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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Romance of Toronto, by Annie Gregg Savigny
+
+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: A Romance of Toronto
+       A Novel
+
+Author: Annie Gregg Savigny
+
+Release Date: April 21, 2011 [EBook #35927]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A ROMANCE OF TORONTO ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+book was produced from scanned images of public domain
+material from the Google Print project.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                          A ROMANCE OF TORONTO.
+
+                           (FOUNDED ON FACT.)
+
+                                A NOVEL.
+
+                        BY MRS. ANNIE G. SAVIGNY
+
+   _Author of "An Allegory on Gossip," "A Heart-Song of To-day," etc._
+
+
+    TORONTO:
+    WILLIAM BRIGGS, 78 & 80 KING STREET EAST.
+
+    1888.
+
+    Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year
+    one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight, by _Mrs. Annie Gregg
+    Savigny_, at the Department of Agriculture.
+
+
+     "I would like the Government to forbid the publication of all
+     novels that did not end well."--DARWIN.
+
+     "What would the world do without story-books."--DICKENS.
+
+
+[Illustration: TORONTO UNIVERSITY, QUEEN'S PARK.]
+
+
+
+
+NOTE.
+
+
+_In the following pages are two plots, one of which was told me by an
+actor therein; the other I have myself watched from its first page to
+its last, being living facts in living lives of fair Toronto's
+children._
+
+_THE AUTHOR._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I. Toronto a Fair Matron
+
+CHAPTER II. Who is Who in a Medley
+
+CHAPTER III. Instantaneous Photographs
+
+CHAPTER IV. The Foot-ball of Circumstance
+
+CHAPTER V. A Bona Dea
+
+CHAPTER VI. Coffee and Chit-Chat
+
+CHAPTER VII. Across the Sea to a Witch's Caldron
+
+CHAPTER VIII. A Troubled Spirit
+
+CHAPTER IX. Vultures Habited as Christian Pew-holders
+
+CHAPTER X. A Lucifer Match
+
+CHAPTER XI. Their "Rank is but the Guinea's Stamp"
+
+CHAPTER XII. On the Rack
+
+CHAPTER XIII. Lucifer's Votaries Rampant
+
+CHAPTER XIV. Fencing Off Confidence
+
+CHAPTER XV. The Tree of Knowledge
+
+CHAPTER XVI. The Oath in the Tower of Toronto University
+
+CHAPTER XVII. Birds of Prey
+
+CHAPTER XVIII. The Islet-gemmed St. Lawrence
+
+CHAPTER XIX. Eye-openers
+
+CHAPTER XX. "Your Een Were Like a Spell"
+
+CHAPTER XXI. A Happy New Year
+
+CHAPTER XXII. "Better Lo'ed Ye Canna Be"
+
+CHAPTER XXIII. The Three Links
+
+CHAPTER XXIV. A Hand of Ice Lay on Her Heart
+
+CHAPTER XXV. "Here Awa', There Awa'"
+
+CHAPTER XXVI. Electric Tips Among the Roses
+
+CHAPTER XXVII. A Serpent in Paradise
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII. Squaring Accounts
+
+CHAPTER XXIX. "Mair Sweet Than I Can Tell"
+
+
+
+
+A ROMANCE OF TORONTO.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+TORONTO A FAIR MATRON.
+
+
+Two gentlemen friends saunter arm in arm up and down the deck of the
+palace steamer _Chicora_ as she enters our beautiful Lake Ontario from
+the picturesque Niagara River, on a perfect day in delightful September,
+when the blue canopy of the heavens seems so far away, one wonders that
+the mirrored surface of the lake can reflect its color.
+
+"Do you know, Buckingham, you puzzle me; you were evidently happier in
+our little circle at the Hoffman House than in billiard, smoking, or
+reading-rooms, and just now in the saloon you seemed so content with
+Miss Crew, my wife and our boy, that I again wonder a man with these
+tastes, and who has made his little pile, does not marry," said Mr.
+Dale, in flute-like tones, distinctly English in accent. "I really
+think, my dear fellow, you would be happier in big New York city with
+some one in it to make a home for you."
+
+"I am quite sure your words are kindly meant, Dale, but look at me," he
+says tranquilly, "I am not dwarfed by care, being six feet in my
+stockings, I have no worrying lines written on my forehead, and between
+you and I, I am fifty; to be sure I am bald and grey, but that is New
+York life, a bachelor life, then, has not served me ill; there is a
+woman at Toronto I should like as my wife, but until I can give her the
+few luxuries I now deem necessities, I shall remain as I am."
+
+"I regret your decision, Buckingham, it is a rock many men split on,
+this waiting for wealth and missing wifely companionship."
+
+"Perhaps you are right; but I should not care to risk it," he says,
+calmly.
+
+"And you a speculator!" his friend said, smiling. At this they drifted
+into business and some joint investments in Canadian mineral locations,
+when Dale said:
+
+"You must excuse me now, Buckingham, I promised my wife to go and read
+her a letter descriptive of Toronto, as we, you know, have not been
+there."
+
+"Who is the writer, if I may know?"
+
+"Our mutual friend at Toronto, Mrs. Gower."
+
+"Oh, I am with you then," he said, with unusual eagerness, a fact noted
+by his friend.
+
+Entering the saloon, Mrs. Dale, a pretty little woman, fashionably
+dressed, with Irish blue eyes and raven hair, said, lifting her head:
+
+"Excuse my recumbent position, but I feel as if my head wasn't level, if
+I try to sit up; ditto, Miss Crew."
+
+"Where is Garfield, Ella?"
+
+"Over there with those boys; now read away, hubby, it will do my head
+good."
+
+"Very well, let me see where the description commences (the personal
+part I may pass). Here it is:
+
+     "Toronto is a fair matron with many children, whom she has
+     planted out on either side and north of her as far as her great
+     arms can stretch. She lies north and south, while her lips
+     speak loving words to her off-spring, and to her spouse, the
+     County of York; when she rests she pillows her head on the
+     pine-clad hills of sweet Rosedale, while her feet lave at
+     pleasure in the blue waters of beautiful Lake Ontario.
+
+     "Her favorite children are Parkdale, Rosedale, and Scarboro';
+     Parkdale to her west, ambitious and clear-sighted, handsome and
+     well-built, the sportive lake at his feet, in which his
+     children revel at eve; her daughter, charming Rosedale, in
+     society and quite the fashion even to the immense bouquet she
+     carries at all seasons--now of autumn leaves, from the hand of
+     Dame Nature; now of the floral beauties from her own gardens
+     and conservatories, again, of beauteous ferns gathered in her
+     own woods across her handsome bridges.
+
+     "Scarboro', fair Toronto's favorite son, of whom she is justly
+     proud, is a handsome young warrior, fearless as his own
+     heights, robust as his own trees, which seem as one gazes down
+     his deep ravine, like so many giants marching upwards as though
+     panting to reach the blue pavilioned heavens where they would
+     fain rest their heads.
+
+     "From the time spring thaws the sceptre out of the frozen hand
+     of winter, until again he is king, the breath of Scarboro' is
+     redolent of the rose, honeysuckle and sweet-briar, with a rapid
+     succession of the loveliest wild flowers in Canada beneath
+     one's feet, a veritable carpet of sweet-scented blossoms has
+     her son Scarboro'.
+
+     "Fair Toronto is also herself richly robed and jewelled, her
+     necklet being of picturesque villas, in Rosedale and on Bloor
+     Street; under her corsage, covered with beauteous blossoms from
+     her Horticultural Gardens, her Normal School grounds, etc., her
+     heart throbs with pride as she thinks of her gems, the spires
+     from her one hundred and twenty churches glistening in heaven's
+     sunbeams; of her magnificent University of Toronto, with its
+     great Norman tower, which cost her nearly $500,000; her
+     handsome Trinity College, in third period pointed English
+     style; her Knox College, her hotels, her opera houses, her
+     stately banks; with her diamonds, of which she is vastly proud,
+     and which are her great newspaper offices--the most valuable
+     being those of first water, viz., her Church papers as
+     finger-posts, with her _Sentinel_ as guard; her independent,
+     cultured _Mail_; her mighty clear-Grit _Globe_; her brilliant,
+     knowing _Grip_; her often-quoted _World_; her racy town-cry
+     _News_; her social _Saturday Night_; her _Life_, her _Week_,
+     her _Truth_, with her _Evening Telegram_, the whole set being
+     so valued by fair Toronto, that she would as soon be minus her
+     daily bread as her newspapers.
+
+     "It would take too long to enumerate the many attractions fair
+     Toronto offers--some of those within her walls having throats
+     full of song, others in the 'Harmony Club,' others
+     elocutionists, with orators and athletes; her Cyclorama of
+     Sedan, her Zoo--to which only a trifle pays the piper--her
+     interesting museums, her fine art galleries.
+
+     "And again, one word of her pet river, her picturesque Humber,
+     where lovers meet, poets dream, and fairies dwell; yes, as
+     Imrie says:
+
+     "'Glide we up the Humber river,
+     Where the rushes sigh and quiver,
+     Plight our love to each forever,
+         Love that will not die.'
+
+     "Such, dear Mr. and Mrs. Dale, is my lay of Toronto, which I
+     hope you will like well enough to come and sojourn here awhile.
+     You say, Mrs. Dale, that you have 'willed' to go to an hotel,
+     if so, I shall say no more of my wish, for 'a woman's will dies
+     hard on the field, or on the sward;' but when your will is
+     carried out, should you sigh for home-life come to me--even
+     then Holmnest will have open doors. You may be grave or gay,
+     you may be _en déshabillé_ in mind and robing, or you may have
+     your war-paint on for the watchful eye of Grundy, be it as you
+     will it, you are ever welcome, only tell dear Diogenes not to
+     come in his tub. I can give you both amusement enough in many
+     subjects or objects at which to level your glass, for Toronto
+     society is in many instances an amusing spectacle, a droll
+     conglomeration.
+
+     "Yours as always,
+     "ELAINE GOWER."
+
+"Well, Buckingham, what think you of fair Toronto?" asked Dale, as he
+finished reading.
+
+"I think that, though unusual, a Fair Matron has had ample justice from
+a fair woman."
+
+"I want to-morrow and Mrs. Gower right now," said Mrs. Dale, "as
+Garfield says when he is promised a treat."
+
+"Toronto must be a fine city, and covering a large area," said Miss
+Crew.
+
+"Mrs. Gower has a taste for metaphor; I never heard her in that style
+before, that is to any extent," said Buckingham.
+
+"I am intensely practical," said Dale; "but confess Toronto described in
+metaphor sounds more musical, at all events, than in plain brick and
+mortar style."
+
+"Emerson says," said Buckingham, "men are ever lapsing into a beggarly
+habit in which everything that is not cyphering is hustled out of sight,
+and I think he is right."
+
+"We cannot help it, it is the tendency of the age; but what have we
+here, Buckingham? What's the excitement about?"
+
+"Oh, we are only nearing Hanlon's Point; the ladies had better come
+outside; every scene will be in gala dress. Miss Crew, can I assist
+you?"
+
+    "Where the blue hills of old Toronto shed
+     Their evening shadows o'er Ontario's bed,"
+
+said Dale, coming with the crowd to view the scene.
+
+But since Moore so sang, the hills of the noble red man have
+disappeared, save as a boundary to our fair city; the pale faces, in the
+interests of progress and civilization, would have it so; and Bloor
+Street, to the north, is now reached by a gradual ascent of one hundred
+and fifty feet above the lake level. But now the stately and comfortable
+palace steamer, _Chicora_, with a goodly number of souls on board, is
+rounding Hanlon's Point, and entering our beautiful Bay, when the
+illumined city, with the Industrial Exhibition of 1887 in full swing,
+burst upon the view. The bands of music in and about the city, at the
+Horticultural Gardens and on the fair grounds, with the hum of many
+voices, fill the evening air with a glad song of joy.
+
+"What a sparkling scene," cried Mrs. Dale; "see, Garfield, my boy, all
+the boats lit from bow to stern."
+
+"They look as pretty as you in your diamonds, mamma."
+
+"It is quite a pretty sight, and the city also," said Miss Crew; "I had
+no idea Canada could attempt anything to equal this."
+
+"So much for England's instructions of her 'young ideas how to shoot,'
+as to her colonies, Miss Crew," said Dale; "Come, confess that a few
+squaws, bearing torches, with their lordly half smoking the calumet, was
+the utmost you expected."
+
+"Oh, Mr. Dale, please don't exaggerate our ignorance in this respect; I
+am not quite so bad as a lady at home, who thought Toronto a chain of
+mountains, and Ottawa an Indian chief."
+
+"One of Fenimore Cooper's, I hope," laughed Buckingham, "who hunted
+buffalo on the boundless prairie, instead of your lean gophers who hunt
+rusty bacon from agents who, some say, use him to swindle the public and
+line their own pockets. But listen; what a medley of sounds."
+
+"And lights," cried Mrs. Dale; "it looks as if annexation was on, and
+they were firing up some of our gold dollars as sky rockets."
+
+"It's pretty good for Canada, mamma," said Garfield, patronisingly.
+
+"You say Toronto is quite a business centre, Buckingham?"
+
+"Oh, yes; quite so; it makes one think of commercial union. Do you
+advocate it, Dale?"
+
+"Well, as you know, Buckingham, I am not even yet sufficiently
+Americanised to look upon it from other than a British standpoint, and
+so do not advocate it, as it seems a slight to the Mother Country. What
+is your idea of advantages derived by Canada were it _a fait accompli_?"
+
+"She would gain larger markets; her natural resources would be
+developed, especially her mineral, in which I am," he added, jokingly,
+"looking out for the interest of that most important number _one_, while
+also number two would benefit in home manufactures."
+
+"You amuse me; I honestly believe number one is a universal lever; yet
+still in a way we are each patriotic; but, again, you must see that
+commercial union would be the forerunner of annexation."
+
+"Yes, likely, though not for some time, but evolution will bring that
+about in a natural sort of way, as a final settlement of all vexed
+questions, whether," he added laughingly, "of humanity or--fish."
+
+"Oh, I don't know that, but you have the fish at all events and mean to
+keep them too; humanity may follow, but I should not like to see the
+colonies hoist another flag. But here we are at last, at the portals of
+the Queen City, and such a multitude of people makes one feel as if one
+might be crowded out," he said, uneasily, as the _Chicora_ came in at
+Yonge Street wharf.
+
+"Don't bother your head about your rooms, Dale, you secured them by
+telegram."
+
+"I did, ten days ago, though."
+
+"You never fear, they will be all right, the manager is a thorough
+business man," he said quietly, gathering up the belongings of the
+ladies.
+
+"You are invaluable, Mr. Buckingham," said Mrs. Dale, "and are as
+gallant as if you had as many wives as Blue Beard."
+
+"Rather a scaly compliment, Buckingham," laughed his friend.
+
+"She means well, but the fish are not far off," he answered, picking up
+Garfield, and giving his arm to quiet Miss Crew.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+WHO IS WHO IN A MEDLEY.
+
+
+"What a moving sea of faces!" exclaimed Miss Crew.
+
+"Yes, quite a few, and look as if they required laundrying--bodies,
+bones, and all."
+
+"Here, Garfield, though you are 'very old' as you say, you had better
+take my hand," said Miss Crew, nervously, as Mr. Buckingham set him down
+on the wharf.
+
+"Oh, no, he must go with his father," cried Mrs. Dale.
+
+
+"Oh, I reckon a New York boy can elbow his way through that mean crowd."
+And darting through the mass of people, causing the collapse of not a
+few tournures, and with the aid of one of his mother's bonnet pins
+giving many a woman cause to scream as she unconsciously cleared his
+path by getting out of his way, he is on the outskirts of the crowd.
+
+"Say, hackman, drive me off right smart to the Queen's!"
+
+"Is it all square, young gent?"
+
+"Yes; dimes sure as Vanderbilt money."
+
+"Oh, I mean you are but a kid to go it alone."
+
+"Chestnuts!"
+
+And taking another hack, "Pooh, Bah!" quieting his scruples by pocketing
+a double insult they are off.
+
+"I feel sure Garfield is quite safe, Ella, and probably choosing a cab
+for us; here, take my arm dear, and don't be nervous, Buckingham is
+looking after Miss Crew."
+
+But he is on ahead making inquiries.
+
+"Yes, sir, the young gent is all right, if you take my hack we'll catch
+him, I lost him by being too careful like."
+
+"Your boy is all right, Mrs. Dale, if you jump in quick we'll overtake
+him; allow me, Miss Crew."
+
+"Thank heaven," said his mother fervently, "tell the man to go as quick
+as he can through this crowd; there he is, the young scamp, waving to
+us, there, on ahead, a pair of light greys."
+
+"And here we are, and your boy of the period waiting to welcome us."
+
+"Welcome to the Queen City," he said, pulling off his skull cap.
+
+"You frightened your mother, my boy; see that you don't repeat this;
+remember she is nervous."
+
+"Glad I ain't a woman, they are all nerves and bustles; here, give us a
+kiss, mamma, I only wanted to show you I aint a baby."
+
+"There! there! that will do, my bonnet! my bangs! such a bustle as I've
+been in about you, I wish you were in long clothes."
+
+"Then I'd have to wear a bustle too!"
+
+"Ella you look tired, we had best let them show us our rooms at once;
+Buckingham, we shall have some dinner together, I hope."
+
+"Yes, I shall meet you here, and go in with you."
+
+"This is pleasant, rooms _en suite_, and you beside us, Miss Crew," said
+Mrs. Dale.
+
+And now, while they refresh themselves by bath and toilette, a word of
+them: Mr. Dale, like his friend Buckingham, has reached fifty, is grey,
+also wearing short side whiskers and moustache. He is a man of sterling
+worth of character, honest as the day; a man whose word was never
+doubted, who, having seen much of life, was apt to be a trifle cynical;
+but withal, so generous that his criticisms on men and things are more
+on the surface than even he imagines. A good friend, a kind husband to
+the pretty, penniless girl, Ella Swift, whom he had married in New York
+eleven years ago, and though unlike in character, there is so much love
+between them that their wedded happiness flows on with never a rift in
+the rill; and though she does not look into life and its many vexed
+questions with his depth of thought, still, in other ways her brain is
+quite as active--a kindly, social astronomer, she loves to unravel
+mysteries in the lives about her, to set love affairs going to her
+liking, she not caring to soar above the drawing-room, leaving Wall
+Street, the Corn Exchange, and railway stocks to her astute husband, who
+has inherited English gold, to which he is adding or losing in
+speculations the American eagle. With some thought of changing their
+residence to fair Toronto, they had a year ago given up house, and have
+been residing at the Hoffman House, New York City; then engaging Miss
+Crew, as governess to their only child of nine years. Mr. Dale had been
+somewhat doubtful as to the advisability of giving the position to Miss
+Crew, who merely answering their advertisement in the New York _Herald_,
+stating nervously that she was without references, as the people she had
+been with had gone West; but she was a fair, delicate, lady-like,
+religious girl, interesting Mrs. Dale at once by her loneliness and
+reticence; above all, Garfield took to her, and she gained an influence
+for good over him at once; and by this time both Mr. and Mrs. Dale have
+come to consider her as one of themselves, though having decided to
+place their son at boarding-school until such time as they take up
+house.
+
+Mr. Buckingham is, as we know, an eligible bachelor, fine-looking, tall,
+as we have heard, and a man of many dollars; a calmly quiet man (a trait
+from his German mother), who has lost two fortunes, but who will not
+play for high stakes again, as he does not care to begin over again at
+fifty, with nearly all he craves in his grasp; two women jilted him when
+fortune frowned, but taking it coolly, he merely told himself it was the
+dollar they had cared for, not he. Passionately fond of music, a skilled
+performer, the piano has been mistress and wife to him; if he marries he
+will be a good husband, but if he does not, he will be almost as happy
+in the best musical circle wherever his home may be.
+
+Having dined, our friends gathered for a few moments' social chat before
+retiring, when Mrs. Dale said, "I expect, Mr. Buckingham, you feel as
+important as one of Barnum's show-men in your role, for you are aware
+you and Mrs. Gower must trot us round to see the lions."
+
+"Any man, Mrs. Dale, would feel important as your cicerone, and in
+company with Mrs. Gower."
+
+"How polite you are. Oh, Henry, I see by the _News_, "Fantasma" is on at
+the Grand Opera House; even if it is late, let us go."
+
+"Nonsense, dear, we have seen it often enough."
+
+"If you are tired, very well; but I wanted to make a spectacle of myself
+this time, and the ladies green with envy over my new heliotrope satin."
+
+"Well, if that isn't self-abnegation," laughed Buckingham.
+
+"Oh, you needn't sympathize, I only feel as the peacock when he spreads
+his tail."
+
+"How many churches did Mrs. Gower say there are here?" asked Miss Crew.
+
+"One hundred and twenty; so you will have a choice of roads heavenward,
+Miss Crew," answered Buckingham.
+
+"Yes, there are a number of roads, and only one guide-book," she
+answered, thoughtfully.
+
+"Mrs. Gower will put you on the right track," he said quietly.
+
+Here Mr. Dale returned, saying in pleased tones, "Well, Ella, I have
+telephoned Mrs. Gower of our arrival, and she says she will call at 11
+a.m., then do the Exhibition, where we are to remain until we see Pekin
+bombarded."
+
+"That is in the evening, and the best part of it this perfect weather;
+may I come?" said Buckingham.
+
+"Assuredly."
+
+"Thanks, and au revoir."
+
+"Good night."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+INSTANTANEOUS PHOTOGRAPHS.
+
+
+"Nothing is more deeply punished than the neglect of the affinities by
+which alone society should be formed and the insane levity of choosing
+our associates by other's eyes," read a lady, musingly, as Emerson's
+essays fall from her knees to the soft carpet under her cushioned feet.
+
+"Yes, nothing is more deeply punished," she half chanted in a musical
+voice, while a grave, troubled look came to the dark eyes, and a quiver
+of pain to the sensitive lips. "And well do you and I know it, Tyr,
+though you are only a dog," she continued, as she patted a brown
+retriever beside her. "Yes, you and I, Tyr, like only affinities; the
+others seem to us mongrels, and to us don't seem good. I wonder if they
+were so pronounced in the first week when the world was young; but fancy
+is travelling without reason; they were all thorough-breds in the good
+old days, and one does not read of anything like Emerson's words on
+affinities, or a case similar to my own; but I am half asleep, Tyr;
+watch by me, good old dog."
+
+And leaning her head back against the soft green velvet cushioned back
+of the rattan chair, Somnus is not wooed in vain; indeed, one might
+imagine the god of slumber had wound a garland of poppies about her
+brow, so does she sleep as an infant.
+
+As she rests, a word of her. A Canadian; a native of Toronto, with
+far-away English kin; above the medium height; dark, comely, and
+slightly embonpoint; a woman of thirty, but with that troubled look at
+present on her face looking older; generous, warm-hearted and
+conscientious; with more than the average force of character; too
+sensitive in days past; too impulsive, even yet, in this world of "they
+daily mistake my words." Even at thirty, she has had years of trouble;
+has been dragged in the dust under Fortune's wheel, that others might
+ride aloft at her expense; earning her "dinner of herbs" that "Pooh Bah"
+in the plural, may have the "stalled ox." But at last she rests, and
+summer friends would again know her, who fled at her first out-at-elbow
+gown; but experience is a good teacher, she will cherish only those who
+have cherished her in her dark days. Society also now desires her
+company in polite bids to its various webs, in shape of dinners and
+lunches, with its other numerous distractions, knowing she is in
+possession of a rather pretentious little home, and is in a position to
+repay; for society is a debit and credit system.
+
+"Once a widow always a widow" was not the motto of Mrs. Gower, and so
+she would have again wed, again gone to God's altar; but the angel of
+death forbade, using his scythe almost as the words of the church
+pronounced them man and wife, and the bridal gown of the morning gave
+place ere the sun had set to the black robes of a second widowhood.
+Truly, "Sorrow there seemeth more of thee than we can bear and live;"
+yet still we live, was her cry. The death of her friend, just at the
+time manly counsel would have saved her little fortune from vultures,
+habited as Christian pew-holders! was very hard, not to speak of that
+intense loneliness, the death of husband, wife, or betrothed, brings
+into one's life; one is as though struck mentally and physically blind,
+not knowing where to turn or whose hand to take; for until such
+relations are severed by death, one does not realize how one has leaned
+on the one in the multitude.
+
+"But," she would say, "one must harden oneself to the inevitable, to
+Heaven's will, if one would keep one's reason;" and in time the sudden
+death of the man she had so passionately loved, was as some terrible
+dream. Not as she dreams away the moments now in her pretty restful
+library, with its rattan furniture, cushioned and trimmed in olive-green
+velvet; one side a library of her pet authors, with Davenport near;
+walls painted in alternate green and cream panels; on the light ground
+are lilies from nature, gathered from Ashbridge's Bay, and near the
+Island; nestling in their bed of green leaves an English ivy trails
+around the pretty Queen Anne mantel, with two tall palms, which bring
+content to the canary as the perfume from the blossoms on the stand give
+pleasure to the sleeping mistress of Holmnest.
+
+Her own individuality is stamped upon its walls also, for on each
+alternate dark green panel is some pretty bits of painting, bric-a-brac,
+or motto; one reads, "Let ilka ane gang their ain gait," showing her
+dislike to meddling in another's business; another reads, "The greatest
+of these is charity;" and over a bust of Shakspeare are his own words,
+"No profit goes where is no pleasure taken; in brief, sir, study what
+you most affect."
+
+But she dreams, and what a troubled expression. At this moment a coupé
+drives up a north-west avenue of our city, stops at the gate of
+Holmnest, when a gentleman, hurriedly springing out, saying, "come back
+for me in about an hour-and-a-half, Somers," enters the picturesque
+grounds, has reached the veranda and hall door on south side of pretty
+Holmnest, rings, when a boy, in neat blue suit, answers.
+
+"Is Mrs. Gower at home, Thomas?"
+
+"Yes, sir; in the library."
+
+"Very well, you need not announce me, I know the way;" and hastening his
+steps he passes through a square hall, done in the warm tints now in
+vogue, sunbeams coming softened through artistic panes of stained glass,
+showing vases on brackets filled with flowers, which would delight "Bel
+Thistlethwaite," with a few appropriate pictures, giving life to the
+walls; the door of the library is ajar; he enters.
+
+"Asleep!" he exclaims, softly; "with Emerson's thoughts for dreams and
+Tyr as watch; but what a troubled expression," he thinks, seating
+himself, evidently quite at home; a man, too, one would like to be at
+home with, if there be any truth in physiognomy, a handsome man, five
+feet eleven in height, dark hair and moustache, kindly blue eyes,
+amiability stamped on his face; a man who, had events shaped themselves
+that way, would have made an heroic self-sacrificing soldier of the
+Cross.
+
+He is scarcely seated when the occupant awakes with a start and a
+terrified exclamation of "Oh!" at which the dog places his fore-paws on
+her knees, with a whine of sympathy, as her friend, Mr. Cole, comes
+forward with outstretched hand.
+
+"When did you arrive; is it so late; you received my message to dine
+with the Dales and Smyths with me this evening? but I am half dreaming
+yet; of course you did, for you answered 'Yes.' Getting yourself in trim
+for leap-year, I suppose," she said, smiling; "but how is it you are in
+your office coat? I want you to look your very best, as you are to take
+in a young lady, a Miss Crew, who comes with the Dales; she is a
+super-excellent sort of girl."
+
+"Has she money?" he says, laughingly.
+
+"Oh, you need not pretend to be a fortune-hunter to me; I know you too
+well for that; but remember, I prophesy you will lose your heart to her.
+But, oh, Charlie, I have had such a horrible dream," and she presses one
+hand to her forehead, at which the lace rufflings fall back from her
+sleeve, showing a very good arm, her gown of ecru soft summer bunting,
+becoming her style, "that dream will haunt me unless you let me tell it
+you, Charlie."
+
+"Oh, that's the use you put me to, is it? all right, fire away, I'll
+interpret; it was only a mistake the baptizing me Charlie, when I have
+to play the part of Joseph."
+
+"Well, in the first part, oh Joseph, I had been reading this morning
+what held my mind as to the ascent from Paris of the æronauts, Mallet
+and Jovis; their courage, and Mother Shipton's prophecy impressed me
+sufficiently as to dream, with the words of Emerson as to affinities
+also in my mind, that a party of us--you, the Dales, Mrs. St. Clair,
+Miss Hall, Mr. Buckingham, and myself, with a gentleman who was
+masked--had been taking part in an entertainment in the Pavilion,
+Horticultural Gardens, in aid of the Hospital for sick children; we gave
+readings, vocal and instrumental music, and laughed inwardly and glowed
+outwardly, as we everyone, regardless of merit, received repeated
+recalls, when afterwards the recalcitrant balloon, which refused to
+inflate, when we gazed in vain at the fair grounds, did ascend after our
+performance, which fact emptied the Pavilion ere we had concluded our
+last effort, everyone flying, as we do at Toronto, as though there was a
+drop curtain with the words in flaming colors, 'The de'il take the
+hind-most;' the building was empty as our last supreme effort frightened
+the few dead-heads who had slunk in; we then laughingly made a rush to
+the balloon ascension, and determined there and then to further
+distinguish ourselves by becoming æronauts _pro tem_. What made it
+ridiculously droll, Joseph, was the fact that the men in charge chanted
+continuously Emerson's words that had impressed me ere I slept--'Nothing
+is more deeply punished than the neglect of the affinities.' I was
+nearest the basket, and wild with reckless spirit. As I remember, myself
+stepped in; the owners seemed at variance who was to pose or rise," she
+said, smilingly, "as my affinity, that is of yourself, Messrs. Dale,
+Buckingham, or the man with the mask, when, finally, they signed to the
+latter to enter; I was nothing loth, for his voice, a sweet tenor, had
+charmed me; up we went, when to my horror your _béte noir_, Mr. Cobbe,
+sprang from among the branches of a tall tree into the basket.
+
+"'Too much ballast,' he cried, throwing out all the owners had provided
+us with; we ascended rapidly--a feeling of faintness seizing me--up, up;
+I feel the sensation now," she said with a tremor; "up, up, nearing the
+feathery clouds, looking like down from the wings of angels. 'Too much
+ballast,' he again cried, excitedly springing on the masked man, first
+tearing off his mask, disclosing the essentially manly face of a
+gentleman whom I frequently meet, but am not acquainted with, but in
+whom I take an interest, because of his tender care of a little lady I
+used to see with him; Mr. Cobbe springing on him with the words, 'too
+much ballast; down with affinities!' hurled the poor fellow to earth, at
+which I cried out as you heard; his fall was a something too awfully
+real; one's nerves for the time suffer as severely as though all was
+reality," she added in a pre-occupied tone, as though mind was burdened
+with latent thought.
+
+"But 'all's well that ends well;' Mr. Cobbe is in mid air, where I
+fervently hope he will remain."
+
+"But you forget the poor man who was hurled to the earth; I know his
+face so well."
+
+"And I know yours, Mrs. Gower, and you are safe and so am I; and as
+Joseph, I interpret that you are to give your charming self to an
+affinity, and don't fly too high."
+
+"The first part of your speech is epicurean, in your second you play the
+mentor," she said, laughingly; "but in your face I see you have
+something to tell me; go now to the telephone and tell them to send you
+your dress coat, for you have no time to go all the way to the Walker
+House and be back by seven."
+
+"No use; I cannot stay for dinner."
+
+"Cannot stay! Why?"
+
+"My father writes me he is going to sail for England at once, and wishes
+me to meet him at London."
+
+"Well, you ought not to look so grave over such a meditated trip,
+Charlie, it will make a new man of you; and instead of betaking yourself
+to the Preston baths, a sea voyage, I should say, will set you up,
+making you forget the word rheumatism better than any sulphur bath in
+all Canada."
+
+"But," he said, in serio-comic tones, "what do you think of my being
+forced into annexation?"
+
+"Only that you use the word 'forced,' I should say I congratulate you."
+
+"At the same time that you keep your own freedom, though," he said,
+despondently; seeing her look of gravity, he continued, touching her
+hand, "beg pardon, Elaine, I should not say that, knowing your past;
+but," he said brightly, "I should like to see you wed an affinity."
+
+"I am afraid such pleasant fate is not for me," she said, gravely.
+
+"Do you believe in predestination, Mrs. Gower?" he says, abruptly.
+
+"What next! from annexation to dogma. Tell me all about yourself, and it
+is too lovely an Indian summer day to remain in the house, come to my
+favorite seat in the garden."
+
+"Where I shall give you an instantaneous photograph, from my father's
+pen, of the girl I am predestined to change the name of."
+
+"From your father's pen!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE FOOT-BALL OF CIRCUMSTANCE.
+
+
+As they near a knoll under a clump of trees commanding a view of the
+road, a gentleman sauntering up the street gazes, as many do, at
+Holmnest with its pretty grounds.
+
+"Look, quick, Charlie," said Mrs. Gower, in low and rapid tones,
+apparently intent on spreading a rug on the rustic bench, "there he is,
+I mean----"
+
+"Well, I only see a very ordinary and thoroughly independent looking
+man, seeming as though he feared nothing, not even you, and as if
+Toronto was built for him."
+
+At this Mrs. Gower, laughing merrily, says, "And not for the
+Lieutenant-Governor, Mayor Howland, Archbishop Lynch, or the 'caller
+herrin'-man.'"
+
+As the soft laughter fell on the air, the stranger looked towards them,
+and looked so intently, that involuntarily his hand is raised to his
+head and his hat lifted.
+
+"You say you have not met him, Mrs. Gower; you are a very prudent woman,
+I must say, coming out here in your white gown, with ribbons the color
+of a peach, creating a sensation; you had better wed an affinity since
+you won't have me, and get a protector at once."
+
+"That is the man I dreamed of whom the æronauts dubbed my affinity; it's
+too bad we are not acquainted, instead of only getting instantaneous
+photographs of each other."
+
+"What a trial!" he said, ironically; "but still," he added, as with a
+sudden remembrance, "I have, strange to say, had occasion to say, hang
+the conventionalities, more than once, with reference to a fair-haired
+girl with blue eyes, that seem, when I think of her, to follow me; no
+later, too, than this morning at W. A. Murray's door, as you I have had
+only instantaneous photographs of her; once before at a window in New
+York city, also there in a suspension car; it is not that I have fallen
+in love with her--not by a long chalk, but she seems to have been in my
+life some time, that by a trick of memory I have lost; but I advise you,
+Mrs. Gower, not to allow that man to bow to you again."
+
+"Oh, he only lifted his hat in apology; but I wish you were not going
+away, and that I could see this girl."
+
+"I wish I hadn't to; but this is the way time flies whenever I come to
+Holmnest; I am forgetting that I came to tell you I am just now the
+foot-ball of circumstance, which compels me to cross seas to have a
+halter put around my neck in wedding a girl whom I have never seen."
+
+"Even if you have to, Charlie, you may love her at first sight, so don't
+take it to heart; if it is so that she is no affinity, you will suffer
+only as many others," she says gravely, "in having a taste of the
+tantalus punishment, in losing what we would fain grasp; but tell me all
+about it, as my dinner guests will be soon arriving, and I did so want
+you for--myself, as well as for Miss Crew."
+
+"That's the first sympathetic word you have said, 'for yourself,'" he
+said, touching her hand, "but I am to be always for somebody else," he
+said, a little sadly; "but I see you think I am never going to begin, so
+here goes: My father, as you have heard me say, did not marry a second
+time, not that he did not again fall a victim to the tender passion, but
+that the miscreator, circumstance, putting in an oar, sent him out of
+England, when his bride-elect that was to be, was coerced into marrying
+her guardian (one Edward Villiers, of Bayswater, London,) by his
+sister-in-law, a domestic tyrant, and his housekeeper; who, knowing to
+rid himself of her presence he would probably wed a woman of as strong a
+will as her own, when she, penniless, would be thrust out, told lies,
+not white ones, of my father, that he had married in Canada,
+intercepting his letters, and heaven knows what; at all events,
+Lucifer's agent triumphed, for on my father going across the water to
+claim her and scold her for her silence, he found her a wife with a baby
+girl, when, to reduce a three-volume story to a line, they, in despair,
+wept and raved, nearly heart broken, vowing that I and the little one
+should wed and inherit all the yellow sovereigns; and so, Elaine, it
+comes to pass in years of evolution this youngster has become of age,
+and I am presented with her as my bride. I have always known of this
+contract, but you know the kind of man I am, ever shoving the unpleasant
+into a corner; for the bare idea of marrying a woman for money has
+always been repugnant to me."
+
+"I should say it has, for with you it has ever been 'more blessed to
+give than to receive.'"
+
+"I don't know that, but to hasten, breathing time is at last not given
+me, I am summoned to England by those people and by my father's wish,
+who sends me a copy of the will of the late Mrs. Villiers, a clause of
+which I shall read to you; but what a bore I am to you."
+
+"Nonsense; who have I poured my life puzzles into the ear of but your
+own kind self--turn about is fair play, and besides, yours is a
+sensational _life_ story, and so more interesting than thoughts from the
+clever pens of Haggard or Mannville, Fenn, or our own Watson Griffin."
+
+"Well, the will reads ... 'on my dearly loved daughter, my little
+(Pearl) Margaret Villiers attaining her majority and becoming the wife
+of the aforesaid Charles Babbington-Cole, son of my loved friend Hugh
+Babbington-Cole, of Civil Service, Ottawa, Canada, my said daughter
+_shall enter into possession_ of all my real and personal property, she
+to be sole executrix, and to inherit all, (with, I hope, the advice of
+Dr. Annesley, of London, and Hugh Babbington-Cole aforesaid,) and
+subject to the following bequests: To my step-daughter, Margaret
+Elizabeth Villiers, I leave my forgiveness for her unvarying unkindness
+to myself with my copy of the Christian Martyrs. To my dear friend,
+Sarah Kane, five hundred pounds sterling and my wearing apparel. To my
+husband's sister-in-law, Elizabeth Stone, I will and bequeath my piano
+and music for use in her mission work, with the hope that sweet notes of
+music will make her less acid to the children of God's poor to whom she
+brings the Gospel message of peace, etc., etc.'"
+
+"So! your late mother-in-law made a point there, the self-righteous
+woman weighted religion then as now. I have always predicted, because of
+your open palm, that you would never be a rich man, Charlie; I little
+thought the precious metal with a wife would pour into your lap at the
+same time; if you only knew her and cared for her," she said, musingly,
+when, noting his troubled look, she said brightly, picking a beautifully
+tinted maple leaf from his shoulder, "See here, old man, take this
+crimson-hued leaf as a good omen, and we will read from it that your
+home-bound path, I mean back to Holmnest and Toronto, will be a path of
+crimson roses; and now tell me, does the girl write you, and is it in a
+stand and deliver manner? If so, I fear my verdict upon her will be
+lacking in charity."
+
+"No, my pater has letters from her which he does not forward; but here
+is the last one from my father, in which he says: ... 'I have received
+several letters from Broadlawns, Bayswater, England, and from Margaret
+also, in which they tell me time's up, your bride elect is of age, and
+naturally anxious to come into possession of her property. I need not go
+over the whole matter again with you, my boy, but I do most earnestly
+advise you to start at once, the daughter of my lost Margaret must be
+good and true, even though Villiers was her father; she should be
+pretty, also fair hair and sky-blue eyes (in woman's parlance). I saw
+her when her poor mother made her will in 1872. Pearl was then about
+five years old; she cannot fail to be attracted by yourself, if Dickson
+does not flatter you, and I don't think so; your good looks are honestly
+come by, so you needn't blush.
+
+"'And now to business; enclosed you will find a cheque for five hundred
+dollars, for you are like me more than in appearance, you don't save.
+What an income you will have shortly, instead of bookkeeping on the
+paltry salary of $800 per annum, you and Mrs. Cole, ahem! will roll
+about King Street the envy of the town, with an income of £5,000
+sterling per annum. While I shall have the pleasure of seeing some of
+your mechanical ideas patented, and their models in the buildings here,
+your nose and the grindstone will part company; how glad I am that you
+have not fallen in love and married; and now I ask you, believing it to
+be best, believing it to be for your happiness, to leave for the
+seaboard on receipt of this; my chief has given me a three weeks' leave,
+so shall run across, but to save time, as I have business at Quebec,
+shall sail from there; meet me at Morley's, London, Trafalgar Square. If
+my memory plays me no trick, I shall sail by the _Circassian_, Sept.
+16th, you take the _City of Chicago_, one day later from New York.
+
+"'And now, _pour le present_, farewell; you don't know how I have set my
+heart on this matter, if I were ill, the knowledge that the little
+daughter of my own love was your wife would cure me.
+
+"'Social events are right down smart with us; in fact Ottawa is booming.
+Rumor says our next tid-bit will be an elopement in high life; even the
+soldiers can't keep the enemy from poaching; but we must be blind and
+deaf 'till Grundy says now.'
+
+"'The American consul is a very knight of labor at present, minus their
+short hours, as quite a large number are leaving for, to them, the land
+of promise, the United States, whether they fly from the taxes or the
+cold, I have not interviewed them; by the way, you will be the better
+for a warm heart beating against your own this winter. And now one word
+of self, I shall be glad of the run across the water, for I feel
+anything but smart. I wish we could have crossed together. Farewell, my
+boy, till we meet at Morley's.
+
+    "'Your affectionate father,
+            "'HUGH B. COLE.
+
+    "'C. B. COLE, ESQ.,
+      "'500 Wellington St. Toronto, Ont.'"
+
+
+"How strange it all seems, Charlie," she said dreamily. "I shall miss
+you so much, I do hope she is amiable and lovable, you and she must come
+to me until you get settled; poor fellow, you look stunned."
+
+"I am paralyzed! it at last is so sudden, but why do you smile?"
+
+"At a remark you made at the Smyth's, or I rather think it was when
+escorting me home, that 'you deserved a good wife, for you had never
+sinned, never told a lie.' So let us hope in your case virtue will have
+a reward."
+
+"See! I must go, your guests are arriving; how I wish you had no one
+this evening, and I might dine with you alone."
+
+"My wish too, on this your last visit, unfettered."
+
+"That means you cannot bolster me up in this case, as you have more than
+once heretofore; that I am in for it," he says, looking at her
+sorrowfully.
+
+"Yes, you are regularly hemmed in, and as I have been before now, so are
+you at present the mere foot-ball of circumstances, but 'out of every
+evil comes some good,' they say, and as your father says," she added
+with forced gaiety, for she is sad at the thought of snapping of old
+ties. "You will be the better of a warm heart beside your own in our
+winter climate; and above all, remember the good omen of this maple
+leaf; here, take it with you," she says, pinning it to his coat, the
+suspicion of a tear in her eyes.
+
+"Good bye, Elaine, if it must be so; pray that I may come out of it all
+right, for I feel horribly depressed; and only you say I must go, would,
+I believe, show the white feather; I wish I might kiss you good-bye;
+there is that fellow, Cobbe, coming in, remember, that 'nothing is more
+deeply punished than the neglect of the affinities.' God bless you;
+farewell."
+
+And leaving by a side gate and entering a passing hack, one of the
+kindest-hearted sons of fair Toronto takes his first step to another
+land; easily led, yielding to a degree, he is now led by the wish of a
+dead woman, by the iron will of a living one, his father following their
+beckoning hand also.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+A BONA DEA.
+
+
+In animated converse with her guests during the half-hour ere dinner is
+announced, the mistress of Holmnest makes a picture one's eyes dwell
+on--the folds of her soft summer gown hang gracefully, while fitting her
+figure like the glove of a Frenchwoman; fond of a new sensation--as is
+the way of mortals--this of playing the hostess to a few chosen friends
+in a home of her own once more, is pleasurable excitement; there is a
+softness of expression, a tenderness in the dark eyes, engendered by the
+fact of her sympathy having been acted upon by the leave-taking, on such
+an errand too, of her friend Cole, which lends to her an additional
+charm. The consciousness also that she is looking well, gives, as is
+natural to most women, a pleasurable feeling in whatever is on the
+_tapis_, with the knowledge also, that her little dinner will be
+perfect, her guests harmonious--save one.
+
+"So you think Toronto is rather a fair matron after all, Mrs. Dale, and
+that your New York robes blend harmoniously with the other effects at
+the Queens?"
+
+"I reckon I do, Mrs. Gower; you did not say a word too much in her
+praise; I remember saying to Henry before we started, my last season's
+gowns would do."
+
+"And you like Toronto also, Mr. Dale," continued his hostess.
+
+"Yes, better than any other Canadian town I have visited; it is very
+simply laid out, one couldn't lose oneself if one tried."
+
+"It is laid out like a what do you call it, like a chess-board," said
+Captain Tremaine, an Irishman.
+
+"Yes, not unlike," continued Dale, "and as to quiet, one would think the
+curfew rang; I noticed it particularly coming from the Reform Club the
+other night."
+
+"We all notice how quiet our streets are at night, and after your London
+and New York City, we must seem to you as if we had taken a sedative,"
+said Mrs. Gower, taking his arm to the dining-room; "but where is Miss
+Crew, Mr. Dale?"
+
+"She was too fatigued to come, she foolishly overtaxed her strength,
+taking my boy to the Industrial Home, at Mimico, I think she said."
+
+"That's correct, it's a pet scheme of Mayor Howland's, and a worthy one
+too."
+
+"Yes, so she said; they also visited your Normal School, and talked of
+the Cyclorama of Sedan."
+
+"Indeed! they have overtaxed the brain and memory, I fear; what does
+Garfield say to it all?"
+
+"Chatters like a magpie over the superior glories of New York, but is
+honestly pleased after all."
+
+"I expect your little son is English only in name."
+
+"Yes, and in his love for a good dinner," he said, laughingly.
+
+"Well, from all we Canadians hear, there is every reason he should, an
+English dinner is enough 'to tempt even ghosts to pass the Styx for more
+substantial feasts,'" she said, gaily.
+
+"Mrs. Gower is always up to the latest in remembering the tastes of her
+guests," said Mrs. Dale to her left-hand neighbor, Mr. Buckingham, as
+tiny crescents of melon preceded the soup.
+
+"That she is," he said, complacently; "no man would sigh for his club
+dinner, did our hostess cater for him."
+
+"Goodness knows what Henry would do if our bank stopped payment, or our
+Pittsburg foundries shut down; for I know no more about cooking than Jay
+Gould's baby," she said, discussing a plate of delicious oyster soup.
+
+"He, I expect, makes himself heard on the feeding bottle," said lively
+Mrs. Smyth.
+
+"But you are unusually candid as to your short-comings, Mrs. Dale,"
+continued Buckingham, amusedly.
+
+"Because I can afford to be; were I poor, I reckon I should pawn off my
+mamma's tea-cakes on my young man as my own, as men in love believe
+anything--they are as dull as Broadway without millinery."
+
+"By the way, Mrs. Dale, talking of millinery, where are your bonnets
+going to, they are three stories and a mansard at present?"
+
+"Oh, only a cupola, Mr. Buckingham, on which birds will perch."
+
+"How so; I was under the impression the bird hunt is a thing of the
+past?"
+
+"No, indeed! not while there are men in the field."
+
+"How so; I do not follow you?"
+
+"Stupid, you are born huntsmen, our bonnets are a perch for a decoy,
+and," she added, looking at him archly, "our faces are under them."
+
+Here there was merry laughter from Mrs. Gower and Captain Tremaine, the
+former saying gaily,
+
+"You would not accomplish it, the strength of will of one of the party
+would keep the whole uppermost. I appeal to Mr. Smyth."
+
+"I am with you, Mrs. Gower; Tremaine must go under, even though he is an
+Irishman."
+
+"Irish questions always do get muddled, eh, Smyth?" said Dale, jokingly,
+seeing that Smyth, intent on dinner, had not heard the argument.
+
+"That they do, Dale. Which is it, Mrs. Gower, the Coercion Bill or Home
+Rule?"
+
+"Neither," she said, laughingly, "we were on the 'Peace Party' (you
+remember the meeting at the Gardens, on last Sunday); and I have been
+suggesting that the Body Guard bury their pretty uniforms, and Captain
+Tremaine raises the war-cry of, 'bury the Peace Party, chairman and all,
+first.'"
+
+"Oh, that's it! Tremaine knows the indomitable will of one of them would
+cause more dust to be kicked up than one sees on a March day on Yonge
+Street."
+
+"Out-voted, Captain Tremaine, we weep 'salt tears' over your becoming
+uniform; but seriously speaking, though a High Court of Arbitration
+would be a grand spectacle, it will be only after years of evolution,
+and when, as Mr. Blake, the chairman said, 'the voice of the private
+soldier, instead of the general officer, is heard.'"
+
+"If I should ever have the ill-fortune to be drafted," said Smyth,
+laughingly, "I should fight to the death against my enrolment; an
+hospital nurse, like the Quaker-love, would suit me better; such rations
+as a man gets on the field."
+
+"I know for a fact," said Dale; "that recruiting during the present year
+in England, has been far below the average of the last few years."
+
+"Indeed! I was not aware," said Buckingham.
+
+"By the way, Smyth," said Tremaine, "have you seen, what do you call
+him, 'Henry Thompson,' in his defence or answer to his critics?"
+
+"I have, and he was able for them every time."
+
+"Are you speaking of the journalist who went to jail in the interests of
+the _Globe_?" asked Dale.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"His defence was capital, I thought," said Dale, "and I especially liked
+the way he stands up for his craft. 'There is no class of men,' he says
+bravely, 'in existence, animated by more humane motives than working
+newspaper men.'"
+
+"I also read his reply with pleasure," said Mrs. Gower, "and reading it,
+thought what a clever and original fellow he must be."
+
+"Talmage and Silcox have been lauding the power of the press to the
+skies," said Smyth; "they made me wish I surveyed the earth from an
+editor's chair, rather than from a tree I climbed to escape York mud."
+
+"Have you heard how the Grand is going to cater to our dramatic taste
+this coming season, Mr. Buckingham?" asked Mrs. Gower.
+
+"Just a whisper, Mrs. Gower, as to Emma Juch, Langtry and Siddons."
+
+"Yes; so far so good. Have you heard that the rail makes no special
+rates for travelling companies?"
+
+"I have; so you may expect that those who will pay the high toll, will
+be those of the highest standard."
+
+"Then I suppose (though it seems selfish) we should be content with the
+rail rates as they are."
+
+"You will enjoy the debates, Dale," said Smyth, "in the Local House
+during the session; Meredith is just the man to lead our party."
+
+"But I am not sure that it is our party, Smyth; I scarcely know how I
+should vote here; if Meredith is right, why doesn't he prove to Ontario
+that Mowat has held the reins too long?"
+
+"So he will before next election," replied Smyth, with a satisfied air.
+
+"Don't be too sure, Mr. Smyth, eloquent though he be," said his hostess;
+"while that clever Demosthenes of his party, Hon. C. F. Frazer, says him
+nay."
+
+"Do you meditate a long stay, Buckingham, in this the white-washed city
+of the Dominion?" asked Tremaine.
+
+"Yes, off and on all winter; you know I intend to purchase some of your
+mineral lands, since you allow them to lie undeveloped," he added,
+jestingly.
+
+"You see, Capt. Tremaine," said Mrs. Gower, merrily, "the American Eagle
+done in silver is not as yet plenty with us."
+
+"Don't despair, Tremaine, Commercial Union is looming up," said
+Buckingham.
+
+"Treason! treason!" laughed Tremaine, "for we know what it would
+father."
+
+"Hear, hear," cried Smyth.
+
+"Oh, I don't know," laughed Mrs. Gower, "they say it is the Main-e idea
+for settling; here's a pretty mess! here's a pretty mess--of fish!"
+
+"We can wait," said Buckingham, quietly, "evolution will bring about the
+Maine idea, with you also."
+
+"Did you say you are going to Maine, Mr. Buckingham, we cannot do
+without you now," said pretty Mrs. St. Clair, caressingly.
+
+"Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair, I do not go; but even if so, you would, I
+fear, miss me less than your latest fad in the pet quadruped."
+
+"How severe you are, Mr. Buckingham. Are all New York men so, Mrs.
+Dale?" She sighed, having a penchant for him.
+
+"It's annexation, Mrs. St. Clair," said Mrs. Dale, mischievously.
+
+"Annexation! is Mr. Buckingham going to be married?"
+
+"I believe so." At this juncture Master Noah St. Clair, who had come
+instead of his father, was interested in other than his plate, while his
+mother said reproachfully:
+
+"It _cannot_ be true, Mr. Buckingham."
+
+"Mrs. Dale is disposed to be facetious, Mrs. St. Clair; you must not
+swear by everything she says."
+
+"That is an evasive answer, and I am dying to know; tell me, _dear_ Mrs.
+Dale, what it means?"
+
+"Which, annexation, or Mr. Buckingham?" said her tormentor.
+
+"Oh, both, of course," she said, breathlessly.
+
+"Both; well, when I come to take a good look at him, Mrs. St. Clair, he
+looks important rather than severe, his reason is, he believes, the best
+part of Canada pines for annexation; _comprenez vous_?"
+
+"Oh, is that what you meant," she replied, with a relieved air, when,
+catching her son's eye, she said, with assumed carelessness, "I do miss
+my men friends so much when they marry."
+
+"He is as cold as ice," whispered Mr. Cobbe, who, though a man of birth
+and breeding, prides himself upon being a flirt; "he is an icicle, I
+wonder you waste your warmth upon him."
+
+"Nice man," she thought, "and only the second time I've met him; he must
+be in love with me, too, poor fellow," and, in an undertone, she says,
+"That's the way all you men speak of each other, but he is only so
+before people."
+
+"You had better throw him over, an Irish heart is warmer than an
+American," he said, in his deep tones, into her ear.
+
+"But the poor fellow would break his heart," she whispered, her cheeks
+flushing; he, equally vain, continued:
+
+"Not he, a successful speculation would console him; and I--and I would
+console you."
+
+"Are you always so susceptible?" she asked, turning her pretty enamelled
+face around to be admired.
+
+"No, indeed; but a man doesn't meet as pretty a woman as you every day,
+as your mirror must tell you."
+
+"How you gentlemen flatter," well aware that he is admiring her pretty
+hand and delicate wrist, as she holds aloft a bunch of transparent
+grapes.
+
+"Not you," and for the moment he meant it; the particular she of the
+hour feasting on the nectar her soul loves, never dreaming that the next
+passable looking female in propinquity with him will be also steeped to
+the lips in the same food, "not you," he said, with a fond look.
+
+"Thank you," she said, prettily, and with the faith of her early teens,
+"I must tell you a pretty compliment a gentleman paid me at the
+'Kirmiss' last season, he said 'I was a madrigal in Dresden china.'"
+
+"Too cold, too cold," he said, thickly, managing to press her fingers as
+they rose from the table, ere she laid her hand on the arm of Mr. Smyth,
+to whom she had been allotted, but who never spoiled his dinner by
+giving beauty her natural food.
+
+On Mr. Dale declining to linger, leading his hostess back to her pretty
+drawing-room, she said in his ear:
+
+"You have dubbed me queen of Holmnest, therefore must obey when I bid
+you back to the dining-room for a smoke."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+COFFEE AND CHIT-CHAT.
+
+
+"What a lovely little home you have, Mrs. Gower," said her friend, Mrs.
+Smyth, seating herself near her hostess, the pale blue plush of the
+padded chair contrasting well with her fair hair, pink cheeks and pretty
+grey eyes.
+
+"That chair becomes you at all events, dear," said her hostess, seeing
+that a maid deftly passed coffee bright as decanted wine, afterwards
+small bouquets of beautiful pansies and clematis among her guests, from
+huge glass and Japanese bowls.
+
+"I could scarcely believe Will, when he wrote me of your good fortune,
+you know, the children and I were at Muskoka."
+
+"Yes, I knew you would be glad. I bought this pretty little place the
+week you left, it seemed after years of waiting, my money (what is left
+of it) all came right in a day; you do not know how glad I am to at last
+see you in a home of my own--and in a chair pretty enough to become you,
+dear," she added more brightly.
+
+"Oh, you always make the most of small kindnesses shown you, we were
+only too glad to have you."
+
+"Be that as it may, I shall always remember the bright hours with
+yourselves in the dark days of my life," she said, warmly.
+
+"When did you see Charlie?" asked Mrs. Smyth, in an undertone, for there
+are other ears.
+
+"This afternoon."
+
+"This afternoon!"
+
+"Yes; and you will be surprised to learn he takes the rail for the
+seaboard to-night."
+
+"To-night! Why, and whither, it must be a sudden move, for he was up for
+a smoke with Will the other night and said nothing of it; but," she
+added, laughingly, "he prefers a lady confidant when it's Mrs. Gower.
+
+"Don't you think, Lilian, that the opposite sex is usually chosen to
+lend an ear?" she said, carelessly, to conceal a feeling of sadness at
+the out-going of her friend; for she is aware that the old friendly
+intercourse is broken, now that he has gone to his wedding.
+
+"He has gone to be married; I suppose, he said something to us a long
+time ago about it, but he told it in a clouded kind of way; I wish he
+had confided in me, for Will would not care a fig, but every woman
+doesn't draw such a prize as I. Perhaps when you get number two he will
+not allow the opposite sex to confide; but talking of the green-eyed
+monster, reminds me of two scandals on our street." As she now raised
+her voice, the other ladies pricked up their ears. Mrs. Dale exclaiming:
+
+"Scandals! sounds like Bertha Clay's novels. May poor Mrs. Tremaine and
+self come in. We have been on sermons, servants, and the latest infants;
+a scandal will be as refreshing as Mrs. Gower's coffee."
+
+"I guarantee you an appreciative audience, Mrs. Smyth," laughed her
+hostess, "curtain rises over 'another mud-hole for us to play in.'"
+
+"What a case you are, Mrs. Gower, but I must cut them short, for I would
+not for worlds Will and the other gentlemen come in while they are on."
+
+"No fear of scandals in your home, Mrs. Smyth," said Mrs. Tremaine,
+"with Will always first."
+
+"That's so; well, to begin, before I went to Muskoka, a lady and
+daughter came to reside near us. As they went to our church, Will said
+call; I did. Since my return, I heard from Mr. Cobbe," here turning
+suddenly to Mrs. St. Clair, to whom Mrs. Gower had overlooked
+introducing her, said: "I beg pardon, I should not name names."
+Continuing, "Mr. Cobbe told me the young lady had been married, and
+divorced. Some young fellow, in a good position down East, hearing she
+had some ready cash, wed and deserted her at close of honeymoon. Well,
+the other evening she was married again! at the house quite privately,
+and to whom do you think? to none other than, as the newspapers state,
+Norman Ferguson MacIntyre!"
+
+"To Norman MacIntyre! oh, what a pity," cried Mrs. Tremaine, in dismay,
+"his mother and sisters are such pleasant people, and had very different
+hopes for him; it is simply dreadful."
+
+"But he can throw her overboard, I am sure," cried Mrs. Dale. "If he
+only have his wits about him, the first marriage likely took place in
+Canada, the divorce across the line, don't you see; she is the precious
+prize of the gay deceiver, your friend is free."
+
+"But, even if this be so, Mrs. Dale," said Mrs. Smyth, excitedly, "no
+girl will care to marry poor Norman afterwards."
+
+"I am willing to stake our Pittsburg foundry on his chances," said Mrs.
+Dale, cooly.
+
+"And I, Holmnest," echoed Mrs. Gower, "_poor_ Norman has but to stand in
+the market-place."
+
+"I think they have both lowered their social standing; don't you, Mrs.
+Tremaine?" said Mrs. Smyth.
+
+"I do, indeed."
+
+"It altogether depends upon their bank account," said their hostess,
+sententiously; "and now for your next, for your mouth is still full of
+news, dear."
+
+"Oh, yes; but my next is a _bona fide_ married couple."
+
+"But are they according to the Church Prayer Book?" said Mrs. Dale, with
+her innocent air.
+
+"Oh, yes, certainly; and some say she is like a china doll, and the
+husband, a great big, ugly, black-looking tyrant; but the gentlemen are
+coming, and I must cut it short, and only say that a man handsome as
+Lucifer."
+
+"Before the fall, I suppose," said her hostess.
+
+"Yes, yes, you naughty woman. Well, they say this handsome fellow is
+there whenever the husband is out, and a pock-marked red-headed boy
+(some say their son) is there to watch the pretty wife, and their name
+is St. Clair." Sensation!
+
+At this moment a pin is ran into the arm of the breathless narrator.
+
+"Oh, mercy!" she cried, looking around discovering the boy Noah St.
+Clair, whom every one had forgotten seated on a footstool behind her,
+who said vengefully, indicating by a gesture Mrs. St. Clair and himself,
+"That's _our_ name; it's _us_."
+
+"Gracious, Mrs. Gower, what have I done? Pardon me, I was under the
+impression that this lady's name was Cobbe. I don't know how I got
+things muddled; I thought she was some relative of our Mr. Cobbe."
+
+"Never mind, dear; I should have introduced you; don't apologize; there
+are other St. Clairs in Toronto than my friends."
+
+"I don't mind it in the least," purred the pretty doll; "some one is
+always talking about me. Women are jealous of my complexion and all my
+admirers; but I think my name is prettier than Cobbe."
+
+"Yet 'tell my name again to me,' am always here at beauty's call," said
+Mr. Cobbe, hearing his name on entering with the other gentlemen.
+
+"You, as a Bona Dea, have been our toast, Mrs. Gower," said Buckingham,
+quietly, as he sank into a chair near her own.
+
+"And my inclinations, I hope," she said, laughingly, "with no saving
+clause as to their being virtuous."
+
+"I appeal to your memory of the 'Antiquary,' Mrs. Gower; could any man
+living toast you as the Rev. Mr. Battergowl did Miss Grisel Monkbarns?"
+
+"I don't know; perhaps some would desire to make a proviso."
+
+"Then they would err; I should give a woman of your stamp any length of
+line."
+
+"Thank you; your confidence would not be misplaced, when in honor bound
+I have ever felt as though I did not belong to myself."
+
+"I should judge so; underlying your gaiety conscientiousness holds you
+to an extent few would dream of; you have frequently sacrificed yourself
+to a mistaken sense of duty. Am I not right?"
+
+"Yes; I have been a slave to what I used to think the voice of
+conscience, but which I am now sure was extreme sensitiveness, and a
+sort of moral cowardice; but how strange you should read me so truly."
+
+"Not at all, I am a phrenologist; if you will allow me the very great
+privilege, I shall read your character to you in some quiet hour."
+
+"With very great pleasure. And now will you do me another favor? Make my
+piano sing and speak to us."
+
+"Thank you; I should like to try your instrument. It is from Mason &
+Risch, I see."
+
+Having arranged a table at whist and euchre, Mrs. Gower seated herself
+to enjoy the entrancing music, while looking over some photographs to
+amuse the boy Noah St. Clair, but it was not to be, for the voice of Mr.
+Cobbe said in her ear:
+
+"This won't do; you _must_ come to the library with me; I have not had a
+single word with you all evening, and am, as you are aware, an uninvited
+guest."
+
+"Why invite you, Philip? Alas! there is invariably discord with your
+presence," she says sadly, in the lowest of tones, moving away from the
+curious gaze of the boy.
+
+"Sit here, Elaine, if you positively refuse to leave the room with me,"
+he said excitedly, indicating a tête-à-tête sofa not within ear-shot of
+her guests, managing to detain her until, the hours creeping on apace,
+freighted with the music of soft laughter, and ravishing songs without
+words by the skilled performer, Mr. Buckingham, when pretty Mrs. Dale's
+sweet voice is heard, as she rises from the table, saying triumphantly:
+
+"Win! of course we won. Why, Mr. Dale will tell you, Mr. Smyth, that in
+our card circle at New York, mine is dubbed 'the winning hand.'"
+
+"Indeed! no wonder at our good fortune. Congratulate us, Mrs. Gower; we
+won three straight games, all by reason of the admirable forethought of
+my partner," cried Smyth, exultantly.
+
+"Forethought always comes in a head's length, Mr. Smyth. Now, if you
+could only gain a pocket edition of the winning hand, your surveys would
+yield you a gold mine," said his hostess, gaily.
+
+"Instead of as now, a few promissory notes," laughed Smyth.
+
+"The gentlemen have been envying you your monopoly of Mrs. Gower, Mr.
+Cobbe," said lively Mrs. Smyth, in an undertone; "she is an awful flirt,
+you had better take care of yourself," she added, mischievously.
+
+"I mean to," he said savagely, and with latent meaning, adding, "she is
+as fickle as her clime; I hope," he said, endeavoring to control
+himself, "all you ladies are not so heartless."
+
+"Oh, no; we are as constant as the sun, compared to her," she said, half
+jokingly.
+
+"Would you be so to me," he said thickly, and coming near her.
+
+"Go away, Mr. Cobbe; don't look at me like that, you awful man," she
+whispered, laughingly.
+
+"When may I call, you are the right sort of woman," he continued,
+persistently.
+
+"Will says so, any way," she said, archly.
+
+"Say to-morrow," he persisted.
+
+"Will!" she cried, mischievously, "Mr. Cobbe's compliments, and desires
+to know when he will find you in your sanctum, he wishes to smoke the
+pipe of peace with you."
+
+"Hang it," thought Cobbe, "she has no ambition beyond Will; give me the
+Australian women after all."
+
+"Almost any evening, Cobbe, I am always good for a smoke; but my wife
+says I'd better retrench, the house of Smyth is increasing so rapidly;
+good-night."
+
+"May I see you home, Mrs. St. Clair?" asked Mr. Cobbe, fervidly.
+
+"It would be too sweet--but oh!" and her arm above the elbow is rubbed,
+for the boy Noah has pinched her severely, saying,
+
+"I'll tell papa."
+
+At this juncture Thomas appeared, saying, a coupé had arrived for Mrs.
+St. Clair and Master Noah.
+
+"I must see you to-morrow, Mrs. Gower, after office hours," said Cobbe,
+adding, on meeting the sharp eye of Mrs. Dale, "I have something very
+particular to tell you."
+
+"Say the day after, Mr. Cobbe, please; I shall endeavor to restrain my
+curiosity so long, even though I am a woman."
+
+"No, no, I must see you to-morrow at five p.m.," he said, impulsively.
+
+"The yeas have it this time, Mr. Cobbe. Mrs. Gower belongs to us for
+to-morrow," said Mrs. Dale, drawing her wrap about her, over her
+cream-silk robe, slashed with blue velvet, and laced amid innumerable
+buttonholes, her innocent look only apparent while, in reality, she is
+dissecting him, "our kind hostess does some of the lions with us
+to-morrow afternoon; the evening, she spends with us at the Queen's."
+
+"Yes, we have no end of a bill for to-morrow," said Mr. Dale; "the
+Normal School, Mount Pleasant Cemetery, office of the _Mail_, and the
+University of Toronto."
+
+At this there was a transformation scene, the face of Mr. Cobbe changing
+like a flash from inane sulkiness to jubilant triumph.
+
+"To the University! then Mrs. Gower will tell you what a paradise we
+enjoyed, when I alone was her companion there," he said, with
+excitement; and having previously made his adieu, he departed, chuckling
+inwardly at his parting shot, and thinking for once she is nonplussed.
+"She is too high-spirited to sleep comfortably to-night, if so, she'll
+dream of me in spite of herself."
+
+"What a funny man!" exclaimed Mrs. Dale, "reminds me of a Jack on wires.
+If I were in your place, Mrs. Gower, I'd hand him over to his mother to
+bring up over again; till to-morrow, farewell."
+
+"_Au revoir_, dear."
+
+"Good night, Mrs. Gower," said Buckingham, with a firm hand-clasp; "your
+evenings leave one nothing to wish for, save for their continuance."
+
+"If your words have life, prove them by coming again; good night."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+ACROSS THE SEA TO A WITCH'S CALDRON.
+
+
+Broadlawns, on the outskirts of Bayswater, London, England, on the
+evening Charles Babbington-Cole, from Toronto, Canada, is expected, is
+all aglow with lights; its exterior a goodly spectacle with its many
+windows. A long, low, rambling house, the front relieved by cornice and
+architrave, and an immense portico from which white stone steps, wide
+and worn by many feet, lead to the lawns and gardens, which are gay with
+bright flowers, intersected with old-fashioned serpentine walks; one
+would call it not inaptly a garden of roses, such were their number,
+such their variety and beauty. Great masses of rhododendrons, with the
+fragrant honeysuckle, sweet-briar, and lauristina lent perfume to the
+air. Some fine oaks, with beech and graceful locusts, gave beauty to the
+lawns; stone stables, with farm and carriage houses at the back, with
+paved court-yard, and kitchen-garden luxuriant in growth, a very horn of
+plenty.
+
+"A lovely spot, an ideal home," said numerous passers-by to and from the
+modern Babylon. Alas! that the interior should be a very _inferno_; in
+the library are assembled the family, for a family talk.
+
+Miss Villiers, to whom did we not give precedence, would trample on some
+one to gain first place. Timothy Stone, her maternal uncle, and
+Elizabeth Stone, his sister and Aunt to Miss Villiers; the latter by
+sheer strength of will, since her babyhood, has ruled at Broadlawns,
+even though, owing to disastrous speculation, the whole family were
+penniless, save for the large fortune of her step-mother, Miss Villiers
+lived for, moved and had her being for kingdom. Intensely selfish, and
+totally devoid of feeling, an apt pupil of her aunt and uncle, she
+regards all sentiment, romance or disinterested acts of kindness as
+mawkish, unpractical foolishness.
+
+A word of her looks. In height, five feet two, round shoulders slightly
+high, thin spare figure, a brunette in coloring; stony eyes of piercing
+blackness, always cold and searching as though planted closely in the
+forehead to read one through, as to whether any of her dark secrets have
+been discovered; a hook nose, thin, determined lips; hair black as the
+wing of a raven; the back of her head covered with short, snake-like
+curls, the front was drawn back in straight bands, thus giving
+prominence to features already too unclassically so.
+
+As far as a man can be said to resemble a woman, so did, in looks and
+character, Timothy Stone his niece, save that his once coal-black hair
+is now white; his fishy eyes sunken, though keen as a razor; in height,
+five feet ten; of spare, alert figure, active as a prize racer, knowing
+as the jockey who rides him.
+
+Elizabeth Stone is an older counter-part of her niece, save that she
+wears that fashionable mantle of to-day--the cloak of religion, in
+which, unlike her brother, she is so comfortable as never to allow it to
+fall from her angular shoulders.
+
+The library, an old-fashioned, cold looking room, furnished in black
+oak, everything being in spotless order, from books biblical and
+secular, to Aunt Elizabeth's hands, folded just so on her stiff gown of
+black silk, as to cause one to long for _déshabillé_ somewhere other
+than in the principles of those present.
+
+"The only one whom we have to fear is Sarah Kane, and you, Margaret,
+_will_ keep her about the place in spite of all I can say," said her
+uncle, in crabbed tones; "mark my words, you are housing a rod for your
+own back by your abominable self-will."
+
+"I am no fool; did I dismiss her I should convert her into a deadly
+enemy at once; but, as I have before had occasion to remark, Uncle
+Timothy, that, thanks to your tuition and blood, I am quite able to take
+care of myself, and minus your interference."
+
+"Don't squabble with her, Timothy, when the man Providence is sending
+her as a husband may be in our midst at any moment; as you heard at the
+hotel, he is now in the city."
+
+"Oh bosh, Elizabeth, keep that tone under your church hymnal, as I do;
+between ourselves it is slightly out of place," and he smiled
+sarcastically.
+
+"No, Timothy, in spite of the sinful example you set me, I shall keep my
+lamp trimmed and burning; providence is very good to us in laying low of
+fever, at Montreal, Hugh Babbington-Cole, thus giving him time to
+repent, as also preventing his presence at the wedding of Margaret."
+
+"At which you have been making mountains of mole hills," said her
+brother, grimly. "Babbington-Cole could not possibly remember what
+Margaret and Pearl looked like in eighteen-seventy."
+
+"Your memory is as usual convenient, Timothy, relentless time would have
+shown him the difference in years, of a girl just of age, and a woman of
+thirty-nine."
+
+"Enough, Aunt Elizabeth," interrupted her niece, pale with rage, "I
+simply won't allow you to allude to the subject of ages; if I am to play
+the role of twenty-one, the sooner I get into the part the better for us
+all; we all serve our own ends in this game, self-interest is, and ever
+has been, our strongest motive. For myself, I hate Pearl Villiers as I
+hated my step-mother before her, and I shall not willingly leave
+Broadlawns merely because we have no income to keep it up, when, by
+personating my step-sister--fortunately of my own Christian, as well as
+surname, thanks to the British habit of perpetuating family names--I
+gain the wherewithal to either remain in this peaceful English home,"
+she said, ironically, "or roam across seas with the husband or crank I
+am about to wed--a crank! to revolve the wheels of fortune, while I
+leave you both here like a pair of cooing doves. You, Aunt Elizabeth,
+gain your revenge on Mr. Babbington-Cole for his preference for my
+step-mother to yourself; oh, you needn't wince, my ears have been put to
+their proper use. You, Uncle, were spurned by my angel step-mother, you,
+pining not for her, but her yellow sovereigns, so...."
+
+"You are a witch, Margaret; how the d----l did you find it out?"
+
+"Timothy, Timothy, be good enough not to swear in my presence."
+
+"Oh, I have gleaned the truth in various devious paths from Sarah Kane
+in a weak mood, also letters, and I have not lost my sense of hearing;
+as you have told me since I could lisp that my wits are sharper than
+Rodgers' cutlery; yes, if Broadlawns went to its owner or the hammer,
+you joined the Salvation Army, and my step-sister dangled the purse, I
+feel it in my bones that I could now rival my tutors in living by my
+wits," she said, cruelly.
+
+"You are not devoid of common sense, Margaret; and as we may not have
+another opportunity before your importunate suitor appears, I shall
+refresh your memory by reading again a clause or two of your late
+step-mother's will ... 'to my husband, Henry Villiers, I bequeath the
+life use of one thousand pounds sterling per annum; at his death I will
+and bequeath the whole of my real and personal property to my only
+daughter (Pearl) Margaret Villiers ... on my little (Pearl) Margaret
+Villiers attaining her majority, and becoming the wife of the aforesaid
+Charles Babbington-Cole, son of my friend, Hugh Babbington-Cole, of the
+Civil Service, Ottawa, Canada; my said daughter shall enter into
+possession of all my real and personal property, with the advice of Dr.
+Annesley, of London, England, or Hugh Babbington-Cole, Esquire,
+aforesaid, my said daughter to inherit all, subject to the following
+gifts. To Sarah Kane, five hundred pounds sterling and my wearing
+apparel; my piano, harp and music, I will and bequeath to the
+sister-in-law of my husband, Elizabeth Stone, for her mission-work, with
+the hope that their sweet notes will make her less acid to my poor
+little daughter, as also to the daughters of the poor to whom she brings
+the Gospel message of peace. To my step-daughter, Margaret Villiers, I
+leave my forgiveness for her persistent and unvarying unkindness to
+myself, with my copy of the Christian Martyrs.'"
+
+"Fool!" muttered her step-daughter, vengefully.
+
+"Poor, carnal creature, we are now ordained to be almoners of the gold
+she would have spent sinfully on her daughter; we are saving Pearl from
+the perils of the rich, for easier is it for a camel to go through
+the----"
+
+"Enough of that cant, Aunt; please keep it bottled up, it don't go down
+with us," interrupted her niece, hastily.
+
+"The will is plain enough, considering that it was written by herself,
+and witnessed by Dr. Annesley, and that sneak, Silas Jones; how much the
+latter knows is hard to tell, I have pumped him indirectly without
+avail; Annesley, being a busy London physician, will not bother himself
+in the matter now that Villiers is dead; he has no more love for us than
+we for him; our card is to expedite your union with speed and privacy;
+you will most likely go to Canada, as I expect Charles (as we best
+accustom ourselves to call him) will prefer such arrangement; I shall
+pay you regularly----"
+
+"Yes, you'd better not try any of your sharp tricks on me, Uncle; if the
+cheque is not forwarded to the day, Trenton and Barlow will interview
+you; my sword will also hang by a hair."
+
+"How confoundedly smart we are," he answered, wrathfully.
+
+"I have been brought up in a good school," she replied, sententiously.
+
+"I am glad you are able to appreciate our many useful lessons to you,"
+he said, sneeringly. "And now to business; three thousand pounds per
+annum will be a large income for Canada; especially, as knowing your
+generous nature, I feel sure it will be all spent on your own wants; had
+you not better leave us three thousand, and pinch yourself," he said,
+sarcastically, "on two thousand?"
+
+"Not much! anything I don't spend on myself, as you observe, I shall
+invest in, I think, C. P. R. stock, or even Grand Trunk, as it is
+looking up, there being a rumor that next year it will form a connection
+by way of Duluth, with the Manitoba boundary rail, thus placing itself
+in competition with the C. P. R. You need not stare, I am making myself
+conversant with the state of the Canadian money market."
+
+"How wise we are. I can tell you that only a fool would invest in such
+like, with that Red River Valley Railway bungle on. What I want to be
+made aware of is, have you determined on taking no less than three
+thousand per annum?"
+
+"I have positively so determined. I don't think I look like a fool."
+
+"I do--in a pink muslin, with as much ribbon hanging over your bustle as
+would make a decent gown."
+
+"You are neglecting your education, uncle, in your favorite game of gold
+grab. I'd advise you to go to the city and take a few lessons from the
+clerks at Swan & Edgar's; they will tell you that in society a bustle is
+a _tournure_. As for my dress, my role is twenty-one, and I must bear
+some resemblance to the sweet lines of the poet--of
+
+    'Standing with reluctant feet,
+    Where the brook and river meet.'"
+
+"Dear, dear, what frivolity, and the suburban train is due; we should
+unite in thanking Providence that this gold is in our hands; but
+previously, Margaret, you should stipulate in writing that your uncle
+may pay me the sum of one hundred pounds per annum for my good works.
+There is Meg Smith, actually pining for her drunken husband, who says he
+won't reform until he gets her again; but I have my foot down, and shall
+keep them apart even if we have to pay her board; there is no use in my
+telling them not to be 'unequally yoked with unbelievers,' and then give
+in. I could cite dozens."
+
+"Pray do not. It's my belief all you women care for is power to rule:
+the wretches would be far better without your government. Heaven
+preserve me from a woman with a mission," said her brother in disgusted
+tones. "As to my promising to pay you any stipulated sum, you will
+receive your allowance for wearing apparel, and anything you can crib
+out of the housekeeping you will (all women take to that card
+naturally); but remember, if I find myself on short rations there will
+be the devil to pay."
+
+"One word more, as the speakers say," said Miss Villiers, "ere we
+dissolve this profitable (I use the word advisedly) meeting: what fable
+shall we concoct as to the whereabouts of my angelic step-sister?"
+
+"What an unpleasant way you have of putting things Margaret," said her
+aunt.
+
+"I prefer on occasion to call 'a spade a spade,' Aunt Elizabeth. Well,
+uncle, shall it be as to her self-reliant spirit, and that she (being a
+mistake which means anything) has fled to that broad and convenient
+field, the United States of America?"
+
+"Yes, that will pass; but I scarcely think he will inquire, as he has
+never troubled himself about his betrothed or yourself until you hunted
+him up."
+
+"At your instigation; so disinterested in you, never thinking of the
+feathers for your own nest."
+
+"The suburban train is due!" exclaimed her aunt. "Do, Margaret, endeavor
+to act like a Christian."
+
+"Never fear, Aunt Elizabeth; I shall act my part as well as you do, with
+self-interest as motive-power: our sex play without a prompter; and now
+to the drawing-room to awe the ignorant Colonial by our British gold and
+conventionalities."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+A TROUBLED SPIRIT.
+
+
+With mingled feelings of disinclination and repulsion, also an undefined
+sense of dread and reluctance, poor C. Babbington-Cole left the _City of
+Chicago_ and, again on _terra firma_, made his way up from the seaboard
+to London, where at Morley's Hotel he and his father had arranged to
+meet. "Hang it," he thought moodily, "I feel like an infernal frog out of
+Acheron, covered with the ooze and mud of melancholy. Jove, if I could
+only chance upon the Will Smyths or Mrs. Gower, what a tonic they would
+be; how they would enjoy this madding crowd with all the world abroad,
+with no blue blood in the beef they eat either; judging from red cheeks
+and stout ankles. What women! cotton batting would not be a safe
+investment here; I hope the governor is waiting for me at Morley's, but
+he must be, as he took the _Circassian_ from Quebec on the 16th. I'll
+persuade him not to go out to Bayswater at all, but to abandon this debt
+of honor, as in his sensitive nature he dubs his promise to a dead
+woman, for I have no hankering after a martyr's crown. If I am coerced
+(for I am made of very limp stuff) into this union and she is not a girl
+I can care to spoon over, and must 'write me down as an ass' for selling
+my liberty to, then adieu to wedded bliss--I shall again content myself
+in a den by myself, and my craze for mechanism shall be my wife and my
+few real friends my mistress. Jove! though, I must strain my eyes and
+endeavor to see a glimmer of light in the black clouds; if she be a girl
+after my own heart she will sympathize after a more practical manner
+than did the 'twenty with Bunthorn,' in giving me the dollar to develop,
+and obtain a patent for one or other of my inventions. Yes, I'll be a
+soldier. I am nearing the battle-field; with the smell of powder in my
+nostrils, I will gain strength. Cabby is reining in his steed, so this,
+I suppose, is my hotel."
+
+"Morley's, sir; and 'ere be a porter for your baggage, sir."
+
+"All right," and springing from the four-wheeler he is interviewing the
+clerk.
+
+"Has Mr. Babbington-Cole, from Ottawa, Canada, arrived?"
+
+"No, sir; are you Mr. C. Babbington-Cole?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then here is a cablegram for you, sir."
+
+It was from his father, and ran thus:
+
+     "ST. LAWRENCE HALL,
+          "MONTREAL, Sept. 20th.
+
+     "To C. BABBINGTON-COLE, Esq.,
+          "Morley's Hotel, London, England.
+
+     "Your father has been very ill--typhoid fever; called me in; is
+     improving; asks me to cablegram you to return by way of
+     Montreal. Longs to see you and your wife, which will be a
+     panacea for him.
+
+     "JOHN PEAKE, M.D."
+
+"My father ill! Oh that I could have foreseen all this," exclaimed Cole,
+flinging himself into a chair in the privacy of the bedroom assigned
+him. "To have to face my fate alone," he thought, "and yet I have been
+aware for some time that this was hanging over me; but the truth is, I
+thought the girl would never claim me, that they would arbitrate,
+divide, have a grab game among themselves, anything other than rope me
+in. Had I been gifted with Scotch second-sight, or even caution, I
+should not be in this fix now; but I have been made of wax, and so
+absorbed in my loved inventions, filling in an emotional half hour with
+an occasional flirtation, with my nose to the grindstone the rest of my
+time, that this possible 'game of barter,' in which some one says 'the
+devil always has the best of it,' rarely occurred to me; but this will
+never do in action, only shall I now find repose. I _must_ go out to
+Bayswater, and I _must_ wed this girl, unless Heaven works a
+miracle--no, unless I act the coward's part, cut and run, I am in for
+it. If I could only moralize on the pantheon of ugly horrors half of our
+marriages are, and that one might imagine most of them were perpetrated
+in the dark, or on sight, as mine, then I might console myself by
+thinking that I have as good a chance of happiness as most. My brain is
+on fire; if I only had one friend in this vanity fair, wherein to me is
+no merriment, the babel of sounds seeming to me the guns of the enemy
+warning me to retreat; talk of _delirium tremens_, I have all the blue
+devils rolled in one; a stimulant is what I want, to be able to face the
+music."
+
+And making his way to the bar, in a short time his spirits, with the aid
+of John Barleycorn, arise; though he knows in the reaction they will be
+below zero.
+
+"And now for Bayswater and my shrinking young bride," he thought. "I
+declare," he said, half aloud, with a forced laugh, "I can sympathize,
+for the first time, with the fly who had a bid from the spider to walk
+into his parlor. Is there a roaring farce on anywhere?" he asked the
+bar-tender.
+
+"Yes, sir; a reg'lar side-splitter at the Haymarket. You will 'ave time
+to take in the matinee and dinner at Broadlawns, Bayswater, too, sir."
+
+"How the deuce did you know I was due there?"
+
+"Mr. Stone and Miss Villiers have called three times to look you up,
+sir."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"Yes, sir; Mr. Stone, he came in, and Miss Villiers, she waited outside
+in the trap."
+
+The mere mention of the people from Broadlawns having come to hunt him
+up, had such a depressing effect, that he abandoned all idea of
+distraction at the play.
+
+"There is not a particle of use of my trying to sit through the farce
+with this thumping headache; have a hansom here for me in a couple of
+hours, to convey me to Broadlawns; I shall walk out and get a glimpse of
+the city."
+
+"All right, thank you, sir."
+
+"Some one hath it," he thought, entering Trafalgar Square, "that the
+grand panacea, the matchless sanative which is an infallible cure for
+the blues, is exercise, exercise, _exercise!_ so now for a trial; here
+goes for five miles an hour."
+
+On, and ever onwards, with, and yet apart from, the stream of busy life,
+alone and lonely amidst the throngs not once staying his steps; winging
+his flight in the vain effort to flee from self, drifting on the waves
+of unrest, they engulfing him, his face white and worn as a ghost, his
+blue eyes weary and with a hunted look, a neuralgic headache driving him
+to the brink of madness; the panorama of wonderful sights on which,
+under other circumstances, he would have feasted his eyes. Peers of the
+realm, having gained notoriety in one way or another, passed unnoticed,
+with lovely women, from professional beauties reclining in their own
+carriages, whose toys were men's hearts, with the world as a stage, to
+the avowed actress, whose bright eyes looked from a hired equipage, who
+played for men's gold on the stage of the theatre; far-famed Regent
+Street was traversed with less interest than he would have accorded to
+Lombard Street, Toronto; for man loves freedom as a bird--there he was
+free, now he feels his fetters.
+
+"Take care, sir," said a policeman, kindly.
+
+"Blockhead! it would serve him right to come to his senses under the
+feet of my horse," said the only occupant of a low carriage, in the
+voice of a shrew, as she drove on.
+
+At this juncture Cole shook himself to rights, as it were.
+
+"She was ugly enough to give a fellow a scare, after our pretty Canadian
+women," he said to the policeman.
+
+"Oh, she isn't no type of what we can show you, sir; she's but small,
+but enough o' her sort, say I."
+
+"Ditto; and now be good enough to hail a cab for me."
+
+"Yes, sir; here you are, and thank you, sir."
+
+"To Morley's hotel."
+
+"All right, sir."
+
+On reaching his destination he learned that Mr. Stone had driven in to
+ascertain whether he had arrived, when, on hearing that he had, but was
+out, had waited; when a lady, calling for him, had gone, leaving a note
+for him, which on opening read thus:
+
+     "DEAR BABBINGTON-COLE,--Am very pleased to hear of your safe
+     arrival; have important business, so cannot wait; in fact
+     arrangements for the immediate marriage of my niece to
+     yourself; kindly come out at once, on your return.
+
+    "Yours sincerely,
+        "TIMOTHY STONE."
+
+"The net is well laid," thought poor Cole; "they are bound to rope me
+in; how strange it all seems; even my name sounds unfamiliar, having at
+home, in dear old Toronto, dropped the Babbington; but I must adorn
+myself for the altar." And once more he seeks retirement in his own
+chamber. "Hang that evolution of a woman's corsets and curling tongs,
+viz., the modern dude! such a choking and tightening a fellow's throat
+and legs undergo; I wonder if my shrinking bride will expect me to kneel
+to her. Ah! there goes for a rip; under the knee, though, as luck would
+have it; not being quite educated up to a chamois pad and face powder,
+my modest Pearl will have to be satisfied with candle and throat moulds.
+I wonder if she will compliment me on my handsome black moustache, as my
+women friends at home do; and now to fortify myself with dinner, or at
+least oysters and a glass of stout. Hang it, how faint and dizzy I
+feel."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+VULTURES HABITED AS CHRISTIAN PEW-HOLDERS.
+
+
+In due time his hansom enters the gates of Broadlawns; at the door he is
+met by Mr. Stone.
+
+"Welcome to England and Broadlawns," said the spider to the fly, his
+ferret-like eyes scanning his victim eagerly, as if to read whether he
+would give him trouble. "We have been expecting you for twenty-four
+hours; the ladies have been most anxious. Simon, bring this gentleman's
+baggage upstairs, to the east room; and put in an appearance soon,
+Babbington-Cole, or the ladies will think you a myth."
+
+"Thank you; as I dressed at Morley's, I shall be with you in a few
+moments," responded Cole, in subdued accents, feeling that struggles
+would be now of no avail, that he was well in their net; but the house
+itself would have depressed him under any circumstances. It was solid,
+massive, thick-set gloom; happiness and mirth were far away; the cold,
+chill atmosphere of distrust, dislike, deceit and hypocrisy dwelt in its
+dark corridors and gloomy apartments. The last gleam of "Home, sweet
+home," had fled with the spirit of the second wife of its late master;
+she, poor thing, was wont to say, "Broadlawns is like a lovely, smiling
+face, with a black, lying heart; its exterior is bright with Nature's
+beauteous flowers, its interior a very Hades."
+
+Miss Villiers and Miss Stone rose to greet Mr. Cole on his entering the
+gloomy, but handsomely furnished oak drawing-room; his first glance at
+the former served to show him that the lady who had wished he might come
+to his senses under the feet of her horse and Miss Villiers were one and
+the same.
+
+"Jove! that vixen," he thought; "but, thank Heaven, there are two
+daughters; the other is my one, for my father says she is the prettiest
+girl in all England, and this one, ugh, she makes one's flesh creep."
+
+"My conscience, 'tis that dolt," thought his bride-elect, giving her
+hand with her false smile. "We expected you to dinner, but cook has my
+orders to get you up something, so come with me to the dining-room," she
+added, insinuatingly.
+
+"Don't trouble about me, Miss Villiers, I beg; I had a bit of dinner at
+Morley's."
+
+"Muff," thought Miss Villiers, spitefully, "not to have taken his chance
+to become acquainted."
+
+"Margaret is, as you are aware, Mr. Babbington-Cole, the Christian name
+of my niece (and a beautiful name it is); she will be better pleased if
+you drop all formality, and call her so, eh, Margaret."
+
+"Yes, under the circumstances," she answered, with a meaning glance.
+
+"Thank you; I have not seen your sister yet; is she quite well?" he
+asked, timidly; for, with a forboding of evil, he unconsciously looked
+to the sister as an escape.
+
+"Margaret's fascinations fall flat," thought her uncle, with a malicious
+chuckle.
+
+"I don't take; he wants a milk and water miss, but no you don't, young
+man; you are _my tool_," thought his bride-elect, setting her teeth.
+
+"My poor step-sister is well--I hope, but we never name her; she is a--a
+mistake; however, _she_ is not your one."
+
+"But is she not here?" said Cole, nervously, now really frightened,
+"does she not reside with you? My poor father said--" here he utterly
+broke down. Accustomed ever to lean on some one, of a clinging, trusting
+nature, with a strong spice of feminine gentleness, which caused him to
+turn to some woman friend for advice or moral support, so that here, in
+the hour of his greatest need, he feels doubly alone, as he gazes around
+at the three hard, cruel faces, each with a set purpose and false smile
+perceptibly engraven, he is in despair. Miss Villiers especially; will
+he ever cease to be haunted by her as she sits in a high Elizabethan
+chair, an ebony easel exactly on a line with her face, and partly behind
+her, on which is a frightful head of Medusa, the reptiles for hair
+looking to him, in his highly nervous state, like the tight, crisp curls
+and braids covering the head of his bride-elect, and the lines from
+Pitt's "Virgil" recurred to his memory:
+
+    "Such fiends to scourge mankind, so fierce, so fell,
+    Heaven never summoned from the depths of hell."
+
+Mr. Stone broke the momentary silence by saying, in matter-of-fact
+tones:
+
+"It is natural, I suppose, to a man of your seemingly nervous
+temperament, to be a little upset at not meeting your father; but, in my
+opinion, life is too short for sentiment, especially when wasted as in
+this case, for your father, according to cablegram sent us, is
+improving, and is, I dare swear, kicking his heels about St. Lawrence
+Hall, Montreal, waiting impatiently for your return."
+
+"Yes, Uncle Timothy, yours is the practical view of it; sentiment is, or
+should be, a monopoly of the poets; self-interest, with pounds,
+shillings and pence, are good enough for us."
+
+"Margaret means to convey, Mr. Charles, that you should be thankful to
+Providence that you have been spared to come to us; to a land, also,
+flowing with milk and honey, ready to your hand and purse," said her
+aunt, sanctimoniously adding, "How is religious life in Toronto?"
+
+"Religious life?" he said, half dazed, wholly absorbed in the thought
+that he was to be held in bondage by that stony-eyed woman with
+snake-like hair--his Medusa.
+
+"Alas, I fear you are dead in sin, Mr. Charles. You do not even know the
+meaning of my words. I have heard that New York is the most wicked city
+in America, and you, I fear, frequently go there to participate in the
+pleasures of sin. I dread to allow my niece to go out, even as your
+wife; it was only the other day I read, copied from one of your
+newspapers, that at Tahlequah, which I suppose is near you, that a
+Chickasaw Indian was arrested by a deputy United States marshal with
+three assistants; the company camped on the prairie, with the exception
+of the marshal, who, riding on, reached his goal; waited there until
+weary, he rode back, and what did he find? The entire posse with heads
+cut off, and the Indian fled. America must be a very Sodom and Gomorrah.
+But I see you are not listening to me, Mr. Charles. We have a saintly
+young man here, the Rev. Claude Parks, whom I must ask to influence you
+to a better frame of mind, with an intense gratitude to Providence for
+the favors about to be showered upon you."
+
+Thus did Miss Stone give vent to her feelings to unlistening ears. Fond
+of hearing her own voice, it mattered little to her that she received no
+replies but to be told impatiently that "he was ill," and to be
+compelled to waste the eloquence she seduced herself into believing she
+possessed, upon a man with now his hands pressed upon his feverish brow,
+now his eyes fixed on vacancy, now upon the entrance as though he would
+fain flee, incensed her almost to rage; during the absence of Mr. Stone
+and his niece she had determined to improve the occasion, and so read
+him no end of lectures. The two absent ones, after a few minutes'
+whispered conversation in the library, had crossed the lawn to a neat
+cottage where the clergyman in charge of the Bayswater Mission existed
+on one hundred and fifty pounds per annum. As they stepped through the
+flower beds, which the moon rising in unclouded splendor lit with her
+soft white light, Miss Villiers in cold, hard tones, said:
+
+"Yes, you are right; he showed his hand, and of how much he loved me at
+first sight, as he asked in that scared way for my sweet sister, but
+bah! such maudlin folly in our wasting our precious moments over _his_
+feelings in the matter; they are of no more consequence than are the
+blades of grass we crush beneath our feet in reaching our goal; let him
+laugh who wins, even though the goal be reached by a foul."
+
+"Yes, the sooner we hold the lines the better; he has not spirit enough
+to be a runaway horse."
+
+"Let him but try, there is the curb bit and halter."
+
+"Oh, you need not tell me, Margaret, that you will have him well in
+hand. Yes, and before that paradise of fools, the honeymoon, is over,"
+laughed her uncle sardonically.
+
+"Yes, the grey mare will be the best horse this time; but what a
+blessing his father is laid low; it would have been all up, when he saw
+how cut up our precious Charles is. I did hope, had they come over
+together, they might have been shrewd as their Yankee neighbors, and
+gone in with us. Now, if his father should die, we have nothing to fear;
+if he lives, we must exercise our wits, that is all. And, now, as to
+your little fiction as to the telegram summoning you away at daybreak,
+where will you stay?"
+
+"Oh, anywhere, in some quiet cheap boarding-house in East End, London;
+perhaps Tom Lang's."
+
+"I suppose it's soft of me, uncle; but I may not have a quiet word with
+you again. You must mind, I mean what I say. You must pay aunt one
+hundred pounds per annum for her own requirements and beloved mission
+work, though what she gives would not buy salt to their porridge, unless
+to that of her pet parson himself."
+
+"When you know this, Margaret, why make such an ass of yourself as to
+give it her; for, in my opinion, she is hoarding."
+
+"It is in the blood; but you are a monopolist," she said sententiously
+as, merely tapping on the door of the cottage, they entered _sans
+ceremonie_, meeting the Rev. Claude Parks in the hall, who, shaking
+hands with both, said: "I had some calls this evening, but expecting you
+in, postponed them. At what hour to-morrow am I to tie the knot?" he
+asked smilingly.
+
+"Never put off till to-morrow what can be done to-day, Mr. Parks; you
+may take that for your text next Sunday," said Miss Villiers decidedly.
+
+"Nothing like it, Parks," said her uncle in oily tones, rubbing his
+hands.
+
+"I shall give you another," said the curate rejoicing in his coming fee.
+"'If, when done, 'twere well, 'twere well 'twere done quickly.' Do you
+desire me to return with you?"
+
+"Yes," said Miss Villiers, "and at once, if we are to act on our joint
+quotations, for it is only two hours until midnight; come, get your
+robes of office, and let us be off."
+
+Thus it was that the ways and means did duty, the curate standing much
+in awe of Miss Villiers, as well as of Miss Stone; some saying the
+latter was his curate, others facetiously protesting that he was hers.
+And so she considered him not as the ambassador of Christ, but as a paid
+servant of her own, for so does too often the Anglican Church pay its
+clergy only sufficient for a dinner of herbs; knowing that man, be he
+priest or sinner, being a dining animal, has, at a weak moment, a
+craving for the "stalled ox," and if his appetite be too strong for him,
+sells himself, like Esau, for a "mess of pottage."
+
+But now to return to Miss Villiers and her uncle, with the Rev. Claude
+Parks, as they make their entrée to Broadlawns and its oak
+drawing-rooms.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+A LUCIFER MATCH.
+
+
+"Rev. Mr. Parks, Mr. Babbington-Cole, of whom you have heard us speak,
+from Canada," said Miss Villiers; and Bengough's modern curate of the
+conventional type flashed across the memory of poor Cole. He was a meek
+young man, though a true Christian, who spoke in a monotone, his hair
+parted, to a hair, in line with the bridge of his nose, and wearing his
+hands meekly folded.
+
+After their going round and round the barometer, English and Canadian,
+Miss Stone said, primly:
+
+"It matters little whether the poor carnal bodies suffer from the cold.
+I fear, out there, souls are cold unto death, starving for spiritual
+life and heat. I have been telling Mr. Babbington-Cole, and I feel sure
+you will coincide with me, Mr. Parks, that with so many infidels and
+wild Indians in his land, they should have their lamps trimmed and
+burning."
+
+"You are always orthodox, Miss Stone," chanted Mr. Parks, meekly. "You
+look ill, Mr. Babbington-Cole; was the sea too much for you?"
+
+"Yes, and now my head is in a whirl. I feel as if I am in for brain
+fever. Would to God I had remained in Canada," he answered feverishly.
+
+"Tut, tut; a night's rest will set you up," said Stone hastily. "You
+Canadians are pale in any case, looking as though you feed on gruel."
+
+"Cablegram, sir," said Simon, tapping at the door.
+
+"It's for you, Babbington-Cole," said Stone, handing it.
+
+"From my father's medical man," said Cole nervously, as, on reading it,
+he returned it to the envelope, and was about pocketing it, when Miss
+Villiers said, putting out her hand:
+
+"I presume we may see it."
+
+Cole, though with visible reluctance, handed it to her, when she read as
+follows:
+
+     "ST. LAWRENCE HALL,
+            "MONTREAL, 25th Sept.
+
+     "To C. BABBINGTON-COLE, Esq.
+
+     "Typhoid fever left; but taken cold, sore throat; looking most
+     anxiously for the return of yourself and Mrs. Cole. _Pray don't
+     delay._
+
+
+    "JOHN PEAKE, M.D."
+
+"Too bad, too bad; but you may yet find your father quite well," said
+Stone, with assumed feeling.
+
+"'In the midst of life we are in death,'" said Miss Stone. "I trust your
+father has not been a careless liver, Mr. Charles; as a young man, I
+remember he was much given to the things of the world."
+
+"My father is no smooth-tongued hypocrite, but has a truer sense of
+religion than many representative men and women in our church of
+to-day," said Cole, warmly; while thinking, but for his mistaken sense
+of honor, I would not now be in this abominable fix.
+
+"You will, I am sure, be anxious to return at once, Mr.
+Babbington-Cole," said Mr. Parks, in measured tones. "And as the first
+step towards it, as it grows late, if you will arrange yourselves, I
+will proceed at once with the service."
+
+"To-night!" exclaimed the victim.
+
+"I think it best, Babbington-Cole," said Stone, firmly, "for you are not
+the only one who has received a telegraphic message this evening; mine
+summons me away at daybreak for the Isle of Wight, on urgent business;
+and as you have crossed the pond to marry my niece, what do you gain by
+postponement?"
+
+"By delay," said Miss Villiers, fixing her stony eyes on him, as she
+motioned him to stand beside her, "by delay we may miss seeing your
+father alive."
+
+"True," said Cole, "and I must find him alive to explain all this," he
+added, with feverish haste. And while the service was said in monotone
+by the clergyman, so intent was he in performing hidden rites of
+vengeance upon his bride for the pantheon of hideous idols she was
+making him walk through life in, that he was deaf to the words:
+
+"Wilt thou take this woman to be thy wedded wife?"
+
+And the first caress he received from his bride was a pinch, sharp and
+telling; he said, excitedly:
+
+"Take it all for granted, Mr. Parks, I am really too ill to take part."
+
+At the words, "I pronounce that they be man and wife together," etc.,
+muffled footsteps and the noise of panting breath is distinctly heard,
+and a pale woman, who had evidently come from a distance, with flying
+feet entered; the clergyman only seeing her, the others having their
+backs to the entrance; but she nears, staying her feet to listen as she
+hears the words which add another couple to the long line of loveless
+unions, her hurried breathing falls on the ears of those present. All
+turn round. Miss Villiers eyes her menacingly, while Miss Stone and her
+brother simultaneously point to the door, as she interrupting Mr. Parks'
+congratulations, says in heart-rending tones of despair:
+
+"Yes, I will go, for I am too late, too late, alas! for my poor young
+mistress and my oath to protect her." And she vanished noiselessly.
+
+The fetters securely fastened, Mrs. Babbington-Cole said, wrathfully:
+
+"A lunatic asylum is the only fit home for Sarah Kane." Turning to her
+new-made husband, she says explanatorily, "an old servant, and a crank.
+Uncle Timothy, you had better see her caged up somewhere, or pay her
+off, and dismiss her."
+
+"Yes, I must; we can't have a madwoman going about like this."
+
+"Alas! how ungrateful of Sarah," sighed Miss Stone. "I fear the seed we
+have sown fell on stony ground, Mr. Parks."
+
+"I fear so, indeed," echoed Mr. Parks, as he departed, his heart
+gladdened on thinking of the good British gold in his pocket; and from
+Mr. Stone, mean though he was, it was worth paying a sovereign to become
+the possessor of a yearly income of two thousand pounds. The poor
+bridegroom thought not of the parson's fee, which, had he wedded a woman
+of his own choice, he would have paid with an overflowing heart, he,
+poor fellow, being as generous as morning sunbeams on a beauteous June
+day.
+
+The ceremony over! the fraud consummated! the bird snared! the man
+fettered! all joy in living, all hope in his heart crushed by a woman.
+Cole since hearing the solemn words of the agitated woman, felt as he
+threw himself into a chair, burying his head in his hands, as he leaned
+forward elbows on knees, as though did some one put a knife to his heart
+he would be grateful; he felt feverish and his brain throbbed as it had
+never throbbed before. Starting to his feet, he said brokenly, "It is
+now my turn to dictate; you will excuse me, I _must_ have time to think,
+_and in solitude;_ I go to my own apartment."
+
+"You had better have some supper with us first to celebrate the event,"
+said his bride, jocosely, for she feels triumphant.
+
+"No, I thank you, food would choke me, and I am in no mood for revelry."
+
+"You had better, Babbington-Cole," said Stone (who never offered a meal
+that he had to pay for), "you had better; an empty stomach is a cold
+bed-fellow."
+
+But he was gone. Six ears sharp as needles listened to the sound of his
+retreating footfalls, slow and heavy, in ascending the stairs; they
+heard him go in and lock his door.
+
+"A loving bridegroom," said Stone, malevolently. "You have evidently
+made an impression, Margaret."
+
+"As you did on my sainted step-mother, when she spurned your offer
+beneath her feet, history repeats itself, most affectionate of uncles."
+
+"'The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity,'" said Miss Stone,
+reprovingly; "let us show a Christian spirit, and prove we are thankful
+everything is settled; we have worked hard for it, and have a right to
+partake of the feast prepared for the wedding party."
+
+"Had you not better call your recalcitrant spouse, Margaret," said her
+uncle, as they repaired to the dining-room and seated themselves;
+"perhaps you do not know that the way to a man's heart is through his
+stomach."
+
+"No, I shall not disturb his peaceful slumbers; by leaving him to
+himself he will the sooner come to his milk. For a beggarly eight
+hundred-dollar clerk--Colonial at that--he does not show gratitude as he
+should for a three thousand pound per annum wife.".
+
+"I agree with you, Margaret, but I doubt not you will bring him to a
+more Christian frame of mind," said Miss Stone, dwelling on each
+mouthful of veal-and-ham pie with the relish of an epicure.
+
+"Alone once more, thank God!" said Cole to himself in despairing tones,
+throwing himself on to a sofa of stiff, cold horse-hair; "and now to
+collect my unwelcome thoughts," he sighed wearily, now walking
+restlessly to and fro, now flinging himself down, lying perfectly still.
+
+Some one says that "locality is like a dyer's vat." This room assigned
+to Cole would in itself have lent a gloomy, funereal aspect to one's
+tone of mind, from the cumbrous bedstead of dark mahogany to the darkest
+of hangings and carpet, every article as cold and polished as the black
+hair-cloth furniture. No pretty feminine knick-knacks, no bright
+pictures, nothing to relieve the eye.
+
+"Alone," he groaned, "yes, but for how long? She will, I expect, think
+she has the right to come here; had she forced her hateful presence upon
+me to-night I feel that reason would have fled. What could my father
+have been about to sell me like this? But there has been some devil's
+work. He has been deceived, and I have been completely hemmed in by the
+moves of the miscreator circumstance, the cablegram of his physician to
+them and to myself to-night. She a modern Medusa, to be a panacea for
+him or any one! Poor father, how you have been duped. That they are all
+playing some devil's game is clear even to my throbbing brain, no wonder
+that ever since I set foot on England's shore I have had a terrible
+presentiment of evil hanging over me, and now the very worst has come to
+pass: they have roped me in. I have given her, that awful woman, my
+name! God save me from madness! Hist! what sound was that? They come!
+and yet the hideous midnight revelry is still on below; but they come, a
+tap! Jove's thunderbolt, or Vulcan's hammer would be of no avail. I
+shall feign sleep."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THEIR "RANK IS BUT THE GUINEA'S STAMP."
+
+
+"And what does our Diogenes find to say?" said Mrs. Gower, gaily, as on
+the night of the 9th November she gathered a few friends to supper,
+after an evening at the Grand Opera House. "Come, Mr. Dale, like a good
+man, confess that Mrs. Langtry is worth letting your tub go to staves
+for."
+
+"Well, on the whole, yes. I think she has improved."
+
+"Improved! but I suppose one must be content with even such admission
+from you."
+
+"But, my dear lady, when a man has seen the best that London, Paris, and
+New York can put on their theatre boards, what you in Canada offer is
+merely _pour passez le temp_."
+
+"Yes, I suppose one grows to feel like that; but I am glad I have yet a
+few sights to see, if, by seeing everything, one loses one's zest for
+anything."
+
+"But you surely do not admire her choice of plays?"
+
+"No; but I do really deem her a born actress, as clever as she is
+charming."
+
+"One could easily see, Mrs. Gower, that you got the worth of your ticket
+in emotional feeling," said Mr. Smyth, laughingly, "for you visibly
+trembled when 'ex-Captain Fortinbras' made his triumphant _exposé_."
+
+"Malevolent wretch! a thrill of horror did run through me, as well as of
+pity for his unfortunate victim."
+
+"My feelings are not so easily acted upon," said Mrs. Dale. "I was very
+coolly watching to see if she could disentangle herself from the
+villain's clutches, and her arms from her odious lace sleeves."
+
+"The latter absorbed me," said lively Mrs. Smyth; "if I had such arms I
+should never cover them, not even in mid-winter; you ought to pay more
+for your ticket than we do, Elaine, you get more--more feelings--than we
+do."
+
+"Yes, I must trouble you for some more oysters, Mr. Dale; 'nerve tissue
+is expensive,'" she laughingly answered.
+
+"Her gowns, her robings, were in perfect taste," said Buckingham.
+
+"Yes, Oscar Wilde would have breathed a sigh of satisfaction," said Mrs.
+Gower.
+
+"Speaking of our color-blending pet," said Mrs. Dale, "he wishes his
+baby was a girl; he says girls drape so much better."
+
+"Just fancy a thing like that living in our stirring times, and calling
+itself a man," said Dale, contemptuously; "picture him beside the two
+liberated Chicago Anarchists."
+
+"Poor fellow! he would feel badly had the Communists the control of his
+wardrobe," said Mrs. Gower.
+
+"His would be a capital garb for a surveyor," said Mrs. Smyth; "I wish
+Will would adopt it."
+
+"Then would surveyors be on the increase when his measure would be
+taken," laughed Mrs. Gower.
+
+"Lilian has vivid recollections of my last home-coming, when I was a
+mass of sticky York mud to my knees," said Smyth.
+
+"I remember, Dale, you were disgusted at the Emma-Juch concert by reason
+of large hats and small chatter," said Buckingham. "What did you think
+of the manner of the audience to-night?"
+
+"I think that, on the whole, when one considers the antecedents of the
+moneyed people of Toronto, that they behaved themselves better, showed
+more consideration for the feelings of others, in fact, ignored their
+fine feathers--remembering that they were not the only occupants of the
+theatre--better than at any other gathering of 'beauty and fashion' (in
+newspaper parlance), that I have made one at."
+
+"Yes; so I thought," said Buckingham; "and at the theatre, one escapes
+the worrying nuisance of recalls, as felt at Toronto."
+
+"I wish some star in the concert world would have the courage to insert
+after her name, no encore," said Mrs. Gower, "for though we do recall,
+it is astonishing how _ennuyeux_ the best numbers are in repetition."
+
+"Will did an awfully daring thing at the Carreno-Juch concert," said
+Mrs. Smyth, eagerly; "we had seats immediately behind the Cawsons; and
+you know, Elaine, what a rude, boisterous----"
+
+"My dear," said her friend, in mock reproof; "they are in society! have,
+of course, the dollar, and, perforce, are fashionable! what in poor
+people we should designate as rude and underbred, we must call in the
+Cawsons, and that ilk, 'quite the thing, you know;' but proceed, _ma
+chere_."
+
+"Well, Will fidgetted, and they chattered across each other in audible
+remarks, on acquaintances in the audience, on a luncheon they were to
+give, as to the war-paint of a lady friend who had been presented to
+Queen Victoria, when I, the meanest of her subjects (I use the words
+figuratively, as Burdette says), pitied royalty; but the climax was
+reached when in Raff's 'Ever of Thee,' a particular favorite of Will's,
+the 'unruly member' was heard with renewed vigor, when this husband of
+mine rose in his might, and to his feet, saying audibly, 'Come, let us
+try if the low price seats hold better-bred people.'"
+
+"Bravo! bravo!" cried Buckingham.
+
+"Very well put," said Dale; "short a time as I have been in Toronto, I
+have observed that for culture and refinement one must look to the
+people who live on modest incomes, or salaries; middle class is a phrase
+I find no use for. In this country there are the 'vulgar rich,' whose
+'rank is but the guinea's stamp,' and well-bred poor; there are
+impoverished gentry, with an innate refinement showing in their too
+often struggling descendants; there are the moneyed people, lacking what
+filthy lucre cannot buy, namely, good breeding, and who never weary in
+parading their jewels, furniture and fine clothes."
+
+"Very true," said Mrs. Gower; "I have frequently thought at some of our
+large social gatherings, that it is a pity one's blood cannot be
+analyzed instead of one's gown."
+
+"What a resurrection there would be," said Buckingham; "not a few would
+long to pocket their own heads."
+
+"A sympathetic artiste must feel any want of oneness in her audience,"
+said Mrs. Dale; "I should throw my roll of music at them and retire."
+
+"At which, dear, they would only give their unwearied cry of 'encore,'"
+said her hostess; "it is very evident we are all at one in a very
+decided distaste for mongrels; but, Mr. Buckingham, during your run on
+the Kingston and Pembroke rail you missed hearing the Rev. Jackson
+Wray."
+
+"Yes; did he please you?"
+
+"Extremely; both in his sermonizing and in his lecture on George
+Whitefield; he is eloquent, and his imagery and figurative language
+charmed me."
+
+"Indeed; in that case I regret to have missed him. Did you hear him,
+Dale?"
+
+"Yes, and though I regret the not being at one with Mrs. Gower in all
+things," he said, smilingly, "must say he pleased me not."
+
+"Pleased you not!" echoed his hostess; "then I abandon you to your tub;
+the scholarly, the literary world, would be a desert did your sweeping
+criticisms prevail."
+
+"But how so, Dale? one would almost make sure of finding in him a rather
+superior excellence, knowing that he holds a pulpit in such a city as
+your London."
+
+"Granted, Buckingham; but not only at London, but over the whole
+Christianized world, mistakes are to be found in the pulpit."
+
+"Oh, no, Dale, I cannot go with you; 'tis in the pew that mistakes
+exist."
+
+"I go with you there, Buckingham," he replied, wilfully misunderstanding
+him; "the pew system is selling out the Gospel by the square foot," at
+which his friend laughed.
+
+"Mr. Dale," asked Mrs. Gower, "do you never allow the critic within you
+to go to sleep, allow your really generous nature full play, and give
+yourself up to enjoyment?"
+
+"I do; for instance, now, here is a real enjoyment; but, pray, do not
+dub me a critic."
+
+"I fear I must in some of your moods; but see, the mere word, or the
+silvery chimes of midnight, are lending wings to your wife, and Mrs.
+Smyth: they are deserting us. Are you examining the heavens, dear?" she
+says, following Mrs. Dale to a window.
+
+"Look quick, Mrs. Gower, he won't see you if you peer through the slats;
+and how awful! in among the bushes, out in that torrent of rain, there
+is a----"
+
+"Don't alarm Mrs. Gower," said Buckingham, quietly, who had neared them
+unnoticed; "if there is anyone loitering about, let me open the shutters
+and window, and step out."
+
+"Good night, Mrs. Gower," called Smyth, from the hall; "our carriage
+stops the way, and if I don't make a move, Lil never will," he says,
+meeting her.
+
+"Mr. Dale is too fascinating," laughed his wife. "Good night, Elaine;
+Will thinks he hears baby crying, or he would not stir."
+
+
+"Nice little baby, don't get in a fury 'cause mamma's gone to a play at
+the theatre," sang Smyth, jokingly.
+
+"Did you _really_ see anyone, Mrs. Dale?" had asked Buckingham, in a
+grave whisper.
+
+"I really did; the--but hush, she returns."
+
+"You look pale, Mrs. Gower," he said, kindly, "put me up anywhere to
+mount guard over you for to-night."
+
+"Oh, no, I thank you, not for worlds," she said, nervously; but
+recovering herself, added, "you know I have Thomas, and Mrs. Dale may
+only have seen a shadow, like a cloud which will pass."
+
+"Clouds sometimes precede a storm."
+
+"But not always," she says, with a sudden resolve, "for if Mrs. Dale
+will stay with me all night, she will be its silver lining."
+
+"Indeed, I shall with pleasure," she said, eagerly, adding, in mock
+condescension, "Good night, Mr. Dale."
+
+"What do you mean, Ella; our cab is here?"
+
+"I am going to stay with Mrs. Gower, Henry, so good night, dear; an
+extra blanket and night-cap must be my substitute," she said, as he
+kissed her good night.
+
+"Good night, Mr. Dale; you are keeping up your character for
+generosity," said Mrs. Gower.
+
+"Come along, Dale," said Buckingham, glad of the arrangement; "I shall
+be with you as far as the Rossin House."
+
+"Oh, Henry," called his wife, as he was entering the cab, "don't forget
+the schools are on for to-morrow; Mrs. Gower says to come up at one, to
+luncheon; don't forget Garfield and Miss Crew; and tell Miss Crew to
+send me first thing, by electric despatch, 82 Yonge Street, my plum
+walking dress, and bonnet to match, and----"
+
+"No more, dear, please; you should have given it to me in manuscript
+form, I fear I shall not remember it."
+
+"Poor Capt. Cuttle, when found make a note on," said Mrs. Gower,
+jokingly, but rather nervously, peering out, in and among the dark
+bushes.
+
+"I'll coach him," laughed Buckingham.
+
+"Etc., etc., etc.," called out Mrs. Dale, as the hack rolls away.
+
+As the friends turn from the door, Mrs. Gower herself seeing to the
+fastenings and putting the chain on, Thomas said:
+
+"Beg pardon, ma'am, but can you step this way, please?"
+
+"But, Thomas," she said, trying in vain to battle with her fate.
+
+"Yes ma'am, I know it's a shame to be a pestering of you at this hour,
+but it's----"
+
+"Very well, Thomas, I shall attend to it; excuse me, dear Mrs. Dale, for
+a few moments, and then we must really go to bed."
+
+"That's all right; I know what the calls upon a housekeeper are."
+
+Quick as a flash, on the exit of her hostess, the portière hangings are
+drawn, the gas at one end turned out, the window flown to.
+
+"Yes, my lady crouches there still, and--yes, that is he on the kitchen
+steps; the light from the window points you out to me, my dear
+cupid--done up by a west-end tailor; the door opens, which shows me my
+kind hostess; and now for the woman--for ferret out this mystery I
+shall--for in some way, unknown to me, this gentleman and follower are
+worrying the life out of my friend."
+
+With a waterproof on, noiselessly she opens the window and shutters; a
+step and the veranda is reached; with beckoning hand she endeavors to
+attract the attention of the woman, but without success, as she is
+wholly absorbed in watching the door by which the man entered. Afraid of
+attracting attention by calling out, she twists a couple of buttons off
+her waterproof, throwing them on to the gravel walk; her object is
+gained and defeated simultaneously, for the woman, taking fright, makes
+for the gate, at which Tyr, who had made his exit on the man making his
+_entrée_, swift as a deer, ran barking after her; but she is safe
+outside the gate, at which Mrs. Dale quiets Tyr, who has come up to her,
+rubbing his cold nose to her still colder hands. And now to make another
+attempt. In a few moments the gate is reached; yes, the woman is
+standing under the shade of a tree on the boulevard, the lamplight
+falling full upon Mrs. Dale.
+
+"Down, Tyr, be quiet; down, I say. Come here, young woman; don't fear, I
+only wish to speak to you."
+
+"I won't go there; let me alone, for I warn you, I am a desperate
+woman," she growled, in threatening tones, Tyr making a dash to be at
+her.
+
+"Come here, Tyr, it's all right. But what is your trouble? If you will
+only trust me, I feel sure I can help you," she says, breathlessly, for
+she does not wish her friend to miss her.
+
+"_You help me!_ go away with your smooth serpent tongue; away to that
+other hussy, in her silks and jewels, robbing an honest woman of
+her----"
+
+But her sentence was never finished, for the man is coming; and quick as
+a deer she is out of sight.
+
+Mrs. Dale is quietly seated by the cheerful grate, apparently absorbed
+in "Cleveland's winning card," as given in _Judge_, when her hostess
+returns, looking sad and troubled.
+
+"I don't know how it is I feel so nervous to-night, dear," she said,
+seeing to the window fastenings; "I am so glad you are with me, but you
+will find me very doleful."
+
+"Not a bit of it, Mrs. Gower; I am no relation to an acquaintance of
+mine, who is not content unless one is making a buffoon of oneself for
+her especial delectation."
+
+"I fear she would cut my acquaintance in my present mood. I am going to
+ask you a favor, dear; it is to call me Elaine; I shall feel less alone
+in this big world, and can talk to you more freely, hearing my Christian
+name. I dare say it is a childish fancy for a woman of my age, but----"
+
+"But me--no buts. Elaine, we are true friends, and you have some secret
+trouble which I ought to share, else, what use is my friendship to you;
+you will tell it me, dear?" and the pretty Irish eyes look up into the
+dark ones bending over her with a questioning look.
+
+"Tell me first, dear, did you recognize anyone in the garden to-night?"
+
+"I did, Elaine."
+
+At this, covering her face with her coldly nervous hands, she said,
+brokenly:
+
+"God help me, I am driven by the winds, and tossed; I must sleep on it
+to-night, and if I feel strong enough, tell you all to-morrow."
+
+"That's right, and to insure your being brave enough, you must take the
+best tonic, sleep; so let us mount," she said affectionately, rising and
+taking her friend's arm.
+
+"Very well, dear; and the dropping rain shall be my lullaby in wooing
+the god of slumber."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+ON THE RACK.
+
+
+It was no heated fancy of a half-delirious brain of our poor friend,
+Cole, that he had heard a tap on the gloomy door of the east chamber, at
+Broadlawns, on the night he was snared by the huntress; held by the
+fetters of a loveless union with Margaret Villiers; but he paid no heed
+to the stealthy tap, repeated whenever the revelry below was loudest;
+but as silent as the grave, he almost holds his breath as he watches the
+door, a look of agony in his tired eyes, which throb as does his head in
+neuralgic torture; but now, his strange midnight visitor, as if driven
+to desperation by his silence, says through the keyhole:
+
+"For heaven's sake, let me in!"
+
+But no response; he will trust no one under the roof of this hateful
+place, to which he has been trapped, in which he has lost his freedom,
+in which the terrible conviction has seized him that he is going to be
+laid low by the fell hand of sickness. What is that? Yes, he sees a slip
+of paper passed under the door; his midnight visitor is evidently bent
+on obtaining an interview; pale as a ghost, and trembling in every limb,
+he creeps noiselessly to the door, picks up the paper, and reads the
+following words:
+
+"I am the woman who came in _too late_ to stop your marriage; _your own
+friends_, who are far away, would tell you to see me. For God's sake,
+let me do what I can for you, even _now_."
+
+But for her wording, as to his "friends far away," he would have paid no
+heed; he remembers now, in a dazed sort of way, amidst the medley he has
+been in ever since his arrival, that there was some woman who appeared,
+was maligned, and vanished, all in a few seconds. Yes, if he could only
+feel sure the oak door only separated him from one not in league with
+his enemies, as he now feels them to be, the lock would be immediately
+turned; but, should it be a fraud whereby to obtain admittance for the
+terrible woman he has wedded, and whom he loathes and fears at the same
+time; and so, with his cold, nervous hand upon the lock, he hesitates,
+when she again appeals a last time through the keyhole.
+
+"I must go, and leave you to your misery, if you will not open the door;
+they are preparing to come up stairs."
+
+At this, the dread of loneliness, the craving for sympathy, with the
+sinking feeling of sickness coming over him, the natural instinct of
+self-preservation impelling him to risk something in endeavoring to
+secure one friend to be about him if he cannot shake off this feeling of
+intense lassitude, low spirits, head and brain on fire, and throbbing as
+with ten thousand pulses, cause him with a sudden fear lest she should
+go, to turn the key, when noiselessly, a pale woman with an intensely
+sad expression in her whole countenance, and prematurely grey, enters.
+
+"Poor fellow! and a kindly, handsome face, too; what a sacrifice! God
+knows how willingly I would have saved you; but their moves were hidden
+from me," she said piteously, in a low whisper, gazing into his face
+tearfully, while taking his hands in her own.
+
+In the reaction he flung her off, saying, brokenly,
+
+"Why were you not in time? What trust have you broken so, blighting my
+very existence? Out upon you, woman, you may go and leave me to
+despair."
+
+"No, no, I must stay; I _will_ stay; you are ill, but will be more calm;
+though with _her_! God help you, you will never find peace, never be at
+rest."
+
+And throwing her apron over her face, she, too, sank on to the sofa
+where he was; but he is, after a few moments, quiet again, and drawing
+the covering from her face, which she has used as if to shut out the
+view where all, all is misery to the last degree, she turns to look at
+him; both hands white, cold and trembling, cover his face, through his
+fingers drop scalding tears, silent tears of woe.
+
+"Do not give way so, sir. Poor fellow, you are indeed to be pitied, away
+from your home, away from your own land. They sent me off to London on
+messages--to get me out of the way--for some things for Miss Villiers,
+as then was."
+
+"Don't remind me. God help me. Swear, woman, swear!" he said excitedly,
+"to stay by me to get me well; quick, for my inner consciousness tells
+me I shall be, nay am, ill; elucidate this mystery, is it money they
+want, how can I escape? swear, swear to stay by me in this place,
+smelling of brimstone. Swear!" he continued, forgetting time and place,
+as he raised his voice, only remembering his wretchedness.
+
+"For heaven's sake try to calm yourself; they have heard you, they come;
+not a sound; they will turn me out, and you will have only them. I
+conjure you, curb yourself; not a sound." And taking both his hands to
+her knee, with motherly tenderness, seeks by gently stroking or holding
+them in hers to soothe him to even momentary calm.
+
+"I say, Cole, are you sleeping?" said the voice of Stone, turning the
+handle. "You should have been down with us; we have been feeding like
+fighting cocks."
+
+"I am sure I heard him talking," said Margaret. "Mean fellow he is;
+feigning sleep."
+
+"Good night, Cole, or rather, morning; pleasant dreams," said Stone,
+malevolently.
+
+"Look, uncle, at aunt rolling into her bed-chamber; veal pie and stout
+will be her nightmare. Good night, spouse," she said, through the
+keyhole.
+
+At this, Sarah Kane had great difficulty in quieting him. "I kiss my
+hand to you"--for she is hilarious; a glass of beer, a change of name,
+three thousand per annum secured, have been a powerful stimulant.
+
+"It's my belief he heard every word we said, but wouldn't give in," said
+her uncle, as they went along the hall.
+
+"Of course, he did, the mean pup; but never fear, I'll make him knuckle
+under."
+
+"That you will," he said, chuckling.
+
+When all is again quiet at Broadlawns, Charlie Cole and Sarah Kane again
+breathe more freely.
+
+"Tell now, _now_," he says feverishly, "how I am to get away from here
+and without, remember, that woman? You will have to stay by me, for I am
+too ill, God help me, to act alone."
+
+"First, you must undress and get into bed; my, but you are weak!"
+
+"I am; please take this key and unlock my trunk; I am not equal to any
+exertion."
+
+"Were you ill crossing the ocean, sir?"
+
+"I was, but nothing like this; the medical attendant on board said I
+must have some mental worry which preyed even then upon my bodily
+health."
+
+"Your name, Charles Cole, how well I remember it," she said, reading it
+on his linen. "My poor dead mistress and friend trusted me--God help me
+if I have seemed unfaithful to my trust. Perhaps I should have found out
+and followed my young mistress, but Silas and I thought I had best watch
+her interests here. God pity me," she said tearfully, falling upon her
+knees. "Good Lord, watch over her, lead my steps to her, for I have
+failed in preventing their black deeds here; so I shall go to America to
+try and find you, poor, dear, wronged Miss Pearl."
+
+Here Cole, with a groan of weakness and dizziness, falls half undressed
+upon the bed, at which Sarah Kane flies to him, takes off his boots,
+assisting him to get under the clothes.
+
+"Poor, poor feet, like ice," she says pityingly; "I must do something
+for him. Heaven help him among such a horde of cruel hearts; I must at
+any risk go down and get a foot warmer. Poor fellow, so gentle and
+amiable-like, he deserved a better fate, and should have a physician at
+once; but the mind, the poor sick mind, as well as body, how will that
+be calmed? There, there, don't mind anything; try to sleep. I am going
+down stairs to get a foot-warmer for you."
+
+"No, no," he said nervously, "you must not leave me."
+
+"I have listened in the hall, and they are all snoring, sleeping heavily
+after the late supper. I must, indeed, sir, see to the warming of your
+feet; it will only take me five minutes; please consent, for your own
+sake."
+
+"Well, go; and I will lock the door after you, lest the wretches come
+in," and attempting to sit up he feels too weak, falling backwards with
+a heavy sigh.
+
+Sarah Kane, now really alarmed, slips off her shoes, silently unfastens
+the door, making a speedy exit; passing the doors of the sleepers
+without detection, not so though on entering the servants' wing--the
+cook and man-servant seeming both restless, she hesitates, then on with
+flying feet accomplishes her object, bringing also mustard; up again
+this time, not risking the back stairs and the servants, the front
+stairs, which, being thickly padded, cover her footfalls.
+
+Back again, she finds him staring fixedly at the door in terror, lest
+any but herself should appear. She now applies the foot-warmer, also
+putting mustard plasters to the nape of the neck and pit of the stomach.
+
+"You look tired," he said languidly, "but I cannot say go and rest, I am
+not brave enough."
+
+"I am accustomed to do without sleep. I nurse many sick. Since my poor
+mistress died, and they sent sweet Miss Pearl out to the States, I have
+no regular duties here, but thought it wise, as they did not bid me go,
+to stay on and watch them. They often quarrel over my being here, Mr.
+Stone wanting to drive me out, Miss--I mean--but no, never mind--there,
+there," stroking his hands, "the aunt and niece thinking, and true, that
+I know too much. It's a fact, sir, but I have not known how to check
+them for all. God help me, but when I see you well and away from this
+home of the Pharisee--this place with a heart of stone and a tongue of
+oil, or evil, as it suits--I must see what is best, even so late."
+
+And so the poor, half-distracted thing talked on and on, often in a
+disconnected sort of way, but her tones were soothing.
+
+"Go on," he said, opening his eyes; "what trust have you broken," he
+repeated, "bringing me to this?" Here he grew excited, but, evidently
+too weak to talk, said languidly, putting her hand to his brow:
+
+"Feel that, their work," he said feverishly, "and in part yours, as you
+have not exposed them; why have you not?"
+
+"What would the world heed had I, _in their employ_, lifted up my voice
+against them? they are all Pharisees, all strict church-goers, and would
+turn the wrath against myself, for I do not make loud prayers, their
+hypocrisy driving me to my closet, instead of to the be-seen-of-men sort
+of religion; no, no one would have believed me, though I think now of
+one who would, and he is Dr. Annesley, of the city. I have erred in
+judgment, but never thought they would marry you to Miss Villiers; nay,
+look at it calmly, if you can, sir, and get well sooner. My father was
+an attorney, but rogues fleeced him, and I was penniless; my late
+mistress took me here, and I was her friend and confidant, for they were
+cruel to her and her child. Silas Jones and I knew of Miss Pearl and
+yourself, and Silas said----"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+LUCIFER'S VOTARIES RAMPANT.
+
+
+"Yes, Silas Jones shall hear of how we found his precious Sarah Kane
+alone in a man's bedroom," sneered the coldly cruel voice of Mrs. Cole,
+entering, and not making a seductive picture in bright green dressing
+gown, with large purple flowers, her hooked nose as red as her high
+cheek bones, her awful eyes fixed, staring and stony, her uncle and aunt
+following.
+
+"Oh dear, oh dear! Heaven help us! I forgot to lock the door when I
+brought the poor fellow the foot-warmer," thought Sarah Kane,
+distractedly.
+
+"I thought I heard a jabbering going on before you called me, Margaret,"
+said her uncle, savagely.
+
+"How dare you bring disrepute on a virtuous home by coming to a man's
+bedroom at night, and alone, Sarah Kane?" asked Miss Stone, quivering
+with rage at being disturbed after her late supper.
+
+"Sarah Kane, go and pack up, and see that you develop no light-finger
+tricks; you leave Broadlawns at daybreak," hissed Margaret, between her
+teeth.
+
+"Please let me stay, ma'am, until Mr. Cole recovers; indeed, indeed he
+is very, very ill."
+
+"That is _my_ affair--go!" and she points to the now open door.
+
+"She has been kind to me, she must stay; I am too ill for her to leave
+me; if she goes she must take me," said Cole, sitting upright, his pulse
+rapidly rising.
+
+"We don't harbor women of her stamp," said Margaret, beside herself with
+rage at her having gained the ear of Cole; she would willingly have torn
+her limb from limb.
+
+"Get out of here, and at _once_, Sarah Kane, unless you would have me
+use violence," said Stone, savagely; for from the words of Cole he sees
+she has made a favorable impression.
+
+"I implore you not to go and leave me here," said the sick man,
+excitedly; "my brain is on fire. I am weak and ill; oh! by everything
+you hold sacred, stay by me and nurse me; if not, I go too, if I have to
+crawl to the door;" and he attempted to rise.
+
+"This is nonsense, Cole; she must go; I have wanted to turn her adrift
+before this. We shall procure you a medical attendant at once; though, I
+think, did you take a berth in a steamer immediately for America, it
+would be best, and set you up all right, especially with Margaret as
+nurse. Sarah Kane, what are you waiting for?"
+
+"For the impetus of someone's foot, I presume," sneered Margaret.
+
+Sarah Kane, with a pitiful look at Cole, her lip quivering and whole
+frame trembling, prepared to leave the room, saying, as she smoothed his
+pillows:
+
+"Try and keep calm, sir, you will get well all the quicker, and I shall
+go and tell Silas Jones, and see if he can help you."
+
+At a sign from Margaret, her uncle followed her from the room, when she
+said, hurriedly:
+
+"I am going to give the wretch permission to remain until morning, to
+prevent an interview with Silas Jones; after breakfast, you say you will
+drive her in to Mrs. Mansfield's. We have never let her know she wants
+her, but now she will be capital bait; Sarah Kane will bite, and so be
+hooked, when you can lodge her for safe keeping at Tom Lang's, who, if
+needs be, may give her the luxury of a straight-jacket."
+
+"I feel inclined to say No, and kick her out at once; otherwise, yours
+is a good plan."
+
+"It is the only gag to fit the case; but out of that room _she shall
+go_. She may go and pack up. I'll show them who is mistress."
+
+"Yes, do; besotted fool, that Cole is, to have turned us against him.
+You don't think that viper will go to Silas Jones at daybreak, do you?"
+
+"No; his shop won't be open until seven. By that time cook can have an
+early breakfast for you, and you will then at once drive off to London,
+and if Silas Jones comes prowling around here after her, leave him to
+me, that's all," she said, cruelly, returning to the sick room.
+
+"Go to your room at once, Sarah Kane, pack up your things, and be ready
+to leave this house at seven sharp; go," she said, stamping her foot.
+"Don't pollute us by your presence any longer."
+
+"I pray of you to let me stay and nurse him; I will do just what you
+wish, spare you from fatigue, be no trouble, only let me stay," she
+cried, imploringly.
+
+Margaret turned her stony gaze upon her. "Put her out, Uncle Timothy, or
+I shall."
+
+"Get out, woman," he said, taking her by the shoulder, Miss Stone
+shoving her, and saying:
+
+"Be thankful, hussy, you are getting off so well."
+
+"At your peril send her forth; it will be the worse for you all when I
+recover, if you do," said Cole, with the utmost excitement.
+
+"Keep cool, Cole; you don't know what a viper we have harbored. I am
+only going to take her to a Mrs. Mansfield's, and, if she can speak so
+much truth, she will tell you she is a friend of hers," said Stone,
+vengefully.
+
+"You are heaping coals of fire on the viper's head by taking her there,
+Timothy," said Miss Stone, wonderingly.
+
+"Is this person a friend of yours, Sarah?" asked Cole, forlornly
+pressing both hands to his throbbing temples. "How cruel they are to
+send you from me. Do you know of a good physician, Sarah?"
+
+"Oh, yes, sir; Dr. Annesley, of London; he----"
+
+"Hold your prate, Sarah Kane, and mind your own business," cried
+Margaret, trembling with rage. "Get out of here," and with a smart push
+she is outside and the key turned.
+
+For a few moments Sarah Kane stood irresolute, when the clock struck
+three.
+
+"Yes, that will be best," she thought, "but I have no time to lose,"
+and, quickly flying to her own apartment, she hurriedly packs up, but
+not the handsome wardrobe willed her by her late mistress, of which she
+knows not, but simply her own modest apparel; this she places in two
+trunks, weeping silently the while for the evil come upon the poor sick
+man in yonder east chamber, for her own forced desertion of him into the
+cruel hands of the inmates at Broadlawns, for her own undefined plans to
+find her young mistress, and endeavor to reinstate her in the fortune
+willed her, which she is in doubt now that the law will give her, as she
+has not married Charles B. Cole. She weeps on, as she thinks of the
+fearful fraud that has been committed; for here is Mr. Cole married!
