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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/38911-8.txt b/38911-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..10904d1 --- /dev/null +++ b/38911-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5021 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of For the Cause, by Stanley J. Weyman + +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: For the Cause + +Author: Stanley J. Weyman + +Release Date: February 17, 2012 [EBook #38911] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR THE CAUSE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by +Google Books (The New York Public Library) + + + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + 1. Page scan source: + http://books.google.com/books?ei=0r4yT5jOC4Hm0QGA9ezTBw + + 2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe]. + + + + + + FOR THE CAUSE. + + + + + + + FOR THE CAUSE + + + + + + BY + + STANLEY J. WEYMAN + + _Author of "A Gentleman of France," "The House of the + Wolf" "Under the Red Robe" Etc_. + + + + + CHICAGO + CHARLES H. SERGEL COMPANY + + + + + + + Copyright, 1897, + + by + + CHARLES H. SERGEL COMPANY. + + + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + For The Cause. + + King Pepin And Sweet Clive. + + The Deanery Ball. + + The Professor and the Harpy. + + Archdeacon Hodden's Tribulation. + + + + + FOR THE CAUSE. + + + I. + +Paris had never seemed to the eye more peaceful than on a certain +November evening in the year 1589: and this although many a one within +its walls resented the fineness of that night as a mockery, a scoff at +the pain of some and the fury of others. + +The moonlight fell on roofs and towers, on the bare open space of the +Place de Grève and the dark mass of the Louvre, and only here and +there pierced, by chance, a narrow lane, to gleam on some foul secret +of the kennel. The Seine lay a silvery loop about the He de la Cité--a +loop cut on this side and that by the black shadows of the Pont au +Change, and the Petit Pont, and broken again westward by the outline +of the New Bridge, which was then in building. + +The city itself lay in profound quiet in the depth of the shadow. From +time to time at one of the gales, or in the lodge of the Châtelet, a +sentinel challenged or an officer spoke. But the bell of St. Germain +l'Auxerrois, which had rung through hours of the past day was silent. +The tumult which had leaped like flame from street to street had +subsided. Peaceful men breathed again in their houses, and women, if +they still cowered by the hearth, no longer laid trembling fingers on +their ears. For a time the red fury was over: and in the narrow +channels, where at noon the mob had seethed, scarcely a stray wayfarer +could now be found. + +A few however were abroad: and of these some who chanced to be +threading the network of streets between the Châtelet and the Louvre, +heard behind them the footsteps of a man in great haste, and saw pass +them a youth, white-faced and wearing a sword and a student's short +cloak and cap--apparently a member of the University. He for his part +looked neither to right nor left: saw not one of them, and seemed bent +only on getting forward. + +He slackened his space however near the corner of the Rue de l'Arbre +Sec, where it shoots out of the Rue de Béthisy, and then turning it +with a rush, caught his foot in some obstacle, and plunging forward, +would have fallen violently, if he had not come against a man, who +seemed to be standing still in the shadow of the corner house. + +"Hold up!" exclaimed this person, withstanding the shock better than +could have been expected. "You should have a pretty mistress, young +man, if you go to her at this pace!" + +The student did not answer--did not seem to hear. He had staggered +against the wall, and still stood propping himself up by it. His face, +pale before, was ghastly now, as he glared, apparently horror-struck, +at something beyond the speaker. The latter, after muttering angrily, +"What the plague do you go dashing about the streets like a Shrove +Tuesday ox for?" turned also and glanced behind him. + +But not at that to which the student's eyes were directed. The +stranger seemed constrained to look first and by preference at the +long, low casement of a house nearly opposite them. This window was on +the first floor, and projected somewhat over the roadway. There seemed +to be no light in the room; but the moonlight reached it, and showed a +woman's head bent on the sill--a girl's head, if one might judge from +its wealth of hair. One white wrist gleamed amid this, but her face +was hidden on her arms. In the whole scene--in the casement open at +this inclement time, in the girl's attitude of abandonment, there was +something which stirred the nerves. It was only after a long look that +the stranger averted his eyes, and cast a casual glance at a queer, +dark object, which a few paces away swung above the street, dimly +outlined against the sky. It was that which had fascinated his +companion. + +"Umph!" he ejaculated in the tone of a man who should say "Is that +all?" And he turned to the other again. "You seem taken aback, young +man!" he said. "Surely that is no such strange sight in Paris +nowadays. What with Leaguers hanging Politiques, and Politiques +hanging Leaguers, and both burning Huguenots, I thought a dead man was +no longer a bogey to frighten children with!" + +"Hush, sir, in Heaven's name!" exclaimed the young man, shuddering at +his words. "He was my father!" + +The stranger whistled. "He was your father, was he!" he replied more +gently. "I dare swear too that he was an honest man, since the Sixteen +have done this. There, steady, friend. These are no times for weeping. +Be thankful that Le Clerc and his crew have spared your home, and +your--your sister. That is rare clemency in these days, and Heaven +only knows how long it may last. You wear a sword? Then shed no tears +to rust it. Time enough to weep, man, when there is blood to be washed +from the blade." + +"You speak boldly," said the youth, checking his emotion somewhat, +"but had they hung your father before his own door----" + +"Good man," said the stranger with a coolness that bordered on the +cynical, "he has been dead these twenty years." + +"Then your mother?" suggested the student with the feeble persistence +by which weak minds show their consciousness of contact with stronger +ones, "you had then----" + +"Hung them all as high as Haman!" + +"Ay, but suppose there were among them," objected the youth, in a +lower tone, while he eyed his companion narrowly, "some of the clergy, +you understand?" + +"They had swung--though they had all been Popes of Rome," was the +blunt answer. + +The listener shook his head, and drew off a pace. He scanned the +stranger curiously, keeping his back turned to the corpse the while, +but failed by that light to make out much one way or the other. +Scarcely a moment too was allowed him before the murmur of voices and +the clash of weapons at the far end of the street interrupted him. +"The watch are coming," he said roughly. + +"You are right, and the sooner we are within doors the better," his +companion assented. + +It was noticeable that throughout their talk which had lasted many +minutes no sign of life had appeared in any of the neighboring houses. +Scarce a light shone from a window though it was as yet but nine +o'clock. The fact was that fear of the Sixteen and of the mob they +guided was overpowering Paris--a terror crushing out men's lives. +While the provinces of France were divided at this time between two +opinions, and half of each as a rule owned the Huguenot Henry the +Fourth--now for six months the rightful sovereign--for king, Paris +would have none of him. The fierce bigotry of the lower classes, the +presence of some thousands of Spanish soldiers, and the ambition and +talents of the Guise family combined at once to keep the gates of +Paris closed to him, and to overawe such of the respectable citizens +as from religious sympathy in rare cases, and more often out of a +desire to see law and order re-established, would fain have adopted +his cause. The Politiques, or moderate party, who were indifferent +about religion as such, but believed that a strong government could +only be formed by a Romanist king, were almost non-existent in Paris. +And the events of the past day, the murder of three judges and several +lower officials--among them poor M. Portail whose body now decorated +the Rue de l'Arbre Sec--had not reassured the municipal mind. No +wonder that men put out their lights early, and were loth to go to +their windows, when they might see a few feet from the casement the +swollen features of a harmless, honest man, but yesterday going to and +from his work like other men. + +Young Portail strode to the door of the house and knocked hurriedly. +As he did so, he looked up with something like a shiver of nervous +apprehension at the window above. But the girl neither moved nor +spoke, nor betrayed any consciousness of his presence. She might have +been dead. It was a young man, about his own age or a little older, +who, after reconnoitring him from above, cautiously drew back the +door. "Whom have you with you?" he whispered, holding it ajar, and +letting the end of a stout club be seen. + +"No one," Portail replied in the same cautious tone. And he would have +entered without more ado, and closed the door behind him had not his +late companion, who had followed him across the street like his +shadow, set his foot against it. "Nay, but you are forgetting me," he +said good-humoredly. + +"Go your way! we have enough to do to protect ourselves," cried +Portail brusquely. + +"The more need of me," was the careless answer. + +The watch were now but a few houses away, and the stranger seemed +determined. He could scarcely be kept out without a disturbance. With +an angry oath Felix Portail held the door for him to enter; and closed +it softly behind him. Then for a minute or so the three stood silent +in the darkness, while with a murmur of voices and clash of weapons, +and a ruddy glimmer piercing crack and keyhole, the guard swept by. + +"Have you a light?" Felix murmured. + +"In the back room," replied the young man who had admitted them. He +seemed to be a clerk or confidential servant. "But your sister," he +continued, "is distraught. She has sat at the window all day as you +see her now--sometimes looking at _it_. Oh Felix, this has been a +dreadful day for this house!" + +The young Portail assented by a groan. "And Susanne?" he asked. + +"Is with Mistress Marie, terrified almost to death, poor child. She +has been crouching all day by her, hiding her face in her gown. But +where were you?" + +"At the Sorbonne," replied Felix in a whisper. + +"Ah!" the other exclaimed, something of hidden meaning in his tone. "I +would not tell her that, if I were you. I feared it was so. But let us +go upstairs." + +They went: with more than one stumble by the way. At the head of the +staircase the clerk opened a door and preceded them into a low-roofed +panelled room, plainly but solidly furnished, and lighted by a small +hanging lamp of silver. A round oak table on six curiously turned legs +stood in the middle, and on it some food was laid. A high-backed +chair, before which a sheep-skin rug was spread, and two or three +stools made up with a great oak chest the main furniture of the room. + +The stranger turned from scrutinizing his surroundings, and started. +Another door had silently opened; and he saw framed in the doorway and +relieved by the lamplight against the darkness of the outer room the +face and figure of a tall girl. A moment she stood pointing at them +with her hand, her face white--and whiter in seeming by reason of the +black hair which fell around it--her eyes dilated, the neck-band of +her dark red gown torn open. "A Provençal!" the intruder murmured to +himself. "Beautiful and a tigress." + +At any rate, for the moment, beside herself. "So you have come at +last!" she panted, glaring at Felix with passionate scorn in word and +gesture. "Where were you while these slaves of yours did your bidding? +At the Sorbonne with the black crows! Thinking out fresh work for +them? Or dallying with your Normandy sweetheart?" + +"Hush!" he said quailing visibly. "There is a stranger here." + +"There have been many strangers here today!" she retorted bitterly. +"Hush, you say? Nay, I will not be silent. They may tear me limb from +limb, but I will accuse them of this murder before God's throne. +Coward! Do you think I will ask mercy from them? Come, look on your +work! See what the League have done--your holy League!--while you sat +plotting with the black crows!" + +She pointed into the dark room behind her, and the movement disclosed +a younger girl clinging to her skirts, and weeping silently. "Come +here, Susanne," said Felix, who had turned pale and red under the lash +of the other's scorn. "Your sister is not herself. You do no good, +Marie, staying in there. See, you are both trembling with cold." + +"With cold? Then do you warm yourselves! Sit down and eat and drink +and be comfortable and forget him! But I will not eat or drink while +he hangs there! Shame, Felix Portail! Have you arms and hands, and +will you let your father hang before his own door?" + +Her voice rang shrilly to the last word; and then an awkward silence +fell on the room. The stranger nodded, almost as if he had said, +"Bravo!" The two men of the house cast doubtful glances at one +another. At length the clerk spoke. "It is impossible, mistress," +he said gently. "Were he touched, the mob would wreck the house +to-morrow." + +"A little bird whispered to me as I came through the streets,"--it was +the stranger who spoke--"that Mayenne and his riders would be in town +to-morrow. Then it seems to me that our friends of the Sorbonne will +not have matters altogether their own way." + +The Sorbonne was the Theological College of Paris; at this time the +headquarters of the extreme Leaguers and the Sixteen. Mayenne and +D'Aumale, the Guise princes, more than once found it necessary to +check the excesses of this party. + +Marie Portail looked at the last speaker. He sat on the edge of the +chest, carelessly swinging one knee over the other; a man of middle +height, rather tall than short, with well bronzed cheeks, a forehead +broad and white, and an aquiline nose. He wore a beard and moustaches, +and his chin jutted out. His eyes were keen, but good-humored. Though +spare he had broad shoulders, and an iron-hilted sword propped against +his thigh seemed made for use rather than show. The upper part of his +dress was of brown cloth, the lower of leather. A weather-stained +cloak which he had taken off lay on the chest beside him. + +"You are a man!" cried Marie fiercely. "But as for these----" + +"Stay, mistress!" the clerk broke in "Your brother does but collect +himself. If the Duke of Mayenne comes back to-morrow, as our friend +here says is likely--and I have heard the same myself--he will keep +his men in better order. That is true. And we might risk it if the +watch would give us a wide berth." + +Felix nodded sullenly. "Shut the door," he said to his sister, the +deep gloom on his countenance contrasting with the excitement she +betrayed. "There is no need to let the neighbors see us." + +This time she obeyed him. Susanne too crept from her skirts, and threw +herself on her knees, hiding her face on the chair. "Ay!" said Marie +looking down at her with the first expression of tenderness the +stranger had noted in her. "Let her weep. Let children weep. But let +men work." + +"We want a ladder," said the clerk in a low voice. "And the longest we +have is full three feet short." + +"That is just half a man," remarked he who sat on the chest. + +"What do you mean?" asked Felix wonderingly. + +"What I said." + +"But there is nothing on which we can rest the ladder," urged the +clerk. + +"Then that is a whole man," quoth the stranger curtly. "Perhaps two. I +told you you would have need of me." He looked from one to the other +with a smile; a careless, self-contented smile. + +"You are a soldier," said Marie suddenly. + +"At times," he replied, shrugging his shoulders. + +"For which side?" + +He shook his head. "For my own," he answered naïvely. + +"A soldier of fortune?" + +"At your service, mistress; now and ever." + +The clerk struck in impatiently. "If we are to do this," he said, "we +had better see about it. I will fetch the ladder." + +He went out and the other men followed more slowly, leaving Marie +still standing gazing into the darkness of the outer room--she had +opened the door again--like one in a trance. Some odd trait in the +soldier led him, as he passed out, to lay his hand on the hair of the +kneeling child with a movement infinitely tender; infinitely at +variance with the harsh clatter with which his sword next moment rang +against the stairs as he descended. + +The three men were going to do that which two certainly, and perhaps +all, knew to be perilous. One went to it in gloom, anger as well as +sorrow at his heart. One bustled about nervously, and looked often +behind him as if to see Marie's pale face at the window. And one +strode out as to a ball, glancing up and down the dark lane with an +air of enjoyment, which not even the grim nature of his task could +suppress. The body was hanging from a bar which crossed the street at +a considerable height, serving as a stay between the gables of two +opposite houses, of which one was two doors only from the unhappy +Portails'. The mob, with a barbarity very common in those days, had +hung him on his own threshold. + +The street as the three moved up it, seemed empty and still. But it +was impossible to say how long it would remain so. Yet the soldier +loitered, staring about him, as one remembering things. "Did not the +Admiral live in this neighborhood?" he inquired. + +"De Coligny? Yes. Round the corner in the Rue de Béthisy," replied the +clerk brusquely. "But see! The ladder will not reach the bar--no, not +by four feet." + +"Set it against the wall then--thus," said the soldier, and having +done it himself he mounted a few steps. But then he seemed to bethink +himself. He jumped down again. "No," he exclaimed, peering sharply +into the faces of one and the other, "I do not know you. If any one +comes, my friends, and you leave the foot of the ladder I shall be +taken like a bird on a limed twig. Do you ascend, Monsieur Felix." + +The young man drew back. He was not without courage, or experience of +rough scenes. But the Louvre was close at hand, almost within earshot +on one side, the Châtelet was scarcely farther off on the other; and +both swarmed with soldiers and brutal camp-followers. At any moment a +troop of them might pass; and should they detect any one interfering +with King Mob's handiwork, he would certainly dangle in a very few +minutes from some handy lamp-iron. Felix knew this, and stood at gaze. +"I do not know you either," he muttered irresolutely, his hand still +on the ladder. + +A smile of surprising humor played on the soldier's face. "Nay, but +you knew _him!_" he retorted, pointing upwards with his hand. "Trust +me, young sir," he added significantly, "I am less inclined to mount +now than I was before." + +The clerk intervened before Felix could resent the insult. "Steady," +he said; "I will go up and do it." + +"Not so!" Felix rejoined, pushing him aside in turn. And he ran up the +ladder. But near the top he paused, and began to descend again. "I +have no knife," he said shamefacedly. + +"Pshaw! Let me come!" cried the stranger. "I see you are both good +comrades. I trust you. Besides, I am more used to this ladder work +than you are, and time is everything." + +He ran up as he spoke, and standing on the highest round but one he +grasped the bar above his head, and swung himself lightly up, so as to +gain a seat on it. With more caution he wormed himself along it until +he reached the rope. Fortunately there was a long coil of it about the +bar; and warning his companions in a whisper, he carefully, and with +such reverence as the time and place allowed, let down the body to +them. They received it in their arms; and were loosening the noose +from the neck when an outburst of voices and the noise of footsteps at +the nearer end of the street surprised them. For an instant the two +stood in the gloom, breathless, stricken, still, confounded. Then with +a single impulse they lifted the body between them, and huddled +blindly to the door. It opened at their touch, they stumbled in, and +it fell to behind them. The foremost of the party outside had been +within ten paces of them. A narrow escape! + +Yet they had escaped. But what next? What of their companion? The +moment the door shut behind them they would have rushed out again, ay, +to certain death, so strongly had the soldier's trust appealed to +their confidence. But they had the body in their arms; and by the time +it was laid on the stairs, a score of men had passed. The opportunity +was over. They could do nothing but listen. "Heaven help him!" fell +from the clerk's quivering lips. Pulling the door ajar, they stood, +looking each moment to hear a challenge, a shot, the clash of swords. +But no. They did hear the party halt under the gallows, and pass some +brutal jest, and go on. And that was all. + +They could scarcely believe their ears; no, nor even their eyes, when +a few minutes later the street being now quiet, they passed out, and +stood in it shuddering. For there still swung the corpse dimly +outlined above them! There! Certainly there! The clerk seized his +companion's arm and drew him back. "It was the fiend!" he stammered. +"See, your father is still there! It was the fiend who helped us!" + +But suddenly the figure they were watching became agitated; another +instant and it slid gently to the ground. It was the soldier. "O ye +gods!" he cried, bent double with silent laughter. "Saw you ever such +a trick? How I longed to kick if it were but my toe at them, and I +forbore! Fools that they were! Did man ever see a body hung in its +sword? But it was a good trick, eh?" appealing to them with a simple +pride in his invention. "I had the rope loose in my hand when they +came, and I drew it twice round my neck--and one arm trust me--and +swung off gently. It is not every one who would have thought of that, +my children." + +It was odd. They still shook with fear, and he with laughter. He did +not seem to give a thought to the danger he had escaped. Pride in his +readiness and a keen sense of the humorous side of the incident +entirely possessed him. At the very door of the house he still +chuckled from time to time; muttering between the ebullitions, "Ah, I +must tell Diane! Diane will be pleased!" + +Once inside, however, he acted with more delicacy than might have been +expected. He stood aside while the other two carried the body +upstairs; and himself waited patiently in the bare room below, which +showed signs of occasional use as a stable. Here the clerk Adrian +presently found him, and murmured some apology. Mistress Marie, he +said, had fainted. + +"A matter which afflicts you, my friend," the soldier replied with a +grimace, "about as much as your master's death. Pooh, man, do not look +fierce! Good luck to you. Only if--but this is no house for gallantry +to-night--I had spruced myself, you had had to look to your ewe lamb!" + +The clerk turned pale and red by turns. This man seemed to read his +thoughts as if he had indeed been the fiend. "What do you wish?" he +stammered. + +"Only shelter until the early morning when the streets are most quiet; +and a direction to the Rue des Lombards." + +"The Rue des Lombards?" + +"Yes, why not?" But though the soldier still smiled, the lines of his +mouth hardened suddenly. "Why not to the Rue des Lombards?" + +"I know no reason why you should not be going there," replied the +clerk boldly. "It was only that the street is near; and a friend of my +late master's lives in it." + +"His name?" + +The clerk started; the question was put so abruptly, and in a tone so +imperious. "Nicholas Toussaint," he answered involuntarily. + +"Ay?" replied the other, raising his hand to his chin meditatively and +glancing at Adrian with a look that for all the world reminded him of +an old print of the eleventh Louis, which hung in a room at the Hôtel +de Ville. "Your master, young man, was of the moderate party--a +Politique?" + +"He was." + +"A good man and a Catholic? one who loved France? A Leaguer only in +name?" he continued with vividness. + +"Yes, that is so." + +"But his son? He is a Leaguer out and out--one who would rise to +fortune on the flood tide of the mob? A Sorbonnist? The priests have +got hold of him? He would do to others as they have done to his +father? A friend of Le Clerc and Boucher?" + +Adrian nodded reluctantly. This strange man confounded and yet +fascinated him: this man so reckless and gay one moment, so wary the +next: exchanging in an instant the hail of a boon companion for the +tone of a noble. + +"And is your young master also a friend of this Nicholas Toussaint?" +was the next question. + +"No," said Adrian, "he has been forbidden the house. M. Toussaint does +not approve of his opinions." + +"Ha! That is so, is it," rejoined the stranger with his former gayety. +"And now enough: where will you lodge me until morning?" + +"If my closet will serve you," Felix answered with a hesitation he +would not have felt a few minutes before, "it is at your will. I will +bring some food there at once, and will let you out if you please at +five." And Adrian added some simple directions, by following which his +guest might reach the Rue des Lombards without difficulty. + +An hour later if the thoughts of those who lay sleepless under that +roof could have been traced, some strange contrasts would have +appeared. Was Felix Portail thinking of his dead father, or of his +sweetheart in the Rue des Lombards, or of his schemes of ambition? Was +he blaming the crew of whom until to-day he had been one, or sullenly +cursing those factious Huguenots as the root of the mischief? Was +Adrian thinking of his kind master, or of his master's daughter? Was +the guest dreaming of his narrow escape? or revolving plans beside +which Felix's were but the schemes of a rat in a drain? Perhaps Marie +alone--for Susanne slept a child's sleep of exhaustion--had her +thoughts fixed on him, who so few hours before had been the centre of +the household. + +But such is life in troubled times. Pleasure and pain come mingled +together, and men snatch the former even from the midst of the latter +with a trembling joy; knowing that if they wait to go a pleasuring +until the sky be clear, they may wait until nightfall. + +When Adrian called his guest at cock-crow the latter rose briskly and +followed him down to the door. "Well, young sir," he said on the +threshold, as he wrapped his cloak round him and took his sheathed +sword in his hand, "I am obliged to you. When I can do you a service, +I will." + +"You can do me one now," replied the clerk bluntly, "It is ill work +having to do with strangers in these days. You can tell me who you +are, and to which side you belong." + +"Which side? I have told you--my own. And for the rest," continued the +soldier, "I will give you a hint." He brought his lips near the +other's ear, and whispered, "Kiss Marie--for me!" + +The clerk looked up aflame with anger, but the other was already gone +striding down the street. Yet Adrian received an answer to his +question. For as the stranger disappeared in the gloom, he broke +out with an audacity that took the listener's breath away into a +well-known air, + + + "Hau! Hau! Papegots! + Faites place aux Huguenots!" + + +and trilled it as if he had been in the streets of Rochelle. + +"Death!" exclaimed the clerk, getting back into the house, and barring +the door, "I thought so. He is a Huguenot. But if he takes his neck +out of Paris unstretched, he will have the fiend's own luck, and the +Béarnais' to boot!" + + + II. + +When the clerk went upstairs, again, he heard voices in the back room. +Felix and Marie were in consultation. The girl was a different being +this morning. The fire and fury of the night had sunk to a still +misery: and even to her it seemed over dangerous to stay in the house +and confront the rage of the mob. Mayenne might not after all return +yet: and in that case the Sixteen would assuredly wreak their spite on +all, however young or helpless, who might have had to do with the +removal of the body. "You must seek shelter with some friend," Felix +proposed, "before the city is astir. I can go to the University. I +shall be safe there." + +"Could you not take us with you?" Marie suggested meekly. + +He shook his head, his face flushing. It was hard to confess that he +had power to destroy, but none to protect. "You had better go to +Nicholas Toussaint's," he said. "He will take you in, though he will +have nothing to do with me." + +Marie assented with a sigh, and rose to make ready. Some few valuables +were hidden or secured, some clothes taken; and then the little party +of four passed out into the street, leaving but one solemn tenant in +their home. The cold light of a November morning gave to the lane an +air even in accustomed eyes of squalor and misery. The kennel running +down the middle was choked with nastiness, while here and there the +upper stories leaned forward so far as to obscure the light. + +The fugitives regarded these things little after the first shivering +glance, but hurried on their road; Felix with his sword, and Adrian +with his club marching on either side of the girls. A skulking dog got +out of their way. The song of a belated reveller made them shrink +under an arch. But they fell in with nothing more formidable until +they came to the high wooden gates of the courtyard in front of +Nicholas Toussaint's house. + +To arouse him or his servants, however, without disturbing the +neighborhood was another matter. There was no bell; only a heavy iron +clapper. Adrian tried this cautiously, with little hope of being +heard. But to his joy the hollow sound had scarcely ceased when +footsteps were heard crossing the court, and a small trap in one of +the gates was opened. An elderly man with high cheek bones and curly +gray hair looked out. His eyes lighting on the girls lost their +harshness. "Marie Portail!" he exclaimed. "Ah! poor thing, I pity you. +I have heard all. I only returned to the city last night or I should +have been with you. And Adrian?" + +"We have come," said the young man respectfully, "to beg shelter for +Mistress Marie and her sister. It is no longer safe for them to remain +in the Rue de l'Arbre Sec." + +"I can well believe it," cried Toussaint vigorously. "I do not know +where we are safe nowadays. But there," he added in a different tone, +"no doubt the Sixteen are acting for the best." + +"You will take them in then?" said Adrian, with gratitude. + +But to his astonishment the citizen shook his head, while an awkward +embarrassment twisted his features. "It is impossible!" he said +reluctantly. + +Adrian doubted if he had heard aright. Nicholas Toussaint was known +for a bold man; one whom the Sixteen disliked, and even suspected of +Huguenot leanings, but had not yet dared to attack. He was a dealer in +Norman horses, and this both led him to employ many men, reckless +daring fellows, and made him in some degree necessary to the army. +Adrian had never doubted that he would shelter the daughter of his old +friend; and his surprise on receiving this rebuff was extreme. + +"But, Monsieur Toussaint--" he urged--and his face reddened with +generous warmth as he stood forward. "My master is dead! Foully +murdered! He lies who says otherwise, though he be of the Sixteen! My +mistress has few friends now to protect her, and those of small power. +Will you send her and the child from your door?" + +"Hush, Adrian," cried the girl, lifting her head proudly, yet laying +her hand on the clerk's sleeve with a tender touch of acknowledgment +that brought the blood in redoubled force to his cheeks. "Do not press +our friend overmuch. If he will not take us in from the streets, be +sure he has some good reason to offer." + +But Toussaint was dumb. Shame--a shame augmented tenfold by the +clerk's fearlessness--was so clearly written on his face, that Adrian +uttered none of the reproaches which hung on his lips. It was Felix +who came forward, and said contemptuously, "So you have grown +strangely cautious of a sudden, M. Toussaint?" + +"Ha! I thought you were there, or thereabouts!" replied the +horse-dealer, regaining his composure at once, and eyeing him with +strong disfavor. + +"But Felix and I," interposed Adrian eagerly, "will fend for +ourselves." + +Toussaint shook his head. "It is impossible," he said surlily. + +"Then hear me!" cried Felix with excitement. "You do not deceive me. +It is not because of your daughter that you have forbidden me the +house, and will not now protect my sister! It is because we shall +learn too much. You have those under your roof, whom the crows shall +pick yet! You, I will spare for Madeline's sake; but your spies I will +string up, every one of them by----" and he swore a frightful oath +such as the Romanists used. + +Toussaint's face betrayed both fear and anger. For an instant he +seemed to hesitate. Then exclaiming "Begone, parricide! You would have +killed your own father!" he slammed the trap-door, and was heard +retreating up the yard with a clatter, which sufficiently indicated +his uneasiness. + +The four looked at one another. Daylight had fully come. The noise of +the altercation had drawn more than one sleepy face to neighboring +casements. In a short time the streets would be alive with people, and +even a delay of a few minutes might bring immediate danger. They +thought of this; and moved away slowly and reluctantly, Susanne +clinging to Adrian's arm, while Felix strode ahead scowling. When they +had placed, however, a hundred yards or so between themselves and +Toussaint's gates, they stopped, a chill sense of desolation upon most +of them. Whither were they to go? Felix urged curtly that they should +seek other friends. But Marie declined. If Nicholas Toussaint dared +not take them in, no other of their friends would. She had given up +hope, poor girl, and longed only to get back to their home, and the +still form, which it now seemed to her she should never have deserted. + +They were standing discussing this when a cry caused them to turn. A +girl was running hatless along the street towards them; a girl tall +and plump of figure in a dark blue robe, with a creamy slightly +freckled face, a glory of wavy golden hair about it, and great gray +eyes that could laugh and cry at once, even as they were doing now. +"Oh, Marie," she exclaimed taking her in her arms; "my poor little +one! Come back! You are to come back at once!" Then disengaging +herself, with a blushing cheek and more reserve she allowed Felix to +embrace her. But though that young gentleman made full use of his +permission, his face did not clear. "Your father has just turned my +sister from his door, as he turned me a month ago," he said bitterly. + +Poor girl, she quailed; looking at him with a tender upward glance +meant for him only. "Hush!" she begged him. "Do not speak so of him. +And he has sent to fetch them back again. He says he cannot keep them +himself, but if they will come in and rest he will see them safely +disposed of later. Will not that do?" + +"Excellently, Miss Madeline," cried Adrian gratefully. "And we thank +your father a thousand times." + +"Nay but--" she said slyly--"that permission does not extend to you," + +"What matter?" he said stoutly. + +"What matter if Marie be safe you mean," she replied demurely. "Well, +I would I had so gallant a--clerk," with a glance at her own handsome +lover. "But come, my father is waiting at the gate for us." Yet +notwithstanding that she urged haste, she and Felix were the last to +turn. When she at length ran after the others her cheeks betrayed her. + +"I can see what you have been doing, girl," her father cried angrily, +meeting her just within the door. "For shame, hussy! Go to your room, +and take your friends with you." And he aimed a light blow at her, +which she easily evaded. + +"They will need breakfast," she persisted bravely. She had seen her +lover, and though the interview might have had its drawbacks--best +known to herself--she cared little for a blow in comparison with that. + +"They will take it in your room," he retorted. "Come, pack, girl! I +will talk to you presently," he added, with meaning. + +The Portails drew her away. To them her room was a haven of rest, +where they felt safe, and could pour out their grief, and let her pity +and indignation soothe them. The horror of the last twenty-four hours +fell from them. They seemed to themselves to be outcasts no longer. + +In the afternoon Toussaint reappeared. "On with your hoods," he cried +briskly, his good humor re-established. "I and half a dozen stout lads +will see you to a place where you can lie snug for a week." + +Marie asked timidly about her father's funeral. "I will see to it, +little one," he answered. "I will let the curate of St. Germain know. +He will do what is seemly--if the mob let him," he added to himself. + +"But father," cried Madeline, "where are you going to take them?" + +"To Philip Boyer's." + +"What!" cried the girl in much surprise. "His house is small and +Philip and his wife are old and feeble." + +"True," answered Portail. "But his hutch is under the Duchess's roof. +There is a touch of _our great man_ about Madame. Mayenne the crowd +neither overmuch love, nor much fear. He will die in his bed. But with +his sister it is a word and a blow. And the Sixteen will not touch +aught that is under her roof." + +The Duchess de Montpensier was the sister of Henry Duke of Guise, +Henry the Scarred, _Our great man_, as the Parisians loved to call +him. He had been assassinated in the antechamber of Henry of Valois +just a twelvemonth before this time; and she had become the soul of +the League, having more of the headstrong nature which had made him +popular, than had either of his brothers, Mayenne or D'Aumale. + +"I see," said Madeline, kissing the girls, "you are right, father." + +"Impertinent baggage!" he cried. "To your prayers and your needle. And +see that while we are away you keep close, and do not venture into the +courtyard." + +She was not a nervous girl, but the bare, roomy house seemed lonely +after the party had set out. She wandered to the kitchen where the two +old women-servants were preparing, with the aid of a turnspit, the +early supper; and learned here that only old Simon, the lame ostler, +was left in the stables, which stood on either side of the courtyard. +This was not reassuring news: the more as Madeline knew her father +might not return for another hour. She took refuge at last in the long +eating-room on the first floor; which ran the full depth of the house, +and had one window looking to the back as well as several facing the +courtyard. Here she opened the door of the stove, and let the cheery +glow play about her. + +But presently she grew tired of this, and moved to the rearward +window. It looked upon a narrow lane, and a dead wall. Still, there +was a chance of seeing some one pass, some stranger; whereas the +windows which looked on the empty courtyard were no windows at all--to +Madeline. + +The girl had not long looked out before her pale complexion, which the +fire had scarcely warmed, grew hot. She started, and looked into the +room behind her nervously: then looked out again. She had seen +standing in a nook of the wall opposite her, a figure she knew well. +It was that of her lover, and he seemed to be watching the house. +Timidly she waved her hand to him, and he, after looking up and down +the lane, advanced to the window. He could do this safely, for it was +the only window in the Toussaints' house which looked that way. + +"Are you alone?" he asked softly, looking up at her. + +She nodded. + +"And my sisters?" he continued. + +"Have gone to Philip Boyer's. He lives in one of the cottages on the +left of the Duchess's yard." + +"Ah! And you? Where is your father, Madeline?" he murmured. + +"He has gone to take them. I am quite alone; and two minutes ago I was +melancholy," she added, with a smile that should have made him happy. + +"I want to talk to you," he replied gravely. "May I get up if I can, +Madeline?" + +She shook her head, which of course meant no. And she said, "It is +impossible." But she still smiled. + +There was a pipe which ran up the wall a couple of feet or so on one +side of the casement. Before she well understood his purpose, or that +he was in earnest he had gripped this and was halfway up to the +window. + +"Oh, do take care," she cried. "Do not come, Felix. My father will be +so angry!" Woman-like she repented now, when it was too late. But +still he came on, and when his hand was stretched out to grasp the +sill, all her fear was only lest he should fall. She seized his wrist, +and helped him in. Then she drew back. "You should not have done it, +Felix," she said severely. + +"But I wanted to see you so much, Madeline," he urged, "and the +glimpse I had of you this morning was nothing." + +"Well then, you may come to the stove and warm yourself, sir. Oh! how +cold your poor hands are, my boy! But you must not stay." + +But stolen moments are sweet and apt to be long drawn out. She had a +great deal to say, and he had a great deal, it seemed, to ask--so much +to ask indeed, that gradually a dim sense that he was thinking of +other things than herself--of her father and the ways of the house, +and what guests they had, came over her. + +It chilled her to the heart. She drew away from him, and said, +suddenly, "Oh, Felix!" and looked at him. + +Nothing more. But he understood her and colored; and tried to ask, but +asked awkwardly, "What is the matter, dearest?" + +"I know what you are thinking of," she said with grave sorrow, "Oh! it +is too bad! It is base of you, cruel! You would use even me whom you +love to ruin my friends!" + +"Hush!" he answered, letting his gloomy passion have vent for the +moment, "they are not your friends, Madeline. See what they have done +for me. It is they, or the troubles they have set on foot, that have +killed my father!" And he swore solemnly--carried away by his mistaken +resentment--never again to spare a Huguenot save her father and one +other. + +She trembled and tried to close her ears. Her father had told her a +hundred times that she could not be happy with a husband divided from +her by a gulf so impassable. She had said to him that it was too late. +She knew it. She had given Felix her heart and she was a woman. She +could not take it back, though she knew that nothing but unhappiness +could come of it. + +"God forgive you!" she moaned in that moment of strained insight; and +sank in her chair as though she would weep. + +He fell on his knees by her with a hundred words of endearment, for he +had conquered himself again. And she let him soothe her. She had never +loved him more than now, when she knew the price she must pay for him. +She closed her eyes--for the moment--to that terrible future, and he +was holding her in his arms, when without warning a heavy footstep +rang on the stairs by the door. + +They sprang apart. If even then he had had presence of mind, he might +have reached the window. But he hesitated, looking in her startled +eyes. "Is it your father?" he whispered. + +She shook her head. "He cannot have returned. We should have heard the +gates opened. There is no one in the house," she murmured faintly. + +But still the footsteps came on: and stopped at the door. Felix looked +round in despair. Close beside him, and just behind the stove was the +door of a closet. He took two strides, and before he or she had +thought of the consequences, was within it. Softly he drew the door to +again; and she sank terrified on a chair, as the door of the room +opened. + +He who came in was a man of thirty-five, a stranger to her. A man with +a projecting chin. His keen gray eyes wore at the moment of his +entrance an impatient expression, but when he caught sight of her, +this passed away. He came across the floor smiling. "Pardon me," he +said--but said it as if no pardon were needed, "I found the stables +insupportably dull. I set out on a voyage of discovery. I have found +my America!" And he bowed in a style which puzzled the frightened +girl. + +"You want to see my father?"' she said tremulously. "He----" + +"Has gone to the Duchess's. I know it. And very ill-natured it was of +him to leave me in the stable, instead of intrusting me to your care, +mistress. La Nouë," he continued, "is in the stable still, asleep on a +bundle of hay, and a pretty commotion there will be when he finds I +have stolen away!" + +Laughing with an easy carelessness that struck the citizen's daughter +with fresh astonishment, the stranger drew up the big armchair, which +was commonly held sacred to M. Toussaint's use, and threw himself into +it; lazily disposing his booted feet in the glow which poured from the +stove, and looking across at his companion with open and somewhat bold +admiration in his eyes. At another time she might have been offended: +or she might not. Women are variable. Now her fears lest Felix should +be discovered dulled her apprehension. + +Yet the name of La Nouë had caught her ear. She knew it well, as all +France and the Low Countries knew it in those days, for the name of +the boldest and staunchest warrior on the Huguenot side. + +"La Nouë?" she murmured, misty suspicions beginning to take form in +her mind. + +"Yes, pretty one," replied he laughing. "La Nouë and no other. Does +Bras-de-fer pass for an ogre here in Paris that you tremble so at his +name? Let me----" + +But whatever the proposition he was going to offer, it came to +nothing. The dull clash of the gates outside warned both of them that +Nicholas Toussaint and his party had returned. A moment later a hasty +tread sounded on the stairs; and an elderly man wearing a cloak burst +in upon them. + +His eyes swept the room while his hand still held the door, and it was +clear that what he saw did not please him. He came forward stiffly, +his brows knitted. But he said nothing; seeming uncertain and +embarrassed. + +"See!" the first comer said, looking quietly up at him, but not +offering to move. "Now what do you think of your ogre? And by the +rood, he looks fierce enough to eat babes! There, old friend," he +continued speaking to the elder man in a different tone, "spare your +lecture. This is Toussaint's daughter, and as staunch I will warrant +as her father." + +The old noble--he had but one arm she saw--still looked at her with +disfavor. "Girls have sweethearts, sire," he said shrewdly. + +For a moment the room seemed to go round with her. Though something +more of reproach and playful defence passed between the two men, she +did not hear it. The consciousness that her lover was listening to +every word and that from this moment La Nouë's life was in his hands, +numbed her brain. She sat helpless, hardly aware that half a dozen men +were entering, her father one of them. When a lamp was called for--it +was growing dark--she did not stir: and Toussaint, not seeing her, +fetched it himself. + +But by the time he came back she had partly recovered herself. She +noted that he locked the door carefully behind him. When the lamp was +set on the table, and its light fell on the harsh features of the men, +a ray passed between them, and struck her pale face. Her father saw +her. + +"By heaven!" he cried furiously. "What does the wench here?" No one +answered; but all turned and looked at her where she cowered back +against the stove. "Go, girl!" Toussaint cried, beside himself with +passion. "Begone! and presently I will----" + +"Nay, stop!" interposed La Nouë. "Your daughter knows too much. We +cannot let her go thus." + +"Knows too much? How?" and the citizen tossed his head like a bull +balked in his charge. + +"His majesty----" + +"Nay, let his majesty speak for himself--for once," said the man with +the gray eyes--and even in her terror and confusion Madeline saw that +all turned to him with a single movement. "Mistress Toussaint did but +chat with La Nouë and myself, during her father's absence. But she +knows us; or one of us. If any be to blame it is I. Let her stay. I +will answer for her fidelity." + +"Nay, but she is a woman, sire," some one objected. + +"Ay, she is, good Poulain," and he turned to the speaker with a +singularly bright smile. "So we are safe, for there is no woman in +France would betray Henry of Bourbon!" + +A laugh went round. Some one mentioned the Duchess. + +"True!" said Henry, for Henry it was, he whom the Leaguers called the +Béarnais and the Politiques the King of Navarre, but whom later +generations have crowned as the first of French kings--Henry the +Great. "True! I had forgotten her. I must beware of her gold scissors. +We have two crowns already, and want not another of her making. But +come, let us to business without ceremony. Be seated, gentlemen; and +while we consider whether our plans hold good, Mistress Toussaint--" +he paused to look kindly at the terrified girl--"will play the sentry +for us." + +Madeline's presence within a few feet of their council-board was soon +forgotten by the eager men sitting about it. And in a sense she forgot +them. She heard, it is true, their hopes and plans, the chief a scheme +to surprise Paris by introducing men hidden in carts piled with hay. +She heard how Henry and La Nouë had entered, and who had brought them +in, and how it was proposed to smuggle them out again; and many +details of men and means and horses; who were loyal and who +disaffected, and who might be bought over, and at what price. She even +took note of the manner of each speaker as he leaned forward, and +brought his face within the circle of light, marking who were known to +her before, substantial citizens these, constant at mass and market, +and who were strangers; men fiercer-looking, thinner, haughtier, more +restless, with the stamp of constant peril at the corners of their +eyes, and swords some inches longer than their neighbors'. + +She saw and heard this and reasoned dully on it. But all the time her +mind was paralyzed by a dreadful sense of some great evil awaiting +her, something with which she must presently come face to face, though +her faculties had not grasped it yet. Men's lives! Ah, yes, men's +lives! The girl had been bred in secret as a Huguenot. She had been +taught to revere the great men of the religion, and not the weakness +of the cause, not even her lover's influence had sapped her loyalty to +it. + +Presently there was a stir about the table. The men rose. "Then that +arrangement meets your views, sire," said La Nouë. + +"Perfectly. I sleep to-night at my good friend Mazeau's," the king +answered, "and leave to-morrow about noon by St. Martin's gate. Yes, +let that stand." + +He did not see--none of them saw--how the girl in the shadow by the +stove started; nor did they mark how the last trace of color fled from +her cheeks. Madeline was face to face with her fate, and knew that her +own hand must work it out. The men were separating. Henry bade +farewell to one and another, until only three or four beside Toussaint +and La Nouë remained with him. Then he prepared himself to go, and +girt on his sword, talking earnestly the while. Still engaged in low +converse with one of the strangers, he walked slowly lighted by his +host to the door, forgetting to take leave of the girl. In another +minute he and they would have disappeared in the passage, when a +hoarse cry escaped from Madeline's lips. + +It was little more than a gasp, but it was enough for men whose nerves +were strained. All--at the moment they had their backs to her, their +faces to the king--turned swiftly. "Ha!" cried Henry at once, "I had +forgotten my manners. I was leaving my most faithful sentry without a +word of thanks, or a keepsake by which to remember Henry of France." + +She had risen, and was supporting herself--but she swayed as she +stood--by the arm of the chair. Never had her lover been so dear to +her. As the king approached, the light fell on her face, on her +agonized eyes, and he stopped short. "Toussaint!" he cried sharply. +"Your daughter is ill. Look at her!" But it was noticeable that he +laid his hand on his sword. + +"Stay!" she cried, the word ringing shrilly through the room. "You are +betrayed! There is some one--there--who has heard--all! Oh, sire, +mercy! mercy!" + +As the last words passed the girl's writhing lips she clutched at her +throat: seemed to fight a moment for breath: then with a stifled +shriek fell senseless to the ground. + +A second's silence. Then a whistling sound as half a dozen swords were +snatched from the scabbards. The veteran La Nouë sprang to the door: +others ran to the windows and stood before them. Only Henry--after a +swift glance at Toussaint, who pale and astonished, leaned over his +daughter--stood still, his fingers on his hilt. Another second of +suspense, and before any one spoke, the cupboard door swung open, and +Felix Portail, pale to the lips, stood before them. + +"What do you here?" cried Henry, restraining by a gesture those who +would have flung themselves upon the spy. + +"I came to see her," Felix said. He was quite calm, but a perspiration +cold as death stood on his brow, and his distended eyes wandered from +one to another. "You surprised me. Toussaint knows that I was her +sweetheart," he murmured. + +"Ay, wretched man, to see her! And for what else?" replied Henry, his +eyes, as a rule, so kindly, bent on the other in a gaze fixed and +relentless. + +A sudden visible quiver--as it were the agony of death--shot through +Portail's frame. He opened his mouth, but for a while no sound came. +His eyes sought the nearest sword with horrid intentness. He gasped, +"Kill me at once, before she--before----" + +He never finished the sentence. With an oath the nearest Huguenot +lunged at his breast, and fell back, foiled by a blow from the King's +hand. "Back!" cried Henry, his eyes flashing as another sprang +forward, and would have done the work. "Will you trench on the King's +justice in his presence? Sheath your swords, all save the Sieur de la +Nouë, and the gentlemen who guard the windows!" + +"He must die!" cried several voices, as the men still pressed forward +viciously. + +"Think, sire! Think what you do," cried La Nouë himself, warning in +his voice. "He has the life of every man here in his hand? And they +are your men, risking all for the cause." + +"True," replied Henry, smiling; "but I ask no man to run a risk I will +not take myself." + +A murmur of dissatisfaction burst forth. Several drew their swords +again. "I have a wife and child!" cried one recklessly, bringing his +point to the thrust. "He dies!" + +"He does not die!" exclaimed the King, his voice so ringing through +the room that all fell back once more; fell back not so much because +it was the King who spoke as in obedience to the voice which two +months before had rallied the flying squadrons at Arques, and years +before had rung out hour after hour and day after day above the long +street fight of Cahors. "He does not die!" repeated Henry, looking +from one to another, with his chin thrust out, "I say it. I! And there +are no traitors here!" + +"Your majesty," said La Nouë after a moment's pause, "commands our +lives." + +"Thanks, Francis," Henry replied instantly changing his tone. "And now +hear me, gentlemen. Think you that it was a light thing in this girl +to give up her lover? She might have let us go to our doom, and we +none the wiser! Would you take her gift and make her no requital? That +were not royal. And now for you, sir"--he turned to Felix who was +leaning half-fainting against the wall--"hearken to me. You shall go +free. I, who this morning played the son to your dead father, give you +your life for your sweetheart's sake. For her sake be true. You shall +go out alive and safe into the streets of Paris, which five minutes +ago you little thought to see again. Go! And if you please, betray +us, and be damned! Only remember that if you give up your king and +these gentlemen who have trusted you, your name shall go down the +centuries--and stand for treachery!" + +He spoke the last words with such scorn that a murmur of applause +broke out even among those stern men. He took instant advantage of it. +"Now go!" he said hurriedly. "You can take the girl there with you. +She has but fainted. A kiss will bring her to life. Go, and be +silent." + +The man took up his burden and went, trembling; still unable to speak. +But no hand was now raised to stop him. + +When he had disappeared La Nouë turned to the king. "You will not now +sleep at Mazeau's, sire?" + +Henry rubbed his chin. "Yes; let the plan stand," he answered. "If he +betray one, he shall betray all." + +"But this is madness," urged La Nouë. + +The king shook his head, and smiling clapped the veteran on the +shoulder. "Not so," he said. "The man is no traitor: I say it. And you +have never met with a longer head than Henry's." + +"Never," assented La Nouë bluntly, "save when there is a woman in it!" + + +The curtain falls. The men have lived and are dead. La Nouë, the +Huguenot Bayard, now exist only in a dusty memoir and a page of +Motley. Madame de Montpensier is forgotten; all of her, save her +golden scissors. Mayenne, D'Aumale, a verse preserves their names. +Only Henry--the "good king" as generations of French peasants called +him--remains a living figure: his strength and weakness, his sins and +virtues, as well known, as thoroughly appreciated by thousands now as +in the days of his life. + +Therefore we cannot hope to learn much of the fortunes of people so +insignificant--save for that moment when the fate of a nation hung on +their breath--as the Portails and Toussaints. We do know that Felix +proved worthy. For though the attack on Paris on the ninth of +November, 1589, failed, it did not fail through treachery. And we know +that he married Madeline, and that Adrian won Marie: but no more. +Unless certain Portals now living in the north of Ireland, whose +ancestors came over at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of +Nantes, are their descendants. And certainly it is curious that in +this family the eldest son invariably bears the name of Henry, and the +second of Felix. + + + + + KING PEPIN AND SWEET CLIVE. + + +Upon arriving at the middle of the Close the Dean stopped. He had been +walking briskly, his chin from very custom a little tilted, but his +eyes beaming with condescension and general good-will, while an +indulgent smile playing about the lower part of his face relieved for +the time its massive character. His walking-stick was swinging to and +fro in a loose grasp, his feet trod the pavement of the precincts with +the step of an owner, he felt the warmth of the sun, the balminess of +the spring air dimly, and somewhere at the back of his mind he was +conscious of a vacant bishopric, and of his being the husband of one +wife. In fine, he presented the appearance of a contented, placid, +unruffled dignitary, until he reached the middle of the Close. + +But there, alas! the ferule of his stick came to the ground with a +mighty thud; the sweetness and light faded from his eyes as they +rested upon Mr. Swainson's plot; the condescension and good-will +became conspicuous only by their absence. The Dean was undisguisedly +angry; he disliked opposition as much as lesser men, and met with it +more rarely. For Bicester is old-fashioned, and loves the Church and +State, but especially the former, and looks up to principalities and +powers, and even now execrates the memory of a recreant Bicestrian, +otherwise reputable, on account of a terrible mistake he made. It was +at a public dinner. "I remember," said this misguided man, "going in +my young days to the old and beautiful cathedral of this city. (Great +applause.) I was only a child then, and my head hardly reached above +the top of the seat, but I remember I thought the Dean the greatest of +living men. (Whirlwinds of applause.) Well (smiling) perhaps I don't +think quite that now." (Dead silence.) And so dull at bottom may even +a man be whose name is not unknown in half the capitals of Europe, +that this degenerate fellow never could guess why the friends of his +youth from that moment turned their backs upon him. + +Such is the faith of Bicester, but even in Bicester there are +heretics. To say that the Dean rarely met with opposition, is to say +that he rarely met with Mr. Swainson, and that he seldom saw Mr. +Swainson's plot. As a rule, when he crossed the Close he averted his +eyes by a happy impulse of custom, for he did not like Mr. Swainson, +and as for the latter's plot, it was _anathema maranatha_ to him. The +Dean was tall, Mr. Swainson was taller; the Dean was stubborn, Mr. +Swainson was obstinate; so there arose between them the antagonism +that is born of similarity. On the other hand the Dean was stout and +Mr. Swainson a scarecrow; the Dean was comely and clerical, but not +over-rich, Mr. Swainson was pallid, lantern-jawed, wealthy, and a +lawyer, and hence the dislike born of difference. Moreover, years ago +Mr. Swainson had been Mayor of Bicester, when there was a little +dispute between the Chapter and the Bishop, and he showed so much +energy upon the one side as to earn the nickname of the "Mayor of the +Palace." Finally Mr. Swainson delighted in opposition as a cat in +milk, and cared to have a good reason for his antagonism no more than +puss in the dairy about a sixty years' title to the cream-pan. + +But a sixty years' title to his plot was the very thing which Mr. +Swainson did claim to have. Exactly opposite his house--his father's +and grandfather's house, too--in which, said his enemies, they had +lived and grown fat upon cathedral patronage, lay this debatable land. +His front windows commanded it, and on such a morning as this he loved +to stand upon his doorstep and gaze at it with the air of a dog +watching the spot where his bone is buried. But if Mr. Swainson was +right, that was just what was not buried there; there were no bones +there. True, the smoothly shorn surface of the little patch was +divided from the green turf around the cathedral only by a slight iron +railing, but, said Mr. Swainson, ponderously seizing upon his +opponent's weapon and using it with telling effect, it was of another +sort altogether: of a very different nature indeed. It had never been +consecrated, and close as it was to the sacred pile, being in fact +separated from it on two sides but by a yard of sunk fence, it did not +belong to it, it was not of it, quoth he; it was private property, the +property of Erasmus John Swainson, and the appanage of his substantial +red-brick house just across the Close. + +And no one could refute him, though several tried their best, to his +huge delight. It cannot now be exactly computed by how many years the +discovery of his rights prolonged his life--not certainly by some. His +liver demanded activity, namely, a quarrel, and what a coil this was! +If he had been given the choice of opponents, he would probably have +preferred the Dean and Chapter, they were so substantial, wealthy, and +all but formidable. And such a thorn in the side of those comfortable +personages as these rights of his were like to be he could hardly have +imagined in his most sanguine dreams, or hoped for in his happiest +moments. + +It was great fun stating his claim, flouting it in their faces, +displaying it through the city, brandishing it in season and out of +season; but when it came to making a hole in the smooth turf hitherto +so sacred, and setting up an unsightly post, and affixing to it a +board with "Trespassers will be prosecuted. E. J. Swainson," the fun +became furious. So did the Dean, so did the Chapter, so did every +sidesman and verger. Bicester was torn in pieces by the contending +parties, but Mr. Swainson was firm. The only concession that could be +wrung from him was the removal of the obnoxious board. Instead of it +he placed a neat iron railing round his property, enclosing just +thirty feet by fifteen. Such was the _status in quo_ on this morning, +and with it the Dean had for some time been obliged to rest content. + +And yet, sooth to say, the greatest pleasure of the very reverend +gentleman's life was gone with this accession to the roundness and +fulness of Mr. Swainson's. No more with the thorough satisfaction of +hitherto could he conduct the American traveller through the ancient +crypt, or dilate upon the beauty of the quaint gargoyles to the +Marquis of Bicester's visitors. No; indeed that railed-in spot was a +plague-spot to him, ever itching, an eyesore even when invisible, a +thing to be evaded and dodged and given the slip, as a Dean who is a +Dean should scorn to evade anything mortal. He winced at the mere +thought that the inquisitive sight-seer might touch upon it might, +probe the matter with questions. He hurried him past it with averted +finger and voluble tongue, nor recovered his air of kindly +condescension, or polished ease (as the case might be), until he was +safe within his own hall. Only in moments of forgetfulness could the +Dean now walk in his own Close of Bicester with the easy grace of old +times. + +But on this particular morning the sunshine was so pleasant, the wind +so balmy, that he walked halfway across the Close as if the river of +Lethe flowed fathoms deep over Mr. Swainson's plot; then it chanced +that his eyes in a heedless moment rested upon it; and he saw that a +man was at work in the tiny enclosure, and he paused. The Dean knew +Mr. Swainson by this time, and did not trust him. What was this? By +the man's side lay a small heap of grayish-white things, and he was +holding a short-handled mallet, and was using it deftly to drive one +of the grayish-white things into the ground. From him the Dean's eyes +travelled to a couple of parti-colored sticks, one at each end of the +plot. What was this? A horror so terrible that the Dean stood still, +and that remarkable change came over him which we have described. + +Great men rise to the occasion. It was only a moment he thus stood and +looked. Then he turned and walked rapidly back to a house he had just +passed. A tall thin man was standing upon the steps, with the ghost of +a smile upon his face. For a moment the Dean could only stammer. It +was such a dreadful outrage. + +"Is that," he said at last, "is that there, sir, being done by your +authority?" With a shaking finger he pointed to Mr. Swainson's plot. +The tall man in a leisurely manner settled a pair of eyeglasses upon +his nose and looked in the direction indicated. "Ah, I see what you +mean," he said at last with delicious coolness. "Certainly, Mr. Dean, +certainly!" + +"Are you aware, sir, what it is?" gasped the clergyman; "it is +sacrilege!" + +"Pooh, nothing of the kind, I assure you, my dear sir. It's croquet!" + +The tone was one of explanation, and there was such an air of +frankness, of putting an end to an unfounded error, that the veins +upon the Dean's temples swelled and his face grew, if possible, redder +than before. + +"I won't stay to bandy words with you----" + +"Bandy!" cried the tall man, intensely amused. "Ha, ha, ha! you +thought it was hocky! Bandy! Oh, no, you play it with hoops and a +mallet. Drive the balls through--so!" + +And to the intense delight of the Close people, nine-tenths of whom +were at their windows, Mr. Swainson executed an ungainly kind of +gambade upon the steps. "Disgusting," the Dean called it afterwards, +when talking to sympathetic ears. Now he merely put it away from him +with a wave of the hand. + +"I will not discuss it now, Mr. Swainson. If your own feelings of +decency and of what is right and proper do not forbid this--this +ribald profanity--I can call it nothing else, sir--I have but one word +to add. The Chapter shall prevent it." + +"The Chapter!" replied the other in a tone of singular contempt, which +changed to savageness as he continued, "You are well read in history, +Mr. Dean, they tell me. Doubtless you remember what happened when the +puissant king Canute bade the tide come no further. I am the tide, and +you and the Chapter sit in the chair of Canute." + +The Dean, it must be confessed, was a little taken aback by this +terrible defiance. He was amazed. The two glared at one another, and +the clergyman was the first to give way; baffled and disconcerted, yet +still swelling with rage, he strode towards the deanery. His +antagonist followed him with his eyes, then looked more airily than +ever at his plot and the progress being made there, considered the +weather with his chin at the decanal angle, and with a flirt of his +long coat-tails went into the house, a happy man and the owner of a +vastly improved appetite. + +But the Dean had more to go through yet. At the door of his garden he +ran in his haste against some one coming out. Ordinarily, great man as +he was, he was also a gentleman. But this was too much. That, when the +father had insulted him, the son should almost prostrate him on his +own threshold, was intolerable--at any rate at a moment when he was +smarting with the sense of unacknowledged defeat. + +"Good-morning, Mr. Dean," said the young fellow, raising his hat with +an evident desire to please that was the very antipodes of his sire's +manner--only the Dean was in no mood to discriminate--"I have just +been having a very pleasant game of croquet." + +It is greatly to be regretted, but here a short hiatus in the +narrative occurs. The minor canons, than whom no men are more wanting +in reverence, say that the Dean's answer consisted of two words, one +of them very pithy, very full of meaning, but in the mouth of a Dean, +however choleric, impossible--perfectly impossible. Accounting this as +a gloss, and the original reading not being forthcoming, we are driven +to conjecture that the Dean's answer expressed mild disapprobation of +the game of croquet. Certain it is that young Swainson, surprised +doubtless at so novel and original a sentiment, only said, + +"I beg your pardon." + +"Hem! I mean to say that I do not approve of this. I will come to the +point. I must ask you to discontinue your visits at my house." The +young man stared as if he thought the excited divine had gone mad; the +Deanery was almost a home to him. "Your father," the Dean went on more +coherently, "has taken a step so unseemly, so--so indecent, has used +language so insulting to me, sir, that I cannot, at any rate at +present, receive you here." + +Young Swainson was a gentleman, and moreover, for a very good reason +hereinafter appearing, the Dean failed to anger him. He raised his hat +as respectfully as before, bowed slightly in token of acquiescence, +and went on his way sorrowfully. + +He had a singularly pleasant smile, this young gentleman, though this +was not the time for displaying it. Mrs. Dean had once pronounced him +a pippin grafted on a crab-stock, and thereafter in certain circles he +was known as King Pepin. He was tall and straight and open-eyed, with +faults enough, but of a generous youthful kind, easily overlooked and +more easily forgiven. Doubtless Mr. Swainson would have had his son +more practical, cool-headed, and precise; but the shoot did not grow +in the same way as the parent tree. Old Swainson would not have been +happy without an enemy, nor young Swainson as happy with one; and if, +as the former often said, the latter's worst enemy was himself, he was +likely to have a tolerably prosperous life. + +In a space of time inconceivably small the doings of the grim old +lawyer and the Dean's remonstrance were all over Bicester. Nay, fast +as the stone had rolled, it had gathered moss. It was gravely asserted +by people who rapidly grew to be eyewitnesses, that Mr. Swainson had +danced a hornpipe in the middle of his plot, snapping his fingers at +the Dean the while the latter prodded him as well as he could over the +railings with his umbrella; and that only the arrival of Mr. +Swainson's son put an end to this disgraceful exhibition. + +Neither side wasted time. The Dean, the Canon in residence, and the +Præcentor, an active young fellow, consulted their legal adviser, and +talked largely of ejectment, title, and seisin. Mr. Swainson, having +nine points of the law in his favor, and as well acquainted with the +tenth as his opponents' legal adviser, devoted himself to the lighter +pursuit of the mallet and hoop. In a state of felicity undreamt of +before, he played, or affected to play, croquet, his right hand +against his left, the former giving the latter two hoops and a cage. +He played with a cage and a bell; it was more cheerful, not to say +noisy. + +Of course all Bicester found occasion to pass through the Close and +see this great sight, while every window in the precincts was raised, +that the denizens thereof might hear the tap, tap of the sacrilegious +mallet. The Cathedral lawyer, urged to take some step, and well +knowing the strength of the enemy's position, was fairly nonplussed. +But while he pondered, with a certain grim amusement, over Mr. +Swainson's crotchet, which did not present itself to his legal mind in +so dreadful a light as it did to the mind clerical, some unknown +person took action, and made it war to the knife. + +"Who did it?" Bicester asked loudly when it awoke one morning, to find +Mr. Swainson in a state of mind which seemed imperatively to call for +a padded room and a strait waistcoat. During the night some one had +thrown down the iron railing, taken up and broken his hoops, crushed +his bell, and snapped his pegs; all this in the neatest possible +manner, and with no damage to the turf. War to the knife indeed! Mr. +Swainson, like the famous Widdrington, would have fought upon his +stumps on such a provocation. + +He expressed his opinion very hotly that this was the work of "that +arrogant priest," and he should smart for it. A clergyman in this kind +of context becomes a priest. This is common knowledge. + +The Dean said, if hints were to go for anything, that it was a more or +less direct interposition of Providence. + +Young Swainson said nothing. + +The vergers followed his example, but smiled a good deal. + +The Dean's lawyer said it was a very foolish act, whoever did it. + +Mrs. Dean said she should like to give the man who did it five +shillings. Perhaps her inclination mastered her. + +The Dean's daughter sighed. + +And Bicester said everything except what young Swainson said. + +I have not mentioned the Dean's daughter before. It is the popular +belief that she was christened Sweet Clive Buxton, and if people are +mistaken in this, and the name "Sweet" does not appear upon the highly +favored register, what of that? It is but one proof the more of the +utter and tremendous want of foresight of godfathers and godmothers. +They send the future lounger in St. James's into the world handicapped +with the name of Joseph or Zachary, and dub the country curate Tom or +Jerry. No matter; Clive Buxton, whatever her name, could be nothing +but sweet. She was not tall nor yet short; she was just as tall and +just as short as she should have been, with a well-rounded figure and +grave carriage of the head. Her hair was wavy and brown, and sometimes +it strayed over a white brow, on which a frown was so great a stranger +that its right of entry was barred by the Statute of Limitations. +There were a few freckles, etherealized dimples, about her well-shaped +nose. But these charms grew upon one gradually; at first her suitors +were only conscious of her great gray wide-open eyes, so kind and +frank and trustful, and so wise withal, that they filled every young +man upon whom she turned them with a certainty of her purity and +goodness and lovableness, and sent him away with a frantic desire to +make her his wife without loss of time. With all this, she overflowed +with fun and happiness--except when she sighed--and she was just +nineteen. Such was Sweet Clive Buxton then. If her picture were +painted to-day, there would be this difference: she is older and more +beautiful. + +To return to our plot. Bicester watched with bated breath to see what +Mr. Swainson would do. No culprit was forthcoming, and it seemed as if +the day was going against him. He made no sign; only the broken hoops, +the cage and battered bell, so lately the instruments and insignia of +triumph, were cleared away and, at the ex-mayor's strenuous request, +taken in charge by the police. Even the iron railing was removed. The +excitement in the Close rose high. Once more the Cathedral vicinage +was undefined by lay appropriation, but the Dean knew Mr. Swainson too +well to rejoice. The ground was cleared, it is true, but only, as he +well foresaw, that it might be used for some mysterious operations, of +which the end and aim only--his own annoyance--were clear to him, and +not the means. What would Mr. Swainson do? + +The strange unnatural calm lasted several days. The Cathedral +dignitaries moved about in fear and trembling. At length one night the +dwellers in the Close were aroused by a peculiar hammering. It was +frequent, deep, and ominous, and came from the direction of Mr. +Swainson's plot. To the nervous it seemed as the knocking of nails +into an untimely coffin; to the guilty--and this was very near the +Cathedral--like the noise of a rising scaffold; to the brave and those +with clear consciences, such as Clive Buxton, it more nearly resembled +the knocking a hoarding together. And indeed that was the very thing +it was, and around Mr. Swainson's plot. + +But what a hoarding! When the light of day discovered it to people's +eyes, the Dean's fearful anticipations seemed slight to him, as the +boy's vision who has dreamed he is about to be flogged in jail, and +awakes to find his father standing over him with a strap. It was so +unsightly, so gaunt, so unpainted, so terrible; the very stones of the +Cathedral seemed to blush a deeper red at discovering it, and the +oldest houses to turn a darker purple. Had the Dean possessed the +hundred tongues of Fame (which in Bicester possessed many more) and +the five hundred fingers of Briareus he could not hope to prevent the +Marquis's visitors asking questions about _that_, or to divert the +attention of the least curious American. He recognized the truth at a +glance, and formed his plan. Many generals have formed it before; it +was--retreat. He sent out his butler to borrow a continental Bradshaw +from the club, and shut himself up in his study. The truly great mind +is never overwhelmed. + +The vergers alone inspected the monster unmoved. They eyed it with +glances not only of curiosity, but of appreciative intelligence. Not +so, however, later in the day. Then Mr. Swainson appeared, leading by +a strong chain a brindled bull-dog, of the most ferocious description +and about sixty pounds weight. The animal contemplated the nearest +verger with much satisfaction, and licked his chops: it might be at +some grateful memory. The verger, who was in a small way a student of +natural history, pronounced it however a lick of anticipation, and +appeared not a little disconcerted. Mr. Swainson entered with the dog +by a small door at the corner, and came out again without him. The +other vergers then left. + +Their coming and going was nothing to Mr. Swainson. It was enough for +him that he stood there the cynosure of every eye in the Close; even +Mrs. Dean was watching him from a distant garret window. In slow and +measured fashion he walked to the steps of his own house, and, taking +from them a board he had previously placed there, returned to the +entrance of his plot, now enclosed to the height of about ten feet by +this terrible hoarding. Above the door he carefully hung the board and +drew back a few feet to take in the effect. Mrs. Dean sent down +hastily for her opera-glasses, but really there was no need of them. +The legend in huge black letters on a white ground ran thus: "No +Admittance! Beware of the Dog!!!" A smile of content crept slowly over +Mr. Swainson's face, and he said aloud, + +"Trump that card, Mr. Dean, if you can." + +As he turned--Mrs. Dean saw it distinctly and declared herself ready +to swear to it in any court of justice--he snapped his fingers at the +Deanery. And the dog howled! + +It was the first of many howls, for he was a dog of great width of +chest; and not even the surgeon of an insurance company, if he had +lived twenty-four hours in Bicester Close, would have found fault with +his lungs. Why he howled during the night, for it was not the time of +full moon, became the burning question of each morning. That he joined +in the Cathedral services with a zest and discrimination which +rendered the organ almost superfluous, and drove the organist to the +verge of resignation, was only to be expected. There was nothing +strange in that, nor in his rivalry of the Præcentor's best notes, +whose voice was considered very fine in the Litany. The voluntary, +Tiger made his own; and of the sermon he expressed disapproval in so +marked a manner that it was hard to say which swelled more with rage, +the Dean within or the dog without. Their rage was equally impotent. + +Things went so far that the Dean publicly wrung his hands at the +breakfast-table. "You could not hear the benediction this morning! And +I was in good voice too, my dear!" he wailed, with tears in his eyes. + +"You should appeal to the Marquis," suggested his wife. It must be +explained that the Marquis in Bicester ranks next to and little +beneath Providence. But the Dean shook his head. He put no faith in +the power even of the Marquis to handle Mr. Swainson. "I will lay it +before the Bishop, my dear," he said humbly. And then, indeed, Mrs. +Dean knew that the iron had entered into his soul, and that the hand +of the Mayor of the Palace was very heavy upon him; and her good, +wifely heart grew so hot that she felt she could have no more patience +with her daughter. + +For Clive's sympathies were no longer to be trusted. She was not the +Sweet Clive of a month ago, but a sadder and more sedate young person, +who had a troublesome and annoying way of defending the absent foe, +and of sighing in dark corners, that was more than provoking. Duty +demanded that she should be an ocean, into which her father and mother +might pour the streams of their indignation and meet with a +sympathizing floodtide, and lo! this unfeeling girl declined to make +herself useful in that way, and instead sent forth a "bore" of light +jesting that made little of the enemy's enormities and a trifle of his +outrages. More, she showed herself for the first time disobedient; she +altogether refused to promise not to speak to King Pepin if +opportunity should serve, and, clever girl as she was, laughed her +father out of insisting upon it, and kissed her mother into being a +not unwilling ally. A wise woman was her mother and clear-sighted; she +saw that Clive had a spirit, but no longer a heart of her own. Yet at +such a time as this, when her husband was wringing his hands, Clive's +insensibility to the family grievances tried Mrs. Dean sorely. It was +hard that the Canon's sleepless night, the Præcentor's peevishness, +the singing man's influenza, and all the countless counts of the +indictment against Mr. Swainson, should fail to awaken in the young +lady's mind a tithe of the indignation shared by every other person at +the Deanery, from the Dean himself to the scullery maid. But then love +is blind; for which most of us may thank Heaven. + +Day after day went by and the hoarding still reared its gaunt height, +and the unclean beast of the Hebrews still made night hideous, and the +day a time for the expression of strong feelings. At length the Dean +met his legal adviser in the Close--ay, and within a few feet of the +obnoxious erection; he kept his back to it with ridiculous care, while +they talked. + +"We have come to something like a settlement at last," said the lawyer +briskly;--"confusion take the dog! I can hardly hear myself speak.--We +are to meet at the Chapter House at five, Mr. Dean, if that will suit +you: Mr. Swainson, the Bishop, Canon Rowcliffe, and myself. I think he +is inclined to be reasonable at last." + +The Dean shook his head gloomily. + +"Ah, you will see it turn out better than you expect. Let me whisper +something to you. There is an action commenced against him for +shutting up a road across one of his farms at Middleton, and it will +be fought stoutly. One suit at a time will be sufficient to satisfy +even Mr. Swainson." + +"You don't say so? This is good news!" cried the Dean, with +unmistakable pleasure. "Certainly, I will be there." + +"And--I am sure I need not hint at it--you will be ready to meet Mr. +Swainson halfway?" + +The Dean looked gloomy again. But at this moment a long loud howl, +more frenzied, more fiendish than any which had preceded it, seemed to +proclaim that the dog knew his reign was menaced, and, like +Sardanapalus, was determined to go out right royally. It was more than +the Dean could stand. With an involuntary motion of his hands to his +ears, he nodded and fled with unseemly haste to a place less exposed, +where he could in a seemly and decanal manner relieve his feelings. + +The best-laid plans even of lawyers will go astray, and when they do +so, the havoc is generally of a singularly wide-spread description. +The meeting in the chapter-house proved stormy from the first. Whether +it was that the writ in the right-of-way case had not yet reached Mr. +Swainson, and so he clung to his only split-straw, or that the Dean +was soured by want of sleep, or that the Bishop was not thorough +enough--whatever was the cause, the spirit of compromise was absent, +and the discussion across the chapter-house table threatened to make +matters worse and not better. Whether the Dean first called Mr. +Swainson's enclosure the "toadstool of a night," or Mr. Swainson took +the initiative by styling the Dean the "mushroom of a day" (the Dean +was not of old family), was a question afterwards much and hotly +debated in Bicester circles. Be that as it may, the high powers at +length rose from the table in dudgeon and much confusion. + +There was behind the Dean at the end of the chapter-house a large +window. It looked directly down upon what he, in the course of the +discussion, had more than once termed "The Profanation," and since the +eventful day of Mr. Swainson's match at croquet it had been, by the +Dean's order, kept shuttered, to the intent that, when occupied in the +chapterhouse, the Profanation might not be directly before his eyes. +On this occasion the shutter was still closed; it may be that this +phenomenon had weakened Mr. Swainson's not over-robust resolves on the +side of amity. + +The Dean was a choleric man. As the party rose, he stepped to this +shutter and flung it back. He turned to the others and said +excitedly-- + +"Look, sir; look, my Lord! Is that a sight becoming the threshold of a +cathedral? Is that a thing to be endured on consecrated ground?" + +They stepped towards the window, a wide low-browed Tudor one, and +looked out. The Dean himself stood aside, grasping the shutter with a +hand that shook with passion. He could see the others' faces. He +expected little show of shame or contrition on that of Mr. Swainson, +but he did wish to bring this hideous thing home to the Bishop, who +had not been as thorough in the matter as he should have been. Still, +as a bishop, he could not see that thing there in its horrid reality +and be unmoved! + +No, he certainly could not. Slowly, and as if reluctantly, his +lordship's face changed; it broke into a smile that broadened and +rippled wider and wider, second by second, as he looked. His color +deepened until he became almost purple! And Mr. Swainson? His face was +the picture of horror: there could not be a doubt of that. Confusion +and astonishment were stereotyped on every feature. The Dean could not +believe his own eyes. He turned in perplexity to the lawyer, who was +peeping between the others' heads. His shoulders were shaking and his +face was puckered with laughter. + +The Bishop stepped back. "Really, gentlemen, I think it is hardly fair +of us to play the spy. This is no place for us." He was a kindly man; +there never was a more popular bishop in Bicester, and never will be. + +At this the Canon and the lawyer lost all control over themselves, and +their laughter, if not loud, was deep. The Dean was immensely puzzled, +confused, perplexed, wholly angry. He did at last what he should have +done at first, instead of striking an attitude with that shutter in +his hand. He looked through the window himself. It was dusty, and he +was somewhat near-sighted, but at length he saw; and this was what he +saw. + +In the further corner of the ugly enclosure, a couple of lovers +billing and cooing; about and around them Mr. Swainson's big dog +performing uncouth gambols. Bad enough this; but it was not all. The +unsuspicious couple were Frank Swainson and--the Dean's daughter. +Frank's arm was round her, and as the Dean looked, he stooped and +kissed her, and Clive gazed with her brave eyes full of love into his +and scarcely blushed. + +When the Dean turned round he was alone. + +Was it very wrong of them? There was nowhere else, since this +miserable fracas began, where, away from others' eyes, they could +steal a kiss. But into Mr. Swainson's plot no window, save a shuttered +one, could look; the door, too, was close to one of the side doors of +the cathedral, and you could pop in and out again unseen, and as for +the big dog, Frank and Tiger were great friends. So if it was very +wrong, it was very easy and very nice, and---_faciles descensus +Averni_. + +For one hour the Dean remained shut up in his study. At the end of +that time he put on his hat and walked across the Close. He knocked at +Mr. Swainson's door, and, upon its being opened, went in, and did not +come out again for an hour and five minutes by Mrs. Canon Rowcliffe's +watch. I have not the slightest idea of what passed there. More +than two thousand different and distinct accounts of the interview +were current next day in Bicester, but no one, and I have examined +them all with care, seems to me to account for the undoubted +results:--Imprimis, the disappearance next day from Mr. Swainson's +plot of the famous hoarding, which was not even replaced by the old +iron railing. Secondly, the marriage six weeks later of King Pepin and +Sweet Clive. + + + + + THE DEANERY BALL. + + +On a certain May afternoon, when the air was so soft and the sun so +brilliant that Mrs. Vrater, the wife of the Canon in residence at +Gleicester, was inclined to think the world more pleasant than it +should be, she was surprised by an invitation which promptly restored +the due equilibrium. In her own words, it took her breath away. +Despite some slight forewarnings, or things which should have served +as such, she could hardly believe her eyes. Yet there it was before +her in black and white, and Italian penmanship; and, being a woman of +character, instead of sitting down and giving way to her natural +indignation, she--no, she did not accept the fact; on the contrary, +she put on her best bonnet and mantle, and contrived during this +simple operation to efface from her mind all consciousness of the +existence of the invitation. Thus prepared she left the residence by +the back door, and, walking quietly round the Abbot's Square, called +at the Deanery. Mrs. Anson was at home. So was the Dean. + +"My dear Mrs. Anson the most ridiculous thing!" began the visitor; +"really you ought to know of it, though contradiction is quite +unnecessary. It carries its own refutation with it. Have you heard +what is the absurd report which is abroad in the city?" + +"No," answered the Dean's wife, who was sitting in front of a pile of +cards and envelopes. Her curiosity was aroused. But the Dean had a +miserable foreboding of what was to come, and writhed upon his seat. + +"It is asserted that you are going to give a dance at the Deanery! Ha! +ha! ha! I knew that it would amuse you. Fancy a ball at the Deanery of +all places!" And Mrs. Vrater laughed with so fair a show of airy +enjoyment that the Dean plunged his head into a newspaper, and wished +he possessed the self-deceptive powers of the ostrich. This was +terrible! What could have induced him to give his consent? As for Mrs. +Anson, she dropped the envelope she was folding, and prepared for +battle. + +"Dear Mrs. Vrater, why should you think it so absurd?" she asked, +smiling sweetly, but with color a little heightened. + +"At the Deanery? Why, your position, dear Mrs. Anson, and--and--how +can you ask? It would have been quite a Church scandal. You would be +having the Præcentor hunting next. _He_ would not stick at it," with +vicious emphasis. "But I knew that you never dreamt of such a thing." + +"Then I fear that you are not among the prophets, for we really +propose to venture upon it. As for a Church scandal, Mrs. Vrater, the +Dean is the best judge of that." + +Whereat the Dean groaned, poor man. Mrs. Vrater regarded him, he +regarded himself, as a renegade; but he showed none of a renegade's +enthusiasm on his new side. + +"You do intend to have a dance!" cried the Canon's wife, with +well-affected surprise, considering the circumstances. + +"We do indeed. Just a quiet evening for the young people, though we +shall hope to see you, dear Mrs. Vrater. Times are changed since we +were young," she added sweetly, "and we cannot stand still, however +much we may try." + +If Mrs. Vrater had a weakness, it was a love for a style of dress +which, though severe, was in a degree youthful. Her bonnet while Mrs. +Anson spoke seemed to attract and fix that lady's eye. It must be +confessed that at Mrs. Vrater's age it was a youthful bonnet. However, +she did not appear to heed this, but rose and took her departure with +a shocked expression of countenance. She had given the poor Dean, her +recreant ally, a very wretched ten minutes; otherwise she had not been +successful. When Greek meets Greek neither is wont to get much +satisfaction. She said no more there; but she hastened to pay some +other friendly calls. + +The manner in which the Dean came to give his consent must be told at +some length. There is a small house in a quiet corner of the Abbot's +Square at Gleicester, which stands back a few yards from the general +line of frontage. It is not alone in this respect. The Deanery on the +opposite side of the Square, and the Præcentor's house--we beg his +pardon, the Præcentory--in the far corner also shrink from the public +gaze. But then there is, and very properly, the retirement of +exclusiveness. In the small house in question such self-effacement +must have a different origin; perhaps in the modesty of conscious +insignificance, along with a due sense of the important neighborhood +in which No. 13 blooms like a violet almost unseen. For Abbot's +Square is virtually the Close of Gleicester--at any rate, there is no +other--while No. 13 is little more than a two-storied cottage with a +tiled roof, and outside shutters painted green, and a green door with +a brass knocker. The path from the wicket-gate to the unpretending +porch has been known to be gay with patterns now rather indistinct, +composed of the humble oyster-shell; and the occupants have varied +from a bachelor organist, or an artist painting the mediæval, to the +Dean's favorite verger. + +Such was the little house in the Abbot's Square; but Gleicester, +sleepy old Gleicester, arose one morning to find a rare tit-bit +of news served up with its breakfast. Mr. and the Hon. Mrs. +Curzon-Bowlby, a fashionable couple bent on retrenchment, had taken +No. 13 for the summer. They brought with them a letter of introduction +from the Marquis of Gleicester, and owing to that, and something +perhaps to the three letters which distinguished Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby's +card from the pasteboards of the common throng, they were received by +the Deanery people with enthusiasm, at the residence with open arms. +The most select of coteries threw wide its doors to the tenants of No. +13. The Dean might be seen of a morning strolling in the little +garden, and his wife's carriage of an afternoon taking up and setting +down in front of the green shutters. The Archdeacon and the Præcentor, +nay, the very minor canons followed the Dean's lead. And Gleicester, +seeing these things, opened its eyes--its mouth was always open--and +awoke to the fact that the little house had risen in the world to a +very giddy height indeed. + +But the position which under these unforeseen circumstances No. 13 +might assume was hardly to be understood by the lay portion of the +city. The Abbot's Square and its doings were subjects of great +interest to them, as to people well brought up they would be; but with +a few exceptions, such as Sir Titus Wort, the brewer, and General +Jones, C. B., and Dr. Tobin. These people gazed on that Olympus from +afar. Possibly they called there and were called upon in return; but +that was all. Their knowledge of the inner politics of the Square was +not intimate. + +They knew that the Dean's wife (Regina Jones) was a pleasant and +pleasure-loving lady; but they had no idea that she was the leader of +an organized party of pleasure, whose tenets were water-parties and +lawn-tennis, who pinned their faith to the clerical quadrille (only +square dances as yet), who supported the Præcentor, the author of that +secular but charming song, "Love me to-day," and who upheld +theatricals, and threatened to patronize the City Theatre itself; a +party who drove their opponents, headed by the Dean and Mrs. Vrater, +and that grim clergyman the Archdeacon, to the verge of distraction; +who were dubbed by the minor canons "the Epicureans," and finally +whose heart and soul, even as Mrs. Dean was their head and front, was +to be discovered in Canon Vrater. + +The Canon deserves to be more particularly described. He was a man of +handsome presence and mature age, pink-faced and white-haired, young +for his years, and connected, though not so closely as Mrs. +Curzon-Bowlby, with the nobility. Perfectly adapted to shine in +society, he prided himself with good reason upon his polished manners, +which united in a very just degree the most gracious suavity with the +blandest dignity. They were so fine, indeed, as to be almost unfit for +home use. He made it a rule never to differ from a woman, his wife +(and antipodes) excepted, and seldom with a man. As he also invariably +granted a request if the petitioner were well dressed and the matter +_in future_, he was surely not to be blamed if his performances failed +to keep pace with his promises. In fine, a most pleasant, agreeable +gentleman, whom it was impossible to dislike to his face. + +Yet I think the Archdeacon, a "new man," to whom the aristocratic +Canon's popularity was wormwood, did dislike him. Certainly the Dean +did not; he was a liberal-minded man in the main, but he had some +old-fashioned ideas, and a great sense of his own position and its +proprieties, and so perforce he found himself arrayed against his +wife's party along with Mrs. Vrater and the Archdeacon. + +Such was the state of things in the Abbot's Square when No. 13 +received its new tenants. Now the Epicureans and now their opponents +would gain some slight advantage. The vergers and beadles arrayed +themselves upon one side or the other, and by the solemnity or levity +of their carriage, the twinkle in the eye or the far-off, absent gaze, +made known their views. The first lay clerk, a man qualified to talk +with his enemies in the gate, gave monthly dances; the leading tenor +assisted at scientific demonstrations. + +But of what weight were such adherents beside the new-comers at No. +13? Which party would they join? If appearances might be trusted there +could be little doubt. Mr. Curzon-Bowlby was a tall, long-faced man, +with a dark beard and moustache. His appearance was genteel, not to +say aristocratic--but fatuous. He walked with an upright carriage and +dressed correctly--indeed, with taste: beyond that, being a man of few +words, he seemed a man of no character. His wife was unlike him in +everything, save that she too dressed to perfection. A lively little +blonde, blue-eyed and bewitching, with a lovely pink-and-white +complexion, and a thick fringe of fair hair, she positively +effervesced with life and innocent gayety. She sparkled and bubbled +like champagne; she flitted to and fro all day long like a butterfly +in the sunshine. She charmed the Dean: the Canon declared her +perfection. And though she was hardly the person (_minus_ the three +letters before mentioned) to fascinate his wife, she disarmed even +Mrs. Vrater. And yet, whether the little woman of the world had, with +all her apparent impulsiveness, a great store of tact, or that she was +slow to comprehend the position, and was puzzled at finding the Dean +arrayed against his wife, and Mrs. Vrater opposed to the Canon, she +certainly dallied with her choice. Upon being invited to attend the +science classes at the residence, she faltered and hesitated, and +rather pleaded for time than declined. Mrs. Vrater, excellent woman, +was pleasantly surprised; and determining to try again, went home with +a light heart and good courage. + +But this was before the little lady learned that the clerical +quadrille--the party of progress, as has been hinted, wisely ignored +the existence of round dances--was the burning question of the time. + +"Good gracious! Mrs. Anson," she cried, clapping her little hands, and +her blue eyes wide with amazement over this discovery, "do you mean to +say that none of your clergy dance? that they never dance at all?" + +The Dean's wife shook her head, and shrugged her shoulders +contemptuously. She was a little out of temper this afternoon. Why was +she not the wife of a cavalry colonel? + +"Not even the Canon? Oh, I am sure Canon Vrater does.