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diff --git a/41418-0.txt b/41418-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b32752 --- /dev/null +++ b/41418-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10799 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41418 *** + + CONTRABAND + + OR + + A Losing Hazard. + + By G. J. WHYTE-MELVILLE, + + AUTHOR OF "DIGBY GRAND," "CERISE," "THE WHITE ROSE," ETC. + + + _NEW EDITION._ + + LONDON: + CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. + 1871. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAP. PAGE + + I.--RAIN-CLOUDS 1 + + II.--AN ALLIANCE 10 + + III.--SIR HENRY HALLATON 18 + + IV.--AMAZONS 27 + + V.--A OUTRANCE 43 + + VI.--"TERRARUM DOMINOS" 54 + + VII.--FRANK 64 + + VIII.--JUNE ROSES 73 + + IX.--TOUCH AND GO 82 + + X.--AFLOAT 96 + + XI.--MANOEUVRING 107 + + XII.--THE SYREN 119 + + XIII.--SUNDAY IN LONDON 131 + + XIV.--POST-TIME 138 + + XV.--BETWEEN CUP AND LIP 147 + + XVI.--"A FACER" 156 + + XVII.--DISTRACTIONS 166 + + XVIII.--ATTRACTIONS 178 + + XIX.--A DRAWN BATTLE 188 + + XX.--A RECONNAISSANCE 198 + + XXI.--THE SOHO BAZAAR 209 + + XXII.--KIDNAPPING 219 + + XXIII.--"STRANGERS YET" 229 + + XXIV.--GREENWICH 241 + + XXV.--HOW THEY MISSED HER 248 + + XXVI.--IN SAMARIA 258 + + XXVII.--A HOUSEHOLD KATE 267 + + XXVIII.--"TENDER AND TRUE" 276 + + XXIX.--DAYBREAK 285 + + XXX.--"REMORSEFUL" 294 + + XXXI.--REPENTANT 303 + + XXXII.--"RECLAIMED" 312 + + + + +CONTRABAND; + +OR, A LOSING HAZARD. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +RAIN-CLOUDS. + + +"In confidence, Sir Henry----" + +"In confidence, Mrs. Lascelles, of course. I think you can depend upon +_me_." And Sir Henry, as directed by a weather-beaten guide-post, turned +into a narrow lane on his homeward way, while the lady with whom he had +been riding, jogged her tired horse gently along the high road, absorbed +in thoughts, pleasant, suggestive, engrossing--not precisely in "maiden +meditation," for she was a widow--nor yet, although she was nearer +thirty than twenty, wholly "fancy free." + +Mrs. Lascelles loved her horse dearly, and had been riding him with the +liberality and confidence that spring from true affection, in a +lady-like manner no doubt, and gracefully enough, but with considerable +daring, and no small expenditure of pace. The good generous animal had a +perfect right to be tired, having borne his precious burden honourably +and safely close to hounds as long as a stout old fox could live before +them, and had fairly earned the caresses she lavished on his +toil-stained crest and shoulders, while the hoof-tread of his late +companion died out in the distance. Mrs. Lascelles, I have said, loved +her horse dearly. For the first time in her life, perhaps, she was +beginning to find out she could love something better than her horse. + +The light waned rapidly. Heavy clouds, gathering in the west, sailed up +steadily on the moaning wind that so often in our English winter rises +with set of sun. The day had been sad-coloured and overcast, delightful +for hunting purposes, but for every other pursuit melancholy in the +extreme, and evening was drawing on, sadder, gloomier, and more +disheartening than the day. Certain elms and ashes that skirted the high +road trembled in every leafless limb, shivering and whispering together, +as if they too were moved by ghostly forebodings of cold and darkness to +come. Why should Mrs. Lascelles have looked so radiant and happy? How +had been kindled that light in her blue eyes; and what, in the name of +chaste Diana, could have occurred during a day's hunting thus to fix and +deepen the colour in her cheek? Was it that she loved to recall the +stirring memories of the last few hours--the joyous rally of the find, +the dash and music of the hounds, the pace, the pastures, the glorious +turns and windings of the chase? Or was it that she had her own private +successes to register, her own secret triumphs to record, exulting that +she too had hunted her fox fairly in the open, and was running into him +at last? + +Rose Lascelles, like many another who has squared her life to the rule +of expediency rather than right, was a woman thrown away. An ambitious +girl, in her marriage with Mr. Lascelles, now deceased, she had been +guided by her desire for social advancement, rather than by individual +preference, or even a taste for domestic life. He was young, handsome, +agreeable--a finished man of the world--thoroughly selfish; and some +women would have loved him dearly, but for Rose Vanneck he was simply +an eligible partner as heir to a good fortune and a title. So he treated +her very badly, outraged her feelings, brought all sorts of people into +her drawing-room, spent her money recklessly as his own, and finally +drank himself to death, just six months too early to make his wife a +peeress; having lived long enough, however, to leave her in the +enjoyment of as comfortable a jointure as if he had succeeded to the +title, and so far content with her lot that she appreciated the thorough +independence of her position; for who is so completely her own mistress +as a childless widow, young and attractive, with a balance at her +bankers? + +It is needless to say she had many suitors. Independent of her +well-filled purse, the lady's own charms were powerful enough to collect +men of all ages, stations, and characters in her train. The clear blue +eyes so bright, so frank, might have seemed hard and cold, but for the +dark pencilled lashes that shaded their lower as richly as their upper +rims; the white even teeth would have been too broad and strong, but for +the sweet red lips that disclosed them so graciously in half-saucy, +half-confiding, and wholly winning smiles. There might have been a shade +too much of colour in her cheek, of auburn in her hair, but that health +and rich vitality so obviously imparted to each its lustre and its +bloom. There was nobility in her arched brows and regular Norman +features, just as there were grace and dignity in her tall, well-rounded +figure; nevertheless, something beyond and independent of these physical +advantages gifted her with a peculiar fascination of her own. She seemed +to bloom in the natural freshness and fragrance of a flower, a meadow, +or a landscape; bright and healthy as a cow in a June pasture, a child +from its morning tub, as Venus herself glowing and radiant, emerging +like a sunrise from the eastern sea! + +Such a woman was pretty sure to obtain her full share of admiration in +any society. Perhaps nowhere would her conquest be more general and more +permanent than in the hunting-field. When she came down from London by +train for the enjoyment of her favourite amusement with the Bragford +hounds, lords, commoners, squires, yeomen, farmers, and horse-breakers, +combined in yielding her a general ovation. To break a fence for Mrs. +Lascelles; to open a gate for Mrs. Lascelles; to show Mrs. Lascelles the +narrowest part of the brook, or the soundest side of the ford, was a +pride, a pleasure, and a privilege to "all who buckled on the spur." If +Mrs. Lascelles had sustained a fall, which Heaven forbid! or otherwise +come to grief by flood or field, saddles would have been emptied, +stalwart scarlet arms been extended, and whiskers of every hue known to +art or nature, would have stood on end with dismay, ere a single hair of +that dainty auburn head should have touched the earth. + +Of course they fell in love with her by scores. Of course, too, the man +who paid her least attention, the man whose whole thoughts seemed +centred in himself, his boots, his horses, and his riding, found most +favour in her wilful woman's heart. That was why to-day she had refused +point-blank to become the wife of a much younger man, rich, +good-hearted, actual partner in a bank, possible member for a county; +that was why she had imparted this refusal, "in confidence, Sir Henry," +to the companion of her homeward ride, and gathered, from the manner in +which her narrative was received, hopes that sent the light dancing to +her eyes, the blood rising to her brain. + +What she saw in Sir Henry it passes my knowledge of feminine nature to +explain. He was twenty years older than herself, grey, worn, and +withered; showing such marks of dissipation and hard living on his +sunken features as had nearly obliterated every trace of the good looks +which were now a matter of history. Twice a widower, with a grown-up +family, an impoverished estate, and not the best of characters, Mrs. +Lascelles could scarce have selected a less eligible admirer amongst the +troops of light horsemen who aspired weekly to her favour; but she had +chosen to set her heart on him nevertheless, and in her whole life had +not felt so happy as to-day, when she flung down "in confidence," the +precious pearls that had been offered her, before the unclean animal, +who should hereafter turn and rend her for her pains. Women seldom give +away their hearts unasked. When they are so liberal, I think the gift is +usually without reserve; though even if accepted, like many other +priceless things, it is rarely valued at its worth. Sir Henry never told +Mrs. Lascelles he cared for her; but habit is second nature--and he had +made so much love in his life that his manner to all women had +insensibly acquired a certain softness and tenderness, which perhaps +constituted the only charm left by a youth spent in ease, +self-indulgence, and the luxury of doing as much harm as lay in his +power. She thought, no doubt, she had at last succeeded in winning the +one heart she coveted; and undismayed by grizzled whiskers, grown-up +daughters, or an impoverished estate, rode soberly along, lost in a rosy +dream that caused the tired horse, the coming rain, the gathering night, +to seem but so many delightful ingredients of a day taken out of +Paradise express for the occasion. + +Mrs. Lascelles, as behoved her sex and position, went hunting with +becoming pomp, accompanied by a groom, whose duty it was, so far as his +powers of equitation permitted, to keep close to his mistress during the +day. In addition to this functionary, other servants were disposed and +dotted about at different posts,--such as the railway station, the +country-inn, where a carriage was left with dry things, the stable where +her hunters stood, and the terminus in London, where a brougham awaited +her return. + +Altogether, a day's hunting involved the employment of some half-dozen +people, and the expenditure of as many pounds. With all this forethought +it was not surprising that she should have found herself riding home at +nightfall, alone and unattended, perfectly satisfied nevertheless with +her situation, and utterly forgetful of the groom, whose horse had lost +a shoe, and who was to overtake her as soon as another had been put on. + +So she patted her favourite's neck, smiled, sighed, shook her head, and +relapsed into a brown study and a walk. + +The rain gave her but little warning. Two or three large drops fell on +the sleeves of her habit, then came a squall and a driving shower, such +as wets the best broadcloth through and through in less than five +minutes. Even the good horse shook his ears in mute protest; and Mrs. +Lascelles was fain to sidle him under the hedge, cowering for as much +shelter as could be got from the ivy-covered stem of a stunted pollard +tree. + +People have different ideas of pleasure. For some, the most +uncomfortable incidents of the chase borrow a charm from the seductive +pursuit to which they are unavoidable drawbacks. The infatuated votary +accepts falls, lame horses, drenched garments, long rides in the dark, +considerable fatigue, and occasional peril of body, with an equanimity +marvellous to the uninitiated; and only to be accounted for by the +strange perversity of human nature when in headlong pursuit of an idea. +Perhaps, after all, the career of life is not inaptly represented by a +run with hounds. Difficulties to be surmounted and risks to be +encountered add infinitely to the zest of both. In each, there are +unremitting exertions to get forward, a constant strain to be nearer and +yet nearer some imaginary place of prominence and superiority--an +emulation mellowed by good-fellowship with those whom we like and +respect for their very efforts to surpass ourselves--a keen excitement +damped only by vague wonder that the stimulant should be so powerful, by +dim misgivings of which the fatal _cui bono_? is at the root; lastly, a +pleasing sense of fatigue and contentment, of resignation rather than +regret, when the whirl and tumult of the day are over, and it is time to +go home. + +Mrs. Lascelles, sitting in a wet habit under the hedge, neither drooped +with fatigue nor shivered with cold. Her reflections must have been +strangely pleasant, for she was almost disappointed when her servant +trotted up with the lately shod horse, and touching his hat +respectfully, suggested that the weather was getting "worser"--that the +horses would catch their deaths, poor things!--that it was still five +miles to the station, and that they should proceed--he called it "shog +on"--in that direction without delay. + +The groom was a sober fellow enough, but he had decided, with some +justice, that such a wetting as he was likely to encounter justified a +glass of brandy on leaving the blacksmith's shop. + +His loyalty to his mistress and love for the good animals under his +charge were, doubtless, not diminished by this cordial; and while with +numbed fingers he unrolled the waterproof cape that was buckled before +his own saddle, and wrapped it round her dripping shoulders, he could +not forbear congratulating Mrs. Lascelles, that "things," as he +expressed it, "was no wuss." + +"The 'osses is tired, ma'am, no doubt, an' a long trashing day it's been +for 'osses; but, bless ye, Ganymede, he won't take no notice; he'll have +his head in the manger soon as ever his girths is slacked, and they're +both of 'em as sound as when they left the stable. Ah! we've much to be +thankful for, we have! but how you're to get to the station, ma'am, +without a ducking--that's wot beats me!" + +"I must take my ducking, I suppose, James, and make the best of it," +she answered, pleasantly; "but it's going to be a fearful night. It +comes on worse every minute." + +James, who had dropped back a horse's length, now pressed eagerly +forward. + +"I hear wheels, ma'am," said he, "and it's a'most a living certainty as +they're going our way. If it was me, I'd make so bold as ask for a lift +inside. Ganymede, he'll lead like a child, and you'll have all the more +time to--to--shift yerself, ma'am, afore the train be due." + +While he spoke, a one-horse fly, with luggage on the top, halted at her +side, a window was let down, and a pleasant woman's voice from within +proffered, to the benighted lady on horseback, any accommodation in the +power of the occupant to bestow. + +It was already too dark to distinguish faces; but the stranger's tones +were courteous and winning. Mrs. Lascelles had no hesitation in availing +herself of so opportune a shelter. The flyman was off his box in a +twinkling, the lady leaped as quickly to the ground, James signified his +approval, Ganymede gave himself a shake, and in another minute Mrs. +Lascelles found herself jerking, jolting, and jingling towards the +station by the side of a perfect stranger, whose features, in the +increasing obscurity, she strove vainly to make out. + +Some indefinable instinct suggested to her, however, that her companion +was young and pretty. A certain subtle fragrance which may or may not be +the result of scents and essences, but which seems indigenous to all +taking women, pervaded her gloves, her hair, her gown, nay, the very +winter jacket with which she defied the cold. The rustle of her dress as +she made room, the touch of her hand as she took sundry wraps from the +front seat of the carriage and heaped them in her guest's lap, told Mrs. +Lascelles that this errant damsel, wandering about in a hired fly +through the rain, was one for whom lances had already been broken, and +champions, it may be, laid gasping on the plain. For several seconds +she racked her brains, wondering who and what the traveller could be, +where coming from, where going to, why she had never met, nor heard of +her before. + +It was not to be expected that silence between these two ladies should +last long. Cross-examining each other with great caution and politeness, +they presently discovered that they were both bound for London, and by +the same train. This coincidence involved, no doubt, a feeling of +sisterhood and mutual confidence; yet the coloured lights of the station +were already visible, and the fly was turning into its gravelled area, +ere Mrs. Lascelles could divine with any certainty the place her +companion had lately quitted. + +"What a long drive it is, to be sure!" observed the latter wearily. "And +they call it only five miles to Midcombe Junction from Blackgrove!" + +Mrs. Lascelles felt her heart give a jump, and she caught her breath. + +"From Blackgrove!" she repeated. "Do you know Sir Henry Hallaton?" + +"I _do_ know Sir Henry," replied the other with emphasis. "I know him +thoroughly!" + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +AN ALLIANCE. + + +In the boudoir of a dear little house, just far enough off Piccadilly to +be out of the roar of its carriages, sat Mrs. Lascelles, "waiting +luncheon," as she called it, for her travelling companion of the day +before. + +The ladies had been so charmed with each other in their railway journey +the previous evening, that an invitation to the pleasantest of all meals +was given, and accepted with great cordiality, before they parted; and +the mistress of No. 40, as she loved to designate it, was glad to think +that her pretty home should look its best for the reception of this new +friend. A canary was perched in the window, a fire blazed in the grate, +a pug-dog was snoring happily on the rug, a bullfinch swelling in +splendid sulks on the work-table: with a peal at the door bell this +simple machinery seemed all set in motion at once--the canary twittered, +the pug barked, the bullfinch subsided, Mrs. Lascelles jumped up, the +door opened, and a footman announced "Miss Ross!" + +If Miss Ross looked well under the dim light of a railway carriage, she +lost nothing of her prestige when exposed to the full glare of day. She +was pale, certainly, and perhaps a little too thin, but her black eyes +were certainly splendid; while over her rather irregular features and +her too resolute mouth and chin was cast a wild, mournful expression, +half pathetic, half defiant, expressly calculated, it would seem, for +the subjugation of mankind, especially that portion who have outlived +the fresher and more healthy tastes of youth; add to this, masses of +black hair, a little bonnet with a scarlet flower, a graceful figure, +lithe as a panther's, clad in a dark but very becoming dress, and I +submit that the general effect of such an arrival fully justified the +disturbance it created in the boudoir at No. 40. + +Mrs. Lascelles, it is needless to observe, took in all these details at +a glance,--she had "reckoned up" her visitor, as the Yankees say, long +before she let go the hands she clasped in both her own with so cordial +a welcome. + +"This woman," thought she, "would be a formidable enemy. I wonder +whether she might not also prove a valuable friend." + +Then, sharp and cold, shot through her the misgiving of the day before; +what had she been doing at Blackgrove, this dark-eyed girl, and what did +she know of Sir Henry Hallaton? No stone would she leave unturned till +she found out. + +Miss Ross, however, did not seem at all a mysterious person, at least on +the surface. + +Before she had taken off her bonnet and made friends with the pug, she +had already broached the subject nearest the other's heart. + +"You are very kind to me, Mrs. Lascelles," she said, folding the pug's +ears back with her white, well-shaped hands; "but I must not come into +your house and waste your substance under false colours. Do I look like +an adventurer, adventuress,--what do you call it?--a person who lives +from hand to mouth, who has no settled abode,--a sort of +decently-dressed vagrant, not exactly starving, but barely respectable? +Because that's what I _am_!" + +Mrs. Lascelles stared, and called her dog away. + +"I went to Blackgrove as an adventuress," continued Miss Ross, in calm, +placid tones, with no appearance of earnestness but in the firm lines +round her mouth, "I left it as an adventuress. I can hold my own +anywhere, and with any one; but I should have been worse than I am had +I stayed a day longer in that house!" + +"Tell me about it!" exclaimed Mrs. Lascelles eagerly. "I am sure you are +not--not--at all the sort of person I shouldn't like to know." + +"I _will_ tell you," said the other, speaking lower and faster now, with +a bright gleam in her black eyes. "I haven't a friend in the world--I +never _did_ have a woman friend; if I had--well, it's no use thinking of +that now. Never mind; I'll tell you every thing, because--because I +fancy I can guess something, and you ought to know. Have you ever seen +Miss Hallaton, Helen Hallaton?--a girl with black eye-brows, and a face +like an old Greek _bas-relief_. Well, I was to be Helen's +companion;--does that surprise you? If you were a widower, Mrs. +Lascelles, and had daughters, am I the sort of person you would engage +as their companion?" + +It was a difficult question. From the widower's point of view, Mrs. +Lascelles was not quite sure but she _would_. Miss Ross, however, went +on without waiting for an answer. + +"Shall I tell you how I lived before I ever thought of being anybody's +companion? Shall I tell you all I learned in a school at Dieppe, in a +convent at Paris, amongst the strange people who struggle on for bare +existence in the foreign quarter of London? I have sat for a model at +half a crown an hour; I have sung in a music-hall at half-a-guinea a +night. I suppose it was my own fault that I was born without a home, +without a position, without parents, as I sometimes think,--certainly +without a conscience and without a heart! Yet I know hundreds who have +been twice as bad as I ever was, without half my excuses. Mrs. +Lascelles, I have been at war with most of my own sex and the whole of +the other ever since the days of short frocks and a skipping-rope. Don't +you think I must sometimes long to sit down and rest, to leave off being +a she-Arab, if only for half an hour?" + +"Was that why you went to Blackgrove?" asked the other, wondering, +interested, a little frightened, yet also a little fascinated, by her +guest. + +"I was in London with a capital of three pounds seventeen shillings," +laughed Miss Ross, "and a personalty of five dresses, two bracelets, and +Alfred de Musset's poems half-bound, the morning I answered the +advertisement that took me to Blackgrove. Can you believe that when I +left it yesterday, I might have stayed, if I had chosen, as mistress of +the house, the flower garden, the whole establishment, and wife of the +worst--well, _one_ of the worst men I have ever had to do with? For a +moment I hesitated--I own I hesitated; though I knew her so little, I +could almost have done it for Helen's sake. Mrs. Lascelles, that girl is +an angel, and her father is--is--not to use strong language--_quite the +reverse_." + +Mrs. Lascelles was woman enough to defend an absent friend, and the +colour rose to her brow while she thought how confidentially they were +riding together along the Bragford road not twenty-four hours ago. + +"I have known Sir Henry some time," she said, drawing herself up, and +blushing yet deeper to reflect that the "some time" was but a very few +weeks after all; "I cannot believe him what you describe. You ought not +to say such things if you have no proof of them." + +"It was to prove them I came here to-day," replied Miss Ross. "It was to +prevent a bad man from making a fool of another woman as he has tried to +make a fool of me. Plain speaking, Mrs. Lascelles, but listen to my +story before you ring the bell for the footman to turn me out of the +house. The first fortnight I was at Blackgrove I never saw the papa at +all; and I honestly own I was becoming every day more attached to the +eldest girl. It was a quiet, peaceful life; and what with the country +air, the sleep, the fresh butter and cream, I began to feel quite strong +and healthy. Sometimes I thought I was even getting gentle and almost +good; I do believe I could have lived there with Helen, and looked after +the younger ones, and gone to bed at ten o'clock, and never wanted +change or excitement for years. I don't know--it seems as if it was not +_me_, but somebody else, who passed such a calm and happy fortnight in +that quiet old country house. + +"But I woke up the first day Sir Henry came home. I was looking my best, +and he took care I should know he thought so before he had been five +minutes in the room. At dinner, too, he was perfectly odious, and the +way he helped me to claret, after three hours' acquaintance, was an +insult in itself. Can you believe the man wrote me a letter that very +night, and had the effrontery to put it on my pincushion himself after I +had gone down to breakfast? Such a letter! excusing the outrageous +nature of the whole proceeding, and thus showing he knew perfectly well +how badly he was behaving, on the score, if you please, of his age and +experience in such matters! He had often fancied himself in love before, +he said, but he now knew that he had met his fate for the first and last +time. He should leave home, he protested, that same day, and unless I +could give him some hope of toleration, if not of forgiveness, should +probably never return, for he dreaded my displeasure more even than he +loved the very ground I trod on, &c., &c. All in the worst and washiest +style, as silly and vulgar as a Valentine! But he didn't leave home; +for, to my dismay, he appeared at tea-time, on the best possible terms +with himself, having been out all the morning with the Bragford hounds, +and lunched, as he told us, in very charming society at the 'Peacock.'" + +A Red Indian displays, I believe, wonderful fortitude and self-command +under punishment, but a woman tortured by another woman far surpasses +the savage in the calm hypocrisy with which she masks and subdues her +pangs. Not a quiver in her voice, not a shadow on her face, betrayed +more than natural curiosity, while Mrs. Lascelles inquired, in a tone of +perfect unconcern: + +"Do you remember, by chance, whether it was the day of the railway +accident?" + +The day of the railway accident was impressed on her memory, less indeed +by the collision, which only damaged a few trucks in a goods-train, than +by an interview she held with Sir Henry after luncheon, in which he had +given her to understand, as distinctly as he could without saying it in +so many words, that amongst all the women of the world there was but one +for _him_, and her name was Rose Lascelles! + +"I _do_ remember something about a smash that same day at Bragford +Station," answered Miss Ross, "and it seemed to me miraculous that +nobody was hurt. I only saw it in the papers next morning, for Sir Henry +never mentioned the subject--I suppose he was so full of other matters." + +"What do you mean?" said Mrs. Lascelles, getting up to stir the fire, +and so turning her face from her companion. "You think I am interested +in Sir Henry Hallaton, and you have got something more to tell me about +him. Frankly, I _am_ interested--to a certain extent. Be as open with me +as I am with you, and tell me all you know." + +Miss Ross took the pug on her lap, settled herself in a comfortable +attitude, and proceeded calmly with her narrative. + +"That same evening, when the girls went to bed, Sir Henry detained me, +almost by force, in the library. Without the slightest reserve or +hesitation, he related all the particulars of his interview that +afternoon with yourself. He assured me solemnly, that you were avowedly +attached to him, and ready at any time to become his wife. He showed me +a letter you wrote him, and a ring you had given him to keep." + +"He took it to be mended!" interrupted the other, with great +indignation. "I never gave it him--I insisted on having it back that +very day." + +"It wouldn't come off," proceeded Miss Ross, "for I own I was malicious +enough to ask for it as a proof of his sincerity, and I couldn't help +laughing while he tugged and tugged to get it over the joint of his +little finger. Then he told me that he had thought of marrying only for +the sake of his daughters; that he had looked about him for what the +advertisements call 'a suitable person,' and had selected Mrs. +Lascelles--I use his own words--as a lady-like woman, with a good +fortune, not at all bad-looking, and thoroughly devoted to himself." + +"Upon my word, I am very much obliged to him!" broke, in the other, with +but little more vehemence, after all, than the occasion demanded. "The +man has lied to you like a villain! and his lie is all the more cowardly +that it has a certain leaven of truth. Engaged to him I never was; love +him I never did; I might have _liked_ him, perhaps, if I hadn't found +him out in time, but there is no fear that I shall ever like him now!" + +"All this fiction, then," continued Miss Ross, "served as a preamble for +a proposal in form to the young lady who had entered his house as +companion to his daughters, and whom he was bound, by every manly +sentiment, to shelter and protect. I told him so, and he answered that +he could in no way fulfil this duty so completely as by making me his +wife. Then I laughed at him--I couldn't help it--and he looked so hurt +and sad, for he's not a bad actor, that I almost pitied him for the +moment, as you _do_ pity people on the stage, though you know it's +acting all the time. At last I got sleepy, and wanted to go to bed, so I +determined to put him to a real test, knowing perfectly well what would +be the result. + +"I pretended to soften. I gave him my hand, no more, though he was an +old player, and obviously accustomed to consider such concessions the +preliminaries of a winning game. Then I told him he ought to know my +history; that I had entered his house under false pretences; that long +ago, and far away (this is _true_, Mrs. Lascelles, but let it never +again be alluded to by you or me), I had loved and been deceived, and +could never care for any one in that way again. Lastly, I reminded him +of his children, his age (I couldn't resist _that_!) and his position, +watching him very narrowly while I shammed a good cry, and sobbed out +'Sir Henry, I am not fit to be your wife.' + +"Then I unmasked my man, just as I expected all along. His face +brightened, he never dropped my hand, he looked pleased and altogether +relieved, while he embarked on a long and fluent dissertation, in which +he insisted on the advantages of a protector and a home, on his own +merits, on my friendless position, and on the reparation I owed him for +his resolution at once to break off with _you_. Not a word now about +matrimony. Oh! I was never deceived in him from the beginning--not for a +moment! + +"I told him so. 'Do you think,' I said, 'after all I have gone through, +after all I have confessed to you, that I have a spark of sentiment, an +atom of romance left--that I would trust myself to the tender mercies of +any man living, except as his wife?' + +"He turned pale, walked to the fire, poked it furiously, and came back +with his hands in his pockets glaring at me like a tiger. 'Then _be_ my +wife, Miss Ross!' he growled. 'You won't like it, but I'll do my best to +make you happier than the others!' He was horridly put out, I saw, so I +made him a curtsy, took my candlestick, and marched off to bed. I locked +my door, you may be sure, and as he was off early next morning to pay a +visit in the neighbourhood, he came and knocked several times to wish me +'Good-bye,' but I pretended to be asleep, and before he returned +yesterday I was gone. + +"Mrs. Lascelles, you are the only person who was ever good to me without +a selfish motive. I have tried to repay you by putting you on your +guard. I can begin my fight with the world where I left off--I rather +like it. But think of me kindly sometimes, and try not to forget our +drive in the dark to Midcombe Station. I must go now. I don't suppose we +shall ever meet again!" + +But she didn't go, notwithstanding, for Mrs. Lascelles had many more +questions to ask, many more confidences to receive, all tending to the +condemnation of her false adorer, Sir Henry Hallaton. Tea-time found the +ladies still in earnest conclave, and their intimacy must have been +closely cemented, for Miss Ross had already confided to her hostess that +her Christian name was Virginie, and that she was familiarly called +"Jin." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +SIR HENRY HALLATON. + + +Warriors of long standing, who, like the Latin poet, have "militated," +not without success, in many campaigns against the Fair, accept +reverses, scars, and even knock-down blows, with a wondrous affectation, +at least, of stoicism and unconcern. I have my own opinion on these +matters, and hold that the raw recruit, though he may bleed more freely, +may make wryer faces over his gashes, thrusts, and gun-shot wounds, yet +recovers their effects sooner and more completely than the drier and +tougher veteran. The heart, I think, is mended less and less easily +after each successive breakage. At last, like an old boot that has been +patched and cobbled over and over again, it lets in the enemy with a +sadly wasteful facility, and the careless Don Juan of twenty finds +himself a jealous, fretful, unhappy, yet dotingly devoted Don Alfonso at +fifty. There is retribution perhaps even here. A man who lavishes his +money in youth, becomes the slave of a guinea in old age. There must be +a day of reckoning for waste of time, health, intellect--why not also +for a reckless squandering of the affections? Whatever may have been its +practice, the moral code of chivalry was, doubtless, of the noblest and +the best. Men little know what they throw away in that thoughtless +prostitution of the heart which they are never taught to consider weak, +unmanly, and dishonourable. They abandon the brightest beacon to renown, +the surest guide to success, nay, one of the nearest paths to heaven. +All these are to be found in an honest love for a pure woman, and all +these are bartered every day for the smile of a coquette, or the empty +vanity of an hour. + +When it is too late, there is something very piteous in that longing of +human nature for the good and the true, which causes it to accept, with +its eyes open, the false and the bad. A second marriage, when the first +had been a failure, was described by a well-known wit as "the triumph of +hope over experience;" surely the grasping at a shadow, when the +substance has proved unattainable, may be called the anodyne of illusion +for despair. "I only ask to be happy and to have every thing my own +way," is the unreasonable outcry of youth, embarking on a summer-sea +with fair wind and hopeful promise, though the golden islands are yet, +as they ever will be throughout the voyage, below the horizon, and the +safe anchorage of thoughtless childhood is already far on the lee. + +"I have a right to be happy!" shouts manhood in stern defiance and +rebellion, when the waves are rising and the storm darkens around, +while he ploughs his way towards his aim by dint of ceaseless toil and +weary watches, and heart-breaking efforts that are in themselves +unhappiness and pain. + +"I deserve to have been happy!" grumbles old age, though the haven is at +last in sight,--sorrowful but not penitent, regretting with revilings +and maledictions, not with remorse and self-reproach, the fair +opportunities neglected, the chances lost or thrown away,--ready on the +vaguest and wildest encouragement to 'boutship even now, and, reckless +of shrivelled sails and used-up stores, to put out into that dark, +dreary, disheartening sea once more. + +It is well for man and woman too to have known a deep, engrossing, and +sincere affection; so elevating as to have ennobled their existence with +its lustre, so strong as to have swept all rivalry from its path, so +prosperous that they have never been driven to seek in paltry imitations +some fictitious solace for its loss. + +Sir Henry Hallaton had been twice married; first, in his early youth, +when he became the victim of one of those women happily rare in our +English society, who literally go about seeking whom they may devour. +She accepted him after a week's acquaintance, and was tired of him in +less than a year. Then she ran away with a foreign Count, physically, +mentally, and socially, far inferior to her husband; and in moral +qualities, at least, _then_, not fit to black his boots. Who shall +explain these things? Sir Henry had a shot at the Count, and winged him; +but so madly was he in love with the woman by whom he had been thus +outraged, that he refused to try for a divorce. Had she not died a few +months later, he believed she might have returned to him--and he would +have taken her back! This consideration somewhat softened the pain he +was weak enough to feel in her loss. Then he married again a lady who +was devoted to _him_, this time, and who bore him a family, of which +his daughter Helen was the eldest. That he proved a faithful husband to +this true and affectionate wife, I cannot take upon myself to affirm, +but he was good to the children, and especially fond of his eldest. +After a few short years he lost his second wife too, and now began the +least excusable part of Sir Henry's life. + +He was still handsome, with all the energy and most of the tastes of +youth. He was gay, popular, somewhat unscrupulous, and a great favourite +with women. The married ones liked him well enough, in all honour; and +of such he used to say, that "they could take care of themselves;" but +amongst the unmarried, many aspired to legal possession of himself and +his home; with these, unless he was much belied, he took cruel advantage +of feelings he ought never to have awakened, and hopes he never intended +to fulfil. + +There were strange stories of Sir Henry's rides with Miss Fanny, and his +walks with Miss Violet, of the pic-nic that got Lady Jane into such a +scrape with her aunt, and the disappearance for several more hours than +was decorous of a young beauty, once the pride of half a dozen parishes, +subsequently ostracised for misdemeanours, in which she was far the +least erring culprit of the two. Scandals like these, however, neither +caused people to shut their doors against the reckless baronet, nor, +indeed, brought him into such disrepute as might have been expected with +that jury of matrons who constitute the court of appeal for county +society, and whose verdict in defiance of all evidence is almost always +given in condemnation of the accused. Had it not been for Helen, perhaps +Sir Henry, in an unguarded moment, would have surrendered himself once +for all, to recommence his search after happiness in matrimonial +fetters, calculated not only to impede his activity but creating much +untoward noise and jingle in his pursuit. The image of his child, I +believe, saved him many times from folly, more than once from guilt. +The temptation must have been very great, the seductions more than +ordinarily powerful, that could have induced Sir Henry either to abandon +his daughter and his home, or to place another in that home, over that +daughter's head. His last, and one of his most foolish escapades, had +been a sudden infatuation for Miss Ross. He was also not a little +ashamed of his discomfiture, at her cavalier rejection of his addresses, +and masterly retreat from his house. + +The morning after her departure Sir Henry sat at breakfast, revolving in +his mind many matters of affection and sentiment, which did not, +however, seem to affect his spirits or his appetite. He was a late man, +and his family, consisting of three daughters, for the only son was +abroad with his regiment, generally dispersed to their several +occupations before he came down. Only Helen, after she had ordered +dinner and set the domestic works of the establishment in motion, +habitually paid him a visit to pour out his tea and chat with her papa +while he ate. To-day, she was later than usual, and her absence gave him +time to reflect on his demonstration and its repulse. Strange to say, +while he saw the folly of which he would fain have been guilty, and +laughed indulgently at his own infatuation, there was a degree of +soreness about his failure, more galling than that of disappointed +fantasy, or mere wounded self-love. + +"Can it be that I _really_ care for this girl?" thought Sir Henry; "and +if so, that I of all men in the world am likely to be baffled in my +pursuit? Have I quite lost the art in which I was tolerably perfect +twenty, ten, ay, five years ago? and even if I have, is it not worth +anything to know that I can feel as I used, and am young in heart and +affections still?" + +He would have got up and stared in the glass, deploring, as he often +did, the wrinkles about his eyes, the grey hairs in his whiskers, but +that Helen coming into the room began to pour out his tea and look +after the comforts of his repast. + +She was a girl to be proud of, ay, and fond of too. Miss Ross described +her beauty graphically enough when she said it was that of an old Greek +_bas-relief_. The features were as regular, the brow as low and wide, +the under part of the face slightly prominent, and the mouth, when seen +in front, forming that beautiful curve so rarely modelled but in the +antique--such a mouth as denotes sensibility, firmness, courage, +sympathy, and other noble characteristics of womankind. + +In addition to these advantages, Helen possessed what are called "Irish +eyes"--deep, soft, and winning, frank, modest, and full of intellect. I +can think of no other epithet to convey their lustre and their charm. +They were, probably, blue-grey, like Minerva's, but you never thought of +their colour, fringed as they were by curling eye-lashes darker than her +hair, and surmounted by firm, well-defined eye-brows of a yet deeper +shade than either. She was rather tall, too, and handsomely formed, with +shapely hands and feet; but the graceful figure suggested a fair amount +of strength and energy, nor were you surprised to learn that she could +ride, walk, garden, and milk a cow. There were few better waltzers +anywhere, and no such skater in the shire. Moreover, though she never +confessed to it, I believe she used to play cricket with her brother, +and was an undeniable long-stop. + +Sir Henry looked fondly in her face, and his heart smote him to think +that he should ever have contemplated the possibility of setting any +other woman over his daughter's head. + +"Letters, Nelly," said he, tossing her over a packet of them to open, +while he proceeded with his breakfast. "The old story, of course, county +meetings, advertisements for wire-fences, curse them! cheap wines; +nothing from Harry--he never writes but when he wants money--to be sure +that's nearly every mail--and two or three tradesmen's bills, which you +may put in the fire without opening." + +"Why don't you _pay_ your bills?" said Miss Helen, who was rather fond +of lecturing her papa; it was her favourite way of petting him. "You let +them run up, and forget all about it; and then, when you want to buy a +horse, the money is required for something else. Now, look at me; I keep +the house accounts to a fraction, and pay them the first Monday in every +month to a minute." + +Sir Henry laughed. + +"How can I pay your debts and my own too? You spend all my money in soap +and sand-paper, you little tyrant, and expect me to find myself in +boots, gloves, saddlery, and the common necessaries of life. Nelly, +you're the plague of my existence!" + +"I wish you would let me manage all these things for you," insisted Miss +Nelly, with great solemnity; "I'm sure you're cheated, papa, and you're +far too generous and open-hearted. Besides, you hate accounts, and I +_know_ you pay them often without adding them up. How I like figures! I +like managing--I like looking into things--I like having plenty to do." + +"You'll have a house of your own to manage some day," answered her +father gaily, "and a husband too, you little witch. I'm sure I don't +envy him!" + +But his face fell while he spoke; for he was thinking, when the fatal +time came, what should he do without his darling, the light, and joy, +and comfort of his home? + +Miss Helen blushed. Perhaps she too had not been without her maiden +dreams of some such contingency hereafter. Perhaps she had foreshadowed +to herself the semblance of a future lord, whom she would tend as fondly +and love even more devotedly than papa. Perhaps already that phantom +shape had been filled in and coloured, and appeared visibly in the +flesh. + +"Halloo, young woman!" exclaimed Sir Henry, tossing another letter +across the table, "here's something for you! An enormous envelope, +stamped with the arms of the Household Cavalry. Bravo, Nell! Have they +offered you a cornetcy, or a situation as bandmaster, or what?" + +The blush deepened on Helen's face till it spread to the roots of her +thick dark hair; but she put back the unopened letter in her father's +hand, and, stealing round his chair, leaned on his shoulder, while she +stood behind him. + +"Read it, papa," said she; "nobody in the world can have anything to say +to me that ought not to come to you first." + +Again that pang of remorse shot through him, as he remembered his own +unworthiness. "What a good girl I have got!" he thought; "and what a +poor, irresolute wretch I am! I cannot trust myself for a day! I ought +to be better; I wish I could try to be better! Here have I been, ready +to gamble away my child's position and her every-day comfort for the +sake of a pair of black eyes and lanthorn jaws that I had never seen a +month ago, that I don't care for half as I do for Nell!--that don't care +a brass farthing for _me_! And I'd do it again, I _know_, under +temptation--that's the worst of it! Ah! I wish I had led a different +life, for Nelly's sake. I wonder if it's too late to begin now?" + +Then he read his daughter's letter, a correct and harmless production as +could possibly be addressed to a young lady under the immediate +supervision of her papa, consisting indeed but of a few choice lines, to +express, with much politeness, the writer's intention of "availing +himself of Sir Henry's kindness, and of trespassing on his hospitality +for a couple of days' hunting the following week," with a studied +apology for addressing the daughter of the house, according to her +father's express directions, who had feared he might be away from home +when the letter arrived; the whole concluding with a vague allusion to a +ball of the previous season, which might mean anything, or might not. + +"I told him to write to you, Nelly," said Sir Henry, tearing the letter +across and throwing it into the waste-paper basket; "it's lucky I did, +for I had forgotten all about it. And now I'm not quite sure which of +these fellows it is, they're all so alike, and they all ride chestnut +horses with great liberality, I must admit. Vanguard, Vanguard--which +was Vanguard? The little fellow with light hair, or the stout man who +spilt sherry over your dress? I believe I asked them all here next +week." + +"Nonsense, papa!" replied Helen; "you're thinking of Sir Charles Carter +and Mr. Peacock. Captain Vanguard is the gentleman we met at Lady +Clearwell's, and who was so civil about his brougham when our carriage +got smashed." + +"I remember!" exclaimed Sir Henry, suddenly enlightened, "a man with a +squint----" + +"A squint!" returned Helen, indignantly. "Oh, papa! how can you say so? +He's got beautiful eyes; at least--I mean----" she added, picking +herself up with some confusion, "he hasn't the slightest vestige of a +squint! And you thought him good-looking." + +"Did _you_ think him good-looking, Nelly?" said her father; "that's more +to the purpose." + +"I never thought about it," answered the girl, tossing her head, yet +smiling a little with her deep expressive eyes. "He seemed +gentleman-like and good-natured, and you said you wanted to be civil to +him; so he'd better come here, I suppose, and I'll see that his room is +comfortable and his fire lit--that's _my_ department. Now, papa, if you +mean to be provoking, I'll go and attend to my own business: I've plenty +to do, and you're not to have any more tea. What an hour to have just +finished breakfast! Shall I ring?" + +"Ring away, Nelly," said her father, putting a cigar in his mouth, and +sauntering off for his usual visit to the stables. + +But Helen dipped into the waste-paper basket, and extracted therefrom +the two torn halves of Frank Vanguard's letter, which she pieced +together and perused attentively. Then she folded them carefully in +their envelope, also torn, and placed the whole in her apron pocket, ere +she rang the bell and sailed off on her daily avocations; from all which +I infer that, notwithstanding her denial, she _had_ thought about the +writer's good looks, and was, at least, perfectly satisfied that his +eyes had not the remotest tendency to a squint! + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +AMAZONS. + + +"My dear, the Amazons were quite right." It was Mrs. Lascelles who +spoke, sitting in the easiest chair of her boudoir, and listening to an +account of those remarkable women, read aloud by Miss Ross. The ladies +had not been studying Herodotus, amusing and improbable as are the +anecdotes of that gossiping historian, but took their information from +an author of later date, less quaint, more voluminous, and perhaps as +little to be trusted. + +Miss Ross shut her book and yawned. "I think they should have gone in +for man-hating altogether," she replied. "I am dead against +half-measures, and I never can see why you shouldn't kick people because +they are down!" + +"I wish I had always thought so," said the other, with something like a +sigh. "We poor women must learn to take care of ourselves. Well, I am +wiser now, and really, Jin, I think it's partly owing to you." + +Miss Ross was still thinking of the Amazons. "Why didn't they kill their +prisoners at once?" she asked. "It would have been more dignified, and +more--what shall I say? more _manly_ altogether." + +"I think the other plan was better," answered Mrs. Lascelles. "You see, +they kept them long enough to make them unhappy, if they had no other +motive, and then put them out of the way just as the captives were +beginning to get attached to their conquerors. They don't seem to have +minded mutilating _themselves_; I dare say that was very natural. Jin, I +think I should like to have been an Amazon." + +"You're too soft-hearted," answered the other. "Now I could condemn a +man to death with less compunction than you would show in ordering a +child to be whipped. I have no pity for the nobler sex, as they call +themselves. 'War to the knife!' that's my motto!" + +"I think I have been used badly enough," said Mrs. Lascelles, looking +the while extremely prosperous and self-satisfied. "I am sure my early +life has not been the happier for my relations with the lords of the +creation. Two or three false lovers, my dear, and a bad husband, are not +calculated to raise one's opinion of the race; but I am not so bitter as +you are, by many degrees." + +"Heaven forbid!" replied Miss Ross, while a shadow passed across her +dark, expressive face. "I should be sorry for any woman who could feel +as I do; sorrier still if she had learnt her lesson as I did." + +She was silent for a few minutes, looking back, as it seemed, with +horror and self-aversion, into the depths of a cruel and hideous past; a +past that had unsexed and made her what she was now; that had caused her +to originate one of the strangest compacts ever entered into by two +women, and enthusiastically to abide by her own share in the agreement. + +Mrs. Lascelles and Miss Ross had struck up a firm alliance, offensive +and defensive, with the object of persistently carrying out a system of +aggressive warfare against the masculine half of the human race. The +elder and richer lady had proposed to the younger and poorer, that she +should take up her abode with her, and be to her as a sister. In the +world, Mrs. Lascelles gave out that Miss Ross was her cousin; nor did a +large circle of London acquaintances think it worth while to verify the +assumed relationship. They saw two pretty women, living together in a +good house, remarkably well dressed, driving the neatest carriage, and +the truest steppers in London, going out little, but to "good places," +and were quite willing to accept their own account of themselves, +without making further inquiry. Everybody knew _who_ Mrs. Lascelles was +(it would have denoted rustic ignorance not to be aware that she had +missed becoming Lady St. Giles), and, after the first week or two, the +companion who went about with her was no longer "_a_ Miss Ross," but had +established her position as "Miss Ross--clever girl, with black +eyes--cousin, you know, of dear Rose." + +So these two might be seen in the Park twice a week; at the Opera once; +occasionally at a ball; more frequently at those unaccountable functions +called "drums," where hundreds of people congregate in a space intended +for tens, and the world seems engaged, somewhat wearily and with +customary ill success, in looking about for its wife. + +But it was Miss Ross who had struck out the happy idea on which hung the +whole strength and motive of the alliance. + +She it was who suggested, that at all times, and under all conditions, +as much harm should be done to the peace of mind of every man within +reach as could be accomplished by two fascinating women, with all the +advantages of good fortune, good looks, good taste, and good position. + +"You've got the money, dear," said she to her patroness, "and most of +the beauty, in my opinion, the friends, the foothold, and the rest of +it; but, I think, _I've_ got the energy and the obstinacy, and my share +of the brains; above all, the _rancour_ that can carry us through any +opposition in the world!" + +So they started on the war-path at once, even before Easter; and a very +pleasant "fillibustering" expedition they made of it. Not many scalps +were taken perhaps at first; but the defences of the white man were +examined and broken through, his habits studied, his weapons blunted, +his mode of strategy laid bare. By the middle of May, sundry Pale-Faces +were going about with strange sensations under their waistcoats, that +only wanted a little chafing to become serious disease of the heart. The +aggravation was sure to follow, else wherefore were dresses of exquisite +fabric contracted, gloves and bonnets sent home, coils of fragrant hair +laid fold on fold, smooth, shining, and insidious as the involutions of +the great Serpent himself? It was difficult to say which of these two +Amazons could boast the highest score of victims. Perhaps Mrs. Lascelles +proved most successful in the massacre of middle-aged adorers, while +young boys and old gentlemen fell prostrate without effort, willing +captives to the devilry and seductions of Miss Ross. + +Amongst the eldest of these, and the wisest, in his own opinion, was a +certain Mr. Groves, a relative by marriage of Mrs. Lascelles, who +persisted in calling him "Uncle Joseph," a name by which he soon became +known in the circle of her intimates. This gentleman, at a mature period +of life, when years are counted by scores and romance is supposed to +have made way for comfort and self-indulgence, found his defences +suddenly exposed to the merciless attacks of Miss Ross. He liked it +uncommonly at first, flattering himself that at his age flirtation was a +harmless and pleasing excitement, which he could leave off when it +became oppressive or inconvenient, and that, if worst came to worst, he +was in good hands,--the girl seemed so attached to him, so confiding, so +sincere! Uncle Joseph used to rub his bald head in his cooler moments, +and wonder fully as much at her as himself; but, with the lapse of +years, he had at least learned that it is not well to analyse our +pleasures too minutely; and he generally summed up with the +philosophical reflection, that there was no accounting for taste. If the +girl liked a man old enough to be her father, why it only showed she was +a girl of sense, who knew the world, "Ay, and more than that, sir, a +girl who knows her own mind!" + +By degrees, however, Uncle Joseph, having, it is to be presumed, +forgotten the tender experiences of youth, was surprised to find his +habits altered, his snuff-box put aside, his after-dinner slumbers +abolished, nay, the fashion of his garments derided, his very tailor +changed, and tyrannical exception taken to the thickness of his boots. +He kicked stoutly at first, but without avail. He was never comfortable +now, seldom happy. The clubs and haunts he had once delighted to +frequent knew him no more, and he had taken to wander about the Park +like a restless spirit, amongst boys who might have been his grandsons, +disappointed, as it would seem, in a vague search for some object, which +yet he never really expected to find. + +So altered was the man, that he actually consulted an eminent +hairdresser on the propriety of setting up a wig! + +"Don't be late, dear, to-night," said Mrs. Lascelles, waking up from a +fit of musing, possibly on the habits of the Amazons; "there's nobody +coming, I think, but Uncle Joseph, and he hates waiting for dinner. +Perhaps he's still more fidgety when he is waiting for you." + +In Miss Ross's black eyes rose a sparkle that denoted intense love of +mischief, rather than gratified vanity or demure self-applause. + +"He _does_ wait for me, nevertheless, very often," she answered; "and I +don't let him off because he hates it, you may be sure. Do you remember +him that night at the French Play? Didn't he get savage? And wasn't it +fun?" + +Mrs. Lascelles laughed. + +"You never spare him, Jin, that you must allow." + +"I spare nobody!" answered the other, and the dark eyes glittered +fiercely. + +Her friend looked at her with more than common interest, and something +of pity no less than curiosity in her face. + +"What makes you so wild, Jin," said she, "so wicked, so merciless, so +unlike other people? I love you dearly, as you know, because I do +believe you love _me_. But why should you hate everybody else? Above +all, why are you so bitter, so unkind, so utterly without heart, towards +those who show a regard for yourself? It seems to me, that directly a +man betrays the slightest interest in you, down he goes in the Black +List, and you pitch into him without compunction or remorse." + +"Shall I make a clean breast of it?" said Miss Ross, drawing her chair +near her friend. "You have often heard me say what a wretched childhood +mine was, what an unhappy youth; but I have never told even _you_ of the +one crowning sorrow of my life, the one outrage that turned my few good +impulses and instincts into 'malice, hatred, and all uncharitableness.' +As a child, I had no parents, no relations. I was brought up by a stern +old woman in black, whom I had been taught to call 'Aunty,' but who was +careful to impress on me, nevertheless, that I was not her niece; and I +had no playmates, nor companions of my own age. I could have clung very +fondly to anything that showed interest in me or loved me. I know it, +because when I was taken across the Channel to school at Dieppe, I made +acquaintance with the steward's dog in the steamer, and I shall never +forget the wrench of parting with that friend of six hours' standing, +nor the look in his meek brown eyes when I kissed him and wished him +good-bye. I remember I cried for two hours, and 'Aunty' thought it was +at parting with her. She scolded me without pity; but even then I was +wise enough to know she would have reviled me still more bitterly had I +told her the truth. How I hated that school at Dieppe, the _café au +lait_, the long rolls of bread, the _bouilli_, and the fast days. The +lessons I didn't so much mind, but the 'recreations,' as they called +them, I thought would have driven me mad! I was quite a little girl when +I went there, but nobody petted me, nor seemed to care one snap of the +fingers whether I was dead or alive; though they said I was pretty, I +don't think I could have been what is called 'a taking child.' I was +often punished too, and always more or less in disgrace for +'insubordination,' because I lifted up my young voice and protested +against the injustice to which we were daily victims. The school +consisted of French and English girls. I liked the latter least; they +were the most prejudiced and overbearing, affecting airs of superiority, +and calling the former 'foreigners' in their own country! + +"When I left Dieppe and was removed to a convent in Paris everybody +seemed glad, and I was delighted to go myself. + +"Oh! Rose, you have never been in a convent! Thank your stars, my dear, +or your gods, if you have any; and pray that you never may be. The +discipline, the dulness, the wearisome routine, made one feel like a +wild beast in a cage. I think I should have torn somebody in pieces if I +had stayed. There was nothing to see, nothing to do, and nothing to +learn. Though I was such a little rebel, I had neither been stupid nor +idle at school, and there was little they taught in the convent, except +needle-work, that I didn't know fully better than my instructors. So I +ran away. I am ashamed to tell you how I managed it--what lies I told, +what feelings I simulated, what smiles I lavished to induce a young man, +whom I had only seen three times and spoken with twice, to assist me in +my flight. He called it 'un enlèvement;' but I think I managed all the +details, and had, therefore, the less difficulty in giving him the slip +within an hour of my escape from prison. He was a 'friseur,' I believe. +He told me he was an artist. I certainly shouldn't have known him again +in a week's time, but he was useful to me, and I think he said his name +was Adolphe. + +"No friends--no money. A run-away school-girl, and loose in the streets +of Paris. Can you wonder that my wits are sharpened, my opinions +somewhat advanced? I was self-reliant, however, and had no intention of +starving, so I pawned a black silk jacket of my own, and a bracelet +Adolphe had lately given me. I regret to say the latter ornament fetched +but a few francs. I had capital enough now to keep me a few days, and +felt that I could afford to make my own bargain with an employer, +whatever might be the task or the terms. + +"Perhaps it was because I could do without it for the moment, that I +obtained an engagement the same day to sing at one of the 'Cafés +Chantants' that abound in the outskirts of Paris. In a low dress, at +sixteen, singing to two hundred people I had never seen before, I give +you my word I wasn't the least shy. Truth to tell, my blood was up. I +had detected in the Manager's politeness, and the readiness with which +he met my terms, something of that predatory tendency which I had +already learned from books, from reflection, from the experience of +others, affects the dealings of men towards ourselves. I was ten times +better in defence, I knew, than he could be in attack; and I felt a +fierce pleasure in pondering how I could turn his own weapons against +himself. + +"So I ran through a succession of shakes, and squeals, and shrieks, and +sometimes sang false, to the delight of an enthusiastic audience and my +own intense gratification. One man never took his eyes off me; and, +somehow, before I had finished my third or fourth bar, I found I had +forgotten Manager, self, and company, and was singing to this man alone. +When I went back at night to the bare little room I had hired during the +afternoon, shall I confess to you that his face haunted me in the dark? +And I dreamt of him--I did, upon my word--though I was so tired I fell +dead asleep the instant I lay down." + +"My dear, you had fallen in love," observed her listener. + +"No, I hadn't," answered the other; "at least, not then. Next day I +found a note and a bouquet from the Manager. I did wish for a moment it +had been from somebody else; but it proved to me, at least, I was +admired by an old fool, who might have been my grandfather, and so my +vanity should have been gratified, but it only made me savage and +irritable. I don't think I ever liked people one bit because they liked +_me_! + +"That evening the same man was there to hear me sing again. I confess my +heart gave a jump when I saw him, and I knew that _he_ knew it! He never +applauded but once, and he shook his head whenever I made a false note. +What pains I took, and how pleased I was, when he said 'Bravo!' out loud +as I made my curtsy! I _was_ in love with him that night when I went to +bed, and felt I had a right to dream of him as much as ever I liked. + +"It is not difficult to make acquaintance with a friendless girl singing +for bread in a place like Paris. I thought it very hard that a whole +week should pass without his speaking to me, though I saw him every +night, always staring, and always in the same place. Of course the time +came at last, and when I had him all to myself on two chairs, with a +_deux-sous_ newspaper, in the Tuileries gardens, I did feel that life +was something to enjoy, to revel in, to be grateful for. Mrs. Lascelles, +I shall never be near heaven now, but I think I was then. I was so happy +that it made me good. + +"I wonder if he knew what he was doing. Sometimes I think men are often +brutes, only because they are fools. We were married though. I protest +to you solemnly, as I am a living woman, we were married in a church! I +took his name, such as it was, and when next I sang they put me in the +bills as Madame Picquard. He did not like me to leave off my profession, +he said, and I would have gone out willingly with a rake and a basket to +earn my day's wages as a scavenger in the streets if he had only said it +was a pleasant life. + +"We were not rich, though he always seemed to have plenty of money. I +lived in a very modest apartment, and I used to think I saw less of my +husband after he was my husband. I imagine this is sometimes the case, +but it grieved me then. I was even fool enough to cry about it. Fancy my +crying with nothing to gain, and nobody to dry my eyes. A good joke, +isn't it? But we have changed all that. How I used to laugh at his +French! He said he was an Alsatian, that was why it was so bad. I never +heard him speak English but once. I was nearly run over by a _fiacre_, +and he said, 'Take care, dear!' just as you or I might. His mother, he +told me, had been an Englishwoman, but he scarcely knew another word of +the language. + +"Soon after this my boy was born. Such a noble little fellow, Mrs. +Lascelles--so strong, so handsome, with beautiful little hands and +finger-nails as perfect as a model. My darling boy! He knew me, I am +sure he did, when he was ten days old, and--and--it's nonsense, of +course, and they hate one when they're grown up. But I wasn't such a bad +mother to him, after all! + +"Did I tell you my husband's name was Achille? Well, Achille was _very_ +good to me at first--sending in flowers, and things for baby, and coming +to see me every day. To be sure, the doctor wouldn't let him stay above +five minutes. I was very happy, and looked forward to getting well and +singing again, and working hard at home and abroad for the comfort of my +husband and child. + +"But I didn't get well. I was very young, you know, and it was weeks +before I was able to walk into the next room, so that I couldn't +accompany my husband anywhere out-of-doors, and I dare say I was a sadly +stupid companion in the house. Perhaps that was why he got tired of me. +How can I tell? or what does it signify? It seems as if all these things +had happened a hundred years ago. What a fuss people make about their +feelings and their affections, and so on! What is the good of them after +all? and how long do they last? + +"Achille hadn't been to see me for a week, when one day the nurse came +in, and said a gentleman was waiting outside, and wished to know if he +might be admitted. I was on the sofa with baby in my lap, and felt +stronger than usual of late, so I said 'Certainly,' when, behold, enter +my friend the Manager, bearing an enormous bouquet, profuse in +civilities, congratulations, compliments, and more hateful than ever; he +wanted to kiss baby, who was frightened at him--no wonder--and drew his +chair so close to my sofa, that I should have liked to box his ears on +the spot. + +"He hadn't been five minutes in the room before he made a declaration of +love, which I resented with considerable energy; finally, as a last +resource, threatening to acquaint my husband with his insolence, who, I +said, should kick him from one end of the Boulevard to the other. I +shall never forget the hateful laugh with which he received my menace. + +"'Is Madame aware,' said he, 'that Monsieur has left Paris; that I am +his chosen friend and comrade; that I have regulated his affairs to the +last; that he wishes me to protect Madame as he would himself, and to +stand in the place of a father to his child?' + +"Then he put a letter in my hand, which he kissed at the same time with +much effusion, and, walking to the other end of the room, buried himself +in the _Charivari_, while I read. + +"Such a letter, Mrs. Lascelles! Need I tell you what it all meant? Need +I tell you that Achille was base, treacherous, cowardly, shameless? +_Enfin_, that he was a _man_! He said I had no legal claim on him; that +our marriage was a sham; that we had lived pleasantly enough for a time, +but of course this could not go on for ever, and that I could hardly +expect his future--_his_ future!--I should like to know what he had done +with mine!