+actually married to Miss Villiers, in Sarah Kane's estimation, the most
+wicked woman that lives, when he had been the intended husband of her
+sweet, gentle Miss Pearl.
+
+"Woe, woe, that I did not go to Dr. Annesley, and tell him of the
+prolonged absence of Miss Pearl, instead of watching here, or to a
+lawyer; but I dreaded their fees, as they have paid me no salary for
+five years, nor can I claim it, as they told me if I staid I should get
+nothing. I have erred in judgment. God help me and that poor sick man.
+Yes, I must slip away and tell Silas. It is fortunate Mary is with him
+still, or they (if by some mischance they miss me) might again make
+occasion to malign me as to going to see a man; how easily those
+smooth-tongued hypocrites can take away one's character, and they doing
+the real harm all the while. My grey ulster and hat will not be too
+heavy; it is quite a cool morning, and being up all night, and
+supperless to bed, makes me feel chilly. How surprised Silas and his
+sister will be. I know he will want me to marry him at once, but I feel
+too old and grey; but, as he says, so I have told him for years; and he
+has waited and waited until the clouds at Broadlawns would lighten, and
+now they are blacker than ever. Kind Silas, good and true Silas, what
+will you say to this terrible marriage of poor Mr. Cole to awful Miss
+Villiers?"
+
+And now her expeditious fingers having set her house in order, her grey
+hair rolled back from her brow, her small, regular features, sensitive
+mouth, and good blue eyes looking wan and anxious, locking her door, she
+slips down the back stairs, and out into the chill dulness of an October
+morning. In fifteen minutes she knocks at the house of Silas Jones, the
+front room of which he calls his shop, selling in a quiet way stationery
+and current literature. The city clocks are ringing the last quarter
+before four, and Mary is the first to hear the unusual sound on the
+knocker at that early hour. Waiting to hear it repeated, she lifts the
+window, when, at Sarah Kane's voice calling Silas, they both hasten down
+to open the door.
+
+"Dear me, Sarah; what's up?" said Mary, kissing her. "What a scare you
+gave me!"
+
+"You have been up all night, Sarah," said Silas Jones, reproachfully,
+leading her in, as he again locked the door. "However, as this is the
+earliest kiss I have ever had, I shall not scold you too much; but whom
+have you been looking nearer your own grave for this time, Sarah? You
+have been nursing again, I suppose, and are returning to Broadlawns?"
+
+"How you chatter, Silas, dear; Sarah can't get in a word edgeways," said
+Mary, kindly, but curiously.
+
+"I was only giving our Sarah time to catch her breath, she has been
+running and is cold," he said, rubbing her hands. "Make her a hot drink
+over the spirit-lamp, Mary, please."
+
+"The very thing, Silas, dear; what a good man you will make our Sarah;
+here, drink this, Sarah, and promise to marry Silas this day week (my
+wedding-day too, Sarah), for indeed, you want someone to make you stay
+in your bed o' nights."
+
+"Yes, Sarah, dear, Mary is right; for it's my belief the wretches at
+Broadlawns wish to see you in your grave, seeing as you know too much."
+
+"Oh, Silas, that young man, Mr. Cole, came; and they have married him to
+Miss Villiers, instead of our sweet Miss Pearl," blurted out Sarah, in
+trembling tones.
+
+"You don't say, Sarah; what a fearful piece of wickedness," cried Mary,
+with distended eyes.
+
+"I am not surprised at any villainy on their part," said Silas, with
+knitted brows. "Let me see, the will reads, on Miss Pearl coming of age
+and marrying young Mr. Cole, she inherits all (so Dr. Annesley told me,
+and, by the way, he sent me word he wants to see me); well they have got
+rid, the de'il knows how, of Miss Pearl, and this ugly vixen marries the
+man to inherit; bad business, their having similar Christian names; so
+it's from there you come, and not from sick nursing? Tell us all, dear."
+
+"Well, Silas, that's just what I ran here for, for they've as good as
+turned me out, at least, I am to go at daybreak, and----"
+
+"Did they dare to turn you out, you a lady born, though their
+drudge--faithful in nursing, faithful in your housekeeping. Shielding
+them, when you could have put the blood-hounds of the law on their
+track, hoping things would right themselves in this very marriage; but
+to Miss Pearl--turn you out, after wasting your youth and mine in a
+martyr's life, to see that right was eventually done to the innocent
+daughter of your dead friend, growing literally grey in this
+self-imposed duty, while we both lived lonely lives apart, when they
+should be in a felon's dock for breach of trust; never mind, it is my
+turn now, they shall be exposed, and compelled to disgorge; Miss Pearl
+must be found, Mrs. Mansfield may know something."
+
+"Mrs. Mansfield, yes, Silas, that is where Mr. Stone is going to drive
+me at seven sharp this a.m., and, oh dear, it is near six; I must hasten
+back, else they may make me black in Bayswater, for they have called me
+a hussy to-night, Silas, because I went to poor Mr. Cole's bedroom, who
+is very ill, and he was sorry when they turned me out, Silas, for he
+knows he has fallen into their net, and he is ill in mind and body; God
+help him. He is kindly and handsome, is yielding and pliable, and so an
+easy prey; he was to have met his father, he tells me. Ah, he would have
+saved him, but he is ill, he learned on his arrival, and away off across
+the sea at Montreal; but I had to come and tell you, Silas, for I missed
+you last evening, when they sent me to the city, so I should be out of
+the way, and alas! I came back too late to save him," she said,
+tearfully.
+
+"Don't go near them again, Sarah," said Mary, sympathetically.
+
+"Yes, Sarah, that's it; stay with us, and we will pet and nurse you, and
+you will be my wife."
+
+"No dears, I could not remain inactive so near poor Mr. Cole; he hates
+them as his enemies, it is best for me to go to Mrs. Mansfield, I shall
+be near Dr. Annesley, and must see what can be done; you will come and
+see me at Mrs. Mansfield's, so good-bye, now, dears."
+
+"I shall come to the city to-morrow, Sarah, so look out for me, dear,"
+he said, buttoning her ulster.
+
+"You shouldn't be parting us at all, Sarah," said Mary, tearfully.
+
+"But only for a few days, Mary."
+
+"You must marry me this day week, Sarah, dear, for somehow I feel as if
+evil will come to you parted from me; promise, it will bridge the time,"
+he said, following her out into the grey morning light.
+
+"I promise." And there and then, in the dim gaze of the earliest bees in
+life's hive, she is pressed to his loyal heart.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+FENCING OFF CONFIDENCE.
+
+
+The knowledge that, with the morning, her friend would look for a
+confidence as regarded the intrusion by a man into the grounds of
+Holmnest on the evening previous, unless, indeed, by fencing she could
+ward off such confidence, caused Mrs. Gower to pass an almost sleepless
+night; and so, with the natural desire to put off the evil day, she
+arose later than usual, lingering over bath and toilette. But now in
+warm morning robe of a pretty, red woollen material, with ecru lace
+rufflings, she is worth a second look; though her thoughts are sad, for
+under the dark hair on her brow, her eyes wear a wistful expression, and
+on her sensitive lips is almost a quiver of pain, as she stands at her
+window, looking mechanically on the familiar scene.
+
+"He always looks up," she thought, as a gentleman passed, "and must now
+either reside in the neighborhood, or take it in in his morning outing.
+How a lonely woman notices any seeming interest taken in herself. I have
+not seen much of him since poor Charlie Cole went away, and strange; but
+I miss his face if I don't see him for some days. I remember telling
+Charlie of a dream I had of this very man, and his _béte noir_, Philip
+Cobbe. That reminds me again of my promised confidence to Mrs. Dale, it
+was weak in me to make any such promise--I, who have never had a
+confidant, even when a girl. I have met some who would have been staunch
+and true enough, I feel sure, but I never thought heart secrets were
+altogether one's own; and as to this chatter over men's kind or loving
+attentions to one, is just about the meanest thing a woman or girl can
+be guilty of. It is sufficient to deter men from being commonly civil. I
+have known women prate and boast by name of those who have paid them the
+highest compliment a man can, that is of asking them to be their wife;
+yes, I positively shrink from meeting my kind, little friend, Ella Dale,
+she has a positive craving for knowledge," she thought, with a half
+smile; "and had she been Eve she would have cut short the eloquence of
+the serpent's tongue, and have succumbed, merely out of curiosity. And
+yet she is a dear little woman, craving to be 'trusted all, or not at
+all,' and meaning good to me; and perhaps I should be less lonely did I
+empty my griefs into the lap of another's mind; but again, in confiding
+in a married woman one confides in her husband also. It is natural, but,
+at the same time, not altogether pleasant; but at that peremptory ring I
+must give up dreaming here, or my 'Madonna of the Tubs' will be giving
+me notice."
+
+"Good morning, dear. Pardon my not having been down to welcome you," she
+said, warmly, finding her friend and the morning papers ensconced in a
+rocker by the grate, Tyr stretched on the rug.
+
+"I have just come down, Elaine, and have had my mirrored reflection as
+company, and don't I look comical, encased in this dressing gown you
+lent me? Won't I have to eat a substantial breakfast to fill it out?"
+
+"All right, dear, if my seraph of the frying pan condescended to fill my
+orders, we have bloaters on the menu."
+
+"I am ready for them, Elaine, and feel bloated already," she said, as
+they seated themselves at table.
+
+"I wonder what kind of a day we shall have for your review of the city
+schools? Old Sol does not seem to have made up his mind whether to laugh
+or weep," said Mrs. Gower, as she touched the bell to remove the fruit.
+
+"I hope he will be good enough to weep over some other city, for I am
+sure Henry will not bring my waterproof."
+
+"But Miss Crew will, she seems so really thoughtful. What do you intend
+doing with her when you place Garfield at school?"
+
+"That's just what I am in a quandary about. I like her, for she puzzles
+me."
+
+"What a droll little creature you are, Ella; you have a perfect craze
+for working out problems, even to a woman," she said, laughingly.
+
+"Now you mustn't think, Elaine, that my interest in you has the remotest
+connection with the mystery at Holmnest," she said, opening her blue
+eyes in apparent innocence, but in reality her words being a reminder to
+her hostess.
+
+"The mystery at Holmnest? What a tragic sound you give it, it makes
+one's flesh creep, but I have not forgotten how large-hearted you are,
+dear, when you do not forget, 'Share ye one another's burdens.'"
+
+"Yes, you must tell me all, Elaine, and I feel sure that with, or
+without the advice of Henry, your trouble will either vanish or lighten
+by your sharing it with me."
+
+"Yes, perhaps so," she said gravely; "but we must not spoil our
+breakfast, and the play of knife and fork. My little tragedy must be the
+afterpiece this time."
+
+"As you will, Elaine, but don't bear it too long alone. Tragedy is
+heavy. How cozy and home-like breakfasting with you is after hotel
+life."
+
+"I am glad you think so, Ella."
+
+"Your dark leather chairs and handsome sideboard look well against the
+brown paper on the walls, and oh, you won't mind telling me who hung
+your drapings, _portière_ hangings, and all that, they are in such good
+taste."
+
+"Murray did them for me; it was a case of two heads being better than
+one, where I was at fault he set me right."
+
+"Your home is small, but all so home-like, except for one great want, a
+man to hang his hat up in the hall as your husband, and a child to call
+you mother."
+
+"Quite a tempting picture, Ella," she answered, a little sadly, "but
+'_l'homme propose Dieu dispose_."
+
+"Take the man, when he proposes, Elaine; I cannot bear to see you
+alone."
+
+"That is my advice to my friends also, Ella; but, speaking of living
+alone, will you and Miss Crew come to me when you place Garfield at
+school, and during the absence of Mr. Dale north-east with Mr.
+Buckingham; say you will, it won't be for long."
+
+"It's the thing above all others that will please me, Elaine. Excuse my
+Irish blood, but I must give vent to my feelings by giving you a hug,"
+she said, merrily, as they rose from table.
+
+"Angels and ministers of grace defend us, Elaine, here's a lady visitor;
+and now that her umbrella is down, I see Mrs. Smyth. But, fond as I am
+of her, I wish her back to her home, for I wanted the morning alone with
+you."
+
+"You are both looking charming, it's a pity I am not a gentleman caller,
+but what lazy people you are," said lively Mrs. Smyth.
+
+"Now that I have emerged from the under side of Fortune's wheel, I do
+believe I am growing epicurean," said Mrs. Gower, gaily.
+
+"Don't I look too sweet for anything, Mrs. Smyth?" said Mrs. Dale,
+promenading up and down the room; "haven't I grown stout?"
+
+"But you are all uneven," laughed Mrs. Smyth.
+
+"Now, that is cruel, Mrs. Smyth; 'tis 'love's labor lost,' after having
+utilized all the mats, towels and pillow-shams in my bedroom as
+stuffing, to be simply told I am uneven."
+
+"Stuffing never goes down with me, Mrs. Dale," laughed Mrs. Smyth.
+
+"It's a good thing for us you are not a man," said Mrs. Dale, demurely.
+
+"Women all angles would cry 'hear, hear!'" laughed Mrs. Gower.
+
+"But you don't ask me what brought me in this morning."
+
+"No, I am too glad to have you; but is it a call of a mouth full of
+news?"
+
+"Yes, which I shall stuff you with 'as pigeons do their young.'"
+
+"Me, too!" piped Mrs. Dale.
+
+"Mr. King is in town, Mrs. Gower; there, I thought I should electrify
+you, but you don't seem to care."
+
+"I do, for we shall now have news of the Coles."
+
+"And is that all you will welcome him all the way from Ottawa for?"
+
+"That is all, Lilian; these little flirtations, _pour passez le temp_,
+soon burn themselves out."
+
+"What a funny woman you are, Elaine; sometimes I can't make you out at
+all."
+
+"Don't try to, dear, when I puzzle you; life is too short for
+problem-solving, though our little friend here doesn't think so. But did
+Mr. King name the Coles?"
+
+"He did."
+
+"Thank you, Thomas," said Mrs. Gower, receiving her letters, which had
+been put in the letter-box by the letter-carrier.
+
+"One moment, you will excuse me, dears, while I run my letters over."
+One marked "Immediate," she read to herself as follows:
+
+     "THE QUEEN'S, Wed. Eve., Nov. 9th.
+
+     "MY DEAR MRS. GOWER,--It is with extreme pleasure I again find
+     myself in the same city with yourself, and am anticipating with
+     intense eagerness an interview. I go west to-morrow p.m., so
+     shall go up to Holmnest in the morning.
+
+     "As ever, yours devotedly,
+          "CYRIL KING.
+
+     "MRS. GOWER,
+          "Holmnest, West Toronto."
+
+"Oh, dear! oh, dear! he may be here any moment, and I am in a quandary
+as to what I shall do with him. This little settling up of one's
+_affaires de coeur_ is distasteful, but I have not been a bit to blame
+here," she thought, quietly tearing up the note, and making a holocaust
+of it.
+
+"Oh, I can assure you, Mrs. Dale, she had scarcely any waist covering at
+all," said Mrs. Smyth, in disgust, "she looked simply dreadful."
+
+"Who is the woman this time, dear?" asked Mrs. Gower, amusedly, as she
+fastened some camellias to her gown; "what fair one are you throwing mud
+at now, Lilian?"
+
+"Oh, that Mrs. St. Clair. Miss Hall walked down with me as far as
+College Street this morning, and she says, or rather mouthed, for she is
+too full of affectation to speak plain, but managed to convey that Mrs.
+St. Clair's dress began too late during the Langtry season. Her dress
+was _couleur de rose_ (what there was of it), no sleeves, well there was
+an invisible band, Miss Hall said (I wondered at her, the way she
+talked, as she is so thick there). Now, what do you think of Mrs. St.
+Clair, Elaine?"
+
+"I think that she would be the cynosure of all eyes--men's, for she is
+very fair to look upon."
+
+"But, Elaine, she is enamelled! Miss Hall's description reminded me of
+how an American paper describes such--as if they in their opera boxes
+sat in a bath tub."
+
+"Oh, that's hard," said Mrs. Dale; "who was she with, and was the boy
+Noah ready with his pinchers?"
+
+"No, it was that horrid boy's night off, I suppose, for his father was
+on duty; the little wretch nearly gave me cancer; the two Wilber girls
+and our Mr. Buckingham were the party; oh, Elaine, it's most absurd, but
+Mr. Buckingham is the 'foreign count' gossip said Mr. St. Clair is
+jealous of."
+
+"I am not surprised; all Grundy's scandal brews are a froth of lies,
+Lilian."
+
+"But it _is_ true that Mrs. St. Clair flirts and enamels."
+
+"If so, she is very pretty, and has a husband with an eagle eye--and,"
+she added gaily, "a son with claws that even you speak feelingly of."
+
+"Well, good-bye, it is getting near our dinner hour, I must off; and, as
+I live, here is the King from Ottawa; you are here opportunely to play
+gooseberry, Mrs. Dale; oh, I must tell you, you know, how quiet Mrs.
+Tremaine is. Well, she went back in the dark last Sunday evening for her
+dolman, it was so cold, but when she hung it over the front of the pew
+it proved to be the Captain's trousers!"
+
+"How do you do, dear Mrs. Gower?" he said with _empressement_, his
+strikingly handsome face aglow with pleasure.
+
+"'Mrs. Dale, my friend, Mr. King,' from the tower-crowned city, dear."
+
+"And you come to a spire-crowned one, at which, Mr. King, don't become
+unduly elevated."
+
+"I am in the heights," he said, with a swift glance at Mrs. Gower.
+
+"Then beware of the attraction of gravitation," laughed his hostess,
+thinking, "I shall have to do a little fencing, I can see by his face."
+
+"Excuse me, Elaine, I see my family are arriving."
+
+"Quite a cavalcade, Mr. King," she said, gaily.
+
+"And mercy me, that young monkey is on horseback, while the driver is
+giving his attention to bell ringing; I must fly. May I bring them
+upstairs, Elaine?"
+
+"Certainly, dear; and as your colony will want you all to themselves,
+send Miss Crew to the drawing-room; she will be happy with the piano."
+
+"How handsome he is; I wonder if he thought me uneven," mused Mrs. Dale,
+as she left the library.
+
+"Thank heaven, they are all despatched," he said, fervently, leaning
+over the back of her chair; "look around at me, dear, and tell me I am
+welcome."
+
+"You are;" and turning her face, her cheek was brushed by his whiskers;
+"but I am going to be very proper, and tell you to take that very
+comfortable chair, at the other side of the room."
+
+"Why, what have I done; don't send me away, when my heart is bursting to
+take you in my arms."
+
+"With your temperament, how full, metaphorically speaking, your arms
+must be."
+
+"No, no; you only, with your warm eyes and handsome mouth."
+
+"Come, come; no more of this, Mr. King."
+
+"Since when have you dropped Cyril; I cannot bear my surname from your
+lips."
+
+"'Tis safer so; and you _know_ I have tried to act up to this, since
+knowing you have a wife."
+
+"Yes, yes, you have; but you magnetized me from the first, and had it
+not been for that meddling fellow, Dubois, telling you, I believe,
+dearest, you would have learned to love me, wholly, and alone."
+
+"Thank heaven he did tell me, and in time."
+
+"I think there has been every excuse for me, dearest; you are aware of
+the circumstances of my marriage; then, after fifteen years of _such_
+wedded bliss, I find you, my heart's mate. I often think how tame life
+is before the meeting with the one that is to fill one's being with
+rapturous content; well, if they come to one while one has one's
+freedom, if not, what miserable loneliness; what an array of jealous
+fears. Do not turn me out of some corner in your heart, Elaine," he
+pleaded, "just because the Church and the law come between us; it is no
+fault of mine that I have met you too late to offer you my name;
+therefore, pity my misfortune, be kind to me; give me a corner in your
+affections; you will, won't you, darling," he pleaded, earnestly, his
+winsome voice coming on the air like sweet notes of song to the
+accompaniment of 'Il Trovatore,' exquisitely rendered, by Miss Crew,
+across the hall.
+
+"You must never again talk to me in this strain, Cyril," she says,
+putting her feelings aside, for she pities him intensely; "it is harmful
+for both of us; be a man, be brave. I, too, have trials; help me to bear
+them by seeing you at the post of duty; let us forget that we have
+hearts; let us harden ourselves by looking at life teeming with ill
+everywhere.
+
+"Let us, from this moment, begin over again, and talk as though the room
+was full of a gaping crowd; let us talk of anything but ourselves. Of
+Chamberlain and the fisheries; of who will run for mayor; of how that
+hot pickle, the French cabinet, will be formed; of whether Bishop Cleary
+wishes he had been tongue-tied before his imagination went without bit
+or curb on our girls; _anything_ but _ourselves_, Cyril, for pity sake."
+
+"No, it will not do, dear; we can never be as common acquaintances,
+though you charm me in any mood."
+
+"Very well; if that be so, you must go. Those songs, without words, by
+Miss Crew, with the scent of flowers, have been enough to intoxicate
+one; but you _know_ that since the knowledge came to me of your having a
+wife, that I have told you, repeatedly, our acquaintance must end unless
+you always remember, in our intercourse, the fact of your being bound to
+another. If you care to meet Mr. and Mrs. Dale, and a young lady friend,
+stay to luncheon, if you will not more than look at me as a friend--for
+I will be that."
+
+"I cannot face strangers now, and shall go, but shall write you from the
+west; and pray let me have a line in answer, saying you will see me on
+my return?" he said, beseechingly, his handsome face clouded.
+
+"I see I must tell you something I had not intended," she said,
+nervously, "they are coming downstairs to luncheon; I have promised,
+nay, am under oath," she said, gravely, "to marry a man who would make
+trouble, did he hear your words."
+
+"For heaven's sake, Elaine, don't be mad! you would be wretched, chained
+to a man like that; for the light has all left your dear face, even when
+you name him."
+
+"Beg pardon, luncheon is served, ma'am," said Thomas.
+
+"I must hasten to the dining-room, and I fear I don't look very calm.
+Good-bye; remember and be brave; others there are who have no more a bed
+of roses than yourself."
+
+"God bless you, good-bye; and I implore you, say _No_ to him. I speak,
+as you know, from experience," he whispers, with a tight hand-clasp.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE.
+
+
+"Your visitor is a strikingly handsome man, Mrs. Gower," said Mr. Dale,
+coming from the window to the table; "we shall be losing you one of
+these days as--Mrs. Gower," he continued, noticing by her pallor and the
+light in her eyes that she had been feeling intensely.
+
+"He is wondrously so; and as well, what is more perilous to the hearts
+of our sex, he possesses a rare fascination of manner."
+
+"I have been telling Henry not to jump at conclusions, for, perhaps Mr.
+King is married," said Mrs. Dale, curiously.
+
+"He is, dear; but your husband is not one of those absurd beings who
+imagine all one's men friends to be possible suitors."
+
+"Far from it, Mrs. Gower: I am a believer in men and women friendships,
+and if, in the numerous mistakes society makes, she would obliterate her
+opposition to such friendships, she would have fewer matrimonial
+blunders to chronicle."
+
+"That is very true, Mr. Dale; I have frequently found it both
+mortifying, distressing and annoying to the last degree, at little
+social gatherings at Toronto, to find myself openly accused of
+flirtation, because some man friend and I dared to enjoy a _tête-à-tête_
+chat on some mutual topic of interest."
+
+"But some women do flirt when they get a man in a corner, whether he is
+married or no," said Mrs. Dale.
+
+"Yes; but because some do, we should not all drift as we are, into no
+conversation between the sexes," said Mrs. Gower.
+
+"No, certainly not," said Dale; "Emerson says, 'I prize the mechanics of
+conversation, 'tis pulley, lever and screw;' and it is especially
+delightful between men and women--when it occurs."
+
+"Yes, as you say--when it occurs--Mr. Dale; but why is it, that the more
+solid tone of conversation of men is so seldom blended with the, at
+times more refined, even if it be more frivolous, chit-chat of my sex?
+Simply because of our dread of gossip?"
+
+
+"Then there is something 'rotten in the state of Denmark,'" said Mrs.
+Dale.
+
+"There is, dear," said Mrs. Gower, gravely, rising from the table.
+
+"Mr. Smyth is in the library, ma'am," said Thomas.
+
+"Oh, ask him if he has lunched, Thomas."
+
+"He has, ma'am."
+
+"I am vulgar enough to have dined, Mrs. Gower," said Smyth, meeting them
+at the door of the library.
+
+"As you please," she said, gaily, giving her hand; "'let ilka ane gang
+their ain gait.'"
+
+"Your son is acting on that motto, Mrs. Dale," he said, looking from the
+window. "Don't stir, he is in the back way; and has evidently been
+wrestling with our York mud."
+
+At this juncture Garfield appeared, breathless; and his pretty Norfolk
+jacket and knickerbockers all be-spattered.
+
+"How did you come to grief, my son?" asked his father.
+
+"Well, papa; first, I knocked down a sparrow with my catapult; it died
+game, falling on a foreign bird perched on a lady's steeple bonnet.
+Well, she was mad, phew! called me names for killing birds. I told her
+not to try to be funny, when she had stuffed ones on her head-dress.
+Next, I saw a man down street putting a mouth on his poor horse; man!
+how he sawed, tore the bit nearly through his head; well, I just let
+another lead fly, knocking his Christy stiff into the mud; then, he out
+of his butcher waggon and after me. I remembered some dimes in my
+pocket, got 'em, threw 'em behind--he bit, and I took my chance and
+distanced him," he said, panting for breath.
+
+"That was sport," said Smyth, laughingly; "but I have had to shut down
+on my boy's hunting, we swell our city treasury by fining such
+fire-arms."
+
+"Go to the kitchen, you poor little man," said Mrs. Gower; "and ask
+Thomas to brush you; he will get you some lunch, there is mud even in
+your curls; here, let me kiss you."
+
+"Yes, you may," he said, condescendingly.
+
+"Come along, son; mother will go with you."
+
+"You don't ask what brought me in at this hour, Mrs. Gower," said Smyth.
+
+"No, I have scarcely welcomed you, as yet."
+
+"Well, I must out with it, even if it shortens my stay; for I have only
+a few moments. On my way up to dinner, I literally ran against King, he
+was in a brown study, and I in a hurry. 'Hello!' I cried, at which he
+stopped, and quite abruptly (so unlike him), said, 'Tell Mrs. Gower I
+have heard from Mr. Cole, senr., who has been ill at Montreal. His
+physician, Dr. Peake, ordered him to Florida, positively forbidding him
+to pass the cold season at Ottawa. He is extremely anxious about
+Charlie, who has not written him. A newspaper, with the announcement of
+his marriage, being the only communication from Bayswater direct;' and
+here it is, he gave it me for you. From some outside source he has heard
+that Charlie is ill, and wishes any of us to let him know immediately at
+his hotel, Jacksonville, if we have, or receive any news. He admits to
+King, that with the exception of the girl herself, the remaining members
+of the family Charlie has married into are a bad lot."
+
+"Poor Charlie, he dreaded this marriage," she said, regretfully; "but
+seemed to be hemmed in by circumstances--a betrothal. Then she had five
+thousand pounds per annum, and his father wished him to carry it out;
+and Charlie is so yielding, altogether. When he told me about it, at the
+very last, I too advised him to go and carry out the arrangement. You
+see, as we know he was heart whole, and his salary was small, and he
+seemed born only to work the will of others, that it seemed a half
+natural sort of thing for him to drift into; still, if he is ill, and
+the family are horrid, and he over there alone, I feel sorry he went at
+all, poor fellow."
+
+"A miserable marriage would break Charlie Cole up completely," said
+Smyth.
+
+"Have you no mutual friend at London," said Dale, kindly, "to whom you
+could apply, and who might give you the facts of the case. Perhaps I can
+assist you. You told me before, Mrs. Gower, that it is to Bayswater
+suburb, your friend went; I knew a very prominent physician residing
+there, to whom I shall write, if you wish; a medical man is very often
+the very best medium in such cases."
+
+"Oh, if you would, Mr. Dale; it would be a perfect relief to all of us,"
+said Mrs. Gower.
+
+"Here is the marriage insertion," said Smyth, reading: "'At Broadlawns,
+Bayswater, London, England, on September 28th, 1887, by the Rev. Claude
+Parks, Charles Babbington-Cole, Esq., of Toronto, Dominion of Canada, to
+Margaret, daughter of the late----"
+
+"What's that! Miss Crew has fainted, poor girl," cried Mrs. Gower, "and
+hurt herself, I fear; there is water in the dining-room."
+
+"I'll get it," cried Smyth.
+
+Mrs. Dale, returning, said, "I wonder what caused it; she is delicate, I
+know, but I never knew her to faint before. My vinaigrette is on my
+dressing-table; would you get it, Henry, like a dear?"
+
+"Thank you, Mr. Dale, she revives."
+
+"Then I shall go, Mrs. Gower; and here, I shall leave the English
+newspaper with you; Lil wants you all to come over this evening, then we
+can talk over some plan--Mr. Dale's is a good one--to elicit information
+as to Charlie's position; Miss Crew is to come, too. Good-bye till
+evening."
+
+"You had better go upstairs and lie down, Miss Crew; you look very
+white, and I fear you have hurt your head, poor girl," said Mrs. Gower,
+kindly.
+
+"I did give it a knock, but you are all too kind; if it won't make any
+difference, I shall lie here for a few minutes."
+
+"Very well, dear; and a glass of wine will be good for you."
+
+"Oh, she never touches it, Elaine, she is rabid blue ribbon," said Mrs.
+Dale.
+
+"And a very good color to wear, but when one is ill," said Mrs. Gower.
+
+"Never mind the wine, Mrs. Gower, my head aches very badly, but all I
+want is to rest it a little; but shall feel very uncomfortable, though,
+if I delay your out-going; do go now."
+
+"Yes, I suppose we must."
+
+"Garfield, you stay with Miss Crew, darling, while Mrs. Gower dresses,
+and I put on my wraps."
+
+"All O. K., mamma." After a few moments spent with 'The Pansy,' he comes
+over to the sofa.
+
+"Miss Crew, Miss Crew; wake up."
+
+"I was not sleeping, dear."
+
+"But your brows were knit like this; and you looked so white. What did
+you faint for? I wanted you to come with us."
+
+"Oh, never mind, don't talk about me; I want you to give me your
+catapult."
+
+"Yes, I reckon I will, as young Smyth had to give his up; but I should
+like it if I get mad at a man for ill-treating his horse."
+
+"But a better plan would be to read the name of the owner on the
+vehicle, and report him."
+
+"Oh, that's too slow; when a fellow gets mad, he wants to let a lead fly
+right then," making a movement as if he was firing.
+
+"Oh, but that is not the best way, my boy; the wise men of old waited
+until they were out of their temper."
+
+"We don't; we just go, bang! but it was pretty good of them, I reckon.
+What did they say right at first, though?"
+
+"They said, when the evildoer was brought before them, having done them
+a great wrong, 'By the gods, were I _not_ in wrath with thee, I would
+have thee slain.'"
+
+"Well, I guess that was noble of them; I reckon my catapult must go," he
+said, fondling it, "and here goes," he said, putting it into the fire;
+"but as I don't want to hear it hissing me, I'll put a finger in each
+ear."
+
+Here Mrs. Gower, with Mr. and Mrs. Dale, entered, robed for the outer
+world, looking comely and comfortable. Mrs. Gower in blue, broken plaid
+skirt, with plain over-skirt, and waist of same color, bonnet to suit,
+tight mantle, with fox boa and muff. Mrs. Dale in plum color, with seal
+mantle; both women with the hue of health on cheek and lips, and with
+bright eyes.
+
+"Come, Garfield, my son, into your overcoat with the speed of a New York
+despatch," said his mother.
+
+"It seems too bad to leave you, Miss Crew," said Mrs. Gower,
+sympathetically; "are you sure I can do nothing for you before we
+start?"
+
+"Quite sure, thank you; my head aches a little, but I have some Dorcas
+work here, which will make me forget I have a head, I hope."
+
+"Then you will be rewarded; _au revoir_, dear."
+
+"And now for the tree of knowledge," said Mrs. Dale.
+
+After visiting the Wellesley and other city schools, the Church School
+for boys, the Collegiate Institute, Jarvis Street, and the Upper Canada
+College, they decided to place him at the latter, principally on account
+of the boarding school; they being, at present, unsettled as to their
+future plans.
+
+"Your city schools are admirable, and were we actual residents,
+housekeeping, I should ask nothing better for my boy. Some of your
+finest public men, I am told, Mrs. Gower, have sat at those desks."
+
+"Yes, so I have always heard; but I think, in Garfield's case, you have
+acted wisely. A boy coming from school to hotel life, has every
+incentive not to study."
+
+"Yes, that's just it. At the U. C. College, the example will be there in
+the other boys at their books, and I consider it a great boon to be able
+to place him under such management. The masters are talented gentlemen;
+and if a boy does not make something of himself under such guidance,
+mentally, morally and physically, then he must be made of very poor
+stuff, indeed."
+
+"Garfield, dear," said his mother, "you will have to be as starched as a
+Swiss laundry, minding your p's and q's, like an Englishman."
+
+"Oh, yes, I know; but they are the stuff, mamma. You see they give a
+fellow cricket, and drill, as well as book knowledge."
+
+"Yes, they are wise; you will study all the better. See that you make a
+man of yourself while there," said his father.
+
+"I shall never forget my goal, papa."
+
+"And what is that?"
+
+"To be President Dale, of the United States of America; and I reckon,
+when I run, my opponents won't have any dirty stories to rake up about
+me, for I'm going to begin right now."
+
+"But they frequently coin falsehoods. What would you do in that case?"
+
+"Put mamma on their trail; have 'em up, and make 'em swallow or prove
+them."
+
+"All right, my ten-year-old; mother will be your right hand man," she
+said, endearingly.
+
+"I expect the lies men have to face in the arena of public life are
+their worst foes," said Mrs. Gower. "Beecher said, 'If the lies told
+about public men could be materialized, they would roof in and cover
+over the whole earth.'"
+
+"He spoke feelingly," said Mr. Dale; "Dames Rumor and Grundy, with the
+newspapers, had him in a tight place."
+
+"Shall we go on further, Henry, and purchase the mattress, etc., for
+Garfield?"
+
+"No, I think not, Ella; I have to meet Dickson, from New York, at the
+Walker House, at six; can't you come in the morning, dear?"
+
+"Oh, yes."
+
+"Do you dine with your friend, Mr. Dale?"
+
+"Yes; so we arranged."
+
+"Then you come back with me, Ella, and this wee man, of course?"
+
+"Yes, if we don't weary you."
+
+"You know better, dear. Oh, Mr. Dale, will you kindly go into Mr.
+Smyth's office, and say we find it impossible to go over this evening,
+but will to-morrow--_sans ceremonie_, if agreeable."
+
+"Consider your commission executed, dear Mrs. Gower. I shall drive up
+for you, Ella, this evening some time; _au revoir_," and, lifting his
+hat, he is gone.
+
+After a delightful walk through the busy streets, from the Upper Canada
+College, by way of King Street West, thence north to Holmnest, they find
+Miss Crew a little quieter, perhaps, but apparently quite recovered from
+her recent swoon. Putting aside her Dorcas work, the three ladies sit in
+the firelight and gloaming, to chat until dinner hour.
+
+"I regret you were not with us, Miss Crew; the schools would have
+interested you," said Mrs. Dale.
+
+"Yes, I am sorry, too; for ever since our arrival I have heard so much
+in praise of the city schools, especially."
+
+"Their praise is ever in our mouth," said Mrs. Gower; "but my views on
+the subject are somewhat contradictory. Though going with the progress
+of the age, I don't feel quite sure that this mixing up of the children
+of the rich and poor is to the ultimate good of either."
+
+"Oh, I think it's better, Elaine, to bundle them all in together."
+
+"I don't know, Ella; the Industrial School system recommends itself very
+much to me for the poorer classes, among whom, if there is any
+originality, it will out."
+
+After dinner, to which Mr. Cobbe, coming in as it was announced, made
+one at, Miss Crew, not feeling quite herself, begging to be excused,
+retired to her room, and Garfield into the arms of Morpheus on the
+lounge; when, during a temporary absence of Mrs. Dale, Mr. Cobbe said,
+quickly, while laying a hand on either shoulder of his hostess:
+
+"What do you have that woman here all the time for? If she is going to
+spend the evening, I shall go."
+
+"Were I Mrs. Ruggles, of Pickwick fame, I should object to my friend
+being called a woman," she said, half jokingly; "as it is, I----"
+
+At this moment some pebbles were thrown against the window, cracking the
+glass. Mrs. Dale, now returning, said:
+
+"What! is it the window fired at? Things are coming to a pretty pass,"
+she said, with latent meaning; "We should have closed the shutters;
+don't, Elaine, I shall do it."
+
+"I had better go out and frighten away the tramps," said Cobbe, his face
+flushing with angry impatience.
+
+"Yes, Philip; if you will be so kind."
+
+"You are a gentlemanly man, and a good looking one, Mr. Cobbe; but I
+don't love you," said Mrs. Dale, emphatically, shaking her clenched fist
+after his retreating form.
+
+Mrs. Gower could not but smile at her little friend's vehemence, as she
+played with the bracelets on her shapely arms, her head bent in thought.
+
+"Thomas is a good servant, Elaine; he has just fastened the hall door on
+the heels of Monsieur Cobbe; and now, _ma chere_, this is the time and
+place for confidence," she said, earnestly, while laying her jewelled
+fingers on her friend's brown locks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE OATH IN THE TOWER OF TORONTO UNIVERSITY.
+
+
+"Yes, dear, draw over your rocker, he will not return, and since you are
+willing, I shall pour my griefs into the lap of your mind; seeking, as
+you say, to lessen the dead weight on my own.
+
+"Just about this time last year, not so late though, for the trees were
+lovely in tints of deep orange and crimson, with the brown of the oak.
+Our beautiful suburbs, with the Queen's Park, looking like huge bouquets
+in the hands of Dame Nature; you know my passion for scenery, Ella. One
+day--a bright and glorious day, it had been--the blue sky, almost out of
+sight, it was so uplifted; a day sufficient to raise one's spirits as by
+some powerful stimulant, I was returning from town to my modest quarters
+(not here you know, dear), about four p.m., through the park; when, Mr.
+Cobbe overtaking me, suggested our going up into the tower of the
+Toronto University to enjoy the view. I consented, knowing that the
+slanting beams of the sinking sun would kiss good-night to the
+tree-tops, lighting them with additional loveliness. We entered the
+grandly beautiful building, the janitor, unlocking the door to the
+tower, reminding us of the rule, "keys turned at five." Up, and ever
+upwards, the spiral stairway, making one dizzy in the ascent; at length,
+the top is reached; and, oh! the view, Ella, was more than beautiful. My
+eyes only rested with a passing glance at the handsome villas skirting
+the park, ever returning to dwell on the superb mass of color in the
+trees; the sun seeming to linger lovingly while photographing their
+shadows upon the grass.
+
+"I sat silent, or nearly so, for some time, when somehow the very air
+seemed full of such quiet, solemn grandeur, that thought becoming
+active, travelled in and about by-gone scenes and faces, bringing tears
+to my eyes, as a strange fit of loneliness came upon me.
+
+"I was just in the mood to say yes, to a proposal to link my life with
+another, when Philip Cobbe pleaded his suit, saying, 'In a home together
+we would be companions each for the other; that we would be happier in a
+little home together than in the cold formality of a boarding-house;
+that in our short acquaintance, we knew each other as well as people who
+had a life-long knowledge of each other; that we were each too
+warm-hearted to be content alone; that the long, dark autumn was coming
+on, in which we would be all in all to each other; that his love for me
+filled his heart.'
+
+"Then, Ella, he was really eloquent in his description of a little home
+together--a picture particularly inviting to me in my loneliness and in
+my despondent mood.
+
+"I had been, as you know, under fortune's wheel, season after season, in
+the ice-bound winter, in the scorching sun of summer; sometimes in doubt
+in which I suffered most. With a purse as 'trash,' society turned a cold
+shoulder to me. Summer friends did not see me; my real friends at a
+distance--yourselves among the foremost--could not prevail upon me to
+visit them, as I knew the only sin society refuses to pardon is an
+out-at-elbows gown; and I was too proud to accept gifts I could not
+repay.
+
+"Yet, still I hesitated in accepting Philip's offer, which seemed
+tempting in its home view; but would it be wise for me to marry him,
+simply because my life was a lonely one? I was in the act of telling
+him, 'I would sleep on it, and give him his answer, to-morrow,' when
+saying so, we were startled by the city clocks and bells striking,
+ringing and chiming six o'clock! Ella, Ella, my heart with fright seemed
+to stop beating; even yet a nervous tremor runs through me when I recall
+that moment; it was too true, on Philip consulting his watch, really, in
+the gloaming; for the sun was then sinking to rest at about five-thirty.
+
+"'Great Heavens!' I cried; 'the tower door will be locked!' At this, can
+you credit it, Ella; the face of my companion grew exultant, as he
+cried:
+
+"'Then we shall be here together until morning, and you will have to
+marry me!'
+
+"At this, Ella, a shudder of repulsion ran through me; all my liking for
+him seemed at once to leave my heart, fear taking its place. 'What shall
+we do?' I cried; 'there are no passers-by; God help me, for truly, "vain
+is the help of man." Think of something, do something, Mr. Cobbe--go to
+the foot of the stairs--hammer on the door--anything--get me out some
+way,' I said, almost in a frenzy. 'There is no one in the building,' he
+said. 'I would be no more heard than you hear your dog Tyr whining for
+your return. You will have to stay. We will be married, which some women
+would not grieve at. Come, come, cheer up; we will be married quietly in
+the morning; say yes, with a kiss.'
+
+"'Go away,' I said; 'you must have matches, I have hit upon a plan. I am
+going to tie my bonnet to the end of your cane, and set fire to it. Some
+one will see it, and tell the janitor or steward, and we shall be
+liberated; here, quick, the matches!'
+
+"'I have not one about me,' he said; and which I now feel sure was a
+falsehood. 'Oh try, try; search every pocket; if you will only free us I
+will promise anything, only get us out of here,' I said, half beside
+myself.
+
+"'You will promise anything,' he said, excitedly; 'then, down on your
+knees, and swear by all you hold sacred, to become my wife.'
+
+"'Oh, that is too awful an oath, ask me anything but that,' for I was
+sure now I could not love him.
+
+"'No, no; swear, or you stay here all night.' 'Half my money, when I get
+it, instead, for pity's sake,' I said, distractedly.
+
+"'Nonsense! I swear to liberate us from the tower and building, if you
+swear as I have dictated; if not, take the consequences.' Again, he
+pleaded his suit, winding up by asking me 'How I thought I would look
+facing a crowd in the morning, emerging from such a midnight
+resting-place, and in his company; of how the students would have food
+for jokes, for the remainder of the term; of how the newspapers would
+get hold of it,' etc.
+
+"Driven to desperation, I knelt and swore by all I held sacred, to
+become his wife--unless he himself set me free--the latter clause he
+allowed, laughing at the idea; he then held me to his heart, telling me
+I would have a good husband in him, and never have cause to repent of my
+oath; tying my bonnet on, for I trembled so, my hands were useless; how
+I got down the steps on steps I don't know; he must have carried me; for
+what with the strain on my nerves from the whole scene, added to the
+spiral stairway, I felt dizzy and faint; but we reached the bottom, and
+my astonishment and indignation is easier imagined than described, on
+seeing him coolly turn the handle and open the door! The bells we had
+heard were fire-bells. The janitor, true to his trust, had locked the
+great door and gone to a lecture-room for a moment, intending after to
+mount for us.
+
+"Philip seemed uplifted to a state of insane exultation at the success
+of his plan; for, on my upbraiding him on such base means to attain his
+ends, he laughed, as he said, 'All is fair in love or war,' as turning
+the key in the oak door of the main entrance we were out in the free
+air. Free! yes, but with my freedom gone. I looked at him with a sort of
+curiosity, as merely shutting the door, though I suggested burglars; he
+for answer, taking me in his arms, saying thickly, to the accompaniment
+of the key turning, 'Make the best of me, love, it was only by stratagem
+I could win you; I am lonely, so are you; I will make you happy, so help
+me God!' and so it is, Ella, you find me engaged to wed Philip Cobbe.
+
+"But, as you must see, there must be other reasons than my
+disinclination to have prevented our union, for, you see, he still
+haunts me, though not loving me so faithfully, perhaps," she said,
+gravely.
+
+"Of course I see it, you poor dear," she said, coming nearer, and
+kissing her friend, "and you must _never_ marry that man. What a romance
+of the tower it was; I have been fascinated listening to your recital. I
+now see what he meant by his--as he thought--strange manner, on Henry
+naming that we were going to the University with you. But, _mark my
+words_, there will be a tragedy if you wed this man; I know something."
+
+A tremor ran through Mrs. Gower; she clasped her hands nervously, her
+lips quivered, and her dark eyes dilated, as she said, leaning towards
+her friend,
+
+"You mean about a woman!"
+
+Here Garfield awoke at the entrance of his father, whose ring his mother
+and Mrs. Gower had not heard. Miss Crew, entering, hat and mantle on,
+and carrying the outdoor wraps of Mrs. Dale.
+
+"Why, you both look startled!" said Mr. Dale; "have you been enjoying a
+spiritual seance?"
+
+"No, Henry, but you had better avoid me, for I have been tasting of the
+tree of knowledge."
+
+"We have had dogma, also, Mr. Dale; and your wife does not believe that
+the end justifies the means," said Mrs. Gower, as Thomas brought in a
+tray with delicious coffee and sandwiches.
+
+"I hope such doctrine won't be forced down our throats some day, Mrs.
+Gower. Roman Catholicism seems to be coming upon you, wave by wave, and
+you in Ontario don't even seem to dream of a breakwater."
+
+And so he talked on of city news, of the immense circulation of the
+newspapers, of the power of the press, etc., seeing there had been grave
+talk, and giving each time to bury gravity in heart's casket.
+
+"Good night, little man; and so you get your feet on life's first rung,
+at Upper Canada College, on Monday morning."
+
+"Yes, Mrs. Gower, and I mean to show them what a New York boy can do."
+
+"That's right; defy circumstance and fate, and mount."
+
+"Good night, and good-bye, dear Mrs. Gower, for I leave, as you are
+aware, for a run north-east, to look at some mines with our friend
+Buckingham."
+
+"Yes, so I hear; what birds of passage you men are; but you don't leave
+until Monday, when your good little wife and Miss Crew come to me during
+your absence."
+
+"I really don't know what Ella would do without Holmnest and--you."
+
+"Take care of yourself, Elaine," said Mrs. Dale, with a meaning pressure
+of the hand.
+
+"What for?" she said, rather sadly.
+
+"Oh, for somebody!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+BIRDS OF PREY.
+
+
+In the neat little parlor, with flowering plants in the window, its
+walls adorned with old-time Scripture prints and modern play-bills in
+droll blending, back of the shop-room for stationery, at Bayswater, on
+an evening late in October, sits Silas Jones, listless, and, with idle
+hands, apparently staring into vacancy, in reality wandering in busy
+thought into dim prison-houses and private asylums at London, in search
+of Sarah Kane, who, on his calling to see at Mrs. Mansfield's some weeks
+ago, as arranged, was informed by a housekeeper in charge that her
+mistress had gone south for the winter, and had told Mr. Stone some
+months ago she would like Sarah Kane to go with her as companion. When
+he sent her word she refused the offer, and that as to Mr. Stone
+bringing her, neither of them had been near the place.
+
+On this, Silas Jones had racked his brain to discover her, advertising
+time and again; sure of foul play. One day he thought of seeing what the
+detectives could do, another of consulting a lawyer; he had, though
+knowing it would be useless, gone to Broadlawns, and interviewed Mr.
+Stone, who had answered carelessly:
+
+"I never even try to keep track of servants we discharge. Why of Sarah
+Kane, who was a viper on our hands?"
+
+"As to that, Mr. Stone, I shall not allow you to blacken the best woman
+in God's world. She went with you to London; where is she now?"
+
+"I tell you again I don't know, even whether she be alive or dead, and
+if you come about Broadlawns again, I shall have you up for trespass. An
+Englishman's house is his castle, sir."
+
+"Oh, Silas Jones, Silas Jones, she has grown tired of you," said Mrs.
+Cole, vengefully. "We found her in Mr. Cole's bedroom at midnight. What
+can an old man like you expect?"
+
+"I don't mind your wicked words, they can't hurt Sarah; it's your deeds;
+and I implore you, if you have any of the woman nature in you, tell me
+where I can find her."
+
+"And I answer, as Mr. Stone did, I never bother myself as to the
+whereabouts of discharged servants, so consider yourself dismissed," she
+said, calling Simon.
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"Open the door for Silas Jones, bookseller, Bayswater." And so had he
+been answered in harsh, unfeeling tones, as almost broken-hearted he had
+wended his lonely way mechanically back to the little parlor.
+
+It is well he has sold out his business to the young man Mary has
+married, for he cannot give his mind to anything other than the loss of
+the one woman, in his simple loyalty, he has ever loved, and of how
+again to find her.
+
+"Silas," said his sister, "I just now asked Dr. MacNeil, as he came up
+the street, how poor Mr. Cole is, and he says he is in for a bad attack
+of that nasty rheumatic fever; just think, brother, of him only out of
+brain fever and into this; it's out and out too bad."
+
+"Does he ask for Sarah, still?"
+
+"Yes; doctor says it's most pitiful to hear him; and he (doctor) says,
+but it's 'cause he doesn't know the truth, that, of course, they are not
+to be blamed for the not bringing her, since she be so bad."
+
+"Sister, I can't stand this suspense and trouble any longer; it's
+killing me. If it costs me every penny I have in the world, I _must_
+find my Sarah. I shall go into the city to-morrow, and put the
+detectives to work."
+
+At this juncture the shop door was hurriedly thrown open, when Sarah
+Kane, cold, pale, and trembling, followed by the driver of a hansom,
+came in quickly into their midst.
+
+"Now, Missis, you'll be as good as your word, I 'ope, and gim me my
+fare."
+
+But she is in the close embrace of Silas, while Mary pays, dismisses
+him, and locks the front door, her husband being in the great city.
+
+"Silas, it's my belief you are demented; let our Sarah go. I want to
+hear where the old de'il took her to, and how she comes in like this,
+with no bonnet or shawl, and her hair blown about like that. There,
+that's more like it," she said, kissing Sarah, as Silas, not speaking a
+word, only keeping his gaze fixed on Sarah's face, leads her to a chair,
+when, dropping on his knees, says earnestly,
+
+"Thank God; thank God."
+
+Now seating himself beside her, and holding her hand in his, Sarah says,
+her lips quivering:
+
+"Yes, God be thanked, I am at home, home! Oh dears, you will never know
+the sweetness of home as I do, after the awful life I have had since I
+last saw your dear faces; and only that I ran away, leastwise, bribed
+the boy with my watch and chain--"
+
+"You did!" cried Mary, in astonishment.
+
+"Freedom is sweeter than jewels, Mary dear; but I must begin at the
+beginning. Yes, Silas, the tea has warmed me; I must tell you all now.
+You know how suspicious the people at Broadlawns are? Well, you can
+imagine the scene I went through when, running back from you that early
+morn, I found them waiting for me; they had got into my room with
+another key; they called me all the foul names in the spelling-books in
+England, I do believe. My heart, but it was fearful; and poor Mr. Cole
+calling me, and they not letting me near him; but I can't go on till I
+hear of him. How is he, and was it brain fever?"
+
+"Yes, Sarah," said Mary, hurriedly, "and he could not bear Mrs. Cole
+near him; raving more even when out of his head, if she was in the
+room."
+
+"Poor, poor young gentleman, and how is he now?"
+
+"Well, he's just out, like, of brain fever, and into rheumatism."
+
+"Dear, dear!" she said, in troubled tones; "Silas, I feel, dear, that I
+must endeavor to bring some speck of comfort into his life, for I blame
+myself now for not long ago going and talking it over with Dr. Annesley;
+will you come up to the city with me, to-morrow, and try to see him?"
+
+"Anywhere, so I am with you; for I do believe, Sarah, I shall never be
+brave enough to lose sight Of your dear face again," he said, tenderly,
+still holding her hand.
+
+"And, now, go on Sarah, and tell us where that old sneak thief took you
+to," said Mary, curiously.
+
+"Yes, I must. Mr. Stone bid me only take my Gladstone bag, for he was
+not going to spoil the phæton with my trunks. So, merely putting in a
+few necessary articles, thinking, as you remember, to be back in a day
+or two; well, we drove into town; but not in the direction, as I
+remembered, of Mrs. Mansfield's; we went a long, long way east; and when
+I wondered, he answered, shortly, that he had business that required
+immediate attention, first; well, on we drove into streets and
+localities unknown to me. At last, after a two hours' drive, we stopped
+at the end house in a terrace; it was a gloomy street, though some of
+the houses were well-looking enough. In one of the windows of the house
+at which we stopped, was a card, 'Lodgings for single gentlemen;' but
+that was a blind, Silas, to cover the real state of affairs."
+
+On Mr. Stone knocking, a bolt and chain were drawn and unfastened, and a
+big, strong, coarse-looking boy, large mouthed, and with cross eyes,
+opened the door.
+
+"'Is your master in?' inquired Mr. Stone. 'Yes, sir.' 'Come in, Sarah
+Kane,' said the wicked master of Broadlawns. 'I have a good deal to say
+here, and you may as well come in doors, after your early morning walk'
+(that was here, you know, Silas) 'and your visit to a gentleman's
+bedroom last night.' It might have been Mrs. Cole; he spoke in such
+cold, hard tones.
+
+"We were shown into the front room first flat; the room with the notice
+in the window; it was extremely dirty and untidy; with a single bed in
+one corner; and what furniture there was looked like odds and ends
+picked up at sales; three chairs, one of brown leather, the others faded
+red and blue rep. On a table were pipes, tobacco, burnt matches, ale
+mugs, and cards, with copies of _Bell's Life_, in different stages of
+dirtiness; the room was littered with a man's clothing, and altogether
+unsavory. I was reluctant to enter, and stood on the door-mat.
+
+"'Just go in ma'am; here's the master,' said the boy grinning.
+
+"If the room was unsavory, the man was. Oh, Mary, if you saw him," she
+said, shudderingly; "he looked like a bully or prize fighter; a
+heavily-built man, short of stature, with bull-dog head and face; he
+wore no coat, and his shirt was unclean."
+
+"Well, Lang, how are you getting along?"
+
+"Do you mean as to funds, Mr. Stone; are you going to say the word,
+'forego the back rents, take that lump sum for the house, and cry quits,
+that's the question?'" he said, with a wink. "Come in, Missis; I'm quite
+a dude, you see; but ladies don't mind that."
+
+"I prefer to wait for Mr. Stone, out in the phæton," I said, with latent
+disgust.
+
+"Here they exchanged what I now know was a meaning glance, Mr. Stone
+saying, 'Sarah Kane is a most particular young woman, as you shall hear,
+Lang; come this way, Sarah.'
+
+"I protested that I preferred waiting outside, to no purpose. 'This way,
+Sarah Kane,' 'Yes, this way, Missis,' they said, one going before and
+one behind me up a stairway, covered with a common carpet, but thickly
+padded; there were five doors opening into a square hall; all doors
+shut. Turning the handle of one, Mr. Stone said, smiling grimly,
+'Another lodger.' 'Yes; he's out airing; you bet, they keep me busy,' he
+answered, with another of his odious winks, saying, 'Here, Missis, just
+step in 'ere while the Squire and me square accounts;' this time he
+winked at me; and I began to think it a mechanical way he had of winding
+up a remark."
+
+"Nasty beast," said Mary.
+
+"I was no sooner in, than the key was turned, and I knew myself a
+prisoner; I called, hammered on the door, did every conceivable thing to
+make a noise; finally I sat down on the one greasy chair of green rep,
+and cried as if my heart would break. I thought of you, Silas, and you
+too, Mary, of poor Mr. Cole; and hope vanished, knowing by whom I had
+been trapped. From time to time I could hear a murmur of voices; then
+Mr. Stone's unmusical laugh; and the unfastening and fastening of the
+door. Then I gave myself up to despair; I could make no sign to the
+outside busy London world, for my small room was only lit from the hall
+by a curious window, up near the ceiling. A single bed, wash-stand, and
+tiny looking glass, hanging to the wall, too small and cracked to be of
+any use; every article being stale and dirty. Mr. Lang brought me a cup
+of tea, and some bread and cheese, telling me to make myself at home;
+and 'that even though I was in a single gentleman's house, no matter,'
+with another odious wink; 'that Mr. Stone had told him I would not be
+sorry there were no ladies,' etc.; but to make a long story short, Silas
+and Mary, the people at Broadlawns imprisoned me to get me out of the
+way, so I should not speak of this fraud of a marriage."
+
+"That's it, my poor Sarah."
+
+"Days passed into weeks; and had it not been for my pocket Bible, the
+Pickwick papers, and a long strip of muslin embroidery and housewife I
+had put in my bag, I don't know what would have become of me; I tried to
+keep calm, if only to devise a scheme of escape. One day was much the
+same as another, Mr. Lang trying in many ways to get private information
+of Broadlawns, telling me, to raise my wrath, that Mr. Stone had told
+him I was demented, and nothing I said was reliable; but I could not
+trust such a man, so left him no wiser. Every day, for fifteen minutes,
+I was compelled to go up two flights of stairs to a room with an open
+skylight, and where I was made, willingly though, to walk up and down;
+sometimes Lang, sometimes another man, whom I loathed even worse, or the
+cross-eyed boy, accompanying me as jailer; this they called a pleasure
+airing. Yesterday, growing desperate, I offered my watch and chain to
+the cross-eyed boy, to liberate me. He listened, eyeing them greedily,
+saying to my delight,
+
+"'Well, I'll try, Missis; for I'm a bit tired of airing of you and the
+three men, and a doing of other chores.' 'Are there three other
+prisoners beside myself,' I cried. 'Oh, no, ma'am; they be just a
+lodging 'ere on the quiet, loike you be.' 'You will free me, then, and
+gain my watch and chain; see how pretty it is, and pure gold.' 'Yes, the
+first chance I gets; but ye're not lying; ye'll give it all square?'
+
+"But to hasten, for I feel tired and weak, though oh! so much better in
+mind; the middle man gave me my airing to-day, to whom I never spoke,
+though he laughed and jeered at me continually. I worried myself by
+thinking that, perhaps, the boy was only a spy, when this evening, after
+Mr. Lang had brought me my tea, and I was again locked in, to my joy, in
+a few minutes, the key turned, and the boy said, hurriedly, 'Come along,
+Missis; don't wait to take nothing; master's out, and Bill's run to the
+gin-palace, telling of me to keep guard.' Even as he spoke, we were
+downstairs, the bolt and chain undone, and, thank God, with the free air
+of heaven about us. 'Give us your 'and, Missis, ye're goin' the wrong
+way;' and on we sped with flying feet. 'Good-bye, Missis; now for the
+timer. It's a dandy,' he said, pocketing it; 'there's a 'ansum; you'd
+better take it, you are out of breath;' and with a shrill whistle, the
+man stopped; when the boy flew, and I took the hansom; and here I am
+home at last, thank God."
+
+"What wretches!" cried Mary.
+
+"You leave me no more, Sarah; you are evermore _my_ care; go to bed now,
+dear, and rest, for we will go up to London to-morrow, to ask Dr.
+Annesley's advice. I shall go now to Broadlawns for your trunks; good
+night. Oh, how light my heart is now I have found you again, Sarah," he
+said, tenderly kissing her.
+
+"We will be an old couple, Silas, dear," she said, quietly; "do you
+know, to-morrow will be our joint birthday; this is the eve of All
+Saints."
+
+"Yes; and we shall be married to-morrow, when we are in the city; age
+doesn't count; our hearts are young, Sarah."
+
+"Yes, Silas; I feel so happy I could sing,
+
+    "'Now we maun totter doon, John;
+        But hand in hand we'll go;
+    And we'll sleep thegither at the foot,
+        John Anderson, my jo.'"
+
+"Our lives have been ever hand in hand, Sarah, for we exchanged hearts
+long, long ago; but here is George; I shall go now with an easy mind,
+for he will guard you safely; good night."
+
+"I have only time, to-night, to wish you joy, George, for I require
+rest," she said, going upstairs.
+
+"Well, this is good," he said, rubbing his hands; "but, good night,
+sister, that is to be; my little wife here has her mouth open to give me
+your story."
+
+When Silas Jones, with the light waggon, drove up the carriage drive to
+Broadlawns, the family were at supper; so Simon, glad of the chance, got
+the trunks down and into the waggon, without words; but as Silas Jones
+was thanking him for his assistance; telling him of Sarah Kane's escape,
+and inquiring for Mr. Cole, Mr. Stone, leaving the dining-room,
+encountered him, when he said,
+
+"I am taking Sarah Kane's trunks away, Mr. Stone."
+
+"And who has authorized you to do anything in the matter?" he inquired,
+haughtily.
+
+"My future wife, Sarah Kane."
+
+For once, he was nonplussed; when Miss Stone, passing through the hall,
+said, stiffly:
+
+"I am sorry I cannot congratulate you, Mr. Jones, on winning a Christian
+woman."
+
+"What can it mean," thought Mrs. Cole; "she is in tight keeping; safe
+enough." As a feeler, she says,
+
+"You must have the faith of Abraham to trust her still; someone said she
+is living with a bachelor at London."
+
+"Mrs. Cole, let me tell you there is such a thing as British justice,
+which we mean to have, when you shall eat your words in a court of law,"
+he said, indignantly turning on his heel, and out into the night.
+
+Simon, at his post in the sick room, told the good news of Sarah Kane's
+escape.
+
+Turning suddenly, in his eagerness to face Simon, and hear more, the
+sufferer groaned in rheumatic pain.
+
+"Can you not manage to bring her to see me, when _they_ are _all_ out;
+the once you did bring Mr. Jones, he said, when he found Sarah, they
+would go out to New York or Canada; I particularly wish to see them.
+Jove! the pain; the liniment, Simon; rub me, please, and close the door;
+if I could only escape, like Sarah; you will do what you can, I beg of
+you, to bring them to see me?"
+
+"I will, sir, if I loses my situation by it."
+
+Below stairs the birds of prey held council with closed doors.
+
+"What the devil did that man Jones mean by daring to throw threats in
+our faces, Margaret?" said Stone, with seeming bravado, though, in
+reality, in dismay.
+
+"Impudent bluster, perhaps, but I shall put my ears to their proper
+use," and slipping off her shoes, she crept noiselessly up to the door
+of the gloomy east chamber, which had been closed so they could talk
+privately, thus playing into the ear of the enemy.
+
+"Well," said her uncle grimly, as she returned. "Well?" she answered, in
+the same tones, her eagle nose more prominent, her awful eyes more stony
+than ever. "She has escaped! and is even now at the bookseller's."
+
+"The devil!"
+
+"You may well say so. Thomas Lang has sold you. Simon does not know
+particulars, for our friend Cole was earnest in inquiries."
+
+"Is it too late to go into the city now?" he said nervously.
+
+"Yes, and you are too cowardly to face 'ills you know not of' alone. Let
+me see; the lower class are awed by pomp and show. We will drive into
+Windsor Terrace in the morning in the carriage and pair. If Lang has
+sold you, you must buy him, by letting him have the house at his own
+figure. Again, should she have escaped without his connivance, be
+prepared by selling everything you can. You, as guardian to my sweet
+step-sister, have unlimited powers until our pet is of age, which
+interesting event, they don't seem to know, has taken place. Rake in all
+the gold you can, uncle, as the United States looks inviting at present;
+to-morrow will be a busy day, Aunt Elizabeth, so you might tell cook to
+have breakfast an hour earlier. Good night."
+
+As she left the room, her uncle said:
+
+"She is every inch a Stone, Elizabeth, and not a bit like her
+chicken-hearted father."
+
+"That's true, Timothy, but she grows plainer every day, and looks nearly
+as old as I do."
+
+"Yes, she is no Hebe; but had the blooming goddess been possessed of her
+wits, she would have blind-folded Jupiter."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE ISLET-GEMMED ST. LAWRENCE.
+
+
+On a morning late in December Mrs. Gower sat alone in her pretty restful
+library, with its olive-green velvet cushions and hangings, its
+water-lilies, like the beauties in our bay, with their green stalks and
+leaves painted on the panelled walls, its English ivy trained up and
+around the Queen Anne mantel, with graceful palms standing on either
+side of the floral blossoms on the stand. The occupant looks well in a
+close-fitting gown of navy blue flannel, embroidered in rose silk; there
+is a half-smile on the lips, and the dreaminess of some tender thought
+in the dark eyes, as she idly opens and closes a black lace fan, with a
+spray of honeysuckle painted thereon. A gentleman's card lay beside her
+work-basket on the table.
+
+"So Alexander Blair is his name," she thought; "how very, very long,"
+with a sigh, "it has taken to come to me--his name, of course, I mean."
+She thought, with a smile, putting the card to her lips, "how foolish of
+me, but I have always had that way. I remember travelling to Port Elgin,
+from Toronto, and on my arrival, my trunk, containing my dearest
+treasures, was not forthcoming. I was wild with grief, when, after
+enriching the telegraph offices, at the expense of my purse, in three
+days it was again in my possession; and what did I do, why kissed and
+fondled both trunk and key. Elaine Gower, you are a foolish,
+impressionable woman. And so I dropped my fan at the Grand, last night.
+His card says, 'With compliments, dropped at the theatre.' He scarcely
+seemed a stranger seated beside me at 'Erminie,' and I feel sure he felt
+likewise. How handsome he is, or rather how essentially manly, with the
+look of strength in his broad shoulders, and of honesty of purpose in
+his fearless, blue eyes. He is iron-grey, and slightly bald, I noticed,
+when he stooped to pick up my handkerchief, but his beard and moustache
+are brown. He is decidedly dark; I wonder if Highland Scotch; for dark,
+and true, and tender are the North. His name suits him. I like them both
+for old association's sake, one being the maiden name of one whose
+memory is sacred, the other, the Christian name of my loved dead. I
+wonder what poor Charlie Cole would think of my having made his
+acquaintance in this romantic fashion. I remember, he also had had
+instantaneous photographs, as we laughingly called them, of a young lady
+who had interested him."
+
+At this moment Miss Crew, entering, in walking costume, said:
+
+"I met the letter-carrier as I came in, Mrs. Gower, and here is your
+share."
+
+"Thank you. You look better for your walk; but did you walk?"
+
+"Only from the Spadina Avenue car terminus, but I had some little
+walking in my district, but the College Street Mission is worth
+fatiguing oneself for. Oh, Mrs. Gower, have you heard how Mayor Howland
+purposes raising building funds for the cottage in connection with the
+Industrial Home at Mimico?"
+
+"Yes, I read it in some newspaper, the Globe of yesterday, I think."
+
+"Won't it be something to be proud of, if the children carry it out."
+
+"Yes, and I believe they will; children are very much in earnest, when
+the heart is touched; and now for our correspondence; take off your hat
+and mantle here by the grate, though Gurney's furnace does keep us very
+comfortable all over the house."
+
+"Pardon my interrupting you, Mrs. Gower; but I am reading a letter from
+Mrs. Dale, in which she says, to be sure and remind you to write her
+some description of your yachting on the St. Lawrence; those English
+friends of theirs would so much like to get some idea of the life, as
+they purpose purchasing an island."
+
+"Yes, I must do so; but I fear any poor words of mine, will fail in
+doing justice to its many delights;" and on finishing reading her
+letters, seating herself at her _escretoire_, she wrote as follows:
+
+     "The Islet-Gemmed St. Lawrence.
+
+     "DEAR MR. AND MRS. DALE,--It has never been my lot to read
+     anything descriptive of river-life, on our loveliest of
+     streams, that I have considered did justice to its varied
+     charms; so you may imagine how powerless I feel, in the task
+     you have assigned me; but when I tell you that that martyr to
+     _ennui_, Jack Halton, this summer owned to myself that he had,
+     at last, found something worth living for, you will therefore
+     not be surprised that I, loving nature as I do, should have
+     gone into raptures.
+
+     "In the first place, our steam-yacht, the _Ino_, was the
+     trimmest little craft, the daintiest little beauty on the
+     river; and we had the perfection of host and hostess, each in
+     their respective niche, leaving nothing to be desired. I told
+     them they must have had 'Aladdin's lamp' stowed away somewhere;
+     for we had but to clap our hands, and our will was done.
+
+     "Day after day, never tiring, ever with renewed zest we boarded
+     the _Ino_, to dream away the hours in the most ravishing bits
+     of scenery my eyes ever beheld. With hampers full of dainties
+     and substantials, we wandered in and about the islands;
+     sometimes meeting other idlers like ourselves, and pic-nicking
+     at some chosen spot; sometimes the guests at one or other of
+     our acquaintances having summer homes in this our Canadian
+     fairyland. Truly, if all the year were June, the world in woods
+     would roam; for our gay little _Ino_ was a spirit of the
+     waters, and though we had no spiritualists on board, still we
+     had table rappings on some good story by our witty host;
+     neither were we so spiritual as to despise the material, which
+     we proved as we sat to dinner; and such dinners, Ambrosia! Yea,
+     and for our goddesses; though with sunburnt faces we women did
+     not much resemble the latter, our men looking handsomer the
+     browner they grew; but as for dinner, we had from dishes to
+     tickle the palate of our club epicures to--hodge-podge, which
+     we relished.
+
+     "Yes, from morn till eve, and often late, late, in the white
+     moonlight, we lived an ideal life on our pet yacht, the _Ino_.
+
+     "One will sometimes say, in meteing out great praise to some
+     favored spot, that one would live and die there; but here, who
+     talks of dying? One would fain live forever; for, every moment
+     one lives, one breathes a new life; for on the luxuriously
+     appointed _Ino_, we gazed out from curtained windows, or from
+     under a canopied arch, while we reclined on softest of
+     cushioned seats, and literally drank in the 'Elixir of Life.'
+     The air of the pine groves as we passed, the air of the grandly
+     dark and dashing river, full of ozone, is the air to inflate
+     one's lungs with, and carry back with one to our crowded
+     cities, which seemed so far away in that land of beauty.
+
+     "Some delightful evenings, we would tread a measure on the
+     green sward, to music of flute and violin; for, had one or more
+     of our group not been innate musicians, the scene was enough to
+     inspire one, and so, in songs, merry laughter or sentiment, our
+     days passed as a dream.
+
+     "For we stem the shining river,
+     The river of the isles,
+     On our fairy yacht, the _Ino_,
+     With our love beside our side.
+
+     For I there met a sorcerer, who robbed me of my heart, and
+     whose spells I could not break until I fled from this scene of
+     enchantment. And again we board our trim yacht, and what varied
+     scenes of beauty met the eye, whenever and wherever we gazed.
+     Such lights, such shadows, such artist bits, such trees, such
+     rocks, such everything! Surely we were in fairyland, and not in
+     plain, practical Canada.
+
+     "On some of the islands are ideal summer homes; now we came
+     upon a fairy-like structure, in Italian villa style; now, upon
+     a palatial mansion; now, upon a camp all alive, and signalling
+     _Ino_ the fair.
+
+     "The only specks in my sun were, that the American islands were
+     made more beautiful by their owners than our own; and that
+     uneuphonious names had been given to some of these charming
+     islets. Fancy one 'Pitch Pine Point'--I failed to see the point
+     of christening it so.
+
+     "The rocks take most fantastic shapes in the shadowed
+     moonlight. By and under the rock-bound shore, I used to fancy I
+     saw nymphs dancing on the rippling waters, which was to them
+     music; and, dreaming on, as we lazily stemmed the tide, it all
+     came to me, that in days of yore, the youths from the shore,
+     coming to row and sport in the waves at eve, saw the
+     water-sprites, and fell in love; when the sea-gods, for
+     revenge, fell upon them, transforming them into some of the
+     most fantastic-shaped rocks we see; and, the sea-nymphs,
+     pitying the sons of men for their fatal love, prayed the gods
+     to transform themselves into trees, to grow into the clefts of
+     the rocks; and so protect their would-be lovers from old Sol's
+     fiery beams, and their wish was granted.
+
+     "But we invariably turned ere a bend in the river robbed it
+     from our sight, to take a last loving glance at the beauteous
+     Isle Manhattan, where we had been most hospitably entertained
+     by its charming American inmates. It is beautifully wooded, and
+     an elegant mansion thereon, with one of the most hospitable of
+     verandas, stretching long and wide, with many American rockers
+     and pillowed rattan sofas, on which we have reclined or sat
+     while partaking of iced claret and, for those who liked it,
+     champagne _carte blanche_, and where we had one of the most
+     perfect views from the commanding tower of the villa.
+
+     "A view that wants a Lett, an Imrie, or an Awde to sing of, a
+     Longfellow to immortalize--my pen is lifeless in describing its
+     beauty; a beauty that would ravish the soul of a poet, and send
+     an artist wild; a view which brought to my mind the remark of a
+     dear old Scotchman, whom a party of tourists came upon, lost in
+     admiration of the Falls of Niagara. On one of the party asking
+     him what he thought of the Falls, he said, 'Eh, man, I just
+     feel like takin' aff my bonnet til't.'
+
+     "In the far-stretching scene of loveliness here, in the heart
+     of the Islands, one should go to the Tower, at Manhattan alone,
+     leaving the merry, madding crowd on board the yacht, or on the
+     veranda; one should go alone, or in dual solitude, where a
+     clasp of the hand, or a look, is sympathy enough; for one
+     should carry with one one's fill of such a scene of perfect
+     beauty, to brighten darker days and drearier times."
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+EYE-OPENERS.
+
+
+On the morning of All Saints' Day, and while numerous bells, in tuneful
+voices, reminded London of souls departed, and souls to be saved, Silas
+Jones and his twin spirit, Sarah Kane, having arrayed themselves in best
+bib and tucker, had taken the underground rail from Bayswater, and with
+the multitude were trying not to lose one another in the London fog--a
+regular pea-souper, in which the coat-pocket of Silas had been picked of
+pipe, tobacco and handkerchief.
+
+
+"Mercy me, Silas, look well that they don't steal the license."
+
+"You are right, Sarah; which the thieves would not ask for leave or
+license to take; 'tis a big world our London; and it's my belief the
+thieves' quarter is the biggest half."
+
+"We should have made sure of the license, Silas, by being married at
+first."
+
+"That we should, dear; but you have always let a fancied duty come
+between us. And now for Piccadilly and Dr. Annesley, in this fog."
+
+"Hello, Missis; a feller can't see in this 'ere yeller fog; 'ere, get
+into my barrow; it's clean, and I'll run yer through," said a boy's
+voice, running against them; and which Sarah Kane recognized as that of
+her liberator, the cross-eyed boy.
+
+His offer was hurriedly declined by Silas, who dreaded Sarah taking her
+hand from his arm. On ascertaining from the boy that he had hired to
+peddle fruit for a huckster and that he had pawned the watch and chain
+they offered to redeem them, and give him a sovereign and-a-half for
+them; which offer he joyfully accepted; they also, giving him their
+address, told him, if at any time he wanted advice or assistance, to
+come.
+
+A policeman now directed them to the residence of Dr. Annesley--a
+genial, kindly old gentleman, who was at home, and pleased to see them.
+On their relating the doings at Broadlawns, he was both astonished and
+indignant, disgusted and outrageous.
+
+"As to any sharp tricks in money matters, I am not surprised," he said,
+impatiently; "but that they should have dared to perpetrate such an
+outrage as the marriage of Mr. C. Babbington-Cole, to that intensely
+disagreeable, ugly, cruel, Miss Villiers, is monstrous, monstrous!"
+
+"You may well say so, sir," said Sarah Kane, sadly.
+
+"How is it you had no suspicions, Mistress Kane, and you under the same
+roof?"
+
+"I only overheard a word now and again, as to a marriage; but I never
+suspected this horror; I supposed it meant Miss Pearl, and that they
+were going to bring her back, when of age."
+
+"Nothing can be done for Babbington-Cole; he is tied for life; but how
+he could ever have fallen into their net, is more than I can imagine,"
+he said, in disgusted tones.
+
+"You know, I told you they took him by surprise, sir; and his father lay
+ill; and cablegrams came telling him to wed Margaret Villiers, and
+hasten with her to his bedside; and he was just demented-like, between
+it all, and brain fever coming on."
+
+"Well, well, it is a bad, very bad business. I confess to the having
+been so disgusted, on Villiers making Stone guardian to Miss Pearl,
+until she attained her majority, that I, metaphorically speaking, washed
+my hands of the whole affair; especially on Miss Pearl herself telling
+Brookes & Davidson, her mother's lawyers, that she agreed to it; this
+she said, on their telling her that, as her father had had softening of
+the brain at the time, nothing he said was worth considering."
+
+"Depend upon it, doctor, Mr. Stone had used coercion to induce Miss
+Pearl to agree," said Silas Jones.
+
+"Yes, I see, he must have," he answered, thoughtfully.
+
+"And you don't know anything of poor Miss Pearl's whereabouts, do you,
+sir?" asked Sarah Kane, anxiously.
+
+"Yes, I can give you a clue, for I love her for her own and her mother's
+sake; and as time went on, and I heard or saw nothing of her, I wrote T.
+L. Brookes, the senior partner, for I have had nothing to do with the
+hypocrites at Broadlawns, since Villiers' death; and he sent me an
+address at New York. Here it is, 'Mrs. Kent, The Maples, Murray Hill;'
+but, it is only a clue, for I have written, and have not, as yet,
+received a reply."
+
+"Oh, please copy it for me, sir, for Silas and I are going to be
+married, and go out and find her. I promised her mother to look after
+her; and I have not heard from Miss Pearl; but she has written, for she
+said she would; but they have read and destroyed them, the same as they
+did to some that came for Mr. Cole just before and after he arrived."
+
+"Horrible! horrible! How is he now; you just come from there, I
+presume?"
+
+On Sarah Kane relating her late enforced retirement under Tom Lang's
+roof, and her escape therefrom, he opened his eyes in astonishment,
+saying, indignantly:
+
+"The rascal! and you know nothing of the locality?"
+
+"Nothing whatever, sir."
+
+"Even if she did, Dr. Annesley, Stone would coin some plausible reason
+for placing her there."
+
+"Yes, yes, Jones; he is as cunning as the arch-fiend; people would
+believe him, too, as he is a good churchman."
+
+"But, you know, Silas; he has his falsehood ready. Sir, he told my
+jailer that I was demented, and--worse."
+
+"Ah, his plots have no flaw; poor creature, after the kindness and
+respect Mrs. Villiers showed you, and which you deserved; too bad, too
+bad."
+
+"The poison of their lying tongues has already done Sarah harm in
+Bayswater, Doctor. People pass her without a nod; they at Broadlawns say
+they found her in the bedroom of a gentleman guest at midnight, and that
+she stole out of the house at three in the morning to meet another."
+
+"Shocking! you can have them up for defamation," he said, sternly.
+
+"But, sir, I must tell you, it was to poor Mr. Cole's bedroom I went,
+and he with brain-fever coming on, to do what I could to comfort the
+unfortunate gentleman; and it was to Silas and his sister I went at
+night to tell them of the awful marriage; that I was turned out, and
+going to Mrs. Mansfield's, which I was foolish enough to believe," she
+said, with tears.
+
+"Well, well, Mistress Kane, there, there, don't recall it; go off to a
+clergyman's and marry this good man; and here are five pounds to buy
+some trifle in Cheapside, to remember the day by. And now, let me see,
+there was something I wished to see Jones about," he said, kindly,
+rubbing his forehead. "Yes, I have it; did they give you all the wearing
+apparel of the late Mrs. Villiers, Mistress Kane?"
+
+"Oh, no, sir! I would not expect such beautiful things. I thought Miss
+Pearl should have them, whenever I see Miss Stone wearing the lovely
+furs and satins."
+
+"Did you ever receive five hundred pounds sterling, Mistress Kane, left
+you, by the will of the late Mrs. Villiers?" he asked, slowly, and with
+emphasis.
+
+"Sir, you take my breath away. Silas, tell him, no, sir. I! I! receive
+such a sum. No, nor one penny since Mrs. Villiers' death; but that, I
+cannot claim, for I have staid on willingly, to watch dear Miss Pearl's
+interests, and this is the end. Come Silas, let us go now to the parson;
+it will be our first step out of Old England, to find Miss Pearl," she
+said, nervously, her tears flowing apace, partly with the troubled
+excitement of the words of Dr. Annesley, partly at the having, at last,
+a clue to the whereabouts of Pearl Villiers. Not so, Silas, who loved
+her too well to allow the words of Dr. Annesley to pass unnoticed.
+
+"Do you really mean that the late Mrs. Villiers left Sarah a legacy,
+Doctor?" he said, in some excitement.
+
+"I do; and infer from your united words that that rascal has pocketed
+it; I must see to it," and going to the telephone, ringing up Brookes &
+Davidson, ascertaining that they were both at their offices, said:
+
+"Hello! Have been interviewed _re_ Villiers' estate, am now sending the
+persons to you; they are quite reliable; shall see you to-morrow."
+
+"All right, send them on."
+
+"This is all I can do for you at present," he said; "and I advise you to
+make oath as to your not having received the legacy; it will save time.
+
+"I am selfish enough to be glad you are going out to New York; something
+tells me you will trace Miss Pearl; and I can assure you both, you have
+my fullest sympathy in your dealings with Stone; I can scarcely restrain
+myself from taking the law into my own hands, going out, and charging
+them with their villainy."
+
+"Thank God for your friendship, Doctor," said Silas Jones fervently, as
+he smoothed Sarah's bonnet-strings, and gave her her satchel.
+
+"Good-bye, sir, and heaven bless you for your kindnesses," said Sarah
+Kane, with feeling.
+
+"O, pshaw; my only regret is that you have only found me out to say
+farewell; but you must both come back, and bring Miss Pearl, to see an
+old man."
+
+On reaching the offices of the law-firm, Sarah Kane made oath as to the
+not having received either money or wearing apparel.
+
+W. Davidson, Q. C., saying:
+
+"My eyes are being opened every day by the revelations of my clients;
+but what you say confirms my suspicion, that the schemes of some
+_certain_ people are such cunningly devised fables, as to make it next
+to impossible for all the law courts in the kingdom to convict them."
+
+On leaving Temple Bar, they dined comfortably at a restaurant, talking
+faster than they ate. Afterwards, by the words of a clergyman, they were
+at last made one, at which, with hearts full of thankfulness and quiet
+content, they took a Bayswater omnibus.
+
+Again in the little back parlor, where Mary had a table groaning under
+its good things, with a bright fire to welcome them, to which they had
+scarcely done justice, and beginning to relate their adventures in the
+city, when Simon, the man from Broadlawns, entered, saying, hurriedly:
+
+"I gave my word to the young gent up to the house that I'd fetch you
+folks up to see him when they, over there, were out; so, come along,
+please, if you be in a mind to give the poor gentleman his way."
+
+"Yes, indeed, we will, Simon," said Sarah Kane, readily tying on her
+bonnet. "Come, Silas, dear."
+
+He rose, somewhat reluctantly, for the neat little parlor is doubly home
+to him now, with the sweet, gentle face of Sarah looking at him with the
+loving eyes of a wife.
+
+"But are you sure, Simon, that they are all out, and for the evening,
+for I cannot answer for myself if I come across them?"
+
+"Sure as the Bank of England, Mr. Jones, they be at the parson's. He's a
+showing of them off to a big missionary from foreign parts as his best
+angels."
+
+"The Rev. Mr. Parks is so good," said Sarah, "that I always regret that
+his eyes are closed to the color of his angels."
+
+"The trouble be, Mistress Kane, that they blindfold more nor parson,"
+said Simon, as they hurriedly made their exit.
+
+"Mistress Kane no longer, Simon, for I am glad to tell you we were
+married in the city to-day."
+
+"Lawk-a-day! you don't tell me; but I am mighty glad to hear it. You
+will have a man of your own now, to take your name out of the gossips'
+mouth."
+
+On arriving at Broadlawns, they went at once to the gloomy east chamber,
+when Sarah could scarcely repress an exclamation of intense pity at the
+change for the worse in the appearance of the long-suffering inmate. He
+was wasted to a shadow, and his brown locks had been shaved during brain
+fever, his kindly blue eyes looked black in the transparent paleness of
+his face, as did his whiskers and moustache, but in which many grey
+hairs had come. Holding out a thin, white hand, he welcomed Sarah
+warmly, saying:
+
+"Oh, it _is_ good to see your face again. I expect I look like a
+galvanized corpse, Sarah. What with the horror of my forced union with
+Medusa (a pet name I have for Mrs. Cole), and then brain fever, which, I
+don't wonder, caught me, and which, having that woman about me,
+aggravated. You banished, and maligned, at which I stuffed the
+bedclothes into my ears, and now my old enemy, inflammatory rheumatism,
+I have had a pretty tough time of it."
+
+"Yes, indeed, you have, poor fellow," said Sarah, restraining her tears,
+and scarcely able to look at the wreck before her; "but you are on the
+mend now, and we must trust in God to bring you around soon. It has been
+a heartbreak to me, Mr. Cole, that I was not allowed to nurse you."
+
+"Only another piece of their cruelty, Sarah. But tell me about yourself.
+Where did that old sinner incarcerate you? tell me everything," he said,
+with feeble eagerness, for sometimes the pain was intense, causing him
+to set his teeth, or catch his breath.
+
+But Silas Jones, seeing how much she was affected, and wishing to give
+her time to recover, himself gave the sick man a vivid picture of her
+imprisonment and release.
+
+"Jove! what a wretch--I mean Stone; for the man Lang was simply his
+tool. Gad! I shall exercise a treble amount of will-power to get well,
+and out of their clutches, and back to dear old Toronto. 'Out of every
+evil comes some good,' they say; though, in my case, not much; in
+Sarah's, yes, for you have given me a tonic, Jones. From this moment I
+am determined to recover."
+
+"That's right; be brave, sir, and you'll pull through right smart," said
+Silas Jones; for Sarah is swallowing a lump in her throat.
+
+"Yes, bear up, Mr. Cole," she said, trying to smile, as she seated
+herself on the bedside, taking his poor, worn hands into her own, warm
+with vitality. "But Silas has not given you a bit of good news--that the
+happiest part of our lives is to come, for from to-day, we pass them
+together!"
+
+"Yes," said Silas, coming beside her, laying his hands on her shoulders;
+"yes, I have nothing more to wish for, with Sarah beside me. I cannot
+remember the time, sir, that I did not want Sarah."
+
+Two tears rolled down the sick man's cheeks, as he thought of his own
+wretched fate; but, by a visible effort, controlling self, he said,
+simply:
+
+"I am glad you are together, and happy. Yours is a blessed union. God
+help me to health and strength, that I can free myself of _her_
+presence," he cried imploringly. "Sarah, I have a fancy--it may be a
+dying one, heaven knows--it is to see a likeness of Pearl Villiers, the
+girl I was, by right, to have married."
+
+"Here she is, poor dear," she said with alacrity, unfastening a locket
+suspended to her chain.
+
+"How strange! how like her! only older, and more careworn. Sarah, I have
+seen a face like this three or four times on the other side of the
+water; the face, too, strange to say, haunted me; a nice, good face,
+rather than pretty; but if the careworn, troubled look was gone it would
+have been pretty. Yes, the same features; small, pale, and regular."
+
+"And with fair hair and slight figure?" cried Sarah, clasping her hands.
+
+"Yes," but with the restlessness of the invalid he changed the subject,
+saying:
+
+"You and your husband are going to America, you say. I am going, too;
+_when_ I get well. You might meet me there, if you can't wait for me,"
+he said, wearily; "and, yes, there is something else I must hasten to
+say before those people return. I have received no letters since my
+arrival, only a few newspapers; here they are. I love them because they
+come from dear Toronto," he said, in nervous haste, taking from beneath
+his pillow a copy of the _Mail_, two of _Grip_, with a _Globe_.
+
+"Letters were here to meet you, sir?"
+
+"Then the sneaks have read and kept them," he cried, angrily.
+
+"Perhaps I should not have told you, sir; but I don't like you to think
+your friends have forgotten you."
+
+"You do me no harm, Sarah, by your eye-openers. Wrath is a good tonic;
+tell me if you know what postmark was on them."
+
+"Here are some envelopes I picked up from the grate the morning they
+sent me away."
+
+"Yes, they said their letters would be here to meet me. This is quite
+plain, from Will Smith; this I can scarcely decipher; but it's--yes,
+it's Mrs. Gower's writing; and this from a namesake of yours, Mr. Jones.
+Ah, it's good to see even these scraps. I could preach sermons on the
+wickedness of my jailers," he said, weakly, "but now, at once, before
+they come back, take my address here, on----"
+
+"How dare you enter my roof! it is more than flesh and blood can stand,"
+said Mrs. Cole, entering stealthily, her face in a flame with rage--a
+virago, from the crown of her head to the sole of her foot, and arrayed,
+with her usual contempt for harmonious coloring, in pea-green satin, jet
+trimmings, with crimson bows.
+
+"Calm yourself, Mrs. Cole; we are in the presence of a sick man," said
+Silas, with intense pity for the invalid, and endeavoring to curb his
+own tongue.
+
+"Don't dare to address me, but get out of my house immediately; there,
+follow your bonnet, Sarah Kane," she said, furiously, pitching her
+bonnet and satchel into the hall, on which some change rolling
+therefrom, she was the richer by a half a sovereign, which, stealthily
+picking up, with an inward chuckle, she slipped into her boot.
+
+"What's all the racket about upstairs? Wait a few moments, Lang," said
+Stone, who, on returning, ascertained he had been waiting for him in the
+kitchen for a full hour, they having missed each other in the morning.
+
+Sarah Jones, in nervous haste to be gone, picked up her bonnet and
+satchel, taking the hand of Mr. Cole in good night.
+
+"Remember! and here is my address," he whispered nervously.
+
+But the woman he has married is too sharp for them; for, on Sarah
+turning from the bedside, she snatched the paper, tearing it into
+fragments.
+
+"Good night, Mr. Cole. I am truly sorry for you; you are too good for
+the inmates of this house."
+
+"Again you dare to trespass," said Stone, meeting them on the stairs,
+turning and following them down.
+
+"I warned you before that I should make you pay for this. I am master
+here, and I tell you I shall kick you out if you ever show your ugly
+faces here again," he said, choking with passion.
+
+"Good evening, Mistress Kane," winked Lang, as they passed him. "It was
+not square of you to skip off from me without paying your board. I'm
+dead broke, so you or your follower better pay up now; it's only five
+sovereigns, and save law expenses."
+
+"You are unwise, Mr. Lang, to add insult to injury," she said, quietly,
+as she went out into a serener night.
+
+"Provide yourselves with plasters, and we shall provide ourselves with
+copper toes, the next time you trespass," shouted Mrs. Cole, over the
+banisters.
+
+"We shall only trouble you once more," said Silas Jones, curbing
+himself, "when Mrs. Jones will give you her signature in exchange for
+five hundred pounds, with interest on same, left her by the will of the
+late Mrs. Villiers."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+"YOUR EEN WERE LIKE A SPELL."
+
+
+The silver chimes of the mantel clock rang four p.m., as Mrs. Gower
+descended from her sewing-room on the last day of the old year. She
+looked well in a gown of soft, grey silk, hanging in full, straight
+folds, unrelieved by ornament, save a few sprays of sweet heliotrope at
+her collar-fastening.
+
+She stood at the library door, unseen by Miss Crew the only occupant,
+who made a pretty picture, the last beams of the setting sun coming in
+through a west window, lighting up her fair hair and pretty brown gown,
+the firelight lending color to her pale cheeks; a cabinet photo is in
+her hand, at which she is gazing so earnestly, and with such a troubled
+expression, that she has not heard Mrs. Gower, though singing softly, as
+she descended the stairs,
+
+    "Your een were like a spell, Jeanie;
+      Mair sweet than I can tell, lassie,
+    That ilka day bewitched me sae
+      I couldna help mysel', lassie."
+
+"Who are you trying to read, Miss Crew?"
+
+"Your friend, Mr. Babbington-Cole, Mrs. Gower," she said, with a start,
+placing the photo back in its frame.
+
+"And has it told you its name was Babbington-Cole, _ma chere_; we only
+give the latter?"
+
+"Yes; but you know his name is Babbington-Cole, Mrs. Gower," she
+answered, evading the question.
+
+"We do. Do you like his face?"
+
+"Yes, very much; he looks so kind and sweet-tempered."
+
+"Poor Charlie Cole, he is all of that; excessively amiable people so
+often wed the reverse. I do hope it is not so in his case." "It is a
+dreadful fate," said the girl, absently. "But we must hope for the best,
+Miss Crew; but his long silence makes me fanciful; however, if we don't
+receive news direct very soon--as I have had some queer dreams of him
+lately--I shall write the clergyman at Bayswater."
+
+"The reverend--I mean, how will you address it; just to the clergyman,
+or how?" she said, intent upon her work.
+
+"Yes, that's very true, I don't know his name. Oh, I have it; Mr. Smyth
+left the paper with the marriage insertion; I do hope it has not been
+destroyed;" and going to the rack, to look over its contents, Miss Crew,
+excusing herself, left the room to get into her wraps, as she was due to
+tea at the Tremaine's. Mrs. Gower, looking in vain for the English
+newspaper, seated herself comfortably to read the report of the Board of
+Trade dinner to the Honorable Joseph Chamberlain.
+
+Miss Crew entered, robed for the winter streets. "Good-bye, Mrs. Gower;
+I shall not be late."
+
+"_Au revoir_; give Mrs. Tremaine my love; and say, as the Dales may
+return from New York this evening, I found it impossible to leave; and
+be sure and wear your over-shoes: our streets are in their usual winter
+break-neck condition. I do hope the new Council will enforce the
+by-law."
+
+"I hope so, too; I had an awful fall the other day; the city treasury
+would be overflowing did they collect the fines," she said, going out;
+when, at the hall door, she returned, saying hurriedly, "Oh, here is the
+English newspaper you were looking for, Mrs. Gower; it was upstairs."
+
+"Thank you, good-bye."
+
+Having made a note of the clergyman's name at Bayswater, and become
+conversant with the news in the city papers, she gave herself up, in the
+gloaming, to quiet thought.
+
+"Yes, I like him very much, there is a manly, straightforwardness in his
+words; a steadfastness of purpose in his honest blue eyes; a firmness in
+the lines of the mouth, with a kindliness of manner; all stamping him as
+a man whose friendship would be true, whose love faithful; how strange,
+that at last I should meet him at the house of a mutual friend. Mr. St.
+Clair tells me he has known him for years, and the Tremaines since
+summer; had any one told me two weeks ago, that I should sing 'Hunting
+Tower' with him in ten days, at the St. Clairs', I should have thought
+them romancing. He has a sweet tenor voice, he asked me if he might
+call; how pleasant it would be if he were here now. I used to wonder and
+wonder, in meeting him so frequently at lectures, concerts, or in the
+cars, and walking about, what his name was. Now, Alexander Blair has
+come to me; and his tenderness to the little veiled lady, who was, I
+suppose, consumptive, by the slow way they walked. I wonder where she
+is, I never see her now: his care for her touched my heart.
+
+"I am so glad he has come into my life: I feel lonely at times; and he
+is so companionable, I know. What dependent creatures we are, after
+all--houses and lands, robes _a la mode_, even, don't suffice.
+Intercourse we must have.
+
+"But," and a shudder ran through her, "what a desolate fate mine will be
+if Philip Cobbe will persist in keeping me to my oath. We have not much
+in common: he is kind, but neither firm nor steadfast, and now this
+woman comes between us; and what would she not do were I his wife? As it
+is, I live in daily dread of her doing something desperate. It was
+enough to terrify any woman similarly situated, the way in which she
+acted that Sunday evening, coming from church; and again, that night at
+the Rogers' meeting in the Pavilion. A ring! Can it be the Dales? No, it
+is Philip; I wonder what mood he is in."
+
+"Alone! for a wonder," he said, warmly. "Leave the gas alone, Thomas,
+the firelight is sufficient." "And thinking of me, and wishing for me,"
+he said, as the servant left the room. "Yes, I can tell by your eyes."
+
+"There Philip, that will do, I am actually afraid to have you in my
+house. Remember that woman last night! if looks could kill, then would I
+have been slain," she said, tremblingly.
+
+"She can't harm you, and I'll put a stop to her tricks. You see, Elaine,
+she is so infatuated with me, she can't keep away," he said, personal
+vanity uppermost.
+
+"But, that's just what I want you to see, Philip; it would be running
+too great a risk to marry you."
+
+"'Pon honor, love, I don't know how to shake her off."
+
+"You did not seem to exert yourself last night. When I looked over my
+shoulder to speak to you in the crowd, coming out, she had her hand on
+your arm; and you were bending down listening to her."
+
+"I know; and when you looked, she clutched her hold of my arm all the
+tighter," he said, with the eagerness of a child.
+
+"What did she say?"
+
+"She said, you _shan't_ go home with her to-night."
+
+"Exactly the same words she used that Sunday evening. Words and an act
+that will ever be stamped on my memory. That act came between my heart
+and yours, Philip, for all time," she said, sadly thinking of his
+foolish flightiness in allowing anything of the kind to break up their
+friendship, if no more. "You must see, Philip, that you should set me
+free."
+
+"No, no; don't talk like that; you should want me all the more when you
+witness her infatuation," he said, with his juvenile air, attempting to
+kiss her.
+
+"No, Philip; I cannot let you come near me with the occurrence of last
+evening so fresh in my memory."
+
+"Oh, nonsense; when I am your husband you will be just as infatuated
+about me as she is."
+
+"Do you know, Philip, you are as vain as a girl."
+
+"Well, yes; I suppose I am vain; but so would any man be who was as
+successful with the fair sex as I am," he said, drawing himself up to
+his full height of five feet nine, a look of pleasure in his large
+bright eyes.
+
+"I can assure you, Philip, I felt anything but vain at the Pavilion, or
+coming out of church, with the spiteful eyes of that tall,
+common-looking, over-dressed Mrs. Snob full upon me, as social
+astronomer; she took in the situation at once."
+
+"A fig for what such like see or think; I thought you were above valuing
+the opinion of our wealthy plebeians."
+
+"But we were so conspicuously placed; I shrink from giving such women
+food for gossip."
+
+"Hang them all; our east-ender, Mrs. Snob, Ragsel, and the whole tribe,
+or anyone that bothers you, Elaine."
+
+"But, Philip, do be rational; release me from my oath; give me my
+freedom; we will never be happy married, or with our engagement still
+on; for she will grow bolder, and more persistent with each advance; do,
+for pity's sake, free me."
+
+"No, no; you ask too much," he said, angrily, thinking of these
+comfortable quarters of which he should be master, and of the woman
+beside him also.
+
+"But see how you left me for her last night; you _must_ be fond of her."
+
+"I am _not_, so help me God; but I could not shake her off without
+making a scene."
+
+"But just fancy, Philip; if we were married she would prowl about the
+place even more than she does at present."
+
+"It is all your own fault, Elaine, that she gives you those scares in
+the evening; for she only comes when she knows I am about; if you lived
+more to yourself, and did not have all these women about you, I would
+come in the afternoon, like to-day; and she would be none the wiser, for
+she is at work in the day and can't come."
+
+"It is a fearful life for me."
+
+"Be reasonable, Elaine: any man as fascinating to your sex as I am must,
+of necessity, have women breaking their necks for them."
+
+"How you amuse me," she said, smiling ironically, comparing him with
+someone else.
+
+"I don't see why; you know I speak truth," he said, innocently; "let me
+come in the afternoon; don't have any one else; then, pet, she will not
+see me watching to see you when your guests are gone at night; and so
+you will not be troubled with her."
+
+"But just think what a proposition you are making; she is to control our
+actions."
+
+"Yes; but only for a time, pet; she will, perhaps, tire of pursuing me;
+if she had me, and you were out in the cold, I feel sure she would agree
+to my proposition."
+
+"You certainly have a most amusing way of putting things."
+
+"I know I have; it's my large, kind heart and wish to please; and when
+we are married I will both charm and amuse you."
+
+"No, no; it will not be safe for me to marry you; for how about this
+other woman; would you charm and amuse her also?"
+
+"Just as I was in the humor; if she angered me, I would not think twice
+of setting Tyr on her."
+
+"Dinner is served, ma'am."
+
+On repairing to the dining-room; and having done ample justice to a
+substantial dinner, prepared with a view to the possible advent of the
+Dales; and when the oyster soup, roast beef, with delicious vegetables,
+had been removed, dessert on, and Thomas dismissed, Mr. Cobbe said, in
+pleased tones:
+
+"I must congratulate you on your cook, Elaine."
+
+"Then you congratulate myself, Philip; for my seraph of the frying-pan
+knows next to nothing of the art; I devote two hours of each day to my
+culinary department."
+
+"For which you have the thanks of your guests, and for which Bridget
+will make you pay."
+
+"Yes; I know; but they all do it; when they feel their wings, they
+demand higher wages, or fly.
+
+
+"When will you marry me, Elaine?" he said, lightly, as they entered the
+drawing-room.
+
+"_After all I have said, you still ask this_," she said, freeing
+herself, and at her wits' end to know what to do with him, remembering
+her oath; but this woman, and what revenge she may take, terrifies her.
+Mr. Cobbe lights the gas; but the inside shutters must be shut; and as
+she closes them, he assists her, standing so near that his cheek touches
+hers.
+
+"Don't speak to me like that, Elaine; we love each other; and hang her
+for coming between us; come here, pet, and sit beside me; it is a treat
+to have you all to myself."
+
+"No; I am in no humor for a _tête-à-tête_; and the Dales may arrive at
+any moment."
+
+"Hang them; can't they go to a hotel; I dislike them; and surely you had
+enough of them, and that doleful Miss Crew, while Dale went north."
+
+"Tastes differ, Philip; I have a sincere friendship for them; as to
+their coming now, most of my little friends' wardrobe is----"
+
+Here a sharp ring at the hall door startled them.
+
+"What! a ring; that woman will be the death of me; I tremble now, once
+evening comes, at every peal of that bell."
+
+"Beg pardon, sir; a person--a--a lady, says she is waiting to speak to
+you, sir."
+
+"Go, Philip, quick, for heaven's sake; this is dreadful," she said, in a
+gasp, holding her hand to her side.
+
+"Mr. Blair," said Thomas; and the old gold _portière_ hangings are again
+closed, and they are alone.
+
+"Forget I am with you; don't try to speak yet," he said, kindly leading
+her to a seat; "you will breathe naturally in a few minutes, you have
+been startled; but it is all quiet now; your servant carefully fastened
+the door; lean your head back to this cushion; there is something, after
+all, in material comforts. Ah, now your color comes, and your
+eyes--well," he said, smiling, yet with a grave tenderness, "your eyes
+have lost their startled look, and may again weave their spells." For
+she had now opened her eyes, keeping them closed so she could better
+listen to his voice as he talked on, giving her time to recover that
+self which in alarm had fled.
+
+But with her nerves more quiet comes a thought which she must set at
+rest. So intent on her question is she, that self-consciousness is
+altogether absent, as, looking into his face, she says,
+
+"You must be a married man; you are so good a nurse, knowing exactly
+what is best for one; are you?"
+
+"No; I was," he said, indicating, by a gesture, a mourning ring on the
+third finger of his left hand.
+
+"Forgive me; I should not have asked you so abruptly."
+
+"I don't mind you, you don't seem a stranger; and my poor wife was an
+invalid, so that her death, thirteen months ago, was not unexpected."
+
+"No; under those circumstances, you would be more or less prepared."
+
+"Tell me, did you deem me impertinent to turn my eyes to your face when
+we have so frequently met, before our introduction?"
+
+"No; else I should have to share in your blame; for I should not have
+seen you had I not been guilty of like fault," she said, drooping her
+eyes.
+
+"Believe me, I couldna help mysel', lassie, no more than I now can help
+myself coming to your house, and feeling so at home with you, as though
+I had known you for years, instead of for days. Do you feel a little as
+I do," he said, in his eager earnestness, turning his blue eyes full on
+her face.
+
+"I do; you will never be a stranger to me," she said, simply.
+
+"Thank you; do you know that evening coming from the Grand, after
+'Erminie;' I was in the seventh heaven after having been so near you."
+
+"'So near, and yet so far,'" she said, smiling; "for the frowning
+battlements of the conventionalities were still between us."
+
+"Yes; but I dreamed that your pretty lace fan would waft them away,
+being a woman (though, by your eyes, I feel sure a warm-hearted one);
+still, you cannot know how my heart leaped when I saw that you had
+forgotten your fan; my first impulse led me to follow you with it, but
+Scotch second-sight suggested the means I adopted, to tell you my name.
+How did you like it?"
+
+"Very much, indeed," she said, smiling, as looking into his face half
+shyly, remembering how she had pressed his card to her lips; "I love
+both your names, for reasons I may tell you another time. Are you
+Highland Scotch?"
+
+"Yes; and from fair Dunkeld."
+
+"Indeed! you must be proud of your birthplace; the scenery must be
+beautiful, were it only in among your groves of trees. I love the giants
+of the forest so, that I wonder in the Pagan world they have not been as
+gods; now we sing,
+
+    "'Ye groves that wave in Spring,
+      And glorious forests sing,
+                      Alleluia.'"
+
+"You have a passion for trees, I see, and would surely like Dunkeld;
+30,000,000 alone are said to have been planted by a Duke of Athol; we
+father on to the scenery a spice of romance running through us."
+
+"Don't try to excuse it by fathering it on to other than your own
+nature; our age is too practical; but Emerson expresses my thoughts
+exactly when he says 'everything but cyphering is hustled out of sight;
+man asks for a novel, that is, asks leave for a few hours to be a poet.'
+But, perhaps, you don't agree with me?"
+
+"I do, or I should have a larger account at my bankers; I fear I am not
+a canny Scotchman, for I have spent a good deal in giving my poor wife
+and self a glimpse of the poetry of other lands."
+
+"That was right, and kind. Do you know I think the world would be a
+better place to live in if, after one had made a sufficiency, one was
+compelled to give place to others, and if no credit was given in any
+case."
+
+"That, without doubt, would settle a good deal, and do away with
+communism," he said, laughingly; "for there would be no large fortunes
+to grab. As to no credit, I fear, until we reach Elysian fields, we
+shall have failures, duns, and other fruits of the credit system," he
+said, gravely.
+
+"Do you intend remaining in Toronto?" she said, intent upon her
+embroidery.
+
+"That depends," he said, trying to read her; "don't go away; that old
+gold chair, with its crimson arms, becomes you (in woman's parlance),
+and brings out your warm tints."
+
+"I should think you would admire a woman like pretty Mrs. St. Clair, as
+you yourself are dark."
+
+"Yes; she is a pretty little thing; a triumph of art though; but, if you
+will allow me to say so, I admire your style; usually there is more
+force of character in dark women rather than in fair."
+
+"Yes; do you think so?"
+
+"I do; now, for instance, there is St. Clair, miserable at the aimless
+existence of his wife: she is either in hysterics or in--cosmetics."
+
+"We hear he is insanely jealous of her."
+
+"Rumor, as you know, dear Mrs. Grower, says more than her prayers. He
+tells me he is not jealous; for he does not believe any man would be
+silly enough to give him cause; but that by he or his son going about
+with her, her quest for admiration is held in check."
+
+"Oh, I see; that is the reason they attend her so closely; what a pity
+we are so foolish as to throw away life happiness, and the passing of
+our time in rest and quietness for the evanescent soap bubbles of a
+passing hour; but it is growing late; come and see my palms in my pet
+room, the library, before you go."
+
+"Thank you;" the mere words were naught, but he looked so quietly happy,
+as he drew the hangings for their exit, that the color came to her
+cheeks as she remembered her oath, to as quickly fade on the clock
+striking ten, and the hall bell ringing simultaneously, as a man outside
+stamped the snow off his boots, impatiently saying, hurriedly, the
+startled look again in her face:
+
+"Ten o'clock; I fear I must postpone your visit to the library."
+
+"Is there any trouble I can shield you from? if so, you have only to
+command me," he said, quickly, taking her hand in good night. "No, no,
+not now," she said, with a troubled look.
+
+"Think, and tell me on New Year's Day," he said, buttoning his overcoat.
+
+"I shook her off, Elaine," he said, impulsively, not seeing Mr. Blair,
+who was rather back of the door. "Oh, I beg pardon," he continued,
+sulkily. "I thought you were alone, and watching for my return."
+
+"It is so late," she said, as Mr Blair made his exit.
+
+"Nonsense, who was the man; I don't think it's right of you to have
+gentleman visitors," he said, in aggrieved tones.
+
+"Now, Philip, does not that sound rather absurd? and, as I have before
+told you, I wish you would not come here at such a late hour; I don't
+like it," she said, gravely, as they went into the dining-room, where
+the usual little supper stood on a tray.
+
+"But we are engaged, it's you who are absurd," he said, pettishly; "but
+don't let us bother about it, my frosty walk has been quite an
+appetizer. Did you find it long, pet, while I was away? but I forget,
+you had that man here. A ring! bother."
+
+"It is Miss Crew, who is, you know, visiting me. Excuse me a moment, I
+hear Captain Tremaine's voice."
+
+"Hang all her visitors," he muttered.
+
+"I am glad to see you back, dear; come into the dining-room, both of
+you."
+
+
+"Thanks, I believe if you only had potato and point, you would offer
+some one the potato."
+
+"If so, they should thank you; for, from admiration of your hospitality,
+to imitation, was but one step."
+
+"Blarney, blarney, you might only say that to the Chinese. These oysters
+are very fine, nothing like eating them off the shell."
+
+"Just my taste; these were sent me by a friend."
+
+"I never saw a man look more at home, than you, Cobbe; if all bachelors
+looked as contentedly jolly, we would not pity you so."
+
+"No pity for me, Tremaine, thanks. I have given many of you cause for
+envy."
+
+"He is not at all vain, Captain Tremaine," said Mrs. Gower, amusedly.
+
+"Not for him," said Tremaine, jokingly.
+
+"What is to be our color for 1888?"
+
+"Orange or blue, Mrs. Gower; half the men I have met to-day say one,
+half the other; opinions are divided."
+
+"Had the other man been a green Reformer, though, I would have bet on
+him," said Mr. Cobbe, buttoning on his overcoat.
+
+"There is something in that," she said; "for some would say he would
+have the Ontario Government at his back."
+
+"So he would, and good backers they would be, too. Good-night, Elaine;
+shall I see you at St. John's Church, to-morrow?" he said, in an
+undertone.
+
+"Don't ask me, after my last experience; I am going all the way to Holy
+Trinity Church, with Miss Crew; but shall be at home Monday, excepting
+while at the polls."
+
+"All right, _au revoir_."
+
+On his exit, Tremaine said, laughingly,
+
+"Good night. If the candidates were as sure of their election as our
+friend Cobbe is of his, they would sleep till Tuesday without a narcotic
+or a charm from the good fairies."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+A HAPPY NEW YEAR.
+
+
+"A Happy New Year! A Happy New Year!" is on every tongue, and how
+exhilarating is the cry uttered by thousands. From the weakly voice of
+our aged loved ones, to the bird-like notes of the wee children,
+mingling with the merry sleigh-bells, do our politicians take up the
+refrain; and our manly men, and ambitious women, sing out in various
+chords, as they swarm to the polls, "A Happy New Year! A Happy New
+Year!"
+
+And Old Boreas takes up the refrain, and blows till his cheeks crack,
+down Yonge street, from his northern realm. Yea, forty miles distant,
+does he send his cold breath. A Happy New Year! A Happy New Year.
+
+And our young men and maidens, our girls and our boys, laugh till the
+air rings. Hurrah for the north wind, we'll go to the Granite and have a
+good skate.
+
+And one gathers from the merry medley that our King Coal, and the
+_Sentinel_, are this year's favorites; but those who have put money up,
+and those who have not, must even wait with bated breath till midnight,
+or till dawn; and in dreamland, see their pet schemes forwarded, their
+own man in the Mayor's chair.
+
+It was a busy day at Holmnest, a bee-hive with no drones, by eleven a.m.
+Mrs. Gower has polled her vote; afterwards, with Miss Crew, drove
+through snow-mantled Rosedale, down villa-lined Jarvis street, through
+those stores of wealth, Yonge and King streets, along the margin of the
+silver lake, ere turning the horses' heads to the north-west and
+Holmnest; visiting, also, some of the poorer streets, in which quarters
+Miss Crew has found God's poor, many cases having touched her heart, she
+now leaves little parcels of good things to gladden these homes.
+
+"You will become bankrupt, Miss Crew," said Mrs. Gower, as they are
+driven home.
+
+"I am almost so, now; and if it will not bother you, I should like to
+tell you of a plan I have in view."
+
+"Bother me? I should say not. You should know I take too much interest
+in you for that." "Thank you; some connections, until recently, have
+remitted to me a sum amply sufficient for my needs; I know not why," she
+said, in troubled tones, "they have discontinued it; but they have, and
+it remains for me to face the difficulty, now that Garfield has outgrown
+my tuition, I cannot remain dependent on the Dale's kindness; and of Mr.
+Dale's generous, good treatment of me, a stranger, I cannot say too
+much; but I must exert myself to get a new situation," she said,
+nervously. "And will you, dear Mrs. Gower, do what you can in advising
+me; I have been looking in the newspapers, but have seen nothing
+suitable."
+
+"Excuse me, Miss Crew, but are you entitled by law to receive this
+remittance you speak of? if so, you should not quietly relinquish it,
+but should consult a lawyer. We, at Toronto, are blessed with several
+honest, as well as clever, law firms. I will accompany you readily, or
+do anything I can for you."
+
+"You are very kind, but I shrink from lawyers, they ask so many
+questions," she said, timidly.
+
+"You must not mind that, dear; if you were ill, what would you do, send
+for a medical man? and the more questions he asked, the better he would
+understand your case."
+
+"I wish I was braver; but I am only a girl, and have had much trouble,
+which has made me very nervous and timid."
+
+For one so extremely reticent, this was quite a confidence.
+
+"Yes, it would have that effect on one of your temperament; but with me,
+my troubles have made me more self-reliant; finding few to trust, I have
+leaned on myself."
+
+"Yes, you seem to me very brave; but don't you think I should advertise
+for a situation at once?"
+
+"No, decidedly not. You should ask Mr. Dale to advise, and I shall be
+very pleased to have you with me all winter."
+
+"How very kind you are, Mrs. Gower," and the tears came to her eyes,
+"but I should be more satisfied, adding to my purse."
+
+"Very well, dear; I commend your decision, but remember the bedroom you
+occupy is Miss Crew's own, and your little home-nest will be ever ready
+for you; but do not forget my advice, which is to confide in Mr. Dale,
+fully and entirely; he can, and will, give you the very best advice."
+
+"Oh, I don't see how I can. If you only knew; but how selfish I am,
+spoiling your drive, and on New Year's Day, too."
+
+Here a small sleigh, in which were seated a comfortable-looking couple;
+the man a mass of grey tints--complexion, hair, whiskers, overcoat, and
+fur cap--looking like a man who had led a sedentary life; the woman,
+fresh of color, partly bent by the breath of old Boreas, both looking
+quietly happy, but so intent on turning their heads, as if on a pivot,
+first on this side, now on that, as they drove down handsome Saint
+George street, as to be oblivious of the approach of the sleigh in which
+were seated Mrs. Gower and Miss Crew.
+
+"Look out, there," shouted the driver. At this, the man, giving his
+whole attention to his horse, turned him out of the way just in time to
+save a collision; the woman, as they passed, looking at the occupants.
+She gave a great cry to stop them, but the driver had given his horses
+the whip, and on they dashed. Miss Crew had leaned forward, pale as
+death, her lips blue and parted, she tried to frame the word, "Stop,"
+but failed. Mrs. Gower, in sympathy, defining her meaning, cried:
+
+"Stop, driver, please."
+
+On his doing so:
+
+"Is the sleigh we just passed out of sight?"
+
+"No, ma'am; the gentleman has turned, and is a following of us. Would
+you, ladies, like a New Year's race? if so, I'm your man," he said,
+grinning.
+
+But Miss Crew, white as the snow, and looking whiter by contrast with
+the pretty red hat, has leaped out of the cutter.
+
+"My dog-skin coat is very warm, Mrs. Gower; don't wait; I must speak to
+them," she said, in the greatest excitement, her eyes glistening, her
+color coming and going.
+
+"But you will take cold, dear; get in beside me again until they come
+up."
+
+"No, no, I beg; I wish to meet them _alone_," she whispered.
+
+"On one condition; are they friends?"
+
+"Yes; oh, yes, she is one of my best."
+
+Mrs. Gower, seeing them almost close, wishing her an affectionate
+good-bye, bade the man drive on, and, as was natural, fell into a
+reverie over the strange occurrence happening to a girl of Miss Crew's
+remarkably reticent character. She seemed pleased, but so intensely
+excited, one could scarcely tell her real feelings. She thought, "But I
+sincerely hope it will be a bright incident for her to begin 1888 with;
+for a more truly pious, gentle, amiable girl I have never met."
+
+On the driver drawing in his horses, to allow a gentlemanly-looking man
+to pass, who was crossing Bloor West, at the head of St. George street,
+Mrs. Gower waking from her reverie, sees Mr. Buckingham.
+
+"The compliments of the season, Mrs. Gower," he said, lifting his hat.
+
+"The same to you. Whither bound?"
+
+"To Holmnest."
+
+"Then you had better come into the sleigh; 'there's room enough for
+twa.'"
+
+"Thanks; with pleasure."
+
+"Driver, you see the young lady ahead of us. I expect she is coming to
+my place. Just pick her up, please."
+
+"All right, ma'am."
+
+"I suppose you will think our sleighing a make-believe, after Lindsay,
+and locality."
+
+"You will be surprised to hear I now come from New York. Dale
+telegraphed me to meet some railway men, so I have been there ever
+since."
+
+"But won't your interests north-east suffer by your absence?"
+
+"Oh, not materially, I hope; still I am anxious to be on the spot. There
+is a splendid mine out that way I should like to get hold of."
+
+"Iron, I suppose?"
+
+"Oh, yes; it is, you know, to be the great industry of the future."
+
+"But you only mean if we get Commercial Union?"
+
+"Yes, as far as Canada is concerned."
+
+"What is the name of this special mine you covet? I have heard Mr. Dale
+speak of several; this may be one."
+
+"It is the Snowden, in Victoria county; the ore is a fine grained
+magnetite; the mine is favorably situated, having a railway running into
+it."
+
+"Indeed! all very favorable; do you think you will succeed in becoming a
+purchaser?"
+
+"Of that, I regret to say, I am somewhat doubtful, as I am told there
+are several obstructionists connected with it; but I am not going to
+worry about it," he said, quietly; "if I don't get it, there are
+others."
+
+"What an easy temperament you have," she said, looking into his quiet
+unmoved countenance.
+
+"My dear Mrs. Gower, I hold that a man should have himself under such
+perfect control as to be able to look at himself, in a manner of
+speaking, with other eyes; sit in judgment upon himself; dissect his
+motives, reward or punish. I look upon one who lets loose the reins of
+reason, giving blind passion or impulse full swing, as only an animal of
+the swine family, whatever his name may be," he said, smiling.
+
+"What must he think of me," she thought; I am as impulsive as a Celt.
+"What a superior race of beings man would be were his convictions your
+convictions."
+
+"I think he would be happier, for he would not give way to excitement,
+which is, in my opinion, a sort of insanity; and also in its reaction,
+which is melancholy."
+
+"That reaction, after excitement, is one of the strongest blue ribbon
+arguments; we had a 'chalk talk' thereon at the Pavilion on last Sunday
+afternoon; what do you think of the Prohibition movement?"
+
+"I go with it, to the letter, for the mass of humanity cannot, or will
+not, control themselves; how do you go?"
+
+"I believe in temperance in all things. Professor Blackie says, 'We have
+too much of everything in our day; too much eating, too much drinking,
+too much preaching, etc;' and I am so far at one with him, that I
+believe in temperance, and coffee, even on New Year's Day," she added,
+smiling. "Stop, driver, please."
+
+"Come, get in, Miss O'Sullivan, and a Happy New Year to you, dear; this
+is my friend, Mr. Buckingham."
+
+"I was on my way to your place, Mrs. Gower, to ask Miss Crew to come and
+spend the day."
+
+"She is out with some friends; but you must lunch with me, and wait for
+her."
+
+"Whose is that large, hospitable house, Mrs. Gower, at the head of St.
+George Street?" asked Miss O'Sullivan.
+
+"A Colonel Sweeney's, dear, who, I was going to say, has a heart as
+large as his house, he is so kindly hospitable."
+
+Here they overtook Mr. Blair, whose handsome face lit with pleasure, as
+he lifted his hat; and, somehow, Mrs. Gower was glad of the advent of
+the young lady, though, before seeing him, she had not minded her
+_tête-à-tête_ with Mr. Buckingham, with whom she likes to talk.
+
+In a few minutes Holmnest is reached, when Mrs. Gower, telling Mr.
+Buckingham to make himself at home, he must stay for luncheon, and until
+it is time to take the Midland rail, went upstairs to make her toilette
+for the day.
+
+Mr. Buckingham looks and feels at home ensconced in a deep, softly
+padded chair, near the blazing grate, in the restful library; he is soon
+lost in the _Iron Age_.
+
+On Miss O'Sullivan, a sweet-faced, blue-eyed girl, entering, looking
+bright as the morning in her pretty red woollen frock, the occupant,
+with the innate courtesy of his countrymen, laying aside his newspaper,
+adapted himself to her girlish chit-chat in a manner that charmed her,
+until the entrance of Mrs. Gower, in a very becoming gown of brown silk,
+with old gold plush trimming, ecru lace chemisette, and elbow
+sleeves--for she dressed for all day, and any friends who may come to
+wish her a glad New Year; she first goes to the kitchen to see that the
+machinery is actively in motion, as she had set it before going to the
+polls; one servant maid, with the boy, Thomas, being sufficient for the
+requirements of her cosy little home.
+
+"Well, you both do look comfortable," she said, entering the library.
+
+"Yes; I think we do," said Miss O'Sullivan.
+
+"We only want you to want nothing more," he said, in pleased tones,
+placing a rattan chair, with its dark green velvet cushioned back and
+seat, and turning the fire screen to protect her face.
+
+"Not yet, thanks; my poor palms have had no water to-day. How do you
+think my plants are looking, Mr. Buckingham?"
+
+"Very fine; but if you kept them more moist they would do still better;
+but most amateur gardeners make a like mistake," he said, cutting some
+bits of scarlet geranium; "this bit of color will make your costume
+perfect."
+
+"The costume! but what about the woman?"
+
+"Oh, the woman knows right well," he said, leading her to the mirror.
+
+"Give me the good taste of an American gentleman, in preference to a
+mirror, which is frequently untrue."
+
+"Luncheon is served, ma'am."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+"BETTER LO'ED YE CANNA BE."
+
+
+After a substantial luncheon, to which they bring good appetites, given
+by their exhilarating outing in the frosty air, they cross the hall to
+the drawing-room, when Thomas opened the door to Miss Crew and Mr.
+Cobbe.
+
+"Ah, here is our truant," said Mrs. Gower.
+
+"Me!" laughed Cobbe, wishing her the compliments of the season.
+
+Mr. Buckingham thought he detected a slight cloud of dissatisfaction
+pass over her face, even as she welcomed him.
+
+"I have made fifteen calls already; the fair sex like to be remembered,
+Buckingham."
+
+"Man is too selfish to forget what he could not do without, Cobbe."
+
+"Give me an American for a due appreciation of our sex," said Mrs.
+Gower, gaily.
+
+"No, no; you are wrong. _You_ ought to know an Irishman to be the most
+gallant man that lives," Mr. Cobbe said, sulkily.
+
+"Well, yes, perhaps you are the most gallant," she said, thoughtfully,
+"but in the bearing of an American man towards my sex there is a
+something more--there is a gentle courtesy, a deference, a grave
+tenderness."
+
+"Tut, tut," said Mr. Cobbe, turning over the leaves of an album
+impatiently.
+
+"I fear you flatter us," said Buckingham.
+
+"No, I think not; simply because your great Republic is so highly
+civilized and progressive, the outcome of which is our enthronement with
+you; while, in other countries, we are still midway between our
+footstool of the dark ages and our throne with you."
+
+Here Mr. St. Clair, Captain Tremaine, and a young barrister, a Mr.
+McCullogh, made their _entrée_.
+
+"Your drawing-room is looking very pretty, Mrs. Gower," said Tremaine;
+"the holly and mistletoe brings me home again."
+
+"Yes, it looks so well against the blue and tan panels, that I am
+tempted to let it stay."
+
+"Where did you get it; it is very fine and healthy?" asked St. Clair,
+admiringly.
+
+"Well, thereby hangs a tale; it is a Christmas gift from Santa Claus.
+All I know about it is, it came (Thomas thinks) from Slight's."
+
+"It was no slight to you, Elaine," said Cobbe, jokingly.
+
+On the mention, before so many, of her Christian name she made an
+expressive _moue_ at Tremaine, unseen by the others, whose attention was
+momentarily given to several booklets and cards which lay on a pretty
+gilt stand, and while Miss O'Sullivan and McCullogh turned the pages of
+"Erminie" for Miss Crew at the piano.
+
+"Wait until Monday, Buckingham. I take the Midland then, in your
+direction," said St. Clair.
+
+"Impossible, St. Clair. I should have been as far as Lindsay yesterday."
+
+On the clock striking three, St. Clair started to his feet, buttoning
+his coat.
+
+"Good-bye, Mrs. Gower. 'Time and tide,' you know."
+
+"Oh, yes; but Time is not such a churl as to bid you away before I have
+had even a look at you."
+
+"But we men come to look at you, to-day, and, as usual, gratify
+ourselves. _Au revoir_. I promised Noah to be back at three, to let him
+off for a skate."
+
+"'What's in a name?'" said Tremaine. "I wonder what relation he of the
+Ark was to that boy."
+
+"But fancy! I heard a clergyman in this city baptize an unoffending
+infant Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego."
+
+"Did he throw in the 'and'?" laughed Tremaine.
+
+"Oh, no. Did I give it?"
+
+"Yes. Well, I just call my boy plain Paddy."
+
+"Do you throw in the 'plain'?"
+
+"Oh, come, now; you ladies are having the best of it all through
+to-day," he said, making his adieux.
+
+"At the polls too?" she said gaily.
+
+Several callers now came in in rapid succession, Mr. Cobbe rising as the
+last made their exit.
+
+"Think of me, Elaine. I shall come in and cheer you up when I get
+through," he said, in a loud whisper, as she was having a last quiet
+word with Buckingham.
+
+Here Mr. Blair entered, and both men thought they saw a something in her
+smile that had not been given them.
+
+"Good-bye has come again, Mrs. Gower," said Buckingham. "One must always
+regret leaving Holmnest; but I have only time to catch my train."
+
+"Good-bye, and may all your wishes be granted."
+
+Miss O'Sullivan, saying she must really go, took Miss Crew (who had a
+new light in her face), Mr. McCullogh accompanying them.
+
+
+"I am fortunate," said Mr. Blair, as the _portière_ hangings closed
+after them; Mrs. Gower smiled.
+
+"Rest, after running about; though I think the fashion of New Year's
+calls is fast dying out."
+
+"It is, undoubtedly; this is my third and last. You are looking well
+after your frosty drive," he said, seating himself at the gilt stand
+beside her.
+
+"Don't you think my friends have good taste?" she said, directing his
+attention to the cards and booklets; "this white ivory card is pretty,
+with its golden edge, white roses, and snowdrops, and gold bells, as
+they ring,
+
+    "May every Christmas chime awaken in your heart
+    Each bliss of by-gone years in which your life had part."
+
+"Yes," he said, thoughtfully, "if one could only drink a good bumper of
+the waters of Lethe, and forget the pain, remembering only the bliss."
+
+"But 'tis the memory of the bliss that brings the pain; at least I have
+found it so," she said gravely.
+
+"Yes, you are right; I have not thought of putting it to myself in that
+way; but I must not give you a sad train of thought. Ah, this is
+original," he said, picking up a large card, on which was painted a
+bunch of scarlet poppies, with the lines:
+
+    "O! sleep; O! gentle sleep, how have I frighted thee,
+    That thou no more will weigh my eyelids down,
+    And steep my senses in forgetfulness?"
+
+"All the way from Ottawa; he evidently sees your eyes, which keep his
+open," he said, trying to read her.
+
+"You are fanciful, Mr. Blair;" but her color deepens under his gaze;
+"but, be it as you say, he should close his eyes, possess his soul with
+honor, and clasp the hand of duty."
+
+"You give him a hard task, still I would lay any wager on your
+kindliness of heart, on your strong sense of honor. I don't think you
+would fool with a man's affections," he said, earnestly.
+
+In spite of herself she trembles, for she feels that he is more to her
+than any living man; and as he sits, his elbows on the table, his
+fingers ran through his iron-grey hair, looking at her, her eyes droop,
+her hands nervously play with the cards, her sensitive lips showing her
+emotion, as she thinks of Mr. St. Clair's words to her the evening of
+their introduction, of the nobility of this man's character, of his
+devotion to his late wife, of his clean record among men as to his truth
+and honor in all business transactions; and now she knows, intuitively,
+in fact, did at their first meeting, that his heart is seeking hers.
+
+"I am right, you would not play with a man's affections; you have had
+sorrow yourself; tell me."
+
+In spite of herself, a tear glistened in her eyes as she looked into his
+face, as she thought of her oath.
+
+"No; do I look so faulty, frivolous and foolishly wicked?"
+
+"No, you have a sweet, kind, womanly face," he said, smiling gravely;
+"and were I to tell you of my lonely life, and how I long for just such
+a womanly presence, just such companionship to gladden a home, to make
+my broken life complete, with a sweet sense of peace and rest, would you
+send me from you desolate?" and his voice thrilled with intense feeling.
+
+"If so, and that my act left me also desolate, would you not forgive
+me?" she said, brokenly.
+
+"I would forgive you, yes; for I could not live with enmity in my heart
+towards you; but, why do you speak so?" he said, earnestly, her words
+giving him the key to her heart, as he came over beside her, and with an
+arm around her, drew her head to his chest. "Don't resist me; you know I
+love you, and you will be my ain bonnie wife." He felt her tremble,
+though she yielded to him. "Better lo'ed ye canna be," and stooping, he
+kissed her on the lips: "those lips, a thread of scarlet," and he looked
+at her tenderly.
+
+At this her color deepened, and, with a sigh, she said, her voice
+trembling with emotion: "Release me, dear, it can never be; I am
+promised to another. Go now, and leave me to my fate," she said,
+tearfully.
+
+"Never! You _shall_ be my wife, and that before the next moon wanes.
+Whoever this man is, he has not won your heart. Yes, _my_ heart twin,
+_my_ own companion every day for our journey through life, _my_ Elaine,
+not his;" and, again and again, for a few blissful moments that she is
+strained to his heart, do his kisses come to her lips. "Look up, dear
+wife, and tell me by one look that I am in your heart. Yes, love, your
+eyes tell me that our lives will be again worth living, again complete.
+No, I will not let you go; and I just want to see this man who thinks he
+will rob me of you."
+
+At this juncture the hall-bell rings, just as the clock was striking
+seven, the hour Mrs. Gower had ordered dinner; and, as quick as her
+hastened heart-beats would allow, donning society's mask, she is playing
+Chopin's music, while Mr. Blair is intent on "The Miniature Golden
+Floral Series;" when Mr. Cobbe enters, evidently by his manner having
+done more than "look upon the wine when it is red."
+
+"Well, Elaine, don't scold me, I could not come back any sooner," he
+said, with a jovial air; "but, hang it, I never see you alone these
+days."
+
+"Can it be possible, she has promised herself to this swaggering fool!"
+thought Blair.
+
+"What's the matter, Elaine?" he continued, leaning on the piano, and
+looking into her face, "you have a tragedy face."
+
+"Sometimes I seem to be taking part in one," she said, gravely; hoping
+he would remember the woman.
+
+"Oh, I see; you have been playing 'Faust;' if you want something
+devilish, try French opera; German is horns and hoof, and no fun."
+
+Seeing his mood, she abandoned all hope of fixing his attention on any
+quieting thought, glancing at Mr. Blair for sympathy; one look told her
+his opinion of her friend. "How he must despise me," she thought,
+introducing them. "And now, you must both dine with a lone woman."
+
+"It will give me great pleasure to begin the year so," said Mr. Blair,
+with the determined air of a man who could and would hold his ground, as
+he put her hand through his arm, whispering, "Courage!"
+
+"You look very much like a lone woman, I must say," said Cobbe, sulkily.
+"I told you before, Elaine, that I don't think it's right of you," he
+said, recklessly.
+
+As they crossed the hall to dine, the geraniums dropped from her gown.
+
+"Oh, my poor flowers," Mr. Blair picking them up. Mr. Cobbe said,
+jealously, "Poor flowers, indeed; I should just like to know who gave
+them you."
+
+Fearing he would think it had been Mr. Blair, and not feeling equal to a
+scene, she said, hurriedly:
+
+"A friend who has left town; but you are too sensible to allow such a
+trifle to spoil your dinner."
+
+From the moment of their passing through the _portière_ hangings into
+the hall, Blair had seen the face of a woman peering through the
+vestibule door, Thomas having neglected fastening the outer door on
+letting in Mr. Cobbe. On entering the dining-room, Mrs. Gower, in
+looking over her shoulder in making the above remark, saw the face. Not
+so Cobbe, who was wholly absorbed in rage at the present state of
+affairs.
+
+Mr. Blair felt his companion tremble as she said to herself, "That
+woman!" At that, pressing her closely to his side, he again whispered,
+"Courage!"
+
+"Thomas, go quickly to the vestibule door."
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"Why, what's the matter now, Elaine; do you expect another gentleman?"
+
+"Go and see." "No, no; if he comes I'll see him soon enough, and the
+soup smells too tempting."
+
+Thomas returned and waited, when Mrs. Gower said, nervously, "Are both
+doors securely fastened, Thomas?"
+
+"They are, ma'am."
+
+"Queer time for a visitor to call, just at dinner hour," said Cobbe, in
+aggrieved tones.
+
+This was more than Thomas could stand, who had more than once confided
+to the kitchen his opinion of Mr. Cobbe for doing likewise, so he said,
+respectfully:
+
+"Beg pardon, sir; but it was _that_ lady for you, sir."
+
+"Hang it! you told her I wasn't here, I hope."
+
+"No, sir; I said you was at dinner, and I couldn't disturb you, sir; so
+she said she would wait outside."
+
+"It's very cold for her," faltered Mrs. Gower.
+
+Here the merry sleigh-bells jingled and stopped at the gate; voices are
+nearing; and now the hall-bell again rings, when Mr. and Mrs. Dale are
+heard in the hall stamping the snow off their boots, and divesting
+themselves of their wraps.
+
+"Thomas, get plates, etc."
+
+They enter looking as if Jack Frost has given them a chilly embrace, for
+they have had a cold drive from town.
+
+"Welcome! this is a glad surprise, though I half expected you yesterday.
+Mrs. Dale, allow me to introduce Mr. Blair; Mr. Dale, Mr. Blair; and now
+be seated; I am so glad to have you back again, Ella; I have missed you
+much."
+
+"Thank you, Elaine; we both wished you were with us; Henry's English
+friends, the Elliotts, are delightful, and were charmed with your
+description of river life on the St. Lawrence."
+
+"They will think I have scarcely done it justice, on their revelling in
+it themselves."
+
+"We have Ella Wheeler Wilcox and Rose Elizabeth Cleveland, at New York,
+this winter, Mrs. Gower," said Dale, in gratified tones.
+
+"What a treat it would be to meet them; they will give new life to the
+women's literary circles."
+
+"Oh, where is Miss Crew?" asked Mrs. Dale.
+
+"Out spending the day at the O'Sullivans."
+
+"I am glad of that," said Dale, kindly. "Miss O'Sullivan has the
+brightness our little friend lacks, and will, perhaps, win her
+confidence, which we have been unable to do."
+
+"That is very true," said Mrs. Gower, who now related the incident of
+the morning, regarding the couple they had met while out sleigh-driving;
+at which Mrs. Dale was all eyes and ears, her pretty little face aglow
+with excitement.
+
+"How strange! and she persisted in seeing them alone! did she seem
+glad?"
+
+"Oh, yes; for such a quiet, self-contained little creature, very much
+so."
+
+"And did she tell you nothing on her return?"
+
+"No; she had no opportunity; we had callers, and Miss O'Sullivan was
+here; but she looked happier, poor, lonely, wee lassie."
+
+"She is likely to remain lonely, too," said Cobbe; "a man does not want
+to marry a girl as stiff as his beaver, and as prim as its band."
