward view. On the left, between the interspaces of +the hedgerow trees, the inland country now lay disclosed for many miles. +Clouds had gathered so rapidly in the last ten minutes that the sun was +obscured, and all the wide expanse was drowned in heavy violet and +indigo shadow. Only a ridge of hill, some three-quarters of a mile +distant, was caught by long shafts of wild, rainbow light, so that it +floated as a narrow, fish-shaped island upon the ocean of stormy colour. +And upon that island, uplifted, transmuted, etherealised, rendered at +once unreal yet insistent, vividly defined by the unnatural and +searching light, Laurence beheld Stoke Rivers--the long, low house, and +its double range of windows, its avenues, and carriage-ways, the block +of stable buildings; every detail of the Italian garden, its cypress +spires as of full-toned amethyst, its white balustrades and statues +iridescent as though made of long-buried Roman glass, its great lawns +green as malachite, the dome of its lime-grove touched by a dim glow as +of uncut rubies. In this strange and unearthly radiance, Stoke Rivers +seemed to call upon Laurence, to challenge his admiration, to assert its +existence and its claim upon his heart, with a singular power. It was +part of him, and he of it. It laid hands on his past and his future +alike. It refused to be taken lightly. As a woman wears her jewels to +startle and enthral a desired lover, so this dwelling-place of his +people arrayed itself in marvellous wise to conquer his wavering +allegiance and command his thought. It would force him not to disregard +its secrets. It wooed him to intimacy, to discovery. It cried to him +out, as it seemed, of some unplumbed depth of experience in himself. + +That night Mr. Rivers engaged his nephew until past midnight. His manner +was gracious, his mind, apparently, unusually at peace. His conversation +was remarkably brilliant, both in range of subject and readiness of +expression. First dealing with the earliest known examples of art, and +displaying critical acquaintance with Chaldean cylinders and stelae, he +passed on to the persistent influence of Eastern ideas upon Western +religious thought. He discoursed of Hindu sacred literature and the +crowded pantheon of Hindu gods, noting how certain practices connected +with their worship and certain symbols pertaining to it have passed into +the common use of the Catholic Church. He discoursed of the Gnostic +sects, and their influence upon African and Syrian Christianity. Then, +invading the Spanish peninsular in the train of the Moors, he delivered +himself of a spirited disquisition upon Averrhoes, the lawyer +philosopher of Cordova, his doctrine of the Universal Reason and denial +of the immortality of the individual soul. + +Laurence went forth onto the bright, hot corridor, and paused at the +stairhead. He was honestly tired both in mind and body. He needed, and +would take, an honest night's rest. But one thing was sure. Whether he +had decided or merely yielded, whether he represented the positive or +negative element, he knew not; but this he did know, that the +Commonplace, and all the ease of it, might wait. He was not ready for +that just yet. + + + + +XIII + + +Of the first twelve keys, some slipped round without effect, some stuck +and were withdrawn with difficulty. But the wards of the thirteenth bit +into the lock, and the bolt gave with a click. Laying hold of the +cylindrical front of the escritoire, Laurence pushed it up and back. +Within, a row of arcaded pigeon-holes was disclosed; and on either side +these, a range of little drawers, the pale, bright wood of which +retained its pristine polish, while the colours of the painted +medallions adorning them were very fresh though frail. The cupids, the +little figures of lover and mistress, courtier and prince, were instinct +with vivacity and grace--the heedless vivacity, the artificial grace of +those over-ripe, luxurious periods which carry in their womb the seeds +of revolution and social catastrophe. Laurence was moved, observing it +all. Evidently the bolt had not been shot, the rounded front run back, +and this mimic world of fine-fanciful elegance displayed for many years. +And then this pretty toy of a thing seemed so slight and incongruous a +receptacle for the storage of momentous secrets. Yet that the secrets it +held were momentous, dealing with problems of life and death, subtle +transformations of flesh and spirit, the young man--notwithstanding the +soothing influences of a healthy night's rest, and the pre-eminently +unexciting ones of a grey, wet, March afternoon--felt no doubt. For he +had given in, as he believed, finally, to the adventure; and with that +giving in, his faith in the magnitude of it suffered, by natural +rebound, serious increase. + +So reverently, and as one who approaches a long disused shrine +containing promise of strange and precious relics, he opened the shallow +drawers and examined their contents. The first three were filled with +packets of letters, written on thin, discoloured paper, and tied, some +with pink, some with yellow, sarsenet ribbon. Each packet was neatly +dated, the dates ranging, as Laurence gathered in a first hasty survey, +from the year 1802 to the year 1805. The remaining drawers contained a +collection of objects, miscellaneous in character but united in the +thought (as he divined) of whoso placed them there, side by side, by +some exquisitely tender sentiment.--A man's paste shoe-buckles, square +and bowed, the silver settings of them tarnished to blackness, reposed +beside a woman's striped, waist ribbon, cinnamon and white, embroidered +in buds and scattered full-blown roses. Here were seals cut from +envelopes, the cracked and blistered wax of them impressed with the +Rivers's arms and crest; and a store of semi-transparent, delicately +tinted shells, spoils of some far-distant, southern coast. There were +trinkets, too, rings and bracelets of intricate Indian workmanship; and +a cluster of coral charms, of Neapolitan origin, with the tiny golden +hand, first and fourth fingers stiffly extended, which keeps off the +Evil Eye. Next, little posies, such as a lover might pluck and his +mistress might wear for an evening, pinned, to please him, in the bosom +of her dress. These last were pressed and flattened, the several hues of +the once radiant blossoms faded to an ashen uniformity of tint. They +were sadly brittle, too; and though Laurence raised them with careful +fingers, crumbled to nothingness under his touch. Then he lighted on a +man's watch, a great, gold warming-pan of a thing, with a guard of +black lustre ribbon and a bunch of heavy seals attached. The back of the +case bore the Rivers's crest--a bird of doubtful lineage, its wings +extended for flight, its talons holding something, which to Laurence +always appeared to bear humorous relation to a fool's cap. The case was +also engraved with the initials L. R. in flowing and ornate lettering. + +And over these initials Laurence paused. They piqued his curiosity. They +also, somewhat to his own amusement, provoked in him a feeling +suspiciously akin to jealousy. They were his own; yet he could not but +imagine that they were also those of a person closely connected with the +sweet and mysterious companion, who had walked the lawns and garden +alleys with him during the small hours, fled and vanished at cock-crow, +two nights back. A very definite purpose of learning more about this +same person--of whom, he divined, this pathetic store of objects to be +gifts or memorials--possessed Laurence. Had he wronged the gentle lady +in life, so causing her after sorrow? Or had some tragic happening +parted him from her, without fault of his? And what manner of man had +he been, while a dweller here, in ordinary fashion, upon earth? It +became of great moment to Laurence to answer these questions. Perhaps +those packets of discoloured letters would tell. Meanwhile, there +remained another shallow, painted drawer to be searched. + +It contained, wrapped face to face, in a lace and lawn handkerchief, two +very exquisite miniatures by Cosway. And then, though he courted +surprises, agreeing with himself to expect nothing save the unexpected, +and to accept all possible extravagance of improbability that might +arise with as little dislocation of mind as one accepts the +extravagancies of a dream, Laurence stood for a moment speechless, +absolutely confounded. + +For one miniature represented his fairy-lady, her lovely eyes and lips +smiling with discreet gladsomeness, her expression an enchanting union +of sprightliness and of content. An azure ribbon was threaded through +the soft masses of her elaborately-dressed hair, little curls of which +strayed down on to her forehead. The string of pearls was clasped around +her throat. She wore her transparent, white, frilled cape and rose-red, +silken gown. Her graceful head and slender figure--to the waist--were +seen against a background of faint dove-coloured cloud. The painter had +painted fondly as a friend, it would seem, as well as a master of his +craft.--And the other miniature, by the same hand, showing the same +delightful sympathy of artist with his subject, touched by the same +poetic insight and grace, was a portrait of whom? Well, of +himself--himself, Laurence Rivers, not as he was to-day, but as he had +been, ten years ago, at one-and-twenty. With astonishment, bordering +very closely on alarm, he observed that colouring, features, the square +cutting of the nostrils, a certain softness in the lines of the mouth, +the shape of the head, the straight set of the shoulders, all these were +perfectly exact. While the countenance was instinct with that inimitable +charm of unsullied youth, that fearlessness and happy self-confidence, +the attractive power of which he had only fully realised as they had +begun to fade out of his aspect in the course of his passage from early +to maturer manhood, while the boundlessly generous aspirations of +inexperience were in course of being discredited by increasing knowledge +of the standards and habits of this not altogether noble or virtuous +world. + +Laurence took the miniature in his hand, and considered it closely, with +a twinge of self-abasement. Endowed with so ingratiating a personality, +so admirable a physical equipment, he ought surely to have made a +definite name and place for himself in contemporary history! And what of +moment had he to show, after all, for his thirty-one years of living? +Practically nothing, he feared. And the young man of the miniature made +better play with his handsome person, and the qualities and talents +which might be expected to accompany it? He had been a sailor +apparently, for he wore the dark-blue, naval uniform of the early years +of the century, his brown hair being tied back into a queue. But for +these details the resemblance to himself was absolute. And then, +suddenly, with a sense of faintness as though his identity were slipping +away from him, and his hold on actuality loosening as he imagined it +might loosen in the moments immediately preceding death, Laurence +remembered that he had worn a precisely similar costume--that of a +naval lieutenant of the time of Nelson--at a fancy dress ball given in +his honour, at the country house of certain of his mother's relations, +on the eve of his twenty-first birthday. He had been mightily chaffed +about his good looks and air of assured conquest upon the occasion in +question; and had laughingly replied that he, too, intended to fight his +battle of Trafalgar and win it, only that he should take jolly good care +not to fall in the hour of success, but to survive and thoroughly enjoy +the fruits of victory. + +The miniatures were oval, each set in a plain gold band. Laurence turned +them over in search of a possible inscription. Upon the reverse of the +one were engraved the words--"Agnes, a gift to her dear cousin," and the +date, "August 1803." Upon the other--"Laurence, a gift to his dear +love," and the same date. + +Rain had followed on the stormy splendours of the preceding evening; and +as the young man raised his eyes absently and stared out of the great +bay-window, he became sensible that the outlook was comfortless enough. +The gardens and the distant view were blurred and blotted by driving +mist; while, in the room itself, there reigned a singularly blear and +cheerless light. A damp, earthy odour, moreover, pervaded the +atmosphere, as though the moisture prevailing out of doors had gained +access to the house. Carefully, rather sadly, Laurence laid the two +miniatures side by side upon the filmy handkerchief. The radiant, +pictured faces, the two graceful, young heads turned slightly towards +each other as in mutual tenderness and sympathy, offered, he thought, +pathetic contrast to the melancholy of this tearful morning. That this +young man had in no way wronged the fair and gentle woman, he now felt +assured. But that assurance, so perverse is human nature, did not serve +to elate him. Far from it. As he looked first at the charming pair, and +then at the driving mist, a sense of great loneliness, almost of +desolation, came over him; while the word spectre--which, when employed +yesterday by his lively hostess Mrs. Bellingham, had seemed of such +meagre and even vulgar significance--now occurred to him with a new and +immediate meaning. Spectral--that this room was in the present dreary +light. While, if the idea called for further and concrete presentiment, +he could--looking on the fearless and hopeful countenance of that other +Laurence Rivers--offer it in his own person. Involuntarily he shivered, +since, for the moment, his tenure of name, person and individuality, +seemed so questionable, a matter of sufferance merely--amounting to no +more, in fact, than a remote reversionary interest in another man's +goods. + +At random he picked up a couple of packets of letters off the top of the +escritoire, where he had laid them, and moved across to the window. It +was not wholesome to look at those happy faces--one his own--any longer. +The letters tied with a pink ribbon were in a woman's hand, sloped and +pointed, but with a peculiar elegance of lettering and evenness of line. +Then for an instant he debated, questioning whether he could without +breach of honour, and of the respect in which all decent-minded persons +hold the dead, open and read these letters. The position was +extraordinary to the point of abrogating accustomed rules of conduct; +yet he felt a certain delicacy in reading a woman's letters and +surprising the secrets of her heart. But as he turned them over, +glancing at the first page of each, he perceived that in every case they +were addressed to himself; for at the top corner of each was +written--"To Laurence Rivers, Esq.," and below either "Dear cousin" or +"Dear love." Then the irony of the thing taking him, he smiled to +himself and said: + +"Oh, well, come along, surely I have a right to the smooth as well as +the rough. If I am such a very second-hand affair any way, with not so +much as a name or face of my own to be proud of, I'll at least have the +advantages of my disabilities. I will know how my other, first-hand, +self was made love to and made love." + +Yet no sooner had he begun to read, than he became aware that he knew +that already. For as he perused the thin, deeply-creased pages, he felt, +with a certainty independent of and passing all proof, that he had read +these sweet effusions, these innocent chronicles of home life, of +meetings and partings, pretty pleasures and junketings, not once but +many times already. He remembered them. He could almost tell what words +would meet his eye as he straightened and turned the fluttering sheets +of paper. + +"--I am much concerned," wrote Agnes Rivers, "that so many months must +elapse before I can again receive news of you. I preach Patience to +myself; but that virtue, though a good servant, is but a sorrowful +master. I am pursued by fears on your account, which often move me to +tears when I am alone, or have retired to my chamber at night. You will +reprove my feminine weakness and bid me take courage. Yet I defy you to +maintain such fears are wholly misplaced, in face of the wild scenes of +tempest and of battle which you may be called upon to witness." + +Again--"It grieves me that I cannot write to you of my affection with +the freedom dictated by my heart. But my means of communicating with you +amid the convulsions of the present terrible war are so uncertain, that +I constantly tremble lest my letters should fall into other hands than +yours. My good Mrs. Lambert, who, as you will remember, is ever +solicitous for the maintenance of propriety, impresses this danger upon +me, and urges reticence and circumspection. I therefore entreat you, +dear Laurence, not to measure the depth of my regard by my present +expression of it. Recall, rather, all the happy and unclouded hours we +have enjoyed together, and let them speak for me." + +And again--"Your brother Dudley, though, I grieve to say, not less harsh +and imperious towards others, continues to treat me with all brotherly +consideration and courtesy. He is very thoughtful of the improvement of +my mind, and we still follow our studies in the Italian and Spanish +languages. His great knowledge and intelligence are of incalculable +advantage to me, and I trust that I prove a docile, if not a very +brilliant, pupil. I own my thoughts at times wander, though I strive, in +gratitude to my kind preceptor, to keep them fixed upon my tasks. Mrs. +Lambert is, unfortunately, as much alarmed by Dudley's opinions and +conversation as ever. I could myself wish that he would express himself +with less violence on the subject of politics and of religion. But his +early travels in the unfortunate country of France, and his intimate +association with Mr. Robespierre and other leaders of her sanguinary +revolution, have, I much fear, permanently warped his mind and +prejudiced his judgment. Yesterday, at dinner, he entered into a +discussion with our new rector, Mr. Burkinshaw--a scholarly and +estimable person--upon the Rights of Man, and the nature and attributes +of the Deity, asserting subversive and atheistical views with so much +heat and intemperance of language, that Mrs. Lambert fled from table in +tears, while Mr. Burkinshaw was, I could not but see, seriously offended +and hurt." + +Once more--"The weather recently has been continuously wet and stormy. +Dudley reports great destruction of timber in the park. I have been +unable to leave the house, and have spent many hours in the east +parlour, which your brother kindly bids me regard as my exclusive +property. I have read much, I trust with profit. Nor have I neglected my +music, though the melancholy character of the season and ever-present +fears for your safety have rendered me but a joyless performer. For the +songs you most admire, I cannot find voice. Indeed, I struggle with my +weakness, and make every effort to present a serene exterior. But Memory +is never, perhaps, a more sorry companion than when she speaks of happy +scenes." + +And finally--"My own dear love, your packet from Madalena has at last +reached us. What can I say to you save that my heart dances with +rapture? I cannot sit still, but must needs run from place to place for +very gladness. Mrs. Lambert reproves my lack of occupation. But she is +mistaken. I am fully occupied in reading and re-reading your letter, and +in thanking our Merciful Creator for this unhoped-for assurance of your +safety. I have retired to the stone bench beneath the lime-trees. They +are in blossom now, and their agreeable fragrance fills the air. Here I +write to you, while the sun shines, and summer winds play lightly with +the leaves. Do you remember our sitting here the evening you stole the +new black ribbon from my embroidered bag with which to tie your hair? +Dear love, now I am convinced that you will be permitted to return to +me, and that we shall add yet other happy hours to those already +treasured in our hearts. All will be well. Nay--what am I writing?--all +is well already. But for my past anxiety and all my cruel fears, I +could not have known the rapture of the present. My heart overflows. I +would not have one unhappy creature breathe to-day. I have emptied my +purse to a beggar; and have expended unpermitted dainties upon my +cage-birds, and Dudley's horses and dogs. The servants smile upon me, +rejoicing in my joy. Ah! my love, I am half ashamed to wear so gay a +face. Dudley has withdrawn to the library. He is preoccupied and silent. +Mrs. Lambert, for all her affection, regards me, I fear, with +disapproval. But how can I feign indifference? You are safe. You will +return to me. In six months I shall attain my majority, and then your +brother Dudley can no longer, as my guardian, legally prohibit our +marriage. Of that dear union, the consummation of all our prayers and +hopes, I can scarcely dare trust myself to--" + +And here Laurence found himself forced to cease reading. The page was +blotted, the writing obliterated, by rusty stains of the nature of which +he could be in no doubt. The further record of Agnes Rivers's pure +passion was smothered in blood. + +He folded the letters together, tied them up, put them back in the +drawer, closed and locked the escritoire. Well, it must have been worth +while to have been loved like that! Did women ever love so still, he +wondered? He opened the tall French window, and once again went out, +hatless, into the driving wet. + + + + +XIV + + +"Mr. Rivers regrets that he is unable to receive you to-night, sir." + +Laurence looked round with something approaching a start at Renshaw, the +butler, whose respectful, colourless voice broke in thus upon his +meditations. The dining-room struck him as hotter and more oppressive +than ever--by contrast probably with the buffeting wind and driving mist +in which he had paced the lime-tree walk for a good hour before the +dressing-bell rang. To-night the glass bowl, supported by the wanton, +dancing, Etruscan figures, was filled with tuberoses and carmine-stained +Japanese lilies; and the odour given off by these acted on the young +man's brain as opium or hashish might have acted--at least so it +appeared to him. The longer he meditated, the less could he distinguish +between real and unreal, fact and phantasy. The best accredited articles +of his moral and scientific creed had passed into the region of the open +question. Speculation ran riot, all the accustomed landmarks of his +thought being for the time submerged; while the wildest and most +extravagant ideas presented themselves as within the range of practical +action. That last read letter of Agnes Rivers, and his own resemblance +to her lover, had inflamed his imagination and his heart. Even in their +one night's intercourse, he had seen intelligence, purpose, gaiety, +return to her. Now the daring conception that such a process might be +continued, until his sweet and mysterious companion recovered all the +senses and attributes of living womanhood, formed itself in his mind. +Was it not conceivable that this appearance might be materialised, so +that the fair and gracious spirit should once again inhabit a human +body, and know all those dear joys of love and motherhood which had +been--by some evil fortune, some catastrophe, as he supposed--denied to +her? An immense ambition to be the instrument of this restoration, this +recovery, grew within him. He would work a miracle, he would be as God, +clothing the soul with flesh, raising the dead. And this by no exercise +of charlatanism, by no dabbling in old-world superstitions, or dealings +in folly of White Magic or of Black; but simply by force of will, by the +action of mind on mind, by the incalculable power of a great love. It +was impious, perhaps. Morally it was doubtful--circumstanced as he, +Laurence, was. But it was the most magnificent experiment ever offered +either to man of science, or to poet. Here was the opportunity he had +desired, had waited for. Here was his chance in life! + +Then the butler's voice cut in, bringing him down to the everyday level. +No wonder he looked round a little dazed. + +"Mr. Rivers regrets that he will be unable to receive you to-night, +sir," it said. + +And Laurence asked in answer-- + +"Is my uncle ill? Is he worse?" + +"Mr. Lowndes has brought down word that he is tired, sir. Mr. Armstrong, +the agent, arrived from Scotland this afternoon while you were out. Mr. +Rivers has had a long interview with him--too long an interview in Mr. +Lowndes's opinion." + +"I am sorry," Laurence said absently. He fell to caressing his wonderful +idea again, but the butler waited. + +"Mr. Armstrong requested me to add, sir, that if convenient to you, as +you will not be engaged with Mr. Rivers, he would be obliged if you +would allow him to speak to you in the course of the evening." + +"Oh, by all means," the young man said, rising. Then he added--"Tell Mr. +Armstrong I will see him at once. Later I may be occupied. Where? In the +small library--yes." + +Laurence betook himself to the library, prepared to be bored with a good +grace. But he might have spared himself such preparation, for looking on +the new-comer, he liked him. The man, in age about sixty, was of barely +middle height, broad-shouldered and lean about the flanks. He carried +his head forward, stooping slightly, in observant, meditative fashion. +He was slow of movement, calm, one capable of having his joke and +keeping it to himself. His face was shaped like a kite, remarkable in +the breadth of the lower part of the forehead and the high cheek-bones, +narrowing down to a long, flat chin. The upper lip was long too, a +somewhat pragmatical and self-righteous upper lip. While the eyes, set +far apart under the wide brow, showed a clear, kindly blue between the +narrow lids that ended in a fan-like system of wrinkles at the outward +corners. The nose was thin and straight at the bridge, with wide-winged, +open nostrils. The hair, formerly sandy, was now grey, smooth on the low +dome of the head, and thickly waved above and behind the flat-set, +long-lobed ears. In all a shrewd, humorous, sober countenance, ruddy, +moreover, as a well-ripened, autumn apple. + +At first the agent's talk was professional, dealing in matters of leases +and rights-of-way; of draining operations and the breeding and rearing +of cattle; of the iniquitous heaviness of road rates, the culture of +hops, and the cutting of copses. But gradually it began to take on a +more personal and racial character, since the Scotchman is yet to be +born who can go very long in conversation without blowing--be it never +so discreetly--the trumpet of his own unrivalled nation. So he fell to +dilating upon the superiority of the Scotch to the English system of +national education; upon the indolence and general incapacity of the +south-country labourer; upon the glaring futilities and imbecilities of +district and parish councils; and upon the congenital incapacity of the +Anglican clergy--every man-Jack of them--to deliver a sermon which would +satisfy the intelligence and theological acumen of the most ordinary +congregation north of Tweed. + +Laurence listened, amused by the exhibition of the speaker's both +conscious and unconscious prejudices. The man was alive; he was +self-secure and dependable. Laurence saw he would be a pleasant fellow +to work with. And the thought of that work began to occupy his mind, +opium dreams giving place before practical interests and activities. +Laurence talked in his turn, showing a keenness in business and a +knowledge of it, which Armstrong, with pursed-up lips and slow noddings +of the head, evidently relished. + +"Aweel," he remarked at last, after the younger man had given a +particularly lucid description of certain labour-saving farm-implements +employed in the wheat-growing states of Western America,--"I trust it is +no disrespect to an old master, whom it pleases the Almighty to +withdraw to some other sphere of usefulness--or the contrary, for it +would be overbold to prophesy largely on that subject of utility in the +case of your uncle, Mr. Rivers--it is no disrespect, I say, I trust, for +a man who has served such an one for over thirty years to the best of +his ability, to feel himself not indisposed to welcome the new master. I +am constrained to tell you, Mr. Laurence Rivers, that I looked to find +in you some flighty, flimsy, modern run-about of a creature. I +acknowledge my error with thanksgiving. The impression you make on my +mind is far from unfavourable." + +"That's right," Laurence said genially. "I am new to all these landed +property concerns as yet; but I expect I shall be able to get round them +pretty smartly when the time comes." + +"I think you will, I think you will." The agent's blue eyes twinkled +with a certain quiet humour, upon the young man, from between their +narrow lids. "Your uncle, I must admit, is but a feeble body in the +practical domain. His great understanding has, so to speak, not +infrequently got between his legs and thrown him down. It is pitiful to +see any person so clever that he cannot condescend to take advantage of +the handsome position the Almighty has allowed him. I own there have +been times when I have felt rebellious against the Lord's too great +generosity in the goods of this world--perishable, I know, yet deserving +of consideration--to one constitutionally incapable of drawing full +profit out of them. Therefore I perceive with thankfulness, Mr. Rivers, +you are of a different make." + +Laurence leaned back in his chair, and lighted another cigarette. It was +early yet--and he liked the man. He would encourage him to talk on for a +while longer. + +"Oh yes," he said, "you needn't be worried under that head, Armstrong. +I've the reputation of by no means quarrelling with my bread and butter, +or despising the goodly fruits of this admittedly naughty world, in +whatever form I find them." + +"Temperance is a canny virtue; and I would recommend moderation in all +things, after the teaching of the Apostle Paul. Yet I am glad to find, +Mr. Rivers, you have your feet upon the floor. It will be well for your +estates, at the preservation and improvement of which I and my kin have +laboured--not unfaithfully--for three generations." + +"So long as that?" the young man ejaculated. The statement indirectly +suggested a former strain of thought. + +"Yes, for three generations--and not without trials. For I would have +you understand that a certain impracticability runs in your family, Mr. +Rivers--a perversity, not sinful altogether, but very wearing to those +that have your temporal interests at heart." + +Gently Laurence blew a little cloud out of his nostrils, and watched it +float upward across the dark, warm-hued landscape by Nicholas Poussin +hanging over the chimney-piece. Against the windows the rain beat, while +the heavy folds of the crimson, damask curtains, covering them, swayed +just perceptibly in the draught. + +"I can believe it," he said. "My people have been afflicted with ideas; +and ideas play the very mischief with business, don't they, Armstrong?" + +"In their degree, and subject to a thrifty discretion in their +application, I would not wholly condemn them," the agent replied. His +shrewd glance dwelt on the younger man with undisguised pleasure. He was +so handsome, well bred, well made, and apparently so able a +fellow.