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diff --git a/40879.txt b/40879.txt deleted file mode 100644 index dfb8ae3..0000000 --- a/40879.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4148 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Affair at the Inn, by -Kate Douglas Wiggin and Mary Findlater and Jane Findlater and Allan McAulay - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Affair at the Inn - -Author: Kate Douglas Wiggin - Mary Findlater - Jane Findlater - Allan McAulay - -Release Date: September 27, 2012 [EBook #40879] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AFFAIR AT THE INN *** - - - - -Produced by Melissa McDaniel and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - -Transcriber's Note: - - Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have - been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. - - Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. - - - The - Affair at the Inn - - by - Kate Douglas Wiggin - Mary Findlater - Jane Findlater - Allan McAulay - - Gay and Hancock, Ltd. - 12 and 13 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden - LONDON - 1910 - - _All rights reserved_ - - - - -An account of certain events which are supposed to have occurred in -the month of May 19--, at a quiet inn on Dartmoor, in Devonshire; the -events being recorded by the persons most interested in the unfolding -of the little international comedy. - -The story is written by four authors, each author being responsible -for one character, as follows:-- - - MISS VIRGINIA POMEROY, of Richmond, Virginia, U.S.A., _by - Kate Douglas Wiggin_, Author of 'Penelope's Experiences,' - etc. - - MRS. MACGILL, of Tunbridge Wells, _by Mary Findlater_, - Author of 'The Rose of Joy,' etc. - - MISS CECILIA EVESHAM, Mrs. MacGill's companion, _by Jane - Findlater_, Author of 'The Green Graves of Balgowrie,' etc. - - SIR ARCHIBALD MAXWELL MACKENZIE, of Kindarroch, N.B., _by - Allan McAulay_, Author of 'The Rhymer,' etc. - - - - -THE AFFAIR AT THE INN - - - - -I - - -VIRGINIA POMEROY - - DARTMOOR, DEVONSHIRE, - THE GREY TOR INN, - _Tuesday, May 18th, 19--_ - -When my poor father died five years ago, the doctor told my mother -that she must have an entire change. We left America at once, and we -have been travelling ever since, always in the British Isles, as the -sound of foreign languages makes mamma more nervous. As a matter of -fact, the doctor did not advise eternal change, but that is the -interpretation mamma has placed upon his command, and so we are for -ever moving on, like What's-his-name in _Bleak House_. It is not so -extraordinary, then, that we are in the Devonshire moorlands, because -one cannot travel incessantly for four years in the British Isles -without being everywhere, in course of time. That is what I said to a -disagreeable, frumpy Englishwoman in the railway carriage yesterday. - -'I have no fault to find with Great Britain,' I said, 'except that it -is so circumscribed! I have outgrown my first feeling, which was a -fear of falling off the edge; but I still have a sensation of being -cabined, cribbed, confined.' - -She remarked that she had always preferred a small, perfectly -finished, and well-managed estate to a large, rank, wild, and -overgrown one, and I am bound to say that I think the retort was a -good one. It must have been, for it silenced me. - -We have done Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, and having begun at the top -of the map, have gone as far as Devon in England. We have been -travelling by counties during the last year, because it seemed tidier -and more thorough and businesslike; less confusing too, for the -places look so alike after a while that I can never remember where we -have been without looking in my diary. I don't know what will come -after England,--perhaps Australia and New Zealand. I suppose they -speak English there, of a sort. - -If complete ignorance of a place, combined with great power of -appreciation when one is introduced to it,--if these constitute a -favourable mental attitude, then I have achieved it. That Devonshire -produces Lanes, Dumplings, Cider, Monoliths, Clouted Cream, and Moors -I know, but all else in the way of knowledge or experience is to be -the captive of my bow and spear. - -It is one of the accidents of travel that one can never explain, our -being here on this desolate moor, caged, with half a dozen strange -people, in a little inn at the world's end. - -In the hotel at Exeter mamma met in the drawing-room a certain Mrs. -MacGill, who like herself was just recovering from the influenza. Our -paths have crossed before; I hope they'll not do so too often. Huddled -in their shawls, and seated as near to the chilling hotel fire as was -possible, they discussed their symptoms, while I read _Lorna Doone_. -Mrs. MacGill slept ill at night and found a glass of milk-arrowroot -with a teaspoon of brandy and a Bath Oliver biscuit a panacea; mamma -would not allow that any one could sleep worse than she, but -recommended a peppermint lozenge, as being simple, convenient, and -efficacious. Mrs. MacGill had a slight cough, so had mamma; Mrs. -MacGill's chest was naturally weak, so was mamma's. Startlingly -similar as were the paths by which they were travelling to the grave, -they both looked in average health, mamma being only prettily delicate -and Mrs. MacGill being fat and dumpy, with cap ribbons and shoulder -capes and bugles and brooches that bespoke at least a languid interest -in life. The nice English girl who was Mrs. MacGill's companion in the -railway train, sat in the background knitting and reading,--the kind -of girl who ought to look young and doesn't, because her youth has -been feeding somebody's selfish old age. I could see her quiet history -written all over her face,--her aged father, vicar of some remote -parish; her weary mother, harassed with the cares of a large family; -and the dull little vicarage from whose windows she had taken her -narrow peeps at life. We exchanged glances at some of Mrs. MacGill's -reminiscences, and I was grateful to see that she has a sense of -humour. That will help her considerably if she is a paid companion, as -I judge she is; one would hardly travel with Mrs. MacGill for -pleasure. This lady at length crowded mamma to the wall and began on -the details of an attack of brain fever from which she had suffered at -the Bridge of Allan thirty years ago, and I left the room to seek a -breath of fresh air. - -There is never anything amusing going on in an English hotel. When I -remember the life one lives during a week at the Waldorf-Astoria or -the Holland House in New York, it fairly makes me yearn with -homesickness. It goes like this with a girl whose friends are all -anxious to make the time pass merrily. - -_Monday noon._--Luncheon at the University Club with H. L. and mamma. - -_Monday afternoon._--Drive with G. P. in a hansom. Tea at Maillard's. -Violets from A. B., American Beauty roses from C. D. waiting in my -room. Dinner and the play arranged for me by E. F. - -_Tuesday._--One love-letter and one proposal by the morning mail; the -proposal from a Harvard Freshman who wishes me to wait until he -finishes his course. No one but a Freshman would ever have thought of -that! G. H. from Chicago and B. C. from Richmond arrive early and join -us at breakfast. B. C. thinks G. H. might have remained at home to -good advantage. G. H. wonders why B. C. couldn't have stayed where he -was less in the way. Luncheon party given by G. H. at one. Dinner by -B. C. at seven. - -_Wednesday._--Last fitting for three lovely dresses. - -_Thursday._--Wear them all. The result of one of them attention with -intention from the fastidious A. B. - -And so on. It would doubtless spoil one in time, but I have only had -two weeks of it, all put together. - -The hall of the hotel at Exeter was like all other English hotel -halls; so damp, dismal, dull, and dreary, that it is a wonder English -travellers are not all sleeping in suicides' graves. Were my eyes -deceiving me or was there a motor at the door, and still more -wonderful, was there a young, good-looking man directly in my path,--a -healthy young man with no symptoms, a well-to-do young man with a -perfectly appointed motor, a well-bred, presentable young man with an -air of the world about him? How my heart, starving for amusement, -rushed out to him after these last weary months of nursing at -Leamington! I didn't want to marry him, of course, but I wanted to -talk to him, to ride in his motor, to have him, in short, for a -masculine safety valve. He showed no symptom of requiring me for any -purpose whatever. That is the trouble with the men over here,--so -oblivious, so rigid, so frigid, so conventional; so afraid of being -chloroformed and led unconscious to the altar! He was smoking a pipe, -and he looked at me in a vague sort of way. I confess I don't like to -be looked at vaguely, and I am not accustomed to it. He couldn't know -that, of course, but I should like to teach him if only I had the -chance and time. I don't suppose he knew that I was wearing a Redfern -gown and hat, but the consciousness supported me in the casual -encounter. Naturally he could not seek an introduction to me in a -hotel hall, nor could we speak to each other without one. - -His chauffeur went up to him presently, touched his hat, and I thought -he said, 'Quite ready, Sir--Something'; I didn't catch the name. - -Well, he bowled off, and I comforted myself with the thought that -mamma and I were at least on our way to pastures new, if they were -only Dawlish or Torquay pastures; or perhaps something bracing in the -shape of Dartmoor forests, if mamma listens to Mrs. MacGill. - -The owner of the motor appeared again at our dinner-table, a long -affair set in the middle of the room, all the small tables being -occupied by uninteresting nobodies who ate and drank as much, and took -up as much room, as if they had been somebodies. - -It is needless to say that the young Britisher did not, like the busy -bee, improve the shining hour--that sort of bee doesn't know honey -when he sees it. He didn't even pass me the salt, which in a Christian -country is not considered a compromising attention. I think that too -many of Great Britain's young men must have been killed off in South -Africa, and those remaining have risen to an altogether fictitious -value. I suppose this Sir Somebody thinks my eyes are fixed on his -coronet, if he has one rusting in his upper drawer awaiting its -supreme moment of presentation. He is mistaken; I am thinking only of -his motor. Heigh ho! If marriage as an institution could be retained, -and all thought of marriage banished from the minds of the young of -both sexes, how delightful society could be made for all parties! I -can see that such a state of things would be quite impossible, but it -presents many advantages. - - -MRS. MACGILL - - EXETER, DEVONSHIRE, - ROUGEMONT CASTLE HOTEL, - _Sunday, May 16th, 19--_ - -I have made out my journey from Tunbridge wells in safety, although -there has been a breakdown upon the Scotch Express, which is a cause -of thankfulness. There were two American women in the same carriage -part of the time. The mother was, like myself, an invalid, and the -daughter I suppose would be considered pretty. She was not exactly -painted, but must have done something to her skin, I think, probably -prejudicial like the advertisements; it was really waxen, and her hair -decidedly dark--and such a veil! It reminded me of the expression -about 'power on the head' in Corinthians--not that she seemed to -require it, for she rang no less than eight times for the guard, each -time about some different whimsey. The boy only grinned, yet he was -quite rude to me when I asked him, only for the second time, where we -changed carriages next. Cecilia spoke a good deal to the girl, who -made her laugh constantly, in spite of her neuralgia, which was very -inconsistent and provoking to me, as she had not uttered a word for -hours after we left Tunbridge Wells. The mother seemed a very -delicate, sensible person, suffering from exactly the same form of -influenza as myself--indeed many of our symptoms are identical. They -happened to be going to this hotel, too, so we met again in the -afternoon. I had a bad night. Exeter is small, but the Cathedral -chimes are very tiresome; they kept me awake as if on purpose; Cecilia -slept, as neuralgic people seem often able to do. - -Somehow I do not fancy the idea of Dartmoor at all. It may brace -Cecilia, but it will be too cold for me, I'm sure. I must send for my -black velvet mantle--the one with the beads at the neck, as it will be -the very thing for the moor. At present I have nothing quite suitable -to wear. There is a great deal of skirt about Americans, I see. Even -the mother rustled; all silk, yet the dresses on the top were plain -enough. As I had nothing to read in the train, I bought a sixpenny -copy of a book called _The Forest Lovers_, but could not get on with -it at all, and what I did make out seemed scarcely proper, so I took -up a novel which Mrs. Pomeroy (the American) lent me, by a man with a -curious Scriptural name--something like Phillpotts. It was entirely -about Dartmoor, and gave a most alarming account of the scenery and -inhabitants. I'm sure I hope we shall be safe at Grey Tor Inn. Some of -the wilder parts must be quite dangerous--storms--wild cattle roaming -about, and Tors everywhere. - - * * * * * - - -MRS. MACGILL - - DARTMOOR, DEVONSHIRE, - THE GREY TOR INN, - _Tuesday, May 18th, 19--_ - -I wish I had brought winter flannels with me. It is all very well to -call it the middle of May on Dartmoor, but it is as cold as the middle -of winter in Aberdeen. There may be something odd about the red soil -that accounts for flowers coming out in spite of it, for certainly -there are primroses and violets on the banks, a good many,--very like -flowers in a hat. - -We met Miss Pomeroy, the American girl, in the lobby of the hotel. She -said that her mother was resting in the drawing-room. Like me, she -seems to suffer from shivering fits. 'I can't imagine,' I said, 'why -any doctor should have ordered me to such a place as this to recover -from influenza, which is just another form of cold.' The windows look -straight out on Grey Tor. It is, of course, as the guide-books say, 'a -scene of great sublimity and grandeur,' but very dreary; it is not -mountain, and not what we would call moor, either, in Scotland--just a -crumpled country, with boulders here and there. Grey Tor is the -highest point we can see--not very lonely, I am glad to say, for -little black people are always walking up and down it, like flies on a -confectioner's window, and there is a railing on the top. - -There is a young man here, who, I was surprised to find, is a nephew -of the uncle of my poor brother-in-law, Colonel Forsyth, who died in a -moment at Agra. Sir William Maxwell Mackenzie used to be often at the -Forsyths, before his death. This young man's name is Archibald, and he -drives a motor. I sat next him at dinner, and we had quite a pleasant -little chat about my poor brother-in-law's sudden death and funeral. -Miss Pomeroy ate everything on the table and talked a great deal. -Cecilia said she wasn't able to come down to dinner, but, as usual, -ate more than I could, upstairs. Like me, Mrs. Pomeroy finds the -Devonshire cream very heavy. The daughter and Sir Archibald finished -nearly the whole dish, although it was a large china basin. - - -SIR ARCHIBALD MAXWELL MACKENZIE, BART. - - GREY TOR INN - -I must get away from these women at all costs. People may say what -they like, but there's no question that nothing is more destructive to -comfort than the society of ladies. A man cannot smoke, nor wear the -clothes nor use the language that he wants to when they are -present,--so what is the use of pretending, as some fellows do, that -they add to the pleasantness of life? I certainly thought that by -coming to these out-of-the-way parts in the motor, with no one but my -servant, I should be free of the women; but no such luck! In the hotel -at Exeter there was a batch of them,--some Americans, of course, -particularly a girl, so deuced lively she could not be ignored. I -dislike the whole girl-tribe with all my heart, and I dislike the -kittenish ones most: they're a positive pest. - -This is a rum sort of country,--a sort of inferior Scotland, I should -call it; but if you were to say that to the artist chaps and writing -fellows you meet about here, they would murder you. There is a lot of -rot talked about everything in this world, but there's more and worse -rot talked about scenery than anything else. For instance, people will -yarn away about 'the blue Mediterranean,' but it's not a bit bluer -than any other sea,--the English Channel, for example; any sea will be -blue if the sky is blue. I suppose it earns somebody's living to talk -and write all this sort of stuff, and get idiots to believe it. Here -they are always jawing away about 'giant monoliths' and wonderful -colossal stone-formations on the moor, till you really think there's -something rather fine to be seen. And what are the giant monoliths? -Two or three ordinary sorts of stones set up on end on a mound! What -rot! - -This is a goodish hotel, and the roads so far have been all right for -the motor; we have come along fairly well; Johnson can drive a bit -now, and understands the machine. - -The country was pretty decent for a while, before reaching this; -plenty of trees, no good for timber, though, and there was a lot of -that rotten holly--I'd have it all up if it grew on Kindarroch. And -the gorse, too, was very bad. There was a fellow at Exeter--a sort of -artist, I conclude, from the nonsense he talked--who said he was -coming up here to see the gorse,--came every year, he said. To see the -gorse! To see a lot of dirty weeds that every sensible man wants to -root up and burn! O Lord! - -This morning it was rather fine, and I was having a smoke after -breakfast in the hall, when that American girl--the one I saw at -Exeter--came down the staircase, singing at the top of her voice. I -knew she was here, with a mother in the background; she had been -fooling around the motor already, asking a lot of silly questions, -and touching the handles and the wheels--a thing I can't bear--so we -had made acquaintance in a kind of way. The artist at Exeter, I -remember, asked me if I didn't think this girl remarkably pretty, and -I told him I hadn't looked to see, which was perfectly true. But you -can't help seeing a girl if she's standing plump in front of you. Of -course these Americans dress well--no end of money to do it on. This -one had a sort of Tam o' Shanter thing on her head, and a lot of dark -hair came out under it, falling over her ears, and almost over her -cheeks--untidy, I call it. She wore a grey dress, with a bit of -scarlet near her neck, and a knot to match it under the brim of her -cap. I can notice these things when I like. She has black eyes, and -knows how to use them. I don't like dark women; if you must have a -woman about, I prefer pink and white--it looks clean, at any rate. The -name of these people is Pomeroy, Johnson told me; they appear to have -got the hang of mine at Exeter; trust women for that sort of thing. - -'Good morning, Sir Archibald,' said Miss Pomeroy now, as pat as you -please. 'It's a mighty pretty morning, isn't it? Don't you long for a -walk? I do! I'm going right up to that stone on the slope there. Won't -you come along too?' A man can hardly refuse outright, I suppose, when -a thing is put to him point blank like this, and we started together, -I pretty glum, for I made up my mind I must give up my after-breakfast -pipe, a thing which puts me out of temper for the day. However, Miss -Pomeroy said she liked smoke, so there was a kind of mitigation in the -boredom which I felt was before me. - -Grey Tor, as the guide-books call it, is just above the hotel, a sort -of knob of rock that is thought a lot of in these parts. (We make road -metal of the same kind of thing in Scotland; I'd like to tell the -chaps that who write all the drivel about Dartmoor.) There's an iron -railing round the top of this Tor, to keep the tourists from falling -off, though they'd be no loss if they did. Coach loads of them come -every day, and sit on the top and eat sandwiches, and leave the paper -about, along with orange and banana skins--same as they do at the -Trossachs at home. There's a grassy track up to this blessed Tor, and -Miss Pomeroy and I followed it; American women are no good at walking, -and, in spite of her slight figure, she was puffing like a grampus in -no time, and begging me to stop. We sat down on a rock, and soon she -had breath enough to talk. The subject of names came up, I forget for -what reason. - -'I like your kind of name,' Miss Pomeroy was good enough to say. 'I -call it downright sensible and clear, for it tells what you're called, -and gives your background immediately, don't you see? Now, you -couldn't tell what my Christian name is without asking--could you?' - -'No, I couldn't,' I agreed, and was silent. I am no hand at small -talk. She gave me rather a funny look out of her black eyes, but I -took no notice. She seemed to want to laugh--I don't know why; there's -nothing funny on Dartmoor that _I_ can see. We got on to the Tor -presently, and nothing would satisfy a woman, naturally, but climbing -all over the beastly thing. She had to be helped up and down, of -course. Her hands are very white and slim; they were not at all hot, I -am glad to say, as she wore no gloves, and I had to clutch them so -often. There was a very high wind up there, and I'm blessed if her -hair didn't come down and blow about. It only made her laugh, but I -considered it would be indecent to walk back to the hotel with a woman -in such a dishevelled state. - -'I will pick up the hairpins,' I said seriously, 'if you will--will do -the rest.' She laughed and put up her arms to her head, but brought -them down with a flop. - -'I'm afraid my waist is too tight in the sleeves for me to do my hair -up here; it'll have to wait till I get down to the hotel,' she said -gaily. I suppose she meant that she tight-laced, though I couldn't see -how her waist could be tight in the sleeves. I was quite determined -she should not walk to the hotel in my company with her hair in that -state. - -'I will stick these in,' I said firmly, indicating the hairpins, of -which I had picked up about a bushel, 'if you will do the rolling up.' -It got done somehow, and I stuck in the pins. I never touched a -woman's hair before; how beastly it must be to have all that on one's -head--unhealthy, too. I dare say it accounts for the feebleness of -women's brains. Miss Pomeroy's cheeks got pinker and pinker during -this operation--a sort of rush of blood, I suppose; it is all right as -long as it does not go to the nose. She is not a bad-looking girl, -certainly. - -We got back to the hotel without any further disagreeables. - - -CECILIA EVESHAM - - GREY TOR INN, DARTMOOR - -If a policeman's 'lot is not a happy one,' neither is a companion's: I -lay this down as an axiom. I have lived now for two years with Mrs. -MacGill, and know her every frailty of character only too well. She -has not a bad temper; but oh! she is a terrible, terrible bore! Not -content with being stupid herself, she desires to make me stupid along -with her, and has well-nigh succeeded, for life with her in furnished -apartments at Tunbridge Wells would dull a more brilliant woman than I -have ever been. - -Mrs. MacGill has lately had the influenza; it came almost as a -providential sending, for it meant change of air. We were ordered to -Dartmoor, and to Dartmoor we have come. Now I have become interested -in three new people; and that, after the life I have lived of late in -Mrs. MacGill's sickroom, is like a draught of nectar to my tired -fancy. We met these three persons for the first time in the train, and -at the hotel at Exeter where we stopped for the night; or rather, I -should say that we met two of them and sighted the third. The two were -a mother and her daughter, Mrs. Pomeroy and Virginia Pomeroy by name, -and Americans by nation; the third person was a young man, Sir -Archibald Maxwell Mackenzie, of Kindarroch, N.B. The Americans were -extremely friendly, after the manner of their nation; the young man -extremely unfriendly, after the manner of his. We found that the -Pomeroys were coming on to this inn, but the Scotchman whizzed off in -his motor car, giving us no hint of where he intended to go. I thought -we had seen the last of him, but it was to be otherwise. - -The morning after our arrival at the Grey Tor Inn Mrs. MacGill assumed -a Shetland shawl, closed the window of the sitting-room, and sat down -to do a bit of knitting. I sat by the window answering her little -vapid remarks and looking out. As I sat thus, I heard a puffing noise -and saw a scarlet motor steam up to the door of the inn. It was, of -course, Sir Archibald. - -'What is that noise, Cecilia?' asked Mrs. MacGill. - -'It's a motor car,' I replied. - -'Oh, how curious! I never can understand how they are worked,' said -she. - -I was beginning to try to explain some of the mysteries of motoring -when the door of the sitting-room opened, and Miss Virginia Pomeroy -came in. Her appearance was a delight to the eyes; tall and full -grown, yet graceful, and dressed to perfection. She had none of that -meek look that even the prettiest English girls are getting nowadays, -as if they would say, 'I'm pretty, but I know I'm a drug in the -market, though I can't help it!' No, no, Virginia Pomeroy came into -the room with an air of possession, mastery, conquest, that no English -girl can assume. She walked straight up to the window and threw it -open. 