+
+"Poor girl; one cannot expect her to show that careless joy in living
+our girls show, who have happy homes and ties of kin."
+
+"In my opinion," said Dale, "the women and girls who take life easiest,
+and seem to feel that the good things of life are their heritage, are
+the American women."
+
+"I don't go with you, Dale," said Mr. Cobbe; "I'll back up some of our
+own women against them for monopoly of that sort."
+
+"I am at one with you, Mr. Dale," said Mrs. Gower, "for this reason:
+from the time an American woman can lisp, she is taught the cardinal
+ideas of the country, viz., liberty and equality."
+
+"From your standpoint, Mrs. Gower, your sex should be all Republicans,"
+said Mr. Dale. "What countryman are you, Mr. Blair?"
+
+"A pure and unadulterated Scotchman; and I hope you like the land o'
+bagpipes, heather and oatcakes sufficiently as to like me none the
+less."
+
+"No; for was I not English, I would be Scotch."
+
+
+"And I," said Mrs. Dale, "would have liked you better were you
+Irish-American."
+
+"You are candid, at all events," he said, smiling.
+
+"You had better live as near perfection as possible, by remaining in
+Canada, Mr. Blair," said his hostess, rising from the table. "Come,
+Ella, we shall leave them to their cigarettes and the subjects nearest
+their hearts."
+
+"You are one of the most thoughtful women I have ever met," said Dale,
+drawing the hangings for their exit; "but our smoke will be but a
+passing cloud; we shall soon sun ourselves in your presence."
+
+"Listen to him," said his wife, merrily; "don't I bring him up well."
+
+As the two friends sipped their coffee from dainty Japanese china, the
+red silk gown of Mrs. Dale contrasting prettily with the brown and old
+gold in the dress of her friend, they made a sweet, home-like picture,
+in this tasteful little drawing-room, with its gaily painted walls,
+hangings in artistic blending, its softly padded furniture, not
+extravagant--for Mrs. Gower's income is but $600 per annum--now that
+house and furniture are paid for, but Roger's bill was very reasonable,
+for all is in good taste; and with two or three good pictures, a
+handsome bronze or two, with a few bits of choice bric-a-brac, all the
+latter gifts from friends; with the glowing grate, the colored lights,
+the holly and mistletoe, all make an attractive scene.
+
+"And now about yourself, Elaine; I hoped on my return to have found your
+mercurial friend out in the cold."
+
+"No, Ella; I can do nothing with him," she said, gravely.
+
+"Can't he get it into his head that no woman would marry a man with
+another woman dangling after him. I have no patience with him. Does she
+haunt your place still?"
+
+"Yes; she is certainly most constant. Did I tell you of a fright she
+gave me at two public meetings?"
+
+"No; you wrote me that you must do so on my return."
+
+"Just fancy coming from the Rodgers' mass meeting, before the mayoralty
+election. I went with Philip, and she must have followed us, for she
+managed to get near us, and in the crush making our exit, took hold of
+his arm, and _would not let him see me home_; picture me in that crowd,
+having to fight my way through, and alone! I think I shall never forget
+that night; fortunately the cars were running; so taking the Carlton,
+College and Spadina Avenue car, I managed to reach home. Ella, it was
+awful, the lonely home-coming," she said tearfully; "the cowardly (I
+suppose it was) fear of meeting acquaintances; but the feeling that I
+was engaged, nay, under oath to marry a man who could allow this, was
+worse than had I met dozens of acquaintances; the late hour; then after
+I had left the Spadina Avenue terminus, the lonely walk up here--all
+together made me so nervous I was not myself for a day or two."
+
+"I should say you would be; it was dreadful; and as you say, dear, the
+feeling that you were engaged to such," she said, contemptuously, "added
+bitterness to the act; oath or no oath, he must release you."
+
+"He won't."
+
+"He _shall;_ and I am determined to stay with you until I can interview
+that woman. What a horrid man he is, any way."
+
+Here the gentlemen entered, and a truce to confidentials.
+
+"Has my little wife told you, Mrs. Gower, that I have tickets for
+'Faust,' and we hope you will care to accompany us?"
+
+"No; she had not told me, though we were speaking tragedy."
+
+"Well, yours was the prologue; now for 'Faust;' you will come?"
+
+"Yes, with pleasure," she said, feeling that her _tête-à-tête_ with Mr.
+Blair is over, for Mr. Cobbe would remain; feeling also that such
+_tête-à-tête_ was too full of quiet content for her to indulge in,
+engaged as she is to another.
+
+Mr. Blair very reluctantly rises to depart, seeing that the evening he
+has promised himself, in dual solitude with the woman he determines
+shall be his wife, is broken in upon.
+
+"Good-night, Mrs. Gower; the walk to town will seem doubly cold by
+contrast with the warmth of your hospitalities," he said, holding her
+hand, a look of regret in his blue eyes.
+
+"Button up well, then, to ensure my being remembered for so long," she
+said, quietly.
+
+"Good-night, Elaine; expect me to-morrow, at five p.m.," said Mr. Cobbe,
+with an important air.
+
+Outside, to Mr. Blair, he said, "Fine woman, Mrs. Gower; I am in luck,
+but she has too much freedom," he said, pointedly.
+
+"How do you mean?" asked Blair, by an effort controlling himself to
+speak quietly.
+
+"Oh, too many gentlemen coming and going; I must arrange for our
+marriage at once."
+
+"You are honored by a promise from her to marry you, then?"
+
+"Yes; but by more than a promise; by an oath," he said, flightily; "and
+she is not the only woman who is infatuated with me," he added,
+chuckling at his companion's discomfiture.
+
+"You are fortunate," said the canny Scotchman, hating him for his words;
+but aware that there is some mystery in the case, knowing Mrs. Gower to
+shrink from fulfilling her engagement; having recognized the face of the
+woman at the vestibule as the woman he has seen prowling about Holmnest
+at night-fall, he affects a friendly air to draw his companion out,
+trusting that his intense vanity will lead him to commit himself
+insomuch as to give him a hold upon him, which he will use as a means of
+freeing Mrs. Gower.
+
+Hearing steps behind them, he looks, and lo! the light of the street
+lamp shows the face of the woman of the vestibule.
+
+"By George, you are a lucky fellow; here is this poor little woman at
+your heels; you are too gallant to allow her to walk alone; step back
+and introduce me," he said, with the vague hope that he might in this
+way find the hold she has on Cobbe; but _l'homme propose, Dieu dispose_,
+for he said importantly:
+
+"So she is; between you and I, the more faithless I am, the tighter she
+hugs;" and, turning on his heel, the woman with him, they go at a run
+down Major Street, leaving Blair, in blank dismay, standing in the cold
+of the snow-mantled night.
+
+After seeing talented Modjeska at the Grand, in "Faust," Mrs. Gower,
+having wished her friends a warm good-night, as she sleeps, dreams of a
+manly, handsome face bending over her, while the light in his eyes give
+point to his words of "Better lo'ed ye canna be."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+THE THREE LINKS.
+
+
+On a cold afternoon, in January's third week, when fair Toronto's
+children wore the colors of Old Boreas; when the spirits of the air
+floated on the frozen breaths of humanity, and when imagination held
+that the giant cyclone of the North-west had hurled into our midst a bit
+of the North Pole, on such a day Holmnest is a snug spot; not one of
+those mansions with a small coal account that some of our moneyed
+citizens exist in in cold grandeur during winter's reign; but small,
+warm and home-like. So thought Mrs. Dale, who is again spending a few
+days with her friend, and who is now seated with Mr. Blair beside the
+glowing grate in the drawing-room; he cannot keep away, and having
+confided his hopes and fears to her, they have become warm friends.
+
+Mrs. Gower and Miss Crew are down town shopping, the latter having
+abandoned her intention to seek employment other than her voluntary
+deeds of good as a city missioner, she having received a bill of
+exchange from the mother country on the Bank of British North America;
+whether from this cause or from the fact of her constant visits to the
+quietly happy-looking couple she had met on New Year's Day, her friends
+can only guess; but she is certainly looking happier, though still
+reticent as to her private history, merely telling Mrs. Gower, to whom
+she has become much attached, that before long she will ask their
+advice, and tell them all.
+
+Mr. Cobbe has just called, but had not gone in, ascertaining from Thomas
+that his mistress was not at home, but that Mrs. Dale and Mr. Blair were
+in the drawing-room--he volunteering the latter information, instinct
+telling him it would not be agreeable; for the kitchen did not approve
+of him as the coming master at Holmnest, saying one to the other,
+"Pretty fly he is, to think of dividing up of the likes of he between
+our missis and that bold hussy as follows him."
+
+At this moment, in the drawing-room, Mrs. Dale, as she alternately pats
+Tyr's head, or, with deft fingers, embroiders a cushion, says, with a
+curl on her scarlet lips, her Irish eyes flashing:
+
+"I am glad Elaine was out. You see, he knew enough not to come in and be
+entertained by us."
+
+"Yes, he knows enough for that," he said, mechanically, waking from a
+reverie. "I wish to heaven we could interview the woman. I am convinced
+we would elicit information sufficient to absolve our dear friend from
+her oath. I am driven to my wit's end, I am in such misery. I can assure
+you, Mrs. Dale, this matter has taken such hold of me that I neither
+eat, drink, sleep, nor even think naturally."
+
+And the ring of truth is in his words, as he starts up, and paces up and
+down the room like a caged lion, eager for action, yet compelled to
+inactivity. Papers and magazines strew the carpet where he had been
+seated, on which he had in vain tried to fix his thought. Now he again
+flings himself into his chair, she sees his brows knit, his eyes small
+with the intentness of inward musing; his manly, independent bearing is
+crushed, his firm, determined mouth is still set with a fixed purpose,
+but his face has lost its glow of happiness.
+
+He haunts Holmnest some hours of each day, his eyes following her every
+movement as she goes about her home duties, or sits quietly reading, or
+holding book or newspaper, under pretence of doing so, giving herself a
+few moments' silent thought, ever and anon lifting her eyes to his face,
+as quickly to withdraw them, lest sympathy lead her to betray a grief
+akin to his. One day he asked her how it was she had come in the first
+place to allow Mr. Cobbe the privilege of friendly intercourse, when she
+told him all. Of the deaths of loved ones, of her long and tedious law
+suits, of her losses through the wrong-doings of others, of the flight
+of summer friends, of her difficulty in earning a sufficiency to eke out
+her small income, and of Philip Cobbe being introduced; when his jovial,
+free-from-care nature diverting her attention from her many cares, she
+and he gradually drifted into a very friendly acquaintance, which
+resulted in their walk through the Queen's Park. Of her oath she had
+already told him on the 3rd of January, on his relating to her the
+boastful words of Mr. Cobbe on the evening previous. At which he had
+been driven nearly desperate, as also on her resolve that, in honor
+bound, she must be true to her oath.
+
+She had never allowed him to kiss her since those few blissful moments
+that lived in the memory of each, in which he had asked her to become
+his wife on Monday, the 2nd of January, and when he had read her heart.
+
+"It's a miserable fix for Elaine," said Mrs. Dale, picking out a few
+false stitches she had made in giving her attention to him as he paced
+the floor in his agony of mind. "She cares for you, but will remain true
+to her oath; she will go on in this wretched way, Mr. Cobbe coming and
+going, boasting of his engagement, to keep rivals at bay, and that woman
+haunting the place until a tragedy ends the whole farce. Elaine will
+postpone and postpone her union with that man until she dies
+broken-hearted, poor thing. She has had no end of trouble in the past,
+and now this must all crop up. Nasty Cobbe; I _hate_ you," she said,
+emphatically.
+
+"So do I," he said, moodily; "but what availeth it? We, with our strong
+natures, are as wax in the hands of this vain, foolish, empty-headed
+fellow; he has the whip-hand of us. I never felt small, impotent,
+powerless in my life until now. You don't know what mad thoughts come to
+me sometimes, when I see her going about in her sweet womanliness with a
+pretence of gaiety lest I feel for her, making this truly home, sweet
+home; now going to her kitchen, now sewing quietly; again singing,
+though in unsteady tones, the songs of my own land."
+
+"Perhaps it would be better for you; easier, I mean, if you kept away
+from her."
+
+"Kept away! that's what she tells me. No; come I must. I am not fit to
+attend to business, to face the busy hive of men down town. I have not
+as yet rented an office, or put out my shingle as broker and estate
+agent, so the world which knows me not does not miss me. Did I not come,
+I should be tortured by the thought that Cobbe had persuaded her to
+marry him, and that with the false hope of making me forget her, and the
+woman to give up her game as lost, she would consent. No; I shall come
+in the seemingly aimless way; but not aimless, for I am her bodyguard.
+Already my being here, and holding my ground, has more than once
+prevented a _tête-à-tête_, and saved her from (I make no doubt) his
+hateful caresses. He hates me, and would revenge himself upon me if he
+could; and, insomuch as he can, he does do so--by using her Christian
+name, leaning familiarly over her shoulder as she reads or sews,
+following her even to the kitchen. Once he dared to kiss her good-bye,
+but I don't think he will try that again; for, on his looking at me
+maliciously, to note my jealousy, I gave him one look, at which he made
+a hasty exit."
+
+"So far so good, Mr. Blair; but you and myself are really doing nothing
+to free Elaine. We _must_ get a hold of the woman; she is not very well
+clad; is, I dare say, poor; I shall try if the dollar will grease the
+wheels of her tongue. Now, how shall we manage it? This evening I shall
+express a wish to telegraph Henry. You must offer to accompany me; this
+will allow of time to work on Mr. Cobbe's Mary Ann. We shall walk up and
+down on the other side of the street (thus putting ourselves in Grundy's
+mouth) until she appears, when, pouncing upon her, we will _make_ her
+tell her relations to Cobbe. You understand?"
+
+"Yes, but he will be here alone with Elaine."
+
+"Just like a man: as jealous as a rooster in a barnyard. Miss Crew will
+be here, and chance callers."
+
+"Very well; it shall be as you say, though I mortally hate not being
+present when he is here; but here she comes, her cheeks like roses, and
+eyes bright from the frosty air," he said, brightening.
+
+"Oh, you pair of fire-worshippers!" she exclaimed, giving her hand to
+Mr. Blair. "I have had a glorious walk from Yonge, through Bloor west,
+and up here. We took the Yonge up-cars, when Miss O'Sullivan, who was
+one of us, carried off Miss Crew till to-morrow."
+
+"I suppose King Street wore its usual afternoon dress of dudes and
+sealskin sacques," he said, drawing her wrap from her shoulders.
+
+"I suppose so; but we only went as far as Roche's. What a world of a
+place it is. Mrs. Francis says, 'One can buy everything but butcher's
+meat there,' and she is about right. The up-cars were, as usual,
+over-crowded; we were to blame for taking one, I suppose, as so many
+poor fatigued-looking men were obliged to stand. However, we were sorry
+for them in a practical way, for we only occupied one seat by turns; the
+company should run extra cars about six, or label them, 'For men only.'"
+
+"On the other side," said Mrs. Dale, "men say it's a poor rule that
+won't work both ways, so, as we advocate equal rights, they, as a rule,
+don't yield their seats."
+
+"Is that so?" said Blair. "I wonder at that, for Mrs. Gower tells me
+there is a shrine to woman in every house."
+
+"Oh, never mind her, she is our champion, fights and wins our battles. I
+used to hope she would marry among us, and strut under our big bird; but
+alas, she sees more beauty in a common Scotch thistle," she says,
+teasingly.
+
+Blair smiled, gravely, saying with his eyes on Mrs. Gower, in her
+pretty, dark blue gown, with broken plaid over-skirt,
+
+"I fear not; to the shamrock she plights her troth."
+
+At this the color rushes to the roots of her hair, to as quickly recede,
+leaving her like marble, and, gathering up her wraps, saying, in
+unsteady tones,
+
+"Excuse me a moment, I must see what the kitchen is about: it is near
+dinner time."
+
+Blair, drawing the hangings, said, wistfully following her into the
+hall:
+
+"Forgive me, dear."
+
+"I must, when you look so sorry; but, that compulsory oath is killing
+me, Alec; driving me into heart disease," she said, tremblingly.
+
+"My darling! is it possible? but I can see it. Your heart is fairly
+jumping, your hands cold, your nails blue; come in here for a few
+minutes' quiet," he said, sorrowfully, leading her into the library,
+taking her wraps from her, seating himself quietly beside her, simply
+taking her hands, while whispering soothing words. His own heart
+breaking the while, that he may not take her in his arms; but with her
+breath coming in gasps, the excitement would have killed her, even did
+she permit any demonstration of feeling from him, which indeed, she had
+unconditionally forbidden.
+
+
+On the dinner-bell ringing, she said, in low tones:
+
+"You are nice, and good, and kind to have talked to me so quietly until
+I recovered the use of my tongue. You see, dear, I can give it a rest
+sometimes; now come for Ella, to our dish of roast beef and Yorkshire
+pudding. Don't look so grave, Alec; 'Richard is himself again.' I wish
+you would go away for a time, leave the city; as you have not commenced
+business actively, really got into harness, you could easily do so; it
+would be easier for me, I think, if I did not see you," she said, almost
+breaking down.
+
+"I cannot," he said, looking into her face gravely; "and it would not
+help you; all I can manage, is to keep to the conditions you made: that
+in coming I must not speak of my love for you; and you must own, dear,
+that I fulfil those conditions; holding myself continually in check,
+curbing my feelings, never outwardly letting loose the reins of passion,
+even when I see that man hanging about you."
+
+"Yes, you are very good; but still, I--oh, I don't know what to say or
+do," she said, in anguish, covering her face with her hands; then, by a
+violent effort controlling herself, took her place at table.
+
+During dinner, she was pale and flushed, talkative and silent, by turns;
+her companion keeping the ball moving to give her a rest.
+
+Oh their returning to the drawing-room, Mrs. Dale gave them some music,
+thus giving each time for quiet thought. The sweet sounds suddenly
+ceasing, she wheels round on the piano-stool, saying, energetically,
+
+"I feel restless this evening, active exercise will cure me; a brisk
+walk down street, or even the toboggan-slide."
+
+But Mr. Blair does not take her up, and sits with averted eyes, not
+thinking Mrs. Gower well enough to be left with Mr. Cobbe.
+
+"Well, Ella, Mr. Blair is too gallant not to accompany you. You will
+both go; when I tell you that I wish to see Philip _alone_, I am going
+to again appeal to him."
+
+"I am afraid it will be too much for you, Elaine, perhaps," she said,
+hesitatingly, for she does not like to give up her plan; "perhaps Mr.
+Blair ought to stay, he need not be in the very same room with you."
+
+"Yes, that is a good idea; I shall go to the library," he said, in
+relieved tones.
+
+"No, dears, you will both do as I wish. With the knowledge that I am
+alone, I shall doubly nerve myself to the task."
+
+For she dreads that Mr. Cobbe's excitable temper will give way, causing
+a scene.
+
+"Well, if you are going to talk to him, Elaine, tell him everything; and
+that Mr. Blair and I say he is breaking your heart."
+
+"I fear, Ella, your united opinions would have little weight with him,"
+she said, with the ghost of a smile; "but I shall tell him _all_, never
+fear," she said, earnestly feeling that Mr. Blair was, as usual,
+following her every word. "Never fear, I shall be a good pleader, for I
+have my life's happiness at stake; away with you at once, and don't come
+back with broken bones from the slide."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+A HAND OF ICE LAY ON HER HEART.
+
+
+It is a cold, frosty night, the moon and clouds seeming to have a game
+of hide-and-go-seek across the sky, when Mrs. Dale is already enveloped
+in her warm dark blue blanket suit and Tam-o-Shanter, with Mr. Blair, in
+heavy brown overcoat and Christy hat, not having been in our land long
+enough for his blood to have lost its warmth and to feel the need of
+furs.
+
+Before they start Mr. Cobbe rings the bell, and is admitted to the
+library, Mr. Blair turning out the gas in the drawing-room, and Thomas
+receiving orders that "no one is at home."
+
+"Suppose she should not come this evening," said Mrs. Dale, as she and
+her companion returned from a brisk walk to a post box, and neared
+Holmnest. "You know, she misses his trail; at all events, does not watch
+for him here every evening."
+
+"Hush! she is in the shade of that pile of lumber and bricks in front of
+the house that is being built next to Holmnest," he whispered,
+hurriedly.
+
+"So she is; that is lucky; and now to follow our plan. We shall not see
+her for some minutes, but endeavor to interest her by our talk about
+that scallawag and poor Elaine."
+
+"I don't think, on second thought, that that would be our best plan; we
+had better go up to her and demand to know her relations to him," he
+said, quickly, in an undertone.
+
+"No, no; I know best."
+
+As they neared, the tall, slight figure, clad in a brown ulster and
+small round hat, disappeared to the other side of the lumber, almost out
+of sight, but well within ear-shot.
+
+"Stand here a minute, Mr. Blair; before we go in I want to tell you what
+I fear will be the result of Mr. Cobbe's determination to marry Mrs.
+Gower against her will," she said, in clear tones. On this they could
+hear that the woman took a step nearer in the deep snow on the
+boulevard, that had drifted in the recent storm to the lumber. "You must
+see yourself," she continued, "that the compulsory oath he compelled her
+to take is killing her; and none know better than you do yourself that
+her love is not his; almost all friendly feeling even she had for him
+prior to that oath, has fled; yet still he will keep her to it; and she
+will marry him some day, in a fit of desperation to get rid of him, and
+to show you that you are free to marry some more fortunate woman. It's
+my belief he is a mere fortune-hunter, and cares no more for her than we
+Americans care for you, in annexation; we only care for the loaves and
+fishes (especially the latter). I simply hate to go in to the house; it
+makes me double my fists to see him making love to her." The last words
+she said to rouse the woman's wrath; she knows her sex well, for,
+ploughing through the snow a few steps, she faces them.
+
+Mrs. Dale gives a little scream. Mr. Blair, turning quickly, says, in
+decided tones,
+
+"Oh! you are here again; well, I am not sorry, for I had determined to
+put a detective on your track to-morrow, and am glad to have an
+opportunity of warning you first."
+
+"Any woman would do no more nor I do, just standing here when I please,"
+she said, doggedly, her teeth chattering, partly from nervousness,
+partly from cold.
+
+"Poor thing; you are half frozen," said Mrs. Dale, to show she was not
+unfriendly.
+
+"We shall not detain you long, young woman," said Mr. Blair, quickly, as
+he thinks of the woman he loves worried by the man he hates; "all we
+want to know is your name and address, and what hold you have on Mr.
+Cobbe; for a woman of your respectable appearance would not follow a man
+about unless she had some hold on him--some real right to watch his
+movements. You have overheard this lady and myself talking over this
+matter, and I can assure you it would add materially to our peace of
+mind could we compel Mr. Cobbe to do right by you; come now, no delay,
+no beating about the bush; tell the truth and shame the devil; out with
+it."
+
+"Gentlemen lie quicker than a working girl, like myself," she said,
+suspiciously. "I have heard what this lady said, but how do I know that
+it's all square? Phil. said if you caught me hanging around after him,
+you'd get me took up, and here is a peeler coming; I see what you're
+after."
+
+And she tries to run, but Mr. Blair holds her firmly until the policeman
+passes.
+
+"I tell you I mean you no harm; but you _must_ tell your connection with
+Mr. Cobbe, _and at once_."
+
+"Give me till to-morrow night, sir, for the love of heaven, and I will
+try again if Phil. will give your lady up, that I have wished to kill
+for coming between us; aye, and would have fired Holmnest on her some
+night, but for this lady's words that she don't want my man. My name is
+Beatrice Hill, and I live at 910, Seaton Street; I will tell you the
+rest to-morrow night, if he will not give her up," she said, bursting
+into tears.
+
+Mr. Blair made a note of the address, Mrs. Dale saying kindly, "You had
+better come around to the kitchen and get thawed; you are----" when,
+turning suddenly to Mr. Blair, who has his back to a couple coming down
+the street, she says, quickly,
+
+"Here are the Smyths; stand where you are; and you too, Beatrice Hill."
+
+"Hello!" cried Smyth, coming upon them suddenly (that is Toronto's
+pass-word). "How do you do, Mrs. Dale; how do, Blair?"
+
+"How happy would I be with either," said his lively wife, aside to Mr.
+Blair; "oh, I beg pardon," she continued, seeing the other is not one of
+them. "How is Mrs. Gower?"
+
+"She is not very well this evening, and is, I hope resting. How is it
+your little son is out when he ought to be under the bedclothes? That's
+one thing I am glad my boy is at boarding-school for."
+
+"Oh, this young man has been to a party at the Halls, and we had to trot
+up for him. Give Elaine my love, and tell her one look at handsome
+Doctor Mills, on our street, will cure her; he cured my baby. So, come
+around to-morrow, all of you. Oh, Will, we had better go in to Holmnest
+for a minute. I want to tell Elaine you have heard from Charlie."
+
+"Oh, no; go in to-morrow. This little chap is nearly asleep."
+
+"All right. Mrs. Dale, please tell Mrs. Gower that Charlie Cole is at
+New York, and she may expect to see them any day. Good night."
+
+"Good night."
+
+"Come, Mrs. Dale, we had better go in at once; you must be very cold."
+
+"Yes, I am. You had better come round and get thawed out in the kitchen,
+Beatrice Hill, I will bring you."
+
+"No, thanks; I am used to it. I'll just walk up and down, to keep from
+freezing."
+
+"Perhaps you had better not try to see him to-night, it is so cold."
+
+"Not try to see him!" she exclaimed. "I see him too seldom, and love him
+too much for that," she said, pathetically, "and I must see if he will
+promise me to come no more where neither of us is wanted."
+
+"Remember! you are to be here to-morrow night to tell us your hold on
+him, unless he gives Mrs. Gower up," he said, firmly.
+
+
+"I will, sir; thank you both," she said tearfully, as, turning towards
+the gate of Holmnest, they each slip a five dollar bill into her hand.
+
+"Poor thing, I think she is hard up," said Mrs. Dale, as they ring the
+bell; "see her examining the bills by the lamp."
+
+"Yes, so she is, to see if they are 'Central'; had she not been sold by
+my _béte noir_, I should say she was a canny Scotchwoman."
+
+On Thomas opening the door, they see Mr. Cobbe draw close the _portière_
+hangings of the library, as if to say, no admittance.
+
+"Have you a match, Thomas?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"Then light one jet in the drawing-room, please."
+
+Here they sit quietly talking for half an hour, during which, at times,
+Mr. Cobbe talked loud and excitedly, while sometimes Mrs. Gower's voice
+came to them in pleading, or quieting tones.
+
+At last he goes into the dining-room, asks Thomas for some sherry,
+drinks two glasses; is again in the hall, his over-shoes, coat, and fur
+cap on, in his excitement picking up Mr. Blair's gloves, which, when in
+the street, finding his mistake, he dashes into the road.
+
+Angry and troubled by Mrs. Gower's words, he is kinder to Beatrice Hill
+than he has been for some time.
+
+"You here again, Betty. _You_ are infatuated with me, anyway."
+
+"Indeed, I am, sweetheart, but my love doesn't content you. You bet, I'd
+sooner have a black look from you than a kiss from any man living. The
+saints forgive me, when I think of the holy Father and cardinals, and
+how I worship you, Phil."
+
+"Yes, you are wild about me, I know, Betty, but we men are different to
+you, you know; we have so many adorers, we can't go mooning forever
+around one woman."
+
+"And you are not angry with me to-night, Phil, for coming again to get a
+sight of your dear face?"
+
+"No, I am not angry with you to-night; but you must not come again; they
+don't like it," he said, importantly.
+
+"If I don't see you, I may as well die," she says despondently. "I love
+you better than any of them ladies do," she says, feeling her way.
+
+"Hang her, she is as fickle as her clime," he says, half aloud, thinking
+of Mrs. Gower.
+
+His companion made no response, knowing who he meant, but her heart is
+lighter at his words.
+
+"Hang it, Bet, it's a freezer; if you have any money about you, I'll
+hail this sleigh if it's empty."
+
+"Yes, sweetheart, here it is," giving him one of the fives.
+
+In a minute they are under the buffalo robe, when, according to promise,
+she coaxes, entreats, and implores him to give Mrs. Gower up, but he
+angrily refuses to listen to anything on the subject; entertaining her,
+instead, with recitals of all the girls on King street who, he is sure,
+are dying for an introduction to him, and of several women of his
+acquaintance being infatuated about him, his companion assenting to all
+he said; getting out at his own quarters, paying the driver to 910
+Seaton street, pocketing the change. Beatrice Hill alone, thinks out her
+plan for the following evening with tears, which she brushes away with
+bare hands, having given her mits to her fickle swain to keep his hands
+from the frost.
+
+"Yes, I must tell them all," she thought, weeping silently, "else Phil
+will make her marry him. Father Nolan would tell me to do so, to save
+him from guilt. He will turn to his faithful Betty again when he sees
+how they sit on him, when they know all."
+
+As the hall door had closed on Mr. Cobbe making his exit, Mr. Blair
+said, turning out the gas:
+
+"Let us go to her."
+
+Mrs. Gower meets them in the hall, looking pale and agitated, her eyes
+larger and darker in her pale face, her sensitive mouth quivering.
+
+"I was just coming for you," she said, and on her eyes meeting Mr.
+Blair's, in answer to his loving, steadfast gaze, hers told him that her
+appeal has been in vain.
+
+"He would not free you?" he said, compassionately.
+
+"No."
+
+"Well, then, he must be compelled to," said Mrs. Dale, energetically;
+"we are not going to stand by with folded hands, and see the remainder
+of your life made wretched by a weak, vain, frivolous thing like that.
+You have had trouble enough in the past, heaven knows."
+
+"Yes, we must act; we must endeavor to interview the woman," he said
+sympathetically, preparing her for what might occur.
+
+"I fear your kind efforts in my behalf will prove useless, Alec. You
+would only ascertain that she is some poor creature whose heart he has
+gained, but who is not bound to him in any way. She is faithful, where
+he is false," she says, gravely, "and is breaking her heart for him--a
+way we have--that is all. No, 'Blessed are they who expect nothing,' I
+must keep well in my mind for the future. I scarcely deserve this from
+Fate, for I have been pretty brave hitherto through troubles, that at
+the time were sufficient to crush all hope, leaving not the faintest
+gleam; but I struggled through the clouds in my sky, which, finally
+parting, I saw the sunbeams once more. My plan now is, to close up this
+my home, sweet home, or ask you, Ella, or Mr. Cole, to take it off my
+hands for a year. It would please me best to know some one I care for
+was among my little treasured belongings."
+
+"Mr. Cole, Charlie's father is at the Tremont Hotel, Jacksonville,
+Florida. My plan is to ask Miss Crew (as you don't require her services,
+and her mind is easier as to money matters), to accompany me for the
+remainder of the winter to the same place as my friend Charlie's father;
+he is a most worthy man and a gentleman. At the close of winter we would
+cross to the British Isles. To myself, a Canadian, it would be a
+complete distraction, as I have never been across; and I pray fervently,
+will take me out of self," she said sadly. "We would visit London and
+some pretty rural spots, the Devonshire lanes, perhaps; and then the
+Emerald Isle, thence to bonnie Scotia's shores; taking, perhaps, more
+than a peep at fair Dunkeld," she says, trying to smile in the grave
+face of Mr. Blair. "I have foreseen the result of my appeal to Philip,
+and so have been laying my plans for some days."
+
+As she spoke, trying vainly to hide her emotion, more than one tear had
+been stealthily brushed away by her sympathetic little friend, who,
+seeing that Mr. Blair is suffering intensely, from suppressed feeling,
+says bravely, though rather doubtful at heart:
+
+"Mark my words, Elaine, that woman will free you; say good night to us,
+Mr. Blair, I am medical attendant _pro tem._, and Elaine must take a
+sedative, and room with me to-night."
+
+"You are right, Mrs. Dale; be brave, Elaine," he says, holding her hand
+in his firm grasp, "to-morrow your clouds must again pass. I shall come
+in after luncheon."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+"HERE AWA', THERE AWA'."
+
+
+The following is an ideal Canadian winter day; the sky, a far-off canopy
+of brightest blue, with no clouds to obscure the sunbeams, which pour
+down on fair Toronto, melting the icicles when his smiles are warmest,
+and gladdening the hearts of the million. There is just enough of frost
+in the air to make a walk to town pleasant, cheering and exhilarating,
+so that Mrs. Dale is glad when Mrs. Gower proposes their going. The
+whole city seems to have turned out, and the streets are alive with the
+busy hum of life, and the tinkling music of the merry sleigh-bells.
+
+Mrs. Gower, who had slept little, arose with the determination to appear
+reconciled to her fate, not wishing to add to the sorrow of Mr. Blair
+and Mrs. Dale, on her account; feeling that there will be time enough to
+give way, when "large lengths of miles" divide them. She cannot bear to
+dwell upon the separation, she has decided, is for the best, and dreads
+to think of her heart loneliness, with Mr. Blair gone out of her life,
+and the sympathy of Mrs. Dale, not beside her. How she will miss her
+quiet talks with him, his manly advice and interest in all her acts, the
+oneness of their views on many questions of the day--religious, social,
+and in part political. The Tremaines and Smyths also; with her many
+favorite walks and resorts, the public library, and other places of
+interest. Yes, to leave them all and her snug Holmnest, is hard; but to
+go on in the way events have shaped themselves--Mr. Cobbe, a privileged
+visitor, as her future husband; the woman haunting her home; her misery,
+seeing daily the grief telling on Mr. Blair would be harder still; so,
+nerving herself for the parting, she determines on making her
+preparations at once.
+
+No one meeting the friends, as they walk into town, would imagine that
+the dusky shadow of sorrow sits in each heart; the pretty little face of
+Mrs. Dale being set off by a bonnet, with pink feathers, her seal coat
+and muff making her warm and comfortable. Mrs. Gower, in a heavy dark
+blue gown, short dolman boa and muff of the bear; a pretty little bonnet
+blending with her gown, the glow of heat from exercise lending color to
+her cheeks. Down busy Yonge street to Eaton's; Trowern's, with Mrs.
+Dale's watch; thence to gay King Street, to Murray's, Nordheimer's, the
+Public Library, back again West, and to Coleman's for a cup of coffee,
+are all done; at the latter place they run across Mrs. St. Clair with
+Miss Hall.
+
+"Oh, you two dear pets, I am so awfully glad to have met you," says
+pretty Mrs. St. Clair, effusively; "I want to know when you can talk
+over a programme with me--tableaux, readings, etc., in aid of the debt
+on our church. Say when?"
+
+"I really cannot, Mrs. St. Clair," said Mrs. Gower; "just at present I
+am very busy, and am daily expecting a small house party."
+
+"Dear, dear! that is too bad; what shall I do; you are so smart, and
+would know just what would take. You will talk it over with me, Mrs.
+Dale," she said, beseechingly.
+
+"No, thank you; on principle, I object."
+
+"How funny! might I ask why?"
+
+"Certainly. I think offerings to such an object as a church debt should
+be voluntary."
+
+"But, Mrs. Dale, people expect a little treat for their money."
+
+"They have, or we have, the church service, and the ministrations of the
+clergyman."
+
+"That's just the way Mr. St. Clair damps my ardor," she says, poutingly;
+"I do so want to pose as Mary Stuart. Mr. Cobbe says I'd look too sweet
+for anything; you won't be jealous, Mrs. Gower."
+
+"Oh, fearfully so; but joking apart; how do you think he would pose as
+Bunthorn?"
+
+"I see you are laughing at him, Mrs. Gower?"
+
+"Not at all; the twenty forlorn ones would keep him in good humor, and
+the bee in his crown would be a safety valve for his restlessness."
+
+"No, no; I would not like that, and I wonder you, above all, would
+propose it; for the whole twenty would fall in love with him, he is so
+fascinating; don't you think so, Miss Hall?"
+
+"Yes; but it would be good fun; you cawn't do bettah, Mrs. St. Clair."
+
+"It has my vote, too," said Mrs. Dale, as she and her friend wish them
+good morning.
+
+"What a well-matched couple Mrs. St. Clair and Philip would have made,"
+says Mrs. Gower, as they go east to Yonge street.
+
+"Yes, I have thought that before to-day, Elaine; it's a pity to spoil
+two houses with them."
+
+Here they come across Mrs. Smyth waiting for a Spadina Avenue car.
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Gower, who do you think I have just seen?"
+
+"Perhaps our mutual friend Charlie Cole," she answered, smiling.
+
+"Well, you are smart, to guess exactly; have you seen them? Isn't she
+frightfully ugly?" she says, in one breath.
+
+"No, I have not seen them. What a pity she is not pretty. I received a
+letter from Charlie, saying to expect them."
+
+"Oh, you sly thing; why didn't you let us know? Oh, how ugly she is! May
+we come round this evening? Here is my car."
+
+"Certainly. We have been to your husband's office to invite you."
+
+"Thanks. O!" she cried, stepping on to the car. "Will gave me a new
+piano yesterday."
+
+"Whose make?"
+
+"Ruse's, Temple of Music, over there."
+
+"I congratulate you." As they walked on she continued, absently, "What a
+pity she is plain looking."
+
+"Who; not Mrs. Smyth?"
+
+"Oh, no, Ella; her animation will always make her pretty. I was thinking
+of Charlie Cole's wife. I wonder where she saw them?"
+
+"Oh, somewhere in town, I suppose. So you expected them to-day."
+
+"Yes, and I would have told you, but I want their advent to be a
+surprise for Miss Crew, whom I have frequently found secretly studying
+Charlie Cole's photo. She is so guardedly reticent, that I am curious to
+see if suddenly confronting him will cause her to show any interest in
+the original of the photo."
+
+"But you should make sure of her, Elaine. She may remain at the
+O'Sullivans; and as I own to taking an interest in human bric-a-brac, I
+hope you will call for her."
+
+"I fancy she will return for certain, as she tells me the couple we met
+on New Year's Day are coming to Holmnest this afternoon; the woman,
+quite a lady-like looking person, is to alter her black silk; but we
+shall call on our way home for her."
+
+"Yes, that will be best, and here is our car; but it is too crowded. As
+members of the Humane Society we had better wait for the next."
+
+As they wait in front of the Dominion Bank, Mr. Cobbe joins them.
+
+"Good morning, ladies; won't you turn west, and have a promenade,
+Elaine?"
+
+"No, thank you. Time has gone too fast for us already."
+
+"O, pshaw! I want to speak to you. When do you return to New York, Mrs.
+Dale?" he says pointedly; disliking her, and feeling freer at Holmnest
+in her absence.
+
+"I have not the remotest idea, Mr. Cobbe, indeed," she added, in return
+for his; "we may take dear little Holmnest off Mrs. Gower's hands if she
+carries out her present intention to leave Canada for a time."
+
+"Leave Canada!" he exclaims, flushing.
+
+"Please, stop the car, Philip, quick."
+
+"What does it mean, Elaine?" he whispers, seeing them on board; but the
+bell rings, and off they go. Two yards distant, and he calls out, "I
+shall be up after office hours."
+
+"Talk of cruelty to animals. I gave him a blow, but he richly deserves
+it. But I do believe, Elaine, you are sorry for him," she says in
+amazement, and under cover of the noise of travel.
+
+"I am. He is his worst enemy. Yes, I am sorry for his weak, vain nature.
+A man without stability of character, in our stirring times, is of no
+more account than are the soap-bubbles blown by a little child."
+
+Getting out of the car at Webb's, to leave an order, they there meet
+Miss O'Sullivan, who, with her own bright smile, comes forward quickly
+to shake hands.
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Gower, I am so glad to see you. I have something to tell you.
+Miss Crew left our place for Holmnest at ten this a.m., and I have her
+promise to tell Mr. Dale her history, and ask his advice."
+
+"I am glad of that, dear."
+
+"Oh, so am I, she is such a darling; but I was not satisfied to have her
+without some good gentleman friend to advise her."
+
+"Has she confided in yourself?"
+
+"Yes, Mrs. Dale; but not until last night."
+
+"Was it sensational enough to keep you awake, or, as I suppose, of no
+more interest than 'little Johnny Horner sitting in the corner eating
+his Christmas pie?'"
+
+"You see, dear, Mrs. Dale is disgusted with Mother Goose for not telling
+us of his bilious attack," laughed Mrs. Gower. "Good bye, dear, here is
+our car, College and Spadina Avenue."
+
+"You will not be disappointed in Miss Crew's story, Mrs. Dale. The
+bilious part is not omitted; poor dear, I am so sorry for her."
+
+On reaching Holmnest they find Mr. Dale, who has returned from the
+North-West, and Miss Crew, in the library.
+
+Mrs. Gower, not pretending to notice that the latter has been in tears,
+and to give her an excuse to make her exit, asks her to carry her wraps
+upstairs for her; and then to go and give them some music during the few
+minutes before luncheon.
+
+"Mrs. Gower is taking better care of you, little wife, than you are of
+her, now that the roses from the frosty air are fading. I notice she is
+paler and thinner."
+
+"Don't blame me, Henry," she answered, stroking his whiskers; "blame Mr.
+Cobbe. I declare to you both, I never name him without doubling my
+fists."
+
+"My impression has always been, dear Mrs. Gower, that he will be no
+companion for you in the hand-in-hand journey through life."
+
+"Yes; but you are not cognizant of certain facts which has led to our
+being in our present relation towards each other," she says, gravely;
+"and of which we must tell you, perhaps to-morrow. We have enough on for
+to-day, and there is the luncheon bell, come."
+
+"Oh, Henry, do you know that the Coles are expected here to-day, and
+have you told Miss Crew? because, don't," she whispered hurriedly.
+
+"No; I thought it as well not to," he said, in constrained tones,
+adding, "she has been telling me her sad story, poor girl; which you and
+Mrs. Gower will know shortly, little woman."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+ELECTRIC TIPS AMONG THE ROSES.
+
+
+During luncheon, Mrs. Gower, seeing that her companions seem too full of
+busy thought to be talkative, exerts herself keeping up a constant flow
+of little nothings, requiring no replies; her spirits became less
+depressed by the effort to keep sorrow at bay, her pleasant walk to town
+has really been a tonic to her. And now the knowledge that the Coles may
+come in at any moment; that a handsome face, so full of power and
+sympathy with herself, will be here also; with the meeting by the Smyths
+and herself of the wife of their old friend Charlie Cole; all this is a
+powerful stimulant to her, as well as the little surprise and excitement
+for the quiet, fair-haired girl, with tear-stained cheeks, on her left.
+
+"Would you like a trip down to Florida with me, Miss Crew. Orange groves
+and outdoor blossoms would be as a glimpse of Paradise, with one's eyes
+full of snow flakes."
+
+"Yes; I should like to go anywhere with you, Mrs. Gower; that is," she
+adds, glancing, timidly, at Mr. Dale, already now he knows her history,
+turning to him as a child to a parent; "that is, if it would be best for
+me."
+
+"Do you really contemplate this trip; if so, and you do not leave for a
+few days, I think it would be the very thing for Miss--, for this little
+lady," he says; thinking she is merely running away to escape the
+remainder of the winter.
+
+"I do really intend going," she said, slowly, and with an unconscious
+sigh.
+
+He looks at her earnestly, thinking there is some latent reason, when
+his wife, making a _moue_ at him, accompanied by an almost imperceptible
+shake of the head, when, Mrs. Gower, changing the subject, says: "Did
+you see how Professor Herkomer has been lauding the Americans, Mr.
+Dale?"
+
+"I did; but I only agree with him in part."
+
+"Not so with me; I am at one with him, to the echo; but I should tell
+you I have only seen extracts from his expressed views, in which he
+says, 'he was impressed by their keen, nervous temperament, keen
+intelligence and ambition to excel;' and when he says America will
+become a leader of art in the nations as of nearly everything else."
+
+"I don't go with him that length," he said, shaking his head; "give me
+the Old World for art in the present, as well as in the future."
+
+"In the present, I agree with you, I think; but their very ambition to
+excel, their-go-ahead-ness, to coin a word, will, I feel convinced, gain
+them first place in the future."
+
+"That's right, Elaine; give it him, he is too conservative, this dear
+old hubby of mine; the stars and stripes float over the smartest people
+on earth."
+
+At this a general laugh makes them all feel less blue, Mrs. Gower
+saying, as they leave the dining-room:
+
+"Well, let us see which of us, England, United States or Canada, will be
+the smartest in taking a few minutes' rest, and getting into a dinner
+gown." Wending her way to the kitchen, she meets Miss Crew, bringing
+water and seeds for the birds.
+
+"Thank you, dear; that saves my time; when you have done that, run away
+up to your room, and put on your pretty heliotrope frock; the Smyths may
+dine with us."
+
+"Very well, I shall; and oh, Mrs. Gower, may I tell Thomas when my
+friends come (you know I told you I am going to have my black silk
+altered), he is to show them into the dining-room; though, perhaps, they
+would not be called gentlefolk, still, they are not servants, and they
+are so good."
+
+"The highest recommendation you can give them, dear; I shall tell Thomas
+myself."
+
+Closeted in their bedroom, seated side by side, upon a lounge, Mrs. Dale
+tells her husband of Mrs. Gower's troubles, and the stratagem by which
+Mr. Cobbe has obtained her oath to marry him; of the woman who haunts
+Holmnest; of how for long months Mrs. Gower has been imploring him to
+release her from her compulsory promise. Also of Mr. Blair's love for
+Elaine; and of how he has surprised her into a confessing of her own for
+him; but of how in no way has she allowed him any demonstration of that
+love since those few moments on New Year's Day. Of her own and Mr.
+Blair's plan to induce the woman to speak.
+
+"You astonish me, Ella!" he exclaimed; "but I agree with her; she cannot
+break her oath, _she belongs to him_; does she know of your plan to
+interview the woman?"
+
+"Yes; but thinks we shall elicit no item of importance; but, Henry,
+dear, say nothing to her of our plan for this evening; I only tell you,
+so that should you miss Mr. Blair and myself, you will not remark on
+it."
+
+"I see. How do you like this Mr. Blair; you know, I have only met him
+once?"
+
+"I like him very much; you should hear that reticent Mr. St. Clair
+praise him. He is though, really, a manly, generous, straight-forward,
+determined fellow; just the reverse of Mr. Cobbe."
+
+"Yes; well I hope it will come out all right for poor Mrs. Gower, though
+I had hoped that she and Buckingham would have made a match," he said
+musingly.
+
+"So have I; but he has been too deliberate, a trait his German mother is
+to blame for; and he may have imagined there has been something between
+her and Mr. Cobbe. Now, hubby, I am just dying to know if Miss Crew has
+confided in you, and if there is anything worth a snap in her story."
+
+"I cannot tell you just yet, dear; and, besides, we have not time; it is
+three-thirty, time for my little wife to dress."
+
+On descending at four p.m., to her cheerful drawing-room, Mrs. Gower has
+so far conquered her feelings as to cause a casual observer to say, she
+is quite happy, and at ease; for her dark red gown is becoming, and she
+has compelled her mind to dwell only on the pleasurable excitement of a
+re-union with her old friend, Mr. Cole; wondering also what he will
+think of her new friend, Mr. Blair. The air, redolent of hyacinths and
+roses, tells her he is in the drawing-room; and the color deepens in her
+cheeks as her heart throbs faster.
+
+He comes to meet her, from a table, piled with blossoms, which he is
+placing in Japanese and glass bowls.
+
+"You will become bankrupt, Alec."
+
+"Not while there are blossoms in the market, and you to accept them; I
+am a canny Scotchman, you know; you should always wear this gown," he
+says, quietly, pinning some roses near her chin.
+
+"You said so of my old gold dress, you fickle man;" and, as she speaks,
+her eyes rest for a moment on his.
+
+With a sigh, he returns to his task.
+
+"Don't, Alec, it breaks my heart to hear you sigh like that, and I am
+trying so hard to keep up."
+
+"I sigh that I am forbidden to take you in my arms," he said, gravely,
+as their fingers meet in arranging the flowers.
+
+"But, you know, I am acting for the best."
+
+"Do you allow him?" he said, with a steadfast look.
+
+"Never, when I can prevent it."
+
+"These flowers remind me of an incident I have often thought to tell
+you, Elaine. Do you remember one time, about a year and a half ago,
+going to make a call upon some people who were transient guests at the
+Walker House? they had left town; and while you waited, while this fact
+was being ascertained, a wee lady, an invalid, was carried in by an
+attendant, and placed on a sofa; she was emaciated and fair
+complexioned. On your leaving the parlor you asked her to accept a
+bouquet you carried; it was composed almost entirely of roses.
+Passionately fond of flowers, she was very pleased, telling you so; do
+you remember? but your face tells me you do. That poor little lady was
+she whom you had frequently met in the street with me, before she became
+too weak to walk; that was my poor little wife."
+
+"And I met you as I was entering the hotel," she said, softly.
+
+"Yes; I was going to Brown's livery stables for a cab; I generally went
+myself, instead of using the telephone, as Jessie thought I got an
+easier one."
+
+
+"Poor little creature; I did not recognize her, because meeting her with
+you, she had always been veiled. I remember how pleased she was with the
+flowers; my kind friend, Mrs. Tremaine, had given them to me to brighten
+my room; I could not afford such luxuries then," she said, sadly. "Your
+wee wife had a sweet little face, and I frequently thought of her again.
+Meeting the manager, Mr. Wright, one day, I asked him about her, when he
+said 'she and her husband had left town.' It was all very sad for you,
+Alec."
+
+"It was, she told me, a winsome lady, bonnie, and so strong-looking, had
+given them to her, and from her description, I knew it must be you. I
+endeavored, even then, to ascertain your name, but failed," he said,
+gravely, holding her hands among the roses for a moment in his own; when
+Miss Crew entered, with her work-basket, followed by the Dales, Mr. Dale
+carrying some open letters, with newspapers, which he placed carefully
+on a table beside him, as he shook hands with Mr. Blair.
+
+"Talk about the sunny south," cried Mrs. Dale; "one sighs for nothing in
+this atmosphere; what with the sun streaming in all day from south and
+west, the perfume of flowers, the Christmas decorations not yet down,
+the glowing grate, even with the snow outside, we are pretty snug."
+
+"I am glad you feel so, dear; I suppose with my small income, I am
+recklessly extravagant in not shutting out the sunbeams; but my
+furniture must fade, rather than that my flowers, birds and self, live
+in gloom."
+
+"I think you said real estate is your business, Mr. Blair; have you
+opened an office yet?" inquired Mr. Dale.
+
+"Broker and real estate is what I have been engaged in; but I have not
+as yet rented an office; there will be some good rooms over the Bank of
+Commerce, when completed; but that is a long look."
+
+"Three years! a life-time, from a business standpoint; at least, as we
+look at things on the other side," said Dale.
+
+"I wonder what the Central Bank will be converted into; it, I should
+say, is a good location, if the public wouldn't fight shy of a man
+hanging out his shingle from such walls," said Blair.
+
+"The owners should give it a man rent free for a term of years, who
+would paint it white," said Mrs. Gower, half in joke.
+
+"They have it black enough now," said Dale; "its career is a disgrace to
+the city."
+
+"It is indeed," said Mrs. Gower; "and one of the worst features of the
+case is, that we have lost confidence; men are daily asking, who is to
+be trusted?"
+
+"Here is the _North-Ender_, taking up the refrain; it says," said Mr.
+Blair, reading, "'other bank failures have been bad enough, but in
+sheer, utter, unadulterated baseness, this excelleth them all;' and
+here, in another newspaper, they say, 'whole families are beggared by
+it, having nothing to buy bread.'"
+
+"How terrible!" cried Miss Crew, clasping her hands; "if I only had
+money," and she glanced timidly at Mr. Dale, "how much I should like to
+assist them."
+
+Here Mrs. Smyth enters, full of excitement.
+
+"Oh, I am here before them; I am so glad," she said, untying her bonnet.
+
+"Allow me to take your things upstairs for you, Mrs. Smyth."
+
+"Oh, thank you, Miss Crew; but it's too much trouble for you."
+
+"Not at all."
+
+"How lovely your flowers are, Elaine; you cause me to break the tenth
+commandment."
+
+"Cease, then, and help yourself; as you love them."
+
+"Thanks; oh, I just met Emily Tudor and her mother, on Huron street, on
+my way up; and what do you think; they have lost every cent by the
+Central. Emily and Mary have left school, and are looking for
+situations; the mother seemed just heart broken."
+
+"How dreadful!" cried Mrs. Gower, "they are such a worthy, honorable
+family, and the delinquents! are rolling away in parlor cars to luxury
+in fairer climes."
+
+Here Miss Crew returns, and Mrs. Gower, asking her to give them some
+music, in the midst of Leybach's "Fifth Nocturne," the Coles drive up,
+ring, are admitted, and announced by Thomas.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+A SERPENT IN PARADISE.
+
+
+Had a bombshell exploded in their midst there could not have been more
+pity, astonishment, and dismay, than was felt by the group of friends in
+the pretty little drawing-room, at the sad change in poor Charlie Cole,
+and the shock experienced at their first sight of the extremely plain
+woman beside him with the stony eyes and termagant written on her brow.
+But horror-struck as they are, all wear society's mark, excepting the
+fair-haired girl, who still sits transfixed to the piano stool; in the
+introductions her back is turned, though she had had one glimpse on
+their _entrée_, she having wheeled around for one instant; but now it is
+her turn, and Mrs. Gower, stepping towards her, laying her hand kindly
+on her shoulder, says, "Turn round, dear." Turning her small, clear-cut
+features, white as a statue, standing up, but not lifting her eyelids,
+she acknowledges the introduction in conventional form.
+
+The face of Mrs. Cole, a dull red, with a redder spot marking the high
+cheek bones, took a momentary grey hue, while Charlie Cole, with a
+violent start, and a half-formed "oh!" dropped his heavy cane, for
+rheumatism still troubling him, he was obliged to use it as a support;
+Miss Crew made an involuntary step to reach it, but Mr. Blair is before
+her. On raising her head, her eyes meet the stony gaze of Mrs. Cole, at
+which, in spite of a visible effort to control herself, she trembles
+almost to falling.
+
+"The piano stool is uncomfortable; take this chair," said Mr. Dale,
+kindly placing one beside his own, and giving her her work-basket. Oh,
+how grateful she is to him, as she bends over her wools and flosses.
+
+"Allow me to take your wraps, Mrs. Cole, or will you come upstairs at
+once?"
+
+"Never mind me, Mrs. Gower, I shall just unbutton my mantle."
+
+"But you are going to stay with me, so may as well make yourself
+comfortable at once."
+
+"Oh, I don't know, Mrs. Gower, Mr. Babbington-Cole requires such an
+amount of attendance, that, on second thought, it is best we should
+return to the hotel," she said, doggedly.
+
+"But, Margaret, you told them at the Palmer House you----"
+
+"It does not signify what I told them; that is past; perhaps your
+hearing has become impaired. I said, on _second_ thought," now
+thinking--goodness, how they stare; think I am not spooney, I suppose;
+says, "You see, Mrs. Gower, I have to think for us both. A man's mind is
+not good for much after a long illness.'"
+
+"My poor friend, you do look as if you had had a hard time of it," said
+Mrs. Gower, with latent meaning; "but you must know it would be a real
+pleasure to have you stay with me, and Mrs. Cole also. Do take off your
+muffler, Charlie, the room is warm. Excuse me calling your husband by
+his Christian name, Mrs. Cole, but it is a habit I must break myself off
+now."
+
+"Yes, I suppose so, now he is a married man," she said, showing her
+teeth; "but he'd better keep muffled up."
+
+"How did you stand the voyage, Mr. Cole?" inquired Dale.
+
+"Very badly. You see I am pretty well battered out, and could not get
+about much. A stick is a shaky leg in mid-ocean."
+
+"You are right. Did your uncle and aunt come out with you, Mrs. Cole?"
+continued Dale.
+
+"What the mischief does that grey-haired, weasel-eyed man know, I
+wonder," she thought, saying, briefly, "Yes."
+
+"Poor Charlie, you had nurses enough," said Mrs. Smyth; who felt so
+badly at seeing her old favorite so carelessly dressed, his last
+season's overcoat, and a purple and white muffler; looking feeble,
+emaciated, and unhappy, and with such a wife, that she is almost silent,
+and nearly in tears.
+
+"Are you acquainted with Mr. and Miss Stone, Mr. Dale?" asked Mr. Cole,
+wiping the perspiration from his brow.
+
+"No, not personally, but by reputation," he says, pointedly. "A friend
+of this little lady here," indicating Miss Crew, "who is also a friend
+of my own at London, has written me the particulars of your marriage."
+
+"Indeed!" said the invalid, brightening, feeling braced up by being at
+last with friends; not so the woman he has married, who mentally wishes
+herself back at New York, in the congenial companionship of her uncle
+and aunt. She hates this pretty, modern drawing-room, with its comely
+women becomingly attired, its bright flowers, its home-like air.
+
+Here Thomas enters, telling Miss Crew some friends wish to see her, at
+which she leaves the room for five minutes, with Mr. Dale.
+
+"Do you purpose settling at Toronto, Mrs. Cole?" asks Mr. Blair,
+unconsciously referring to her as the best horse.
+
+"I had some thoughts of doing so; but since seeing it, I rather think
+not."
+
+While Mr. Blair momentarily occupies her attention, Mrs. Gower, with
+Mrs. Smyth, one on each side of their old friend, pet and sympathize
+with him more by looks than words.
+
+On Miss Crew and Mr. Dale returning, the face of the latter wearing a
+set, stern look, he said, on seeing Mrs. Cole, arising to depart:
+
+"Mrs. Cole, might I ask what has caused you to change your mind about
+staying with Mrs. Gower? You entered with the intention of making her a
+visit, and one can see at a glance that the being here would be a
+panacea to your unfortunate husband; I again ask, why you have changed
+your mind?"
+
+During his words her face was a study, in its various stages of wrath,
+culminating in the hissing of the following words:
+
+"If yours are Canadian manners, I cannot congratulate you, Mr. Dale. My
+reason for changing my mind is _my_ reason, not yours."
+
+"Your words and actions, Mrs. Cole, force me to act at once."
+
+"Come," she said, with a sneer at the speaker, now turning to her
+husband, "Come, Charles, I regret to interrupt these ladies in their
+attentions, but you must button up your top-coat."
+
+"I wish you'd stay even for dinner," he says, nervously.
+
+"No, the night air is bad for you, come at once;" and she fixes him with
+her stony eyes.
+
+"Sit down again, Mrs. Cole;" said Mr. Dale, firmly; and to the renewed
+astonishment of all, "I have something to say to you."
+
+"No, I take no interest in the sayings of an ill-bred man. Good-evening,
+Mrs. Gower."
+
+"This won't do, Mrs. Cole; I regret your line of action, as it forces a
+disagreeable duty upon me in my friend's drawing-room, and not in a
+court of law, as I had intended. My friend Dr. Annesley, of London"--at
+this, she set her teeth in a determined way--"Dr. Annesley has written
+me the sad history of this little lady."
+
+"You are a very rude man to detain me, while you prate of a perfect
+stranger," she says, her face blazing, and making a move to the hall,
+"Come, Charles."
+
+Mr. Cole, instead of nearing her, hobbles across the room, seating
+himself beside Mr. Blair, whose face with its look of power, draws him
+unconsciously.
+
+"In as few words as possible, Mrs. Cole, I affirm on oath, and from
+indisputable evidence, both from Messrs. Brookes & Davidson, barristers,
+London, England, and from parties now in this house, that you, with your
+uncle and aunt, Mr. and Miss Stone, late of Broadlawns, Bayswater,
+London, England, have," he said, sternly, consulting some English
+letters, "appropriated the income from the estate of your late
+step-mother, for the last ten years, to your own uses, merely sending a
+sum to pay expenses at school to your step-sister, who, to further your
+base ends, you had banished from her native land; which allowance, even,
+you cruelly stopped some three years ago; since which time she has been
+compelled to earn her own living. Not compelled, had she had the nerve
+to push her claims and assert her rights; but being a nervous, timid
+girl, the outcome of cruel treatment by you and yours, during her
+childhood, she, in fear of other evil deeds from you all, dropped her
+surname, and assumed the maiden name of her mother; and this poor girl,
+who by law and the will of her dead mother, the heiress of five thousand
+pounds sterling, per annum, was for two years, a mere drudge, as nursery
+governess, at New York City." Sensation! "By a wicked fraud, you also
+are married to the man to whom as a child she was betrothed; but I pass
+this over in consideration of the feelings of your unfortunate dupe, and
+of a lady now here also. To return to the servitude of the girl, your
+step-sister, whom you robbed of her birthright. A year ago, on my wife
+advertising, in the columns of the New York _Herald_, for a governess
+for our little son, the girl you have wronged, answering our
+advertisement, was accepted; and since that time has been an honored
+member of our little circle."
+
+Mrs. Cole, who has only remained in hopes he would show his hand as to
+what steps the prosecution will take, now in uncontrolled rage bursts
+forth:
+
+"Mrs. Gower, I ask you, as my hostess, to order a servant get me a
+hansom, at once; I never was so insulted in my life before!" her reason
+for asking for a cab being, she sees now she will go away alone, and the
+driver will know the streets.
+
+"My friend, Mr. Dale, does not mean his words as insults, Mrs. Cole; and
+I fear, I must ask you to remain until he has finished. However, my
+servant shall immediately telephone for a hack;" and giving the order,
+it was quickly flashed to Hubbard's.
+
+Mr. Dale, now taking the trembling hand of Miss Crew, led her forward,
+saying deliberately:
+
+"This, my friends, is the heiress of whom I have been speaking; who has
+been so basely defrauded of her fortune. This is Pearl, baptized by the
+family name of Margaret (her mother's name), her father was the late
+Edward Villiers, and she is step-sister to Mrs. Cole."
+
+To describe the sensation his words caused, would be impossible, no one
+attempting to hide their horror at the wicked conduct of Mrs. Cole and
+her relations; or their joy at their quiet little friend's good fortune.
+
+"It is a put-up job, a black lie from beginning to end," shouted Mrs.
+Cole, driven to frenzy at her defeat; and before the friends of the man
+whom she has married, and whom she has despised for falling into the
+net; "my half-sister behaved so badly, we sent her to your pious city of
+New York, where she would find kindred spirits," she sneered; "and she
+was drowned three years ago in the Niagara River."
+
+Mr. Dale had left the room during the congratulations of Pearl Villiers,
+as we must now call her; and now returns with the quiet-looking couple
+Mrs.
+
+Gower had seen on New Year's Day; and who proved to be none other than
+our old friends, Silas Jones and his loved wife Sarah, who made oath to
+the truth of Mr. Dale's statements.
+
+Insane at her defeat, at her loss of power, for which she had lived, for
+which she had sold her soul to Mephistopheles. In a rage at her
+humiliation before Silas Jones and his wife, whom she has hitherto
+walked over, whom she feels will rejoice with her victim over her
+discomfiture; and whom she feels will sing the _Te Deum Laudamus_ over
+his freedom, which she knows he will grasp at as eagerly as the timely
+rope by the drowning man; and so, hissing forth many words of fierce
+invective and malicious threats, she takes the hack from Holmnest.
+
+Mr. Dale's first expressive act on returning from escorting this amiable
+creature to the cab is to shake hands with Mr. Cole; then, crossing the
+room to Pearl Villiers, to congratulate her, he ascertains she has
+fainted.
+
+"No wonder, poor girl," said Mrs. Gower, coming to her relief; "I
+expect, this is not the first time her terrible step-sister has caused
+her to find relief in unconsciousness."
+
+"Do you remember, Elaine, she fainted once before, on Mr. Smyth
+announcing the marriage of Margaret Villiers with your poor friend
+here?"
+
+"I do, distinctly."
+
+"I wonder," continued Mrs. Dale, "was she aware of her mother's wish
+that she should marry Mr. Cole?"
+
+"Yes, Miss Pearl knew it right well, poor, long-suffering darling," says
+Sarah Jones, who is supporting her, while whispering soothing words of
+comfort. She now recovers, and is able to sit up, smiling at the sight
+which meets her eye, of Mr. Cole shaking Silas Jones by the hand, as if
+it was to be perpetual motion. Then, hobbling to the mirror, tears off
+his unbecoming muffler, throwing it at Tyr; saying, half wild with joy
+at his deliverance:
+
+"Away with her fetters; I shall begin to look like a Christian again; if
+I had a razor now, it would not be used on the jugular vein, but on my
+beard; but Mrs. Smyth, Mrs. Gower, see how grey I am, Jove!" and he gave
+a glance at the fair-haired girl, who withdrew her eyes, while both
+color. "Medusa was my pet name for her; oh, it was a den of villainy,
+eh, Sarah," he said, excitedly.
+
+"It caps anything I have ever heard," said Dale, seeing how weak Cole
+looks, and making him take an easy chair.
+
+"Dinner is served, ma'am."
+
+After dining, Mr. and Mrs. Jones sitting down with them at the pressing
+invitation of Mrs. Gower, Mr. Dale read all the communications he had
+received relating to the fraud practised by Miss Villiers, and the
+Stones antagonistic to the interests of Pearl Villiers; Brookes &
+Davidson undertaking to prosecute in the interests of the latter, should
+she so decide. Before leaving England, some weeks previous, they had
+robbed and plundered the estate to such an extent as to reduce the
+actual income from five thousand pounds sterling per annum to three
+thousand.
+
+These facts had been ascertained by Messrs. Brookes & Davidson, who
+said, as the delinquents had sheltered themselves beneath the stars and
+stripes, they were safe personally; but some of the properties could be
+wrested from parties to whom fraudulent sales had been made by Mrs.
+Cole. Her plea would of course be that she, Margaret Villiers, had wed
+Charles Babbington-Cole; but that had no weight, for a clause in the
+will would make such plea not worth a row of pins; they, the lawyers,
+only wishing they were in England, when they would indict them for
+fraud.
+
+"You will prosecute the wretches, Pearl; for we are going to make you
+feel at home, and call you so," said Mrs. Dale, eagerly.
+
+But the girl, saying in a low voice, though heard by all, that she will
+not go to law; that three thousand per annum is ample for her; that in
+most cases, perhaps, the lessees were not cognizant of the fraudulent
+sale, and so would be punished, while the guilty people were the
+gainers.
+
+"They have a nice little nest egg," said Mr. Blair, indignantly; "so
+does the green bay tree flourish."
+
+"Yes," said Mr. Dale; "and will likely pose as saints on the other side.
+Only that our little friend here would suffer much during a complicated
+law-suit, and that the enemy are hard to reach, I would advise her not
+to turn the other cheek, as she is doing but to fight; however," he
+says, smilingly, "for Canada, Miss Pearl, you are quite a little
+heiress."
+
+"Ladies and gentlemen," said Silas Jones, as he and his happy wife bid
+them all good-night, "Sarah and I don't know how to thank you for your
+kindness to our Miss Pearl."
+
+"Yes; may the blessings of heaven rest upon you for it," said Sarah,
+tearfully and reverently, as the girl kissed her, lovingly.
+
+"Amen," said Silas; "and I would add that this poor gentleman has gone
+through a fiery furnace of affliction in his forced union with that
+vixen of the iron will and heart of stone; but she will trouble you no
+more, sir, it was only your name she wanted; it meant gold."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+SQUARING ACCOUNTS.
+
+
+On the evening of the day on which the Coles' had arrived, and Miss Crew
+had come out in her true colors as Pearl Villiers, the heiress, in which
+her step-sister, Mrs. Cole, was branded with the name and character she
+has earned as devotee of the father of lies; there was so much to say,
+and so many to say it; so many hand clasps for the poor victim, Charlie
+Cole, on the incoming for his wife of Will Smyth, the Tremaines the A.
+Jones, and others, that the slipping out of Mrs. Dale and Mr. Blair, to
+meet the girl, Beatrice Hill, is unnoticed.
+
+After waiting in the shadow of the house, building on the next lot, for
+a considerable time, and evening is fast waning into night, Mr. Cobbe
+appears in the distance, coming at a brisk pace; nears, opens the gate,
+is up the walk, rings, and is admitted.
+
+"Now she will come, I fervently hope," said Mrs. Dale, impatiently;
+"horrid pair they are, interfering with our hearing the circus indoors.
+If our friend, Mr. Cobbe was mated to that hideous scold, Mrs. Cole, I
+reckon he would not get too much line. But she would never have trapped
+him, he knows too much; unless, indeed, she had settled half the plunder
+on him to close his mouth with the bon-bons that his soul loveth."
+
+"Your words, Mrs. Dale, give me an idea; I wonder if he would pose as
+'Pooh Bah,' and pocket an insult, in the shape of a bribe, to give our
+dear friend her freedom."
+
+"Yes; I do believe he would," she answers, eagerly; "I wonder we have
+not thought of that before."
+
+"But how can we work it; I cannot appear, though my bank notes are at
+his service; I wonder if your very philanthropic husband would undertake
+the delicate mission?"
+
+"Indeed, he would; he just loves making rough places smooth for people."
+
+"It is very good of him," he said, gratefully. "I fear this girl, Hill,
+is as slippery as Cobbe himself; you had better return to the house, and
+I shall go to her address, Seaton street; and if I do not find her,
+shall see if I can elicit any item of importance from others in the
+house."
+
+"But you will wish to come in and tell Elaine good-night first; you will
+not sleep otherwise," she said, teasingly.
+
+"You are right; but I must practise self-denial; indeed, it is my life
+just now, and endeavor to earn a blissful reward by gaining her release
+from Mr. Cobbe. Did you ever see such a contrast in faces and expression
+as that vixen, Cole's wife, presented, compared to our dear Elaine?"
+
+"No; unless it was myself, which of course you did not see," she said,
+saucily; "but I like you all the better for it. I hate your men who are
+all things to all women; go now, and success attend you. Good-night."
+
+Walking rapidly, winged love buoying him up, he soon reaches the Spadina
+Avenue terminus, when, fortune smiling, he has not to wait the twenty
+minutes for the car, for the driver is in the act of turning the horses'
+heads south. Entering, wrapt in thought, he does not notice the numbers
+on this broad highway who make their ingress or egress. Pretty girls,
+peeping from cloud-like fascinators, attended by their chosen valentine,
+or by chaperon, evidently, by their gay trappings, bent on scoring a
+last dance before Lent, for this is St. Valentine's Day, and to-morrow
+will be Ash Wednesday, and so good-bye for a season to the pleasures of
+Terpsichore. No, he is observant of nothing, excepting the many
+stoppages, at which he is impatient. Even electric lighted King street
+is passed through unnoticed; men thinking, on seeing his bent head and
+knit brows, poor fellow, probably bit by the "Central." Girls
+whispering, "He has missed the ring in his Shrove Tuesday pancakes this
+evening, getting only the button. What a pity, for he would be handsome
+if he would only see us."
+
+At the crossing of his turn north, the driver calling Sherbourne street,
+he changes cars, and in due course leaves them, to walk up Seaton
+street. Reaching his number, he rings the bell of a small rough-cast
+house. A man in his shirt sleeves, and with the smell of fresh pine
+about him, opens the door.
+
+"Does a young woman, named Hill, live here?"
+
+"Yes, sir; just step in, please," and ushering him into a sitting-room,
+at one end there being a new pine table nearly finished, tools and
+shavings about. A woman, who is nursing a baby, says: "Take this chair,
+sir; but I'm a'most feared Beatrice has too bad a head to see you."
+
+"Tell her, please, that I must see her, if she is able to sit up at
+all," he says, decidedly.
+
+"Very well, sir," and going to another room on same flat, he could hear
+half-angry words and sobs.
+
+The woman returning, eyeing him suspiciously, said:
+
+"No, sir; she says as how she'll see you to-morrow."
+
+"That won't do. I _must_ have the information she has promised,
+otherwise the detectives will do the work for me at once," he said
+sternly.
+
+"Detectives! oh!" she cries, quickly, in changed tones, leaving the
+room; when there is more parleying on the part of the woman. She now
+returns, saying:
+
+"Please, step this way, sir."
+
+Going into the girl's room, who is evidently a vest-maker, by the pile
+of said articles on a table, another on the sewing-machine. She gives a
+sulky nod, pointing him to a chair. She has a seedy gown on, untidy
+hair, and no collar, looking as if she cared for naught. There is an
+attempt at decoration on the flowered wall-paper, in shape of business
+cards pinned thereon, with the inevitable bow of ribbon; three cane
+chairs, a trunk, a bright rag carpet, two tables, and a small lounge,
+furnish the room. Conspicuous among the photos lying on a table, and the
+only one enthroned in a scarlet plush frame, is a smiling photograph of
+Mr. Cobbe.
+
+Determined on showing nothing like feeling, in her half hysterical
+state, he says, briefly:
+
+"Well, what have you to tell me, as you failed in keeping your
+appointment? I have come to hear."
+
+"And suppose I go back on my word, and don't tell you?" she said,
+doggedly.
+
+"Then you shall be made to speak," he says, with a brave front; though
+his heart is heavy at her words.
+
+"Oh, I know what fine gentlemen's boasts add up to," she says, crossly
+and defiantly, dashing away her tears; "to just nothing."
+
+"You shall be put in the lock-up if you are caught prowling about any
+one's residence after this."
+
+"And what would you gain by that?" she says, cunningly.
+
+While Blair, sighing for woman's tact, wishes Mrs. Dale was with him,
+when a sudden thought occurs to him; rising, as if to go, he says, with
+assumed carelessness:
+
+"Very well; if you won't help yourself and me, by making a clean breast
+of it, things will have to take their own course, and that man,"
+indicating by a gesture the photograph of Mr. Cobbe, "and that man will
+be lost to you, as the husband of a certain lady in the north-west end."
+
+At this she is humble enough, her tears bursting afresh.
+
+"Oh, no, no; I am just crazy to-night, that my Phil is with her; and I
+have been crying my eyes out, because I daren't go up, because of you
+coming out to make me tell on him; oh, oh, oh."
+
+"But can't you see, girl, that this is the only way you will keep him to
+yourself, by telling what hold you have on him. If you don't, as sure as
+you are alive, he will marry yonder lady, and spurn you like a worm
+under his heel," he said, with angry impatience.
+
+"Oh, never; oh, oh, oh, me! I suppose I had best tell, then." And going
+to the trunk, taking out a small box, which she unlocks with a key,
+suspended by a ribbon around her neck, she takes therefrom a few lines
+written on half a sheet of paper, handing it to him. It read:
+
+     "SIMCOE ST., March 16.
+
+     "DEAREST LOVE,--Be _sure_ and be on time at the Union Depot.
+     It's all nonsense your asking me to marry you before we start.
+     It's not common sense of you. The other women who want me would
+     tear your pretty eyes out. No, Betty, my petty. I will marry
+     you when we get to Buffalo; not before; so do not make me
+     angry, when you ought to be the happiest woman in Toronto at
+     going away with your own
+
+     "PHILIP."
+
+"Did he marry you?" asked Blair, placing the paper carefully in his
+pocket-book.
+
+Coloring, as she hangs her head, she does not notice his act.
+
+"What's that to you?" she said, doggedly.
+
+"It's everything; speak, or take the consequences."
+
+"He didn't, then; but he's not free to marry that hussy, since I have
+his writ promise, where is my paper? Give it me."
+
+"Softly, softly, young woman; I want him to do right by you."
+
+"But you'll only rouse the devil in him, sir; and he'll see me no more,"
+she says, wringing her hands.
+
+"Listen to reason, girl, I will borrow this paper, and on my honor; but
+pshaw, you won't credit me with so scarce a commodity," he says, half
+aside. "Lend me the letter until this time to-morrow, and here is ten
+dollars; when I return it you shall have ten more."
+
+"Not much; you bet, it shan't leave my eye-sight for any money."
+
+But after a weary talk she unwillingly consents; when he leaves the
+house.
+
+During the next three days and nights Mr. Blair was half beside himself
+with anxieties, doubts and fears; for Mr. Dale, even with the letter to
+Beatrice Hill in his hand, could do nothing with Mr. Cobbe. As mulish as
+the girl Hill, he refused to release Mrs. Gower from her oath; finally,
+in fiery wrath declaring there would be a heavy breach of promise case,
+did she break faith.
+
+The result was, that with the Dales, Pearl Villiers and Mr. Cole, at
+Holmnest, a busy week was spent.
+
+Mrs. Gower telling Mr. Cobbe, since he would have it so, she would wed
+him sometime or other, parting with him at the foot of the altar,
+henceforth to meet as strangers; that but for his own acts, they would
+have been friends; but she could never forget all she had already
+suffered in nervous fear of the girl Hill.
+
+And so, as rapidly as possible she prepares, as before arranged, to
+leave Holmnest for some months. Charlie Cole was to join his father at
+Jacksonville, Florida, the following day; Pearl Villiers and herself
+following. The house to be left in care of the kitchen, the Dales making
+it their home when in the city; but in a day or two, they would be most
+likely summoned to New York on peremptory business for a few days.
+
+Mrs. Dale and Mrs. Gower were amused in a sad sort of way, for their
+thoughts were gravely set, on the attitude taken by Mr. Cobbe. Still, it
+was a sort of distraction to note the manner of each toward the other;
+of Pearl Villiers and Charlie Cole, the latter demanding, and the former
+seeming to think it her duty to wait on him, humor him, go out for
+little sunlit walks on the veranda with him, play his favorite music,
+and endeavor to make up to him for her step-sister's wicked act, in
+coming between them.
+
+"It's a rather dangerous game though, Elaine; they will trade hearts
+unconsciously."
+
+"Yes, I have feared that, Ella; God spare her from that misery," she
+says, gravely, with hands pressed to her own aching heart.
+
+"Pearl," said Charlie Cole, as throwing away his cane, he leans lightly
+on her arm, as they pace up and down the sun-warm veranda, half an hour
+before the hack arrives to convey him to the Union Depot, "Tell me,
+Pearl, dear; but for my wretched union with your wicked step-sister,
+would you have married me willingly, mark me, willingly?" he says,
+probing her.
+
+"I would," she says, truthfully, blushing vividly; "but I don't think
+it's quite right to talk of it now, Charlie, is it? only, if we had
+known long ago when we have met as strangers, Margaret might have been
+spared this sin."
+
+"How your eyes seemed to follow me, Pearl. Our friend, Mrs. Gower, and
+myself have been the foot-ball of circumstances, she used to have
+instantaneous photographs of Blair, and is doomed to Cobbe; same fate as
+mine."
+
+"My heart is full of pity for you both, dear; but try and think of it as
+God's will, and it will come easier."
+
+"I know all that; but it's confoundedly hard that those vultures should
+have it all their own way."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+"MAIR SWEET THAN I CAN TELL."
+
+
+On an evening at the close of February, when the mercury has risen so
+high that all nature is in a melting mood; the snowy mantle of winter
+disappearing fast on the warm bosom of dear old mother earth, while
+Holmnest is a very bower of love, a very haven of peace. Upstairs,
+downstairs, and in my lady's chamber, everything is warm, home-like,
+sweet and fresh; with dreamy, turned down lights, showing the dainty
+sleeping apartment of its mistress, with its blue and white prevailing
+tints, its lace bed-spread and pillow shams; its pretty feminine
+adornments, with three or four pictures, and a vase of fresh flowers
+giving life to its repose. But we notice in the dim and shadowy light, a
+something unusual, a something different, a new element in this, the
+bed-chamber of Elaine Gower; a something that makes the heart throb
+faster, and a look of wonder, with a smile of content come to the face,
+a something which gives a tone of strength, of completeness to this
+bower of rest; it is, that here and there, one can dimly see a man's
+belongings, and one remembers to have read, "it is not good for man to
+be alone."
+
+But; and we start with fear, for the inanimate cannot speak and tell us
+if Mr. Cobbe has had his way, and those manly belongings are his; if so,
+if so, alas!
+
+But the kitchen says, no, as with a broad grin of content it sits over
+the _debris_ of a late dinner; when, at the tinkle, tinkle of the
+library bell, Thomas is away like a flash; we follow, peep in and see
+Mr. Blair, reclining on a lounge, holding between his fingers a
+cigarette; he forgets to smoke, a look of ineffable content and
+happiness on his manly face. He has rolled the sofa over beside the
+Davenport, at which sits his twin-spirit, the mistress of Holmnest, who
+is within easy reach of his hand, as she sits writing. She wears a gown
+_couleur de rose_, and is looking very lovable, her face transfigured
+with quiet happiness. As Thomas appears, she says, in her sweet tones:
+
+"No one is aware of our return, Thomas, so we don't expect visitors; but
+in any case, we are not at home."
+
+"Very well, ma'am."
+
+"My bride of a week; my ain wife, my other self," he says, his heart in
+his eyes, "bend down your sweet face and kiss me." Holding her in a
+close embrace, he says, "and so you are not sorry that a great, rough
+man like myself has crept into your bonnie Holmnest, and stolen your
+heart?"
+
+"Nay, not stolen, dearest; mine has been a willing surrender; and you
+must not call yourself names in my hearing. Mine has been a very lonely
+life, especially of late years; and you don't know how humble I feel at
+this great happiness coming to me, or my restful content in leaning on
+this strong arm."
+
+"There is one thing to be said for me, my own wife, and that is, that no
+other woman has a real or fancied right to lean on me. I have never been
+a flirting man, for which I may thank my father and mother, who aye were
+leal and true. What a picture they were in fair Dunkeld, going down
+life's hill together; he only living after her to close her eyes. How I
+wish they could have seen you, my other better self."
+
+"Yes; it would have given me great joy to have met them; your words of
+them remind me, Alec, of a dear old couple who reside in our sweet
+Rosedale. A day in their home is a living idyl; to see his tender care
+of her crossing the bridge into Bloor street, is a life lesson; I used
+to liken you and your wee lost wife to them, dear. I must tell you of an
+incident that attracted me to Mr. Smyth more than years of acquaintance.
+Prior to an illness of his wife, she had a photo taken at Gagen and
+Fraser's. On her recovery we were comparing it with a previous one, when
+he said, 'I like one I have better than either of them.' His wife,
+looking amazed, said, 'What one, Will?' while I said, 'Show it to us.'
+He answered, 'This one,' encircling her in his arms."
+
+"Only what he should have done, darling. Each for the other, shall be
+our motto; but must you write Mrs. Dale to-night?"
+
+"Yes, dear; just fancy how eager she must be to hear, as they were
+called away so suddenly, and they are such faithful friends. Shall I
+hand you the evening papers to look at while I write, dearest?"
+
+"No, thanks; I shall look at my wife's face instead."
+
+     "HOLMNEST, TORONTO,
+          "Feb. 28th, 1888.
+
+     "MY DEAR ELLA,
+
+     "We only returned home to-day; but as we, with Pearl, leave for
+     Jacksonville on to-morrow, I must do myself the pleasure of a
+     one-sided written chat with you to-night. My pre-arranged plan
+     is to be carried out; but with what a light heart do I carry it
+     out as Elaine Blair--is it not a pretty name. But lest you
+     think me insane at my age, I shall not go into raptures over my
+     name, or my loving life companion, who has given it me.
+
+     "I have so much to say, that I am in a quandary what to begin
+     with.
+
+     "The day after you left we went down quietly to the early
+     morning Lenten service, and at its close were married by my
+     good pastor, leaving the same day for Niagara. You remember I
+     used to say in jest, that to make a marriage legal, we
+     Torontonians must go thither! so Alec and I are fast bound;
+     thank God for His goodness. How little I dreamed of this two
+     weeks ago. Your good husband has worked a miracle in obtaining
+     my release from Philip; I cannot but think I have been bought
+     out of that regiment; what different colors I am under now;
+     poor Philip. His letter to me, in freeing me, is so truly
+     characteristic of the man, that I shall amuse you with a line
+     or two:
+
+     '"...in releasing you from your oath to be my wife, I repeat
+     that you will long for me once and forever! I am sorry for you,
+     Elaine, for I am the only man to make you happy. If you marry
+     that cowardly fellow who has run me out, take my advice, and
+     have the knot tied loosely in the States, for I prophesy you
+     will want a divorce before a year has elapsed; and then, as I
+     bear you no malice, you have only got into bad hands; send for
+     me, even then, and I shall give up every other woman admirer
+     for you....' Is it not typical of Philip? Poor fellow; he
+     little dreams of my restful content at the steadfast, manly
+     heart I have won. He came in the afternoon of the day you left;
+     though, you are aware, your husband had handed me his letter
+     releasing me the evening previous; but he came to try and
+     persuade me to destroy it, waxing eloquent over _my folly_, and
+     his regret for me and himself. Pretty Mrs. St. Clair calling
+     while he was here, they left together. I again thought how well
+     matched they would have been; she amused me--but I must tell
+     you.
+
+     "You remember, we read in a city newspaper that a man suggested
+     as a rabbit exterminator, fashion should decree that the ears
+     of the aforesaid animal should be used in some manner of
+     feminine adornment; but Mrs. St. Clair solved the problem of
+     extermination; and if she and other leaders of fashion push it,
+     the rabbit is a doomed creature.
+
+     "While the attention of Philip was momentarily given to Mrs.
+     Tremaine and Miss Hall, she purred.
+
+     "'Oh, Mrs. Gower, I do want a rabbit's paw more than anything
+     else in the world.'
+
+     "'A rabbit's paw! what for?'
+
+     "'To put my rouge on with, it's just the cutest thing out, for
+     that. Do you paint, Mrs. Gower?'
+
+     "I fancy I see your lip curl, and Alec asks me what I am
+     smiling at. I tell him above, on the rabbit; and that my smile
+     is the reflection of the laugh in your Irish eyes. He says I
+     don't punctuate often enough to let him kiss me. Give me credit
+     for a little sanity yet, Ella, for I know how foolish this
+     sounds; but our great happiness is so dazzling after our dark
+     days of despair, that I dare say we are a little daft.
+
+     "And now, for a startling bit of news that I have been trying
+     to keep for the last--but it won't wait--a telegram arrived
+     here yesterday for Charlie Cole, from Grand Central Hotel, New
+     York City, from Mr. Stone, running thus:
+
+     "'C. BABBINGTON-COLE, Esq.,
+
+     "'Your wife, Mrs. Cole, died suddenly of malignant
+     sore throat, on the twenty-fifth, and was buried same
+     evening.
+
+     "'TIMOTHY STONE.'
+
+     "The first thing on our arrival this a.m., Alec wired the
+     information to the Tremont Hotel, Jacksonville, to Charlie. And
+     so death has stepped in, freeing him from an unhappy union,
+     Pearl is not as yet aware of this; but we shall tell her on her
+     coming over from the O'Sullivan's to-morrow. When we reach
+     Jacksonville, she can procure the usual black robes.
+
+     "It appears that Mr. Stone has actually rented an office here,
+     in which he will carry on the real estate business. We are
+     informed that he and his late niece lived here some time ago,
+     for a few years. A gentleman from the Grand Central, tells Mr.
+     Smyth that Mr. Stone boasts of his large and influential
+     connection here. And so, though some of our smart Central Bank
+     men have skipped the line, we gain one that caps them all, in
+     Timothy Stone.
+
+     "And now, to a brighter theme, our firm of Dale, Buckingham &
+     Blair, with my ain dearie as manager of our Toronto branch.
+     Graham & Graham tell Alec the agreement is drawn. Will do
+     business on the square in mineral lands, and should get a bonus
+     from the city, for no one heretofore has known where to place
+     or purchase properties of this kind. And so we had better set
+     our chant to music, and sing to 'dream-faces'--
+
+     Oxides of Iron      66.28
+     Silica              21.20
+     Alumina              3.70
+     Lime                 5.04
+     Magnesia             2.19
+
+     "Were you not glad to hear that Silas Jones is to be in charge
+     of the office while we are away, and head clerk afterwards? I
+     tell you, Ella, dear, when I think of winging our flight south
+     together, thence to the Old World, in which fair Dunkeld stands
+     out the brightest spot, I am half wild with joy. Barlow
+     Cumberland, I am sure, thought me more than a little off when
+     we were in buying our tickets.
+
+     "I verily believe I am growing egotistical; in all this letter,
+     who has been foremost--self?
+
+     "Madame de Sevigne was right: 'One loves to talk of one's self
+     so much, that one never tires of _tête-à-tête_ with a lover for
+     years. This is the reason a devotee likes to be with her
+     confessor; it is for the pleasure of talking of one's
+     self--even though talking evil.'
+
+     "But should we meet at New York on our way south, I shall talk
+     of nothing but your own dear selves, and Pearl will bring you
+     news of Garfield; whom, I feel sure, she has seen every day during
+     your absence.
+
+     "Thomas and Begonia (in days of yore, Bridget) will have
+     everything snug for you any day you come. All our world seems
+     so in couples linked, that though he is but sixteen, and she
+     forty, I shall not be surprised to find them buckled, too.
+
+     "Times are changed, dear. I never even think of chains, bolts,
+     or shutters. No more nervous evenings; no more starts at the
+     bell; no more heart-aches; but arms leal and true to shield me,
+     a heart fond and loving, all my own. Ella, Ella, with my faulty
+     nature, I ask myself, am I deserving of this great happiness?
+
+     "My dear husband is bending over me; but lest you deem him a
+     flatterer, I must not tell you his words he bids me tell you;
+     but no, he must say it himself. But he has taken away the ink
+     bottle, lest I burn the midnight oil. One says of Aspasia,
+     writing in ancient days of her Pericles, that 'happy is the man
+     who comes last, and alone, into the warm and secret foldings of
+     a letter.' And so the name of my dear husband, Alec Blair,
+     comes here, Ella, dear, and I say good-night to you as he holds
+     me in his arms, his eyes, with love's steadfast gaze, resting
+     on my face.
+
+     "From your happy friend,
+                      "Elaine,
+           "Who is affectionately and
+                   "abundantly yours.
+
+     "To Mrs. Dale, c/o Henry Dale, Esq.,
+        "Hoffman House, New York City."
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's A Romance of Toronto, by Annie Gregg Savigny
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Romance of Toronto, by Annie Gregg Savigny
+
+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: A Romance of Toronto
+       A Novel
+
+Author: Annie Gregg Savigny
+
+Release Date: April 21, 2011 [EBook #35927]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A ROMANCE OF TORONTO ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+book was produced from scanned images of public domain
+material from the Google Print project.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h1>A ROMANCE OF TORONTO.</h1>
+
+<h3>(FOUNDED ON FACT.)</h3>
+
+<h3>A NOVEL.</h3>
+
+<h2>BY MRS. ANNIE G. SAVIGNY</h2>
+
+<h3><i>Author of "An Allegory on Gossip," "A Heart-Song of To-day," etc.</i></h3>
+
+
+<h3>TORONTO:<br />
+WILLIAM BRIGGS, 78 &amp; 80 KING STREET EAST.</h3>
+
+<h3>1888.</h3>
+
+<h3>Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year
+one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight, by <i>Mrs. Annie Gregg
+Savigny</i>, at the Department of Agriculture.<br /></h3>
+
+
+<blockquote><p>"I would like the Government to forbid the publication of all
+novels that did not end well."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Darwin.</span></p>
+
+<p>"What would the world do without story-books."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Dickens.</span></p></blockquote>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/front.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>TORONTO UNIVERSITY, QUEEN'S PARK.</h3>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>NOTE.</h2>
+
+
+<p><i>In the following pages are two plots, one of which was told me by an
+actor therein; the other I have myself watched from its first page to
+its last, being living facts in living lives of fair Toronto's
+children.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>THE AUTHOR.</i></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. -->
+<p>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. Toronto a Fair Matron</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. Who is Who in a Medley</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. Instantaneous Photographs</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. The Foot-ball of Circumstance</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. A Bona Dea</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. Coffee and Chit-Chat</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. Across the Sea to a Witch's Caldron</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. A Troubled Spirit</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. Vultures Habited as Christian Pew-holders</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. A Lucifer Match</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. Their "Rank is but the Guinea's Stamp"</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. On the Rack</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. Lucifer's Votaries Rampant</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. Fencing Off Confidence</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. The Tree of Knowledge</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. The Oath in the Tower of Toronto University</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII. Birds of Prey</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII. The Islet-gemmed St. Lawrence</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX. Eye-openers</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX. "Your Een Were Like a Spell"</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI. A Happy New Year</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII. "Better Lo'ed Ye Canna Be"</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII. The Three Links</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV. A Hand of Ice Lay on Her Heart</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV. "Here Awa', There Awa'"</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">CHAPTER XXVI. Electric Tips Among the Roses</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">CHAPTER XXVII. A Serpent in Paradise</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">CHAPTER XXVIII. Squaring Accounts</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">CHAPTER XXIX. "Mair Sweet Than I Can Tell"</a><br />
+</p>
+<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>A ROMANCE OF TORONTO.</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h3>TORONTO A FAIR MATRON.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Two gentlemen friends saunter arm in arm up and down the deck of the
+palace steamer <i>Chicora</i> as she enters our beautiful Lake Ontario from
+the picturesque Niagara River, on a perfect day in delightful September,
+when the blue canopy of the heavens seems so far away, one wonders that
+the mirrored surface of the lake can reflect its color.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know, Buckingham, you puzzle me; you were evidently happier in
+our little circle at the Hoffman House than in billiard, smoking, or
+reading-rooms, and just now in the saloon you seemed so content with
+Miss Crew, my wife and our boy, that I again wonder a man with these
+tastes, and who has made his little pile, does not marry," said Mr.
+Dale, in flute-like tones, distinctly English in accent. "I really
+think, my dear fellow, you would be happier in big New York city with
+some one in it to make a home for you."</p>
+
+<p>"I am quite sure your words are kindly meant, Dale, but look at me," he
+says tranquilly, "I am not dwarfed by care, being six feet in my
+stockings, I have no worrying lines written on my forehead, and between
+you and I, I am fifty; to be sure I am bald and grey, but that is New
+York life, a bachelor life, then, has not served me ill; there is a
+woman at Toronto I should like as my wife, but until I can give her the
+few luxuries I now deem necessities, I shall remain as I am."</p>
+
+<p>"I regret your decision, Buckingham, it is a rock many men split on,
+this waiting for wealth and missing wifely companionship."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you are right; but I should not care to risk it," he says,
+calmly.</p>
+
+<p>"And you a speculator!" his friend said, smiling. At this they drifted
+into business and some joint investments in Canadian mineral locations,
+when Dale said:</p>
+
+<p>"You must excuse me now, Buckingham, I promised my wife to go and read
+her a letter descriptive of Toronto, as we, you know, have not been
+there."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is the writer, if I may know?"</p>
+
+<p>"Our mutual friend at Toronto, Mrs. Gower."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I am with you then," he said, with unusual eagerness, a fact noted
+by his friend.</p>
+
+<p>Entering the saloon, Mrs. Dale, a pretty little woman, fashionably
+dressed, with Irish blue eyes and raven hair, said, lifting her head:</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse my recumbent position, but I feel as if my head wasn't level, if
+I try to sit up; ditto, Miss Crew."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Garfield, Ella?"</p>
+
+<p>"Over there with those boys; now read away, hubby, it will do my head
+good."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, let me see where the description commences (the personal
+part I may pass). Here it is:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"Toronto is a fair matron with many children, whom she has
+planted out on either side and north of her as far as her great
+arms can stretch. She lies north and south, while her lips
+speak loving words to her off-spring, and to her spouse, the
+County of York; when she rests she pillows her head on the
+pine-clad hills of sweet Rosedale, while her feet lave at
+pleasure in the blue waters of beautiful Lake Ontario.</p>
+
+<p>"Her favorite children are Parkdale, Rosedale, and Scarboro';
+Parkdale to her west, ambitious and clear-sighted, handsome and
+well-built, the sportive lake at his feet, in which his
+children revel at eve; her daughter, charming Rosedale, in
+society and quite the fashion even to the immense bouquet she
+carries at all seasons&mdash;now of autumn leaves, from the hand of
+Dame Nature; now of the floral beauties from her own gardens
+and conservatories, again, of beauteous ferns gathered in her
+own woods across her handsome bridges.</p>
+
+<p>"Scarboro', fair Toronto's favorite son, of whom she is justly
+proud, is a handsome young warrior, fearless as his own
+heights, robust as his own trees, which seem as one gazes down
+his deep ravine, like so many giants marching upwards as though
+panting to reach the blue pavilioned heavens where they would
+fain rest their heads.</p>
+
+<p>"From the time spring thaws the sceptre out of the frozen hand
+of winter, until again he is king, the breath of Scarboro' is
+redolent of the rose, honeysuckle and sweet-briar, with a rapid
+succession of the loveliest wild flowers in Canada beneath
+one's feet, a veritable carpet of sweet-scented blossoms has
+her son Scarboro'.</p>
+
+<p>"Fair Toronto is also herself richly robed and jewelled, her
+necklet being of picturesque villas, in Rosedale and on Bloor
+Street; under her corsage, covered with beauteous blossoms from
+her Horticultural Gardens, her Normal School grounds, etc., her
+heart throbs with pride as she thinks of her gems, the spires
+from her one hundred and twenty churches glistening in heaven's
+sunbeams; of her magnificent University of Toronto, with its
+great Norman tower, which cost her nearly $500,000; her
+handsome Trinity College, in third period pointed English
+style; her Knox College, her hotels, her opera houses, her
+stately banks; with her diamonds, of which she is vastly proud,
+and which are her great newspaper offices&mdash;the most valuable
+being those of first water, viz., her Church papers as
+finger-posts, with her <i>Sentinel</i> as guard; her independent,
+cultured <i>Mail</i>; her mighty clear-Grit <i>Globe</i>; her brilliant,
+knowing <i>Grip</i>; her often-quoted <i>World</i>; her racy town-cry
+<i>News</i>; her social <i>Saturday Night</i>; her <i>Life</i>, her <i>Week</i>,
+her <i>Truth</i>, with her <i>Evening Telegram</i>, the whole set being
+so valued by fair Toronto, that she would as soon be minus her
+daily bread as her newspapers.</p>
+
+<p>"It would take too long to enumerate the many attractions fair
+Toronto offers&mdash;some of those within her walls having throats
+full of song, others in the 'Harmony Club,' others
+elocutionists, with orators and athletes; her Cyclorama of
+Sedan, her Zoo&mdash;to which only a trifle pays the piper&mdash;her
+interesting museums, her fine art galleries.</p>
+
+<p>"And again, one word of her pet river, her picturesque Humber,
+where lovers meet, poets dream, and fairies dwell; yes, as
+Imrie says:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'Glide we up the Humber river,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Where the rushes sigh and quiver,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Plight our love to each forever,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Love that will not die.'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Such, dear Mr. and Mrs. Dale, is my lay of Toronto, which I
+hope you will like well enough to come and sojourn here awhile.
+You say, Mrs. Dale, that you have 'willed' to go to an hotel,
+if so, I shall say no more of my wish, for 'a woman's will dies
+hard on the field, or on the sward;' but when your will is
+carried out, should you sigh for home-life come to me&mdash;even
+then Holmnest will have open doors. You may be grave or gay,
+you may be <i>en déshabillé</i> in mind and robing, or you may have
+your war-paint on for the watchful eye of Grundy, be it as you
+will it, you are ever welcome, only tell dear Diogenes not to
+come in his tub. I can give you both amusement enough in many
+subjects or objects at which to level your glass, for Toronto
+society is in many instances an amusing spectacle, a droll
+conglomeration.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Yours as always,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">"<span class="smcap">Elaine Gower.</span>"<br /></span>
+</div></div></blockquote>
+
+<p>"Well, Buckingham, what think you of fair Toronto?" asked Dale, as he
+finished reading.</p>
+
+<p>"I think that, though unusual, a Fair Matron has had ample justice from
+a fair woman."</p>
+
+<p>"I want to-morrow and Mrs. Gower right now," said Mrs. Dale, "as
+Garfield says when he is promised a treat."</p>
+
+<p>"Toronto must be a fine city, and covering a large area," said Miss
+Crew.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Gower has a taste for metaphor; I never heard her in that style
+before, that is to any extent," said Buckingham.</p>
+
+<p>"I am intensely practical," said Dale; "but confess Toronto described in
+metaphor sounds more musical, at all events, than in plain brick and
+mortar style."</p>
+
+<p>"Emerson says," said Buckingham, "men are ever lapsing into a beggarly
+habit in which everything that is not cyphering is hustled out of sight,
+and I think he is right."</p>
+
+<p>"We cannot help it, it is the tendency of the age; but what have we
+here, Buckingham? What's the excitement about?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, we are only nearing Hanlon's Point; the ladies had better come
+outside; every scene will be in gala dress. Miss Crew, can I assist
+you?"</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Where the blue hills of old Toronto shed<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Their evening shadows o'er Ontario's bed,"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>said Dale, coming with the crowd to view the scene.</p>
+
+<p>But since Moore so sang, the hills of the noble red man have
+disappeared, save as a boundary to our fair city; the pale faces, in the
+interests of progress and civilization, would have it so; and Bloor
+Street, to the north, is now reached by a gradual ascent of one hundred
+and fifty feet above the lake level. But now the stately and comfortable
+palace steamer, <i>Chicora</i>, with a goodly number of souls on board, is
+rounding Hanlon's Point, and entering our beautiful Bay, when the
+illumined city, with the Industrial Exhibition of 1887 in full swing,
+burst upon the view. The bands of music in and about the city, at the
+Horticultural Gardens and on the fair grounds, with the hum of many
+voices, fill the evening air with a glad song of joy.</p>
+
+<p>"What a sparkling scene," cried Mrs. Dale; "see, Garfield, my boy, all
+the boats lit from bow to stern."</p>
+
+<p>"They look as pretty as you in your diamonds, mamma."</p>
+
+<p>"It is quite a pretty sight, and the city also," said Miss Crew; "I had
+no idea Canada could attempt anything to equal this."</p>
+
+<p>"So much for England's instructions of her 'young ideas how to shoot,'
+as to her colonies, Miss Crew," said Dale; "Come, confess that a few
+squaws, bearing torches, with their lordly half smoking the calumet, was
+the utmost you expected."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mr. Dale, please don't exaggerate our ignorance in this respect; I
+am not quite so bad as a lady at home, who thought Toronto a chain of
+mountains, and Ottawa an Indian chief."</p>
+
+<p>"One of Fenimore Cooper's, I hope," laughed Buckingham, "who hunted
+buffalo on the boundless prairie, instead of your lean gophers who hunt
+rusty bacon from agents who, some say, use him to swindle the public and
+line their own pockets. But listen; what a medley of sounds."</p>
+
+<p>"And lights," cried Mrs. Dale; "it looks as if annexation was on, and
+they were firing up some of our gold dollars as sky rockets."</p>
+
+<p>"It's pretty good for Canada, mamma," said Garfield, patronisingly.</p>
+
+<p>"You say Toronto is quite a business centre, Buckingham?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; quite so; it makes one think of commercial union. Do you
+advocate it, Dale?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, as you know, Buckingham, I am not even yet sufficiently
+Americanised to look upon it from other than a British standpoint, and
+so do not advocate it, as it seems a slight to the Mother Country. What
+is your idea of advantages derived by Canada were it <i>a fait accompli</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"She would gain larger markets; her natural resources would be
+developed, especially her mineral, in which I am," he added, jokingly,
+"looking out for the interest of that most important number <i>one</i>, while
+also number two would benefit in home manufactures."</p>
+
+<p>"You amuse me; I honestly believe number one is a universal lever; yet
+still in a way we are each patriotic; but, again, you must see that
+commercial union would be the forerunner of annexation."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, likely, though not for some time, but evolution will bring that
+about in a natural sort of way, as a final settlement of all vexed
+questions, whether," he added laughingly, "of humanity or&mdash;fish."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't know that, but you have the fish at all events and mean to
+keep them too; humanity may follow, but I should not like to see the
+colonies hoist another flag. But here we are at last, at the portals of
+the Queen City, and such a multitude of people makes one feel as if one
+might be crowded out," he said, uneasily, as the <i>Chicora</i> came in at
+Yonge Street wharf.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't bother your head about your rooms, Dale, you secured them by
+telegram."</p>
+
+<p>"I did, ten days ago, though."</p>
+
+<p>"You never fear, they will be all right, the manager is a thorough
+business man," he said quietly, gathering up the belongings of the
+ladies.</p>
+
+<p>"You are invaluable, Mr. Buckingham," said Mrs. Dale, "and are as
+gallant as if you had as many wives as Blue Beard."</p>
+
+<p>"Rather a scaly compliment, Buckingham," laughed his friend.</p>
+
+<p>"She means well, but the fish are not far off," he answered, picking up
+Garfield, and giving his arm to quiet Miss Crew.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h3>WHO IS WHO IN A MEDLEY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"What a moving sea of faces!" exclaimed Miss Crew.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, quite a few, and look as if they required laundrying&mdash;bodies,
+bones, and all."</p>
+
+<p>"Here, Garfield, though you are 'very old' as you say, you had better
+take my hand," said Miss Crew, nervously, as Mr. Buckingham set him down
+on the wharf.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, he must go with his father," cried Mrs. Dale.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I reckon a New York boy can elbow his way through that mean crowd."
+And darting through the mass of people, causing the collapse of not a
+few tournures, and with the aid of one of his mother's bonnet pins
+giving many a woman cause to scream as she unconsciously cleared his
+path by getting out of his way, he is on the outskirts of the crowd.</p>
+
+<p>"Say, hackman, drive me off right smart to the Queen's!"</p>
+
+<p>"Is it all square, young gent?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; dimes sure as Vanderbilt money."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I mean you are but a kid to go it alone."</p>
+
+<p>"Chestnuts!"</p>
+
+<p>And taking another hack, "Pooh, Bah!" quieting his scruples by pocketing
+a double insult they are off.</p>
+
+<p>"I feel sure Garfield is quite safe, Ella, and probably choosing a cab
+for us; here, take my arm dear, and don't be nervous, Buckingham is
+looking after Miss Crew."</p>
+
+<p>But he is on ahead making inquiries.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir, the young gent is all right, if you take my hack we'll catch
+him, I lost him by being too careful like."</p>
+
+<p>"Your boy is all right, Mrs. Dale, if you jump in quick we'll overtake
+him; allow me, Miss Crew."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank heaven," said his mother fervently, "tell the man to go as quick
+as he can through this crowd; there he is, the young scamp, waving to
+us, there, on ahead, a pair of light greys."</p>
+
+<p>"And here we are, and your boy of the period waiting to welcome us."</p>
+
+<p>"Welcome to the Queen City," he said, pulling off his skull cap.</p>
+
+<p>"You frightened your mother, my boy; see that you don't repeat this;
+remember she is nervous."</p>
+
+<p>"Glad I ain't a woman, they are all nerves and bustles; here, give us a
+kiss, mamma, I only wanted to show you I aint a baby."</p>
+
+<p>"There! there! that will do, my bonnet! my bangs! such a bustle as I've
+been in about you, I wish you were in long clothes."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I'd have to wear a bustle too!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ella you look tired, we had best let them show us our rooms at once;
+Buckingham, we shall have some dinner together, I hope."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I shall meet you here, and go in with you."</p>
+
+<p>"This is pleasant, rooms <i>en suite</i>, and you beside us, Miss Crew," said
+Mrs. Dale.</p>
+
+<p>And now, while they refresh themselves by bath and toilette, a word of
+them: Mr. Dale, like his friend Buckingham, has reached fifty, is grey,
+also wearing short side whiskers and moustache. He is a man of sterling
+worth of character, honest as the day; a man whose word was never
+doubted, who, having seen much of life, was apt to be a trifle cynical;
+but withal, so generous that his criticisms on men and things are more
+on the surface than even he imagines. A good friend, a kind husband to
+the pretty, penniless girl, Ella Swift, whom he had married in New York
+eleven years ago, and though unlike in character, there is so much love
+between them that their wedded happiness flows on with never a rift in
+the rill; and though she does not look into life and its many vexed
+questions with his depth of thought, still, in other ways her brain is
+quite as active&mdash;a kindly, social astronomer, she loves to unravel
+mysteries in the lives about her, to set love affairs going to her
+liking, she not caring to soar above the drawing-room, leaving Wall
+Street, the Corn Exchange, and railway stocks to her astute husband, who
+has inherited English gold, to which he is adding or losing in
+speculations the American eagle. With some thought of changing their
+residence to fair Toronto, they had a year ago given up house, and have
+been residing at the Hoffman House, New York City; then engaging Miss
+Crew, as governess to their only child of nine years. Mr. Dale had been
+somewhat doubtful as to the advisability of giving the position to Miss
+Crew, who merely answering their advertisement in the New York <i>Herald</i>,
+stating nervously that she was without references, as the people she had
+been with had gone West; but she was a fair, delicate, lady-like,
+religious girl, interesting Mrs. Dale at once by her loneliness and
+reticence; above all, Garfield took to her, and she gained an influence
+for good over him at once; and by this time both Mr. and Mrs. Dale have
+come to consider her as one of themselves, though having decided to
+place their son at boarding-school until such time as they take up
+house.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Buckingham is, as we know, an eligible bachelor, fine-looking, tall,
+as we have heard, and a man of many dollars; a calmly quiet man (a trait
+from his German mother), who has lost two fortunes, but who will not
+play for high stakes again, as he does not care to begin over again at
+fifty, with nearly all he craves in his grasp; two women jilted him when
+fortune frowned, but taking it coolly, he merely told himself it was the
+dollar they had cared for, not he. Passionately fond of music, a skilled
+performer, the piano has been mistress and wife to him; if he marries he
+will be a good husband, but if he does not, he will be almost as happy
+in the best musical circle wherever his home may be.</p>
+
+<p>Having dined, our friends gathered for a few moments' social chat before
+retiring, when Mrs. Dale said, "I expect, Mr. Buckingham, you feel as
+important as one of Barnum's show-men in your role, for you are aware
+you and Mrs. Gower must trot us round to see the lions."</p>
+
+<p>"Any man, Mrs. Dale, would feel important as your cicerone, and in
+company with Mrs. Gower."</p>
+
+<p>"How polite you are. Oh, Henry, I see by the <i>News</i>, "Fantasma" is on at
+the Grand Opera House; even if it is late, let us go."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense, dear, we have seen it often enough."</p>
+
+<p>"If you are tired, very well; but I wanted to make a spectacle of myself
+this time, and the ladies green with envy over my new heliotrope satin."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if that isn't self-abnegation," laughed Buckingham.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you needn't sympathize, I only feel as the peacock when he spreads
+his tail."</p>
+
+<p>"How many churches did Mrs. Gower say there are here?" asked Miss Crew.</p>
+
+<p>"One hundred and twenty; so you will have a choice of roads heavenward,
+Miss Crew," answered Buckingham.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, there are a number of roads, and only one guide-book," she
+answered, thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Gower will put you on the right track," he said quietly.</p>
+
+<p>Here Mr. Dale returned, saying in pleased tones, "Well, Ella, I have
+telephoned Mrs. Gower of our arrival, and she says she will call at 11
+a.m., then do the Exhibition, where we are to remain until we see Pekin
+bombarded."</p>
+
+<p>"That is in the evening, and the best part of it this perfect weather;
+may I come?" said Buckingham.</p>
+
+<p>"Assuredly."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks, and au revoir."</p>
+
+<p>"Good night."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h3>INSTANTANEOUS PHOTOGRAPHS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Nothing is more deeply punished than the neglect of the affinities by
+which alone society should be formed and the insane levity of choosing
+our associates by other's eyes," read a lady, musingly, as Emerson's
+essays fall from her knees to the soft carpet under her cushioned feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, nothing is more deeply punished," she half chanted in a musical
+voice, while a grave, troubled look came to the dark eyes, and a quiver
+of pain to the sensitive lips. "And well do you and I know it, Tyr,
+though you are only a dog," she continued, as she patted a brown
+retriever beside her. "Yes, you and I, Tyr, like only affinities; the
+others seem to us mongrels, and to us don't seem good. I wonder if they
+were so pronounced in the first week when the world was young; but fancy
+is travelling without reason; they were all thorough-breds in the good
+old days, and one does not read of anything like Emerson's words on
+affinities, or a case similar to my own; but I am half asleep, Tyr;
+watch by me, good old dog."</p>
+
+<p>And leaning her head back against the soft green velvet cushioned back
+of the rattan chair, Somnus is not wooed in vain; indeed, one might
+imagine the god of slumber had wound a garland of poppies about her
+brow, so does she sleep as an infant.</p>
+
+<p>As she rests, a word of her. A Canadian; a native of Toronto, with
+far-away English kin; above the medium height; dark, comely, and
+slightly embonpoint; a woman of thirty, but with that troubled look at
+present on her face looking older; generous, warm-hearted and
+conscientious; with more than the average force of character; too
+sensitive in days past; too impulsive, even yet, in this world of "they
+daily mistake my words." Even at thirty, she has had years of trouble;
+has been dragged in the dust under Fortune's wheel, that others might
+ride aloft at her expense; earning her "dinner of herbs" that "Pooh Bah"
+in the plural, may have the "stalled ox." But at last she rests, and
+summer friends would again know her, who fled at her first out-at-elbow
+gown; but experience is a good teacher, she will cherish only those who
+have cherished her in her dark days. Society also now desires her
+company in polite bids to its various webs, in shape of dinners and
+lunches, with its other numerous distractions, knowing she is in
+possession of a rather pretentious little home, and is in a position to
+repay; for society is a debit and credit system.</p>
+
+<p>"Once a widow always a widow" was not the motto of Mrs. Gower, and so
+she would have again wed, again gone to God's altar; but the angel of
+death forbade, using his scythe almost as the words of the church
+pronounced them man and wife, and the bridal gown of the morning gave
+place ere the sun had set to the black robes of a second widowhood.
+Truly, "Sorrow there seemeth more of thee than we can bear and live;"
+yet still we live, was her cry. The death of her friend, just at the
+time manly counsel would have saved her little fortune from vultures,
+habited as Christian pew-holders! was very hard, not to speak of that
+intense loneliness, the death of husband, wife, or betrothed, brings
+into one's life; one is as though struck mentally and physically blind,
+not knowing where to turn or whose hand to take; for until such
+relations are severed by death, one does not realize how one has leaned
+on the one in the multitude.</p>
+
+<p>"But," she would say, "one must harden oneself to the inevitable, to
+Heaven's will, if one would keep one's reason;" and in time the sudden
+death of the man she had so passionately loved, was as some terrible
+dream. Not as she dreams away the moments now in her pretty restful
+library, with its rattan furniture, cushioned and trimmed in olive-green
+velvet; one side a library of her pet authors, with Davenport near;
+walls painted in alternate green and cream panels; on the light ground
+are lilies from nature, gathered from Ashbridge's Bay, and near the
+Island; nestling in their bed of green leaves an English ivy trails
+around the pretty Queen Anne mantel, with two tall palms, which bring
+content to the canary as the perfume from the blossoms on the stand give
+pleasure to the sleeping mistress of Holmnest.</p>
+
+<p>Her own individuality is stamped upon its walls also, for on each
+alternate dark green panel is some pretty bits of painting, bric-a-brac,
+or motto; one reads, "Let ilka ane gang their ain gait," showing her
+dislike to meddling in another's business; another reads, "The greatest
+of these is charity;" and over a bust of Shakspeare are his own words,
+"No profit goes where is no pleasure taken; in brief, sir, study what
+you most affect."</p>
+
+<p>But she dreams, and what a troubled expression. At this moment a coupé
+drives up a north-west avenue of our city, stops at the gate of
+Holmnest, when a gentleman, hurriedly springing out, saying, "come back
+for me in about an hour-and-a-half, Somers," enters the picturesque
+grounds, has reached the veranda and hall door on south side of pretty
+Holmnest, rings, when a boy, in neat blue suit, answers.</p>
+
+<p>"Is Mrs. Gower at home, Thomas?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir; in the library."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, you need not announce me, I know the way;" and hastening his
+steps he passes through a square hall, done in the warm tints now in
+vogue, sunbeams coming softened through artistic panes of stained glass,
+showing vases on brackets filled with flowers, which would delight "Bel
+Thistlethwaite," with a few appropriate pictures, giving life to the
+walls; the door of the library is ajar; he enters.</p>
+
+<p>"Asleep!" he exclaims, softly; "with Emerson's thoughts for dreams and
+Tyr as watch; but what a troubled expression," he thinks, seating
+himself, evidently quite at home; a man, too, one would like to be at
+home with, if there be any truth in physiognomy, a handsome man, five
+feet eleven in height, dark hair and moustache, kindly blue eyes,
+amiability stamped on his face; a man who, had events shaped themselves
+that way, would have made an heroic self-sacrificing soldier of the
+Cross.</p>
+
+<p>He is scarcely seated when the occupant awakes with a start and a
+terrified exclamation of "Oh!" at which the dog places his fore-paws on
+her knees, with a whine of sympathy, as her friend, Mr. Cole, comes
+forward with outstretched hand.</p>
+
+<p>"When did you arrive; is it so late; you received my message to dine
+with the Dales and Smyths with me this evening? but I am half dreaming
+yet; of course you did, for you answered 'Yes.' Getting yourself in trim
+for leap-year, I suppose," she said, smiling; "but how is it you are in
+your office coat? I want you to look your very best, as you are to take
+in a young lady, a Miss Crew, who comes with the Dales; she is a
+super-excellent sort of girl."</p>
+
+<p>"Has she money?" he says, laughingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you need not pretend to be a fortune-hunter to me; I know you too
+well for that; but remember, I prophesy you will lose your heart to her.
+But, oh, Charlie, I have had such a horrible dream," and she presses one
+hand to her forehead, at which the lace rufflings fall back from her
+sleeve, showing a very good arm, her gown of ecru soft summer bunting,
+becoming her style, "that dream will haunt me unless you let me tell it
+you, Charlie."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that's the use you put me to, is it? all right, fire away, I'll
+interpret; it was only a mistake the baptizing me Charlie, when I have
+to play the part of Joseph."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, in the first part, oh Joseph, I had been reading this morning
+what held my mind as to the ascent from Paris of the æronauts, Mallet
+and Jovis; their courage, and Mother Shipton's prophecy impressed me
+sufficiently as to dream, with the words of Emerson as to affinities
+also in my mind, that a party of us&mdash;you, the Dales, Mrs. St. Clair,
+Miss Hall, Mr. Buckingham, and myself, with a gentleman who was
+masked&mdash;had been taking part in an entertainment in the Pavilion,
+Horticultural Gardens, in aid of the Hospital for sick children; we gave
+readings, vocal and instrumental music, and laughed inwardly and glowed
+outwardly, as we everyone, regardless of merit, received repeated
+recalls, when afterwards the recalcitrant balloon, which refused to
+inflate, when we gazed in vain at the fair grounds, did ascend after our
+performance, which fact emptied the Pavilion ere we had concluded our
+last effort, everyone flying, as we do at Toronto, as though there was a
+drop curtain with the words in flaming colors, 'The de'il take the
+hind-most;' the building was empty as our last supreme effort frightened
+the few dead-heads who had slunk in; we then laughingly made a rush to
+the balloon ascension, and determined there and then to further
+distinguish ourselves by becoming æronauts <i>pro tem</i>. What made it
+ridiculously droll, Joseph, was the fact that the men in charge chanted
+continuously Emerson's words that had impressed me ere I slept&mdash;'Nothing
+is more deeply punished than the neglect of the affinities.' I was
+nearest the basket, and wild with reckless spirit. As I remember, myself
+stepped in; the owners seemed at variance who was to pose or rise," she
+said, smilingly, "as my affinity, that is of yourself, Messrs. Dale,
+Buckingham, or the man with the mask, when, finally, they signed to the
+latter to enter; I was nothing loth, for his voice, a sweet tenor, had
+charmed me; up we went, when to my horror your <i>béte noir</i>, Mr. Cobbe,
+sprang from among the branches of a tall tree into the basket.</p>
+
+<p>"'Too much ballast,' he cried, throwing out all the owners had provided
+us with; we ascended rapidly&mdash;a feeling of faintness seizing me&mdash;up, up;
+I feel the sensation now," she said with a tremor; "up, up, nearing the
+feathery clouds, looking like down from the wings of angels. 'Too much
+ballast,' he again cried, excitedly springing on the masked man, first
+tearing off his mask, disclosing the essentially manly face of a
+gentleman whom I frequently meet, but am not acquainted with, but in
+whom I take an interest, because of his tender care of a little lady I
+used to see with him; Mr. Cobbe springing on him with the words, 'too
+much ballast; down with affinities!' hurled the poor fellow to earth, at
+which I cried out as you heard; his fall was a something too awfully
+real; one's nerves for the time suffer as severely as though all was
+reality," she added in a pre-occupied tone, as though mind was burdened
+with latent thought.</p>
+
+<p>"But 'all's well that ends well;' Mr. Cobbe is in mid air, where I
+fervently hope he will remain."</p>
+
+<p>"But you forget the poor man who was hurled to the earth; I know his
+face so well."</p>
+
+<p>"And I know yours, Mrs. Gower, and you are safe and so am I; and as
+Joseph, I interpret that you are to give your charming self to an
+affinity, and don't fly too high."</p>
+
+<p>"The first part of your speech is epicurean, in your second you play the
+mentor," she said, laughingly; "but in your face I see you have
+something to tell me; go now to the telephone and tell them to send you
+your dress coat, for you have no time to go all the way to the Walker
+House and be back by seven."</p>
+
+<p>"No use; I cannot stay for dinner."</p>
+
+<p>"Cannot stay! Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"My father writes me he is going to sail for England at once, and wishes
+me to meet him at London."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you ought not to look so grave over such a meditated trip,
+Charlie, it will make a new man of you; and instead of betaking yourself
+to the Preston baths, a sea voyage, I should say, will set you up,
+making you forget the word rheumatism better than any sulphur bath in
+all Canada."</p>
+
+<p>"But," he said, in serio-comic tones, "what do you think of my being
+forced into annexation?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only that you use the word 'forced,' I should say I congratulate you."</p>
+
+<p>"At the same time that you keep your own freedom, though," he said,
+despondently; seeing her look of gravity, he continued, touching her
+hand, "beg pardon, Elaine, I should not say that, knowing your past;
+but," he said brightly, "I should like to see you wed an affinity."</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid such pleasant fate is not for me," she said, gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you believe in predestination, Mrs. Gower?" he says, abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>"What next! from annexation to dogma. Tell me all about yourself, and it
+is too lovely an Indian summer day to remain in the house, come to my
+favorite seat in the garden."</p>
+
+<p>"Where I shall give you an instantaneous photograph, from my father's
+pen, of the girl I am predestined to change the name of."</p>
+
+<p>"From your father's pen!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE FOOT-BALL OF CIRCUMSTANCE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>As they near a knoll under a clump of trees commanding a view of the
+road, a gentleman sauntering up the street gazes, as many do, at
+Holmnest with its pretty grounds.</p>
+
+<p>"Look, quick, Charlie," said Mrs. Gower, in low and rapid tones,
+apparently intent on spreading a rug on the rustic bench, "there he is,
+I mean&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I only see a very ordinary and thoroughly independent looking
+man, seeming as though he feared nothing, not even you, and as if
+Toronto was built for him."</p>
+
+<p>At this Mrs. Gower, laughing merrily, says, "And not for the
+Lieutenant-Governor, Mayor Howland, Archbishop Lynch, or the 'caller
+herrin'-man.'"</p>
+
+<p>As the soft laughter fell on the air, the stranger looked towards them,
+and looked so intently, that involuntarily his hand is raised to his
+head and his hat lifted.</p>
+
+<p>"You say you have not met him, Mrs. Gower; you are a very prudent woman,
+I must say, coming out here in your white gown, with ribbons the color
+of a peach, creating a sensation; you had better wed an affinity since
+you won't have me, and get a protector at once."</p>
+
+<p>"That is the man I dreamed of whom the æronauts dubbed my affinity; it's
+too bad we are not acquainted, instead of only getting instantaneous
+photographs of each other."</p>
+
+<p>"What a trial!" he said, ironically; "but still," he added, as with a
+sudden remembrance, "I have, strange to say, had occasion to say, hang
+the conventionalities, more than once, with reference to a fair-haired
+girl with blue eyes, that seem, when I think of her, to follow me; no
+later, too, than this morning at W. A. Murray's door, as you I have had
+only instantaneous photographs of her; once before at a window in New
+York city, also there in a suspension car; it is not that I have fallen
+in love with her&mdash;not by a long chalk, but she seems to have been in my
+life some time, that by a trick of memory I have lost; but I advise you,
+Mrs. Gower, not to allow that man to bow to you again."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he only lifted his hat in apology; but I wish you were not going
+away, and that I could see this girl."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I hadn't to; but this is the way time flies whenever I come to
+Holmnest; I am forgetting that I came to tell you I am just now the
+foot-ball of circumstance, which compels me to cross seas to have a
+halter put around my neck in wedding a girl whom I have never seen."</p>
+
+<p>"Even if you have to, Charlie, you may love her at first sight, so don't
+take it to heart; if it is so that she is no affinity, you will suffer
+only as many others," she says gravely, "in having a taste of the
+tantalus punishment, in losing what we would fain grasp; but tell me all
+about it, as my dinner guests will be soon arriving, and I did so want
+you for&mdash;myself, as well as for Miss Crew."</p>
+
+<p>"That's the first sympathetic word you have said, 'for yourself,'" he
+said, touching her hand, "but I am to be always for somebody else," he
+said, a little sadly; "but I see you think I am never going to begin, so
+here goes: My father, as you have heard me say, did not marry a second
+time, not that he did not again fall a victim to the tender passion, but
+that the miscreator, circumstance, putting in an oar, sent him out of
+England, when his bride-elect that was to be, was coerced into marrying
+her guardian (one Edward Villiers, of Bayswater, London,) by his
+sister-in-law, a domestic tyrant, and his housekeeper; who, knowing to
+rid himself of her presence he would probably wed a woman of as strong a
+will as her own, when she, penniless, would be thrust out, told lies,
+not white ones, of my father, that he had married in Canada,
+intercepting his letters, and heaven knows what; at all events,
+Lucifer's agent triumphed, for on my father going across the water to
+claim her and scold her for her silence, he found her a wife with a baby
+girl, when, to reduce a three-volume story to a line, they, in despair,
+wept and raved, nearly heart broken, vowing that I and the little one
+should wed and inherit all the yellow sovereigns; and so, Elaine, it
+comes to pass in years of evolution this youngster has become of age,
+and I am presented with her as my bride. I have always known of this
+contract, but you know the kind of man I am, ever shoving the unpleasant
+into a corner; for the bare idea of marrying a woman for money has
+always been repugnant to me."</p>
+
+<p>"I should say it has, for with you it has ever been 'more blessed to
+give than to receive.'"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know that, but to hasten, breathing time is at last not given
+me, I am summoned to England by those people and by my father's wish,
+who sends me a copy of the will of the late Mrs. Villiers, a clause of
+which I shall read to you; but what a bore I am to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense; who have I poured my life puzzles into the ear of but your
+own kind self&mdash;turn about is fair play, and besides, yours is a
+sensational <i>life</i> story, and so more interesting than thoughts from the
+clever pens of Haggard or Mannville, Fenn, or our own Watson Griffin."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, the will reads ... 'on my dearly loved daughter, my little
+(Pearl) Margaret Villiers attaining her majority and becoming the wife
+of the aforesaid Charles Babbington-Cole, son of my loved friend Hugh
+Babbington-Cole, of Civil Service, Ottawa, Canada, my said daughter
+<i>shall enter into possession</i> of all my real and personal property, she
+to be sole executrix, and to inherit all, (with, I hope, the advice of
+Dr. Annesley, of London, and Hugh Babbington-Cole aforesaid,) and
+subject to the following bequests: To my step-daughter, Margaret
+Elizabeth Villiers, I leave my forgiveness for her unvarying unkindness
+to myself with my copy of the Christian Martyrs. To my dear friend,
+Sarah Kane, five hundred pounds sterling and my wearing apparel. To my
+husband's sister-in-law, Elizabeth Stone, I will and bequeath my piano
+and music for use in her mission work, with the hope that sweet notes of
+music will make her less acid to the children of God's poor to whom she
+brings the Gospel message of peace, etc., etc.'"</p>
+
+<p>"So! your late mother-in-law made a point there, the self-righteous
+woman weighted religion then as now. I have always predicted, because of
+your open palm, that you would never be a rich man, Charlie; I little
+thought the precious metal with a wife would pour into your lap at the
+same time; if you only knew her and cared for her," she said, musingly,
+when, noting his troubled look, she said brightly, picking a beautifully
+tinted maple leaf from his shoulder, "See here, old man, take this
+crimson-hued leaf as a good omen, and we will read from it that your
+home-bound path, I mean back to Holmnest and Toronto, will be a path of
+crimson roses; and now tell me, does the girl write you, and is it in a
+stand and deliver manner? If so, I fear my verdict upon her will be
+lacking in charity."</p>
+
+<p>"No, my pater has letters from her which he does not forward; but here
+is the last one from my father, in which he says: ... 'I have received
+several letters from Broadlawns, Bayswater, England, and from Margaret
+also, in which they tell me time's up, your bride elect is of age, and
+naturally anxious to come into possession of her property. I need not go
+over the whole matter again with you, my boy, but I do most earnestly
+advise you to start at once, the daughter of my lost Margaret must be
+good and true, even though Villiers was her father; she should be
+pretty, also fair hair and sky-blue eyes (in woman's parlance). I saw
+her when her poor mother made her will in 1872. Pearl was then about
+five years old; she cannot fail to be attracted by yourself, if Dickson
+does not flatter you, and I don't think so; your good looks are honestly
+come by, so you needn't blush.</p>
+
+<p>"'And now to business; enclosed you will find a cheque for five hundred
+dollars, for you are like me more than in appearance, you don't save.
+What an income you will have shortly, instead of bookkeeping on the
+paltry salary of $800 per annum, you and Mrs. Cole, ahem! will roll
+about King Street the envy of the town, with an income of £5,000
+sterling per annum. While I shall have the pleasure of seeing some of
+your mechanical ideas patented, and their models in the buildings here,
+your nose and the grindstone will part company; how glad I am that you
+have not fallen in love and married; and now I ask you, believing it to
+be best, believing it to be for your happiness, to leave for the
+seaboard on receipt of this; my chief has given me a three weeks' leave,
+so shall run across, but to save time, as I have business at Quebec,
+shall sail from there; meet me at Morley's, London, Trafalgar Square. If
+my memory plays me no trick, I shall sail by the <i>Circassian</i>, Sept.
+16th, you take the <i>City of Chicago</i>, one day later from New York.</p>
+
+<p>"'And now, <i>pour le present</i>, farewell; you don't know how I have set my
+heart on this matter, if I were ill, the knowledge that the little
+daughter of my own love was your wife would cure me.</p>
+
+<p>"'Social events are right down smart with us; in fact Ottawa is booming.
+Rumor says our next tid-bit will be an elopement in high life; even the
+soldiers can't keep the enemy from poaching; but we must be blind and
+deaf 'till Grundy says now.'</p>
+
+<p>"'The American consul is a very knight of labor at present, minus their
+short hours, as quite a large number are leaving for, to them, the land
+of promise, the United States, whether they fly from the taxes or the
+cold, I have not interviewed them; by the way, you will be the better
+for a warm heart beating against your own this winter. And now one word
+of self, I shall be glad of the run across the water, for I feel
+anything but smart. I wish we could have crossed together. Farewell, my
+boy, till we meet at Morley's.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'Your affectionate father,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">"'<span class="smcap">Hugh B. Cole</span>.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'<span class="smcap">C. B. Cole, Esq.</span>,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">"'500 Wellington St. Toronto, Ont.'"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"How strange it all seems, Charlie," she said dreamily. "I shall miss
+you so much, I do hope she is amiable and lovable, you and she must come
+to me until you get settled; poor fellow, you look stunned."</p>
+
+<p>"I am paralyzed! it at last is so sudden, but why do you smile?"</p>
+
+<p>"At a remark you made at the Smyth's, or I rather think it was when
+escorting me home, that 'you deserved a good wife, for you had never
+sinned, never told a lie.' So let us hope in your case virtue will have
+a reward."</p>
+
+<p>"See! I must go, your guests are arriving; how I wish you had no one
+this evening, and I might dine with you alone."</p>
+
+<p>"My wish too, on this your last visit, unfettered."</p>
+
+<p>"That means you cannot bolster me up in this case, as you have more than
+once heretofore; that I am in for it," he says, looking at her
+sorrowfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you are regularly hemmed in, and as I have been before now, so are
+you at present the mere foot-ball of circumstances, but 'out of every
+evil comes some good,' they say, and as your father says," she added
+with forced gaiety, for she is sad at the thought of snapping of old
+ties. "You will be the better of a warm heart beside your own in our
+winter climate; and above all, remember the good omen of this maple
+leaf; here, take it with you," she says, pinning it to his coat, the
+suspicion of a tear in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Good bye, Elaine, if it must be so; pray that I may come out of it all
+right, for I feel horribly depressed; and only you say I must go, would,
+I believe, show the white feather; I wish I might kiss you good-bye;
+there is that fellow, Cobbe, coming in, remember, that 'nothing is more
+deeply punished than the neglect of the affinities.' God bless you;
+farewell."</p>
+
+<p>And leaving by a side gate and entering a passing hack, one of the
+kindest-hearted sons of fair Toronto takes his first step to another
+land; easily led, yielding to a degree, he is now led by the wish of a
+dead woman, by the iron will of a living one, his father following their
+beckoning hand also.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h3>A BONA DEA.</h3>
+
+
+<p>In animated converse with her guests during the half-hour ere dinner is
+announced, the mistress of Holmnest makes a picture one's eyes dwell
+on&mdash;the folds of her soft summer gown hang gracefully, while fitting her
+figure like the glove of a Frenchwoman; fond of a new sensation&mdash;as is
+the way of mortals&mdash;this of playing the hostess to a few chosen friends
+in a home of her own once more, is pleasurable excitement; there is a
+softness of expression, a tenderness in the dark eyes, engendered by the
+fact of her sympathy having been acted upon by the leave-taking, on such
+an errand too, of her friend Cole, which lends to her an additional
+charm. The consciousness also that she is looking well, gives, as is
+natural to most women, a pleasurable feeling in whatever is on the
+<i>tapis</i>, with the knowledge also, that her little dinner will be
+perfect, her guests harmonious&mdash;save one.</p>
+
+<p>"So you think Toronto is rather a fair matron after all, Mrs. Dale, and
+that your New York robes blend harmoniously with the other effects at
+the Queens?"</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon I do, Mrs. Gower; you did not say a word too much in her
+praise; I remember saying to Henry before we started, my last season's
+gowns would do."</p>
+
+<p>"And you like Toronto also, Mr. Dale," continued his hostess.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, better than any other Canadian town I have visited; it is very
+simply laid out, one couldn't lose oneself if one tried."</p>
+
+<p>"It is laid out like a what do you call it, like a chess-board," said
+Captain Tremaine, an Irishman.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, not unlike," continued Dale, "and as to quiet, one would think the
+curfew rang; I noticed it particularly coming from the Reform Club the
+other night."</p>
+
+<p>"We all notice how quiet our streets are at night, and after your London
+and New York City, we must seem to you as if we had taken a sedative,"
+said Mrs. Gower, taking his arm to the dining-room; "but where is Miss
+Crew, Mr. Dale?"</p>
+
+<p>"She was too fatigued to come, she foolishly overtaxed her strength,
+taking my boy to the Industrial Home, at Mimico, I think she said."</p>
+
+<p>"That's correct, it's a pet scheme of Mayor Howland's, and a worthy one
+too."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, so she said; they also visited your Normal School, and talked of
+the Cyclorama of Sedan."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed! they have overtaxed the brain and memory, I fear; what does
+Garfield say to it all?"</p>
+
+<p>"Chatters like a magpie over the superior glories of New York, but is
+honestly pleased after all."</p>
+
+<p>"I expect your little son is English only in name."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and in his love for a good dinner," he said, laughingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, from all we Canadians hear, there is every reason he should, an
+English dinner is enough 'to tempt even ghosts to pass the Styx for more
+substantial feasts,'" she said, gaily.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Gower is always up to the latest in remembering the tastes of her
+guests," said Mrs. Dale to her left-hand neighbor, Mr. Buckingham, as
+tiny crescents of melon preceded the soup.</p>
+
+<p>"That she is," he said, complacently; "no man would sigh for his club
+dinner, did our hostess cater for him."</p>
+
+<p>"Goodness knows what Henry would do if our bank stopped payment, or our
+Pittsburg foundries shut down; for I know no more about cooking than Jay
+Gould's baby," she said, discussing a plate of delicious oyster soup.</p>
+
+<p>"He, I expect, makes himself heard on the feeding bottle," said lively
+Mrs. Smyth.</p>
+
+<p>"But you are unusually candid as to your short-comings, Mrs. Dale,"
+continued Buckingham, amusedly.</p>
+
+<p>"Because I can afford to be; were I poor, I reckon I should pawn off my
+mamma's tea-cakes on my young man as my own, as men in love believe
+anything&mdash;they are as dull as Broadway without millinery."</p>
+
+<p>"By the way, Mrs. Dale, talking of millinery, where are your bonnets
+going to, they are three stories and a mansard at present?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, only a cupola, Mr. Buckingham, on which birds will perch."</p>
+
+<p>"How so; I was under the impression the bird hunt is a thing of the
+past?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed! not while there are men in the field."</p>
+
+<p>"How so; I do not follow you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Stupid, you are born huntsmen, our bonnets are a perch for a decoy,
+and," she added, looking at him archly, "our faces are under them."</p>
+
+<p>Here there was merry laughter from Mrs. Gower and Captain Tremaine, the
+former saying gaily,</p>
+
+<p>"You would not accomplish it, the strength of will of one of the party
+would keep the whole uppermost. I appeal to Mr. Smyth."</p>
+
+<p>"I am with you, Mrs. Gower; Tremaine must go under, even though he is an
+Irishman."</p>
+
+<p>"Irish questions always do get muddled, eh, Smyth?" said Dale, jokingly,
+seeing that Smyth, intent on dinner, had not heard the argument.</p>
+
+<p>"That they do, Dale. Which is it, Mrs. Gower, the Coercion Bill or Home
+Rule?"</p>
+
+<p>"Neither," she said, laughingly, "we were on the 'Peace Party' (you
+remember the meeting at the Gardens, on last Sunday); and I have been
+suggesting that the Body Guard bury their pretty uniforms, and Captain
+Tremaine raises the war-cry of, 'bury the Peace Party, chairman and all,
+first.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that's it! Tremaine knows the indomitable will of one of them would
+cause more dust to be kicked up than one sees on a March day on Yonge
+Street."</p>
+
+<p>"Out-voted, Captain Tremaine, we weep 'salt tears' over your becoming
+uniform; but seriously speaking, though a High Court of Arbitration
+would be a grand spectacle, it will be only after years of evolution,
+and when, as Mr. Blake, the chairman said, 'the voice of the private
+soldier, instead of the general officer, is heard.'"</p>
+
+<p>"If I should ever have the ill-fortune to be drafted," said Smyth,
+laughingly, "I should fight to the death against my enrolment; an
+hospital nurse, like the Quaker-love, would suit me better; such rations
+as a man gets on the field."</p>
+
+<p>"I know for a fact," said Dale; "that recruiting during the present year
+in England, has been far below the average of the last few years."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed! I was not aware," said Buckingham.</p>
+
+<p>"By the way, Smyth," said Tremaine, "have you seen, what do you call
+him, 'Henry Thompson,' in his defence or answer to his critics?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have, and he was able for them every time."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you speaking of the journalist who went to jail in the interests of
+the <i>Globe</i>?" asked Dale.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"His defence was capital, I thought," said Dale, "and I especially liked
+the way he stands up for his craft. 'There is no class of men,' he says
+bravely, 'in existence, animated by more humane motives than working
+newspaper men.'"</p>
+
+<p>"I also read his reply with pleasure," said Mrs. Gower, "and reading it,
+thought what a clever and original fellow he must be."</p>
+
+<p>"Talmage and Silcox have been lauding the power of the press to the
+skies," said Smyth; "they made me wish I surveyed the earth from an
+editor's chair, rather than from a tree I climbed to escape York mud."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you heard how the Grand is going to cater to our dramatic taste
+this coming season, Mr. Buckingham?" asked Mrs. Gower.</p>
+
+<p>"Just a whisper, Mrs. Gower, as to Emma Juch, Langtry and Siddons."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; so far so good. Have you heard that the rail makes no special
+rates for travelling companies?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have; so you may expect that those who will pay the high toll, will
+be those of the highest standard."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I suppose (though it seems selfish) we should be content with the
+rail rates as they are."</p>
+
+<p>"You will enjoy the debates, Dale," said Smyth, "in the Local House
+during the session; Meredith is just the man to lead our party."</p>
+
+<p>"But I am not sure that it is our party, Smyth; I scarcely know how I
+should vote here; if Meredith is right, why doesn't he prove to Ontario
+that Mowat has held the reins too long?"</p>
+
+<p>"So he will before next election," replied Smyth, with a satisfied air.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be too sure, Mr. Smyth, eloquent though he be," said his hostess;
+"while that clever Demosthenes of his party, Hon. C. F. Frazer, says him
+nay."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you meditate a long stay, Buckingham, in this the white-washed city
+of the Dominion?" asked Tremaine.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, off and on all winter; you know I intend to purchase some of your
+mineral lands, since you allow them to lie undeveloped," he added,
+jestingly.</p>
+
+<p>"You see, Capt. Tremaine," said Mrs. Gower, merrily, "the American Eagle
+done in silver is not as yet plenty with us."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't despair, Tremaine, Commercial Union is looming up," said
+Buckingham.</p>
+
+<p>"Treason! treason!" laughed Tremaine, "for we know what it would
+father."</p>
+
+<p>"Hear, hear," cried Smyth.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't know," laughed Mrs. Gower, "they say it is the Main-e idea
+for settling; here's a pretty mess! here's a pretty mess&mdash;of fish!"</p>
+
+<p>"We can wait," said Buckingham, quietly, "evolution will bring about the
+Maine idea, with you also."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you say you are going to Maine, Mr. Buckingham, we cannot do
+without you now," said pretty Mrs. St. Clair, caressingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair, I do not go; but even if so, you would, I
+fear, miss me less than your latest fad in the pet quadruped."</p>
+
+<p>"How severe you are, Mr. Buckingham. Are all New York men so, Mrs.