--Now, don't +you?" + +For the Canon, too, was in the little drawing-room. Small as the house +was, our impoverished fashionables had not furnished all of it; but +this room was a triumph of taste, in a quiet and inexpensive way. A +man and a maid whom they brought to Gleicester with them made up the +household. So there was an empty room or two. + +"No, Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby," he said; "if I danced I should be tripping +indeed, in Gleicester opinion." + +"You don't! well, I am surprised. Now confess, Canon, when did you +dance last? So long ago that you have forgotten the steps? Years and +years ago?" The old gentleman reddened, and fidgeted a little. "Canon, +did you ever"--the little woman glanced roguishly round the room, and +brought out the last word with a tragic accent positively fascinating, +"did you ever--waltz?" + +"Well," he answered guardedly, with an eye to his friend Mrs. Anson, +who was mightily amused, "I have waltzed." + +"Something like this, was it not?" She went to the piano and played a +few bars of a dreamy, old-fashioned German dance; played it as it +should be played. The Canon's wholesome pink face grew pinker, and he +began to sway a little as he sat. + +She turned swiftly round upon the music-stool. "Don't you feel at +times a desire to do something naughty, Canon--just because it is +naughty?" + +He nodded. + +"And don't you think," continued the fair casuist, with a delicious +air of wisdom, "that when it is not very naughty, only a little bad, +you know, you should sometimes indulge yourself, as a sort of +safety-valve?" + +He smiled, of course, a gentle dissent. But at the same time he +muttered something which sounded like "desipere in loco." + +"Mrs. Anson, you play a waltz, I know?" + +She acknowledged the impeachment with none of the Canon's modesty. + +"You are so kind, I am sure you will oblige me for five minutes. The +Canon is going to try his steps with me in the next room. How lucky it +is empty, and quite a good floor, I declare.--Now, Canon Vrater, you +are far too gallant to refuse?" + +He laughed, but Mrs. Anson entered thoroughly into the fun, took off +her gloves, and sitting down at the piano played the same dreamy air. +In vain the old gentleman pleasantly protested; he was swept away, so +to speak, by the little woman's vivacity. How it came about, whether +there was some magic in the air, or in Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby's eyes, the +Canon was never able to make quite clear to himself, and far less to +Mrs. Vrater, but in two minutes he was revolving round the room in +stately measure, an expression of anxious enjoyment on his handsome +old face as he carefully counted his steps, such as would have +diverted the eye of the charmed bystander even from the arch mischief +that rippled over his fair partner's features. Had there been any +bystander to witness the scene, that is. + +"Hem!" + +It was very loud and full of meaning, and came from the open +window. The Canon's arm fell from the lady's waist as if she had +suddenly turned into the spiky maiden of Nuremberg. Mrs. Dean stopped +playing with equal suddenness, and an exclamation of annoyance. Mrs. +Curzon-Bowlby, thus deserted in the middle of the room, dropped the +prettiest of "cheeses," and broke into a merry peal of unaffected +laughter. It was the Dean. Coming up the oyster-shell path, there +was no choice for him but to witness the _dénouement_ through the +green-shuttered window. He was shocked; perhaps of the four he was the +most embarrassed, though the Canon looked, for him, very foolish. But +nothing could stand against Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby's gayety. She laughed +so long, so innocently, and with such pure enjoyment of the situation, +that one by one they joined her. The Dean attempted to be a little +sarcastic, but the laugh took all sting from his satire; and the +Canon, when he had once recovered his presence of mind, and his +breath, parried the raillery with his usual polished ease. + +So Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby's freak ended in no more serious result than her +own conversion into the staunchest of Epicureans, a very goddess of +pleasure; and in familiarizing the Dean's mind with the idea of the +Terpischorean innovation, until the proposition of a dance at the +Deanery--yes, at the Deanery itself--was mooted to his decanal ears. +Of course he rejected it, but still he survived the shock, and the +project had been brought within the range of practical politics. Its +novelty faded from his mind, and its impropriety ceased to strike him. +He had never told Mrs. Vrater of her husband's afternoon waltz, and +this reticence divided them. Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby exerted all her wiles; +she gave him no peace. The plan was mooted again and again; he +wavered, remonstrated, argued, and finally (thanks chiefly to No. 13), +in a moment of good-natured weakness, when the fear of Mrs. Vrater was +not before his eyes, succumbed. Be sure his wife and her allies left +him no _locos p[oe]nitentice_. Never was triumph greater. Within the +week the minor canons had their invitations stuck in their mirrors, +and rejoiced in their liberty. And Mrs. Vrater made a certain call +upon Mrs. Anson, of which the reader knows. + +But Mrs. Dean's pleasure was not unclouded. There were spots upon the +sun. The Dean was not always so tractable, and the Deanery house was +not large, and the garden positively small. True, a gateway and a +descent of two or three steps led from the latter into the picturesque +cloisters, which had lately been cleaned and repaired, and the sight +of this suggested a brilliant idea to flighty Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby. She +lost no time in communicating it to Mrs. Anson, who received it at +first with some doubt. Her friend, however, painted it in such +pleasant hues, and set it in so many brilliant lights, that later she +too became enamored of the project, and boldly proceeded to carry it +into execution. + +The Dean stumbled upon this magnificent plan; in so many words, +stumbled upon it, in a rather unfortunate way. He was taking his +wonted morning stroll in the garden two or three days before the 24th, +the date fixed for the now famous dance. His thoughts were not upon it +at the moment: it was a bright sunny day, and the balmy life-inspiring +air had expelled the regret which it must be confessed was the Dean's +normal frame of mind as to his ill-considered acquiescence. He was not +thinking of what the Bishop would say, or what the city would say, or, +worst of all, what Mrs. Vrater had said. He turned a corner of the +summerhouse a few yards from the steps which we have mentioned as +leading to the cloisters, and as he did so with the free gait of a man +walking in his own garden--bump!--he brought his right knee violently +against the edge of some object, a packing-case, a half-opened +packing-case which was lying there, where, so far as the Dean could +see, it had no earthly business. The packing-case edge was sharp, the +blow a forcible one. For a moment the Dean hopped about, moaning to +himself and embracing his shin. The spring air lost all its virtue on +the instant, and his regret for his moral weakness returned with added +and local poignancy. For he had not a doubt that the offending box had +something to do with the 24th. As he tenderly rubbed his leg he +regarded the box with no friendly eyes. To schoolboys and policemen, +and the tag-rag and bobtail, a sharp blow on the shin may not be much; +but stout and dignified clerics above the rank of a ritualistic vicar +are, to say the least of it, not accustomed to the thing at all. + +"What the--ahem--what in heaven's name may this be?" he exclaimed with +irritation. Resentment adding vigor to his curiosity, he gingerly +removed the covering from the case, which appeared to be full of +parti-colored paper globes of all shapes and sizes. They were +symmetrically arranged; they might have been tiny fire-balloons. But +the Dean's mind reverted to infernal machines, the smart of his shin +suggesting his line of thought. He put on his glasses in some +trepidation, and looking more closely made out the objects to +be--Chinese lanterns. + +The sound of a hasty step upon the gravel made him turn. It was Mrs. +Anson, looking a little perturbed--by her hurry, perhaps. Her husband +lifted one of the lanterns from the case with the end of his stick, +and contemplated it with a good deal of contempt. + +"My dear," he said, "what in the name of goodness are these foolish +things for?" + +"Well, you know the house is not very large," she began, "and the +supper will occupy the dining-room and breakfast-room--it would be a +pity to cramp the supper, my dear, when we have such beautiful plate, +and so few chances of showing it--and conservatory we have none +so----" + +"Yes, yes, my dear, true," broke in the Dean impatiently; "but what of +these? what of these?" He raised the poor lantern anew. + +"Well, we thought it would be nice to--to light the cloisters with +these lanterns, and so form a conservatory of a kind. Now that the +cloisters are cleaned and restored they will look so pretty, and the +people can walk there between the dances. I thought it would be an +excellent arrangement, and--and save us pulling your study about." + +There was an awful pause. The lantern, held at arm's length on the +ferrule of the Dean's stick, shook like an aspen leaf. + +"You thought--it would be nice--to light the cloisters--with Chinese +lanterns! The cloisters of Gleicester Cathedral, Mrs. Anson! Good +heavens!" + +No mere words can express the tone of amazed disapprobation, of +horror, disgust, and wrath combined, in which the Dean, whose face was +purple with the same emotions, spoke these words. He dashed the +lantern to the ground, and set one foot upon it in a manner not +unworthy of St. George--the Chinese lantern being a natural symbol of +the dragon. + +"It would be rank sacrilege; sacrilege, Mrs. Anson. Never let me hear +of it again. I am shocked that you should have proposed such a thing; +and I see now what I feared before, that I was very wrong in giving my +consent to a frivolity unbecoming our position. You cannot touch pitch +and not be defiled. But I never dreamt it would come to this. Let me +hear no more of it, I beg." + +The Dean, as he walked away after these decisive words, felt very +sore--and not only about the knee, to do him justice. He repeated over +and over again to himself the proverb about touching pitch. Until the +last few days, no one had cherished his position more highly. And now +his very wife was so far demoralized as to have suggested things +dreadful to him and subversive of it. He had given way to the Canon +and that little witch at No. 13, and this was the first result. What a +peck of troubles, he said to himself, this wretched dance was bringing +upon him! He was sick of it, sick to death of it, he told himself. So +sick, indeed, that when he was out of his wife's hearing he groaned +aloud with a great sense of self-pity, and almost brought himself in +his disgust to believe that Mrs. Vrater would have been a more fit and +sympathetic helpmeet for him. + +And Mrs. Dean was bitterly disappointed. She had set her heart upon +the cloisters scheme, and in most things she had been wont to enjoy +her own way. Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby had depicted it in such gorgeous hues, +and portrayed so movingly the guests' admiration and surprise--and +envy. Oaklea Castle, the seat of the Marquis of Gleicester, with its +spacious and costly conservatories and fineries, could present no +more picturesque or charming scene than would be afforded by the +many-arched cloisters brilliantly lighted and decorated, and filled +with handsome dresses and pretty faces still aglow with the music's +enthusiasm. Mrs. Anson had pictured it all. But she was a wise woman, +and a comparatively old married woman, and she recognized that the +matter was not one for argument. Not even to the Canon, her ally, did +she confide her chagrin, being after her husband's outburst a little +dubious of the light in which the project might present itself to him. + +Only into Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby's bosom did she pour her sorrow without +reserve. That lady made a delicious _moue_ after her fashion on +hearing of the Dean's indignation, but she seemed almost as +disappointed as Mrs. Anson herself. "And he actually forbade you, +dear?" she asked, with her blue eyes full of pity and wondering +surprise. + +"Well, he told me never to let him hear of it again." + +"Oh!" answered the little woman thoughtfully, and was silent for a +time. When she recovered herself she changed the subject, and soon +coaxed and petted her friend into a good humor. + +Still this was a large spot on the sun of Mrs. Anson's triumph. And +yet another, a mere speck indeed in comparison, and very endurable, +appeared at the last moment, the very day before the 24th. The Dean +was summoned to London; was summoned so privately, so peremptorily, +and so importantly, that the thought of what might come of the journey +(there was a new bishopric in act of being formed) almost reconciled +his wife to his absence; and this the more when she had effectually +disposed of his suggestion that the party should be indefinitely +postponed. The Dean was not persistent in pushing his proposal; the +harm, he felt, was already done. And besides, being himself away, he +would now be freed from some personal embarrassment. It must go on; if +he went up it would signify little. So he started for London very +cheerfully, all Gleicester knowing of his errand, and the porters at +the station spying a phantom apron at his girdle. + +When the evening, marked in the minor canons' rubric with so red a +letter, arrived, the excitement in the Abbot's Square rose to a great +height. + +Vague rumors of some surprise in store for the guests, which should +surpass the novelty of the dance, were abroad. Strange workmen of +reticent manners had passed in and out, and mysterious packages and +bundles, as self-contained as their bearers, had been seen to enter +the Deanery gates. A jealous awning, which altered the normal +appearance of the garden as seen from the second-floor windows of the +Square, hid the exact nature of the alteration, and served only to +whet the keen curiosity of the Gleicester public. Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby, +from No. 13, ran to and fro, smiling with a charming air of +effervescent reserve, which raised Mrs. Anson's older friends to an +aggravated pitch of curiosity. The Square knew not what to expect. +Conjecture was--in more senses than one, as the event proved--abroad. + +For no one had in the least foreseen the spectacle that met their eyes +upon their arrival. Certainly not the Bishop, though he betrayed no +surprise; good cheery man, he was every inch a bishop, and therefore +by tradition a great-hearted, liberal-minded gentleman. Certainly not +Sir Titus Wort, nor General Jones, much less the Archdeacon. No, nor +even the minor canons; their anticipations, keen as long abstinence +from such enjoyments could make them, had yet fallen far short of the +scene presented to their gaze upon entering the Deanery garden. + +Even Canon Vrater--at home, it was rumored, in courts; he had +certainly once lunched at Windsor--stood in almost speechless wonder +by the garden steps. + +"It is very beautiful!" he said simply, gazing with all his eyes down +the arched vista formed by the tree-like pillars of the cloisters; the +brilliant light of many lanterns picked out every leaf of their +delicate carving and fretted broidery, and made of their fair +whiteness a glittering background for the dark-hued dresses of the +promenaders beneath. It was indeed more like fairy-land than a part of +the cathedral precincts. Those who traversed it every day looked round +and wondered where they were. + +"It is very beautiful!" That was all. And he said it so gravely that +Mrs. Anson's spirits, elevated by the open admiration of the bulk of +her guests, would have fallen rapidly had she not at that moment met +the arch glance of Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby. That lady, a very mistress of +the revels, was flitting here and there and everywhere, witching the +world of Gleicester with noble womanhood. + +Nor was the sight less of a surprise to the Canon's wife. But Mrs. +Vrater, as was to be expected, had more to say upon the subject. She +had taken possession of the youngest and most timid of the minor +canons, and even he was lifted a little above himself by the scene and +a chance smile shot in his direction by the mistress of No. 13. Still +he was not sufficiently intoxicated to venture to disagree with the +resident Canon's lady. + +"I never thought I should live to see this or anything like it!" she +said, with a groan of grimmest disapprobation. + +"No, indeed," he assented, "nor did I." But it is doubtful if he meant +quite the same thing as the lady. + +"This will not be the end of it, Mr. Smallgunn," said Cassandra, +nodding her head in so gloomy a manner that it recalled nothing so +much as a hearse-plume. + +"Not a bit of it," he answered briskly. But again it is a matter of +some uncertainty whether the two wits--supposing that so irreverent an +expression may be applied to Mrs. Vrater's wit--jumped together. He +not improbably in his mind's eye saw a succession of such evenings +strewn like flowers in the minor canons' path; and this was not at all +Mrs. Vrater's view. She felt that there was a lack of sympathy between +them, and left him for the Archdeacon, with whom she conferred in a +corner, glowering the while at the triumphant Epicureans, who strutted +up and down the carpeted cloisters, and flirted their fans, and spread +their feathers like peacocks in the sunshine. + +And there were moments when Mrs. Dean felt as proud as a peacock; but +then there were other times when she felt quite the reverse. True, she +fully intended strenuously to perform, so far as in her lay, her +husband's order, "never to let him hear of it again," quite heartily +and sincerely; that amount of justice must be done her; she intended +to obey him in this, only she doubted of her success. And being in the +main a good woman, with some amount of love and reverence for her +husband, there were moments in the evening when she turned quite cold +with fear, and wondered who or what on earth could have induced her to +do it. But her guests saw nothing of this; nor did it occur to them, +whatever might be their private views, that their hostess had the +smallest doubt of the propriety of her picturesque arrangement--her +guests generally, that is. There was one exception--the gay, laughing, +sail-with-the-wind little lady from No. 13. + +But she did not form one of the group around Mrs. Anson during the +last dance before supper. It was a waltz, and it had but just +commenced, the rhythmical strains had but just penetrated to their +nook within the cloisters, when suddenly, with some degree of +abruptness, the music stopped. They, not knowing their hostess's train +of thought, were surprised to see her turn pale and half rise. She +paused in the middle of a sentence, and could not disguise the fact +that she was listening. The others became silent also, and listened as +people will. The dancing had ceased, and there was some commotion in +the house, that was clear. There were loud voices, and the sound of +hurrying to and fro, and of people calling and answering; and finally, +while they were yet looking at one another with eyes half fearful, +half assuring, there came quite a rush of people from the house in the +direction of the cloisters. Mrs. Anson rose, as did the others. She +alone had no doubt of what it meant. The Dean had come back--the Dean +had come back! The matter could not be disguised; she was caught +literally _flagrante delicto_, the cloisters one blaze of light from +end to end. How would he take it? She peered at the approaching group +to try and distinguish his burly form and mark the aspect of his face. +But though it was hardly dark in the little strip of garden which +separated them from the house, she could not see him; and as they came +nearer she could hear several voices, if it was not her imagination +playing her tricks, naming him in tones of condolence and pity. Then +another and, as she was afterwards thankful to remember, a far more +painful idea came into her mind, and she stepped forward with a +buzzing in her ears. + +"What is it, James? The Dean?" with a catch in her voice. + +"Well, ma'am, yes. I'm very sorry, ma'am. There's been a----" + +"An accident? Speak, quick! what is it?" she cried, her hand to her +side. + +"No, ma'am, but a burglary; and the Dean, who has just come, says----" + +"The Dean, James, will speak for himself," said her husband, who had +followed the group at a more leisurely pace, taking in the aspect of +affairs as he came. He had heard the latter part of her words, and +been softened, perhaps, by the look upon her face. "You have plenty of +light here, my dear," with a glance at the illumination, in which +annoyance and contempt were finely mingled; "but I fear that will not +enable our guests to eat their supper in the absence of plate. Every +spoon and fork has been stolen; a feat rendered, I expect, much more +easy by this injudicious plan of yours." + +Which was all the public punishment she received at his hands. But his +news was sufficient. Mrs. Dean remembered her magnificent silver-gilt +épergne and salver to match--never more to be anything but a memory to +her--and fainted. + +Mrs. Vrater, too, remembered that épergne. It was the finest piece in +the Dean's collection, and the Dean's plate was famous through the +county. She remembered it, and felt that her triumph could hardly have +been more complete; the shafts of Nemesis could hardly have been +driven into a more fitting crevice in her adversary's armor. This was +what had come of the clergy dancing, of the Dean's weakness, and Mrs. +Anson's secular frivolity and friendships! Mrs. Vrater looked round, +her with a great sense of the wisdom of Providence, and ejaculated, +"This is precisely what I foresaw!" + +"Then it is a pity you did not inform the police," answered her +husband, tartly. + +But his lady shook her head. In the triumph of the moment she could +afford to leave such a gibe unanswered. The Archdeacon was condoling +with the Dean in terms almost cordial, and certainly sincere; but Mrs. +Vrater was made of sterner stuff, and was not one to lose the +sweetness of victory by indulging a foolish sympathy for the +vanquished. She would annihilate all her enemies at one blow, and +looked round upon the excited group surrounding Mrs. Anson to see that +no one of that lady's faction was lacking to her triumph. + +What was this? Surely she was here! The prime mover, the instigator of +this folly, should have been in closest attendance upon her dear +friend? But no. + +"Where is Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby?" Mrs. Vrater asked rather sharply, what +with surprise, and what with some pardonable disappointment. + +"I believe," said the Dean, turning from his wife, who was slowly +reviving--"I believe that the Hon. Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby is in the +Mediterranean." + +"In the Mediterranean? why, she was here an hour ago." The man's head +was turned by the loss of his cherished plate. + +"No, not Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby, as I learned before I left London. Some +one so calling herself was, though she too is probably far away in the +up train by this time, and her plunder with her. To her and her +confederates we are indebted for this loss." The Dean may be excused +if he spoke a little bitterly. + +"Good Lord!" cried the Canon, dropping the glass of water he was +holding. + +"I felt sure of it!" cried his wife, in a tone of deep conviction. + +As the party entered the house, which was in huge disorder, full of +guests collecting their wraps and calling for their carriages, of +imperative policemen and frightened servants, the Dean drew back. He +returned alone to the cloisters, and very carefully with his own hands +extinguished all the lamps. As the faint moonlight regained its lost +ascendency, falling in a silver sheet pale and pure upon the central +grass-plot, and dimly playing round the carven pillars, the Dean +closed the gate and heaved a sigh of relief. + +And so ended the Dean's ball, the triumph as brief as disastrous of +the Gleicester Epicureans. The dreams of the minor canons have not +become facts. They may play lawn-tennis, may attend water-parties and +amateur theatricals--nay, may play cards for such stakes as they can +afford, but the dance is tabooed. The Dean is Dean still, and is still +looking hopefully--what Dean is not?--to the immediate future to make +him a bishop. And Mrs. Dean is still Mrs. Dean, but not quite the Mrs. +Dean she was. As for No. 13, its day of prosperity also closed with +that night. It relapsed into its old condition of modest +insignificance, nor ever recalled the fact that a reverend canon had +waltzed within its walls. The green shutters and oyster-shells are no +longer considered an anomaly, for they adorn the residence of a master +mason. + +One more episode of that evening remains to be told. The Canon and his +wife walked home together, and if he said little she left little to be +said. Upon entering the dining-room the Canon sat down wearily. The +servant, surprised to see them return so early, brought in the lamp. +The Canon looked, rubbed his eyes, and looked again. + +"Mary," he said, "where is--don't be alarmed, my dear; Mary has no +doubt put it upstairs for safety--where is my great silver tankard? +Ah, yes; and the goblets, too, where are they?" + +"If you please, ma'am," said Mary glibly, answering rather Mrs. +Vrater's agonized look than the Canon's question--"if you please, +ma'am, the Hon. Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby called after you left, and said +she'd run in to borrow them for the Deanery claret-cup, as they'd be +short of silver." + + + + + THE PROFESSOR AND THE + HARPY. + + +Mother Church, who in bygone ages sheltered all the learning of the +land beneath her broad wings, and who, even after this monopoly had +passed away from her, continued to provide for learners and learned in +a munificent fashion, has in these latter times been sadly shorn of +wealth and patronage by the relentless march of progress and the +Ecclesiastical Commissioners. Yet there is balm in Gilead. Here and +there a sinecure has been suffered to remain for the benefit of those +whose work is not altogether of the tangible kind so dear to the +nineteenth century; here and there a Reverend Jack Horner, putting his +thumb into the diminished pie of Church preferment, can pull out a +plum, and, sitting down under the shadow of some gray cathedral tower, +can draw soothing deductions after the manner of his juvenile +prototype. A bishopric may no longer be a post of dignified ease, +archdeacons may be men doomed to perpetual hurry and worry, wealthy +pluralists may have become an extinct class, but a Canon of Lichbury +Cathedral is still a personage whose comfortable dwelling and +comfortable income are rather the acknowledgment of past distinction +than the equivalent of any present labor. Not, of course, that the +Dean and Chapter of Lichbury are a body of worn-out pensioners. It is +by no means in that light that they are accustomed to regard +themselves; nor, indeed, are they so regarded by any, except the +ignorant and irreverent. If repose and competence have been bestowed +upon them, it is not only because they have already enriched the world +with the results of literary research, but that they may have more +leisure to continue doing so. Some of them have achieved renown as +authors of theological treatises, others are deeply versed in +classical lore; while some, like Canon Stanwick, hold university +professorships. + +The latter divine was understood to owe his canonry (which had been +conferred upon him at a comparatively early age) to that celebrated +work, "The Life and Times of the Emperor Julian," in which an +interesting character and an interesting period of history had been so +exhaustively and impartially treated of as to leave no room for +further exploration of the same ground. Whether, as his admirers +declared, the Professor had surpassed Gibbon as triumphantly in the +handling of his subject as Gibbon surpassed Voltaire and other earlier +writers, and whether in the course of his well-weighed observations he +had made out as good a case for the church which he represented as was +possible and desirable, are questions which need not be discussed +here. One consequence, at all events, of his accomplished task had +been to place him in the front rank of living historians, and another +had been his appointment to a vacant stall in Lichbury Cathedral. + +This last reward of merit should have been especially grateful to him, +for he was a bachelor of retired habits, whose life had been spent +among his books, and to whom life had little left to offer in the way +of attractions save increased opportunities for study; and, in fact, +he was, as a general thing, very well satisfied with his lot. +Nevertheless, as he paced up and down his smooth lawn one morning in +August, he was in a less contented frame of mind than usual. The +whispering of the summer breeze in the old elms, the cawing of the +rooks, the occasional deliberate ding-dong of the cathedral clock far +overhead, checking off the slumberous quarters and half-hours--all +these familiar sounds had failed to produce upon him that sense of +calm which is so conducive of thought; he had been compelled to lay +aside the opening chapter of his new work, "The Rise of the Papacy," +and to take to walking to and fro in the garden, with his hands behind +his back and his gray head sunk beneath shoulders which were somewhat +prematurely bowed. + +The truth was that the Professor, like other professors, had once been +young, and that the days of his youth had been vividly and +unexpectedly brought back to him the night before. This is always a +disturbing thing to happen to a man; and what made it particularly so +in Canon Stanwick's case was that his youth had been marked by a +trouble which he had taken terribly to heart at the time of its +occurrence. To be jilted is no such rare experience, and to get over +it with great rapidity is the ordinary lot of the jilted one; but some +few strangely constituted mortals there are who never get over it, and +of these Canon Stanwick happened to be one. Certainly, at the age of +fifty-five he had long ceased to think with any bitterness of the +shallow-hearted Julia to whom he had become engaged immediately after +taking orders, and who had thrown him over in favor of a man of much +greater wealth and higher position; he had, indeed, ceased to think +about her at all. But not the less was it her conduct which had shaped +the course of his life. By it he had been driven into deep study, into +an Oxford professorship, and finally into a canonry; by it also he had +been driven out of society, and especially out of female society, for +which the treachery of one member of the sex had imbued him with a +strong repugnance. At Oxford, where he had resided up to the time +of his recent preferment, the ladies had quite given him up. It had +been understood there that he did not care for the relaxation of +dinner-parties and tea-parties; and it was a somewhat singular +coincidence that, having from a sense of duty consented to break +through his long-standing rule and dine with the Dean of Lichbury, he +should have found himself seated opposite to his old love, whom, by +another odd coincidence, he had wooed, won, and lost in that very +neighborhood so long before. + +This chance meeting had upset the worthy man a good deal. In the +gray-haired but vivacious Mrs. Annesley who had claimed acquaintance +with him across the table, he had scarcely recognized the heroine of +his buried romance, nor had he either the wish or the power to +resuscitate the tender feelings with which he had once regarded her; +but the sight of her had stirred up old memories within him, and these +had haunted him through the night, had prevented the Papacy from +rising satisfactorily in the morning, and finally, as aforesaid, had +sent him out into the open air, a prey to vague regrets. + +So that elderly lady was Julia Annesley! And she had grown-up sons and +daughters, about whom she talked a great deal; and her husband was +dead--the husband for whom she had never cared, and whom she made +little pretence of regretting. To all appearance, she regretted +nothing. Why should she, when she had all that a woman could wish to +have? Perhaps, thought the Professor, it might be a better thing to be +the father of sons and daughters, when one was growing old, than to be +the author of an unrivalled monograph on the merits and demerits of +Julian the Apostate. To be sure, there was no reason why one shouldn't +be both. And then he fell to wondering whether that ambition which had +been the chief cause of Julia's infidelity could have been satisfied +with such fame and social standing as an historian, a professor, and a +canon may lay claim to. Only, if he had married Julia, he would +probably have begun and ended as a country parson. He smiled at +himself for indulging in such nonsensical fancies at his time of life; +but he went on dreaming all the same until he was startled by the +opening of a gate which connected his house with the Precincts. + +Somebody strode with a brisk, ringing step up the brick pathway to the +front door, singing loudly,-- + + + "I loved her, _and_ she might have been + The happiest _in_ the land; + But she fancied a foreigner who played the clarinet + In the middle of a Ger-man band." + + +Then came a vigorous pull at the bell, followed by subdued whistling +of the air of this apposite but vulgar ditty. It was not after so +indecorous a fashion that the Professor's visitors were wont to +approach him, and he could not resist the temptation to steal softly +across the turf past the library windows and see who might be the +author of all this disturbance. His curiosity was rewarded by a +full-length view of a handsome, merry-looking young fellow in undress +cavalry uniform, who himself happened to be peeping round the corner +at that moment, and who at once advanced, saying: "Oh, how do you do? +Canon Stanwick isn't it? My mother asked me to leave this note for you +as I passed--Mrs. Annesley, you know. She says you and she are old +friends." + +"I am much obliged to you, sir," said the Professor in his grave +voice, taking the note. "Pray come in." + +"Can't, thanks," answered the other; "I must be off to barracks. See +you this afternoon on the cricket-ground though, I hope. We've got a +great match on--garrison against the county. We shall be awfully +licked of course; but everybody will be up there, and it's something +to do. Very glad to see you if you'll come to our tent. You'll find my +mother there; the note's to tell you all about it. Good-bye for the +present." + +And with that this unceremonious young man clanked away, leaving the +Professor, who had not looked on at a cricket match for a matter of +thirty years, much amused. The note ran as follows: + + + Deanery, Lichbury: Thursday. + +"Dear Canon Stanwick,--I hope, if you are disengaged this afternoon, +you will join our party on the cricket-ground, and give me the +opportunity, which I sought in vain last night, of having a little +talk with you. I am obliged to leave to-morrow morning, and I am so +very anxious to have a few words with you before I go _about my son_, +who is quartered here. Do come, and + + "Believe me most sincerely yours, + + "Julia Annesley." + + +"Oh, by all means," said the Professor, who had a solitary man's habit +of thinking aloud. "I shall feel rather like a fish out of water among +all those people; but never mind, I'll go. Only I can't think why you +should want to talk to me about your son." + +Perhaps the Professor was still a little in the dark as to this point, +even after a long interview with Mrs. Annesley; though he certainly +could not complain of any want of candor upon the lady's part. The +Lichbury cricket-ground is justly celebrated both for its extent and +for the beauty of its situation, and the numerous matches of which it +is the scene during the summer season are always well attended. The +Professor made his way through a double line of carriages and drags, +feeling and looking very much like a man who has suddenly emerged from +a dark room upon a crowded thoroughfare. The confused din raised by a +large concourse of people, mingled with the strains of the military +band which was in attendance, and the shouts of eager partisans of +garrison or county, bewildered him; and it was only after repeated +inquiries that he succeeded in reaching the entrance of the cavalry +tent, where he stood for a minute blinking in the sunshine, and trying +with shortsighted eyes to distinguish among the assemblage of gayly +dressed ladies seated there the one of whom he was in search. But if +he did not see her, she very soon saw him, and came forward, holding +out a tiny pair of beautifully gloved hands. + +"_How_ good of you to come!" she exclaimed. "Suppose we take a turn +round the ground; then we can talk quietly." + +She was a bright, alert little woman, her gray hair, which was drawn +straight up from her forehead, contrasting oddly with her still +youthful complexion, and giving her somewhat of the appearance of an +eighteenth-century _marquise_. The Professor was not quite sure +whether he ought to offer her his arm or not, but finally deciding +that this was unnecessary, made a grab at his shapeless felt hat, and +muttered, "Delighted, I'm sure." He was a little embarrassed in the +presence of his former love, whose first words showed that she, for +her part, had no such foolish feeling. + +"Is it not strange that we should meet again at Lichbury after all +these years?" she began. "I have often thought of you, and often felt +sorry." She paused and sighed. "One does not expect men to take things +so seriously--generally, you know, it is the men who forget, and the +women who suffer; but I suppose you are different. And I have spoilt +your life!" + +The Professor smiled. He was thinking that most people would hardly +describe his life as having been a spoilt one; he was thinking, too, +that the Julia who had caused him so much mental anguish in years gone +by was quite another person from the complacent little lady who was +trying to make apologies for her. He rather wished she would drop the +subject; but he said nothing, and Mrs. Annesley resumed: + +"You ought to hate me--I quite feel that; but doesn't some clever +person say somewhere that we never hate those who have injured us, +only those whom we have injured? I have injured you dreadfully; but +for all that, I want to make friends--and to ask a favor of you into +the bargain." She concluded her sentence with a little laugh and a +side glance from eyes which had done much execution in their day. + +"I am sure I shall be very glad if I can serve you in any way," said +the Professor simply; "and I think we may very well agree to let +bygones be bygones. It was something about your son, you said?" + +"Ah, yes, poor fellow!" sighed Mrs. Annesley; "I can't tell you how +anxious and distressed I am about him. He is quartered here with his +regiment, the 27th Lancers, and he absolutely refuses to leave the +service, though, as of course you know, he succeeded to a very large +property when he came of age." + +"He is still very young," remarked the Professor. "I should think +another year or two of soldiering would do him no harm." + +"But it is absurd for a man with three large country houses to live in +barracks. I want him to marry and settle down. I want him--only this +is strictly between ourselves--to marry Violet Cecil. She is such a +charming girl, and so pretty--don't you think so?" + +"Is she?" asked the Professor. "I scarcely know her." + +"But you and Mr. Cecil were always such great friends, I thought." + +"We had not met for many years until I came down here, and I have only +seen Miss Cecil once. I did not notice her particularly." + +"How funny of you! But I remember that you were never very observant. +Well, I was going to tell you about poor Bob--oh! there he is. I +should like so much to introduce him to you." + +"He introduced himself to me this morning," observed the Professor, +smiling. + +"Oh, did he? Well, I could not introduce him _now_, at any rate," said +Mrs. Annesley, meaningly. + +The Professor adjusted his glasses, and following the direction of her +gaze, made out his visitor of the morning, who had exchanged his +uniform for a suit of cricketing flannels, and who was pacing along by +the side of a tall, fine-looking woman with dark hair. The young man +wore a downcast look, and his evident unwillingness to raise his eyes +seemed to show that he was conscious of his mother's vicinity. + +"Oh, I see!" said the Professor, with a perspicacity which did him +credit. + +"Yes; isn't it dreadful? What any man can find to admire in such a +woman I can't conceive." + +"She is handsome and--very well dressed," hazarded the Professor, +after another survey of the lady's retreating form. + +"Well dressed!" ejaculated Mrs. Annesley, throwing up her hands. "If +you can say that, you would say anything. Pale blue satin and +imitation lace--good gracious! But of course you don't understand +these things." + +"Certainly," the Professor agreed, "I am no judge of such matters. But +who is this lady?" + +"Ah, who indeed? That is exactly what nobody knows. She is a Mrs. +Harrington--at least, that is what she calls herself; and I believe +she is one of those dreadful harpies who follow regiments about all +over the world and ruin poor young men--or rather, rich young men. She +is not exactly disreputable, I am told; I only wish she were!--No, I +didn't mean that--I forgot you were a clergyman. I beg your pardon, +I'm sure." + +"Don't mind me," said the Professor. "And so you are afraid that she +will marry your son?" + +"I can't bear to say so; but it does look terribly like it, and I am +so powerless. I have no influence over Bob, and it is impossible for +me to remain down here; I have all my other children to look after, +you know. Of course it would never do to breathe a word to the Cecils; +otherwise they might be able to save him, for I am sure he is really +fond of Violet. It struck me that perhaps you might give me a helping +hand." + +"I will most gladly, if I can," replied the Professor; "but I confess +I don't at present see what I can do." + +"I am sure you could influence him in a quiet way; and then you might +try to throw him as much as possible with the Cecils. You will have +plenty of opportunities of doing that, if you look for them. And +perhaps you would be very kind and write me a line every now and then +to tell me how matters are going." + +The Professor shook his head and said he feared Mrs. Annesley was +leaning upon a broken reed. Nevertheless, he promised to do his best; +and promises with him always meant a good deal. For the sake of old +days he was willing to do Mrs. Annesley a kindness; for the young +man's own sake he would gladly have disappointed the harpy; finally, +he thought he would be rendering no small service to his friend Cecil, +if he could bring about a marriage between the daughter of that not +very wealthy country gentleman and one of the richest bachelors in +England. The only question was how to set about achieving so desirable +a result. He debated this problem for some time after Mrs. Annesley +had been called away from his side by other acquaintances, and he was +still standing with his hands behind his back, frowning meditatively, +when Mr. Cecil, a fresh-colored squire, who lived within a few miles +of Lichbury, caught sight of him and greeted him warmly. + +"Hollo, Stanwick! who'd have thought of seeing you on the +cricket-ground? This is an unexpected honor for the club." + +"I didn't come here to look at the cricket; I came to see a very old +friend of yours and mine--Mrs. Annesley," the Professor explained. + +"Ah, to be sure! How time does go on! Do you remember what a pretty +girl she was, and how desperately in love we all were with her? You +were as hard hit as any of us, if I recollect rightly. In fact, I +believe she was engaged to you in a sort of a way, wasn't she?" + +"In a sort of a way--yes." + +"And then she threw you over because she wanted to be rich and +fashionable and all that. Well, well! she has had her reward. Have you +seen her often since those days?" + +"Never until yesterday." + +"You don't say so! You can hardly have recognized one another, did +you? Both you and she have got on in life and got on in the world +since you parted. Julia is a leader of society, and mixes freely with +duchesses, which satisfies her soul; and you are one of the +celebrities of the day. It now only remains for me to get a prize for +my pig, and then we shall all three have reached the highest +distinctions attainable in our respective walks in life." + +"Yes, yes," murmured the Professor dreamily; and presently he quoted +in an undertone, "What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue!" + +"I'll be hanged if anybody shall call my pig a shadow!" returned Mr. +Cecil, laughing, as he walked away. And then the Professor strolled +slowly back to the quiet Precincts and "The Rise of the Papacy." + + + II. + +A Man may be a learned historian and a dignitary of the Church, and +yet retain a good deal of that diffidence which is more becoming than +common among his juniors. Canon Stanwick, for one, carried modesty +almost to the dimensions of a vice. He was very shy of young men; he +did not know what to say to them; he felt convinced--possibly not +without reason--that they must find him an old bore; and how to +ingratiate himself with a dashing young cavalry officer was a puzzle +beyond the compass of his imagination to solve. However, he had +pledged his word that he would do this, and accordingly, on the day +after the cricket match, he asked a few friends to dinner, and invited +Mr. Annesley to join the party. + +The young man came, and made himself so agreeable to the old ladies +and gentlemen whom he met that they were delighted with him, and +allowed him to monopolize the lion's share of the conversation. Which +thing they would assuredly not have permitted in the case of any +ordinary lancer or hussar; for in Lichbury the Church is disposed to +look a trifle askance at the Army, and to stand upon its dignity with +the representatives of the latter, who are overmuch given to riot and +unseemly pranks. But about this particular lancer there was a perfect +simplicity of thought and language which, combined with a touch of +military swagger, was quite irresistible; and so it came to pass that +Canon Stanwick's first dinner party proved the merriest that had been +given in the Precincts for many a long day. As for the Professor, he +began to feel a _quasi-_fatherly interest in the son of his former +flame, and when the rest of the guests had departed, ventured to +detain him. + +"Do you ever--er--smoke a cigar before going to bed?" he asked +hesitatingly. + +"I should be precious sorry to go to bed _without_ smoking a cigar," +answered the other, laughing. + +"Oh," said the Professor. "Well, I have formed the same habit myself, +and if you had nothing better to do, and cared to keep me company for +half an hour in my study, I could offer you a tolerably good cigar, I +think; and--and I believe you'll find some soda-water and brandy on +the table." + +So presently this oddly matched pair were seated opposite to one +another in the spacious room which served its present owner as library +and study, the busts of Roman emperors and Greek philosophers looking +down upon them from above the bookcases with an air of grave surprise. +The Professor was a little timid and awkward at first, but the younger +man soon set him at his ease, and when he had received a good deal of +amusing information about the inhabitants of Lichbury and its +neighborhood, he thought he might feel his way towards the subject +which he was determined to broach. + +"I know very few people in these parts," he remarked; "I have not been +here long, and am generally much occupied. But I have a long-standing +acquaintance with the Cecils, who I think are also friends of yours." + +"Oh, rather!" responded the young man heartily. "Known them all my +life. Awfully jolly people--awfully good old chap, old Cecil. And Mrs. +Cecil--she's awfully jolly too." + +Bob Annesley's vocabulary of adjectives made up in emphasis what it +lacked in variety. + +"And Miss Cecil?" the Professor said. "I have only been fortunate +enough to meet her once, but I am told that she is a singularly +beautiful and charming young lady." + +This leading observation elicited a somewhat less cordial assent from +Bob, who murmured, "There's no question about that," and looked rather +grave for a few seconds. + +"I was thinking," went on the wily Professor, "that I should very much +like to see more of her, her father having been such an intimate +friend of mine in former years; but I hesitate to ask young people +into my dull house unless I can provide some sort of amusement for +them. Do you think there would be room for a lawn-tennis court in the +garden?" + +"Oh, Lord bless your soul, yes!" answered the young man, rising to the +fly most satisfactorily; "heaps of room. I'll tell you what: if you'd +like me to mark out the court for you, I'll do it to-morrow with the +greatest of pleasure, and I could make up a four any day that suited +you and Miss Cecil." + +"I should be very much obliged to you. Let me see; you would want +another lady, wouldn't you?" said the Professor, with some fear that +his accommodating guest might offer to bring Mrs. Harrington. + +He was relieved to find that no such indiscretion was contemplated. +The young man said there were the Dean's daughters, or failing them, +there was Mrs. Green, the wife of one of his brother officers, who was +a first-rate player and a friend of the Cecils. He could easily get +her and her husband to come, and he was sure the Professor would like +them. + +So far, so good. There would apparently be no difficulty in bringing +the young people together; and as for the harpy, perhaps the moment +had hardly yet come for declaring war upon her. In the course of the +few following days the Professor tried to find out more about this +mysterious lady; but the canons knew nothing of her, and the canons' +wives sniffed and said that she was a person whom nobody visited, +although, upon being pressed, they admitted that there was nothing +definite against her. Possibly, after all, she might prove less +formidable than Mrs. Annesley had supposed, and the Professor was +confirmed in this hope by the evident admiration with which Bob +regarded Miss Cecil. That young lady willingly consented to drink tea +and play tennis in the Precincts, and closer inspection showed that +her personal attractions had been in no way exaggerated. Not only did +she possess a quantity of golden-brown hair, and eyes of the darkest +blue, shaded by long curved lashes, but her features, complexion, and +figure were all perfect, and she had an enchanting smile. If any young +man could prefer the vulgar charms of a Mrs. Harrington to these, he +must be a very extraordinary young man indeed; and the Professor, +watching the tennis-players from his cane arm-chair in the shade, +smiled as he thought to himself that Bob Annesley had none of the +outward and visible signs of an extraordinary young man. Furthermore, +he noticed that Annesley and Miss Cecil remained partners throughout; +and though this might be a trivial basis upon which to build +conclusions, there was surely some significance in the fact that after +each game these two sauntered away together, leaving Captain and Mrs. +Green to entertain their host with polite conversation. + +When play was over for the day, a renewal of the contest at an early +date was agreed upon, and after three such meetings the Professor felt +justified in despatching a consolatory note to Mrs. Annesley. "I +really think you may make your mind quite easy," he wrote, "I have had +your boy and Cecil's girl playing tennis in my garden several times; +and even so inexperienced a looker-on as myself cannot fail to +perceive that if ever two people were in love with each other, they +are. The 'harpy' I have not yet met, nor am I likely to do so; but +Captain Green of your son's regiment tells me that she is what is +called a _garrison hack_--a term not known to me, but which I take to +mean broadly that she is ready to flirt with all, and is consequently +dangerous to none." + +The folly of generalization was one to which the Professor was fully +alive in dealing with matters of historical interest; and had the +question before him been of that kind, he would have been the first to +point out that, though this lady might not be dangerous _qua_ garrison +hack, there was no sure ground for assuming that she was not dangerous +_qua_ Mrs. Harrington. Mrs. Annesley's grateful reply to his letter +did not reach him before he had begun to repent of his haste in +communicating with her. + +It was upon the occasion of an afternoon party, given by the officers +of the 27th Lancers, that Canon Stanwick was privileged to make Mrs. +Harrington's acquaintance. Had he been left to consult his own +inclinations, he would not have been present at this entertainment; +but the Cecils, who had driven in from the country to attend it, +invited themselves to luncheon with him, and then carried him away by +main force, alleging that it would do him good to see more of his +neighbors. As a matter of fact, however, he was not benefited in this +particular way, for the cathedral dignitaries seldom showed themselves +at the barracks, and he searched the mess-room and ante-room in vain +for any familiar face. He remained beside the Cecils, and presently +accompanied them to the lawn in front of the building, where some +younger members of the assemblage were playing tennis. Then it was +that he became aware of Mrs. Harrington, attended by young Annesley, +and was able to scrutinize her a little more nearly than he had done +on the cricket-ground. She was a tall, striking-looking woman, not in +her first youth. No doubt she was rather over-dressed, and the +Professor noticed that she was more anxious to appear at her ease than +successful in doing so. He noticed, besides, that the other ladies +fought shy of her, and that his friend Bob, who stood by her side, +looked anything but happy. + +After a time the couple drew near to the spot where the Cecil family +were seated, and from the expression of despair visible upon the young +man's face, and the mixture of triumph and defiance exhibited by the +lady, it was easy to guess what was going to happen next. The +Professor, from living so much alone, had got out of the habit of +repressing his emotions; and when he realized that this daring woman +had demanded an introduction to Mrs. Cecil, he gave vent to a loud, +abrupt chuckle, which caused everybody to turn round and look at him +and overwhelm him with consequent confusion. Thus he missed the actual +formality which had moved him to mirth by anticipation; but he +recovered himself in time to see that it had taken place, that Mr. and +Miss Cecil were looking grave and annoyed, and that Mrs. Cecil had +assumed that stony demeanor with which she was wont to cow the +presumptuous. + +Mrs. Cecil was not a lady with whom it was advisable to take +liberties. A great liberty had been taken with her now, and, while +holding in reserve the punishment of the chief offender, she made +things very uncomfortable for his accomplice. Having bowed to Mrs. +Harrington, she became absorbed in some distant object of interest, +and failed to hear the bland remarks addressed to her by her new +acquaintance. A deep silence had fallen upon the surrounding group. +Mrs. Cecil was still seated; the other lady was standing in front of +her chair, and the Professor, looking on from the background, thought +to himself that, if he were in Mrs. Harrington's shoes, he would run +away. + +But it was Bob Annesley, and not Mrs. Harrington, who adopted that +pusillanimous course. That intrepid woman remained firm, and, with a +determined smile upon her pale face, forced Mrs. Cecil to speak to +her. + +"I asked Mr. Annesley to introduce me to you," she was saying, +"because I think we ought to know each other, being both of us so +intimate with him." + +"Oh, I didn't know," replied Mrs. Cecil coldly. Perhaps she would have +liked to say that she was not so very intimate with Mr. Annesley; but +when one has a daughter whom one is naturally anxious to marry well, +one is apt to be debarred from indiscriminate retorts. After a pause, +she asked, without removing her eyes from the distant view, "Are you +staying any time at Lichbury, Mrs.--er--?" + +"Harrington," replied the other. "Well, I don't quite know. It will +depend a good deal upon the regiment. I always like to be where the +27th are." + +"_Really!_" exclaimed Mrs. Cecil; and the amount of astonishment, +contempt, and disgust which she managed to condense into that one word +was quite an achievement in its way. + +"Oh, yes," Mrs. Harrington went on cheerfully, "I follow the drum. My +object is to get as much fun out of life as possible, and I don't know +any better way of doing that than living in a garrison town." + +"Violet," said Mrs. Cecil, "I think I see some vacant places on the +other side of the lawn. We will go over and sit there." And so saying, +she arose and swept majestically away, leaving Mrs. Harrington +surrounded by a number of silent persons who appeared anxious to stare +her out of countenance while at the same time resolutely ignoring her. + +The poor woman's position was really a cruel one, and signs that she +felt it to be so were not wanting. She flushed for a moment, then +turned pale again, and stood, not unlike a hunted animal, while those +merciless ladies enjoyed her discomfiture. The Professor, who knew +what agony he himself would have suffered under such treatment, could +not help being very sorry for her. So sincere was his compassion, and +so strongly did he disapprove of the base practice of hitting those +who are down, that he was moved at last to do an unusually bold thing. +He advanced abruptly to the side of the unfortunate pariah, upsetting +a chair on his passage, and said in a nervous, hesitating way, "What a +beautiful afternoon, is it not?" + +Mrs. Harrington turned a pair of astonished and rather angry eyes upon +him. Most likely, at the first moment, she took this queer-looking +cleric for an emissary of the enemy; but a glance at his face must +have reassured her, for a quick change of expression came over her +own, and the Professor was rewarded by a singularly pleasant smile, +and a word or two spoken without any of that harshness of intonation +which had been noticeable in Mrs. Harrington's voice a few minutes +before. Having thus entered his little protest against bullying, he +would gladly have retired from so conspicuous a position, but he was a +man who was wholly unable to extricate himself from any position, +conspicuous or other, without help, and so he went on conversing with +Mrs. Harrington for a matter of five minutes, at the end of which time +he mentally qualified her as a very intelligent and agreeable person. +"I wonder," thought he, "why she chose to speak in such an +objectionable manner just now." And then, with his unlucky habit of +thinking aloud, he said musingly, "I suppose she wanted to shock Mrs. +Cecil. Well, I can't blame her." + +Mrs. Harrington laughed. "You are quite right," she observed; "that +was what I wanted to do. But you ought to blame me, for it was not at +all worth while to shock Mrs. Cecil, and I brought her rudeness upon +myself." + +The Professor, in great distress, began to stammer out an apology, +which he was not permitted to finish. "There is no need to beg my +pardon," Mrs. Harrington interrupted: "you only said what you thought, +and it is not often that one has the good fortune to hear any one do +that. I wish you would go on. I should like to hear what you think of +me, for instance--or rather no; that would not be very interesting. I +should prefer hearing what you think of Mrs. Cecil." + +"The Cecils are old friends of mine," said the Professor, with a +slight accent of reproof. + +"Then you need not hesitate to say what you think of them, for one +does not, as a rule, think badly of one's friends. I am interested in +them on Mr. Annesley's account. He is a great deal at their house, is +he not?" + +"Yes, I believe so," answered the Professor, stroking his chin +pensively. A strong desire to come to the point prompted him to add, +with some audacity, "People say that he is likely to become engaged to +Miss Cecil, but that may be only an idle report." + +Mrs. Harrington's large black eyes had a considerable store of latent +fire in them. It flashed out now upon her companion with a suddenness +which made him start; but in an instant she had recovered her +composure. "It is an idle report," she said quietly. "There is no +truth in it." + +"Indeed? Is it not a little difficult to speak with certainty upon +such points?" + +Mrs. Harrington made no verbal reply, but stepping slightly aside, so +as to see and be seen by a group of which Miss Cecil was one, and Bob +Annesley another, she beckoned to the young man, who responded by an +almost imperceptible shake of the head. Thereupon she repeated her +signal more peremptorily, and he, with obvious reluctance, obeyed it. + +"I want you to see me home," she said as soon as he was within +speaking distance. + +"Oh, all right," answered Annesley; "but couldn't you wait a little +bit?" + +"No," returned Mrs. Harrington; "I want to go now. I am tired." + +Then, with a gracious bow to her late interlocutor, she moved away, +Bob Annesley walking somewhat shamefacedly by her side. + +It was thus that the Professor was made aware that Mrs. Harrington was +indeed dangerous, though not precisely in the manner which he had +ventured to disclaim on her behalf. + + + III. + +Bob Annesley was one of those deservedly popular persons who can be +understood at once by the least experienced students of character. +Good nature was his dominant quality, and when you had said that he +was good-natured, you had said very nearly all that there was to be +said about him. The Professor, who had not lived for so many years at +Oxford without discovering what is the ordinary destiny of young men +thus gifted or afflicted, had no difficulty in casting Bob's +horoscope. "That woman has got a hold upon the poor boy, don't you +see?" said he, addressing himself to the busts in his library. "He was +in love with her once, and he is tired of her now; but he will never +have the courage to tell her so. The question, therefore, is, how are +his friends to get him out of her clutches?" + +But the busts continued to stare straight before them, without making +any reply, and the Professor, not being fertile in expedients, could +think of no better course of treatment than renewed doses of Miss +Cecil and lawn-tennis. He was prepared, if driven to extremities, to +make a direct appeal to Mrs. Harrington, for he conceived that her +nature had a side which might be appealed to with success; but he +shrank from employing so drastic a remedy until all others should have +proved unavailing, and he lost no time in endeavoring to arrange +another of those meetings which had already produced, or had seemed to +produce, a hopeful result. + +In this well-meant attempt he was foiled by the recalcitration of both +the parties concerned. Mrs. Cecil, desirous though she might be to see +her daughter make an unexceptionable match, was not likely to fall +into the error of openly pursuing her quarry, and the young lady +herself was probably offended by what had taken place at the barracks. +However this may be, the Cecils regretted their inability to avail +themselves of Canon Stanwick's repeated invitations; while Bob, if his +own account was to be believed, was at this time perpetually on duty. +Thus several weeks elapsed during which it was impossible to report +progress to Mrs. Annesley, who wrote impatiently, complaining that her +son never told her anything, and entreating that she might not be kept +needlessly in the dark. Had it not been for these letters, the +Professor, whose mind, after all, was occupied with other matters than +matchmaking, might have washed his hands of the whole business; but he +was reminded by them that he had promised to do his best, and so, when +at length he chanced to encounter Mrs. and Miss Cecil and Bob Annesley +in the same room, he profited by the opportunity, and engaged the +whole three of them to lunch with him before they had time to make +excuse. + +Every one who has ever tried to set the affairs of his neighbors +straight for them must be aware that those who pursue this course lay +themselves open not only to ingratitude, but to positive contumely. +When, on the day appointed, the Cecils duly made their appearance, and +when at the last moment a card was brought from Bob Annesley, on which +was scribbled, "Very sorry, can't possibly come to luncheon, but will +turn up for tennis afterwards"--when, I say, this untoward incident +occurred, the Professor was at once made to feel how blameworthy had +been his conduct. Mrs. Cecil was so cross and snappish that a less +submissive man would have turned upon her in the first five minutes; +and even Violet, whose disposition was naturally sweet, was silent and +preoccupied, and made no effort to soften down her mother's uncivil +speeches. And what was still worse was that, after luncheon was over, +and Captain and Mrs. Green had arrived with their racquets in their +hands, that wretched Bob failed to redeem his promise. They waited an +hour for him in vain, and then, as it was evident that no set could be +made up, the Cecils went away in a huff, while the Professor, quite +upset, betook himself to the cathedral, where, being in residence, he +had to read the evening lessons, and where in his agitation he made +St. Paul say, "Bobs, love your wives," before he could stop himself. + +Passing through the cloisters after the conclusion of the service, he +saw dimly a male and a female figure walking before him, and his ears +caught the sound of what appeared to be an altercation. By the time +that he had got his glasses settled upon his nose, and had approached +a little nearer to the disputants, they wheeled round and revealed +themselves as no other than Bob and Mrs. Harrington. Both of them +started, and Mrs. Harrington, with a bow, turned abruptly and walked +away. Bob, looking rather sheepish, stood his ground and began to +mumble some apology for having broken his engagement, but the +Professor cut him short. + +"Annesley," said he, "will you come into my house for a few minutes? I +wish to speak to you." + +The Professor, albeit of a mild temper, had been a don, and knew how +to assume an aspect of sternness when necessary. Bob Annesley, on the +other hand, was both by nature and training prone towards obedience. +Presently, therefore, the two men were closeted in the Professor's +study, where the following dialogue ensued. + +"I want to know what you mean by this, Annesley?" + +"Mean by what?" + +"Why, by making love to two women at the same time. Don't tell me you +haven't made love to them: I have seen you. And don't tell me to mind +my own business either, because a great deal of this--this trifling +has gone on in my garden, and I feel myself in a measure responsible +for the consequences. I cannot," continued the Professor, warming with +his subject, "allow the hearts of young ladies to be broken within +sight of my library windows; and I am bound to tell you, Annesley, +that I consider your conduct highly discreditable." + +Bob shook his head sorrowfully, but did not offer to defend himself, +so the Professor had to go on scolding. + +"Were I you, I should be ashamed of such unmanly vacillation. It is +very plain that you either do not know your own mind, or that, knowing +it, you are afraid to declare it. You will not, I suppose, deny that +you have entangled yourself with one lady while you wish to marry the +other." + +No answer. + +"Tell me, at least, one thing: are you, or are you not, in love with +Miss Cecil?" + +"Oh, come--I say--hang it, you know!" exclaimed Bob; but the +Professor, paying no heed to this incoherent remonstrance, repeated +his question in a determined manner. + +"Very well, then--_yes!_" called out the young man despairingly. "I am +in love with her--and I can't marry her. Now I hope you're satisfied." + +The Professor said, "Far from it." On the contrary, that bare +statement was eminently unsatisfactory, and required explanation. He +could well understand that there might be obstacles in the way of a +marriage which appeared to be desirable and desired, but let us hear +what those obstacles were, and try what could be done towards removing +them. + +Bob, however, was obdurate, declaring that he couldn't and wouldn't +say another word about the matter, except that the obstacles referred +to were irremovable. He was the most unfortunate beggar that ever +stepped, but talking about it wouldn't make it any better. "And I +don't think you have the least right to blow me up like this," he +added, as he rose and made for the door. "You asked me to come here +and meet her, and I came. Flesh and blood couldn't resist that. I've +kept away for the last three weeks though, as you know, and I shall +keep away in future. I dare say you have meant kindly, but you +shouldn't be in such a deuce of a hurry to jump to conclusions." + +With that he made good his retreat, while the Professor, left to +himself, looked up at Marcus Aurelius and murmured sadly, "It doesn't +do, you see. The human animal in his lower stages of development must +be guided by patience and kindness, and by these means alone." + + + IV. + +Whether in Bob Annesley's case kindness would have proved more +effectual than harshness was a question which the Professor was unable +to bring to the test of experience; for a few days after the interview +just described Mrs. and Miss Cecil left home, and did not return until +late in the autumn. + +During their absence, of which Mrs. Annesley was duly apprised, the +Professor had a respite. He received no more importunate letters, he +saw little of the misguided young lancer, and he employed himself +agreeably in writing that brilliant chapter upon Pope Boniface VIII. +and the bull _Ausculta, fili_, which has since been so justly praised +by the critics. Absorbed in these congenial studies, and feeling that, +for the time being, it was vastly more important to arrive at the +truth with regard to the instructions given by Philippe le Bel to +Nogaret than to unravel any contemporary mystery, the good man almost +forgot Mrs. Harrington's existence, and it was not until the month of +October, when Captain Green, whom he chanced to meet one day, informed +him that she had left Lichbury for some destination unknown, that his +interest in her revived, and he began to wonder whether anything could +have caused her to relinquish her prey. + +Shortly afterwards he caught sight of Bob Annesley, clanking down the +High Street in full war-paint and feathers, and crossed the road on +purpose to say, "So Mrs. Harrington has gone away, I hear." + +"Yes," answered the young man gloomily; "but she is coming back, +again." + +The Professor passed on. He foresaw that there was going to be +trouble, but he did not want to meet it halfway. "Time enough for that +when the Cecils come home," thought he as he regained his quiet +dwelling, and dived once more into the dark recesses of the thirteenth +century. + +The Cecils came home early in November; but Bob and Violet met no more +in the Precincts, the excuse of lawn-tennis being, indeed, no longer +available at that season. That they met elsewhere the Professor had +ocular proof, for he saw them several times riding together; moreover, +the Dean's wife informed him that everybody said it was to be an +engagement. The Professor held his peace, remembering one person who +had said with some confidence that it would never be anything of the +sort; and when that person reappeared suddenly upon the scene, it +seemed clear that the tug of war was at hand. The first intimation of +coming unpleasantness which reached the Professor took the form of a +visit from Mr. Cecil, who said he wished to have his old friend's +candid opinion about young Annesley. + +"He has been a good deal up at my place of late; and though of course +one is very glad to see him, and all that, one would like to know a +little more of him. Mrs. Cecil will have it that he is ambitious of +becoming our son-in-law. Well, that may or may not be so, and I don't +think it necessary to repeat to her all that I hear in the town about +him and Mrs. Harrington; but I may confess to you, Stanwick, that I +feel uneasy on Violet's account. What do you think I ought to do?" + +"Ask him his intentions," answered the Professor promptly. + +"Oh, my dear fellow, I can't possibly do that. I would as soon bring +an action for breach of promise against a man as ask him his +intentions." + +"Yet you want to know them, I suppose?" + +"That is quite another thing. One wants to know a great deal that one +can't ask about. I want to know who this Mrs. Harrington is, for +instance, and what _her_ intentions are." + +"Well," said the Professor, with a sigh, "I dare say I might be able +to help you there. At all events, I'll try." + +He perceived that the time had come when he must have recourse to that +direct appeal to the harpy which he had contemplated some months +before. The necessity was grievous to him; but he faced it like the +courageous old gentleman that he was, and having found out Mrs. +Harrington's address from the stationer in the market-place, set out +to call upon her that same afternoon. + +Mrs. Harrington occupied lodgings on the first floor of a small +house near the cavalry barracks. The dreary shabbiness of her +little drawing-room was accentuated by some of those attempts at +decoration with which a woman of scanty means and no taste commonly +surrounds herself. The faded curtains were drawn back through loops of +equally faded ribbon; the walls were adorned with a few staring +chromo-lithographs; the mantelpiece and the rickety table had borders +of blue satin and coffee-colored lace; the back of the piano was +swathed in spotted muslin over blue calico, like a toilet-table, and +upon it stood a leather screen for photographs, from which various +heavily moustached warriors, in and out of uniform, gazed forth +vacantly. + +These and other details were lost upon the Professor, who only wished +to say his say and be gone. He had rehearsed the probable course of +the interview beforehand, and was ready with a remark which should at +once render the object of his errand unmistakable; but he had omitted +to make allowance for the unforeseen, and therefore he was completely +thrown out on discovering two long-legged officers seated beside Mrs. +Harrington's tea-table. + +It is safe to conclude that that lady was a good deal astonished when +Canon Stanwick was announced, but she rose to the level of the +occasion and introduced him immediately to her other visitors. "Canon +Stanwick, Captain White--Mr. Brown. And now let me give you all some +tea." + +The Professor would have liked to say that he would call again some +other time, but felt that he had not the requisite effrontery; so he +sat down, took a cup of tea, and wished for the end. He was very +awkward and confused, feeling sure that the two officers must be +laughing at him; but in this he was mistaken. Those gentlemen, if not +remarkable for intellect, had perfectly good manners, and would wait +until they reached the barrack square before permitting themselves to +burst into that hilarity which the notion of Polly Harrington closeted +with a parson must naturally provoke. In the meantime, they did not do +much towards lightening the labor of keeping up conversation. This +duty fell chiefly upon Mrs. Harrington, who acquitted herself of it as +creditably as any one could have done, and who established a claim +upon the Professor's gratitude by talking with as much propriety as if +she had been herself a canoness. His preconceived idea was that +propriety of language was about the last thing that could be expected +from such ladies as Mrs. Harrington when, so to speak, in the +regimental circle. Nevertheless, he did not find himself able to +second her efforts towards promoting a general feeling of cordiality +and the next quarter of an hour passed away very slowly. At length it +flashed across Captain White that the old gentleman meant to sit him +out, and as soon as he had made this brilliant discovery he rose with +great deliberation, pulled down his waistcoat, pulled up his collar, +and said he was sorry that he must be going now. Thereupon Mr. Brown +went through precisely the same performance, and intimated a similar +regret. Mrs. Harrington did not offer to detain them. She accompanied +them to the door, talking as she went, kept them for a minute or two +on the threshold while she arranged to ride with them to the meet on +the following day, and then returned smiling, to hear what Canon +Stanwick might have to say for himself. + +Now she knew as well as anybody to what she owed the honor of the +Professor's visit; but she did not see why she should make his path +smooth for him. Therefore she smiled and held her tongue, while he, +after some introductory commonplaces, managed to drag Bob Annesley's +name, without much rhyme or reason, into the current of his remarks. + +"A promising young fellow," he said; "but, like other young fellows, +he gives his friends some anxiety at times. His mother, poor thing, is +feeling very uneasy about him just now." + +"Mothers," observed Mrs. Harrington, "generally do feel uneasy about +their sons. That is because they have such a difficulty in realizing +that their sons may be old enough to take care of themselves." + +"But they can't take care of themselves," rejoined the Professor +eagerly. "At least, _he_ can't take care of himself. His position, as +no doubt you are aware, differs in some respects from that of his +brother officers, and I think that if you or I were in his mother's +place, we should wish, as she does, that he should leave the army, +live upon his property, and--and make a suitable marriage." + +"Yes," said Mrs. Harrington: "and why is his mother uneasy?