--"But ideas are kittle cattle, Mr. Rivers," he continued, +"needing strenuous supervision if you would not have them break out of +pasture and run mad, sairly to the dislocation of all legitimate +traffic. And it has been the affliction of more than one member of your +family to let his ideas run abroad to a length of pernicious +extravagance. For instance, my grandfather, a person of capacity and +circumspection beyond the average, was factor to your great uncle, Mr. +Dudley Rivers, and--" + +Laurence kept his eyes fixed on the last blue of the little smoke-cloud +curling about the intricate foliations of the upper corner of the +picture frame; yet his voice had a certain quickness and vibration in it +as he exclaimed-- + +"Ah! Dudley Rivers--yes. Well, how about him, Armstrong?" + +"Not much good, not much good. Like the foolish body recorded by the +Psalmist, he had 'said in his heart, There is no God.' And having made +that very impious and lying observation, and so disposed of the Deity, +he proceeded to supersede the latter in his own person, and attempt the +reorganisation of society according to his own hare-brained fancies. +Regarding his deliverance from dangerous delusions my grandfather could +do but little, being himself a godly man, and holding firmly by the +doctrine of Election. If the poor misguided creature would go to the +devil, Mr. Rivers, it was--so my grandfather held--because to the devil +he was righteously foredoomed and predestined to go. And so my +grandfather, relieved of all responsibility in that respect, felt free +to apply the whole of his abilities to saving the poor, erring person's +treasure on earth, since it was manifestly not the intention of +Providence that he should inherit any treasure in heaven. He had long +taken entire charge of those estates in the county of Fife, which +belonged to Mr. Dudley's young cousin and ward, Miss Agnes Rivers--" + +"Ah!" Laurence ejaculated softly. + +"And many a time did my grandfather undertake the tedious journey down +here, from the north, to lend a seasonable hand in restraining Mr. +Dudley from committing some ruinous foolishness in respect of Miss +Agnes, or of his own southern property. For Mr. Dudley was just +completely saturated with pernicious opinions derived from the writings +of Rousseau, and Tom Paine, and other such seditious persons; and Satan +entering into him at intervals, and blinding his small surviving modicum +of reason, he proposed to reduce them to practice--poor, demented body." + +"Yes," Laurence said, "he had graduated in a rather impossible school, +no doubt. But--but--Armstrong, what about his private life--his morals?" + +"Blameless--blameless--more's the pity, since his virtues could but come +under the head of works of supererogation--so my grandfather +held--profitless alike in this world and in the next. Indeed, though a +strict man himself, I am constrained to believe he would have +experienced relief in seeing Mr. Dudley enjoy the pleasures of sin--they +are real, very real while they last, unfortunately--for a season." + +Laurence flung away the stump of his cigarette, and turned sideways in +his chair. + +"Now, as we're on the subject," he said, "and as you seem to know all +about these people of mine, what sort of fellow was Dudley's younger +brother, my namesake, Laurence Rivers?" + +"Weel, I have reason to believe he was a very promising sprig--a likely +young gentleman, high-spirited, clean-living, and not without a show of +capacity for affairs. My grandparents, both of them, entertained a warm +affection for him."--The man paused in his slow sing-song talk, +smiling.--"I should surmise him to have been much such a person as +yourself, Mr. Rivers, with a natural gift of winning the hearts of those +brought into contact with him. But he fell at Trafalgar, shot through +the lungs, as no doubt you have heard--cut off before he had opportunity +to acquaint the world with the worth of the talents that might reside in +him. It was a grievous misfortune, for his death took place but three +months before the day appointed for his and his cousin's marriage. And +often, as a soft-hearted bit of a laddie, I have cried to hear my +grandmother tell of the coming of the awful news and the grief of the +poor young lady. She was a gracious, winsome thing, as bright as a +sunbeam on a running brook; very pious, too, and charitable, so that no +mortal soul could but wish her well that looked on her. But she was +shivered by the stroke of her sorrow, as you might shiver some fragile +trifle of an ornament with a careless blow. She would not eat or speak +for many days, and her sleep departed from her. And, indeed, during the +few months of life that remained to her she rarely uttered a word. Her +poor bits of wits seemed to drain out of her with her tears, for all +that she was highly educated, and an accomplished musician and sweet +singer." + +Laurence had risen to his feet. He stood with his back to the fire, his +hands behind him, and his head bent. + +"Poor child!" he said softly. "Well, she knew how to love, anyway." + +"No woman better; but I am thinking, Mr. Rivers, she introduced into her +affections a touch of that same extravagance which pertains to so many +members of your family. For my grandmother used to tell me that, though +altogether gentle and docile, she studied nothing but to turn over her +dead love's letters, and play with the various gifts he had bestowed +upon her, as a little lass plays with its puppets and toys. It was the +pitifulest spectacle under the dome of the sky, that of her affliction; +and Mr. Dudley, notwithstanding his reprehensible opinions and infamous +heresies, watched over her like a father. His patience knew no bounds, +poor body. He would have laid himself down as the ground for her to walk +on, could that have accelerated her recovery. He spared no expense of +doctors, both foreign and English, to prescribe for her; and carried her +away to Bath, by their advice, to drink the waters there. But all the +medicinal waters that ever welled up through the length and breadth of +God Almighty's curious earth are powerless to ease the ache of a broken +heart. She wanted but one thing, and that no mortal soul could give her. +And so, poor, white lily of a thing, she just sickened, and faded, and +died." + +Laurence stood very still, looking down at the hearthrug between his +feet, while the rain beat against the windows. The agent watched him for +a little space, and then rose, a trifle stiffly and carefully, from his +chair. + +"I am keeping you over long with my family histories, Mr. Rivers," he +said. "But it comes to me that we are about to see great changes in this +place very speedily; and our conversation to-night has been a +valediction to the old dynasty and a recognition of the new. There has +been no lady at Stoke Rivers since Miss Agnes died, and you, so I learn, +are a married man." + +Laurence left his contemplation of the hearthrug, and drew himself up +rather sharply. + +"Yes," he said, "my wife is much interested in the prospect of this +English property." + +He turned his back, and stared into the fire. + +"Look here, Armstrong," he said, "where was she--Agnes Rivers, I +mean--where was she buried?" + +A singularly acute expression came over the agent's countenance. He +looked hard at the young man, but the latter did not move or turn his +head. The wind, increasing in force broke, as in great waves, against +the house front and the curtains swayed sullenly in the draught. +Armstrong cleared his throat. + +"I am thinking it's a calamitous night for too many poor folks at sea," +he remarked; and then added:--"Buried? Weel, presumably at Bath, where +she died, Mr. Rivers. A grand funeral took place there, to my +grandfather's knowledge, for he was called upon to journey the whole +long way from Cupar to attend it, and the snow lay some foot deep in the +North. A grand funeral, truly, in appearance, with black horses, and +plumes, and lumbering black coaches, and all signs of respect and +customary outward manifestations of woe." + +Still Laurence did not move; but the gusty wind was so loud that it +obliged him to raise his voice in asking-- + +"Well, well, if there was all this display about the funeral, why +_presumably_ then?" + +"Because I am constrained to admit that a certain mystery surrounded +that transaction. My grandparents would never speak directly of it, +being prudent persons, and knowing, conceivably, more than it was +becoming for them to tell. But there were tongues that said, Mr. Rivers, +that no sweet lassie's corpse lay in that coffin; but only books, and +cast clothes, and bricks, and rubbish, to make up the weight." + +Laurence turned round suddenly. His face was keen, his eyes alight. + +"But why?" he asked. + +"Partly, I surmise, on account of Mr. Dudley's atheistical views, which +caused him to hate and scorn all decent Christian rites and ceremonies. +And partly because of the feelings he entertained towards his +cousin--for it was well known she was the only human creature that had +ever moved him to love--it was apprehended he refused to part with her +body even in death." + +For a few moments the two men looked hard at each other. + +"And what then?" Laurence demanded. Armstrong raised his hands, almost +as in repudiation of his own thought. + +"The Lord only knows," he said. "As the poet says, 'There are more +things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our philosophy.' But +I, being a practical man, do not concern myself with such, Mr. Rivers. I +would not learn more of hidden matters than is strictly necessary to +salvation. If it is the intention of the Deity that further revelation +of laws, either natural or spiritual, should be granted us, such +revelation will, without doubt, come at the time appointed. And so I, +personally, would not force the hand of Providence or be over forward in +pushing myself into its secret counsels." + +He paused, regarding the younger man with much friendliness and some +anxiety. But Laurence did not speak. He merely smiled, holding out his +hand. + +"Aweel, good night to you then, Mr. Rivers," the agent said, taking the +outstretched hand and holding it awhile.--"I must repeat, I am glad to +carry away so favourable an impression of our first meeting. But, as a +word at parting having in mind the tendencies of your family +constitution, I would earnestly commend to you those canny virtues, +moderation and temperance, in all your undertakings.--I will be resident +here for the coming week, or longer should a more protracted stay be +incumbent on me, in the interests of your affairs or your uncle's. My +sons are good, steady lads, and will mind our northern business for +me--a business not unprosperous or decreasing. And so you can notify me +at any time should you feel an inclination to acquaint yourself further +with the workings of this estate, or other items of poor Mr. Rivers's by +no means inconsiderable property." + + + + +XV + + +For some minutes Laurence remained in the same position before the +library fireplace, while the rush and wail of the storm without offered +marked contrast to the silence and close warmth reigning within. He knew +all the facts of the case now, as far as they were attainable by +tradition. They proved to be very simple; but, as he reflected, the +simplicity of the symbol by no means invalidates the profound character +of the mystery of which it may be the outward and visible sign. Nay, the +very simplicity, the tender, human pathos, of this story of love and +sorrow, only engaged his heart and provoked his enterprise the more. +Counsels of self-saving moderation he waved aside with a smile. Of +danger, material, moral, or spiritual, he was defiant. With the Veil of +Isis there, visibly confronting him and inviting--in gentlest, most +confiding fashion--his hand to lift it, would it not be unpardonably +poor-spirited, callous, and unfaithful to draw back? + +But Virginia? Laurence moved impatiently from his place. He wished to +goodness Armstrong had not referred to Virginia, or rather to that +circumscription of his personal liberty which Virginia presented--to his +marriage, in short! He was very fond of her. Of course, he was very fond +of her--not for a moment did he doubt that. But must it be a matter of +primary duty and honour that he should relinquish the part of hero in +this piece--this noble and enthralling piece, which made vibrant his +whole being, and stirred the finest of him into activity--simply because +Virginia's name did not happen to be in the bill? Marriage came +perilously near a disaster if it clipped your wings as much as all that! +And he would, indeed, be a bigoted moralist who should maintain that no +circumstances can be so extraordinary, no opportunities of knowledge or +spiritual advancement so rare, that they justify a neglect of +conventional rules of conduct, or permit the relegation of ordinary +obligations--for a time at least--to the second place! + +Thus did the young man argue--ambition, chivalry, and those hereditary +tendencies towards a rather violent reduction of theory to practice +against which he had so lately been warned, all conspiring to one +result. And so, at last, his head erect, and--though he knew it +not--that air of assured conquest about him which had sat so charmingly +upon his namesake--perhaps his rival--the Laurence Rivers of the Cosway +miniature, he swung down the still, crimson-carpeted corridor, pulled +the stiff tapestry curtain forward, passed behind it, and entered the +room beyond. He laughed a little to himself, he was all of a white heat, +he would be as the Gods, working miracles, righting wrong, conquering +death. + +Sharp disappointment awaited him. The yellow drawing-room was +brilliantly lighted. The atmosphere of it was fresh, almost to the point +of chill. The miniatures lay side by side upon the escritoire, where he +had placed them some four or five hours earlier; but his sweet +fairy-lady was not there to receive him. The room was vacant of all +human, all visible, presence save his own. + +The hours which followed were among the most poignant that Laurence had +ever experienced. He had made so certain that he needed but to open that +door to regain the unreal world, yet world--as he believed--of +profoundest reality, which enchanted, while it baffled and perplexed +him. He found himself compelled to admit, moreover, not without a sense +of humiliation, that his attitude was not exclusively pathological or +scientific. A good deal of the natural man, and the natural man's +affections and vanities, entered into it. He craved once again to see +that slender, flitting figure, to feel the vibration of that otherwise +impalpable hand, to read the trust and exquisite sympathy of those +lovely eyes; he craved again to be aware of the fervour of his own +eloquence, the rush and spring of his own thought. Moreover, he felt +jealous, absurdly but increasingly jealous, of that other Laurence +Rivers, of whom, for all his vitality and immediate consciousness of +living energy and active will, he seemed to be but a second edition. The +man had forestalled him in face and semblance, forestalled him too in +the heart of the woman it would be--it was, he feared--only too easy for +him to love. + +And so he wandered aimlessly, restlessly about the bright, empty room, +almost as his sweet rose-clad lady had wandered on the night he first +met her, searching, searching for some lost good; while, as time +lengthened and his nerves grew strained by impatient waiting and want of +sleep, fears that by his own action he had procured this disappointment +began to assail him. He was always over-confident, blundering from too +great self-belief. For might it not be that in opening her little +treasure-chest, in touching those objects so dear to her dead fingers +and dead eyes, in reading her letters--nay, in striving to approach her +and establish relations with her at all--he had outraged her delicacy, +had, in a sense, assaulted her soul, had been guilty of spiritual +insult, as in grosser, material existence a man might assault or insult +a woman's person? Had he, unwittingly, transgressed some law obtaining +in the world of spirits, in the state of being which lies outside and +beyond the Gates of Death, and of which human beings, bound by the +conditions of their earthly environment, have as yet no +cognisance?--Why should not the mind and heart be sublimated to as +exquisite a fineness of texture, in her case, as the body had been? This +idea of possible outrage, of unwitting grossness towards her, was +horrible to Laurence. It stabbed him with shame, and provoked in him a +passionate desire for absolution. If she would only come--only come, +that he might implore her pardon, gain forgiveness, or--still +better--receive comfortable assurance that he had not sinned! + +His restless wanderings brought him at length to the bay-window, and he +looked out into the night. The storm had not abated. Dimly he could +perceive, in the light streaming outward from the window, the +rain-washed steps, the pale balustrades and statues of the garden; the +near cypresses, too, bowed and straining in the gale which shrieked +across the open lawns and bellowed hoarsely in the woodland like some +fierce beast let loose. And Laurence, viewing this tumult and listening +to it, suffered further humiliation. He became but a small thing in his +own estimation, weak, futile, incapable. For to what, after all, did his +force of will and power of compelling events amount? He thought of +Armstrong, the level-headed and circumspect Scotch agent; of his uncle, +dignified, and even in mortal illness faithful to the clear purposes of +his long life. He thought of Virginia, strong in virtue of her very +limitations, glittering as a well-cut jewel, concrete, complete. All +these persons occupied a definite place, served, in their degree, a +definite end. Whereas, for himself, was he not the veriest sport of +nature and of circumstance, endowed with just sufficient wit, sufficient +talent, to court failure in any and every direction? His initiative, +that had lately showed god-like, now shrivelled to microscopic +proportions; while a further unwelcome question presented itself. For +had the gracious spectre--he no longer quarrelled with that +definition--lived, as he had fondly supposed, through his life, regained +reason and glad, human sympathy through the influence of his will, or +had the case, in very truth, been precisely the reverse? Had not she +been the active, he the merely passive principle? Had he not reached a +higher development, and gloried--for a little space--in conscious +possession of genius, had he not lived, in short, through her--and this +not by exercise of direct intention on her part, but merely in obedience +to the might of her love for another man--a man long dead, but whose +name he chanced to bear, and whose appearance he chanced to resemble? + +And thereupon a hideous persuasion of his own nullity and emptiness took +hold of Laurence. Individuality fled away, disintegrated, dissolved, and +was not. The component parts of his physical being returned to their +original elements--flesh to earth, gases to air, heat to fire, blood to +water. While all the qualities of his mind, his tastes and affections, +suffered like dispersal, being claimed and absorbed by the members of +those many generations, whose earthly existence had contributed to the +eventual production of his own. And the terror of this was augmented, in +that, although every atom of his being was thus scattered and +appropriated, every smallest fraction of that which had gone to compose +his personality was dispersed, yet annihilation of thought did not +follow. He was reduced to absolute nothingness; but knowledge of +disintegration, knowledge of loss, knowledge--rebellious and +despairing--of that same nothingness remained. + +Appalled, with the instinct of flight upon him as from some menacing and +immeasurable danger, Laurence turned and groped his way back--as a blind +man gropes--into the centre of the brightly lighted room. The +persuasion of his own nothingness seemed to extend itself to his +surroundings. All partook of the nature of illusion, from which sense of +sight and touch alike seemed powerless to redeem them. And this begot in +the young man an immense desolation and a corresponding need of comfort +and of quick human sympathy. Involuntarily, in his extremity, his +thought fixed itself, stayed itself, upon Agnes Rivers. Ah! if she would +but show herself--she, his well-beloved fairy-lady--he was convinced +peace and clear-seeing would follow in her train, that this terror of +nothingness would depart, and that sanely, calmly, he should enter into +possession of himself once more! + +And then, presently, as he moved to and fro in restless search for her, +it appeared to him that a rose-red gleam of silk, a just perceptible +whiteness of muslin and lace, the faintest vision of a vision of her +sweet and lovely face, moved beside him as he moved. It was as though an +indefinable tenderness yearned towards him from out some impassable +distance, striving to declare itself, to make itself seen and felt, yet +without force to master some opposing influence and accomplish its +object. And this awoke in Laurence not only an answering tenderness, but +an answering struggle. He stood quite still, yet with every nerve, every +faculty strained to attain and overcome. He felt braced by a sudden +exhilaration of battle. Silently, fiercely, he fought with some awful, +unseen enemy,--with dimly apprehended powers of time and place, of +death, of things spiritual and things material, which intervened between +him and the love which sought to reach him. Never had he desired +anything as he desired this love. His individuality was actual enough +now; and his whole body ached with the effort to penetrate that +resistant medium, to be face to face with that love, and look on it, and +so doing to read the riddle both of his future and his past. + +But when the warfare was at its height, and the unseen enemy seemed to +yield a little, while the slender form of his rose-clad lady grew more +distinct to Laurence's eyes, unaccustomed noise and confusion arose +within the dead-quiet house. Doors opened and slammed, as with the +hurry of panic. Men's footsteps echoed imperatively down the corridors +and upon the stairs.--Another moment and he would overcome all +resistance, and his dear companion would stand before him, smiling, +gracious, full of consolation and of help; but just then voices were +raised in quick discussion without. Suddenly the door was thrown open. +Upon the threshold was Renshaw the butler, bereft of his usual +correctness of demeanour, his eyes starting, his skin mottled with +purple stains. Behind him stood Watkins holding back the leather-lined +curtain to the utmost of its length, thereby disclosing a triangular +vista of dark-panelled passage and the proud heads and arrogant, +impassive faces of the rulers of Imperial Rome. + +Evidently both men dreaded to venture one step further into the room. + +"Will you please to come at once, sir," Renshaw called hoarsely. "Excuse +me, sir, you are wanted. Mr. Rivers is very ill. He has asked for you. +Mr. Lowndes fears he is dying." + + + + +XVI + + +The agitation pervading the house was sinister. Laurence felt as though +witnessing the convulsions of some human body, seen only heretofore amid +the restraints and graceful amenities of society; but now abandoned and +indecently torn in its last agony. If indeed Mr. Rivers was dying, his +soul was not merely quitting its fragile, fleshly tabernacle; but was +also, very sensibly, quitting this larger tabernacle of house and +household which it had informed through a long course of years, and +moulded to express its tastes, flatter its idiosyncrasies, and forestall +its every wish. It was fitting, therefore, though fearful, that this +outer envelope of the owner's life should be shaken, and lose its +habitual immutability and impervious calm; while his well-drilled +servants, usually obedient as machines to the direction of his hand, ran +distracted, scared and helpless as a flock of frightened sheep. + +The men hurried aimlessly, spoke in whispers. Members of the +establishment with whom Laurence was unacquainted invaded the corridor +from the direction of the offices. At the foot of the staircase were +grouped the stout, French _chef_, in spotless, linen cap and jacket, his +attendant scullions, and a couple of men arrayed in long, green baize +aprons and black, calico blouses, the full sleeves of which buttoned +tight around the wrist. The coachman was there too, a stable helper, and +the groom who had accompanied Laurence on his first visit to Bishop's +Pudbury. All these persons were well on in middle life, some old, +white-haired, and bent. All appeared deeply moved, an inarticulate +confusion in their looks, as though finding themselves suddenly +confronted by dire calamity. Laurence had seen men look thus in the +breathless pause, between recurrent earthquake shocks, among the rocking +buildings of a far-away, Spanish-American city. As he passed them, +coming from that light, clear-coloured room, they stared at him, and +slunk aside as though a fresh terror was added to those which already so +unmanned them. In their present state of feeling the seemly decorum of +respectful service was relaxed; and to Laurence, overwrought by his +recent and strange experiences, it appeared that they shrunk from him +as from one unclean and outcast. + +He turned rather sternly upon Renshaw. "What is the meaning of all this +commotion? If I was wanted, why on earth was I not called sooner?" + +The butler's large, smooth, egg-shaped face turned from purple to +something approaching grey. + +"We had looked for you everywhere, sir, both myself and Mr. Watkins," he +answered. "But until Mr. Lowndes suggested it, in consequence of some +remark passed by Mr. Rivers, it had never occurred to us that you would +be in the yellow drawing-room, sir."