--to be sacrificed to a _liaison_, however romantic, of a few +months' standing. He had left funds, he went on to say, at my disposal, +in the hands of his good friend, the Manager, with whom, as he had made +a point of arranging, I could place myself advantageously at once. With +regard to the boy, he added, I must consult my own feelings; but so long +as a noble institution was supported by the State for the reception of +_enfants trouvés_, he could not charge himself with the support of us +both. The Manager was an excellent man, in the prime of life, and he +wished me much happiness in the successful career in which, thanks to +his care and provision, I could now embark. + +"I suppose I am not like other women: I neither fainted, nor raved, nor +burst into fits of weeping, nor sat as they do on the stage, white and +motionless, turned to stone. All in a moment I seemed to have grown +quite cool and composed, and as strong as a milkmaid. My instinct was +doubtless to hit again. Achille might be out of reach, but here was his +confederate, disarmed, and open to a blow. Some intuitive consciousness, +possessed, I believe, only by women, taught me that this man was in my +power. I determined he should know what that meant before I had done +with him. + +"The crackling of the letter, as I refolded it, brought him back to my +side. He took my hand and kissed it once more. I did not withdraw it +now. + +"'I was quite prepared for this,' I said quietly, 'as, of course, you +know. My husband and I have been on bad terms for some time. You must be +very much in his confidence, however, if he has told you _why_--that is +my affair, so is the question of money; in that matter he has behaved +well, but I cannot take it.' + +"His fat, heavy face gleamed with absolute delight. + +"'You cannot take it!' he repeated; 'and why?' + +"'Because I have no claim on him as a wife; because, morally, he is not +my husband; because women have sentiments, affections, _amour propre_, +egoism, if you will; _enfin_, because I love another.' + +"But I was careful, you may be sure, not to tell him who that other was. +Before he quitted me that afternoon he had persuaded me, nothing loth, +to accept the pittance left by my good-for-nothing husband; though a +fortnight afterwards, having been to see me every day, he was still in +torments about the unknown object, growing always more and more +infatuated, in a way that would have been ludicrous had it not been +simply contemptible. + +"I doled him out little morsels of encouragement; I accepted from him +valuable presents, and even sums of money; I tantalized, irritated, and +provoked him with the ingenuity of a fiend. I shuddered when he came +near me, yet I let him kiss my face once,--my baby's _never_! At last I +gave way, with a great storm of sobs and emotion, made my confession, +whispered that _he_, and _he_ alone, had been the mysterious object; +that I had cared for him from the first; that to him was owing my +coldness towards my husband, our estrangement, and eventual separation. +Finally, I promised to meet him the very next morning, never more to +part; and within six hours my baby and I were established, bag and +baggage, in the train for Lyons; nor have I ever seen my fat friend from +that day to this. + +"Except a flower I once gave him in exchange for a Spanish fan, I don't +think he got anything out of our acquaintance but, as Hamlet says, 'the +shame and the odd hits.' + +"I wasn't altogether unhappy at Lyons. Baby was my constant companion; +and, so long as my money lasted, I was contented enough only to wash and +nurse him, and see him grow, and teach him to say 'Mamma.' It was a long +while before I gained sufficient strength to sing again, and in the mean +time I picked up a few francs by sitting to artists for a model, but I +didn't like it. If I took baby, I couldn't keep him quiet; and a +painting room was so bad for him. If I left him at home, I always +expected to find something dreadful had happened when I came back. I was +advised to put him out to nurse. Though I couldn't bear to part with my +boy, I saw that, sooner or later, it must come to this; but he was over +two years old before I made up my mind. + +"They had offered me a six weeks' engagement at Avignon. My voice had +come back, the terms were good, it looked likely to lead to something +better, and I accepted eagerly. + +"There was low fever then prevalent in that town. I could not take +little Gustave to a hot-bed of sickness, so I left him in charge of a +kind, motherly woman, who had a child of her own, in a healthy part of +Lyons, only too near the river. + +"Poor little darling! I am sure he knew I was going away, for he set up +a dreadful howl when I put him down. It seems silly enough, but I +suppose I wasn't properly trained then, for I could have howled too with +all my heart. + +"What a long six weeks it was! And, after all, I came back before the +close of my engagement, and forfeited half my salary. There had been +floods as usual in Lyons, the poor woman I had left him with couldn't +write, and I was getting uneasy about my boy. + +"Oh! Mrs. Lascelles, when I returned there I couldn't find him. The +cottage I left him in had been swept away when the river rose. No trace +even remained of the quiet little street. The authorities had done all +in their power for hundreds of ruined families; what was one poor woman +and a two-years old child amongst all those sufferers! I searched the +markets, the streets, the hospitals. I haunted the police-office; I +offered everything I possessed, freely, everything! for tidings of my +boy. One Commissary of Police was especially kind and considerate, but +even he let out at last that I was well rid of my child! Madame, as he +expressed it, so young, so handsome, with such talents, so _sympathique_ +with himself! And this was a _man_, my dear, not a brute--at least, not +more a brute than the rest! + +"He it was who found out for me that the poor woman was drowned with +whom I had left my boy; there was no clue to the fate of her child nor +of mine. _Monsieur le Commissaire_, with supreme good taste, chose the +hour in which he made me this communication, to couple with it a +proposal that did not increase my respect for himself or his sex. You +may imagine I did not even yet relax my endeavours to find out something +certain about my boy. I went to the Mayor, the Préfet; in my desolation, +I even wrote to my old admirer, the Manager, in Paris. On all sides I +met with the same treatment; civility, compliment, egoism, and utter +heartlessness. In time I came to think that there was not only nothing +_new_, but nothing _good_, under the sun. If I were romantic I should +say I was a tigress robbed of her cub; as I am only practical, I call +myself simply a woman of the world, whom the world has hardened; +cunning, because deceived; pitiless, because ill-treated; heartless, +because _désillusionée_. You have taken me in, and tamed me for a time, +but nothing will change my nature now. + +"The rest of my history you know; the depths to which I sank, the +meannesses of which I was capable, the hypocrisy that re-established me +in a station of respectability, and swindled people out of such +recommendations as the one that enabled me to make a fool of Sir Henry +Hallaton. As I told you before, my motto now is, 'War to the knife!' I +might add, 'Woe to the vanquished!'" + +The tears stood in her listener's blue eyes more than once during this +strange recital; but Mrs. Lascelles brightened up when it was over, and +pointed to the clock, with a light laugh-- + +"Go and put your armour on, my dear," said she, "and bid your maid look +to the joints of your harness. We fight to-night in _champ clos_, and +you have two champions to encounter, both eager for the fray!" + +Miss Ross smiled-- + +"Let the best man win!" she answered. "He may find to-night that the +'latter end of a feast' is not at all unlike 'the beginning of a +fray!'" + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +À OUTRANCE. + + +No Amazon, I imagine, in the experience of Herodotus, Sir Walter +Raleigh, or our own, was ever known to be careless of her weapons, +suffering them to grow blunt from neglect or rusty from disuse. The boar +whets his tusks, the stag sharpens his antlers; the nobler beasts of +chase are not dependent for safety on flight alone; and shall not woman +study how she can best bring to perfection that armour with which Nature +provides her for attack, defence, and eventual capture of her prey? + +Brighter or more accomplished warriors never entered lists, than the two +now sitting in the drawing-room at No. 40; cool, fragrant, diaphanous; +redoubtable in that style of beauty which is so enhanced and set off by +art. + +To these, enter a young gentleman, hot, shy, bewildered; who has +followed into the room a name not the least like his own, with +considerable trepidation; hardly clear if he is on his head or his +heels; and, although worshipping the very pattern of the carpet on which +one of these divinities treads, yet conscious, in his heart of hearts, +that it would be unspeakable relief to wake up and find himself +three-quarters of a mile off at his club. + +Mr. Goldthred, whose announcement by a pompous butler as "Mr. Gotobed" +had not served to increase his confidence, was by no means a bold person +in general society, and possessed, indeed, as little of that native +dignity they call "cheek," as any of the rising generation with whom it +was his habit to associate; but on the present occasion he felt nervous +to an unusual degree, because, alas! he had fallen in love with a woman +older, cleverer, more experienced, and altogether of higher calibre than +himself. + +He had come early, half hoping to find her alone, yet was it a relief to +be spared the ordeal of a _tête-à-tête_ that seemed so delightful in +fancy. Of course, being her utter bond-slave, he paid his homage to Mrs. +Lascelles with ludicrous stiffness, and blundered at once into an +inconsequent conversation with Miss Ross. That syren took pity on his +embarrassment--the pity a cat takes on a mouse. It amused her to mark +the poor youth's efforts to seem at ease, his uncomfortable contortions, +his wandering replies, and the timid glances he cast on the hem of his +conqueror's garment, who would willingly have met him half-way, had he +only gone up and flirted with her in good earnest. + +"We haven't seen you for ages, Mr. Goldthred. What have you been doing? +Where have you been hiding? Rose and I were talking about you this very +afternoon." + +How he wished he, too, might call his goddess "Rose;" but she had been +talking about him, blessed thought! that very day. His heart was in his +throat, and he murmured something about "French play." + +"You can't have been at the French play day and night," laughed Miss +Ross; "but I'm not going to cross-examine you. Besides, you weren't +asked here to flirt with _me_. I've got my own young man coming, and +he's hideously jealous. I hear him now coughing on the stairs! Only us +four. It's a small party. We shall find each other very stupid, I dare +say." + +Gathering encouragement, no doubt, from this supposition, and emboldened +by a fresh arrival, Mr. Goldthred stole a glance in his idol's face +while she rose to welcome Uncle Joseph. The blue eyes rested on their +worshipper very kindly for about half a second. But that half second +did his business as effectually as half an hour. If Uncle Joseph was +also shy, greater age, wisdom, and corpulence rendered him more capable +of concealing such embarrassment. He shook his hostess cordially by the +hand; he told Miss Ross she looked like a "China-rose," a flower of +which he had formed some vague conception, far removed from reality; and +announced that he had spent his day in the City, and was very +hungry,--more like a man in business than a man in love. This gentleman +took down Miss Ross; Mrs. Lascelles followed with young Goldthred, +leaning more weight on his arm than the steepness of the stairs seemed +to necessitate. He wished the journey twice as long, and for half a +minute was half persuaded he felt happy! + +I am sorry I cannot furnish the bill of fare: Uncle Joseph put it in his +pocket. It was a way he had, after perusing it solemnly through a pair +of gold eye-glasses, with the intention of working it deliberately to +the end. + +A dinner organised for an express purpose is generally a failure. On the +present occasion there was no particular object to be gained beyond the +general discomfiture of two unoffending males, and it went on merrily +enough. Drinking is, no doubt, conducive to sentiment; but eating has, I +think, a contrary tendency, and should never be mixed up with the +affections. Uncle Joseph, though far gone, had not yet lost enough heart +to weaken his appetite, and young Goldthred helped himself to everything +with the indiscriminate and indecent carelessness of a man under thirty. +The ladies pecked, and sipped, and simpered, yet managed to take a fair +share of provender on board; and after champagne had been twice round, +the party were thoroughly satisfied with themselves, and with each +other. Even Goldthred mustered courage enough to carry on the siege, and +began making up for lost time. Her fish was so lively, Mrs. Lascelles +thought well to wind in a few yards of line. + +"Either you are very romantic, Mr. Goldthred," she objected, "or else +you don't mean us to believe what you say." + +"I wish _you_ to believe it," he answered, lowering his voice and +blushing, _really_ blushing, though he was a _man_, "and--and--I never +used to be romantic till I came _here_." + +"It's in the air I suppose," she answered, laughing, "and we shall all +catch it in turn--I hope it isn't painful! I sometimes think it must be, +unless one has it in the mildest form. We'll ask Miss Ross. Jin, dear, +Mr. Goldthred wants to know if you've any romance about you. I tell him +I don't think you've an atom." + +"How can you say so!" exclaimed Miss Ross. "Don't you know my especial +weakness? Can't anybody see I'm heart all over?" + +Uncle Joseph looked up from his cutlet, masticating steadily the while, +and his grave eyes rested on the dark, meaning face of the lady by his +side. Their gaze indicated surprise, incredulity, and the least touch of +scorn. + +She was a beautiful fighter, she had practised so much, and knew exactly +when and how to return. Shooting one reproachful glance from her large +dark eyes full into his own, under cover of the others' voices she +murmured two words,--"Strangers yet!" + +It was the title of a song she sang to him only the day before in the +boudoir; a song into which she put all the wild, tender pathos of her +flexible and expressive voice. Its burden had been ringing in his ears +half an hour ago, while he dressed for dinner. + +The round, you see, was a short one; but Uncle Joseph caught it heavily +and went down! To borrow the language of the prize-ring--"First blood +for Miss Ross." + +He came up smiling nevertheless, and finished his glass of champagne. + +"I wish you were a little plainer, Miss Ross. I'm not paying you a +compliment, or I should say you could easily afford to be a great deal +plainer than you are. I mean what I say." + +"And I mean what I say too--sometimes," she whispered, drooping her +thick black eye-lashes. "I don't think I should like to be thought so +very plain by _you_." + +Uncle Joseph went down again, having received, I fancy, no less +punishment in this round than the last. + +Meanwhile young Goldthred, fortified by refreshment, and further +stimulated by the interest Mrs. Lascelles either felt or affected, +embarked on a touching recital of his pursuits, belongings, and general +private history. He described in turn, and with strict attention to +details, his schooner, his tax-cart, and his poodle; enlarging on the +trim and rigging of the first, the varnish of the second, the elaborate +shaving of the third--and, indeed, almost soared into eloquence about +his dog. + +"It shows he has a good heart," thought the listener; "but none the less +must he take his punishment like the rest!" + +With a little more champagne he glided, by an easy transition, into his +possessions, his expectations, his prospects in general; why he had done +well in "Spanish," what a mess he had made of "Peruvians," the advantage +of early information about American politics, and how nearly he had +missed a great uncle's munificent bequest by exposing his ignorance of +the French _Credit Mobilier_. He was not quite a fool, however, and +stopped himself with a laugh. + +"What a bore you will think me, Mrs. Lascelles," said he. "One is so apt +to fancy everybody is interested in what one cares for oneself." + +"I am," she answered, with her brightest, kindest look. "I always want +to know everything about people I like. When they leave the stage I +follow them in fancy behind the scenes, and I _do_ think I should feel +hurt if I believed they were really so different without their rouge, +wigs, padding, and false calves." + +"It's not 'Out of sight, out of mind' with you, eh?" observed the young +gentleman, in considerable trepidation. To do him justice, he saw his +opportunity, but could make no more of it than the above. + +"Do you think it is?" she returned. "And what would one be worth if it +was? How little people know each other. We all seem to go about with +masks for faces. I dare say mine is like the rest, but I would take it +off in a minute if I was asked." + +Another opening for Goldthred. He felt full of sentiment, up to his +eye-lids; was, indeed, choking with it, but somehow it wouldn't come +out. + +"I've never been to a regular masquerade," said he simply; "I should +think it was capital fun." + +Miss Ross, whom nothing escaped, whatever she had on hand, saw his +discomfiture, and came to the rescue. + +"You're at one every day of your life," she broke in. "Rose is quite +right. Nobody speaks the whole truth, except Mr. Groves, who has just +told me I'm hideous. You know you did, and you think you're a capital +judge. I shall not forgive you till after coffee. I must say I can't +agree with Rose about one's friends. As for mine, with a few brilliant +exceptions, the less I see of them the better I like it." + +"If that's the case, Jin, we'll go up-stairs," said the hostess, rising +slowly and gracefully, as she fastened the last button of her glove. +"Uncle Joseph," she added, with her sweetest smile, "you're at home, you +know. You must take care of Mr. Goldthred;" and so swept out, keeping +the blue eyes Goldthred so admired steadily averted from his eager face. +He returned to the table after shutting the door quite crest-fallen and +disappointed. He had counted on one more look to carry him through the +tedious half-hour that must intervene ere he could see her again, and +she probably knew this as well as he did. Ladies are sometimes +exceedingly liberal of such small encouragements; sometimes, as if from +mere caprice, withhold them altogether. No doubt they adapt their +treatment to the symptoms shown by the sufferer. + +It _was_ a long half-hour for the two gentlemen thus left over their +dessert, without a subject of interest in common. Uncle Joseph's mature +prudence, over-reaching itself, mistrusted a single lady's cellar, and +he stuck faithfully to pale sherry; while Goldthred, with youthful +temerity, dashed boldly at the claret, and was rewarded by finding an +exceedingly sound and fragrant vintage. Not that he knew the least what +he was drinking, but swallowed sweetmeats and filled bumpers with a +nervous impatience for release, that lengthened every minute into ten. +The other, wondering why his relative had asked this guest to dinner, +and what merit she could see in him, thought him the stupidest young man +he had ever come across, and was sorely tempted to tell him so. + +They tried the usual topics in vain--the instability of the Government, +the good looks of the Princess, the disgraceful uncertainty of the +weather. At last, Goldthred, driven to despair, propounded the +comprehensive question, "What were they doing to-day in the City?" and +the companions got on better after so suggestive an inquiry. + +Uncle Joseph delivered his opinions solemnly on certain doubtful +securities; the younger man made a shrewd observation concerning his own +investments. Obviously they had in one respect a similarity of tastes, +and each found his dislike of the other decreasing every moment. Uncle +Joseph even began to debate in his own mind, whether he ought not to ask +his new acquaintance to dinner. He had drunk five glasses of sherry, and +I think one more would have settled the point; but the welcome moment +of release chimed out with the half-hour from a clock on the +chimney-piece, so flinging down his napkin he pointed to the empty +claret-jug, and suggested they should proceed up-stairs. + +There was nothing Goldthred desired so much. He pulled his tie +straight,--it had a tendency to get under his left ear,--bounced into +the passage, whisked his hat off the hall table, weathered the butler +coming out with tea, and was already engaged with the enemy, before +Uncle Joseph had fairly extricated himself from the dining-room. + +The ladies were wrapped in silence; they generally are when the men come +up after dinner. They had disposed themselves, also, very judiciously. +Mrs. Lascelles sat at the open window, not quite in the room, not quite +on the balcony. Jin, with considerable forethought, had entrenched +herself in a corner near the pianoforte, free from draughts. The soft +mellow lamp-light threw a very becoming lustre on these bewitching +individuals. Each knew she was looking well, and it made her look better +still. After a bottle of sound claret, it was not to be expected that a +man should enact "his grandsire cut in alabaster" in such company. +Goldthred, armed with a flat hat and a coffee-cup, advanced in tolerably +good order to the attack. + +It was a fine night even in London. The moon sailed broad and bright in +a clear, fathomless sky. The very gas-lamps, studding street and square, +through the flickering leaves of spring flashed out a diabolical +enchantment of their own, half revelry, half romance. The scent of +geraniums and mignionette stole with a soft, intoxicating fragrance on +the rebellious senses; and a German band, round the corner, was playing +a seductive measure of love and languor and lawlessness from the last +new opera. Mrs. Lascelles, moving out on the balcony, drank in the soft +night-air with a deep-drawn breath that was almost a sigh. Young +Goldthred followed as the medium follows the mesmerist, the bird the +rattlesnake. His heart beat fast, and the coffee-cup clattered in his +hand. Time and scene were adapted, no doubt, for sentiment, especially +out of doors. + +It is done every day, and all day long. Also, perhaps, more effectually +still on nights like these. Pull a man's purse, madam, from his +waistcoat-pocket, and although you have Iago's authority for considering +it "trash," you may find yourself picking oakum as a first consequence, +and may finish, in due course, at the penitentiary; but dive those +pretty fingers a thought deeper, take his heart scientifically out of +his pericardium, or wherever he keeps it, squeeze it, drain it, rinse it +quite dry, return him the shrivelled fragments, with a curtsy, and a +"thank you kindly, sir," you will receive applause from the bystanders, +and hearty approbation from the world in general for your skill. + +So Mrs. Lascelles, stifling all compunction, played out the pretty game. +They leaned over the balcony, side by side; they smelt the mignionette, +with their heads very close together; they looked at the moon, and into +each other's eyes, and down on the street, where a faded figure, in torn +shawl and tawdry bonnet, flitted past, to be lost in the shadow of +darkness farther on; sighing, smiling, whispering, till the boy's blood +surged madly to his brain; and the woman, despite of craft, science, and +experience, felt that she must practise all her self-command not to be +softer and kinder, if only for a moment, than she desired. + +Her white, cool hand lay on the edge of the mignionette box. He covered +it with his own. In another moment he would have seized and pressed it, +hungrily, rapturously, to his lips. She rose just in time, and came full +into the lamp-light from within. + +"What nonsense we have been talking!" she exclaimed, with a laugh; "and +what a deal of sentiment! It is nice to talk nonsense sometimes, and +sentiment too, but a little goes a long way." + +He was hurt, and, not being a woman, showed it. + +"I am sorry," said he, gloomily; "I thought you liked it." + +She did not want to snub him too much. + +"So I do," she answered, stepping back into the drawing-room, "when it's +the real thing, sweet and strong, little and good. Come and listen to +Jin's song; it's better for you than flirting in the dark on the +balcony." + +Though mocking and mischievous, there was yet something kind and playful +in her tone; he felt quite happy again as he followed her in, meekly, +like a lamb to the slaughter. + +Miss Ross, although she had taken up a position more adapted to the +comfort of an elderly and rheumatic admirer, did not suffer the shining +hour to pass away unimproved. She possessed a full, sweet voice, of rare +compass, and was a thorough mistress of the musical art, accompanying +her own or other people's songs with equal taste and skill. Uncle +Joseph, in an arm-chair, with a hand on each knee, sat spell-bound by +the Syren,--eyes, ears, and mouth wide open, under the influence of her +strains. + +It was but a simple ditty of which she gave him the benefit, yet neither +nature nor art were spared to render it as destructive as she could. He +had never heard it before; but, as he expressed entire approval of its +rhythm, and asked for it again, I feel justified in giving it here. She +called it-- + + "OVER THE WATER." + + I stand on the brink of the river, + The river that runs to the sea; + The fears of a maid I forgive her, + And bid her come over to me. + She knows that her lover is waiting, + She's longing his darling to be, + And spring is the season of mating, + But--she dares not come over to thee! + + I have jewels and gold without measure, + I have mountain and meadow and sea; + I have store of possessions and treasure, + All wasting and spoiling for thee. + Her heart is well worthy the winning, + But Love is a gift of the free, + And she vowed from the very beginning, + She'd never come over to thee. + + Then lonely I'll wed with my sorrow-- + Dead branch on a desolate tree-- + My night hath no hope of a morrow, + Unless she come over to me. + Love takes no denial, and pity + Is love in a second degree, + So long ere I'd ended my ditty, + The maiden came over to me! + +The two guests left No. 40 together, and parted at the end of the +street; the junior betaking himself to his cigar, the senior to his +whist. Each carried away with him a vague idea that he had spent an +evening in Paradise. Which of the two had been made the greater fool of, +it is not my province to decide; but I have some recollection of an old +couplet in the West of England to the following effect: + + "Young man's love soon blazeth and is done, + Old man's love burneth to the bone." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +"TERRARUM DOMINOS." + + +"Near side, man! the near side! Take it up two holes--that'll do. Sit +tight behind!" + +The leaders cringed and winced against their bars. One wheeler, +accepting under protest a wipe with the double thong across his +quarters, threw himself widely off the pole; the other, butting like a +goat, bounced into his collar; and so, starting the whole coach, the +painted, varnished, glittering toy passed on, in clouds of dust, through +all that wealth of oak and fern, and hill and dale, and gleaming glade +and darkling dell, that make a midsummer fairy-land of Windsor Forest on +your way to Ascot Races. + +The man who had thus pulled up his team for alteration of their harness +was a well-dressed, clean-made, good-looking young fellow enough. From +the crown of his white hat to the soles of his varnished boots he was a +"gentleman" all over; and if the choice little posy in his button-hole +betrayed a suspicion of dandyism, it was redeemed by the frankness of +manner, the good-humoured and unaffected _bonhomie_ cultivated by our +young warriors of the Household Brigade, horse and foot. + +Frank Vanguard, who belonged to the former of these services, was now +steering the regimental drag and a roof-ful of brother officers to the +great Olympic gathering of modern times on the Cup Day at Ascot. + +Good spirits, good humour, banter, repartee, and nonsense, reigned +supreme, constituting a combination called "chaff;" just as light wine, +effervescence, and fragrant herbs, in due proportions, become "cup." The +driver had enough to do, with a free but not very handy team and a +crowded road, to the whole of which every carriage he passed assumed a +prescriptive right; yet could he find leisure to answer in corresponding +vein a volley of jesting remarks shot freely at him from behind. + +"Frank," says a fresh-coloured young warrior, well qualified to enact +the part of Achilles, so long as that hero was yet in girl's clothes, +"there's a nice bit of galloping ground over the rise. You're not +driving a hearse! _Do_ spring 'em a bit, and give 'em the silk!" + +"I'm not so fond of the silk as _you_ are!" answered Frank, touching his +near leader lightly under the bars, as a fly-fisher throws his line. +"You used to get double-thonged pretty handsomely at Eton, I remember, +but it hasn't done you much good." + +"Rating and flogging," answered the other, puffing out volumes of smoke; +"that's the way to spoil your young entry!" + +"Waste of whipcord," says a graver youth, desirous, of all things in +life, that he should become a Master of Hounds. "They never made you +steady from hare!" + +"You got that, Charlie!" laughed another; but Charlie, ere this, has +found a new interest in spasms of anxiety lest they should be passed by +a rival drag, coming up in clouds of dust on their quarter, like an +enemy's frigate through the smoke of battle. + +"Who's this cove?" he exclaimed eagerly. "Sits well on his box--nice +short-legged team--keeps his whip quiet, and drives to an inch." + +"Snob!" replies a sententious captain, with long moustaches, "by name, +Picard. Wouldn't have him in the Club. Did something abroad. Quite +right. Heavy load and a roughish lot. Team, I should say, better bred +than the company. Don't let him get by. D--n it all, Frank! that's a +close shave!" + +It _was_ a close shave! Nothing but the affability with which the near +wheeler, having recovered its temper, answered both rein and thong, +kept the coach out of a roadside ditch, which would have sent one of the +most promising coveys of Her Majesty's peculiar defenders into the thick +of Her Majesty's preserves. + +In keeping ahead of his rival, Frank Vanguard passed a barouche, from +the inside of which was turned up to him a fair statue-like face, with +dark eyes and hair, that flushed faintly under its white lace veil, as +it gave him a little modest nod of recognition. No wonder he looked +back; no wonder, thus looking, he brought his wheel so near the edge of +a chasm, that one turn more would have turned him over, and that Miss +Hallaton, holding her breath, shut both hands tight, while her father +exclaimed: + +"Nearest thing I ever saw in my life! Who's driving, Helen? He bowed to +_you_." + +And Helen, answering demurely--"Captain Vanguard, I _think_, +papa"--reflected how, had he been upset and hurt, the whole brightness +of _her_ day would have darkened into sorrow, and how she wished he +wouldn't be quite so reckless, though she liked him for being so bold. + +Behind their barouche came a tax-cart, and behind the tax-cart another +open carriage, in which drove the party who had assembled at dinner in +No. 40, not very long ago. + +Uncle Joseph, with his back to the horses, sat in unusual pomp and +magnificence, pointing out the humours, explaining the races, and +generally laying down the law, as though he combined in his own person +the Mastership of the Buckhounds with the authority of the whole Jockey +Club. Owner of a pretty little villa on the Thames, he had invited his +kinswoman, the lady of his affections, and Mr. Goldthred to stay with +him for Ascot Races. Therefore "The Lilies" smiled gay in chintz and +muslin and fresh-cut flowers. Therefore Uncle Joseph, basking in a June +sun and the light of Miss Ross's eyes, felt ten, twenty years +younger--hopeful, enterprising, volatile as a boy! + +Mrs. Lascelles was at all times a person of equable spirits. Perhaps it +would be more correct to say, that she possessed that self-command which +forbids emotion to appear on the surface. She looked bright, smiling, +gracious as usual; her lustrous eyes, rosy lips, and white teeth, +enhanced by bonnet, dress, pink-tinted parasol, general sense of +triumph, and flush of the summer's day. Poor Goldthred, sitting over +against her, strove to stifle certain misgivings that such a goddess was +too noble a prize for creatures of common mould, and vaguely wished he +had kept away from the flame, round which, like some singed moth, he +could not help fluttering in senseless, suicidal infatuation! + +Parties of pleasure cannot always be equally pleasant to everybody +concerned. Miss Ross, too, seemed out of spirits and pre-occupied; less +gracious to Goldthred, less confiding with Mrs. Lascelles, less +susceptible to the attentions of Uncle Joseph himself. Jin, as she was +now called in her own set, sank back among the cushions, buried in +strange, sad memories, that made her unconscious of the noise, the dust, +the glare, the confusion of tongues, the crush of carriages, all the +charms of the expedition. This, because playing at a cottage door, +shouting vigorously as they passed, she had caught a glimpse of a ruddy, +dark-eyed urchin, who reminded her painfully of her child. It was but +one glance, as he sat triumphant in the dust, waving two dirty little +hands round a black curly head, yet it was enough. She was back in sunny +France once more, with something to trust in, something to work for, +something to love. Looking in Uncle Joseph's battered old face and +cloudy eyes, rather near her own, she could scarcely repress a movement +of abhorrence and disgust; while he, good man, under the impression that +he was more delightful than usual, inveighed against the furious +driving, the extravagant habits, and general recklessness of the +Household Cavalry. + +"He's _very_ good-looking!" observed Jin, rousing herself to make a +remark that she knew would be unpalatable to her listener; "isn't he, +Rose?" + +"_Very!_" assented Mrs. Lascelles; "but you should see him in +regimentals, my dear. I think I'll ask him to dinner." + +Symptoms of mental disquietude in Uncle Joseph and young Goldthred. Each +marvelling that a transitory glimpse, while passing at a hand-gallop, +should have made so vivid an impression; and the latter wondering +whether, if he were to alter the whole tenor of his life, to arm his +chest with a cuirass, and plunge his legs into jack-boots, Mrs. +Lascelles would deem him also worth looking at in "regimentals," as an +officer's uniform is called by nobody but ladies who have never been in +a regiment. + +No amusement, except perhaps cricket, seems so popular as racing, yet +out of every hundred people who attend Epsom, Ascot, or Doncaster, do +you suppose five know one favourite from another, or, indeed, ever look +at the noble animal, except he shows temper in his canter before the +start? Helen Hallaton, though she dearly loved a horse, could not even +have told you how many were going for the race about to commence as she +took up her station on the Course; and yet the pretty pageant, bright +and blooming like a June flower-bed, passed under her very nose. But she +could have given a clear account of the masterly manner in which Frank +Vanguard brought his coach into the enclosure; how he laid it alongside +Viscount Jericho's, with as much pomp and little less manoeuvring than +moors an iron-clad at regulation distance from her consort; with what +easy magnificence he flung his reins to right and left, condescendingly +facetious the while with sundry muscular cads, who put their shoulders +to the wheels and deftly extracted the pole. She could have told you +how he leaped like a Mercury from his box, how carefully he laid aside +his whip in its case, how with a silk handkerchief he dusted his white +hat, his shirt-front, his curling moustaches, and the places where his +whiskers were coming fast; lastly, how he took from the inside of the +coach a beautiful little nosegay, daintily tied up, and stuck it into +his button-hole, causing her to admit in her own mind that she wouldn't +mind wearing one of those flowers herself, if she could have it without +its being given her. + +Of all this, I say, Miss Hallaton made accurate note; but I doubt if she +had an idea of Mr. Picard's team, though it came next; of his +flash-looking load, with a _loudish_ lady on the box; of his blue coach, +his red wheels, his well-dressed servants, or the workman-like pull up +which brought the whole thing to an anchor, and was, indeed, one of the +best performances of the day. + +And now a dozen two-year-olds, after a dozen false starts, have run off +their five furlongs with the speed of an express train, and "the +Termagant filly," overpowering her jockey, a little bundle of pink satin +and puff, huddled up on her back, has won by a neck. There is a lull +till the numbers are up for the next race, and even the Ring, hungry, +insatiate, roaring like the ocean, has subsided into a momentary calm. +Sir Henry takes a cigar from a gorgeous case, and turns to his daughter. + +"Backed her for her blood, Nell," says he; "they're all speedy, but they +can't stay. Only a pony--that's better than nothing, however." + +"How _can_ you, papa?" replies Nell. "It's wicked of you to bet, though +you _do_ generally seem to win." + +Helen draws the usual distinction as to the immorality of gambling. To +win is less than folly, to lose is more than sin. I do not think though +that Sir Henry was equally confiding about his wagers when his judgment +had been at fault. He seemed in the best of humours now. + +"Nell, that's the prettiest bonnet we've hoisted the whole season, and +the dress isn't the worst I've seen to-day. It's cruel to waste such a +'get-up' in a carriage. Come across, and we'll show ourselves on the +Lawn." + +"And you won't bet on the next race, papa?" says Helen, delighted; for +is there not a chance, nay, almost a certainty, that Captain Vanguard, +having eaten, and drunk, and smoked, and been through all the other +privileged portals, will come to the Lawn for inspection of countless +ladies drawn up in line-of-battle on their own special parade-ground? + +The great tumult of the day was over; the Royal party had arrived under +the usual burst of cheers; the greys had been admired; the carriages +commented on; the Master of the Buckhounds, his horse, his figure, his +boots, his seat, and all that covered it, subjected to rigid criticism. +Everybody had a few spare minutes to walk about and admire or ridicule +everybody else. As father and daughter set foot on the smooth burnt-up +slope in front of the boxes, they came suddenly face to face with Mrs. +Lascelles and Miss Ross. Each lady caught sight of Sir Henry at the same +moment, and waited to see what her friend would do. I believe that if +one had turned coldly on her heel, in answer to his ready salute, the +other would have followed suit, and neither would ever have spoken to +her fickle admirer again. But it is probable that the latter's habits +familiarised him with such meetings, for in an instant he had both by +the hand, and was accosting them with that mixture of interest, +deference, and cordiality, which constituted the charm of his very +agreeable manner. He seemed to take it as a matter of course that he +should have made love to both, that they should all meet at Ascot, and +that he should proceed to make love to them again. + +"So glad to see you, Mrs. Lascelles!" exclaimed this hardened offender. +"How wet you must have got the last time we parted. I sent my carriage +after you directly I got home, but it was too late. So glad to see you, +Miss Ross. You left us in such a hurry we didn't half wish you good-bye. +Helen and I were very dull without you. Here she is--don't she look +well? don't you both look well? don't we all look well?" + +With such effrontery it was impossible not to fall into an easy strain +of conversation, and after an affectionate greeting had been exchanged +between Helen and her two presumptive step-mothers, the whole party +proceeded to Mrs. Lascelles's box, from whence, without crowding or +inconvenience, they could see the race for the Cup, in so far as it was +affected by the run-in seventy yards from home. + +Sir Henry, who had another "pony" depending on this event, would have +liked to be a little nearer the Judge's chair; but I doubt if the ladies +cared much for the final struggle, decided by half a length. Mrs. +Lascelles, thinking that her old admirer looked worn, handsome, and +gentleman-like, in spite of crow's-feet and grizzling whiskers, while +resolving to punish him severely for his treachery, was reflecting that +the process would be by no means unpleasant to herself. Miss Ross +continued silent and pre-occupied, haunted by the vision of that sturdy +boy kicking and crowing in the dirt. While Helen, commanding the +four-in-hand coaches with her glass, saw only Vanguard's shapely figure +on the roof of his drag as he turned to watch the race; and when the +excitement was over, sprang down to mingle with the crowd that poured +into the Course, on his way, as she hoped and believed, to join them +here. + +Now he stops to speak to a good-looking bad-looking man, whom she +recognises as the driver of the coach which so nearly overtook his own. +Certain courtesies of the road have already made these two acquaintances +and almost friends. Now he bows to a duchess, now nods to a gipsy; +presently he is lost in the throng, and emerges under their very box, +when good-humoured Mrs. Lascelles, doing as she would be done by, +beckons him up at once, and makes ready a place for him at Miss +Hallaton's side. + +He has something pleasant to say to each lady; and Miss Ross rouses +herself to observe his good looks, enhanced by that frank air of +courtesy, peculiar to an English gentleman, which is so fascinating to +the women least accustomed to it. She gives him the benefit of a deadly +shot or two from her black eyes, as he seats himself by Helen's side, +and the girl, quick-sighted, silent, sensitive, feels each glance like a +stab. + +But it is pleasant to have him here, out of the crowd, amidst this +beautiful scenery, under the summer sun, and over her steals that +feeling of security and complete repose which is the infallible test of +genuine affection. + +He is quiet and happy too. Neither of them says much; perhaps they have +a good deal to think of, and are thinking of it. + +Uncle Joseph and young Goldthred, returning from an unremunerative +expedition to the betting-ring, are somewhat discomfited to observe this +invasion of their territories, but become speedily reassured in +detecting Sir Henry's obvious anxiety to escape, that he may get "on" +for the next race, and the ill-concealed admiration of Frank Vanguard +for that reckless individual's daughter. + +Mr. Groves backs Mrs. Lascelles's invitation freely. + +"You will come and dine, Sir Henry," says she; "promise, and I'll let +you off this minute. You know you are dying to get back to that wicked +betting. Think of Helen. She'll be tired to death with the journey to +London in a stuffy railway. Things! You don't want any things. Besides, +why not work the wires? Telegraph for your servants to bring them down. +We needn't dress for dinner. Captain Vanguard, if you can get away from +the barracks, won't you come too?" + +Frank looked at Helen, Helen looked resolutely at the card in her hand. +He was forced, unwillingly, to decline, but doubtless remarked the +colour fade in her cheek while he did so, expressing at the same time a +hope of meeting next day. Uncle Joseph, who had quite abandoned the +control of his own household, expressed entire satisfaction with +everybody's arrangements, and Miss Ross whispered in his ear, "it was +very dear of him to be so good-natured!" + +Goldthred, too, having lost nine pairs of gloves, six and a half, three +buttons, to Mrs. Lascelles, was in the seventh heaven. Altogether, not +many race-goers left the Course better pleased with themselves that day. +And Mr. Picard, looking down at Helen as he passed her carriage driving +home, said to the loudish lady by his side-- + +"_That's_ the handsomest girl I've seen the whole season! I wonder who +she is?" + +To which the loudish lady replied with acrimony-- + +"_Do_ you think so? Well, perhaps she is fresh looking, in a +bread-and-butter, missy-ish sort of style. Can't you go a little faster? +One gets choked with this horrid dust!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +FRANK. + + +The barrack-room of a subaltern in the Household Cavalry has been lately +described by a gifted authoress as resembling "the boudoir of a young +duchess." My experience of the latter, I honestly confess, is +exceedingly limited, but I think I know enough of the former tenement to +submit that our talented romancer has overstated her case. She would +have been nearer the mark, I imagine, had she compared the lair of the +formidable warrior to a servants' hall, a laundry, a condemned cell, or +some such abode of vacuity and desolation, modified principally by +whitewash. Gaudy pictures on the walls, gaudy flowers in the +window-sill, do indeed serve to brighten the neutral tints prevailing in +an officer's quarters, as provided by his grateful country, and a +barrack-room chair is an exceedingly comfortable resting-place in which +to smoke the pipe of peace in the stronghold of war. For ease, +merriment, and good-fellowship, give me the habitation of the dragoon; +but when you talk of pomp, luxury, taste, and refinement, I am prepared +to back the duchess, ay, even though she be a dowager duchess, against +all the cavalry regiments in the Army List, and give you the Horse +Artillery in! + +Let us take, for example, the room in which Frank Vanguard lies fast +asleep, at ten in the morning, though a summer sun, streaming through +the open window, bathes him, like a male Danaë, in floods of gold. He +possesses horses, carriages, costly jewellery, clothes in abundance, +boots innumerable, yet his furniture consists of the following items:-- + +One iron bedstead, without curtains; one wooden tub; one enormous +sponge, one medium-sized ditto; a chest of drawers, constructed to +travel by baggage-waggon; a huge box, meant to hold saddlery; a stick +and whip stand; twelve pairs of spurs; a set of boxing-gloves; four +steeple-chase prints; and a meerschaum pipe he never smokes. These, with +a chair or two, and a few toilet necessaries, comprise the whole +furniture of his apartment; and he is happier here than in luxurious +London lodgings, lordly castle, or stately country house. + +The song of birds, the flutter of the summer morning, snort, stamp, and +stable-call, ring of bridle, and clink of steel, all fail to wake him. +He is not for duty to-day, and never went to bed till five in the +morning. + +To say nothing of the mess-man and his satellites, it is a heavy week, +that of Ascot Races, for field-officers, captains, subalterns, and all +concerned in the dispensation of unbounded hospitality at Windsor during +the meeting. They entertain countless guests, they convey them to and +from the Course, they provide board and lodging for the gentlemen, +amusement and adoration for the ladies, they are afoot day and night; +yet seem always fresh, lively, good-humoured, and on the alert. But even +cavalry officers are mortal, and though they never confess it, they +_must_ be very tired, and a little thankful when the whole function is +over. + +No wonder Frank sleeps so sound--dreaming doubtless of--what? His +dark-brown charger, his chestnut mare, the stag he shot last year in +Scotland, the team he drove yesterday to Ascot? Of Miss Hallaton, +perhaps, and the deep lustrous eyes that haunted him so while he flung +himself on his bed and went off into the very slumber from which he is +roused, even now, by unceremonious knuckles tapping at the door. + +A sleepy man says "come in" without waking, and enter a soldier-servant +nearly seven feet high, who proceeds to fill the tub, and further +dressing arrangements generally, with a clatter, that he has found from +experience of many masters is the surest way to get a sluggard out of +bed. This stalwart personage considers himself responsible (and it is no +light burthen) that his officer should always be in time. With a Cornet +his prevision is touching, and almost maternal in its care. Having +thoroughly roused the sleeper, his servant plants himself at the +bedside, drawn up to an exceeding altitude, in the position +drill-sergeants call "attention." + +"What is it?" says Frank yawning. + +"Gentleman come to breakfast, sir. Waiting in the little mess-room." + +"Order it at once, Blake, and say I'll be down in twenty minutes." + +Exit Blake, facing to the right, solemnly but far less noisily than he +came in; while Frank with one bound is on the floor, and with another in +his tub, not feeling his eyes quite open till he has splashed the +bracing cold water into them more than once. + +While he shaves and dresses, getting through each process with +surprising celerity, I may state that the gentleman waiting breakfast +for him below is none other than Mr. Picard, the driver of the blue +coach with red wheels, the quick-stepping browns, and the loudish lady +of the day before. + +A timely pull in Frank's favour, when the latter was in difficulties +with his team at an awkward corner on the Heath,--a little judicious +flattery extolling the capabilities of that team, and the mode in which +it was handled,--a draught of champagne-cup offered,--a cigar +exchanged,--and Vanguard was so pleased with his new friend, that he +pressed the invitation which now brought him to breakfast in the +officers' mess-room, accompanied by an appetite that never failed, and a +determination to make the most of this, as of all other advantages in +the game of life. + +A couple of Cornets are already hard at work, with the voracity of youth +just done growing in length but not breadth. Their jaws cease +simultaneously at the entrance of a stranger, and, boys as they are, the +instinct of each warns him against this plausible personage whom, as a +guest, they welcome nevertheless with hospitality and perfect good +breeding. It speaks well for Picard's _savoir faire_, that long ere his +entertainer comes down, he has made a favourable impression on these +late Etonians, so that, emerging to smoke outside in couples as usual, +says one inseparable to the other-- + +"Pleasant company that hairy chap, and tongue enough for a +street-preacher! Who the devil is he, Jack, and where did Frank pick him +up?" + +To which Jack, whose real name is Frederic, replies with deliberation: + +"Not _quite_ the clean potato, young man, you may take my word for it. +But that makes no odds. We'll have him to dinner. Shouldn't wonder if +the party could sing a good song and do conjuring tricks." + +"Pea-and-thimble and the rest of it," rejoins his friend. "Come and look +at my bay mare." + +So, dismissing Picard from their thoughts, they leave him to Frank +Vanguard and breakfast. + +These appear simultaneously. Frank, looking exceedingly clean, fresh, +and handsome, is full of apologies for keeping his guest waiting. + +"But you see we were very late last night," he urges, "and I'm not one +of those fellows who can do entirely without sleep. If I don't get four +or five hours I'm fit for nothing. It's constitutional, no doubt. I +think I must have been _born_ tired." + +Picard laughs--and when he laughs his expression changes for the worse. +"I can sit up for ever," says he, "if there's anything to sit up for. A +roll in the blankets and a tub are as good as a night's rest to me. Now, +you'll hardly believe I was playing _écarté_ till six this morning, and +came down by the nine o'clock train!" + +Frank _didn't_ believe it, though it was true enough, but helped himself +to a cutlet without expressing incredulity. + +"Did you drive all the way back yesterday?" said he. "You must have been +late in London, and it's a good day's work." + +"I had three teams on the road," answered the other, "and only one of +them took any getting together. Faith, the heaviest part of the business +was talking to Mrs. Battersea! She _would_ come, and she _would_ sit on +the box, and she sulked all the way home. You'll never guess why." + +Mrs. Battersea was a celebrity of a certain standing in certain circles, +not quite without the pale of decent society, yet as near the edge as +was possible, short of actual expulsion. If a male Battersea existed he +never appeared, and the lady who bore his name, a showy middle-aged +woman, with a fine figure, and all the airs of a beauty, seemed in no +wise restricted by matrimonial thraldom. She was one of those people to +be seen at reviews, races, and all open-air gatherings within twenty +miles of London--at flower-shows, plays, operas, and charity concerts in +the metropolis; but nobody ever met her at a dinner-party, a ball, or a +"drum." To sum up--men like Picard called her "a stunner;" ladies like +Mrs. Lascelles said she was "bad style." + +Frank, thinking none the better of this new friend for the freedom with +which he talked of his female acquaintance, professed ignorance of Mrs. +Battersea's reasons for discontent. + +"Not easily pleased, I dare say," he answered carelessly. "Sometimes +they're not, when they have everything their own way. Nervous on a +coach, perhaps? And yet that could hardly be, for you've got the +handiest team out, and I can see you're as good as most professionals." + +"Guess again," said the other, who had finished breakfast, and was +lighting a cigar. + +Frank pondered. + +"Seen a better-looking woman than herself, then; that'll do it +sometimes, I've remarked. And they're bad to hold when they think +there's something else in the race. If it wasn't that, I give it up." + +"You're right, Vanguard," exclaimed his guest. "You've hit it, sir, +plumb-centre, as we used to say on the Potomac. Mrs. Battersea never +ceased talking all the way down; and some queer things she told us, too! +The rough side of her tongue rasps like a file! Well, she was in high +feather the whole day. Liked her luncheon, liked her bonnet, liked +herself, liked her company, so she said; but, coming off the Course, we +passed a _duck_ of a girl in an open carriage: a girl with wonderful +eyes and a pale face, but features like Melpomene. She'd got on a +light-coloured dress, with a lilac sort of bonnet--I dare say you didn't +notice her." + +Frank's heart leaped to his throat, meeting his final gulp of coffee. +_Didn't notice her_, forsooth! while the wonderful eyes, pale face, +Melpomene mouth, light dress, even the lilac bonnet, had been haunting +him for the last twelve hours. + +"I only said, 'What a pretty girl!' as we went by," continued Picard, +"and, will you believe it, Mrs. Battersea got her frill out on the +instant! She never gave us another civil word the whole way to London: +not one to share amongst the whole coach-load. Those two little Carmine +girls that I brought down for Macdonald and Algy Brown were so +frightened they wanted to stop at Hounslow and go home by the omnibus! +That was after she caught Rosie making faces behind her back. Algy tried +to take his poor little 'pal's' part, and didn't she chaw _him_ up, too! +Rather! I'd nothing to do but mind my driving and think of the Helen who +had done all this mischief." + +"How did you know her name was Helen?" asked Frank, completely off his +guard. + +"Well, I _didn't_," said the other, wondering at his host's excitement; +"but I suppose now that it is, and that you know her. Couldn't you +introduce _me_?" + +"Certainly, if you wish it," was the reply, "though probably we don't +mean the same lady. There is a Miss Hallaton that answers to your +description, and she _was_ at the races yesterday. Daughter of Sir Henry +Hallaton, rather a good-looking, oldish man, in a white hat and red +neckcloth." + +"That's it!" exclaimed Picard; "I spotted the father, red neckcloth and +all! Depend upon it you're right, and it must have been Miss----What's +her name? Hallaton? Well, all I can say is, I've not seen a +better-looking one since I left Charleston, and very few who could beat +her there. Do they go much to London? Do they live anywhere near here? I +think the governor's a loosish fish. I saw him drinking 'cup' with some +queer-looking people behind my coach, and he was in and out of the Ring +all day. Beg pardon, Vanguard, if they're friends of yours. I didn't +mean to say anything disagreeable, I give you my word." + +"Oh! I don't know them very well," said Frank, growing red, and feeling +that he was making himself ridiculous. "I stayed with them last winter, +near Bragford. Capital place to hunt from, and Sir Henry was very kind +and hospitable. If you're quite done, shall we come outside? The drag +will start in an hour, and I will have a place kept for you, if you'd +like to go with the others from here." + +"I am not going at all," answered Picard. "The fact is, I'm not much of +a racing man, and two days running is rather a benefit. Don't let me put +you out in your arrangements, I beg. This is a beautiful neighbourhood, +and I've been so much abroad, that I quite enjoy the air, and the +English scenery, and the rest of it. I'd rather take a quiet walk while +you're all at the races; but I'll stay and see you start the team +notwithstanding." + +"Not going!" thought Frank. "How very odd! Now, what can a fellow like +this have to do down here on the sly? Country walk! Gammon! He's after +some robbery, I'll lay a hundred!" But he only _said_: + +"My Cornet's going to drive. I don't think I shall be on the Heath at +all, unless I gallop a hack over in the afternoon." + +"Hot work," answered Picard carelessly. "I thought everybody was keen +about racing, except me." But he too wondered at the taste of his +entertainer in thus preferring a solitary morning to a pleasant drive in +the merriest of company, accounting for it on a theory of his own. + +"War-path, of course! and, keen as a true Indian, means to follow it up +alone. Got 'sign,' no doubt, and sticks to the trail like a wolf. Won't +come back, I'll lay a thousand, without 'raising hair.' Ah! this child, +too, could take scalps once, and hang them round his belt, with the best +of ye! And _now_----Well, I'm about no harm to-day, at any rate, and +that's refreshing, if it's only for a change!" + +So he sat himself down on a garden seat in front of the officers' +quarters, where, producing a case the size of a portmanteau, filled with +such cigars as are only consumed by trans-Atlantic smokers, and, +offering them liberally all round, he soon became the centre of an +admiring circle, civil as well as military, to whom he related sundry +experiences of international warfare in the States, well told, +interesting, no doubt, and more startling than probable. + +Mr. Picard had certain elements of popularity, such as launch a man in +general society fairly enough, but fail to afford him secure anchorage +in that restless element. He was good-looking, well-dressed, plausible, +always ready to eat, drink, smoke, dance, play, or, indeed, partake in +the amusement of the hour. He looked like a gentleman, but nobody knew +who he was. He seemed to have a sufficiency of money, but nobody knew +where he got it. The _Court Guide_ vouched for him as J. Picard, Esq., +under the letter "P," with two addresses, a first-rate hotel and a +third-rate club. The _Morning Post_ even took charge of him in its +fashionable arrivals and departures. Men began to know him after "the +Epsom Spring," and by Hampton Races he had ceased to arouse interest, +scarcely even excited curiosity, but had failed to make a single female +acquaintance above the class of Mrs. Battersea; nor had he, indeed, +gained one step of the social ladder people take such pains to climb, in +order to obtain, after all, but a wider view from Dan to Beersheba. + +Such men crop up like mushrooms at the beginning of every London season, +and fade like annuals with the recess. Goodwood sees the last expiring +blaze of their splendour, and next year, if you ask for them, they are +extinct; but, as the Highland soldier says, "There are plenty more where +they come from." In dress, style, manner, they vary but little. All dine +constantly at Richmond, shoot well, and drive a team, in the handling of +which they improve vastly as the season wears on. + +Mr. Picard could, however, lay claim to a little more interest than the +rest, in his character of a soldier-adventurer, to which he was entitled +by service with the Confederates during their prolonged struggle against +overwhelming odds. Somehow, every soldier-adventurer concerned in that +war seems to have been a Southerner. Certainly the romance was all on +their side, though the scale, weighed down by "great battalions," turned +in favour of the North. From his own account, Picard had done his +"little best," as he called it, for the party he espoused; and observing +a gash on his cheek, which could only be a sabre-cut, it was hard to +listen coldly while he talked of Stonewall Jackson and Brigadier Stuart +as ordinary men do of Bright and Gladstone--perhaps with no more +familiar knowledge of the heroes than a general public has of these +statesmen. Still, the subject was captivating and well treated, the +contrast between Stuart's dashing, desperate, rapidly-moving light +horsemen and Her Majesty's Cuirassiers of the Guard was exciting, the +similarity in many points flattering to both. Cornets listened +open-mouthed, and felt the professional instinct rising strong in their +martial young souls; older officers smiled approbation, not disdaining +to gather hints from one who had seen _real_ warfare, as to nosebags, +haversacks, picket-ropes, and such trifling minutiæ as affect the +efficiency of armies and turn the tide of campaigns. When the drag +appeared nobody discovered that Frank Vanguard had made a masterly +retreat; and Picard had received as many invitations to remain and be +"put-up" in barracks as would have lasted him till the regiment changed +quarters, and his entertainers had found out half he said was an _old_ +story and the other half not true. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +JUNE ROSES. + + +Uncle Joseph was a good judge of many things besides bonds, debentures, +shares, and scrip. When he bought "The Lilies" we may be sure he had his +wits about him, and made no imprudent investment. A prettier villa never +was reflected in the Thames. Huge elms, spreading cedars, delicate +acacias quivering in the lightest air, the very point-lace of the +forest, were grouped by Nature's master-hand round a wide-porched, +creeper-clad building, with long low rooms, and windows opening on a +lawn, all aglow with roses budding, blushing, blooming, to the water's +edge. It was a little Paradise of leaf and flower and stream, such as is +only to be found on the banks of our London river; such as calls up at +sight images of peace and love and hope, and sweet untried romance for +the young and trustful; such as wafts a thrill, not altogether painful, +to the hearts of weary, wayworn travellers, for whom, in all that golden +belief of the Past, there is nothing real now but a memory and a sigh. +Such a lawn, such a scene, such flowers, were thoroughly in keeping with +such a woman as Mrs. Lascelles, moving gracefully among the roses under +a summer sky. + +So thought poor Goldthred, emerging from the French windows of the +breakfast-room for a _tête-à-tête_ with his goddess, that might last +half an hour, that might be cut short (he knew her caprices) in less +than five minutes! A _tête-à-tête_ from which he hoped to advance +positively and tangibly in her favour, but which, like many others of +the same kind, he feared might terminate in disappointment, +discomfiture, despair. + +Breakfast, with this unfortunate young man, had been a repast of +paroxysms, alternating between rapture and dismay, such as completely +destroyed anything like appetite or digestion. It was all very well for +Uncle Joseph to go twice at the ham on the side-table, and devour such a +lump of _pâté de foie gras_ as would have choked a coal-heaver. It was +all very well for Sir Henry, lounging down when everybody else had +nearly done, avowedly with no appetite, after a cup of exceedingly hot +coffee, to play as good a knife and fork as an Eton boy. It was all very +well for the ladies, Mrs. Lascelles especially, to peck here and peck +there--a slice of chicken, a strawberry, a bit of toast, an egg, a +morsel of muffin, the least possible atom of pie--till each had made a +pretty substantial meal. But could their heartless voracity stifle _his_ +(Goldthred's) sensibilities, or prevent his food tasting like leather, +his tea like camomiles? Breakfast was over ere he recovered his proper +senses, and then it was too late! The tonic so long denied this patient +sufferer consisted of a few words from Mrs. Lascelles, not addressed, +indeed, to himself, but accompanied by a glance he interpreted +correctly, and accepted with delight. + +"Uncle Joseph," said she, "your roses are shamefully neglected, and I +shall inspect them thoroughly when I've drunk my tea." + +Uncle Joseph, who, for sanitary reasons, never stirred till half an hour +had elapsed after eating, grunted acquiescence; but Goldthred, unmindful +of the _convenances_, rapturously followed his tyrant into the garden, +the instant her muslin skirt disappeared over the window-sill. + +She waited till they were out of sight from the house, then gathered a +rose, fragrant, blooming, lovable as herself, and gave it him with a +winning smile. + +"I've got something to say to you, Mr. Goldthred--something I don't want +everybody else to hear." + +But for the flower pressed close against his lips, he felt that his +heart must have leaped out of his mouth, and fallen at her feet. Never a +word he spoke, but the light in his eyes, the glow on his face were +answer enough. + +"You won't be offended?" she continued, gathering rose after rose, and +tying them up in a cluster, as she walked on. "You won't be cross, +unreasonable, unkind? Indeed, it's for your own sake quite as much as +mine. Mr. Goldthred, you can do me a great favour. Promise now; will you +do it?" + +He made no bargain; he showed no hesitation, but his very ears were +crimson with sincerity while he answered: + +"_Do_ it, Mrs. Lascelles! What is there I wouldn't do for you? I wish +you--you'd ask me to do something dangerous, or difficult, or--or +impossible even! You'd see there's something in me, then, and perhaps +you'd think better of me than you do now." + +"Think better!" she repeated gaily. "Upon my word, I wonder what you'd +have! But I don't want you to do anything impossible, no, nor even +disagreeable. On the contrary, I should say it would be very pleasant. I +want you to--to flirt a little with Miss Hallaton--there!" + +"Mrs. Lascelles!" was all he said, but something in his tone caused her +to laugh rather nervously, and quicken her pace as she continued: + +"Oh! it's nothing to make a fuss about, and you needn't look so +reproachful! Miss Hallaton is a very nice girl, and very pretty. I'm +sure everybody thinks so, though she hasn't quite colour enough for my +taste. You know you admire her, Mr. Goldthred, and why should you mind +telling her so?" + +"But I _don't_!" persisted Goldthred, in a great heat and fuss. "Can't +you see, Mrs. Lascelles? Is it not plain?" + +She made no scruple of interrupting him. + +"Then you _must_!" she insisted, tying a white rose deftly in amongst +its blushing sisters. "You needn't be _too_ much in earnest, you know, +but I wish you to pay a little attention to Miss Hallaton, for reasons +of my own. If you're very good I'll tell you what they are." + +Oh! cool and crafty spider! Oh! silly struggling fly! Blue-eyed spider +in muslin and ribbons, fresh, smiling, radiant as morning. Helpless fly +in tweed and broadcloth, wondering, blundering, blind as midnight. The +fly buzzed a faint affirmative, and the spider went on. + +"The fact is, Mr. Goldthred, you see you're a good deal with us, and I'm +sure we're always delighted to have you. Both Jin and I like you very +much. Jin says you are the only pleasant _young_ man she knows. But the +world _will_ talk, and--and--people are beginning to make remarks. I'm +almost old enough to be your mother. Well; you needn't contradict one so +flat. You know what I mean, you men are so much younger of your age +than us poor women. But that makes no difference. One can't be too +careful. Now if you were seen making up a little to Helen,--and she is a +very charming girl, I assure you,--it would stop all their mouths. They +say very disagreeable things as it is, and one must do _something_. I +shouldn't like to think you were never to come and see me any more." + +Was not this a golden opportunity? Did she hear the grating of that +accursed rake just round the laurel-bush? Could that be why her blue +eyes shone so soft and kind, why the words dropped from her rosy mouth +like honey from the comb? The gravel-walk (lately raked, and be hanged +to it!) was rough as Brighton shingle; his trousers were of the thinnest +fabric known to Messrs. Miles; yet I confidently believe Goldthred would +have popped down on his knees, then and there, to run that one great +chance he dwelt on night and day, but for the additional step that +brought them face to face with a gardener working leisurely, in +rolled-up shirt-sleeves, and surrounded by the implements of his art. +Goldthred swore, I fear, though not aloud. The happy moment had slipped +through his fingers like running-water, like the sands of time, like +change for a sovereign, like everything else in a world that "keeps +moving," whether we will or no. Of all impossibilities, there is none so +impossible as to put the clock back. + +Beyond this inopportune gardener, they came in sight of certain +haymakers, and turning from these were close to the house once more. No +further explanation was practicable, but unless some tacit agreement had +been made to the lady's satisfaction, she would hardly have pushed her +roses in the gentleman's face, with a sweet smile and a recommendation +to inhale their fragrance while they were fresh. + +"You deserve them all, indeed you do!" she said warmly. "And I'll put +the best of them on your dressing-table myself. Thank you _really_. You +won't forget your promise? I know I can depend upon _you_." + +Then she marched into the drawing-room laden with her spoils, well +pleased; while Goldthred, retiring to smoke the morning cigar, felt less +satisfied, on reflection, than he had been when the white fingers and +red roses were so close to his lips a while ago. + +It seems that in all couples, not excepting the matrimonially tethered, +a pair must necessarily pull different ways. Goldthred's innocent notion +of heaven upon earth was that this despotic lady should become his wife, +but she had handled him so skilfully, he dared not ask for fear of being +refused. Mrs. Lascelles, who deserved some credit for crushing down the +instinct of appropriation, natural to all women, however little they may +prize an admirer, would have been glad, to do her justice, that Helen, +for her own sake, should make an advantageous marriage. She reflected, +moreover, that her furtherance of such an arrangement would bring her +into closer relations with Sir Henry. Then she wondered whether she +still liked him, confessing in her secret heart she was almost afraid +she _did_. + +That careless, easy-going personage had disposed himself, in the mean +time, on the most sloping of garden chairs under a tree. Helen had +brought him the morning and weekly papers, also one of the evening +before. He was cool, comfortable, and thoroughly satisfied with Sir +Henry Hallaton. His rings were more abundant, his whiskers more riotous, +his handkerchief of brighter hues than ever. Had he not looked so like a +gentleman his style of dress would have been gaudy and almost slang; but +the combination had done him good service for many years, and he stuck +to it still. Smoking a huge cigar, he watched its wreathes curling and +clinging about the dark, crisp foliage of the cedar-branch over-head, +while his thoughts wandered dreamily amongst the various interests of +his pleasant, lazy, useless, and rather selfish life: his Alderneys at +Blackgrove; his bailiff's book; the two-year old they were breaking at +home; the brougham Barker was building him in London; Outrigger's chance +in the Thames Handicap to-day; Uncle Joseph's dry champagne last night; +the dress Mrs. Lascelles wore yesterday at the races; how Miss Ross had +pulled in her waist this morning; on divine women in endless +perspective, whom he had loved, or _thought_ he loved, or made love to, +without even that excuse, concluding how very few were equal to Helen. +What a dear little thing it was as a child! What a graceful, engaging +girl! So frank, so gentle, such a _lady_, and so fond of _him_! +Suspecting