'How perfectly lovely!' she exclaimed. 'Why, there's a motor; I -must have a ride in it before very long.' She turned pleasantly to me -as she spoke, and asked me if I didn't adore motoring. - -'I've never tried,' I said. - -'Well, the sooner you begin the better,' she said. 'Never miss a joy -in a world of trouble; that's my theory.' - -I smiled, but if she had known it, I more nearly cried at her words; -she didn't know how many joys _I_ had missed in life! - -'I'll go right downstairs and make love to the chauffeur,' she went -on, and at this Mrs. MacGill coughed, moved the fire-irons, and told -me to close the window. Miss Pomeroy turned to her with a laugh. - -'Why!' she said, 'are you two going to sit in this hotel parlour all -the morning? You won't have much of a time if you do!' - -'I have had the influenza, like Mrs. Pomeroy,' announced Mrs. MacGill -solemnly, 'but if Miss Evesham wishes some fresh air she can go out at -any time. I'm sure I never object to anything that you choose to do, -Cecilia, do I?' - -I hastened to assure her that she did not, while the American girl -stood looking from one of us to the other with her bright, clever -eyes. - -'Suppose you come down to the hall door with me then, Miss Evesham,' -Miss Pomeroy suggested, 'and we'll taste the air.' - -'Shall I, Mrs. MacGill?' I asked, for a companion must always ask -leave even to breathe. Mrs. MacGill answered petulantly that of course -I might do as I liked. - -The motor stood alone and unattended by the front door, both owner and -chauffeur having deserted it. It rested there like a redhot panting -monster fatigued by climbing the long hill that leads up to Grey Tor -Inn. - -'Isn't it out of breath?' cried Virginia. 'I want to pat it and give -it a drink of water.' The next minute she skipped into the car and -laid her white hand on the steering-wheel. - -'Oh, don't! Do take care!' I cried. The thing may run away with you or -burst, or something, and the owner may come out at any moment--it -belongs to that young man who was at Exeter, Sir Archibald Maxwell -Mackenzie.' - -'I should like it very much if he did come out,' said Virginia, -looking over her shoulder at me with the most bewitching ogle I ever -saw, and I soon saw that she intended to conquer Sir Archibald as she -had conquered many another man, and meant to drive all over Dartmoor -in his motor. Well, youth and high spirits are two good things. Let -her do what she likes with the young man, so long as she enjoys -herself; they will both be old soon enough! - - - - -II - - -VIRGINIA POMEROY - - DARTMOOR, DEVONSHIRE, - GREY TOR INN - -The plot thickens; well, goodness knows it was thin enough before, and -it is now only of the innocent consistency of cream sauce. For myself -I like a plot that will stand quite stiff and firm; still the Exeter -motor is here and the Exeter motor-man is here. I don't mean the -chauffeur, but the owner. He doesn't intend staying more than a day or -two, but he may like it better as time goes on,--they often do, even -these British icebergs. It is, however, a poor climate for thawing -purposes. There are only six people in the inn all told, and two, we -hear, are leaving to-night. - -I was glad to see the English girl standing at the window when we -arrived. She brightened, as much as to say that we two might make life -more cheerful by putting our heads together. Mrs. MacGill is a good -companion for mamma, but could not otherwise be endured for a moment. -I find it very difficult to account for her on any ordinary basis; I -mean of climate or nationality or the like. The only way I can explain -her to my satisfaction is, that some sixty years ago her father, a -very dull gentleman, met her mother, a lady of feeble mind and waspish -disposition; met her, loved her, married her,--and Mrs. MacGill is the -result of the union. - -Her conversation at table is aimless beyond description, often causing -Miss Evesham to blush, and Sir Archibald to raise his eyebrows. It -doesn't take much to produce this effect on Sir Archibald's part; when -he was born they must have been slightly lifted. - -Mrs. MacGill asked me, at dinner, my Christian name, not having heard -it, as mamma often calls me 'Jinny.' Here is the colloquy. - -_Jinny._ My name is Virginia; it is one of the Southern States, you -know. - -_Mrs. Mac._ Oh, I see! how curious! Is that a common habit of naming -children in America? - -_Jinny._ Oh yes; you see it is such an enormous country, and there are -such a number of children to be named that we simply had to extend the -supply of names in some way. My mother's middle name, which is my own -also, is something really quaint--'Secessia.' - -_Mrs. Mac._ Secessia! What an extraordinary name! Has it any -significance? - -_Jinny._ Yes, indeedy! My mother was born in the early days of the -Civil War, at the time of the secession, and her father, an ardent -Southerner, named her Gloria Secessia. - -_Mrs. Mac._ Let me see, I don't seem to remember any secession; were -we mixed up in what you call your Civil War? - -(Here Sir Archibald caught my eye and smiled, almost a human smile it -was.) - -_Jinny._ No, but you had a good deal to do with the War of -Independence. That was nearly a century before. (Sir Archibald was -honestly amused here. He must know American history.) - -_Mrs. Mac._ I thought your last war was called the War of -Independence, because it made the negroes independent, but I must have -got the two confused; and you've just had another small one, haven't -you, though now I remember that we were engaged in only one of them, -and that was before my time. It seems strange we should have gone -across the ocean to help a younger country to fight its battles, but -after all, blood is thicker than water. I had a nephew who went to -America--Brazil, I think, was the name of the town--a barrister, Mr. -George Forsyth; you may have met him? - -_Jinny._ I think not; I seldom go so far from home. - -_Mrs. Mac._ But you live in South America, do you not? - -_Jinny._ I live in the south, but that is merely to say in the -southern part of the United States. - -_Mrs. Mac._ How confusing! I fear I can't make it out without the -globes; I was always very good at the globes when I was a child. -Cecilia, suppose after dinner you see if there is a globe in the inn. - -Poor Miss Evesham! She is so pale, so likeable, so downtrodden, and -she has been so pretty! Think of what is involved when one uses the -past tense with a woman of thirty. She has fine hair and eyes and a -sweet manner. As to the rest, she is about my height, and she is not -dressed; she is simply clothed. Height is her only visible dimension, -the village mantua-maker having shrouded the others in hopeless -ambiguity. She has confessed to me that she dresses on fifteen pounds -a year! If she had told me that her father was dead, her mother a -kleptomaniac, and she the sole support of a large family, I should -have pitied her, but a dress allowance of fifteen pounds a year calls -for more than pity; it belongs to the realm of tragedy. She looks at -thirty as if she never had had, nor ever expected to have, a good -time. How I should like to brighten her up a bit, and get her into my -room to try on Paris hats! - -She and I, aided by Sir Archibald, have been to Stoke Babbage to try -to secure a pony, sound, kind, and fleet, that will drag Mrs. MacGill -up and down the hills. She refused the steeds proffered by the Grey -Tor stables, and sent Miss Evesham to procure something so hopelessly -ideal in the shape of horseflesh that I confess we had no expectation -of ever finding it. - -The groom at the Unicorn produced a nice pony chaise, well padded and -well braked, with small low wheels, and a pony originally black, but -worn grey by age, as well as by battling with the elements in this -region of bare hills and bleak winds. Miss Evesham liked its looks -particularly. I, too, was pleased by its sturdy build, and remarked -that its somewhat wild eye might be only a sign of ambition. Sir -Archibald took an entirely humorous view of the animal, and indeed, as -compared with a motor, the little creature seemed somewhat inadequate. -We agreed that for Mrs. MacGill (and here we exchanged wicked glances) -it would do admirably, and we all became better acquainted in -discussing its points. - -Miss Evesham and I offered to drive the pony back to Grey Tor, and Sir -Archibald saw us depart with something that approached hilarity. He is -awfully nice when he unbends in this way, and quite makes one wish to -see him do it oftener. From all our previous conversations I have come -away with the sort of feeling you have when you visit the grave of -your grandmother on a Sunday afternoon. - -I don't know the number of miles between Stoke Babbage and Grey Tor. -The distance covered cuts no actual figure in describing the time -required for a drive with the new pony, whom I have christened -Greytoria. The word 'drive' is not altogether descriptive, since we -walked most of the way home. I hardly think this method of progression -would have occurred to us, but it did occur to Greytoria, and she -communicated the idea by stopping short at the slightest elevation, -and turning her head in a manner which could only mean, 'Suppose you -get out, if you don't mind!' - -Having walked up all the hills, we imagined we could perhaps drive -down. Not at all. Greytoria dislikes holding back more, if anything, -than climbing up. We kept our seats at first, applied the brake, and -attempted a very gentle trot. 'Don't let us spoil the pony,' I said. -'We must begin as we mean to go on.' Miss Evesham agreed, but in a -moment or two each issued from her side of the chaise, and that -without argument. Greytoria's supports are both stiff and weak--groggy -is Sir Archibald's word. She takes trembling little steps with her -forelegs, while the hind ones slide automatically down any declivity. -The hills between Stoke Babbage and Grey Tor being particularly long -and steep, we found that I was obliged to lead Greytoria by the -bridle, while Miss Evesham held the chaise by the back of the seat, -and attempted to keep it from falling on the pony's legs; the thing, -we finally discovered, that was the ruling terror of her life. - -Naturally we were late at luncheon, but we did not describe our drive -in detail. The groom at the stables says that the pony can drag Mrs. -MacGill quite safely, if Miss Evesham is firm in her management. Of -course she will have to walk up and down all the hills, but she -doesn't mind that, and Mrs. MacGill will love it. It is bliss to her -to lie in slippered ease, so to speak, and see all the people in her -vicinity working like galley slaves. We shall be delightfully situated -now, with Greytoria, Sir Archibald's motor, and an occasional trap -from the stables, if we need other vehicles. - -Sir Archibald as yet does not look upon a motor as a philanthropic -institution. There are moments when he seems simply to regard it as a -means of selfish pleasure, but that must be changed. - -Item. Miss Evesham looked only twenty-nine at luncheon. - - -MRS. MACGILL - -Last night I slept so badly that I could not go down to the -dining-room this morning. Cecilia, in spite of her neuralgia yesterday -seemed well and bright. I asked her to send me up some breakfast, but -could scarcely eat it when it came; the tea was cold, the bread damp -and tough, and the egg fresh enough, but curious. Cecilia never came -near me after breakfast. When I came down about eleven o'clock, very -cold, I found no one in the sitting-rooms. Hearing voices, I went to -the door and found Cecilia talking to the American girl, who had a -great deal of colour for that hour in the morning. Sir Archibald came -up, grinding round the drive in his motor. It is quite unnecessary to -have brought a motor here at all, for I observe that the hillsides are -covered with ponies. There must have been a herd of twenty-five of -them outside my window this morning, so a motor is quite out of place. -The doctor here recommends me to try driving exercise, but some of the -animals are so very small that I scarcely think they could pull me up -these hills. Cecilia says the smaller ones are foals. Many of them -kick, I see, so we must select with care. I wish we could procure a -donkey. The feeling of confidence I have when in a donkey-chair more -than makes up for the slowness of motion. - -Like me, Mrs. Pomeroy was kept awake by the wind--it never stops here. -When I remarked on this, Cecilia said in her patronising way, 'Don't -you remember Borrow's famous line,-- - - 'There's always the wind on the heath'? - -'I see nothing clever in that,' I said; 'there _is_ always wind on the -heath here, and I particularly dislike it.' - -When we came into the drawing-room Miss Pomeroy was saying, 'I've -discovered a piano!' The piano, to my mind, was the largest object in -the room, so she must be short-sighted, if she had not seen it before; -pride probably prevents her wearing glasses. She sat there singing for -quite a long time. She wouldn't finish her songs, but just sang scraps -of a number of things. Sir Archibald came into the room and stood -about for some time. I asked him several questions about his father's -sister, whom I used to know. He replied so absently that I could make -nothing of it. Miss Pomeroy has a clear voice. She sang what I suppose -were translations of negro songs--very noisy. When she afterwards -tried one of Moore's exquisite melodies, I confess to admiring it. It -was a great favourite with Mr. MacGill, who used to sing it with much -feeling:-- - - 'Around the dear ruin, each wish of my heart.' - -What a touching expression that is for a middle-aged woman--'the dear -ruin'! - -Grey Tor is certainly very bleak. The guide-books speak of 'huge -monoliths' (I suppose they mean the rocks on the moor), 'seeming to -have been reared by some awful cataclysm of nature in primordial -times.' I hope there will be no cataclysms during our stay on the -moor; the accounts of tempests of which I read in some of the novels -quite frighten me, yet I can scarcely think there is much danger about -this tor--'a giant, the biggest tor of all,' the guide-books say. It -is so fully peopled by tourists with luncheon-baskets that one loses -the feeling of desolation. Miss Pomeroy has been up to the top -already--twice, once alone. Cecilia means to go too, though nothing -can be worse for neuralgia than cold wind. She will always say that -nothing hurts her like sitting in hot rooms. I should be very glad to -have a hot room to sit in! She has got a nice, quiet-looking animal at -last, and a low pony chaise, so I hope to have some drives. - -Neuralgia is one of those things one cannot calculate on. Cecilia will -be ill all day, and then suddenly able to come down to dinner. I have -suffered a good deal from tic douloureux myself, but was never able to -eat during the paroxysms, as Cecilia seems to be. After having five -teeth pulled, I once lived exclusively on soup for three days. - -Miss Pomeroy, I suppose, is what most people would call a pretty girl. -Hot bread and dyspepsia will soon do for her, though, as for all -American women. The bread here is tough and very damp. She is dark, -very dark in hair and eyes, in spite of her white skin, and she -describes herself as a 'Southerner.' I should be inclined to suspect a -strain of negro or Indian blood. I heard her discussing what she -called 'the colour problem' with Cecilia, and she seemed to speak with -a good deal of bitterness. Yet Mrs. Pomeroy is evidently a lady. The -girl dresses well in the American style, which I never attempt. She -has, I suppose, what would be called a fine figure, though the waist -seems of no importance just now. Her feet, in shoes, look small -enough, though the heels she wears astonish me; it is years since I -have worn anything but a simple cloth boot, neat but roomy. I have -seen her glance at my feet several times, as if she observed something -odd about them. - - -SIR ARCHIBALD MAXWELL MACKENZIE - - GREY TOR INN - -Isn't it a most extraordinary thing that when people are in a -comfortable house, with a good roof over their heads, solid meals -served at regular intervals three or four times a day, and every -possible comfort, they instantly want to go outside and make -themselves not only thoroughly uncomfortable, but generally ill -besides, by having a picnic in the open? Ever since I had that walk -with Miss Pomeroy, she has done nothing but talk about a picnic at -some beastly little village in the vicinity where there is a church -that the guide-books tell the usual lies about. As to churches--a -church to my mind is a place to go to on Sundays with the rest of the -congregation. It is plainly not constructed for week-days, when it is -empty, cold, and damp, and you have to take your hat off in the -draughts all the same, and talk in whispers. As to picnics--there's a -kind of folly about _them_ that it is altogether beyond me to -understand. Why such things ever take place outside the grounds of a -lunatic asylum, goodness only knows; they ought to be forbidden by -law, and the people who organise them shut up as dangerous. However, I -see I am in for this one. Miss Pomeroy wants the motor, but she won't -get the motor without me. Heaven be praised, the weather has broken up -in the meantime, which is the reason I am staying on here. Motoring on -Dartmoor in a tearing nor'easter is no catch. My quarters are -comfortable, and but for the women I should be doing very well. - -The worst of it is, there is a whole batch of them now. A Mrs. MacGill -and her companion are here, and these two and the Americans seem to -have met before. The two old women are as thick as thieves, and the -fair Virginia (she told me her name, though she might have seen, I am -sure, that I was simply dying not to know it) seems to have a good -deal to say to the companion, though the latter doesn't appear to me -much in the line of such a lively young person. There's no rule, of -course, for women's likes and dislikes, any more than for anything -else that has to do with them. The unlucky part of it is that Mrs. -MacGill seemed to spot me the moment she heard my name. She says my -father was her brother-in-law's first cousin, and her brother-in-law -died in Agra in a fit; though what that has to do with it, goodness -knows. It means I have got to be civil and to get mixed up with the -rest of the party. A man can never be as rude as he feels, which is -one of the drawbacks of civilisation. So I have to sit at their table -now, and talk the whole time--can't even have a meal in peace. The old -woman MacGill is on one side, the American girl on the other. The -companion sits opposite. _She_ keeps quiet, which is one mercy; -generally has neuralgia,--a pale, rather lady-like young woman with a -seen-better-days-and-once-was-decidedly-pretty air about her. The -American girl's clothes take the cake, of course--a new frock every -night and such ribbons and laces--my stars! I'd rather not be the man -who has to pay for them. I'm surprised at her talking so much to the -humble companion--thought this sort of girl never found it worth while -to be civil to her own sex; but I conclude this is not invariably the -case. - -'I'm afraid your neuralgia is very bad up here,' I heard her say to -Miss Evesham (that's the companion's name) after dinner last night. -'You come right along to my room, and I'll rub menthol on your poor -temples.' And they went off together and disappeared for the night. - -The weather has cleared up to-day, though it is still too cold and -windy, thank the Lord, for the picnic to Widdington-in-the-Wolds. I -took the motor to a little town about four miles off, and overtook -the fair Virginia and Miss Evesham, footing it there on some errand of -Mrs. MacGill's. I slowed down as I got near, but I soon saw Miss -Pomeroy intended me to stop; there's no uncertainty about any of _her_ -desires. - -'Now, Sir Archibald,' said she with a straight look which made me -understand that obedience was my _role_, 'I know what you're going to -do this very minute. Miss Evesham's neuralgia is so bad that she can -scarcely see, and you've got to take her right along in your motor to -the Unicorn Inn, and help choose a pony for Mrs. MacGill. Just a man's -job--you'd love doing it, I should think.' - -I wanted to hum and haw a bit, but she didn't give me the chance. She -pulled open the door behind. 'Get in quick!' she said to the -companion. 'Quick, quick! a motor puff-puffing this way always makes -me think it's in a desperate hurry and won't wait!' - -_I_, however, was not in such a hurry this time, though there's -nothing I hate more, as a rule, than wasting motor power standing -still. - -'What are _you_ going to do, Miss Pomeroy?' I shouted above the -throbbing and shaking of the machine. - -'Going right home to my mother,' she replied. 