+Dale?" She sighed, having a penchant for him.</p>
+
+<p>"It's annexation, Mrs. St. Clair," said Mrs. Dale, mischievously.</p>
+
+<p>"Annexation! is Mr. Buckingham going to be married?"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe so." At this juncture Master Noah St. Clair, who had come
+instead of his father, was interested in other than his plate, while his
+mother said reproachfully:</p>
+
+<p>"It <i>cannot</i> be true, Mr. Buckingham."</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Dale is disposed to be facetious, Mrs. St. Clair; you must not
+swear by everything she says."</p>
+
+<p>"That is an evasive answer, and I am dying to know; tell me, <i>dear</i> Mrs.
+Dale, what it means?"</p>
+
+<p>"Which, annexation, or Mr. Buckingham?" said her tormentor.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, both, of course," she said, breathlessly.</p>
+
+<p>"Both; well, when I come to take a good look at him, Mrs. St. Clair, he
+looks important rather than severe, his reason is, he believes, the best
+part of Canada pines for annexation; <i>comprenez vous</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, is that what you meant," she replied, with a relieved air, when,
+catching her son's eye, she said, with assumed carelessness, "I do miss
+my men friends so much when they marry."</p>
+
+<p>"He is as cold as ice," whispered Mr. Cobbe, who, though a man of birth
+and breeding, prides himself upon being a flirt; "he is an icicle, I
+wonder you waste your warmth upon him."</p>
+
+<p>"Nice man," she thought, "and only the second time I've met him; he must
+be in love with me, too, poor fellow," and, in an undertone, she says,
+"That's the way all you men speak of each other, but he is only so
+before people."</p>
+
+<p>"You had better throw him over, an Irish heart is warmer than an
+American," he said, in his deep tones, into her ear.</p>
+
+<p>"But the poor fellow would break his heart," she whispered, her cheeks
+flushing; he, equally vain, continued:</p>
+
+<p>"Not he, a successful speculation would console him; and I&mdash;and I would
+console you."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you always so susceptible?" she asked, turning her pretty enamelled
+face around to be admired.</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed; but a man doesn't meet as pretty a woman as you every day,
+as your mirror must tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"How you gentlemen flatter," well aware that he is admiring her pretty
+hand and delicate wrist, as she holds aloft a bunch of transparent
+grapes.</p>
+
+<p>"Not you," and for the moment he meant it; the particular she of the
+hour feasting on the nectar her soul loves, never dreaming that the next
+passable looking female in propinquity with him will be also steeped to
+the lips in the same food, "not you," he said, with a fond look.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," she said, prettily, and with the faith of her early teens,
+"I must tell you a pretty compliment a gentleman paid me at the
+'Kirmiss' last season, he said 'I was a madrigal in Dresden china.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Too cold, too cold," he said, thickly, managing to press her fingers as
+they rose from the table, ere she laid her hand on the arm of Mr. Smyth,
+to whom she had been allotted, but who never spoiled his dinner by
+giving beauty her natural food.</p>
+
+<p>On Mr. Dale declining to linger, leading his hostess back to her pretty
+drawing-room, she said in his ear:</p>
+
+<p>"You have dubbed me queen of Holmnest, therefore must obey when I bid
+you back to the dining-room for a smoke."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h3>COFFEE AND CHIT-CHAT.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"What a lovely little home you have, Mrs. Gower," said her friend, Mrs.
+Smyth, seating herself near her hostess, the pale blue plush of the
+padded chair contrasting well with her fair hair, pink cheeks and pretty
+grey eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"That chair becomes you at all events, dear," said her hostess, seeing
+that a maid deftly passed coffee bright as decanted wine, afterwards
+small bouquets of beautiful pansies and clematis among her guests, from
+huge glass and Japanese bowls.</p>
+
+<p>"I could scarcely believe Will, when he wrote me of your good fortune,
+you know, the children and I were at Muskoka."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I knew you would be glad. I bought this pretty little place the
+week you left, it seemed after years of waiting, my money (what is left
+of it) all came right in a day; you do not know how glad I am to at last
+see you in a home of my own&mdash;and in a chair pretty enough to become you,
+dear," she added more brightly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you always make the most of small kindnesses shown you, we were
+only too glad to have you."</p>
+
+<p>"Be that as it may, I shall always remember the bright hours with
+yourselves in the dark days of my life," she said, warmly.</p>
+
+<p>"When did you see Charlie?" asked Mrs. Smyth, in an undertone, for there
+are other ears.</p>
+
+<p>"This afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>"This afternoon!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; and you will be surprised to learn he takes the rail for the
+seaboard to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"To-night! Why, and whither, it must be a sudden move, for he was up for
+a smoke with Will the other night and said nothing of it; but," she
+added, laughingly, "he prefers a lady confidant when it's Mrs. Gower.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you think, Lilian, that the opposite sex is usually chosen to
+lend an ear?" she said, carelessly, to conceal a feeling of sadness at
+the out-going of her friend; for she is aware that the old friendly
+intercourse is broken, now that he has gone to his wedding.</p>
+
+<p>"He has gone to be married; I suppose, he said something to us a long
+time ago about it, but he told it in a clouded kind of way; I wish he
+had confided in me, for Will would not care a fig, but every woman
+doesn't draw such a prize as I. Perhaps when you get number two he will
+not allow the opposite sex to confide; but talking of the green-eyed
+monster, reminds me of two scandals on our street." As she now raised
+her voice, the other ladies pricked up their ears. Mrs. Dale exclaiming:</p>
+
+<p>"Scandals! sounds like Bertha Clay's novels. May poor Mrs. Tremaine and
+self come in. We have been on sermons, servants, and the latest infants;
+a scandal will be as refreshing as Mrs. Gower's coffee."</p>
+
+<p>"I guarantee you an appreciative audience, Mrs. Smyth," laughed her
+hostess, "curtain rises over 'another mud-hole for us to play in.'"</p>
+
+<p>"What a case you are, Mrs. Gower, but I must cut them short, for I would
+not for worlds Will and the other gentlemen come in while they are on."</p>
+
+<p>"No fear of scandals in your home, Mrs. Smyth," said Mrs. Tremaine,
+"with Will always first."</p>
+
+<p>"That's so; well, to begin, before I went to Muskoka, a lady and
+daughter came to reside near us. As they went to our church, Will said
+call; I did. Since my return, I heard from Mr. Cobbe," here turning
+suddenly to Mrs. St. Clair, to whom Mrs. Gower had overlooked
+introducing her, said: "I beg pardon, I should not name names."
+Continuing, "Mr. Cobbe told me the young lady had been married, and
+divorced. Some young fellow, in a good position down East, hearing she
+had some ready cash, wed and deserted her at close of honeymoon. Well,
+the other evening she was married again! at the house quite privately,
+and to whom do you think? to none other than, as the newspapers state,
+Norman Ferguson MacIntyre!"</p>
+
+<p>"To Norman MacIntyre! oh, what a pity," cried Mrs. Tremaine, in dismay,
+"his mother and sisters are such pleasant people, and had very different
+hopes for him; it is simply dreadful."</p>
+
+<p>"But he can throw her overboard, I am sure," cried Mrs. Dale. "If he
+only have his wits about him, the first marriage likely took place in
+Canada, the divorce across the line, don't you see; she is the precious
+prize of the gay deceiver, your friend is free."</p>
+
+<p>"But, even if this be so, Mrs. Dale," said Mrs. Smyth, excitedly, "no
+girl will care to marry poor Norman afterwards."</p>
+
+<p>"I am willing to stake our Pittsburg foundry on his chances," said Mrs.
+Dale, cooly.</p>
+
+<p>"And I, Holmnest," echoed Mrs. Gower, "<i>poor</i> Norman has but to stand in
+the market-place."</p>
+
+<p>"I think they have both lowered their social standing; don't you, Mrs.
+Tremaine?" said Mrs. Smyth.</p>
+
+<p>"I do, indeed."</p>
+
+<p>"It altogether depends upon their bank account," said their hostess,
+sententiously; "and now for your next, for your mouth is still full of
+news, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; but my next is a <i>bona fide</i> married couple."</p>
+
+<p>"But are they according to the Church Prayer Book?" said Mrs. Dale, with
+her innocent air.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, certainly; and some say she is like a china doll, and the
+husband, a great big, ugly, black-looking tyrant; but the gentlemen are
+coming, and I must cut it short, and only say that a man handsome as
+Lucifer."</p>
+
+<p>"Before the fall, I suppose," said her hostess.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, you naughty woman. Well, they say this handsome fellow is
+there whenever the husband is out, and a pock-marked red-headed boy
+(some say their son) is there to watch the pretty wife, and their name
+is St. Clair." Sensation!</p>
+
+<p>At this moment a pin is ran into the arm of the breathless narrator.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mercy!" she cried, looking around discovering the boy Noah St.
+Clair, whom every one had forgotten seated on a footstool behind her,
+who said vengefully, indicating by a gesture Mrs. St. Clair and himself,
+"That's <i>our</i> name; it's <i>us</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Gracious, Mrs. Gower, what have I done? Pardon me, I was under the
+impression that this lady's name was Cobbe. I don't know how I got
+things muddled; I thought she was some relative of our Mr. Cobbe."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, dear; I should have introduced you; don't apologize; there
+are other St. Clairs in Toronto than my friends."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't mind it in the least," purred the pretty doll; "some one is
+always talking about me. Women are jealous of my complexion and all my
+admirers; but I think my name is prettier than Cobbe."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet 'tell my name again to me,' am always here at beauty's call," said
+Mr. Cobbe, hearing his name on entering with the other gentlemen.</p>
+
+<p>"You, as a Bona Dea, have been our toast, Mrs. Gower," said Buckingham,
+quietly, as he sank into a chair near her own.</p>
+
+<p>"And my inclinations, I hope," she said, laughingly, "with no saving
+clause as to their being virtuous."</p>
+
+<p>"I appeal to your memory of the 'Antiquary,' Mrs. Gower; could any man
+living toast you as the Rev. Mr. Battergowl did Miss Grisel Monkbarns?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know; perhaps some would desire to make a proviso."</p>
+
+<p>"Then they would err; I should give a woman of your stamp any length of
+line."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you; your confidence would not be misplaced, when in honor bound
+I have ever felt as though I did not belong to myself."</p>
+
+<p>"I should judge so; underlying your gaiety conscientiousness holds you
+to an extent few would dream of; you have frequently sacrificed yourself
+to a mistaken sense of duty. Am I not right?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I have been a slave to what I used to think the voice of
+conscience, but which I am now sure was extreme sensitiveness, and a
+sort of moral cowardice; but how strange you should read me so truly."</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all, I am a phrenologist; if you will allow me the very great
+privilege, I shall read your character to you in some quiet hour."</p>
+
+<p>"With very great pleasure. And now will you do me another favor? Make my
+piano sing and speak to us."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you; I should like to try your instrument. It is from Mason &amp;
+Risch, I see."</p>
+
+<p>Having arranged a table at whist and euchre, Mrs. Gower seated herself
+to enjoy the entrancing music, while looking over some photographs to
+amuse the boy Noah St. Clair, but it was not to be, for the voice of Mr.
+Cobbe said in her ear:</p>
+
+<p>"This won't do; you <i>must</i> come to the library with me; I have not had a
+single word with you all evening, and am, as you are aware, an uninvited
+guest."</p>
+
+<p>"Why invite you, Philip? Alas! there is invariably discord with your
+presence," she says sadly, in the lowest of tones, moving away from the
+curious gaze of the boy.</p>
+
+<p>"Sit here, Elaine, if you positively refuse to leave the room with me,"
+he said excitedly, indicating a tête-à-tête sofa not within ear-shot of
+her guests, managing to detain her until, the hours creeping on apace,
+freighted with the music of soft laughter, and ravishing songs without
+words by the skilled performer, Mr. Buckingham, when pretty Mrs. Dale's
+sweet voice is heard, as she rises from the table, saying triumphantly:</p>
+
+<p>"Win! of course we won. Why, Mr. Dale will tell you, Mr. Smyth, that in
+our card circle at New York, mine is dubbed 'the winning hand.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed! no wonder at our good fortune. Congratulate us, Mrs. Gower; we
+won three straight games, all by reason of the admirable forethought of
+my partner," cried Smyth, exultantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Forethought always comes in a head's length, Mr. Smyth. Now, if you
+could only gain a pocket edition of the winning hand, your surveys would
+yield you a gold mine," said his hostess, gaily.</p>
+
+<p>"Instead of as now, a few promissory notes," laughed Smyth.</p>
+
+<p>"The gentlemen have been envying you your monopoly of Mrs. Gower, Mr.
+Cobbe," said lively Mrs. Smyth, in an undertone; "she is an awful flirt,
+you had better take care of yourself," she added, mischievously.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean to," he said savagely, and with latent meaning, adding, "she is
+as fickle as her clime; I hope," he said, endeavoring to control
+himself, "all you ladies are not so heartless."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no; we are as constant as the sun, compared to her," she said, half
+jokingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Would you be so to me," he said thickly, and coming near her.</p>
+
+<p>"Go away, Mr. Cobbe; don't look at me like that, you awful man," she
+whispered, laughingly.</p>
+
+<p>"When may I call, you are the right sort of woman," he continued,
+persistently.</p>
+
+<p>"Will says so, any way," she said, archly.</p>
+
+<p>"Say to-morrow," he persisted.</p>
+
+<p>"Will!" she cried, mischievously, "Mr. Cobbe's compliments, and desires
+to know when he will find you in your sanctum, he wishes to smoke the
+pipe of peace with you."</p>
+
+<p>"Hang it," thought Cobbe, "she has no ambition beyond Will; give me the
+Australian women after all."</p>
+
+<p>"Almost any evening, Cobbe, I am always good for a smoke; but my wife
+says I'd better retrench, the house of Smyth is increasing so rapidly;
+good-night."</p>
+
+<p>"May I see you home, Mrs. St. Clair?" asked Mr. Cobbe, fervidly.</p>
+
+<p>"It would be too sweet&mdash;but oh!" and her arm above the elbow is rubbed,
+for the boy Noah has pinched her severely, saying,</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell papa."</p>
+
+<p>At this juncture Thomas appeared, saying, a coupé had arrived for Mrs.
+St. Clair and Master Noah.</p>
+
+<p>"I must see you to-morrow, Mrs. Gower, after office hours," said Cobbe,
+adding, on meeting the sharp eye of Mrs. Dale, "I have something very
+particular to tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"Say the day after, Mr. Cobbe, please; I shall endeavor to restrain my
+curiosity so long, even though I am a woman."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, I must see you to-morrow at five p.m.," he said, impulsively.</p>
+
+<p>"The yeas have it this time, Mr. Cobbe. Mrs. Gower belongs to us for
+to-morrow," said Mrs. Dale, drawing her wrap about her, over her
+cream-silk robe, slashed with blue velvet, and laced amid innumerable
+buttonholes, her innocent look only apparent while, in reality, she is
+dissecting him, "our kind hostess does some of the lions with us
+to-morrow afternoon; the evening, she spends with us at the Queen's."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we have no end of a bill for to-morrow," said Mr. Dale; "the
+Normal School, Mount Pleasant Cemetery, office of the <i>Mail</i>, and the
+University of Toronto."</p>
+
+<p>At this there was a transformation scene, the face of Mr. Cobbe changing
+like a flash from inane sulkiness to jubilant triumph.</p>
+
+<p>"To the University! then Mrs. Gower will tell you what a paradise we
+enjoyed, when I alone was her companion there," he said, with
+excitement; and having previously made his adieu, he departed, chuckling
+inwardly at his parting shot, and thinking for once she is nonplussed.
+"She is too high-spirited to sleep comfortably to-night, if so, she'll
+dream of me in spite of herself."</p>
+
+<p>"What a funny man!" exclaimed Mrs. Dale, "reminds me of a Jack on wires.
+If I were in your place, Mrs. Gower, I'd hand him over to his mother to
+bring up over again; till to-morrow, farewell."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Au revoir</i>, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"Good night, Mrs. Gower," said Buckingham, with a firm hand-clasp; "your
+evenings leave one nothing to wish for, save for their continuance."</p>
+
+<p>"If your words have life, prove them by coming again; good night."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h3>ACROSS THE SEA TO A WITCH'S CALDRON.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Broadlawns, on the outskirts of Bayswater, London, England, on the
+evening Charles Babbington-Cole, from Toronto, Canada, is expected, is
+all aglow with lights; its exterior a goodly spectacle with its many
+windows. A long, low, rambling house, the front relieved by cornice and
+architrave, and an immense portico from which white stone steps, wide
+and worn by many feet, lead to the lawns and gardens, which are gay with
+bright flowers, intersected with old-fashioned serpentine walks; one
+would call it not inaptly a garden of roses, such were their number,
+such their variety and beauty. Great masses of rhododendrons, with the
+fragrant honeysuckle, sweet-briar, and lauristina lent perfume to the
+air. Some fine oaks, with beech and graceful locusts, gave beauty to the
+lawns; stone stables, with farm and carriage houses at the back, with
+paved court-yard, and kitchen-garden luxuriant in growth, a very horn of
+plenty.</p>
+
+<p>"A lovely spot, an ideal home," said numerous passers-by to and from the
+modern Babylon. Alas! that the interior should be a very <i>inferno</i>; in
+the library are assembled the family, for a family talk.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Villiers, to whom did we not give precedence, would trample on some
+one to gain first place. Timothy Stone, her maternal uncle, and
+Elizabeth Stone, his sister and Aunt to Miss Villiers; the latter by
+sheer strength of will, since her babyhood, has ruled at Broadlawns,
+even though, owing to disastrous speculation, the whole family were
+penniless, save for the large fortune of her step-mother, Miss Villiers
+lived for, moved and had her being for kingdom. Intensely selfish, and
+totally devoid of feeling, an apt pupil of her aunt and uncle, she
+regards all sentiment, romance or disinterested acts of kindness as
+mawkish, unpractical foolishness.</p>
+
+<p>A word of her looks. In height, five feet two, round shoulders slightly
+high, thin spare figure, a brunette in coloring; stony eyes of piercing
+blackness, always cold and searching as though planted closely in the
+forehead to read one through, as to whether any of her dark secrets have
+been discovered; a hook nose, thin, determined lips; hair black as the
+wing of a raven; the back of her head covered with short, snake-like
+curls, the front was drawn back in straight bands, thus giving
+prominence to features already too unclassically so.</p>
+
+<p>As far as a man can be said to resemble a woman, so did, in looks and
+character, Timothy Stone his niece, save that his once coal-black hair
+is now white; his fishy eyes sunken, though keen as a razor; in height,
+five feet ten; of spare, alert figure, active as a prize racer, knowing
+as the jockey who rides him.</p>
+
+<p>Elizabeth Stone is an older counter-part of her niece, save that she
+wears that fashionable mantle of to-day&mdash;the cloak of religion, in
+which, unlike her brother, she is so comfortable as never to allow it to
+fall from her angular shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>The library, an old-fashioned, cold looking room, furnished in black
+oak, everything being in spotless order, from books biblical and
+secular, to Aunt Elizabeth's hands, folded just so on her stiff gown of
+black silk, as to cause one to long for <i>déshabillé</i> somewhere other
+than in the principles of those present.</p>
+
+<p>"The only one whom we have to fear is Sarah Kane, and you, Margaret,
+<i>will</i> keep her about the place in spite of all I can say," said her
+uncle, in crabbed tones; "mark my words, you are housing a rod for your
+own back by your abominable self-will."</p>
+
+<p>"I am no fool; did I dismiss her I should convert her into a deadly
+enemy at once; but, as I have before had occasion to remark, Uncle
+Timothy, that, thanks to your tuition and blood, I am quite able to take
+care of myself, and minus your interference."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't squabble with her, Timothy, when the man Providence is sending
+her as a husband may be in our midst at any moment; as you heard at the
+hotel, he is now in the city."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh bosh, Elizabeth, keep that tone under your church hymnal, as I do;
+between ourselves it is slightly out of place," and he smiled
+sarcastically.</p>
+
+<p>"No, Timothy, in spite of the sinful example you set me, I shall keep my
+lamp trimmed and burning; providence is very good to us in laying low of
+fever, at Montreal, Hugh Babbington-Cole, thus giving him time to
+repent, as also preventing his presence at the wedding of Margaret."</p>
+
+<p>"At which you have been making mountains of mole hills," said her
+brother, grimly. "Babbington-Cole could not possibly remember what
+Margaret and Pearl looked like in eighteen-seventy."</p>
+
+<p>"Your memory is as usual convenient, Timothy, relentless time would have
+shown him the difference in years, of a girl just of age, and a woman of
+thirty-nine."</p>
+
+<p>"Enough, Aunt Elizabeth," interrupted her niece, pale with rage, "I
+simply won't allow you to allude to the subject of ages; if I am to play
+the role of twenty-one, the sooner I get into the part the better for us
+all; we all serve our own ends in this game, self-interest is, and ever
+has been, our strongest motive. For myself, I hate Pearl Villiers as I
+hated my step-mother before her, and I shall not willingly leave
+Broadlawns merely because we have no income to keep it up, when, by
+personating my step-sister&mdash;fortunately of my own Christian, as well as
+surname, thanks to the British habit of perpetuating family names&mdash;I
+gain the wherewithal to either remain in this peaceful English home,"
+she said, ironically, "or roam across seas with the husband or crank I
+am about to wed&mdash;a crank! to revolve the wheels of fortune, while I
+leave you both here like a pair of cooing doves. You, Aunt Elizabeth,
+gain your revenge on Mr. Babbington-Cole for his preference for my
+step-mother to yourself; oh, you needn't wince, my ears have been put to
+their proper use. You, Uncle, were spurned by my angel step-mother, you,
+pining not for her, but her yellow sovereigns, so...."</p>
+
+<p>"You are a witch, Margaret; how the d&mdash;&mdash;l did you find it out?"</p>
+
+<p>"Timothy, Timothy, be good enough not to swear in my presence."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I have gleaned the truth in various devious paths from Sarah Kane
+in a weak mood, also letters, and I have not lost my sense of hearing;
+as you have told me since I could lisp that my wits are sharper than
+Rodgers' cutlery; yes, if Broadlawns went to its owner or the hammer,
+you joined the Salvation Army, and my step-sister dangled the purse, I
+feel it in my bones that I could now rival my tutors in living by my
+wits," she said, cruelly.</p>
+
+<p>"You are not devoid of common sense, Margaret; and as we may not have
+another opportunity before your importunate suitor appears, I shall
+refresh your memory by reading again a clause or two of your late
+step-mother's will ... 'to my husband, Henry Villiers, I bequeath the
+life use of one thousand pounds sterling per annum; at his death I will
+and bequeath the whole of my real and personal property to my only
+daughter (Pearl) Margaret Villiers ... on my little (Pearl) Margaret
+Villiers attaining her majority, and becoming the wife of the aforesaid
+Charles Babbington-Cole, son of my friend, Hugh Babbington-Cole, of the
+Civil Service, Ottawa, Canada; my said daughter shall enter into
+possession of all my real and personal property, with the advice of Dr.
+Annesley, of London, England, or Hugh Babbington-Cole, Esquire,
+aforesaid, my said daughter to inherit all, subject to the following
+gifts. To Sarah Kane, five hundred pounds sterling and my wearing
+apparel; my piano, harp and music, I will and bequeath to the
+sister-in-law of my husband, Elizabeth Stone, for her mission-work, with
+the hope that their sweet notes will make her less acid to my poor
+little daughter, as also to the daughters of the poor to whom she brings
+the Gospel message of peace. To my step-daughter, Margaret Villiers, I
+leave my forgiveness for her persistent and unvarying unkindness to
+myself, with my copy of the Christian Martyrs.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Fool!" muttered her step-daughter, vengefully.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor, carnal creature, we are now ordained to be almoners of the gold
+she would have spent sinfully on her daughter; we are saving Pearl from
+the perils of the rich, for easier is it for a camel to go through
+the&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Enough of that cant, Aunt; please keep it bottled up, it don't go down
+with us," interrupted her niece, hastily.</p>
+
+<p>"The will is plain enough, considering that it was written by herself,
+and witnessed by Dr. Annesley, and that sneak, Silas Jones; how much the
+latter knows is hard to tell, I have pumped him indirectly without
+avail; Annesley, being a busy London physician, will not bother himself
+in the matter now that Villiers is dead; he has no more love for us than
+we for him; our card is to expedite your union with speed and privacy;
+you will most likely go to Canada, as I expect Charles (as we best
+accustom ourselves to call him) will prefer such arrangement; I shall
+pay you regularly&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you'd better not try any of your sharp tricks on me, Uncle; if the
+cheque is not forwarded to the day, Trenton and Barlow will interview
+you; my sword will also hang by a hair."</p>
+
+<p>"How confoundedly smart we are," he answered, wrathfully.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been brought up in a good school," she replied, sententiously.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad you are able to appreciate our many useful lessons to you,"
+he said, sneeringly. "And now to business; three thousand pounds per
+annum will be a large income for Canada; especially, as knowing your
+generous nature, I feel sure it will be all spent on your own wants; had
+you not better leave us three thousand, and pinch yourself," he said,
+sarcastically, "on two thousand?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not much! anything I don't spend on myself, as you observe, I shall
+invest in, I think, C. P. R. stock, or even Grand Trunk, as it is
+looking up, there being a rumor that next year it will form a connection
+by way of Duluth, with the Manitoba boundary rail, thus placing itself
+in competition with the C. P. R. You need not stare, I am making myself
+conversant with the state of the Canadian money market."</p>
+
+<p>"How wise we are. I can tell you that only a fool would invest in such
+like, with that Red River Valley Railway bungle on. What I want to be
+made aware of is, have you determined on taking no less than three
+thousand per annum?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have positively so determined. I don't think I look like a fool."</p>
+
+<p>"I do&mdash;in a pink muslin, with as much ribbon hanging over your bustle as
+would make a decent gown."</p>
+
+<p>"You are neglecting your education, uncle, in your favorite game of gold
+grab. I'd advise you to go to the city and take a few lessons from the
+clerks at Swan &amp; Edgar's; they will tell you that in society a bustle is
+a <i>tournure</i>. As for my dress, my role is twenty-one, and I must bear
+some resemblance to the sweet lines of the poet&mdash;of</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">'Standing with reluctant feet,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Where the brook and river meet.'"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Dear, dear, what frivolity, and the suburban train is due; we should
+unite in thanking Providence that this gold is in our hands; but
+previously, Margaret, you should stipulate in writing that your uncle
+may pay me the sum of one hundred pounds per annum for my good works.
+There is Meg Smith, actually pining for her drunken husband, who says he
+won't reform until he gets her again; but I have my foot down, and shall
+keep them apart even if we have to pay her board; there is no use in my
+telling them not to be 'unequally yoked with unbelievers,' and then give
+in. I could cite dozens."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray do not. It's my belief all you women care for is power to rule:
+the wretches would be far better without your government. Heaven
+preserve me from a woman with a mission," said her brother in disgusted
+tones. "As to my promising to pay you any stipulated sum, you will
+receive your allowance for wearing apparel, and anything you can crib
+out of the housekeeping you will (all women take to that card
+naturally); but remember, if I find myself on short rations there will
+be the devil to pay."</p>
+
+<p>"One word more, as the speakers say," said Miss Villiers, "ere we
+dissolve this profitable (I use the word advisedly) meeting: what fable
+shall we concoct as to the whereabouts of my angelic step-sister?"</p>
+
+<p>"What an unpleasant way you have of putting things Margaret," said her
+aunt.</p>
+
+<p>"I prefer on occasion to call 'a spade a spade,' Aunt Elizabeth. Well,
+uncle, shall it be as to her self-reliant spirit, and that she (being a
+mistake which means anything) has fled to that broad and convenient
+field, the United States of America?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that will pass; but I scarcely think he will inquire, as he has
+never troubled himself about his betrothed or yourself until you hunted
+him up."</p>
+
+<p>"At your instigation; so disinterested in you, never thinking of the
+feathers for your own nest."</p>
+
+<p>"The suburban train is due!" exclaimed her aunt. "Do, Margaret, endeavor
+to act like a Christian."</p>
+
+<p>"Never fear, Aunt Elizabeth; I shall act my part as well as you do, with
+self-interest as motive-power: our sex play without a prompter; and now
+to the drawing-room to awe the ignorant Colonial by our British gold and
+conventionalities."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>A TROUBLED SPIRIT.</h3>
+
+
+<p>With mingled feelings of disinclination and repulsion, also an undefined
+sense of dread and reluctance, poor C. Babbington-Cole left the <i>City of
+Chicago</i> and, again on <i>terra firma</i>, made his way up from the seaboard
+to London, where at Morley's Hotel he and his father had arranged to
+meet. "Hang it," he thought moodily, "I feel like an infernal frog out of
+Acheron, covered with the ooze and mud of melancholy. Jove, if I could
+only chance upon the Will Smyths or Mrs. Gower, what a tonic they would
+be; how they would enjoy this madding crowd with all the world abroad,
+with no blue blood in the beef they eat either; judging from red cheeks
+and stout ankles. What women! cotton batting would not be a safe
+investment here; I hope the governor is waiting for me at Morley's, but
+he must be, as he took the <i>Circassian</i> from Quebec on the 16th. I'll
+persuade him not to go out to Bayswater at all, but to abandon this debt
+of honor, as in his sensitive nature he dubs his promise to a dead
+woman, for I have no hankering after a martyr's crown. If I am coerced
+(for I am made of very limp stuff) into this union and she is not a girl
+I can care to spoon over, and must 'write me down as an ass' for selling
+my liberty to, then adieu to wedded bliss&mdash;I shall again content myself
+in a den by myself, and my craze for mechanism shall be my wife and my
+few real friends my mistress. Jove! though, I must strain my eyes and
+endeavor to see a glimmer of light in the black clouds; if she be a girl
+after my own heart she will sympathize after a more practical manner
+than did the 'twenty with Bunthorn,' in giving me the dollar to develop,
+and obtain a patent for one or other of my inventions. Yes, I'll be a
+soldier. I am nearing the battle-field; with the smell of powder in my
+nostrils, I will gain strength. Cabby is reining in his steed, so this,
+I suppose, is my hotel."</p>
+
+<p>"Morley's, sir; and 'ere be a porter for your baggage, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," and springing from the four-wheeler he is interviewing the
+clerk.</p>
+
+<p>"Has Mr. Babbington-Cole, from Ottawa, Canada, arrived?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; are you Mr. C. Babbington-Cole?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Then here is a cablegram for you, sir."</p>
+
+<p>It was from his father, and ran thus:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"<span class="smcap">St. Lawrence Hall,</span><br /></span>
+<span class="i2">"<span class="smcap">Montreal</span>, Sept. 20th.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"<span class="smcap">To C. Babbington-Cole, Esq.</span>,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">"Morley's Hotel, London, England.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Your father has been very ill&mdash;typhoid fever; called me in; is
+improving; asks me to cablegram you to return by way of
+Montreal. Longs to see you and your wife, which will be a
+panacea for him.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+"<span class="smcap">John Peake</span>, M.D."
+</div></div>
+</blockquote>
+
+
+<p>"My father ill! Oh that I could have foreseen all this," exclaimed Cole,
+flinging himself into a chair in the privacy of the bedroom assigned
+him. "To have to face my fate alone," he thought, "and yet I have been
+aware for some time that this was hanging over me; but the truth is, I
+thought the girl would never claim me, that they would arbitrate,
+divide, have a grab game among themselves, anything other than rope me
+in. Had I been gifted with Scotch second-sight, or even caution, I
+should not be in this fix now; but I have been made of wax, and so
+absorbed in my loved inventions, filling in an emotional half hour with
+an occasional flirtation, with my nose to the grindstone the rest of my
+time, that this possible 'game of barter,' in which some one says 'the
+devil always has the best of it,' rarely occurred to me; but this will
+never do in action, only shall I now find repose. I <i>must</i> go out to
+Bayswater, and I <i>must</i> wed this girl, unless Heaven works a
+miracle&mdash;no, unless I act the coward's part, cut and run, I am in for
+it. If I could only moralize on the pantheon of ugly horrors half of our
+marriages are, and that one might imagine most of them were perpetrated
+in the dark, or on sight, as mine, then I might console myself by
+thinking that I have as good a chance of happiness as most. My brain is
+on fire; if I only had one friend in this vanity fair, wherein to me is
+no merriment, the babel of sounds seeming to me the guns of the enemy
+warning me to retreat; talk of <i>delirium tremens</i>, I have all the blue
+devils rolled in one; a stimulant is what I want, to be able to face the
+music."</p>
+
+<p>And making his way to the bar, in a short time his spirits, with the aid
+of John Barleycorn, arise; though he knows in the reaction they will be
+below zero.</p>
+
+<p>"And now for Bayswater and my shrinking young bride," he thought. "I
+declare," he said, half aloud, with a forced laugh, "I can sympathize,
+for the first time, with the fly who had a bid from the spider to walk
+into his parlor. Is there a roaring farce on anywhere?" he asked the
+bar-tender.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir; a reg'lar side-splitter at the Haymarket. You will 'ave time
+to take in the matinee and dinner at Broadlawns, Bayswater, too, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"How the deuce did you know I was due there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Stone and Miss Villiers have called three times to look you up,
+sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir; Mr. Stone, he came in, and Miss Villiers, she waited outside
+in the trap."</p>
+
+<p>The mere mention of the people from Broadlawns having come to hunt him
+up, had such a depressing effect, that he abandoned all idea of
+distraction at the play.</p>
+
+<p>"There is not a particle of use of my trying to sit through the farce
+with this thumping headache; have a hansom here for me in a couple of
+hours, to convey me to Broadlawns; I shall walk out and get a glimpse of
+the city."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, thank you, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Some one hath it," he thought, entering Trafalgar Square, "that the
+grand panacea, the matchless sanative which is an infallible cure for
+the blues, is exercise, exercise, <i>exercise!</i> so now for a trial; here
+goes for five miles an hour."</p>
+
+<p>On, and ever onwards, with, and yet apart from, the stream of busy life,
+alone and lonely amidst the throngs not once staying his steps; winging
+his flight in the vain effort to flee from self, drifting on the waves
+of unrest, they engulfing him, his face white and worn as a ghost, his
+blue eyes weary and with a hunted look, a neuralgic headache driving him
+to the brink of madness; the panorama of wonderful sights on which,
+under other circumstances, he would have feasted his eyes. Peers of the
+realm, having gained notoriety in one way or another, passed unnoticed,
+with lovely women, from professional beauties reclining in their own
+carriages, whose toys were men's hearts, with the world as a stage, to
+the avowed actress, whose bright eyes looked from a hired equipage, who
+played for men's gold on the stage of the theatre; far-famed Regent
+Street was traversed with less interest than he would have accorded to
+Lombard Street, Toronto; for man loves freedom as a bird&mdash;there he was
+free, now he feels his fetters.</p>
+
+<p>"Take care, sir," said a policeman, kindly.</p>
+
+<p>"Blockhead! it would serve him right to come to his senses under the
+feet of my horse," said the only occupant of a low carriage, in the
+voice of a shrew, as she drove on.</p>
+
+<p>At this juncture Cole shook himself to rights, as it were.</p>
+
+<p>"She was ugly enough to give a fellow a scare, after our pretty Canadian
+women," he said to the policeman.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, she isn't no type of what we can show you, sir; she's but small,
+but enough o' her sort, say I."</p>
+
+<p>"Ditto; and now be good enough to hail a cab for me."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir; here you are, and thank you, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"To Morley's hotel."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, sir."</p>
+
+<p>On reaching his destination he learned that Mr. Stone had driven in to
+ascertain whether he had arrived, when, on hearing that he had, but was
+out, had waited; when a lady, calling for him, had gone, leaving a note
+for him, which on opening read thus:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Babbington-Cole</span>,&mdash;Am very pleased to hear of your safe
+arrival; have important business, so cannot wait; in fact
+arrangements for the immediate marriage of my niece to
+yourself; kindly come out at once, on your return.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Yours sincerely,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">"<span class="smcap">Timothy Stone</span>."<br /></span>
+</div></div></blockquote>
+
+<p>"The net is well laid," thought poor Cole; "they are bound to rope me
+in; how strange it all seems; even my name sounds unfamiliar, having at
+home, in dear old Toronto, dropped the Babbington; but I must adorn
+myself for the altar." And once more he seeks retirement in his own
+chamber. "Hang that evolution of a woman's corsets and curling tongs,
+viz., the modern dude! such a choking and tightening a fellow's throat
+and legs undergo; I wonder if my shrinking bride will expect me to kneel
+to her. Ah! there goes for a rip; under the knee, though, as luck would
+have it; not being quite educated up to a chamois pad and face powder,
+my modest Pearl will have to be satisfied with candle and throat moulds.
+I wonder if she will compliment me on my handsome black moustache, as my
+women friends at home do; and now to fortify myself with dinner, or at
+least oysters and a glass of stout. Hang it, how faint and dizzy I
+feel."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<h3>VULTURES HABITED AS CHRISTIAN PEW-HOLDERS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>In due time his hansom enters the gates of Broadlawns; at the door he is
+met by Mr. Stone.</p>
+
+<p>"Welcome to England and Broadlawns," said the spider to the fly, his
+ferret-like eyes scanning his victim eagerly, as if to read whether he
+would give him trouble. "We have been expecting you for twenty-four
+hours; the ladies have been most anxious. Simon, bring this gentleman's
+baggage upstairs, to the east room; and put in an appearance soon,
+Babbington-Cole, or the ladies will think you a myth."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you; as I dressed at Morley's, I shall be with you in a few
+moments," responded Cole, in subdued accents, feeling that struggles
+would be now of no avail, that he was well in their net; but the house
+itself would have depressed him under any circumstances. It was solid,
+massive, thick-set gloom; happiness and mirth were far away; the cold,
+chill atmosphere of distrust, dislike, deceit and hypocrisy dwelt in its
+dark corridors and gloomy apartments. The last gleam of "Home, sweet
+home," had fled with the spirit of the second wife of its late master;
+she, poor thing, was wont to say, "Broadlawns is like a lovely, smiling
+face, with a black, lying heart; its exterior is bright with Nature's
+beauteous flowers, its interior a very Hades."</p>
+
+<p>Miss Villiers and Miss Stone rose to greet Mr. Cole on his entering the
+gloomy, but handsomely furnished oak drawing-room; his first glance at
+the former served to show him that the lady who had wished he might come
+to his senses under the feet of her horse and Miss Villiers were one and
+the same.</p>
+
+<p>"Jove! that vixen," he thought; "but, thank Heaven, there are two
+daughters; the other is my one, for my father says she is the prettiest
+girl in all England, and this one, ugh, she makes one's flesh creep."</p>
+
+<p>"My conscience, 'tis that dolt," thought his bride-elect, giving her
+hand with her false smile. "We expected you to dinner, but cook has my
+orders to get you up something, so come with me to the dining-room," she
+added, insinuatingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't trouble about me, Miss Villiers, I beg; I had a bit of dinner at
+Morley's."</p>
+
+<p>"Muff," thought Miss Villiers, spitefully, "not to have taken his chance
+to become acquainted."</p>
+
+<p>"Margaret is, as you are aware, Mr. Babbington-Cole, the Christian name
+of my niece (and a beautiful name it is); she will be better pleased if
+you drop all formality, and call her so, eh, Margaret."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, under the circumstances," she answered, with a meaning glance.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you; I have not seen your sister yet; is she quite well?" he
+asked, timidly; for, with a forboding of evil, he unconsciously looked
+to the sister as an escape.</p>
+
+<p>"Margaret's fascinations fall flat," thought her uncle, with a malicious
+chuckle.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't take; he wants a milk and water miss, but no you don't, young
+man; you are <i>my tool</i>," thought his bride-elect, setting her teeth.</p>
+
+<p>"My poor step-sister is well&mdash;I hope, but we never name her; she is a&mdash;a
+mistake; however, <i>she</i> is not your one."</p>
+
+<p>"But is she not here?" said Cole, nervously, now really frightened,
+"does she not reside with you? My poor father said&mdash;" here he utterly
+broke down. Accustomed ever to lean on some one, of a clinging, trusting
+nature, with a strong spice of feminine gentleness, which caused him to
+turn to some woman friend for advice or moral support, so that here, in
+the hour of his greatest need, he feels doubly alone, as he gazes around
+at the three hard, cruel faces, each with a set purpose and false smile
+perceptibly engraven, he is in despair. Miss Villiers especially; will
+he ever cease to be haunted by her as she sits in a high Elizabethan
+chair, an ebony easel exactly on a line with her face, and partly behind
+her, on which is a frightful head of Medusa, the reptiles for hair
+looking to him, in his highly nervous state, like the tight, crisp curls
+and braids covering the head of his bride-elect, and the lines from
+Pitt's "Virgil" recurred to his memory:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Such fiends to scourge mankind, so fierce, so fell,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Heaven never summoned from the depths of hell."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Mr. Stone broke the momentary silence by saying, in matter-of-fact
+tones:</p>
+
+<p>"It is natural, I suppose, to a man of your seemingly nervous
+temperament, to be a little upset at not meeting your father; but, in my
+opinion, life is too short for sentiment, especially when wasted as in
+this case, for your father, according to cablegram sent us, is
+improving, and is, I dare swear, kicking his heels about St. Lawrence
+Hall, Montreal, waiting impatiently for your return."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Uncle Timothy, yours is the practical view of it; sentiment is, or
+should be, a monopoly of the poets; self-interest, with pounds,
+shillings and pence, are good enough for us."</p>
+
+<p>"Margaret means to convey, Mr. Charles, that you should be thankful to
+Providence that you have been spared to come to us; to a land, also,
+flowing with milk and honey, ready to your hand and purse," said her
+aunt, sanctimoniously adding, "How is religious life in Toronto?"</p>
+
+<p>"Religious life?" he said, half dazed, wholly absorbed in the thought
+that he was to be held in bondage by that stony-eyed woman with
+snake-like hair&mdash;his Medusa.</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, I fear you are dead in sin, Mr. Charles. You do not even know the
+meaning of my words. I have heard that New York is the most wicked city
+in America, and you, I fear, frequently go there to participate in the
+pleasures of sin. I dread to allow my niece to go out, even as your
+wife; it was only the other day I read, copied from one of your
+newspapers, that at Tahlequah, which I suppose is near you, that a
+Chickasaw Indian was arrested by a deputy United States marshal with
+three assistants; the company camped on the prairie, with the exception
+of the marshal, who, riding on, reached his goal; waited there until
+weary, he rode back, and what did he find? The entire posse with heads
+cut off, and the Indian fled. America must be a very Sodom and Gomorrah.
+But I see you are not listening to me, Mr. Charles. We have a saintly
+young man here, the Rev. Claude Parks, whom I must ask to influence you
+to a better frame of mind, with an intense gratitude to Providence for
+the favors about to be showered upon you."</p>
+
+<p>Thus did Miss Stone give vent to her feelings to unlistening ears. Fond
+of hearing her own voice, it mattered little to her that she received no
+replies but to be told impatiently that "he was ill," and to be
+compelled to waste the eloquence she seduced herself into believing she
+possessed, upon a man with now his hands pressed upon his feverish brow,
+now his eyes fixed on vacancy, now upon the entrance as though he would
+fain flee, incensed her almost to rage; during the absence of Mr. Stone
+and his niece she had determined to improve the occasion, and so read
+him no end of lectures. The two absent ones, after a few minutes'
+whispered conversation in the library, had crossed the lawn to a neat
+cottage where the clergyman in charge of the Bayswater Mission existed
+on one hundred and fifty pounds per annum. As they stepped through the
+flower beds, which the moon rising in unclouded splendor lit with her
+soft white light, Miss Villiers in cold, hard tones, said:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you are right; he showed his hand, and of how much he loved me at
+first sight, as he asked in that scared way for my sweet sister, but
+bah! such maudlin folly in our wasting our precious moments over <i>his</i>
+feelings in the matter; they are of no more consequence than are the
+blades of grass we crush beneath our feet in reaching our goal; let him
+laugh who wins, even though the goal be reached by a foul."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, the sooner we hold the lines the better; he has not spirit enough
+to be a runaway horse."</p>
+
+<p>"Let him but try, there is the curb bit and halter."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you need not tell me, Margaret, that you will have him well in
+hand. Yes, and before that paradise of fools, the honeymoon, is over,"
+laughed her uncle sardonically.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, the grey mare will be the best horse this time; but what a
+blessing his father is laid low; it would have been all up, when he saw
+how cut up our precious Charles is. I did hope, had they come over
+together, they might have been shrewd as their Yankee neighbors, and
+gone in with us. Now, if his father should die, we have nothing to fear;
+if he lives, we must exercise our wits, that is all. And, now, as to
+your little fiction as to the telegram summoning you away at daybreak,
+where will you stay?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, anywhere, in some quiet cheap boarding-house in East End, London;
+perhaps Tom Lang's."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose it's soft of me, uncle; but I may not have a quiet word with
+you again. You must mind, I mean what I say. You must pay aunt one
+hundred pounds per annum for her own requirements and beloved mission
+work, though what she gives would not buy salt to their porridge, unless
+to that of her pet parson himself."</p>
+
+<p>"When you know this, Margaret, why make such an ass of yourself as to
+give it her; for, in my opinion, she is hoarding."</p>
+
+<p>"It is in the blood; but you are a monopolist," she said sententiously
+as, merely tapping on the door of the cottage, they entered <i>sans
+ceremonie</i>, meeting the Rev. Claude Parks in the hall, who, shaking
+hands with both, said: "I had some calls this evening, but expecting you
+in, postponed them. At what hour to-morrow am I to tie the knot?" he
+asked smilingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Never put off till to-morrow what can be done to-day, Mr. Parks; you
+may take that for your text next Sunday," said Miss Villiers decidedly.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing like it, Parks," said her uncle in oily tones, rubbing his
+hands.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall give you another," said the curate rejoicing in his coming fee.
+"'If, when done, 'twere well, 'twere well 'twere done quickly.' Do you
+desire me to return with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Miss Villiers, "and at once, if we are to act on our joint
+quotations, for it is only two hours until midnight; come, get your
+robes of office, and let us be off."</p>
+
+<p>Thus it was that the ways and means did duty, the curate standing much
+in awe of Miss Villiers, as well as of Miss Stone; some saying the
+latter was his curate, others facetiously protesting that he was hers.
+And so she considered him not as the ambassador of Christ, but as a paid
+servant of her own, for so does too often the Anglican Church pay its
+clergy only sufficient for a dinner of herbs; knowing that man, be he
+priest or sinner, being a dining animal, has, at a weak moment, a
+craving for the "stalled ox," and if his appetite be too strong for him,
+sells himself, like Esau, for a "mess of pottage."</p>
+
+<p>But now to return to Miss Villiers and her uncle, with the Rev. Claude
+Parks, as they make their entrée to Broadlawns and its oak
+drawing-rooms.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<h3>A LUCIFER MATCH.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Rev. Mr. Parks, Mr. Babbington-Cole, of whom you have heard us speak,
+from Canada," said Miss Villiers; and Bengough's modern curate of the
+conventional type flashed across the memory of poor Cole. He was a meek
+young man, though a true Christian, who spoke in a monotone, his hair
+parted, to a hair, in line with the bridge of his nose, and wearing his
+hands meekly folded.</p>
+
+<p>After their going round and round the barometer, English and Canadian,
+Miss Stone said, primly:</p>
+
+<p>"It matters little whether the poor carnal bodies suffer from the cold.
+I fear, out there, souls are cold unto death, starving for spiritual
+life and heat. I have been telling Mr. Babbington-Cole, and I feel sure
+you will coincide with me, Mr. Parks, that with so many infidels and
+wild Indians in his land, they should have their lamps trimmed and
+burning."</p>
+
+<p>"You are always orthodox, Miss Stone," chanted Mr. Parks, meekly. "You
+look ill, Mr. Babbington-Cole; was the sea too much for you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and now my head is in a whirl. I feel as if I am in for brain
+fever. Would to God I had remained in Canada," he answered feverishly.</p>
+
+<p>"Tut, tut; a night's rest will set you up," said Stone hastily. "You
+Canadians are pale in any case, looking as though you feed on gruel."</p>
+
+<p>"Cablegram, sir," said Simon, tapping at the door.</p>
+
+<p>"It's for you, Babbington-Cole," said Stone, handing it.</p>
+
+<p>"From my father's medical man," said Cole nervously, as, on reading it,
+he returned it to the envelope, and was about pocketing it, when Miss
+Villiers said, putting out her hand:</p>
+
+<p>"I presume we may see it."</p>
+
+<p>Cole, though with visible reluctance, handed it to her, when she read as
+follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"<span class="smcap">St. Lawrence Hall</span>,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">"<span class="smcap">Montreal</span>, 25th Sept.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+"To <span class="smcap">C. Babbington-Cole, Esq.</span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Typhoid fever left; but taken cold, sore throat; looking most
+anxiously for the return of yourself and Mrs. Cole. <i>Pray don't
+delay.</i></p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+"<span class="smcap">John Peake</span>, M.D."
+</div></div>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>"Too bad, too bad; but you may yet find your father quite well," said
+Stone, with assumed feeling.</p>
+
+<p>"'In the midst of life we are in death,'" said Miss Stone. "I trust your
+father has not been a careless liver, Mr. Charles; as a young man, I
+remember he was much given to the things of the world."</p>
+
+<p>"My father is no smooth-tongued hypocrite, but has a truer sense of
+religion than many representative men and women in our church of
+to-day," said Cole, warmly; while thinking, but for his mistaken sense
+of honor, I would not now be in this abominable fix.</p>
+
+<p>"You will, I am sure, be anxious to return at once, Mr.
+Babbington-Cole," said Mr. Parks, in measured tones. "And as the first
+step towards it, as it grows late, if you will arrange yourselves, I
+will proceed at once with the service."</p>
+
+<p>"To-night!" exclaimed the victim.</p>
+
+<p>"I think it best, Babbington-Cole," said Stone, firmly, "for you are not
+the only one who has received a telegraphic message this evening; mine
+summons me away at daybreak for the Isle of Wight, on urgent business;
+and as you have crossed the pond to marry my niece, what do you gain by
+postponement?"</p>
+
+<p>"By delay," said Miss Villiers, fixing her stony eyes on him, as she
+motioned him to stand beside her, "by delay we may miss seeing your
+father alive."</p>
+
+<p>"True," said Cole, "and I must find him alive to explain all this," he
+added, with feverish haste. And while the service was said in monotone
+by the clergyman, so intent was he in performing hidden rites of
+vengeance upon his bride for the pantheon of hideous idols she was
+making him walk through life in, that he was deaf to the words:</p>
+
+<p>"Wilt thou take this woman to be thy wedded wife?"</p>
+
+<p>And the first caress he received from his bride was a pinch, sharp and
+telling; he said, excitedly:</p>
+
+<p>"Take it all for granted, Mr. Parks, I am really too ill to take part."</p>
+
+<p>At the words, "I pronounce that they be man and wife together," etc.,
+muffled footsteps and the noise of panting breath is distinctly heard,
+and a pale woman, who had evidently come from a distance, with flying
+feet entered; the clergyman only seeing her, the others having their
+backs to the entrance; but she nears, staying her feet to listen as she
+hears the words which add another couple to the long line of loveless
+unions, her hurried breathing falls on the ears of those present. All
+turn round. Miss Villiers eyes her menacingly, while Miss Stone and her
+brother simultaneously point to the door, as she interrupting Mr. Parks'
+congratulations, says in heart-rending tones of despair:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I will go, for I am too late, too late, alas! for my poor young
+mistress and my oath to protect her." And she vanished noiselessly.</p>
+
+<p>The fetters securely fastened, Mrs. Babbington-Cole said, wrathfully:</p>
+
+<p>"A lunatic asylum is the only fit home for Sarah Kane." Turning to her
+new-made husband, she says explanatorily, "an old servant, and a crank.
+Uncle Timothy, you had better see her caged up somewhere, or pay her
+off, and dismiss her."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I must; we can't have a madwoman going about like this."</p>
+
+<p>"Alas! how ungrateful of Sarah," sighed Miss Stone. "I fear the seed we
+have sown fell on stony ground, Mr. Parks."</p>
+
+<p>"I fear so, indeed," echoed Mr. Parks, as he departed, his heart
+gladdened on thinking of the good British gold in his pocket; and from
+Mr. Stone, mean though he was, it was worth paying a sovereign to become
+the possessor of a yearly income of two thousand pounds. The poor
+bridegroom thought not of the parson's fee, which, had he wedded a woman
+of his own choice, he would have paid with an overflowing heart, he,
+poor fellow, being as generous as morning sunbeams on a beauteous June
+day.</p>
+
+<p>The ceremony over! the fraud consummated! the bird snared! the man
+fettered! all joy in living, all hope in his heart crushed by a woman.
+Cole since hearing the solemn words of the agitated woman, felt as he
+threw himself into a chair, burying his head in his hands, as he leaned
+forward elbows on knees, as though did some one put a knife to his heart
+he would be grateful; he felt feverish and his brain throbbed as it had
+never throbbed before. Starting to his feet, he said brokenly, "It is
+now my turn to dictate; you will excuse me, I <i>must</i> have time to think,
+<i>and in solitude;</i> I go to my own apartment."</p>
+
+<p>"You had better have some supper with us first to celebrate the event,"
+said his bride, jocosely, for she feels triumphant.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I thank you, food would choke me, and I am in no mood for revelry."</p>
+
+<p>"You had better, Babbington-Cole," said Stone (who never offered a meal
+that he had to pay for), "you had better; an empty stomach is a cold
+bed-fellow."</p>
+
+<p>But he was gone. Six ears sharp as needles listened to the sound of his
+retreating footfalls, slow and heavy, in ascending the stairs; they
+heard him go in and lock his door.</p>
+
+<p>"A loving bridegroom," said Stone, malevolently. "You have evidently
+made an impression, Margaret."</p>
+
+<p>"As you did on my sainted step-mother, when she spurned your offer
+beneath her feet, history repeats itself, most affectionate of uncles."</p>
+
+<p>"'The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity,'" said Miss Stone,
+reprovingly; "let us show a Christian spirit, and prove we are thankful
+everything is settled; we have worked hard for it, and have a right to
+partake of the feast prepared for the wedding party."</p>
+
+<p>"Had you not better call your recalcitrant spouse, Margaret," said her
+uncle, as they repaired to the dining-room and seated themselves;
+"perhaps you do not know that the way to a man's heart is through his
+stomach."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I shall not disturb his peaceful slumbers; by leaving him to
+himself he will the sooner come to his milk. For a beggarly eight
+hundred-dollar clerk&mdash;Colonial at that&mdash;he does not show gratitude as he
+should for a three thousand pound per annum wife.".</p>
+
+<p>"I agree with you, Margaret, but I doubt not you will bring him to a
+more Christian frame of mind," said Miss Stone, dwelling on each
+mouthful of veal-and-ham pie with the relish of an epicure.</p>
+
+<p>"Alone once more, thank God!" said Cole to himself in despairing tones,
+throwing himself on to a sofa of stiff, cold horse-hair; "and now to
+collect my unwelcome thoughts," he sighed wearily, now walking
+restlessly to and fro, now flinging himself down, lying perfectly still.</p>
+
+<p>Some one says that "locality is like a dyer's vat." This room assigned
+to Cole would in itself have lent a gloomy, funereal aspect to one's
+tone of mind, from the cumbrous bedstead of dark mahogany to the darkest
+of hangings and carpet, every article as cold and polished as the black
+hair-cloth furniture. No pretty feminine knick-knacks, no bright
+pictures, nothing to relieve the eye.</p>
+
+<p>"Alone," he groaned, "yes, but for how long? She will, I expect, think
+she has the right to come here; had she forced her hateful presence upon
+me to-night I feel that reason would have fled. What could my father
+have been about to sell me like this? But there has been some devil's
+work. He has been deceived, and I have been completely hemmed in by the
+moves of the miscreator circumstance, the cablegram of his physician to
+them and to myself to-night. She a modern Medusa, to be a panacea for
+him or any one! Poor father, how you have been duped. That they are all
+playing some devil's game is clear even to my throbbing brain, no wonder
+that ever since I set foot on England's shore I have had a terrible
+presentiment of evil hanging over me, and now the very worst has come to
+pass: they have roped me in. I have given her, that awful woman, my
+name! God save me from madness! Hist! what sound was that? They come!
+and yet the hideous midnight revelry is still on below; but they come, a
+tap! Jove's thunderbolt, or Vulcan's hammer would be of no avail. I
+shall feign sleep."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THEIR "RANK IS BUT THE GUINEA'S STAMP."</h3>
+
+
+<p>"And what does our Diogenes find to say?" said Mrs. Gower, gaily, as on
+the night of the 9th November she gathered a few friends to supper,
+after an evening at the Grand Opera House. "Come, Mr. Dale, like a good
+man, confess that Mrs. Langtry is worth letting your tub go to staves
+for."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, on the whole, yes. I think she has improved."</p>
+
+<p>"Improved! but I suppose one must be content with even such admission
+from you."</p>
+
+<p>"But, my dear lady, when a man has seen the best that London, Paris, and
+New York can put on their theatre boards, what you in Canada offer is
+merely <i>pour passez le temp</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I suppose one grows to feel like that; but I am glad I have yet a
+few sights to see, if, by seeing everything, one loses one's zest for
+anything."</p>
+
+<p>"But you surely do not admire her choice of plays?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; but I do really deem her a born actress, as clever as she is
+charming."</p>
+
+<p>"One could easily see, Mrs. Gower, that you got the worth of your ticket
+in emotional feeling," said Mr. Smyth, laughingly, "for you visibly
+trembled when 'ex-Captain Fortinbras' made his triumphant <i>exposé</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Malevolent wretch! a thrill of horror did run through me, as well as of
+pity for his unfortunate victim."</p>
+
+<p>"My feelings are not so easily acted upon," said Mrs. Dale. "I was very
+coolly watching to see if she could disentangle herself from the
+villain's clutches, and her arms from her odious lace sleeves."</p>
+
+<p>"The latter absorbed me," said lively Mrs. Smyth; "if I had such arms I
+should never cover them, not even in mid-winter; you ought to pay more
+for your ticket than we do, Elaine, you get more&mdash;more feelings&mdash;than we
+do."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I must trouble you for some more oysters, Mr. Dale; 'nerve tissue
+is expensive,'" she laughingly answered.</p>
+
+<p>"Her gowns, her robings, were in perfect taste," said Buckingham.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Oscar Wilde would have breathed a sigh of satisfaction," said Mrs.
+Gower.</p>
+
+<p>"Speaking of our color-blending pet," said Mrs. Dale, "he wishes his
+baby was a girl; he says girls drape so much better."</p>
+
+<p>"Just fancy a thing like that living in our stirring times, and calling
+itself a man," said Dale, contemptuously; "picture him beside the two
+liberated Chicago Anarchists."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor fellow! he would feel badly had the Communists the control of his
+wardrobe," said Mrs. Gower.</p>
+
+<p>"His would be a capital garb for a surveyor," said Mrs. Smyth; "I wish
+Will would adopt it."</p>
+
+<p>"Then would surveyors be on the increase when his measure would be
+taken," laughed Mrs. Gower.</p>
+
+<p>"Lilian has vivid recollections of my last home-coming, when I was a
+mass of sticky York mud to my knees," said Smyth.</p>
+
+<p>"I remember, Dale, you were disgusted at the Emma-Juch concert by reason
+of large hats and small chatter," said Buckingham. "What did you think
+of the manner of the audience to-night?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think that, on the whole, when one considers the antecedents of the
+moneyed people of Toronto, that they behaved themselves better, showed
+more consideration for the feelings of others, in fact, ignored their
+fine feathers&mdash;remembering that they were not the only occupants of the
+theatre&mdash;better than at any other gathering of 'beauty and fashion' (in
+newspaper parlance), that I have made one at."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; so I thought," said Buckingham; "and at the theatre, one escapes
+the worrying nuisance of recalls, as felt at Toronto."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish some star in the concert world would have the courage to insert
+after her name, no encore," said Mrs. Gower, "for though we do recall,
+it is astonishing how <i>ennuyeux</i> the best numbers are in repetition."</p>
+
+<p>"Will did an awfully daring thing at the Carreno-Juch concert," said
+Mrs. Smyth, eagerly; "we had seats immediately behind the Cawsons; and
+you know, Elaine, what a rude, boisterous&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear," said her friend, in mock reproof; "they are in society! have,
+of course, the dollar, and, perforce, are fashionable! what in poor
+people we should designate as rude and underbred, we must call in the
+Cawsons, and that ilk, 'quite the thing, you know;' but proceed, <i>ma
+chere</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Will fidgetted, and they chattered across each other in audible
+remarks, on acquaintances in the audience, on a luncheon they were to
+give, as to the war-paint of a lady friend who had been presented to
+Queen Victoria, when I, the meanest of her subjects (I use the words
+figuratively, as Burdette says), pitied royalty; but the climax was
+reached when in Raff's 'Ever of Thee,' a particular favorite of Will's,
+the 'unruly member' was heard with renewed vigor, when this husband of
+mine rose in his might, and to his feet, saying audibly, 'Come, let us
+try if the low price seats hold better-bred people.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Bravo! bravo!" cried Buckingham.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well put," said Dale; "short a time as I have been in Toronto, I
+have observed that for culture and refinement one must look to the
+people who live on modest incomes, or salaries; middle class is a phrase
+I find no use for. In this country there are the 'vulgar rich,' whose
+'rank is but the guinea's stamp,' and well-bred poor; there are
+impoverished gentry, with an innate refinement showing in their too
+often struggling descendants; there are the moneyed people, lacking what
+filthy lucre cannot buy, namely, good breeding, and who never weary in
+parading their jewels, furniture and fine clothes."</p>
+
+<p>"Very true," said Mrs. Gower; "I have frequently thought at some of our
+large social gatherings, that it is a pity one's blood cannot be
+analyzed instead of one's gown."</p>
+
+<p>"What a resurrection there would be," said Buckingham; "not a few would
+long to pocket their own heads."</p>
+
+<p>"A sympathetic artiste must feel any want of oneness in her audience,"
+said Mrs. Dale; "I should throw my roll of music at them and retire."</p>
+
+<p>"At which, dear, they would only give their unwearied cry of 'encore,'"
+said her hostess; "it is very evident we are all at one in a very
+decided distaste for mongrels; but, Mr. Buckingham, during your run on
+the Kingston and Pembroke rail you missed hearing the Rev. Jackson
+Wray."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; did he please you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Extremely; both in his sermonizing and in his lecture on George
+Whitefield; he is eloquent, and his imagery and figurative language
+charmed me."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed; in that case I regret to have missed him. Did you hear him,
+Dale?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and though I regret the not being at one with Mrs. Gower in all
+things," he said, smilingly, "must say he pleased me not."</p>
+
+<p>"Pleased you not!" echoed his hostess; "then I abandon you to your tub;
+the scholarly, the literary world, would be a desert did your sweeping
+criticisms prevail."</p>
+
+<p>"But how so, Dale? one would almost make sure of finding in him a rather
+superior excellence, knowing that he holds a pulpit in such a city as
+your London."</p>
+
+<p>"Granted, Buckingham; but not only at London, but over the whole
+Christianized world, mistakes are to be found in the pulpit."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, Dale, I cannot go with you; 'tis in the pew that mistakes
+exist."</p>
+
+<p>"I go with you there, Buckingham," he replied, wilfully misunderstanding
+him; "the pew system is selling out the Gospel by the square foot," at
+which his friend laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Dale," asked Mrs. Gower, "do you never allow the critic within you
+to go to sleep, allow your really generous nature full play, and give
+yourself up to enjoyment?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do; for instance, now, here is a real enjoyment; but, pray, do not
+dub me a critic."</p>
+
+<p>"I fear I must in some of your moods; but see, the mere word, or the
+silvery chimes of midnight, are lending wings to your wife, and Mrs.
+Smyth: they are deserting us. Are you examining the heavens, dear?" she
+says, following Mrs. Dale to a window.</p>
+
+<p>"Look quick, Mrs. Gower, he won't see you if you peer through the slats;
+and how awful! in among the bushes, out in that torrent of rain, there
+is a&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't alarm Mrs. Gower," said Buckingham, quietly, who had neared them
+unnoticed; "if there is anyone loitering about, let me open the shutters
+and window, and step out."</p>
+
+<p>"Good night, Mrs. Gower," called Smyth, from the hall; "our carriage
+stops the way, and if I don't make a move, Lil never will," he says,
+meeting her.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Dale is too fascinating," laughed his wife. "Good night, Elaine;
+Will thinks he hears baby crying, or he would not stir."</p>
+
+<p>"Nice little baby, don't get in a fury 'cause mamma's gone to a play at
+the theatre," sang Smyth, jokingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you <i>really</i> see anyone, Mrs. Dale?" had asked Buckingham, in a
+grave whisper.</p>
+
+<p>"I really did; the&mdash;but hush, she returns."</p>
+
+<p>"You look pale, Mrs. Gower," he said, kindly, "put me up anywhere to
+mount guard over you for to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, I thank you, not for worlds," she said, nervously; but
+recovering herself, added, "you know I have Thomas, and Mrs. Dale may
+only have seen a shadow, like a cloud which will pass."</p>
+
+<p>"Clouds sometimes precede a storm."</p>
+
+<p>"But not always," she says, with a sudden resolve, "for if Mrs. Dale
+will stay with me all night, she will be its silver lining."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, I shall with pleasure," she said, eagerly, adding, in mock
+condescension, "Good night, Mr. Dale."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean, Ella; our cab is here?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to stay with Mrs. Gower, Henry, so good night, dear; an
+extra blanket and night-cap must be my substitute," she said, as he
+kissed her good night.</p>
+
+<p>"Good night, Mr. Dale; you are keeping up your character for
+generosity," said Mrs. Gower.</p>
+
+<p>"Come along, Dale," said Buckingham, glad of the arrangement; "I shall
+be with you as far as the Rossin House."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Henry," called his wife, as he was entering the cab, "don't forget
+the schools are on for to-morrow; Mrs. Gower says to come up at one, to
+luncheon; don't forget Garfield and Miss Crew; and tell Miss Crew to
+send me first thing, by electric despatch, 82 Yonge Street, my plum
+walking dress, and bonnet to match, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No more, dear, please; you should have given it to me in manuscript
+form, I fear I shall not remember it."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Capt. Cuttle, when found make a note on," said Mrs. Gower,
+jokingly, but rather nervously, peering out, in and among the dark
+bushes.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll coach him," laughed Buckingham.</p>
+
+<p>"Etc., etc., etc.," called out Mrs. Dale, as the hack rolls away.</p>
+
+<p>As the friends turn from the door, Mrs. Gower herself seeing to the
+fastenings and putting the chain on, Thomas said:</p>
+
+<p>"Beg pardon, ma'am, but can you step this way, please?"</p>
+
+<p>"But, Thomas," she said, trying in vain to battle with her fate.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes ma'am, I know it's a shame to be a pestering of you at this hour,
+but it's&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, Thomas, I shall attend to it; excuse me, dear Mrs. Dale, for
+a few moments, and then we must really go to bed."</p>
+
+<p>"That's all right; I know what the calls upon a housekeeper are."</p>
+
+<p>Quick as a flash, on the exit of her hostess, the portière hangings are
+drawn, the gas at one end turned out, the window flown to.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, my lady crouches there still, and&mdash;yes, that is he on the kitchen
+steps; the light from the window points you out to me, my dear
+cupid&mdash;done up by a west-end tailor; the door opens, which shows me my
+kind hostess; and now for the woman&mdash;for ferret out this mystery I
+shall&mdash;for in some way, unknown to me, this gentleman and follower are
+worrying the life out of my friend."</p>
+
+<p>With a waterproof on, noiselessly she opens the window and shutters; a
+step and the veranda is reached; with beckoning hand she endeavors to
+attract the attention of the woman, but without success, as she is
+wholly absorbed in watching the door by which the man entered. Afraid of
+attracting attention by calling out, she twists a couple of buttons off
+her waterproof, throwing them on to the gravel walk; her object is
+gained and defeated simultaneously, for the woman, taking fright, makes
+for the gate, at which Tyr, who had made his exit on the man making his
+<i>entrée</i>, swift as a deer, ran barking after her; but she is safe
+outside the gate, at which Mrs. Dale quiets Tyr, who has come up to her,
+rubbing his cold nose to her still colder hands. And now to make another
+attempt. In a few moments the gate is reached; yes, the woman is
+standing under the shade of a tree on the boulevard, the lamplight
+falling full upon Mrs. Dale.</p>
+
+<p>"Down, Tyr, be quiet; down, I say. Come here, young woman; don't fear, I
+only wish to speak to you."</p>
+
+<p>"I won't go there; let me alone, for I warn you, I am a desperate
+woman," she growled, in threatening tones, Tyr making a dash to be at
+her.</p>
+
+<p>"Come here, Tyr, it's all right. But what is your trouble? If you will
+only trust me, I feel sure I can help you," she says, breathlessly, for
+she does not wish her friend to miss her.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>You help me!</i> go away with your smooth serpent tongue; away to that
+other hussy, in her silks and jewels, robbing an honest woman of
+her&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But her sentence was never finished, for the man is coming; and quick as
+a deer she is out of sight.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Dale is quietly seated by the cheerful grate, apparently absorbed
+in "Cleveland's winning card," as given in <i>Judge</i>, when her hostess
+returns, looking sad and troubled.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know how it is I feel so nervous to-night, dear," she said,
+seeing to the window fastenings; "I am so glad you are with me, but you
+will find me very doleful."</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bit of it, Mrs. Gower; I am no relation to an acquaintance of
+mine, who is not content unless one is making a buffoon of oneself for
+her especial delectation."</p>
+
+<p>"I fear she would cut my acquaintance in my present mood. I am going to
+ask you a favor, dear; it is to call me Elaine; I shall feel less alone
+in this big world, and can talk to you more freely, hearing my Christian
+name. I dare say it is a childish fancy for a woman of my age, but&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But me&mdash;no buts. Elaine, we are true friends, and you have some secret
+trouble which I ought to share, else, what use is my friendship to you;
+you will tell it me, dear?" and the pretty Irish eyes look up into the
+dark ones bending over her with a questioning look.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me first, dear, did you recognize anyone in the garden to-night?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did, Elaine."</p>
+
+<p>At this, covering her face with her coldly nervous hands, she said,
+brokenly:</p>
+
+<p>"God help me, I am driven by the winds, and tossed; I must sleep on it
+to-night, and if I feel strong enough, tell you all to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right, and to insure your being brave enough, you must take the
+best tonic, sleep; so let us mount," she said affectionately, rising and
+taking her friend's arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, dear; and the dropping rain shall be my lullaby in wooing
+the god of slumber."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<h3>ON THE RACK.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It was no heated fancy of a half-delirious brain of our poor friend,
+Cole, that he had heard a tap on the gloomy door of the east chamber, at
+Broadlawns, on the night he was snared by the huntress; held by the
+fetters of a loveless union with Margaret Villiers; but he paid no heed
+to the stealthy tap, repeated whenever the revelry below was loudest;
+but as silent as the grave, he almost holds his breath as he watches the
+door, a look of agony in his tired eyes, which throb as does his head in
+neuralgic torture; but now, his strange midnight visitor, as if driven
+to desperation by his silence, says through the keyhole:</p>
+
+<p>"For heaven's sake, let me in!"</p>
+
+<p>But no response; he will trust no one under the roof of this hateful
+place, to which he has been trapped, in which he has lost his freedom,
+in which the terrible conviction has seized him that he is going to be
+laid low by the fell hand of sickness. What is that? Yes, he sees a slip
+of paper passed under the door; his midnight visitor is evidently bent
+on obtaining an interview; pale as a ghost, and trembling in every limb,
+he creeps noiselessly to the door, picks up the paper, and reads the
+following words:</p>
+
+<p>"I am the woman who came in <i>too late</i> to stop your marriage; <i>your own
+friends</i>, who are far away, would tell you to see me. For God's sake,
+let me do what I can for you, even <i>now</i>."</p>
+
+<p>But for her wording, as to his "friends far away," he would have paid no
+heed; he remembers now, in a dazed sort of way, amidst the medley he has
+been in ever since his arrival, that there was some woman who appeared,
+was maligned, and vanished, all in a few seconds. Yes, if he could only
+feel sure the oak door only separated him from one not in league with
+his enemies, as he now feels them to be, the lock would be immediately
+turned; but, should it be a fraud whereby to obtain admittance for the
+terrible woman he has wedded, and whom he loathes and fears at the same
+time; and so, with his cold, nervous hand upon the lock, he hesitates,
+when she again appeals a last time through the keyhole.</p>
+
+<p>"I must go, and leave you to your misery, if you will not open the door;
+they are preparing to come up stairs."</p>
+
+<p>At this, the dread of loneliness, the craving for sympathy, with the
+sinking feeling of sickness coming over him, the natural instinct of
+self-preservation impelling him to risk something in endeavoring to
+secure one friend to be about him if he cannot shake off this feeling of
+intense lassitude, low spirits, head and brain on fire, and throbbing as
+with ten thousand pulses, cause him with a sudden fear lest she should
+go, to turn the key, when noiselessly, a pale woman with an intensely
+sad expression in her whole countenance, and prematurely grey, enters.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor fellow! and a kindly, handsome face, too; what a sacrifice! God
+knows how willingly I would have saved you; but their moves were hidden
+from me," she said piteously, in a low whisper, gazing into his face
+tearfully, while taking his hands in her own.</p>
+
+<p>In the reaction he flung her off, saying, brokenly,</p>
+
+<p>"Why were you not in time? What trust have you broken so, blighting my
+very existence? Out upon you, woman, you may go and leave me to
+despair."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, I must stay; I <i>will</i> stay; you are ill, but will be more calm;
+though with <i>her</i>! God help you, you will never find peace, never be at
+rest."</p>
+
+<p>And throwing her apron over her face, she, too, sank on to the sofa
+where he was; but he is, after a few moments, quiet again, and drawing
+the covering from her face, which she has used as if to shut out the
+view where all, all is misery to the last degree, she turns to look at
+him; both hands white, cold and trembling, cover his face, through his
+fingers drop scalding tears, silent tears of woe.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not give way so, sir. Poor fellow, you are indeed to be pitied, away
+from your home, away from your own land. They sent me off to London on
+messages&mdash;to get me out of the way&mdash;for some things for Miss Villiers,
+as then was."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't remind me. God help me. Swear, woman, swear!" he said excitedly,
+"to stay by me to get me well; quick, for my inner consciousness tells
+me I shall be, nay am, ill; elucidate this mystery, is it money they
+want, how can I escape? swear, swear to stay by me in this place,
+smelling of brimstone. Swear!" he continued, forgetting time and place,
+as he raised his voice, only remembering his wretchedness.</p>
+
+<p>"For heaven's sake try to calm yourself; they have heard you, they come;
+not a sound; they will turn me out, and you will have only them. I
+conjure you, curb yourself; not a sound." And taking both his hands to
+her knee, with motherly tenderness, seeks by gently stroking or holding
+them in hers to soothe him to even momentary calm.</p>
+
+<p>"I say, Cole, are you sleeping?" said the voice of Stone, turning the
+handle. "You should have been down with us; we have been feeding like
+fighting cocks."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure I heard him talking," said Margaret. "Mean fellow he is;
+feigning sleep."</p>
+
+<p>"Good night, Cole, or rather, morning; pleasant dreams," said Stone,
+malevolently.</p>
+
+<p>"Look, uncle, at aunt rolling into her bed-chamber; veal pie and stout
+will be her nightmare. Good night, spouse," she said, through the
+keyhole.</p>
+
+<p>At this, Sarah Kane had great difficulty in quieting him. "I kiss my
+hand to you"&mdash;for she is hilarious; a glass of beer, a change of name,
+three thousand per annum secured, have been a powerful stimulant.</p>
+
+<p>"It's my belief he heard every word we said, but wouldn't give in," said
+her uncle, as they went along the hall.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, he did, the mean pup; but never fear, I'll make him knuckle
+under."</p>
+
+<p>"That you will," he said, chuckling.</p>
+
+<p>When all is again quiet at Broadlawns, Charlie Cole and Sarah Kane again
+breathe more freely.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell now, <i>now</i>," he says feverishly, "how I am to get away from here
+and without, remember, that woman? You will have to stay by me, for I am
+too ill, God help me, to act alone."</p>
+
+<p>"First, you must undress and get into bed; my, but you are weak!"</p>
+
+<p>"I am; please take this key and unlock my trunk; I am not equal to any
+exertion."</p>
+
+<p>"Were you ill crossing the ocean, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was, but nothing like this; the medical attendant on board said I
+must have some mental worry which preyed even then upon my bodily
+health."</p>
+
+<p>"Your name, Charles Cole, how well I remember it," she said, reading it
+on his linen. "My poor dead mistress and friend trusted me&mdash;God help me
+if I have seemed unfaithful to my trust. Perhaps I should have found out
+and followed my young mistress, but Silas and I thought I had best watch
+her interests here. God pity me," she said tearfully, falling upon her
+knees. "Good Lord, watch over her, lead my steps to her, for I have
+failed in preventing their black deeds here; so I shall go to America to
+try and find you, poor, dear, wronged Miss Pearl."</p>
+
+<p>Here Cole, with a groan of weakness and dizziness, falls half undressed
+upon the bed, at which Sarah Kane flies to him, takes off his boots,
+assisting him to get under the clothes.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor, poor feet, like ice," she says pityingly; "I must do something
+for him. Heaven help him among such a horde of cruel hearts; I must at
+any risk go down and get a foot warmer. Poor fellow, so gentle and
+amiable-like, he deserved a better fate, and should have a physician at
+once; but the mind, the poor sick mind, as well as body, how will that
+be calmed? There, there, don't mind anything; try to sleep. I am going
+down stairs to get a foot-warmer for you."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," he said nervously, "you must not leave me."</p>
+
+<p>"I have listened in the hall, and they are all snoring, sleeping heavily
+after the late supper. I must, indeed, sir, see to the warming of your
+feet; it will only take me five minutes; please consent, for your own
+sake."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, go; and I will lock the door after you, lest the wretches come
+in," and attempting to sit up he feels too weak, falling backwards with
+a heavy sigh.</p>
+
+<p>Sarah Kane, now really alarmed, slips off her shoes, silently unfastens
+the door, making a speedy exit; passing the doors of the sleepers
+without detection, not so though on entering the servants' wing&mdash;the
+cook and man-servant seeming both restless, she hesitates, then on with
+flying feet accomplishes her object, bringing also mustard; up again
+this time, not risking the back stairs and the servants, the front
+stairs, which, being thickly padded, cover her footfalls.</p>
+
+<p>Back again, she finds him staring fixedly at the door in terror, lest
+any but herself should appear. She now applies the foot-warmer, also
+putting mustard plasters to the nape of the neck and pit of the stomach.</p>
+
+<p>"You look tired," he said languidly, "but I cannot say go and rest, I am
+not brave enough."</p>
+
+<p>"I am accustomed to do without sleep. I nurse many sick. Since my poor
+mistress died, and they sent sweet Miss Pearl out to the States, I have
+no regular duties here, but thought it wise, as they did not bid me go,
+to stay on and watch them. They often quarrel over my being here, Mr.
+Stone wanting to drive me out, Miss&mdash;I mean&mdash;but no, never mind&mdash;there,
+there," stroking his hands, "the aunt and niece thinking, and true, that
+I know too much. It's a fact, sir, but I have not known how to check
+them for all. God help me, but when I see you well and away from this
+home of the Pharisee&mdash;this place with a heart of stone and a tongue of
+oil, or evil, as it suits&mdash;I must see what is best, even so late."</p>
+
+<p>And so the poor, half-distracted thing talked on and on, often in a
+disconnected sort of way, but her tones were soothing.</p>
+
+<p>"Go on," he said, opening his eyes; "what trust have you broken," he
+repeated, "bringing me to this?" Here he grew excited, but, evidently
+too weak to talk, said languidly, putting her hand to his brow:</p>
+
+<p>"Feel that, their work," he said feverishly, "and in part yours, as you
+have not exposed them; why have you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"What would the world heed had I, <i>in their employ</i>, lifted up my voice
+against them? they are all Pharisees, all strict church-goers, and would
+turn the wrath against myself, for I do not make loud prayers, their
+hypocrisy driving me to my closet, instead of to the be-seen-of-men sort
+of religion; no, no one would have believed me, though I think now of
+one who would, and he is Dr. Annesley, of the city. I have erred in
+judgment, but never thought they would marry you to Miss Villiers; nay,
+look at it calmly, if you can, sir, and get well sooner. My father was
+an attorney, but rogues fleeced him, and I was penniless; my late
+mistress took me here, and I was her friend and confidant, for they were
+cruel to her and her child. Silas Jones and I knew of Miss Pearl and
+yourself, and Silas said&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>LUCIFER'S VOTARIES RAMPANT.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Yes, Silas Jones shall hear of how we found his precious Sarah Kane
+alone in a man's bedroom," sneered the coldly cruel voice of Mrs. Cole,
+entering, and not making a seductive picture in bright green dressing
+gown, with large purple flowers, her hooked nose as red as her high
+cheek bones, her awful eyes fixed, staring and stony, her uncle and aunt
+following.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh dear, oh dear! Heaven help us! I forgot to lock the door when I
+brought the poor fellow the foot-warmer," thought Sarah Kane,
+distractedly.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought I heard a jabbering going on before you called me, Margaret,"
+said her uncle, savagely.</p>
+
+<p>"How dare you bring disrepute on a virtuous home by coming to a man's
+bedroom at night, and alone, Sarah Kane?" asked Miss Stone, quivering
+with rage at being disturbed after her late supper.</p>
+
+<p>"Sarah Kane, go and pack up, and see that you develop no light-finger
+tricks; you leave Broadlawns at daybreak," hissed Margaret, between her
+teeth.</p>
+
+<p>"Please let me stay, ma'am, until Mr. Cole recovers; indeed, indeed he
+is very, very ill."</p>
+
+<p>"That is <i>my</i> affair&mdash;go!" and she points to the now open door.</p>
+
+<p>"She has been kind to me, she must stay; I am too ill for her to leave
+me; if she goes she must take me," said Cole, sitting upright, his pulse
+rapidly rising.</p>
+
+<p>"We don't harbor women of her stamp," said Margaret, beside herself with
+rage at her having gained the ear of Cole; she would willingly have torn
+her limb from limb.</p>
+
+<p>"Get out of here, and at <i>once</i>, Sarah Kane, unless you would have me
+use violence," said Stone, savagely; for from the words of Cole he sees
+she has made a favorable impression.</p>
+
+<p>"I implore you not to go and leave me here," said the sick man,
+excitedly; "my brain is on fire. I am weak and ill; oh! by everything
+you hold sacred, stay by me and nurse me; if not, I go too, if I have to
+crawl to the door;" and he attempted to rise.</p>
+
+<p>"This is nonsense, Cole; she must go; I have wanted to turn her adrift
+before this. We shall procure you a medical attendant at once; though, I
+think, did you take a berth in a steamer immediately for America, it
+would be best, and set you up all right, especially with Margaret as
+nurse. Sarah Kane, what are you waiting for?"</p>
+
+<p>"For the impetus of someone's foot, I presume," sneered Margaret.</p>
+
+<p>Sarah Kane, with a pitiful look at Cole, her lip quivering and whole
+frame trembling, prepared to leave the room, saying, as she smoothed his
+pillows:</p>
+
+<p>"Try and keep calm, sir, you will get well all the quicker, and I shall
+go and tell Silas Jones, and see if he can help you."</p>
+
+<p>At a sign from Margaret, her uncle followed her from the room, when she
+said, hurriedly:</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to give the wretch permission to remain until morning, to
+prevent an interview with Silas Jones; after breakfast, you say you will
+drive her in to Mrs. Mansfield's. We have never let her know she wants
+her, but now she will be capital bait; Sarah Kane will bite, and so be
+hooked, when you can lodge her for safe keeping at Tom Lang's, who, if
+needs be, may give her the luxury of a straight-jacket."</p>
+
+<p>"I feel inclined to say No, and kick her out at once; otherwise, yours
+is a good plan."</p>
+
+<p>"It is the only gag to fit the case; but out of that room <i>she shall
+go</i>. She may go and pack up. I'll show them who is mistress."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, do; besotted fool, that Cole is, to have turned us against him.
+You don't think that viper will go to Silas Jones at daybreak, do you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; his shop won't be open until seven. By that time cook can have an
+early breakfast for you, and you will then at once drive off to London,
+and if Silas Jones comes prowling around here after her, leave him to
+me, that's all," she said, cruelly, returning to the sick room.</p>
+
+<p>"Go to your room at once, Sarah Kane, pack up your things, and be ready
+to leave this house at seven sharp; go," she said, stamping her foot.
+"Don't pollute us by your presence any longer."</p>
+
+<p>"I pray of you to let me stay and nurse him; I will do just what you
+wish, spare you from fatigue, be no trouble, only let me stay," she
+cried, imploringly.</p>
+
+<p>Margaret turned her stony gaze upon her. "Put her out, Uncle Timothy, or
+I shall."</p>
+
+<p>"Get out, woman," he said, taking her by the shoulder, Miss Stone
+shoving her, and saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Be thankful, hussy, you are getting off so well."</p>
+
+<p>"At your peril send her forth; it will be the worse for you all when I
+recover, if you do," said Cole, with the utmost excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"Keep cool, Cole; you don't know what a viper we have harbored. I am
+only going to take her to a Mrs. Mansfield's, and, if she can speak so
+much truth, she will tell you she is a friend of hers," said Stone,
+vengefully.</p>
+
+<p>"You are heaping coals of fire on the viper's head by taking her there,
+Timothy," said Miss Stone, wonderingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Is this person a friend of yours, Sarah?" asked Cole, forlornly
+pressing both hands to his throbbing temples. "How cruel they are to
+send you from me. Do you know of a good physician, Sarah?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, sir; Dr. Annesley, of London; he&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hold your prate, Sarah Kane, and mind your own business," cried
+Margaret, trembling with rage. "Get out of here," and with a smart push
+she is outside and the key turned.</p>
+
+<p>For a few moments Sarah Kane stood irresolute, when the clock struck
+three.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that will be best," she thought, "but I have no time to lose,"
+and, quickly flying to her own apartment, she hurriedly packs up, but
+not the handsome wardrobe willed her by her late mistress, of which she
+knows not, but simply her own modest apparel; this she places in two
+trunks, weeping silently the while for the evil come upon the poor sick
+man in yonder east chamber, for her own forced desertion of him into the
+cruel hands of the inmates at Broadlawns, for her own undefined plans to
+find her young mistress, and endeavor to reinstate her in the fortune
+willed her, which she is in doubt now that the law will give her, as she
+has not married Charles B. Cole. She weeps on, as she thinks of the
+fearful fraud that has been committed; for here is Mr. Cole married!
+actually married to Miss Villiers, in Sarah Kane's estimation, the most
+wicked woman that lives, when he had been the intended husband of her
+sweet, gentle Miss Pearl.</p>
+
+<p>"Woe, woe, that I did not go to Dr. Annesley, and tell him of the
+prolonged absence of Miss Pearl, instead of watching here, or to a
+lawyer; but I dreaded their fees, as they have paid me no salary for
+five years, nor can I claim it, as they told me if I staid I should get
+nothing. I have erred in judgment. God help me and that poor sick man.
+Yes, I must slip away and tell Silas. It is fortunate Mary is with him
+still, or they (if by some mischance they miss me) might again make
+occasion to malign me as to going to see a man; how easily those
+smooth-tongued hypocrites can take away one's character, and they doing
+the real harm all the while. My grey ulster and hat will not be too
+heavy; it is quite a cool morning, and being up all night, and
+supperless to bed, makes me feel chilly. How surprised Silas and his
+sister will be. I know he will want me to marry him at once, but I feel
+too old and grey; but, as he says, so I have told him for years; and he
+has waited and waited until the clouds at Broadlawns would lighten, and
+now they are blacker than ever. Kind Silas, good and true Silas, what
+will you say to this terrible marriage of poor Mr. Cole to awful Miss
+Villiers?"</p>
+
+<p>And now her expeditious fingers having set her house in order, her grey
+hair rolled back from her brow, her small, regular features, sensitive
+mouth, and good blue eyes looking wan and anxious, locking her door, she
+slips down the back stairs, and out into the chill dulness of an October
+morning. In fifteen minutes she knocks at the house of Silas Jones, the
+front room of which he calls his shop, selling in a quiet way stationery
+and current literature. The city clocks are ringing the last quarter
+before four, and Mary is the first to hear the unusual sound on the
+knocker at that early hour. Waiting to hear it repeated, she lifts the
+window, when, at Sarah Kane's voice calling Silas, they both hasten down
+to open the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear me, Sarah; what's up?" said Mary, kissing her. "What a scare you
+gave me!"</p>
+
+<p>"You have been up all night, Sarah," said Silas Jones, reproachfully,
+leading her in, as he again locked the door. "However, as this is the
+earliest kiss I have ever had, I shall not scold you too much; but whom
+have you been looking nearer your own grave for this time, Sarah? You
+have been nursing again, I suppose, and are returning to Broadlawns?"</p>
+
+<p>"How you chatter, Silas, dear; Sarah can't get in a word edgeways," said
+Mary, kindly, but curiously.</p>
+
+<p>"I was only giving our Sarah time to catch her breath, she has been
+running and is cold," he said, rubbing her hands. "Make her a hot drink
+over the spirit-lamp, Mary, please."</p>
+
+<p>"The very thing, Silas, dear; what a good man you will make our Sarah;
+here, drink this, Sarah, and promise to marry Silas this day week (my
+wedding-day too, Sarah), for indeed, you want someone to make you stay
+in your bed o' nights."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Sarah, dear, Mary is right; for it's my belief the wretches at
+Broadlawns wish to see you in your grave, seeing as you know too much."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Silas, that young man, Mr. Cole, came; and they have married him to
+Miss Villiers, instead of our sweet Miss Pearl," blurted out Sarah, in
+trembling tones.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't say, Sarah; what a fearful piece of wickedness," cried Mary,
+with distended eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not surprised at any villainy on their part," said Silas, with
+knitted brows. "Let me see, the will reads, on Miss Pearl coming of age
+and marrying young Mr. Cole, she inherits all (so Dr. Annesley told me,
+and, by the way, he sent me word he wants to see me); well they have got
+rid, the de'il knows how, of Miss Pearl, and this ugly vixen marries the
+man to inherit; bad business, their having similar Christian names; so
+it's from there you come, and not from sick nursing? Tell us all, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Silas, that's just what I ran here for, for they've as good as
+turned me out, at least, I am to go at daybreak, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Did they dare to turn you out, you a lady born, though their
+drudge&mdash;faithful in nursing, faithful in your housekeeping. Shielding
+them, when you could have put the blood-hounds of the law on their
+track, hoping things would right themselves in this very marriage; but
+to Miss Pearl&mdash;turn you out, after wasting your youth and mine in a
+martyr's life, to see that right was eventually done to the innocent
+daughter of your dead friend, growing literally grey in this
+self-imposed duty, while we both lived lonely lives apart, when they
+should be in a felon's dock for breach of trust; never mind, it is my
+turn now, they shall be exposed, and compelled to disgorge; Miss Pearl
+must be found, Mrs. Mansfield may know something."</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Mansfield, yes, Silas, that is where Mr. Stone is going to drive
+me at seven sharp this a.m., and, oh dear, it is near six; I must hasten
+back, else they may make me black in Bayswater, for they have called me
+a hussy to-night, Silas, because I went to poor Mr. Cole's bedroom, who
+is very ill, and he was sorry when they turned me out, Silas, for he
+knows he has fallen into their net, and he is ill in mind and body; God
+help him. He is kindly and handsome, is yielding and pliable, and so an
+easy prey; he was to have met his father, he tells me. Ah, he would have
+saved him, but he is ill, he learned on his arrival, and away off across
+the sea at Montreal; but I had to come and tell you, Silas, for I missed
+you last evening, when they sent me to the city, so I should be out of
+the way, and alas! I came back too late to save him," she said,
+tearfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't go near them again, Sarah," said Mary, sympathetically.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Sarah, that's it; stay with us, and we will pet and nurse you, and
+you will be my wife."</p>
+
+<p>"No dears, I could not remain inactive so near poor Mr. Cole; he hates
+them as his enemies, it is best for me to go to Mrs. Mansfield, I shall
+be near Dr. Annesley, and must see what can be done; you will come and
+see me at Mrs. Mansfield's, so good-bye, now, dears."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall come to the city to-morrow, Sarah, so look out for me, dear,"
+he said, buttoning her ulster.</p>
+
+<p>"You shouldn't be parting us at all, Sarah," said Mary, tearfully.</p>
+
+<p>"But only for a few days, Mary."</p>
+
+<p>"You must marry me this day week, Sarah, dear, for somehow I feel as if
+evil will come to you parted from me; promise, it will bridge the time,"
+he said, following her out into the grey morning light.</p>
+
+<p>"I promise." And there and then, in the dim gaze of the earliest bees in
+life's hive, she is pressed to his loyal heart.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>FENCING OFF CONFIDENCE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The knowledge that, with the morning, her friend would look for a
+confidence as regarded the intrusion by a man into the grounds of
+Holmnest on the evening previous, unless, indeed, by fencing she could
+ward off such confidence, caused Mrs. Gower to pass an almost sleepless
+night; and so, with the natural desire to put off the evil day, she
+arose later than usual, lingering over bath and toilette. But now in
+warm morning robe of a pretty, red woollen material, with ecru lace
+rufflings, she is worth a second look; though her thoughts are sad, for
+under the dark hair on her brow, her eyes wear a wistful expression, and
+on her sensitive lips is almost a quiver of pain, as she stands at her
+window, looking mechanically on the familiar scene.</p>
+
+<p>"He always looks up," she thought, as a gentleman passed, "and must now
+either reside in the neighborhood, or take it in in his morning outing.
+How a lonely woman notices any seeming interest taken in herself. I have
+not seen much of him since poor Charlie Cole went away, and strange; but
+I miss his face if I don't see him for some days. I remember telling
+Charlie of a dream I had of this very man, and his <i>béte noir</i>, Philip
+Cobbe. That reminds me again of my promised confidence to Mrs. Dale, it
+was weak in me to make any such promise&mdash;I, who have never had a
+confidant, even when a girl. I have met some who would have been staunch
+and true enough, I feel sure, but I never thought heart secrets were
+altogether one's own; and as to this chatter over men's kind or loving
+attentions to one, is just about the meanest thing a woman or girl can
+be guilty of. It is sufficient to deter men from being commonly civil. I
+have known women prate and boast by name of those who have paid them the
+highest compliment a man can, that is of asking them to be their wife;
+yes, I positively shrink from meeting my kind, little friend, Ella Dale,
+she has a positive craving for knowledge," she thought, with a half
+smile; "and had she been Eve she would have cut short the eloquence of
+the serpent's tongue, and have succumbed, merely out of curiosity. And
+yet she is a dear little woman, craving to be 'trusted all, or not at
+all,' and meaning good to me; and perhaps I should be less lonely did I
+empty my griefs into the lap of another's mind; but again, in confiding
+in a married woman one confides in her husband also. It is natural, but,
+at the same time, not altogether pleasant; but at that peremptory ring I
+must give up dreaming here, or my 'Madonna of the Tubs' will be giving
+me notice."</p>
+
+<p>"Good morning, dear. Pardon my not having been down to welcome you," she
+said, warmly, finding her friend and the morning papers ensconced in a
+rocker by the grate, Tyr stretched on the rug.</p>
+
+<p>"I have just come down, Elaine, and have had my mirrored reflection as
+company, and don't I look comical, encased in this dressing gown you
+lent me? Won't I have to eat a substantial breakfast to fill it out?"</p>
+
+<p>"All right, dear, if my seraph of the frying pan condescended to fill my
+orders, we have bloaters on the menu."</p>
+
+<p>"I am ready for them, Elaine, and feel bloated already," she said, as
+they seated themselves at table.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder what kind of a day we shall have for your review of the city
+schools? Old Sol does not seem to have made up his mind whether to laugh
+or weep," said Mrs. Gower, as she touched the bell to remove the fruit.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope he will be good enough to weep over some other city, for I am
+sure Henry will not bring my waterproof."</p>
+
+<p>"But Miss Crew will, she seems so really thoughtful. What do you intend
+doing with her when you place Garfield at school?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's just what I am in a quandary about. I like her, for she puzzles
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"What a droll little creature you are, Ella; you have a perfect craze
+for working out problems, even to a woman," she said, laughingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Now you mustn't think, Elaine, that my interest in you has the remotest
+connection with the mystery at Holmnest," she said, opening her blue
+eyes in apparent innocence, but in reality her words being a reminder to
+her hostess.</p>
+
+<p>"The mystery at Holmnest? What a tragic sound you give it, it makes
+one's flesh creep, but I have not forgotten how large-hearted you are,
+dear, when you do not forget, 'Share ye one another's burdens.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you must tell me all, Elaine, and I feel sure that with, or
+without the advice of Henry, your trouble will either vanish or lighten
+by your sharing it with me."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, perhaps so," she said gravely; "but we must not spoil our
+breakfast, and the play of knife and fork. My little tragedy must be the
+afterpiece this time."</p>
+
+<p>"As you will, Elaine, but don't bear it too long alone. Tragedy is
+heavy. How cozy and home-like breakfasting with you is after hotel
+life."</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad you think so, Ella."</p>
+
+<p>"Your dark leather chairs and handsome sideboard look well against the
+brown paper on the walls, and oh, you won't mind telling me who hung
+your drapings, <i>portière</i> hangings, and all that, they are in such good
+taste."</p>
+
+<p>"Murray did them for me; it was a case of two heads being better than
+one, where I was at fault he set me right."</p>
+
+<p>"Your home is small, but all so home-like, except for one great want, a
+man to hang his hat up in the hall as your husband, and a child to call
+you mother."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite a tempting picture, Ella," she answered, a little sadly, "but
+'<i>l'homme propose Dieu dispose</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Take the man, when he proposes, Elaine; I cannot bear to see you
+alone."</p>
+
+<p>"That is my advice to my friends also, Ella; but, speaking of living
+alone, will you and Miss Crew come to me when you place Garfield at
+school, and during the absence of Mr. Dale north-east with Mr.
+Buckingham; say you will, it won't be for long."</p>
+
+<p>"It's the thing above all others that will please me, Elaine. Excuse my
+Irish blood, but I must give vent to my feelings by giving you a hug,"
+she said, merrily, as they rose from table.</p>
+
+<p>"Angels and ministers of grace defend us, Elaine, here's a lady visitor;
+and now that her umbrella is down, I see Mrs. Smyth. But, fond as I am
+of her, I wish her back to her home, for I wanted the morning alone with
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"You are both looking charming, it's a pity I am not a gentleman caller,
+but what lazy people you are," said lively Mrs. Smyth.</p>
+
+<p>"Now that I have emerged from the under side of Fortune's wheel, I do
+believe I am growing epicurean," said Mrs. Gower, gaily.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't I look too sweet for anything, Mrs. Smyth?" said Mrs. Dale,
+promenading up and down the room; "haven't I grown stout?"</p>
+
+<p>"But you are all uneven," laughed Mrs. Smyth.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, that is cruel, Mrs. Smyth; 'tis 'love's labor lost,' after having
+utilized all the mats, towels and pillow-shams in my bedroom as
+stuffing, to be simply told I am uneven."</p>
+
+<p>"Stuffing never goes down with me, Mrs. Dale," laughed Mrs. Smyth.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a good thing for us you are not a man," said Mrs. Dale, demurely.</p>
+
+<p>"Women all angles would cry 'hear, hear!'" laughed Mrs. Gower.</p>
+
+<p>"But you don't ask me what brought me in this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I am too glad to have you; but is it a call of a mouth full of
+news?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, which I shall stuff you with 'as pigeons do their young.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Me, too!" piped Mrs. Dale.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. King is in town, Mrs. Gower; there, I thought I should electrify
+you, but you don't seem to care."</p>
+
+<p>"I do, for we shall now have news of the Coles."</p>
+
+<p>"And is that all you will welcome him all the way from Ottawa for?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is all, Lilian; these little flirtations, <i>pour passez le temp</i>,
+soon burn themselves out."</p>
+
+<p>"What a funny woman you are, Elaine; sometimes I can't make you out at
+all."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't try to, dear, when I puzzle you; life is too short for
+problem-solving, though our little friend here doesn't think so. But did
+Mr. King name the Coles?"</p>
+
+<p>"He did."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Thomas," said Mrs. Gower, receiving her letters, which had
+been put in the letter-box by the letter-carrier.</p>
+
+<p>"One moment, you will excuse me, dears, while I run my letters over."
+One marked "Immediate," she read to herself as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+"<span class="smcap">The Queen's</span>, Wed. Eve., Nov. 9th.
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Mrs. Gower</span>,&mdash;It is with extreme pleasure I again find
+myself in the same city with yourself, and am anticipating with
+intense eagerness an interview. I go west to-morrow p.m., so
+shall go up to Holmnest in the morning.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"As ever, yours devotedly,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">"<span class="smcap">Cyril King</span>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"<span class="smcap">Mrs. Gower</span>,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">"Holmnest, West Toronto."<br /></span>
+</div></div></blockquote>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear! oh, dear! he may be here any moment, and I am in a quandary
+as to what I shall do with him. This little settling up of one's
+<i>affaires de c&oelig;ur</i> is distasteful, but I have not been a bit to blame
+here," she thought, quietly tearing up the note, and making a holocaust
+of it.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I can assure you, Mrs. Dale, she had scarcely any waist covering at
+all," said Mrs. Smyth, in disgust, "she looked simply dreadful."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is the woman this time, dear?" asked Mrs. Gower, amusedly, as she
+fastened some camellias to her gown; "what fair one are you throwing mud
+at now, Lilian?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that Mrs. St. Clair. Miss Hall walked down with me as far as
+College Street this morning, and she says, or rather mouthed, for she is
+too full of affectation to speak plain, but managed to convey that Mrs.
+St. Clair's dress began too late during the Langtry season. Her dress
+was <i>couleur de rose</i> (what there was of it), no sleeves, well there was
+an invisible band, Miss Hall said (I wondered at her, the way she
+talked, as she is so thick there). Now, what do you think of Mrs. St.
+Clair, Elaine?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think that she would be the cynosure of all eyes&mdash;men's, for she is
+very fair to look upon."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Elaine, she is enamelled! Miss Hall's description reminded me of
+how an American paper describes such&mdash;as if they in their opera boxes
+sat in a bath tub."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that's hard," said Mrs. Dale; "who was she with, and was the boy
+Noah ready with his pinchers?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, it was that horrid boy's night off, I suppose, for his father was
+on duty; the little wretch nearly gave me cancer; the two Wilber girls
+and our Mr. Buckingham were the party; oh, Elaine, it's most absurd, but
+Mr. Buckingham is the 'foreign count' gossip said Mr. St. Clair is
+jealous of."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not surprised; all Grundy's scandal brews are a froth of lies,
+Lilian."</p>
+
+<p>"But it <i>is</i> true that Mrs. St. Clair flirts and enamels."</p>
+
+<p>"If so, she is very pretty, and has a husband with an eagle eye&mdash;and,"
+she added gaily, "a son with claws that even you speak feelingly of."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, good-bye, it is getting near our dinner hour, I must off; and, as
+I live, here is the King from Ottawa; you are here opportunely to play
+gooseberry, Mrs. Dale; oh, I must tell you, you know, how quiet Mrs.
+Tremaine is. Well, she went back in the dark last Sunday evening for her
+dolman, it was so cold, but when she hung it over the front of the pew
+it proved to be the Captain's trousers!"</p>
+
+<p>"How do you do, dear Mrs. Gower?" he said with <i>empressement</i>, his
+strikingly handsome face aglow with pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>"'Mrs. Dale, my friend, Mr. King,' from the tower-crowned city, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"And you come to a spire-crowned one, at which, Mr. King, don't become
+unduly elevated."</p>
+
+<p>"I am in the heights," he said, with a swift glance at Mrs. Gower.</p>
+
+<p>"Then beware of the attraction of gravitation," laughed his hostess,
+thinking, "I shall have to do a little fencing, I can see by his face."</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me, Elaine, I see my family are arriving."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite a cavalcade, Mr. King," she said, gaily.</p>
+
+<p>"And mercy me, that young monkey is on horseback, while the driver is
+giving his attention to bell ringing; I must fly. May I bring them
+upstairs, Elaine?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, dear; and as your colony will want you all to themselves,
+send Miss Crew to the drawing-room; she will be happy with the piano."</p>
+
+<p>"How handsome he is; I wonder if he thought me uneven," mused Mrs. Dale,
+as she left the library.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank heaven, they are all despatched," he said, fervently, leaning
+over the back of her chair; "look around at me, dear, and tell me I am
+welcome."</p>
+
+<p>"You are;" and turning her face, her cheek was brushed by his whiskers;
+"but I am going to be very proper, and tell you to take that very
+comfortable chair, at the other side of the room."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what have I done; don't send me away, when my heart is bursting to
+take you in my arms."</p>
+
+<p>"With your temperament, how full, metaphorically speaking, your arms
+must be."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no; you only, with your warm eyes and handsome mouth."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come; no more of this, Mr. King."</p>
+
+<p>"Since when have you dropped Cyril; I cannot bear my surname from your
+lips."</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis safer so; and you <i>know</i> I have tried to act up to this, since
+knowing you have a wife."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, you have; but you magnetized me from the first, and had it
+not been for that meddling fellow, Dubois, telling you, I believe,
+dearest, you would have learned to love me, wholly, and alone."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank heaven he did tell me, and in time."</p>
+
+<p>"I think there has been every excuse for me, dearest; you are aware of
+the circumstances of my marriage; then, after fifteen years of <i>such</i>
+wedded bliss, I find you, my heart's mate. I often think how tame life
+is before the meeting with the one that is to fill one's being with
+rapturous content; well, if they come to one while one has one's
+freedom, if not, what miserable loneliness; what an array of jealous
+fears. Do not turn me out of some corner in your heart, Elaine," he
+pleaded, "just because the Church and the law come between us; it is no
+fault of mine that I have met you too late to offer you my name;
+therefore, pity my misfortune, be kind to me; give me a corner in your
+affections; you will, won't you, darling," he pleaded, earnestly, his
+winsome voice coming on the air like sweet notes of song to the
+accompaniment of 'Il Trovatore,' exquisitely rendered, by Miss Crew,
+across the hall.</p>
+
+<p>"You must never again talk to me in this strain, Cyril," she says,
+putting her feelings aside, for she pities him intensely; "it is harmful
+for both of us; be a man, be brave. I, too, have trials; help me to bear
+them by seeing you at the post of duty; let us forget that we have
+hearts; let us harden ourselves by looking at life teeming with ill
+everywhere.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us, from this moment, begin over again, and talk as though the room
+was full of a gaping crowd; let us talk of anything but ourselves. Of
+Chamberlain and the fisheries; of who will run for mayor; of how that
+hot pickle, the French cabinet, will be formed; of whether Bishop Cleary
+wishes he had been tongue-tied before his imagination went without bit
+or curb on our girls; <i>anything</i> but <i>ourselves</i>, Cyril, for pity sake."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it will not do, dear; we can never be as common acquaintances,
+though you charm me in any mood."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well; if that be so, you must go. Those songs, without words, by
+Miss Crew, with the scent of flowers, have been enough to intoxicate
+one; but you <i>know</i> that since the knowledge came to me of your having a
+wife, that I have told you, repeatedly, our acquaintance must end unless
+you always remember, in our intercourse, the fact of your being bound to
+another. If you care to meet Mr. and Mrs. Dale, and a young lady friend,
+stay to luncheon, if you will not more than look at me as a friend&mdash;for
+I will be that."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot face strangers now, and shall go, but shall write you from the
+west; and pray let me have a line in answer, saying you will see me on
+my return?" he said, beseechingly, his handsome face clouded.</p>
+
+<p>"I see I must tell you something I had not intended," she said,
+nervously, "they are coming downstairs to luncheon; I have promised,
+nay, am under oath," she said, gravely, "to marry a man who would make
+trouble, did he hear your words."</p>
+
+<p>"For heaven's sake, Elaine, don't be mad! you would be wretched, chained
+to a man like that; for the light has all left your dear face, even when
+you name him."</p>
+
+<p>"Beg pardon, luncheon is served, ma'am," said Thomas.</p>
+
+<p>"I must hasten to the dining-room, and I fear I don't look very calm.
+Good-bye; remember and be brave; others there are who have no more a bed
+of roses than yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"God bless you, good-bye; and I implore you, say <i>No</i> to him. I speak,
+as you know, from experience," he whispers, with a tight hand-clasp.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Your visitor is a strikingly handsome man, Mrs. Gower," said Mr. Dale,
+coming from the window to the table; "we shall be losing you one of
+these days as&mdash;Mrs. Gower," he continued, noticing by her pallor and the
+light in her eyes that she had been feeling intensely.</p>
+
+<p>"He is wondrously so; and as well, what is more perilous to the hearts
+of our sex, he possesses a rare fascination of manner."</p>
+
+<p>"I have been telling Henry not to jump at conclusions, for, perhaps Mr.
+King is married," said Mrs. Dale, curiously.</p>
+
+<p>"He is, dear; but your husband is not one of those absurd beings who
+imagine all one's men friends to be possible suitors."</p>
+
+<p>"Far from it, Mrs. Gower: I am a believer in men and women friendships,
+and if, in the numerous mistakes society makes, she would obliterate her
+opposition to such friendships, she would have fewer matrimonial
+blunders to chronicle."</p>
+
+<p>"That is very true, Mr. Dale; I have frequently found it both
+mortifying, distressing and annoying to the last degree, at little
+social gatherings at Toronto, to find myself openly accused of
+flirtation, because some man friend and I dared to enjoy a <i>tête-à-tête</i>
+chat on some mutual topic of interest."</p>
+
+<p>"But some women do flirt when they get a man in a corner, whether he is
+married or no," said Mrs. Dale.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but because some do, we should not all drift as we are, into no
+conversation between the sexes," said Mrs. Gower.</p>
+
+<p>"No, certainly not," said Dale; "Emerson says, 'I prize the mechanics of
+conversation, 'tis pulley, lever and screw;' and it is especially
+delightful between men and women&mdash;when it occurs."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, as you say&mdash;when it occurs&mdash;Mr. Dale; but why is it, that the more
+solid tone of conversation of men is so seldom blended with the, at
+times more refined, even if it be more frivolous, chit-chat of my sex?
+Simply because of our dread of gossip?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then there is something 'rotten in the state of Denmark,'" said Mrs.
+Dale.</p>
+
+<p>"There is, dear," said Mrs. Gower, gravely, rising from the table.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Smyth is in the library, ma'am," said Thomas.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, ask him if he has lunched, Thomas."</p>
+
+<p>"He has, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"I am vulgar enough to have dined, Mrs. Gower," said Smyth, meeting them
+at the door of the library.</p>
+
+<p>"As you please," she said, gaily, giving her hand; "'let ilka ane gang
+their ain gait.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Your son is acting on that motto, Mrs. Dale," he said, looking from the
+window. "Don't stir, he is in the back way; and has evidently been
+wrestling with our York mud."</p>
+
+<p>At this juncture Garfield appeared, breathless; and his pretty Norfolk
+jacket and knickerbockers all be-spattered.</p>
+
+<p>"How did you come to grief, my son?" asked his father.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, papa; first, I knocked down a sparrow with my catapult; it died
+game, falling on a foreign bird perched on a lady's steeple bonnet.
+Well, she was mad, phew! called me names for killing birds. I told her
+not to try to be funny, when she had stuffed ones on her head-dress.
+Next, I saw a man down street putting a mouth on his poor horse; man!
+how he sawed, tore the bit nearly through his head; well, I just let
+another lead fly, knocking his Christy stiff into the mud; then, he out
+of his butcher waggon and after me. I remembered some dimes in my
+pocket, got 'em, threw 'em behind&mdash;he bit, and I took my chance and
+distanced him," he said, panting for breath.</p>
+
+<p>"That was sport," said Smyth, laughingly; "but I have had to shut down
+on my boy's hunting, we swell our city treasury by fining such
+fire-arms."</p>
+
+<p>"Go to the kitchen, you poor little man," said Mrs. Gower; "and ask
+Thomas to brush you; he will get you some lunch, there is mud even in
+your curls; here, let me kiss you."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you may," he said, condescendingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Come along, son; mother will go with you."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't ask what brought me in at this hour, Mrs. Gower," said Smyth.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I have scarcely welcomed you, as yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I must out with it, even if it shortens my stay; for I have only
+a few moments. On my way up to dinner, I literally ran against King, he
+was in a brown study, and I in a hurry. 'Hello!' I cried, at which he
+stopped, and quite abruptly (so unlike him), said, 'Tell Mrs. Gower I
+have heard from Mr. Cole, senr., who has been ill at Montreal. His
+physician, Dr. Peake, ordered him to Florida, positively forbidding him
+to pass the cold season at Ottawa. He is extremely anxious about
+Charlie, who has not written him. A newspaper, with the announcement of
+his marriage, being the only communication from Bayswater direct;' and
+here it is, he gave it me for you. From some outside source he has heard
+that Charlie is ill, and wishes any of us to let him know immediately at
+his hotel, Jacksonville, if we have, or receive any news. He admits to
+King, that with the exception of the girl herself, the remaining members
+of the family Charlie has married into are a bad lot."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Charlie, he dreaded this marriage," she said, regretfully; "but
+seemed to be hemmed in by circumstances&mdash;a betrothal. Then she had five
+thousand pounds per annum, and his father wished him to carry it out;
+and Charlie is so yielding, altogether. When he told me about it, at the
+very last, I too advised him to go and carry out the arrangement. You
+see, as we know he was heart whole, and his salary was small, and he
+seemed born only to work the will of others, that it seemed a half
+natural sort of thing for him to drift into; still, if he is ill, and
+the family are horrid, and he over there alone, I feel sorry he went at
+all, poor fellow."</p>
+
+<p>"A miserable marriage would break Charlie Cole up completely," said
+Smyth.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you no mutual friend at London," said Dale, kindly, "to whom you
+could apply, and who might give you the facts of the case. Perhaps I can
+assist you. You told me before, Mrs. Gower, that it is to Bayswater
+suburb, your friend went; I knew a very prominent physician residing
+there, to whom I shall write, if you wish; a medical man is very often
+the very best medium in such cases."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, if you would, Mr. Dale; it would be a perfect relief to all of us,"
+said Mrs. Gower.</p>
+
+<p>"Here is the marriage insertion," said Smyth, reading: "'At Broadlawns,
+Bayswater, London, England, on September 28th, 1887, by the Rev. Claude
+Parks, Charles Babbington-Cole, Esq., of Toronto, Dominion of Canada, to
+Margaret, daughter of the late&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What's that! Miss Crew has fainted, poor girl," cried Mrs. Gower, "and
+hurt herself, I fear; there is water in the dining-room."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll get it," cried Smyth.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Dale, returning, said, "I wonder what caused it; she is delicate, I
+know, but I never knew her to faint before. My vinaigrette is on my
+dressing-table; would you get it, Henry, like a dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Mr. Dale, she revives."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I shall go, Mrs. Gower; and here, I shall leave the English
+newspaper with you; Lil wants you all to come over this evening, then we
+can talk over some plan&mdash;Mr. Dale's is a good one&mdash;to elicit information
+as to Charlie's position; Miss Crew is to come, too. Good-bye till
+evening."</p>
+
+<p>"You had better go upstairs and lie down, Miss Crew; you look very
+white, and I fear you have hurt your head, poor girl," said Mrs. Gower,
+kindly.</p>
+
+<p>"I did give it a knock, but you are all too kind; if it won't make any
+difference, I shall lie here for a few minutes."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, dear; and a glass of wine will be good for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, she never touches it, Elaine, she is rabid blue ribbon," said Mrs.
+Dale.</p>
+
+<p>"And a very good color to wear, but when one is ill," said Mrs. Gower.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind the wine, Mrs. Gower, my head aches very badly, but all I
+want is to rest it a little; but shall feel very uncomfortable, though,
+if I delay your out-going; do go now."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I suppose we must."</p>
+
+<p>"Garfield, you stay with Miss Crew, darling, while Mrs. Gower dresses,
+and I put on my wraps."</p>
+
+<p>"All O. K., mamma." After a few moments spent with 'The Pansy,' he comes
+over to the sofa.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Crew, Miss Crew; wake up."</p>
+
+<p>"I was not sleeping, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"But your brows were knit like this; and you looked so white. What did
+you faint for? I wanted you to come with us."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, never mind, don't talk about me; I want you to give me your
+catapult."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I reckon I will, as young Smyth had to give his up; but I should
+like it if I get mad at a man for ill-treating his horse."</p>
+
+<p>"But a better plan would be to read the name of the owner on the
+vehicle, and report him."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that's too slow; when a fellow gets mad, he wants to let a lead fly
+right then," making a movement as if he was firing.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, but that is not the best way, my boy; the wise men of old waited
+until they were out of their temper."</p>
+
+<p>"We don't; we just go, bang! but it was pretty good of them, I reckon.
+What did they say right at first, though?"</p>
+
+<p>"They said, when the evildoer was brought before them, having done them
+a great wrong, 'By the gods, were I <i>not</i> in wrath with thee, I would
+have thee slain.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I guess that was noble of them; I reckon my catapult must go," he
+said, fondling it, "and here goes," he said, putting it into the fire;
+"but as I don't want to hear it hissing me, I'll put a finger in each
+ear."</p>
+
+<p>Here Mrs. Gower, with Mr. and Mrs. Dale, entered, robed for the outer
+world, looking comely and comfortable. Mrs. Gower in blue, broken plaid
+skirt, with plain over-skirt, and waist of same color, bonnet to suit,
+tight mantle, with fox boa and muff. Mrs. Dale in plum color, with seal
+mantle; both women with the hue of health on cheek and lips, and with
+bright eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Garfield, my son, into your overcoat with the speed of a New York
+despatch," said his mother.</p>
+
+<p>"It seems too bad to leave you, Miss Crew," said Mrs. Gower,
+sympathetically; "are you sure I can do nothing for you before we
+start?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite sure, thank you; my head aches a little, but I have some Dorcas
+work here, which will make me forget I have a head, I hope."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you will be rewarded; <i>au revoir</i>, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"And now for the tree of knowledge," said Mrs. Dale.</p>
+
+<p>After visiting the Wellesley and other city schools, the Church School
+for boys, the Collegiate Institute, Jarvis Street, and the Upper Canada
+College, they decided to place him at the latter, principally on account
+of the boarding school; they being, at present, unsettled as to their
+future plans.</p>
+
+<p>"Your city schools are admirable, and were we actual residents,
+housekeeping, I should ask nothing better for my boy. Some of your
+finest public men, I am told, Mrs. Gower, have sat at those desks."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, so I have always heard; but I think, in Garfield's case, you have
+acted wisely. A boy coming from school to hotel life, has every
+incentive not to study."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that's just it. At the U. C. College, the example will be there in
+the other boys at their books, and I consider it a great boon to be able
+to place him under such management. The masters are talented gentlemen;
+and if a boy does not make something of himself under such guidance,
+mentally, morally and physically, then he must be made of very poor
+stuff, indeed."</p>
+
+<p>"Garfield, dear," said his mother, "you will have to be as starched as a
+Swiss laundry, minding your p's and q's, like an Englishman."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, I know; but they are the stuff, mamma. You see they give a
+fellow cricket, and drill, as well as book knowledge."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, they are wise; you will study all the better. See that you make a
+man of yourself while there," said his father.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall never forget my goal, papa."</p>
+
+<p>"And what is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"To be President Dale, of the United States of America; and I reckon,
+when I run, my opponents won't have any dirty stories to rake up about
+me, for I'm going to begin right now."</p>
+
+<p>"But they frequently coin falsehoods. What would you do in that case?"</p>
+
+<p>"Put mamma on their trail; have 'em up, and make 'em swallow or prove
+them."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, my ten-year-old; mother will be your right hand man," she
+said, endearingly.</p>
+
+<p>"I expect the lies men have to face in the arena of public life are
+their worst foes," said Mrs. Gower. "Beecher said, 'If the lies told
+about public men could be materialized, they would roof in and cover
+over the whole earth.'"</p>
+
+<p>"He spoke feelingly," said Mr. Dale; "Dames Rumor and Grundy, with the
+newspapers, had him in a tight place."</p>
+
+<p>"Shall we go on further, Henry, and purchase the mattress, etc., for
+Garfield?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I think not, Ella; I have to meet Dickson, from New York, at the
+Walker House, at six; can't you come in the morning, dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you dine with your friend, Mr. Dale?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; so we arranged."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you come back with me, Ella, and this wee man, of course?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, if we don't weary you."</p>
+
+<p>"You know better, dear. Oh, Mr. Dale, will you kindly go into Mr.
+Smyth's office, and say we find it impossible to go over this evening,
+but will to-morrow&mdash;<i>sans ceremonie</i>, if agreeable."</p>
+
+<p>"Consider your commission executed, dear Mrs. Gower. I shall drive up
+for you, Ella, this evening some time; <i>au revoir</i>," and, lifting his
+hat, he is gone.</p>
+
+<p>After a delightful walk through the busy streets, from the Upper Canada
+College, by way of King Street West, thence north to Holmnest, they find
+Miss Crew a little quieter, perhaps, but apparently quite recovered from
+her recent swoon. Putting aside her Dorcas work, the three ladies sit in
+the firelight and gloaming, to chat until dinner hour.</p>
+
+<p>"I regret you were not with us, Miss Crew; the schools would have
+interested you," said Mrs. Dale.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I am sorry, too; for ever since our arrival I have heard so much
+in praise of the city schools, especially."</p>
+
+<p>"Their praise is ever in our mouth," said Mrs. Gower; "but my views on
+the subject are somewhat contradictory. Though going with the progress
+of the age, I don't feel quite sure that this mixing up of the children
+of the rich and poor is to the ultimate good of either."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I think it's better, Elaine, to bundle them all in together."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, Ella; the Industrial School system recommends itself very
+much to me for the poorer classes, among whom, if there is any
+originality, it will out."</p>
+
+<p>After dinner, to which Mr. Cobbe, coming in as it was announced, made
+one at, Miss Crew, not feeling quite herself, begging to be excused,
+retired to her room, and Garfield into the arms of Morpheus on the
+lounge; when, during a temporary absence of Mrs. Dale, Mr. Cobbe said,
+quickly, while laying a hand on either shoulder of his hostess:</p>
+
+<p>"What do you have that woman here all the time for? If she is going to
+spend the evening, I shall go."</p>
+
+<p>"Were I Mrs. Ruggles, of Pickwick fame, I should object to my friend
+being called a woman," she said, half jokingly; "as it is, I&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>At this moment some pebbles were thrown against the window, cracking the
+glass. Mrs. Dale, now returning, said:</p>
+
+<p>"What! is it the window fired at? Things are coming to a pretty pass,"
+she said, with latent meaning; "We should have closed the shutters;
+don't, Elaine, I shall do it."</p>
+
+<p>"I had better go out and frighten away the tramps," said Cobbe, his face
+flushing with angry impatience.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Philip; if you will be so kind."</p>
+
+<p>"You are a gentlemanly man, and a good looking one, Mr. Cobbe; but I
+don't love you," said Mrs. Dale, emphatically, shaking her clenched fist
+after his retreating form.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gower could not but smile at her little friend's vehemence, as she
+played with the bracelets on her shapely arms, her head bent in thought.</p>
+
+<p>"Thomas is a good servant, Elaine; he has just fastened the hall door on
+the heels of Monsieur Cobbe; and now, <i>ma chere</i>, this is the time and
+place for confidence," she said, earnestly, while laying her jewelled
+fingers on her friend's brown locks.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE OATH IN THE TOWER OF TORONTO UNIVERSITY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Yes, dear, draw over your rocker, he will not return, and since you are
+willing, I shall pour my griefs into the lap of your mind; seeking, as
+you say, to lessen the dead weight on my own.</p>
+
+<p>"Just about this time last year, not so late though, for the trees were
+lovely in tints of deep orange and crimson, with the brown of the oak.
+Our beautiful suburbs, with the Queen's Park, looking like huge bouquets
+in the hands of Dame Nature; you know my passion for scenery, Ella. One
+day&mdash;a bright and glorious day, it had been&mdash;the blue sky, almost out of
+sight, it was so uplifted; a day sufficient to raise one's spirits as by
+some powerful stimulant, I was returning from town to my modest quarters
+(not here you know, dear), about four p.m., through the park; when, Mr.
+Cobbe overtaking me, suggested our going up into the tower of the
+Toronto University to enjoy the view. I consented, knowing that the
+slanting beams of the sinking sun would kiss good-night to the
+tree-tops, lighting them with additional loveliness. We entered the
+grandly beautiful building, the janitor, unlocking the door to the
+tower, reminding us of the rule, "keys turned at five." Up, and ever
+upwards, the spiral stairway, making one dizzy in the ascent; at length,
+the top is reached; and, oh! the view, Ella, was more than beautiful. My
+eyes only rested with a passing glance at the handsome villas skirting
+the park, ever returning to dwell on the superb mass of color in the
+trees; the sun seeming to linger lovingly while photographing their
+shadows upon the grass.</p>
+
+<p>"I sat silent, or nearly so, for some time, when somehow the very air
+seemed full of such quiet, solemn grandeur, that thought becoming
+active, travelled in and about by-gone scenes and faces, bringing tears
+to my eyes, as a strange fit of loneliness came upon me.</p>
+
+<p>"I was just in the mood to say yes, to a proposal to link my life with
+another, when Philip Cobbe pleaded his suit, saying, 'In a home together
+we would be companions each for the other; that we would be happier in a
+little home together than in the cold formality of a boarding-house;
+that in our short acquaintance, we knew each other as well as people who
+had a life-long knowledge of each other; that we were each too
+warm-hearted to be content alone; that the long, dark autumn was coming
+on, in which we would be all in all to each other; that his love for me
+filled his heart.'</p>
+
+<p>"Then, Ella, he was really eloquent in his description of a little home
+together&mdash;a picture particularly inviting to me in my loneliness and in
+my despondent mood.</p>
+
+<p>"I had been, as you know, under fortune's wheel, season after season, in
+the ice-bound winter, in the scorching sun of summer; sometimes in doubt
+in which I suffered most. With a purse as 'trash,' society turned a cold
+shoulder to me. Summer friends did not see me; my real friends at a
+distance&mdash;yourselves among the foremost&mdash;could not prevail upon me to
+visit them, as I knew the only sin society refuses to pardon is an
+out-at-elbows gown; and I was too proud to accept gifts I could not
+repay.</p>
+
+<p>"Yet, still I hesitated in accepting Philip's offer, which seemed
+tempting in its home view; but would it be wise for me to marry him,
+simply because my life was a lonely one? I was in the act of telling
+him, 'I would sleep on it, and give him his answer, to-morrow,' when
+saying so, we were startled by the city clocks and bells striking,
+ringing and chiming six o'clock! Ella, Ella, my heart with fright seemed
+to stop beating; even yet a nervous tremor runs through me when I recall
+that moment; it was too true, on Philip consulting his watch, really, in
+the gloaming; for the sun was then sinking to rest at about five-thirty.</p>
+
+<p>"'Great Heavens!' I cried; 'the tower door will be locked!' At this, can
+you credit it, Ella; the face of my companion grew exultant, as he
+cried:</p>
+
+<p>"'Then we shall be here together until morning, and you will have to
+marry me!'</p>
+
+<p>"At this, Ella, a shudder of repulsion ran through me; all my liking for
+him seemed at once to leave my heart, fear taking its place. 'What shall
+we do?' I cried; 'there are no passers-by; God help me, for truly, "vain
+is the help of man." Think of something, do something, Mr. Cobbe&mdash;go to
+the foot of the stairs&mdash;hammer on the door&mdash;anything&mdash;get me out some
+way,' I said, almost in a frenzy. 'There is no one in the building,' he
+said. 'I would be no more heard than you hear your dog Tyr whining for
+your return. You will have to stay. We will be married, which some women
+would not grieve at. Come, come, cheer up; we will be married quietly in
+the morning; say yes, with a kiss.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Go away,' I said; 'you must have matches, I have hit upon a plan. I am
+going to tie my bonnet to the end of your cane, and set fire to it. Some
+one will see it, and tell the janitor or steward, and we shall be
+liberated; here, quick, the matches!'</p>
+
+<p>"'I have not one about me,' he said; and which I now feel sure was a
+falsehood. 'Oh try, try; search every pocket; if you will only free us I
+will promise anything, only get us out of here,' I said, half beside
+myself.</p>
+
+<p>"'You will promise anything,' he said, excitedly; 'then, down on your
+knees, and swear by all you hold sacred, to become my wife.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Oh, that is too awful an oath, ask me anything but that,' for I was
+sure now I could not love him.</p>
+
+<p>"'No, no; swear, or you stay here all night.' 'Half my money, when I get
+it, instead, for pity's sake,' I said, distractedly.</p>
+
+<p>"'Nonsense! I swear to liberate us from the tower and building, if you
+swear as I have dictated; if not, take the consequences.' Again, he
+pleaded his suit, winding up by asking me 'How I thought I would look
+facing a crowd in the morning, emerging from such a midnight
+resting-place, and in his company; of how the students would have food
+for jokes, for the remainder of the term; of how the newspapers would
+get hold of it,' etc.</p>
+
+<p>"Driven to desperation, I knelt and swore by all I held sacred, to
+become his wife&mdash;unless he himself set me free&mdash;the latter clause he
+allowed, laughing at the idea; he then held me to his heart, telling me
+I would have a good husband in him, and never have cause to repent of my
+oath; tying my bonnet on, for I trembled so, my hands were useless; how
+I got down the steps on steps I don't know; he must have carried me; for
+what with the strain on my nerves from the whole scene, added to the
+spiral stairway, I felt dizzy and faint; but we reached the bottom, and
+my astonishment and indignation is easier imagined than described, on
+seeing him coolly turn the handle and open the door! The bells we had
+heard were fire-bells. The janitor, true to his trust, had locked the
+great door and gone to a lecture-room for a moment, intending after to
+mount for us.</p>
+
+<p>"Philip seemed uplifted to a state of insane exultation at the success
+of his plan; for, on my upbraiding him on such base means to attain his
+ends, he laughed, as he said, 'All is fair in love or war,' as turning
+the key in the oak door of the main entrance we were out in the free
+air. Free! yes, but with my freedom gone. I looked at him with a sort of
+curiosity, as merely shutting the door, though I suggested burglars; he
+for answer, taking me in his arms, saying thickly, to the accompaniment
+of the key turning, 'Make the best of me, love, it was only by stratagem
+I could win you; I am lonely, so are you; I will make you happy, so help
+me God!' and so it is, Ella, you find me engaged to wed Philip Cobbe.</p>
+
+<p>"But, as you must see, there must be other reasons than my
+disinclination to have prevented our union, for, you see, he still
+haunts me, though not loving me so faithfully, perhaps," she said,
+gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I see it, you poor dear," she said, coming nearer, and
+kissing her friend, "and you must <i>never</i> marry that man. What a romance
+of the tower it was; I have been fascinated listening to your recital. I
+now see what he meant by his&mdash;as he thought&mdash;strange manner, on Henry
+naming that we were going to the University with you. But, <i>mark my
+words</i>, there will be a tragedy if you wed this man; I know something."</p>
+
+<p>A tremor ran through Mrs. Gower; she clasped her hands nervously, her
+lips quivered, and her dark eyes dilated, as she said, leaning towards
+her friend,</p>
+
+<p>"You mean about a woman!"</p>
+
+<p>Here Garfield awoke at the entrance of his father, whose ring his mother
+and Mrs. Gower had not heard. Miss Crew, entering, hat and mantle on,
+and carrying the outdoor wraps of Mrs. Dale.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you both look startled!" said Mr. Dale; "have you been enjoying a
+spiritual seance?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Henry, but you had better avoid me, for I have been tasting of the
+tree of knowledge."</p>
+
+<p>"We have had dogma, also, Mr. Dale; and your wife does not believe that
+the end justifies the means," said Mrs. Gower, as Thomas brought in a
+tray with delicious coffee and sandwiches.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope such doctrine won't be forced down our throats some day, Mrs.