--because +he won't leave the army, or because he won't make a suitable +marriage?" + +"Well, for both reasons, I believe. I think I mentioned to you some +time ago that there was a talk of his marrying Violet Cecil, and I +have since ascertained that his own feelings incline him towards a +match which would give great satisfaction to all those who are +interested in him; but unfortunately it appears that he is hampered by +some previous entanglement with--with----" + +"With an unsuitable person?" suggested Mrs. Harrington, still smiling. + +The Professor paused. He wanted to enlist Mrs. Harrington's +sympathies, and to arouse the generosity which he was convinced that +she possessed. Under the circumstances, was it politic to begin by +telling her that she was unsuitable? However, he reflected very +sensibly that there would be no getting on at all unless that much +were either said or implied; and he felt, besides, that he was already +in so uncomfortable a predicament that nothing could very well make it +worse. This gave him courage to reply,-- + +"I fear we must pronounce her so. All other considerations apart, the +fact that he no longer wishes to make her his wife should be +conclusive. He might feel--and I don't say that he ought not to +feel--bound in honor to her; but it seems to me that she is equally +bound in honor to release him from his engagement." + +"Oh, you think she is bound to release him?" + +"I do," answered the Professor firmly. "Yes; I may say without any +hesitation that that is what I think." + +"I am not quite sure that I agree with you," said Mrs. Harrington. "I +can't, of course, form any guess as to who the person to whom you +allude may be; but let us put an entirely imaginary case, and see how +it looks from the lady's point of view. Because, you know, even +unsuitable women have their point of view, and some of them might be +disposed to think their happiness almost as important as Mrs. +Annesley's. Let us take the case of a woman with whom life has +gone very hardly--a woman who was married young to a husband who +ill-treated her, deserted her, and left her at his death with a mere +pittance to live upon. Well, this imaginary woman is not very wise, +let us say, although she has no great harm in her. She is fond of +amusement, she likes riding, she likes dancing, and we won't disguise +that she likes flirting too. She has no near relations; so, instead of +taking lodgings in a suburb of London, or hiring a cottage in the +depths of the country, as no doubt she ought to do, she attaches +herself to a cavalry regiment in which she has friends, and she rides +her friends' horses and dances at their balls, and has great fun for a +time. Perhaps it serves her right that this way of going on causes her +to be cut by all the ladies, wherever she betakes herself; perhaps she +doesn't care a straw for that at first, and perhaps she cares a great +deal as she grows older. Perhaps she sees no way of escape from a kind +of existence which she has learnt to hate, and perhaps that serves her +right again. What do you think, Canon Stanwick?" + +The Professor's honesty compelled him to reply, "I should not blame +her for seizing any opportunity of escape from it that offered." + +"Yet most people would blame her; she would have to make up her mind +to that. We are supposing, you know, that Mr. Annesley is the way of +escape that offers itself, and when this forlorn woman seizes him +ecstatically she must expect his friends and relations to tear their +hair and call her bad names. I dare say that would trouble her very +little. After knocking about the world for so many years, she wouldn't +be over and above sensitive, and she would know perfectly well that, +when once she was married and had plenty of money, everybody, +including her husband's relations, would be civil enough to her. But +now, just as she is exulting in the prospect of peace and plenty, lo +and behold! the miserable young man goes and falls in love with +somebody else. What is she to do? You, in an off-hand sort of way, +answer, 'Oh, let him go free, of course;' but I, on the side of the +poor disappointed woman, venture to say that she should be guided by +circumstances. Suppose she knew this good-natured Bob Annesley to be a +man who couldn't break his heart about anything or anybody if he tried +ever so hard? Suppose she knew that she was quite as well able to make +him happy as Miss Cecil? Mightn't she in that case be justified in +thinking a little bit about her own interests, and holding him to his +promise?" + +"I can't answer positively," said the Professor, sighing. +"Justification must depend entirely upon the standard by which we +judge. All I know is, that if such a woman as you describe resolved to +sacrifice her worldly prospects she would err upon the safe side." + +"Such a woman as I describe would probably differ from you there," +observed Mrs. Harrington. + +"No!" exclaimed the Professor suddenly, bringing his stick down upon +the floor with an emphatic thump. "You may say that, but I don't +believe it. I believe her to be a good-hearted and high-minded woman, +in spite of all that she may have gone through. I believe that she has +a conscience, and I believe that she will end by obeying it, no matter +at what cost." + +"You must know a great deal about her," said Mrs. Harrington, raising +her eyebrows. "Are you not forgetting that she is a purely imaginary +person?" + +The Professor was about to reply, but what he was going to say will +never be known, for at this inopportune juncture the door opened, and +who should walk in but Bob Annesley himself! The three persons thus +unexpectedly confronted with one another all lost their presence of +mind a little, and the Professor could not afterwards have given any +coherent account of what happened next, or of how long an interval +elapsed before he found himself in the street again; but as he wended +his way homewards, he astonished more than one passer-by by calling +out in a loud, distinct voice, "She'll let him go! mark my words, sir, +she'll let him go!" And when he had reached the privacy of his own +study, he added confidentially, "And between ourselves, I'm not by any +means sure that she isn't worth a dozen of the other." + + + V. + +It is one thing to make a sudden and enthusiastic profession of +faith in a prodigy, and it is quite another to reiterate that +profession in cold blood the next morning. The Professor did not find +himself able to accomplish the latter feat. Calmer reflection showed +him that he had given Mrs. Harrington credit for the most extreme +disinterestedness, not because of any single thing that she had said +or done, but simply from an instinctive feeling that her nature was +nobler than it appeared to be upon the surface. Now instinctive +feelings do not ordinarily commend themselves as a sound foundation +for faith or sober philosophers on the shady side of fifty; and the +Professor, while maintaining the high opinion which he had formed of +the harpy, wished that he had not been interrupted just when he was +upon the point of asking her in plain terms whether she intended to +marry Bob Annesley or not. It is possible that he might have called +again and repaired the omission, had he not at this time found it +necessary to consult certain authorities at the British Museum; and +when once he was in town a variety of accidents detained him there. +After that he had to go down to Oxford, so that, what with one thing +and another, it was very nearly a month before he was in Lichbury +again. + +Almost the first person whom he saw after his return was Bob Annesley, +and Bob's round face wore an air of such profound dejection that even +a short-sighted and absent-minded man could not help noticing it. + +"All well here, I hope?" said the Professor interrogatively. "Have you +seen our friends the Cecils lately?" + +Bob shook his head. "Never go there now." He added, with something of +an effort, "I shall never go there any more; I shall be out of this +before long. Sent in my papers last week." + +"What!" exclaimed the Professor, rather startled. And then, as they +were near his door, "Come in," he said, "and tell me all about it." + +The young man obeyed listlessly. "You may as well be told all about it +now," he remarked; "everybody will have to know soon." + +The Professor was greatly perturbed, feeling that he had been somehow +to blame in absenting himself at a critical time. He did not ask for +further explanations, but having preceded his young friend into the +library, began at once: "This must not be allowed to go on, Annesley. +I am sincerely sorry for Mrs. Harrington, but I can't think it right +that two people should be made miserable in order that she may be +provided with a large income. I am disappointed in her, I confess. I +had hoped--but no matter. Since she won't break with you, you must +break with her; and possibly some sort of compensation might be +offered in a delicate manner----" + +"I can't break with her," interrupted Bob quietly. "We were married +three weeks ago." + +The Professor's consternation was too great to be expressed in any +vehement fashion. He could only murmur under his breath, "Dear, dear! +what a sad pity!" + +"There was no help for it," said Bob. "I promised her ages ago that I +would marry her if her husband died, and I couldn't go back from my +word when the time came." + +"Her husband!" ejaculated the Professor. "This is worse than I +thought. Do I understand you that she has had a husband alive all this +time?" + +"Well, he died a month or two ago--when she was away in the summer, +you know. He had behaved awfully badly to her--deserted her soon after +they were married. It was no fault of hers." + +"It was certainly a fault of hers to receive another man's addresses +while she was still a married woman," said the Professor severely. + +"Oh, well, if you like to call it so; but I suppose I was as much +in the wrong as she was. Anyhow, I was bound to her. I told her +about--about Violet, you know, but she didn't seem to think that made +much difference. So, you see, there was no getting out of it," +concluded Bob simply. + +"There is no getting out of it now," remarked the Professor, with a +rueful face; "and I don't think you have improved matters by getting +married in this hole-and-corner way. What was your object in doing +that?" + +"She thought it would be better," answered the young man +indifferently; "and, as far as that goes, I agreed with her. It has +saved us a good deal of bother with my people; besides which, I didn't +care to let all the fellows in the regiment hear about it before I +left." + +The Professor groaned. He saw that the only course open to him, or to +any of Bob's friends, was to make the best of a bad business; but for +the moment he could think of nothing except what a very bad business +it was, and after promising to keep the secret until it should be a +secret no longer, he allowed the young man to depart without offering +him a word of consolation. Why he should have felt moved, some hours +later, to walk over to the lodgings which were still occupied by the +bride, he would have been puzzled to explain. She could not undo what +she had done, nor was there anything to be gained by upbraiding her. +Perhaps it was rather a strong feeling of curiosity than anything else +that led him to her door. + +Having learnt that she was at home and alone, he followed the servant +upstairs, and was presently in the shabby little drawing-room so well +known to the officers of the 27th. Mrs. Harrington--to call her by the +name which she had not yet formally resigned--rose from the chair in +which she had been sitting by the fireside, and turned a curiously +altered countenance towards her visitor. The Professor was at once +struck by her extreme pallor, and by her air of weary despondency. To +look at her, one would have thought that she had just sustained a +crushing defeat, instead of having gained a victory. + +"You have seen Bob!" she began. + +"Ah!" sighed the Professor, speaking out his thoughts without +ceremony, "I fear you have made a terrible mistake, both of you." + +"Yes," she answered, and said no more, though he waited some time for +her to explain herself. + +"What made you do it?" he exclaimed at length. "You must have known +that you were laying up an endless store of wretchedness for your +husband and yourself; and I can hardly believe that you were +influenced only by the motives that you mentioned when I was here +last." + +"There was one motive which I didn't mention," said Mrs. Harrington. +"You hardly know enough about me to be amused by it; but I have no +doubt that the regiment would consider it an exquisite joke if I were +to assert that I had married Bob Annesley because I loved him. And yet +it isn't very odd that I should love him. He was crazily in love with +me once; he was kind to me when no one else was kind; he treated me +like a lady; while other men, who by way of being my friends, were +insulting me, more or less directly, every day. Oh, I know what you +are saying to yourself. You are saying that if I had really cared for +him at all, I should not have married him against his will. But I +thought I might reckon without his will--he has so little of it. That +has always been Bob's defect; and I don't mind saying so, because it +is the only defect that I have ever discovered in him. I believed that +I could win him back, and that, when once we were married, he would +forget his fancy for Miss Cecil, as he has forgotten other fancies +before. Now that it is too late, I have found out that I was wrong. If +I had known three weeks ago as much as I know now, I would have died a +thousand times rather than have married him. He hates me, and I am +rightly punished for my blindness and obstinacy." + +She had spoken quietly at first, then with a good deal of excitement; +but now her voice dropped to a whisper as she crouched down over the +fire, muttering, "Yes, I am punished--I am punished!" + +The Professor frowned. He disliked melodrama, and had no great belief +in a repentance which could be evidenced only by words. "Perhaps money +and lands may afford you some consolation," he observed rather +cruelly. + +Mrs. Harrington did not notice the sneer. "Why did you go away and +leave me alone with my temptation?" she cried suddenly. "You might +have prevented this." + +"I cannot flatter myself," answered the Professor coldly, "that my +influence with you would have been sufficiently strong for that." + +"It was stronger than you think. I liked you; you had been kind to me, +and I was ready to listen to you. I have not forgotten how you stood +by me that day when Mrs. Cecil turned her back upon me; women in my +position don't forget such things. But you went away just when I most +needed a friend, and so I allowed myself to be deceived by my vain +hopes." + +"If any words of mine could have caused you to think twice before you +took this irrevocable step," returned the Professor, "I can only +regret most sincerely that business should have called me away at so +important a moment; but there is little use in discussing what might +have been. The only thing for you and your husband to do now is +frankly to accept a situation from which you cannot escape." + +"Unless by means of an over-dose of chloral," suggested Mrs. +Harrington, with a faint smile. + +The Professor got up. "Mrs. Harrington," said he, "you may yet prove +yourself an excellent wife and make your husband happy; but you can +hardly expect to do this easily or immediately. And if I were you, I +would not begin by making speeches which are silly if they are +insincere, and wicked if they are not." + +Thereupon he left the room without further leave-taking, while she, +still bending over the fire, appeared unconscious alike of his rebuke +and of his exit. The Professor, as he walked home, felt that he had +been very severe, yet not unwarrantably so. "She is a foolish, +theatrical woman," he said to himself; "and I strongly suspect that +all that exaggerated penitence was assumed for a purpose. Of course +her chief object now will be to conciliate her mother-in-law, and she +probably imagines that my report of her may carry some weight in that +quarter. But she makes a mistake, because I shan't report anything +about her--good, bad, or indifferent. No more meddling with other +people's business for me!" + + + VI. + +The Professor would undoubtedly have felt confirmed in the harsh +judgment which he had passed upon Bob Annesley's wife if he could have +seen her at the meet on the following morning. Mrs. Harrington was a +finished horsewoman, and never looked to so great advantage as in the +saddle. Upon the present occasion she rode a fidgety chestnut mare, +the property of Captain White, and the ease with which she managed her +rather troublesome mount won her a great deal of admiration from the +local members of the hunt. As for the officers of the 27th, they were +too well accustomed to Polly Harrington's dexterity to pay her any +compliments on that score; but they clustered round her as usual, and +smiled amiably at her smart sayings, and told her that she was in rare +form that morning. Bob hovered in the background, looking woebegone. + +The neighborhood of Lichbury does not bear a very high character among +hunting men, blank days being of by no means rare occurrence +thereabouts, but there is always a fox at Lingham Gorse, and it was at +Lingham Gorse that a fox was found on the particular morning with +which we are concerned. The whole crowd got away together, and kept +together for the first five minutes, going at racing speed across the +short turf of the downs at the foot of which Lichbury stands. On this +the northern side, the gradual slopes of these hills form as good and +safe galloping ground as any one could wish for; but their southern +face is very different, falling away in precipitous chalk quarries and +sharp declivities unwelcome to timid riders, and it was after crossing +the backbone of the ridge that the field began to scatter right and +left, only a few adventurous spirits riding straight ahead and +trusting in Providence. + +Among these was Mrs. Harrington. She was followed by Annesley and +Captain White, the latter of whom was watching her headlong progress a +little anxiously, and wishing, perhaps, that his chestnut mare were +safe in her stable. It was not, however, any fear on the mare's +account that caused him to rein in suddenly and ejaculate "Good God!" +About a furlong ahead, a row of posts and rails had come into view, +immediately beyond which--as every one who knew the country was well +aware--was a chalk cliff some two hundred feet in depth. It seemed +incredible that any human being, whether familiar with the country or +not, should ride at such a fence, for there was nothing but sky +visible upon the other side of it; but Mrs. Harrington was making +straight for it now, and it was the discovery that she was doing so +that called forth Captain White's exclamation. He raised his hand to +his mouth and sent a warning shout after her, and Bob, who saw the +danger at the same moment, shouted too; but Mrs. Harrington did not +appear to hear either of them, and, indeed, it was already too late +for warnings to be of any avail. For an instant horse and rider rose +dark against the gray sky, then vanished; and to those who waited +there, helpless and horror-struck, it seemed as if some minutes +elapsed before the dull crash came which told them that poor Polly +Harrington had taken her last leap. + +"Awful thing!--most shocking sight I ever saw in my life!" Captain +White said, describing the catastrophe, some months afterwards, to an +old brother officer. "But she must have been killed like a flash of +lightning--there's some comfort in that. And, though I wouldn't say so +to any one else, I can't help thinking that the poor woman's death was +about the best thing that could have happened. Fancy her having got +Bob Annesley to marry her on the sly! Only shows what fools fellows +are, eh? You've heard that he's engaged to that pretty Miss Cecil now, +haven't you? It isn't given out yet, of course, and I suppose they'll +have to let a year go by before they announce it formally; but +everybody knows about it down in these parts." + +Probably many less plain-spoken persons than Captain White agreed with +him in thinking the unfortunate harpy's death the best thing that +could have happened; but it may be hoped that Bob Annesley was not +consciously among the number. The suddenness and the ghastly nature of +the calamity gave him a shock from which his elastic spirits took a +long time to recover; but he began to be more cheerful again after +meeting Canon Stanwick, and putting into words a dread which he had +not liked to mention to other friends. + +"I say," he asked hesitatingly, and keeping his eyes upon the ground, +"do you believe--do you believe that--_she did it on purpose?_" + +The Professor evaded the question so cleverly that his interrogator +quite imagined that he had answered it. + +"I do not think," he said gravely, "that we have any right whatever to +cast such an aspersion as that upon her memory." + + + + + ARCHDEACON HOLDEN'S + TRIBULATION. + + +She was so frail and small that the country squires who came in at the +one stopping-place and left the train at the next, and talked of petty +sessions and highway-boards in a strong slow way, like men with a +tight grasp of a slippery subject, felt fatherly towards her; and so +fair that their sons found out new and painful ways of sitting which +hid dirty boots, and strange modes of propping their guns which +employed hands suddenly gifted with a sense of over-abundance; and so +dainty, yet withal bright of eye and lip, that a gentleman who got in +one stage from Stirhampton, and knew her, was tormented by his fancy; +which pictured her as a sparkling gem in its nest of jeweller's satin. +Altogether so frail and fair and dainty was this passenger; and yet in +the flush of her young beauty and fearless nature, there was about her +so imperious a charm that they all, though they might travel with her +but three miles--it was a dreadful train--and exchange with her not +three words, became her slaves. And the gentleman who knew her +grovelled before her in spirit to an extent unbecoming in a man, much +more in a clergyman and a curate. + +She was popular, too. For though she parted from him at the door of +the carriage, she fell in almost at once with another who knew her. +His business, as far as any save chatting with her was apparent, +seemed to be about the book-stall. And after she had gone laughing +from him, and the servant who met her--and was equally her slave with +all the others, though he was more like a bishop and a father of the +Church than they promised ever to be--had taken her luggage in charge, +she met yet another, who blushed, and bowed, and smiled, and stammered +before her after his kind. With him she was very merry until their +roads diverged--if he had any road which was not of the nature of the +last one's business. And then she tripped on just as gayly with a very +tall acquaintance--they were all of one sex--and after him with +another, who took up the walking where his predecessor left off, just +for all the world as if she were a royal letter, and they were those +old Persian post-runners, who made so little of "parasangs," and whose +roads seemed always to be through "Paradises." But this last one +brought her to the rectory gates, and--much lamenting--left her. + +There was only Granny in the drawing-room when Dorothy ran upstairs. +Granny, who was eighty-seven, and with a screen at her back and a +wood-fire toasting her old toes, could tell wonderful tales of the +great war. Who had heard "Clarissa" read aloud _coram puellis_, and at +times shocked a mealy-mouthed generation by pure plain-speaking. She +was the Archdeacon's grandmother; but to Dorothy what relation she +was, or whether she was any relation, not all Stirhampton could +tell--though it spent itself in guessing, and dallied to some extent +with a suggestion that she was Dorothy's great-great aunt; not, +however, committing itself to this, nor altogether breaking with a +rival theory, that they were first cousins three times removed. + +Whatever she was, Dorothy hugged her a score of times, and the tiny +old lady said, "God bless you, my dear," half as many, and was going +on to her full number, when the Archdeacon himself came in. He, too, +smiled upon seeing the girl, and smoothed his ruffled brow, and tried +to be as if the drawing-room--when he was in it--were all his world. +For this was a part of the Archdeacon's system, and he was of note +through four dioceses as a man of system. So he patted the girl's +hair, and said kindly: + +"Well, my dear, I trust you have had a pleasant visit?" + +"Oh, charming! and yet I am so glad to be at home again! But, +guardian, what is the matter?" + +The Archdeacon was vexed and pleased. Vexed that his attempt had not +succeeded, and pleased that he could now tell his trouble. "The +matter, my dear?" he said, taking a turn up and down the room; "why, I +am greatly annoyed and put out. I never knew such a thing happen +before." + +Granny clasped her hands upon the arms of her chair in sudden +excitement. "It isn't overdrawn, George, is it?" she said, nervously. + +"Overdrawn!" he replied, cheerfully, "not at all." There had been a +time when he was not an archdeacon, or a rector, or even in orders, +but only a hard-reading undergraduate, when Granny's banking account +had been with great difficulty kept above zero. Then it was her +bugbear; now the family fortunes were as solidly substantial as the +comfortable red brick rectory itself; but Granny found some difficulty +in laying her bogey. "Not at all. Not so bad as that," he said, +cheerfully; "but very annoying, nevertheless. I was writing my +Sunday evening sermon this afternoon--as I always do, you know, on +Friday--when Whiteman came running in to me at five minutes after +four, and said there was no one at the church to take the four o'clock +service. Of course I had to break off and go. The congregation had to +wait fully ten minutes. It is not so much the inroad upon my time, +though that is not unimportant, as the lack of system, that I deplore. +Maddy and Moser"--they were the married curates, and took charge of +the two chapels of ease--"are, of course, engaged elsewhere; but +surely one of the other five might have been here. It is a piece of +gross carelessness on the part of some one." + +Dorothy nodded and looked gravely into the teapot. "And I saw Mr. Gray +on my way from the station!" she said. + +"Ah, just so. You did not meet any of the others?" + +"Yes, I think I did," she replied, with a great show of candor. "Of +course I saw Mr. Bigham by the Church Club and Mr. Brune in Wych +Street." + +"Brune is the culprit, I expect. I do not think it would be Charles +Emerson's fault, because he is unwell." + +"Unwell!" cried the girl, impulsively. "Indeed, he is quite ill; I +never saw any one look so bad." + +"Oh! and where may you have seen _him?_" asked the Archdeacon, +stopping suddenly in his promenade of the room, and facing her. + +Dorothy bit her tongue to punish it. There is nothing so dangerous as +a half-confidence. It so often leads, will-he-nill-he, to a whole one. +"He got into the train at Bromfield. He had walked out there," she +said, meekly. Surprisingly meekly for her. + +"Quite so. And may I ask whereabouts you met his brother?" + +"Met his brother?" + +"Yes, my dear," said the Archdeacon, suavely. "Met his brother, Mr. +Philip Emerson?" + +"Let me see," murmured Dolly, with a vast pretence of considering, +though her little ears were scarlet by this time. "Where did I meet +Mr. Philip? Of course, I met him at the station. But however did you +know?" she asked, with the utmost effrontery. + +"When one sheep, Dorothy, jumps over a gap, all the flock follow. Four +of my curates being so busily engaged meeting my ward, I had little +doubt but that the fifth was as well occupied." + +Unseen by him, she made a face at Granny, who was understood to say +that boys would be boys. + +"And sheep, sheep!" retorted the Archdeacon, with sharpness. + +"They did not tell me that they had come to meet me," said Dolly, +rebelliously. She did not like that proverb--or whatever it was--about +sheep. + +The Archdeacon frowned. "No," he said, severely, "but I do not doubt +that you would have been better pleased with them if they had. Let me +speak to you seriously, Dorothy. I cannot--I really cannot--have you +distracting these young men in this way. I observed before you left +several little matters of this kind--little laxities, and a want of +energy and punctuality, on their part that were due, I fear, to your +influence." + +"Little laxities!" murmured she, "I never heard of such things." But +he put her aside with a grand wave of his hand. + +"I am not inclined to say it is altogether your fault. You cannot help +your looks or your youth, but you can avoid being a hindrance instead +of an assistance in the parish. I must not suffer,"--he was working +himself into a well-regulated passion--"my arrangements to be +disorganized even by you. I will not and I cannot say, were this to go +on, what steps it might not be my duty, however painful, to take." + +After uttering this tremendous threat the Archdeacon walked hastily +across the room, and, turning, looked to see what effect it had had +upon his ward. She was playing with her tea-spoon, tapping petulantly +with her foot, reddening, and pouting, and glancing for sympathy at +Granny; behaving altogether like a naughty school-girl under reproof. +He took another turn, feeling that he did well--thoroughly well, to be +angry; and looked again. She had risen, and was leaving the room. He +could only see her back. I don't know what it was--perhaps he could +not tell himself--in the pose of her little head and her shoulders, or +whether it was something quite outside her--which made him step after +her, and touch her shoulder gently. + +"There, there!" he said, staying her kindly. "My scolding has not been +very dreadful, Dorothy. We must be good friends again. Will you please +to give me my second cup, and then I will go back and finish--my other +sermon." + +Granny looked surprised, and Dorothy laughed as brightly as if there +were not and never had been in the world such a thing as a tear. For +the Archdeacon rarely made a joke, even a little one. Jokes cannot be +made upon system, and Archdeacon Holden had found system so good a +thing that any pursuit which did not admit of it was apt to be out of +favor with him. He was gifted with great powers of organization, and +these he had used well, and found sufficient, so that by their means, +without being a great preacher or a small controversialist, without +inventing a new doctrine, or reviving an old argument, he had risen to +preferment. He was little more than thirty when he was presented to +the living of Stirhampton; and though the parish was overpopulated and +under-churched, he reduced it in ten years to such a condition that it +ranked as a model and its rector as a great man, often consulted by +the heads of the Church upon parochial matters. Moreover, men talked +of him as of one likely to rise higher. + +In person he was a tall, well-favored man, in the prime of life, with +hair just beginning to be flecked with gray. He had nothing of the +ascetic in his appearance, though his manners were cold and reserved; +but he was liberal, and had good nature and good temper, as well as +good parts. These qualities, however, the strict formality of his +habits, and his rigid adherence to rule, hid in a great measure from +all who were not well acquainted with the man. + +To Dorothy he had been almost a father; and would perhaps have come to +be looked upon entirely in that light, but that he was betrayed from +time to time by little things. For instance, what do fathers--ordinary +allowance-making, bill-paying fathers--know of their girl's dresses? +The smallest chit in the nursery will tell you, nothing. And Carrie +and Edie are so persuaded of this that they will flaunt their new +seal-skins--which have not been paid for, and are absurdly +inconsistent with papa's allowance--under his very nose, without the +slightest tremor; and Flo will wear three new dresses in a quarter +with as little chance of being prematurely found out in her +extravagance, as if they were three new pairs of mittens. But in this +respect the Archdeacon was not Dorothy's father. For not only did he +observe during the few days which followed his scolding that she had +not forgotten it; that she went sadly--or seemed to go sadly--about +the house, and shunned his visitors with a pensive air, leaving Mr. +Maddy, who was over fifty, and had seven children, to pour out his own +tea. Not only did he note this, but when Dorothy appeared at breakfast +upon the fourth morning with a demure face and downcast eyes, he +marked the novelty of her quaker-like gray dress, with its plain +collar and cuffs, as quickly as did Granny. + +"That is very becoming, Dorothy," he remarked, pleasantly. He wished +to be upon the old footing with her. To tell you the truth, he was +tired of that going sadly. The house seemed as soberly dull as when +she was away. And of late he had come to think it was rather a dull +house. She had been away a good deal. + +"Becoming!" cried Dolly, to his surprise, in a piteous voice. "And I +had thought that this would do." + +"Would do, my dear? What do you mean? So it does. It seems to me to do +excellently." He was slightly taken aback. + +"But I thought you said it was becoming?" she cried, querulously. "You +did, too. I heard it quite plainly." + +"Well, my dear, and what more would you wish me to say? It is--it is +very becoming." + +He tried to speak in a tone at once critical and archidiaconal, such a +tone as the palæontologist adopts when he admires a bone of the +pliocene mammoth in the case of a rival collector, or as paterfamilias +uses when praising--to order--his girl's bonnets. He did not +altogether succeed. The ribs of that primitive animal, though they +have pretty curves enough, do not preen themselves before a mirror +with a little fluttering blush, and bright backward glances, and +quick-straying dainty fingers adjusting here and defining there; nor +do they form together a picture such as none but paterfamilias +himself--no _locum tenens_, for instance--can look on with a perfectly +even pulse-beat. The Archdeacon felt that his tone was not quite the +tone he had, so to speak, commissioned, and swallowed half a cup of +hot coffee at a gulp. + +"Oh, dear!" he cried, hastily. + +"Oh, dear!" echoed the girl, stamping her foot in a pet. "Then I don't +know what to do. I am sure I thought this would please you, and I +should not be likely to--to do what you said I did in this. But now I +shall not know what to do." + +And she ran out of the room, leaving her guardian in a state of much +doubt as to whether she were laughing or crying; and perplexed, too, +by uncertainty whether that gray dress sprang from a conscientious +endeavor after sedateness, a real desire to improve--for oft the habit +doth proclaim the mind--or from a freakish, wicked, contrary, wilful, +teasing spirit, such as old Mrs. Fretchett had told him inhabited the +bodies of young girls. + +Alas! he was soon driven to be of old Mrs. Fretchett's opinions. There +was no more sedateness, no more going sadly, after this; nor ever did +scolding seem more entirely thrown away than that extempore sermon +upon the day of Dolly's return. She was gayer, prettier, more +heedless, more flighty than of old. The drawing-room was never +free from curates now, whose business might indeed be with the +Archdeacon; but by the time he was ready to talk it over, to audit +their accounts, or sign their checks, the gentlemen were always +upstairs, and--_difficilis descensus Olympi_. There were rumors of +disagreements among the black-coated ones. The parish districts--and +especially their lady visitors--declared that they were neglected; the +rector never got a quiet cup of tea in his own house, nor even a quiet +placid moment; for the sounds of young people laughing and, as Mrs. +Fretchett called it, "fribbling" upstairs would float down to him +working in his study, and then he would pish and pshaw, and move his +chair impatiently. And no wonder. It meant that the parish was taking +its chance; it meant that his system was breaking down. He knew it +did. He told himself he did well to be angry. And he did thoroughly +well; but after all it gave him small satisfaction. He began to feel +more sore, and think more seriously about the matter every day. He +could not have the work of ten years and more undone in this absurd +fashion. Some remedy must be found. He might get rid of all the +curates in a body, for violent diseases call for violent remedies; but +that might not turn out a remedy. Or Dorothy might be--well, not +dismissed exactly--but disposed of out of the way in some sort or +other. The more Archdeacon Holden thought it over, the more he was +forced to the opinion that his duty lay in this direction. And then +something happened which brought matters to a head. + +It was on the day of the Grammar School sports, which were held by his +permission in the large field at the back of the rectory, where the +old town wall, running round two sides of the enclosure, afforded a +capital place, of vantage for such spectators as did not wish to enter +the ground. It was past five o'clock, and the sports were over. Of +course the Archdeacon had attended them; and then he had retired to +his study, and was thinking of going upstairs to tea, when a renewal +of the shouting in the rear of the house attracted his attention. +Wondering what this might be he mounted to the drawing-room, and +finding only Granny there, fenced in as usual with her screen, walked +to the further window which overlooked the field. The sports, to all +appearance, had been resumed, late as it was; for though the ground +was almost clear, a crowd was fast collecting upon the wall, and he +could make out figures--it was just growing dusk--moving quickly round +the ropes, which had not been taken away. One, two, three, four, five +black figures moving swiftly in single file. + +"I am afraid this won't do. I don't think that this can be allowed," +he was beginning, shaking his head slowly, under the impression that +the town boys had taken advantage of the place and occasion to get up +a little impromptu competition of their own. "I don't think--good +heavens!" + +Granny awoke upon the instant, the Archdeacon's voice rang out so loud +in anger and reprobation. "What is it?" the old lady said, weakly, +feeling for her stick. "What is it, my dear? I hope it is not much. +You know it is very near quarter day, George, very near, and some +money will be paid in then. Dear me, dear me!" + +Even in his wrathful astonishment the Archdeacon tried to say gently, +"It is not that, Granny. It is nothing of any consequence. I shall be +back in a moment." + +And then he ran downstairs. Nothing of any consequence indeed; three +steps at a time, and so, bare-headed and his skirts flying behind him, +reached the terrace, taking no notice of a couple of maids in the +hall, who were looking through a window and giggling, and who fled at +his approach. On the terrace, with a charming hood over her head, was +Dorothy, looking down into the field, and now laughing and now +clapping a pair of little gloved hands in great delight, a white rose +on the wall before her. He scarce looked at her, but peered into the +dusk. Yes, his eyes had not played him false. The five athletes +speeding round the roped circle were his five curates, and none +others. + +"Isn't it fun?" cried Dorothy at his side, all unconscious of his +feelings. "The boys were nothing to them, they look so funny in their +long coats. They are walking a mile, and the winner is to have this +rose. Don't you think Mr. Bigham is gaining?" + +The Archdeacon was speechless. He glared at this mocker, and then at +the crowd upon the wall opposite--the cheering, shouting, growing +crowd--and breathed hard. Funny! Fun! Had the girl lost all sense of +decorum? He would waste no words upon her; but he ran down the steps +and strode across the grass as swiftly as his dignity, a little +impaired by haste and passion, would permit. Fortunately the +competitors were just then at the near side of the circle. But, for +that very reason, by the time he approached the ropes, the walkers, +who had only eyes for one another and that slender figure on the +terrace, had passed the point nearest to him, and were speeding away +quite unconscious of their superior's presence. He thought he should +cut off the last man, and increased his pace. He called to him and +waved his hand. But Mr. Brune, intent upon the business before him, +and going steadily like a machine heel and toe, his elbows well in, +and his eyes upon the small of his predecessor's back, neither saw nor +heard him. The Archdeacon was excited and provoked. In the heat of the +moment he followed, still calling to him; and, being quite fresh, +began to overhaul Mr. Brune. He did not hear a louder shout rise from +the crowd upon the wall; he did not hear his ward clapping her hands +in a perfect ecstasy of delight; he did not--indeed he could not--hear +the giggling of the maids at the hall window. But all these people and +everybody else thought that he had joined in the "parsons' race." +Some, like Dorothy, thought it was very nice "and liberal" of him; and +more, like Mrs. Fretchett, who had a fine view from her window, +thought it very odd of him. And the faster he pressed on to catch +Brune, becoming with every stride more and more angry, the more the +crowd upon the wall shouted, and Dolly clapped, and Brune increased +his speed, and the maids giggled; until at length the Archdeacon, +beginning to suspect that his own position was far from dignified, and +a glimmer of the light in which he was being viewed by others dawning +upon him, broke into a run, and the crowd into a shout of reprobation +of his unfairness; and then at last he laid his hand upon Mr. Brune's +shoulder. + +"Stop, Mr. Brune," he gasped; "stop! This is most unseemly. Do you +hear? Most unseemly! I exceedingly disapprove of this--this +disgraceful exhibition. Do you see the people, sir?" + +This at last brought Mr. Brune to a standstill. He was a pitiable +object as, hot, dishevelled, and panting, his tie awry and his collar +rumpled, he stared, dumfounded, into his superior's flushed and +indignant face. He tremulously wiped his brow, and by a tremendous +effort recovered his eyeglasses from between his shoulders, where they +had been swinging rhythmically. He put them on and looked round. Then +he became aware of the spectators who had gathered since he and his +fellows had, in quite a private way, started on their little frolic, +and the affair became apparent to him in its true colors. For, left to +themselves, and unperverted by Dolly and unreasoning rivalry, there +were no curates anywhere of more proper ideas than the Archdeacon's. +Brune dropped his glasses, quite crushed; but, seeing the necessity +for action, revived. He did what the Archdeacon should have done at +first. He jumped over the ropes and ran across to stay the others. + +Their rector did not wait to speak with them then, but, still +frowning, stalked back to the terrace, striving to recover his +self-possession upon his way. With but partial success, for as he +mounted the steps, "Oh, guardian!" cried a merry laughing voice from +above him, "what is the matter? Why did you stop? I am sure you would +have beaten them all if you had gone on as well as you started. You +walked capitally. And why have they all stopped?" + +"Because they have come to their senses," he said, hoarsely, striving +vainly to repress his passion. "Have you ever heard of Circe, girl?" + +Dolly only stared. This tone at any rate she had never heard before. + +"Because my parish is not large enough to contain her foolish rout and +their senseless tricks. They were walking for a rose, were they?" he +continued, bitterly. What he had said already seemed to have hurt the +girl not one whit, only surprised her; and he was terribly +exasperated. "I suppose that is but a pretty figure of speech, and +stands for yourself. I am surprised you have so much modesty. It is +fitting and maidenly in my ward to offer herself as the prize of a +public walking match." + +Her face turned white in the dusk. "How dare you!" she cried, starting +back as if he had struck her. He had hurt her at last, if that was +what he wished to do. "How dare you!" she cried, passionately. But +this time there came a quiver in her voice and a catching of her +breath, and before he could be ready for this change of front she was +gone, and he heard her sobbing bitterly as she passed through the +hall. Only the white rose lay where she had flung it. + +He went into his study and sat down very miserably, thinking, no +doubt, over the state of the parish, and of what Mrs. Fretchett would +say, and took no tea that evening. Only at one time or another, before +nine o'clock prayers, he saw all the five curates. At dinner he was +very silent, looking from time to time curiously at Dolly, who was +silent too, attending chiefly to Granny's wants, and avoiding his eyes +with a conscious shrinking, new in her and strangely painful to him. + +But the Archdeacon had made up his mind, and before twenty-four hours +were over had put it before Dorothy. First, however, he had asked her +pardon quite formally for what he had said in his haste; and the +strange look which pained him had passed from the girl's face, as +melts a shadow cast by a cloud that was before the sun, and suddenly, +even as we look up, is not. And then he had gone on to speak seriously +to her of the state of his parish, touching upon the report of the +previous day's doings, which was already abroad, and which Dolly, with +some temper and as much justice, set down to Mrs. Fretchett. + +"Well, my dear," the Archdeacon answered pleasantly, though in a tone +which made her look sharply at him, "she and I are--well, old enough +to remember that you are young, and, as Granny says, young folks will +be young. Still I am bound to take care that the interests of my +parish come first. It must not suffer through any one, even through +you. And suffer it does, Dolly; which brings me to the other matter. +An opportunity offers--I may say, three opportunities--of solving our +difficulty. I have told you that you are too thoughtless for a +clergyman's daughter, but I think you would make a good and true +clergyman's wife." + +Crash! Dorothy had dropped the paperweight with which she was playing. +He let her stoop to pick it up, which she did clumsily, and was long +about it, and then he went on. "I have had three proposals for your +hand, my dear. I do not know that this _embarras de richesses_ is +altogether to your credit, but so it is. Three of your fellow-culprits +of yesterday, Philip Emerson, Mr. Bigham, and Mr. Brune are anxious to +press their suits. They all have some means, and are young men of +whom, notwithstanding that little affair, I can approve." + +She was drawing outlines on her work-table with one white forefinger. +"I don't think I want to marry either of them," she murmured with much +indifference, considering the effect of an imaginary landscape with +her head on one side. + +The Archdeacon frowned. "They think that you have given them reason to +hope." + +"They cannot all think that!" she retorted, pouting scornfully. And +the worst of it was that he could not controvert this. + +"Philip Emerson, Dorothy, seemed in particular to fancy he had +received some encouragement." + +"Oh," said Dolly, "I should like to ask him what he meant; I don't +think he would dare to say it to my face. Perhaps he meant this!" She +went on contemptuously, rummaging in her work-basket-- + +"For all I can remember he may have given it to me. One of them did, I +know. Isn't it nonsense?" + +She held a crumpled scrap of paper towards her guardian, and he took +it with the air of a man accepting service of a writ. "Am I to read +it?" he asked stiffly. + +"Of course--I suppose he intended it to be read." + +And the Archdeacon holding it gingerly, just as if it were the royal +invitation before mentioned, read a few lines-- + + + "Ah, great gray eyes, that, in my true love's face, + Tell of the pure and noble soul within; + One look in your calm depths I fain would trace, + I fain would win." + + +and threw it down with a contemptuous "pshaw!" He looked through the +window for a moment before he spoke again; then with a great show of +cheerfulness he said, "Now, my dear, let us be serious, which of them +would you like to see yourself?" + +"Which of them!" she answered impatiently. "None of them--ever! I hate +them! That is, I mean that I don't want to marry them." + +"I shall not let you give that answer without thought. It seems to me +that you must have encouraged one or the other of them. You must take +a fortnight to think it over." + +"I won't have a minute!" she cried angrily. + +"A clear fortnight," he repeated with some sternness. "If you are then +resolved, I shall be the last to force you to marry against your will. +I have, indeed, no legal power over you. I am not your father." + +"No, you are not," she replied sullenly. + +That pained the Archdeacon more than all that had gone before. It was +not only thoughtless, it was ungracious, it was ungrateful, and it +hardened his heart so that he spoke out what was in his thoughts. + +"Quite so," he began. "I was only going to say that if at the end of +the time you found yourself unable to embrace----" + +"I am a woman, if I am your ward," suddenly and spitefully. + +"--to embrace this opportunity," shot out the clergyman, very red in +the face, "then I should have to make an alteration in my household; +in what direction, you will, no doubt, be able to guess." + +She bent over her work and made no reply, so that he felt a cruel +satisfaction that he had at last managed to cow her. Then, as there +seemed no more to be said, the Archdeacon went downstairs and tried to +feel content with his partial success. One way or another the +difficulty would now be settled. And this being so, if he sighed over +the consideration of this comfortable fact, we may presume that the +sigh was one of relief. + +The gravity which on a sudden fell upon the rectory folk was not +unmarked by Stirhampton. But Stirhampton felt no surprise at it. +Stirhampton well understood the cause of it. What wonder, asked +Stirhampton, if the Archdeacon looked perplexed, and Miss Dorothy +gloomy, and the curates anxious? What wonder, indeed, when as sure as +eggs were what they seemed to be--and there they generally were--the +Court of Arches had its eyes upon Stirhampton, and sentences of +suspension were in the air, and there was even talk of unfrocking! +so that much discussion was raised in town circles as to the details +of that ceremony, and whether a cook's cleaver did, or did not, +figure in it, and if it did, in what particular way it was used? What +wonder, indeed? though those who knew best whispered that the race +for the girl's hand (oh, those giggling eavesdropping maids!), +disgraceful as it was in men of their calling and the Archdeacon's +age, might--observe--_might_ have been overlooked. "But when it came," +said these, "to the Archdeacon, in his chagrin at being outstripped by +younger men, striking Mr. Brune, and knocking his own curate over the +ropes, so that the very crowd cried shame! that was indeed going a +little too far. There could be no winking at that, be the authority +ever so favorable to him." + +Still there are always froward people who will have no fire where +others have been the first to espy the smoke. There were these at +Stirhampton, men who were rude and said it was all fiddle-de-dee when +Mrs. Fretchett said it was _scandalum magnatum_--a plain and +unmannerly contradiction--and made themselves otherwise unpleasant. +But even these grew silent after a time, when a very weighty fact came +to be known. Two official letters--missives were the more proper +word--of most threatening appearance had been delivered at the +rectory. Their envelopes had been stamped with the name of an august +street, and bore also in the left-hand bottom corner a distinguished +title. On one had been a twopenny stamp. Timid people scanned the +rector with curious pity, and such upon the whole was the effect of +this postal intelligence that the doctrine of _scandalum magnatum_ +gained almost universal credence; even the froward ones grew serious +and thought it over. + +It was probably from a feeling of delicacy that they refrained from +carrying their surmises to the Archdeacon. To the curates some hints +were given, but what with their obtuseness--they scarcely seemed to +understand--and a fretful touchy disposition, noticeable in young men, +nothing came of these hints. + +Of all the rectory folk, it was Dolly only who (oh, those giggling, +tattling maids!) came to hear of the rumor. It distressed her beyond +measure. She could not feel sure that it was untrue. Nay, she knew +that one part was true, for had she not seen the Archdeacon read one +and the other of the letters mentioned, and immediately thereafter +fall into deep thought. Ever since he had been grave and preoccupied. +Her ideas upon unfrocking--though the cleaver was not one of +them--were sufficiently terrible, and grew more and more vivid and +daunting the longer she dwelt upon them. Yet there was not between +herself and her guardian such an amount of confidence as made it easy +for her to speak to him upon such a subject. + +So poor Dorothy knew not what to think. She had her own little +distresses, we know; but they were forgotten in this greater +apprehension that she had brought grief and disgrace upon the +Archdeacon. And when, about the end of the fortnight, he bade her come +to his study, she thought of them only as of matters to be put aside, +if mentioned, as quickly as possible, as matters of no importance in +the face of the blow she felt was about to fall. + +Archdeacon Holden was writing steadily. He looked up at her entrance +to point with a faint smile to a chair, and then went on with his +work. She fancied that there was something strange and new in his air; +she marked under the paper-weight the letters about which all the town +was talking; at her elbow she spied an envelope addressed to the Dean +and Chapter of W----, the patron of the living, and Dorothy felt sick +at heart. + +Whether he was or was not aware of the direction of her thoughts, he +folded his letter slowly, willing, perhaps, to put off as long as +possible the evil day when something must be told. It was not until he +had risen and approached the fireplace, so that his back was towards +her, that he said pleasantly: + +"Well, Dorothy, we will talk of your affairs first." + +"They will not occupy you long," was her quiet answer; what were these +things to her now? "I have made up my mind, or rather it is unchanged. +If I have thoughtlessly caused pain to Mr. Emerson and the others, I +am sorry; but I cannot marry any of them." + +He did not speak for a moment. Perhaps his thoughts had gone off to +his own matters, for his hand shook a little as he adjusted the +date-case over the mantelpiece. "You are quite sure, my dear?" he said +at last. There was no displeasure in his tone. + +"I am quite sure." + +"Well, that would have been an embarrassing answer, Dorothy, if things +still stood as they were," he said. "But they do not; and any change I +am going to make will be the result of another cause. I have some news +for you. I am going to leave Stirhampton, and you are the first person +to whom I have told the fact. You will not do my parish much more +harm, my dear, for in a few weeks at most I shall be without one." + +His back was towards her, and so he could not see the current of grief +and trouble that flashed from Dolly's heart to Dolly's face. He waited +for the eager, happy words of congratulation that should have come; +for the touch at which he should turn to meet the bright, animated +face that would smile on him for a moment, and then flit joyfully +upstairs to Granny. He waited for these things, wondering if his +elevation could bring him any other pleasure to compare with this. And +then, instead, he heard behind him a quick, low sob, and turned, with +a sinking of the heart, to find the girl crying bitterly, her face +cast forward in utter self-abandonment upon her arms, and her whole +frame quivering with the sharpness of her sorrow. + +His heart sank with a natural foreboding. But surely it must have been +a singularly affectionate one, or where otherwise lay hidden the +source of that deep feeling which welled up in the simple words wrung +from him by the sight of her distress. "My darling, my darling, only +tell me what it is!" he cried, stroking her fair hair and striving to +comfort her. "Tell me your trouble. Don't you know I would give my +life to save you pain, Dolly? Don't hurt me like this, but look up and +tell me. What is it, my darling?" + +But for a time, though she heard him, she would not be comforted, and +his words even seemed to give a fresh impulse to her grief. At last, +amid half-stifled sobs, with her face still hidden, Dolly made him +understand what she had heard and what she had feared, and what she +had supposed him to mean when he said he was about to leave +Stirhampton; and poured out, too, her own self-reproach, while he +stood over her and listened, and now touched the bowed head, and now +smiled grimly at the rumor of that unfrocking. And when he came to +answer her, he did it in a score of words that dried her eyes +effectually, and made her turn her flushed, pitiful, tear-stained face +upon him, a glorious smile of pure happiness irradiating it that +somehow made his heart leap up like a boy's--and then ache as those +deserve to ache who play the boy when old enough to know better. + +"It is a mistake," was all he said; "I am leaving here, but not in +disgrace, Dolly. I have accepted the Bishopric of the new see of +Deringham. What a silly, loving, little girl it is! You may read the +letter, my dear." And while Dolly, in radiant dishevelment, was +striving to tell him her pleasure, he took an envelope from his +pocket and held it out. Dolly seized it eagerly and opened it, and +found within it not at all what the Archdeacon had thought was in +it. The envelope contained no statesman's autograph, or courtly +to-apron-inviting note from Downing Street, but only a white rose, a +dried rose, flattened, but still sweet and fragrant. Almost as soon +as the girl's fingers touched it the Archdeacon was aware of his +mistake--surely a very curious mistake--and snatched it from her with +some confused words and a reddening brow. But Dolly had seen it--had +certainly seen it; and somehow it brought back to her memory the day +of the curates' race; so that when the Archdeacon brusquely put +another letter into her hand, she read it with her eyes, and not her +mind. As for the Archdeacon, he sought the window, and hemmed and +hawed, and at last said, hastily, without turning, "There, there, my +dear, I think there is no more to be said. Will you kindly go and tell +Granny?" and so affected to select a volume from a shelf of the Early +Fathers. + +But Dorothy did not move. She sat stooping forward, passing the hem of +her much-bedabbled handkerchief through her fingers. + +"Are you sure that you have told me all you wish to tell me?" she +asked, slowly. + +Her guardian started. "I think so," he answered, and plunged +recklessly at a volume of Origen, or it might be St. Anthony, perhaps. + +"Then why," cried Dolly, starting up and facing him, with crimson +cheeks, "why did you call me your darling just now? You had no right +to do it--no right, though you are my guardian, to say that--if you +are going to say nothing more! If you want me, why don't you ask for +me! Philip could, and Mr. Brune, and the other! I hate a coward. Why +cannot you say, if--you--want me?" + +There are men who have seen Deans in their shirt-sleeves, playing +billiards. And there is one still living--chiefly on the fact--who +once was last in a three-legged race in double harness with a Duke. So +it is undeniable that great men do unbend at times to a surprising +extent. But that the Archdeacon at the point of the story we have +reached unbent in the manner much hinted at in Stirhampton, I shall +ask no reader to believe. The more as the real facts which have been +told fully explain the disorder of lace and neck-ribbon, the softness +of eye, and crimson of cheek, which Granny noticed about the girl when +she ran in upon her, all smiles and tears, knocking down the screen, +and hugging the little old lady into a state of deep alarm. + +Which took, of course, the old direction. But the Archdeacon came +upstairs in time to anticipate the usual question. "No," he said, +putting his hand on the kneeling girl's head, "the balance is all +right, Granny--except in years. There is a heavy overdraft of those +against me." + +"And I will honor it," said Dolly, gravely, and took his hand and +kissed it. As for what followed--we had better put up Granny's screen +again. This the man of system, who had no taste for jests? But then it +is just possible that Dolly did not mean it for a jest. The curates? +Mr. Philip Emerson, Mr. Brune, and Mr. Bigham? Indeed I cannot say +what became of them. I should suppose they died prematurely of broken +hearts. But the next time that I visit Deringham I will call at the +Palace and ask the Bishop. + + + + + THE END. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of For the Cause, by Stanley J. 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Weyman + +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: For the Cause + +Author: Stanley J. Weyman + +Release Date: February 17, 2012 [EBook #38911] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR THE CAUSE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by +Google Books (The New York Public Library) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p class="hang1">Transcriber's Notes:<br> +<br> +1. Page scan source:<br> +http://books.google.com/books?ei=0r4yT5jOC4Hm0QGA9ezTBw</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>FOR THE CAUSE.</h2> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>FOR THE CAUSE</h1> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h5>BY</h5> + +<h2>STANLEY J. WEYMAN</h2> + +<h5><i>Author of "A Gentleman of France," "The House of the +Wolf" "Under the Red Robe" Etc</i>.</h5> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3><span class="sc">CHICAGO</span><br> +CHARLES H. SERGEL COMPANY</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p class="center" style="font-weight:bold"><span style="font-size:smaller">Copyright, 1897,</span><br> + + +<span class="sc">by</span><br> + +CHARLES H. SERGEL COMPANY.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<div style="margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; font-weight:bold"> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_01" href="#div1_01"><span class="sc">For The Cause.</span></a></p> + +<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_02" href="#div1_02"><span class="sc">King Pepin And Sweet Clive.</span></a></p> + +<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_03" href="#div1_03"><span class="sc">The Deanery Ball.</span></a></p> + +<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_04" href="#div1_04"><span class="sc">The Professor and the Harpy.</span></a></p> + +<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_05" href="#div1_05"><span class="sc">Archdeacon Hodden's Tribulation</span>.</a></p> +</div> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_01" href="#div1Ref_01">FOR THE CAUSE.</a></h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> +<br> +<p class="normal">Paris had never seemed to the eye more peaceful than on a certain +November evening in the year 1589: and this although many a one within +its walls resented the fineness of that night as a mockery, a scoff at +the pain of some and the fury of others.</p> + +<p class="normal">The moonlight fell on roofs and towers, on the bare open space of the +Place de Grève and the dark mass of the Louvre, and only here and +there pierced, by chance, a narrow lane, to gleam on some foul secret +of the kennel. The Seine lay a silvery loop about the He de la Cité--a +loop cut on this side and that by the black shadows of the Pont au +Change, and the Petit Pont, and broken again westward by the outline +of the New Bridge, which was then in building.</p> + +<p class="normal">The city itself lay in profound quiet in the depth of the shadow. From +time to time at one of the gales, or in the lodge of the Châtelet, a +sentinel challenged or an officer spoke. But the bell of St. Germain +l'Auxerrois, which had rung through hours of the past day was silent. +The tumult which had leaped like flame from street to street had +subsided. Peaceful men breathed again in their houses, and women, if +they still cowered by the hearth, no longer laid trembling fingers on +their ears. For a time the red fury was over: and in the narrow +channels, where at noon the mob had seethed, scarcely a stray wayfarer +could now be found.</p> + +<p class="normal">A few however were abroad: and of these some who chanced to be +threading the network of streets between the Châtelet and the Louvre, +heard behind them the footsteps of a man in great haste, and saw pass +them a youth, white-faced and wearing a sword and a student's short +cloak and cap--apparently a member of the University. He for his part +looked neither to right nor left: saw not one of them, and seemed bent +only on getting forward.</p> + +<p class="normal">He slackened his space however near the corner of the Rue de l'Arbre +Sec, where it shoots out of the Rue de Béthisy, and then turning it +with a rush, caught his foot in some obstacle, and plunging forward, +would have fallen violently, if he had not come against a man, who +seemed to be standing still in the shadow of the corner house.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hold up!" exclaimed this person, withstanding the shock better than +could have been expected. "You should have a pretty mistress, young +man, if you go to her at this pace!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The student did not answer--did not seem to hear. He had staggered +against the wall, and still stood propping himself up by it. His face, +pale before, was ghastly now, as he glared, apparently horror-struck, +at something beyond the speaker. The latter, after muttering angrily, +"What the plague do you go dashing about the streets like a Shrove +Tuesday ox for?" turned also and glanced behind him.</p> + +<p class="normal">But not at that to which the student's eyes were directed. The +stranger seemed constrained to look first and by preference at the +long, low casement of a house nearly opposite them. This window was on +the first floor, and projected somewhat over the roadway. There seemed +to be no light in the room; but the moonlight reached it, and showed a +woman's head bent on the sill--a girl's head, if one might judge from +its wealth of hair. One white wrist gleamed amid this, but her face +was hidden on her arms. In the whole scene--in the casement open at +this inclement time, in the girl's attitude of abandonment, there was +something which stirred the nerves. It was only after a long look that +the stranger averted his eyes, and cast a casual glance at a queer, +dark object, which a few paces away swung above the street, dimly +outlined against the sky. It was that which had fascinated his +companion.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Umph!" he ejaculated in the tone of a man who should say "Is that +all?" And he turned to the other again. "You seem taken aback, young +man!" he said. "Surely that is no such strange sight in Paris +nowadays. What with Leaguers hanging Politiques, and Politiques +hanging Leaguers, and both burning Huguenots, I thought a dead man was +no longer a bogey to frighten children with!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush, sir, in Heaven's name!" exclaimed the young man, shuddering at +his words. "He was my father!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The stranger whistled. "He was your father, was he!" he replied more +gently. "I dare swear too that he was an honest man, since the Sixteen +have done this. There, steady, friend. These are no times for weeping. +Be thankful that Le Clerc and his crew have spared your home, and +your--your sister. That is rare clemency in these days, and Heaven +only knows how long it may last. You wear a sword? Then shed no tears +to rust it. Time enough to weep, man, when there is blood to be washed +from the blade."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You speak boldly," said the youth, checking his emotion somewhat, +"but had they hung your father before his own door----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good man," said the stranger with a coolness that bordered on the +cynical, "he has been dead these twenty years."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then your mother?" suggested the student with the feeble persistence +by which weak minds show their consciousness of contact with stronger +ones, "you had then----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hung them all as high as Haman!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, but suppose there were among them," objected the youth, in a +lower tone, while he eyed his companion narrowly, "some of the clergy, +you understand?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"They had swung--though they had all been Popes of Rome," was the +blunt answer.</p> + +<p class="normal">The listener shook his head, and drew off a pace. He scanned the +stranger curiously, keeping his back turned to the corpse the while, +but failed by that light to make out much one way or the other. +Scarcely a moment too was allowed him before the murmur of voices and +the clash of weapons at the far end of the street interrupted him. +"The watch are coming," he said roughly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right, and the sooner we are within doors the better," his +companion assented.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was noticeable that throughout their talk which had lasted many +minutes no sign of life had appeared in any of the neighboring houses. +Scarce a light shone from a window though it was as yet but nine +o'clock. The fact was that fear of the Sixteen and of the mob they +guided was overpowering Paris--a terror crushing out men's lives. +While the provinces of France were divided at this time between two +opinions, and half of each as a rule owned the Huguenot Henry the +Fourth--now for six months the rightful sovereign--for king, Paris +would have none of him. The fierce bigotry of the lower classes, the +presence of some thousands of Spanish soldiers, and the ambition and +talents of the Guise family combined at once to keep the gates of +Paris closed to him, and to overawe such of the respectable citizens +as from religious sympathy in rare cases, and more often out of a +desire to see law and order re-established, would fain have adopted +his cause. The Politiques, or moderate party, who were indifferent +about religion as such, but believed that a strong government could +only be formed by a Romanist king, were almost non-existent in Paris. +And the events of the past day, the murder of three judges and several +lower officials--among them poor M. Portail whose body now decorated +the Rue de l'Arbre Sec--had not reassured the municipal mind. No +wonder that men put out their lights early, and were loth to go to +their windows, when they might see a few feet from the casement the +swollen features of a harmless, honest man, but yesterday going to and +from his work like other men.</p> + +<p class="normal">Young Portail strode to the door of the house and knocked hurriedly. +As he did so, he looked up with something like a shiver of nervous +apprehension at the window above. But the girl neither moved nor +spoke, nor betrayed any consciousness of his presence. She might have +been dead. It was a young man, about his own age or a little older, +who, after reconnoitring him from above, cautiously drew back the +door. "Whom have you with you?" he whispered, holding it ajar, and +letting the end of a stout club be seen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No one," Portail replied in the same cautious tone. And he would have +entered without more ado, and closed the door behind him had not his +late companion, who had followed him across the street like his +shadow, set his foot against it. "Nay, but you are forgetting me," he +said good-humoredly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Go your way! we have enough to do to protect ourselves," cried +Portail brusquely.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The more need of me," was the careless answer.</p> + +<p class="normal">The watch were now but a few houses away, and the stranger seemed +determined. He could scarcely be kept out without a disturbance. With +an angry oath Felix Portail held the door for him to enter; and closed +it softly behind him. Then for a minute or so the three stood silent +in the darkness, while with a murmur of voices and clash of weapons, +and a ruddy glimmer piercing crack and keyhole, the guard swept by.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you a light?" Felix murmured.</p> + +<p class="normal">"In the back room," replied the young man who had admitted them. He +seemed to be a clerk or confidential servant. "But your sister," he +continued, "is distraught. She has sat at the window all day as you +see her now--sometimes looking at <i>it</i>. Oh Felix, this has been a +dreadful day for this house!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The young Portail assented by a groan. "And Susanne?" he asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is with Mistress Marie, terrified almost to death, poor child. She +has been crouching all day by her, hiding her face in her gown. But +where were you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"At the Sorbonne," replied Felix in a whisper.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah!" the other exclaimed, something of hidden meaning in his tone. "I +would not tell her that, if I were you. I feared it was so. But let us +go upstairs."</p> + +<p class="normal">They went: with more than one stumble by the way. At the head of the +staircase the clerk opened a door and preceded them into a low-roofed +panelled room, plainly but solidly furnished, and lighted by a small +hanging lamp of silver. A round oak table on six curiously turned legs +stood in the middle, and on it some food was laid. A high-backed +chair, before which a sheep-skin rug was spread, and two or three +stools made up with a great oak chest the main furniture of the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">The stranger turned from scrutinizing his surroundings, and started. +Another door had silently opened; and he saw framed in the doorway and +relieved by the lamplight against the darkness of the outer room the +face and figure of a tall girl. A moment she stood pointing at them +with her hand, her face white--and whiter in seeming by reason of the +black hair which fell around it--her eyes dilated, the neck-band of +her dark red gown torn open. "A Provençal!" the intruder murmured to +himself. "Beautiful and a tigress."</p> + +<p class="normal">At any rate, for the moment, beside herself. "So you have come at +last!" she panted, glaring at Felix with passionate scorn in word and +gesture. "Where were you while these slaves of yours did your bidding? +At the Sorbonne with the black crows! Thinking out fresh work for +them? Or dallying with your Normandy sweetheart?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush!" he said quailing visibly. "There is a stranger here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There have been many strangers here today!" she retorted bitterly. +"Hush, you say? Nay, I will not be silent. They may tear me limb from +limb, but I will accuse them of this murder before God's throne. +Coward! Do you think I will ask mercy from them? Come, look on your +work! See what the League have done--your holy League!--while you sat +plotting with the black crows!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She pointed into the dark room behind her, and the movement disclosed +a younger girl clinging to her skirts, and weeping silently. "Come +here, Susanne," said Felix, who had turned pale and red under the lash +of the other's scorn. "Your sister is not herself. You do no good, +Marie, staying in there. See, you are both trembling with cold."</p> + +<p class="normal">"With cold? Then do you warm yourselves! Sit down and eat and drink +and be comfortable and forget him! But I will not eat or drink while +he hangs there! Shame, Felix Portail! Have you arms and hands, and +will you let your father hang before his own door?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Her voice rang shrilly to the last word; and then an awkward silence +fell on the room. The stranger nodded, almost as if he had said, +"Bravo!" The two men of the house cast doubtful glances at one +another. At length the clerk spoke. "It is impossible, mistress," +he said gently. "Were he touched, the mob would wreck the house +to-morrow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A little bird whispered to me as I came through the streets,"--it was +the stranger who spoke--"that Mayenne and his riders would be in town +to-morrow. Then it seems to me that our friends of the Sorbonne will +not have matters altogether their own way."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Sorbonne was the Theological College of Paris; at this time the +headquarters of the extreme Leaguers and the Sixteen. Mayenne and +D'Aumale, the Guise princes, more than once found it necessary to +check the excesses of this party.</p> + +<p class="normal">Marie Portail looked at the last speaker. He sat on the edge of the +chest, carelessly swinging one knee over the other; a man of middle +height, rather tall than short, with well bronzed cheeks, a forehead +broad and white, and an aquiline nose. He wore a beard and moustaches, +and his chin jutted out. His eyes were keen, but good-humored. Though +spare he had broad shoulders, and an iron-hilted sword propped against +his thigh seemed made for use rather than show. The upper part of his +dress was of brown cloth, the lower of leather. A weather-stained +cloak which he had taken off lay on the chest beside him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are a man!" cried Marie fiercely. "But as for these----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stay, mistress!" the clerk broke in "Your brother does but collect +himself. If the Duke of Mayenne comes back to-morrow, as our friend +here says is likely--and I have heard the same myself--he will keep +his men in better order. That is true. And we might risk it if the +watch would give us a wide berth."</p> + +<p class="normal">Felix nodded sullenly. "Shut the door," he said to his sister, the +deep gloom on his countenance contrasting with the excitement she +betrayed. "There is no need to let the neighbors see us."</p> + +<p class="normal">This time she obeyed him. Susanne too crept from her skirts, and threw +herself on her knees, hiding her face on the chair. "Ay!" said Marie +looking down at her with the first expression of tenderness the +stranger had noted in her. "Let her weep. Let children weep. But let +men work."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We want a ladder," said the clerk in a low voice. "And the longest we +have is full three feet short."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is just half a man," remarked he who sat on the chest.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you mean?" asked Felix wonderingly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What I said."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But there is nothing on which we can rest the ladder," urged the +clerk.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then that is a whole man," quoth the stranger curtly. "Perhaps two. I +told you you would have need of me." He looked from one to the other +with a smile; a careless, self-contented smile.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are a soldier," said Marie suddenly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"At times," he replied, shrugging his shoulders.</p> + +<p class="normal">"For which side?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He shook his head. "For my own," he answered naïvely.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A soldier of fortune?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"At your service, mistress; now and ever."</p> + +<p class="normal">The clerk struck in impatiently. "If we are to do this," he said, "we +had better see about it. I will fetch the ladder."</p> + +<p class="normal">He went out and the other men followed more slowly, leaving Marie +still standing gazing into the darkness of the outer room--she had +opened the door again--like one in a trance. Some odd trait in the +soldier led him, as he passed out, to lay his hand on the hair of the +kneeling child with a movement infinitely tender; infinitely at +variance with the harsh clatter with which his sword next moment rang +against the stairs as he descended.</p> + +<p class="normal">The three men were going to do that which two certainly, and perhaps +all, knew to be perilous. One went to it in gloom, anger as well as +sorrow at his heart. One bustled about nervously, and looked often +behind him as if to see Marie's pale face at the window. And one +strode out as to a ball, glancing up and down the dark lane with an +air of enjoyment, which not even the grim nature of his task could +suppress. The body was hanging from a bar which crossed the street at +a considerable height, serving as a stay between the gables of two +opposite houses, of which one was two doors only from the unhappy +Portails'. The mob, with a barbarity very common in those days, had +hung him on his own threshold.</p> + +<p class="normal">The street as the three moved up it, seemed empty and still. But it +was impossible to say how long it would remain so. Yet the soldier +loitered, staring about him, as one remembering things. "Did not the +Admiral live in this neighborhood?" he inquired.</p> + +<p class="normal">"De Coligny? Yes. Round the corner in the Rue de Béthisy," replied the +clerk brusquely. "But see! The ladder will not reach the bar--no, not +by four feet."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Set it against the wall then--thus," said the soldier, and having +done it himself he mounted a few steps. But then he seemed to bethink +himself. He jumped down again. "No," he exclaimed, peering sharply +into the faces of one and the other, "I do not know you. If any one +comes, my friends, and you leave the foot of the ladder I shall be +taken like a bird on a limed twig. Do you ascend, Monsieur Felix."</p> + +<p class="normal">The young man drew back. He was not without courage, or experience of +rough scenes. But the Louvre was close at hand, almost within earshot +on one side, the Châtelet was scarcely farther off on the other; and +both swarmed with soldiers and brutal camp-followers. At any moment a +troop of them might pass; and should they detect any one interfering +with King Mob's handiwork, he would certainly dangle in a very few +minutes from some handy lamp-iron. Felix knew this, and stood at gaze. +"I do not know you either," he muttered irresolutely, his hand still +on the ladder.</p> + +<p class="normal">A smile of surprising humor played on the soldier's face. "Nay, but +you knew <i>him!</i>" he retorted, pointing upwards with his hand. "Trust +me, young sir," he added significantly, "I am less inclined to mount +now than I was before."</p> + +<p class="normal">The clerk intervened before Felix could resent the insult. "Steady," +he said; "I will go up and do it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not so!" Felix rejoined, pushing him aside in turn. And he ran up the +ladder. But near the top he paused, and began to descend again. "I +have no knife," he said shamefacedly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pshaw! Let me come!" cried the stranger. "I see you are both good +comrades. I trust you. Besides, I am more used to this ladder work +than you are, and time is everything."</p> + +<p class="normal">He ran up as he spoke, and standing on the highest round but one he +grasped the bar above his head, and swung himself lightly up, so as to +gain a seat on it. With more caution he wormed himself along it until +he reached the rope. Fortunately there was a long coil of it about the +bar; and warning his companions in a whisper, he carefully, and with +such reverence as the time and place allowed, let down the body to +them. They received it in their arms; and were loosening the noose +from the neck when an outburst of voices and the noise of footsteps at +the nearer end of the street surprised them. For an instant the two +stood in the gloom, breathless, stricken, still, confounded. Then with +a single impulse they lifted the body between them, and huddled +blindly to the door. It opened at their touch, they stumbled in, and +it fell to behind them. The foremost of the party outside had been +within ten paces of them. A narrow escape!</p> + +<p class="normal">Yet they had escaped. But what next? What of their companion? The +moment the door shut behind them they would have rushed out again, ay, +to certain death, so strongly had the soldier's trust appealed to +their confidence. But they had the body in their arms; and by the time +it was laid on the stairs, a score of men had passed. The opportunity +was over. They could do nothing but listen. "Heaven help him!" fell +from the clerk's quivering lips. Pulling the door ajar, they stood, +looking each moment to hear a challenge, a shot, the clash of swords. +But no. They did hear the party halt under the gallows, and pass some +brutal jest, and go on. And that was all.</p> + +<p class="normal">They could scarcely believe their ears; no, nor even their eyes, when +a few minutes later the street being now quiet, they passed out, and +stood in it shuddering. For there still swung the corpse dimly +outlined above them! There! Certainly there! The clerk seized his +companion's arm and drew him back. "It was the fiend!" he stammered. +"See, your father is still there! It was the fiend who helped us!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But suddenly the figure they were watching became agitated; another +instant and it slid gently to the ground. It was the soldier. "O ye +gods!" he cried, bent double with silent laughter. "Saw you ever such +a trick? How I longed to kick if it were but my toe at them, and I +forbore! Fools that they were! Did man ever see a body hung in its +sword? But it was a good trick, eh?" appealing to them with a simple +pride in his invention. "I had the rope loose in my hand when they +came, and I drew it twice round my neck--and one arm trust me--and +swung off gently. It is not every one who would have thought of that, +my children."</p> + +<p class="normal">It was odd. They still shook with fear, and he with laughter. He did +not seem to give a thought to the danger he had escaped. Pride in his +readiness and a keen sense of the humorous side of the incident +entirely possessed him. At the very door of the house he still +chuckled from time to time; muttering between the ebullitions, "Ah, I +must tell Diane! Diane will be pleased!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Once inside, however, he acted with more delicacy than might have been +expected. He stood aside while the other two carried the body +upstairs; and himself waited patiently in the bare room below, which +showed signs of occasional use as a stable. Here the clerk Adrian +presently found him, and murmured some apology. Mistress Marie, he +said, had fainted.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A matter which afflicts you, my friend," the soldier replied with a +grimace, "about as much as your master's death. Pooh, man, do not look +fierce! Good luck to you. Only if--but this is no house for gallantry +to-night--I had spruced myself, you had had to look to your ewe lamb!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The clerk turned pale and red by turns. This man seemed to read his +thoughts as if he had indeed been the fiend. "What do you wish?" he +stammered.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Only shelter until the early morning when the streets are most quiet; +and a direction to the Rue des Lombards."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Rue des Lombards?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, why not?" But though the soldier still smiled, the lines of his +mouth hardened suddenly. "Why not to the Rue des Lombards?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know no reason why you should not be going there," replied the +clerk boldly. "It was only that the street is near; and a friend of my +late master's lives in it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"His name?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The clerk started; the question was put so abruptly, and in a tone so +imperious. "Nicholas Toussaint," he answered involuntarily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay?" replied the other, raising his hand to his chin meditatively and +glancing at Adrian with a look that for all the world reminded him of +an old print of the eleventh Louis, which hung in a room at the Hôtel +de Ville. "Your master, young man, was of the moderate party--a +Politique?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He was."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A good man and a Catholic? one who loved France? A Leaguer only in +name?" he continued with vividness.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, that is so."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But his son? He is a Leaguer out and out--one who would rise to +fortune on the flood tide of the mob? A Sorbonnist? The priests have +got hold of him? He would do to others as they have done to his +father? A friend of Le Clerc and Boucher?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Adrian nodded reluctantly. This strange man confounded and yet +fascinated him: this man so reckless and gay one moment, so wary the +next: exchanging in an instant the hail of a boon companion for the +tone of a noble.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And is your young master also a friend of this Nicholas Toussaint?" +was the next question.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Adrian, "he has been forbidden the house. M. Toussaint does +not approve of his opinions."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha! That is so, is it," rejoined the stranger with his former gayety. +"And now enough: where will you lodge me until morning?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If my closet will serve you," Felix answered with a hesitation he +would not have felt a few minutes before, "it is at your will. I will +bring some food there at once, and will let you out if you please at +five." And Adrian added some simple directions, by following which his +guest might reach the Rue des Lombards without difficulty.</p> + +<p class="normal">An hour later if the thoughts of those who lay sleepless under that +roof could have been traced, some strange contrasts would have +appeared. Was Felix Portail thinking of his dead father, or of his +sweetheart in the Rue des Lombards, or of his schemes of ambition? Was +he blaming the crew of whom until to-day he had been one, or sullenly +cursing those factious Huguenots as the root of the mischief? Was +Adrian thinking of his kind master, or of his master's daughter? Was +the guest dreaming of his narrow escape? or revolving plans beside +which Felix's were but the schemes of a rat in a drain? Perhaps Marie +alone--for Susanne slept a child's sleep of exhaustion--had her +thoughts fixed on him, who so few hours before had been the centre of +the household.</p> + +<p class="normal">But such is life in troubled times. Pleasure and pain come mingled +together, and men snatch the former even from the midst of the latter +with a trembling joy; knowing that if they wait to go a pleasuring +until the sky be clear, they may wait until nightfall.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Adrian called his guest at cock-crow the latter rose briskly and +followed him down to the door. "Well, young sir," he said on the +threshold, as he wrapped his cloak round him and took his sheathed +sword in his hand, "I am obliged to you. When I can do you a service, +I will."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You can do me one now," replied the clerk bluntly, "It is ill work +having to do with strangers in these days. You can tell me who you +are, and to which side you belong."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Which side? I have told you--my own. And for the rest," continued the +soldier, "I will give you a hint." He brought his lips near the +other's ear, and whispered, "Kiss Marie--for me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The clerk looked up aflame with anger, but the other was already gone +striding down the street. Yet Adrian received an answer to his +question. For as the stranger disappeared in the gloom, he broke +out with an audacity that took the listener's breath away into a +well-known air,</p> +<div class="poem2"> + +<p class="t0">"Hau! Hau! Papegots!<br> +Faites place aux Huguenots!"</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">and trilled it as if he had been in the streets of Rochelle.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Death!" exclaimed the clerk, getting back into the house, and barring +the door, "I thought so. He is a Huguenot. But if he takes his neck +out of Paris unstretched, he will have the fiend's own luck, and the +Béarnais' to boot!"</p> +<br> + +<h3>II.</h3> +<br> +<p class="normal">When the clerk went upstairs, again, he heard voices in the back room. +Felix and Marie were in consultation. The girl was a different being +this morning. The fire and fury of the night had sunk to a still +misery: and even to her it seemed over dangerous to stay in the house +and confront the rage of the mob. Mayenne might not after all return +yet: and in that case the Sixteen would assuredly wreak their spite on +all, however young or helpless, who might have had to do with the +removal of the body. "You must seek shelter with some friend," Felix +proposed, "before the city is astir. I can go to the University. I +shall be safe there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Could you not take us with you?" Marie suggested meekly.</p> + +<p class="normal">He shook his head, his face flushing. It was hard to confess that he +had power to destroy, but none to protect. "You had better go to +Nicholas Toussaint's," he said. "He will take you in, though he will +have nothing to do with me."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marie assented with a sigh, and rose to make ready. Some few valuables +were hidden or secured, some clothes taken; and then the little party +of four passed out into the street, leaving but one solemn tenant in +their home. The cold light of a November morning gave to the lane an +air even in accustomed eyes of squalor and misery. The kennel running +down the middle was choked with nastiness, while here and there the +upper stories leaned forward so far as to obscure the light.</p> + +<p class="normal">The fugitives regarded these things little after the first shivering +glance, but hurried on their road; Felix with his sword, and Adrian +with his club marching on either side of the girls. A skulking dog got +out of their way. The song of a belated reveller made them shrink +under an arch. But they fell in with nothing more formidable until +they came to the high wooden gates of the courtyard in front of +Nicholas Toussaint's house.</p> + +<p class="normal">To arouse him or his servants, however, without disturbing the +neighborhood was another matter. There was no bell; only a heavy iron +clapper. Adrian tried this cautiously, with little hope of being +heard. But to his joy the hollow sound had scarcely ceased when +footsteps were heard crossing the court, and a small trap in one of +the gates was opened. An elderly man with high cheek bones and curly +gray hair looked out. His eyes lighting on the girls lost their +harshness. "Marie Portail!" he exclaimed. "Ah! poor thing, I pity you. +I have heard all. I only returned to the city last night or I should +have been with you. And Adrian?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"We have come," said the young man respectfully, "to beg shelter for +Mistress Marie and her sister. It is no longer safe for them to remain +in the Rue de l'Arbre Sec."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can well believe it," cried Toussaint vigorously. "I do not know +where we are safe nowadays. But there," he added in a different tone, +"no doubt the Sixteen are acting for the best."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You will take them in then?" said Adrian, with gratitude.</p> + +<p class="normal">But to his astonishment the citizen shook his head, while an awkward +embarrassment twisted his features. "It is impossible!" he said +reluctantly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Adrian doubted if he had heard aright. Nicholas Toussaint was known +for a bold man; one whom the Sixteen disliked, and even suspected of +Huguenot leanings, but had not yet dared to attack. He was a dealer in +Norman horses, and this both led him to employ many men, reckless +daring fellows, and made him in some degree necessary to the army. +Adrian had never doubted that he would shelter the daughter of his old +friend; and his surprise on receiving this rebuff was extreme.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, Monsieur Toussaint--" he urged--and his face reddened with +generous warmth as he stood forward. "My master is dead! Foully +murdered! He lies who says otherwise, though he be of the Sixteen! My +mistress has few friends now to protect her, and those of small power. +Will you send her and the child from your door?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush, Adrian," cried the girl, lifting her head proudly, yet laying +her hand on the clerk's sleeve with a tender touch of acknowledgment +that brought the blood in redoubled force to his cheeks. "Do not press +our friend overmuch. If he will not take us in from the streets, be +sure he has some good reason to offer."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Toussaint was dumb. Shame--a shame augmented tenfold by the +clerk's fearlessness--was so clearly written on his face, that Adrian +uttered none of the reproaches which hung on his lips. It was Felix +who came forward, and said contemptuously, "So you have grown +strangely cautious of a sudden, M. Toussaint?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha! I thought you were there, or thereabouts!" replied the +horse-dealer, regaining his composure at once, and eyeing him with +strong disfavor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But Felix and I," interposed Adrian eagerly, "will fend for +ourselves."</p> + +<p class="normal">Toussaint shook his head. "It is impossible," he said surlily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then hear me!" cried Felix with excitement. "You do not deceive me. +It is not because of your daughter that you have forbidden me the +house, and will not now protect my sister! It is because we shall +learn too much. You have those under your roof, whom the crows shall +pick yet! You, I will spare for Madeline's sake; but your spies I will +string up, every one of them by----" and he swore a frightful oath +such as the Romanists used.</p> + +<p class="normal">Toussaint's face betrayed both fear and anger. For an instant he +seemed to hesitate. Then exclaiming "Begone, parricide! You would have +killed your own father!" he slammed the trap-door, and was heard +retreating up the yard with a clatter, which sufficiently indicated +his uneasiness.</p> + +<p class="normal">The four looked at one another. Daylight had fully come. The noise of +the altercation had drawn more than one sleepy face to neighboring +casements. In a short time the streets would be alive with people, and +even a delay of a few minutes might bring immediate danger. They +thought of this; and moved away slowly and reluctantly, Susanne +clinging to Adrian's arm, while Felix strode ahead scowling. When they +had placed, however, a hundred yards or so between themselves and +Toussaint's gates, they stopped, a chill sense of desolation upon most +of them. Whither were they to go? Felix urged curtly that they should +seek other friends. But Marie declined. If Nicholas Toussaint dared +not take them in, no other of their friends would. She had given up +hope, poor girl, and longed only to get back to their home, and the +still form, which it now seemed to her she should never have deserted.