'It's about time, too.' - -'No, you don't,' thought I, 'and leave me saddled with the companion.' -For if you _must_ have female society, you may as well have it -good-looking when you are about it. - -'Won't you do me the pleasure of taking a ride too?' I asked politely. -I knew perfectly well she was dying for a ride in the motor, and I had -turned a deaf ear to dozens of hints. But now that she wanted to do -the other woman a good turn and walk home herself, nothing would -content me but to have her in the motor. I know how inconvenient it is -to be good-natured and unselfish. I am obliged to be both so often, -against my natural inclinations. - -Miss Virginia's eyes gave a sparkle, but she hesitated a moment. - -'The front seat's much the jolliest,' I remarked, 'and it's very good -going--no end of a surface.' She gave a jump and was up beside me in -half a second, and we were off. - -By Jove--that was a good bit of going! The road was clear, the surface -like velvet. I took every bit out of the motor that was in it, and we -went the pace and no mistake. Miss Virginia was as pleased as Punch, I -could see. She had to hold on her hat with both hands, and her cheeks -and lips were as red as roses; the ribbons flew out from her neck, and -flapped across my face, which was a nuisance, of course; they had the -faint scent of some flower or other; I hate smells, as a rule, but -this was not strong enough to be bad. We got down at the Unicorn, and -though I said I knew nothing whatever about ponies, I had to look -through the stables with the hostler, and choose a beast and a trap -for Mrs. MacGill. There was only one of each, so the choice was not -difficult. The two girls drove home in the turnout. I thought it was -time to disappear. - - -CECILIA EVESHAM - - GREY TOR INN, - _Thursday_ - -I have had a miserable thirty-six hours. Mrs. MacGill has been ill -again--or has believed that she is ill again. I do not think there is -much wrong with her, but the over-sympathetic Mrs. Pomeroy went on -describing symptoms to her till she became quite nervous and went to -bed, demanding that a doctor be sent for. This was no easy matter, but -at last a callow medical fledgling was dug out somewhere, who was -ready to agree with all I said to him. - -'Suggest fresh air and exercise to Mrs. MacGill,' I said, 'for she -considers the one poisonous, the other almost a crime, and knitting -the only legitimate form of amusement.' - -So he recommended air and exercise--driving exercise by preference. - -'I used to like the donkey-chairs at Tunbridge Wells,' Mrs. MacGill -responded, 'but horses go so rapidly.' - -However, after the doctor had gone she began to consider his advice. - -'Shall I go to the stables and arrange for you to have a drive this -afternoon?' I asked. - -She demurred, for she never can make up her mind about anything. - -'I can't decide just now,' she hesitated. 'I'll think it over.' - -I took up the guide-book, and was allowed to read its thrilling pages -for some ten minutes. Then Mrs. MacGill called me again. - -'Perhaps if you go and select a _very_ quiet horse we might have a -drive in the afternoon,' she said. - -I went and saw the horse, and arranged for the drive, then returned to -tell Mrs. MacGill of the arrangement. She was not pleased. Had I said -that _perhaps_ we would drive out at three o'clock, it would have been -more to her mind. - -'Go back and tell the man that perhaps we'll go,' she said. - -'But perhaps some one else will take out the horse, in that case,' I -suggested, cross and weary with her fidgeting. All the rest of the -forenoon was one long vacillation: she would go, or she would not go; -it would rain, or it would not rain; she would countermand the -carriage or she would order it. But by three o'clock the sun was -shining, so I got her bonneted and cloaked and led her down to the -hall. The motor had come round at the same moment with our carriage. -Its owner was looking it over before he made a start, and I was not -surprised to see that Miss Virginia Pomeroy was also at the door, and -that she showed great interest in the tires of the motor. Had I been -that young man I must have asked her to drive with me there and then, -she looked so delightful; but he is rather a phlegmatic creature, -surely, for he didn't seem to think of it. Just as we were preparing -to step into the carriage, the motor gave out a great puff of steam, -and the horse in our vehicle sprang up in the shafts and took a shy to -one side. It was easily quieted down, but of course the incident was -more than enough for Mrs. MacGill. - -'Take it away,' she said to the driver. 'I won't endanger my life with -such an animal--brown horses are always wild, and so are black ones.' - -It was vain for me to argue; she just turned away and walked upstairs -again, I following to take off her bonnet and cloak, and supply her -again with her knitting. So there was an end of the carriage exercise, -it seemed. - -But there's a curious boring pertinacity in the creature, for after we -had sat in silence for about ten minutes she remarked:-- - -'Cecilia, the doctor _said_ I was to have carriage exercise--Don't you -think I could get a donkey-chair?' - -'No,' I replied quite curtly. 'Donkey-chairs do not grow on Dartmoor.' - -She never saw that I was provoked, and perhaps it was just as well. - -'No,' she said after a pause for reflection. 'No, I dare say they do -not, but don't you think if you walked to Stoke Babbage you might be -able to get one for me?' - -'I might be able to get a pony chaise and a quiet pony,' I answered, -scenting the possibility of a five-mile walk that would give me an -hour or two of peace. - -'Well, will you go and try if you can get one?' she asked. - -'If you don't mind being left alone for a few hours, I'll do what I -can,' I said. She was beginning to object, when Virginia appeared, -leading in her mother. - -'Here's my mother come to keep you company, Mrs. MacGill,' she -explained. 'She wishes to hear all about your chill, from the first -shiver right on to the last cough.' She placed Mrs. Pomeroy in an -armchair, and fairly drove me out of the room before her, pushing me -with both hands. - -'Come! Run! Fly! Escape!' she cried. 'You are as white as butter with -waiting on that woman's fads. I won't let you come in again under -three hours. My mother's symptoms are good to last for two and a half -hours, and then Mrs. MacGill can fill up the rest of the time with -hers.' - -Gaiety like Virginia's is infectious. I ran, yes, really ran -downstairs along with her, quite forgetting my headache and weariness. -I almost turned traitor to Mrs. MacGill, and was ready to laugh at her -with this girl. - -'She wants a pony chaise, and I'm to go down to Stoke Babbage to -choose it,' I said. - -'Why, that's five miles away, isn't it?' she asked. 'You're not half -equal to a walk like that.' - -'Anything--anything for a respite from Mrs. MacGill!' I cried. - -'Well, if you are fit for it, I reckon I am,' Virginia said, and with -that we set off together down the road.... - - - - -III - - -VIRGINIA POMEROY - - GREY TOR INN - -'The inn at the world's end. The inn at the world's end.' These words -come into my mind every morning when I look out of my window at the -barren moor with its clumps of blazing whin, the misty distance, and -the outline of Grey Tor against the sky. That 'giant among rocks -rising in sombre and sinister majesty athwart the blue' looks to my -eye like an interesting stone on a nice, middle-sized hill. If only -they would dwell more upon the strange sense of desolation and mystery -it seems to put into the landscape, instead of being awed by its -so-called size! I am fascinated by it, but refuse to be astounded. - -This naughty conception of the colossus of the moor is the one link -between Sir Archibald and me, for he has seen Ben Nevis and I the -Yosemite crags. Geologically speaking, I admit that these moor rocks -must be fascinating to the student, and certainly we at home are -painfully destitute of 'clapper-bridges,' 'hut-circles,' and -'monoliths'; although I heard an imaginative fellow-countryman declare -yesterday to a party of English trippers that we had so many we became -tired to death of the sight of them, and the government ordered -hundreds of them to be pulled down. - -Every inn, even one at the world's end, is a little picture of life, -and we have under our roof all sorts of dramas in process of -unfolding. - -Shall I always be travelling, I wonder, picking up acquaintances here -and there, sometimes friends, now and then a lover perhaps! Imagine a -hotel lover, a lodging-house suitor, a husband, whom one would -remember afterwards was rented with an apartment! But if I had found -only Cecilia Evesham in this bleak spot I could be thankful for -coming. She is like a white thornbush in a barren field, and she is -not plain either, as they all persist in thinking her. Life, Mrs. -MacGill, and the village dressmaker have for the moment placed her -under a total eclipse; but she will shine yet, this poor little sunny -beam, all put out of countenance by fierce lights and heavy shadows. -To-day is her birthday, and mamma, who has taken a great fancy to her, -gave her a long, wide scarf of creamy tambour lace. I presented a -little violet brooch and belt-buckle of purple enamel, and by hard -labour extracted from Mrs. MacGill a hideous little jug of Aller Vale -pottery with 'Think of Me' printed on it. Think of her, indeed! One -can always do that without having one's memory jogged, or jugged. Sir -Archibald joined in the affair most amiably, and offered a red-bound -Dartmoor Guide which he chanced to have with him. When we made our -little gifts and I draped Miss Evesham in her tambour scarf, she -looked only twenty-seven and a half by the clock! I wanted to put a -flower in her hair, but she shook her head, saying, 'Roses are for -young and lovely people like you, Virginia, who have other roses to -match in their cheeks.' I was pleased that Sir Archibald was so -friendly about the simple birthday festivities. I can forgive being -snubbed a little myself, or if not exactly snubbed, treated as a -mysterious (and inferior) being from another planet; but if he had -been condescending or disagreeable with Miss Evesham I should have -hated him. As it is I am quite grateful for him as a distinct addition -to our dull feminine party. He is a new type to me, I confess it, and -I had not till to-day made much headway in understanding him. When a -man has positively no shallows one always credits him (I dare say -falsely) with immeasurable depths. His unlikeness to all the men I've -known increases his charm. He seems to attach such undue importance to -small attentions, as if they meant not only a loss of dignity to the -man, but an unwise feeding of the woman's vanity as well. He gave me -the Black Watch ribbon for my banjo with as much inward hesitation and -fear as Breck Calhoun would feel in asking me to share his future on -nothing a year. He didn't grudge the ribbon, not he! but he was -awfully afraid it might prove too encouraging a symptom for me to bear -humbly and modestly. - -Then that little affair of yesterday--was there ever anything more -characteristic or more unexpected! I am certain he followed me into -the lane for a walk, and would have joined me if Madam Spoil-Sport had -not been my companion. Then came the stampede of the hill ponies, -which may or may not have been a frightful and dangerous episode. I -can only say it seemed so terrifying that I should have fainted if I -hadn't been so surprised at Sir Archibald's behaviour; and I'm not at -all a fainting sort of person, either. - -Mrs. MacGill never looked more shapeless and stupid, and having been -uncommonly selfish and peevish that day, was even less worth -preserving than usual. I don't know what the etiquette is in regard to -life-saving. No doubt the (worthy) aged should always have the first -chance, but in any event I should think a man would evince some slight -regret at seeing a young and lovely creature, just on the threshold of -life, stamped into jelly by a herd of snorting ponies! But Sir -Archibald apparently did not care what happened to me so long as he -could rescue his countrywoman. I waited quite still in that awful -moment when the clattering herd was charging down upon us, confident -that a man of his strength and coolness would look out for us both. -But he snatched the sacred person of the Killjoy, threw her against a -gate, stood in front of her, and with out-stretched arms defied the -oncoming foe. His gesture, his courage, the look in his eye, would -have made the wildest pony quail. It did more,--it made me quail; but -in the same instant he shouted to me, 'Look out for yourself and be -sharp! Shin up that bank! Look alive!' - -Shinning was not my customary attitude, but it was not mine 'to make -reply.' I shinned; that is all there is to say about the matter. I -_was_ 'sharp' and I _did_ 'look alive,' being deserted by my natural -protector. I, Virginia Pomeroy, aged twenty-two, native of Richmond, -U.S.A., clambered up one of those steep banks found only in Devonshire -lanes,--a ten or twelve foot bank, crowned with a straggling, ragged -hedge of thorn. I dug my fingers and toes into the earth and clutched -at grass tufts, roots, or anything clutchable, and ended by tumbling -into a thicket of freshly cut beechen twigs. I was as angry as I had -breath to be, but somehow I was awed by the situation: by Mrs. -MacGill's trembling gratitude; by Sir Archibald's presence of mind; by -his imperious suggestion as to my way of escape, for I could never -have climbed that sheer wall of earth unless I had been ordered to in -good set terms. Coming down from my heights a few minutes later, -looking like an intoxicated lady who has resisted the well-meant -advice of a policeman, I put Mrs. MacGill together and shook Sir -Archibald's hand. I am sure I don't know why; he did precious little -for me, but he had been something of a hero, nevertheless. - -'_Shin up that bank and look alive!_' I was never spoken to in that -way before, in all my life. I wish Breck Calhoun could have heard him! - - * * * * * - - -MRS. MACGILL - - _Saturday afternoon_ - -I have had a terrible experience, which has upset me completely and -damaged my right knee, besides agitating me so much that I can -scarcely remember how it happened. I have read that a drowning man -sees his whole life before him in a flash of time. It is different -with women perhaps. I saw no flash of anything, and thought only of -myself,--remembering a horrible story I read somewhere about a horse -in the Crimea that bit the faces of the enemy. Sir Archibald _flung_ -me against a gate. The intention was kind, I dare say, but even then I -could just hear the beads ripping off my mantle as I fell against the -bars. The lane seemed full of ponies, all screaming, as I didn't know -horses could scream, and kicking like so many grasshoppers. - -'It's all right! Nothing has happened!' he called to the girl, when -the herd receded. - -'I don't know what you two call happened,' I said, as soon as I could -speak. 'We have been nearly killed--all of us, especially me.' - -I looked at Miss Pomeroy; so did Sir Archibald. She is an active girl, -and at the first suggestion of danger she had scrambled headlong up a -steep bank, where she clung to the roots of the hedge, entirely -forgetting all about me. She now came down, and required some -assistance in descending, although she had climbed up, which is more -difficult, all in a moment. She was certainly pale--really pale for -the first time since she came here, and did not seem to think about -her hat, which was hanging half-way down her back by this time. Poor -Mr. MacGill used always to say that when a pretty girl forgot her -appearance there was something really serious in the air. She seemed -to have forgotten, but I dare say she really was thinking that she -looked nicer that way. She came up to the young man, and held out her -hand to him, saying, 'Thank you, Sir Archibald.' Americans are very -forward, certainly. If I had said 'Thank you,' and offered to shake -hands with him, there might have been some reason for it, although I -never thought of doing so; it was decidedly Me that Sir Archibald had -rescued. This did not seem to make a bit of difference to them, -however. He took her hand and shook it, and then I must say had the -civility to give Me his arm, and we all walked back to the hotel. I -felt so shattered that I went to bed for the rest of the afternoon. - - -SIR ARCHIBALD MAXWELL MACKENZIE - - GREY TOR INN - -Mrs. MacGill is not the kind of person you'd associate with -danger,--being an armchair-and-feather-bed sort of character,--yet, by -Jingo, the old girl has had a narrow squeak to-day. She and Miss -Virginia went out for a walk together, the companion being invisible -with the usual headache. I thought I would follow them a little way. -Mrs. MacGill is an interfering old person, and I have noticed of late -that she scents a flirtation between the fair American and me. Whether -there is a flirtation or not, I don't know (_I_ am not learned in such -things); but if there were, she is not the person to stop it, nor any -other old cat on earth. She has merely succeeded--I wish she knew--in -putting it into my head that American girls are apt to be exceedingly -attractive as well as eligible in the matrimonial market. I should -think Miss Virginia was as eligible as any of them, and better looking -than most. - -I kept the pair in sight, and it was lucky that I did. A tremendous -explosion from a quarry where some men are blasting made me stop -short, and as to the old girl in front, she leaped about a foot into -the air, and I could hear Miss Virginia laugh and say something funny -about ankles and white stockings. Just then a most extraordinary noise -began at the top of the lane, a pounding of hoofs and grinding of -gravel and flying of stones; and in another minute, round the corner -of this lane, which was of the narrowest sort and nearly roofed in -with trees and banks, as these beastly Devonshire lanes always are, -came a herd of moor ponies--about twenty or thirty of them--squeaking -and biting and kicking, in a regular stampede. The report of the -blasting had startled them, I don't doubt, and part terror, part -vice, made them kick up a shindy and set off at full gallop. There -wasn't a moment to lose. I ran for the women, with a shout, thinking -only of the young one, of course. But when I saw the two together, -there wasn't a question of which I must help. Miss Virginia had legs -of her own; if Mrs. MacGill had any, they were past helping her now. -There was a sort of hurdle to the right; I managed to jam the old -woman against it and shout to the girl, 'Shin up that bank! Look -alive!' while I stood in front, waving my arms and carrying on like a -madman to frighten the ponies. They bore down on us in a swelter of -dust; but just when they were within about a yard of our position they -swerved to the left, stopped half a second, looking at us out of the -corners of their eyes, snuffed the air, snorted, gave a squeal or two -more, and galloped off down the lane. It was a pretty narrow -shave,--nothing, of course, if the women hadn't been there. Miss -Virginia and I shook hands over it, and between us we got the old lady -back to the hotel, nearly melted with fright. - -That night after dinner I was smoking on the verandah in front of the -hotel. I heard Miss Virginia singing as she crossed the hall, and -looked in. - -'It's rather a jolly night, Miss Pomeroy,' I said, 'not at all cold.' - -'Isn't it?' she asked, and came to the door. - -'There's a comfortable seat here,' I added, 'and the verandah keeps -off the wind from the moor.' - -She came out. It was quite dark, for the sky was cloudy and there was -no moon, but there was a splash of light where we sat, from the hall -window, so that I could see Miss Virginia and she could see me. She -was dressed in a very pretty frock, all pink and white, and I have -certainly now come round to the artist's opinion that she is an -uncommonly pretty girl; not that I care for pretty girls,--of course -they are the worst kind, and I have always avoided them so far. - -'Well,' said Miss Virginia, 'you've done a fairly good day's work, I -should think, and can go to bed with an easy conscience and sleep the -sleep of the just!' - -'Why, particularly?' I inquired bashfully. - -'Why?' cried Miss Virginia. 'Haven't you rescued Age and Scotland from -a cruel death? I suppose it didn't matter to you what became of Youth -and America. But I forgive you, you managed the other so well.' - -I couldn't help laughing and getting rather red, and Miss Virginia -gave me a wicked look out of her black eyes. - -'Why, Miss Pomeroy,' I said in a confused way, 'don't you see how it -was? I argued to myself you had your own legs to save yourself on, -while'-- - -But here Miss Virginia jumped up with a little scream. - -'We don't talk about legs that way, where I come from!' she said, but -I saw she was not really shocked, only laughing, with the rum little -dimples coming out in her cheeks. - -'Won't you shake hands again,' I suggested, 'to show you have quite -forgiven me?' - -Miss Virginia's hand was in mine, I was holding it, when who should -come to the door and look out but Mrs. MacGill. - -'I think it is very cold and damp for you to be out at this hour, Miss -Pomeroy,' she remarked pointedly. - -'Well, I suppose it is, Mrs. MacGill,' said Miss Virginia, as cool as -you please, lifting up the long tail of her dress and making a little -face at me over her shoulder. - -Mrs. MacGill gave a loud sniff and never budged till Miss Virginia was -safely inside. The old harridan--I'll teach her a lesson if she -doesn't mend her manners! - - -CECILIA EVESHAM - - _Friday evening_ - -Here I was interrupted, and now something new has happened that -requires telling, so I'll skip our adventures of Thursday afternoon, -and go on to Friday.... - -Well, this morning I came down to breakfast, almost blind with -neuralgia. I struggled on till luncheon, when it became unbearable. -Virginia (I call her that already) looked at me in the kindest way -during the meal. - -'You're ill,' she said. 'You need putting to bed.' - -Mrs. MacGill looked surprised. 'Cecilia is never very ill,' she -observed tepidly. - -'She's ill now, no mistake,' Virginia persisted, and rose and came -round to my side of the table. 'Come and let me help you upstairs and -put you to bed.' - -I was too ill to resist, and she led me to my room and tucked me up -comfortably. - -'Now,' she said, 'this headache wants peace of mind to cure it; I know -the kind. You can't get peace for thinking about Mrs. MacGill. I'm -going to take her off your mind for the afternoon--it's time I tried -companioning--no girl knows when she may need to earn a living. You -won't know your Mrs. MacGill when you get her again! I'll dress her up -and walk her out, and humour her.' - -She bent down and kissed me as she spoke. It was the sweetest kiss! -Her face is like a peach to feel, and her clothes have a delicious -scent of violets. Somehow all my troubles seemed to smooth out. She -rustled away in her silk-lined skirts, and I fell into a much-needed -sleep, feeling that all would be well. - -I was mistaken, however. All did not go well, but on the contrary -something very unfortunate happened while I was sleeping so quietly. -It must have been about four o'clock when I was wakened by Virginia -coming into my room again. She looked a little ruffled and pale. - -'I've brought Mrs. MacGill back to you, Miss Evesham,' she said, 'but -it's thanks to Sir Archibald, not to me. She will tell you all about -it.' With that Mrs. MacGill came tottering into the room, plumped down -upon the edge of my bed, and began a breathless, incoherent story in -which wild ponies, stampedes, lanes, Sir Archibald, and herself were -all mixed up together. - -'Did he really save you from a bad accident?' I asked Virginia, for it -was impossible to make out anything from Mrs. MacGill. - -Virginia nodded. 