+Gower. Roman Catholicism seems to be coming upon you, wave by wave, and
+you in Ontario don't even seem to dream of a breakwater."</p>
+
+<p>And so he talked on of city news, of the immense circulation of the
+newspapers, of the power of the press, etc., seeing there had been grave
+talk, and giving each time to bury gravity in heart's casket.</p>
+
+<p>"Good night, little man; and so you get your feet on life's first rung,
+at Upper Canada College, on Monday morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Mrs. Gower, and I mean to show them what a New York boy can do."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right; defy circumstance and fate, and mount."</p>
+
+<p>"Good night, and good-bye, dear Mrs. Gower, for I leave, as you are
+aware, for a run north-east, to look at some mines with our friend
+Buckingham."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, so I hear; what birds of passage you men are; but you don't leave
+until Monday, when your good little wife and Miss Crew come to me during
+your absence."</p>
+
+<p>"I really don't know what Ella would do without Holmnest and&mdash;you."</p>
+
+<p>"Take care of yourself, Elaine," said Mrs. Dale, with a meaning pressure
+of the hand.</p>
+
+<p>"What for?" she said, rather sadly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, for somebody!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
+
+<h3>BIRDS OF PREY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>In the neat little parlor, with flowering plants in the window, its
+walls adorned with old-time Scripture prints and modern play-bills in
+droll blending, back of the shop-room for stationery, at Bayswater, on
+an evening late in October, sits Silas Jones, listless, and, with idle
+hands, apparently staring into vacancy, in reality wandering in busy
+thought into dim prison-houses and private asylums at London, in search
+of Sarah Kane, who, on his calling to see at Mrs. Mansfield's some weeks
+ago, as arranged, was informed by a housekeeper in charge that her
+mistress had gone south for the winter, and had told Mr. Stone some
+months ago she would like Sarah Kane to go with her as companion. When
+he sent her word she refused the offer, and that as to Mr. Stone
+bringing her, neither of them had been near the place.</p>
+
+<p>On this, Silas Jones had racked his brain to discover her, advertising
+time and again; sure of foul play. One day he thought of seeing what the
+detectives could do, another of consulting a lawyer; he had, though
+knowing it would be useless, gone to Broadlawns, and interviewed Mr.
+Stone, who had answered carelessly:</p>
+
+<p>"I never even try to keep track of servants we discharge. Why of Sarah
+Kane, who was a viper on our hands?"</p>
+
+<p>"As to that, Mr. Stone, I shall not allow you to blacken the best woman
+in God's world. She went with you to London; where is she now?"</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you again I don't know, even whether she be alive or dead, and
+if you come about Broadlawns again, I shall have you up for trespass. An
+Englishman's house is his castle, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Silas Jones, Silas Jones, she has grown tired of you," said Mrs.
+Cole, vengefully. "We found her in Mr. Cole's bedroom at midnight. What
+can an old man like you expect?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't mind your wicked words, they can't hurt Sarah; it's your deeds;
+and I implore you, if you have any of the woman nature in you, tell me
+where I can find her."</p>
+
+<p>"And I answer, as Mr. Stone did, I never bother myself as to the
+whereabouts of discharged servants, so consider yourself dismissed," she
+said, calling Simon.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"Open the door for Silas Jones, bookseller, Bayswater." And so had he
+been answered in harsh, unfeeling tones, as almost broken-hearted he had
+wended his lonely way mechanically back to the little parlor.</p>
+
+<p>It is well he has sold out his business to the young man Mary has
+married, for he cannot give his mind to anything other than the loss of
+the one woman, in his simple loyalty, he has ever loved, and of how
+again to find her.</p>
+
+<p>"Silas," said his sister, "I just now asked Dr. MacNeil, as he came up
+the street, how poor Mr. Cole is, and he says he is in for a bad attack
+of that nasty rheumatic fever; just think, brother, of him only out of
+brain fever and into this; it's out and out too bad."</p>
+
+<p>"Does he ask for Sarah, still?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; doctor says it's most pitiful to hear him; and he (doctor) says,
+but it's 'cause he doesn't know the truth, that, of course, they are not
+to be blamed for the not bringing her, since she be so bad."</p>
+
+<p>"Sister, I can't stand this suspense and trouble any longer; it's
+killing me. If it costs me every penny I have in the world, I <i>must</i>
+find my Sarah. I shall go into the city to-morrow, and put the
+detectives to work."</p>
+
+<p>At this juncture the shop door was hurriedly thrown open, when Sarah
+Kane, cold, pale, and trembling, followed by the driver of a hansom,
+came in quickly into their midst.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Missis, you'll be as good as your word, I 'ope, and gim me my
+fare."</p>
+
+<p>But she is in the close embrace of Silas, while Mary pays, dismisses
+him, and locks the front door, her husband being in the great city.</p>
+
+<p>"Silas, it's my belief you are demented; let our Sarah go. I want to
+hear where the old de'il took her to, and how she comes in like this,
+with no bonnet or shawl, and her hair blown about like that. There,
+that's more like it," she said, kissing Sarah, as Silas, not speaking a
+word, only keeping his gaze fixed on Sarah's face, leads her to a chair,
+when, dropping on his knees, says earnestly,</p>
+
+<p>"Thank God; thank God."</p>
+
+<p>Now seating himself beside her, and holding her hand in his, Sarah says,
+her lips quivering:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, God be thanked, I am at home, home! Oh dears, you will never know
+the sweetness of home as I do, after the awful life I have had since I
+last saw your dear faces; and only that I ran away, leastwise, bribed
+the boy with my watch and chain&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You did!" cried Mary, in astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"Freedom is sweeter than jewels, Mary dear; but I must begin at the
+beginning. Yes, Silas, the tea has warmed me; I must tell you all now.
+You know how suspicious the people at Broadlawns are? Well, you can
+imagine the scene I went through when, running back from you that early
+morn, I found them waiting for me; they had got into my room with
+another key; they called me all the foul names in the spelling-books in
+England, I do believe. My heart, but it was fearful; and poor Mr. Cole
+calling me, and they not letting me near him; but I can't go on till I
+hear of him. How is he, and was it brain fever?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Sarah," said Mary, hurriedly, "and he could not bear Mrs. Cole
+near him; raving more even when out of his head, if she was in the
+room."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor, poor young gentleman, and how is he now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he's just out, like, of brain fever, and into rheumatism."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear, dear!" she said, in troubled tones; "Silas, I feel, dear, that I
+must endeavor to bring some speck of comfort into his life, for I blame
+myself now for not long ago going and talking it over with Dr. Annesley;
+will you come up to the city with me, to-morrow, and try to see him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Anywhere, so I am with you; for I do believe, Sarah, I shall never be
+brave enough to lose sight Of your dear face again," he said, tenderly,
+still holding her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"And, now, go on Sarah, and tell us where that old sneak thief took you
+to," said Mary, curiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I must. Mr. Stone bid me only take my Gladstone bag, for he was
+not going to spoil the phæton with my trunks. So, merely putting in a
+few necessary articles, thinking, as you remember, to be back in a day
+or two; well, we drove into town; but not in the direction, as I
+remembered, of Mrs. Mansfield's; we went a long, long way east; and when
+I wondered, he answered, shortly, that he had business that required
+immediate attention, first; well, on we drove into streets and
+localities unknown to me. At last, after a two hours' drive, we stopped
+at the end house in a terrace; it was a gloomy street, though some of
+the houses were well-looking enough. In one of the windows of the house
+at which we stopped, was a card, 'Lodgings for single gentlemen;' but
+that was a blind, Silas, to cover the real state of affairs."</p>
+
+<p>On Mr. Stone knocking, a bolt and chain were drawn and unfastened, and a
+big, strong, coarse-looking boy, large mouthed, and with cross eyes,
+opened the door.</p>
+
+<p>"'Is your master in?' inquired Mr. Stone. 'Yes, sir.' 'Come in, Sarah
+Kane,' said the wicked master of Broadlawns. 'I have a good deal to say
+here, and you may as well come in doors, after your early morning walk'
+(that was here, you know, Silas) 'and your visit to a gentleman's
+bedroom last night.' It might have been Mrs. Cole; he spoke in such
+cold, hard tones.</p>
+
+<p>"We were shown into the front room first flat; the room with the notice
+in the window; it was extremely dirty and untidy; with a single bed in
+one corner; and what furniture there was looked like odds and ends
+picked up at sales; three chairs, one of brown leather, the others faded
+red and blue rep. On a table were pipes, tobacco, burnt matches, ale
+mugs, and cards, with copies of <i>Bell's Life</i>, in different stages of
+dirtiness; the room was littered with a man's clothing, and altogether
+unsavory. I was reluctant to enter, and stood on the door-mat.</p>
+
+<p>"'Just go in ma'am; here's the master,' said the boy grinning.</p>
+
+<p>"If the room was unsavory, the man was. Oh, Mary, if you saw him," she
+said, shudderingly; "he looked like a bully or prize fighter; a
+heavily-built man, short of stature, with bull-dog head and face; he
+wore no coat, and his shirt was unclean."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Lang, how are you getting along?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean as to funds, Mr. Stone; are you going to say the word,
+'forego the back rents, take that lump sum for the house, and cry quits,
+that's the question?'" he said, with a wink. "Come in, Missis; I'm quite
+a dude, you see; but ladies don't mind that."</p>
+
+<p>"I prefer to wait for Mr. Stone, out in the phæton," I said, with latent
+disgust.</p>
+
+<p>"Here they exchanged what I now know was a meaning glance, Mr. Stone
+saying, 'Sarah Kane is a most particular young woman, as you shall hear,
+Lang; come this way, Sarah.'</p>
+
+<p>"I protested that I preferred waiting outside, to no purpose. 'This way,
+Sarah Kane,' 'Yes, this way, Missis,' they said, one going before and
+one behind me up a stairway, covered with a common carpet, but thickly
+padded; there were five doors opening into a square hall; all doors
+shut. Turning the handle of one, Mr. Stone said, smiling grimly,
+'Another lodger.' 'Yes; he's out airing; you bet, they keep me busy,' he
+answered, with another of his odious winks, saying, 'Here, Missis, just
+step in 'ere while the Squire and me square accounts;' this time he
+winked at me; and I began to think it a mechanical way he had of winding
+up a remark."</p>
+
+<p>"Nasty beast," said Mary.</p>
+
+<p>"I was no sooner in, than the key was turned, and I knew myself a
+prisoner; I called, hammered on the door, did every conceivable thing to
+make a noise; finally I sat down on the one greasy chair of green rep,
+and cried as if my heart would break. I thought of you, Silas, and you
+too, Mary, of poor Mr. Cole; and hope vanished, knowing by whom I had
+been trapped. From time to time I could hear a murmur of voices; then
+Mr. Stone's unmusical laugh; and the unfastening and fastening of the
+door. Then I gave myself up to despair; I could make no sign to the
+outside busy London world, for my small room was only lit from the hall
+by a curious window, up near the ceiling. A single bed, wash-stand, and
+tiny looking glass, hanging to the wall, too small and cracked to be of
+any use; every article being stale and dirty. Mr. Lang brought me a cup
+of tea, and some bread and cheese, telling me to make myself at home;
+and 'that even though I was in a single gentleman's house, no matter,'
+with another odious wink; 'that Mr. Stone had told him I would not be
+sorry there were no ladies,' etc.; but to make a long story short, Silas
+and Mary, the people at Broadlawns imprisoned me to get me out of the
+way, so I should not speak of this fraud of a marriage."</p>
+
+<p>"That's it, my poor Sarah."</p>
+
+<p>"Days passed into weeks; and had it not been for my pocket Bible, the
+Pickwick papers, and a long strip of muslin embroidery and housewife I
+had put in my bag, I don't know what would have become of me; I tried to
+keep calm, if only to devise a scheme of escape. One day was much the
+same as another, Mr. Lang trying in many ways to get private information
+of Broadlawns, telling me, to raise my wrath, that Mr. Stone had told
+him I was demented, and nothing I said was reliable; but I could not
+trust such a man, so left him no wiser. Every day, for fifteen minutes,
+I was compelled to go up two flights of stairs to a room with an open
+skylight, and where I was made, willingly though, to walk up and down;
+sometimes Lang, sometimes another man, whom I loathed even worse, or the
+cross-eyed boy, accompanying me as jailer; this they called a pleasure
+airing. Yesterday, growing desperate, I offered my watch and chain to
+the cross-eyed boy, to liberate me. He listened, eyeing them greedily,
+saying to my delight,</p>
+
+<p>"'Well, I'll try, Missis; for I'm a bit tired of airing of you and the
+three men, and a doing of other chores.' 'Are there three other
+prisoners beside myself,' I cried. 'Oh, no, ma'am; they be just a
+lodging 'ere on the quiet, loike you be.' 'You will free me, then, and
+gain my watch and chain; see how pretty it is, and pure gold.' 'Yes, the
+first chance I gets; but ye're not lying; ye'll give it all square?'</p>
+
+<p>"But to hasten, for I feel tired and weak, though oh! so much better in
+mind; the middle man gave me my airing to-day, to whom I never spoke,
+though he laughed and jeered at me continually. I worried myself by
+thinking that, perhaps, the boy was only a spy, when this evening, after
+Mr. Lang had brought me my tea, and I was again locked in, to my joy, in
+a few minutes, the key turned, and the boy said, hurriedly, 'Come along,
+Missis; don't wait to take nothing; master's out, and Bill's run to the
+gin-palace, telling of me to keep guard.' Even as he spoke, we were
+downstairs, the bolt and chain undone, and, thank God, with the free air
+of heaven about us. 'Give us your 'and, Missis, ye're goin' the wrong
+way;' and on we sped with flying feet. 'Good-bye, Missis; now for the
+timer. It's a dandy,' he said, pocketing it; 'there's a 'ansum; you'd
+better take it, you are out of breath;' and with a shrill whistle, the
+man stopped; when the boy flew, and I took the hansom; and here I am
+home at last, thank God."</p>
+
+<p>"What wretches!" cried Mary.</p>
+
+<p>"You leave me no more, Sarah; you are evermore <i>my</i> care; go to bed now,
+dear, and rest, for we will go up to London to-morrow, to ask Dr.
+Annesley's advice. I shall go now to Broadlawns for your trunks; good
+night. Oh, how light my heart is now I have found you again, Sarah," he
+said, tenderly kissing her.</p>
+
+<p>"We will be an old couple, Silas, dear," she said, quietly; "do you
+know, to-morrow will be our joint birthday; this is the eve of All
+Saints."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; and we shall be married to-morrow, when we are in the city; age
+doesn't count; our hearts are young, Sarah."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Silas; I feel so happy I could sing,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'Now we maun totter doon, John;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">But hand in hand we'll go;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And we'll sleep thegither at the foot,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">John Anderson, my jo.'"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Our lives have been ever hand in hand, Sarah, for we exchanged hearts
+long, long ago; but here is George; I shall go now with an easy mind,
+for he will guard you safely; good night."</p>
+
+<p>"I have only time, to-night, to wish you joy, George, for I require
+rest," she said, going upstairs.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, this is good," he said, rubbing his hands; "but, good night,
+sister, that is to be; my little wife here has her mouth open to give me
+your story."</p>
+
+<p>When Silas Jones, with the light waggon, drove up the carriage drive to
+Broadlawns, the family were at supper; so Simon, glad of the chance, got
+the trunks down and into the waggon, without words; but as Silas Jones
+was thanking him for his assistance; telling him of Sarah Kane's escape,
+and inquiring for Mr. Cole, Mr. Stone, leaving the dining-room,
+encountered him, when he said,</p>
+
+<p>"I am taking Sarah Kane's trunks away, Mr. Stone."</p>
+
+<p>"And who has authorized you to do anything in the matter?" he inquired,
+haughtily.</p>
+
+<p>"My future wife, Sarah Kane."</p>
+
+<p>For once, he was nonplussed; when Miss Stone, passing through the hall,
+said, stiffly:</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry I cannot congratulate you, Mr. Jones, on winning a Christian
+woman."</p>
+
+<p>"What can it mean," thought Mrs. Cole; "she is in tight keeping; safe
+enough." As a feeler, she says,</p>
+
+<p>"You must have the faith of Abraham to trust her still; someone said she
+is living with a bachelor at London."</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Cole, let me tell you there is such a thing as British justice,
+which we mean to have, when you shall eat your words in a court of law,"
+he said, indignantly turning on his heel, and out into the night.</p>
+
+<p>Simon, at his post in the sick room, told the good news of Sarah Kane's
+escape.</p>
+
+<p>Turning suddenly, in his eagerness to face Simon, and hear more, the
+sufferer groaned in rheumatic pain.</p>
+
+<p>"Can you not manage to bring her to see me, when <i>they</i> are <i>all</i> out;
+the once you did bring Mr. Jones, he said, when he found Sarah, they
+would go out to New York or Canada; I particularly wish to see them.
+Jove! the pain; the liniment, Simon; rub me, please, and close the door;
+if I could only escape, like Sarah; you will do what you can, I beg of
+you, to bring them to see me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will, sir, if I loses my situation by it."</p>
+
+<p>Below stairs the birds of prey held council with closed doors.</p>
+
+<p>"What the devil did that man Jones mean by daring to throw threats in
+our faces, Margaret?" said Stone, with seeming bravado, though, in
+reality, in dismay.</p>
+
+<p>"Impudent bluster, perhaps, but I shall put my ears to their proper
+use," and slipping off her shoes, she crept noiselessly up to the door
+of the gloomy east chamber, which had been closed so they could talk
+privately, thus playing into the ear of the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said her uncle grimly, as she returned. "Well?" she answered, in
+the same tones, her eagle nose more prominent, her awful eyes more stony
+than ever. "She has escaped! and is even now at the bookseller's."</p>
+
+<p>"The devil!"</p>
+
+<p>"You may well say so. Thomas Lang has sold you. Simon does not know
+particulars, for our friend Cole was earnest in inquiries."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it too late to go into the city now?" he said nervously.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and you are too cowardly to face 'ills you know not of' alone. Let
+me see; the lower class are awed by pomp and show. We will drive into
+Windsor Terrace in the morning in the carriage and pair. If Lang has
+sold you, you must buy him, by letting him have the house at his own
+figure. Again, should she have escaped without his connivance, be
+prepared by selling everything you can. You, as guardian to my sweet
+step-sister, have unlimited powers until our pet is of age, which
+interesting event, they don't seem to know, has taken place. Rake in all
+the gold you can, uncle, as the United States looks inviting at present;
+to-morrow will be a busy day, Aunt Elizabeth, so you might tell cook to
+have breakfast an hour earlier. Good night."</p>
+
+<p>As she left the room, her uncle said:</p>
+
+<p>"She is every inch a Stone, Elizabeth, and not a bit like her
+chicken-hearted father."</p>
+
+<p>"That's true, Timothy, but she grows plainer every day, and looks nearly
+as old as I do."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, she is no Hebe; but had the blooming goddess been possessed of her
+wits, she would have blind-folded Jupiter."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE ISLET-GEMMED ST. LAWRENCE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>On a morning late in December Mrs. Gower sat alone in her pretty restful
+library, with its olive-green velvet cushions and hangings, its
+water-lilies, like the beauties in our bay, with their green stalks and
+leaves painted on the panelled walls, its English ivy trained up and
+around the Queen Anne mantel, with graceful palms standing on either
+side of the floral blossoms on the stand. The occupant looks well in a
+close-fitting gown of navy blue flannel, embroidered in rose silk; there
+is a half-smile on the lips, and the dreaminess of some tender thought
+in the dark eyes, as she idly opens and closes a black lace fan, with a
+spray of honeysuckle painted thereon. A gentleman's card lay beside her
+work-basket on the table.</p>
+
+<p>"So Alexander Blair is his name," she thought; "how very, very long,"
+with a sigh, "it has taken to come to me&mdash;his name, of course, I mean."
+She thought, with a smile, putting the card to her lips, "how foolish of
+me, but I have always had that way. I remember travelling to Port Elgin,
+from Toronto, and on my arrival, my trunk, containing my dearest
+treasures, was not forthcoming. I was wild with grief, when, after
+enriching the telegraph offices, at the expense of my purse, in three
+days it was again in my possession; and what did I do, why kissed and
+fondled both trunk and key. Elaine Gower, you are a foolish,
+impressionable woman. And so I dropped my fan at the Grand, last night.
+His card says, 'With compliments, dropped at the theatre.' He scarcely
+seemed a stranger seated beside me at 'Erminie,' and I feel sure he felt
+likewise. How handsome he is, or rather how essentially manly, with the
+look of strength in his broad shoulders, and of honesty of purpose in
+his fearless, blue eyes. He is iron-grey, and slightly bald, I noticed,
+when he stooped to pick up my handkerchief, but his beard and moustache
+are brown. He is decidedly dark; I wonder if Highland Scotch; for dark,
+and true, and tender are the North. His name suits him. I like them both
+for old association's sake, one being the maiden name of one whose
+memory is sacred, the other, the Christian name of my loved dead. I
+wonder what poor Charlie Cole would think of my having made his
+acquaintance in this romantic fashion. I remember, he also had had
+instantaneous photographs, as we laughingly called them, of a young lady
+who had interested him."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment Miss Crew, entering, in walking costume, said:</p>
+
+<p>"I met the letter-carrier as I came in, Mrs. Gower, and here is your
+share."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you. You look better for your walk; but did you walk?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only from the Spadina Avenue car terminus, but I had some little
+walking in my district, but the College Street Mission is worth
+fatiguing oneself for. Oh, Mrs. Gower, have you heard how Mayor Howland
+purposes raising building funds for the cottage in connection with the
+Industrial Home at Mimico?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I read it in some newspaper, the Globe of yesterday, I think."</p>
+
+<p>"Won't it be something to be proud of, if the children carry it out."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and I believe they will; children are very much in earnest, when
+the heart is touched; and now for our correspondence; take off your hat
+and mantle here by the grate, though Gurney's furnace does keep us very
+comfortable all over the house."</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon my interrupting you, Mrs. Gower; but I am reading a letter from
+Mrs. Dale, in which she says, to be sure and remind you to write her
+some description of your yachting on the St. Lawrence; those English
+friends of theirs would so much like to get some idea of the life, as
+they purpose purchasing an island."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I must do so; but I fear any poor words of mine, will fail in
+doing justice to its many delights;" and on finishing reading her
+letters, seating herself at her <i>escretoire</i>, she wrote as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"The Islet-Gemmed St. Lawrence.</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Mr. and Mrs. Dale,</span>&mdash;It has never been my lot to read
+anything descriptive of river-life, on our loveliest of
+streams, that I have considered did justice to its varied
+charms; so you may imagine how powerless I feel, in the task
+you have assigned me; but when I tell you that that martyr to
+<i>ennui</i>, Jack Halton, this summer owned to myself that he had,
+at last, found something worth living for, you will therefore
+not be surprised that I, loving nature as I do, should have
+gone into raptures.</p>
+
+<p>"In the first place, our steam-yacht, the <i>Ino</i>, was the
+trimmest little craft, the daintiest little beauty on the
+river; and we had the perfection of host and hostess, each in
+their respective niche, leaving nothing to be desired. I told
+them they must have had 'Aladdin's lamp' stowed away somewhere;
+for we had but to clap our hands, and our will was done.</p>
+
+<p>"Day after day, never tiring, ever with renewed zest we boarded
+the <i>Ino</i>, to dream away the hours in the most ravishing bits
+of scenery my eyes ever beheld. With hampers full of dainties
+and substantials, we wandered in and about the islands;
+sometimes meeting other idlers like ourselves, and pic-nicking
+at some chosen spot; sometimes the guests at one or other of
+our acquaintances having summer homes in this our Canadian
+fairyland. Truly, if all the year were June, the world in woods
+would roam; for our gay little <i>Ino</i> was a spirit of the
+waters, and though we had no spiritualists on board, still we
+had table rappings on some good story by our witty host;
+neither were we so spiritual as to despise the material, which
+we proved as we sat to dinner; and such dinners, Ambrosia! Yea,
+and for our goddesses; though with sunburnt faces we women did
+not much resemble the latter, our men looking handsomer the
+browner they grew; but as for dinner, we had from dishes to
+tickle the palate of our club epicures to&mdash;hodge-podge, which
+we relished.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, from morn till eve, and often late, late, in the white
+moonlight, we lived an ideal life on our pet yacht, the <i>Ino</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"One will sometimes say, in meteing out great praise to some
+favored spot, that one would live and die there; but here, who
+talks of dying? One would fain live forever; for, every moment
+one lives, one breathes a new life; for on the luxuriously
+appointed <i>Ino</i>, we gazed out from curtained windows, or from
+under a canopied arch, while we reclined on softest of
+cushioned seats, and literally drank in the 'Elixir of Life.'
+The air of the pine groves as we passed, the air of the grandly
+dark and dashing river, full of ozone, is the air to inflate
+one's lungs with, and carry back with one to our crowded
+cities, which seemed so far away in that land of beauty.</p>
+
+<p>"Some delightful evenings, we would tread a measure on the
+green sward, to music of flute and violin; for, had one or more
+of our group not been innate musicians, the scene was enough to
+inspire one, and so, in songs, merry laughter or sentiment, our
+days passed as a dream.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"For we stem the shining river,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The river of the isles,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">On our fairy yacht, the <i>Ino</i>,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With our love beside our side.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>For I there met a sorcerer, who robbed me of my heart, and
+whose spells I could not break until I fled from this scene of
+enchantment. And again we board our trim yacht, and what varied
+scenes of beauty met the eye, whenever and wherever we gazed.
+Such lights, such shadows, such artist bits, such trees, such
+rocks, such everything! Surely we were in fairyland, and not in
+plain, practical Canada.</p>
+
+<p>"On some of the islands are ideal summer homes; now we came
+upon a fairy-like structure, in Italian villa style; now, upon
+a palatial mansion; now, upon a camp all alive, and signalling
+<i>Ino</i> the fair.</p>
+
+<p>"The only specks in my sun were, that the American islands were
+made more beautiful by their owners than our own; and that
+uneuphonious names had been given to some of these charming
+islets. Fancy one 'Pitch Pine Point'&mdash;I failed to see the point
+of christening it so.</p>
+
+<p>"The rocks take most fantastic shapes in the shadowed
+moonlight. By and under the rock-bound shore, I used to fancy I
+saw nymphs dancing on the rippling waters, which was to them
+music; and, dreaming on, as we lazily stemmed the tide, it all
+came to me, that in days of yore, the youths from the shore,
+coming to row and sport in the waves at eve, saw the
+water-sprites, and fell in love; when the sea-gods, for
+revenge, fell upon them, transforming them into some of the
+most fantastic-shaped rocks we see; and, the sea-nymphs,
+pitying the sons of men for their fatal love, prayed the gods
+to transform themselves into trees, to grow into the clefts of
+the rocks; and so protect their would-be lovers from old Sol's
+fiery beams, and their wish was granted.</p>
+
+<p>"But we invariably turned ere a bend in the river robbed it
+from our sight, to take a last loving glance at the beauteous
+Isle Manhattan, where we had been most hospitably entertained
+by its charming American inmates. It is beautifully wooded, and
+an elegant mansion thereon, with one of the most hospitable of
+verandas, stretching long and wide, with many American rockers
+and pillowed rattan sofas, on which we have reclined or sat
+while partaking of iced claret and, for those who liked it,
+champagne <i>carte blanche</i>, and where we had one of the most
+perfect views from the commanding tower of the villa.</p>
+
+<p>"A view that wants a Lett, an Imrie, or an Awde to sing of, a
+Longfellow to immortalize&mdash;my pen is lifeless in describing its
+beauty; a beauty that would ravish the soul of a poet, and send
+an artist wild; a view which brought to my mind the remark of a
+dear old Scotchman, whom a party of tourists came upon, lost in
+admiration of the Falls of Niagara. On one of the party asking
+him what he thought of the Falls, he said, 'Eh, man, I just
+feel like takin' aff my bonnet til't.'</p>
+
+<p>"In the far-stretching scene of loveliness here, in the heart
+of the Islands, one should go to the Tower, at Manhattan alone,
+leaving the merry, madding crowd on board the yacht, or on the
+veranda; one should go alone, or in dual solitude, where a
+clasp of the hand, or a look, is sympathy enough; for one
+should carry with one one's fill of such a scene of perfect
+beauty, to brighten darker days and drearier times."</p></blockquote>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
+
+<h3>EYE-OPENERS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>On the morning of All Saints' Day, and while numerous bells, in tuneful
+voices, reminded London of souls departed, and souls to be saved, Silas
+Jones and his twin spirit, Sarah Kane, having arrayed themselves in best
+bib and tucker, had taken the underground rail from Bayswater, and with
+the multitude were trying not to lose one another in the London fog&mdash;a
+regular pea-souper, in which the coat-pocket of Silas had been picked of
+pipe, tobacco and handkerchief.</p>
+
+<p>"Mercy me, Silas, look well that they don't steal the license."</p>
+
+<p>"You are right, Sarah; which the thieves would not ask for leave or
+license to take; 'tis a big world our London; and it's my belief the
+thieves' quarter is the biggest half."</p>
+
+<p>"We should have made sure of the license, Silas, by being married at
+first."</p>
+
+<p>"That we should, dear; but you have always let a fancied duty come
+between us. And now for Piccadilly and Dr. Annesley, in this fog."</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, Missis; a feller can't see in this 'ere yeller fog; 'ere, get
+into my barrow; it's clean, and I'll run yer through," said a boy's
+voice, running against them; and which Sarah Kane recognized as that of
+her liberator, the cross-eyed boy.</p>
+
+<p>His offer was hurriedly declined by Silas, who dreaded Sarah taking her
+hand from his arm. On ascertaining from the boy that he had hired to
+peddle fruit for a huckster and that he had pawned the watch and chain
+they offered to redeem them, and give him a sovereign and-a-half for
+them; which offer he joyfully accepted; they also, giving him their
+address, told him, if at any time he wanted advice or assistance, to
+come.</p>
+
+<p>A policeman now directed them to the residence of Dr. Annesley&mdash;a
+genial, kindly old gentleman, who was at home, and pleased to see them.
+On their relating the doings at Broadlawns, he was both astonished and
+indignant, disgusted and outrageous.</p>
+
+<p>"As to any sharp tricks in money matters, I am not surprised," he said,
+impatiently; "but that they should have dared to perpetrate such an
+outrage as the marriage of Mr. C. Babbington-Cole, to that intensely
+disagreeable, ugly, cruel, Miss Villiers, is monstrous, monstrous!"</p>
+
+<p>"You may well say so, sir," said Sarah Kane, sadly.</p>
+
+<p>"How is it you had no suspicions, Mistress Kane, and you under the same
+roof?"</p>
+
+<p>"I only overheard a word now and again, as to a marriage; but I never
+suspected this horror; I supposed it meant Miss Pearl, and that they
+were going to bring her back, when of age."</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing can be done for Babbington-Cole; he is tied for life; but how
+he could ever have fallen into their net, is more than I can imagine,"
+he said, in disgusted tones.</p>
+
+<p>"You know, I told you they took him by surprise, sir; and his father lay
+ill; and cablegrams came telling him to wed Margaret Villiers, and
+hasten with her to his bedside; and he was just demented-like, between
+it all, and brain fever coming on."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well, it is a bad, very bad business. I confess to the having
+been so disgusted, on Villiers making Stone guardian to Miss Pearl,
+until she attained her majority, that I, metaphorically speaking, washed
+my hands of the whole affair; especially on Miss Pearl herself telling
+Brookes &amp; Davidson, her mother's lawyers, that she agreed to it; this
+she said, on their telling her that, as her father had had softening of
+the brain at the time, nothing he said was worth considering."</p>
+
+<p>"Depend upon it, doctor, Mr. Stone had used coercion to induce Miss
+Pearl to agree," said Silas Jones.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I see, he must have," he answered, thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"And you don't know anything of poor Miss Pearl's whereabouts, do you,
+sir?" asked Sarah Kane, anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I can give you a clue, for I love her for her own and her mother's
+sake; and as time went on, and I heard or saw nothing of her, I wrote T.
+L. Brookes, the senior partner, for I have had nothing to do with the
+hypocrites at Broadlawns, since Villiers' death; and he sent me an
+address at New York. Here it is, 'Mrs. Kent, The Maples, Murray Hill;'
+but, it is only a clue, for I have written, and have not, as yet,
+received a reply."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, please copy it for me, sir, for Silas and I are going to be
+married, and go out and find her. I promised her mother to look after
+her; and I have not heard from Miss Pearl; but she has written, for she
+said she would; but they have read and destroyed them, the same as they
+did to some that came for Mr. Cole just before and after he arrived."</p>
+
+<p>"Horrible! horrible! How is he now; you just come from there, I
+presume?"</p>
+
+<p>On Sarah Kane relating her late enforced retirement under Tom Lang's
+roof, and her escape therefrom, he opened his eyes in astonishment,
+saying, indignantly:</p>
+
+<p>"The rascal! and you know nothing of the locality?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing whatever, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Even if she did, Dr. Annesley, Stone would coin some plausible reason
+for placing her there."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, Jones; he is as cunning as the arch-fiend; people would
+believe him, too, as he is a good churchman."</p>
+
+<p>"But, you know, Silas; he has his falsehood ready. Sir, he told my
+jailer that I was demented, and&mdash;worse."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, his plots have no flaw; poor creature, after the kindness and
+respect Mrs. Villiers showed you, and which you deserved; too bad, too
+bad."</p>
+
+<p>"The poison of their lying tongues has already done Sarah harm in
+Bayswater, Doctor. People pass her without a nod; they at Broadlawns say
+they found her in the bedroom of a gentleman guest at midnight, and that
+she stole out of the house at three in the morning to meet another."</p>
+
+<p>"Shocking! you can have them up for defamation," he said, sternly.</p>
+
+<p>"But, sir, I must tell you, it was to poor Mr. Cole's bedroom I went,
+and he with brain-fever coming on, to do what I could to comfort the
+unfortunate gentleman; and it was to Silas and his sister I went at
+night to tell them of the awful marriage; that I was turned out, and
+going to Mrs. Mansfield's, which I was foolish enough to believe," she
+said, with tears.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well, Mistress Kane, there, there, don't recall it; go off to a
+clergyman's and marry this good man; and here are five pounds to buy
+some trifle in Cheapside, to remember the day by. And now, let me see,
+there was something I wished to see Jones about," he said, kindly,
+rubbing his forehead. "Yes, I have it; did they give you all the wearing
+apparel of the late Mrs. Villiers, Mistress Kane?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, sir! I would not expect such beautiful things. I thought Miss
+Pearl should have them, whenever I see Miss Stone wearing the lovely
+furs and satins."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever receive five hundred pounds sterling, Mistress Kane, left
+you, by the will of the late Mrs. Villiers?" he asked, slowly, and with
+emphasis.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir, you take my breath away. Silas, tell him, no, sir. I! I! receive
+such a sum. No, nor one penny since Mrs. Villiers' death; but that, I
+cannot claim, for I have staid on willingly, to watch dear Miss Pearl's
+interests, and this is the end. Come Silas, let us go now to the parson;
+it will be our first step out of Old England, to find Miss Pearl," she
+said, nervously, her tears flowing apace, partly with the troubled
+excitement of the words of Dr. Annesley, partly at the having, at last,
+a clue to the whereabouts of Pearl Villiers. Not so, Silas, who loved
+her too well to allow the words of Dr. Annesley to pass unnoticed.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you really mean that the late Mrs. Villiers left Sarah a legacy,
+Doctor?" he said, in some excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"I do; and infer from your united words that that rascal has pocketed
+it; I must see to it," and going to the telephone, ringing up Brookes &amp;
+Davidson, ascertaining that they were both at their offices, said:</p>
+
+<p>"Hello! Have been interviewed <i>re</i> Villiers' estate, am now sending the
+persons to you; they are quite reliable; shall see you to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, send them on."</p>
+
+<p>"This is all I can do for you at present," he said; "and I advise you to
+make oath as to your not having received the legacy; it will save time.</p>
+
+<p>"I am selfish enough to be glad you are going out to New York; something
+tells me you will trace Miss Pearl; and I can assure you both, you have
+my fullest sympathy in your dealings with Stone; I can scarcely restrain
+myself from taking the law into my own hands, going out, and charging
+them with their villainy."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank God for your friendship, Doctor," said Silas Jones fervently, as
+he smoothed Sarah's bonnet-strings, and gave her her satchel.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, sir, and heaven bless you for your kindnesses," said Sarah
+Kane, with feeling.</p>
+
+<p>"O, pshaw; my only regret is that you have only found me out to say
+farewell; but you must both come back, and bring Miss Pearl, to see an
+old man."</p>
+
+<p>On reaching the offices of the law-firm, Sarah Kane made oath as to the
+not having received either money or wearing apparel.</p>
+
+<p>W. Davidson, Q. C., saying:</p>
+
+<p>"My eyes are being opened every day by the revelations of my clients;
+but what you say confirms my suspicion, that the schemes of some
+<i>certain</i> people are such cunningly devised fables, as to make it next
+to impossible for all the law courts in the kingdom to convict them."</p>
+
+<p>On leaving Temple Bar, they dined comfortably at a restaurant, talking
+faster than they ate. Afterwards, by the words of a clergyman, they were
+at last made one, at which, with hearts full of thankfulness and quiet
+content, they took a Bayswater omnibus.</p>
+
+<p>Again in the little back parlor, where Mary had a table groaning under
+its good things, with a bright fire to welcome them, to which they had
+scarcely done justice, and beginning to relate their adventures in the
+city, when Simon, the man from Broadlawns, entered, saying, hurriedly:</p>
+
+<p>"I gave my word to the young gent up to the house that I'd fetch you
+folks up to see him when they, over there, were out; so, come along,
+please, if you be in a mind to give the poor gentleman his way."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed, we will, Simon," said Sarah Kane, readily tying on her
+bonnet. "Come, Silas, dear."</p>
+
+<p>He rose, somewhat reluctantly, for the neat little parlor is doubly home
+to him now, with the sweet, gentle face of Sarah looking at him with the
+loving eyes of a wife.</p>
+
+<p>"But are you sure, Simon, that they are all out, and for the evening,
+for I cannot answer for myself if I come across them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure as the Bank of England, Mr. Jones, they be at the parson's. He's a
+showing of them off to a big missionary from foreign parts as his best
+angels."</p>
+
+<p>"The Rev. Mr. Parks is so good," said Sarah, "that I always regret that
+his eyes are closed to the color of his angels."</p>
+
+<p>"The trouble be, Mistress Kane, that they blindfold more nor parson,"
+said Simon, as they hurriedly made their exit.</p>
+
+<p>"Mistress Kane no longer, Simon, for I am glad to tell you we were
+married in the city to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"Lawk-a-day! you don't tell me; but I am mighty glad to hear it. You
+will have a man of your own now, to take your name out of the gossips'
+mouth."</p>
+
+<p>On arriving at Broadlawns, they went at once to the gloomy east chamber,
+when Sarah could scarcely repress an exclamation of intense pity at the
+change for the worse in the appearance of the long-suffering inmate. He
+was wasted to a shadow, and his brown locks had been shaved during brain
+fever, his kindly blue eyes looked black in the transparent paleness of
+his face, as did his whiskers and moustache, but in which many grey
+hairs had come. Holding out a thin, white hand, he welcomed Sarah
+warmly, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it <i>is</i> good to see your face again. I expect I look like a
+galvanized corpse, Sarah. What with the horror of my forced union with
+Medusa (a pet name I have for Mrs. Cole), and then brain fever, which, I
+don't wonder, caught me, and which, having that woman about me,
+aggravated. You banished, and maligned, at which I stuffed the
+bedclothes into my ears, and now my old enemy, inflammatory rheumatism,
+I have had a pretty tough time of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed, you have, poor fellow," said Sarah, restraining her tears,
+and scarcely able to look at the wreck before her; "but you are on the
+mend now, and we must trust in God to bring you around soon. It has been
+a heartbreak to me, Mr. Cole, that I was not allowed to nurse you."</p>
+
+<p>"Only another piece of their cruelty, Sarah. But tell me about yourself.
+Where did that old sinner incarcerate you? tell me everything," he said,
+with feeble eagerness, for sometimes the pain was intense, causing him
+to set his teeth, or catch his breath.</p>
+
+<p>But Silas Jones, seeing how much she was affected, and wishing to give
+her time to recover, himself gave the sick man a vivid picture of her
+imprisonment and release.</p>
+
+<p>"Jove! what a wretch&mdash;I mean Stone; for the man Lang was simply his
+tool. Gad! I shall exercise a treble amount of will-power to get well,
+and out of their clutches, and back to dear old Toronto. 'Out of every
+evil comes some good,' they say; though, in my case, not much; in
+Sarah's, yes, for you have given me a tonic, Jones. From this moment I
+am determined to recover."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right; be brave, sir, and you'll pull through right smart," said
+Silas Jones; for Sarah is swallowing a lump in her throat.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, bear up, Mr. Cole," she said, trying to smile, as she seated
+herself on the bedside, taking his poor, worn hands into her own, warm
+with vitality. "But Silas has not given you a bit of good news&mdash;that the
+happiest part of our lives is to come, for from to-day, we pass them
+together!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Silas, coming beside her, laying his hands on her shoulders;
+"yes, I have nothing more to wish for, with Sarah beside me. I cannot
+remember the time, sir, that I did not want Sarah."</p>
+
+<p>Two tears rolled down the sick man's cheeks, as he thought of his own
+wretched fate; but, by a visible effort, controlling self, he said,
+simply:</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad you are together, and happy. Yours is a blessed union. God
+help me to health and strength, that I can free myself of <i>her</i>
+presence," he cried imploringly. "Sarah, I have a fancy&mdash;it may be a
+dying one, heaven knows&mdash;it is to see a likeness of Pearl Villiers, the
+girl I was, by right, to have married."</p>
+
+<p>"Here she is, poor dear," she said with alacrity, unfastening a locket
+suspended to her chain.</p>
+
+<p>"How strange! how like her! only older, and more careworn. Sarah, I have
+seen a face like this three or four times on the other side of the
+water; the face, too, strange to say, haunted me; a nice, good face,
+rather than pretty; but if the careworn, troubled look was gone it would
+have been pretty. Yes, the same features; small, pale, and regular."</p>
+
+<p>"And with fair hair and slight figure?" cried Sarah, clasping her hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," but with the restlessness of the invalid he changed the subject,
+saying:</p>
+
+<p>"You and your husband are going to America, you say. I am going, too;
+<i>when</i> I get well. You might meet me there, if you can't wait for me,"
+he said, wearily; "and, yes, there is something else I must hasten to
+say before those people return. I have received no letters since my
+arrival, only a few newspapers; here they are. I love them because they
+come from dear Toronto," he said, in nervous haste, taking from beneath
+his pillow a copy of the <i>Mail</i>, two of <i>Grip</i>, with a <i>Globe</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"Letters were here to meet you, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then the sneaks have read and kept them," he cried, angrily.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps I should not have told you, sir; but I don't like you to think
+your friends have forgotten you."</p>
+
+<p>"You do me no harm, Sarah, by your eye-openers. Wrath is a good tonic;
+tell me if you know what postmark was on them."</p>
+
+<p>"Here are some envelopes I picked up from the grate the morning they
+sent me away."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, they said their letters would be here to meet me. This is quite
+plain, from Will Smith; this I can scarcely decipher; but it's&mdash;yes,
+it's Mrs. Gower's writing; and this from a namesake of yours, Mr. Jones.
+Ah, it's good to see even these scraps. I could preach sermons on the
+wickedness of my jailers," he said, weakly, "but now, at once, before
+they come back, take my address here, on&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"How dare you enter my roof! it is more than flesh and blood can stand,"
+said Mrs. Cole, entering stealthily, her face in a flame with rage&mdash;a
+virago, from the crown of her head to the sole of her foot, and arrayed,
+with her usual contempt for harmonious coloring, in pea-green satin, jet
+trimmings, with crimson bows.</p>
+
+<p>"Calm yourself, Mrs. Cole; we are in the presence of a sick man," said
+Silas, with intense pity for the invalid, and endeavoring to curb his
+own tongue.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't dare to address me, but get out of my house immediately; there,
+follow your bonnet, Sarah Kane," she said, furiously, pitching her
+bonnet and satchel into the hall, on which some change rolling
+therefrom, she was the richer by a half a sovereign, which, stealthily
+picking up, with an inward chuckle, she slipped into her boot.</p>
+
+<p>"What's all the racket about upstairs? Wait a few moments, Lang," said
+Stone, who, on returning, ascertained he had been waiting for him in the
+kitchen for a full hour, they having missed each other in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>Sarah Jones, in nervous haste to be gone, picked up her bonnet and
+satchel, taking the hand of Mr. Cole in good night.</p>
+
+<p>"Remember! and here is my address," he whispered nervously.</p>
+
+<p>But the woman he has married is too sharp for them; for, on Sarah
+turning from the bedside, she snatched the paper, tearing it into
+fragments.</p>
+
+<p>"Good night, Mr. Cole. I am truly sorry for you; you are too good for
+the inmates of this house."</p>
+
+<p>"Again you dare to trespass," said Stone, meeting them on the stairs,
+turning and following them down.</p>
+
+<p>"I warned you before that I should make you pay for this. I am master
+here, and I tell you I shall kick you out if you ever show your ugly
+faces here again," he said, choking with passion.</p>
+
+<p>"Good evening, Mistress Kane," winked Lang, as they passed him. "It was
+not square of you to skip off from me without paying your board. I'm
+dead broke, so you or your follower better pay up now; it's only five
+sovereigns, and save law expenses."</p>
+
+<p>"You are unwise, Mr. Lang, to add insult to injury," she said, quietly,
+as she went out into a serener night.</p>
+
+<p>"Provide yourselves with plasters, and we shall provide ourselves with
+copper toes, the next time you trespass," shouted Mrs. Cole, over the
+banisters.</p>
+
+<p>"We shall only trouble you once more," said Silas Jones, curbing
+himself, "when Mrs. Jones will give you her signature in exchange for
+five hundred pounds, with interest on same, left her by the will of the
+late Mrs. Villiers."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2>
+
+<h3>"YOUR EEN WERE LIKE A SPELL."</h3>
+
+
+<p>The silver chimes of the mantel clock rang four p.m., as Mrs. Gower
+descended from her sewing-room on the last day of the old year. She
+looked well in a gown of soft, grey silk, hanging in full, straight
+folds, unrelieved by ornament, save a few sprays of sweet heliotrope at
+her collar-fastening.</p>
+
+<p>She stood at the library door, unseen by Miss Crew the only occupant,
+who made a pretty picture, the last beams of the setting sun coming in
+through a west window, lighting up her fair hair and pretty brown gown,
+the firelight lending color to her pale cheeks; a cabinet photo is in
+her hand, at which she is gazing so earnestly, and with such a troubled
+expression, that she has not heard Mrs. Gower, though singing softly, as
+she descended the stairs,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Your een were like a spell, Jeanie;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Mair sweet than I can tell, lassie,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That ilka day bewitched me sae<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">I couldna help mysel', lassie."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Who are you trying to read, Miss Crew?"</p>
+
+<p>"Your friend, Mr. Babbington-Cole, Mrs. Gower," she said, with a start,
+placing the photo back in its frame.</p>
+
+<p>"And has it told you its name was Babbington-Cole, <i>ma chere</i>; we only
+give the latter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but you know his name is Babbington-Cole, Mrs. Gower," she
+answered, evading the question.</p>
+
+<p>"We do. Do you like his face?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, very much; he looks so kind and sweet-tempered."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Charlie Cole, he is all of that; excessively amiable people so
+often wed the reverse. I do hope it is not so in his case." "It is a
+dreadful fate," said the girl, absently. "But we must hope for the best,
+Miss Crew; but his long silence makes me fanciful; however, if we don't
+receive news direct very soon&mdash;as I have had some queer dreams of him
+lately&mdash;I shall write the clergyman at Bayswater."</p>
+
+<p>"The reverend&mdash;I mean, how will you address it; just to the clergyman,
+or how?" she said, intent upon her work.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that's very true, I don't know his name. Oh, I have it; Mr. Smyth
+left the paper with the marriage insertion; I do hope it has not been
+destroyed;" and going to the rack, to look over its contents, Miss Crew,
+excusing herself, left the room to get into her wraps, as she was due to
+tea at the Tremaine's. Mrs. Gower, looking in vain for the English
+newspaper, seated herself comfortably to read the report of the Board of
+Trade dinner to the Honorable Joseph Chamberlain.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Crew entered, robed for the winter streets. "Good-bye, Mrs. Gower;
+I shall not be late."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Au revoir</i>; give Mrs. Tremaine my love; and say, as the Dales may
+return from New York this evening, I found it impossible to leave; and
+be sure and wear your over-shoes: our streets are in their usual winter
+break-neck condition. I do hope the new Council will enforce the
+by-law."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so, too; I had an awful fall the other day; the city treasury
+would be overflowing did they collect the fines," she said, going out;
+when, at the hall door, she returned, saying hurriedly, "Oh, here is the
+English newspaper you were looking for, Mrs. Gower; it was upstairs."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, good-bye."</p>
+
+<p>Having made a note of the clergyman's name at Bayswater, and become
+conversant with the news in the city papers, she gave herself up, in the
+gloaming, to quiet thought.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I like him very much, there is a manly, straightforwardness in his
+words; a steadfastness of purpose in his honest blue eyes; a firmness in
+the lines of the mouth, with a kindliness of manner; all stamping him as
+a man whose friendship would be true, whose love faithful; how strange,
+that at last I should meet him at the house of a mutual friend. Mr. St.
+Clair tells me he has known him for years, and the Tremaines since
+summer; had any one told me two weeks ago, that I should sing 'Hunting
+Tower' with him in ten days, at the St. Clairs', I should have thought
+them romancing. He has a sweet tenor voice, he asked me if he might
+call; how pleasant it would be if he were here now. I used to wonder and
+wonder, in meeting him so frequently at lectures, concerts, or in the
+cars, and walking about, what his name was. Now, Alexander Blair has
+come to me; and his tenderness to the little veiled lady, who was, I
+suppose, consumptive, by the slow way they walked. I wonder where she
+is, I never see her now: his care for her touched my heart.</p>
+
+<p>"I am so glad he has come into my life: I feel lonely at times; and he
+is so companionable, I know. What dependent creatures we are, after
+all&mdash;houses and lands, robes <i>a la mode</i>, even, don't suffice.
+Intercourse we must have.</p>
+
+<p>"But," and a shudder ran through her, "what a desolate fate mine will be
+if Philip Cobbe will persist in keeping me to my oath. We have not much
+in common: he is kind, but neither firm nor steadfast, and now this
+woman comes between us; and what would she not do were I his wife? As it
+is, I live in daily dread of her doing something desperate. It was
+enough to terrify any woman similarly situated, the way in which she
+acted that Sunday evening, coming from church; and again, that night at
+the Rogers' meeting in the Pavilion. A ring! Can it be the Dales? No, it
+is Philip; I wonder what mood he is in."</p>
+
+<p>"Alone! for a wonder," he said, warmly. "Leave the gas alone, Thomas,
+the firelight is sufficient." "And thinking of me, and wishing for me,"
+he said, as the servant left the room. "Yes, I can tell by your eyes."</p>
+
+<p>"There Philip, that will do, I am actually afraid to have you in my
+house. Remember that woman last night! if looks could kill, then would I
+have been slain," she said, tremblingly.</p>
+
+<p>"She can't harm you, and I'll put a stop to her tricks. You see, Elaine,
+she is so infatuated with me, she can't keep away," he said, personal
+vanity uppermost.</p>
+
+<p>"But, that's just what I want you to see, Philip; it would be running
+too great a risk to marry you."</p>
+
+<p>"'Pon honor, love, I don't know how to shake her off."</p>
+
+<p>"You did not seem to exert yourself last night. When I looked over my
+shoulder to speak to you in the crowd, coming out, she had her hand on
+your arm; and you were bending down listening to her."</p>
+
+<p>"I know; and when you looked, she clutched her hold of my arm all the
+tighter," he said, with the eagerness of a child.</p>
+
+<p>"What did she say?"</p>
+
+<p>"She said, you <i>shan't</i> go home with her to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly the same words she used that Sunday evening. Words and an act
+that will ever be stamped on my memory. That act came between my heart
+and yours, Philip, for all time," she said, sadly thinking of his
+foolish flightiness in allowing anything of the kind to break up their
+friendship, if no more. "You must see, Philip, that you should set me
+free."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no; don't talk like that; you should want me all the more when you
+witness her infatuation," he said, with his juvenile air, attempting to
+kiss her.</p>
+
+<p>"No, Philip; I cannot let you come near me with the occurrence of last
+evening so fresh in my memory."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, nonsense; when I am your husband you will be just as infatuated
+about me as she is."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know, Philip, you are as vain as a girl."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, yes; I suppose I am vain; but so would any man be who was as
+successful with the fair sex as I am," he said, drawing himself up to
+his full height of five feet nine, a look of pleasure in his large
+bright eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I can assure you, Philip, I felt anything but vain at the Pavilion, or
+coming out of church, with the spiteful eyes of that tall,
+common-looking, over-dressed Mrs. Snob full upon me, as social
+astronomer; she took in the situation at once."</p>
+
+<p>"A fig for what such like see or think; I thought you were above valuing
+the opinion of our wealthy plebeians."</p>
+
+<p>"But we were so conspicuously placed; I shrink from giving such women
+food for gossip."</p>
+
+<p>"Hang them all; our east-ender, Mrs. Snob, Ragsel, and the whole tribe,
+or anyone that bothers you, Elaine."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Philip, do be rational; release me from my oath; give me my
+freedom; we will never be happy married, or with our engagement still
+on; for she will grow bolder, and more persistent with each advance; do,
+for pity's sake, free me."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no; you ask too much," he said, angrily, thinking of these
+comfortable quarters of which he should be master, and of the woman
+beside him also.</p>
+
+<p>"But see how you left me for her last night; you <i>must</i> be fond of her."</p>
+
+<p>"I am <i>not</i>, so help me God; but I could not shake her off without
+making a scene."</p>
+
+<p>"But just fancy, Philip; if we were married she would prowl about the
+place even more than she does at present."</p>
+
+<p>"It is all your own fault, Elaine, that she gives you those scares in
+the evening; for she only comes when she knows I am about; if you lived
+more to yourself, and did not have all these women about you, I would
+come in the afternoon, like to-day; and she would be none the wiser, for
+she is at work in the day and can't come."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a fearful life for me."</p>
+
+<p>"Be reasonable, Elaine: any man as fascinating to your sex as I am must,
+of necessity, have women breaking their necks for them."</p>
+
+<p>"How you amuse me," she said, smiling ironically, comparing him with
+someone else.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see why; you know I speak truth," he said, innocently; "let me
+come in the afternoon; don't have any one else; then, pet, she will not
+see me watching to see you when your guests are gone at night; and so
+you will not be troubled with her."</p>
+
+<p>"But just think what a proposition you are making; she is to control our
+actions."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but only for a time, pet; she will, perhaps, tire of pursuing me;
+if she had me, and you were out in the cold, I feel sure she would agree
+to my proposition."</p>
+
+<p>"You certainly have a most amusing way of putting things."</p>
+
+<p>"I know I have; it's my large, kind heart and wish to please; and when
+we are married I will both charm and amuse you."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no; it will not be safe for me to marry you; for how about this
+other woman; would you charm and amuse her also?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just as I was in the humor; if she angered me, I would not think twice
+of setting Tyr on her."</p>
+
+<p>"Dinner is served, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>On repairing to the dining-room; and having done ample justice to a
+substantial dinner, prepared with a view to the possible advent of the
+Dales; and when the oyster soup, roast beef, with delicious vegetables,
+had been removed, dessert on, and Thomas dismissed, Mr. Cobbe said, in
+pleased tones:</p>
+
+<p>"I must congratulate you on your cook, Elaine."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you congratulate myself, Philip; for my seraph of the frying-pan
+knows next to nothing of the art; I devote two hours of each day to my
+culinary department."</p>
+
+<p>"For which you have the thanks of your guests, and for which Bridget
+will make you pay."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I know; but they all do it; when they feel their wings, they
+demand higher wages, or fly.</p>
+
+<p>"When will you marry me, Elaine?" he said, lightly, as they entered the
+drawing-room.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>After all I have said, you still ask this</i>," she said, freeing
+herself, and at her wits' end to know what to do with him, remembering
+her oath; but this woman, and what revenge she may take, terrifies her.
+Mr. Cobbe lights the gas; but the inside shutters must be shut; and as
+she closes them, he assists her, standing so near that his cheek touches
+hers.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't speak to me like that, Elaine; we love each other; and hang her
+for coming between us; come here, pet, and sit beside me; it is a treat
+to have you all to myself."</p>
+
+<p>"No; I am in no humor for a <i>tête-à-tête</i>; and the Dales may arrive at
+any moment."</p>
+
+<p>"Hang them; can't they go to a hotel; I dislike them; and surely you had
+enough of them, and that doleful Miss Crew, while Dale went north."</p>
+
+<p>"Tastes differ, Philip; I have a sincere friendship for them; as to
+their coming now, most of my little friends' wardrobe is&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Here a sharp ring at the hall door startled them.</p>
+
+<p>"What! a ring; that woman will be the death of me; I tremble now, once
+evening comes, at every peal of that bell."</p>
+
+<p>"Beg pardon, sir; a person&mdash;a&mdash;a lady, says she is waiting to speak to
+you, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Go, Philip, quick, for heaven's sake; this is dreadful," she said, in a
+gasp, holding her hand to her side.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Blair," said Thomas; and the old gold <i>portière</i> hangings are again
+closed, and they are alone.</p>
+
+<p>"Forget I am with you; don't try to speak yet," he said, kindly leading
+her to a seat; "you will breathe naturally in a few minutes, you have
+been startled; but it is all quiet now; your servant carefully fastened
+the door; lean your head back to this cushion; there is something, after
+all, in material comforts. Ah, now your color comes, and your
+eyes&mdash;well," he said, smiling, yet with a grave tenderness, "your eyes
+have lost their startled look, and may again weave their spells." For
+she had now opened her eyes, keeping them closed so she could better
+listen to his voice as he talked on, giving her time to recover that
+self which in alarm had fled.</p>
+
+<p>But with her nerves more quiet comes a thought which she must set at
+rest. So intent on her question is she, that self-consciousness is
+altogether absent, as, looking into his face, she says,</p>
+
+<p>"You must be a married man; you are so good a nurse, knowing exactly
+what is best for one; are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; I was," he said, indicating, by a gesture, a mourning ring on the
+third finger of his left hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive me; I should not have asked you so abruptly."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't mind you, you don't seem a stranger; and my poor wife was an
+invalid, so that her death, thirteen months ago, was not unexpected."</p>
+
+<p>"No; under those circumstances, you would be more or less prepared."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me, did you deem me impertinent to turn my eyes to your face when
+we have so frequently met, before our introduction?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; else I should have to share in your blame; for I should not have
+seen you had I not been guilty of like fault," she said, drooping her
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Believe me, I couldna help mysel', lassie, no more than I now can help
+myself coming to your house, and feeling so at home with you, as though
+I had known you for years, instead of for days. Do you feel a little as
+I do," he said, in his eager earnestness, turning his blue eyes full on
+her face.</p>
+
+<p>"I do; you will never be a stranger to me," she said, simply.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you; do you know that evening coming from the Grand, after
+'Erminie;' I was in the seventh heaven after having been so near you."</p>
+
+<p>"'So near, and yet so far,'" she said, smiling; "for the frowning
+battlements of the conventionalities were still between us."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but I dreamed that your pretty lace fan would waft them away,
+being a woman (though, by your eyes, I feel sure a warm-hearted one);
+still, you cannot know how my heart leaped when I saw that you had
+forgotten your fan; my first impulse led me to follow you with it, but
+Scotch second-sight suggested the means I adopted, to tell you my name.
+How did you like it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very much, indeed," she said, smiling, as looking into his face half
+shyly, remembering how she had pressed his card to her lips; "I love
+both your names, for reasons I may tell you another time. Are you
+Highland Scotch?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; and from fair Dunkeld."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed! you must be proud of your birthplace; the scenery must be
+beautiful, were it only in among your groves of trees. I love the giants
+of the forest so, that I wonder in the Pagan world they have not been as
+gods; now we sing,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'Ye groves that wave in Spring,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And glorious forests sing,<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">Alleluia.'"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"You have a passion for trees, I see, and would surely like Dunkeld;
+30,000,000 alone are said to have been planted by a Duke of Athol; we
+father on to the scenery a spice of romance running through us."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't try to excuse it by fathering it on to other than your own
+nature; our age is too practical; but Emerson expresses my thoughts
+exactly when he says 'everything but cyphering is hustled out of sight;
+man asks for a novel, that is, asks leave for a few hours to be a poet.'
+But, perhaps, you don't agree with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do, or I should have a larger account at my bankers; I fear I am not
+a canny Scotchman, for I have spent a good deal in giving my poor wife
+and self a glimpse of the poetry of other lands."</p>
+
+<p>"That was right, and kind. Do you know I think the world would be a
+better place to live in if, after one had made a sufficiency, one was
+compelled to give place to others, and if no credit was given in any
+case."</p>
+
+<p>"That, without doubt, would settle a good deal, and do away with
+communism," he said, laughingly; "for there would be no large fortunes
+to grab. As to no credit, I fear, until we reach Elysian fields, we
+shall have failures, duns, and other fruits of the credit system," he
+said, gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you intend remaining in Toronto?" she said, intent upon her
+embroidery.</p>
+
+<p>"That depends," he said, trying to read her; "don't go away; that old
+gold chair, with its crimson arms, becomes you (in woman's parlance),
+and brings out your warm tints."</p>
+
+<p>"I should think you would admire a woman like pretty Mrs. St. Clair, as
+you yourself are dark."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; she is a pretty little thing; a triumph of art though; but, if you
+will allow me to say so, I admire your style; usually there is more
+force of character in dark women rather than in fair."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; do you think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do; now, for instance, there is St. Clair, miserable at the aimless
+existence of his wife: she is either in hysterics or in&mdash;cosmetics."</p>
+
+<p>"We hear he is insanely jealous of her."</p>
+
+<p>"Rumor, as you know, dear Mrs. Grower, says more than her prayers. He
+tells me he is not jealous; for he does not believe any man would be
+silly enough to give him cause; but that by he or his son going about
+with her, her quest for admiration is held in check."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I see; that is the reason they attend her so closely; what a pity
+we are so foolish as to throw away life happiness, and the passing of
+our time in rest and quietness for the evanescent soap bubbles of a
+passing hour; but it is growing late; come and see my palms in my pet
+room, the library, before you go."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you;" the mere words were naught, but he looked so quietly happy,
+as he drew the hangings for their exit, that the color came to her
+cheeks as she remembered her oath, to as quickly fade on the clock
+striking ten, and the hall bell ringing simultaneously, as a man outside
+stamped the snow off his boots, impatiently saying, hurriedly, the
+startled look again in her face:</p>
+
+<p>"Ten o'clock; I fear I must postpone your visit to the library."</p>
+
+<p>"Is there any trouble I can shield you from? if so, you have only to
+command me," he said, quickly, taking her hand in good night. "No, no,
+not now," she said, with a troubled look.</p>
+
+<p>"Think, and tell me on New Year's Day," he said, buttoning his overcoat.</p>
+
+<p>"I shook her off, Elaine," he said, impulsively, not seeing Mr. Blair,
+who was rather back of the door. "Oh, I beg pardon," he continued,
+sulkily. "I thought you were alone, and watching for my return."</p>
+
+<p>"It is so late," she said, as Mr Blair made his exit.</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense, who was the man; I don't think it's right of you to have
+gentleman visitors," he said, in aggrieved tones.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Philip, does not that sound rather absurd? and, as I have before
+told you, I wish you would not come here at such a late hour; I don't
+like it," she said, gravely, as they went into the dining-room, where
+the usual little supper stood on a tray.</p>
+
+<p>"But we are engaged, it's you who are absurd," he said, pettishly; "but
+don't let us bother about it, my frosty walk has been quite an
+appetizer. Did you find it long, pet, while I was away? but I forget,
+you had that man here. A ring! bother."</p>
+
+<p>"It is Miss Crew, who is, you know, visiting me. Excuse me a moment, I
+hear Captain Tremaine's voice."</p>
+
+<p>"Hang all her visitors," he muttered.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad to see you back, dear; come into the dining-room, both of
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks, I believe if you only had potato and point, you would offer
+some one the potato."</p>
+
+<p>"If so, they should thank you; for, from admiration of your hospitality,
+to imitation, was but one step."</p>
+
+<p>"Blarney, blarney, you might only say that to the Chinese. These oysters
+are very fine, nothing like eating them off the shell."</p>
+
+<p>"Just my taste; these were sent me by a friend."</p>
+
+<p>"I never saw a man look more at home, than you, Cobbe; if all bachelors
+looked as contentedly jolly, we would not pity you so."</p>
+
+<p>"No pity for me, Tremaine, thanks. I have given many of you cause for
+envy."</p>
+
+<p>"He is not at all vain, Captain Tremaine," said Mrs. Gower, amusedly.</p>
+
+<p>"Not for him," said Tremaine, jokingly.</p>
+
+<p>"What is to be our color for 1888?"</p>
+
+<p>"Orange or blue, Mrs. Gower; half the men I have met to-day say one,
+half the other; opinions are divided."</p>
+
+<p>"Had the other man been a green Reformer, though, I would have bet on
+him," said Mr. Cobbe, buttoning on his overcoat.</p>
+
+<p>"There is something in that," she said; "for some would say he would
+have the Ontario Government at his back."</p>
+
+<p>"So he would, and good backers they would be, too. Good-night, Elaine;
+shall I see you at St. John's Church, to-morrow?" he said, in an
+undertone.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't ask me, after my last experience; I am going all the way to Holy
+Trinity Church, with Miss Crew; but shall be at home Monday, excepting
+while at the polls."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, <i>au revoir</i>."</p>
+
+<p>On his exit, Tremaine said, laughingly,</p>
+
+<p>"Good night. If the candidates were as sure of their election as our
+friend Cobbe is of his, they would sleep till Tuesday without a narcotic
+or a charm from the good fairies."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2>
+
+<h3>A HAPPY NEW YEAR.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"A Happy New Year! A Happy New Year!" is on every tongue, and how
+exhilarating is the cry uttered by thousands. From the weakly voice of
+our aged loved ones, to the bird-like notes of the wee children,
+mingling with the merry sleigh-bells, do our politicians take up the
+refrain; and our manly men, and ambitious women, sing out in various
+chords, as they swarm to the polls, "A Happy New Year! A Happy New
+Year!"</p>
+
+<p>And Old Boreas takes up the refrain, and blows till his cheeks crack,
+down Yonge street, from his northern realm. Yea, forty miles distant,
+does he send his cold breath. A Happy New Year! A Happy New Year.</p>
+
+<p>And our young men and maidens, our girls and our boys, laugh till the
+air rings. Hurrah for the north wind, we'll go to the Granite and have a
+good skate.</p>
+
+<p>And one gathers from the merry medley that our King Coal, and the
+<i>Sentinel</i>, are this year's favorites; but those who have put money up,
+and those who have not, must even wait with bated breath till midnight,
+or till dawn; and in dreamland, see their pet schemes forwarded, their
+own man in the Mayor's chair.</p>
+
+<p>It was a busy day at Holmnest, a bee-hive with no drones, by eleven a.m.
+Mrs. Gower has polled her vote; afterwards, with Miss Crew, drove
+through snow-mantled Rosedale, down villa-lined Jarvis street, through
+those stores of wealth, Yonge and King streets, along the margin of the
+silver lake, ere turning the horses' heads to the north-west and
+Holmnest; visiting, also, some of the poorer streets, in which quarters
+Miss Crew has found God's poor, many cases having touched her heart, she
+now leaves little parcels of good things to gladden these homes.</p>
+
+<p>"You will become bankrupt, Miss Crew," said Mrs. Gower, as they are
+driven home.</p>
+
+<p>"I am almost so, now; and if it will not bother you, I should like to
+tell you of a plan I have in view."</p>
+
+<p>"Bother me? I should say not. You should know I take too much interest
+in you for that." "Thank you; some connections, until recently, have
+remitted to me a sum amply sufficient for my needs; I know not why," she
+said, in troubled tones, "they have discontinued it; but they have, and
+it remains for me to face the difficulty, now that Garfield has outgrown
+my tuition, I cannot remain dependent on the Dale's kindness; and of Mr.
+Dale's generous, good treatment of me, a stranger, I cannot say too
+much; but I must exert myself to get a new situation," she said,
+nervously. "And will you, dear Mrs. Gower, do what you can in advising
+me; I have been looking in the newspapers, but have seen nothing
+suitable."</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me, Miss Crew, but are you entitled by law to receive this
+remittance you speak of? if so, you should not quietly relinquish it,
+but should consult a lawyer. We, at Toronto, are blessed with several
+honest, as well as clever, law firms. I will accompany you readily, or
+do anything I can for you."</p>
+
+<p>"You are very kind, but I shrink from lawyers, they ask so many
+questions," she said, timidly.</p>
+
+<p>"You must not mind that, dear; if you were ill, what would you do, send
+for a medical man? and the more questions he asked, the better he would
+understand your case."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I was braver; but I am only a girl, and have had much trouble,
+which has made me very nervous and timid."</p>
+
+<p>For one so extremely reticent, this was quite a confidence.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it would have that effect on one of your temperament; but with me,
+my troubles have made me more self-reliant; finding few to trust, I have
+leaned on myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you seem to me very brave; but don't you think I should advertise
+for a situation at once?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, decidedly not. You should ask Mr. Dale to advise, and I shall be
+very pleased to have you with me all winter."</p>
+
+<p>"How very kind you are, Mrs. Gower," and the tears came to her eyes,
+"but I should be more satisfied, adding to my purse."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, dear; I commend your decision, but remember the bedroom you
+occupy is Miss Crew's own, and your little home-nest will be ever ready
+for you; but do not forget my advice, which is to confide in Mr. Dale,
+fully and entirely; he can, and will, give you the very best advice."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't see how I can. If you only knew; but how selfish I am,
+spoiling your drive, and on New Year's Day, too."</p>
+
+<p>Here a small sleigh, in which were seated a comfortable-looking couple;
+the man a mass of grey tints&mdash;complexion, hair, whiskers, overcoat, and
+fur cap&mdash;looking like a man who had led a sedentary life; the woman,
+fresh of color, partly bent by the breath of old Boreas, both looking
+quietly happy, but so intent on turning their heads, as if on a pivot,
+first on this side, now on that, as they drove down handsome Saint
+George street, as to be oblivious of the approach of the sleigh in which
+were seated Mrs. Gower and Miss Crew.</p>
+
+<p>"Look out, there," shouted the driver. At this, the man, giving his
+whole attention to his horse, turned him out of the way just in time to
+save a collision; the woman, as they passed, looking at the occupants.
+She gave a great cry to stop them, but the driver had given his horses
+the whip, and on they dashed. Miss Crew had leaned forward, pale as
+death, her lips blue and parted, she tried to frame the word, "Stop,"
+but failed. Mrs. Gower, in sympathy, defining her meaning, cried:</p>
+
+<p>"Stop, driver, please."</p>
+
+<p>On his doing so:</p>
+
+<p>"Is the sleigh we just passed out of sight?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am; the gentleman has turned, and is a following of us. Would
+you, ladies, like a New Year's race? if so, I'm your man," he said,
+grinning.</p>
+
+<p>But Miss Crew, white as the snow, and looking whiter by contrast with
+the pretty red hat, has leaped out of the cutter.</p>
+
+<p>"My dog-skin coat is very warm, Mrs. Gower; don't wait; I must speak to
+them," she said, in the greatest excitement, her eyes glistening, her
+color coming and going.</p>
+
+<p>"But you will take cold, dear; get in beside me again until they come
+up."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, I beg; I wish to meet them <i>alone</i>," she whispered.</p>
+
+<p>"On one condition; are they friends?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; oh, yes, she is one of my best."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gower, seeing them almost close, wishing her an affectionate
+good-bye, bade the man drive on, and, as was natural, fell into a
+reverie over the strange occurrence happening to a girl of Miss Crew's
+remarkably reticent character. She seemed pleased, but so intensely
+excited, one could scarcely tell her real feelings. She thought, "But I
+sincerely hope it will be a bright incident for her to begin 1888 with;
+for a more truly pious, gentle, amiable girl I have never met."</p>
+
+<p>On the driver drawing in his horses, to allow a gentlemanly-looking man
+to pass, who was crossing Bloor West, at the head of St. George street,
+Mrs. Gower waking from her reverie, sees Mr. Buckingham.</p>
+
+<p>"The compliments of the season, Mrs. Gower," he said, lifting his hat.</p>
+
+<p>"The same to you. Whither bound?"</p>
+
+<p>"To Holmnest."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you had better come into the sleigh; 'there's room enough for
+twa.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks; with pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>"Driver, you see the young lady ahead of us. I expect she is coming to
+my place. Just pick her up, please."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you will think our sleighing a make-believe, after Lindsay,
+and locality."</p>
+
+<p>"You will be surprised to hear I now come from New York. Dale
+telegraphed me to meet some railway men, so I have been there ever
+since."</p>
+
+<p>"But won't your interests north-east suffer by your absence?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, not materially, I hope; still I am anxious to be on the spot. There
+is a splendid mine out that way I should like to get hold of."</p>
+
+<p>"Iron, I suppose?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; it is, you know, to be the great industry of the future."</p>
+
+<p>"But you only mean if we get Commercial Union?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, as far as Canada is concerned."</p>
+
+<p>"What is the name of this special mine you covet? I have heard Mr. Dale
+speak of several; this may be one."</p>
+
+<p>"It is the Snowden, in Victoria county; the ore is a fine grained
+magnetite; the mine is favorably situated, having a railway running into
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed! all very favorable; do you think you will succeed in becoming a
+purchaser?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of that, I regret to say, I am somewhat doubtful, as I am told there
+are several obstructionists connected with it; but I am not going to
+worry about it," he said, quietly; "if I don't get it, there are
+others."</p>
+
+<p>"What an easy temperament you have," she said, looking into his quiet
+unmoved countenance.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Mrs. Gower, I hold that a man should have himself under such
+perfect control as to be able to look at himself, in a manner of
+speaking, with other eyes; sit in judgment upon himself; dissect his
+motives, reward or punish. I look upon one who lets loose the reins of
+reason, giving blind passion or impulse full swing, as only an animal of
+the swine family, whatever his name may be," he said, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"What must he think of me," she thought; I am as impulsive as a Celt.
+"What a superior race of beings man would be were his convictions your
+convictions."</p>
+
+<p>"I think he would be happier, for he would not give way to excitement,
+which is, in my opinion, a sort of insanity; and also in its reaction,
+which is melancholy."</p>
+
+<p>"That reaction, after excitement, is one of the strongest blue ribbon
+arguments; we had a 'chalk talk' thereon at the Pavilion on last Sunday
+afternoon; what do you think of the Prohibition movement?"</p>
+
+<p>"I go with it, to the letter, for the mass of humanity cannot, or will
+not, control themselves; how do you go?"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe in temperance in all things. Professor Blackie says, 'We have
+too much of everything in our day; too much eating, too much drinking,
+too much preaching, etc;' and I am so far at one with him, that I
+believe in temperance, and coffee, even on New Year's Day," she added,
+smiling. "Stop, driver, please."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, get in, Miss O'Sullivan, and a Happy New Year to you, dear; this
+is my friend, Mr. Buckingham."</p>
+
+<p>"I was on my way to your place, Mrs. Gower, to ask Miss Crew to come and
+spend the day."</p>
+
+<p>"She is out with some friends; but you must lunch with me, and wait for
+her."</p>
+
+<p>"Whose is that large, hospitable house, Mrs. Gower, at the head of St.
+George Street?" asked Miss O'Sullivan.</p>
+
+<p>"A Colonel Sweeney's, dear, who, I was going to say, has a heart as
+large as his house, he is so kindly hospitable."</p>
+
+<p>Here they overtook Mr. Blair, whose handsome face lit with pleasure, as
+he lifted his hat; and, somehow, Mrs. Gower was glad of the advent of
+the young lady, though, before seeing him, she had not minded her
+<i>tête-à-tête</i> with Mr. Buckingham, with whom she likes to talk.</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes Holmnest is reached, when Mrs. Gower, telling Mr.
+Buckingham to make himself at home, he must stay for luncheon, and until
+it is time to take the Midland rail, went upstairs to make her toilette
+for the day.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Buckingham looks and feels at home ensconced in a deep, softly
+padded chair, near the blazing grate, in the restful library; he is soon
+lost in the <i>Iron Age</i>.</p>
+
+<p>On Miss O'Sullivan, a sweet-faced, blue-eyed girl, entering, looking
+bright as the morning in her pretty red woollen frock, the occupant,
+with the innate courtesy of his countrymen, laying aside his newspaper,
+adapted himself to her girlish chit-chat in a manner that charmed her,
+until the entrance of Mrs. Gower, in a very becoming gown of brown silk,
+with old gold plush trimming, ecru lace chemisette, and elbow
+sleeves&mdash;for she dressed for all day, and any friends who may come to
+wish her a glad New Year; she first goes to the kitchen to see that the
+machinery is actively in motion, as she had set it before going to the
+polls; one servant maid, with the boy, Thomas, being sufficient for the
+requirements of her cosy little home.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you both do look comfortable," she said, entering the library.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I think we do," said Miss O'Sullivan.</p>
+
+<p>"We only want you to want nothing more," he said, in pleased tones,
+placing a rattan chair, with its dark green velvet cushioned back and
+seat, and turning the fire screen to protect her face.</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet, thanks; my poor palms have had no water to-day. How do you
+think my plants are looking, Mr. Buckingham?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very fine; but if you kept them more moist they would do still better;
+but most amateur gardeners make a like mistake," he said, cutting some
+bits of scarlet geranium; "this bit of color will make your costume
+perfect."</p>
+
+<p>"The costume! but what about the woman?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, the woman knows right well," he said, leading her to the mirror.</p>
+
+<p>"Give me the good taste of an American gentleman, in preference to a
+mirror, which is frequently untrue."</p>
+
+<p>"Luncheon is served, ma'am."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2>
+
+<h3>"BETTER LO'ED YE CANNA BE."</h3>
+
+
+<p>After a substantial luncheon, to which they bring good appetites, given
+by their exhilarating outing in the frosty air, they cross the hall to
+the drawing-room, when Thomas opened the door to Miss Crew and Mr.
+Cobbe.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, here is our truant," said Mrs. Gower.</p>
+
+<p>"Me!" laughed Cobbe, wishing her the compliments of the season.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Buckingham thought he detected a slight cloud of dissatisfaction
+pass over her face, even as she welcomed him.</p>
+
+<p>"I have made fifteen calls already; the fair sex like to be remembered,
+Buckingham."</p>
+
+<p>"Man is too selfish to forget what he could not do without, Cobbe."</p>
+
+<p>"Give me an American for a due appreciation of our sex," said Mrs.
+Gower, gaily.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no; you are wrong. <i>You</i> ought to know an Irishman to be the most
+gallant man that lives," Mr. Cobbe said, sulkily.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, yes, perhaps you are the most gallant," she said, thoughtfully,
+"but in the bearing of an American man towards my sex there is a
+something more&mdash;there is a gentle courtesy, a deference, a grave
+tenderness."</p>
+
+<p>"Tut, tut," said Mr. Cobbe, turning over the leaves of an album
+impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"I fear you flatter us," said Buckingham.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I think not; simply because your great Republic is so highly
+civilized and progressive, the outcome of which is our enthronement with
+you; while, in other countries, we are still midway between our
+footstool of the dark ages and our throne with you."</p>
+
+<p>Here Mr. St. Clair, Captain Tremaine, and a young barrister, a Mr.
+McCullogh, made their <i>entrée</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"Your drawing-room is looking very pretty, Mrs. Gower," said Tremaine;
+"the holly and mistletoe brings me home again."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it looks so well against the blue and tan panels, that I am
+tempted to let it stay."</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you get it; it is very fine and healthy?" asked St. Clair,
+admiringly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, thereby hangs a tale; it is a Christmas gift from Santa Claus.
+All I know about it is, it came (Thomas thinks) from Slight's."</p>
+
+<p>"It was no slight to you, Elaine," said Cobbe, jokingly.</p>
+
+<p>On the mention, before so many, of her Christian name she made an
+expressive <i>moue</i> at Tremaine, unseen by the others, whose attention was
+momentarily given to several booklets and cards which lay on a pretty
+gilt stand, and while Miss O'Sullivan and McCullogh turned the pages of
+"Erminie" for Miss Crew at the piano.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait until Monday, Buckingham. I take the Midland then, in your
+direction," said St. Clair.</p>
+
+<p>"Impossible, St. Clair. I should have been as far as Lindsay yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>On the clock striking three, St. Clair started to his feet, buttoning
+his coat.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, Mrs. Gower. 'Time and tide,' you know."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; but Time is not such a churl as to bid you away before I have
+had even a look at you."</p>
+
+<p>"But we men come to look at you, to-day, and, as usual, gratify
+ourselves. <i>Au revoir</i>. I promised Noah to be back at three, to let him
+off for a skate."</p>
+
+<p>"'What's in a name?'" said Tremaine. "I wonder what relation he of the
+Ark was to that boy."</p>
+
+<p>"But fancy! I heard a clergyman in this city baptize an unoffending
+infant Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego."</p>
+
+<p>"Did he throw in the 'and'?" laughed Tremaine.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no. Did I give it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Well, I just call my boy plain Paddy."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you throw in the 'plain'?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, come, now; you ladies are having the best of it all through
+to-day," he said, making his adieux.</p>
+
+<p>"At the polls too?" she said gaily.</p>
+
+<p>Several callers now came in in rapid succession, Mr. Cobbe rising as the
+last made their exit.</p>
+
+<p>"Think of me, Elaine. I shall come in and cheer you up when I get
+through," he said, in a loud whisper, as she was having a last quiet
+word with Buckingham.</p>
+
+<p>Here Mr. Blair entered, and both men thought they saw a something in her
+smile that had not been given them.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye has come again, Mrs. Gower," said Buckingham. "One must always
+regret leaving Holmnest; but I have only time to catch my train."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, and may all your wishes be granted."</p>
+
+<p>Miss O'Sullivan, saying she must really go, took Miss Crew (who had a
+new light in her face), Mr. McCullogh accompanying them.</p>
+
+<p>"I am fortunate," said Mr. Blair, as the <i>portière</i> hangings closed
+after them; Mrs. Gower smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"Rest, after running about; though I think the fashion of New Year's
+calls is fast dying out."</p>
+
+<p>"It is, undoubtedly; this is my third and last. You are looking well
+after your frosty drive," he said, seating himself at the gilt stand
+beside her.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you think my friends have good taste?" she said, directing his
+attention to the cards and booklets; "this white ivory card is pretty,
+with its golden edge, white roses, and snowdrops, and gold bells, as
+they ring,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"May every Christmas chime awaken in your heart<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Each bliss of by-gone years in which your life had part."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"Yes," he said, thoughtfully, "if one could only drink a good bumper of
+the waters of Lethe, and forget the pain, remembering only the bliss."</p>
+
+<p>"But 'tis the memory of the bliss that brings the pain; at least I have
+found it so," she said gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you are right; I have not thought of putting it to myself in that
+way; but I must not give you a sad train of thought. Ah, this is
+original," he said, picking up a large card, on which was painted a
+bunch of scarlet poppies, with the lines:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"O! sleep; O! gentle sleep, how have I frighted thee,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That thou no more will weigh my eyelids down,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And steep my senses in forgetfulness?"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"All the way from Ottawa; he evidently sees your eyes, which keep his
+open," he said, trying to read her.</p>
+
+<p>"You are fanciful, Mr. Blair;" but her color deepens under his gaze;
+"but, be it as you say, he should close his eyes, possess his soul with
+honor, and clasp the hand of duty."</p>
+
+<p>"You give him a hard task, still I would lay any wager on your
+kindliness of heart, on your strong sense of honor. I don't think you
+would fool with a man's affections," he said, earnestly.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of herself she trembles, for she feels that he is more to her
+than any living man; and as he sits, his elbows on the table, his
+fingers ran through his iron-grey hair, looking at her, her eyes droop,
+her hands nervously play with the cards, her sensitive lips showing her
+emotion, as she thinks of Mr. St. Clair's words to her the evening of
+their introduction, of the nobility of this man's character, of his
+devotion to his late wife, of his clean record among men as to his truth
+and honor in all business transactions; and now she knows, intuitively,
+in fact, did at their first meeting, that his heart is seeking hers.</p>
+
+<p>"I am right, you would not play with a man's affections; you have had
+sorrow yourself; tell me."</p>
+
+<p>In spite of herself, a tear glistened in her eyes as she looked into his
+face, as she thought of her oath.</p>
+
+<p>"No; do I look so faulty, frivolous and foolishly wicked?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, you have a sweet, kind, womanly face," he said, smiling gravely;
+"and were I to tell you of my lonely life, and how I long for just such
+a womanly presence, just such companionship to gladden a home, to make
+my broken life complete, with a sweet sense of peace and rest, would you
+send me from you desolate?" and his voice thrilled with intense feeling.</p>
+
+<p>"If so, and that my act left me also desolate, would you not forgive
+me?" she said, brokenly.</p>
+
+<p>"I would forgive you, yes; for I could not live with enmity in my heart
+towards you; but, why do you speak so?" he said, earnestly, her words
+giving him the key to her heart, as he came over beside her, and with an
+arm around her, drew her head to his chest. "Don't resist me; you know I
+love you, and you will be my ain bonnie wife." He felt her tremble,
+though she yielded to him. "Better lo'ed ye canna be," and stooping, he
+kissed her on the lips: "those lips, a thread of scarlet," and he looked
+at her tenderly.</p>
+
+<p>At this her color deepened, and, with a sigh, she said, her voice
+trembling with emotion: "Release me, dear, it can never be; I am
+promised to another. Go now, and leave me to my fate," she said,
+tearfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Never! You <i>shall</i> be my wife, and that before the next moon wanes.
+Whoever this man is, he has not won your heart. Yes, <i>my</i> heart twin,
+<i>my</i> own companion every day for our journey through life, <i>my</i> Elaine,
+not his;" and, again and again, for a few blissful moments that she is
+strained to his heart, do his kisses come to her lips. "Look up, dear
+wife, and tell me by one look that I am in your heart. Yes, love, your
+eyes tell me that our lives will be again worth living, again complete.
+No, I will not let you go; and I just want to see this man who thinks he
+will rob me of you."</p>
+
+<p>At this juncture the hall-bell rings, just as the clock was striking
+seven, the hour Mrs. Gower had ordered dinner; and, as quick as her
+hastened heart-beats would allow, donning society's mask, she is playing
+Chopin's music, while Mr. Blair is intent on "The Miniature Golden
+Floral Series;" when Mr. Cobbe enters, evidently by his manner having
+done more than "look upon the wine when it is red."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Elaine, don't scold me, I could not come back any sooner," he
+said, with a jovial air; "but, hang it, I never see you alone these
+days."</p>
+
+<p>"Can it be possible, she has promised herself to this swaggering fool!"
+thought Blair.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter, Elaine?" he continued, leaning on the piano, and
+looking into her face, "you have a tragedy face."</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes I seem to be taking part in one," she said, gravely; hoping
+he would remember the woman.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I see; you have been playing 'Faust;' if you want something
+devilish, try French opera; German is horns and hoof, and no fun."</p>
+
+<p>Seeing his mood, she abandoned all hope of fixing his attention on any
+quieting thought, glancing at Mr. Blair for sympathy; one look told her
+his opinion of her friend. "How he must despise me," she thought,
+introducing them. "And now, you must both dine with a lone woman."</p>
+
+<p>"It will give me great pleasure to begin the year so," said Mr. Blair,
+with the determined air of a man who could and would hold his ground, as
+he put her hand through his arm, whispering, "Courage!"</p>
+
+<p>"You look very much like a lone woman, I must say," said Cobbe, sulkily.
+"I told you before, Elaine, that I don't think it's right of you," he
+said, recklessly.</p>
+
+<p>As they crossed the hall to dine, the geraniums dropped from her gown.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my poor flowers," Mr. Blair picking them up. Mr. Cobbe said,
+jealously, "Poor flowers, indeed; I should just like to know who gave
+them you."</p>
+
+<p>Fearing he would think it had been Mr. Blair, and not feeling equal to a
+scene, she said, hurriedly:</p>
+
+<p>"A friend who has left town; but you are too sensible to allow such a
+trifle to spoil your dinner."</p>
+
+<p>From the moment of their passing through the <i>portière</i> hangings into
+the hall, Blair had seen the face of a woman peering through the
+vestibule door, Thomas having neglected fastening the outer door on
+letting in Mr. Cobbe. On entering the dining-room, Mrs. Gower, in
+looking over her shoulder in making the above remark, saw the face. Not
+so Cobbe, who was wholly absorbed in rage at the present state of
+affairs.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Blair felt his companion tremble as she said to herself, "That
+woman!" At that, pressing her closely to his side, he again whispered,
+"Courage!"</p>
+
+<p>"Thomas, go quickly to the vestibule door."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what's the matter now, Elaine; do you expect another gentleman?"</p>
+
+<p>"Go and see." "No, no; if he comes I'll see him soon enough, and the
+soup smells too tempting."</p>
+
+<p>Thomas returned and waited, when Mrs. Gower said, nervously, "Are both
+doors securely fastened, Thomas?"</p>
+
+<p>"They are, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"Queer time for a visitor to call, just at dinner hour," said Cobbe, in
+aggrieved tones.</p>
+
+<p>This was more than Thomas could stand, who had more than once confided
+to the kitchen his opinion of Mr. Cobbe for doing likewise, so he said,
+respectfully:</p>
+
+<p>"Beg pardon, sir; but it was <i>that</i> lady for you, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Hang it! you told her I wasn't here, I hope."</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; I said you was at dinner, and I couldn't disturb you, sir; so
+she said she would wait outside."</p>
+
+<p>"It's very cold for her," faltered Mrs. Gower.</p>
+
+<p>Here the merry sleigh-bells jingled and stopped at the gate; voices are
+nearing; and now the hall-bell again rings, when Mr. and Mrs. Dale are
+heard in the hall stamping the snow off their boots, and divesting
+themselves of their wraps.</p>
+
+<p>"Thomas, get plates, etc."</p>
+
+<p>They enter looking as if Jack Frost has given them a chilly embrace, for
+they have had a cold drive from town.</p>
+
+<p>"Welcome! this is a glad surprise, though I half expected you yesterday.
+Mrs. Dale, allow me to introduce Mr. Blair; Mr. Dale, Mr. Blair; and now
+be seated; I am so glad to have you back again, Ella; I have missed you
+much."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Elaine; we both wished you were with us; Henry's English
+friends, the Elliotts, are delightful, and were charmed with your
+description of river life on the St. Lawrence."</p>
+
+<p>"They will think I have scarcely done it justice, on their revelling in
+it themselves."</p>
+
+<p>"We have Ella Wheeler Wilcox and Rose Elizabeth Cleveland, at New York,
+this winter, Mrs. Gower," said Dale, in gratified tones.</p>
+
+<p>"What a treat it would be to meet them; they will give new life to the
+women's literary circles."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, where is Miss Crew?" asked Mrs. Dale.</p>
+
+<p>"Out spending the day at the O'Sullivans."</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad of that," said Dale, kindly. "Miss O'Sullivan has the
+brightness our little friend lacks, and will, perhaps, win her
+confidence, which we have been unable to do."</p>
+
+<p>"That is very true," said Mrs. Gower, who now related the incident of
+the morning, regarding the couple they had met while out sleigh-driving;
+at which Mrs. Dale was all eyes and ears, her pretty little face aglow
+with excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"How strange! and she persisted in seeing them alone! did she seem
+glad?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; for such a quiet, self-contained little creature, very much
+so."</p>
+
+<p>"And did she tell you nothing on her return?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; she had no opportunity; we had callers, and Miss O'Sullivan was
+here; but she looked happier, poor, lonely, wee lassie."</p>
+
+<p>"She is likely to remain lonely, too," said Cobbe; "a man does not want
+to marry a girl as stiff as his beaver, and as prim as its band."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor girl; one cannot expect her to show that careless joy in living
+our girls show, who have happy homes and ties of kin."</p>
+
+<p>"In my opinion," said Dale, "the women and girls who take life easiest,
+and seem to feel that the good things of life are their heritage, are
+the American women."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't go with you, Dale," said Mr. Cobbe; "I'll back up some of our
+own women against them for monopoly of that sort."</p>
+
+<p>"I am at one with you, Mr. Dale," said Mrs. Gower, "for this reason:
+from the time an American woman can lisp, she is taught the cardinal
+ideas of the country, viz., liberty and equality."</p>
+
+<p>"From your standpoint, Mrs. Gower, your sex should be all Republicans,"
+said Mr. Dale. "What countryman are you, Mr. Blair?"</p>
+
+<p>"A pure and unadulterated Scotchman; and I hope you like the land o'
+bagpipes, heather and oatcakes sufficiently as to like me none the
+less."</p>
+
+<p>"No; for was I not English, I would be Scotch."</p>
+
+<p>"And I," said Mrs. Dale, "would have liked you better were you
+Irish-American."</p>
+
+<p>"You are candid, at all events," he said, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"You had better live as near perfection as possible, by remaining in
+Canada, Mr. Blair," said his hostess, rising from the table. "Come,
+Ella, we shall leave them to their cigarettes and the subjects nearest
+their hearts."</p>
+
+<p>"You are one of the most thoughtful women I have ever met," said Dale,
+drawing the hangings for their exit; "but our smoke will be but a
+passing cloud; we shall soon sun ourselves in your presence."</p>
+
+<p>"Listen to him," said his wife, merrily; "don't I bring him up well."</p>
+
+<p>As the two friends sipped their coffee from dainty Japanese china, the
+red silk gown of Mrs. Dale contrasting prettily with the brown and old
+gold in the dress of her friend, they made a sweet, home-like picture,
+in this tasteful little drawing-room, with its gaily painted walls,
+hangings in artistic blending, its softly padded furniture, not
+extravagant&mdash;for Mrs. Gower's income is but $600 per annum&mdash;now that
+house and furniture are paid for, but Roger's bill was very reasonable,
+for all is in good taste; and with two or three good pictures, a
+handsome bronze or two, with a few bits of choice bric-a-brac, all the
+latter gifts from friends; with the glowing grate, the colored lights,
+the holly and mistletoe, all make an attractive scene.</p>
+
+<p>"And now about yourself, Elaine; I hoped on my return to have found your
+mercurial friend out in the cold."</p>
+
+<p>"No, Ella; I can do nothing with him," she said, gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't he get it into his head that no woman would marry a man with
+another woman dangling after him. I have no patience with him. Does she
+haunt your place still?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; she is certainly most constant. Did I tell you of a fright she
+gave me at two public meetings?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; you wrote me that you must do so on my return."</p>
+
+<p>"Just fancy coming from the Rodgers' mass meeting, before the mayoralty
+election. I went with Philip, and she must have followed us, for she
+managed to get near us, and in the crush making our exit, took hold of
+his arm, and <i>would not let him see me home</i>; picture me in that crowd,
+having to fight my way through, and alone! I think I shall never forget
+that night; fortunately the cars were running; so taking the Carlton,
+College and Spadina Avenue car, I managed to reach home. Ella, it was
+awful, the lonely home-coming," she said tearfully; "the cowardly (I
+suppose it was) fear of meeting acquaintances; but the feeling that I
+was engaged, nay, under oath to marry a man who could allow this, was
+worse than had I met dozens of acquaintances; the late hour; then after
+I had left the Spadina Avenue terminus, the lonely walk up here&mdash;all
+together made me so nervous I was not myself for a day or two."</p>
+
+<p>"I should say you would be; it was dreadful; and as you say, dear, the
+feeling that you were engaged to such," she said, contemptuously, "added
+bitterness to the act; oath or no oath, he must release you."</p>
+
+<p>"He won't."</p>
+
+<p>"He <i>shall;</i> and I am determined to stay with you until I can interview
+that woman. What a horrid man he is, any way."</p>
+
+<p>Here the gentlemen entered, and a truce to confidentials.</p>
+
+<p>"Has my little wife told you, Mrs. Gower, that I have tickets for
+'Faust,' and we hope you will care to accompany us?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; she had not told me, though we were speaking tragedy."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, yours was the prologue; now for 'Faust;' you will come?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, with pleasure," she said, feeling that her <i>tête-à-tête</i> with Mr.
+Blair is over, for Mr. Cobbe would remain; feeling also that such
+<i>tête-à-tête</i> was too full of quiet content for her to indulge in,
+engaged as she is to another.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Blair very reluctantly rises to depart, seeing that the evening he
+has promised himself, in dual solitude with the woman he determines
+shall be his wife, is broken in upon.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-night, Mrs. Gower; the walk to town will seem doubly cold by
+contrast with the warmth of your hospitalities," he said, holding her
+hand, a look of regret in his blue eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Button up well, then, to ensure my being remembered for so long," she
+said, quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-night, Elaine; expect me to-morrow, at five p.m.," said Mr. Cobbe,
+with an important air.</p>
+
+<p>Outside, to Mr. Blair, he said, "Fine woman, Mrs. Gower; I am in luck,
+but she has too much freedom," he said, pointedly.</p>
+
+<p>"How do you mean?" asked Blair, by an effort controlling himself to
+speak quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, too many gentlemen coming and going; I must arrange for our
+marriage at once."</p>
+
+<p>"You are honored by a promise from her to marry you, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but by more than a promise; by an oath," he said, flightily; "and
+she is not the only woman who is infatuated with me," he added,
+chuckling at his companion's discomfiture.</p>
+
+<p>"You are fortunate," said the canny Scotchman, hating him for his words;
+but aware that there is some mystery in the case, knowing Mrs. Gower to
+shrink from fulfilling her engagement; having recognized the face of the
+woman at the vestibule as the woman he has seen prowling about Holmnest
+at night-fall, he affects a friendly air to draw his companion out,
+trusting that his intense vanity will lead him to commit himself
+insomuch as to give him a hold upon him, which he will use as a means of
+freeing Mrs. Gower.</p>
+
+<p>Hearing steps behind them, he looks, and lo! the light of the street
+lamp shows the face of the woman of the vestibule.</p>
+
+<p>"By George, you are a lucky fellow; here is this poor little woman at
+your heels; you are too gallant to allow her to walk alone; step back
+and introduce me," he said, with the vague hope that he might in this
+way find the hold she has on Cobbe; but <i>l'homme propose, Dieu dispose</i>,
+for he said importantly:</p>
+
+<p>"So she is; between you and I, the more faithless I am, the tighter she
+hugs;" and, turning on his heel, the woman with him, they go at a run
+down Major Street, leaving Blair, in blank dismay, standing in the cold
+of the snow-mantled night.</p>
+
+<p>After seeing talented Modjeska at the Grand, in "Faust," Mrs. Gower,
+having wished her friends a warm good-night, as she sleeps, dreams of a
+manly, handsome face bending over her, while the light in his eyes give
+point to his words of "Better lo'ed ye canna be."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE THREE LINKS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>On a cold afternoon, in January's third week, when fair Toronto's
+children wore the colors of Old Boreas; when the spirits of the air
+floated on the frozen breaths of humanity, and when imagination held
+that the giant cyclone of the North-west had hurled into our midst a bit
+of the North Pole, on such a day Holmnest is a snug spot; not one of
+those mansions with a small coal account that some of our moneyed
+citizens exist in in cold grandeur during winter's reign; but small,
+warm and home-like. So thought Mrs. Dale, who is again spending a few
+days with her friend, and who is now seated with Mr. Blair beside the
+glowing grate in the drawing-room; he cannot keep away, and having
+confided his hopes and fears to her, they have become warm friends.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gower and Miss Crew are down town shopping, the latter having
+abandoned her intention to seek employment other than her voluntary
+deeds of good as a city missioner, she having received a bill of
+exchange from the mother country on the Bank of British North America;
+whether from this cause or from the fact of her constant visits to the
+quietly happy-looking couple she had met on New Year's Day, her friends
+can only guess; but she is certainly looking happier, though still
+reticent as to her private history, merely telling Mrs. Gower, to whom
+she has become much attached, that before long she will ask their
+advice, and tell them all.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Cobbe has just called, but had not gone in, ascertaining from Thomas
+that his mistress was not at home, but that Mrs. Dale and Mr. Blair were
+in the drawing-room&mdash;he volunteering the latter information, instinct
+telling him it would not be agreeable; for the kitchen did not approve
+of him as the coming master at Holmnest, saying one to the other,
+"Pretty fly he is, to think of dividing up of the likes of he between
+our missis and that bold hussy as follows him."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment, in the drawing-room, Mrs. Dale, as she alternately pats
+Tyr's head, or, with deft fingers, embroiders a cushion, says, with a
+curl on her scarlet lips, her Irish eyes flashing:</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad Elaine was out. You see, he knew enough not to come in and be
+entertained by us."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he knows enough for that," he said, mechanically, waking from a
+reverie. "I wish to heaven we could interview the woman. I am convinced
+we would elicit information sufficient to absolve our dear friend from
+her oath. I am driven to my wit's end, I am in such misery. I can assure
+you, Mrs. Dale, this matter has taken such hold of me that I neither
+eat, drink, sleep, nor even think naturally."</p>
+
+<p>And the ring of truth is in his words, as he starts up, and paces up and
+down the room like a caged lion, eager for action, yet compelled to
+inactivity. Papers and magazines strew the carpet where he had been
+seated, on which he had in vain tried to fix his thought. Now he again
+flings himself into his chair, she sees his brows knit, his eyes small
+with the intentness of inward musing; his manly, independent bearing is
+crushed, his firm, determined mouth is still set with a fixed purpose,
+but his face has lost its glow of happiness.</p>
+
+<p>He haunts Holmnest some hours of each day, his eyes following her every
+movement as she goes about her home duties, or sits quietly reading, or
+holding book or newspaper, under pretence of doing so, giving herself a
+few moments' silent thought, ever and anon lifting her eyes to his face,
+as quickly to withdraw them, lest sympathy lead her to betray a grief
+akin to his. One day he asked her how it was she had come in the first
+place to allow Mr. Cobbe the privilege of friendly intercourse, when she
+told him all. Of the deaths of loved ones, of her long and tedious law
+suits, of her losses through the wrong-doings of others, of the flight
+of summer friends, of her difficulty in earning a sufficiency to eke out
+her small income, and of Philip Cobbe being introduced; when his jovial,
+free-from-care nature diverting her attention from her many cares, she
+and he gradually drifted into a very friendly acquaintance, which
+resulted in their walk through the Queen's Park. Of her oath she had
+already told him on the 3rd of January, on his relating to her the
+boastful words of Mr. Cobbe on the evening previous. At which he had
+been driven nearly desperate, as also on her resolve that, in honor
+bound, she must be true to her oath.</p>
+
+<p>She had never allowed him to kiss her since those few blissful moments
+that lived in the memory of each, in which he had asked her to become
+his wife on Monday, the 2nd of January, and when he had read her heart.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a miserable fix for Elaine," said Mrs. Dale, picking out a few
+false stitches she had made in giving her attention to him as he paced
+the floor in his agony of mind. "She cares for you, but will remain true
+to her oath; she will go on in this wretched way, Mr. Cobbe coming and
+going, boasting of his engagement, to keep rivals at bay, and that woman
+haunting the place until a tragedy ends the whole farce. Elaine will
+postpone and postpone her union with that man until she dies
+broken-hearted, poor thing. She has had no end of trouble in the past,
+and now this must all crop up. Nasty Cobbe; I <i>hate</i> you," she said,
+emphatically.</p>
+
+<p>"So do I," he said, moodily; "but what availeth it? We, with our strong
+natures, are as wax in the hands of this vain, foolish, empty-headed
+fellow; he has the whip-hand of us. I never felt small, impotent,
+powerless in my life until now. You don't know what mad thoughts come to
+me sometimes, when I see her going about in her sweet womanliness with a
+pretence of gaiety lest I feel for her, making this truly home, sweet
+home; now going to her kitchen, now sewing quietly; again singing,
+though in unsteady tones, the songs of my own land."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps it would be better for you; easier, I mean, if you kept away
+from her."</p>
+
+<p>"Kept away! that's what she tells me. No; come I must. I am not fit to
+attend to business, to face the busy hive of men down town. I have not
+as yet rented an office, or put out my shingle as broker and estate
+agent, so the world which knows me not does not miss me. Did I not come,
+I should be tortured by the thought that Cobbe had persuaded her to
+marry him, and that with the false hope of making me forget her, and the
+woman to give up her game as lost, she would consent. No; I shall come
+in the seemingly aimless way; but not aimless, for I am her bodyguard.
+Already my being here, and holding my ground, has more than once
+prevented a <i>tête-à-tête</i>, and saved her from (I make no doubt) his
+hateful caresses. He hates me, and would revenge himself upon me if he
+could; and, insomuch as he can, he does do so&mdash;by using her Christian
+name, leaning familiarly over her shoulder as she reads or sews,
+following her even to the kitchen. Once he dared to kiss her good-bye,
+but I don't think he will try that again; for, on his looking at me
+maliciously, to note my jealousy, I gave him one look, at which he made
+a hasty exit."</p>
+
+<p>"So far so good, Mr. Blair; but you and myself are really doing nothing
+to free Elaine. We <i>must</i> get a hold of the woman; she is not very well
+clad; is, I dare say, poor; I shall try if the dollar will grease the
+wheels of her tongue. Now, how shall we manage it? This evening I shall
+express a wish to telegraph Henry. You must offer to accompany me; this
+will allow of time to work on Mr. Cobbe's Mary Ann. We shall walk up and
+down on the other side of the street (thus putting ourselves in Grundy's
+mouth) until she appears, when, pouncing upon her, we will <i>make</i> her
+tell her relations to Cobbe. You understand?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but he will be here alone with Elaine."</p>
+
+<p>"Just like a man: as jealous as a rooster in a barnyard. Miss Crew will
+be here, and chance callers."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well; it shall be as you say, though I mortally hate not being
+present when he is here; but here she comes, her cheeks like roses, and
+eyes bright from the frosty air," he said, brightening.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you pair of fire-worshippers!" she exclaimed, giving her hand to
+Mr. Blair. "I have had a glorious walk from Yonge, through Bloor west,
+and up here. We took the Yonge up-cars, when Miss O'Sullivan, who was
+one of us, carried off Miss Crew till to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose King Street wore its usual afternoon dress of dudes and
+sealskin sacques," he said, drawing her wrap from her shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose so; but we only went as far as Roche's. What a world of a
+place it is. Mrs. Francis says, 'One can buy everything but butcher's
+meat there,' and she is about right. The up-cars were, as usual,
+over-crowded; we were to blame for taking one, I suppose, as so many
+poor fatigued-looking men were obliged to stand. However, we were sorry
+for them in a practical way, for we only occupied one seat by turns; the
+company should run extra cars about six, or label them, 'For men only.'"</p>
+
+<p>"On the other side," said Mrs. Dale, "men say it's a poor rule that
+won't work both ways, so, as we advocate equal rights, they, as a rule,
+don't yield their seats."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that so?" said Blair. "I wonder at that, for Mrs. Gower tells me
+there is a shrine to woman in every house."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, never mind her, she is our champion, fights and wins our battles. I
+used to hope she would marry among us, and strut under our big bird; but
+alas, she sees more beauty in a common Scotch thistle," she says,
+teasingly.</p>
+
+<p>Blair smiled, gravely, saying with his eyes on Mrs. Gower, in her
+pretty, dark blue gown, with broken plaid over-skirt,</p>
+
+<p>"I fear not; to the shamrock she plights her troth."</p>
+
+<p>At this the color rushes to the roots of her hair, to as quickly recede,
+leaving her like marble, and, gathering up her wraps, saying, in
+unsteady tones,</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me a moment, I must see what the kitchen is about: it is near
+dinner time."</p>
+
+<p>Blair, drawing the hangings, said, wistfully following her into the
+hall:</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive me, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"I must, when you look so sorry; but, that compulsory oath is killing
+me, Alec; driving me into heart disease," she said, tremblingly.</p>
+
+<p>"My darling! is it possible? but I can see it. Your heart is fairly
+jumping, your hands cold, your nails blue; come in here for a few
+minutes' quiet," he said, sorrowfully, leading her into the library,
+taking her wraps from her, seating himself quietly beside her, simply
+taking her hands, while whispering soothing words. His own heart
+breaking the while, that he may not take her in his arms; but with her
+breath coming in gasps, the excitement would have killed her, even did
+she permit any demonstration of feeling from him, which indeed, she had
+unconditionally forbidden.</p>
+
+<p>On the dinner-bell ringing, she said, in low tones:</p>
+
+<p>"You are nice, and good, and kind to have talked to me so quietly until
+I recovered the use of my tongue. You see, dear, I can give it a rest
+sometimes; now come for Ella, to our dish of roast beef and Yorkshire
+pudding. Don't look so grave, Alec; 'Richard is himself again.' I wish
+you would go away for a time, leave the city; as you have not commenced
+business actively, really got into harness, you could easily do so; it
+would be easier for me, I think, if I did not see you," she said, almost
+breaking down.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot," he said, looking into her face gravely; "and it would not
+help you; all I can manage, is to keep to the conditions you made: that
+in coming I must not speak of my love for you; and you must own, dear,
+that I fulfil those conditions; holding myself continually in check,
+curbing my feelings, never outwardly letting loose the reins of passion,
+even when I see that man hanging about you."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you are very good; but still, I&mdash;oh, I don't know what to say or
+do," she said, in anguish, covering her face with her hands; then, by a
+violent effort controlling herself, took her place at table.</p>
+
+<p>During dinner, she was pale and flushed, talkative and silent, by turns;
+her companion keeping the ball moving to give her a rest.</p>
+
+<p>Oh their returning to the drawing-room, Mrs. Dale gave them some music,
+thus giving each time for quiet thought. The sweet sounds suddenly
+ceasing, she wheels round on the piano-stool, saying, energetically,</p>
+
+<p>"I feel restless this evening, active exercise will cure me; a brisk
+walk down street, or even the toboggan-slide."</p>
+
+<p>But Mr. Blair does not take her up, and sits with averted eyes, not
+thinking Mrs. Gower well enough to be left with Mr. Cobbe.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Ella, Mr. Blair is too gallant not to accompany you. You will
+both go; when I tell you that I wish to see Philip <i>alone</i>, I am going
+to again appeal to him."</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid it will be too much for you, Elaine, perhaps," she said,
+hesitatingly, for she does not like to give up her plan; "perhaps Mr.
+Blair ought to stay, he need not be in the very same room with you."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that is a good idea; I shall go to the library," he said, in
+relieved tones.</p>
+
+<p>"No, dears, you will both do as I wish. With the knowledge that I am
+alone, I shall doubly nerve myself to the task."</p>
+
+<p>For she dreads that Mr. Cobbe's excitable temper will give way, causing
+a scene.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if you are going to talk to him, Elaine, tell him everything; and
+that Mr. Blair and I say he is breaking your heart."</p>
+
+<p>"I fear, Ella, your united opinions would have little weight with him,"
+she said, with the ghost of a smile; "but I shall tell him <i>all</i>, never
+fear," she said, earnestly feeling that Mr. Blair was, as usual,
+following her every word. "Never fear, I shall be a good pleader, for I
+have my life's happiness at stake; away with you at once, and don't come
+back with broken bones from the slide."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>A HAND OF ICE LAY ON HER HEART.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It is a cold, frosty night, the moon and clouds seeming to have a game
+of hide-and-go-seek across the sky, when Mrs. Dale is already enveloped
+in her warm dark blue blanket suit and Tam-o-Shanter, with Mr. Blair, in
+heavy brown overcoat and Christy hat, not having been in our land long
+enough for his blood to have lost its warmth and to feel the need of
+furs.</p>
+
+<p>Before they start Mr. Cobbe rings the bell, and is admitted to the
+library, Mr. Blair turning out the gas in the drawing-room, and Thomas
+receiving orders that "no one is at home."</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose she should not come this evening," said Mrs. Dale, as she and
+her companion returned from a brisk walk to a post box, and neared
+Holmnest. "You know, she misses his trail; at all events, does not watch
+for him here every evening."</p>
+
+<p>"Hush! she is in the shade of that pile of lumber and bricks in front of
+the house that is being built next to Holmnest," he whispered,
+hurriedly.</p>
+
+<p>"So she is; that is lucky; and now to follow our plan. We shall not see
+her for some minutes, but endeavor to interest her by our talk about
+that scallawag and poor Elaine."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think, on second thought, that that would be our best plan; we
+had better go up to her and demand to know her relations to him," he
+said, quickly, in an undertone.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no; I know best."</p>
+
+<p>As they neared, the tall, slight figure, clad in a brown ulster and
+small round hat, disappeared to the other side of the lumber, almost out
+of sight, but well within ear-shot.</p>
+
+<p>"Stand here a minute, Mr. Blair; before we go in I want to tell you what
+I fear will be the result of Mr. Cobbe's determination to marry Mrs.
+Gower against her will," she said, in clear tones. On this they could
+hear that the woman took a step nearer in the deep snow on the
+boulevard, that had drifted in the recent storm to the lumber. "You must
+see yourself," she continued, "that the compulsory oath he compelled her
+to take is killing her; and none know better than you do yourself that
+her love is not his; almost all friendly feeling even she had for him
+prior to that oath, has fled; yet still he will keep her to it; and she
+will marry him some day, in a fit of desperation to get rid of him, and
+to show you that you are free to marry some more fortunate woman. It's
+my belief he is a mere fortune-hunter, and cares no more for her than we
+Americans care for you, in annexation; we only care for the loaves and
+fishes (especially the latter). I simply hate to go in to the house; it
+makes me double my fists to see him making love to her." The last words
+she said to rouse the woman's wrath; she knows her sex well, for,
+ploughing through the snow a few steps, she faces them.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Dale gives a little scream. Mr. Blair, turning quickly, says, in
+decided tones,</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! you are here again; well, I am not sorry, for I had determined to
+put a detective on your track to-morrow, and am glad to have an
+opportunity of warning you first."</p>
+
+<p>"Any woman would do no more nor I do, just standing here when I please,"
+she said, doggedly, her teeth chattering, partly from nervousness,
+partly from cold.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor thing; you are half frozen," said Mrs. Dale, to show she was not
+unfriendly.</p>
+
+<p>"We shall not detain you long, young woman," said Mr. Blair, quickly, as
+he thinks of the woman he loves worried by the man he hates; "all we
+want to know is your name and address, and what hold you have on Mr.
+Cobbe; for a woman of your respectable appearance would not follow a man
+about unless she had some hold on him&mdash;some real right to watch his
+movements. You have overheard this lady and myself talking over this
+matter, and I can assure you it would add materially to our peace of
+mind could we compel Mr. Cobbe to do right by you; come now, no delay,
+no beating about the bush; tell the truth and shame the devil; out with
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen lie quicker than a working girl, like myself," she said,
+suspiciously. "I have heard what this lady said, but how do I know that
+it's all square? Phil. said if you caught me hanging around after him,
+you'd get me took up, and here is a peeler coming; I see what you're
+after."</p>
+
+<p>And she tries to run, but Mr. Blair holds her firmly until the policeman
+passes.</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you I mean you no harm; but you <i>must</i> tell your connection with
+Mr. Cobbe, <i>and at once</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Give me till to-morrow night, sir, for the love of heaven, and I will
+try again if Phil. will give your lady up, that I have wished to kill
+for coming between us; aye, and would have fired Holmnest on her some
+night, but for this lady's words that she don't want my man. My name is
+Beatrice Hill, and I live at 910, Seaton Street; I will tell you the
+rest to-morrow night, if he will not give her up," she said, bursting
+into tears.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Blair made a note of the address, Mrs. Dale saying kindly, "You had
+better come around to the kitchen and get thawed; you are&mdash;&mdash;" when,
+turning suddenly to Mr. Blair, who has his back to a couple coming down
+the street, she says, quickly,</p>
+
+<p>"Here are the Smyths; stand where you are; and you too, Beatrice Hill."</p>
+
+<p>"Hello!" cried Smyth, coming upon them suddenly (that is Toronto's
+pass-word). "How do you do, Mrs. Dale; how do, Blair?"</p>
+
+<p>"How happy would I be with either," said his lively wife, aside to Mr.
+Blair; "oh, I beg pardon," she continued, seeing the other is not one of
+them. "How is Mrs. Gower?"</p>
+
+<p>"She is not very well this evening, and is, I hope resting. How is it
+your little son is out when he ought to be under the bedclothes? That's
+one thing I am glad my boy is at boarding-school for."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, this young man has been to a party at the Halls, and we had to trot
+up for him. Give Elaine my love, and tell her one look at handsome
+Doctor Mills, on our street, will cure her; he cured my baby. So, come
+around to-morrow, all of you. Oh, Will, we had better go in to Holmnest
+for a minute. I want to tell Elaine you have heard from Charlie."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no; go in to-morrow. This little chap is nearly asleep."</p>
+
+<p>"All right. Mrs. Dale, please tell Mrs. Gower that Charlie Cole is at
+New York, and she may expect to see them any day. Good night."</p>
+
+<p>"Good night."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Mrs. Dale, we had better go in at once; you must be very cold."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I am. You had better come round and get thawed out in the kitchen,
+Beatrice Hill, I will bring you."</p>
+
+<p>"No, thanks; I am used to it. I'll just walk up and down, to keep from
+freezing."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you had better not try to see him to-night, it is so cold."</p>
+
+<p>"Not try to see him!" she exclaimed. "I see him too seldom, and love him
+too much for that," she said, pathetically, "and I must see if he will
+promise me to come no more where neither of us is wanted."</p>
+
+<p>"Remember! you are to be here to-morrow night to tell us your hold on
+him, unless he gives Mrs. Gower up," he said, firmly.</p>
+
+<p>"I will, sir; thank you both," she said tearfully, as, turning towards
+the gate of Holmnest, they each slip a five dollar bill into her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor thing, I think she is hard up," said Mrs. Dale, as they ring the
+bell; "see her examining the bills by the lamp."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, so she is, to see if they are 'Central'; had she not been sold by
+my <i>béte noir</i>, I should say she was a canny Scotchwoman."</p>
+
+<p>On Thomas opening the door, they see Mr. Cobbe draw close the <i>portière</i>
+hangings of the library, as if to say, no admittance.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you a match, Thomas?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"Then light one jet in the drawing-room, please."</p>
+
+<p>Here they sit quietly talking for half an hour, during which, at times,
+Mr. Cobbe talked loud and excitedly, while sometimes Mrs. Gower's voice
+came to them in pleading, or quieting tones.</p>
+
+<p>At last he goes into the dining-room, asks Thomas for some sherry,
+drinks two glasses; is again in the hall, his over-shoes, coat, and fur
+cap on, in his excitement picking up Mr. Blair's gloves, which, when in
+the street, finding his mistake, he dashes into the road.</p>
+
+<p>Angry and troubled by Mrs. Gower's words, he is kinder to Beatrice Hill
+than he has been for some time.</p>
+
+<p>"You here again, Betty. <i>You</i> are infatuated with me, anyway."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, I am, sweetheart, but my love doesn't content you. You bet, I'd
+sooner have a black look from you than a kiss from any man living. The
+saints forgive me, when I think of the holy Father and cardinals, and
+how I worship you, Phil."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you are wild about me, I know, Betty, but we men are different to
+you, you know; we have so many adorers, we can't go mooning forever
+around one woman."</p>
+
+<p>"And you are not angry with me to-night, Phil, for coming again to get a
+sight of your dear face?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I am not angry with you to-night; but you must not come again; they
+don't like it," he said, importantly.</p>
+
+<p>"If I don't see you, I may as well die," she says despondently. "I love
+you better than any of them ladies do," she says, feeling her way.</p>
+
+<p>"Hang her, she is as fickle as her clime," he says, half aloud, thinking
+of Mrs. Gower.</p>
+
+<p>His companion made no response, knowing who he meant, but her heart is
+lighter at his words.</p>
+
+<p>"Hang it, Bet, it's a freezer; if you have any money about you, I'll
+hail this sleigh if it's empty."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sweetheart, here it is," giving him one of the fives.</p>
+
+<p>In a minute they are under the buffalo robe, when, according to promise,
+she coaxes, entreats, and implores him to give Mrs. Gower up, but he
+angrily refuses to listen to anything on the subject; entertaining her,
+instead, with recitals of all the girls on King street who, he is sure,
+are dying for an introduction to him, and of several women of his
+acquaintance being infatuated about him, his companion assenting to all
+he said; getting out at his own quarters, paying the driver to 910
+Seaton street, pocketing the change. Beatrice Hill alone, thinks out her
+plan for the following evening with tears, which she brushes away with
+bare hands, having given her mits to her fickle swain to keep his hands
+from the frost.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I must tell them all," she thought, weeping silently, "else Phil
+will make her marry him. Father Nolan would tell me to do so, to save
+him from guilt. He will turn to his faithful Betty again when he sees
+how they sit on him, when they know all."</p>
+
+<p>As the hall door had closed on Mr. Cobbe making his exit, Mr. Blair
+said, turning out the gas:</p>
+
+<p>"Let us go to her."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gower meets them in the hall, looking pale and agitated, her eyes
+larger and darker in her pale face, her sensitive mouth quivering.</p>
+
+<p>"I was just coming for you," she said, and on her eyes meeting Mr.
+Blair's, in answer to his loving, steadfast gaze, hers told him that her
+appeal has been in vain.</p>
+
+<p>"He would not free you?" he said, compassionately.</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, he must be compelled to," said Mrs. Dale, energetically;
+"we are not going to stand by with folded hands, and see the remainder
+of your life made wretched by a weak, vain, frivolous thing like that.
+You have had trouble enough in the past, heaven knows."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we must act; we must endeavor to interview the woman," he said
+sympathetically, preparing her for what might occur.</p>
+
+<p>"I fear your kind efforts in my behalf will prove useless, Alec. You
+would only ascertain that she is some poor creature whose heart he has
+gained, but who is not bound to him in any way. She is faithful, where
+he is false," she says, gravely, "and is breaking her heart for him&mdash;a
+way we have&mdash;that is all. No, 'Blessed are they who expect nothing,' I
+must keep well in my mind for the future. I scarcely deserve this from
+Fate, for I have been pretty brave hitherto through troubles, that at
+the time were sufficient to crush all hope, leaving not the faintest
+gleam; but I struggled through the clouds in my sky, which, finally
+parting, I saw the sunbeams once more. My plan now is, to close up this
+my home, sweet home, or ask you, Ella, or Mr. Cole, to take it off my
+hands for a year. It would please me best to know some one I care for
+was among my little treasured belongings."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Cole, Charlie's father is at the Tremont Hotel, Jacksonville,
+Florida. My plan is to ask Miss Crew (as you don't require her services,
+and her mind is easier as to money matters), to accompany me for the
+remainder of the winter to the same place as my friend Charlie's father;
+he is a most worthy man and a gentleman. At the close of winter we would
+cross to the British Isles. To myself, a Canadian, it would be a
+complete distraction, as I have never been across; and I pray fervently,
+will take me out of self," she said sadly. "We would visit London and
+some pretty rural spots, the Devonshire lanes, perhaps; and then the
+Emerald Isle, thence to bonnie Scotia's shores; taking, perhaps, more
+than a peep at fair Dunkeld," she says, trying to smile in the grave
+face of Mr. Blair. "I have foreseen the result of my appeal to Philip,
+and so have been laying my plans for some days."</p>
+
+<p>As she spoke, trying vainly to hide her emotion, more than one tear had
+been stealthily brushed away by her sympathetic little friend, who,
+seeing that Mr. Blair is suffering intensely, from suppressed feeling,
+says bravely, though rather doubtful at heart:</p>
+
+<p>"Mark my words, Elaine, that woman will free you; say good night to us,
+Mr. Blair, I am medical attendant <i>pro tem.</i>, and Elaine must take a
+sedative, and room with me to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"You are right, Mrs. Dale; be brave, Elaine," he says, holding her hand
+in his firm grasp, "to-morrow your clouds must again pass. I shall come
+in after luncheon."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h2>
+
+<h3>"HERE AWA', THERE AWA'."</h3>
+
+
+<p>The following is an ideal Canadian winter day; the sky, a far-off canopy
+of brightest blue, with no clouds to obscure the sunbeams, which pour
+down on fair Toronto, melting the icicles when his smiles are warmest,
+and gladdening the hearts of the million. There is just enough of frost
+in the air to make a walk to town pleasant, cheering and exhilarating,
+so that Mrs. Dale is glad when Mrs. Gower proposes their going. The
+whole city seems to have turned out, and the streets are alive with the
+busy hum of life, and the tinkling music of the merry sleigh-bells.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gower, who had slept little, arose with the determination to appear
+reconciled to her fate, not wishing to add to the sorrow of Mr. Blair
+and Mrs. Dale, on her account; feeling that there will be time enough to
+give way, when "large lengths of miles" divide them. She cannot bear to
+dwell upon the separation, she has decided, is for the best, and dreads
+to think of her heart loneliness, with Mr. Blair gone out of her life,
+and the sympathy of Mrs. Dale, not beside her. How she will miss her
+quiet talks with him, his manly advice and interest in all her acts, the
+oneness of their views on many questions of the day&mdash;religious, social,
+and in part political. The Tremaines and Smyths also; with her many
+favorite walks and resorts, the public library, and other places of
+interest. Yes, to leave them all and her snug Holmnest, is hard; but to
+go on in the way events have shaped themselves&mdash;Mr. Cobbe, a privileged
+visitor, as her future husband; the woman haunting her home; her misery,
+seeing daily the grief telling on Mr. Blair would be harder still; so,
+nerving herself for the parting, she determines on making her
+preparations at once.</p>
+
+<p>No one meeting the friends, as they walk into town, would imagine that
+the dusky shadow of sorrow sits in each heart; the pretty little face of
+Mrs. Dale being set off by a bonnet, with pink feathers, her seal coat
+and muff making her warm and comfortable. Mrs. Gower, in a heavy dark
+blue gown, short dolman boa and muff of the bear; a pretty little bonnet
+blending with her gown, the glow of heat from exercise lending color to
+her cheeks. Down busy Yonge street to Eaton's; Trowern's, with Mrs.
+Dale's watch; thence to gay King Street, to Murray's, Nordheimer's, the
+Public Library, back again West, and to Coleman's for a cup of coffee,
+are all done; at the latter place they run across Mrs. St. Clair with
+Miss Hall.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you two dear pets, I am so awfully glad to have met you," says
+pretty Mrs. St. Clair, effusively; "I want to know when you can talk
+over a programme with me&mdash;tableaux, readings, etc., in aid of the debt
+on our church. Say when?"</p>
+
+<p>"I really cannot, Mrs. St. Clair," said Mrs. Gower; "just at present I
+am very busy, and am daily expecting a small house party."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear, dear! that is too bad; what shall I do; you are so smart, and
+would know just what would take. You will talk it over with me, Mrs.
+Dale," she said, beseechingly.</p>
+
+<p>"No, thank you; on principle, I object."</p>
+
+<p>"How funny! might I ask why?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly. I think offerings to such an object as a church debt should
+be voluntary."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Mrs. Dale, people expect a little treat for their money."</p>
+
+<p>"They have, or we have, the church service, and the ministrations of the
+clergyman."</p>
+
+<p>"That's just the way Mr. St. Clair damps my ardor," she says, poutingly;
+"I do so want to pose as Mary Stuart. Mr. Cobbe says I'd look too sweet
+for anything; you won't be jealous, Mrs. Gower."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, fearfully so; but joking apart; how do you think he would pose as
+Bunthorn?"</p>
+
+<p>"I see you are laughing at him, Mrs. Gower?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all; the twenty forlorn ones would keep him in good humor, and
+the bee in his crown would be a safety valve for his restlessness."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no; I would not like that, and I wonder you, above all, would
+propose it; for the whole twenty would fall in love with him, he is so
+fascinating; don't you think so, Miss Hall?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but it would be good fun; you cawn't do bettah, Mrs. St. Clair."</p>
+
+<p>"It has my vote, too," said Mrs. Dale, as she and her friend wish them
+good morning.</p>
+
+<p>"What a well-matched couple Mrs. St. Clair and Philip would have made,"
+says Mrs. Gower, as they go east to Yonge street.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I have thought that before to-day, Elaine; it's a pity to spoil
+two houses with them."</p>
+
+<p>Here they come across Mrs. Smyth waiting for a Spadina Avenue car.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mrs. Gower, who do you think I have just seen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps our mutual friend Charlie Cole," she answered, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you are smart, to guess exactly; have you seen them? Isn't she
+frightfully ugly?" she says, in one breath.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I have not seen them. What a pity she is not pretty. I received a
+letter from Charlie, saying to expect them."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you sly thing; why didn't you let us know? Oh, how ugly she is! May
+we come round this evening? Here is my car."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly. We have been to your husband's office to invite you."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks. O!" she cried, stepping on to the car. "Will gave me a new
+piano yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>"Whose make?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ruse's, Temple of Music, over there."</p>
+
+<p>"I congratulate you." As they walked on she continued, absently, "What a
+pity she is plain looking."</p>
+
+<p>"Who; not Mrs. Smyth?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, Ella; her animation will always make her pretty. I was thinking
+of Charlie Cole's wife. I wonder where she saw them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, somewhere in town, I suppose. So you expected them to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and I would have told you, but I want their advent to be a
+surprise for Miss Crew, whom I have frequently found secretly studying
+Charlie Cole's photo. She is so guardedly reticent, that I am curious to
+see if suddenly confronting him will cause her to show any interest in
+the original of the photo."</p>
+
+<p>"But you should make sure of her, Elaine. She may remain at the
+O'Sullivans; and as I own to taking an interest in human bric-a-brac, I
+hope you will call for her."</p>
+
+<p>"I fancy she will return for certain, as she tells me the couple we met
+on New Year's Day are coming to Holmnest this afternoon; the woman,
+quite a lady-like looking person, is to alter her black silk; but we
+shall call on our way home for her."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that will be best, and here is our car; but it is too crowded. As
+members of the Humane Society we had better wait for the next."</p>
+
+<p>As they wait in front of the Dominion Bank, Mr. Cobbe joins them.</p>
+
+<p>"Good morning, ladies; won't you turn west, and have a promenade,
+Elaine?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, thank you. Time has gone too fast for us already."</p>
+
+<p>"O, pshaw! I want to speak to you. When do you return to New York, Mrs.
+Dale?" he says pointedly; disliking her, and feeling freer at Holmnest
+in her absence.</p>
+
+<p>"I have not the remotest idea, Mr. Cobbe, indeed," she added, in return
+for his; "we may take dear little Holmnest off Mrs. Gower's hands if she
+carries out her present intention to leave Canada for a time."</p>
+
+<p>"Leave Canada!" he exclaims, flushing.</p>
+
+<p>"Please, stop the car, Philip, quick."</p>
+
+<p>"What does it mean, Elaine?" he whispers, seeing them on board; but the
+bell rings, and off they go. Two yards distant, and he calls out, "I
+shall be up after office hours."</p>
+
+<p>"Talk of cruelty to animals. I gave him a blow, but he richly deserves
+it. But I do believe, Elaine, you are sorry for him," she says in
+amazement, and under cover of the noise of travel.</p>
+
+<p>"I am. He is his worst enemy. Yes, I am sorry for his weak, vain nature.
+A man without stability of character, in our stirring times, is of no
+more account than are the soap-bubbles blown by a little child."</p>
+
+<p>Getting out of the car at Webb's, to leave an order, they there meet
+Miss O'Sullivan, who, with her own bright smile, comes forward quickly
+to shake hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mrs. Gower, I am so glad to see you. I have something to tell you.
+Miss Crew left our place for Holmnest at ten this a.m., and I have her
+promise to tell Mr. Dale her history, and ask his advice."</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad of that, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, so am I, she is such a darling; but I was not satisfied to have her
+without some good gentleman friend to advise her."</p>
+
+<p>"Has she confided in yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Mrs. Dale; but not until last night."</p>
+
+<p>"Was it sensational enough to keep you awake, or, as I suppose, of no
+more interest than 'little Johnny Horner sitting in the corner eating
+his Christmas pie?'"</p>
+
+<p>"You see, dear, Mrs. Dale is disgusted with Mother Goose for not telling
+us of his bilious attack," laughed Mrs. Gower. "Good bye, dear, here is
+our car, College and Spadina Avenue."</p>
+
+<p>"You will not be disappointed in Miss Crew's story, Mrs. Dale. The
+bilious part is not omitted; poor dear, I am so sorry for her."</p>
+
+<p>On reaching Holmnest they find Mr. Dale, who has returned from the
+North-West, and Miss Crew, in the library.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gower, not pretending to notice that the latter has been in tears,
+and to give her an excuse to make her exit, asks her to carry her wraps
+upstairs for her; and then to go and give them some music during the few
+minutes before luncheon.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Gower is taking better care of you, little wife, than you are of
+her, now that the roses from the frosty air are fading. I notice she is
+paler and thinner."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't blame me, Henry," she answered, stroking his whiskers; "blame Mr.
+Cobbe. I declare to you both, I never name him without doubling my
+fists."</p>
+
+<p>"My impression has always been, dear Mrs. Gower, that he will be no
+companion for you in the hand-in-hand journey through life."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but you are not cognizant of certain facts which has led to our
+being in our present relation towards each other," she says, gravely;
+"and of which we must tell you, perhaps to-morrow. We have enough on for
+to-day, and there is the luncheon bell, come."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Henry, do you know that the Coles are expected here to-day, and
+have you told Miss Crew? because, don't," she whispered hurriedly.</p>
+
+<p>"No; I thought it as well not to," he said, in constrained tones,
+adding, "she has been telling me her sad story, poor girl; which you and
+Mrs. Gower will know shortly, little woman."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>ELECTRIC TIPS AMONG THE ROSES.</h3>
+
+
+<p>During luncheon, Mrs. Gower, seeing that her companions seem too full of
+busy thought to be talkative, exerts herself keeping up a constant flow
+of little nothings, requiring no replies; her spirits became less
+depressed by the effort to keep sorrow at bay, her pleasant walk to town
+has really been a tonic to her. And now the knowledge that the Coles may
+come in at any moment; that a handsome face, so full of power and
+sympathy with herself, will be here also; with the meeting by the Smyths
+and herself of the wife of their old friend Charlie Cole; all this is a
+powerful stimulant to her, as well as the little surprise and excitement
+for the quiet, fair-haired girl, with tear-stained cheeks, on her left.</p>
+
+<p>"Would you like a trip down to Florida with me, Miss Crew. Orange groves
+and outdoor blossoms would be as a glimpse of Paradise, with one's eyes
+full of snow flakes."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I should like to go anywhere with you, Mrs. Gower; that is," she
+adds, glancing, timidly, at Mr. Dale, already now he knows her history,
+turning to him as a child to a parent; "that is, if it would be best for
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you really contemplate this trip; if so, and you do not leave for a
+few days, I think it would be the very thing for Miss&mdash;, for this little
+lady," he says; thinking she is merely running away to escape the
+remainder of the winter.</p>
+
+<p>"I do really intend going," she said, slowly, and with an unconscious
+sigh.</p>
+
+<p>He looks at her earnestly, thinking there is some latent reason, when
+his wife, making a <i>moue</i> at him, accompanied by an almost imperceptible
+shake of the head, when, Mrs. Gower, changing the subject, says: "Did
+you see how Professor Herkomer has been lauding the Americans, Mr.