</p> + +<p class="normal">They were standing discussing this when a cry caused them to turn. A +girl was running hatless along the street towards them; a girl tall +and plump of figure in a dark blue robe, with a creamy slightly +freckled face, a glory of wavy golden hair about it, and great gray +eyes that could laugh and cry at once, even as they were doing now. +"Oh, Marie," she exclaimed taking her in her arms; "my poor little +one! Come back! You are to come back at once!" Then disengaging +herself, with a blushing cheek and more reserve she allowed Felix to +embrace her. But though that young gentleman made full use of his +permission, his face did not clear. "Your father has just turned my +sister from his door, as he turned me a month ago," he said bitterly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Poor girl, she quailed; looking at him with a tender upward glance +meant for him only. "Hush!" she begged him. "Do not speak so of him. +And he has sent to fetch them back again. He says he cannot keep them +himself, but if they will come in and rest he will see them safely +disposed of later. Will not that do?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Excellently, Miss Madeline," cried Adrian gratefully. "And we thank +your father a thousand times."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay but--" she said slyly--"that permission does not extend to you,"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What matter?" he said stoutly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What matter if Marie be safe you mean," she replied demurely. "Well, +I would I had so gallant a--clerk," with a glance at her own handsome +lover. "But come, my father is waiting at the gate for us." Yet +notwithstanding that she urged haste, she and Felix were the last to +turn. When she at length ran after the others her cheeks betrayed her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can see what you have been doing, girl," her father cried angrily, +meeting her just within the door. "For shame, hussy! Go to your room, +and take your friends with you." And he aimed a light blow at her, +which she easily evaded.</p> + +<p class="normal">"They will need breakfast," she persisted bravely. She had seen her +lover, and though the interview might have had its drawbacks--best +known to herself--she cared little for a blow in comparison with that.</p> + +<p class="normal">"They will take it in your room," he retorted. "Come, pack, girl! I +will talk to you presently," he added, with meaning.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Portails drew her away. To them her room was a haven of rest, +where they felt safe, and could pour out their grief, and let her pity +and indignation soothe them. The horror of the last twenty-four hours +fell from them. They seemed to themselves to be outcasts no longer.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the afternoon Toussaint reappeared. "On with your hoods," he cried +briskly, his good humor re-established. "I and half a dozen stout lads +will see you to a place where you can lie snug for a week."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marie asked timidly about her father's funeral. "I will see to it, +little one," he answered. "I will let the curate of St. Germain know. +He will do what is seemly--if the mob let him," he added to himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But father," cried Madeline, "where are you going to take them?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To Philip Boyer's."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What!" cried the girl in much surprise. "His house is small and +Philip and his wife are old and feeble."</p> + +<p class="normal">"True," answered Portail. "But his hutch is under the Duchess's roof. +There is a touch of <i>our great man</i> about Madame. Mayenne the crowd +neither overmuch love, nor much fear. He will die in his bed. But with +his sister it is a word and a blow. And the Sixteen will not touch +aught that is under her roof."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Duchess de Montpensier was the sister of Henry Duke of Guise, +Henry the Scarred, <i>Our great man</i>, as the Parisians loved to call +him. He had been assassinated in the antechamber of Henry of Valois +just a twelvemonth before this time; and she had become the soul of +the League, having more of the headstrong nature which had made him +popular, than had either of his brothers, Mayenne or D'Aumale.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I see," said Madeline, kissing the girls, "you are right, father."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Impertinent baggage!" he cried. "To your prayers and your needle. And +see that while we are away you keep close, and do not venture into the +courtyard."</p> + +<p class="normal">She was not a nervous girl, but the bare, roomy house seemed lonely +after the party had set out. She wandered to the kitchen where the two +old women-servants were preparing, with the aid of a turnspit, the +early supper; and learned here that only old Simon, the lame ostler, +was left in the stables, which stood on either side of the courtyard. +This was not reassuring news: the more as Madeline knew her father +might not return for another hour. She took refuge at last in the long +eating-room on the first floor; which ran the full depth of the house, +and had one window looking to the back as well as several facing the +courtyard. Here she opened the door of the stove, and let the cheery +glow play about her.</p> + +<p class="normal">But presently she grew tired of this, and moved to the rearward +window. It looked upon a narrow lane, and a dead wall. Still, there +was a chance of seeing some one pass, some stranger; whereas the +windows which looked on the empty courtyard were no windows at all--to +Madeline.</p> + +<p class="normal">The girl had not long looked out before her pale complexion, which the +fire had scarcely warmed, grew hot. She started, and looked into the +room behind her nervously: then looked out again. She had seen +standing in a nook of the wall opposite her, a figure she knew well. +It was that of her lover, and he seemed to be watching the house. +Timidly she waved her hand to him, and he, after looking up and down +the lane, advanced to the window. He could do this safely, for it was +the only window in the Toussaints' house which looked that way.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you alone?" he asked softly, looking up at her.</p> + +<p class="normal">She nodded.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And my sisters?" he continued.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have gone to Philip Boyer's. He lives in one of the cottages on the +left of the Duchess's yard."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah! And you? Where is your father, Madeline?" he murmured.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He has gone to take them. I am quite alone; and two minutes ago I was +melancholy," she added, with a smile that should have made him happy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I want to talk to you," he replied gravely. "May I get up if I can, +Madeline?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She shook her head, which of course meant no. And she said, "It is +impossible." But she still smiled.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a pipe which ran up the wall a couple of feet or so on one +side of the casement. Before she well understood his purpose, or that +he was in earnest he had gripped this and was halfway up to the +window.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, do take care," she cried. "Do not come, Felix. My father will be +so angry!" Woman-like she repented now, when it was too late. But +still he came on, and when his hand was stretched out to grasp the +sill, all her fear was only lest he should fall. She seized his wrist, +and helped him in. Then she drew back. "You should not have done it, +Felix," she said severely.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I wanted to see you so much, Madeline," he urged, "and the +glimpse I had of you this morning was nothing."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well then, you may come to the stove and warm yourself, sir. Oh! how +cold your poor hands are, my boy! But you must not stay."</p> + +<p class="normal">But stolen moments are sweet and apt to be long drawn out. She had a +great deal to say, and he had a great deal, it seemed, to ask--so much +to ask indeed, that gradually a dim sense that he was thinking of +other things than herself--of her father and the ways of the house, +and what guests they had, came over her.</p> + +<p class="normal">It chilled her to the heart. She drew away from him, and said, +suddenly, "Oh, Felix!" and looked at him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nothing more. But he understood her and colored; and tried to ask, but +asked awkwardly, "What is the matter, dearest?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know what you are thinking of," she said with grave sorrow, "Oh! it +is too bad! It is base of you, cruel! You would use even me whom you +love to ruin my friends!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush!" he answered, letting his gloomy passion have vent for the +moment, "they are not your friends, Madeline. See what they have done +for me. It is they, or the troubles they have set on foot, that have +killed my father!" And he swore solemnly--carried away by his mistaken +resentment--never again to spare a Huguenot save her father and one +other.</p> + +<p class="normal">She trembled and tried to close her ears. Her father had told her a +hundred times that she could not be happy with a husband divided from +her by a gulf so impassable. She had said to him that it was too late. +She knew it. She had given Felix her heart and she was a woman. She +could not take it back, though she knew that nothing but unhappiness +could come of it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"God forgive you!" she moaned in that moment of strained insight; and +sank in her chair as though she would weep.</p> + +<p class="normal">He fell on his knees by her with a hundred words of endearment, for he +had conquered himself again. And she let him soothe her. She had never +loved him more than now, when she knew the price she must pay for him. +She closed her eyes--for the moment--to that terrible future, and he +was holding her in his arms, when without warning a heavy footstep +rang on the stairs by the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">They sprang apart. If even then he had had presence of mind, he might +have reached the window. But he hesitated, looking in her startled +eyes. "Is it your father?" he whispered.</p> + +<p class="normal">She shook her head. "He cannot have returned. We should have heard the +gates opened. There is no one in the house," she murmured faintly.</p> + +<p class="normal">But still the footsteps came on: and stopped at the door. Felix looked +round in despair. Close beside him, and just behind the stove was the +door of a closet. He took two strides, and before he or she had +thought of the consequences, was within it. Softly he drew the door to +again; and she sank terrified on a chair, as the door of the room +opened.</p> + +<p class="normal">He who came in was a man of thirty-five, a stranger to her. A man with +a projecting chin. His keen gray eyes wore at the moment of his +entrance an impatient expression, but when he caught sight of her, +this passed away. He came across the floor smiling. "Pardon me," he +said--but said it as if no pardon were needed, "I found the stables +insupportably dull. I set out on a voyage of discovery. I have found +my America!" And he bowed in a style which puzzled the frightened +girl.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You want to see my father?"' she said tremulously. "He----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Has gone to the Duchess's. I know it. And very ill-natured it was of +him to leave me in the stable, instead of intrusting me to your care, +mistress. La Nouë," he continued, "is in the stable still, asleep on a +bundle of hay, and a pretty commotion there will be when he finds I +have stolen away!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Laughing with an easy carelessness that struck the citizen's daughter +with fresh astonishment, the stranger drew up the big armchair, which +was commonly held sacred to M. Toussaint's use, and threw himself into +it; lazily disposing his booted feet in the glow which poured from the +stove, and looking across at his companion with open and somewhat bold +admiration in his eyes. At another time she might have been offended: +or she might not. Women are variable. Now her fears lest Felix should +be discovered dulled her apprehension.</p> + +<p class="normal">Yet the name of La Nouë had caught her ear. She knew it well, as all +France and the Low Countries knew it in those days, for the name of +the boldest and staunchest warrior on the Huguenot side.</p> + +<p class="normal">"La Nouë?" she murmured, misty suspicions beginning to take form in +her mind.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, pretty one," replied he laughing. "La Nouë and no other. Does +Bras-de-fer pass for an ogre here in Paris that you tremble so at his +name? Let me----"</p> + +<p class="normal">But whatever the proposition he was going to offer, it came to +nothing. The dull clash of the gates outside warned both of them that +Nicholas Toussaint and his party had returned. A moment later a hasty +tread sounded on the stairs; and an elderly man wearing a cloak burst +in upon them.</p> + +<p class="normal">His eyes swept the room while his hand still held the door, and it was +clear that what he saw did not please him. He came forward stiffly, +his brows knitted. But he said nothing; seeming uncertain and +embarrassed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"See!" the first comer said, looking quietly up at him, but not +offering to move. "Now what do you think of your ogre? And by the +rood, he looks fierce enough to eat babes! There, old friend," he +continued speaking to the elder man in a different tone, "spare your +lecture. This is Toussaint's daughter, and as staunch I will warrant +as her father."</p> + +<p class="normal">The old noble--he had but one arm she saw--still looked at her with +disfavor. "Girls have sweethearts, sire," he said shrewdly.</p> + +<p class="normal">For a moment the room seemed to go round with her. Though something +more of reproach and playful defence passed between the two men, she +did not hear it. The consciousness that her lover was listening to +every word and that from this moment La Nouë's life was in his hands, +numbed her brain. She sat helpless, hardly aware that half a dozen men +were entering, her father one of them. When a lamp was called for--it +was growing dark--she did not stir: and Toussaint, not seeing her, +fetched it himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">But by the time he came back she had partly recovered herself. She +noted that he locked the door carefully behind him. When the lamp was +set on the table, and its light fell on the harsh features of the men, +a ray passed between them, and struck her pale face. Her father saw +her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"By heaven!" he cried furiously. "What does the wench here?" No one +answered; but all turned and looked at her where she cowered back +against the stove. "Go, girl!" Toussaint cried, beside himself with +passion. "Begone! and presently I will----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, stop!" interposed La Nouë. "Your daughter knows too much. We +cannot let her go thus."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Knows too much? How?" and the citizen tossed his head like a bull +balked in his charge.</p> + +<p class="normal">"His majesty----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, let his majesty speak for himself--for once," said the man with +the gray eyes--and even in her terror and confusion Madeline saw that +all turned to him with a single movement. "Mistress Toussaint did but +chat with La Nouë and myself, during her father's absence. But she +knows us; or one of us. If any be to blame it is I. Let her stay. I +will answer for her fidelity."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, but she is a woman, sire," some one objected.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, she is, good Poulain," and he turned to the speaker with a +singularly bright smile. "So we are safe, for there is no woman in +France would betray Henry of Bourbon!"</p> + +<p class="normal">A laugh went round. Some one mentioned the Duchess.</p> + +<p class="normal">"True!" said Henry, for Henry it was, he whom the Leaguers called the +Béarnais and the Politiques the King of Navarre, but whom later +generations have crowned as the first of French kings--Henry the +Great. "True! I had forgotten her. I must beware of her gold scissors. +We have two crowns already, and want not another of her making. But +come, let us to business without ceremony. Be seated, gentlemen; and +while we consider whether our plans hold good, Mistress Toussaint--" +he paused to look kindly at the terrified girl--"will play the sentry +for us."</p> + +<p class="normal">Madeline's presence within a few feet of their council-board was soon +forgotten by the eager men sitting about it. And in a sense she forgot +them. She heard, it is true, their hopes and plans, the chief a scheme +to surprise Paris by introducing men hidden in carts piled with hay. +She heard how Henry and La Nouë had entered, and who had brought them +in, and how it was proposed to smuggle them out again; and many +details of men and means and horses; who were loyal and who +disaffected, and who might be bought over, and at what price. She even +took note of the manner of each speaker as he leaned forward, and +brought his face within the circle of light, marking who were known to +her before, substantial citizens these, constant at mass and market, +and who were strangers; men fiercer-looking, thinner, haughtier, more +restless, with the stamp of constant peril at the corners of their +eyes, and swords some inches longer than their neighbors'.</p> + +<p class="normal">She saw and heard this and reasoned dully on it. But all the time her +mind was paralyzed by a dreadful sense of some great evil awaiting +her, something with which she must presently come face to face, though +her faculties had not grasped it yet. Men's lives! Ah, yes, men's +lives! The girl had been bred in secret as a Huguenot. She had been +taught to revere the great men of the religion, and not the weakness +of the cause, not even her lover's influence had sapped her loyalty to +it.</p> + +<p class="normal">Presently there was a stir about the table. The men rose. "Then that +arrangement meets your views, sire," said La Nouë.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perfectly. I sleep to-night at my good friend Mazeau's," the king +answered, "and leave to-morrow about noon by St. Martin's gate. Yes, +let that stand."</p> + +<p class="normal">He did not see--none of them saw--how the girl in the shadow by the +stove started; nor did they mark how the last trace of color fled from +her cheeks. Madeline was face to face with her fate, and knew that her +own hand must work it out. The men were separating. Henry bade +farewell to one and another, until only three or four beside Toussaint +and La Nouë remained with him. Then he prepared himself to go, and +girt on his sword, talking earnestly the while. Still engaged in low +converse with one of the strangers, he walked slowly lighted by his +host to the door, forgetting to take leave of the girl. In another +minute he and they would have disappeared in the passage, when a +hoarse cry escaped from Madeline's lips.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was little more than a gasp, but it was enough for men whose nerves +were strained. All--at the moment they had their backs to her, their +faces to the king--turned swiftly. "Ha!" cried Henry at once, "I had +forgotten my manners. I was leaving my most faithful sentry without a +word of thanks, or a keepsake by which to remember Henry of France."</p> + +<p class="normal">She had risen, and was supporting herself--but she swayed as she +stood--by the arm of the chair. Never had her lover been so dear to +her. As the king approached, the light fell on her face, on her +agonized eyes, and he stopped short. "Toussaint!" he cried sharply. +"Your daughter is ill. Look at her!" But it was noticeable that he +laid his hand on his sword.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stay!" she cried, the word ringing shrilly through the room. "You are +betrayed! There is some one--there--who has heard--all! Oh, sire, +mercy! mercy!"</p> + +<p class="normal">As the last words passed the girl's writhing lips she clutched at her +throat: seemed to fight a moment for breath: then with a stifled +shriek fell senseless to the ground.</p> + +<p class="normal">A second's silence. Then a whistling sound as half a dozen swords were +snatched from the scabbards. The veteran La Nouë sprang to the door: +others ran to the windows and stood before them. Only Henry--after a +swift glance at Toussaint, who pale and astonished, leaned over his +daughter--stood still, his fingers on his hilt. Another second of +suspense, and before any one spoke, the cupboard door swung open, and +Felix Portail, pale to the lips, stood before them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you here?" cried Henry, restraining by a gesture those who +would have flung themselves upon the spy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I came to see her," Felix said. He was quite calm, but a perspiration +cold as death stood on his brow, and his distended eyes wandered from +one to another. "You surprised me. Toussaint knows that I was her +sweetheart," he murmured.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, wretched man, to see her! And for what else?" replied Henry, his +eyes, as a rule, so kindly, bent on the other in a gaze fixed and +relentless.</p> + +<p class="normal">A sudden visible quiver--as it were the agony of death--shot through +Portail's frame. He opened his mouth, but for a while no sound came. +His eyes sought the nearest sword with horrid intentness. He gasped, +"Kill me at once, before she--before----"</p> + +<p class="normal">He never finished the sentence. With an oath the nearest Huguenot +lunged at his breast, and fell back, foiled by a blow from the King's +hand. "Back!" cried Henry, his eyes flashing as another sprang +forward, and would have done the work. "Will you trench on the King's +justice in his presence? Sheath your swords, all save the Sieur de la +Nouë, and the gentlemen who guard the windows!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He must die!" cried several voices, as the men still pressed forward +viciously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Think, sire! Think what you do," cried La Nouë himself, warning in +his voice. "He has the life of every man here in his hand? And they +are your men, risking all for the cause."</p> + +<p class="normal">"True," replied Henry, smiling; "but I ask no man to run a risk I will +not take myself."</p> + +<p class="normal">A murmur of dissatisfaction burst forth. Several drew their swords +again. "I have a wife and child!" cried one recklessly, bringing his +point to the thrust. "He dies!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He does not die!" exclaimed the King, his voice so ringing through +the room that all fell back once more; fell back not so much because +it was the King who spoke as in obedience to the voice which two +months before had rallied the flying squadrons at Arques, and years +before had rung out hour after hour and day after day above the long +street fight of Cahors. "He does not die!" repeated Henry, looking +from one to another, with his chin thrust out, "I say it. I! And there +are no traitors here!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your majesty," said La Nouë after a moment's pause, "commands our +lives."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thanks, Francis," Henry replied instantly changing his tone. "And now +hear me, gentlemen. Think you that it was a light thing in this girl +to give up her lover? She might have let us go to our doom, and we +none the wiser! Would you take her gift and make her no requital? That +were not royal. And now for you, sir"--he turned to Felix who was +leaning half-fainting against the wall--"hearken to me. You shall go +free. I, who this morning played the son to your dead father, give you +your life for your sweetheart's sake. For her sake be true. You shall +go out alive and safe into the streets of Paris, which five minutes +ago you little thought to see again. Go! And if you please, betray +us, and be damned! Only remember that if you give up your king and +these gentlemen who have trusted you, your name shall go down the +centuries--and stand for treachery!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He spoke the last words with such scorn that a murmur of applause +broke out even among those stern men. He took instant advantage of it. +"Now go!" he said hurriedly. "You can take the girl there with you. +She has but fainted. A kiss will bring her to life. Go, and be +silent."</p> + +<p class="normal">The man took up his burden and went, trembling; still unable to speak. +But no hand was now raised to stop him.</p> + +<p class="normal">When he had disappeared La Nouë turned to the king. "You will not now +sleep at Mazeau's, sire?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Henry rubbed his chin. "Yes; let the plan stand," he answered. "If he +betray one, he shall betray all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But this is madness," urged La Nouë.</p> + +<p class="normal">The king shook his head, and smiling clapped the veteran on the +shoulder. "Not so," he said. "The man is no traitor: I say it. And you +have never met with a longer head than Henry's."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never," assented La Nouë bluntly, "save when there is a woman in it!"</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The curtain falls. The men have lived and are dead. La Nouë, the +Huguenot Bayard, now exist only in a dusty memoir and a page of +Motley. Madame de Montpensier is forgotten; all of her, save her +golden scissors. Mayenne, D'Aumale, a verse preserves their names. +Only Henry--the "good king" as generations of French peasants called +him--remains a living figure: his strength and weakness, his sins and +virtues, as well known, as thoroughly appreciated by thousands now as +in the days of his life.</p> + +<p class="normal">Therefore we cannot hope to learn much of the fortunes of people so +insignificant--save for that moment when the fate of a nation hung on +their breath--as the Portails and Toussaints. We do know that Felix +proved worthy. For though the attack on Paris on the ninth of +November, 1589, failed, it did not fail through treachery. And we know +that he married Madeline, and that Adrian won Marie: but no more. +Unless certain Portals now living in the north of Ireland, whose +ancestors came over at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of +Nantes, are their descendants. And certainly it is curious that in +this family the eldest son invariably bears the name of Henry, and the +second of Felix.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_02" href="#div1Ref_02">KING PEPIN AND SWEET CLIVE.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Upon arriving at the middle of the Close the Dean stopped. He had been +walking briskly, his chin from very custom a little tilted, but his +eyes beaming with condescension and general good-will, while an +indulgent smile playing about the lower part of his face relieved for +the time its massive character. His walking-stick was swinging to and +fro in a loose grasp, his feet trod the pavement of the precincts with +the step of an owner, he felt the warmth of the sun, the balminess of +the spring air dimly, and somewhere at the back of his mind he was +conscious of a vacant bishopric, and of his being the husband of one +wife. In fine, he presented the appearance of a contented, placid, +unruffled dignitary, until he reached the middle of the Close.</p> + +<p class="normal">But there, alas! the ferule of his stick came to the ground with a +mighty thud; the sweetness and light faded from his eyes as they +rested upon Mr. Swainson's plot; the condescension and good-will +became conspicuous only by their absence. The Dean was undisguisedly +angry; he disliked opposition as much as lesser men, and met with it +more rarely. For Bicester is old-fashioned, and loves the Church and +State, but especially the former, and looks up to principalities and +powers, and even now execrates the memory of a recreant Bicestrian, +otherwise reputable, on account of a terrible mistake he made. It was +at a public dinner. "I remember," said this misguided man, "going in +my young days to the old and beautiful cathedral of this city. (Great +applause.) I was only a child then, and my head hardly reached above +the top of the seat, but I remember I thought the Dean the greatest of +living men. (Whirlwinds of applause.) Well (smiling) perhaps I don't +think quite that now." (Dead silence.) And so dull at bottom may even +a man be whose name is not unknown in half the capitals of Europe, +that this degenerate fellow never could guess why the friends of his +youth from that moment turned their backs upon him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Such is the faith of Bicester, but even in Bicester there are +heretics. To say that the Dean rarely met with opposition, is to say +that he rarely met with Mr. Swainson, and that he seldom saw Mr. +Swainson's plot. As a rule, when he crossed the Close he averted his +eyes by a happy impulse of custom, for he did not like Mr. Swainson, +and as for the latter's plot, it was <i>anathema maranatha</i> to him. The +Dean was tall, Mr. Swainson was taller; the Dean was stubborn, Mr. +Swainson was obstinate; so there arose between them the antagonism +that is born of similarity. On the other hand the Dean was stout and +Mr. Swainson a scarecrow; the Dean was comely and clerical, but not +over-rich, Mr. Swainson was pallid, lantern-jawed, wealthy, and a +lawyer, and hence the dislike born of difference. Moreover, years ago +Mr. Swainson had been Mayor of Bicester, when there was a little +dispute between the Chapter and the Bishop, and he showed so much +energy upon the one side as to earn the nickname of the "Mayor of the +Palace." Finally Mr. Swainson delighted in opposition as a cat in +milk, and cared to have a good reason for his antagonism no more than +puss in the dairy about a sixty years' title to the cream-pan.</p> + +<p class="normal">But a sixty years' title to his plot was the very thing which Mr. +Swainson did claim to have. Exactly opposite his house--his father's +and grandfather's house, too--in which, said his enemies, they had +lived and grown fat upon cathedral patronage, lay this debatable land. +His front windows commanded it, and on such a morning as this he loved +to stand upon his doorstep and gaze at it with the air of a dog +watching the spot where his bone is buried. But if Mr. Swainson was +right, that was just what was not buried there; there were no bones +there. True, the smoothly shorn surface of the little patch was +divided from the green turf around the cathedral only by a slight iron +railing, but, said Mr. Swainson, ponderously seizing upon his +opponent's weapon and using it with telling effect, it was of another +sort altogether: of a very different nature indeed. It had never been +consecrated, and close as it was to the sacred pile, being in fact +separated from it on two sides but by a yard of sunk fence, it did not +belong to it, it was not of it, quoth he; it was private property, the +property of Erasmus John Swainson, and the appanage of his substantial +red-brick house just across the Close.</p> + +<p class="normal">And no one could refute him, though several tried their best, to his +huge delight. It cannot now be exactly computed by how many years the +discovery of his rights prolonged his life--not certainly by some. His +liver demanded activity, namely, a quarrel, and what a coil this was! +If he had been given the choice of opponents, he would probably have +preferred the Dean and Chapter, they were so substantial, wealthy, and +all but formidable. And such a thorn in the side of those comfortable +personages as these rights of his were like to be he could hardly have +imagined in his most sanguine dreams, or hoped for in his happiest +moments.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was great fun stating his claim, flouting it in their faces, +displaying it through the city, brandishing it in season and out of +season; but when it came to making a hole in the smooth turf hitherto +so sacred, and setting up an unsightly post, and affixing to it a +board with "Trespassers will be prosecuted. E. J. Swainson," the fun +became furious. So did the Dean, so did the Chapter, so did every +sidesman and verger. Bicester was torn in pieces by the contending +parties, but Mr. Swainson was firm. The only concession that could be +wrung from him was the removal of the obnoxious board. Instead of it +he placed a neat iron railing round his property, enclosing just +thirty feet by fifteen. Such was the <i>status in quo</i> on this morning, +and with it the Dean had for some time been obliged to rest content.</p> + +<p class="normal">And yet, sooth to say, the greatest pleasure of the very reverend +gentleman's life was gone with this accession to the roundness and +fulness of Mr. Swainson's. No more with the thorough satisfaction of +hitherto could he conduct the American traveller through the ancient +crypt, or dilate upon the beauty of the quaint gargoyles to the +Marquis of Bicester's visitors. No; indeed that railed-in spot was a +plague-spot to him, ever itching, an eyesore even when invisible, a +thing to be evaded and dodged and given the slip, as a Dean who is a +Dean should scorn to evade anything mortal. He winced at the mere +thought that the inquisitive sight-seer might touch upon it might, +probe the matter with questions. He hurried him past it with averted +finger and voluble tongue, nor recovered his air of kindly +condescension, or polished ease (as the case might be), until he was +safe within his own hall. Only in moments of forgetfulness could the +Dean now walk in his own Close of Bicester with the easy grace of old +times.</p> + +<p class="normal">But on this particular morning the sunshine was so pleasant, the wind +so balmy, that he walked halfway across the Close as if the river of +Lethe flowed fathoms deep over Mr. Swainson's plot; then it chanced +that his eyes in a heedless moment rested upon it; and he saw that a +man was at work in the tiny enclosure, and he paused. The Dean knew +Mr. Swainson by this time, and did not trust him. What was this? By +the man's side lay a small heap of grayish-white things, and he was +holding a short-handled mallet, and was using it deftly to drive one +of the grayish-white things into the ground. From him the Dean's eyes +travelled to a couple of parti-colored sticks, one at each end of the +plot. What was this? A horror so terrible that the Dean stood still, +and that remarkable change came over him which we have described.</p> + +<p class="normal">Great men rise to the occasion. It was only a moment he thus stood and +looked. Then he turned and walked rapidly back to a house he had just +passed. A tall thin man was standing upon the steps, with the ghost of +a smile upon his face. For a moment the Dean could only stammer. It +was such a dreadful outrage.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is that," he said at last, "is that there, sir, being done by your +authority?" With a shaking finger he pointed to Mr. Swainson's plot. +The tall man in a leisurely manner settled a pair of eyeglasses upon +his nose and looked in the direction indicated. "Ah, I see what you +mean," he said at last with delicious coolness. "Certainly, Mr. Dean, +certainly!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you aware, sir, what it is?" gasped the clergyman; "it is +sacrilege!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pooh, nothing of the kind, I assure you, my dear sir. It's croquet!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The tone was one of explanation, and there was such an air of +frankness, of putting an end to an unfounded error, that the veins +upon the Dean's temples swelled and his face grew, if possible, redder +than before.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I won't stay to bandy words with you----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bandy!" cried the tall man, intensely amused. "Ha, ha, ha! you +thought it was hocky! Bandy! Oh, no, you play it with hoops and a +mallet. Drive the balls through--so!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And to the intense delight of the Close people, nine-tenths of whom +were at their windows, Mr. Swainson executed an ungainly kind of +gambade upon the steps. "Disgusting," the Dean called it afterwards, +when talking to sympathetic ears. Now he merely put it away from him +with a wave of the hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will not discuss it now, Mr. Swainson. If your own feelings of +decency and of what is right and proper do not forbid this--this +ribald profanity--I can call it nothing else, sir--I have but one word +to add. The Chapter shall prevent it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Chapter!" replied the other in a tone of singular contempt, which +changed to savageness as he continued, "You are well read in history, +Mr. Dean, they tell me. Doubtless you remember what happened when the +puissant king Canute bade the tide come no further. I am the tide, and +you and the Chapter sit in the chair of Canute."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Dean, it must be confessed, was a little taken aback by this +terrible defiance. He was amazed. The two glared at one another, and +the clergyman was the first to give way; baffled and disconcerted, yet +still swelling with rage, he strode towards the deanery. His +antagonist followed him with his eyes, then looked more airily than +ever at his plot and the progress being made there, considered the +weather with his chin at the decanal angle, and with a flirt of his +long coat-tails went into the house, a happy man and the owner of a +vastly improved appetite.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the Dean had more to go through yet. At the door of his garden he +ran in his haste against some one coming out. Ordinarily, great man as +he was, he was also a gentleman. But this was too much. That, when the +father had insulted him, the son should almost prostrate him on his +own threshold, was intolerable--at any rate at a moment when he was +smarting with the sense of unacknowledged defeat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good-morning, Mr. Dean," said the young fellow, raising his hat with +an evident desire to please that was the very antipodes of his sire's +manner--only the Dean was in no mood to discriminate--"I have just +been having a very pleasant game of croquet."</p> + +<p class="normal">It is greatly to be regretted, but here a short hiatus in the +narrative occurs. The minor canons, than whom no men are more wanting +in reverence, say that the Dean's answer consisted of two words, one +of them very pithy, very full of meaning, but in the mouth of a Dean, +however choleric, impossible--perfectly impossible. Accounting this as +a gloss, and the original reading not being forthcoming, we are driven +to conjecture that the Dean's answer expressed mild disapprobation of +the game of croquet. Certain it is that young Swainson, surprised +doubtless at so novel and original a sentiment, only said,</p> + +<p class="normal">"I beg your pardon."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hem! I mean to say that I do not approve of this. I will come to the +point. I must ask you to discontinue your visits at my house." The +young man stared as if he thought the excited divine had gone mad; the +Deanery was almost a home to him. "Your father," the Dean went on more +coherently, "has taken a step so unseemly, so--so indecent, has used +language so insulting to me, sir, that I cannot, at any rate at +present, receive you here."</p> + +<p class="normal">Young Swainson was a gentleman, and moreover, for a very good reason +hereinafter appearing, the Dean failed to anger him. He raised his hat +as respectfully as before, bowed slightly in token of acquiescence, +and went on his way sorrowfully.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had a singularly pleasant smile, this young gentleman, though this +was not the time for displaying it. Mrs. Dean had once pronounced him +a pippin grafted on a crab-stock, and thereafter in certain circles he +was known as King Pepin. He was tall and straight and open-eyed, with +faults enough, but of a generous youthful kind, easily overlooked and +more easily forgiven. Doubtless Mr. Swainson would have had his son +more practical, cool-headed, and precise; but the shoot did not grow +in the same way as the parent tree. Old Swainson would not have been +happy without an enemy, nor young Swainson as happy with one; and if, +as the former often said, the latter's worst enemy was himself, he was +likely to have a tolerably prosperous life.</p> + +<p class="normal">In a space of time inconceivably small the doings of the grim old +lawyer and the Dean's remonstrance were all over Bicester. Nay, fast +as the stone had rolled, it had gathered moss. It was gravely asserted +by people who rapidly grew to be eyewitnesses, that Mr. Swainson had +danced a hornpipe in the middle of his plot, snapping his fingers at +the Dean the while the latter prodded him as well as he could over the +railings with his umbrella; and that only the arrival of Mr. +Swainson's son put an end to this disgraceful exhibition.</p> + +<p class="normal">Neither side wasted time. The Dean, the Canon in residence, and the +Præcentor, an active young fellow, consulted their legal adviser, and +talked largely of ejectment, title, and seisin. Mr. Swainson, having +nine points of the law in his favor, and as well acquainted with the +tenth as his opponents' legal adviser, devoted himself to the lighter +pursuit of the mallet and hoop. In a state of felicity undreamt of +before, he played, or affected to play, croquet, his right hand +against his left, the former giving the latter two hoops and a cage. +He played with a cage and a bell; it was more cheerful, not to say +noisy.</p> + +<p class="normal">Of course all Bicester found occasion to pass through the Close and +see this great sight, while every window in the precincts was raised, +that the denizens thereof might hear the tap, tap of the sacrilegious +mallet. The Cathedral lawyer, urged to take some step, and well +knowing the strength of the enemy's position, was fairly nonplussed. +But while he pondered, with a certain grim amusement, over Mr. +Swainson's crotchet, which did not present itself to his legal mind in +so dreadful a light as it did to the mind clerical, some unknown +person took action, and made it war to the knife.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who did it?" Bicester asked loudly when it awoke one morning, to find +Mr. Swainson in a state of mind which seemed imperatively to call for +a padded room and a strait waistcoat. During the night some one had +thrown down the iron railing, taken up and broken his hoops, crushed +his bell, and snapped his pegs; all this in the neatest possible +manner, and with no damage to the turf. War to the knife indeed! Mr. +Swainson, like the famous Widdrington, would have fought upon his +stumps on such a provocation.</p> + +<p class="normal">He expressed his opinion very hotly that this was the work of "that +arrogant priest," and he should smart for it. A clergyman in this kind +of context becomes a priest. This is common knowledge.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Dean said, if hints were to go for anything, that it was a more or +less direct interposition of Providence.</p> + +<p class="normal">Young Swainson said nothing.</p> + +<p class="normal">The vergers followed his example, but smiled a good deal.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Dean's lawyer said it was a very foolish act, whoever did it.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Dean said she should like to give the man who did it five +shillings. Perhaps her inclination mastered her.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Dean's daughter sighed.</p> + +<p class="normal">And Bicester said everything except what young Swainson said.</p> + +<p class="normal">I have not mentioned the Dean's daughter before. It is the popular +belief that she was christened Sweet Clive Buxton, and if people are +mistaken in this, and the name "Sweet" does not appear upon the highly +favored register, what of that? It is but one proof the more of the +utter and tremendous want of foresight of godfathers and godmothers. +They send the future lounger in St. James's into the world handicapped +with the name of Joseph or Zachary, and dub the country curate Tom or +Jerry. No matter; Clive Buxton, whatever her name, could be nothing +but sweet. She was not tall nor yet short; she was just as tall and +just as short as she should have been, with a well-rounded figure and +grave carriage of the head. Her hair was wavy and brown, and sometimes +it strayed over a white brow, on which a frown was so great a stranger +that its right of entry was barred by the Statute of Limitations. +There were a few freckles, etherealized dimples, about her well-shaped +nose. But these charms grew upon one gradually; at first her suitors +were only conscious of her great gray wide-open eyes, so kind and +frank and trustful, and so wise withal, that they filled every young +man upon whom she turned them with a certainty of her purity and +goodness and lovableness, and sent him away with a frantic desire to +make her his wife without loss of time. With all this, she overflowed +with fun and happiness--except when she sighed--and she was just +nineteen. Such was Sweet Clive Buxton then. If her picture were +painted to-day, there would be this difference: she is older and more +beautiful.</p> + +<p class="normal">To return to our plot. Bicester watched with bated breath to see what +Mr. Swainson would do. No culprit was forthcoming, and it seemed as if +the day was going against him. He made no sign; only the broken hoops, +the cage and battered bell, so lately the instruments and insignia of +triumph, were cleared away and, at the ex-mayor's strenuous request, +taken in charge by the police. Even the iron railing was removed. The +excitement in the Close rose high. Once more the Cathedral vicinage +was undefined by lay appropriation, but the Dean knew Mr. Swainson too +well to rejoice. The ground was cleared, it is true, but only, as he +well foresaw, that it might be used for some mysterious operations, of +which the end and aim only--his own annoyance--were clear to him, and +not the means. What would Mr. Swainson do?</p> + +<p class="normal">The strange unnatural calm lasted several days. The Cathedral +dignitaries moved about in fear and trembling. At length one night the +dwellers in the Close were aroused by a peculiar hammering. It was +frequent, deep, and ominous, and came from the direction of Mr. +Swainson's plot. To the nervous it seemed as the knocking of nails +into an untimely coffin; to the guilty--and this was very near the +Cathedral--like the noise of a rising scaffold; to the brave and those +with clear consciences, such as Clive Buxton, it more nearly resembled +the knocking a hoarding together. And indeed that was the very thing +it was, and around Mr. Swainson's plot.</p> + +<p class="normal">But what a hoarding! When the light of day discovered it to people's +eyes, the Dean's fearful anticipations seemed slight to him, as the +boy's vision who has dreamed he is about to be flogged in jail, and +awakes to find his father standing over him with a strap. It was so +unsightly, so gaunt, so unpainted, so terrible; the very stones of the +Cathedral seemed to blush a deeper red at discovering it, and the +oldest houses to turn a darker purple. Had the Dean possessed the +hundred tongues of Fame (which in Bicester possessed many more) and +the five hundred fingers of Briareus he could not hope to prevent the +Marquis's visitors asking questions about <i>that</i>, or to divert the +attention of the least curious American. He recognized the truth at a +glance, and formed his plan. Many generals have formed it before; it +was--retreat. He sent out his butler to borrow a continental Bradshaw +from the club, and shut himself up in his study. The truly great mind +is never overwhelmed.</p> + +<p class="normal">The vergers alone inspected the monster unmoved. They eyed it with +glances not only of curiosity, but of appreciative intelligence. Not +so, however, later in the day. Then Mr. Swainson appeared, leading by +a strong chain a brindled bull-dog, of the most ferocious description +and about sixty pounds weight. The animal contemplated the nearest +verger with much satisfaction, and licked his chops: it might be at +some grateful memory. The verger, who was in a small way a student of +natural history, pronounced it however a lick of anticipation, and +appeared not a little disconcerted. Mr. Swainson entered with the dog +by a small door at the corner, and came out again without him. The +other vergers then left.</p> + +<p class="normal">Their coming and going was nothing to Mr. Swainson. It was enough for +him that he stood there the cynosure of every eye in the Close; even +Mrs. Dean was watching him from a distant garret window. In slow and +measured fashion he walked to the steps of his own house, and, taking +from them a board he had previously placed there, returned to the +entrance of his plot, now enclosed to the height of about ten feet by +this terrible hoarding. Above the door he carefully hung the board and +drew back a few feet to take in the effect. Mrs. Dean sent down +hastily for her opera-glasses, but really there was no need of them. +The legend in huge black letters on a white ground ran thus: "No +Admittance! Beware of the Dog!!!" A smile of content crept slowly over +Mr. Swainson's face, and he said aloud,</p> + +<p class="normal">"Trump that card, Mr. Dean, if you can."</p> + +<p class="normal">As he turned--Mrs. Dean saw it distinctly and declared herself ready +to swear to it in any court of justice--he snapped his fingers at the +Deanery. And the dog howled!</p> + +<p class="normal">It was the first of many howls, for he was a dog of great width of +chest; and not even the surgeon of an insurance company, if he had +lived twenty-four hours in Bicester Close, would have found fault with +his lungs. Why he howled during the night, for it was not the time of +full moon, became the burning question of each morning. That he joined +in the Cathedral services with a zest and discrimination which +rendered the organ almost superfluous, and drove the organist to the +verge of resignation, was only to be expected. There was nothing +strange in that, nor in his rivalry of the Præcentor's best notes, +whose voice was considered very fine in the Litany. The voluntary, +Tiger made his own; and of the sermon he expressed disapproval in so +marked a manner that it was hard to say which swelled more with rage, +the Dean within or the dog without. Their rage was equally impotent.</p> + +<p class="normal">Things went so far that the Dean publicly wrung his hands at the +breakfast-table. "You could not hear the benediction this morning! And +I was in good voice too, my dear!" he wailed, with tears in his eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You should appeal to the Marquis," suggested his wife. It must be +explained that the Marquis in Bicester ranks next to and little +beneath Providence. But the Dean shook his head. He put no faith in +the power even of the Marquis to handle Mr. Swainson. "I will lay it +before the Bishop, my dear," he said humbly. And then, indeed, Mrs. +Dean knew that the iron had entered into his soul, and that the hand +of the Mayor of the Palace was very heavy upon him; and her good, +wifely heart grew so hot that she felt she could have no more patience +with her daughter.</p> + +<p class="normal">For Clive's sympathies were no longer to be trusted. She was not the +Sweet Clive of a month ago, but a sadder and more sedate young person, +who had a troublesome and annoying way of defending the absent foe, +and of sighing in dark corners, that was more than provoking. Duty +demanded that she should be an ocean, into which her father and mother +might pour the streams of their indignation and meet with a +sympathizing floodtide, and lo! this unfeeling girl declined to make +herself useful in that way, and instead sent forth a "bore" of light +jesting that made little of the enemy's enormities and a trifle of his +outrages. More, she showed herself for the first time disobedient; she +altogether refused to promise not to speak to King Pepin if +opportunity should serve, and, clever girl as she was, laughed her +father out of insisting upon it, and kissed her mother into being a +not unwilling ally. A wise woman was her mother and clear-sighted; she +saw that Clive had a spirit, but no longer a heart of her own. Yet at +such a time as this, when her husband was wringing his hands, Clive's +insensibility to the family grievances tried Mrs. Dean sorely. It was +hard that the Canon's sleepless night, the Præcentor's peevishness, +the singing man's influenza, and all the countless counts of the +indictment against Mr. Swainson, should fail to awaken in the young +lady's mind a tithe of the indignation shared by every other person at +the Deanery, from the Dean himself to the scullery maid. But then love +is blind; for which most of us may thank Heaven.</p> + +<p class="normal">Day after day went by and the hoarding still reared its gaunt height, +and the unclean beast of the Hebrews still made night hideous, and the +day a time for the expression of strong feelings. At length the Dean +met his legal adviser in the Close--ay, and within a few feet of the +obnoxious erection; he kept his back to it with ridiculous care, while +they talked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We have come to something like a settlement at last," said the lawyer +briskly;--"confusion take the dog! I can hardly hear myself speak.--We +are to meet at the Chapter House at five, Mr. Dean, if that will suit +you: Mr. Swainson, the Bishop, Canon Rowcliffe, and myself. I think he +is inclined to be reasonable at last."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Dean shook his head gloomily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, you will see it turn out better than you expect. Let me whisper +something to you. There is an action commenced against him for +shutting up a road across one of his farms at Middleton, and it will +be fought stoutly. One suit at a time will be sufficient to satisfy +even Mr. Swainson."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You don't say so? This is good news!" cried the Dean, with +unmistakable pleasure. "Certainly, I will be there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And--I am sure I need not hint at it--you will be ready to meet Mr. +Swainson halfway?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Dean looked gloomy again. But at this moment a long loud howl, +more frenzied, more fiendish than any which had preceded it, seemed to +proclaim that the dog knew his reign was menaced, and, like +Sardanapalus, was determined to go out right royally. It was more than +the Dean could stand. With an involuntary motion of his hands to his +ears, he nodded and fled with unseemly haste to a place less exposed, +where he could in a seemly and decanal manner relieve his feelings.</p> + +<p class="normal">The best-laid plans even of lawyers will go astray, and when they do +so, the havoc is generally of a singularly wide-spread description. +The meeting in the chapter-house proved stormy from the first. Whether +it was that the writ in the right-of-way case had not yet reached Mr. +Swainson, and so he clung to his only split-straw, or that the Dean +was soured by want of sleep, or that the Bishop was not thorough +enough--whatever was the cause, the spirit of compromise was absent, +and the discussion across the chapter-house table threatened to make +matters worse and not better. Whether the Dean first called Mr. +Swainson's enclosure the "toadstool of a night," or Mr. Swainson took +the initiative by styling the Dean the "mushroom of a day" (the Dean +was not of old family), was a question afterwards much and hotly +debated in Bicester circles. Be that as it may, the high powers at +length rose from the table in dudgeon and much confusion.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was behind the Dean at the end of the chapter-house a large +window. It looked directly down upon what he, in the course of the +discussion, had more than once termed "The Profanation," and since the +eventful day of Mr. Swainson's match at croquet it had been, by the +Dean's order, kept shuttered, to the intent that, when occupied in the +chapterhouse, the Profanation might not be directly before his eyes. +On this occasion the shutter was still closed; it may be that this +phenomenon had weakened Mr. Swainson's not over-robust resolves on the +side of amity.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Dean was a choleric man. As the party rose, he stepped to this +shutter and flung it back. He turned to the others and said +excitedly--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look, sir; look, my Lord! Is that a sight becoming the threshold of a +cathedral? Is that a thing to be endured on consecrated ground?"</p> + +<p class="normal">They stepped towards the window, a wide low-browed Tudor one, and +looked out. The Dean himself stood aside, grasping the shutter with a +hand that shook with passion. He could see the others' faces. He +expected little show of shame or contrition on that of Mr. Swainson, +but he did wish to bring this hideous thing home to the Bishop, who +had not been as thorough in the matter as he should have been. Still, +as a bishop, he could not see that thing there in its horrid reality +and be unmoved!</p> + +<p class="normal">No, he certainly could not. Slowly, and as if reluctantly, his +lordship's face changed; it broke into a smile that broadened and +rippled wider and wider, second by second, as he looked. His color +deepened until he became almost purple! And Mr. Swainson? His face was +the picture of horror: there could not be a doubt of that. Confusion +and astonishment were stereotyped on every feature. The Dean could not +believe his own eyes. He turned in perplexity to the lawyer, who was +peeping between the others' heads. His shoulders were shaking and his +face was puckered with laughter.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Bishop stepped back. "Really, gentlemen, I think it is hardly fair +of us to play the spy. This is no place for us." He was a kindly man; +there never was a more popular bishop in Bicester, and never will be.</p> + +<p class="normal">At this the Canon and the lawyer lost all control over themselves, and +their laughter, if not loud, was deep. The Dean was immensely puzzled, +confused, perplexed, wholly angry. He did at last what he should have +done at first, instead of striking an attitude with that shutter in +his hand. He looked through the window himself. It was dusty, and he +was somewhat near-sighted, but at length he saw; and this was what he +saw.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the further corner of the ugly enclosure, a couple of lovers +billing and cooing; about and around them Mr. Swainson's big dog +performing uncouth gambols. Bad enough this; but it was not all. The +unsuspicious couple were Frank Swainson and--the Dean's daughter. +Frank's arm was round her, and as the Dean looked, he stooped and +kissed her, and Clive gazed with her brave eyes full of love into his +and scarcely blushed.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the Dean turned round he was alone.</p> + +<p class="normal">Was it very wrong of them? There was nowhere else, since this +miserable fracas began, where, away from others' eyes, they could +steal a kiss. But into Mr. Swainson's plot no window, save a shuttered +one, could look; the door, too, was close to one of the side doors of +the cathedral, and you could pop in and out again unseen, and as for +the big dog, Frank and Tiger were great friends. So if it was very +wrong, it was very easy and very nice, and---<i>faciles descensus +Averni</i>.</p> + +<p class="normal">For one hour the Dean remained shut up in his study. At the end of +that time he put on his hat and walked across the Close. He knocked at +Mr. Swainson's door, and, upon its being opened, went in, and did not +come out again for an hour and five minutes by Mrs. Canon Rowcliffe's +watch. I have not the slightest idea of what passed there. More +than two thousand different and distinct accounts of the interview +were current next day in Bicester, but no one, and I have examined +them all with care, seems to me to account for the undoubted +results:--Imprimis, the disappearance next day from Mr. Swainson's +plot of the famous hoarding, which was not even replaced by the old +iron railing. Secondly, the marriage six weeks later of King Pepin and +Sweet Clive.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_03" href="#div1Ref_03">THE DEANERY BALL.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">On a certain May afternoon, when the air was so soft and the sun so +brilliant that Mrs. Vrater, the wife of the Canon in residence at +Gleicester, was inclined to think the world more pleasant than it +should be, she was surprised by an invitation which promptly restored +the due equilibrium. In her own words, it took her breath away. +Despite some slight forewarnings, or things which should have served +as such, she could hardly believe her eyes. Yet there it was before +her in black and white, and Italian penmanship; and, being a woman of +character, instead of sitting down and giving way to her natural +indignation, she--no, she did not accept the fact; on the contrary, +she put on her best bonnet and mantle, and contrived during this +simple operation to efface from her mind all consciousness of the +existence of the invitation. Thus prepared she left the residence by +the back door, and, walking quietly round the Abbot's Square, called +at the Deanery. Mrs. Anson was at home. So was the Dean.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear Mrs. Anson the most ridiculous thing!" began the visitor; +"really you ought to know of it, though contradiction is quite +unnecessary. It carries its own refutation with it. Have you heard +what is the absurd report which is abroad in the city?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," answered the Dean's wife, who was sitting in front of a pile of +cards and envelopes. Her curiosity was aroused. But the Dean had a +miserable foreboding of what was to come, and writhed upon his seat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is asserted that you are going to give a dance at the Deanery! Ha! +ha! ha! I knew that it would amuse you. Fancy a ball at the Deanery of +all places!" And Mrs. Vrater laughed with so fair a show of airy +enjoyment that the Dean plunged his head into a newspaper, and wished +he possessed the self-deceptive powers of the ostrich. This was +terrible! What could have induced him to give his consent? As for Mrs. +Anson, she dropped the envelope she was folding, and prepared for +battle.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear Mrs. Vrater, why should you think it so absurd?" she asked, +smiling sweetly, but with color a little heightened.</p> + +<p class="normal">"At the Deanery? Why, your position, dear Mrs. Anson, and--and--how +can you ask? It would have been quite a Church scandal. You would be +having the Præcentor hunting next. <i>He</i> would not stick at it," with +vicious emphasis. "But I knew that you never dreamt of such a thing."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then I fear that you are not among the prophets, for we really +propose to venture upon it. As for a Church scandal, Mrs. Vrater, the +Dean is the best judge of that."</p> + +<p class="normal">Whereat the Dean groaned, poor man. Mrs. Vrater regarded him, he +regarded himself, as a renegade; but he showed none of a renegade's +enthusiasm on his new side.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You do intend to have a dance!" cried the Canon's wife, with +well-affected surprise, considering the circumstances.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We do indeed. Just a quiet evening for the young people, though we +shall hope to see you, dear Mrs. Vrater. Times are changed since we +were young," she added sweetly, "and we cannot stand still, however +much we may try."</p> + +<p class="normal">If Mrs. Vrater had a weakness, it was a love for a style of dress +which, though severe, was in a degree youthful. Her bonnet while Mrs. +Anson spoke seemed to attract and fix that lady's eye. It must be +confessed that at Mrs. Vrater's age it was a youthful bonnet. However, +she did not appear to heed this, but rose and took her departure with +a shocked expression of countenance. She had given the poor Dean, her +recreant ally, a very wretched ten minutes; otherwise she had not been +successful. When Greek meets Greek neither is wont to get much +satisfaction. She said no more there; but she hastened to pay some +other friendly calls.</p> + +<p class="normal">The manner in which the Dean came to give his consent must be told at +some length. There is a small house in a quiet corner of the Abbot's +Square at Gleicester, which stands back a few yards from the general +line of frontage. It is not alone in this respect. The Deanery on the +opposite side of the Square, and the Præcentor's house--we beg his +pardon, the Præcentory--in the far corner also shrink from the public +gaze. But then there is, and very properly, the retirement of +exclusiveness. In the small house in question such self-effacement +must have a different origin; perhaps in the modesty of conscious +insignificance, along with a due sense of the important neighborhood +in which No. 13 blooms like a violet almost unseen. For Abbot's +Square is virtually the Close of Gleicester--at any rate, there is no +other--while No. 13 is little more than a two-storied cottage with a +tiled roof, and outside shutters painted green, and a green door with +a brass knocker. The path from the wicket-gate to the unpretending +porch has been known to be gay with patterns now rather indistinct, +composed of the humble oyster-shell; and the occupants have varied +from a bachelor organist, or an artist painting the mediæval, to the +Dean's favorite verger.</p> + +<p class="normal">Such was the little house in the Abbot's Square; but Gleicester, +sleepy old Gleicester, arose one morning to find a rare tit-bit +of news served up with its breakfast. Mr. and the Hon. Mrs. +Curzon-Bowlby, a fashionable couple bent on retrenchment, had taken +No. 13 for the summer. They brought with them a letter of introduction +from the Marquis of Gleicester, and owing to that, and something +perhaps to the three letters which distinguished Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby's +card from the pasteboards of the common throng, they were received by +the Deanery people with enthusiasm, at the residence with open arms. +The most select of coteries threw wide its doors to the tenants of No. +13. The Dean might be seen of a morning strolling in the little +garden, and his wife's carriage of an afternoon taking up and setting +down in front of the green shutters. The Archdeacon and the Præcentor, +nay, the very minor canons followed the Dean's lead. And Gleicester, +seeing these things, opened its eyes--its mouth was always open--and +awoke to the fact that the little house had risen in the world to a +very giddy height indeed.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the position which under these unforeseen circumstances No. 13 +might assume was hardly to be understood by the lay portion of the +city. The Abbot's Square and its doings were subjects of great +interest to them, as to people well brought up they would be; but with +a few exceptions, such as Sir Titus Wort, the brewer, and General +Jones, C. B., and Dr. Tobin. These people gazed on that Olympus from +afar. Possibly they called there and were called upon in return; but +that was all. Their knowledge of the inner politics of the Square was +not intimate.</p> + +<p class="normal">They knew that the Dean's wife (Regina Jones) was a pleasant and +pleasure-loving lady; but they had no idea that she was the leader of +an organized party of pleasure, whose tenets were water-parties and +lawn-tennis, who pinned their faith to the clerical quadrille (only +square dances as yet), who supported the Præcentor, the author of that +secular but charming song, "Love me to-day," and who upheld +theatricals, and threatened to patronize the City Theatre itself; a +party who drove their opponents, headed by the Dean and Mrs. Vrater, +and that grim clergyman the Archdeacon, to the verge of distraction; +who were dubbed by the minor canons "the Epicureans," and finally +whose heart and soul, even as Mrs. Dean was their head and front, was +to be discovered in Canon Vrater.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Canon deserves to be more particularly described. He was a man of +handsome presence and mature age, pink-faced and white-haired, young +for his years, and connected, though not so closely as Mrs. +Curzon-Bowlby, with the nobility. Perfectly adapted to shine in +society, he prided himself with good reason upon his polished manners, +which united in a very just degree the most gracious suavity with the +blandest dignity. They were so fine, indeed, as to be almost unfit for +home use. He made it a rule never to differ from a woman, his wife +(and antipodes) excepted, and seldom with a man. As he also invariably +granted a request if the petitioner were well dressed and the matter +<i>in future</i>, he was surely not to be blamed if his performances failed +to keep pace with his promises. In fine, a most pleasant, agreeable +gentleman, whom it was impossible to dislike to his face.</p> + +<p class="normal">Yet I think the Archdeacon, a "new man," to whom the aristocratic +Canon's popularity was wormwood, did dislike him. Certainly the Dean +did not; he was a liberal-minded man in the main, but he had some +old-fashioned ideas, and a great sense of his own position and its +proprieties, and so perforce he found himself arrayed against his +wife's party along with Mrs. Vrater and the Archdeacon.</p> + +<p class="normal">Such was the state of things in the Abbot's Square when No. 13 +received its new tenants. Now the Epicureans and now their opponents +would gain some slight advantage. The vergers and beadles arrayed +themselves upon one side or the other, and by the solemnity or levity +of their carriage, the twinkle in the eye or the far-off, absent gaze, +made known their views. The first lay clerk, a man qualified to talk +with his enemies in the gate, gave monthly dances; the leading tenor +assisted at scientific demonstrations.</p> + +<p class="normal">But of what weight were such adherents beside the new-comers at No. +13? Which party would they join? If appearances might be trusted there +could be little doubt. Mr. Curzon-Bowlby was a tall, long-faced man, +with a dark beard and moustache. His appearance was genteel, not to +say aristocratic--but fatuous. He walked with an upright carriage and +dressed correctly--indeed, with taste: beyond that, being a man of few +words, he seemed a man of no character. His wife was unlike him in +everything, save that she too dressed to perfection. A lively little +blonde, blue-eyed and bewitching, with a lovely pink-and-white +complexion, and a thick fringe of fair hair, she positively +effervesced with life and innocent gayety. She sparkled and bubbled +like champagne; she flitted to and fro all day long like a butterfly +in the sunshine. She charmed the Dean: the Canon declared her +perfection. And though she was hardly the person (<i>minus</i> the three +letters before mentioned) to fascinate his wife, she disarmed even +Mrs. Vrater. And yet, whether the little woman of the world had, with +all her apparent impulsiveness, a great store of tact, or that she was +slow to comprehend the position, and was puzzled at finding the Dean +arrayed against his wife, and Mrs. Vrater opposed to the Canon, she +certainly dallied with her choice. Upon being invited to attend the +science classes at the residence, she faltered and hesitated, and +rather pleaded for time than declined. Mrs. Vrater, excellent woman, +was pleasantly surprised; and determining to try again, went home with +a light heart and good courage.</p> + +<p class="normal">But this was before the little lady learned that the clerical +quadrille--the party of progress, as has been hinted, wisely ignored +the existence of round dances--was the burning question of the time.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good gracious! Mrs. Anson," she cried, clapping her little hands, and +her blue eyes wide with amazement over this discovery, "do you mean to +say that none of your clergy dance? that they never dance at all?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Dean's wife shook her head, and shrugged her shoulders +contemptuously. She was a little out of temper this afternoon. Why was +she not the wife of a cavalry colonel?</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not even the Canon? Oh, I am sure Canon Vrater does.--Now, don't +you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">For the Canon, too, was in the little drawing-room. Small as the house +was, our impoverished fashionables had not furnished all of it; but +this room was a triumph of taste, in a quiet and inexpensive way. A +man and a maid whom they brought to Gleicester with them made up the +household. So there was an empty room or two.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby," he said; "if I danced I should be tripping +indeed, in Gleicester opinion."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You don't! well, I am surprised. Now confess, Canon, when did you +dance last? So long ago that you have forgotten the steps? Years and +years ago?" The old gentleman reddened, and fidgeted a little. "Canon, +did you ever"--the little woman glanced roguishly round the room, and +brought out the last word with a tragic accent positively fascinating, +"did you ever--waltz?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," he answered guardedly, with an eye to his friend Mrs. Anson, +who was mightily amused, "I have waltzed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Something like this, was it not?" She went to the piano and played a +few bars of a dreamy, old-fashioned German dance; played it as it +should be played. The Canon's wholesome pink face grew pinker, and he +began to sway a little as he sat.</p> + +<p class="normal">She turned swiftly round upon the music-stool. "Don't you feel at +times a desire to do something naughty, Canon--just because it is +naughty?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He nodded.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And don't you think," continued the fair casuist, with a delicious +air of wisdom, "that when it is not very naughty, only a little bad, +you know, you should sometimes indulge yourself, as a sort of +safety-valve?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He smiled, of course, a gentle dissent. But at the same time he +muttered something which sounded like "desipere in loco."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mrs. Anson, you play a waltz, I know?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She acknowledged the impeachment with none of the Canon's modesty.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are so kind, I am sure you will oblige me for five minutes. The +Canon is going to try his steps with me in the next room. How lucky it +is empty, and quite a good floor, I declare.--Now, Canon Vrater, you +are far too gallant to refuse?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He laughed, but Mrs. Anson entered thoroughly into the fun, took off +her gloves, and sitting down at the piano played the same dreamy air. +In vain the old gentleman pleasantly protested; he was swept away, so +to speak, by the little woman's vivacity. How it came about, whether +there was some magic in the air, or in Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby's eyes, the +Canon was never able to make quite clear to himself, and far less to +Mrs. Vrater, but in two minutes he was revolving round the room in +stately measure, an expression of anxious enjoyment on his handsome +old face as he carefully counted his steps, such as would have +diverted the eye of the charmed bystander even from the arch mischief +that rippled over his fair partner's features. Had there been any +bystander to witness the scene, that is.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hem!"</p> + +<p class="normal">It was very loud and full of meaning, and came from the open +window. The Canon's arm fell from the lady's waist as if she had +suddenly turned into the spiky maiden of Nuremberg. Mrs. Dean stopped +playing with equal suddenness, and an exclamation of annoyance. Mrs. +Curzon-Bowlby, thus deserted in the middle of the room, dropped the +prettiest of "cheeses," and broke into a merry peal of unaffected +laughter. It was the Dean. Coming up the oyster-shell path, there +was no choice for him but to witness the <i>dénouement</i> through the +green-shuttered window. He was shocked; perhaps of the four he was the +most embarrassed, though the Canon looked, for him, very foolish. But +nothing could stand against Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby's gayety. She laughed +so long, so innocently, and with such pure enjoyment of the situation, +that one by one they joined her. The Dean attempted to be a little +sarcastic, but the laugh took all sting from his satire; and the +Canon, when he had once recovered his presence of mind, and his +breath, parried the raillery with his usual polished ease.</p> + +<p class="normal">So Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby's freak ended in no more serious result than her +own conversion into the staunchest of Epicureans, a very goddess of +pleasure; and in familiarizing the Dean's mind with the idea of the +Terpischorean innovation, until the proposition of a dance at the +Deanery--yes, at the Deanery itself--was mooted to his decanal ears. +Of course he rejected it, but still he survived the shock, and the +project had been brought within the range of practical politics. Its +novelty faded from his mind, and its impropriety ceased to strike him. +He had never told Mrs. Vrater of her husband's afternoon waltz, and +this reticence divided them. Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby exerted all her wiles; +she gave him no peace. The plan was mooted again and again; he +wavered, remonstrated, argued, and finally (thanks chiefly to No. 13), +in a moment of good-natured weakness, when the fear of Mrs. Vrater was +not before his eyes, succumbed. Be sure his wife and her allies left +him no <i>locos pœnitentice</i>. Never was triumph greater. Within the +week the minor canons had their invitations stuck in their mirrors, +and rejoiced in their liberty. And Mrs. Vrater made a certain call +upon Mrs. Anson, of which the reader knows.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Mrs. Dean's pleasure was not unclouded. There were spots upon the +sun. The Dean was not always so tractable, and the Deanery house was +not large, and the garden positively small. True, a gateway and a +descent of two or three steps led from the latter into the picturesque +cloisters, which had lately been cleaned and repaired, and the sight +of this suggested a brilliant idea to flighty Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby. She +lost no time in communicating it to Mrs. Anson, who received it at +first with some doubt. Her friend, however, painted it in such +pleasant hues, and set it in so many brilliant lights, that later she +too became enamored of the project, and boldly proceeded to carry it +into execution.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Dean stumbled upon this magnificent plan; in so many words, +stumbled upon it, in a rather unfortunate way. He was taking his +wonted morning stroll in the garden two or three days before the 24th, +the date fixed for the now famous dance. His thoughts were not upon it +at the moment: it was a bright sunny day, and the balmy life-inspiring +air had expelled the regret which it must be confessed was the Dean's +normal frame of mind as to his ill-considered acquiescence. He was not +thinking of what the Bishop would say, or what the city would say, or, +worst of all, what Mrs. Vrater had said. He turned a corner of the +summerhouse a few yards from the steps which we have mentioned as +leading to the cloisters, and as he did so with the free gait of a man +walking in his own garden--bump!--he brought his right knee violently +against the edge of some object, a packing-case, a half-opened +packing-case which was lying there, where, so far as the Dean could +see, it had no earthly business. The packing-case edge was sharp, the +blow a forcible one. For a moment the Dean hopped about, moaning to +himself and embracing his shin. The spring air lost all its virtue on +the instant, and his regret for his moral weakness returned with added +and local poignancy. For he had not a doubt that the offending box had +something to do with the 24th. As he tenderly rubbed his leg he +regarded the box with no friendly eyes. To schoolboys and policemen, +and the tag-rag and bobtail, a sharp blow on the shin may not be much; +but stout and dignified clerics above the rank of a ritualistic vicar +are, to say the least of it, not accustomed to the thing at all.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What the--ahem--what in heaven's name may this be?" he exclaimed with +irritation. Resentment adding vigor to his curiosity, he gingerly +removed the covering from the case, which appeared to be full of +parti-colored paper globes of all shapes and sizes. They were +symmetrically arranged; they might have been tiny fire-balloons. But +the Dean's mind reverted to infernal machines, the smart of his shin +suggesting his line of thought. He put on his glasses in some +trepidation, and looking more closely made out the objects to +be--Chinese lanterns.</p> + +<p class="normal">The sound of a hasty step upon the gravel made him turn. It was Mrs. +Anson, looking a little perturbed--by her hurry, perhaps. Her husband +lifted one of the lanterns from the case with the end of his stick, +and contemplated it with a good deal of contempt.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear," he said, "what in the name of goodness are these foolish +things for?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, you know the house is not very large," she began, "and the +supper will occupy the dining-room and breakfast-room--it would be a +pity to cramp the supper, my dear, when we have such beautiful plate, +and so few chances of showing it--and conservatory we have none +so----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes, my dear, true," broke in the Dean impatiently; "but what of +these? what of these?" He raised the poor lantern anew.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, we thought it would be nice to--to light the cloisters with +these lanterns, and so form a conservatory of a kind. Now that the +cloisters are cleaned and restored they will look so pretty, and the +people can walk there between the dances. I thought it would be an +excellent arrangement, and--and save us pulling your study about."</p> + +<p class="normal">There was an awful pause. The lantern, held at arm's length on the +ferrule of the Dean's stick, shook like an aspen leaf.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You thought--it would be nice--to light the cloisters--with Chinese +lanterns! The cloisters of Gleicester Cathedral, Mrs. Anson! Good +heavens!"</p> + +<p class="normal">No mere words can express the tone of amazed disapprobation, of +horror, disgust, and wrath combined, in which the Dean, whose face was +purple with the same emotions, spoke these words. He dashed the +lantern to the ground, and set one foot upon it in a manner not +unworthy of St. George--the Chinese lantern being a natural symbol of +the dragon.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It would be rank sacrilege; sacrilege, Mrs. Anson. Never let me hear +of it again. I am shocked that you should have proposed such a thing; +and I see now what I feared before, that I was very wrong in giving my +consent to a frivolity unbecoming our position. You cannot touch pitch +and not be defiled. But I never dreamt it would come to this. Let me +hear no more of it, I beg."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Dean, as he walked away after these decisive words, felt very +sore--and not only about the knee, to do him justice. He repeated over +and over again to himself the proverb about touching pitch. Until the +last few days, no one had cherished his position more highly. And now +his very wife was so far demoralized as to have suggested things +dreadful to him and subversive of it. He had given way to the Canon +and that little witch at No. 13, and this was the first result. What a +peck of troubles, he said to himself, this wretched dance was bringing +upon him! He was sick of it, sick to death of it, he told himself. So +sick, indeed, that when he was out of his wife's hearing he groaned +aloud with a great sense of self-pity, and almost brought himself in +his disgust to believe that Mrs. Vrater would have been a more fit and +sympathetic helpmeet for him.</p> + +<p class="normal">And Mrs. Dean was bitterly disappointed. She had set her heart upon +the cloisters scheme, and in most things she had been wont to enjoy +her own way. Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby had depicted it in such gorgeous hues, +and portrayed so movingly the guests' admiration and surprise--and +envy. Oaklea Castle, the seat of the Marquis of Gleicester, with its +spacious and costly conservatories and fineries, could present no +more picturesque or charming scene than would be afforded by the +many-arched cloisters brilliantly lighted and decorated, and filled +with handsome dresses and pretty faces still aglow with the music's +enthusiasm. Mrs. Anson had pictured it all. But she was a wise woman, +and a comparatively old married woman, and she recognized that the +matter was not one for argument. Not even to the Canon, her ally, did +she confide her chagrin, being after her husband's outburst a little +dubious of the light in which the project might present itself to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Only into Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby's bosom did she pour her sorrow without +reserve. That lady made a delicious <i>moue</i> after her fashion on +hearing of the Dean's indignation, but she seemed almost as +disappointed as Mrs. Anson herself. "And he actually forbade you, +dear?" she asked, with her blue eyes full of pity and wondering +surprise.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, he told me never to let him hear of it again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh!" answered the little woman thoughtfully, and was silent for a +time. When she recovered herself she changed the subject, and soon +coaxed and petted her friend into a good humor.</p> + +<p class="normal">Still this was a large spot on the sun of Mrs. Anson's triumph. And +yet another, a mere speck indeed in comparison, and very endurable, +appeared at the last moment, the very day before the 24th. The Dean +was summoned to London; was summoned so privately, so peremptorily, +and so importantly, that the thought of what might come of the journey +(there was a new bishopric in act of being formed) almost reconciled +his wife to his absence; and this the more when she had effectually +disposed of his suggestion that the party should be indefinitely +postponed. The Dean was not persistent in pushing his proposal; the +harm, he felt, was already done. And besides, being himself away, he +would now be freed from some personal embarrassment. It must go on; if +he went up it would signify little. So he started for London very +cheerfully, all Gleicester knowing of his errand, and the porters at +the station spying a phantom apron at his girdle.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the evening, marked in the minor canons' rubric with so red a +letter, arrived, the excitement in the Abbot's Square rose to a great +height.</p> + +<p class="normal">Vague rumors of some surprise in store for the guests, which should +surpass the novelty of the dance, were abroad. Strange workmen of +reticent manners had passed in and out, and mysterious packages and +bundles, as self-contained as their bearers, had been seen to enter +the Deanery gates. A jealous awning, which altered the normal +appearance of the garden as seen from the second-floor windows of the +Square, hid the exact nature of the alteration, and served only to +whet the keen curiosity of the Gleicester public. Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby, +from No. 13, ran to and fro, smiling with a charming air of +effervescent reserve, which raised Mrs. Anson's older friends to an +aggravated pitch of curiosity. The Square knew not what to expect. +Conjecture was--in more senses than one, as the event proved--abroad.</p> + +<p class="normal">For no one had in the least foreseen the spectacle that met their eyes +upon their arrival. Certainly not the Bishop, though he betrayed no +surprise; good cheery man, he was every inch a bishop, and therefore +by tradition a great-hearted, liberal-minded gentleman. Certainly not +Sir Titus Wort, nor General Jones, much less the Archdeacon. No, nor +even the minor canons; their anticipations, keen as long abstinence +from such enjoyments could make them, had yet fallen far short of the +scene presented to their gaze upon entering the Deanery garden.</p> + +<p class="normal">Even Canon Vrater--at home, it was rumored, in courts; he had +certainly once lunched at Windsor--stood in almost speechless wonder +by the garden steps.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is very beautiful!" he said simply, gazing with all his eyes down +the arched vista formed by the tree-like pillars of the cloisters; the +brilliant light of many lanterns picked out every leaf of their +delicate carving and fretted broidery, and made of their fair +whiteness a glittering background for the dark-hued dresses of the +promenaders beneath. It was indeed more like fairy-land than a part of +the cathedral precincts. Those who traversed it every day looked round +and wondered where they were.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is very beautiful!" That was all. And he said it so gravely that +Mrs. Anson's spirits, elevated by the open admiration of the bulk of +her guests, would have fallen rapidly had she not at that moment met +the arch glance of Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby. That lady, a very mistress of +the revels, was flitting here and there and everywhere, witching the +world of Gleicester with noble womanhood.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nor was the sight less of a surprise to the Canon's wife. But Mrs. +Vrater, as was to be expected, had more to say upon the subject. She +had taken possession of the youngest and most timid of the minor +canons, and even he was lifted a little above himself by the scene and +a chance smile shot in his direction by the mistress of No. 13. Still +he was not sufficiently intoxicated to venture to disagree with the +resident Canon's lady.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I never thought I should live to see this or anything like it!" she +said, with a groan of grimmest disapprobation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, indeed," he assented, "nor did I." But it is doubtful if he meant +quite the same thing as the lady.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This will not be the end of it, Mr. Smallgunn," said Cassandra, +nodding her head in so gloomy a manner that it recalled nothing so +much as a hearse-plume.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not a bit of it," he answered briskly. But again it is a matter of +some uncertainty whether the two wits--supposing that so irreverent an +expression may be applied to Mrs. Vrater's wit--jumped together. He +not improbably in his mind's eye saw a succession of such evenings +strewn like flowers in the minor canons' path; and this was not at all +Mrs. Vrater's view. She felt that there was a lack of sympathy between +them, and left him for the Archdeacon, with whom she conferred in a +corner, glowering the while at the triumphant Epicureans, who strutted +up and down the carpeted cloisters, and flirted their fans, and spread +their feathers like peacocks in the sunshine.</p> + +<p class="normal">And there were moments when Mrs. Dean felt as proud as a peacock; but +then there were other times when she felt quite the reverse. True, she +fully intended strenuously to perform, so far as in her lay, her +husband's order, "never to let him hear of it again," quite heartily +and sincerely; that amount of justice must be done her; she intended +to obey him in this, only she doubted of her success. And being in the +main a good woman, with some amount of love and reverence for her +husband, there were moments in the evening when she turned quite cold +with fear, and wondered who or what on earth could have induced her to +do it. But her guests saw nothing of this; nor did it occur to them, +whatever might be their private views, that their hostess had the +smallest doubt of the propriety of her picturesque arrangement--her +guests generally, that is. There was one exception--the gay, laughing, +sail-with-the-wind little lady from No. 13.