'He did, Cecilia, and I like him,' she said. - -'Oh ho!' I thought. 'Is it possible that I am going to be mixed up in -a romance? She likes him, does she? Very good; we shall see.' - -And then, because the world always appears a neutral-tinted place to -me, without high lights of any kind, I rebuked myself for imagining -that anything lively could ever come my way. 'I couldn't even look on -at anything romantic nowadays,' I thought, 'I doubt if there _is_ such -a thing as romance; it's just a figment of youth. Come, Mrs. MacGill, -I'll find your knitting for you,' I said; 'that will compose you -better than anything else.' - - - - -IV - - -VIRGINIA POMEROY - - THE GREY TOR INN - -We had rather a nice half-hour at Little Widger to-day, Sir Archibald -and I. Of course we were walking. It is still incomprehensible to me, -the comfort, the pleasure even, these people get out of the simple use -of their legs. We passed Wishtcot and Wildycombe and then came upon -Little Widger, not having known of its existence. The tiny hamlet -straggles down a side hill and turns a corner, to terminate in the -village inn, quaintly named 'The Mug o' Cider.' An acacia laden with -yellow tassels hangs over the stone gate, purple and white lilacs -burst through the hedges, and there is a cob-and-thatch cottage, with -a dazzling white hawthorn in front of it and a black pig nosing at -the gate. - -O the loveliness of that May noon, a sunny noon for once; the -freshness of the beeches; the golden brown of the oaks; above all, the -shimmering beauty of the young birches! It was as if the sap had just -brimmed and trembled into leaves; as if each drop had thinned itself -into a transparent oval of liquid green. - -The sight of Mrs. MacGill being dragged by Greytoria over a very -distant hill was soothing in itself, or it would have been if I hadn't -known Miss Evesham was toiling up beside her. We were hungry and -certain of being late to luncheon, so Sir Archibald proposed food of -some sort at the inn. He had cold meat, bread and cheese, and a -tankard of Devonshire cider, while I had delicious junket, clouted -cream, and stewed apple. Before starting on our long homeward stroll -we had a cosy chat, the accessories being a fire, a black cat, and a -pipe, with occasional incursions by a small maid-servant who looked -exactly like a Devonshire hill pony,--strong, sturdy, stocky, -heavy-footed, and tangled as to mane. - -We were discussing our common lack of relatives. 'I have no one but my -mother and two distant cousins,' I said. - -The sympathetic man would have murmured, 'Poor little soul!' and the -too sentimental one would have seized the opportunity to exclaim, -'Then let me be all in all to you!' But Sir Archibald removed his pipe -and remarked, 'Good thing too, I dare say'; and then in a moment -continued with graceful tact and frankness, 'They say you can't tell -anything about an American family by seeing one of 'em.' - -Upon my word, the hopeless candour of these our brethren of the -British Isles is astonishing. Sometimes after a prolonged conversation -with two or three of them I feel like going about the drawing-room -with a small broom and dust-pan and sweeping up the home truths that -should lie in scattered profusion on the floor; and which do, no -doubt, were my eyes as keen in seeing as my ears in hearing. - -However, I responded meekly, 'I suppose that is true; but I doubt if -the peculiarity is our exclusive possession. None of my relatives -belonged to the criminal classes, and they could all read and write, -but I dare say some of them were more desirable than others from a -social point of view. It must be so delicious to belong to an order of -things that never questions itself! Breckenridge Calhoun says that is -the one reason he can never quite get on with the men over here at -first; which always makes me laugh, for in his way, as a rabid -Southerner, he is just as bad.' - -There was quite an interval here in which the fire crackled, the black -cat purred, and the pipe puffed. Sir Archibald broke the cosy silence -by asking, 'Who is this Mr. Calhoun whom you and your mother mention -so often?' - -The conversation that ensued was quite a lengthy one, but I will -report as much of it as I can remember. It was like this:-- - -_Jinny._ Breckenridge Calhoun is my 'childhood's friend,' the kind of -man whose estates join yours, who has known you ever since you were -born; liked you, quarrelled with you, forgotten you, and been sweet -upon you by turns; and who finally marries you, when you have both -given up hope of finding anybody more original and startling.--By the -way, am I the first American girl you've met? - -_Sir A._ Not the first I've met, but the first I've known. There was a -jolly sort of schoolgirl from Indiana whom I saw at my old aunt's -house in Edinburgh. There were half a dozen elderly tabbies pressing -tea and scones on her, and she cried, just as I was coming in at the -door, 'Oh, no more tea, please! I could hear my last scone splash!' - -_Jinny (shaking with laughter)._ Oh, how lovely! I am so glad you had -such a picturesque and fearless young person as a first experience; -but as she has been your only instructress, you have much to learn, -and I might as well begin my duty to you at once. - -_Sir A._ You're taking a deal of trouble. - -_Jinny._ Oh, it's no trouble, but a pleasure rather, to put a -fellow-being on the right track. You must first disabuse your mind of -the American girl as you find her in books. - -_Sir A._ Don't have to; never read 'em. - -_Jinny._ Very well, then,--the American girl of the drama and casual -conversation; that's worse. You must forget her supposed freedom of -thought and speech, her rustling silk skirts, her jingling side bag or -chatelaine, her middle initial, her small feet and hands, her high -heels, her extravagant dress, her fortune,--which only one in ten -thousand possesses,--her overworked father and weakly indulgent -mother, called respectively poppa and momma. These are but -accessories,--the frame, not the picture. They exist, that is quite -true, but no girl has the whole list, thank goodness! I, for example, -have only one or two of the entire lot. - -_Sir A._ Which ones? I was just thinking you had 'em all. - -_Jinny._ You must find out something for yourself! The foundation idea -of modern education is to make the pupil the discoverer of his own -knowledge. As I was saying when interrupted, if you remove these -occasional accompaniments of the American girl you find simply the -same old 'eternal feminine.' Of course there is a wide range of -choice. You seem to think over here that there is only one kind of -American girl; but if you would only go into the subject deeply you -would find fat and lean, bright and dull, pert and meek, some that -could only have been discovered by Columbus, others that might have -been brought up in the rocky fastnesses of a pious Scottish home. - -_Sir A._ I don't get on with girls particularly well. - -_Jinny._ I can quite fancy that! Not one American girl in a hundred -would take the trouble to understand you. You need such a lot of -understanding that an indolent girl or a reserved one or a spoiled one -or a busy one would keep thinking, 'Does it pay?' - -_Sir A. (reddening and removing his pipe thoughtfully, pressing down -the tobacco in the bowl)._ Hullo, you can hit out when you like. - -_Jinny._ I am not 'hitting out'; I get on delightfully well with you -because I have lots of leisure just now to devote to your case. Of -course it would be a great economy of time and strength if you chose -to meet people half-way, or perhaps an eighth! It's only the amenities -of the public street, after all, that casual acquaintances need, in -order to have a pleasant time along the way. The private path is quite -another thing; even I put out the sign, 'No thoroughfare,' over that; -but I don't see why you need build bramble hedges across the common -roads of travel.--Do you know what a 'scare-cat' is? - -_Sir A._ Can't say I do. - -_Jinny._ It's a nice expressive word belonging to the infants' -vocabulary of slang. I think you are regular 'scare-cats' over here, -when it comes to the treatment of casual acquaintances. You must be -clever enough to know a lady or a gentleman when you see one, and you -don't take such frightful risks with ladies and gentlemen. - -During this entire colloquy Sir Archibald Maxwell Mackenzie, Baronet, -of Kindarroch, eyed me precisely as if he had been a dignified mastiff -observing the incomprehensible friskings of a playful, foolish puppy -of quite another species. 'Good Heavens,' thinks the mastiff, raising -his eyes in devout astonishment, 'can I ever at any age have disported -myself like that? The creature seems to have positively none of my -qualities; I wonder if it really _is_ a dog?' - -'Do you approve of marriage,--go in for it?' queried Sir Archibald in -a somewhat startling manner, after a long pause, and puffing steadily -the while. - -'I approve of it entirely,' I answered, 'especially for men; women are -terribly hampered by it, to be sure.' - -'I should have put that in exactly the opposite way,' he said -thoughtfully. - -'I know you would,' I retorted, 'and that's precisely the reason I -phrased it as I did. One must keep your attention alive by some means -or other, else it would go on strike and quit work altogether.' - -Sir Archibald threw back his head and broke into an unexpected peal of -laughter at this. 'Come along out of doors, Miss Virginia Pomeroy,' he -said, standing up and putting his pipe in his pocket. 'You're an -awfully good chap, American or not!' - - -MRS. MACGILL - - _Sunday evening_ - -This day has been very wet. I had fully intended to go to church, -because I always make a point of doing so unless too ill to move, as I -consider it fully more a duty than a privilege, and example is -everything. However, after the fright I had yesterday, and the -shaking, I had such a pain in my right knee that devotion was out of -the question, even had my mantle been fit to put on (which it won't be -until Cecilia has mended all the trimming), so I resolved to stay -quietly in bed. After luncheon I could get no sleep, for Miss Pomeroy -was singing things which Cecilia says are camp meeting hymns. They -sounded to me like a circus, but they may introduce dance music at -church services in New York, and make horses dance to it, too. -Anything is possible to a people that can produce girls like Virginia -Pomeroy. One can hardly believe in looking at her that she belongs to -the nation of Longfellow, who wrote that lovely poem on 'Maidenhood.' -Poor Mr. MacGill used to be very fond of it:-- - - 'Standing, with reluctant feet, - Where the brook and river meet.' - -Even if there were a river here (we can see nothing of the Dart from -this hotel), one could never connect Miss Pomeroy with 'reluctant -feet' in any way. She has quite got hold of that unfortunate young -man. With my poor health, and sleeping so badly, it is very difficult -for me to interfere, but justice to the son of my old friend will make -me do what I can. - -About half-past five I came down and could see nobody. Mrs. Pomeroy -suffers from the same tickling cough as I do, after drinking tea, and -had gone to her own room. Cecilia was nowhere to be seen. I asked the -waiter, who is red-faced, but a Methodist, to tell me where she was, -and he told me in the Billiard Room. Of course I didn't know where I -was going, or I should never have entered it, especially on a wet -Sunday afternoon; but when I opened the door I stood horrified by what -I saw. - -Miss Pomeroy may be accustomed to such a place (I have read that they -are called 'brandy saloons' in America), but I never saw anything like -it. There was a great deal of tobacco, which at once set up my -tickling cough. Sir Archibald was holding what gamblers call a cue, -and rubbing it with chalk, I suppose to deaden the sound. On a -table--there were several chairs in the room, so it cannot have been -by mistake--sat Miss Pomeroy and Cecilia. The American was strumming -on a be-ribboned banjo. - -'O Mrs. MacGill, I thought you were asleep,' said Cecilia. - -'I wish I were; but I fear that what I see is only too true. Pray, -Cecilia, come away with me at once,' I exclaimed. - -Sir Archibald had placed a chair for me, but I took no notice of it, -except to say, 'I'm surprised that you don't offer _me_ a seat on the -table.' - -We left the room at once, and I spoke to Cecilia with some severity, -saying that I could never countenance such on-goings, and that Miss -Pomeroy was leading her all wrong. 'If she is determined to marry a -baronet,' I said, 'let her do it; but even an American might think it -more necessary that a baronet should be determined to marry her, and -might shrink from such a form of pursuit. Well, if you are determined -to laugh at me,' I went on, 'there must be some other arrangement -between us, but you cannot leave me at present, alone on a hillside -like this, just after influenza, amongst herds of wild ponies.' - -Cecilia cried at last, and upset me so much that I had another bad -night, suffering much from my knee, and obliged to have a cup of cocoa -at 2.30 A.M. Cecilia appeared half asleep as she made it, although -the day before she could spring out of bed the moment the light came -in, to look at the sunrise. These so-called poetic natures are very -puzzling and inconsistent. - - -SIR ARCHIBALD MAXWELL MACKENZIE - -There is no doubt, alas! that the weather is improving and that we -shall soon be in for that picnic. I have promised the motor and -promised my society. There is something about that girl which makes me -feel and act in a way I hardly think is quite normal. She forces me to -do things I don't want to do, and the things don't seem so bad in -themselves, at least as long as she is there. The artist I saw at -Exeter has turned up here, the one who comes to look at the gorse; at -any rate he makes a man to speak to, which is a merciful variety. He -talks a lot of rot of course,--raves about the 'blue distance' here, -as if it mattered what colour the distance is. But I think he is off -his chump in other ways besides; for instance, he was saying to-day he -was sick of landscape and pining to try his hand at a portrait. - -'There's your model quite ready,' said I, indicating Miss Virginia, -all in white, with a scarlet parasol, looking as pretty as a rose. - -'Bah!' said the artist, 'who wants to paint "the young person" whose -eyes show you a blank past, a delightful present, and a prosperous -future! Eyes that have cried are the only ones to paint. I should -prefer the old lady's companion.' - -I felt positively disgusted at this, but of course there is no -accounting for tastes, and if a man is as blind as a bat, he can't -help it; only I wonder he elects to gain his livelihood as an artist. - -I walked with Miss Virginia to-day down to the little village about a -mile away. It was all through the lanes, and I could hardly get her -along because of the flowers. The banks were certainly quite blue with -violets, and Miss Virginia would pick them, though I explained it was -waste of time, for they would all be dead in half an hour and have to -be thrown away. - -'But if I make up a nice little bunch for your buttonhole,' said she, -'will that be waste of time?' Of course I was obliged to say -'No,'--you have to tell such lies to women, one of the reasons I -dislike their society. - -'But of course you will throw them away as soon as they are faded, -poor dears!' continued Miss Virginia. - -I didn't see what else a sensible man could do with decaying -vegetation, though it was plain that this was not what she expected me -to say. Luckily, the village came in sight at this moment, so I was -able to change the subject. - -Miss Virginia seems very keen on villages, and went on about the -thatched cottages and the church tower and the lych-gate in such a way -that I conclude they don't have these things in America, where people -are really up to date. It was in vain for me to tell her that thatch -is earwiggy, as well as damp, and that every sensible landowner is -substituting slate roofs as fast as he can. We went into the church, -which was as cold and dark as a vault, and Miss Virginia was intensely -pleased with that too, and I could hardly get her away. In the -meantime, the sun had come out tremendously strong, and as it had -rained for some days previously, the whole place was steaming like a -caldron, and we both suddenly felt most awfully slack. - -'Let's take a bite here,' I suggested. 'There is sure to be a pothouse -of sorts, and we shall be late for the hotel luncheon anyway.' - -The idea seemed to please Miss Virginia, and we hunted for the -pothouse and found it in a corner. - -'Oh, what a dear little inn!' cried she. 'I shall love anything they -serve here!' - -I was thinking of the luncheon, not the inn, myself, and did not -expect great things from the look of the place, which was low and -poky, with thatched eaves and windows all buried in clematis and ivy. -A little cobbled path led up to the door, with lots of wallflower -growing in the crannies of the wall on each side. There was nobody but -a lass to attend to us, and she gave us bread and cheese, and clouted -cream and plum jam. It wasn't bad. Virginia talked ten to the dozen -all the time, and the funny thing was, she made me talk too. For the -first time in my life I felt that it might not be a bad thing to be -friends with a girl as you can be with a man, but such a thing is not -possible, of course. After a while Virginia went off to make friends -with the landlady and pick flowers in the garden. How beastly dingy -and dark the inn parlour seemed then, when I had time to look about! I -felt, all of a sudden, most tremendously down on my luck. Why? I have -had these fits of the blues lately; I think it must be the Devonshire -cream; I must stop it. - -We got home all right. I carried all Miss Virginia's flowers which the -old woman had given her,--about a stack of daffodils, lilies, and -clematis. - - -CECILIA EVESHAM - - _Sunday evening_ - -I begin to think I am what is called a psychical person, for I woke -this morning with a strong presentiment of things happening or about -to happen. The day did not seem to lend itself to events; it had -broken with rain lashing the window panes and a gale of wind blowing -through every crevice of the hotel. Mrs. MacGill did not feel able to -rise for breakfast. As a matter of fact she was more able to do so -than I was, but she didn't think so, which settled the matter. -Therefore I went down to the breakfast-room alone. - -If the outer air was dreary, the scene indoors was very cheerful. A -large fire blazed in the grate, and in front of the rain-lashed -windows a table was laid for three. Virginia and Sir Archibald were -already seated at it, and he rose, as I came in, and showed me that my -place was with them. - -'We felt sure that Mrs. MacGill would not appear this morning,' he -said, 'so we thought we might all breakfast together.' - -What a gay little meal that was! Virginia was at her brightest; she -would have made an owl laugh. I found myself forgetting headache and -unhappiness, as I listened to her; and as for Sir Archibald, he seemed -another man altogether from the rigid young Scotchman of our first -acquaintance. - -'Well, now, Sir Archibald,' said Virginia, as she rose from the table, -'the question is what a well-brought-up young man like you is going to -do with himself all this wet day. I know what we are to be about, Miss -Evesham and I,--we are going to look at all my new Paris gowns, and -try on all my best hats.' - -'There's always the motor,' he said. - -Virginia had none of that way of hanging about with young men that -English girls have. There could be no doubt that she was interested in -Sir Archibald, and wished him to be interested in her, but apparently -for that very reason she would not let him see too much of her that -morning. She carried me off to her room, and kept me there so long, -looking at her clothes, that Mrs. MacGill found sharp fault with me -when at last I returned to her. What had I been doing? I might have -known that she would want me, etc.; she had decided not to get up -until tea-time. 'It is impossible to go to church, and it is much -easier to employ one's time well in bed,' she said. So in bed she -remained, and I in attendance upon her until it was time for luncheon. - -When I went downstairs, Virginia had also appeared again, and I saw -the wisdom and skill of her tactics; she was far more pleasing to the -young man now, because he had seen nothing of her all morning, and she -knew it. Sir Archibald, it appeared, had passed his time in the -motor-shed, presumably either examining the machinery of the motor or -polishing it up. Virginia seemed to have been writing letters; she -brought a bundle of them down with her, and laid one, address -uppermost, on the table beside her. It was addressed to 'Breckenridge -Calhoun, Esq., Richmond, Virginia, U.S.A.' - -I saw Sir Archibald's eyes rest on it for a second, but the moment he -realised the name he almost consciously averted his glance from the -envelope for the remainder of the meal. - -Virginia was very lively. - -'Well, now, Sir Archibald, I'm going to hear your catechism after -lunch; it's a good occupation for Sunday afternoon,' she said. 'You'll -come right into the coffee-room, and recite it to me, and Miss Evesham -shall correct your mistakes.' - -'I'll try to acquit myself well,' he answered, following her meekly -into the coffee-room. - -'What is your name?' she began. - -'Archibald George,' he replied, and Virginia went on:-- - -'I'll invent the rest of the questions, I think, so please answer -them well. How old are you?' - -'Thirty-one years and two months.' - -'Have you any profession?' - -'None.' - -'Pursuits?' - -'Various.' - -'Name these.' - -'Motoring, bicycling, shooting, fishing.' - -'That will do; you may sit down,' observed Virginia gravely, and then, -turning to me, 'I think the young man has acquitted himself very -creditably in this difficult exam. Miss Evesham, shall we give him a -certificate?' - -'Yes,' I replied, laughing at her nonsense. Virginia wrote out on a -sheet of paper:-- - - This is to certify that Sir Archibald Maxwell Mackenzie - passed a creditable examination in Pedigree and Pursuits. - - (Signed) VIRGINIA S. POMEROY. - -'Here,' she said, folding it up and giving it to the young man, 'you -should keep this among the proudest archives of your house.' - -Sir Archibald put it into his pocket with a funny little smile. 'It -shall have the greatest care always,' he assured her. 'And now, Miss -Pomeroy, won't you and Miss Evesham come and have a game of billiards -with me? I must relax my mind after all this effort.' - -I knew that I should not consent to this proposition; Virginia knew -that she should not; we both hesitated for a moment, and then -Virginia, with a glance at the storm outside, made a compromise in -favour of decorum. - -'Well, there doesn't seem to be much else to do this wet afternoon,' -she said. 