--Renshaw cleared his throat, +recovering some of his accustomed dignity of bearing. "The electric +light is switched on from the corridor outside, you will observe, sir. +It has always been understood that no one--neither the upper or the +under servants, sir--are ever required to go into the yellow +drawing-room after dusk." + +And with these words, and their implication of commerce on his part with +something unlawful and malign, sounding in his ears, Laurence passed +into his uncle's bed-chamber. + +As he did so, a blast of air, hot and dry as from the mouth of a +furnace, met him. The fire upon the hearth was piled up into a mountain +of blazing coal and wood. The light of it filled the room with a fitful, +lurid brilliance such as is produced by a great conflagration. In it, +the breasts of the couchant sphinxes glowed, seeming to rise and fall as +though they breathed. The caryatides supporting the ebony canopy +likewise appeared imbued with life. Their smooth arms and bowed +shoulders strained under the weight resting upon them; while the wreaths +of fruit and blossom, girding their naked loins, heaved from the +painfully sustained effort of nerve and muscle. The snake-locks of the +Medusa's head, carved in high relief upon the circular, central panel of +the back of the bedstead, writhed, twisted, interlaced and again slid +asunder, as in frustrated desire and ceaseless suffering. + +And along the middle of the great bed, surrounded by these opulent +forms, and, at first sight, far less alive than they, lay Mr. Rivers. +His face was so blanched, so unsubstantial, that, but for the glittering +eyes still greedy of knowledge, it would have hardly been +distinguishable from the white pillows supporting him. His shoulders and +chest were muffled in a costly, sable cape; from beneath the lower edge +of which his hands, thin as reeds, protruded, lying inert upon the +thickly-wadded, blue-and-gold, damask coverlet. On the oak table--moved +from its place by the armchair to the bedside--were the few handsomely +bound books, the crystal _memento mori_ resting on its strip of crimson +embroidery, and a silver bell, the handle of it shaped as a slender, +winged Mercury, elegantly poised for flight. + +Behind the table stood Lowndes, the long-armed, hard-featured valet. He +apparently remained untouched by the spirit of anarchy let loose in the +house. Laurence, drawing near, looked at him, silently asking +instructions. The man fetched a chair and placed it close against the +bedside. + +"Be so good as to lean down, sir," he said. "Mr. Rivers wishes to +converse with you; but he has had a seizure, which has slightly affected +both his speech and hearing. He cannot raise his voice." + +Laurence did as he was bidden. He leaned towards the old man, resting +his right hand upon the haunches of the ebony sphinx, which felt +singularly warm to his touch. + +"The term of your probation and of mine alike draws to its close," Mr. +Rivers said in a small, thin voice; and, for almost the first time in +their intercourse, Laurence saw him smile. + +"I hope this is only a passing attack, sir, and that you may rally," he +answered.--He looked up at Lowndes. "Has everything been done that can +be? Have you telegraphed for the doctors?" + +"I have administered the prescribed restoratives. But Mr. Rivers ordered +that no further measures should be attempted until after his interview +with you, sir." + +The sick man raised his hand feebly, yet with an imperious gesture. + +"I do not propose to ask further advice of physicians," he said. "Their +science is but a mockery at this juncture; at least, in the estimation +of a person of my habit of mind. That by the employment of drugs and of +stimulants they might prolong a semblance of animation in this physical +husk of me, I do not deny. But what advantage can accrue from that, when +my mental activity is becoming paralysed, and the action of my brain +grows sluggish and intermittent? When all that differentiates a human +being from the brute beasts has perished, let the animal part perish +also. The sooner, the better; for, in itself, it is far from precious." + +His voice had become very faint, and he waited, making a determined +effort, as Laurence perceived, to rally his ebbing powers. + +"Tell Lowndes to go," he whispered. "I wish to be alone with you." + +Then as the man-servant noiselessly withdrew, the thin, but barely +audible accents again stole out upon the fiercely heated air. + +"The body, its necessities, its passions, its perpetually impeding +grossness throughout life, is an insult to the mind. But the final act +of this long course of insult, namely, the decay of this vile associate, +is the culminating insolence, the most unpardonable insult of all. I +have trained myself to ignore these thoughts, to disregard them as a +proud man disregards some mutilation or personal disfigurement. But +they crowd in upon me, refusing to be disregarded, to-night. Here lies +the sting of the insult! For as the strength of this vile, animal part +of me lessens, far from setting the intellect free, it infects this last +with its own increasing degradation. The lower drags the higher down +along with it. They grovel together. Contemptible doubts and fears +assail me. Discredited traditions press themselves upon my remembrance. +And the burden of it all is this, that I have laboured in vain. As the +body dies, so dies the mind. All the garnered knowledge of years will be +lost, will drop infertile, into the void--the insatiable void which +yawns alike for high philosopher and for drivelling pothouse sot." + +His voice sank, in uttering the last few words, into a whisper of +concentrated bitterness. His eyes closed, and for some minutes the dying +man lay motionless. + +Laurence could not bring himself to speak. The words to which he had +just listened so nearly reproduced and rendered articulate those +sensations he had himself so lately endured. The vision of all-absorbing +Nothingness again arose before him, as background to those opulent +forms, classic and pagan, upon which his eyes immediately rested. An +unholy and voluptuous life seemed to move in those forms still. A smile +curved the heavy lips of the sphinxes. The rounded, glistening arms of +the caryatides appeared outstretched less in support than in +solicitation; while the snake-locks of Medusa writhed, pushing upon each +other amorously. The flesh, triumphant in vigour and in carnal +invitation, seemed, indeed, to flout the intellect; as though the animal +functions of mankind and the symbols of these alone had power to survive +from age to age, were alone arbiters and architects of human fate. And +yet, yet, somewhere--could he but have reached it--Laurence knew there +was a way of escape. That he had come very near reaching it in the final +moments of that silent struggle downstairs, when the sweet figure of his +dear fairy-lady grew increasingly clear to his sight, he could not +doubt. And once again, with a great desiring, he desired her; for his +faith was strong that of all these things she somehow--how he could not +say as yet--held the key. + +Just then Mr. Rivers raised his eyelids slightly and turned his head +upon the pillow. + +"It is very horrible," he said slowly, speaking to himself rather than +to his companion. "The quantity of matter is stable. It for ever seeks +its own, and finding it re-unites. The destruction of one form is but +the necessary prelude to the development of others, and in this process +of perpetual redistribution not a fraction of the sum total is lost. +There is no waste save in the higher aspects of man's constitution--" + +But here Laurence roused himself to protest. + +"Matter returns to matter, sir, granted," he said. "Then why not spirit +to spirit? Are you not assuming a waste which you cannot prove? And if +spirit does return to spirit, what better than that, after all, can we +ask?" + +"Spirit?" Mr. Rivers retorted, with a fine inflection of irony, and +momentary brightening of those half-closed eyes. "You, my dear Laurence, +employ words glibly enough which I hesitate to pronounce! Matter I know. +It is evident to the senses. Its actual existence--Berkeley, certain +Oriental and other philosophers notwithstanding--is, within certain +limits, susceptible of proof. And intellect I know. Its existence, +though on other lines, is equally susceptible of proof. Its action can +be registered and ratified. But spirit?--I will thank you to inform +me--what is spirit?" + +The young man bowed himself together, resting his elbows on his knees. +He smiled with a half-humorous air of apology. + +"That I cannot tell you, sir," he said. "I'm better at conviction than +at explanation, I'm afraid. I only know--not with my reason, but with my +heart--that spirit is, and has been, and must be everlastingly." + +"And its mode of expression, its mode of self-revelation?" the other +inquired drily. + +Laurence straightened himself up, laughing a little. + +"One way, the old why--childish, perhaps, yet really rather charming. In +and by love, sir--only so, by love." + +Tremulously Mr. Rivers drew the rich, sable cape closer about him, +though the heat of the room was intense. + +"I become very abject," he said at last. "I procrastinate and risk +letting slip the opportunity still permitted me. For in my abjection, I +own I clutch at straws, miserably anxious for support. I am ashamed that +any other human being should witness the mental prostration to which +physical illness has reduced me. But time presses, and compels me to +delay no longer in confessing my object in calling you to me to-night. +Tell me, Laurence, have you investigated those abnormal phenomena of +which we spoke, and have your investigations yielded any result?" + +The question took the listener somewhat by surprise, and he hesitated +before replying. The whole matter had become of such vital importance to +him, personal, intimate, among the dearest and most reverently-held +secrets of his heart. So he shrank, as before an act of profanation, +from submitting the history of his fairy-lady and of his strange +relation to her to the criticism of this cold-blooded, sceptical +intelligence. Yet he was bound by his promise to report, if called on to +do so--bound, too, in mere humanity towards one lying at the point of +death, and to whom that history might, conceivably, bring solace and +enlightenment. + +"Yes, I have investigated the phenomena in part," he answered. + +"And the result?" + +"Briefly, I think, that which I ventured to state to you just now--that +love is the language of the spirit, the only medium through which spirit +can declare itself and be apprehended, the one element of our poor human +constitution which promises to continue and to preserve to us a measure +of coherence and individuality even after death." + +The young man leaned forward again, and laid his hand on the warm +haunches of the ebony sphinx with a movement of slight defiance. + +"Listen," he said, "please, sir, and I'll do my best to tell you exactly +what has happened since we spoke of this subject last." + +He steadied himself to his task, trying to keep his narrative +circumstantial and restrained, to offer nothing more than a bald +statement of fact. But the charm of it, once he had started, was a +little too much for him. His speech grew lyrical against his will. And +Mr. Rivers listened, his eyes closed, his brow drawn into hard lines by +the effort of attention. Once he held up his hand. + +"Did you question this appearance?" he asked. + +"It was useless," Laurence answered, with a queer break in his voice. +"She never spoke--that is in words. She was dumb." + +"That is unfortunate," Mr. Rivers said coldly. "Well, pray, go on." + +And Laurence obeyed; recounting, with but slight reservation, all, even +to the events of the last few hours, when he and his sweet companion had +vainly sought to reach each other in defiance of some mighty, opposing +force, and how, at the crucial moment of the struggle, Mr. Rivers's +summons had come. + +"There, sir," said he finally--"now you have it all as far as I can give +it you. I don't attempt to explain, though I may have my own ideas on +the subject. I've tried to put it quite honestly before you, and must +leave you to thrash the meaning out of it for yourself." + +For some little space the sick man remained silent; then he raised both +hands and let them sink back upon the coverlet with the gesture of one +who bids farewell to hope. + +"Fables!" he said bitterly; "fables! I ask bread of you and you give me +a stone. I offer you an unprecedented opportunity of psychological +study, and you approach it in the spirit of a ballad-monger or a +mountebank! I require from you close observation, scientific acumen, an +unrelenting pursuit of truth; and you put me off with some old wives' +tale of lost letters, the ravings of an hysterical girl, of +re-incarnation, multiple identity, and I know not what farrago of sickly +sentiment and outworn superstition! You trouble me with rubbish, which +it would be an impertinence to offer as material for serious +consideration to a peasant's child, of ordinary mental capacity, in a +modern board-school. Nor can I, my dear Laurence, acquit you of +insincerity, since you trick out this unworthy stuff in the extravagant +language of an erotic poem, while claiming for yourself an attitude +wholly platonic and superior to animal passion." + +"You are harsh, sir," Laurence was permitted to remark. + +Mr. Rivers turned his head on the pillow. His expression was distinctly +malevolent. + +"I begin to gauge the average man," he replied calmly. "I begin to +recognise that he is a willing, probably wilful, self-deceiver--that he +is incapable of mental advance, that he will never expunge the +mythological element from his religious outlook, or learn to +discriminate between emotion, the product of the senses, and accurate +knowledge, the product of laborious enquiry and elevated thought." + +"Perhaps he is wiser so," Laurence said. "Perhaps--I speak subject to +correction, sir--but perhaps he gets into touch, that way, with things +not altogether unimportant in the long history of the human race." + +"Here, within measurable distance of dissolution, I grow somewhat weary +of _perhaps_. Yet I deserve that you should answer me this, since I have +shown myself very weak. I had not courage to embrace the remarkable +opportunity of investigating the phenomena of which we have spoken when +it was offered me in my prime. Now, in my decadence, surreptitiously and +at second hand, I try to acquire the knowledge I then repudiated. I +clutch at straws, and the straws sink with me. It is just. For the +second time I am untrue to my principles. I accept the rebuke." + +During the last half hour there had been a lull in the storm; but now +the wind, shifting to a point north of west, hurled itself against the +house-front with renewed fury, and screamed against the shuddering +casements as though determined to gain entrance. The effect was that of +personal violence intended, and, with difficulty, repulsed. To Laurence +an inrush of the tempest would have been hardly unwelcome, for the heat +of the atmosphere oppressed him to the point of distress. Nor was this +all. Once more he became aware, so it seemed to him, of the tremendous, +unseen presence with which he had struggled earlier this same evening in +the yellow drawing-room below. He was aware that it stood on the far +side of the great, ebony bed, waiting, and the young man's heart stood +still. He saw Mr. Rivers gather the sable cape more closely about him, +as he lay staring out into the austere yet luxurious room; and he +recognised that for all his mortal weakness there was a certain +magnificence in the dying man's aspect. + +"And beyond the superb, and always unredeemed, promise of human life, a +blank," Mr. Rivers said at last, his voice hollow, and, though so +small, asserting itself strangely against the tumult of the storm. +"Reason, learning, the senses, carry us thus far, only to project us +against a gateless barrier at the last!" + +But Laurence's whole nature arose in fierce revolt. Again he renewed +that awful struggle, but this time in articulate speech. + +"No, no, sir," he cried sharply, authoritatively, "the barrier is not +gateless--that is, to any one of us who has ever, even dimly and +passingly, known true-love, and that of which true-love is the +everlasting exponent and blessed symbol, namely, Almighty God." + +"And I have known neither," Mr. Rivers answered. "Love I have never +felt. God I have never needed, either as an object of worship, or as +incentive to prayer. Therefore, for me, on your own showing, the barrier +needs must remain gateless." + +He bowed his head slightly, smiling upon the young man with a fine, +ironical courtesy. + +"I will ask your pardon for any weariness I may have caused you, +Laurence," he added. "And now I think we have nothing further to say to +one another. I have no quarrel with your fulfilment of your part of the +contract. It has been only--possibly--too complete. So I will detain you +no longer. You can leave me. I bid you good-night." + +The young man would have answered with some kindly words of farewell; +but as the other ceased speaking, he became aware that, under the +glistening, outstretched arms of the caryatides, that tremendous unseen +presence bent downwards, extending itself sensibly over the bed. +Suddenly, and with a surprising effect of strength, Mr. Rivers started +into a sitting position. + +"Lowndes," he called imperatively, and reached out for the handle of the +silver bell. + +But before Laurence could render him any help he sunk down sideways--as +though under the weight of a heavy blow--the upper part of his body +hanging over the edge of the bed, and his thin, reed-like hands, with +their ancient and mysterious rings, dragging upon the carpet--dead. + + + + +XVII + + +The afternoon was fair and mild, a pensive charm upon it of misty +sunshine and light fugitive shadows--one of those tender, silvery +afternoons very characteristic of an English spring. It was as though +nature, repentant of the violence of the past night, would disarm +resentment by softness of mood, pretty invitations, and all manner of +insinuating caresses. Thrushes piped among the high branches, and on the +house-roofs starlings whistled and chattered, their crops filled with +succulent comfort of worms and slugs. Upon the wide lawns two pairs of +grey wag-tails scampered, with interludes of love-making and rapid +upward flutterings after young gnats and flies--born out of due time and +paying speedy and final penalty of too precocious an advent. The year +had fairly turned its back on winter at last, and a promise of genial +days, warm, lingering twilights, and tranquil nights was in the air. + +Yet the late storm had not departed altogether without witness. For +Laurence, pacing the broad walk from the last steps of the Italian +garden to the confines of the lime-grove, could hear the hushing of +birch-brooms and the ring of an axe. One of the tall cypresses had +fallen right across the central alley, and gardeners were still busy +chopping it up, carting away blocks of red wood and barrow-loads of +scented branches, and obliterating the traces of its downfall. + +Laurence paced the walk in a state of dreamy abstraction. The influences +of the hour and the place were soothing to him. Their last interview and +the final scene in his uncle's bed-chamber had affected him deeply. +To-day had been full of detail. He had spent great part of the morning +at the little, grey, Norman church, in company with Armstrong, Mr. Beal, +and the estate mason, superintending the opening of the Rivers's vault, +and such alteration of the position of the coffins it contained as to +render possible the addition of another to their number. Upon the +coffin-plates he read the names of many members of his family--of Dudley +Rivers and others; and that of his own father, Denbigh Rivers, who had +died on foreign service in Malta, when he--Laurence--was a child, and +whose body had been sent home, not without cost and difficulty, to lie +among his kindred in this quiet place. Of Agnes Rivers's coffin--though +he closely examined all such as were still intact--he discovered no +trace. + +"There won't be room for me or mine down there, Armstrong," he said to +the agent, as the two stood in the sunny churchyard, flicking the +clinging cobwebs of the vault from off their clothes. "Not that I'm +particularly sorry for that. Look here, you see the vacant space there +by the chancel wall? Just try if you can arrange to have it staked out +and reserved, without encroaching on the rights or hurting the feelings +of any of the parishioners. I rather fancy lying there--unless I'm lucky +enough to die at sea, and be dropped over the ship's side into the +clear, blue water, with a shot at my feet." + +"Every man to his humour, no doubt, Mr. Rivers," the other answered, in +his slow sing-song. "Though I could find it in my heart to wish you a +less uneasy resting-place than the swaying deeps of the ocean. Yet I +suppose it was just there, and in the manner you have indicated, that +your namesake and great-uncle, Laurence Rivers, found burial after the +glorious battle of Trafalgar." + +Laurence had stopped beating the clinging cobwebs from his sleeve, and +turned to the speaker with a look of quick intelligence. + +"Why, of course it was," he said, presently adding--"Upon my word, I +wonder--will history repeat itself in that particular also!" + +Subsequently, there had been letters to write, telegrams to despatch, +the disorganised household gently, but firmly, to lay hold on. And now +he paced the broad walk in an interval of leisure, listening till the +grinding of carriage-wheels upon the gravel of the chestnut avenue +should advise him that Mr. Wormald, his uncle's lawyer--whom he had +summoned from town--had arrived at Stoke Rivers Road, and completed the +transit from that station. And as he thus paced, while the silvery +sunshine and shadow gently followed one another across the face of the +fair, woodland landscape, a little of the pride of possession awoke in +the young man. He had hardly had time to think of that before; nor did +it seem quite fitting or seemly to do so when the breath had but so +lately left the body lying in that stately room upstairs. Yet it was +indisputable, this was precisely the event which, consciously or +unconsciously, he had waited for ever since his boyhood. The prospect of +one day succeeding to this property had handicapped him; he felt that. +It had placed him in a position, socially, slightly beyond his means. It +had taken from him the incentive and inclination to carve out an +independent career. So far it had been the reverse of an advantage, from +the more serious standpoint. But now all that was changed. He had a very +definite "name and local habitation." He was absolutely his own +master--no longer heir-apparent, but recognised owner and ruler of a by +no means contemptible territory. This was as the step from boyhood to +manhood--from the last of a public school to the freedom and personal +responsibility of youth no longer subject to tutelage. Laurence smiled +to himself. It occurred to him he had really got to grow up at last. +Well--he had been a precious long time about it! And then, somehow, it +occurred to him that this change in his fortunes altered and modified +his relation to Virginia. He had lived in Virginia's country, and among +her friends, almost exclusively, since his marriage. He had, he was +aware, ranked somewhat as Virginia's husband. Now the state of affairs +was reversed. He was in a position to claim full masculine +prerogatives--those of an old country, of a ripe and finished +civilisation, well understood. In future Virginia--she was very +charming, very, he'd no quarrel with her of course--only, in future, +Virginia would have to rank as his wife. + +And, thereupon, involuntarily his eyes sought the bay-window of the +yellow drawing-room. At the foot of the semicircular stone steps, on to +which that window opened, the gardeners still moved to and fro--slow, +brown-clad figures--collecting and wheeling away the _debris_ of the +fallen cypress. Laurence refused to formulate further the thoughts that +arose in his mind. Only one thing was clear to him--clear as the songs +and whistlings of the birds, clear as the tinkle and plash of the +fountains, the spray of which glittered so brightly silver in the +silvery light--Virginia could not come to Stoke Rivers just yet. It was +better--better in every way--that her coming should be postponed for a +while--till the period of mourning for his uncle was over--till he, +Laurence, had mastered all the business, and organised the existent +masculine household upon a new basis--till he had thoroughly acquainted +himself not only with the working of this, but of the Scotch +estate--till he and Virginia were free to keep open house--till--till-- + +At that moment, perhaps fortunately, the dogcart emerged from the +shelter of the great chestnut-trees, and swung round the carriage sweep +to the front door. Laurence crossed the lawns and the angle of the +Italian garden quickly.--What a pity that cypress had fallen! It broke +the line, destroying the symmetry of the garden; and it was almost the +tallest and finest grown of the lot. + +In the hall Mr. Wormald discoursed affably with the men-servants, while +the latter divested him of more than one overcoat. He was a small, +withered man, his back bowed and his hands sadly crippled by rheumatic +gout, by much handling of pens, and leaning over lengthy legal +documents; yet his movements were noticeably alert. His clean-shaven, +busy, little face was enlightened by nimble, red-brown, squirrel-like +eyes. + +"Thank ye, Renshaw," he said. "Gently--ah, yes, you remember! These +damp, spring days get into my joints, I promise you. Ah! there you are, +Watkins. Yes, sad affair this, and sudden. Great shock to you all, no +doubt. Quite so--but I observe that so frequently is the case. A +lingering illness, the termination of which grows to seem more and more +remote, and then the end with unlooked-for rapidity. Yes, very sad." + +Disengaging himself from the sleeves of his second coat, he perceived +Laurence's arrival, and his squirrel-like eyes scampered, so to speak, +over the young man from head to foot. Like the agent, he appeared to +receive an agreeable impression, for he gave a subdued squeak evidently +indicative of satisfaction. + +"Ah! Mr. Rivers," he exclaimed, "you will not remember me. It is many +years since we met. You were a little shaver in an Eton-jacket and round +collar. And your poor uncle passed away quite suddenly at last?--Not a +matter for regret, I venture to think. Few men would have been more +fretted by a consciousness of failing powers. Remarkable intellect"--Mr. +Wormald keckled softly, as he passed with the young man into the +library--"quite beyond me, out of my humble range altogether, you know, +Mr. Rivers. I admired his conversation; yet I cannot venture to pretend +I attached any intelligible meaning to one-half of what your uncle said. +But our business relations were very simple. He disliked business too +much to wish to prolong the discussion of it. You will find all legal +arrangements very direct. The death duties will be heavy; but, otherwise +there are no deductions, I believe, save one or two small legacies to +the servants.