</p> + +<p class="normal">But she did not form one of the group around Mrs. Anson during the +last dance before supper. It was a waltz, and it had but just +commenced, the rhythmical strains had but just penetrated to their +nook within the cloisters, when suddenly, with some degree of +abruptness, the music stopped. They, not knowing their hostess's train +of thought, were surprised to see her turn pale and half rise. She +paused in the middle of a sentence, and could not disguise the fact +that she was listening. The others became silent also, and listened as +people will. The dancing had ceased, and there was some commotion in +the house, that was clear. There were loud voices, and the sound of +hurrying to and fro, and of people calling and answering; and finally, +while they were yet looking at one another with eyes half fearful, +half assuring, there came quite a rush of people from the house in the +direction of the cloisters. Mrs. Anson rose, as did the others. She +alone had no doubt of what it meant. The Dean had come back--the Dean +had come back! The matter could not be disguised; she was caught +literally <i>flagrante delicto</i>, the cloisters one blaze of light from +end to end. How would he take it? She peered at the approaching group +to try and distinguish his burly form and mark the aspect of his face. +But though it was hardly dark in the little strip of garden which +separated them from the house, she could not see him; and as they came +nearer she could hear several voices, if it was not her imagination +playing her tricks, naming him in tones of condolence and pity. Then +another and, as she was afterwards thankful to remember, a far more +painful idea came into her mind, and she stepped forward with a +buzzing in her ears.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is it, James? The Dean?" with a catch in her voice.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, ma'am, yes. I'm very sorry, ma'am. There's been a----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"An accident? Speak, quick! what is it?" she cried, her hand to her +side.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, ma'am, but a burglary; and the Dean, who has just come, says----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Dean, James, will speak for himself," said her husband, who had +followed the group at a more leisurely pace, taking in the aspect of +affairs as he came. He had heard the latter part of her words, and +been softened, perhaps, by the look upon her face. "You have plenty of +light here, my dear," with a glance at the illumination, in which +annoyance and contempt were finely mingled; "but I fear that will not +enable our guests to eat their supper in the absence of plate. Every +spoon and fork has been stolen; a feat rendered, I expect, much more +easy by this injudicious plan of yours."</p> + +<p class="normal">Which was all the public punishment she received at his hands. But his +news was sufficient. Mrs. Dean remembered her magnificent silver-gilt +épergne and salver to match--never more to be anything but a memory to +her--and fainted.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Vrater, too, remembered that épergne. It was the finest piece in +the Dean's collection, and the Dean's plate was famous through the +county. She remembered it, and felt that her triumph could hardly have +been more complete; the shafts of Nemesis could hardly have been +driven into a more fitting crevice in her adversary's armor. This was +what had come of the clergy dancing, of the Dean's weakness, and Mrs. +Anson's secular frivolity and friendships! Mrs. Vrater looked round, +her with a great sense of the wisdom of Providence, and ejaculated, +"This is precisely what I foresaw!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then it is a pity you did not inform the police," answered her +husband, tartly.</p> + +<p class="normal">But his lady shook her head. In the triumph of the moment she could +afford to leave such a gibe unanswered. The Archdeacon was condoling +with the Dean in terms almost cordial, and certainly sincere; but Mrs. +Vrater was made of sterner stuff, and was not one to lose the +sweetness of victory by indulging a foolish sympathy for the +vanquished. She would annihilate all her enemies at one blow, and +looked round upon the excited group surrounding Mrs. Anson to see that +no one of that lady's faction was lacking to her triumph.</p> + +<p class="normal">What was this? Surely she was here! The prime mover, the instigator of +this folly, should have been in closest attendance upon her dear +friend? But no.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where is Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby?" Mrs. Vrater asked rather sharply, what +with surprise, and what with some pardonable disappointment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I believe," said the Dean, turning from his wife, who was slowly +reviving--"I believe that the Hon. Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby is in the +Mediterranean."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In the Mediterranean? why, she was here an hour ago." The man's head +was turned by the loss of his cherished plate.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, not Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby, as I learned before I left London. Some +one so calling herself was, though she too is probably far away in the +up train by this time, and her plunder with her. To her and her +confederates we are indebted for this loss." The Dean may be excused +if he spoke a little bitterly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good Lord!" cried the Canon, dropping the glass of water he was +holding.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I felt sure of it!" cried his wife, in a tone of deep conviction.</p> + +<p class="normal">As the party entered the house, which was in huge disorder, full of +guests collecting their wraps and calling for their carriages, of +imperative policemen and frightened servants, the Dean drew back. He +returned alone to the cloisters, and very carefully with his own hands +extinguished all the lamps. As the faint moonlight regained its lost +ascendency, falling in a silver sheet pale and pure upon the central +grass-plot, and dimly playing round the carven pillars, the Dean +closed the gate and heaved a sigh of relief.</p> + +<p class="normal">And so ended the Dean's ball, the triumph as brief as disastrous of +the Gleicester Epicureans. The dreams of the minor canons have not +become facts. They may play lawn-tennis, may attend water-parties and +amateur theatricals--nay, may play cards for such stakes as they can +afford, but the dance is tabooed. The Dean is Dean still, and is still +looking hopefully--what Dean is not?--to the immediate future to make +him a bishop. And Mrs. Dean is still Mrs. Dean, but not quite the Mrs. +Dean she was. As for No. 13, its day of prosperity also closed with +that night. It relapsed into its old condition of modest +insignificance, nor ever recalled the fact that a reverend canon had +waltzed within its walls. The green shutters and oyster-shells are no +longer considered an anomaly, for they adorn the residence of a master +mason.</p> + +<p class="normal">One more episode of that evening remains to be told. The Canon and his +wife walked home together, and if he said little she left little to be +said. Upon entering the dining-room the Canon sat down wearily. The +servant, surprised to see them return so early, brought in the lamp. +The Canon looked, rubbed his eyes, and looked again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mary," he said, "where is--don't be alarmed, my dear; Mary has no +doubt put it upstairs for safety--where is my great silver tankard? +Ah, yes; and the goblets, too, where are they?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you please, ma'am," said Mary glibly, answering rather Mrs. +Vrater's agonized look than the Canon's question--"if you please, +ma'am, the Hon. Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby called after you left, and said +she'd run in to borrow them for the Deanery claret-cup, as they'd be +short of silver."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_04" href="#div1Ref_04">THE PROFESSOR AND THE +HARPY.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Mother Church, who in bygone ages sheltered all the learning of the +land beneath her broad wings, and who, even after this monopoly had +passed away from her, continued to provide for learners and learned in +a munificent fashion, has in these latter times been sadly shorn of +wealth and patronage by the relentless march of progress and the +Ecclesiastical Commissioners. Yet there is balm in Gilead. Here and +there a sinecure has been suffered to remain for the benefit of those +whose work is not altogether of the tangible kind so dear to the +nineteenth century; here and there a Reverend Jack Horner, putting his +thumb into the diminished pie of Church preferment, can pull out a +plum, and, sitting down under the shadow of some gray cathedral tower, +can draw soothing deductions after the manner of his juvenile +prototype. A bishopric may no longer be a post of dignified ease, +archdeacons may be men doomed to perpetual hurry and worry, wealthy +pluralists may have become an extinct class, but a Canon of Lichbury +Cathedral is still a personage whose comfortable dwelling and +comfortable income are rather the acknowledgment of past distinction +than the equivalent of any present labor. Not, of course, that the +Dean and Chapter of Lichbury are a body of worn-out pensioners. It is +by no means in that light that they are accustomed to regard +themselves; nor, indeed, are they so regarded by any, except the +ignorant and irreverent. If repose and competence have been bestowed +upon them, it is not only because they have already enriched the world +with the results of literary research, but that they may have more +leisure to continue doing so. Some of them have achieved renown as +authors of theological treatises, others are deeply versed in +classical lore; while some, like Canon Stanwick, hold university +professorships.</p> + +<p class="normal">The latter divine was understood to owe his canonry (which had been +conferred upon him at a comparatively early age) to that celebrated +work, "The Life and Times of the Emperor Julian," in which an +interesting character and an interesting period of history had been so +exhaustively and impartially treated of as to leave no room for +further exploration of the same ground. Whether, as his admirers +declared, the Professor had surpassed Gibbon as triumphantly in the +handling of his subject as Gibbon surpassed Voltaire and other earlier +writers, and whether in the course of his well-weighed observations he +had made out as good a case for the church which he represented as was +possible and desirable, are questions which need not be discussed +here. One consequence, at all events, of his accomplished task had +been to place him in the front rank of living historians, and another +had been his appointment to a vacant stall in Lichbury Cathedral.</p> + +<p class="normal">This last reward of merit should have been especially grateful to him, +for he was a bachelor of retired habits, whose life had been spent +among his books, and to whom life had little left to offer in the way +of attractions save increased opportunities for study; and, in fact, +he was, as a general thing, very well satisfied with his lot. +Nevertheless, as he paced up and down his smooth lawn one morning in +August, he was in a less contented frame of mind than usual. The +whispering of the summer breeze in the old elms, the cawing of the +rooks, the occasional deliberate ding-dong of the cathedral clock far +overhead, checking off the slumberous quarters and half-hours--all +these familiar sounds had failed to produce upon him that sense of +calm which is so conducive of thought; he had been compelled to lay +aside the opening chapter of his new work, "The Rise of the Papacy," +and to take to walking to and fro in the garden, with his hands behind +his back and his gray head sunk beneath shoulders which were somewhat +prematurely bowed.</p> + +<p class="normal">The truth was that the Professor, like other professors, had once been +young, and that the days of his youth had been vividly and +unexpectedly brought back to him the night before. This is always a +disturbing thing to happen to a man; and what made it particularly so +in Canon Stanwick's case was that his youth had been marked by a +trouble which he had taken terribly to heart at the time of its +occurrence. To be jilted is no such rare experience, and to get over +it with great rapidity is the ordinary lot of the jilted one; but some +few strangely constituted mortals there are who never get over it, and +of these Canon Stanwick happened to be one. Certainly, at the age of +fifty-five he had long ceased to think with any bitterness of the +shallow-hearted Julia to whom he had become engaged immediately after +taking orders, and who had thrown him over in favor of a man of much +greater wealth and higher position; he had, indeed, ceased to think +about her at all. But not the less was it her conduct which had shaped +the course of his life. By it he had been driven into deep study, into +an Oxford professorship, and finally into a canonry; by it also he had +been driven out of society, and especially out of female society, for +which the treachery of one member of the sex had imbued him with a +strong repugnance. At Oxford, where he had resided up to the time +of his recent preferment, the ladies had quite given him up. It had +been understood there that he did not care for the relaxation of +dinner-parties and tea-parties; and it was a somewhat singular +coincidence that, having from a sense of duty consented to break +through his long-standing rule and dine with the Dean of Lichbury, he +should have found himself seated opposite to his old love, whom, by +another odd coincidence, he had wooed, won, and lost in that very +neighborhood so long before.</p> + +<p class="normal">This chance meeting had upset the worthy man a good deal. In the +gray-haired but vivacious Mrs. Annesley who had claimed acquaintance +with him across the table, he had scarcely recognized the heroine of +his buried romance, nor had he either the wish or the power to +resuscitate the tender feelings with which he had once regarded her; +but the sight of her had stirred up old memories within him, and these +had haunted him through the night, had prevented the Papacy from +rising satisfactorily in the morning, and finally, as aforesaid, had +sent him out into the open air, a prey to vague regrets.</p> + +<p class="normal">So that elderly lady was Julia Annesley! And she had grown-up sons and +daughters, about whom she talked a great deal; and her husband was +dead--the husband for whom she had never cared, and whom she made +little pretence of regretting. To all appearance, she regretted +nothing. Why should she, when she had all that a woman could wish to +have? Perhaps, thought the Professor, it might be a better thing to be +the father of sons and daughters, when one was growing old, than to be +the author of an unrivalled monograph on the merits and demerits of +Julian the Apostate. To be sure, there was no reason why one shouldn't +be both. And then he fell to wondering whether that ambition which had +been the chief cause of Julia's infidelity could have been satisfied +with such fame and social standing as an historian, a professor, and a +canon may lay claim to. Only, if he had married Julia, he would +probably have begun and ended as a country parson. He smiled at +himself for indulging in such nonsensical fancies at his time of life; +but he went on dreaming all the same until he was startled by the +opening of a gate which connected his house with the Precincts.</p> + +<p class="normal">Somebody strode with a brisk, ringing step up the brick pathway to the +front door, singing loudly,--</p> +<div class="poem2"> + +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6pt">"I loved her, <i>and</i> she might have been</p> +<p class="t1">The happiest <i>in</i> the land;</p> +<p class="t0">But she fancied a foreigner who played the clarinet</p> +<p class="t1">In the middle of a Ger-man band."</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">Then came a vigorous pull at the bell, followed by subdued whistling +of the air of this apposite but vulgar ditty. It was not after so +indecorous a fashion that the Professor's visitors were wont to +approach him, and he could not resist the temptation to steal softly +across the turf past the library windows and see who might be the +author of all this disturbance. His curiosity was rewarded by a +full-length view of a handsome, merry-looking young fellow in undress +cavalry uniform, who himself happened to be peeping round the corner +at that moment, and who at once advanced, saying: "Oh, how do you do? +Canon Stanwick isn't it? My mother asked me to leave this note for you +as I passed--Mrs. Annesley, you know. She says you and she are old +friends."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am much obliged to you, sir," said the Professor in his grave +voice, taking the note. "Pray come in."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Can't, thanks," answered the other; "I must be off to barracks. See +you this afternoon on the cricket-ground though, I hope. We've got a +great match on--garrison against the county. We shall be awfully +licked of course; but everybody will be up there, and it's something +to do. Very glad to see you if you'll come to our tent. You'll find my +mother there; the note's to tell you all about it. Good-bye for the +present."</p> + +<p class="normal">And with that this unceremonious young man clanked away, leaving the +Professor, who had not looked on at a cricket match for a matter of +thirty years, much amused. The note ran as follows:</p> +<br> + +<p class="right">Deanery, Lichbury: Thursday.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<span class="sc">Dear Canon Stanwick</span>,--I hope, if you are disengaged this afternoon, +you will join our party on the cricket-ground, and give me the +opportunity, which I sought in vain last night, of having a little +talk with you. I am obliged to leave to-morrow morning, and I am so +very anxious to have a few words with you before I go <i>about my son</i>, +who is quartered here. Do come, and</p> + +<p style="text-indent:20%">"Believe me most sincerely yours,</p> + +<p style="text-indent:40%">"<span class="sc">Julia Annesley.</span>"</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, by all means," said the Professor, who had a solitary man's habit +of thinking aloud. "I shall feel rather like a fish out of water among +all those people; but never mind, I'll go. Only I can't think why you +should want to talk to me about your son."</p> + +<p class="normal">Perhaps the Professor was still a little in the dark as to this point, +even after a long interview with Mrs. Annesley; though he certainly +could not complain of any want of candor upon the lady's part. The +Lichbury cricket-ground is justly celebrated both for its extent and +for the beauty of its situation, and the numerous matches of which it +is the scene during the summer season are always well attended. The +Professor made his way through a double line of carriages and drags, +feeling and looking very much like a man who has suddenly emerged from +a dark room upon a crowded thoroughfare. The confused din raised by a +large concourse of people, mingled with the strains of the military +band which was in attendance, and the shouts of eager partisans of +garrison or county, bewildered him; and it was only after repeated +inquiries that he succeeded in reaching the entrance of the cavalry +tent, where he stood for a minute blinking in the sunshine, and trying +with shortsighted eyes to distinguish among the assemblage of gayly +dressed ladies seated there the one of whom he was in search. But if +he did not see her, she very soon saw him, and came forward, holding +out a tiny pair of beautifully gloved hands.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>How</i> good of you to come!" she exclaimed. "Suppose we take a turn +round the ground; then we can talk quietly."</p> + +<p class="normal">She was a bright, alert little woman, her gray hair, which was drawn +straight up from her forehead, contrasting oddly with her still +youthful complexion, and giving her somewhat of the appearance of an +eighteenth-century <i>marquise</i>. The Professor was not quite sure +whether he ought to offer her his arm or not, but finally deciding +that this was unnecessary, made a grab at his shapeless felt hat, and +muttered, "Delighted, I'm sure." He was a little embarrassed in the +presence of his former love, whose first words showed that she, for +her part, had no such foolish feeling.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is it not strange that we should meet again at Lichbury after all +these years?" she began. "I have often thought of you, and often felt +sorry." She paused and sighed. "One does not expect men to take things +so seriously--generally, you know, it is the men who forget, and the +women who suffer; but I suppose you are different. And I have spoilt +your life!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Professor smiled. He was thinking that most people would hardly +describe his life as having been a spoilt one; he was thinking, too, +that the Julia who had caused him so much mental anguish in years gone +by was quite another person from the complacent little lady who was +trying to make apologies for her. He rather wished she would drop the +subject; but he said nothing, and Mrs. Annesley resumed:</p> + +<p class="normal">"You ought to hate me--I quite feel that; but doesn't some clever +person say somewhere that we never hate those who have injured us, +only those whom we have injured? I have injured you dreadfully; but +for all that, I want to make friends--and to ask a favor of you into +the bargain." She concluded her sentence with a little laugh and a +side glance from eyes which had done much execution in their day.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am sure I shall be very glad if I can serve you in any way," said +the Professor simply; "and I think we may very well agree to let +bygones be bygones. It was something about your son, you said?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, yes, poor fellow!" sighed Mrs. Annesley; "I can't tell you how +anxious and distressed I am about him. He is quartered here with his +regiment, the 27th Lancers, and he absolutely refuses to leave the +service, though, as of course you know, he succeeded to a very large +property when he came of age."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is still very young," remarked the Professor. "I should think +another year or two of soldiering would do him no harm."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But it is absurd for a man with three large country houses to live in +barracks. I want him to marry and settle down. I want him--only this +is strictly between ourselves--to marry Violet Cecil. She is such a +charming girl, and so pretty--don't you think so?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is she?" asked the Professor. "I scarcely know her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But you and Mr. Cecil were always such great friends, I thought."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We had not met for many years until I came down here, and I have only +seen Miss Cecil once. I did not notice her particularly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How funny of you! But I remember that you were never very observant. +Well, I was going to tell you about poor Bob--oh! there he is. I +should like so much to introduce him to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He introduced himself to me this morning," observed the Professor, +smiling.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, did he? Well, I could not introduce him <i>now</i>, at any rate," said +Mrs. Annesley, meaningly.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Professor adjusted his glasses, and following the direction of her +gaze, made out his visitor of the morning, who had exchanged his +uniform for a suit of cricketing flannels, and who was pacing along by +the side of a tall, fine-looking woman with dark hair. The young man +wore a downcast look, and his evident unwillingness to raise his eyes +seemed to show that he was conscious of his mother's vicinity.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I see!" said the Professor, with a perspicacity which did him +credit.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; isn't it dreadful? What any man can find to admire in such a +woman I can't conceive."</p> + +<p class="normal">"She is handsome and--very well dressed," hazarded the Professor, +after another survey of the lady's retreating form.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well dressed!" ejaculated Mrs. Annesley, throwing up her hands. "If +you can say that, you would say anything. Pale blue satin and +imitation lace--good gracious! But of course you don't understand +these things."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly," the Professor agreed, "I am no judge of such matters. But +who is this lady?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, who indeed? That is exactly what nobody knows. She is a Mrs. +Harrington--at least, that is what she calls herself; and I believe +she is one of those dreadful harpies who follow regiments about all +over the world and ruin poor young men--or rather, rich young men. She +is not exactly disreputable, I am told; I only wish she were!--No, I +didn't mean that--I forgot you were a clergyman. I beg your pardon, +I'm sure."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't mind me," said the Professor. "And so you are afraid that she +will marry your son?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can't bear to say so; but it does look terribly like it, and I am +so powerless. I have no influence over Bob, and it is impossible for +me to remain down here; I have all my other children to look after, +you know. Of course it would never do to breathe a word to the Cecils; +otherwise they might be able to save him, for I am sure he is really +fond of Violet. It struck me that perhaps you might give me a helping +hand."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will most gladly, if I can," replied the Professor; "but I confess +I don't at present see what I can do."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am sure you could influence him in a quiet way; and then you might +try to throw him as much as possible with the Cecils. You will have +plenty of opportunities of doing that, if you look for them. And +perhaps you would be very kind and write me a line every now and then +to tell me how matters are going."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Professor shook his head and said he feared Mrs. Annesley was +leaning upon a broken reed. Nevertheless, he promised to do his best; +and promises with him always meant a good deal. For the sake of old +days he was willing to do Mrs. Annesley a kindness; for the young +man's own sake he would gladly have disappointed the harpy; finally, +he thought he would be rendering no small service to his friend Cecil, +if he could bring about a marriage between the daughter of that not +very wealthy country gentleman and one of the richest bachelors in +England. The only question was how to set about achieving so desirable +a result. He debated this problem for some time after Mrs. Annesley +had been called away from his side by other acquaintances, and he was +still standing with his hands behind his back, frowning meditatively, +when Mr. Cecil, a fresh-colored squire, who lived within a few miles +of Lichbury, caught sight of him and greeted him warmly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hollo, Stanwick! who'd have thought of seeing you on the +cricket-ground? This is an unexpected honor for the club."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I didn't come here to look at the cricket; I came to see a very old +friend of yours and mine--Mrs. Annesley," the Professor explained.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, to be sure! How time does go on! Do you remember what a pretty +girl she was, and how desperately in love we all were with her? You +were as hard hit as any of us, if I recollect rightly. In fact, I +believe she was engaged to you in a sort of a way, wasn't she?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"In a sort of a way--yes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And then she threw you over because she wanted to be rich and +fashionable and all that. Well, well! she has had her reward. Have you +seen her often since those days?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never until yesterday."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You don't say so! You can hardly have recognized one another, did +you? Both you and she have got on in life and got on in the world +since you parted. Julia is a leader of society, and mixes freely with +duchesses, which satisfies her soul; and you are one of the +celebrities of the day. It now only remains for me to get a prize for +my pig, and then we shall all three have reached the highest +distinctions attainable in our respective walks in life."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes," murmured the Professor dreamily; and presently he quoted +in an undertone, "What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll be hanged if anybody shall call my pig a shadow!" returned Mr. +Cecil, laughing, as he walked away. And then the Professor strolled +slowly back to the quiet Precincts and "The Rise of the Papacy."</p> +<br> + +<h3>II.</h3> +<br> +<p class="normal">A Man may be a learned historian and a dignitary of the Church, and +yet retain a good deal of that diffidence which is more becoming than +common among his juniors. Canon Stanwick, for one, carried modesty +almost to the dimensions of a vice. He was very shy of young men; he +did not know what to say to them; he felt convinced--possibly not +without reason--that they must find him an old bore; and how to +ingratiate himself with a dashing young cavalry officer was a puzzle +beyond the compass of his imagination to solve. However, he had +pledged his word that he would do this, and accordingly, on the day +after the cricket match, he asked a few friends to dinner, and invited +Mr. Annesley to join the party.</p> + +<p class="normal">The young man came, and made himself so agreeable to the old ladies +and gentlemen whom he met that they were delighted with him, and +allowed him to monopolize the lion's share of the conversation. Which +thing they would assuredly not have permitted in the case of any +ordinary lancer or hussar; for in Lichbury the Church is disposed to +look a trifle askance at the Army, and to stand upon its dignity with +the representatives of the latter, who are overmuch given to riot and +unseemly pranks. But about this particular lancer there was a perfect +simplicity of thought and language which, combined with a touch of +military swagger, was quite irresistible; and so it came to pass that +Canon Stanwick's first dinner party proved the merriest that had been +given in the Precincts for many a long day. As for the Professor, he +began to feel a <i>quasi-</i>fatherly interest in the son of his former +flame, and when the rest of the guests had departed, ventured to +detain him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you ever--er--smoke a cigar before going to bed?" he asked +hesitatingly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should be precious sorry to go to bed <i>without</i> smoking a cigar," +answered the other, laughing.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh," said the Professor. "Well, I have formed the same habit myself, +and if you had nothing better to do, and cared to keep me company for +half an hour in my study, I could offer you a tolerably good cigar, I +think; and--and I believe you'll find some soda-water and brandy on +the table."</p> + +<p class="normal">So presently this oddly matched pair were seated opposite to one +another in the spacious room which served its present owner as library +and study, the busts of Roman emperors and Greek philosophers looking +down upon them from above the bookcases with an air of grave surprise. +The Professor was a little timid and awkward at first, but the younger +man soon set him at his ease, and when he had received a good deal of +amusing information about the inhabitants of Lichbury and its +neighborhood, he thought he might feel his way towards the subject +which he was determined to broach.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know very few people in these parts," he remarked; "I have not been +here long, and am generally much occupied. But I have a long-standing +acquaintance with the Cecils, who I think are also friends of yours."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, rather!" responded the young man heartily. "Known them all my +life. Awfully jolly people--awfully good old chap, old Cecil. And Mrs. +Cecil--she's awfully jolly too."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bob Annesley's vocabulary of adjectives made up in emphasis what it +lacked in variety.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And Miss Cecil?" the Professor said. "I have only been fortunate +enough to meet her once, but I am told that she is a singularly +beautiful and charming young lady."</p> + +<p class="normal">This leading observation elicited a somewhat less cordial assent from +Bob, who murmured, "There's no question about that," and looked rather +grave for a few seconds.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I was thinking," went on the wily Professor, "that I should very much +like to see more of her, her father having been such an intimate +friend of mine in former years; but I hesitate to ask young people +into my dull house unless I can provide some sort of amusement for +them. Do you think there would be room for a lawn-tennis court in the +garden?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, Lord bless your soul, yes!" answered the young man, rising to the +fly most satisfactorily; "heaps of room. I'll tell you what: if you'd +like me to mark out the court for you, I'll do it to-morrow with the +greatest of pleasure, and I could make up a four any day that suited +you and Miss Cecil."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should be very much obliged to you. Let me see; you would want +another lady, wouldn't you?" said the Professor, with some fear that +his accommodating guest might offer to bring Mrs. Harrington.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was relieved to find that no such indiscretion was contemplated. +The young man said there were the Dean's daughters, or failing them, +there was Mrs. Green, the wife of one of his brother officers, who was +a first-rate player and a friend of the Cecils. He could easily get +her and her husband to come, and he was sure the Professor would like +them.</p> + +<p class="normal">So far, so good. There would apparently be no difficulty in bringing +the young people together; and as for the harpy, perhaps the moment +had hardly yet come for declaring war upon her. In the course of the +few following days the Professor tried to find out more about this +mysterious lady; but the canons knew nothing of her, and the canons' +wives sniffed and said that she was a person whom nobody visited, +although, upon being pressed, they admitted that there was nothing +definite against her. Possibly, after all, she might prove less +formidable than Mrs. Annesley had supposed, and the Professor was +confirmed in this hope by the evident admiration with which Bob +regarded Miss Cecil. That young lady willingly consented to drink tea +and play tennis in the Precincts, and closer inspection showed that +her personal attractions had been in no way exaggerated. Not only did +she possess a quantity of golden-brown hair, and eyes of the darkest +blue, shaded by long curved lashes, but her features, complexion, and +figure were all perfect, and she had an enchanting smile. If any young +man could prefer the vulgar charms of a Mrs. Harrington to these, he +must be a very extraordinary young man indeed; and the Professor, +watching the tennis-players from his cane arm-chair in the shade, +smiled as he thought to himself that Bob Annesley had none of the +outward and visible signs of an extraordinary young man. Furthermore, +he noticed that Annesley and Miss Cecil remained partners throughout; +and though this might be a trivial basis upon which to build +conclusions, there was surely some significance in the fact that after +each game these two sauntered away together, leaving Captain and Mrs. +Green to entertain their host with polite conversation.</p> + +<p class="normal">When play was over for the day, a renewal of the contest at an early +date was agreed upon, and after three such meetings the Professor felt +justified in despatching a consolatory note to Mrs. Annesley. "I +really think you may make your mind quite easy," he wrote, "I have had +your boy and Cecil's girl playing tennis in my garden several times; +and even so inexperienced a looker-on as myself cannot fail to +perceive that if ever two people were in love with each other, they +are. The 'harpy' I have not yet met, nor am I likely to do so; but +Captain Green of your son's regiment tells me that she is what is +called a <i>garrison hack</i>--a term not known to me, but which I take to +mean broadly that she is ready to flirt with all, and is consequently +dangerous to none."</p> + +<p class="normal">The folly of generalization was one to which the Professor was fully +alive in dealing with matters of historical interest; and had the +question before him been of that kind, he would have been the first to +point out that, though this lady might not be dangerous <i>qua</i> garrison +hack, there was no sure ground for assuming that she was not dangerous +<i>qua</i> Mrs. Harrington. Mrs. Annesley's grateful reply to his letter +did not reach him before he had begun to repent of his haste in +communicating with her.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was upon the occasion of an afternoon party, given by the officers +of the 27th Lancers, that Canon Stanwick was privileged to make Mrs. +Harrington's acquaintance. Had he been left to consult his own +inclinations, he would not have been present at this entertainment; +but the Cecils, who had driven in from the country to attend it, +invited themselves to luncheon with him, and then carried him away by +main force, alleging that it would do him good to see more of his +neighbors. As a matter of fact, however, he was not benefited in this +particular way, for the cathedral dignitaries seldom showed themselves +at the barracks, and he searched the mess-room and ante-room in vain +for any familiar face. He remained beside the Cecils, and presently +accompanied them to the lawn in front of the building, where some +younger members of the assemblage were playing tennis. Then it was +that he became aware of Mrs. Harrington, attended by young Annesley, +and was able to scrutinize her a little more nearly than he had done +on the cricket-ground. She was a tall, striking-looking woman, not in +her first youth. No doubt she was rather over-dressed, and the +Professor noticed that she was more anxious to appear at her ease than +successful in doing so. He noticed, besides, that the other ladies +fought shy of her, and that his friend Bob, who stood by her side, +looked anything but happy.</p> + +<p class="normal">After a time the couple drew near to the spot where the Cecil family +were seated, and from the expression of despair visible upon the young +man's face, and the mixture of triumph and defiance exhibited by the +lady, it was easy to guess what was going to happen next. The +Professor, from living so much alone, had got out of the habit of +repressing his emotions; and when he realized that this daring woman +had demanded an introduction to Mrs. Cecil, he gave vent to a loud, +abrupt chuckle, which caused everybody to turn round and look at him +and overwhelm him with consequent confusion. Thus he missed the actual +formality which had moved him to mirth by anticipation; but he +recovered himself in time to see that it had taken place, that Mr. and +Miss Cecil were looking grave and annoyed, and that Mrs. Cecil had +assumed that stony demeanor with which she was wont to cow the +presumptuous.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Cecil was not a lady with whom it was advisable to take +liberties. A great liberty had been taken with her now, and, while +holding in reserve the punishment of the chief offender, she made +things very uncomfortable for his accomplice. Having bowed to Mrs. +Harrington, she became absorbed in some distant object of interest, +and failed to hear the bland remarks addressed to her by her new +acquaintance. A deep silence had fallen upon the surrounding group. +Mrs. Cecil was still seated; the other lady was standing in front of +her chair, and the Professor, looking on from the background, thought +to himself that, if he were in Mrs. Harrington's shoes, he would run +away.</p> + +<p class="normal">But it was Bob Annesley, and not Mrs. Harrington, who adopted that +pusillanimous course. That intrepid woman remained firm, and, with a +determined smile upon her pale face, forced Mrs. Cecil to speak to +her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I asked Mr. Annesley to introduce me to you," she was saying, +"because I think we ought to know each other, being both of us so +intimate with him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I didn't know," replied Mrs. Cecil coldly. Perhaps she would have +liked to say that she was not so very intimate with Mr. Annesley; but +when one has a daughter whom one is naturally anxious to marry well, +one is apt to be debarred from indiscriminate retorts. After a pause, +she asked, without removing her eyes from the distant view, "Are you +staying any time at Lichbury, Mrs.--er--?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Harrington," replied the other. "Well, I don't quite know. It will +depend a good deal upon the regiment. I always like to be where the +27th are."</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Really!</i>" exclaimed Mrs. Cecil; and the amount of astonishment, +contempt, and disgust which she managed to condense into that one word +was quite an achievement in its way.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, yes," Mrs. Harrington went on cheerfully, "I follow the drum. My +object is to get as much fun out of life as possible, and I don't know +any better way of doing that than living in a garrison town."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Violet," said Mrs. Cecil, "I think I see some vacant places on the +other side of the lawn. We will go over and sit there." And so saying, +she arose and swept majestically away, leaving Mrs. Harrington +surrounded by a number of silent persons who appeared anxious to stare +her out of countenance while at the same time resolutely ignoring her.</p> + +<p class="normal">The poor woman's position was really a cruel one, and signs that she +felt it to be so were not wanting. She flushed for a moment, then +turned pale again, and stood, not unlike a hunted animal, while those +merciless ladies enjoyed her discomfiture. The Professor, who knew +what agony he himself would have suffered under such treatment, could +not help being very sorry for her. So sincere was his compassion, and +so strongly did he disapprove of the base practice of hitting those +who are down, that he was moved at last to do an unusually bold thing. +He advanced abruptly to the side of the unfortunate pariah, upsetting +a chair on his passage, and said in a nervous, hesitating way, "What a +beautiful afternoon, is it not?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Harrington turned a pair of astonished and rather angry eyes upon +him. Most likely, at the first moment, she took this queer-looking +cleric for an emissary of the enemy; but a glance at his face must +have reassured her, for a quick change of expression came over her +own, and the Professor was rewarded by a singularly pleasant smile, +and a word or two spoken without any of that harshness of intonation +which had been noticeable in Mrs. Harrington's voice a few minutes +before. Having thus entered his little protest against bullying, he +would gladly have retired from so conspicuous a position, but he was a +man who was wholly unable to extricate himself from any position, +conspicuous or other, without help, and so he went on conversing with +Mrs. Harrington for a matter of five minutes, at the end of which time +he mentally qualified her as a very intelligent and agreeable person. +"I wonder," thought he, "why she chose to speak in such an +objectionable manner just now." And then, with his unlucky habit of +thinking aloud, he said musingly, "I suppose she wanted to shock Mrs. +Cecil. Well, I can't blame her."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Harrington laughed. "You are quite right," she observed; "that +was what I wanted to do. But you ought to blame me, for it was not at +all worth while to shock Mrs. Cecil, and I brought her rudeness upon +myself."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Professor, in great distress, began to stammer out an apology, +which he was not permitted to finish. "There is no need to beg my +pardon," Mrs. Harrington interrupted: "you only said what you thought, +and it is not often that one has the good fortune to hear any one do +that. I wish you would go on. I should like to hear what you think of +me, for instance--or rather no; that would not be very interesting. I +should prefer hearing what you think of Mrs. Cecil."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Cecils are old friends of mine," said the Professor, with a +slight accent of reproof.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you need not hesitate to say what you think of them, for one +does not, as a rule, think badly of one's friends. I am interested in +them on Mr. Annesley's account. He is a great deal at their house, is +he not?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, I believe so," answered the Professor, stroking his chin +pensively. A strong desire to come to the point prompted him to add, +with some audacity, "People say that he is likely to become engaged to +Miss Cecil, but that may be only an idle report."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Harrington's large black eyes had a considerable store of latent +fire in them. It flashed out now upon her companion with a suddenness +which made him start; but in an instant she had recovered her +composure. "It is an idle report," she said quietly. "There is no +truth in it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed? Is it not a little difficult to speak with certainty upon +such points?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Harrington made no verbal reply, but stepping slightly aside, so +as to see and be seen by a group of which Miss Cecil was one, and Bob +Annesley another, she beckoned to the young man, who responded by an +almost imperceptible shake of the head. Thereupon she repeated her +signal more peremptorily, and he, with obvious reluctance, obeyed it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I want you to see me home," she said as soon as he was within +speaking distance.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, all right," answered Annesley; "but couldn't you wait a little +bit?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," returned Mrs. Harrington; "I want to go now. I am tired."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then, with a gracious bow to her late interlocutor, she moved away, +Bob Annesley walking somewhat shamefacedly by her side.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was thus that the Professor was made aware that Mrs. Harrington was +indeed dangerous, though not precisely in the manner which he had +ventured to disclaim on her behalf.</p> +<br> + +<h3>III.</h3> +<br> +<p class="normal">Bob Annesley was one of those deservedly popular persons who can be +understood at once by the least experienced students of character. +Good nature was his dominant quality, and when you had said that he +was good-natured, you had said very nearly all that there was to be +said about him. The Professor, who had not lived for so many years at +Oxford without discovering what is the ordinary destiny of young men +thus gifted or afflicted, had no difficulty in casting Bob's +horoscope. "That woman has got a hold upon the poor boy, don't you +see?" said he, addressing himself to the busts in his library. "He was +in love with her once, and he is tired of her now; but he will never +have the courage to tell her so. The question, therefore, is, how are +his friends to get him out of her clutches?"</p> + +<p class="normal">But the busts continued to stare straight before them, without making +any reply, and the Professor, not being fertile in expedients, could +think of no better course of treatment than renewed doses of Miss +Cecil and lawn-tennis. He was prepared, if driven to extremities, to +make a direct appeal to Mrs. Harrington, for he conceived that her +nature had a side which might be appealed to with success; but he +shrank from employing so drastic a remedy until all others should have +proved unavailing, and he lost no time in endeavoring to arrange +another of those meetings which had already produced, or had seemed to +produce, a hopeful result.</p> + +<p class="normal">In this well-meant attempt he was foiled by the recalcitration of both +the parties concerned. Mrs. Cecil, desirous though she might be to see +her daughter make an unexceptionable match, was not likely to fall +into the error of openly pursuing her quarry, and the young lady +herself was probably offended by what had taken place at the barracks. +However this may be, the Cecils regretted their inability to avail +themselves of Canon Stanwick's repeated invitations; while Bob, if his +own account was to be believed, was at this time perpetually on duty. +Thus several weeks elapsed during which it was impossible to report +progress to Mrs. Annesley, who wrote impatiently, complaining that her +son never told her anything, and entreating that she might not be kept +needlessly in the dark. Had it not been for these letters, the +Professor, whose mind, after all, was occupied with other matters than +matchmaking, might have washed his hands of the whole business; but he +was reminded by them that he had promised to do his best, and so, when +at length he chanced to encounter Mrs. and Miss Cecil and Bob Annesley +in the same room, he profited by the opportunity, and engaged the +whole three of them to lunch with him before they had time to make +excuse.</p> + +<p class="normal">Every one who has ever tried to set the affairs of his neighbors +straight for them must be aware that those who pursue this course lay +themselves open not only to ingratitude, but to positive contumely. +When, on the day appointed, the Cecils duly made their appearance, and +when at the last moment a card was brought from Bob Annesley, on which +was scribbled, "Very sorry, can't possibly come to luncheon, but will +turn up for tennis afterwards"--when, I say, this untoward incident +occurred, the Professor was at once made to feel how blameworthy had +been his conduct. Mrs. Cecil was so cross and snappish that a less +submissive man would have turned upon her in the first five minutes; +and even Violet, whose disposition was naturally sweet, was silent and +preoccupied, and made no effort to soften down her mother's uncivil +speeches. And what was still worse was that, after luncheon was over, +and Captain and Mrs. Green had arrived with their racquets in their +hands, that wretched Bob failed to redeem his promise. They waited an +hour for him in vain, and then, as it was evident that no set could be +made up, the Cecils went away in a huff, while the Professor, quite +upset, betook himself to the cathedral, where, being in residence, he +had to read the evening lessons, and where in his agitation he made +St. Paul say, "Bobs, love your wives," before he could stop himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">Passing through the cloisters after the conclusion of the service, he +saw dimly a male and a female figure walking before him, and his ears +caught the sound of what appeared to be an altercation. By the time +that he had got his glasses settled upon his nose, and had approached +a little nearer to the disputants, they wheeled round and revealed +themselves as no other than Bob and Mrs. Harrington. Both of them +started, and Mrs. Harrington, with a bow, turned abruptly and walked +away. Bob, looking rather sheepish, stood his ground and began to +mumble some apology for having broken his engagement, but the +Professor cut him short.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Annesley," said he, "will you come into my house for a few minutes? I +wish to speak to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Professor, albeit of a mild temper, had been a don, and knew how +to assume an aspect of sternness when necessary. Bob Annesley, on the +other hand, was both by nature and training prone towards obedience. +Presently, therefore, the two men were closeted in the Professor's +study, where the following dialogue ensued.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I want to know what you mean by this, Annesley?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mean by what?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, by making love to two women at the same time. Don't tell me you +haven't made love to them: I have seen you. And don't tell me to mind +my own business either, because a great deal of this--this trifling +has gone on in my garden, and I feel myself in a measure responsible +for the consequences. I cannot," continued the Professor, warming with +his subject, "allow the hearts of young ladies to be broken within +sight of my library windows; and I am bound to tell you, Annesley, +that I consider your conduct highly discreditable."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bob shook his head sorrowfully, but did not offer to defend himself, +so the Professor had to go on scolding.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Were I you, I should be ashamed of such unmanly vacillation. It is +very plain that you either do not know your own mind, or that, knowing +it, you are afraid to declare it. You will not, I suppose, deny that +you have entangled yourself with one lady while you wish to marry the +other."</p> + +<p class="normal">No answer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Tell me, at least, one thing: are you, or are you not, in love with +Miss Cecil?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, come--I say--hang it, you know!" exclaimed Bob; but the +Professor, paying no heed to this incoherent remonstrance, repeated +his question in a determined manner.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very well, then--<i>yes!</i>" called out the young man despairingly. "I am +in love with her--and I can't marry her. Now I hope you're satisfied."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Professor said, "Far from it." On the contrary, that bare +statement was eminently unsatisfactory, and required explanation. He +could well understand that there might be obstacles in the way of a +marriage which appeared to be desirable and desired, but let us hear +what those obstacles were, and try what could be done towards removing +them.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bob, however, was obdurate, declaring that he couldn't and wouldn't +say another word about the matter, except that the obstacles referred +to were irremovable. He was the most unfortunate beggar that ever +stepped, but talking about it wouldn't make it any better. "And I +don't think you have the least right to blow me up like this," he +added, as he rose and made for the door. "You asked me to come here +and meet her, and I came. Flesh and blood couldn't resist that. I've +kept away for the last three weeks though, as you know, and I shall +keep away in future. I dare say you have meant kindly, but you +shouldn't be in such a deuce of a hurry to jump to conclusions."</p> + +<p class="normal">With that he made good his retreat, while the Professor, left to +himself, looked up at Marcus Aurelius and murmured sadly, "It doesn't +do, you see. The human animal in his lower stages of development must +be guided by patience and kindness, and by these means alone."</p> +<br> + +<h3>IV.</h3> +<br> +<p class="normal">Whether in Bob Annesley's case kindness would have proved more +effectual than harshness was a question which the Professor was unable +to bring to the test of experience; for a few days after the interview +just described Mrs. and Miss Cecil left home, and did not return until +late in the autumn.</p> + +<p class="normal">During their absence, of which Mrs. Annesley was duly apprised, the +Professor had a respite. He received no more importunate letters, he +saw little of the misguided young lancer, and he employed himself +agreeably in writing that brilliant chapter upon Pope Boniface VIII. +and the bull <i>Ausculta, fili</i>, which has since been so justly praised +by the critics. Absorbed in these congenial studies, and feeling that, +for the time being, it was vastly more important to arrive at the +truth with regard to the instructions given by Philippe le Bel to +Nogaret than to unravel any contemporary mystery, the good man almost +forgot Mrs. Harrington's existence, and it was not until the month of +October, when Captain Green, whom he chanced to meet one day, informed +him that she had left Lichbury for some destination unknown, that his +interest in her revived, and he began to wonder whether anything could +have caused her to relinquish her prey.</p> + +<p class="normal">Shortly afterwards he caught sight of Bob Annesley, clanking down the +High Street in full war-paint and feathers, and crossed the road on +purpose to say, "So Mrs. Harrington has gone away, I hear."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," answered the young man gloomily; "but she is coming back, +again."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Professor passed on. He foresaw that there was going to be +trouble, but he did not want to meet it halfway. "Time enough for that +when the Cecils come home," thought he as he regained his quiet +dwelling, and dived once more into the dark recesses of the thirteenth +century.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Cecils came home early in November; but Bob and Violet met no more +in the Precincts, the excuse of lawn-tennis being, indeed, no longer +available at that season. That they met elsewhere the Professor had +ocular proof, for he saw them several times riding together; moreover, +the Dean's wife informed him that everybody said it was to be an +engagement. The Professor held his peace, remembering one person who +had said with some confidence that it would never be anything of the +sort; and when that person reappeared suddenly upon the scene, it +seemed clear that the tug of war was at hand. The first intimation of +coming unpleasantness which reached the Professor took the form of a +visit from Mr. Cecil, who said he wished to have his old friend's +candid opinion about young Annesley.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He has been a good deal up at my place of late; and though of course +one is very glad to see him, and all that, one would like to know a +little more of him. Mrs. Cecil will have it that he is ambitious of +becoming our son-in-law. Well, that may or may not be so, and I don't +think it necessary to repeat to her all that I hear in the town about +him and Mrs. Harrington; but I may confess to you, Stanwick, that I +feel uneasy on Violet's account. What do you think I ought to do?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ask him his intentions," answered the Professor promptly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, my dear fellow, I can't possibly do that. I would as soon bring +an action for breach of promise against a man as ask him his +intentions."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yet you want to know them, I suppose?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is quite another thing. One wants to know a great deal that one +can't ask about. I want to know who this Mrs. Harrington is, for +instance, and what <i>her</i> intentions are."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said the Professor, with a sigh, "I dare say I might be able +to help you there. At all events, I'll try."</p> + +<p class="normal">He perceived that the time had come when he must have recourse to that +direct appeal to the harpy which he had contemplated some months +before. The necessity was grievous to him; but he faced it like the +courageous old gentleman that he was, and having found out Mrs. +Harrington's address from the stationer in the market-place, set out +to call upon her that same afternoon.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Harrington occupied lodgings on the first floor of a small +house near the cavalry barracks. The dreary shabbiness of her +little drawing-room was accentuated by some of those attempts at +decoration with which a woman of scanty means and no taste commonly +surrounds herself. The faded curtains were drawn back through loops of +equally faded ribbon; the walls were adorned with a few staring +chromo-lithographs; the mantelpiece and the rickety table had borders +of blue satin and coffee-colored lace; the back of the piano was +swathed in spotted muslin over blue calico, like a toilet-table, and +upon it stood a leather screen for photographs, from which various +heavily moustached warriors, in and out of uniform, gazed forth +vacantly.</p> + +<p class="normal">These and other details were lost upon the Professor, who only wished +to say his say and be gone. He had rehearsed the probable course of +the interview beforehand, and was ready with a remark which should at +once render the object of his errand unmistakable; but he had omitted +to make allowance for the unforeseen, and therefore he was completely +thrown out on discovering two long-legged officers seated beside Mrs. +Harrington's tea-table.</p> + +<p class="normal">It is safe to conclude that that lady was a good deal astonished when +Canon Stanwick was announced, but she rose to the level of the +occasion and introduced him immediately to her other visitors. "Canon +Stanwick, Captain White--Mr. Brown. And now let me give you all some +tea."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Professor would have liked to say that he would call again some +other time, but felt that he had not the requisite effrontery; so he +sat down, took a cup of tea, and wished for the end. He was very +awkward and confused, feeling sure that the two officers must be +laughing at him; but in this he was mistaken. Those gentlemen, if not +remarkable for intellect, had perfectly good manners, and would wait +until they reached the barrack square before permitting themselves to +burst into that hilarity which the notion of Polly Harrington closeted +with a parson must naturally provoke. In the meantime, they did not do +much towards lightening the labor of keeping up conversation. This +duty fell chiefly upon Mrs. Harrington, who acquitted herself of it as +creditably as any one could have done, and who established a claim +upon the Professor's gratitude by talking with as much propriety as if +she had been herself a canoness. His preconceived idea was that +propriety of language was about the last thing that could be expected +from such ladies as Mrs. Harrington when, so to speak, in the +regimental circle. Nevertheless, he did not find himself able to +second her efforts towards promoting a general feeling of cordiality +and the next quarter of an hour passed away very slowly. At length it +flashed across Captain White that the old gentleman meant to sit him +out, and as soon as he had made this brilliant discovery he rose with +great deliberation, pulled down his waistcoat, pulled up his collar, +and said he was sorry that he must be going now. Thereupon Mr. Brown +went through precisely the same performance, and intimated a similar +regret. Mrs. Harrington did not offer to detain them. She accompanied +them to the door, talking as she went, kept them for a minute or two +on the threshold while she arranged to ride with them to the meet on +the following day, and then returned smiling, to hear what Canon +Stanwick might have to say for himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now she knew as well as anybody to what she owed the honor of the +Professor's visit; but she did not see why she should make his path +smooth for him. Therefore she smiled and held her tongue, while he, +after some introductory commonplaces, managed to drag Bob Annesley's +name, without much rhyme or reason, into the current of his remarks.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A promising young fellow," he said; "but, like other young fellows, +he gives his friends some anxiety at times. His mother, poor thing, is +feeling very uneasy about him just now."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mothers," observed Mrs. Harrington, "generally do feel uneasy about +their sons. That is because they have such a difficulty in realizing +that their sons may be old enough to take care of themselves."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But they can't take care of themselves," rejoined the Professor +eagerly. "At least, <i>he</i> can't take care of himself. His position, as +no doubt you are aware, differs in some respects from that of his +brother officers, and I think that if you or I were in his mother's +place, we should wish, as she does, that he should leave the army, +live upon his property, and--and make a suitable marriage."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Mrs. Harrington: "and why is his mother uneasy?--because +he won't leave the army, or because he won't make a suitable +marriage?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, for both reasons, I believe. I think I mentioned to you some +time ago that there was a talk of his marrying Violet Cecil, and I +have since ascertained that his own feelings incline him towards a +match which would give great satisfaction to all those who are +interested in him; but unfortunately it appears that he is hampered by +some previous entanglement with--with----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"With an unsuitable person?" suggested Mrs. Harrington, still smiling.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Professor paused. He wanted to enlist Mrs. Harrington's +sympathies, and to arouse the generosity which he was convinced that +she possessed. Under the circumstances, was it politic to begin by +telling her that she was unsuitable? However, he reflected very +sensibly that there would be no getting on at all unless that much +were either said or implied; and he felt, besides, that he was already +in so uncomfortable a predicament that nothing could very well make it +worse. This gave him courage to reply,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"I fear we must pronounce her so. All other considerations apart, the +fact that he no longer wishes to make her his wife should be +conclusive. He might feel--and I don't say that he ought not to +feel--bound in honor to her; but it seems to me that she is equally +bound in honor to release him from his engagement."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, you think she is bound to release him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do," answered the Professor firmly. "Yes; I may say without any +hesitation that that is what I think."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am not quite sure that I agree with you," said Mrs. Harrington. "I +can't, of course, form any guess as to who the person to whom you +allude may be; but let us put an entirely imaginary case, and see how +it looks from the lady's point of view. Because, you know, even +unsuitable women have their point of view, and some of them might be +disposed to think their happiness almost as important as Mrs. +Annesley's. Let us take the case of a woman with whom life has +gone very hardly--a woman who was married young to a husband who +ill-treated her, deserted her, and left her at his death with a mere +pittance to live upon. Well, this imaginary woman is not very wise, +let us say, although she has no great harm in her. She is fond of +amusement, she likes riding, she likes dancing, and we won't disguise +that she likes flirting too. She has no near relations; so, instead of +taking lodgings in a suburb of London, or hiring a cottage in the +depths of the country, as no doubt she ought to do, she attaches +herself to a cavalry regiment in which she has friends, and she rides +her friends' horses and dances at their balls, and has great fun for a +time. Perhaps it serves her right that this way of going on causes her +to be cut by all the ladies, wherever she betakes herself; perhaps she +doesn't care a straw for that at first, and perhaps she cares a great +deal as she grows older. Perhaps she sees no way of escape from a kind +of existence which she has learnt to hate, and perhaps that serves her +right again. What do you think, Canon Stanwick?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Professor's honesty compelled him to reply, "I should not blame +her for seizing any opportunity of escape from it that offered."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yet most people would blame her; she would have to make up her mind +to that. We are supposing, you know, that Mr. Annesley is the way of +escape that offers itself, and when this forlorn woman seizes him +ecstatically she must expect his friends and relations to tear their +hair and call her bad names. I dare say that would trouble her very +little. After knocking about the world for so many years, she wouldn't +be over and above sensitive, and she would know perfectly well that, +when once she was married and had plenty of money, everybody, +including her husband's relations, would be civil enough to her. But +now, just as she is exulting in the prospect of peace and plenty, lo +and behold! the miserable young man goes and falls in love with +somebody else. What is she to do? You, in an off-hand sort of way, +answer, 'Oh, let him go free, of course;' but I, on the side of the +poor disappointed woman, venture to say that she should be guided by +circumstances. Suppose she knew this good-natured Bob Annesley to be a +man who couldn't break his heart about anything or anybody if he tried +ever so hard? Suppose she knew that she was quite as well able to make +him happy as Miss Cecil? Mightn't she in that case be justified in +thinking a little bit about her own interests, and holding him to his +promise?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can't answer positively," said the Professor, sighing. +"Justification must depend entirely upon the standard by which we +judge. All I know is, that if such a woman as you describe resolved to +sacrifice her worldly prospects she would err upon the safe side."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Such a woman as I describe would probably differ from you there," +observed Mrs. Harrington.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No!" exclaimed the Professor suddenly, bringing his stick down upon +the floor with an emphatic thump. "You may say that, but I don't +believe it. I believe her to be a good-hearted and high-minded woman, +in spite of all that she may have gone through. I believe that she has +a conscience, and I believe that she will end by obeying it, no matter +at what cost."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You must know a great deal about her," said Mrs. Harrington, raising +her eyebrows. "Are you not forgetting that she is a purely imaginary +person?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Professor was about to reply, but what he was going to say will +never be known, for at this inopportune juncture the door opened, and +who should walk in but Bob Annesley himself! The three persons thus +unexpectedly confronted with one another all lost their presence of +mind a little, and the Professor could not afterwards have given any +coherent account of what happened next, or of how long an interval +elapsed before he found himself in the street again; but as he wended +his way homewards, he astonished more than one passer-by by calling +out in a loud, distinct voice, "She'll let him go! mark my words, sir, +she'll let him go!" And when he had reached the privacy of his own +study, he added confidentially, "And between ourselves, I'm not by any +means sure that she isn't worth a dozen of the other."</p> +<br> + +<h3>V.</h3> +<br> +<p class="normal">It is one thing to make a sudden and enthusiastic profession of +faith in a prodigy, and it is quite another to reiterate that +profession in cold blood the next morning. The Professor did not find +himself able to accomplish the latter feat. Calmer reflection showed +him that he had given Mrs. Harrington credit for the most extreme +disinterestedness, not because of any single thing that she had said +or done, but simply from an instinctive feeling that her nature was +nobler than it appeared to be upon the surface. Now instinctive +feelings do not ordinarily commend themselves as a sound foundation +for faith or sober philosophers on the shady side of fifty; and the +Professor, while maintaining the high opinion which he had formed of +the harpy, wished that he had not been interrupted just when he was +upon the point of asking her in plain terms whether she intended to +marry Bob Annesley or not. It is possible that he might have called +again and repaired the omission, had he not at this time found it +necessary to consult certain authorities at the British Museum; and +when once he was in town a variety of accidents detained him there. +After that he had to go down to Oxford, so that, what with one thing +and another, it was very nearly a month before he was in Lichbury +again.</p> + +<p class="normal">Almost the first person whom he saw after his return was Bob Annesley, +and Bob's round face wore an air of such profound dejection that even +a short-sighted and absent-minded man could not help noticing it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"All well here, I hope?" said the Professor interrogatively. "Have you +seen our friends the Cecils lately?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bob shook his head. "Never go there now." He added, with something of +an effort, "I shall never go there any more; I shall be out of this +before long. Sent in my papers last week."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What!" exclaimed the Professor, rather startled. And then, as they +were near his door, "Come in," he said, "and tell me all about it."</p> + +<p class="normal">The young man obeyed listlessly. "You may as well be told all about it +now," he remarked; "everybody will have to know soon."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Professor was greatly perturbed, feeling that he had been somehow +to blame in absenting himself at a critical time. He did not ask for +further explanations, but having preceded his young friend into the +library, began at once: "This must not be allowed to go on, Annesley. +I am sincerely sorry for Mrs. Harrington, but I can't think it right +that two people should be made miserable in order that she may be +provided with a large income. I am disappointed in her, I confess. I +had hoped--but no matter. Since she won't break with you, you must +break with her; and possibly some sort of compensation might be +offered in a delicate manner----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can't break with her," interrupted Bob quietly. "We were married +three weeks ago."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Professor's consternation was too great to be expressed in any +vehement fashion. He could only murmur under his breath, "Dear, dear! +what a sad pity!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"There was no help for it," said Bob. "I promised her ages ago that I +would marry her if her husband died, and I couldn't go back from my +word when the time came."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Her husband!" ejaculated the Professor. "This is worse than I +thought. Do I understand you that she has had a husband alive all this +time?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, he died a month or two ago--when she was away in the summer, +you know. He had behaved awfully badly to her--deserted her soon after +they were married. It was no fault of hers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was certainly a fault of hers to receive another man's addresses +while she was still a married woman," said the Professor severely.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, well, if you like to call it so; but I suppose I was as much +in the wrong as she was. Anyhow, I was bound to her. I told her +about--about Violet, you know, but she didn't seem to think that made +much difference. So, you see, there was no getting out of it," +concluded Bob simply.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is no getting out of it now," remarked the Professor, with a +rueful face; "and I don't think you have improved matters by getting +married in this hole-and-corner way. What was your object in doing +that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"She thought it would be better," answered the young man +indifferently; "and, as far as that goes, I agreed with her. It has +saved us a good deal of bother with my people; besides which, I didn't +care to let all the fellows in the regiment hear about it before I +left."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Professor groaned. He saw that the only course open to him, or to +any of Bob's friends, was to make the best of a bad business; but for +the moment he could think of nothing except what a very bad business +it was, and after promising to keep the secret until it should be a +secret no longer, he allowed the young man to depart without offering +him a word of consolation. Why he should have felt moved, some hours +later, to walk over to the lodgings which were still occupied by the +bride, he would have been puzzled to explain. She could not undo what +she had done, nor was there anything to be gained by upbraiding her. +Perhaps it was rather a strong feeling of curiosity than anything else +that led him to her door.</p> + +<p class="normal">Having learnt that she was at home and alone, he followed the servant +upstairs, and was presently in the shabby little drawing-room so well +known to the officers of the 27th. Mrs. Harrington--to call her by the +name which she had not yet formally resigned--rose from the chair in +which she had been sitting by the fireside, and turned a curiously +altered countenance towards her visitor. The Professor was at once +struck by her extreme pallor, and by her air of weary despondency. To +look at her, one would have thought that she had just sustained a +crushing defeat, instead of having gained a victory.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have seen Bob!" she began.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah!" sighed the Professor, speaking out his thoughts without +ceremony, "I fear you have made a terrible mistake, both of you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," she answered, and said no more, though he waited some time for +her to explain herself.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What made you do it?" he exclaimed at length. "You must have known +that you were laying up an endless store of wretchedness for your +husband and yourself; and I can hardly believe that you were +influenced only by the motives that you mentioned when I was here +last."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There was one motive which I didn't mention," said Mrs. Harrington. +"You hardly know enough about me to be amused by it; but I have no +doubt that the regiment would consider it an exquisite joke if I were +to assert that I had married Bob Annesley because I loved him. And yet +it isn't very odd that I should love him. He was crazily in love with +me once; he was kind to me when no one else was kind; he treated me +like a lady; while other men, who by way of being my friends, were +insulting me, more or less directly, every day. Oh, I know what you +are saying to yourself. You are saying that if I had really cared for +him at all, I should not have married him against his will. But I +thought I might reckon without his will--he has so little of it. That +has always been Bob's defect; and I don't mind saying so, because it +is the only defect that I have ever discovered in him. I believed that +I could win him back, and that, when once we were married, he would +forget his fancy for Miss Cecil, as he has forgotten other fancies +before. Now that it is too late, I have found out that I was wrong. If +I had known three weeks ago as much as I know now, I would have died a +thousand times rather than have married him. He hates me, and I am +rightly punished for my blindness and obstinacy."</p> + +<p class="normal">She had spoken quietly at first, then with a good deal of excitement; +but now her voice dropped to a whisper as she crouched down over the +fire, muttering, "Yes, I am punished--I am punished!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Professor frowned. He disliked melodrama, and had no great belief +in a repentance which could be evidenced only by words. "Perhaps money +and lands may afford you some consolation," he observed rather +cruelly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Harrington did not notice the sneer. "Why did you go away and +leave me alone with my temptation?" she cried suddenly. "You might +have prevented this."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I cannot flatter myself," answered the Professor coldly, "that my +influence with you would have been sufficiently strong for that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was stronger than you think. I liked you; you had been kind to me, +and I was ready to listen to you. I have not forgotten how you stood +by me that day when Mrs. Cecil turned her back upon me; women in my +position don't forget such things. But you went away just when I most +needed a friend, and so I allowed myself to be deceived by my vain +hopes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If any words of mine could have caused you to think twice before you +took this irrevocable step," returned the Professor, "I can only +regret most sincerely that business should have called me away at so +important a moment; but there is little use in discussing what might +have been. The only thing for you and your husband to do now is +frankly to accept a situation from which you cannot escape."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Unless by means of an over-dose of chloral," suggested Mrs. +Harrington, with a faint smile.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Professor got up. "Mrs. Harrington," said he, "you may yet prove +yourself an excellent wife and make your husband happy; but you can +hardly expect to do this easily or immediately. And if I were you, I +would not begin by making speeches which are silly if they are +insincere, and wicked if they are not."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thereupon he left the room without further leave-taking, while she, +still bending over the fire, appeared unconscious alike of his rebuke +and of his exit. The Professor, as he walked home, felt that he had +been very severe, yet not unwarrantably so. "She is a foolish, +theatrical woman," he said to himself; "and I strongly suspect that +all that exaggerated penitence was assumed for a purpose. Of course +her chief object now will be to conciliate her mother-in-law, and she +probably imagines that my report of her may carry some weight in that +quarter. But she makes a mistake, because I shan't report anything +about her--good, bad, or indifferent. No more meddling with other +people's business for me!"</p> +<br> + +<h3>VI.</h3> +<br> +<p class="normal">The Professor would undoubtedly have felt confirmed in the harsh +judgment which he had passed upon Bob Annesley's wife if he could have +seen her at the meet on the following morning. Mrs. Harrington was a +finished horsewoman, and never looked to so great advantage as in the +saddle. Upon the present occasion she rode a fidgety chestnut mare, +the property of Captain White, and the ease with which she managed her +rather troublesome mount won her a great deal of admiration from the +local members of the hunt. As for the officers of the 27th, they were +too well accustomed to Polly Harrington's dexterity to pay her any +compliments on that score; but they clustered round her as usual, and +smiled amiably at her smart sayings, and told her that she was in rare +form that morning. Bob hovered in the background, looking woebegone.</p> + +<p class="normal">The neighborhood of Lichbury does not bear a very high character among +hunting men, blank days being of by no means rare occurrence +thereabouts, but there is always a fox at Lingham Gorse, and it was at +Lingham Gorse that a fox was found on the particular morning with +which we are concerned. The whole crowd got away together, and kept +together for the first five minutes, going at racing speed across the +short turf of the downs at the foot of which Lichbury stands. On this +the northern side, the gradual slopes of these hills form as good and +safe galloping ground as any one could wish for; but their southern +face is very different, falling away in precipitous chalk quarries and +sharp declivities unwelcome to timid riders, and it was after crossing +the backbone of the ridge that the field began to scatter right and +left, only a few adventurous spirits riding straight ahead and +trusting in Providence.</p> + +<p class="normal">Among these was Mrs. Harrington. She was followed by Annesley and +Captain White, the latter of whom was watching her headlong progress a +little anxiously, and wishing, perhaps, that his chestnut mare were +safe in her stable. It was not, however, any fear on the mare's +account that caused him to rein in suddenly and ejaculate "Good God!" +About a furlong ahead, a row of posts and rails had come into view, +immediately beyond which--as every one who knew the country was well +aware--was a chalk cliff some two hundred feet in depth. It seemed +incredible that any human being, whether familiar with the country or +not, should ride at such a fence, for there was nothing but sky +visible upon the other side of it; but Mrs. Harrington was making +straight for it now, and it was the discovery that she was doing so +that called forth Captain White's exclamation. He raised his hand to +his mouth and sent a warning shout after her, and Bob, who saw the +danger at the same moment, shouted too; but Mrs. Harrington did not +appear to hear either of them, and, indeed, it was already too late +for warnings to be of any avail. For an instant horse and rider rose +dark against the gray sky, then vanished; and to those who waited +there, helpless and horror-struck, it seemed as if some minutes +elapsed before the dull crash came which told them that poor Polly +Harrington had taken her last leap.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Awful thing!--most shocking sight I ever saw in my life!" Captain +White said, describing the catastrophe, some months afterwards, to an +old brother officer. "But she must have been killed like a flash of +lightning--there's some comfort in that. And, though I wouldn't say so +to any one else, I can't help thinking that the poor woman's death was +about the best thing that could have happened. Fancy her having got +Bob Annesley to marry her on the sly! Only shows what fools fellows +are, eh? You've heard that he's engaged to that pretty Miss Cecil now, +haven't you? It isn't given out yet, of course, and I suppose they'll +have to let a year go by before they announce it formally; but +everybody knows about it down in these parts."</p> + +<p class="normal">Probably many less plain-spoken persons than Captain White agreed with +him in thinking the unfortunate harpy's death the best thing that +could have happened; but it may be hoped that Bob Annesley was not +consciously among the number. The suddenness and the ghastly nature of +the calamity gave him a shock from which his elastic spirits took a +long time to recover; but he began to be more cheerful again after +meeting Canon Stanwick, and putting into words a dread which he had +not liked to mention to other friends.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I say," he asked hesitatingly, and keeping his eyes upon the ground, +"do you believe--do you believe that--<i>she did it on purpose?</i>"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Professor evaded the question so cleverly that his interrogator +quite imagined that he had answered it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not think," he said gravely, "that we have any right whatever to +cast such an aspersion as that upon her memory."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_05" href="#div1Ref_05">ARCHDEACON HOLDEN'S +TRIBULATION.</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">She was so frail and small that the country squires who came in at the +one stopping-place and left the train at the next, and talked of petty +sessions and highway-boards in a strong slow way, like men with a +tight grasp of a slippery subject, felt fatherly towards her; and so +fair that their sons found out new and painful ways of sitting which +hid dirty boots, and strange modes of propping their guns which +employed hands suddenly gifted with a sense of over-abundance; and so +dainty, yet withal bright of eye and lip, that a gentleman who got in +one stage from Stirhampton, and knew her, was tormented by his fancy; +which pictured her as a sparkling gem in its nest of jeweller's satin. +Altogether so frail and fair and dainty was this passenger; and yet in +the flush of her young beauty and fearless nature, there was about her +so imperious a charm that they all, though they might travel with her +but three miles--it was a dreadful train--and exchange with her not +three words, became her slaves. And the gentleman who knew her +grovelled before her in spirit to an extent unbecoming in a man, much +more in a clergyman and a curate.</p> + +<p class="normal">She was popular, too. For though she parted from him at the door of +the carriage, she fell in almost at once with another who knew her. +His business, as far as any save chatting with her was apparent, +seemed to be about the book-stall. And after she had gone laughing +from him, and the servant who met her--and was equally her slave with +all the others, though he was more like a bishop and a father of the +Church than they promised ever to be--had taken her luggage in charge, +she met yet another, who blushed, and bowed, and smiled, and stammered +before her after his kind. With him she was very merry until their +roads diverged--if he had any road which was not of the nature of the +last one's business. And then she tripped on just as gayly with a very +tall acquaintance--they were all of one sex--and after him with +another, who took up the walking where his predecessor left off, just +for all the world as if she were a royal letter, and they were those +old Persian post-runners, who made so little of "parasangs," and whose +roads seemed always to be through "Paradises." But this last one +brought her to the rectory gates, and--much lamenting--left her.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was only Granny in the drawing-room when Dorothy ran upstairs. +Granny, who was eighty-seven, and with a screen at her back and a +wood-fire toasting her old toes, could tell wonderful tales of the +great war. Who had heard "Clarissa" read aloud <i>coram puellis</i>, and at +times shocked a mealy-mouthed generation by pure plain-speaking. She +was the Archdeacon's grandmother; but to Dorothy what relation she +was, or whether she was any relation, not all Stirhampton could +tell--though it spent itself in guessing, and dallied to some extent +with a suggestion that she was Dorothy's great-great aunt; not, +however, committing itself to this, nor altogether breaking with a +rival theory, that they were first cousins three times removed.</p> + +<p class="normal">Whatever she was, Dorothy hugged her a score of times, and the tiny +old lady said, "God bless you, my dear," half as many, and was going +on to her full number, when the Archdeacon himself came in. He, too, +smiled upon seeing the girl, and smoothed his ruffled brow, and tried +to be as if the drawing-room--when he was in it--were all his world. +For this was a part of the Archdeacon's system, and he was of note +through four dioceses as a man of system. So he patted the girl's +hair, and said kindly:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, my dear, I trust you have had a pleasant visit?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, charming! and yet I am so glad to be at home again! But, +guardian, what is the matter?