'I don't care if I do come and see how well you play, Sir -Archibald, and perhaps Miss Evesham will come and applaud also.' - -I didn't see much difference between playing ourselves and seeing him -play, but perhaps there was a little. - -'I'll fetch my banjo,' proposed Virginia, 'and I can sing while you -have your game.' - -So to the billiard-room we went, and Virginia perched herself in a -window niche. From this point of vantage she watched Sir Archibald's -strokes, while she strummed away on the instrument, and sang delicious -little songs in her clear, bird-like voice. I watched them both -closely. Sir Archibald was not attending to his play; I saw that he -was thinking far more about her. - -'Won't you even chalk my cue for me?' he asked her, holding out the -chalk. - -She received it daintily between her finger and thumb. He stood beside -us, looking down at her in the unmistakable way; he was falling in -love, but he scarcely knew it. - -'There's your nasty chalk! See, I've whited all my sleeve,' she said, -making a distracting little grimace. She held out her sleeve for him -to see, and of course he brushed the chalk gently off it, and looked -into her eyes for a moment. I almost felt myself in the way, but I knew -that I was necessary to them just then. They had not advanced far -enough in their flirtation to be left alone yet, so I contented -myself. They both, I thought, were taking me into their confidence. -'You understand--you won't betray us--we mean no harm,' they seemed to -say to me; and I determined that this should be my attitude. I would -play gooseberry obligingly for just so long as I was wanted, and when -the right moment came, would equally obligingly leave them. - -The afternoon went merrily on. Sir Archibald sent for a whisky and -soda, and Virginia fetched a huge box of French bonbons, and we -refreshed ourselves according to our tastes. Virginia had just slipped -a very large piece of nougat into her mouth, and I was just going to -put a bit into mine, but happily hadn't done so, when the door opened, -and Mrs. MacGill came walking in, with an air of angry bewilderment -on her face. A billiard cue to her means nothing but dissipation, a -whisky and soda nothing short of sodden drunkenness, so the whole -scene appeared to her a sort of wild orgy. If she had only known how -innocent it all was! - -'Cecilia,' she exclaimed, 'the waiter told me that you were here, but -I could scarcely believe him!' - -I affected not to see that she was shocked. - -'I dare say it is nearly tea-time,' I said. 'Shall we go into the -dining-room?' - -Mrs. MacGill had a right to be angry with me, but I do not think any -indiscretion could deserve the torrent of stupid upbraiding that fell -upon me now. Many of her reproaches were deserved. I was too old to -have given countenance to this afternoon in the billiard-room; I -should have known better. - -But when all is said and done, life is short; short, and for most of -us disappointing. We cannot afford to put a bar across the difficult -road to happiness. I saw two young creatures, who seemed very well -suited to each other, in need of my friendly countenance, and I -determined to give it. Was I altogether wrong? Well, Mrs. MacGill -thought so at any rate, and told me so with wearisome iteration. I -shrugged my shoulders, and took the scolding as a necessary corrective -to a very happy afternoon. - - - - -V - - -VIRGINIA POMEROY - - GREY TOR INN, - AT THE WORLD'S END, - _Monday, May_-- - -Mrs. MacGill, inspired by the zeal with which the rest are re-reading -Hardy, Blackmore, Baring-Gould, and Phillpotts, has finished a book of -each of these novelists who play the 'pipes of the misty moorlands.' -She dislikes them all, but her liveliest disapproval is reserved for -the first and last named. She finds them most immoral, and says that -if she could have believed that such ill-conducted persons resided in -Dartmoor or anywhere in Devonshire, she would not have encouraged the -Grey Tor Inn by her presence. As to the language spoken by some of the -characters, she is inclined to think no one could ever have heard it. -'There would be no sense in their using such words,' she explains -triumphantly, 'for no one would understand them'; continuing the -argument by stating that she once heard the Duke of Devonshire open a -public meeting and he spoke in exceptionally good English. - -All this makes me rather wicked, so when I went down to breakfast -to-day I said cheerfully, 'Good marnin' to you! Marnin', Mrs. MacGill! -How do 'e like my new gown, Cecilia?--it's flam-new! Marnin', Sir -Archibald! I didn't know 'e in the dimpsey light; bide where you be, -I'll take this seat.... Will I have bacon and eggs? Ess fay; there'll -be nought else, us all knows that. There's many matters I want to put -afore 'e to-day.... Do 'e see thickly li'l piece of bread 'pon the -plate, Cecilia? Pass it to me, will 'e? I know I be chitterin' like a -guinea-fowl, but I be a sort o' public merryman bringin' folks the -blessing o' honest laughter.... Can us have blind up if 'tis all the -same to you, Mrs. MacGill? I doan't like eatin' in the dark.' - -Then when mamma said, '_Jinny!_' in italics, and looked at me -beseechingly, I exclaimed, 'Gaw your ways, mother! I ban't feared o' -you, an' I doan't mind tellin' 'e 't is so.' When Sir Archibald, -bursting with laughter, remarked it was a fine day, I replied, 'You'm -right theer; did 'e ever see ought like un? Theer's been a wonnerful -change in the weather; us be called 'pon to go downlong to -Widdington-in-the-Wolds to-day to see the roundy poundies. - - "Along by the river we'll ram'le about - A-drowin' th' line and a-ketchin' o' trout; - An' when we've got plenty we'll start ver our huomes, - An' tull all our doings while pickin' ther buones."' - -By this time Mrs. MacGill, thoroughly incensed, remarked that there -was no accounting for taste in jokes, whereupon I responded genially, -'You'm right theer! it's a wonnerful coorious rackety world; in fact, -in the language of Eden, 'I'll be gormed if it ban't a 'mazin' world!' - -Mamma at this juncture said, with some heat, that if this were the -language of Eden she judged it was after the advent of the serpent; at -which Sir Archibald and Miss Evesham and I screamed with laughter and -explained that I meant Eden Phillpotts, not the garden of Eden. - -The day was heavenly, as I said, and seemed intended by Providence for -our long-deferred picnic to Widdington-in-the-Wolds. Mamma and Mrs. -MacGill wanted to see the church, Cecilia and I wanted any sort of -outing. Sir Archibald had not viewed the plan with any warmth from the -first, but I was determined that he should go, for I thought he needed -chastening. Goodness knows he got it, and for that matter so did I, -which was not in the bargain. - -I refuse to dwell on the minor incidents of that interminable day. -Mrs. MacGill, for general troublesomeness, outdid her proudest -previous record; no picnic polluted by her presence could be an -enjoyable occasion, but this one was frowned upon by all the Fates. -There is a Dartmoor saying that 'God looks arter his own chosen -fules,' which proves only that we were 'fules,' but not chosen ones. -The luncheon was eaten in a sort of grassy gutter, the only place the -party could agree upon. It was begun in attempted jocularity and -finished in unconcealed gloom. Mrs. MacGill, on perceiving that we -were eating American tongue, declined it, saying she had no confidence -in American foods. I buried my face in my napkin and wept -ostentatiously. She became frightened and apologised, whereupon I said -I would willingly concede that we were not always poetic and were -sometimes too rich, but that when it came to tinning meats it was -cruel to deny our superiority. This delightful repast over and its -remains packed in our baskets, we sought the inn. - -Mrs. MacGill sank upon a feather-bed in one of the upstairs rooms, -and my mother extended herself on two chairs in the same apartment, -adding to my depression by the remark she reserves for her most -melancholy moments: 'If your poor father had lived, he would never -have allowed me to undertake this.' - -I didn't dare face Sir Archibald until he had digested his -indigestible meal, so Miss Evesham and I went for a walk. Naturally it -rained before we had been out a half-hour, and unnaturally we met Mr. -Willoughby, the artist, again. I ran back to the inn while they took -shelter under a sycamore. I said I didn't want my dress spoiled, and I -spoke the truth, but I did also want to give Miss Evesham the tonic of -male society and conversation, of which she stands in abject need. By -the time she is forty, if this sort of conventual life goes on, she -will be as timorous as the lady in Captain Marryat's novel who, -whenever a gentleman shook hands with her, felt cold chills running up -and down her back. - -I took a wrong turning and arrived at the inn soaked as to outer -garments. After a minute or two in the motor-shed with Sir Archibald, -I had a fire kindled in the bedroom; but before I could fully dry -myself they were clamouring for me to come down and add my cheerful -note to the general cackle, for mamma and Mrs. MacGill had ordered -early tea. There was a cosy time for a few minutes when Miss Evesham -gaily toasted bread on a fork and Mr. Willoughby buttered it, and Sir -Archibald opened a quaint instrument in a corner by the fire. I struck -the yellow keys of the thing absently. It was a tiny Broadwood of a -bygone century, fashioned like a writing-desk with a sort of bookcase -top to it. I tried 'Loch Lomond' for Mr. Willoughby, and then, as a -surprise to Cecilia, sang my little setting of the verses she gave me -the other day. The words brought tears to her eyes, and Sir Archibald -came closer. 'More, more!' he pleaded, but I said, 'I don't feel a bit -like it, Sir Archibald; if you'll let me off now I'll sing nicely for -you when they've gone.' He looked unmistakably pleased. 'That's good -of you,' he whispered, 'and I've ordered fresh tea made after the mob -disperses.' - -'Don't forget that my mother is one of your so-called "mob,"' I said -severely. - -'Oh, you know what I mean,' he responded (he always blushes when he is -chaffed). 'I get on famously with your mother, but three or four women -in a little low-ceiled room like this always look like such a bunch, -you know!' - -Then there was a dreadful interval of planning, in which Mrs. MacGill, -who appeared to think it necessary that she should be returned to the -Grey Tor Inn in safety whatever happened to anybody else, was finally -despatched in the motor with mamma, Miss Evesham, and Johnson; while -Sir Archibald and I confronted, with such courage as we might, the -dismal prospect of a three hours' tussle with Greytoria. - - -MRS. MACGILL - -This has been a terrible day of fatigue and discomfort. I was a woman -of sixty in the morning, but I felt like a woman of eighty-six by -night. Danger, especially when combined with want of proper food, ages -one in a short time. My sister Isabella, who knew Baden-Powell, -declares that she would scarcely have recognised him to be the same -man after as before the siege of Mafeking, particularly about the -mouth. - -My velvet mantle, after all it has suffered, will never be as good -again, and I have reason to be thankful if I escape a severe illness -on my own account after the mad rashness of this day's proceedings. - -The young people (I include Cecilia, though considerably over thirty) -had been talking a great deal about an expedition to a distant hamlet -called Widdington-in-the-Wolds. Miss Pomeroy had, of course, -persuaded that misguided young man to take her in the motor, although -there can be little conversation of a tender nature in a machine that -makes such awful noises; still young people now can doubtless shout -anything. Poor Mr. MacGill used always to say that he could scarcely -catch _my_ replies. - -Cecilia assured me that it was a short drive, so I consented to allow -her to take me in a pony chaise. Certainly I never saw a -quieter-looking animal than that pony at first sight; she had, indeed, -an air of extreme gentleness. People say that is frequently combined -with great strength--at least in dogs, and I think in men too; in -horses it does not seem to be the case, for this poor animal had a -very dangerous habit of putting her hind feet together and sliding -down a descent. Several times at small declivities she seemed to slide -forwards, and the carriage slid after her, so that I thought we should -both be thrown out. At last, having driven many miles, meeting -several droves of the wild ponies, which happily did us no harm, we -came to the top of a quite precipitous hill, which Cecilia declared we -must descend before we could arrive at Widdington. - -I had already warned her that I felt no confidence in her driving, but -she is sadly obstinate, and made some almost impertinent retort, so we -began to descend the hill. We had gone only a short distance, however, -when the pony, curiously enough, sat down. - -'Is this a common action with horses, Cecilia?' I gasped. - -Then came a cracking noise. 'It's the shafts breaking, I'm afraid,' -she said quite coolly, and jumped out. I got out too, of course, as -fast as I could, and Cecilia began to undo the straps of the animal's -harness. Again I felt I had had a narrow escape. I am not able now for -these nervous shocks--they take too much out of me. I had been reading -some of those alarming books about the neighbourhood, and felt I -should be quite afraid to ask for assistance from any passer-by. -There were none, as we had seen nothing but ponies since we left Grey -Tor, but in several books the violent passions of the natives had been -described. - -Cecilia said that she would lead the animal, so we started to go down -the long hill, which was so very steep I thought I should never reach -the bottom. Cecilia seemed to think nothing of it. 'You can do it -quite well, Mrs. MacGill,' she said. 'Well,' I replied, 'if a creature -with four feet, like that pony, can tumble so, how do you suppose that -I, on two, can do it easily?' My velvet mantle, though warm, is very -heavy, and my right knee was still extremely painful. It now began to -rain a little, and the sky got very dark, which, I remember, the books -say is always a prelude to one of those terrific storms which -apparently sweep across Dartmoor in a moment. 'If it rains,' I said, -'the river always rises. "Dart is up," as they say, and we shall -never reach home alive.' Cecilia declared in her stupid way that we -were nowhere near the Dart. 'Why are we on Dartmoor, then?' I asked. -'I have read everywhere that the river runs with appalling velocity, -and sweeps on in an angry torrent, carrying away trees and houses like -straw; there are no trees, but those small houses down there would be -swept away in no time. If we can only get down to the village, and get -something to eat, and a carriage to take us home in, I shall be -thankful!' - -Cecilia appeared uncertain as to whether we could get any means of -conveyance at the inn, so I suggested that we should just walk on. -'Nothing,' I said,'shall make me try to go back with that animal. Our -lives were in danger when she sat down. I am sure that they must have -a quieter horse of some kind, in such a lonely place.' - -Somehow or other we did get down, and were standing by the wayside -when Sir Archibald's motor drove towards us, seeming to have descended -the hills in perfect safety. Miss Pomeroy, of course, was on the box. -She _looked_ rouged. I cannot be quite certain, as I am unaware of -ever having seen any one whom I absolutely knew to be addicted to the -habit, but Mr. MacGill had a cousin whom he used to speak of with -considerable asperity, who used to be known as 'the damask rose,' and -that was because she painted, I am sure. Miss Pomeroy's cheeks were -startling. Her poor mother looked like leather, but was calm enough, -in the back seat. She is a sensible woman, and when the young people -(I include Cecilia for convenience) all began to exclaim in their -silly way about Widdington, calling it 'lovely' and 'picturesque' (I -must say that Sir Archibald had too much good sense to join in this), -she remarked aside to me with a quiet smile, 'You and I, Mrs. MacGill, -are too old to care about the picturesque upon an empty stomach.' To -stand in a damp church with a stiff knee is even worse, as I told -Cecilia, when she had insisted on dragging me into the building, -which smells of mildew. The sacred edifice should always, I hope, -suggest thoughts of death to all of us, but Miss Pomeroy appeared more -cheerful than usual, and stood talking with Cecilia about pillars till -I was chilled through. The cold is more penetrating in these old -churches than anywhere else--I suppose because so many people used to -be buried there. It seems hideous to relate that on coming out we sat -down to lunch in a ditch. - -Mrs. Pomeroy is so infatuated about her daughter that she would do -anything to please her. I insisted at first that Cecilia was to -accompany me into the inn, but Mrs. Pomeroy gave me such an account of -the scene of carousal going on there that, rather than sit in the bar, -I consented to eat out of doors. - -The others called it a fine day, and even spoke of enjoyment. It -showed good sense on the part of our cavalier that he, at least, -never made any pretence of enjoying himself. He is thoroughly sick of -that girl, but she will run after him. It makes me ashamed of my sex. -When I was a girl I always affected not to see Mr. MacGill until he -absolutely spoke to me; and even when he had made me a distinct -offer--which girls like Virginia Pomeroy do not seem to consider -necessary--I appeared to hesitate, and told him to ask papa. Of course -if Mr. Pomeroy is dead (and her mother always wears black, though not -the full costume--she may be only divorced, one hears such things -about Americans), why then one can't expect her to do _that_, but I -very much doubt if she will ever consult Mrs. Pomeroy for a -moment--that is to say, if she can squeeze anything at all like a -proposal from Sir Archibald. - -I have tried in vain to put the young man upon his guard. Give them -hair and complexion, and they are deaf adders all; yet what is that -compared to principle, and some notion of cooking? Miss Pomeroy asks -for nothing if she has a box of sweets; yet only the other day I heard -her confess to eating bread and cheese in an inn, along with that -unfortunate young man, who probably considered it a proof of -simplicity. He is sadly mistaken. Ten courses at dinner is the -ordinary thing in New York, I believe, one of them canvas-back ducks -upon ice! - -By three o'clock, when this horrid meal was over, Mrs. Pomeroy and I -were both so chilled and fatigued that I sent Cecilia to entreat that -the woman of the inn would allow us to rest for an hour in a room -where there were no drunkards. We were conducted to a small -bedchamber, where I lay down on the bed, while Mrs. Pomeroy had a nap -upon two chairs. Like myself, she is always troubled by a tendency to -breathlessness after eating--and even lunch in a ditch is a meal, of -course. She also talked a little about her daughter in perhaps a -pardonable strain for a mother, who can scarcely be expected to -realise what the girl really is. - -A Mr. Calhoun of Richmond, a suburb of New York, appears to have paid -her some attentions. She must have greatly exaggerated them to her -mother, for Mrs. Pomeroy evidently believes that it is fully in her -power to marry the young man if she likes. It will be a merciful -escape for Sir Archibald for a while, even though they can be divorced -so easily in New York. - - -SIR ARCHIBALD MAXWELL MACKENZIE - -I knew the moment I opened my eyes that morning that the day of the -picnic had come. The sun was shining brightly, the birds were singing. -Even before breakfast there were tourists sitting on Grey Tor and -holding on to the rails. I could see them against the sky. When we -were all at breakfast, even the old women were excited about the -picnic, and as to Miss Virginia, there was no holding her at all. She -pointed out that she had dressed for the picnic in a brand-new frock -especially built by one of the smart court dressmakers for such -occasions, for which it was about as well suited (I pointed out) as a -ball-dress would have been. It was no good my saying anything, that -these brilliant mornings were not to be trusted, that the road to -Widdington-in-the-Wolds was the worst in the country, that there was -nothing to do or see when you got there; I was overruled on every -point, and all the arrangements were made. I must own I was not in a -good temper anyway. A man has his ups and downs; I had had a worrying -letter from the steward at Kindarroch. My tobacco was done and the -fresh packet hadn't arrived with the morning post, so that my pouch -was filled with a filthy weed from the hotel. Had our party been -composed of only Miss Virginia and her mother, it would not have been -so bad, for then I should have insisted on giving them lunch at a -pothouse, and all the horrors of an _al fresco_ entertainment would -have been avoided. But Mrs. MacGill and her companion were a part of -the show, and the old woman actually hinted that I was to drive her in -the pony-shay, while Johnson conducted the rest of the party in the -motor! I showed her her mistake both clearly and promptly, and had her -packed off about an hour before we started; except for the companion, -who is a decent sort of girl, I could have wished her to capsize on -the way. - -We got off in the motor all right--Miss Virginia on the box seat with -me, and the mother behind with Johnson. The going was all right for -the first few miles. Virginia did most of the talking, which was -lucky, for I was not brilliant. It seems odd how a fellow's mood can -be stronger than circumstances. Here was I, on a lovely day, with a -pretty girl on the box beside me, nothing so very much as yet to have -put me out, as black as a thundercloud. Of course the idiocy of a -picnic (on which I have dwelt before) always puts my back up; I didn't -want to come, and yet on this occasion, for some reason or other, I -could not stay away. I really think that feeling more than anything -else made me so devilish ill-tempered. I had soon good cause enough -for ill temper, however. The road was all right at first, as I said, -but presently it gave a dip, and then without the slightest warning we -found ourselves on a hill as steep as the sides of a well, and about -as comfortable for a motor as the precipices of Mont Blanc. It was -dangerous. I hate being in unnecessary danger myself--it is silly; and -as to being in danger with women in charge, it is the very devil. I -jammed on the brakes, and we went skidding and scraping down, showers -of grit and gravel being thrown up in our faces, the whole machine -shaking to bits with the strain. It was a miracle nothing happened -worse than the loss of my temper. The hill got easier after about a -mile. Miss Virginia, who had been frightened to death but had kept -quiet and held on tight, began to laugh and talk again; but I showed -pretty