that, after all, he _really_ cared more for his own daughter +than he had ever cared for the daughter, or wife, or mother of anybody +else. + +Arriving at this conclusion, and the end of his cigar, he was aware of a +light step on the lawn, a rustle of muslin skirts trailing across the +sward,--a familiar sound, to which, I fear, Sir Henry's ear turned, as +turns the charger's to the trumpet call, the hunter's to the well-known +challenge of a "find." Miss Ross, carrying a plateful of strawberries, +bent over him, a world of mirth and mischief gleaming in her bright +black eyes. + +"You take life very easily, Sir Henry," said she, looking down on his +recumbent figure with a sort of sarcastic admiration. "I'm a pretty cool +hand myself, so people tell me, but I can't hold a candle to _you_, I +must confess." + +"Exactly," replied Sir Henry. "Prettier, but not so cool. I quite agree +with you. I know what you mean." + +"I don't mean it a bit!" exclaimed Miss Ross; "and of all people in the +world I don't want _you_ to tell me I'm pretty. You know that, or, at +least, you ought to know it by this time!" + +"Don't you think I'm a good judge?" asked this incorrigible person, with +a smile of entire satisfaction. + +She could not help laughing. + +"Perhaps _too_ good a judge," she answered, "but a judge that shall +never find _me_ guilty, I promise you! No; what I envy is your +unrivalled _sang-froid_, your entire freedom from anxiety in a position +that would make most people feel awkward, if not uncomfortable." + +"Uncomfortable!" he repeated; "why uncomfortable! Ah! perhaps you're +right, and I _do_ want another cushion. I'd go and fetch it, Miss Ross, +only I'd much rather stay where I am, and talk to you." + +She shot another scornful glance, not that he was the least abashed by +it, and went on:-- + +"You've got all sorts of duties, cares, responsibilities, but they don't +seem to affect you in the least--property, debts, of course" (Sir Henry +nodded assent), "politics, position, that charming daughter; a bad day +yesterday--you see I know all about it--and a certain loss to-day, if +you don't bestir yourself, on the Thames Handicap. Yet there you sit, as +unmoved and almost as highly ornamented as a Hindoo idol. I wish I had +your secret!" + +"Very simple," answered the other. "Irons! Nothing but irons! Plenty of +them, and put them all in the fire at once. Dividing your cares is like +dividing your affections--one balances another, and you carry them as +easy as a milkmaid carries her pails." + +"That's all very fine in theory," replied Miss Ross; "but there's such a +thing as spilt milk, and a dozen cold irons won't prevent a hot one +burning your fingers. There's a hot one to-day in the Thames Handicap. +Never mind how I know it, Sir Henry, but I _do_ know it. This horse they +call Outrigger has no more chance of winning than your hat! Why do you +tie that hideous gauze thing round it?" + +Sir Henry was equal to the occasion. + +"Suits my style of ugliness," he answered; adding, with well-assumed +carelessness--"So Outrigger won't win, Miss Ross. Why won't he?" + +"Not meant!" + +"I never thought he was," said Sir Henry, who had backed the horse for +more money than he liked to think of. "My impression, you see, agrees +with your information. I don't doubt it, of course, particularly as you +won't tell me where you got it." + +"I won't, indeed," asseverated Jin, who would have been puzzled to name +her authority, inasmuch as the startling intelligence originated in her +own fertile brain. For particular reasons this unscrupulous young lady +was anxious the whole party from The Lilies should start for the races +together, while she alone remained at home. In discussing their plans +the evening before, great lukewarmness had been shown on this point; +Helen, perhaps for particular reasons, too, professing indifference to +the coming day's sport. Even Sir Henry did not seem to have made up his +mind; but Miss Ross argued, correctly enough, that if he went, Mrs. +Lascelles would go, and the rest of the party would surely accompany +their hostess; then, at the last moment, she could frame an excuse, and +so have the day to herself. Therefore it was she made no scruple in +calumniating the merits of Outrigger and the honesty of his owners. + +Sir Henry was now in a desperate fidget to be off. He must get "out," he +felt, at any price, and a few minutes might make all the difference. He +stretched himself, yawned with an affectation of carelessness that did +not in the least deceive his companion, and asked when the carriages +were ordered. + +"The same time as yesterday," answered Miss Ross, pleased with the +result of her stratagem. "You won't say I told you," she added, looking +coquettishly down at the recumbent baronet. + +"Of course not," was the reply; but his thoughts were far away, +probably with a stout speculator, wearing a suit of gorgeous tartan, and +diamond rings on exceedingly dirty hands. + +"How shall I stop your mouth?" she said, innocently enough, blushing +nevertheless, though she rarely betrayed confusion, as the words escaped +her. + +It was impossible to be offended at the quaint, mischievous expression +with which Sir Henry looked up in her face, and Jin fairly burst out +laughing, while she popped a ripe red strawberry between his lips. + +"This will do it for the present!" said she; "and don't forget you owe +me a good turn for giving you what, I believe, you racing gentlemen call +'the straight tip!'" + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +TOUCH AND GO. + + +A lawn commanded by the windows of a drawing-room, in which people are +settling their plans for the day, can scarcely be considered a fitting +locality for the interchange of courtesies not intended for general +supervision. The stoppage of Sir Henry's mouth, as described in the +preceding chapter, was witnessed by three different persons, all of +whom, in their respective degrees, chose to feel aggrieved, disgusted, +and surprised. The position was picturesque, no doubt, the accessories +in perfect keeping, the strawberry rich and ripe, but such familiarities +are apt to breed contempt in the bystanders, especially if of the +better-behaved and less tolerant sex. Helen did not approve of these +liberties being taken with papa; Mrs. Lascelles, for the first time, +doubted whether she had acted wisely in entering on so close an +alliance with this reckless adventuress, remembering a certain fable, in +which the horse, having called in the assistance of man against his +enemy, was never his own master again; while Uncle Joseph, looking +pompously out of window, with his hands in his pockets, turned yellow +from jealousy, and became speechless with disgust. + +There is no pleasanter hour of the day than that which succeeds +breakfast in a country-house, while people are organising the +occupations, or amusements, as they call them, that must last till +dinner; but with the party collected at The Lilies there seemed to be +more than the usual diversity of opinion as to how their time should be +spent. + +Helen "didn't much care about going to the races--wondered if it would +rain--feared it would be hot--did feel a little tired this morning," +but, being pressed, was obliged to confess, "she enjoyed yesterday very +much!" Still, it was evident Helen did not want to go, equally evident +she would not explain why. + +Uncle Joseph, who had meditated a long walk with Miss Ross, combining +exercise and sentiment, would have voted persistently against the Heath, +but for the episode of the strawberry, which had so roused his wrath. He +now declared "it would be absurd to stay away, when at so short a +distance," that "they had better go in the same order as yesterday," and +that "he would desire luncheon to be put up at once;" Uncle Joseph +wisely considering that important meal a necessity of any "outing" in +which pleasure was the avowed object. + +Mrs. Lascelles did not the least care how she spent her morning, so long +as it was passed in the company of Sir Henry. Goldthred, again, was +willing to go anywhere or do anything if he might be with Mrs. +Lascelles. Altogether everybody's movements seemed dependent on the +baronet, who walked coolly up the lawn to the drawing-room windows, +pinning the gauze veil more carefully round his hat. + +"What time are we to start?" said he, taking it for granted, as he +wished to go himself, that everybody else did. "I'm afraid I _must_ be +on the Course early; but that need not hurry the others. Nelly and I can +go in my carriage, and I'll order it at once. Or I can take Mr. +Goldthred, or do anything anybody likes. Who wants to come with me? You +mustn't all speak at once!" + +"I don't care about going at all, papa," said Helen, but intercepting a +glance from their hostess, which ordered Goldthred, as plainly as eyes +could speak, to remain and keep her company, added hastily, "unless +there's plenty of room." + +"_Plenty_ of room!" echoed Mrs. Lascelles, with her own arrangements in +view. "We shall only want one carriage if we take mine. Four of us +inside, and Mr. Goldthred, for so short a distance, won't mind sitting +on the box. No, that won't do; where are we to put Jin?" + +"Jin's not going!" interrupted a voice from the open window of an upper +room. "Jin's got a headache, and some letters to write. You won't get +her to Ascot to-day unless you drag her with wild horses, so you needn't +distress yourselves about Jin!" + +Uncle Joseph's face turned from yellow to its normal tint of mottled +brown. What a trump of a girl he thought her after all! And, fully +convinced she was scheming to pass the whole morning with himself, +sorely repented he should have so misjudged her a quarter-of-an-hour +ago. + +His difficulty now was to avoid joining the rest of the party; but +bethinking him of a certain substantial pony in the stable, called +"Punch," he declared he thought a thorough shaking would do him good, +and expressed his intention of riding that animal to the Course. + +"Once they're off," argued Uncle Joseph, "they'll never trouble their +heads about their host, and then, my pretty Jin, you and I can come to +an understanding at last!" + +Even with a party of four, however, it takes time to get pleasure-goers +under weigh. Mrs. Lascelles forgot her smelling-bottle, Helen mislaid +her shawl; Sir Henry, on whose account they had all hurried themselves, +was ten minutes behind everybody else. The carriage stood a good +half-hour at the door before it was fairly started, and Uncle Joseph +spent that time in his own dressing-room, with his heart beating like a +boy's. + +At last the welcome sound of wheels announced that the coast was clear. +He sallied forth eagerly, and, considering his years, with no little +alacrity, in pursuit of his ladye-love. Not in her bedroom, certainly, +for the door stood wide open! Not in the drawing-room--the +dining-room--the billiard-room, nor the boudoir! Zounds! not in the +conservatory, nor on the lawn! Beads of perspiration broke out on Uncle +Joseph's bald head, and he couldn't tell whether it was anger or anxiety +that made him feel as if he was going to choke. Panting, protesting, +under a burning sun, he followed the shrubbery walk that brought him to +the hay-field, through which a thoroughfare for foot people led to the +high road. Here he ran into the very arms of Goldthred, coming back by +this short cut for his race-glasses, which he had forgotten, while the +carriage waited at the nearest angle of the fragrant meadow, flecked and +rippled with its new-mown hay. + +Uncle Joseph was without his hat. He must have lost his head also, when, +thinking it necessary to account for his disturbed appearance, he +inquired vehemently: + +"Have you seen Miss Ross? I--I forgot to order dinner before starting. I +want to find Miss Ross." + +"You won't overtake her," answered Goldthred coolly. "She was half way +across the next field when I came into this. She must be at the +turnpike by now." + +Uncle Joseph waited to hear no more. Breaking wildly from his informant, +he dashed off towards the stable, while the latter, recovering his +glasses, walked solemnly back to the carriage, and jumped in, as if +nothing had happened. + +There is, at least, this good quality belonging to a man in love, that +he is not easily astonished, nor does he occupy himself with the affairs +of others. Goldthred had forgotten his meeting with Uncle Joseph, and +dismissed the whole subject from his mind, before the carriage had got +twenty yards or Mrs. Lascelles had spoken as many words. + +Now Punch was a good stout cob, of that class and calibre which is so +prized by gentlemen who have left off reckoning up their age and weight. +After fifty, and over fifteen stone, it is needless to be continually +balancing the account. Punch possessed capital legs and feet, sloping +shoulders, an intelligent head with very small ears, a strong neck, and +an exceedingly round stomach. Such an animal, I confess, I cannot but +admire, and have no objection to ride, unless I am in a hurry. Even when +time presses I bear the creature no malice, but I fear he hates _me_! +Punch could scuttle along at his own pace for a good many miles, safely +and perseveringly enough; but against yours, if you were in the habit of +riding a thorough-bred hack, he would protest in a very few furlongs. +Obviously, to such a quadruped, time was of the utmost importance, and +it seemed hard so much of it had to be wasted daily in preparing him for +a start. + +Docile in his general character, perfectly free from nervousness and +vice, he had yet a provoking trick of puffing himself out during the +operation of saddling to a size that rendered the roomiest girths in the +stable too scanty for his swelling carcase. Ten minutes at least Uncle +Joseph and the stable boy butted and tugged and swore, ere, to use the +expression of the latter, they could "make tongue and buckle meet." Ten +minutes more were wasted in water brushing the pony's mane and blacking +his round, well-shaped feet; for the urchin, true to the traditions of +his craft, would forego not the smallest rite of that stable discipline +in which he had been trained. Altogether, by the time Uncle Joseph was +fairly in the saddle for pursuit, Miss Ross had got such a start as, +with her light step and agile figure, precluded the possibility of being +caught against her will. + +Four miles an hour, heel and toe, gracefully and without effort, as if +she was dancing, this active young person flitted across the hay-fields, +till she reached a humble little cottage standing between the highway +and the river's brink. Here she disappeared from Uncle Joseph's sight, +who had just viewed her, having bustled Punch along the hot, hard road +at a pace which put them both in a white lather. + +The rider's first idea was to secure his steed and follow up the chase; +but few men act on impulse after--what shall we say?--fifty; and Punch, +who had his own opinion about waiting in the sun, might very probably +slip his bridle in order to trot home! Reflecting with dismay on such a +contingency, in such weather for walking, Uncle Joseph "concluded," as +the Americans say, that he would wait where he was, and watch. + +Miss Ross, in the mean time, happily unconscious that she was observed, +tapped at the cottage-door, which was opened by a dark-eyed urchin of +five years or so, whom, to his intense astonishment, she smothered in +kisses on the spot. Mrs. Mole, the owner of the cottage, emerging from +the gloom of her back kitchen, was aware of a toss of black curls, and a +pair of sturdy, struggling legs, not over clean, in the embrace of a +radiant being who had dropped, to all appearance, from the clouds. + +"Your servant, miss," said the old woman, drying her arms on her apron, +while she performed a defiant curtsy. "You've--a--taken quite a fancy to +my little lad, seemingly. Yet I don't remember to have ever seen you +afore." + +I often think the poor resent a liberty with so much more dignity than +their betters. + +For answer, Jin, whose French education had afforded her many useful +little hints, slipped a packet of tea into the old woman's hand. It was +what they drank at The Lilies, strong, fragrant, and five shillings a +pound. + +"I haven't the pleasure of knowing you, ma'am," said she civilly; "but +I've seen this little angel before, and I can't help admiring him. Have +you no more of them?" + +Mrs. Mole was sixty if she was a day; but like your grandmother and +mine, like everybody's grandmother, Eve herself, she was open to +flattery. The supposition that this pretty child might be hers was +pleasing; the inference that he had brothers and sisters, possibly +younger than himself, gratifying indeed. + +"He isn't my own, miss," said she, stroking the child's curls, who clung +tight to her gown, with his eyes fixed on Miss Ross. "And more's the +pity!--go to the lady, Johnnie, _do_!--for a sweeter babe, and a +'ealthier, you'll not put your 'and on, not from here to Windsor Castle. +He ain't got no mother, miss, nor he don't want none, do you, Johnnie? +not so long as you've your old Moley to love ye--that's what he calls +me, miss. _My_ name's Mole, miss, askin' your pardon." + +The child, who was a bold little fellow enough, having inspected the +visitor thoroughly, as children always do inspect an object of +apprehension, now took courage to seat himself on her knee, with his +finger in his mouth and his eyes fixed on his boots, in undivided +attention. + +Miss Ross turned the plain little frock down to where, below the +sun-burned neck, his skin was white and pure as marble, all but one +mottled mark, the size of a five-franc piece. Then she burst out crying, +and Johnny, sprawling in haste to the floor, howled hideously for +company. + +"Deary, deary me!" ejaculated Mrs. Mole, completely softened, and, to +use her own expression, "upset," by these signals of distress. "Don't ye +take on so, miss. Whist! Johnnie, this moment, or I'll give you +something to cry for! Take a glass of water, miss. You've been walking +too fast in the sun--or say the word, and I'll make ye a cup o' tea in +five minutes." + +"A glass of water, please," gasped Miss Ross; and while the old woman +went to fetch it, followed by Johnnie, the young one summoned all her +self-command not to betray her secret and her relationship to the child. + +It was her own Gustave. Of that she could have no doubt since she had +laid bare the mark between his shoulders. Perhaps she was sure of him +yesterday, shouting at the cottage-door while the carriage passed; +perhaps she had been sure all last night, waking every ten minutes from +a dream of her boy; all this morning, resolving that nothing should +prevent her seeing him to-day; no, not the certainty of calumny, +exposure, open shame! Had it been otherwise, she must have broken down +more foolishly, more completely. Now she recovered herself, as she had +often done before in positions of far greater difficulty. When she took +the glass of water from Mrs. Mole's sympathising hand, her voice was +steady, her face perfectly calm and serene. + +"You are right," she said, "the sun is hot, and I walked here very fast. +The sight of this pretty child, too, was rather trying. He reminds me +of--of--a nephew I lost long ago. Thank you. I'm better now, but I +_should_ like to sit down and rest for half an hour, if I'm not in your +way. So--so--this little fellow isn't yours, Mrs. Mole, after all." + +Mrs. Mole dearly loved a gossip. So would you or I, if we spent our days +in a two-roomed cottage, with no companion but a child, no amusement +whatever, no occupation but cleaning household utensils for the purpose +of dirtying them forthwith, no daily paper, no exchange of ideas, no +exercise of the intellect, beyond a weekly effort to keep awake during +the parson's sermon. Gossip, indeed! If it was not for gossip how many +good, industrious, hard-living women would go melancholy mad? + +"He's not mine, miss. I wishes he wur," she answered, with an elbow in +the palm of each hand, an attitude Mrs. Mole considered favourable to +conversation. "But, whatever I should do without Johnnie, or Johnnie +without me, I know no more than the dead. The sense of that there child, +miss, and the ways of 'un, you'd think as he was twelve year old at +least. To see him take off his little boots, and fold up his little +clothes, every article, and come an' say his little prayers on my knee +afore ever he goes to his little bed, it's wonderful, that's what it +is!" + +The tears were rising to Jin's eyes once more. "Who taught him to say +his prayers?" she asked, keeping them down with an effort. + +"Well, he didn't know none when he came here first," answered Mrs. Mole +apologetically. "He's very young a-course, and he hadn't been taught +none maybe. But, Lor' bless ye, that there child didn't want no +teaching. Ah! there's children in heaven, I humbly hope, and I'll never +believe but they're like my Johnnie!" + +"A little tidier I should suppose," thought Miss Ross, but she could +have hugged this plain old woman nevertheless, for her kindly, honest +heart. + +"I can see he's well taken care of," she observed, turning the child's +clothes with a mother's hand. "His skin shows how healthy he is, and +he's as clean as a new pin." + +Mrs. Mole glanced sharply in her visitor's face. "I ask yer pardon, +ma'am," she said, "I kep on calling of you '_miss_,' and maybe you've +children of your own." + +Hugging the boy's head to her breast Jin took no notice of this remark, +but asked in turn, how long the child had been there. + +The question, though simple, produced a narrative of considerable +volume, digressive, complicated, not free from tautology, and ample, +even exuberant in detail. It comprised Mrs. Mole's girlhood, early life, +peculiar character, and extraordinary experiences, together with a +sketch of the late Mr. Mole's biography, his failure in the undertaking +business, and the reasons which prompted her, the narrator, to accept +him for a husband; the birth of two children, with red noses, the image +of Mole, both of whom, to use her own expression, she had "buried;" the +unaccountable disappearance of their father, taking with him whatever +portable property was in their joint possession, including bed and +bedding, an eight-day clock, and a warming-pan; the deceitfulness of the +male sex in general, and their sad tendency to falsehood, coupled with +inebriety; the inscrutable ways of Providence, by which it seemed +ordered that her own sex should be "put upon" in all relations of life; +the difficulty, which no one could contradict, of earning bread, as a +lone woman, with rent and taxes to pay, everything rising in price, +except her own labour, and an inflexible determination to keep herself +respectable; the matrimonial offer she had received not longer back than +five years gone last Easter Monday, from an energetic bargeman, of +imposing appearance, and a bad habit of swearing "awful," which offer +she could not prudently entertain, partly from uncertainty as to Mole's +fate, partly from suspicion of the proposer's solvency, not to say +sobriety; the depression of spirits resulting from this disappointment +of the affections, and the "lonesomeness" of the cottage in the long +winter nights, when she felt as if she "couldn't hardly a-bear it +without a drop o' comfort." Finally, the determination she was driven to +of taking in a child to nurse, "as should make the little place seem +home-like, and help to get a livin' for us both." + +"And it's past belief, miss," added Mrs. Mole, "as I put a notice in the +weekly paper, an' never heard no more, till a matter of ten weeks ago, +when a gentleman brought this here little lad to the door, and left him +for me to nurse and look after, quite confident and agreeable. 'Mrs. +Mole,' says he--'your name's Mole, or I'm misinformed.' 'Yes, sir,' says +I, 'you're right enough so fur as you know.' 'Mrs. Mole,' says he, 'I +leave the child with you, an' I've no call to bid you take care of him, +for I see it in your face, and you'll be as good as his own mother to +him, supposin' he ever had one.' With that he slips a sovereign into my +hand. I'm not deceivin' you, miss, and I drops him a curtsy, an', says +I, 'Perhaps you'll favour me,' says I, 'with the babe's name,' says I, +'for I wouldn't call him out of it,' says I. It's my belief, miss, as +the gentleman wasn't used to childer', an' didn't make no account of +such things as nameses, for he thought a bit, an' 'Moses,' says he, +'that's the boy's name,' says he; but he answers much kinder to Johnnie, +miss, as you can see for yourself. He was a hasty gentleman, seemingly, +an' harbitrary, but a pleasant way with him; an' the child took on an' +pined a bit for the first day or two, when he wur gone to London or +what-not, but he loves his old Moley best now, don't ye, deary? an' will +tell ye, plain as he can speak, he don't want to leave his old Moley, +never no more." + +Miss Ross was puzzled. But for the mark on the boy's back, and something +in her own heart, she would have believed herself mistaken after all. + +Who could this man be, then? and how had he obtained possession of her +boy? her boy, whom she had mourned so bitterly, believing that he slept +beneath the waters of the turbulent Rhone. + +"Have you never seen this gentleman again?" she asked, still pressing +the child's head to her breast, a position he accepted with perfect +equanimity. + +"Seen him!" repeated Mrs. Mole. "He comes here once a-week regular and +pays, I'll say that for him--pays like the bank. 'Handsome is as +handsome does,' says I, an' he's a real gentleman, I make no doubt." + +"Is he young or old?" pursued Miss Ross. "Tall or short? Dark or fair? +How is he dressed? In one word--what is he like?" + +Mrs. Mole, whose memory and perceptive powers in general were failing a +little, thereby affording wider scope to her imagination, plunged at +once into a comprehensive description, much ornamented and idealised, of +the person who had lately become so important an object in her quiet +every-day life--a description from which Miss Ross felt she could not +have identified any individual simply human; but which was happily cut +short by a step on the high road, and a click at the little green gate +giving access to the front door of the cottage. + +"It's not his day, miss," said Mrs. Mole, pulling her guest to the +window. "But here he is, for sure, and you can judge for yourself!" + +One glance was enough. Miss Ross, dropping Johnnie (in the safest +possible attitude) on the floor, fled to the back kitchen panting for +breath. + +It was Achille! There could be no doubt about it! The same jaunty air, +the same gaudy dress, the same manner, gestures, ways, even to the cigar +between his teeth--a little stouter, perhaps, and more prosperous +looking than when she saw him last; but still unmistakably the husband +who deceived, outraged, deserted her, to whom, if she were really +married, she felt she had better have tied a mill-stone round her neck, +and plunged herself into the sea! + +Escape was her first impulse--escape at any price! He must never find +her! He must on no account see her here! With a hasty farewell to Mrs. +Mole, who thought all the better of her visitor for the modesty that +forbade her to confront a strange gentleman, she vanished through the +back-door of the cottage, as Picard, for it was no other, entered at the +front, and running down a stony path direct to the river-side found +herself wishing only that she could swim, so as to make her plunge, and +strike out at once for the opposite shore. Glancing wistfully around, +there was yet something in the whole situation that struck her as +ludicrous in the extreme. Hemmed in by cottage gardens, escape was out +of the question on either side, while to retrace her steps along the +stony pathway was to return into the jaws of the enemy. At her feet, the +river looked cool, shallow, and inviting. Jin wondered if it would be +possible to wade. In her perplexity she clasped her hands and began to +laugh. Then she thought of her boy and began to cry. This young person +was by no means a subject for hysterics; but her feelings had been +cruelly wrought on during the last half-hour, and there is no saying +what might have happened if assistance had not arrived at the opportune +moment from an unlooked-for quarter. + +It has been already stated that Helen Hallaton showed less inclination +to go to the races than is usual with a young lady, who has a new bonnet +in a box up-stairs, and an excuse for taking it out. Frank Vanguard too, +contrary to all precedent, declined driving his team to the Course, and +remained tranquilly in barracks with the orderly-officer and the +mess-waiters, whilst everybody else was off for the day. I do not +suppose these young people _understood_ each other; but I fancy they +_thought_ they did, and perhaps this was the reason one only started +with her companions under pressure, while the other preferred a skiff +and a pair of sculls (not an outrigger observe, in which there is only +room for the oarsman) to the box of his drag, and a sustained contest +for many miles with the iron mouth of his near wheeler. + +This young officer then, stripped to the very verge of decency, came +flashing up the stream with steady strokes and strong that brought him +alongside of Mrs. Mole's cottage, within a few seconds of Jin's flight +from that sanctuary. It is not to be supposed that any amount of +pre-occupation would prevent our floating dragoon from resting on his +oars to admire the rare and radiant vision: a handsome girl clad in +bright transparencies, exhaled as it would seem by an ardent sunshine +from the teeming margin of Father Thames. + +He thought of Rhodes and Helios, and the picture in last year's +exhibition. So thinking, he backed water, of course, with the utmost +energy. + +"Captain Vanguard," pleaded a voice, he had thought yesterday not +without its charm, "will you be a good Samaritan and give me a passage +to The Lilies?" + +"He would be delighted." Of course he would! To take such a sitter ought +to be pleasure enough; but better still to have so good an excuse for +calling at The Lilies and finding Miss Hallaton at home. + +"I've been visiting a poor woman in that cottage," said Miss Ross, +giving him her hand as she stepped lightly into the fragile bark he +brought so skilfully to her feet. "But it really is _too_ hot for +walking back along the road. I'm in luck. If I hadn't seen you, I do +believe I should have jumped in to swim!" + +"I'm the lucky one, Miss Ross," answered Frank, looking very manly and +handsome, as with lengthened strokes he shot into the stream. "I'm very +glad now I didn't go to the races. It's as well too that I brought this +skiff instead of the outrigger!" + +And Uncle Joseph, quarrelling fiercely with Punch, beheld it all, +boiling, chafing, growling, wondering at the perfidy of woman, cursing +the imbecility of man. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +AFLOAT. + + +It was a pleasant trip for waterman and freight. Over-handed sculls, +light sitter, and buoyant boat, Frank laid himself out to his work as if +he liked it; and Miss Ross, dipping her white fingers in the pleasant +ripple, looked kindly into the oarsman's eyes, while her lissome figure +bent and swayed in graceful unison with his stroke. + +Steadily, smoothly, swimmingly, they shot on, through deep, cool, silent +shade, where overhanging boughs bent longingly towards the laughing +waters as they ran past; across broad burnished sheets of gold, where +dazzling sunshine flashed and glittered on the stream; over placid +pools, translucent and serene, where the drooping water-lily scarce +ruffled a languid petal to kiss the lingering current stealing by; under +high fragrant banks, rich in tints of pearl and pink, emerald and ruby, +of all the brightest, fairest hues that Nature lavishes on the flower, +like the gem; past lawn and villa, past water-mill and meadow land, past +nibbling sheep and wading cattle, a barking dog, a boat-house, an +unsuccessful angler in a punt; and so to a fair expanse of smooth +untroubled water, a mile below the lock. + +There are voyages on which we all embark unconsciously to ourselves, +careless of life-belt or sea-stores, making no provision for the climes +to which they lead; voyages that begin with a fair wind, a summer sea, +and a smiling sky; that end, too often, in loss of crew and cargo, in +shipwreck, disaster, and despair. Miss Ross, though she scarcely +suspected it, had even now set foot on a plank which was to sink with +her hereafter, and leave her choking in the dark pitiless waves. + +"_Isn't_ it nice?" said she, taking off a jaunty little hat, to smooth +her hair back with dripping hands. "I delight in the motion--something +between swimming and riding. I should like to row, myself. Don't you +find it hard work? You _must_ be tired. Let us stop here a little in the +shade." + +A longer pull would have failed to tire Frank, who was no mean waterman, +and in excellent condition, + + "But then the situation had its charm," + +and to rest in the shade with Miss Ross was no unpleasant break in a +day's work. + +She fanned him with her hat, rocking the boat to and fro as it lay under +the bank, sheltered by a thick screen of fragrant, flickering lime +branches. + +"I can't thank you enough," continued Jin, in her most winning tones. +"I'm so fond of the water, I think I was meant for a sailor. I should +like to go on it every day." + +"I'll take you!" said Frank, as what else could he say? "Every day, and +all day long. Shall we fix to-morrow, at the same place and the same +time?" He was laughing, but thought, nevertheless, it would be no bad +way of spending the summer, while so unfortunate as to be quartered at +Windsor. Ah! if it had only been Helen! But it wasn't. So there was no +use in thinking about that! + +"We can't always do what we like," answered Jin, looking pensively into +the depths of the Thames. "At least women can't--certainly I can't! +Think how I should be pitched into when I got home! You wouldn't like me +to be scolded for your sake, Captain Vanguard?" + +"I think I _should_," replied the inexcusable young officer. "I think I +should like to scold you myself, if I had the right." + +"Ah! you'd like making up again, I dare say!" laughed Jin, and, with +that, the black eyes delivered one telling shot straight into Frank's, +and were instantly averted. + +"We'll quarrel as much as you please, on those terms," said he gaily, +and, for aught I can guess, might have proceeded to premature +reconciliation forthwith, but that she knew the game so well, and +checked him at the right moment. + +"I quarrel with my _friends_, Captain Vanguard," she objected; "and you +are only an acquaintance as yet. It takes me a long time to become +really intimate with people. I wonder if I should like you more when I +knew you better?" + +"I'm sure you would," answered Frank, rattling the boat's chain, as he +prepared for work again. "You would improve me so, do you see; and I am +so willing to be improved. You wouldn't be able to do without me in a +week." + +"I don't think that would be a good plan," she said, in rather a +mournful tone, gazing dreamily at him with her great black eyes, as if +she saw miles into the future. "I can take good care of myself--nobody +better. But if I like people at all I like them very much. It's my +nature--I wish it wasn't." + +"Then you don't like _me_ at all?" he replied, in a low voice, bending +down to alter the stretcher at his feet. "Just my luck!" Why couldn't he +leave edged tools alone? Like a very child, he must needs play with +them, only because they lay to his hand. How we all cut our fingers +without the slightest occasion long after we believe ourselves old +enough and wise enough to run alone! + +"If I did, I shouldn't tell you so," answered Jin, lowering her voice in +harmony with his. "Do you think a woman never keeps a secret? Captain +Vanguard, I can't quite make you out; you puzzle me more than anybody I +know." + +Frank, sculling leisurely on, began to think this was very pleasant. It +gratified him to suppose there should be depths unfathomed in his +character; it flattered him to learn that this clever, accomplished +woman had thought it worth while to try and search them to the bottom. +Perhaps the exercise flushed it a little, but there was a very becoming +colour in his face while he replied: + +"The plainest fellow in the world, Miss Ross, and the honestest, as +you'll find, when you know me better. I may chaff a little sometimes, +like other people, but everybody can tell what's chaff and what's +earnest. _You_ can, I'm sure." + +She nodded and smiled. "Are you in earnest _now_?" she said, looking +with real pleasure into the comely, honest young face. + +"I am, I'll swear!" he exclaimed, forgetting that nothing had yet been +spoken to be earnest about. "What I think I say, and what I say I mean!" + +"I wish--no--I wonder, whether I can believe you," she answered very +softly, and again the black eyes seemed to pierce right through his +jersey to his heart. + +Meanwhile their boat shot merrily over the dead water, urged by her +oarsman's skilled and vigorous strokes. Jin watched with critical +approval the play of his muscular shoulders, the ease and freedom of his +movements, the strength, symmetry, and youthful vitality of the man. + +"Do you like poetry?" she asked, after a minute's silence. + +"Poetry?" repeated Frank doubtfully. "I don't mind it," but qualified +the admission by adding, "glees, and songs, and that." + +She was rather thinking aloud than speaking to her companion, while she +continued: + +"I always admire that description of the Scandinavian warrior's +accomplishments: there is something so simple about it, and so manly: + + 'These arts are mine, to wield the steel, + To curb the warlike horse; + To swim the lake, or skate on heel, + To urge my rapid course; + To draw the bow, to fling the spear, + To brush with oar the main: + All these are mine, and shall I bear + A Danish maid's disclaim?' + +I wonder, for my part, that the Danish maid could resist him." + +"Oh, I don't!" answered Frank. "Danish maids are pretty tough, I should +think; spotted too, probably, like Danish dogs. Who did you say the +fellow was, and what did he brush?" + +"I said he was a soldier," replied Miss Ross demurely. "Most likely a +mounted volunteer." + +"And who was the lady?--the Danish maid, I mean." + +"I don't know--I wish _I_ was!" she answered, with a sigh. + +Frank pondered, resting on his oars. It was not this young officer's +habit to puzzle his wits unnecessarily in the solution of intricate +problems, and whatever genius he possessed was in no way akin to that of +a mathematician, who takes pleasure in the actual process by which +results are worked out. To ride a comrade's horse "truly through" in a +steeple-chase, to make the most of his own in a run, to lead his +squadron straight, and as fast as his colonel would permit, to have his +troop at the highest possible pitch of efficiency, befriending the men, +pacifying their wives, and keeping an especial eye on buckles, to drive +the regimental coach without "putting it over," and never to turn his +back on a friend, comprised the simple articles of his creed; nor, until +he met Helen Hallaton at her father's house, had it ever entered his +head there could be an interest in life more engrossing than regimental +duty and field-sports. But he was learning to _think_ now, and, like all +beginners, found himself somewhat at sea in the process. + +What was this strange, subtle intoxication of the brain, rather than the +heart, which stole over him so gently, while he looked in that pale, +eager, restless face, not a yard off, over the stretcher yonder, turned +so wistfully towards his own, while he caught the tones of that low, +pleading voice, blending so musically with the jerk of his oars, the +leap and gurgle of the stream beneath his prow? Was this the enchantment +he had a vague recollection of as practised by the Syrens in his +school-books, by the Mermaidens of nursery lore, by the Ondines and +Lurlines, the Wilis and Walpurgis of the stage? Must he learn so soon, +while yet in the flush of youth and hope, that the coquette is immortal +as the vampire, equally thirsty, tenacious, and insatiable? Was this the +same mysterious influence exercised on him by Miss Hallaton? or was it +not rather a dazzling and illusive imitation, resembling truth as the +scenery of a theatre resembles Nature's landscapes; its tinsel and +glitter, the splendour of real gems and gold? Well, it was no use +troubling one's head about these matters. If you once begin analysing, +what becomes of everything we call pleasure? Who would drink wine if he +knew how it was made, or, indeed, a glass of pure water, if he reflected +on the mingled gases and impurities of which that innocent element is +composed? + +Sculling on towards the lock, Frank Vanguard was content to leave his +own questions unanswered, and abandon himself to the claims of his +companion and the fascination of the hour. + +With her it was different. Young in years, Miss Ross was yet an old +stager in that broad road between the roses, along which it is all down +hill. She had travelled it many a time, usually at her own pace, and, so +to speak, with horses perfectly well broke. She knew, none better, each +smiling nook, each romantic peep of the country on either side,--this +awkward turn, that comfortable resting-place, when to put the drag on +with judicious caution, where to make the most of her ground at a +gallop. She liked to feel her blood stir to the old familiar pastime +once more, liked it none the worse that the team was getting out of her +hand, the pace no longer at her own control. + +All the while it was no more the real Frank Vanguard who excited these +welcome sensations in her ill-regulated mind than it was Uncle Joseph, +or young Goldthred, or Punch! Men and women, we are but children in our +dearest dreams, and Jin was no wiser than the rest of us. She had +dressed her doll in the gaudy habiliments that suited her own taste, and +persuaded herself the creation of her fancy was a tangible and existing +truth. + +Frank Vanguard seemed at present her ideal of the robust Scandinavian, +polished up a little and modernised, of course. It would be a duty, she +considered, to sacrifice him in accordance with her principles of +manslaughter. It would be a pleasure to watch the tortures of her victim +at the stake. Perhaps, after all, she would grant him a milder +punishment than the rest. She wondered more than ever at the northern +girl's insensibility to her stalwart admirer. + +"No," she murmured, after a pause, during which Frank had set the boat +going once more; "I don't think I should have snubbed him long, if I had +been the Danish maid." + +"I believe you _are_ the Danish maid!" said he. "You're not _quite_ +English, I'm sure, though I can't tell how I know. You're not Scotch, +for you don't speak the language. Welsh? No. You're scarcely my idea of +a Welsh woman; at least, judging by those I've seen with wooden collars +and milkpails in London." + +"Guess again." + +"Irish; that's it. 'Kathleen Mavourneen,' 'Arrah na Pogue,' 'Norah +Creina,' and 'The Shan Van Voght!'" + +"You might have added, 'Teddy, you Gander,'" she replied, laughing. "No; +what should make you think I'm Irish? I never was in Ireland in my life? +I don't mind telling _you_ I'm more a French woman than anything else. +In honest truth, I've no country, no relations, no belongings, no +friends," and she carolled out in her rich clear voice-- + + "I care for nobody, no, not I, + And nobody cares for me." + +"That's impossible!" exclaimed Frank, pushing the boat out of certain +shallows into which he had inadvertently guided it, with the blade of +his oar, and looking over his shoulder to see how far the lock was +ahead. "That's simply impossible!" he repeated, as they shot back into +deep water, where, nevertheless, the stream ran very swift and strong. +"I should say a great many people did. More than you think, I am sure. +Steady! Miss Ross. Let him alone, please! He'll swamp us in two seconds, +if he tries to come on board. Ah! I thought how it would be; and, of +course, she can't swim!" + +The last sentence Frank sputtered out with a mouthful of Thames water, +shaking his head the while, to clear his eyes, as he came to the surface +from an immersion, sudden as involuntary, consequent on the indiscreet +proceedings of his passenger. Since the adventure of Leda down to our +own times, when Landseer has consigned him to an immortality of +suffering in the eagle's clutch, it appears that the swan has been a +consistent admirer of beauty, both in and out of his proper element. He +drew the car of Venus, he piloted the galley of Cleopatra, he spied Miss +Ross glittering like a jewel on the bosom of Father Thames. Exasperated, +as it would seem, by Vanguard's good fortune, he made rapidly for the +boat containing this treasure, wreathing his neck, ruffling his wings in +angry curves, and tearing up the water like a river steamboat. Miss Ross +laughed merrily, and splashed the enemy with considerable energy. The +swan advanced, the lady leaned over, Frank backed water hard with one +scull, a heavy lurch, a little scream, a sway, a surge, and the rushing +stream rose over the boat's side from stem to stern, while a wisp of +muslins, a gaudy hat, and a tangle of black hair, were already +splashing, struggling, sinking, a dozen yards farther down the river in +the direction of London and the Nore. Frank was a good swimmer, Miss +Ross possessed courage and presence of mind. The shallows were close, +and a punt was already putting out from the neighbouring lock, where the +man in charge had a view of the accident, nevertheless it was not +without the exertion of considerable strength and skill, without great +personal risk, a very sufficient wetting, and the swallowing of at least +a quart of dirty water, that Vanguard succeeded in placing the lady on +her feet in the shallows before mentioned, thanking Heaven fervently in +his heart that they were not five strokes farther off, and that he had +been enabled to reach them with his burden by aid of a strong stream +running in his favour. Draggled, limp, exhausted, dripping from top to +toe, Miss Ross clung tight to her preserver, with the more reason that +although the stream here scarcely reached her knees, it ran so hard she +found some difficulty in keeping her feet. She behaved, thought Frank, +very pluckily and well. No nonsense, no hysterics, no theatrical +gratitude of gasps and groans. She held one of his hands, indeed, very +tight, and her face was paler than ever, but she only said: + +"How stupid of me to upset the boat! What a ducking we've both had, +Captain Vanguard! You'll never take me on the water again." + +"_Won't_ I?" thought Frank, helping her into the punt which had now +come to the rescue, and wondering at the masses of black hair, released +and straightened by immersion, that hung round her in such unusual +length and volume. + +Like most bachelors, Frank entertained exaggerated notions as to +feminine delicacy, both of mind and body. In the present instance, he +was satisfied that unless Miss Ross could be enveloped in blankets, +dosed with hot brandy-and-water, and taken home on the instant, death +must inevitably ensue. Assisted by the lock's-man and his wife, who, +without partaking of his fears, joined heartily in his exertions, he had +Miss Ross swathed up like a mummy in less than ten minutes; and, by her +own desire, helped her to walk the short distance between the lock and +The Lilies at as good a pace, and, indeed, almost with the same results, +as if they had been waltzing. Frank found so much to think of, that it +was not till he reached the gate he remembered his own dishevelled +plight, and the unusual costume, or rather want of it, in which he +meditated a morning call. Reflecting that his straw hat was gone, that +he was bare to the shoulders, that his dress consisted only of a light +jersey, flannel trowsers, and canvas shoes, the whole of which, after +being thoroughly saturated, had dried on a dusty road, he was perhaps +hardly disappointed to learn that the ladies were at the races, and +nobody had stayed at home except Mrs. Lascelles's maid. + +"Then I'll wish you good-bye, Miss Ross," said Frank. "I can't do +anything more for you now. Only mind you go to bed till dinner-time, and +I hope you haven't caught cold." + +"Won't you come in?" asked Miss Ross. "They'll give you some sherry, or +brandy, or whatever you ought to have. I'm sure you must want it." + +"Never felt so well in my life!" he answered gaily. "Besides, I must go +back to recover my floating capital: jacket, hat, boat, stretcher, and +pair of sculls, not to mention your pretty parasol. They were all +swimming different ways when I saw them last, but I dare say they'll get +together again on this side of Staines. We landed the cargo, which was +the great thing, but I wish we could have managed to keep it dry." + +He was turning away, with a light laugh, when she called him back. "I've +never thanked you," said she, "but I know you risked your own life +to-day to save mine. If you had lost it--I--I should like to have gone +down too!" + +He started. There was a tremble in her voice that seemed very strange to +him, nor was the sensation without its charm; but he had not yet +contemplated the subject from this romantic point of view, so he could +think of no better answer than to put out his hand. + +She caught it eagerly, and for one half-second pressed it against her +heart, while she murmured: + +"Good-bye, Captain Vanguard, good-bye; when shall I see you again?" + +The dark, pleading eyes were turned on him so kindly, the pale, +bewitching face was drawing so near his own--close, closer yet, as he +bent towards it--and so their lips met in one long, clinging, and +totally unjustifiable kiss. Then Miss Ross, blushing to her ears, +scudded up-stairs like a lap-wing, while Frank walked dreamily away from +the front door, feeling as if he had behaved very badly about something +or somebody, and couldn't bring his mind to regret it as he ought. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +MANOEUVRING. + + +We must return to Uncle Joseph, endeavouring to compose his mind by +riding Punch at an uncomfortable jog-trot along a succession of shady +lanes calculated to bring him back by a roundabout way to his own +dwelling-place. This _détour_, much against the pony's inclination--for +that sagacious animal protested at every homeward turn--he took +advisedly and with deliberation, that he might have time to ponder on +his position and his wrongs. Like most men who have passed middle age, +he set a great value on the blessing of health, and prudently reflected +that a towering passion, an obstinate cob, and a broiling sun, formed a +combination likely to produce one of those bilious attacks which lay the +sufferer on his back for a week, and make him as yellow as a guinea for +a fortnight. Therefore he thought it wise to cool down in solitude, and +consider his own case dispassionately, before deciding on a future line +of conduct. Had he been a young man he would have broken with Jin on the +spot. Storms of invective, reproach, and recrimination, would have +ensued, to be succeeded by thorough reconciliation and a subsequent +state of slavery more degrading than the first, after much unnecessary +wear and tear of body and mind. But Uncle Joseph had arrived at a period +of life when, highly as we prize our hearts, we set also a sufficient +value on our livers, and see no reason why lacerated affections should +be aggravated by an impaired digestion. There is much knowledge of human +nature comprised in Sir John Suckling's shrewd and suggestive stanza: + + "Why so pale and wan, fond lover, + Prithee, why so pale? + Will, if looking well can't move her, + Looking ill prevail?" + +That is doubtless the least decisive defeat which is most skilfully +concealed, and one of the first principles in manoeuvring is to "show +a front," the steadier the better, however severe may be the loss under +which you are compelled to retire. + +By the time Uncle Joseph had ridden a mile (and at Punch's pace, when +turned away from home, this distance afforded some leisure for +reflection) he made up his mind not to put himself in a passion. Ere he +had gone two, and settled another difference with the pony by diverse +jobs in the mouth and kicks in the stomach, he sought and found many +excuses for the young lady's conduct, and almost decided not to quarrel +with her at all. + +If less agile and less ardent, these mature lovers are, at any rate, +more patient, more considerate, more forbearing, than their impetuous +juniors. They take thought, they give time, they make allowances, they +have learned one of life's most important lessons, only set forth +towards the end of the chapter, "Not to expect too much." Could they but +keep the smooth skin, the jaunty step, the trim waist, the clear eye, +the glossy locks, the buoyancy, the sparkle, and the bloom! Alas! alas! +turn it how we will, there is no disputing that the one quality of youth +outweighs all advantages of experience, wisdom, fame, intellect; and +that the figure 50, so acceptable in a _rouleau_-- + + "Sounds ill in love, whate'er it may in money." + +While he thus rode along the shady lanes, Uncle Joseph's cogitations, +interrupted only by the carelessness and other short-comings of Punch, +jumbled themselves together into something like the following +soliloquy: + +"Comes down to breakfast as sulky as a bear; 'low spirits' the women +call it, and 'over-fatigue,' but I know what that means--restless +manner, wandering eye, and not half an appetite. Scarcely truffles +enough, by the way, in that pie; mustn't forget to write about it. (Hold +up, you brute. Such another as _that_ and you'll be on the top of your +stupid head!) Then off she goes in a desperate fidget to write letters +up-stairs. Up-stairs indeed! I ought to have known at once there was +something wrong, for I never remember her in a fidget before; and as for +letters, I should suppose she was the worst correspondent in Europe! +Then, after everybody's back is turned, off like a shot through the +hay-fields, under a tropical sun, and down to the river. Some sense in +that if she'd jumped in for a cold bath. I shouldn't have pulled her +out; yes, I should! The girl's a dear girl, and a pretty one. It mayn't +be so bad after all. She could _not_ have looked at me as she did last +night, when she pinned the pinks in my button-hole, unless she liked me. +Why does my tailor never put a loop in? Does he think I'm so old nobody +gives me flowers, or is he a deep dog, who reflects I ought to have the +pull of their being pinned in? She shall never pin one in again for _me_ +though, unless she can give an account of to-day's doings! What was she +about in that cottage, I should like to know, exposing herself to +infection of all kinds, and why did she stay so long? Then, who ever +heard of a young lady rushing down to the water-side, and jumping into +the first boat that passes (I wonder she didn't upset it, and I almost +wish she had!), with a half-naked man she never saw before in her life? +Who _was_ the man, I wonder? I could only make out that he had very few +clothes on! Miss Ross! Miss Ross! you are not treating me well! Perhaps +you think I'm an indulgent old fool, and only too pleased to let you do +as you like. So I would, my pretty Jin, so I would, if I had your +perfect confidence, and felt I could depend upon you. I'm not the least +a jealous fellow, I know, though of course I don't want you to make up +to anybody else; but I shouldn't mind your pretty little coaxing manner, +and your flirting ways. In fact, I rather like them. No, I don't, not a +bit, so it's no use saying so. But I could be very good to her if she +cared for me. Perhaps she doesn't, after all. And yet that seems +unlikely. Julia Bright did, and Jemima Fetters, and I think Miss +Flouncer _would_ have, if I'd been more in her set. Can I be so much +altered since then?" And thus Uncle Joseph, with his reins on the pony's +neck, dropping gradually into a walk, pursued a train of varied +thoughts, retrospective and otherwise, comprising diverse incongruous +subjects--his shares, his dinner, his present hopes, the state of his +health, the increasing proportions of his figure, Punch's failings, +Jin's perfidy, the columns of his banker's book, wine, tradespeople, +double-entry, boyhood's pastimes, manhood's gains, his last investment, +and his first romance. + +The afternoon began to wane ere Punch's willing head was in the manger, +and Uncle Joseph rang the bell at his own hall-door. The race-goers +having returned early, because this, the last day, afforded but a meagre +bill of fare for sport, were yet so worn out with the heat that they had +retired to their respective dressing-rooms. Was Miss Ross back? Well, +sir, Miss Ross came home some time ago, but she seemed to have met +with--with something of an accident. No occasion to be alarmed, said the +butler, but miss was wet through, however--not a dry stitch on her, the +maid told him--and went to her own room at once. Could his master see +her? The well-drilled servant thought not. Miss Ross had given orders +she was on no account to be disturbed till dinner; and he, the butler, +rather opined she had gone to bed: adding, with a sense of what was due +to his own importance, that, "for his part, he was thankful it wasn't no +worse!" + +But Miss Ross had not the least intention of going to bed, nor could she +have slept a wink on the softest couch that ever was spread. Busy +thoughts were teeming in her brain, strange contradictory feelings +thrilling at her heart. She was half pleased with herself, half angry, +sometimes absolutely revelling in the recollections of the day, +sometimes wishing she had never gone to the cottage at all. In her dark +eyes shone a light that told of some new fire kindled within; on her +delicate cheek, usually so pale, burned that blush of pleasure which is +all the dearer and deeper for being tinged by self-reproach and shame. + +Mrs. Lascelles saw the change at a glance, and knew with womanly +instinct that something more had happened to her friend than a common +river accident, however dangerous it might have been. Without removing +her bonnet, she settled herself in an arm-chair the moment she entered +the other's room, determined to find out everything that had taken +place. As the two women sat together in that light, cheerful, +prettily-furnished chamber, they afforded no unsightly study of effect, +as resulting from contrast, of the respective proportion in which +feminine attractions are enhanced by dress and _déshabillé_. The fairer +beauty wore a costume I am constrained to admire, but shrink from +attempting to describe, inasmuch as it seemed to combine the different +attractions by which victory is assured at balls, dinners, regattas, +races, suburban breakfasts, county archery-meetings, the morning +cricket-match, and the afternoon tea. How it was put together, and of +what fabric, I am brutally ignorant: you might as well ask me to +articulate the anatomy of a humming-bird or describe the dress of a +dragon-fly; but I am prepared to protest that it was voluminous, +enchanting, transparent, and that there was _mauve_ in it. To have white +teeth, red lips, dancing blue eyes, rich brown hair, and a bloom like a +peach, is all very well, but does it seem quite fair play to dispose +around these natural advantages certain delicate and filmy draperies, +that set them off as a summer haze glorifies some Devonshire valley +under the noon-day sun? "Scaldings!" quoth honest Jack-tar, creeping +along the deck with anything that may be spilt. "_Væ Victis!_" says +Brennus, turning up his moustache at the gates of Rome. "Look out for +yourselves, gentlemen!" seems to be the interpretation of either +warning, "and make the best terms you can!" For my part, I think it is +wise policy to surrender at discretion, and sink point with the first +clash of steel. + +Mrs. Lascelles, you see, shone in mail and plate; armed, so to speak, at +all points. Miss Ross, on the other hand, was in light skirmishing +order--none the less dangerous, however--and prepared, you may be sure, +for immediate attack. Her black hair fell about her in shining folds, +over a white surface fretted with frills and laces, set off by knots of +cherry-coloured ribbon; a band of the same hue was drawn loosely round +her slender waist; open sleeves disclosed a pair of ivory arms to the +elbows; and she had slippers on, but no stockings. I think I have +described her enough. + +"So he pulled you out, dear, just as you were sinking, propped you in +his arms, with your head on his shoulder, and both did the regular stage +business, of course: 'My precious!'--'my preserver!'--'awakened +feelings!'--'eternal gratitude!' and a duet at the foot-lights. +Seriously, Jin, it is quite a romance in these prosaic days." + +Mrs. Lascelles found herself amused as well as interested by the glowing +colours, not devoid of caricature, in which Miss Ross described her late +adventure and its hero. + +"Nothing of the kind," protested Jin, with energy. "On the contrary, I +never saw a man take anything so quietly. You'd think he pulled people +out of the Thames once a week. I don't suppose the thing will ever enter +his head again." + +"That would be very uncomplimentary, my dear," answered Mrs. Lascelles; +"and you can't really suppose anything of the sort. Now, honour! Don't +you expect him to call here to-morrow morning, the very first thing +after breakfast?" + +"Why shouldn't he?" replied Jin hotly. "It wouldn't follow that he meant +more than an act of common courtesy, which he must have paid any lady +after so--so ludicrous a performance as ours!" + +Here she burst out laughing, but did not thereby in the least deceive +her friend. + +"Jin," said the latter, after a pause, during which each had scanned the +other narrowly, "what do you think of him?" + +"Think of who?" said Jin. It was bad grammar, but people are very +obstinate about grammar in common conversation, particularly when they +turn away their heads with a blush. + +"Who?" repeated Mrs. Lascelles. "Why, this new admirer, of course. This +hero, perhaps I ought rather to say, this Leander, this Windsor Bridge +swan, this duck of a dragoon! Shall you be able to abide by our compact, +and treat him like the rest? Jin, Jin, I should be sorry for you, my +poor girl, very sorry, of course, but yet I should laugh, I am afraid, +too, if you were to be caught at last, and fall in love--souse!--as you +fell into the Thames!" + +"I don't know what you mean," answered Miss Ross, with great dignity. +"The one I couldn't help, and it would have been hard on me to be +drowned. If I did the other, I should deserve never to get my head above +water again." + +"After all, I don't see why it should be so inexcusable," pursued her +tormentor. "Though they have not had such a chance as yours, depend upon +it, lots of others are after him. He's a strong, enterprising young man, +as you've reason to admit. Nobody can deny his good looks, and though he +hasn't a superfluity of brains, he's always very well dressed." + +"You wouldn't have said so if you had seen him to-day," laughed Miss +Ross. "My dear, he was almost ready for bathing long before he jumped +out of the boat. But seriously," she resumed with imposing gravity, "I +have no secrets from _you_, Rose, and I don't wish _you_, of all people, +to carry away a false impression of me or my opinions. About Captain +Vanguard's good looks I know nothing, for I've never considered them, +and as for his being stupid, that I'm sure he's _not_. Decidedly +well-read, I should say, from his conversation. However, that's not the +question. He has done me a very great service, the greatest, probably, +that one human being can do another; for, though I laugh at it now, it +seemed no laughing matter, I assure you, while that dreadful whirl of +water was filling mouth, and nose, and ears; but if you think I am so +missy-ish that I consider it necessary to fall in love with Captain +Vanguard because he saved me from drowning, why you never were more +mistaken in your life. He's a gentleman, Rose, and a fine fellow, I +freely admit. I shall always feel grateful to him, and look on him as a +friend, but as for being in _love_ with him--bosh! Knowing me as well as +you do, Rose, I wonder you can talk such nonsense!" + +From all which vehemence, and especially from the gratuitous energy of +her friend's denial, I think Mrs. Lascelles was justified in +entertaining a strong impression the very reverse of that which was +intended to be conveyed. + +Her opinion gained strength from the readiness with which Jin accepted +a suggestion that it might be more prudent to remain another day at the +villa, instead of returning to London on the morrow, taking into +consideration the afternoon's excitement, the hot weather, and the +comfort of their present quarters. + +"My dear, I should like to stay a month!" exclaimed Miss Ross. "It's a +paradise on earth for scenery. Uncle Joseph's the best host in the +universe, and we're all so happy. Besides, London is too detestable in +this weather. I declare to you, Rose, it was hotter last week than I +ever felt it in the South of France." + +Mrs. Lascelles pondered, reflecting that she, too, had liked her visit +very much. It was pleasant enough to keep her hand in by laying siege to +Sir Henry, no great infliction to accept the slavish adoration of +Goldthred. If these could be induced to remain, a few days might pass +very agreeably at The Lilies, and Uncle Joseph, of course, would only be +too happy to keep them as long as they liked. + +"But our London engagements," said she doubtfully. + +"There are none for the next week we need mind throwing over," replied +Jin, whose memory was always to be depended on. "A heavy dinner at Lord +Gasper's--twenty people we don't know, not a man under forty, and all +the windows shut. Mrs. Potterton's concert--second-rate company, +third-rate singers, two hundred people asked and sitting-room for fifty. +Lady Jericho's drum--small and early, like young potatoes; she'll be +mortally affronted, and won't ask us again; but she's not going to give +anything more this season, so that don't signify! Dear Rose, it would be +very nice. Let us stay." + +Now, in justice to Miss Ross, I feel bound to insist that this sudden +hatred of London gaiety and passion for rural scenery was not due solely +to her adventure with Frank Vanguard. One of the strongest motives that +can sway a woman's feelings prompted her to remain in the neighbourhood +of Mrs. Mole. To have seen her long-lost child for one short hour, to +have held him in her arms, set him on her knees, and folded his curly +little head to her bosom, was like a mouthful of water to a man fainting +from thirst, delightful, invigorating, life-restoring, but creating an +insupportable craving for more. + +It may be that this interview had softened Jin's whole moral being, +rendering her more susceptible to the gentler emotions of her nature, +against which she had long waged unnatural war. It may be that in the +subjection of Frank Vanguard she hoped to acquire another vassal, or at +least an ally, against the time when she might want to summon all her +forces for the furtherance of her plans. Perhaps she had many reasons, +perhaps she had none at all, but acted, woman-like, on her instinct and +her desires. However this may be, she brought out all her powers of +persuasion to fortify her friend in the plan that seemed so delightful, +of remaining yet a while longer at The Lilies; but I must leave to those +who understand a woman's nature, if such philosophers there be, the task +of explaining why Jin should have felt at this moment less affection, +less gratitude to Mrs. Lascelles, and altogether less dependence on her +benefactress, than during the whole of their previous acquaintance. + +Dinner that day, at least until the champagne had circulated, was less +lively than usual. Everybody seemed silent and pre-occupied. Sir Henry, +to use his own expression, had not "got out" in time on one of the +principal races, and as the favourite was never "in the hunt," being +beaten half a mile from home, the baronet experienced a double +annoyance, of losing his money, and feeling also that he had been less +astute than his neighbours when he suffered Outrigger to carry a large +stake for him in the Thames Handicap. Mrs. Lascelles, watching his face +narrowly, began to torment herself, but taking her tone from his, these +two presently recovered their equanimity. Sir Henry liked champagne, and +drank it freely. The exhilarating tendency of that agreeable wine, +acting on the buoyancy of his disposition, soon put dull care to flight, +and before dinner was half over, he had forgotten ill-luck, losses, and +embarrassments, and disposed himself to grasp the enjoyments of the +present as only such natures can. + +But not all the wine that ever was corked at Epernay could have +enlivened Uncle Joseph after the disclosures of to-day. He hardly spoke +to Miss Ross before they sat down; and when she offered him the usual +little posy for his button-hole, refused the flowers with a rudeness +that would have been brutal, but for the wounded feelings his petulance +revealed. Truth compels me to admit that, notwithstanding his mercantile +probity, Uncle Joseph scarcely behaved like an honest man in the present +transaction. He was not really half so angry as he pretended to be; but +remembering, in his previous experience, that such little quarrels often +cleared the way to mutual understanding and good-will, he resolved to +stick by the precepts of that great amatory authority, "Ovid with the +Nose," and prepare, by a good dose of sulks to-night, for a +"_redinte-gratio amoris_" to-morrow. + +Jin, on the contrary, whose present idea it was to keep all her irons in +the fire, suffering no profusion of birds in the bush to distract her +entirely from the one in hand, proceeded to approach and circumvent her +host as craftily as a Scotch keeper stalks an old cock grouse in +October. She gazed on him at intervals with mournful curiosity, +withdrawing her eyes the instant they met his glance. She sighed, she +talked _at_ him, she even tried to flirt a little with Goldthred, +something in the day's adventures preventing her from sharpening her +weapons on Sir Henry; as a last resource, she affected headache and +extreme fatigue, while she related, with touching frankness, the +accident she had sustained, making light of its danger, and most +ungratefully ignoring the gallantry of her preserver. + +But all to no purpose--she deceived nobody. Uncle Joseph grew crustier +every moment, and Sir Henry, who was easily amused, smiled as he +bethought him that, but for the good looks of the lady, this ill-matched +couple reminded him forcibly of a monkey and a bear. + +Goldthred, I need hardly observe, was always the same in the presence of +his mistress, absent, confused, over-polite, and prone to blush at short +notice. At no time did he aspire to be a vivacious companion, but in the +company of Mrs. Lascelles he became simply idiotic. + +Helen, too, seemed absent and pre-occupied; of course, with the old +excuse, that she was over-tired. The weather had been so hot, the road +so dusty! and if she _had_ indeed expected to meet Captain Vanguard on +the Heath, his absence might perhaps have been accounted for more +satisfactorily than by the recital of his adventure with Miss Ross, +which met her immediately on her return. Dinner, therefore, in spite of +the cook's undoubted talents, progressed but heavily, and with long +intervals of silence, dispiriting in the extreme. + +Later, in the drawing-room, it was worse. A light rain prevented egress +on the lawn, intrusive cockchafers, buzzing in at the open windows, +blundered drowsily about the lights; and--an unusual circumstance--when +coffee came, it was not only thick, but cold. The gentlemen were sleepy, +or pretended to be; Miss Ross was too tired to sing; and Helen sat by +herself, turning over the leaves of a photograph book. + +Even Mrs. Lascelles found her animal spirits unequal to the pressure, +and, at an earlier hour than usual, made signals to retire for the +night. + +Standing on the stairs, with a bedroom candle in her hand, she could +not forbear expressing to Miss Ross the sense of depression and low +spirits under which she laboured. + +"If we're all to be as deadly-lively at Cliefden to-morrow," said she, +"our pic-nic won't be much fun. I believe I shall follow your example, +my dear, and drop quietly into the Thames." + +"To come up again at Cremorne!" replied Jin, yawning drearily. "I'm +completely done up, Rose, and tired out. Good night." + +Notwithstanding this protestation, however, Miss Ross lay awake many a +long hour after the other inmates of The Lilies, thinking, wishing, +doubting, for the first time in her life mistrusting her own powers, and +fearing there was a task before her she would be unequal to perform. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE SYREN. + + +Could these be the same people assembled round a white table-cloth, held +down at the four corners by judicious pebbles, and covered as yet only +with plates and glasses, though hampers, half unpacked, much litter of +straw and scatter of paper, denoted that a plentiful feast was in +progress of preparation? The ice had not melted, nor were the eggs +broken, while even the salt had been remembered by a careful caterer, +who bethought him also of borage for the claret-cup, and mint-sauce for +the cold lamb. Last night's rain had cooled the air, though scarce a +cloud now flecked the calm, blue heaven, and a dazzling sky burnished +the Thames into floods of reflected sunshine. Beautiful Cliefden seemed +to realise the poet's dream of a very Arcadia, rich in gleams of light, +and deep cool masses of shade, in flicker of leaf, ripple of stream, +and song of birds; bright in the prime of her June loveliness, decked +with all her wealth of wood and water, clad in her holiday attire of +green and gold. + +By the courtesy of one of the kindest and most generous of peers, the +party from The Lilies had permission to land and hold their revels in +this earthly paradise. Uncle Joseph himself dressing the salad with +great pomp and ceremony, vowed "the Duke was a trump of the first water, +and if ever he could do him a turn, he would!" + +That gipsy Jin had once more coaxed her elderly admirer into perfect +good-humour and a return of entire confidence in herself. This desirable +reconciliation was effected by the frankness with which she asked to sit +by his side on the voyage hither, a distinction he was too angry to +offer, and a position indeed of no slight constraint and inconvenience, +inasmuch as he insisted on steering the boat, occupying for that purpose +a scanty perch, as little adapted to his proportions as would have been +the five-pound saddle in which a slim subaltern or undergraduate rides a +hurdle-race. + +Here, like "lissome Vivien" twining herself about her Merlin's feet, she +coaxed him into good humour in ten minutes. Perhaps yesterday's practice +on the river had served to keep her hand in. No sooner were they fairly +under weigh, and the attention of the others distracted by a passing +barge, than she nestled to his side, crossed two taper forefingers under +his nose, and looking up in his face with a glance that mingled +affection and reproach in deadliest proportions, murmured the single +monosyllable, "Why?" + +Uncle Joseph, neglecting his rudder, melted visibly. All the oars on +stroke side touched ground at once, and No. 2 caught a crab. Still he +did not choose to surrender over-hastily, and pulling hard at his +tiller-ropes, replied in a hoarse whisper: + +"Miss Ross, you know your own business best, but I don't think you treat +me quite on the square." + +"_Miss Ross!_" she repeated, and again those black reproachful eyes +would have pierced a rhinoceros, crackling and all. "I thought you were +never to call me by that hateful name again. I'm always to be 'Jin.' +Always, even when you're angry with me. And to tell you the truth, I +shouldn't have liked you _not_ to mind about what I did yesterday, +though indeed it wasn't my fault. + +"Now, then, look ahead!" For a minute or two Uncle Joseph could think of +nothing but an Eton eight flashing down stream at the rate of twelve +miles an hour, threatening to cut him in two from stem to stern unless +he got out of the way. Not till this water-dragon was half a mile off +did he recover composure to put the pertinent question, "When you went +out yesterday, did you expect to meet Captain Vanguard on the river?" + +"You _know_ I didn't," exclaimed Jin; "it's cruel to ask me!" Then out +came a long story, well-conceived, deftly constructed, and told with +such downcast glances, in such low pleading murmurs, with such pretty +little flashes of pique, and shades of penitence, and sparkles of fun, +all repressed and toned down not to be overheard, that, had the success +of their voyage depended on the steersman, I fear boat and crew and +passengers might have come to disastrous shipwreck at least a dozen +times between Maidenhead-reach and Cliefden landing-place. + +But Jin at any rate succeeded in gaining a temporary haven, and dropped +her anchors to-day in Uncle Joseph's breast with a sense of triumph that +such moorings never afforded her before. + +Mrs. Lascelles meanwhile had taken possession of Sir Henry, leaving Miss +Hallaton to the enforced attentions of Goldthred. Helen, I believe, in +her heart would have given a good deal to change places with "bow,"--a +sturdy knave, brawny, deep-chested, and curly as a retriever; nor was +she incapable of handling an oar for a short distance almost as +effectually as that skilled waterman. It would have been at least a +relief from her companion, whose politeness nevertheless was +unimpeachable as his conversation was correct and monotonous in the +extreme. + +Such a dialogue as the following would have excited her mirth, but that +Helen just now seemed to have lost all sense of the ludicrous, with her +spirits, energy, and general interest in life: + +"Don't you enjoy the water on a day like this, Miss Hallaton?" + +"Immensely." + +"There seems no chance of rain at present. I think the fine weather will +last us now till the moon changes." + +"Probably." + +"That's a great advantage, you know, for the people who have already got +their hay down." + +"Undoubtedly." + +"How smooth the boat goes, Miss Hallaton. A smooth row is--is--much +smoother, isn't it, and pleasanter, than a rough one?" + +"Certainly." + +"And this is a very nice row, I think," continued Goldthred, encouraged +by an approving glance from Mrs. Lascelles, to whom his eyes, like his +thoughts, were continually turned,--which accounted, indeed, for the +abnormal idiotcy of his conversation. "I shall be almost sorry when we +get to Cliefden; shan't you?" + +"Oh, no!" exclaimed Helen, truthfully enough, but with a fervency that +startled herself, and caused her companion to retire from any further +attempts at small talk in confusion and dismay. + +Sir Henry caught his daughter's eye, and could not help laughing. +Perhaps, much as he loved her, the only feeling of his child in which he +could thoroughly sympathise, was a certain susceptibility, inherited +from himself, of being bored, and a tendency to adopt the ridiculous +view even of so distressing a calamity. + +He felt for her at present all the more that his own position was +perfectly to his taste--smoking an excellent cigar, propped by soft +cushions, with the summer sky above, the lap and wash of the cool water +around, pleasant company, a good luncheon in prospect, and a pretty +woman, half in love with him, shading his face with her parasol, while +her soft tones murmured in his ear. Sir Henry did not care how long the +voyage lasted, though prepared to accept its conclusion with the greater +resignation, that their party was to be reinforced at Cliefden by a few +agreeable acquaintances eking out the end of a gay Ascot week, and a +sprinkling of young officers from Windsor. + +The latter addition was a bright thought of Mrs. Lascelles, who, being +thoroughly good-natured, intended it especially for Helen's +gratification. But, as she had no time to receive answers to her notes +of invitation before starting, and, like most women, imagined military +duties ceaseless and unvarying, she said nothing about the warlike +element for fear it should be unattainable, forbearing to raise the +young lady's hopes only that they might be destroyed. "I didn't like +being disappointed myself when I was a girl," thought Mrs. Lascelles. +"I'm not sure I like it a bit better now." + +She was getting very fond of Helen, believed in her goodness, admitted +her beauty, and was, perhaps, the only person in the world who thought +her the image of her father. + +In all matters of affection Mrs. Lascelles was clear-sighted enough, and +it did not escape her that Helen's spirits, during the last day or two, +had sunk lower than was natural at her time of life under no more +sedative influences than sunshine and dust. It was partly to rouse the +girl from her depression, as well as for purposes of her own, that she +commanded Goldthred to place himself at Miss Hallaton's disposal; but +certain suspicions that the young lady required a more warlike vassal +than this obedient slave, were much strengthened by the light that +sparkled in her eyes when, nearing Cliefden, a group of gentlemen became +visible on the landing-place, in the midst of whom she could not mistake +the shapely form of Frank Vanguard. + +Mrs. Lascelles, you see, had a good afternoon's work on hand. A score of +people to entertain, couples to pair, flirtations to encourage, and +Jin's vagaries to overlook, lest she should drive Uncle Joseph beyond +the bounds of patience; besides keeping Sir Henry at her own +apron-string, while enacting the part of a blue-eyed Cleopatra to that +laziest and least warlike of Antonys. + +Half-a-dozen swinging, vigorous jerks, an exclamation of pleasure from +the passengers, an "easy all!" in gruff syllables from "Stroke," and the +galley poised her oars, as a sea-bird spreads her pinions, ere she folds +them to alight. The officers cheered, the ladies chattered, greetings +were exchanged, muslins shaken out, parasols unfurled--a cool air stole +across the water, a blackbird struck up from the copse, the leaves +danced, the boat danced, the sunshine danced, the scene was all colour, +motion, and variety, like a ballet after Watteau, set to music by +Offenbach. + +In these days it is the affectation of society to be natural, and nobody +can dispute the advantage of such a change from that pompous reserve and +frozen insensibility which represented good-breeding some +five-and-twenty years ago. The party gathered round their table-cloth on +the grass at Cliefden, if more polished, were as joyous and merry as so +many lads and lasses at a fair. Of course it took some little time +before luncheon could be got ready, of course it was necessary to walk +about during the interval, of course people paired off for that purpose. +Nobody goes to a pic-nic, I imagine, with the view of discussing grave +subjects in full conclave--forbid it! faun and satyr, nymph and dryad, +forest-fairy and bottle-imp, the genius of the woodland, the goblin of +the cave, all the spirits of the hamper, the corkscrew, and the rill! + +No; for us seniors, let there be flowing cups, though temperate, cooled +with ice, and spiced with fragrant herbs--a cunning pasty, a piece of +resistance, thus named because irresistible, egg-sandwiches, French +mustard, a currant-tart, and a parti-coloured _mayonnaise_. So shall we +flavour the repast with quip and jest, with merry, quaint conceit and +pointed anecdote, pleasant or pathetic, yet, in pity, not too long! But, +as for you young people, off with you, while we uncork the wine! Climb +the bank, if you know it, "whereon the wild-thyme grows;" dive into the +recesses of the forest, its paths are only wide enough for two; + + "Look in the lily-bell, ruffle the rose, + Under the leaves of the violet peep." + +Reflect how pleasant it is to gather strawberries with a _Mademoiselle +Thérèse_ in the wood of _Malieu_. + + "Quand on est deux, + Quand on est deux," + +make the most of your golden hour, but come back again ere you have kept +your elders waiting too long for luncheon, ere you yourselves have said +or done anything that shall cause a moment's regret in the reaction that +comes after happiness, as surely as darkness follows day. + +Uncle Joseph, I have said, was preparing the salad, therefore Miss Ross +found herself at liberty to indulge in such devilries as were consistent +with the Satanic element in her nature. It was not likely she would +abstain from a shot or two at Frank Vanguard, if only to "get the +range," as it were, of her batteries previous to real work. She accosted +him with exactly the right mixture of diffidence and interest, held his +hand for just one second more than enough; and even contrived to raise a +blush on her pale face, while, meeting his eyes very shyly, she +whispered, in answer to his inquiries--"I haven't caught cold, and I'm +none the worse, and certainly none the better! And I shouldn't at all +mind undertaking the whole expedition over again." + +Why wasn't it Helen? Again, through growing interest and gratified +vanity, rose almost unconsciously that wistful thought; but Helen saw it +all, and bit her lip, looking very cold and pale, whilst she turned from +his greeting with a distant bow, beseeching Mr. Goldthred, whom, it now +occurred to her, she had treated with less than civility, to gather her +a water-lily floating near the bank, and so detaching him from the +others, unintentionally constituted him her "pair." These things are +soon done, you see, when people pounce for partners, as if they were +playing puss-in-the-corner, and nobody wants to be "left out in the +cold." + +The moments were very precious, and would have passed even more quickly +than they did, but that the couples were all hungry, and quite as ready +for luncheon as love-making. Sir Henry, indeed, absolutely refused to +move a step from the shady nook in which he had ensconced himself, and +Mrs. Lascelles made her position as hostess an excuse for not +accompanying a beardless subaltern in a climb after ferns up a +perpendicular bank, feathered to the top with those graceful exotics of +the forest. This enterprising youth, not yet dismissed the +riding-school, thought it incumbent on him to place his cheerful society +at her disposal, whom he irreverently designated "the loudest swell of +the lot;" but seemed relieved, nevertheless, by her refusal of his +attentions, and subsided with extreme good-will into his +cornet-a-piston--an instrument on which he played sundry negro melodies +with great enjoyment and no contemptible execution. + +It had been agreed that, directly luncheon was ready, he should summon +the stragglers by performing a popular air called "The Roast-beef of Old +England," into which, as he threatened, he threw his whole mind, +embroidering it with masterly variations founded on a "call," well-known +in barracks as the solemn warning: + + "You'll lose your beef and pudding, my boys, + You'll lose your beef and pud--ding." + +Goldthred had only wetted one sleeve to the shoulder, and thrust the +corresponding foot ankle-deep in mud, while fishing water-lilies for +Miss Hallaton, ere these welcome sounds released him from attendance, +and he brought her back in triumph--looking to Mrs. Lascelles, as little +Jack Horner might, from the corner in which he boasted, "What a good boy +am I!" She rewarded him as you reward a retriever, if not too wet, by +giving him her shawl to take care of. + +Uncle Joseph, too, had been so engrossed with the salad, that Miss Ross +was at his elbow again almost before he missed her, though, short as had +been her absence, I cannot doubt she made the best use of her time. + +Much may be done, if I remember right, in a few minutes, when paths are +steep as well as narrow, when glades are deep and dark even under a +midsummer sun, when two people are inclined, if only for pastime, to +engage in that game from which a loser so often rises under the +impression that he has won. + +It was the old story--Miss Ross, with all her craft, was playing stakes +she could ill afford. In the attachments, as in other relations of life, +wise is that aphorism of the canny Scot, "Reach not out your hand +farther than you can draw it back again." Ere she rejoined the others, +Jin felt she must win at any sacrifice, she could not get her hand back +now; she would not if she could. + +Frank, sitting down to cut open a pigeon pie, felt half-pleased, +half-penitent. Like a child being tickled, he was inclined both to laugh +and to resist. + +He looked remorsefully across the table-cloth at Miss Hallaton, but that +perverse young woman, obstinately avoiding his glance, persisted in +being amused by the cornet-player's buffooneries, wishing drearily all +the while that she had never come. Frank thought he too could be +indifferent; so the breach widened, from the breadth of the table-cloth +to a gulf that could only be bridged over by loving memories and painful +thoughts, as the lake is spanned by the rainbow, that owes its very +existence to a shower of Nature's tears. + +Undoubtedly there is a deal of self-love mixed up with these tender woes +and joys. If vanity constitutes much of their pleasure, surely it +produces more than half their pain. "_Plus aloes quam mellis habet_," +says the Roman satirist; and perhaps, after all, the honey would be very +insipid without the sting. + +But a pic-nic is no place for indulgence of reflection or regret. The +party had landed at Cliefden for enjoyment, and were determined to grasp +the shadow of happiness if not the substance thereof. So corks flew and +tongues wagged merrily, the cold lamb waned, the _mayonnaise_ +disappeared, the currant-tart bled freely. + +"And when the pie was opened, the birds began to sing," so, at least, +said the young subaltern, now in a state of exceedingly high spirits; +"and why shouldn't the ladies?" he added, looking round him with +condescending affability. "I'll accompany any or all of them to any tune +or in any direction she pleases. Though I'm humble, I'm industrious; and +if I seem too weak for the place, you must suit yourselves 'elsewheres;' +for, to do man's work, I must have man's wages, and I ain't half so soft +as I look!" + +"You're a very impudent boy," said Mrs. Lascelles, laughing; "but you're +rather good fun, and it's not a bad suggestion. Now, who will give us a +song?" + +There seemed rather a lack of volunteers. The original proposer vowed he +could neither drink nor sing unless after a lady. He was shy, he said, +and blushed under his skin, therefore nobody gave him credit for +modesty. Helen felt something in her throat that warned her she must +burst out crying, unless she kept it down. One had a cold, others could +not remember any words, so it soon came round to Miss Ross, "who was +always so good-natured; everybody was sure she wouldn't disappoint +them!" + +Jin never made any fuss about her singing. + +"What shall it be?" she asked Uncle Joseph, who never knew one tune from +another, but vastly enjoyed the proprietorship inferred by such an +appeal. + +"Oh, that pretty air from the--the----Well, you know the one I mean; or, +or--anything you please, dear Miss Ross; they're all charming." And +Uncle Joseph passed his cigar-case round, with the look of a man who had +acquitted himself handsomely of a difficult and delicate task. + +"I'll sing you a new one I got the other day," said Jin, flashing +another of her dangerous glances through the smoke that was curling +round Frank Vanguard's comely face. "It's called, 'Yes--I like you,' and +there's _a moral_ in it. Thanks! It does best without an accompaniment," +and, looking very bewitching as she pushed her hair back, she began: + + "YES--I LIKE YOU." + + When I meet you, can I greet you + With a haughty little stare? + Scarcely glancing, where you're prancing, + By me on the chestnut mare. + Still dissembling, though I'm trembling, + Thus you know we're trained and taught. + For I like you, doesn't it strike you? + Like you more than p'raps I ought! + Yes--I like you, doesn't it strike you? + Like you more than p'raps I ought! + + When I meet you, must I treat you + As a stranger, calm and cold, + Softer feeling, half revealing,-- + Are you _waiting_ to be told? + D' you suppose, sir, that a rose, sir, + Picks _itself_ to reach your breast? + And I like you, doesn't it strike you? + Like you more than all the rest. + Yes--I like you, &c. + + When I meet you, I could eat you, + Dining with my Uncle John; + Sitting next you, so perplexed, you + Ought to guess my heart is gone. + While I'm choking, 'tis provoking + You can munch, and talk, and drink, + Though I like you, doesn't it strike you? + Like you more than you may think! + Yes--I like you, &c. + + When I meet you, I could beat you, + For your solemn face and glum. + Don't you see, sir, _you_ are free, sir, + I have all the worst to come! + Mother's warning, sisters' scorning-- + Qualms of prudence, pride and pelf. + Oh! I like you--doesn't it strike you? + Like you more than life itself! + Yes--I like you, &c. + +There was no mistaking the hint conveyed in this touching ditty; but +whether he accepted it or not, the song was hardly concluded ere Frank +took leave of the company. Certain regimental duties, he said, looking +hard at Helen, required his presence in barracks, and therefore he had +come on horseback, so as to return at his own time. He regretted it +extremely, of course. He had spent a delightful day, and could not thank +his entertainers enough. This civil little speech he addressed indeed to +Uncle Joseph and Mrs. Lascelles, but his eyes sought Miss Hallaton's the +while, and their imploring expression cut her to the heart. + +There is a code of signals in use amongst young people situated as these +were, far more intelligible than that employed by her Majesty's Navy or +the Royal Yacht Squadron. They never shook hands, they exchanged no +good-bye, but Helen hoisted something in reply to his flag of distress +that appeared perfectly satisfactory to both. Though Miss Ross looked +longingly after him as he went away, Frank never turned to meet her +glance; and Helen, thoroughly enjoying the homeward trip at sunset, +seemed in better spirits and more like herself than she had been all +day. + +Mrs. Lascelles was puzzled. She had missed the exchange of signals, and +could not make it out. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +SUNDAY IN LONDON. + + +There is a late train from Maidenhead to Paddington that always reminds +me of Charon's bark chartered to carry deceased passengers across the +Styx. It seems, like that fatal ferry-boat, to fix a limit between two +separate stages of existence,--the river, the flowers, the cup, the +pleasant friends, the tender well-wisher, in short, "the bright +precincts of the cheerful day," and that dark region, forbidding though +unavoidable, where we meet our fellow-creatures on more equal, more +practical, more distant, and more uncomfortable terms. + +Goldthred, who was obliged to be in London the same night, sank into the +lowest depths of despondency while bidding adieu to Mrs. Lascelles and +her party, as they embarked under a purple sunset for their homeward +voyage. He felt sadly alone in the world, even at the station, and +getting into a vast and gloomy compartment, of which he was sole +occupant, under a dim lamp, began to reflect seriously on life and its +vexations. His cigars were done, his boots were wet, he suffered from +headache, heartache, and premonitory symptoms of a dreadful disorder +called the fidgets. Had he only known that Frank Vanguard, who got in at +Slough, was in the very next carriage, how gladly would he have +communicated with that migratory young officer, by knocking, shouting, +or any other riotous mode of attracting attention; but, for aught he +could tell, there was no passenger in the train but himself, and the +sense of solitude became nearly insupportable. Passing Hanwell, he found +himself envying the unfortunate inmates their varied society, and the +liveliness of their manners. Goaded at last by his reflections, and +summoning that most daring of all courage which is furnished by despair, +he resolved to turn over a new leaf, to assert himself and his own +value, to push the siege briskly, and asking Mrs. Lascelles an important +question point-blank, stand or fall by her answer like a man. _Se faire +valoir_, he well knew, was the winning game; but, alas! the more +precious the heart the lower the price it seems to place on itself, and +Goldthred, with all his short-comings, possessed in his character a vein +of the true metal, which makes men honest servants if not successful +masters. Taking counsel, then, of his very fears, he determined to open +the trenches by organising another pic-nic, somewhere lower down the +river, to which he would invite all the party of to-day, and such other +additions from London as he considered worthy of the honour. Miss +Hallaton, of course. Nice girl, Miss Hallaton, and civil to _him_! +Distant, but that was manner. Ah! she would make a charming wife to a +fellow who admired that kind of beauty. It was not _his_ style, of +course; and with this reflection, the image of a lovely laughing face, +and a pair of kind blue eyes, seemed to brighten even the gloom of his +dismal railway carriage. + +Thinking of Mrs. Lascelles somehow called Sir Henry unpleasantly to +mind. And he bethought him how that easy-going personage had expressed +certain vague intentions of starting on an expedition of his own, to see +some yearlings, leaving his daughter at The Lilies. "Then I'll write to +Miss Hallaton herself," thought Goldthred. "Why shouldn't I? That will +prevent the possibility of a mistake, and perhaps Mrs. Lascelles won't +quite like it. I wonder if she would care. I _couldn't_ make her +unhappy, the angel, to save my life, but I wish I was sure I had the +power." + +By the time he reached Paddington, Goldthred's spirits had risen +considerably, as is usually the case with a man who has resolved to take +his own part; and, after extricating an overblown rose from his +button-hole, and planting it carefully in the neck of his water-bottle, +he went to bed, feeling keenly that the time was fast approaching to +decide his fate, and that the next week, or say, perhaps, ten days, must +settle his business and make him "a man or a mouse." + +In pursuance of this desperate resolution he rose the following morning +in time for church, and betook himself after service to his usual Sunday +resort, the Cauliflower Club. Here, seated at a desert of writing-table, +in a vast and dismal library, he had an opportunity of comparing the +gloom that reigned within and without this sanctuary of his sex. +Foreigners can seldom recall unmoved the memories of a Sunday in London. +Whether it is because the shops are shut, or the streets unwatered, or +the upper classes invisible, I know not, but certainly on that holy day +of rest and rejoicing, our bustling metropolis looks grim and deserted +as a city of the dead. Doubtless, everybody goes out of town that can. +Those who remain, thinking it, I presume, either eccentric or wicked to +be seen abroad, hide themselves with extraordinary caution and success. +The same dulness seems to pervade all parts of the town, except, +perhaps, those very poor districts in which vice and want allow their +vassals no change, no relaxation from the daily round of dirt, +discomfort, and sin. You may traverse Tyburnia and scarce meet a human +creature. Belgrave Square is sombre and noiseless as the catacombs. A +single Hansom represents traffic, vitality, and commercial prosperity +throughout Mayfair, Piccadilly, and St. James's Street. Go into Hyde +Park, you will observe one solitary soldier, and his inevitable +maid-servant, carrying her prayer-book wrapped in a cotton +pocket-handkerchief. Search Kensington Gardens, you will find that +beautiful woodland occupied by a sleeping ragamuffin, a child with its +sister, and a wandering female of weak intellect. From Brompton to +Billingsgate, from Mary-le-bone to the Minories, you will discover as +few passengers as you would see flies on a pane of glass at Christmas. +What becomes of the winter bluebottles I do not pretend to say, but of +the two-legged insects pervading our earth, I imagine that on Sundays +the males retire, like Goldthred, in countless swarms to their clubs. +Nevertheless, while he wrote the invitations, particularly Miss +Hallaton's, with exceeding care and a hard-nibbed pen, he found himself +the only occupant but one of the magnificent apartment, devoted to +literary labour by a judicious committee presiding over the economy of +the Cauliflower. Of the student thus sharing his solitude, and who might +or might not be an intimate acquaintance, nothing was visible but the +back of a curly brown head, as its wearer lay buried in an enormous +sofa, reading, or more probably, asleep. Club-manners, except in certain +professional circles where members are bound by their trade in a common +brotherhood, forbidding such outrages, Goldthred, even had he been +inclined, must have forborne from hurling books across the room, +stealing behind to flirt ink on his face, or adopting other such playful +modes of attracting notice, and assuring himself of the gentleman's +identity, so he continued to write with precision and perseverance, +leaving the room when he had finished, without discovering that its +other occupant was Frank Vanguard. + +The two men were scarcely twenty feet apart, they could have assisted +each other considerably in their respective objects, they were thinking +at the same moment of the same person, yet for all practical purposes +they might as well have been in different counties. + +Frank was not asleep--far from it; neither was he reading, though +wrapped in a train of thought produced by a novel he had been perusing +with unusual avidity and attention. His duties at the barracks had +detained him all the previous evening, and catching the last train, not +without difficulty, he succeeded in spending his Sunday in London, to +find himself with nothing to do when he got there. Truth to tell, Frank +was unsettled and unlike himself. He breakfasted without appetite at his +cheerful little bachelor lodgings, which were always kept ready, even +when the regiment was in London, and in which he slept perhaps half a +dozen times in a month. He dressed in unseemly haste, he sallied out +tumultuously, with no definite object, and took refuge at last in the +library of the Cauliflower, from sheer weariness of body and vacuity of +mind. He was so unaccustomed to weigh matters seriously, as affecting +the course of a whole lifetime, so unused to reflection on anything less +obvious than the front of a squadron or the speed of a horse, that he +felt really oppressed by the great argument going on in his own mind, as +to whether he could, or could not, struggle through existence without +asking Miss Hallaton to be his wife. + +Young gentlemen of the present day are not an uxorious race, and Frank +was like his fellows. He appreciated, nobody more, the liberty of a +single man, and had imbibed from his elders, by precept, example, and +warning, a certain dread of restraints and monotony that must accompany +married life. But then, to sit opposite such a woman as Helen every +morning at breakfast, to have her all to himself, without scheming for +invitations, and watching for carriages; without necessity for being +civil to a chaperon, or making up to a father, why it seemed a heaven +upon earth, to attain which he would--yes, hang him if he wouldn't--give +up even the regiment itself. + +Such being the frame of mind in which he sat down to read his novel, it +was but natural that the progress of his studies should have confirmed +any previous tendency to sentiment and domestic subjugation. This +eloquent work, in three volumes, purporting to furnish a picture of real +life, painted up a little, but not overdrawn, represented, of course, an +impossible heroine, a combination of circumstances that never could have +taken place, and a _jeune premier_ beautiful as Endymion; nor, judging +from his vagaries, apparently much less under the influence of the moon. +To use Frank's own expression, the scene that "fetched him," somewhere +about the middle of the third volume, ran as follows: + +"A sunset of the tropics, or of paradise, crimson, orange, gold, the +plumage of the flamingo, the tints of the dying dolphin, were all +reflected in the deep pure eyes of that fair girl, as she leaned one +snowy arm on the balustrade, and peered out over the lake, herself +radiant as the sunset, loving as the flamingo, stern and resolved as the +dolphin in his death-pangs. 'He cometh not,' she muttered, 'he cometh +not!' and her fairy fingers, closing on the parapet, broke off a morsel +of the stonework with the grip and energy of a blacksmith. It fell with +a splash in the lake. Could this be the expected signal? Was that +important splash but the result of blind accident? Nay, was it not +rather the summons of a relentless Fate? Ere the circles that it made in +the limpid element had wholly disappeared, a boat was heard to grate +upon the shingle beneath the castle. A cloaked figure stood in the prow, +masked, booted, belted, and armed to the teeth. But when was true love +yet deceived by belts, boots, masks, or pistols? ''Tis he!' she +exclaimed, ''tis he!' and in another moment Lady Clara was in Roland's +arms, sailing, sailing on towards the sunset, never to part on earth, +never to part perhaps in----" + +"Quite right too!" said Frank, closing the book with a bang. "Good +fellow! plucky girl! I'll be hanged if I won't have a shy! She can but +say 'No.' And if worst comes to worst, there's always the other to fall +back upon!" + +So with this exceedingly disloyal and uncomplimentary adaptation of Miss +Ross as a _pis-aller_, Frank sat himself down at the table lately +occupied by Goldthred, to concoct a letter in which, with as little +circumlocution as possible, he should ask Miss Hallaton to be his wife. + +Much mutual surprise was expressed by these two gentlemen, when, meeting +an hour later in Pall Mall, they discovered that they had been +fellow-travellers the night before, each in his own mind having envied +the good fortune of the other in remaining at Windsor. With such a topic +as their past pic-nic to discuss, and a certain indefinable instinct +that they had some mysterious interests in common, they soon merged out +of mere acquaintance into friendship, or that which the world calls +friendship--an alliance for mutual support and convenience, originating +in discreet regard for self. Further to cement this bond of brotherhood, +they dined together solemnly at their club, and parted heartily tired of +each other before eleven o'clock, going straight to bed, I verily +believe, in sheer despair. And thus it was that these unfortunates, +ardent lovers in their way, spent their Sunday in London. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +POST-TIME. + + +Sunday at The Lilies was far pleasanter to everybody concerned. Indeed, +notwithstanding the proverbial dulness of the day that succeeds a +festival, the female inmates of that charming little retreat were more +inclined to be frolicsome than usual. Their hilarity might partly be +accounted for by that principle of contradiction which prompts us all to +merriment on such occasions as demand unusual sobriety of demeanour. You +will observe children invariably predisposed to a romp on Sunday +morning. I think also that each lady had reason to be satisfied in +reviewing her afternoon's work of the day before. Mrs. Lascelles, if she +did not succeed in adding one single brick to the superstructure of her +castle in the air, believed she had, at least, consolidated its +foundations, and that Sir Henry became day by day more malleable, though +she felt constrained to admit the process of softening was exceedingly +gradual, and perceptible only to herself. Miss Ross had sundry topics +for reflection, all tending to self-gratulation. With Uncle Joseph, whom +we may call her "bird-in-the-hand," she had effected a thorough +reconciliation. She could perceive, by the unusual splendour of his +Sunday plumage, that he was more than ever enchanted with his captivity, +and meditated, at no distant period, some decided effort to render it +irrevocable. She felt confidence enough in her own tact to be sure she +could postpone such a catastrophe till it suited her convenience to +bring it about, and this delay, she decided, should depend entirely on +her progress in bagging her "bird-in-the-bush." That Frank Vanguard was +hit severely, and "under the wing," she did not doubt, nor, though +visited by painful misgivings, while she dwelt on the value of her prey, +was she without strong hopes that by watching a timely opportunity, and +making a brilliant "snapshot," she might prove too quick for her rival, +and pull him down like "a rocketer" over Miss Hallaton's head. This was +a pleasant dream for the future. She had, besides, a keen enjoyment to +look forward to in the immediate present. She was about to see her +boy--that alone would be happiness enough for a week! Nothing could be +easier than to steal away, as if for afternoon church, and speed to Mrs. +Mole's. From that garrulous old woman, too, she hoped to learn something +definite about Achille. Why he was in England? what were his relations +with the child? whether--and her heart bounded at the thought--it might +not be possible, through the agency of this humble old peasant-woman, to +obtain uncontrolled possession of her treasure? For such an object she +felt she would willingly forego the patronage of Mrs. Lascelles, the +vassalage of Uncle Joseph, home, position, prospects! Even Frank +Vanguard himself? On the last point she could not quite make up her +mind, so left it for future consideration. + +With all these interests and occupations, Jin had yet found time to knit +a tiny pair of socks for her Gustave. Tears filled her eyes while she +pictured the delight of fitting them to his chubby little feet, that +very afternoon as he sat on her knee. Though she had many faults she was +yet a mother, and in mothers, even the most depraved, a well-spring of +natural affection is to be found as surely as milk in a cow. + +Helen, too, returning radiant from morning church, looked, to use Sir +Henry's expression, "seven pound better" than the day before. Something +seemed to have infused fresh vitality into the girl's existence; but of +Helen's sentiments I cannot take upon me to furnish an analysis. In the +pure unsullied heart of a young and loving woman there are depths it is +desecration to fathom, feelings it is impossible to describe, and it +would be sacrilege to caricature. None are so thoroughly aware of this +as those who know what the bad can be in that sex, of which the good are +so excellent. Well for him, whose experience has lain amongst these +last, and who goes to his grave with trust unshaken in the most +elevating of earthly creeds--a belief in woman's love and woman's +truth--whose worship of her outward beauty is founded on implicit +confidence in the purity and fidelity of her heart! Such privileged +spirits walk lightly over the troubles of their journey through life, as +if they were indeed borne up by angels, "lest at any time they dash +their foot against a stone." + +Sunday luncheon, then, at The Lilies was a pleasant and sociable meal +enough. Mrs. Lascelles, though surprised to find she _did_ miss +Goldthred a little, seemed in exuberant spirits, perhaps for that very +reason. The rest took their tone from her whom they considered their +hostess, and the repast, which differed only from dinner in the absence +of soup and fish, being excellent and elaborate, no wonder everybody was +in high good humour, and more disposed to talk than to listen. + +The conversation at first turned upon yesterday's doings, and it is not +to be supposed that the dress, manners, looks, character, and +presumptive age of every other woman at the pic-nic escaped comment, +criticism, or final condemnation. Sir Henry, indeed, true to his +traditions, made a gallant stand in favour of one lady, the youngest of +the party, "a miss in her teens," as she was contemptuously designated +by his listeners, but found himself coughed down with great severity and +contempt. He couldn't mean that odious girl in green ribbons! She was +forward--she was noisy--she had freckles--she romped with Captain +Roe--she flirted with Mr. Driver--she was ugly, unlady-like, bad style. +Even Helen wondered quietly, "What papa could see in her? Though, to be +sure, he always admired red hair!" + +Their friends thus summarily disposed of, with the first course, they +began talking about what they called "their plans." It seemed there was +to be an unavoidable break up on the morrow, mitigated, however, by +faithful promises from the absentees to return before the end of the +week. + +"I won't ask you to stay here and lose your ball to-morrow night," said +Uncle Joseph, filling Helen's glass, with a kindly, half-protective air +affected by an elderly gentleman towards a young lady when he is not +fool enough to be in love with her. "I know what these things are at +your time of life, my dear. I used to like them myself, and danced, too, +I can tell you! We danced much harder in my day. But why shouldn't you +come back on Tuesday or Wednesday? See now, I'll arrange it all. You're +obliged to go to London to-morrow, you said, Rose, didn't you?" + +"No help for it!" Mrs. Lascelles admitted. "I shall take my maid, sleep +at No. 40, and come down again next day." + +"Then why shouldn't you take care of Miss Hallaton, and bring her back +with you?" + +"Delightful!" assented his kinswoman. "And she can sleep at my house. +It's the next street to Lady Shuttlecock's, and Helen's chaperon can +drop her there after the ball. Sir Henry, will you trust her with me?" + +Helen looked from Mrs. Lascelles to her father; the latter gave a joyful +affirmative. + +"It will save me a fifty-miles journey," said he. "Helen goes to the +ball with her aunt, and if you bring her down again, I needn't travel +all the way to London to fetch her." + +"But are you quite sure I shall not be troublesome?" asked Helen, +meekly, willing enough, however, to accept any arrangement that should +facilitate her attendance at a ball she seemed very loth to miss. + +"Troublesome! my dear," repeated Mrs. Lascelles. "You don't know what a +pleasure it is to have you! I quite look forward to showing you my +pretty little house; and you shall sleep in Jin's room--unless you're +coming too?" she added, turning to Miss Ross. + +The latter, glancing at Uncle Joseph, who tried hard to look +unconcerned, declined, with a bright smile. "She had nothing to tempt +her in London," she said, "unless she could be of use to Rose. She would +much rather stay in the pleasant country, and--and take care of Mr. +Groves!" + +Uncle Joseph coloured with delight, and Jin felt that the cards were all +playing themselves into her hand. It was even possible that Frank +Vanguard might call to-morrow or the next day, whilst Helen was in +London. She was sure of one, if not two, interviews with her child. +Lastly, she would have a golden opportunity of showing Uncle Joseph how +pleasant she could make his house while entertaining himself and his +friends. + +"You'll come back to dinner now, Hallaton," said the host, "as you're +not due in town? I've asked one or two neighbours and their wives. +What's more to the purpose, there's a haunch of venison." + +Even that gastronomic temptation, however, was insufficient to affix +certainty to any of Sir Henry's movements. "He was going to see some +yearlings sold," he said--"the trains were all at variance. He should +hope to get back the same day, but hadn't an idea whether he could. +Helen, who understood 'Bradshaw,' said _not_. All he knew was, he had to +meet Mr. Weights, the trainer, at Ascot to-morrow at ten. He should be +obliged to get up in the middle of the night!" + +"_Must_ you go so early?" asked Mrs. Lascelles, with a sympathising +smile. + +"No help for it," answered Sir Henry resignedly. "Shall have to +breakfast at nine. Such is life!" + +So Mrs. Lascelles managed to rise early the following morning, and come +down to pour out Sir Henry's coffee, looking exceedingly fresh and +handsome the while; but it is probable she might have saved herself the +trouble, and enjoyed at least two hours' more beauty-sleep, had she +foreseen that Helen would also be in the breakfast-room to keep papa +company, as was her custom during his morning meal. + +So Sir Henry, after an exceedingly hasty repast, started off, with a +cigar in his mouth, of course, for the congenial society of a trainer, +and the delightful occupation of looking at untried thorough-bred stock +that he could not afford to buy, leaving the ladies to such devices of +their own as might while away their morning till the welcome hour of +post-time. + +"Letters! letters!" exclaimed Jin, who always took upon herself to +superintend its arrival, departure, and, indeed, all arrangements +connected with the correspondence at The Lilies; "two for Helen, one for +Rose, one for me, and five for Mr. Groves,"--while she dealt from a +packet in her hand these several missives to their respective owners, +each of whom received the boon with gratitude, except Uncle Joseph. + +Women, I believe, always like to get letters. To their craving +dispositions, I imagine bad news is better than none; and they prefer +the excitement of sorrow to the stagnation of no excitement at all. Even +towards Christmas, when the majority of written communications tend to +disturb our enjoyment of the season, only from male lips is heard the +fervent thanksgiving, "No letters? What a blessing!" The ladies, I am +persuaded, would rather receive reminders from their dress-makers, than +feel themselves cut off from all interest in the daily mail. + +Uncle Joseph, who expected but little gratification from his epistles, +and under the most favourable conditions reflected they would mostly +require answers, retired with a growl to peruse them in his own den. +Where we may leave him to their full enjoyment, preferring to remain in +the bright and cheerful morning-room with the ladies. + +Miss Ross read her letter with a smile of considerable amusement, and a +mischievous glance at Mrs. Lascelles. + +"From Goldie," said she, "and tolerably coherent, considering the poor +thing's state of mind. Do you hear, Rose? I have actually got a letter +from _your_ Mr. Goldthred!" + +"So have I," said Mrs. Lascelles quietly. + +"So have I," echoed Helen; "I had no idea he wrote so nice a hand." + +Comparing their several communications, the three ladies discovered that +this painstaking correspondent had written in precisely the same terms +to each, requesting, with no little formality, the pleasure of their +company at his proposed pic-nic. To so polite a circular all admitted it +was a thousand pities a refusal must be sent; but, alas! Goldthred had +selected for his party a day fixed for one of those breakfasts in the +vicinity of London at which everybody asked thinks it necessary to +appear, while the uninvited decline other engagements, partly in hopes +of a card at the last moment, partly that they may not publish their +exclusion from this suburban paradise, to their friends. + +It cost Helen some minutes' study to frame her refusal of Mr. +Goldthred's invitation. + +She was little in the habit of writing to gentlemen, and entertained +grave doubts as to the manner in which a young lady ought to address her +correspondents of the other sex. To begin "Sir" she considered decidedly +too formal. "Dear Mr. Goldthred" would be too familiar. After spoiling +two sheets of note-paper, she resolved that "Dear Sir" was the correct +thing, and sat down to write her note accordingly, with a beating heart +and an exceedingly good pen. + +It was not Mr. Goldthred's invitation, however, that caused this +derangement of Helen's circulation, that brought the light to her eyes, +the colour to her cheeks. She had received Frank Vanguard's letter by +the same post, and reading it, as she was forced to do, in the presence +of the others, could scarce keep down a little cry of rapture and +surprise at its contents. She walked away, indeed, to the window, so as +to hide her face from her companions, and took the earliest opportunity +of escaping to her own room, that she might devour it over and over +again in solitude, but was presently drawn from that refuge by certain +energetic housemaids, and compelled to return to the drawing-room +without delay, inasmuch as the post left The Lilies again before +luncheon. Such a letter as Frank's required an immediate answer, however +short it might be, and Helen's was indeed of the shortest. She felt that +until she had consulted her father, it was better not to pour out on +paper the feelings thrilling at her heart. A very few words would serve +to convey her sentiments in the mean time, so a couple of lines were +considered enough to let Frank know that, as far as the young lady +herself was concerned, his proposals should be favourably entertained. + +It was very provoking, to be sure, that papa was out of the way, and +that his absence was of such doubtful duration; still he would surely +approve when he learned all particulars, and a day or two did not seem +long to wait after weeks of uncertainty and anxiety. All at once Helen +felt as if she had known Captain Vanguard her whole life, and never +cared a straw for any other creature on earth. Her heart leaped to think +there was a chance of meeting him to-night at Lady Shuttlecock's. He +would be sure to guess she was going. Of course he would be there! + +So, with a quickened pulse, as I have said, but affecting much outward +composure, Miss Hallaton daintily folded two neat little packets, and +addressed them, notwithstanding her agitation, in a perfectly steady +handwriting, to William Goldthred, Esq., and Captain F. Vanguard, +respectively, each at the Cauliflower Club, St. James's, S.W. Then she +dropped them in a letter-box that stood under the clock in the front +hall, and felt so happy she could have sung aloud for joy. + +But a pair of lynx-eyes had been watching Helen's movements; a keen and +busy brain was working eagerly to account for every change in the girl's +demeanour, from the first flush of pleasure with which she read her +letters to the buoyant step and joyous air with which she re-entered the +drawing-room after depositing their answers in the box. Miss Ross knew +well enough that a communication from Goldthred was insufficient to +produce this unusual agitation, and a keen instinct of jealousy +whispered that Helen's other letter must be from Frank Vanguard. + +Jin's pale face turned paler at the thought, but it was her nature to +confront a difficulty as soon as suspected; to overcome it +unscrupulously and without regard to the means employed, if it really +stood in her way. + +She would have given a great deal to see the letter Helen read over half +a dozen times under her very eyes, but how was that possible when it lay +safely stowed away in the breast of a morning gown? No; the letter was +doubtless out of reach, but she could get some information surely from +its answer! + +A walk before luncheon had been agreed on, at the instigation indeed of +Miss Ross, who wanted her afternoon clear for a visit to Mrs. Mole. She +was ready before the others; and while they were putting their bonnets +on, ran down-stairs with a jug of warm water, to the astonishment of the +housemaid, who heard her say she was going to water some plants in the +library. Then she fidgeted backwards and forwards from the hall to the +drawing-room, and Mrs. Lascelles, coming out of the latter apartment, +found her bending over the letter-box. + +"What are you about, Jin?" said her friend. "Helen and I have been +looking for you in the conservatory." + +"Only posting my answer to Goldie," replied Miss Ross with a laugh. +"Don't be jealous, Rose. He'll show it to you, I'm sure, if you ask +him." + +But she seemed absent and pre-occupied during their walk, though more +cordial and affectionate in her manner to Helen than she had ever been +before. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +BETWEEN CUP AND LIP. + + +Never in her life, perhaps, had Helen enjoyed anything so much as her +afternoon's journey to London with Mrs. Lascelles. The smiling landscape +on either side the railroad looked fairer, brighter, more like _home_ +than ever, when seen under a glow of celestial light radiating from a +happy heart. For her, that seemed a glory, shining direct from paradise, +which was to her companion but a glare of heat and discomfort, dazzling, +scorching--worse, unbecoming in the extreme. + +"It's good for the country, my dear, that's a comfort; but I'm sure it's +fatal to one's complexion," said Mrs. Lascelles, vainly endeavouring to +combine the shelter of a blind with the draught from an open window at +forty miles an hour. "If they're to make hay when the sun shines, now's +their time. How provoking! We shall have him in here. I _told_ the guard +we wanted this carriage to ourselves. Dear Helen, can't you look as if +you'd got the mumps?" + +But dear Helen was possibly not desirous of assuming so disfiguring a +malady, for the unwelcome passenger put his head into their compartment, +and, being a man of the world, sued in _formâ pauperis_ for an +accommodation to which he was entitled by the purchase of his +first-class ticket. He did _not_ say, "I have as good a right here as +you, having paid my fare;" but, lifting his hat, stepped quietly in with +a smiling apology for disturbing them. "The train is so full," said he, +"I cannot find room even second class. I hope I shall not be much in +your way." + +We all know how readily the sex are disarmed by cool audacity veiled +under a respectful manner. The "odious creature" became "a pleasant +gentleman-like man" on the spot, and Picard--for it was none other--so +ingratiated himself with the ladies that, when he left them at +Paddington, they burst forth simultaneously in praise of his appearance, +his manners, his whiskers, his white hat, everything that was his. + +"Must be a foreigner," declared Helen. "He's so well-bred!" + +This, I have observed, is a favourite feminine fallacy, not to be +exploded but by much continental travel in mixed society. + +"Must be _somebody_!" chimed in Mrs. Lascelles. "I am sure I know his +face. I think he drives a drag. I declare, Helen, I'll bow to him if I +meet him anywhere about." + +"So will I," said Helen; and forgot his existence forthwith. + +Was she not even now in the same town with Frank Vanguard--treading the +same pavement, breathing the same air (and smoke)? + +"We'll have one turn for health in the Park," said Mrs. Lascelles, as +the two ladies seated themselves in her open carriage. "You know you're +in my charge to-day, Helen; and I mean to bring you out in what your +papa calls the 'best possible form.' To-night, dear, I'm determined you +shall win all your engagements!" + +So her stout and florid coachman, shaving the kerbstone to an inch, +turned under the Marble Arch at a liberal twelve miles an hour, which +subsided into three before he reached Grosvenor Gate, and so, losing his +identity in a double column of carriages, brilliant and glittering as +his own, commenced the performance of that imposing function--grand, +deliberate, and funereal--which is solemnised every lawful day in Hyde +Park between six and half-past seven p.m. Barouches, sociables, +tax-carts, Victorias, every kind of wheeled conveyance, were wedged +three-deep in the road. All the chairs on the footway were occupied, and +the path was blocked with walkers to the rails. Mounted policemen, +making themselves ubiquitous, pranced about and gesticulated with +unusual vehemence. Those on foot ferried passengers across the drive at +intervals, majestically rebuking for that purpose the horse and his +rider, the charioteer, and the foaming, highly-bitted animal he +controlled. + +It was once said of London by a visitor, I believe, from Dublin, that +"you could not see the town for the houses." Here, in this high tide of +humanity, you could not see the people for the crowd. + +"Not a soul in the Park!" observed Mrs. Lascelles, languidly scanning +the myriads that surrounded her. + +"I can't think where they get to," said Helen. "Nobody ever seems to +come here that one knows." + +But a vivid blush rose to her temples while she spoke. So becoming was +its effect, that a young man, leaning against the rails, extricating his +intellect for a moment out of vacancy, exclaimed to his companion: + +"_Caramba!_ Jack!"--he had once been at Gibraltar for a week, and piqued +himself on swearing in Spanish--"_Caramba!_ Jack! what a good-looking +girl! Who is she?" + +And Jack, never at a loss, detailed her private history forthwith, +identifying her as the daughter of a foreign minister, and furnishing +his friend with a jaw-breaking German name, impracticable to pronounce, +even had it been possible to remember. But the origin of this young +lady's confusion occupied a position far beyond these pedestrian +admirers, and was, indeed, none other than Frank Vanguard, taking the +air on a very desirable hack amongst several equestrians of the season, +but so partitioned off from Helen by dandies, dowagers, peers, +commoners, and servants in livery, to say nothing of an iron railing, +that, for all gratification to be obtained from his society, he might as +well have been the other side of the Serpentine. + +He saw her, though, that was some comfort. So did Mrs. Lascelles, +confirming thereby into certainty the suspicions she entertained that +Helen cherished a real affection for this captivating dragoon. + +"She's a dear girl," thought that quick-sighted lady; "and Jin shall not +interfere with her. He's tolerably well off. They might both do worse; +and Sir Henry would like it. Home, John!" + +So, although Frank sent his hack along as fast as our police-regulations +permit, in order to catch a glimpse of his charmer while she left the +Park at Albert Gate, he was rewarded only with a back view of Mrs. +Lascelles's carriage, ornamented by a boy and a basket taking a free +passage to their next destination. + +"Never mind," thought the rider. "I can't miss seeing her to-night at +Battledore House. We'll put it all right in the tea-room. I _think_ +she'll say, 'Yes.' Why shouldn't she? My darling, I'll make you as happy +as ever I can." + +I wonder if the hack thought his master's caress at this moment was +bestowed entirely for his own sake. He shook his dainty head as if he +did, rolling his shoulders, and rising into one or two managed gambols, +as he bore Frank homewards at a canter. + +To meet one's lady-love at an exceedingly smart ball with the desperate +intention of proposing to her then and there, ought to be excitement +enough, in all conscience, for any one day; but, during the London +season, people cram a week's work into twenty-four hours, and Frank had +yet a good deal to do before he could find himself in that tea-room at +Battledore House, to which he looked forward so longingly, and with the +recesses of which his previous experience, I fear, had rendered him +unjustifiably familiar. + +A protracted mess-dinner to meet an illustrious personage must first be +gone through. It would be impossible to leave the barracks till that +personage gave the signal for breaking up; and although a London ball is +the latest of all festive gatherings, Frank, I think, was the only +individual present, at an early hour of the morning, who felt anything +but regret when the guest, who had thus honoured them, taking a kind and +cordial farewell of his entertainers, announced himself ready to depart. + +"If I can get there by two," thought the young officer, "I may catch her +before she leaves. It's just my luck to have tumbled into this d----d +thing, when I wanted to be elsewhere!" + +Thus, you see, does one man undervalue privileges which another perhaps +esteems the height of human felicity. Of all Thackeray's keen touches, +there are none keener than that in which Lord Steyne says, "Everybody +wants what they haven't got. 'Gad, I dined with the King yesterday, and +we'd boiled mutton and turnips!" + +"We're late, Frank," said young Lord Kilgarron. "Jump into my brougham. +It will get us there quicker than a cab. Battledore House, Tom. Drive +like blazes!" The last to a smart lad in livery, who obeyed this +injunction to the letter, as Lord Kilgarron leaped lightly in after his +friend, and banged to the door. + +"I _must_ go," added his lordship. "She's my aunt, you know. What's the +_use_ of an aunt, Frank? I get very little good out of mine. Now a +_grandmother's_ a decent kind of relationship. Mine gave me the very +mare we're driving--half-sister to Termagant. She's a rum 'un, I can +tell you!" + +"A fast one, I see," remarked Frank, with much composure, considering +they were now whirling past the lamps at a gallop. + +"Is it fast?" demanded his companion, exultingly. "Wouldn't she have won +the Garrison Cup at the Curragh last year, as sure as ever she was +saddled, only the fools ran the race at a walk, and never began at all +till the finish!" + +Lord Kilgarron was a thorough Irishman, devoted to sport, reckless of +danger, and possessing the knack, indigenous to his countrymen, of +hitting off graphic description by a happy blunder. + +"She can go," he added, "and she can stay. That mare, sir, would gallop +for a week. Faith, an' she's running off now!" + +She was, indeed! The Termagant blood, roused by contradiction and an +injudicious pull at that side of her mouth which had not been rendered +callous in training, rose to boiling pitch. Irritation, resentment, and +fear of subsequent punishment, combined to madden her. A frantic rise at +her collar, a plunge, a lift of her shapely quarters, that only the +strongest of kicking-straps prevented from dissevering the whole +connection, and the mare was fairly out of her driver's hands, and +swinging down Piccadilly with a brougham and two dandies behind her, +almost as fast as she ever swept across the Curragh of Kildare. + +"This is too good to last long," observed Frank, as, shaving a +lamp-post, they slued across the street, almost into the panels of a +stationary cab, causing its driver to swear hideously in the vulgar +tone. "But it is the only chance of being in time!" + +"We'll pull through, well enough, bar lepping!" answered the other, a +touch of the brogue rising under excitement with mellow fluency to his +lips. "Ye done it now, by the vestment!" he added, while half-sister to +Termagant, cannoning from the broad wheel of an early vegetable waggon, +against which she cut her shoulder to the bone, lost her foothold, and +fell with a crash on the slippery pavement, bursting every strap and +buckle of her harness, smashing into fragments lamps, shafts, and +splash-board, to bring the whole carriage, with its contents, atop of +her in headlong confusion. "Hurt, Kil?" demanded Frank, rising from the +footway, on which he had gone a shooter through the swinging door, over +the entire person of his friend. + +"Landed on my head!" answered Kilgarron, as esteeming the fact a +sufficient assurance of safety. "Where's Tom?" + +"Here, my lord," replied that invincible functionary, with a cut on his +pate that, to use his master's expression, would have "bothered an +Irishman." "I've got your lordship a cab." Tom having indeed hailed one +of these peripatetic vehicles while in the act of regaining his feet to +secure the mare from destructive struggles by kneeling on her head. + +In such a thoroughfare as Piccadilly, assistance is to be found even at +two in the morning. Ere long the mare was again on her legs, at least on +three of them. The brougham was being towed, like a dismasted wreck, +into port; and the two passengers, having obtained clean water and the +use of a clothes-brush in a chemist's shop, alighted from their cab at +the door of Battledore House, "not a ha'porth the worse," as Kilgarron +said, "an' fit to take the floor with the best of them!" + +This young nobleman was proud of his dancing, pluming himself especially +on a strict attention to time, which he called "humouring the tune." + +But these untoward incidents befalling guests who were too late at any +rate, brought their arrival to a period when most others were departing, +and the ball seemed nearly over. Passing hastily through the crowd that +always clusters about an awning, and hurrying up the cloth-covered steps +with unseemly precipitancy, Frank became aware of his ill-luck when he +heard the fatal announcement, "Lady Sycamore's carriage stops the way! +Lady Sycamore coming out!" + +Lady Sycamore was Helen's aunt and occasional chaperon. The Miss Planes, +her ladyship's daughters, without pretension to beauty, were large, +healthy, fresh-looking girls, of the dairy-maid style. Their mamma, +wisely resolving that, whatever charms they did possess should be +deteriorated as little as possible by bad air and want of sleep, +invariably withdrew her charges from ball, drum, or concert at the +earliest hour she could gather them under her wing. + +Frank, entering the cloak-room to leave his paletot, found himself face +to face with Helen coming into the hall. + +For the first hour or two that night, Miss Hallaton had reaped a very +fair harvest of admiration. Those who arrived later, and to whom she was +pointed out as a beauty of the season, opined she was too pale, wanted +freshness, brightness, and wore a very saddened expression for so young +a girl. Lord Jericho, who danced his first quadrille with her, thought +Miss Hallaton, without exception, the pleasantest company he ever came +across, and held forth next day at luncheon in praise of her beauty, +wit, manners, originality, and good nature, till his sisters, the ladies +Ruth and Rebecca Jordan, hated the very sound of her name. Whereas, Vere +Vacuous (of the Foreign Office, with an inordinate opinion of the +last-named individual), who took her to tea, considered Miss Hallaton +"classical, perhaps--statuesque rather. All very well as long as she +don't open her mouth; but dull, he should say; probably quite +uneducated. Provincial; yes, that described her, he thought. Great want +of animation, and much too pale!" + +This last accusation he must have retracted could he have seen the blush +that reddened Helen's cheek, when, coming suddenly out of the cloak-room +on the person she had been expecting the whole evening, she almost +butted her head into the tie of his neckcloth ere she could start back +and take him calmly by the hand. + +Frank never saw it. How should he? Neither of these young people quite +understood all that was going on in the other's heart; and yet both were +prepared to take the fatal plunge, and pass the rest of their lives +together in the same element. Captain Vanguard, wonderful to relate, +felt almost shy, and found himself strangely unobservant of everything +but a beating in his temples, and a queer sensation about his diaphragm. +Of course he would have denied it, but his own colour rose higher than +usual, while Lady Sycamore, a portly person with vast scope for the +laces, jewels, and other ornaments which decorated her before and +behind, accosted him with exceeding graciousness, wondering volubly why +he came so late? Then he had to exchange friendly greetings with the +Miss Planes, each of whom considered him an eligible partner for a +waltz, a cotillion, or a lifetime. At the last moment too, Goldthred, +who had a happy knack of committing ill-timed civilities, and such +little social blunders, coming down-stairs unoccupied, pounced on Miss +Hallaton to put her into the carriage, thinking, no doubt, he was +fulfilling his duty to everybody's satisfaction, and Frank was forced to +offer his arm to Lady Sycamore. + +It was too provoking! Poor Helen could have cried; but, goaded to +desperation, the moment Goldthred released her by the carriage-door, she +contrived to drop her fan with so much energy, that it fell clattering +on the steps at Frank Vanguard's feet. + +He accepted the opportunity readily enough, and while he put it into +her hand, their heads came very near together, under the inspection only +of an approving linkman--more than half drunk. + +"Did you get my note?" she whispered, quick as lightning. + +"No." + +"It's waiting for you. Thanks! Captain Vanguard. Good-night," and +disappearing in the gloomy vaults of the family coach, she rolled off +through the darkness, leaving him standing on the steps at Battledore +House, + + "With a ghost-seer's look when the ghost disappears." + +"I hope your honour's enjoyed your ball," said the linkman. + +Frank started. He had never been up-stairs, nor even made his bow to +Lady Shuttlecock. What had he to do with the ball? + +Nevertheless, he put his hand in his pocket and gave the linkman +half-a-crown. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +"A FACER." + + +But Frank entertained no thoughts of returning to the scene of gaiety he +had quitted on its very threshold. Stopping only to put a cigar in his +mouth he turned, without a pang, from these "halls of dazzling light," +to walk slowly away through a succession of dark streets, like a man in +a dream. + +"It's waiting for you!" Of course it was; and what a fool had he been +not to inquire for his letters at the "Cauliflower" ere he dressed for +dinner. She must have answered his proposal very quickly, he thought; +couldn't have taken time to consult papa, nor any one else; must have +made up her mind in a moment--women always did. Was this a good omen or +not? At each alternate lamp-post he changed his opinion. Here he argued, +she had jumped at the offer the instant it was made, loving him so +dearly, and being so determined to marry him that it was needless to +consult any one else on the subject; ten paces further on, he saw the +other side of the question. If she meant to refuse him, it couldn't be +done too quickly, and the less said about it the better. Such an answer +would, of course, be sent by return of post; and, pre-occupied as he +was, he found himself vaguely calculating the many deliveries of that +valuable institution, speculating whether he could indeed have received +her letter at his club, had he called for it so early as half-past seven +o'clock. + +Revolving this irrelevant consideration in his mind, Helen's beauty and +confusion, as he saw her ten minutes ago, rose like a vision before his +eyes, and he felt all joy and confidence once more. "Sure of winning!" +he said out loud, with a puff of smoke into the hot, close night. +"Cock-sure, my boy, as if you'd got the race in your pocket!" + +In two more streets he would reach the "Cauliflower," and his heart +leaped wildly to think of the dainty white missive, with its delicate +superscription, even now awaiting him in the lobby of that caravanserai. + +Quickening his pace, the sooner to end suspense, he came in sight of a +figure lurching along the pavement some fifty yards ahead, with the gait +of a man who, not in the least overcome by wine, is yet enough under its +influence to walk more leisurely and with a more pretentious swing than +usual. + +He saw them by dozens every night of his life, and would have taken +little notice of this convivial bird returning to roost, but that his +attention was aroused by the scrutinising manner in which two men, by +whom he was himself overtaken at a quick walk, looked under the brim of +his hat as they passed by. Returning their stare, he observed they were +an ill-favoured couple enough, and that one shook his head as if +dissatisfied, crossing the street forthwith to join a third figure that +stole out of the shade cast by the opposite houses. Whatever might be +their object, all three seemed now to join eagerly in chase. Frank +slackened sail to observe their movements, and was soon satisfied they +were dogging the steps of the passenger ahead, who walked carelessly on +in happy unconsciousness that he was watched or pursued. + +These four, tracked and trackers, were pretty close together as they +turned out of the main thoroughfare into a street, which several yards +of high dead wall without lamps rendered one of the darkest in the +West-End of London. Frank looked up and down for a policeman in vain. +Not a soul was to be seen, and finding himself the only occupant of the +pavement, he ran stealthily forward to the corner round which the others +had lately disappeared, much mistrusting his assistance would be wanted +without delay. + +He was right. Already he could hear a scuffling of feet, a smothered +oath, two or three blows exchanged, in short, sharp cracks like +pistol-shots, while a hoarse voice muttered: + +"Slip it into him, George! Would ye now? Take that--and that?" + +Notwithstanding their numbers, however, the ruffians seemed to have a +hard bargain of their prey. The latter, with his back to the dead wall, +fought like a wild cat, but three to one make short work, and in a +couple of minutes he was overpowered, and down on his knee. Had his head +touched the pavement, it might never have risen again, but at this +critical juncture in leaped Frank Vanguard, like an Apollo who had +learned to box. One remarkably straight left-hander doubled up the +smallest assailant like the kick of a horse, while another sent the next +in size staggering into the middle of the road, where he thought well +to remain for a space, grasping his jaw with both hands, and blaspheming +hideously. The biggest villain, shouting "Bobbies!" with an execration, +and expressing his intention to "hook it," took to his scrapers, as he +called them, at once, and was speedily followed by his equally cowardly +auxiliaries. + +Frank looked wistfully after the assailants, while he lifted their +victim to his feet, exclaiming, with the utmost surprise, "Why, it's +Picard!" as the dim light enabled him to identify that gentleman, +considerably mauled and dishevelled, yet apparently not very seriously +hurt. + +Bleeding and breathless, Picard's presence of mind seemed, however, not +to have deserted him. Before thanking Vanguard he felt for a parcel of +notes in his breast-pocket, and laughed as heartily as aching bones and +heaving lungs would permit. + +"They have missed 'the swag,'" said he, wiping his bloody face with a +cambric handkerchief, "and it's worth collaring, I can tell you. It's +always my maxim to stick by the stuff; but if it hadn't been for _you_, +'squire, I must have caved out this spell, I estimate. It would have +been a pity, too," he added, relapsing into the English language as he +cooled down, "for, bar one at Baltimore, two years back, it's the best +night I ever had in my life. 'Pon my soul, Vanguard, I'm heartily +obliged to you; and how you hit out! Why, that dirty, black-muzzled chap +spun round as if he was shot." + +"He's hurt my knuckles, the little beast!" said Frank, looking with much +commiseration at certain abrasions on a white and bony hand. "But what +have you been about, my dear fellow! and how did they know you'd got +money? Were you at all screwed?" + +"Sober as a judge!" answered Picard. "In fact, a deal soberer than some +judges I've seen down West in my time! I've been playing billiards ever +since eleven o'clock, making game after game off the balls in a form +you'd hardly believe. The fact is, I caught a flat, who thought he was a +sharp! First he lost his money, then his temper. Of course he played on +to get back both. I didn't win so very easy, you know; indeed I had +rather a squeak for it more than once; but I always managed to nail him +in the last break. Then we got to double or quits, and I needn't tell +you how _that_ went. He'd a friend, too, from the country, what you +Britishers call 'a yokel,' I suspect, who backed his man handsome and +paid up like the Bank of England. I drew this sportsman to a lively +tune, I can tell you. Altogether I landed a hatful, and not a drop would +I have to drink till just before starting. I don't _think_ they hocussed +me; no, I've been hocussed before, and I know what it is. But their +brandy was infernally strong, or the soda-water unaccountably weak, for +somehow I felt so jolly I said I wouldn't have a cab, but walk home +behind a weed. + +"Now I think of it, there was a big, awkward-looking skunk loafing about +the table most of the night, who never betted nor played, but seemed +always on the watch, to see we didn't steal the chalk, as I supposed. I +know better now. He sneaked out, I remarked, when I went for a cocktail. +No doubt he watched me start off to walk, and followed with his pals. +That's the gentleman who 'skedaddled' just now so freely when it came to +a fight. Captain Vanguard, I say again, I'm infernally obliged to you!" + +Frank, whose excitement had cooled down, was on thorns to receive his +letter. "Have a cigar," said he, proffering his case. "I fear I can't do +anything more for you now. I'll see you home, if you like, but I'm +rather anxious to get to my club before they shut up. It's the +'Cauliflower,' you know. Almost in the next street." + +"I live close by," exclaimed Picard. "We'll go together, and I hope +you'll come and look me up at my rooms to-morrow. I've a few Yankee +notions, and things I've got together knocking about Mexico and the +States. They might amuse you, and I can give you a capital weed--nobody +better; and you shall have the best I have, you shall! John Picard never +yet forgot a good turn nor a bad one. You're the right sort, Captain, +real grit; and you and me are mates for life. It's John Picard says so, +and there's his hand upon it!" + +Frank, who entertained a truly British horror of being thanked, would +fain have escaped forthwith, but there was no avoiding the proffered +hand; and it struck him also that his new friend reeled somewhat in his +gait, talking the while more volubly and thicker than at first. + +Resolving, therefore, to see him safely to his own door, and return as +speedily as possible to the "Cauliflower," he grappled his companion +firmly by the arm, and steered him without difficulty along the now +deserted pavement. + +A couple of heavy blows on the head, with a strong squeeze of the +throat, had served, no doubt, to intensify the effect of such villanous +brandy as Picard imbibed before leaving the billiard-room in which he +had been so successful. He said as much, admitting a certain influence +on his physical powers, but repudiating, with suspicious jealousy, the +idea that hard knocks or alcohol could in any way affect his brain. + +"My boots are a little screwed," he observed, contemplating them with a +gentle forbearance, "but my legs are right enough, and so am I. John +Picard isn't a man, sir, to be upset by a drop of corn-brandy, nor a hug +from a loafer like that. I'd have whipped him into Devonshire cream if +I'd had a clear stage. How many were there, now, according to your +calculation? I tell ye fair, I was down (because these d--d boots chose +to get drunk) before I'd time to count!" + +"Only three," answered Frank, laughing, "and not a good man in the lot. +They wouldn't have tried it on if we had been together; but your boots +went so fast I couldn't catch them." + +The other shook his head gravely. "Three," said he. "An' I hadn't even a +tooth-pick." + +"Tooth-pick!" repeated Frank in astonishment. "Lucky you hadn't--you'd +have swallowed it!" + +Picard being now arrived at that stage in which a man finds it +impossible to make any statement, however trivial, without turning round +and facing his companion, stopped short beneath a lamp-post, while he +explained with great solemnity: + +"A bowie-knife, about eighteen inches long, sharp on both sides, and +weighted in the handle, is what _we_ call a tooth-pick, young man, down +Arkansas way. It's a neat tool--very--and balances beautiful. Some like +them up the sleeve. I used to wear mine down the collar of my coat. That +an' a six-shooter, if you're pretty spry, will clear the kitchen smart +enough in a general row. Down to Colorado now, I'd have laid those three +loafers in the larder before you could say 'bitters.' And to think that +to-night I shouldn't have had so much as a pencil case on me! How old +Abe Affable would laugh if he came to hear of it. Poor old Abe! The last +time I saw him he wanted to scalp a nigger for blacking his boots +instead of greasing them. Well, well; different countries, different +manners, and different drinks, no doubt. I like this country, Captain. +After all, I'm a citizen of the world, but more a Britisher than +anything else." + +"Are we near your house now?" asked Frank, whose impatience made him +almost wish he had left this citizen of the world to his fate. + +"Next lamp-post but two," replied the other, with an unmeaning laugh. +"Boots know where they are now, I do believe--would find their own way +to the scraper if I was to pull 'em off, I'll lay a hundred. Here you +are, Captain, latch-key sober, at any rate. You won't come in? Well, +perhaps it _is_ late; good night, mate. One word before you cast off." + +Poor Frank, chafing like an irritable horse at the starting-post, +returned on his track, and Picard took hold of the lappet of his coat. + +"I'll go back to Windsor with you," said he cordially. "I like Windsor, +and I like _you_. I've reason to like both. Look here, Vanguard; there's +something at Windsor that would have looked very queer if I'd been +rubbed out just now; and I might have been, I don't deny it, but for +you. Poor little chap, he's got nobody in the world but me! Perhaps +that's why I'm so fond of him. I dare say Pharaoh's daughter thought +there never was such a child as Moses when she pulled him out of the +water. I know when I fished _my_ boy out he put his chubby arms round my +neck as if I'd been his father. Little rogue! I couldn't care more for +him if he _was_ my own, twenty times over. + +"I'm a domestic fellow naturally, Vanguard, though I'm yarning to you +now, under a lamp-post, at three in the morning. I've had a rough time +of it, one way and another. Not always fair play, I fancy. Sometimes I +think I'm the biggest blackguard unhung. Sometimes I hope I'm not so +much worse than my neighbours." + +Frank was thoroughly good-natured. + +"We'll talk that over to-morrow," said he; "in the mean time, good +night." + +"Good night," repeated the other. "I know what I say, Vanguard," he +called out after his friend, while putting his latch-key in the lock; +"and to prove it, I'll show you, my boy!" + +"He must be very drunk," thought Frank, speeding down the street like a +deer, "and I'm glad I came across him in the nick of time--there would +have been mischief if those fellows had got at him alone." + +In another moment, palpitating and breathless, he was on the steps of +the "Cauliflower" Club, where, passing swiftly into the hall, he espied +Goldthred reading a letter by gaslight, with an expression of +countenance that denoted he was profoundly mystified by its contents. + +This gentleman, strolling in to quench his thirst after the glare, heat, +worry, disappointment, and general penance of Lady Shuttlecock's ball, +and running his eye as usual down the letter-rack, drew from the +compartment "G" a laconic little epistle without signature, of which the +second and third perusals bewildered him no less than the first: + +"If you are really in earnest," so ran this mysterious document, "come +to-morrow, there is somebody to be consulted besides me." + +What could it mean? A lady's handwriting, to which he was an utter +stranger. No name, no date, no monogram. "Come to-morrow," thought +Goldthred. "Certainly! But where? And when _is_ to-morrow? It's ten +minutes past three now. Oh! this can't be intended for _me_!" + +Then he turned it upside down, backwards and forwards, inside out. The +envelope was addressed correctly enough, christian and surname in full, +with even a flourish of calligraphy adorning his humble title of +"Esquire." Many members of the "Cauliflower" would have pocketed the +effusion without emotion, as a mere every-day conquest of some anonymous +admirer, but such a suspicion never entered Goldthred's honest head. In +his utter freedom from self-conceit, this note puzzled him exceedingly; +but to have believed it due to his own powers of fascination, would, in +his loyalty to Mrs. Lascelles, have annoyed him still more. + +The same letter-rack, low down, under "V," produced another epistle in a +similar handwriting, which Frank snatched with eagerness from its place +and pressed hungrily to his lips, as he rushed back into the street, +feeling a strange suffocating necessity on him to read it in the open +air. Earning an epicurean prolongation of pleasure, which most of us +indulge in, by deferring its actual commencement, he walked some few +paces on his homeward way ere he tore open the envelope, with a blessing +on his lips for the girl he loved, and something like tears of +gratitude, affection, and happiness starting to his eyes. + +These started back again, however, and clustered like icicles round his +heart, while he read the following terse and explicit communication: + + "DEAR SIR,--I regret that a previous engagement will prevent my + availing myself of your polite offer. I shall, of course, inform my + father of your proposal when he returns. + + "And remain, + + "Yours sincerely, + + "HELEN HALLATON." + +Frank clenched his fists and shut his teeth tight, for it _hurt_ him. +Hurt him very severely, though he scorned to wince or cry out, only +smiling in anything but mirth, while he said aloud to the gas-lamps: + +"I didn't think she was such a bad one! Miss Ross is worth a dozen of +her. O Helen, how _could_ you!" + +Perhaps in all his life he never loved her better than now, while he +swore nothing should induce him to see nor speak to her again. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +DISTRACTIONS. + + +Mrs. Lascelles, like many of her sex, entertained a high opinion of her +own medical skill in all ailments of mind or body. If your finger ached +she would produce an absurd little box, the size of a Geneva watch, from +which, with an infinitesimal gold spoon, like a bodkin, she proceeded to +give you a strong dose, consisting of two white atoms not so large as +pins' heads, dissolved in a glass of pure water, which they neither +flavoured nor coloured, nor otherwise affected in the least. Repeating +this elfin discipline two or three times with the utmost gravity, she +would have been exceedingly mortified, and almost offended, if you had +not declared yourself better forthwith. And it is but fair to say that I +never heard of any one being worse for the prescriptions she dispensed +with such confidence and liberality. + +But if the pain was in your heart this general practitioner buckled on +her armour with yet greater alacrity, and confronted the enemy on a far +more vigorous system of tactics. She refrained indeed, wisely enough, +from prematurely assaulting his stronghold, but attacked his outworks +one by one with unflinching determination, so that the citadel, deprived +on all sides of its supports, wavered, collapsed, and surrendered at +discretion. + +One of the most powerful engines with which she battered, so to speak, +the obstinate fortresses garrisoned by such tried veterans as Memory, +Pique, and Disappointment, was a "little gaiety," by which Mrs. +Lascelles understood a round of London amusements and continual change +of scene. "Sympathy, my dear," she would say, with a comical little sigh +and shake of her dainty head, "sympathy from those who have felt sorrow, +and going about--to good places, of course--with dancing, you know, and +plenty of partners, will cure anything. _Anything!_ I assure you, for +I've tried it; except, perhaps, a broken neck!" + +In pursuance, then, of this extremely plausible theory, it was not long +after the events described in the last chapter, that Miss Hallaton found +herself sitting next Mrs. Lascelles in a box at the Opera, hoping, no +doubt, for that distraction from sorrow which I fear is seldom found in +music, mirth, or gaiety; but which is rarely sought in vain by the +pillow of suffering, in the house of mourning, under any roof or in any +situation where we can lend a willing hand at the great cable of +brotherly love and unselfish effort, which alone hauls the ship's +company into port at last. + +It seems to me that sights and sounds of beauty serve but to add a cruel +poison to the sting; whereas honest, unremitting toil, provides us a +certain opiate; and active charity towards others draws gradually the +venom from our wound. + +Helen had suffered acutely. The girl's pride was humbled to the dust, +and even that infliction was not the worst. Her gods had deceived her, +and her idols proved to be but clay. Frank Vanguard's conduct was more +than fickle, more than heartless; it seemed actually brutal and unmanly! +Since her reply to the letter in which he asked her to become his wife, +he had never been near her, had held no communication with her family +nor herself, but had avoided them all with a persistence insulting as it +was unaccountable. + +Whatever reasons he might have, she felt his conduct was utterly +inexcusable, and Helen endured that bitterest of all punishments, the +conviction not only that her love was without return, but that she had +bestowed it on an unworthy object; had misconceived the very nature, +mistaken the very identity of him whom she once felt proud to know so +thoroughly, whom she imagined no one thus knew but herself. + +"I thought him so different!" In that simple sentence--said by how many, +and how bitterly!--lurked all the sorrow, all the humiliation, all the +despair. The man she loved had never really existed. She must teach +herself to forget this dream, this delusion, as if it had never been. +With woman's fortitude of endurance, woman's decency of courage, Helen +fought her battle, hid her wounds, and swallowed her tears, but the +struggle told on her severely. Sir Henry, cursing late hours and hot +rooms, talked of taking his daughter back to the country. Even Jin's +heart smote her when she marked the pale face, the drooping gestures, +the sad, weary looks; while Mrs. Lascelles, insisting on her own +treatment of a malady she was persuaded she alone could cure, took every +opportunity of administering amusement in large doses, and esteemed no +part of her regimen more efficacious than these long hours of heat, +glare, noise, imprisonment, and musical stupefaction, spent at the +Italian Opera. + +So Helen, watching the business of the stage with eyes from which the +tears would _not_ keep back, while those thrilling strains rose and fell +in the outcry of remorseful passion, or the wail of hopeless, yet +undying love, wondered vaguely why there should be all this sorrow upon +earth, springing, apparently, from the purest and most elevated +instincts of the human heart. She forgot that a time would come +hereafter, perhaps on this side the grave, when the misery that was +eating into her own young life must seem no less unreasonable, no less +unreal, than that of the harmonious lady yonder, in pearls and white +satin, who would take her place at supper in an hour, with spirits and +appetite unimpaired by the breaking heart that, flying mellifluously to +her lips in this intricate _cavatina_, brought down on her a rainbow +shower of bouquets, followed by a thunderstorm of applause. "That _is_ +singing!" said Miss Ross, from the back of the box, drawing a long +breath of intense enjoyment, the enjoyment of the artist who appreciates +as well as admires. "Rose, why didn't I bring a bouquet? I'd throw my +head at her if it would take off!" + +Mrs. Lascelles laughed, and made a sign signifying "Hush!" while Miss +Ross whispered over Helen's shoulder--"Isn't it _too_ delightful, dear? +In my opinion music's the only thing worth living for!" + +Helen, who esteemed nothing much worth living for at that moment, +responded with modified enthusiasm, and turned languidly to the stage. +Just then the box-door opened; and she knew, though he was behind her, +and had not spoken a syllable, that it admitted Frank Vanguard! + +He couldn't keep away! Of course he would not have allowed that any part +of this crowded house held for him the slightest attraction. + +Fidgetting in the stalls, and getting Helen's well-remembered profile +within range of his opera-glasses, it was only natural he should tell +himself she could never be more to him than a humiliating memory, a +cause of gratitude for his narrow escape. It was also natural that he +should take his good manners severely to task for negligence, in not +having called lately on Mrs. Lascelles, and should scout the notion of +being kept out of her box by anybody in the world, man or woman! So, +looking paler than usual, and, for once in his life, almost pompous in +his embarrassment, he tapped at the door, and found himself stumbling +over a delicate little satin-shod foot, belonging to Miss Ross, of whose +presence, to do him justice, till he made this ungainly entrance, he had +not the slightest suspicion! + +"It's a good omen!" thought that quaint and speculative young person, +while _her_ heart too was beating faster than common. "I shall trip you +up at last, sir; and what a fall I'll give you!" But she reflected also +that they would probably go down together; and there was something not +unpleasant in the apprehension. + +Frank recovered himself sufficiently to greet Mrs. Lascelles with +customary politeness, and made Helen a ceremonious bow, without offering +to shake hands. She construed the omission into a studied and gratuitous +slight. + +So the poor girl turned once more to the stage, leaning her cheek on her +hand, and wondering sadly, almost humbly, what she had done to be so +punished, tried to interest herself in the progress of the opera. + +A tenor, swelling in black velvet, was expressing intense adoration of +some object unknown, possibly the great chandelier, at which he trilled +and quavered with unflagging persistency--lifting to it eyes, eye-brows, +chest, and shoulders, rising on his toes, as if, like the skylark +soaring and singing towards the light, he would fain project himself, +his voice, his trunk-breeches, and his dearest affections, right through +the roof! + +Nor did he seem in the slightest degree influenced by suspicion or +dismay, though the stage, becoming gradually darkened, filled rapidly +with assassins, all wearing black cloaks, black masks, black gloves, +brandishing poniards, and bursting forth--as was extremely natural in a +band of paid murderers stealing on their victim--into a magnificent and +deafening chorus, such as caused the very curls of the Conductor to +vibrate on his head, while he waved his baton to and fro in spasmodic +frenzy, the crisis of a musical delirium. + +It was Jin's opportunity. From her dark corner those black eyes flashed +like lamps, while she murmured, under cover of the ophicleide and the +big drum: + +"You've never been to see us, Captain Vanguard. Rose has missed you +sadly, and--and--so have I." + +A vacant chair stood by her own, so close, that her gown partly covered +its cushion. There was obvious invitation in her gesture, while she +removed the intrusive fold, and Frank dropped willingly enough into that +vacant seat. + +Wounded, sore, reckless, angry with one woman, he was in a mood to +render the attractions of such another as Miss Ross extremely dangerous. +His attention being taken off his own grievances, the cessation of pain +was in itself delightful; and I fear he had too little generosity to +forbear the petty triumph of showing Miss Hallaton that others could +care for him even if she did not. Besides, the act of flirting with such +a professor as Jin in the dark corner of an opera-box, however +dangerous, was, in itself, no unpleasant pastime; so, while Helen, cold +and sick at heart, suffered herself to be deafened by chorus and +orchestra, Frank, to use his own expression, "went in a perisher, and +made tremendous running with Miss Ross!" + +She was an experienced angler, so perfect in the art that being in +earnest rather increased her skill than otherwise. The popularity of our +Italian Opera is not entirely due to its music, the best and the highest +paid for in Europe. Its boxes form also a convenient territory for the +prosecution of those skirmishes, which would become actual warfare but +for the nature of the ground on which they take place. There are fair +and dazzling visions, there are soft, sad sounds--most intoxicating when +softest and saddest. There is bright glare on others, semi-obscurity for +ourselves. There are sympathy, juxta-position, a common object of +interest, a necessity for whispers, and a propriety in absolute silence, +which is in itself the strongest possible stimulant to conversation. +Above all, there is a certain sentiment of isolation, the result of +being shut up together for a definite period, that renders people +mutually attractive; just as no man alive can accompany a woman, +however ugly, for a long sea voyage, and not fall in love with her to a +certainty. + +"You don't, and you _know_ you don't!" whispered Jin, in answer to some +wild remark of Frank's, drowned for all ears but her own in an +outrageous crash of brass instruments. "Though, mind, I won't have you +fancy for a moment that I lump you in with the others, tie you all up in +a bunch, and label you 'poison.' No, I shall not give you my poor +gardenia. You'll take it on to Lady Clearwell's, I dare say. But it will +never get any farther than the first pretty woman you dance with. Water! +Pooh! It would wither, poor thing, and much you'd care for it, then! +Well, if you _really_ promise----No. I won't. I never did in my life, +and I won't begin! You needn't move, it's only Goldie. Now _that's_ a +faithful admirer, if you like!" + +It was indeed none other but this devoted swain, who, meekly entering, +and paying homage stiffly enough to Mrs. Lascelles, seated himself +between that lady and Helen, but afforded the former far the largest +share of his attention and indisputable remarks on things in general. + +The mistress of the box could not be said to be disappointed, though she +wished it was somebody else, for her glasses were even now fixed on that +somebody's drooping aristocratic old head, a dozen feet below her. Why +did he not come up? She owed him the less grudge for this neglect, that +she had a strong conviction Sir Henry Hallaton was fast asleep in his +stall. + +Mrs. Lascelles stifled a sigh. + +"It's up-hill work--very!" she said to her own heart. "And I'm making +this other poor fellow sadly wretched. He's like the people one reads +about in a novel. He never complains. I wish he would! I wish he'd scold +me well, and tell me what a beast I am!" + +Touching his arm with her fan, while she made some trifling observation, +it cut her to the quick to observe how his face brightened up, like a +dog's at the voice of its master; and for the first time Mrs. Lascelles +found herself entertaining a vague suspicion that it might be unwise as +well as unfeeling to throw away so much confiding adoration, to barter a +reality that would last her lifetime, for a mere fancy, less tangible +and less permanent than a dream. So, with half-a-dozen kind words, +meaning nothing, she lifted this simple young man to the seventh heaven +of transport, reaping, from her own act, the quiet satisfaction that +follows such deeds of benevolence and common humanity. + +Meanwhile, Frank had risen to go. Carefully abstaining from the +slightest glance in Miss Hallaton's direction, he took an exceedingly +affectionate leave of Miss Ross, and resumed his stall, which was next +to that of Sir Henry, fastening a gardenia, with some little pretension, +in his button-hole. + +"Been on the war-path," thought Sir Henry, waking up from a doze and +observing this lately-won decoration. "Quick work. Taken a scalp +already, and hanging it on his belt." Then he remembered his own +daughter was in the house, and meditated grimly on the deadly penalties +he would exact from any man who should be so rash as to trifle with +Helen; consoled, however, by the reflection that she was the last girl +in the world to yield even so light a trophy as a flower to one who had +not earned it in honourable and legitimate warfare. + +"What's the attraction, Jin?" asked Mrs. Lascelles, with something of +irritation in her tone. "You've never taken your glasses off one spot in +the stalls for the last ten minutes! Will you share the object amongst +us, or must you keep it all to yourself?" + +Miss Ross was never at a loss. + +"It's the tower of Babel, dear," she answered, good humouredly, "before +the confusion of tongues. Did you ever see such a head! There, two rows +behind Sir Henry Hallaton. The woman in pink, with all those beads +wound round her, bangles on her arms, and, I do believe, a fish-bone +through her nose! I can see it, I'm sure, when she turns this way!" Thus +Jin, with her glasses in her lap, with mirth and mischief in her eyes, +to all appearance with no sentiment but ridicule in her heart. + +Miss Ross deserved credit, I think, for unscrupulous invention and +readiness of resource, also for the quickness with which she pounced on +the woman in pink, a respectable matron, whose head-gear, modelled after +that of a notorious Parisian impropriety, was simply such as she saw +worn by ladies of her own station and repute every night of her life. + +Jin would have studied this apparition perhaps more attentively, but +that her whole soul was projecting itself, as it were, through her +glasses, towards Frank Vanguard and his gardenia. She did not regret +giving it him now. She was falling horribly in love with him. How she +would have hated Helen, she thought, but that she could afford to pity +her! + +I have said this enthusiast _really_ enjoyed an opera, loving _fine_ +even more dearly than _pretty_ music. + +Deferring, therefore, till to-morrow the laying of plans, calculation of +chances, that laborious train of reflection in which she knew too well +she must collect the resources of her head to attain the desire of her +heart, she sat back in her chair, and abandoned herself to one of those +dreams which are perhaps the most ecstatic of all visions vouchsafed to +us poor children of clay. + +To repose unobserved in a corner, to drink in sounds of more than mortal +sweetness, on which the soul, linked to one dear image, like Paolo in +the arms of Francesca, floats away, away through the realms of space, +into the fabulous regions of unchanging, unadulterated love,--is not +this a happiness to which the joy of fruition, the content of security, +must seem sadly tame and insipid, to which the "sober certainty of +waking bliss" is but vulgar reality, clogging the wings of impossible +romance? + +And now the performance drew to a close. The tenor had sung his _aria_ +of triumphant villany, and his _solo_ of despairing remorse. The +_basso_, having cursed through the whole gamut in exceedingly correct +time, had fallen on his knees at the foot-lights, tearing a white wig, +after the approved pattern of King Lear. Priests, soldiers, friars, +courtiers, townsmen, stately nobles, and smiling peasant-girls, thronged +the entire depth of the stage, while above the motley crowd waved and +flaunted symbols of religion, spoils of warfare, and the banner of +France. The _prima donna_, venting shriek on shriek, with surprising +shrillness and rapidity, had died in convulsions of unusual energy, and +even repeated her demise, after an enthusiastic _encore_; the orchestra, +becoming louder, fiercer, faster, with each successive bar, had worked +up to the grand deafening and discordant crash, which is esteemed a +worthy _finale_ to all great compositions, and the curtain hovering to a +fall, glasses were cased, white shoulders cloaked, both on and off the +stage all acting was over, and the audience rose to go away. + +Let us follow Mrs. Lascelles and her party, escorted only by the +constant Goldthred, as they leave their box to attain the stairs, the +crush-room, the carriage, and eventually the street. + +We shall not need to hurry--their progress, gaining about a yard a +minute, is slow and deliberate as a funeral. At the lowest step of the +whole flight, Helen is aware of Frank Vanguard making his way through +the crush, apparently with the intention of joining their party. In her +distress, looking wildly round for help, she catches sight of her +father's grizzled head above the surface; and, meeting his eye, +telegraphs for assistance. Sir Henry, whose redeeming point is the care +he takes of his daughter, makes no cessation of edging, sliding, +bowing, and begging pardon, till he reaches her side, and thus places +himself in a false position as regards the ladies he has lately left. +They cling to him with annoying persistence, and he condemns himself, +very forcibly too, though below his breath, more than once for having a +daughter "out," and yet choosing to know such women as Mrs. Battersea +and her sister, Kate Cremorne. He must not introduce them to Mrs. +Lascelles, as they obviously wish; he _will_ not introduce them to +Helen, though they would like this too; and how can he ignore them +completely, when he is engaged to supper this very night at their house? +With all his careless selfishness, it annoyed Sir Henry exceedingly to +be guilty of a rudeness or unkindness towards any one, and he formed +more good resolutions to avoid doubtful society for the future in the +half-dozen paces he waded through that stream of muslin four feet deep, +and all the colours of the rainbow, than he had made, and broken, in his +whole life before. + +Ere he could accost Helen, however, assistance arrived from an +unexpected quarter. Picard, who was just as sure to be at the Opera as +any one of the fiddles in the orchestra, recognised his +fellow-travellers from Windsor with a profound and enthusiastic bow, +followed by a smiling approach, in which his teeth, his whiskers, his +grin, and his stealthy yet confident demeanour, proclaimed the "tiger" +of social life, not wanting in some of the attributes belonging to his +nobler namesake, the terror of the jungle. + +In another stride he would have offered his arm to Helen, but Mrs. +Lascelles, warned by Sir Henry's eye, interposed, and seeing no other +way of saving her charge, with a devotion almost maternal, cast off from +Goldthred and seized it herself. + +"Take care of Helen!" she whispered in the latter's ear, while the +flowers in her wreath brushed his very cheek. "This man mustn't take +her--you understand! Come to-morrow to luncheon." + +The whisper and its purport made him quite happy; Mrs. Lascelles had +also the satisfaction of observing something like displeasure cloud Sir +Henry's eyes as they rested on herself and her _impromptu_ cavalier. + +"If he's cross it shows he _cares_," was her first thought. "Ah! he'll +never care like the _other one_,"--her second, and that which remained +longest in her mind. + +The "other one," in the mean time, walked meekly on towards the carriage +with Helen tucked under his elbow, thus freeing Sir Henry from his +embarrassment, and leaving him at leisure to devote his attentions to +Mrs. Battersea, who was, indeed, by no means inclined to let him off. + +Mrs. Lascelles followed on the arm of Picard, who behaved as well as he +could, though he would rather have taken Helen; these were succeeded by +Jin and Frank Vanguard, apparently very well pleased with each other and +thoroughly disposed to accept the situation. + +I know not what Frank whispered, but gather that it was something +complimentary by his companion's answer. + +"We're not the only ones!" said Jin, looking up from under a scarlet +hood, like a bewitching gipsy. + +"How do you mean?" asked Frank, innocently enough. + +"Don't you see your old love and Mr. Goldthred?" was the reply. "Confess +now--honour! You _did_ care for her once!" + +"A little, perhaps," he answered lightly, though his lip quivered, and +she saw it. + +"But you don't now?" she pursued, leaning towards him with a gesture of +confiding tenderness impossible to resist. + +"You _know_ I don't," he answered, and pressed the arm that rested on +his own, gently but firmly to his heart. + +She broke into one of those rare smiles by which, on occasion, she knew +how to rivet her work so securely. + +"It's a case, I'm sure!" she exclaimed. "They'll be a very happy couple, +and I can wish her joy _now_ with all my heart!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +ATTRACTIONS. + + +There are various phases of hospitality on which people depend for +increase of social reputation and entertainment of their friends. One +lady sets great store by her dinners, the excellence of her cook, the +lighting and decorations of her table, the tact with which she selects +her guests. Another believes it impossible to equal her "breakfasts," +why so called, I am at a loss to explain, since they take place after +luncheon. A third thinks this last-named meal forms the perfection of +friendly intercourse, while a fourth stands or falls by the agreeable +circle she gathers round her at afternoon tea. Mrs. Battersea affected +none of these. She piqued herself exclusively on her suppers; and to sup +with Mrs. Battersea after the Opera was to form one of a circle more +remarkable for gaiety, good-humour, and general recklessness, than for +wisdom, propriety of demeanour, or reputed respectability. + +They were very pleasant, nevertheless, these little gatherings. She +understood so thoroughly how they should be constituted, the quantity of +guests, the quality of wines drank, and the dishes set on the table. You +had some difficulty in finding her house, no doubt, even if you went in +a hack-cab, for it lurked in those remoter regions of London which are +to Belgravia what Belgravia must once have been to Grosvenor Square. +She was a "settler," she said, and liked the wild, free life of the +borders. When the real respectables, dowager peeresses and those sort of +people, moved down to her, she would "up stick" and clear out farther +west! Meantime the little house looked very charming, even at half-past +twelve p.m. The delicate foliage of an acacia quivered in the light at +its door; your foot trod the street pavement indeed, but your nostrils +breathed the fragrance of hawthorn and hay-fields, not so very far off. +A flagged passage through ten feet of garden led you into a beautiful +little hall with tesselated pavement, globe lamps, statuettes, +flower-boxes, a fountain, and a cockatoo. On your senses stole the +heavy, subtle odour of incense, the soft strains of a self-playing +pianoforte, far off in some room up-stairs. You were sure to be +expected; no pompous auxiliary from Gunter's extorted your name, but the +smoothest and lightest-footed of butlers received your overcoat and +motioned you in silence towards a room, from the open door of which +floods of light streamed across the carpeted passage, whence you heard +the popping of corks, the _cliquetis d'assiettes_, the pleasant voices +of women, the soft ripple of talk and laughter within. + +You had time for scarcely a glance at that group after Watteau, that +Leda in alabaster, the ormolu on velvet, the porcelain under glass, for, +brushing the deep, soft carpet, with step noiseless as your conductor's, +you entered an octagon room, brilliantly lighted, containing a round +table, on which flowers and fruit were grouped in tasteful profusion, +the whole set off by a circular lamp dependent from the ceiling, and so +shaded as to throw its glare on grapes, geraniums, roses, glass and +gold, table ornaments and china, glittering plate, and bubbling wine. + +At this table were already seated some half-dozen noisy, pleasant +individuals, when Sir Henry arrived. His entrance was the signal for a +fresh burst of laughter, and a triumphant clapping of hands. + +"You've won on both events, Kate," exclaimed Mrs. Battersea, making room +for the belated guest by her side. "It was even betting you wouldn't +come, Sir Henry. Kate shot us all round, and laid three to two you would +be here before the soup was cold!" + +"They thought you had been made safe, Sir Henry," said the last-named +lady, whose specialty it was to speak very demurely and very distinctly. +"But I knew better. Now, don't talk till you've had something to eat." + +He took her advice and glanced round the table while he sipped a clear +soup--brown, strong, and restorative as sherry. + +There were only two people he didn't know, a man and a woman: the +former, stout, florid, bearded, deep-voiced, with the unmistakable +artist type, being indeed a sculptor of no mean celebrity; the latter, +wrinkled, faded, a snuff-taker, with false teeth and hair. She seemed +witty and agreeable, however, fruitful in anecdote, deadly in repartee, +with something of foreign buoyancy in manner. + +She filled her glass, and emptied it too, pretty often. Sir Henry set +her down for an Englishwoman naturalised in Paris. + +The rest consisted of Picard, to whom he had lately been introduced, +young Kilgarron, Frank Vanguard, and Mrs. Battersea's sister, the +enterprising Kate Cremorne. + +What the former had been fifteen years ago, the latter lady was now: +hazel eyes, high colour, dazzling teeth, auburn hair, bright in manner, +dress, and appearance. The elder sister exhausted all appliances of the +toilet, to put the clock back those fifteen years and look like the +younger, but in vain; nevertheless, such was the difference of their +ages, that she regarded Kate less with a sister's jealousy than a +mother's indulgent affection. + +"So you backed me in, Miss Kate?" said the baronet, touching her glass +lightly with his own, ere he drank a mouthful of champagne. "Knew I was +to be depended on, didn't you? Just like a great stupid cockchafer +blundering to the light. You're the light, you know, and I'm the +cockchafer." + +"You must be pretty well singed by this time!" answered Kate, laughing. +"No; the others thought you wouldn't be allowed to get away; but I was +sure you would come directly if anybody told you _not_!" + +Mrs. Battersea attacked him on the other side. + +"Confess, Sir Henry, you haven't heard the last of this from a certain +lady whose name begins with an L. You _know_ you won't dare call at No. +40 for a week!" + +"Why?" he asked simply, and emptied his glass. + +"Why, indeed!" answered the other. "She looked as black as thunder, and +absolutely scowled at _me_. You _should_ have put her in the carriage, I +must say." + +"He couldn't!" interrupted Picard; "because I did; and two people can't +perform that office unless they make a queen's cushion." + +"Oh, indeed!" said Miss Kate. "I suppose you think you'd do quite as +well as Sir Henry. Not a bit of you. He's A 1 with the ladies. Haven't +you found that out in all your travels? Why the _young_ woman looked as +if she'd eat poor _me_, when I only bowed to him! I mean the pale girl +in a----Gracious! Captain Vanguard, if you like me tell me so, or, at +least, if you kick me under the table--don't kick so precious hard!" + +"That was my daughter, Miss Kate," said Sir Henry, in perfect +good-humour, interpreting very correctly Frank's too strenuous warning +below the surface. + +Kate got out of her difficulty gracefully enough. + +"Your daughter!" she repeated. "And a very nice daughter too. How fond +she must be of you! I should, I know!" + +Here Miss Cremorne exchanged glances with Vanguard, and Sir Henry felt a +vague uncomfortable consciousness that the society was too young for +him; relieved, however, by virtuous disapproval of Frank's promiscuous +intimacies, and a dawning conviction that, if there had ever been any +tendency to such an arrangement, he was well out of him for a +son-in-law. + +The sculptor now produced a velvet case of cigarettes which was handed +round, and from which even the ladies did not disdain to take a few +whiffs of the most fragrant tobacco in the world: Kilgarron only asking +leave to indulge in a long strong Havanna, or "roofer," as he called +it,--urging that to offer a man a cigarette when he wanted a cigar, was +like giving him a slice of bread and butter when he asked for a +beefsteak! + +"Nonsense!" argued Mrs. Battersea. "Half a loaf is better than no bread, +and half a frolic than no fun,--consequently, half a puff is better than +no smoke. What do _you_ say, Kate! That's your second cigarette +already." + +The girl would have made a pretty picture, leaning back on the red +velvet cushion of a sofa to which she had now betaken herself, while +daintily holding the cigarette between her delicate fingers, she pursed +up the rosiest and most provoking mouth imaginable to emit a long thin +stream of aromatic smoke. + +"What do I say?" she repeated, looking meaningly at Frank Vanguard. +"That I hate half-loaves, half-frolics, half-mouthfuls, half-measures in +_everything_! All or none, say I. Take it or let it alone!" + +The foreign-looking woman tapped her snuff-box. "You're wrong," said +she. "Everything in life is a matter of compromise. Besides, on _your_ +principle, my dear, you'd have all your eggs in one basket. Suppose you +drop it?" + +"What a mess there would be in the basket!" observed the sculptor. + +"They'd make an omelette _anyhow_," said Lord Kilgarron, mixing himself +a brandy-and-soda at the side-board. + +"Besides, there are fresh ones laid every day," added Picard. + +"With chickens in them," continued Mrs. Battersea, "if you'll only have +patience." + +"And after all, one egg is very like another," murmured Sir Henry +somewhat hazily; "dress them how you please, there's generally a +suspicion about them, and the freshest are rather tasteless at their +best." + +Frank said nothing; but thought of the eggs he had most valued in the +world, their basket, and its fate. Well, he had learned his lesson now. +He must make the most of a pretty painted egg he had chosen to-night, +from the shelf, indeed, rather than the nest, and must abide by his +selection, defying memory, prudence, common sense--defying even the +bright eyes, pleasant smiles, and winning whispers of Kate Cremorne. + +A man who has lost the flower he values most is perhaps never so unhappy +as when he roams the garden to find a hundred others ready to be +gathered, as sweet, as bright, as blooming, lacking only the subtle, +special fragrance that was all in all to _him_. He is far less lonely in +the desert than in that bower of beauty, which the absence of his +rose--be she red, white, or yellow--has converted to a bare and dreary +waste. Young hearts are sadly impatient of sorrow. Like young horses +first put in harness, they are given to fret and bounce, and dash at any +distraction which serves to divert their thoughts from the collar and +the curb. Frank felt in no mood for self-communing to-night; but he was +well disposed to snatch at any gratification the hour could afford. As +the champagne mounted to his brain, Helen's pale, proud image faded into +distance, and Jin's black eyes seemed to chain him in their spells. Ere +long, he began to think he was a very lucky fellow after all, and +exchanged jest or repartee with Kate Cremorne, as if he had not a care +nor a sorrow in the world. That discriminating young person detected, +nevertheless, something hollow in all this merriment. + +"His heart's not in the game," she whispered to her sister, as the whole +party took up a fresh position in the conservatory. "Something's gone +wrong with Frank; and I think we needn't ask him to Greenwich next +Sunday." + +Henceforth she divided her smiles between the sculptor, whom she had +known from her childhood, and Picard, on whom she bestowed perhaps the +larger share, appreciating, as women do, a certain spice of the +adventurer, which he betrayed, without parading, in dress, manner, +gestures, even in the curl of his moustache, and the turn of his +well-shaped, sinewy, sunburnt hands. + +Sir Henry fell to Mrs. Battersea, who encouraged him to drink more +champagne than is good for anybody after one in the morning; while +Frank, placidly smoking, suffered himself to be amused by the +foreign-looking Englishwoman, whose spirits seemed rather to increase +than diminish with the waning hours. + +So the night wore on. It was already four o'clock in a bright summer +sunrise, when Sir Henry lighting a fresh cigar as he grappled to +Picard's offered arm with great good-will--expressed his intention of +walking home. + +"Every yard of the way, my dear fellow. Does one all the good in the +world. Nothing like exercise. Never had gout, though I'm bred for it +both sides; and, faith, I've earned it, too! We used to live hard in my +early days. But I always took a deal of exercise--always. That is why +I'm pretty fresh on my legs now." + +Picard assented, as younger men are bound to assent to such platitudes +from their elders; and Sir Henry, whose pedestrianism was indeed of an +exceedingly intermittent nature, puffed a volume of smoke in the rosy +face of morning, and proceeding with his reflections. + +"Now, Frank and that heavy fellow have gone off together on the chance +of finding a cab. Much better have footed it like you and me. 'Gad, what +a lovely day it's going to be! And what a pleasant night we've had! I'm +not sure, though,"--here he turned round full on his companion--"I'm not +sure we make the most of our lives after all. Hang it! if I had to begin +again, I think I'd go in more for nature. Keep always out of doors, farm +more, shoot more--look after the poor, hunt the country, and never go +from home. I'm getting on now, and begin to understand the old Tartar +chief, who longed for the Land of Grass when he was dying-- + + "And I would I were back in Cauca-land, + To hear my herdsmen's horn; + And to watch the waggons and brown brood mares, + And the tents where I was born!" + +Picard had never read Kingsley's stirring verses. "This old chap's very +drunk!" he thought; but having his own reasons for wishing to stand well +with Miss Hallaton's father, he "hardened him on," as he would have +called it, without remorse. "I don't think _you_ can complain, Sir +Henry," said he. "You've had the best of everything all your time, and +can give pounds of weight to most of the young ones still. You might +marry any woman in London to-morrow if you liked. I wonder you don't." + +Sir Henry looked pleased. + +"Marry!" he repeated. "Marry! I'm not sure that I wouldn't, only, +between you and me, my dear fellow, women in general are a very inferior +lot. They're delightful, I grant you, wholesale; but when you come to +the retail business, as the tradesmen say, there's great risk and very +little profit about the article. They don't wear well when you buy, and +if you want to sell, there's no market that I know of nearer than +Constantinople. I fancy the Turks understand the business; but I am +_not_ a Turk. Heaven forbid! Fancy a plurality of wives!" + +"I'm not sure I should mind it!" laughed Picard--"with the Bosphorus at +one's door, of course." + +"The Bosphorus wouldn't help you," said Sir Henry. "She'd come up again +if she wanted, you may depend, though you sank her forty fathom deep, +with a round-shot tied to her ankles. No; I think I understand the sex +thoroughly. In my own experience, I've found them perverse, wilful, +obstinate." + +"Unselfish, at least," put in Picard. + +"Unselfish!" exclaimed the other. "Not a bit of it! They're twice as +selfish as we are, and that's saying a good deal. A tyrant, indeed, +keeps them down, and so long as he remains perfectly unfeeling, the +thing works moderately well. But if they can get what you and I call a +good fellow to marry them, why he leads the life of a galley slave! +There was my poor brother Ralph--I do believe, sir, he died of +it--married a pig-headed idiot without two ideas, and she traded on his +kind heart till she wore it clean away. I argued the point with her +once. Fancy _arguing_ with a woman, and an ignorant one! 'What should +_you_ say,' I asked, 'if Ralph took you out partridge-shooting, we'll +suppose, and kept you for hours standing in wet turnips to load for him, +or carry a spare gun? Yet you have no scruple in making him accompany +you to parties, which he hates far more than you would the wet turnips, +and are not ashamed to speak very unkindly to him even if he _looks_ +bored.' 'That's nothing to do with it,' she answered.--Such is a woman's +logic.--'I dare say _you_ wouldn't stand it; but then you've more +character than Ralph!' She's married a stock-jobber since. I'm happy to +say he bullies her like the devil, yet I do believe she likes him twice +as well as Ralph." + +"But _you_ took warning, I hope, Sir Henry," said Picard, laughing in +his sleeve. + +"They never tried that sort of thing with _me_," answered the baronet. +"Still, there's no certainty about the thing, and I fancy it's better +to let it alone. Besides, one's ideas vary about women in a regular +procession of decades. Up to ten, we're dependent on them; from ten to +twenty, we despise them; from twenty to thirty, we adore them; from +thirty to forty, we believe in them; from forty to fifty, we mistrust +them; from fifty to sixty, we avoid them; from sixty to seventy, we +tolerate them; and if we live any longer after that, why we become +dependent on them again." + +Picard burst out laughing. + +"A moral lesson!" he exclaimed, "and from one who has not neglected +practice in theory. Here we are at your own door, Sir Henry. I shall not +forget your maxims. Good night." + +The other feeling for his latch-key, looked up where the blinds were +drawn over the windows of Helen's bed-chamber. + +"There are exceptions," said he musingly, "and one good one is worth all +the others put together; and yet nine-tenths of our annoyances, and all +our sorrows, can generally be traced to a woman." + +Picard sighed as he turned away. Men may rail as they will, but each has +a secret image of his own that he esteems a pearl of exceptional price, +an angel far above the common short-comings of humanity. Like the negro +with his fetish, he takes it out sometimes to blame and scold, no less +than plead with and adore, but he always puts it back reverently in its +place, to nestle in the warmest and most sacred corner of his heart. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +A DRAWN BATTLE. + + +Mrs. Lascelles, retiring for the night, or rather morning, on her return +from the Opera, found herself beset with troubles and perplexities of +unusual gravity. Taking off her ornaments, and laying them one by one on +the dressing-table, she reflected sadly on the relative positions of her +two greatest friends, Jin Ross and Helen Hallaton. The longer she looked +at the complication the less she liked it. For a woman to entertain two +lovers, as a game-keeper hunts a brace of pointers, she considered +natural enough. They should be made to range in different directions at +her bidding, back each other without hesitation on her behalf, and, +above all, come meekly to heel at the shortest notice when desired. This +seemed only the normal condition of humanity, and, in her own case, she +had hitherto found such amicable arrangements answer remarkably well. +Sir Henry, indeed, proved wilder than any she had hitherto endeavoured +to train; but Goldthred, again, if not the most sagacious, was by far +the meekest and most docile she had ever taken in hand. For a moment, +she laid down her brushes, smiled at her own comely face in the glass, +and by some unaccountable association of ideas, found herself wishing +this last admirer would show a little more self-assertion, more +enterprise, altogether borrow a leaf or two out of the black books +studied over-diligently by the former. + +Then she reproached herself for giving a thought to her own concerns, +while Helen Hallaton looked so pale and sad, resuming the thread of her +regrets with the use of her hair-brushes, and cherishing a certain +impulse of womanly indignation at the idea of two young ladies being in +love with one man. + +The proverb affirming that "What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the +gander," cannot assuredly be of feminine invention. The code of our fair +aggressors seems framed by a justice whose scales are not duly +registered, and whose bandage does not entirely cover both eyes. "If I +kill _you_," seems the ladies' verdict, "justifiable homicide, and it +serves you right! But if you kill _me_, it's premeditated +woman-slaughter, and penal servitude for life!" + +How many of us are thus transported, without really deserving it, I +refrain from speculating; but I am informed by convicts themselves that +good conduct is powerless to obtain any remission of sentence, and that +there is no such thing as a ticket-of-leave. + +Before Mrs. Lascelles got into bed, she resolved to make a touching +appeal to Jin's generosity directly after breakfast, and if need were, +to back it with all the force of her own authority and moral influence. + +"Moral influence!" the phrase carried with it a weight and dignity of +which she herself felt conscious, even in bed; and must be overwhelming, +she thought, to "dear Jin," who owed so much to their friendship, and +who had not a bad disposition after all, though too reckless, and +dreadfully wedded to her own opinion, right or wrong. + +Turning her back on a ridiculous little night-light, utterly useless now +that morning was already streaming through heavy curtains and +close-drawn window-blinds, she became more and more impressed with the +difficulty of her task, as she courted sleep in vain. So many instances +recurred to her of Jin's superiority in argument, of Jin's readiness in +repartee, of Jin's independence of spirit and inflexible persistency in +taking her own line, that she was fain to dismiss the subject from her +mind, and let her thoughts wander at will through more congenial +topics--her dresses, her beauty, her widowhood, her rich brown hair, the +Opera, the fiddles, the conductor's gloves, the tenor's eye-brows, +Goldthred's good night, Sir Henry's back, a haze of lights, music, +attentions, admiration, whiskers, boots and broadcloth, fading dimly +into chaos, till they left Mrs. Lascelles fast asleep. + +Miss Ross, too, laid her black head on the pillow with a sensation at +her heart, so new, so strange, that it took away her breath--not +triumph, for it was mingled with apprehension, misgivings, and a sense +of unworthiness, as humiliating as it was unexpected;--not content, for +everything seemed still to gain, except the one step made to-night, that +yet to lose would be simply destruction and despair;--not happiness, +surely, the uncertainty was even now too painful, the rush of joy too +wild and keen. How useless, how idiotic it seemed, above all, how +contemptible and unlike herself, to lock the door when she reached her +room, rest her brow against the window frame, and cry for two whole +minutes like a child! + +"Not for sorrow, though. Certainly not for sorrow," she murmured, +recovering herself with a great sob, while she resolved to yield to such +absurdity no longer. + +She could hardly bring herself to believe in the reality of the last few +hours. The whole thing seemed wild and improbable as a dream. It was +dreadful to think she might wake up at any moment, to discover that she +had _not_ known Captain Vanguard for a few weeks; that she had _not_ set +her heart on him, during the last few days, till he had become the one +necessity of her existence; that she had _not_ sat by his side this very +evening in the gloomy back of an opera-box, and leant on his arm in the +crush-room, and gathered from his looks, his gestures, nay, from his +very words, that he loved her. _Her_, the outcast, the adventurer, the +woman warring and warred against, who had vowed vengeance for her +wrongs, on the whole of his base and treacherous sex. Ah! if she were +indeed to wake and find so cold a reality awaiting her, would it not be +better to end it all and go to sleep for ever? No; like a ray of light +through a cloud, like a breath of air in the noon-day heat, like the +song of a bird in a desert-place, came the recollection of her boy. What +had she done to be so blessed? To have found her child, to have found +her heart, to have found, even at the same moment, the love that makes a +woman humble, and the love that makes a woman proud! It seemed too much, +and, for a space, Jin was so happy that she felt almost good. + +In such a frame of mind people's slumbers are light and easily +disturbed. Long before the maid came in to call her, Miss Ross was wide +awake, and shaping for herself a plan, to be facilitated, and even +rendered necessary, by subsequent events. + +Breakfast at No. 40 was a late and unpunctual meal. It was laid in the +boudoir, and each lady dawdling into that apartment at her own time, +rang independently for the strip of dry toast and cup of coffee that +constituted her repast. Miss Ross, earlier than usual, was surprised to +find her hostess already down, making pretence of breakfasting, with +obvious want of appetite, and a restlessness of manner denoting that +uncomfortable state of mind which the sufferer calls "worry," and the +bystander "fuss." + +Jin entered radiant. Fresh from her bath and morning toilet, she had +even a tinge of colour in her cheek, the one thing usually wanting to +complete her beauty. There was a light, too, dancing in her eyes, a +buoyancy in her step and gesture, a sparkle, as it were, of joy and +triumph in her whole bearing, that did not escape the notice of her +friend. + +"Late hours seem to suit you, my dear," said Mrs. Lascelles languidly. +"I never saw you looking so well." + +"I am a fool about music," answered the other demurely, "and I did enjoy +the opera last night more than I can describe." + +"The opera," asked Mrs. Lascelles quietly, "or the company?" + +Jin must have been hard hit, for she actually blushed. + +"Both, of course," was her reply. "Everything is pleasanter, I suppose, +when it's done with pleasant people." + +The tone was rather too careless, and her hand shook while she poured +out a cup of coffee. Mrs. Lascelles, noticing this trepidation, felt her +heart sink within her. + +"The company was pleasant enough last night," said she, "as far as _our_ +box was concerned; but I don't think people all amused themselves +equally. Helen, for instance, seemed bored to death. She does _not_ look +well, and I am sure she is not happy. I'm very fond of her, Jin, and so +are you. What _is_ it, do you think? and how can we do her good?" + +These ladies were not fairly matched. Mrs. Lascelles became flurried and +nervous as she neared the point of collision. Miss Ross, on the +contrary, grew steadier and cooler with the immediate approach of +danger. + +"I don't think Helen knows her own mind," she replied; "girls very +seldom do. You must surely have observed in your personal experience, +Rose, that + + "Too many lovers will puzzle a maid." + +Mrs. Lascelles accepted the implied compliment with a forced smile, but +it did not turn her from her object. + +"Helen is unlike most girls," she answered; "and I don't fancy any +number of lovers would make amends to her for losing the one she has set +her heart on. People are so different, you know, and Helen's is one of +those deep, quiet, reserved natures that suffer awfully, though they +suffer in silence. I think, Jin, between you and me, that Helen likes +Somebody, and that Somebody would like her if it wasn't for Somebody +else!" + +Though almost sublime in its ambiguity, Miss Ross understood this "dark +sentence" perfectly, and scorned to affect misconception of its purport. + +"You mean Captain Vanguard!" She came out with his name in a burst of +defiance. "Well, how can I help _that_?" + +"Oh, Jin, as you are strong be merciful!" pleaded Mrs. Lascelles. "You +know your own power. You know you are one of the most taking creatures +in the world if you only try. Look at Uncle Joseph, look at even Mr. +Goldthred, though I consider him the truest of the true. Look at Sir +Henry. To be sure, it's no compliment from _him_, for he's the same to +everybody. Look at all the men who come near us. You needn't even take +the trouble of shooting, like Mr. Picard's American colonel and his +squirrel--down they come at once. Can't you let this squirrel alone? +Can't you leave him to Helen, dear? Everybody will be so pleased, and I +should be _so_ much obliged to you, Jin, if you would!" + +Miss Ross laughed. "The last is certainly a strong inducement," said +she; "but it seems to me you are leaving the squirrel's own inclinations +out of the question. Because he comes down for Colonel Crockett, does it +follow he'll be so obliging to everybody else? I suppose Frank--I mean +Captain Vanguard--has a perfect right to talk to me instead of Miss +Hallaton, if he is more amused in my society than in hers." + +"Amused!" repeated Mrs. Lascelles, growing warm. "This is no question of +amusement. It is a life's happiness or misery for two people who ought +never to have been interfered with. You have no right to supplant her; +you have no right to trifle with _him_!" + +"Suppose I am _not_ trifling," retorted the other. "Suppose I am in +earnest, just for once, by way of change. You have complimented me on my +powers, in sport. Do you think I should be a less dangerous enemy, Rose, +if I were fighting for my life?" + +"You remember our agreement," exclaimed Mrs. Lascelles with rising +colour, and a shake in her voice, denoting wrath no less than a nervous +dread of its indulgence. "You are not acting fairly by me; you're not +acting fairly by any of us. If you turn round now, after what you've +told me, after what we agreed, I can never trust you again, Jin. I shall +think you've been sailing under false colours all through." + +"Explain yourself, Rose," said Miss Ross, very quietly, but with an +ominously steady expression about the lower part of her face, in strong +contrast with the quivering lips and tremulous chin of her companion. + +"You ought to see it yourself," whimpered the latter, now in a sore +predicament between her feelings of friendship and generosity. "I shall +say something to be sorry for afterwards. I know I shall. You'll drive +me to it, Jin! and when I am driven, I can't and won't stop!" + +"You seem to expect that my thoughts, feelings, and opinions are to be +under your control, as you would have my actions and conversation," was +the grave and rather stern rejoinder. "This is not dependence, Mrs. +Lascelles, but slavery. You are not only unkind, but unreasonable and +unjust." + +Mrs. Lascelles turned very red. She was now obviously "driven," as she +called it, and not likely to stop. + +"What I expect," she retorted, "is nothing to the purpose; for there +seems little chance of my obtaining it. What I _insist_ on is common +propriety of demeanour and the merest fair-play. You would never have +met these people at all--you would never have been in a position to know +any one of them, but for _me_. You are received amongst them +as--as--like anybody else, and you throw down the apple of discord to +set us all at sixes and sevens. You seem to forget, Miss Ross, that your +victims are my personal friends." + +"And what am I?" retorted Jin, with an angry flash from her black eyes. +"Something between a companion and a servant! A piece of furniture good +enough for the drawing-room, though occasionally useful in the kitchen! +The obligations are not perhaps so entirely on one side as you would +like to make out. When people hunt in couples, a good deal may be done +that it would be madness to attempt singly. It cannot but be convenient +for an independent lady to have a friend at her elbow who is always well +disposed, always ready to go anywhere, or do anything, generally +good-tempered, and, above all, afflicted with an intermittent defect of +sight or hearing as required. I think I have earned my wages, and +returned adequate value in kind for board and lodging--both, I must +admit of the best--and treatment, I am happy to think, of the kindest +and most considerate, till to-day!" + +Touched to the quick by this last reproach, Mrs. Lascelles was already +crying vehemently. + +"It's not that!" she sobbed out. "It's not that! I don't want to remind +you of anything that's past and gone. But you ought to do what I ask you +in common gratitude because--because--you know you ought!" + +Seeing the adversary wavering, Miss Ross stood firm to her guns. + +"Gratitude," said she, "is one thing, and obedience another. I admit +that I owe the first, and hoped I had shown some consciousness of the +debt. The last is a different question, and I am not naturally very +submissive. But, come. Let us have a clear understanding. I am ready to +receive your orders!" + +"Orders!" Mrs. Lascelles fired up once more. "You've no right to put it +in that way. But it's no use talking the thing over backwards and +forwards. You've barely known him a fortnight. In plain English, will +you or will you _not_ give Frank Vanguard up?" + +Jin laughed scornfully. + +"Suppose he won't give _me_ up?" + +"That's nothing to do with it," retorted the other. "Once for all, Miss +Ross, will you or will you _not_?" + +"No, I won't! There!" + +Jin looked very handsome while she thus raised the standard of revolt, +with her head up, her eyes flashing, and a little spot of colour in each +cheek. + +Mrs. Lascelles now lost all control over her temper. Totally unused to +anger, she trembled violently under its influence, and felt, indeed, +that no victory, however triumphant, could repay her for the tumult of +such a contest. + +"Under these circumstances," said she, vainly endeavouring to steady her +voice, and assume that dignity of bearing to which only last night her +"moral influence" had seemed to entitle her, "it is impossible that you +and I can continue on the same terms. It is impossible that we can +remain under the same roof. You will see the propriety, Miss Ross, at +your earliest convenience of making arrangements to reside elsewhere." + +"The sooner the better," answered Jin calmly. "I'll go directly. My +things are packed. We won't part in anger, Mrs. Lascelles. Rose, you've +been very, _very_ good to me, and I shall think kindly of you as long as +I live!" + +The tide of battle was now completely turned. It may be that the +conqueror was eagerly looking for an opportunity to lay down her +arms--it may be that Mrs. Lascelles had only meant to threaten, and +hated herself for the menace even while it crossed her lips. She was, at +any rate, quite incapable of hitting an adversary when down, and far +more inclined to set a fallen foe upright, and make friends, than, like +some Amazons, to crush and trample the unfortunate into the dust. She +literally fell on Miss Ross's neck, and wept. + +"I didn't mean it!" she sobbed. "I didn't mean it! Jin, dear Jin, I was +angry, and didn't know what I was saying! I am a wretch and a heathen +and a beast! Think no more of it, dear, I implore you! And promise me +that you won't dream of packing up your things and leaving me. What +should I do without you, Jin? Indeed--indeed--I should be perfectly +miserable, dear, if you were to go away!" + +So the ladies embraced, and cried, and laughed, and cried again, as is +the manner of their sex in the ratification of all treaties, permanent +or otherwise, arriving at the conclusion that their friendship was +imperishable, that they were all in all to each other, and that +henceforth nothing should part them but the grave. None the less, +however, did Miss Ross determine that she would subject herself no more +to such scenes of reproach and recrimination; that she would take a +certain step, only, after all, a little sooner than expected, which she +had already vaguely contemplated as a possibility, a probability, nay, a +positive necessity, for her happiness; and, if he would only open them +to receive her, throw herself, without delay, into the arms of Frank +Vanguard. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +A RECONNAISSANCE. + + +Violent tempests like that described in the last chapter do not pass +away without leaving a "ground swell" as it were, on the domestic +surface. Neither Mrs. Lascelles nor Miss Ross felt disposed to take +their usual drive in the open carriage for the purpose of shopping and +"leaving cards;" two functions that constitute the whole duty of women, +from three to six P.M. of every week-day, during the London season. The +principle of acquisitiveness inherent in the female breast, together +with an insatiable desire to see and to be seen, may account for the +shopping; but why society enjoins the penance of leaving cards surpasses +my comprehension altogether. Unmeaning, endless, and exceedingly +troublesome, this custom seems to produce no definite result, but to +fill the waste-paper basket with a multitude of other cards left in +return. To-day, however, the ladies at No. 40 resolved they would devote +their afternoon to refreshment and repose: a good luncheon, a +comfortable arm-chair, the newest novel, and a casual dropping in of +visitors to tea. + +The luncheon was heavy, the arm-chair provocative of slumbers; so was +the novel; and Mrs. Lascelles, I am bound to admit, went fast asleep +over its pages; while Miss Ross stole softly up-stairs to read one +important little note, write another, and otherwise bring her schemes to +maturity. + +In the mean time, a considerable bustle was going on in Messrs. +Tattersalls' celebrated emporium for the sale of horses--good, bad, and +indifferent. To use correct language, "The entire stud of a nobleman, +well known in Leicestershire," was being brought to the hammer; and a +very motley crowd of sportsmen, dandies, horse-dealers, lords, louts, +yeomen, yokels, and nondescripts were gathered round the auctioneer's +box in consequence. A well-bred chestnut horse, with magnificent +shoulders, and a white fore-leg, was the object of competition at the +moment Sir Henry Hallaton entered the yard; and, although he neither +wanted a hunter, nor could have afforded to buy this one even at its +reserved price, it was not in his power to refrain from elbowing his way +through the crowd, and stationing himself in perilous vicinity to the +hind-legs of the animal. + +"Handsome--fast--up to great weight--with an European reputation! And +only two hundred bid for him!" said the voice of Fate from under an +exceedingly well-brushed and rather curly-brimmed hat; while the object +of these encomiums, whose restless eye and ear denoted excitement, if +not alarm, gave a stamp of his foot and a whisk of his tail that caused +considerable swaying, surging, and treading on toes in the encircling +crowd. + +"Ten! Twenty!" continued the voice of Fate. "Thirty! Thank you, my lord. +Fifty! Two hundred and fifty bid for him. Run him down once more. Take +care!" And Sir Henry found himself jostled against his new friend +Picard, who, having made the last bid with an assumption of great +carelessness, seemed in danger of becoming the actual proprietor of this +desirable purchase. + +"Make me a wheeler, I think," said he, as the horse was led back to the +stable, and another brought out to elicit a fresh burst of competition, +all the more lively, perhaps, that the Leicestershire nobleman had put +such a reserve price on his stud as precluded the sale of anything but a +hack he didn't like. + +"Rather light for harness," observed Sir Henry, with a certain covert +approval of his friend's extravagance. "I suppose they _are_ to be +sold?" he added, on further reflection. + +"I conclude so, of course," replied the other, though he well knew they +were _not_, and had been bidding pompously for some half-dozen with the +comfortable conviction that there was nothing to pay for his whistle. + +"It's a long price," resumed the baronet, as he took Picard's arm to +saunter leisurely in the direction of Belgravia. "At least, it makes +them very dear when you come to match them. That's the worst of having +too good a team." + +"Oh! I don't know," said Picard loftily. "I always find it cheapest, in +the long run, to drive the best horses, though I do have to give +thundering prices now and then, I admit. Still, things must begin to +look up for us soon. We Southern proprietors can't be always on the +shady side of the hedge; and we've had a rough time of it enough, in all +conscience." + +They were already at the gate, and it appeared this "Southern +proprietor" had no intention of buying any more horses to-day. + +Sir Henry hazarded a pertinent, or, as he himself considered it, an +_im_pertinent, inquiry. + +"Have you much property," said he, "in the South? And do you get +anything from it?" + +"Not, perhaps, what _you_ would call much, in actual value," answered +his companion; "but for extent, of course, unlimited." He waved his arm +as Robinson Crusoe might, while describing his circle: + + "From the centre all round to the sea." + +"But American property," he added, "is so difficult to define. Halloo! +here's our friend Vanguard." + +That gentleman was indeed strolling leisurely into the yard, apparently +with no particular object, for he strolled out again willingly enough +at the invitation of his two friends. + +"It's rather early for the park," observed Picard, as the three crossed +to the shady side of the street, "and too late for St. James's Street. +What shall we do with ourselves for the next half-hour?" + +"Go and look at the Serpentine--see if it's still there," said Frank, +who seemed in unusually high spirits, though his manner was somewhat +restless. "If that bores you, there's always the British Museum. It's +cool, and, I've been told, very solitary." + +"Too far off," answered Sir Henry, in perfect good faith. "No. I'll tell +you what. Let's go and ask Mrs. Lascelles to give us a cup of tea." + +Frank started, and his heart thumped against a little note lying in his +waistcoat-pocket; but, though the thump was for Helen, the note was from +some one very different to that well-conducted young lady. Was he +disloyal enough, even now, to leap at the chance of seeing Miss Hallaton +just once more, and for the last time? If so, he was doomed to be +disappointed, and it served him right. + +Picard, who carried no notes of any description in his pockets, and +whose heart seldom beat unless he walked fast up-hill, agreed willingly +to the baronet's proposition. He, too, entertained a vague sentiment of +admiration for Helen, capable of soon ripening into something warmer if +she had any fortune, and under such circumstances his game now was to +see as much of her as he could. + +Thus it fell out, that these three gentlemen, arriving at Mrs. +Lascelles's door, found themselves face to face with Uncle Joseph, fresh +from the City, who had just rung the bell, and was utilising his time by +grinding a pair of thick soles fiercely against the scraper. + +It would have amused a bystander to observe the effect produced on each +visitor by the footman's appearance and the information he tendered. + +"Has Miss Hallaton been here?" said Sir Henry, whose position on the top +step gave him priority of speech with the doorkeeper. + +"Called to leave a note after luncheon, Sir Henry, and I was to say +she'd a-gone out driving with Lady Sycamore, and wouldn't be home till +seven, if you came for her here." + +Picard, pulling out a memorandum-book, muttered that "he had forgotten +an appointment at his Club," while Frank's face darkened, and he +smothered something between an oath and a sigh. + +"Is Miss Ross at home?" then demanded Uncle Joseph, with the air of a +man who submits to an unnecessary formality in compliance with the +usages of society. + +"Miss Ross had stepped out--oh! _not_ five minutes ago--the gentlemen +might almost have met her at the corner of the street." + +Frank now seemed uneasy, looked at his watch, observed it was "rather +too late to call," and disappeared. + +Uncle Joseph gasped. Did Miss Ross leave no message? For _him_, Mr. +Groves? Was the man quite sure? + +The man _was_ quite sure, so far as he knew; should he ask the maid? + +"D----n the maid!" I am sorry to say, was Uncle Joseph's reply, and +without further leave-taking he bustled off in a towering passion, while +Sir Henry and the footman, on the door-step, contemplated each other in +some amusement and no little surprise. + +The baronet broke into a laugh. + +"You soon clear off your visitors, James. Is Mrs. Lascelles at home to +_me_!" + +"Certainly, sir! Yes, sir! In the boodore, sir!" answered James. "I'd +just taken in tea when you rang." + +So Sir Henry found himself _tête-à-tête_ with the lady for whom, during +the foregoing winter, he had half-felt and half-professed a spurious +kind of attachment, and was conscious of an uncomfortable wish that he, +too, had made his escape with the others, or that it had never entered +his head to come to tea at all. + +She was always gracious, just as she was always well-dressed. There is a +dignity and a decency of beauty, which nothing will induce a beautiful +woman to forego. It was a very cool and steady hand that Mrs. Lascelles +tendered to her vacillating admirer, while she bade him sit down, and +poured him out a cup of tea. + +"I was on the point of writing to you," said she; "but you have saved me +the trouble. I wanted to see you, Sir Henry, very much. I have something +particular to say." + +He bowed, and settled himself in a low easy-chair with his back to the +windows. No faded beauty of the other sex could have entertained a +greater objection than Sir Henry to flourishing "crow's-feet" and +wrinkles in the light of day. + +"It's no wonder I'm here," was the smiling reply, "for I always want to +see you!" + +"And without anything particular to say," she retorted, adding +hurriedly--"However, that's not the point. Sir Henry, you care for your +daughter?" + +"More than for anything in the world!" was his grave rejoinder. + +"I know it--I know it," she answered, and the colour deepened in her +cheek. "Well, now, men are blind as bats, I think, in all matters of +affection; but have you not lately noticed an alteration in Helen's +manner, spirits, in her very looks? Can't you see there's something +wrong with the girl? Can't you guess what it is?" + +He looked startled, disturbed, distressed. + +"Not the lungs, Mrs. Lascelles!" he exclaimed. "She runs up-stairs like +a lap-wing, and will waltz for twenty minutes together at a spin. There +can't be much amiss. Not her lungs, surely; nor her heart!" + +Mrs. Lascelles laughed. + +"Yes, her heart," she repeated, "though not in the sense _you_ mean. Not +anatomically, but sentimentally, I fear; which is sometimes almost as +bad." + +He looked immensely relieved. + +"Oh! she'll get over that," said he, putting more sugar in his tea. +"She's a sensible girl, Helen, with a good deal of self-respect, and +what I should call 'mind.' No whims, no fancies, in any way, and not the +least romantic." + +"Like her papa," observed Mrs. Lascelles maliciously. + +"I trust in heaven _not_!" he replied, with unusual energy. "Helen is as +much my superior in intellect as she is in moral qualities. She has +talent, energy, self-control, and self-denial; none of which, I fear, +can she inherit from _me_. Her sincerity, too, and trustfulness are like +a child's, and she is as fond of me now as she was at two years old. You +don't think she _really_ cares for anybody, do you, Mrs. Lascelles? It +might be a serious thing for her if she did, and I had rather everything +I have in the world went to ruin than that Helen should be made +unhappy." + +"I do," answered Mrs. Lascelles. "I think she cares for Frank Vanguard." + +"Confound him!" ejaculated Sir Henry, upsetting his tea-cup. "A +presuming young jackass! And not over steady, I'm afraid," he added, +reverting in his own mind to certain memories connected with supper, +cigarettes, champagne, three o'clock in the morning, and Kate Cremorne. + +"Now that's so like a _man_!" said his hostess. "You want to keep your +treasure all to yourself, and are furious with everybody who agrees with +you in appreciating its value. Captain Vanguard is young, good-looking, +a gentleman, and not badly off. Why shouldn't your daughter like him, +and why shouldn't he like your daughter? Sir Henry, I needn't ask if you +believe in my inclination, do you also believe in my ability to serve +you?" + +"Certainly," was the polite reply. "Nobody is half so clever, and, +besides, you are a perfect woman of the world." + +"Will you be guided by my advice?" + +"What do you propose?" was the natural answer to so comprehensive a +question. + +"Get Helen out of town at once. Carry her off to Windsor. I can take +upon myself to offer you The Lilies. Uncle Joseph will lend the cottage +to me, or any of my friends, for as long as I like. Give her plenty of +amusement, but no dissipation. Early hours, a glass of port wine and a +biscuit every day at twelve, and don't let her stay out after sun-down. +In three weeks the girl will be in rude health, or I know nothing of a +woman's constitution and ailments." + +"But what has all this to do with Captain Vanguard?" asked Sir Henry, +fixing in his mind, not without effort, the whole regimen, particularly +the port wine at twelve o'clock. + +"Oh! blindest of baronets!" laughed Mrs. Lascelles. "Lady Sycamore, or +any other chaperon, would have seen it at once. Captain Vanguard is +quartered at Windsor. Helen is staying at The Lilies. The young people +meet every day. A mutual attachment, already, I firmly believe, in the +bud, comes to maturity. General _tableau_! You give your blessing, and +will become, I hope, more respectable as a father-in-law than you have +hitherto been in other relations of life." + +"I'll do anything for Helen--anything!" said Sir Henry vehemently. "And +how can I thank you enough, Mrs. Lascelles, for your kindness and the +interest you take in my girl? You'll come down every Saturday, and stay +till Monday, to see how your prescription answers, of course?" + +"Not the least of course," she replied. "Jin and I mean to take +ourselves off to Brighton by the end of the week. If the fine weather +lasts, we shall very likely go on to Dieppe." + +This, then, was her kindly scheme: to get Miss Ross out of Frank +Vanguard's way to leave the coast clear for Helen; and then, having +settled matters to her own satisfaction, weigh Sir Henry deliberately +against Goldthred, and take whichever she considered most deserving of +herself. + +Mrs. Lascelles never doubted her power over any one on whom she chose to +exert it, and believed that, like a spider, she need only spin her web +in order to surround the desired bluebottle inextricably with its toils. + +In hers, as in similar cases, I imagine that to break boldly through the +meshes was the insect's best chance of turning the tables, and taking +the custodian herself into custody. + +"Miss Ross goes with you?" asked Sir Henry meditatively, though I +believe he was thinking less of that black-eyed syren than of his +daughter. + +"Miss Ross goes with me, undoubtedly," was the answer, spoken rather +sharply, and in some little displeasure. "Have you any objection? Can't +you bear to part with her even for so short a period? You see, I know +all about _that_, too." + +Sir Henry never seemed to have any sense of shame. He couldn't have +blushed to save his life. To this callousness he owed many of his +successes, and almost all his scrapes. + +He smiled pleasantly. "You know all about everything, I believe," said +he; "and you _think_ you know all about _me_. But you don't, and I +don't; and nobody does, I fancy. I'm so different from what I feel sure +I was intended to be, that I sometimes suspect, like the Irishman, they +'changed me at nurse.' Only, if I _were_ somebody else, that wouldn't +account for it, after all, would it? These are puzzling speculations; +but I know I _could_ have been a better and a very different man. It's +not my fault." + +"Whose, then?" she asked, bending her blue eyes on him with an +expression of interest extremely dangerous for a man at any age. + +He scarcely marked it. He was searching out the truth for once from the +depths--not very profound--of his world-worn heart, and had forgotten +during the moment that false and fleeting woman-worship which had so +weakened and deteriorated his nature. Looking back along the path of +life on which, as in some idolatrous grove, his every step had been +marked by a soulless image of brass, or stucco, or marble, reared only +to be defaced and overthrown, he was scarcely conscious of that lovely +living companion, listening with all the attention of curiosity and +self-interest to his retrospections. + +"Yours!" he answered--("Now it's coming," she thought)--"Yours! Not +individually, but collectively, as of that sex which seems to be the +natural bane of ours. If I could begin again, I would forswear female +society altogether. I should be a better, and certainly a happier man. +As it is, my life has been wasted in looking for something I always +failed to find. Did you ever see Grantley Berkeley's book? There it is +on the table. I dare say you've never looked into it. Read it, if you +want to find poetry in sport. He seems to entertain a gentle, kindly +feeling for every living creature, wild or tame. He tells a story of one +of his hounds--Champion or Challenger, if I remember right--that used to +detach itself from the pack on hunting mornings, and come to its +mistress's pony-chaise for a morsel of biscuit and a caress. Ever +afterwards, when drafted into another county, the faithful, true-hearted +dog would break away, and gallop up to every open carriage that arrived +at the meet, returning from each succeeding disappointment with a +sadder expression on his wise, honest face--a more piteous look in his +meek, brown, wistful eyes. I've been like poor Champion or Challenger. +So often, I've thought I had found my heart's desire at last! Then I +strained every nerve to win, and _did_ win, too; only to learn, over and +over again, that she had not deceived me half so deeply as I had +deceived myself. Shall I confess that the woman who, in my whole life, +has approached nearest the ideal of my heart, was one whom my reason, my +experience, and my moral sense, deteriorated though it is, convicted as +the vilest and the worst?" + +Few people had ever seen Sir Henry in earnest. Certainly not Mrs. +Lascelles; and she was almost frightened. + +"Good gracious!" she exclaimed. "After such an experience, you'll surely +never try again?" + +He seemed to wake up from a dream. The ruling passion was not to be +controlled; and habit, stronger than nature, impelled him, though for +the hundredth time, to recommence the old story in the old familiar +strain. + +"Just once more," he said, drawing his chair nearer the frail +spider-legged tea-table that constituted the only barrier between them. +"It's hard if a man seeks all his life without finding his object at +last. Mrs. Lascelles, may I not say----" + +In another moment she might have had the satisfaction of hearing, and +perhaps repelling, a fervent declaration of attachment; but, at this +juncture, the door of the boudoir was thrown open, and the announcement +of "Lady Clearwell!" by James in person, ushered in an exceedingly +courteous and sprightly personage, all smiles and rustle, who called +Mrs. Lascelles "Rose," took her by both hands, and, with a distant bow +to Sir Henry, dropped on the sofa as if she meant to make herself +perfectly at home. + +Such interruptions are almost a matter of course. There was nothing for +it but to take up his hat and make his bow. + +It may be that Sir Henry, walking soberly down-stairs, reflected, not +without gratitude, how such little _contretemps_ constitute the great +charm and safeguard of society in general. + +Lady Clearwell stayed till nearly seven. As her carriage rolled away, +Mrs. Lascelles looked wistfully at the clock, and called over the +banisters to James: + +"I'm not at home to anybody _now_, except Mr. Goldthred." + +But Mr. Goldthred never came. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE SOHO BAZAAR. + + +Frank Vanguard, leaving the threshold of No. 40 with unusual alacrity, +lost no time in securing one of the many Hansom cabs that are to be +found crawling about Belgravia, plentiful as wasps on wall-fruit, every +summer's afternoon. "Soho Bazaar," said he. "Don't go to sleep over it!" +And so found himself, in less than a quarter of an hour, at the door of +that heterogeneous emporium. It did not seem to surprise him in the +least, that, while he paid his driver, the well-known figure of Miss +Ross should precede him into the building, nor that he should come upon +her, minutely examining ornaments of bog-oak, at the very first counter +which offered a secluded corner for confidential communication. The +place seemed well adapted for secrecy; purchasers, it appeared, there +were none, while the sellers, women of various ages and costumes, were +mostly nodding drowsily behind their wares. + +Jin looked up from a clumsy black cross set in Irish diamonds, and her +eyes flashed brighter than the spurious gems while, putting her hand in +Frank's arm, she nestled to his side, as though henceforth her refuge +was there alone. + +"You got my note?" she whispered. "I didn't know what to do. My only +chance was to see you at once, and I could think of no place so good as +this." + +"Dearest!" he murmured, pressing the arm that clung so fondly to his +own, looking about him, nevertheless, in uncomfortable apprehension of +observant bystanders, or sharp-sighted acquaintance. + +"I have had such a battle to fight," she continued, leading him into a +grove of waving drapery, consisting chiefly of clothing for young +people. "If I hadn't _felt_ I could depend upon you, I think I must have +given way. I've behaved so badly to Mrs. Lascelles, so cruelly to Mr. +Groves. I've done so wrong, by everybody but _you_." + +"Dearest!" he repeated, with another squeeze. His ideas were gradually +deserting him, nor did he know exactly what he was expected to say in +reply. + +"They all wanted to persuade me," she continued. "They all wanted to +talk me into it; and in my position, so completely friendless and +forlorn, it would have been an excellent arrangement, of course--far the +wisest thing to do. But I couldn't. No, I couldn't, when I thought of +_you_." + +"I didn't quite make out from your note," said Frank, collecting his +wits with some difficulty. "You wrote it in a hurry, I dare say. You +mentioned something about old Groves. Had he--had he the impudence to +ask you to marry him?" + +She turned round with a comical expression of mingled pain and amusement +in her face. + +"Do you think it requires so much effrontery?" she demanded. "Recollect +my position, or rather total want of it. Recollect that Mr. Groves is +rich, amiable, kind-hearted, and, after all, not so _very_ old, that is, +for a _man_. Just the sort of person to make a good, trustworthy, +affectionate husband." + +"Then why didn't you take him?" said Frank; but the tone of pique in +which he spoke, told Miss Ross the game was in her own hand. + +She let go his arm, looking reproachfully into his very eyes. + +"Can _you_ ask me, Captain Vanguard?" she exclaimed, in sorrowful +accents, stopping short under a pair of elaborate blue knickerbockers, +ticketed seven-and-nine. "If so, I have indeed acted madly in meeting +you here to-day. No; let go my hand. Before I walk a step farther tell +me if you really mean what you say!" + +"You know what I mean," he answered, in an agitated whisper. "You know +that you are everything in the world to _me_. That if you took up with +any other fellow you would drive me mad, and that I would rather we were +both in our graves than you should marry such a 'guy' as old Groves!" + +They were pacing on through the bazaar once more, Frank having +repossessed himself of his companion's arm, while he made the foregoing +statement, with every appearance of earnestness and truth. + +Jin stopped short at a counter, on which were displayed a variety of +children's toys in gaudy profusion. + +"What a love!" she exclaimed, pouncing on a parti-coloured little +figure-of-fun with bells at all its angles. "Twelve-and-sixpence? Put it +up for me, please, Captain Vanguard; don't look so astonished. It's only +a plaything for my boy!" + +Frank's eyes opened wide; perhaps for that reason his ears failed to +detect something forced and embarrassed in the laugh with which Miss +Ross greeted his surprise. + +"I have no secrets from you _now_," she continued. "You and I must trust +each other entirely, or not at all. I have never told you about my boy, +but I cannot and will not give him up, even for you, Frank. Take me with +my encumbrances, or not at all. _C'est tout simple!_" Watching his looks +as the steersman watches a coming wave, something warned her to avoid +the imminent shock. Like a skilful pilot, she luffed, so to speak, +several points to the windward of truth. + +"He has nobody else to depend on in the world," she said, eyeing Frank's +face with a touching and plaintive gaze. "People blame me, I dare say, +but I know I'm doing right, for after all, is he not my own sister's +child?" + +Frank drew a long breath, looking immensely relieved, yet conscious the +while of a vague perception, not entirely agreeable, that the last link +in his fetters was about to be riveted for good and all. + +"You're an angel," said he--"a real angel, I do believe. I begin to see +it more every day. At first, I used to think you could be very wicked if +you chose. Tell me all about it. I know you will tell me the----" + +He could not have believed those slender fingers were strong enough to +inflict such a grip as at this moment interrupted his sentence, and +hurried him on to a different part of the bazaar so rapidly as to entail +no small risk of upsetting many fragile articles exposed for sale at the +corners of the different stalls; not, however, before he was aware of an +exceedingly frigid bow from Lady Shuttlecock, a stare of unbounded +astonishment from at least two of her daughters, and a wink of intense +amusement from Kilgarron, who, surrounded by children of all sizes, was +obviously in attendance on aunt, cousins, and relations of every degree. + +This numerous family-party did not affect to conceal their surprise at +Frank's appearance in such an unlikely place and with so charming a +companion. Had the pair walked boldly up to Lady Shuttlecock to exchange +with these new arrivals the customary greetings of people who see each +other much oftener than they desire, it would probably have been +inferred that Mrs. Lascelles was shopping in some other part of the +building, and no further notice would have been taken of the +circumstance; but Jin's sudden flight, the result perhaps of studied +calculation, was compromising in the last degree, and her ladyship, +gathering her brood around her, began to fan herself with a vigour of +disapproval not calculated to cool an exuberant matron in the dog-days. +As her head, rising inch by inch, attained the level from which +propriety looks down on indiscretion, she turned fiercely to Kilgarron, +and observed, as if it was _his_ fault: + +"Most extraordinary! _Your_ friend Captain Vanguard, and, of all people +in the world, Miss Ross!" + +"It couldn't have been Miss Ross, mamma," interposed Lady Selina in +sprightly innocence. "She never would have run away from us as if we'd +got the plague." + +"Nonsense, Selina," said her sister. "She was ashamed of herself, and +well she might be. I always thought her an odious person; and as for +_your_ friend, Kil, I don't believe he's much better." + +"Bother!" replied Kilgarron. "She's his cousin, sure! Mayn't a man take +his cousin to the Soho Bazaar, and buy fairings for her? Never say it! +I'll be emptying the counter here for mine this minute!" + +So popular a declaration was received by the young fry with acclamations +that reached the ears of Frank and Jin, who had retired for sanctuary to +the loneliness of the picture-room. + +"I am lost _now_!" exclaimed the latter, really out of breath from the +pace at which they fled. "It will be all over London to-night. The girls +hate me like poison. The mother's the greatest gossip in Europe. Lord +Kilgarron will make a joke of it at the mess-table! Captain +Vanguard--Frank--what is to become of me? Don't look so cross! What am I +to do?" + +He pondered. His face was very grave--almost, as she said, cross. +Suddenly it lighted up, smiling fondly down into her own. + +"There is a very easy way out of it," he said--"a way to stop all their +mouths; but perhaps you wouldn't like it!" + +"To marry Mr. Groves?" said she, with one of her most mischievous +glances and her merriest laugh. + +He laughed in concert. + +"If you like, darling," he answered, "at some future time; but not +whilst I'm alive. It's my turn first." + +"Oh, Frank!" was all she said; and for a moment she felt she loved him +too dearly to sacrifice him to such a fate. + +But the temptation was overwhelming. So many considerations crowded on +her brain: her state of dependence, now more than ever irksome since the +late difference with Mrs. Lascelles; the awkwardness of meeting Uncle +Joseph daily, and the impossibility of refusing to give him a decided +answer; the equal impossibility, after all she had led him to expect, of +saying anything but Yes; the delight--and this to one of her temperament +and antecedents was not without considerable charm--of anything like an +elopement or a clandestine marriage, not counting the triumph of +carrying off such a prize as Frank Vanguard from the many women who +would be too happy to make him their lawful prey; the impression--vague, +unreasoning, and essentially feminine--that such a step would free her +at once and for ever from any claim Picard might advance on her person, +her belongings, or her child; finally, and it is only justice to insist +that this was the strongest inducement of all--the undisturbed +possession of that child, whom she resolved to carry off with her in +her flight, but whose relationship to herself, it pained her to think, +she must now disguise for evermore. + +Vanguard, drawing her towards him, was surprised to find the tears +running down her cheeks. + +He didn't care if a hundred Lady Shuttlecocks were watching: he wound +his arm round her waist, and she buried her face impulsively in his +breast. For half a minute or so, they were both very much in earnest and +very happy. + +Then she looked up, and adjusted her bonnet with a smile. + +"How shocked St. Sebastian will be!" she observed; that +sparingly-clothed martyr, execrably painted, having indeed been the only +witness of this improper ebullition. + +"It must be done at once," said Frank; now that he was fairly in for it, +characteristically keen and impatient of inaction. "You can't go back to +No. 40. I won't have you persecuted by that old idiot, Groves. We ought +to start from here, you and I, just as we are--swagger into the first +church that we see--they're always open--and get it over." + +She smiled very sweetly now on his impatience. + +"You rash, inconsiderate darling!" she said. "That's impossible. I wish +it wasn't. No. You shall be guided by me, and let me have my own way. In +the first place, I must go back to No. 40 for many reasons. Well, if you +insist on knowing, I must get some more things. I am very glad you like +this dress; but it wouldn't do for one's whole outfit. Don't look so +alarmed: my wardrobe is not very large, and I know where I can have it +taken care of without dragging about with me more than I require. +To-morrow I shall be free." + +"And to-morrow I must be at Windsor--at least in the afternoon," +observed Frank in an injured tone. "Why the Colonel can't inspect my +young horses without _me_ I don't know. The whole lot are not worth +five pounds. But I can get away by six o'clock." + +"At Windsor!" repeated Jin. "The very thing! Now listen, Frank, and I +will arrange it all in a way that will disarm suspicion, and leave no +trace of us after we have made our escape. You shall go down to your +barracks and attend to your duties, like a good boy. I mean you to be +always subservient to discipline. When your colonel has done with you, +it will be my turn. You will get into a skiff, or whatever you call +it--a boat that has room enough for two people, and cushions, and all +that--you shall row it to the very place I got in at--don't you +remember--the day you saved my life? and--and you will find me waiting +there. Take me or leave me; as I said before, Frank, I have nobody in +the world now but you." + +He lifted her hand passionately to his lips. "Take you!" he repeated, "I +should think I _would_! But how are you to get out of London? What +excuse can you make to Mrs. Lascelles?" + +She hated herself that she could lie to _him_, and yet such is the force +of habit, such are the exigencies of a life like hers, the ready +falsehood came glib to her tongue. + +"We are all going to The Lilies for a day or two," she said. "Miss +Hallaton is to be there, with Mrs. Lascelles, on a visit." + +Even now he winced as if he was stung, at the bare mention of Helen's +name. The sensation was painful in the extreme, though qualified by +gratified vanity, and a certain bitter satisfaction in the justice of +his reprisals. + +She read him like a book. If she had ever wavered for a moment, if her +better nature had ever warned her to spare the man's future because she +loved him, all such considerations were utterly set aside in that +passion for rivalry which has driven so many women to destruction, and +by which Miss Ross was certainly not less affected than the rest of her +sex. + +In all matters of love, war, pleasure, or business, Frank had a great +idea of sailing with the tide. So long as things went smoothly, his +maxim was to "let the ship steer herself," a method of navigation both +safer and more successful than people generally imagine. He assented +with the utmost devotion to all Jin's arrangements, even in their most +trifling details, and did not even protest against her cruelty in +cutting short their interview, and imperatively forbidding him to +accompany her any part of the way home. + +"You see I trust you in everything," said he, as he bade her "good-bye" +at the door of the cab to which he consigned her. + +"And do not I trust _you_?" was her answer, with a look that spoke +volumes, rousing all the manly impulses of his nature, appealing to all +the generous instincts of his heart. + +She knew exactly how to manage him. As she drove away, Frank felt that +to deceive this simple, confiding girl, who had placed herself so +completely at his mercy, trusted so implicitly in his honour, would be, +of all villanies, the blackest and most disgraceful. "If I'm going to +make a fool of myself," he muttered, while the rattle of her cab was +lost in the roar of an adjacent thoroughfare, "at least you shall never +find out I think so; and, come what may, my darling, hang me if I'll +ever be such a rogue as to make a fool of _you_!" + +Miss Ross, returning to No. 40, experienced much the same feelings as a +whist-player, who, with unexpectedly good cards, has yet made the most +of them by science, skill, and studious attention to the game. Perhaps, +also, she felt conscious of a certain fatigue and depression, such as +generally succeeds brain-work accompanied by excitement. During her +_tête-à-tête_ dinner with Mrs. Lascelles she was more silent than +usual, whereas the other lady was more talkative. It did not escape the +latter, however, that Jin's manner had acquired a softness and a wistful +kindness towards herself she had never observed before. Uncle Joseph, +too, coming to spend the evening, boiling with indignation, thought his +ladye-love tenderer, more womanly, more attractive than ever. She had +coaxed him into good-humour with his first cup of tea, and in less than +ten minutes had him in perfect subjection once more. Whether it was +compunction or remorse, or only the innate coquetry inseparable from the +woman, I cannot explain, but a charm seemed to hang about Jin to-night +irresistible as the spells of a sorceress. Uncle Joseph, though the +least sensitive of subjects, was completely subdued. + +He took an early opportunity, however, of asking his enchantress, not +without irritation, why she had been out when he called? Her answer +disarmed him completely. + +"I waited till past five, and then the pain got so much worse, I could +bear it no longer." + +His heart leaped and his face brightened. "You--you don't mean you +couldn't endure the anxiety! Miss Ross!--Jin! How I wish I'd known! How +I wish I'd seen you! What! You--you actually started to look for me?" + +"Not so bad as that," she answered, with a smile. "I went out to get a +tooth stopped." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +KIDNAPPING. + + +"First for Windsor?--Second to Slough? which is it to be? I wish these +young women knew their own minds!" muttered an irritated railway +official at Paddington, as Miss Ross, changing her directions with +inconvenient suddenness, blocked the stream of passengers defiling past +his window to take their tickets for the train. She reinstated herself, +however, in his good opinion, by unusual alacrity in paying her money, +ere she entered the ladies' waiting-room, from which, after a couple of +minutes, she reappeared, completely disguised in figure, face, and +bearing. + +She had gone in, a shapely, upright, good-looking young woman, on whom +masculine eyes could not but turn with unqualified approval. She came +out, wearing a double veil, a pair of blue spectacles, and a respirator, +bent crooked, with one leg shorter than the other. Thus metamorphosed, +she limped to her second-class carriage under the very noses of two men, +to have been discovered by whom would have entailed ruin, disgrace, and +instantaneous explosion of her grand scheme. + +Picard and Frank, setting the bye-laws of the company at defiance, by +smoking on its platform, were making indiscreet remarks on the +appearance of the different passengers hurrying to take their places in +the same train. Little did they think, how the heart was beating, of +that dowdy, dumpy figure they glanced at half in pity, half in scorn; +nor how a thrill of triumph pervaded her from top to toe, while Miss +Ross reflected, with what transparent devices these lords of the +creation were to be duped, with what facility she could turn and twist +two great stupid men round her dainty little finger. She did not so much +mind Frank. Had he been alone, they might have journeyed amicably down +together, but she dreaded recognition by his companion; above all she +dreaded that Picard might have the same object as herself, might be +going out of town for the express purpose of visiting the child. Even in +this case, however, she felt a proud confidence in her own powers of +outwitting them all; conscious, that like an Indian amongst the rapids, +she could steer to an inch, undismayed by any danger, however imminent, +that did not actually overwhelm her bark, taking a keen wild pleasure in +the very destruction she invited only to elude. Sitting opposite a +motherly woman, with a basket, who sucked peppermint as a sailor "turns +his quid," she found herself almost wishing she had taken her place +boldly in the next carriage, which a strong odour of tobacco-smoke bade +her infer was occupied by two men, both of whom she had successively +fancied she loved. + +Their conversation would have interested her no doubt. Having taken a +great liking to Frank, ever since the opportune appearance of that +champion on the night he was assailed, Picard had confided to him the +whole history of a certain attraction that drew him so often to Windsor, +and was now deep in a dissertation on the trustworthiness of Mrs. Mole, +and the endearing qualities of her charge. + +"Such a little brick, Captain," said the Confederate officer, between +the puffs of an enormous cigar. "Such quality, such gumption, such grit, +I wouldn't have believed could be found in a child, not if you raised +'em by steam! To see the critter's face when he lifts the latch, to let +me in--he can just reach it, and very proud he is to be so tall. To hear +him crow, and halloo, and sing 'Hail, Columbia!' 'God save the Queen' +'Rule Britannia' and 'Yankee Doodle.' He's got 'em all as ready as +sharp-shooting, and as correct--as correct, as a barrel organ! It's my +belief that child is destined to be a great man, Captain. He's gifted +with adaptability, sir, and is what we call _capable_. That old woman +I've trusted with him seems honest as the day, and does her duty by the +varment _well_. Health, of course, at present, is the first +consideration; but _you_ see, when he gets a little older, if I don't +give that boy an education, to fit him for any profession or position on +earth--from stoker on this broad gauge railway to President of the +United States! that's what I call bringing up a child in the way it +should go." + +Frank tried to appear more interested than he really felt. + +"Exactly," said he; "and so whichever way he goes afterwards, must be +the right one. It's an excellent plan, no doubt; but, I confess, I +shouldn't have thought of it myself." + +"They understand the question of education better on the other side of +the Atlantic," continued Picard, in perfect good faith; "they go ahead +there to some purpose in most things, but when they're working 'social +science,' as they call it, the way they get the steam up is a caution! +Well, I've concluded to take my own plan with the young one--I feel I've +a right, for I couldn't love the boy better if he was my son ten times +over. Ah! I sometimes think, Captain, I should have been a happier man +if I had been a better one. Loafing is like smuggling, it don't pay in +the long run. A contraband cargo is an awful risk, and a very uncertain +profit; and yet, I doubt if it's a good thing, either, for a man to +marry too early in life." + +"Premature, eh?" answered Frank, not much encouraged, while conscious of +feeling unpleasantly nervous, as he approached alike the termination of +his journey and his bachelorhood. "Of course--certainly--thanks--yes, I +will have another cigar--it brings him up short, I take it--settles him, +as you may say, once for all." + +Picard laughed. "Women _un_settle a chap sometimes," said he, "and bring +him up short enough too, for that matter. I've tried it every way, and I +only know I've always been wrong; but I sometimes think I could do +better if I'd another chance. That's an uncommon likely girl now, that +Miss Hallaton, as they call her. I wonder if I could do any good in +those diggings. You know the family well, Captain; what do you think?" + +Frank could hardly conceal his annoyance, though it was sad to reflect +that after all he had no right to be angry. Loyal enough still to revere +the flag he had deserted, he answered somewhat stiffly. + +"Sir Henry looks very high for his daughter, and I should think Miss +Hallaton herself would be more fastidious, more difficult to please, +than most people." + +Picard seemed in no way disconcerted. A life of adventure soon produces +a habit of underrating difficulties, and a tendency to risk all for the +chance of winning a part. I am not sure but that a spice of this kind of +recklessness is appreciated by women, and that "nothing venture, nothing +have," is a maxim which holds good in love, quite as much as in other +affairs of life. + +"Oh! I could get on well enough with the old man," said he; "there's a +freemasonry amongst fellows of his stamp and mine. I consider Sir Henry +quite one of my own sort, and, indeed, I've sounded him. Well, perhaps I +can hardly say _sounded_ him on the subject, but hinted to him that he +and I might do a smartish stroke of business if we put our money and our +brains together, and played a little into each other's hands. It's the +girl that beats _me_, Captain; that's where I'm at sea. She's got a +high-handed way with her that I can't make head against at all, and I'm +not easily dashed, far from it. The young woman's uneasy in herself, +too. There's something on her mind. I saw it from the first. The best +thing she can do, in my opinion, would be to marry some smart, likely +young chap, who would take her abroad for a spell till her colour came +back, and the nonsense was driven out of her head. I should like to be +_him_ uncommon! But I don't see my way." + +There was much of bitter to Frank in this simple, confidential talk, +dashed, nevertheless, with a something of sweet and subtle poison, that +ought to have warned him he had no right to pledge himself to one woman +while he could thus be affected by the mere name of another. Strange to +say, he felt that Picard now constituted a link between himself and that +past life which after to-day must be put out of sight for ever, and he +clung to the Confederate officer accordingly. + +"You'll come to luncheon at the barracks, of course," said he, throwing +the end of his cigar out at the window. "I must be there till five or +six o'clock to parade my young horses for the Colonel. Why he wants to +see them to-day I don't know, considering he bought them all himself, +and a very moderate lot they are. But, anyhow, _there_ I shall be till +five at the earliest." + +"Luncheon," repeated Picard reflectively; "I don't care if I do. I'm +generally peckish about two o'clock, and Britishers _do_ dine +unnaturally late. I'll go and see the boy first, come back to feed with +you, and take a look at the young horses afterwards. How long now, +Captain, do you estimate that it takes to get a trooper fit for duty?" + +"How long?" repeated the other, who could be eloquent on this congenial +theme. "Why, two years at the very least. And even then half of them are +not properly mouthed for common field movements, certainly not for +parade. Why, I've seen a squadron of Austrian cuirassiers march off at a +walk, every horse beginning like a foot soldier with his near leg, and I +don't know why our cavalry should be worse drilled than theirs. One of +my troop was actually run away with last year at a review, and I felt as +much ashamed as if he had run away in action! No; what I want is to see +more rides and fewer foot-parades, the men less bothered and the horses +better broke." + +"Well, you _do_ take an unconscionable time over everything in this old, +slow, and sure country," answered Picard. "Why, if we'd wanted two +years, or two months either, to get our cattle fit for service, none of +Stuart's best things would have come off at all. In ten days, Captain, +ten days at most, I'd every horse in my squadron as steady as a +time-piece, and as handy as a cotton-picker. I wish I could have shown +you 'Stonewall.' I called him 'Stonewall' after Jackson, you may be +sure. A great, slapping chestnut, sixteen hands high, and up to carrying +two hundred pounds weight. Before I'd ridden him a week he'd lift a +glove like a retriever, and walk on his hind legs like a poodle. I could +tell you things of that horse that I'll defy _you_, or any man to +believe! I was riding him on the twenty-first of----Halloo! here we are +at Slough. What a queer old woman, hobbling along the platform! Now, +that's the sort of figure you wouldn't see from one end of the States to +the other. Where do you suppose they raised her, and what do you think +she is?" + +"Somebody's aunt, I should say," answered Frank carelessly, hardly +vouchsafing a glance, as the train moved on; and Miss Ross drew a long +breath of relief to find herself safe and undiscovered at Slough +Station, within a few miles of her boy. + +She thought well, however, to retain her disguise for the present, +feeling such confidence in its efficiency that she regretted the first +impulse of panic when she saw Picard should have prompted her to alter +her destination. She reflected that, had she gone on to Windsor, she +could have made sure of his proceedings, while remaining herself +unrecognised, and that it would have been simpler and less trouble to +watch the hawk than the nest. She must hover round the latter now, and +so baffle this bird of prey, even in the very neighbourhood of its +quarry. + +So Miss Ross, putting more deformity into her figure, more limp into her +gait, shrouding herself more sedulously in her veils, her spectacles, +and her respirator, seized on a job-carriage she found unoccupied, and +ordered its driver to proceed leisurely in the direction of The Lilies. +She was glad to have half-an-hour's quiet, in which to think over her +plans, undisturbed by the jingling of this unassuming conveyance, and +felt her courage rising, her wits growing brighter, as the moments drew +near to test the steadiness of the one and the quickness of the other. + +It was a part of Jin's character, on which she prided herself not a +little, that come what might she was always "equal to the occasion." As +Picard said of her long ago, soon after that form of marriage which the +woman believed to have been an imposition, and the man considered no +more binding than any other contract it suited his convenience to +dissolve, "she could dive deeper, and come up drier" than most people. +Notwithstanding the desperate nature of the plunge she was now +contemplating, Jin had no misgivings but that she would reappear on the +surface with plumage unruffled and confidence unimpaired. + +Dismissing her fly at the gate of The Lilies, thereby leaving its driver +to suppose that she was an upper servant belonging to that +establishment, she took the well-remembered path leading to Mrs. Mole's +cottage, limping along at a very fair pace over the open meadows, but +availing herself of every leafy copse and thick luxuriant hedge that +might hide her from the eyes of chance observers. No Indian "brave," on +the war-path, could have been more cunning, more vigilant, more chary +of leaving evidence where "the trail" had passed. At an angle of the +road, within sight of the casket that held her jewel, an opportune +hiding-place was formed by the intersection of two large strong fences, +now tangled and impervious in a wealth of foliage, briars, and wild +flowers. Here, in a nook concealing her from any passenger who did not +pass directly in her front, Miss Ross disposed herself to wait and +watch. A Berkshire farmer, slouching by in a tumble-down gig, was the +only person who disturbed her solitude; and coming under his stolid +gaze, she had presence of mind to pull a letter from her pocket and +pretend to make a sketch. Watching his figure jogging drowsily down the +road she shrank back in her hiding-place, for Picard was lifting the +latch of Mrs. Mole's garden gate, and a little voice, in shrill accents +that made her pulses leap, was bidding him welcome to the cottage. Jin's +whole faculties seemed to concentrate themselves in her large wild +shining eyes. + +Would he never go? Did he mean to stay there all day? She looked at her +watch again and again, while every quarter of an hour seemed lengthened +to a week. With hungry jealousy she pictured him in the brick-floored +kitchen, lifting her curly-haired darling on his knee, robbing her of +the kiss, the smile, the simple prattle, the little endearments. She +experienced a fierce desire to rush in and rescue her child by force. +"What right has he to come between me and my boy?" thought she, +clenching her hands with impatience. "I can understand what they mean +now when they talk of the love a tigress bears for her cubs. Ah! _I_ +shouldn't have got tired of you so soon, my little pet," she added, with +characteristic inconsistency, when the click of the front-door latch +announced Picard's departure, and she saw him waving back a succession +of "farewells" to the child. + +He had remained with it really less than an hour. To Miss Ross the time +seemed interminable, yet now it was over, she blamed him that his visit +had been so short. + +She forced herself to wait till he had been gone full ten minutes by her +watch. Then, abandoning disguise, she scudded down the road, and, with a +hasty greeting to Mrs. Mole, caught Gustave in her arms and strained him +to her breast, as if she feared he would be torn away from her on the +spot. The little fellow seemed quite pleased to see her again, laying +his curly head to her cheek, and crowing out those inarticulate murmurs +of fondness which are so touching from the innocent affection of a +child. Jin's eyes filled with tears, but she had to hide them from Mrs. +Mole, who, congratulating herself on such good fortune as two +opportunities for gossip in one day, was careful not to let the occasion +pass away unimproved. + +"He's growed, miss, ain't he now?" asked that good woman, in a tone +pleasantly contrasting with the stiffness of her demeanour on Jin's +first appearance at the cottage. "An' he's a-learnin' to be a good boy, +as well as a big boy, ain't ye, Johnnie? Why, the gentleman said as he +hardly knowed him again, if it wasn't for his curls. Strange enough, +miss, the gentleman hadn't but just only left as you come in. An' +Johnnie he was wondering this morning, in his little bed, when the dark +lady was a-coming to see him again, and if she'd bring him a plaything. +Ah! miss, there's greater sense in childer' than in grown-up +folks--isn't there now? An' greater gratitude too--the more you make of +'em, the better they like you, but it's not so with men and women." + +Abstaining from discussion on the question thus opened up, Miss Ross +produced the toy she had bought the day before, and it is hard to say +whether the women, old and young, or the child itself, seemed most +delighted by the shouts of triumph with which this acquisition was +greeted. Gustave, or Johnnie, as Mrs. Mole called him, shook it, rung +its bells, undressed it, and dressed it up again, idealising it in turn +as a soldier, a clergyman, a butter-churn, and, till checked by his +careful guardian, a hearth-broom, with unbounded satisfaction, renewed +at each fresh metamorphosis. And so the afternoon wore away till it was +time for Miss Ross to prefer a long-considered petition, that she might +take the child out for a walk. + +But here a difficulty presented itself: Johnnie had a slight cold; the +evening was clouding over, and threatened rain. It was only after long +and earnest pleading that Mrs. Mole gave her consent for "one little +turn" as far as the river and back, while she busied herself about some +household matters that were more easily set to rights in the absence of +her charge. + +With a beating heart, Miss Ross led him down the pathway towards the +river, the boy kicking out his feet and taking huge steps with his short +legs in a state of high triumph and glee. + +Presently, at the water's edge, he looked wistfully up in his +companion's face and asked: + +"Ain't we going back? Never going back--never--no more?" + +"Would you _like_ never to go back, darling?" said Jin, stooping to fold +him in her arms. + +"I want to go back to Moley!" answered Johnnie, now panic-stricken, and +making up his face for a cry. + +Heavy drops of rain began to fall, and at the same moment a boat, +shooting suddenly round a bend in the river, grated its keel on the +shallows under the bank. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +"STRANGERS YET." + + +The rower of this boat, whose back was necessarily turned to the shore, +wore a pea-jacket, with its collar turned up to the brim of a black hat, +such as is not usually affected by watermen, either professional or +amateur. Through Jin's beating heart shot a sickening throb of misgiving +and alarm. She turned cold and faint, catching up her boy and hugging +him instinctively to her breast. + +As the rower, obviously unused to an oarsman's exercise, rose, +straightened himself, and turned round, he started with a violence that +shot the boat back into deep water, her chain running out with a clang +over her bows. Stupefied as it seemed by this apparition of the man whom +she had watched from Mrs. Mole's door three hours ago, Jin's eyes +dilated, her jaw dropped, while she gazed in Picard's face as if she had +been turned to stone. + +He was the first to recover himself, and burst into a laugh, not +entirely forced. + +"Who would ever have thought it?" said he, shoving the boat close in +shore. "Of all reunions this is the most extraordinary, the most +unlooked for. Jump in, Madame, there is no time to lose: in ten minutes +it will rain like a water-spout. Great heavens, you are unaltered after +all these years, and you have not a grey hair in your head!" + +She obeyed mechanically in silence, folding Gustave beneath her shawl, +who protested with energy against the embarkation, expressing a strong +desire to return to "Old Moley" forthwith. + +Once more in mid-stream, Picard laid on his oars as if doubtful whether +to proceed. "What are you doing with that boy?" he asked. + +She had recovered her presence of mind, though still confused and +bewildered, as after some stunning blow. + +"You _know_ me, Achille," said she, bending on him the defiant, +impracticable gaze he remembered so well. "Whatever happens, wherever we +are bound, the child goes with me! Where are you taking us? What is the +meaning of it all?" + +Picard's face was not improved by the diabolical expression that swept +over it. "The meaning is this," he answered in a hoarse whisper: "I am +helping Captain Vanguard to run away with my own--bah!" he broke off +abruptly, "there will be time enough for explanations between here and +Windsor bridge: the question is now about the child. He must not go a +yard farther--he'll be wet to the skin as it is. There are few things I +wouldn't part with to--to--undo the wrongs between you and me; but I +cannot, and will not, give up the boy!" + +She would have been fiercer in all probability, but that Picard, +accepting the heavy down-pour, which now commenced, in his thin summer +waistcoat and shirt-sleeves, had stripped off his pea-coat, and was +wrapping the boy carefully in its folds, without however removing him +from his mother's embrace. The little fellow smiled, and tugged +playfully at this rugged nurse's whiskers, obviously welcoming the face +of a friend, but repeated his request to return to "Old Moley" as +speedily as possible. + +"I mean to have no discussions," said Jin, in tight, concentrated +accents that denoted suppressed rage and inflexible resolution. "I never +wished to see your face again, and I shall insist presently on knowing +why you are here now; but in the mean time I desire to know what right +you have to the child." + +"I like that!" exclaimed Picard with a bitter laugh. "Rather, what right +have you? I saved his life!" + +"I gave him birth!" answered Jin collectedly. "This is the infant you +deserted so gallantly and so generously when you left his mother. +Enough! He has no claim on you, my precious; you belong solely and +exclusively to me!" + +Picard heeded not. Bending over that little bundle, folded so carefully +in his pea-jacket, on its mother's knee, he kissed the soft brow +tenderly, gently, almost reverently, while a tear hanging in the man's +shaggy whiskers, dropped on the pure delicate cheek of the child. + +"No wonder I loved you," he muttered. "I wish I had been a better man, +for your sake." + +Miss Ross was touched. "_Allons!_" said she; "you and I may come to an +understanding, after all. Speak the truth and so will I. How did you +find the boy, and where?" + +Ashamed of his feelings, as such men usually are ashamed of any one +redeeming point in a character saturated with evil, he had recovered his +emotion, and was pulling leisurely down stream with the utmost +composure. + +"How and where?" he repeated. "Well, the story is simple enough, and +there would be nothing extraordinary in it, but for what I have this +moment learned, I give you my honour, for the first time. I happened to +be at Lyons in one of the worst floods they had there for twenty years. +The river rose incredibly during the night, and I was out at daybreak +to--to see the fun, you know, and render any assistance I could afford. +In the top room of a cottage, completely undermined and tottering, I saw +a woman making signals of distress. Between us lay what looked like a +canal: it may have been a street once for all I know, but a few defaced +walls, five or six feet above the water-level, were alone left. +Excepting the half-fallen cottage from which this woman waved her arms, +not a tenement was standing for some score of yards on each side. I was +already immersed to my waist, but I had to swim for it before I could +reach the poor creature, who seemed out of her wits with terror. +Treading water a few feet below, I implored her to plunge in at once, +and trust to me. I thought she was coming, when '_Tiens!_' she screamed +out--I can hear her now--and threw, as I imagined, a linen bundle at my +head. It fell beyond me, and sank immediately. I dived for it, and +quickly too; but while I was under water the walls fell with a crash, +and the whirl carried me several paces from where I had gone down, not, +however, before I had succeeded in grasping the bundle, which I brought +with me to the surface. As the rush subsided I found the stream +encumbered with dust, beams, household furniture, but of the woman I +could see nothing. Doubtless at the instant, perhaps from the very +effort she made to consign me her burthen, its foundations gave way, and +she fell among the ruins of her house, to be drowned without a chance of +escape. + +"The bundle contained a boy--living, unhurt, and very wet. I have taken +care of him ever since. There he is. Do you think anything would tempt +me to part from him now?" + +The tears rose to Jin's eyes. "God bless you!" said she. "You saved my +child!" + +"I saved _our_ child," he answered; "and I am not going to give him up." + +"Why are you here to-day?" she asked. "And where do you mean to put me +ashore?" + +She was meditating, even then, how she might escape him; if to reach +Frank Vanguard, well and good; but, at any rate, to attain some refuge +where she could be alone with her child. + +He laughed, to cover a strong sense of embarrassment, even of shame. + +"This is a strange _rencontre_," he said. "It must be Fate. You and I +have never once met among all the amusements of a London season; and we +meet now in the rain, on the lonely river, at a time when we ought most +to forget and ignore each other's existence. Of all people in the world, +I must be the last you would have wished to come across to-night." + +"En effet," she muttered, "c'est un rencontre assez mal-à-propos." + +Her coolness seemed contagious. He proceeded with a _sang-froid_ too +complete to be perfectly natural: + +"I came here to oblige my dearest friend, a man for whom I would make +almost any sacrifice. That foreign prince at Windsor has taken a sudden +fancy to inspect a regiment of Household Cavalry in their barracks. He +is there at this moment, attended by every officer available for duty. +My friend Captain Vanguard came to me in the greatest agitation. He had +a rendezvous, he said, for this evening with a lady. It could not be put +off. It was of the gravest importance. If he failed to appear, she was +lost. He reposed entire confidence in my honour. He asked my advice. +What was to be done? I considered. I remembered my obligations to him. I +put myself in his place. In short, here I am, _in_ his place, pledged to +conduct you safely to the Castle Hotel, there to wait till he is at +leisure to join you, after which I am free to take whatever course I +think due to my own character in this most awkward complication. I need +not say that it never entered my head the Miss Ross I had heard of in +society, or the lady whose _enlèvement_ I was to conduct for my friend, +could be--well--could be _you_! Madame, we have met in a manner that is +creditable to neither of us--that is utterly ruinous to one. Can we not +ignore this clumsy _contretemps_? Can we not agree to conceal it, and +never meet again?" + +Jin felt much reassured by this climax, though ready to sink with shame +and vexation at the whole business. + +"You know I am going to--to _marry_ Captain Vanguard," she said, +looking him straight in the face, though she hesitated a little in her +sentence. "Will you promise to throw no impediment in my way--to keep +your own counsel? In short, to let bygones be bygones, if, on my part, I +consent to leave the past unscrutinised and unavenged?" + +"It's a fair offer," he replied; "but I cannot give you up the boy." + +"Then war to the knife!" she burst out recklessly. "I will lose husband, +lover, home, character, everything--life itself--rather than part with +Gustave for a day!" + +Perhaps he knew what a desperate woman was. Perhaps--for, in his own +way, he too loved little Gustave very dearly--he reflected that a child +might safely be committed to a mother's tenderness, even were that +mother the wildest and most wilful of her sex. In a couple of minutes +his busy brain formed a thousand schemes, took in a thousand +contingencies. Frank Vanguard was about to marry the woman who had once +held a wife's place at his hearth. Well, to that he had no objection. He +would at least be freed from an awkward claim, which might interfere +with certain vague schemes of his own that had only recently begun to +take a shape. In those schemes Frank's assistance, as a friend of Sir +Henry Hallaton's, might be valuable. An intimacy with Vanguard, and the +latter's good word, would vouch at least for his position and standing +in society. Helen could no longer consider him a mere unknown +adventurer. Some influence he might obtain over Frank through his wife, +if, indeed, this wild, untoward marriage were to come off. His chief +difficulty lay in that wife's inflexible and impracticable character; +but surely he could bend her to his will through her affection for the +boy. + +"You cannot take him with you now," observed Picard, in a perfectly +matter-of-fact tone. "Think of the travelling, and the weather, and the +ridicule attached to the whole proceeding. You are not going to join +your future husband, surely, with a ready-made child?" + +"I _am_!" she exclaimed, in high indignation. "Frank knows all about it, +and takes us as we are!" + +"Then I may explain everything," said he, pulling on faster, as if +satisfied. "It makes it much easier for me as regards my duty to my +friend." + +She saw her false position, and felt she was now at his mercy. + +"Let us make a bargain," she said. "I would not injure _you_; I hope you +would not injure _me_. I confess I have deceived Captain Vanguard in +this matter. I told him about Gustave, but I said he was a sister's son. +I cannot part with the child. I implore you to let me keep him! If you +will consent so far, and abstain from crossing my path at this the +turning-point of my whole life's happiness, I will swear to absolve you, +formally and in writing, from any claim I may have on your property or +your personal freedom; and if ever I can be of service to you, or +advance your career in any way, so help my heaven, I will!" + +Picard pondered. She had made the very proposal he would himself have +broached; but he was too crafty to betray satisfaction, and, to do him +justice, felt very loth to lose the child none the less that he had now +discovered it was his own. Yet he could not but reflect that so long as +Gustave remained with her by his consent, he had the mother at a +disadvantage, and could drive her which way he would. Frank Vanguard's +domestic happiness would thus be at his mercy, and it was strange if, +with consummate knowledge of the world, and utter freedom from scruples, +he could not turn such a power to good account. + +"Agreed," said he, as they shot past the Brocas clump, and caught sight +of Windsor Castle, looming gigantic through a leaden atmosphere of mist +and rain. "Agreed. We are strangers again from henceforth as regards +Vanguard--as regards the world. When we meet in society, that is to be +clearly understood. But we are _not_ strangers as regards our boy. Once +a week you will write and tell me of his welfare. Once a month you will +arrange that I shall see him, either with or without witnesses--I care +not which. Stay! I have it. You shall tell Vanguard I am the father of +your dead sister's child! Capital! I begin to think I have quite a +genius for intrigue!" + +"It is such a tissue of falsehood!" she groaned; "and Frank is so +honest--so trustful!" + +He ground his teeth; but forced himself to answer with unwavering +accents and a smooth brow. + +"I cannot enter into the sentiment of the thing. You know me of old. +That is my ultimatum. Take it or leave it. I must run you ashore here, +and I can show you the short cut to the hotel." + +"Agreed!" she whispered, as he handed her along a quivering plank that +let her reach the shore dry-shod. "Honour?" + +"Even among thieves," he added, with a laugh; and thus was the contract +ratified on both sides. + +But short as was that by-way from the river to the Castle Hotel, heavily +as the rain came down, enforcing the utmost attention to little +Gustave--a perishable article indeed "to be kept dry, this side +uppermost"--and fractious as was the deportment of that inexperienced +traveller who, thoroughly bewildered with his situation, retained but +the one idea of bewailing his lot aloud, while he held on manfully to +the new toy, Jin found time to arrive at the noblest, the grandest, and +the most important resolution she had ever made in her life. + +It has always appeared to me there is one infallible criterion of that +rare and mysterious affection which goes by the name of true love. "How +many _dollars_ do you like her?" asked a Yankee of the friend who +expatiated on his devotion to a beloved object; thus gauging, as he +considered, that devotion by a standard at once unerring, and not to be +misconceived. The friend, "estimating" that he "liked her a thousand +dollars," proved himself ten times more to be depended on than his +rival, who only "liked her a hundred;" and, in my opinion, there was +much knowledge of human nature in this Yankee's mode of valuing an +attachment. If you own but five dollars in the world, and you "love your +love five-dollars' worth," you are very much in love with her indeed, +and have come triumphantly through that strongest test of sincerity +which consists in self-sacrifice. + +There must have been a spark of sacred fire under the lurid flame which +Frank had kindled in her breast, or Miss Ross would have escaped a +struggle that seemed to tear her heart in pieces during this short wet +walk with all its accompanying annoyances--that made her unconscious of +heavy rain, draggled garments, and unwelcome company--that, but for a +mother's instinct, would have caused her to forget the necessity of +sheltering her boy. + +She stole a glance--it was well he did not observe it--at the hated form +of the man by her side, and all the masculine part of her nature +rebelled in the remembrance of its former thraldom. The thought of Frank +Vanguard's open brow, of his loving eyes, his manly, kindly smile, and +feminine instincts of tender generosity, rose strong within her as she +turned scornfully from the suggestion that he, her own, who had chosen +her so nobly, so chivalrously, should be at the mercy of such a man as +Picard. "No!" thought Jin, walking on very fast, and hugging Gustave +tighter than ever to her breast. "Better that I should never see him +again, than fasten such a clog round his neck! Better that I should lose +my one dear chance on earth, than ruin him, degrade him, drag him down +to the level of such people as ourselves! I am not to be happy, it +seems, in that way; but I have no right to complain since I have got my +child. And yet, Frank, Frank, what will you think of me? You will never +know the sacrifice I made for you! You will never know what it cost me! +You will never know that I loved you better than my very life!" + +While such thoughts were racking heart and brain, it was quite in +accordance with Jin's character that her outward manner should be more +than ordinarily composed and self-possessed. Arriving at the welcome +shelter of the Castle Hotel, she desired a fire to be kindled +immediately, and taking very little notice of Picard, busied herself +with the child and its wet things. He was quiet enough now; but moaned +at intervals as if uneasy in mind rather than in body; but it did not +escape a mother's observation that the cheek he pressed against her own +was hotter than usual, and though it made his dark eyes shine so +beautifully, she would rather not have seen that brilliant colour so +deep and strong. But it was a time for action, not for apprehension, and +she turned to Picard with a quiet gesture of authority, such as she +would have used towards a servant: + +"Be so good as ring the bell," she said, "and tell them to get some +bread and milk for this little boy. Order tea in an hour, and then go to +the barracks and tell Captain Vanguard I am waiting here. I suppose I +shall not see you again--good-bye." + +He took the hand she held out, with something of admiration and respect. + +"Well, you _are_ a cool one!" he exclaimed. "I declare, you're cooler +even than _me_! In a matter like this, where there's interest in one +scale and feeling in the other, I think I can trust you as I would +myself!" + +She only nodded, resuming the occupation, from which she had turned for +a moment, of drying her child's wet socks at the lately-kindled fire. +Picard caught the boy in his arms and smothered him with kisses; then +replacing him in his mother's lap, took his departure without another +word. + +"Where's he going?" said Gustave, making a plunge, to land barefooted on +the floor. + +"He's going away, dear," answered Jin, much pre-occupied, and scorching +the socks against the bars of the grate. "And we're going away too. +Don't you want to go away from this nasty room?" + +"I want to go to Moley," answered the boy, in a sing-song that frequent +repetition on the river had rendered mechanical. "And I want my tupper," +he added, brightening up at so happy an afterthought. + +But he couldn't eat his supper when it came; and now that his things +were dry, Miss Ross was glad to hush him off to rest in her arms. + +When he was sound asleep she rang the bell gently. "I am going out for +an hour," said she to the waiter. "If anybody calls, say that tea is +ordered to be ready when I come back." + +Then she walked away in the pouring rain, and beckoned a flyman from the +stand. + +"Drive to The Lilies," she said in a loud voice. "Shut those glasses, +and make haste." + +But as soon as they were clear of the town she reversed her sailing +orders, and directed the man to proceed to Staines. + +Arriving at the station, she found by a time-table that an up-train was +due in five minutes. "What do you charge for waiting?" asked Miss Ross, +as the driver let her out. + +The man informed and overcharged her. + +"Then wait here for the down-train in an hour," said she, paying him +liberally. "If you don't get a fare you can then drive back to Windsor; +but I shall desire the station-master to see that you remain here on the +chance." + +So, hushing Gustave, who, considering he seemed so sleepy, was +strangely restless, Miss Ross took her place in the train, to be whirled +to town with the comfortable reflection that, till her fly returned to +Windsor, in two hours time, it would be impossible for Frank Vanguard to +obtain any trace of her, while she herself would be in the labyrinth of +London in forty minutes. She pulled the double veil from her pocket, and +dropped it over her face, while she rocked the boy tenderly on her knee. + +It was well for him to have this protection, for Gustave did not need +another wetting, and his mother was crying as if her heart would break. + +Thus it fell out that Frank, flying on the wings of love and a +thorough-bred hack from his duty at the barracks to his affianced at the +Castle Hotel, found nothing there but a black fire, an empty room, and a +waiter's assurance that "the lady would be back in less than +half-an-hour. She'd been gone longer nor that already." + +Picard, of course, having fulfilled his mission, considered himself +absolved from further attendance, and Frank had nothing more to do but +walk up and down the cheerless apartment, fussing, fuming, wondering, +and, I fear, at times unable to restrain an oath. The rain fell, the +evening waned, the twilight turned to dark, and at length the waiter +came in with candles, and asked "if he should bring in tea?" + +Then Frank could stand it no longer, but rushed wildly out to make +inquiries, invoking a hideous and totally undeserved fate on the waiter +and the tea. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +GREENWICH. + + +But Captain Vanguard was not the only person whom the inexplicable +disappearance of Miss Ross overwhelmed with consternation and dismay. +Picard, whom, of course, he consulted first, affected to treat the +matter lightly, vowing there must have been some misconception of +directions, some misunderstanding about the time, while in his heart he +cursed the invincible wilfulness, the inflexible obstinacy that, he knew +of old, would dare and endure anything rather than give way. He did his +best, we may be sure, to help his friend, in hunting down the woman who +had outwitted him; but the track of a fugitive is soon lost in London, +and, with all his craft, Picard's best was done in vain. For Vanguard, +he considered this disappointment the luckiest thing that could happen. +For his own part, he never wanted to see Miss Ross again; but it was a +sharp, keen pang, to think that every tie must now be cut off between +himself and his boy. Even Jin would have pitied him, had she known how +he suffered under this privation. + +Poor old Mrs. Mole, too, nearly went distracted with alarm, anxiety, and +remorse. After running in and out of her cottage all the evening, till, +to use her own expression, "she hadn't a dry thread anywheres, an' the +damp had fixed itself in her bones," she started off at dark to take +counsel of the parish clerk, the turnpike-man, and a neighbouring +cow-doctor; from none of whom, as may be supposed, did she gather much +counsel or comfort. The clerk was "sure as the lad would be back afore +mornin';" the turnpike-man opined "he'd runned away for aggravation; and +if 'twas his'n, _he'd_ soon let him know not to try _them_ games no +more;" while the cow-doctor, not exactly sober, opined "he'd fell in o' +the water, and drownded hisself, poor thing! and now the little +varmint's gone to heaven, mayhap, and don't want to come back here no +more." + +The poor old woman, returning home from this futile expedition, to see +Johnnie's little bed spread out, smooth and untumbled, as if waiting for +the child, burst into a fit of crying, and sat all night through by the +waning fire, with her apron thrown over her head. + +On Uncle Joseph's feelings, when, calling at No. 40, he learned that +Miss Ross had left her home without stating where she was going, or when +she would return, I cannot take upon me to expatiate. Displeasure, +perhaps, was the strongest sensation that affected him, but a fit of the +gout arriving at this juncture to divert his attention from mental worry +to bodily pain, he got through the ordeal altogether better than might +have been expected. + +Mrs. Lascelles, however, grew seriously alarmed and distressed, when the +lapse of a second day brought no tidings of her inseparable companion +and fast friend. She reproached herself bitterly for taking Jin to task +about her conduct with Captain Vanguard. She contrasted her own +comfortable home, all the luxuries that surrounded her, with a mental +picture she chose to draw of Miss Ross, starving, in proud silence, on +cold mutton, somewhere in a "second floor back," and felt painfully +humiliated in the comparison. Then she wondered if it would be possible +to track her by means of detectives, advertisements, "Pollaky's private +inquiry office," or a heartrending appeal in the agony column of the +"Times." Finally, woman-like, feeling she must have somebody to lean on, +she bethought her of Goldthred, and wrote him a pretty little note, +marked "Immediate," desiring him to come and see her without delay. Why +not Sir Henry? Mrs. Lascelles asked herself that question more than +once; and, while searching her heart for the answer, made a discovery +which by no means increased her respect for her own stability in +sentiment or discrimination of character. + +"Sir Henry would laugh," she thought, "and murmur some cynical remarks, +half good-natured, half contemptuous, on women's friendships and women's +fancies. He would help me, I have no doubt, and very likely, if he could +find Miss Ross, might make love to her on his own account, but he would +not take the matter up as if it was life and death to him, like Mr. +Goldthred. I do declare, if I asked that man to get me a China rose, +he'd go to China _for_ it, rather than I should be disappointed. It must +be very nice to believe in anybody as he believes in me. If I was only +as good as he thinks I am! I wish I was! I wonder if I should be, +supposing--supposing----Well, the first thing is to find out poor dear +Jin, and implore her to come back, if I have to go for her on my bare +knees!" + +So her letter was written and posted, Mrs. Lascelles never doubting that +the recipient would answer it in person ere three hours had elapsed. But +when the clock struck again and again, when luncheon passed without his +appearance, and the summer afternoon waned, bringing no Mr. Goldthred, +Mrs. Lascelles could not decide whether she felt most hurt, vexed, +angry, disappointed, or distressed. + +No doubt, if he had known such a letter was coming, he would have +ignored other business without scruple, and remained at home to receive +it all day; but Goldthred had left his own house for the City directly +after breakfast, having no intention of returning to dress for dinner, +because he had cut out for himself some fifteen hours' work that he must +get through in less than twelve. + +Of this task, the hardest part, in his estimation, was the entertainment +of a large and rather _loud_ party he had invited to dine with him at +Greenwich. From these friends he felt there would be no escape till +eleven o'clock at night. + +It will be remembered that Goldthred, in an hour of exuberant feeling, +had tried to organise a pic-nic, which unfortunately fell through from +the inability to attend of those he was most anxious to invite. In such +cases, however, some responsibility is almost always incurred by the +adhesion of a few less important guests, who must nevertheless be +provided with food and amusement, though the others are unable to come. + +For Goldthred, indeed, there was no difficulty in substituting with +these makeweights a Greenwich dinner-party for a Maidenhead pic-nic. +Stray men were soon recruited to fill up the necessary complement. +Failing ladies of higher calibre, Mrs. Battersea and Kate Cremorne were +persuaded to enliven the gathering with their beauty, their dresses, and +their mirth. Picard, who was glad of any scheme to take him away from +Frank Vanguard, in that officer's present state of perturbation, agreed +to drive them all down on his coach; and thus it fell out that +Goldthred, with his heart rather sore about Mrs. Lascelles, little +dreaming a letter from her was at that moment lying on his table, found +himself sitting, in a glare of sunshine, by an open window, overlooking +the river, between Mrs. Battersea and Kate Cremorne. + +Two or three hot waiters were bringing in as many dishes, with imposing +covers, that would have served for a burlesque feast in a pantomime. +Shawls, fans, hats, parasols, and overcoats, lay scattered about the +room; men lounged and straddled in uncomfortabe attitudes, as not +knowing how to dispose of their limbs and persons; a confusion of many +tongues prevailed; and above the babble rose Mrs. Battersea's voice, +clear, shrill, and dominant, like the steam-whistle of a railway +through the puffing diapason of the engine and continuous roar of the +advancing train. + +"I vote against waiting," dictated that imperious lady, when the +probability was hazarded of a fresh batch of guests arriving later. +"Never wait dinner for anybody, particularly at Greenwich. Now, Mr. +Goldthred, don't be shy, take the top of the table. I'll sit by you +here. Kate, support him on the other side. Sir Henry, come next me. I +won't have you by Kate. I know what you're going to say--you'd rather be +close to me, and have her to look at. I'm so tired of those old +compliments. I wish men would find out something new! _Rangez vous, +Messieurs! Le jeu est fait. Rien n'va plus!_" + +"_Rouge gagne, et couleur_," whispered Sir Henry Hallaton, with a glance +at Mrs. Battersea's brilliant complexion and toilette to match, +accompanied by a jerk of his elbow in his next neighbour's ribs. The +latter, who had never been to Baden or Homburg, and whose French was +that of "Stratford-atte-Bow," did not the least understand, so laughed +heartily, and Sir Henry set him down in his own mind as "a pleasant +young fellow, with a great idea of fun." The baronet had turned up at +this gathering, as he generally did turn up wherever gaiety and absence +of restraint were likely to prevail. Notwithstanding his better reason +and his good resolutions, he was fast drifting down the stream of easy +self-indulgence, which sooner or later carries a man so helplessly out +to sea. + +He had now struck up a close alliance with Picard, whereby that scheming +adventurer hoped he might win his way into Helen's good graces, and so +attain a certain standing-point in society, from which to push his +fortunes with a daring energy that ought to command success. Sir Henry +could not, or would not, see the false position in which he placed +himself by affecting such terms of intimacy with such a man. + +The dinner was good enough, and to Goldthred seemed almost interminable, +although exerting himself to do his duty towards his guests; he reaped a +reward by gradually sliding into amusement in their conversation, and +before the devilled whitebait came on, began even to interest himself in +their society. The latter sentiment was due to the good feeling of Miss +Cremorne, who, guessing her host was somewhat overweighted by his +company, and altogether depressed in spirits, exerted herself very +successfully to cheer him up, and bring him, as she expressed it, "out +of the downs." + +Kate did not miscalculate her own powers; indeed few men could have long +resisted her low pleasant tones, kindly glances, and soft, sympathising +manner; for notwithstanding high spirits, high courage, high temper, and +sometimes high words, she could be gentle on occasion, and when Kate +_was_ gentle, she became simply irresistible. + +Neglecting a dandy on her right, who accepted that calamity with the +utmost philosophy, she devoted herself to Goldthred, till they grew so +confidential, that when dinner was over, he brought his coffee-cup and +cigar to a little corner she had purposely reserved by her side on the +balcony. She was so unused to shyness amongst men, there was something +so different from all her previous experience of his sex in Goldthred's +simple, honest nature, homely though courteous manner, and utter absence +of pretension, that she positively felt interested in him, and Miss +Cremorne was the last young person in the world to be ashamed of the +sentiment, or afraid to exhibit it. + +"Why don't you offer me a cigar?" said she, with a killing glance that +would have finished any other man in the room on the spot. + +"You shall have a dozen," he answered, pulling out a well-filled case in +some confusion. "I really didn't know you smoked." + +"No more I do," she replied, laughing, "except sometimes a very tiny +cigarette. No; I don't want one now; but that's no reason you shouldn't +offer it. Don't you know, Mr. Goldthred, that with ladies you should +always take the initiative?" + +"It's so difficult," he answered doubtfully, sliding into the corner by +her side. "One is never sure how far one ought to go, and I have the +greatest horror of being a bore." + +"There you're wrong," decided Kate;--"women _like_ bores. For the matter +of that, so does everybody. Who are the people that get on in society? +Bores. Who manage your clubs, your race-meetings, your amusements? +Bores. Who make the best marriages, keep the best houses, and insist on +having all the pleasant people to dance attendance on them? +Bores--bores--bores! They are in the majority, they have the upper hand, +and they mean to keep it. Shall I tell you why? A bore is always in +earnest; the more in earnest the greater bore! Have I made out my case?" + +"At least you have given me a claim to bore _you_," said Goldthred +laughing. + +"And _without_ being in earnest," she replied; "though I think you could +be very much in earnest with some people. That's why I'm interested in +you. That's why I'm going to give you a piece of advice. There is an +English proverb I need not repeat about 'a faint heart.' There is a +French one more to the purpose, I think in your case, 'il faut se faire +valoir.' Now, you mustn't flirt with me any longer. You'll hear of it +again if you do, and two of my admirers are looking as black as thunder +already. Go and circulate among your guests, but don't forget my advice, +and good luck to you!" + +_Il faut se faire valoir._ The words rang in his ears all the +evening--through the bustle of breaking up, the noisy departure, the +chatter, and clatter, and hurry of the drive back to London--the very +wheels seemed to tell it over and over in monotonous refrain, and ere +Goldthred was set down at his own door, this sentence and its meaning +seemed indelibly impressed on his brain. + +Passing through the sitting-room, he found a letter in the well-known +handwriting, lying on his table, and although a thrill went through +every nerve in his body, I think even then Kate's advice was beginning +to bear fruit. On reading the epistle, no doubt, there came a reaction, +and his first impulse was to rush at once to No. 40, notwithstanding the +hour, the occasion, and the proprieties; his second, to write an answer +then and there, expressing love, worship, and devotion with an eloquence +none the less burning from the convivialities of a Greenwich +dinner-party; his third, and wisest, to let every thing stand over till +to-morrow. And then, while he assisted her to the best of his abilities, +to teach his scornful lady, quietly but distinctly, that he had learnt +by heart this new maxim--_Il faut se faire valoir!_ + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +HOW THEY MISSED HER. + + +So the London season drew towards its close, speeding merrily for some, +dragging wearily for others, wearing on surely for all. It produced its +usual crop of marriages, jiltings, slanders, and other embarrassments, +but throughout the little circle of individuals, with whom we are +concerned at present, the engrossing topic was still that mysterious +disappearance of Miss Ross. No stone had been left unturned to find her +out, and yet, so well did she take her measures, not a trace could be +discovered. Two people, indeed, received tidings of the fugitive, but +on each her letters impressed the hopelessness of a search, and the +writer's determination to remain henceforth in complete seclusion. To +Mrs. Mole, Miss Ross sent a long and consolatory epistle, containing +earnest assurance of the boy's safety, and an account of his sayings and +doings, not forgetting many messages to "his old Moley," which would +have gladdened her heart exceedingly but for the one drawback, that the +little fellow lay ill with a feverish cold, and did not get stronger so +fast as could be wished. To Frank Vanguard she wrote a few short lines, +telling him she was not fit to be his wife--the only good deed she had +ever done in her life, she said, was that which seemed to him the most +cruel, the most perfidious; and all endeavours to hunt her out would not +only be sheer waste of time, but also considered so many insults and +injuries directed against herself. Though it did not entirely suspend +his exertions, Frank's zeal was somewhat damped by this communication, +which he lost no time in imparting to the circle of friends whom Jin had +left overwhelmed with anxiety on her behalf. Uncle Joseph's gout, +converging favourably to the extremities, gave him little time to think +of anybody but himself. It took him to Buxton, where the successive +duties of drinking, driving, dressing, bathing, and dining at five +o'clock, left not a moment of the day unoccupied, and where the constant +contemplation of greater sufferers and more hopeless cripples afforded +moral lessons every five minutes, tending to content and thankfulness +that he was no worse. + +Mrs. Lascelles did, indeed, get hold of some idle tale about Uncle +Joseph's attentions to a fascinating widow, also gouty, and of a brisk +flirtation carried on by the enamoured couple, each in a Bath chair. Her +informant stated, with what degree of truth I cannot take upon me to +affirm, that this promising affair only exploded from the indiscretion +of Mr. Groves, who, possessing himself of the lady's hand in the warmth +of his protestations, unadvisedly seized the gouty one, and inflicted +such pain, that she called out loudly before the whole Parade. But as +this piece of tittle-tattle was related to his kinswoman by a lady, who +heard it from another lady, who had seen it in the letter of a third, I +submit it is not evidence, neither has it anything to do with the +present history. On Mrs. Lascelles herself the disappearance of so firm +a friend and confederate produced an effect that rendered her more than +usually open to sympathy, and eager for consolation. She felt less +confidence than heretofore in herself and her own resources. Solitude +was bad enough, and doubly dispiriting after the society of so lively a +companion, but the sense of having been deceived with her eyes open was +worse than all. Occasional twinges of remorse, too, tormented her sadly, +reminding her that she had spoken out so freely to one whom she ought to +have been very careful of offending as dependent on herself. Of course, +too, she put off her trip to Brighton, and her London engagement-book, +originally compiled by Jin, naturally got into confusion, when deprived +of that lady's supervision. Altogether Mrs. Lascelles felt keenly the +want of somebody to lean on, and caught herself more than once thinking +of her loneliness and her staunch admirer, Mr. Goldthred, with tears in +her eyes! + +Notwithstanding his confidence in Kate Cremorne's knowledge of the +world, I doubt whether this gentleman would have possessed strength of +mind to follow her advice had he been a free agent at the present +crisis; but it so happened that some trustee-business, with which he was +mixed up, required his personal supervision at the other end of England, +and Goldthred, _nolens volens_, was forced to absent himself temporarily +from her vicinity, who made all the sunshine, and, it must be confessed, +most of the shade, in his harmless, uneventful life. Nothing could be +more opportune than this enforced separation for furtherance of the +object on which, no doubt, his whole heart was fixed. Judicious +contrast seems in all art the secret of effect. Surprise, which has been +called the essence of wit, is also the prime element of interest. +Gentleness from a rough, firmness from an effeminate nature, constancy +where we had reason to expect change, but, above all, self-assertion +from the slave too long incarcerated and kept down, rouse us, as it +were, to a sense of our own shortsightedness in matters that most affect +our welfare, and warn us that in the affections as in other affairs of +humanity, there is no solid foundation, no security, no repose. Then we +begin to value this bird, whose wings are grown, and spread already for +a flight. Let her but soar away to disappear in the dim horizon, and all +the gold of Arabia seems inadequate to buy her back into the cage once +more. Alas! that the lightest feather from her wing should be more +precious now we have lost her than was the whole of that gentle, winsome +creature when she made her nest in our bosom, and pecked the sugar from +our lips, and perched daily in saucy security on her owner's loving +hand. Could Goldthred, closeted with lawyers and perusing deeds in a +murky manufacturing town, have appeared suddenly before the woman who +was never five minutes out of his mind, and asked in waking reality the +question he was always asking in his dreams, I think he might have made +himself secure, once for all, from the rivalry even of Sir Henry +Hallaton. + +That easy-going gentleman, notwithstanding his philosophy, his good +humour, and the elastic nature of his conscience, was at present +exceedingly pre-occupied and ill at ease. One may say that he had been +dipped over head in the infernal river, as was Achilles; but like the +son of Peleus, and every other hero I ever heard of, he retained his one +vulnerable point, though it did not lie at his heel. To hit Sir Henry in +a vital place it was necessary to aim at Helen. Alas! that the bow had +not been drawn at random, nor had the arrow missed its mark! + +She was composed as usual, and went about her daily occupations with +the same calm manner, the same gentle methodical firmness as before, but +to her father's loving eye there was something wanting, something amiss. +As a practised musician detects the flat tones of an instrument not +strung to concert-pitch, so the slightest discord jars on the senses of +that true affection which renders all the perceptions painfully +discerning and acute. + +"You are not well, my child," said Sir Henry, one hot summer's morning +soon after the mysterious disappearance of Miss Ross, which Helen +connected instinctively with Captain Vanguard, though too proud to +inquire how far that injudicious young officer was concerned in such a +catastrophe. "You are not well, dear, and you hide it for fear of making +your old father uncomfortable. You don't go out enough, or it's this +cursed weather, or something. We must amuse you, my darling. You're +getting hipped. I'm the same myself sometimes. Did you go to the Opera +last night after all?" + +"No, papa," was the answer; "I was too tired, and went to bed instead." + +"Did you drive out yesterday? I met your aunt coming here to take you." + +"No, papa--it was so hot." + +"What are you going to do to-day?" + +"Nothing, papa. I think----" + +"Helen, Helen, this will never do," burst out Sir Henry, smoothing her +hair with a caress habitual to him from her childhood, a caress that +brought the tears into her large soft eyes. "You're moped, you're +miserable, and I feel as if it was my fault for being papa instead of +mamma. It _must_ be dull for you, boxed up here, dependent on your aunt +to get over the threshold, and she always was the most unpunctual person +in the world except myself. Why don't you tell _me_ when you want to go +anywhere? I'd give up every engagement, as you know. Let's do something +after luncheon. The Botanical Gardens--the Ancient Masters--even the +South Kensington Museum! There, I'm game for anything you like!" + +She could not help smiling, but it was a sad, wan smile, while she +replied, + +"You're very good, dear, and I'm a spoiled girl, I know; but, indeed, +I'd rather stay at home, and so I'm sure would you." + +"What have you settled about the concert to-morrow?" asked her father. + +"Sent an excuse." + +He pondered for a moment, and an expression of considerable annoyance +crossed his face. + +"I must get you out of town, Helen," said he. "The worst of it is I +can't leave London myself just now--at least, for more than a day. If I +could we'd go abroad. Paris is empty and hot; but we might get into +Normandy, have a week at Trouville, and come back by Dieppe. Would you +like _that_?" + +"No, papa," she answered decidedly; but added, with hesitation, "if you +could do without me, what I should like best would be to--to go back to +Blackgrove at once." + +"My _dear_ Helen!" was all his astonishment allowed him to articulate. +That a daughter of his should prefer the country to London, during the +height of the season, seemed simply inexplicable. + +"My _dear_ papa!" repeated Helen, with another of those sad smiles. +"I'll go to-morrow if you don't want me here. I wish I'd never come to +London at all. The girls are so neglected when I'm away, and now we've +no governess they get into all sorts of wild ways. I don't think they +ought to be left so entirely to the servants. Lily writes me that she is +up at five every morning to milk the cows. There's no harm in milking +cows, but I think she would be better in bed, or learning her lessons. +Indeed, papa, I should be much happier at Blackgrove than here. What do +you think?" + +What _did_ he think? To a deeper mind than his it might have suggested +itself that this yearning after home denoted some grievous injury, like +that of a wounded animal making for its lair to lie down and die; but he +took altogether a more practical and less romantic view of the case, +attributing Helen's indisposition to stomach rather than heart. + +"If you _really_ wish it," said he. "Perhaps you are right. Early hours, +in country air, will soon set you up again, and, of course, it's a great +thing for the girls to have you with them. What a trouble they are, to +be sure!" + +Sir Henry always called his eldest "my daughter," his other female +children "the girls," and his boy "the young one," as if the latter were +a two-year-old, just about to be broke. + +"Then I may go to-morrow?" exclaimed Helen, almost joyfully. + +"Certainly, my dear," was the answer. "I'll take you down myself, sleep +at Blackgrove, and come back next day by an afternoon train. I wish I +could stay with you, but I can't." + +"Of course it would be very nice for _me_," responded Miss Helen +dutifully. "But you're not so much wanted, you know, when I'm there. +While we're both away, things do get dreadfully 'to wrongs.' Oh! papa, I +should like to go back and never leave Blackgrove again!" + +With this domestic sentiment, much to his distress, astonishment, and +even alarm, she hid her face in his breast, and began to cry heartily, +emerging in a minute or so with a poor pretence of laughter, and an +excuse that the hot weather was too much for her; as if a grown woman, +with sound common sense and unusual self-command, ever cried because she +was too hot. Sir Henry felt extremely uneasy. His varied experience of +her sex had no doubt accustomed him to these ebullitions, but he had got +into the habit of considering Helen superior to the rest, and it +discomfited him sadly to find that she, too, could be weak, nervous, +and, as he firmly believed, unhappy without a cause. He tried hard to +persuade her to go to the French play that night, but Helen, wisely +enough in my opinion considering the temperature, resisted firmly, and +retired at ten o'clock. + +Probably never in his life, except in a case of illness, had her father +gone to bed before midnight. Lighting a cigar, he walked into the street +and reflected which of his haunts he should visit to get rid of a couple +of hours and shake off this feeling of anxiety and depression that had +come over him about his daughter. + +He was too pre-occupied for whist, and, truth to tell, even in his +brightest moments, looked on that noble pastime as a study rather than a +recreation. So he sauntered to St. James's Street, and in one club after +another sought the distraction he required in vain. There were men +enough in each, but all seemed engrossed with their own interests, their +own affairs; greeting him, indeed, with the utmost courtesy, but +volunteering no confidences, and inviting none in return. Most of them +were younger than himself, and of his few contemporaries, one was lame +from gout, another crippled with rheumatism, while a third volunteered +the disheartening opinion that "it was time for fellows of _our_ +standing, my boy, to be in bed," rolling off while he thus delivered +himself, with a hoarse, asthmatic and unfeeling laugh. Sir Henry emerged +on the pavement and shook his head. + +"It's no use disguising it," he confided to his cigar, "I conclude I'm +getting old; and the young ones are much more civil than they used to +be, but not half so cordial. I liked them best when they slapped one on +the back, asked one for a weed, and took all sorts of liberties. I +suppose I must be an old fellow now, because nobody ever calls me one. +It's 'Thank you, Sir Henry'--'With your permission, Sir Henry'--'Don't +sit in the draught, Sir Henry;' and two years ago, they began to put me +in the middle of the line partridge shooting, and to offer me a pony +when the others walked the stubbles in the afternoon. I'm afraid I shall +never hear a fellow say, 'Now then, Hal! Look alive, my boy!' again. If +it's really come, there's no use in fighting against it. I've a great +mind to give the whole thing up, and subside at once into an old fogie. +I would, if it wasn't for Mrs. Lascelles--there's something taking about +that woman, every now and then, she might almost make a fool of me +still--I like her so the days she doesn't like _me_--the days she does, +I don't care about her; so after all, what's the use? But she's fond of +Helen. So was that other little black-eyed devil, Miss Ross. I wonder +what has become her; I wish I could find out. Everybody's fond of Helen. +Ah! none of them are like _her_. If I could but see her thoroughly well +and in good spirits again, I shouldn't care for these cursed money +matters nor anything else. This place seems full enough. May as well go +in." + +Thus ruminating on his daughter, Sir Henry's feet had carried him almost +unconsciously to the door of Pratt's, which popular resort was indeed +crowded to overflowing, so that several members had established a merry +and somewhat noisy conclave in the street. + +Amongst these Picard was holding forth loudly, dispensing as usual his +excellent cigars with the utmost liberality. Catching sight of Sir +Henry, he detached himself from the circle, and taking the baronet by +the arm, walked him back a few steps into St. James's Street. + +"I came here on purpose to find you," said he, "and I wondered you were +so late. I've good news! glorious news! Our shares are down again! I +was in the City all day!" + +Sir Henry swore, not loud but deep. + +"Good news!" he answered. "I wonder what you'd call _bad_!" + +"_Good_ news," repeated Picard. "Buy more--go into it up to your neck. +I'm dipped over-head. Listen, Sir Henry, this is a real good +thing--there's not another man in London I would 'put on' but yourself; +I'd private information from the other side last week. When the mail +comes in, these Colorados will run up fifty, ay, seventy per cent.! +Don't waste a moment, but grab all you can. It will set _me_ on my legs, +and I won't lose _my_ footing again in a hurry, not if I know it! Shall +you be at home to-morrow about luncheon time?" + +"To-morrow?" said the other absently. "Not to-morrow. Must be at +Blackgrove to-morrow--the next day certainly." + +"Miss Hallaton is quite well, I hope?" continued Picard, lifting his hat +as if she were actually present. + +"Quite well, thank you," answered Sir Henry, wishing him "good night;" +but he was engrossed with his Colorados, and did not think of telling +Picard that his daughter was going out of town. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +IN SAMARIA. + + +The season, I have said, was wearing on, and, with waning summer, the +heat increased to an intensity almost tropical. There are few parts of +Europe where the atmosphere can be more suffocating than in London +during dog-days, although while everybody goes about gasping, fainting, +bewailing the temperature, nobody seems to dream of putting off ball, +drum, dinner, or other festive gathering to a cooler date. + +The July sun glared pitilessly down on square, street, and crescent, to +be refracted with tenfold power from walls and pavements; the Park was a +burnished waste, Mayfair an oven, and Belgravia a furnace. Cabmen plied +in their shirt-sleeves, foot passengers put up their umbrellas, the +water-carts disappeared altogether, and supply for once seemed +inadequate to demand in the matter of beer. + +If people drooped and languished in spacious drawing-rooms with +sun-blinds, thorough draughts, fans, and all other appliances against +the heat, what must that numerous class of our fellow-citizens have felt +who live in stifling lodgings, stewing parlours over the kitchen and +almost in the street, retired two-pair backs with eighteen inches of +window, dusty carpets, heavy bed-furniture, and utter hopelessness of +ventilation unaccompanied by showers of soot? + +It is two o'clock in the day, the dinner-beer has been taken in and +consumed, bare-armed artizans with short black pipes smoked out, are +leaning and loitering at door-steps and window-ledge, doubtful whether +to make holiday for the rest of the afternoon. A distant hum of +children, like the drone of insects in a flower-garden, pervades the +quarter; for the energy of childhood is irrepressible by atmospheric +influences, but their hard-worked mothers are snatching a brief repose, +and for a space, even their tongues are still. An omnibus has stopped at +the corner public-house while the horses are watered, a costermonger is +fast asleep in his barrow by the roadside, and a drowsy, dreary torpor +seems to pervade one of those narrow, tortuous streets that wind in an +easterly direction from the Marlborough Road, S.W. + +In the second floor of a shabby little house, a window stands as wide +open as it can be propped by a bit of wood, and from that window, with a +weary sigh, speaking volumes of patience, suffering, and sorrow, turns +Miss Ross, to take her seat once more by the side of a low sofa-bed, and +watch a toss of black curls, a little wan, pinched face, with a dull +aching pain about her heart, that grows and strengthens as hope fades, +and dies out, day by day. Poor Jin's own face has turned very white and +thin too. Her features are sharpened, and the black eyes seem large, out +of all proportion; yet never in the days gone by, when they flashed with +coquetry, or sparkled with wit, did they possess so rare a charm, as the +soft and tender lustre that shines in them now. + +"It's cooler, dear, isn't it?" said she, pushing those dark curls off +the pale little brow. "And mamma wasn't going to leave her pet--was she? +Did Gustave think mamma could fly out at the window?" She tried to speak +lightly, anything to woo a smile from the sick child, but he only +replied by turning pettishly away, and burrowing his face in the pillow, +while he murmured, "Not leave Johnnie--Johnnie wants his shoes--wants to +be dressed and taken away." As he got weaker, he resisted and entirely +repudiated the name of Gustave, and although he had nearly forgotten +Mrs. Mole, would only acknowledge his own identity as the "Johnnie" who +had been so christened in the cottage by the river-side. + +The boy caught cold on that eventful evening when Miss Ross carried him +off, and had never regained strength. The cold turned to low fever, and +hour by hour, in those long broiling summer's days, he seemed to get +gradually but surely weaker. He was fractious, though naturally +sweet-tempered, restless without being in pain; there seemed no tangible +organic malady, such as could be watched, fought against, overcome, but +he drooped like a flower, and so drooping, well-nigh broke his mother's +heart. + +She never forgave herself, that the child had been exposed to rain on +the evening she took him away. Arriving in London she at once sought +this obscure locality, renting, indeed, the best rooms in the house, and +sparing no expense for the comfort and convenience of her boy. By +degrees, in addition to fears for his life, she had to face the anxiety +of a waning purse, and the terrible consideration of what was to become +of them both when her money was gone. The most skilful doctor in the +neighbourhood was called in at a guinea a visit; very often he wouldn't +take his guinea; very often there would have been none forthcoming, had +he wanted it. For a time, they lived on Jin's wardrobe, her watch, her +jewels, by degrees the sources of supply began to fail. Then she moved +herself and her boy up-stairs. First, she had the whole second floor, +then she gave up the other room, and, inhabiting one small apartment +with her sick child, devoted to him her time, her energies, her whole +existence, as she often thought, with sad, cold forebodings, in vain. + +She starved, she pinched, she denied herself every luxury, almost every +necessary, of life; but she never regretted what she had done, and she +never lost courage. + +"If Gustave gets well," she used to think, "I can work for him and me as +I did before. If I can only struggle on till then, how happy I shall be. +I shall have saved my boy. How could he but have been ruined under the +care of that bad man? I shall have saved myself, for it is this poor +patient angel who makes me good. And Frank, dear Frank! I shall have +saved _you_!--you whom I loved better than myself! Ah! I have done well +by you, and you will never know it. _Qu'est que ça fait?_ It is +finished, and there's an end of it. If my darling dies, what signifies +anything? I shall soon die too! They will surely let me keep him in the +next world. I who have had so little of him in this!" + +Like the rest of us, she made for herself a future, all the brighter, no +doubt, that the present seemed so cheerless and forlorn. + +If the boy could only get well before her money was spent, if there was +only enough left to defray the journey, she would carry him off with her +to sunny France, there to live the old life, amongst the old scenes in +the old familiar way. + +Her voice was still fresh, clear, and more powerful than ever; she need +not surely seek long for an engagement, and under a false name, in those +great southern towns, how was she to be traced or identified? She might +defy Picard, she might even baffle the inquiries of Frank Vanguard, if, +indeed, he loved her well enough to try and seek her out. The tears +would come thick to her eyes while she pictured his sorrow and anxiety +on her behalf, but she never wavered in her determination of keeping up +an eternal barrier between them, and of devoting her whole existence +henceforth to her child. Had she known how Frank accepted her loss with +an uncomplaining resignation, very far short of despair, waking up, as +it were, from a dream, with a feeling that, after all, things might have +been worse, it is possible she would have shown less resolution; but +believing _him_ to be inconsolable, she felt herself impracticable and +pitiless as adamant. Who shall say how far such dreams helped her to +bear the nursing, the watching, the fatigue, the heavy anxious days, the +long, weary hours of those sultry, sleepless nights? + +Except to go for medicine, for arrowroot, or to summon the doctor on +some fresh alarm, Jin never stirred across the threshold, nor drew a +breath of fresher air than could be obtained at the window of the +sick-chamber. + +Amongst other womanly trinkets and trifles, she had a large fan left, of +small money value, but admirably adapted to its purpose. Under the +judicious application of this instrument, the child gradually became +cooler and less feverish. At length, with a few drowsy murmurs, in which +"Mamma" and "Moley" were mixed up unintelligibly, the empty phial that +had served him for a toy dropped from his poor little wasted fingers, +and he went to sleep. Then Jin, bethinking her that the phial must be +refilled according to medical directions, sought out the prescription, +caught up her bonnet and parasol, drew on her last pair of gloves, and +stole down-stairs, leaving the door ajar, while impressing on the +maid-of-all-work that she must peep in every five minutes to see if the +little invalid were still asleep; she herself would not be gone a +quarter of an hour. + +I don't care how hard a woman is worked, I never knew one yet but could +make time to look after a child. From the little girl of three, who +carries a doll as big as herself, to the aged dame of threescore, who +has been dandling children and children's children all her life, not one +of the sex but handles an infant with instinctive dexterity, such as no +amount of mere practice could insure. Even the sourest old maid may be +intrusted with a baby; nor is there the slightest fear that she will +crease it, drop it, or carry it upside down. The poor drudge who +answered Jin's summons with grimy hands and unwashed face, would have +liked nothing better than to tend Gustave morning, noon, and night. She +only hoped Miss Ross would stay out the whole afternoon. + +It was a relief to emerge from the narrow street, and, after five +minutes' walk, to cross the Fulham Road. Even that suburban thoroughfare +seemed to glitter with life and motion after the gloomy sick-room, and +the dull monotony on which its single window looked out. But Jin had no +time to spare, and was speedily in the chemist's shop waiting for her +prescription to be made up. + +The young man behind the counter, clean, curly, smug, and white-handed, +was affable and considerate. "Take a seat, miss," said he, pointing to a +high cane chair. "You seem fatigued like, and faint. The weather, miss, +is uncommon hot this season. Very trying to some constitutions. +Directly, miss. Certainly. Quite a simple prescription. Shall be made up +in five minutes. Address on the phial, I see. Allow me to send it for +you." + +Poor Jin, faint and weak from watching and exhaustion, protested feebly +against this arrangement; glad to sit down, nevertheless, for her knees +knocked together, and she trembled from top to toe. + +A dreadful misgiving came across her of what was to be done if she +should fall ill too; but Jin was not a nervous person, and felt almost +capable of keeping off bodily disorder by a strong effort of the will. + +In the mean time, the young man, hiding his curly head first in one +drawer, then in another, brayed certain mysterious compounds in a +mortar, and, dissolving the nauseous mixture, poured it into a fresh +bottle, packing the whole carefully in paper, with string and +sealing-wax, not handing it to Miss Ross till, in spite of her +impatience, he had copied, in fair and legible writing, the whole label +attached to the discarded vessel. This last bore no name, but on it were +minute directions as to how the draught must be taken, and the address +at which it was to be left. + +There was less to pay than she expected; but she had not intended to be +absent from her boy so long, and, seizing the packet with impatience, +dashed out of the shop to hurry home. + +There was no shady side of the street. An afternoon sun beat fiercely on +her raven hair, not in the least protected by the wisp of lace, with a +leaf in it, that constituted her bonnet. She had slept but little in the +last forty-eight hours, and eaten less. Crossing the Fulham Road, +everything seemed to turn round with her; the roar, as of a thousand +carriages, surged in her ears. She thought she was being run over, and, +making an effort to reach the kerbstone, staggered, tripped, and fell. + +A very handsome horse, with too much plating on his harness, was pulled +hard on his haunches; a brougham, painted and varnished like a new toy, +stood still with a jerk, and a woman's voice from the interior +exclaimed, in high accents of condemnation and command: + +"Why don't you stop, you infernal idiot? You've knocked the woman down, +and now you want to drive over her!" + +Kate Cremorne habitually jumped at conclusions. On the present occasion +she jumped also out of her carriage, with exceeding promptitude, and +lifted Miss Ross off the ground almost before the bystanders knew the +latter had fallen. Glancing at the packet still clutched tightly in her +hand, she summoned a benevolent drayman to the rescue, and, with the +assistance of that worthy, who testified unqualified approval of the +whole proceeding, and called both ladies "pretty dears" more than once +during its performance, placed the poor drooping sufferer in the +carriage, and directed her groom to drive without delay--"like smoke," I +am afraid, was the expression she used--to the address she had so +quickly mastered. Then, and not till then, she produced smelling-bottle, +fan, and laced handkerchief to restore her charge to consciousness. + +In Brompton, you see, as in Samaria of old, are to be found those who +bear in mind the great parable that has made the name of Samaritan +synonymous with the most Christian-like of all Christian virtues. + +Had Kate "passed on, on the other side," she would not have spoiled an +extremely expensive morning-dress; she would not have been too late for +one of the fastest and liveliest of Richmond dinner-parties; she would +not have missed the man of all others in London who most wished to meet +_her_. But to none of these did she give a thought nor a sigh while she +bathed Jin's pale temples with eau-de-cologne, and rested the dark +drooping head on her snowy bosom, pressing it to her own warm, wilful, +reckless, restless heart. + +It was not till they reached her remote and shabby refuge, that Miss +Ross came thoroughly to herself; but even then she looked so white and +ill, that Kate would not hear of leaving her, but insisted on helping +her up-stairs, and taking command at once as superintendent, head-nurse, +in short, captain-general of the whole establishment. + +Living, so to speak, on the border-land between good and bad society, +Kate Cremorne knew Miss Ross perfectly well by sight, though Miss Ross +did not know Kate Cremorne. The shrewd, practical, world-experienced +girl saw the whole affair at a glance. Through her keen intellect +flashed a history of perfidy, sorrow, penury, a scrape, a scandal, a +reduced lady, and a half-acted romance. She had sufficient delicacy to +conceal her recognition of Miss Ross; but it was Kate's nature to take +the lead in whatever position she was placed, and it would not have been +her had she failed to make everything airy and comfortable about the +sufferer in ten minutes. + +She dismissed her brougham, much to the admiration of the public, with +directions to return in an hour; she sent the maid out for soup, and the +landlady for wine; she did not even forget to order some cut flowers; +she rustled up and down-stairs without waking Johnnie; she insisted on +the front room, fortunately unoccupied, being at once got ready for Miss +Ross, producing that best of references--a little _porte-monnaie_, with +sovereigns in it. She took off her bonnet, made herself completely at +home, kissed the sleeping child, and won the hearts of the people of the +house almost ere Jin had thoroughly opened her eyes; and long before the +brougham returned to carry her away she had put the invalid to bed, +given her a basin of soup, with a glass of port wine in it, and was +soothing her off to sleep, gently and quietly as a mother hushes a baby. + +"You want rest, dear," she whispered, smoothing the pillow with her +strong white hand. "I won't leave you till you're as sound as that +beautiful boy in the next room. Then I'll go and sit with him till you +wake, and after that I needn't bother you any more, unless you'll let me +come and see you the first thing to-morrow morning." + +Jin smiled faintly, and opened her eyes. + +"I don't know who you are," she whispered; "but you're the only +kind-hearted woman I ever met in my life, except one. God bless you!" + +Then her head sank back, and every nerve seemed to relax in the +overpowering motionless sleep of utter exhaustion. + +But Kate, watching her, looked very grave and thoughtful. She had not +been used to blessings. Perhaps in her whole past she had never earned +one so true and heartfelt before. The sensation was strange, almost +oppressive, opening up a new series of hopes, feelings, interests, and +reflections, with certain wistful misgivings, that she, fair, fast, +flighty Kate Cremorne had hitherto mistaken the chief objects of +existence, wasted her life, and thrown herself away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +A HOUSEHOLD KATE. + + +"What an odd girl you are, Kate!" said Mrs. Battersea, as the sisters +sat at breakfast next morning in their pretty suburban garden, with a +table drawn under the acacia-tree, and as many birds, roses, and +strawberries about them as if they were a hundred miles from London. +"You lost the best chance yesterday that ever woman had, and all because +you couldn't be in time for a train. My dear, I don't often scold; but +it _does_ provoke me to see you throw yourself away. I begin to think +you'll never _settle_, Kate. You're worse than I was; you're worse than +I am _now_!" + +"That's a bad state of things," answered Kate saucily. "I shouldn't have +thought it possible. But what's the use of settling, Auntie." The elder +sister had once been taken for the younger's aunt, and the nickname had +stuck to her. "You talk as if I was some sort of mess on a kitchen hob. +Why _should_ I settle, and why do you stir me up? I'm very nice as I +am." + +"So Mr. Goldthred seems to think!" answered her sister; "and if you'd +only been with us yesterday, you'd have had him to yourself the whole +afternoon. I'm sure he was disappointed; and to see the barefaced way +that odious little Rosie made up to him was quite sickening! +Kate--Kate--don't you want an establishment of your own?" + +"What's the good?" replied the other, dipping a bit of cake in her +coffee. "I'm very happy as I am-- + + 'O give me back my hollow tree, + My crust of bread, and liberty!' + +Freedom and simplicity, say I; communism, equality, and fraternity!" + +"Kate, you're talking nonsense," pursued Mrs. Battersea. "Nature never +intended _you_ for a country-mouse, and there's no such thing as +equality, fraternity, and all that. Talk of men being brothers! Bosh! +Men are intended for husbands, only you must strike while the iron's +hot. They harden sadly if they're allowed to get cool. Oh, Kate! I do +wish you'd been with us yesterday! We went on the river after dinner. +There was a moon, and everything!" + +"Did you have a good dinner?" asked Kate saucily. + +"Of course we had," said the other. "But that's nothing to the purpose. +I tell you the whole party were paired off, except Goldie; and he went +about like a poor disconsolate bird in a frost. Rosie tried hard for +him; but he wouldn't look at her; and, besides, she'd got her own +admirer. I tell you, if you'd only been on the spot, the whole thing +might have been settled." + +"Who was there for _you_?" inquired Miss Kate, with mischievous eyes and +a ripe cherry in her mouth, not much redder than the lips against which +it bobbed. + +"Why the Colonel, naturally," answered Mrs. Battersea. "You knew that +quite well, so what's the use of asking? I shall 'shunt' the Colonel, +Kate, after Goodwood, he's getting so _very_ grey, and it looks really +ridiculous amongst young people, like our party yesterday." + +"By all means," assented Kate. "And who's to replace him? Not that +half-bred American, Mr. Picard, I hope. Trust me, Auntie; I have +predatory instincts, and they never deceive me. That man is an +adventurer; he's not a gentleman. Look at him by the others: you see it +at once." + +Mrs. Battersea burst out laughing. + +"Well done, Kate! This is indeed teaching your grandmother. Do you think +I'm still too young to run alone? I ought to be flattered, and I _am_. +Don't you trouble your head about Picard and me. He's useful for the +present. When I've done with him, you may be pretty sure I shall drop +him. Now tell me, dear, what the temptation was that kept you away all +yesterday, and deprived our party, as the Colonel said, of the 'bonniest +bud in the bouquet.'" + +"I'd an adventure," enunciated Kate solemnly. + +"Was he good looking?" exclaimed Mrs. Battersea. + +"_Very!_" answered Kate. "But I only saw him asleep. He had the blackest +curls and the longest eye-lashes I ever beheld on man or woman. Such a +darling, Auntie! But though I kissed him without disturbing him one bit, +I don't suppose he'll ever pay me the gloves I'm entitled to by all the +rules of racing." + +Mrs. Battersea looked puzzled. + +"What _do_ you mean?" said she. "I never can quite make you out when +you're in these wild moods. I hope you haven't been getting into +mischief. Your spirits run away with you so, I ought never to let you +out of my sight." + +Kate laughed merrily. + +"It's not much of a scrape this time," she answered, "nor much of a lark +neither. I paid a morning visit in a fashionable quarter, and was +detained longer than I anticipated, that's all. What should you say if +I'd found something 'stolen or strayed, lost or mislaid;' something not +actually advertised, but that would be worth 'a reward' all the same, if +I was to produce it at one or two places I know in London, not to +mention the cavalry barracks at Windsor?" + +"You speak in parables," said the other, crumbling up bread and cream +for her parrot. "When you come down to plain English and common sense, I +shall be able to understand." + +"I've found Miss Ross!" Kate closed her pretty lips so tight after this +startling information that the cherry snapped off at its stalk, and +bobbed into her coffee-cup. + +"You've found Miss Ross!" repeated her sister, in accents of the utmost +astonishment. "Well, it's _too_ bad of Captain Vanguard; quite too bad, +I must say! And, Kate, I won't have you getting mixed up with that kind +of thing. Recollect we can scarcely hold our own where we are; and +although, for myself, I think respectable society rather _slow_, I don't +want you to make the mistakes I did. Never set the world at defiance, my +dear; it don't answer. You may humbug people to any extent, but they +won't stand being bullied! Don't go near her again, Kate, I beg. +Somebody is sure to see you." + +"Captain Vanguard has no more to do with it than _you_ have," retorted +Miss Cremorne, ignoring her sister's late monitions and reverting to the +first count in the indictment. "Why can you never let him alone? Tell +me, Auntie, once for all, what's this grudge of yours against Frank? +Poor thing! How has it affronted its aunt?" + +Mrs. Battersea looked grave. + +"He'll never have a chance of affronting _me_, Kate, unless he does it +through _you_. He hangs about here a great deal too much. He haunts the +places we go to like a ghost; and he _looks_ like a ghost besides, for +he has lost his colour, grown very silent, and never smiles. I say +nothing, but----" + +"You _think_ a great deal, no doubt," replied her sister. "You think +wrong this time, though, if you fancy I care two straws about Frank, or +Frank about _me_. He _was_ pleasant enough, I grant you; but now that +he's got sad, and quiet, and stupidish, he bores me. You ought to know +my tastes better than most people, dear. You may be pretty sure one of +your languishing swains has very little chance. I hate long stories, +long memories, long sighs, and long faces. If people like one, they +should make one happy: + + 'When Love is kind, + Lightsome, and free, + Love's sure to find + Welcome from me; + But if Love brings + Heart-ache or pang, + Tears, or such things, + Love may go hang!" + +"Which only proves you were never in earnest, Kate," answered the elder +woman; adding, with a sigh, "So much the better for _you_." + +Perhaps Mrs. Battersea was thinking of a time long before she met the +late Major Battersea, a time when Kate was a little toddling thing, with +fat legs, chubby arms, and the manners of a confirmed and shameless +flirt; a time when the sands of the Isle of Wight borrowed a golden +gleam from that light which so irradiates the present to leave behind it +such grim, ghostly shadows on the past; when the waves sang soft sweet +music, softer, sweeter, for the whisper that stole through the drowsy +wash and murmur of the tide,--sadder, too, for an instinct that warns +the human heart how they will make the same melodious moan, unchanged, +unpitying, after they have closed over its happiness for ever; when +morning was a vision of hope, and evening a dream of peace, and all day +long a waking reality of happiness, because of a straw hat, a sun-burned +face, and a light laugh. Perhaps she was contrasting a certain frank, +innocent, loving girl, trusting, and true-hearted, with the woman of +after years, marred and warped by her first disappointment, carrying war +on bravely in the enemy's country, but aching still under all her armour +of pride and indifference, with the dull pain of that first grievous +wound. + +"So much the better for me," repeated Kate thankfully. "You would have +said so, indeed, if you could have seen that poor thing yesterday. Pale, +worn, dejected, and, my dear, so very badly dressed! I declare I hardly +knew her again, and I used to think, for quite a dark beauty, she was +the best-looking woman in London. Do you suppose, Auntie, there really +_is_ such a thing as a broken heart, or is it all nonsense and what they +put in novels, and poems, and things? It must hurt horribly if there +is!" + +"Some people mind it more than others," answered her sister. "Let us be +thankful, Kate, that you and I are not of the caring sort. But what do +you suppose has brought Miss Ross to this pass? She used to be one of +your regular high-fliers. Went to Court, I fancy, and all the rest of +it. And how do you know your precious Frank Vanguard hadn't a finger in +the pie?" + +"Because I _do_ know," affirmed Miss Kate. "You never saw such a place +as she was living in; and I got everything out of the people in the +house before I had been there ten minutes." + +"I can easily believe it," said her sister. "As usual, taking up +another's business and neglecting your own." + +"But I mean to make it my own," protested Kate. "You would have been as +keen about it as I am if you had seen the poor thing huddled up in her +refuge like a frightened cat in a corner. Table on three legs, chairs +falling to pieces, such a small room, such stuffy furniture, and you +might have written your name in the dust on everything. Even her gown +was all frayed at the skirt, and there wasn't another in the wardrobe, +for I peeped in to see. I shall be off again directly after breakfast, +and perhaps to-day I may worm something out of her, and get her to let +me help her in earnest, you know. How sad, Auntie, to come to such a +pass! Fancy not having enough to eat, and only one gown to put on!" + +"But the child," persisted Mrs. Battersea, "the child couldn't have come +there by chance. Kate, I wish you'd let it all alone." + +"The child was as clean as a new pin," answered Miss Cremorne. "There +was everything he could want arranged for him as nicely as if he was a +little Emperor! That's why I'm sure she's his mother. I don't care if +she's his _grandmother_ a hundred times over. I'll stick by her now +through this mess, whatever it is. I've gone in for it, and I'll see it +out! I'll charter a Hansom, though; I won't take the brougham, it makes +people stare." + +Mrs. Battersea pondered, and the parrot, waiting for his breakfast, +shrieked hideously. + +"Don't you think I'm right?" asked the impatient girl. + +"I know you won't be stopped," answered the other, "right or wrong. But +were I in your place I should certainly not interfere. If Captain +Vanguard has anything to do with the business, I cannot see what good +will come of your mixing yourself up in it. Frank's very good-looking, I +grant you, and pleasanter company than half the men we meet; but I don't +suppose he really cares two pins for anything but his horses; and as for +heart, my dear Kate, these guardsmen are all alike--they throw the +article systematically away before their moustache is grown, and find +they get on very much better without it afterwards." + +"They may throw them about till they're tired," answered Kate. "They'll +have to wait a long time before I stoop to pick one up, Auntie. I never +saw the man yet that was worth crossing the street for, after a shower. +Did you?" + +"_One_, Kate," said Mrs. Battersea, "long ago. I'd have gone into the +Serpentine, up to my neck at least, for _him_." + +"Why didn't you?" asked the other. "What has become of him?" + +"He never asked me," replied Mrs. Battersea, with something of a tremble +in her voice. "I thought I was so sure of him, I could get him back at +any time, and one fine morning I pulled my thread the least thing too +hard, and it broke. I saw him the other day, Kate, quite by accident. He +hasn't forgiven, for all the years that are past,--and, though it seems +ridiculous, I haven't forgotten." + +"Never say die! Auntie," laughed the girl. "You've plenty of admirers +left!" + +"Plenty!" said Mrs. Battersea; "but they're not the real stuff. They're +like cheap dresses, my dear, look well enough while they're new, but +when they've been worn a little, particularly in bad weather, they go +all to pieces." + +"The Colonel, for instance," observed Kate. "He's so threadbare now, I +don't think he'll even make up into patch-work or even pen-wipers. +Auntie, you're very hard upon the Colonel, and I do believe he's fond of +you." + +"So he ought to be," answered Mrs. Battersea. "But let the Colonel +alone, Kate, and take my advice. If you find a man who really likes you +better than his dinner, his Derby, his covert-shooting, or his best +horse, don't stop to consider whether he is romantic, and popular, and +admired. Make up your mind at once. Take him frankly, unless you +absolutely hate the creature. Stand by him honestly, and never throw him +over. When you're as old as I am you'll be glad you followed my advice." + +"I must first _catch_ my hare," replied Miss Kate, rising from the +table; "and then there's an end of the excitement, the ups-and-downs, +the ins-and-outs, the falls and fences, in short, all the fun of the +hunt. Well, who knows! Perhaps my time may come, like another's. + + 'Puis ce que ça doit se tirer au sort.' + +But meanwhile I do very well as I am, and when I've found my master it +will be quite soon enough to 'knuckle down' and give in. So now I'm off +to my poor sick bird, to nurse her chick, and sleek her feathers, and +put to rights her untidy little nest." + +Accordingly, in less than ten minutes Miss Cremorne emerged into the +sunshine, as well-looking and as well-dressed a young lady as could be +seen treading the pavement of any street in London. A butcher's boy, +with tray on shoulder, stopped short in his whistle to look after her, +transported with admiration. A young man from the country stood +stock-still under the very pole of an omnibus, and grinned his approval +open-mouthed; while an old gentleman, who ought to have known better, +crossed the muddiest part of the street, and affected great interest in +an upholsterer's window, to get one more look at her pretty face as she +tripped past. The very cabman whom she signalled off the rank forbore to +overcharge her, and came down officiously from the perch of his Hansom +to keep her dress off the wheel when she alighted, wondering the while +at the homely exterior of the dwelling in which this vision of beauty +disappeared. + +"It's a queer start!" soliloquised that worthy in his own expressive +vernacular; "and females, as a general rule, is up to all sorts of +games. But she ain't one of that sort, she ain't. Blessed if she don't +look as bold as Britannia, the beauty! and as h'innocent as a nosegay +all the while!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +"TENDER AND TRUE." + + +According to promise, Picard called on Sir Henry at his house in town, +and was fortunate enough to find the baronet at home, but being ushered +into a room on the ground-floor, smelling strongly of tobacco-smoke, his +heart misgave him that he was about to fail in the chief object of his +visit, and that Helen had gone out. He was further discomfited by his +host's information that she was at Blackgrove, with no intention of +returning to London till next spring. The adventurer's brow clouded. He +had but little time for delay, and felt, to use his own expression, that +the moment had arrived when he must force the running, come with a rush, +and win on the post the best way he could. + +Affecting, therefore, an air of deep concern, he sat himself down +opposite Sir Henry, who, wrapped in velvet, occupied the easiest of +chairs, with a French novel on his knee, and began to apologise for +disturbing him. + +"But I wanted to see you," said Picard, in a more subdued tone than +usual, "because, in trying to do you a good turn, I've got you into a +mess. It is fortunate you are a man of position, and--and--of means, Sir +Henry, so that this is a matter of mere temporary inconvenience, but it +is equally distressing to me, I assure you, just the same." + +"What do you mean?" said Sir Henry, turning pale, while the French novel +fluttered to his feet. + +"Simply, that in following my lead about those shares I fear you have +come to grief. Not to the extent I have, of course, but still enough to +make you very shy of taking my advice in money matters again. I shall +pull through myself, eventually, well enough; but I had rather lose +every shilling I possess than that a friend of mine should sustain +injury by my advice or example." + +The nobility of this sentiment was thrown away on Sir Henry, who swore +an ugly oath, and for a moment seemed in danger of losing his habitual +self-command. + +"Why, you told me those cursed Colorados were a _certainty_!" he +exclaimed; "'a clear gain of fifty per cent.,' were your very words, no +questions asked, and no risk to run. You're not a baby, my good fellow! +Who was it that took _you_ in, I should like to know? He must have his +wits about him, that gentleman!" + +"I can only repeat I did everything for the best," answered Picard +loftily. "I trust you were not in it very deep!" + +"_Deep!