--Dinner, yes, Mr. Rivers, the earlier the better for me. I +should be glad to put in a long evening with Armstrong; then we will +have everything ready for you in the morning. I have an appointment with +a client at five to-morrow afternoon, so I will ask you to let me go up +by the two o'clock. I shall not need to encroach on your time to-night." + +Therefore it happened, that, comparatively early Laurence found himself +free to go down the red-carpeted corridor, pull back the heavy, +leather-lined curtain, and enter the room of strange and delectable +meetings once again. What fortune, good or bad, awaited him, he could +not even surmise. He had learned one thing at least, that, in this +connection, nothing was certain save the unforeseen. Nevertheless, he +was sensible of slight surprise on finding the room shrouded in vague +gloom. By some oversight the electric light had not been turned on. But +the March evenings were long, and he had come to the trysting-place +before the accustomed hour. The day was not wholly dead yet, and +twilight lingered in the neighbourhood of the bay-window. After his +first movement of surprise, Laurence found a restful charm in the soft +obscurity surrounding him. Once again the room had resumed its effect of +friendliness; and if his fairy-lady was not there as yet, no more were +malign and opposing powers. The place was kindly and peaceful. It, like +the weather, had settled back into a mild and engaging mood. + +The young man felt his way across to the window, and sat down in one of +the gilt-framed, brocade-covered armchairs on the right of the bay. +There he waited, looking out now at the garden, growing mysterious and +shadowy in the deepening dusk; now at the tall, satin-wood escritoire, +the highly polished surfaces of which, reflecting the expiring light, +glistened so that the shape of it remained visible after surrounding +objects had faded from sight. + +How long he waited Laurence did not know, nor did he greatly care. He +had been very actively employed for the better part of the last +six-and-thirty hours, and both as to mind and body he was in an +unusually quiescent state. His energies were in pleasant suspension. The +dimly seen room swam before his eyes. He made no effort of resistance. A +mist clouded his vision, clouded all his faculties, and he slept. + +When he awoke it was high noon. He lay on the stone bench beneath the +lime-trees, the innumerable leaves of which rustled and danced in the +warm, summer wind. He awoke laughing from a wholly delicious dream--a +young man's dream of very lovely love, which after long denial and delay +had found perfect fulfilment. He felt very light and content. Life was +sweet, this smiling, summer world infinitely hopeful and sympathetic. +Then he stretched himself, smoothed the revers of his flowered, silk +waistcoat, and straightened his lawn cravat, which had been somewhat +displaced during the pleasant relaxation of slumber. He rubbed a trifle +of dust, too, from the knee of his plumb-coloured breeches with his +handkerchief. Then he stood up still laughing, yet with a growing hunger +in his heart, since he began to realise that those delights were his, as +yet, only within the gates of sleep and of dreams. He stretched again, a +sigh mingling with his laughter; and then discovered that through the +shifting, dappled sunlight and shadow Agnes Rivers approached him with +her pretty, flitting, bird-like grace. To-day she wore a pale, +lemon-yellow, India-muslin dress, spotted with cinnamon-coloured sprigs, +and a white and cinnamon coloured waist ribbon embroidered in blown +roses and tiny buds. A black, velvet work-bag, with long yellow and +black strings to it, hung upon her arm; while her charming head and neck +showed up in high relief against the open blue-grey sunshade she +carried tilted over her right shoulder. Laurence went forward to meet +her, all aglow from his recent sleep and from the fond imaginations of +that delicious dream. Half playfully, half in sharp desire of mastery, +he took away her sunshade and work-bag, and threw them down upon the +turf. Then grasping both her hands in his, he kissed and kissed them, +holding them high and bending his head so that his eyes were on a level +with hers. And there must have been something in his eyes fearful, +though enchanting, to her perfect maidenliness, for she flushed and +tried to withdraw her hands, moving back a step from him with an air of +questioning and innocent dignity. + +"Laurence, Laurence," she said chidingly, "what does this mean? What has +taken you?" + +"Only happiness," he answered, "of which, having seen the dear vision, I +very badly need the still dearer reality." + +"Ah!" she said, "and yet you will go away--how soon we do not know--to +this most unhappy war, and leave me desolate." + +"Yes, and it is best so, sweetheart," he replied; serious, though still +smiling--she was so pure, so trustful, and so very fair. Her gentle +beauty racked him--"Best so," he repeated--"best pass the time +honourably, fighting for king and country, until your twenty-first +birthday is past, and Dudley can no longer forbid our marriage, and I +can claim you, make and keep you mine forever and a day--" + +And thereupon he stopped abruptly, for his elder brother had come upon +them unperceived--Dudley, thin and tall, clothed in sad-coloured, +brown-grey coat and vest, the locks of his long, pale hair stirred by +the summer wind, in his hand a bundle of papers--Dudley, whose high, +narrow head, refined features, and deep-set, fanatical eyes reminded +Laurence strangely of his uncle, Montagu Rivers, lying upstairs in the +carven, ebony bed, with the crystal _memento mori_ and the silver bell +of the elegantly poised Mercury handle on the table beside him.--But how +was that? How could it be? He confused two generations. Dudley Rivers's +coffin he had seen, in the vault of the little, Norman church, only this +morning. The dust lay thick on it. For more than half a century it had +reposed there undisturbed; whereas his uncle, Montagu Rivers, died but +last night! + +Yet even while he thus reasoned, the scene suffered change. All around +him was the roar of cannon; and beneath him the screaming of two ships, +grinding into one another, side to side, upon the lift and fall of the +Atlantic, where the sea grows short towards Gibraltar and the Straits. +They screamed, those ships, as fighting stallions scream--a fierce and +terrible sound. And all their decks were slippery with blood, through +which half-naked men ran red-footed, or falling, wallowed, while the +yell of battle went up hoarse from many hundred throats. The white +sails, torn and streaming, were dyed wild, lurid colours by the flash of +musketry and up-rolling volumes of smoke from the heavy guns. It was as +hell let loose. Yet discipline prevailed, as did a desperate and +persistent purpose, through all the tumult and slaughter. Laurence +himself felt cool, light-hearted even, as he shouted orders and rallied +his men in no mild language. His courage was high and his life strong +in him. He laughed, notwithstanding the murderous noise, the sickening +and brutal sights. But, to his fury, just in the turn of the engagement, +when victory seemed assured at last, he felt a shattering blow at the +top of his chest, and the blood welled up from his pierced lungs, and +all the world about him grew black. He staggered back against the +splintered bulwarks, putting his left hand upon the thin packet of +letters buttoned inside his uniform against his heart, and called +aloud--"Agnes, Agnes." + +And out of the blackness a sweet voice, speaking as from some far +distance, answered, crying--"Laurence, Laurence"--in accents of +tremulous but very exquisite joy. Then within his palm he felt once more +that just perceptible pulsation, as of the fluttering wings of a captive +butterfly; while, in the ghostly twilight still glimmering in through +the great bay-window, he beheld the slender form and rose-red, silken +dress of his sweet fairy-lady, there, close at his side. + + + + +XVIII + + +For some moments the young man dared not move. The anguish of his +shattered ribs, the choking up-rush of blood from his lungs, was so +present to him, that he turned deadly faint. By degrees he realised that +all these sensations were illusory; or rather memory of that which had, +long ago, befallen him. Then he asked himself--was the cry which had +just now answered his cry illusory, a matter of memory, likewise? This +he must ascertain. He began speaking slowly and softly; and the +conviction of his identity with that other Laurence Rivers, his +namesake, was so complete, that in speaking as he did he had no sense of +practising any deceit upon his hearer. + +"Agnes," he said, "do you remember the summer morning when, like a lazy +fellow, I fell asleep under the lime-trees, and how you came to me just +as I woke up, and how we spoke to one another, and how my brother Dudley +interrupted our conversation." + +A pause followed, during which he listened with almost feverish anxiety, +looking up into the sweet, dimly-seen face. Was it possible that she +had already gained in physical attributes and powers to the point of +audible speech? He almost prayed it might be so; and yet what tremendous +issues such development opened up! + +At last the low, far-away voice began to answer him. The words came +lispingly, at first, with a pathetic effort and hesitancy. It was as the +utterance of a baby child but just learning to articulate. + +"How could I fail to remember that morning, since the joy of it proved +the prelude to the sorrow of your departure?" + +Laurence could barely control his excitement; but he just managed to +remain very still and to continue speaking slowly and softly. + +"Was that so?" he said. "I had forgotten." + +"Surely it was so," she answered. "For Dudley brought you the orders, +which had just been delivered by a despatch-rider, requiring your +immediate return to your ship." + +"Yes, yes--of course. I begin to recollect," he rejoined. "Lord Nelson +had news of the whereabouts of the French fleet, and we put to sea at a +few hours' notice. Recollect, dear me, I should rather think I did! It +was an awful rush to get one's kit together, and get through, and there +was no end of a bother about post-horses." + +Laurence rose to his feet. It was impossible to him to sit still any +longer. This strange awakening of memory, and the miracle of his sweet, +phantom companion's recovered speech, moved him too deeply. He went +across to the escritoire. + +"Come here, Agnes," he said. "I want to look at you. I must see you +clearly. And I--I want you to look at me. Come." + +While speaking he struck a match, and lighted, first the tall wax +candles standing upon the escritoire, and then those in the candelabra +upon the chimney-piece. Beheld in their mellow light, the room assumed a +more than ever familiar and friendly aspect. Laurence felt that he was +at home--at home, consciously, and with a security and content upon him +such as he had never experienced before. It was singularly pleasant to +feel thus. Moving back he stood in front of the slender, rose-clad +figure. His manner was serious, though very gentle, and his voice +somewhat broken by the emotion under which he laboured. + +"See, I have opened your little treasure-chest for you," he said. "And I +have read your dear letters--that constituted no breach of faith, or act +of presumption, considering how often I have read them already. I have +put everything carefully back in its place, save our two miniatures, +which lie here side by side. I tell you honestly, I am perplexed. I +can't fit in the bits of the puzzle, or piece out the story as yet; but +that, to my mind, doesn't matter very much. For we are here together, +once again, you and I." + +He shifted the position of the candles so that their full light should +fall upon her. + +"Now let me look at you," he said. + +And as he looked his eyes grew somewhat moist, for he perceived that +which he had blindly desired, blindly sought all his days, that which +had been as an ache at his heart even in his gayest hours, because he +needed it and had it not--though he had had no knowledge of what indeed +it was he needed--now stood visibly before him. Sweet phantom, old-time +love, exquisite companion--having found her, how could he ever again let +her go? Listening to her pretty, halting speech the flattering belief +had once more grown strong in him that he had the power--had he also the +will--to restore her to complete and living womanhood. The ambition of +so doing possessed him with redoubled force; and the love of her, rooted +so deeply in that mysterious former life and former personality of his, +possessed him too. Considerations of right and wrong, of duty, even of +honour, he brushed aside. The peace and content of the present, the +daring effort, the triumph and delight of the future should that effort +succeed, rendered him callous to all things beside. Then a touch of +self-distrust took him. Did he please, as he was pleased? He wondered. + +"Agnes," he asked her almost wistfully, "tell me, have I changed very +much?" + +Her eyes, which had grown somewhat shy beneath his searching scrutiny, +regained their serenity. She replied more readily, and in more assured +accents, while a gentle playfulness was perceptible in her bearing. + +"You appear older," she said; "but I will not reproach you with that, +since I think you have matured in character rather than greatly +increased in years. I could fancy you taller, were not such a +supposition absurd. The fashion of your clothes is much altered--you +affect very sober colours now." + +But suddenly her expression changed. A wide-eyed, haunting sadness came +back into her lovely face, and she spread abroad her hands in mingled +apology and appeal. + +"Ah! indeed," she cried, "I fear a long, long period has elapsed during +my illness and alienation of mind. You have had time and to spare in +which to grow older, to acquire new habits of thought, perchance--but +that idea I cannot tolerate--to form fresh ties. I bitterly deplore my +weakness, but they assured me of your death. Their purpose was not +cruel, I am sure; but when I refused to believe their statements, your +brother Dudley and Mrs. Lambart sent for our rector, Mr. Burkinshaw, to +talk with me and preach resignation. He preached to deaf ears, poor man! +How could I be resigned to see all the joy of my life cut down as grass +under the sweep of a scythe? I did not believe them, yet their +reiterated assertions so worked on me that they killed hope in me, and, +in so doing, killed reason likewise. Yet in my heart of hearts, +Laurence, I have always known that you would come again." + +She clasped her hands high on her bosom and smiled upon him. + +"And you have come, oh! my love," she said; "you have come!" + +"Yes, in good truth," he answered, while a sense of fear took him--"I +have come." + +For he was filled with pity and with wonder concerning the end of this +adventure; while her innocent passion softened his whole nature to a +great tenderness, as the sun softens the frozen earth in spring. Then he +held out his hand to her in invitation, and led her across to the +brocade-covered sofa, set corner-wise between the piano and the +fireplace, and for a while they both remained silent, sitting there side +by side. And as the minutes slid away, the young man's fears departed, +and content returned to him. It was so natural to sit with her thus! Yet +his content had an underlying pathos in it, since their situation--his +and hers--though immediately happy was so very strange. + +At last he asked her:--"Did you know me from the first?" + +And she replied with an air of gracious diffidence infinitely +engaging:--"I can hardly tell you. For so long confusion has reigned in +my poor mind that all had become to me vague and undetermined. I was so +very tired that even that which I most craved, I, in a measure, shrank +from. I seemed to wander everlastingly in blank and desolate places. I +seemed to move in an interspace between the confines of two worlds, to +neither of which could I gain admittance. I could not go forward, +neither could I go back. Everything baffled me; everything was so +difficult to understand." + +"But now you have left those blank and desolate places? Now you +understand?" Laurence asked, keenly interested in, yet a little dreading +her answer. + +"I think so. Still joy has been too long a stranger, for me wholly to +trust it even yet. And I fear there are still lapses and deficiencies in +my intelligence. I could fancy--but doubtless these are but silly +fancies, born of illness--that I am not as I used to be, and that I +feel the miss of much I once had and now have not." + +She looked up at him, her eyes troubled once more to their very depths. + +"In what am I lacking, Laurence?" she inquired piteously. "I feel that I +am lacking, and I tremble lest I should disappoint you. Indeed, I will +strive to remedy my fault, whatever it may be, if you will but be +patient with me and tell me plainly of it, and give me opportunity to +effect a cure." + +But he answered her soothingly, stung by the humility and innocence of +her attitude. + +"You are wanting in nothing that time will not set right. But we must +make haste slowly, sweetheart. So put all these sick fancies out of your +head. We will worry neither about past or future; but, like true +economists, will enjoy the present. Now let us talk of the time before I +left you to rejoin my ship. Of that other melancholy time, after I left +you and before I came back, and of the changes it has brought along with +it, we will talk some other day--I trust there are many days for us +ahead." + +And so they remained speaking of the incidents of that mysterious former +life, of which Laurence's recollection became momentarily more +circumstantial and coherent--speaking of little things, merry and +tender, such as lovers love--until, more than once, gusts of gentle +laughter swept through the yellow drawing-room, which, for such a length +of years, had been empty of all sound of human mirth. And not until the +rose-red fingers of the dawn--in colour matching his fairy-lady's +rose-red gown--first touched the eastern sky above the dome of the lime +grove and the broken outline of the woods, did Laurence and Agnes Rivers +cease to talk. Then she got up from her place in pretty haste. + +"Ah!" she said, smiling, "I must go. Good Mrs. Lambart will reprove my +indiscretion in having remained here so late." + +But Laurence was bound to ask her one question, which had been in his +mind during the whole course of their interview, yet had not so far +dared put to her. + +"Tell me," he said, "I waited for you--why did you not meet me here last +night?" + +"Ah!" she replied, "do not let us closely inquire into that. Something +terrible was abroad in the house. I think it was the Shadow of Death. It +stood between us--or I dreamed it did so.--But we fought against it. We +conquered it--at least I dreamed that we did. And it is gone.--But now, +dear love, indeed I too must go. Good-night, or rather good-morrow. +Carry happy thoughts away with you, even as I do, to sweeten rest." + +And, without more ado, she flitted across the room, as though her little +feet in their diamond-powdered slippers could not go soberly, but must +dance for very joy, and, passing behind the tall escritoire, Laurence +once again was aware that she had disappeared and left no trace. + + + + +XIX + + +The disposition of Montagu Rivers's property proved--as Mr. Wormald had +already advised Laurence it would prove--of a simple and straightforward +description. All the servants connected with the house and stables would +receive a couple of years' wages. Lowndes, the valet, would in addition +draw a substantial pension. Outside these provisions, Laurence inherited +wholly and solely. A single clause in the brief will revealed somewhat +of the eccentric character of its maker. Mr. Rivers directed that within +forty-eight hours of his reported death a London surgeon of acknowledged +eminence should use means to ascertain, beyond all possibility of doubt, +that death had veritably and indeed taken place. He further directed +that Armstrong, the agent, and a local practitioner who had attended him +at intervals during his illness, should be present at this rather +ghastly demonstration. It was added that the corpse should receive +Christian burial not less than twenty-four hours after the autopsy had +been carried out. The clause concluded with the following words:-- + +"I desire these measures to be taken--childish and superstitious though +they may appear--as a precaution against that happening, in my own case, +which would appear to have happened in the case of a former inhabitant +of Stoke Rivers." + +The eminent surgeon in question, hastily summoned from amid a press of +work, could spare but one evening for his visit. He proved to be a +courtly and agreeable person, an amateur of the fine arts, with a turn +for copper-plate engravings, a weakness for Italian ivories, and an +enthusiasm for antique and renaissance gems. His work in the +death-chamber accomplished, he readily turned his attention to more +pleasing investigations; and during the hour after dinner, before the +coming of the carriage to take him to catch the up-express at Stoke +Rivers Road, he examined the contents of certain glass cases in the +library, and looked at the engravings hanging in the lower corridor. + +"I little imagined, when I left town this afternoon," he said, +addressing Laurence with a peculiarly charming smile, "that such +delectable entertainment was in store for me. I am proud of my +profession--no man more so; but I am not sorry to put it aside for a +time and forget injury and disease, and even successful dealing with +them, in favour of art. This collection of your uncle's, though not +large, is remarkable. It reflects great credit upon his judgment and +taste. It contains absolutely no rubbish, hardly, indeed, a single +object which it would be just to qualify as second-rate.--Ah! here is +another admirable thing, though less in my line than those delightful +gems." + +The two men had reached the end of the corridor, and the doctor paused +in front of the tapestry curtain. + +"This is a very fine example," he continued, "though I could not, off +hand, be sure of the date. How broad and yet how harmonious in +colouring! Just a trifle broad in subject, too, perhaps; but our +forefathers were blessed or cursed--I am often at a loss to decide +which--with a more robust taste in sentiment than ourselves. A witty +modern writer has spoken of 'the saving grace of coarseness.' There +have been times when I have been tempted to endorse his phrase." + +As he spoke, he laid hold of the edge of the curtain. + +"Dear me, how singularly weighty!" He looked at his host quickly, +inquiringly, and with heightened interest. "Singularly weighty," he +repeated. "This house enjoys a reputation for a certain originality, I +understand. Would it be indiscreet to inquire to what this splendid +_portiere_ either gives, or denies, access?" + +Just for a moment Laurence hesitated, staring his guest very full in the +face. So far this new acquaintance had interested him greatly. His +conversation had been refreshingly varied; moreover, Laurence, in +listening to it, had become increasingly and pleasingly impressed with +the value and distinction of his lately acquired possessions. He +recognised a steadiness and sanity in the great surgeon's outlook; an +appreciation of things rare and beautiful, combined with a wisdom born +of wide practical experience; a large compassion, too, for the foibles, +and sufferings, and sins of poor human nature, unembittered by any +flavour of contempt. And so it happened that, during that moment of +hesitation, Laurence was sorely disposed to lay bare to this man--whom +he would in all probability never meet again--the abnormal situation in +which he, at the present time, found himself. If any one could grasp +that situation, and deal with it at once justly and sympathetically, he +thought this man could do so; since he appeared to have passed the +limits of denial and scepticism, and reached that composure and poise of +mind wherein revolt ceases and the capacity of acceptance and belief +becomes almost unlimited. But--perhaps unfortunately--Laurence put the +inclination towards free speech from him as a temptation. Was he not +bound by his promise to the dead? He was bound still more, perhaps, by +personal pride. It appeared to him free speech would be a yielding, a +weakness; so he answered suavely, yet with a sufficient loftiness to +leave no room for further question-- + +"Behind the curtain is that which, indirectly, has procured me the great +pleasure of receiving you here to-day." + +As he spoke he turned, and led the way in the direction of the hall +again. + +"I'm uncommonly glad," he added, "that you have such a high opinion of +my uncle's little collection. Perhaps it may induce you to come down +here again sometime, from Saturday to Monday, and overhaul the contents +of these cases at your leisure. I am afraid I'm a bit of a barbarian, +and don't reckon with them as reverently as I ought. I am a good deal +better up in the points of polo ponies than in those of Popes' rings, I +know." + +"That is no matter for regret," the doctor replied, in his most courtly +manner. "My esteem for the barbarian increases rather than diminishes as +I grow older. And I never forget that these delicacies of art are, after +all, the refuge of those who have outlived or injured their digestion +of, and appetite for, simpler and more wholesome diet. Such dyspeptics +are to be commiserated rather than commended. As long as the romance of +sport and travel holds you, as long as you still 'love the bright eyes +of danger,' you can very well afford to leave the consolations offered +by gems, and ivories, and such like sweepings from the ruins of departed +civilisations, to the physically and emotionally decrepit." + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Ah, youth," he said, "immortal youth, and the rather savage joys of +it!--I congratulate you far more profoundly upon the possession of +these, and upon the magnificent health which I cannot but perceive to be +yours, than upon your extremely interesting house and both its seen"--he +paused, looking rather hard at Laurence and smiling--"and unseen +treasures.--A cigar? Yes, thanks, I think I will permit myself that +indulgence on my way down to the station.--But to return to my +contention. Remember we only take to sweet-sop when our teeth are no +longer sound enough for ship's biscuit. Eat ship's biscuit and relish it +just as long as a merciful Providence permits you to do so, my dear +young gentleman. The days of sweet-sop, of the armchair, of what we are +pleased to call 'the judicial attitude of mind,' but which is really +nothing save the natural consequence of a sluggish and defective +circulation, will come all too soon in any case. Adieu to you--" + +A flash of carriage lamps at the open hall door, the two +men-servants--restored to their habitual correctness of bearing--armed +with rugs, greatcoat, and narrow leather bag of slightly sinister +aspect--the snort of a horse in the night air, fresh from the +comfortable warmth of the stable--and, after further farewells, Laurence +went back into the hot, bright, silent house. + +"No one need sit up, Renshaw," he said to the waiting butler. "I shall +watch in Mr. Rivers's room alone to-night." + +For this was to be a night of abstinence, so the young man had decided, +from the dear sight of his fairy-lady and the delight of her +miraculously recovered speech. He had a duty to perform to the dead man, +lying solitary upstairs--though hardly more solitary now, than during +the long years past in which he had repudiated all solace of human +affection. To Laurence himself life had become almost terribly well +worth living since he had set foot in Stoke Rivers little more than a +week ago; and it was to this man, of cold and narrow nature, that, after +all, he owed this notable enlargement of interests and opportunity--not +to mention those material advantages of houses, lands, and costly +furnishings which had come to him. Gratitude was very much in place; and +it seemed to him that a silent vigil in that stately bed-chamber would +be only fitting, both as an act of piety, and as testimony to the +gratitude now no longer permitted expression either in spoken word or +kindly act. Nor could Laurence help hoping that during those solemn +hours he might arrive at a clear determination regarding the +future--ceasing merely to drift passive and acquiescent to the push of +circumstance, as a rudderless boat to the push of the tide. He would +direct his own course, be master of his own action, prepared to +take--for good or ill--all the consequences that action might involve. +For, all the while--and it was worse than useless to shirk remembrance +of that--all the while, across the Atlantic, under the bright American +skies, bright as they, immediate and modern as the civilisation on which +they look down, was the vivacious, young, society beauty, whom he had +believed he loved, whom he very certainly had married, and to whom--in +the opinion of both her world and his own--his honour and his whole +future stood pledged. The question of Virginia--for the whole situation +resolved itself fundamentally into that--the question of Virginia must +be reckoned with, and the results of such reckoning accepted once and +for all. + +He had not visited that upstairs room since the night of his uncle's +death. The impression then received of the furnace-like fire, and the +apparent life and motion of those figures of enslaved and half-bestial +womanhood supporting the bed, were still present to his recollection. +But now, as he passed into the room, he found the change worked there +very arresting. All trace of that which had gone forward, earlier in the +evening, under the hands of the eminent surgeon, had been obliterated. +The room was orderly, stately as ever; but it was very cold. The hearth +was swept and empty. One casement stood wide open, and by it entered a +continuous breathing of bleak wind. A single electric burner was turned +on, and, in the low steady light shed by it, the carven figures of the +ebony bed offered no illusion of life or motion; they showed rigid as +the long, narrow body they guarded, the angular outline of which was +perceptible beneath the fine linen sheet--upon the surface of which +sprigs of rosemary and box lay scattered. + +Laurence moved across, intending to turn back the upper part of the +sheet and look on the face of the dead; but as he did so a bent form +rose silently from the armchair, set at right angles to the fireless +hearth, and took up its position on the far side of the bed opposite to +him. Though by no means addicted to nervous alarms, Laurence felt a +chill run through him, right up to the roots of his hair. Was it +conceivable that he beheld the Umbra or Corporeal Soul, of which Ovid +speaks, and that this phantom would keep watch with him over its own +unburied corpse during the coming hours? His sweet fairy-lady was one +thing, and this quite another, in the line of disembodied spirits. Stoke +Rivers, apparently, was not a comfortable place to die in. Laurence +registered a hasty vow that he, for one, would take precious good care +to arrange to die somewhere else! But as he gazed, somewhat fearfully, +at the intruder, it declared itself pathetically and pitifully +human--nothing more recondite, indeed, than Lowndes, the wiry, +long-armed, grey-faced valet. + +"I thought it proper to wait till you should come, sir," he said, under +his breath. "Though Mr. Rivers has no need of my services now, I have +attended on him too constantly to feel it fitting I should be out of +call."