+Dale?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did; but I only agree with him in part."</p>
+
+<p>"Not so with me; I am at one with him, to the echo; but I should tell
+you I have only seen extracts from his expressed views, in which he
+says, 'he was impressed by their keen, nervous temperament, keen
+intelligence and ambition to excel;' and when he says America will
+become a leader of art in the nations as of nearly everything else."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't go with him that length," he said, shaking his head; "give me
+the Old World for art in the present, as well as in the future."</p>
+
+<p>"In the present, I agree with you, I think; but their very ambition to
+excel, their-go-ahead-ness, to coin a word, will, I feel convinced, gain
+them first place in the future."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right, Elaine; give it him, he is too conservative, this dear
+old hubby of mine; the stars and stripes float over the smartest people
+on earth."</p>
+
+<p>At this a general laugh makes them all feel less blue, Mrs. Gower
+saying, as they leave the dining-room:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, let us see which of us, England, United States or Canada, will be
+the smartest in taking a few minutes' rest, and getting into a dinner
+gown." Wending her way to the kitchen, she meets Miss Crew, bringing
+water and seeds for the birds.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, dear; that saves my time; when you have done that, run away
+up to your room, and put on your pretty heliotrope frock; the Smyths may
+dine with us."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, I shall; and oh, Mrs. Gower, may I tell Thomas when my
+friends come (you know I told you I am going to have my black silk
+altered), he is to show them into the dining-room; though, perhaps, they
+would not be called gentlefolk, still, they are not servants, and they
+are so good."</p>
+
+<p>"The highest recommendation you can give them, dear; I shall tell Thomas
+myself."</p>
+
+<p>Closeted in their bedroom, seated side by side, upon a lounge, Mrs. Dale
+tells her husband of Mrs. Gower's troubles, and the stratagem by which
+Mr. Cobbe has obtained her oath to marry him; of the woman who haunts
+Holmnest; of how for long months Mrs. Gower has been imploring him to
+release her from her compulsory promise. Also of Mr. Blair's love for
+Elaine; and of how he has surprised her into a confessing of her own for
+him; but of how in no way has she allowed him any demonstration of that
+love since those few moments on New Year's Day. Of her own and Mr.
+Blair's plan to induce the woman to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"You astonish me, Ella!" he exclaimed; "but I agree with her; she cannot
+break her oath, <i>she belongs to him</i>; does she know of your plan to
+interview the woman?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but thinks we shall elicit no item of importance; but, Henry,
+dear, say nothing to her of our plan for this evening; I only tell you,
+so that should you miss Mr. Blair and myself, you will not remark on
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"I see. How do you like this Mr. Blair; you know, I have only met him
+once?"</p>
+
+<p>"I like him very much; you should hear that reticent Mr. St. Clair
+praise him. He is though, really, a manly, generous, straight-forward,
+determined fellow; just the reverse of Mr. Cobbe."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; well I hope it will come out all right for poor Mrs. Gower, though
+I had hoped that she and Buckingham would have made a match," he said
+musingly.</p>
+
+<p>"So have I; but he has been too deliberate, a trait his German mother is
+to blame for; and he may have imagined there has been something between
+her and Mr. Cobbe. Now, hubby, I am just dying to know if Miss Crew has
+confided in you, and if there is anything worth a snap in her story."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot tell you just yet, dear; and, besides, we have not time; it is
+three-thirty, time for my little wife to dress."</p>
+
+<p>On descending at four p.m., to her cheerful drawing-room, Mrs. Gower has
+so far conquered her feelings as to cause a casual observer to say, she
+is quite happy, and at ease; for her dark red gown is becoming, and she
+has compelled her mind to dwell only on the pleasurable excitement of a
+re-union with her old friend, Mr. Cole; wondering also what he will
+think of her new friend, Mr. Blair. The air, redolent of hyacinths and
+roses, tells her he is in the drawing-room; and the color deepens in her
+cheeks as her heart throbs faster.</p>
+
+<p>He comes to meet her, from a table, piled with blossoms, which he is
+placing in Japanese and glass bowls.</p>
+
+<p>"You will become bankrupt, Alec."</p>
+
+<p>"Not while there are blossoms in the market, and you to accept them; I
+am a canny Scotchman, you know; you should always wear this gown," he
+says, quietly, pinning some roses near her chin.</p>
+
+<p>"You said so of my old gold dress, you fickle man;" and, as she speaks,
+her eyes rest for a moment on his.</p>
+
+<p>With a sigh, he returns to his task.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't, Alec, it breaks my heart to hear you sigh like that, and I am
+trying so hard to keep up."</p>
+
+<p>"I sigh that I am forbidden to take you in my arms," he said, gravely,
+as their fingers meet in arranging the flowers.</p>
+
+<p>"But, you know, I am acting for the best."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you allow him?" he said, with a steadfast look.</p>
+
+<p>"Never, when I can prevent it."</p>
+
+<p>"These flowers remind me of an incident I have often thought to tell
+you, Elaine. Do you remember one time, about a year and a half ago,
+going to make a call upon some people who were transient guests at the
+Walker House? they had left town; and while you waited, while this fact
+was being ascertained, a wee lady, an invalid, was carried in by an
+attendant, and placed on a sofa; she was emaciated and fair
+complexioned. On your leaving the parlor you asked her to accept a
+bouquet you carried; it was composed almost entirely of roses.
+Passionately fond of flowers, she was very pleased, telling you so; do
+you remember? but your face tells me you do. That poor little lady was
+she whom you had frequently met in the street with me, before she became
+too weak to walk; that was my poor little wife."</p>
+
+<p>"And I met you as I was entering the hotel," she said, softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I was going to Brown's livery stables for a cab; I generally went
+myself, instead of using the telephone, as Jessie thought I got an
+easier one."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor little creature; I did not recognize her, because meeting her with
+you, she had always been veiled. I remember how pleased she was with the
+flowers; my kind friend, Mrs. Tremaine, had given them to me to brighten
+my room; I could not afford such luxuries then," she said, sadly. "Your
+wee wife had a sweet little face, and I frequently thought of her again.
+Meeting the manager, Mr. Wright, one day, I asked him about her, when he
+said 'she and her husband had left town.' It was all very sad for you,
+Alec."</p>
+
+<p>"It was, she told me, a winsome lady, bonnie, and so strong-looking, had
+given them to her, and from her description, I knew it must be you. I
+endeavored, even then, to ascertain your name, but failed," he said,
+gravely, holding her hands among the roses for a moment in his own; when
+Miss Crew entered, with her work-basket, followed by the Dales, Mr. Dale
+carrying some open letters, with newspapers, which he placed carefully
+on a table beside him, as he shook hands with Mr. Blair.</p>
+
+<p>"Talk about the sunny south," cried Mrs. Dale; "one sighs for nothing in
+this atmosphere; what with the sun streaming in all day from south and
+west, the perfume of flowers, the Christmas decorations not yet down,
+the glowing grate, even with the snow outside, we are pretty snug."</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad you feel so, dear; I suppose with my small income, I am
+recklessly extravagant in not shutting out the sunbeams; but my
+furniture must fade, rather than that my flowers, birds and self, live
+in gloom."</p>
+
+<p>"I think you said real estate is your business, Mr. Blair; have you
+opened an office yet?" inquired Mr. Dale.</p>
+
+<p>"Broker and real estate is what I have been engaged in; but I have not
+as yet rented an office; there will be some good rooms over the Bank of
+Commerce, when completed; but that is a long look."</p>
+
+<p>"Three years! a life-time, from a business standpoint; at least, as we
+look at things on the other side," said Dale.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder what the Central Bank will be converted into; it, I should
+say, is a good location, if the public wouldn't fight shy of a man
+hanging out his shingle from such walls," said Blair.</p>
+
+<p>"The owners should give it a man rent free for a term of years, who
+would paint it white," said Mrs. Gower, half in joke.</p>
+
+<p>"They have it black enough now," said Dale; "its career is a disgrace to
+the city."</p>
+
+<p>"It is indeed," said Mrs. Gower; "and one of the worst features of the
+case is, that we have lost confidence; men are daily asking, who is to
+be trusted?"</p>
+
+<p>"Here is the <i>North-Ender</i>, taking up the refrain; it says," said Mr.
+Blair, reading, "'other bank failures have been bad enough, but in
+sheer, utter, unadulterated baseness, this excelleth them all;' and
+here, in another newspaper, they say, 'whole families are beggared by
+it, having nothing to buy bread.'"</p>
+
+<p>"How terrible!" cried Miss Crew, clasping her hands; "if I only had
+money," and she glanced timidly at Mr. Dale, "how much I should like to
+assist them."</p>
+
+<p>Here Mrs. Smyth enters, full of excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I am here before them; I am so glad," she said, untying her bonnet.</p>
+
+<p>"Allow me to take your things upstairs for you, Mrs. Smyth."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thank you, Miss Crew; but it's too much trouble for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all."</p>
+
+<p>"How lovely your flowers are, Elaine; you cause me to break the tenth
+commandment."</p>
+
+<p>"Cease, then, and help yourself; as you love them."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks; oh, I just met Emily Tudor and her mother, on Huron street, on
+my way up; and what do you think; they have lost every cent by the
+Central. Emily and Mary have left school, and are looking for
+situations; the mother seemed just heart broken."</p>
+
+<p>"How dreadful!" cried Mrs. Gower, "they are such a worthy, honorable
+family, and the delinquents! are rolling away in parlor cars to luxury
+in fairer climes."</p>
+
+<p>Here Miss Crew returns, and Mrs. Gower, asking her to give them some
+music, in the midst of Leybach's "Fifth Nocturne," the Coles drive up,
+ring, are admitted, and announced by Thomas.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2>
+
+<h3>A SERPENT IN PARADISE.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Had a bombshell exploded in their midst there could not have been more
+pity, astonishment, and dismay, than was felt by the group of friends in
+the pretty little drawing-room, at the sad change in poor Charlie Cole,
+and the shock experienced at their first sight of the extremely plain
+woman beside him with the stony eyes and termagant written on her brow.
+But horror-struck as they are, all wear society's mark, excepting the
+fair-haired girl, who still sits transfixed to the piano stool; in the
+introductions her back is turned, though she had had one glimpse on
+their <i>entrée</i>, she having wheeled around for one instant; but now it is
+her turn, and Mrs. Gower, stepping towards her, laying her hand kindly
+on her shoulder, says, "Turn round, dear." Turning her small, clear-cut
+features, white as a statue, standing up, but not lifting her eyelids,
+she acknowledges the introduction in conventional form.</p>
+
+<p>The face of Mrs. Cole, a dull red, with a redder spot marking the high
+cheek bones, took a momentary grey hue, while Charlie Cole, with a
+violent start, and a half-formed "oh!" dropped his heavy cane, for
+rheumatism still troubling him, he was obliged to use it as a support;
+Miss Crew made an involuntary step to reach it, but Mr. Blair is before
+her. On raising her head, her eyes meet the stony gaze of Mrs. Cole, at
+which, in spite of a visible effort to control herself, she trembles
+almost to falling.</p>
+
+<p>"The piano stool is uncomfortable; take this chair," said Mr. Dale,
+kindly placing one beside his own, and giving her her work-basket. Oh,
+how grateful she is to him, as she bends over her wools and flosses.</p>
+
+<p>"Allow me to take your wraps, Mrs. Cole, or will you come upstairs at
+once?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind me, Mrs. Gower, I shall just unbutton my mantle."</p>
+
+<p>"But you are going to stay with me, so may as well make yourself
+comfortable at once."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't know, Mrs. Gower, Mr. Babbington-Cole requires such an
+amount of attendance, that, on second thought, it is best we should
+return to the hotel," she said, doggedly.</p>
+
+<p>"But, Margaret, you told them at the Palmer House you&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"It does not signify what I told them; that is past; perhaps your
+hearing has become impaired. I said, on <i>second</i> thought," now
+thinking&mdash;goodness, how they stare; think I am not spooney, I suppose;
+says, "You see, Mrs. Gower, I have to think for us both. A man's mind is
+not good for much after a long illness.'"</p>
+
+<p>"My poor friend, you do look as if you had had a hard time of it," said
+Mrs. Gower, with latent meaning; "but you must know it would be a real
+pleasure to have you stay with me, and Mrs. Cole also. Do take off your
+muffler, Charlie, the room is warm. Excuse me calling your husband by
+his Christian name, Mrs. Cole, but it is a habit I must break myself off
+now."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I suppose so, now he is a married man," she said, showing her
+teeth; "but he'd better keep muffled up."</p>
+
+<p>"How did you stand the voyage, Mr. Cole?" inquired Dale.</p>
+
+<p>"Very badly. You see I am pretty well battered out, and could not get
+about much. A stick is a shaky leg in mid-ocean."</p>
+
+<p>"You are right. Did your uncle and aunt come out with you, Mrs. Cole?"
+continued Dale.</p>
+
+<p>"What the mischief does that grey-haired, weasel-eyed man know, I
+wonder," she thought, saying, briefly, "Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Charlie, you had nurses enough," said Mrs. Smyth; who felt so
+badly at seeing her old favorite so carelessly dressed, his last
+season's overcoat, and a purple and white muffler; looking feeble,
+emaciated, and unhappy, and with such a wife, that she is almost silent,
+and nearly in tears.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you acquainted with Mr. and Miss Stone, Mr. Dale?" asked Mr. Cole,
+wiping the perspiration from his brow.</p>
+
+<p>"No, not personally, but by reputation," he says, pointedly. "A friend
+of this little lady here," indicating Miss Crew, "who is also a friend
+of my own at London, has written me the particulars of your marriage."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed!" said the invalid, brightening, feeling braced up by being at
+last with friends; not so the woman he has married, who mentally wishes
+herself back at New York, in the congenial companionship of her uncle
+and aunt. She hates this pretty, modern drawing-room, with its comely
+women becomingly attired, its bright flowers, its home-like air.</p>
+
+<p>Here Thomas enters, telling Miss Crew some friends wish to see her, at
+which she leaves the room for five minutes, with Mr. Dale.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you purpose settling at Toronto, Mrs. Cole?" asks Mr. Blair,
+unconsciously referring to her as the best horse.</p>
+
+<p>"I had some thoughts of doing so; but since seeing it, I rather think
+not."</p>
+
+<p>While Mr. Blair momentarily occupies her attention, Mrs. Gower, with
+Mrs. Smyth, one on each side of their old friend, pet and sympathize
+with him more by looks than words.</p>
+
+<p>On Miss Crew and Mr. Dale returning, the face of the latter wearing a
+set, stern look, he said, on seeing Mrs. Cole, arising to depart:</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Cole, might I ask what has caused you to change your mind about
+staying with Mrs. Gower? You entered with the intention of making her a
+visit, and one can see at a glance that the being here would be a
+panacea to your unfortunate husband; I again ask, why you have changed
+your mind?"</p>
+
+<p>During his words her face was a study, in its various stages of wrath,
+culminating in the hissing of the following words:</p>
+
+<p>"If yours are Canadian manners, I cannot congratulate you, Mr. Dale. My
+reason for changing my mind is <i>my</i> reason, not yours."</p>
+
+<p>"Your words and actions, Mrs. Cole, force me to act at once."</p>
+
+<p>"Come," she said, with a sneer at the speaker, now turning to her
+husband, "Come, Charles, I regret to interrupt these ladies in their
+attentions, but you must button up your top-coat."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you'd stay even for dinner," he says, nervously.</p>
+
+<p>"No, the night air is bad for you, come at once;" and she fixes him with
+her stony eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Sit down again, Mrs. Cole;" said Mr. Dale, firmly; and to the renewed
+astonishment of all, "I have something to say to you."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I take no interest in the sayings of an ill-bred man. Good-evening,
+Mrs. Gower."</p>
+
+<p>"This won't do, Mrs. Cole; I regret your line of action, as it forces a
+disagreeable duty upon me in my friend's drawing-room, and not in a
+court of law, as I had intended. My friend Dr. Annesley, of London"&mdash;at
+this, she set her teeth in a determined way&mdash;"Dr. Annesley has written
+me the sad history of this little lady."</p>
+
+<p>"You are a very rude man to detain me, while you prate of a perfect
+stranger," she says, her face blazing, and making a move to the hall,
+"Come, Charles."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Cole, instead of nearing her, hobbles across the room, seating
+himself beside Mr. Blair, whose face with its look of power, draws him
+unconsciously.</p>
+
+<p>"In as few words as possible, Mrs. Cole, I affirm on oath, and from
+indisputable evidence, both from Messrs. Brookes &amp; Davidson, barristers,
+London, England, and from parties now in this house, that you, with your
+uncle and aunt, Mr. and Miss Stone, late of Broadlawns, Bayswater,
+London, England, have," he said, sternly, consulting some English
+letters, "appropriated the income from the estate of your late
+step-mother, for the last ten years, to your own uses, merely sending a
+sum to pay expenses at school to your step-sister, who, to further your
+base ends, you had banished from her native land; which allowance, even,
+you cruelly stopped some three years ago; since which time she has been
+compelled to earn her own living. Not compelled, had she had the nerve
+to push her claims and assert her rights; but being a nervous, timid
+girl, the outcome of cruel treatment by you and yours, during her
+childhood, she, in fear of other evil deeds from you all, dropped her
+surname, and assumed the maiden name of her mother; and this poor girl,
+who by law and the will of her dead mother, the heiress of five thousand
+pounds sterling, per annum, was for two years, a mere drudge, as nursery
+governess, at New York City." Sensation! "By a wicked fraud, you also
+are married to the man to whom as a child she was betrothed; but I pass
+this over in consideration of the feelings of your unfortunate dupe, and
+of a lady now here also. To return to the servitude of the girl, your
+step-sister, whom you robbed of her birthright. A year ago, on my wife
+advertising, in the columns of the New York <i>Herald</i>, for a governess
+for our little son, the girl you have wronged, answering our
+advertisement, was accepted; and since that time has been an honored
+member of our little circle."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Cole, who has only remained in hopes he would show his hand as to
+what steps the prosecution will take, now in uncontrolled rage bursts
+forth:</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Gower, I ask you, as my hostess, to order a servant get me a
+hansom, at once; I never was so insulted in my life before!" her reason
+for asking for a cab being, she sees now she will go away alone, and the
+driver will know the streets.</p>
+
+<p>"My friend, Mr. Dale, does not mean his words as insults, Mrs. Cole; and
+I fear, I must ask you to remain until he has finished. However, my
+servant shall immediately telephone for a hack;" and giving the order,
+it was quickly flashed to Hubbard's.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Dale, now taking the trembling hand of Miss Crew, led her forward,
+saying deliberately:</p>
+
+<p>"This, my friends, is the heiress of whom I have been speaking; who has
+been so basely defrauded of her fortune. This is Pearl, baptized by the
+family name of Margaret (her mother's name), her father was the late
+Edward Villiers, and she is step-sister to Mrs. Cole."</p>
+
+<p>To describe the sensation his words caused, would be impossible, no one
+attempting to hide their horror at the wicked conduct of Mrs. Cole and
+her relations; or their joy at their quiet little friend's good fortune.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a put-up job, a black lie from beginning to end," shouted Mrs.
+Cole, driven to frenzy at her defeat; and before the friends of the man
+whom she has married, and whom she has despised for falling into the
+net; "my half-sister behaved so badly, we sent her to your pious city of
+New York, where she would find kindred spirits," she sneered; "and she
+was drowned three years ago in the Niagara River."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Dale had left the room during the congratulations of Pearl Villiers,
+as we must now call her; and now returns with the quiet-looking couple
+Mrs.</p>
+
+<p>Gower had seen on New Year's Day; and who proved to be none other than
+our old friends, Silas Jones and his loved wife Sarah, who made oath to
+the truth of Mr. Dale's statements.</p>
+
+<p>Insane at her defeat, at her loss of power, for which she had lived, for
+which she had sold her soul to Mephistopheles. In a rage at her
+humiliation before Silas Jones and his wife, whom she has hitherto
+walked over, whom she feels will rejoice with her victim over her
+discomfiture; and whom she feels will sing the <i>Te Deum Laudamus</i> over
+his freedom, which she knows he will grasp at as eagerly as the timely
+rope by the drowning man; and so, hissing forth many words of fierce
+invective and malicious threats, she takes the hack from Holmnest.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Dale's first expressive act on returning from escorting this amiable
+creature to the cab is to shake hands with Mr. Cole; then, crossing the
+room to Pearl Villiers, to congratulate her, he ascertains she has
+fainted.</p>
+
+<p>"No wonder, poor girl," said Mrs. Gower, coming to her relief; "I
+expect, this is not the first time her terrible step-sister has caused
+her to find relief in unconsciousness."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you remember, Elaine, she fainted once before, on Mr. Smyth
+announcing the marriage of Margaret Villiers with your poor friend
+here?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do, distinctly."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder," continued Mrs. Dale, "was she aware of her mother's wish
+that she should marry Mr. Cole?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Miss Pearl knew it right well, poor, long-suffering darling," says
+Sarah Jones, who is supporting her, while whispering soothing words of
+comfort. She now recovers, and is able to sit up, smiling at the sight
+which meets her eye, of Mr. Cole shaking Silas Jones by the hand, as if
+it was to be perpetual motion. Then, hobbling to the mirror, tears off
+his unbecoming muffler, throwing it at Tyr; saying, half wild with joy
+at his deliverance:</p>
+
+<p>"Away with her fetters; I shall begin to look like a Christian again; if
+I had a razor now, it would not be used on the jugular vein, but on my
+beard; but Mrs. Smyth, Mrs. Gower, see how grey I am, Jove!" and he gave
+a glance at the fair-haired girl, who withdrew her eyes, while both
+color. "Medusa was my pet name for her; oh, it was a den of villainy,
+eh, Sarah," he said, excitedly.</p>
+
+<p>"It caps anything I have ever heard," said Dale, seeing how weak Cole
+looks, and making him take an easy chair.</p>
+
+<p>"Dinner is served, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>After dining, Mr. and Mrs. Jones sitting down with them at the pressing
+invitation of Mrs. Gower, Mr. Dale read all the communications he had
+received relating to the fraud practised by Miss Villiers, and the
+Stones antagonistic to the interests of Pearl Villiers; Brookes &amp;
+Davidson undertaking to prosecute in the interests of the latter, should
+she so decide. Before leaving England, some weeks previous, they had
+robbed and plundered the estate to such an extent as to reduce the
+actual income from five thousand pounds sterling per annum to three
+thousand.</p>
+
+<p>These facts had been ascertained by Messrs. Brookes &amp; Davidson, who
+said, as the delinquents had sheltered themselves beneath the stars and
+stripes, they were safe personally; but some of the properties could be
+wrested from parties to whom fraudulent sales had been made by Mrs.
+Cole. Her plea would of course be that she, Margaret Villiers, had wed
+Charles Babbington-Cole; but that had no weight, for a clause in the
+will would make such plea not worth a row of pins; they, the lawyers,
+only wishing they were in England, when they would indict them for
+fraud.</p>
+
+<p>"You will prosecute the wretches, Pearl; for we are going to make you
+feel at home, and call you so," said Mrs. Dale, eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>But the girl, saying in a low voice, though heard by all, that she will
+not go to law; that three thousand per annum is ample for her; that in
+most cases, perhaps, the lessees were not cognizant of the fraudulent
+sale, and so would be punished, while the guilty people were the
+gainers.</p>
+
+<p>"They have a nice little nest egg," said Mr. Blair, indignantly; "so
+does the green bay tree flourish."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Mr. Dale; "and will likely pose as saints on the other side.
+Only that our little friend here would suffer much during a complicated
+law-suit, and that the enemy are hard to reach, I would advise her not
+to turn the other cheek, as she is doing but to fight; however," he
+says, smilingly, "for Canada, Miss Pearl, you are quite a little
+heiress."</p>
+
+<p>"Ladies and gentlemen," said Silas Jones, as he and his happy wife bid
+them all good-night, "Sarah and I don't know how to thank you for your
+kindness to our Miss Pearl."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; may the blessings of heaven rest upon you for it," said Sarah,
+tearfully and reverently, as the girl kissed her, lovingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Amen," said Silas; "and I would add that this poor gentleman has gone
+through a fiery furnace of affliction in his forced union with that
+vixen of the iron will and heart of stone; but she will trouble you no
+more, sir, it was only your name she wanted; it meant gold."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>SQUARING ACCOUNTS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>On the evening of the day on which the Coles' had arrived, and Miss Crew
+had come out in her true colors as Pearl Villiers, the heiress, in which
+her step-sister, Mrs. Cole, was branded with the name and character she
+has earned as devotee of the father of lies; there was so much to say,
+and so many to say it; so many hand clasps for the poor victim, Charlie
+Cole, on the incoming for his wife of Will Smyth, the Tremaines the A.
+Jones, and others, that the slipping out of Mrs. Dale and Mr. Blair, to
+meet the girl, Beatrice Hill, is unnoticed.</p>
+
+<p>After waiting in the shadow of the house, building on the next lot, for
+a considerable time, and evening is fast waning into night, Mr. Cobbe
+appears in the distance, coming at a brisk pace; nears, opens the gate,
+is up the walk, rings, and is admitted.</p>
+
+<p>"Now she will come, I fervently hope," said Mrs. Dale, impatiently;
+"horrid pair they are, interfering with our hearing the circus indoors.
+If our friend, Mr. Cobbe was mated to that hideous scold, Mrs. Cole, I
+reckon he would not get too much line. But she would never have trapped
+him, he knows too much; unless, indeed, she had settled half the plunder
+on him to close his mouth with the bon-bons that his soul loveth."</p>
+
+<p>"Your words, Mrs. Dale, give me an idea; I wonder if he would pose as
+'Pooh Bah,' and pocket an insult, in the shape of a bribe, to give our
+dear friend her freedom."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I do believe he would," she answers, eagerly; "I wonder we have
+not thought of that before."</p>
+
+<p>"But how can we work it; I cannot appear, though my bank notes are at
+his service; I wonder if your very philanthropic husband would undertake
+the delicate mission?"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, he would; he just loves making rough places smooth for people."</p>
+
+<p>"It is very good of him," he said, gratefully. "I fear this girl, Hill,
+is as slippery as Cobbe himself; you had better return to the house, and
+I shall go to her address, Seaton street; and if I do not find her,
+shall see if I can elicit any item of importance from others in the
+house."</p>
+
+<p>"But you will wish to come in and tell Elaine good-night first; you will
+not sleep otherwise," she said, teasingly.</p>
+
+<p>"You are right; but I must practise self-denial; indeed, it is my life
+just now, and endeavor to earn a blissful reward by gaining her release
+from Mr. Cobbe. Did you ever see such a contrast in faces and expression
+as that vixen, Cole's wife, presented, compared to our dear Elaine?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; unless it was myself, which of course you did not see," she said,
+saucily; "but I like you all the better for it. I hate your men who are
+all things to all women; go now, and success attend you. Good-night."</p>
+
+<p>Walking rapidly, winged love buoying him up, he soon reaches the Spadina
+Avenue terminus, when, fortune smiling, he has not to wait the twenty
+minutes for the car, for the driver is in the act of turning the horses'
+heads south. Entering, wrapt in thought, he does not notice the numbers
+on this broad highway who make their ingress or egress. Pretty girls,
+peeping from cloud-like fascinators, attended by their chosen valentine,
+or by chaperon, evidently, by their gay trappings, bent on scoring a
+last dance before Lent, for this is St. Valentine's Day, and to-morrow
+will be Ash Wednesday, and so good-bye for a season to the pleasures of
+Terpsichore. No, he is observant of nothing, excepting the many
+stoppages, at which he is impatient. Even electric lighted King street
+is passed through unnoticed; men thinking, on seeing his bent head and
+knit brows, poor fellow, probably bit by the "Central." Girls
+whispering, "He has missed the ring in his Shrove Tuesday pancakes this
+evening, getting only the button. What a pity, for he would be handsome
+if he would only see us."</p>
+
+<p>At the crossing of his turn north, the driver calling Sherbourne street,
+he changes cars, and in due course leaves them, to walk up Seaton
+street. Reaching his number, he rings the bell of a small rough-cast
+house. A man in his shirt sleeves, and with the smell of fresh pine
+about him, opens the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Does a young woman, named Hill, live here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir; just step in, please," and ushering him into a sitting-room,
+at one end there being a new pine table nearly finished, tools and
+shavings about. A woman, who is nursing a baby, says: "Take this chair,
+sir; but I'm a'most feared Beatrice has too bad a head to see you."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell her, please, that I must see her, if she is able to sit up at
+all," he says, decidedly.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, sir," and going to another room on same flat, he could hear
+half-angry words and sobs.</p>
+
+<p>The woman returning, eyeing him suspiciously, said:</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; she says as how she'll see you to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"That won't do. I <i>must</i> have the information she has promised,
+otherwise the detectives will do the work for me at once," he said
+sternly.</p>
+
+<p>"Detectives! oh!" she cries, quickly, in changed tones, leaving the
+room; when there is more parleying on the part of the woman. She now
+returns, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Please, step this way, sir."</p>
+
+<p>Going into the girl's room, who is evidently a vest-maker, by the pile
+of said articles on a table, another on the sewing-machine. She gives a
+sulky nod, pointing him to a chair. She has a seedy gown on, untidy
+hair, and no collar, looking as if she cared for naught. There is an
+attempt at decoration on the flowered wall-paper, in shape of business
+cards pinned thereon, with the inevitable bow of ribbon; three cane
+chairs, a trunk, a bright rag carpet, two tables, and a small lounge,
+furnish the room. Conspicuous among the photos lying on a table, and the
+only one enthroned in a scarlet plush frame, is a smiling photograph of
+Mr. Cobbe.</p>
+
+<p>Determined on showing nothing like feeling, in her half hysterical
+state, he says, briefly:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what have you to tell me, as you failed in keeping your
+appointment? I have come to hear."</p>
+
+<p>"And suppose I go back on my word, and don't tell you?" she said,
+doggedly.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you shall be made to speak," he says, with a brave front; though
+his heart is heavy at her words.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I know what fine gentlemen's boasts add up to," she says, crossly
+and defiantly, dashing away her tears; "to just nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall be put in the lock-up if you are caught prowling about any
+one's residence after this."</p>
+
+<p>"And what would you gain by that?" she says, cunningly.</p>
+
+<p>While Blair, sighing for woman's tact, wishes Mrs. Dale was with him,
+when a sudden thought occurs to him; rising, as if to go, he says, with
+assumed carelessness:</p>
+
+<p>"Very well; if you won't help yourself and me, by making a clean breast
+of it, things will have to take their own course, and that man,"
+indicating by a gesture the photograph of Mr. Cobbe, "and that man will
+be lost to you, as the husband of a certain lady in the north-west end."</p>
+
+<p>At this she is humble enough, her tears bursting afresh.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, no; I am just crazy to-night, that my Phil is with her; and I
+have been crying my eyes out, because I daren't go up, because of you
+coming out to make me tell on him; oh, oh, oh."</p>
+
+<p>"But can't you see, girl, that this is the only way you will keep him to
+yourself, by telling what hold you have on him. If you don't, as sure as
+you are alive, he will marry yonder lady, and spurn you like a worm
+under his heel," he said, with angry impatience.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, never; oh, oh, oh, me! I suppose I had best tell, then." And going
+to the trunk, taking out a small box, which she unlocks with a key,
+suspended by a ribbon around her neck, she takes therefrom a few lines
+written on half a sheet of paper, handing it to him. It read:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">Simcoe St.</span>, March 16.</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Dearest Love</span>,&mdash;Be <i>sure</i> and be on time at the Union Depot.
+It's all nonsense your asking me to marry you before we start.
+It's not common sense of you. The other women who want me would
+tear your pretty eyes out. No, Betty, my petty. I will marry
+you when we get to Buffalo; not before; so do not make me
+angry, when you ought to be the happiest woman in Toronto at
+going away with your own</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Philip</span>."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>"Did he marry you?" asked Blair, placing the paper carefully in his
+pocket-book.</p>
+
+<p>Coloring, as she hangs her head, she does not notice his act.</p>
+
+<p>"What's that to you?" she said, doggedly.</p>
+
+<p>"It's everything; speak, or take the consequences."</p>
+
+<p>"He didn't, then; but he's not free to marry that hussy, since I have
+his writ promise, where is my paper? Give it me."</p>
+
+<p>"Softly, softly, young woman; I want him to do right by you."</p>
+
+<p>"But you'll only rouse the devil in him, sir; and he'll see me no more,"
+she says, wringing her hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen to reason, girl, I will borrow this paper, and on my honor; but
+pshaw, you won't credit me with so scarce a commodity," he says, half
+aside. "Lend me the letter until this time to-morrow, and here is ten
+dollars; when I return it you shall have ten more."</p>
+
+<p>"Not much; you bet, it shan't leave my eye-sight for any money."</p>
+
+<p>But after a weary talk she unwillingly consents; when he leaves the
+house.</p>
+
+<p>During the next three days and nights Mr. Blair was half beside himself
+with anxieties, doubts and fears; for Mr. Dale, even with the letter to
+Beatrice Hill in his hand, could do nothing with Mr. Cobbe. As mulish as
+the girl Hill, he refused to release Mrs. Gower from her oath; finally,
+in fiery wrath declaring there would be a heavy breach of promise case,
+did she break faith.</p>
+
+<p>The result was, that with the Dales, Pearl Villiers and Mr. Cole, at
+Holmnest, a busy week was spent.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gower telling Mr. Cobbe, since he would have it so, she would wed
+him sometime or other, parting with him at the foot of the altar,
+henceforth to meet as strangers; that but for his own acts, they would
+have been friends; but she could never forget all she had already
+suffered in nervous fear of the girl Hill.</p>
+
+<p>And so, as rapidly as possible she prepares, as before arranged, to
+leave Holmnest for some months. Charlie Cole was to join his father at
+Jacksonville, Florida, the following day; Pearl Villiers and herself
+following. The house to be left in care of the kitchen, the Dales making
+it their home when in the city; but in a day or two, they would be most
+likely summoned to New York on peremptory business for a few days.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Dale and Mrs. Gower were amused in a sad sort of way, for their
+thoughts were gravely set, on the attitude taken by Mr. Cobbe. Still, it
+was a sort of distraction to note the manner of each toward the other;
+of Pearl Villiers and Charlie Cole, the latter demanding, and the former
+seeming to think it her duty to wait on him, humor him, go out for
+little sunlit walks on the veranda with him, play his favorite music,
+and endeavor to make up to him for her step-sister's wicked act, in
+coming between them.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a rather dangerous game though, Elaine; they will trade hearts
+unconsciously."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I have feared that, Ella; God spare her from that misery," she
+says, gravely, with hands pressed to her own aching heart.</p>
+
+<p>"Pearl," said Charlie Cole, as throwing away his cane, he leans lightly
+on her arm, as they pace up and down the sun-warm veranda, half an hour
+before the hack arrives to convey him to the Union Depot, "Tell me,
+Pearl, dear; but for my wretched union with your wicked step-sister,
+would you have married me willingly, mark me, willingly?" he says,
+probing her.</p>
+
+<p>"I would," she says, truthfully, blushing vividly; "but I don't think
+it's quite right to talk of it now, Charlie, is it? only, if we had
+known long ago when we have met as strangers, Margaret might have been
+spared this sin."</p>
+
+<p>"How your eyes seemed to follow me, Pearl. Our friend, Mrs. Gower, and
+myself have been the foot-ball of circumstances, she used to have
+instantaneous photographs of Blair, and is doomed to Cobbe; same fate as
+mine."</p>
+
+<p>"My heart is full of pity for you both, dear; but try and think of it as
+God's will, and it will come easier."</p>
+
+<p>"I know all that; but it's confoundedly hard that those vultures should
+have it all their own way."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2>
+
+<h3>"MAIR SWEET THAN I CAN TELL."</h3>
+
+
+<p>On an evening at the close of February, when the mercury has risen so
+high that all nature is in a melting mood; the snowy mantle of winter
+disappearing fast on the warm bosom of dear old mother earth, while
+Holmnest is a very bower of love, a very haven of peace. Upstairs,
+downstairs, and in my lady's chamber, everything is warm, home-like,
+sweet and fresh; with dreamy, turned down lights, showing the dainty
+sleeping apartment of its mistress, with its blue and white prevailing
+tints, its lace bed-spread and pillow shams; its pretty feminine
+adornments, with three or four pictures, and a vase of fresh flowers
+giving life to its repose. But we notice in the dim and shadowy light, a
+something unusual, a something different, a new element in this, the
+bed-chamber of Elaine Gower; a something that makes the heart throb
+faster, and a look of wonder, with a smile of content come to the face,
+a something which gives a tone of strength, of completeness to this
+bower of rest; it is, that here and there, one can dimly see a man's
+belongings, and one remembers to have read, "it is not good for man to
+be alone."</p>
+
+<p>But; and we start with fear, for the inanimate cannot speak and tell us
+if Mr. Cobbe has had his way, and those manly belongings are his; if so,
+if so, alas!</p>
+
+<p>But the kitchen says, no, as with a broad grin of content it sits over
+the <i>debris</i> of a late dinner; when, at the tinkle, tinkle of the
+library bell, Thomas is away like a flash; we follow, peep in and see
+Mr. Blair, reclining on a lounge, holding between his fingers a
+cigarette; he forgets to smoke, a look of ineffable content and
+happiness on his manly face. He has rolled the sofa over beside the
+Davenport, at which sits his twin-spirit, the mistress of Holmnest, who
+is within easy reach of his hand, as she sits writing. She wears a gown
+<i>couleur de rose</i>, and is looking very lovable, her face transfigured
+with quiet happiness. As Thomas appears, she says, in her sweet tones:</p>
+
+<p>"No one is aware of our return, Thomas, so we don't expect visitors; but
+in any case, we are not at home."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"My bride of a week; my ain wife, my other self," he says, his heart in
+his eyes, "bend down your sweet face and kiss me." Holding her in a
+close embrace, he says, "and so you are not sorry that a great, rough
+man like myself has crept into your bonnie Holmnest, and stolen your
+heart?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, not stolen, dearest; mine has been a willing surrender; and you
+must not call yourself names in my hearing. Mine has been a very lonely
+life, especially of late years; and you don't know how humble I feel at
+this great happiness coming to me, or my restful content in leaning on
+this strong arm."</p>
+
+<p>"There is one thing to be said for me, my own wife, and that is, that no
+other woman has a real or fancied right to lean on me. I have never been
+a flirting man, for which I may thank my father and mother, who aye were
+leal and true. What a picture they were in fair Dunkeld, going down
+life's hill together; he only living after her to close her eyes. How I
+wish they could have seen you, my other better self."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; it would have given me great joy to have met them; your words of
+them remind me, Alec, of a dear old couple who reside in our sweet
+Rosedale. A day in their home is a living idyl; to see his tender care
+of her crossing the bridge into Bloor street, is a life lesson; I used
+to liken you and your wee lost wife to them, dear. I must tell you of an
+incident that attracted me to Mr. Smyth more than years of acquaintance.
+Prior to an illness of his wife, she had a photo taken at Gagen and
+Fraser's. On her recovery we were comparing it with a previous one, when
+he said, 'I like one I have better than either of them.' His wife,
+looking amazed, said, 'What one, Will?' while I said, 'Show it to us.'
+He answered, 'This one,' encircling her in his arms."</p>
+
+<p>"Only what he should have done, darling. Each for the other, shall be
+our motto; but must you write Mrs. Dale to-night?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear; just fancy how eager she must be to hear, as they were
+called away so suddenly, and they are such faithful friends. Shall I
+hand you the evening papers to look at while I write, dearest?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, thanks; I shall look at my wife's face instead."</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"<span class="smcap">Holmnest, Toronto</span>,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">"Feb. 28th, 1888.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Ella</span>,</p>
+
+<p>"We only returned home to-day; but as we, with Pearl, leave for
+Jacksonville on to-morrow, I must do myself the pleasure of a
+one-sided written chat with you to-night. My pre-arranged plan
+is to be carried out; but with what a light heart do I carry it
+out as Elaine Blair&mdash;is it not a pretty name. But lest you
+think me insane at my age, I shall not go into raptures over my
+name, or my loving life companion, who has given it me.</p>
+
+<p>"I have so much to say, that I am in a quandary what to begin
+with.</p>
+
+<p>"The day after you left we went down quietly to the early
+morning Lenten service, and at its close were married by my
+good pastor, leaving the same day for Niagara. You remember I
+used to say in jest, that to make a marriage legal, we
+Torontonians must go thither! so Alec and I are fast bound;
+thank God for His goodness. How little I dreamed of this two
+weeks ago. Your good husband has worked a miracle in obtaining
+my release from Philip; I cannot but think I have been bought
+out of that regiment; what different colors I am under now;
+poor Philip. His letter to me, in freeing me, is so truly
+characteristic of the man, that I shall amuse you with a line
+or two:</p>
+
+<p>'"...in releasing you from your oath to be my wife, I repeat
+that you will long for me once and forever! I am sorry for you,
+Elaine, for I am the only man to make you happy. If you marry
+that cowardly fellow who has run me out, take my advice, and
+have the knot tied loosely in the States, for I prophesy you
+will want a divorce before a year has elapsed; and then, as I
+bear you no malice, you have only got into bad hands; send for
+me, even then, and I shall give up every other woman admirer
+for you....' Is it not typical of Philip? Poor fellow; he
+little dreams of my restful content at the steadfast, manly
+heart I have won. He came in the afternoon of the day you left;
+though, you are aware, your husband had handed me his letter
+releasing me the evening previous; but he came to try and
+persuade me to destroy it, waxing eloquent over <i>my folly</i>, and
+his regret for me and himself. Pretty Mrs. St. Clair calling
+while he was here, they left together. I again thought how well
+matched they would have been; she amused me&mdash;but I must tell
+you.</p>
+
+<p>"You remember, we read in a city newspaper that a man suggested
+as a rabbit exterminator, fashion should decree that the ears
+of the aforesaid animal should be used in some manner of
+feminine adornment; but Mrs. St. Clair solved the problem of
+extermination; and if she and other leaders of fashion push it,
+the rabbit is a doomed creature.</p>
+
+<p>"While the attention of Philip was momentarily given to Mrs.
+Tremaine and Miss Hall, she purred.</p>
+
+<p>"'Oh, Mrs. Gower, I do want a rabbit's paw more than anything
+else in the world.'</p>
+
+<p>"'A rabbit's paw! what for?'</p>
+
+<p>"'To put my rouge on with, it's just the cutest thing out, for
+that. Do you paint, Mrs. Gower?'</p>
+
+<p>"I fancy I see your lip curl, and Alec asks me what I am
+smiling at. I tell him above, on the rabbit; and that my smile
+is the reflection of the laugh in your Irish eyes. He says I
+don't punctuate often enough to let him kiss me. Give me credit
+for a little sanity yet, Ella, for I know how foolish this
+sounds; but our great happiness is so dazzling after our dark
+days of despair, that I dare say we are a little daft.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, for a startling bit of news that I have been trying
+to keep for the last&mdash;but it won't wait&mdash;a telegram arrived
+here yesterday for Charlie Cole, from Grand Central Hotel, New
+York City, from Mr. Stone, running thus:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'<span class="smcap">C. Babbington-Cole, Esq.</span>,<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'Your wife, Mrs. Cole, died suddenly of malignant<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">sore throat, on the twenty-fifth, and was buried same<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">evening.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"'<span class="smcap">Timothy Stone</span>.'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"The first thing on our arrival this a.m., Alec wired the
+information to the Tremont Hotel, Jacksonville, to Charlie. And
+so death has stepped in, freeing him from an unhappy union,
+Pearl is not as yet aware of this; but we shall tell her on her
+coming over from the O'Sullivan's to-morrow. When we reach
+Jacksonville, she can procure the usual black robes.</p>
+
+<p>"It appears that Mr. Stone has actually rented an office here,
+in which he will carry on the real estate business. We are
+informed that he and his late niece lived here some time ago,
+for a few years. A gentleman from the Grand Central, tells Mr.
+Smyth that Mr. Stone boasts of his large and influential
+connection here. And so, though some of our smart Central Bank
+men have skipped the line, we gain one that caps them all, in
+Timothy Stone.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, to a brighter theme, our firm of Dale, Buckingham &amp;
+Blair, with my ain dearie as manager of our Toronto branch.
+Graham &amp; Graham tell Alec the agreement is drawn. Will do
+business on the square in mineral lands, and should get a bonus
+from the city, for no one heretofore has known where to place
+or purchase properties of this kind. And so we had better set
+our chant to music, and sing to 'dream-faces'&mdash;</p>
+
+<table width="30%">
+<tr><td>Oxides of Iron      </td><td>66.28</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Silica              </td><td>21.20</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Alumina              </td><td>&nbsp;&nbsp;3.70</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Lime                 </td><td>&nbsp;&nbsp;5.04</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Magnesia             </td><td>&nbsp;&nbsp;2.19</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>"Were you not glad to hear that Silas Jones is to be in charge
+of the office while we are away, and head clerk afterwards? I
+tell you, Ella, dear, when I think of winging our flight south
+together, thence to the Old World, in which fair Dunkeld stands
+out the brightest spot, I am half wild with joy. Barlow
+Cumberland, I am sure, thought me more than a little off when
+we were in buying our tickets.</p>
+
+<p>"I verily believe I am growing egotistical; in all this letter,
+who has been foremost&mdash;self?</p>
+
+<p>"Madame de Sevigne was right: 'One loves to talk of one's self
+so much, that one never tires of <i>tête-à-tête</i> with a lover for
+years. This is the reason a devotee likes to be with her
+confessor; it is for the pleasure of talking of one's
+self&mdash;even though talking evil.'</p>
+
+<p>"But should we meet at New York on our way south, I shall talk
+of nothing but your own dear selves, and Pearl will bring you
+news of Garfield; whom, I feel sure, she has seen every day
+during your absence.</p>
+
+<p>"Thomas and Begonia (in days of yore, Bridget) will have
+everything snug for you any day you come. All our world seems
+so in couples linked, that though he is but sixteen, and she
+forty, I shall not be surprised to find them buckled, too.</p>
+
+<p>"Times are changed, dear. I never even think of chains, bolts,
+or shutters. No more nervous evenings; no more starts at the
+bell; no more heart-aches; but arms leal and true to shield me,
+a heart fond and loving, all my own. Ella, Ella, with my faulty
+nature, I ask myself, am I deserving of this great happiness?</p>
+
+<p>"My dear husband is bending over me; but lest you deem him a
+flatterer, I must not tell you his words he bids me tell you;
+but no, he must say it himself. But he has taken away the ink
+bottle, lest I burn the midnight oil. One says of Aspasia,
+writing in ancient days of her Pericles, that 'happy is the man
+who comes last, and alone, into the warm and secret foldings of
+a letter.' And so the name of my dear husband, Alec Blair,
+comes here, Ella, dear, and I say good-night to you as he holds
+me in his arms, his eyes, with love's steadfast gaze, resting
+on my face.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"From your happy friend,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">"<span class="smcap">Elaine</span>,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">"Who is affectionately and<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">"abundantly yours.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"To Mrs. Dale, c/o Henry Dale, Esq.,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">"Hoffman House, New York City."<br /></span>
+</div></div></blockquote>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's A Romance of Toronto, by Annie Gregg Savigny
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Romance of Toronto, by Annie Gregg Savigny
+
+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: A Romance of Toronto
+       A Novel
+
+Author: Annie Gregg Savigny
+
+Release Date: April 21, 2011 [EBook #35927]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A ROMANCE OF TORONTO ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+book was produced from scanned images of public domain
+material from the Google Print project.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                          A ROMANCE OF TORONTO.
+
+                           (FOUNDED ON FACT.)
+
+                                A NOVEL.
+
+                        BY MRS. ANNIE G. SAVIGNY
+
+   _Author of "An Allegory on Gossip," "A Heart-Song of To-day," etc._
+
+
+    TORONTO:
+    WILLIAM BRIGGS, 78 & 80 KING STREET EAST.
+
+    1888.
+
+    Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year
+    one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight, by _Mrs. Annie Gregg
+    Savigny_, at the Department of Agriculture.
+
+
+     "I would like the Government to forbid the publication of all
+     novels that did not end well."--DARWIN.
+
+     "What would the world do without story-books."--DICKENS.
+
+
+[Illustration: TORONTO UNIVERSITY, QUEEN'S PARK.]
+
+
+
+
+NOTE.
+
+
+_In the following pages are two plots, one of which was told me by an
+actor therein; the other I have myself watched from its first page to
+its last, being living facts in living lives of fair Toronto's
+children._
+
+_THE AUTHOR._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I. Toronto a Fair Matron
+
+CHAPTER II. Who is Who in a Medley
+
+CHAPTER III. Instantaneous Photographs
+
+CHAPTER IV. The Foot-ball of Circumstance
+
+CHAPTER V. A Bona Dea
+
+CHAPTER VI. Coffee and Chit-Chat
+
+CHAPTER VII. Across the Sea to a Witch's Caldron
+
+CHAPTER VIII. A Troubled Spirit
+
+CHAPTER IX. Vultures Habited as Christian Pew-holders
+
+CHAPTER X. A Lucifer Match
+
+CHAPTER XI. Their "Rank is but the Guinea's Stamp"
+
+CHAPTER XII. On the Rack
+
+CHAPTER XIII. Lucifer's Votaries Rampant
+
+CHAPTER XIV. Fencing Off Confidence
+
+CHAPTER XV. The Tree of Knowledge
+
+CHAPTER XVI. The Oath in the Tower of Toronto University
+
+CHAPTER XVII. Birds of Prey
+
+CHAPTER XVIII. The Islet-gemmed St. Lawrence
+
+CHAPTER XIX. Eye-openers
+
+CHAPTER XX. "Your Een Were Like a Spell"
+
+CHAPTER XXI. A Happy New Year
+
+CHAPTER XXII. "Better Lo'ed Ye Canna Be"
+
+CHAPTER XXIII. The Three Links
+
+CHAPTER XXIV. A Hand of Ice Lay on Her Heart
+
+CHAPTER XXV. "Here Awa', There Awa'"
+
+CHAPTER XXVI. Electric Tips Among the Roses
+
+CHAPTER XXVII. A Serpent in Paradise
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII. Squaring Accounts
+
+CHAPTER XXIX. "Mair Sweet Than I Can Tell"
+
+
+
+
+A ROMANCE OF TORONTO.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+TORONTO A FAIR MATRON.
+
+
+Two gentlemen friends saunter arm in arm up and down the deck of the
+palace steamer _Chicora_ as she enters our beautiful Lake Ontario from
+the picturesque Niagara River, on a perfect day in delightful September,
+when the blue canopy of the heavens seems so far away, one wonders that
+the mirrored surface of the lake can reflect its color.
+
+"Do you know, Buckingham, you puzzle me; you were evidently happier in
+our little circle at the Hoffman House than in billiard, smoking, or
+reading-rooms, and just now in the saloon you seemed so content with
+Miss Crew, my wife and our boy, that I again wonder a man with these
+tastes, and who has made his little pile, does not marry," said Mr.
+Dale, in flute-like tones, distinctly English in accent. "I really
+think, my dear fellow, you would be happier in big New York city with
+some one in it to make a home for you."
+
+"I am quite sure your words are kindly meant, Dale, but look at me," he
+says tranquilly, "I am not dwarfed by care, being six feet in my
+stockings, I have no worrying lines written on my forehead, and between
+you and I, I am fifty; to be sure I am bald and grey, but that is New
+York life, a bachelor life, then, has not served me ill; there is a
+woman at Toronto I should like as my wife, but until I can give her the
+few luxuries I now deem necessities, I shall remain as I am."
+
+"I regret your decision, Buckingham, it is a rock many men split on,
+this waiting for wealth and missing wifely companionship."
+
+"Perhaps you are right; but I should not care to risk it," he says,
+calmly.
+
+"And you a speculator!" his friend said, smiling. At this they drifted
+into business and some joint investments in Canadian mineral locations,
+when Dale said:
+
+"You must excuse me now, Buckingham, I promised my wife to go and read
+her a letter descriptive of Toronto, as we, you know, have not been
+there."
+
+"Who is the writer, if I may know?"
+
+"Our mutual friend at Toronto, Mrs. Gower."
+
+"Oh, I am with you then," he said, with unusual eagerness, a fact noted
+by his friend.
+
+Entering the saloon, Mrs. Dale, a pretty little woman, fashionably
+dressed, with Irish blue eyes and raven hair, said, lifting her head:
+
+"Excuse my recumbent position, but I feel as if my head wasn't level, if
+I try to sit up; ditto, Miss Crew."
+
+"Where is Garfield, Ella?"
+
+"Over there with those boys; now read away, hubby, it will do my head
+good."
+
+"Very well, let me see where the description commences (the personal
+part I may pass). Here it is:
+
+     "Toronto is a fair matron with many children, whom she has
+     planted out on either side and north of her as far as her great
+     arms can stretch. She lies north and south, while her lips
+     speak loving words to her off-spring, and to her spouse, the
+     County of York; when she rests she pillows her head on the
+     pine-clad hills of sweet Rosedale, while her feet lave at
+     pleasure in the blue waters of beautiful Lake Ontario.
+
+     "Her favorite children are Parkdale, Rosedale, and Scarboro';
+     Parkdale to her west, ambitious and clear-sighted, handsome and
+     well-built, the sportive lake at his feet, in which his
+     children revel at eve; her daughter, charming Rosedale, in
+     society and quite the fashion even to the immense bouquet she
+     carries at all seasons--now of autumn leaves, from the hand of
+     Dame Nature; now of the floral beauties from her own gardens
+     and conservatories, again, of beauteous ferns gathered in her
+     own woods across her handsome bridges.
+
+     "Scarboro', fair Toronto's favorite son, of whom she is justly
+     proud, is a handsome young warrior, fearless as his own
+     heights, robust as his own trees, which seem as one gazes down
+     his deep ravine, like so many giants marching upwards as though
+     panting to reach the blue pavilioned heavens where they would
+     fain rest their heads.
+
+     "From the time spring thaws the sceptre out of the frozen hand
+     of winter, until again he is king, the breath of Scarboro' is
+     redolent of the rose, honeysuckle and sweet-briar, with a rapid
+     succession of the loveliest wild flowers in Canada beneath
+     one's feet, a veritable carpet of sweet-scented blossoms has
+     her son Scarboro'.
+
+     "Fair Toronto is also herself richly robed and jewelled, her
+     necklet being of picturesque villas, in Rosedale and on Bloor
+     Street; under her corsage, covered with beauteous blossoms from
+     her Horticultural Gardens, her Normal School grounds, etc., her
+     heart throbs with pride as she thinks of her gems, the spires
+     from her one hundred and twenty churches glistening in heaven's
+     sunbeams; of her magnificent University of Toronto, with its
+     great Norman tower, which cost her nearly $500,000; her
+     handsome Trinity College, in third period pointed English
+     style; her Knox College, her hotels, her opera houses, her
+     stately banks; with her diamonds, of which she is vastly proud,
+     and which are her great newspaper offices--the most valuable
+     being those of first water, viz., her Church papers as
+     finger-posts, with her _Sentinel_ as guard; her independent,
+     cultured _Mail_; her mighty clear-Grit _Globe_; her brilliant,
+     knowing _Grip_; her often-quoted _World_; her racy town-cry
+     _News_; her social _Saturday Night_; her _Life_, her _Week_,
+     her _Truth_, with her _Evening Telegram_, the whole set being
+     so valued by fair Toronto, that she would as soon be minus her
+     daily bread as her newspapers.
+
+     "It would take too long to enumerate the many attractions fair
+     Toronto offers--some of those within her walls having throats
+     full of song, others in the 'Harmony Club,' others
+     elocutionists, with orators and athletes; her Cyclorama of
+     Sedan, her Zoo--to which only a trifle pays the piper--her
+     interesting museums, her fine art galleries.
+
+     "And again, one word of her pet river, her picturesque Humber,
+     where lovers meet, poets dream, and fairies dwell; yes, as
+     Imrie says:
+
+     "'Glide we up the Humber river,
+     Where the rushes sigh and quiver,
+     Plight our love to each forever,
+         Love that will not die.'
+
+     "Such, dear Mr. and Mrs. Dale, is my lay of Toronto, which I
+     hope you will like well enough to come and sojourn here awhile.
+     You say, Mrs. Dale, that you have 'willed' to go to an hotel,
+     if so, I shall say no more of my wish, for 'a woman's will dies
+     hard on the field, or on the sward;' but when your will is
+     carried out, should you sigh for home-life come to me--even
+     then Holmnest will have open doors. You may be grave or gay,
+     you may be _en deshabille_ in mind and robing, or you may have
+     your war-paint on for the watchful eye of Grundy, be it as you
+     will it, you are ever welcome, only tell dear Diogenes not to
+     come in his tub. I can give you both amusement enough in many
+     subjects or objects at which to level your glass, for Toronto
+     society is in many instances an amusing spectacle, a droll
+     conglomeration.
+
+     "Yours as always,
+     "ELAINE GOWER."
+
+"Well, Buckingham, what think you of fair Toronto?" asked Dale, as he
+finished reading.
+
+"I think that, though unusual, a Fair Matron has had ample justice from
+a fair woman."
+
+"I want to-morrow and Mrs. Gower right now," said Mrs. Dale, "as
+Garfield says when he is promised a treat."
+
+"Toronto must be a fine city, and covering a large area," said Miss
+Crew.
+
+"Mrs. Gower has a taste for metaphor; I never heard her in that style
+before, that is to any extent," said Buckingham.
+
+"I am intensely practical," said Dale; "but confess Toronto described in
+metaphor sounds more musical, at all events, than in plain brick and
+mortar style."
+
+"Emerson says," said Buckingham, "men are ever lapsing into a beggarly
+habit in which everything that is not cyphering is hustled out of sight,
+and I think he is right."
+
+"We cannot help it, it is the tendency of the age; but what have we
+here, Buckingham? What's the excitement about?"
+
+"Oh, we are only nearing Hanlon's Point; the ladies had better come
+outside; every scene will be in gala dress. Miss Crew, can I assist
+you?"
+
+    "Where the blue hills of old Toronto shed
+     Their evening shadows o'er Ontario's bed,"
+
+said Dale, coming with the crowd to view the scene.
+
+But since Moore so sang, the hills of the noble red man have
+disappeared, save as a boundary to our fair city; the pale faces, in the
+interests of progress and civilization, would have it so; and Bloor
+Street, to the north, is now reached by a gradual ascent of one hundred
+and fifty feet above the lake level. But now the stately and comfortable
+palace steamer, _Chicora_, with a goodly number of souls on board, is
+rounding Hanlon's Point, and entering our beautiful Bay, when the
+illumined city, with the Industrial Exhibition of 1887 in full swing,
+burst upon the view. The bands of music in and about the city, at the
+Horticultural Gardens and on the fair grounds, with the hum of many
+voices, fill the evening air with a glad song of joy.
+
+"What a sparkling scene," cried Mrs. Dale; "see, Garfield, my boy, all
+the boats lit from bow to stern."
+
+"They look as pretty as you in your diamonds, mamma."
+
+"It is quite a pretty sight, and the city also," said Miss Crew; "I had
+no idea Canada could attempt anything to equal this."
+
+"So much for England's instructions of her 'young ideas how to shoot,'
+as to her colonies, Miss Crew," said Dale; "Come, confess that a few
+squaws, bearing torches, with their lordly half smoking the calumet, was
+the utmost you expected."
+
+"Oh, Mr. Dale, please don't exaggerate our ignorance in this respect; I
+am not quite so bad as a lady at home, who thought Toronto a chain of
+mountains, and Ottawa an Indian chief."
+
+"One of Fenimore Cooper's, I hope," laughed Buckingham, "who hunted
+buffalo on the boundless prairie, instead of your lean gophers who hunt
+rusty bacon from agents who, some say, use him to swindle the public and
+line their own pockets. But listen; what a medley of sounds."
+
+"And lights," cried Mrs. Dale; "it looks as if annexation was on, and
+they were firing up some of our gold dollars as sky rockets."
+
+"It's pretty good for Canada, mamma," said Garfield, patronisingly.
+
+"You say Toronto is quite a business centre, Buckingham?"
+
+"Oh, yes; quite so; it makes one think of commercial union. Do you
+advocate it, Dale?"
+
+"Well, as you know, Buckingham, I am not even yet sufficiently
+Americanised to look upon it from other than a British standpoint, and
+so do not advocate it, as it seems a slight to the Mother Country. What
+is your idea of advantages derived by Canada were it _a fait accompli_?"
+
+"She would gain larger markets; her natural resources would be
+developed, especially her mineral, in which I am," he added, jokingly,
+"looking out for the interest of that most important number _one_, while
+also number two would benefit in home manufactures."
+
+"You amuse me; I honestly believe number one is a universal lever; yet
+still in a way we are each patriotic; but, again, you must see that
+commercial union would be the forerunner of annexation."
+
+"Yes, likely, though not for some time, but evolution will bring that
+about in a natural sort of way, as a final settlement of all vexed
+questions, whether," he added laughingly, "of humanity or--fish."
+
+"Oh, I don't know that, but you have the fish at all events and mean to
+keep them too; humanity may follow, but I should not like to see the
+colonies hoist another flag. But here we are at last, at the portals of
+the Queen City, and such a multitude of people makes one feel as if one
+might be crowded out," he said, uneasily, as the _Chicora_ came in at
+Yonge Street wharf.
+
+"Don't bother your head about your rooms, Dale, you secured them by
+telegram."
+
+"I did, ten days ago, though."
+
+"You never fear, they will be all right, the manager is a thorough
+business man," he said quietly, gathering up the belongings of the
+ladies.
+
+"You are invaluable, Mr. Buckingham," said Mrs. Dale, "and are as
+gallant as if you had as many wives as Blue Beard."
+
+"Rather a scaly compliment, Buckingham," laughed his friend.
+
+"She means well, but the fish are not far off," he answered, picking up
+Garfield, and giving his arm to quiet Miss Crew.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+WHO IS WHO IN A MEDLEY.
+
+
+"What a moving sea of faces!" exclaimed Miss Crew.
+
+"Yes, quite a few, and look as if they required laundrying--bodies,
+bones, and all."
+
+"Here, Garfield, though you are 'very old' as you say, you had better
+take my hand," said Miss Crew, nervously, as Mr. Buckingham set him down
+on the wharf.
+
+"Oh, no, he must go with his father," cried Mrs. Dale.
+
+
+"Oh, I reckon a New York boy can elbow his way through that mean crowd."
+And darting through the mass of people, causing the collapse of not a
+few tournures, and with the aid of one of his mother's bonnet pins
+giving many a woman cause to scream as she unconsciously cleared his
+path by getting out of his way, he is on the outskirts of the crowd.
+
+"Say, hackman, drive me off right smart to the Queen's!"
+
+"Is it all square, young gent?"
+
+"Yes; dimes sure as Vanderbilt money."
+
+"Oh, I mean you are but a kid to go it alone."
+
+"Chestnuts!"
+
+And taking another hack, "Pooh, Bah!" quieting his scruples by pocketing
+a double insult they are off.
+
+"I feel sure Garfield is quite safe, Ella, and probably choosing a cab
+for us; here, take my arm dear, and don't be nervous, Buckingham is
+looking after Miss Crew."
+
+But he is on ahead making inquiries.
+
+"Yes, sir, the young gent is all right, if you take my hack we'll catch
+him, I lost him by being too careful like."
+
+"Your boy is all right, Mrs. Dale, if you jump in quick we'll overtake
+him; allow me, Miss Crew."
+
+"Thank heaven," said his mother fervently, "tell the man to go as quick
+as he can through this crowd; there he is, the young scamp, waving to
+us, there, on ahead, a pair of light greys."
+
+"And here we are, and your boy of the period waiting to welcome us."
+
+"Welcome to the Queen City," he said, pulling off his skull cap.
+
+"You frightened your mother, my boy; see that you don't repeat this;
+remember she is nervous."
+
+"Glad I ain't a woman, they are all nerves and bustles; here, give us a
+kiss, mamma, I only wanted to show you I aint a baby."
+
+"There! there! that will do, my bonnet! my bangs! such a bustle as I've
+been in about you, I wish you were in long clothes."
+
+"Then I'd have to wear a bustle too!"
+
+"Ella you look tired, we had best let them show us our rooms at once;
+Buckingham, we shall have some dinner together, I hope."
+
+"Yes, I shall meet you here, and go in with you."
+
+"This is pleasant, rooms _en suite_, and you beside us, Miss Crew," said
+Mrs. Dale.
+
+And now, while they refresh themselves by bath and toilette, a word of
+them: Mr. Dale, like his friend Buckingham, has reached fifty, is grey,
+also wearing short side whiskers and moustache. He is a man of sterling
+worth of character, honest as the day; a man whose word was never
+doubted, who, having seen much of life, was apt to be a trifle cynical;
+but withal, so generous that his criticisms on men and things are more
+on the surface than even he imagines. A good friend, a kind husband to
+the pretty, penniless girl, Ella Swift, whom he had married in New York
+eleven years ago, and though unlike in character, there is so much love
+between them that their wedded happiness flows on with never a rift in
+the rill; and though she does not look into life and its many vexed
+questions with his depth of thought, still, in other ways her brain is
+quite as active--a kindly, social astronomer, she loves to unravel
+mysteries in the lives about her, to set love affairs going to her
+liking, she not caring to soar above the drawing-room, leaving Wall
+Street, the Corn Exchange, and railway stocks to her astute husband, who
+has inherited English gold, to which he is adding or losing in
+speculations the American eagle. With some thought of changing their
+residence to fair Toronto, they had a year ago given up house, and have
+been residing at the Hoffman House, New York City; then engaging Miss
+Crew, as governess to their only child of nine years. Mr. Dale had been
+somewhat doubtful as to the advisability of giving the position to Miss
+Crew, who merely answering their advertisement in the New York _Herald_,
+stating nervously that she was without references, as the people she had
+been with had gone West; but she was a fair, delicate, lady-like,
+religious girl, interesting Mrs. Dale at once by her loneliness and
+reticence; above all, Garfield took to her, and she gained an influence
+for good over him at once; and by this time both Mr. and Mrs. Dale have
+come to consider her as one of themselves, though having decided to
+place their son at boarding-school until such time as they take up
+house.
+
+Mr. Buckingham is, as we know, an eligible bachelor, fine-looking, tall,
+as we have heard, and a man of many dollars; a calmly quiet man (a trait
+from his German mother), who has lost two fortunes, but who will not
+play for high stakes again, as he does not care to begin over again at
+fifty, with nearly all he craves in his grasp; two women jilted him when
+fortune frowned, but taking it coolly, he merely told himself it was the
+dollar they had cared for, not he. Passionately fond of music, a skilled
+performer, the piano has been mistress and wife to him; if he marries he
+will be a good husband, but if he does not, he will be almost as happy
+in the best musical circle wherever his home may be.
+
+Having dined, our friends gathered for a few moments' social chat before
+retiring, when Mrs. Dale said, "I expect, Mr. Buckingham, you feel as
+important as one of Barnum's show-men in your role, for you are aware
+you and Mrs. Gower must trot us round to see the lions."
+
+"Any man, Mrs. Dale, would feel important as your cicerone, and in
+company with Mrs. Gower."
+
+"How polite you are. Oh, Henry, I see by the _News_, "Fantasma" is on at
+the Grand Opera House; even if it is late, let us go."
+
+"Nonsense, dear, we have seen it often enough."
+
+"If you are tired, very well; but I wanted to make a spectacle of myself
+this time, and the ladies green with envy over my new heliotrope satin."
+
+"Well, if that isn't self-abnegation," laughed Buckingham.
+
+"Oh, you needn't sympathize, I only feel as the peacock when he spreads
+his tail."
+
+"How many churches did Mrs. Gower say there are here?" asked Miss Crew.
+
+"One hundred and twenty; so you will have a choice of roads heavenward,
+Miss Crew," answered Buckingham.
+
+"Yes, there are a number of roads, and only one guide-book," she
+answered, thoughtfully.
+
+"Mrs. Gower will put you on the right track," he said quietly.
+
+Here Mr. Dale returned, saying in pleased tones, "Well, Ella, I have
+telephoned Mrs. Gower of our arrival, and she says she will call at 11
+a.m., then do the Exhibition, where we are to remain until we see Pekin
+bombarded."
+
+"That is in the evening, and the best part of it this perfect weather;
+may I come?" said Buckingham.
+
+"Assuredly."
+
+"Thanks, and au revoir."
+
+"Good night."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+INSTANTANEOUS PHOTOGRAPHS.
+
+
+"Nothing is more deeply punished than the neglect of the affinities by
+which alone society should be formed and the insane levity of choosing
+our associates by other's eyes," read a lady, musingly, as Emerson's
+essays fall from her knees to the soft carpet under her cushioned feet.
+
+"Yes, nothing is more deeply punished," she half chanted in a musical
+voice, while a grave, troubled look came to the dark eyes, and a quiver
+of pain to the sensitive lips. "And well do you and I know it, Tyr,
+though you are only a dog," she continued, as she patted a brown
+retriever beside her. "Yes, you and I, Tyr, like only affinities; the
+others seem to us mongrels, and to us don't seem good. I wonder if they
+were so pronounced in the first week when the world was young; but fancy
+is travelling without reason; they were all thorough-breds in the good
+old days, and one does not read of anything like Emerson's words on
+affinities, or a case similar to my own; but I am half asleep, Tyr;
+watch by me, good old dog."
+
+And leaning her head back against the soft green velvet cushioned back
+of the rattan chair, Somnus is not wooed in vain; indeed, one might
+imagine the god of slumber had wound a garland of poppies about her
+brow, so does she sleep as an infant.
+
+As she rests, a word of her. A Canadian; a native of Toronto, with
+far-away English kin; above the medium height; dark, comely, and
+slightly embonpoint; a woman of thirty, but with that troubled look at
+present on her face looking older; generous, warm-hearted and
+conscientious; with more than the average force of character; too
+sensitive in days past; too impulsive, even yet, in this world of "they
+daily mistake my words." Even at thirty, she has had years of trouble;
+has been dragged in the dust under Fortune's wheel, that others might
+ride aloft at her expense; earning her "dinner of herbs" that "Pooh Bah"
+in the plural, may have the "stalled ox." But at last she rests, and
+summer friends would again know her, who fled at her first out-at-elbow
+gown; but experience is a good teacher, she will cherish only those who
+have cherished her in her dark days. Society also now desires her
+company in polite bids to its various webs, in shape of dinners and
+lunches, with its other numerous distractions, knowing she is in
+possession of a rather pretentious little home, and is in a position to
+repay; for society is a debit and credit system.
+
+"Once a widow always a widow" was not the motto of Mrs. Gower, and so
+she would have again wed, again gone to God's altar; but the angel of
+death forbade, using his scythe almost as the words of the church
+pronounced them man and wife, and the bridal gown of the morning gave
+place ere the sun had set to the black robes of a second widowhood.
+Truly, "Sorrow there seemeth more of thee than we can bear and live;"
+yet still we live, was her cry. The death of her friend, just at the
+time manly counsel would have saved her little fortune from vultures,
+habited as Christian pew-holders! was very hard, not to speak of that
+intense loneliness, the death of husband, wife, or betrothed, brings
+into one's life; one is as though struck mentally and physically blind,
+not knowing where to turn or whose hand to take; for until such
+relations are severed by death, one does not realize how one has leaned
+on the one in the multitude.
+
+"But," she would say, "one must harden oneself to the inevitable, to
+Heaven's will, if one would keep one's reason;" and in time the sudden
+death of the man she had so passionately loved, was as some terrible
+dream. Not as she dreams away the moments now in her pretty restful
+library, with its rattan furniture, cushioned and trimmed in olive-green
+velvet; one side a library of her pet authors, with Davenport near;
+walls painted in alternate green and cream panels; on the light ground
+are lilies from nature, gathered from Ashbridge's Bay, and near the
+Island; nestling in their bed of green leaves an English ivy trails
+around the pretty Queen Anne mantel, with two tall palms, which bring
+content to the canary as the perfume from the blossoms on the stand give
+pleasure to the sleeping mistress of Holmnest.
+
+Her own individuality is stamped upon its walls also, for on each
+alternate dark green panel is some pretty bits of painting, bric-a-brac,
+or motto; one reads, "Let ilka ane gang their ain gait," showing her
+dislike to meddling in another's business; another reads, "The greatest
+of these is charity;" and over a bust of Shakspeare are his own words,
+"No profit goes where is no pleasure taken; in brief, sir, study what
+you most affect."
+
+But she dreams, and what a troubled expression. At this moment a coupe
+drives up a north-west avenue of our city, stops at the gate of
+Holmnest, when a gentleman, hurriedly springing out, saying, "come back
+for me in about an hour-and-a-half, Somers," enters the picturesque
+grounds, has reached the veranda and hall door on south side of pretty
+Holmnest, rings, when a boy, in neat blue suit, answers.
+
+"Is Mrs. Gower at home, Thomas?"
+
+"Yes, sir; in the library."
+
+"Very well, you need not announce me, I know the way;" and hastening his
+steps he passes through a square hall, done in the warm tints now in
+vogue, sunbeams coming softened through artistic panes of stained glass,
+showing vases on brackets filled with flowers, which would delight "Bel
+Thistlethwaite," with a few appropriate pictures, giving life to the
+walls; the door of the library is ajar; he enters.
+
+"Asleep!" he exclaims, softly; "with Emerson's thoughts for dreams and
+Tyr as watch; but what a troubled expression," he thinks, seating
+himself, evidently quite at home; a man, too, one would like to be at
+home with, if there be any truth in physiognomy, a handsome man, five
+feet eleven in height, dark hair and moustache, kindly blue eyes,
+amiability stamped on his face; a man who, had events shaped themselves
+that way, would have made an heroic self-sacrificing soldier of the
+Cross.
+
+He is scarcely seated when the occupant awakes with a start and a
+terrified exclamation of "Oh!" at which the dog places his fore-paws on
+her knees, with a whine of sympathy, as her friend, Mr. Cole, comes
+forward with outstretched hand.
+
+"When did you arrive; is it so late; you received my message to dine
+with the Dales and Smyths with me this evening? but I am half dreaming
+yet; of course you did, for you answered 'Yes.' Getting yourself in trim
+for leap-year, I suppose," she said, smiling; "but how is it you are in
+your office coat? I want you to look your very best, as you are to take
+in a young lady, a Miss Crew, who comes with the Dales; she is a
+super-excellent sort of girl."
+
+"Has she money?" he says, laughingly.
+
+"Oh, you need not pretend to be a fortune-hunter to me; I know you too
+well for that; but remember, I prophesy you will lose your heart to her.
+But, oh, Charlie, I have had such a horrible dream," and she presses one
+hand to her forehead, at which the lace rufflings fall back from her
+sleeve, showing a very good arm, her gown of ecru soft summer bunting,
+becoming her style, "that dream will haunt me unless you let me tell it
+you, Charlie."
+
+"Oh, that's the use you put me to, is it? all right, fire away, I'll
+interpret; it was only a mistake the baptizing me Charlie, when I have
+to play the part of Joseph."
+
+"Well, in the first part, oh Joseph, I had been reading this morning
+what held my mind as to the ascent from Paris of the aeronauts, Mallet
+and Jovis; their courage, and Mother Shipton's prophecy impressed me
+sufficiently as to dream, with the words of Emerson as to affinities
+also in my mind, that a party of us--you, the Dales, Mrs. St. Clair,
+Miss Hall, Mr. Buckingham, and myself, with a gentleman who was
+masked--had been taking part in an entertainment in the Pavilion,
+Horticultural Gardens, in aid of the Hospital for sick children; we gave
+readings, vocal and instrumental music, and laughed inwardly and glowed
+outwardly, as we everyone, regardless of merit, received repeated
+recalls, when afterwards the recalcitrant balloon, which refused to
+inflate, when we gazed in vain at the fair grounds, did ascend after our
+performance, which fact emptied the Pavilion ere we had concluded our
+last effort, everyone flying, as we do at Toronto, as though there was a
+drop curtain with the words in flaming colors, 'The de'il take the
+hind-most;' the building was empty as our last supreme effort frightened
+the few dead-heads who had slunk in; we then laughingly made a rush to
+the balloon ascension, and determined there and then to further
+distinguish ourselves by becoming aeronauts _pro tem_. What made it
+ridiculously droll, Joseph, was the fact that the men in charge chanted
+continuously Emerson's words that had impressed me ere I slept--'Nothing
+is more deeply punished than the neglect of the affinities.' I was
+nearest the basket, and wild with reckless spirit. As I remember, myself
+stepped in; the owners seemed at variance who was to pose or rise," she
+said, smilingly, "as my affinity, that is of yourself, Messrs. Dale,
+Buckingham, or the man with the mask, when, finally, they signed to the
+latter to enter; I was nothing loth, for his voice, a sweet tenor, had
+charmed me; up we went, when to my horror your _bete noir_, Mr. Cobbe,
+sprang from among the branches of a tall tree into the basket.
+
+"'Too much ballast,' he cried, throwing out all the owners had provided
+us with; we ascended rapidly--a feeling of faintness seizing me--up, up;
+I feel the sensation now," she said with a tremor; "up, up, nearing the
+feathery clouds, looking like down from the wings of angels. 'Too much
+ballast,' he again cried, excitedly springing on the masked man, first
+tearing off his mask, disclosing the essentially manly face of a
+gentleman whom I frequently meet, but am not acquainted with, but in
+whom I take an interest, because of his tender care of a little lady I
+used to see with him; Mr. Cobbe springing on him with the words, 'too
+much ballast; down with affinities!' hurled the poor fellow to earth, at
+which I cried out as you heard; his fall was a something too awfully
+real; one's nerves for the time suffer as severely as though all was
+reality," she added in a pre-occupied tone, as though mind was burdened
+with latent thought.
+
+"But 'all's well that ends well;' Mr. Cobbe is in mid air, where I
+fervently hope he will remain."
+
+"But you forget the poor man who was hurled to the earth; I know his
+face so well."
+
+"And I know yours, Mrs. Gower, and you are safe and so am I; and as
+Joseph, I interpret that you are to give your charming self to an
+affinity, and don't fly too high."
+
+"The first part of your speech is epicurean, in your second you play the
+mentor," she said, laughingly; "but in your face I see you have
+something to tell me; go now to the telephone and tell them to send you
+your dress coat, for you have no time to go all the way to the Walker
+House and be back by seven."
+
+"No use; I cannot stay for dinner."
+
+"Cannot stay! Why?"
+
+"My father writes me he is going to sail for England at once, and wishes
+me to meet him at London."
+
+"Well, you ought not to look so grave over such a meditated trip,
+Charlie, it will make a new man of you; and instead of betaking yourself
+to the Preston baths, a sea voyage, I should say, will set you up,
+making you forget the word rheumatism better than any sulphur bath in
+all Canada."
+
+"But," he said, in serio-comic tones, "what do you think of my being
+forced into annexation?"
+
+"Only that you use the word 'forced,' I should say I congratulate you."
+
+"At the same time that you keep your own freedom, though," he said,
+despondently; seeing her look of gravity, he continued, touching her
+hand, "beg pardon, Elaine, I should not say that, knowing your past;
+but," he said brightly, "I should like to see you wed an affinity."
+
+"I am afraid such pleasant fate is not for me," she said, gravely.
+
+"Do you believe in predestination, Mrs. Gower?" he says, abruptly.
+
+"What next! from annexation to dogma. Tell me all about yourself, and it
+is too lovely an Indian summer day to remain in the house, come to my
+favorite seat in the garden."
+
+"Where I shall give you an instantaneous photograph, from my father's
+pen, of the girl I am predestined to change the name of."
+
+"From your father's pen!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE FOOT-BALL OF CIRCUMSTANCE.
+
+
+As they near a knoll under a clump of trees commanding a view of the
+road, a gentleman sauntering up the street gazes, as many do, at
+Holmnest with its pretty grounds.
+
+"Look, quick, Charlie," said Mrs. Gower, in low and rapid tones,
+apparently intent on spreading a rug on the rustic bench, "there he is,
+I mean----"
+
+"Well, I only see a very ordinary and thoroughly independent looking
+man, seeming as though he feared nothing, not even you, and as if
+Toronto was built for him."
+
+At this Mrs. Gower, laughing merrily, says, "And not for the
+Lieutenant-Governor, Mayor Howland, Archbishop Lynch, or the 'caller
+herrin'-man.'"
+
+As the soft laughter fell on the air, the stranger looked towards them,
+and looked so intently, that involuntarily his hand is raised to his
+head and his hat lifted.
+
+"You say you have not met him, Mrs. Gower; you are a very prudent woman,
+I must say, coming out here in your white gown, with ribbons the color
+of a peach, creating a sensation; you had better wed an affinity since
+you won't have me, and get a protector at once."
+
+"That is the man I dreamed of whom the aeronauts dubbed my affinity; it's
+too bad we are not acquainted, instead of only getting instantaneous
+photographs of each other."
+
+"What a trial!" he said, ironically; "but still," he added, as with a
+sudden remembrance, "I have, strange to say, had occasion to say, hang
+the conventionalities, more than once, with reference to a fair-haired
+girl with blue eyes, that seem, when I think of her, to follow me; no
+later, too, than this morning at W. A. Murray's door, as you I have had
+only instantaneous photographs of her; once before at a window in New
+York city, also there in a suspension car; it is not that I have fallen
+in love with her--not by a long chalk, but she seems to have been in my
+life some time, that by a trick of memory I have lost; but I advise you,
+Mrs. Gower, not to allow that man to bow to you again."
+
+"Oh, he only lifted his hat in apology; but I wish you were not going
+away, and that I could see this girl."
+
+"I wish I hadn't to; but this is the way time flies whenever I come to
+Holmnest; I am forgetting that I came to tell you I am just now the
+foot-ball of circumstance, which compels me to cross seas to have a
+halter put around my neck in wedding a girl whom I have never seen."
+
+"Even if you have to, Charlie, you may love her at first sight, so don't
+take it to heart; if it is so that she is no affinity, you will suffer
+only as many others," she says gravely, "in having a taste of the
+tantalus punishment, in losing what we would fain grasp; but tell me all
+about it, as my dinner guests will be soon arriving, and I did so want
+you for--myself, as well as for Miss Crew."
+
+"That's the first sympathetic word you have said, 'for yourself,'" he
+said, touching her hand, "but I am to be always for somebody else," he
+said, a little sadly; "but I see you think I am never going to begin, so
+here goes: My father, as you have heard me say, did not marry a second
+time, not that he did not again fall a victim to the tender passion, but
+that the miscreator, circumstance, putting in an oar, sent him out of
+England, when his bride-elect that was to be, was coerced into marrying
+her guardian (one Edward Villiers, of Bayswater, London,) by his
+sister-in-law, a domestic tyrant, and his housekeeper; who, knowing to
+rid himself of her presence he would probably wed a woman of as strong a
+will as her own, when she, penniless, would be thrust out, told lies,
+not white ones, of my father, that he had married in Canada,
+intercepting his letters, and heaven knows what; at all events,
+Lucifer's agent triumphed, for on my father going across the water to
+claim her and scold her for her silence, he found her a wife with a baby
+girl, when, to reduce a three-volume story to a line, they, in despair,
+wept and raved, nearly heart broken, vowing that I and the little one
+should wed and inherit all the yellow sovereigns; and so, Elaine, it
+comes to pass in years of evolution this youngster has become of age,
+and I am presented with her as my bride. I have always known of this
+contract, but you know the kind of man I am, ever shoving the unpleasant
+into a corner; for the bare idea of marrying a woman for money has
+always been repugnant to me."
+
+"I should say it has, for with you it has ever been 'more blessed to
+give than to receive.'"
+
+"I don't know that, but to hasten, breathing time is at last not given
+me, I am summoned to England by those people and by my father's wish,
+who sends me a copy of the will of the late Mrs. Villiers, a clause of
+which I shall read to you; but what a bore I am to you."
+
+"Nonsense; who have I poured my life puzzles into the ear of but your
+own kind self--turn about is fair play, and besides, yours is a
+sensational _life_ story, and so more interesting than thoughts from the
+clever pens of Haggard or Mannville, Fenn, or our own Watson Griffin."
+
+"Well, the will reads ... 'on my dearly loved daughter, my little
+(Pearl) Margaret Villiers attaining her majority and becoming the wife
+of the aforesaid Charles Babbington-Cole, son of my loved friend Hugh
+Babbington-Cole, of Civil Service, Ottawa, Canada, my said daughter
+_shall enter into possession_ of all my real and personal property, she
+to be sole executrix, and to inherit all, (with, I hope, the advice of
+Dr. Annesley, of London, and Hugh Babbington-Cole aforesaid,) and
+subject to the following bequests: To my step-daughter, Margaret
+Elizabeth Villiers, I leave my forgiveness for her unvarying unkindness
+to myself with my copy of the Christian Martyrs. To my dear friend,
+Sarah Kane, five hundred pounds sterling and my wearing apparel. To my
+husband's sister-in-law, Elizabeth Stone, I will and bequeath my piano
+and music for use in her mission work, with the hope that sweet notes of
+music will make her less acid to the children of God's poor to whom she
+brings the Gospel message of peace, etc., etc.'"
+
+"So! your late mother-in-law made a point there, the self-righteous
+woman weighted religion then as now. I have always predicted, because of
+your open palm, that you would never be a rich man, Charlie; I little
+thought the precious metal with a wife would pour into your lap at the
+same time; if you only knew her and cared for her," she said, musingly,
+when, noting his troubled look, she said brightly, picking a beautifully
+tinted maple leaf from his shoulder, "See here, old man, take this
+crimson-hued leaf as a good omen, and we will read from it that your
+home-bound path, I mean back to Holmnest and Toronto, will be a path of
+crimson roses; and now tell me, does the girl write you, and is it in a
+stand and deliver manner? If so, I fear my verdict upon her will be
+lacking in charity."
+
+"No, my pater has letters from her which he does not forward; but here
+is the last one from my father, in which he says: ... 'I have received
+several letters from Broadlawns, Bayswater, England, and from Margaret
+also, in which they tell me time's up, your bride elect is of age, and
+naturally anxious to come into possession of her property. I need not go
+over the whole matter again with you, my boy, but I do most earnestly
+advise you to start at once, the daughter of my lost Margaret must be
+good and true, even though Villiers was her father; she should be
+pretty, also fair hair and sky-blue eyes (in woman's parlance). I saw
+her when her poor mother made her will in 1872. Pearl was then about
+five years old; she cannot fail to be attracted by yourself, if Dickson
+does not flatter you, and I don't think so; your good looks are honestly
+come by, so you needn't blush.
+
+"'And now to business; enclosed you will find a cheque for five hundred
+dollars, for you are like me more than in appearance, you don't save.
+What an income you will have shortly, instead of bookkeeping on the
+paltry salary of $800 per annum, you and Mrs. Cole, ahem! will roll
+about King Street the envy of the town, with an income of L5,000
+sterling per annum. While I shall have the pleasure of seeing some of
+your mechanical ideas patented, and their models in the buildings here,
+your nose and the grindstone will part company; how glad I am that you
+have not fallen in love and married; and now I ask you, believing it to
+be best, believing it to be for your happiness, to leave for the
+seaboard on receipt of this; my chief has given me a three weeks' leave,
+so shall run across, but to save time, as I have business at Quebec,
+shall sail from there; meet me at Morley's, London, Trafalgar Square. If
+my memory plays me no trick, I shall sail by the _Circassian_, Sept.
+16th, you take the _City of Chicago_, one day later from New York.
+
+"'And now, _pour le present_, farewell; you don't know how I have set my
+heart on this matter, if I were ill, the knowledge that the little
+daughter of my own love was your wife would cure me.
+
+"'Social events are right down smart with us; in fact Ottawa is booming.
+Rumor says our next tid-bit will be an elopement in high life; even the
+soldiers can't keep the enemy from poaching; but we must be blind and
+deaf 'till Grundy says now.'
+
+"'The American consul is a very knight of labor at present, minus their
+short hours, as quite a large number are leaving for, to them, the land
+of promise, the United States, whether they fly from the taxes or the
+cold, I have not interviewed them; by the way, you will be the better
+for a warm heart beating against your own this winter. And now one word
+of self, I shall be glad of the run across the water, for I feel
+anything but smart. I wish we could have crossed together. Farewell, my
+boy, till we meet at Morley's.
+
+    "'Your affectionate father,
+            "'HUGH B. COLE.
+
+    "'C. B. COLE, ESQ.,
+      "'500 Wellington St. Toronto, Ont.'"
+
+
+"How strange it all seems, Charlie," she said dreamily. "I shall miss
+you so much, I do hope she is amiable and lovable, you and she must come
+to me until you get settled; poor fellow, you look stunned."
+
+"I am paralyzed! it at last is so sudden, but why do you smile?"
+
+"At a remark you made at the Smyth's, or I rather think it was when
+escorting me home, that 'you deserved a good wife, for you had never
+sinned, never told a lie.' So let us hope in your case virtue will have
+a reward."
+
+"See! I must go, your guests are arriving; how I wish you had no one
+this evening, and I might dine with you alone."
+
+"My wish too, on this your last visit, unfettered."
+
+"That means you cannot bolster me up in this case, as you have more than
+once heretofore; that I am in for it," he says, looking at her
+sorrowfully.
+
+"Yes, you are regularly hemmed in, and as I have been before now, so are
+you at present the mere foot-ball of circumstances, but 'out of every
+evil comes some good,' they say, and as your father says," she added
+with forced gaiety, for she is sad at the thought of snapping of old
+ties. "You will be the better of a warm heart beside your own in our
+winter climate; and above all, remember the good omen of this maple
+leaf; here, take it with you," she says, pinning it to his coat, the
+suspicion of a tear in her eyes.
+
+"Good bye, Elaine, if it must be so; pray that I may come out of it all
+right, for I feel horribly depressed; and only you say I must go, would,
+I believe, show the white feather; I wish I might kiss you good-bye;
+there is that fellow, Cobbe, coming in, remember, that 'nothing is more
+deeply punished than the neglect of the affinities.' God bless you;
+farewell."
+
+And leaving by a side gate and entering a passing hack, one of the
+kindest-hearted sons of fair Toronto takes his first step to another
+land; easily led, yielding to a degree, he is now led by the wish of a
+dead woman, by the iron will of a living one, his father following their
+beckoning hand also.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+A BONA DEA.
+
+
+In animated converse with her guests during the half-hour ere dinner is
+announced, the mistress of Holmnest makes a picture one's eyes dwell
+on--the folds of her soft summer gown hang gracefully, while fitting her
+figure like the glove of a Frenchwoman; fond of a new sensation--as is
+the way of mortals--this of playing the hostess to a few chosen friends
+in a home of her own once more, is pleasurable excitement; there is a
+softness of expression, a tenderness in the dark eyes, engendered by the
+fact of her sympathy having been acted upon by the leave-taking, on such
+an errand too, of her friend Cole, which lends to her an additional
+charm. The consciousness also that she is looking well, gives, as is
+natural to most women, a pleasurable feeling in whatever is on the
+_tapis_, with the knowledge also, that her little dinner will be
+perfect, her guests harmonious--save one.
+
+"So you think Toronto is rather a fair matron after all, Mrs. Dale, and
+that your New York robes blend harmoniously with the other effects at
+the Queens?"
+
+"I reckon I do, Mrs. Gower; you did not say a word too much in her
+praise; I remember saying to Henry before we started, my last season's
+gowns would do."
+
+"And you like Toronto also, Mr. Dale," continued his hostess.
+
+"Yes, better than any other Canadian town I have visited; it is very
+simply laid out, one couldn't lose oneself if one tried."
+
+"It is laid out like a what do you call it, like a chess-board," said
+Captain Tremaine, an Irishman.
+
+"Yes, not unlike," continued Dale, "and as to quiet, one would think the
+curfew rang; I noticed it particularly coming from the Reform Club the
+other night."
+
+"We all notice how quiet our streets are at night, and after your London
+and New York City, we must seem to you as if we had taken a sedative,"
+said Mrs. Gower, taking his arm to the dining-room; "but where is Miss
+Crew, Mr. Dale?"
+
+"She was too fatigued to come, she foolishly overtaxed her strength,
+taking my boy to the Industrial Home, at Mimico, I think she said."
+
+"That's correct, it's a pet scheme of Mayor Howland's, and a worthy one
+too."
+
+"Yes, so she said; they also visited your Normal School, and talked of
+the Cyclorama of Sedan."
+
+"Indeed! they have overtaxed the brain and memory, I fear; what does
+Garfield say to it all?"
+
+"Chatters like a magpie over the superior glories of New York, but is
+honestly pleased after all."
+
+"I expect your little son is English only in name."
+
+"Yes, and in his love for a good dinner," he said, laughingly.
+
+"Well, from all we Canadians hear, there is every reason he should, an
+English dinner is enough 'to tempt even ghosts to pass the Styx for more
+substantial feasts,'" she said, gaily.
+
+"Mrs. Gower is always up to the latest in remembering the tastes of her
+guests," said Mrs. Dale to her left-hand neighbor, Mr. Buckingham, as
+tiny crescents of melon preceded the soup.
+
+"That she is," he said, complacently; "no man would sigh for his club
+dinner, did our hostess cater for him."
+
+"Goodness knows what Henry would do if our bank stopped payment, or our
+Pittsburg foundries shut down; for I know no more about cooking than Jay
+Gould's baby," she said, discussing a plate of delicious oyster soup.
+
+"He, I expect, makes himself heard on the feeding bottle," said lively
+Mrs. Smyth.
+
+"But you are unusually candid as to your short-comings, Mrs. Dale,"
+continued Buckingham, amusedly.
+
+"Because I can afford to be; were I poor, I reckon I should pawn off my
+mamma's tea-cakes on my young man as my own, as men in love believe
+anything--they are as dull as Broadway without millinery."
+
+"By the way, Mrs. Dale, talking of millinery, where are your bonnets
+going to, they are three stories and a mansard at present?"
+
+"Oh, only a cupola, Mr. Buckingham, on which birds will perch."
+
+"How so; I was under the impression the bird hunt is a thing of the
+past?"
+
+"No, indeed! not while there are men in the field."
+
+"How so; I do not follow you?"
+
+"Stupid, you are born huntsmen, our bonnets are a perch for a decoy,
+and," she added, looking at him archly, "our faces are under them."
+
+Here there was merry laughter from Mrs. Gower and Captain Tremaine, the
+former saying gaily,
+
+"You would not accomplish it, the strength of will of one of the party
+would keep the whole uppermost. I appeal to Mr. Smyth."
+
+"I am with you, Mrs. Gower; Tremaine must go under, even though he is an
+Irishman."
+
+"Irish questions always do get muddled, eh, Smyth?" said Dale, jokingly,
+seeing that Smyth, intent on dinner, had not heard the argument.
+
+"That they do, Dale. Which is it, Mrs. Gower, the Coercion Bill or Home
+Rule?"
+
+"Neither," she said, laughingly, "we were on the 'Peace Party' (you
+remember the meeting at the Gardens, on last Sunday); and I have been
+suggesting that the Body Guard bury their pretty uniforms, and Captain
+Tremaine raises the war-cry of, 'bury the Peace Party, chairman and all,
+first.'"
+
+"Oh, that's it! Tremaine knows the indomitable will of one of them would
+cause more dust to be kicked up than one sees on a March day on Yonge
+Street."
+
+"Out-voted, Captain Tremaine, we weep 'salt tears' over your becoming
+uniform; but seriously speaking, though a High Court of Arbitration
+would be a grand spectacle, it will be only after years of evolution,
+and when, as Mr. Blake, the chairman said, 'the voice of the private
+soldier, instead of the general officer, is heard.'"
+
+"If I should ever have the ill-fortune to be drafted," said Smyth,
+laughingly, "I should fight to the death against my enrolment; an
+hospital nurse, like the Quaker-love, would suit me better; such rations
+as a man gets on the field."
+
+"I know for a fact," said Dale; "that recruiting during the present year
+in England, has been far below the average of the last few years."
+
+"Indeed! I was not aware," said Buckingham.
+
+"By the way, Smyth," said Tremaine, "have you seen, what do you call
+him, 'Henry Thompson,' in his defence or answer to his critics?"
+
+"I have, and he was able for them every time."
+
+"Are you speaking of the journalist who went to jail in the interests of
+the _Globe_?" asked Dale.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"His defence was capital, I thought," said Dale, "and I especially liked
+the way he stands up for his craft. 'There is no class of men,' he says
+bravely, 'in existence, animated by more humane motives than working
+newspaper men.'"
+
+"I also read his reply with pleasure," said Mrs. Gower, "and reading it,
+thought what a clever and original fellow he must be."
+
+"Talmage and Silcox have been lauding the power of the press to the
+skies," said Smyth; "they made me wish I surveyed the earth from an
+editor's chair, rather than from a tree I climbed to escape York mud."
+
+"Have you heard how the Grand is going to cater to our dramatic taste
+this coming season, Mr. Buckingham?" asked Mrs. Gower.
+
+"Just a whisper, Mrs. Gower, as to Emma Juch, Langtry and Siddons."
+
+"Yes; so far so good. Have you heard that the rail makes no special
+rates for travelling companies?"
+
+"I have; so you may expect that those who will pay the high toll, will
+be those of the highest standard."
+
+"Then I suppose (though it seems selfish) we should be content with the
+rail rates as they are."
+
+"You will enjoy the debates, Dale," said Smyth, "in the Local House
+during the session; Meredith is just the man to lead our party."
+
+"But I am not sure that it is our party, Smyth; I scarcely know how I
+should vote here; if Meredith is right, why doesn't he prove to Ontario
+that Mowat has held the reins too long?"
+
+"So he will before next election," replied Smyth, with a satisfied air.
+
+"Don't be too sure, Mr. Smyth, eloquent though he be," said his hostess;
+"while that clever Demosthenes of his party, Hon. C. F. Frazer, says him
+nay."
+
+"Do you meditate a long stay, Buckingham, in this the white-washed city
+of the Dominion?" asked Tremaine.
+
+"Yes, off and on all winter; you know I intend to purchase some of your
+mineral lands, since you allow them to lie undeveloped," he added,
+jestingly.
+
+"You see, Capt. Tremaine," said Mrs. Gower, merrily, "the American Eagle
+done in silver is not as yet plenty with us."
+
+"Don't despair, Tremaine, Commercial Union is looming up," said
+Buckingham.
+
+"Treason! treason!" laughed Tremaine, "for we know what it would
+father."
+
+"Hear, hear," cried Smyth.
+
+"Oh, I don't know," laughed Mrs. Gower, "they say it is the Main-e idea
+for settling; here's a pretty mess! here's a pretty mess--of fish!"
+
+"We can wait," said Buckingham, quietly, "evolution will bring about the
+Maine idea, with you also."
+
+"Did you say you are going to Maine, Mr. Buckingham, we cannot do
+without you now," said pretty Mrs. St. Clair, caressingly.
+
+"Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair, I do not go; but even if so, you would, I
+fear, miss me less than your latest fad in the pet quadruped."
+
+"How severe you are, Mr. Buckingham. Are all New York men so, Mrs.
+Dale?" She sighed, having a penchant for him.
+
+"It's annexation, Mrs. St. Clair," said Mrs. Dale, mischievously.
+
+"Annexation! is Mr. Buckingham going to be married?"
+
+"I believe so." At this juncture Master Noah St. Clair, who had come
+instead of his father, was interested in other than his plate, while his
+mother said reproachfully:
+
+"It _cannot_ be true, Mr. Buckingham."
+
+"Mrs. Dale is disposed to be facetious, Mrs. St. Clair; you must not
+swear by everything she says."
+
+"That is an evasive answer, and I am dying to know; tell me, _dear_ Mrs.
+Dale, what it means?"
+
+"Which, annexation, or Mr. Buckingham?" said her tormentor.
+
+"Oh, both, of course," she said, breathlessly.
+
+"Both; well, when I come to take a good look at him, Mrs. St. Clair, he
+looks important rather than severe, his reason is, he believes, the best
+part of Canada pines for annexation; _comprenez vous_?"
+
+"Oh, is that what you meant," she replied, with a relieved air, when,
+catching her son's eye, she said, with assumed carelessness, "I do miss
+my men friends so much when they marry."
+
+"He is as cold as ice," whispered Mr. Cobbe, who, though a man of birth
+and breeding, prides himself upon being a flirt; "he is an icicle, I
+wonder you waste your warmth upon him."
+
+"Nice man," she thought, "and only the second time I've met him; he must
+be in love with me, too, poor fellow," and, in an undertone, she says,
+"That's the way all you men speak of each other, but he is only so
+before people."
+
+"You had better throw him over, an Irish heart is warmer than an
+American," he said, in his deep tones, into her ear.
+
+"But the poor fellow would break his heart," she whispered, her cheeks
+flushing; he, equally vain, continued:
+
+"Not he, a successful speculation would console him; and I--and I would
+console you."
+
+"Are you always so susceptible?" she asked, turning her pretty enamelled
+face around to be admired.
+
+"No, indeed; but a man doesn't meet as pretty a woman as you every day,
+as your mirror must tell you."
+
+"How you gentlemen flatter," well aware that he is admiring her pretty
+hand and delicate wrist, as she holds aloft a bunch of transparent
+grapes.
+
+"Not you," and for the moment he meant it; the particular she of the
+hour feasting on the nectar her soul loves, never dreaming that the next
+passable looking female in propinquity with him will be also steeped to
+the lips in the same food, "not you," he said, with a fond look.
+
+"Thank you," she said, prettily, and with the faith of her early teens,
+"I must tell you a pretty compliment a gentleman paid me at the
+'Kirmiss' last season, he said 'I was a madrigal in Dresden china.'"
+
+"Too cold, too cold," he said, thickly, managing to press her fingers as
+they rose from the table, ere she laid her hand on the arm of Mr. Smyth,
+to whom she had been allotted, but who never spoiled his dinner by
+giving beauty her natural food.
+
+On Mr. Dale declining to linger, leading his hostess back to her pretty
+drawing-room, she said in his ear:
+
+"You have dubbed me queen of Holmnest, therefore must obey when I bid
+you back to the dining-room for a smoke."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+COFFEE AND CHIT-CHAT.
+
+
+"What a lovely little home you have, Mrs. Gower," said her friend, Mrs.
+Smyth, seating herself near her hostess, the pale blue plush of the
+padded chair contrasting well with her fair hair, pink cheeks and pretty
+grey eyes.
+
+"That chair becomes you at all events, dear," said her hostess, seeing
+that a maid deftly passed coffee bright as decanted wine, afterwards
+small bouquets of beautiful pansies and clematis among her guests, from
+huge glass and Japanese bowls.
+
+"I could scarcely believe Will, when he wrote me of your good fortune,
+you know, the children and I were at Muskoka."
+
+"Yes, I knew you would be glad. I bought this pretty little place the
+week you left, it seemed after years of waiting, my money (what is left
+of it) all came right in a day; you do not know how glad I am to at last
+see you in a home of my own--and in a chair pretty enough to become you,
+dear," she added more brightly.
+
+"Oh, you always make the most of small kindnesses shown you, we were
+only too glad to have you."
+
+"Be that as it may, I shall always remember the bright hours with
+yourselves in the dark days of my life," she said, warmly.
+
+"When did you see Charlie?" asked Mrs. Smyth, in an undertone, for there
+are other ears.
+
+"This afternoon."
+
+"This afternoon!"
+
+"Yes; and you will be surprised to learn he takes the rail for the
+seaboard to-night."
+
+"To-night! Why, and whither, it must be a sudden move, for he was up for
+a smoke with Will the other night and said nothing of it; but," she
+added, laughingly, "he prefers a lady confidant when it's Mrs. Gower.
+
+"Don't you think, Lilian, that the opposite sex is usually chosen to
+lend an ear?" she said, carelessly, to conceal a feeling of sadness at
+the out-going of her friend; for she is aware that the old friendly
+intercourse is broken, now that he has gone to his wedding.
+
+"He has gone to be married; I suppose, he said something to us a long
+time ago about it, but he told it in a clouded kind of way; I wish he
+had confided in me, for Will would not care a fig, but every woman
+doesn't draw such a prize as I. Perhaps when you get number two he will
+not allow the opposite sex to confide; but talking of the green-eyed
+monster, reminds me of two scandals on our street." As she now raised
+her voice, the other ladies pricked up their ears. Mrs. Dale exclaiming:
+
+"Scandals! sounds like Bertha Clay's novels. May poor Mrs. Tremaine and
+self come in. We have been on sermons, servants, and the latest infants;
+a scandal will be as refreshing as Mrs. Gower's coffee."
+
+"I guarantee you an appreciative audience, Mrs. Smyth," laughed her
+hostess, "curtain rises over 'another mud-hole for us to play in.'"
+
+"What a case you are, Mrs. Gower, but I must cut them short, for I would
+not for worlds Will and the other gentlemen come in while they are on."
+
+"No fear of scandals in your home, Mrs. Smyth," said Mrs. Tremaine,
+"with Will always first."
+
+"That's so; well, to begin, before I went to Muskoka, a lady and
+daughter came to reside near us. As they went to our church, Will said
+call; I did. Since my return, I heard from Mr. Cobbe," here turning
+suddenly to Mrs. St. Clair, to whom Mrs. Gower had overlooked
+introducing her, said: "I beg pardon, I should not name names."
+Continuing, "Mr. Cobbe told me the young lady had been married, and
+divorced. Some young fellow, in a good position down East, hearing she
+had some ready cash, wed and deserted her at close of honeymoon. Well,
+the other evening she was married again! at the house quite privately,
+and to whom do you think? to none other than, as the newspapers state,
+Norman Ferguson MacIntyre!"
+
+"To Norman MacIntyre! oh, what a pity," cried Mrs. Tremaine, in dismay,
+"his mother and sisters are such pleasant people, and had very different
+hopes for him; it is simply dreadful."
+
+"But he can throw her overboard, I am sure," cried Mrs. Dale. "If he
+only have his wits about him, the first marriage likely took place in
+Canada, the divorce across the line, don't you see; she is the precious
+prize of the gay deceiver, your friend is free."
+
+"But, even if this be so, Mrs. Dale," said Mrs. Smyth, excitedly, "no
+girl will care to marry poor Norman afterwards."
+
+"I am willing to stake our Pittsburg foundry on his chances," said Mrs.
+Dale, cooly.
+
+"And I, Holmnest," echoed Mrs. Gower, "_poor_ Norman has but to stand in
+the market-place."
+
+"I think they have both lowered their social standing; don't you, Mrs.
+Tremaine?" said Mrs. Smyth.
+
+"I do, indeed."
+
+"It altogether depends upon their bank account," said their hostess,
+sententiously; "and now for your next, for your mouth is still full of
+news, dear."
+
+"Oh, yes; but my next is a _bona fide_ married couple."
+
+"But are they according to the Church Prayer Book?" said Mrs. Dale, with
+her innocent air.
+
+"Oh, yes, certainly; and some say she is like a china doll, and the
+husband, a great big, ugly, black-looking tyrant; but the gentlemen are
+coming, and I must cut it short, and only say that a man handsome as
+Lucifer."
+
+"Before the fall, I suppose," said her hostess.
+
+"Yes, yes, you naughty woman. Well, they say this handsome fellow is
+there whenever the husband is out, and a pock-marked red-headed boy
+(some say their son) is there to watch the pretty wife, and their name
+is St. Clair." Sensation!
+
+At this moment a pin is ran into the arm of the breathless narrator.
+
+"Oh, mercy!" she cried, looking around discovering the boy Noah St.
+Clair, whom every one had forgotten seated on a footstool behind her,
+who said vengefully, indicating by a gesture Mrs. St. Clair and himself,
+"That's _our_ name; it's _us_."
+
+"Gracious, Mrs. Gower, what have I done? Pardon me, I was under the
+impression that this lady's name was Cobbe. I don't know how I got
+things muddled; I thought she was some relative of our Mr. Cobbe."
+
+"Never mind, dear; I should have introduced you; don't apologize; there
+are other St. Clairs in Toronto than my friends."
+
+"I don't mind it in the least," purred the pretty doll; "some one is
+always talking about me. Women are jealous of my complexion and all my
+admirers; but I think my name is prettier than Cobbe."
+
+"Yet 'tell my name again to me,' am always here at beauty's call," said
+Mr. Cobbe, hearing his name on entering with the other gentlemen.
+
+"You, as a Bona Dea, have been our toast, Mrs. Gower," said Buckingham,
+quietly, as he sank into a chair near her own.
+
+"And my inclinations, I hope," she said, laughingly, "with no saving
+clause as to their being virtuous."
+
+"I appeal to your memory of the 'Antiquary,' Mrs. Gower; could any man
+living toast you as the Rev. Mr. Battergowl did Miss Grisel Monkbarns?"
+
+"I don't know; perhaps some would desire to make a proviso."
+
+"Then they would err; I should give a woman of your stamp any length of
+line."
+
+"Thank you; your confidence would not be misplaced, when in honor bound
+I have ever felt as though I did not belong to myself."
+
+"I should judge so; underlying your gaiety conscientiousness holds you
+to an extent few would dream of; you have frequently sacrificed yourself
+to a mistaken sense of duty. Am I not right?"
+
+"Yes; I have been a slave to what I used to think the voice of
+conscience, but which I am now sure was extreme sensitiveness, and a
+sort of moral cowardice; but how strange you should read me so truly."
+
+"Not at all, I am a phrenologist; if you will allow me the very great
+privilege, I shall read your character to you in some quiet hour."
+
+"With very great pleasure. And now will you do me another favor? Make my
+piano sing and speak to us."
+
+"Thank you; I should like to try your instrument. It is from Mason &
+Risch, I see."
+
+Having arranged a table at whist and euchre, Mrs. Gower seated herself
+to enjoy the entrancing music, while looking over some photographs to
+amuse the boy Noah St. Clair, but it was not to be, for the voice of Mr.
+Cobbe said in her ear:
+
+"This won't do; you _must_ come to the library with me; I have not had a
+single word with you all evening, and am, as you are aware, an uninvited
+guest."
+
+"Why invite you, Philip? Alas! there is invariably discord with your
+presence," she says sadly, in the lowest of tones, moving away from the
+curious gaze of the boy.
+
+"Sit here, Elaine, if you positively refuse to leave the room with me,"
+he said excitedly, indicating a tete-a-tete sofa not within ear-shot of
+her guests, managing to detain her until, the hours creeping on apace,
+freighted with the music of soft laughter, and ravishing songs without
+words by the skilled performer, Mr. Buckingham, when pretty Mrs. Dale's
+sweet voice is heard, as she rises from the table, saying triumphantly:
+
+"Win! of course we won. Why, Mr. Dale will tell you, Mr. Smyth, that in
+our card circle at New York, mine is dubbed 'the winning hand.'"
+
+"Indeed! no wonder at our good fortune. Congratulate us, Mrs. Gower; we
+won three straight games, all by reason of the admirable forethought of
+my partner," cried Smyth, exultantly.
+
+"Forethought always comes in a head's length, Mr. Smyth. Now, if you
+could only gain a pocket edition of the winning hand, your surveys would
+yield you a gold mine," said his hostess, gaily.
+
+"Instead of as now, a few promissory notes," laughed Smyth.
+
+"The gentlemen have been envying you your monopoly of Mrs. Gower, Mr.
+Cobbe," said lively Mrs. Smyth, in an undertone; "she is an awful flirt,
+you had better take care of yourself," she added, mischievously.
+
+"I mean to," he said savagely, and with latent meaning, adding, "she is
+as fickle as her clime; I hope," he said, endeavoring to control
+himself, "all you ladies are not so heartless."
+
+"Oh, no; we are as constant as the sun, compared to her," she said, half
+jokingly.
+
+"Would you be so to me," he said thickly, and coming near her.
+
+"Go away, Mr. Cobbe; don't look at me like that, you awful man," she
+whispered, laughingly.
+
+"When may I call, you are the right sort of woman," he continued,
+persistently.
+
+"Will says so, any way," she said, archly.
+
+"Say to-morrow," he persisted.
+
+"Will!" she cried, mischievously, "Mr. Cobbe's compliments, and desires
+to know when he will find you in your sanctum, he wishes to smoke the
+pipe of peace with you."
+
+"Hang it," thought Cobbe, "she has no ambition beyond Will; give me the
+Australian women after all."
+
+"Almost any evening, Cobbe, I am always good for a smoke; but my wife
+says I'd better retrench, the house of Smyth is increasing so rapidly;
+good-night."
+
+"May I see you home, Mrs. St. Clair?" asked Mr. Cobbe, fervidly.
+
+"It would be too sweet--but oh!" and her arm above the elbow is rubbed,
+for the boy Noah has pinched her severely, saying,
+
+"I'll tell papa."
+
+At this juncture Thomas appeared, saying, a coupe had arrived for Mrs.
+St. Clair and Master Noah.
+
+"I must see you to-morrow, Mrs. Gower, after office hours," said Cobbe,
+adding, on meeting the sharp eye of Mrs. Dale, "I have something very
+particular to tell you."
+
+"Say the day after, Mr. Cobbe, please; I shall endeavor to restrain my
+curiosity so long, even though I am a woman."
+
+"No, no, I must see you to-morrow at five p.m.," he said, impulsively.
+
+"The yeas have it this time, Mr. Cobbe. Mrs. Gower belongs to us for
+to-morrow," said Mrs. Dale, drawing her wrap about her, over her
+cream-silk robe, slashed with blue velvet, and laced amid innumerable
+buttonholes, her innocent look only apparent while, in reality, she is
+dissecting him, "our kind hostess does some of the lions with us
+to-morrow afternoon; the evening, she spends with us at the Queen's."
+
+"Yes, we have no end of a bill for to-morrow," said Mr. Dale; "the
+Normal School, Mount Pleasant Cemetery, office of the _Mail_, and the
+University of Toronto."
+
+At this there was a transformation scene, the face of Mr. Cobbe changing
+like a flash from inane sulkiness to jubilant triumph.
+
+"To the University! then Mrs. Gower will tell you what a paradise we
+enjoyed, when I alone was her companion there," he said, with
+excitement; and having previously made his adieu, he departed, chuckling
+inwardly at his parting shot, and thinking for once she is nonplussed.
+"She is too high-spirited to sleep comfortably to-night, if so, she'll
+dream of me in spite of herself."
+
+"What a funny man!" exclaimed Mrs. Dale, "reminds me of a Jack on wires.
+If I were in your place, Mrs. Gower, I'd hand him over to his mother to
+bring up over again; till to-morrow, farewell."
+
+"_Au revoir_, dear."
+
+"Good night, Mrs. Gower," said Buckingham, with a firm hand-clasp; "your
+evenings leave one nothing to wish for, save for their continuance."
+
+"If your words have life, prove them by coming again; good night."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+ACROSS THE SEA TO A WITCH'S CALDRON.
+
+
+Broadlawns, on the outskirts of Bayswater, London, England, on the
+evening Charles Babbington-Cole, from Toronto, Canada, is expected, is
+all aglow with lights; its exterior a goodly spectacle with its many
+windows. A long, low, rambling house, the front relieved by cornice and
+architrave, and an immense portico from which white stone steps, wide
+and worn by many feet, lead to the lawns and gardens, which are gay with
+bright flowers, intersected with old-fashioned serpentine walks; one
+would call it not inaptly a garden of roses, such were their number,
+such their variety and beauty. Great masses of rhododendrons, with the
+fragrant honeysuckle, sweet-briar, and lauristina lent perfume to the
+air. Some fine oaks, with beech and graceful locusts, gave beauty to the
+lawns; stone stables, with farm and carriage houses at the back, with
+paved court-yard, and kitchen-garden luxuriant in growth, a very horn of
+plenty.
+
+"A lovely spot, an ideal home," said numerous passers-by to and from the
+modern Babylon. Alas! that the interior should be a very _inferno_; in
+the library are assembled the family, for a family talk.
+
+Miss Villiers, to whom did we not give precedence, would trample on some
+one to gain first place. Timothy Stone, her maternal uncle, and
+Elizabeth Stone, his sister and Aunt to Miss Villiers; the latter by
+sheer strength of will, since her babyhood, has ruled at Broadlawns,
+even though, owing to disastrous speculation, the whole family were
+penniless, save for the large fortune of her step-mother, Miss Villiers
+lived for, moved and had her being for kingdom. Intensely selfish, and
+totally devoid of feeling, an apt pupil of her aunt and uncle, she
+regards all sentiment, romance or disinterested acts of kindness as
+mawkish, unpractical foolishness.
+
+A word of her looks. In height, five feet two, round shoulders slightly
+high, thin spare figure, a brunette in coloring; stony eyes of piercing
+blackness, always cold and searching as though planted closely in the
+forehead to read one through, as to whether any of her dark secrets have
+been discovered; a hook nose, thin, determined lips; hair black as the
+wing of a raven; the back of her head covered with short, snake-like
+curls, the front was drawn back in straight bands, thus giving
+prominence to features already too unclassically so.
+
+As far as a man can be said to resemble a woman, so did, in looks and
+character, Timothy Stone his niece, save that his once coal-black hair
+is now white; his fishy eyes sunken, though keen as a razor; in height,
+five feet ten; of spare, alert figure, active as a prize racer, knowing
+as the jockey who rides him.
+
+Elizabeth Stone is an older counter-part of her niece, save that she
+wears that fashionable mantle of to-day--the cloak of religion, in
+which, unlike her brother, she is so comfortable as never to allow it to
+fall from her angular shoulders.
+
+The library, an old-fashioned, cold looking room, furnished in black
+oak, everything being in spotless order, from books biblical and
+secular, to Aunt Elizabeth's hands, folded just so on her stiff gown of
+black silk, as to cause one to long for _deshabille_ somewhere other
+than in the principles of those present.
+
+"The only one whom we have to fear is Sarah Kane, and you, Margaret,
+_will_ keep her about the place in spite of all I can say," said her
+uncle, in crabbed tones; "mark my words, you are housing a rod for your
+own back by your abominable self-will."
+
+"I am no fool; did I dismiss her I should convert her into a deadly
+enemy at once; but, as I have before had occasion to remark, Uncle
+Timothy, that, thanks to your tuition and blood, I am quite able to take
+care of myself, and minus your interference."
+
+"Don't squabble with her, Timothy, when the man Providence is sending
+her as a husband may be in our midst at any moment; as you heard at the
+hotel, he is now in the city."
+
+"Oh bosh, Elizabeth, keep that tone under your church hymnal, as I do;
+between ourselves it is slightly out of place," and he smiled
+sarcastically.
+
+"No, Timothy, in spite of the sinful example you set me, I shall keep my
+lamp trimmed and burning; providence is very good to us in laying low of
+fever, at Montreal, Hugh Babbington-Cole, thus giving him time to
+repent, as also preventing his presence at the wedding of Margaret."
+
+"At which you have been making mountains of mole hills," said her
+brother, grimly. "Babbington-Cole could not possibly remember what
+Margaret and Pearl looked like in eighteen-seventy."
+
+"Your memory is as usual convenient, Timothy, relentless time would have
+shown him the difference in years, of a girl just of age, and a woman of
+thirty-nine."
+
+"Enough, Aunt Elizabeth," interrupted her niece, pale with rage, "I
+simply won't allow you to allude to the subject of ages; if I am to play
+the role of twenty-one, the sooner I get into the part the better for us
+all; we all serve our own ends in this game, self-interest is, and ever
+has been, our strongest motive. For myself, I hate Pearl Villiers as I
+hated my step-mother before her, and I shall not willingly leave
+Broadlawns merely because we have no income to keep it up, when, by
+personating my step-sister--fortunately of my own Christian, as well as
+surname, thanks to the British habit of perpetuating family names--I
+gain the wherewithal to either remain in this peaceful English home,"
+she said, ironically, "or roam across seas with the husband or crank I
+am about to wed--a crank! to revolve the wheels of fortune, while I
+leave you both here like a pair of cooing doves. You, Aunt Elizabeth,
+gain your revenge on Mr. Babbington-Cole for his preference for my
+step-mother to yourself; oh, you needn't wince, my ears have been put to
+their proper use. You, Uncle, were spurned by my angel step-mother, you,
+pining not for her, but her yellow sovereigns, so...."
+
+"You are a witch, Margaret; how the d----l did you find it out?"
+
+"Timothy, Timothy, be good enough not to swear in my presence."
+
+"Oh, I have gleaned the truth in various devious paths from Sarah Kane
+in a weak mood, also letters, and I have not lost my sense of hearing;
+as you have told me since I could lisp that my wits are sharper than
+Rodgers' cutlery; yes, if Broadlawns went to its owner or the hammer,
+you joined the Salvation Army, and my step-sister dangled the purse, I
+feel it in my bones that I could now rival my tutors in living by my
+wits," she said, cruelly.
+
+"You are not devoid of common sense, Margaret; and as we may not have
+another opportunity before your importunate suitor appears, I shall
+refresh your memory by reading again a clause or two of your late
+step-mother's will ... 'to my husband, Henry Villiers, I bequeath the
+life use of one thousand pounds sterling per annum; at his death I will
+and bequeath the whole of my real and personal property to my only
+daughter (Pearl) Margaret Villiers ... on my little (Pearl) Margaret
+Villiers attaining her majority, and becoming the wife of the aforesaid
+Charles Babbington-Cole, son of my friend, Hugh Babbington-Cole, of the
+Civil Service, Ottawa, Canada; my said daughter shall enter into
+possession of all my real and personal property, with the advice of Dr.
+Annesley, of London, England, or Hugh Babbington-Cole, Esquire,
+aforesaid, my said daughter to inherit all, subject to the following
+gifts. To Sarah Kane, five hundred pounds sterling and my wearing
+apparel; my piano, harp and music, I will and bequeath to the
+sister-in-law of my husband, Elizabeth Stone, for her mission-work, with
+the hope that their sweet notes will make her less acid to my poor
+little daughter, as also to the daughters of the poor to whom she brings
+the Gospel message of peace. To my step-daughter, Margaret Villiers, I
+leave my forgiveness for her persistent and unvarying unkindness to
+myself, with my copy of the Christian Martyrs.'"
+
+"Fool!" muttered her step-daughter, vengefully.
+
+"Poor, carnal creature, we are now ordained to be almoners of the gold
+she would have spent sinfully on her daughter; we are saving Pearl from
+the perils of the rich, for easier is it for a camel to go through
+the----"
+
+"Enough of that cant, Aunt; please keep it bottled up, it don't go down
+with us," interrupted her niece, hastily.
+
+"The will is plain enough, considering that it was written by herself,
+and witnessed by Dr. Annesley, and that sneak, Silas Jones; how much the
+latter knows is hard to tell, I have pumped him indirectly without
+avail; Annesley, being a busy London physician, will not bother himself
+in the matter now that Villiers is dead; he has no more love for us than
+we for him; our card is to expedite your union with speed and privacy;
+you will most likely go to Canada, as I expect Charles (as we best
+accustom ourselves to call him) will prefer such arrangement; I shall
+pay you regularly----"
+
+"Yes, you'd better not try any of your sharp tricks on me, Uncle; if the
+cheque is not forwarded to the day, Trenton and Barlow will interview
+you; my sword will also hang by a hair."
+
+"How confoundedly smart we are," he answered, wrathfully.
+
+"I have been brought up in a good school," she replied, sententiously.
+
+"I am glad you are able to appreciate our many useful lessons to you,"
+he said, sneeringly. "And now to business; three thousand pounds per
+annum will be a large income for Canada; especially, as knowing your
+generous nature, I feel sure it will be all spent on your own wants; had
+you not better leave us three thousand, and pinch yourself," he said,
+sarcastically, "on two thousand?"
+
+"Not much! anything I don't spend on myself, as you observe, I shall
+invest in, I think, C. P. R. stock, or even Grand Trunk, as it is
+looking up, there being a rumor that next year it will form a connection
+by way of Duluth, with the Manitoba boundary rail, thus placing itself
+in competition with the C. P. R. You need not stare, I am making myself
+conversant with the state of the Canadian money market."
+
+"How wise we are. I can tell you that only a fool would invest in such
+like, with that Red River Valley Railway bungle on. What I want to be
+made aware of is, have you determined on taking no less than three
+thousand per annum?"
+
+"I have positively so determined. I don't think I look like a fool."
+
+"I do--in a pink muslin, with as much ribbon hanging over your bustle as
+would make a decent gown."
+
+"You are neglecting your education, uncle, in your favorite game of gold
+grab. I'd advise you to go to the city and take a few lessons from the
+clerks at Swan & Edgar's; they will tell you that in society a bustle is
+a _tournure_. As for my dress, my role is twenty-one, and I must bear
+some resemblance to the sweet lines of the poet--of
+
+    'Standing with reluctant feet,
+    Where the brook and river meet.'"
+
+"Dear, dear, what frivolity, and the suburban train is due; we should
+unite in thanking Providence that this gold is in our hands; but
+previously, Margaret, you should stipulate in writing that your uncle
+may pay me the sum of one hundred pounds per annum for my good works.
+There is Meg Smith, actually pining for her drunken husband, who says he
+won't reform until he gets her again; but I have my foot down, and shall
+keep them apart even if we have to pay her board; there is no use in my
+telling them not to be 'unequally yoked with unbelievers,' and then give
+in. I could cite dozens."
+
+"Pray do not. It's my belief all you women care for is power to rule:
+the wretches would be far better without your government. Heaven
+preserve me from a woman with a mission," said her brother in disgusted
+tones. "As to my promising to pay you any stipulated sum, you will
+receive your allowance for wearing apparel, and anything you can crib
+out of the housekeeping you will (all women take to that card
+naturally); but remember, if I find myself on short rations there will
+be the devil to pay."
+
+"One word more, as the speakers say," said Miss Villiers, "ere we
+dissolve this profitable (I use the word advisedly) meeting: what fable
+shall we concoct as to the whereabouts of my angelic step-sister?"
+
+"What an unpleasant way you have of putting things Margaret," said her
+aunt.
+
+"I prefer on occasion to call 'a spade a spade,' Aunt Elizabeth. Well,
+uncle, shall it be as to her self-reliant spirit, and that she (being a
+mistake which means anything) has fled to that broad and convenient
+field, the United States of America?"
+
+"Yes, that will pass; but I scarcely think he will inquire, as he has
+never troubled himself about his betrothed or yourself until you hunted
+him up."
+
+"At your instigation; so disinterested in you, never thinking of the
+feathers for your own nest."
+
+"The suburban train is due!" exclaimed her aunt. "Do, Margaret, endeavor
+to act like a Christian."
+
+"Never fear, Aunt Elizabeth; I shall act my part as well as you do, with
+self-interest as motive-power: our sex play without a prompter; and now
+to the drawing-room to awe the ignorant Colonial by our British gold and
+conventionalities."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+A TROUBLED SPIRIT.
+
+
+With mingled feelings of disinclination and repulsion, also an undefined
+sense of dread and reluctance, poor C. Babbington-Cole left the _City of
+Chicago_ and, again on _terra firma_, made his way up from the seaboard
+to London, where at Morley's Hotel he and his father had arranged to
+meet. "Hang it," he thought moodily, "I feel like an infernal frog out of
+Acheron, covered with the ooze and mud of melancholy. Jove, if I could
+only chance upon the Will Smyths or Mrs. Gower, what a tonic they would
+be; how they would enjoy this madding crowd with all the world abroad,
+with no blue blood in the beef they eat either; judging from red cheeks
+and stout ankles. What women! cotton batting would not be a safe
+investment here; I hope the governor is waiting for me at Morley's, but
+he must be, as he took the _Circassian_ from Quebec on the 16th. I'll
+persuade him not to go out to Bayswater at all, but to abandon this debt
+of honor, as in his sensitive nature he dubs his promise to a dead
+woman, for I have no hankering after a martyr's crown. If I am coerced
+(for I am made of very limp stuff) into this union and she is not a girl
+I can care to spoon over, and must 'write me down as an ass' for selling
+my liberty to, then adieu to wedded bliss--I shall again content myself
+in a den by myself, and my craze for mechanism shall be my wife and my
+few real friends my mistress. Jove! though, I must strain my eyes and
+endeavor to see a glimmer of light in the black clouds; if she be a girl
+after my own heart she will sympathize after a more practical manner
+than did the 'twenty with Bunthorn,' in giving me the dollar to develop,
+and obtain a patent for one or other of my inventions. Yes, I'll be a
+soldier. I am nearing the battle-field; with the smell of powder in my
+nostrils, I will gain strength. Cabby is reining in his steed, so this,
+I suppose, is my hotel."
+
+"Morley's, sir; and 'ere be a porter for your baggage, sir."
+
+"All right," and springing from the four-wheeler he is interviewing the
+clerk.
+
+"Has Mr. Babbington-Cole, from Ottawa, Canada, arrived?"
+
+"No, sir; are you Mr. C. Babbington-Cole?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then here is a cablegram for you, sir."
+
+It was from his father, and ran thus:
+
+     "ST. LAWRENCE HALL,
+          "MONTREAL, Sept. 20th.
+
+     "To C. BABBINGTON-COLE, Esq.,
+          "Morley's Hotel, London, England.
+
+     "Your father has been very ill--typhoid fever; called me in; is
+     improving; asks me to cablegram you to return by way of
+     Montreal. Longs to see you and your wife, which will be a
+     panacea for him.
+
+     "JOHN PEAKE, M.D."
+
+"My father ill! Oh that I could have foreseen all this," exclaimed Cole,
+flinging himself into a chair in the privacy of the bedroom assigned
+him. "To have to face my fate alone," he thought, "and yet I have been
+aware for some time that this was hanging over me; but the truth is, I
+thought the girl would never claim me, that they would arbitrate,
+divide, have a grab game among themselves, anything other than rope me
+in. Had I been gifted with Scotch second-sight, or even caution, I
+should not be in this fix now; but I have been made of wax, and so
+absorbed in my loved inventions, filling in an emotional half hour with
+an occasional flirtation, with my nose to the grindstone the rest of my
+time, that this possible 'game of barter,' in which some one says 'the
+devil always has the best of it,' rarely occurred to me; but this will
+never do in action, only shall I now find repose. I _must_ go out to
+Bayswater, and I _must_ wed this girl, unless Heaven works a
+miracle--no, unless I act the coward's part, cut and run, I am in for
+it. If I could only moralize on the pantheon of ugly horrors half of our
+marriages are, and that one might imagine most of them were perpetrated
+in the dark, or on sight, as mine, then I might console myself by
+thinking that I have as good a chance of happiness as most. My brain is
+on fire; if I only had one friend in this vanity fair, wherein to me is
+no merriment, the babel of sounds seeming to me the guns of the enemy
+warning me to retreat; talk of _delirium tremens_, I have all the blue
+devils rolled in one; a stimulant is what I want, to be able to face the
+music."
+
+And making his way to the bar, in a short time his spirits, with the aid
+of John Barleycorn, arise; though he knows in the reaction they will be
+below zero.
+
+"And now for Bayswater and my shrinking young bride," he thought. "I
+declare," he said, half aloud, with a forced laugh, "I can sympathize,
+for the first time, with the fly who had a bid from the spider to walk
+into his parlor. Is there a roaring farce on anywhere?" he asked the
+bar-tender.
+
+"Yes, sir; a reg'lar side-splitter at the Haymarket. You will 'ave time
+to take in the matinee and dinner at Broadlawns, Bayswater, too, sir."
+
+"How the deuce did you know I was due there?"
+
+"Mr. Stone and Miss Villiers have called three times to look you up,
+sir."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"Yes, sir; Mr. Stone, he came in, and Miss Villiers, she waited outside
+in the trap."
+
+The mere mention of the people from Broadlawns having come to hunt him
+up, had such a depressing effect, that he abandoned all idea of
+distraction at the play.
+
+"There is not a particle of use of my trying to sit through the farce
+with this thumping headache; have a hansom here for me in a couple of
+hours, to convey me to Broadlawns; I shall walk out and get a glimpse of
+the city."
+
+"All right, thank you, sir."
+
+"Some one hath it," he thought, entering Trafalgar Square, "that the
+grand panacea, the matchless sanative which is an infallible cure for
+the blues, is exercise, exercise, _exercise!_ so now for a trial; here
+goes for five miles an hour."
+
+On, and ever onwards, with, and yet apart from, the stream of busy life,
+alone and lonely amidst the throngs not once staying his steps; winging
+his flight in the vain effort to flee from self, drifting on the waves
+of unrest, they engulfing him, his face white and worn as a ghost, his
+blue eyes weary and with a hunted look, a neuralgic headache driving him
+to the brink of madness; the panorama of wonderful sights on which,
+under other circumstances, he would have feasted his eyes. Peers of the
+realm, having gained notoriety in one way or another, passed unnoticed,
+with lovely women, from professional beauties reclining in their own
+carriages, whose toys were men's hearts, with the world as a stage, to
+the avowed actress, whose bright eyes looked from a hired equipage, who
+played for men's gold on the stage of the theatre; far-famed Regent
+Street was traversed with less interest than he would have accorded to
+Lombard Street, Toronto; for man loves freedom as a bird--there he was
+free, now he feels his fetters.
+
+"Take care, sir," said a policeman, kindly.
+
+"Blockhead! it would serve him right to come to his senses under the
+feet of my horse," said the only occupant of a low carriage, in the
+voice of a shrew, as she drove on.
+
+At this juncture Cole shook himself to rights, as it were.
+
+"She was ugly enough to give a fellow a scare, after our pretty Canadian
+women," he said to the policeman.
+
+"Oh, she isn't no type of what we can show you, sir; she's but small,
+but enough o' her sort, say I."
+
+"Ditto; and now be good enough to hail a cab for me."
+
+"Yes, sir; here you are, and thank you, sir."
+
+"To Morley's hotel."
+
+"All right, sir."
+
+On reaching his destination he learned that Mr. Stone had driven in to
+ascertain whether he had arrived, when, on hearing that he had, but was
+out, had waited; when a lady, calling for him, had gone, leaving a note
+for him, which on opening read thus:
+
+     "DEAR BABBINGTON-COLE,--Am very pleased to hear of your safe
+     arrival; have important business, so cannot wait; in fact
+     arrangements for the immediate marriage of my niece to
+     yourself; kindly come out at once, on your return.
+
+    "Yours sincerely,
+        "TIMOTHY STONE."
+
+"The net is well laid," thought poor Cole; "they are bound to rope me
+in; how strange it all seems; even my name sounds unfamiliar, having at
+home, in dear old Toronto, dropped the Babbington; but I must adorn
+myself for the altar." And once more he seeks retirement in his own
+chamber. "Hang that evolution of a woman's corsets and curling tongs,
+viz., the modern dude! such a choking and tightening a fellow's throat
+and legs undergo; I wonder if my shrinking bride will expect me to kneel
+to her. Ah! there goes for a rip; under the knee, though, as luck would
+have it; not being quite educated up to a chamois pad and face powder,
+my modest Pearl will have to be satisfied with candle and throat moulds.
+I wonder if she will compliment me on my handsome black moustache, as my
+women friends at home do; and now to fortify myself with dinner, or at
+least oysters and a glass of stout. Hang it, how faint and dizzy I
+feel."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+VULTURES HABITED AS CHRISTIAN PEW-HOLDERS.
+
+
+In due time his hansom enters the gates of Broadlawns; at the door he is
+met by Mr. Stone.
+
+"Welcome to England and Broadlawns," said the spider to the fly, his
+ferret-like eyes scanning his victim eagerly, as if to read whether he
+would give him trouble. "We have been expecting you for twenty-four
+hours; the ladies have been most anxious. Simon, bring this gentleman's
+baggage upstairs, to the east room; and put in an appearance soon,
+Babbington-Cole, or the ladies will think you a myth."
+
+"Thank you; as I dressed at Morley's, I shall be with you in a few
+moments," responded Cole, in subdued accents, feeling that struggles
+would be now of no avail, that he was well in their net; but the house
+itself would have depressed him under any circumstances. It was solid,
+massive, thick-set gloom; happiness and mirth were far away; the cold,
+chill atmosphere of distrust, dislike, deceit and hypocrisy dwelt in its
+dark corridors and gloomy apartments. The last gleam of "Home, sweet
+home," had fled with the spirit of the second wife of its late master;
+she, poor thing, was wont to say, "Broadlawns is like a lovely, smiling
+face, with a black, lying heart; its exterior is bright with Nature's
+beauteous flowers, its interior a very Hades."
+
+Miss Villiers and Miss Stone rose to greet Mr. Cole on his entering the
+gloomy, but handsomely furnished oak drawing-room; his first glance at
+the former served to show him that the lady who had wished he might come
+to his senses under the feet of her horse and Miss Villiers were one and
+the same.
+
+"Jove! that vixen," he thought; "but, thank Heaven, there are two
+daughters; the other is my one, for my father says she is the prettiest
+girl in all England, and this one, ugh, she makes one's flesh creep."