plainly I was in no laughing or talking mood. I kept a grim -silence and looked ahead. I saw her turn and look at me, once or -twice, in a surprised way, and then she suddenly became quite quiet -too. In this significant silence, we drew up at the village inn, where -Mrs. MacGill and Miss Evesham had already arrived. - -Guide-books and artists talk yards about this place, -Widdington-in-the-Wolds, but as usual there is nothing to see but a -church, a particularly insanitary churchyard, a few thatched cottages, -two or three big sycamore trees, and an inn, so very small as to be -hardly visible to the naked eye. - -We found the Exeter artist here before us, and I walked off with him -at once, leaving the women to themselves. Otherwise I should certainly -have burst, I believe; it is not healthy to refrain from bad language -too long. However, all the agonies of picnic had to be gone -through,--lunch in a ditch, cold, clammy food, forced conversation, -and all the rest of it. Certainly that picnic was a failure; even Miss -Virginia was subdued. When the feeding was done, I went off with -Willoughby, the artist, again. I don't know what the women did with -themselves, I am sure. As I had foretold, the weather had changed; -there had been one cold shower already, and the clouds were piling up -in the sky, threatening a wet, bleak, and windy afternoon. I knew how -it would be, perfectly well, before we started, but no one would heed -me. - - -CECILIA EVESHAM - - _Tuesday evening_ - -This will be a long story to tell. On Monday morning Mrs. MacGill was -very lively, perhaps wakened up by the explosion of the previous -night. She came down to breakfast, and was persuaded by the Pomeroys -to undertake an expedition to Widdington-in-the-Wolds, an outlying -hamlet famous for an old church. - -'It is long since I have lunched out of doors, Mrs. Pomeroy,' she -said, 'but the doctor has so strongly recommended carriage exercise -and fresh air to me, that I dare say on such a very fine morning I -might make the attempt, if you are thinking of it.' - -Mrs. Pomeroy had been made to think of it by the fair Virginia, as I -well knew; for the expedition was to be carried out in Sir Archibald's -motor. - -'One should always make an effort to see all places of interest in a -neighbourhood,' Mrs. Pomeroy observed, with the sigh of the -conscientious American sightseer, and Mrs. MacGill assented. My heart -sank. Fancy visiting places of interest in the company of Mrs. -MacGill! But, as Browning has it, 'Never the hour and the place and -the loved one all together!' I have noticed the curious, indomitable -tendency of tiresome people to collect and reappear in these exquisite -places most favoured by nature; more suited, it would seem, for angel -visitants than for the flat-footed multitude: but I digress. - -The fact remained that it was in close company with Mrs. MacGill that -I was to visit the solitudes of Dartmoor,--Mrs. MacGill in a -bead-trimmed mantle, a bonnet ornamented with purple velvet pansies, -and an eis-wool shawl tied round her throat. - -I was to drive her in the pony cart; even her fears were not aroused -by the dejected appearance of Greytoria as that noble animal was led -up to the door. - -'I am glad to see that the horse does not look spirited,' she said; -'for though you say you are so well accustomed to driving, I always -prefer a coachman.' - -With a quick twitch of the reins I raised Greytoria's drooping nose -from the dust. She seemed surprised, but ambled off in the indicated -direction. - -'The road'--to quote Christina Rossetti--'wound uphill all the way,' -and a long way it was. We crawled along at about the rate of a mile an -hour over that rough and stony track. The lines I have just quoted -haunted my memory with their dismal significance--Life, life! your -long uphill road has little promise of rest for me. - -We toiled on. Then the summit was gained at last, and down below us, -in a little nest-like green valley, huddled between the swelling brown -moors, lay Widdington-in-the-Wolds, the Mecca of our pilgrimage. - -'There it is at last!' I cried. 'See the quaint old church tower!' I -actually appealed to Mrs. MacGill for sympathy, so great was my -enthusiasm. It was a mistake. - -'I see little to admire, Cecilia,' she said, 'and do look after the -pony.' - -Her admonition was not unnecessary. In my delight I had risen in my -seat and let the reins slip out of my inattentive fingers. Greytoria, -in a manner peculiar to herself, had begun the descent of the -terrifying hill which leads down to Widdington. Clapping her heels -together like a bowing Frenchman, she let herself slide down the -decline. I realised this in a moment, but it was rather too late. -There was a long, scraping slither; I put on the drag hard, and tried -to hold up Greytoria's head. The attempt was vain; she turned round -and looked at me, and then, without making any farther effort, quite -simply sat down in the traces, the chaise resting gracefully on her -back. - -Mrs. MacGill cried out with terror, and, indeed, I felt ready to do -the same. Not a soul was anywhere in sight. Only far down below us, -at the foot of the terrible Widdington hill, could help be procured. - -'O Cecilia, this is what comes of trusting you to drive,' cried Mrs. -MacGill. - -This stiffened me up a little, and I determined to unharness -Greytoria. - -'Come and sit by the roadside,' I said. 'I'll get her unharnessed, and -once on her legs again there won't be any harm done; it's not as if -she had broken her knees.' - -'I didn't know that horses _could_ sit down,' wailed Mrs. MacGill. - -'Well, it is an uncommon accomplishment,' I admitted, tugging at the -harness buckles. - -Greytoria turned a mild old eye upon me; she seemed accustomed to the -process of being unharnessed, but did not make any attempt to rise. - -I thought as I tugged at that buckle that the whole thing was -symbolical of life for me. Wasn't I for ever tugging at obstinate -buckles of one sort or another? I dare say such morbid thoughts should -have had no place in my fancy at a moment of practical difficulty, but -there are some people made in this way; their thoughts flow on in an -undercurrent to events. So I tugged away, and my thoughts worked on -also. - -It was no easy task, this, of getting Greytoria on her legs again; but -I achieved it at last, and she stood up, abject, trembling, with -drooping head and bowed knees, regarding the hill before her. - -'We must walk down to the Inn, I'm afraid, Mrs. MacGill,' I said. -'I've got Greytoria into the chaise again, but if we add our weight to -it she will just sit down a second time.' - -'Oh, what a hill to go down on foot!' cried Mrs. MacGill, but she saw -that it was inevitable, so we began the long descent, I leading -Greytoria, Mrs. MacGill trailing behind. Down below us the green -valley smiled and beckoned us forward, yet like every peaceful oasis, -it had to be gained with toil and difficulty. As we plodded down that -weary hill, shall I confess that my thoughts turned a little bitterly -to Virginia's side of the day's pleasuring? Why should she, young, -rich, and beautiful, have the pleasant half of the expedition,--a ride -in a motor with a nice young man who was falling in love with her, -while I was doomed to trail along with Mrs. MacGill? Why did some -women get everything? Surely I needed amusement and relaxation more -than Virginia did, but it isn't those who need relaxation who ever get -it; 'to him that hath shall be given,' as the Bible cynically and -truly observes. - -Every few yards Mrs. MacGill would call out to me to stop: she was -getting too tired; it was so cold; the road was so rough. But at last -the foot of the hill was gained, and with a sigh of relief she bundled -into the chaise again. She had, however, no eyes for the interest or -beauty of the place we had reached with such difficulty. All her -faculties, such as they are, were concentrated on wondering where and -when we would get some food. As we passed the church, she looked the -other way. I was almost glad. I flicked Greytoria, her flagging pace -quickened, and attempting a trot, we drove up to the inn door. - -'I suppose we must wait for the others,' Mrs. MacGill sighed -peevishly, 'but really after all I have gone through, I feel much in -want of food.' - -'They will soon be here,' I said, 'and on the way home Greytoria will -go better.' - -'Well, as she goes badly up hill, and won't go down at all, I scarcely -see how we are to get home so well,' she retorted, with a measure of -truth. - -As I looked at the hill that we should need to reclimb before we -reached home, my heart misgave me too; but just then the motor hove in -sight, a scarlet blot at the top of the hill, and we became -interested in watching its descent. How it spun down! Almost before we -could believe it possible, it dashed up to the inn door, and Virginia -jumped out. She was in exuberant spirits. The drive had been just -lovely; she adored Widdington; the hill only gave her delicious -creeps; she wasn't a bit tired or cold. - -'Yes,' thought I, 'it's easy to be neither cold nor tired when you are -happy and amused and young and rich! Try to drive with Mrs. MacGill -when you are feeling ill, and can't afford to buy warm clothes, and -see how you like it!' - -Mrs. Pomeroy was less enthusiastic, and Sir Archibald was dumbly -regarding the tires of the motor, which had suffered strange things. - -'Hello,' he said, as he glanced up at the window of the inn, 'there's -that artist fellow who was at Exeter. Suppose he's come to "see the -gorse."' - -He nodded up at the window, took out his pipe, and began to fill it, -directing Johnson to take the luncheon-basket out of the motor. - -Then the artist, Mr. Willoughby, came sauntering out of the door. I -dare say he had had enough of gorse and solitude, for he seemed glad -to greet even a casual acquaintance like Sir Archibald. The position -of being the one man in a party of women had palled upon Sir Archibald -only too apparently, for he met Mr. Willoughby with--for him--quite -unwonted geniality, and they strolled off together down the road. -Virginia put her hand through my arm, and drew me in the direction of -the church. - -'We're not going on very well this morning, Cecilia,' she confided to -me. 'He's so Scotch, Sir Archibald is, what they call "canny," and -I've made him very cross by dragging him off on this expedition. All -the tires of the motor are cut, and he hates eating out of doors. I -can see that I've vexed him to madness.' - -I laughed, and so did she. - -'Why did you make him do it?' I asked. - -'I wanted to put him to some sort of test,' she replied. 'Unless a man -will do what he dislikes for you, he isn't worth much.' - -'I'm afraid you are going to play with this young man's affections,' I -said very severely, for her tone was frivolous. - -'Am I?' she murmured. 'I wonder!' - -There was a moment of silence between us. I felt all manner of thrills -of interest and sympathy. If you can't be happy yourself, the next -best thing is to see other people happy. If, as I now suspected, -Virginia was not playing with Sir Archibald's affections, then I was -eagerly on her side. Words are not necessary, however, and Virginia -must have divined my sympathy. - -We had reached the lych-gate, and there, under the solemn little roof -that had sheltered so many a coffin on its way to the grave, Virginia -turned and gave me a kiss. - -'You dear!' she said. That was all. - - - - -VI - - -VIRGINIA POMEROY - - GREY TOR INN - -Here beginneth the chronicle of the dreadfullest drive that ever was -driven. I pitied Sir Archibald with my whole heart to be left behind -with Greytoria and me, but what else could be done? There was a mist -when we started which degenerated after a bit into an intermittent -drizzle, and at intervals the wind blew a young tornado. The road was -dreary, but fascinating in its broad stretches of loneliness. We -passed green field and brown moor in turn, with all the trees looking -grey in the mist, and here and there the brawling of a stream to break -the silence. Sometimes there was a woodman working in a roadside -copse, sometimes a goggled stone-breaker pursuing his monotonous -task, sometimes a carrier bending beneath his weight of faggots. If it -had not been for the flaming gorse and the groups of red cattle, there -would have been no colour in the landscape. My spirits kept their -normal height for the first six or eight miles, but they sank little -by little as the hills grew in number and increased in height. Sir -Archibald refused to let me walk, and it made me wretched to see him -stalking beside the pony chaise, appealing to Greytoria's pride, -courage, conscience, ambition, and sense of decency, in turn, and -mostly without avail. We kept the best-travelled road, but it seemed -to lead us farther and farther from Grey Tor, which had quite -disappeared from the horizon and could not be used as a landmark. -There could be no conversation either going up or down hill, as Sir -Archibald was too breathless and busy. I, sitting in state, punctuated -the ascents and descents, as long as I had strength, with agreeable -persiflage something in this wise:-- - -'The guide-book says, "Pedestrianism is doubtless the ideal manner of -touring in Devonshire. Only on foot is it possible to view the more -romantic scenery. Motors are not advised and bicycles discouraged."' - -Sir Archibald would smile, say something under his breath, and whack -Greytoria. - -'Sir Archibald, there is a place in these parts where the devil is -said to have died of cold; it must be just here.' - -'Sir Archibald, do 'e knaw I think we'm pixy-led? When Devonshire folk -miss the path home at night and go astray, they'm "pixy-led."' - -If we two poor wayfarers could have sat quietly beside each other and -chatted in 'e dimpsey light, it would not have been a bit bad, but -there was something eternally doing. When the drag wasn't being put on -or off, the whip was being agitated, or Sir Archibald was looking for -a house to ask the way. Never was there such a route from one spot to -another as the one we took from Widdington-in-the-Wolds to the Grey -Tor Inn. If it was seven miles as the swallow flies, it was -twenty-seven as Greytoria flew. The dinner-hour passed, and the -luncheon baskets, with all other luggage, were in the motor. Sir -Archibald's last information, obtained from an unintelligible boy -driving a cow, was to the effect that we were only two miles from -home. - -'She may manage it and she may not,' said my squire, looking savagely -at Greytoria. 'If I only knew whether she can't or she won't, I should -deal with her differently.' - -The rain now came down in earnest. Part of my mind was for ever -toiling up or creeping down a hill with the pony, and another part was -spent in keeping my umbrella away from Sir Archibald's hat, on those -rare occasions when he was by my side. A woman may have the charms of -Cleopatra or Helen of Troy, but if she cannot keep her parasol or -umbrella away from a man's hat, her doom is sealed. - -How I hate this British climate! How I hate to wear always and always -stout shoes, sensible clothes, serviceable hats, short skirts, looking -like a frump in the intervals of sunshine, that I may be properly -attired when it rains! I shed a few secret tears now and then for -sheer down-heartedness and discouragement. I was desperately cold, and -my wetting had given me a feverish, teeth-chattering sort of feeling. -Hungry I was, too, and in such a rage with the beastly pony that I -wished she had been eaten in the French Revolution; she was too old to -be tender, even then. - -Now ensued a brief, all too brief, season of content on a fairly level -bit of road. It was not over an eighth of a mile in length, and must -have been an accident on the part of Nature. I was so numb and so -sleepy that I just heard Sir Archibald's sigh of gratitude as he took -his seat for a moment beside me, and then I subsided into a -semi-comatose state, too tired to make even one more expiring effort -to be agreeable. I am not clear as to the next few moments, in which I -felt a sudden sense of warmth and well-being and companionship. I must -have dropped off into a sort of dream, and in the dream I felt the -merest touch, just the brush of something on my cheek, or I thought I -did. Slight as it was, there was something unaccustomed about it that -made me come hastily into the conscious world, and my waking was made -the more speedy by a sudden stir and noise and ejaculation. We had -come to another hill, and Sir Archibald had evidently wished for once -to omit the walking-up process. Greytoria, outraged in her deepest -sensibilities by the unwonted addition of Sir Archibald's weight to -her burdens, braced her hind legs firmly and proceeded to achieve the -impossible by slithering backward down the hill. Sir Archibald leaped -out on the one side; I put the drag on, or off, whichever is wrong, -and leaped out on the other. - -He adjusted the drag and gave Greytoria a clip that she will describe -to her grandchildren on future winter evenings. I, with matchless -presence of mind, got behind the pony chaise and put my shoulder under -the back to break its descent. And so we wound wearily up the hill, -and on reaching the top saw the lighted hotel just ahead of us. - -In silence we traversed the few remaining yards, each busy with his -own thought. Silently we entered the gate and gave Greytoria to the -waiting groom. Silently and stiffly I alighted from the chaise, helped -by Sir Archibald's supporting arm. He held my hand a second longer -than was necessary; held it, half dropped it, and held it again; or -did something unusual with it that was widely separated from an -ordinary good-night 'shake.' - -There was no harm in that, for the most unsentimental man feels a sort -of brotherly sympathy for a damp, cold, hungry, tired, nice girl. - -But about that other--episode?... Of course if he did, I should -resent it bitterly; but if it were only a dream I must not blame him -even in thought.... There is always the risk that a man might -misunderstand the frank good-fellowship in which we American girls are -brought up, and fail to realise that with all our nonsense we draw the -line just as heavily, and in precisely the same place as our British -cousins.... But why do I think about it any more?... It wouldn't be a -bit like him, so probably he didn't.... In fact it is so entirely out -of character that he simply couldn't.... And yet I suppose the number -of men who actually couldn't is comparatively small. - - -MRS. MACGILL - -Well, we spent the day till five o'clock in that dreary spot, cold and -wretched. Then Sir Archibald proposed that I should go home with Mrs. -Pomeroy in the motor; they said we should get there quicker that way! -He meant to drive Miss Pomeroy in the pony chaise, not being at all -afraid, he said, of any pony, however spirited. Of course nothing -would induce me to enter a pony carriage drawn by that animal again. A -motor is more dangerous in some ways, but at any rate it cannot sit -down like that pony, and they all assured us that it was both safe and -speedy. Mrs. Pomeroy had been quite at ease in it, she said, so at -last I consented to go. Cecilia tied on my bonnet with my grey wool -shawl, and we set out. It surprises me that motoring should have -become a favourite pastime with so-called fashionable people, for -certainly one does not appear to advantage in motoring garments. The -cold was intense, and at first everything whizzed past me at such a -rate that I could remember nothing except two lines that Cecilia read -to me last evening, about 'the void car hurled abroad by reinless -steeds.' - -There were no steeds, of course, nor reins, and the car was not void, -but that was quite the motion. My bonnet, in spite of the shawl and -string, was instantly torn from my head. I begged Johnson, a very -civil Scotchman who could understand what I said, to stop the machine -for a few moments and let me breathe. Cecilia advised me to remove the -bonnet and trust wholly to the shawl. My hair is not thick, especially -on the top, and I soon had all the sensation of the head being padded -in ice, which we read of as a treatment for brain fever. - -It was now beginning to get dark. Johnson drew up suddenly, and -declared that he must have taken the wrong road. There were no -sign-posts anywhere, and it had begun to rain heavily. We were -standing just at the foot of a steep hill where the road lay through a -thick wood. Above us was a tower of rock,--another 'tor,' I suppose, -if not a 'monolith.' - -Johnson proposed to drive the machine on into the wood, and leave us -under shelter whilst he went to a cottage that we saw farther up, to -inquire about the road. This I decidedly objected to. Mrs. Pomeroy and -Cecilia seemed to think me foolish, and could not understand my being -afraid. - -'But,' I said, 'I have good reason to refuse to enter that wood. -Indeed it will not be safe for Johnson to leave us there alone: I -recognise the place perfectly. In one of the books by that Mr. -Phillpotts, who, you have all told me, is most accurate in his -descriptions, I read about this place, and he said, 'The Wolf suckled -her young there yesterday.' Yes, Cecilia, laugh if you like; those -were the very words, and I examined the date of the publication, which -was not a year ago. _Yesterday_ was the word used.' - -'Then the cubs will still be too small to attack us,' observed -Cecilia, who has no tact and is constantly trying to be facetious when -she should be endeavouring to allay my nervous terrors. - -'He would be meaning foxes, ma'am,' said Johnson, who had been -listening whilst fright compelled me to quote the exact expression I -had read. - -'It is possible that he meant foxes, Johnson,' allowed I, 'but three -ladies alone in a motor, in the dark, attacked even by wild foxes, -would be in some danger; so I hope that you will drive on directly, -and get us out of this horrid place as soon as possible.' - -They tried to smooth over the situation, but I would listen to none of -them, and Johnson at last drove on. Half-way up the hill the motor -stuck. Something had gone wrong with it inside, and I felt that we -might stay there in the wilderness all night, which would have been -impossible, as I had taken very few remedies of any kind with me, and -cannot sleep sitting up. These stoppages occurred several times. How -we at length got home I scarcely remember. My velvet mantle was like a -sponge, my feet so cold that it was all I could do to dismount from -the motor when it ground up to the hotel door. There was Sir Archibald -standing smoking as if nothing extraordinary had occurred. - -'Why, Mrs. MacGill,' he cried, 'you are even later than we were, and I -thought that blessed pony was going to her own funeral.' - -I thought that in spite of his tone he looked rather pale and -agitated; he was of course anxious, and rightly so, about my safety. - -'Sir Archibald,' I said, as soon as I could speak,'I trust that I -never again may have to enter one of those motors. Human life, -especially mine, is too precious to be thrown away in such a fashion. -Another half-hour of it would have killed me outright. Had Mr. MacGill -been alive he would never have consented to my going into it for a -moment. As it is, I can scarcely hear or see owing to the frightful -noises and the rain lashing on my face; every hair on my head feels -pulled the wrong way, and I'm sure I shall have another bad relapse of -influenza by to-morrow morning. Your uncle was a friend of my poor -brother-in-law who died at Agra in a moment, and unless you take a -warning you will have an end quite as sudden and much more frightful, -for his was heart complaint, and you will be smashed to pieces by the -wheels of that hideous machine.' - -I left them downstairs and went to bed. Cecilia tried to make me -believe there was nothing wrong with me, as she always does when she -has neuralgia, or _says_ she has neuralgia, herself, but I know that -there is. What is the matter I can't exactly say, only I am certain -that I am going to suffer in some way from this horrible expedition. - - -SIR ARCHIBALD MAXWELL MACKENZIE - -There is something soothing even in hotel tobacco, I suppose, so I was -better, though still feeling decidedly blue, later in the day at -Widdington, when I came up to the inn door and began overhauling the -motor as it stood in the yard. There was nothing particularly cheering -in finding several long cuts in the tires, and I was probing them to -get the grit out, when I heard a little cough behind me. I turned to -see Miss Virginia standing in the doorway, looking at me rather -doubtfully. Now of course I had been rather short, not to say nasty, -but somehow it's a fact that you cannot be sharp with a woman without -at once being put in the wrong, though she may really have been the -sinner all the time. It was Miss Virginia who had brought me out on -this show, who had cost me about forty pounds in tires, and Heaven -knows how much in other ways, but it was I who felt a beast now. Yet -she looked at me in a way which seemed to say she was sorry I was -vexed. She was rubbing her hands together and shivering a little. Of -course she was cold in that ridiculous dress. - -'A nice day it has turned out, hasn't it!' I said rather spitefully. - -'Oh, I'll never, never ask for a picnic again!' cried she, with a -comical look. She came and began to look at the cuts in the tires -herself. - -'Oh, they _are_ bad,' she exclaimed, 'and I suppose you love that old -motor better than anything on earth, don't you?' she inquired. - -'I get a good deal more pleasure out of it,' I truthfully replied, -'than I do out of the society of most human beings.' She gave a little -laugh. - -'I expect I had better go inside after that!' she said, and of course -I felt rather a brute. I hadn't really meant to be rude or send her -away. I hunted under the tarpaulin that covered the motor for my -fur-lined coat, and then I followed her into the inn. - -'Look here,' I said, 'better put this on; you're horribly cold.' She -seemed half inclined to refuse, but finally let me put the coat over -her shoulders and run her arms into the sleeves. - -'You're pretty damp,' I observed. - -''Deed I am!' she shivered. 