--His voice quavered, and he cleared his throat.--"He was a +gentleman that rarely praised, sir. Some might have thought him harsh; +but that was because his mind was so engaged with study. In all the +forty years I waited on him, he never gave me an uncivil word; and it is +not many gentlemen of whom you can say that." + +He lent across, carefully removed some sprigs of box lying high on the +sheet, then folded it down quickly and skilfully across the chest. +Laurence was aware of a jealous devotion in his attitude. No hands save +his own should again touch his dead master. But the sheet once arranged +to his satisfaction, he stepped back, a pace or two, into the shadow of +the damask curtains. + +Then the young man looked long and silently upon the dead. +Notwithstanding its extreme emaciation, the face was gentler than in +life. This was not merely owing to the closing of the brilliant eyes. An +immense calm rested on it. The hunger of the intellect was stayed at +last; and the face was majestic in its composure--the face of one who +has passed, for ever, beyond the tyranny of desire. Looking on it, +Laurence bowed himself reverently in spirit, while the conviction rooted +itself in him, that of all virtues the most fertile, the most admirable, +is courage. For the weak, the dismayed, for skulkers, liars, and +dastards, in whatever department of action or of thought, there is small +hope--so he told himself--either here or hereafter. The battle is to the +strong; and, therefore, to be strong is the one and only thing which +really signifies. + +And then it came to him, with a sense of sudden satisfaction, that this +most desirable thing, strength, was altogether part of his own +inheritance, did he choose to claim it. For the first time he +appreciated the value of that strain of fanaticism resident in his +blood. He had feared it a little, and apologised to himself for its +existence heretofore. He had made a prodigious mistake; for now that +strain of fanaticism revealed itself as among the most excellent things +of his birthright. He remained motionless, gazing, no longer at the +carven bed and its rigid burden, but away to the open casement--in at +which came the breathing of the bleak night-wind--his head held high, +and a singular compression about the corners of his mouth. +Virginia?--Just now Virginia, and all and any obligation he might have +contracted towards her, went for very little. He stood apart, complete +in himself, regardless of custom, regardless even of so-called morality, +should these interfere between him and his purpose. His sense of humour +in regard to himself--humour, eternal enemy of all exaggerations and +fixed ideas--was in abeyance. He knew that, knew it was dangerous. But +then, as the courtly surgeon had so lately reminded him, what so +adorable, after all, as those same "bright eyes of danger"--let danger +come, how and when it may?--Conventionalities? He bade them pack, all +the sort of them. Their day was over. The day of scruples was over +likewise. His position was unexampled. He took the risks, along with the +joys, of it. As his forefathers had been, so would he be. He felt an +extraordinary exaltation and freedom of spirit. And feeling this he +laughed a little, just as he had laughed when rallying his men amid the +roar of cannon and scream of the grinding ships, in the famous sea-fight +off the southern Spanish coast at Trafalgar. + +But the old valet, hearing that most unexpected, and to him unseemly, +sound, emerged from the discreet shadow of the damask curtains and +stretched his long arms to draw the sheet again up over the face of the +corpse. + +"You have done, sir?" he asked in accents of severity. + +"No," Laurence answered, the excitement of his thoughts still strong +upon him--"I have only just begun; but, thank God, or devil, or what you +will, I have begun at last." + + + + +XX + + +The funeral was over. Those few gentlemen of the neighbourhood who had +felt it incumbent upon them to appear in person, had departed. So had +the empty broughams of their more numerous neighbours, who proposed to +offer a maximum of respect to the dead with a minimum of trouble to +themselves. The Archdeacon also had started on his homeward journey to +Bishop's Pudbury. At Mr. Beal's earnest entreaty he had been invited by +Laurence Rivers to take part in the function. The young clergyman had +been sadly exercised by scruples regarding the propriety of consigning +the mortal remains of an admitted sceptic and scoffer to the grave, with +words of Christian hope and blessing. What was left for believers if +unbelievers thus benefited? The conscience of his superior officer was +happily of less flabby texture. + +"Charity before all things, my dear Walter," the latter had said, in his +full, sonorous voice, when the ingenuous young man had unfolded his +difficulties. "It is not for you, or even for me, to judge and condemn +a fellow-creature. If not an active churchman, remember Mr. Rivers +displayed no leanings towards Rome or any other schismatic body. For +this we must be very thankful. There are occasions, moreover, as you +will learn in time, when the purely ecclesiastical attitude may fitly be +modified by the knowledge of the man of the world. We yield no point, +mark you; but we abstain from pressing a wrong point at a wrong time. +Judgment, statesmanship--therein lies the practical application of the +sacred injunction, 'Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves.' To +raise objections in the present case would be to increase rather than +mitigate the possibility of scandal--probably, moreover, it would be to +alienate the sympathies of young Mr. Rivers. We must learn never to +sacrifice the future to the present, my dear Walter. To do so is to fall +into errors of misplaced zeal--a very dangerous thing. Much, I cannot +but think, may be done with young Mr. Rivers. Wisely handled, he should +prove of considerable local service to the Church." + +So the good young man's soul received comfort. + +"What a privilege it is to talk with you, sir!" he said. "I always learn +so much." + +Last to go, as he had been first to arrive at Stoke Rivers, was Captain +Bellingham. + +"Poor old chap, I tell you, I've had him very much on my mind, Louise, +these last few days," he had said to his wife, that morning, at +breakfast. "It's only decent charity to see him through. I hear he's +looking uncommonly hipped. You thought him rather queer, you know, the +day he had luncheon here. Mercy for him the old gentleman died as soon +as he did--perfectly mad, too, I hear, and an infernal temper. It's +enough to make any one jumpy to be dancing attendance on such a deathbed +as that day after day; and in that gloomy, ghostly house too. I couldn't +have done it, I know, without getting most frightfully broken up. We +must try to get him over here for a day or two. Write him a nice note, +will you, Louise; it would be awfully good of you, and I will do my best +to bring him back with me to-night. Ought to be quiet to-morrow, I +suppose, for the sake of appearances; but the day after let's have +General Powys and the Westons to dinner. I want to rattle him up a bit." + +But neither Mrs. Bellingham's neatly worded note, nor her husband's +hospitable entreaties, moved Laurence Rivers. He had quite other fish to +fry. All he asked for was solitude and sunset; and his courtesy was +slightly perfunctory and formal in consequence--so much so, indeed, that +on his return Jack Bellingham remarked to his wife:-- + +"Rivers always was such a good-hearted, sensible sort of fellow, that +it's hardly likely coming into this property would turn his head. He's +above any vulgarity of that kind. All the same, he really was curiously +stand-offish to everybody to-day. The Archdeacon meant to make an +afternoon of it, and was a little bit huffed, I think. Rivers was +perfectly civil, only he gave us pretty clearly to understand there was +no call for any of us to dawdle. I don't know, but somehow I tell you, +Louise, I don't quite like his look. We shall see. It would be an awful +pity if he followed in the footsteps of the late lamented and turned out +a crank." + +"I know it," Mrs. Bellingham replied calmly. "But you omit Virginia. I +have never seen a woman less likely to tolerate a crank as her husband +than Virginia." + +And so at length the accustomed quiet settled down on Stoke Rivers. +Dinner was over, and the unwelcome daylight fairly flown. Abstinence had +gone to sharpen the edge of hunger, and Laurence made his way down the +corridor, pulled the curtain towards him, and entered the room of +mysterious meetings in a humour to venture much. At the escritoire stood +his fairy-lady, and at the sound of the closing door she turned and +extended her arms, a world of delicate welcome in her gesture and her +face. Then, as he came towards her, she drew back a little, as though +penitent of the fervour of her greeting. Her lips moved, but no sound +issued from them; and a quick fear went through the young man that, +through the action of some malign influence, she had declined upon her +former condition and once again become dumb. This raised the spirit of +battle in him, and reinforced his resolution to effect her emancipation +from the control of whatever opposing power--physical or +spiritual--might hold her in its grasp. The more so that, for all her +gladness, there was a hint of trouble, a little cloud of distress upon +her face, which provoked him to indignation. He hated that--be it what +it might--which held her sweet being in thrall. + +"Agnes, why is this? Why don't you speak to me?" he demanded. + +Whereat she smiled, as one who loves yet deprecates another's +unreasoning heat. + +"How can I speak," she asked, "until you have first spoken to me?" + +"But why not? I don't understand," he said. + +"Nor I," she answered; "only I know that so it is. I cannot explain the +why and wherefore of this, or of much besides, to myself. I am to myself +at once real and unreal--as an echo, a shadow, the reflection in a +mirror, is at once real and unreal." + +She looked at him seriously, wonderingly, as though trying to take +counsel with him against herself. + +"I see with your eyes, I speak with your voice, I comprehend with your +mind when you are present. When you are absent, I become as the echo +unevoked by any sound, as the shadow when neither sun or moon look +forth to cast it, as the reflection in the mirror when that of which it +was the image has moved away. Only my heart remains to me; and it, when +you are absent, longs and searches, journeying from place to place, +formless, wordless, and blind, sensible only of its own infelicity, +while seeking that which alone can bring it ease and light." + +"My poor love!" Laurence said gently, greatly moved; "my poor love!" + +For a space he was silent, pondering upon her words, almost staggered by +the intensity of her innocent passion. He was not worthy to inspire such +devotion. Had that other Laurence Rivers, his predecessor and namesake, +been more worthy, he wondered. Shame covered him in face of the +deception he was in process of practising upon her. But he put the +thought of that from him fiercely. For was he not prepared to take all +the risks? Surely his action was justified--was it not a work of mercy +to rescue and restore this gentle and homeless ghost? And then, since +the air was mild and the young moon lent an added charm to the formal +alleys of the Italian garden, Laurence, hoping thereby both to allay his +own perturbation of spirit and dissipate the melancholy which still sat +in the clear depths of Agnes Rivers's lovely eyes, engaged her to come +out, once more, and walk. But though the charm of the garden was great, +he almost regretted that he had invited her to leave the shelter of the +house, she appeared so anxiously elusive and fragile a creature. +Watching her, though his courage was stubborn and his will fiercely set, +the task he had undertaken appeared hopeless of accomplishment. But if +the task was hopeless, all the more must it be fulfilled--that had been +the way of his people, and henceforth it was to be his way. And so he +talked to her with a certain lightness, looking at her and smiling. + +"Are you happy, Agnes?" he asked her at last. + +And she answered with a return to her daintily demure and old-world +manner-- + +"I should, indeed, be ungrateful were I not so, dear Laurence. Yet, +since you question me, I must own a distrust of the future works a black +thread through all the glad pattern of the present." + +She paused, glancing back somewhat timidly at the house. Every window of +it was lighted, save those of Mr. Rivers's bed-chamber. These last were +dark and blank, producing an arresting effect, and recalling to Laurence +the empty eye-sockets of the crystal _memento mori_. + +"You are here with me," she continued, "and again I taste happiness. Yet +I am oppressed by the persuasion that, as before, in some hour of +peculiar promise and security you will be called from my side. And that +this time--ah! I fear you may justly reproach my weakness and deride my +far-fetched alarms--this time, going, you will not return; or returning, +you will no longer find me here to greet you." + +"Then very certainly I will never go--that is unless you yourself send +me," Laurence said. He walked on a few paces, and then added, speaking +almost sullenly, answering his own thoughts rather than her +words--"Thank Heaven, I am my own master at last. No one can compel me. +I can do as I think fit; and since I think fit to stay, stay I most +assuredly will, here among my own people, and in my own house." + +He looked at his companion, instinctively desiring to read approval in +her eyes; but her expression was one of startled inquiry. + +"Forgive me," she said, "either Mrs. Lambart has omitted to tell me, +fearing to shock me, or in my heedlessness I have forgotten. Are you +indeed master here, dear Laurence? How is that? Can it be that your +brother Dudley is dead?" + +"Yes," he answered, "the old order has changed--and yet not changed +perhaps so very much after all, for it appears the owners of Stoke +Rivers, ancient and modern, are very much of one blood. But, in truth, +Dudley is gone, and others have gone--God rest both him and them--and I +reign in their stead." + +"Yes, God rest his soul," she said; and then repeated softly--"Poor +Dudley! poor unhappy Dudley!" + +But Laurence, noting her pensive bearing, and hearing the gently +regretful tones of her voice, was pricked pretty sharply by a point of +jealousy from out the long past. + +"Is it a matter of so very much grief to you, Agnes," he asked, "to hear +the news of your cousin Dudley's death?" + +Whereupon she turned on him eyes very reassuringly full of love; +while--after a little space--her lips curved into a delicious and almost +saucy smile. + +"Ah! I feared you had grown old and wise," she exclaimed. "I was foolish +to vex myself. I see you are indubitably the same Laurence as ever." + +She laughed very sweetly, sweeping him a delicate curtsey. + +"The very same Laurence as ever," she repeated exultingly. + +Then she flitted away--as though, child-like, joy of heart must needs +find relief in movement--down the long alley across the oblique shadows +cast by the sentinel cypresses, until she reached the great, stone basin +of the terminal fountain. Here she paused, gazing down at the smooth, +slow movements of the sleepless fish. + +The borders on either side the walk were set out with bulbs and early +flowering plants. As yet the majority of these showed but bud, or +upstanding sheaths of leaf. The gilly-stocks only were fully in blossom. +The clean, homely fragrance of them hung in the still air; but the +moonlight had bleached their honest orange and russet faces, making +them, like all else of the scene, but varying degrees of light and dark. +Alone in this colourless world, frail though it was and ethereal, had +the sweet figure of Agnes Rivers retained its actual hues. The brown of +her hair, the warm pallor of her skin, the blue of her profound and now +laughing eyes, the soft rose-red of her silken gown, defied the chill of +the moonlight. And this, as Laurence moved towards her, deepened alike +the charm and the mystery of her appearance. It captivated his +imagination. It stimulated his ambition. It challenged the deep places +of his love. The hopeless task must indeed be accomplished. The +impossible must come to pass. Daring that which no other man had dared, +he would earn a reward such as no other man had dreamed. But he must be +cautious, and discreet, and very gentle. The diplomatist, for a long +while to come, must hold the lover in check if the end was to be gained. + +And just then Agnes Rivers's voice broke into a little song, hardly +articulate, but clear and instinct with delight, even as the songs of +birds, very early in spring, when pairing time has but just begun. Yet +enchanting as the tones were, there was in them something remote and +beyond the compass of human thought, piercing the young man to the very +heart, so that he cried to her-- + +"Ah! my dear, come down, come near. Leave your singing, it is too sweet. +It has too much to do with spirit and too little with flesh. It cuts +like a knife. There--there--I am not blaming you, God forbid. Only, you +have lived so long on the borderland between those two worlds, of which +you once spoke, that you have a little lost touch with ordinary mortals +such as I. Come down, come near. Don't you see what I mean? Don't you +know what I want?" + +And after gentle converse, when that morning the dawn broke and with +words of tender farewell, his fairy-lady crossed the yellow drawing-room +and passed at the back of the outstanding satin-wood escritoire, as her +habit was, it appeared to Laurence that, for the first time, a faint +shadow followed her little feet. And this filled him with great and +far-reaching hope--as the first dim greyness of land along the horizon +fills the sailor after long voyaging upon the open sea. Nevertheless, +she vanished as before, leaving him solitary, while of the manner of her +going there remained no sign. + + + + +XXI + + +Days multiplied into weeks, March passed into April, April into May, +June came with all its roses, the lime-trees flowered once again, and +the scent of them was wafted across the broad lawns and in at the open +windows, yet Laurence stayed on at Stoke Rivers. He had ceased to +apologise for, or seek to justify his action. The fanatical, extravagant +element of his character was fully in the ascendant, and it was +conveniently contemptuous of criticism. He had become a law unto +himself. He stayed because he intended to stay--there was the beginning +and end of the matter. Meanwhile, he made discovery of pleasures subtle +and subjective, hitherto unimagined. Living the life of the recluse, he +enjoyed that sense of inward harmony and freedom of spirit known only to +those who dare divorce themselves from society, with its many tyrannies, +and from familiar commerce with their fellowmen. He experienced the +sensible increase of will-power, and the mental elation, that are born +of solitude, silence, and whole-hearted devotion to a single idea. The +values shifted, and many worldly matters, many amusements, which had +formerly appeared to him of vital importance, now began to appear +slightly absurd. He ate and drank sparingly, since meat and liquor tend +to render the action of the brain sluggish, and the imagination somewhat +gross. His dear fairy-lady should regain the completeness of her +humanity; but he would fit himself to meet her half way on her +mysterious return journey from the regions of the dead, by purging +himself of all superfluous animality. + +And his environment lent itself to these practices and experiments. The +household had settled back into its accustomed decorum and regularity. +It asked no questions, it obeyed in respectful silence. And, if certain +tremors shook it at times in face of its new master's supposed dealings +with things occult and supernatural, it accepted them as a necessary +part of its service. Indeed, it may be questioned whether Lowndes, the +grey-faced, long-armed valet, Renshaw, and Watkins, irreproachably +correct of demeanour, would not have suffered far greater inconvenience +and perturbation had they been called upon to adapt themselves to the +ordinary ways of the ordinary, English country-gentleman. Their pride +would have suffered likewise, since eccentricity had been so long +enthroned in their midst, that its absence would have seemed a loss of +_prestige_, a regrettable coming down in the social scale. They +displayed much solicitude for Laurence's comfort, and much grim alacrity +in turning guests from his door. Captain Bellingham's fears that his +friend might develop into a crank appeared to be in very fair road to +fulfilment; but the household rejoiced silently and grimly thereat. + +So did not Armstrong, the shrewd and kindly Scotch agent. + +"Whether the place induces a whimsicality in the family, or the family +in the place, I would not presume to declare," he lamented one day, when +having a crack with a trusted friend and fellow-countryman. "It is like +the matter of priority between the owl and the egg, a hidden thing, +transcending human wit. But a certain impracticability is assuredly bred +in their bones, poor bodies, which needs must eventually come out in the +flesh of every one of them. They're over proud of the intelligence of +which it has pleased the Almighty to bestow on them so handsome a +portion--as the intelligence of Saxons and Southerners go, you +understand. And being puffed up with conceit of themselves they proceed +to apply their bit of unusual reason in wild and impolitic speculations, +to the endangering of their own and other persons' peace and security. A +sair pity, a sair pity! Not that I would deny degrees in the natural +wrong-headedness of the poor, misguided creatures. The present +representative of the family is a young man of excellent parts and +practical ability; and though I fear he is going astray in some +particulars, I find in him a praiseworthy application to business, by +times." + +For in good truth, notwithstanding the dominion of his fixed idea, +Laurence was determined on the improvement of his somewhat neglected +estate. Every afternoon saw him ride forth to visit farm or distant +hamlet, to superintend operations of fencing, draining, or building, to +mark wood and copse-land for future cutting. Specially was he interested +in the construction of a light railway from Stoke Rivers Road to some +gypsum quarries at Hazledown, about three miles distant, the worth of +which would be doubled by direct and permanent means of transport. +Silent and self-absorbed for the most part, he rode about the charming +Sussex country while the gay, spring weather matured into the glow and +heat of summer. And all the while against his heart lay the poignant +delight of a great romance, and in his eyes sat the light of a great +adventure. He was very happy, so happy that, while he longed for the +attainment of his purpose and strained every nerve to accomplish it, he +almost dreaded that accomplishment since it must rob him of the sweet +and gracious present. + +And that such accomplishment drew on as the summer went forward he could +not doubt. For his fairy-lady had grown less timid than of old, braving +now the earlier dusk, now the later dawn, as the fancy took her; while a +veritable shadow clung unquestionably to her little feet, and lengthened +behind or beside her. Though no less slender and graceful than before, +her person was less ethereal. It appeared to gain a certain substance, a +greater opacity; while her movements were more measured. Once or twice +Laurence had fancied he saw her pale face flush under sudden emotion, as +though blood once more began to course beneath the clear, smooth skin. +Her talk, moreover, was less of the past than of the present. At times +she would ask questions, not wholly easy for him to answer without +revealing those things regarding which he had agreed with himself to +keep silence. But on many matters he had come to speak to her freely, +telling her of his daily occupations and affairs, of the books he read, +even of passing events of public interest. And to all his talk she +listened now thoughtfully, now with pretty mirth, offering not only +sympathy, but discreet counsel, while sometimes a touch of far-reaching +and singularly mature wisdom gave a significant value to her speech. +There were moments, indeed, when Laurence gazed at her in wonder, for +she betrayed a depth and daring of thought impossible to a young girl, +however good her training and notable her natural talents--thought only +possible to one who had discounted the many subterfuges and illusions of +life, as most mortals see and live it, by apprehension of things +supramundane, eternal, and so of infinite moment to the conscience and +the heart. + +She grew in womanhood, and she grew in the charm of distinction and of a +fine equality. Yet the mystery surrounding her was to Laurence in no +wise lessened. For he began to perceive that, if he held back somewhat +from her knowledge concerning himself, she, notwithstanding her +transparent sincerity and the perfection of her love, held back somewhat +from him. She played with him, she eluded him; and he perceived that her +lovely soul--did he dwell with her for a thousand years--would still +have its surprises for him, and its secret places, adorably difficult of +access. Then, too, for all her increasing humanity, the way of her +coming at sundown, and going at sunrise remained unexplained as ever. + +One morning in late June, standing in the bay-window, with the fragrance +of the blossoming garden and the songs of awakening birds saluting them, +he questioned her on this matter. Her hand rested in his--no longer +perceptible as a mere pulsation, such as might be caused by the +fluttering wings of a captive butterfly. It had substance now, actual, +though very delicate, weight. And feeling this, amazement and ecstasy +invaded Laurence. His eyes were alight and his blood hot. + +"You are going?" he asked. "But why should you go? Stay and see the day +in its beauty." + +But she smiled on him, a serious and enigmatic smile, though very full +of tenderness. + +"The day does not belong to me yet," she answered. "I cannot take that +which is not mine." + +"Everything is ours if we dare take it," Laurence said. "Possession is +in the act, not in the fact. You create law by believing in and +submitting to it. Cease to believe, cease to submit, the prohibition, +the obligation, vanishes into fine air. The day is yours, dear love, and +all the vigorous life and joy of it, if you will but venture. Have just +a little courage. Try--" + +But she shook her pretty head, still smiling, though, as it seemed to +Laurence, rather mournfully. + +"Then tell me where you go," he said. "Tell me where you pass all the +hours when you are not here? See, I have been very patient, I have +asked you no questions. And yet, loving you as I do, I have a right to +hear." + +"Ah!" she answered playfully, though with a touch of sadness--"what an +importunate being you have suddenly become! Yet why?--Half your life is +hidden from me, dear Laurence, and I do not ask to have it otherwise. +Why, then, should not half of mine be hidden from you? Indeed, it is +always so between man and woman, I think, whether they know it--as we +do--or know it not." + +But Laurence was not in the humour to have his inquiry put aside thus +lightly. + +"Still tell me--tell me," he insisted. "Look here, really I am not +unreasonable." He laughed a little, looking at her very charmingly in +mingled eagerness and command,--"For your exits and entrances are not as +those of other women, Agnes, so tell me. Or let me go with you +wheresoever you go. Or just--it is very simple--don't go--stay right +here, and brave the glory of the sunrise. Stay!