+
+"My conscience, 'tis that dolt," thought his bride-elect, giving her
+hand with her false smile. "We expected you to dinner, but cook has my
+orders to get you up something, so come with me to the dining-room," she
+added, insinuatingly.
+
+"Don't trouble about me, Miss Villiers, I beg; I had a bit of dinner at
+Morley's."
+
+"Muff," thought Miss Villiers, spitefully, "not to have taken his chance
+to become acquainted."
+
+"Margaret is, as you are aware, Mr. Babbington-Cole, the Christian name
+of my niece (and a beautiful name it is); she will be better pleased if
+you drop all formality, and call her so, eh, Margaret."
+
+"Yes, under the circumstances," she answered, with a meaning glance.
+
+"Thank you; I have not seen your sister yet; is she quite well?" he
+asked, timidly; for, with a forboding of evil, he unconsciously looked
+to the sister as an escape.
+
+"Margaret's fascinations fall flat," thought her uncle, with a malicious
+chuckle.
+
+"I don't take; he wants a milk and water miss, but no you don't, young
+man; you are _my tool_," thought his bride-elect, setting her teeth.
+
+"My poor step-sister is well--I hope, but we never name her; she is a--a
+mistake; however, _she_ is not your one."
+
+"But is she not here?" said Cole, nervously, now really frightened,
+"does she not reside with you? My poor father said--" here he utterly
+broke down. Accustomed ever to lean on some one, of a clinging, trusting
+nature, with a strong spice of feminine gentleness, which caused him to
+turn to some woman friend for advice or moral support, so that here, in
+the hour of his greatest need, he feels doubly alone, as he gazes around
+at the three hard, cruel faces, each with a set purpose and false smile
+perceptibly engraven, he is in despair. Miss Villiers especially; will
+he ever cease to be haunted by her as she sits in a high Elizabethan
+chair, an ebony easel exactly on a line with her face, and partly behind
+her, on which is a frightful head of Medusa, the reptiles for hair
+looking to him, in his highly nervous state, like the tight, crisp curls
+and braids covering the head of his bride-elect, and the lines from
+Pitt's "Virgil" recurred to his memory:
+
+    "Such fiends to scourge mankind, so fierce, so fell,
+    Heaven never summoned from the depths of hell."
+
+Mr. Stone broke the momentary silence by saying, in matter-of-fact
+tones:
+
+"It is natural, I suppose, to a man of your seemingly nervous
+temperament, to be a little upset at not meeting your father; but, in my
+opinion, life is too short for sentiment, especially when wasted as in
+this case, for your father, according to cablegram sent us, is
+improving, and is, I dare swear, kicking his heels about St. Lawrence
+Hall, Montreal, waiting impatiently for your return."
+
+"Yes, Uncle Timothy, yours is the practical view of it; sentiment is, or
+should be, a monopoly of the poets; self-interest, with pounds,
+shillings and pence, are good enough for us."
+
+"Margaret means to convey, Mr. Charles, that you should be thankful to
+Providence that you have been spared to come to us; to a land, also,
+flowing with milk and honey, ready to your hand and purse," said her
+aunt, sanctimoniously adding, "How is religious life in Toronto?"
+
+"Religious life?" he said, half dazed, wholly absorbed in the thought
+that he was to be held in bondage by that stony-eyed woman with
+snake-like hair--his Medusa.
+
+"Alas, I fear you are dead in sin, Mr. Charles. You do not even know the
+meaning of my words. I have heard that New York is the most wicked city
+in America, and you, I fear, frequently go there to participate in the
+pleasures of sin. I dread to allow my niece to go out, even as your
+wife; it was only the other day I read, copied from one of your
+newspapers, that at Tahlequah, which I suppose is near you, that a
+Chickasaw Indian was arrested by a deputy United States marshal with
+three assistants; the company camped on the prairie, with the exception
+of the marshal, who, riding on, reached his goal; waited there until
+weary, he rode back, and what did he find? The entire posse with heads
+cut off, and the Indian fled. America must be a very Sodom and Gomorrah.
+But I see you are not listening to me, Mr. Charles. We have a saintly
+young man here, the Rev. Claude Parks, whom I must ask to influence you
+to a better frame of mind, with an intense gratitude to Providence for
+the favors about to be showered upon you."
+
+Thus did Miss Stone give vent to her feelings to unlistening ears. Fond
+of hearing her own voice, it mattered little to her that she received no
+replies but to be told impatiently that "he was ill," and to be
+compelled to waste the eloquence she seduced herself into believing she
+possessed, upon a man with now his hands pressed upon his feverish brow,
+now his eyes fixed on vacancy, now upon the entrance as though he would
+fain flee, incensed her almost to rage; during the absence of Mr. Stone
+and his niece she had determined to improve the occasion, and so read
+him no end of lectures. The two absent ones, after a few minutes'
+whispered conversation in the library, had crossed the lawn to a neat
+cottage where the clergyman in charge of the Bayswater Mission existed
+on one hundred and fifty pounds per annum. As they stepped through the
+flower beds, which the moon rising in unclouded splendor lit with her
+soft white light, Miss Villiers in cold, hard tones, said:
+
+"Yes, you are right; he showed his hand, and of how much he loved me at
+first sight, as he asked in that scared way for my sweet sister, but
+bah! such maudlin folly in our wasting our precious moments over _his_
+feelings in the matter; they are of no more consequence than are the
+blades of grass we crush beneath our feet in reaching our goal; let him
+laugh who wins, even though the goal be reached by a foul."
+
+"Yes, the sooner we hold the lines the better; he has not spirit enough
+to be a runaway horse."
+
+"Let him but try, there is the curb bit and halter."
+
+"Oh, you need not tell me, Margaret, that you will have him well in
+hand. Yes, and before that paradise of fools, the honeymoon, is over,"
+laughed her uncle sardonically.
+
+"Yes, the grey mare will be the best horse this time; but what a
+blessing his father is laid low; it would have been all up, when he saw
+how cut up our precious Charles is. I did hope, had they come over
+together, they might have been shrewd as their Yankee neighbors, and
+gone in with us. Now, if his father should die, we have nothing to fear;
+if he lives, we must exercise our wits, that is all. And, now, as to
+your little fiction as to the telegram summoning you away at daybreak,
+where will you stay?"
+
+"Oh, anywhere, in some quiet cheap boarding-house in East End, London;
+perhaps Tom Lang's."
+
+"I suppose it's soft of me, uncle; but I may not have a quiet word with
+you again. You must mind, I mean what I say. You must pay aunt one
+hundred pounds per annum for her own requirements and beloved mission
+work, though what she gives would not buy salt to their porridge, unless
+to that of her pet parson himself."
+
+"When you know this, Margaret, why make such an ass of yourself as to
+give it her; for, in my opinion, she is hoarding."
+
+"It is in the blood; but you are a monopolist," she said sententiously
+as, merely tapping on the door of the cottage, they entered _sans
+ceremonie_, meeting the Rev. Claude Parks in the hall, who, shaking
+hands with both, said: "I had some calls this evening, but expecting you
+in, postponed them. At what hour to-morrow am I to tie the knot?" he
+asked smilingly.
+
+"Never put off till to-morrow what can be done to-day, Mr. Parks; you
+may take that for your text next Sunday," said Miss Villiers decidedly.
+
+"Nothing like it, Parks," said her uncle in oily tones, rubbing his
+hands.
+
+"I shall give you another," said the curate rejoicing in his coming fee.
+"'If, when done, 'twere well, 'twere well 'twere done quickly.' Do you
+desire me to return with you?"
+
+"Yes," said Miss Villiers, "and at once, if we are to act on our joint
+quotations, for it is only two hours until midnight; come, get your
+robes of office, and let us be off."
+
+Thus it was that the ways and means did duty, the curate standing much
+in awe of Miss Villiers, as well as of Miss Stone; some saying the
+latter was his curate, others facetiously protesting that he was hers.
+And so she considered him not as the ambassador of Christ, but as a paid
+servant of her own, for so does too often the Anglican Church pay its
+clergy only sufficient for a dinner of herbs; knowing that man, be he
+priest or sinner, being a dining animal, has, at a weak moment, a
+craving for the "stalled ox," and if his appetite be too strong for him,
+sells himself, like Esau, for a "mess of pottage."
+
+But now to return to Miss Villiers and her uncle, with the Rev. Claude
+Parks, as they make their entree to Broadlawns and its oak
+drawing-rooms.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+A LUCIFER MATCH.
+
+
+"Rev. Mr. Parks, Mr. Babbington-Cole, of whom you have heard us speak,
+from Canada," said Miss Villiers; and Bengough's modern curate of the
+conventional type flashed across the memory of poor Cole. He was a meek
+young man, though a true Christian, who spoke in a monotone, his hair
+parted, to a hair, in line with the bridge of his nose, and wearing his
+hands meekly folded.
+
+After their going round and round the barometer, English and Canadian,
+Miss Stone said, primly:
+
+"It matters little whether the poor carnal bodies suffer from the cold.
+I fear, out there, souls are cold unto death, starving for spiritual
+life and heat. I have been telling Mr. Babbington-Cole, and I feel sure
+you will coincide with me, Mr. Parks, that with so many infidels and
+wild Indians in his land, they should have their lamps trimmed and
+burning."
+
+"You are always orthodox, Miss Stone," chanted Mr. Parks, meekly. "You
+look ill, Mr. Babbington-Cole; was the sea too much for you?"
+
+"Yes, and now my head is in a whirl. I feel as if I am in for brain
+fever. Would to God I had remained in Canada," he answered feverishly.
+
+"Tut, tut; a night's rest will set you up," said Stone hastily. "You
+Canadians are pale in any case, looking as though you feed on gruel."
+
+"Cablegram, sir," said Simon, tapping at the door.
+
+"It's for you, Babbington-Cole," said Stone, handing it.
+
+"From my father's medical man," said Cole nervously, as, on reading it,
+he returned it to the envelope, and was about pocketing it, when Miss
+Villiers said, putting out her hand:
+
+"I presume we may see it."
+
+Cole, though with visible reluctance, handed it to her, when she read as
+follows:
+
+     "ST. LAWRENCE HALL,
+            "MONTREAL, 25th Sept.
+
+     "To C. BABBINGTON-COLE, Esq.
+
+     "Typhoid fever left; but taken cold, sore throat; looking most
+     anxiously for the return of yourself and Mrs. Cole. _Pray don't
+     delay._
+
+
+    "JOHN PEAKE, M.D."
+
+"Too bad, too bad; but you may yet find your father quite well," said
+Stone, with assumed feeling.
+
+"'In the midst of life we are in death,'" said Miss Stone. "I trust your
+father has not been a careless liver, Mr. Charles; as a young man, I
+remember he was much given to the things of the world."
+
+"My father is no smooth-tongued hypocrite, but has a truer sense of
+religion than many representative men and women in our church of
+to-day," said Cole, warmly; while thinking, but for his mistaken sense
+of honor, I would not now be in this abominable fix.
+
+"You will, I am sure, be anxious to return at once, Mr.
+Babbington-Cole," said Mr. Parks, in measured tones. "And as the first
+step towards it, as it grows late, if you will arrange yourselves, I
+will proceed at once with the service."
+
+"To-night!" exclaimed the victim.
+
+"I think it best, Babbington-Cole," said Stone, firmly, "for you are not
+the only one who has received a telegraphic message this evening; mine
+summons me away at daybreak for the Isle of Wight, on urgent business;
+and as you have crossed the pond to marry my niece, what do you gain by
+postponement?"
+
+"By delay," said Miss Villiers, fixing her stony eyes on him, as she
+motioned him to stand beside her, "by delay we may miss seeing your
+father alive."
+
+"True," said Cole, "and I must find him alive to explain all this," he
+added, with feverish haste. And while the service was said in monotone
+by the clergyman, so intent was he in performing hidden rites of
+vengeance upon his bride for the pantheon of hideous idols she was
+making him walk through life in, that he was deaf to the words:
+
+"Wilt thou take this woman to be thy wedded wife?"
+
+And the first caress he received from his bride was a pinch, sharp and
+telling; he said, excitedly:
+
+"Take it all for granted, Mr. Parks, I am really too ill to take part."
+
+At the words, "I pronounce that they be man and wife together," etc.,
+muffled footsteps and the noise of panting breath is distinctly heard,
+and a pale woman, who had evidently come from a distance, with flying
+feet entered; the clergyman only seeing her, the others having their
+backs to the entrance; but she nears, staying her feet to listen as she
+hears the words which add another couple to the long line of loveless
+unions, her hurried breathing falls on the ears of those present. All
+turn round. Miss Villiers eyes her menacingly, while Miss Stone and her
+brother simultaneously point to the door, as she interrupting Mr. Parks'
+congratulations, says in heart-rending tones of despair:
+
+"Yes, I will go, for I am too late, too late, alas! for my poor young
+mistress and my oath to protect her." And she vanished noiselessly.
+
+The fetters securely fastened, Mrs. Babbington-Cole said, wrathfully:
+
+"A lunatic asylum is the only fit home for Sarah Kane." Turning to her
+new-made husband, she says explanatorily, "an old servant, and a crank.
+Uncle Timothy, you had better see her caged up somewhere, or pay her
+off, and dismiss her."
+
+"Yes, I must; we can't have a madwoman going about like this."
+
+"Alas! how ungrateful of Sarah," sighed Miss Stone. "I fear the seed we
+have sown fell on stony ground, Mr. Parks."
+
+"I fear so, indeed," echoed Mr. Parks, as he departed, his heart
+gladdened on thinking of the good British gold in his pocket; and from
+Mr. Stone, mean though he was, it was worth paying a sovereign to become
+the possessor of a yearly income of two thousand pounds. The poor
+bridegroom thought not of the parson's fee, which, had he wedded a woman
+of his own choice, he would have paid with an overflowing heart, he,
+poor fellow, being as generous as morning sunbeams on a beauteous June
+day.
+
+The ceremony over! the fraud consummated! the bird snared! the man
+fettered! all joy in living, all hope in his heart crushed by a woman.
+Cole since hearing the solemn words of the agitated woman, felt as he
+threw himself into a chair, burying his head in his hands, as he leaned
+forward elbows on knees, as though did some one put a knife to his heart
+he would be grateful; he felt feverish and his brain throbbed as it had
+never throbbed before. Starting to his feet, he said brokenly, "It is
+now my turn to dictate; you will excuse me, I _must_ have time to think,
+_and in solitude;_ I go to my own apartment."
+
+"You had better have some supper with us first to celebrate the event,"
+said his bride, jocosely, for she feels triumphant.
+
+"No, I thank you, food would choke me, and I am in no mood for revelry."
+
+"You had better, Babbington-Cole," said Stone (who never offered a meal
+that he had to pay for), "you had better; an empty stomach is a cold
+bed-fellow."
+
+But he was gone. Six ears sharp as needles listened to the sound of his
+retreating footfalls, slow and heavy, in ascending the stairs; they
+heard him go in and lock his door.
+
+"A loving bridegroom," said Stone, malevolently. "You have evidently
+made an impression, Margaret."
+
+"As you did on my sainted step-mother, when she spurned your offer
+beneath her feet, history repeats itself, most affectionate of uncles."
+
+"'The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity,'" said Miss Stone,
+reprovingly; "let us show a Christian spirit, and prove we are thankful
+everything is settled; we have worked hard for it, and have a right to
+partake of the feast prepared for the wedding party."
+
+"Had you not better call your recalcitrant spouse, Margaret," said her
+uncle, as they repaired to the dining-room and seated themselves;
+"perhaps you do not know that the way to a man's heart is through his
+stomach."
+
+"No, I shall not disturb his peaceful slumbers; by leaving him to
+himself he will the sooner come to his milk. For a beggarly eight
+hundred-dollar clerk--Colonial at that--he does not show gratitude as he
+should for a three thousand pound per annum wife.".
+
+"I agree with you, Margaret, but I doubt not you will bring him to a
+more Christian frame of mind," said Miss Stone, dwelling on each
+mouthful of veal-and-ham pie with the relish of an epicure.
+
+"Alone once more, thank God!" said Cole to himself in despairing tones,
+throwing himself on to a sofa of stiff, cold horse-hair; "and now to
+collect my unwelcome thoughts," he sighed wearily, now walking
+restlessly to and fro, now flinging himself down, lying perfectly still.
+
+Some one says that "locality is like a dyer's vat." This room assigned
+to Cole would in itself have lent a gloomy, funereal aspect to one's
+tone of mind, from the cumbrous bedstead of dark mahogany to the darkest
+of hangings and carpet, every article as cold and polished as the black
+hair-cloth furniture. No pretty feminine knick-knacks, no bright
+pictures, nothing to relieve the eye.
+
+"Alone," he groaned, "yes, but for how long? She will, I expect, think
+she has the right to come here; had she forced her hateful presence upon
+me to-night I feel that reason would have fled. What could my father
+have been about to sell me like this? But there has been some devil's
+work. He has been deceived, and I have been completely hemmed in by the
+moves of the miscreator circumstance, the cablegram of his physician to
+them and to myself to-night. She a modern Medusa, to be a panacea for
+him or any one! Poor father, how you have been duped. That they are all
+playing some devil's game is clear even to my throbbing brain, no wonder
+that ever since I set foot on England's shore I have had a terrible
+presentiment of evil hanging over me, and now the very worst has come to
+pass: they have roped me in. I have given her, that awful woman, my
+name! God save me from madness! Hist! what sound was that? They come!
+and yet the hideous midnight revelry is still on below; but they come, a
+tap! Jove's thunderbolt, or Vulcan's hammer would be of no avail. I
+shall feign sleep."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THEIR "RANK IS BUT THE GUINEA'S STAMP."
+
+
+"And what does our Diogenes find to say?" said Mrs. Gower, gaily, as on
+the night of the 9th November she gathered a few friends to supper,
+after an evening at the Grand Opera House. "Come, Mr. Dale, like a good
+man, confess that Mrs. Langtry is worth letting your tub go to staves
+for."
+
+"Well, on the whole, yes. I think she has improved."
+
+"Improved! but I suppose one must be content with even such admission
+from you."
+
+"But, my dear lady, when a man has seen the best that London, Paris, and
+New York can put on their theatre boards, what you in Canada offer is
+merely _pour passez le temp_."
+
+"Yes, I suppose one grows to feel like that; but I am glad I have yet a
+few sights to see, if, by seeing everything, one loses one's zest for
+anything."
+
+"But you surely do not admire her choice of plays?"
+
+"No; but I do really deem her a born actress, as clever as she is
+charming."
+
+"One could easily see, Mrs. Gower, that you got the worth of your ticket
+in emotional feeling," said Mr. Smyth, laughingly, "for you visibly
+trembled when 'ex-Captain Fortinbras' made his triumphant _expose_."
+
+"Malevolent wretch! a thrill of horror did run through me, as well as of
+pity for his unfortunate victim."
+
+"My feelings are not so easily acted upon," said Mrs. Dale. "I was very
+coolly watching to see if she could disentangle herself from the
+villain's clutches, and her arms from her odious lace sleeves."
+
+"The latter absorbed me," said lively Mrs. Smyth; "if I had such arms I
+should never cover them, not even in mid-winter; you ought to pay more
+for your ticket than we do, Elaine, you get more--more feelings--than we
+do."
+
+"Yes, I must trouble you for some more oysters, Mr. Dale; 'nerve tissue
+is expensive,'" she laughingly answered.
+
+"Her gowns, her robings, were in perfect taste," said Buckingham.
+
+"Yes, Oscar Wilde would have breathed a sigh of satisfaction," said Mrs.
+Gower.
+
+"Speaking of our color-blending pet," said Mrs. Dale, "he wishes his
+baby was a girl; he says girls drape so much better."
+
+"Just fancy a thing like that living in our stirring times, and calling
+itself a man," said Dale, contemptuously; "picture him beside the two
+liberated Chicago Anarchists."
+
+"Poor fellow! he would feel badly had the Communists the control of his
+wardrobe," said Mrs. Gower.
+
+"His would be a capital garb for a surveyor," said Mrs. Smyth; "I wish
+Will would adopt it."
+
+"Then would surveyors be on the increase when his measure would be
+taken," laughed Mrs. Gower.
+
+"Lilian has vivid recollections of my last home-coming, when I was a
+mass of sticky York mud to my knees," said Smyth.
+
+"I remember, Dale, you were disgusted at the Emma-Juch concert by reason
+of large hats and small chatter," said Buckingham. "What did you think
+of the manner of the audience to-night?"
+
+"I think that, on the whole, when one considers the antecedents of the
+moneyed people of Toronto, that they behaved themselves better, showed
+more consideration for the feelings of others, in fact, ignored their
+fine feathers--remembering that they were not the only occupants of the
+theatre--better than at any other gathering of 'beauty and fashion' (in
+newspaper parlance), that I have made one at."
+
+"Yes; so I thought," said Buckingham; "and at the theatre, one escapes
+the worrying nuisance of recalls, as felt at Toronto."
+
+"I wish some star in the concert world would have the courage to insert
+after her name, no encore," said Mrs. Gower, "for though we do recall,
+it is astonishing how _ennuyeux_ the best numbers are in repetition."
+
+"Will did an awfully daring thing at the Carreno-Juch concert," said
+Mrs. Smyth, eagerly; "we had seats immediately behind the Cawsons; and
+you know, Elaine, what a rude, boisterous----"
+
+"My dear," said her friend, in mock reproof; "they are in society! have,
+of course, the dollar, and, perforce, are fashionable! what in poor
+people we should designate as rude and underbred, we must call in the
+Cawsons, and that ilk, 'quite the thing, you know;' but proceed, _ma
+chere_."
+
+"Well, Will fidgetted, and they chattered across each other in audible
+remarks, on acquaintances in the audience, on a luncheon they were to
+give, as to the war-paint of a lady friend who had been presented to
+Queen Victoria, when I, the meanest of her subjects (I use the words
+figuratively, as Burdette says), pitied royalty; but the climax was
+reached when in Raff's 'Ever of Thee,' a particular favorite of Will's,
+the 'unruly member' was heard with renewed vigor, when this husband of
+mine rose in his might, and to his feet, saying audibly, 'Come, let us
+try if the low price seats hold better-bred people.'"
+
+"Bravo! bravo!" cried Buckingham.
+
+"Very well put," said Dale; "short a time as I have been in Toronto, I
+have observed that for culture and refinement one must look to the
+people who live on modest incomes, or salaries; middle class is a phrase
+I find no use for. In this country there are the 'vulgar rich,' whose
+'rank is but the guinea's stamp,' and well-bred poor; there are
+impoverished gentry, with an innate refinement showing in their too
+often struggling descendants; there are the moneyed people, lacking what
+filthy lucre cannot buy, namely, good breeding, and who never weary in
+parading their jewels, furniture and fine clothes."
+
+"Very true," said Mrs. Gower; "I have frequently thought at some of our
+large social gatherings, that it is a pity one's blood cannot be
+analyzed instead of one's gown."
+
+"What a resurrection there would be," said Buckingham; "not a few would
+long to pocket their own heads."
+
+"A sympathetic artiste must feel any want of oneness in her audience,"
+said Mrs. Dale; "I should throw my roll of music at them and retire."
+
+"At which, dear, they would only give their unwearied cry of 'encore,'"
+said her hostess; "it is very evident we are all at one in a very
+decided distaste for mongrels; but, Mr. Buckingham, during your run on
+the Kingston and Pembroke rail you missed hearing the Rev. Jackson
+Wray."
+
+"Yes; did he please you?"
+
+"Extremely; both in his sermonizing and in his lecture on George
+Whitefield; he is eloquent, and his imagery and figurative language
+charmed me."
+
+"Indeed; in that case I regret to have missed him. Did you hear him,
+Dale?"
+
+"Yes, and though I regret the not being at one with Mrs. Gower in all
+things," he said, smilingly, "must say he pleased me not."
+
+"Pleased you not!" echoed his hostess; "then I abandon you to your tub;
+the scholarly, the literary world, would be a desert did your sweeping
+criticisms prevail."
+
+"But how so, Dale? one would almost make sure of finding in him a rather
+superior excellence, knowing that he holds a pulpit in such a city as
+your London."
+
+"Granted, Buckingham; but not only at London, but over the whole
+Christianized world, mistakes are to be found in the pulpit."
+
+"Oh, no, Dale, I cannot go with you; 'tis in the pew that mistakes
+exist."
+
+"I go with you there, Buckingham," he replied, wilfully misunderstanding
+him; "the pew system is selling out the Gospel by the square foot," at
+which his friend laughed.
+
+"Mr. Dale," asked Mrs. Gower, "do you never allow the critic within you
+to go to sleep, allow your really generous nature full play, and give
+yourself up to enjoyment?"
+
+"I do; for instance, now, here is a real enjoyment; but, pray, do not
+dub me a critic."
+
+"I fear I must in some of your moods; but see, the mere word, or the
+silvery chimes of midnight, are lending wings to your wife, and Mrs.
+Smyth: they are deserting us. Are you examining the heavens, dear?" she
+says, following Mrs. Dale to a window.
+
+"Look quick, Mrs. Gower, he won't see you if you peer through the slats;
+and how awful! in among the bushes, out in that torrent of rain, there
+is a----"
+
+"Don't alarm Mrs. Gower," said Buckingham, quietly, who had neared them
+unnoticed; "if there is anyone loitering about, let me open the shutters
+and window, and step out."
+
+"Good night, Mrs. Gower," called Smyth, from the hall; "our carriage
+stops the way, and if I don't make a move, Lil never will," he says,
+meeting her.
+
+"Mr. Dale is too fascinating," laughed his wife. "Good night, Elaine;
+Will thinks he hears baby crying, or he would not stir."
+
+
+"Nice little baby, don't get in a fury 'cause mamma's gone to a play at
+the theatre," sang Smyth, jokingly.
+
+"Did you _really_ see anyone, Mrs. Dale?" had asked Buckingham, in a
+grave whisper.
+
+"I really did; the--but hush, she returns."
+
+"You look pale, Mrs. Gower," he said, kindly, "put me up anywhere to
+mount guard over you for to-night."
+
+"Oh, no, I thank you, not for worlds," she said, nervously; but
+recovering herself, added, "you know I have Thomas, and Mrs. Dale may
+only have seen a shadow, like a cloud which will pass."
+
+"Clouds sometimes precede a storm."
+
+"But not always," she says, with a sudden resolve, "for if Mrs. Dale
+will stay with me all night, she will be its silver lining."
+
+"Indeed, I shall with pleasure," she said, eagerly, adding, in mock
+condescension, "Good night, Mr. Dale."
+
+"What do you mean, Ella; our cab is here?"
+
+"I am going to stay with Mrs. Gower, Henry, so good night, dear; an
+extra blanket and night-cap must be my substitute," she said, as he
+kissed her good night.
+
+"Good night, Mr. Dale; you are keeping up your character for
+generosity," said Mrs. Gower.
+
+"Come along, Dale," said Buckingham, glad of the arrangement; "I shall
+be with you as far as the Rossin House."
+
+"Oh, Henry," called his wife, as he was entering the cab, "don't forget
+the schools are on for to-morrow; Mrs. Gower says to come up at one, to
+luncheon; don't forget Garfield and Miss Crew; and tell Miss Crew to
+send me first thing, by electric despatch, 82 Yonge Street, my plum
+walking dress, and bonnet to match, and----"
+
+"No more, dear, please; you should have given it to me in manuscript
+form, I fear I shall not remember it."
+
+"Poor Capt. Cuttle, when found make a note on," said Mrs. Gower,
+jokingly, but rather nervously, peering out, in and among the dark
+bushes.
+
+"I'll coach him," laughed Buckingham.
+
+"Etc., etc., etc.," called out Mrs. Dale, as the hack rolls away.
+
+As the friends turn from the door, Mrs. Gower herself seeing to the
+fastenings and putting the chain on, Thomas said:
+
+"Beg pardon, ma'am, but can you step this way, please?"
+
+"But, Thomas," she said, trying in vain to battle with her fate.
+
+"Yes ma'am, I know it's a shame to be a pestering of you at this hour,
+but it's----"
+
+"Very well, Thomas, I shall attend to it; excuse me, dear Mrs. Dale, for
+a few moments, and then we must really go to bed."
+
+"That's all right; I know what the calls upon a housekeeper are."
+
+Quick as a flash, on the exit of her hostess, the portiere hangings are
+drawn, the gas at one end turned out, the window flown to.
+
+"Yes, my lady crouches there still, and--yes, that is he on the kitchen
+steps; the light from the window points you out to me, my dear
+cupid--done up by a west-end tailor; the door opens, which shows me my
+kind hostess; and now for the woman--for ferret out this mystery I
+shall--for in some way, unknown to me, this gentleman and follower are
+worrying the life out of my friend."
+
+With a waterproof on, noiselessly she opens the window and shutters; a
+step and the veranda is reached; with beckoning hand she endeavors to
+attract the attention of the woman, but without success, as she is
+wholly absorbed in watching the door by which the man entered. Afraid of
+attracting attention by calling out, she twists a couple of buttons off
+her waterproof, throwing them on to the gravel walk; her object is
+gained and defeated simultaneously, for the woman, taking fright, makes
+for the gate, at which Tyr, who had made his exit on the man making his
+_entree_, swift as a deer, ran barking after her; but she is safe
+outside the gate, at which Mrs. Dale quiets Tyr, who has come up to her,
+rubbing his cold nose to her still colder hands. And now to make another
+attempt. In a few moments the gate is reached; yes, the woman is
+standing under the shade of a tree on the boulevard, the lamplight
+falling full upon Mrs. Dale.
+
+"Down, Tyr, be quiet; down, I say. Come here, young woman; don't fear, I
+only wish to speak to you."
+
+"I won't go there; let me alone, for I warn you, I am a desperate
+woman," she growled, in threatening tones, Tyr making a dash to be at
+her.
+
+"Come here, Tyr, it's all right. But what is your trouble? If you will
+only trust me, I feel sure I can help you," she says, breathlessly, for
+she does not wish her friend to miss her.
+
+"_You help me!_ go away with your smooth serpent tongue; away to that
+other hussy, in her silks and jewels, robbing an honest woman of
+her----"
+
+But her sentence was never finished, for the man is coming; and quick as
+a deer she is out of sight.
+
+Mrs. Dale is quietly seated by the cheerful grate, apparently absorbed
+in "Cleveland's winning card," as given in _Judge_, when her hostess
+returns, looking sad and troubled.
+
+"I don't know how it is I feel so nervous to-night, dear," she said,
+seeing to the window fastenings; "I am so glad you are with me, but you
+will find me very doleful."
+
+"Not a bit of it, Mrs. Gower; I am no relation to an acquaintance of
+mine, who is not content unless one is making a buffoon of oneself for
+her especial delectation."
+
+"I fear she would cut my acquaintance in my present mood. I am going to
+ask you a favor, dear; it is to call me Elaine; I shall feel less alone
+in this big world, and can talk to you more freely, hearing my Christian
+name. I dare say it is a childish fancy for a woman of my age, but----"
+
+"But me--no buts. Elaine, we are true friends, and you have some secret
+trouble which I ought to share, else, what use is my friendship to you;
+you will tell it me, dear?" and the pretty Irish eyes look up into the
+dark ones bending over her with a questioning look.
+
+"Tell me first, dear, did you recognize anyone in the garden to-night?"
+
+"I did, Elaine."
+
+At this, covering her face with her coldly nervous hands, she said,
+brokenly:
+
+"God help me, I am driven by the winds, and tossed; I must sleep on it
+to-night, and if I feel strong enough, tell you all to-morrow."
+
+"That's right, and to insure your being brave enough, you must take the
+best tonic, sleep; so let us mount," she said affectionately, rising and
+taking her friend's arm.
+
+"Very well, dear; and the dropping rain shall be my lullaby in wooing
+the god of slumber."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+ON THE RACK.
+
+
+It was no heated fancy of a half-delirious brain of our poor friend,
+Cole, that he had heard a tap on the gloomy door of the east chamber, at
+Broadlawns, on the night he was snared by the huntress; held by the
+fetters of a loveless union with Margaret Villiers; but he paid no heed
+to the stealthy tap, repeated whenever the revelry below was loudest;
+but as silent as the grave, he almost holds his breath as he watches the
+door, a look of agony in his tired eyes, which throb as does his head in
+neuralgic torture; but now, his strange midnight visitor, as if driven
+to desperation by his silence, says through the keyhole:
+
+"For heaven's sake, let me in!"
+
+But no response; he will trust no one under the roof of this hateful
+place, to which he has been trapped, in which he has lost his freedom,
+in which the terrible conviction has seized him that he is going to be
+laid low by the fell hand of sickness. What is that? Yes, he sees a slip
+of paper passed under the door; his midnight visitor is evidently bent
+on obtaining an interview; pale as a ghost, and trembling in every limb,
+he creeps noiselessly to the door, picks up the paper, and reads the
+following words:
+
+"I am the woman who came in _too late_ to stop your marriage; _your own
+friends_, who are far away, would tell you to see me. For God's sake,
+let me do what I can for you, even _now_."
+
+But for her wording, as to his "friends far away," he would have paid no
+heed; he remembers now, in a dazed sort of way, amidst the medley he has
+been in ever since his arrival, that there was some woman who appeared,
+was maligned, and vanished, all in a few seconds. Yes, if he could only
+feel sure the oak door only separated him from one not in league with
+his enemies, as he now feels them to be, the lock would be immediately
+turned; but, should it be a fraud whereby to obtain admittance for the
+terrible woman he has wedded, and whom he loathes and fears at the same
+time; and so, with his cold, nervous hand upon the lock, he hesitates,
+when she again appeals a last time through the keyhole.
+
+"I must go, and leave you to your misery, if you will not open the door;
+they are preparing to come up stairs."
+
+At this, the dread of loneliness, the craving for sympathy, with the
+sinking feeling of sickness coming over him, the natural instinct of
+self-preservation impelling him to risk something in endeavoring to
+secure one friend to be about him if he cannot shake off this feeling of
+intense lassitude, low spirits, head and brain on fire, and throbbing as
+with ten thousand pulses, cause him with a sudden fear lest she should
+go, to turn the key, when noiselessly, a pale woman with an intensely
+sad expression in her whole countenance, and prematurely grey, enters.
+
+"Poor fellow! and a kindly, handsome face, too; what a sacrifice! God
+knows how willingly I would have saved you; but their moves were hidden
+from me," she said piteously, in a low whisper, gazing into his face
+tearfully, while taking his hands in her own.
+
+In the reaction he flung her off, saying, brokenly,
+
+"Why were you not in time? What trust have you broken so, blighting my
+very existence? Out upon you, woman, you may go and leave me to
+despair."
+
+"No, no, I must stay; I _will_ stay; you are ill, but will be more calm;
+though with _her_! God help you, you will never find peace, never be at
+rest."
+
+And throwing her apron over her face, she, too, sank on to the sofa
+where he was; but he is, after a few moments, quiet again, and drawing
+the covering from her face, which she has used as if to shut out the
+view where all, all is misery to the last degree, she turns to look at
+him; both hands white, cold and trembling, cover his face, through his
+fingers drop scalding tears, silent tears of woe.
+
+"Do not give way so, sir. Poor fellow, you are indeed to be pitied, away
+from your home, away from your own land. They sent me off to London on
+messages--to get me out of the way--for some things for Miss Villiers,
+as then was."
+
+"Don't remind me. God help me. Swear, woman, swear!" he said excitedly,
+"to stay by me to get me well; quick, for my inner consciousness tells
+me I shall be, nay am, ill; elucidate this mystery, is it money they
+want, how can I escape? swear, swear to stay by me in this place,
+smelling of brimstone. Swear!" he continued, forgetting time and place,
+as he raised his voice, only remembering his wretchedness.
+
+"For heaven's sake try to calm yourself; they have heard you, they come;
+not a sound; they will turn me out, and you will have only them. I
+conjure you, curb yourself; not a sound." And taking both his hands to
+her knee, with motherly tenderness, seeks by gently stroking or holding
+them in hers to soothe him to even momentary calm.
+
+"I say, Cole, are you sleeping?" said the voice of Stone, turning the
+handle. "You should have been down with us; we have been feeding like
+fighting cocks."
+
+"I am sure I heard him talking," said Margaret. "Mean fellow he is;
+feigning sleep."
+
+"Good night, Cole, or rather, morning; pleasant dreams," said Stone,
+malevolently.
+
+"Look, uncle, at aunt rolling into her bed-chamber; veal pie and stout
+will be her nightmare. Good night, spouse," she said, through the
+keyhole.
+
+At this, Sarah Kane had great difficulty in quieting him. "I kiss my
+hand to you"--for she is hilarious; a glass of beer, a change of name,
+three thousand per annum secured, have been a powerful stimulant.
+
+"It's my belief he heard every word we said, but wouldn't give in," said
+her uncle, as they went along the hall.
+
+"Of course, he did, the mean pup; but never fear, I'll make him knuckle
+under."
+
+"That you will," he said, chuckling.
+
+When all is again quiet at Broadlawns, Charlie Cole and Sarah Kane again
+breathe more freely.
+
+"Tell now, _now_," he says feverishly, "how I am to get away from here
+and without, remember, that woman? You will have to stay by me, for I am
+too ill, God help me, to act alone."
+
+"First, you must undress and get into bed; my, but you are weak!"
+
+"I am; please take this key and unlock my trunk; I am not equal to any
+exertion."
+
+"Were you ill crossing the ocean, sir?"
+
+"I was, but nothing like this; the medical attendant on board said I
+must have some mental worry which preyed even then upon my bodily
+health."
+
+"Your name, Charles Cole, how well I remember it," she said, reading it
+on his linen. "My poor dead mistress and friend trusted me--God help me
+if I have seemed unfaithful to my trust. Perhaps I should have found out
+and followed my young mistress, but Silas and I thought I had best watch
+her interests here. God pity me," she said tearfully, falling upon her
+knees. "Good Lord, watch over her, lead my steps to her, for I have
+failed in preventing their black deeds here; so I shall go to America to
+try and find you, poor, dear, wronged Miss Pearl."
+
+Here Cole, with a groan of weakness and dizziness, falls half undressed
+upon the bed, at which Sarah Kane flies to him, takes off his boots,
+assisting him to get under the clothes.
+
+"Poor, poor feet, like ice," she says pityingly; "I must do something
+for him. Heaven help him among such a horde of cruel hearts; I must at
+any risk go down and get a foot warmer. Poor fellow, so gentle and
+amiable-like, he deserved a better fate, and should have a physician at
+once; but the mind, the poor sick mind, as well as body, how will that
+be calmed? There, there, don't mind anything; try to sleep. I am going
+down stairs to get a foot-warmer for you."
+
+"No, no," he said nervously, "you must not leave me."
+
+"I have listened in the hall, and they are all snoring, sleeping heavily
+after the late supper. I must, indeed, sir, see to the warming of your
+feet; it will only take me five minutes; please consent, for your own
+sake."
+
+"Well, go; and I will lock the door after you, lest the wretches come
+in," and attempting to sit up he feels too weak, falling backwards with
+a heavy sigh.
+
+Sarah Kane, now really alarmed, slips off her shoes, silently unfastens
+the door, making a speedy exit; passing the doors of the sleepers
+without detection, not so though on entering the servants' wing--the
+cook and man-servant seeming both restless, she hesitates, then on with
+flying feet accomplishes her object, bringing also mustard; up again
+this time, not risking the back stairs and the servants, the front
+stairs, which, being thickly padded, cover her footfalls.
+
+Back again, she finds him staring fixedly at the door in terror, lest
+any but herself should appear. She now applies the foot-warmer, also
+putting mustard plasters to the nape of the neck and pit of the stomach.
+
+"You look tired," he said languidly, "but I cannot say go and rest, I am
+not brave enough."
+
+"I am accustomed to do without sleep. I nurse many sick. Since my poor
+mistress died, and they sent sweet Miss Pearl out to the States, I have
+no regular duties here, but thought it wise, as they did not bid me go,
+to stay on and watch them. They often quarrel over my being here, Mr.
+Stone wanting to drive me out, Miss--I mean--but no, never mind--there,
+there," stroking his hands, "the aunt and niece thinking, and true, that
+I know too much. It's a fact, sir, but I have not known how to check
+them for all. God help me, but when I see you well and away from this
+home of the Pharisee--this place with a heart of stone and a tongue of
+oil, or evil, as it suits--I must see what is best, even so late."
+
+And so the poor, half-distracted thing talked on and on, often in a
+disconnected sort of way, but her tones were soothing.
+
+"Go on," he said, opening his eyes; "what trust have you broken," he
+repeated, "bringing me to this?" Here he grew excited, but, evidently
+too weak to talk, said languidly, putting her hand to his brow:
+
+"Feel that, their work," he said feverishly, "and in part yours, as you
+have not exposed them; why have you not?"
+
+"What would the world heed had I, _in their employ_, lifted up my voice
+against them? they are all Pharisees, all strict church-goers, and would
+turn the wrath against myself, for I do not make loud prayers, their
+hypocrisy driving me to my closet, instead of to the be-seen-of-men sort
+of religion; no, no one would have believed me, though I think now of
+one who would, and he is Dr. Annesley, of the city. I have erred in
+judgment, but never thought they would marry you to Miss Villiers; nay,
+look at it calmly, if you can, sir, and get well sooner. My father was
+an attorney, but rogues fleeced him, and I was penniless; my late
+mistress took me here, and I was her friend and confidant, for they were
+cruel to her and her child. Silas Jones and I knew of Miss Pearl and
+yourself, and Silas said----"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+LUCIFER'S VOTARIES RAMPANT.
+
+
+"Yes, Silas Jones shall hear of how we found his precious Sarah Kane
+alone in a man's bedroom," sneered the coldly cruel voice of Mrs. Cole,
+entering, and not making a seductive picture in bright green dressing
+gown, with large purple flowers, her hooked nose as red as her high
+cheek bones, her awful eyes fixed, staring and stony, her uncle and aunt
+following.
+
+"Oh dear, oh dear! Heaven help us! I forgot to lock the door when I
+brought the poor fellow the foot-warmer," thought Sarah Kane,
+distractedly.
+
+"I thought I heard a jabbering going on before you called me, Margaret,"
+said her uncle, savagely.
+
+"How dare you bring disrepute on a virtuous home by coming to a man's
+bedroom at night, and alone, Sarah Kane?" asked Miss Stone, quivering
+with rage at being disturbed after her late supper.
+
+"Sarah Kane, go and pack up, and see that you develop no light-finger
+tricks; you leave Broadlawns at daybreak," hissed Margaret, between her
+teeth.
+
+"Please let me stay, ma'am, until Mr. Cole recovers; indeed, indeed he
+is very, very ill."
+
+"That is _my_ affair--go!" and she points to the now open door.
+
+"She has been kind to me, she must stay; I am too ill for her to leave
+me; if she goes she must take me," said Cole, sitting upright, his pulse
+rapidly rising.
+
+"We don't harbor women of her stamp," said Margaret, beside herself with
+rage at her having gained the ear of Cole; she would willingly have torn
+her limb from limb.
+
+"Get out of here, and at _once_, Sarah Kane, unless you would have me
+use violence," said Stone, savagely; for from the words of Cole he sees
+she has made a favorable impression.
+
+"I implore you not to go and leave me here," said the sick man,
+excitedly; "my brain is on fire. I am weak and ill; oh! by everything
+you hold sacred, stay by me and nurse me; if not, I go too, if I have to
+crawl to the door;" and he attempted to rise.
+
+"This is nonsense, Cole; she must go; I have wanted to turn her adrift
+before this. We shall procure you a medical attendant at once; though, I
+think, did you take a berth in a steamer immediately for America, it
+would be best, and set you up all right, especially with Margaret as
+nurse. Sarah Kane, what are you waiting for?"
+
+"For the impetus of someone's foot, I presume," sneered Margaret.
+
+Sarah Kane, with a pitiful look at Cole, her lip quivering and whole
+frame trembling, prepared to leave the room, saying, as she smoothed his
+pillows:
+
+"Try and keep calm, sir, you will get well all the quicker, and I shall
+go and tell Silas Jones, and see if he can help you."
+
+At a sign from Margaret, her uncle followed her from the room, when she
+said, hurriedly:
+
+"I am going to give the wretch permission to remain until morning, to
+prevent an interview with Silas Jones; after breakfast, you say you will
+drive her in to Mrs. Mansfield's. We have never let her know she wants
+her, but now she will be capital bait; Sarah Kane will bite, and so be
+hooked, when you can lodge her for safe keeping at Tom Lang's, who, if
+needs be, may give her the luxury of a straight-jacket."
+
+"I feel inclined to say No, and kick her out at once; otherwise, yours
+is a good plan."
+
+"It is the only gag to fit the case; but out of that room _she shall
+go_. She may go and pack up. I'll show them who is mistress."
+
+"Yes, do; besotted fool, that Cole is, to have turned us against him.
+You don't think that viper will go to Silas Jones at daybreak, do you?"
+
+"No; his shop won't be open until seven. By that time cook can have an
+early breakfast for you, and you will then at once drive off to London,
+and if Silas Jones comes prowling around here after her, leave him to
+me, that's all," she said, cruelly, returning to the sick room.
+
+"Go to your room at once, Sarah Kane, pack up your things, and be ready
+to leave this house at seven sharp; go," she said, stamping her foot.
+"Don't pollute us by your presence any longer."
+
+"I pray of you to let me stay and nurse him; I will do just what you
+wish, spare you from fatigue, be no trouble, only let me stay," she
+cried, imploringly.
+
+Margaret turned her stony gaze upon her. "Put her out, Uncle Timothy, or
+I shall."
+
+"Get out, woman," he said, taking her by the shoulder, Miss Stone
+shoving her, and saying:
+
+"Be thankful, hussy, you are getting off so well."
+
+"At your peril send her forth; it will be the worse for you all when I
+recover, if you do," said Cole, with the utmost excitement.
+
+"Keep cool, Cole; you don't know what a viper we have harbored. I am
+only going to take her to a Mrs. Mansfield's, and, if she can speak so
+much truth, she will tell you she is a friend of hers," said Stone,
+vengefully.
+
+"You are heaping coals of fire on the viper's head by taking her there,
+Timothy," said Miss Stone, wonderingly.
+
+"Is this person a friend of yours, Sarah?" asked Cole, forlornly
+pressing both hands to his throbbing temples. "How cruel they are to
+send you from me. Do you know of a good physician, Sarah?"
+
+"Oh, yes, sir; Dr. Annesley, of London; he----"
+
+"Hold your prate, Sarah Kane, and mind your own business," cried
+Margaret, trembling with rage. "Get out of here," and with a smart push
+she is outside and the key turned.
+
+For a few moments Sarah Kane stood irresolute, when the clock struck
+three.
+
+"Yes, that will be best," she thought, "but I have no time to lose,"
+and, quickly flying to her own apartment, she hurriedly packs up, but
+not the handsome wardrobe willed her by her late mistress, of which she
+knows not, but simply her own modest apparel; this she places in two
+trunks, weeping silently the while for the evil come upon the poor sick
+man in yonder east chamber, for her own forced desertion of him into the
+cruel hands of the inmates at Broadlawns, for her own undefined plans to
+find her young mistress, and endeavor to reinstate her in the fortune
+willed her, which she is in doubt now that the law will give her, as she
+has not married Charles B. Cole. She weeps on, as she thinks of the
+fearful fraud that has been committed; for here is Mr. Cole married!
+actually married to Miss Villiers, in Sarah Kane's estimation, the most
+wicked woman that lives, when he had been the intended husband of her
+sweet, gentle Miss Pearl.
+
+"Woe, woe, that I did not go to Dr. Annesley, and tell him of the
+prolonged absence of Miss Pearl, instead of watching here, or to a
+lawyer; but I dreaded their fees, as they have paid me no salary for
+five years, nor can I claim it, as they told me if I staid I should get
+nothing. I have erred in judgment. God help me and that poor sick man.
+Yes, I must slip away and tell Silas. It is fortunate Mary is with him
+still, or they (if by some mischance they miss me) might again make
+occasion to malign me as to going to see a man; how easily those
+smooth-tongued hypocrites can take away one's character, and they doing
+the real harm all the while. My grey ulster and hat will not be too
+heavy; it is quite a cool morning, and being up all night, and
+supperless to bed, makes me feel chilly. How surprised Silas and his
+sister will be. I know he will want me to marry him at once, but I feel
+too old and grey; but, as he says, so I have told him for years; and he
+has waited and waited until the clouds at Broadlawns would lighten, and
+now they are blacker than ever. Kind Silas, good and true Silas, what
+will you say to this terrible marriage of poor Mr. Cole to awful Miss
+Villiers?"
+
+And now her expeditious fingers having set her house in order, her grey
+hair rolled back from her brow, her small, regular features, sensitive
+mouth, and good blue eyes looking wan and anxious, locking her door, she
+slips down the back stairs, and out into the chill dulness of an October
+morning. In fifteen minutes she knocks at the house of Silas Jones, the
+front room of which he calls his shop, selling in a quiet way stationery
+and current literature. The city clocks are ringing the last quarter
+before four, and Mary is the first to hear the unusual sound on the
+knocker at that early hour. Waiting to hear it repeated, she lifts the
+window, when, at Sarah Kane's voice calling Silas, they both hasten down
+to open the door.
+
+"Dear me, Sarah; what's up?" said Mary, kissing her. "What a scare you
+gave me!"
+
+"You have been up all night, Sarah," said Silas Jones, reproachfully,
+leading her in, as he again locked the door. "However, as this is the
+earliest kiss I have ever had, I shall not scold you too much; but whom
+have you been looking nearer your own grave for this time, Sarah? You
+have been nursing again, I suppose, and are returning to Broadlawns?"
+
+"How you chatter, Silas, dear; Sarah can't get in a word edgeways," said
+Mary, kindly, but curiously.
+
+"I was only giving our Sarah time to catch her breath, she has been
+running and is cold," he said, rubbing her hands. "Make her a hot drink
+over the spirit-lamp, Mary, please."
+
+"The very thing, Silas, dear; what a good man you will make our Sarah;
+here, drink this, Sarah, and promise to marry Silas this day week (my
+wedding-day too, Sarah), for indeed, you want someone to make you stay
+in your bed o' nights."
+
+"Yes, Sarah, dear, Mary is right; for it's my belief the wretches at
+Broadlawns wish to see you in your grave, seeing as you know too much."
+
+"Oh, Silas, that young man, Mr. Cole, came; and they have married him to
+Miss Villiers, instead of our sweet Miss Pearl," blurted out Sarah, in
+trembling tones.
+
+"You don't say, Sarah; what a fearful piece of wickedness," cried Mary,
+with distended eyes.
+
+"I am not surprised at any villainy on their part," said Silas, with
+knitted brows. "Let me see, the will reads, on Miss Pearl coming of age
+and marrying young Mr. Cole, she inherits all (so Dr. Annesley told me,
+and, by the way, he sent me word he wants to see me); well they have got
+rid, the de'il knows how, of Miss Pearl, and this ugly vixen marries the
+man to inherit; bad business, their having similar Christian names; so
+it's from there you come, and not from sick nursing? Tell us all, dear."
+
+"Well, Silas, that's just what I ran here for, for they've as good as
+turned me out, at least, I am to go at daybreak, and----"
+
+"Did they dare to turn you out, you a lady born, though their
+drudge--faithful in nursing, faithful in your housekeeping. Shielding
+them, when you could have put the blood-hounds of the law on their
+track, hoping things would right themselves in this very marriage; but
+to Miss Pearl--turn you out, after wasting your youth and mine in a
+martyr's life, to see that right was eventually done to the innocent
+daughter of your dead friend, growing literally grey in this
+self-imposed duty, while we both lived lonely lives apart, when they
+should be in a felon's dock for breach of trust; never mind, it is my
+turn now, they shall be exposed, and compelled to disgorge; Miss Pearl
+must be found, Mrs. Mansfield may know something."
+
+"Mrs. Mansfield, yes, Silas, that is where Mr. Stone is going to drive
+me at seven sharp this a.m., and, oh dear, it is near six; I must hasten
+back, else they may make me black in Bayswater, for they have called me
+a hussy to-night, Silas, because I went to poor Mr. Cole's bedroom, who
+is very ill, and he was sorry when they turned me out, Silas, for he
+knows he has fallen into their net, and he is ill in mind and body; God
+help him. He is kindly and handsome, is yielding and pliable, and so an
+easy prey; he was to have met his father, he tells me. Ah, he would have
+saved him, but he is ill, he learned on his arrival, and away off across
+the sea at Montreal; but I had to come and tell you, Silas, for I missed
+you last evening, when they sent me to the city, so I should be out of
+the way, and alas! I came back too late to save him," she said,
+tearfully.
+
+"Don't go near them again, Sarah," said Mary, sympathetically.
+
+"Yes, Sarah, that's it; stay with us, and we will pet and nurse you, and
+you will be my wife."
+
+"No dears, I could not remain inactive so near poor Mr. Cole; he hates
+them as his enemies, it is best for me to go to Mrs. Mansfield, I shall
+be near Dr. Annesley, and must see what can be done; you will come and
+see me at Mrs. Mansfield's, so good-bye, now, dears."
+
+"I shall come to the city to-morrow, Sarah, so look out for me, dear,"
+he said, buttoning her ulster.
+
+"You shouldn't be parting us at all, Sarah," said Mary, tearfully.
+
+"But only for a few days, Mary."
+
+"You must marry me this day week, Sarah, dear, for somehow I feel as if
+evil will come to you parted from me; promise, it will bridge the time,"
+he said, following her out into the grey morning light.
+
+"I promise." And there and then, in the dim gaze of the earliest bees in
+life's hive, she is pressed to his loyal heart.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+FENCING OFF CONFIDENCE.
+
+
+The knowledge that, with the morning, her friend would look for a
+confidence as regarded the intrusion by a man into the grounds of
+Holmnest on the evening previous, unless, indeed, by fencing she could
+ward off such confidence, caused Mrs. Gower to pass an almost sleepless
+night; and so, with the natural desire to put off the evil day, she
+arose later than usual, lingering over bath and toilette. But now in
+warm morning robe of a pretty, red woollen material, with ecru lace
+rufflings, she is worth a second look; though her thoughts are sad, for
+under the dark hair on her brow, her eyes wear a wistful expression, and
+on her sensitive lips is almost a quiver of pain, as she stands at her
+window, looking mechanically on the familiar scene.
+
+"He always looks up," she thought, as a gentleman passed, "and must now
+either reside in the neighborhood, or take it in in his morning outing.
+How a lonely woman notices any seeming interest taken in herself. I have
+not seen much of him since poor Charlie Cole went away, and strange; but
+I miss his face if I don't see him for some days. I remember telling
+Charlie of a dream I had of this very man, and his _bete noir_, Philip
+Cobbe. That reminds me again of my promised confidence to Mrs. Dale, it
+was weak in me to make any such promise--I, who have never had a
+confidant, even when a girl. I have met some who would have been staunch
+and true enough, I feel sure, but I never thought heart secrets were
+altogether one's own; and as to this chatter over men's kind or loving
+attentions to one, is just about the meanest thing a woman or girl can
+be guilty of. It is sufficient to deter men from being commonly civil. I
+have known women prate and boast by name of those who have paid them the
+highest compliment a man can, that is of asking them to be their wife;
+yes, I positively shrink from meeting my kind, little friend, Ella Dale,
+she has a positive craving for knowledge," she thought, with a half
+smile; "and had she been Eve she would have cut short the eloquence of
+the serpent's tongue, and have succumbed, merely out of curiosity. And
+yet she is a dear little woman, craving to be 'trusted all, or not at
+all,' and meaning good to me; and perhaps I should be less lonely did I
+empty my griefs into the lap of another's mind; but again, in confiding
+in a married woman one confides in her husband also. It is natural, but,
+at the same time, not altogether pleasant; but at that peremptory ring I
+must give up dreaming here, or my 'Madonna of the Tubs' will be giving
+me notice."
+
+"Good morning, dear. Pardon my not having been down to welcome you," she
+said, warmly, finding her friend and the morning papers ensconced in a
+rocker by the grate, Tyr stretched on the rug.
+
+"I have just come down, Elaine, and have had my mirrored reflection as
+company, and don't I look comical, encased in this dressing gown you
+lent me? Won't I have to eat a substantial breakfast to fill it out?"
+
+"All right, dear, if my seraph of the frying pan condescended to fill my
+orders, we have bloaters on the menu."
+
+"I am ready for them, Elaine, and feel bloated already," she said, as
+they seated themselves at table.
+
+"I wonder what kind of a day we shall have for your review of the city
+schools? Old Sol does not seem to have made up his mind whether to laugh
+or weep," said Mrs. Gower, as she touched the bell to remove the fruit.
+
+"I hope he will be good enough to weep over some other city, for I am
+sure Henry will not bring my waterproof."
+
+"But Miss Crew will, she seems so really thoughtful. What do you intend
+doing with her when you place Garfield at school?"
+
+"That's just what I am in a quandary about. I like her, for she puzzles
+me."
+
+"What a droll little creature you are, Ella; you have a perfect craze
+for working out problems, even to a woman," she said, laughingly.
+
+"Now you mustn't think, Elaine, that my interest in you has the remotest
+connection with the mystery at Holmnest," she said, opening her blue
+eyes in apparent innocence, but in reality her words being a reminder to
+her hostess.
+
+"The mystery at Holmnest? What a tragic sound you give it, it makes
+one's flesh creep, but I have not forgotten how large-hearted you are,
+dear, when you do not forget, 'Share ye one another's burdens.'"
+
+"Yes, you must tell me all, Elaine, and I feel sure that with, or
+without the advice of Henry, your trouble will either vanish or lighten
+by your sharing it with me."
+
+"Yes, perhaps so," she said gravely; "but we must not spoil our
+breakfast, and the play of knife and fork. My little tragedy must be the
+afterpiece this time."
+
+"As you will, Elaine, but don't bear it too long alone. Tragedy is
+heavy. How cozy and home-like breakfasting with you is after hotel
+life."
+
+"I am glad you think so, Ella."
+
+"Your dark leather chairs and handsome sideboard look well against the
+brown paper on the walls, and oh, you won't mind telling me who hung
+your drapings, _portiere_ hangings, and all that, they are in such good
+taste."
+
+"Murray did them for me; it was a case of two heads being better than
+one, where I was at fault he set me right."
+
+"Your home is small, but all so home-like, except for one great want, a
+man to hang his hat up in the hall as your husband, and a child to call
+you mother."
+
+"Quite a tempting picture, Ella," she answered, a little sadly, "but
+'_l'homme propose Dieu dispose_."
+
+"Take the man, when he proposes, Elaine; I cannot bear to see you
+alone."
+
+"That is my advice to my friends also, Ella; but, speaking of living
+alone, will you and Miss Crew come to me when you place Garfield at
+school, and during the absence of Mr. Dale north-east with Mr.
+Buckingham; say you will, it won't be for long."
+
+"It's the thing above all others that will please me, Elaine. Excuse my
+Irish blood, but I must give vent to my feelings by giving you a hug,"
+she said, merrily, as they rose from table.
+
+"Angels and ministers of grace defend us, Elaine, here's a lady visitor;
+and now that her umbrella is down, I see Mrs. Smyth. But, fond as I am
+of her, I wish her back to her home, for I wanted the morning alone with
+you."
+
+"You are both looking charming, it's a pity I am not a gentleman caller,
+but what lazy people you are," said lively Mrs. Smyth.
+
+"Now that I have emerged from the under side of Fortune's wheel, I do
+believe I am growing epicurean," said Mrs. Gower, gaily.
+
+"Don't I look too sweet for anything, Mrs. Smyth?" said Mrs. Dale,
+promenading up and down the room; "haven't I grown stout?"
+
+"But you are all uneven," laughed Mrs. Smyth.
+
+"Now, that is cruel, Mrs. Smyth; 'tis 'love's labor lost,' after having
+utilized all the mats, towels and pillow-shams in my bedroom as
+stuffing, to be simply told I am uneven."
+
+"Stuffing never goes down with me, Mrs. Dale," laughed Mrs. Smyth.
+
+"It's a good thing for us you are not a man," said Mrs. Dale, demurely.
+
+"Women all angles would cry 'hear, hear!'" laughed Mrs. Gower.
+
+"But you don't ask me what brought me in this morning."
+
+"No, I am too glad to have you; but is it a call of a mouth full of
+news?"
+
+"Yes, which I shall stuff you with 'as pigeons do their young.'"
+
+"Me, too!" piped Mrs. Dale.
+
+"Mr. King is in town, Mrs. Gower; there, I thought I should electrify
+you, but you don't seem to care."
+
+"I do, for we shall now have news of the Coles."
+
+"And is that all you will welcome him all the way from Ottawa for?"
+
+"That is all, Lilian; these little flirtations, _pour passez le temp_,
+soon burn themselves out."
+
+"What a funny woman you are, Elaine; sometimes I can't make you out at
+all."
+
+"Don't try to, dear, when I puzzle you; life is too short for
+problem-solving, though our little friend here doesn't think so. But did
+Mr. King name the Coles?"
+
+"He did."
+
+"Thank you, Thomas," said Mrs. Gower, receiving her letters, which had
+been put in the letter-box by the letter-carrier.
+
+"One moment, you will excuse me, dears, while I run my letters over."
+One marked "Immediate," she read to herself as follows:
+
+     "THE QUEEN'S, Wed. Eve., Nov. 9th.
+
+     "MY DEAR MRS. GOWER,--It is with extreme pleasure I again find
+     myself in the same city with yourself, and am anticipating with
+     intense eagerness an interview. I go west to-morrow p.m., so
+     shall go up to Holmnest in the morning.
+
+     "As ever, yours devotedly,
+          "CYRIL KING.
+
+     "MRS. GOWER,
+          "Holmnest, West Toronto."
+
+"Oh, dear! oh, dear! he may be here any moment, and I am in a quandary
+as to what I shall do with him. This little settling up of one's
+_affaires de coeur_ is distasteful, but I have not been a bit to blame
+here," she thought, quietly tearing up the note, and making a holocaust
+of it.
+
+"Oh, I can assure you, Mrs. Dale, she had scarcely any waist covering at
+all," said Mrs. Smyth, in disgust, "she looked simply dreadful."
+
+"Who is the woman this time, dear?" asked Mrs. Gower, amusedly, as she
+fastened some camellias to her gown; "what fair one are you throwing mud
+at now, Lilian?"
+
+"Oh, that Mrs. St. Clair. Miss Hall walked down with me as far as
+College Street this morning, and she says, or rather mouthed, for she is
+too full of affectation to speak plain, but managed to convey that Mrs.
+St. Clair's dress began too late during the Langtry season. Her dress
+was _couleur de rose_ (what there was of it), no sleeves, well there was
+an invisible band, Miss Hall said (I wondered at her, the way she
+talked, as she is so thick there). Now, what do you think of Mrs. St.
+Clair, Elaine?"
+
+"I think that she would be the cynosure of all eyes--men's, for she is
+very fair to look upon."
+
+"But, Elaine, she is enamelled! Miss Hall's description reminded me of
+how an American paper describes such--as if they in their opera boxes
+sat in a bath tub."
+
+"Oh, that's hard," said Mrs. Dale; "who was she with, and was the boy
+Noah ready with his pinchers?"
+
+"No, it was that horrid boy's night off, I suppose, for his father was
+on duty; the little wretch nearly gave me cancer; the two Wilber girls
+and our Mr. Buckingham were the party; oh, Elaine, it's most absurd, but
+Mr. Buckingham is the 'foreign count' gossip said Mr. St. Clair is
+jealous of."
+
+"I am not surprised; all Grundy's scandal brews are a froth of lies,
+Lilian."
+
+"But it _is_ true that Mrs. St. Clair flirts and enamels."
+
+"If so, she is very pretty, and has a husband with an eagle eye--and,"
+she added gaily, "a son with claws that even you speak feelingly of."
+
+"Well, good-bye, it is getting near our dinner hour, I must off; and, as
+I live, here is the King from Ottawa; you are here opportunely to play
+gooseberry, Mrs. Dale; oh, I must tell you, you know, how quiet Mrs.
+Tremaine is. Well, she went back in the dark last Sunday evening for her
+dolman, it was so cold, but when she hung it over the front of the pew
+it proved to be the Captain's trousers!"
+
+"How do you do, dear Mrs. Gower?" he said with _empressement_, his
+strikingly handsome face aglow with pleasure.
+
+"'Mrs. Dale, my friend, Mr. King,' from the tower-crowned city, dear."
+
+"And you come to a spire-crowned one, at which, Mr. King, don't become
+unduly elevated."
+
+"I am in the heights," he said, with a swift glance at Mrs. Gower.
+
+"Then beware of the attraction of gravitation," laughed his hostess,
+thinking, "I shall have to do a little fencing, I can see by his face."
+
+"Excuse me, Elaine, I see my family are arriving."
+
+"Quite a cavalcade, Mr. King," she said, gaily.
+
+"And mercy me, that young monkey is on horseback, while the driver is
+giving his attention to bell ringing; I must fly. May I bring them
+upstairs, Elaine?"
+
+"Certainly, dear; and as your colony will want you all to themselves,
+send Miss Crew to the drawing-room; she will be happy with the piano."
+
+"How handsome he is; I wonder if he thought me uneven," mused Mrs. Dale,
+as she left the library.
+
+"Thank heaven, they are all despatched," he said, fervently, leaning
+over the back of her chair; "look around at me, dear, and tell me I am
+welcome."
+
+"You are;" and turning her face, her cheek was brushed by his whiskers;
+"but I am going to be very proper, and tell you to take that very
+comfortable chair, at the other side of the room."
+
+"Why, what have I done; don't send me away, when my heart is bursting to
+take you in my arms."
+
+"With your temperament, how full, metaphorically speaking, your arms
+must be."
+
+"No, no; you only, with your warm eyes and handsome mouth."
+
+"Come, come; no more of this, Mr. King."
+
+"Since when have you dropped Cyril; I cannot bear my surname from your
+lips."
+
+"'Tis safer so; and you _know_ I have tried to act up to this, since
+knowing you have a wife."
+
+"Yes, yes, you have; but you magnetized me from the first, and had it
+not been for that meddling fellow, Dubois, telling you, I believe,
+dearest, you would have learned to love me, wholly, and alone."
+
+"Thank heaven he did tell me, and in time."
+
+"I think there has been every excuse for me, dearest; you are aware of
+the circumstances of my marriage; then, after fifteen years of _such_
+wedded bliss, I find you, my heart's mate. I often think how tame life
+is before the meeting with the one that is to fill one's being with
+rapturous content; well, if they come to one while one has one's
+freedom, if not, what miserable loneliness; what an array of jealous
+fears. Do not turn me out of some corner in your heart, Elaine," he
+pleaded, "just because the Church and the law come between us; it is no
+fault of mine that I have met you too late to offer you my name;
+therefore, pity my misfortune, be kind to me; give me a corner in your
+affections; you will, won't you, darling," he pleaded, earnestly, his
+winsome voice coming on the air like sweet notes of song to the
+accompaniment of 'Il Trovatore,' exquisitely rendered, by Miss Crew,
+across the hall.
+
+"You must never again talk to me in this strain, Cyril," she says,
+putting her feelings aside, for she pities him intensely; "it is harmful
+for both of us; be a man, be brave. I, too, have trials; help me to bear
+them by seeing you at the post of duty; let us forget that we have
+hearts; let us harden ourselves by looking at life teeming with ill
+everywhere.
+
+"Let us, from this moment, begin over again, and talk as though the room
+was full of a gaping crowd; let us talk of anything but ourselves. Of
+Chamberlain and the fisheries; of who will run for mayor; of how that
+hot pickle, the French cabinet, will be formed; of whether Bishop Cleary
+wishes he had been tongue-tied before his imagination went without bit
+or curb on our girls; _anything_ but _ourselves_, Cyril, for pity sake."
+
+"No, it will not do, dear; we can never be as common acquaintances,
+though you charm me in any mood."
+
+"Very well; if that be so, you must go. Those songs, without words, by
+Miss Crew, with the scent of flowers, have been enough to intoxicate
+one; but you _know_ that since the knowledge came to me of your having a
+wife, that I have told you, repeatedly, our acquaintance must end unless
+you always remember, in our intercourse, the fact of your being bound to
+another. If you care to meet Mr. and Mrs. Dale, and a young lady friend,
+stay to luncheon, if you will not more than look at me as a friend--for
+I will be that."
+
+"I cannot face strangers now, and shall go, but shall write you from the
+west; and pray let me have a line in answer, saying you will see me on
+my return?" he said, beseechingly, his handsome face clouded.
+
+"I see I must tell you something I had not intended," she said,
+nervously, "they are coming downstairs to luncheon; I have promised,
+nay, am under oath," she said, gravely, "to marry a man who would make
+trouble, did he hear your words."
+
+"For heaven's sake, Elaine, don't be mad! you would be wretched, chained
+to a man like that; for the light has all left your dear face, even when
+you name him."
+
+"Beg pardon, luncheon is served, ma'am," said Thomas.
+
+"I must hasten to the dining-room, and I fear I don't look very calm.
+Good-bye; remember and be brave; others there are who have no more a bed
+of roses than yourself."
+
+"God bless you, good-bye; and I implore you, say _No_ to him. I speak,
+as you know, from experience," he whispers, with a tight hand-clasp.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE.
+
+
+"Your visitor is a strikingly handsome man, Mrs. Gower," said Mr. Dale,
+coming from the window to the table; "we shall be losing you one of
+these days as--Mrs. Gower," he continued, noticing by her pallor and the
+light in her eyes that she had been feeling intensely.
+
+"He is wondrously so; and as well, what is more perilous to the hearts
+of our sex, he possesses a rare fascination of manner."
+
+"I have been telling Henry not to jump at conclusions, for, perhaps Mr.
+King is married," said Mrs. Dale, curiously.
+
+"He is, dear; but your husband is not one of those absurd beings who
+imagine all one's men friends to be possible suitors."
+
+"Far from it, Mrs. Gower: I am a believer in men and women friendships,
+and if, in the numerous mistakes society makes, she would obliterate her
+opposition to such friendships, she would have fewer matrimonial
+blunders to chronicle."
+
+"That is very true, Mr. Dale; I have frequently found it both
+mortifying, distressing and annoying to the last degree, at little
+social gatherings at Toronto, to find myself openly accused of
+flirtation, because some man friend and I dared to enjoy a _tete-a-tete_
+chat on some mutual topic of interest."
+
+"But some women do flirt when they get a man in a corner, whether he is
+married or no," said Mrs. Dale.
+
+"Yes; but because some do, we should not all drift as we are, into no
+conversation between the sexes," said Mrs. Gower.
+
+"No, certainly not," said Dale; "Emerson says, 'I prize the mechanics of
+conversation, 'tis pulley, lever and screw;' and it is especially
+delightful between men and women--when it occurs."
+
+"Yes, as you say--when it occurs--Mr. Dale; but why is it, that the more
+solid tone of conversation of men is so seldom blended with the, at
+times more refined, even if it be more frivolous, chit-chat of my sex?
+Simply because of our dread of gossip?"
+
+
+"Then there is something 'rotten in the state of Denmark,'" said Mrs.
+Dale.
+
+"There is, dear," said Mrs. Gower, gravely, rising from the table.
+
+"Mr. Smyth is in the library, ma'am," said Thomas.
+
+"Oh, ask him if he has lunched, Thomas."
+
+"He has, ma'am."
+
+"I am vulgar enough to have dined, Mrs. Gower," said Smyth, meeting them
+at the door of the library.
+
+"As you please," she said, gaily, giving her hand; "'let ilka ane gang
+their ain gait.'"
+
+"Your son is acting on that motto, Mrs. Dale," he said, looking from the
+window. "Don't stir, he is in the back way; and has evidently been
+wrestling with our York mud."
+
+At this juncture Garfield appeared, breathless; and his pretty Norfolk
+jacket and knickerbockers all be-spattered.
+
+"How did you come to grief, my son?" asked his father.
+
+"Well, papa; first, I knocked down a sparrow with my catapult; it died
+game, falling on a foreign bird perched on a lady's steeple bonnet.
+Well, she was mad, phew! called me names for killing birds. I told her
+not to try to be funny, when she had stuffed ones on her head-dress.
+Next, I saw a man down street putting a mouth on his poor horse; man!
+how he sawed, tore the bit nearly through his head; well, I just let
+another lead fly, knocking his Christy stiff into the mud; then, he out
+of his butcher waggon and after me. I remembered some dimes in my
+pocket, got 'em, threw 'em behind--he bit, and I took my chance and
+distanced him," he said, panting for breath.
+
+"That was sport," said Smyth, laughingly; "but I have had to shut down
+on my boy's hunting, we swell our city treasury by fining such
+fire-arms."
+
+"Go to the kitchen, you poor little man," said Mrs. Gower; "and ask
+Thomas to brush you; he will get you some lunch, there is mud even in
+your curls; here, let me kiss you."
+
+"Yes, you may," he said, condescendingly.
+
+"Come along, son; mother will go with you."
+
+"You don't ask what brought me in at this hour, Mrs. Gower," said Smyth.
+
+"No, I have scarcely welcomed you, as yet."
+
+"Well, I must out with it, even if it shortens my stay; for I have only
+a few moments. On my way up to dinner, I literally ran against King, he
+was in a brown study, and I in a hurry. 'Hello!' I cried, at which he
+stopped, and quite abruptly (so unlike him), said, 'Tell Mrs. Gower I
+have heard from Mr. Cole, senr., who has been ill at Montreal. His
+physician, Dr. Peake, ordered him to Florida, positively forbidding him
+to pass the cold season at Ottawa. He is extremely anxious about
+Charlie, who has not written him. A newspaper, with the announcement of
+his marriage, being the only communication from Bayswater direct;' and
+here it is, he gave it me for you. From some outside source he has heard
+that Charlie is ill, and wishes any of us to let him know immediately at
+his hotel, Jacksonville, if we have, or receive any news. He admits to
+King, that with the exception of the girl herself, the remaining members
+of the family Charlie has married into are a bad lot."
+
+"Poor Charlie, he dreaded this marriage," she said, regretfully; "but
+seemed to be hemmed in by circumstances--a betrothal. Then she had five
+thousand pounds per annum, and his father wished him to carry it out;
+and Charlie is so yielding, altogether. When he told me about it, at the
+very last, I too advised him to go and carry out the arrangement. You
+see, as we know he was heart whole, and his salary was small, and he
+seemed born only to work the will of others, that it seemed a half
+natural sort of thing for him to drift into; still, if he is ill, and
+the family are horrid, and he over there alone, I feel sorry he went at
+all, poor fellow."
+
+"A miserable marriage would break Charlie Cole up completely," said
+Smyth.
+
+"Have you no mutual friend at London," said Dale, kindly, "to whom you
+could apply, and who might give you the facts of the case. Perhaps I can
+assist you. You told me before, Mrs. Gower, that it is to Bayswater
+suburb, your friend went; I knew a very prominent physician residing
+there, to whom I shall write, if you wish; a medical man is very often
+the very best medium in such cases."
+
+"Oh, if you would, Mr. Dale; it would be a perfect relief to all of us,"
+said Mrs. Gower.
+
+"Here is the marriage insertion," said Smyth, reading: "'At Broadlawns,
+Bayswater, London, England, on September 28th, 1887, by the Rev. Claude
+Parks, Charles Babbington-Cole, Esq., of Toronto, Dominion of Canada, to
+Margaret, daughter of the late----"
+
+"What's that! Miss Crew has fainted, poor girl," cried Mrs. Gower, "and
+hurt herself, I fear; there is water in the dining-room."
+
+"I'll get it," cried Smyth.
+
+Mrs. Dale, returning, said, "I wonder what caused it; she is delicate, I
+know, but I never knew her to faint before. My vinaigrette is on my
+dressing-table; would you get it, Henry, like a dear?"
+
+"Thank you, Mr. Dale, she revives."
+
+"Then I shall go, Mrs. Gower; and here, I shall leave the English
+newspaper with you; Lil wants you all to come over this evening, then we
+can talk over some plan--Mr. Dale's is a good one--to elicit information
+as to Charlie's position; Miss Crew is to come, too. Good-bye till
+evening."
+
+"You had better go upstairs and lie down, Miss Crew; you look very
+white, and I fear you have hurt your head, poor girl," said Mrs. Gower,
+kindly.
+
+"I did give it a knock, but you are all too kind; if it won't make any
+difference, I shall lie here for a few minutes."
+
+"Very well, dear; and a glass of wine will be good for you."
+
+"Oh, she never touches it, Elaine, she is rabid blue ribbon," said Mrs.
+Dale.
+
+"And a very good color to wear, but when one is ill," said Mrs. Gower.
+
+"Never mind the wine, Mrs. Gower, my head aches very badly, but all I
+want is to rest it a little; but shall feel very uncomfortable, though,
+if I delay your out-going; do go now."
+
+"Yes, I suppose we must."
+
+"Garfield, you stay with Miss Crew, darling, while Mrs. Gower dresses,
+and I put on my wraps."
+
+"All O. K., mamma." After a few moments spent with 'The Pansy,' he comes
+over to the sofa.
+
+"Miss Crew, Miss Crew; wake up."
+
+"I was not sleeping, dear."
+
+"But your brows were knit like this; and you looked so white. What did
+you faint for? I wanted you to come with us."
+
+"Oh, never mind, don't talk about me; I want you to give me your
+catapult."
+
+"Yes, I reckon I will, as young Smyth had to give his up; but I should
+like it if I get mad at a man for ill-treating his horse."
+
+"But a better plan would be to read the name of the owner on the
+vehicle, and report him."
+
+"Oh, that's too slow; when a fellow gets mad, he wants to let a lead fly
+right then," making a movement as if he was firing.
+
+"Oh, but that is not the best way, my boy; the wise men of old waited
+until they were out of their temper."
+
+"We don't; we just go, bang! but it was pretty good of them, I reckon.
+What did they say right at first, though?"
+
+"They said, when the evildoer was brought before them, having done them
+a great wrong, 'By the gods, were I _not_ in wrath with thee, I would
+have thee slain.'"
+
+"Well, I guess that was noble of them; I reckon my catapult must go," he
+said, fondling it, "and here goes," he said, putting it into the fire;
+"but as I don't want to hear it hissing me, I'll put a finger in each
+ear."
+
+Here Mrs. Gower, with Mr. and Mrs. Dale, entered, robed for the outer
+world, looking comely and comfortable. Mrs. Gower in blue, broken plaid
+skirt, with plain over-skirt, and waist of same color, bonnet to suit,
+tight mantle, with fox boa and muff. Mrs. Dale in plum color, with seal
+mantle; both women with the hue of health on cheek and lips, and with
+bright eyes.
+
+"Come, Garfield, my son, into your overcoat with the speed of a New York
+despatch," said his mother.
+
+"It seems too bad to leave you, Miss Crew," said Mrs. Gower,
+sympathetically; "are you sure I can do nothing for you before we
+start?"
+
+"Quite sure, thank you; my head aches a little, but I have some Dorcas
+work here, which will make me forget I have a head, I hope."
+
+"Then you will be rewarded; _au revoir_, dear."
+
+"And now for the tree of knowledge," said Mrs. Dale.
+
+After visiting the Wellesley and other city schools, the Church School
+for boys, the Collegiate Institute, Jarvis Street, and the Upper Canada
+College, they decided to place him at the latter, principally on account
+of the boarding school; they being, at present, unsettled as to their
+future plans.
+
+"Your city schools are admirable, and were we actual residents,
+housekeeping, I should ask nothing better for my boy. Some of your
+finest public men, I am told, Mrs. Gower, have sat at those desks."
+
+"Yes, so I have always heard; but I think, in Garfield's case, you have
+acted wisely. A boy coming from school to hotel life, has every
+incentive not to study."
+
+"Yes, that's just it. At the U. C. College, the example will be there in
+the other boys at their books, and I consider it a great boon to be able
+to place him under such management. The masters are talented gentlemen;
+and if a boy does not make something of himself under such guidance,
+mentally, morally and physically, then he must be made of very poor
+stuff, indeed."
+
+"Garfield, dear," said his mother, "you will have to be as starched as a
+Swiss laundry, minding your p's and q's, like an Englishman."
+
+"Oh, yes, I know; but they are the stuff, mamma. You see they give a
+fellow cricket, and drill, as well as book knowledge."
+
+"Yes, they are wise; you will study all the better. See that you make a
+man of yourself while there," said his father.
+
+"I shall never forget my goal, papa."
+
+"And what is that?"
+
+"To be President Dale, of the United States of America; and I reckon,
+when I run, my opponents won't have any dirty stories to rake up about
+me, for I'm going to begin right now."
+
+"But they frequently coin falsehoods. What would you do in that case?"
+
+"Put mamma on their trail; have 'em up, and make 'em swallow or prove
+them."
+
+"All right, my ten-year-old; mother will be your right hand man," she
+said, endearingly.
+
+"I expect the lies men have to face in the arena of public life are
+their worst foes," said Mrs. Gower. "Beecher said, 'If the lies told
+about public men could be materialized, they would roof in and cover
+over the whole earth.'"
+
+"He spoke feelingly," said Mr. Dale; "Dames Rumor and Grundy, with the
+newspapers, had him in a tight place."
+
+"Shall we go on further, Henry, and purchase the mattress, etc., for
+Garfield?"
+
+"No, I think not, Ella; I have to meet Dickson, from New York, at the
+Walker House, at six; can't you come in the morning, dear?"
+
+"Oh, yes."
+
+"Do you dine with your friend, Mr. Dale?"
+
+"Yes; so we arranged."
+
+"Then you come back with me, Ella, and this wee man, of course?"
+
+"Yes, if we don't weary you."
+
+"You know better, dear. Oh, Mr. Dale, will you kindly go into Mr.
+Smyth's office, and say we find it impossible to go over this evening,
+but will to-morrow--_sans ceremonie_, if agreeable."
+
+"Consider your commission executed, dear Mrs. Gower. I shall drive up
+for you, Ella, this evening some time; _au revoir_," and, lifting his
+hat, he is gone.
+
+After a delightful walk through the busy streets, from the Upper Canada
+College, by way of King Street West, thence north to Holmnest, they find
+Miss Crew a little quieter, perhaps, but apparently quite recovered from
+her recent swoon. Putting aside her Dorcas work, the three ladies sit in
+the firelight and gloaming, to chat until dinner hour.
+
+"I regret you were not with us, Miss Crew; the schools would have
+interested you," said Mrs. Dale.
+
+"Yes, I am sorry, too; for ever since our arrival I have heard so much
+in praise of the city schools, especially."
+
+"Their praise is ever in our mouth," said Mrs. Gower; "but my views on
+the subject are somewhat contradictory. Though going with the progress
+of the age, I don't feel quite sure that this mixing up of the children
+of the rich and poor is to the ultimate good of either."
+
+"Oh, I think it's better, Elaine, to bundle them all in together."
+
+"I don't know, Ella; the Industrial School system recommends itself very
+much to me for the poorer classes, among whom, if there is any
+originality, it will out."
+
+After dinner, to which Mr. Cobbe, coming in as it was announced, made
+one at, Miss Crew, not feeling quite herself, begging to be excused,
+retired to her room, and Garfield into the arms of Morpheus on the
+lounge; when, during a temporary absence of Mrs. Dale, Mr. Cobbe said,
+quickly, while laying a hand on either shoulder of his hostess:
+
+"What do you have that woman here all the time for? If she is going to
+spend the evening, I shall go."
+
+"Were I Mrs. Ruggles, of Pickwick fame, I should object to my friend
+being called a woman," she said, half jokingly; "as it is, I----"
+
+At this moment some pebbles were thrown against the window, cracking the
+glass. Mrs. Dale, now returning, said:
+
+"What! is it the window fired at? Things are coming to a pretty pass,"
+she said, with latent meaning; "We should have closed the shutters;
+don't, Elaine, I shall do it."
+
+"I had better go out and frighten away the tramps," said Cobbe, his face
+flushing with angry impatience.
+
+"Yes, Philip; if you will be so kind."
+
+"You are a gentlemanly man, and a good looking one, Mr. Cobbe; but I
+don't love you," said Mrs. Dale, emphatically, shaking her clenched fist
+after his retreating form.
+
+Mrs. Gower could not but smile at her little friend's vehemence, as she
+played with the bracelets on her shapely arms, her head bent in thought.
+
+"Thomas is a good servant, Elaine; he has just fastened the hall door on
+the heels of Monsieur Cobbe; and now, _ma chere_, this is the time and
+place for confidence," she said, earnestly, while laying her jewelled
+fingers on her friend's brown locks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE OATH IN THE TOWER OF TORONTO UNIVERSITY.
+
+
+"Yes, dear, draw over your rocker, he will not return, and since you are
+willing, I shall pour my griefs into the lap of your mind; seeking, as
+you say, to lessen the dead weight on my own.
+
+"Just about this time last year, not so late though, for the trees were
+lovely in tints of deep orange and crimson, with the brown of the oak.
+Our beautiful suburbs, with the Queen's Park, looking like huge bouquets
+in the hands of Dame Nature; you know my passion for scenery, Ella. One
+day--a bright and glorious day, it had been--the blue sky, almost out of
+sight, it was so uplifted; a day sufficient to raise one's spirits as by
+some powerful stimulant, I was returning from town to my modest quarters
+(not here you know, dear), about four p.m., through the park; when, Mr.
+Cobbe overtaking me, suggested our going up into the tower of the
+Toronto University to enjoy the view. I consented, knowing that the
+slanting beams of the sinking sun would kiss good-night to the
+tree-tops, lighting them with additional loveliness. We entered the
+grandly beautiful building, the janitor, unlocking the door to the
+tower, reminding us of the rule, "keys turned at five." Up, and ever
+upwards, the spiral stairway, making one dizzy in the ascent; at length,
+the top is reached; and, oh! the view, Ella, was more than beautiful. My
+eyes only rested with a passing glance at the handsome villas skirting
+the park, ever returning to dwell on the superb mass of color in the
+trees; the sun seeming to linger lovingly while photographing their
+shadows upon the grass.
+
+"I sat silent, or nearly so, for some time, when somehow the very air
+seemed full of such quiet, solemn grandeur, that thought becoming
+active, travelled in and about by-gone scenes and faces, bringing tears
+to my eyes, as a strange fit of loneliness came upon me.
+
+"I was just in the mood to say yes, to a proposal to link my life with
+another, when Philip Cobbe pleaded his suit, saying, 'In a home together
+we would be companions each for the other; that we would be happier in a
+little home together than in the cold formality of a boarding-house;
+that in our short acquaintance, we knew each other as well as people who
+had a life-long knowledge of each other; that we were each too
+warm-hearted to be content alone; that the long, dark autumn was coming
+on, in which we would be all in all to each other; that his love for me
+filled his heart.'
+
+"Then, Ella, he was really eloquent in his description of a little home
+together--a picture particularly inviting to me in my loneliness and in
+my despondent mood.
+
+"I had been, as you know, under fortune's wheel, season after season, in
+the ice-bound winter, in the scorching sun of summer; sometimes in doubt
+in which I suffered most. With a purse as 'trash,' society turned a cold
+shoulder to me. Summer friends did not see me; my real friends at a
+distance--yourselves among the foremost--could not prevail upon me to
+visit them, as I knew the only sin society refuses to pardon is an
+out-at-elbows gown; and I was too proud to accept gifts I could not
+repay.
+
+"Yet, still I hesitated in accepting Philip's offer, which seemed
+tempting in its home view; but would it be wise for me to marry him,
+simply because my life was a lonely one? I was in the act of telling
+him, 'I would sleep on it, and give him his answer, to-morrow,' when
+saying so, we were startled by the city clocks and bells striking,
+ringing and chiming six o'clock! Ella, Ella, my heart with fright seemed
+to stop beating; even yet a nervous tremor runs through me when I recall
+that moment; it was too true, on Philip consulting his watch, really, in
+the gloaming; for the sun was then sinking to rest at about five-thirty.
+
+"'Great Heavens!' I cried; 'the tower door will be locked!' At this, can
+you credit it, Ella; the face of my companion grew exultant, as he
+cried:
+
+"'Then we shall be here together until morning, and you will have to
+marry me!'
+
+"At this, Ella, a shudder of repulsion ran through me; all my liking for
+him seemed at once to leave my heart, fear taking its place. 'What shall
+we do?' I cried; 'there are no passers-by; God help me, for truly, "vain
+is the help of man." Think of something, do something, Mr. Cobbe--go to
+the foot of the stairs--hammer on the door--anything--get me out some
+way,' I said, almost in a frenzy. 'There is no one in the building,' he
+said. 'I would be no more heard than you hear your dog Tyr whining for
+your return. You will have to stay. We will be married, which some women
+would not grieve at. Come, come, cheer up; we will be married quietly in
+the morning; say yes, with a kiss.'
+
+"'Go away,' I said; 'you must have matches, I have hit upon a plan. I am
+going to tie my bonnet to the end of your cane, and set fire to it. Some
+one will see it, and tell the janitor or steward, and we shall be
+liberated; here, quick, the matches!'
+
+"'I have not one about me,' he said; and which I now feel sure was a
+falsehood. 'Oh try, try; search every pocket; if you will only free us I
+will promise anything, only get us out of here,' I said, half beside
+myself.
+
+"'You will promise anything,' he said, excitedly; 'then, down on your
+knees, and swear by all you hold sacred, to become my wife.'
+
+"'Oh, that is too awful an oath, ask me anything but that,' for I was
+sure now I could not love him.
+
+"'No, no; swear, or you stay here all night.' 'Half my money, when I get
+it, instead, for pity's sake,' I said, distractedly.
+
+"'Nonsense! I swear to liberate us from the tower and building, if you
+swear as I have dictated; if not, take the consequences.' Again, he
+pleaded his suit, winding up by asking me 'How I thought I would look
+facing a crowd in the morning, emerging from such a midnight
+resting-place, and in his company; of how the students would have food
+for jokes, for the remainder of the term; of how the newspapers would
+get hold of it,' etc.
+
+"Driven to desperation, I knelt and swore by all I held sacred, to
+become his wife--unless he himself set me free--the latter clause he
+allowed, laughing at the idea; he then held me to his heart, telling me
+I would have a good husband in him, and never have cause to repent of my
+oath; tying my bonnet on, for I trembled so, my hands were useless; how
+I got down the steps on steps I don't know; he must have carried me; for
+what with the strain on my nerves from the whole scene, added to the
+spiral stairway, I felt dizzy and faint; but we reached the bottom, and
+my astonishment and indignation is easier imagined than described, on
+seeing him coolly turn the handle and open the door! The bells we had
+heard were fire-bells. The janitor, true to his trust, had locked the
+great door and gone to a lecture-room for a moment, intending after to
+mount for us.
+
+"Philip seemed uplifted to a state of insane exultation at the success
+of his plan; for, on my upbraiding him on such base means to attain his
+ends, he laughed, as he said, 'All is fair in love or war,' as turning
+the key in the oak door of the main entrance we were out in the free
+air. Free! yes, but with my freedom gone. I looked at him with a sort of
+curiosity, as merely shutting the door, though I suggested burglars; he
+for answer, taking me in his arms, saying thickly, to the accompaniment
+of the key turning, 'Make the best of me, love, it was only by stratagem
+I could win you; I am lonely, so are you; I will make you happy, so help
+me God!' and so it is, Ella, you find me engaged to wed Philip Cobbe.
+
+"But, as you must see, there must be other reasons than my
+disinclination to have prevented our union, for, you see, he still
+haunts me, though not loving me so faithfully, perhaps," she said,
+gravely.
+
+"Of course I see it, you poor dear," she said, coming nearer, and
+kissing her friend, "and you must _never_ marry that man. What a romance
+of the tower it was; I have been fascinated listening to your recital. I
+now see what he meant by his--as he thought--strange manner, on Henry
+naming that we were going to the University with you. But, _mark my
+words_, there will be a tragedy if you wed this man; I know something."
+
+A tremor ran through Mrs. Gower; she clasped her hands nervously, her
+lips quivered, and her dark eyes dilated, as she said, leaning towards
+her friend,
+
+"You mean about a woman!"
+
+Here Garfield awoke at the entrance of his father, whose ring his mother
+and Mrs. Gower had not heard. Miss Crew, entering, hat and mantle on,
+and carrying the outdoor wraps of Mrs. Dale.
+
+"Why, you both look startled!" said Mr. Dale; "have you been enjoying a
+spiritual seance?"
+
+"No, Henry, but you had better avoid me, for I have been tasting of the
+tree of knowledge."
+
+"We have had dogma, also, Mr. Dale; and your wife does not believe that
+the end justifies the means," said Mrs. Gower, as Thomas brought in a
+tray with delicious coffee and sandwiches.
+
+"I hope such doctrine won't be forced down our throats some day, Mrs.
+Gower. Roman Catholicism seems to be coming upon you, wave by wave, and
+you in Ontario don't even seem to dream of a breakwater."
+
+And so he talked on of city news, of the immense circulation of the
+newspapers, of the power of the press, etc., seeing there had been grave
+talk, and giving each time to bury gravity in heart's casket.
+
+"Good night, little man; and so you get your feet on life's first rung,
+at Upper Canada College, on Monday morning."
+
+"Yes, Mrs. Gower, and I mean to show them what a New York boy can do."
+
+"That's right; defy circumstance and fate, and mount."
+
+"Good night, and good-bye, dear Mrs. Gower, for I leave, as you are
+aware, for a run north-east, to look at some mines with our friend
+Buckingham."
+
+"Yes, so I hear; what birds of passage you men are; but you don't leave
+until Monday, when your good little wife and Miss Crew come to me during
+your absence."
+
+"I really don't know what Ella would do without Holmnest and--you."
+
+"Take care of yourself, Elaine," said Mrs. Dale, with a meaning pressure
+of the hand.
+
+"What for?" she said, rather sadly.
+
+"Oh, for somebody!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+BIRDS OF PREY.
+
+
+In the neat little parlor, with flowering plants in the window, its
+walls adorned with old-time Scripture prints and modern play-bills in
+droll blending, back of the shop-room for stationery, at Bayswater, on
+an evening late in October, sits Silas Jones, listless, and, with idle
+hands, apparently staring into vacancy, in reality wandering in busy
+thought into dim prison-houses and private asylums at London, in search
+of Sarah Kane, who, on his calling to see at Mrs. Mansfield's some weeks
+ago, as arranged, was informed by a housekeeper in charge that her
+mistress had gone south for the winter, and had told Mr. Stone some
+months ago she would like Sarah Kane to go with her as companion. When
+he sent her word she refused the offer, and that as to Mr. Stone
+bringing her, neither of them had been near the place.
+
+On this, Silas Jones had racked his brain to discover her, advertising
+time and again; sure of foul play. One day he thought of seeing what the
+detectives could do, another of consulting a lawyer; he had, though
+knowing it would be useless, gone to Broadlawns, and interviewed Mr.
+Stone, who had answered carelessly:
+
+"I never even try to keep track of servants we discharge. Why of Sarah
+Kane, who was a viper on our hands?"
+
+"As to that, Mr. Stone, I shall not allow you to blacken the best woman
+in God's world. She went with you to London; where is she now?"
+
+"I tell you again I don't know, even whether she be alive or dead, and
+if you come about Broadlawns again, I shall have you up for trespass. An
+Englishman's house is his castle, sir."
+
+"Oh, Silas Jones, Silas Jones, she has grown tired of you," said Mrs.
+Cole, vengefully. "We found her in Mr. Cole's bedroom at midnight. What
+can an old man like you expect?"
+
+"I don't mind your wicked words, they can't hurt Sarah; it's your deeds;
+and I implore you, if you have any of the woman nature in you, tell me
+where I can find her."
+
+"And I answer, as Mr. Stone did, I never bother myself as to the
+whereabouts of discharged servants, so consider yourself dismissed," she
+said, calling Simon.
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"Open the door for Silas Jones, bookseller, Bayswater." And so had he
+been answered in harsh, unfeeling tones, as almost broken-hearted he had
+wended his lonely way mechanically back to the little parlor.
+
+It is well he has sold out his business to the young man Mary has
+married, for he cannot give his mind to anything other than the loss of
+the one woman, in his simple loyalty, he has ever loved, and of how
+again to find her.
+
+"Silas," said his sister, "I just now asked Dr. MacNeil, as he came up
+the street, how poor Mr. Cole is, and he says he is in for a bad attack
+of that nasty rheumatic fever; just think, brother, of him only out of
+brain fever and into this; it's out and out too bad."
+
+"Does he ask for Sarah, still?"
+
+"Yes; doctor says it's most pitiful to hear him; and he (doctor) says,
+but it's 'cause he doesn't know the truth, that, of course, they are not
+to be blamed for the not bringing her, since she be so bad."
+
+"Sister, I can't stand this suspense and trouble any longer; it's
+killing me. If it costs me every penny I have in the world, I _must_
+find my Sarah. I shall go into the city to-morrow, and put the
+detectives to work."
+
+At this juncture the shop door was hurriedly thrown open, when Sarah
+Kane, cold, pale, and trembling, followed by the driver of a hansom,
+came in quickly into their midst.
+
+"Now, Missis, you'll be as good as your word, I 'ope, and gim me my
+fare."
+
+But she is in the close embrace of Silas, while Mary pays, dismisses
+him, and locks the front door, her husband being in the great city.
+
+"Silas, it's my belief you are demented; let our Sarah go. I want to
+hear where the old de'il took her to, and how she comes in like this,
+with no bonnet or shawl, and her hair blown about like that. There,
+that's more like it," she said, kissing Sarah, as Silas, not speaking a
+word, only keeping his gaze fixed on Sarah's face, leads her to a chair,
+when, dropping on his knees, says earnestly,
+
+"Thank God; thank God."
+
+Now seating himself beside her, and holding her hand in his, Sarah says,
+her lips quivering:
+
+"Yes, God be thanked, I am at home, home! Oh dears, you will never know
+the sweetness of home as I do, after the awful life I have had since I
+last saw your dear faces; and only that I ran away, leastwise, bribed
+the boy with my watch and chain--"
+
+"You did!" cried Mary, in astonishment.
+
+"Freedom is sweeter than jewels, Mary dear; but I must begin at the
+beginning. Yes, Silas, the tea has warmed me; I must tell you all now.
+You know how suspicious the people at Broadlawns are? Well, you can
+imagine the scene I went through when, running back from you that early
+morn, I found them waiting for me; they had got into my room with
+another key; they called me all the foul names in the spelling-books in
+England, I do believe. My heart, but it was fearful; and poor Mr. Cole
+calling me, and they not letting me near him; but I can't go on till I
+hear of him. How is he, and was it brain fever?"
+
+"Yes, Sarah," said Mary, hurriedly, "and he could not bear Mrs. Cole
+near him; raving more even when out of his head, if she was in the
+room."
+
+"Poor, poor young gentleman, and how is he now?"
+
+"Well, he's just out, like, of brain fever, and into rheumatism."
+
+"Dear, dear!" she said, in troubled tones; "Silas, I feel, dear, that I
+must endeavor to bring some speck of comfort into his life, for I blame
+myself now for not long ago going and talking it over with Dr. Annesley;
+will you come up to the city with me, to-morrow, and try to see him?"
+
+"Anywhere, so I am with you; for I do believe, Sarah, I shall never be
+brave enough to lose sight Of your dear face again," he said, tenderly,
+still holding her hand.
+
+"And, now, go on Sarah, and tell us where that old sneak thief took you
+to," said Mary, curiously.
+
+"Yes, I must. Mr. Stone bid me only take my Gladstone bag, for he was
+not going to spoil the phaeton with my trunks. So, merely putting in a
+few necessary articles, thinking, as you remember, to be back in a day
+or two; well, we drove into town; but not in the direction, as I
+remembered, of Mrs. Mansfield's; we went a long, long way east; and when
+I wondered, he answered, shortly, that he had business that required
+immediate attention, first; well, on we drove into streets and
+localities unknown to me. At last, after a two hours' drive, we stopped
+at the end house in a terrace; it was a gloomy street, though some of
+the houses were well-looking enough. In one of the windows of the house
+at which we stopped, was a card, 'Lodgings for single gentlemen;' but
+that was a blind, Silas, to cover the real state of affairs."
+
+On Mr. Stone knocking, a bolt and chain were drawn and unfastened, and a
+big, strong, coarse-looking boy, large mouthed, and with cross eyes,
+opened the door.
+
+"'Is your master in?' inquired Mr. Stone. 'Yes, sir.' 'Come in, Sarah
+Kane,' said the wicked master of Broadlawns. 'I have a good deal to say
+here, and you may as well come in doors, after your early morning walk'
+(that was here, you know, Silas) 'and your visit to a gentleman's
+bedroom last night.' It might have been Mrs. Cole; he spoke in such
+cold, hard tones.
+
+"We were shown into the front room first flat; the room with the notice
+in the window; it was extremely dirty and untidy; with a single bed in
+one corner; and what furniture there was looked like odds and ends
+picked up at sales; three chairs, one of brown leather, the others faded
+red and blue rep. On a table were pipes, tobacco, burnt matches, ale
+mugs, and cards, with copies of _Bell's Life_, in different stages of
+dirtiness; the room was littered with a man's clothing, and altogether
+unsavory. I was reluctant to enter, and stood on the door-mat.
+
+"'Just go in ma'am; here's the master,' said the boy grinning.
+
+"If the room was unsavory, the man was. Oh, Mary, if you saw him," she
+said, shudderingly; "he looked like a bully or prize fighter; a
+heavily-built man, short of stature, with bull-dog head and face; he
+wore no coat, and his shirt was unclean."
+
+"Well, Lang, how are you getting along?"
+
+"Do you mean as to funds, Mr. Stone; are you going to say the word,
+'forego the back rents, take that lump sum for the house, and cry quits,
+that's the question?'" he said, with a wink. "Come in, Missis; I'm quite
+a dude, you see; but ladies don't mind that."
+
+"I prefer to wait for Mr. Stone, out in the phaeton," I said, with latent
+disgust.
+
+"Here they exchanged what I now know was a meaning glance, Mr. Stone
+saying, 'Sarah Kane is a most particular young woman, as you shall hear,
+Lang; come this way, Sarah.'
+
+"I protested that I preferred waiting outside, to no purpose. 'This way,
+Sarah Kane,' 'Yes, this way, Missis,' they said, one going before and
+one behind me up a stairway, covered with a common carpet, but thickly
+padded; there were five doors opening into a square hall; all doors
+shut. Turning the handle of one, Mr. Stone said, smiling grimly,
+'Another lodger.' 'Yes; he's out airing; you bet, they keep me busy,' he
+answered, with another of his odious winks, saying, 'Here, Missis, just
+step in 'ere while the Squire and me square accounts;' this time he
+winked at me; and I began to think it a mechanical way he had of winding
+up a remark."
+
+"Nasty beast," said Mary.
+
+"I was no sooner in, than the key was turned, and I knew myself a
+prisoner; I called, hammered on the door, did every conceivable thing to
+make a noise; finally I sat down on the one greasy chair of green rep,
+and cried as if my heart would break. I thought of you, Silas, and you
+too, Mary, of poor Mr. Cole; and hope vanished, knowing by whom I had
+been trapped. From time to time I could hear a murmur of voices; then
+Mr. Stone's unmusical laugh; and the unfastening and fastening of the
+door. Then I gave myself up to despair; I could make no sign to the
+outside busy London world, for my small room was only lit from the hall
+by a curious window, up near the ceiling. A single bed, wash-stand, and
+tiny looking glass, hanging to the wall, too small and cracked to be of
+any use; every article being stale and dirty. Mr. Lang brought me a cup
+of tea, and some bread and cheese, telling me to make myself at home;
+and 'that even though I was in a single gentleman's house, no matter,'
+with another odious wink; 'that Mr. Stone had told him I would not be
+sorry there were no ladies,' etc.; but to make a long story short, Silas
+and Mary, the people at Broadlawns imprisoned me to get me out of the
+way, so I should not speak of this fraud of a marriage."
+
+"That's it, my poor Sarah."
+
+"Days passed into weeks; and had it not been for my pocket Bible, the
+Pickwick papers, and a long strip of muslin embroidery and housewife I
+had put in my bag, I don't know what would have become of me; I tried to
+keep calm, if only to devise a scheme of escape. One day was much the
+same as another, Mr. Lang trying in many ways to get private information
+of Broadlawns, telling me, to raise my wrath, that Mr. Stone had told
+him I was demented, and nothing I said was reliable; but I could not
+trust such a man, so left him no wiser. Every day, for fifteen minutes,
+I was compelled to go up two flights of stairs to a room with an open
+skylight, and where I was made, willingly though, to walk up and down;
+sometimes Lang, sometimes another man, whom I loathed even worse, or the
+cross-eyed boy, accompanying me as jailer; this they called a pleasure
+airing. Yesterday, growing desperate, I offered my watch and chain to
+the cross-eyed boy, to liberate me. He listened, eyeing them greedily,
+saying to my delight,
+
+"'Well, I'll try, Missis; for I'm a bit tired of airing of you and the
+three men, and a doing of other chores.' 'Are there three other
+prisoners beside myself,' I cried. 'Oh, no, ma'am; they be just a
+lodging 'ere on the quiet, loike you be.' 'You will free me, then, and
+gain my watch and chain; see how pretty it is, and pure gold.' 'Yes, the
+first chance I gets; but ye're not lying; ye'll give it all square?'
+
+"But to hasten, for I feel tired and weak, though oh! so much better in
+mind; the middle man gave me my airing to-day, to whom I never spoke,
+though he laughed and jeered at me continually. I worried myself by
+thinking that, perhaps, the boy was only a spy, when this evening, after
+Mr. Lang had brought me my tea, and I was again locked in, to my joy, in
+a few minutes, the key turned, and the boy said, hurriedly, 'Come along,
+Missis; don't wait to take nothing; master's out, and Bill's run to the
+gin-palace, telling of me to keep guard.' Even as he spoke, we were
+downstairs, the bolt and chain undone, and, thank God, with the free air
+of heaven about us. 'Give us your 'and, Missis, ye're goin' the wrong
+way;' and on we sped with flying feet. 'Good-bye, Missis; now for the
+timer. It's a dandy,' he said, pocketing it; 'there's a 'ansum; you'd
+better take it, you are out of breath;' and with a shrill whistle, the
+man stopped; when the boy flew, and I took the hansom; and here I am
+home at last, thank God."
+
+"What wretches!" cried Mary.
+
+"You leave me no more, Sarah; you are evermore _my_ care; go to bed now,
+dear, and rest, for we will go up to London to-morrow, to ask Dr.
+Annesley's advice. I shall go now to Broadlawns for your trunks; good
+night. Oh, how light my heart is now I have found you again, Sarah," he
+said, tenderly kissing her.
+
+"We will be an old couple, Silas, dear," she said, quietly; "do you
+know, to-morrow will be our joint birthday; this is the eve of All
+Saints."
+
+"Yes; and we shall be married to-morrow, when we are in the city; age
+doesn't count; our hearts are young, Sarah."
+
+"Yes, Silas; I feel so happy I could sing,
+
+    "'Now we maun totter doon, John;
+        But hand in hand we'll go;
+    And we'll sleep thegither at the foot,
+        John Anderson, my jo.'"
+
+"Our lives have been ever hand in hand, Sarah, for we exchanged hearts
+long, long ago; but here is George; I shall go now with an easy mind,
+for he will guard you safely; good night."
+
+"I have only time, to-night, to wish you joy, George, for I require
+rest," she said, going upstairs.
+
+"Well, this is good," he said, rubbing his hands; "but, good night,
+sister, that is to be; my little wife here has her mouth open to give me
+your story."
+
+When Silas Jones, with the light waggon, drove up the carriage drive to
+Broadlawns, the family were at supper; so Simon, glad of the chance, got
+the trunks down and into the waggon, without words; but as Silas Jones
+was thanking him for his assistance; telling him of Sarah Kane's escape,
+and inquiring for Mr. Cole, Mr. Stone, leaving the dining-room,
+encountered him, when he said,
+
+"I am taking Sarah Kane's trunks away, Mr. Stone."
+
+"And who has authorized you to do anything in the matter?" he inquired,
+haughtily.
+
+"My future wife, Sarah Kane."
+
+For once, he was nonplussed; when Miss Stone, passing through the hall,
+said, stiffly:
+
+"I am sorry I cannot congratulate you, Mr. Jones, on winning a Christian
+woman."
+
+"What can it mean," thought Mrs. Cole; "she is in tight keeping; safe
+enough." As a feeler, she says,
+
+"You must have the faith of Abraham to trust her still; someone said she
+is living with a bachelor at London."
+
+"Mrs. Cole, let me tell you there is such a thing as British justice,
+which we mean to have, when you shall eat your words in a court of law,"
+he said, indignantly turning on his heel, and out into the night.
+
+Simon, at his post in the sick room, told the good news of Sarah Kane's
+escape.
+
+Turning suddenly, in his eagerness to face Simon, and hear more, the
+sufferer groaned in rheumatic pain.
+
+"Can you not manage to bring her to see me, when _they_ are _all_ out;
+the once you did bring Mr. Jones, he said, when he found Sarah, they
+would go out to New York or Canada; I particularly wish to see them.
+Jove! the pain; the liniment, Simon; rub me, please, and close the door;
+if I could only escape, like Sarah; you will do what you can, I beg of
+you, to bring them to see me?"
+
+"I will, sir, if I loses my situation by it."
+
+Below stairs the birds of prey held council with closed doors.
+
+"What the devil did that man Jones mean by daring to throw threats in
+our faces, Margaret?" said Stone, with seeming bravado, though, in
+reality, in dismay.
+
+"Impudent bluster, perhaps, but I shall put my ears to their proper
+use," and slipping off her shoes, she crept noiselessly up to the door
+of the gloomy east chamber, which had been closed so they could talk
+privately, thus playing into the ear of the enemy.
+
+"Well," said her uncle grimly, as she returned. "Well?" she answered, in
+the same tones, her eagle nose more prominent, her awful eyes more stony
+than ever. "She has escaped! and is even now at the bookseller's."
+
+"The devil!"
+
+"You may well say so. Thomas Lang has sold you. Simon does not know
+particulars, for our friend Cole was earnest in inquiries."
+
+"Is it too late to go into the city now?" he said nervously.
+
+"Yes, and you are too cowardly to face 'ills you know not of' alone. Let
+me see; the lower class are awed by pomp and show. We will drive into
+Windsor Terrace in the morning in the carriage and pair. If Lang has
+sold you, you must buy him, by letting him have the house at his own
+figure. Again, should she have escaped without his connivance, be
+prepared by selling everything you can. You, as guardian to my sweet
+step-sister, have unlimited powers until our pet is of age, which
+interesting event, they don't seem to know, has taken place. Rake in all
+the gold you can, uncle, as the United States looks inviting at present;
+to-morrow will be a busy day, Aunt Elizabeth, so you might tell cook to
+have breakfast an hour earlier. Good night."
+
+As she left the room, her uncle said:
+
+"She is every inch a Stone, Elizabeth, and not a bit like her
+chicken-hearted father."
+
+"That's true, Timothy, but she grows plainer every day, and looks nearly
+as old as I do."
+
+"Yes, she is no Hebe; but had the blooming goddess been possessed of her
+wits, she would have blind-folded Jupiter."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE ISLET-GEMMED ST. LAWRENCE.
+
+
+On a morning late in December Mrs. Gower sat alone in her pretty restful
+library, with its olive-green velvet cushions and hangings, its
+water-lilies, like the beauties in our bay, with their green stalks and
+leaves painted on the panelled walls, its English ivy trained up and
+around the Queen Anne mantel, with graceful palms standing on either
+side of the floral blossoms on the stand. The occupant looks well in a
+close-fitting gown of navy blue flannel, embroidered in rose silk; there
+is a half-smile on the lips, and the dreaminess of some tender thought
+in the dark eyes, as she idly opens and closes a black lace fan, with a
+spray of honeysuckle painted thereon. A gentleman's card lay beside her
+work-basket on the table.
+
+"So Alexander Blair is his name," she thought; "how very, very long,"
+with a sigh, "it has taken to come to me--his name, of course, I mean."
+She thought, with a smile, putting the card to her lips, "how foolish of
+me, but I have always had that way. I remember travelling to Port Elgin,
+from Toronto, and on my arrival, my trunk, containing my dearest
+treasures, was not forthcoming. I was wild with grief, when, after
+enriching the telegraph offices, at the expense of my purse, in three
+days it was again in my possession; and what did I do, why kissed and
+fondled both trunk and key. Elaine Gower, you are a foolish,
+impressionable woman. And so I dropped my fan at the Grand, last night.
+His card says, 'With compliments, dropped at the theatre.' He scarcely
+seemed a stranger seated beside me at 'Erminie,' and I feel sure he felt
+likewise. How handsome he is, or rather how essentially manly, with the
+look of strength in his broad shoulders, and of honesty of purpose in
+his fearless, blue eyes. He is iron-grey, and slightly bald, I noticed,
+when he stooped to pick up my handkerchief, but his beard and moustache
+are brown. He is decidedly dark; I wonder if Highland Scotch; for dark,
+and true, and tender are the North. His name suits him. I like them both
+for old association's sake, one being the maiden name of one whose
+memory is sacred, the other, the Christian name of my loved dead. I
+wonder what poor Charlie Cole would think of my having made his
+acquaintance in this romantic fashion. I remember, he also had had
+instantaneous photographs, as we laughingly called them, of a young lady
+who had interested him."
+
+At this moment Miss Crew, entering, in walking costume, said:
+
+"I met the letter-carrier as I came in, Mrs. Gower, and here is your
+share."
+
+"Thank you. You look better for your walk; but did you walk?"
+
+"Only from the Spadina Avenue car terminus, but I had some little
+walking in my district, but the College Street Mission is worth
+fatiguing oneself for. Oh, Mrs. Gower, have you heard how Mayor Howland
+purposes raising building funds for the cottage in connection with the
+Industrial Home at Mimico?"
+
+"Yes, I read it in some newspaper, the Globe of yesterday, I think."
+
+"Won't it be something to be proud of, if the children carry it out."
+
+"Yes, and I believe they will; children are very much in earnest, when
+the heart is touched; and now for our correspondence; take off your hat
+and mantle here by the grate, though Gurney's furnace does keep us very
+comfortable all over the house."
+
+"Pardon my interrupting you, Mrs. Gower; but I am reading a letter from
+Mrs. Dale, in which she says, to be sure and remind you to write her
+some description of your yachting on the St. Lawrence; those English
+friends of theirs would so much like to get some idea of the life, as
+they purpose purchasing an island."
+
+"Yes, I must do so; but I fear any poor words of mine, will fail in
+doing justice to its many delights;" and on finishing reading her
+letters, seating herself at her _escretoire_, she wrote as follows:
+
+     "The Islet-Gemmed St. Lawrence.
+
+     "DEAR MR. AND MRS. DALE,--It has never been my lot to read
+     anything descriptive of river-life, on our loveliest of
+     streams, that I have considered did justice to its varied
+     charms; so you may imagine how powerless I feel, in the task
+     you have assigned me; but when I tell you that that martyr to
+     _ennui_, Jack Halton, this summer owned to myself that he had,
+     at last, found something worth living for, you will therefore
+     not be surprised that I, loving nature as I do, should have
+     gone into raptures.
+
+     "In the first place, our steam-yacht, the _Ino_, was the
+     trimmest little craft, the daintiest little beauty on the
+     river; and we had the perfection of host and hostess, each in
+     their respective niche, leaving nothing to be desired. I told
+     them they must have had 'Aladdin's lamp' stowed away somewhere;
+     for we had but to clap our hands, and our will was done.
+
+     "Day after day, never tiring, ever with renewed zest we boarded
+     the _Ino_, to dream away the hours in the most ravishing bits
+     of scenery my eyes ever beheld. With hampers full of dainties
+     and substantials, we wandered in and about the islands;
+     sometimes meeting other idlers like ourselves, and pic-nicking
+     at some chosen spot; sometimes the guests at one or other of
+     our acquaintances having summer homes in this our Canadian
+     fairyland. Truly, if all the year were June, the world in woods
+     would roam; for our gay little _Ino_ was a spirit of the
+     waters, and though we had no spiritualists on board, still we
+     had table rappings on some good story by our witty host;
+     neither were we so spiritual as to despise the material, which
+     we proved as we sat to dinner; and such dinners, Ambrosia! Yea,
+     and for our goddesses; though with sunburnt faces we women did
+     not much resemble the latter, our men looking handsomer the
+     browner they grew; but as for dinner, we had from dishes to
+     tickle the palate of our club epicures to--hodge-podge, which
+     we relished.
+
+     "Yes, from morn till eve, and often late, late, in the white
+     moonlight, we lived an ideal life on our pet yacht, the _Ino_.
+
+     "One will sometimes say, in meteing out great praise to some
+     favored spot, that one would live and die there; but here, who
+     talks of dying? One would fain live forever; for, every moment
+     one lives, one breathes a new life; for on the luxuriously
+     appointed _Ino_, we gazed out from curtained windows, or from
+     under a canopied arch, while we reclined on softest of
+     cushioned seats, and literally drank in the 'Elixir of Life.'
+     The air of the pine groves as we passed, the air of the grandly
+     dark and dashing river, full of ozone, is the air to inflate
+     one's lungs with, and carry back with one to our crowded
+     cities, which seemed so far away in that land of beauty.
+
+     "Some delightful evenings, we would tread a measure on the
+     green sward, to music of flute and violin; for, had one or more
+     of our group not been innate musicians, the scene was enough to
+     inspire one, and so, in songs, merry laughter or sentiment, our
+     days passed as a dream.
+
+     "For we stem the shining river,
+     The river of the isles,
+     On our fairy yacht, the _Ino_,
+     With our love beside our side.
+
+     For I there met a sorcerer, who robbed me of my heart, and
+     whose spells I could not break until I fled from this scene of
+     enchantment. And again we board our trim yacht, and what varied
+     scenes of beauty met the eye, whenever and wherever we gazed.
+     Such lights, such shadows, such artist bits, such trees, such
+     rocks, such everything! Surely we were in fairyland, and not in
+     plain, practical Canada.
+
+     "On some of the islands are ideal summer homes; now we came
+     upon a fairy-like structure, in Italian villa style; now, upon
+     a palatial mansion; now, upon a camp all alive, and signalling
+     _Ino_ the fair.
+
+     "The only specks in my sun were, that the American islands were
+     made more beautiful by their owners than our own; and that
+     uneuphonious names had been given to some of these charming
+     islets. Fancy one 'Pitch Pine Point'--I failed to see the point
+     of christening it so.
+
+     "The rocks take most fantastic shapes in the shadowed
+     moonlight. By and under the rock-bound shore, I used to fancy I
+     saw nymphs dancing on the rippling waters, which was to them
+     music; and, dreaming on, as we lazily stemmed the tide, it all
+     came to me, that in days of yore, the youths from the shore,
+     coming to row and sport in the waves at eve, saw the
+     water-sprites, and fell in love; when the sea-gods, for
+     revenge, fell upon them, transforming them into some of the
+     most fantastic-shaped rocks we see; and, the sea-nymphs,
+     pitying the sons of men for their fatal love, prayed the gods
+     to transform themselves into trees, to grow into the clefts of
+     the rocks; and so protect their would-be lovers from old Sol's
+     fiery beams, and their wish was granted.
+
+     "But we invariably turned ere a bend in the river robbed it
+     from our sight, to take a last loving glance at the beauteous
+     Isle Manhattan, where we had been most hospitably entertained
+     by its charming American inmates. It is beautifully wooded, and
+     an elegant mansion thereon, with one of the most hospitable of
+     verandas, stretching long and wide, with many American rockers
+     and pillowed rattan sofas, on which we have reclined or sat
+     while partaking of iced claret and, for those who liked it,
+     champagne _carte blanche_, and where we had one of the most
+     perfect views from the commanding tower of the villa.
+
+     "A view that wants a Lett, an Imrie, or an Awde to sing of, a
+     Longfellow to immortalize--my pen is lifeless in describing its
+     beauty; a beauty that would ravish the soul of a poet, and send
+     an artist wild; a view which brought to my mind the remark of a
+     dear old Scotchman, whom a party of tourists came upon, lost in
+     admiration of the Falls of Niagara. On one of the party asking
+     him what he thought of the Falls, he said, 'Eh, man, I just
+     feel like takin' aff my bonnet til't.'
+
+     "In the far-stretching scene of loveliness here, in the heart
+     of the Islands, one should go to the Tower, at Manhattan alone,
+     leaving the merry, madding crowd on board the yacht, or on the
+     veranda; one should go alone, or in dual solitude, where a
+     clasp of the hand, or a look, is sympathy enough; for one
+     should carry with one one's fill of such a scene of perfect
+     beauty, to brighten darker days and drearier times."
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+EYE-OPENERS.
+
+
+On the morning of All Saints' Day, and while numerous bells, in tuneful
+voices, reminded London of souls departed, and souls to be saved, Silas
+Jones and his twin spirit, Sarah Kane, having arrayed themselves in best
+bib and tucker, had taken the underground rail from Bayswater, and with
+the multitude were trying not to lose one another in the London fog--a
+regular pea-souper, in which the coat-pocket of Silas had been picked of
+pipe, tobacco and handkerchief.
+
+
+"Mercy me, Silas, look well that they don't steal the license."
+
+"You are right, Sarah; which the thieves would not ask for leave or
+license to take; 'tis a big world our London; and it's my belief the
+thieves' quarter is the biggest half."
+
+"We should have made sure of the license, Silas, by being married at
+first."
+
+"That we should, dear; but you have always let a fancied duty come
+between us. And now for Piccadilly and Dr. Annesley, in this fog."
+
+"Hello, Missis; a feller can't see in this 'ere yeller fog; 'ere, get
+into my barrow; it's clean, and I'll run yer through," said a boy's
+voice, running against them; and which Sarah Kane recognized as that of
+her liberator, the cross-eyed boy.
+
+His offer was hurriedly declined by Silas, who dreaded Sarah taking her
+hand from his arm. On ascertaining from the boy that he had hired to
+peddle fruit for a huckster and that he had pawned the watch and chain
+they offered to redeem them, and give him a sovereign and-a-half for
+them; which offer he joyfully accepted; they also, giving him their
+address, told him, if at any time he wanted advice or assistance, to
+come.
+
+A policeman now directed them to the residence of Dr. Annesley--a
+genial, kindly old gentleman, who was at home, and pleased to see them.
+On their relating the doings at Broadlawns, he was both astonished and
+indignant, disgusted and outrageous.
+
+"As to any sharp tricks in money matters, I am not surprised," he said,
+impatiently; "but that they should have dared to perpetrate such an
+outrage as the marriage of Mr. C. Babbington-Cole, to that intensely
+disagreeable, ugly, cruel, Miss Villiers, is monstrous, monstrous!"
+
+"You may well say so, sir," said Sarah Kane, sadly.
+
+"How is it you had no suspicions, Mistress Kane, and you under the same
+roof?"
+
+"I only overheard a word now and again, as to a marriage; but I never
+suspected this horror; I supposed it meant Miss Pearl, and that they
+were going to bring her back, when of age."
+
+"Nothing can be done for Babbington-Cole; he is tied for life; but how
+he could ever have fallen into their net, is more than I can imagine,"
+he said, in disgusted tones.
+
+"You know, I told you they took him by surprise, sir; and his father lay
+ill; and cablegrams came telling him to wed Margaret Villiers, and
+hasten with her to his bedside; and he was just demented-like, between
+it all, and brain fever coming on."
+
+"Well, well, it is a bad, very bad business. I confess to the having
+been so disgusted, on Villiers making Stone guardian to Miss Pearl,
+until she attained her majority, that I, metaphorically speaking, washed
+my hands of the whole affair; especially on Miss Pearl herself telling
+Brookes & Davidson, her mother's lawyers, that she agreed to it; this
+she said, on their telling her that, as her father had had softening of
+the brain at the time, nothing he said was worth considering."
+
+"Depend upon it, doctor, Mr. Stone had used coercion to induce Miss
+Pearl to agree," said Silas Jones.
+
+"Yes, I see, he must have," he answered, thoughtfully.
+
+"And you don't know anything of poor Miss Pearl's whereabouts, do you,
+sir?" asked Sarah Kane, anxiously.
+
+"Yes, I can give you a clue, for I love her for her own and her mother's
+sake; and as time went on, and I heard or saw nothing of her, I wrote T.
+L. Brookes, the senior partner, for I have had nothing to do with the
+hypocrites at Broadlawns, since Villiers' death; and he sent me an
+address at New York. Here it is, 'Mrs. Kent, The Maples, Murray Hill;'
+but, it is only a clue, for I have written, and have not, as yet,
+received a reply."
+
+"Oh, please copy it for me, sir, for Silas and I are going to be
+married, and go out and find her. I promised her mother to look after
+her; and I have not heard from Miss Pearl; but she has written, for she
+said she would; but they have read and destroyed them, the same as they
+did to some that came for Mr. Cole just before and after he arrived."
+
+"Horrible! horrible! How is he now; you just come from there, I
+presume?"
+
+On Sarah Kane relating her late enforced retirement under Tom Lang's
+roof, and her escape therefrom, he opened his eyes in astonishment,
+saying, indignantly:
+
+"The rascal! and you know nothing of the locality?"
+
+"Nothing whatever, sir."
+
+"Even if she did, Dr. Annesley, Stone would coin some plausible reason
+for placing her there."
+
+"Yes, yes, Jones; he is as cunning as the arch-fiend; people would
+believe him, too, as he is a good churchman."
+
+"But, you know, Silas; he has his falsehood ready. Sir, he told my
+jailer that I was demented, and--worse."
+
+"Ah, his plots have no flaw; poor creature, after the kindness and
+respect Mrs. Villiers showed you, and which you deserved; too bad, too
+bad."
+
+"The poison of their lying tongues has already done Sarah harm in
+Bayswater, Doctor. People pass her without a nod; they at Broadlawns say
+they found her in the bedroom of a gentleman guest at midnight, and that
+she stole out of the house at three in the morning to meet another."
+
+"Shocking! you can have them up for defamation," he said, sternly.
+
+"But, sir, I must tell you, it was to poor Mr. Cole's bedroom I went,
+and he with brain-fever coming on, to do what I could to comfort the
+unfortunate gentleman; and it was to Silas and his sister I went at
+night to tell them of the awful marriage; that I was turned out, and
+going to Mrs. Mansfield's, which I was foolish enough to believe," she
+said, with tears.
+
+"Well, well, Mistress Kane, there, there, don't recall it; go off to a
+clergyman's and marry this good man; and here are five pounds to buy
+some trifle in Cheapside, to remember the day by. And now, let me see,
+there was something I wished to see Jones about," he said, kindly,
+rubbing his forehead. "Yes, I have it; did they give you all the wearing
+apparel of the late Mrs. Villiers, Mistress Kane?"
+
+"Oh, no, sir! I would not expect such beautiful things. I thought Miss
+Pearl should have them, whenever I see Miss Stone wearing the lovely
+furs and satins."
+
+"Did you ever receive five hundred pounds sterling, Mistress Kane, left
+you, by the will of the late Mrs. Villiers?" he asked, slowly, and with
+emphasis.
+
+"Sir, you take my breath away. Silas, tell him, no, sir. I! I! receive
+such a sum. No, nor one penny since Mrs. Villiers' death; but that, I
+cannot claim, for I have staid on willingly, to watch dear Miss Pearl's
+interests, and this is the end. Come Silas, let us go now to the parson;
+it will be our first step out of Old England, to find Miss Pearl," she
+said, nervously, her tears flowing apace, partly with the troubled
+excitement of the words of Dr. Annesley, partly at the having, at last,
+a clue to the whereabouts of Pearl Villiers. Not so, Silas, who loved
+her too well to allow the words of Dr. Annesley to pass unnoticed.
+
+"Do you really mean that the late Mrs. Villiers left Sarah a legacy,
+Doctor?" he said, in some excitement.
+
+"I do; and infer from your united words that that rascal has pocketed
+it; I must see to it," and going to the telephone, ringing up Brookes &
+Davidson, ascertaining that they were both at their offices, said:
+
+"Hello! Have been interviewed _re_ Villiers' estate, am now sending the
+persons to you; they are quite reliable; shall see you to-morrow."
+
+"All right, send them on."
+
+"This is all I can do for you at present," he said; "and I advise you to
+make oath as to your not having received the legacy; it will save time.
+
+"I am selfish enough to be glad you are going out to New York; something
+tells me you will trace Miss Pearl; and I can assure you both, you have
+my fullest sympathy in your dealings with Stone; I can scarcely restrain
+myself from taking the law into my own hands, going out, and charging
+them with their villainy."
+
+"Thank God for your friendship, Doctor," said Silas Jones fervently, as
+he smoothed Sarah's bonnet-strings, and gave her her satchel.
+
+"Good-bye, sir, and heaven bless you for your kindnesses," said Sarah
+Kane, with feeling.
+
+"O, pshaw; my only regret is that you have only found me out to say
+farewell; but you must both come back, and bring Miss Pearl, to see an
+old man."
+
+On reaching the offices of the law-firm, Sarah Kane made oath as to the
+not having received either money or wearing apparel.
+
+W. Davidson, Q. C., saying:
+
+"My eyes are being opened every day by the revelations of my clients;
+but what you say confirms my suspicion, that the schemes of some
+_certain_ people are such cunningly devised fables, as to make it next
+to impossible for all the law courts in the kingdom to convict them."
+
+On leaving Temple Bar, they dined comfortably at a restaurant, talking
+faster than they ate. Afterwards, by the words of a clergyman, they were
+at last made one, at which, with hearts full of thankfulness and quiet
+content, they took a Bayswater omnibus.
+
+Again in the little back parlor, where Mary had a table groaning under
+its good things, with a bright fire to welcome them, to which they had
+scarcely done justice, and beginning to relate their adventures in the
+city, when Simon, the man from Broadlawns, entered, saying, hurriedly:
+
+"I gave my word to the young gent up to the house that I'd fetch you
+folks up to see him when they, over there, were out; so, come along,
+please, if you be in a mind to give the poor gentleman his way."
+
+"Yes, indeed, we will, Simon," said Sarah Kane, readily tying on her
+bonnet. "Come, Silas, dear."
+
+He rose, somewhat reluctantly, for the neat little parlor is doubly home
+to him now, with the sweet, gentle face of Sarah looking at him with the
+loving eyes of a wife.
+
+"But are you sure, Simon, that they are all out, and for the evening,
+for I cannot answer for myself if I come across them?"
+
+"Sure as the Bank of England, Mr. Jones, they be at the parson's. He's a
+showing of them off to a big missionary from foreign parts as his best
+angels."
+
+"The Rev. Mr. Parks is so good," said Sarah, "that I always regret that
+his eyes are closed to the color of his angels."
+
+"The trouble be, Mistress Kane, that they blindfold more nor parson,"
+said Simon, as they hurriedly made their exit.
+
+"Mistress Kane no longer, Simon, for I am glad to tell you we were
+married in the city to-day."
+
+"Lawk-a-day! you don't tell me; but I am mighty glad to hear it. You
+will have a man of your own now, to take your name out of the gossips'
+mouth."
+
+On arriving at Broadlawns, they went at once to the gloomy east chamber,
+when Sarah could scarcely repress an exclamation of intense pity at the
+change for the worse in the appearance of the long-suffering inmate. He
+was wasted to a shadow, and his brown locks had been shaved during brain
+fever, his kindly blue eyes looked black in the transparent paleness of
+his face, as did his whiskers and moustache, but in which many grey
+hairs had come. Holding out a thin, white hand, he welcomed Sarah
+warmly, saying:
+
+"Oh, it _is_ good to see your face again. I expect I look like a
+galvanized corpse, Sarah. What with the horror of my forced union with
+Medusa (a pet name I have for Mrs. Cole), and then brain fever, which, I
+don't wonder, caught me, and which, having that woman about me,
+aggravated. You banished, and maligned, at which I stuffed the
+bedclothes into my ears, and now my old enemy, inflammatory rheumatism,
+I have had a pretty tough time of it."
+
+"Yes, indeed, you have, poor fellow," said Sarah, restraining her tears,
+and scarcely able to look at the wreck before her; "but you are on the
+mend now, and we must trust in God to bring you around soon. It has been
+a heartbreak to me, Mr. Cole, that I was not allowed to nurse you."
+
+"Only another piece of their cruelty, Sarah. But tell me about yourself.
+Where did that old sinner incarcerate you? tell me everything," he said,
+with feeble eagerness, for sometimes the pain was intense, causing him
+to set his teeth, or catch his breath.
+
+But Silas Jones, seeing how much she was affected, and wishing to give
+her time to recover, himself gave the sick man a vivid picture of her
+imprisonment and release.
+
+"Jove! what a wretch--I mean Stone; for the man Lang was simply his
+tool. Gad! I shall exercise a treble amount of will-power to get well,
+and out of their clutches, and back to dear old Toronto. 'Out of every
+evil comes some good,' they say; though, in my case, not much; in
+Sarah's, yes, for you have given me a tonic, Jones. From this moment I
+am determined to recover."
+
+"That's right; be brave, sir, and you'll pull through right smart," said
+Silas Jones; for Sarah is swallowing a lump in her throat.
+
+"Yes, bear up, Mr. Cole," she said, trying to smile, as she seated
+herself on the bedside, taking his poor, worn hands into her own, warm
+with vitality. "But Silas has not given you a bit of good news--that the
+happiest part of our lives is to come, for from to-day, we pass them
+together!"
+
+"Yes," said Silas, coming beside her, laying his hands on her shoulders;
+"yes, I have nothing more to wish for, with Sarah beside me. I cannot
+remember the time, sir, that I did not want Sarah."
+
+Two tears rolled down the sick man's cheeks, as he thought of his own
+wretched fate; but, by a visible effort, controlling self, he said,
+simply:
+
+"I am glad you are together, and happy. Yours is a blessed union. God
+help me to health and strength, that I can free myself of _her_
+presence," he cried imploringly. "Sarah, I have a fancy--it may be a
+dying one, heaven knows--it is to see a likeness of Pearl Villiers, the
+girl I was, by right, to have married."
+
+"Here she is, poor dear," she said with alacrity, unfastening a locket
+suspended to her chain.
+
+"How strange! how like her! only older, and more careworn. Sarah, I have
+seen a face like this three or four times on the other side of the
+water; the face, too, strange to say, haunted me; a nice, good face,
+rather than pretty; but if the careworn, troubled look was gone it would
+have been pretty. Yes, the same features; small, pale, and regular."
+
+"And with fair hair and slight figure?" cried Sarah, clasping her hands.
+
+"Yes," but with the restlessness of the invalid he changed the subject,
+saying:
+
+"You and your husband are going to America, you say. I am going, too;
+_when_ I get well. You might meet me there, if you can't wait for me,"
+he said, wearily; "and, yes, there is something else I must hasten to
+say before those people return. I have received no letters since my
+arrival, only a few newspapers; here they are. I love them because they
+come from dear Toronto," he said, in nervous haste, taking from beneath
+his pillow a copy of the _Mail_, two of _Grip_, with a _Globe_.
+
+"Letters were here to meet you, sir?"
+
+"Then the sneaks have read and kept them," he cried, angrily.
+
+"Perhaps I should not have told you, sir; but I don't like you to think
+your friends have forgotten you."
+
+"You do me no harm, Sarah, by your eye-openers. Wrath is a good tonic;
+tell me if you know what postmark was on them."
+
+"Here are some envelopes I picked up from the grate the morning they
+sent me away."
+
+"Yes, they said their letters would be here to meet me. This is quite
+plain, from Will Smith; this I can scarcely decipher; but it's--yes,
+it's Mrs. Gower's writing; and this from a namesake of yours, Mr. Jones.
+Ah, it's good to see even these scraps. I could preach sermons on the
+wickedness of my jailers," he said, weakly, "but now, at once, before
+they come back, take my address here, on----"
+
+"How dare you enter my roof! it is more than flesh and blood can stand,"
+said Mrs. Cole, entering stealthily, her face in a flame with rage--a
+virago, from the crown of her head to the sole of her foot, and arrayed,
+with her usual contempt for harmonious coloring, in pea-green satin, jet
+trimmings, with crimson bows.
+
+"Calm yourself, Mrs. Cole; we are in the presence of a sick man," said
+Silas, with intense pity for the invalid, and endeavoring to curb his
+own tongue.
+
+"Don't dare to address me, but get out of my house immediately; there,
+follow your bonnet, Sarah Kane," she said, furiously, pitching her
+bonnet and satchel into the hall, on which some change rolling
+therefrom, she was the richer by a half a sovereign, which, stealthily
+picking up, with an inward chuckle, she slipped into her boot.
+
+"What's all the racket about upstairs? Wait a few moments, Lang," said
+Stone, who, on returning, ascertained he had been waiting for him in the
+kitchen for a full hour, they having missed each other in the morning.
+
+Sarah Jones, in nervous haste to be gone, picked up her bonnet and
+satchel, taking the hand of Mr. Cole in good night.