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Archdeacon was vexed and pleased. Vexed that his attempt had not +succeeded, and pleased that he could now tell his trouble. "The +matter, my dear?" he said, taking a turn up and down the room; "why, I +am greatly annoyed and put out. I never knew such a thing happen +before."</p> + +<p class="normal">Granny clasped her hands upon the arms of her chair in sudden +excitement. "It isn't overdrawn, George, is it?" she said, nervously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Overdrawn!" he replied, cheerfully, "not at all." There had been a +time when he was not an archdeacon, or a rector, or even in orders, +but only a hard-reading undergraduate, when Granny's banking account +had been with great difficulty kept above zero. Then it was her +bugbear; now the family fortunes were as solidly substantial as the +comfortable red brick rectory itself; but Granny found some difficulty +in laying her bogey. "Not at all. Not so bad as that," he said, +cheerfully; "but very annoying, nevertheless. I was writing my +Sunday evening sermon this afternoon--as I always do, you know, on +Friday--when Whiteman came running in to me at five minutes after +four, and said there was no one at the church to take the four o'clock +service. Of course I had to break off and go. The congregation had to +wait fully ten minutes. It is not so much the inroad upon my time, +though that is not unimportant, as the lack of system, that I deplore. +Maddy and Moser"--they were the married curates, and took charge of +the two chapels of ease--"are, of course, engaged elsewhere; but +surely one of the other five might have been here. It is a piece of +gross carelessness on the part of some one."</p> + +<p class="normal">Dorothy nodded and looked gravely into the teapot. "And I saw Mr. Gray +on my way from the station!" she said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, just so. You did not meet any of the others?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, I think I did," she replied, with a great show of candor. "Of +course I saw Mr. Bigham by the Church Club and Mr. Brune in Wych +Street."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Brune is the culprit, I expect. I do not think it would be Charles +Emerson's fault, because he is unwell."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Unwell!" cried the girl, impulsively. "Indeed, he is quite ill; I +never saw any one look so bad."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! and where may you have seen <i>him?</i>" asked the Archdeacon, +stopping suddenly in his promenade of the room, and facing her.</p> + +<p class="normal">Dorothy bit her tongue to punish it. There is nothing so dangerous as +a half-confidence. It so often leads, will-he-nill-he, to a whole one. +"He got into the train at Bromfield. He had walked out there," she +said, meekly. Surprisingly meekly for her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Quite so. And may I ask whereabouts you met his brother?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Met his brother?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, my dear," said the Archdeacon, suavely. "Met his brother, Mr. +Philip Emerson?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let me see," murmured Dolly, with a vast pretence of considering, +though her little ears were scarlet by this time. "Where did I meet +Mr. Philip? Of course, I met him at the station. But however did you +know?" she asked, with the utmost effrontery.</p> + +<p class="normal">"When one sheep, Dorothy, jumps over a gap, all the flock follow. Four +of my curates being so busily engaged meeting my ward, I had little +doubt but that the fifth was as well occupied."</p> + +<p class="normal">Unseen by him, she made a face at Granny, who was understood to say +that boys would be boys.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And sheep, sheep!" retorted the Archdeacon, with sharpness.</p> + +<p class="normal">"They did not tell me that they had come to meet me," said Dolly, +rebelliously. She did not like that proverb--or whatever it was--about +sheep.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Archdeacon frowned. "No," he said, severely, "but I do not doubt +that you would have been better pleased with them if they had. Let me +speak to you seriously, Dorothy. I cannot--I really cannot--have you +distracting these young men in this way. I observed before you left +several little matters of this kind--little laxities, and a want of +energy and punctuality, on their part that were due, I fear, to your +influence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Little laxities!" murmured she, "I never heard of such things." But +he put her aside with a grand wave of his hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am not inclined to say it is altogether your fault. You cannot help +your looks or your youth, but you can avoid being a hindrance instead +of an assistance in the parish. I must not suffer,"--he was working +himself into a well-regulated passion--"my arrangements to be +disorganized even by you. I will not and I cannot say, were this to go +on, what steps it might not be my duty, however painful, to take."</p> + +<p class="normal">After uttering this tremendous threat the Archdeacon walked hastily +across the room, and, turning, looked to see what effect it had had +upon his ward. She was playing with her tea-spoon, tapping petulantly +with her foot, reddening, and pouting, and glancing for sympathy at +Granny; behaving altogether like a naughty school-girl under reproof. +He took another turn, feeling that he did well--thoroughly well, to be +angry; and looked again. She had risen, and was leaving the room. He +could only see her back. I don't know what it was--perhaps he could +not tell himself--in the pose of her little head and her shoulders, or +whether it was something quite outside her--which made him step after +her, and touch her shoulder gently.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There, there!" he said, staying her kindly. "My scolding has not been +very dreadful, Dorothy. We must be good friends again. Will you please +to give me my second cup, and then I will go back and finish--my other +sermon."</p> + +<p class="normal">Granny looked surprised, and Dorothy laughed as brightly as if there +were not and never had been in the world such a thing as a tear. For +the Archdeacon rarely made a joke, even a little one. Jokes cannot be +made upon system, and Archdeacon Holden had found system so good a +thing that any pursuit which did not admit of it was apt to be out of +favor with him. He was gifted with great powers of organization, and +these he had used well, and found sufficient, so that by their means, +without being a great preacher or a small controversialist, without +inventing a new doctrine, or reviving an old argument, he had risen to +preferment. He was little more than thirty when he was presented to +the living of Stirhampton; and though the parish was overpopulated and +under-churched, he reduced it in ten years to such a condition that it +ranked as a model and its rector as a great man, often consulted by +the heads of the Church upon parochial matters. Moreover, men talked +of him as of one likely to rise higher.</p> + +<p class="normal">In person he was a tall, well-favored man, in the prime of life, with +hair just beginning to be flecked with gray. He had nothing of the +ascetic in his appearance, though his manners were cold and reserved; +but he was liberal, and had good nature and good temper, as well as +good parts. These qualities, however, the strict formality of his +habits, and his rigid adherence to rule, hid in a great measure from +all who were not well acquainted with the man.</p> + +<p class="normal">To Dorothy he had been almost a father; and would perhaps have come to +be looked upon entirely in that light, but that he was betrayed from +time to time by little things. For instance, what do fathers--ordinary +allowance-making, bill-paying fathers--know of their girl's dresses? +The smallest chit in the nursery will tell you, nothing. And Carrie +and Edie are so persuaded of this that they will flaunt their new +seal-skins--which have not been paid for, and are absurdly +inconsistent with papa's allowance--under his very nose, without the +slightest tremor; and Flo will wear three new dresses in a quarter +with as little chance of being prematurely found out in her +extravagance, as if they were three new pairs of mittens. But in this +respect the Archdeacon was not Dorothy's father. For not only did he +observe during the few days which followed his scolding that she had +not forgotten it; that she went sadly--or seemed to go sadly--about +the house, and shunned his visitors with a pensive air, leaving Mr. +Maddy, who was over fifty, and had seven children, to pour out his own +tea. Not only did he note this, but when Dorothy appeared at breakfast +upon the fourth morning with a demure face and downcast eyes, he +marked the novelty of her quaker-like gray dress, with its plain +collar and cuffs, as quickly as did Granny.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is very becoming, Dorothy," he remarked, pleasantly. He wished +to be upon the old footing with her. To tell you the truth, he was +tired of that going sadly. The house seemed as soberly dull as when +she was away. And of late he had come to think it was rather a dull +house. She had been away a good deal.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Becoming!" cried Dolly, to his surprise, in a piteous voice. "And I +had thought that this would do."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Would do, my dear? What do you mean? So it does. It seems to me to do +excellently." He was slightly taken aback.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I thought you said it was becoming?" she cried, querulously. "You +did, too. I heard it quite plainly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, my dear, and what more would you wish me to say? It is--it is +very becoming."</p> + +<p class="normal">He tried to speak in a tone at once critical and archidiaconal, such a +tone as the palæontologist adopts when he admires a bone of the +pliocene mammoth in the case of a rival collector, or as paterfamilias +uses when praising--to order--his girl's bonnets. He did not +altogether succeed. The ribs of that primitive animal, though they +have pretty curves enough, do not preen themselves before a mirror +with a little fluttering blush, and bright backward glances, and +quick-straying dainty fingers adjusting here and defining there; nor +do they form together a picture such as none but paterfamilias +himself--no <i>locum tenens</i>, for instance--can look on with a perfectly +even pulse-beat. The Archdeacon felt that his tone was not quite the +tone he had, so to speak, commissioned, and swallowed half a cup of +hot coffee at a gulp.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, dear!" he cried, hastily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, dear!" echoed the girl, stamping her foot in a pet. "Then I don't +know what to do. I am sure I thought this would please you, and I +should not be likely to--to do what you said I did in this. But now I +shall not know what to do."</p> + +<p class="normal">And she ran out of the room, leaving her guardian in a state of much +doubt as to whether she were laughing or crying; and perplexed, too, +by uncertainty whether that gray dress sprang from a conscientious +endeavor after sedateness, a real desire to improve--for oft the habit +doth proclaim the mind--or from a freakish, wicked, contrary, wilful, +teasing spirit, such as old Mrs. Fretchett had told him inhabited the +bodies of young girls.</p> + +<p class="normal">Alas! he was soon driven to be of old Mrs. Fretchett's opinions. There +was no more sedateness, no more going sadly, after this; nor ever did +scolding seem more entirely thrown away than that extempore sermon +upon the day of Dolly's return. She was gayer, prettier, more +heedless, more flighty than of old. The drawing-room was never +free from curates now, whose business might indeed be with the +Archdeacon; but by the time he was ready to talk it over, to audit +their accounts, or sign their checks, the gentlemen were always +upstairs, and--<i>difficilis descensus Olympi</i>. There were rumors of +disagreements among the black-coated ones. The parish districts--and +especially their lady visitors--declared that they were neglected; the +rector never got a quiet cup of tea in his own house, nor even a quiet +placid moment; for the sounds of young people laughing and, as Mrs. +Fretchett called it, "fribbling" upstairs would float down to him +working in his study, and then he would pish and pshaw, and move his +chair impatiently. And no wonder. It meant that the parish was taking +its chance; it meant that his system was breaking down. He knew it +did. He told himself he did well to be angry. And he did thoroughly +well; but after all it gave him small satisfaction. He began to feel +more sore, and think more seriously about the matter every day. He +could not have the work of ten years and more undone in this absurd +fashion. Some remedy must be found. He might get rid of all the +curates in a body, for violent diseases call for violent remedies; but +that might not turn out a remedy. Or Dorothy might be--well, not +dismissed exactly--but disposed of out of the way in some sort or +other. The more Archdeacon Holden thought it over, the more he was +forced to the opinion that his duty lay in this direction. And then +something happened which brought matters to a head.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was on the day of the Grammar School sports, which were held by his +permission in the large field at the back of the rectory, where the +old town wall, running round two sides of the enclosure, afforded a +capital place, of vantage for such spectators as did not wish to enter +the ground. It was past five o'clock, and the sports were over. Of +course the Archdeacon had attended them; and then he had retired to +his study, and was thinking of going upstairs to tea, when a renewal +of the shouting in the rear of the house attracted his attention. +Wondering what this might be he mounted to the drawing-room, and +finding only Granny there, fenced in as usual with her screen, walked +to the further window which overlooked the field. The sports, to all +appearance, had been resumed, late as it was; for though the ground +was almost clear, a crowd was fast collecting upon the wall, and he +could make out figures--it was just growing dusk--moving quickly round +the ropes, which had not been taken away. One, two, three, four, five +black figures moving swiftly in single file.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am afraid this won't do. I don't think that this can be allowed," +he was beginning, shaking his head slowly, under the impression that +the town boys had taken advantage of the place and occasion to get up +a little impromptu competition of their own. "I don't think--good +heavens!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Granny awoke upon the instant, the Archdeacon's voice rang out so loud +in anger and reprobation. "What is it?" the old lady said, weakly, +feeling for her stick. "What is it, my dear? I hope it is not much. +You know it is very near quarter day, George, very near, and some +money will be paid in then. Dear me, dear me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Even in his wrathful astonishment the Archdeacon tried to say gently, +"It is not that, Granny. It is nothing of any consequence. I shall be +back in a moment."</p> + +<p class="normal">And then he ran downstairs. Nothing of any consequence indeed; three +steps at a time, and so, bare-headed and his skirts flying behind him, +reached the terrace, taking no notice of a couple of maids in the +hall, who were looking through a window and giggling, and who fled at +his approach. On the terrace, with a charming hood over her head, was +Dorothy, looking down into the field, and now laughing and now +clapping a pair of little gloved hands in great delight, a white rose +on the wall before her. He scarce looked at her, but peered into the +dusk. Yes, his eyes had not played him false. The five athletes +speeding round the roped circle were his five curates, and none +others.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Isn't it fun?" cried Dorothy at his side, all unconscious of his +feelings. "The boys were nothing to them, they look so funny in their +long coats. They are walking a mile, and the winner is to have this +rose. Don't you think Mr. Bigham is gaining?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Archdeacon was speechless. He glared at this mocker, and then at +the crowd upon the wall opposite--the cheering, shouting, growing +crowd--and breathed hard. Funny! Fun! Had the girl lost all sense of +decorum? He would waste no words upon her; but he ran down the steps +and strode across the grass as swiftly as his dignity, a little +impaired by haste and passion, would permit. Fortunately the +competitors were just then at the near side of the circle. But, for +that very reason, by the time he approached the ropes, the walkers, +who had only eyes for one another and that slender figure on the +terrace, had passed the point nearest to him, and were speeding away +quite unconscious of their superior's presence. He thought he should +cut off the last man, and increased his pace. He called to him and +waved his hand. But Mr. Brune, intent upon the business before him, +and going steadily like a machine heel and toe, his elbows well in, +and his eyes upon the small of his predecessor's back, neither saw nor +heard him. The Archdeacon was excited and provoked. In the heat of the +moment he followed, still calling to him; and, being quite fresh, +began to overhaul Mr. Brune. He did not hear a louder shout rise from +the crowd upon the wall; he did not hear his ward clapping her hands +in a perfect ecstasy of delight; he did not--indeed he could not--hear +the giggling of the maids at the hall window. But all these people and +everybody else thought that he had joined in the "parsons' race." +Some, like Dorothy, thought it was very nice "and liberal" of him; and +more, like Mrs. Fretchett, who had a fine view from her window, +thought it very odd of him. And the faster he pressed on to catch +Brune, becoming with every stride more and more angry, the more the +crowd upon the wall shouted, and Dolly clapped, and Brune increased +his speed, and the maids giggled; until at length the Archdeacon, +beginning to suspect that his own position was far from dignified, and +a glimmer of the light in which he was being viewed by others dawning +upon him, broke into a run, and the crowd into a shout of reprobation +of his unfairness; and then at last he laid his hand upon Mr. Brune's +shoulder.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stop, Mr. Brune," he gasped; "stop! This is most unseemly. Do you +hear? Most unseemly! I exceedingly disapprove of this--this +disgraceful exhibition. Do you see the people, sir?"</p> + +<p class="normal">This at last brought Mr. Brune to a standstill. He was a pitiable +object as, hot, dishevelled, and panting, his tie awry and his collar +rumpled, he stared, dumfounded, into his superior's flushed and +indignant face. He tremulously wiped his brow, and by a tremendous +effort recovered his eyeglasses from between his shoulders, where they +had been swinging rhythmically. He put them on and looked round. Then +he became aware of the spectators who had gathered since he and his +fellows had, in quite a private way, started on their little frolic, +and the affair became apparent to him in its true colors. For, left to +themselves, and unperverted by Dolly and unreasoning rivalry, there +were no curates anywhere of more proper ideas than the Archdeacon's. +Brune dropped his glasses, quite crushed; but, seeing the necessity +for action, revived. He did what the Archdeacon should have done at +first. He jumped over the ropes and ran across to stay the others.</p> + +<p class="normal">Their rector did not wait to speak with them then, but, still +frowning, stalked back to the terrace, striving to recover his +self-possession upon his way. With but partial success, for as he +mounted the steps, "Oh, guardian!" cried a merry laughing voice from +above him, "what is the matter? Why did you stop? I am sure you would +have beaten them all if you had gone on as well as you started. You +walked capitally. And why have they all stopped?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because they have come to their senses," he said, hoarsely, striving +vainly to repress his passion. "Have you ever heard of Circe, girl?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Dolly only stared. This tone at any rate she had never heard before.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because my parish is not large enough to contain her foolish rout and +their senseless tricks. They were walking for a rose, were they?" he +continued, bitterly. What he had said already seemed to have hurt the +girl not one whit, only surprised her; and he was terribly +exasperated. "I suppose that is but a pretty figure of speech, and +stands for yourself. I am surprised you have so much modesty. It is +fitting and maidenly in my ward to offer herself as the prize of a +public walking match."</p> + +<p class="normal">Her face turned white in the dusk. "How dare you!" she cried, starting +back as if he had struck her. He had hurt her at last, if that was +what he wished to do. "How dare you!" she cried, passionately. But +this time there came a quiver in her voice and a catching of her +breath, and before he could be ready for this change of front she was +gone, and he heard her sobbing bitterly as she passed through the +hall. Only the white rose lay where she had flung it.</p> + +<p class="normal">He went into his study and sat down very miserably, thinking, no +doubt, over the state of the parish, and of what Mrs. Fretchett would +say, and took no tea that evening. Only at one time or another, before +nine o'clock prayers, he saw all the five curates. At dinner he was +very silent, looking from time to time curiously at Dolly, who was +silent too, attending chiefly to Granny's wants, and avoiding his eyes +with a conscious shrinking, new in her and strangely painful to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the Archdeacon had made up his mind, and before twenty-four hours +were over had put it before Dorothy. First, however, he had asked her +pardon quite formally for what he had said in his haste; and the +strange look which pained him had passed from the girl's face, as +melts a shadow cast by a cloud that was before the sun, and suddenly, +even as we look up, is not. And then he had gone on to speak seriously +to her of the state of his parish, touching upon the report of the +previous day's doings, which was already abroad, and which Dolly, with +some temper and as much justice, set down to Mrs. Fretchett.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, my dear," the Archdeacon answered pleasantly, though in a tone +which made her look sharply at him, "she and I are--well, old enough +to remember that you are young, and, as Granny says, young folks will +be young. Still I am bound to take care that the interests of my +parish come first. It must not suffer through any one, even through +you. And suffer it does, Dolly; which brings me to the other matter. +An opportunity offers--I may say, three opportunities--of solving our +difficulty. I have told you that you are too thoughtless for a +clergyman's daughter, but I think you would make a good and true +clergyman's wife."</p> + +<p class="normal">Crash! Dorothy had dropped the paperweight with which she was playing. +He let her stoop to pick it up, which she did clumsily, and was long +about it, and then he went on. "I have had three proposals for your +hand, my dear. I do not know that this <i>embarras de richesses</i> is +altogether to your credit, but so it is. Three of your fellow-culprits +of yesterday, Philip Emerson, Mr. Bigham, and Mr. Brune are anxious to +press their suits. They all have some means, and are young men of +whom, notwithstanding that little affair, I can approve."</p> + +<p class="normal">She was drawing outlines on her work-table with one white forefinger. +"I don't think I want to marry either of them," she murmured with much +indifference, considering the effect of an imaginary landscape with +her head on one side.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Archdeacon frowned. "They think that you have given them reason to +hope."</p> + +<p class="normal">"They cannot all think that!" she retorted, pouting scornfully. And +the worst of it was that he could not controvert this.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Philip Emerson, Dorothy, seemed in particular to fancy he had +received some encouragement."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh," said Dolly, "I should like to ask him what he meant; I don't +think he would dare to say it to my face. Perhaps he meant this!" She +went on contemptuously, rummaging in her work-basket--</p> + +<p class="normal">"For all I can remember he may have given it to me. One of them did, I +know. Isn't it nonsense?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She held a crumpled scrap of paper towards her guardian, and he took +it with the air of a man accepting service of a writ. "Am I to read +it?" he asked stiffly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course--I suppose he intended it to be read."</p> + +<p class="normal">And the Archdeacon holding it gingerly, just as if it were the royal +invitation before mentioned, read a few lines--</p> +<div class="poem1"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6pt"> +"Ah, great gray eyes, that, in my true love's face, +<p class="t1">Tell of the pure and noble soul within; +<p class="t0">One look in your calm depths I fain would trace, +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:20em">I fain would win."</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">and threw it down with a contemptuous "pshaw!" He looked through the +window for a moment before he spoke again; then with a great show of +cheerfulness he said, "Now, my dear, let us be serious, which of them +would you like to see yourself?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Which of them!" she answered impatiently. "None of them--ever! I hate +them! That is, I mean that I don't want to marry them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shall not let you give that answer without thought. It seems to me +that you must have encouraged one or the other of them. You must take +a fortnight to think it over."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I won't have a minute!" she cried angrily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A clear fortnight," he repeated with some sternness. "If you are then +resolved, I shall be the last to force you to marry against your will. +I have, indeed, no legal power over you. I am not your father."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, you are not," she replied sullenly.</p> + +<p class="normal">That pained the Archdeacon more than all that had gone before. It was +not only thoughtless, it was ungracious, it was ungrateful, and it +hardened his heart so that he spoke out what was in his thoughts.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Quite so," he began. "I was only going to say that if at the end of +the time you found yourself unable to embrace----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am a woman, if I am your ward," suddenly and spitefully.</p> + +<p class="normal">"--to embrace this opportunity," shot out the clergyman, very red in +the face, "then I should have to make an alteration in my household; +in what direction, you will, no doubt, be able to guess."</p> + +<p class="normal">She bent over her work and made no reply, so that he felt a cruel +satisfaction that he had at last managed to cow her. Then, as there +seemed no more to be said, the Archdeacon went downstairs and tried to +feel content with his partial success. One way or another the +difficulty would now be settled. And this being so, if he sighed over +the consideration of this comfortable fact, we may presume that the +sigh was one of relief.</p> + +<p class="normal">The gravity which on a sudden fell upon the rectory folk was not +unmarked by Stirhampton. But Stirhampton felt no surprise at it. +Stirhampton well understood the cause of it. What wonder, asked +Stirhampton, if the Archdeacon looked perplexed, and Miss Dorothy +gloomy, and the curates anxious? What wonder, indeed, when as sure as +eggs were what they seemed to be--and there they generally were--the +Court of Arches had its eyes upon Stirhampton, and sentences of +suspension were in the air, and there was even talk of unfrocking! +so that much discussion was raised in town circles as to the details +of that ceremony, and whether a cook's cleaver did, or did not, +figure in it, and if it did, in what particular way it was used? What +wonder, indeed? though those who knew best whispered that the race +for the girl's hand (oh, those giggling eavesdropping maids!), +disgraceful as it was in men of their calling and the Archdeacon's +age, might--observe--<i>might</i> have been overlooked. "But when it came," +said these, "to the Archdeacon, in his chagrin at being outstripped by +younger men, striking Mr. Brune, and knocking his own curate over the +ropes, so that the very crowd cried shame! that was indeed going a +little too far. There could be no winking at that, be the authority +ever so favorable to him."</p> + +<p class="normal">Still there are always froward people who will have no fire where +others have been the first to espy the smoke. There were these at +Stirhampton, men who were rude and said it was all fiddle-de-dee when +Mrs. Fretchett said it was <i>scandalum magnatum</i>--a plain and +unmannerly contradiction--and made themselves otherwise unpleasant. +But even these grew silent after a time, when a very weighty fact came +to be known. Two official letters--missives were the more proper +word--of most threatening appearance had been delivered at the +rectory. Their envelopes had been stamped with the name of an august +street, and bore also in the left-hand bottom corner a distinguished +title. On one had been a twopenny stamp. Timid people scanned the +rector with curious pity, and such upon the whole was the effect of +this postal intelligence that the doctrine of <i>scandalum magnatum</i> +gained almost universal credence; even the froward ones grew serious +and thought it over.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was probably from a feeling of delicacy that they refrained from +carrying their surmises to the Archdeacon. To the curates some hints +were given, but what with their obtuseness--they scarcely seemed to +understand--and a fretful touchy disposition, noticeable in young men, +nothing came of these hints.</p> + +<p class="normal">Of all the rectory folk, it was Dolly only who (oh, those giggling, +tattling maids!) came to hear of the rumor. It distressed her beyond +measure. She could not feel sure that it was untrue. Nay, she knew +that one part was true, for had she not seen the Archdeacon read one +and the other of the letters mentioned, and immediately thereafter +fall into deep thought. Ever since he had been grave and preoccupied. +Her ideas upon unfrocking--though the cleaver was not one of +them--were sufficiently terrible, and grew more and more vivid and +daunting the longer she dwelt upon them. Yet there was not between +herself and her guardian such an amount of confidence as made it easy +for her to speak to him upon such a subject.</p> + +<p class="normal">So poor Dorothy knew not what to think. She had her own little +distresses, we know; but they were forgotten in this greater +apprehension that she had brought grief and disgrace upon the +Archdeacon. And when, about the end of the fortnight, he bade her come +to his study, she thought of them only as of matters to be put aside, +if mentioned, as quickly as possible, as matters of no importance in +the face of the blow she felt was about to fall.</p> + +<p class="normal">Archdeacon Holden was writing steadily. He looked up at her entrance +to point with a faint smile to a chair, and then went on with his +work. She fancied that there was something strange and new in his air; +she marked under the paper-weight the letters about which all the town +was talking; at her elbow she spied an envelope addressed to the Dean +and Chapter of W----, the patron of the living, and Dorothy felt sick +at heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">Whether he was or was not aware of the direction of her thoughts, he +folded his letter slowly, willing, perhaps, to put off as long as +possible the evil day when something must be told. It was not until he +had risen and approached the fireplace, so that his back was towards +her, that he said pleasantly:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, Dorothy, we will talk of your affairs first."</p> + +<p class="normal">"They will not occupy you long," was her quiet answer; what were these +things to her now? "I have made up my mind, or rather it is unchanged. +If I have thoughtlessly caused pain to Mr. Emerson and the others, I +am sorry; but I cannot marry any of them."</p> + +<p class="normal">He did not speak for a moment. Perhaps his thoughts had gone off to +his own matters, for his hand shook a little as he adjusted the +date-case over the mantelpiece. "You are quite sure, my dear?" he said +at last. There was no displeasure in his tone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am quite sure."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, that would have been an embarrassing answer, Dorothy, if things +still stood as they were," he said. "But they do not; and any change I +am going to make will be the result of another cause. I have some news +for you. I am going to leave Stirhampton, and you are the first person +to whom I have told the fact. You will not do my parish much more +harm, my dear, for in a few weeks at most I shall be without one."</p> + +<p class="normal">His back was towards her, and so he could not see the current of grief +and trouble that flashed from Dolly's heart to Dolly's face. He waited +for the eager, happy words of congratulation that should have come; +for the touch at which he should turn to meet the bright, animated +face that would smile on him for a moment, and then flit joyfully +upstairs to Granny. He waited for these things, wondering if his +elevation could bring him any other pleasure to compare with this. And +then, instead, he heard behind him a quick, low sob, and turned, with +a sinking of the heart, to find the girl crying bitterly, her face +cast forward in utter self-abandonment upon her arms, and her whole +frame quivering with the sharpness of her sorrow.</p> + +<p class="normal">His heart sank with a natural foreboding. But surely it must have been +a singularly affectionate one, or where otherwise lay hidden the +source of that deep feeling which welled up in the simple words wrung +from him by the sight of her distress. "My darling, my darling, only +tell me what it is!" he cried, stroking her fair hair and striving to +comfort her. "Tell me your trouble. Don't you know I would give my +life to save you pain, Dolly? Don't hurt me like this, but look up and +tell me. What is it, my darling?"</p> + +<p class="normal">But for a time, though she heard him, she would not be comforted, and +his words even seemed to give a fresh impulse to her grief. At last, +amid half-stifled sobs, with her face still hidden, Dolly made him +understand what she had heard and what she had feared, and what she +had supposed him to mean when he said he was about to leave +Stirhampton; and poured out, too, her own self-reproach, while he +stood over her and listened, and now touched the bowed head, and now +smiled grimly at the rumor of that unfrocking. And when he came to +answer her, he did it in a score of words that dried her eyes +effectually, and made her turn her flushed, pitiful, tear-stained face +upon him, a glorious smile of pure happiness irradiating it that +somehow made his heart leap up like a boy's--and then ache as those +deserve to ache who play the boy when old enough to know better.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is a mistake," was all he said; "I am leaving here, but not in +disgrace, Dolly. I have accepted the Bishopric of the new see of +Deringham. What a silly, loving, little girl it is! You may read the +letter, my dear." And while Dolly, in radiant dishevelment, was +striving to tell him her pleasure, he took an envelope from his +pocket and held it out. Dolly seized it eagerly and opened it, and +found within it not at all what the Archdeacon had thought was in +it. The envelope contained no statesman's autograph, or courtly +to-apron-inviting note from Downing Street, but only a white rose, a +dried rose, flattened, but still sweet and fragrant. Almost as soon +as the girl's fingers touched it the Archdeacon was aware of his +mistake--surely a very curious mistake--and snatched it from her with +some confused words and a reddening brow. But Dolly had seen it--had +certainly seen it; and somehow it brought back to her memory the day +of the curates' race; so that when the Archdeacon brusquely put +another letter into her hand, she read it with her eyes, and not her +mind. As for the Archdeacon, he sought the window, and hemmed and +hawed, and at last said, hastily, without turning, "There, there, my +dear, I think there is no more to be said. Will you kindly go and tell +Granny?" and so affected to select a volume from a shelf of the Early +Fathers.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Dorothy did not move. She sat stooping forward, passing the hem of +her much-bedabbled handkerchief through her fingers.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you sure that you have told me all you wish to tell me?" she +asked, slowly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Her guardian started. "I think so," he answered, and plunged +recklessly at a volume of Origen, or it might be St. Anthony, perhaps.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then why," cried Dolly, starting up and facing him, with crimson +cheeks, "why did you call me your darling just now? You had no right +to do it--no right, though you are my guardian, to say that--if you +are going to say nothing more! If you want me, why don't you ask for +me! Philip could, and Mr. Brune, and the other! I hate a coward. Why +cannot you say, if--you--want me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">There are men who have seen Deans in their shirt-sleeves, playing +billiards. And there is one still living--chiefly on the fact--who +once was last in a three-legged race in double harness with a Duke. So +it is undeniable that great men do unbend at times to a surprising +extent. But that the Archdeacon at the point of the story we have +reached unbent in the manner much hinted at in Stirhampton, I shall +ask no reader to believe. The more as the real facts which have been +told fully explain the disorder of lace and neck-ribbon, the softness +of eye, and crimson of cheek, which Granny noticed about the girl when +she ran in upon her, all smiles and tears, knocking down the screen, +and hugging the little old lady into a state of deep alarm.</p> + +<p class="normal">Which took, of course, the old direction. But the Archdeacon came +upstairs in time to anticipate the usual question. "No," he said, +putting his hand on the kneeling girl's head, "the balance is all +right, Granny--except in years. There is a heavy overdraft of those +against me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I will honor it," said Dolly, gravely, and took his hand and +kissed it. As for what followed--we had better put up Granny's screen +again. This the man of system, who had no taste for jests? But then it +is just possible that Dolly did not mean it for a jest. The curates? +Mr. Philip Emerson, Mr. Brune, and Mr. Bigham? Indeed I cannot say +what became of them. I should suppose they died prematurely of broken +hearts. But the next time that I visit Deringham I will call at the +Palace and ask the Bishop.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>THE END.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of For the Cause, by Stanley J. 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Weyman + +Release Date: February 17, 2012 [EBook #38911] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR THE CAUSE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by +Google Books (The New York Public Library) + + + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + 1. Page scan source: + http://books.google.com/books?ei=0r4yT5jOC4Hm0QGA9ezTBw + + 2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe]. + + + + + + FOR THE CAUSE. + + + + + + + FOR THE CAUSE + + + + + + BY + + STANLEY J. WEYMAN + + _Author of "A Gentleman of France," "The House of the + Wolf" "Under the Red Robe" Etc_. + + + + + CHICAGO + CHARLES H. SERGEL COMPANY + + + + + + + Copyright, 1897, + + by + + CHARLES H. SERGEL COMPANY. + + + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + For The Cause. + + King Pepin And Sweet Clive. + + The Deanery Ball. + + The Professor and the Harpy. + + Archdeacon Hodden's Tribulation. + + + + + FOR THE CAUSE. + + + I. + +Paris had never seemed to the eye more peaceful than on a certain +November evening in the year 1589: and this although many a one within +its walls resented the fineness of that night as a mockery, a scoff at +the pain of some and the fury of others. + +The moonlight fell on roofs and towers, on the bare open space of the +Place de Greve and the dark mass of the Louvre, and only here and +there pierced, by chance, a narrow lane, to gleam on some foul secret +of the kennel. The Seine lay a silvery loop about the He de la Cite--a +loop cut on this side and that by the black shadows of the Pont au +Change, and the Petit Pont, and broken again westward by the outline +of the New Bridge, which was then in building. + +The city itself lay in profound quiet in the depth of the shadow. From +time to time at one of the gales, or in the lodge of the Chatelet, a +sentinel challenged or an officer spoke. But the bell of St. Germain +l'Auxerrois, which had rung through hours of the past day was silent. +The tumult which had leaped like flame from street to street had +subsided. Peaceful men breathed again in their houses, and women, if +they still cowered by the hearth, no longer laid trembling fingers on +their ears. For a time the red fury was over: and in the narrow +channels, where at noon the mob had seethed, scarcely a stray wayfarer +could now be found. + +A few however were abroad: and of these some who chanced to be +threading the network of streets between the Chatelet and the Louvre, +heard behind them the footsteps of a man in great haste, and saw pass +them a youth, white-faced and wearing a sword and a student's short +cloak and cap--apparently a member of the University. He for his part +looked neither to right nor left: saw not one of them, and seemed bent +only on getting forward. + +He slackened his space however near the corner of the Rue de l'Arbre +Sec, where it shoots out of the Rue de Bethisy, and then turning it +with a rush, caught his foot in some obstacle, and plunging forward, +would have fallen violently, if he had not come against a man, who +seemed to be standing still in the shadow of the corner house. + +"Hold up!" exclaimed this person, withstanding the shock better than +could have been expected. "You should have a pretty mistress, young +man, if you go to her at this pace!" + +The student did not answer--did not seem to hear. He had staggered +against the wall, and still stood propping himself up by it. His face, +pale before, was ghastly now, as he glared, apparently horror-struck, +at something beyond the speaker. The latter, after muttering angrily, +"What the plague do you go dashing about the streets like a Shrove +Tuesday ox for?" turned also and glanced behind him. + +But not at that to which the student's eyes were directed. The +stranger seemed constrained to look first and by preference at the +long, low casement of a house nearly opposite them. This window was on +the first floor, and projected somewhat over the roadway. There seemed +to be no light in the room; but the moonlight reached it, and showed a +woman's head bent on the sill--a girl's head, if one might judge from +its wealth of hair. One white wrist gleamed amid this, but her face +was hidden on her arms. In the whole scene--in the casement open at +this inclement time, in the girl's attitude of abandonment, there was +something which stirred the nerves. It was only after a long look that +the stranger averted his eyes, and cast a casual glance at a queer, +dark object, which a few paces away swung above the street, dimly +outlined against the sky. It was that which had fascinated his +companion. + +"Umph!" he ejaculated in the tone of a man who should say "Is that +all?" And he turned to the other again. "You seem taken aback, young +man!" he said. "Surely that is no such strange sight in Paris +nowadays. What with Leaguers hanging Politiques, and Politiques +hanging Leaguers, and both burning Huguenots, I thought a dead man was +no longer a bogey to frighten children with!" + +"Hush, sir, in Heaven's name!" exclaimed the young man, shuddering at +his words. "He was my father!" + +The stranger whistled. "He was your father, was he!" he replied more +gently. "I dare swear too that he was an honest man, since the Sixteen +have done this. There, steady, friend. These are no times for weeping. +Be thankful that Le Clerc and his crew have spared your home, and +your--your sister. That is rare clemency in these days, and Heaven +only knows how long it may last. You wear a sword? Then shed no tears +to rust it. Time enough to weep, man, when there is blood to be washed +from the blade." + +"You speak boldly," said the youth, checking his emotion somewhat, +"but had they hung your father before his own door----" + +"Good man," said the stranger with a coolness that bordered on the +cynical, "he has been dead these twenty years." + +"Then your mother?" suggested the student with the feeble persistence +by which weak minds show their consciousness of contact with stronger +ones, "you had then----" + +"Hung them all as high as Haman!" + +"Ay, but suppose there were among them," objected the youth, in a +lower tone, while he eyed his companion narrowly, "some of the clergy, +you understand?" + +"They had swung--though they had all been Popes of Rome," was the +blunt answer. + +The listener shook his head, and drew off a pace. He scanned the +stranger curiously, keeping his back turned to the corpse the while, +but failed by that light to make out much one way or the other. +Scarcely a moment too was allowed him before the murmur of voices and +the clash of weapons at the far end of the street interrupted him. +"The watch are coming," he said roughly. + +"You are right, and the sooner we are within doors the better," his +companion assented. + +It was noticeable that throughout their talk which had lasted many +minutes no sign of life had appeared in any of the neighboring houses. +Scarce a light shone from a window though it was as yet but nine +o'clock. The fact was that fear of the Sixteen and of the mob they +guided was overpowering Paris--a terror crushing out men's lives. +While the provinces of France were divided at this time between two +opinions, and half of each as a rule owned the Huguenot Henry the +Fourth--now for six months the rightful sovereign--for king, Paris +would have none of him. The fierce bigotry of the lower classes, the +presence of some thousands of Spanish soldiers, and the ambition and +talents of the Guise family combined at once to keep the gates of +Paris closed to him, and to overawe such of the respectable citizens +as from religious sympathy in rare cases, and more often out of a +desire to see law and order re-established, would fain have adopted +his cause. The Politiques, or moderate party, who were indifferent +about religion as such, but believed that a strong government could +only be formed by a Romanist king, were almost non-existent in Paris. +And the events of the past day, the murder of three judges and several +lower officials--among them poor M. Portail whose body now decorated +the Rue de l'Arbre Sec--had not reassured the municipal mind. No +wonder that men put out their lights early, and were loth to go to +their windows, when they might see a few feet from the casement the +swollen features of a harmless, honest man, but yesterday going to and +from his work like other men. + +Young Portail strode to the door of the house and knocked hurriedly. +As he did so, he looked up with something like a shiver of nervous +apprehension at the window above. But the girl neither moved nor +spoke, nor betrayed any consciousness of his presence. She might have +been dead. It was a young man, about his own age or a little older, +who, after reconnoitring him from above, cautiously drew back the +door. "Whom have you with you?" he whispered, holding it ajar, and +letting the end of a stout club be seen. + +"No one," Portail replied in the same cautious tone. And he would have +entered without more ado, and closed the door behind him had not his +late companion, who had followed him across the street like his +shadow, set his foot against it. "Nay, but you are forgetting me," he +said good-humoredly. + +"Go your way! we have enough to do to protect ourselves," cried +Portail brusquely. + +"The more need of me," was the careless answer. + +The watch were now but a few houses away, and the stranger seemed +determined. He could scarcely be kept out without a disturbance. With +an angry oath Felix Portail held the door for him to enter; and closed +it softly behind him. Then for a minute or so the three stood silent +in the darkness, while with a murmur of voices and clash of weapons, +and a ruddy glimmer piercing crack and keyhole, the guard swept by. + +"Have you a light?" Felix murmured. + +"In the back room," replied the young man who had admitted them. He +seemed to be a clerk or confidential servant. "But your sister," he +continued, "is distraught. She has sat at the window all day as you +see her now--sometimes looking at _it_. Oh Felix, this has been a +dreadful day for this house!" + +The young Portail assented by a groan. "And Susanne?" he asked. + +"Is with Mistress Marie, terrified almost to death, poor child. She +has been crouching all day by her, hiding her face in her gown. But +where were you?" + +"At the Sorbonne," replied Felix in a whisper. + +"Ah!" the other exclaimed, something of hidden meaning in his tone. "I +would not tell her that, if I were you. I feared it was so. But let us +go upstairs." + +They went: with more than one stumble by the way. At the head of the +staircase the clerk opened a door and preceded them into a low-roofed +panelled room, plainly but solidly furnished, and lighted by a small +hanging lamp of silver. A round oak table on six curiously turned legs +stood in the middle, and on it some food was laid. A high-backed +chair, before which a sheep-skin rug was spread, and two or three +stools made up with a great oak chest the main furniture of the room. + +The stranger turned from scrutinizing his surroundings, and started. +Another door had silently opened; and he saw framed in the doorway and +relieved by the lamplight against the darkness of the outer room the +face and figure of a tall girl. A moment she stood pointing at them +with her hand, her face white--and whiter in seeming by reason of the +black hair which fell around it--her eyes dilated, the neck-band of +her dark red gown torn open. "A Provencal!" the intruder murmured to +himself. "Beautiful and a tigress." + +At any rate, for the moment, beside herself. "So you have come at +last!" she panted, glaring at Felix with passionate scorn in word and +gesture. "Where were you while these slaves of yours did your bidding? +At the Sorbonne with the black crows! Thinking out fresh work for +them? Or dallying with your Normandy sweetheart?" + +"Hush!" he said quailing visibly. "There is a stranger here." + +"There have been many strangers here today!" she retorted bitterly. +"Hush, you say? Nay, I will not be silent. They may tear me limb from +limb, but I will accuse them of this murder before God's throne. +Coward! Do you think I will ask mercy from them? Come, look on your +work! See what the League have done--your holy League!--while you sat +plotting with the black crows!" + +She pointed into the dark room behind her, and the movement disclosed +a younger girl clinging to her skirts, and weeping silently. "Come +here, Susanne," said Felix, who had turned pale and red under the lash +of the other's scorn. "Your sister is not herself. You do no good, +Marie, staying in there. See, you are both trembling with cold." + +"With cold? Then do you warm yourselves! Sit down and eat and drink +and be comfortable and forget him! But I will not eat or drink while +he hangs there! Shame, Felix Portail! Have you arms and hands, and +will you let your father hang before his own door?" + +Her voice rang shrilly to the last word; and then an awkward silence +fell on the room. The stranger nodded, almost as if he had said, +"Bravo!" The two men of the house cast doubtful glances at one +another. At length the clerk spoke. "It is impossible, mistress," +he said gently. "Were he touched, the mob would wreck the house +to-morrow." + +"A little bird whispered to me as I came through the streets,"--it was +the stranger who spoke--"that Mayenne and his riders would be in town +to-morrow. Then it seems to me that our friends of the Sorbonne will +not have matters altogether their own way." + +The Sorbonne was the Theological College of Paris; at this time the +headquarters of the extreme Leaguers and the Sixteen. Mayenne and +D'Aumale, the Guise princes, more than once found it necessary to +check the excesses of this party. + +Marie Portail looked at the last speaker. He sat on the edge of the +chest, carelessly swinging one knee over the other; a man of middle +height, rather tall than short, with well bronzed cheeks, a forehead +broad and white, and an aquiline nose. He wore a beard and moustaches, +and his chin jutted out. His eyes were keen, but good-humored. Though +spare he had broad shoulders, and an iron-hilted sword propped against +his thigh seemed made for use rather than show. The upper part of his +dress was of brown cloth, the lower of leather. A weather-stained +cloak which he had taken off lay on the chest beside him. + +"You are a man!" cried Marie fiercely. "But as for these----" + +"Stay, mistress!" the clerk broke in "Your brother does but collect +himself. If the Duke of Mayenne comes back to-morrow, as our friend +here says is likely--and I have heard the same myself--he will keep +his men in better order. That is true. And we might risk it if the +watch would give us a wide berth." + +Felix nodded sullenly. "Shut the door," he said to his sister, the +deep gloom on his countenance contrasting with the excitement she +betrayed. "There is no need to let the neighbors see us." + +This time she obeyed him. Susanne too crept from her skirts, and threw +herself on her knees, hiding her face on the chair. "Ay!" said Marie +looking down at her with the first expression of tenderness the +stranger had noted in her. "Let her weep. Let children weep. But let +men work." + +"We want a ladder," said the clerk in a low voice. "And the longest we +have is full three feet short." + +"That is just half a man," remarked he who sat on the chest. + +"What do you mean?" asked Felix wonderingly. + +"What I said." + +"But there is nothing on which we can rest the ladder," urged the +clerk. + +"Then that is a whole man," quoth the stranger curtly. "Perhaps two. I +told you you would have need of me." He looked from one to the other +with a smile; a careless, self-contented smile. + +"You are a soldier," said Marie suddenly. + +"At times," he replied, shrugging his shoulders. + +"For which side?" + +He shook his head. "For my own," he answered naively. + +"A soldier of fortune?" + +"At your service, mistress; now and ever." + +The clerk struck in impatiently. "If we are to do this," he said, "we +had better see about it. I will fetch the ladder." + +He went out and the other men followed more slowly, leaving Marie +still standing gazing into the darkness of the outer room--she had +opened the door again--like one in a trance. Some odd trait in the +soldier led him, as he passed out, to lay his hand on the hair of the +kneeling child with a movement infinitely tender; infinitely at +variance with the harsh clatter with which his sword next moment rang +against the stairs as he descended. + +The three men were going to do that which two certainly, and perhaps +all, knew to be perilous. One went to it in gloom, anger as well as +sorrow at his heart. One bustled about nervously, and looked often +behind him as if to see Marie's pale face at the window. And one +strode out as to a ball, glancing up and down the dark lane with an +air of enjoyment, which not even the grim nature of his task could +suppress. The body was hanging from a bar which crossed the street at +a considerable height, serving as a stay between the gables of two +opposite houses, of which one was two doors only from the unhappy +Portails'. The mob, with a barbarity very common in those days, had +hung him on his own threshold. + +The street as the three moved up it, seemed empty and still. But it +was impossible to say how long it would remain so. Yet the soldier +loitered, staring about him, as one remembering things. "Did not the +Admiral live in this neighborhood?" he inquired. + +"De Coligny? Yes. Round the corner in the Rue de Bethisy," replied the +clerk brusquely. "But see! The ladder will not reach the bar--no, not +by four feet." + +"Set it against the wall then--thus," said the soldier, and having +done it himself he mounted a few steps. But then he seemed to bethink +himself. He jumped down again. "No," he exclaimed, peering sharply +into the faces of one and the other, "I do not know you. If any one +comes, my friends, and you leave the foot of the ladder I shall be +taken like a bird on a limed twig. Do you ascend, Monsieur Felix." + +The young man drew back. He was not without courage, or experience of +rough scenes. But the Louvre was close at hand, almost within earshot +on one side, the Chatelet was scarcely farther off on the other; and +both swarmed with soldiers and brutal camp-followers. At any moment a +troop of them might pass; and should they detect any one interfering +with King Mob's handiwork, he would certainly dangle in a very few +minutes from some handy lamp-iron. Felix knew this, and stood at gaze. +"I do not know you either," he muttered irresolutely, his hand still +on the ladder. + +A smile of surprising humor played on the soldier's face. "Nay, but +you knew _him!_" he retorted, pointing upwards with his hand. "Trust +me, young sir," he added significantly, "I am less inclined to mount +now than I was before." + +The clerk intervened before Felix could resent the insult. "Steady," +he said; "I will go up and do it." + +"Not so!" Felix rejoined, pushing him aside in turn. And he ran up the +ladder. But near the top he paused, and began to descend again. "I +have no knife," he said shamefacedly. + +"Pshaw! Let me come!" cried the stranger. "I see you are both good +comrades. I trust you. Besides, I am more used to this ladder work +than you are, and time is everything." + +He ran up as he spoke, and standing on the highest round but one he +grasped the bar above his head, and swung himself lightly up, so as to +gain a seat on it. With more caution he wormed himself along it until +he reached the rope. Fortunately there was a long coil of it about the +bar; and warning his companions in a whisper, he carefully, and with +such reverence as the time and place allowed, let down the body to +them. They received it in their arms; and were loosening the noose +from the neck when an outburst of voices and the noise of footsteps at +the nearer end of the street surprised them. For an instant the two +stood in the gloom, breathless, stricken, still, confounded. Then with +a single impulse they lifted the body between them, and huddled +blindly to the door. It opened at their touch, they stumbled in, and +it fell to behind them. The foremost of the party outside had been +within ten paces of them. A narrow escape! + +Yet they had escaped. But what next? What of their companion? The +moment the door shut behind them they would have rushed out again, ay, +to certain death, so strongly had the soldier's trust appealed to +their confidence. But they had the body in their arms; and by the time +it was laid on the stairs, a score of men had passed. The opportunity +was over. They could do nothing but listen. "Heaven help him!" fell +from the clerk's quivering lips. Pulling the door ajar, they stood, +looking each moment to hear a challenge, a shot, the clash of swords. +But no. They did hear the party halt under the gallows, and pass some +brutal jest, and go on. And that was all. + +They could scarcely believe their ears; no, nor even their eyes, when +a few minutes later the street being now quiet, they passed out, and +stood in it shuddering. For there still swung the corpse dimly +outlined above them! There! Certainly there! The clerk seized his +companion's arm and drew him back. "It was the fiend!" he stammered. +"See, your father is still there! It was the fiend who helped us!" + +But suddenly the figure they were watching became agitated; another +instant and it slid gently to the ground. It was the soldier. "O ye +gods!" he cried, bent double with silent laughter. "Saw you ever such +a trick? How I longed to kick if it were but my toe at them, and I +forbore! Fools that they were! Did man ever see a body hung in its +sword? But it was a good trick, eh?" appealing to them with a simple +pride in his invention. "I had the rope loose in my hand when they +came, and I drew it twice round my neck--and one arm trust me--and +swung off gently. It is not every one who would have thought of that, +my children." + +It was odd. They still shook with fear, and he with laughter. He did +not seem to give a thought to the danger he had escaped. Pride in his +readiness and a keen sense of the humorous side of the incident +entirely possessed him. At the very door of the house he still +chuckled from time to time; muttering between the ebullitions, "Ah, I +must tell Diane! Diane will be pleased!" + +Once inside, however, he acted with more delicacy than might have been +expected. He stood aside while the other two carried the body +upstairs; and himself waited patiently in the bare room below, which +showed signs of occasional use as a stable. Here the clerk Adrian +presently found him, and murmured some apology. Mistress Marie, he +said, had fainted. + +"A matter which afflicts you, my friend," the soldier replied with a +grimace, "about as much as your master's death. Pooh, man, do not look +fierce! Good luck to you. Only if--but this is no house for gallantry +to-night--I had spruced myself, you had had to look to your ewe lamb!" + +The clerk turned pale and red by turns. This man seemed to read his +thoughts as if he had indeed been the fiend. "What do you wish?" he +stammered. + +"Only shelter until the early morning when the streets are most quiet; +and a direction to the Rue des Lombards." + +"The Rue des Lombards?" + +"Yes, why not?" But though the soldier still smiled, the lines of his +mouth hardened suddenly. "Why not to the Rue des Lombards?" + +"I know no reason why you should not be going there," replied the +clerk boldly. "It was only that the street is near; and a friend of my +late master's lives in it." + +"His name?" + +The clerk started; the question was put so abruptly, and in a tone so +imperious. "Nicholas Toussaint," he answered involuntarily. + +"Ay?" replied the other, raising his hand to his chin meditatively and +glancing at Adrian with a look that for all the world reminded him of +an old print of the eleventh Louis, which hung in a room at the Hotel +de Ville. "Your master, young man, was of the moderate party--a +Politique?" + +"He was." + +"A good man and a Catholic? one who loved France? A Leaguer only in +name?" he continued with vividness. + +"Yes, that is so." + +"But his son? He is a Leaguer out and out--one who would rise to +fortune on the flood tide of the mob? A Sorbonnist? The priests have +got hold of him? He would do to others as they have done to his +father? A friend of Le Clerc and Boucher?" + +Adrian nodded reluctantly. This strange man confounded and yet +fascinated him: this man so reckless and gay one moment, so wary the +next: exchanging in an instant the hail of a boon companion for the +tone of a noble. + +"And is your young master also a friend of this Nicholas Toussaint?" +was the next question. + +"No," said Adrian, "he has been forbidden the house. M. Toussaint does +not approve of his opinions." + +"Ha! That is so, is it," rejoined the stranger with his former gayety. +"And now enough: where will you lodge me until morning?" + +"If my closet will serve you," Felix answered with a hesitation he +would not have felt a few minutes before, "it is at your will. I will +bring some food there at once, and will let you out if you please at +five." And Adrian added some simple directions, by following which his +guest might reach the Rue des Lombards without difficulty. + +An hour later if the thoughts of those who lay sleepless under that +roof could have been traced, some strange contrasts would have +appeared. Was Felix Portail thinking of his dead father, or of his +sweetheart in the Rue des Lombards, or of his schemes of ambition? Was +he blaming the crew of whom until to-day he had been one, or sullenly +cursing those factious Huguenots as the root of the mischief? Was +Adrian thinking of his kind master, or of his master's daughter? Was +the guest dreaming of his narrow escape? or revolving plans beside +which Felix's were but the schemes of a rat in a drain? Perhaps Marie +alone--for Susanne slept a child's sleep of exhaustion--had her +thoughts fixed on him, who so few hours before had been the centre of +the household. + +But such is life in troubled times. Pleasure and pain come mingled +together, and men snatch the former even from the midst of the latter +with a trembling joy; knowing that if they wait to go a pleasuring +until the sky be clear, they may wait until nightfall. + +When Adrian called his guest at cock-crow the latter rose briskly and +followed him down to the door. "Well, young sir," he said on the +threshold, as he wrapped his cloak round him and took his sheathed +sword in his hand, "I am obliged to you. When I can do you a service, +I will." + +"You can do me one now," replied the clerk bluntly, "It is ill work +having to do with strangers in these days. You can tell me who you +are, and to which side you belong." + +"Which side? I have told you--my own. And for the rest," continued the +soldier, "I will give you a hint." He brought his lips near the +other's ear, and whispered, "Kiss Marie--for me!" + +The clerk looked up aflame with anger, but the other was already gone +striding down the street. Yet Adrian received an answer to his +question. For as the stranger disappeared in the gloom, he broke +out with an audacity that took the listener's breath away into a +well-known air, + + + "Hau! Hau! Papegots! + Faites place aux Huguenots!" + + +and trilled it as if he had been in the streets of Rochelle. + +"Death!" exclaimed the clerk, getting back into the house, and barring +the door, "I thought so. He is a Huguenot. But if he takes his neck +out of Paris unstretched, he will have the fiend's own luck, and the +Bearnais' to boot!" + + + II. + +When the clerk went upstairs, again, he heard voices in the back room. +Felix and Marie were in consultation. The girl was a different being +this morning. The fire and fury of the night had sunk to a still +misery: and even to her it seemed over dangerous to stay in the house +and confront the rage of the mob. Mayenne might not after all return +yet: and in that case the Sixteen would assuredly wreak their spite on +all, however young or helpless, who might have had to do with the +removal of the body. "You must seek shelter with some friend," Felix +proposed, "before the city is astir. I can go to the University. I +shall be safe there." + +"Could you not take us with you?" Marie suggested meekly. + +He shook his head, his face flushing. It was hard to confess that he +had power to destroy, but none to protect. "You had better go to +Nicholas Toussaint's," he said. "He will take you in, though he will +have nothing to do with me." + +Marie assented with a sigh, and rose to make ready. Some few valuables +were hidden or secured, some clothes taken; and then the little party +of four passed out into the street, leaving but one solemn tenant in +their home. The cold light of a November morning gave to the lane an +air even in accustomed eyes of squalor and misery. The kennel running +down the middle was choked with nastiness, while here and there the +upper stories leaned forward so far as to obscure the light. + +The fugitives regarded these things little after the first shivering +glance, but hurried on their road; Felix with his sword, and Adrian +with his club marching on either side of the girls. A skulking dog got +out of their way. The song of a belated reveller made them shrink +under an arch. But they fell in with nothing more formidable until +they came to the high wooden gates of the courtyard in front of +Nicholas Toussaint's house. + +To arouse him or his servants, however, without disturbing the +neighborhood was another matter. There was no bell; only a heavy iron +clapper. Adrian tried this cautiously, with little hope of being +heard. But to his joy the hollow sound had scarcely ceased when +footsteps were heard crossing the court, and a small trap in one of +the gates was opened. An elderly man with high cheek bones and curly +gray hair looked out. His eyes lighting on the girls lost their +harshness. "Marie Portail!" he exclaimed. "Ah! poor thing, I pity you. +I have heard all. I only returned to the city last night or I should +have been with you. And Adrian?" + +"We have come," said the young man respectfully, "to beg shelter for +Mistress Marie and her sister. It is no longer safe for them to remain +in the Rue de l'Arbre Sec." + +"I can well believe it," cried Toussaint vigorously. "I do not know +where we are safe nowadays. But there," he added in a different tone, +"no doubt the Sixteen are acting for the best." + +"You will take them in then?" said Adrian, with gratitude. + +But to his astonishment the citizen shook his head, while an awkward +embarrassment twisted his features. "It is impossible!" he said +reluctantly. + +Adrian doubted if he had heard aright. Nicholas Toussaint was known +for a bold man; one whom the Sixteen disliked, and even suspected of +Huguenot leanings, but had not yet dared to attack. He was a dealer in +Norman horses, and this both led him to employ many men, reckless +daring fellows, and made him in some degree necessary to the army. +Adrian had never doubted that he would shelter the daughter of his old +friend; and his surprise on receiving this rebuff was extreme. + +"But, Monsieur Toussaint--" he urged--and his face reddened with +generous warmth as he stood forward. "My master is dead! Foully +murdered! He lies who says otherwise, though he be of the Sixteen! My +mistress has few friends now to protect her, and those of small power. +Will you send her and the child from your door?" + +"Hush, Adrian," cried the girl, lifting her head proudly, yet laying +her hand on the clerk's sleeve with a tender touch of acknowledgment +that brought the blood in redoubled force to his cheeks. "Do not press +our friend overmuch. If he will not take us in from the streets, be +sure he has some good reason to offer." + +But Toussaint was dumb. Shame--a shame augmented tenfold by the +clerk's fearlessness--was so clearly written on his face, that Adrian +uttered none of the reproaches which hung on his lips. It was Felix +who came forward, and said contemptuously, "So you have grown +strangely cautious of a sudden, M. Toussaint?" + +"Ha! I thought you were there, or thereabouts!" replied the +horse-dealer, regaining his composure at once, and eyeing him with +strong disfavor. + +"But Felix and I," interposed Adrian eagerly, "will fend for +ourselves." + +Toussaint shook his head. "It is impossible," he said surlily. + +"Then hear me!" cried Felix with excitement. "You do not deceive me. +It is not because of your daughter that you have forbidden me the +house, and will not now protect my sister! It is because we shall +learn too much. You have those under your roof, whom the crows shall +pick yet! You, I will spare for Madeline's sake; but your spies I will +string up, every one of them by----" and he swore a frightful oath +such as the Romanists used. + +Toussaint's face betrayed both fear and anger. For an instant he +seemed to hesitate. Then exclaiming "Begone, parricide! You would have +killed your own father!" he slammed the trap-door, and was heard +retreating up the yard with a clatter, which sufficiently indicated +his uneasiness. + +The four looked at one another. Daylight had fully come. The noise of +the altercation had drawn more than one sleepy face to neighboring +casements. In a short time the streets would be alive with people, and +even a delay of a few minutes might bring immediate danger. They +thought of this; and moved away slowly and reluctantly, Susanne +clinging to Adrian's arm, while Felix strode ahead scowling. When they +had placed, however, a hundred yards or so between themselves and +Toussaint's gates, they stopped, a chill sense of desolation upon most +of them. Whither were they to go? Felix urged curtly that they should +seek other friends. But Marie declined. If Nicholas Toussaint dared +not take them in, no other of their friends would. She had given up +hope, poor girl, and longed only to get back to their home, and the +still form, which it now seemed to her she should never have deserted. + +They were standing discussing this when a cry caused them to turn. A +girl was running hatless along the street towards them; a girl tall +and plump of figure in a dark blue robe, with a creamy slightly +freckled face, a glory of wavy golden hair about it, and great gray +eyes that could laugh and cry at once, even as they were doing now. +"Oh, Marie," she exclaimed taking her in her arms; "my poor little +one! Come back! You are to come back at once!" Then disengaging +herself, with a blushing cheek and more reserve she allowed Felix to +embrace her. But though that young gentleman made full use of his +permission, his face did not clear. "Your father has just turned my +sister from his door, as he turned me a month ago," he said bitterly. + +Poor girl, she quailed; looking at him with a tender upward glance +meant for him only. "Hush!" she begged him. "Do not speak so of him. +And he has sent to fetch them back again. He says he cannot keep them +himself, but if they will come in and rest he will see them safely +disposed of later. Will not that do?" + +"Excellently, Miss Madeline," cried Adrian gratefully. "And we thank +your father a thousand times." + +"Nay but--" she said slyly--"that permission does not extend to you," + +"What matter?" he said stoutly. + +"What matter if Marie be safe you mean," she replied demurely. "Well, +I would I had so gallant a--clerk," with a glance at her own handsome +lover. "But come, my father is waiting at the gate for us." Yet +notwithstanding that she urged haste, she and Felix were the last to +turn. When she at length ran after the others her cheeks betrayed her. + +"I can see what you have been doing, girl," her father cried angrily, +meeting her just within the door. "For shame, hussy! Go to your room, +and take your friends with you." And he aimed a light blow at her, +which she easily evaded. + +"They will need breakfast," she persisted bravely. She had seen her +lover, and though the interview might have had its drawbacks--best +known to herself--she cared little for a blow in comparison with that. + +"They will take it in your room," he retorted. "Come, pack, girl! I +will talk to you presently," he added, with meaning. + +The Portails drew her away. To them her room was a haven of rest, +where they felt safe, and could pour out their grief, and let her pity +and indignation soothe them. The horror of the last twenty-four hours +fell from them. They seemed to themselves to be outcasts no longer. + +In the afternoon Toussaint reappeared. "On with your hoods," he cried +briskly, his good humor re-established. "I and half a dozen stout lads +will see you to a place where you can lie snug for a week." + +Marie asked timidly about her father's funeral. "I will see to it, +little one," he answered. "I will let the curate of St. Germain know. +He will do what is seemly--if the mob let him," he added to himself. + +"But father," cried Madeline, "where are you going to take them?" + +"To Philip Boyer's." + +"What!" cried the girl in much surprise. "His house is small and +Philip and his wife are old and feeble." + +"True," answered Portail. "But his hutch is under the Duchess's roof. +There is a touch of _our great man_ about Madame. Mayenne the crowd +neither overmuch love, nor much fear. He will die in his bed. But with +his sister it is a word and a blow. And the Sixteen will not touch +aught that is under her roof." + +The Duchess de Montpensier was the sister of Henry Duke of Guise, +Henry the Scarred, _Our great man_, as the Parisians loved to call +him. He had been assassinated in the antechamber of Henry of Valois +just a twelvemonth before this time; and she had become the soul of +the League, having more of the headstrong nature which had made him +popular, than had either of his brothers, Mayenne or D'Aumale. + +"I see," said Madeline, kissing the girls, "you are right, father." + +"Impertinent baggage!" he cried. "To your prayers and your needle. And +see that while we are away you keep close, and do not venture into the +courtyard." + +She was not a nervous girl, but the bare, roomy house seemed lonely +after the party had set out. She wandered to the kitchen where the two +old women-servants were preparing, with the aid of a turnspit, the +early supper; and learned here that only old Simon, the lame ostler, +was left in the stables, which stood on either side of the courtyard. +This was not reassuring news: the more as Madeline knew her father +might not return for another hour. She took refuge at last in the long +eating-room on the first floor; which ran the full depth of the house, +and had one window looking to the back as well as several facing the +courtyard. Here she opened the door of the stove, and let the cheery +glow play about her. + +But presently she grew tired of this, and moved to the rearward +window. It looked upon a narrow lane, and a dead wall. Still, there +was a chance of seeing some one pass, some stranger; whereas the +windows which looked on the empty courtyard were no windows at all--to +Madeline. + +The girl had not long looked out before her pale complexion, which the +fire had scarcely warmed, grew hot. She started, and looked into the +room behind her nervously: then looked out again. She had seen +standing in a nook of the wall opposite her, a figure she knew well. +It was that of her lover, and he seemed to be watching the house. +Timidly she waved her hand to him, and he, after looking up and down +the lane, advanced to the window. He could do this safely, for it was +the only window in the Toussaints' house which looked that way. + +"Are you alone?" he asked softly, looking up at her. + +She nodded. + +"And my sisters?" he continued. + +"Have gone to Philip Boyer's. He lives in one of the cottages on the +left of the Duchess's yard." + +"Ah! And you? Where is your father, Madeline?" he murmured. + +"He has gone to take them. I am quite alone; and two minutes ago I was +melancholy," she added, with a smile that should have made him happy. + +"I want to talk to you," he replied gravely. "May I get up if I can, +Madeline?" + +She shook her head, which of course meant no. And she said, "It is +impossible." But she still smiled. + +There was a pipe which ran up the wall a couple of feet or so on one +side of the casement. Before she well understood his purpose, or that +he was in earnest he had gripped this and was halfway up to the +window. + +"Oh, do take care," she cried. "Do not come, Felix. My father will be +so angry!" Woman-like she repented now, when it was too late. But +still he came on, and when his hand was stretched out to grasp the +sill, all her fear was only lest he should fall. She seized his wrist, +and helped him in. Then she drew back. "You should not have done it, +Felix," she said severely. + +"But I wanted to see you so much, Madeline," he urged, "and the +glimpse I had of you this morning was nothing." + +"Well then, you may come to the stove and warm yourself, sir. Oh! how +cold your poor hands are, my boy! But you must not stay." + +But stolen moments are sweet and apt to be long drawn out. She had a +great deal to say, and he had a great deal, it seemed, to ask--so much +to ask indeed, that gradually a dim sense that he was thinking of +other things than herself--of her father and the ways of the house, +and what guests they had, came over her. + +It chilled her to the heart. She drew away from him, and said, +suddenly, "Oh, Felix!" and looked at him. + +Nothing more. But he understood her and colored; and tried to ask, but +asked awkwardly, "What is the matter, dearest?" + +"I know what you are thinking of," she said with grave sorrow, "Oh! it +is too bad! It is base of you, cruel! You would use even me whom you +love to ruin my friends!" + +"Hush!" he answered, letting his gloomy passion have vent for the +moment, "they are not your friends, Madeline. See what they have done +for me. It is they, or the troubles they have set on foot, that have +killed my father!" And he swore solemnly--carried away by his mistaken +resentment--never again to spare a Huguenot save her father and one +other. + +She trembled and tried to close her ears. Her father had told her a +hundred times that she could not be happy with a husband divided from +her by a gulf so impassable. She had said to him that it was too late. +She knew it. She had given Felix her heart and she was a woman. She +could not take it back, though she knew that nothing but unhappiness +could come of it. + +"God forgive you!" she moaned in that moment of strained insight; and +sank in her chair as though she would weep. + +He fell on his knees by her with a hundred words of endearment, for he +had conquered himself again. And she let him soothe her. She had never +loved him more than now, when she knew the price she must pay for him. +She closed her eyes--for the moment--to that terrible future, and he +was holding her in his arms, when without warning a heavy footstep +rang on the stairs by the door. + +They sprang apart. If even then he had had presence of mind, he might +have reached the window. But he hesitated, looking in her startled +eyes. "Is it your father?" he whispered. + +She shook her head. "He cannot have returned. We should have heard the +gates opened. There is no one in the house," she murmured faintly. + +But still the footsteps came on: and stopped at the door. Felix looked +round in despair. Close beside him, and just behind the stove was the +door of a closet. He took two strides, and before he or she had +thought of the consequences, was within it. Softly he drew the door to +again; and she sank terrified on a chair, as the door of the room +opened. + +He who came in was a man of thirty-five, a stranger to her. A man with +a projecting chin. His keen gray eyes wore at the moment of his +entrance an impatient expression, but when he caught sight of her, +this passed away. He came across the floor smiling. "Pardon me," he +said--but said it as if no pardon were needed, "I found the stables +insupportably dull. I set out on a voyage of discovery. I have found +my America!" And he bowed in a style which puzzled the frightened +girl. + +"You want to see my father?"' she said tremulously. "He----" + +"Has gone to the Duchess's. I know it. And very ill-natured it was of +him to leave me in the stable, instead of intrusting me to your care, +mistress. La Noue," he continued, "is in the stable still, asleep on a +bundle of hay, and a pretty commotion there will be when he finds I +have stolen away!" + +Laughing with an easy carelessness that struck the citizen's daughter +with fresh astonishment, the stranger drew up the big armchair, which +was commonly held sacred to M. Toussaint's use, and threw himself into +it; lazily disposing his booted feet in the glow which poured from the +stove, and looking across at his companion with open and somewhat bold +admiration in his eyes. At another time she might have been offended: +or she might not. Women are variable. Now her fears lest Felix should +be discovered dulled her apprehension. + +Yet the name of La Noue had caught her ear. She knew it well, as all +France and the Low Countries knew it in those days, for the name of +the boldest and staunchest warrior on the Huguenot side. + +"La Noue?" she murmured, misty suspicions beginning to take form in +her mind. + +"Yes, pretty one," replied he laughing. "La Noue and no other. Does +Bras-de-fer pass for an ogre here in Paris that you tremble so at his +name? Let me----" + +But whatever the proposition he was going to offer, it came to +nothing. The dull clash of the gates outside warned both of them that +Nicholas Toussaint and his party had returned. A moment later a hasty +tread sounded on the stairs; and an elderly man wearing a cloak burst +in upon them. + +His eyes swept the room while his hand still held the door, and it was +clear that what he saw did not please him. He came forward stiffly, +his brows knitted. But he said nothing; seeming uncertain and +embarrassed. + +"See!" the first comer said, looking quietly up at him, but not +offering to move. "Now what do you think of your ogre? And by the +rood, he looks fierce enough to eat babes! There, old friend," he +continued speaking to the elder man in a different tone, "spare your +lecture. This is Toussaint's daughter, and as staunch I will warrant +as her father." + +The old noble--he had but one arm she saw--still looked at her with +disfavor. "Girls have sweethearts, sire," he said shrewdly. + +For a moment the room seemed to go round with her. Though something +more of reproach and playful defence passed between the two men, she +did not hear it. The consciousness that her lover was listening to +every word and that from this moment La Noue's life was in his hands, +numbed her brain. She sat helpless, hardly aware that half a dozen men +were entering, her father one of them. When a lamp was called for--it +was growing dark--she did not stir: and Toussaint, not seeing her, +fetched it himself. + +But by the time he came back she had partly recovered herself. She +noted that he locked the door carefully behind him. When the lamp was +set on the table, and its light fell on the harsh features of the men, +a ray passed between them, and struck her pale face. Her father saw +her. + +"By heaven!" he cried furiously. "What does the wench here?" No one +answered; but all turned and looked at her where she cowered back +against the stove. "Go, girl!" Toussaint cried, beside himself with +passion. "Begone! and presently I will----" + +"Nay, stop!" interposed La Noue. "Your daughter knows too much. We +cannot let her go thus." + +"Knows too much? How?" and the citizen tossed his head like a bull +balked in his charge. + +"His majesty----" + +"Nay, let his majesty speak for himself--for once," said the man with +the gray eyes--and even in her terror and confusion Madeline saw that +all turned to him with a single movement. "Mistress Toussaint did but +chat with La Noue and myself, during her father's absence. But she +knows us; or one of us. If any be to blame it is I. Let her stay. I +will answer for her fidelity." + +"Nay, but she is a woman, sire," some one objected. + +"Ay, she is, good Poulain," and he turned to the speaker with a +singularly bright smile. "So we are safe, for there is no woman in +France would betray Henry of Bourbon!" + +A laugh went round. Some one mentioned the Duchess. + +"True!" said Henry, for Henry it was, he whom the Leaguers called the +Bearnais and the Politiques the King of Navarre, but whom later +generations have crowned as the first of French kings--Henry the +Great. "True! I had forgotten her. I must beware of her gold scissors. +We have two crowns already, and want not another of her making. But +come, let us to business without ceremony. Be seated, gentlemen; and +while we consider whether our plans hold good, Mistress Toussaint--" +he paused to look kindly at the terrified girl--"will play the sentry +for us." + +Madeline's presence within a few feet of their council-board was soon +forgotten by the eager men sitting about it. And in a sense she forgot +them. She heard, it is true, their hopes and plans, the chief a scheme +to surprise Paris by introducing men hidden in carts piled with hay. +She heard how Henry and La Noue had entered, and who had brought them +in, and how it was proposed to smuggle them out again; and many +details of men and means and horses; who were loyal and who +disaffected, and who might be bought over, and at what price. She even +took note of the manner of each speaker as he leaned forward, and +brought his face within the circle of light, marking who were known to +her before, substantial citizens these, constant at mass and market, +and who were strangers; men fiercer-looking, thinner, haughtier, more +restless, with the stamp of constant peril at the corners of their +eyes, and swords some inches longer than their neighbors'. + +She saw and heard this and reasoned dully on it. But all the time her +mind was paralyzed by a dreadful sense of some great evil awaiting +her, something with which she must presently come face to face, though +her faculties had not grasped it yet. Men's lives! Ah, yes, men's +lives! The girl had been bred in secret as a Huguenot. She had been +taught to revere the great men of the religion, and not the weakness +of the cause, not even her lover's influence had sapped her loyalty to +it. + +Presently there was a stir about the table. The men rose. "Then that +arrangement meets your views, sire," said La Noue. + +"Perfectly. I sleep to-night at my good friend Mazeau's," the king +answered, "and leave to-morrow about noon by St. Martin's gate. Yes, +let that stand." + +He did not see--none of them saw--how the girl in the shadow by the +stove started; nor did they mark how the last trace of color fled from +her cheeks. Madeline was face to face with her fate, and knew that her +own hand must work it out. The men were separating. Henry bade +farewell to one and another, until only three or four beside Toussaint +and La Noue remained with him. Then he prepared himself to go, and +girt on his sword, talking earnestly the while. Still engaged in low +converse with one of the strangers, he walked slowly lighted by his +host to the door, forgetting to take leave of the girl. In another +minute he and they would have disappeared in the passage, when a +hoarse cry escaped from Madeline's lips. + +It was little more than a gasp, but it was enough for men whose nerves +were strained. All--at the moment they had their backs to her, their +faces to the king--turned swiftly. "Ha!" cried Henry at once, "I had +forgotten my manners. I was leaving my most faithful sentry without a +word of thanks, or a keepsake by which to remember Henry of France." + +She had risen, and was supporting herself--but she swayed as she +stood--by the arm of the chair. Never had her lover been so dear to +her. As the king approached, the light fell on her face, on her +agonized eyes, and he stopped short. "Toussaint!" he cried sharply. +"Your daughter is ill. Look at her!" But it was noticeable that he +laid his hand on his sword. + +"Stay!" she cried, the word ringing shrilly through the room. "You are +betrayed! There is some one--there--who has heard--all! Oh, sire, +mercy! mercy!" + +As the last words passed the girl's writhing lips she clutched at her +throat: seemed to fight a moment for breath: then with a stifled +shriek fell senseless to the ground. + +A second's silence. Then a whistling sound as half a dozen swords were +snatched from the scabbards. The veteran La Noue sprang to the door: +others ran to the windows and stood before them. Only Henry--after a +swift glance at Toussaint, who pale and astonished, leaned over his +daughter--stood still, his fingers on his hilt. Another second of +suspense, and before any one spoke, the cupboard door swung open, and +Felix Portail, pale to the lips, stood before them. + +"What do you here?" cried Henry, restraining by a gesture those who +would have flung themselves upon the spy. + +"I came to see her," Felix said. He was quite calm, but a perspiration +cold as death stood on his brow, and his distended eyes wandered from +one to another. "You surprised me. Toussaint knows that I was her +sweetheart," he murmured. + +"Ay, wretched man, to see her! And for what else?" replied Henry, his +eyes, as a rule, so kindly, bent on the other in a gaze fixed and +relentless. + +A sudden visible quiver--as it were the agony of death--shot through +Portail's frame. He opened his mouth, but for a while no sound came. +His eyes sought the nearest sword with horrid intentness. He gasped, +"Kill me at once, before she--before----" + +He never finished the sentence. With an oath the nearest Huguenot +lunged at his breast, and