--" + +As he spoke, long shafts of pale, golden light shot through the openings +between the high-standing trees of the eastern woodland, and lay in +misty radiance along the dewy lawns, touching the heads of the +cypresses, and flashing upon the upspringing waters of the fountains. + +"Ah, have patience--but a little trifle of patience yet, dearest love," +Agnes Rivers pleaded. "Only wait, and that which is to be will surely +declare itself. I would so gladly stay--or gladly take you with me, +going; but I can do neither, though why, I do not at present fully +comprehend." + +She turned, and for a moment stood facing the sunlight, bright in its +royal brightness, looking out on the fair, summer landscape, an infinite +hope and yearning in her lovely face. Then she folded her hands high +upon her bosom--slightly ruffling the smooth surface of her dainty, +muslin cape--bowed her head meekly as in worship, and moved away. As she +passed, Laurence--standing a little behind her--for the first time heard +the soft sound of her rapid footfall, and the whisper of her silken +gown. + +The young man, too, worshipped the rising sun after his manner--a +manner, it must be admitted, by no means of the meekest. The room was +empty, but he did not greatly care, for his great purpose seemed so +close upon consummation. The crisis was very near now. Before that +splendid, June sun rose to-morrow--so he told himself--his work would be +complete. She was so nearly human, his dear fairy-lady; her pure spirit +so strangely, yet sensibly, in process of clothing itself with sweet, +living flesh. He would set bread and wine before her, in the small hours +when this bright day was dead. She should eat and drink of a sacramental +feast, designed to secure, not eternal life to the soul, in this case, +but mortal life to the beautiful, young body which he so desired and +loved. + +Thus did Laurence Rivers hail the sunrise, filled with an immense pride +of his own action, his own will, and the powers of his race, deeming +himself a worker of miracles and equal of the immortal gods. + + + + +XXII + + +Laurence swung himself down from the high, two-wheeled dogcart at the +front door. The sky was lowering, the evening sultry after a burning +day. Down in the south-east a storm was brewing, with low mutterings of +thunder. The air was curiously still, yet now and again, among the thick +foliage of the limes and chestnuts, a few leaves would flutter +tumultuously as though stricken with panic, and then become motionless +as suddenly and causelessly as they had become agitated. Laurence was +late and had driven home rapidly, not sparing his horse--a young, +thorough-bred brown, which he had bought about a fortnight before, and +which was new as yet to harness. It was all of a lather and sweat, and +stood with outstretched neck and open, heavily-breathing nostrils. He +looked at it with a slight sense of compunction, and gave some orders to +the groom. It was a little hard to have pressed the poor beast; but he +had been out all the afternoon, mapping out the projected course of the +light railway to the Hazledown quarries, with Armstrong and an +engineering expert, and he had been kept later than he anticipated. As +it was, he had barely time for a bath, and to dress, before dinner at a +quarter-past eight. His mind still ran upon questions of gradients and +detail of expenditure. He had thrown himself energetically into +practical work. It was best to do so, with the climax of his great +adventure looming so large just ahead. All day he had been conscious of +a quiet, sustained excitement engendered by the double life he was +leading. It stimulated the action of his brain. The engineer had warmly +approved some of his suggestions and adopted them. This pleased +Laurence. It was not a little satisfactory to find himself thus capable +and "on the spot," while interests of so very different a character +formed the under-current of his thought. It fed self-confidence, and +justified his determination of daring action. + +After a look, first at the sweating horse and then at the lowering sky, +he hurried into the hall. The storm, if it came up at all, would not +break yet. Probably it would travel along the northern horizon following +the line of the Downs. How hot it was, though! The house felt cool by +comparison with the atmosphere outside. Then, just inside the door, the +two men-servants met him, Renshaw with a salver in his hand. + +"A telegram for you, sir," he said--adding--"do you wish dinner put off +for a quarter-of-an-hour or so, sir?" + +"No--no," Laurence answered absently, "I shall be down in plenty of +time." + +As he spoke he tore open the ugly, orange-coloured envelope. The sheet +of dirty-pink paper within contained but a few words. + +"Wanted here immediately. Return next steamer. Virginia." + +Laurence bathed, dressed, dined, while at intervals the thunder muttered +far away in the east, and the dark came swiftly as with great strides. +In the centre of the table the cut-glass bowl, upheld by the dancing, +golden figures, again to-night, as on the second night of Laurence's +visit to Stoke Rivers--which now seemed such an incredibly long time +ago--held fantastic, single flowers and sprays of orchids, some mottled, +warty, toad-like, some tiger-coloured striped with black. These last +gave off a heavy, musky scent. The oppressive heat, too, was suggestive +of that earlier evening,--though the windows now stood wide open. But +then, whatever the discomfort of his physical sensations, Laurence had +been light-hearted enough. His life, if not particularly full of +purpose, had at least been free of entanglement. He had neither climbed +heights nor sounded depths. His honour was untarnished, by so much as a +questionable thought. Now the splendour of life had got him, he was in +the full swing of his great opportunity; but his conscience was not +clear as at that former period, and that--which seemed not a little +ironical--though he had lived more austerely than of old, abjuring all +frivolity and denying himself all bodily indulgence. + +Laurence juggled neither with himself or with the facts of the case. He +did not whimper or grumble. In accepting the risks of his own action, he +had of necessity accepted this one. It was just the fortune of war--not +an altogether pretty fortune for a man who plumed himself on a nice +taste in matters of honour, perhaps, but that was hardly to the point. +The present position was an inevitable consequence of all which had +preceded it, and was bound to present itself sooner or later. Remorse +and anger were alike futile and out of place. The question resolved +itself into this--what to do next? + +Laurence dropped the stump of his cigarette into his finger-bowl, and +sat resting his elbows on the table and his forehead in his hands, +thinking.--For Virginia meant what she said. Of course she did. Virginia +always meant what she said, sometimes a little more--certainly never +less. And her reasons for saying that which she said were always +perfectly convincing to herself. Virginia was never impulsive; her +action was always the outcome of intention. Therefore it was useless to +temporise or ask explanations by means of that far-flashing cable. In +her letters Virginia had lately commented upon the length of his +absence--quite good-temperedly. Virginia was always good-tempered; +partly, perhaps, because she had never had occasion to learn what +opposition meant. This telegram was her ultimatum; but whether delivered +of her own free will and initiative, or in deference to some unusual +circumstance, illness, accident, or sudden financial crisis, he could +not, of course, divine. Yet even so, the position remained very simple. +There were but two paths. One or other he must choose. Either he must +obey her, and that unquestioningly and directly--this was Thursday, the +next American mail left Liverpool at the end of the week--or he must +refuse; and that, he believed, meant a break with Virginia. + +Laurence remained very still for a time. A break with Virginia?--Yes; +the storm was working round by the north as he had anticipated.--He had +no complaint to make against Virginia, Heaven forbid! She was just +precisely that which she had always been--in her own sphere and +connection, from the modern and mundane point of view, an eminently and +admirably clever person. He agreed with her disciple, Mrs. Bellingham, +that in social affairs she possessed a _savoir faire_ and intelligence +amounting to positive genius. She was absolutely self-reliant. She had +never been surprised or nonplussed in all her life, and--and-- + +Laurence rose to his feet, crossed the room and rang the bell. His face +had grown singularly hard. It bore but slight resemblance to that of his +namesake, the gallant and debonair young Laurence Rivers of the Cosway +miniature. Indeed, his eyes were coldly brilliant, his lips almost as +thin as those of Montagu Rivers, his uncle, but lately dead.--Well, he +proposed to enlarge Virginia's experience. He proposed to surprise, to +nonplus her. It was a blackguardly thing to do, and she, of all women, +would be the last to forgive it. So much the better, he did not want her +to forgive it. He proposed to repudiate Virginia, he proposed to desert +her--and then, fortunately, the American divorce laws are easy. + +When Renshaw answered the bell he said-- + +"Leave the fruit and wine on the table, and bring an uncut loaf of new, +white bread. Don't sit up. I shall be late, and I wish to have the house +to myself to-night." + + + + +XXIII + + +Pulling out the heavy curtain, Laurence paused, for an unwonted sound +saluted his ears, to which, at first, they refused credence. He opened +the door quietly. The sound continued. The keys of the piano were struck +so softly that they gave forth little more than the echo of a melody. +His fairy-lady sat at the instrument; and, so absorbed was she in the +making of this dainty music, that the young man had crossed the room and +leaned his elbows on the edge of the flat piano-case opposite to her +before she looked up at him. Nor, meeting his eyes, did she leave +playing, but let her fingers still draw forth that procession of slender +phrases from the discoloured, ivory notes--phrases not only exquisitely +refined, but with a tremulous _coquetterie_ in them, the music of some +polite and graceful minuet, in which Boucher's fine fanciful, little +figures of lover and mistress, courtier and prince, painted upon the +satin-wood escritoire, might have moved and postured, with a hundred +pretty arts and invitations at the court of Louis the Fifteenth, over a +century ago. + +The fine-drawn, little melody, and all its suggestions of past +intrigues, heart-burnings, elegant if questionable joys, and luxurious +living, knocked at the door of the listener's heart with rather perilous +pathos, notwithstanding his stern humour. Agnes Rivers's eyes too, as +she looked steadily at him, were at once grave with thought and +beseeching as those of a child, covetous of a possible pleasure, yet +ready to swallow its poor tears should that pleasure be denied. Her lips +were parted, but she did not speak. She only gazed and gazed at +him--while still calling forth those frail and courteous harmonies--as +though she sought to penetrate the most hidden recesses of his nature. + +And all this worked strongly upon Laurence, stirring in him memories of +just such hot evenings, when, with windows set wide upon the fragrant +garden, and the wild brightness of the summer lightning pulsing--as +now--upon the far horizon, they had sat together making music, she and +he, nearly a hundred years back. That first love of theirs had been +shattered by cruel calamity of wounds and death. It had never found its +consummation; and now the ache of its frustration was added to the ache +of the present--of his passion so strongly held in check during the last +many weeks; of his long-sustained effort, now touching on attainment; of +his so recently made resolution to let honour go by the wall rather than +again be defrauded of his love. + +At length he could no longer endure the playful, yet in a way tragical, +music, nor the sustained scrutiny of those grave yet wistful eyes. + +"That's enough, Agnes; that's enough," he cried, and, leaning across the +case of the piano, laid hold on her hands and raised them off the +keyboard. And as he did so the blood leapt in his veins, for the fact +was no longer open to question--those hands were firm and softly warm as +a living woman's hand should be, and the clasp of them met and clung in +his. He drew her up, making the sweet musician stand opposite to him, +while, bending down, he kissed and kissed those dear, warm hands, +looking at her, his face on a level with hers. And as he did so her +cheeks lost their waxen pallor and became beautifully flushed with clear +colour, while--so it seemed to him--he could hear the beating of her +heart. And thus for a space they stood speechless, consumed by a very +ecstasy of love. + +Laurence was the first to break that enchanted silence. For he was +feverish to complete the working of the miracle--to establish her in +this earthly life upon which she was re-entering, to chain her spirit to +this recovered human body by some corporeal act. He was feverish to set +a seal upon her new condition, which it should not be possible for her +to evade or to break. + +"The perfect hour has come," he said, with fierce exultation. "Do you +understand what has happened? You asked me once what was lacking. Well, +that which was lacking has been restored to you. But it won't do to rest +here. We must go on, go forward, so as to make security doubly secure." + +Yet she sighed, turning her face away and gently releasing her hands +from his grasp. + +"Ah! the perfect hour has come--yes," she said. "But, dear Laurence, it +came once before, and, remember, along with it came the call for you to +depart. Sorrow trod hard on the heels of joy; and I fear--how can I do +otherwise?--lest it should do so again to-night." + +Laurence felt his throat go dry and his lips stiffen, so that speech did +not come quite readily. + +"It lies with you to prevent that catastrophe," he answered. "Only be +brave. Do as I ask you, and we can put all fear behind us for ever and a +day. All the world may call me; I shall not go. It may howl at me, even, +using foul names; but what does that matter? I have chosen. I abide by +my choice." + +As he spoke she moved a little further from him, while the thunder +growled and muttered in the north, and the lightning showed fitfully, as +with the glare of a burning town, low down in the night sky. + +"What has taken you, Laurence?" she asked. "You are strange in manner +and in voice. I hardly know you thus. Yet indeed I would do anything you +ask, however difficult, if that which you would have me do is not in +itself sinful or wrong." + +"And this is right," he declared; "incontestably, everlastingly right. +Indeed, it is little more than bare justice--the restitution of that +which was once ours, the paying of a long-owed debt. In past years +happiness was snatched from us by jealous fate. Fate has +repented--though late--and gives us back our happiness. We should be +fools not to take it." + +He stood by her holding out his hand, his eyes alight as with a dull +flame, the determination of conquest very forceful in him. + +"See," he said hoarsely, "I have loved you back into life again, Agnes; +and so your life belongs to me as no woman's life has ever belonged to a +man before. That which I ask, you must do; for, believe me, I comprehend +this matter and all the issues of it best." + +He led her towards the door and she came meekly, yet with a certain +wonder and reserve in her bearing, as one who ponders and questions +silently even while they obey. He threw the door wide open revealing +the back of the leather-lined curtain. But on the threshold she +hesitated and drew back. + +"I have never crossed this," she said with gentle decision. "I cannot +cross it." + +"But you must cross it," he answered, "or all is lost." + +A strong shuddering ran through her. The corners of her sweet mouth +turned down and quivered, while her hand grew very cold. + +"Ah, me! ah, me! my love," she cried, "then I fear indeed all must needs +be lost. For to cross this threshold is to force some barrier which I +have neither the strength or the right to force. I do not know its name, +but it is ancient and venerable, and forbids my passage with authority." + +"All the more shall you force it then," Laurence replied. "Just now, +sweetheart, I tell you I admit no authority but my own. And barriers are +made to be forced, that's the use of them. The more apparently ancient +and venerable, the more must they go; so that the new may supersede the +decrepit and old, truth may supersede superstition, hope fear, and the +living the dead." + +He laughed a little, partly in defiance of that more sane and modest +self of his, with whom for the time being he had parted company, partly +to rally his dear companion's courage, and compel her faltering steps. + +"Come," he said; "don't I love you better than my own soul? Would I, of +all men, do you any injury, do you think? Surely you can trust +me--come." + +But still that strong shuddering ran through her and she hung back. Then +Laurence lost patience. + +"You foolish child," he said, "you are very much a woman. Your words are +so wise; yet you prove so weak in action and scare yourself with +self-invented terrors." + +He set his back against the heavy curtain, pushing it outward. Then he +took her delicate body in his arms, lifted her over the threshold, and +set her feet on the crimson carpet of the sombre and stately corridor +without. The curtain swept back into its place across the door with a +dull thud, which mingled ominously with the muttering thunder. Against +the panes of the long range of windows the lightning peeped and +flickered, as in malicious curiosity of that going forward within, +while the Roman emperors looked on, supercilious, impassive, with +sightless, marble eyes. His fairy-lady's delicate body had been light as +a feather, so light that, lifting it, Laurence had trembled lest it +should slip out of his encircling arms, as the little summer winds might +slip should one strive to embrace them; and yet that same lifting of her +had taxed every muscle in his frame, and set his heart thumping like a +steam hammer. It was the very oddest sensation, suggesting that there +was something very much more than a narrow piece of polished, oak +flooring and deep, pile carpet to lift her across. He stood now, +breathless, singularly shaken by the effort, notwithstanding his natural +vigour and physical strength--shaken, yet triumphant. + +"There, my beloved," he cried, "there! It's not such a very dangerous +experiment after all, you see, to go out at an open door!--And now you +are redeemed from slavery, free to range the pleasant earth at will and +accept all the glad chances of it." + +But she shrunk against him, trembling, all her pretty pride humbled, +like that of a little child detected in a fault. Her countenance had +become shy and wild, moreover, and clear reason had ceased to sit +enthroned in her serious and lovely eyes. She looked now, as she had +looked on the night he first found her flitting to and fro in the yellow +parlour, searching, searching, vainly and hopelessly, for the lost key +of the satin-wood escritoire. And Laurence, seeing her thus, was smitten +with self-reproach and alarm. Was it possible that, along with the +restoration of her body, had returned that alienation of mind from +which--as he had learned from her own testimony, and from the +well-authenticated tradition of Armstrong, the agent--she had formerly +and so pitifully suffered? As more than once before, an immense +compassion filled the young man; so that, coaxing her, and using tender +and endearing names--such as even the wisest of lovers weakly decline +upon at times--he half-led, half-carried her past the doorways of all +those brightly-lighted, silent rooms, through the square hall--its +flying staircase gleaming upward step above step--until finally the +dining-room was reached. + +Here the musky odour of the tiger-coloured orchids met them, with the +effect, as it seemed, of a presence rather than a scent. It was full of +subtle suggestions, that seeming presence, wooing them with insidious +provocations of sense to partake of the mysterious, sacramental feast +set out before them--a feast designed to wed, irrevocably, the sweet +spirit to its so lately recovered body, and rivet upon it once again not +only the natural joys, but the inevitable cares and pains, all the +grievous burdens of mortal life. + +The cloth had been withdrawn and upon the dark surface of the bare +table, doubled by vertical reflections, a service of costly china, +antique silver, and fine glass, was spread. Rare wines filled the +long-necked bottles and quaint high-shouldered decanters; while the +painted and gilded dishes held velvet-skinned, hot-house peaches, +red-gold nectarines, little black Italian figs, and pyramids of fragrant +strawberries set in a fringe of fresh and lustrous leaves. The loaf of +white bread was there also, a simple and humble item offering something +of contrast to its ornate surroundings. + +Laurence placed his fairy-lady in the carven armchair at the head of the +table. Seated there, her slight figure, in its high-waisted, rose-red, +silken gown and transparent lace and muslin cape, looked singularly +youthful and fragile. Her graceful head and white throat showed up +against the dark panelling of the wall. Her hands rested languidly upon +the arms of her chair. The corners of her mouth still quivered, and her +eyes were wide with inarticulate distress. And all the while, opposite +to her, in at the windows at the far end of the room, the lightning, +away there in the north, peeped evilly and flickered, and sometimes +glared, a broad sheet of pale flame, behind the blackness of the distant +woods crowning the rounded hills. + +Laurence stood close beside her. He filled her glass with wine and +placed fruit upon her plate, speaking to her very gently; possessed, +meanwhile, by an adoration of her extreme and pensive beauty, a great +resolution to complete his work in respect of her, and a distrust lest +that work was going sorely amiss. But though he did his best to secure +her attention, for many minutes she neither moved nor uttered any sound. + +"See, dear love," the young man pleaded--"see, I have made you a dainty +supper. Remember, this is the first time I ask you to eat a meal in my +house. You were Dudley's guest often enough in old days, and did not +refuse what was set before you. Surely it is pleasanter to you to be my +guest than his? So do not wander off, even for a little while, to walk +those dim and dreary interspaces between two worlds. All that is over. +Don't become intangible and remote, or yield yourself to malign +influences which would enthrall you and draw you away. Lay hold of your +womanhood, sweetheart; and let human love wrap you about, and keep you +safe and warm. There is nothing, nothing in all this to fear, if you +will but believe me. Eat, my beloved, you have fasted long. You have +come from very far--how far heaven only knows! You are faint and weary +with the length of the way. Therefore eat, drink--let your body be +refreshed and let your heart grow glad." + +And presently, while he thus encouraged her, slowly, as one who shakes +off the torpor of exhaustion, she stretched, sitting very upright in the +great, high-backed chair. The distress and desolation of her expression +began to give place to a gentle curiosity. She looked at the costly +furnishings of the table, the dancing, golden figures in their flowing +robes, the fantastic flowers, the delicious fruits; fingered a silver +spoon, and seeing her own reflection in the bowl of it, quaintly +distorted, smiled. Then suddenly putting up both hands and covering her +face she gave a quick, little sneeze--sign in the East of Life, but in +the West precursor of Death. Of whichever the sign in the present case, +incontestible it was, that, with this same little sneeze a change was +perceptible in her, which her lover noting, hailed as indicative of +success. So he urged her yet more. + +"Yes, my beloved, you are tired," he said; "and it is so long since you +have sat at table in this room, that very simple things appear +perplexing to you. But that's a small matter. The old habits will soon +re-assert themselves, and all be natural and obvious enough. For in the +coming days I intend we shall very constantly sit here together, you and +I; and perhaps others will sit here with us as time goes on"--Laurence +paused, his voice shook a little--"our children, fair girls and handsome +lads, whom we shall greatly love, and in whose youth our own youth will +live again. But to secure all that, Agnes, you must eat and drink now in +plain, honest fashion, sleep sound of nights, wake in the kindly +sunshine, put morbid fears and fancies far from you and grow strong. You +are compounded of too tenuous and sublimated stuff for motherhood as +yet. Therefore eat, dear love. Delay no longer. The hours run on towards +the morning and this matter must be assured before the morning comes. Do +not be wayward. In the name of your love for me, and of all your +sorrows, I entreat you, eat and be strong!" + +Once again she covered her face with her hand and gave a quick, little +sneeze. Then looking full at him, she smiled, though somewhat sadly. + +"Let it be even as you wish," she said very meekly. "Give me bread." + +Laurence, mightily rejoicing, cut the loaf, and placed the bread upon +her plate. Tremblingly, as though putting a great force upon herself, +she broke it into little pieces, carried one to her lips, then laid it +back beside the others on her plate; next stretched out her hand for +the glass of wine her lover held towards her, but shook her head, and +set it down untasted. While he, eager to the point of desperation, yet +dreading in any way to affright her and so defeat his own ends, fell to +coaxing her once more, with a certain playful seriousness. + +"See here," he said, "learn by experience. The threshold which you +declared impassable was very easily crossed. And this affair of your +little supper is exactly parallel. You are the victim of your own +imagination. What after all holds you back?" + +Once more she essayed valiantly to obey him; but once more laid the +morsel of bread down on her plate. The thunder rolled from east to west +along the northern heights, and the lightning flickered; but both had +grown faint and very distant, while a soft, cool air wandered in at the +open window, dispelling the clinging and insidious odour of the orchids, +purifying the heavy atmosphere of the room, and lightly stirring the +little lace frills of Agnes Rivers's muslin cape. + +"What after all holds you back?" he demanded, with some agitation. For +that cool draw of air, though pleasant, affected him unexpectedly. It +appeared to blow across the valley from Stoke Rivers churchyard, where, +in the spring morning three months before, he had watched the little +shadows cast by the feathery branches of the age-old yew-trees dance and +beckon among the grass-grown graves. + +But his fairy-lady pushed her plate aside. All her gentle dignity had +returned to her, and a wisdom born of knowledge more profound than that +granted to most human creatures sat once again enthroned in her eyes. +There was an effulgence in her loveliness which almost awed him, yet she +did that which during all their intercourse she had never done before. +Calmly, fearlessly, and as of right, she put up her sweet lips and +kissed him. + +"This holds me back," she said, "that at last all the confusion which +oppressed my mind is gone, and that I understand who and what I am. I +have striven, and ah! how gladly would I have proved victorious in that +strife, for all my heart goes forth in natural desire, not only to obey +your dear wishes, but to secure to myself those things which your wishes +would bring. I perceive that to eat is to live, not the shadowy, +unrelated life of a disembodied spirit, divorced from the activities of +earth, yet--by some inherent wilfulness--still so wedded to earth that +it cannot enter the peaceful regions of the Faithful Departed. To eat is +to live, as you live--and rightly--in the shock and tumult of the world; +to love as you love--needs must, dear heart--with all the passions of +the unstable flesh, as well as the pure and immutable passion of the +soul. I have dallied too long with temptation, and in my weakness +brought sorrow on you--perhaps worse than sorrow, disgrace. But the +temptation was so potent, the promise of it so enchanting, that, until +to-night, I had not grasped its full significance and scope. As to our +first mother Eve, ages back, in the mystic garden, so to me to-night to +eat, O my love, is sin!" + +Laurence straightened himself up, and all the fierceness, the +relentlessness of his race, stiffened itself within him; yet he kept +himself in hand because love still was paramount to all other emotions. + +"And if it be sin, it is too late to vex ourselves about that. You have +forced the barrier after all. The curtain, which closes the entrance to +your not very cheerful Eden, has swung back into place. I have you, and +I keep you. I have fought for you, won you, not wholly without personal +loss. So you are to me as the spoils of battle, which a man having +taken, is very certainly in no humour hurriedly to give up. And even +were this so, had I not these claims on your obedience, to eat, my dear, +couldn't be sin. On the contrary, it is bare common-sense--just the next +move, logically necessary, in the particularly delicious game which you +and I, for cause unknown, are ordained to play together. With logic and +common-sense as backers, how can sin have a word to say in the matter?" + +"Thus," she answered--"because now as once before, when the perfect hour +had come, and things showed so fair that to better them appeared almost +impossible, the call has come for you to leave me, and leave me you +surely must." + +"You are mistaken," Laurence answered hoarsely. "You confuse both the +events and obligations of the past with those of the present. The call +has not come." + +Then Agnes Rivers rose up, pushing the carven chair away from her, and +standing with a certain graceful independence before the sumptuously +spread table, in the centre of the highly-lighted room, between the open +window and the open door. Her person, thus seen, suggested some clear +jewel of infinite value in a dark and heavy though splendid setting; or +some tender, solitary flower amid the lifeless magnificence of a desert +city, rich with the tombs of long-dead kings. A gentle daring, a +self-assertion strong as steel yet soft as a silken thread, seemed to +animate her whole being. + +"Rather is it you that are mistaken," she answered; "but whether with +your consent or against it, I cannot tell. It is you that dream just +now, my love, and suffer, perhaps subscribe to, delusion--strong man +though you are--and I that wake. For the call has come to you; and +though you should employ all the eloquence of all the sages to convince +me it is otherwise, I could not be convinced." + +"You are very stubborn," he said. + +"And yet, I spare you," she replied, in a tone of half mirthful, half +tender, reproach; "for I only assert the fact. The exact nature of the +call I do not know, and I do not ask you to tell it me. I am +sufficiently human--you have brought me so far on the backward road, +which my naughty feet were only too willing to tread--to greatly long to +know the exact nature of that call. Yet, did I know it, I fear it might +provoke a wicked spirit of jealousy in me, and of envy towards one who +has, in the natural sequence of things, that which I have not, yet fain +would have. Therefore do not try me too far, lest my courage fail and I +decline from right, and break the perfect circle of our dealings with +one another, so painting both past and future with the ugly colours of +remorseful regret. You told me you would never leave me again unless I +bade you do so. Well, now, the time has come. Redeem your word." + +Laurence would have spoken; but, still with that air of almost heavenly +mirth, she laid her hand upon his mouth. There was hardly perceptible +substance or weight in it; and once again--now with despair, though the +sensation was in itself delicious--he felt that fluttering, as of the +wings of a captive butterfly, against his lips. + +"No, no," she protested, "do not speak, for I am woman enough to be +resolved to have the last word. Put away delusion and all +extravagance.