'Miss Evesham and I went for a walk and -got caught in the rain as usual. My hair's all wet too!' - -'Better dry it,' I suggested. - -She ran off to some room or other, and when she reappeared she had two -plaits of dark hair, as thick as bellropes, hanging down her back. -With that and my motor coat, Miss Virginia cut a pretty queer figure. -I cannot say she looked plain, however; her spirits had come back, and -so had mine, strange to say, for the day was far from finished. - -There was a parlour in the inn, so low in the ceiling that I could -not stand up straight in it, and was for ever knocking my head against -the rafters. When we went in, this place was as full of women as it -could hold, all fighting like cats,--Mrs. MacGill, Mrs. Pomeroy, Miss -Evesham,--and all wondering how they were to get home. The place was -simply steaming with tea. - -Mrs. MacGill, it appeared, utterly refused to go home in the pony trap -unless it were driven by me. Needless to say I declined this honour -with a firmness equal to hers. Finally it was arranged, chiefly by -Miss Evesham's management, that the two old ladies and herself were to -go home in the motor with Johnson, while Miss Virginia and I -negotiated the pony and trap. This was pretty thick, considering I had -refused point-blank to drive Mrs. MacGill, but Miss Evesham seemed to -make it sound all right,--clever sort of young woman in her way. As -the weather threatened to get worse immediately, the motor party was -packed off without loss of time, and Miss Virginia and I had a -comfortable tea by ourselves before starting for home. - -It was not late in the afternoon, but the little inn parlour was -almost dark, chiefly because the church tower overshadowed the house, -and the window was so small. Presently the bells began ringing (it was -a saint's day, Miss Virginia said), and my word, what a din they made! -The whole house shook and the very teacups rattled. Miss Virginia -seemed to like it, however, and sat listening with her chin on her -hand. She had been strumming on an old spinet sort of thing that stood -in the corner of the room, and I asked her if she would sing a little -before we set off. - -'I will,' said she, 'if you'll smoke a little,' an invitation I -accepted with alacrity. - -'You deserve something,' she remarked, 'to make up for the wretched -time you've been having to-day. It was partly my fault. I am sorry.' - -'Oh, don't mention it!' was all I could say, of course, and Miss -Virginia began to sing before I could speak another word. - -There is a tremendous charm in her singing: her style is so simple; -her voice is so fresh; you can hear every word she says, and she -always sings the right songs. How this sort of singing makes a man -think! I can't describe the effect it had upon me. As Miss Virginia -touched the tinny, stringy old notes and went from song to song,--now -an Irish melody, now a nigger one, now an English ballad,--I forgot -all about the day's worries; I forgot the motor and the cut tires and -the bad weather and the beastly picnic--it was a kind of heaven. If I -marry, it must be some one who can sing like this. I have been -changing my preferences for blonde women lately. No doubt they look -very nice when young, but they don't wear well, I feel sure, and get -purple and chilblainy in cold weather. Of course the dark ones are apt -to turn drab and mottled, but not when they have as much colour as -Miss Virginia. All sorts of scraps of thoughts and ideas chased each -other through my mind as she sang. She had got on to a thing she had -sung in the hotel several times,--a plantation Christmas carol she -called it, the sort of thing you cannot forget once you have heard it, -either the words or the music. - - 'Oh, dat star's still shinin' dis Chrismus Day, - Rise, O sinner, and foller! - Wid an eye o' faith you c'n see its ray, - Rise, O sinner, and foller! - Leave yo' fader, - Leave yo' mudder, - Leave yo' sister, - Leave yo' brudder, - An' rise, O sinner, and foller!' - -And there was a bit about a shepherd too:-- - - 'Leave yo' sheep, an' - Leave yo' lamb, an' - Leave yo' ewe, an' - Leave yo' ram, an' - Rise up, shepherd, and foller!' - -I asked her to sing it over again. I had forgotten all about the time -and the drive home and the beastly weather. Luckily I happened to -look at my watch. It was nearly six o'clock! - -'We've got to look sharp,' I said, 'if we want any dinner at the -hotel.' - -Look sharp, indeed! The woman at the inn must have been mad or drunk -when she told us that the low road home was only two miles longer than -the way we came. We may have missed the right turning, for Miss -Virginia was talking and laughing at such a rate when we began the -drive, that I confess I hadn't much attention to spare. We gradually -emerged from the valley where the village lay, and were soon on the -open moor and fairly lost on it before you could say Jack Robinson. - -I never saw such a dismal, howling, God-forsaken country, without a -house or a hut or so much as a heap of stones to mark the way,--a -wilderness of stubby heath and endless, endless roads, crossing and -recrossing in a way that is simply maddening and perfectly senseless, -for they lead to nowhere. We were three mortal hours crawling along on -those confounded roads. It rained, of course, and a wind got up, and -at the end of that time we were apparently no nearer Grey Tor than -when we left Widdington. - -Miss Virginia kept up very pluckily for a long time, but she was dead -tired and very cold and became more and more silent. It was about the -most uncomfortable predicament I ever was in,--and with a girl on my -hands, too, a thing I have hitherto always managed to avoid. - -And then a thing happened that really I can't account for, and yet I -suppose it has changed the whole affair, as far as I am concerned. I -feel a perfect beast whenever I think of it, and I hope to goodness -Miss Virginia knows nothing about it. We had come to an interminable -hill, and I had been walking for about half an hour. Miss Virginia was -totally silent now, and suddenly I saw that the reins had slipped from -her hands. She was actually asleep, huddled up in my coat against the -back of the chaise. It was beginning to rain again, and the incline -being very gentle at that point, I felt I had to get in and hold an -umbrella over the girl. I did, and a sudden jerk of the wheels sent -her almost into my arms without waking her. Her head was on my -shoulder, her cheek so close to mine. Of course I have heard fellows -talk about kissing: I have always thought it a disgusting habit -myself, and discouraged it, even in near relations. But now--now it -seemed suddenly different--she seemed meant to be kissed--and by -me--and well, I kissed her--that's the naked truth, and the moment I -had done it I would have given worlds not to have done it, or else to -have the right to do it again. A man is a man firstly, I suppose; but -secondly, at least, he ought to be a gentleman. That's the thought -that has been spinning in my head all night. Does Virginia suspect? I -hope not--and yet I don't know. - -We got home, of course, all right in the end, for the hotel turned up -quite unexpectedly round a corner, with all the lights shining out -across the moor. - -_N.B._--There has been the devil to pay with the motor and the old -women. - - -CECILIA EVESHAM - -I have always had an idea that events need a propelling hand every now -and then. Somehow it seemed to me that afternoon at Widdington that -Virginia and Sir Archibald were in need of my assistance, and I took a -desperate resolution and helped them to the best of my power. This is -what I did: I undertook to look after Mrs. MacGill and Mrs. Pomeroy in -the motor if Sir Archibald drove Virginia home in the pony chaise; but -not content with this, I deliberately sent them round by a road some -five miles longer than the one we had come by. I happened to be -speaking with the landlady about the roads, and she told me that there -was another way back to Grey Tor, only that it was longer. The idea -struck me, as the saying goes, 'all of a heap.' - -'Sir Archibald,' I said, returning to the parlour, where they all sat, -'if you had seen the business I had to get Greytoria _down_ that -hill, you would hesitate more about getting her up it. But the -landlady here tells us that if you go round by the lower road you -avoid the hill, and it is only a little longer.' - -'I don't believe in country people's distances,' he said, 'but I'll -inquire.' - -I turned back, as if by accident, into the bar, and leaned across the -counter towards the landlady. She was a genial-looking old woman with -a rollicking eye. - -'The young people wish to go round by the low road,' I said, 'but I'm -afraid there may be some difficulties made about it.' I hesitated and -smiled at her, adding, 'It's not _much_ farther, is it?' - -'Happen four mile or so, ma'am,' she said, looking hard at me. - -'Four? As much as that?' I asked. - -'Happen three mile, maybe,' she corrected; 'no, two and a half.' - -Here Sir Archibald came out to inquire about the distance. He looked -up at the grey skies first, and seemed uncertain. - -'How much farther do you call it by the low road to Grey Tor?' he -asked. - -'Close on two mile, sir,' she mumbled shamelessly, and Sir Archibald -hesitated no longer. - -'Two miles of level are better than half a mile of precipice. I vote -for the longer road, Miss Pomeroy,' he said, on going back into the -parlour. - -Virginia nodded and smiled. She was sitting at the old, tinny-sounding -spinet, singing the most beautiful little wandering airs that might -have been learned in fairyland. - -Suddenly she drifted into a plaintive melody we had not heard before, -and when we had succumbed to its spell she began singing some words I -had found in my dear mother's diary. I had given the verses to -Virginia, and she had set them to an air of her own. It is a part of -her charm that she sings sad songs as if she had never felt joy, and -gay ones as if she had never known care or sorrow. - - ''Tis I am a lady, now that I'm old; - I'm sheltered from hunger and want and cold, - In a wonderful country that's rich in gold, - (And life to the last is sweet). - Now in the doorway I sit at my ease, - And my son's son he plays at my knees - On little stumbling feet. - But my heart goes back to the days of old, - To a barren country where gorse is gold, - For oh! it was there that my love was told, - 'Twas there we used to meet! - - 'They may think I've forgotten the land forlorn, - In the happy valleys covered with corn; - They may lay me down with my face to the morn, - A stone at my head and feet; - But I know that before the break o' the day - My soul will arise and be far away - (The spirits travel fleet),-- - Away from the valleys covered with corn, - Back again to the land forlorn, - For oh! it was there that my Love was born, - 'Twas there we used to meet!'[1] - - -Sir Archibald, Mr. Willoughby, and I could have listened for an hour, -but I felt that it was time to hurry off the elders of the party, so -made dark allusions to the weather. These were sufficient to rouse -Mrs. MacGill and Mrs. Pomeroy, who were in a semi-comatose condition -induced by copious draughts of tea. - -We all went to the door of the inn, and Mr. Willoughby came and helped -me to my seat in the motor. - -'I am coming across to Grey Tor on Saturday,' he said. 'I have some -sketches to take over that way. Shall you still be at the inn?' - -'Probably,' I answered evasively. - -'I hope so,' said he; 'perhaps we may have another talk such as we -have had this afternoon.' - -'Who knows? Talk is a fugitive pleasure,' I replied. 'Some days it -will be good, and others it can't be captured at any price.' - -'I'll come in the chance of catching some,' he whispered. And at this -moment Mrs. MacGill interrupted us and insisted that I should tie on -her shawl. The homeward drive was begun, but it would be too long a -story to describe its miseries. Imagination must do its work here. - -FOOTNOTE: - -[1] Mary Findlater. - - - - -VII - - -VIRGINIA POMEROY - -I woke this morning neither rested nor refreshed. I was determined not -to stay in bed, for I wanted to show Sir Archibald by my calm and -natural demeanour that I was unconscious of anything embarrassing in -our relations. For that matter I am not sure that there is. I wore my -pink linen, and looked paler instead of gayer, as I intended. -Breakfast was quiet, though mamma had borne the picnic wonderfully and -Miss Evesham was brighter than usual. Sir Archibald was baffling. He -met my eye as seldom as possible, but I am glad to say, though he was -absent-minded, he was not grumpy. Why do I care whether he is grumpy -or not? Why do I like to see him come out sunny and warm and genial, -and relax his severe face into an unexpected laugh? And why do I feel -pleased when he melts under my particular coaxing? I have deliberately -tried to disparage him to myself and compare him with other men, -especially with Breck Calhoun, always to his disadvantage. He is not a -bit handsomer than Breck, though mere beauty after all counts for -almost nothing in a man. He hasn't, on the whole, as good manners as -Breck, and doesn't begin to understand me as well. He is an ordinary, -straight, simple, intelligent but not intellectual Anglo-Saxon. I have -assured myself of this dozens of times, and having treated him as a -kind of snow image, merely for the satisfaction of throwing -disparaging epithets at him, and demolishing his outline, I look at -him next morning only to find that he has put himself together again -and made himself, somehow, into the semblance of the man I love. - -There are plenty of men who can manage their own moods, without a -woman's kind offices, so why should I bother about his? If it were -Breck Calhoun, now, he would be bothering about mine! It is just the -time of year when dear old Breck makes the annual offer of his heart -and hand--more, as he says, as a matter of habit than anything else, -and simply to remind me that there is an excellent husband waiting for -me at home when I cease running after strange hearts. That is his -expression. - -I think some of the marriages between persons of different nationality -must come off because of the fascination and mystery that each has for -the other,--the same sort of fascination, but a still stronger one, -that is exerted by an opposite temperament. In the friendship of a man -of Sir Archibald's type I feel a sense of being steadied and -strengthened, simplified and balanced. And there ought to be something -in the vivacity of the American girl--the result of climate and -circumstances and condition, I suppose--which should enliven and -stimulate these grave 'children of the mist.' The feeling I have -lately had for Archibald Mackenzie (he would frown if he could hear me -leave out the Maxwell and the Kindarroch) is just the basis I need for -love, but my liking would never go so far as that, unless it were -compelled by a still stronger feeling on the man's part. I am not -going to do any of the wooing, that is certain. If a man chose to give -me his very best I would try to deserve it and keep it and cherish it, -but I have no desire to fan his inward fires beforehand. After he is -once kindled, if he hasn't heat enough to burn of his own free will, -then let him go out! Sir Archibald is afraid of himself and afraid of -love. Well, he need not worry about me! I might like to see the -delightfully incongruous spectacle of a man of his type honestly and -heartily in love, and (in passing) it would be of inestimable benefit -to his character; but I want no panic-stricken lovers in my company. -Haven't I enough fears of my own, about wet climates and cold houses -and monarchical governments and tin bath-tubs and porridge and my -mother's preference for American husbands? But I should despise myself -if I didn't feel capable of throwing all these, and more, overboard if -the right time ever comes. - - * * * * * - -I haven't been downstairs either to luncheon or tea, but I looked from -mamma's window and chanced to see Johnson putting Sir Archibald's -portmanteau into the motor. I thought this morning that he intended to -run away. And that is the stuff they make soldiers of in Scotland! -Afraid of love! Fie! Sir Archibald! - -I cannot succeed in feeling like the 'maiden all forlorn.' It -impresses me somehow that he has gone away to think it over. Well, -that is reasonable; I don't suppose to a man of Sir Archibald's -temperament two weeks seems an extreme length of time in which to -choose a wife; and as I need considerable reflection on my part I'll -go away too, presently, and take mamma to Torquay, as was our original -intention. Torquay is relaxing, and I think I have been a trifle too -much stimulated by this bracing moorland air. I hope for his own -comfort that Sir Archibald will do his thinking in a warmer clime; and -when (or if) he returns to acquaint Virginia with the result of his -meditations, he will learn that she also is thinking--but in a place -unknown! - - -MRS. MACGILL - -It is just as I feared. The trouble is in my right knee, so stiff that -I can scarcely bend it, and exceedingly painful. Cecilia calls it 'a -touch of rheumatism.' - -'Indeed,' I said, 'it's a pretty secure grasp, not a touch; were I -what is called a _danseuse_, my livelihood would be gone, but -mercifully I don't need to dance.' - -Cecilia laughed; she thinks nothing of any illness but neuralgia. - -'We must leave this place very soon,' said I, 'and return to Tunbridge -Wells; life here is fit only for cannibals.' - -In the morning it was impossible for me to come down to breakfast, but -with great difficulty I dragged myself downstairs about eleven. I felt -it my duty to the son of an old friend to seek an opportunity for -quietly speaking my mind to Sir Archibald about Miss Pomeroy, so -decided to do it at once. I found them together, as usual, in the -coffee-room. The girl was looking pale; she is beginning to be afraid -that her arts are in vain. - -Sir Archibald was standing beside her, looking very much bored. She -made some excuse, and left the room soon after I had come in. - -'I hope you are not the worse of your adventure in the motor, Mrs. -MacGill,' Sir Archibald began. - -'Thank you,' said I, sitting down close to him. 'I am, a good deal. My -right knee is excessively painful, and I have a very strange buzzing -in the head.' - -'Ah, you are not accustomed to the motor; it's all habit.' - -'I am _not_ accustomed to a motor, Sir Archibald,' said I, 'nor am I -accustomed to the ways of young women nowadays,--_young ladies_ we -used to be called when I was a girl, but I feel that the phrase is -quite inapplicable to a person like Miss Pomeroy.' - -'"Young woman" is better, perhaps,' he said, I thought with a smile. - -'No lady,' I continued, 'when _I_ was young, would talk like that or -act like that.' 