fell back, foiled by a blow from the King's +hand. "Back!" cried Henry, his eyes flashing as another sprang +forward, and would have done the work. "Will you trench on the King's +justice in his presence? Sheath your swords, all save the Sieur de la +Noue, and the gentlemen who guard the windows!" + +"He must die!" cried several voices, as the men still pressed forward +viciously. + +"Think, sire! Think what you do," cried La Noue himself, warning in +his voice. "He has the life of every man here in his hand? And they +are your men, risking all for the cause." + +"True," replied Henry, smiling; "but I ask no man to run a risk I will +not take myself." + +A murmur of dissatisfaction burst forth. Several drew their swords +again. "I have a wife and child!" cried one recklessly, bringing his +point to the thrust. "He dies!" + +"He does not die!" exclaimed the King, his voice so ringing through +the room that all fell back once more; fell back not so much because +it was the King who spoke as in obedience to the voice which two +months before had rallied the flying squadrons at Arques, and years +before had rung out hour after hour and day after day above the long +street fight of Cahors. "He does not die!" repeated Henry, looking +from one to another, with his chin thrust out, "I say it. I! And there +are no traitors here!" + +"Your majesty," said La Noue after a moment's pause, "commands our +lives." + +"Thanks, Francis," Henry replied instantly changing his tone. "And now +hear me, gentlemen. Think you that it was a light thing in this girl +to give up her lover? She might have let us go to our doom, and we +none the wiser! Would you take her gift and make her no requital? That +were not royal. And now for you, sir"--he turned to Felix who was +leaning half-fainting against the wall--"hearken to me. You shall go +free. I, who this morning played the son to your dead father, give you +your life for your sweetheart's sake. For her sake be true. You shall +go out alive and safe into the streets of Paris, which five minutes +ago you little thought to see again. Go! And if you please, betray +us, and be damned! Only remember that if you give up your king and +these gentlemen who have trusted you, your name shall go down the +centuries--and stand for treachery!" + +He spoke the last words with such scorn that a murmur of applause +broke out even among those stern men. He took instant advantage of it. +"Now go!" he said hurriedly. "You can take the girl there with you. +She has but fainted. A kiss will bring her to life. Go, and be +silent." + +The man took up his burden and went, trembling; still unable to speak. +But no hand was now raised to stop him. + +When he had disappeared La Noue turned to the king. "You will not now +sleep at Mazeau's, sire?" + +Henry rubbed his chin. "Yes; let the plan stand," he answered. "If he +betray one, he shall betray all." + +"But this is madness," urged La Noue. + +The king shook his head, and smiling clapped the veteran on the +shoulder. "Not so," he said. "The man is no traitor: I say it. And you +have never met with a longer head than Henry's." + +"Never," assented La Noue bluntly, "save when there is a woman in it!" + + +The curtain falls. The men have lived and are dead. La Noue, the +Huguenot Bayard, now exist only in a dusty memoir and a page of +Motley. Madame de Montpensier is forgotten; all of her, save her +golden scissors. Mayenne, D'Aumale, a verse preserves their names. +Only Henry--the "good king" as generations of French peasants called +him--remains a living figure: his strength and weakness, his sins and +virtues, as well known, as thoroughly appreciated by thousands now as +in the days of his life. + +Therefore we cannot hope to learn much of the fortunes of people so +insignificant--save for that moment when the fate of a nation hung on +their breath--as the Portails and Toussaints. We do know that Felix +proved worthy. For though the attack on Paris on the ninth of +November, 1589, failed, it did not fail through treachery. And we know +that he married Madeline, and that Adrian won Marie: but no more. +Unless certain Portals now living in the north of Ireland, whose +ancestors came over at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of +Nantes, are their descendants. And certainly it is curious that in +this family the eldest son invariably bears the name of Henry, and the +second of Felix. + + + + + KING PEPIN AND SWEET CLIVE. + + +Upon arriving at the middle of the Close the Dean stopped. He had been +walking briskly, his chin from very custom a little tilted, but his +eyes beaming with condescension and general good-will, while an +indulgent smile playing about the lower part of his face relieved for +the time its massive character. His walking-stick was swinging to and +fro in a loose grasp, his feet trod the pavement of the precincts with +the step of an owner, he felt the warmth of the sun, the balminess of +the spring air dimly, and somewhere at the back of his mind he was +conscious of a vacant bishopric, and of his being the husband of one +wife. In fine, he presented the appearance of a contented, placid, +unruffled dignitary, until he reached the middle of the Close. + +But there, alas! the ferule of his stick came to the ground with a +mighty thud; the sweetness and light faded from his eyes as they +rested upon Mr. Swainson's plot; the condescension and good-will +became conspicuous only by their absence. The Dean was undisguisedly +angry; he disliked opposition as much as lesser men, and met with it +more rarely. For Bicester is old-fashioned, and loves the Church and +State, but especially the former, and looks up to principalities and +powers, and even now execrates the memory of a recreant Bicestrian, +otherwise reputable, on account of a terrible mistake he made. It was +at a public dinner. "I remember," said this misguided man, "going in +my young days to the old and beautiful cathedral of this city. (Great +applause.) I was only a child then, and my head hardly reached above +the top of the seat, but I remember I thought the Dean the greatest of +living men. (Whirlwinds of applause.) Well (smiling) perhaps I don't +think quite that now." (Dead silence.) And so dull at bottom may even +a man be whose name is not unknown in half the capitals of Europe, +that this degenerate fellow never could guess why the friends of his +youth from that moment turned their backs upon him. + +Such is the faith of Bicester, but even in Bicester there are +heretics. To say that the Dean rarely met with opposition, is to say +that he rarely met with Mr. Swainson, and that he seldom saw Mr. +Swainson's plot. As a rule, when he crossed the Close he averted his +eyes by a happy impulse of custom, for he did not like Mr. Swainson, +and as for the latter's plot, it was _anathema maranatha_ to him. The +Dean was tall, Mr. Swainson was taller; the Dean was stubborn, Mr. +Swainson was obstinate; so there arose between them the antagonism +that is born of similarity. On the other hand the Dean was stout and +Mr. Swainson a scarecrow; the Dean was comely and clerical, but not +over-rich, Mr. Swainson was pallid, lantern-jawed, wealthy, and a +lawyer, and hence the dislike born of difference. Moreover, years ago +Mr. Swainson had been Mayor of Bicester, when there was a little +dispute between the Chapter and the Bishop, and he showed so much +energy upon the one side as to earn the nickname of the "Mayor of the +Palace." Finally Mr. Swainson delighted in opposition as a cat in +milk, and cared to have a good reason for his antagonism no more than +puss in the dairy about a sixty years' title to the cream-pan. + +But a sixty years' title to his plot was the very thing which Mr. +Swainson did claim to have. Exactly opposite his house--his father's +and grandfather's house, too--in which, said his enemies, they had +lived and grown fat upon cathedral patronage, lay this debatable land. +His front windows commanded it, and on such a morning as this he loved +to stand upon his doorstep and gaze at it with the air of a dog +watching the spot where his bone is buried. But if Mr. Swainson was +right, that was just what was not buried there; there were no bones +there. True, the smoothly shorn surface of the little patch was +divided from the green turf around the cathedral only by a slight iron +railing, but, said Mr. Swainson, ponderously seizing upon his +opponent's weapon and using it with telling effect, it was of another +sort altogether: of a very different nature indeed. It had never been +consecrated, and close as it was to the sacred pile, being in fact +separated from it on two sides but by a yard of sunk fence, it did not +belong to it, it was not of it, quoth he; it was private property, the +property of Erasmus John Swainson, and the appanage of his substantial +red-brick house just across the Close. + +And no one could refute him, though several tried their best, to his +huge delight. It cannot now be exactly computed by how many years the +discovery of his rights prolonged his life--not certainly by some. His +liver demanded activity, namely, a quarrel, and what a coil this was! +If he had been given the choice of opponents, he would probably have +preferred the Dean and Chapter, they were so substantial, wealthy, and +all but formidable. And such a thorn in the side of those comfortable +personages as these rights of his were like to be he could hardly have +imagined in his most sanguine dreams, or hoped for in his happiest +moments. + +It was great fun stating his claim, flouting it in their faces, +displaying it through the city, brandishing it in season and out of +season; but when it came to making a hole in the smooth turf hitherto +so sacred, and setting up an unsightly post, and affixing to it a +board with "Trespassers will be prosecuted. E. J. Swainson," the fun +became furious. So did the Dean, so did the Chapter, so did every +sidesman and verger. Bicester was torn in pieces by the contending +parties, but Mr. Swainson was firm. The only concession that could be +wrung from him was the removal of the obnoxious board. Instead of it +he placed a neat iron railing round his property, enclosing just +thirty feet by fifteen. Such was the _status in quo_ on this morning, +and with it the Dean had for some time been obliged to rest content. + +And yet, sooth to say, the greatest pleasure of the very reverend +gentleman's life was gone with this accession to the roundness and +fulness of Mr. Swainson's. No more with the thorough satisfaction of +hitherto could he conduct the American traveller through the ancient +crypt, or dilate upon the beauty of the quaint gargoyles to the +Marquis of Bicester's visitors. No; indeed that railed-in spot was a +plague-spot to him, ever itching, an eyesore even when invisible, a +thing to be evaded and dodged and given the slip, as a Dean who is a +Dean should scorn to evade anything mortal. He winced at the mere +thought that the inquisitive sight-seer might touch upon it might, +probe the matter with questions. He hurried him past it with averted +finger and voluble tongue, nor recovered his air of kindly +condescension, or polished ease (as the case might be), until he was +safe within his own hall. Only in moments of forgetfulness could the +Dean now walk in his own Close of Bicester with the easy grace of old +times. + +But on this particular morning the sunshine was so pleasant, the wind +so balmy, that he walked halfway across the Close as if the river of +Lethe flowed fathoms deep over Mr. Swainson's plot; then it chanced +that his eyes in a heedless moment rested upon it; and he saw that a +man was at work in the tiny enclosure, and he paused. The Dean knew +Mr. Swainson by this time, and did not trust him. What was this? By +the man's side lay a small heap of grayish-white things, and he was +holding a short-handled mallet, and was using it deftly to drive one +of the grayish-white things into the ground. From him the Dean's eyes +travelled to a couple of parti-colored sticks, one at each end of the +plot. What was this? A horror so terrible that the Dean stood still, +and that remarkable change came over him which we have described. + +Great men rise to the occasion. It was only a moment he thus stood and +looked. Then he turned and walked rapidly back to a house he had just +passed. A tall thin man was standing upon the steps, with the ghost of +a smile upon his face. For a moment the Dean could only stammer. It +was such a dreadful outrage. + +"Is that," he said at last, "is that there, sir, being done by your +authority?" With a shaking finger he pointed to Mr. Swainson's plot. +The tall man in a leisurely manner settled a pair of eyeglasses upon +his nose and looked in the direction indicated. "Ah, I see what you +mean," he said at last with delicious coolness. "Certainly, Mr. Dean, +certainly!" + +"Are you aware, sir, what it is?" gasped the clergyman; "it is +sacrilege!" + +"Pooh, nothing of the kind, I assure you, my dear sir. It's croquet!" + +The tone was one of explanation, and there was such an air of +frankness, of putting an end to an unfounded error, that the veins +upon the Dean's temples swelled and his face grew, if possible, redder +than before. + +"I won't stay to bandy words with you----" + +"Bandy!" cried the tall man, intensely amused. "Ha, ha, ha! you +thought it was hocky! Bandy! Oh, no, you play it with hoops and a +mallet. Drive the balls through--so!" + +And to the intense delight of the Close people, nine-tenths of whom +were at their windows, Mr. Swainson executed an ungainly kind of +gambade upon the steps. "Disgusting," the Dean called it afterwards, +when talking to sympathetic ears. Now he merely put it away from him +with a wave of the hand. + +"I will not discuss it now, Mr. Swainson. If your own feelings of +decency and of what is right and proper do not forbid this--this +ribald profanity--I can call it nothing else, sir--I have but one word +to add. The Chapter shall prevent it." + +"The Chapter!" replied the other in a tone of singular contempt, which +changed to savageness as he continued, "You are well read in history, +Mr. Dean, they tell me. Doubtless you remember what happened when the +puissant king Canute bade the tide come no further. I am the tide, and +you and the Chapter sit in the chair of Canute." + +The Dean, it must be confessed, was a little taken aback by this +terrible defiance. He was amazed. The two glared at one another, and +the clergyman was the first to give way; baffled and disconcerted, yet +still swelling with rage, he strode towards the deanery. His +antagonist followed him with his eyes, then looked more airily than +ever at his plot and the progress being made there, considered the +weather with his chin at the decanal angle, and with a flirt of his +long coat-tails went into the house, a happy man and the owner of a +vastly improved appetite. + +But the Dean had more to go through yet. At the door of his garden he +ran in his haste against some one coming out. Ordinarily, great man as +he was, he was also a gentleman. But this was too much. That, when the +father had insulted him, the son should almost prostrate him on his +own threshold, was intolerable--at any rate at a moment when he was +smarting with the sense of unacknowledged defeat. + +"Good-morning, Mr. Dean," said the young fellow, raising his hat with +an evident desire to please that was the very antipodes of his sire's +manner--only the Dean was in no mood to discriminate--"I have just +been having a very pleasant game of croquet." + +It is greatly to be regretted, but here a short hiatus in the +narrative occurs. The minor canons, than whom no men are more wanting +in reverence, say that the Dean's answer consisted of two words, one +of them very pithy, very full of meaning, but in the mouth of a Dean, +however choleric, impossible--perfectly impossible. Accounting this as +a gloss, and the original reading not being forthcoming, we are driven +to conjecture that the Dean's answer expressed mild disapprobation of +the game of croquet. Certain it is that young Swainson, surprised +doubtless at so novel and original a sentiment, only said, + +"I beg your pardon." + +"Hem! I mean to say that I do not approve of this. I will come to the +point. I must ask you to discontinue your visits at my house." The +young man stared as if he thought the excited divine had gone mad; the +Deanery was almost a home to him. "Your father," the Dean went on more +coherently, "has taken a step so unseemly, so--so indecent, has used +language so insulting to me, sir, that I cannot, at any rate at +present, receive you here." + +Young Swainson was a gentleman, and moreover, for a very good reason +hereinafter appearing, the Dean failed to anger him. He raised his hat +as respectfully as before, bowed slightly in token of acquiescence, +and went on his way sorrowfully. + +He had a singularly pleasant smile, this young gentleman, though this +was not the time for displaying it. Mrs. Dean had once pronounced him +a pippin grafted on a crab-stock, and thereafter in certain circles he +was known as King Pepin. He was tall and straight and open-eyed, with +faults enough, but of a generous youthful kind, easily overlooked and +more easily forgiven. Doubtless Mr. Swainson would have had his son +more practical, cool-headed, and precise; but the shoot did not grow +in the same way as the parent tree. Old Swainson would not have been +happy without an enemy, nor young Swainson as happy with one; and if, +as the former often said, the latter's worst enemy was himself, he was +likely to have a tolerably prosperous life. + +In a space of time inconceivably small the doings of the grim old +lawyer and the Dean's remonstrance were all over Bicester. Nay, fast +as the stone had rolled, it had gathered moss. It was gravely asserted +by people who rapidly grew to be eyewitnesses, that Mr. Swainson had +danced a hornpipe in the middle of his plot, snapping his fingers at +the Dean the while the latter prodded him as well as he could over the +railings with his umbrella; and that only the arrival of Mr. +Swainson's son put an end to this disgraceful exhibition. + +Neither side wasted time. The Dean, the Canon in residence, and the +Praecentor, an active young fellow, consulted their legal adviser, and +talked largely of ejectment, title, and seisin. Mr. Swainson, having +nine points of the law in his favor, and as well acquainted with the +tenth as his opponents' legal adviser, devoted himself to the lighter +pursuit of the mallet and hoop. In a state of felicity undreamt of +before, he played, or affected to play, croquet, his right hand +against his left, the former giving the latter two hoops and a cage. +He played with a cage and a bell; it was more cheerful, not to say +noisy. + +Of course all Bicester found occasion to pass through the Close and +see this great sight, while every window in the precincts was raised, +that the denizens thereof might hear the tap, tap of the sacrilegious +mallet. The Cathedral lawyer, urged to take some step, and well +knowing the strength of the enemy's position, was fairly nonplussed. +But while he pondered, with a certain grim amusement, over Mr. +Swainson's crotchet, which did not present itself to his legal mind in +so dreadful a light as it did to the mind clerical, some unknown +person took action, and made it war to the knife. + +"Who did it?" Bicester asked loudly when it awoke one morning, to find +Mr. Swainson in a state of mind which seemed imperatively to call for +a padded room and a strait waistcoat. During the night some one had +thrown down the iron railing, taken up and broken his hoops, crushed +his bell, and snapped his pegs; all this in the neatest possible +manner, and with no damage to the turf. War to the knife indeed! Mr. +Swainson, like the famous Widdrington, would have fought upon his +stumps on such a provocation. + +He expressed his opinion very hotly that this was the work of "that +arrogant priest," and he should smart for it. A clergyman in this kind +of context becomes a priest. This is common knowledge. + +The Dean said, if hints were to go for anything, that it was a more or +less direct interposition of Providence. + +Young Swainson said nothing. + +The vergers followed his example, but smiled a good deal. + +The Dean's lawyer said it was a very foolish act, whoever did it. + +Mrs. Dean said she should like to give the man who did it five +shillings. Perhaps her inclination mastered her. + +The Dean's daughter sighed. + +And Bicester said everything except what young Swainson said. + +I have not mentioned the Dean's daughter before. It is the popular +belief that she was christened Sweet Clive Buxton, and if people are +mistaken in this, and the name "Sweet" does not appear upon the highly +favored register, what of that? It is but one proof the more of the +utter and tremendous want of foresight of godfathers and godmothers. +They send the future lounger in St. James's into the world handicapped +with the name of Joseph or Zachary, and dub the country curate Tom or +Jerry. No matter; Clive Buxton, whatever her name, could be nothing +but sweet. She was not tall nor yet short; she was just as tall and +just as short as she should have been, with a well-rounded figure and +grave carriage of the head. Her hair was wavy and brown, and sometimes +it strayed over a white brow, on which a frown was so great a stranger +that its right of entry was barred by the Statute of Limitations. +There were a few freckles, etherealized dimples, about her well-shaped +nose. But these charms grew upon one gradually; at first her suitors +were only conscious of her great gray wide-open eyes, so kind and +frank and trustful, and so wise withal, that they filled every young +man upon whom she turned them with a certainty of her purity and +goodness and lovableness, and sent him away with a frantic desire to +make her his wife without loss of time. With all this, she overflowed +with fun and happiness--except when she sighed--and she was just +nineteen. Such was Sweet Clive Buxton then. If her picture were +painted to-day, there would be this difference: she is older and more +beautiful. + +To return to our plot. Bicester watched with bated breath to see what +Mr. Swainson would do. No culprit was forthcoming, and it seemed as if +the day was going against him. He made no sign; only the broken hoops, +the cage and battered bell, so lately the instruments and insignia of +triumph, were cleared away and, at the ex-mayor's strenuous request, +taken in charge by the police. Even the iron railing was removed. The +excitement in the Close rose high. Once more the Cathedral vicinage +was undefined by lay appropriation, but the Dean knew Mr. Swainson too +well to rejoice. The ground was cleared, it is true, but only, as he +well foresaw, that it might be used for some mysterious operations, of +which the end and aim only--his own annoyance--were clear to him, and +not the means. What would Mr. Swainson do? + +The strange unnatural calm lasted several days. The Cathedral +dignitaries moved about in fear and trembling. At length one night the +dwellers in the Close were aroused by a peculiar hammering. It was +frequent, deep, and ominous, and came from the direction of Mr. +Swainson's plot. To the nervous it seemed as the knocking of nails +into an untimely coffin; to the guilty--and this was very near the +Cathedral--like the noise of a rising scaffold; to the brave and those +with clear consciences, such as Clive Buxton, it more nearly resembled +the knocking a hoarding together. And indeed that was the very thing +it was, and around Mr. Swainson's plot. + +But what a hoarding! When the light of day discovered it to people's +eyes, the Dean's fearful anticipations seemed slight to him, as the +boy's vision who has dreamed he is about to be flogged in jail, and +awakes to find his father standing over him with a strap. It was so +unsightly, so gaunt, so unpainted, so terrible; the very stones of the +Cathedral seemed to blush a deeper red at discovering it, and the +oldest houses to turn a darker purple. Had the Dean possessed the +hundred tongues of Fame (which in Bicester possessed many more) and +the five hundred fingers of Briareus he could not hope to prevent the +Marquis's visitors asking questions about _that_, or to divert the +attention of the least curious American. He recognized the truth at a +glance, and formed his plan. Many generals have formed it before; it +was--retreat. He sent out his butler to borrow a continental Bradshaw +from the club, and shut himself up in his study. The truly great mind +is never overwhelmed. + +The vergers alone inspected the monster unmoved. They eyed it with +glances not only of curiosity, but of appreciative intelligence. Not +so, however, later in the day. Then Mr. Swainson appeared, leading by +a strong chain a brindled bull-dog, of the most ferocious description +and about sixty pounds weight. The animal contemplated the nearest +verger with much satisfaction, and licked his chops: it might be at +some grateful memory. The verger, who was in a small way a student of +natural history, pronounced it however a lick of anticipation, and +appeared not a little disconcerted. Mr. Swainson entered with the dog +by a small door at the corner, and came out again without him. The +other vergers then left. + +Their coming and going was nothing to Mr. Swainson. It was enough for +him that he stood there the cynosure of every eye in the Close; even +Mrs. Dean was watching him from a distant garret window. In slow and +measured fashion he walked to the steps of his own house, and, taking +from them a board he had previously placed there, returned to the +entrance of his plot, now enclosed to the height of about ten feet by +this terrible hoarding. Above the door he carefully hung the board and +drew back a few feet to take in the effect. Mrs. Dean sent down +hastily for her opera-glasses, but really there was no need of them. +The legend in huge black letters on a white ground ran thus: "No +Admittance! Beware of the Dog!!!" A smile of content crept slowly over +Mr. Swainson's face, and he said aloud, + +"Trump that card, Mr. Dean, if you can." + +As he turned--Mrs. Dean saw it distinctly and declared herself ready +to swear to it in any court of justice--he snapped his fingers at the +Deanery. And the dog howled! + +It was the first of many howls, for he was a dog of great width of +chest; and not even the surgeon of an insurance company, if he had +lived twenty-four hours in Bicester Close, would have found fault with +his lungs. Why he howled during the night, for it was not the time of +full moon, became the burning question of each morning. That he joined +in the Cathedral services with a zest and discrimination which +rendered the organ almost superfluous, and drove the organist to the +verge of resignation, was only to be expected. There was nothing +strange in that, nor in his rivalry of the Praecentor's best notes, +whose voice was considered very fine in the Litany. The voluntary, +Tiger made his own; and of the sermon he expressed disapproval in so +marked a manner that it was hard to say which swelled more with rage, +the Dean within or the dog without. Their rage was equally impotent. + +Things went so far that the Dean publicly wrung his hands at the +breakfast-table. "You could not hear the benediction this morning! And +I was in good voice too, my dear!" he wailed, with tears in his eyes. + +"You should appeal to the Marquis," suggested his wife. It must be +explained that the Marquis in Bicester ranks next to and little +beneath Providence. But the Dean shook his head. He put no faith in +the power even of the Marquis to handle Mr. Swainson. "I will lay it +before the Bishop, my dear," he said humbly. And then, indeed, Mrs. +Dean knew that the iron had entered into his soul, and that the hand +of the Mayor of the Palace was very heavy upon him; and her good, +wifely heart grew so hot that she felt she could have no more patience +with her daughter. + +For Clive's sympathies were no longer to be trusted. She was not the +Sweet Clive of a month ago, but a sadder and more sedate young person, +who had a troublesome and annoying way of defending the absent foe, +and of sighing in dark corners, that was more than provoking. Duty +demanded that she should be an ocean, into which her father and mother +might pour the streams of their indignation and meet with a +sympathizing floodtide, and lo! this unfeeling girl declined to make +herself useful in that way, and instead sent forth a "bore" of light +jesting that made little of the enemy's enormities and a trifle of his +outrages. More, she showed herself for the first time disobedient; she +altogether refused to promise not to speak to King Pepin if +opportunity should serve, and, clever girl as she was, laughed her +father out of insisting upon it, and kissed her mother into being a +not unwilling ally. A wise woman was her mother and clear-sighted; she +saw that Clive had a spirit, but no longer a heart of her own. Yet at +such a time as this, when her husband was wringing his hands, Clive's +insensibility to the family grievances tried Mrs. Dean sorely. It was +hard that the Canon's sleepless night, the Praecentor's peevishness, +the singing man's influenza, and all the countless counts of the +indictment against Mr. Swainson, should fail to awaken in the young +lady's mind a tithe of the indignation shared by every other person at +the Deanery, from the Dean himself to the scullery maid. But then love +is blind; for which most of us may thank Heaven. + +Day after day went by and the hoarding still reared its gaunt height, +and the unclean beast of the Hebrews still made night hideous, and the +day a time for the expression of strong feelings. At length the Dean +met his legal adviser in the Close--ay, and within a few feet of the +obnoxious erection; he kept his back to it with ridiculous care, while +they talked. + +"We have come to something like a settlement at last," said the lawyer +briskly;--"confusion take the dog! I can hardly hear myself speak.--We +are to meet at the Chapter House at five, Mr. Dean, if that will suit +you: Mr. Swainson, the Bishop, Canon Rowcliffe, and myself. I think he +is inclined to be reasonable at last." + +The Dean shook his head gloomily. + +"Ah, you will see it turn out better than you expect. Let me whisper +something to you. There is an action commenced against him for +shutting up a road across one of his farms at Middleton, and it will +be fought stoutly. One suit at a time will be sufficient to satisfy +even Mr. Swainson." + +"You don't say so? This is good news!" cried the Dean, with +unmistakable pleasure. "Certainly, I will be there." + +"And--I am sure I need not hint at it--you will be ready to meet Mr. +Swainson halfway?" + +The Dean looked gloomy again. But at this moment a long loud howl, +more frenzied, more fiendish than any which had preceded it, seemed to +proclaim that the dog knew his reign was menaced, and, like +Sardanapalus, was determined to go out right royally. It was more than +the Dean could stand. With an involuntary motion of his hands to his +ears, he nodded and fled with unseemly haste to a place less exposed, +where he could in a seemly and decanal manner relieve his feelings. + +The best-laid plans even of lawyers will go astray, and when they do +so, the havoc is generally of a singularly wide-spread description. +The meeting in the chapter-house proved stormy from the first. Whether +it was that the writ in the right-of-way case had not yet reached Mr. +Swainson, and so he clung to his only split-straw, or that the Dean +was soured by want of sleep, or that the Bishop was not thorough +enough--whatever was the cause, the spirit of compromise was absent, +and the discussion across the chapter-house table threatened to make +matters worse and not better. Whether the Dean first called Mr. +Swainson's enclosure the "toadstool of a night," or Mr. Swainson took +the initiative by styling the Dean the "mushroom of a day" (the Dean +was not of old family), was a question afterwards much and hotly +debated in Bicester circles. Be that as it may, the high powers at +length rose from the table in dudgeon and much confusion. + +There was behind the Dean at the end of the chapter-house a large +window. It looked directly down upon what he, in the course of the +discussion, had more than once termed "The Profanation," and since the +eventful day of Mr. Swainson's match at croquet it had been, by the +Dean's order, kept shuttered, to the intent that, when occupied in the +chapterhouse, the Profanation might not be directly before his eyes. +On this occasion the shutter was still closed; it may be that this +phenomenon had weakened Mr. Swainson's not over-robust resolves on the +side of amity. + +The Dean was a choleric man. As the party rose, he stepped to this +shutter and flung it back. He turned to the others and said +excitedly-- + +"Look, sir; look, my Lord! Is that a sight becoming the threshold of a +cathedral? Is that a thing to be endured on consecrated ground?" + +They stepped towards the window, a wide low-browed Tudor one, and +looked out. The Dean himself stood aside, grasping the shutter with a +hand that shook with passion. He could see the others' faces. He +expected little show of shame or contrition on that of Mr. Swainson, +but he did wish to bring this hideous thing home to the Bishop, who +had not been as thorough in the matter as he should have been. Still, +as a bishop, he could not see that thing there in its horrid reality +and be unmoved! + +No, he certainly could not. Slowly, and as if reluctantly, his +lordship's face changed; it broke into a smile that broadened and +rippled wider and wider, second by second, as he looked. His color +deepened until he became almost purple! And Mr. Swainson? His face was +the picture of horror: there could not be a doubt of that. Confusion +and astonishment were stereotyped on every feature. The Dean could not +believe his own eyes. He turned in perplexity to the lawyer, who was +peeping between the others' heads. His shoulders were shaking and his +face was puckered with laughter. + +The Bishop stepped back. "Really, gentlemen, I think it is hardly fair +of us to play the spy. This is no place for us." He was a kindly man; +there never was a more popular bishop in Bicester, and never will be. + +At this the Canon and the lawyer lost all control over themselves, and +their laughter, if not loud, was deep. The Dean was immensely puzzled, +confused, perplexed, wholly angry. He did at last what he should have +done at first, instead of striking an attitude with that shutter in +his hand. He looked through the window himself. It was dusty, and he +was somewhat near-sighted, but at length he saw; and this was what he +saw. + +In the further corner of the ugly enclosure, a couple of lovers +billing and cooing; about and around them Mr. Swainson's big dog +performing uncouth gambols. Bad enough this; but it was not all. The +unsuspicious couple were Frank Swainson and--the Dean's daughter. +Frank's arm was round her, and as the Dean looked, he stooped and +kissed her, and Clive gazed with her brave eyes full of love into his +and scarcely blushed. + +When the Dean turned round he was alone. + +Was it very wrong of them? There was nowhere else, since this +miserable fracas began, where, away from others' eyes, they could +steal a kiss. But into Mr. Swainson's plot no window, save a shuttered +one, could look; the door, too, was close to one of the side doors of +the cathedral, and you could pop in and out again unseen, and as for +the big dog, Frank and Tiger were great friends. So if it was very +wrong, it was very easy and very nice, and---_faciles descensus +Averni_. + +For one hour the Dean remained shut up in his study. At the end of +that time he put on his hat and walked across the Close. He knocked at +Mr. Swainson's door, and, upon its being opened, went in, and did not +come out again for an hour and five minutes by Mrs. Canon Rowcliffe's +watch. I have not the slightest idea of what passed there. More +than two thousand different and distinct accounts of the interview +were current next day in Bicester, but no one, and I have examined +them all with care, seems to me to account for the undoubted +results:--Imprimis, the disappearance next day from Mr. Swainson's +plot of the famous hoarding, which was not even replaced by the old +iron railing. Secondly, the marriage six weeks later of King Pepin and +Sweet Clive. + + + + + THE DEANERY BALL. + + +On a certain May afternoon, when the air was so soft and the sun so +brilliant that Mrs. Vrater, the wife of the Canon in residence at +Gleicester, was inclined to think the world more pleasant than it +should be, she was surprised by an invitation which promptly restored +the due equilibrium. In her own words, it took her breath away. +Despite some slight forewarnings, or things which should have served +as such, she could hardly believe her eyes. Yet there it was before +her in black and white, and Italian penmanship; and, being a woman of +character, instead of sitting down and giving way to her natural +indignation, she--no, she did not accept the fact; on the contrary, +she put on her best bonnet and mantle, and contrived during this +simple operation to efface from her mind all consciousness of the +existence of the invitation. Thus prepared she left the residence by +the back door, and, walking quietly round the Abbot's Square, called +at the Deanery. Mrs. Anson was at home. So was the Dean. + +"My dear Mrs. Anson the most ridiculous thing!" began the visitor; +"really you ought to know of it, though contradiction is quite +unnecessary. It carries its own refutation with it. Have you heard +what is the absurd report which is abroad in the city?" + +"No," answered the Dean's wife, who was sitting in front of a pile of +cards and envelopes. Her curiosity was aroused. But the Dean had a +miserable foreboding of what was to come, and writhed upon his seat. + +"It is asserted that you are going to give a dance at the Deanery! Ha! +ha! ha! I knew that it would amuse you. Fancy a ball at the Deanery of +all places!" And Mrs. Vrater laughed with so fair a show of airy +enjoyment that the Dean plunged his head into a newspaper, and wished +he possessed the self-deceptive powers of the ostrich. This was +terrible! What could have induced him to give his consent? As for Mrs. +Anson, she dropped the envelope she was folding, and prepared for +battle. + +"Dear Mrs. Vrater, why should you think it so absurd?" she asked, +smiling sweetly, but with color a little heightened. + +"At the Deanery? Why, your position, dear Mrs. Anson, and--and--how +can you ask? It would have been quite a Church scandal. You would be +having the Praecentor hunting next. _He_ would not stick at it," with +vicious emphasis. "But I knew that you never dreamt of such a thing." + +"Then I fear that you are not among the prophets, for we really +propose to venture upon it. As for a Church scandal, Mrs. Vrater, the +Dean is the best judge of that." + +Whereat the Dean groaned, poor man. Mrs. Vrater regarded him, he +regarded himself, as a renegade; but he showed none of a renegade's +enthusiasm on his new side. + +"You do intend to have a dance!" cried the Canon's wife, with +well-affected surprise, considering the circumstances. + +"We do indeed. Just a quiet evening for the young people, though we +shall hope to see you, dear Mrs. Vrater. Times are changed since we +were young," she added sweetly, "and we cannot stand still, however +much we may try." + +If Mrs. Vrater had a weakness, it was a love for a style of dress +which, though severe, was in a degree youthful. Her bonnet while Mrs. +Anson spoke seemed to attract and fix that lady's eye. It must be +confessed that at Mrs. Vrater's age it was a youthful bonnet. However, +she did not appear to heed this, but rose and took her departure with +a shocked expression of countenance. She had given the poor Dean, her +recreant ally, a very wretched ten minutes; otherwise she had not been +successful. When Greek meets Greek neither is wont to get much +satisfaction. She said no more there; but she hastened to pay some +other friendly calls. + +The manner in which the Dean came to give his consent must be told at +some length. There is a small house in a quiet corner of the Abbot's +Square at Gleicester, which stands back a few yards from the general +line of frontage. It is not alone in this respect. The Deanery on the +opposite side of the Square, and the Praecentor's house--we beg his +pardon, the Praecentory--in the far corner also shrink from the public +gaze. But then there is, and very properly, the retirement of +exclusiveness. In the small house in question such self-effacement +must have a different origin; perhaps in the modesty of conscious +insignificance, along with a due sense of the important neighborhood +in which No. 13 blooms like a violet almost unseen. For Abbot's +Square is virtually the Close of Gleicester--at any rate, there is no +other--while No. 13 is little more than a two-storied cottage with a +tiled roof, and outside shutters painted green, and a green door with +a brass knocker. The path from the wicket-gate to the unpretending +porch has been known to be gay with patterns now rather indistinct, +composed of the humble oyster-shell; and the occupants have varied +from a bachelor organist, or an artist painting the mediaeval, to the +Dean's favorite verger. + +Such was the little house in the Abbot's Square; but Gleicester, +sleepy old Gleicester, arose one morning to find a rare tit-bit +of news served up with its breakfast. Mr. and the Hon. Mrs. +Curzon-Bowlby, a fashionable couple bent on retrenchment, had taken +No. 13 for the summer. They brought with them a letter of introduction +from the Marquis of Gleicester, and owing to that, and something +perhaps to the three letters which distinguished Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby's +card from the pasteboards of the common throng, they were received by +the Deanery people with enthusiasm, at the residence with open arms. +The most select of coteries threw wide its doors to the tenants of No. +13. The Dean might be seen of a morning strolling in the little +garden, and his wife's carriage of an afternoon taking up and setting +down in front of the green shutters. The Archdeacon and the Praecentor, +nay, the very minor canons followed the Dean's lead. And Gleicester, +seeing these things, opened its eyes--its mouth was always open--and +awoke to the fact that the little house had risen in the world to a +very giddy height indeed. + +But the position which under these unforeseen circumstances No. 13 +might assume was hardly to be understood by the lay portion of the +city. The Abbot's Square and its doings were subjects of great +interest to them, as to people well brought up they would be; but with +a few exceptions, such as Sir Titus Wort, the brewer, and General +Jones, C. B., and Dr. Tobin. These people gazed on that Olympus from +afar. Possibly they called there and were called upon in return; but +that was all. Their knowledge of the inner politics of the Square was +not intimate. + +They knew that the Dean's wife (Regina Jones) was a pleasant and +pleasure-loving lady; but they had no idea that she was the leader of +an organized party of pleasure, whose tenets were water-parties and +lawn-tennis, who pinned their faith to the clerical quadrille (only +square dances as yet), who supported the Praecentor, the author of that +secular but charming song, "Love me to-day," and who upheld +theatricals, and threatened to patronize the City Theatre itself; a +party who drove their opponents, headed by the Dean and Mrs. Vrater, +and that grim clergyman the Archdeacon, to the verge of distraction; +who were dubbed by the minor canons "the Epicureans," and finally +whose heart and soul, even as Mrs. Dean was their head and front, was +to be discovered in Canon Vrater. + +The Canon deserves to be more particularly described. He was a man of +handsome presence and mature age, pink-faced and white-haired, young +for his years, and connected, though not so closely as Mrs. +Curzon-Bowlby, with the nobility. Perfectly adapted to shine in +society, he prided himself with good reason upon his polished manners, +which united in a very just degree the most gracious suavity with the +blandest dignity. They were so fine, indeed, as to be almost unfit for +home use. He made it a rule never to differ from a woman, his wife +(and antipodes) excepted, and seldom with a man. As he also invariably +granted a request if the petitioner were well dressed and the matter +_in future_, he was surely not to be blamed if his performances failed +to keep pace with his promises. In fine, a most pleasant, agreeable +gentleman, whom it was impossible to dislike to his face. + +Yet I think the Archdeacon, a "new man," to whom the aristocratic +Canon's popularity was wormwood, did dislike him. Certainly the Dean +did not; he was a liberal-minded man in the main, but he had some +old-fashioned ideas, and a great sense of his own position and its +proprieties, and so perforce he found himself arrayed against his +wife's party along with Mrs. Vrater and the Archdeacon. + +Such was the state of things in the Abbot's Square when No. 13 +received its new tenants. Now the Epicureans and now their opponents +would gain some slight advantage. The vergers and beadles arrayed +themselves upon one side or the other, and by the solemnity or levity +of their carriage, the twinkle in the eye or the far-off, absent gaze, +made known their views. The first lay clerk, a man qualified to talk +with his enemies in the gate, gave monthly dances; the leading tenor +assisted at scientific demonstrations. + +But of what weight were such adherents beside the new-comers at No. +13? Which party would they join? If appearances might be trusted there +could be little doubt. Mr. Curzon-Bowlby was a tall, long-faced man, +with a dark beard and moustache. His appearance was genteel, not to +say aristocratic--but fatuous. He walked with an upright carriage and +dressed correctly--indeed, with taste: beyond that, being a man of few +words, he seemed a man of no character. His wife was unlike him in +everything, save that she too dressed to perfection. A lively little +blonde, blue-eyed and bewitching, with a lovely pink-and-white +complexion, and a thick fringe of fair hair, she positively +effervesced with life and innocent gayety. She sparkled and bubbled +like champagne; she flitted to and fro all day long like a butterfly +in the sunshine. She charmed the Dean: the Canon declared her +perfection. And though she was hardly the person (_minus_ the three +letters before mentioned) to fascinate his wife, she disarmed even +Mrs. Vrater. And yet, whether the little woman of the world had, with +all her apparent impulsiveness, a great store of tact, or that she was +slow to comprehend the position, and was puzzled at finding the Dean +arrayed against his wife, and Mrs. Vrater opposed to the Canon, she +certainly dallied with her choice. Upon being invited to attend the +science classes at the residence, she faltered and hesitated, and +rather pleaded for time than declined. Mrs. Vrater, excellent woman, +was pleasantly surprised; and determining to try again, went home with +a light heart and good courage. + +But this was before the little lady learned that the clerical +quadrille--the party of progress, as has been hinted, wisely ignored +the existence of round dances--was the burning question of the time. + +"Good gracious! Mrs. Anson," she cried, clapping her little hands, and +her blue eyes wide with amazement over this discovery, "do you mean to +say that none of your clergy dance? that they never dance at all?" + +The Dean's wife shook her head, and shrugged her shoulders +contemptuously. She was a little out of temper this afternoon. Why was +she not the wife of a cavalry colonel? + +"Not even the Canon? Oh, I am sure Canon Vrater does.--Now, don't +you?" + +For the Canon, too, was in the little drawing-room. Small as the house +was, our impoverished fashionables had not furnished all of it; but +this room was a triumph of taste, in a quiet and inexpensive way. A +man and a maid whom they brought to Gleicester with them made up the +household. So there was an empty room or two. + +"No, Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby," he said; "if I danced I should be tripping +indeed, in Gleicester opinion." + +"You don't! well, I am surprised. Now confess, Canon, when did you +dance last? So long ago that you have forgotten the steps? Years and +years ago?" The old gentleman reddened, and fidgeted a little. "Canon, +did you ever"--the little woman glanced roguishly round the room, and +brought out the last word with a tragic accent positively fascinating, +"did you ever--waltz?" + +"Well," he answered guardedly, with an eye to his friend Mrs. Anson, +who was mightily amused, "I have waltzed." + +"Something like this, was it not?" She went to the piano and played a +few bars of a dreamy, old-fashioned German dance; played it as it +should be played. The Canon's wholesome pink face grew pinker, and he +began to sway a little as he sat. + +She turned swiftly round upon the music-stool. "Don't you feel at +times a desire to do something naughty, Canon--just because it is +naughty?" + +He nodded. + +"And don't you think," continued the fair casuist, with a delicious +air of wisdom, "that when it is not very naughty, only a little bad, +you know, you should sometimes indulge yourself, as a sort of +safety-valve?" + +He smiled, of course, a gentle dissent. But at the same time he +muttered something which sounded like "desipere in loco." + +"Mrs. Anson, you play a waltz, I know?" + +She acknowledged the impeachment with none of the Canon's modesty. + +"You are so kind, I am sure you will oblige me for five minutes. The +Canon is going to try his steps with me in the next room. How lucky it +is empty, and quite a good floor, I declare.--Now, Canon Vrater, you +are far too gallant to refuse?" + +He laughed, but Mrs. Anson entered thoroughly into the fun, took off +her gloves, and sitting down at the piano played the same dreamy air. +In vain the old gentleman pleasantly protested; he was swept away, so +to speak, by the little woman's vivacity. How it came about, whether +there was some magic in the air, or in Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby's eyes, the +Canon was never able to make quite clear to himself, and far less to +Mrs. Vrater, but in two minutes he was revolving round the room in +stately measure, an expression of anxious enjoyment on his handsome +old face as he carefully counted his steps, such as would have +diverted the eye of the charmed bystander even from the arch mischief +that rippled over his fair partner's features. Had there been any +bystander to witness the scene, that is. + +"Hem!" + +It was very loud and full of meaning, and came from the open +window. The Canon's arm fell from the lady's waist as if she had +suddenly turned into the spiky maiden of Nuremberg. Mrs. Dean stopped +playing with equal suddenness, and an exclamation of annoyance. Mrs. +Curzon-Bowlby, thus deserted in the middle of the room, dropped the +prettiest of "cheeses," and broke into a merry peal of unaffected +laughter. It was the Dean. Coming up the oyster-shell path, there +was no choice for him but to witness the _denouement_ through the +green-shuttered window. He was shocked; perhaps of the four he was the +most embarrassed, though the Canon looked, for him, very foolish. But +nothing could stand against Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby's gayety. She laughed +so long, so innocently, and with such pure enjoyment of the situation, +that one by one they joined her. The Dean attempted to be a little +sarcastic, but the laugh took all sting from his satire; and the +Canon, when he had once recovered his presence of mind, and his +breath, parried the raillery with his usual polished ease. + +So Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby's freak ended in no more serious result than her +own conversion into the staunchest of Epicureans, a very goddess of +pleasure; and in familiarizing the Dean's mind with the idea of the +Terpischorean innovation, until the proposition of a dance at the +Deanery--yes, at the Deanery itself--was mooted to his decanal ears. +Of course he rejected it, but still he survived the shock, and the +project had been brought within the range of practical politics. Its +novelty faded from his mind, and its impropriety ceased to strike him. +He had never told Mrs. Vrater of her husband's afternoon waltz, and +this reticence divided them. Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby exerted all her wiles; +she gave him no peace. The plan was mooted again and again; he +wavered, remonstrated, argued, and finally (thanks chiefly to No. 13), +in a moment of good-natured weakness, when the fear of Mrs. Vrater was +not before his eyes, succumbed. Be sure his wife and her allies left +him no _locos p[oe]nitentice_. Never was triumph greater. Within the +week the minor canons had their invitations stuck in their mirrors, +and rejoiced in their liberty. And Mrs. Vrater made a certain call +upon Mrs. Anson, of which the reader knows. + +But Mrs. Dean's pleasure was not unclouded. There were spots upon the +sun. The Dean was not always so tractable, and the Deanery house was +not large, and the garden positively small. True, a gateway and a +descent of two or three steps led from the latter into the picturesque +cloisters, which had lately been cleaned and repaired, and the sight +of this suggested a brilliant idea to flighty Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby. She +lost no time in communicating it to Mrs. Anson, who received it at +first with some doubt. Her friend, however, painted it in such +pleasant hues, and set it in so many brilliant lights, that later she +too became enamored of the project, and boldly proceeded to carry it +into execution. + +The Dean stumbled upon this magnificent plan; in so many words, +stumbled upon it, in a rather unfortunate way. He was taking his +wonted morning stroll in the garden two or three days before the 24th, +the date fixed for the now famous dance. His thoughts were not upon it +at the moment: it was a bright sunny day, and the balmy life-inspiring +air had expelled the regret which it must be confessed was the Dean's +normal frame of mind as to his ill-considered acquiescence. He was not +thinking of what the Bishop would say, or what the city would say, or, +worst of all, what Mrs. Vrater had said. He turned a corner of the +summerhouse a few yards from the steps which we have mentioned as +leading to the cloisters, and as he did so with the free gait of a man +walking in his own garden--bump!--he brought his right knee violently +against the edge of some object, a packing-case, a half-opened +packing-case which was lying there, where, so far as the Dean could +see, it had no earthly business. The packing-case edge was sharp, the +blow a forcible one. For a moment the Dean hopped about, moaning to +himself and embracing his shin. The spring air lost all its virtue on +the instant, and his regret for his moral weakness returned with added +and local poignancy. For he had not a doubt that the offending box had +something to do with the 24th. As he tenderly rubbed his leg he +regarded the box with no friendly eyes. To schoolboys and policemen, +and the tag-rag and bobtail, a sharp blow on the shin may not be much; +but stout and dignified clerics above the rank of a ritualistic vicar +are, to say the least of it, not accustomed to the thing at all. + +"What the--ahem--what in heaven's name may this be?" he exclaimed with +irritation. Resentment adding vigor to his curiosity, he gingerly +removed the covering from the case, which appeared to be full of +parti-colored paper globes of all shapes and sizes. They were +symmetrically arranged; they might have been tiny fire-balloons. But +the Dean's mind reverted to infernal machines, the smart of his shin +suggesting his line of thought. He put on his glasses in some +trepidation, and looking more closely made out the objects to +be--Chinese lanterns. + +The sound of a hasty step upon the gravel made him turn. It was Mrs. +Anson, looking a little perturbed--by her hurry, perhaps. Her husband +lifted one of the lanterns from the case with the end of his stick, +and contemplated it with a good deal of contempt. + +"My dear," he said, "what in the name of goodness are these foolish +things for?" + +"Well, you know the house is not very large," she began, "and the +supper will occupy the dining-room and breakfast-room--it would be a +pity to cramp the supper, my dear, when we have such beautiful plate, +and so few chances of showing it--and conservatory we have none +so----" + +"Yes, yes, my dear, true," broke in the Dean impatiently; "but what of +these? what of these?" He raised the poor lantern anew. + +"Well, we thought it would be nice to--to light the cloisters with +these lanterns, and so form a conservatory of a kind. Now that the +cloisters are cleaned and restored they will look so pretty, and the +people can walk there between the dances. I thought it would be an +excellent arrangement, and--and save us pulling your study about." + +There was an awful pause. The lantern, held at arm's length on the +ferrule of the Dean's stick, shook like an aspen leaf. + +"You thought--it would be nice--to light the cloisters--with Chinese +lanterns! The cloisters of Gleicester Cathedral, Mrs. Anson! Good +heavens!" + +No mere words can express the tone of amazed disapprobation, of +horror, disgust, and wrath combined, in which the Dean, whose face was +purple with the same emotions, spoke these words. He dashed the +lantern to the ground, and set one foot upon it in a manner not +unworthy of St. George--the Chinese lantern being a natural symbol of +the dragon. + +"It would be rank sacrilege; sacrilege, Mrs. Anson. Never let me hear +of it again. I am shocked that you should have proposed such a thing; +and I see now what I feared before, that I was very wrong in giving my +consent to a frivolity unbecoming our position. You cannot touch pitch +and not be defiled. But I never dreamt it would come to this. Let me +hear no more of it, I beg." + +The Dean, as he walked away after these decisive words, felt very +sore--and not only about the knee, to do him justice. He repeated over +and over again to himself the proverb about touching pitch. Until the +last few days, no one had cherished his position more highly. And now +his very wife was so far demoralized as to have suggested things +dreadful to him and subversive of it. He had given way to the Canon +and that little witch at No. 13, and this was the first result. What a +peck of troubles, he said to himself, this wretched dance was bringing +upon him! He was sick of it, sick to death of it, he told himself. So +sick, indeed, that when he was out of his wife's hearing he groaned +aloud with a great sense of self-pity, and almost brought himself in +his disgust to believe that Mrs. Vrater would have been a more fit and +sympathetic helpmeet for him. + +And Mrs. Dean was bitterly disappointed. She had set her heart upon +the cloisters scheme, and in most things she had been wont to enjoy +her own way. Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby had depicted it in such gorgeous hues, +and portrayed so movingly the guests' admiration and surprise--and +envy. Oaklea Castle, the seat of the Marquis of Gleicester, with its +spacious and costly conservatories and fineries, could present no +more picturesque or charming scene than would be afforded by the +many-arched cloisters brilliantly lighted and decorated, and filled +with handsome dresses and pretty faces still aglow with the music's +enthusiasm. Mrs. Anson had pictured it all. But she was a wise woman, +and a comparatively old married woman, and she recognized that the +matter was not one for argument. Not even to the Canon, her ally, did +she confide her chagrin, being after her husband's outburst a little +dubious of the light in which the project might present itself to him. + +Only into Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby's bosom did she pour her sorrow without +reserve. That lady made a delicious _moue_ after her fashion on +hearing of the Dean's indignation, but she seemed almost as +disappointed as Mrs. Anson herself. "And he actually forbade you, +dear?" she asked, with her blue eyes full of pity and wondering +surprise. + +"Well, he told me never to let him hear of it again." + +"Oh!" answered the little woman thoughtfully, and was silent for a +time. When she recovered herself she changed the subject, and soon +coaxed and petted her friend into a good humor. + +Still this was a large spot on the sun of Mrs. Anson's triumph. And +yet another, a mere speck indeed in comparison, and very endurable, +appeared at the last moment, the very day before the 24th. The Dean +was summoned to London; was summoned so privately, so peremptorily, +and so importantly, that the thought of what might come of the journey +(there was a new bishopric in act of being formed) almost reconciled +his wife to his absence; and this the more when she had effectually +disposed of his suggestion that the party should be indefinitely +postponed. The Dean was not persistent in pushing his proposal; the +harm, he felt, was already done. And besides, being himself away, he +would now be freed from some personal embarrassment. It must go on; if +he went up it would signify little. So he started for London very +cheerfully, all Gleicester knowing of his errand, and the porters at +the station spying a phantom apron at his girdle. + +When the evening, marked in the minor canons' rubric with so red a +letter, arrived, the excitement in the Abbot's Square rose to a great +height. + +Vague rumors of some surprise in store for the guests, which should +surpass the novelty of the dance, were abroad. Strange workmen of +reticent manners had passed in and out, and mysterious packages and +bundles, as self-contained as their bearers, had been seen to enter +the Deanery gates. A jealous awning, which altered the normal +appearance of the garden as seen from the second-floor windows of the +Square, hid the exact nature of the alteration, and served only to +whet the keen curiosity of the Gleicester public. Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby, +from No. 13, ran to and fro, smiling with a charming air of +effervescent reserve, which raised Mrs. Anson's older friends to an +aggravated pitch of curiosity. The Square knew not what to expect. +Conjecture was--in more senses than one, as the event proved--abroad. + +For no one had in the least foreseen the spectacle that met their eyes +upon their arrival. Certainly not the Bishop, though he betrayed no +surprise; good cheery man, he was every inch a bishop, and therefore +by tradition a great-hearted, liberal-minded gentleman. Certainly not +Sir Titus Wort, nor General Jones, much less the Archdeacon. No, nor +even the minor canons; their anticipations, keen as long abstinence +from such enjoyments could make them, had yet fallen far short of the +scene presented to their gaze upon entering the Deanery garden. + +Even Canon Vrater--at home, it was rumored, in courts; he had +certainly once lunched at Windsor--stood in almost speechless wonder +by the garden steps. + +"It is very beautiful!" he said simply, gazing with all his eyes down +the arched vista formed by the tree-like pillars of the cloisters; the +brilliant light of many lanterns picked out every leaf of their +delicate carving and fretted broidery, and made of their fair +whiteness a glittering background for the dark-hued dresses of the +promenaders beneath. It was indeed more like fairy-land than a part of +the cathedral precincts. Those who traversed it every day looked round +and wondered where they were. + +"It is very beautiful!" That was all. And he said it so gravely that +Mrs. Anson's spirits, elevated by the open admiration of the bulk of +her guests, would have fallen rapidly had she not at that moment met +the arch glance of Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby. That lady, a very mistress of +the revels, was flitting here and there and everywhere, witching the +world of Gleicester with noble womanhood. + +Nor was the sight less of a surprise to the Canon's wife. But Mrs. +Vrater, as was to be expected, had more to say upon the subject. She +had taken possession of the youngest and most timid of the minor +canons, and even he was lifted a little above himself by the scene and +a chance smile shot in his direction by the mistress of No. 13. Still +he was not sufficiently intoxicated to venture to disagree with the +resident Canon's lady. + +"I never thought I should live to see this or anything like it!" she +said, with a groan of grimmest disapprobation. + +"No, indeed," he assented, "nor did I." But it is doubtful if he meant +quite the same thing as the lady. + +"This will not be the end of it, Mr. Smallgunn," said Cassandra, +nodding her head in so gloomy a manner that it recalled nothing so +much as a hearse-plume. + +"Not a bit of it," he answered briskly. But again it is a matter of +some uncertainty whether the two wits--supposing that so irreverent an +expression may be applied to Mrs. Vrater's wit--jumped together. He +not improbably in his mind's eye saw a succession of such evenings +strewn like flowers in the minor canons' path; and this was not at all +Mrs. Vrater's view. She felt that there was a lack of sympathy between +them, and left him for the Archdeacon, with whom she conferred in a +corner, glowering the while at the triumphant Epicureans, who strutted +up and down the carpeted cloisters, and flirted their fans, and spread +their feathers like peacocks in the sunshine. + +And there were moments when Mrs. Dean felt as proud as a peacock; but +then there were other times when she felt quite the reverse. True, she +fully intended strenuously to perform, so far as in her lay, her +husband's order, "never to let him hear of it again," quite heartily +and sincerely; that amount of justice must be done her; she intended +to obey him in this, only she doubted of her success. And being in the +main a good woman, with some amount of love and reverence for her +husband, there were moments in the evening when she turned quite cold +with fear, and wondered who or what on earth could have induced her to +do it. But her guests saw nothing of this; nor did it occur to them, +whatever might be their private views, that their hostess had the +smallest doubt of the propriety of her picturesque arrangement--her +guests generally, that is. There was one exception--the gay, laughing, +sail-with-the-wind little lady from No. 13. + +But she did not form one of the group around Mrs. Anson during the +last dance before supper. It was a waltz, and it had but just +commenced, the rhythmical strains had but just penetrated to their +nook within the cloisters, when suddenly, with some degree of +abruptness, the music stopped. They, not knowing their hostess's train +of thought, were surprised to see her turn pale and half rise. She +paused in the middle of a sentence, and could not disguise the fact +that she was listening. The others became silent also, and listened as +people will. The dancing had ceased, and there was some commotion in +the house, that was clear. There were loud voices, and the sound of +hurrying to and fro, and of people calling and answering; and finally, +while they were yet looking at one another with eyes half fearful, +half assuring, there came quite a rush of people from the house in the +direction of the cloisters. Mrs. Anson rose, as did the others. She +alone had no doubt of what it meant. The Dean had come back--the Dean +had come back! The matter could not be disguised; she was caught +literally _flagrante delicto_, the cloisters one blaze of light from +end to end. How would he take it? She peered at the approaching group +to try and distinguish his burly form and mark the aspect of his face. +But though it was hardly dark in the little strip of garden which +separated them from the house, she could not see him; and as they came +nearer she could hear several voices, if it was not her imagination +playing her tricks, naming him in tones of condolence and pity. Then +another and, as she was afterwards thankful to remember, a far more +painful idea came into her mind, and she stepped forward with a +buzzing in her ears. + +"What is it, James? The Dean?" with a catch in her voice. + +"Well, ma'am, yes. I'm very sorry, ma'am. There's been a----" + +"An accident? Speak, quick! what is it?" she cried, her hand to her +side. + +"No, ma'am, but a burglary; and the Dean, who has just come, says----" + +"The Dean, James, will speak for himself," said her husband, who had +followed the group at a more leisurely pace, taking in the aspect of +affairs as he came. He had heard the latter part of her words, and +been softened, perhaps, by the look upon her face. "You have plenty of +light here, my dear," with a glance at the illumination, in which +annoyance and contempt were finely mingled; "but I fear that will not +enable our guests to eat their supper in the absence of plate. Every +spoon and fork has been stolen; a feat rendered, I expect, much more +easy by this injudicious plan of yours." + +Which was all the public punishment she received at his hands. But his +news was sufficient. Mrs. Dean remembered her magnificent silver-gilt +epergne and salver to match--never more to be anything but a memory to +her--and fainted. + +Mrs. Vrater, too, remembered that epergne. It was the finest piece in +the Dean's collection, and the Dean's plate was famous through the +county. She remembered it, and felt that her triumph could hardly have +been more complete; the shafts of Nemesis could hardly have been +driven into a more fitting crevice in her adversary's armor. This was +what had come of the clergy dancing, of the Dean's weakness, and Mrs. +Anson's secular frivolity and friendships! Mrs. Vrater looked round, +her with a great sense of the wisdom of Providence, and ejaculated, +"This is precisely what I foresaw!" + +"Then it is a pity you did not inform the police," answered her +husband, tartly. + +But his lady shook her head. In the triumph of the moment she could +afford to leave such a gibe unanswered. The Archdeacon was condoling +with the Dean in terms almost cordial, and certainly sincere; but Mrs. +Vrater was made of sterner stuff, and was not one to lose the +sweetness of victory by indulging a foolish sympathy for the +vanquished. She would annihilate all her enemies at one blow, and +looked round upon the excited group surrounding Mrs. Anson to see that +no one of that lady's faction was lacking to her triumph. + +What was this? Surely she was here! The prime mover, the instigator of +this folly, should have been in closest attendance upon her dear +friend? But no. + +"Where is Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby?" Mrs. Vrater asked rather sharply, what +with surprise, and what with some pardonable disappointment. + +"I believe," said the Dean, turning from his wife, who was slowly +reviving--"I believe that the Hon. Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby is in the +Mediterranean." + +"In the Mediterranean? why, she was here an hour ago." The man's head +was turned by the loss of his cherished plate. + +"No, not Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby, as I learned before I left London. Some +one so calling herself was, though she too is probably far away in the +up train by this time, and her plunder with her. To her and her +confederates we are indebted for this loss." The Dean may be excused +if he spoke a little bitterly. + +"Good Lord!" cried the Canon, dropping the glass of water he was +holding. + +"I felt sure of it!" cried his wife, in a tone of deep conviction. + +As the party entered the house, which was in huge disorder, full of +guests collecting their wraps and calling for their carriages, of +imperative policemen and frightened servants, the Dean drew back. He +returned alone to the cloisters, and very carefully with his own hands +extinguished all the lamps. As the faint moonlight regained its lost +ascendency, falling in a silver sheet pale and pure upon the central +grass-plot, and dimly playing round the carven pillars, the Dean +closed the gate and heaved a sigh of relief. + +And so ended the Dean's ball, the triumph as brief as disastrous of +the Gleicester Epicureans. The dreams of the minor canons have not +become facts. They may play lawn-tennis, may attend water-parties and +amateur theatricals--nay, may play cards for such stakes as they can +afford, but the dance is tabooed. The Dean is Dean still, and is still +looking hopefully--what Dean is not?--to the immediate future to make +him a bishop. And Mrs. Dean is still Mrs. Dean, but not quite the Mrs. +Dean she was. As for No. 13, its day of prosperity also closed with +that night. It relapsed into its old condition of modest +insignificance, nor ever recalled the fact that a reverend canon had +waltzed within its walls. The green shutters and oyster-shells are no +longer considered an anomaly, for they adorn the residence of a master +mason. + +One more episode of that evening remains to be told. The Canon and his +wife walked home together, and if he said little she left little to be +said. Upon entering the dining-room the Canon sat down wearily. The +servant, surprised to see them return so early, brought in the lamp. +The Canon looked, rubbed his eyes, and looked again. + +"Mary," he said, "where is--don't be alarmed, my dear; Mary has no +doubt put it upstairs for safety--where is my great silver tankard? +Ah, yes; and the goblets, too, where are they?" + +"If you please, ma'am," said Mary glibly, answering rather Mrs. +Vrater's agonized look than the Canon's question--"if you please, +ma'am, the Hon. Mrs. Curzon-Bowlby called after you left, and said +she'd run in to borrow them for the Deanery claret-cup, as they'd be +short of silver." + + + + + THE PROFESSOR AND THE + HARPY. + + +Mother Church, who in bygone ages sheltered all the learning of the +land beneath her broad wings, and who, even after this monopoly had +passed away from her, continued to provide for learners and learned in +a munificent fashion, has in these latter times been sadly shorn of +wealth and patronage by the relentless march of progress and the +Ecclesiastical Commissioners. Yet there is balm in Gilead. Here and +there a sinecure has been suffered to remain for the benefit of those +whose work is not altogether of the tangible kind so dear to the +nineteenth century; here and there a Reverend Jack Horner, putting his +thumb into the diminished pie of Church preferment, can pull out a +plum, and, sitting down under the shadow of some gray cathedral tower, +can draw soothing deductions after the manner of his juvenile +prototype. A bishopric may no longer be a post of dignified ease, +archdeacons may be men doomed to perpetual hurry and worry, wealthy +pluralists may have become an extinct class, but a Canon of Lichbury +Cathedral is still a personage whose comfortable dwelling and +comfortable income are rather the acknowledgment of past distinction +than the equivalent of any present labor. Not, of course, that the +Dean and Chapter of Lichbury are a body of worn-out pensioners. It is +by no means in that light that they are accustomed to regard +themselves; nor, indeed, are they so regarded by any, except the +ignorant and irreverent. If repose and competence have been bestowed +upon them, it is not only because they have already enriched the world +with the results of literary research, but that they may have more +leisure to continue doing so. Some of them have achieved renown as +authors of theological treatises, others are deeply versed in +classical lore; while some, like Canon Stanwick, hold university +professorships. + +The latter divine was understood to owe his canonry (which had been +conferred upon him at a comparatively early age) to that celebrated +work, "The Life and Times of the Emperor Julian," in which an +interesting character and an interesting period of history had been so +exhaustively and impartially treated of as to leave no room for +further exploration of the same ground. Whether, as his admirers +declared, the Professor had surpassed Gibbon as triumphantly in the +handling of his subject as Gibbon surpassed Voltaire and other earlier +writers, and whether in the course of his well-weighed observations he +had made out as good a case for the church which he represented as was +possible and desirable, are questions which need not be discussed +here. One consequence, at all events, of his accomplished task had +been to place him in the front rank of living historians, and another +had been his appointment to a vacant stall in Lichbury Cathedral. + +This last reward of merit should have been especially grateful to him, +for he was a bachelor of retired habits, whose life had been spent +among his books, and to whom life had little left to offer in the way +of attractions save increased opportunities for study; and, in fact, +he was, as a general thing, very well satisfied with his lot. +Nevertheless, as he paced up and down his smooth lawn one morning in +August, he was in a less contented frame of mind than usual. The +whispering of the summer breeze in the old elms, the cawing of the +rooks, the occasional deliberate ding-dong of the cathedral clock far +overhead, checking off the slumberous quarters and half-hours--all +these familiar sounds had failed to produce upon him that sense of +calm which is so conducive of thought; he had been compelled to lay +aside the opening chapter of his new work, "The Rise of the Papacy," +and to take to walking to and fro in the garden, with his hands behind +his back and his gray head sunk beneath shoulders which were somewhat +prematurely bowed. + +The truth was that the Professor, like other professors, had once been +young, and that the days of his youth had been vividly and +unexpectedly brought back to him the night before. This is always a +disturbing thing to happen to a man; and what made it particularly so +in Canon Stanwick's case was that his youth had been marked by a +trouble which he had taken terribly to heart at the time of its +occurrence. To be jilted is no such rare experience, and to get over +it with great rapidity is the ordinary lot of the jilted one; but some +few strangely constituted mortals there are who never get over it, and +of these Canon Stanwick happened to be one. Certainly, at the age of +fifty-five he had long ceased to think with any bitterness of the +shallow-hearted Julia to whom he had become engaged immediately after +taking orders, and who had thrown him over in favor of a man of much +greater wealth and higher position; he had, indeed, ceased to think +about her at all. But not the less was it her conduct which had shaped +the course of his life. By it he had been driven into deep study, into +an Oxford professorship, and finally into a canonry; by it also he had +been driven out of society, and especially out of female society, for +which the treachery of one member of the sex had imbued him with a +strong repugnance. At Oxford, where he had resided up to the time +of his recent preferment, the ladies had quite given him up. It had +been understood there that he did not care for the relaxation of +dinner-parties and tea-parties; and it was a somewhat singular +coincidence that, having from a sense of duty consented to break +through his long-standing rule and dine with the Dean of Lichbury, he +should have found himself seated opposite to his old love, whom, by +another odd coincidence, he had wooed, won, and lost in that very +neighborhood so long before. + +This chance meeting had upset the worthy man a good deal. In the +gray-haired but vivacious Mrs. Annesley who had claimed acquaintance +with him across the table, he had scarcely recognized the heroine of +his buried romance, nor had he either the wish or the power to +resuscitate the tender feelings with which he had once regarded her; +but the sight of her had stirred up old memories within him, and these +had haunted him through the night, had prevented the Papacy from +rising satisfactorily in the morning, and finally, as aforesaid, had +sent him out into the open air, a prey to vague regrets. + +So that elderly lady was Julia Annesley! And she had grown-up sons and +daughters, about whom she talked a great deal; and her husband was +dead--the husband for whom she had never cared, and whom she made +little pretence of regretting. To all appearance, she regretted +nothing. Why should she, when she had all that a woman could wish to +have? Perhaps, thought the Professor, it might be a better thing to be +the father of sons and daughters, when one was growing old, than to be +the author of an unrivalled monograph on the merits and demerits of +Julian the Apostate. To be sure, there was no reason why one shouldn't +be both. And then he fell to wondering whether that ambition which had +been the chief cause of Julia's infidelity could have been satisfied +with such fame and social standing as an historian, a professor, and a +canon may lay claim to. Only, if he had married Julia, he would +probably have begun and ended as a country parson. He smiled at +himself for indulging in such nonsensical fancies at his time of life; +but he went on dreaming all the same until he was startled by the +opening of a gate which connected his house with the Precincts. + +Somebody strode with a brisk, ringing step up the brick pathway to the +front door, singing loudly,-- + + + "I loved her, _and_ she might have been + The happiest _in_ the land; + But she fancied a foreigner who played the clarinet + In the middle of a Ger-man band." + + +Then came a vigorous pull at the bell, followed by subdued whistling +of the air of this apposite but vulgar ditty. It was not after so +indecorous a fashion that the Professor's visitors were wont to +approach him, and he could not resist the temptation to steal softly +across the turf past the library windows and see who might be the +author of all this disturbance. His curiosity was rewarded by a +full-length view of a handsome, merry-looking young fellow in undress +cavalry uniform, who himself happened to be peeping round the corner +at that moment, and who at once advanced, saying: "Oh, how do you do? +Canon Stanwick isn't it? My mother asked me to leave this note for you +as I passed--Mrs. Annesley, you know. She says you and she are old +friends." + +"I am much obliged to you, sir," said the Professor in his grave +voice, taking the note. "Pray come in." + +"Can't, thanks," answered the other; "I must be off to barracks. See +you this afternoon on the cricket-ground though, I hope. We've got a +great match on--garrison against the county. We shall be awfully +licked of course; but everybody will be up there, and it's something +to do. Very glad to see you if you'll come to our tent. You'll find my +mother there; the note's to tell you all about it. Good-bye for the +present." + +And with that this unceremonious young man clanked away, leaving the +Professor, who had not looked on at a cricket match for a matter of +thirty years, much amused. The note ran as follows: + + + Deanery, Lichbury: Thursday. + +"Dear Canon Stanwick,--I hope, if you are disengaged this afternoon, +you will join our party on the cricket-ground, and give me the +opportunity, which I sought in vain last night, of having a little +talk with you. I am obliged to leave to-morrow morning, and I am so +very anxious to have a few words with you before I go _about my son_, +who is quartered here. Do come, and + + "Believe me most sincerely yours, + + "Julia Annesley." + + +"Oh, by all means," said the Professor, who had a solitary man's habit +of thinking aloud. "I shall feel rather like a fish out of water among +all those people; but never mind, I'll go. Only I can't think why you +should want to talk to me about your son." + +Perhaps the Professor was still a little in the dark as to this point, +even after a long interview with Mrs. Annesley; though he certainly +could not complain of any want of candor upon the lady's part. The +Lichbury cricket-ground is justly celebrated both for its extent and +for the beauty of its situation, and the numerous matches of which it +is the scene during the summer season are always well attended. The +Professor made his way through a double line of carriages and drags, +feeling and looking very much like a man who has suddenly emerged from +a dark room upon a crowded thoroughfare. The confused din raised by a +large concourse of people, mingled with the strains of the military +band which was in attendance, and the shouts of eager partisans of +garrison or county, bewildered him; and it was only after repeated +inquiries that he succeeded in reaching the entrance of the cavalry +tent, where he stood for a minute blinking in the sunshine, and trying +with shortsighted eyes to distinguish among the assemblage of gayly +dressed ladies seated there the one of whom he was in search. But if +he did not see her, she very soon saw him, and came forward, holding +out a tiny pair of beautifully gloved hands. + +"_How_ good of you to come!" she exclaimed. "Suppose we take a turn +round the ground; then we can talk quietly." + +She was a bright, alert little woman, her gray hair, which was drawn +straight up from her forehead, contrasting oddly with her still +youthful complexion, and giving her somewhat of the appearance of an +eighteenth-century _marquise_. The Professor was not quite sure +whether he ought to offer her his arm or not, but finally deciding +that this was unnecessary, made a grab at his shapeless felt hat, and +muttered, "Delighted, I'm sure." He was a little embarrassed in the +presence of his former love, whose first words showed that she, for +her part, had no such foolish feeling. + +"Is it not strange that we should meet again at Lichbury after all +these years?" she began. "I have often thought of you, and often felt +sorry." She paused and sighed. "One does not expect men to take things +so seriously--generally, you know, it is the men who forget, and the +women who suffer; but I suppose you are different. And I have spoilt +your life!" + +The Professor smiled. He was thinking that most people would hardly +describe his life as having been a spoilt one; he was thinking, too, +that the Julia who had caused him so much mental anguish in years gone +by was quite another person from the complacent little lady who was +trying to make apologies for her. He rather wished she would drop the +subject; but he said nothing, and Mrs. Annesley resumed: + +"You ought to hate me--I quite feel that; but doesn't some clever +person say somewhere that we never hate those who have injured us, +only those whom we have injured? I have injured you dreadfully; but +for all that, I want to make friends--and to ask a favor of you into +the bargain." She concluded her sentence with a little laugh and a +side glance from eyes which had done much execution in their day. + +"I am sure I shall be very glad if I can serve you in any way," said +the Professor simply; "and I think we may very well agree to let +bygones be bygones. It was something about your son, you said?" + +"Ah, yes, poor fellow!" sighed Mrs. Annesley; "I can't tell you how +anxious and distressed I am about him. He is quartered here with his +regiment, the 27th Lancers, and he absolutely refuses to leave the +service, though, as of course you know, he succeeded to a very large +property when he came of age." + +"He is still very young," remarked the Professor. "I should think +another year or two of soldiering would do him no harm." + +"But it is absurd for a man with three large country houses to live in +barracks. I want him to marry and settle down. I want him--only this +is strictly between ourselves--to marry Violet Cecil. She is such a +charming girl, and so pretty--don't you think so?" + +"Is she?" asked the Professor. "I scarcely know her." + +"But you and Mr. Cecil were always such great friends, I thought." + +"We had not met for many years until I came down here, and I have only +seen Miss Cecil once. I did not notice her particularly." + +"How funny of you! But I remember that you were never very observant. +Well, I was going to tell you about poor Bob--oh! there he is. I +should like so much to introduce him to you." + +"He introduced himself to me this morning," observed the Professor, +smiling. + +"Oh, did he? Well, I could not introduce him _now_, at any rate," said +Mrs. Annesley, meaningly. + +The Professor adjusted his glasses, and following the direction of her +gaze, made out his visitor of the morning, who had exchanged his +uniform for a suit of cricketing flannels, and who was pacing along by +the side of a tall, fine-looking woman with dark hair. The young man +wore a downcast look, and his evident unwillingness to raise his eyes +seemed to show that he was conscious of his mother's vicinity. + +"Oh, I see!" said the Professor, with a perspicacity which did him +credit. + +"Yes; isn't it dreadful? What any man can find to admire in such a +woman I can't conceive." + +"She is handsome and--very well dressed," hazarded the Professor, +after another survey of the lady's retreating form. + +"Well dressed!" ejaculated Mrs. Annesley, throwing up her hands. "If +you can say that, you would say anything. Pale blue satin and +imitation lace--good gracious! But of course you don't understand +these things." + +"Certainly," the Professor agreed, "I am no judge of such matters. But +who is this lady?" + +"Ah, who indeed? That is exactly what nobody knows. She is a Mrs. +Harrington--at least, that is what she calls herself; and I believe +she is one of those dreadful harpies who follow regiments about all +over the world and ruin poor young men--or rather, rich young men. She +is not exactly disreputable, I am told; I only wish she were!