--Think, after all, what do you leave? Not much, believe +me. For I am but a ghost. I have no right to any earthly dwelling-place, +no right to lie in the arms of living man. It would be monstrous, a +thing abhorrent to nature, an insult to the awful and unbroken order of +cause and effect that has operated from the beginning of being and of +time, that I should force the barrier completely, and project myself, at +once unburied and unborn, for a second time into the arena of earthly +life. It would be an act of rebellion, of self-seeking, beside which +that of Lucifer grows pale--for he at least was an archangel, which +might give reasonable cause of pride--whereas I?--No, God in His +infinite mercy has granted me fulness of understanding just in time; and +I have no fear but that, since I voluntarily resign myself, curb my +imperious will and forego the desire of my heart, He will further grant +me access to that place of refreshment, light, and peace, in which souls +wait until their final beatitude. In God's hands are all things, and I +now see that behind the loves of earth, just in proportion as those +loves are noble and have in them a seed of permanence, stands for ever +the love of God Himself, sure and faithful, full of a satisfaction that +can never lessen or pass away. I have been blind and very wilful, loving +Him too little, loving you too much. But He who made all men and sees +how beautiful they are, so that in loving them--they being made in His +image--we unconsciously all the while but love His image evident in +them--He will surely understand me and forgive." + +There Laurence broke in madly--"Ah, stop talking, stop talking! What are +words at such a time as this? You are mine by right of conquest, as I +have already told you. For God and the eternities I care not, just now, +one little bit. You belong to me. I have bought you at a great price. I +love you and will enter into possession of my own." + +And he essayed to lay hold of her, his blood on fire, for the moment, +with frustrated pride, the agony of relinquishment, and passion baulked. + +"And I love you too," she answered fearlessly, "so greatly, so +absorbingly, that I have broken all bonds of time and space, and defied +all laws of life and death, to find you, and behold you, and speak with +you again--" + +Yet even as she made this declaration, she slipped away from his urgent +embrace, even as a rosy snow-wreath slips from the cliff edge, when the +sun climbs high in heaven, drawing back to itself, by the power of its +strength and heat, snow and vapours, dews and fair, dissolving mists, +such as cling at dawn along the water-courses and haunt the quiet +underspaces of the woods. There were tears in her sweet eyes, and that +airy frame of hers was shaken by sobs; yet her face very brave and of a +marvellous brightness. + +"Go back to the world, dear love," she said, "and play your part in the +great game finely to the close. Let no shame touch you, or breath of +dishonour smirch any page of your record. I will go back too--yet rather +go forward--reaching a fairer world than yours, a world which in my +folly I disdained, being blinded by the things of sense. There I shall +await your coming; and we shall be one at last, being one with Almighty +and Eternal God." + +She passed from the room; but, though Laurence followed her swiftly, he +found the corridor empty. The yellow drawing-room, when he entered it, +was vacant too, though retaining its gracious and friendly aspect. A +cool wind blew through it, laden with the scent of the rose borders of +the Italian garden. The storm was over, and the night sky was clear and +very full of stars. + + + + +XXIV + + +Quite a number of people had come to luncheon. Quite a number still +remained, though it was past four o'clock, upon the great, deep-eaved +verandah, in attendance on Virginia. There was a babel of clear, +penetrating voices, occasionally an outbreak of laughter, though, in +point of fact, notwithstanding its ready verbal wit, the New World is +less addicted to laughter than the Old. Laurence had listened, had put +in a lazy sentence here and there; but now the entertainment began to +pall on him slightly. It was too continuous. They were all so young, so +emphatic, so tireless in the business of pleasure, these bright, +clear-cut, young people. He remembered it was mail day. The English +letters and newspapers should have arrived by now. He got up and +sauntered, cigarette in mouth, into the great, pale living-room. The +Venetian shutters were closed, and the room, with its spare though +elegant furniture, and butter-coloured, parquet floor, was full of a +clear, green light, quiet, and excellently cool. Sure enough, on one of +the tables lay, in goodly array, lately arrived letters and papers. +Laurence began opening these in desultory fashion. The glass doors, +standing wide on to the verandah, framed Virginia's perfectly finished +person lying back in a rocking-chair. Her profile was outlined against a +soft, sea-green cushion. She was talking, others were listening, as was +usually the case in respect of Virginia. Beyond the hand-rail and +uprights of the verandah, could be seen a long sweep of rather coarse +grass, and the waters of the river, white in the brilliant, afternoon +light, whereon lay some trim rowing-boats and smart pleasure-yachts at +anchor. The water was absolutely still, even and gleaming as the surface +of a silver mirror; yet it lapped with a just audible gurgle and suck +against the indentations of the low, green banks. And this cool, liquid +sound formed an agreeable undertone to those clear, penetrating voices, +the ceaseless chirrup of crickets and strident fiddlings of countless +grasshoppers. + +Behind the ample, wide-ranging, wooden house--spotless in its purity of +white paint, dignified by its ranges of dark-green, slatted shutters, +its grey-brown, shingled roofs, and many gables--a certain puritan +simplicity pervading it, somewhat quaintly at variance with its +highly-developed appliances of modern comfort, and the almost +surprisingly civilised examples of modern humanity now domiciled within +it--behind it the ground trended upward, through pleasant orchards of +apple, pear, and peach trees, past commodious wooden barns and stables, +long, grey snake-fences, and corn patches, where the pumpkins began to +grow golden beneath the wide, glistening leaves, the giant cobs and +silken tassels of the maize. Down to meet this spacious foreground +unencumbered by superfluous detail, wandered the sparse, untamed, +ubiquitous woodland of the New England States. Everywhere slender, +long-limbed trees, endless scrub, festooning vines, heavy with bunches +of little fox-grapes, and below outcroppings of grey rock. Some two +months hence, the edge of the woodland would be fringed by spires of +golden-rod and processions of purple asters, while the maples set forth +an amazement of verdigris green, lemon-colour, and all manner of radiant +pinks and scarlets, and sumach dyed the hollows blood-red; but as yet +the woods retained their summer tints. There was a slight want of +atmosphere no doubt. The landscape was oddly lacking in values of +distance; while the sky was blue to the point of crudity, and the sun +blazed, had blazed, would blaze, with a youthful and tireless +energy--not unsuggestive of the conversation of Virginia and all those +friends of hers--throughout the unshadowed and unmitigated day. + +To right and left were other hospitable mansions, the limits of their +private grounds unmarked by jealous wall or paling. A wide-ranging +spirit of good-nature and confidence appeared to reign; yet, in point of +fact, the inhabitants of these agreeable country houses formed a +distinctly close corporation. The Van Reenan property had been broken up +into building lots on the death of its first owner, old Erasmus Van +Reenan, merchant and financier of New York, nearly seventy years ago. +But the said lots had been acquired by members of his numerous family; +and still Van Reenans, direct and collateral, their children and their +children's children, found relaxation at times in this amiable, American +Capua. But woe to any intruder from the outer world, unless furnished +with irreproachable passport and the very highest of high-class +references, who should venture to set sacrilegious foot on this thrice +sacred ground! For, as Laurence had frequently reflected--not without a +measure of amusement--nothing is so essentially aristocratic as a +democratic country, nothing so socially exclusive as an immature +civilisation. + +It was the first time since her marriage that Virginia had honoured the +Van Reenan property with her presence; but being debarred, by the fact +of her mourning for her husband's uncle, from participation in the gay +life of those summer resorts where the _elite_ of the smart world do +mostly congregate, she had elected to retire upon one of these +many-gabled, ancestral mansions. She was explaining all this--and really +it appeared to require a surprising amount of explanation--to Mr. Horace +Greener, a young man of distinguished, social pretensions, the constant +frequenter of her entertainments both in Newport and New York, who, +finding himself obliged to visit the city on business, had sought at +once physical refreshment and satisfaction of the emotion of friendship +by running out by train, to-day, to visit her. + +Virginia's clear intonations rose superior to the chorus of feminine +voices around her, their singular vivacity and singular composure alike +offering an unconscious challenge to Laurence's mental attitude as he +lazily tore open his English letters and newspapers. He had left Stoke +Rivers just three weeks, and all that time he had been a prey to +vacuity, to a sort of gnawing emptiness. At moments a blind rage took +him, but only at moments. In the main his attitude was cynical. +Disappointment had embittered him. Nothing mattered much, nothing ever +would matter much again. He had had his great chance and lost it, +muddled it somehow. A bigger man would have over-ridden the difficulties +of the affair. But he was a bungler, a poor creature. He was profoundly +contemptuous of himself, and not a little contemptuous also of men and +things. + +But here was a thick packet from Armstrong, and that awoke an unexpected +interest in him. It would be quite pleasant to have news of the light +railway, and the gypsum quarries.--Nice fellow, that young engineer, +and not at all conceited. Most experts have such a confoundedly good +opinion of themselves!--Laurence fell to whistling softly, and +involuntarily he recalled the slender, courtly music of a certain +eighteenth century minuet. Then he stopped suddenly, an immense +nostalgia taking him for a very different scene and place, and--well, a +general outlook less secure and circumscribed, and, he had almost said, +trivial. He didn't want to be censorious--who was he, after all, in good +truth, to be that?--but Horace Greener's trim, light-clad person, +leaning against a pillar of the verandah close to Virginia's +rocking-chair, caught his eye. The young man was excellently got up, he +was well-bred, agreeable, would pass muster in any society; yet Laurence +wearied mightily of him just then--of his neatly handsome features, +which would photograph so well and paint so poorly, and of his alert and +civil manner. + +"No, I imagined you would be surprised to find me so at home in this +idyllic and patriarchal _milieu_, Mr. Greener," Virginia was saying. "I +rather counted upon that. You did not accredit me with so much +adaptability. Some other of my friends have observed upon that also. And +I assure you I am rewarded; for I find it the most recuperative process +a woman can go through to retire upon herself and upon nature in this +way. My parents had been anxious to come out here all summer this year, +and when I concluded to join them we worked out a regular scheme. I +assure you it has called forth a quite affecting display of family +affection. There are nine houses on the place. They are all full. We all +meet daily. Even my cousin, Mrs. Bellingham, has come over with her +children from Europe.--Yes, I am very glad you should have met Louise +again, Mr. Greener. The English life does not altogether suit her. I +observed she was wanting at first in animation. It does her good to see +old friends. I apprehend she feels rather exiled. I wonder if I shall +feel rather exiled? But I don't propose to take it that way. I propose +every one there shall feel exiled because they have not had the +inestimable advantage of being born on this side. Do you not think that +is the true patriotic platform, now, Mr. Greener?"-- + +There was another letter. Laurence knew the handwriting, but he could +couple no name with it. Yet certainly he knew it, and the sight of it +conveyed to him an impression vaguely amusing. He laid aside the agent's +voluminous packet and opened the envelope. + +"Why, the poor little Padre Sahib, to be sure," he exclaimed, half +aloud. "Have they been tripping him up with strings again across the +school door?" + +But as he read, amusement gave place to quite other sentiments. His +eyebrows drew together, and his face, for all its healthy sunburn, +blanched to the indistinct, dusty grey of his well-cut flannels. + +"This very shocking discovery has, as you will, I feel sure, readily +conceive, quite unnerved me," wrote Walter Samuel Beal. "But for the +support and invaluable advice of the Archdeacon I should have sunk under +the burden of responsibility thrown upon me. A case so extraordinary has +rarely, if ever, arisen, I should suppose, during the whole history of +the Christian ministry. I should add that the oak coffin was so charred +at one corner as to reveal a second coffin, composed of lead, within. As +the inscription upon the coffin plate was quite legible, and as Mr. +Armstrong was in possession of information bearing upon this very +painful matter, I abstained from further investigation myself and +entreated others also to do so." + +"Thank God for that," Laurence muttered. + +There was a drawing back of chairs upon the verandah, an outbreak of +rapid question and answer, of laughter, reiterated and extensive +farewells. Virginia's clear voice still rose dominant. She was +marshalling her forces, arranging future meetings, making appointments, +ordering her plan of campaign--and outside, all the while, the sun +blazed on the surface of the white waters of the river, the ripple +lapped against the green, indented banks, the crickets and grasshoppers +kept up their strident serenade. + +"I felt that neither my courage nor my judgment was equal to the +ordeal," wrote the worthy young clergyman. "I dreaded to entangle myself +in legal questions of which I virtually know nothing. I can never +express the gratitude I owe to the Archdeacon. He advised that the +coffin should be placed provisionally in the plot of ground reserved by +you in our parish churchyard. He even came over the considerable +distance from Bishop's Pudbury, and himself read the shortened form +which he had selected from the burial service. For this I was deeply +thankful, as agitation might, I fear, have prevented my performing the +last solemn rites in a suitably impressive manner--" + +"Why, certainly, Mr. Greener, I will go and put on my golfing suit," +this vivaciously from Virginia. "It will be cooler in an hour. We shall +have the wind off the river.--Willie Van Reenan's theatricals? Yes, I +know it, Louise; I am coming to that directly. Now, Mr. Greener, if you +will walk over to her house with Mrs. Bellingham, I will drive around +and take you on to the links. I will arrange to have Laurence meet us at +the club pavilion. And, Louise, when you see Willie tell him he can come +right on here after dinner, and I will cast the play with him. We can +count on you for Lord Follington, Mr. Greener? Yes--you really are very +kind." + +Laurence still stood by the table littered with envelopes and papers. He +was reading the agent's missive, or rather trying to do so, for the +words were not wholly easy to focus. His eyes had a mist before them, +and a singular sensation gained upon him--that of the inherent duality +of his being. For some time now he had only been conscious of the +existence of the modern Laurence Rivers, wholly and solely the modern +Laurence Rivers, and he, baffled and discomfited, by no means at his +best. Now that earlier life, the strong emotions and steady purposes of +it, crowded in on him calling to and claiming him, until his actual +circumstances and surroundings became singularly incredible. The heels +of Virginia's very pretty shoes tapped lightly upon the butter-coloured +boards of the verandah. She straightened a chair or two, replaced some +magazines which slipped from a basket-work lounge on to the floor. Her +movements were direct and deliberate; and all the while her trailing +skirts made a dragging sound like the wheels of a little cart. In a +moment more she would come into the house. The young man tried to pull +himself together; but it was so unbelievable to him, just now, this +whole matter of Virginia. + +He looked across at her, as he might have looked at the merest +acquaintance, and found her extremely effective as she came through the +cool, green light of the great living-room, her tall, slight, yet +rounded figure backed by the untempered brightness of sky and water. Her +transparent, black muslin dress was thick with beautiful hand-embroidery +upon the tight-fitting sleeves and the shoulders of the bodice. It was +girt with a soft, black, chiffon girdle, knotted low down, emphasising +the length of the waist, and the spring of the hips--around which her +dress fitted very closely. Below the knees her skirts stood away +fanwise, over a bewildering arrangement of white, silk kiltings and +flounces, which hid her feet and gave a slightly Japanese effect to her +costume. Her fair, brown hair was loosely waved and puffed out over the +ears. Her eyes, a light hazel, harmonized charmingly with the even tint +of her rather sallow skin. Her neck was noticeably long, and her face in +shape, colouring, and feature bore an arresting resemblance to that of +certain of Botticelli's Madonnas. This, taken in connection with her +extremely fashionable attire and her otherwise declared and complete +modernity, had in it great piquancy, an element trenching on actual, +though unconscious profanity. + +To Laurence, looking at her through the eyes of that elder personality +of his, these details and these suggestions were conspicuous. She +presented a perfect example of an immensely effective type. He +recognised that; yet he stared at it in almost desperate wonder, and +something approaching hopelessness. + +"Why, you are there!" she exclaimed. "I am glad. I wanted you." + +"Your people have all cleared out, haven't they?" + +"Yes, they have gone. They had a grand time, I believe. I really think +it was very well your uncle's death put me into mourning. It has +afforded me the opportunity of giving my family a lovely summer. It +might have been a catastrophe; I have made it into an occasion. They +appreciate that." + +Virginia made these statements with evident self-complacency. + +"Of course," Laurence said. He still stared at her. She placed her +hands on her hips, smoothing down her close-fitting skirt. Her hands +were very small. Much art had been expended upon the finger nails. + +"I think it was perfectly sweet of Horace Greener to come right on and +see me," she continued. "It was like a breath of air from the outside. +And I was glad he should know how finely everything was going. I think +they all thought I might feel a little left over. He knows now it is +they who are left over.--Laurence, you must hurry. I arranged you should +be at the club pavilion in an hour. I have to change my dress; but if it +should still be very hot I will not play. I will have you take my +place." + +"Horace Greener is a charming fellow," he answered, "all the same I'm +afraid I can't play golf with him this afternoon." + +"But I told him you would do so," Virginia rejoined, with absolute +assurance. "It is settled. I never go back on an engagement." + +"Ah! but I'm afraid I do," Laurence said. "Specially in the case of +engagements about the making of which I have not been consulted." + +So far the young lady had been occupied with her own conversation and +her own person to the exclusion of any particular observation of her +companion. Now she deigned to regard him more closely. + +"Dear me!" she exclaimed, "you appear to me to be looking pretty +wretched." + +"Upon my word I believe I am pretty wretched," Laurence answered, +smiling. "My home letters have brought me some news I don't in the very +least like. It entails a journey to England. And instead of playing golf +with Horace Greener, I must take the seven o'clock train to New York, +and see if there is a decent state-room vacant on any of the +outward-bound liners." + +It was, in a way, characteristic of Virginia that her face, +notwithstanding her natural vivacity, possessed no great mobility or +range of expression. There were such a number of emotions she had never +been called upon to entertain. And now no movement of appeal or regret +crossed it. It merely hardened a little, becoming as serenely obstinate +as heretofore it had been serenely complacent. She spoke with exactly +the same conviction and assurance. + +"But you cannot do that," she said. + +"Oh, yes, but indeed I can," Laurence replied quite good-temperedly. He +felt so singularly unrelated to her, that assertion was sufficient. It +did not enter his head to protest or argue. + +"You misunderstand," she said; "it is that I do not intend to have you +do it." + +He paused a moment, making an honest effort to range himself in line +with her thought. + +"Oh, come along," he began. But the young lady interrupted him with the +same unwavering composure-- + +"You place me in an objectionable position," she declared, "by forcing +me to explain. That is not considerate. You should meet me half-way; you +should be beforehand so as to secure me against the annoyance of +referring to all that. I had determined to sink it. But you make that +impossible. It is derogatory to me to explain." + +Laurence sat down on the arm of the nearest chair. He felt curiously +helpless, and yet all the while he was getting the bit between his +teeth. If obstinacy was about, well, he had his share of it. Across the +Atlantic matters of such profound moment were awaiting him. It was +difficult to reckon seriously and courteously with this unlooked-for +opposition, and not to brush it impatiently aside. It seemed little +short of ridiculous. + +"I give you my word, Virginia, I don't know what you are talking about," +he said. "I have the most cogent reasons for going over--you haven't +given me an opportunity of stating them yet, but that doesn't alter the +fact. It is necessary I should go; and after all, you know, I am not +such a conceited ass as to imagine you can't do without me for three +weeks or so." + +"I am not thinking of myself, I am thinking of others," she remarked, +with a certain _naivete_. + +Laurence smiled. + +"Oh, in that case I can book my passage with a clear conscience," he +said. + +But the young lady continued:-- + +"It is extraordinary to me how little regard you have for appearances. +Comments were made upon the length of your former absence. They came +round to me. That was not to be endured in the case of my husband. I +put a stop to all that by cabling for you." + +"Ah! yes, I see," Laurence said slowly. "When I arrived there certainly +seemed no very obvious reason for the sending of that cable. That was +unlike you. When I thought of it I confess I was puzzled." + +"If you leave again after so short a stay, it will give colour to those +comments." Virginia spoke with emphasis, almost with solemnity. "I do +not propose to submit to that. So you must choose, Laurence. Either you +must give up going, or you must wait till it is convenient to me to go +with you. I do not care for a summer voyage; it is dull. Between the +seasons nobody one ever heard of is crossing. One may meet the wrong +people. My leaving would cause great disappointment here. It would break +up their summer. Still I would risk that to avoid the other. It would be +a scramble too, and nothing is more annoying than a scramble, but I dare +say I could arrange to be ready in two weeks from now." + +"That's very good of you," Laurence replied. "But unfortunately I must +go at once, and, pardon my saying so, it will be better for me to go +alone. Everything is at sixes and sevens. Confusion reigns at Stoke +Rivers. I would not take you there under existing circumstances. You'd +receive a quite wrong impression. Oh, it would be utterly disastrous!" +he exclaimed. + +For the first time he beheld Virginia depart from her faultless +self-complacency, lose herself a little and display signs of anger. Her +chin went up with a quick jerk, her eyes flashed, her features seemed +for the moment swollen. This shocked him, it was so wholly +unprecedented. He felt very sorry, as though he had been careless and +clumsy, as though he had broken something hitherto flawless, and +therefore charming, if not of supreme intrinsic value. + +"I begin to believe," she cried, "you have an intention I shall never +see Stoke Rivers at all." + +"No, no, my dear," he answered rapidly, rising as he spoke. "Nothing of +the kind. You are very distinctly mistaken. I have never been more ready +that you should see Stoke Rivers than within the last hour--that is, +when Stoke Rivers is fit to be seen. The poor, old house seems to have +been in jeopardy of final disappearance about a week ago. There's where +my bad news comes in. They write me word of a nasty fire there. Nobody's +fault--an electric light wire heated, and not being properly cased +charred some of the panelling which finally caught alight. The house has +been kept at such a high temperature for years, that the woodwork is +like so much tinder." + +Virginia's chin was still in the air, but she had in great measure +recovered her self-control. Her manner was rather elaborately cold. + +"That is a pity," she said calmly. "But, of course, the house and its +contents are insured." + +"Oh, yes, the loss is more a matter of sentiment than of money. Only one +room is burnt out, as far as I can gather; and it didn't contain any +very valuable pictures, or any part of my uncle's collection." + +"Probably it is as well this fire occurred, then," Virginia observed. "I +have always supposed Stoke Rivers would need some reconstruction before +it came up to the level of modern requirements." + +"Possibly--" he spoke rather drily. "Only, you see, I happened to +entertain a peculiar fondness for this particular room, and I am sorry +to part with the outward and visible signs of certain memories." + +The young lady did not answer immediately, but examined the dial-plate +of the little watch, set in diamonds, upon her wrist. + +"The carriage will be here," she said. "I have not time to change my +dress. I cannot play golf with Horace Greener. It is very embarrassing. +I have no valid excuse to offer him." + +"Oh, the heat, my dear, the heat," Laurence said, smiling. "Any excuse +is valid if you make it with sufficient conviction." + +Virginia looked hard at him.