+
+"Remember! and here is my address," he whispered nervously.
+
+But the woman he has married is too sharp for them; for, on Sarah
+turning from the bedside, she snatched the paper, tearing it into
+fragments.
+
+"Good night, Mr. Cole. I am truly sorry for you; you are too good for
+the inmates of this house."
+
+"Again you dare to trespass," said Stone, meeting them on the stairs,
+turning and following them down.
+
+"I warned you before that I should make you pay for this. I am master
+here, and I tell you I shall kick you out if you ever show your ugly
+faces here again," he said, choking with passion.
+
+"Good evening, Mistress Kane," winked Lang, as they passed him. "It was
+not square of you to skip off from me without paying your board. I'm
+dead broke, so you or your follower better pay up now; it's only five
+sovereigns, and save law expenses."
+
+"You are unwise, Mr. Lang, to add insult to injury," she said, quietly,
+as she went out into a serener night.
+
+"Provide yourselves with plasters, and we shall provide ourselves with
+copper toes, the next time you trespass," shouted Mrs. Cole, over the
+banisters.
+
+"We shall only trouble you once more," said Silas Jones, curbing
+himself, "when Mrs. Jones will give you her signature in exchange for
+five hundred pounds, with interest on same, left her by the will of the
+late Mrs. Villiers."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+"YOUR EEN WERE LIKE A SPELL."
+
+
+The silver chimes of the mantel clock rang four p.m., as Mrs. Gower
+descended from her sewing-room on the last day of the old year. She
+looked well in a gown of soft, grey silk, hanging in full, straight
+folds, unrelieved by ornament, save a few sprays of sweet heliotrope at
+her collar-fastening.
+
+She stood at the library door, unseen by Miss Crew the only occupant,
+who made a pretty picture, the last beams of the setting sun coming in
+through a west window, lighting up her fair hair and pretty brown gown,
+the firelight lending color to her pale cheeks; a cabinet photo is in
+her hand, at which she is gazing so earnestly, and with such a troubled
+expression, that she has not heard Mrs. Gower, though singing softly, as
+she descended the stairs,
+
+    "Your een were like a spell, Jeanie;
+      Mair sweet than I can tell, lassie,
+    That ilka day bewitched me sae
+      I couldna help mysel', lassie."
+
+"Who are you trying to read, Miss Crew?"
+
+"Your friend, Mr. Babbington-Cole, Mrs. Gower," she said, with a start,
+placing the photo back in its frame.
+
+"And has it told you its name was Babbington-Cole, _ma chere_; we only
+give the latter?"
+
+"Yes; but you know his name is Babbington-Cole, Mrs. Gower," she
+answered, evading the question.
+
+"We do. Do you like his face?"
+
+"Yes, very much; he looks so kind and sweet-tempered."
+
+"Poor Charlie Cole, he is all of that; excessively amiable people so
+often wed the reverse. I do hope it is not so in his case." "It is a
+dreadful fate," said the girl, absently. "But we must hope for the best,
+Miss Crew; but his long silence makes me fanciful; however, if we don't
+receive news direct very soon--as I have had some queer dreams of him
+lately--I shall write the clergyman at Bayswater."
+
+"The reverend--I mean, how will you address it; just to the clergyman,
+or how?" she said, intent upon her work.
+
+"Yes, that's very true, I don't know his name. Oh, I have it; Mr. Smyth
+left the paper with the marriage insertion; I do hope it has not been
+destroyed;" and going to the rack, to look over its contents, Miss Crew,
+excusing herself, left the room to get into her wraps, as she was due to
+tea at the Tremaine's. Mrs. Gower, looking in vain for the English
+newspaper, seated herself comfortably to read the report of the Board of
+Trade dinner to the Honorable Joseph Chamberlain.
+
+Miss Crew entered, robed for the winter streets. "Good-bye, Mrs. Gower;
+I shall not be late."
+
+"_Au revoir_; give Mrs. Tremaine my love; and say, as the Dales may
+return from New York this evening, I found it impossible to leave; and
+be sure and wear your over-shoes: our streets are in their usual winter
+break-neck condition. I do hope the new Council will enforce the
+by-law."
+
+"I hope so, too; I had an awful fall the other day; the city treasury
+would be overflowing did they collect the fines," she said, going out;
+when, at the hall door, she returned, saying hurriedly, "Oh, here is the
+English newspaper you were looking for, Mrs. Gower; it was upstairs."
+
+"Thank you, good-bye."
+
+Having made a note of the clergyman's name at Bayswater, and become
+conversant with the news in the city papers, she gave herself up, in the
+gloaming, to quiet thought.
+
+"Yes, I like him very much, there is a manly, straightforwardness in his
+words; a steadfastness of purpose in his honest blue eyes; a firmness in
+the lines of the mouth, with a kindliness of manner; all stamping him as
+a man whose friendship would be true, whose love faithful; how strange,
+that at last I should meet him at the house of a mutual friend. Mr. St.
+Clair tells me he has known him for years, and the Tremaines since
+summer; had any one told me two weeks ago, that I should sing 'Hunting
+Tower' with him in ten days, at the St. Clairs', I should have thought
+them romancing. He has a sweet tenor voice, he asked me if he might
+call; how pleasant it would be if he were here now. I used to wonder and
+wonder, in meeting him so frequently at lectures, concerts, or in the
+cars, and walking about, what his name was. Now, Alexander Blair has
+come to me; and his tenderness to the little veiled lady, who was, I
+suppose, consumptive, by the slow way they walked. I wonder where she
+is, I never see her now: his care for her touched my heart.
+
+"I am so glad he has come into my life: I feel lonely at times; and he
+is so companionable, I know. What dependent creatures we are, after
+all--houses and lands, robes _a la mode_, even, don't suffice.
+Intercourse we must have.
+
+"But," and a shudder ran through her, "what a desolate fate mine will be
+if Philip Cobbe will persist in keeping me to my oath. We have not much
+in common: he is kind, but neither firm nor steadfast, and now this
+woman comes between us; and what would she not do were I his wife? As it
+is, I live in daily dread of her doing something desperate. It was
+enough to terrify any woman similarly situated, the way in which she
+acted that Sunday evening, coming from church; and again, that night at
+the Rogers' meeting in the Pavilion. A ring! Can it be the Dales? No, it
+is Philip; I wonder what mood he is in."
+
+"Alone! for a wonder," he said, warmly. "Leave the gas alone, Thomas,
+the firelight is sufficient." "And thinking of me, and wishing for me,"
+he said, as the servant left the room. "Yes, I can tell by your eyes."
+
+"There Philip, that will do, I am actually afraid to have you in my
+house. Remember that woman last night! if looks could kill, then would I
+have been slain," she said, tremblingly.
+
+"She can't harm you, and I'll put a stop to her tricks. You see, Elaine,
+she is so infatuated with me, she can't keep away," he said, personal
+vanity uppermost.
+
+"But, that's just what I want you to see, Philip; it would be running
+too great a risk to marry you."
+
+"'Pon honor, love, I don't know how to shake her off."
+
+"You did not seem to exert yourself last night. When I looked over my
+shoulder to speak to you in the crowd, coming out, she had her hand on
+your arm; and you were bending down listening to her."
+
+"I know; and when you looked, she clutched her hold of my arm all the
+tighter," he said, with the eagerness of a child.
+
+"What did she say?"
+
+"She said, you _shan't_ go home with her to-night."
+
+"Exactly the same words she used that Sunday evening. Words and an act
+that will ever be stamped on my memory. That act came between my heart
+and yours, Philip, for all time," she said, sadly thinking of his
+foolish flightiness in allowing anything of the kind to break up their
+friendship, if no more. "You must see, Philip, that you should set me
+free."
+
+"No, no; don't talk like that; you should want me all the more when you
+witness her infatuation," he said, with his juvenile air, attempting to
+kiss her.
+
+"No, Philip; I cannot let you come near me with the occurrence of last
+evening so fresh in my memory."
+
+"Oh, nonsense; when I am your husband you will be just as infatuated
+about me as she is."
+
+"Do you know, Philip, you are as vain as a girl."
+
+"Well, yes; I suppose I am vain; but so would any man be who was as
+successful with the fair sex as I am," he said, drawing himself up to
+his full height of five feet nine, a look of pleasure in his large
+bright eyes.
+
+"I can assure you, Philip, I felt anything but vain at the Pavilion, or
+coming out of church, with the spiteful eyes of that tall,
+common-looking, over-dressed Mrs. Snob full upon me, as social
+astronomer; she took in the situation at once."
+
+"A fig for what such like see or think; I thought you were above valuing
+the opinion of our wealthy plebeians."
+
+"But we were so conspicuously placed; I shrink from giving such women
+food for gossip."
+
+"Hang them all; our east-ender, Mrs. Snob, Ragsel, and the whole tribe,
+or anyone that bothers you, Elaine."
+
+"But, Philip, do be rational; release me from my oath; give me my
+freedom; we will never be happy married, or with our engagement still
+on; for she will grow bolder, and more persistent with each advance; do,
+for pity's sake, free me."
+
+"No, no; you ask too much," he said, angrily, thinking of these
+comfortable quarters of which he should be master, and of the woman
+beside him also.
+
+"But see how you left me for her last night; you _must_ be fond of her."
+
+"I am _not_, so help me God; but I could not shake her off without
+making a scene."
+
+"But just fancy, Philip; if we were married she would prowl about the
+place even more than she does at present."
+
+"It is all your own fault, Elaine, that she gives you those scares in
+the evening; for she only comes when she knows I am about; if you lived
+more to yourself, and did not have all these women about you, I would
+come in the afternoon, like to-day; and she would be none the wiser, for
+she is at work in the day and can't come."
+
+"It is a fearful life for me."
+
+"Be reasonable, Elaine: any man as fascinating to your sex as I am must,
+of necessity, have women breaking their necks for them."
+
+"How you amuse me," she said, smiling ironically, comparing him with
+someone else.
+
+"I don't see why; you know I speak truth," he said, innocently; "let me
+come in the afternoon; don't have any one else; then, pet, she will not
+see me watching to see you when your guests are gone at night; and so
+you will not be troubled with her."
+
+"But just think what a proposition you are making; she is to control our
+actions."
+
+"Yes; but only for a time, pet; she will, perhaps, tire of pursuing me;
+if she had me, and you were out in the cold, I feel sure she would agree
+to my proposition."
+
+"You certainly have a most amusing way of putting things."
+
+"I know I have; it's my large, kind heart and wish to please; and when
+we are married I will both charm and amuse you."
+
+"No, no; it will not be safe for me to marry you; for how about this
+other woman; would you charm and amuse her also?"
+
+"Just as I was in the humor; if she angered me, I would not think twice
+of setting Tyr on her."
+
+"Dinner is served, ma'am."
+
+On repairing to the dining-room; and having done ample justice to a
+substantial dinner, prepared with a view to the possible advent of the
+Dales; and when the oyster soup, roast beef, with delicious vegetables,
+had been removed, dessert on, and Thomas dismissed, Mr. Cobbe said, in
+pleased tones:
+
+"I must congratulate you on your cook, Elaine."
+
+"Then you congratulate myself, Philip; for my seraph of the frying-pan
+knows next to nothing of the art; I devote two hours of each day to my
+culinary department."
+
+"For which you have the thanks of your guests, and for which Bridget
+will make you pay."
+
+"Yes; I know; but they all do it; when they feel their wings, they
+demand higher wages, or fly.
+
+
+"When will you marry me, Elaine?" he said, lightly, as they entered the
+drawing-room.
+
+"_After all I have said, you still ask this_," she said, freeing
+herself, and at her wits' end to know what to do with him, remembering
+her oath; but this woman, and what revenge she may take, terrifies her.
+Mr. Cobbe lights the gas; but the inside shutters must be shut; and as
+she closes them, he assists her, standing so near that his cheek touches
+hers.
+
+"Don't speak to me like that, Elaine; we love each other; and hang her
+for coming between us; come here, pet, and sit beside me; it is a treat
+to have you all to myself."
+
+"No; I am in no humor for a _tete-a-tete_; and the Dales may arrive at
+any moment."
+
+"Hang them; can't they go to a hotel; I dislike them; and surely you had
+enough of them, and that doleful Miss Crew, while Dale went north."
+
+"Tastes differ, Philip; I have a sincere friendship for them; as to
+their coming now, most of my little friends' wardrobe is----"
+
+Here a sharp ring at the hall door startled them.
+
+"What! a ring; that woman will be the death of me; I tremble now, once
+evening comes, at every peal of that bell."
+
+"Beg pardon, sir; a person--a--a lady, says she is waiting to speak to
+you, sir."
+
+"Go, Philip, quick, for heaven's sake; this is dreadful," she said, in a
+gasp, holding her hand to her side.
+
+"Mr. Blair," said Thomas; and the old gold _portiere_ hangings are again
+closed, and they are alone.
+
+"Forget I am with you; don't try to speak yet," he said, kindly leading
+her to a seat; "you will breathe naturally in a few minutes, you have
+been startled; but it is all quiet now; your servant carefully fastened
+the door; lean your head back to this cushion; there is something, after
+all, in material comforts. Ah, now your color comes, and your
+eyes--well," he said, smiling, yet with a grave tenderness, "your eyes
+have lost their startled look, and may again weave their spells." For
+she had now opened her eyes, keeping them closed so she could better
+listen to his voice as he talked on, giving her time to recover that
+self which in alarm had fled.
+
+But with her nerves more quiet comes a thought which she must set at
+rest. So intent on her question is she, that self-consciousness is
+altogether absent, as, looking into his face, she says,
+
+"You must be a married man; you are so good a nurse, knowing exactly
+what is best for one; are you?"
+
+"No; I was," he said, indicating, by a gesture, a mourning ring on the
+third finger of his left hand.
+
+"Forgive me; I should not have asked you so abruptly."
+
+"I don't mind you, you don't seem a stranger; and my poor wife was an
+invalid, so that her death, thirteen months ago, was not unexpected."
+
+"No; under those circumstances, you would be more or less prepared."
+
+"Tell me, did you deem me impertinent to turn my eyes to your face when
+we have so frequently met, before our introduction?"
+
+"No; else I should have to share in your blame; for I should not have
+seen you had I not been guilty of like fault," she said, drooping her
+eyes.
+
+"Believe me, I couldna help mysel', lassie, no more than I now can help
+myself coming to your house, and feeling so at home with you, as though
+I had known you for years, instead of for days. Do you feel a little as
+I do," he said, in his eager earnestness, turning his blue eyes full on
+her face.
+
+"I do; you will never be a stranger to me," she said, simply.
+
+"Thank you; do you know that evening coming from the Grand, after
+'Erminie;' I was in the seventh heaven after having been so near you."
+
+"'So near, and yet so far,'" she said, smiling; "for the frowning
+battlements of the conventionalities were still between us."
+
+"Yes; but I dreamed that your pretty lace fan would waft them away,
+being a woman (though, by your eyes, I feel sure a warm-hearted one);
+still, you cannot know how my heart leaped when I saw that you had
+forgotten your fan; my first impulse led me to follow you with it, but
+Scotch second-sight suggested the means I adopted, to tell you my name.
+How did you like it?"
+
+"Very much, indeed," she said, smiling, as looking into his face half
+shyly, remembering how she had pressed his card to her lips; "I love
+both your names, for reasons I may tell you another time. Are you
+Highland Scotch?"
+
+"Yes; and from fair Dunkeld."
+
+"Indeed! you must be proud of your birthplace; the scenery must be
+beautiful, were it only in among your groves of trees. I love the giants
+of the forest so, that I wonder in the Pagan world they have not been as
+gods; now we sing,
+
+    "'Ye groves that wave in Spring,
+      And glorious forests sing,
+                      Alleluia.'"
+
+"You have a passion for trees, I see, and would surely like Dunkeld;
+30,000,000 alone are said to have been planted by a Duke of Athol; we
+father on to the scenery a spice of romance running through us."
+
+"Don't try to excuse it by fathering it on to other than your own
+nature; our age is too practical; but Emerson expresses my thoughts
+exactly when he says 'everything but cyphering is hustled out of sight;
+man asks for a novel, that is, asks leave for a few hours to be a poet.'
+But, perhaps, you don't agree with me?"
+
+"I do, or I should have a larger account at my bankers; I fear I am not
+a canny Scotchman, for I have spent a good deal in giving my poor wife
+and self a glimpse of the poetry of other lands."
+
+"That was right, and kind. Do you know I think the world would be a
+better place to live in if, after one had made a sufficiency, one was
+compelled to give place to others, and if no credit was given in any
+case."
+
+"That, without doubt, would settle a good deal, and do away with
+communism," he said, laughingly; "for there would be no large fortunes
+to grab. As to no credit, I fear, until we reach Elysian fields, we
+shall have failures, duns, and other fruits of the credit system," he
+said, gravely.
+
+"Do you intend remaining in Toronto?" she said, intent upon her
+embroidery.
+
+"That depends," he said, trying to read her; "don't go away; that old
+gold chair, with its crimson arms, becomes you (in woman's parlance),
+and brings out your warm tints."
+
+"I should think you would admire a woman like pretty Mrs. St. Clair, as
+you yourself are dark."
+
+"Yes; she is a pretty little thing; a triumph of art though; but, if you
+will allow me to say so, I admire your style; usually there is more
+force of character in dark women rather than in fair."
+
+"Yes; do you think so?"
+
+"I do; now, for instance, there is St. Clair, miserable at the aimless
+existence of his wife: she is either in hysterics or in--cosmetics."
+
+"We hear he is insanely jealous of her."
+
+"Rumor, as you know, dear Mrs. Grower, says more than her prayers. He
+tells me he is not jealous; for he does not believe any man would be
+silly enough to give him cause; but that by he or his son going about
+with her, her quest for admiration is held in check."
+
+"Oh, I see; that is the reason they attend her so closely; what a pity
+we are so foolish as to throw away life happiness, and the passing of
+our time in rest and quietness for the evanescent soap bubbles of a
+passing hour; but it is growing late; come and see my palms in my pet
+room, the library, before you go."
+
+"Thank you;" the mere words were naught, but he looked so quietly happy,
+as he drew the hangings for their exit, that the color came to her
+cheeks as she remembered her oath, to as quickly fade on the clock
+striking ten, and the hall bell ringing simultaneously, as a man outside
+stamped the snow off his boots, impatiently saying, hurriedly, the
+startled look again in her face:
+
+"Ten o'clock; I fear I must postpone your visit to the library."
+
+"Is there any trouble I can shield you from? if so, you have only to
+command me," he said, quickly, taking her hand in good night. "No, no,
+not now," she said, with a troubled look.
+
+"Think, and tell me on New Year's Day," he said, buttoning his overcoat.
+
+"I shook her off, Elaine," he said, impulsively, not seeing Mr. Blair,
+who was rather back of the door. "Oh, I beg pardon," he continued,
+sulkily. "I thought you were alone, and watching for my return."
+
+"It is so late," she said, as Mr Blair made his exit.
+
+"Nonsense, who was the man; I don't think it's right of you to have
+gentleman visitors," he said, in aggrieved tones.
+
+"Now, Philip, does not that sound rather absurd? and, as I have before
+told you, I wish you would not come here at such a late hour; I don't
+like it," she said, gravely, as they went into the dining-room, where
+the usual little supper stood on a tray.
+
+"But we are engaged, it's you who are absurd," he said, pettishly; "but
+don't let us bother about it, my frosty walk has been quite an
+appetizer. Did you find it long, pet, while I was away? but I forget,
+you had that man here. A ring! bother."
+
+"It is Miss Crew, who is, you know, visiting me. Excuse me a moment, I
+hear Captain Tremaine's voice."
+
+"Hang all her visitors," he muttered.
+
+"I am glad to see you back, dear; come into the dining-room, both of
+you."
+
+
+"Thanks, I believe if you only had potato and point, you would offer
+some one the potato."
+
+"If so, they should thank you; for, from admiration of your hospitality,
+to imitation, was but one step."
+
+"Blarney, blarney, you might only say that to the Chinese. These oysters
+are very fine, nothing like eating them off the shell."
+
+"Just my taste; these were sent me by a friend."
+
+"I never saw a man look more at home, than you, Cobbe; if all bachelors
+looked as contentedly jolly, we would not pity you so."
+
+"No pity for me, Tremaine, thanks. I have given many of you cause for
+envy."
+
+"He is not at all vain, Captain Tremaine," said Mrs. Gower, amusedly.
+
+"Not for him," said Tremaine, jokingly.
+
+"What is to be our color for 1888?"
+
+"Orange or blue, Mrs. Gower; half the men I have met to-day say one,
+half the other; opinions are divided."
+
+"Had the other man been a green Reformer, though, I would have bet on
+him," said Mr. Cobbe, buttoning on his overcoat.
+
+"There is something in that," she said; "for some would say he would
+have the Ontario Government at his back."
+
+"So he would, and good backers they would be, too. Good-night, Elaine;
+shall I see you at St. John's Church, to-morrow?" he said, in an
+undertone.
+
+"Don't ask me, after my last experience; I am going all the way to Holy
+Trinity Church, with Miss Crew; but shall be at home Monday, excepting
+while at the polls."
+
+"All right, _au revoir_."
+
+On his exit, Tremaine said, laughingly,
+
+"Good night. If the candidates were as sure of their election as our
+friend Cobbe is of his, they would sleep till Tuesday without a narcotic
+or a charm from the good fairies."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+A HAPPY NEW YEAR.
+
+
+"A Happy New Year! A Happy New Year!" is on every tongue, and how
+exhilarating is the cry uttered by thousands. From the weakly voice of
+our aged loved ones, to the bird-like notes of the wee children,
+mingling with the merry sleigh-bells, do our politicians take up the
+refrain; and our manly men, and ambitious women, sing out in various
+chords, as they swarm to the polls, "A Happy New Year! A Happy New
+Year!"
+
+And Old Boreas takes up the refrain, and blows till his cheeks crack,
+down Yonge street, from his northern realm. Yea, forty miles distant,
+does he send his cold breath. A Happy New Year! A Happy New Year.
+
+And our young men and maidens, our girls and our boys, laugh till the
+air rings. Hurrah for the north wind, we'll go to the Granite and have a
+good skate.
+
+And one gathers from the merry medley that our King Coal, and the
+_Sentinel_, are this year's favorites; but those who have put money up,
+and those who have not, must even wait with bated breath till midnight,
+or till dawn; and in dreamland, see their pet schemes forwarded, their
+own man in the Mayor's chair.
+
+It was a busy day at Holmnest, a bee-hive with no drones, by eleven a.m.
+Mrs. Gower has polled her vote; afterwards, with Miss Crew, drove
+through snow-mantled Rosedale, down villa-lined Jarvis street, through
+those stores of wealth, Yonge and King streets, along the margin of the
+silver lake, ere turning the horses' heads to the north-west and
+Holmnest; visiting, also, some of the poorer streets, in which quarters
+Miss Crew has found God's poor, many cases having touched her heart, she
+now leaves little parcels of good things to gladden these homes.
+
+"You will become bankrupt, Miss Crew," said Mrs. Gower, as they are
+driven home.
+
+"I am almost so, now; and if it will not bother you, I should like to
+tell you of a plan I have in view."
+
+"Bother me? I should say not. You should know I take too much interest
+in you for that." "Thank you; some connections, until recently, have
+remitted to me a sum amply sufficient for my needs; I know not why," she
+said, in troubled tones, "they have discontinued it; but they have, and
+it remains for me to face the difficulty, now that Garfield has outgrown
+my tuition, I cannot remain dependent on the Dale's kindness; and of Mr.
+Dale's generous, good treatment of me, a stranger, I cannot say too
+much; but I must exert myself to get a new situation," she said,
+nervously. "And will you, dear Mrs. Gower, do what you can in advising
+me; I have been looking in the newspapers, but have seen nothing
+suitable."
+
+"Excuse me, Miss Crew, but are you entitled by law to receive this
+remittance you speak of? if so, you should not quietly relinquish it,
+but should consult a lawyer. We, at Toronto, are blessed with several
+honest, as well as clever, law firms. I will accompany you readily, or
+do anything I can for you."
+
+"You are very kind, but I shrink from lawyers, they ask so many
+questions," she said, timidly.
+
+"You must not mind that, dear; if you were ill, what would you do, send
+for a medical man? and the more questions he asked, the better he would
+understand your case."
+
+"I wish I was braver; but I am only a girl, and have had much trouble,
+which has made me very nervous and timid."
+
+For one so extremely reticent, this was quite a confidence.
+
+"Yes, it would have that effect on one of your temperament; but with me,
+my troubles have made me more self-reliant; finding few to trust, I have
+leaned on myself."
+
+"Yes, you seem to me very brave; but don't you think I should advertise
+for a situation at once?"
+
+"No, decidedly not. You should ask Mr. Dale to advise, and I shall be
+very pleased to have you with me all winter."
+
+"How very kind you are, Mrs. Gower," and the tears came to her eyes,
+"but I should be more satisfied, adding to my purse."
+
+"Very well, dear; I commend your decision, but remember the bedroom you
+occupy is Miss Crew's own, and your little home-nest will be ever ready
+for you; but do not forget my advice, which is to confide in Mr. Dale,
+fully and entirely; he can, and will, give you the very best advice."
+
+"Oh, I don't see how I can. If you only knew; but how selfish I am,
+spoiling your drive, and on New Year's Day, too."
+
+Here a small sleigh, in which were seated a comfortable-looking couple;
+the man a mass of grey tints--complexion, hair, whiskers, overcoat, and
+fur cap--looking like a man who had led a sedentary life; the woman,
+fresh of color, partly bent by the breath of old Boreas, both looking
+quietly happy, but so intent on turning their heads, as if on a pivot,
+first on this side, now on that, as they drove down handsome Saint
+George street, as to be oblivious of the approach of the sleigh in which
+were seated Mrs. Gower and Miss Crew.
+
+"Look out, there," shouted the driver. At this, the man, giving his
+whole attention to his horse, turned him out of the way just in time to
+save a collision; the woman, as they passed, looking at the occupants.
+She gave a great cry to stop them, but the driver had given his horses
+the whip, and on they dashed. Miss Crew had leaned forward, pale as
+death, her lips blue and parted, she tried to frame the word, "Stop,"
+but failed. Mrs. Gower, in sympathy, defining her meaning, cried:
+
+"Stop, driver, please."
+
+On his doing so:
+
+"Is the sleigh we just passed out of sight?"
+
+"No, ma'am; the gentleman has turned, and is a following of us. Would
+you, ladies, like a New Year's race? if so, I'm your man," he said,
+grinning.
+
+But Miss Crew, white as the snow, and looking whiter by contrast with
+the pretty red hat, has leaped out of the cutter.
+
+"My dog-skin coat is very warm, Mrs. Gower; don't wait; I must speak to
+them," she said, in the greatest excitement, her eyes glistening, her
+color coming and going.
+
+"But you will take cold, dear; get in beside me again until they come
+up."
+
+"No, no, I beg; I wish to meet them _alone_," she whispered.
+
+"On one condition; are they friends?"
+
+"Yes; oh, yes, she is one of my best."
+
+Mrs. Gower, seeing them almost close, wishing her an affectionate
+good-bye, bade the man drive on, and, as was natural, fell into a
+reverie over the strange occurrence happening to a girl of Miss Crew's
+remarkably reticent character. She seemed pleased, but so intensely
+excited, one could scarcely tell her real feelings. She thought, "But I
+sincerely hope it will be a bright incident for her to begin 1888 with;
+for a more truly pious, gentle, amiable girl I have never met."
+
+On the driver drawing in his horses, to allow a gentlemanly-looking man
+to pass, who was crossing Bloor West, at the head of St. George street,
+Mrs. Gower waking from her reverie, sees Mr. Buckingham.
+
+"The compliments of the season, Mrs. Gower," he said, lifting his hat.
+
+"The same to you. Whither bound?"
+
+"To Holmnest."
+
+"Then you had better come into the sleigh; 'there's room enough for
+twa.'"
+
+"Thanks; with pleasure."
+
+"Driver, you see the young lady ahead of us. I expect she is coming to
+my place. Just pick her up, please."
+
+"All right, ma'am."
+
+"I suppose you will think our sleighing a make-believe, after Lindsay,
+and locality."
+
+"You will be surprised to hear I now come from New York. Dale
+telegraphed me to meet some railway men, so I have been there ever
+since."
+
+"But won't your interests north-east suffer by your absence?"
+
+"Oh, not materially, I hope; still I am anxious to be on the spot. There
+is a splendid mine out that way I should like to get hold of."
+
+"Iron, I suppose?"
+
+"Oh, yes; it is, you know, to be the great industry of the future."
+
+"But you only mean if we get Commercial Union?"
+
+"Yes, as far as Canada is concerned."
+
+"What is the name of this special mine you covet? I have heard Mr. Dale
+speak of several; this may be one."
+
+"It is the Snowden, in Victoria county; the ore is a fine grained
+magnetite; the mine is favorably situated, having a railway running into
+it."
+
+"Indeed! all very favorable; do you think you will succeed in becoming a
+purchaser?"
+
+"Of that, I regret to say, I am somewhat doubtful, as I am told there
+are several obstructionists connected with it; but I am not going to
+worry about it," he said, quietly; "if I don't get it, there are
+others."
+
+"What an easy temperament you have," she said, looking into his quiet
+unmoved countenance.
+
+"My dear Mrs. Gower, I hold that a man should have himself under such
+perfect control as to be able to look at himself, in a manner of
+speaking, with other eyes; sit in judgment upon himself; dissect his
+motives, reward or punish. I look upon one who lets loose the reins of
+reason, giving blind passion or impulse full swing, as only an animal of
+the swine family, whatever his name may be," he said, smiling.
+
+"What must he think of me," she thought; I am as impulsive as a Celt.
+"What a superior race of beings man would be were his convictions your
+convictions."
+
+"I think he would be happier, for he would not give way to excitement,
+which is, in my opinion, a sort of insanity; and also in its reaction,
+which is melancholy."
+
+"That reaction, after excitement, is one of the strongest blue ribbon
+arguments; we had a 'chalk talk' thereon at the Pavilion on last Sunday
+afternoon; what do you think of the Prohibition movement?"
+
+"I go with it, to the letter, for the mass of humanity cannot, or will
+not, control themselves; how do you go?"
+
+"I believe in temperance in all things. Professor Blackie says, 'We have
+too much of everything in our day; too much eating, too much drinking,
+too much preaching, etc;' and I am so far at one with him, that I
+believe in temperance, and coffee, even on New Year's Day," she added,
+smiling. "Stop, driver, please."
+
+"Come, get in, Miss O'Sullivan, and a Happy New Year to you, dear; this
+is my friend, Mr. Buckingham."
+
+"I was on my way to your place, Mrs. Gower, to ask Miss Crew to come and
+spend the day."
+
+"She is out with some friends; but you must lunch with me, and wait for
+her."
+
+"Whose is that large, hospitable house, Mrs. Gower, at the head of St.
+George Street?" asked Miss O'Sullivan.
+
+"A Colonel Sweeney's, dear, who, I was going to say, has a heart as
+large as his house, he is so kindly hospitable."
+
+Here they overtook Mr. Blair, whose handsome face lit with pleasure, as
+he lifted his hat; and, somehow, Mrs. Gower was glad of the advent of
+the young lady, though, before seeing him, she had not minded her
+_tete-a-tete_ with Mr. Buckingham, with whom she likes to talk.
+
+In a few minutes Holmnest is reached, when Mrs. Gower, telling Mr.
+Buckingham to make himself at home, he must stay for luncheon, and until
+it is time to take the Midland rail, went upstairs to make her toilette
+for the day.
+
+Mr. Buckingham looks and feels at home ensconced in a deep, softly
+padded chair, near the blazing grate, in the restful library; he is soon
+lost in the _Iron Age_.
+
+On Miss O'Sullivan, a sweet-faced, blue-eyed girl, entering, looking
+bright as the morning in her pretty red woollen frock, the occupant,
+with the innate courtesy of his countrymen, laying aside his newspaper,
+adapted himself to her girlish chit-chat in a manner that charmed her,
+until the entrance of Mrs. Gower, in a very becoming gown of brown silk,
+with old gold plush trimming, ecru lace chemisette, and elbow
+sleeves--for she dressed for all day, and any friends who may come to
+wish her a glad New Year; she first goes to the kitchen to see that the
+machinery is actively in motion, as she had set it before going to the
+polls; one servant maid, with the boy, Thomas, being sufficient for the
+requirements of her cosy little home.
+
+"Well, you both do look comfortable," she said, entering the library.
+
+"Yes; I think we do," said Miss O'Sullivan.
+
+"We only want you to want nothing more," he said, in pleased tones,
+placing a rattan chair, with its dark green velvet cushioned back and
+seat, and turning the fire screen to protect her face.
+
+"Not yet, thanks; my poor palms have had no water to-day. How do you
+think my plants are looking, Mr. Buckingham?"
+
+"Very fine; but if you kept them more moist they would do still better;
+but most amateur gardeners make a like mistake," he said, cutting some
+bits of scarlet geranium; "this bit of color will make your costume
+perfect."
+
+"The costume! but what about the woman?"
+
+"Oh, the woman knows right well," he said, leading her to the mirror.
+
+"Give me the good taste of an American gentleman, in preference to a
+mirror, which is frequently untrue."
+
+"Luncheon is served, ma'am."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+"BETTER LO'ED YE CANNA BE."
+
+
+After a substantial luncheon, to which they bring good appetites, given
+by their exhilarating outing in the frosty air, they cross the hall to
+the drawing-room, when Thomas opened the door to Miss Crew and Mr.
+Cobbe.
+
+"Ah, here is our truant," said Mrs. Gower.
+
+"Me!" laughed Cobbe, wishing her the compliments of the season.
+
+Mr. Buckingham thought he detected a slight cloud of dissatisfaction
+pass over her face, even as she welcomed him.
+
+"I have made fifteen calls already; the fair sex like to be remembered,
+Buckingham."
+
+"Man is too selfish to forget what he could not do without, Cobbe."
+
+"Give me an American for a due appreciation of our sex," said Mrs.
+Gower, gaily.
+
+"No, no; you are wrong. _You_ ought to know an Irishman to be the most
+gallant man that lives," Mr. Cobbe said, sulkily.
+
+"Well, yes, perhaps you are the most gallant," she said, thoughtfully,
+"but in the bearing of an American man towards my sex there is a
+something more--there is a gentle courtesy, a deference, a grave
+tenderness."
+
+"Tut, tut," said Mr. Cobbe, turning over the leaves of an album
+impatiently.
+
+"I fear you flatter us," said Buckingham.
+
+"No, I think not; simply because your great Republic is so highly
+civilized and progressive, the outcome of which is our enthronement with
+you; while, in other countries, we are still midway between our
+footstool of the dark ages and our throne with you."
+
+Here Mr. St. Clair, Captain Tremaine, and a young barrister, a Mr.
+McCullogh, made their _entree_.
+
+"Your drawing-room is looking very pretty, Mrs. Gower," said Tremaine;
+"the holly and mistletoe brings me home again."
+
+"Yes, it looks so well against the blue and tan panels, that I am
+tempted to let it stay."
+
+"Where did you get it; it is very fine and healthy?" asked St. Clair,
+admiringly.
+
+"Well, thereby hangs a tale; it is a Christmas gift from Santa Claus.
+All I know about it is, it came (Thomas thinks) from Slight's."
+
+"It was no slight to you, Elaine," said Cobbe, jokingly.
+
+On the mention, before so many, of her Christian name she made an
+expressive _moue_ at Tremaine, unseen by the others, whose attention was
+momentarily given to several booklets and cards which lay on a pretty
+gilt stand, and while Miss O'Sullivan and McCullogh turned the pages of
+"Erminie" for Miss Crew at the piano.
+
+"Wait until Monday, Buckingham. I take the Midland then, in your
+direction," said St. Clair.
+
+"Impossible, St. Clair. I should have been as far as Lindsay yesterday."
+
+On the clock striking three, St. Clair started to his feet, buttoning
+his coat.
+
+"Good-bye, Mrs. Gower. 'Time and tide,' you know."
+
+"Oh, yes; but Time is not such a churl as to bid you away before I have
+had even a look at you."
+
+"But we men come to look at you, to-day, and, as usual, gratify
+ourselves. _Au revoir_. I promised Noah to be back at three, to let him
+off for a skate."
+
+"'What's in a name?'" said Tremaine. "I wonder what relation he of the
+Ark was to that boy."
+
+"But fancy! I heard a clergyman in this city baptize an unoffending
+infant Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego."
+
+"Did he throw in the 'and'?" laughed Tremaine.
+
+"Oh, no. Did I give it?"
+
+"Yes. Well, I just call my boy plain Paddy."
+
+"Do you throw in the 'plain'?"
+
+"Oh, come, now; you ladies are having the best of it all through
+to-day," he said, making his adieux.
+
+"At the polls too?" she said gaily.
+
+Several callers now came in in rapid succession, Mr. Cobbe rising as the
+last made their exit.
+
+"Think of me, Elaine. I shall come in and cheer you up when I get
+through," he said, in a loud whisper, as she was having a last quiet
+word with Buckingham.
+
+Here Mr. Blair entered, and both men thought they saw a something in her
+smile that had not been given them.
+
+"Good-bye has come again, Mrs. Gower," said Buckingham. "One must always
+regret leaving Holmnest; but I have only time to catch my train."
+
+"Good-bye, and may all your wishes be granted."
+
+Miss O'Sullivan, saying she must really go, took Miss Crew (who had a
+new light in her face), Mr. McCullogh accompanying them.
+
+
+"I am fortunate," said Mr. Blair, as the _portiere_ hangings closed
+after them; Mrs. Gower smiled.
+
+"Rest, after running about; though I think the fashion of New Year's
+calls is fast dying out."
+
+"It is, undoubtedly; this is my third and last. You are looking well
+after your frosty drive," he said, seating himself at the gilt stand
+beside her.
+
+"Don't you think my friends have good taste?" she said, directing his
+attention to the cards and booklets; "this white ivory card is pretty,
+with its golden edge, white roses, and snowdrops, and gold bells, as
+they ring,
+
+    "May every Christmas chime awaken in your heart
+    Each bliss of by-gone years in which your life had part."
+
+"Yes," he said, thoughtfully, "if one could only drink a good bumper of
+the waters of Lethe, and forget the pain, remembering only the bliss."
+
+"But 'tis the memory of the bliss that brings the pain; at least I have
+found it so," she said gravely.
+
+"Yes, you are right; I have not thought of putting it to myself in that
+way; but I must not give you a sad train of thought. Ah, this is
+original," he said, picking up a large card, on which was painted a
+bunch of scarlet poppies, with the lines:
+
+    "O! sleep; O! gentle sleep, how have I frighted thee,
+    That thou no more will weigh my eyelids down,
+    And steep my senses in forgetfulness?"
+
+"All the way from Ottawa; he evidently sees your eyes, which keep his
+open," he said, trying to read her.
+
+"You are fanciful, Mr. Blair;" but her color deepens under his gaze;
+"but, be it as you say, he should close his eyes, possess his soul with
+honor, and clasp the hand of duty."
+
+"You give him a hard task, still I would lay any wager on your
+kindliness of heart, on your strong sense of honor. I don't think you
+would fool with a man's affections," he said, earnestly.
+
+In spite of herself she trembles, for she feels that he is more to her
+than any living man; and as he sits, his elbows on the table, his
+fingers ran through his iron-grey hair, looking at her, her eyes droop,
+her hands nervously play with the cards, her sensitive lips showing her
+emotion, as she thinks of Mr. St. Clair's words to her the evening of
+their introduction, of the nobility of this man's character, of his
+devotion to his late wife, of his clean record among men as to his truth
+and honor in all business transactions; and now she knows, intuitively,
+in fact, did at their first meeting, that his heart is seeking hers.
+
+"I am right, you would not play with a man's affections; you have had
+sorrow yourself; tell me."
+
+In spite of herself, a tear glistened in her eyes as she looked into his
+face, as she thought of her oath.
+
+"No; do I look so faulty, frivolous and foolishly wicked?"
+
+"No, you have a sweet, kind, womanly face," he said, smiling gravely;
+"and were I to tell you of my lonely life, and how I long for just such
+a womanly presence, just such companionship to gladden a home, to make
+my broken life complete, with a sweet sense of peace and rest, would you
+send me from you desolate?" and his voice thrilled with intense feeling.
+
+"If so, and that my act left me also desolate, would you not forgive
+me?" she said, brokenly.
+
+"I would forgive you, yes; for I could not live with enmity in my heart
+towards you; but, why do you speak so?" he said, earnestly, her words
+giving him the key to her heart, as he came over beside her, and with an
+arm around her, drew her head to his chest. "Don't resist me; you know I
+love you, and you will be my ain bonnie wife." He felt her tremble,
+though she yielded to him. "Better lo'ed ye canna be," and stooping, he
+kissed her on the lips: "those lips, a thread of scarlet," and he looked
+at her tenderly.
+
+At this her color deepened, and, with a sigh, she said, her voice
+trembling with emotion: "Release me, dear, it can never be; I am
+promised to another. Go now, and leave me to my fate," she said,
+tearfully.
+
+"Never! You _shall_ be my wife, and that before the next moon wanes.
+Whoever this man is, he has not won your heart. Yes, _my_ heart twin,
+_my_ own companion every day for our journey through life, _my_ Elaine,
+not his;" and, again and again, for a few blissful moments that she is
+strained to his heart, do his kisses come to her lips. "Look up, dear
+wife, and tell me by one look that I am in your heart. Yes, love, your
+eyes tell me that our lives will be again worth living, again complete.
+No, I will not let you go; and I just want to see this man who thinks he
+will rob me of you."
+
+At this juncture the hall-bell rings, just as the clock was striking
+seven, the hour Mrs. Gower had ordered dinner; and, as quick as her
+hastened heart-beats would allow, donning society's mask, she is playing
+Chopin's music, while Mr. Blair is intent on "The Miniature Golden
+Floral Series;" when Mr. Cobbe enters, evidently by his manner having
+done more than "look upon the wine when it is red."
+
+"Well, Elaine, don't scold me, I could not come back any sooner," he
+said, with a jovial air; "but, hang it, I never see you alone these
+days."
+
+"Can it be possible, she has promised herself to this swaggering fool!"
+thought Blair.
+
+"What's the matter, Elaine?" he continued, leaning on the piano, and
+looking into her face, "you have a tragedy face."
+
+"Sometimes I seem to be taking part in one," she said, gravely; hoping
+he would remember the woman.
+
+"Oh, I see; you have been playing 'Faust;' if you want something
+devilish, try French opera; German is horns and hoof, and no fun."
+
+Seeing his mood, she abandoned all hope of fixing his attention on any
+quieting thought, glancing at Mr. Blair for sympathy; one look told her
+his opinion of her friend. "How he must despise me," she thought,
+introducing them. "And now, you must both dine with a lone woman."
+
+"It will give me great pleasure to begin the year so," said Mr. Blair,
+with the determined air of a man who could and would hold his ground, as
+he put her hand through his arm, whispering, "Courage!"
+
+"You look very much like a lone woman, I must say," said Cobbe, sulkily.
+"I told you before, Elaine, that I don't think it's right of you," he
+said, recklessly.
+
+As they crossed the hall to dine, the geraniums dropped from her gown.
+
+"Oh, my poor flowers," Mr. Blair picking them up. Mr. Cobbe said,
+jealously, "Poor flowers, indeed; I should just like to know who gave
+them you."
+
+Fearing he would think it had been Mr. Blair, and not feeling equal to a
+scene, she said, hurriedly:
+
+"A friend who has left town; but you are too sensible to allow such a
+trifle to spoil your dinner."
+
+From the moment of their passing through the _portiere_ hangings into
+the hall, Blair had seen the face of a woman peering through the
+vestibule door, Thomas having neglected fastening the outer door on
+letting in Mr. Cobbe. On entering the dining-room, Mrs. Gower, in
+looking over her shoulder in making the above remark, saw the face. Not
+so Cobbe, who was wholly absorbed in rage at the present state of
+affairs.
+
+Mr. Blair felt his companion tremble as she said to herself, "That
+woman!" At that, pressing her closely to his side, he again whispered,
+"Courage!"
+
+"Thomas, go quickly to the vestibule door."
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"Why, what's the matter now, Elaine; do you expect another gentleman?"
+
+"Go and see." "No, no; if he comes I'll see him soon enough, and the
+soup smells too tempting."
+
+Thomas returned and waited, when Mrs. Gower said, nervously, "Are both
+doors securely fastened, Thomas?"
+
+"They are, ma'am."
+
+"Queer time for a visitor to call, just at dinner hour," said Cobbe, in
+aggrieved tones.
+
+This was more than Thomas could stand, who had more than once confided
+to the kitchen his opinion of Mr. Cobbe for doing likewise, so he said,
+respectfully:
+
+"Beg pardon, sir; but it was _that_ lady for you, sir."
+
+"Hang it! you told her I wasn't here, I hope."
+
+"No, sir; I said you was at dinner, and I couldn't disturb you, sir; so
+she said she would wait outside."
+
+"It's very cold for her," faltered Mrs. Gower.
+
+Here the merry sleigh-bells jingled and stopped at the gate; voices are
+nearing; and now the hall-bell again rings, when Mr. and Mrs. Dale are
+heard in the hall stamping the snow off their boots, and divesting
+themselves of their wraps.
+
+"Thomas, get plates, etc."
+
+They enter looking as if Jack Frost has given them a chilly embrace, for
+they have had a cold drive from town.
+
+"Welcome! this is a glad surprise, though I half expected you yesterday.
+Mrs. Dale, allow me to introduce Mr. Blair; Mr. Dale, Mr. Blair; and now
+be seated; I am so glad to have you back again, Ella; I have missed you
+much."
+
+"Thank you, Elaine; we both wished you were with us; Henry's English
+friends, the Elliotts, are delightful, and were charmed with your
+description of river life on the St. Lawrence."
+
+"They will think I have scarcely done it justice, on their revelling in
+it themselves."
+
+"We have Ella Wheeler Wilcox and Rose Elizabeth Cleveland, at New York,
+this winter, Mrs. Gower," said Dale, in gratified tones.
+
+"What a treat it would be to meet them; they will give new life to the
+women's literary circles."
+
+"Oh, where is Miss Crew?" asked Mrs. Dale.
+
+"Out spending the day at the O'Sullivans."
+
+"I am glad of that," said Dale, kindly. "Miss O'Sullivan has the
+brightness our little friend lacks, and will, perhaps, win her
+confidence, which we have been unable to do."
+
+"That is very true," said Mrs. Gower, who now related the incident of
+the morning, regarding the couple they had met while out sleigh-driving;
+at which Mrs. Dale was all eyes and ears, her pretty little face aglow
+with excitement.
+
+"How strange! and she persisted in seeing them alone! did she seem
+glad?"
+
+"Oh, yes; for such a quiet, self-contained little creature, very much
+so."
+
+"And did she tell you nothing on her return?"
+
+"No; she had no opportunity; we had callers, and Miss O'Sullivan was
+here; but she looked happier, poor, lonely, wee lassie."
+
+"She is likely to remain lonely, too," said Cobbe; "a man does not want
+to marry a girl as stiff as his beaver, and as prim as its band."
+
+"Poor girl; one cannot expect her to show that careless joy in living
+our girls show, who have happy homes and ties of kin."
+
+"In my opinion," said Dale, "the women and girls who take life easiest,
+and seem to feel that the good things of life are their heritage, are
+the American women."
+
+"I don't go with you, Dale," said Mr. Cobbe; "I'll back up some of our
+own women against them for monopoly of that sort."
+
+"I am at one with you, Mr. Dale," said Mrs. Gower, "for this reason:
+from the time an American woman can lisp, she is taught the cardinal
+ideas of the country, viz., liberty and equality."
+
+"From your standpoint, Mrs. Gower, your sex should be all Republicans,"
+said Mr. Dale. "What countryman are you, Mr. Blair?"
+
+"A pure and unadulterated Scotchman; and I hope you like the land o'
+bagpipes, heather and oatcakes sufficiently as to like me none the
+less."
+
+"No; for was I not English, I would be Scotch."
+
+
+"And I," said Mrs. Dale, "would have liked you better were you
+Irish-American."
+
+"You are candid, at all events," he said, smiling.
+
+"You had better live as near perfection as possible, by remaining in
+Canada, Mr. Blair," said his hostess, rising from the table. "Come,
+Ella, we shall leave them to their cigarettes and the subjects nearest
+their hearts."
+
+"You are one of the most thoughtful women I have ever met," said Dale,
+drawing the hangings for their exit; "but our smoke will be but a
+passing cloud; we shall soon sun ourselves in your presence."
+
+"Listen to him," said his wife, merrily; "don't I bring him up well."
+
+As the two friends sipped their coffee from dainty Japanese china, the
+red silk gown of Mrs. Dale contrasting prettily with the brown and old
+gold in the dress of her friend, they made a sweet, home-like picture,
+in this tasteful little drawing-room, with its gaily painted walls,
+hangings in artistic blending, its softly padded furniture, not
+extravagant--for Mrs. Gower's income is but $600 per annum--now that
+house and furniture are paid for, but Roger's bill was very reasonable,
+for all is in good taste; and with two or three good pictures, a
+handsome bronze or two, with a few bits of choice bric-a-brac, all the
+latter gifts from friends; with the glowing grate, the colored lights,
+the holly and mistletoe, all make an attractive scene.
+
+"And now about yourself, Elaine; I hoped on my return to have found your
+mercurial friend out in the cold."
+
+"No, Ella; I can do nothing with him," she said, gravely.
+
+"Can't he get it into his head that no woman would marry a man with
+another woman dangling after him. I have no patience with him. Does she
+haunt your place still?"
+
+"Yes; she is certainly most constant. Did I tell you of a fright she
+gave me at two public meetings?"
+
+"No; you wrote me that you must do so on my return."
+
+"Just fancy coming from the Rodgers' mass meeting, before the mayoralty
+election. I went with Philip, and she must have followed us, for she
+managed to get near us, and in the crush making our exit, took hold of
+his arm, and _would not let him see me home_; picture me in that crowd,
+having to fight my way through, and alone! I think I shall never forget
+that night; fortunately the cars were running; so taking the Carlton,
+College and Spadina Avenue car, I managed to reach home. Ella, it was
+awful, the lonely home-coming," she said tearfully; "the cowardly (I
+suppose it was) fear of meeting acquaintances; but the feeling that I
+was engaged, nay, under oath to marry a man who could allow this, was
+worse than had I met dozens of acquaintances; the late hour; then after
+I had left the Spadina Avenue terminus, the lonely walk up here--all
+together made me so nervous I was not myself for a day or two."
+
+"I should say you would be; it was dreadful; and as you say, dear, the
+feeling that you were engaged to such," she said, contemptuously, "added
+bitterness to the act; oath or no oath, he must release you."
+
+"He won't."
+
+"He _shall;_ and I am determined to stay with you until I can interview
+that woman. What a horrid man he is, any way."
+
+Here the gentlemen entered, and a truce to confidentials.
+
+"Has my little wife told you, Mrs. Gower, that I have tickets for
+'Faust,' and we hope you will care to accompany us?"
+
+"No; she had not told me, though we were speaking tragedy."
+
+"Well, yours was the prologue; now for 'Faust;' you will come?"
+
+"Yes, with pleasure," she said, feeling that her _tete-a-tete_ with Mr.
+Blair is over, for Mr. Cobbe would remain; feeling also that such
+_tete-a-tete_ was too full of quiet content for her to indulge in,
+engaged as she is to another.
+
+Mr. Blair very reluctantly rises to depart, seeing that the evening he
+has promised himself, in dual solitude with the woman he determines
+shall be his wife, is broken in upon.
+
+"Good-night, Mrs. Gower; the walk to town will seem doubly cold by
+contrast with the warmth of your hospitalities," he said, holding her
+hand, a look of regret in his blue eyes.
+
+"Button up well, then, to ensure my being remembered for so long," she
+said, quietly.
+
+"Good-night, Elaine; expect me to-morrow, at five p.m.," said Mr. Cobbe,
+with an important air.
+
+Outside, to Mr. Blair, he said, "Fine woman, Mrs. Gower; I am in luck,
+but she has too much freedom," he said, pointedly.
+
+"How do you mean?" asked Blair, by an effort controlling himself to
+speak quietly.
+
+"Oh, too many gentlemen coming and going; I must arrange for our
+marriage at once."
+
+"You are honored by a promise from her to marry you, then?"
+
+"Yes; but by more than a promise; by an oath," he said, flightily; "and
+she is not the only woman who is infatuated with me," he added,
+chuckling at his companion's discomfiture.
+
+"You are fortunate," said the canny Scotchman, hating him for his words;
+but aware that there is some mystery in the case, knowing Mrs. Gower to
+shrink from fulfilling her engagement; having recognized the face of the
+woman at the vestibule as the woman he has seen prowling about Holmnest
+at night-fall, he affects a friendly air to draw his companion out,
+trusting that his intense vanity will lead him to commit himself
+insomuch as to give him a hold upon him, which he will use as a means of
+freeing Mrs. Gower.
+
+Hearing steps behind them, he looks, and lo! the light of the street
+lamp shows the face of the woman of the vestibule.
+
+"By George, you are a lucky fellow; here is this poor little woman at
+your heels; you are too gallant to allow her to walk alone; step back
+and introduce me," he said, with the vague hope that he might in this
+way find the hold she has on Cobbe; but _l'homme propose, Dieu dispose_,
+for he said importantly:
+
+"So she is; between you and I, the more faithless I am, the tighter she
+hugs;" and, turning on his heel, the woman with him, they go at a run
+down Major Street, leaving Blair, in blank dismay, standing in the cold
+of the snow-mantled night.
+
+After seeing talented Modjeska at the Grand, in "Faust," Mrs. Gower,
+having wished her friends a warm good-night, as she sleeps, dreams of a
+manly, handsome face bending over her, while the light in his eyes give
+point to his words of "Better lo'ed ye canna be."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+THE THREE LINKS.
+
+
+On a cold afternoon, in January's third week, when fair Toronto's
+children wore the colors of Old Boreas; when the spirits of the air
+floated on the frozen breaths of humanity, and when imagination held
+that the giant cyclone of the North-west had hurled into our midst a bit
+of the North Pole, on such a day Holmnest is a snug spot; not one of
+those mansions with a small coal account that some of our moneyed
+citizens exist in in cold grandeur during winter's reign; but small,
+warm and home-like. So thought Mrs. Dale, who is again spending a few
+days with her friend, and who is now seated with Mr. Blair beside the
+glowing grate in the drawing-room; he cannot keep away, and having
+confided his hopes and fears to her, they have become warm friends.
+
+Mrs. Gower and Miss Crew are down town shopping, the latter having
+abandoned her intention to seek employment other than her voluntary
+deeds of good as a city missioner, she having received a bill of
+exchange from the mother country on the Bank of British North America;
+whether from this cause or from the fact of her constant visits to the
+quietly happy-looking couple she had met on New Year's Day, her friends
+can only guess; but she is certainly looking happier, though still
+reticent as to her private history, merely telling Mrs. Gower, to whom
+she has become much attached, that before long she will ask their
+advice, and tell them all.
+
+Mr. Cobbe has just called, but had not gone in, ascertaining from Thomas
+that his mistress was not at home, but that Mrs. Dale and Mr. Blair were
+in the drawing-room--he volunteering the latter information, instinct
+telling him it would not be agreeable; for the kitchen did not approve
+of him as the coming master at Holmnest, saying one to the other,
+"Pretty fly he is, to think of dividing up of the likes of he between
+our missis and that bold hussy as follows him."
+
+At this moment, in the drawing-room, Mrs. Dale, as she alternately pats
+Tyr's head, or, with deft fingers, embroiders a cushion, says, with a
+curl on her scarlet lips, her Irish eyes flashing:
+
+"I am glad Elaine was out. You see, he knew enough not to come in and be
+entertained by us."
+
+"Yes, he knows enough for that," he said, mechanically, waking from a
+reverie. "I wish to heaven we could interview the woman. I am convinced
+we would elicit information sufficient to absolve our dear friend from
+her oath. I am driven to my wit's end, I am in such misery. I can assure
+you, Mrs. Dale, this matter has taken such hold of me that I neither
+eat, drink, sleep, nor even think naturally."
+
+And the ring of truth is in his words, as he starts up, and paces up and
+down the room like a caged lion, eager for action, yet compelled to
+inactivity. Papers and magazines strew the carpet where he had been
+seated, on which he had in vain tried to fix his thought. Now he again
+flings himself into his chair, she sees his brows knit, his eyes small
+with the intentness of inward musing; his manly, independent bearing is
+crushed, his firm, determined mouth is still set with a fixed purpose,
+but his face has lost its glow of happiness.
+
+He haunts Holmnest some hours of each day, his eyes following her every
+movement as she goes about her home duties, or sits quietly reading, or
+holding book or newspaper, under pretence of doing so, giving herself a
+few moments' silent thought, ever and anon lifting her eyes to his face,
+as quickly to withdraw them, lest sympathy lead her to betray a grief
+akin to his. One day he asked her how it was she had come in the first
+place to allow Mr. Cobbe the privilege of friendly intercourse, when she
+told him all. Of the deaths of loved ones, of her long and tedious law
+suits, of her losses through the wrong-doings of others, of the flight
+of summer friends, of her difficulty in earning a sufficiency to eke out
+her small income, and of Philip Cobbe being introduced; when his jovial,
+free-from-care nature diverting her attention from her many cares, she
+and he gradually drifted into a very friendly acquaintance, which
+resulted in their walk through the Queen's Park. Of her oath she had
+already told him on the 3rd of January, on his relating to her the
+boastful words of Mr. Cobbe on the evening previous. At which he had
+been driven nearly desperate, as also on her resolve that, in honor
+bound, she must be true to her oath.
+
+She had never allowed him to kiss her since those few blissful moments
+that lived in the memory of each, in which he had asked her to become
+his wife on Monday, the 2nd of January, and when he had read her heart.
+
+"It's a miserable fix for Elaine," said Mrs. Dale, picking out a few
+false stitches she had made in giving her attention to him as he paced
+the floor in his agony of mind. "She cares for you, but will remain true
+to her oath; she will go on in this wretched way, Mr. Cobbe coming and
+going, boasting of his engagement, to keep rivals at bay, and that woman
+haunting the place until a tragedy ends the whole farce. Elaine will
+postpone and postpone her union with that man until she dies
+broken-hearted, poor thing. She has had no end of trouble in the past,
+and now this must all crop up. Nasty Cobbe; I _hate_ you," she said,
+emphatically.
+
+"So do I," he said, moodily; "but what availeth it? We, with our strong
+natures, are as wax in the hands of this vain, foolish, empty-headed
+fellow; he has the whip-hand of us. I never felt small, impotent,
+powerless in my life until now. You don't know what mad thoughts come to
+me sometimes, when I see her going about in her sweet womanliness with a
+pretence of gaiety lest I feel for her, making this truly home, sweet
+home; now going to her kitchen, now sewing quietly; again singing,
+though in unsteady tones, the songs of my own land."
+
+"Perhaps it would be better for you; easier, I mean, if you kept away
+from her."
+
+"Kept away! that's what she tells me. No; come I must. I am not fit to
+attend to business, to face the busy hive of men down town. I have not
+as yet rented an office, or put out my shingle as broker and estate
+agent, so the world which knows me not does not miss me. Did I not come,
+I should be tortured by the thought that Cobbe had persuaded her to
+marry him, and that with the false hope of making me forget her, and the
+woman to give up her game as lost, she would consent. No; I shall come
+in the seemingly aimless way; but not aimless, for I am her bodyguard.
+Already my being here, and holding my ground, has more than once
+prevented a _tete-a-tete_, and saved her from (I make no doubt) his
+hateful caresses. He hates me, and would revenge himself upon me if he
+could; and, insomuch as he can, he does do so--by using her Christian
+name, leaning familiarly over her shoulder as she reads or sews,
+following her even to the kitchen. Once he dared to kiss her good-bye,
+but I don't think he will try that again; for, on his looking at me
+maliciously, to note my jealousy, I gave him one look, at which he made
+a hasty exit."
+
+"So far so good, Mr. Blair; but you and myself are really doing nothing
+to free Elaine. We _must_ get a hold of the woman; she is not very well
+clad; is, I dare say, poor; I shall try if the dollar will grease the
+wheels of her tongue. Now, how shall we manage it? This evening I shall
+express a wish to telegraph Henry. You must offer to accompany me; this
+will allow of time to work on Mr. Cobbe's Mary Ann. We shall walk up and
+down on the other side of the street (thus putting ourselves in Grundy's
+mouth) until she appears, when, pouncing upon her, we will _make_ her
+tell her relations to Cobbe. You understand?"
+
+"Yes, but he will be here alone with Elaine."
+
+"Just like a man: as jealous as a rooster in a barnyard. Miss Crew will
+be here, and chance callers."
+
+"Very well; it shall be as you say, though I mortally hate not being
+present when he is here; but here she comes, her cheeks like roses, and
+eyes bright from the frosty air," he said, brightening.
+
+"Oh, you pair of fire-worshippers!" she exclaimed, giving her hand to
+Mr. Blair. "I have had a glorious walk from Yonge, through Bloor west,
+and up here. We took the Yonge up-cars, when Miss O'Sullivan, who was
+one of us, carried off Miss Crew till to-morrow."
+
+"I suppose King Street wore its usual afternoon dress of dudes and
+sealskin sacques," he said, drawing her wrap from her shoulders.
+
+"I suppose so; but we only went as far as Roche's. What a world of a
+place it is. Mrs. Francis says, 'One can buy everything but butcher's
+meat there,' and she is about right. The up-cars were, as usual,
+over-crowded; we were to blame for taking one, I suppose, as so many
+poor fatigued-looking men were obliged to stand. However, we were sorry
+for them in a practical way, for we only occupied one seat by turns; the
+company should run extra cars about six, or label them, 'For men only.'"
+
+"On the other side," said Mrs. Dale, "men say it's a poor rule that
+won't work both ways, so, as we advocate equal rights, they, as a rule,
+don't yield their seats."
+
+"Is that so?" said Blair. "I wonder at that, for Mrs. Gower tells me
+there is a shrine to woman in every house."
+
+"Oh, never mind her, she is our champion, fights and wins our battles. I
+used to hope she would marry among us, and strut under our big bird; but
+alas, she sees more beauty in a common Scotch thistle," she says,
+teasingly.
+
+Blair smiled, gravely, saying with his eyes on Mrs. Gower, in her
+pretty, dark blue gown, with broken plaid over-skirt,
+
+"I fear not; to the shamrock she plights her troth."
+
+At this the color rushes to the roots of her hair, to as quickly recede,
+leaving her like marble, and, gathering up her wraps, saying, in
+unsteady tones,
+
+"Excuse me a moment, I must see what the kitchen is about: it is near
+dinner time."
+
+Blair, drawing the hangings, said, wistfully following her into the
+hall:
+
+"Forgive me, dear."
+
+"I must, when you look so sorry; but, that compulsory oath is killing
+me, Alec; driving me into heart disease," she said, tremblingly.
+
+"My darling! is it possible? but I can see it. Your heart is fairly
+jumping, your hands cold, your nails blue; come in here for a few
+minutes' quiet," he said, sorrowfully, leading her into the library,
+taking her wraps from her, seating himself quietly beside her, simply
+taking her hands, while whispering soothing words. His own heart
+breaking the while, that he may not take her in his arms; but with her
+breath coming in gasps, the excitement would have killed her, even did
+she permit any demonstration of feeling from him, which indeed, she had
+unconditionally forbidden.
+
+
+On the dinner-bell ringing, she said, in low tones:
+
+"You are nice, and good, and kind to have talked to me so quietly until
+I recovered the use of my tongue. You see, dear, I can give it a rest
+sometimes; now come for Ella, to our dish of roast beef and Yorkshire
+pudding. Don't look so grave, Alec; 'Richard is himself again.' I wish
+you would go away for a time, leave the city; as you have not commenced
+business actively, really got into harness, you could easily do so; it
+would be easier for me, I think, if I did not see you," she said, almost
+breaking down.
+
+"I cannot," he said, looking into her face gravely; "and it would not
+help you; all I can manage, is to keep to the conditions you made: that
+in coming I must not speak of my love for you; and you must own, dear,
+that I fulfil those conditions; holding myself continually in check,
+curbing my feelings, never outwardly letting loose the reins of passion,
+even when I see that man hanging about you."
+
+"Yes, you are very good; but still, I--oh, I don't know what to say or
+do," she said, in anguish, covering her face with her hands; then, by a
+violent effort controlling herself, took her place at table.
+
+During dinner, she was pale and flushed, talkative and silent, by turns;
+her companion keeping the ball moving to give her a rest.
+
+Oh their returning to the drawing-room, Mrs. Dale gave them some music,
+thus giving each time for quiet thought. The sweet sounds suddenly
+ceasing, she wheels round on the piano-stool, saying, energetically,
+
+"I feel restless this evening, active exercise will cure me; a brisk
+walk down street, or even the toboggan-slide."
+
+But Mr. Blair does not take her up, and sits with averted eyes, not
+thinking Mrs. Gower well enough to be left with Mr. Cobbe.
+
+"Well, Ella, Mr. Blair is too gallant not to accompany you. You will
+both go; when I tell you that I wish to see Philip _alone_, I am going
+to again appeal to him."
+
+"I am afraid it will be too much for you, Elaine, perhaps," she said,
+hesitatingly, for she does not like to give up her plan; "perhaps Mr.
+Blair ought to stay, he need not be in the very same room with you."
+
+"Yes, that is a good idea; I shall go to the library," he said, in
+relieved tones.
+
+"No, dears, you will both do as I wish. With the knowledge that I am
+alone, I shall doubly nerve myself to the task."
+
+For she dreads that Mr. Cobbe's excitable temper will give way, causing
+a scene.
+
+"Well, if you are going to talk to him, Elaine, tell him everything; and
+that Mr. Blair and I say he is breaking your heart."
+
+"I fear, Ella, your united opinions would have little weight with him,"
+she said, with the ghost of a smile; "but I shall tell him _all_, never
+fear," she said, earnestly feeling that Mr. Blair was, as usual,
+following her every word. "Never fear, I shall be a good pleader, for I
+have my life's happiness at stake; away with you at once, and don't come
+back with broken bones from the slide."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+A HAND OF ICE LAY ON HER HEART.
+
+
+It is a cold, frosty night, the moon and clouds seeming to have a game
+of hide-and-go-seek across the sky, when Mrs. Dale is already enveloped
+in her warm dark blue blanket suit and Tam-o-Shanter, with Mr. Blair, in
+heavy brown overcoat and Christy hat, not having been in our land long
+enough for his blood to have lost its warmth and to feel the need of
+furs.
+
+Before they start Mr. Cobbe rings the bell, and is admitted to the
+library, Mr. Blair turning out the gas in the drawing-room, and Thomas
+receiving orders that "no one is at home."
+
+"Suppose she should not come this evening," said Mrs. Dale, as she and
+her companion returned from a brisk walk to a post box, and neared
+Holmnest. "You know, she misses his trail; at all events, does not watch
+for him here every evening."
+
+"Hush! she is in the shade of that pile of lumber and bricks in front of
+the house that is being built next to Holmnest," he whispered,
+hurriedly.
+
+"So she is; that is lucky; and now to follow our plan. We shall not see
+her for some minutes, but endeavor to interest her by our talk about
+that scallawag and poor Elaine."
+
+"I don't think, on second thought, that that would be our best plan; we
+had better go up to her and demand to know her relations to him," he
+said, quickly, in an undertone.
+
+"No, no; I know best."
+
+As they neared, the tall, slight figure, clad in a brown ulster and
+small round hat, disappeared to the other side of the lumber, almost out
+of sight, but well within ear-shot.
+
+"Stand here a minute, Mr. Blair; before we go in I want to tell you what
+I fear will be the result of Mr. Cobbe's determination to marry Mrs.
+Gower against her will," she said, in clear tones. On this they could
+hear that the woman took a step nearer in the deep snow on the
+boulevard, that had drifted in the recent storm to the lumber. "You must
+see yourself," she continued, "that the compulsory oath he compelled her
+to take is killing her; and none know better than you do yourself that
+her love is not his; almost all friendly feeling even she had for him
+prior to that oath, has fled; yet still he will keep her to it; and she
+will marry him some day, in a fit of desperation to get rid of him, and
+to show you that you are free to marry some more fortunate woman. It's
+my belief he is a mere fortune-hunter, and cares no more for her than we
+Americans care for you, in annexation; we only care for the loaves and
+fishes (especially the latter). I simply hate to go in to the house; it
+makes me double my fists to see him making love to her." The last words
+she said to rouse the woman's wrath; she knows her sex well, for,
+ploughing through the snow a few steps, she faces them.
+
+Mrs. Dale gives a little scream. Mr. Blair, turning quickly, says, in
+decided tones,
+
+"Oh! you are here again; well, I am not sorry, for I had determined to
+put a detective on your track to-morrow, and am glad to have an
+opportunity of warning you first."
+
+"Any woman would do no more nor I do, just standing here when I please,"
+she said, doggedly, her teeth chattering, partly from nervousness,
+partly from cold.
+
+"Poor thing; you are half frozen," said Mrs. Dale, to show she was not
+unfriendly.
+
+"We shall not detain you long, young woman," said Mr. Blair, quickly, as
+he thinks of the woman he loves worried by the man he hates; "all we
+want to know is your name and address, and what hold you have on Mr.
+Cobbe; for a woman of your respectable appearance would not follow a man
+about unless she had some hold on him--some real right to watch his
+movements. You have overheard this lady and myself talking over this
+matter, and I can assure you it would add materially to our peace of
+mind could we compel Mr. Cobbe to do right by you; come now, no delay,
+no beating about the bush; tell the truth and shame the devil; out with
+it."
+
+"Gentlemen lie quicker than a working girl, like myself," she said,
+suspiciously. "I have heard what this lady said, but how do I know that
+it's all square? Phil. said if you caught me hanging around after him,
+you'd get me took up, and here is a peeler coming; I see what you're
+after."
+
+And she tries to run, but Mr. Blair holds her firmly until the policeman
+passes.
+
+"I tell you I mean you no harm; but you _must_ tell your connection with
+Mr. Cobbe, _and at once_."
+
+"Give me till to-morrow night, sir, for the love of heaven, and I will
+try again if Phil. will give your lady up, that I have wished to kill
+for coming between us; aye, and would have fired Holmnest on her some
+night, but for this lady's words that she don't want my man. My name is
+Beatrice Hill, and I live at 910, Seaton Street; I will tell you the
+rest to-morrow night, if he will not give her up," she said, bursting
+into tears.
+
+Mr. Blair made a note of the address, Mrs. Dale saying kindly, "You had
+better come around to the kitchen and get thawed; you are----" when,
+turning suddenly to Mr. Blair, who has his back to a couple coming down
+the street, she says, quickly,
+
+"Here are the Smyths; stand where you are; and you too, Beatrice Hill."
+
+"Hello!" cried Smyth, coming upon them suddenly (that is Toronto's
+pass-word). "How do you do, Mrs. Dale; how do, Blair?"
+
+"How happy would I be with either," said his lively wife, aside to Mr.
+Blair; "oh, I beg pardon," she continued, seeing the other is not one of
+them. "How is Mrs. Gower?"
+
+"She is not very well this evening, and is, I hope resting. How is it
+your little son is out when he ought to be under the bedclothes? That's
+one thing I am glad my boy is at boarding-school for."
+
+"Oh, this young man has been to a party at the Halls, and we had to trot
+up for him. Give Elaine my love, and tell her one look at handsome
+Doctor Mills, on our street, will cure her; he cured my baby. So, come
+around to-morrow, all of you. Oh, Will, we had better go in to Holmnest
+for a minute. I want to tell Elaine you have heard from Charlie."
+
+"Oh, no; go in to-morrow. This little chap is nearly asleep."
+
+"All right. Mrs. Dale, please tell Mrs. Gower that Charlie Cole is at
+New York, and she may expect to see them any day. Good night."
+
+"Good night."
+
+"Come, Mrs. Dale, we had better go in at once; you must be very cold."
+
+"Yes, I am. You had better come round and get thawed out in the kitchen,
+Beatrice Hill, I will bring you."
+
+"No, thanks; I am used to it. I'll just walk up and down, to keep from
+freezing."
+
+"Perhaps you had better not try to see him to-night, it is so cold."
+
+"Not try to see him!" she exclaimed. "I see him too seldom, and love him
+too much for that," she said, pathetically, "and I must see if he will
+promise me to come no more where neither of us is wanted."
+
+"Remember! you are to be here to-morrow night to tell us your hold on
+him, unless he gives Mrs. Gower up," he said, firmly.
+
+
+"I will, sir; thank you both," she said tearfully, as, turning towards
+the gate of Holmnest, they each slip a five dollar bill into her hand.
+
+"Poor thing, I think she is hard up," said Mrs. Dale, as they ring the
+bell; "see her examining the bills by the lamp."
+
+"Yes, so she is, to see if they are 'Central'; had she not been sold by
+my _bete noir_, I should say she was a canny Scotchwoman."
+
+On Thomas opening the door, they see Mr. Cobbe draw close the _portiere_
+hangings of the library, as if to say, no admittance.
+
+"Have you a match, Thomas?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"Then light one jet in the drawing-room, please."
+
+Here they sit quietly talking for half an hour, during which, at times,
+Mr. Cobbe talked loud and excitedly, while sometimes Mrs. Gower's voice
+came to them in pleading, or quieting tones.
+
+At last he goes into the dining-room, asks Thomas for some sherry,
+drinks two glasses; is again in the hall, his over-shoes, coat, and fur
+cap on, in his excitement picking up Mr. Blair's gloves, which, when in
+the street, finding his mistake, he dashes into the road.
+
+Angry and troubled by Mrs. Gower's words, he is kinder to Beatrice Hill
+than he has been for some time.
+
+"You here again, Betty. _You_ are infatuated with me, anyway."
+
+"Indeed, I am, sweetheart, but my love doesn't content you. You bet, I'd
+sooner have a black look from you than a kiss from any man living. The
+saints forgive me, when I think of the holy Father and cardinals, and
+how I worship you, Phil."
+
+"Yes, you are wild about me, I know, Betty, but we men are different to
+you, you know; we have so many adorers, we can't go mooning forever
+around one woman."
+
+"And you are not angry with me to-night, Phil, for coming again to get a
+sight of your dear face?"
+
+"No, I am not angry with you to-night; but you must not come again; they
+don't like it," he said, importantly.
+
+"If I don't see you, I may as well die," she says despondently. "I love
+you better than any of them ladies do," she says, feeling her way.
+
+"Hang her, she is as fickle as her clime," he says, half aloud, thinking
+of Mrs. Gower.
+
+His companion made no response, knowing who he meant, but her heart is
+lighter at his words.
+
+"Hang it, Bet, it's a freezer; if you have any money about you, I'll
+hail this sleigh if it's empty."
+
+"Yes, sweetheart, here it is," giving him one of the fives.
+
+In a minute they are under the buffalo robe, when, according to promise,
+she coaxes, entreats, and implores him to give Mrs. Gower up, but he
+angrily refuses to listen to anything on the subject; entertaining her,
+instead, with recitals of all the girls on King street who, he is sure,
+are dying for an introduction to him, and of several women of his
+acquaintance being infatuated about him, his companion assenting to all
+he said; getting out at his own quarters, paying the driver to 910
+Seaton street, pocketing the change. Beatrice Hill alone, thinks out her
+plan for the following evening with tears, which she brushes away with
+bare hands, having given her mits to her fickle swain to keep his hands
+from the frost.
+
+"Yes, I must tell them all," she thought, weeping silently, "else Phil
+will make her marry him. Father Nolan would tell me to do so, to save
+him from guilt. He will turn to his faithful Betty again when he sees
+how they sit on him, when they know all."
+
+As the hall door had closed on Mr. Cobbe making his exit, Mr. Blair
+said, turning out the gas:
+
+"Let us go to her."
+
+Mrs. Gower meets them in the hall, looking pale and agitated, her eyes
+larger and darker in her pale face, her sensitive mouth quivering.
+
+"I was just coming for you," she said, and on her eyes meeting Mr.
+Blair's, in answer to his loving, steadfast gaze, hers told him that her
+appeal has been in vain.
+
+"He would not free you?" he said, compassionately.
+
+"No."
+
+"Well, then, he must be compelled to," said Mrs. Dale, energetically;
+"we are not going to stand by with folded hands, and see the remainder
+of your life made wretched by a weak, vain, frivolous thing like that.
+You have had trouble enough in the past, heaven knows."
+
+"Yes, we must act; we must endeavor to interview the woman," he said
+sympathetically, preparing her for what might occur.
+
+"I fear your kind efforts in my behalf will prove useless, Alec. You
+would only ascertain that she is some poor creature whose heart he has
+gained, but who is not bound to him in any way. She is faithful, where
+he is false," she says, gravely, "and is breaking her heart for him--a
+way we have--that is all. No, 'Blessed are they who expect nothing,' I
+must keep well in my mind for the future. I scarcely deserve this from
+Fate, for I have been pretty brave hitherto through troubles, that at
+the time were sufficient to crush all hope, leaving not the faintest
+gleam; but I struggled through the clouds in my sky, which, finally
+parting, I saw the sunbeams once more. My plan now is, to close up this
+my home, sweet home, or ask you, Ella, or Mr. Cole, to take it off my
+hands for a year. It would please me best to know some one I care for
+was among my little treasured belongings."
+
+"Mr. Cole, Charlie's father is at the Tremont Hotel, Jacksonville,
+Florida. My plan is to ask Miss Crew (as you don't require her services,
+and her mind is easier as to money matters), to accompany me for the
+remainder of the winter to the same place as my friend Charlie's father;
+he is a most worthy man and a gentleman. At the close of winter we would
+cross to the British Isles. To myself, a Canadian, it would be a
+complete distraction, as I have never been across; and I pray fervently,
+will take me out of self," she said sadly. "We would visit London and
+some pretty rural spots, the Devonshire lanes, perhaps; and then the
+Emerald Isle, thence to bonnie Scotia's shores; taking, perhaps, more
+than a peep at fair Dunkeld," she says, trying to smile in the grave
+face of Mr. Blair. "I have foreseen the result of my appeal to Philip,
+and so have been laying my plans for some days."
+
+As she spoke, trying vainly to hide her emotion, more than one tear had
+been stealthily brushed away by her sympathetic little friend, who,
+seeing that Mr. Blair is suffering intensely, from suppressed feeling,
+says bravely, though rather doubtful at heart:
+
+"Mark my words, Elaine, that woman will free you; say good night to us,
+Mr. Blair, I am medical attendant _pro tem._, and Elaine must take a
+sedative, and room with me to-night."
+
+"You are right, Mrs. Dale; be brave, Elaine," he says, holding her hand
+in his firm grasp, "to-morrow your clouds must again pass. I shall come
+in after luncheon."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+"HERE AWA', THERE AWA'."
+
+
+The following is an ideal Canadian winter day; the sky, a far-off canopy
+of brightest blue, with no clouds to obscure the sunbeams, which pour
+down on fair Toronto, melting the icicles when his smiles are warmest,
+and gladdening the hearts of the million. There is just enough of frost
+in the air to make a walk to town pleasant, cheering and exhilarating,
+so that Mrs. Dale is glad when Mrs. Gower proposes their going. The
+whole city seems to have turned out, and the streets are alive with the
+busy hum of life, and the tinkling music of the merry sleigh-bells.
+
+Mrs. Gower, who had slept little, arose with the determination to appear
+reconciled to her fate, not wishing to add to the sorrow of Mr. Blair
+and Mrs. Dale, on her account; feeling that there will be time enough to
+give way, when "large lengths of miles" divide them. She cannot bear to
+dwell upon the separation, she has decided, is for the best, and dreads
+to think of her heart loneliness, with Mr. Blair gone out of her life,
+and the sympathy of Mrs. Dale, not beside her. How she will miss her
+quiet talks with him, his manly advice and interest in all her acts, the
+oneness of their views on many questions of the day--religious, social,
+and in part political. The Tremaines and Smyths also; with her many
+favorite walks and resorts, the public library, and other places of
+interest. Yes, to leave them all and her snug Holmnest, is hard; but to
+go on in the way events have shaped themselves--Mr. Cobbe, a privileged
+visitor, as her future husband; the woman haunting her home; her misery,
+seeing daily the grief telling on Mr. Blair would be harder still; so,
+nerving herself for the parting, she determines on making her
+preparations at once.
+
+No one meeting the friends, as they walk into town, would imagine that
+the dusky shadow of sorrow sits in each heart; the pretty little face of
+Mrs. Dale being set off by a bonnet, with pink feathers, her seal coat
+and muff making her warm and comfortable. Mrs. Gower, in a heavy dark
+blue gown, short dolman boa and muff of the bear; a pretty little bonnet
+blending with her gown, the glow of heat from exercise lending color to
+her cheeks. Down busy Yonge street to Eaton's; Trowern's, with Mrs.
+Dale's watch; thence to gay King Street, to Murray's, Nordheimer's, the
+Public Library, back again West, and to Coleman's for a cup of coffee,
+are all done; at the latter place they run across Mrs. St. Clair with
+Miss Hall.
+
+"Oh, you two dear pets, I am so awfully glad to have met you," says
+pretty Mrs. St. Clair, effusively; "I want to know when you can talk
+over a programme with me--tableaux, readings, etc., in aid of the debt
+on our church. Say when?"
+
+"I really cannot, Mrs. St. Clair," said Mrs. Gower; "just at present I
+am very busy, and am daily expecting a small house party."
+
+"Dear, dear! that is too bad; what shall I do; you are so smart, and
+would know just what would take. You will talk it over with me, Mrs.
+Dale," she said, beseechingly.
+
+"No, thank you; on principle, I object."
+
+"How funny! might I ask why?"
+
+"Certainly. I think offerings to such an object as a church debt should
+be voluntary."
+
+"But, Mrs. Dale, people expect a little treat for their money."
+
+"They have, or we have, the church service, and the ministrations of the
+clergyman."
+
+"That's just the way Mr. St. Clair damps my ardor," she says, poutingly;
+"I do so want to pose as Mary Stuart. Mr. Cobbe says I'd look too sweet
+for anything; you won't be jealous, Mrs. Gower."
+
+"Oh, fearfully so; but joking apart; how do you think he would pose as
+Bunthorn?"
+
+"I see you are laughing at him, Mrs. Gower?"
+
+"Not at all; the twenty forlorn ones would keep him in good humor, and
+the bee in his crown would be a safety valve for his restlessness."
+
+"No, no; I would not like that, and I wonder you, above all, would
+propose it; for the whole twenty would fall in love with him, he is so
+fascinating; don't you think so, Miss Hall?"
+
+"Yes; but it would be good fun; you cawn't do bettah, Mrs. St. Clair."
+
+"It has my vote, too," said Mrs. Dale, as she and her friend wish them
+good morning.
+
+"What a well-matched couple Mrs. St. Clair and Philip would have made,"
+says Mrs. Gower, as they go east to Yonge street.
+
+"Yes, I have thought that before to-day, Elaine; it's a pity to spoil
+two houses with them."
+
+Here they come across Mrs. Smyth waiting for a Spadina Avenue car.
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Gower, who do you think I have just seen?"
+
+"Perhaps our mutual friend Charlie Cole," she answered, smiling.
+
+"Well, you are smart, to guess exactly; have you seen them? Isn't she
+frightfully ugly?" she says, in one breath.
+
+"No, I have not seen them. What a pity she is not pretty. I received a
+letter from Charlie, saying to expect them."
+
+"Oh, you sly thing; why didn't you let us know? Oh, how ugly she is! May
+we come round this evening? Here is my car."
+
+"Certainly. We have been to your husband's office to invite you."
+
+"Thanks. O!" she cried, stepping on to the car. "Will gave me a new
+piano yesterday."
+
+"Whose make?"
+
+"Ruse's, Temple of Music, over there."
+
+"I congratulate you." As they walked on she continued, absently, "What a
+pity she is plain looking."
+
+"Who; not Mrs. Smyth?"
+
+"Oh, no, Ella; her animation will always make her pretty. I was thinking
+of Charlie Cole's wife. I wonder where she saw them?"
+
+"Oh, somewhere in town, I suppose. So you expected them to-day."
+
+"Yes, and I would have told you, but I want their advent to be a
+surprise for Miss Crew, whom I have frequently found secretly studying
+Charlie Cole's photo. She is so guardedly reticent, that I am curious to
+see if suddenly confronting him will cause her to show any interest in
+the original of the photo."
+
+"But you should make sure of her, Elaine. She may remain at the
+O'Sullivans; and as I own to taking an interest in human bric-a-brac, I
+hope you will call for her."
+
+"I fancy she will return for certain, as she tells me the couple we met
+on New Year's Day are coming to Holmnest this afternoon; the woman,
+quite a lady-like looking person, is to alter her black silk; but we
+shall call on our way home for her."
+
+"Yes, that will be best, and here is our car; but it is too crowded. As
+members of the Humane Society we had better wait for the next."
+
+As they wait in front of the Dominion Bank, Mr. Cobbe joins them.
+
+"Good morning, ladies; won't you turn west, and have a promenade,
+Elaine?"
+
+"No, thank you. Time has gone too fast for us already."
+
+"O, pshaw! I want to speak to you. When do you return to New York, Mrs.
+Dale?" he says pointedly; disliking her, and feeling freer at Holmnest
+in her absence.
+
+"I have not the remotest idea, Mr. Cobbe, indeed," she added, in return
+for his; "we may take dear little Holmnest off Mrs. Gower's hands if she
+carries out her present intention to leave Canada for a time."
+
+"Leave Canada!" he exclaims, flushing.
+
+"Please, stop the car, Philip, quick."
+
+"What does it mean, Elaine?" he whispers, seeing them on board; but the
+bell rings, and off they go. Two yards distant, and he calls out, "I
+shall be up after office hours."
+
+"Talk of cruelty to animals. I gave him a blow, but he richly deserves
+it. But I do believe, Elaine, you are sorry for him," she says in
+amazement, and under cover of the noise of travel.
+
+"I am. He is his worst enemy. Yes, I am sorry for his weak, vain nature.
+A man without stability of character, in our stirring times, is of no
+more account than are the soap-bubbles blown by a little child."
+
+Getting out of the car at Webb's, to leave an order, they there meet
+Miss O'Sullivan, who, with her own bright smile, comes forward quickly
+to shake hands.
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Gower, I am so glad to see you. I have something to tell you.
+Miss Crew left our place for Holmnest at ten this a.m., and I have her
+promise to tell Mr. Dale her history, and ask his advice."
+
+"I am glad of that, dear."
+
+"Oh, so am I, she is such a darling; but I was not satisfied to have her
+without some good gentleman friend to advise her."
+
+"Has she confided in yourself?"
+
+"Yes, Mrs. Dale; but not until last night."
+
+"Was it sensational enough to keep you awake, or, as I suppose, of no
+more interest than 'little Johnny Horner sitting in the corner eating
+his Christmas pie?'"
+
+"You see, dear, Mrs. Dale is disgusted with Mother Goose for not telling
+us of his bilious attack," laughed Mrs. Gower. "Good bye, dear, here is
+our car, College and Spadina Avenue."
+
+"You will not be disappointed in Miss Crew's story, Mrs. Dale. The
+bilious part is not omitted; poor dear, I am so sorry for her."
+
+On reaching Holmnest they find Mr. Dale, who has returned from the
+North-West, and Miss Crew, in the library.
+
+Mrs. Gower, not pretending to notice that the latter has been in tears,
+and to give her an excuse to make her exit, asks her to carry her wraps
+upstairs for her; and then to go and give them some music during the few
+minutes before luncheon.
+
+"Mrs. Gower is taking better care of you, little wife, than you are of
+her, now that the roses from the frosty air are fading. I notice she is
+paler and thinner."
+
+"Don't blame me, Henry," she answered, stroking his whiskers; "blame Mr.
+Cobbe. I declare to you both, I never name him without doubling my
+fists."
+
+"My impression has always been, dear Mrs. Gower, that he will be no
+companion for you in the hand-in-hand journey through life."
+
+"Yes; but you are not cognizant of certain facts which has led to our
+being in our present relation towards each other," she says, gravely;
+"and of which we must tell you, perhaps to-morrow. We have enough on for
+to-day, and there is the luncheon bell, come."
+
+"Oh, Henry, do you know that the Coles are expected here to-day, and
+have you told Miss Crew? because, don't," she whispered hurriedly.
+
+"No; I thought it as well not to," he said, in constrained tones,
+adding, "she has been telling me her sad story, poor girl; which you and
+Mrs. Gower will know shortly, little woman."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+ELECTRIC TIPS AMONG THE ROSES.
+
+
+During luncheon, Mrs. Gower, seeing that her companions seem too full of
+busy thought to be talkative, exerts herself keeping up a constant flow
+of little nothings, requiring no replies; her spirits became less
+depressed by the effort to keep sorrow at bay, her pleasant walk to town
+has really been a tonic to her. And now the knowledge that the Coles may
+come in at any moment; that a handsome face, so full of power and
+sympathy with herself, will be here also; with the meeting by the Smyths
+and herself of the wife of their old friend Charlie Cole; all this is a
+powerful stimulant to her, as well as the little surprise and excitement
+for the quiet, fair-haired girl, with tear-stained cheeks, on her left.
+
+"Would you like a trip down to Florida with me, Miss Crew. Orange groves
+and outdoor blossoms would be as a glimpse of Paradise, with one's eyes
+full of snow flakes."
+
+"Yes; I should like to go anywhere with you, Mrs. Gower; that is," she
+adds, glancing, timidly, at Mr. Dale, already now he knows her history,
+turning to him as a child to a parent; "that is, if it would be best for
+me."
+
+"Do you really contemplate this trip; if so, and you do not leave for a
+few days, I think it would be the very thing for Miss--, for this little
+lady," he says; thinking she is merely running away to escape the
+remainder of the winter.
+
+"I do really intend going," she said, slowly, and with an unconscious
+sigh.
+
+He looks at her earnestly, thinking there is some latent reason, when
+his wife, making a _moue_ at him, accompanied by an almost imperceptible
+shake of the head, when, Mrs. Gower, changing the subject, says: "Did
+you see how Professor Herkomer has been lauding the Americans, Mr.
+Dale?"
+
+"I did; but I only agree with him in part."
+
+"Not so with me; I am at one with him, to the echo; but I should tell
+you I have only seen extracts from his expressed views, in which he
+says, 'he was impressed by their keen, nervous temperament, keen
+intelligence and ambition to excel;' and when he says America will
+become a leader of art in the nations as of nearly everything else."
+
+"I don't go with him that length," he said, shaking his head; "give me
+the Old World for art in the present, as well as in the future."
+
+"In the present, I agree with you, I think; but their very ambition to
+excel, their-go-ahead-ness, to coin a word, will, I feel convinced, gain
+them first place in the future."
+
+"That's right, Elaine; give it him, he is too conservative, this dear
+old hubby of mine; the stars and stripes float over the smartest people
+on earth."
+
+At this a general laugh makes them all feel less blue, Mrs. Gower
+saying, as they leave the dining-room:
+
+"Well, let us see which of us, England, United States or Canada, will be
+the smartest in taking a few minutes' rest, and getting into a dinner
+gown." Wending her way to the kitchen, she meets Miss Crew, bringing
+water and seeds for the birds.
+
+"Thank you, dear; that saves my time; when you have done that, run away
+up to your room, and put on your pretty heliotrope frock; the Smyths may
+dine with us."
+
+"Very well, I shall; and oh, Mrs. Gower, may I tell Thomas when my
+friends come (you know I told you I am going to have my black silk
+altered), he is to show them into the dining-room; though, perhaps, they
+would not be called gentlefolk, still, they are not servants, and they
+are so good."
+
+"The highest recommendation you can give them, dear; I shall tell Thomas
+myself."
+
+Closeted in their bedroom, seated side by side, upon a lounge, Mrs. Dale
+tells her husband of Mrs. Gower's troubles, and the stratagem by which
+Mr. Cobbe has obtained her oath to marry him; of the woman who haunts
+Holmnest; of how for long months Mrs. Gower has been imploring him to
+release her from her compulsory promise. Also of Mr. Blair's love for
+Elaine; and of how he has surprised her into a confessing of her own for
+him; but of how in no way has she allowed him any demonstration of that
+love since those few moments on New Year's Day. Of her own and Mr.
+Blair's plan to induce the woman to speak.
+
+"You astonish me, Ella!" he exclaimed; "but I agree with her; she cannot
+break her oath, _she belongs to him_; does she know of your plan to
+interview the woman?"
+
+"Yes; but thinks we shall elicit no item of importance; but, Henry,
+dear, say nothing to her of our plan for this evening; I only tell you,
+so that should you miss Mr. Blair and myself, you will not remark on
+it."
+
+"I see. How do you like this Mr. Blair; you know, I have only met him
+once?"
+
+"I like him very much; you should hear that reticent Mr. St. Clair
+praise him. He is though, really, a manly, generous, straight-forward,
+determined fellow; just the reverse of Mr. Cobbe."
+
+"Yes; well I hope it will come out all right for poor Mrs. Gower, though
+I had hoped that she and Buckingham would have made a match," he said
+musingly.
+
+"So have I; but he has been too deliberate, a trait his German mother is
+to blame for; and he may have imagined there has been something between
+her and Mr. Cobbe. Now, hubby, I am just dying to know if Miss Crew has
+confided in you, and if there is anything worth a snap in her story."
+
+"I cannot tell you just yet, dear; and, besides, we have not time; it is
+three-thirty, time for my little wife to dress."
+
+On descending at four p.m., to her cheerful drawing-room, Mrs. Gower has
+so far conquered her feelings as to cause a casual observer to say, she
+is quite happy, and at ease; for her dark red gown is becoming, and she
+has compelled her mind to dwell only on the pleasurable excitement of a
+re-union with her old friend, Mr. Cole; wondering also what he will
+think of her new friend, Mr. Blair. The air, redolent of hyacinths and
+roses, tells her he is in the drawing-room; and the color deepens in her
+cheeks as her heart throbs faster.
+
+He comes to meet her, from a table, piled with blossoms, which he is
+placing in Japanese and glass bowls.
+
+"You will become bankrupt, Alec."
+
+"Not while there are blossoms in the market, and you to accept them; I
+am a canny Scotchman, you know; you should always wear this gown," he
+says, quietly, pinning some roses near her chin.
+
+"You said so of my old gold dress, you fickle man;" and, as she speaks,
+her eyes rest for a moment on his.
+
+With a sigh, he returns to his task.
+
+"Don't, Alec, it breaks my heart to hear you sigh like that, and I am
+trying so hard to keep up."
+
+"I sigh that I am forbidden to take you in my arms," he said, gravely,
+as their fingers meet in arranging the flowers.
+
+"But, you know, I am acting for the best."
+
+"Do you allow him?" he said, with a steadfast look.
+
+"Never, when I can prevent it."
+
+"These flowers remind me of an incident I have often thought to tell
+you, Elaine. Do you remember one time, about a year and a half ago,
+going to make a call upon some people who were transient guests at the
+Walker House? they had left town; and while you waited, while this fact
+was being ascertained, a wee lady, an invalid, was carried in by an
+attendant, and placed on a sofa; she was emaciated and fair
+complexioned. On your leaving the parlor you asked her to accept a
+bouquet you carried; it was composed almost entirely of roses.
+Passionately fond of flowers, she was very pleased, telling you so; do
+you remember? but your face tells me you do. That poor little lady was
+she whom you had frequently met in the street with me, before she became
+too weak to walk; that was my poor little wife."
+
+"And I met you as I was entering the hotel," she said, softly.
+
+"Yes; I was going to Brown's livery stables for a cab; I generally went
+myself, instead of using the telephone, as Jessie thought I got an
+easier one."
+
+
+"Poor little creature; I did not recognize her, because meeting her with
+you, she had always been veiled. I remember how pleased she was with the
+flowers; my kind friend, Mrs. Tremaine, had given them to me to brighten
+my room; I could not afford such luxuries then," she said, sadly. "Your
+wee wife had a sweet little face, and I frequently thought of her again.
+Meeting the manager, Mr. Wright, one day, I asked him about her, when he
+said 'she and her husband had left town.' It was all very sad for you,
+Alec."
+
+"It was, she told me, a winsome lady, bonnie, and so strong-looking, had
+given them to her, and from her description, I knew it must be you. I
+endeavored, even then, to ascertain your name, but failed," he said,
+gravely, holding her hands among the roses for a moment in his own; when
+Miss Crew entered, with her work-basket, followed by the Dales, Mr. Dale
+carrying some open letters, with newspapers, which he placed carefully
+on a table beside him, as he shook hands with Mr. Blair.
+
+"Talk about the sunny south," cried Mrs. Dale; "one sighs for nothing in
+this atmosphere; what with the sun streaming in all day from south and
+west, the perfume of flowers, the Christmas decorations not yet down,
+the glowing grate, even with the snow outside, we are pretty snug."
+
+"I am glad you feel so, dear; I suppose with my small income, I am
+recklessly extravagant in not shutting out the sunbeams; but my
+furniture must fade, rather than that my flowers, birds and self, live
+in gloom."
+
+"I think you said real estate is your business, Mr. Blair; have you
+opened an office yet?" inquired Mr. Dale.
+
+"Broker and real estate is what I have been engaged in; but I have not
+as yet rented an office; there will be some good rooms over the Bank of
+Commerce, when completed; but that is a long look."
+
+"Three years! a life-time, from a business standpoint; at least, as we
+look at things on the other side," said Dale.
+
+"I wonder what the Central Bank will be converted into; it, I should
+say, is a good location, if the public wouldn't fight shy of a man
+hanging out his shingle from such walls," said Blair.
+
+"The owners should give it a man rent free for a term of years, who
+would paint it white," said Mrs. Gower, half in joke.
+
+"They have it black enough now," said Dale; "its career is a disgrace to
+the city."
+
+"It is indeed," said Mrs. Gower; "and one of the worst features of the
+case is, that we have lost confidence; men are daily asking, who is to
+be trusted?"
+
+"Here is the _North-Ender_, taking up the refrain; it says," said Mr.
+Blair, reading, "'other bank failures have been bad enough, but in
+sheer, utter, unadulterated baseness, this excelleth them all;' and
+here, in another newspaper, they say, 'whole families are beggared by
+it, having nothing to buy bread.'"
+
+"How terrible!" cried Miss Crew, clasping her hands; "if I only had
+money," and she glanced timidly at Mr. Dale, "how much I should like to
+assist them."
+
+Here Mrs. Smyth enters, full of excitement.
+
+"Oh, I am here before them; I am so glad," she said, untying her bonnet.
+
+"Allow me to take your things upstairs for you, Mrs. Smyth."
+
+"Oh, thank you, Miss Crew; but it's too much trouble for you."
+
+"Not at all."
+
+"How lovely your flowers are, Elaine; you cause me to break the tenth
+commandment."
+
+"Cease, then, and help yourself; as you love them."
+
+"Thanks; oh, I just met Emily Tudor and her mother, on Huron street, on
+my way up; and what do you think; they have lost every cent by the
+Central. Emily and Mary have left school, and are looking for
+situations; the mother seemed just heart broken."
+
+"How dreadful!" cried Mrs. Gower, "they are such a worthy, honorable
+family, and the delinquents! are rolling away in parlor cars to luxury
+in fairer climes."
+
+Here Miss Crew returns, and Mrs. Gower, asking her to give them some
+music, in the midst of Leybach's "Fifth Nocturne," the Coles drive up,
+ring, are admitted, and announced by Thomas.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+A SERPENT IN PARADISE.
+
+
+Had a bombshell exploded in their midst there could not have been more
+pity, astonishment, and dismay, than was felt by the group of friends in
+the pretty little drawing-room, at the sad change in poor Charlie Cole,
+and the shock experienced at their first sight of the extremely plain
+woman beside him with the stony eyes and termagant written on her brow.
+But horror-struck as they are, all wear society's mark, excepting the
+fair-haired girl, who still sits transfixed to the piano stool; in the
+introductions her back is turned, though she had had one glimpse on
+their _entree_, she having wheeled around for one instant; but now it is
+her turn, and Mrs. Gower, stepping towards her, laying her hand kindly
+on her shoulder, says, "Turn round, dear." Turning her small, clear-cut
+features, white as a statue, standing up, but not lifting her eyelids,
+she acknowledges the introduction in conventional form.
+
+The face of Mrs. Cole, a dull red, with a redder spot marking the high
+cheek bones, took a momentary grey hue, while Charlie Cole, with a
+violent start, and a half-formed "oh!" dropped his heavy cane, for
+rheumatism still troubling him, he was obliged to use it as a support;
+Miss Crew made an involuntary step to reach it, but Mr. Blair is before
+her. On raising her head, her eyes meet the stony gaze of Mrs. Cole, at
+which, in spite of a visible effort to control herself, she trembles
+almost to falling.
+
+"The piano stool is uncomfortable; take this chair," said Mr. Dale,
+kindly placing one beside his own, and giving her her work-basket. Oh,
+how grateful she is to him, as she bends over her wools and flosses.
+
+"Allow me to take your wraps, Mrs. Cole, or will you come upstairs at
+once?"
+
+"Never mind me, Mrs. Gower, I shall just unbutton my mantle."
+
+"But you are going to stay with me, so may as well make yourself
+comfortable at once."
+
+"Oh, I don't know, Mrs. Gower, Mr. Babbington-Cole requires such an
+amount of attendance, that, on second thought, it is best we should
+return to the hotel," she said, doggedly.
+
+"But, Margaret, you told them at the Palmer House you----"
+
+"It does not signify what I told them; that is past; perhaps your
+hearing has become impaired. I said, on _second_ thought," now
+thinking--goodness, how they stare; think I am not spooney, I suppose;
+says, "You see, Mrs. Gower, I have to think for us both. A man's mind is
+not good for much after a long illness.'"
+
+"My poor friend, you do look as if you had had a hard time of it," said
+Mrs. Gower, with latent meaning; "but you must know it would be a real
+pleasure to have you stay with me, and Mrs. Cole also. Do take off your
+muffler, Charlie, the room is warm. Excuse me calling your husband by
+his Christian name, Mrs. Cole, but it is a habit I must break myself off
+now."
+
+"Yes, I suppose so, now he is a married man," she said, showing her
+teeth; "but he'd better keep muffled up."
+
+"How did you stand the voyage, Mr. Cole?" inquired Dale.
+
+"Very badly. You see I am pretty well battered out, and could not get
+about much. A stick is a shaky leg in mid-ocean."
+
+"You are right. Did your uncle and aunt come out with you, Mrs. Cole?"
+continued Dale.
+
+"What the mischief does that grey-haired, weasel-eyed man know, I
+wonder," she thought, saying, briefly, "Yes."
+
+"Poor Charlie, you had nurses enough," said Mrs. Smyth; who felt so
+badly at seeing her old favorite so carelessly dressed, his last
+season's overcoat, and a purple and white muffler; looking feeble,
+emaciated, and unhappy, and with such a wife, that she is almost silent,
+and nearly in tears.
+
+"Are you acquainted with Mr. and Miss Stone, Mr. Dale?" asked Mr. Cole,
+wiping the perspiration from his brow.
+
+"No, not personally, but by reputation," he says, pointedly. "A friend
+of this little lady here," indicating Miss Crew, "who is also a friend
+of my own at London, has written me the particulars of your marriage."
+
+"Indeed!" said the invalid, brightening, feeling braced up by being at
+last with friends; not so the woman he has married, who mentally wishes
+herself back at New York, in the congenial companionship of her uncle
+and aunt. She hates this pretty, modern drawing-room, with its comely
+women becomingly attired, its bright flowers, its home-like air.
+
+Here Thomas enters, telling Miss Crew some friends wish to see her, at
+which she leaves the room for five minutes, with Mr. Dale.
+
+"Do you purpose settling at Toronto, Mrs. Cole?" asks Mr. Blair,
+unconsciously referring to her as the best horse.
+
+"I had some thoughts of doing so; but since seeing it, I rather think
+not."
+
+While Mr. Blair momentarily occupies her attention, Mrs. Gower, with
+Mrs. Smyth, one on each side of their old friend, pet and sympathize
+with him more by looks than words.
+
+On Miss Crew and Mr. Dale returning, the face of the latter wearing a
+set, stern look, he said, on seeing Mrs. Cole, arising to depart:
+
+"Mrs. Cole, might I ask what has caused you to change your mind about
+staying with Mrs. Gower? You entered with the intention of making her a
+visit, and one can see at a glance that the being here would be a
+panacea to your unfortunate husband; I again ask, why you have changed
+your mind?"
+
+During his words her face was a study, in its various stages of wrath,
+culminating in the hissing of the following words:
+
+"If yours are Canadian manners, I cannot congratulate you, Mr. Dale. My
+reason for changing my mind is _my_ reason, not yours."
+
+"Your words and actions, Mrs. Cole, force me to act at once."
+
+"Come," she said, with a sneer at the speaker, now turning to her
+husband, "Come, Charles, I regret to interrupt these ladies in their
+attentions, but you must button up your top-coat."
+
+"I wish you'd stay even for dinner," he says, nervously.
+
+"No, the night air is bad for you, come at once;" and she fixes him with
+her stony eyes.
+
+"Sit down again, Mrs. Cole;" said Mr. Dale, firmly; and to the renewed
+astonishment of all, "I have something to say to you."
+
+"No, I take no interest in the sayings of an ill-bred man. Good-evening,
+Mrs. Gower."
+
+"This won't do, Mrs. Cole; I regret your line of action, as it forces a
+disagreeable duty upon me in my friend's drawing-room, and not in a
+court of law, as I had intended. My friend Dr. Annesley, of London"--at
+this, she set her teeth in a determined way--"Dr. Annesley has written
+me the sad history of this little lady."
+
+"You are a very rude man to detain me, while you prate of a perfect
+stranger," she says, her face blazing, and making a move to the hall,
+"Come, Charles."
+
+Mr. Cole, instead of nearing her, hobbles across the room, seating
+himself beside Mr. Blair, whose face with its look of power, draws him
+unconsciously.
+
+"In as few words as possible, Mrs. Cole, I affirm on oath, and from
+indisputable evidence, both from Messrs. Brookes & Davidson, barristers,
+London, England, and from parties now in this house, that you, with your
+uncle and aunt, Mr. and Miss Stone, late of Broadlawns, Bayswater,
+London, England, have," he said, sternly, consulting some English
+letters, "appropriated the income from the estate of your late
+step-mother, for the last ten years, to your own uses, merely sending a
+sum to pay expenses at school to your step-sister, who, to further your
+base ends, you had banished from her native land; which allowance, even,
+you cruelly stopped some three years ago; since which time she has been
+compelled to earn her own living. Not compelled, had she had the nerve
+to push her claims and assert her rights; but being a nervous, timid
+girl, the outcome of cruel treatment by you and yours, during her
+childhood, she, in fear of other evil deeds from you all, dropped her
+surname, and assumed the maiden name of her mother; and this poor girl,
+who by law and the will of her dead mother, the heiress of five thousand
+pounds sterling, per annum, was for two years, a mere drudge, as nursery
+governess, at New York City." Sensation! "By a wicked fraud, you also
+are married to the man to whom as a child she was betrothed; but I pass
+this over in consideration of the feelings of your unfortunate dupe, and
+of a lady now here also. To return to the servitude of the girl, your
+step-sister, whom you robbed of her birthright. A year ago, on my wife
+advertising, in the columns of the New York _Herald_, for a governess
+for our little son, the girl you have wronged, answering our
+advertisement, was accepted; and since that time has been an honored
+member of our little circle."
+
+Mrs. Cole, who has only remained in hopes he would show his hand as to
+what steps the prosecution will take, now in uncontrolled rage bursts
+forth:
+
+"Mrs. Gower, I ask you, as my hostess, to order a servant get me a
+hansom, at once; I never was so insulted in my life before!" her reason
+for asking for a cab being, she sees now she will go away alone, and the
+driver will know the streets.
+
+"My friend, Mr. Dale, does not mean his words as insults, Mrs. Cole; and
+I fear, I must ask you to remain until he has finished. However, my
+servant shall immediately telephone for a hack;" and giving the order,
+it was quickly flashed to Hubbard's.
+
+Mr. Dale, now taking the trembling hand of Miss Crew, led her forward,
+saying deliberately:
+
+"This, my friends, is the heiress of whom I have been speaking; who has
+been so basely defrauded of her fortune. This is Pearl, baptized by the
+family name of Margaret (her mother's name), her father was the late
+Edward Villiers, and she is step-sister to Mrs. Cole."
+
+To describe the sensation his words caused, would be impossible, no one
+attempting to hide their horror at the wicked conduct of Mrs. Cole and
+her relations; or their joy at their quiet little friend's good fortune.
+
+"It is a put-up job, a black lie from beginning to end," shouted Mrs.
+Cole, driven to frenzy at her defeat; and before the friends of the man
+whom she has married, and whom she has despised for falling into the
+net; "my half-sister behaved so badly, we sent her to your pious city of
+New York, where she would find kindred spirits," she sneered; "and she
+was drowned three years ago in the Niagara River."
+
+Mr. Dale had left the room during the congratulations of Pearl Villiers,
+as we must now call her; and now returns with the quiet-looking couple
+Mrs.
+
+Gower had seen on New Year's Day; and who proved to be none other than
+our old friends, Silas Jones and his loved wife Sarah, who made oath to
+the truth of Mr. Dale's statements.
+
+Insane at her defeat, at her loss of power, for which she had lived, for
+which she had sold her soul to Mephistopheles. In a rage at her
+humiliation before Silas Jones and his wife, whom she has hitherto
+walked over, whom she feels will rejoice with her victim over her
+discomfiture; and whom she feels will sing the _Te Deum Laudamus_ over
+his freedom, which she knows he will grasp at as eagerly as the timely
+rope by the drowning man; and so, hissing forth many words of fierce
+invective and malicious threats, she takes the hack from Holmnest.
+
+Mr. Dale's first expressive act on returning from escorting this amiable
+creature to the cab is to shake hands with Mr. Cole; then, crossing the
+room to Pearl Villiers, to congratulate her, he ascertains she has
+fainted.
+
+"No wonder, poor girl," said Mrs. Gower, coming to her relief; "I
+expect, this is not the first time her terrible step-sister has caused
+her to find relief in unconsciousness."
+
+"Do you remember, Elaine, she fainted once before, on Mr. Smyth
+announcing the marriage of Margaret Villiers with your poor friend
+here?"
+
+"I do, distinctly."
+
+"I wonder," continued Mrs. Dale, "was she aware of her mother's wish
+that she should marry Mr. Cole?"
+
+"Yes, Miss Pearl knew it right well, poor, long-suffering darling," says
+Sarah Jones, who is supporting her, while whispering soothing words of
+comfort. She now recovers, and is able to sit up, smiling at the sight
+which meets her eye, of Mr. Cole shaking Silas Jones by the hand, as if
+it was to be perpetual motion. Then, hobbling to the mirror, tears off
+his unbecoming muffler, throwing it at Tyr; saying, half wild with joy
+at his deliverance:
+
+"Away with her fetters; I shall begin to look like a Christian again; if
+I had a razor now, it would not be used on the jugular vein, but on my
+beard; but Mrs. Smyth, Mrs. Gower, see how grey I am, Jove!" and he gave
+a glance at the fair-haired girl, who withdrew her eyes, while both
+color. "Medusa was my pet name for her; oh, it was a den of villainy,
+eh, Sarah," he said, excitedly.
+
+"It caps anything I have ever heard," said Dale, seeing how weak Cole
+looks, and making him take an easy chair.
+
+"Dinner is served, ma'am."
+
+After dining, Mr. and Mrs. Jones sitting down with them at the pressing
+invitation of Mrs. Gower, Mr. Dale read all the communications he had
+received relating to the fraud practised by Miss Villiers, and the
+Stones antagonistic to the interests of Pearl Villiers; Brookes &
+Davidson undertaking to prosecute in the interests of the latter, should
+she so decide. Before leaving England, some weeks previous, they had
+robbed and plundered the estate to such an extent as to reduce the
+actual income from five thousand pounds sterling per annum to three
+thousand.
+
+These facts had been ascertained by Messrs. Brookes & Davidson, who
+said, as the delinquents had sheltered themselves beneath the stars and
+stripes, they were safe personally; but some of the properties could be
+wrested from parties to whom fraudulent sales had been made by Mrs.
+Cole. Her plea would of course be that she, Margaret Villiers, had wed
+Charles Babbington-Cole; but that had no weight, for a clause in the
+will would make such plea not worth a row of pins; they, the lawyers,
+only wishing they were in England, when they would indict them for
+fraud.
+
+"You will prosecute the wretches, Pearl; for we are going to make you
+feel at home, and call you so," said Mrs. Dale, eagerly.
+
+But the girl, saying in a low voice, though heard by all, that she will
+not go to law; that three thousand per annum is ample for her; that in
+most cases, perhaps, the lessees were not cognizant of the fraudulent
+sale, and so would be punished, while the guilty people were the
+gainers.
+
+"They have a nice little nest egg," said Mr. Blair, indignantly; "so
+does the green bay tree flourish."
+
+"Yes," said Mr. Dale; "and will likely pose as saints on the other side.
+Only that our little friend here would suffer much during a complicated
+law-suit, and that the enemy are hard to reach, I would advise her not
+to turn the other cheek, as she is doing but to fight; however," he
+says, smilingly, "for Canada, Miss Pearl, you are quite a little
+heiress."
+
+"Ladies and gentlemen," said Silas Jones, as he and his happy wife bid
+them all good-night, "Sarah and I don't know how to thank you for your
+kindness to our Miss Pearl."
+
+"Yes; may the blessings of heaven rest upon you for it," said Sarah,
+tearfully and reverently, as the girl kissed her, lovingly.
+
+"Amen," said Silas; "and I would add that this poor gentleman has gone
+through a fiery furnace of affliction in his forced union with that
+vixen of the iron will and heart of stone; but she will trouble you no
+more, sir, it was only your name she wanted; it meant gold."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+SQUARING ACCOUNTS.
+
+
+On the evening of the day on which the Coles' had arrived, and Miss Crew
+had come out in her true colors as Pearl Villiers, the heiress, in which
+her step-sister, Mrs. Cole, was branded with the name and character she
+has earned as devotee of the father of lies; there was so much to say,
+and so many to say it; so many hand clasps for the poor victim, Charlie
+Cole, on the incoming for his wife of Will Smyth, the Tremaines the A.
+Jones, and others, that the slipping out of Mrs. Dale and Mr. Blair, to
+meet the girl, Beatrice Hill, is unnoticed.
+
+After waiting in the shadow of the house, building on the next lot, for
+a considerable time, and evening is fast waning into night, Mr. Cobbe
+appears in the distance, coming at a brisk pace; nears, opens the gate,
+is up the walk, rings, and is admitted.
+
+"Now she will come, I fervently hope," said Mrs. Dale, impatiently;
+"horrid pair they are, interfering with our hearing the circus indoors.
+If our friend, Mr. Cobbe was mated to that hideous scold, Mrs. Cole, I
+reckon he would not get too much line. But she would never have trapped
+him, he knows too much; unless, indeed, she had settled half the plunder
+on him to close his mouth with the bon-bons that his soul loveth."
+
+"Your words, Mrs. Dale, give me an idea; I wonder if he would pose as
+'Pooh Bah,' and pocket an insult, in the shape of a bribe, to give our
+dear friend her freedom."
+
+"Yes; I do believe he would," she answers, eagerly; "I wonder we have
+not thought of that before."
+
+"But how can we work it; I cannot appear, though my bank notes are at
+his service; I wonder if your very philanthropic husband would undertake
+the delicate mission?"
+
+"Indeed, he would; he just loves making rough places smooth for people."
+
+"It is very good of him," he said, gratefully. "I fear this girl, Hill,
+is as slippery as Cobbe himself; you had better return to the house, and
+I shall go to her address, Seaton street; and if I do not find her,
+shall see if I can elicit any item of importance from others in the
+house."
+
+"But you will wish to come in and tell Elaine good-night first; you will
+not sleep otherwise," she said, teasingly.
+
+"You are right; but I must practise self-denial; indeed, it is my life
+just now, and endeavor to earn a blissful reward by gaining her release
+from Mr. Cobbe. Did you ever see such a contrast in faces and expression
+as that vixen, Cole's wife, presented, compared to our dear Elaine?"
+
+"No; unless it was myself, which of course you did not see," she said,
+saucily; "but I like you all the better for it. I hate your men who are
+all things to all women; go now, and success attend you. Good-night."
+
+Walking rapidly, winged love buoying him up, he soon reaches the Spadina
+Avenue terminus, when, fortune smiling, he has not to wait the twenty
+minutes for the car, for the driver is in the act of turning the horses'
+heads south. Entering, wrapt in thought, he does not notice the numbers
+on this broad highway who make their ingress or egress. Pretty girls,
+peeping from cloud-like fascinators, attended by their chosen valentine,
+or by chaperon, evidently, by their gay trappings, bent on scoring a
+last dance before Lent, for this is St. Valentine's Day, and to-morrow
+will be Ash Wednesday, and so good-bye for a season to the pleasures of
+Terpsichore. No, he is observant of nothing, excepting the many
+stoppages, at which he is impatient. Even electric lighted King street
+is passed through unnoticed; men thinking, on seeing his bent head and
+knit brows, poor fellow, probably bit by the "Central." Girls
+whispering, "He has missed the ring in his Shrove Tuesday pancakes this
+evening, getting only the button. What a pity, for he would be handsome
+if he would only see us."
+
+At the crossing of his turn north, the driver calling Sherbourne street,
+he changes cars, and in due course leaves them, to walk up Seaton
+street. Reaching his number, he rings the bell of a small rough-cast
+house. A man in his shirt sleeves, and with the smell of fresh pine
+about him, opens the door.
+
+"Does a young woman, named Hill, live here?"
+
+"Yes, sir; just step in, please," and ushering him into a sitting-room,
+at one end there being a new pine table nearly finished, tools and
+shavings about. A woman, who is nursing a baby, says: "Take this chair,
+sir; but I'm a'most feared Beatrice has too bad a head to see you."
+
+"Tell her, please, that I must see her, if she is able to sit up at
+all," he says, decidedly.
+
+"Very well, sir," and going to another room on same flat, he could hear
+half-angry words and sobs.
+
+The woman returning, eyeing him suspiciously, said:
+
+"No, sir; she says as how she'll see you to-morrow."
+
+"That won't do. I _must_ have the information she has promised,
+otherwise the detectives will do the work for me at once," he said
+sternly.
+
+"Detectives! oh!" she cries, quickly, in changed tones, leaving the
+room; when there is more parleying on the part of the woman. She now
+returns, saying:
+
+"Please, step this way, sir."
+
+Going into the girl's room, who is evidently a vest-maker, by the pile
+of said articles on a table, another on the sewing-machine. She gives a
+sulky nod, pointing him to a chair. She has a seedy gown on, untidy
+hair, and no collar, looking as if she cared for naught. There is an
+attempt at decoration on the flowered wall-paper, in shape of business
+cards pinned thereon, with the inevitable bow of ribbon; three cane
+chairs, a trunk, a bright rag carpet, two tables, and a small lounge,
+furnish the room. Conspicuous among the photos lying on a table, and the
+only one enthroned in a scarlet plush frame, is a smiling photograph of
+Mr. Cobbe.
+
+Determined on showing nothing like feeling, in her half hysterical
+state, he says, briefly:
+
+"Well, what have you to tell me, as you failed in keeping your
+appointment? I have come to hear."
+
+"And suppose I go back on my word, and don't tell you?" she said,
+doggedly.
+
+"Then you shall be made to speak," he says, with a brave front; though
+his heart is heavy at her words.
+
+"Oh, I know what fine gentlemen's boasts add up to," she says, crossly
+and defiantly, dashing away her tears; "to just nothing."
+
+"You shall be put in the lock-up if you are caught prowling about any
+one's residence after this."
+
+"And what would you gain by that?" she says, cunningly.
+
+While Blair, sighing for woman's tact, wishes Mrs. Dale was with him,
+when a sudden thought occurs to him; rising, as if to go, he says, with
+assumed carelessness:
+
+"Very well; if you won't help yourself and me, by making a clean breast
+of it, things will have to take their own course, and that man,"
+indicating by a gesture the photograph of Mr. Cobbe, "and that man will
+be lost to you, as the husband of a certain lady in the north-west end."
+
+At this she is humble enough, her tears bursting afresh.
+
+"Oh, no, no; I am just crazy to-night, that my Phil is with her; and I
+have been crying my eyes out, because I daren't go up, because of you
+coming out to make me tell on him; oh, oh, oh."
+
+"But can't you see, girl, that this is the only way you will keep him to
+yourself, by telling what hold you have on him. If you don't, as sure as
+you are alive, he will marry yonder lady, and spurn you like a worm
+under his heel," he said, with angry impatience.
+
+"Oh, never; oh, oh, oh, me! I suppose I had best tell, then." And going
+to the trunk, taking out a small box, which she unlocks with a key,
+suspended by a ribbon around her neck, she takes therefrom a few lines
+written on half a sheet of paper, handing it to him. It read:
+
+     "SIMCOE ST., March 16.
+
+     "DEAREST LOVE,--Be _sure_ and be on time at the Union Depot.
+     It's all nonsense your asking me to marry you before we start.
+     It's not common sense of you. The other women who want me would
+     tear your pretty eyes out. No, Betty, my petty. I will marry
+     you when we get to Buffalo; not before; so do not make me
+     angry, when you ought to be the happiest woman in Toronto at
+     going away with your own
+
+     "PHILIP."
+
+"Did he marry you?" asked Blair, placing the paper carefully in his
+pocket-book.
+
+Coloring, as she hangs her head, she does not notice his act.
+
+"What's that to you?" she said, doggedly.
+
+"It's everything; speak, or take the consequences."
+
+"He didn't, then; but he's not free to marry that hussy, since I have
+his writ promise, where is my paper? Give it me."
+
+"Softly, softly, young woman; I want him to do right by you."
+
+"But you'll only rouse the devil in him, sir; and he'll see me no more,"
+she says, wringing her hands.
+
+"Listen to reason, girl, I will borrow this paper, and on my honor; but
+pshaw, you won't credit me with so scarce a commodity," he says, half
+aside. "Lend me the letter until this time to-morrow, and here is ten
+dollars; when I return it you shall have ten more."
+
+"Not much; you bet, it shan't leave my eye-sight for any money."
+
+But after a weary talk she unwillingly consents; when he leaves the
+house.
+
+During the next three days and nights Mr. Blair was half beside himself
+with anxieties, doubts and fears; for Mr. Dale, even with the letter to
+Beatrice Hill in his hand, could do nothing with Mr. Cobbe. As mulish as
+the girl Hill, he refused to release Mrs. Gower from her oath; finally,
+in fiery wrath declaring there would be a heavy breach of promise case,
+did she break faith.
+
+The result was, that with the Dales, Pearl Villiers and Mr. Cole, at
+Holmnest, a busy week was spent.
+
+Mrs. Gower telling Mr. Cobbe, since he would have it so, she would wed
+him sometime or other, parting with him at the foot of the altar,
+henceforth to meet as strangers; that but for his own acts, they would
+have been friends; but she could never forget all she had already
+suffered in nervous fear of the girl Hill.
+
+And so, as rapidly as possible she prepares, as before arranged, to
+leave Holmnest for some months. Charlie Cole was to join his father at
+Jacksonville, Florida, the following day; Pearl Villiers and herself
+following. The house to be left in care of the kitchen, the Dales making
+it their home when in the city; but in a day or two, they would be most
+likely summoned to New York on peremptory business for a few days.
+
+Mrs. Dale and Mrs. Gower were amused in a sad sort of way, for their
+thoughts were gravely set, on the attitude taken by Mr. Cobbe. Still, it
+was a sort of distraction to note the manner of each toward the other;
+of Pearl Villiers and Charlie Cole, the latter demanding, and the former
+seeming to think it her duty to wait on him, humor him, go out for
+little sunlit walks on the veranda with him, play his favorite music,
+and endeavor to make up to him for her step-sister's wicked act, in
+coming between them.
+
+"It's a rather dangerous game though, Elaine; they will trade hearts
+unconsciously."
+
+"Yes, I have feared that, Ella; God spare her from that misery," she
+says, gravely, with hands pressed to her own aching heart.
+
+"Pearl," said Charlie Cole, as throwing away his cane, he leans lightly
+on her arm, as they pace up and down the sun-warm veranda, half an hour
+before the hack arrives to convey him to the Union Depot, "Tell me,
+Pearl, dear; but for my wretched union with your wicked step-sister,
+would you have married me willingly, mark me, willingly?" he says,
+probing her.
+
+"I would," she says, truthfully, blushing vividly; "but I don't think
+it's quite right to talk of it now, Charlie, is it? only, if we had
+known long ago when we have met as strangers, Margaret might have been
+spared this sin."
+
+"How your eyes seemed to follow me, Pearl. Our friend, Mrs. Gower, and
+myself have been the foot-ball of circumstances, she used to have
+instantaneous photographs of Blair, and is doomed to Cobbe; same fate as
+mine."
+
+"My heart is full of pity for you both, dear; but try and think of it as
+God's will, and it will come easier."
+
+"I know all that; but it's confoundedly hard that those vultures should
+have it all their own way."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+"MAIR SWEET THAN I CAN TELL."
+
+
+On an evening at the close of February, when the mercury has risen so
+high that all nature is in a melting mood; the snowy mantle of winter
+disappearing fast on the warm bosom of dear old mother earth, while
+Holmnest is a very bower of love, a very haven of peace. Upstairs,
+downstairs, and in my lady's chamber, everything is warm, home-like,
+sweet and fresh; with dreamy, turned down lights, showing the dainty
+sleeping apartment of its mistress, with its blue and white prevailing
+tints, its lace bed-spread and pillow shams; its pretty feminine
+adornments, with three or four pictures, and a vase of fresh flowers
+giving life to its repose. But we notice in the dim and shadowy light, a
+something unusual, a something different, a new element in this, the
+bed-chamber of Elaine Gower; a something that makes the heart throb
+faster, and a look of wonder, with a smile of content come to the face,
+a something which gives a tone of strength, of completeness to this
+bower of rest; it is, that here and there, one can dimly see a man's
+belongings, and one remembers to have read, "it is not good for man to
+be alone."
+
+But; and we start with fear, for the inanimate cannot speak and tell us
+if Mr. Cobbe has had his way, and those manly belongings are his; if so,
+if so, alas!
+
+But the kitchen says, no, as with a broad grin of content it sits over
+the _debris_ of a late dinner; when, at the tinkle, tinkle of the
+library bell, Thomas is away like a flash; we follow, peep in and see
+Mr. Blair, reclining on a lounge, holding between his fingers a
+cigarette; he forgets to smoke, a look of ineffable content and
+happiness on his manly face. He has rolled the sofa over beside the
+Davenport, at which sits his twin-spirit, the mistress of Holmnest, who
+is within easy reach of his hand, as she sits writing. She wears a gown
+_couleur de rose_, and is looking very lovable, her face transfigured
+with quiet happiness. As Thomas appears, she says, in her sweet tones:
+
+"No one is aware of our return, Thomas, so we don't expect visitors; but
+in any case, we are not at home."
+
+"Very well, ma'am."
+
+"My bride of a week; my ain wife, my other self," he says, his heart in
+his eyes, "bend down your sweet face and kiss me." Holding her in a
+close embrace, he says, "and so you are not sorry that a great, rough
+man like myself has crept into your bonnie Holmnest, and stolen your
+heart?"
+
+"Nay, not stolen, dearest; mine has been a willing surrender; and you
+must not call yourself names in my hearing. Mine has been a very lonely
+life, especially of late years; and you don't know how humble I feel at
+this great happiness coming to me, or my restful content in leaning on
+this strong arm."
+
+"There is one thing to be said for me, my own wife, and that is, that no
+other woman has a real or fancied right to lean on me. I have never been
+a flirting man, for which I may thank my father and mother, who aye were
+leal and true. What a picture they were in fair Dunkeld, going down
+life's hill together; he only living after her to close her eyes. How I
+wish they could have seen you, my other better self."
+
+"Yes; it would have given me great joy to have met them; your words of
+them remind me, Alec, of a dear old couple who reside in our sweet
+Rosedale. A day in their home is a living idyl; to see his tender care
+of her crossing the bridge into Bloor street, is a life lesson; I used
+to liken you and your wee lost wife to them, dear. I must tell you of an
+incident that attracted me to Mr. Smyth more than years of acquaintance.
+Prior to an illness of his wife, she had a photo taken at Gagen and
+Fraser's. On her recovery we were comparing it with a previous one, when
+he said, 'I like one I have better than either of them.' His wife,
+looking amazed, said, 'What one, Will?' while I said, 'Show it to us.'
+He answered, 'This one,' encircling her in his arms."
+
+"Only what he should have done, darling. Each for the other, shall be
+our motto; but must you write Mrs. Dale to-night?"
+
+"Yes, dear; just fancy how eager she must be to hear, as they were
+called away so suddenly, and they are such faithful friends. Shall I
+hand you the evening papers to look at while I write, dearest?"
+
+"No, thanks; I shall look at my wife's face instead."
+
+     "HOLMNEST, TORONTO,
+          "Feb. 28th, 1888.
+
+     "MY DEAR ELLA,
+
+     "We only returned home to-day; but as we, with Pearl, leave for
+     Jacksonville on to-morrow, I must do myself the pleasure of a
+     one-sided written chat with you to-night. My pre-arranged plan
+     is to be carried out; but with what a light heart do I carry it
+     out as Elaine Blair--is it not a pretty name. But lest you
+     think me insane at my age, I shall not go into raptures over my
+     name, or my loving life companion, who has given it me.
+
+     "I have so much to say, that I am in a quandary what to begin
+     with.
+
+     "The day after you left we went down quietly to the early
+     morning Lenten service, and at its close were married by my
+     good pastor, leaving the same day for Niagara. You remember I
+     used to say in jest, that to make a marriage legal, we
+     Torontonians must go thither! so Alec and I are fast bound;
+     thank God for His goodness. How little I dreamed of this two
+     weeks ago. Your good husband has worked a miracle in obtaining
+     my release from Philip; I cannot but think I have been bought
+     out of that regiment; what different colors I am under now;
+     poor Philip. His letter to me, in freeing me, is so truly
+     characteristic of the man, that I shall amuse you with a line
+     or two:
+
+     '"...in releasing you from your oath to be my wife, I repeat
+     that you will long for me once and forever! I am sorry for you,
+     Elaine, for I am the only man to make you happy. If you marry
+     that cowardly fellow who has run me out, take my advice, and
+     have the knot tied loosely in the States, for I prophesy you
+     will want a divorce before a year has elapsed; and then, as I
+     bear you no malice, you have only got into bad hands; send for
+     me, even then, and I shall give up every other woman admirer
+     for you....' Is it not typical of Philip? Poor fellow; he
+     little dreams of my restful content at the steadfast, manly
+     heart I have won. He came in the afternoon of the day you left;
+     though, you are aware, your husband had handed me his letter
+     releasing me the evening previous; but he came to try and
+     persuade me to destroy it, waxing eloquent over _my folly_, and
+     his regret for me and himself. Pretty Mrs. St. Clair calling
+     while he was here, they left together. I again thought how well
+     matched they would have been; she amused me--but I must tell
+     you.
+
+     "You remember, we read in a city newspaper that a man suggested
+     as a rabbit exterminator, fashion should decree that the ears
+     of the aforesaid animal should be used in some manner of
+     feminine adornment; but Mrs. St. Clair solved the problem of
+     extermination; and if she and other leaders of fashion push it,
+     the rabbit is a doomed creature.
+
+     "While the attention of Philip was momentarily given to Mrs.
+     Tremaine and Miss Hall, she purred.
+
+     "'Oh, Mrs. Gower, I do want a rabbit's paw more than anything
+     else in the world.'
+
+     "'A rabbit's paw! what for?'
+
+     "'To put my rouge on with, it's just the cutest thing out, for
+     that. Do you paint, Mrs. Gower?'
+
+     "I fancy I see your lip curl, and Alec asks me what I am
+     smiling at. I tell him above, on the rabbit; and that my smile
+     is the reflection of the laugh in your Irish eyes. He says I
+     don't punctuate often enough to let him kiss me. Give me credit
+     for a little sanity yet, Ella, for I know how foolish this
+     sounds; but our great happiness is so dazzling after our dark
+     days of despair, that I dare say we are a little daft.
+
+     "And now, for a startling bit of news that I have been trying
+     to keep for the last--but it won't wait--a telegram arrived
+     here yesterday for Charlie Cole, from Grand Central Hotel, New
+     York City, from Mr. Stone, running thus:
+
+     "'C. BABBINGTON-COLE, Esq.,
+
+     "'Your wife, Mrs. Cole, died suddenly of malignant
+     sore throat, on the twenty-fifth, and was buried same
+     evening.
+
+     "'TIMOTHY STONE.'
+
+     "The first thing on our arrival this a.m., Alec wired the
+     information to the Tremont Hotel, Jacksonville, to Charlie. And
+     so death has stepped in, freeing him from an unhappy union,
+     Pearl is not as yet aware of this; but we shall tell her on her
+     coming over from the O'Sullivan's to-morrow. When we reach
+     Jacksonville, she can procure the usual black robes.
+
+     "It appears that Mr. Stone has actually rented an office here,
+     in which he will carry on the real estate business. We are
+     informed that he and his late niece lived here some time ago,
+     for a few years. A gentleman from the Grand Central, tells Mr.
+     Smyth that Mr. Stone boasts of his large and influential
+     connection here. And so, though some of our smart Central Bank
+     men have skipped the line, we gain one that caps them all, in
+     Timothy Stone.
+
+     "And now, to a brighter theme, our firm of Dale, Buckingham &
+     Blair, with my ain dearie as manager of our Toronto branch.
+     Graham & Graham tell Alec the agreement is drawn. Will do
+     business on the square in mineral lands, and should get a bonus
+     from the city, for no one heretofore has known where to place
+     or purchase properties of this kind. And so we had better set
+     our chant to music, and sing to 'dream-faces'--
+
+     Oxides of Iron      66.28
+     Silica              21.20
+     Alumina              3.70
+     Lime                 5.04
+     Magnesia             2.19
+
+     "Were you not glad to hear that Silas Jones is to be in charge
+     of the office while we are away, and head clerk afterwards? I
+     tell you, Ella, dear, when I think of winging our flight south
+     together, thence to the Old World, in which fair Dunkeld stands
+     out the brightest spot, I am half wild with joy. Barlow
+     Cumberland, I am sure, thought me more than a little off when
+     we were in buying our tickets.
+
+     "I verily believe I am growing egotistical; in all this letter,
+     who has been foremost--self?
+
+     "Madame de Sevigne was right: 'One loves to talk of one's self
+     so much, that one never tires of _tete-a-tete_ with a lover for
+     years. This is the reason a devotee likes to be with her
+     confessor; it is for the pleasure of talking of one's
+     self--even though talking evil.'
+
+     "But should we meet at New York on our way south, I shall talk
+     of nothing but your own dear selves, and Pearl will bring you
+     news of Garfield; whom, I feel sure, she has seen every day during
+     your absence.
+
+     "Thomas and Begonia (in days of yore, Bridget) will have
+     everything snug for you any day you come. All our world seems
+     so in couples linked, that though he is but sixteen, and she
+     forty, I shall not be surprised to find them buckled, too.
+
+     "Times are changed, dear. I never even think of chains, bolts,
+     or shutters. No more nervous evenings; no more starts at the
+     bell; no more heart-aches; but arms leal and true to shield me,
+     a heart fond and loving, all my own. Ella, Ella, with my faulty
+     nature, I ask myself, am I deserving of this great happiness?
+
+     "My dear husband is bending over me; but lest you deem him a
+     flatterer, I must not tell you his words he bids me tell you;
+     but no, he must say it himself. But he has taken away the ink
+     bottle, lest I burn the midnight oil. One says of Aspasia,
+     writing in ancient days of her Pericles, that 'happy is the man
+     who comes last, and alone, into the warm and secret foldings of
+     a letter.' And so the name of my dear husband, Alec Blair,
+     comes here, Ella, dear, and I say good-night to you as he holds
+     me in his arms, his eyes, with love's steadfast gaze, resting
+     on my face.
+
+     "From your happy friend,
+                      "Elaine,
+           "Who is affectionately and
+                   "abundantly yours.
+
+     "To Mrs. Dale, c/o Henry Dale, Esq.,
+        "Hoffman House, New York City."
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's A Romance of Toronto, by Annie Gregg Savigny
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