_" growled the baronet. "I don't know what you call _deep_. I +counted on those cursed shares to pay off all my pressing liabilities, +and to square me with _you_ in particular. Now that one card has gone +the whole house will tumble down, of course. It's always the way. Hang +it, Picard! you oughtn't to have been so cock-sure, man. Well, it's no +use talking. I'm simply floored, that's all: and how I'm to be picked up +_this_ time beats my comprehension altogether." + +"You have friends, Sir Henry," said Picard. "Plenty of them." + +"Plenty of them!" echoed Sir Henry. "Staunch friends and true, who would +dine with me, bet with me, shoot with me, nay, some of whom would even +back me up in a row, or pull for me while hounds were running if I got a +fall, but who would see me d----d before they lent me a shilling, or put +their names to a bill for eighteen pence." + +"That may be true enough with some of your swell acquaintance," replied +Picard, "but you mustn't lump us all in together and ticket us +'rotten.' I myself am ready, now, this moment, to do my utmost to assist +you. Sir Henry, I am a real friend." + +"If you know my liabilities, by Heaven you are!" exclaimed the baronet, +with a sarcastic grin. + +"I don't care a cent for your liabilities!" said the other, as indeed he +might safely say; and perhaps Sir Henry's knowledge of the world +attributed this generosity to the recklessness of one who had nothing to +lose. "I don't care what they are, I'll see you through them. I am your +friend--your true friend--Sir Henry--I am more than a friend. The +dearest wish of my heart is to be in the same boat with yourself and +your family, sink or swim." + +In an instant, the baronet's whole demeanour changed to one of studied +and even guarded courtesy. He rose from his chair, stood with his back +to the empty fireplace, and inclined politely to his visitor. + +"I do not quite understand," said he. "Pray explain." + +Picard hesitated. There was something embarrassing in the other's +attitude. It combined civility, defiance, vigilance, all the +ingredients, indeed, of an armed neutrality. At last he got out the +words, "Your daughter, Sir Henry--Miss Hallaton." + +"Stop a moment," interrupted the baronet, still in those guarded, +courteous tones; "how _can_ my daughter be concerned in our present +business?" + +"Simply," answered the other, fairly driven into a corner, "that I had +meant--that I had intended--in short, that I had hoped you might be +induced to entertain--I mean, to listen favourably. Hang it! Sir Henry, +I am devotedly attached to your daughter--there!" + +Sir Henry drew himself up. "You do Miss Hallaton a great honour," said +he, very stiffly, "and one I beg to decline most distinctly on her +behalf. This is a subject which admits of no further discussion between +you and me." + +"Are you in earnest?" exclaimed Picard fiercely. "Do you know what you +are doing? Have you counted the cost of making me your enemy? Sir Henry, +you must surely have lost your head or your temper?" + +"Neither, I assure you," answered the other, with provoking calmness; +adding, while he laid his hand on the bell-pull--"May I offer you a +glass of sherry, and--and--_bitters_, before you go?" + +For the life of him, he could not resist a sarcastic emphasis, while he +named that wholesome tonic, nor could he help smiling, as Picard, losing +all self-control, flung out of the room, with no more courteous +leave-taking than a consignment of the proffered refreshment to a +temperature where it would have proved acceptable in the highest degree. + +But no sooner had the street-door closed on his visitor, than Sir Henry +shook himself, as it were, out of a life's lethargy, and seemed to +become a new man. It was his nature to rise against a difficulty; and, +although he had never before had such a souse in the cold waters of +adversity, he felt braced and strengthened by the plunge. He sat down at +once to his writing-table, and immersed himself in calculations as to +liabilities, and means of meeting them. Ruin stared him in the face. He +was convinced he had nothing to hope from Picard's forbearance, with +whom he was inextricably mixed up in money matters. He saw clearly that +the latter would use every legal engine in his power to further his +revenge; yet Sir Henry's courage failed him not a jot, and he only +cursed the scoundrel's impudence in thinking himself good enough for +Helen, vowing the while he would be a match for them all, and fight +through yet. + +Then he wrote many letters to solicitors, money-lenders, and private +friends; amongst others, one to Helen, and one to Mrs. Lascelles. It is +with this last alone we have to do. + +That lady is sitting, somewhat disconsolate and lonely, in the pretty +boudoir at No. 40. The bullfinch is moulting, and sulky in the extreme; +the pug has been dismissed for the only misdemeanour of which he is ever +guilty--indigestion, followed by sickness; the post has just brought Sir +Henry Hallaton's letter; Mrs. Lascelles is dissolved in tears; and +Goldthred, who has not been near her for a fortnight, is suddenly +announced. + +All the morning, all the drive hither in a Hansom cab, all the way +up-stairs, he has been revolving how he can best carry out Kate +Cremorne's precept--"Il faut se faire valoir;" but at the top step the +loyalty of a true, disinterested love asserts itself, and he would fain +fall prone at the feet of his mistress, bidding her trample him in the +dust if she had a mind. + +Seeing her in tears, he turned hot and cold, dropped his hat, knocked +down a spidery table in trying to recover it, and finally shook hands +with the woman he loved stiffly and pompously, as if she had been his +bitterest enemy. + +The grasp of her hand too seemed less cordial, her manner less kindly +than usual. Goldthred, who had yet to learn that the fortress never mans +its walls with so much menace as on the eve of surrender, felt chilled, +dispirited, even hurt; but, because of her distress, staunch and +unwavering to the backbone. + +"You find me very unhappy," said she, drying her eyes (gently, so as not +to make them unbecomingly red). "Why have you never been to see me?" + +This, turning on him abruptly, and with a degree of displeasure that +ought to have raised his highest hopes. + +"I've been away," he stammered, "in the North on business. I--I didn't +know you wanted me." + +"Oh, it's not _that_!" she answered pettishly. "Of course, one can't +expect people to put off business, or pleasure, or anything else for the +sake of their friends. What's the _use_ of friends? What's the use of +caring for anything or anybody? I wish I didn't. I shouldn't be so upset +now!" + +In his entire participation of her sorrow, he quite lost his own +embarrassment. + +"Can I do anything?" he exclaimed. "There's the _will_, you know, even +if there isn't the power." + +"Nothing, that I can see," she answered drearily. "Here's a letter from +Sir Henry Hallaton. They're completely ruined, he tells me; a regular +smash! What is to become of them? I'm so wretched, particularly about +Helen." + +She put her handkerchief to her face once more, but watched her listener +narrowly, nevertheless. It did not escape her that his countenance +changed and fell, as if he had been stung. + +He recovered himself bravely, though. + +"That is distressing enough," said he, "and sounds a bad business, no +doubt. Still, it is only a question of money, I suppose. It might have +been worse." + +"Worse!" she repeated, with impatience. "I don't see how. From what he +says, it seems they won't have a roof to cover them--hardly bread to +eat! And what can I do for him? I can't pay off his mortgages, and buy +him back Blackgrove, as if it was a baby-house. It _does_ seem so hard! +It makes me hate everything and everybody!" + +Goldthred's only reply to this rational sentiment was to rise from his +chair, button his coat, and place himself in a determined attitude on +the hearth-rug. + +"You seem very miserable," said he; and the man's voice was so changed +that she started as if a stranger had come into the room. "I think I can +understand why--no, don't explain anything, Mrs. Lascelles, but listen +to me--you are unhappy. To the best of my power I will help you. +Somebody that you--well--that you like very much is in difficulties. If +I can extricate him, I will. You needn't hate everything or everybody +any longer," he added, with rather a sad smile; "and you may believe +that, though people do not put off their business nor their pleasure +for them, they can sometimes sacrifice their interests to their +friends." + +How noble he seemed standing there--so kind, so good, so utterly +unselfish and true! How she loved him! She had long guessed it. She knew +it too surely now. Yet she could not forbear taking the last arrow from +her quiver, and sending it home to his honest, unsuspecting heart. + +"It is very kind of you, Mr. Goldthred," said she, "to speak as you do, +particularly as you always mean what you say; but, though I often +fancied you liked her, I had no idea your attachment to Miss Hallaton +was so strong as all that!" + +He turned very pale, and stooped over the moulting bullfinch, without +speaking; then raised his head, looking--as she had never seen him look +before--resolved, even stern, thoughtful, saddened, yet not the least +unkind; and the voice, that had trembled awhile ago, was firm and +decided now. + +"If you are joking, Mrs. Lascelles," said he, "the jest is unworthy of +_you_, and unfair on _me_. If you really think what you say, it is time +you were undeceived. Miss Hallaton is no more to me than a young lady in +whom you take an interest. For her father I am prepared to make any +sacrifice, because I think you--Mrs. Lascelles, will you forgive what I +am going to say?" + +"I don't know," she answered, smiling very brightly, considering that +the tears still glittered in her eyes. "I might be more deeply offended +than you suppose. What if you were going to say you think I am in love +with Sir Henry Hallaton?" + +"I think you _are_ in love with Sir Henry Hallaton," he repeated very +gravely. "I think your happiness has long been dependent on his society. +I think you would marry him to-morrow if he asked you. I think he would +ask you to-day if his position admitted of it. I do not live a great +deal in the world, Mrs. Lascelles, and I dare say I am rather dull in a +general way; but the stupidest people can see things that affect their +interests or their happiness; and I have often watched every word and +look of yours, when you thought perhaps I had no more perception, no +more feeling, than that marble chimney-piece. Sometimes with a sore +heart enough; but that is all over now! Ought I to have told you long +ago, or ought I to have held my tongue for ever? I don't know; but I +need not tell you now, that from the day Mr. Groves introduced me to +you, at the Thames Regatta--I dare say you've forgotten all about it--I +have admired you, and--and--cared for you more than anything in the +world. You're too bright and too beautiful and too good for me, I know; +but that don't prevent my wanting to see you happy, and happy you +_shall_ be, Mrs. Lascelles, if everything I can do has the power to make +you so!" + +His voice may have failed him somewhat during this simple little +declaration, but seemed steady enough when he finished; and it could +not, therefore, have been from sympathy with his emotion that the tears +were again rising fast to his listener's blue eyes. + +"I remember it perfectly," she sobbed. "You were talking to a fat woman +in a hideous yellow gown. Why do you say I don't?" + +"Remember what?" he asked innocently, not being quite conversant with a +manoeuvre much practised by ladies in difficulties, and similar to +that resource which is termed in the prize-ring "sparring for wind." + +"Why, the first time I met you," she answered. "You're not the only +person who has a memory and feelings and all that. I know you must think +me a brute, and so I am; but still, I'm not quite a woman of stone!" + +"I have told you what I think of you," said he very quietly. "Now tell +me what I can do for you, and _him_." + +"Do you mean," she asked, peeping slyly out of her little useless +handkerchief, "that you would actually give me up to somebody else, and +part with your _money_, which is always a criterion of sincerity, for +such an object? Mr. Goldthred, is _that_ what you call love?" + +"I only want you to be happy," said he. "I don't understand much about +love and flirtation; and these things people make such a talk about. I +want to see you happy. No, not that; for I should avoid seeing you, at +least just at first; but I should like to _know_ you were happy, and +that it was my doing." + +He turned, and leaned his elbows on the chimney-piece, not to look in +the glass; for his face was buried in his hands, so that she had some +difficulty in attracting his attention. It was not a romantic action; +but she gave a gentle pull at his coat-tails. + +"You _can_ make me happy," she whispered, with a deep and very becoming +blush. "I don't think it will be at all inconvenient or unpleasant to +you, only--only--you know I can't exactly suggest it first." + +He turned as if he was shot. With white face and parted lips, never man +looked more astonished, while he gasped out, + +"And you wouldn't marry Sir Henry Hallaton?" + +She shook her head with a very bewitching smile. + +"And you _would_ marry me?" he continued, hardly daring to believe it +was not all a dream. + +"You've never asked me," was the reply; but he was on the sofa at her +side by this time, whispering his answer so closely in her ear, that I +doubt if either heard it, while both knew pretty well what it meant; and +though their subsequent conversation was carried on in a strange mixture +of broken sentences, irrational expressions, and idiotic dumb show, it +took less than ten minutes to arrive at a definite conclusion, entailing +on Goldthred the necessity of immediate correspondence with his nearest +relatives, and a visit to Doctors' Commons at no far distant date. + +But, happy as he felt, breathing elixir, treading upon air, while +walking home to dress for dinner, he found time for the purchase of such +a beautiful fan as can hardly be got for money, and sent it forthwith to +Kate Cremorne, with the following line written in pencil on his +card--_Il faut se faire valoir_. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +DAYBREAK. + + +It is only your cubs bred last season, not yet many months emancipated +from the tender authority of the vixen, that hang to their homes, and +run circling round the covert when disturbed by the diligence of their +natural enemy, the hound. An old fox is a wild fox; and no sooner does +he recognise the mellow note of the huntsman's cheer, the crack of the +first whip's ponderous thong, than he is on foot and away, lively as a +lark, with a defiant whisk of his brush, that means seven or eight miles +as the crow flies, the exercise of all his speed during the chase, and +all his craft to beat you at the finish. If you would have that brush on +your chimney-piece, that sharp little nose on your kennel door, you must +be pretty quick after him, for he wastes not a moment in hesitation, +facing the open resolutely for his haven, crossing the fields like an +arrow, wriggling through the fences like an eel. + +Sir Henry Hallaton had been too often hunted not to take alarm at the +first intelligence of real danger, therefore it was that he put the +Channel between himself and his creditors without delay, knowing well +from experience that a man never makes such good terms as when out of +his enemy's reach; and so, trusting in the chapter of accidents which +had often befriended him, smoked his cigar tranquilly in a pleasant +little French town, while his family, his servants, his tradesmen, +everybody connected with him, were paying, in distress, discomfort, and +anxiety, the penalties this self-indulgent gentleman had incurred for +his own gratification. + +There could scarcely have been a greater contrast than the position of +father and daughter when the crash first came. + +Sir Henry lived in cheerful apartments, dined at a tolerable +_table-d'hôte_, sipped a _petit vin de Bordeaux_ that always agreed with +him, smoked good cigars, and frequented a social circle, not very +distinguished, nor indeed very respectable, but in which, with his fatal +facility of getting into mischief, he found himself always amused. + +When his letters were written and posted, he felt without a care in the +world for the rest of the day, and positively looked younger and fresher +in his exile than at any time during the last five years, though there +was an execution in the house at Blackgrove, and he had not a shilling +to his name. + +Helen, on the contrary, found herself beset with every kind of annoyance +and difficulty, from the black looks of a principal creditor to the loud +reproaches of a discharged scullery-maid. Her father indeed wrote her +full and explicit directions what to do in the present crisis; but even +to a girl of her force of character, many of the details she had to +carry out were painful and embarrassing in the extreme. On her shoulders +fell the burden of settling with the servants, the land-steward, the +very gamekeepers and watchers on the estate. She advertised the stock +and farming implements; she sent the horses and carriages to +Tattersalls'; she negotiated the rescue of her sisters' pianoforte out +of the general smash. It had been arranged that those young ladies +should pay a visit to their aunt, and Helen packed up their things, and +started them, nothing loath, by the railway, and furnished them with +money for their journey. Her purse was nearly empty when she returned +from the station, and, sitting down to rest after her labours, in the +dreary waste of a dismantled home, she realised, for the first time, the +loneliness and misery of her position. + +She had borne up bravely while there was necessity for action, while her +assumed cheerfulness and composure implied a tacit protest against the +abuse poured on her father; but in the solitude of the big drawing-room, +with the carpets up, and the furniture "put away," she fairly broke +down, leaning her head against the chimney-piece, and crying like a +child. + +She never saw the Midcombe fly toiling up the avenue; she never heard it +grinding round to the door; she was thinking rather bitterly that her +young life's happiness had been sacrificed through no fault of hers; +that she had been misunderstood; ill-treated; that even her father, whom +she loved so dearly, had placed her in a position of humiliation and +distress; that everybody was against her, and she had not a friend in +the world, when a light step, the rustle of a dress, and a well-known +voice, caused her to start and look up. The next moment, with a little +faint cry, that showed how stout-hearted Helen had been tried, she was +in the embrace of Mrs. Lascelles, with her head on that lady's shoulder, +who did not refrain from shedding a few tears for company. + +"My dear, you mustn't stay here another instant," exclaimed the latter. +"Where are your things? Where is your maid? I've kept the fly, and +you're to come back with me by the five o'clock train. Your father says +so. I've got his letter here. No. Where have I put it? Don't explain, +dear; I know everything. He told me all about it from the first, and I +should have been down sooner but for those abominable excursion trains. +Ring the bell. Send for all the servants there are left, and tell them +to get your boxes ready immediately! You're to pay me a nice long +visit, my precious! And, oh! Helen, I've got so much to tell you!" + +The girl was already smiling through her tears. Even in the midst of +ruin it seemed no small consolation to have such a friend as this; and +there was a hearty brightness about Mrs. Lascelles, not to be damped by +the despondency of the most hopeless companion. + +"How good of you to come!" she said. "How like you, and how unlike +anybody else! I've had a deal of trouble here, but it's all over at +last. I've managed everything for him the best way I could, and now I +must go to poor papa, and take care of him in that miserable little +French town." + +"Poor papa, indeed!" echoed the other. "I've no patience with him! But, +however, it's no use talking about that to _you_. Only, my dear, don't +distress yourself unnecessarily about poor papa. He'll do very well, and +there's no occasion for you to go abroad at all. We shall have him back +in a week. Friends have turned up in the most unaccountable manner. How +shall I ever tell you all about it? In the first place, Helen dear, I'm +going to be married!" + +"_You!_" exclaimed Helen, in accents of undisguised astonishment; adding +after a moment's pause, as good manners required, "I'm sure I wish you +joy!" + +"Thank ye, dear," was the off-hand answer; "and who d'ye think is the +adversary, the what-d'ye-call-it--the happy man?" + +Two little separate spasms of jealousy shot through Helen +simultaneously. It couldn't be Frank Vanguard, surely! And if it could, +what did that matter to her? Perhaps it was Sir Henry. Helen had long +learned to consider papa as her own property, and I am not sure but that +this pang was sharper than the other. + +"Anybody I know?" she asked, trembling in her secret heart for the +reply. + +"You know him quite well," answered Mrs. Lascelles, laughing. "Indeed +he's a great admirer of yours, and at one time--no, I won't tell +stories, I never was jealous of you and Mr. Goldthred, although you're +much younger and prettier than me." + +Helen certainly gave a sigh of relief, while Mrs. Lascelles glanced, not +without satisfaction, at her own radiant face and figure in the glass. + +"I'm sure I don't know how it all came about," she said, still laughing. +"But, however, there it is! It's a great fact, and upon my word I'm very +glad of it. Now you know he's got plenty of money, Helen (though I +didn't marry him for that, I've enough of my own), and, like the good +fellow he is, he has promised to help your father through his +difficulties. There's no sort of reason why you shouldn't all live here +as formerly, but in the mean time it won't hurt those girls to go to +their aunt for a bit (I hope she will keep them in order), and you are +to come to No. 40 with me." + +This was, indeed, good news. Helen could hardly believe her ears, and +the young lady who now tripped lightly about the house, getting her +things together, and busying herself to afford her visitor the +indispensable cup of tea, was extremely unlike the forlorn damsel who +had been paying off servants and poring over accounts the whole of that +dreary, disheartening day. + +But more comfort was yet in store for Helen, as if Fate, having punished +her enough, had now relented in her favour. The tea was drunk, the fly +was packed, and the ladies were driven to Midcombe Station, in the +interchange of no more interesting communications than were compatible +with the bustle of departure and the jingling of their vehicle; but no +sooner were they established in a first-class carriage, with the door +locked, than Mrs. Lascelles, turning to her companion, asked, as though +she were carrying on the thread of some previous conversation: + +"And who do you think, Helen--who _do_ you think I found in the station +meaning to come down to you at Blackgrove? He was actually taking his +ticket. But I wouldn't hear of it, of course, and ordered him at once to +do nothing of the kind." + +"Mr. Goldthred, I suppose," guessed Helen. + +"Not a bad shot!" answered the other. "Yes, he wanted to come, too; and +begged and prayed very hard yesterday. Of course I forbid him. I'm not +particular, but still, my dear, _les convenances_! No, Goldthred knew he +mustn't last night. It was Frank Vanguard I found fussing about on the +platform this morning." + +Hurt, wounded as she had been, in spite of all her pride, all her +injuries, the tears rose in Helen's eyes, while she thought of her false +lover hurrying down to take his share of her distress. Perhaps he was +_not_ false after all. Perhaps time would exonerate him, demonstrating, +in some romantic and mysterious manner, that the unaccountable neglect +she had so resented was not really his fault. She had been making +excuses for him to her own heart ever since they parted. She was longing +to forgive him fully and freely now. + +But, unlike her companion, Miss Hallaton kept her feelings a long way +below the surface, so it was a very calm, proud face she turned to Mrs. +Lascelles, while in a perfectly unmoved tone she observed: + +"Captain Vanguard is a great friend of papa's, and I am sure he would be +very sorry to hear of our misfortunes." + +"He _looked_ it!" answered the other meaningly. "Poor fellow, he was as +white as a sheet, and his face seemed almost haggard for so young a man! +It can't be entirely smoking and late hours, for that plague of mine +smokes and sits up like other people, yet he's got plenty of colour, and +his eyes are as clear as yours or mine. I must say I like a man to look +_fresh_. There's something wrong about Frank. He's sadly altered of +late, and I can't quite make him out." + +Miss Hallaton was looking steadfastly through the window, while she +replied: + +"I haven't remarked it. To be sure I've not seen him lately. He used to +have very good spirits as far as I recollect." + +"He's not been the same man since Jin disappeared," said Mrs. Lascelles, +with malice prepense, no doubt, but possibly "cruel only to be kind." +"Yet I'm by no means clear he had anything to do with that most +mysterious business. He never could have shammed ignorance so naturally +when we all consulted together, though I must say he seemed the least +anxious of the party. I used sometimes to fancy he liked her, and +sometimes I fancied it was somebody else. I think so still. What do +_you_ say, Helen?" + +But Helen changed the subject, skilfully diverting her companion's +thoughts to her approaching marriage, a topic of so engrossing a nature, +that it lasted all the way to London, and was not half exhausted when +interrupted by the _fiancée's_ characteristic exclamation, as their +train glided smoothly alongside the platform: + +"What a goose he is! I knew he'd come to meet us! How pleased he'll be +to see I've brought you. Helen, he's a dear fellow. He's as good as +gold!" + +He was as good as gold. Subject to the touchstone of happiness, +Goldthred's character came out like a picture lit by gas. The tints were +brighter, the lines more firmly marked, there appeared more depth, more +meaning, more force and character in his whole composition, and Mrs. +Lascelles, who had begun by pitying as much as she loved him, found the +pity changed to respect, and the love grown stronger than ever. She was +proud of him now, while he, exulting in the distinction, strove all the +more to continue worthy of her good opinion. + +Surely on earth there is no incentive to virtue so powerful as the +entire affection of that one being who represents our ideal of some +purer and higher sphere. The idol is mere clay, no doubt, but the divine +spark exists at least in the worshipper; and it may be that the stubborn +human heart, now in a dream of joy, now in an agony of suffering, is +thus trained and taught to look up from the limited and imperfect +creature, to the boundless attributes of the Creator. + +After her late excitement and distress, Helen had much need of rest, +both for body and mind. At No. 40 she found herself in a secure and +peaceful haven, where even during the flood-tide of a London season, she +might have + + "Listened to the roar + Of the breakers on the bar outside that never reach the shore," + +but where in the hot dull autumn, when everybody was out of town, she +could remain perfectly tranquil and undisturbed, with Mrs. Lascelles to +humour her like a child, and Goldthred always ready to anticipate her +lightest wish. + +It did not take many days, before the firmness had returned to her step, +the light to her eyes, and she was once more the "belle Helen," as Mrs. +Lascelles loved to call her, with a vague notion the title was extremely +classical and correct. + +But it was quite contrary to the principles of the elder lady that any +one who possessed health and beauty should be "mewed up," as she was +pleased to express herself, while the weather tempted everybody out of +doors. Sitting at luncheon, with Miss Hallaton on one side, and the +faithful Goldthred on the other, she exclaimed, with the glee of an idle +child who has found a new plaything, looking very bright and handsome +the while: + +"Happy thought! Let us drive down to-morrow to Oatlands! Weep at the +dogs' graves, peep at the grotto, sit by the river, dine, and come back +by moonlight. Who says _done_? It's almost the next thing to a +water-party." + +"Done!" exclaimed both her companions at the same moment, one with +careless acquiescence, the other with intense admiration. + +"Carried!" said the hostess, clapping her hands. "We three in the open +carriage--_must_ have a fourth. Who is it to be?" + +But _one_ was out of town, another couldn't get away early enough in the +afternoon; _this_ person wouldn't come without the certainty of meeting +_that_. Of two charming sisters both must be asked or neither. In short, +the fourth seat in the carriage was wanted for half-a-dozen people, and +the prospective little dinner out of town soon assumed the dimensions of +a pic-nic. + +Thus it fell out that Mrs. Lascelles had to write several notes after +luncheon, and "dear Helen" sat down to help her, while Goldthred, +lounging about and failing sadly in his efforts to make the bullfinch +pipe, volunteered to post these missives on his way to the club when +they were finished. + +Pocketing them all in a lump, and expressing his intention of returning +at tea-time, Mr. Goldthred took his departure to walk down the street, +with the jaunty step and lightsome air of a happy lover. + +At the nearest pillar-post, he stopped to fulfil his promise, and being +(though in love) a man of business, looked carefully at their addresses +before dropping the letters one by one into the slide. + +The very top-most was Helen's production, and he started violently, the +moment its superscription caught his eye. Hastily examining two more in +the same handwriting, he replaced the whole in his pocket, hailed a +Hansom and drove straight home, where he ran to his writing-table, +unlocked a drawer and pulled out a certain little note that he had +received one night at his club awhile ago, that had puzzled him +exceedingly at the time, and that was, perhaps, the only secret he kept +from Mrs. Lascelles, because he had found himself unable to explain it +till to-day. + +Yes, there could be no doubt, it was the same handwriting, he felt +convinced, fully as ever was Malvolio. The unknown correspondent who +wrote--"If you are really in earnest, come to-morrow; there is somebody +to be consulted besides me," was Miss Hallaton! "There's something very +queer about this," pondered Goldthred. "The girl's met with some foul +play somewhere or another. It's all right now. I'll have it out with her +to-night before I sleep--then I can tell my beautiful queen, and she +will decide what ought to be done." + +And Mr. Goldthred in his pre-occupation, forgetting to post the letters +he had examined so carefully, brought them all back to No. 40 in his +pocket, so that the expedition to Oatlands fell through after all. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +"REMORSEFUL." + + +Mrs. Lascelles was a lady who could ill-keep a secret. Such disclosures +as those made in the boudoir after tea, when Helen had gone up-stairs to +rest, roused alike her indignation and her sympathy; she would have +cried for justice from the house-tops, rather than suffer the fraud to +pass unexposed. Even Goldthred did not escape rebuke for the very +negative part he had taken in the transaction. + +"Why didn't you bring it here that instant?" she asked, in her pretty, +imperious way, while she filled her admirer's tea-cup, and offered him +the easiest chair in the room. "You shouldn't have kept such a thing +from _me_ for half-a-second. It's not like you to be so wicked, and I'm +determined to scold you well!" + +"But it was one o'clock in the morning," urged Goldthred, with a comical +look of deprecation. "And you must remember I thought you didn't care a +bit for me then. Of course it would be different _now_." + +"That's nonsense," she exclaimed. "You know I always liked you; and as +for your cool suggestion of coming here at one in the morning _now_, I +beg you won't attempt anything of the kind. But you _ought_ to have told +me indeed, because, after all, the note might have been from somebody +who had fallen in love with you!" + +"I didn't suppose such a thing possible," he answered simply, "and I'm +sure I didn't wish it. I used to think happiness was never intended for +me. The one I liked seemed so much too good. I'm often afraid I shall +wake and find it all a dream." + +"Not half good enough," she murmured, making a great clatter among the +cups and saucers. "I wish I was ten times better, and I mean to be. But +never mind about that. Don't you see exactly what has happened?" + +"No, I don't," he answered, wondering fondly whether in Europe could be +found such a pair of hands and arms as were hovering about the tea-tray +under his nose. "I dare say I'm very stupid, but hang me if I can see +daylight anywhere!" + +"Not if you look for it in my bracelet," she said, laughing. "But it's +obvious Helen has written you a note intended for somebody else. +Unless"--here she threatened him with a pretty finger he longed to +kiss--"unless you have reason to believe she valued the admiration you +could not disguise in all your looks and actions." + +"Don't say such things!" he exclaimed, in the utmost alarm. "Mrs. +Lascelles, do you think I'm--I'm _that_ sort of fellow? Surely _you_ +know me better. Surely you are only in joke!" + +"You're deep, sir" she continued, still laughing at an earnestness that +touched while it amused her. "Deep and sly! However, I'll believe you +this time, and if you're honestly stupid I'll condescend to explain. Can +you take in, that if the note wasn't written to _you_ it must have been +intended for somebody else? I can guess who that somebody is. I'll ask +Helen point-blank. She's as proud as Lucifer, but I think she has +confidence in me." + +She _did_ ask Helen point-blank, and that young lady, though as proud as +Lucifer, condescended to own the truth, but accompanied her confession +with a solemn declaration that everything was at an end between herself +and Frank Vanguard, so that the great desire of her heart now was never +to set eyes on him again. Mrs. Lascelles interpreting these sentiments +in her own way, sat down forthwith, and penned the following little +note, for further mystification of this bewildered young officer. + + "DEAR CAPTAIN VANGUARD,--I have discovered something you ought to + know. Such an _embrouillement_ was never heard of but in an + improbable farce, or still more improbable novel. Come to luncheon + to-morrow, and we will lay our heads together in hopes of + unravelling the skein. Miss Hallaton is staying with me. You will + like to meet her I am sure, only you and I must have our conference + _first_. + + "Yours very sincerely, + + "ROSE LASCELLES." + +Frank's heart leaped under his cuirass while he read this mysterious +epistle, on his return from a sweltering inspection in the Long Walk. He +had been trying to persuade himself he did not care for Helen, and +fancied he succeeded. It was humiliating to feel that the bare mention +of her name could thus affect him, yet was there a keen, strange +pleasure in the sensation nevertheless. + +On the barrack-room table of this fortunate dragoon there lay however +another little missive, bearing to that of Mrs. Lascelles the sort of +likeness a pen-wiper has to a butterfly. Its envelope was squarer and +larger, its monogram gaudier and more intricate, its superscription +fainter, paler, more aslant, more illegible. It exhaled a strong odour +of musk, and was written on paper that glistened like satin. + + "Dear Frank," it ran, "I shall be in the park to-morrow, at twelve. + Look for the pony-carriage. I _want_ you--so no nonsense. Don't + fail--there's a good fellow.--Yours truly,--KATE CREMORNE. P.S. If + I'm not under the clock, wait there till I come." + +"What can _she_ be up to now?" thought Frank, carefully twisting this +communication into a spill with which to light his cigar. "Got into a +mess of some sort, no doubt, and expects me to pull her through, like +the rest of them. How odd it is, I'm always blundering into +entanglements with women I don't care two straws about, and the one I +really _could_ love, the one who would make me a good man, I do believe, +and certainly a happy one, seems to be drifting every day farther and +farther out of my reach. I shall see her to-morrow, and what then? I +suppose our greeting will be confined to a distant bow, and some +conventional sentence more painful than a cut direct. Still, I shall see +her. That will be something. How strange it seems to be so easily +satisfied now, when I think of all I hoped and expected so short a time +ago. Well, beggars mustn't be choosers. I suppose I may as well meet +Kate Cremorne first, and do her a turn if I can. She's a good girl, +Kate, after all. Not half a bad-looking one neither, and as honest as +the day." + +So twelve o'clock found Frank very nicely dressed, and with a +wonderfully prosperous air, considering his many troubles, picking his +way daintily across the deserted Ride, to where a solitary +pony-carriage, with a solitary pony drawing, and a solitary lady driving +it, stood like a pretty toy, drawn up by the footway under the clock. + +Miss Cremorne received him with coldness, even displeasure. She +entertained a high opinion of her own acuteness, and thought she had hit +upon a discovery by no means to his credit. In her many visits to Miss +Ross--visits never made empty-handed, and to which, in all probability, +the latter owed her restoration to health--she gathered from Jin that a +friendship had lately existed between herself and the Captain Vanguard +of whom they both loved to talk. Now, Belgravia and Brompton look at +most matters in life, and particularly those connected with the +affections, from different points of view. Kate, though a hybrid +belonging to both districts, partook largely of the sentiments and +feelings affected by the latter. She imagined a touching little romance, +of which Jin's dark, curly-headed boy was the sequel, and being herself +_sans peur_, determined to show Frank she did not hold him _sans +reproche_. + +"Jump in," said she, with extreme abruptness, as he approached the +carriage. "I've got a crow to pick with you, and I mean to have it out. +You're a nice young man, now! Don't you think you are?" + +"Certainly," answered Frank, with imperturbable _bonhomie_. "I used to +hope you thought so too!" + +"I'll tell you what I used to think," said Kate, lashing the pony with +considerable vehemence. "I used to think you were a good fellow at +heart, though the nonsense had never been taken out of you; that you +were only vain and affected on the surface, like lots of you guardsmen, +but that there was a _man_ inside the dandy, if one could only get at +him. Oh, Captain Vanguard, I'm disappointed in you! If I cared two +straws for a fellow, and he did as you've done, I'd never speak to him +again! There!" + +The whip was again dropped on the pony, and they shaved the wheels of an +omnibus to an inch. + +"Don't take it so to heart, Kate!" laughed Frank. "If I _have_ deserted +you, I'll come back again. You know, Miss Cremorne, that you are the +only woman I ever loved, and all that. Fate has been obdurate; but +rather would I be torn with wild----" + +"_Will_ you be serious?" demanded the fair charioteer, knitting her +brows, and looking intensely austere. "Do you know where I am driving +you now?" + +He was incorrigible. + +"To Gretna, I trust, or the Register Office. That's what I should like +with _you_. Let's have it out, Kate. Jump over a broomstick, and the +thing's done!" + +"I'll tell you where you're going," she said gravely: "I am taking you +to see Miss Ross!" + +His whole countenance changed; and with all his self-command, he could +not disguise how deeply he was agitated. + +"Miss Ross!" he stammered. "You have heard from her! You know where she +is!" + +"I have _seen_ her every day for the last fortnight," was the answer. +"Seen her battle and bear up against sorrow, sickness, privation--actual +want! Ay, many a day, when you've been sitting down to a dinner of four +courses and dessert, that woman and her boy--her boy, Captain +Vanguard--have not had enough to eat!" + +"Great heavens, Kate!" he exclaimed. "This is too shocking! Why did I +not know of it before?" + +"Why, indeed!" repeated Kate. "You may well ask yourself the question. +Whose duty was it but yours to be answerable for her, poor dear, to +find her a home, to provide for her and the child? I don't want to have +many words about it. I'm not one of that sort; but I tell you she would +have starved--yes--_starved_, if I hadn't happened to run against her by +good luck, just in the nick of time." + +"God bless you, Kate!" + +His eyes were full of tears, and she looked at him a little less hardly +than before, but answered in scornful accents: + +"Ought such a job as that to have been left to _me_?" + +"Miss Cremorne! Kate!" he urged; "you think worse of me than I deserve! +There is nothing I wouldn't have done, no sacrifice I wouldn't have +made, to insure Miss Ross's comfort! It is not my fault, indeed! I give +you my word of honour, I have left no stone unturned to discover her +place of refuge from the moment she disappeared, and never obtained the +slightest trace of her till to-day." + +"Gammon!" replied Kate, pulling the pony short up by the kerbstone. +"There's the house. It's not much to look at, but it's better inside +than out, since she's found a chance friend, poor thing! Run up-stairs +and see her. Say I meant to have taken her out for a drive, but I'll +come again in the afternoon. I never did--I never will--believe you're a +bad-hearted fellow, Frank; but you've done no end of mischief here. Go +and undo it now." + +So Kate drove off at high pressure, leaving Frank on the door-step, +confronting a maid-of-all-work, who, seeming to expect him, yet glanced +from time to time with considerable interest and approval at his general +appearance and outline. + +He was shown into a clean, neatly furnished apartment, from which he +could distinctly hear his announcement as "The gentleman, if you please, +ma'am," and the rustle of a dress that followed this information. Then +the door opened, and Miss Ross stopped short on the threshold, +exclaiming only-- + +"Frank!" + +The tone denoted nothing but extreme and overwhelming astonishment. + +Looking in her face, he could not but admit she was sadly altered. A few +short weeks had changed the brilliant, piquante beauty to a faded +invalid, with wan, wasted features, lit up only by the wonderful black +eyes. + +His first thought was the humiliating question--"Can this be the woman I +fancied I loved so dearly?" His second brought a manly and natural +resolution to stand by her all the more firmly for her distress. + +"Jin," he exclaimed, "why did you leave me like that? What has been the +matter? and why didn't you trust entirely to _me_?" + +He would have taken her in his arms, but she waved him off, and the +delight that had flashed across her face when she confronted him gave +way to a cold, unnatural reserve. + +"Did you get my letter?" she asked. "And why are you here?" + +He explained how and why he had come, touching on the disappointment he +experienced in the contents of her communication, trying to put into his +tones that warmth of affection which he felt was completely extinguished +in his heart. + +"I did not mean to see you again, Captain Vanguard," she said, in a +measured voice; "I did not _wish_ to see you again. The person I +expected was your friend, Mr. Picard. That man stands between us, and +always must. I will have no more concealments now--no more foul play--no +more crime. I have been punished enough; I pray heaven I may not be +punished yet more! I deceived you, Captain Vanguard, because I--well--I +believe I _did_ care for you, as much as it is in my wicked, heartless +nature to care for anybody; but I meant you to marry me. And all the +time Picard was my husband!" + +"Your husband!" He had no power to utter another word. + +"It takes your breath away," she exclaimed, with a touch of her old +malice. "You are so innocent! so inexperienced! Frank, I believe you +_did_ mean honestly by me. I believe you thought you liked me; and I +certainly--well--I liked _you_. Horribly--shamefully! To win you, I was +guilty of a fraud, a degradation, _une bassesse, entendez vous? une +lâcheté_. I took the letter of a girl who loved you, and I sent it off +to another man--a good creature, _mais tant soit peu ganache_, who +didn't know what to make of it. Never mind. I detached you from her, and +caught you for myself. But I would not make you a slave to my husband; I +know him too well. None of us come out of this _imbroglio_ very +creditably, and, believe me, your part is not of the highest calibre; +but I have injured you, and now, because my spirit is broke, I try to +make reparation. Go to your Miss Hallaton; explain all to her; marry +her, if you will! Oh! Frank, be happy with her, I entreat of you; and +never come to see me any more!" + +She looked in his face for about half a second, made a plunge at his +hand, caught it eagerly to her heart, her eyes, her lips, and was in the +next room, of which he heard the door locked and bolted, before he had +realised the fact that she was gone. + +He waited, he called, he went and tapped at that securely fortified +retreat, he even rang for the servant, and begged her to ask the lady +whether there were no more commands for him before he left; but without +avail. + +"Why the devil Kate brought me here," said Frank to himself, standing +once more in the street, looking helplessly about for a Hansom cab, "is +more than I can make out! One thing's clear--I'm not bound in any way +to Miss Ross. Hang it! she's _not_ Miss Ross! What a fool I've been! I +don't deserve to get out of the mess so well. Helen, my darling! I ought +to have known, if they hadn't got _at_ you, you'd have been as true as +steel! By Jove, though, I'm bound in honour to book up to Kate! It must +have cost her a goodish stake, and I don't suppose Picard will." + +But when this proposal was submitted to Miss Cremorne, she repudiated it +with a contempt savouring of Belgravia, and an energy of expression not +unworthy of Brompton. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +REPENTANT. + + +Miss Ross, as we may still continue to call her, had indeed expected a +visit from a gentleman, and warned the maid-of-all-work she would be at +home; but it was with a heavy heart, nevertheless, she heard the +street-door close on Frank's retreating steps, while, smoothing her hair +and drying her eyes, she prepared to meet her husband. Picard, at his +wits' end for money, hunted from place to place by writ and summons, +with debts unpaid and bills coming due, could yet find time to answer in +person a written request for an interview, made by the woman whose evil +genius he seemed to have been through life. She asked to see him once +more, for reasons to be explained in person, and was actually waiting +his arrival, when Kate drove to the door with Frank Vanguard. The latter +had hardly been gone five minutes, ere Picard made his appearance, and +this ill-assorted couple met once more, with less surprise indeed, but +scarcely more cordiality than they had shown during their strange +ill-omened companionship on the river at Windsor. + +Each thought the other looking faded, worn, altered; each wondered where +had lain the attraction, once so fatally powerful; each, I think, was +resolved at heart this interview should be the last. + +"How's the boy?" said Picard, glancing round the room in search of his +child. + +For answer, she opened a door into the adjoining apartment, signing to +him, wearily and sadly, to go in. + +On a neat, snowy little bed, drawn near the open window, lay the child, +wan, wasted, scarcely conscious; his large eyes wandering vaguely here +and there, his small, fragile hands limp and helpless on the +counterpane. He gave his mother a feeble glance of recognition; but of +the other visitor he took no notice whatever. + +Picard's mouth was dry, and a knot seemed to rise in his throat. + +"How's this?" he muttered, in a fierce, husky voice, trying to keep down +his tears by making himself angry. "The child is fearfully ill! It is +too bad! I ought never to have trusted you with him! I should have +thought his mother would have taken better care!" + +The taunt was unfelt, unheeded. She showed no displeasure; but turned +her large eyes on him with a plaintive, solemn sadness that spoke +volumes, that told of dreary, waking nights, of anxious, sorrowing days, +of cruel alternations between hope and despair, of piteous, calm +resignation, that comes only when the last chance has faded gradually +away. Picard went to the window, and looked out. A harder-hearted man +probably did not walk the streets of London that day; but the one thing +on earth he cared for was his child, and he saw the humble, dirty little +street through a mist of tears. + +"It is the only link between us _now_," said Jin, in a measured, +mournful voice. "If it should part, God help us both! I do believe you +care for that poor, pale, suffering darling. For _his_ sake, let us +forgive one another!" + +He was touched, penitent, and for the moment a better man. + +"Virginie," he said, "I have deceived you--doubly deceived you! Our +marriage was valid enough." + +Her heart sank within her. + +"Then I am really your wife?" she faltered; but glancing at the boy, +added bravely, "I will try to be a good one from this day forth." + +A man's whole nature is not to be changed by a few tears and a minute's +emotion. Dashing his hand across his eyes, Picard reviewed the position, +and was his own bad self again. Less than ever would it suit him now to +be hampered with the incumbrance of a family. He could scarce keep his +head above water. To provide for mother and child would swamp him +completely. While doing ample justice to his wife's sense of duty, he +resolved by no means to imitate her; and with an assumption of great +frankness, thus delivered himself: + +"Your resolution is most creditable, Virginie, and I know to-day that I +have never done you justice. But I have met lately with reverses, +misfortunes, and at present it is impossible to make any arrangement by +which you and I can be together as much as I might wish." + +An expression of intense relief came over her weary face, yet she drew +near the child's bed, suspiciously, instinctively, like an animal +protecting its young. + +He observed and understood the action. + +"Our poor boy cannot be moved," said he. "You will be a good mother, +Virginie, if I leave him to you? Perhaps I may never see him again." + +Once more he betrayed real emotion; while Jin, from an impulse she could +neither resist nor explain, raised the feeble little form on its bed, +and supported the wan brow to which Picard's lips clung in a long +farewell kiss. He would have blessed the child had he dared; but with +the half-formed prayer came a sense of shameful unworthiness and a +bitter hopeless remorse that he had been so bad a man. + +In true womanly unselfishness, and with a certain readiness of immediate +resource peculiar to her sex, Jin made a mental calculation of her +humble little store, reserving the small sum she thought would suffice +till her boy's recovery, and offered the remainder ungrudgingly to her +husband. + +No doubt his excuses to himself were valid and unanswerable. He accepted +it without hesitation, accepted, though he must have known it had been +given her by another, and was all she had in the world. + +To Jin, it seemed as if she had thus bought back the unquestioned +possession of her child. + +He wished her good-bye calmly and kindly enough, resolving, no doubt, +that they should never meet on earth again; but, bad as he was, he cut a +lock off that cluster of black curls tumbled on the pillow, and many a +day afterwards would he take it out of his pocket-book to look on it for +minutes at a time, with sad, repentant longing, that yet produced no +good result. Sentiment is not affection. There may be much romance, with +very little attachment; and many a man believes he is extremely fond of +a woman or a child, for whom he will not sacrifice a momentary +gratification or an hour's amusement. + +When Picard went his way, Jin clasped the boy in her arms, as if he had +just been rescued from some imminent danger; nor could all Kate +Cremorne's persuasions, calling an hour afterwards in the pony-carriage, +induce her to leave him during the rest of the afternoon. + +It was for no want of nursing, from no lack of care and culture, that +this poor little flower faded and withered away. + +August waned into September, and still the child drooped with the +drooping leaves. To the doctor, to the landlady, to the weeping +maid-of-all-work, to every one, save only a mother, it was evident that +his Christmas carols would be sung to him by the angels in heaven. + +But though here a poor little violet may be trampled into earth, is that +a reason why the fairest garden flowers should fail to bloom, fragrant +and splendid, over yonder? Never a red rose in all the garlands of the +house of Lancaster blushed so becomingly, to Goldthred's taste, as did +his own affianced bride when she ordered him to ask her whether she had +not better think about naming the day of their marriage. + +It was fixed for the middle of the month, the lady arranging to spend +her honeymoon at a farm-house of her own, far off in the West of +England, where there was excellent partridge-shooting. She explained her +arrangements to Helen with characteristic frankness. + +"You see, my dear, I've been married before, and I know what it is. When +Mr. Lascelles and I were alone together, the first week, it was _awful_! +I wouldn't have believed man or woman could be so bored, and live. He +must have hated it, and, I'm sure, so did I. Now, I don't want my +goldfinch to be bored with _me_, particularly at first; so I shall send +him out shooting. He'll come home tired and hungry, and we shall make no +fuss, but feel as if we'd been married for years. 'Pon my word, dear, +he's such a good fellow, I wish we had!" + +To all which wisdom, gathered from experience, Helen turned an attentive +ear, because of the pleadings urged by a certain young officer, who felt +and owned himself unworthy of the happiness he implored day by day, hour +by hour, till she contradicted him flatly, out of the fulness of her own +heart. Frank Vanguard succeeded in justifying himself before an +exceedingly lenient tribunal; and although, in my opinion, the +unaccountable silence of one woman is no valid excuse for transferring +allegiance incontinently to another, I do not imagine ladies themselves +are equally exclusive in their notions of property. They affect a very +stringent law of trespass, no doubt; yet appear sufficiently merciful +to habitual and hardened offenders. + +The most jealous of them seem to appreciate an admirer none the less +that he has offered incense at many foreign shrines. If he should have +tumbled a goddess or two off her pedestal, they profess themselves +shocked indeed, and are loud in reproof, but seem to like him all the +better for his infidelity. + +So Frank and Helen were to be married, Sir Henry giving them his +blessing and the bride's _trousseaux_, for which tasteful and +magnificent outfit the bills were eventually sent in to Frank; but this +has nothing to do with our story. The cavalry officer, I venture to +pronounce, had better luck than he deserved; but so exemplary a daughter +as Helen had proved herself was pretty sure to make an exemplary wife. +And, for my own part, I believe that a good woman, with good sense, and +a _really_ good temper, especially if gifted also with good looks, is +capable of reclaiming the whole Household Brigade, horse and foot, +bands, trumpeters, drummers, officers, non-commissioned officers, and +men. + +Sir Henry Hallaton, however, with gross injustice, laid his ruin on that +sex, to which he had devoted what he was pleased to call the _best_ +years of his life, majestically ignoring all such deteriorating +influences as extravagant habits, dissipated company, gambling, +mortgages, second-rate race-horses, and protested bills. + +It needed no syren to lure the baronet on the rocks; and, indeed, the +tide of fortune, whether it ebbed or flowed, seemed alike to waft this +reckless, easy-going mariner to certain shipwreck. His was a sadly +shattered bark now, and he had abandoned all idea of making safe +anchorage at last. He came back to England, rescued from ruin by the +timely aid of a friend, and thought himself ill-used because that friend +was on the eve of marriage with a woman whom he had neglected while he +thought she liked him, to whose heartlessness, he now told himself, he +was a martyr, because she had not waited for an uncertainty, but made a +wise choice in pleasing herself. + +The daughter he loved so dearly was about to settle happily in life; yet +he could complain that he was deserted, bewailing his loneliness, though +he saw the light in her eye, the peace on her brow, that told of +heart's-ease and content. In the restless, dissatisfied longings of a +confirmed selfishness, he tried hard to reestablish his former intimacy +with Miss Ross, whose retreat he had found means to discover; and, +failing to obtain an interview with that anxious and afflicted woman, +found himself driven for solace and comfort to the society of Kate +Cremorne. + +This young person, whose knowledge of the world was drawn from men, not +books, seeing through the weary, worn-out pleasure-seeker at a glance, +fooled him with considerable dexterity, and no little mischievous +amusement. + +Of all his reckless moods, perhaps none had been so reckless as that in +which he offered to make so free-spoken a damsel his wife; of all his +humiliations none, perhaps, so galling as to accept a kindly, courteous, +and dignified refusal from the wild, wayward girl, who bade him +understand clearly that she respected herself too much to affect an +attachment it was impossible to feel for a man old enough to be her +father! + +Mrs. Battersea was provoked, and opined Kate would never grow wiser, but +Sir Henry, while to the outward world his good humour and good spirits +remained unchanged, took the rebuff sorely to heart, and though he told +his doctor he had been drinking sweet champagne, which never agreed with +him, my own belief is that a fit of gout, which attacked him at this +juncture more sharply than usual, was the effect of love rather than +wine. When we begin twinges at the extremities, it is time to have done +with pains of the heart. + +So his doctor ordered him to Buxton, where, soothed by the bubble of +those health-restoring springs, he forgot his sorrows in the +unintermittent attention to self, required by the constant ablutions and +daily discipline of the cure, deriving at the same time no small comfort +from the contemplation of many sufferers more crippled, more peevish, +more egotistical than himself. + +There is no particular season at Buxton, as there is no forgiveness or +immunity from Podagra, goddess of sloth, and luxury, and excess. Its +waters are drunk, its baths are heated, its lodging-houses are occupied, +its parade populous, during every month of the year. Nevertheless its +frequenters are necessarily migratory. Those who get better go away, +those who get worse die; but disease sends in a continuous supply of +fresh afflictions, and the residence of a very few weeks causes a +patient to be looked on as an old inhabitant and high authority in the +place. The head of the _table-d'hôte_, the easiest chair on the parade, +the newest books from the library, the choicest game from the poulterer, +the sweetest smile from landlady, the lowest bow from landlord, are the +advantages to be attained by six weeks' tenure of an obstinate case; and +thus it came to pass that Sir Henry, though a far greater man in St. +James's Street, found he could not hold a candle to Uncle Joseph at +Buxton. + +Like two veterans in Chelsea, like two old man-of-war's men in Greenwich +Hospital, these campaigners of a less honourable warfare found +themselves stranded in sadly shattered plight amongst the bare knolls +and grey boulders of the Derbyshire Peak; but between them there was +this important difference,--that whereas Sir Henry, still almost +handsome, still gentleman-like, amusing, pleasant to women, had loved +his love, gamed his gaming, and retired beaten from the strife; Uncle +Joseph, older in years, ruder in speech, rounder of form, and stouter of +heart, had refitted his shattered bark, and with favouring gales, backed +by an energy that cannot be too highly commended, was prosecuting his +suit with a widow almost as old, as round, and as gouty as himself. + +There had been a time when Sir Henry would have laughed heartily at the +confidential communications made by the respectable Mr. Groves, as the +two drove out in a one-horse fly and halted to enjoy the mellow warmth +of an autumn sun under a chasm, which takes from its impossible legend +the name of the Lover's Leap; but he did not laugh to-day, listening +with attention, interest, something akin to envy, at his heart. What +would he not have given could he, too, take pleasure in a woman's smile, +even though the woman were old and fat; could he, too, feel his blood +course quicker at a woman's voice, even though it had a provincial +accent, and an occasional confusion of the rules by which the aspirate +is applied in our language? + +"I congratulate you," said Sir Henry, lying languidly back in the +carriage with a plaintive air of resignation, and a sad conviction that +for him most pleasures were indeed over, since his doctor had even +forbidden him to smoke. "You have retained the best faculties of youth, +since you have still courage to hope, still energy to be vexed and +disappointed. It is not so with me. Look here, my dear fellow; I have +been ruined twice since I began, and twice set on my legs by a miracle. +I would willingly be ruined a third time, and never be set up at all, if +I could only take a real interest in any earthly thing, even in what I +am going to have for dinner." + +Uncle Joseph stared. "It's not so with me," he answered; "far from it. I +wish I didn't care so much. I'm a desperate fidget sometimes, I know, +and often I can't enjoy things just for fear of what _might_ happen. +Perhaps it's because I'm an old bachelor, as they say. It's a great +drawback to a man in middle-age to have passed all his youth out of the +society of women." + +Sir Henry smiled and shook his head. + +"I haven't found the _other_ plan a good one," said he. "You and I have +been a goodish time in the world now, and I begin to think we have both +wasted our lives." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +"RECLAIMED." + + +Day after day, week after week, an autumn sun glared fiercely down, +baking and cracking the clean shorn stubbles, burnishing the meadows, +all parched and smooth and shining, licking up with fiery thirst the +shrunken threads of mountain streams, scorching the heather bloom to +powder, burning to rich ripeness the strips of late-sown oats that +through our wild hill-countries fringe the purple moorland with a border +of gold, beating on heated wall and glowing pavement in the small close +streets about the Marlborough Road, drying the outer air to the +temperature of an oven, and withering without pity the humble little +growth of mignionette in the sick child's window. + +Morning and night Jin watered that homely box of mould in vain. The +dying plants no more revived for her care, than did her darling for all +the tears she shed on his behalf. They wanted for nothing now that money +could supply,--Kate Cremorne would have taken care of that; but Jin's +friends, directly they found out her hiding-place, had rallied round her +with kindly offers of sympathy and assistance. Mrs. Lascelles, indeed, +wished to bring mother and child home to No. 40 at once, but the latter +was too ill to be moved; and kind-hearted Rose, in spite of her present +happiness, felt sadly vexed to think that the former could refuse +persistently to see her now, denying herself to every human being except +Miss Cremorne. + +With all her resolution it was more than Jin could endure to be reminded +of the happiness she had once so nearly grasped, and in her dull, +forlorn misery she told herself it was better to hide her weary head, +and wait in hopeless apathy for the end. + +She had gone through those cruel changes that seem so hard to bear till +the one fearful certainty teaches us they were merciful preparations for +that which we should not otherwise have found strength to encounter. She +had watched the doctor's face day by day, and hung on his grave, +sympathising accents, believing now that the "shade better" meant +recovery, now that the "trifle worse" was but the necessary ebb and flow +of disease; anon, lifted to unreasonable happiness from darkest despair, +because when her ignorance thought all was over, the man of science +still found anchorage for a new ephemeral hope. + +Alas! that henceforth there must be no more vicissitude, no more +uncertainty! The last strand of the cable was obviously parting--the +little lamp was flickering with the gleam that so surely goes out in +utter darkness--the simple flower, drooping and dying, was to bloom +never more but in the gardens of God! + +Even Kate, who seldom failed to find a word of comfort at the worst, to +discover seeds of encouragement in the most alarming symptoms, had +turned from the boy's bed to-day with a quiver over all her bonny face, +that showed how hard it was for her to keep back the tears. + +Jin caught her friend's hand, and pressed it to her breast. + +"God bless you, dear!" she gasped. "Whatever happens, you've been an +angel from heaven to me!" + +The other dropped her veil till it covered brow and face. + +"My poor dear!" she answered, with a strange tremor in her voice, "the +angels in heaven are like _him_, not _me_. If it _must_ be--if you _are_ +to lose him--try and think of him as one of them--try and hope you and I +may get to see him there at last, even if we have to sit waiting for +ages on a stone outside the gate." + +Both women were silent, Kate turning away to cry passionately. In a few +minutes she recovered herself, pressed her lips fiercely to the child's +cold hand lying helpless on the bed-clothes, again to Jin's pale, +sorrowing brow, and so departed, with a promise, in a husky, choking +whisper, of returning speedily, and an entreaty that she might be sent +for at a moment's notice if she were wanted. + +So the mother was left alone with her dying child. She had not shed a +tear--no--though the other woman wept without restraint; that infection, +usually so irresistible, had failed to reach her now. Her eyes were dry, +her face cold and fixed like marble. Mechanically she moved about the +room, arranging the furniture, straightening the sheets, smoothing the +pillows, mixing a cooling drink for the poor pale lips that would never +drink again. Then, as in unconscious routine she watered the mignionette +at the window, she caught her breath with a great gasp, her face worked +like that of a woman in convulsions, and she burst into a fit of weeping +that seemed intense relief for the moment, and rendered her capable of +enduring the worst, which was yet to come. + +In such paroxysms memory seems, as it were, to lift us out of the +present, and furnishing us with a new sense--keen, subtle, and +intense--throws our whole existence back once more into the past. Again +she was nursing Gustave under the poplars in Touraine; again she was +impressing on a homely peasant-woman, at Lyons, the care and culture of +her darling; again she mourned for his loss and rejoiced in his +recovery, staring with incredulous pleasure to recognise him on the road +to Ascot, thrilling with a mother's holiest instincts to fold him to her +breast in the old cottage by the riverside. Her troubles, her intrigues, +her love, her rivalry, Picard, Frank Vanguard, Helen herself, were +forgotten; no human interest, no earthly image, came between her and her +dark-eyed boy. + +It seemed impossible he could be dying. Dying? Oh, no! or why had he +been given back to her before? Was there no Providence? Was it only +blind chance that thus juggled with her? She thought of women she had +known in her earlier years--_femmes croyantes_, as they called +themselves--their penances, duties, attendance at mass, frequent +confessions, and the courage with which they boasted their religion +enabled them to accept every trial--till it came. + +Pain was lashing her into rebellion. She roused herself. She dashed her +tears from her eyes. "Bah!" she exclaimed; "if he gets well, I will be +like these. Why not for me also a miracle? What have I done that I am to +be so tortured?" + +A weak voice called her from the bed. "Maman," it murmured, in the dear +French accents of its infancy, "embrasse-moi donc, puis ce que je ne te +vois plus." + +She laid her head--the two black comely heads together--on the pillow by +his side. The hope that had flickered for a moment died out for +evermore. Not see her! and it was broad noon of the golden summer day! + +"Here is mamma, darling!" she murmured, pressing hard to her lips the +little helpless hand, dull and yellow like waxwork. "Mamma will never +leave Gustave! never--never!" + +She tried to borrow courage from the assurance, and to fancy that _he_ +was not leaving _her_, swiftly, surely, as the outward-bound bark that +spreads its canvas to a wind off shore. + +He nestled nearer--nearer yet. His little frame shook all over. Raising +him on the pillow, his curly head sank back on her bosom, more heavily, +more helplessly than in earliest infancy. He murmured a few indistinct +syllables. Straining every nerve to listen, she knew they formed part of +a child's prayer that Mrs. Mole had taught him in her cottage home. But +he finished that prayer at the feet of his Father who is in heaven. + +Minutes, hours--she never knew how long--the sorrowing mother bowed her +head, and wailed in agony over her dead child. Neither stunned nor +stupefied by an affliction for which her daily life had of late been but +a training and a preparation, every nerve in her frame, every fibre of +her heart, quivered with the sting and sharpness of the blow. + +Had she not wept, she must have gone mad; but her tears flowed freely, +and with tears came that lassitude of the feelings which is the first +step to resignation, as lacking the rebellious energy of despair. For +her, indeed, the silver cord was loosed, the golden bowl broken, the +desire of her eyes taken away. The day had gone down; the night seemed +very dark and cold. How should she seek for comfort in the hope of +another dawn? + +But when the skies are at their blackest, then morning is near at hand. +It was through thickest gloom, brooding over a lowering wave, that the +luminous figure of their Teacher walked the waters on the Sea of +Tiberias, and the boldest of his servants had sunk to the knees ere he +took refuge in his panic-stricken outcry, "Lord, save me!" and, trusting +solely to the Master, found help in the very weakness of his fears. + +Perhaps angels in heaven recognise and mark in golden letters the hour +of conviction, the accepted time, the turning-point, it may be, of a +soul's eternity. Perhaps, even, in their lustrous happiness, they +rejoiced with celestial sympathy over the lonely penitent who flung +herself down by her child's death-bed, and poured out her heart in +prayer that, through any sacrifice, any suffering, she might follow +where he was gone before. Perhaps they knew how poor, contrite, +sorrowing Jin Ross had made her first step on the narrow path that leads +to the Shining Gate, over which, for sinners of far deeper dye than her, +stands emblazoned the eternal promise--"Knock, and it shall be opened +unto you!" + + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Contraband, by G. J. Whyte-Melville + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41418 *** |