--"I wonder just what you mean by that," she +retorted. She put up her hand, puffing her hair out a little more over +her ears. "That fire was not very serious on your own admission," she +continued, "I cannot see that it necessitates your hurrying over with +this frantic haste. And if I am to live in it it would be desirable I +should overlook the reconstruction of the house myself." + +Her tone was meditative. Her statements were concise. Laurence felt his +back against the wall. He must take the consequences of his own action +however distasteful and disagreeable. His course would have been very +obvious had his record been quite clean in regard to Virginia; but, he +was an honest man. Something of exquisite, of incalculable value had +tempted him; and the peculiarities of his temperament had heightened +that temptation. He had been saved from falling, not by his own virtue, +but by the virtue and self-sacrifice of one adorably his superior. He +could not plume himself upon the achievement. He acknowledged that his +conscience was not clear in respect of Virginia; and this necessitated +the payment of a heavy penalty in connection with his own self-esteem. +His pride rebelled against "giving himself away," against further +self-revelation; only, the logic of the situation prevailed. It cut him +to the quick, yet it had to be done. + +"You're quite right," he said. "The matter of the fire could have waited +a little, I dare say, though it isn't exactly satisfactory to know part +of one's house is roofless under a wet, English, July sky; but I had +other bad news to-day." He paused a moment. "I heard of the funeral of a +very dear connection of mine." + +Virginia moved slightly, sweeping those fanwise-cut flounces to one +side. + +"Funeral?" she said quickly. "Really you have the very oddest manner of +statement. Had you not already heard of his death, then?" + +The young man moved too. He turned away, and a poignant sensation tore +and hacked at him, so to speak. It hurt him physically. He gazed out +over the dazzling whiteness of the smooth river seeing nothing, his +whole being tense with the effort to resist the showing of that pain. + +"Yes, yes, I have heard of her death, but I refused to believe it," he +answered. + +There was a moment of ominous silence, save for the shrilling of the +insects, and lapping of the stream. + +"Oh, a woman!" she said, with an almost alarming calm. "Have I ever +heard of her?" + +"I think not," Laurence answered. + +"Then Louise had grounds for her assertions," she said, still with that +deadly calm. "I thought it unworthy to listen. I forbade her to write or +speak to me upon the subject. I--" + +Laurence wheeled round. His eyes were dangerous. All the fanaticism of +his race, and something finer than that, looked out of them. + +"Think what you please of me," he cried; "but of her, think no evil. +Never dare to think any evil. She was one of the saints of God; and you, +of all women, have no cause to misjudge her. She saved me from +committing a great sin." + +A singular expression crossed the young lady's face, an imperious desire +to ask, to search out the ultimate of the matter. But it was momentary. +Spoilt child of fortune, she was too unaccustomed to vital drama to know +how to deal with it. It staggered, it also slightly disgusted her. She +could not rise to it. So conventionality proved stronger than even this +very legitimate curiosity. Virginia remained true to her somewhat +artificial traditions, to her own canons of good taste and +self-respect, to that singular clause of the social creed which +declares the thing unsaid also non-existent. Virginia appeared, in a +way, admirable just then, yet she gave the measure of her nature. It was +not great. She turned aside, with a movement of well-defined and lofty +superiority. + +"Are you aware that you become very indelicate?" she asked. + +"Most men are indelicate at times, unfortunately." + +"But not over here," she said. "American women do not permit that. You +must remember whom you have married."--She waited a little. "The English +standards are different, I presume," she added, not without a touch of +sarcasm. + +"I begin to think they are," Laurence answered.--He was paying, paying +abominably; yet there was a sensible relief in so doing.--"They are +based on the logic of fact," he continued. "And fact is more often +indelicate than not. It has never yet, you see, learned to be a +respecter of persons." + +There was a pause, in which once again the fiddlings of the grasshoppers +and soothing lap of the water became audible. + +"Do you still propose to go to England?" + +Laurence nodded. "Yes," he said. + +"Then"--began Virginia; but the young man held up his hand, partly in +warning, partly demanding a cessation of hostilities. His thought had +taken a new departure in regard to his wife. Somehow she had destroyed +her own legend. She was more slight and shallow a creature than he had +supposed, and he would never really stand in awe of her again. His smile +was sad yet wholly friendly. + +"Then--in a couple of weeks or so--I shall come back and fetch you," he +declared. "And then, like wise and politic human beings, we will eschew +controversy, each giving the other as much room as possible. I fancy +you'll find we shall shake down pretty easily, and rub along like most +other married people.--Meanwhile what's becoming of poor, neglected +Horace Greener? Go and amuse both yourself and him, my dear. If you're +not in before I start--well--for the moment, _addio_." + + + + +XXV + + +It was all very much in keeping with his mood--the reposeful landscape, +heavy with the solid green of the August foliage, the sweep of the low, +grey sky, the warm, still rain which drew forth an indefinable fragrance +from the pastures and hedgerows, the wayside flowers, and the underwood. +Already the evenings had begun to shorten. The rambling village-street +and its inevitable commotion of boys and dogs left behind, Laurence +looked away, with a stirring of the heart, over this goodly land of +which he was owner, as the brown thorough-bred breasted the hilly road +leading up from the station to Stoke Rivers house. The prospect at once +soothed and stimulated him. Emotion had been conspicuous principally by +its absence lately; it was pleasant to feel again. + +At the hall-door the two men-servants met him; and Renshaw's large, +egg-shaped countenance bore an expression almost paternal. + +"Excuse me, sir," he said, his complexion ripening to mulberry with the +effort of speech--"I do not wish to put myself forward, or go beyond my +place, but I must express the pleasure we take in welcoming you home, +sir. I speak not only for myself, but for Mr. Lowndes and Mr. Watkins, +and all the other servants--both upper and under, sir." + +Lowndes, the grey-haired, long-armed valet, subsequently gave vent to +even more cordial sentiments. + +"Excepting for the fire, we have been very dull during your absence, +sir," he said, as he laid out the young man's dress clothes, with a +critical eye to their packing which did not evidently quite commend +itself to his taste. "Living in this house has been like living inside a +run-down clock. I hope you have returned to make some stay, sir. We want +a head; we have forgotten how to take a holiday and amuse ourselves. Our +habits have been so very regular for so many years, you see, sir, we +feel lost without our accustomed duties." + +This too was pleasant. To be precious in the sight of those who serve +you lends a singular graciousness to the conduct of daily life. Laurence +felt at harmony with himself and his surroundings, and with that sense +of harmony arose certain stirrings of hope. During the days and nights +of the past week, while the great ship ploughed her way eastward across +the mighty ridge and furrow of the Atlantic, he had not been wholly +unconscious of that hope--the hope that even now all might not be over, +and that he might once again be blessed by the vision, for however brief +a space, of his dear fairy-lady. Yet he had kept that hope under with a +stern hand. It was present, but at the postern gate, so to speak, of the +castle of his reason and his will. He kept it there, doing his heart +much violence by refusing it admittance and entertainment, since he knew +that, once admitted, it would have proved so dangerously absorbing and +alluring a guest. He tried to deny it admittance still; yet he shuffled +a little with his own conscience, permitting himself a renewing of the +routine which had marked his former sojourn at Stoke Rivers. He dressed, +dined, and waited until the twilight had very sensibly closed in before +visiting that which might remain of the room of mysterious and enchanted +meetings. + +The near end of the corridor offered no noticeable signs of disturbance +or injury. Still it appeared to Laurence that, as on a former occasion, +a spirit of disorder, the winnowing wings of a profound and elemental +fear, had but lately swept through it. He could have imagined the +sightless, marble faces of the Roman emperors less impassive, less +wholly scornful, their heads carried with something less of arrogant and +invincible pride. An acrid odour of burned stuffs, burned woodwork, +pervaded the place. He had cabled instructions that nothing might be +removed, nothing renovated before his arrival. The tapestry curtain +still hung in its accustomed position; but it was blackened and +shrivelled to the obliteration of the figures wrought upon it. The satyr +no longer leered, from his monticule, upon the naked and reluctant woman +hurried towards him by the company of naughty loves. Tongues of fire had +licked away that pictured wantonness and purged its offence. + +Behind the wreck of the _portiere_, the door--its panels split and +tormented by flame--stood wide open, as on the night when, straining +every muscle to carry that apparently so light and fragile burden, +Laurence had lifted Agnes Rivers across the threshold. Once within the +yellow drawing-room the desolation of that heretofore gracious and +friendly apartment touched hard on tragedy, seen, as now, in the +furtive, evening light. The rain had ceased, and through the remaining +sheets of glass, in the partially boarded and barricaded bay-window, the +flower-beds of the Italian garden showed in rich variety of leaf and +blossom. The statues gleamed calm and graceful from their white +pedestals. The spires of the cypresses rose with a certain velvet +softness of density towards the pensive and slowly clearing sky. But the +room itself was ruined in most unsightly fashion, stained by smoke, +rendered clammy and dank in places by water. Wreckage of the pretty, +costly furniture lay scattered in formless heaps upon the blackened +floor--with here and there a shred of fine porcelain, the gilt handle of +a drawer, the pages of a book reduced to tinder, or the unlovely remnant +of carpet or hanging. It was as a place that has suffered siege, and +which relentless foemen have sacked and trodden underfoot. So that it +came to Laurence, very surely, that not here would he find his sweet +fairy-lady, were he indeed destined, in this life, ever to find her +again. Her gentle spirit could never be subjected to the indignity of +dwelling amid this scene of destruction. Some incongruities are +inadmissible to the imagination. They are too violent, too gross. +Therefore the days of his beloved companion's pilgrimage were ended--it +could not be otherwise--in respect of this once so comely place. + +But though convinced that here it was useless to await her presence, +there remained somewhat for Laurence in all tenderness and reverence to +see. Since the electric light was now unavailable, he had ordered +candles to be placed upon the chimney-piece, which, though yellow and +disfigured, still remained practically intact. He moved across from the +neighbourhood of the doorway--sad, little clouds of corpse-coloured +ashes arising about his feet as he stepped--and put a match to the +candles. Then, as the light of them strengthened and steadied, he +looked, shading his eyes with his hand, towards that portion of the wall +at right angles to which the painted, satin-wood escritoire, with all +its pathetic store of cherished love-tokens, had formerly stood. The +high wainscot and brocade-covered panels masking this space had been +entirely burned away, disclosing a low, vaulted chamber hollowed out of +the thickness of the outer wall. This chamber had been roughly and +somewhat clumsily ceiled. The whole construction showed unmistakeable +traces of hasty and unskilled labour. + +Yet Laurence looked at this rough-hewn place of sepulture with an +infinite tenderness, a chastened reverence, while a very vital emotion +clutched at his throat, and far-reaching questions of life past, life +future, and the august purposes of being through the abysm of the ages +and on to the ultimate goal of things, held and sifted his intelligence +and his heart. For it was here, upon the morning following the fire, +that Agnes Rivers's coffin had been found. And it was from here, from +this hard and narrow bed--by what alchemy and agency he knew not--it +transcended his powers to conceive--that her sweet ghost had come forth +nightly, through all those long and dreary years of which it sickened +him to think, flitting impalpable, in vain endeavour to find the key to +her little treasure chest, that was also the key to the love she had so +pathetically lost. And it was here also, to this same hard and narrow +bed, that she had returned with quick and innocently gladsome farewells +in the first flush of returning day, when that love, by unprecedented +circumstance--circumstance trenching on actual miracle--had been +restored to her. + +Viewing that harsh and meagre resting-place which for the better part of +a century had held all that remained of her dear body, Laurence felt +himself strangely reconciled to actual happenings. For it was better, +ten thousand times better, that all now subsisting of her mortal +investiture should rest in Mother Earth's lap--blessed and set apart by +the faith and piety of ages as was that pleasant plot of sun-visited +grass, where the little shadows danced and beckoned, in the age-old +quiet of Stoke Rivers's churchyard. There he would go and watch for her +possible coming, and pay her the homage of his devotion, when the small +hours drew on towards to-morrow's dawn. + +Meanwhile there was time to be passed, and he did not care to leave this +spot, though its present desolation tore at his very vitals, with +memories of incalculable promise, and of unconsummated delight. As, +awakening from his dream of satisfied love long ago, during that strange +former existence, in the summer noon under the light, sibilant shelter +of the lime grove, so now he hungered for completeness of possession, +for the crowning of desire. Yet he kept himself in hand, even as he had +kept the young, brown, thorough-bred horse in hand, when, finding the +level, would have broken its pace and run riot more than once on the +road up from the station. He moved away and sat down on the defaced and +ragged sill of the bay-window. The moon had risen, but its mild light +was often obscured by softly-moving floats of thin, opalescent vapour. +These crossed its face in apparently endless procession, herded up from +southward and the narrow Channel sea. Laurence watched them, at first +almost unconsciously, his mind occupied with other, and, to himself, +more immediate and vital interests. But at length their slow and stately +progress began to work upon his imagination, and insinuate itself into +the very substance and foundation of his thought. He began to see in +them a procession of the souls of all those generations of men and +women, whose efforts and emotions, power of intellect, fiercely pursued +ambitions, passionate devotions, passionate revolts, had gone to +generate his own constitution, mental and physical, and determine his +ultimate fate. And so he came to regard them with a sustained and +deepening attention, since their aspect seemed pregnant with suggestion +of admonition, of encouragement, of warning, or restraint. Once again he +decided to keep vigil in this house, to watch with the unnumbered and +unrecorded dead whose offspring and inheritor he was. Not until all of +them should have passed by, and the moon ride solitary in the heavens, +would he go across the valley--himself now somewhat bitterly +solitary--and visit Agnes Rivers's grave. + +But that procession of low-floating vapours proved long in passing. More +than once a break came in it, making the young man suppose that the +whole of them was gone by. And then again, out of the south, now one +alone, now in close ranged companies, strangely shaped, as though draped +in dragging shrouds, that interminable procession crossed the vault of +the sky. A terror of incalculable number, of unthinkable multitude, +began to lay hold on him, as still they came, and came. Was it +conceivable that each human life had this almost appalling vista of +human lives behind it, of which it was the outcome and result, and in +which it had, consciously or unconsciously, taken part? There was a +certain splendour in the thought, though it left but little room for +personal vanity. Yet even while watching, and pondering of all this, the +personal note remained--for he pondered also, not without profound +discouragement, of his great adventure which just now appeared so +signally to have failed. At the half hours and hours the striking clocks +warned him that the night was far spent, but still that endless and +mystic procession passed before his watching eyes. As once before, in +this same room, his individuality seemed to sink away from him, while a +horrible sense of his own nullity and nothingness prevailed. But at +last, at last, when the first chill grey of the dawn began just +perceptibly to lighten the horizon behind the lime grove, the last of +these trailing vapours arose, passed over and disappeared. The moon +declined towards her setting, yet, though she hung low, the whole field +of heaven was at length her own. + +Then Laurence rose, and went away across the quiet park and up the deep, +tree-shadowed lane to the churchyard, on the hillside across the valley, +sheltered by the bank of high-lying woods. The grass was long, starred +with tall-growing buttercups, blue speedwell, and ox-eye daisies, heavy +and hanging with wet. Only the plot beneath the grey wall of the little +chancel was neatly mown, while, on the near side of it, conspicuous from +the smooth surface of the turf rising immediately surrounding it, was a +new-made grave. The sods covering it were kept in place by a cage of +osier rods. Some one--and Laurence found it in his heart to bless that +unknown ministrant--had laid a spray of pink wild-rose upon the head of +the grave, twisted into a little crown, at once of blossom and of +thorns. + +Laurence stood at the foot of the long, narrow mound, and again he kept +vigil--hearing the breathing of the moist earth, the quick sounds of the +woodland, and that strange, indeterminate, stirring of awakening +life--beast, bird, insect, herb, and tree--which immediately precedes +the birth of day. More than once his heart thumped against his ribs, and +the love-light sprang into his eyes, for, deceived by the growing colour +of the east, he fancied for an instant he again beheld the dear rose-red +of his fairy-lady's clinging, old-world, silken gown. But that fond +delusion was soon dissipated. Wherever her light footsteps might now +tread, they would never, in visible fashion, tend earthwards again. + +Then on a sudden, from the stables up at the house, came the crowing of +a cock, answered in gallant challenge from cottage and from +farmyard--growing faint in the far distance, ringing out again close at +hand, lusty and vigorous, full of the joy of living. Stung by the merry +sound, Laurence straightened himself up, looked away from the +osier-bound, rose-crowned grave, over the fertile, peaceful landscape. +The hops hung heavy upon the poles. The corn warmed to ruddy yellow. The +grass and hedgerows, as the sun's rays touched them, glittered with a +thousand diamond points, even as his lost love's little, embroidered +slippers had glittered when he first led her forth along the alleys of +the Italian garden. A glad wind swept up landward, from that great +thoroughfare of the nations, that highway of stately ships, the narrow +Channel sea. It raced through the woodland, swayed the sombre, +plume-like branches of the ancient yew-trees, and passed, exultant, to +fulfil its cleanly, life-giving mission elsewhere. Laurence took a long +breath, filling his lungs with it. It was good to taste, sane and +wholesome. And then, somehow, those divine words came to him, spoken in +the far Syrian country nearly two thousand years ago.--"The wind bloweth +where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell +whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of +the Spirit." + +Laurence stood erect and very still, his head held high, his face keen, +his lips parted in silent laughter, his whole being vibrant with the +surprise of a great conviction, a great discovery. For at length he too +saw and understood. He perceived that his love far from being lost was +his, close and intimately, as she had never been before, in either this +life, or that other half-remembered life, in both of which he had loved +her so well. He perceived that his amazing and desperate experiment, far +from being a failure, was on a high-road to a success hitherto undreamed +of. He perceived that his splendid adventure, far from being ended, had +but just begun; and that, could he but keep faith with his present +seeing, it would not end until he too had pushed back the heavy curtain, +and finally crossed the threshold of so-called death. Nor would it end +even then, were light lived in the light of this his present seeing. The +future was illimitable, since the goal of it was nothing less than union +with the Divine Principle itself. However innumerable the company of +human lives that had gone to produce his own, his individuality was +secure henceforth, since he had recognised and embraced the life which +alone eternally exists and subsists--the life in, and of, God. + +Five months ago, crossing the Atlantic, in the chill of the March night, +while the big ship steamed eastward and the stars danced in the rigging +as she sunk and swung in the trough and then rose--as a horse at a +fence--at the coming wave, he had asked himself the question as to the +profit of gaining the whole world, if in so doing a man should lose his +own soul. All his experience since then had been a setting of that vital +question at rest for ever. For he had found his soul. The matter was +simply to the point of laughter, when once apprehended. In bidding him +farewell, his sweet companion had promised him that she and he would at +last be made one, being one with Almighty God. He had heard that as he +might mere rhetoric, idle though pretty words, placing it in some +unimaginable future, his mind still in bondage to human conception of +time and space. Now he beheld this consummation as already accomplished, +immediately present, constant, here, now, permanent. All that it needed +was just an attitude and habit of mind, and then work. Work, not so much +for any great benefit derivable by others from that work (though the +desire of the welfare of others must be a fundamental element in that +work); but for the maintenance of the said all-important attitude and +habit of mind in himself. Almost any work would do. There was his +property; and, happily, sufficient of the feudal idea still remains in +England to make the possession of a great landed-estate fruitful in +humane relations between class and class. There was the dear earth, too, +to till and sow, and render more fertile, and more useful to man. There +were politics and public affairs. In the light of his present +illumination he dare approach these things, strong to carve out a career +for himself, yet for ever keeping his secret against his heart. +Salvation is for the individual, each individual must find it for him or +herself. Souls cannot be saved in batches. But to each and all it may, +and will, come, if they have courage, and fortitude, and the single eye +which refuses illusion. + +"And so farewell, yet never farewell, my first, and last, and only +love," he said, looking at the osier-bound grave, while the shadows of +the feathery yew-trees danced and beckoned upon the churchyard grass. +"There have been partings before, cruel to be born; there may be +partings again, but they will be transitory. I am not afraid that I +shall ever lose you, or you me. I am secure in that. Meanwhile for your +sake, O dear soul of me--for so indeed you are--I will make the best use +of the years I may still have to live here on earth. And since you once +were woman, no woman shall ever suffer at my hands--all womanhood being +sacred thenceforth since you once were woman.--Now the work of the world +calls, and, God helping me, I will help to do it. After all, dear love, +we go forth together,--amen." + + * * * * * + +There are things Virginia does not quite comprehend in her husband. She +tells the Van Reenan family, that "the English character is very +obscure." But she has had no more dramatic moments in respect of that +character. She pays a long visit yearly to "the other side," and is as +popular as ever. On this side too she has had her social triumphs. The +yellow drawing-room at Stoke Rivers has been rebuilt, but Laurence keeps +it for his own use. He has moved the books into it from the libraries, +thus giving Virginia a large suite of rooms for social entertainments. +Lately, when the red flame of war threatened the integrity of the +British Empire, Laurence went south; and for a time lived that larger +life--in which woman takes her place, perhaps her safest one, as a hope +or a memory merely--the life a man lives among men. Jack Bellingham +volunteered also. He thinks Laurence a better fellow than ever; yet is +perplexed at moments as to whether he has, or has not, developed--like +so many of his family--into a thorough-paced crank. + + +THE END + + + + +_By the same author_ + + + THE WAGES OF SIN + THE CARISSIMA + MRS. LORIMER + A COUNSEL OF PERFECTION + COLONEL ENDERBY'S WIFE + LITTLE PETER + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Gateless Barrier, by Lucas Malet + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GATELESS BARRIER *** + +***** This file should be named 34619.txt or 34619.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/6/1/34619/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, David Clarke, Mary Meehan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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