--No, I +didn't mean that--I forgot you were a clergyman. I beg your pardon, +I'm sure." + +"Don't mind me," said the Professor. "And so you are afraid that she +will marry your son?" + +"I can't bear to say so; but it does look terribly like it, and I am +so powerless. I have no influence over Bob, and it is impossible for +me to remain down here; I have all my other children to look after, +you know. Of course it would never do to breathe a word to the Cecils; +otherwise they might be able to save him, for I am sure he is really +fond of Violet. It struck me that perhaps you might give me a helping +hand." + +"I will most gladly, if I can," replied the Professor; "but I confess +I don't at present see what I can do." + +"I am sure you could influence him in a quiet way; and then you might +try to throw him as much as possible with the Cecils. You will have +plenty of opportunities of doing that, if you look for them. And +perhaps you would be very kind and write me a line every now and then +to tell me how matters are going." + +The Professor shook his head and said he feared Mrs. Annesley was +leaning upon a broken reed. Nevertheless, he promised to do his best; +and promises with him always meant a good deal. For the sake of old +days he was willing to do Mrs. Annesley a kindness; for the young +man's own sake he would gladly have disappointed the harpy; finally, +he thought he would be rendering no small service to his friend Cecil, +if he could bring about a marriage between the daughter of that not +very wealthy country gentleman and one of the richest bachelors in +England. The only question was how to set about achieving so desirable +a result. He debated this problem for some time after Mrs. Annesley +had been called away from his side by other acquaintances, and he was +still standing with his hands behind his back, frowning meditatively, +when Mr. Cecil, a fresh-colored squire, who lived within a few miles +of Lichbury, caught sight of him and greeted him warmly. + +"Hollo, Stanwick! who'd have thought of seeing you on the +cricket-ground? This is an unexpected honor for the club." + +"I didn't come here to look at the cricket; I came to see a very old +friend of yours and mine--Mrs. Annesley," the Professor explained. + +"Ah, to be sure! How time does go on! Do you remember what a pretty +girl she was, and how desperately in love we all were with her? You +were as hard hit as any of us, if I recollect rightly. In fact, I +believe she was engaged to you in a sort of a way, wasn't she?" + +"In a sort of a way--yes." + +"And then she threw you over because she wanted to be rich and +fashionable and all that. Well, well! she has had her reward. Have you +seen her often since those days?" + +"Never until yesterday." + +"You don't say so! You can hardly have recognized one another, did +you? Both you and she have got on in life and got on in the world +since you parted. Julia is a leader of society, and mixes freely with +duchesses, which satisfies her soul; and you are one of the +celebrities of the day. It now only remains for me to get a prize for +my pig, and then we shall all three have reached the highest +distinctions attainable in our respective walks in life." + +"Yes, yes," murmured the Professor dreamily; and presently he quoted +in an undertone, "What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue!" + +"I'll be hanged if anybody shall call my pig a shadow!" returned Mr. +Cecil, laughing, as he walked away. And then the Professor strolled +slowly back to the quiet Precincts and "The Rise of the Papacy." + + + II. + +A Man may be a learned historian and a dignitary of the Church, and +yet retain a good deal of that diffidence which is more becoming than +common among his juniors. Canon Stanwick, for one, carried modesty +almost to the dimensions of a vice. He was very shy of young men; he +did not know what to say to them; he felt convinced--possibly not +without reason--that they must find him an old bore; and how to +ingratiate himself with a dashing young cavalry officer was a puzzle +beyond the compass of his imagination to solve. However, he had +pledged his word that he would do this, and accordingly, on the day +after the cricket match, he asked a few friends to dinner, and invited +Mr. Annesley to join the party. + +The young man came, and made himself so agreeable to the old ladies +and gentlemen whom he met that they were delighted with him, and +allowed him to monopolize the lion's share of the conversation. Which +thing they would assuredly not have permitted in the case of any +ordinary lancer or hussar; for in Lichbury the Church is disposed to +look a trifle askance at the Army, and to stand upon its dignity with +the representatives of the latter, who are overmuch given to riot and +unseemly pranks. But about this particular lancer there was a perfect +simplicity of thought and language which, combined with a touch of +military swagger, was quite irresistible; and so it came to pass that +Canon Stanwick's first dinner party proved the merriest that had been +given in the Precincts for many a long day. As for the Professor, he +began to feel a _quasi-_fatherly interest in the son of his former +flame, and when the rest of the guests had departed, ventured to +detain him. + +"Do you ever--er--smoke a cigar before going to bed?" he asked +hesitatingly. + +"I should be precious sorry to go to bed _without_ smoking a cigar," +answered the other, laughing. + +"Oh," said the Professor. "Well, I have formed the same habit myself, +and if you had nothing better to do, and cared to keep me company for +half an hour in my study, I could offer you a tolerably good cigar, I +think; and--and I believe you'll find some soda-water and brandy on +the table." + +So presently this oddly matched pair were seated opposite to one +another in the spacious room which served its present owner as library +and study, the busts of Roman emperors and Greek philosophers looking +down upon them from above the bookcases with an air of grave surprise. +The Professor was a little timid and awkward at first, but the younger +man soon set him at his ease, and when he had received a good deal of +amusing information about the inhabitants of Lichbury and its +neighborhood, he thought he might feel his way towards the subject +which he was determined to broach. + +"I know very few people in these parts," he remarked; "I have not been +here long, and am generally much occupied. But I have a long-standing +acquaintance with the Cecils, who I think are also friends of yours." + +"Oh, rather!" responded the young man heartily. "Known them all my +life. Awfully jolly people--awfully good old chap, old Cecil. And Mrs. +Cecil--she's awfully jolly too." + +Bob Annesley's vocabulary of adjectives made up in emphasis what it +lacked in variety. + +"And Miss Cecil?" the Professor said. "I have only been fortunate +enough to meet her once, but I am told that she is a singularly +beautiful and charming young lady." + +This leading observation elicited a somewhat less cordial assent from +Bob, who murmured, "There's no question about that," and looked rather +grave for a few seconds. + +"I was thinking," went on the wily Professor, "that I should very much +like to see more of her, her father having been such an intimate +friend of mine in former years; but I hesitate to ask young people +into my dull house unless I can provide some sort of amusement for +them. Do you think there would be room for a lawn-tennis court in the +garden?" + +"Oh, Lord bless your soul, yes!" answered the young man, rising to the +fly most satisfactorily; "heaps of room. I'll tell you what: if you'd +like me to mark out the court for you, I'll do it to-morrow with the +greatest of pleasure, and I could make up a four any day that suited +you and Miss Cecil." + +"I should be very much obliged to you. Let me see; you would want +another lady, wouldn't you?" said the Professor, with some fear that +his accommodating guest might offer to bring Mrs. Harrington. + +He was relieved to find that no such indiscretion was contemplated. +The young man said there were the Dean's daughters, or failing them, +there was Mrs. Green, the wife of one of his brother officers, who was +a first-rate player and a friend of the Cecils. He could easily get +her and her husband to come, and he was sure the Professor would like +them. + +So far, so good. There would apparently be no difficulty in bringing +the young people together; and as for the harpy, perhaps the moment +had hardly yet come for declaring war upon her. In the course of the +few following days the Professor tried to find out more about this +mysterious lady; but the canons knew nothing of her, and the canons' +wives sniffed and said that she was a person whom nobody visited, +although, upon being pressed, they admitted that there was nothing +definite against her. Possibly, after all, she might prove less +formidable than Mrs. Annesley had supposed, and the Professor was +confirmed in this hope by the evident admiration with which Bob +regarded Miss Cecil. That young lady willingly consented to drink tea +and play tennis in the Precincts, and closer inspection showed that +her personal attractions had been in no way exaggerated. Not only did +she possess a quantity of golden-brown hair, and eyes of the darkest +blue, shaded by long curved lashes, but her features, complexion, and +figure were all perfect, and she had an enchanting smile. If any young +man could prefer the vulgar charms of a Mrs. Harrington to these, he +must be a very extraordinary young man indeed; and the Professor, +watching the tennis-players from his cane arm-chair in the shade, +smiled as he thought to himself that Bob Annesley had none of the +outward and visible signs of an extraordinary young man. Furthermore, +he noticed that Annesley and Miss Cecil remained partners throughout; +and though this might be a trivial basis upon which to build +conclusions, there was surely some significance in the fact that after +each game these two sauntered away together, leaving Captain and Mrs. +Green to entertain their host with polite conversation. + +When play was over for the day, a renewal of the contest at an early +date was agreed upon, and after three such meetings the Professor felt +justified in despatching a consolatory note to Mrs. Annesley. "I +really think you may make your mind quite easy," he wrote, "I have had +your boy and Cecil's girl playing tennis in my garden several times; +and even so inexperienced a looker-on as myself cannot fail to +perceive that if ever two people were in love with each other, they +are. The 'harpy' I have not yet met, nor am I likely to do so; but +Captain Green of your son's regiment tells me that she is what is +called a _garrison hack_--a term not known to me, but which I take to +mean broadly that she is ready to flirt with all, and is consequently +dangerous to none." + +The folly of generalization was one to which the Professor was fully +alive in dealing with matters of historical interest; and had the +question before him been of that kind, he would have been the first to +point out that, though this lady might not be dangerous _qua_ garrison +hack, there was no sure ground for assuming that she was not dangerous +_qua_ Mrs. Harrington. Mrs. Annesley's grateful reply to his letter +did not reach him before he had begun to repent of his haste in +communicating with her. + +It was upon the occasion of an afternoon party, given by the officers +of the 27th Lancers, that Canon Stanwick was privileged to make Mrs. +Harrington's acquaintance. Had he been left to consult his own +inclinations, he would not have been present at this entertainment; +but the Cecils, who had driven in from the country to attend it, +invited themselves to luncheon with him, and then carried him away by +main force, alleging that it would do him good to see more of his +neighbors. As a matter of fact, however, he was not benefited in this +particular way, for the cathedral dignitaries seldom showed themselves +at the barracks, and he searched the mess-room and ante-room in vain +for any familiar face. He remained beside the Cecils, and presently +accompanied them to the lawn in front of the building, where some +younger members of the assemblage were playing tennis. Then it was +that he became aware of Mrs. Harrington, attended by young Annesley, +and was able to scrutinize her a little more nearly than he had done +on the cricket-ground. She was a tall, striking-looking woman, not in +her first youth. No doubt she was rather over-dressed, and the +Professor noticed that she was more anxious to appear at her ease than +successful in doing so. He noticed, besides, that the other ladies +fought shy of her, and that his friend Bob, who stood by her side, +looked anything but happy. + +After a time the couple drew near to the spot where the Cecil family +were seated, and from the expression of despair visible upon the young +man's face, and the mixture of triumph and defiance exhibited by the +lady, it was easy to guess what was going to happen next. The +Professor, from living so much alone, had got out of the habit of +repressing his emotions; and when he realized that this daring woman +had demanded an introduction to Mrs. Cecil, he gave vent to a loud, +abrupt chuckle, which caused everybody to turn round and look at him +and overwhelm him with consequent confusion. Thus he missed the actual +formality which had moved him to mirth by anticipation; but he +recovered himself in time to see that it had taken place, that Mr. and +Miss Cecil were looking grave and annoyed, and that Mrs. Cecil had +assumed that stony demeanor with which she was wont to cow the +presumptuous. + +Mrs. Cecil was not a lady with whom it was advisable to take +liberties. A great liberty had been taken with her now, and, while +holding in reserve the punishment of the chief offender, she made +things very uncomfortable for his accomplice. Having bowed to Mrs. +Harrington, she became absorbed in some distant object of interest, +and failed to hear the bland remarks addressed to her by her new +acquaintance. A deep silence had fallen upon the surrounding group. +Mrs. Cecil was still seated; the other lady was standing in front of +her chair, and the Professor, looking on from the background, thought +to himself that, if he were in Mrs. Harrington's shoes, he would run +away. + +But it was Bob Annesley, and not Mrs. Harrington, who adopted that +pusillanimous course. That intrepid woman remained firm, and, with a +determined smile upon her pale face, forced Mrs. Cecil to speak to +her. + +"I asked Mr. Annesley to introduce me to you," she was saying, +"because I think we ought to know each other, being both of us so +intimate with him." + +"Oh, I didn't know," replied Mrs. Cecil coldly. Perhaps she would have +liked to say that she was not so very intimate with Mr. Annesley; but +when one has a daughter whom one is naturally anxious to marry well, +one is apt to be debarred from indiscriminate retorts. After a pause, +she asked, without removing her eyes from the distant view, "Are you +staying any time at Lichbury, Mrs.--er--?" + +"Harrington," replied the other. "Well, I don't quite know. It will +depend a good deal upon the regiment. I always like to be where the +27th are." + +"_Really!_" exclaimed Mrs. Cecil; and the amount of astonishment, +contempt, and disgust which she managed to condense into that one word +was quite an achievement in its way. + +"Oh, yes," Mrs. Harrington went on cheerfully, "I follow the drum. My +object is to get as much fun out of life as possible, and I don't know +any better way of doing that than living in a garrison town." + +"Violet," said Mrs. Cecil, "I think I see some vacant places on the +other side of the lawn. We will go over and sit there." And so saying, +she arose and swept majestically away, leaving Mrs. Harrington +surrounded by a number of silent persons who appeared anxious to stare +her out of countenance while at the same time resolutely ignoring her. + +The poor woman's position was really a cruel one, and signs that she +felt it to be so were not wanting. She flushed for a moment, then +turned pale again, and stood, not unlike a hunted animal, while those +merciless ladies enjoyed her discomfiture. The Professor, who knew +what agony he himself would have suffered under such treatment, could +not help being very sorry for her. So sincere was his compassion, and +so strongly did he disapprove of the base practice of hitting those +who are down, that he was moved at last to do an unusually bold thing. +He advanced abruptly to the side of the unfortunate pariah, upsetting +a chair on his passage, and said in a nervous, hesitating way, "What a +beautiful afternoon, is it not?" + +Mrs. Harrington turned a pair of astonished and rather angry eyes upon +him. Most likely, at the first moment, she took this queer-looking +cleric for an emissary of the enemy; but a glance at his face must +have reassured her, for a quick change of expression came over her +own, and the Professor was rewarded by a singularly pleasant smile, +and a word or two spoken without any of that harshness of intonation +which had been noticeable in Mrs. Harrington's voice a few minutes +before. Having thus entered his little protest against bullying, he +would gladly have retired from so conspicuous a position, but he was a +man who was wholly unable to extricate himself from any position, +conspicuous or other, without help, and so he went on conversing with +Mrs. Harrington for a matter of five minutes, at the end of which time +he mentally qualified her as a very intelligent and agreeable person. +"I wonder," thought he, "why she chose to speak in such an +objectionable manner just now." And then, with his unlucky habit of +thinking aloud, he said musingly, "I suppose she wanted to shock Mrs. +Cecil. Well, I can't blame her." + +Mrs. Harrington laughed. "You are quite right," she observed; "that +was what I wanted to do. But you ought to blame me, for it was not at +all worth while to shock Mrs. Cecil, and I brought her rudeness upon +myself." + +The Professor, in great distress, began to stammer out an apology, +which he was not permitted to finish. "There is no need to beg my +pardon," Mrs. Harrington interrupted: "you only said what you thought, +and it is not often that one has the good fortune to hear any one do +that. I wish you would go on. I should like to hear what you think of +me, for instance--or rather no; that would not be very interesting. I +should prefer hearing what you think of Mrs. Cecil." + +"The Cecils are old friends of mine," said the Professor, with a +slight accent of reproof. + +"Then you need not hesitate to say what you think of them, for one +does not, as a rule, think badly of one's friends. I am interested in +them on Mr. Annesley's account. He is a great deal at their house, is +he not?" + +"Yes, I believe so," answered the Professor, stroking his chin +pensively. A strong desire to come to the point prompted him to add, +with some audacity, "People say that he is likely to become engaged to +Miss Cecil, but that may be only an idle report." + +Mrs. Harrington's large black eyes had a considerable store of latent +fire in them. It flashed out now upon her companion with a suddenness +which made him start; but in an instant she had recovered her +composure. "It is an idle report," she said quietly. "There is no +truth in it." + +"Indeed? Is it not a little difficult to speak with certainty upon +such points?" + +Mrs. Harrington made no verbal reply, but stepping slightly aside, so +as to see and be seen by a group of which Miss Cecil was one, and Bob +Annesley another, she beckoned to the young man, who responded by an +almost imperceptible shake of the head. Thereupon she repeated her +signal more peremptorily, and he, with obvious reluctance, obeyed it. + +"I want you to see me home," she said as soon as he was within +speaking distance. + +"Oh, all right," answered Annesley; "but couldn't you wait a little +bit?" + +"No," returned Mrs. Harrington; "I want to go now. I am tired." + +Then, with a gracious bow to her late interlocutor, she moved away, +Bob Annesley walking somewhat shamefacedly by her side. + +It was thus that the Professor was made aware that Mrs. Harrington was +indeed dangerous, though not precisely in the manner which he had +ventured to disclaim on her behalf. + + + III. + +Bob Annesley was one of those deservedly popular persons who can be +understood at once by the least experienced students of character. +Good nature was his dominant quality, and when you had said that he +was good-natured, you had said very nearly all that there was to be +said about him. The Professor, who had not lived for so many years at +Oxford without discovering what is the ordinary destiny of young men +thus gifted or afflicted, had no difficulty in casting Bob's +horoscope. "That woman has got a hold upon the poor boy, don't you +see?" said he, addressing himself to the busts in his library. "He was +in love with her once, and he is tired of her now; but he will never +have the courage to tell her so. The question, therefore, is, how are +his friends to get him out of her clutches?" + +But the busts continued to stare straight before them, without making +any reply, and the Professor, not being fertile in expedients, could +think of no better course of treatment than renewed doses of Miss +Cecil and lawn-tennis. He was prepared, if driven to extremities, to +make a direct appeal to Mrs. Harrington, for he conceived that her +nature had a side which might be appealed to with success; but he +shrank from employing so drastic a remedy until all others should have +proved unavailing, and he lost no time in endeavoring to arrange +another of those meetings which had already produced, or had seemed to +produce, a hopeful result. + +In this well-meant attempt he was foiled by the recalcitration of both +the parties concerned. Mrs. Cecil, desirous though she might be to see +her daughter make an unexceptionable match, was not likely to fall +into the error of openly pursuing her quarry, and the young lady +herself was probably offended by what had taken place at the barracks. +However this may be, the Cecils regretted their inability to avail +themselves of Canon Stanwick's repeated invitations; while Bob, if his +own account was to be believed, was at this time perpetually on duty. +Thus several weeks elapsed during which it was impossible to report +progress to Mrs. Annesley, who wrote impatiently, complaining that her +son never told her anything, and entreating that she might not be kept +needlessly in the dark. Had it not been for these letters, the +Professor, whose mind, after all, was occupied with other matters than +matchmaking, might have washed his hands of the whole business; but he +was reminded by them that he had promised to do his best, and so, when +at length he chanced to encounter Mrs. and Miss Cecil and Bob Annesley +in the same room, he profited by the opportunity, and engaged the +whole three of them to lunch with him before they had time to make +excuse. + +Every one who has ever tried to set the affairs of his neighbors +straight for them must be aware that those who pursue this course lay +themselves open not only to ingratitude, but to positive contumely. +When, on the day appointed, the Cecils duly made their appearance, and +when at the last moment a card was brought from Bob Annesley, on which +was scribbled, "Very sorry, can't possibly come to luncheon, but will +turn up for tennis afterwards"--when, I say, this untoward incident +occurred, the Professor was at once made to feel how blameworthy had +been his conduct. Mrs. Cecil was so cross and snappish that a less +submissive man would have turned upon her in the first five minutes; +and even Violet, whose disposition was naturally sweet, was silent and +preoccupied, and made no effort to soften down her mother's uncivil +speeches. And what was still worse was that, after luncheon was over, +and Captain and Mrs. Green had arrived with their racquets in their +hands, that wretched Bob failed to redeem his promise. They waited an +hour for him in vain, and then, as it was evident that no set could be +made up, the Cecils went away in a huff, while the Professor, quite +upset, betook himself to the cathedral, where, being in residence, he +had to read the evening lessons, and where in his agitation he made +St. Paul say, "Bobs, love your wives," before he could stop himself. + +Passing through the cloisters after the conclusion of the service, he +saw dimly a male and a female figure walking before him, and his ears +caught the sound of what appeared to be an altercation. By the time +that he had got his glasses settled upon his nose, and had approached +a little nearer to the disputants, they wheeled round and revealed +themselves as no other than Bob and Mrs. Harrington. Both of them +started, and Mrs. Harrington, with a bow, turned abruptly and walked +away. Bob, looking rather sheepish, stood his ground and began to +mumble some apology for having broken his engagement, but the +Professor cut him short. + +"Annesley," said he, "will you come into my house for a few minutes? I +wish to speak to you." + +The Professor, albeit of a mild temper, had been a don, and knew how +to assume an aspect of sternness when necessary. Bob Annesley, on the +other hand, was both by nature and training prone towards obedience. +Presently, therefore, the two men were closeted in the Professor's +study, where the following dialogue ensued. + +"I want to know what you mean by this, Annesley?" + +"Mean by what?" + +"Why, by making love to two women at the same time. Don't tell me you +haven't made love to them: I have seen you. And don't tell me to mind +my own business either, because a great deal of this--this trifling +has gone on in my garden, and I feel myself in a measure responsible +for the consequences. I cannot," continued the Professor, warming with +his subject, "allow the hearts of young ladies to be broken within +sight of my library windows; and I am bound to tell you, Annesley, +that I consider your conduct highly discreditable." + +Bob shook his head sorrowfully, but did not offer to defend himself, +so the Professor had to go on scolding. + +"Were I you, I should be ashamed of such unmanly vacillation. It is +very plain that you either do not know your own mind, or that, knowing +it, you are afraid to declare it. You will not, I suppose, deny that +you have entangled yourself with one lady while you wish to marry the +other." + +No answer. + +"Tell me, at least, one thing: are you, or are you not, in love with +Miss Cecil?" + +"Oh, come--I say--hang it, you know!" exclaimed Bob; but the +Professor, paying no heed to this incoherent remonstrance, repeated +his question in a determined manner. + +"Very well, then--_yes!_" called out the young man despairingly. "I am +in love with her--and I can't marry her. Now I hope you're satisfied." + +The Professor said, "Far from it." On the contrary, that bare +statement was eminently unsatisfactory, and required explanation. He +could well understand that there might be obstacles in the way of a +marriage which appeared to be desirable and desired, but let us hear +what those obstacles were, and try what could be done towards removing +them. + +Bob, however, was obdurate, declaring that he couldn't and wouldn't +say another word about the matter, except that the obstacles referred +to were irremovable. He was the most unfortunate beggar that ever +stepped, but talking about it wouldn't make it any better. "And I +don't think you have the least right to blow me up like this," he +added, as he rose and made for the door. "You asked me to come here +and meet her, and I came. Flesh and blood couldn't resist that. I've +kept away for the last three weeks though, as you know, and I shall +keep away in future. I dare say you have meant kindly, but you +shouldn't be in such a deuce of a hurry to jump to conclusions." + +With that he made good his retreat, while the Professor, left to +himself, looked up at Marcus Aurelius and murmured sadly, "It doesn't +do, you see. The human animal in his lower stages of development must +be guided by patience and kindness, and by these means alone." + + + IV. + +Whether in Bob Annesley's case kindness would have proved more +effectual than harshness was a question which the Professor was unable +to bring to the test of experience; for a few days after the interview +just described Mrs. and Miss Cecil left home, and did not return until +late in the autumn. + +During their absence, of which Mrs. Annesley was duly apprised, the +Professor had a respite. He received no more importunate letters, he +saw little of the misguided young lancer, and he employed himself +agreeably in writing that brilliant chapter upon Pope Boniface VIII. +and the bull _Ausculta, fili_, which has since been so justly praised +by the critics. Absorbed in these congenial studies, and feeling that, +for the time being, it was vastly more important to arrive at the +truth with regard to the instructions given by Philippe le Bel to +Nogaret than to unravel any contemporary mystery, the good man almost +forgot Mrs. Harrington's existence, and it was not until the month of +October, when Captain Green, whom he chanced to meet one day, informed +him that she had left Lichbury for some destination unknown, that his +interest in her revived, and he began to wonder whether anything could +have caused her to relinquish her prey. + +Shortly afterwards he caught sight of Bob Annesley, clanking down the +High Street in full war-paint and feathers, and crossed the road on +purpose to say, "So Mrs. Harrington has gone away, I hear." + +"Yes," answered the young man gloomily; "but she is coming back, +again." + +The Professor passed on. He foresaw that there was going to be +trouble, but he did not want to meet it halfway. "Time enough for that +when the Cecils come home," thought he as he regained his quiet +dwelling, and dived once more into the dark recesses of the thirteenth +century. + +The Cecils came home early in November; but Bob and Violet met no more +in the Precincts, the excuse of lawn-tennis being, indeed, no longer +available at that season. That they met elsewhere the Professor had +ocular proof, for he saw them several times riding together; moreover, +the Dean's wife informed him that everybody said it was to be an +engagement. The Professor held his peace, remembering one person who +had said with some confidence that it would never be anything of the +sort; and when that person reappeared suddenly upon the scene, it +seemed clear that the tug of war was at hand. The first intimation of +coming unpleasantness which reached the Professor took the form of a +visit from Mr. Cecil, who said he wished to have his old friend's +candid opinion about young Annesley. + +"He has been a good deal up at my place of late; and though of course +one is very glad to see him, and all that, one would like to know a +little more of him. Mrs. Cecil will have it that he is ambitious of +becoming our son-in-law. Well, that may or may not be so, and I don't +think it necessary to repeat to her all that I hear in the town about +him and Mrs. Harrington; but I may confess to you, Stanwick, that I +feel uneasy on Violet's account. What do you think I ought to do?" + +"Ask him his intentions," answered the Professor promptly. + +"Oh, my dear fellow, I can't possibly do that. I would as soon bring +an action for breach of promise against a man as ask him his +intentions." + +"Yet you want to know them, I suppose?" + +"That is quite another thing. One wants to know a great deal that one +can't ask about. I want to know who this Mrs. Harrington is, for +instance, and what _her_ intentions are." + +"Well," said the Professor, with a sigh, "I dare say I might be able +to help you there. At all events, I'll try." + +He perceived that the time had come when he must have recourse to that +direct appeal to the harpy which he had contemplated some months +before. The necessity was grievous to him; but he faced it like the +courageous old gentleman that he was, and having found out Mrs. +Harrington's address from the stationer in the market-place, set out +to call upon her that same afternoon. + +Mrs. Harrington occupied lodgings on the first floor of a small +house near the cavalry barracks. The dreary shabbiness of her +little drawing-room was accentuated by some of those attempts at +decoration with which a woman of scanty means and no taste commonly +surrounds herself. The faded curtains were drawn back through loops of +equally faded ribbon; the walls were adorned with a few staring +chromo-lithographs; the mantelpiece and the rickety table had borders +of blue satin and coffee-colored lace; the back of the piano was +swathed in spotted muslin over blue calico, like a toilet-table, and +upon it stood a leather screen for photographs, from which various +heavily moustached warriors, in and out of uniform, gazed forth +vacantly. + +These and other details were lost upon the Professor, who only wished +to say his say and be gone. He had rehearsed the probable course of +the interview beforehand, and was ready with a remark which should at +once render the object of his errand unmistakable; but he had omitted +to make allowance for the unforeseen, and therefore he was completely +thrown out on discovering two long-legged officers seated beside Mrs. +Harrington's tea-table. + +It is safe to conclude that that lady was a good deal astonished when +Canon Stanwick was announced, but she rose to the level of the +occasion and introduced him immediately to her other visitors. "Canon +Stanwick, Captain White--Mr. Brown. And now let me give you all some +tea." + +The Professor would have liked to say that he would call again some +other time, but felt that he had not the requisite effrontery; so he +sat down, took a cup of tea, and wished for the end. He was very +awkward and confused, feeling sure that the two officers must be +laughing at him; but in this he was mistaken. Those gentlemen, if not +remarkable for intellect, had perfectly good manners, and would wait +until they reached the barrack square before permitting themselves to +burst into that hilarity which the notion of Polly Harrington closeted +with a parson must naturally provoke. In the meantime, they did not do +much towards lightening the labor of keeping up conversation. This +duty fell chiefly upon Mrs. Harrington, who acquitted herself of it as +creditably as any one could have done, and who established a claim +upon the Professor's gratitude by talking with as much propriety as if +she had been herself a canoness. His preconceived idea was that +propriety of language was about the last thing that could be expected +from such ladies as Mrs. Harrington when, so to speak, in the +regimental circle. Nevertheless, he did not find himself able to +second her efforts towards promoting a general feeling of cordiality +and the next quarter of an hour passed away very slowly. At length it +flashed across Captain White that the old gentleman meant to sit him +out, and as soon as he had made this brilliant discovery he rose with +great deliberation, pulled down his waistcoat, pulled up his collar, +and said he was sorry that he must be going now. Thereupon Mr. Brown +went through precisely the same performance, and intimated a similar +regret. Mrs. Harrington did not offer to detain them. She accompanied +them to the door, talking as she went, kept them for a minute or two +on the threshold while she arranged to ride with them to the meet on +the following day, and then returned smiling, to hear what Canon +Stanwick might have to say for himself. + +Now she knew as well as anybody to what she owed the honor of the +Professor's visit; but she did not see why she should make his path +smooth for him. Therefore she smiled and held her tongue, while he, +after some introductory commonplaces, managed to drag Bob Annesley's +name, without much rhyme or reason, into the current of his remarks. + +"A promising young fellow," he said; "but, like other young fellows, +he gives his friends some anxiety at times. His mother, poor thing, is +feeling very uneasy about him just now." + +"Mothers," observed Mrs. Harrington, "generally do feel uneasy about +their sons. That is because they have such a difficulty in realizing +that their sons may be old enough to take care of themselves." + +"But they can't take care of themselves," rejoined the Professor +eagerly. "At least, _he_ can't take care of himself. His position, as +no doubt you are aware, differs in some respects from that of his +brother officers, and I think that if you or I were in his mother's +place, we should wish, as she does, that he should leave the army, +live upon his property, and--and make a suitable marriage." + +"Yes," said Mrs. Harrington: "and why is his mother uneasy?--because +he won't leave the army, or because he won't make a suitable +marriage?" + +"Well, for both reasons, I believe. I think I mentioned to you some +time ago that there was a talk of his marrying Violet Cecil, and I +have since ascertained that his own feelings incline him towards a +match which would give great satisfaction to all those who are +interested in him; but unfortunately it appears that he is hampered by +some previous entanglement with--with----" + +"With an unsuitable person?" suggested Mrs. Harrington, still smiling. + +The Professor paused. He wanted to enlist Mrs. Harrington's +sympathies, and to arouse the generosity which he was convinced that +she possessed. Under the circumstances, was it politic to begin by +telling her that she was unsuitable? However, he reflected very +sensibly that there would be no getting on at all unless that much +were either said or implied; and he felt, besides, that he was already +in so uncomfortable a predicament that nothing could very well make it +worse. This gave him courage to reply,-- + +"I fear we must pronounce her so. All other considerations apart, the +fact that he no longer wishes to make her his wife should be +conclusive. He might feel--and I don't say that he ought not to +feel--bound in honor to her; but it seems to me that she is equally +bound in honor to release him from his engagement." + +"Oh, you think she is bound to release him?" + +"I do," answered the Professor firmly. "Yes; I may say without any +hesitation that that is what I think." + +"I am not quite sure that I agree with you," said Mrs. Harrington. "I +can't, of course, form any guess as to who the person to whom you +allude may be; but let us put an entirely imaginary case, and see how +it looks from the lady's point of view. Because, you know, even +unsuitable women have their point of view, and some of them might be +disposed to think their happiness almost as important as Mrs. +Annesley's. Let us take the case of a woman with whom life has +gone very hardly--a woman who was married young to a husband who +ill-treated her, deserted her, and left her at his death with a mere +pittance to live upon. Well, this imaginary woman is not very wise, +let us say, although she has no great harm in her. She is fond of +amusement, she likes riding, she likes dancing, and we won't disguise +that she likes flirting too. She has no near relations; so, instead of +taking lodgings in a suburb of London, or hiring a cottage in the +depths of the country, as no doubt she ought to do, she attaches +herself to a cavalry regiment in which she has friends, and she rides +her friends' horses and dances at their balls, and has great fun for a +time. Perhaps it serves her right that this way of going on causes her +to be cut by all the ladies, wherever she betakes herself; perhaps she +doesn't care a straw for that at first, and perhaps she cares a great +deal as she grows older. Perhaps she sees no way of escape from a kind +of existence which she has learnt to hate, and perhaps that serves her +right again. What do you think, Canon Stanwick?" + +The Professor's honesty compelled him to reply, "I should not blame +her for seizing any opportunity of escape from it that offered." + +"Yet most people would blame her; she would have to make up her mind +to that. We are supposing, you know, that Mr. Annesley is the way of +escape that offers itself, and when this forlorn woman seizes him +ecstatically she must expect his friends and relations to tear their +hair and call her bad names. I dare say that would trouble her very +little. After knocking about the world for so many years, she wouldn't +be over and above sensitive, and she would know perfectly well that, +when once she was married and had plenty of money, everybody, +including her husband's relations, would be civil enough to her. But +now, just as she is exulting in the prospect of peace and plenty, lo +and behold! the miserable young man goes and falls in love with +somebody else. What is she to do? You, in an off-hand sort of way, +answer, 'Oh, let him go free, of course;' but I, on the side of the +poor disappointed woman, venture to say that she should be guided by +circumstances. Suppose she knew this good-natured Bob Annesley to be a +man who couldn't break his heart about anything or anybody if he tried +ever so hard? Suppose she knew that she was quite as well able to make +him happy as Miss Cecil? Mightn't she in that case be justified in +thinking a little bit about her own interests, and holding him to his +promise?" + +"I can't answer positively," said the Professor, sighing. +"Justification must depend entirely upon the standard by which we +judge. All I know is, that if such a woman as you describe resolved to +sacrifice her worldly prospects she would err upon the safe side." + +"Such a woman as I describe would probably differ from you there," +observed Mrs. Harrington. + +"No!" exclaimed the Professor suddenly, bringing his stick down upon +the floor with an emphatic thump. "You may say that, but I don't +believe it. I believe her to be a good-hearted and high-minded woman, +in spite of all that she may have gone through. I believe that she has +a conscience, and I believe that she will end by obeying it, no matter +at what cost." + +"You must know a great deal about her," said Mrs. Harrington, raising +her eyebrows. "Are you not forgetting that she is a purely imaginary +person?" + +The Professor was about to reply, but what he was going to say will +never be known, for at this inopportune juncture the door opened, and +who should walk in but Bob Annesley himself! The three persons thus +unexpectedly confronted with one another all lost their presence of +mind a little, and the Professor could not afterwards have given any +coherent account of what happened next, or of how long an interval +elapsed before he found himself in the street again; but as he wended +his way homewards, he astonished more than one passer-by by calling +out in a loud, distinct voice, "She'll let him go! mark my words, sir, +she'll let him go!" And when he had reached the privacy of his own +study, he added confidentially, "And between ourselves, I'm not by any +means sure that she isn't worth a dozen of the other." + + + V. + +It is one thing to make a sudden and enthusiastic profession of +faith in a prodigy, and it is quite another to reiterate that +profession in cold blood the next morning. The Professor did not find +himself able to accomplish the latter feat. Calmer reflection showed +him that he had given Mrs. Harrington credit for the most extreme +disinterestedness, not because of any single thing that she had said +or done, but simply from an instinctive feeling that her nature was +nobler than it appeared to be upon the surface. Now instinctive +feelings do not ordinarily commend themselves as a sound foundation +for faith or sober philosophers on the shady side of fifty; and the +Professor, while maintaining the high opinion which he had formed of +the harpy, wished that he had not been interrupted just when he was +upon the point of asking her in plain terms whether she intended to +marry Bob Annesley or not. It is possible that he might have called +again and repaired the omission, had he not at this time found it +necessary to consult certain authorities at the British Museum; and +when once he was in town a variety of accidents detained him there. +After that he had to go down to Oxford, so that, what with one thing +and another, it was very nearly a month before he was in Lichbury +again. + +Almost the first person whom he saw after his return was Bob Annesley, +and Bob's round face wore an air of such profound dejection that even +a short-sighted and absent-minded man could not help noticing it. + +"All well here, I hope?" said the Professor interrogatively. "Have you +seen our friends the Cecils lately?" + +Bob shook his head. "Never go there now." He added, with something of +an effort, "I shall never go there any more; I shall be out of this +before long. Sent in my papers last week." + +"What!" exclaimed the Professor, rather startled. And then, as they +were near his door, "Come in," he said, "and tell me all about it." + +The young man obeyed listlessly. "You may as well be told all about it +now," he remarked; "everybody will have to know soon." + +The Professor was greatly perturbed, feeling that he had been somehow +to blame in absenting himself at a critical time. He did not ask for +further explanations, but having preceded his young friend into the +library, began at once: "This must not be allowed to go on, Annesley. +I am sincerely sorry for Mrs. Harrington, but I can't think it right +that two people should be made miserable in order that she may be +provided with a large income. I am disappointed in her, I confess. I +had hoped--but no matter. Since she won't break with you, you must +break with her; and possibly some sort of compensation might be +offered in a delicate manner----" + +"I can't break with her," interrupted Bob quietly. "We were married +three weeks ago." + +The Professor's consternation was too great to be expressed in any +vehement fashion. He could only murmur under his breath, "Dear, dear! +what a sad pity!" + +"There was no help for it," said Bob. "I promised her ages ago that I +would marry her if her husband died, and I couldn't go back from my +word when the time came." + +"Her husband!" ejaculated the Professor. "This is worse than I +thought. Do I understand you that she has had a husband alive all this +time?" + +"Well, he died a month or two ago--when she was away in the summer, +you know. He had behaved awfully badly to her--deserted her soon after +they were married. It was no fault of hers." + +"It was certainly a fault of hers to receive another man's addresses +while she was still a married woman," said the Professor severely. + +"Oh, well, if you like to call it so; but I suppose I was as much +in the wrong as she was. Anyhow, I was bound to her. I told her +about--about Violet, you know, but she didn't seem to think that made +much difference. So, you see, there was no getting out of it," +concluded Bob simply. + +"There is no getting out of it now," remarked the Professor, with a +rueful face; "and I don't think you have improved matters by getting +married in this hole-and-corner way. What was your object in doing +that?" + +"She thought it would be better," answered the young man +indifferently; "and, as far as that goes, I agreed with her. It has +saved us a good deal of bother with my people; besides which, I didn't +care to let all the fellows in the regiment hear about it before I +left." + +The Professor groaned. He saw that the only course open to him, or to +any of Bob's friends, was to make the best of a bad business; but for +the moment he could think of nothing except what a very bad business +it was, and after promising to keep the secret until it should be a +secret no longer, he allowed the young man to depart without offering +him a word of consolation. Why he should have felt moved, some hours +later, to walk over to the lodgings which were still occupied by the +bride, he would have been puzzled to explain. She could not undo what +she had done, nor was there anything to be gained by upbraiding her. +Perhaps it was rather a strong feeling of curiosity than anything else +that led him to her door. + +Having learnt that she was at home and alone, he followed the servant +upstairs, and was presently in the shabby little drawing-room so well +known to the officers of the 27th. Mrs. Harrington--to call her by the +name which she had not yet formally resigned--rose from the chair in +which she had been sitting by the fireside, and turned a curiously +altered countenance towards her visitor. The Professor was at once +struck by her extreme pallor, and by her air of weary despondency. To +look at her, one would have thought that she had just sustained a +crushing defeat, instead of having gained a victory. + +"You have seen Bob!" she began. + +"Ah!" sighed the Professor, speaking out his thoughts without +ceremony, "I fear you have made a terrible mistake, both of you." + +"Yes," she answered, and said no more, though he waited some time for +her to explain herself. + +"What made you do it?" he exclaimed at length. "You must have known +that you were laying up an endless store of wretchedness for your +husband and yourself; and I can hardly believe that you were +influenced only by the motives that you mentioned when I was here +last." + +"There was one motive which I didn't mention," said Mrs. Harrington. +"You hardly know enough about me to be amused by it; but I have no +doubt that the regiment would consider it an exquisite joke if I were +to assert that I had married Bob Annesley because I loved him. And yet +it isn't very odd that I should love him. He was crazily in love with +me once; he was kind to me when no one else was kind; he treated me +like a lady; while other men, who by way of being my friends, were +insulting me, more or less directly, every day. Oh, I know what you +are saying to yourself. You are saying that if I had really cared for +him at all, I should not have married him against his will. But I +thought I might reckon without his will--he has so little of it. That +has always been Bob's defect; and I don't mind saying so, because it +is the only defect that I have ever discovered in him. I believed that +I could win him back, and that, when once we were married, he would +forget his fancy for Miss Cecil, as he has forgotten other fancies +before. Now that it is too late, I have found out that I was wrong. If +I had known three weeks ago as much as I know now, I would have died a +thousand times rather than have married him. He hates me, and I am +rightly punished for my blindness and obstinacy." + +She had spoken quietly at first, then with a good deal of excitement; +but now her voice dropped to a whisper as she crouched down over the +fire, muttering, "Yes, I am punished--I am punished!" + +The Professor frowned. He disliked melodrama, and had no great belief +in a repentance which could be evidenced only by words. "Perhaps money +and lands may afford you some consolation," he observed rather +cruelly. + +Mrs. Harrington did not notice the sneer. "Why did you go away and +leave me alone with my temptation?" she cried suddenly. "You might +have prevented this." + +"I cannot flatter myself," answered the Professor coldly, "that my +influence with you would have been sufficiently strong for that." + +"It was stronger than you think. I liked you; you had been kind to me, +and I was ready to listen to you. I have not forgotten how you stood +by me that day when Mrs. Cecil turned her back upon me; women in my +position don't forget such things. But you went away just when I most +needed a friend, and so I allowed myself to be deceived by my vain +hopes." + +"If any words of mine could have caused you to think twice before you +took this irrevocable step," returned the Professor, "I can only +regret most sincerely that business should have called me away at so +important a moment; but there is little use in discussing what might +have been. The only thing for you and your husband to do now is +frankly to accept a situation from which you cannot escape." + +"Unless by means of an over-dose of chloral," suggested Mrs. +Harrington, with a faint smile. + +The Professor got up. "Mrs. Harrington," said he, "you may yet prove +yourself an excellent wife and make your husband happy; but you can +hardly expect to do this easily or immediately. And if I were you, I +would not begin by making speeches which are silly if they are +insincere, and wicked if they are not." + +Thereupon he left the room without further leave-taking, while she, +still bending over the fire, appeared unconscious alike of his rebuke +and of his exit. The Professor, as he walked home, felt that he had +been very severe, yet not unwarrantably so. "She is a foolish, +theatrical woman," he said to himself; "and I strongly suspect that +all that exaggerated penitence was assumed for a purpose. Of course +her chief object now will be to conciliate her mother-in-law, and she +probably imagines that my report of her may carry some weight in that +quarter. But she makes a mistake, because I shan't report anything +about her--good, bad, or indifferent. No more meddling with other +people's business for me!" + + + VI. + +The Professor would undoubtedly have felt confirmed in the harsh +judgment which he had passed upon Bob Annesley's wife if he could have +seen her at the meet on the following morning. Mrs. Harrington was a +finished horsewoman, and never looked to so great advantage as in the +saddle. Upon the present occasion she rode a fidgety chestnut mare, +the property of Captain White, and the ease with which she managed her +rather troublesome mount won her a great deal of admiration from the +local members of the hunt. As for the officers of the 27th, they were +too well accustomed to Polly Harrington's dexterity to pay her any +compliments on that score; but they clustered round her as usual, and +smiled amiably at her smart sayings, and told her that she was in rare +form that morning. Bob hovered in the background, looking woebegone. + +The neighborhood of Lichbury does not bear a very high character among +hunting men, blank days being of by no means rare occurrence +thereabouts, but there is always a fox at Lingham Gorse, and it was at +Lingham Gorse that a fox was found on the particular morning with +which we are concerned. The whole crowd got away together, and kept +together for the first five minutes, going at racing speed across the +short turf of the downs at the foot of which Lichbury stands. On this +the northern side, the gradual slopes of these hills form as good and +safe galloping ground as any one could wish for; but their southern +face is very different, falling away in precipitous chalk quarries and +sharp declivities unwelcome to timid riders, and it was after crossing +the backbone of the ridge that the field began to scatter right and +left, only a few adventurous spirits riding straight ahead and +trusting in Providence. + +Among these was Mrs. Harrington. She was followed by Annesley and +Captain White, the latter of whom was watching her headlong progress a +little anxiously, and wishing, perhaps, that his chestnut mare were +safe in her stable. It was not, however, any fear on the mare's +account that caused him to rein in suddenly and ejaculate "Good God!" +About a furlong ahead, a row of posts and rails had come into view, +immediately beyond which--as every one who knew the country was well +aware--was a chalk cliff some two hundred feet in depth. It seemed +incredible that any human being, whether familiar with the country or +not, should ride at such a fence, for there was nothing but sky +visible upon the other side of it; but Mrs. Harrington was making +straight for it now, and it was the discovery that she was doing so +that called forth Captain White's exclamation. He raised his hand to +his mouth and sent a warning shout after her, and Bob, who saw the +danger at the same moment, shouted too; but Mrs. Harrington did not +appear to hear either of them, and, indeed, it was already too late +for warnings to be of any avail. For an instant horse and rider rose +dark against the gray sky, then vanished; and to those who waited +there, helpless and horror-struck, it seemed as if some minutes +elapsed before the dull crash came which told them that poor Polly +Harrington had taken her last leap. + +"Awful thing!--most shocking sight I ever saw in my life!" Captain +White said, describing the catastrophe, some months afterwards, to an +old brother officer. "But she must have been killed like a flash of +lightning--there's some comfort in that. And, though I wouldn't say so +to any one else, I can't help thinking that the poor woman's death was +about the best thing that could have happened. Fancy her having got +Bob Annesley to marry her on the sly! Only shows what fools fellows +are, eh? You've heard that he's engaged to that pretty Miss Cecil now, +haven't you? It isn't given out yet, of course, and I suppose they'll +have to let a year go by before they announce it formally; but +everybody knows about it down in these parts." + +Probably many less plain-spoken persons than Captain White agreed with +him in thinking the unfortunate harpy's death the best thing that +could have happened; but it may be hoped that Bob Annesley was not +consciously among the number. The suddenness and the ghastly nature of +the calamity gave him a shock from which his elastic spirits took a +long time to recover; but he began to be more cheerful again after +meeting Canon Stanwick, and putting into words a dread which he had +not liked to mention to other friends. + +"I say," he asked hesitatingly, and keeping his eyes upon the ground, +"do you believe--do you believe that--_she did it on purpose?_" + +The Professor evaded the question so cleverly that his interrogator +quite imagined that he had answered it. + +"I do not think," he said gravely, "that we have any right whatever to +cast such an aspersion as that upon her memory." + + + + + ARCHDEACON HOLDEN'S + TRIBULATION. + + +She was so frail and small that the country squires who came in at the +one stopping-place and left the train at the next, and talked of petty +sessions and highway-boards in a strong slow way, like men with a +tight grasp of a slippery subject, felt fatherly towards her; and so +fair that their sons found out new and painful ways of sitting which +hid dirty boots, and strange modes of propping their guns which +employed hands suddenly gifted with a sense of over-abundance; and so +dainty, yet withal bright of eye and lip, that a gentleman who got in +one stage from Stirhampton, and knew her, was tormented by his fancy; +which pictured her as a sparkling gem in its nest of jeweller's satin. +Altogether so frail and fair and dainty was this passenger; and yet in +the flush of her young beauty and fearless nature, there was about her +so imperious a charm that they all, though they might travel with her +but three miles--it was a dreadful train--and exchange with her not +three words, became her slaves. And the gentleman who knew her +grovelled before her in spirit to an extent unbecoming in a man, much +more in a clergyman and a curate. + +She was popular, too. For though she parted from him at the door of +the carriage, she fell in almost at once with another who knew her. +His business, as far as any save chatting with her was apparent, +seemed to be about the book-stall. And after she had gone laughing +from him, and the servant who met her--and was equally her slave with +all the others, though he was more like a bishop and a father of the +Church than they promised ever to be--had taken her luggage in charge, +she met yet another, who blushed, and bowed, and smiled, and stammered +before her after his kind. With him she was very merry until their +roads diverged--if he had any road which was not of the nature of the +last one's business. And then she tripped on just as gayly with a very +tall acquaintance--they were all of one sex--and after him with +another, who took up the walking where his predecessor left off, just +for all the world as if she were a royal letter, and they were those +old Persian post-runners, who made so little of "parasangs," and whose +roads seemed always to be through "Paradises." But this last one +brought her to the rectory gates, and--much lamenting--left her. + +There was only Granny in the drawing-room when Dorothy ran upstairs. +Granny, who was eighty-seven, and with a screen at her back and a +wood-fire toasting her old toes, could tell wonderful tales of the +great war. Who had heard "Clarissa" read aloud _coram puellis_, and at +times shocked a mealy-mouthed generation by pure plain-speaking. She +was the Archdeacon's grandmother; but to Dorothy what relation she +was, or whether she was any relation, not all Stirhampton could +tell--though it spent itself in guessing, and dallied to some extent +with a suggestion that she was Dorothy's great-great aunt; not, +however, committing itself to this, nor altogether breaking with a +rival theory, that they were first cousins three times removed. + +Whatever she was, Dorothy hugged her a score of times, and the tiny +old lady said, "God bless you, my dear," half as many, and was going +on to her full number, when the Archdeacon himself came in. He, too, +smiled upon seeing the girl, and smoothed his ruffled brow, and tried +to be as if the drawing-room--when he was in it--were all his world. +For this was a part of the Archdeacon's system, and he was of note +through four dioceses as a man of system. So he patted the girl's +hair, and said kindly: + +"Well, my dear, I trust you have had a pleasant visit?" + +"Oh, charming! and yet I am so glad to be at home again! But, +guardian, what is the matter?" + +The Archdeacon was vexed and pleased. Vexed that his attempt had not +succeeded, and pleased that he could now tell his trouble. "The +matter, my dear?" he said, taking a turn up and down the room; "why, I +am greatly annoyed and put out. I never knew such a thing happen +before." + +Granny clasped her hands upon the arms of her chair in sudden +excitement. "It isn't overdrawn, George, is it?" she said, nervously. + +"Overdrawn!" he replied, cheerfully, "not at all." There had been a +time when he was not an archdeacon, or a rector, or even in orders, +but only a hard-reading undergraduate, when Granny's banking account +had been with great difficulty kept above zero. Then it was her +bugbear; now the family fortunes were as solidly substantial as the +comfortable red brick rectory itself; but Granny found some difficulty +in laying her bogey. "Not at all. Not so bad as that," he said, +cheerfully; "but very annoying, nevertheless. I was writing my +Sunday evening sermon this afternoon--as I always do, you know, on +Friday--when Whiteman came running in to me at five minutes after +four, and said there was no one at the church to take the four o'clock +service. Of course I had to break off and go. The congregation had to +wait fully ten minutes. It is not so much the inroad upon my time, +though that is not unimportant, as the lack of system, that I deplore. +Maddy and Moser"--they were the married curates, and took charge of +the two chapels of ease--"are, of course, engaged elsewhere; but +surely one of the other five might have been here. It is a piece of +gross carelessness on the part of some one." + +Dorothy nodded and looked gravely into the teapot. "And I saw Mr. Gray +on my way from the station!" she said. + +"Ah, just so. You did not meet any of the others?" + +"Yes, I think I did," she replied, with a great show of candor. "Of +course I saw Mr. Bigham by the Church Club and Mr. Brune in Wych +Street." + +"Brune is the culprit, I expect. I do not think it would be Charles +Emerson's fault, because he is unwell." + +"Unwell!" cried the girl, impulsively. "Indeed, he is quite ill; I +never saw any one look so bad." + +"Oh! and where may you have seen _him?_" asked the Archdeacon, +stopping suddenly in his promenade of the room, and facing her. + +Dorothy bit her tongue to punish it. There is nothing so dangerous as +a half-confidence. It so often leads, will-he-nill-he, to a whole one. +"He got into the train at Bromfield. He had walked out there," she +said, meekly. Surprisingly meekly for her. + +"Quite so. And may I ask whereabouts you met his brother?" + +"Met his brother?" + +"Yes, my dear," said the Archdeacon, suavely. "Met his brother, Mr. +Philip Emerson?" + +"Let me see," murmured Dolly, with a vast pretence of considering, +though her little ears were scarlet by this time. "Where did I meet +Mr. Philip? Of course, I met him at the station. But however did you +know?" she asked, with the utmost effrontery. + +"When one sheep, Dorothy, jumps over a gap, all the flock follow. Four +of my curates being so busily engaged meeting my ward, I had little +doubt but that the fifth was as well occupied." + +Unseen by him, she made a face at Granny, who was understood to say +that boys would be boys. + +"And sheep, sheep!" retorted the Archdeacon, with sharpness. + +"They did not tell me that they had come to meet me," said Dolly, +rebelliously. She did not like that proverb--or whatever it was--about +sheep. + +The Archdeacon frowned. "No," he said, severely, "but I do not doubt +that you would have been better pleased with them if they had. Let me +speak to you seriously, Dorothy. I cannot--I really cannot--have you +distracting these young men in this way. I observed before you left +several little matters of this kind--little laxities, and a want of +energy and punctuality, on their part that were due, I fear, to your +influence." + +"Little laxities!" murmured she, "I never heard of such things." But +he put her aside with a grand wave of his hand. + +"I am not inclined to say it is altogether your fault. You cannot help +your looks or your youth, but you can avoid being a hindrance instead +of an assistance in the parish. I must not suffer,"--he was working +himself into a well-regulated passion--"my arrangements to be +disorganized even by you. I will not and I cannot say, were this to go +on, what steps it might not be my duty, however painful, to take." + +After uttering this tremendous threat the Archdeacon walked hastily +across the room, and, turning, looked to see what effect it had had +upon his ward. She was playing with her tea-spoon, tapping petulantly +with her foot, reddening, and pouting, and glancing for sympathy at +Granny; behaving altogether like a naughty school-girl under reproof. +He took another turn, feeling that he did well--thoroughly well, to be +angry; and looked again. She had risen, and was leaving the room. He +could only see her back. I don't know what it was--perhaps he could +not tell himself--in the pose of her little head and her shoulders, or +whether it was something quite outside her--which made him step after +her, and touch her shoulder gently. + +"There, there!" he said, staying her kindly. "My scolding has not been +very dreadful, Dorothy. We must be good friends again. Will you please +to give me my second cup, and then I will go back and finish--my other +sermon." + +Granny looked surprised, and Dorothy laughed as brightly as if there +were not and never had been in the world such a thing as a tear. For +the Archdeacon rarely made a joke, even a little one. Jokes cannot be +made upon system, and Archdeacon Holden had found system so good a +thing that any pursuit which did not admit of it was apt to be out of +favor with him. He was gifted with great powers of organization, and +these he had used well, and found sufficient, so that by their means, +without being a great preacher or a small controversialist, without +inventing a new doctrine, or reviving an old argument, he had risen to +preferment. He was little more than thirty when he was presented to +the living of Stirhampton; and though the parish was overpopulated and +under-churched, he reduced it in ten years to such a condition that it +ranked as a model and its rector as a great man, often consulted by +the heads of the Church upon parochial matters. Moreover, men talked +of him as of one likely to rise higher. + +In person he was a tall, well-favored man, in the prime of life, with +hair just beginning to be flecked with gray. He had nothing of the +ascetic in his appearance, though his manners were cold and reserved; +but he was liberal, and had good nature and good temper, as well as +good parts. These qualities, however, the strict formality of his +habits, and his rigid adherence to rule, hid in a great measure from +all who were not well acquainted with the man. + +To Dorothy he had been almost a father; and would perhaps have come to +be looked upon entirely in that light, but that he was betrayed from +time to time by little things. For instance, what do fathers--ordinary +allowance-making, bill-paying fathers--know of their girl's dresses? +The smallest chit in the nursery will tell you, nothing. And Carrie +and Edie are so persuaded of this that they will flaunt their new +seal-skins--which have not been paid for, and are absurdly +inconsistent with papa's allowance--under his very nose, without the +slightest tremor; and Flo will wear three new dresses in a quarter +with as little chance of being prematurely found out in her +extravagance, as if they were three new pairs of mittens. But in this +respect the Archdeacon was not Dorothy's father. For not only did he +observe during the few days which followed his scolding that she had +not forgotten it; that she went sadly--or seemed to go sadly--about +the house, and shunned his visitors with a pensive air, leaving Mr. +Maddy, who was over fifty, and had seven children, to pour out his own +tea. Not only did he note this, but when Dorothy appeared at breakfast +upon the fourth morning with a demure face and downcast eyes, he +marked the novelty of her quaker-like gray dress, with its plain +collar and cuffs, as quickly as did Granny. + +"That is very becoming, Dorothy," he remarked, pleasantly. He wished +to be upon the old footing with her. To tell you the truth, he was +tired of that going sadly. The house seemed as soberly dull as when +she was away. And of late he had come to think it was rather a dull +house. She had been away a good deal. + +"Becoming!" cried Dolly, to his surprise, in a piteous voice. "And I +had thought that this would do." + +"Would do, my dear? What do you mean? So it does. It seems to me to do +excellently." He was slightly taken aback. + +"But I thought you said it was becoming?" she cried, querulously. "You +did, too. I heard it quite plainly." + +"Well, my dear, and what more would you wish me to say? It is--it is +very becoming." + +He tried to speak in a tone at once critical and archidiaconal, such a +tone as the palaeontologist adopts when he admires a bone of the +pliocene mammoth in the case of a rival collector, or as paterfamilias +uses when praising--to order--his girl's bonnets. He did not +altogether succeed. The ribs of that primitive animal, though they +have pretty curves enough, do not preen themselves before a mirror +with a little fluttering blush, and bright backward glances, and +quick-straying dainty fingers adjusting here and defining there; nor +do they form together a picture such as none but paterfamilias +himself--no _locum tenens_, for instance--can look on with a perfectly +even pulse-beat. The Archdeacon felt that his tone was not quite the +tone he had, so to speak, commissioned, and swallowed half a cup of +hot coffee at a gulp. + +"Oh, dear!" he cried, hastily. + +"Oh, dear!" echoed the girl, stamping her foot in a pet. "Then I don't +know what to do. I am sure I thought this would please you, and I +should not be likely to--to do what you said I did in this. But now I +shall not know what to do." + +And she ran out of the room, leaving her guardian in a state of much +doubt as to whether she were laughing or crying; and perplexed, too, +by uncertainty whether that gray dress sprang from a conscientious +endeavor after sedateness, a real desire to improve--for oft the habit +doth proclaim the mind--or from a freakish, wicked, contrary, wilful, +teasing spirit, such as old Mrs. Fretchett had told him inhabited the +bodies of young girls. + +Alas! he was soon driven to be of old Mrs. Fretchett's opinions. There +was no more sedateness, no more going sadly, after this; nor ever did +scolding seem more entirely thrown away than that extempore sermon +upon the day of Dolly's return. She was gayer, prettier, more +heedless, more flighty than of old. The drawing-room was never +free from curates now, whose business might indeed be with the +Archdeacon; but by the time he was ready to talk it over, to audit +their accounts, or sign their checks, the gentlemen were always +upstairs, and--_difficilis descensus Olympi_. There were rumors of +disagreements among the black-coated ones. The parish districts--and +especially their lady visitors--declared that they were neglected; the +rector never got a quiet cup of tea in his own house, nor even a quiet +placid moment; for the sounds of young people laughing and, as Mrs. +Fretchett called it, "fribbling" upstairs would float down to him +working in his study, and then he would pish and pshaw, and move his +chair impatiently. And no wonder. It meant that the parish was taking +its chance; it meant that his system was breaking down. He knew it +did. He told himself he did well to be angry. And he did thoroughly +well; but after all it gave him small satisfaction. He began to feel +more sore, and think more seriously about the matter every day. He +could not have the work of ten years and more undone in this absurd +fashion. Some remedy must be found. He might get rid of all the +curates in a body, for violent diseases call for violent remedies; but +that might not turn out a remedy. Or Dorothy might be--well, not +dismissed exactly--but disposed of out of the way in some sort or +other. The more Archdeacon Holden thought it over, the more he was +forced to the opinion that his duty lay in this direction. And then +something happened which brought matters to a head. + +It was on the day of the Grammar School sports, which were held by his +permission in the large field at the back of the rectory, where the +old town wall, running round two sides of the enclosure, afforded a +capital place, of vantage for such spectators as did not wish to enter +the ground. It was past five o'clock, and the sports were over. Of +course the Archdeacon had attended them; and then he had retired to +his study, and was thinking of going upstairs to tea, when a renewal +of the shouting in the rear of the house attracted his attention. +Wondering what this might be he mounted to the drawing-room, and +finding only Granny there, fenced in as usual with her screen, walked +to the further window which overlooked the field. The sports, to all +appearance, had been resumed, late as it was; for though the ground +was almost clear, a crowd was fast collecting upon the wall, and he +could make out figures--it was just growing dusk--moving quickly round +the ropes, which had not been taken away. One, two, three, four, five +black figures moving swiftly in single file. + +"I am afraid this won't do. I don't think that this can be allowed," +he was beginning, shaking his head slowly, under the impression that +the town boys had taken advantage of the place and occasion to get up +a little impromptu competition of their own. "I don't think--good +heavens!" + +Granny awoke upon the instant, the Archdeacon's voice rang out so loud +in anger and reprobation. "What is it?" the old lady said, weakly, +feeling for her stick. "What is it, my dear? I hope it is not much. +You know it is very near quarter day, George, very near, and some +money will be paid in then. Dear me, dear me!" + +Even in his wrathful astonishment the Archdeacon tried to say gently, +"It is not that, Granny. It is nothing of any consequence. I shall be +back in a moment." + +And then he ran downstairs. Nothing of any consequence indeed; three +steps at a time, and so, bare-headed and his skirts flying behind him, +reached the terrace, taking no notice of a couple of maids in the +hall, who were looking through a window and giggling, and who fled at +his approach. On the terrace, with a charming hood over her head, was +Dorothy, looking down into the field, and now laughing and now +clapping a pair of little gloved hands in great delight, a white rose +on the wall before her. He scarce looked at her, but peered into the +dusk. Yes, his eyes had not played him false. The five athletes +speeding round the roped circle were his five curates, and none +others. + +"Isn't it fun?" cried Dorothy at his side, all unconscious of his +feelings. "The boys were nothing to them, they look so funny in their +long coats. They are walking a mile, and the winner is to have this +rose. Don't you think Mr. Bigham is gaining?" + +The Archdeacon was speechless. He glared at this mocker, and then at +the crowd upon the wall opposite--the cheering, shouting, growing +crowd--and breathed hard. Funny! Fun! Had the girl lost all sense of +decorum? He would waste no words upon her; but he ran down the steps +and strode across the grass as swiftly as his dignity, a little +impaired by haste and passion, would permit. Fortunately the +competitors were just then at the near side of the circle. But, for +that very reason, by the time he approached the ropes, the walkers, +who had only eyes for one another and that slender figure on the +terrace, had passed the point nearest to him, and were speeding away +quite unconscious of their superior's presence. He thought he should +cut off the last man, and increased his pace. He called to him and +waved his hand. But Mr. Brune, intent upon the business before him, +and going steadily like a machine heel and toe, his elbows well in, +and his eyes upon the small of his predecessor's back, neither saw nor +heard him. The Archdeacon was excited and provoked. In the heat of the +moment he followed, still calling to him; and, being quite fresh, +began to overhaul Mr. Brune. He did not hear a louder shout rise from +the crowd upon the wall; he did not hear his ward clapping her hands +in a perfect ecstasy of delight; he did not--indeed he could not--hear +the giggling of the maids at the hall window. But all these people and +everybody else thought that he had joined in the "parsons' race." +Some, like Dorothy, thought it was very nice "and liberal" of him; and +more, like Mrs. Fretchett, who had a fine view from her window, +thought it very odd of him. And the faster he pressed on to catch +Brune, becoming with every stride more and more angry, the more the +crowd upon the wall shouted, and Dolly clapped, and Brune increased +his speed, and the maids giggled; until at length the Archdeacon, +beginning to suspect that his own position was far from dignified, and +a glimmer of the light in which he was being viewed by others dawning +upon him, broke into a run, and the crowd into a shout of reprobation +of his unfairness; and then at last he laid his hand upon Mr. Brune's +shoulder. + +"Stop, Mr. Brune," he gasped; "stop! This is most unseemly. Do you +hear? Most unseemly! I exceedingly disapprove of this--this +disgraceful exhibition. Do you see the people, sir?" + +This at last brought Mr. Brune to a standstill. He was a pitiable +object as, hot, dishevelled, and panting, his tie awry and his collar +rumpled, he stared, dumfounded, into his superior's flushed and +indignant face. He tremulously wiped his brow, and by a tremendous +effort recovered his eyeglasses from between his shoulders, where they +had been swinging rhythmically. He put them on and looked round. Then +he became aware of the spectators who had gathered since he and his +fellows had, in quite a private way, started on their little frolic, +and the affair became apparent to him in its true colors. For, left to +themselves, and unperverted by Dolly and unreasoning rivalry, there +were no curates anywhere of more proper ideas than the Archdeacon's. +Brune dropped his glasses, quite crushed; but, seeing the necessity +for action, revived. He did what the Archdeacon should have done at +first. He jumped over the ropes and ran across to stay the others. + +Their rector did not wait to speak with them then, but, still +frowning, stalked back to the terrace, striving to recover his +self-possession upon his way. With but partial success, for as he +mounted the steps, "Oh, guardian!" cried a merry laughing voice from +above him, "what is the matter? Why did you stop? I am sure you would +have beaten them all if you had gone on as well as you started. You +walked capitally. And why have they all stopped?" + +"Because they have come to their senses," he said, hoarsely, striving +vainly to repress his passion. "Have you ever heard of Circe, girl?" + +Dolly only stared. This tone at any rate she had never heard before. + +"Because my parish is not large enough to contain her foolish rout and +their senseless tricks. They were walking for a rose, were they?" he +continued, bitterly. What he had said already seemed to have hurt the +girl not one whit, only surprised her; and he was terribly +exasperated. "I suppose that is but a pretty figure of speech, and +stands for yourself. I am surprised you have so much modesty. It is +fitting and maidenly in my ward to offer herself as the prize of a +public walking match." + +Her face turned white in the dusk. "How dare you!" she cried, starting +back as if he had struck her. He had hurt her at last, if that was +what he wished to do. "How dare you!" she cried, passionately. But +this time there came a quiver in her voice and a catching of her +breath, and before he could be ready for this change of front she was +gone, and he heard her sobbing bitterly as she passed through the +hall. Only the white rose lay where she had flung it. + +He went into his study and sat down very miserably, thinking, no +doubt, over the state of the parish, and of what Mrs. Fretchett would +say, and took no tea that evening. Only at one time or another, before +nine o'clock prayers, he saw all the five curates. At dinner he was +very silent, looking from time to time curiously at Dolly, who was +silent too, attending chiefly to Granny's wants, and avoiding his eyes +with a conscious shrinking, new in her and strangely painful to him. + +But the Archdeacon had made up his mind, and before twenty-four hours +were over had put it before Dorothy. First, however, he had asked her +pardon quite formally for what he had said in his haste; and the +strange look which pained him had passed from the girl's face, as +melts a shadow cast by a cloud that was before the sun, and suddenly, +even as we look up, is not. And then he had gone on to speak seriously +to her of the state of his parish, touching upon the report of the +previous day's doings, which was already abroad, and which Dolly, with +some temper and as much justice, set down to Mrs. Fretchett. + +"Well, my dear," the Archdeacon answered pleasantly, though in a tone +which made her look sharply at him, "she and I are--well, old enough +to remember that you are young, and, as Granny says, young folks will +be young. Still I am bound to take care that the interests of my +parish come first. It must not suffer through any one, even through +you. And suffer it does, Dolly; which brings me to the other matter. +An opportunity offers--I may say, three opportunities--of solving our +difficulty. I have told you that you are too thoughtless for a +clergyman's daughter, but I think you would make a good and true +clergyman's wife." + +Crash! Dorothy had dropped the paperweight with which she was playing. +He let her stoop to pick it up, which she did clumsily, and was long +about it, and then he went on. "I have had three proposals for your +hand, my dear. I do not know that this _embarras de richesses_ is +altogether to your credit, but so it is. Three of your fellow-culprits +of yesterday, Philip Emerson, Mr. Bigham, and Mr. Brune are anxious to +press their suits. They all have some means, and are young men of +whom, notwithstanding that little affair, I can approve." + +She was drawing outlines on her work-table with one white forefinger. +"I don't think I want to marry either of them," she murmured with much +indifference, considering the effect of an imaginary landscape with +her head on one side. + +The Archdeacon frowned. "They think that you have given them reason to +hope." + +"They cannot all think that!" she retorted, pouting scornfully. And +the worst of it was that he could not controvert this. + +"Philip Emerson, Dorothy, seemed in particular to fancy he had +received some encouragement." + +"Oh," said Dolly, "I should like to ask him what he meant; I don't +think he would dare to say it to my face. Perhaps he meant this!" She +went on contemptuously, rummaging in her work-basket-- + +"For all I can remember he may have given it to me. One of them did, I +know. Isn't it nonsense?" + +She held a crumpled scrap of paper towards her guardian, and he took +it with the air of a man accepting service of a writ. "Am I to read +it?" he asked stiffly. + +"Of course--I suppose he intended it to be read." + +And the Archdeacon holding it gingerly, just as if it were the royal +invitation before mentioned, read a few lines-- + + + "Ah, great gray eyes, that, in my true love's face, + Tell of the pure and noble soul within; + One look in your calm depths I fain would trace, + I fain would win." + + +and threw it down with a contemptuous "pshaw!" He looked through the +window for a moment before he spoke again; then with a great show of +cheerfulness he said, "Now, my dear, let us be serious, which of them +would you like to see yourself?" + +"Which of them!" she answered impatiently. "None of them--ever! I hate +them! That is, I mean that I don't want to marry them." + +"I shall not let you give that answer without thought. It seems to me +that you must have encouraged one or the other of them. You must take +a fortnight to think it over." + +"I won't have a minute!" she cried angrily. + +"A clear fortnight," he repeated with some sternness. "If you are then +resolved, I shall be the last to force you to marry against your will. +I have, indeed, no legal power over you. I am not your father." + +"No, you are not," she replied sullenly. + +That pained the Archdeacon more than all that had gone before. It was +not only thoughtless, it was ungracious, it was ungrateful, and it +hardened his heart so that he spoke out what was in his thoughts. + +"Quite so," he began. "I was only going to say that if at the end of +the time you found yourself unable to embrace----" + +"I am a woman, if I am your ward," suddenly and spitefully. + +"--to embrace this opportunity," shot out the clergyman, very red in +the face, "then I should have to make an alteration in my household; +in what direction, you will, no doubt, be able to guess." + +She bent over her work and made no reply, so that he felt a cruel +satisfaction that he had at last managed to cow her. Then, as there +seemed no more to be said, the Archdeacon went downstairs and tried to +feel content with his partial success. One way or another the +difficulty would now be settled. And this being so, if he sighed over +the consideration of this comfortable fact, we may presume that the +sigh was one of relief. + +The gravity which on a sudden fell upon the rectory folk was not +unmarked by Stirhampton. But Stirhampton felt no surprise at it. +Stirhampton well understood the cause of it. What wonder, asked +Stirhampton, if the Archdeacon looked perplexed, and Miss Dorothy +gloomy, and the curates anxious? What wonder, indeed, when as sure as +eggs were what they seemed to be--and there they generally were--the +Court of Arches had its eyes upon Stirhampton, and sentences of +suspension were in the air, and there was even talk of unfrocking! +so that much discussion was raised in town circles as to the details +of that ceremony, and whether a cook's cleaver did, or did not, +figure in it, and if it did, in what particular way it was used? What +wonder, indeed? though those who knew best whispered that the race +for the girl's hand (oh, those giggling eavesdropping maids!), +disgraceful as it was in men of their calling and the Archdeacon's +age, might--observe--_might_ have been overlooked. "But when it came," +said these, "to the Archdeacon, in his chagrin at being outstripped by +younger men, striking Mr. Brune, and knocking his own curate over the +ropes, so that the very crowd cried shame! that was indeed going a +little too far. There could be no winking at that, be the authority +ever so favorable to him." + +Still there are always froward people who will have no fire where +others have been the first to espy the smoke. There were these at +Stirhampton, men who were rude and said it was all fiddle-de-dee when +Mrs. Fretchett said it was _scandalum magnatum_--a plain and +unmannerly contradiction--and made themselves otherwise unpleasant. +But even these grew silent after a time, when a very weighty fact came +to be known. Two official letters--missives were the more proper +word--of most threatening appearance had been delivered at the +rectory. Their envelopes had been stamped with the name of an august +street, and bore also in the left-hand bottom corner a distinguished +title. On one had been a twopenny stamp. Timid people scanned the +rector with curious pity, and such upon the whole was the effect of +this postal intelligence that the doctrine of _scandalum magnatum_ +gained almost universal credence; even the froward ones grew serious +and thought it over. + +It was probably from a feeling of delicacy that they refrained from +carrying their surmises to the Archdeacon. To the curates some hints +were given, but what with their obtuseness--they scarcely seemed to +understand--and a fretful touchy disposition, noticeable in young men, +nothing came of these hints. + +Of all the rectory folk, it was Dolly only who (oh, those giggling, +tattling maids!) came to hear of the rumor. It distressed her beyond +measure. She could not feel sure that it was untrue. Nay, she knew +that one part was true, for had she not seen the Archdeacon read one +and the other of the letters mentioned, and immediately thereafter +fall into deep thought. Ever since he had been grave and preoccupied. +Her ideas upon unfrocking--though the cleaver was not one of +them--were sufficiently terrible, and grew more and more vivid and +daunting the longer she dwelt upon them. Yet there was not between +herself and her guardian such an amount of confidence as made it easy +for her to speak to him upon such a subject. + +So poor Dorothy knew not what to think. She had her own little +distresses, we know; but they were forgotten in this greater +apprehension that she had brought grief and disgrace upon the +Archdeacon. And when, about the end of the fortnight, he bade her come +to his study, she thought of them only as of matters to be put aside, +if mentioned, as quickly as possible, as matters of no importance in +the face of the blow she felt was about to fall. + +Archdeacon Holden was writing steadily. He looked up at her entrance +to point with a faint smile to a chair, and then went on with his +work. She fancied that there was something strange and new in his air; +she marked under the paper-weight the letters about which all the town +was talking; at her elbow she spied an envelope addressed to the Dean +and Chapter of W----, the patron of the living, and Dorothy felt sick +at heart. + +Whether he was or was not aware of the direction of her thoughts, he +folded his letter slowly, willing, perhaps, to put off as long as +possible the evil day when something must be told. It was not until he +had risen and approached the fireplace, so that his back was towards +her, that he said pleasantly: + +"Well, Dorothy, we will talk of your affairs first." + +"They will not occupy you long," was her quiet answer; what were these +things to her now? "I have made up my mind, or rather it is unchanged. +If I have thoughtlessly caused pain to Mr. Emerson and the others, I +am sorry; but I cannot marry any of them." + +He did not speak for a moment. Perhaps his thoughts had gone off to +his own matters, for his hand shook a little as he adjusted the +date-case over the mantelpiece. "You are quite sure, my dear?" he said +at last. There was no displeasure in his tone. + +"I am quite sure." + +"Well, that would have been an embarrassing answer, Dorothy, if things +still stood as they were," he said. "But they do not; and any change I +am going to make will be the result of another cause. I have some news +for you. I am going to leave Stirhampton, and you are the first person +to whom I have told the fact. You will not do my parish much more +harm, my dear, for in a few weeks at most I shall be without one." + +His back was towards her, and so he could not see the current of grief +and trouble that flashed from Dolly's heart to Dolly's face. He waited +for the eager, happy words of congratulation that should have come; +for the touch at which he should turn to meet the bright, animated +face that would smile on him for a moment, and then flit joyfully +upstairs to Granny. He waited for these things, wondering if his +elevation could bring him any other pleasure to compare with this. And +then, instead, he heard behind him a quick, low sob, and turned, with +a sinking of the heart, to find the girl crying bitterly, her face +cast forward in utter self-abandonment upon her arms, and her whole +frame quivering with the sharpness of her sorrow. + +His heart sank with a natural foreboding. But surely it must have been +a singularly affectionate one, or where otherwise lay hidden the +source of that deep feeling which welled up in the simple words wrung +from him by the sight of her distress. "My darling, my darling, only +tell me what it is!" he cried, stroking her fair hair and striving to +comfort her. "Tell me your trouble. Don't you know I would give my +life to save you pain, Dolly? Don't hurt me like this, but look up and +tell me. What is it, my darling?" + +But for a time, though she heard him, she would not be comforted, and +his words even seemed to give a fresh impulse to her grief. At last, +amid half-stifled sobs, with her face still hidden, Dolly made him +understand what she had heard and what she had feared, and what she +had supposed him to mean when he said he was about to leave +Stirhampton; and poured out, too, her own self-reproach, while he +stood over her and listened, and now touched the bowed head, and now +smiled grimly at the rumor of that unfrocking. And when he came to +answer her, he did it in a score of words that dried her eyes +effectually, and made her turn her flushed, pitiful, tear-stained face +upon him, a glorious smile of pure happiness irradiating it that +somehow made his heart leap up like a boy's--and then ache as those +deserve to ache who play the boy when old enough to know better. + +"It is a mistake," was all he said; "I am leaving here, but not in +disgrace, Dolly. I have accepted the Bishopric of the new see of +Deringham. What a silly, loving, little girl it is! You may read the +letter, my dear." And while Dolly, in radiant dishevelment, was +striving to tell him her pleasure, he took an envelope from his +pocket and held it out. Dolly seized it eagerly and opened it, and +found within it not at all what the Archdeacon had thought was in +it. The envelope contained no statesman's autograph, or courtly +to-apron-inviting note from Downing Street, but only a white rose, a +dried rose, flattened, but still sweet and fragrant. Almost as soon +as the girl's fingers touched it the Archdeacon was aware of his +mistake--surely a very curious mistake--and snatched it from her with +some confused words and a reddening brow. But Dolly had seen it--had +certainly seen it; and somehow it brought back to her memory the day +of the curates' race; so that when the Archdeacon brusquely put +another letter into her hand, she read it with her eyes, and not her +mind. As for the Archdeacon, he sought the window, and hemmed and +hawed, and at last said, hastily, without turning, "There, there, my +dear, I think there is no more to be said. Will you kindly go and tell +Granny?" and so affected to select a volume from a shelf of the Early +Fathers. + +But Dorothy did not move. She sat stooping forward, passing the hem of +her much-bedabbled handkerchief through her fingers. + +"Are you sure that you have told me all you wish to tell me?" she +asked, slowly. + +Her guardian started. "I think so," he answered, and plunged +recklessly at a volume of Origen, or it might be St. Anthony, perhaps. + +"Then why," cried Dolly, starting up and facing him, with crimson +cheeks, "why did you call me your darling just now? You had no right +to do it--no right, though you are my guardian, to say that--if you +are going to say nothing more! If you want me, why don't you ask for +me! Philip could, and Mr. Brune, and the other! I hate a coward. Why +cannot you say, if--you--want me?" + +There are men who have seen Deans in their shirt-sleeves, playing +billiards. And there is one still living--chiefly on the fact--who +once was last in a three-legged race in double harness with a Duke. So +it is undeniable that great men do unbend at times to a surprising +extent. But that the Archdeacon at the point of the story we have +reached unbent in the manner much hinted at in Stirhampton, I shall +ask no reader to believe. The more as the real facts which have been +told fully explain the disorder of lace and neck-ribbon, the softness +of eye, and crimson of cheek, which Granny noticed about the girl when +she ran in upon her, all smiles and tears, knocking down the screen, +and hugging the little old lady into a state of deep alarm. + +Which took, of course, the old direction. But the Archdeacon came +upstairs in time to anticipate the usual question. "No," he said, +putting his hand on the kneeling girl's head, "the balance is all +right, Granny--except in years. There is a heavy overdraft of those +against me." + +"And I will honor it," said Dolly, gravely, and took his hand and +kissed it. As for what followed--we had better put up Granny's screen +again. This the man of system, who had no taste for jests? But then it +is just possible that Dolly did not mean it for a jest. The curates? +Mr. Philip Emerson, Mr. Brune, and Mr. Bigham? Indeed I cannot say +what became of them. I should suppose they died prematurely of broken +hearts. But the next time that I visit Deringham I will call at the +Palace and ask the Bishop. + + + + + THE END. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of For the Cause, by Stanley J. 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