'A sweet face shrinking under a cottage bonnet' (as -Mr. MacGill used to say) 'is better than any tulip.' - -Sir Archibald smiled again, and seemed about to leave the room, but I -asked him to be so good as to hold a skein of wool for me. I had -brought down my knitting, so he sat down to hold it, looking rather -annoyed. - -I continued firmly, 'There is a freedom--I should almost say a -licence--about American women and their ways--' - -'You have dropped your ball,' he said; and when he had returned it to -me, he began to try to change the subject by remarking about the -weather. - -'It is,' I said, 'extremely cold, as it has always been ever since I -came here, but, as I was saying, there is something about Miss -Pomeroy's singing--' - -Here he bent his head so low that I was unable to see his face, and -stretched my wool so tight that I fear my next socks will be spoiled; -it was three-ply merino, and very soft. - -'She sings,' I went on without taking any notice of the wool, 'in a -way that I feel sure poor Mr. MacGill would have considered -indecorous. I was a musician myself as a girl, and used to sing with -much expression. "She Wore a Wreath of Roses" was a great favourite. I -always expected to be asked to repeat it. I remember on one occasion -when I came to-- - - "A sombre widow's cap adorns - Her once luxuriant hair," - -a gentleman who stood by the piano--he was a widower--was obliged to -turn away. But that was quite a different matter from the kind of -expression that Miss Pomeroy puts into things. It's not proper. I -must speak plainly to you, and say it is almost passionate, though I -dislike to use the word. - - "When I am dead, my dearest--" - -Are these words for the drawing-room? You are pulling my skein rather -tight, Sir Archibald. It stretches so easily, and these light wools -require such care. - - "And dreaming through the twilight - Haply I may remember, and haply may forget." - -Remember _what_? forget _what_? The inquiry rises unbidden. Just ask -yourself if these are words for the lips of any young woman--far less -a young _lady_.' - -Here Sir Archibald coughed so violently that he had to let go my wool -(which got all tangled) and stand up. - -'Excuse me,' he interrupted, 'but I have promised to speak with -Johnson about something--' - -'I won't detain you more than a minute,' I interrupted, 'only just to -say a word of warning to the son of an old friend. Foreigners who -speak our own language are the worst of all. O Sir Archibald, your -grandmother was Scotch, your mother was Scotch before you were born, -and all your good aunts too. I must warn you that if you let this -American girl, this Miss Pomeroy, succeed in her attempt--' - -'Mrs. MacGill,' he exclaimed, 'I cannot allow you to use Miss -Pomeroy's name to me in this way.' - -'Very well,' said I, 'but if you do not take my advice and beware, -Miss Pomeroy will have no name to mention, for she will be Lady -Maxwell Mackenzie, and you will be a miserable man with an American -wife.' - -He muttered something, I couldn't say what; the word 'Jove' was -mentioned, and there was some allusion to 'an old cat.' I failed to -see the connection, for no one could call Miss Pomeroy 'old,' whatever -she is; then without a word of apology he left the room. Young men, -even baronets, have no manners nowadays. Mr. MacGill's were courtly; -he never used one word where two would do, and bowed frequently to -every lady, often apologising most profusely when there was no -occasion for it. - - -SIR ARCHIBALD MAXWELL MACKENZIE - - CARLETON HOTEL, LONDON - -I came down late, the morning after that drive, having spent a bad -night. In spite of the fact that Johnson had been out with the motor -and the old ladies till nearly midnight, I never thought of going down -to look at the car. It had lost interest in a way I didn't like. To -tell the truth, I was thinking of nothing at all except of that girl. -I had made up my mind that this was not to be endured. Since I kissed -her--it is awful to confess it--I have wished for nothing so much as -to kiss her again, and before I become the sort of blithering idiot -that a man is when in love, I must and shall be off. It is not the -girl I funk; she is a nice girl; I never wish to see a nicer, and I -know I never shall. It is the feeling I am beginning to have about -her. When she is not there I feel as if something necessary to my -existence were wanting,--as if I had come off without a -pocket-handkerchief or gone out in a top-hat and frock-coat without an -umbrella on a showery day in town. When a man gets to feel this about -another human being it is time he was off. I have sent orders to -Johnson to be ready to start at any moment. - -I wish I had not seen Miss Virginia, though, before going. She looked -so pale and done up. Mrs. MacGill came into the room before I had time -to speak to her, even to tell her I was going away, though I somehow -think she guessed it. As to that old frump, that harpy in black velvet -and beads, Mrs. MacGill, I will not write down the things she elected -to say to me about Virginia, when she had got me tied to her -apron-string with her confounded skein of wool. I wish I had chucked -it in her face and told her to go to the devil. If I'd had the spirit -of half a man, I would have done it, and gone straight to Virginia. -Virginia! This gave me a feeling about her that I can't -describe,--much, much worse than the handkerchief-and-umbrella -feeling,--a feeling that seemed to tweak and pull at something inside -me that I had never been conscious of before. But I had an obstinate -fit on, that I'm subject to, like other men, I suppose. I had said I -would go, and I have gone, leaving a card of good-bye for the -Pomeroys, and making straight for town. - - * * * * * - -It is no use; for after a few days of struggle and doubt and misery, I -have got to go back to that girl--if I can find her. What a wretched -time I have had! If this is being in love I hope it won't last. I'm -told it doesn't usually, after marriage. Perhaps it settles down into -something more comfortable, that does not interfere with a man's meals -or destroy his sleep. It is awful to think that your whole life may or -may not be changed, according to the fancy of a girl whose existence -you weren't aware of a fortnight ago! I have told Johnson we are going -straight back to Dartmoor, and he grinned--the wretch! Of course he -knows why. - - -CECILIA EVESHAM - - GREY TOR INN - _Thursday morning_ - -Ended the Dartmoor drama! Gone Sir Archibald! Vanished the motor! Gone -too, dear Virginia and Mrs. Pomeroy! only Mrs. MacGill and I are left! -He went on Wednesday, the Pomeroys on Thursday, and I now await -events. Virginia tells me she has taken her mother to Torquay, but -that is a wide word! - - _Saturday_ - -I thought it would be so: a week without her was enough. Yesterday Sir -Archibald, or what used to be Sir Archibald, appeared at the inn -again. - -But what a change was here! Shall I put down our conversation without -comment? - -_Cecilia._ So you have come back, Sir Archibald? - -_Sir A._ Yes. - -_Cecilia._ I hope you had a pleasant run to town, or wherever you -went. - -_Sir A._ Beastly. - -_Cecilia._ What? Did the motor break down, or the weather? - -_Sir A._ Neither. - -_Cecilia._ What was wrong, then? - -_Sir A._ Everything. (Then suddenly) Where have the Pomeroys gone to, -Miss Evesham? - -_Cecilia._ To Torquay, I understand. - -_Sir A._ Do you know their address? - -_Cecilia._ I do not. I suppose they will be at one of the hotels. - -_Sir A._ You are making fun of me. Tell me where they are. I am in -earnest. - -_Cecilia._ So am I. I do not know their address. - -He started up, wrung my hand without a word, and hurried out of the -room. I looked after him in the hall, but he was so intent on the -Torquay Guide that he never noticed me. - -He steamed off Torquay-wards half an hour later. - -I have had a pleasant chat with Mr. Willoughby, who appeared this -afternoon. He looks at life and all things much as I do. He is a -distinct relief from Mrs. MacGill, a distinct relief; and though he -has made no special reputation as yet, he is bound to succeed, for he -has decided talent. - - - - -VIII - - -MRS. MACGILL - -My words have taken effect; it is often disagreeable to have to give -unasked advice, but one should always do it. Sir Archibald has gone. -It is a pleasant thought that any simple words of mine may have been -the means of saving the young man from that designing person. - -She conceals her disappointment as well as she can, and is doing her -best to look as if nothing had happened in one way or another; but I -can see below the surface of that new hat. She has taken her mother -off to Torquay for a few days. It is a large town seemingly, though I -have heard that there are no men there; but as the guide-book says the -population is twenty-five thousand, that is probably an exaggeration. -However, Miss Pomeroy won't stay long in Torquay in that case, but -will return to New York, where she would fain make us believe they are -as plentiful as in a harem. They cannot all be millionaires at least, -for she says that many American writers live on what they make by -their books. - -Cecilia would like to stay on here, I think. She has been up to the -top of a quarry looking at gorse along with that so-called artist, Mr. -Willoughby. - -Miss Pomeroy has infected her, I am afraid, and the bad example is -telling, even at that age. - - * * * * * - -We have had several nice quiet days here alone since the Pomeroys -left. There has scarcely been a sound in the hotel, except when the -wind pounces upon the window-frames in the sudden, annoying way that -it has here. Twice I have got up, to endeavour to fasten the window, -and each time have lost a toothbrush. It shakes my nerves completely -when the windows clatter suddenly through the night. Yesterday as we -sat in the dining-room I heard a crunching noise. - -'Can that be another motor?' I exclaimed. 'I hope not. It is a class -of people I do not wish to associate with any further.' - -'It is a motor,' called Cecilia, who sat next the window. 'A scarlet -motor, too.' - -In another moment the door opened, and Sir Archibald Maxwell Mackenzie -came in. - -'Dear me, Sir Archibald,' said I, 'what has brought you back again so -soon? You will have a nice quiet time here now, for we are the only -people in the hotel.' - -He seemed strangely put out and unlike himself, and passed my chair -without even replying to my speech. I could see that he was thoroughly -unnerved, very much in the same state that I was when we came back -from that terrible drive. It is no wonder; motoring must tell on the -strongest nerves in time. - -Later in the day Cecilia came in smiling. 'Sir Archibald has gone away -again,' she said. 'He has not made a long stay this time!' - -'No,' I observed, 'that sort of nervous excitement grows on people. I -know myself that if I once begin to get excited over a bazaar, for -instance, I get off my sleep, and worn out in no time. I suppose he -has rushed off farther into the moor.' - -'He has gone to Torquay,' remarked Cecilia, 'quite an easy run from -here.' - -I was much annoyed. It seemed probable that he would meet Miss Pomeroy -again there, though possible that among twenty-five thousand women he -might fail to recognise her. I think Cecilia and I must take a day or -two at Torquay on our way home. It would soothe me after this mountain -air and the desolation of Grey Tor, and I could get some fresh bead -trimming for my velvet mantle, which has been much destroyed by all -that I have come through in this place. Our packing will be very -easily done. Poor Mr. MacGill used always to say, in his playful -manner, that he could stand anything except a woman's luggage, which -is the reason that I always try to travel with as little as possible. -So there will be only our two large boxes and the holdall and my black -bag and the split cane basket and the Holland umbrella-case, with two -straps of rugs and the small brown box, and the two hat-boxes, and a -basket with some food. Miss Pomeroy's boxes were like arks. I'm sure -if she succeeds in her design, I pity the man that has to take them -back to Scotland; they would never go in the motor. I think Greytoria -and the pony chaise will manage all our little things quite nicely. -She seems the quietest animal in the stables, so I must just trust -myself in it once more. - -There goes Cecilia again, walking on the gravel at the door with that -Mr. Willoughby. We must certainly leave to-morrow morning. - -One affair such as that of Miss Pomeroy and Sir Archibald is enough -for me to endure without being witness of another. - -One would suppose common modesty would prevent a young gentleman and -lady from indulging in a love-affair whilst inhabiting an ordinary -country inn; but there is no limit to the boldness of these Americans. -I sometimes think it is a pity that they were discovered, for they -have been a bad example to more retiring and respectable nations. - - -SIR ARCHIBALD MAXWELL MACKENZIE - - TORQUAY - -That dreary week of uncertainty in London seemed more foolish than -ever, when Johnson and I struck the familiar road from Stoke Babbage -to the moor. What a silly ass I was, I thought, to kick my heels at -the Carleton all those tiresome days when I might have been with -Virginia! - -It all looked exactly the same as we came up the hill from the little -town,--the bare walls of the hotel, Grey Tor with a row of tourists on -the top, moor ponies feeding all over the place, with their tiny foals -running after them. It was a lovely, cloudless day, with 'blue -distances' enough to please all the artists in creation, and the hot -air quivered over the heath as I've seen it do at home on an August -afternoon. I seemed to hear Virginia's voice already, to see her -standing on the step in one of her pretty new frocks, and my spirits -went up with a bound. But when I got to the door there was no one -there. I went into the dining-room; the tables were changed; the one -at which we all used to sit together in the window was pushed into the -middle of the room. At a small table on the side were seated Mrs. -MacGill and Miss Evesham, while the Exeter artist was at another one -not far off. Miss Evesham and he seemed to be having a pretty lively -conversation, while Mrs. MacGill looked thoroughly out of it and -decidedly sulky. - -'What!' cried Miss Evesham, seeing me, 'you are back, Sir Archibald! -Had London no attractions?' - -'I hate town in the heat,' I replied. - -Of course I wanted to ask where the Pomeroys were, but couldn't bring -myself to do it,--especially before Mrs. MacGill. I had pointedly -ignored her, and had every intention of continuing to do so. After -lunch, at the bureau, I found that the Pomeroys had left some days -ago. I couldn't bring myself to ask for their address, with about a -dozen people listening, so I had to hang about and wait for a chance -of seeing Miss Evesham alone. It was after dinner before I got it. I -could see that she was laughing at me, under the rose--confound her -impudence!--and that she seemed to take a kind of pleasure in keeping -me waiting. She and the artist chap appeared to be as thick as -thieves, but at last she sent him off and began teasing me in her -quiet way. - -'Are you a good sailor, Sir Archibald?' she asked irrelevantly. - -'Not particularly. Why?' was my reply. - -'The Atlantic is a wide ocean, and generally very rough, I have -heard,' said she, with a queer look at my face. - -'Oh!' cried I involuntarily. 'Have they crossed?' - -She burst out laughing. - -'You're fairly caught!' she said. 'Am I supposed to know who "they" -are?' - -Then of course I had to let on. I could see Miss Evesham knew all -about it, though she did not say much, being more inclined to laugh; -I'm sure I don't know why. The Pomeroys had gone to Torquay, but she -either could not or would not tell me their address, or how long they -were going to stay, or where they were going next. - -'Torquay is a big place,' I said, discouraged, 'all hotels and -lodgings. How the deuce shall I find them?' - -'Oh,' she replied coolly, 'people generally find what they want very -much--if they are really in earnest.' - -With that she nodded me good night, still laughing. I did not see her -again, for of course I made an early morning start for Torquay next -day. - -And the devil of a hunt I had, when I got there! What silly idiots -women are! (Of course I mean Miss Evesham.) There are about one -hundred hotels, three hundred boarding-houses, and one thousand -furnished apartments in Torquay, and search as I might, I could not -find the Pomeroys' name on any of their lists, or discover a trace of -them anywhere. It was a broiling hot day, the sun beat down without -mercy, and the glare beat up from the beastly white roads and -pavements till I was nearly blind. I was never so nearly used up in my -life as at the end of that day, and it was not only with bodily -fatigue, but with utter and most cruel disappointment; for I was -convinced that the Pomeroys had left Torquay, and that, like an utter -fool, I had missed my only chance of being happy with a woman. - -At last between six and seven of the evening, I found myself sitting -on the edge of a little sort of wood, below a garden overhanging the -sea. The trees were cut away, here and there, to show the view, and to -the right you looked along the coast and saw some red rocks and a -green headland jutting out into the water. It was sunset; I was -watching a little yawl in fall sail slipping round the headland, and -when it was out of sight, I looked at the headland itself. There was -one figure on the piece of green downs at the top,--a tall, slight -figure, a woman's, all in white, with a red parasol. - -My heart jumped into my throat. I knew it was Virginia. There was a -piece of white scarf or veil floating out behind her as she walked, -and there is no woman in the world but Virginia who stands like that -or wears a scarf like that!--O Virginia, so dear and so distant, how, -how could I reach her, not having the wings of a bird? Long before I -could get there she would be gone,--lost again in that howling -wilderness of hotels and lodging-houses. - -A man came along the path where I was standing. - -'How do you get to that place?' I inquired, pointing to the headland, -'and what is it called?' - -'It's called Daddy Hole Plain,' said the man, 'and you get there by -the road. I can't direct you from here; you must inquire as you go -along.' - -'Is there no short cut?' I inquired impatiently. - -'Not unless you can swim or fly!' said the man, with a grin. - -I never wished before to be a bird or a fish; mere feet seemed a most -inadequate means of getting me to Virginia. But I set off, very nearly -at a run. The wrong turns that I took, the hills that I went up, the -hills that I went down, the people that I asked, the wrong directions -they gave me,--they seemed quite innumerable. Daddy Hole Plain was -about as difficult to get to as heaven, and when I got there the angel -would be flown! - -But she wasn't.... For when at last I saw before me the bit of green -downs with the seats facing the bay, the white figure was there. -Virginia was sitting looking out to sea where the sun was setting, -making a red path on the water, and the white-sailed yawl was drifting -to the west!... I was so hot and tired, so travel-stained and dusty! -Virginia looked so cool and sweet!... To see her there after all my -wandering and disappointment was too much.... I could not speak. She -heard my step, looked up and saw me coming--looked glad, I think.... -Her little feet were crossed in front of her upon the turf, and I just -flung myself beside them, and something--so like a lump of ice, that I -had always carried in my breast until I saw Virginia--melted entirely -at that moment, and began to beat. - - -VIRGINIA POMEROY - - TORQUAY, SOUTH DEVON - BELLA VISTA HOTEL - _June 19--_ - -If he had come the next day, or even the same week, he would have had -a cold welcome, for on the whole I did not understand, nor did I -fancy, his methods. - -But I had had time to think, time to talk it over with mamma, time to -write Breck Calhoun that there was no use in our discussing the old -subject, for I feared, though I was not absolutely sure, that there -was 'some one else.' Always dear old Breck has finished by saying, -'Jinny, there is no one else?' And there never was till now. - -Now there is not only some one else, but there is also in very truth -'no one else' who counts! All is absolutely different from, and yet -precisely like, everything that I have imagined ever since the -foundation of the earth. In love, he is, what all good men and good -women ought to be, something quite unlike his former self, or the -outer self he shows to the world. He has lost himself and found -himself again in me, and I have gone through the same mysterious -operation. He has place for no troublesome uncertainty of mind now, -although mamma and I have decreed a year of waiting, in which we shall -have ample time to change if we choose. But we shall not choose; we -were made for each other, as we have both known ever since the day we -had luncheon together at the Mug o' Cider in Little Widger. - -What chapters, what books, we talked sitting in the gorse bushes on -Daddy Hole Plain! In the evening of my days I shall doubtless be glad -that I climbed those heights, remembering that Archibald had to exert -himself somewhat arduously in order to ask me to marry him. I wanted -to be alone and feast my eyes on the dazzling blue of the sea, one -broad expanse of sapphire, stretching off, off, into eternity; a blue -all be-diamonded with sunlit sparkles; a blue touched with foam-flecks -wherever it broke on the rocks or the islets. Granted that any view -has charms when one is young and in love, the view from Daddy Hole -Plain would inspire an octogenarian, or even a misogynist. - -'It was in Exeter we really met, you remember,' I reminded Archibald. - -'I am not likely to forget it.' - -'Do you chance to know the motto that your virgin queen, Elizabeth, -bestowed upon Exeter? It was _Semper fidelis_.' - -'That's a good omen, isn't it,' he said. 'You always do find out the -cleverest things, Virginia! How am I ever to keep up with you?' - -'Don't try!' I answered, quite too happy to be anything but -vainglorious. 'Gaze at me on my superior intellectual height, and when -I meet your admiring eyes you can trust me to remember that though you -are voluntarily standing on a step below, your head is higher than -mine after all! Archibald, do you know what I am to give you for a -wedding present?' - -'No,' he answered gravely; 'is it your mother?' - -'No, I am going to lend mamma to Miss Evesham for a little, until her -turn comes,--dear old Cecilia!' - -'Do you think it will ever come?' - -'It's only just round the corner; Cupid is even now sharpening his -arrows and painting little pictures on the shafts.' - -'Oh, I see! Well, is it Greytoria? for I don't mind saying that I'm -quite ready to give her a stall in my stables at Kindarroch; though of -all the ill-conducted and lazy little brutes--' - -'Be careful, Archibald,' I exclaimed warningly; 'you owe some few -hours of martyrdom, but many a debt of gratitude, to that same -Greytoria.' - -'I remember only one,' he said, looking at me in a very embarrassing -way, 'and by George, she cut that one short! But I give it up--the -wedding present; I can't guess, and I don't care specially, so long as -you come along with it.' - -'I shall come with it, and in it, if the faithful Johnson will steer -me,--it's going to be a new motor!' - -'Well, you owe it to me, Virginia,' he cried with enthusiasm, 'for -mine isn't worth a brass farthing at this moment. I knew before I had -been at Grey Tor twenty-four hours that it was going to be knocked -into smithereens, but I hadn't the pluck to take it or myself out of -harm's way. Now we are both done for!' - -'Which do you prefer?' I asked,'your old motor or me?' - -'You, with a new one,' he answered unblushingly. 'We'll take our -wedding journey in it, shall we? Early this autumn would be a good -time.' - -'And mamma and Cecilia and Mrs. MacGill can follow behind with -Greytoria.' - -'I don't mind their trying to follow,' Archibald responded genially, -as he lighted his pipe, 'so long as they never catch up; and they -never will--not with that little brute!' - - - Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty - at the Edinburgh University Press - - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Affair at the Inn, by -Kate Douglas Wiggin and Mary Findlater and Jane Findlater and Allan McAulay - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AFFAIR AT THE INN *** - -***** This file should be named 40879.txt or 40879.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/8/7/40879/ - -Produced by Melissa McDaniel and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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